Skip to main content

Full text of "History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882"

See other formats 


— ^-c^f^^H 




OF 



ANDUS&YCOJ 



-,.»,,,. ».»+»»»»»»» 



OHIO 



l 



UUJSTR^IOW 



-A" 







1812. 




HISTORY 




<~J 




OHIO 



WITH PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES 



PROMINENT CITIZENS AND PIONEERS, 



The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto and every man a word. 
Its strains have been pealing along down the centuries, and, though there have been mingled the discords of 
warring cannon and dying men, yet to the Christian philosopher and historian — the humble listener — there has 
been a divine melody running through the song which speaks ot hope and halcyon days to come. — James A. 
Gakfiei.d. 



CLEVELAND, OHIO: 

H. Z. WILLIAMS & BRO. 






1882. 




PREFACE. 



THE publishers place this volume before 
the public believing that they have 
fulfilled every promise made at the beginning 
of the enterprise and every reasonable 
expectation. That there are faults of omission 
they are aware, but this has arisen from 
inability to obtain the required information. 
That a volume of upwards of eight hundred 
quarto pages, containing ten thousand names, 
should be free from error, no one will expect. 

A large part of the writing has been done 
by a citizen of the county, Homer Everett, 
Esq., whose personal knowledge of leading 
events reaches back almost to the first white 
settlement. This important service could have 
been entrusted to no better hands. The first 
five chapters and those relating to the Moral 
and Material Development of the county, and 
Civil History, have been prepared by a writer 
in the employ of 



the publishers. With these exceptions all of 
the general history is from the pen of Mr. 
Everett. The same gentleman also prepared 
the church history of Fremont and several 
biographical sketches. One biography and 
the commercial history of Fremont are the 
contributions of Wilbur G. Zeigler. 

It is impossible to make special ac- 
knowledgments to all to whom we are in- 
debted for assistance. The people of the 
county have received the writers and 
collectors of information with uniform 
courtesy, and given them every facility for 
the prosecution of their work. 

Instead of being bound in cloth with 
leather backs, as were the samples shown to 
subscribers, the volume is bound in full 
leather, while the form of the book renders 
it much more convenient for use, and better 
adapted to the shelves of a library. 



CONTENTS 



HISTORICAL. 



GENERAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER. PAGE. 

I. — Aboriginal Occupation 9 

II. — Ownership of the Northwest 19 

III. — Advent of the White Man 24 

IV. — Lower Sandusky before Fort 

Stephenson 27 

V.— Early Ohio 53 

VI. — Pre -historic Races 66 

VII.— The Indians 72 

VIII. — County Organization 94 

VIII(a).— Fort Stephenson 98 

IX.— Civil History 121 

X. — Development, Material, Moral, 

Social 125 

XI. — Improvements 139 

XII.— The Ohio Railroad 154 

XIII.— Plank Road 159 

XIV.— Railroad 164 

XV. — The Fremont and Indiana Rail- 
road 172 

XVI.— County Roads 177 

XVII. — County Buildings and Institutions 181 

XVIII. — Topography and Geology 194 

XIX. — Iron Bridges and Drainage 200 

XX. — Sandusky County Agricultural 

Society 208 



CHAPTER 
XXL— 
XXII. — 
XXIII 

XXIV 
XXV 
XXVI. — 
XXVII. — 
XXVIII.— 
XXIX.— 
XXX 
XXXI. — 

Sandusky . 
Rice 



The Press 

Military History 

Court and Bar of Sandusky 
County 



PAGE. 

228 

241 



Fremont 

Fremont Continued 

Business Progress . 

Medical 

Improvements 

Public Schools 

Religious History 

Social Societies 

TOWNSHIPS. 



Ballville 

Green Creek.. 

York 

Townsend 

Riley 

Jackson 

Washington... 

Woodville 

Madison 

Scott 

Appendix 



.368 
.397 
.413 
.419 
.440 
.463 
.473 
.485 
.507 

.559 
.568 

.578 
.604 
.653 
.703 
.726 
.741 
.761 
.780 
.793 
.807 
.833 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE. 

Map of Sandusky county facing 9 

Fort Stephenson facing 101 

Portrait of Colonel Croghan facing 105 

McPherson Monument facing 241 

Portrait of General C. G. Eaton facing 348 

" " Major General James B. 

McPherson facing 359 

Portrait of Dr. L. Q. Rawson facing 446 

'Mrs. Dr. L. Q. Rawson facing 449 

' Rutherford B. Hayes facing 513 

' Mrs. Lucy W. Hayes facing 521 

' General R. P. Buckland facing 522 

' Mrs. R. P. Buckland facing 524 

' Sardis Birchard facing 528 

' Homer Everett facing 544 



PAGE. 

Portrait of J. S. Van Ness, with biog- 
raphy facing 553 

" Mrs. H. Seager facing 584 

" Rev. M. Long facing 601 

" Mrs. Cynthia McPherson facing 633 

" Alfred Hutchinson facing 639 

" Hon. O. Mclntyre facing 640 

" James Cleveland facing 645 

" Rev. N. Young facing 643 

" S. Baker facing 646 

" S. W. Chapin facing 647 

" J. L. Brown facing 649 

Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Charles 

Clapp facing 650 

Portrait of Nathan Birdseye between 684 and 685 



CONTENTS. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE. 
Portrait of Mrs. Nathan Birdseye 

between 684 and 685 

" " T. G. Amsden facing 686 

Portraits of Frederick Smith and wife facing 688 

" Mr. and Mrs. John Mc- 

Cauley facing 690 

Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. John Rife facing 691 

" " Mr. and Mrs. James 

Chapman facing 692 

Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Seneca D. 

Hitt facing 693 

Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. John S. 

Gardner facing 644 

Portrait of Jeremiah Smith between 694 and 695 

" " Mrs. DeLora Smith between 694 and 695 

" " Mrs. Amanda Birds- 
eye between 696 and 697 



PAGE. 

Portrait of J. S. Van Ness, with biog- 
raphy facing 553 

Mrs. H. Seager facing 584 

Rev. M. Long facing 601 

Mrs. Cynthia McPherson facing 633 

Alfred Hutchinson facing 639 

Hon. O. Mclntyre facing 640 

James Cleveland facing 645 

Rev. N. Young facing 643 

S. Baker facing 646 

S. W. Chapin facing 647 

J. L. Brown facing 649 

Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Charles 

Clapp facing 650 

Portrait of Nathan Birdseye between 684 and 685 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



PAGE. 

Aunesly, William 391 

Ainger, William W 391 

Amsden, Thomas G 686 

Adams, H. R 697 

Adams, Amy R 699 

Buckland, Chester Averill 350 

Buckland, Ralph P 380-522 

Baldwin, Marcus D 387 

Buckland, Horace S 393 

Bell, Charles F 395 

Bartlett, Joseph R 395 

Bartlett, Brice J 396 

Brainard, Dr. Daniel 444 

Beaugrand, Dr. Peter 451 

Brown & Anderson, Drs 451 

Brinkerhoff, Dr, David H 461 

Baker, Dr. H. F 461 

Bemis, Dr. J. D 461 

Birchard, Sardis 528 

Bell, General John 532 

Bushnell, Ebenezer, D.D 534 

Bauer, Seraphine 536 

Burgner, Jacob 555 

Buckland, Stephen and family 557 

Brown, Dr. J. L 649 

Birdseye, Nathan P. and Mary A 684 

Birdseve, Joseph and Amanda B 696 

Beaugrand, Captain John B 828 

Canfield, Lieutenant Colonel Herman 354 

Cummings, J. W 384 

Corey, Dr. John M 459 

Caldwell, Dr. W 462 

Caldwell, William 537 

Creager, Frank 539 

Cleveland, James 641 



PAGE. 

Chapin Family 647 

Clapp, Charles and family 650 

Chapman, James 692 

Carver, Amos R 829 

Curtis, T. V 830 

Drake, Benjamin F 378 

Dickinson, Rodolphus 379 

Dewey, Thomas P 388 

Dudrow, Byron R 388 

Dickinson, Edward F 392 

Deal, David 558 

Eaton, General Charles Grant 348 

Eddy, Nathaniel B 384 

Eckt, Dr. S. P 462 

Everett, Jeremiah and family 540 

Everett, Homer 544 

Finefrock, Henn R 385 

Fronizer, F. R 387 

Finefrock, Thomas P 389 

Fowler, James H 390 

Failing, Dr. J. W 459 

Fabing, John 528 

Fuller, William 717 

Graves, Increase 379 

Greene, John L., Sr 382 

Garver, John T 390 

Click, George W. and C. S 391 

Garver, Samuel C 395 

Greene, John L., Jr 396 

Gessner, Dr. Louis 452 

Gessner, Dr. L. S. J 458 

Groat, John W 461 

Gallagher, David 547 

Giebel, Francis J. W 548 

Gardner, John S. and Ann 694 



CONTENTS. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



PAGE. 

Griswold, Stephen 830 

Goodin, Dr 443 

Harmon, Harvey J 378 

Heffner, D. A 390 

Haynes, George R 391 

Hord, John K 392 

Hastings, Dr 444 

Holloway, Dr 444 

Hammer, Dr. A. J 462 

Hayes, Rutherford B 513 

Hayes, Lucy Webb 521 

Howland, Elisha W 551 

Hutchinson, Alfred 639 

Hitt, Seneca D. and MahalaE 693 

Hirt, Casper 740 

Johnson, John A 383 

Justice, James and family 552 

Johnson, J. C 831 

Kessler and Belding 358 

Keeler, Isaac M 526 

Kridler, W. B 529 

Lemon, M. B 386 

Loveland, John B 388 

Lemon, John M 392 

Lee, Dr. George 461 

Long, Rev. Michael 601 

Levi see family 719 

McPherson, Major General James B 359 

Meek, Basil 389 

Moore, John P 547 

Millious, Jacob 552 

Mclntyre, Hon. 640 

McCauley family 690 

McCulloch, C. R 827 

Norton, Faulkner 1 535 

Newman, John 538 

Nyce, Jacob 825 

Otis, Lucius B 381 

O'Farrell, P 387 

Olmsted, Jesse S 549 



PAGE. 

Pettibone, Hiram P 380 

Putnam, Alpheus P 392 

Rawson, Major Eugene Allen 354 

Rhodes, John H 385 

Richards, S. S 390 

Remsburg, Hezekiah 394 

Rawson, Dr. L. Q 446 

Rice, Dr. Robert S 450 

Rice, Dr. John B 458 

Rice, Dr. Robert H 459 

Rife family 691 

Richards, Franklin 722 

Rozell, Charles, and family 759 

Rice, Alfred H 825 

Snyder, Merritt L 394 

Stilwell, Dr. Thomas 454 

Smith, Dr. George E 460 

Sharp, Isaac B 528 

Smith, Frederick, and family 688 

Smith, Jeremiah 695 

Sanford, Carmi G.and Lydia 715 

Schultz, Christian 737 

Skinner, Samuel 776 

Tyler, Morris E 393 

Taylor, Dr. Sardis B 460 

Tyler, John S 535 

Taylor, Austin B 535 

Thorp, Alonzo 724 

Wegstein, Michael 353 

Watson, Cooper K 383 

Williams, Ernest B 391 

Winslow, Hiram W 392 

Williams, Dr. B. F 451 

Wilson, Dr. James W 452 

White, Dr. C. B 462 

Woodward, Gurdon 701 

Wood, Bourdett, and family between 702 and 703 

Young, Noah 643 

Zeigler, Wilbur G 386 

Zeigler, John 739 



HISTORY 



SANDUSKY COUNTY, OHIO 



CHAPTER I. 
ABORIGINAL OCCUPATION. 



The Sandusky Valley in Aboriginal History — The Ancient Eries — General Indian War — The Wyandots Driven from, their 
Ancient Seats — The Eries Perish — Extent of the Conquest of the Six Nations — The Neutral Nation — Two Forts at Lower 
Sandusky — Origin and Destruction of the Neutral Nation — Ohio Indians — Return of the Wyandots — Character of the 
Wyandots — Brant Visits Lower Sandusky, and Forms a Confederacy — Upper Sandusky Becomes their Seat of 
Government — The Wyandots are Given a Reservation in 1817 — Their Final Removal from Ohio in 1842 — Other Tribes and 
Reservations. 



THE Sandusky country, in aboriginal 
history, possesses a peculiar charm and 
fascinating interest. During that period of 
years which fills western annals with the story 
of intrigue and bloody conflict, the plains and 
prairies of the lower Sandusky valley were the 
home of the most powerful and most generous 
of the savage nations. The border country of 
Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky, and 
the first settlements of Ohio, saw the Indian at 
war, and too often his character has been 
estimated by his conduct when inspired to 
cruelty by a natural desire for revenge. Here 
we see him at home, far removed from his 
enemy, and perceive the softer side of his 
untamed nature. The field brings us to a 
nation's capital, acquaints us with the manners 
and customs of primitive life, and by 
affording a more accurate knowledge of the 
treatment of white prisoners, softens harsh 
prejudices. Less than a century ago these 
plains, now covered by a thriving city, 
presented all that interesting variety of scenes 
of Indian life, primitive agriculture, rude 
cabins, canoe-building, amusements, and the 
coun- 



cil fire, around which painted warriors 
planned campaigns and expeditions having 
for their ultimate object the preservation of 
the vast, beautiful forest, and the beloved 
hunting grounds, the return and welcome of 
war parties and the terrifying and not always 
harmless treatment of prisoners. 

Tradition goes back a century farther, and 
makes the locality of this city the seat of a 
still more interesting people, a people who 
for a time preserved existence by neutrality, 
while war, which raged with shocking 
ferocity, effected the extinction of the 
neighboring tribes. 

It will be necessary in these preliminary 
chapters, in which are traced the occupation 
and ownership of the territory included in 
Sandusky county, in order to an 
understanding of historical events common 
to a wide range of country, to frequently go 
beyond the small field of which this volume, 
by its title, professes to treat. At the risk of 
being tedious, we begin with the primitive 
events of Western history. 

Nothing is known of the aboriginal oc- 
cupation of Ohio previous to 1650, and 



10 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



many statements of events during the 
succeeding century rest upon traditional 
authority. At the opening of the historical era, 
the territory now constituting the State was a 
forest wilderness, inhabited mainly by the 
powerful but doomed Eries. Most of their 
villages were located along the south shore of 
the Lake which bears their name. Good Indian 
authority supports the theory that one of the 
strongholds of the tribe was the archipelago 
lying north of Sandusky Bay.* Brant, the 
distinguished Mohawk chief, speaks of them as 
a powerful nation. But the doors of 
extermination awaited them. 

The Indians of Northeastern North America 
have been classed in two generic divisions, the 
Iroquois and the Algonquin. The Iroquois 
family, consisting of the Wyandots, Eries, 
Andastes and the five Confederate tribes, were 
confined to the region south of Lakes Erie and 
Ontario and the peninsula east of Lake Huron. 
They formed as it were an island in the vast 
expanse of Algonquin population extending 
from Hudson's Bay on the north to the Carolinas 
on the south ; from the Atlantic on the east to the 
Mississippi on the west. The Delawares were the 
leading tribe, and, according to tradition, the 
parent stem of the Algonquins The Wyandots 
lived on the eastern shore of Lake Huron and 
were in consequence named by the early French 
explorers, "Hurons." The western tribes of the 
Iroquois family were more powerful than the 
eastern until the great Confederacy of Five 
Nations, afterwards Six by the addition of the 
Tuscarawas, was formed early in the 
seventeenth century. The Six Nations had the 
rude elements of a confederated republic, and 
were the only power in this part of the continent, 
deserving the 

*Schoolcraft. 
+Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac. 



name of Government.* About the middle of the 
seventeenth century began a war which 
desolated the western forest of its inhabitants 
and changed the whole face of aboriginal 
geography. The confederated tribes, grown 
arrogant by fifty years of power, made war upon 
their western neighbors. The country of the 
Wyandots was first invaded. This war had 
already commenced where Champlain entered 
the St. Lawrence, and that enterprising officer 
accompanied one of the hostile parties against 
their enemies. The Wyandots suffered 
disastrously in that war. Driven from their 
ancient home, they were pursued by the 
victorious Iroquois to the northern shores of 
Lake Huron. Distance was no security against 
the relentless fury of their foes, who were 
encouraged by victory and maddened by 
resistance. Famine and disease assisted war's 
devastation. The account of the suffering, told 
by missionaries, who witnessed and shared their 
fate, excites our pity. Driven from their hiding 
places, they fled farther westward until at last a 
feeble remnant found protection in the dominion 
of the Sioux. This helpless remnant of the most 
proud and haughty of the Indian tribes in little 
more than a century, again became the most 
powerful of the Indian nations. 

During this fearful war the Eries remained 
neutral, or, rather, were at the head of a 
confederation of neutral tribes, whose dominion 
extended into Canada, and was crossed by the 
Iroquois confederacy in their campaign against 
the Wyandots. $ The proud Iroquois next began 
that cruel war which resulted in the extinction of 
the whole Neutral Nation. The Canada tribe fell 
first, and then the Eries of Ohio became victims 
of savage butchery. Using their canoes as 
scaling ladders, 



*James Albach's Annals. 

+North American Review, 1827. 

$Schoolcraft. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



11 



the warriors of the eastern confederacy 
stormed the Erie strongholds, leaped down 
like tigers upon the defenders, and murdered 
them without mercy. This general massacre 
was carried to the entire extinction of the 
powerful nation which once held dominion 
over the whole southern shore of Lake Erie. 
The Andastes next perished. The date of this 
event is placed, upon good authority, at 
1672. About the same time the Shawnees 
were driven from their ancient home far into 
the South. The proud Iroquois now 
pretentiously claimed to be the conquerors 
of the whole country from sea to sea, and 
indeed they may have been masters of the 
vast expanse between the lakes and the Ohio 
as far west as the Mississippi. The Miamis, 
however, have no tradition of ever having 
suffered defeat. Well accredited Indian 
writers think, therefore, that the Miami River 
was the western boundary of the Iroquois 
Conquest. 

The territory now embraced in the State 
of Ohio, in consequence of this fatal war, 
became a land sparsely inhabited. The upper 
Ohio Valley was without human habitation 
when explored by the early French 
navigators. The western post of the Six 
Nations on the lake was a Seneca village on 
the Sandusky River, at the location of the 
present village bearing the same name. 

But in the general narrative an item of 
local interest has been passed over. General 
Lewis Cass has preserved the tradition of the 
Wyandots that, during the long and bloody 
wars between the eastern and western tribes, 
there lived upon the Sandusky a neutral tribe 
of Wyandots called the Neutral Nation. They 
occupied two villages which were cities of 
refuge, where those who sought safety never 
failed to find it. These villages stood near 
the lower rapids. "During the long and dis- 
astrous contests which preceded and 



followed the arrival of the Europeans, in 
which the Iroquois contended for victory, and 
their enemies for existence," says General 
Cass, "this little band preserved the integrity 
of their tribe and the sacred character of 
peacemakers. All who met upon their 
threshold met as friends, for the ground on 
which they stood was holy. It was a beautiful 
institution, a calm and peaceful island, 
looking out upon the world of waves and 
tempests." Father Segard says this Neutral 
Nation was in existence when the French 
missionaries first reached the Upper Lakes. 
The details of their history and of their 
character and privileges are meager and 
unsatisfactory. "And this," continues General 
Cass, "is the more to be regretted, as such a 
sanctuary among the barbarous tribes is not 
only a singular institution, but altogether at 
variance with the reckless spirit of cruelty 
with which their wars are usually prosecuted. 
The Wyandot tradition represents them as 
having separated from the parent stock during 
the bloody wars with their own tribe and the 
Iroquois, and having fled to the Sandusky 
River for safety." The tradition runs, that at 
the lower rapids two forts were erected, one 
for the Iroquois or Six Nations, the other for 
their enemies. In these, war parties might find 
security and hospitality when they entered the 
country. Tradition does not tell why so 
unusual a proposition should be made or 
acceded to. General Cass thinks it probable 
that superstition lent its aid to the institution, 
and that it may have been indebted for its 
origin to the feasts and charms and juggling 
ceremonies which constituted the religion of 
the natives. "No other motive was sufficient 
to restrain the hand of violence and to 
counteract the threat of vengeance." 

Major B. F. Stickney, for many years an 
Indian Agent in this part of Ohio, said in a 
lecture delivered in Toledo in 1845: 



12 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



The remains of extensive works of defence are now to 
be seen near Lower Sandusky. The Wyandots have given 
me this account of them: At a period of two centuries 
and a-half ago* all the Indians west of this point were at 
war with those east. Two walled towns were built near 
each other and each were inhabited by those of Wyandot 
origin. They assumed a neutral character and all the 
Indians at war recognized that character. They might be 
called two neutral cities. All of the west might enter the 
western city and all of the east the eastern. The 
inhabitants of one city might inform those of the other 
that war parties were there or had been there; but who 
they were, or whence they came, or anything more must 
not be mentioned. The war parties might remain there in 
security, taking their own time for departure. At the 
western town they suffered warriors to burn their 
prisoners near it, but the eastern would not. (An old 
Wyandot informed me that he recollected seeing, when a 
boy, the remains of a cedar post or stake at which they 
used to burn prisoners). The French historians tell us 
that when they first came here these neutral cities were 
inhabited and their neutral character preserved. At 
length a quarrel arose between these two cities and one 
destroyed the inhabitants of the other. This put an end to 
neutrality. 

These traditions, handed down along the 
generations for nearly two centuries, are 
probably inaccurate in detail, but the general 
fact of the existence of two such cities, 
located near the headwaters of navigation on 
the Sandusky River, is entitled to as much 
consideration as any other fact of early 
Indian history. In view of the general 
historical events of the period the tradition is 
reasonable. A fierce and relentless attack 
was made upon the Wyandot Nation by the 
Confederated Iroquois. In the bloody contest 
which followed, the Wyandots were defeated 
and driven from their native soil. While the 
body of the defeated nation sought refuge in 
the high latitudes above Lake Huron, it is 
not improbable that a tribe or company 
crossed Lake Erie towards the south, found 
their way into Sandusky Bay and thence 
ascended the river to where rapids and 
shallow water prevented further progress. 
Here, at the head of navigation, 

*This tradition places the time too early by more than 
half a century. 



would be a natural place to settle, and ex- 
perience would dictate the propriety of 
building works of defence. Experience, too, 
would dictate the propriety of neutrality, 
when the Eries, among whom they had 
settled, were compelled, at a later period, to 
take up the weapons of war in defence of their 
country. These refugee Wyandots, if we 
suppose the tradition to be true, had seen the 
Neutral Nation of the northern side of the lake 
escape the cruel invaders, on account of 
neutrality. A similar policy of neutrality 
shielded them during the equally savage 
contest which resulted in the extinction of the 
Eries. History and tradition authorize the 
belief that a neutral tribe once dwelt near the 
present city of Fremont, and also that they 
were destroyed; either in an internal 
dissension or by the hand of the invading 
warriors of the Iroquois Confederacy. Gist 
found, in 1750, on White-woman creek, a 
Wyandot village containing about one 
hundred families, named "Muskingum." This 
is supposed to have been an isolated govern- 
ment. There can be no doubt but that the 
Wyandot Nation was greatly scattered by the 
general war of 1655. 

We have now given the most trustworthy 
information, so far as our knowledge of 
aboriginal history goes, of the Indian 
occupation of the region in which Sandusky 
county is included, prior to the period which 
historians have termed the second Indian 
occupation of Ohio. Previous to 1650, nothing 
is known. The succeeding century may be 
called the first period of Indian history. At the 
opening of this period the Eries were un- 
doubtedly masters of the Sandusky River 
region. Accepting tradition as authority, a 
detached band of refugee Wyandots 
established themselves at the lower rapids, 
and probably became masters of the soil. 
Then followed the conquest of the Six 
Nations, and a half century of quiet, per- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



13 



haps undisturbed, preceded the second 
Wyandot occupation. 

The first authentic and accurate knowl- 
edge of Ohio Indians may be said to have 
had its beginning about 1750. About that 
time French and English traders sought out 
the denizens of the Ohio forests, and from 
their accounts some knowledge of the 
strength and character of the Indian tribes 
and their location, can be gleaned. The most 
trustworthy and valuable accounts are to be 
found in the narrative of the captivity of 
Colonel James Smith, who, as a prisoner, 
tramped the forest from the lakes to the 
river, having been a captive from 1755 to 
1759, and in the reports made in 1764 by 
Colonel Boquet, as the result of his 
observations while making a military 
expedition west of the Ohio. 

According to Boquet' s report, the prin- 
cipal Indian tribes in Ohio about the middle 
of the last century were the Wyandots, the 
Delawares, the Shawnees, the Mingos, the 
Chippewas and the Tawas (or Ottawas). The 
Delawares occupied the valleys of the 
Muskingum and Tuscarawas; the Shawnees, 
the Scioto Valley; the Miamis, the valleys of 
the two rivers which bear their name; the 
Wyandots occupied the country about the 
Sandusky River; the Ottawas were located 
on the valleys of the Sandusky and Maumee, 
or Miami of the Lake; the Chippewas in- 
habited the south shore of Lake Erie; and the 
Mingos, an offshoot of the six Nations, were 
in greatest strength on the Ohio, below the 
present city of Steubenville. All the tribes, 
however, frequented the country outside 
their ascribed limits of territory, and at 
different periods, from the time when the 
first definite knowledge concerning them 
was obtained, down to the era of white 
settlement, occupied different locations. 
Thus the Delawares, whom Boquet found in 
1764 in greatest numbers 



in the Tuscarawas Valley, thirty years later 
mainly occupied the county which, bears 
their name; and the Shawnees, who were 
found strongest on the Scioto, had, by the 
time of St. Clair and Wayne s wars, con- 
centrated upon the Little Miami. As the 
natives saw white settlements encroaching 
upon their hunting grounds, a bond of 
sympathy and common danger united the 
nations. Tribal differences and jealousies 
were forgotten when they foresaw the des- 
truction of their loved domain by the white 
man's axe. 

The Delawares had their densest popu- 
lation on the Upper Muskingum and Tus- 
carawas. They were in possession of the 
greater part of the eastern half of the present 
territory of Ohio, their domain extending 
from the Ohio to Lake Erie. This tribe, 
which claimed to be the elder branch of the 
Lenni-Lenape, has, in tradition, in history, 
and in fiction, been accorded a high rank 
among the Indians of North America. The 
best accredited Indian historians have testified 
to the superiority of the Delawares, and James 
Fennimore Cooper, in his charming romances, 
has popularized the fame of the tribe. Long 
before the advent of Europeans upon the 
continent, according to tradition, the 
Delawares lived in the West, but separating 
from the rest of the Lenni-Lenape, they 
migrated slowly eastward. In alliance with the 
Iroquois they conquered a race of giants, the 
Allegewi, and finally settled on the Delaware 
River, where European navigators found 
them. After the Atlantic coast became settled 
by whites the Delawares again came West. A 
portion of the tribe having obtained 
permission from the Wyandots, then settled 
on the Muskingum. They called the Wyandots 
their uncles, thus acknowledging the 
superiority of that Nation. They settled on the 
Muskingum about 1745, and the fact that 
permission was obtained 



14 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



from the Wyandots is an evidence that that 
Nation succeeded the Iroquois to the domain 
of the conquered Eries. The most successful 
labors of the Moravian missionaries were 
among the Delawares. 

The Shawnees are interesting to us, chiefly 
because of the nativity of the great war chief, 
Tecumseh, through whose influence the tribes 
of Ohio were drawn into an alliance with the 
British armies in 1812. The Shawnees were 
the only Indians who had a tradition of 
foreign origin, and for some time after the 
whites became acquainted with them they 
celebrated the arrival of their remote 
ancestors. Little is known of the early history 
of this tribe. It is generally conceded, 
however, that at an early period they were 
overcome and scattered, some being carried 
by their conquerors into Pennsylvania, and 
others driven South into the Creek country. 
Encouraged by the Wyandots and French they 
returned, about 1740, and settled in the fertile 
valley of the Scioto. It is said that Tecumseh's 
mother was a Creek woman whom his father 
took for a wife during the southern residence 
of the tribe. The chief himself, who 
commanded the Indian forces during the 
attack on Fort Stephenson, was born in the 
Mad River Valley after the return of his tribe. 

Shawnee war parties frequently visited 
Lower Sandusky while this place was oc- 
cupied by the Wyandots. Their captives were 
brought here on the way to Detroit, and their 
friendly alliance with the Wyandots made the 
Indian power most formidable during the 
early settlement of the Northwest. The four 
tribes of the Shawnees were the Piqua, 
Kiskapocke, Mequachuke, and Chillicothe. 
They were a highly imaginative people as is 
shown by the abundance of fanciful 
traditions. Their account of the origin of the 
Piqua is a good example. According to the le- 
gend, the tribe began in a perfect man, 



who burst into being from fire and ashes. 
The Shawnees said to the first whites who 
mingled with them, that once, when the wise 
men and chiefs were sitting around the 
smouldering embers of a council fire, they 
were all startled with a great puffing of fire 
and smoke, and suddenly from the ashes and 
dying coals there arose before them a man of 
splendid form and mien. He was named 
Piqua to signify the manner of his coming 
into the world, that he was born of fire and 
ashes. This legend of the origin of the tribe, 
beautiful in its simplicity, has been made the 
subject of much comment by several writers, 
as showing, in a marked degree, the romantic 
susceptibility of the Indian character. The 
Shawnees have been designated "the 
Bedouins of the American wilderness" by 
some writers, and "the Spartan of the race" 
by others. They are justly entitled to the 
former title by their extensive and constant 
wanderings; the latter title more properly 
belongs to the Wyandots. The Shawnees 
were vigorous warriors. They made frequent 
incursions into the white settlements; were 
the active allies of the French, and 
afterwards of the British during the 
Revolution; made constant war upon the 
frontier settlements of Ohio and Kentucky, 
and participated actively in the war against 
St. Clair and Wayne; in the War of 1812 a 
part of the Nation followed the celebrated 
Tecumseh. It was during this long period of 
war that they frequently visited Lower 
Sandusky with captives or for council. 

The Ottawas existed in the territory 
constituting the State of Ohio, in small 
numbers. They seem to have been inferior in 
almost every respect to the other great 
Indian nations of Ohio. The name of Pontiac 
alone renders them conspicuous in history. 

The Miamis, so far as is known, were the 
original inhabitants of the valleys 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



15 



bearing their name, and claimed to have 
been created in it. The Mingos had a few 
small villages along the Ohio River and the 
Lake basin. Drake mentions a Mingo village 
near Lower Sandusky. Logan has made the 
name Mingo familiar to every reader of 
western adventure. 

In our sketch of the first period of 
aboriginal history, we left the main stem of 
the Wyandot Nation, a weak band of refugees, 
under the protection of the Sioux, in the 
country west of Lake Superior, where they 
enjoyed safety and tranquility. But defeat and 
overthrow did not kill the proud spirit native 
to the tribe. A domain lost, left dominion to 
be gained. In a few years the power of the 
Iroquois Confederacy was crippled by their 
wars with the French. The Wyandots de- 
scended Lake Superior and occupied the lands 
about old Michilimackinac. When the French 
fort at Detroit was established they were 
invited to settle in its vicinity and their 
services were important in resisting the 
hostile operations which the Foxes continued 
against the infant colony. Their final 
migration was to the plains of Sandusky. Just 
when they came to Sandusky is not known. 
Colonel James Smith in the narrative of his 
captivity, claims to have visited, in 1757, a 
town on the "Little Lake" (which was the 
name given Sandusky Bay) named 
Sunyendeand, which was probably located 
near the mouth of Cold creek,* in Erie 
county. This is spoken of as a village of 
considerable size, but, although he ascended 
the river, no mention is made of a village at 
the falls. "When we came to the fall of 
Sandusky," says the narrative, "we buried our 
birch bark canoes as usual, at a large burying 
place for that purpose, a little below the falls. 
At this place the river falls about eight feet 
over a rock, but not perpendicularly; with 
much difficulty we pushed up our wooden 

:I: Firelands Pioneer, 



canoes; some of us went up the river and 
others by land on horses, until we came to 
the great meadows or prairies that lie 
between the Sandusky and Scioto." 

Colonel Smith describes the country from 
the mouth of the Sandusky to the falls as 
chiefly first-rate land, lying flat or level, 
intermixed with large bodies of clear mead- 
ows, where the grass is exceeding rank and 
in many places three or four feet high. "The 
timber is oak, hickory, walnut, cherry, black 
ash, elm, sugar-tree, buckeye, locust, and 
beech. In some places there is weft timber 
land the timber in these places is chiefly 
water-ash, sycamore, and buttonwood. From 
the falls to the prairie the land lies well to 
the sun; it is neither too flat or too hilly, but 
is chiefly first-rate; the timber nearly the 
same as below the falls, excepting the water- 
ash." 

Colonel Smith's narrative gives negative 
evidence that the seat of government of the 
Wyandots was yet at Detroit, and that there 
were no villages on Sandusky River above 
the bay and below the prairies. The Nation, 
however, was acknowledged to be at the 
head of the great Indian family.* 

How this preeminence was acquired none 
now can tell. They were the guardians of the 
great council fire, and they alone had the 
privilege of sending their messengers with 
the well-known credentials, wampum and 
tobacco, to summon other tribes to meet 
their uncle, the Wyandot, when any 
important subject required deliberation. In 
the calamities occasioned by the victories of 
the Iroquois, the site of the council fire had 
often changed, but always with prescribed 
ceremonial and with due notice to all.t This 
fire was extinguished in blood at 
Brownstown, at the mouth of the Detroit 
river in 1812. The Wyandots were the 



*Lewis Cass, in North American Review, 
tGeneral Lewis Cass. 



16 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



keepers of the grand calumet and performed 
that office in the unequal contest with 
General Wayne in which the allied tribes 
were hopelessly defeated. 

Lower Sandusky probably became the 
principal war seat of the Wyandots, although 
Upper Sandusky was the chief seat of 
government. Half King, the great chief, lived 
at Upper Sandusky, but Tarhe, the Crane, the 
principal war chief, lived at Lower 
Sandusky, at least until Wayne's victory and 
the treaty of Greenville, after which the 
office of Half King was abolished, and 
Crane, the great war chief and chief of the 
Porcupine tribe, became the head chief of 
the Nation. Crane led his warriors from 
Lower Sandusky against Wayne, and he, 
himself, carried the grand calumet. He was 
made custodian of the treaty of Greenville.* 

The first mention of an Indian village at 
Lower Sandusky is made by Boquet, in his 
report, made in 1764, where he speaks of the 
Wyandot village Junqueindundeh, near the 
falls of Sandusky. When missionaries first 
visited this county the plains along the river 
were planted in corn and the Wyandots of 
Upper Sandusky frequently sent down for 
supplies. 

An event of unusual consequence is 
hinted at by Captain Brant, the famous half- 
breed chief of the Mohawks and war chief 
of the Six Nations. In a council held at 
Buffalo Creek, in 1794, Brant, addressing 
General Chapin, the United States 
Commissioner, said: "This idea (exerting 
ourselves to hold our territory,) we all 
entertained at our council at Lower 
Sandusky, for the purpose of forming our 
confederacy and to adopt measures for the 
general good of our Indian nations and 
people of our color." On another occasion 
Brant said: "For several years we were 
engaged in getting a confederacy formed, 
and the unanimity occasioned 

* History of Fort Wayne. 



by these endeavors among our Western 
brethren enabled them to defeat two 
American armies." In 1785, after the 
formation of the confederacy, Brant went to 
England.* These fragments indicate that the 
present site of the city of Fremont is the 
ground on which the grand confederacy was 
formed, of which Brant was chief, and which 
enabled the Western tribes to defeat two 
American armies. 

The government of the Wyandots was 
reposed in a council of seven chiefs, and the 
Nation was divided into seven tribes, over 
each of which a chief presided. These were 
the three Turtle tribes, the Little Turtle, the 
Water Turtle, and the Large Land Turtle; the 
Porcupine tribe, the Deer tribe, the Bear 
tribe, and the Snake tribe. The office of chief 
was hereditary in the female line. A chief 
was succeeded by his sister's son or by the 
nearest male relative in that line. After the 
office of Half King was abolished, the chief 
of the Porcupine tribe was the acknowledged 
head of the Nation. This honor belonged to 
Tarhe, or the Crane, as he was generally 
known. 

We cannot dismiss this subject without 
speaking of the character of this Nation, 
which but little more than half a century ago 
possessed and inhabited our soil, but is now 
well nigh extinct. General Harrison gives to 
the Wyandots unquestioned preference 
among the Western Indians on the score of 
bravery. With other tribes, flight in battle, 
when occasioned by unexpected resistance 
and obstacles, brought with it no disgrace, 
and was rather a part of their strategy, but 
otherwise with the Wyandots. In the battle of 
the Maumee Rapids, in which the 
confederated tribes were broken by General 
Wayne, of the thirteen Wyandot chiefs 
engaged, but one escaped, and he badly 
wounded. 

When General Wayne assumed his 



"Perkins's Annals of the West. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



17 



position at Greenville, in 1795, he sent for 
Captain Wells, who commanded a company 
of scouts, and told him that he wished him to 
go to Sandusky, and take a prisoner for the 
purpose of obtaining information. Wells 
(who, having been taken from Kentucky 
when a boy and brought up by the Indians, 
was perfectly acquainted with Indian 
character,) answered that: he could take a 
prisoner, but not from Sandusky." "And why 
not from Sandusky?" said the General. 
"Because," answered Captain Wells, "there 
are only Wyandots living at Sandusky." 
"Well, why will not Wyandots do?" "For the 
best of reasons," answered Wells; "because 
Wyandots will not be taken alive." 

Upper Sandusky had been the main 
station of the Wyandots, and probably after 
the treaty of Greenville was their only seat 
of government in Ohio. By the treaty of the 
Maumee Rapids, in 1817, they relinquished 
all claim to the Sandusky Valley, except a 
reservation twelve miles square in the 
county, which bears their name. The center 
of this reservation was Fort Ferree, now the 
town of Upper Sandusky. An additional 
reservation, one mile square, was granted 
them for hunting purposes, on Broken Sword 
Creek. 

By the same treaty the Delawares re- 
ceived a reservation, three miles square, in 
Wyandot county. The Delawares ceded their 
reservation to the United States in 1829, the 
Wyandots in 1842, they being at that time 
the only Indians remaining in the State. They 
departed for the West in July, 1843, their 
number at that time being seven hundred 
souls. Colonel John Johnson, the Indian 
Commissioner at that time, says many of the 
old chiefs cried, and all regretted to leave 
their native land. 

During the later years of their residence in 
Ohio, William Walker was a leader among 
the Wyandots. He had been clerk 



on an Ohio river steamboat, but came among 
the Indians for purposes of speculation. He 
married a half-blood squaw at Upper 
Sandusky, who was one of the most 
intelligent women on the reservation. Walker 
became quite wealthy. He had several boys 
and girls whom he educated. One of the sons 
was William H. Walker, for some time 
Government interpreter. He had considerable 
poetical genius, as is shown by the following 
lines composed while at college: 

Oh, give me back my bended bow, 

My cap and feather, give them back, 
To chase o'er hill the mountain roe, 

Or follow in the otter's track. 

You took me from my native wild, 

Where all was bright, and free and blest; 

You said the Indian hunter's child 

In classic halls and bowers should rest. 

Long have I dwelt within these walls 

And pored o'er ancient pages long. 
I hate these antiquated halls; 

I hate the Grecian poet's song. 

Just before departing for the West, young 
Walker wrote the following song in the 
Wyandot tongue, but translated it into 
English: 

THE WYANDOT'S FAREWELL. 

Farewell, ye tall oaks, in whose pleasant green shade 
I've sported in childhood, in innocence played, 
My dog and my hatchet, my arrow and bow, 
Are still in remembrance, alas! I must go. 

Adieu, ye dear scenes which bound me like chains, 
As on my gay pony I pranced o'er the plains; 
The deer and the turkey I tracked in the snow, 
O'er the great Mississippi, alas! I must go. 

Sandusky, Tyamochtee, and Broken Sword streams, 
No more shall I see you except in my dreams. 
Farewell to the marshes where cranberries grow, 
O'er the great Mississippi, alas! I must go. 

Dear scenes of my childhood, in memory blest, 
I must bid you farewell for the far distant West. 
My heart swells with sorrow, my eyes overflow, 
O'er the great Mississippi, alas! I must go. 

Let me go to the wildwood, my own native home. Where 
the wild deer and elk and buffalo roam, 
Where the tall cedars are and the bright waters flow, 
Far away from the paleface, oh, there let me go. 



18 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



There were along the Sandusky River 
scattered bands of other tribes — Mingos, 
Mohawks, Onondagas, Tuscarawas and 
Oneidas. Good Hunter, a leading Mingo chief, 
said his band was a remnant of Logan's tribe. 
By the treaty of Maumee Rapids in 1817, 
these scattered fragments of tribes, with a few 
Wyandots, were grouped together upon a 
reservation consisting of thirty thousand acres 
of land, which was increased to forty 
thousand the following year. This reservation 
extended two miles and an eighth northward 
of the south county line, and from the 
Sandusky River to Green Spring. The name 
Senecas of Sandusky was applied, because of 
the old Indian village of that name. Most of 
the inhabitants of this reservation were 
descendants of the six tribes composing the 
Iroquois confederacy of Six Nations. It should 
be remembered that the territory included 
within the limits of this reservation was, 
before the treaty of 1817, embraced in the 
country of the Wyandots. By a treaty 
concluded at Washington in 1831, these 
Indians relinquished their land, and removed 
to the Neosho River. 



Like the Wyandots of Upper Sandusky, 
they came to Lower Sandusky to trade, 
Judge Olmstead being their favorite 
merchant. 

The principal chiefs of the Senecas were 
Coonstick, Small Cloud Spicer, Seneca 
Steel, Hard Hickory, Tall Chief; and Good 
Hunter. Many interesting episodes in their 
history are narrated in the chapters relating 
to Ballville and Green Creek townships. 

The Ottawas were a nation of hunters and 
trappers, and were always subjects of shame 
among their warlike neighbors. This last 
residence in Ohio was on the Maumee River. 
They never laid claim to any part of 
Sandusky county, but often followed both 
the Portage and Sandusky Rivers on hunting 
expeditions. 

The Delawares, after being forced from 
their seats on the Muskingum, occupied the 
western and central part of the State. The 
Muncies, the most warlike of the tribes of 
this Nation, established a village on the 
Sandusky River, about three miles below the 
Wyandot village at the rapids. Here 
Tecumseh visited them in 1809. 



CHAPTER II. 



OWNERSHIP OF THE NORTHWEST. 

The Claims of France, Founded on Discovery and Occupation — England's Claim Based Upon Discovery and Settlement of the 
Atlantic Coast and Treaties of Purchase — Treaty of Paris in 1763 — Ohio as a Part of France and Canada — The "Quebec 
Bill" — Title Vested in the Confederated States by Treaty in 1783 — Conflicting Claims of States — Virginia's Exercise of Civil 
Authority — The Northwest Territory Erected as Botetourt County — Illinois County — New York Withdraws Claim — Virginia's 
Deed of Cession Massachusetts Cedes Her Claim Without Reservation" — The Tardy and Reluctant Sacrifice of State 
Pretensions to the Public Good," Made by Connecticut — A Serious Evil Averted — The States Urged to their Action by New 
Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland — Extinguishment of the Indian Title — Difficulty of Making Satisfactory Provisions — A 
Harsh and Unjust Policy — Washington's Influence Causes More Humane Treatment of the Indians — Treaty of Fort Stanwix — 
Treaty of Fort Mcintosh — George Rogers Clarke, General Butler, and S. H. Parsons Confer with Several Tribes at the Mouth 
of the Miami — Measures of the Treaty Ineffectual to Preserve Peace — Great Improvement in the Attitude of the 
Government — Indian Tribes Recognized as Rightful Owners — Appropriations Made to Purchase Title from Them. 



FRANCE, resting her claim upon the dis- 
covery and explorations of Robert Ca- 
valier de la Salle and Marquette, upon the 
occupation of the country, and later, upon 
the provisions of several European treaties 
(those of Utrecht, Ryswick, Aix-la- 
Chapelle), was the first nation to formally 
lay claim to the soil of the territory now in- 
cluded within the boundaries of the State of 
Ohio as an integral portion of the valley of 
the Mississippi and of the Northwest. Ohio 
was thus a part of New France. After the 
treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, it was a part of 
the French province of Louisiana, which 
extended from the gulf to the northern lakes. 
The English claims were based on the 
priority of their occupation of the Atlantic 
coast, in latitude corresponding to the 
territory claimed; upon an opposite 
construction of the same treaties above 
named; and last but not least, upon the 
alleged cession of the rights of the Indians. 
England's charters to all of the original 
colonies expressly extended their grants 
from sea to sea. The principal ground of 
claim by the English was by 



the treaties of purchase from the Six Nations, 
who; claiming to be conquerors of the whole 
country and therefore its possessors, asserted 
their right to dispose of it. A portion of the 
land was obtained through grants from the Six 
Nations and by actual purchase made at 
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1744. France 
successfully resisted the claims of England, 
and maintained control of the territory 
between the Ohio and the takes by force of 
arms until the Treaty of Paris was 
consummated, in 1763. By the provisions of 
this treaty Great Britain came into possession 
of the disputed lands, and retained it until 
ownership was vested in the United States by 
the treaty of peace made just twenty years 
later. We have seen that Ohio was once a part 
of France and of the French province of 
Louisiana, and as a curiosity it may be of 
interest to refer to an act of the British 
Parliament, which made it an integral part of 
Canada. This was what has been known in 
history as the "Quebec Bill," passed in 1794. 
By the provisions of this bill the Ohio River 
was made the southwestern, and the 
Mississippi 



1) 



20 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



River the western boundary of Canada, thus 
placing the territory now constituting the 
States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, 
and Wisconsin under the local jurisdiction of 
the Province of Quebec. 

Virginia had asserted claims to the whole 
territory northwest of the Ohio, and New 
York had claimed title to portions of the 
same. These claims had been for the most part 
held in abeyance during the period when the 
general ownership was vested in Great 
Britain, but were afterwards the cause of 
much embarrassment to the United States. 
Virginia, however, had not only claimed 
ownership of the soil, but attempted the 
exercise of civil authority in the disputed 
territory as early as 1769. In that year the 
Colonial House of Burgesses passed an act 
establishing the county of Botetourt, 
including a large part of what is now West 
Virginia and the whole territory northwest of 
the Ohio, and having, of course, as its western 
boundary, the Mississippi River. This was a 
county of vast proportions-a fact of which the 
august authorities who ordered its 
establishment seem to have been fully aware, 
for they inserted the following among other 
provisions of the act, viz: 

WHEREAS, The people situated upon the Mississippi 
in the said county of Botetourt will be very remote from 
the courthouse, and must necessarily become a separate 
county as soon as their numbers are sufficient, which will 
probably happen in a short time, be it therefore enacted by 
the authority aforesaid that the inhabitants of that part of 
the said county of Botetourt, which lies on the said waters, 
shall be exempted from the payment of any levies to be 
laid by the said county for the purpose of building a 
courthouse and prison for said county. 

It was more in name than in fact, however, 
that Virginia had jurisdiction over this great 
county of Botetourt through the act of 1769. 
In 1778, after the splendid achievements of 
General George Rogers Clarke — his 
subjugation of the British posts in the far 
West, and conquest of the whole country from 
the Ohio to the 



Mississippi — this territory was organized by 
the Virginia Legislature as the county of 
Illinois. Then, and not until then, did 
government have more than a nominal 
existence in this far extending but 
undeveloped country, containing a few 
towns and scattered population. The act, 
which was passed in October, contained the 
following provisions: 

All the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia who 
are already settled, or shall hereafter settle on the 
western side of the Ohio, shall be included in a distinct 
county which shall be called Illinois; and the Governor 
of this Commonwealth, with the advice of the council, 
may appoint a County Lieutenant or Commandant-in- 
Chief, during pleasure, who shall appoint and 
commission so many Deputy-Commandants, Militia 
officers and Commissaries, as he shall think proper, in 
the different districts, during pleasure, all of whom, 
before they enter into office, shall take the oath of 
fidelity to this Commonwealth, and the oath of office, 
according to the form of their own religion. And all 
officers to whom the inhabitants have been accustomed, 
necessary to the preservation of peace and the 
administration of justice, shall be chosen by a majority 
of citizens, in their respective districts, to be convened 
for that purpose by the County Lieutenant or 
Commandant, or his deputy, and shall be commissioned 
by the said County Lieutenant or Commandant-in-Chief. 

John Todd was appointed as County 
Lieutenant and Civil Commandant of Illinois 
county, and served until his, death (he was 
killed in the battle of Blue Lick, August 18, 
1782), being succeeded by Timothy de 
Montbrun. 

New York was the first of the several 
States claiming right and title in Western 
lands to withdraw the same in favor of the 
United States. Her charter, obtained March 
2, 1664, from Charles II., embraced territory 
which had formerly been granted to 
Massachusetts and Connecticut. The cession 
of claim was made by James Duane, William 
Floyd, and Alexander McDougall, on behalf 
of the State, March 1, 1781. 

Virginia, with a far more valid claim than 
New York, was the next State to follow New 
York's example. Her claim was 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



21 



founded upon certain charters granted to the 
colony by James I., and bearing date 
respectively, April 10, 1606, May 23, 1609, 
and March 12, 1611; upon the conquest of 
the country by General George Rogers 
Clarke; and upon the fact that she had also 
exercised civil authority over the territory. 
The General Assembly of Virginia, at its 
session beginning October 20, 1783, passed 
an act authorizing its delegates in Congress 
to convey to the United States in Congress 
assembled, all the right of that 
Commonwealth to the territory northwest of 
the Ohio River. The act was consummated 
on March 17, 1784. By one of the provisory 
clauses of this act was reserved the Virginia 
Military District, lying between the waters 
of the Scioto and Little Miami Rivers. 

Massachusetts ceded her claims without 
reservation, the same year that Virginia did 
hers (1784), though the action was not 
formally consummated until the 18th of 
April, 1785. The right, of her title had been 
rested upon her charter, granted less than a 
quarter of a century from the arrival of the 
Mayflower, and embracing territory 
extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 

Connecticut made what has been char- 
acterized as "the last tardy and reluctant 
sacrifice of State pretensions to the common 
good" * on the 14th of September, 1786. She 
ceded to Congress all her "right, title, 
interest, jurisdiction, and claim to the lands 
northwest of the Ohio, excepting the 
Connecticut Western Reserve," and of this 
tract jurisdictional claim was not ceded to 
the United States until May 30, 1801. 

The happy, and, considering all 
complications, speedy adjustment of the con- 
flicting claims of the States, and consolida- 
tion of all rights of title in the United 

* Statutes of Ohio; Chief Justice Chase. 



States, was productive of the best results both 
at home and abroad. The young Nation, born 
in the terrible throes of the Revolution, went 
through a trying ordeal, and one of which the 
full peril was not realized until it had been 
safely passed. Serious troubles threatened to 
arise from the disputed ownership of the 
Western lands, and there were many who had 
grave fears that the wellbeing of the country 
would be impaired or at least its progress 
impeded. The infant Republic was at that time 
closely and jealously watched by all the 
governments of Europe, and nearly all of 
them would have rejoiced to witness the 
failure of the American experiment, but they 
were not destined to be gratified at the 
expense of the United States. As it was, the 
most palpable harm, caused by delay, was the 
retarding of settlement. The movement 
towards the complete cession of State claims 
was accelerated as much as possible by 
Congress. The National Legislature 
strenuously urged the several States, in 1784, 
to cede their lands to the Confederacy to aid 
the payment of the debts incurred during the 
Revolution, and to promote the harmony of 
the Union.* 

The States of New Jersey, Delaware, and 
Maryland had taken the initiative action and 
been largely instrumental in bringing about 
the cession of State claims. The fact that they 
had no foundation for pretensions of 
ownership save that they had equally, in 
proportion to their ability with the other 
States, assisted in wresting these lands from 
Great Britain, led them to protest against an 
unfair division of the territory-New Jersey 
had memorialized Congress in 1778, and 
Delaware followed in the same spirit in Jan- 
uary, 1779. Later in the same year Maryland 
virtually reiterated the principles 



Albach's Annals of the West. 



22 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



advanced by New Jersey and Maryland, 
though more positively. Her representatives 
in Congress emphatically and eloquently 
expressed their views and those of their 
constituents, in the form of instructions upon 
the matter of confirming the articles of 
Confederation. 

The extinguishment of the Indian claims 
to the soil of the Northwest was another 
delicate and difficult duty which devolved 
upon the Government. In the treaty of peace, 
ratified by Congress in 1784, no provision 
was made by Great Britain in behalf of the 
Indians-even their most faithful allies, the 
Six Nations. Their lands were included in 
the boundaries secured to the United States. 
They had suffered greatly during the war, 
and the Mohawks had been dispossessed of 
the whole of their beautiful valley. The only 
remuneration they received was a tract of 
country in Canada, and all of the sovereignty 
which great Britain had exercised over them 
was transferred to the United States. The 
relation of the new Government to these 
Indians was peculiar. In 1782 the British 
principle, in brief that "might makes right" 
that discovery was equivalent to conquest, 
and that therefore the nations retained only a 
possessory claim to their lands, and could 
only abdicate it to the government claiming 
sovereignty-was introduced into the general 
policy of the United States. The Legislature 
of New York was determined to expel the 
Six Nations entirely, in retaliation for their 
hostility during the war. Through the just 
and humane counsels of Washington and 
Schuyler, however, a change was wrought in 
the Indian policy, and the Continental 
Congress sought henceforward in its action 
to condone the hostilities of the past and 
gradually to dispossess the Indians of their 
lands by purchase, as the growth of the 
settlements might render it necessary to do 
so. It was in pursuance 



of this policy that the treaty of Fort Stanwix 
was made, October 22, 1784. By this treaty 
were extinguished the vague claims which the 
confederated tribes, the Mohawks, 
Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Tuscarawas, 
and Oneidas had for more than a century 
maintained to the Ohio Valley. The 
commissioners of Congress in this transaction 
were Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and 
Arthur Lee. The Six Nations were represented 
by two of their ablest chiefs, Cornplanter and 
Red Jacket, the former for peace and the latter 
for war. La Fayette was present at this treaty 
and importuned the Indians to preserve peace 
with the Americans. 

By the treaty of Fort Mcintosh, negotiated 
on the 21st of January, 1785, by George 
Rogers Clarke, Richard Butler and Arthur 
Lee, was secured the relinquishment of all 
claims to the Ohio Valley held by the 
Delawares, Ottawas, Wyandots, and 
Chippewas. The provisions of this treaty were 
as follows: 

ARTICLE 1st — Three chiefs, one from the Wyandot 
and two from the Delaware Nations, shall be delivered up 
to the Commissioners of the United States, to be by them 
retained till all the prisoners taken by the said Nations or 
any of them shall be restored. 

ARTICLE 2d— The said Indian Nations and all of their 
tribes do acknowledge themselves to be under the 
protection of the United States and of no other sovereign 
whatever. 

ARTICLE 3d — The boundary line between the United 
States and the Wyandot and Delaware Nations shall begin 
at the mouth of the river Cuyahoga and run thence up the 
said river to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas 
branch of the Muskingum; then down the said branch to 
the forks at the crossing-place above Fort Laurens; then 
west-wardly to the portage of the Big Miami, which runs 
into the Ohio, at the mouth of which branch the fort stood 
which was taken by the French in the year one thousand 
seven hundred and fifty-two; then along the said portage 
to the Great Miami or Owl River, and down the southeast 
side of the same to its mouth; thence down the south shore 
of Lake Erie to the mouth of the Cuyahoga where it began. 

ARTICLE 4th— The United States allot all the lands 
contained within the said lines to the Wyandot and 
Delaware Nations, to live and to hunt on, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



23 



and to such of the Ottawa Nation as now live thereon; 
saving and reserving for the establishment of trading posts 
six miles square at the mouth of the Miami or Owl River 
and the same at the portage of that branch of the Miami 
which runs into the Ohio, and the same on the Cape of 
Sandusky, where the fort formerly stood, and also two 
miles square on the lower rapids of Sandusky River; 
which posts and the land annexed to them, shall be for the 
use and under the Government of the United States. 

ARTICLE 5th — If any citizen of the United States, or 
other person not being an Indian, shall attempt to settle on 
any of the lands allotted to the Wyandot and Delaware 
Nations in this treaty, except on the lands reserved to the 
United States, in the preceding article, such person shall 
forfeit the protection of the United States, and the Indians 
may punish him as they please. 

ARTICLE 6th — The Indians who sign this treaty, as 
well in behalf of all their tribes as of themselves, do 
acknowledge the lands east, south and west of the lands 
described in the third article, so far as the said Indians 
claimed the same, to belong to the United States, and none 
of the tribes shall presume to settle upon the same or any 
part of it. 

ARTICLE 7th— The post of Detroit, with a district 
beginning at the mouth of the River Rosine on the west 
side of Lake Erie and running west six miles up the 
southern bank of the said river; thence northerly, and 
always six miles west of the strait, till it strikes Lake St. 
Clair, shall also be reserved to the sole use of the United 
States. 

ARTI CLE 8th — In the same manner the post of 
Michilimackinac with its dependencies, and twelve 
miles square about the same, shall be reserved to the use 
of the United States. 

ARTICLE 9th — If any Indian or Indians shall commit 
a robbery or murder on any citizen of the United States, 
the tribe to which such offenders may belong shall be 
bound to deliver them up at the nearest post, to be 
punished according to the ordinance of the United 
States. 

ARTICLE 10th — The Commissioners of the United 
States, in pursuance of the humane and liberal views of 
Congress, upon the treaty's being signed, will direct 
goods to be distributed among the different tribes for 
their use and comfort. 

The treaty of Fort Finney, at the mouth of 
the Great Miami, January 31, 1786, secured 
the cession of whatever claim to the. Ohio 
Valley was held by the Shawnees. George 
Rogers Clarke, Richard Butler, and Samuel H. 
Parsons* were the 

* General Samuel H. Parsons, an eminent Revo- 
lutionary character, was one of the first band of Marietta 
pioneers, and was appointed first as Associate 



Commissioners of the United States. James 
Monroe, then a Member of Congress from 
Virginia and afterwards President of the 
United States, accompanied General Butler, 
in the month of October preceding the treaty, 
as far as Lirnestonet (now Maysville, 
Kentucky). The party, it is related, stopped 
at the mouth of the Muskingum and (in the 
words of General Butler's journal,) "left 
fixed in a locust tree" a letter recommending 
the building of a fort on the Ohio side. By 
the terms of this treaty the Shawnees were 
confined to the lands west of the Great 
Miami. Hostages were demanded from the 
Indians, to remain in the possession of the 
United States until all prisoners should be 
returned, and the Shawnees were compelled 
to acknowledge the United States as the sole 
and absolute sovereign of all the territory 
ceded to them, in the treaty of peace, by 
Great Britain. The clause embodying the 
latter condition excited the jealousy of the 
Shawnees. They went away dissatisfied with 
the treaty, though assenting to it. This fact, 
and the difficulty that was experienced even 
while the treaty was making, of preventing 
depredations by white borderers, argued 
unfavorably for the future. The treaty was 
productive of no good results whatever. 
Hostilities were resumed in the spring of 
1786, and serious and widespread war was 
threatened. Congress had been acting upon 
the policy that the treaty of peace with Great 
Britain had invested the United States with 
the fee simple of all the Indian lands, but 
urged now by the stress of circumstances the 
Government radically 



and then as Chief Judge of the Northwest Territory He 
was drowned in the Big Beaver River, November 17, 
1789, while returning to his home in Marietta from the 
North, where he had been making the treaty which 
secured the aboriginal title to the soil of the Connecticut 
Western Reserve. 

+2 General Butler's Journal in Craig's "Olden Time," 
October, 1847. 



24 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



changed its policy, fully recognizing the 
Indians as the rightful proprietors of the soil, 
and on the 2d of July, 1787, appropriated the 
sum of twenty-six thousand dollars for the 
purpose of extinguishing Indian claims to 
lands already ceded to the United States, and 
for extending a purchase beyond the limits 
heretofore fixed by treaty. 

Under this policy other relinquishments of 
Ohio territory were effected through the 



treaties of Fort Harmar, held by General 
Arthur St. Clair, January 9, 1789, the treaty 
of Greenville, negotiated by General 
Anthony Wayne, August 3, 1795, and vari- 
ous other treaties made at divers times from 
1796 to 1818.* But of these it is beyond our 
province to speak in this chapter. 



* It is a fact worthy of note, and one of which we may well be 
proud, that the title to every foot of Ohio soil was honorably 
acquired from the Indians. 



CHAPTER III. 



ADVENT OF THE WHITE MAN. 



La Salle Upon the Ohio Two Hundred Years Ago — Possibility of His Having Explored the Muskingum — The Griffin on Lake Erie — 
French Trading Stations — Routes Through the Wilderness — The Sandusky River — The English Supersede the French — Interest 
in the West Exhibited by Governor Spotswood, of Virginia, in 1710 — The Transmontane Order Founded — Licenses Issued for 
Trading with the Indians, by the Governor of Pennsylvania, in 1740 — Systematic Exploration of the Ohio Valley by Celeron de 
Bienville — Fort Sandusky Built by the French — Pickawillamy, the First Building Erected by the English in Ohio — Organization 
of the Colonial Ohio Land Company, in Virginia, in 1748 — Preparation Made to Establish a Colony — French Resistance — War 
of Britain Against the French and Indians — Its Results — Franklin's Plans for Western Settlements — Pontiac's War — Fort 
Sandusky Destroyed — Probable Effect of this Event Upon Lower Sandusky — Immense Schemes for Western Colonization — 
Colonel Boquet Wins a Bloodless Victory on the Upper Muskingum — Hostility of the Shawnees — Logan — Lord Dunmore's 
War — The Battle of Point Pleasant — An Event of Immeasurable Importance in the West — General George Roger Clarke's 
Conquest of the Northwest — Value of His Foresight and Decisive Action — His Services Unappreciated — Miscellaneous 
Military Invasions — The Establishment of the Moravian Missions on the Muskingum — The Massacre — Crawford's Campaign 
Against Sandusky. 



THE adventurous La Salle, there is every 
reason to believe, was the first white man 
who trod the soil of the destined State of Ohio, 
and the first whose eyes beheld the beautiful 
river. With a few followers and led by Indian 
guides he penetrated the vast country of the 
powerful Iroquois until, as Parkman says, he 
reached "at a point six or seven leagues from 
Lake Erie, a branch of the Ohio, which he 
descended to the main stream," and so went 
onward as far as the "falls," or the site of 
Louisville. His men abandoning 



him there, he retraced his way alone This, 
according to the best authorities, was in the 
winter of 1669-70, over two hundred years 
ago. Indeed, there is some reason to believe 
that he made his way from Lake Erie to the 
Ohio by the Cuyahoga, the Tuscarawas and 
Muskingum, though the preponderance of 
evidence points to the Allegheny as the 
route followed. Ten years later La Salle 
unfurled the first sail ever set to the breeze 
upon Lake Erie, and upon the Griffin, a 
schooner of forty-five tons burden, made 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



25 



the voyage to Lake Huron. In 1682 he 
reached the Mississippi, descended to its 
mouth, and there solemnly proclaimed 
possession of the vast valley in the name of 
his king. 

It is known that the Sandusky was a water 
route of travel for the early French traders 
and explorers from Canada to the 
Mississippi. They ascended the stream from 
the bay to the mouth of Little Sandusky, 
thence up that creek four miles to a portage, 
thence across the portage, about a quarter of 
a league to the Little Scioto, thence to the 
Scioto and the Ohio. "Ascending the 
Sandusky," writes William Walter to Mr. 
Butterfield, "to the mouth of the west 
branch, known as Little Sandusky, with a 
bark or light wooden canoe, you could in a 
good stage of water ascend that tributary four 
or five miles further; thence east across to the 
Little Scioto is about four miles further. This 
was the portage." Colonel James Smith 
estimates the distance, when he crossed, to be 
one-half mile. This was in the spring of 1757. 
The Sandusky and Scioto was the path of 
travel of the northern Indians, when on 
excursions south into Kentucky, and also the 
highways of the Shawnees to Detroit. In early 
history the term Sandusky is applied to the 
whole region which casts its waters into the 
bay. The origin of the name is given in 
another chapter. 

Governor Alexander Spotswood, of Vir- 
ginia, became interested in the Western 
country early in the eighteenth century; 
engaged in exploring the Alleghenies in 1710; 
discovered a passage through them in 1714, 
and entered with great ardor upon the scheme 
of taking practical possession of the Ohio 
Valley. He founded the Transmontane order, 
whose knights were decorated with a golden 
horseshoe bearing the legend "Sac jurat 
transcendere mantes, " and urged upon the 
British Sovereign 



the importance of securing a foothold in the 
West before the French had gained too 
powerful an ascendancy. His suggestions 
were not regarded, and many years later the 
British Government had cause to remember 
with regret the wise policy they had 
neglected to act upon. Although no 
systematic plan of exploration or settlement 
was followed, individuals from time to time 
passed the great barrier and visited the 
valley of the la belle riviere. There have 
been handed down certain vague traditions 
that the English had trading posts on the 
Ohio as early as 1730, and it is known 
positively that they had soon after that time. 
In 1744 the Governor of Pennsylvania issued 
licenses for trading with the Indians as far 
west as the Father of Waters. John Howard 
had descended the Ohio in 1742 and been 
captured on the Mississippi by the French; 
and six years later Conrad Weiser, acting in 
behalf of the English, visited the Shawnees 
at Logstown (below the site of Pittsburgh,) 
bearing gifts with which to win their favor. 
About the same time George Croghan and 
Andrew Montour, the half-breed son of a 
Seneca chief, bore liberal presents to the 
Miamis, in return for which the Indians 
allowed the whites to establish a trading post 
and build a stockade at the mouth of 
Loramie Creek on the Great Miami (within 
the present county of Shelby). The fort, built 
in 1751, which was called Pickawillamy, has 
been cited by some writers as the first 
English settlement in Ohio. The building, 
which was undoubtedly the first erected by 
the British on the soil of the State, was 
destroyed in June, 1752, by a force of 
French and Indians. 

Prior to the middle of the century the 
French strenuously reasserted their 
ownership of the Northwest, and did actually 
take possession of what is now the northern 
part of Ohio, building a fort and 



26 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



establishing a trading station at Sandusky. 
This was probably the first trading station 
east of the Maumee (Miami of the lake). The 
French looked upon the English traders with 
jealousy and made reprisals at every 
opportunity. The Indians of the Lake basin 
were loyal to the French while those of the 
South accepted the friendship of the English. 
These events forecasted serious trouble and 
made the establishment of a military post on 
the lake a measure of expediency. Gist's 
Diary fixes the time under date of December 
7, 1750. At the village of Muskingum, on the 
Tuscarawas, he makes the following entry: 

Two traders belonging to Mr. Croghan came into town 
and informed us that two of his people had been taken 
by forty Frenchmen and twenty Indians who carried 
them, with seven horse-loads of skins, to a new fort the 
French were building on one of the branches of Lake 
Erie. 

The location of Fort Sandusky has been a 
subject of much dispute. Taylor, in his 
excellent history of Ohio, concludes that the 
exact locality cannot be ascertained, but the 
probability is that the site was about three 
miles west of the city of Sandusky, near the 
village of Venice, on Sandusky Bay. The old 
trail from Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh) to 
Detroit, struck the bay near this point and 
the fort was probably near the trail. All the 
Revolutionary treaties with the Indians, and 
the treaties of Fort Harmar and Greenville, 
reserve to the United States "six miles 
square upon Sandusky Lake, where the fort 
formerly stood." On a map of Ohio, 
published in 1803, this tract is delineated as 
extending from the south shore of the bay, 
and includes the locality Taylor supposes to 
have been the location of the fort. In this 
opinion Parkman, in his "Chart of Forts and 
Settlements of America, A. D. 1763," agrees; 
but Evans' map 

* Bancroft quotes Gist as saying the captives were 
taken to a new French fort at Sandusky." 



of the British Colonies, 1755, places the fort 
on the peninsula, between the bay and lake, 
and marks Fort Juandat (probably a 
corruption of Wyandot) near the mouth of the 
Sandusky River, on the south side of the bay. 
This latter place is the same as the Indian 
village of Sunyendeand, visited by Colonel 
James Smith in 1757. This village was at the 
mouth of a small creek, but what creek is not 
known. Evans' Chart would locate it in the 
territory now included in this county, but the 
weight of evidence is against that conclusion. 
There was another Wyandot village at the 
source of Cold Creek. Celeron de Bienville 
made a systematic exploration of the Ohio 
Valley and formally declared by process verbal 
the ownership of the soil. On the 16th of 
August, 1749, he was at the mouth of the 
Muskingum. This fact was revealed in 1798 by 
the discovery of a leaden plate which had been 
buried by him and which set forth that the 
explorer sent out by the Marquis de la 
Gallissoniere, Captain General of New France, 
agreeably to the wishes of His Majesty, Louis 
XV, had deposited the plate as a monument of 
the renewal of possession of la riviere Oyo, 
otherwise la belle riviere, and all those which 
empty into it, and of all the lands of both sides 
even to the sources of the said rivers, and 
which had been obtained by force of arms and 
by treaties, especially those of Ryswick, 
Utrecht, and Aix-la-Chapelle. A similar plate 
was found in 1846 at the mouth of the 
Kanawha. They were doubtless deposited at the 
mouths of all the principal tributaries of the 
Ohio. 

The French had a very just claim to the Ohio 
Valley, but it was destined that they should not 
hold it, and already events were shaping which 
eventually led to the overthrow of their 
authority and the vesture of title and possession 
in the English crown. 

The Colonial Ohio Land Company was 
organized in Virginia in 1748, by twelve 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



27 



associates, among whom were Thomas Lee, 
and Lawrence and Augustine, brothers of 
George Washington. Under their auspices 
Christopher Gist explored the Ohio as far as 
the falls, travelling a portion of the time with 
Croghan and Montour. The company secured 
a royal grant of half a million acres of land 
in the Ohio Valley. In 1763 preparations 
were made to establish a colony. The French 
exhibited an intention of resistance, and the 
royal Governor of Virginia sent George 
Washington, then a young man, to the 
commander of the French forces to demand 
their reason for invasion of British territory. 
Washington received an answer that was 
both haughty and defiant. Returning to 
Virginia he made known the failure of his 
mission. The project of making a settlement 
was abandoned, and preparations were 
immediately made for the maintenance of the 
British claim to the western valley by force 
of arms. The result was the union of the 
colonies, the ultimate involvement of 
England in the war that ensued, the defeat of 
the French, and the vesture in the British 
crown of the right and title to Canada and of 
all the territory east of the Mississippi and 
south to the Spanish possessions, excepting 
New Orleans and a small body of land sur- 
rounding it. Benjamin Franklin had 
previously tried to effect a union of the 
colonies and had been unsuccessful. He had 
proposed a plan of settlement in 1754, and 
suggested that two colonies should be 
located in the West — one upon the Cuyahoga 
and the other upon the Scioto, "on which," 
he said, "for forty miles each side of it and 
quite up to its head is a body of all rich land, 
the finest spot of its bigness in all North 
America, and has the peculiar advantage of 
sea coal in plenty (even above ground in two 
places) for fuel when the wood shall have 
been destroyed." 



The peace concluded by the treaty of Paris in 
February, 1763, was only a fancied 
settlement of difficulties in the Northwest. 
For a few months war clouds shifted from 
the zenith and left a clear sky just long 
enough for the frontier farmer to plant his 
crop in the hope of harvesting in security; 
and for the industrious trader to begin his 
journey from village to village. But a storm 
of terrible fury was gathering on the horizon 
all around. 

The Northwestern Indians submitted sullenly 
to the British arms. They remained jealous 
of encroachments, and having been 
accustomed to receiving splendid presents 
from the French, they soon began to cherish 
those bitter feelings of resentment which 
neglect always inspires. The organization of 
the Ohio Land Company, the multiplication 
of grants to settlers by the Government of 
Virginia, the outrages of the English soldiery 
which displaced the gay French garrisons in 
the Northwestern forts, all contributed to 
bring on the war which is known in history 
as "Pontiac's Conspiracy." The Ottawa chief, 
Pontiac, was the soul of a formidable 
conspiracy which exploded in the spring of 
1763, spreading desolation and death 
throughout the whole Northwest. He was a 
chief of great genius and possessing qualities 
unsurpassed by the most distinguished of his 
race.* There is something lofty in the proud 
speech addressed to the English traders who 
came to his camp for purposes of business: 

Englishmen! Although you have conquered the French, 
you have not yet conquered us. We are not your slaves. 
These lakes, these woods, these mountains were left to 
us by our ancestors. They are our inheritance, and we 
will part with them to none. Your Nation supposes that 
we, like the white people, cannot live without bread, 
pork and beef, But you ought to know that the Great 
Spirit and Master of Life has provided food for us on 
these lakes and in these mountains. 4 " 



*Taylor's History of Ohio. 
+Writings of Perkins. 



28 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Bancroft styles Pontiac the colossal chief, 
whose "name still hovers over the 
Northwest, as the hero who devised and 
conducted a great but unavailing struggle 
with destiny for the independence of his 
race." He had taken a conspicuous part in the 
French war, having been in command of the 
Indian forces in the defence of Fort 
Duquesne and at Braddock's defeat. By some 
historians he is given the title of emperor. 
Like Tecumseh, a half century later, Pontiac 
appealed to superstition to reach the Indian 
heart. He aroused the tribes from the 
Carolinas to Lake Michigan by interpreting 
the voice of the Great Spirit as saying to 
them: "Why do you suffer these dogs in the 
red clothing to enter your country and take 
the land I have given you? Drive them out! 
Drive them! When you are in distress I will 
help you." 

By incessant work and unsurpassed 
genius, Pontiac secretly formed a league 
which was to environ and enfeeble the 
garrisons, and by stratagem and force sim- 
ultaneously to destroy them. The frontiers 
were then to be swept by a general massacre. 

"At last the day came; traders everywhere 
were seized, their goods taken from them, 
and more than one hundred put to death. 
Nine British forts yielded instantly, and the 
savages drank, 'scooped up in the hollow of 
joined hands' the blood of many a Briton. 
The border streams of Pennsylvania and 
Virginia ran red again. 'We hear,' says a 
letter from Fort Pitt, 'of scalpings every 
hour.' In western Virginia more than twenty 
thousand people were driven from their 
homes. Detroit was besieged by Pontiac 
himself, after a vain effort to take it by 
stratagem, and for many months that siege 
was continued in a manner and with a 
perseverance unexampled among the 
Indians. It was the 8th of May when Detroit 
was first at- 



tacked, and on the 3d of the following 
November it was still in danger. As late as 
March of the next year the inhabitants were 
still sleeping in their clothes, expecting an 
alarm every night."* 

The destruction of Fort Sandusky and the 
consequent destruction of the neighboring 
Wyandot village, come within our legitimate 
field, for although the fort was beyond the 
east line of this county, and the village 
probably was, the burning of both had the 
effect of giving Lower Sandusky greater 
importance in Indian affairs. The destruction 
of the fort left no foreign military station 
nearer than Detroit, which gave to the Indians 
here confidence of greater security, for 
although in after years they received at the 
British headquarters pay for furs, bounty for 
scalps, and ransom for prisoners, they never 
ceased to entertain a lurking suspicion of the 
white men. The destruction of the village on 
the bay had the effect of concentrating the 
population about the headwaters of 
navigation, a place more difficult for white 
expeditions to approach, superior for 
agriculture, nearer the centre of tribal 
dominion, and in almost every respect better 
adapted for an Indian stronghold than any 
other point in the lake basin. Colonel Smith's 
narrative speaks of visiting the "Little Lake," 
giving that locality considerable importance. 
After its destruction it was never rebuilt, and 
Lower Sandusky is next described* as the 
home of the great war chief Tarhe, the Crane, 

From the report of Ensign Paully of the 
garrison, there has been compiled by Parkman 
and Bancroft detailed accounts of the siege of 
the fort. 

On the 16th of May (1763), Fort Sandusky was 
approached by a party of Indians, principally from the 
Wyandot village. Ensign Paully was informed that seven 
Indians were waiting at the gate to speak with him. They 
proved to be four Hurons or Wyan- 



• Perkins's Annals of the West. 
*By Heckewelder in 1782. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



29 



dots, and three Chippewas, and as several of them were 
known to him he ordered them to be admitted without 
hesitation. Arrived at his quarters two of the treacherous 
visitors seated themselves on each side of the 
commandant, while the rest were disposed in various 
parts of the room. The pipes were lighted and 
conversation began, when an Indian who stood in the 
door, made a signal by suddenly raising his head. Upon 
this the astonished officer was seized, disarmed, and 
tied by those near him, while at the same moment a 
confused noise of shrieks and yells, firing of guns, and 
the hurried tramp of feet sounded from the area without. 
It soon ceased, however, and as Paully was led from the 
room he saw the dead body of his sentry, and the parade 
ground was strewn with the corpses of the murdered 
garrison. The body of his sergeant lay in the garden 
where he was planting at the time of the massacre. Some 
traders who were stationed within or near the pickets 
were also killed and their stores plundered. At nightfall 
Paully was conducted to the margin of the lake, where 
several birch canoes lay in readiness, and as amid thick 
darkness the party pushed out from shore, the captive 
saw the fort, lately under his command, bursting on all 
sides into sheets of flame. 

The tragedy at Sandusky did not remain unavenged. 
On the 26th of July a detachment of two hundred and 
sixty men, under command of Captain Dalzell, arrived at 
Sandusky on their coastwise route to Detroit. Thence 
they marched inland to the Wyandot village, which they 
burned to the ground, at the same time destroying the 
adjacent fields of standing corn. After inflicting this 
inadequate retribution of the scene of May 16, Dalzell 
steered northward, and under cover of night effected a 
junction with the Detroit garrison. 

George Washington made a journey down 
the Ohio in 1770. He was accompanied by 
Dr. Crank, Captain (afterwards Colonel) 
William Crawford (who was burned to death 
at the stake within the present limits of 
Wyandot county in 1782), and several other 
white men, also by a party of Indians. 

Largely through Washington was the 
interest in the West revived. Immense 
schemes for settlement and land speculation 
were projected. A huge company was 
organized which included the Old Ohio 
Company and the Walpole scheme as well as 
recognizing the bounties of the Virginia 
volunteers in the French war. Doubtless 
some of these plans for the development of 
the West would have succeeded 



had it not been for Indian hostilities upon the 
border settlements already established, and 
the probability of a long continuance of the 
perturbed condition of affairs generally. 
Colonel Henry Boquet, who had the year 
before rescued the garrison of Fort Duquesne 
and dispersed Pontiac's warriors, made a 
military expedition into the Ohio country in 
1764, his purpose being to punish and awe 
the Indians and recover from them the 
captives they had taken during the previous 
years on the Pennsylvania and Virginia 
borders. He was successful in the 
accomplishment of each one of his objects. 
The expedition was directed against the 
Delawares upon the Muskingum and 
Tuscarawas. No blood was shed, the Indians 
assenting to the terms of a treaty prepared by 
Colonel Boquet, and delivering to him over 
two hundred prisoners. Upon the 28th of 
November the army of about fifteen hundred 
returned to Fort Pitt, which point they had left 
on October 3d. This expedition for a time 
tranquilized the Indians of the Ohio country, 
and the next ten years passed peacefully and 
without the occurrence of any important 
event. 

But returning to the period from which we 
retrograded to speak of the Boquet expedition, 
we find in 1774 that the Shawnees have 
become bitterly hostile, principally on 
account of the prospect of losing their land 
and because of the murder of the kindred of 
Logan, the famous Mingo, who was now 
dwelling with them at the Old Chillicothe 
town on. the Scioto (where was afterward the 
village of Westfall, Pickaway county). Logan 
had "fully glutted his vengeance" upon the 
white settlements of the Monongahela 
country, and numerous atrocities had been 
committed all along the border. To quell the 
turbulence that prevailed Lord Dunmore, the 
then royal Governor of Virginia, organized an 
army of invasion of the Indian country. He 



30 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



had a desire for military renown and decided 
to assume personal command of the large 
division, while he entrusted the other, 
consisting of about eleven hundred men 
raised west of the Blue Ridge, to General 
Andrew Lewis. The forces of the latter were 
attacked by the Indians on the 10th of 
October, south of the Ohio, and the ensuing 
combat, known as the battle of Point 
Pleasant, was one of the most desperate and 
bloody in the annals of the West. The 
contending forces were very nearly equal, it 
is claimed by most writers, but there is 
strong probability that the Indians were 
much weaker in numbers than the army 
which they assailed. The whites lost half of 
their officers and fifty-two men killed, while 
the Indian loss was estimated at two hundred 
and thirty-three. Lord Dunmore's division 
passed through a bloodless campaign. They 
descended the Ohio to the mouth of the 
Hocking River, and there built Fort Gower. 
The Governor was here at the time of the bat- 
tle of Point Pleasant, and had sent messengers 
to Lewis ordering him to march toward the 
Scioto towns. Dunmore marched through the 
territory included in Athens county and 
onward to the Pickaway (originally Piqua) 
plains, below the site of Circleville. There he 
was met by Lewis' decimated division, whom 
he could hardly keep from falling upon the 
Indians to avenge the death of their comrades 
at Point Pleasant. A treaty was held at Camp 
Charlotte, which was attended and acquiesced 
in by all of the leading chiefs of the villages 
except Logan. Lord Dunmore dispatched John 
Gibson to confer with the haughty Mingo, and 
his visit elicited the famous speech, which 
Jefferson pronounced equal in eloquence to 
any ever made by the great orators of 
civilized nations. 

Already the premonitory signs of that 
discontent which developed into the 



Revolution and American independence 
were exhibiting themselves, and soon the 
conflict was begun which riveted the atten- 
tion of the world upon the colonies. The 
Revolutionary period was almost barren of 
events in the West. There was one event, 
however, of immeasurable importance. The 
time had come when the destiny of the Great 
West — of the Northwestern Territory — was 
to be decided. The man who was to shape its 
destiny was, in 1774, an officer in Lord 
Dunmore's army, and in 1776 a pioneer 
settler in Kentucky — George Rogers Clarke. 
He was a realization of the ideal soldier — 
cool, courageous, and sagacious, and at once 
the most powerful man and the most 
picturesque character in the whole West. It 
was his foresight and prompt, efficient 
action which at the close of the war made the 
Northwest Territory a portion of the United 
States instead of leaving it in possession of 
the British. He foresaw that even if the 
colonies should be victorious in the War for 
Independence they would be confined to the 
eastern side of the Alleghenies, unless the 
West was a special field of conquest. After 
failing to interest the House of Burgesses he 
made an appeal to Patrick Henry, the 
Governor of Virginia, and from him he 
succeeded in obtaining the authority which 
he needed, viz.: commissions that 
empowered him to raise seven companies of 
soldiers, and to seize the British posts in the 
Northwest. In January, 1778, he was at 
Pittsburg securing provisions and 
ammunition; in June he was marching 
through the unbroken forest at the head of a 
small but valiant army, principally composed 
of his fellow 



* "The cession of that great territory, under the treaty of 
1773, was due mainly to the foresight, the courage and 
endurance of one man, who never received from his 
country an adequate recognition of his great 
service." — Hon. James A. Garfield: Address, 1873. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



31 



pioneers from Kentucky. His march was 
directed towards the Illinois country. His 
able generalship and courage soon placed the 
garrisons of Cahokia, Kaskaskia, and St. 
Vincent in his possession, and his equally 
great tact enabled him to win over the 
French inhabitants to the American cause 
and make of them warm allies. Two other 
expeditions were made by General Clarke 
both against the Indians upon the Miamis 
one in 1780 and the other in 1782. Other 
expeditions into or through Ohio territory 
were made as follows: by Colonel Bradstreet 
(simultaneously with Boquet's expedition — 
1764) along Lake Erie to Detroit, 
accompanied by Major Israel Putnam (the 
Major-General of the Revolution); by 
Colonel Angus McDonald (just prior to 
Dunmore's invasion); by General Lachlin 
Mcintosh in 1778 (to the Tuscarawas, where 
he built the first English fort, with a parapet 
and stockade, intended as a permanent work, 
in Ohio); by Colonel John Bowman in 1979; 
by General Daniel Broadhead in 1781; by 
Colonel Archibald Lochry in the same year; 
by Colonel Williamson in 1782; by Colonel 
Benjamin Logan in 1786; and still others of 
less importance by Daniel Boone, Simon 
Kenton, Colonel Edwards, and Colonel 
Todd, at various times during the decade 
preceding the settlement of the territory. 

Another topic to be touched upon briefly 
in this chapter is of painful and peculiar 
interest. We have in mind the Moravian 
missions on the Muskingum, and use the 
word painful, as the horrible massacre 
perpetrated there — the blackest stain on Ohio 
history — comes to mind. We say also a 
peculiar interest, and that phrase is 
suggested by the fact that the Moravians had 
better claims to be considered as settlers 
than any other dwellers north of the Ohio, 
prior to the arrival of the New England 
colony, and however 



inadequate such claims may appear it must at 
least be admitted that these "monks of 
Protestantism" presented to the Western 
world a phase of civilization and religion 
which was both picturesque and inspiring. 

As early as 1761 the Delaware Indians on 
the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum 
were visited by a Moravian missionary, the 
Rev. Christian Frederick Post. In March of 
the following year John Heckewelder 
became his companion and assistant. Only a 
few months, however, were spent in 
missionary labor, for in the fall the Indians 
who had first welcomed them, became 
suspicious that their sojourn there was only a 
ruse through which a foothold was to be 
gained leading to settlement, and Post and 
Heckewelder were obliged to leave the 
country to save their lives. Not until ten 
years had passed by was another attempt 
made by the zealous religionists to plant a 
mission among the savages. In 1772 Rev. 
David Zeisberger founded Schoenbrunn 
(Beautiful Spring) on the west side of the 
river and near the site of New Philadelphia, 
Tuscarawas county, and twenty-eight 
persons located there. Gnadenhutten (Tents 
of Grace) was established the same year 
seven miles below Schoenbrunn. The Rev. 
George Jungman, Rev John Roth and Rev. 
John Etwin, came out as missionaries from 
Pennsylvania the same year; and with the 
last named, immigrated to Zeisberger's 
Station a large company of converted 
Indians, bringing with them the implements 
of industry. Good log huts were built in the 
regularly laid out village, a large chapel 
reared in which to hold religious services, 
the ground tilled, and every measure taken 
that was considered needful in the formation 
of a permanent settlement. The simple, quiet 
life went on very pleasantly, and all was 
peace and 



* Madame de Stael. 



32 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



prosperity. Much did the Delaware chiefs 
and the few traders who visited Schoenbrunn 
marvel to see so many Indians living 
together after the manner of the whites, and 
devoting themselves to agriculture rather 
than the chase. They had abjured war and all 
savage customs. New converts were made 
almost daily, and the pious missionaries felt 
well rewarded for their patient toil, and gave 
praise to Him whom they regarded as the 
prime author of their success. So many 
accessions were made by the Moravians that 
in 1776 Zeisberger formed another colony, 
village or station, near the present town of 
Coshocton, and gave it the name Lichtenan. 
In 1780 Salem was founded five miles below 
Gnadenhutten, and the Rev. John 
Heckewelder became its regular preacher. 

All went well with the mission stations 
until the British, fearing or pretending to 
fear, that they were performing various 
services for the Americans, forcibly removed 
them in September, 1781, to Upper 
Sandusky. They were sorely distressed by 
lack of provisions, and in the latter part of 
the following winter obtained permission to 
return to their old stations and gather the 
corn which they had planted the summer 
before, and to secure if possible any of the 
valuables they had been obliged to leave 
behind them when they were hurried away. 
They came down from Sandusky in 
February, and March 1 found them busily 
engaged in plucking the corn which had been 
left standing during the winter, and packing 
it for transportation to their famishing 
brethren. "The weather during the greater 
part of February," says Doddridge, "had 
been uncommonly fine, so that the war 
parties from Sandusky visited the 
settlements and began depredations earlier 
than usual. One of the parties fell upon a 
family named Wallace and murdered all of 
its members, exhibiting even greater 
brutality 



than usually characterized their atrocities. 
The early period at which the fatal visitation 
was made led to the conclusion that the 
murderers were either Moravians or that the 
warriors had their winter quarters at their 
towns on the Muskingum. In either case the 
Moravians being at fault, the safety of the 
pioneer settlements required the destruction 
of their establishments at that place.* A 
force of eighty or ninety men was 
immediately organized, and led by Colonel 
David Williamson set out for the 
Muskingum. On their arrival at 
Gnadenhutten they found the Indians in the 
fields gathering their corn and with their 
arms by them as was the common custom, 
for the purpose of shooting game, and also to 
guard against attack. The unsuspecting 
Indians hearing the whites' protestations of 
peace and good will, and being informed that 
they had come to remove them to Fort Pitt 
and place them under the protection of the 
Americans, gave up their arms and began 
with all speed to prepare food for the white 
men and themselves for the proposed 
journey. A party of men sent out for the 
purpose soon brought in the Indians from 
Salem, and with the Gnadenhutten Indians 
they were placed in blockhouses and 
confined under an armed guard. Colonel 
Williamson then coolly put the question to 
his men, should the prisoners be taken to 
Pittsburg or dispatched. Sixteen or eighteen 
men only out of the eighty or ninety men 
leaned toward the side of mercy. The 
majority were for murdering them and were 
impatient to begin their hellish work. The 
Moravians had. foreseen their fate as soon as 
they had been placed in confinement, and in 
the hour of extremity exhibited the 
steadfastness of their simple faith by singing 
the hymns and breathing the 



Notes on the Early Settlement and Indian Wars in 
Western Virginia and Pennsylvania by Joseph 
Doddridge. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



33 



prayers that Heckewelder and Zeisberger had 
taught them. Some of them appealed for 
mercy when the murderers came among 
them to begin their work, but the greater 
number, sustained by their acquired religious 
faith or natural stoicism, met death with 
majestic composure. The executioners, with 
tomahawks, war-clubs, and knives, entering 
the crowded slaughter-pens struck down the 
defenceless and innocent captives until their 
arms grew tired, and then their places were 
taken by others of those white savages who 
thirsted for blood; and the dreadful carnage 
went on until ninety-six lives had been 
taken. Of these sixty-two were grown 
persons, of whom one-third were women, 
and the remaining thirty four were children 
of various ages, from those just entering 
manhood or womanhood down to babes on 
their mothers' breasts. Neither the gray hairs 
of old age nor the mute, appealing innocence 
of childhood were protection from the fury 
and the brutality of these fiends in the form 
of men. Of all these Indians gathered in the 
blockhouses only two escaped. Those at 
Schoenbrunn fled before the approach of 
Williamson's men and none of them were 
taken. This massacre occurred on the 7th of 
March, 1782, just six years and one month 
before the landing of the pioneer colony of 
Ohio at the mouth of the Muskingum. 

The wanton butchery of these inoffensive 
Moravians, more than any other event in 
Western history, had the effect of making 
the Indians hostile to the Americans, and, 
therefore, naturally inclining them to amity 
with the British. This was an end which the 
latter people constantly sought to effect by 
every method of intrigue. There is some 
reason, too, for the belief that Williamson's 
men were led to the Moravian towns and 
incited to the commission of the stupendous 
massacre through the shrewd wiles of the 
British. 



It seems to be authoritatively established 
that the murderers of the Wallace family 
retreated by way of Gnadenhutten, and that 
one of them bartered with an unsuspecting 
young woman there for food, and in payment 
gave her a garment which he had stripped 
from Mrs. Wallace or one of the other 
victims, and that this garment, was seen and 
recognized by some of the pursuing party as 
one which had been familiar to them at their 
homes. This fact may partly explain, but 
cannot in the slightest measure justify, the 
murder of ninety-six persons. It is sufficient, 
at any rate, to suggest the suspicion that to a 
dark stratagem of the English emissaries in 
the West, was attributed the foulest deed in 
the history of the border. The Indians, 
wrought into frenzied passion, began that 
malignant, remorseless, and unceasing 
raiding of the borders which terrorized the 
frontiers from Fort Pitt to the falls of the 
Ohio. Their evil deeds were more numerous 
than ever before, and their treatment of 
prisoners more severe. One of the first acts 
of retaliation upon the Americans, strangely 
enough, was visited upon Colonel William 
Crawford, an intimate friend and companion 
at arms of Colonel Williamson. But the 
diabolical cruelty that was practiced upon 
him was only one of the many horrible deeds 
which were the outgrowth of the white man's 
crime. 

Of Crawford's campaign we shall speak at 
greater length, because of its relation to the 
legitimate field of this history. The object of 
this fated expedition was to destroy the 
Wyandot and Delaware towns on the Upper 
Sandusky plains, and to punish these Indians 
for border depredations. The border had 
suffered seriously, and when the object was 
announced volunteers were not found 
wanting to engage in a work of punishment 
and revenge. The War Department 
encouraged the 



34 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



movement in the hope of being able to strike 
a blow which would silence hostility from 
this quarter. 

On the 20th of May, 1782, the volunteers 
assembled at a deserted Mingo village on the 
west bank of the Ohio, seventy-five miles 
below Pittsburgh, their number being about 
four hundred and fifty. Here occurred the 
election of officers. The two candidates for 
colonel were William Crawford and David 
Williamson. The latter's recommendation 
was the murder of the Christian Indians two 
months before; the former was chosen 
because of his experience as an Indian 
fighter in the French war and his activity as 
a Revolutionary patriot. He was a friend of 
General Washington, whose acquaintance he 
made in the French war. It was unfortunate 
for Crawford, as the sequel shows, that Wil- 
liamson, whom the Indians hated more than 
any other white man, was chosen to the 
position of second in command. On May 25 
the army commenced the march in high 
spirits and sanguine of complete success. 

The Indians during this time were not 
inactive. Williamson had taught them the 
necessity of wakefulness, and spies daily 
visited the border hills along the Ohio. Before 
the organization of the volunteers on the Ohio 
side was complete, the whole Indian country, 
from the falls of the Sandusky far into the 
Scioto and Miami Valleys was making 
hurried preparations for war. The objective 
point of the expedition the Indians did not 
know, but the warriors of every tribe were in 
readiness, and swift spies promptly reported 
the onward march of the mounted volunteers. 
They read on the trees the inscription left by 
loungers of the advancing army, "No quarter 
is to be given to any Indian, whether man, 
woman, or child." They saw prominently in 
command the hated Williamson and had no 
reason to doubt 



the terrible and inhuman threat. Every 
patriotic, more than that, every generous 
feeling of the red man's heart was aroused. 
More than their beautiful valley and loved 
hunting ground was now at stake; upon the 
issue of the battle hung the lives of their 
women and innocent children. We do not 
mean to imply that this threat was authorized 
by Colonel Crawford, or that in the event of 
success he would have permitted 
indiscriminate murder without mercy, as 
Williamson had at Gnadenhutten, but the 
Indians had both precedent and threat on 
which to base premonitions of the terrors of 
defeat, and their resolve to fight as long as a 
drop of blood remained to give them strength, 
is an evidence of real nobility of character. 

The northward course of the volunteers after 
crossing the Muskingum left no doubt as to 
the destination of the expedition. The 
Shawnees of the Upper Scioto, the Delawares, 
and the Wyandots of the whole Sandusky 
Valley began to concentrate their forces on 
the plains. Meanwhile the mounted borderers 
were rapidly approaching, anxious for the 
fray. The sixth day the old Moravian village 
on one of the upper branches of the Sandusky 
was reached, but, as will be seen in a suc- 
ceeding chapter, the missionary band had been 
removed in March preceding, and the 
congregation dispersed by order of Governor 
DePeyster, commandant at Detroit. This was a 
fortunate circumstance, for it was the purpose 
of the invaders to destroy and plunder this 
village first. In place of meeting with Indians 
and plunder they found nothing but vestiges 
of desolation. 

The army next moved to where the town of 
Sandusky formerly stood, but from which the 
Indians had lately moved to their new town 
eighteen miles below. Again disappointed at 
finding no Indians or plunder, the volunteers 
became 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



35 



anxious to return, giving as a reason that 
only five days' rations remained and that the 
horses were jaded; so a council was held and 
the officers decided to continue the march 
one day longer; but just as the council was 
breaking up a scout reported that the 
advance guard had met the Indians in 
considerable numbers. The main line 
resolutely advanced over the plain covered 
with high grass, while the advance guard 
slowly retired before the enemy. The red 
warriors began to take shelter in an island of 
wood in the vast expanse of grassy plain. 
Crawford, seeing the advantage thus being 
gained by his enemy, ordered his men to 
dismount, tie their horses and force the 
Indians from their position, which they did. 
The Indians continued their fire from the 
high grass in the prairie. From 4 o'clock 
until dark the contest was animated. Some of 
the volunteers ascended into the thick tops 
of the trees, and from these aimed mes- 
sengers of death at the enemy sheltering in 
the grass, while others from behind trees and 
logs fired at the red warriors when they 
raised to shoot. The presence of Girty, the 
white savage, was noticed among the 
Indians, and Elliott, a runaway Tory of 
Pennsylvania, who was given a captain's 
commission in the British army, was seen 
directing the battle. At night the enemy 
withdrew, and Crawford's soldiers slept on 
their arms expecting to resume battle the 
next morning. The attack was not resumed as 
was expected, as the Indians seemed to be 
awaiting reinforcements. In large bodies 
they traversed the plains in every direction, 
apparently carrying off their dead. 

It was evident to the volunteers that the 
Indian forces were increasing rapidly and 
that their position was one of great danger. 
At nightfall a council was held and a retreat 
decided upon. 

The outposts were silently withdrawn, 



and the troops arranged in three parallel 
lines with the wounded in the centre. At 9 
o'clock the retreat began in good order. 
Scarcely a hundred paces had been traversed, 
when the report of several shots in the rear 
had the effect of a lightning shock upon the 
lines. The shrill voice of a man in front 
crying out that the design was discovered, 
and the "savages" would soon be upon them, 
precipitated a panic. Uproar and confusion 
made the command unmanageable. The 
wounded were abandoned, and straggling 
parties hurried in every direction. The 
Indians, abandoning the main body, pursued 
the stragglers, and few of them escaped. 
Less than three hundred reached the Ohio, 
thus making the number killed and captured 
more than one hundred and fifty, among 
whom was the commandant. The remnant of 
the army was conducted back to the frontier 
by Colonel Williamson. 

Colonel Crawford, when flight com- 
menced, tried to seek out from the panic- 
stricken soldiers his son, son-in-law and two 
nephews, and for this purpose remained till 
the last straggler had passed. He met the 
surgeon, Dr. Knight, but no trace of those for 
whom he was searching was found. Presently 
a heavy fire was heard in the distance, 
accompanied by yells, which indicated a 
fierce attack. Crawford, out of heart and 
anticipating the worst, set off with Dr. Knight 
and two others in a northward direction. After 
travelling about an hour they turned east, thus 
avoiding the enemy. They entered the forest 
and pushed their course eastward as fast as 
their horses could travel until morning, when 
the exhausted animals were abandoned, and 
the refugees hurried along on foot. Their 
company was increased to six in the course of 
the day, by casually meeting Captain Biggs 
and Lieutenant Ashley, to whom he had given 
his horse, Ashley being wounded. On the 
second day they came to the path 



36 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



which the expedition had followed on their 
advance. Here Crawford insisted on 
retracing the trail, and the other members of 
the party reluctantly followed. They had not 
travelled more than an hour, when a party of 
Delaware Indians sprang up within twenty 
yards of Crawford and Knight, who were one 
hundred and fifty yards in advance of their 
comrades. The Indians presented their guns, 
and in good English ordered the fugitives to 
stop. Crawford and Knight surrendered; the 
other members of the party escaped, but two 
of them, Biggs and Ashley, were captured 
and killed the next day. 

It was an unfortunate circumstance for 
Crawford that he was captured by 
Delawares, for the disposal of his case 
thereby fell to Captain Pipe, at whose hands 
little mercy could be expected. He was taken 
to Sandusky, where he was permitted an 
interview with Simon Girty, whom he had 
known. Girty promised to do all he could to 
procure his ransom, and it is supposed 
offered Captain Pipe three hundred and fifty 
dollars to release the prisoner. The proud 
Delaware treated the proposition as an insult 
and threatened Girty with torture should it 
be renewed. 

On the morning of June 11, 1782, 
Crawford was taken to the old town, where 
he joined his companions in captivity, whose 
faces had been painted black by Captain 
Pipe. Pipe, upon Crawford's arrival, painted 
him also, but was respectful and dignified in 
his manner. The party now proceeded toward 
Tyinochtee, Crawford and Knight in charge 
of Wingemand and Pipe, the other nine 
prisoners being sent on ahead. The two in 
the rear had the horror of seeing the bodies 
of four of the prisoners in the path, and of 
witnessing the slaughter of the other five. 
Now anticipating the worst, Crawford took 
advantage of an opportunity to make an 
appeal to Wingemand, whom he had 



long known and frequently drank punch 
with. The chief told him that nothing could 
save him; that he had come with the 
cowardly Williamson to destroy the 
defenceless Christian Indians. Crawford 
tried to convince the chief that he was not 
responsible for the murder of the. 
Moravians, and would have prevented a 
repetition of that atrocity. We quote the 
chief's reply, which shows the intense 
feeling of the Indian nature: 

Had Williamson been taken with you, I and some of my 
friends, by making use of what you have said, might, 
perhaps, have saved you; but as the matter now stands 
no man would dare interfere in your behalf. The King of 
England himself, were he to come to this spot, with all 
his wealth and treasure, could not effect this purpose. 
The blood of the innocent Moravians, more than half of 
them women and children, cruelly and wantonly 
murdered, calls for revenge. The relatives of the slain 
who are among us, cry out and stand ready for revenge. 
The nation to which they belonged will have revenge, 
The Shawnees, our grandchildren, have asked for your 
fellow prisoner (Dr. Knight). On him, they will take 
revenge. All nations connected with us cry out, revenge, 
revenge. The Moravians whom they came to destroy, 
having fled instead of avenging their brethren, the 
offence is become national, and the nation itself is 
bound to take revenge. 

The chief then tried to reconcile 
Crawford to his fate. When the crowd came 
to the pile he took an affectionate farewell of 
his old friend, and hid in the bushes. The 
fire was lighted, and no words can express 
the three hours of excruciating torture and 
pain which ended the ill-fated life. In vain 
the sufferer appealed to Girty for the mercy 
of a well aimed bullet, but that monster 
exulted at his writhing, and told Knight, the 
other prisoner, that a precisely similar fate 
awaited him. After the last breath of life 
had passed away in the ascending smoke, 
Knight was placed in charge of a guide and 
hurried toward the Shawnee towns on Mad 
River. He made his escape, however, on the 
way, and returned to Virginia. 

Thus ended the doomed expedition of 
Crawford. The Wyandots returned to 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



37 



their homes on the Sandusky with greater 
confidence in their own power and ability to 
resist invasion. The failure of the expedition 
also preserved to the territory of 



the Wyandots of Sandusky a superstition that 
it was to be the inviolable seat of the nation. 



CHAPTER IV. 



LOWER SANDUSKY BEFORE FORT STEPHENSON. 

Sources of Information- Lower Sandusky Becomes a Trading Pos- Geographical Features of Ohio, Give the Place Its Importance in Indian 
History- Captain Bradys Adventure- The Moravian Missionaries Prisoners at Lower Sandusky- Description of Running the 
Gauntlet- Location of the Gauntlet Course- General Treatment of Prisoners- Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton, Captives- A 
Sentence to Torture Revoked- James Whittaker and Elizabeth Fulk, Captives; A Romantic Incident- Negro Captives- First 
Appearance of Bees in the Indian Country- Captivity of Major Goodale and Daniel Convers- Sarah Vincent Made a Captive- Her 
Marriage to Isaac Williams- The Williams Family- Tecumseh Visits Muncietown- His Plans of War Are Overheard- Expedition 
of Five Hundred Warriors from Muncietown- Tecumseh Visits Isaac Williams- The Ottawas and Death of Captain Pumpkin- 
Agriculture Along the Sandusky. 



IN 1764 the village of Junquiindundeh 
(Lower Sandusky), located at the falls of 
the river, was on an Indian trail leading from 
Fort Pitt in a northwesterly direction.* This 
part of the State was then little known to the 
whites, till a score of years later, and then 
the information was derived froth ransomed 
Indian captives. Upon these same narratives 
we are compelled to rely for the greater part 
of our information relating to Lower 
Sandusky, and, by repeating a variety of 
incidents, we hope to be able to present an 
intelligible picture of life in the fertile 
Sandusky Valley, before the advent of white 
soldiers, in 1813. 

We have no satisfactory knowledge of the 
Indian, village which occupied the hill rising 
toward the east from the headwaters of 
navigation, until about 1780, when the well- 
known borderer, Samuel Brady, at the 
instance of Washington, 



Hutchins's History of Boquet's Expedition 



came here as a spy. About this time began 
the general border war, which continued 
until 1795, and in which the Wyandots took 
a conspicuous part. This period was 
productive of the scenes which it is the 
object of this chapter to delineate. 

In 1795 the Wyandot Nation passed the 
summit of its power and glory. For more 
than a century the warriors of the tribes had 
gratified the vanity and avarice of the 
nation, but one defeat turned the tide of 
fortune, and twenty-two years more grouped 
the survivors of a haughty dominion within 
the confines of a tract twelve miles square. 
The disaster of Fallen Timbers extinguished 
the council fire at Lower Sandusky. Crane, 
the great war chief, became the head of the 
nation, and only peace councils called the 
wise men together until the close of the 
period to which we have allotted this 
chapter. 

shall frequently have occasion to mention, 



38 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



The time of the advent of traders is not 
known. Arundel and Robbins, whom we were 
here in 1782. The Wyandot village, although 
it had lost its importance, maintained its 
existence until troops formally took 
possession of the two miles square reserved 
for trading purposes by the treaty of Fort 
Mcintosh, and unconditionally reserved by 
the treaty of Greenville. The language of the 
former treaty, which is given in a preceding 
chapter, indicates that the commercial 
advantage of the place was fully appreciated 
as early as 1785; the next ten years gave the 
author of the treaty of Greenville a knowledge 
of its military importance. 

The treaty of Greenville also had the effect 
of concentrating into the Northwestern Indian 
Reservation, of which this county was a part, 
representatives of all the tribes of Ohio. The 
Delawares, whose relations with the 
Wyandots had always been of the most 
cordial character, came into the Sandusky 
country in considerable numbers. They 
established a village about three miles below 
Lower Sandusky, on the east side of the river. 
The white traders named this village 
Muncietown, most of its inhabitants being of 
the Muncie tribe of Delawares. 

Detroit, from the time the French estab- 
lished themselves at that point, was the 
leading trading post of all the tribes of the 
Northwest Territory. After the outbreak of the 
Revolution and during the whole period of 
border war, the British Government at that 
point encouraged hostility by paying a liberal 
bounty for scalps and ransom for prisoners. 
The northwestern part of the State being 
almost an impenetrable swamp, the Sandusky 
River became the common thoroughfare of all 
the Ohio tribes. The favorite canoe of the 
Indians was made of birch bark. These were 
only used in water free from obstructions. 
Streams abounding in ripples and with 



dangerous bottoms were, however, avenues 
of travel but only with wooden canoes which 
were made by hollowing out the half of a 
log. A short distance below the falls at the 
side of the river, was a place for burying the 
bark canoes. This was done, probably, for 
the purpose of keeping them from cracking. 

War parties usually came to this point on 
foot or on horses captured in the white 
settlements, and when captives were taken 
further, as most of them were, canoes were 
used for transportation. Horses were 
considered great prizes, and horseracing 
indulged in without mercy to the poor 
animals. An interesting race is described by 
Captain Samuel Brady, a man well known in 
the border history of Northern Ohio. He is 
celebrated chiefly for his wonderful leap 
across Cuyahoga River. In 1780, Captain 
Brady was dispatched, by direction of 
General Washington, to Sandusky, to learn if 
possible the strength of the Indians in this 
quarter and the geography of the country. 
Brady, with a few choice soldiers and four 
Chickasaw Indians, set out from Fort Pitt 
and made a forced march through the 
wilderness. Soon after entering the Wyandot 
country, the Chickasaw guides deserted, and 
it was feared by the brave scout had gone 
over to the enemy. Knowing the penalty of 
detection, Brady proceeded with the greatest 
caution. He approached the village adjacent 
to the rapids under cover of night, and 
fording the river, secreted himself on the 
island just below the falls. When morning 
dawned a fog rested over the valley, which 
completely cut off from view the shore on 
either side. About 1 1 o'clock a bright sun 
quickly dispelled the mist, and the 
celebrated borderer became the witness of an 
unusually interesting event. A war party had 
just returned from Kentucky with a number 



*Colonel James Smith's Narrative, 1757 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



39 



of fine horses, a trial of whose speed was the 
feature of the day's amusement. The horses 
were all drawn up in line on the west side of 
the river a short distance above the head of 
the island. One heat after another always 
brought a white Kentucky mare out ahead. 
At first the Indians cheered heartily when 
the favorite pony reached the goal in 
advance of all competitors; but no 
amusement can last long without variety. 
The victorious mare was weighted down 
with two riders but even under this burden 
distanced her competitors. Another rider was 
added to the load, which accomplished the 
purpose of defeating her, and seemed to give 
the congregated warriors, children and 
squaws, great pleasure. All this time Brady 
was concealed on the island, disturbed only 
by the fear of being seen and made the 
Subject of an evening's barbarous sport, 
around a stake of torture. That night he 
escaped and hastened rapidly toward the 
fort, which he reached after a perilous tramp 
of several days. 

In the preceding chapter, the history of the 
Moravian missions is reverted to the labor of 
the converts, their persecution, and the final 
murder of more than ninety persons. 
Simultaneously with this event, in 
consequence of the misrepresentations of the 
dishonest British agent Elliott and the white 
desperado Simon Girty, Captain Pipe and 
Half King applied persecution with such 
severity that in March, 1782, Governor De 
Peyster, fearing for the safety of the teachers, 
directed Girty and Half King to remove them 
and their families as prisoners to Detroit; but 
as these two had just planned an expedition to 
the Ohio, a Canadian Frenchman, Francis 
Levallie, was directed to accompany them. 
The company consisted of four families, two 
single men, "with a number of brethren and 
sisters," children, and a number of 



Moravian Indians. Levallie was kindhearted 
and well-disposed toward his prisoners, 
giving Zeisberger his own horse to ride, 
insisting that the age and station of the 
missionary alike prompted the act. 

Heckewelder, in his narrative says that 
after several days' travel through the wil- 
derness and swampy grounds they arrived at 
Lower Sandusky, where they were 
hospitably received by two English traders — 
Arundel and Robbins. Arundel having a 
spacious house took in those who had 
families, and Robbins took in the single men 
and the guide. Boats were sent for at Detroit, 
and before they arrived two events took 
place, which are described by Heckewelder 
in such a way as to throw much light on the 
character of Indian life here at that time. 

The houses of Arundel and Robbins were 
about a mile apart, and were located upon 
high elevations; between them was the 
Indian village. During his stay, Heckewelder 
went to the house of Robbins to visit the 
brethren, and while there the yelling of two 
parties of Indians returning from expeditions 
against the whites, was heard. One of the 
parties had been in the neighborhood of Fort 
Mcintosh, at the mouth of Beaver, and was 
bringing with them three white prisoners; the 
other party came from the opposite direction 
and had scalps. From the elevation of 
Robbins' house both parties could be seen, 
but from the village, which lay between one 
of the parties and the house, but one party 
could be seen. The people of the village ran 
to meet the one band of returning warriors. 
Heckwelder, at the advice of Robbins, took 
advantage of the occasion and returned to 
Arundel's house through the village, while it 
was thus deserted. He reached Arundel's 
house before the people and the war party, 
with their prisoners, reached the place for 
running the gauntlet. Heckewelder 



40 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



and his party saw this favorite treatment of 
prisoners and has given a faithful account of 
it. 

A certain class of writers who depend 
upon a vivid imagination to supply defi- 
ciencies of information, have made the In- 
dian gauntlet an institution of the most 
shocking cruelty. It is true, severe tortures 
were often inflicted upon prisoners, the 
degree depending much upon their fortitude 
and presence of mind, for no people admired 
bravely as the Indians did. But the gauntlet 
was rather a place of amusement than 
punishment, unless the offence has been one 
worthy of particular revenge. On entering the 
village, the prisoner is shown a painted post at 
a distance of from twenty to forty yards, and 
told to run to it and catch hold of it as quickly 
as possible. On each side of the course stand 
men, women, and children, with axes, sticks, 
and other offensive weapons, ready to strike 
him as he passes. If he should be so unlucky 
as to fall or so frightened as to stop on the 
way, he is in danger of being dispatched by 
some one anxious to avenge the death of a 
relative or friend slain in battle; but if he 
reaches the goal safely, he is protected from 
further insult until his fate has been 
determined by the war council.* 

Heckewelder goes on to state that if a 
prisoner in such a situation shows determined 
courage, and when bid to run for the painted 
post, starts with all his might, and exerts all 
his strength and agility until he reaches it, he 
will most commonly escape without much 
harm, and sometimes without any injury 
whatever; and on reaching the designated 
point will have the satisfaction of hearing his 
courage and bravery applauded. The coward 
who hesitates or shows symptoms of fear does 
well if he escapes with his life. A brave youth 
who has succeeded in reaching the 

*Heckewelder's Indian Nations. 



goal is almost certain to be adopted into one 
of the families of the tribe and treated with 
the greatest kindness. In many instances 
youths left their adopted parents with regret, 
when peace procured them ransom, and we 
have in our own county two notable 
instances of permanent adoption into the 
tribe, as we shall see further along. 

But we have been digressing from the 
course of our narrative. The missionaries 
saw from Arundel's house the party of 
fourteen warriors, with their prisoners, ap- 
proach from the east, having come from Fort 
Mcintosh. As soon' as they had crossed the 
Sandusky River, to' which the village lay 
adjacent, they were told by the captain of the 
party to run as hard as they could to a 
painted post, which was shown them. The 
youngest of the three immediately started 
without a moment's hesitation, and reached 
the post without a single blow; the second 
hesitated for a moment, but recollecting 
himself, he also ran as fast as he could and 
reached the post unhurt; but the third, 
frightened at seeing so many men, women, 
and children, with weapons in their hands 
ready to strike him, kept begging the captain 
to spare his life, saying that he was a mason 
and would build him a large stone house or 
do any other work he should choose. "Run 
for your life," cried the chief to him, "and 
dont talk now of building houses." But the 
poor fellow still insisted, begging and 
praying to the captain, who, at last, fearing 
the consequences, and finding his exhor- 
tations vain, turned his back upon him and 
would not hear him any longer. Our mason 
now began to run, but received many a hard 
blow, one of which nearly brought him to 
the ground, and which, if he had fallen, 
would have decided his fate. He, however, 
reached the goal, not without being sadly 
bruised, and besides he was bitterly scoffed 
at and reproached as 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



41 



a vile coward, while the others were hailed 
as brave men, and received tokens of uni- 
versal approbation. 

Hon. Isaac Knapp, a pioneer of the 
county, and for many years an honored 
citizen, has related an incident in this con- 
nection which locates the gauntlet track, and 
contrary to the impression given by 
Heckewelder, indicates that having passed the 
savage lines and reached the goal did not 
insure to the prisoner absolute safety from 
injury until the disposition of his case by the 
council. 

Some time before Wayne's campaign, 
three sisters and two brothers named Da- 
vidson were captured by a war party in 
Kentucky and brought to Lower Sandusky as 
prisoners. All were ordered to run the 
gauntlet. The brothers were stout, active men, 
and both succeeded in getting through without 
a scratch. John, the elder brother, seemed to 
be a mark of particular hatred. When he had 
reached the post exhausted and breathless, he 
sat down upon a log, having passed, as he 
supposed, the ordeal of his captivity. But an 
old squaw, dissatisfied with his easy escape, 
walked up behind, struck a tomahawk into his 
shoulder, and left him. The sisters were then 
ordered to run, but they refused, begging to be 
tomahawked where they sat. This conduct on 
their part probably made the sentence upon 
the whole family more severe. At a 
consultation of the chiefs and warriors it was 
decided to hold the prisoners as slaves. They 
were taken to Canada, where a British trader 
paid their ransom. Mr. Knapp afterwards 
became acquainted with these persons and 
knew them well. They settled in northern 
Kentucky. He obtained from them a minute 
description of the bends of the river, the lay 
of the ground, and the surrounding hills, from 
which he was enabled to locate the gauntlet 
track. According to the description, the lines 
of the savages extended from the site of the 



block now occupied by Wagner's store, to 
the Kessler House corner. The council was 
probably held on the site of the Buckland 
block. 

In general the treatment of prisoners by the 
Indians was not so severe as is popularly 
supposed. There were, of course, exceptions, 
among which the melancholy fate of Colonel 
Crawford is prominent. But few were 
burned, and nearly all who acted bravely 
were treated with kindness. We should not 
forget that the events which are grouped 
together in this chapter occurred during a 
state of active war, in which the Indians 
were fighting for the maintenance of the 
forest, and were encouraged by British 
agents with British gold. Affairs at Lower 
Sandusky, during the long period of border 
war, extending from the opening of the 
Revolution to the celebrated victory of 
Wayne, possess a peculiar interest. This was 
an important military centre, and every 
narrative relating to the place is a glimpse 
into the enemy's camp. For many years 
before the first settlement of Ohio, a war 
both offensive and defensive was waged 
between the Ohio tribes and the frontiersmen 
of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the 
Kentucky borders. When humanity is made 
an element of comparative consideration in 
the conduct of that war, the burden of shame 
hangs over the graves of our own 
countrymen. The contest itself could but be 
one of most barbarous cruelty on both sides, 
for the Indians were fully persuaded that it 
was the design of the whites to destroy their 
hunting grounds and ultimately exterminate 
them, while the borderers looked upon the 
Indian as little better than a wild beast, and a 
pest to be exterminated by any means 
whatever. They attributed to him no rights 
which civilization was bound to respect. 

Some of the earlier outrages perpetrated 
against the Indian race by the white, were 



42 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



of the most perfidious character. While we 
are reading that cruel page of Ohio history 
describing the tortures inflicted upon 
Colonel Crawford at Upper Sandusky, let us 
not forget the treacherous blows by which, 
previously, the kindred of Logan's tribe fell 
at Yellow Creek, or the expedition of 
Captain Williamson, which culminated in the 
coldblooded murder of the Moravian 
Christians and the burning of their bodies. 
The whites took few prisoners, but the rifle 
industriously, often treacherously used, 
dispatched many brave warriors on both 
sides of the Ohio. Revenge is a part of the 
Indian nature, and the tribes were not slow 
to retaliate every wrong, and full-measured 
retaliation it was. It is estimated that on the 
frontiers, south and west of the Ohio River, 
during the seven years preceding the 
outbreak of the war on the Ohio colony at 
the mouth of the Muskingum, the Indians 
killed and took prisoners fifteen hundred 
people, stole two thousand horses and other 
property to the value of fifty thousand 
dollars* After the general war began in 
1791, the annual destruction of life and 
property was much greater, until its close in 
1795. Probably more captives were brought 
to Lower Sandusky than to any other place 
in Ohio. This was a retreat where prisoners 
were brought and disposed of, many being 
sent to Detroit and Canada. So far as is 
known, not a solitary prisoner was tortured 
here at the stake, and in a majority of cases 
captives who had passed the gauntlet safely 
and bravely were treated kindly. It should be 
remembered that this was in the heart of the 
Indian country, and a point which had never 
been visited by a military expedition of 
whites. Under these circumstances the events 
which we have narrated and are about to 
narrate can have no other effect than to 
create charitable ideas 

*Colonel Barker's Reminiscences 



of Indian character, cruel as some of these 
occurrences might seem, did we not know 
the subjects were prisoners of bloody and 
relentless war. 

Among the notable characters who were 
brought to Lower Sandusky as captives were 
Simon Kenton and Daniel Boone. The 
former having been captured in 1778, was 
taken first to Piqua, where he ran the 
gauntlet; from there he was taken to Old 
Chillicothe, where he spent several days 
with Logan. He was sentenced to the stake at 
Wapitomika, but Logan, assisted by Girty 
and a Canadian Frenchman, succeeded in 
having the decision of the council reversed. 
Kenton was then sent to Lower Sandusky 
and from here taken by water to Detroit.* 

The fact that Daniel Boone was brought 
through Lower Sandusky while in captivity, 
is a fact worthy of mention because of the 
celebrity of that unequalled hero of border 
annals. The name of Boone is familiar and 
dear to every boy, and his heroic adventures 
interest, even in the years of more prosy 
manhood. In the proud old Commonwealth 
of Kentucky the name of Boone and the 
story of his life is more familiar than any 
other character in American history. In the 
winter of 1778 Captain Boone, while with a 
party of salt-makers on the Licking River, 
was captured by Shawnee warriors who took 
him to Chillicothe and from there to Lower 
Sandusky on the way to Detroit, where 
Governor Hamilton, the British commander, 
was encouraging Indian depredations by 
paying liberal premiums for scalps and 
prisoners. The Governor took a great fancy 
to Boone, and offered liberally for his 
ransom; he was an object of particular 
interest among the officers at the garrison. 
But the Shawnees had also taken a special 
liking to the old hunter and said he must 
become one of them, 



*M cD on aid's Western Sketches. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



43 



and be a great chief. He returned with the 
Indians to Chillicothe, and remained with the 
tribe several months. 

It will be seen from these incidents that 
the Shawnees and other tribes made the 
Sandusky River a highway to Detroit, but 
probably none but the Wyandots brought 
their prisoners to Lower Sandusky for sen- 
tence and the infliction of penalties. 

Those of the captives whom the Indians 
took a liking to, on account of bravery or 
other qualities which they particularly 
admired, were the only ones adopted into the 
tribe; other prisoners were either made 
slaves, as in the instance of the Davidson 
family above noted, or taken to Detroit. It 
should be noted to the credit of the 
Wyandots that they rarely burned prisoners 
at the stake. Colonel Crawford was captured 
by the Delawares and sentenced by a 
Delaware council, so that the Indians in 
whom we are especially interested are free 
from the odium of that savage sentence. 

But Wyandot captives were not secure 
against the liability of torture, as is shown 
by the following incident, which also proves 
the kindheartedness of Arundel and Robbins, 
the two English traders, and the 
susceptibility of Crane, the great war chief, 
to flattery. 

In the spring of 1782, a young man was 
brought captive from Fort Mcintosh to 
Lower Sandusky, where he heroically passed 
the gauntlet ordeal. Crane admired his 
bravery and sent him to Half King at Upper 
Sandusky, to be adopted into his family in 
place of a son who had been killed the 
preceding year while at war on the Ohio. The 
prisoner having arrived at Upper Sandusky, 
was presented to Half King's wife, who 
refused to receive him, which, according to 
the unwritten law of the Wyandots, was a 
sentence of death. The prisoner was returned 
for the purpose of being tortured 



and burned. Preparations for the dreadful 
event were made near the village; warriors, 
squaws, and children gathered from all 
directions to witness the terrible execution. 
It fortunately happened that the two traders, 
Arundel and Robbins, were present, and, 
shocked with the horror of the act about to 
be perpetrated, resolved to make an effort to 
prevent it. They offered the war chief a 
liberal ransom for the prisoner's life, which 
he refused, saying that it was an established 
custom among them that when a prisoner had 
been offered as a present and was refused, he 
was irrevocably doomed to the stake, and no 
one could save him. Besides, the chief 
further declared the numerous war captains 
who were on the spot had it in charge to 
carry out the execution. Failing to move the 
great war chief by offers of money, they 
appealed to his vanity, which proved the 
vulnerable point of his character. "But," 
answered the generous but wily traders, 
"among all these chiefs you have mentioned, 
there is none equals you in greatness; you 
are considered not only the greatest and 
bravest, but at the same time the best man in 
the nation." The chief looked up with an 
expression of pride and gratification. "Do 
you really believe what you say?" he 
queried. "Indeed we do," answered the 
traders. The object was accomplished. 
Without another word the great war chief 
blackened himself, and, taking knife and 
tomahawk in hand, forced his way through 
the crowd to the unhappy victim at the post. 
Crying with a loud voice, "What have you to 
do with my prisoner?" he cut the cords with 
which the prisoner was tied. The chief took 
him to his house, which was near Mr. 
Arundel's, and from there sent him with a 
safeguard to the commander at Detroit, who 
gave him his liberty.* This incident 



Heckewelder's Indian Nations. 



44 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



clearly shows the supremacy of Crane 
among the Wyandot chiefs. 

We have spoken more than once in the 
preceding pages of the custom among the 
Indians of adopting into their families young 
men to whom they took particular liking. An 
instance of this kind is recorded by Finley as 
having occurred in 1786. Robert Armstrong, 
a young lad of four years, was captured near 
Pittsburgh, and brought here through the 
wilderness. He was adopted into an Indian 
family and grew up a perfect Wyandot.* But 
the most notable instances of this kind were 
the capture and adoption of the heads of two 
families, some of whose descendants are yet 
living in the county, and to whom were 
granted reservations in the treaty of Maumee 
Rapids, spoken of in a succeeding chapter. 

The narrative of the Whittakers" 1 " is a story 
possessing the elements of ideal romance. 
We give the outline, to which our 
imaginative reader can supply fictitious 
coloring to suit his own taste, and thus 
complete the picture. In about the year 1780, 
two brothers, Quill Whittaker and James 
Whittaker, in company with another young 
man, left Fort Pitt one morning on a hunting 
expedition. They wandered a considerable 
distance from the fort, intent upon securing 
game with which to gratify their friends, but 
at an unexpected moment a volley of rifle 
balls rattled among the trees. One took 
mortal effect in the body of the young man; 
another passed through the hat of Quill 
Whittaker, who saved himself by flight; a 
third ball shattered the arm of James, the 
younger brother, and in a few minutes he 
was the prisoner of a band of painted 
Wyandot warriors. After several days hard 
travelling, the Indians, with their 

* History of Moravian Missions. 

+From an interview of Hon. Homer Everett with Mrs. Scranton, 
daughter of James Whittaker. 



captive, reached a village within the present 
boundaries of Richland county, Ohio. Here 
the lines were formed and Whittakers 
bravery and activity tested on the gauntlet 
course. The boy, wounded as he was, 
deported himself with true heroism. The first 
half of the course was passed without a 
single scratch, but as he was speeding on 
toward the painted goal, an old squaw, who 
cherished a feeling of deep revenge, 
mortified by the captive's successful 
progress, sprang forward and caught his arm 
near the shoulder, hoping to detain him long 
enough for the weapon of the next savage to 
take effect. The prisoner instantly halted, 
and with a violent kick sent the vicious 
squaw and the next Indian tumbling from the 
lines. His bold gallantry received wild shouts 
of applause along the lines. Attention being 
thus diverted, he sprang forward with 
quickened speed and reached the post without 
material injury. Not satisfied that this favorite 
amusement should be so quickly ended, it was 
decided that the prisoner should run again. 
The lines for the second trial were already 
formed when an elderly and dignified squaw 
walked forward and took from her own 
shoulders a blanket which she cast over the 
panting young prisoner, saying, "This is my 
son; he is one of us; you must not kill him." 
Thus adopted, he was treated with all that 
kindness and affection which the savage heart 
is capable of cherishing. 

It is a saying as old as the institution of 
voluntary marriage itself, that "those who are 
born to go together will marry under any 
circumstances," which is but a particular- 
ization of the general doctrine "that to live is 
but to follow the path made by fate." Those 
philosophers who entertain this belief might 
find in the second part of this narrative an 
applicable illustration in support of their 
theory. 

About two years after the capture of 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



45 



Whittaker, another party of warriors made an 
incursion into Pennsylvania and captured at 
Cross Roads, Elizabeth Fulks, a girl eleven 
years old, whom they carried into captivity 
and adopted into a family of the tribe. Both 
captives lived contentedly and happily, 
having adopted the manners and customs of 
their wards. A few years after, somewhere in 
the vast expanse of the Northwestern 
wilderness, probably here on the Sandusky 
River, at a general council of their tribes, 
these two adopted children of the forest 
made each others acquaintance. The brave 
boy who ran the gauntlet had become a well 
proportioned man, and the sweet, timid 
captive girl was now a blooming maiden 
whose native beauty had never been 
destroyed by the torturing artifices of society 
dress. Perhaps this meeting occurred in the 
full light of an encouraging moon, while 
savage warriors were deliberating cruel 
expeditions around a bright council fire in 
the distance. Who can think of the meeting 
being formal and reserved, or of a 
fashionable courtship? A marriage according 
to the customs of civilized life was at once 
arranged, and the couple, ardent in their love 
and happy in their expectations, set off for 
Detroit, where the Christian ritual was 
pronounced which made them man and wife. 
The Indians seemed well pleased by this 
conduct of their paleface children. They 
gave them a choice tract of farming land in 
the river bottom, and here Rev. Joseph 
Badger visited the family in 1806, where he 
found them living in perfect harmony with 
their Indian neighbors, but practicing the 
forms of civilized life.* Mr. and Mrs. 
Whittaker reared a large family, for whose 
education they 

*Whittaker's thorough adoption into the Wyandot 
tribe is shown by the fact that he joined their war 
parties. He was present at St. Clair's defeat and at the 
battle of Fallen Timbers McClung's Western Adventures. 



expended considerable sums of money. In 
1808 a teacher was secured who came to the 
residence, which was a short distance below 
the falls on the west side of the river, and 
instructed the older children. The oldest 
daughter was subsequently sent to school in 
Pittsburgh, at an expense of eight hundred 
dollars a year, and there qualified to teach 
the younger children. 

Mr. Whittaker entered into mercantile 
business, for which he was well fitted. He 
established a store at his residence, one at 
Tymochtee, and one at Upper Sandusky. He 
accumulated wealth rapidly, having at the 
time of his death his goods all paid for and 
two thousand pounds on deposit with the 
Canada house where he made his purchases. 
At Upper Sandusky he had a partner, Hugh 
Patterson, with whom, in the year 1816, he 
drank a glass of wine and died in a short time 
afterwards, his death being attributed to 
poison in the wine. Patterson was largely 
indebted to him, and, it was discovered 
afterwards, had forged an order on 
McDonald, proprietor of the Canada house, 
for the two thousand pounds on deposit. 
Mrs. Whittaker, to whom a reservation was 
granted in the treaty of 1817, survived her 
husband many years, but as to the time and 
place of her death we are not informed.* 

A few prominent acts of kindhearted 
benevolence on the part of Mr. Whittaker 
can not be omitted. A short time before the 
war of 1812, he went to the Maumee on 
business, and found among the Indians a 
young white woman who bore a strong 
resemblance to his own daughters. She was 
engaged at carrying wood and piling it up. 
Mr. Whittaker, after talking with her a short 
time, became convinced that she was 
preparing her own funeral pile, though 
herself ignorant of the fact. 



Later events relating to this family are narrated in the 
sketch of Sandusky township. 



46 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



He engaged to procure her freedom on 
condition she would never expose him in a 
lie. Having been informed of the probable 
fate which awaited her she readily assented. 
At the dictation of her rescuer she sat upon a 
log while he went to the assembled Indians 
and asked them what they were doing with 
that young woman, to which they replied 
that preparations were being made for a 
dance that night, and that she was to be 
burned. He then told them that she was his 
daughter, and the strong resemblance 
between her and his family, with whom the 
Indians were slightly acquainted, convinced 
them that the statement was true, and out of 
respect they gave her up. Whittaker brought 
her home and gave a guide sixty dollars to 
conduct her to her friends, who lived down 
the Ohio river. 

Near the time of the capture of Whittaker, 
and probably later, a party of negroes were 
captured in Virginia and brought to the 
Sandusky River, where they were held as 
slaves. They were placed in charge of a 
peninsular tract several miles below the 
falls, which they cultivated for the Indians, 
no doubt to the great satisfaction of the 
squaws, upon whom devolved all menial 
labor. The peninsula became known as 
Negro Point, a name which it has retained 
ever since a period of about a century 

There is a singular tradition relating to the 
first appearance of the honeybee in the 
Northwest, which places that event within 
the field of our history. The late Mrs. Rachel 
Scranton, a daughter of . James and 
Elizabeth Whittaker, is authority for the 
following statement, which was first 
published in 1860: 

Previous to the time of Mrs. Whittaker's captivity, 
the honeybee and the plantain were unknown to the 
Indians. While she and her brother George, who was 
also a captive, were yet children, and menial servants to 
the Wyandot tribe, they were hoeing corn in an Indian 
field, when they discovered a swarm of bees in a tree 
near by. They remembered some 



thing of bees at home and conjectured what they were. 
The idea of white people was instantly suggested, and 
they talked with one another as to whether this might 
not be a sign that white people would come soon. Their 
discovery was communicated to the Indians, who 
flocked to the tree in great numbers to see the wonderful 
insects. The suggestion was made by George and 
Elizabeth, that bees belonged to white people and stayed 
with them, and that probably this was a sign that the 
palefaces were coming, and would bye-and-bye have the 
country. None of the tribes had ever seen the insect 
before, and their superstitious minds were affected to 
such a degree that, with the Wyandots especially, it 
became a settled conviction that the Indians would be 
driven out and the whites would take their country. 

The account continues: 

Henceforth this tribe, yielding to what they con- 
sidered inevitable fate, felt and said it was useless to 
contend against the palefaces, and became a peaceful 
people. It is true they joined the other tribes to fight 
Wayne, but they refused to join the expedition until a 
confederation of all the other tribes of the Northwest 
plainly told them that if they did not send out warriors 
to fight Wayne, they unitedly would exterminate the 
Wyandots. There was no other way to save themselves, 
and they did send the best of their men to be slaughtered 
by "Mad" Anthony at the battle of Fallen Timbers. 

This latter statement is probably incorrect 
in fact, although there may have been such a 
local sentiment. In the open war, which was 
commenced on the Ohio Company's 
settlement in 1791, and terminated with 
Wayne's victory, the Wyandots took an 
active and conspicuous part, a part which 
justifies assigning to them leadership from 
the beginning to the end of that cruel 
contest. The first attack on the Ohio settlers 
at Big Bottom, in 1791, was made by the 
allied warriors of the Delawares and 
Wyandots. 

The Whittaker cabin and trading-house, 
which stood just above the head of the bay, 
was a usual stopping point for war parties 
when on their way from Lower Sandusky to 
Detroit with prisoners. The family always 
treated captives with the greatest kindness 
consistent with their situation. Major Nathan 
Goodale, a prominent and valuable citizen of 
Belpre, the 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



47 



second settlement in the Ohio Company's 
purchase, was captured by a band of Wyandot 
warriors in 1793, while at work on his farm a 
short distance from the fort. They sprang out 
from the forest and seized him before he was 
aware of their presence, or could make any 
defence, threatening him with death if he made 
a noise or resisted. After securing him with 
thongs they made a hasty retreat, intending to 
take him to Detroit and get a large ransom. 
They got along as far as Whittaker's house, 
when he could go no further, in consequence of 
sickness. Mrs. Whittaker, in relating the 
account afterwards, testified that he had 
received no ill treatment while in captivity, and 
that he died at her house in a few days after he 
had been left there, of a disease like pleurisy.* 

The narrative of the captivity of Daniel 
Conyers* in 1793, throws considerable light on 
affairs here at that time. Convers was a boy 
sixteen years old, who lived at the Waterford 
garrison on the Muskingum River, twenty 
miles above Marietta. He afterwards became a 
wealthy merchant of Zanesville, Ohio. He was 
captured by a party of Indians lurking about the 
garrison, most of them being Wyandots. They 
travelled singly through the woods so as to 
leave no trail behind, until they struck the old 
Indian path leading from Lower Sandusky 
through Upper Sandusky to Fort Harmar. This 
was a plain, beaten track, used by the Indians 
for many years when going to Marietta to sell 
their peltry. The evening was rainy and the 
night very dark, but they did not stop until late, 
fearing that the whites might be in pursuit. For 
the same reason, no fire was kindled. Before 
going to sleep they tied leather thongs around 
their prisoner's wrist, stretching out the ends 
upon the ground and passing them under the 
Indians who lay on each side of him, so as to 
awaken them if he attempted to escape. 

* Pioneer History of Ohio. 



The Indians did not sleep much, but talked 
until almost morning. At daybreak the 
journey was resumed. An old Ottawa was in 
the party, who complained of being sick and 
gave his pack to the prisoner to carry, which 
greatly wearied him. After he had borne the 
burden about three miles they came to a 
creek where all stopped to drink. The brave 
lad threw the pack on the ground saying, 
"Me sick too." The Ottawa picked it up 
without saying a word, and his master, or at 
least the Indian who claimed him by right of 
capture, patted his young prisoner on the 
back exclaiming "Ho yee, a token of 
approval of the fearless act. The second 
evening, being more than fifty miles from 
any white settlement, they halted before 
night, killed a deer for supper and kindled a 
fire. They seasoned their venison with wild 
onions. That night they trimmed their bright 
young captive s hair in the Indian fashion, 
leaving a long lock on top which they 
braided into a queue. They also painted one 
of his eyelids. 

On the third day a place of considerable 
interest was reached, where two trails 
leading toward the north came together. A 
hieroglyphic tree stood at the junction, on 
which was painted, in a rude manner, a war 
party, indicating their number and the 
direction of their course. The warriors 
painted on the same tree their own number, 
indicating the capture of one boy prisoner by 
placing behind the warriors who bore arms a 
smaller figure without arms. 

From here they hurried on rapidly to 
Upper Sandusky, where the prisoner saw, for 
the first time, in a cabin, a number of scalps 
hung up to dry. This was the cabin of a 
crabbed old Indian, who welcomed the lad 
with a cuff on the head. From Upper 
Sandusky the party 



48 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



proceeded down the river, and in the course of 
the afternoon met a white trader and a negro. 
The white man paid little attention to them, 
but the negro took the prisoner kindly by the 
hand, and with evident interest inquired if any 
of his friends had been killed, and where he 
came from. This negro was probably one of 
the slaves from Negro Point, and hoped to 
find out something about his old friends in 
Virginia. That night they had nothing for 
supper except a woodchuck, which was 
divided among eight persons. Here the 
Indians gave their prisoner a blanket and 
moccasins, he having been barefoot and thinly 
clad at the time of the capture. The next night 
they' passed in a vacant hut by the river. Here 
Convers saw a cow which belonged to his 
mother, and had been stolen three months 
before. The narrative declares: "She directly 
knew her old friend Daniel; came up to him, 
and looked as if she felt sorry for his unhappy 
condition." 

The prisoner on this occasion was a lad 
whose appearance commanded admiration 
and excited sympathy, as is shown by the 
conduct of two boys at a village on the 
prairie. They caught him, one by each hand, 
and hurried through the town, thus shielding 
him from the ordeal of running the gauntlet. 
"On the tenth day of his captivity," says the 
narrative, "the party arrived at Lower 
Sandusky, where there was a large Indian 
village. Here they crossed the Sandusky River 
in a canoe. As soon as they had landed, an 
Indian came up, took Daniel by the hand and 
bid him go with him. He hesitated for a mo- 
ment, when one of the warriors motioned him 
to go. He ran with him up the river bank 
about twenty rods and stopped, appearing 
very friendly, and no doubt took this course to 
keep the prisoner out of the sight of the other 
Indians living in the town. While waiting 
there for his party 



to join him, a large Indian who was drunk, 
came to him and struck him over the eye, 
knocking him down. The eye instantly 
swelled so that he could not see with it. As 
he repeated the blow, another Indian, who 
was much smaller, ran to the rescue, and, 
seizing the drunken one by the hair, jerked 
him to the ground and beat him severely. He 
then, in a very kind manner, took young 
Convers by the hand, calling him, in broker 
English, his friend. At the same time two 
squaws came up and expressed their pity for 
the young prisoner. "They went away, but 
directly returned, bringing him some hominy 
and meat to eat, thus showing that the female 
heart in the savage, as well as in the 
civilized races, is readily moved at the sight 
of distress, and ever open to compassion and 
kindness. The party to which he belonged 
encamped near this spot, and during the 
night some of the party who had been 
present at the attack on the garrison at 
Waterford, hearing from their countrymen an 
account of this foray at the same place, and 
the ill-treatment of their prisoner by the 
drunken Indian, came into the camp and 
passed the night to protect him from any 
further abuse." 

The next day the party, with their 
prisoners, proceeded on down the river on 
their way to Detroit. They stopped at 
Whittaker's cabin and there received from 
that kindhearted man a loaf of sugar which 
the Indians divided, giving their prisoner a 
share. The Indians were very fond of sugar, 
and the present was highly appreciated by 
them, as well as by the captive. Whittaker 
dared say little to the prisoner, however, lest 
he should excite the jealousy of the Indians. 
At Detroit the prisoner was ransomed and 
sent with a party of horsemen to his friends 
in Connecticut. Colonel Convers in after 
years testified to the uniform humanity 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



49 



of his treatment. "His treatment was not only 
humane, but kind and gentlemanly." 

We have presented this incident to con- 
siderable length, because it is the most 
faithfully detailed account of Indian cap- 
tivity within our knowledge. Let those who 
have believed the Indian a beast in human 
form, whose only human element of 
character was treachery, follow Convers 
from the scene of his captivity to the place 
of ransom, and compare his treatment with 
that of the war prisoners of any Christian 
nation. 

The treatment of prisoners was very much 
similar in all cases, except when special 
weakness of character was betrayed, or the 
magnitude of a crime demanded severe 
punishment. We have chosen a variety of 
such incidents as are best calculated to give 
an idea of aboriginal life at Lower Sandusky, 
which was, during the period covered, the 
military centre of the most warlike of the 
Indian nations. Another event more far 
reaching in its historical consequences next 
demands our attention. 

The frontier posts of Kentucky suffered 
more from Indian incursions than the 
settlements of any other locality. There were 
two reasons for this: being the most western 
settlements they were regarded as the most 
dangerous intruders on the red man's 
domain; and second, nowhere did the 
"Longknives," as the Indians called the 
whites, treat the savages with so much 
cruelty. During one of these incursions, led 
by Simon Girty against Boonesborough, 
Sarah Vincent, a little girl seven years old, 
was made captive and settled on the 
Sandusky River, where she became a 
Wyandot. 

Several years afterwards Isaac Williams, a 
trader at Upper Sandusky, made her 
acquaintance, and they were married. They 
settled at Upper Sandusky, and reared one 
son, Isaac Williams, who married 



Sarah Loveler near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 
They settled on the tract which his mother 
had occupied while a captive, located on the 
river, at the Chestnut grove, on the present 
estate of Sidney Forguson. It was to the 
widow of this Isaac Williams that a 
reservation of one hundred and sixty acres, 
on Negro Point, was granted. She died about 
1830, leaving a family of five children — 
Alexander, George, Joseph, Rachel, and 
James. 

George married a Tawa (Ottawa) squaw, 
and never claimed any share in the estate. 
This woman, in 1808, overheard an in- 
terview between the Shawnee, Tecumseh, 
and a Muncie, or Delaware chief, which, had 
it been properly communicated to the 
Federal authorities, would have furnished 
important information concerning the 
strange, mysterious movements of the wily 
chief who organized the Indian rebellion of 
1811, and consummated the British alliance 
of 1812. 

Tecumseh was neither a peace chief, nor a 
war chief in his tribe, but he was a man of 
preeminent intellect, and attained to an 
influence, throughout the whole Indian 
country, which was well nigh imperial. He 
commenced the great work which he had 
long contemplated, in 1805. His first object 
was to unite the several nations, many of 
which were hostile to each other, and had 
often been at war. He sought to reform their 
prejudices, and to reestablish original 
manners and customs. To this end all 
intercourse with the whites was to be 
suspended, and the use of ardent spirits 
abandoned. Professing to the American 
Government no other object than moral 
reform, he was unceasing in his toil. Having a 
wide reputation as a sagacious counselor and 
warrior, he everywhere received considerate 
attention. His general plan of union being 
matured, he brought superstition to his aid. 

His brother, the Prophet, now began to 



50 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



dream dreams and see visions. The fame of 
his divine commission spread from the 
frozen North to the gulf on the South. While 
believing pilgrims were coming to the shrine 
of the Prophet, Tecumseh's activity was 
simply wonderful. He was pleading loyalty 
to the Americans at Governor Harrison's 
office at Vincennes, and the same week 
arranging war plans on the Wabash and on 
the plains of Sandusky. His canoe crossed 
the Mississippi, and before any were aware, 
he was addressing Cherokee councils in 
Georgia and Alabama. The whole West was 
thus aroused to war, which begun openly at 
Tippecanoe in 1811. Until shortly before that 
time the Government was ignorant of the 
real designs of Tecumseh and the power of 
the league which he had formed. In view of 
the consequences of the chieftain's move- 
ments, the tradition of his visit to Lower 
Sandusky will be of general interest. This 
brings us back again to the Williams 
family. * 

One afternoon in the autumn of 1809, the 
wife of George Williams, who lived on 
Negro Point, made a visit to the Wyandot 
village, which was on the hill northeast of 
the present Fremont bridge. Her way home 
was through Muncietown, which she reached 
about dark in the evening. By a light in a 
wigwam she saw Tecumseh in consultation 
with an Ottawa chief. Her path passed close 
the wigwam, in which she heard a 
conversation in the Ottawa language. Being 
herself an Ottawa, she understood what was 
said; and the theme being war, curiosity 
induced her to listen. Mrs. Williams, on 
returning home, told her husband that 
Tecumseh said, the next year when corn was 
knee high, a war would commence by the 
killing of all white people living on Indian 
territory 

* This tradition is written from the recollections of 
Lorenzo Dow Williams, grandson of Isaac Williams. 



and along the river (the Ohio river), and that 
the British would join them in the war. This 
was the first information obtained by any 
white settler that the roving Shawnees 
contemplated war. Alexander Williams,* a 
brother of George Williams, who lived in 
Virginia, was at that time visiting his parents 
on Negro Point. He started home the 
following morning, going by way of 
Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, where he 
announced what had been heard in the Indian 
country concerning Tecumseh's intentions. 
At Sweet Springs, Virginia, his fellow- 
townsmen prepared for the conflict. 

The following summer five hundred 
warriors gathered in Muncietown, whence 
they started on an expedition to plunder the 
frontiers of Virginia. After they had been 
gone two days, Mrs. Williams, who had 
heard the prediction of Tecumseh and knew 
the meaning of these hostile preparations, 
called two white prisoners, who had been at 
Muncietown for a long time, to her house, 
painted them as warriors, and sent them on 
the trail of the war party with instructions to 
travel night and day and to pass around the 
warriors, if possible, before they reached the 
settlements, in order that, the white people 
might prepare for an attack. The two young 
men, rejoiced to escape captivity, arrayed in 
the costume of the savages, with rifle, 
ammunition, tomahawk and scalping knife, 
hurried in the path as fast as possible. At a 
place called Walker's Meadow, three miles 
from the village of Union, the two brave 
messengers entered the Indian camp. 
Carelessly they passed through, unnoticed by 
the redskins, who supposed them a couple of 
their own number, engaged in the enterprise. 
About three miles from the encampment they 
came to the house of a settler, where they re- 
mained quiet until morning. The first 



* Father of our informant. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



51 



person seen was a man who came out of the 
house, mounted a horse, and rode away 
without seeing the messengers. A negro next 
came out and went to the barn. The two young 
men now entered the house where they found 
a woman and several children. The woman 
screamed terribly, supposing Indians with the 
war paint on their faces were in possession of 
her house, and that quick murder was sure to 
follow. The boys spoke to her in good 
English, explaining who they were and what 
they had come for. The woman's husband was 
Judge Donelly, who was holding court two 
miles distant. They informed him of the 
danger to which the settlement was exposed. 
Judge Donelly was also colonel of militia, and 
on receiving the information he adjourned 
court and collected the people of the 
settlement into the blockhouse, upon which an 
unsuccessful attack was made, and the war- 
riors left with one prisoner. This was one of 
the first acts of Indian hostility. Very few 
Wyandots participated in it, their nation being 
averse to war. Tecumseh's visits were mostly 
to the villages of other tribes. The Wyandots 
generally entertained the opinions expressed 
by Crane's confidential advisor, Walk-in-the- 
Water, in a council held at Brownstown in 
1812. He said: "No, we will not take up the 
hatchet against our father the Longknife. Our 
two fathers are about to fight, but we have no 
concern in their quarrel; it is best for us to sit 
still and remain neutral." 

The Wyandots on the American side of the 
lakes were not drawn into the war in any 
considerable numbers, although the British 
Government exhausted intrigue to effect an 
alliance. Tarhe, the Crane, exerted his 
powerful influence in favor of neutrality, and 
those of the tribe who had taken hold of the 
British hatchet deserted Proctor at the first 
opportunity* 

*North American Review, 1827. 



Tecumseh, at one time, while endeavoring 
to effect a union of the tribes, visited the 
house of Isaac Williams, on Negro Point. The 
visit, from Mr. Williams' standpoint, has an 
amusing feature, though, on part of the great 
Indian statesman and general, it was probably 
no more than an accident. We give the 
incident, as it has become traditional in the 
Williams family. 

The Wyandots had cornfields all along the 
river bottoms, which were cultivated by the 
squaws and boys, each family having a small 
patch, and no fences between them. Isaac 
Williams owned a large number of hogs, and 
tried to enclose his premises with a brush 
fence, but they frequently found a way out 
and destroyed the corn, which greatly 
provoked the squaws. They urged their dogs 
upon the hogs, and killed several of them. 
One day Williams, hearing the dogs barking 
and the hogs squealing, grasped his gun, and, 
despite the importunities of his wife, rushed 
to the corn field, where two dogs were tearing 
to pieces one of the favorites of the herd, 
while an old squaw and her boy were looking 
on with amusement. Williams, still more 
enraged by this, aimed so as to bring both 
within the range of the shot, but the gun 
snapped and the squaw discovered her danger. 
She implored forgiveness, and promised that 
the injury should never be repeated. The 
family were, however, greatly annoyed by the 
fear that the event had. excited the wrath of 
the Indians, who would seek revenge. This 
explains the uneasiness of Williams when, the 
next day, Tecumseh appeared at his door. 
This was during that chiefs earlier visits to 
the towns along the river. The magnitude of 
the indignity of the day before increased in 
Williams' mind a hundredfold, and his first 
thought was that the great Tecumseh had 
come to revenge the insult. Suppressing all 
appearances of fear, the old trader asked his 
unwelcome 



52 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



guest to come in and be seated, himself, with 
seeming carelessness, taking a chair in that 
corner of the cabin in which the gun was 
standing. Both sat for some time without a 
word passing between them. The chief at 
length took his tomahawk from his belt and 
filled the end of it with tobacco. Stepping to 
the fire, he took a coal from the ashes, lighted 
his pipe and began smoking, continuing silent. 
Williams also sat quiet, every moment ex- 
pecting to be reproved, or, perhaps, punished, 
for attempting to shoot the squaw. The latter 
finally broke the spell by saying: "Tecumseh, 
what are you doing? I see the wampum is being 
carried from place to place and secret councils 
are being held. What is this for? Are you 
organizing war against the white people?" Te- 
cumseh could speak and understand. English 
well. He answered: "Maybe war with the white 
man. He is too saucy." Williams then informed 
the chief, who was afterwards termed monarch 
of the North American Indians, that he had 
better not go to war; that he had travelled 
through the white man's country, and they were 
too numerous for the Indians; that they would 
exterminate all the Indians in the country if a 
war should occur, and more such advice, to 
which the chief paid no attention. He sat 
moody for a long time, then knocked the ashes 
from his pipe and retired. Williams was 
agreeably surprised at there having been no 
allusion made to the attempt to shoot the 
squaw. 

The Ottawas are characterized by Indian writers as the 
hunters and trappers of the forest. They followed the Portage 
and Sandusky Rivers and came to Lower Sandusky to trade 
as late as 1833, Judge Jesse Olmstead being the favorite 
merchant. The story of the execution of an Ottawa warrior 
was given in a lecture by Hon. Homer Everett, delivered in 
1860. 

Wild, unlearned, and in many things repulsive as the Indians 
were, still, amongst them were found many noble specimens 
of men and women, who cherished and displayed the 
cardinal virtues of humanity: modesty, chastity, truth, 
sincerity, honesty and courage. 



In that stoic courage which coolly meets death 
without even the appearance of fear, the North 
American Indian never had a superior in any race of 
men on the earth. In illustration of this wonderful 
characteristic, two instances, well known to my 
informants, may be given. 

Among the Ottawas who frequently visited our town 
to trade, was a warrior named Captain Punkin. He was 
by nature, as well as practice, a vicious, treacherous, 
cruel Indian; he was one of the company who captured 
the Snow family, on Cold Creek, somewhere near 
Castalia; and the identical individual who took away 
Mrs. Snow's infant because it hindered her march. In 
spite of all her entreaties, cries and resistance, he 
seized it by the feet and dashed its brains out against a 
tree before the mother's eyes. 

Long years after this event, Punkin was found guilty 
of violating the laws of his tribe, and sentenced to die, 
by a council. This decision was communicated to him, 
and he was asked when and where he would die. He 
informed them of the time and place at which he would 
choose to die and be buried; he went unguarded and at 
liberty for some time alone in the forest. No human 
eye watched him; he was at liberty to flee if he chose. 
The time fixed came, and his executioners repaired to 
the spot he had selected, and where his burial place 
had already been prepared. They found him ready, 
sitting at the verge of his own grave. Raising his 
bowed head as they approached, he said: You have 
come; I am ready. Strike sure!" Instantly the 
tomahawk described a glittering circle and descended 
deep into his brain. He expired without a groan, and 
was buried there. 



The extent of the cornfields along the 
river remains to be spoken of. The prairies 
bordering the bay were cultivated when 
Colonel James Smith visited the country as 
a captive, in 1757, but he mentions nothing 
about agriculture along the river. But at a 
later period the river prairies supplied the 
whole Wyandot country. This was, no 
doubt, owing to the exhaustless fertility of 
the soil and the ease with which it was 
cultivated. The plains now covered by the 
lower part of the city of Fremont were 
cleared land when first seen by white men, 
and except the tract used for councils, 
gaming, racing, and the village 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



53 



bore corn season after season. The squaws and 
boys attended to agriculture, and all other 
menial duties. To handle a hoe would have 
disgraced the strong Indian, whose only 
business was war. 

That Lower Sandusky was celebrated among 
the Indians for the fertility of soil, is proved by 
an incident which, in 1807, occurred at Ogontz 
place, now Sandusky. The Indian title to the 
Firelands was 



extinguished in 1805, but the Indians 
about the neck of the bay were slow to 
leave in obedience to the terms of the 
treaty. Complaint was made to Ogontz, 
to whom the commissioner put the 
question: "Why do you not raise your 
corn at Lower Sandusky?" "Ugh!" 
retorted Ogontz, "Big corn grow at 
Lower Sandusky, but no papoose grow 
there." 



CHAPTER V. 



EARLY OHIO. 

Five Characteristic Centres of Settlement — First Measures After the Revolution for Selling Western Lands — 
Ordinance of 1785 — Revolutionary Bounties — Organization of the Ohio Company — Ordinance of 1787 The 
Ohio Company Land at the Mouth of the Muskingum — Formal Inauguration of Government — Growth of the 
Massachusetts Colony — Settlement Between the Miamis — John Cleves Symmes' Purchase — Founding of 
Cincinnati — French Settlement at Gallipolis — The Virginia Military District — Settlement of Manchester — 
Founding of Chillicothe — Character of Population — The Western Reserve — Sale to the Connecticut Land 
Company — Surveyed into Townships — Cleveland Founded — Slow Growth at First — Subsequent Rapid 
Growth — The Northwestern Indian Reservation — Frontier Line of Settlements in 1812 — Population in 1812 — 
Erection of Counties — Formation of State Government — Origin of the Northwest Boundary Difficulty — Open 
Conflict Between Ohio and the Territory of Michigan — Opening Wedge to Settlement in Northwestern Ohio — 
Causes of the War of 1812 — Attitude of the Wyandots — Results of the War Forecasted — Hull's Surrender — 
Ohio Exposed to the Enemy — Militia Volunteers Victories Follow Defeat and Disaster — Ohio's Part in the War. 



THE fading picture of Wyandot Lower 
Sandusky calls to mind a more stirring 
scene, Lower Sandusky of Fort Stephenson 
fame. This period, brief but crowded with 
tragic events, dates the beginning of white 
settlement in Sandusky county. What was 
Ohio then? is a question which naturally 
suggests itself, and one which this chapter 
is intended to answer. 

Historically Ohio is carved into seven 
distinct divisions, bearing five characteris- 
tic civilizations transplanted from 
different Eastern colonies, and tracing 
their ancestry to antagonistic races or 
social castes. Out of these five elements 
has grown the Ohio of today justly proud 
and sufficiently honored. 



The centres of early settlement, widely 
separated from each other by bridgeless streams 
and long reaches of untraversed forests, 
impressed the instincts and training brought 
from Eastern homes upon their localities. That 
impress is still discernible in the politics, 
religion, and culture of the native population. 
The clashing of opinion which has been a 
necessary result of grouping five discordant ele- 
ments into one State, has been potent in 
developing native intellect and producing 
occasions for its exercise. It is further a 
proposition, proved by the inevitable logic of 
history, that the mingling and fusion of people 
of different races, temperaments and training, is 
productive of physical and mental strength. To 
these facts may be 



54 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



attributed in great measure the high position 
which Ohio has taken in affairs. 

When the Revolution closed, the Congress 
of the Confederation found itself in 
possession of a vast Western domain of 
boundless fertility. Plans of emigration and 
colonization again revived. Congress, in 
May, 1785, passed "an ordinance for 
ascertaining the mode of disposing of the 
Western lands, and Thomas Hutchins, the 
United States geographer, was instructed to 
lay off the territory into townships of six 
miles square, and each township into thirty- 
six lots, containing six hundred and forty 
acres each. Congress had, in 1776, and by 
several succeeding acts, pledged bounties to 
the Continental soldiers. One-seventh of the 
land was to be reserved for this purpose. 
Lots eight, eleven, twenty-six, and twenty- 
nine were to be reserved for future sale; the 
remainder was to be divided among the 
several States and sold by them at not less 
than one dollar per acre, with the additional 
cost of the survey and sale. This system 
operated against the colonization plan, for 
the townships were to be drawn by the 
several States, making it impossible for a 
company to purchase a large tract in one 
body. This ordinance excepted an undefined 
tract between the Scioto and the Little 
Miami, which had been' reserved by Virginia 
in her act of cession, for the use of her own 
troops. Indian hostilities prevented 
individual settlement, and it was evident that 
Congress had placed too high an estimate on 
the value of the unbroken forest. 

From time to time, as circumstances 
suggested, this original ordinance was 
amended. The bounty claims of, Revo- 
lutionary soldiers were the strongest agency 
in the settlement of the Northwest. A major- 
general were entitled to eleven hundred 
acres, a brigadier-general to eight hundred 
and fifty acres, colonel to five 



hundred acres, lieutenant-colonel to four 
hundred and fifty acres, major to four 
hundred acres, captain to three hundred 
acres, lieutenant to two hundred acres, 
ensign one hundred and fifty acres, 
noncommissioned officers and privates one 
hundred acres each. As early as 1783 
General Rufus Putnam, of Massachusetts, 
transmitted to Washington a memorial 
asking for an appropriation of Western lands 
to supply these claims. The measure was 
placed before Congress, but the question of 
ownership not being settled action was 
postponed. In 1775 Colonel Benjamin 
Tupper came West as a surveyor, but the 
survey being interrupted by Indian troubles 
he returned to the East the following winter 
with such favorable impressions of the 
country beyond the Ohio that he united with 
Putnam in forming a plan of association and 
settlement. They prepared a publication 
setting forth the project, and inviting all who 
desired to promote the scheme to send 
delegates to a general convention to be held 
in Boston, March 1, 1786. 

An opportunity now seemed open to the 
hardy and resolute soldiers who had carried 
the war to a successful issue, to retrieve their 
ruined estates. The convention which met in 
pursuance to this call, represented the best 
elements of New England society. Articles 
of association were agreed upon, which 
made the capital of the company one million 
dollars. Three directors Samuel H. Parsons, 
General Rufus Putnam, and Dr. Manasseh 
Cutler, were elected, with instructions to 
purchase a private grant of lands. Major 
Winthrop Sargent (second Territorial 
Governor) was elected secretary. 

About the time of the organization of the 
Ohio Company another land company was 
organized in New York, with William Duer 
at its head. Dr. Cutler, to whom was 
delegated the responsible office of 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



55 



making a contract with Congress, found that 
body averse to the New England scheme, but 
by combining with the New York company, 
in which several members of Congress were 
interested, there was hope of success. It had 
been the hope of the Massachusetts company 
to have General Parsons, one of their own 
number, placed at the head of the new 
territorial government which colonization 
would make it necessary to establish; but his 
plan of purchase could not succeed without 
the support of General St. Clair, who was a 
representative from Pennsylvania and 
President of Congress. Cutler was a good 
lobbyist and yielded the choice of his 
associates in favor of St. Clair for the 
governorship. 

A contract was finally agreed upon in 
July, 1787, and confirmed the following 
October. 

The first ordinance directing the estab- 
lishment of a government for the Western 
territory, was submitted by Mr. Jefferson in 
1784, and contained a clause against 
slavery. It also contemplated the division of 
the Territory into seventeen States. This 
ordinance, with the important omission of 
the proviso against slavery, was passed by 
Congress in April, 1784. This act, owing to 
the divisions it contemplated, was thought 
inexpedient, and another act, applying only 
to the territory acquired by the cession to 
the United States by Massachusetts, New 
York, Virginia, and Connecticut, all the 
territory at that time owned by the United 
States was submitted, which resulted in the 
passage on July 13, of the celebrated 
ordinance of 1787, which is in fact the 
fundamental law of the States whose 
territory was comprehended, Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. 

This enactment organized a single ter- 
ritory northwest of the Ohio and eastward 
of the Mississippi, subject to future 
division, 



if deemed expedient by Congress, into two 
districts. This fundamental law, enacted 
before a solitary freeholder raised his cabin 
on the territory it was intended to govern, 
has been characterized as a fit consummation 
of the glorious labors of the Congress of the 
old Confederation. It established in the 
Northwest, the important principles of the 
equal inheritance of intestine estates, and the 
freedom of alineation by deed or will. After 
prescribing a system of territorial civil 
government, it concludes with six articles of 
compact between the original States and the 
people of the States in the Territory, which 
should forever remain unalterable unless by 
common consent.. The first declared that no 
person demeaning himself in a peaceable and 
orderly manner, should ever be molested on 
account of his mode of worship or religious 
sentiments. The second prohibited legislative 
interference with private contracts, and 
secured to the inhabitants trial by jury, the 
writ of habeas corpus, a proportionate 
representation of the people in the 
Legislature, judicial proceedings according 
to the course of common law, and those 
guarantees of personal freedom and property 
which are enumerated in the bill of rights of 
most of the States.. The third provided for 
the encouragement of schools and for good 
faith, justice, and humanity toward the 
Indian. The fourth secured to the new States 
to be erected out of the Territory the same 
privileges with the old ones; imposed upon 
them the same burdens, including 
responsibility for the Federal debt, 
prohibited the States from interfering with 
the primary disposal of the soil of the United 
States, or taxing the public lands; from 
taxing the lands of nonresidents higher than 
residents; and established the navigable 
waters leading into the Mississippi and St. 
Lawrence, and the portages between them, 
common highways for the use of all the 
citizens of all the 



56 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



United States. The fifth article related to the 
formation of new States within the Territory, 
the divisions to be not less than three nor 
more than five. By this article the west 
boundary of Ohio became a line running 
northward from the mouth of the Great 
Miami, until it intersected a line running 
eastward from the southern bend of Lake 
Michigan, the northern boundary. 
The sixth article provided that, 

There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary 
servitude in the Territory, otherwise than in the 
punishment of crime whereof the party shall have been 
convicted. 

This ordinance gave the greatest en- 
couragement to immigration, and offered the 
fullest protection to those who became 
settlers, for "when they came into the 
wilderness they found the law already there. 
It was impressed upon the soil while yet it 
bore up nothing but the forest." * 

The Ohio Company, before the close of 
the summer, was rapidly formulating regu- 
lations for the government of their affairs, 
and the associates making hasty preparations 
for the anticipated removal to the beautiful 
country of which they had formed most 
extravagant ideas. 

In October Congress ordered seven 
hundred troops for the protection of the 
frontiers, and on the 5th of the month 
appointed the territorial officers: Arthur St. 
Clair, Governor; Winthrop Sargent, 
Secretary; Samuel H. Parsons, James M. 
Varnum, and John Armstrong," 1 " Judges. 

On the 7th of April, 1788, a company of 
forty-eight men, with General Rufus Putnam 
at their head, disembarked from their boat at 
the mouth of the Muskingum and planted the 
first American colony on the soil of Ohio. 

The civil government of the Territory 

*S. P. Chase, Statutes of Ohio. 

+ Judge Armstrong declined the office and John Cleves Symmes 
was appointed to fill the vacancy. 



which had been created the fall before, was 
formally established upon Ohio soil, on the 
15th of July. The Governor and Judges had 
arrived at Fort Harmar several days before. 
The ceremonies attending inauguration of 
government were highly impressive. The 
Judges, Secretary, and inhabitants assembled 
on the site of Marietta, where the Governor 
was welcomed by Judge Parsons. Under a 
bower of foliage contributed by the 
surrounding forest, the ordnance of 1787 
was read, congratulations exchanged, and 
three hearty cheers echoed and reechoed 
from the waters of two rivers, the high hills, 
and thick forests. 

Marietta, the town founded by the 
Massachusetts colony, became an important 
centre of settlement. Conceived on the soil 
of the loyal old Bay State, the story of its 
birth was heralded throughout all New 
England. Reinforcements came from the best 
homes and the best communities, not from 
Massachusetts alone, but of Connecticut and 
Rhode Island also. The course of emigration 
from the impoverished States, once opened, 
widened and deepened until temporarily 
closed by an unfortunate conflict with the 
red natives, a little less than three years after 
the arrival of the first company of pioneers. 
Early in 1789 two colonies branched off 
from Marietta, one settling on the Ohio, 
opposite the mouth of the Little Kanawha, 
known as the Belpre Association; the other 
on the Muskingum, twenty miles above its 
mouth, which still bears the name of 
Waterford. During the same summer a third 
colony branched off from the parent town, 
and located on Big Bottom, in Morgan 
county. The attack on the Big Bottom 
blockhouse, January 2, 1791, and the 
indiscriminate slaughter of its inhabitants, 
was the opening of a general Indian war 
along the whole border. 

New England had little more than com- 
menced to plant her civilization at the 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



57 



mouth of the Muskingum when a people of 
different stock cut into the forest, and 
raised their cabins between the Miamis of 
the Ohio. In October, 1788, John Cleves 
Symmes, one of the judges of the Territory, 
and a native of New Jersey, negotiated with 
Congress on behalf of himself and 
associates for the purchase of one million 
acres extending northward from the Ohio, 
between the Great and Little Miamis, but in 
consequence of failure to make payment the 
greater part of the purchase reverted to 
Congress, the patent when issued covering 
but about three hundred thousand acres. 
Judge Symmes sold the large, natural 
amphitheater opposite the Licking Rive, to 
Mathias Denman; of New Jersey, who 
entered into a contract with Colonel 
Patterson and Mr. Filson, of Kentucky, for 
laying out a town. Mr. Filson was killed by 
the Indians, and his interest became the 
property of Israel Ludlow. Patterson and 
Ludlow, accompanied by a small party, 
arrived on the site of Cincinnati December 
26, 1788. This may be considered the date 
of the founding of Cincinnati. A few 
blockhouses had been erected the preceding 
month at the mouth of the Little Miami. In 
February following the arrival of 
Patterson's party, Judge Symmes, with a 
party of citizens and soldiers, descended 
the Ohio, and disembarked at the mouth of 
the Great Miami, where it was proposed to 
found a city destined to become the 
metropolis of the West, but unfortunately 
the site was inundated by spring floods, 
necessitating abandonment of the cherished 
project. Judge Symmes, determined to be 
the founder of a city, then laid out a town 
extending from the Ohio to the Miami. But 
nature had formed another place for the 
Western metropolis, which, unfortunately 
for the projector of the Miami settlement, 
he had sold. 



North Bend was the name given by Symmes 
to his town, Losantiville to the town in the 
amphitheater, which was soon changed to 
Cincinnati, and the town at the mouth of the 
Little Miami founded by Colonel Stiles, was 
named Columbia. The three villages were 
rivals for a short time, but the establishment 
of Fort Washington in June, 1789, and its 
occupation by three hundred soldiers under 
command of General Harmar probably turned 
the tide in favor of Cincinnati. The original 
settlers of these villages were mostly from 
New Jersey, and recruits for a number of 
years came from the same place. Thus was 
planted in the Miami Valleys the civilization, 
temperament and hereditary bias of the Red 
Sand State, Hollander and English tinctured 
with Swedish blood. 

The third settlement* in Ohio, and the first 
foreign colonization, was made opposite the 
Big Kanawha in the summer of 1791. We 
have mentioned the joint negotiations of 
William Duer of New York, and Mannasseh 
Cutler, for the purchase of an extensive tract, 
bounded by the Ohio River on the south and 
extending northward between the first seven 
ranges to the Scioto. A patent for the whole 
tract was issued to the Ohio Company; but 
two days afterward, all of the tract lying west 
of the seventeenth range was transferred to 
the Scioto Company, of which Duer was 
chief. The Scioto Company at once took 
measures, for the disposition of its lands, 
foreign colonization being the favorite and 
novel scheme. Joel Barlow, the poet, was sent 
to France, then in the days of its discontent 
and revolution. His roseate descriptions 
pictured an Arcadia, of which Fair Haven was 
the destined capital. Attentive listeners saw 
noble forests, consisting of trees that 
spontaneously produce sugar, and a plant that 
yields ready made 



* By the term "settlement we mean the clusters of related posts 
and villages. 



58 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



candles, gracefully rising from la belle riviere, 
a pure stream abounding in excellent fish of 
vast size. To live in a land of plenty with no 
taxes to pay and no military services to 
perform, was the fair vision of this 
transcendent land which influenced a large 
company, composed chiefly of carvers and 
gilders, coach-makers, friseurs, and other 
artistes. Less than a dozen heavy laborers 
embarked in the enterprise. Deeds for their 
land, handsomely printed in high colors, 
raised still higher the delusive anticipation 
that their journey was to a Fair Haven in fact 
as well as in name. 

The Scioto Company employed General 
Rufus Putnam, of the Ohio Company 
association, to locate a village and prepare 
homes for the immigrants. Fair Haven, located 
opposite the mouth of the Kanawha, was found 
to be below the high-watermark, which 
induced General Putnam to locate Gallipolis 
(City of the French) four miles below upon a 
high bank. A detail of forty laborers, under 
Major Burnham, cleared a small tract of land, 
and built blockhouses and cabins, arranged in 
four rows, twenty in each row. The Company 
had also contracted with the Ohio Company to 
furnish the colony with provisions, but having 
failed to make payment for labor already 
discharged, the French were left in a pitiful 
condition. The disheartenment of 

disappointment on their arrival at the promised 
paradise became utter dejection when they 
learned that the Scioto Company had never 
paid for the land, and in consequence could 
give no title. These deluded foreigners, inured 
to tender-handed employments, were thrown 
into the pioneer battle under the greatest dis- 
advantages. In constant danger of an attack 
from Indians, suffering from sickness, and 
without money, they were unable to do for 
themselves as settlers at the other openings 
along the river were doing. They were 
provided for by an act of Congress, 



in 1798, which set apart for them a tract of 
land known as the French Grant, east of the 
mouth of the Scioto. Many remained at the 
original place of settlement; others, 
disgusted with the imposition practiced upon 
them, found homes at other places- 
Vincennes, St. Louis, Kaskaskia, and St. 
Genevieve. We have not included Gallipolis 
as one of the centres of settlement because 
the original colony, although it has left its 
impress upon its own locality has never 
asserted itself in affairs of the State. 

The Virginia Military District is one of the 
most interesting historical divisions of the 
State. It became practically an extension of 
Virginia into Ohio, between the Scioto and 
the Little Miami, as far north as the centre of 
the State. As has been noticed in a preceding 
chapter, Virginia, of which Kentucky was a 
part, reserved in her act of cession of all 
claims to lands northwest of the Ohio, this 
extensive tract to be appropriated as bounty 
to her own troops in the war of the 
Revolution. General Nathaniel Massie was 
appointed by the State Government to make 
a survey of the District, and for some time 
carried on the work by making expeditions 
with his party through the present territory 
of Kentucky. In the winter of 1790-91, 
encouraged, no doubt, by the flourishing 
progress of the settlements at the mouth of 
the Muskingum and at the Miamis, Massie 
determined to plant a colony on Virginia 
soil. Such a settlement would afford his 
party protection from danger and exposure 
while prosecuting the survey. The site of 
Manchester was chosen and a town laid off 
in lots. The adjoining tracts were surveyed 
into an equal number of out-lots of larger 
size. He gave general notice through 
Kentucky of his intention to found a town, 
and offered to the first twenty-five families 
one out-lot and one in-lot, and one hundred 
acres of land. His terms were quickly 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



59 



accepted by upwards of thirty families. The 
company arrived in March, 1991, and went 
to work with a will. In a short time each 
family had a cabin, and the whole village 
was enclosed with a strong stockade, with 
blockhouses at each angle. The Indian war 
was at its hottest when this colony crossed 
the river and built their fort, but "it suffered 
less from depredation and even interruption 
by Indians than any settlement previously 
made on the Ohio River. This was, no doubt, 
due to the watchful band of brave spirits 
who guarded the placemen who were reared 
in the midst of danger, and inured to peril, 
and as watchful as hawks."* 

This settlement was known as Massie's 
Station for a few years. The name was 
changed to Manchester. 

A general border war, which had been 
waged industriously on both sides between 
the Ohio tribes and the Pennsylvania and 
Virginia borderers for a long term of years, 
assumed more alarming proportions with the 
opening of the year 1791. The first attack on 
the north side of the Ohio was at Big 
Bottom, on the ad of January. That bloody 
surprise, in which fourteen persons were 
slain and five taken captive," 1 " marks the 
opening of a period of distress and peril for 
the pioneers of Ohio. Lower Sandusky's part 
in the history of that period has been shown. 
For four years immigration was almost at a 
standstill, and at the settlements unceasing 
danger from a clandestine enemy held in 
check material improvement. 

The report of Wayne's decisive victory on 
the Maumee was a joyful message to the 
garrisoned settlers along the Ohio. That 
event marks the beginning of the second 
epoch of Ohio history, an epoch full of 
activity and one which moulded the 

* McDonald s Western Sketches. 

+ One of the captives was the father of a highly re- 
spected citizen of this county, Charles Choate. 



political destinies of the State. The 
boundless possibilities of the West was no 
longer a speculation. Colonization and war 
together had disseminated through the East a 
knowledge of the fertility of the soil and 
transportation facilities. Peace opened the 
garrisons, and the valleys of every river 
resounded with the woodman's axe. "Never 
since the golden age of the poets," says an 
old writer, "did the "siren song of peace and 
harmony' reach so many ears or gladden so 
many hearts as after Wayne's treaty in 
1795." Never did a people, we may add, 
engage with such earnestness of purpose in 
the incalculable task of hewing a great State 
out of an unbroken forest. 

The village of Cincinnati, which in 1792 
had a population of about two hundred, 
increased to upwards of six hundred souls 
before the close of 1796. Population spread 
northward from Cincinnati, and was 
characteristically Jersey, but there was a 
considerable mixture of people from other 
Eastern States. 

Hamilton, Butler county, was laid out in 
1794, and settled soon afterward. 

Dayton, Montgomery county, and 
Franklin, Warren county, were settled in 
1796. 

An attempt was made by Massie, in 1795, 
to found a town in the heart of the Virginia 
Military District, but Indian hostilities 
defeated his scheme. The following year the 
attempt was repeated with a more favorable 
result. Chillicothe was laid out early in 1796, 
and became by far the largest town in the 
District, and first capital of the State of 
Ohio. The pioneers of the military tract came 
through the passes of the Blue Ridge, 
bringing with them the institutions of the 
Old Dominion, except slavery, which was 
fortunately barred beyond the Ohio by the 
ordinance of 1787. The contrast between the 
Virginian of the Scioto and his Eastern 
neighbor, 



60 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the New Englander of the Muskingum, was as 
marked as the difference in the character of 
their native States. The Virginian proudly 
traced his ancestry to English nobility, and 
claimed the blood of Norman and Cavalier; 
his neighbor at Marietta turned to the New 
England Register of Genealogy, and 
followed his line of descent to the Puritan 
Nonconformist who came to America for 
religious freedom. These two elements have 
been, since before the formation of the State 
Constitution, opposing forces in State pol- 
itics, at times on the floors of legislation, 
fighting each other as bitterly as the re- 
spective States from which they sprung. 

We have now hurriedly sketched the 
founding and growth of the three southern 
and oldest centres of settlement. The fourth 
division in order of settlement,, but first 
entered by Federal surveyors, was the seven 
ranges. The survey of these ranges was 
commenced in compliance with an ordinance 
of Congress passed in 1785. The seven 
ranges extend seven townships west from the 
Pennsylvania line, and from the Ohio River 
to the fortieth parallel of latitude. Most of 
the settlers came over the Alleghenies from 
Eastern Pennsylvania. Many are of Quaker 
descent, but a larger proportion are of 
German origin. Some of the counties were 
partially settled from other States. There is 
less homogeneity of race and training in this 
than in any other of the five centres of early 
settlement. In this respect it is like the 
United States Military Reservation lying just 
west of it and extending to the Scioto. This 
tract was set apart to satisfy Revolutionary 
bounties, and in consequence drew its 
population from all the States. Settlements 
were made simultaneously in several parts of 
the seven ranges as soon as Indian hostilities 
were suppressed. Steubenville, one of the 
oldest of the towns which flourished, was 
founded in 1798. 



The county of Jefferson was erected in 1797. 

The Northwestern Indian Reservation, of 
which Sandusky county is a part, drew 
largely from the seven ranges and from the 
Military Reservation. These two divisions 
are coupled together as one centre of 
settlement, the character of the mixed 
population being about the same in each. 

The Connecticut Western Reserve is the 
largest tract in the State possessing a 
homogeneous population. Extending 

westward from the Pennsylvania line to the 
east line of Sandusky county, and from the 
forty-first parallel to the lake, it contains an 
area of more than three million three 
hundred thousand acres, and is settled even 
to this time almost wholly by people of 
Connecticut stock. 

In a previous chapter relating to the 
ownership of the Northwest, it was seen that 
the dispute between the States arising from 
indefinite colonial titles to Western lands, 
was finally settled by the States ceding their 
claims to the Federal Government. "The last 
tardy and reluctant sacrifice" was made by 
Connecticut, in 1786, with this extensive 
reservation, which it was supposed by the 
Legislature would eventually become a new 
State New Connecticut almost 

commensurate with the parent 

Commonwealth. Another dispute arose, 
when, in 1788, Governor St. Clair, in 
obedience to the ordinance of 1787, 
organized the Territory into counties, 
constituting all that part east of the Cuya- 
hoga, the Tuscarawas and the Scioto, 
Washington county, with Marietta as the 
county seat. This proclamation was deemed 
by Connecticut an interference with territory 
over which she had sole jurisdiction. 

The first tract of land disposed of by the 
State, was sold in 1786 to General Samuel 
Parsons. It consisted of twenty-four 
thousand acres, lying partly in each of 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



61 



the present counties of Mahoning and 
Trumbull. He had heard that there were 
available saline springs on the tract, and 
made the purchase for speculative purposes. 
His expectations were never realized, and he 
was drowned in the Beaver River, three 
years afterward. He never paid for the land 
and it reverted to the State of Connecticut, 
the original grantee of the patent. 

The Firehinds, embracing the present 
counties of Huron and Erie, was the next 
section carved off from her Western 
possessions by the State. During the 
Revolution, British invading parties were the 
special terror of Connecticut. Most of her 
able-bodied men were in the army, leaving 
the State with a feeble guard against hasty 
exploits from the royal headquarters at New 
York. Nine towns were thus plundered and 
laid waste, mostly by fire, and the 
inhabitants of one of them massacred. The 
sufferers, after the war appealed to the 
Legislature for relief, and, after several years 
discussion and delay, they were voted an 
appropriation of five hundred thousand 
acres, to be surveyed off from the western 
part of the Reserve, and distributed in 
proportion to their losses. The settlement of 
this district did not commence until about 
1808, owing to Indian occupation and fear of 
hostilities. 

The Legislature of Connecticut took the 
first measures towards the sale of the State's 
Western lands in October, 1786, when a 
resolution was passed directing a survey of all 
that part of the Reserve east of the Cuyahoga 
and the portage leading from the Cuyahoga to 
the Tuscarawas. The resolutions also directed 
the sale of the land at fifty cents an acre, in 
the public securities of that day. No sales 
were made, except to Parsons, under this reso- 
lution, which was displaced by another 
resolution changing the method of sale, in 
1795. The Company plan, which had 



proved successful in the southern part of the 
Territory, was finally adopted by Con- 
necticut. In May, 1795, a committee was 
appointed to receive propositions for the 
purchase of all the unappropriated lands in 
the Reserve, and to make the best contract 
possible for the State, the committee being 
empowered to give deeds to the purchasers. 
One million dollars in specie was the 
minimum price fixed by the Legislature, and 
specie or specie notes only were to be 
received as payment. The committee 
succeeded in making the sale in September, 
1795, to a company of thirty-five persons, at 
the sum of one million two hundred 
thousand dollars. This sum became the basis 
of the Connecticut school fund, which now 
amounts to about two million dollars. The 
transfer was made to the Connecticut Land 
Company, which was incorporated under the 
laws of Connecticut. An act was also passed 
incorporating the proprietors of the 
Firelands. These acts granted political 
jurisdiction over transferred lands, under 
authority of the State of Connecticut. It will 
be seen that by this act practically a dual 
government was created in Northeastern 
Ohio. The Reserve, by the ordinance of 
1787, was made a part of the Northwest 
Territory, the United States recognizing the 
reservation, by Connecticut, of a proprietary 
right to the soil, but claiming absolute 
political jurisdiction. This intricate conflict 
of claims was finally settled in 1800, by 
Connecticut abandoning her pretensions and 
recognizing the political authority of the 
Territorial Government. 

The leading man in the Connecticut Land 
Company, and the heaviest stockholder, was 
Oliver Phelps. A deed was made by the State 
to each purchaser, giving him absolute title 
to a number of acres proportional to the 
amount of stock subscribed. The buyers, for 
convenience, 



62 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



transferred the whole tract to three trustees. 
The company was enlarged to four hundred 
shares at three thousand dollars a share. The 
management of its affairs was entrusted to a 
board of eight directors. 

General Moses Cleaveland was appointed 
surveyor of the Company, with instructions 
to lay off all that part of the Reserve east of 
the Cuyahoga in townships of not less than 
sixteen thousand square miles, and to lay out 
a town at the mouth of the Cuyahoga. 
Washington, Jefferson, and other statesmen 
of the times, who took a live interest in 
Western settlement, looked upon the mouth 
of the Cuyahoga as destined to become an 
important commercial point. This prediction, 
widely entertained, led to the selection of the 
site of the prospective capital of New 
Connecticut, for the authority of the 
Northwest Territory had not yet been 
accepted. The surveying party commenced 
early in July, 1796, and reached the mouth 
of the Cuyahoga in October, where a town 
was laid out in accordance with the direction 
of the company, and named Cleaveland, in 
honor of the veteran chief of the corps. A 
small settlement was made that fall, but the 
growth of the village was slow, 
discouragingly slow, in comparison with the 
flourishing towns on the Ohio. At the end of 
the first year the population was fifteen. 
Three years later there were but seven 
residents, and in 1810 only fifty-seven. A 
feeble settlement was made at Conneaut the 
next year after Cleaveland was founded, and 
several openings were made in the Mahoning 
Valley during the next few years. The 
Mahoning country was more accessible, and 
consequently grew faster than the northern 
part. Warren was the most important point 
on the Reserve for a number of years, and 
contained, in 1801, thirty-five families. 
Trumbull County was organized in 1800, 
with Warren as the county seat. 



If the growth of the Reserve at first was 
slow, the superiority of its soil finally 
became known, and New Connecticut has 
grown within the last seventy years, with 
remarkable rapidity. Chillicothe, the 
principal town of the far famed Scioto 
Valley, founded but a few months before 
Cleveland, became the first capital and 
second city of the State, while the Reserve 
was yet scarcely a factor in politics. In 1880 
there were within the Reserve four cities out 
rivaling in size and industry the Virginian 
city of the Scioto. 

The seventh division into which patents, 
grants, and treaties carved the territory of 
Ohio, is the one including Sandusky county. 
It was almost without white habitation at the 
opening of the period which closes this brief 
outline of the growth of Ohio. It was upon 
the native population of this Northwestern 
Indian reservation that the British arms, in 
1812, depended for their chief assistance. 

The frontier line of settlements, at the 
opening of that struggle, extended from Lake 
Erie at Huron, southward through Richland, 
Delaware, and Champaign counties, thence 
westward to beyond the Miami and Indiana 
line. 

The early settlers of Ohio, without 
exception, were superior men. The dangers 
of the frontier kept back all who were 
lacking in courage or incapable of enduring 
physical hardships. Even in the lull of 
supposed peace there was constant danger of 
an attack from red warriors, kindled to 
vengeance by a real or supposed injury. In 
1810 the population of the State was 
230,760; the vote for governor, in 1812, was 
19,752, and at different times during the 
war, then actually in progress, more than 
twenty thousand Ohio troops were in the 
field, more than the entire number of votes 
cast at an important State election. 

The first county proclaimed by the 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



63 



Governor was Washington, embracing 
about half the present territory of Ohio, and 
reaching from the mouth of the Cuyahoga 
to the mouth of the Scioto. Hamilton county 
was proclaimed in 1790. Detroit was 
occupied by American troops in 1796, and 
made the seat of a new county Wayne- 
which embraced the whole territory of 
Michigan, Northwestern Ohio and Northern 
Indiana. The Virginia Military District was 
erected into a county in 1797. The same 
year Washington county was divided, the 
northern half being set off as Jefferson 
county, with Steubenville as the county 
seat. Adams was divided by the erection of 
Ross in 1798, and Jefferson by the erection 
of Trumbull in 1800. Trumbull was the first 
county of the Reserve. Several counties 
were formed in the Reserve between 1800 
and 1809, when Huron was erected. The 
treaty of Maumee Rapids, the inevitable 
sequence of the issue of the War of 1812, 
brought into market all Northwestern Ohio 
except the Indian reservations, and by an 
act of the Legislature the tract thus fully 
acquired was carved into counties in 1820. 

Indiana Territory was set off by an act of 
Congress in 1800, and in 1802 an enabling 
act was passed authorizing the people of 
Ohio to elect delegates to a convention for 
the formation of a State constitution as a 
preliminary step to admission into the 
Union. The act admitted delegates only 
from that part of the Territory compre- 
hended by the ordinance of 1787, as the 
most eastern of the five States into which it 
was proposed to divide the Northwest. This 
act cut off the northern county of the 
Territory (now the eastern part of 
Michigan), and brought upon Congress the 
charge of endeavoring to erect the State for 
partisan purposes. 

One of the duties of the convention was 
to define the boundaries of the new 



State. The ordinance made the western 
boundary a line running due north from the 
mouth of the Miami River, and the northern 
boundary a line running east from the 
southern bend of Lake Michigan. This line 
was not yet surveyed in 1802, but the 
convention, acting on the hypothesis that it 
was the intent of the ordinance to include 
Maumee Bay in the Eastern State, resolved 
that the northern boundary should be a line 
running from the most northerly cape of 
Maumee Bay to the southern bend of Lake 
Michigan. 

The Constitutional Convention finished 
its labors in November, and the document 
became the fundamental law of the State 
without being submitted to the people. 
Congress recognized Ohio as a member of 
the Federal Union in February, 1803.* It is 
not the purpose of this chapter to trace the 
civil history of the State, but only to 
present such a view as will show the 
chronological and ethnological relations of 
Sandusky county, and the events of a 
general character which have affected its 
history. 

The Constitutional Convention's 

definition of the northern boundary was for 
many years the subject of serious dispute 
and eventually threatened to involve the 
State in war; indeed more than threatened 
war was actually begun. The convention 
determined the line on the principles on 
which courts of chancery construe 
contracts. The map on file in the State De- 
partment, and used by the committee which 
framed the ordinance of 1787, marked the 
southern extreme of Lake Michigan far 
north of its real position, and a line was 
drawn due east which intersected the 
western coast of Lake Erie north of the 
Raisin River. This line was 



*The date of admission is variously given as April, 1802, (the 
date of the passage of the enabling act), November, 1802, and 
February, 19, 1 803. The latter date has the best claim. 



64 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



manifestly intended to be the boundary of 
the new State when formed. The ap- 
prehension caused among the members by an 
old hunter's statement that a line drawn due 
east would cut off Maumee Bay, which was 
manifestly intended by Congress to belong 
to Ohio, induced the convention to change 
the line prescribed by the language of the 
ordinance in order to make certain of saving 
to the State the valuable harbor at the mouth 
of the Maumee.* 

The question of jurisdiction over the 
territory lying between the line prescribed by 
the Ohio Constitution and the line prescribed 
by the ordinance, first came up in 1812, the 
population of the disputed tract at that time 
being fifty families. Nearly all desired the 
jurisdiction of Ohio, except a few officers 
serving under the government of Michigan, 
and determined to enforce the laws of that 
Territory." 1 " 

Conflicting claims in 1835 caused an 
open rupture in which Sandusky county 
participated. This conflict is detailed in 
another chapter. Its origin was in the in- 
terpretation and definition by the State 
Convention, of an act of the Federal Con- 
gress. 

It remains to close this chapter with a 
summary of an episode in National history 
and an epoch of preeminent consequence in 
local history. We say an episode in National 
history, for although the blood of America's 
bravest citizens and England s trained 
soldiers stained the hardly contested 
battlefields of three campaigns, although the 
Federal Treasury was depleted, private 
estates bankrupted and the occupations of 
peace well nigh destroyed, the result in an 
international sense was negative. We have 
called the war an epoch in local history 
because it was the opening wedge to white 

Burnet's Notes. 
IBurnet's Notes. 



settlement, from the Sandusky Valley to the 
Maumee. Nearly all the able-bodied men of 
Ohio were brought into the field, and the 
expanse of forest inhabited only by rebellious 
Indians, which lay between the British 
western headquarters and the Ohio 
settlements, was an important part of that 
field. Men of sufficient sturdiness, self- 
respect and courage to volunteer in defense of 
their homes bivouacked in the heavy forests 
of the Northwest, perceived the unbounded 
wealth of the soil and discussed around 
cheerful camp fires the probable future of the 
wilderness and advantages of early 
settlement. Many even blazed on the trees the 
chosen locality of their future home. Forts and 
permanent camps made openings in the 
wilderness, were the centres of army, trails, 
attracted traders and tradesmen, and thus 
became incipient villages. The 

complementary local result of the war was its 
weakening and demoralizing effect upon the 
Indians to whom this region had been 
guaranteed a home inviolable as long as they 
maintained peace with the United States. 

In the previous chapter we called attention 
to the ambition of Tecumseh, and his 
operations looking toward the establishment 
of an Indian empire in the West. He was 
encouraged and aided in his scheme by agents 
of the British Government, who desired to 
have an organized force of braves ready to 
follow the standard of the crown in the event 
of probable conflict with the United States. 
The European powers had, for a long time, 
been engaged in war, and successive military 
decrees involved serious commercial 
complications. England, as a war measure, 
claimed the right to search all neutral vessels, 
and under this pretense hundreds of American 
seamen were impressed on board British 
ships. Congress threatened war, but the threat 
only made English agents more active in 
spreading the fire 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



65 



brands of discontent and rebellion among 
the Western tribes. 

The attitude of the Wyandots has already 
been touched upon. Crane and his cabinet 
of chiefs foresaw in the approaching 
conflict certain destruction for their nation, 
and exercised their utmost efforts to prevent 
the calamity by maintaining neutrality. The 
disaster to Tecumseh's cause at Tippecanoe, 
in 1811, further impressed them with the 
futility of war, and threatened to crush the 
confederacy before it had been completed. 
It was Tecumseh's plan to refrain from 
attack upon the white settlements until the 
conflict with Great Britain should be in 
actual progress, but the battle of Tippe- 
canoe was precipitated by the Prophet while 
Tecumseh was on a diplomatic mission 
among the Creeks, in the South. That battle 
disclosed to the Americans the dangers of 
the situation, and the extent to which 
British influence had been exerted among 
the Indians. 

Interference with American trade, 
enforced by the blockade system, the 
impressment of American sailors, and the 
encouragement given the Indians supple- 
mented by supplying them with arms, 
induced Congress in June, 1812, to declare 
war. Although this ultra measure had long 
been contemplated, our Government was 
totally unprepared for the conflict, which 
accounts for the disgraceful series of 
blundering during the first year of its 
progress. 

To General Hull, Territorial Governor of 
Michigan, with headquarters at Detroit, was 
given the important commission to make an 
invasion of Upper Canada; but, through the 
imbecility of that officer, the project was a 
total failure, and for the same reason 
Detroit fell into the hands of the British, 
without a blow, on the 15th of August. This 
disaster spread the greatest apprehension 
throughout Ohio. 



The Northwestern army, composed of 
fourteen hundred brave men, were now 
prisoners of war; the British command of 
the lakes was absolute; the Territory of 
Michigan was in the possession of foreign 
troops and their Indian allies, and nothing 
was left to prevent an invasion into Ohio. 
The militia of the Reserve, under General 
Wadsworth, turned out almost to a man, 
and in little more than two weeks from the 
first announcement of Hull's surrender at 
Cleveland, an army of raw farmers and 
woodsmen were encamped on the Huron 
River. 

Before the close of the summer British arms 
presided over the Upper Lakes, Fort 
Dearborn, the last American post, falling 
victim to a most horrid Indian massacre. 
During the winter of 181213 warlike 
preparations were pushed in the Northwest 
with the spirit of self-defence. Harrison, with 
an army of volunteers, occupied the northwest 
of Ohio, constructed forts and garrisoned 
every strong point, so that at the opening of 
spring a greater feeling of security prevailed, 
and able-bodied men followed the army with 
less apprehension concerning the safety of 
their homes. It is not within our province to 
follow this conflict, which opened with 
defeat, disaster and disgrace, except one 
desperate scene, which is fully treated in a 
separate chapter. Croghan's gallant and 
successful defence of Fort Stephenson turned 
the tide in favor of the volunteer arms. Perry 
followed by making the flag of the Republic 
master of Lake Erie, and Harrison 
complemented these achievements by totally 
defeating Proctor and extinguishing the allied 
Indian force under Tecumseh on the Thames. 
The bullet which mortally wounded 
Tecumseh killed British influence over the 
Northwestern Indians, and secured the people 
of Ohio perpetually against incursions from 
that source. Jackson, at New Orleans, 
crowned the 



66 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



series of brilliant victories, and gave perpetual 
luster to American arms. 

During the whole contest the conduct of the 
State Government was as patriotic and honorable 
as the devoted bravery of her troops was eminent. 
When the necessities of the National Treasury 
compelled Congress to resort to a direct tax, Ohio, 
for successive years, cheerfully assumed 



and promptly paid her quota out of the 
State Treasury.* There was, at first, a 
difference of opinion with regard to the 
expediency of war, but when a foreign 
army landed on our shores her citizens 
cheerfully volunteered, and Ohio's blood 
stained every important battlefield in the 
Northwest. 



♦CHAPTER VI. 



PREHISTORIC RACES. 



The Cave-Dwellers — Mound Builders — Their Fortifications and Works in the County — Description and Location of 

the Works — The Stone Workers. 



THE CAVE-DWELLERS. 

THAT there was a race of men who dwelt 
in caves made in the rocks, who inhabited 
this continent, or parts of it, is now pretty 
well settled among those who search for 
ancient traces of mankind. Much inquiry has 
been made in this direction by earnest and 
learned men, and the facts gathered furnish 
strong circumstantial, if not positive evidence 
that some of the Cave-dwellers inhabited 
different parts of Ohio, and that they were the 
first inhabitants. Among the proofs adduced 
to establish the existence of the Cave- 
dwellers, we find that some time ago Colonel 
Whittlesey, who was President of the 
Northern Ohio Historical Society, made an 
exploration along the Cuyahoga River, from 
its source to its mouth, and reported that he 
found artificial habitations made in the rocks 
forming the north side of the river, which, 
though narrow, has 

*The following chapters, up to and including parts of 
the history of Fremont, were written by Hon. Homer 
Everett. 



cut a channel down the north side of the 
dividing ridge between that river, and the 
Tuscarawas. He found that in some places the 
chasm was made deeper than the stream is 
wide at its head, and on the sides were caves 
containing human bones and bones of 
animals, showing that they were once 
inhabited by human beings. 

General Bierce, who published a history of 
Summit county, corroborates, from personal 
observation, the statements of Colonel 
Whittlesey as to the caves. General Bierce 
also shows that in Green township, formerly 
of Stark county, now of Summit, on the east 
side of the Tuscarawas River, great numbers 
of stones were found by the white settlers of 
Stark county on an elevated plateau. These 
stones varied from four to six feet in 
circumference and were elevated a little 
above the earth's surface, with a 
comparatively even surface on top. On these 
stones it was supposed sacrifices of human 
beings were made to appease the wrath or 
propitiate 



•S. P. Chase. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



67 



the favors of some ancient god or gods. 
Near by the place where these stones were 
found was the Indian trail used in passing 
from the Sandusky country to the Ohio 
River. The trail ran along the elevated ridge 
on which these stones were found. But no 
evidence was found about these stone altars 
either of calcined bones of burnt prisoners, 
or of charred wood, or of implements to 
indicate that the altars had been made use 
of for any purpose by the modern Indians; 
and in the absence of other evidence, the 
conclusion is that the altars were erected by 
the ancient race domiciled in the caves, and 
who were probably the first of mankind in 
Ohio. Mr. Whittlesey, in passing down the 
Cuyahoga, found earthworks and other evi- 
dences of a later race than the Cave- 
dwellers, and further on toward the lake he 
found what approaches to be regular 
fortifications, evincing a still higher civili- 
zation than the earthworks already men- 
tioned; but he leaves his readers to form 
their own conclusion. 

From the facts given here by Colonel 
Whittlesey and General Bierce, taken in 
connection with the better and the un- 
doubted testimony which the Mound 
Builders have left of their existence, and 
interpreting the works each race has left on 
the earth, as they came and passed in 
successive ages, we may quite reasonably 
conclude that first came the Cave-dwellers 
into this land to inhabit it. Second, there 
succeeded them at some time another race 
who had invented implements, and could 
erect earthworks for defences, and who 
piled it up into great mounds for burial, 
sacrificial, or military purposes. Thirdly, 
came a race who worked stone and earth 
and with their improved implements, made 
regular fortifications and places of abode or 
worship. Fourthly came a race of red men 
who afterwards kicked down the stone 
altars and 



destroyed the earthworks of their predeces- 
sors, struck fire from flint, burned all they 
could of the structures of the more ancient 
races, using for themselves the bow and 
arrow and stone hatchets and stone arrow 
heads, with bark canoes and thongs of the 
hides of animals for fishing and hunting 
purposes, while the mounds of earth raised 
by the more ancient races were left 
unharmed, as places for lookout, or of 
burial for their chiefs and warriors. Thus 
seems to read the inscriptions made by the 
ancient races on the surface of the earth, as 
far as they have been yet interpreted by 
observation, science and reason. 

WHENCE CAME THE CAVE-DWELLERS. 

Where these most ancient of the inhab- 
itants of our continent, the Cave-dwellers, 
came from, is a question which perhaps 
may never be satisfactorily answered. But 
certain geological facts may help to con- 
jecture whence they came. First, it is said 
by the most learned geologists of the time, 
that certain portions of this continent are 
the oldest portions of the earth's surface, 
and contain its Eozoic crust without 
evidence of marine beds or other proofs of 
submergence by any floods since that day. 
Certain areas in northern New York, 
Canada, Labrador, and west of the 
Mississippi, in Missouri, Arkansas, Dakota, 
and Nebraska remain as in the Eozoic time, 
or time when there was no life. Second, 
from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic 
Ocean no sea has ever overflowed these 
parts of the continent since the close of the 
carboniferous age or the age which 
produced the plants and forests out of 
which coal was formed.* Third, at the time 
the carboniferous sea disappeared the 
watershed holding back the mass of waters 
of the lake existed and on which dry land 
first appeared in Ohio. This watershed 
traversed the State from south 

•See Dana's Geology, 135, 136, 137 and 138. 



68 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



west to northeast, in the direction of the 
Canadian highlands. 

Mr. Atwater, the antiquarian, in his work 
on the antiquities of America, holds the 
opinion that the people who put up stone 
altars, earthworks, and fortifications, com- 
menced that work at the head of the northern 
lakes, thence moved along their borders into 
what is now western New York, thence in a 
southwestern direction, following the rivers 
to the Ohio River and down the Ohio and 
Mississippi, thence to the city of Mexico, as 
now known, where they had their central 
power, and from which locality they radiated 
colonies into what is known as South 
America, and other countries. But whence 
came the Cave-dwellers is a question still 
unsolved. Some speculations are found about 
it, such as that at one time the islands in the 
Atlantic, North or South were once so 
approximate as to allow convenient transit 
from continent to continent, and that 
afterwards upheavals in the ocean and the 
sinking of these islands left a greater 
expanse of water. That crossing was once 
effected by way of Greenland, and thereby a 
race was planted on this continent- others 
claiming that man was as indigenous to this 
continent as to the Eastern hemisphere. 
These speculations are of little value in 
settling the query, and leave the question 
still unanswered and surrounded with that 
mist and darkness which bounds the region 
of ascertained facts. There are as yet no 
discovered traces of this race in Sandusky 
county; still, the nearness of them to us 
makes the mention of them pertinent, while 
the facts discovered are interesting to all. 

MOUND BUILDERS AND THEIR WORKS. 

The subsidence of the waters of the 
glacial period of the earth, which geologists 
say formed the great chain of lakes whose 
waters flow over the Falls of Niagara in such 
awful grandeur, sending the lowest 



bass of perpetual thunder against the re- 
verberating hills around, left the region of 
country called Northwestern Ohio, of which 
Sandusky county is a part, a great plain 
slightly inclined from the south towards the 
north, its northern termination but little 
elevated generally above the level of the 
lake which bounds it at the present time. The 
region was generally almost level, and, 
though swampy, was chiefly covered with a 
dense growth of large forest trees of 
considerable variety. 

The singular absence of high hills, low 
valleys, high rocks, and intervening ravines, 
which made this country ineligible to the 
Cave-dwellers, rendered it also a rather 
uninviting location to the Mound and Fort 
Builders. The works of the successors to the 
Cave dwellers are therefore not as numerous 
nor as striking to the beholder as they are in 
many other localities. But, notwithstanding 
this unfavorable feature in the surface of the 
county, there are yet found within its limits 
sufficient of these works to prove that this 
ancient race, or these ancient races of men, 
were once here. 

There were, a few years ago, the remains 
of a line of earthen forts, supposed to be for 
defence, extending from Muskash Point, now 
in Erie county, along south and eastward on 
the solid lands along the marshes of 
Sandusky Bay to the Sandusky River, 
striking the river in section twelve, township 
five, range fifteen; thence up the river to 
Negro Point, on the Williams Reserve, in 
section fourteen, and along up the river on 
the high bank or hill along the river on the 
east side, up to near the north line of Seneca 
county. 

Mr. Michael Stull, an aged farmer now 
residing in section twelve, Riley township, 
says that in 1820 he came to Muskash and 
owned a piece of land there on which were 
the remains of a considerable ancient fort. 
The walls were of earth, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



69 



with openings or gates. The fort was in a 
circular form and inclosing several acres of 
ground. In this fort he found flint 
arrowheads, stone axes, and numerous 
specimens in various forms of rude pottery 
which appeared to have been made of burnt 
clay, largely mixed with pounded shells of 
clams or oysters. 

Another similar fort, with similar remains 
in and about it, was found in section one, 
Riley township. Then another on the farm 
now owned by Mr. Stull in section twelve in 
the' same township. This fort or ancient 
structure is now entirely obliterated, and 
was, when the writer visited the place in 
August, 1879, part of a beautiful clover 
field, not revealing even a trace of its walls 
or form. Mr. Stull leveled it himself. It was, 
according to his description of it, circular in 
form, with two gates or openings opposite 
each other. The circle was about twenty rods 
in diameter. A distinguishing feature of this 
fort was that a part of the wall on the west 
side was made by piling soft lime stones, 
which were found in plenty on the surface of 
the land a short distance from its structure. 
The walls of this fort, when first seen by Mr. 
Stull, were about four feet high. The ridge of 
soft limestone had been covered on the sides 
and on top by earth to a considerable height; 
the other portions of the wall were composed 
of a ridge of earth only. 

Another ancient fort was found on the 
premises now or lately owned by Mr. J. 
Longan, in section twelve, township five, 
range fifteen. 

Another on land owned by Charles Werth, 
in the same section, and a little further up 
the river than that last mentioned. 

Another a little further up the river on the 
land now owned by Jacob Thorn, in the same 
section. 

Another on the Williams Reserve, still 



further up the river, in section fourteen, 
same township. This fort included five or six 
acres of land, and is situated partly on the 
land now owned by L. D. Williams, and 
partly on another tract. The five last 
mentioned of these ancient forts are in the 
form of semicircles, the river forming the 
arc. The bank of the river where these 
remains are found, is composed of earth 
which readily dissolves and washes away by 
the action of the water, and these works are 
on the side of the river on which the current 
and the motion given to the water by the 
winds spend their force, and where these 
forces have for a long time been encroaching 
upon the land, which, in times past, was 
some distance away from the river. It is 
quite plain, therefore, that these, like the one 
at Muskash Point and the one on the Stull 
farm, were originally circular in form, and 
some distance from the perpendicular, low 
bank of the river, for all the remains of the 
other forts in this chain, unaffected by the 
wash of a stream, are in that form complete. 

There are evidences of another fort of the 
same kind above the Williams Reserve a 
short distance, on the high bank of the river, 
in section thirteen, township five, range 
fifteen. This work is different in form from 
those heretofore mentioned, being nearly 
square, and is supposed to include about 
three acres of land. It is situated at a place 
where there was once an Indian village 
called Muncietown, about three miles below 
the city of Fremont. 

Another and larger ancient fort was found 
a little down the river from the residence of 
Mr. L. D. Williams, which, he says, was a 
circle and enclosed about ten acres of land. 

A MOUND. 

Near the fort next above the residence of 
Mr. Williams, and not far from it, was found 
a mound about fifty feet in diameter, 



70 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



which must originally have been raised to a 
considerable altitude, and must have been of 
very ancient construction. Mr. Williams says 
that about the year 1820 he assisted in cutting 
down a white-oak tree which stood on the 
very summit of the mound, for the purpose of 
capturing a swarm of bees which had long 
been in the tree, and that this tree was then 
near three feet in diameter. At the time this 
tree was cut the elevation of the mound was 
about eight feet above the general level of the 
surrounding land. The mound was afterwards 
opened by Mr. John Shannon, of this county, 
and his brother, about the year 1840. The 
mound had then attracted considerable 
observation and much speculation among the 
observers as to what it was raised for, and 
what might be in it. One night Mr. Shannon's 
brother dreamed that there was a large wedge 
of gold buried under this mound, and 
communicated his dream as a profound 
secret, and the two were so strongly 
impressed with the belief that the gold 
wedge was there that they, being then young 
men, resolved to dig open the mound at all 
events, and see what was in or under it. The 
stump of the oak had then so far decayed 
that it was removed without much difficulty. 
On removing the earth from a considerable 
space and a little below the general level of 
the surface around the mound, they found, 
not the gold wedge dreamed of, but the teeth 
of a human being in good preservation. Upon 
further carefully removing the earth they 
found, marked in a different colored earth 
from that surrounding it, the figure of a man 
of giant size, plainly to be seen. Where the 
breast of the buried man had lain were found 
two oval-shaped plates of white mica. One 
of these plates had been, or appeared to have 
been, perforated, as there was a round hole 
in it near the centre, such as might have been 
made by a rifle ball. On 



the other plate were dark streaks and spots, 
which the discoverers supposed might be 
characters or letters, understood at the time, 
recording the name and rank of the man who 
had been buried, and the circumstances of 
his death; but these inferences can only be 
entitled to the rank of conjectures. 

Following the river up about two miles 
from the location of the mound above 
mentioned, the remains of another ancient 
fortification were found on the hill 
overlooking the valley of the river of the 
opposite side below and both sides above. It 
included the block of lots once called the 
Whyler property, on which he many years 
ago erected a brick cottage, which is still 
standing. Here the hill or bluff trends quite 
sharply to the east for some distance, and 
then curves southward, meeting the river 
again near where it is crossed by the Lake 
Shore railroad in the southern portion of the 
city. No more advantageous point for a fort 
and lookout can be found along *the whole 
course of the Sandusky River than this one. 
Our informant* saw this fort before 
improvements had obliterated it. According 
to his description of the location of these 
remains this fort was in the original plat of 
the town of Croghansville, on lots 649, 650, 
667, 668, 669, 670, as now numbered on the 
present map of the city, and perhaps other 
and parts of other lots. 

There were a few years ago the remains of 
another fortification about two miles from 
the last mentioned, on the bluff commonly 
known as the Blue Banks, in section ten, 
township four, range fifteen, in Ballville 
township. 

The remains of another ancient fort were 
discovered by our informant some distance 
from the river, on Sugar Creek, 



*Mr. Julius Patterson. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



71 



in the south part of Ballville township, on the 
east side of the river.* 

There was also found a considerable mound 
on what is now out-lot thirty-three, a little to 
the left or east side of the road leading from 
the south end of Front street in the city of 
Fremont, to Ballville village. This mound was 
leveled and plowed over many years ago. In it 
were found some human bones, pottery, 
arrowheads, and stone axes, so common in 
these tumuli, but the fact that human skulls 
and other bones were found indicated that the 
human remains had been placed there at a 
later date than that of the age of the Mound 
Builders. 

WHY DID THESE ANCIENT RACES COME 
AND FORTIFY HERE? 

If any one is curious enough to inquire what 
inducements existed to bring these ancient 
races to the region of country through which 
this line of ancient fortifications is found; 
why they should settle and fortify themselves 
along the marshes bordering the Sandusky 
Bay, and the dry land along the banks of the 
Sandusky River, the answer could rationally 
be, that they were attracted hither by the 
health, beauty, or the grand scenery; or by 
advantageous localities for strong 
fortifications for defence or aggressive war. 
The most rational and acceptable answer to 
these questions may be found in the fact that 
those races obtained their supplies of food by 
capturing the game in the woods and prairies, 
and in the waters in their vicinity. Credible 
accounts given by the early settlers of 
countries where the remains of these 
fortifications were found, all tend to prove 
that in all the regions of the Northwest, there 
could be no point found where the locality 
afforded such a superabundance of superior 
game and fish in close proximity, as this. The 

* M r . L. Leppelman. 



great abundance of deer, bear, turkeys and 
wild fowl of the woods; and of waterfowl, 
such as swan, geese, brant, and crane, and 
ducks of great variety; and such animals as 
beaver, otter, mink, etc., which the Indians 
and early white settlers describe as once 
being here, and the immense quantity of 
excellent fish, show that no better point 
could be found for a race of men to locate 
who depended on the chase for food. 

THE STONE WORKERS. 

The evidence of the existence of a race of 
men who worked stone into weapons and 
clay into utensils, is abundant in the county. 
There are also proofs showing the great 
antiquity of this race. Mr. Albert Cavalier, 
residing on Mud Creek, in Rice township, 
this county, on section twenty-five, township 
six, range fifteen, a few years ago cleared a 
part of his land, which was level-no sign of 
mound or fort was perceptible. The trees 
were of white oak, very large and fine; some 
two and some as large as three feet in diame- 
ter. On plowing the land, his plow threw up 
a great number of flint arrowheads, stone 
axes, stone pipes, and pieces of pottery 
composed of burnt clay mixed with pounded 
shells. These could not be seen on the 
surface, but were covered nearly to the depth 
of a furrow, and some were found under the 
stumps of the trees he had cut, when the 
stumps were removed. Mr. Cavalier 
deposited a variety of these articles with the 
Historical Society, and they are now in 
Birchard Library. Mr. Lewis Leppelman, of 
this city, has been for some years gathering 
specimens of the same kind. He is entitled to 
great credit for the time, energy, and money 
he has spent to collect the largest variety and 
finest specimens of this kind of relics known 
in Northwestern Ohio, and placing them also 
In Birchard Library, where they can be seen 
by all visitors. A description of all 



72 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the varieties of this interesting collection, and 
where found, would alone make a volume. Mr. 
Leppelman would lay the public under still 
greater obligation by placing with them a 
descriptive catalogue, showing where each of 
the important pieces was found. This collection 
contains not only stone arrowheads, axes, and 
pipes in great variety, but a large number of 
specimens of other forms of stone, showing 
equal or more skill in their make, of which it is 
difficult to conjecture the use. Many of the 
specimens of Mr. Leppelman have the same 
form, and are of like material as those found in 
the lakes of Switzerland, and described and 
lithographed in the Smithsonian Report of 



1876, on page 356 and the four succeeding 
pages. This valuable work proves very 
clearly that in Europe there were distinct 
periods marked by mans use of different 
material: first, the age of stone; second, the 
age of bronze; third, the age of iron. The age 
of stone seems to have for a long time been 
coextensive with the races of men. The 
writer was lately informed by Mr. Samuel 
Ickes, now residing at Deadwood, that some 
of the Western Indians still use the flint 
arrow point for some purposes, such as 
killing small game with the arrow, and 
skinning deer and preparing the skin for 
various uses with the stone axe. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE INDIANS. 

Indian Wars — General Wayne's Campaign — Battle of Fallen Timbers — Treaties — Grants of Land. 



THERE is, of course, no written history 
of the races of men who were here 
previous to the red men, found here when 
the whites first came. There is a blank of 
untold ages in the history of this Continent, 
and for many years after the country had 
been visited by white men, all the 
information concerning the race then 
occupying the country rests upon traditions. 
These traditions reach back to about the year 
1790, or nearly one hundred years ago. They 
throw a dim light, but are sufficiently 
definite to be interesting, and to give some 
idea of the manners and customs of the 
people. 

NEUTRAL GROUND— THE TWO FORTS. 

That this locality was considered valuable 
and important by the Indians seems 



to be pretty well established. Hon. Lewis 
Cass, who was early familiar with all the 
Indian tribes of the Northwestern Territory, 
and had great facilities for obtaining 
information from and about them, as Indian 
agent of the United States, may be regarded 
as good authority. In a discourse before the 
Historical Society of Michigan, delivered 
September 18, 1829, he gives some 
interesting statements respecting a tribe 
called the Neutral Nation. The following is 
an extract from this interesting and valuable 
paper: 

This Neutral Nation, so called by Father Sequard, was 
still in existence two centuries ago, when the French 
missionaries first reached the Upper Lakes. The details 
of their history and of their character and privileges are 
meager and unsatisfactory, and this is to be the more 
regretted, as such a sanctuary among the barbarous is 
not only singular institu- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



73 



tion, but altogether at variance with that spirit of cruelty 
with which their wars were usually prosecuted. The 
Wyandot tradition represents them as having separated 
from the parent stock during the bloody wars between 
their own tribe and the Iroquois, and having fled to the 
Sandusky River for safety; that they here erected two 
forts within a short distance of each other, and assigned 
one to the Iroquois and the other to the Wyandots and 
their allies, where their war parties might find security 
and hospitality whenever they entered their country. 
Why so unusual a proposition was made and acceded to, 
tradition does not tell. It is probable, however, that 
superstition lent its aid to the institution, and that it may 
have been indebted for its origin to the feasts and 
dreams and juggling ceremonies, which constituted the 
religion of the aborigines. No other motive was 
sufficiently powerful to restrain the hand of violence 
and to counteract the threat of vengeance. An internal 
feud finally arose in this Neutral Nation, one party 
espousing the cause of the Iroquois and the other of 
their enemies; and like most civil wars, this was 
prosecuted with relentless fury. Our informant says that 
since his recollection the remains of a red cedar post 
were yet to be seen, where prisoners were tied previous 
to being burned. 

The informant above alluded to by Gov- 
ernor Cass, we have reason to believe, was 
Major B. F. Stickney, of Toledo, long an 
Indian agent in this region. That there may 
have been such a tradition among the Indians 
we are unable to gainsay, but of its truth we 
have doubts. 

Major Stickney, in a lecture (as yet un- 
published) delivered February 28, 1845, 
before the Young Men's Association, of 
Toledo, says: 

The remains of extensive works of defence are now to 
be seen near Lower Sandusky. The Wyandots have given 
me this account of them : At a period of two centuries 
and a half or more since, all the Indians west of this 
point were at war with all the Indians east. Two walled 
towns were built near each other, and each was 
inhabited by those of Wyandot origin. They assumed a 
neutral character, and the Indians at war recognized that 
character. They might be called two neutral cities. All of 
the West might enter the western city, and all of the East 
the eastern. The inhabitants of one city might inform 
those of the other that war parties were there or had 
been there; but who they were or whence they came, or 
anything more must not be mentioned. The war parties 
might remain there in security, taking their own time for 
departure. At the western 



town they suffered the warriors to burn their prisoners; 
but those at the eastern would not practice this cruelty. 
(An old Wyandot informed me that he recollected, when 
a boy, the remains of a cedar post or stake at which they 
used to burn prisoners,) The French historians tell us 
that these neutral cities were inhabited and their neutral 
character respected when they first came here. At length 
a quarrel arose between the two cities, and one 
destroyed the inhabitants of the other. This put an end to 
the neutrality? * 

WHERE WERE THESE ANCIENT FORTS OR 

CITIES? 

There is good reason to believe that one of 
them was at Muncietown, and that if the 
ancient fort, the remains of which were 
found there, was the work of a preceding 
race, the Wyandots, or rather a portion of the 
Wyandots called the Neutral Nation, adopted 
and used it as a defensive position and city 
of refuge as above suggested by Governor 
Cass and Major Stickney. Where the western 
fort or city of refuge was located is a matter 
not now so easily determined. Close inquiry 
of the oldest inhabitants about Fremont at 
this time (1881) fails to obtain any tradition 
or account of any remains of any ancient 
fortification on the west bank of the river, 
nor can any such remains be discovered at 
the present time. 

THE IROQUOIS OR SIX NATIONS. 

This name is used to designate a body of 
Indians, consisting at first of five, then of six 
and afterwards of eight nations, who planted 
themselves in Western New York and on the 
shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie. These 
nations formed a confederacy prior to 1722, 
but the precise date of its formation is not 
recorded. The confederacy consisted, when 
first known, of the following Nations of red 
men Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, 

Cayugas, and Senecas, to whom the Tus- 
caroras were added as a sixth Nation in 
1722, and after that the organization was 



Howe's History of Ohio. 



74 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



called the Six Nations. In 1723 the Huron 
tribes were received; and as an eighth Nation 
the Algonquin Massassaguas, from Canada. 
This Confederation was remarkable in many 
respects. It was the most permanent and 
powerful of the savage governments found in 
North America. 

Seeing the other tribes destroying 
themselves by internal discords, the Iroquois 
formed themselves into a confederacy, in 
which the principles of military glory and 
tribal union were carried to the highest 
Indian perfection. They pursued war and 
hunting but returned to their fixed villages. 
Each canton or tribe was independent, and 
each bound to the others of the confederacy 
by ties of general interest and honor. Matters 
of a general interest were decided in a 
general meeting of the sachems of all the 
nations, commonly held at Onondaga, New 
York. They followed the maxim used by the 
ancient Romans, of encouraging other 
nations to incorporate, and adopted captive 
people into their confederacy. In this way 
they became so strong that in the early part 
of the seventeenth century they had 
conquered all the neighboring tribes. Their 
sachems were chosen by the general voice, 
admitting their courage and wisdom; these 
chiefs, in a true Roman simplicity, accepting 
no salary, disregarding profit, and giving 
away their share of the plunder of war or the 
perquisites of peace, and thought themselves 
fully rewarded by the love and respect of the 
people. The Iroquois Nation possessed 
conservative power in the State, being 
represented in the public councils and 
exercising a veto influence in the declaration 
of war. This was certainly very remarkable 
in a government founded on military 
principles. Slavery was unknown among 
them. As in other republican confederations, 
where no single person has power to compel, 
the arts of 



persuasion were highly cultivated. The 
Iroquois were celebrated for their eloquence; 
in proof of this we need only mention the 
Cayuga, Logan; the Seneca, Red Jacket; the 
Oneida, Skenandoah; and the Onandaga, 
Garangula. The famous Brandt was a half- 
breed Mohawk. The tradition of Hiawatha (a 
person of very great wisdom), who advised 
the union of the Five Nations, is given in 
Schoolcraft's History of the Indian Tribes, 
Volume III. 

The Iroquois took part with Great Britain 
during the war of the Revolution, and greatly 
annoyed the frontier settlements of New York 
and New Jersey. A powerful expedition was 
sent against them in 1779, under command of 
General Sullivan, and their country was 
ravaged, and eighteen of their villages burned. 
This movement effectually broke their power, 
though their incursions did not immediately 
cease. After the war treaties were made with 
them, by which extensive cessions of land 
were made to the United States. Other treaties 
followed until their title has been 
extinguished to all, or nearly all the land in 
the Northern, Eastern, Middle and Southern 
States. In the War of 1812 their few 
remaining warriors assisted the Americans 
against the British, and were organized for 
military service under the command of 
General Porter. Repeated cessions of land 
have reduced their territory from the 
dimensions of an empire to that of a 
plantation. At the time the French 
missionaries found the Wyandots on the 
Georgian Bay, and, as Schoolcraft says, when 
the Canadas were first settled, they were 
found on the Island of Montreal, and probably 
about the time the great confederacy was 
formed, numbered forty thousand. The 
number of the Senecas is not given, but they 
were called "a powerful tribe occupying 
western New York and a part of northwestern 
Pennsylvania." Of course, the other nations 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



75 



of the confederacy must have been quite 
numerous. In 1855 the total remaining 
population of all the tribes belonging to the 
confederacy was only six thousand souls, 
scattered in New York, Wisconsin, Arkansas 
and Missouri.* 

The historian says, after describing this 
powerful confederacy: 

In this way their strength became such that in the 
early part of the seventeenth century they had conquered 
all the neighboring tribes, and doubtless, in a hundred 
years, had the whites not colonized America, would 
have absorbed all the nations from Canada to the Gulf of 
Mexico. 

It is interesting to notice that in the 
formation of the confederacy we find in this 
organization of the red men of North 
America, the model of the confederation of 
the subsequent colonies of white men to 
resist the oppressions of Great Britain. This 
great and powerful confederacy of the North 
American Indians is broken, and the people 
are few and scattered. The confederation of 
the white men served well so long as a 
common danger threatened the colonies, but 
our fathers saw its weakness, and met and 
formed "a more perfect union," by which we 
were made a Nation, one and indissoluble, 
under a written constitution, securing the 
right of the Nation, of the people and the 
States; and neither the wild waves of civil 
discord, nor the power of external force have 
been able to break it. 

THE NAME. 

The different names by which men 
belonging to this Indian confederacy have 
been designated in history, has given rise to 
much confusion and misunderstanding. It is 
therefore proper to state that the French 
called them Iroquois; the Dutch, Maquas; by 
other Indians, Mengive, and thence by the 
English, Mingoes or Mohawks, so that when 
we read the story about Logan, the Mingo 
chief, and his 

* American Cyclopedia. 



famous speech, the word Mingo does not 
signify his tribe or nation, but that he was of 
the confederacy. In fact, he was of the blood 
of the Mohawks, a nation who joined the 
confederacy. 

EXTENT OF THE CONQUESTS OF THE 
SIX NATIONS. 

Before 1680 the Six Nations had overrun 
the Western lands, and were dreaded from 
Lakes Erie and Michigan to the Ohio and 
west to the Mississippi. In 1673 Allouez and 
Dablon found the Miamis upon Lake 
Michigan fearing a visit from the .Iroquois. 
It appears that in 1684, by treaty, and again 
in 1701 the Six Nations conveyed this vast 
domain to Great Britain, "in trust to be 
defended by his Majesty the King, to and for 
the use of the grantors and their heirs." The 
title to this vast domain, or so much of it as 
lay west of the Alleghenies, was disputed by 
the French, who claimed it by discovery 
made by their early voyagers and 
missionaries, who had traversed the great 
chain of lakes and descended the Mississippi 
many years before. This contest gave rise to 
the war between the two powers, in which 
hostilities were actually commenced early in 
1752. After much bloodshed the British took 
by conquest this territory, and it was ceded 
by France to Great Britain in the treaty of 
Paris, in 1763. 

It should be remembered that in treaties 
and conveyances of the Great West by the 
Indians to Great Britain they did not part 
with their title to the land. They themselves, 
and their lands, were placed under the care 
and protection of Britain ; the land was to be 
held "in trust for the Indians and their heirs." 
Hence the Indians were justified in 
contending for the possession of their 
inheritance. Let us now briefly consider how 
we obtained 

OUR TITLE TO THE LANDS IN OHIO. 

At the close of the war of the Revolu- 



76 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



tion this whole region was in the possession 
of the Indians. It was no longer claimed or 
occupied exclusively by the Six Nations; 
they had sided with Great Britain in that 
war and their power was broken. Other 
tribes had, during the war, settled on the 
territory and occupied it in common with 
them. 

These red men claimed title to the land. 
True it is, they had no parchment or paper 
title signed and sealed by man or any 
human authority, but they believed and felt 
that the Great Spirit, the Lord of Lords and 
King of Kings, and Lord paramount of all 
things, had in his goodness given these 
happy hunting grounds to his red children. 
No wonder then, that when he saw the "pale 
face" settling and building on his domain 
and killing the game which was given him 
to live upon, he was roused to resistance. 
He had no court to try his title but that 
court of last resort, the court of force, a 
trial by wager of battle. Their arguments 
were not made by attorneys. In this court of 
force the red men argued with the rifle, 
tomahawk, and scalping-knife, and with 
fire. His cruelty to his enemy knew no 
bounds; helpless infancy and non-resisting 
woman appealed in vain. The recital of his 
cruelties curdle the blood with horror. The 
burning of Colonel Crawford, near Upper 
Sandusky, and the massacre of his men, in 
1782; the destruction of St. Clair's army, on 
a branch of the Wabash, in 1791; the 
butchery of Harmar's men in 1790, were 
attended with scenes and incidents of 
indescribable cruelty in almost every form 
in which cruelty could be inflicted. But 
there came at last an end to those terrible 
conflicts about title to the land. The final 
contest over the right to occupy the 
Northwest took place on the bank of the 
Maumee River, in 1794, in the battle of 
Fallen Timbers, and as it had a powerful 
influence to settle the title to the land in 



Sandusky county, a notice of it seems 
proper in this work. 

WAYNE'S VICTORY ON THE MAUMEE. 

Before the defeat of Crawford at Upper 
Sandusky, in 1782, the United States had 
acquired, by treaty with certain separate 
tribes, a portion of the land north of. the 
Ohio River. After this the Indians were 
induced by the notorious half-breed Mo- 
hawk, Brandt, and the white renegade, 
Simon Girty, to confederate together and 
insist that the Ohio River should be the 
boundary line between the lands of the two 
races. They cunningly insisted that the 
territory was the common property of all 
the tribes, and that no single tribe could 
give title to any portion of it. President 
Washington, by commissioners appointed at 
different times, strenuously endeavored to 
convince them of the wrong they were 
insisting upon; that the lands ceded to the 
United States were acquired in good faith, 
and some of it sold to actual settlers; and 
that the Government had no right to deprive 
these settlers of their land or remove the 
owners from it. He offered to make peace 
and to protect the Indians' occupancy of all 
their land not ceded to the Government. But 
the Indians had already destroyed two 
armies sent to punish them for their 
murders of frontier settlers, and they felt 
strong enough to resist any force that would 
follow them into the wilderness. To this 
feeling may be added t hat love of war, 
cruelty, and plunder so characteristic of the 
North American Indian. 

While these efforts for peace were being 
made, President Washington, who so well 
understood the character of the natives, 
made preparation for the other alternative 
in case pacific overtures should fail. The 
concluding paragraph of the answer of the 
confederated Indians to the offers of peace 
and protection will show the reader how 
determined they were to have the Ohio 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



77 



River for the southern boundary of their lands. 
The extract is taken from "Annals of the West," 
by James H. Perkins, published at Cincinnati in 
the year 1847, and is as follows: 

Brothers, we shall be persuaded that you mean 
to do us justice, if you agree that the Ohio shall 
remain the boundary line between us. If you will 
not consent thereto, our meeting will be 
altogether unnecessary. This is the great point 
which we hoped would have been explained 
before you left your homes, as our message last 
fall was principally directed to obtain that 
information. 

Done in general council at the foot of the 
Maumee Rapids, the 13th day of August, 1793. 



NATIONS: 
WYANDOTS, 

SEVEN NATIONS OF CAN- 
ADA, 
POTTAWATOMIES, 
SENECAS OF THE GLAIZE, 
SHAWNESE, 
MIAMIS, 
OTTAWAS, 



MASSASSAGOES, 

CHIPPEWAS, 

MUNCIES, 

MOHICANS, 

CONNOYS, 

DELAWARES, 

NANTAKOKIES, 

CREEKS. 



ENGLISH INFLUENCE TO PREVENT PEACE. 

It was suspected at the time that the British 
emissaries, or some indirect influence from that 
source, was employed to prevent the peace so 
much desired by the United States. The histories 
of the time inform us that Brandt said, in 
speaking about efforts for peace: 

That for several years we were engaged in getting a 
confederacy formed, and the unanimity occasioned by these 
endeavors among our Western brethren enabled them to defeat 
two American armies. The war continued without our 
brothers, the English, giving any assistance, except a little 
ammunition, and they seeming to desire that a peace might be 
concluded, we tried to bring it about at a time that the United 
States desired it very much, so that they sent commissioners 
from among their first people to endeavor to make peace with 
the hostile Indians. We assembled for that purpose at the 
Miami River in the summer of 1793, intending to act as 
mediators in bringing about an honorable peace, and if that 
could not be obtained, we resolved to join our Western 
brethren in trying the fortunes of war. But to our surprise, 
when upon the point of entering upon a treaty with the 
commissioners, we found that it was opposed by those acting 
under the British Government, and hopes of further assistance 
were given to our Western brethren, to encourage them to 
insist on the Ohio as the boundary between them and the 
United States.* 

*Stone's Life of Brandt. 



The talented and wily Brandt no doubt 
knew whereof he spoke, and his testimony 
puts a grave responsibility upon the 
British Government for those terrible 
Indian wars. 

President Washington knew the Indian 
character and his mode of warfare. Early 
in life he, as a surveyor, had seen the red 
men in their homes, and knew their 
domestic habits and propensities from 
actual observation. He had seen the defeat 
of Braddock and the destruction of his 
army at Pittsburgh, then called Fort 
Duquesne; as commander-in-chief of the 
American forces in the Revolutionary War 
he had witnessed their cunning duplicity 
and cruelty as exhibited under the 
employment of the British Government in 
that war, and with his usual discernment 
and wisdom calculated all chances. 
Therefore, while he hoped for peace he 
was busy preparing for war. Accordingly, 
after St. Clair's defeat on the Wabash, the 
President allowed that general to withdraw 
from the service without a court-martial, 
and appointed Anthony Wayne, who had 
served so well in the war of the 
Revolution, to the command of the army to 
conquer the allied tribes of Indians in the 
Northwest. He instructed Wayne to 
organize an army at Pittsburgh, with spe- 
cial reference to the subjugation of the 
Indians. In June, 1792, Wayne moved 
westward to Pittsburgh, and proceeded to 
organize the army which was to be the 
ultimate argument of the Americans with 
the Indian Confederation. Through the 
summer of 1792 the preparation of the 
soldiers was steadily attended to. "Train 
and discipline them for the service they 
are meant for," said Washington, "and do 
not spare powder and lead, so the men be 
made marksmen." 

In December, 1792, the forces now re- 
cruited and trained, were gathered at a 
point twenty-two miles below Pittsburgh, 



78 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



on the Ohio, called Legionville. The army 
itself having been christened The Legion of 
the United States, was divided into four sub- 
legions and provided with legionary and sub- 
legionary officers. While these wise 
preparations were going on, the peace 
propositions above mentioned were offered 
and urged upon the savages, and resulted in 
their final reply above given that nothing 
short of an agreement that the Ohio River 
should be the boundary of the land to be 
occupied on the south by the whites and on 
the north by the Indian tribes. Freeman, who 
left Fort Washington April 7th, Truman, who 
left on May 22d for Maumee, and Colonel 
Hardin, who on the same day started for 
Sandusky with proposals for peace, were all 
murdered. The particulars of their deaths 
will be found in the Western Annals. 

The final reply to all these overtures for 
peace is contained in the last clause of the 
answer of the tribes, which is quoted above, 
and closed the attempts of the United States 
to make peace. Some few further attempts 
were made to secure the Iroquois to the 
cause of America, but they ended in nothing; 
and from the month of August the 
preparations for a decision by arms of the 
pending questions between the white and the 
red men, went forward constantly. 

Wayne's Legion moved from Legionville 
about the last of April, 1793. It was taken 
down the Ohio River to Cincinnati, where it 
encamped near Fort Washington, and there it 
continued until October, engaged merely in 
drilling and preparation. Legionville was 
situated on the Ohio River, about twenty-two 
miles below Pittsburgh; Fort Washington 
was at Cincinnati; Fort Jefferson was located 
about six miles south of the town of 
Greenville, in Darke county. 



GENERAL WAYNE EXPLAINS THE SITUATION. 

On the 5th of October, 1793, General 
Wayne wrote from Cincinnati that he could 
not hope to have, deducting the sick and those 
left in garrison, more than two thousand six 
hundred regular troops, three hundred and 
sixty mounted volunteers, and thirty-six 
guides and spies to go with him beyond Fort 
Jefferson. He further said, in the same 
communication to the Secretary of War: 

This is not a pleasant picture, but something must be 
done immediately to save the frontier from impending 
savage fury. I will therefore advance tomorrow with the 
force I have, in order to gain strong position in front of 
Fort Jefferson, so as to keep the enemy in check (by 
exciting a jealousy and apprehension for the safety of their 
own women and children) until some favorable 
opportunity may present to strike with effect. The present 
apparent tranquility on the frontiers and at the head of the 
line is a convincing proof to me that the enemy ate 
collected or collecting in force to oppose the legion, either 
on its march or in some unfavorable position for the 
cavalry to act in. Disappoint them in this favorite plan or 
maneuver and they may probably be tempted to attack our 
lines. In this case I trust they will not have much reason to 
triumph from the encounter. They cannot continue long 
embodied for want of provisions, and at their breaking up 
they will most certainly make some desperate effort upon 
some quarter or other. Should the mounted volunteers 
advance in force we might yet compel those haughty 
savages to sue for peace before, the next opening of the 
leaves. Be that as it may, I pray you not to permit present 
appearances to cause too much anxiety, either in the mind 
of the President or yourself, on account of the army. 

Knowing the critical situation of our infant Nation, and 
feeling for the honor and reputation of Government 
(which I will support with my latest breath) you may rest 
assured that I will not commit the legion unnecessarily; 
and unless more powerfully supported than I at present 
have reason to expect, will content myself by taking a 
strong position advanced of Jefferson, and by exerting 
every power, endeavor to protect the frontiers, and to 
secure the posts and army during the winter, or until I am 
honored with your further orders. 

This manly and patriotic letter, while it 
indicates the danger of the situation, 
expresses no fear, for Anthony Wayne never 
knew what fear was. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



79 



On the 7th of October the legion left 
Cincinnati, and on the 13th of the same 
month, without any accidents, encamped on 
the strong position referred to in his letter, 
afterwards called Fort Greenville. The town 
of Greenville now covers the site of the fort. 
Here, on the 24th of October, 1793, he was 
joined by one thousand mounted Kentucky 
volunteers under General Scott, to whom .he 
had written pressing requests to hasten 
'forward with all the men he could muster. 
This request Scott had hastened to comply 
with, and upon the 28th of September, 1793, 
the Governor, in addition to these volunteer 
forces, had ordered a draft of militia. The 
Kentucky troops, however, were soon 
dismissed until spring, but their march had 
not been in vain, for they had seen enough of 
Wayne's army to give them confidence in it 
and in him, so that the full number of 
volunteers was easily procured in the spring. 

One attack had been made upon the troops 
previous to the 23d of October, and only 
one. A body consisting of two commissioned 
officers and ninety noncommissioned 
officers and soldiers, convoying twenty 
wagons of supplies, was assaulted on the 
17th of that month, seven miles beyond Fort 
St. Clair, which was built in 1791-92, about 
one mile west of Eaton, now the county seat 
of Preble county. In this attack by the 
savages Lieutenant Lowry and Ensign Boyd, 
With thirteen others, were killed. Although 
so little opposition had thus far been encoun- 
tered, General Wayne determined to stay 
where he was during the winter, and having 
seventy thousand rations on hand in October, 
with the prospect of one hundred and twenty 
thousand more, while the Indians were sure 
to be short of provisions, he proceeded to 
fortify his position, which he named Fort 
Greenville, and which was situated on 
ground now occu- 



pied by the town of that name. This being 
done, on the 23d of December a detachment 
was sent forward to take possession of the 
field of St. Clair's defeat, in the now county 
of Darke. On Christmas day this detachment 
reached the ground on which St. Clair's army 
was slaughtered November 4, 1791, or a little 
more than two years before. "Six hundred 
skulls," says one present, "were gathered up 
and buried. When we went to lay down we 
had to scrape the bones together and carry 
them out to make our beds." Here Fort 
Recovery was built, properly garrisoned, and 
placed in charge of Captain Alexander 
Gibson. Thus situated, during the early 
months of 1794 General Wayne was steadily 
engaged in preparing everything for a sure 
blow when the time to strike should come. By 
means of Captain Gibson and his various 
spies, he kept himself informed of the plans 
and movements of the savages. All this 
information showed that the Indians were 
relying on British assistance, and this reliance 
animated the doomed race of red men to resist 
offers of peace, and stealthily prepare to fight. 
On the 5th of June, 1794, Captain Gibson 
captured two Indians of the Pottawatomie 
tribe, and had them examined, and their 
examination showed reports to them that the 
British were then at Roche de Boeuf, on the 
Maumee River, on their way to war against 
the Americans; that the number of British 
troops there was about four hundred, with two 
pieces of artillery, exclusive of the Detroit 
militia, and that they had made fortifications 
around McKee's house and store at that place, 
in which they had deposited all their stores of 
ammunition, arms, clothing, and provisions, 
with which they promised to supply the 
hostile Indians in abundance. They further 
reported that there were then collected there 
not less than two thousand warriors, and were 
the Pot- 



80 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



tawatomies to join, the whole would amount 
to upwards of three thousand hostile Indians; 
that the British troops and militia that will 
join the Indians to go to war would amount 
to fifteen hundred according to the promise 
of Governor Simcoe, of Canada. To the 
question, "At what time and at what place do 
the British and Indians mean to advance 
against this army?" these prisoners an- 
swered, "About the last of this moon or the 
beginning of next they intend to attack the 
legion at this place" (Fort Trumbull). Two 
Shawnee warriors captured on the 22d of 
June, substantially corroborated the 
statements of the Pottawatomies. The 
conduct of the savages proved these reports 
of the Indian prisoners not to be fables. 

On the 30th of June Fort Recovery, the 
advanced American post, was assaulted by 
Little Turtle at the head of more than one 
thousand warriors, and, although repelled, 
the assailants rallied and returned to the 
charge and kept up the attack through the 
whole day and part of the day following. Nor 
was this assailing force composed entirely of 
natives. White men, and some in scarlet 
coats were there advising and directing the 
savages. 

ST. CLAIR'S CANNON. 

When St. Clair was defeated in 1791 
(December 4), his guns were left on that 
field of slaughter. Some time afterwards 
General Wilkinson dispatched Captain 
Bunting from Fort Washington to the field of 
St. Clair's defeat. The captain, in his report, 
says, among other things: "We found three 
whole carriages; the other five were so much 
damaged that they were rendered useless." 
This indicates clearly that St. Clair had left 
eight pieces of artillery on the ground. It was 
winter when Bunting examined the 
battlefield. He did not believe the Indians 
had taken off the cannon, and it was his 
opinion that 



they had been thrown into the creek, which 
was then frozen over and so thickly covered 
with snow that it was vain to look for them. 
The next recorded notice is found in General 
Wayne's dispatch after the assault on Fort 
Recovery. After asserting that there were 
British officers and privates engaged with 
the Indians in the assault, the dispatch 
continues: 

It would also appear that the British and savages 
expected to find the artillery that was lost on the 4th of 
November, 1791, and hid by the Indians, in beds of old 
fallen timber or logs which they turned over and hid the 
cannon in, and then turned the logs back into their 
former places. It was in this artful manner that we 
generally found them deposited. The hostile Indians 
turned over a great number of logs during the assault, in 
search of these cannon and other plunder which they had 
probably hid in this manner after the action of the 4th of 
November, 1791. I therefore have reason to believe that 
the British and Indians depended much on this artillery 
to assist in the reduction of the post; fortunately they 
served in its defence. 

WAYNE MOVES HIS LEGION FORWARD. 

On the 26th of July, 1794, Scott, with 
about one thousand six hundred men from 
Kentucky, joined Wayne at Greenville, and 
on the 28th the legion moved forward. On 
the 8th of August the army was near the 
junction of the Auglaize and Maumee 
Rivers, at Grand Glaize, and proceeded at 
once to build Fort Defiance, where the rivers 
meet. At the place had been the Indian 
headquarters, and Wayne expected to 
surprise them there, but a deserter from his 
army had informed them of his approach, 
and they were gone. It had been Wayne's 
plan to reach the headquarters of the savages 
undiscovered, and in order to do this he had 
cut two roads, one towards the foot of the 
rapids (Roche de Boeuf), the other to the 
junction of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph 
Rivers, while he in fact pressed forward 
between the two, and this stratagem General 
Wayne believed would have succeeded but 
for the deserter above referred to, who was 
in his quartermaster's department, when he 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



left and went to the Indian headquarters. 
While engaged upon Fort Defiance, the 
American commander received full and 
accurate accounts of the Indians and the aid 
they would receive from the volunteers of 
Detroit and elsewhere; he learned the nature 
of the ground and the circumstances favorable 
and unfavorable; and upon the whole, 
considering the spirit of his troops, officers 
and men, regulars and volunteers, he 
determined to march forward and settle 
matters at once. But still true to the spirit of 
compromise and peace so forcibly taught by 
Washington, on the 13th of August he sent 
Christopher Miller, who had been naturalized 
among the Shawnees, then taken prisoner by 
Wayne's spies, as a special messenger, 
offering terms of friendship. To aid the reader 
in forming a correct judgment upon Wayne's 
subsequent dealing with the savages and to 
vindicate the United States against any charge 
of deception or cruelty, it seems necessary to 
give in full the message sent by Miller on this 
occasion. It is found in Perkins' Annals of the 
West, on page 404, and is as follows: 
To THE DELAWARES, SHAWNEES, MIAMIS, 
AND WYANDOTS, AND TO EACH AND 
EVERY OF THEM, AND TO ALL OTHER 
NATIONS OF INDIANS NORTHWEST OF THE 
OHIO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: 
I, Anthony Wayne, Major General and Commander-in- 
Chief of the Federal Army, now at Grand Glaize, and 
Commissioner Plenipotenti ary of the United States of 
America, for settling the terms upon which a permanent 
and lasting peace shall be made with each and every of the 
hostile tribes or nations of Indians northwest of the Ohio, 
and of the United States, actuated by the purest principles 
of humanity, and urged by pity for the errors into which 
bad and designing men have led you, from the head of my 
army now in possession of your abandoned villages and 
settlements, do hereby once more extend the friendly hand 
of peace towards you, and invite each and every of the 
hostile tribes of Indians to appoint deputies to meet me 
and my army, without delay, between this place and 
Roche de Bceuf, in order to settle the preliminaries of a 
lasting peace, which may eventually and soon restore to 
you the Delawares, Miamis, Shawnees, and all other tribes 
and 



nations lately settled in this place and on the margin of 
the Miami and the Glaize Rivers - your late grounds and 
possessions, and to preserve you and your distressed and 
hapless women and children from danger and famine 
during the present fall and ensuing winter. 

The army of the United States is strong and powerful, 
but they love mercy and kindness more than war and 
desolation. And to remove any doubts or apprehension 
of danger to the persons of the deputies whom you may 
appoint to meet this army, I hereby pledge my sacred 
honor for their safety and return, and send Christopher 
Miller, an adopted Shawnee warrior, whom I took 
prisoner two days ago, as a flag, who will advance in 
their front to meet me. 

Mr. Miller was taken prisoner by a party of my 
warriors six moons since, and can testify to you the 
kindness which I have shown to your people, my 
prisoners; that is, five warriors and two women, who are 
now all safe at Greenville. 

But should this invitation be disregarded, and my flag, 
Mr. Miller, be detained or injured, I will immediately 
order all those prisoners to be put to death without 
distinction, and some of them are known to belong to 
the first families of your nations. 

Brothers, be no longer deceived or led astray by the 
false promises and language of the bad white men at the 
foot of the rapids ; they have neither the power nor 
inclination to protect you. No longer shut your eyes to 
your true interest and happiness, nor your ears to this 
overture of peace; but, in pity to your innocent women 
and children, come and prevent the further effusion of 
your blood; let them experience the kindness and 
friendship of the United States of America, and the 
invaluable blessings of peace and tranquility. 
ANTHONY WAYNE. 

Grand Glaize, August 13, 1794. 

WAYNE'S QUALIFICATIONS TO FIGHT THE 
INDIANS. 

Wayne had seen enough of the Indian 
character in the Revolutionary War in the 
Northern colonies and in Georgia, .whither 
he had been sent to fight Indians almost 
exclusively, to be a judge of them. Perhaps 
no man had a better understanding of the war 
capacity and traits of the North American 
Indian than he. If the Indians were silent he 
read unerringly their intent; in their' speech 
he detected with great accuracy what was 
true and what was intended to deceive. He 
had no superior as a character reader of the 
red men he was contending with. Neither 



82 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



their shams, feints or false pretenses ever 
mislead him. Braddock at Fort Duquesne, 
Crawford at Upper Sandusky, Harmar at the 
Maumee, and St. Clair at the Wabash, all 
failed for want of those high qualities which 
gave such great superiority and success to 
Wayne. 

NARRATIVE OF WAYNE'S CAMPAIGN 
RESUMED. 

Let it be remembered that General Wayne 
dispatched Miller with his peace proposition 
on the 13th of August, 1794, from Fort 
Defiance. No doubt intending that if either 
party must be surprised it should be the 
Indians and not himself, Wayne moved his 
troops forward on the 15th, and before he 
had received any report from Miller. On the 
16th he met Miller returning with the 
message that if the Americans would wait 
ten days at Grand Glaize they, the Indians, 
would decide for peace or war. Wayne was 
not to be deceived into giving the Indians 
their choice of the time and place when and 
where to strike. He understood this proffered 
delay to mean that he should wait until the 
Indians were more completely prepared for 
the decisive conflict, and he replied to their 
wily answer to his message by marching 
straight on towards them. 

On the 18th the legion had advanced 
forty-one miles from Grand Glaize, and 
being now at Roche de Boeuf and near the 
long looked for foe, began to throw up some 
light works called Fort Deposit, wherein to 
place the heavy baggage during the expected 
battle. During the 19th the army still labored 
on their works. 

WAYNE'S REPORT OF THE BATTLE. 

On the 20th, at 8 o'clock, all baggage 
having been left behind, the white forces 
moved down the north bank of the Maumee; 
the legion on the right, its flank covered by 
the river; one brigade of 



mounted volunteers on the left, under 
Brigadier-General Todd, and the other in the 
rear under Brigadier-General Barbee. A 
select battalion of mounted volunteers 
moved in front of the legion, commanded by 
Major Price, who was directed to keep 
sufficiently advanced so as to give timely 
notice for the troops to form in case of 
action, it being yet undetermined whether 
the Indians would decide for peace or war. 
After advancing about five miles Major 
Price's corps received so severe a fire from 
the enemy, who were secreted in the woods 
and grass, as to compel him to retreat. The 
legion was immediately formed into two 
lines, principally in a close, thick wood 
which extended for miles on our left and for 
a very considerable distance in front; the 
ground being covered with fallen timber, 
probably occasioned by a tornado, and which 
rendered it impracticable for the cavalry to 
act with effect and afforded the enemy the 
most favorable covert for their mode of 
warfare. The savages were formed in three 
lines within supporting distance of each 
other, and extending near two miles at right 
angles with the river. 

I soon discovered (says General Wayne, in his report 
of the battle), from the weight of the fire and extent of 
their lines, that the enemy were in full force in front, 
and in possession of their favorite ground, and 
endeavoring to turn our left flank. I therefore gave 
orders for the second line to advance and support the 
first, and directed Major-General Scott to gain and turn 
the right flank of the savages with the whole of the 
mounted volunteers, by a circuitous route. At the same 
time I ordered the front line to advance and charge with 
trailed arms and rouse the Indians from their cover at the 
point of the bayonet, and when up to deliver a close and 
well-directed fire on their backs, followed by a brisk 
charge so as not to give them time to load again. I also 
ordered Captain Campbell, who commanded the 
Legionary cavalry, to turn the left flank of the enemy 
next the river, and which afforded a favorable field for 
that corps to act in. All these orders were obeyed with 
spirit and promptitude; but such was the impetuosity of 
the charge by the first line of infantry, that the Indians 
and Canada militia and volunteers were driven from all 
their coverts in so short a time, that although 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



83 



every possible exertion was used by the officers of the 
second line of the legion, and by Generals Scott, Todd, 
and Barbee, of the mounted volunteers, to gain their 
proper positions, but part of each could get up in season to 
participate in the action; the enemy being driven in the 
course of an hour more than two miles through the thick 
wood already mentioned, by less than one-half their 
number. From every account the enemy amounted to two 
thousand combatants. The troops actually engaged against 
them were short of nine hundred. This horde of savages, 
with their allies, abandoned themselves to flight and 
dispersed with terror and dismay, leaving our victorious 
army in full and. quiet possession of the field of battle, 
which terminated under the influence of the guns of the 
British garrison. The bravery of every officer belonging to 
the army, from the generals down to the ensigns, merit my 
highest approbation. There were, however, some whose 
rank and situation placed their conduct in a very 
conspicuous point of view, and which I observed with 
pleasure and the most lively gratitude. Among these I 
must beg leave to mention Brigadier-General Wilkinson 
and Colonel Hamtramck, the commandants of the right 
and left wings of the legion, whose brave example 
inspired the troops. To these I must add Lieutenant 
Harrison, who, with Adjutant-General Major Mills, 
rendered the most essential service by communicating my 
orders in every direction, and by their conduct and bravery 
exciting the troops to press for victory. 

The loss of the Americans in this action 
was thirty-three killed and one hundred 
wounded; that of the enemy was reported 
much greater, but the number is not given. It 
is said, however, the woods were strewn for 
a considerable distance with the dead bodies 
of the Indians and their white auxiliaries, the 
latter armed with British muskets and 
bayonets. 

INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE. 

Contrary to the articles of peace between 
Great Britain and the United States in 1783, 
the British erected and garrisoned Fort 
Miami, on the Maumee River, on the present 
site of South Toledo. This was done within 
the acknowledged boundaries and 
jurisdiction of the United States, and no 
solution of the motive for the act but a 
determination on the part of the British to 
aid the Indians in their wars to drive the 
whites south of the Ohio River. 



Wayne's troops had followed the retreating 
Indians under the guns of this fort, and 
expected to see them take refuge in it, but 
the gates were shut against them and the fort 
fired no gun. The day following the battle a 
spicy correspondence took place between 
Major Campbell, commander of the fort, and 
General Wayne, in which Major Campbell 
expressed his surprise that Wayne would 
deliberately insult his King and country by 
approaching so near the fort in a hostile 
attitude. Wayne replied, in substance, that he 
was no less surprised to find Campbell 
fortifying himself on American soil, and 
intimated that had the Indians taken refuge 
in the fort, or had a gun been fired from it, 
he could not have restrained his troops from 
an assault which would have carried it. In 
this sharp dispute both Wayne and Campbell 
seem to have been restrained from striking a 
blow which would have rekindled the war 
between Great Britain and the United States, 
and the question was referred to diplomacy 
between the two governments. 

At the time Captain Campbell, under 
Wayne, was endeavoring to turn the left 
flank of the enemy; three Indians, hemmed 
in by the cavalry and infantry, plunged into 
the river and endeavored to swim to the 
opposite side. Two negroes of the army on 
the opposite bank concealed themselves 
behind a log to intercept them. When within 
shooting distance one of them shot the 
foremost Indian through the head. The other 
two took hold of him to drag him to the 
shore, when the second negro fired and 
killed another. The remaining Indian, being 
now in shoal water, endeavored to tow the 
two dead bodies to the bank. In the 
meantime the first negro had reloaded, and 
firing upon the survivor, mortally wounded 
him. On approaching them, the negroes 
judged from their striking resemblance and 



84 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



devotion that they were brothers. After 
scalping them they let their bodies float 
down stream. 

Another circumstance shows with what 
obstinacy the conflict was waged by in- 
dividuals of both armies. A soldier who had 
become detached a short distance from the 
army, met a single Indian in the woods, 
when they attacked each other, the soldier 
with his bayonet, and the Indian with his 
tomahawk. Two days after they were found 
dead, the soldier with his bayonet in the 
body of the Indian-the Indian with his 
tomahawk in the head of the soldier. 

Several months after the battle of the 
Fallen Timbers a number of Pottawatomie 
Indians arrived at Fort Wayne, where they 
expressed a desire to see "The Wind" as they 
called Wayne. On being asked for an 
explanation of the name, they replied that at 
the battle of the 20th of August he was 
exactly like a hurricane, which drives and 
tears everything before it. 

General Wayne was a man of most ardent 
impulses, and in the heat of action apt to 
forget that he was a general and not a private 
soldier. When the attack on the Indians who 
were concealed behind the fallen timbers 
was commenced by ordering the regulars up, 
the late General Harrison, then being 
Lieutenant with the title of Major, 
addressing his superior, said: 

General Wayne, I am afraid you will go into the fight 
yourself and forget to give me the necessary field 
orders. Perhaps I may, replied Wayne, and if I do, 
recollect that the standing order for the day is, Charge 
the d — d rascals with the bayonet. 

As a further illustration of Wayne's im- 
petuosity in battle, which Harrison seemed 
to understand, the writer will give an inci- 
dent related to him by his father, who heard 
the circumstance from one who was in the 
battle. The narrative was briefly, that when 
General Wayne saw his regulars 



obey his order to charge with the bayonet 
and shoot afterwards, the General, seeing the 
promptness and effect with which his order 
was obeyed, became so excited that he was 
about to dash personally into the conflict and 
do duty as a common soldier; his attendants, 
seeing a strange fire in his countenance, and 
that he reined up his horse for a dash, two 
men seized his reins near the bridle bits, and 
held the bounding, foaming horse, while 
Wayne, grinding his teeth and driving his 
spurs into the horse's flanks, frothing at the 
mouth with rage, hissed from between his 
grinding teeth, "Let me go, d — n them; let 
me go! Give it to them, boys," etc., etc. This 
incident gave him the appellation of "Mad" 
Anthony, a name which ever after struck 
terror to the Indians, collectively and in- 
dividually. 

After the battle, an Indian being asked if 
he did not think General Wayne a good 
general and great man, replied, "He no man, 
he Devil." No doubt the Indians, after the 
battle of the Fallen Timbers, entertained a 
superstitious dread of "Mad" Anthony, 
which exercised a powerful influence over 
them in making treaties of peace and grants 
of land afterwards. 

We quote further from General Wayne's 
report of the battle. He says: 

We remained three days and nights on the banks of the 
Maumee, in front of the field of battle, during which time 
all the houses and cornfields were consumed and 
destroyed for a considerable distance, both below and 
above Fort Miami, as well as within pistol shot of the 
garrison, who were compelled to remain tacit spectators to 
this general devastation and conflagration, among which 
were the houses, stores, and property of Colonel McKee, 
the British Indian agent, and principal stimulator of the 
war now (then) existing between the United States and the 
savages. The army returned to this place (Fort Defiance) 
on the 27th of August, by easy marches, laying waste the 
villages and cornfields for about fifty miles on each side 
of the Maumee. There remains (he says) yet a great 
number of villages and a great quantity of corn to be 
consumed or destroyed, upon Auglaize and Maumee, 
above this place, which will be effected in a few days. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



85 



General Wayne, after strengthening his 
works at Fort Defiance, on the 14th of 
September established Fort Wayne, now in 
Indiana, of which, on the 22d of October, 
1794, he placed in charge Colonel 
Hamtramck, who so distinguished himself in 
the battle of the Fallen Timbers. Meantime, 
the troops suffered greatly from sickness and 
want of provisions, such as flour, salt, and 
whiskey. Whiskey sold at eight dollars a 
gallon, and salt was held at six dollars a pint. 
THE LEGION RETURNS TO GREENVILLE. 

The legion began to march back to 
Greenville on the 28th of October, 1794, the 
volunteers, who had become dissatisfied and 
troublesome, having been started for that 
place on the 12th of that month for 
dismissal. 

The Indians were terribly defeated and 
disorganized by the battle of Fallen Timbers. 
Their crops and provisions for the coming 
winter were destroyed, and starvation was 
before them and they would have promptly 
made sincere overtures for a treaty of peace 
but for British influence, which was at once 
brought, to bear against such a movement. 

BRITISH EFFORTS' TO PREVENT A 
TREATY. 

Governor Simcoe, of Canada, Colonel 
McKee and Captain Brant, met at Fort 
Miami September 30 of that year, and at 
once began plotting to prevent a treaty of 
peace. They invited the hostile chiefs Blue 
Jacket, Backongelies, the Little Turtle, 
Captain Johnny, and other chiefs of the 
Delawares, Miamis, Shawnees, Tawas, and 
Pottawatomies, to meet at the mouth of 
Detroit River about the first of October, 
1794, and together they set off for that place, 
about eighteen miles below Detroit. 

It appears that about the 10th of October 
the Indians did meet the British at Big Rock, 
and were advised that their 



griefs would be laid before the King of 
England, and, in connection with this, as 
General Wayne learned from the friendly 
Wyandots, Governor Simcoe insisted that the 
Indians should not listen to any terms of 
peace from the Americans, but to propose a 
truce or suspension of hostilities until 
spring; that a grand council would then be 
held of all the warriors and tribes of Indians 
for the purpose of compelling the Americans 
to cross the Ohio. He also advised every 
nation to sign a deed or conveyance of all 
their lands on the west side of the Ohio 
River to the King of Great Britain, in trust 
for the Indians, so as to give the British a 
pretext or color for assisting them in case the 
Americans refused to abandon all their posts 
and possessions on the west side of that 
river, and which the Indians should 
immediately warn them to do after they, the 
Indians, had assembled in force in the 
spring, and then call upon the British to 
guarantee the lands thus ceded in trust, and 
to make a general attack upon the frontiers at 
the same time; that the British would be 
prepared to attack the Americans also in 
every quarter, and would compel them to 
cross the Ohio and give up the lands to the 
Indians. 

The wily Captain Brant also told the 
Indians to keep a good heart and, be strong 
to do as their father (Simcoe) had advised 
them, and he would return home with his 
warriors and come again early in the spring 
with an additional number so as to have the 
whole summer before them to fight, kill, and 
pursue the Americans, who could not stand 
against such numbers as would be brought 
against them; that he had been always 
successful and would ensure them victory. 
But he, would not attack the Americans at 
this time, as it would only put them upon 
their guard and bring them upon the Indians 
in this quarter during the winter; therefore 



86 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



he advised them to amuse the Americans 
with a prospect of peace until they could 
collect in force, and fall upon them early in 
the spring and when least expected. That, 
agreeably to this plan, the hostile tribes 
would frequently send flags with 
propositions of peace during the winter to 
put the Americans off their guard. 

The British then made large presents to 
the Indians, and continued from that time to 
furnish them with provisions from Colonel 
McKee's new stores at the mouth of the 
Miami of Lake Erie (Maumee River), where 
all the Indians whose towns and property 
had been destroyed by Wayne's army were 
located in tents and huts, and where those 
who promised to sign away their lands and 
in all respects comply with the British 
proposition, were kept. 

WAYNE COUNTERACTS THE BRITISH 
INFLUENCE. 

Several causes operated to counteract the 
British influence and finally to prevent the 
execution of their plans. First, the fort at 
Maumee had been built and garrisoned by 
the British while at peace with the United 
States, for the express purpose of aiding and 
protecting the Indians in their war against 
the Americans. The Indians, in good faith, 
believed that if they should be compelled to 
retreat before Wayne's army they would find 
shelter, and protection in Fort Miami; but 
when they did retreat and were pursued 
under the guns of the fort, they found the 
gates shut and not a gun fired for their 
protection. A large part of the Indians who 
saw this treacherous, act of Major Campbell, 
the British commander, lost faith in all 
British promises of protection and 
assistance, and would not sincerely listen to 
subsequent overtures. Thus the influence of 
the British over the Indians was broken by 
their own perfidy. If Major Campbell 



had fired a gun at Wayne's forces the act would 
have been cause for another war between the 
United States and Great Britain; or if he had 
opened his fort to protect the enemies of the 
United States, the same result might have 
followed. The responsibility for such an act 
was too grave to be hastily incurred, and beside 
this, Wayne was at his gates with a victorious 
army, which if once assailed by the British was 
able to, and would have taken good care that 
that fort and those within would not again 
make aggressive war on the United States. 
These powerful reasons compelled him to an 
act of treachery to the Indians which finally 
brought an end to the war. 

Another cause was, that while the Indians 
were suffering under the sore distress which 
before the fight Wayne plead with them to 
avoid, by meeting and preparing for peace, he 
again made and kept before them the same 
kind offer of peace and protection. 

Another, and perhaps the most potent of all 
considerations which operated to destroy 
British influence over the Indians at this time, 
was a superstitious fear of "Mad" Anthony. 
They had found his cunning superior to their 
own; they realized that he thoroughly 
understood their character and mode of 
warfare, that he could not be baffled or 
deceived by any of their devices; they 
witnessed his personal bravery and his awful 
fierceness and passion in battle; they were 
starving and dying under the consequences of 
his wrath, and their superstitious minds clothed 
him in many instances with supernatural 
powers. 

The circumstances above mentioned so 
operated on the minds of the Indians that on 
the 28th and 29th days of December, 1794, 
proffers of peace were made by the chiefs of 
several tribes. Messages were sent to Colonel 
Hamtramck at Fort Wayne, from the 
Chippewas, Ottawas, Sacs, Eel Rivers, 
Kickapoos, Kaskaskias, Pottawatomies, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



87 



and Miamis. The result of these overtures 
was a meeting of the chiefs and sachems of 
the above named tribes, and three other 
tribes, namely: the Delawares, Wyandots, 
and Shawnees, with General Wayne at 
Greenville, en the 24th of January, 1795. At 
this meeting preliminary articles for a 
treaty of peace were entered into. The basis 
of the intended treaty was that hostilities 
should cease and prisoners be exchanged. 

TREATY OF GREENVILLE. 

About the 16th of June, 1795, the tribes 
began to gather at Greenville to make a 
complete treaty of peace. They had become 
convinced that they could not successfully 
resist the American arms, and General 
Wayne dictated the terms of the treaty, 
although there was much debate, and at 
times the Indians manifested much angry 
excitement while talking of their wrongs. 
But while General Wayne knew he had the 
tribes in his power, and could compel them 
to almost any terms, he was eminently just 
and humane in his demands. The 
conference lasted until the 3rd day of 
August, when the treaty was engrossed and 
signed. 

By this treaty the Indians ceded to the 
United States small parcels of land, evi- 
dently wisely selected by Wayne for military 
posts, covering most of the advantageous 
points for such purpose in various parts of 
the Northwestern Territory, and stretching 
with intervals from Lake Huron eastward to 
Lower Sandusky (now Fremont). "Two 
miles square at the lower rapids of the 
Sandusky River," is the language of the 
treaty as to this parcel of land. Excepting 
the Maumee and Western Reserve road 
land, this two miles square was the first 
land within the present limits of Sandusky 
county ceded by the Indians to the United 
States. The tract was afterwards surveyed 
by the United States and the 



lines of that survey are now the boundary 
lines of the city of Fremont. 

In this treaty the United States engaged to 
protect the Indians against the aggressions 
of other nations, and also in the enjoyment 
of their other lands. The closing articles are 
as follows: 

ARTICLE 6. The Indians or United States may 
remove and punish intruders on Indian lands. 

ARTICLE 7. Indians may hunt within ceded lands. 

ARTICLE 8. Trade shall be opened in substance, as 
by the provisions of the treaty of Fort Harmar. 

ARTICLE 9. All injuries shall he referred to law, not 
privately avenged, and all hostile plans known to either 
shall be revealed to the other party. 

ARTICLE 10. All previous treaties are annulled. 

TITLE TO OTHER LANDS; TREATY OF 
MAUMEE. 

The title to the other lands in the 
Northwest, including Sandusky county, had 
first been claimed by France on the ground 
of discovery by the pioneer Jesuits sent by 
the church of that Nation. But in the war 
between England and France about the 
possessions, preceding the Revolutionary 
War, England had obtained all the title 
France had. The United States, by the treaty 
of Paris in 1783, after the Revolution, had 
obtained the British title to all the vast 
Northwestern Territories. But the red men 
were in possession, and each country 
claimed subject to the Indian title, and each 
in succession undertook to protect the 
Indians in the enjoyment of these great 
hunting grounds. The United States held 
them, therefore, subject to the same 
encumbrance. Wayne's treaty of Greenville, 
August 3, 1795, recognized the rights of the 
Indians as the rightful owners of the soil. 
Therefore it was only by treaty or purchase 
that the United States could honorably 
obtain title to the vast domain. To effect 
this, many treaties and purchases have been 
made at different times and places. To 
mention all of these would be foreign to the 
object of this 



88 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



work. But in giving a history of our land 
titles in Sandusky county, which shall be 
satisfactory to the conscience of the present 
enlightened occupants of the land, it seems 
proper here to state the following further 
facts in the chain of title. About seventeen 
years after the treaty of Greenville above 
mentioned, the war commonly called the 
War of 1812, between the United States and 
Great Britain was declared. 

In this struggle for "free trade and sailors' 
rights," as Henry Clay denominated it in his 
great speech, the British hired and enlisted 
all the Indian tribes of the Northwest they 
could induce to join them. Under the lead of 
Tecumseh and the Prophet, his brother, a 
powerful force of Indians joined the British 
in that war, and made it, on the frontier 
settlements, most bloody and cruel. At the 
battle of Fort Stephenson, August 2, 1813, 
there were, according to history, five 
hundred British and eight hundred Indians. 
The Indians formed a large part of the forces 
encountered at Fort Meigs, at Tippecanoe, 
and at the battle of the Thames, in Canada, 
where Tecumseh fell and General Harrison 
obtained a decisive victory, October 5, 1813. 
These two victories, with Perry's victory on 
Lake Erie, September 10, 1813, virtually 
settled the War of 1812, which was closed 
by General Jackson's victory at New 
Orleans, January 8, 1815, although virtually 
settled before the last named battle. After the 
close of the War of 1812, which brought a 
cessation of Indian hostilities, the white 
settlers began to push for new homes in the 
West, and it was difficult to keep the peace 
between the white pioneers and the Indians, 
as the former often encroached upon the 
lands of the latter. The necessity for 
extinguishing the title of the Indians to 
Western lands became daily more urgent and 
apparent to the United States Government. 



To accomplish this a commission was 
appointed on behalf of the United States, 
consisting of Lewis Cass and Duncan 
McArthur, who met the chiefs and sachems of 
the tribes occupying the Northwestern 
Territory, at Maumee, and, after due 
deliberation, a treaty was there signed on the 
29th day of September, 1817. By the 
agreement there made the United States 
purchased from the Indians all Northwestern 
Ohio, except a few parcels reserved by some of 
the tribes. Among these reservations was one 
of the Seneca tribe, of forty thousand acres, 
located east of the Sandusky River, and on the 
south part of Sandusky and north part of 
Seneca counties, as since surveyed and named. 

The Senecas sold this reservation and 
moved West about the year 1832. This 
reservation was soon after surveyed and sold 
by the United States, and is now a wealthy 
portion of the counties in which the lands were 
situated. 

The other lands were surveyed and put in 
market about 1820, and all have since been 
sold to individuals, who directly or indirectly 
derive their titles from the United States, with 
the exception of two parcels. 

THE WHITTAKER AND THE WILLIAMS RES- 
ERVATIONS. 

These two reservations were located nearly 
three miles north of Fremont, the Whittaker on 
the west and the Williams on the east side of 
and both bounded by the Sandusky River. The 
persons who held these reserves in fee simple 
were not to sell the land unless consent of the 
President of the United States should be first 
obtained. 

The Whittaker Reserve, originally con- 
taining twelve hundred and eighty acres, long 
since passed to purchasers, and is now owned 
by several persons in distinct and separate 
parcels. 

The Williams Reserve, of one hundred 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



89 



and sixty acres, is still occupied by de- 
scendants of the original owner. 

There is an interesting narrative con- 
nected with the last two reservations, which 
will be found in a sketch of the Whittaker 
family in another part of this history. 

Thus we have traced the general title to 
the lands in Sandusky county from the 
aborigines to the United States, and from the 
United States the present owners have 
derived their title, excepting the Williams 
Reserve, and Maumee and Western Reserve 
Road, and the lands given for its 
construction, which latter will form the 
subject of another chapter. 
SURVEYS. 

The first surveying in this then wilderness 
was done by William Ewing, Deputy 
Surveyor, in 1807, who surveyed the reser- 
vation, or rather grant, by the Indians at 
Greenville to the United States. The two 
miles Square was then by him divided into 
sections, as other lands were surveyed, but 
afterwards, in 1816, the reservation was 
divided into tracts, running from the river 
each way to the line of the two-miles square: 
This method of subdivision did not, 
however, include , the whole square. The 
northeast part was then surveyed into in-lots 
and out-lots for city purposes, and as such 
put on sale by the United States. This survey 
was called the town of Croghansville, 
(pronounced Crawnsville,) and now forms a 
part of the city of Fremont. 

THE OTHER GOVERNMENT LANDS 

in the county were all surveyed in 1820, as 
appears by the recorded surveys and plats, as 
follows: 

The lands composing the townships of 
Ballville, Sandusky, Rice, Riley, and Green 
Creek by Sylvanus Bourne; York and 
Townsend townships by P. F. Kellogg; 
Woodville by Charles Roberts; 



Washington and Jackson by James Worth- 
ington, and Madison and Scott townships by 
J. Glasgow. 

The reservation of the Seneca Indians forty 
thousand acres was surveyed into sections by 
C. W. Christmas, in 1832. All these 
surveyors were employed by the United 
States, and are official surveys. The lands, 
excepting villages and the two miles square 
at the lower rapids of the Sandusky River, 
were surveyed by ranges; townships of six 
miles square and sections of one mile square 
divided into quarters. Trees were used to 
designate the corners of these surveys, and 
the kind of timber, size of tree, and the 
distance and course 'of them from the corner, 
accurately measured and recorded with the 
plat. Perhaps no better plan for the 
convenient description of land has ever been 
devised. Each township contained thirty-six 
sections, and each section contained six hun- 
dred and forty acres, which can readily be 
subdivided into any smaller quantities. 
Sections on lakes and rivers were sometimes 
not complete; such are denominated 
fractional sections. 

SCHOOL LANDS. 

Let the fact be ever remembered with 
gratitude, that the wise men of the Republic 
foresaw that our form of government rested 
on the intelligence of the people. The desire 
to advance the intelligence of the common 
people, and thereby better fit them for the 
maintenance of liberty by perpetuation of a 
republican form of government, induced our 
statesmen of an early day to promote the 
education of the people. To this end, in 
surveying this part of the State they set apart 
every sixteenth section of land for the support 
of common schools. These school lands were 
entrusted to the State for the purpose of ed- 
ucation. The State in an early day provided by 
law for the leasing of these lands 



90 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



at an interest of six per cent, on the 
appraisment value, the leases running 
ninety-nine years, renewable forever, with a 
provision for a reappraisment every thirty- 
three years. The subdivision and leasing of 
these school lands (section sixteen in each 
surveyed township of thirty-six sections) 
was given by the State to the county 
commissioners of counties respectively in 
which the lands were situated. It is now a 
matter of interest, and will be still more 
interesting in the future, to place in this 
history a brief notice of the renting and final 
disposition of these school lands. Such a 
record will serve to show the increase in the 
value of lands in the county, and thus furnish 
evidence of the general advancement in 
wealth since the early settlements. 

EARLY LEASING OF SCHOOL LANDS, PRICES, 

ETC. 

In the book containing a record of the 
leasing of school lands in the county, on the 
first page, appears the following entry: 

SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE, 

COLUMBUS, OHIO, March 1, 1821. 

I certify that Jaques Hulburd, esq., was, on the 3d 
day of February last, duly appointed by a resolution of 
the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, Auditor of 
the county of Sandusky, to continue in office according 
to law. 

JEREMIAH MCLANE, 

Secretary of State. 

Under this authority. Auditor Hulburd 
proceeded in the performance of his duties. 

On the next leaf of the same book appears 
the record of a lease of great length, made 
and concluded on the 14th day of April, 
1821, between Jaques Hulburd, Auditor of 
Sandusky county, Ohio, and his successors 
in office, of the first part, and Joel Chaffin, 
of the same place, of ' the second part, etc. 

This lease demised and let to the said 
Chaffin fifty-three acres of section sixteen in 
township No. 1, north of range fif- 



teen east, for the term of ninety-nine years- 
renewable forever, and subject to be 
reappraised every thirty-three years there, 
after, and a stipulation to pay as rent six per 
cent, annually on the amount of such 
reappraisement. The said Chaffin agreed to 
pay as rent for the land yearly and every 
year to the treasurer of the county and his 
successors in office "the sum of four 
dollars." This land, if there is no mistake in 
the description, was located about twenty 
miles south of Fremont, and is now in 
Seneca county, which was organized April 1, 
1824. 

A tract of one hundred and sixty acres, 
being the southeast quarter of section sixteen 
in township four, range seventeen, now York 
township, was in like manner leased by 
Jaques Hulburd as Auditor, to Jacob Dagget, 
for the yearly rent of seven dollars and 
twenty cents for the whole tract. This lease 
bears date July 14, 1821, and the land is in 
one of the richest townships in Sandusky 
county, and is worth now A. D. 1881 not less 
than one hundred dollars per acre, and each 
acre of the one hundred and sixty would rent 
for almost as much as the whole one hundred 
and sixty acres rented for then. 

On the 21st day of July, 1821, a like lease 
was made by Auditor Hulburd to Morris A. 
Newman, for a part of section sixteen, in 
Riley township, being a parcel of prairie 
land and a woodlot of twenty acres, together 
containing one hundred and ten acres, for the 
annual rent of six dollars and eighteen and 
three-fourth cents for the whole tract. 

AN OUT -LOT IN CROGHANSVILLE LEASED. 

When the reservation of two miles square 
at the lower rapids of the Sandusky River 
was last surveyed by authority of the United 
States, as mentioned in a former chapter, the 
town of Croghansville was laid out and 
surveyed into in-lots and 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



91 



out-lots. Certain of these lots were set apart 
as school lands. Among, them were a 
number of in-lots and out-lots. Out-lot No. 
11, containing four acres, was one of them. 
On the 21st day of July, 1821, Auditor 
Hulburd leased this out-lot, eleven, to 
Josiah Rumery, by a lease similar to those 
above mentioned, for ninety-nine years, for 
the yearly rent of one dollar and ninety-two 
cents. 

This lot eleven, by the renumbering of 
lots in Fremont, is now designated as lot 
No. 52 on the map of the city, and con- 
stitutes a part of the estate of the late James 
Park, and is known as the Park tannery 
property; and the lot, exclusive of 
improvements, is worth at least two 
thousand dollars, the simple interest on 
which sum would under the lease make one 
hundred and twenty dollars rental value of 
the lot at this time, against one dollar and 
ninety-two cents in 1821, and for thirty- 
three years thereafter. 

We give the above facts about the leasing 
of the school lands in the county, to set 
before our readers the rental value of lands 
in 1821. 

Although Congress had set apart and 
reserved these lands for the purpose of 
supporting common schools, the General 
Government conferred the trust of 
managing and disposing of them on the 
State. 

LEGISLATION ABOUT SCHOOL LANDS AND 
THE SALES OF THEM. 

After the law providing for leasing the 
school lands was passed, various other laws 
were enacted, and, amongst other things, it 
was provided that when the lands were 
appraised those not leased might be sold by 
the auditors of the respective counties at 
not less than the appraised value, and that 
the lessees had the option to either pay six 
per cent, on the valuation, or pay the 
appraised value in thirteen annual 
installments with annual interest, and 
receive an absolute title from the State on 



final payment on or before the expiration of 
the thirteen years. 

As the different townships came to be 
inhabited by people who appreciated the 
benefits of education, they desired the aid 
of the fund to be derived from these lands 
to support their respective schools. The 
law, be it remembered, provided that the 
fund arising from the sale of sections 
sixteen should be applicable only to the 
support of schools in that particular 
surveyed township of thirty-six sections, or 
the fractional township in which it chanced 
to be located. 

SALES OF SCHOOL LAND PRICES AND 
DATES OF SALES. 

We do not propose to give a full and 
detailed account of all the sales of school 
lands in the county, but sufficient speci- 
mens to enable the reader to judge fairly of 
the whole, may prove interesting and 
perhaps valuable information. 

SALE OF BALLVILLE, SECTION SIXTEEN. 

The first sale of section sixteen was 
made in 1831, and disposed in fee simple of 
part of section sixteen in surveyed township 
No. 4, range 15, in what is now Ballville 
township. 

Lot fifty of that section, containing one 
hundred and seven acres, was sold to Isaac 
Prior, June 6, 1831, for one hundred and 
seven dollars. 

Lot fifty-two, containing one hundred 
and one acres, to Joel Strawn, for one 
hundred and twenty-six dollars, September 
4, 1833. 

Lot fifty-one, containing one hundred 
and thirty acres, to R. Dickinson and Sardis 
Birchard, for one hundred and sixty-three 
dollars, October 3, 1833. 

SANDUSKY. 

Section sixteen, township five, range 
fifteen, Sandusky township, was sold in 
1846 for five dollars per acre, excepting 



92 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



one lot of eighty acres which sold for six 
dollars. 

TOWNSEND. 

The school land, section sixteen, township 
four, range seventeen, Townsend township, 
was sold, chiefly in 1847, for five dollars per 
acre. One lot was sold to Nelson Taylor in 
January, 1849. The lot contained eighty acres, 
and was sold for three dollars and fifty cents 
per acre. 

MADISON. 

Section sixteen, township five, range 
thirteen, Madison township, was sold, chiefly 
in 1847, for prices ranging from five dollars 
and thirty-seven cents to eight dollars and 
twenty-five cents per acre. 

SCOTT. 

The section sixteen in township four, range 
thirteen, Scott township, was sold in 1854 for 
prices per lot ranging from five dollars and fifty 
cents to seven dollars and forty-five cents per 
acre. 

RILEY. 

The section sixteen in township five, range 
sixteen, was sold in May, 1,862, at prices per lot 
ranging from three to twelve dollars per acre. 
The average price would be near ten dollars. 
This section had all been under the ninety-nine 
year leases from 1821, before it was sold to the 
lessees for the appraised value. 

GREEN CREEK. 

Section sixteen, township four, range sixteen 
was sold in 1850 at prices ranging from ten 
dollars and fifty cents to five dollars per acre- 
averaging about eight dollars for the section. 

YORK. 

Section sixteen, township four, range 
seventeen, was sold in June, 1849, for an 
average of eight dollars per acre, and had been 
in part previously under the ninety-nine years 
lease. 



WOODVILLE. 

Section sixteen, township six, range 
thirteen, was sold in 1856 by lots, the prices 
ranging from five dollars to seven dollars 
and fifty cents per acre. 

JACKSON. 

Section sixteen in township four, range 
fourteen, Jackson township, was' sold in 
September, 1837, for an average price of two 
dollars and sixty cents per acre. 

THE SALE OF SCHOOL LOTS IN C R G H AN S V ILLE 

took place in 1850, and produced a fund 
amounting to eleven hundred and twenty-six 
dollars and seventy-five cents. 

HOW PROCEEDS OF SALES ARE DISPOSED OF. 

The proceeds of all these sales are paid 
into the State Treasury and constitute an 
irreducible debt or fund on which the State 
pays six per cent, interest annually to the 
county; the interest is then credited to the 
county school fund, and by the county 
auditor the amount arising from each section 
sixteen sold is credited to the township 
school fund of each surveyed township, and 
then distributed to the sub-school districts 
according to the respective enumerations of 
the children entitled to the privileges of the 
common schools residing therein. 

The total amount of the proceeds arising 
from the sale of school lands, now in the 
State Treasury to the credit of Sandusky 
county, is thirty-three thousand two hundred 
and fifteen dollars and fifty cents, producing 
annually one thousand nine hundred and 
ninety-two dollars, and eighty-seven cents to 
be applied to the support of schools and 
distributed as above mentioned. 

There is yet to be paid over to the State 
the further sum of three hundred and 
seventy-five dollars and twenty-two cents, 
being amounts due from purchasers 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



93 



who are delinquent in payment for their 
lands. When this delinquency shall be paid 
over to the State, as doubtless it soon will 
be, the total amount on which the county 
can draw interest will be thirty-three 
thousand five hundred and eighty-nine 
dollars and twenty-two cents. The annual 
interest then to be drawn from the State for 
the support of schools, as long as the State 
may exist, will be two thousand and fifteen 
dollars and thirty-eight cents. This fund, 
under the law, is applied to the payment of 
teachers only, and as the law stands cannot 
be applied to any other purpose. The cost of 
building schoolhouses and all expenses of 
public or common schools, excepting wages 
of teachers, are paid out of money raised by 
taxation on the localities respectively. A 
further mention of this subject will fall 
properly under the chapter on schools, and 
may be mentioned there. 

If these school lands had remained 
undisposed of until the present time, and 
were sold at present prices they would have 
brought not less than an average price of 
twenty dollars per acre, or an aggregate of 
seventy thousand four hundred dollars, 
yielding annually, at six per cent., the sum 
of four thousand two hundred and four 
dollars. 

Whether the early selling of these lands 
was wise or unwise is a question useless to 
discuss at this time, but if any 



one should feel inclined to charge impru- 
dence on the pioneers and early settlers in 
the disposition of the land, there are some 
considerations in mitigation of any blame 
to be charged, if indeed there be not a 
complete justification. 

The early settlers were poor; they desired 
to have their children educated, and needed 
the help which 'the interest on these sales 
afforded, in the support of schools. They 
were here making the roads, clearing away 
the forests, and undergoing many hardships 
not experienced by the present inhabitants. 
These early inhabitants might be compared 
to a young man in possession of a little sum 
of money, which, if invested at good inter- 
est, would make him an ample fortune in 
old age, but he has no other means, and is 
hungry; bread he must have even if it costs 
all he has, and though he give all and save 
himself, his money is well spent, even if his 
anticipation as to a future fortune must be 
all dissipated. These pioneers did well to 
begin as they did, to start the cause of 
education at an early day, though they 
sacrificed prospective pecuniary gain in 
doing so. Another fact should be 
considered, which is, that with the 
obligation on the part of the State to pay 
annual interest at six per cent, there is a 
time coming when, if summed up, the 
payments will overtake and far surpass any 
value the land can ever attain. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
COUNTY ORGANIZATION. 

The Name — The County Organized — First Court-House — How Built. 



THE NAME. 

SANDUSKY is derived from the lan- 
guage of the Wyandot tribe of Indians, 
who for a long time possessed the country 
along the Sandusky River to its source, and 
along Tymochtee Creek, one of its principal 
tributaries. The Wyandot pronunciation of 
the word was Saundustee; as spoken by the 
English interpreters, it was compressed and 
pronounced Sandusky, and thus the word 
was changed from a word of four syllables 
to one of three. 

The signification of the word has been a 
matter of some question and dispute. It is, 
according to the best authority: "water 
within water pools." In the discussions about 
the name, it seems to have been claimed that 
it was derived from "Sowdousky, " the name 
of an early Indian trader among the 
Wyandots. But the correctness of this claim 
is put in great doubt, if not entirely 
overcome, by the explanation of William 
Walker, the head chief of the Wyandots, and 
a man of learning and great intelligence, and 
fully competent to give a correct definition 
of the word in both languages. In 1835 Mr. 
Walker was at Columbus, Ohio, and in that 
year had a conversation with Mr. John H. 
James on the precise question. In this 
conversation Mr. James asked Mr. Walker 
the meaning of the, word Sandusky. Mr. 
Walker re- 



plied that it meant "at the cold water, and should 
be sounded Sandoos-tee; that it carried with it 
the force of a preposition." The Upper 
Coldwater (Upper Sandusky) and Lower 
Coldwater (Lower Sandusky) then were 
descriptive Indian names, given long before the 
presence of the trader Sowdousky. 
The word, then, taking these statements 
together, seems to mean a river or 
watercourse, where cold water stands in 
pools. The name having this peculiar 
signification, in early times was used to 
designate the whole country along the 
Sandusky River and Bay. Hence, in order to 
give a more specific designation to different 
localities along the river and bay, we had in 
the earlier days of the white settlements of 
the region, Sandusky, now Sandusky City on 
the bay; Lower Sandusky at the lower rapids 
of the Sandusky River, now Fremont; Upper 
Sandusky, Little Sandusky and Big 
Sandusky, located nearer the sources of the 
river, and on different branches of it. The 
county derives its name from the Sandusky 
River, which runs through it nearly from 
north to south, but inclining to the east as It 
approaches the Sandusky Bay, into which it 
empties its waters. 

ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY. 

The county was for a number of years 
within the boundaries of Cuyahoga county, 



94 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



95 



which for some time extended over nearly all 
the north part of the State, and Cleveland 
was the seat of justice. Afterwards Huron 
county was organized, and Norwalk was for 
a time the seat of justice for all the territory 
west of it. The sale of the lands in the 
reservation of two miles square at the lower 
rapids of the Sandusky River, which took 
place in 1817, induced emigrants to settle at 
the place, and soon sufficient settlements 
were made to require a county organization. 
Accordingly, the county was formed by an 
act of the General Assembly, dated April 1, 
1820, and then included in its boundaries-not 
only the present county of Sandusky, but 
also the territory which now forms the 
counties of Seneca and Ottawa. 

At this time (1820) a number of men 
associated for the purpose, called the 
Kentucky Company, had purchased that 
portion of the Reserve, or nearly all of it, 
west of the river, and had laid out a large 
part into city lots. The plat denominates this 
survey as "the town of Sandusky." The 
United States had before laid out the land 
upon the hill east of the river into city lots, 
and called it Croghansville, in honor of 
Colonel George Croghan, the hero of Fort 
Stephenson. 

In the county auditor's office of this 
county is an old, rather small record book, 
faded and worn but quaint and interesting in 
appearance as well as in the matter it 
contains. In a few years it may be lost 
amongst the rubbish of the office, or con- 
sumed by fire, and all it contains pass be- 
yond the historian's reach, and all the facts 
recorded in it be forgotten. This old record is 
interesting, because it contains the names of 
men who were pioneers indeed, and who 
were active in organizing the county; it also 
gives some idea of the poverty of the early 
settlers, and their method of transacting 
public business, and at the same time is so 
pertinent to the 



subject of this chapter that we incorporate in 
this collection the following extracts from it. 
The title of the book is in large, coarse 
handwriting, entirely covering the first page, 
and reads as follows: 

COMMISSIONERS' BOOK. 

The following documents of the Commissioners 
Record are transcribed from the organization of 
Sandusky county up to January the 5th, in the year 1822, 
by Josiah Rumery„auditor of Sandusky county by order 
of the commissioners. 

Test by JOSIAH RUMERY, Auditor. 

Such is the title of this record, from the 
first two pages of which we take the fol- 
lowing entries: 

At the first meeting of the Commissioners, held at the 
house of Morris A. Newman, in the town of 
Croghansville, on Saturday, the 8th day of April, one 
thousand eight hundred and twenty. 

No. 1. — Ordered that Jesse W. Newman be appointed 
Clerk of the Commissioners. 

No. 2. — Ordered, that Nicholas Whiringer be ap- 
pointed Treasurer of Sandusky County. 

No. 3. — Ordered, that there be two blank books 
purchased for the use of the County. 

No. 4. — Ordered that Charles B. Fitch be appointed 
collector for Sandusky County for the year 1820. 

No. 5. — Ordered that this meeting be and is hereby 
adjourned until Monday, the 10th instant, at four o'clock 
P. M., on said day, at the house of Israel Harrington, in 
Sandusky, 

No. 6. — Met in pursuant to adjournment at the house 
of Israel Harrington, on Monday, the tenth day of April, 
1820, when Jesse W. Newman was qualified and took 
the oath required by law, as Clerk of the 
Commissioners. 

No. 7. — Be it remembered that this day personally 
came Jaques Hulburd, County Clerk pro-tem, Willis 
Brown, Sheriff, Nicholas Whitinger Treasurer for the 
County of Sandusky, and severally gave bonds 
conditioned for the faithful discharge of their several 
duties as required by law. 

No. 8. — Ordered that this meeting be and is hereby 
adjourned until the 25th day of April, 1820, at 1 O'clock 
P. M., at the house of Morris A. Newman, in the town of 
Croghansville. 

No. 9. — Commissioners met in pursuance to ad- 
journment at the house of Morris A. Newman, on 
Tuesday, the 25th of April, in the year 182o, in the town 
of Broghansville. 

No. 10. — Ordered that Joseph Chafey be paid eleven 
dollars for Blank Books to be paid out of the county 
treasury. 



96 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



No. 1 1. — Organization of Thompson Township — 
Ordered that a township be detached from the township 
of Croghansville by the name of Thompson; boundaries 
as follows: Beginning at the northeast corner of the 
Seneca Reservation, thence north from the Cinica 
Reservation to the present trailed road from 
Croghansville to Strong's settlement till it shall intersect 
the FireLands, thence South with said line to the Base 
Line, thence west along said line till a line due north 
will strike the place of beginning. 

Order to elect officers. — The qualified electors of the 
township of Thompson are ordered to meet on Saturday, 
the 6th of May next, at the house of Joseph Parmeter, for 
the purpose of electing their township officers, at 10 
O'clock A.M. on said day, and then and there proceed to 
elect said officers as the law directs. 

The foregoing extracts are a complete 
transcript with figures, capital letters, and 
spelling found on the first two pages of the 
old record. 

The county commissioners at the time, 
April 8, 1820, were Moses Nichols, 
Jeremiah Everett, and Morris A. Newman. 
They met, it seems, at different places, 
sometimes in Croghanville, on the east 
side, and at other times at Sandusky, on the 
west side of the river. 

In 1824 the statutes of the State required 
merchants and tavern-keepers to pay a 
license, and this old record shows the 
revenue of the county from these sources to 
have been as follows: 

A list of treasurer's receipts from tavern and store 
licenses and permits since March 1, 1882, in my office 
to wit: 

To George Reynolds, permit to keep tavern $1.70 

To Calvin Leezen, tavern license 10.00 

To M. A. Newman, tavern license 5.00 

To James McCollister, tavern license 10.00 

To Samuel Baker, permit to keep tavern 1.50 

To Laurence Gynal, permit to keep tavern 4.00 

To Jacob Millions, permit to keep tavern 1.00 

Jacob Millions, permit to keep tavern 4.00 

To J. S. & G. G. Olmstead, store license 15.00 

To Richard Sears, store license 15.00 

To Abram Courtright, tavern license 5.00 

To Samuel Cochran, tavern license 5.00 

To Bartholomew Rossoms, tavern license 5.00 

To Israel Harrington, tavern license 10.00 

To Nicholas Whitinger, tavern license 10.00 

To Speeks, permit to vend merchandise 1.00 

Full amount $103.20 



All which is respectfully submitted March 4, 1823, 

B.F.DRAKE, 
Clerk C. P. 

The exhibit of receipts from March 5, 
1822, to June, 1823, on this record is as 
follows: 

Received for store, tavern and ferry licenses $152.59 

from county collection of taxes 166.10 

from fines of fishermen and fighting 

men 11.70 

$330.39 

The record of expenditures for the year 
1823 shows the following items: 

Seth Cochran, for wolf scalps $34.00 

Henry Cochran, for wolf scalps 12.00 

J. Spanknoble, for wolf scalps 3.00 

S. Baker, for wolf scalps 15.00 

Caleb Rice, for wolf scalps 4.00 

D. Cochran, for wolf scalps 6.00 

W. White, for wolf scalps 3.00 

S. Root, for wolf scalps 3.00 

T. Wood, for wolf scalps 3.00 

J. Parrish, for wolf scalps 3.00 

J. Guinale, for wolf scalps 3.00 

A. Switzer, for wolf scalps 6.00 

A. Courtright, for wolf scalps 12.00 

Total $107.00 

In 1824 horses and cattle over three years 
old were listed and taxed by the head. Seneca 
county had then been organized, but what is 
now Ottawa county was still a part of 
Sandusky. 

The record above mentioned gives the number 
of horses and cattle over three years old in the 
different townships as follows: 

HORSES. CATTLE. 

Sandusky township 33 83 

Croghan township 21 46 

Portage township 26 151 

Riley township 26 169 

Ballville township 35 122 

Green Creek township 28 165 

Townsend township 10 123 

York township 22 153 

Total in the county 201 1012 

The total amount of taxes charged on the 
tax duplicate for the year 1824 was two 
hundred and ninety-five dollars and eighty- 
two cents. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



97 



HOW THE FIRST COURT HOUSE WAS BUILT. 

October 27, 1817, the proprietors of land 
on the west side of the river laid out and 
recorded the plat of the town of Sandusky on 
the west side of the river. The location of the 
county seat became a question of hot contest 
between Croghansville and the new town of 
Sandusky. After much discussion, 
commissioners to settle the question of 
difference were appointed by the General 
Assembly of the State. On viewing the 
ground and hearing the arguments and 
propositions of each party, these 
commissioners finally decided in favor of 
the west side. In platting the town of 
Sandusky the proprietors had set apart on 
their plat a square containing about half an 
acre of land, and dedicated it to the county 
for a court house, and another square of 
equal size (marked B) for jail and offices. 
Sandusky county not then having been 
organized, the plat of this survey was 
recorded in Huron county, of which 
Sandusky then formed a part. The proprie- 
tors who signed this plat of the town of 
Sandusky were: Thomas L. Hawkins, for self 
and Thomas E. Boswell; Morris A. Newman; 
William Oliver, for self and company; Israel 
Harrington, for self and E. P.; Josiah 
Rumery, 

The following extract, from the county 
commissioners' record in the book above 
referred to, is interesting for several reasons, 
among which are: that it shows the manner 
of doing public business in those days, and 
also the names of a number of the pioneers 
who settled at Lower Sandusky and vicinity, 
and who were leading men in public affairs 
in 1822: 

SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 

We, the undersigned, citizens of the county of 
Sandusky, do hereby bind ourselves, our heirs, executors 
and administrators, firmly, to pay unto the 
commissioners of said county the following sums set 
opposite our names respectively, for the purpose of 
building a courthouse, etc., provided the permanent seat 
of justice shall be located in the village of San- 



dusky, the same to be paid as follows, by the first day of 
April, 1823. 



Cyrus Hulburd 

Harvey J. Harmon 

Benjamin Wheat 

Israel "Harrington 

Calvin Leezen.. . . . 

E. W. Howland 

Richard Sears 

William Andrews 

William McClellan 

George and J. S. Olmstead 

David Gallagher 

Lysander C. Ball 

Nicholas Whitinger 

Moses Nichols 

Thomas L. Hawkins 

Jacob Bowlus 

Charles B. Fitch 

Joseph Loveland 

Daniel Brainard 

Asa B. Gavit 

Ezra Williams 

John Drury 

John W. Tyler 

Morris Tyler 

Daniel Tindall 

Sylvanus Bixby 

John Custard 

Martin Baum, of Cincinnati, 

by M. T. Williams 

David Chambers 

Ebenezer Granger & Co. , 

by C. Hulburd 



55° 
5 

5 

2 5 

5 
5 



$50'$IOO 

s! s 



S 



50 100 



30 



Totals $235 $305 $515 $745 $179 5 



3200 
5 



=5 



$400 
20 

20 

TOO 

IOO 
IO 
25 

5° 



20 

SO 

1 55 
5° 



35 



5 
15 



400 
IS 



3S 



Now let the reader realize, if possible, the 
actual surroundings of the few people in it 
when the county was organized. To do this, it 
must be remembered that at that time its 
surface, like that of northwestern Ohio 
generally, was an almost unbroken wilderness, 
and with the exception of a few small spots of 
wet prairie, covered by a dense forest of tall 
trees, here and there a lonely, tortuous footpath 
or bridleway through the woods made by the 
Indians in travelling from stream to stream, no 
wagon-ways but those through the woods along 
the river, made for the movement of troops 
during the wars; no roadbeds on these but the 
soft, wet, earth walled on each side and 
covered overhead by tall forest trees, among 
and around which the road was continually 
winding. As to the means of subsistence, the 
cornfield 



98 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



and garden furnished bread and vegetables; 
fish were very abundant and conveniently 
procured from the rivers and creeks. Probably 
half the meat used by the inhabitants was 
obtained by the use of the rifle among the 
deer and turkeys in the woods, and ducks and 
geese along the streams. For a number of 
years during the early settlement on the 
Sandusky River, corn bread made of meal of 
Indian corn, was the only bread, and the meal 
was made in two ways: One was, by grating 
the corn before it entirely hardened, on a 
grater made by punching a sheet of tin full of 
small holes, and taking the rough side for the 
grater. The tin was bent into an arch, rough 
side out, and the sides nailed to a shingle or 
piece of wood. On this rough surface the fresh 
ear of corn was 



rubbed until the corn was grated from the 
cob. The other method was to dry the 
shelled corn until it was hard and brittle and 
then placing it In a wooden mortar pound it 
to meal with a wooden pestle. 

These brief statements may give some 
Idea of the condition of the country and of 
the people who launched Sandusky county 
into civil life and power, and laid the 
foundations of her prosperity, and the 
happiness of her people. 

We place these statements on record here, 
so that when years shall have rolled past, 
and the county shall be thickly peopled and 
all its resources fully developed, the curious 
may be able to compare the county from the 
beginning, and reckon the course and 
distance of her progress. 



CHAPTER VIII (a). 
FORT STEPHENSON. 



FREMONT, OHIO, August 22, 1877. 
Hon. Homer Everett: 

DEAR SIR: You are hereby requested 'by the city 
council of this city to furnish for publication an his- 
torical account of the defence of Fort Stephenson, and 
the purchase and dedication of the site of the fort for a 
public park. Hoping this request will meet with your 
approbation, we remain, 

Yours, etc., 
C. R. MCCULLOCH, 

President of the Council. 
W. W. STINE, City Clerk. 

In compliance with the request in the foregoing 
resolution, I submit to the Mayor and council of the city 
of Fremont the following memoranda of events 
connected with Fort Stephenson (or Fort Sandusky). 

THE NAME. 

The histories of the War of 1812 use two 
names to designate this fort. In an account 
of the battle here, published in March, A. D. 
1815, Volume V., of the Port-Folio, a 
monthly pamphlet published 



by Oliver Oldschool, it is called Fort 
Sandusky. In late publications and histories 
both names are used to designate the place, 
as "Fort Stephenson or Lower Sandusky." 
[Western Annals, by James H. Parker, page 
544; Historical Collections of Ohio, by 
Henry Howe, pages 448 and 449; History of 
the Maumee Valley, by H. S. Knapp, page 
183.] 

The name of Fort Sandusky was naturally 
derived from the river, near which it was 
situated. The other appellation of Fort 
Stephenson (or Stevenson, for it is spelled 
both ways in published histories,) was 
probably given to the place because Colonel 
Stevenson at one time commanded the post. 
The following general order shows that he 
was in command on and before the 14th of 
May, 1813: 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



99 



GENERAL ORDERS. 
HEADQUARTERS, LOWER SANDUSKY, 
14th May, 1813. 

The troops which now form the garrison at Lower 
Sandusky will be relieved today by a detachment 
furnished by His Excellency, General Meigs, to the 
senior officer of which Colonel Stevenson will deliver 
the post and public property in his possession. 

The militia belonging to General Wadsworth's 
division, now at this place, will, as soon as relieved, 
commence their march for Cleveland, where they will 
remain for the protection of that town. 

Colonel Stevenson will furnish the senior officer of 
this detachment with a copy of this order, and the 
quartermaster here will provide the means of a transport 
for them. By order, 

R. GRAHAM, Adjutant. 

The following report is the first instance I 
have found where the name "Fort Steph- 
enson" was authentically used. It seems to be 
a report on the transportation to be furnished 
under the preceding order, but the spelling of 
Stevenson, I notice, is changed: 

FORT STEPHENSON, 
May22, 1813. 
May it Please Your Excellency: 

SIR: Agreeably to your orders, sent by Mr. Bishop, I 
have forwarded all the articles specified therein. The 
carriages on which they are to be mounted have not yet 
arrived, but are daily expected, as teams have been sent 
from this place under an escort from the garrison. If you 
deem it necessary that one of the carriages should be 
forwarded to Cleveland, the same will he done, on your 
order. Considerable manual labor has been done on the 
garrison since you left this place, and improvements are 
daily making. 

The troops in general in the garrison are afflicted with 
bad colds. No epidemic or contagious disorder prevails. 
One person has been buried since you left this post. He 
came from Fort Meigs with a part of the baggage of 
Major Todd. 

No news, or any apprehension of danger. 

By order of Major Commanding. 

R. E. POST, Adjutant. 

R. J. MEIGS, Governor State of Ohio. 

My memory holds, clearly, events as early 
as 1825, and events earlier. I have lived here 
since the year 1815, and ever since my 
earliest recollection the fort has been known 
in the locality as "Fort Stevenson." 



WHEN AND BY WHOM CONSTRUCTED. 

I am unable to find any data by which to 
determine the exact time when the con- 
struction of the fort was begun. By the treaty 
of Greenville, between the United States, 
represented by Anthony Wayne, and the 
hostile tribes of Indians in the territory 
northwest of the Ohio River, August 3, 1815, 
the United States obtained title to a number 
of tracts of land, called afterwards 
reservations, in different parts of the 
territory. Among those was a tract of land 
two miles square at the lower rapids of the 
Sandusky River. They also obtained by the 
same treaty the right of way to and from 
each of these several tracts. Wayne was an 
experienced Indian fighter, and had then 
effectually subdued them; and knowing their 
character, no doubt anticipated further 
hostilities. His wise foresight is remarkably 
displayed in the selection of these parcels of 
land for advantageous military posts and 
forts. 

The next we know of military operation 
here was on the 18th of January, 1813, when 
General Harrison hastened here from Upper 
Sandusky, and on that morning sent forward 
a battalion of troops to the support of 
Winchester in his march to Detroit. 

The next mention of the place in military 
history is found in a general report to United 
States Secretary of War John Armstrong, 
under date of "Headquarters, foot of the 
Miami Rapids, 11th February, 1813," in 
which, while giving his intended disposition 
of his forces, he wrote: "A company will be 
placed at Upper Sandusky, and another at 
Lower Sandusky." 

He does not in this communication apply 
the term "fort" in connection with either 
place. Hence, a fair inference that at the date 
of this report no fort had been constructed. 

I therefore conclude that the fort was built 
between the 11th of February, 1813, 



100 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



and the 14th of May following, by Colonel 
Stevenson, who was relieved at the date last 
mentioned, by the order first above quoted. 

That it was improved by the detachment 
sent to his relief, as shown by the foregoing 
report of Adjutant R. E. Post, under date of 
May 22, 1813, and was completed by Major 
Croghan (pronounced Crohan) after he took 
command of it, which was on or about the 
15th of July, 1813. [Portfolio, Vol. V., page 
216, published March, 1815.] The same 
communication to the Portfolio has the fol- 
lowing: 

No doubt was entertained that the enemy would visit 
Sandusky. Accordingly Colonel Croghan labored day 
and night to place the fort (which had received no 
advantages from nature or art) in a State of defence. The 
necessity of cutting a ditch round the fort immediately 
presented itself to him. This was done; but in order to 
render the enemy's plans abortive, should they succeed 
in passing the ditch (which was nine feet wide and six 
feet deep), he had large logs placed on top of the fort, 
and so adjusted that an inconsiderable weight would 
cause them to fall from their position, and crush to death 
all who might be situated below. 

The walls of the fort were made of logs, 
some round and some flat on one side, being 
half of larger pieces of timber, averaging 
about eighteen inches in thickness, set firmly 
in the earth, perpendicularly, each picket 
crowded closely against the other and about 
ten feet high, sharpened at the top. The walls 
inclosed about one acre of ground on a bluff 
formed by the hills, bounding the valley of 
the river on the east of the fort, and a ravine 
running in a northeasterly direction, cutting 
through the bluff north of the fort. 

After Croghan arrived at the fort he had a 
ditch six feet deep and nine feet wide, dug 
around it outside; throwing about half the 
earth against the foot of the pickets, and 
grading it sharply down to the bottom of the 
ditch. The other portion of earth was thrown 
on the outer 



bank of the ditch, thus increasing the depth 
from the top of the outer bank. 

Our esteemed citizen, J. P. Moore, informed 
the writer a few years since that he had a 
conversation with one James Kirk, then of 
Michigan, but since deceased. Kirk was then 
on a visit to Fremont, and guest of Mr. 
Moore. He informed Mr. Moore that he (Kirk) 
was here in the spring of 1813, and worked on 
the fort, and, being a blacksmith by trade, put 
the hinges on the gate of an addition to the 
fort; that an additional area was enclosed that 
spring and fore part of the summer equal to 
the area of the original fort. 

This fact accounts for what might otherwise 
appear singular, viz: A blockhouse or bastion 
near the middle of the north ditch. Kirk also 
mentioned a storehouse then erected, built of 
peeled logs, which, being higher than the 
other buildings and not so strong, was 
battered down by the enemy's cannon during 
the siege. In this house, Kirk said, was stored 
a quantity of hard bread intended for the 
support of the men in Perry's fleet, which was 
expected up the lake about that time. Kirk was 
sent to Fort Seneca shortly before the battle, 
and was, consequently, not present during the 
engagement. But he returned shortly after, 
and for many years worked at his trade in this 
place. He was long known to the writer when 
a boy, and was a good citizen and an 
honorable, truthful man. 

THE ATTACK AND DEFENCE OF THE FORT. 

Having raised the siege of Camp Meigs, 
the British sailed around into Sandusky Bay, 
while a competent number of their savage 
allies marched across through the swamps of 
Portage River, to cooperate in a combined 
attack on Lower Sandusky, expecting, no 
doubt, that General Harrison's attention would 
be chiefly directed to forts Winchester and 
Meigs. The General 



4 






~~~-* : ?&$i%;? -. 





■:- ■■ - : ■->■ ' 

'- § 

--* 


~z 




=3?-' 






f-.'V, woods i — -^ - ; -"TjSjiin **-*Ti I "•*! "-T "* T 







(Cornfield.) 
NDEX— 
. Picket.-. 

l Embankment from ditcn ■ 
and against the pickets. 
j. Dry ditch 9 feet wide, at 
6 feet deep. 
(Head of Navigation.) 
, Outward Embankment 
\. Block.house first ««*" 
by five cannon. 
Bastion from which "f 
ditch was raked by tot 
Croghan't sii-pounoet 

(Good Old Bess.) 

C. Guard Blockhouse. 

D. Hospital. 
R. Storehouses. 

F. Commissary's Storehouse 

G. Magazine. 
H. Fort gate. 

(Prairie.) 
K. Wicker gates. 
L. Partition gate. 
M. Mortars. , , 
P. Graves of Bntish <*»«• 



Plan Of Fort Stephenson and Battle of Lower Sandusky. 

(For DESCRfPTiON See History.) 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



101 



however, had calculated on their taking this 
course, and had been careful to keep patrols 
down the bay, opposite the mouth of the 
Portage, where he supposed their forces 
would debark. 

Several days before the British had 
invested Fort Meigs, General Harrison, with 
Major Croghan and some other officers, had 
examined the heights which surrounded Fort 
Stephenson; and as the hill on the opposite 
or southeast side of the river was found to be 
the most commanding eminence, the General 
had some thoughts of removing the fort to 
that place, and Major Croghan declared his 
readiness to undertake the work. But the 
General did not authorize him to do it, and 
he believed that if the enemy intended to 
invade our territory again, they would do it 
before the removal could be completed. It 
was then finally concluded that the fort, 
which was calculated for a garrison of only 
two hundred men, could not be defended 
against the heavy artillery of the enemy; and 
that if the British should approach it by 
water, which would cause a presumption that 
they had brought their heavy artillery, the 
fort must be abandoned and burnt, provided 
a retreat could be effected with safety. In the 
orders left with Major Croghan, it was 
stated: "Should the British troops approach 
you in force with cannon, and you can 
discover them in time to effect a retreat, you 
will do so immediately, destroying all the 
public stores." 

"You must be aware that the attempt to 
retreat in the face of an Indian force would 
be vain. Against such an enemy your 
garrison would be safe, however great the 
number." 

On the evening of the 29th General 
Harrison received intelligence, by express, 
from General Clay, that the enemy had 
abandoned the siege of Fort Meigs; and as 
the Indians on that day had swarmed in the 
woods round his camp, he 



entertained no doubt but that an immediate 
attack was intended either on Sandusky or 
Seneca. He therefore immediately called a 
council of war, consisting of McArthur, 
Cass, Ball, Paul, Wood, Hukill, Holmes and 
Graham, who were unanimously of the 
opinion that Fort Stephenson was untenable 
against heavy artillery, and that as the enemy 
could bring with facility any quantity of 
battering cannon against it, by which it must 
inevitably fall, and as it was an unimportant 
post, containing nothing the loss of which 
would be felt by q s, that the garrison should 
therefore not be reinforced, but withdrawn, 
and the place destroyed. In pursuance of this 
decision, the General immediately dis- 
patched the order to Major Croghan, di- 
recting him immediately to abandon Fort 
Stephenson, to set it on fire and repair with 
his command to headquarters across the river 
and come up on the opposite side, and if he 
should find it impracticable to reach the 
General's quarters, to take the road to Huron, 
and pursue it with the utmost circumspection 
and dispatch. This order was sent by Mr. 
Conner and two Indians, who lost their way 
in the dark, and did not reach Fort 
Stephenson until 11 o'clock the next day. 
When Major Croghan received it, he was of 
the opinion that he could not then retreat 
with safety, as the Indians were , hovering 
round the fort in considerable force. He 
called a council of his officers, a majority of 
whom coincided with him in opinion that a 
retreat would be unsafe, and that the post 
could be maintained against the enemy, at 
least till further instructions could be 
received from headquarters. The Major, 
therefore, immediately returned the 
following answer: 

Sir: I have just received yours of yesterday, 10 
p.m., ordering me to destroy this place and make good 
my retreat, which was received too late to be carried 
into execution. We have determined to maintain this 
place, and, by heavens, we can. 



102 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



In writing this brief note Major Croghan 
had a view to the probability of its falling 
into the hands of the enemy, and on that 
account made use of stronger language than 
would otherwise have been consistent with 
propriety. It reached the General on the same 
day, who did not fully understand the 
circumstances and motives under which it 
had been dictated. The following order was 
therefore immediately prepared and sent 
with Colonel Wells in the morning, escorted 
by Colonel Ball, with his corps of dragoons: 

July 30, 1813. 
SIR: The General has just received your letter of this 
date, informing him that you had thought proper to 
disobey the order issued from this office, and delivered 
to you this morning. It appears that the information 
which dictated the order was incorrect; and as you did 
not receive it in the night, as was expected, it might 
have been proper that you should have reported the 
circumstance and your situation, before you proceeded 
to its execution. This might have been passed over; but I 
am directed to say to you, that an officer who presumes 
to aver that he has made his resolution, and that he will 
act in direct opposition to the orders of the General, can 
no longer be entrusted with a separate command. 
Colonel Wells is sent to relieve you. You will deliver 
the command to him, and repair with Colonel Ball's 
squadron to this place. By command, etc. 
A. H. Holmes 
Assistant Adjutant-General. 

Colonel Wells being left in the command 
of Fort Stephenson, Major Croghan returned 
with the squadron to headquarters. He there 
explained his motive for writing such a note, 
which was deemed satisfactory; and having 
remained all night with the General, who 
treated him politely, he was permitted to 
return to his command in the morning, with 
written orders similar to those he had 
received before. 

A reconnoitering party which had been 
sent from headquarters to the shore of the 
lake, about twenty miles distant from Fort 
Stephenson, discovered the approach of the 
enemy, by water, on the 31st of July. 



They returned by the fort after 12 o'clock the 
next day, and had passed it but a few hours 
when the enemy made their appearance 
before it. The Indians showed themselves 
first on the hill over the river, and were 
saluted by a six pounder, the only piece of 
artillery in the fort, which soon caused them 
to retire. In half an hour the British gunboats 
came in sight, and the Indian forces 
displayed themselves in every direction, 
with a view to intercept the garrison, should 
a retreat be attempted. The six pounder was 
fired a few times at the gunboats, which was 
returned by the artillery of the enemy. A 
landing of their troops with a five and a half 
inch howitzer was effected about a mile 
below the fort, and Major Chambers, 
accompanied by Dickson, was dispatched 
towards the fort with a flag, and was met on 
the part of Major Croghan by Ensign Shipp, 
of the Seventeenth regiment. After the usual 
ceremonies, Major Chambers observed to 
Ensign Shipp that he was instructed by 
General Proctor to demand the surrender of 
the fort, as he was anxious to spare the 
effusion of human blood, which he could not 
do should he be under the necessity of 
reducing it by the powerful force of artillery, 
regulars, and Indians under his command. 
Shipp replied that the commandant of the 
fort and its garrison was determined to 
defend it to the last extremity; that no force, 
however great, could induce them to 
surrender, as they were resolved to maintain 
their post, or to bury themselves in its ruins. 
Dickson then said that their immense body 
of Indians could not be restrained from 
murdering the whole garrison in case of 
success; of which we have no doubt, 
rejoined Chambers; as we are amply 
prepared. Dickson then proceeded to remark, 
that it was a great pity so fine a young man 
should fall into the hands of the savages Sir, 
for God's sake, surrender, and prevent the 
dreadful massacre 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



103 



that will be caused by your resistance. Mr. 
Shipp replied, that when the fort was taken 
there would be none to massacre. It will not 
be given up while a man is able to resist. An 
Indian at this moment came out of the 
adjoining ravine, and advancing to the 
ensign, took hold of his sword and attempted 
to wrest it from him. Dickson interfered, and 
having retained the Indian, affected great 
anxiety to get him safe into the fort. 

The enemy now opened fire from their 
sixpounder in the gunboats and the howitzer 
on shore, which they continued through the 
night with but little intermission and with 
very little effect. The forces of the enemy 
consisted of five hundred regulars, and about 
eight hundred Indians commanded by 
Dickson, the whole being commanded by 
General Proctor in person. Tecumseh was 
stationed on the road to Fort Meigs with a 
body of two thousand Indians, expecting to 
intercept a reinforcement on that route. 

Major Croghan, through the evening, 
occasionally fired his sixpounder, at the 
same time changing its place, to in, duce a 
belief that he had more than one piece. As it 
produced very little execution on the enemy, 
and he was desirous of saving his 
ammunition, he soon discontinued his fire. 
The enemy had directed their fire against the 
northwestern angle of the fort, which 
induced the commander to believe that an 
attempt would be made to storm his works at 
that point. In the night Captain Hunter was 
directed to remove the sixpounder to a 
blockhouse, from which it would rake that 
angle. By great industry and personal ex- 
ertion, Captain Hunter soon accomplished 
this object in secrecy. The embrasure was 
masked and the piece loaded with a 
halfcharge of powder, and doublecharge of 
slugs and grapeshot. Early in the morning of 
the 2nd the enemy opened 



their fire from their howitzer and three 
sixpounders, which they had landed in the 
night, and planted in a point of woods about 
two hundred and fifty yards from the fort. In 
the evening, about 4 o'clock, they 
concentrated the fire of all their guns on the 
northwest angle, which convinced Major 
Croghan that they would endeavor to make a 
breach and storm the works at that point; he 
therefore immediately had that place 
strengthened as much as possible with bags 
of flour and sand, which were so effectual 
that the picketing in that place sustained no 
material injury. Sergeant Weaver, with five 
or six gentlemen of the Petersburg 
volunteers and Pittsburgh Blues, who 
happened to be in the fort, was entrusted 
with the management of the sixpounder. 

Late in the evening, when the smoke of the 
firing had completely enveloped the fort, the 
enemy proceeded to make the assault. Two 
feints were made toward the southern angle, 
where Captain Hunter's lines were formed; 
and at the same time a column of three 
hundred and fifty men was discovered 
advancing through the smoke, within twenty 
paces of the northwestern angle. A heavy, 
galling fire of musketry was now opened 
upon them from the fort, which threw them 
into some confusion. Colonel Short, who 
headed the principal column, soon rallied his 
men, and led them with great bravery to the 
brink of the ditch. After a momentary pause 
he leaped into the ditch, calling to his men to 
follow him, and in a few minutes it was full. 
The masked porthole was now opened, and 
the sixpounder, at the distance of thirty feet, 
poured such destruction among them that but 
few who had entered the ditch were fortunate 
enough to escape. A precipitate and confused 
retreat was the immediate consequence, 
although some of the officers attempted to 
rally their men. The other 



104 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



column, which was led by Colonel 
Warburton and Major Chambers, was also 
routed in confusion by a destructive fire 
from the line commanded by Captain Hunter. 
The whole of them fled into the adjoining 
wood, beyond the reach of our firearms. 
During the assault, which lasted half an 
hour, the enemy kept up an incessant fire 
from their howitzer and five sixpounders. 
They left Colonel Short,* a lieutenant and 
twenty-five privates dead in the ditch; and 
the total number of prisoners taken was 
twenty-six, most of them badly wounded. 
Major Muir was knocked down in the ditch, 
and lay among the dead till the darkness of 
the night enabled him to escape in safety. 
The loss of the garrison was one killed and 
seven slightly wounded. The total loss of the 
enemy could not have been less than one 
hundred and sixty killed and wounded. 

When night came on, which was soon 
after the assault, the wounded in the ditch 
were in a desperate situation. Complete 
relief could not be brought to them by either 
side with any degree of safety. Major 
Croghan, however, relieved them as much as 
possible he contrived to convey them water 
over the picketing in buckets, and a ditch 
was opened under the pickets, through which 
those who were able and willing, were 
encouraged to crawl into the fort. All who 
were able preferred, of course, to follow 
their defeated comrades, and many others 
were carried from the vicinity of the fort by 
the Indians, particularly their own killed and 
wounded; and in the night, about three 

*Colonel Short, who commanded the regulars 
composing the forlorn hope, was ordering his men to 
leap the ditch, cut down the pickets and give the 
Americans no quarter, when he fell mortally wounded 
into the ditch, hoisted his white handkerchief on the end 
of his sword, and begged for that mercy which he had a 
moment before ordered to be denied to his enemy. 



o'clock, the whole British and Indian force 
commenced a disorderly retreat. So great 
was their precipitation that they left a 
sailboat containing some clothing and a 
considerable quantity of military stores; and 
on the next day, seventy stand of arms and 
some braces of pistols were picked up about 
the fort. Their hurry and confusion was 
caused by the apprehension of an attack from 
General Harrison, of whose position and 
force they had probably received an 
exaggerated account. 

It was the intention of General Harrison, 
should the enemy succeed against Fort 
Stephenson, or should they endeavor to turn 
his left and fall on Upper Sandusky, to leave 
his camp at Seneca and fall back for the 
protection of that place. But he discovered 
by the firing on the evening of the 1st, that 
the enemy had nothing but light artillery, 
which could make no impression on the fort; 
and he knew that an attempt to storm it 
without making a breach, could be 
successfully repelled by the garrison; he 
therefore determined to wait for the arrival 
of two hundred and fifty mounted volunteers 
under Colonel Rennick, being the advance of 
seven hundred who were approaching by the 
way of Upper Sandusky, and then to march 
against the enemy and raise the siege, if their 
force was not still too great for his. On the 
2nd he sent several scouts to ascertain their 
situation and force; but the woods were so 
infested with Indians that none of them 
could proceed sufficiently near the fort to 
make the necessary discoveries. In the night 
the messenger arrived at headquarters with 
the intelligence that the enemy were 
preparing to retreat. About nine o'clock 
Major Croghan had ascertained, from their 
collecting about their boats, that they were 
preparing to embark, and had immediately 
sent an express to the commander-in-chief 
with this information. The General now 




Major GeorgsCrocjidn 

Hero of Fort Stephenson 2 d Aug 1843 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



105 



determined to wait no longer for the rein- 
forcements, and immediately set out with the 
dragoons, with which he reached the fort 
early in the morning, having ordered 
Generals McArthur and Cass, who had 
arrived at Seneca several days before, to 
follow him with all the disposable infantry at 
that place, and which at this time was about 
seven hundred men, after the numerous sick, 
and the force necessary to maintain the 
position, were left behind. Finding that the 
enemy had fled entirely from the fort, so as 
not to be reached by him, and learning that 
Tecumseh was somewhere in the direction of 
Fort Meigs, with two thousand warriors, he 
immediately ordered the infantry to fall back 
to Seneca, lest Tecumseh should make an 
attack on that place, or intercept they small 
reinforcements advancing from Ohio.. 

In his official report of this affair, General 
Harrison observes that: "It will not be among 
the least of General Proctor's mortifications, 
that he has been baffled by a youth, who has 
just passed his twenty-first year. He is, 
however, a hero worthy of his gallant uncle, 
General George R. Clarke." 

Captain Hunter, of the Seventeenth 
regiment, the second in command, conducted 
himself with great propriety; and never was 
there a set of finer young fellows than the 
subalterns, viz:, Lieutenants Johnson and 
Baylor of the Seventeenth, Meeks of the 
Seventh, and Ensigns Shipp and Duncan, of 
the Seventeenth. 

Lieutenant Anderson, of the Twenty- 
fourth, was also noticed for his good 
conduct. Being without a command, he 
solicited Major Croghan for a musket and a 
post to fight at, which he did with the 
greatest bravery. 

"Too much praise," says Major Croghan, 
"can not be bestowed on the officers, 
noncommissioned officers, and privates 



under my command, for their gallantry and 
good conduct during the siege." 

The brevet rank of Lieutenant Colonel was 
immediately conferred on Major Croghan, 
by the President of the United States, for his 
gallant conduct on this occasion. The ladies 
of Chillicothe also presented him an elegant 
sword, accompanied by a suitable address. 

The following sketches of Colonel George 
Croghan are taken from the Portfolio, 
published in 1815: 

FRANKFORT, July 22, 1814. 
To the Editor of the Port-folio: 

SIR: Upon receiving the letter which you did me the 
honor to address to me by Mrs. B., I immediate took 
such measures as were necessary to procure tie 
information you requested. I now transmit to you the 
result of my inquiries, regretting that it was not in my 
power to do it sooner. 

At the time when Colonel Croghan and myself were 
inmates of the same house, he was in his fourteenth 
year. No incident occurred during that early period 
sufficiently interesting to find a place in his history; 
yet, even then, his conduct exhibited a happy 
combination of those talents and principles which have 
already procured him the admiration and gratitude of his 
country. 

Though ingenuous in his disposition and unassuming 
and, conciliating in his manners, he was remarkable for 
discretion and steadiness. His opinions, when once 
formed, were maintained with modest but persevering 
firmness; and the propriety of his decisions generally 
satisfied the spirit with which they were defended, et, 
though rigid to his adherence to principle, and in his 
estimate of what was right or improper, in cases of 
minor importance he was all compliance. I never met 
with a youth who would so cheerfully sacrifice every 
personal gratification to the wishes or accommodation of 
his friends. In sickness or disappointment he evinced a 
degree of patience and fortitude which could not have 
been exceeded by any veteran in the school of 
misfortune or philosophy. Were I asked, what were the 
most prominent features of his character? (or rather, 
what were the prevailing dispositions of his mind?) at 
the period of which I am speaking, I would answer, 
decision and urbanity; the former, resulting from the 
uncommon and estimable qualities of his understanding 
the latter, from the concentration of all the sweet 
"charities of life," in his heart. Thus far from my own 
observation. I have seldom seen Colonel Croghan for the 
last eight years; but subjoin the testimony of those to 
whose observation he has been exposed during the 
whole of that period. 



106 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



An intelligent young gentleman, who was his asso- 
ciate in study and in alms, has given me a brief sketch of 
his military career, which I herewith transmit, together 
with such corroborative and additional circumstances as 
I have collected from other sources, and which in 
substance amount to this: 

Lieutenant-Colonel George Croghan was born at 
Locust Grove, near the falls of Ohio, on the 15th of 
November, 1791. His father, Major William Croghan, 
left Ireland at an early period of life ; was appointed an 
officer in our Revolutionary army, and discharged his 
duties as such, to the satisfaction of the commander-in- 
chief. His mother is the daughter of John Clarke, esq., of 
Virginia, a gentleman of worth and respectability, who 
exerted himself greatly, and contributed largely towards 
the support of our just and glorious contest. He had five 
sons, four of whom were officers in the Revolutionary 
army. General William Clarke, who, together with 
Captain Lewis, explored, and is at present the Governor 
of Louisiana, was too young to participate with his 
brothers in the achievement of our liberties; but his 
conduct since is a sufficient demonstration of the part he 
would have taken, had he been riper in years. The 
military talents of General George R. Clarke have 
obtained for him the flattering appellation of "the father 
of the western country." 

Colonel Croghan has always been esteemed generous 
and humane; and, when a boy, his manly appearance and 
independence of sentiment and action commanded the 
attention and admiration of all who knew him. 

The selection of his speeches for scholastic exercises 
tended in some measure to mark his peculiar talent. 
They were of a nature entirely military. He read with 
delight whatever appertained to military affairs, and 
would listen for hours to conversations respecting 
battles. His principal amusements were gunning and 
foxhunting. He would frequently rise at in o'clock at 
night, and repair to the woods alone (or with no 
attendant but his little servant), either to give chase to 
the fox, or battle to the wild cat and raccoon. 

Nothing offended him more than for any one, even in 
jest, to say a word disrespectful of General Washington. 

While in the State of Kentucky his time was 
principally occupied by the study of his native tongue, 
geography, the elements of geometry, and the Latin and 
Greek languages. In these different branches of 
literature he made a respectable progress. 

In the year 1808 he left Locust Grove for the purpose 
of prosecuting his studies in the University of William 
and Mary. In this institution he graduated as A. B. on 
the 4th of July, 1820; and delivered, on the day of his 
graduation, an oration on the subject of expatriation. 
This oration was deemed by the audience, concise, 
ingenious, and argumentative, and was pronounced in a 
manner which did great credit 



to his oratorical powers. The ensuing autumn he 
attended a course of lectures on law, and upon the 
termination of the course returned to his father's where 
he prosecuted the study of the same profession, and 
occasionally indulged himself in miscellaneous reading. 
Biography and history have always occupied much of 
his attention. He is an enthusiastic admirer of the 
writings of Shakespeare, and can recite most of the 
noted passages of that great poet and philosopher. He 
admires tragedy but not comedy. He is (as his 
countenance indicates) rather of a serious cast of mind; 
yet no one admires more a pleasant anecdote, or an 
unaffected sally of wit. With his friends he is affable 
and free from reserve; his manners are prepossessing; he 
dislikes ostentation, and was never heard to utter a word 
in praise of himself. 

In the autumn of 1811 was fought the battle of 
Tippecanoe. This was the first opportunity which 
offered for the display of his military talents. He 
embraced it with avidity - left his father's house in the 
character of a volunteer, and was appointed aid to 
General Harrison. On the 7th of November an attack was 
made on the troops under the command of that officer; 
the enemy were repulsed with valor; and during the 
engagement young Croghan evinced the greatest 
courage, activity, and military skill. His services were 
acknowledged by all; and he exhibited such proofs of a 
genius for war that many of his companions in arms 
remarked that "he was born a soldier." A cant saying 
among the troops at Tippecanoe was "to do a main 
business;" and during the battle he would ride from post 
to post, exciting the courage of the men by exclaiming, 
"Now, my brave fellows, now is the time to do a main 
business." Upon the return of the troops from 
Tippecanoe, they were frequently met by persons 
coming to ascertain the fate of their children or friends. 
Among the number of these was a very poor and aged 
man, whose son was slain in the battle. Colonel 
Croghan, having ascertained the situation of the old 
man, and observing his inability to perform much bodily 
labor, regularly made his fires every morning, and 
supplied him with provisions, clothes, and money. Many 
acts of this kind are related of him by the soldiers and 
officers of Tippecanoe. 

After the battle of Tippecanoe, his military ardor 
greatly increased, and, upon the prospect of a speedy 
declaration of war, he expressed a desire to join the 
army. Recommendatory letters of the most flattering 
kind were written by Generals Harrison and Boyd to the 
Secretary of War; and upon the commencement of 
hostilities against Great Britain, he was appointed 
captain in the Seventeenth regiment of infantry. He was 
stationed some time at Clark Cantonment, near the Falls 
of Ohio, but had not been long in command there before 
he was ordered to march, with what regulars he had, to 
the headquarters of the Northwestern Army, then at 
Detroit. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



107 



His countenance beamed with delight upon receiving 
this order. There were large bodies of militia and 
volunteers on their march to Detroit, but before they had 
proceeded far they heard of Hull's surrender. 

Shortly after this the command of the Northwestern 
Army was given to General Harrison. Colonel Croghan 
commanded a short time at Fort Defiance, on the Miami, 
but upon the defeat of General Winchester he was 
ordered to Fort Meigs. His conduct during that 
memorable siege is handsomely noticed in General 
Harrison's official report, and he was shortly afterwards 
promoted to a majority, and stationed with his battalion 
at Upper Sandusky. While there he received 
information, by express, of an attack upon Lower 
Sandusky. It was late in the afternoon when the 
intelligence reached him — the road between the two 
places was intolerably bad — the distance thirty-six 
miles, and the rain descending in torrents; yet he 
proceeded at the head of his battalion to its relief, and 
continued his march until 12 o'clock at night, by which 
time he had advanced twenty miles. It then became so 
dark that he and his men were obliged to lie down in the 
road, and wait the return of light rather than run the risk 
of losing their way. 

He arrived at Fort Ball (twelve miles distant) before 
sunrise the next morning, having waded through mud 
and mire frequently waist deep, and having been 
exposed to a heavy rain during the whole night. He was 
there informed that the report of an attack upon Lower 
Sandusky was unfounded, but after remaining a few 
days at Fort Ball he proceeded thither, having received 
orders to take the command at that post. He arrived there 
about the 15th of July. A few days after this Fort Meigs 
was besieged by a large British and Indian force. No 
doubt was entertained that the enemy would visit 
Sandusky. Accordingly, Colonel Croghan labored day 
and night to place the fort (which had received no 
advantages from nature or art) in a state of defence. The 
necessity of cutting a ditch round the fort, immediately 
presented itself to him. This was done; but in order to 
render the enemy's plans abortive, should they even 
succeed in leaping the ditch (which was nine feet wide, 
and six deep), he had large logs placed on the top of the 
fort, and so adjusted that an inconsiderable weight 
would cause them to fall, from their position, and crush 
to death all who might be situated below. This im- 
provement in the art of fortification took place but a few 
days before the attack. It is novel, and originated with 
himself. 

A short time before the action, he wrote 
the following concise and impressive letter 
to a friend: 

The enemy are not far distant — I expect an attack — I 
will defend this post till the last extremity — I have just 
sent away the women and children, with 



the sick of the garrison, that I may be able to act without 
incumbrance. Be satisfied. I shall, I hope, do my duty. 
The example set me by my Revolutionary kindred is 
before me — let me die rather than prove unworthy of 
their name. 

The following extract of a letter, written 
by a fellow-student and fellow-soldier of 
Lieutenant-Colonel Croghan, is here 
introduced as throwing additional light on 
the military character of that distinguished 
young officer: 

Lieu ten ant -Colonel George Croghan is a native of 
Kentucky, and the second son of Major William 
Croghan, near Louisville. He is the nephew of the 
gallant hero and accomplished general, George Rogers 
Clarke, the father of the western country, and of General 
William Clarke, the present enterprising Governor of 
Missouri. His father is a native of Ireland, and having 
early embarked his fortunes in America, was a 
distinguished officer in the war of the Revolution. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Croghan was born on the 15th of 
November, 179 1, and received all the advantages of 
education the best grammar schools in Kentucky could 
afford, until in his seventeenth year, when he 
commenced a scientific course in the ancient college of 
William and Mary, in Virginia. Both at school and at 
college be was remarked for an open manliness of 
character, and elevation of sentiment, and a strength of 
intellect, connected with a high and persevering 
ambition. 

In July, 1810, he graduated at Willi am and M ary 
college, and soon afterwards commenced the study of 
law. With this view, he continued to visit that university 
until the fall of 1811, when he volunteered his services 
as a private in the campaign up the Wabash. A short 
time before the action of Tippecanoe, he was appointed 
aid-decamp to General Boyd, the second in command: 
and, although from his situation, he was not enabled to 
evince that activity which has since so much 
distinguished him, he exhibited a soul undaunted in one 
of the most sanguinary conflicts of the present day, and 
accordingly received the thanks of the commanding 
general. 

In consequence of his services on the Wabash ex- 
pedition, he was appointed a captain in the provisional 
army directed to be raised and organized in the spring of 
1812. In August he marched with the detachment from 
Kentucky, under General Winchester, destined to relieve 
General Hull in Canada; and to those acquainted with 
the movements of that gallant but unfortunate little 
army, the caution, zeal, and military capacity of Captain 
Croghan was conspicuous. Upon visiting the various 
encampments of the army on its march along the Miami 
of the Lake, both before and after the attack on Fort 
Wayne, the ground occupied by Captain Croghan 



108 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



was easily designated by the judicious fortifications 
erected for the night. On the movement of the army 
towards the Rapids, he was entrusted with the command 
of Fort Winchester, at the junction of the Auglaize and 
Miami Rivers, where he manifested his usual military 
arrangement. After the defeat at the River Raisin he 
joined General Harrison at the Rapids, previous to the 
erection of Fort Meigs. 

It is creditable to the discernment of General 
Harrison, that he relied with the utmost confidence on 
the judicious arrangements of Captain Croghan, in the 
trying, brilliant, and ever memorable siege of Fort 
Meigs. In the sortie under that gallant soldier, Colonel 
Miller, on the 5th of May, to the companies led by 
Captains Croghan, Langhan, and Bradford was confided 
the storming of the British batteries, defended by a 
regular force and a body of Indians, either of them 
superior in number to the assailants. Here Captain 
Croghan's gallantry was again noticed in general orders. 

At a very critical period of the last campaign (that of 
1853,) young Croghan, now promoted to a majority, was 
appointed to the command of Fort Sandusky, at Lower 
Sandusky. On his conduct in the defence of that post, 
the official documents of the time, and the applause of a 
grateful country, are the most honorable commentary. 
The character of the campaign was changed from 
defensive to offensive operations, and its issue very 
materially influenced by the achievement. For his valor 
and good conduct on this occasion, Major Croghan was 
made, by brevet, a Lieutenant-Colonel. 

Colonel Croghan was made Inspector 
General of the army, with the rank of 
Colonel, December 21, 1825, and in that 
capacity served with General Taylor in 
Mexico. 

Congress presented him with a gold medal 
February 13, 1835, as a recognition of his 
gallant services in the defence of Fort 
Stephenson. 

I close this sketch with an incident which 
pithily illustrates the character of President 
Jackson and the esteem in .which Colonel 
Croghan was held. 

Colonel Miller, the gallant "I'll try, sir," 
of the War of 1812, was the first to make 
known to President Jackson that George 
Croghan, the splendid hero of the Fort 
Stephenson fight in 1813, who, with a 
handful of men, maintained against a 
thousand British and Indians a position that 
involved all the communication and 



defences of the Northwest, that George 
Croghan, with this gallant record, was to be 
court-martialed on a charge of 
"intemperance in alcoholic drinks." The old 
General listened impatiently to the infor- 
mation, but heard it through, and then he laid 
down his paper, rose from his chair, smote 
the table with his clenched fist, and, with his 
proverbial energy, declared: "Those 
proceedings of the court-martial shall be 
stopped, sir! George Croghan shall get drunk 
every day of his life if he wants to, and by 
the Eternal, the United States shall pay for 
the whiskey." 

PURCHASE OF THE GROUND BY THE CITY. 

At an early day after the village of Lower 
Sandusky was chartered a few men 
suggested and desired that the village should 
purchase and preserve the fort. The purchase 
was talked of from time to time. While it 
was owned by Chester Edgerton, esq., he 
verbally agreed to sell it to the city for four 
thousand dollars. General R. P. Buckland, 
then representing this district in the Ohio 
Senate, about the year 1856 procured the 
passage of an act empowering the village to 
purchase at that price, on the majority vote 
of the inhabitants. The vote was taken and 
carried in favor of the purchase. But by this 
time Mr. Edgerton had changed his mind, 
and declined, for some reason, to sell to the 
city, but afterwards sold to Mr. Lewis 
Leppelman. 

Among those who were always desirous 
the city should purchase, was Mr. Sardis 
Birchard, uncle of President Hayes. Fremont 
in the meantime became a city of the second 
class. Mr. Birchard, while alive, determined 
to found a public library in the city, where 
he had resided and accumulated considerable 
wealth. He accordingly donated property 
valued at fifty thousand dollars for the 
purpose, and appointed as trustees of the 
library and the fund : The Mayor of the city 
of Fremont, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



109 



the Superintendent of the city schools, R. B. 
Hayes, R. P. Buckland, Rev. Ebenezer 
Bushnell, James W. Wilson, Thomas 
Stilwell, William E. Haynes, and L. Q. 
Rawson. On meeting, the Board of Trustees 
chose the following officers, who still hold 
their respective positions: President, R. B. 
Hayes; Vice-President, R. P. Buckland; 
Secretary, W. W. Ross; Treasurer, James W. 
Wilson. 

It was the earnest wish of Mr. Birchard 
that the library should be located on the site 
of the fort, and that the city should own that 
ground for a park. Hence, when the owner, 
Lewis Leppleman, esq., offered four lots 
embracing the fort ground property for 
eighteen thousand dollars, and Mr. Claghan 
and Dr. W. V. B. Ames, each a lot on the 
south, which connect the ground from 
Croghan to Garrison streets, consented to 
sell for nine thousand, Mr. Birchard 
authorized the trustees of the library to 
divert six thousand dollars of the library 
fund to the purchase. This not being 
sufficient with the funds appropriated by the 
city, General Hayes, to complete its 
purchase of the whole block, guaranteed 
three thousand dollars more out of the 
library fund, and the whole was purchased, 
and deeded to the city with condition that the 
library building should be erected therein. 

THE GUN CALLED BETSEY CROGHAN. 

The gun used by Colonel Croghan with 
such good effect, in defence of the fort, 
naturally became an object of inquiry with a 
view to having it placed in the fort as a relic 
of the past. 

Brice J. Bartlett, a citizen and prominent 
lawyer of the place, father of Colonel J. R. 
Bartlett, and then mayor of the village, was 
untiring in his efforts to find and preserve 
the gun. By correspondence with the War 
Department and inquiry through members of 
Congress, he ascertained 



that the identical gun was stored at 
Pittsburgh. 

Aided by other citizens, he procured the 
passage of a resolution by Congress, 
directing that the gun be forwarded to this 
place and given to the village authorities. 

It was forwarded, but by some misdi- 
rection was carried to Sandusky City. The 
authorities of that place desired to keep it, 
and when it was traced there and claimed by 
Mayor Bartlett, it was concealed by being 
buried. 

He set a detective on the search, who, after 
several days, succeeded in finding where it 
was buried and informed Mayor Bartlett. 

The Mayor sent a force of several men 
with a team, who found the gun and brought 
it away. There was much rejoicing over the 
arrival of the gun, and the people still hold it 
as a sacred relic of the past and a witness of 
the bravery of Colonel Croghan and his one 
hundred and sixty brave Kentuckians. 

This gun is now placed on the site of Fort 
Stephenson, to be there kept as a memento 
and a reminder to future generations, of the 
heroism and bravery of the fort's defenders. 

The following communication was written 
by Clark Waggoner, who formerly edited the 
Lower Sandusky Whig, and was published in 
the Fremont Journal of August, 1879. It 
seems so pertinent to the history of the fort 
and the people of Lower Sandusky, that we 
give it entire: 

FORTY YEARS AGO— FORT STEPHENSON 
CELEBRATION OF 1839 

The history of Fremont and vicinity is especially rich in 
events and associations, some of which have been 
gathered for record, while many others remain unwritten 
and liable to the oblivion which sooner or later 
overtakes tradition. Most prominent of all now stands, 
and must stand, the thrilling story of the heroic and 
successful defence of Fort Stephenson by Major George 
Croghan and his gallant little band of one hundred and 
sixty-nine men, August 1, 1813. 



110 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



from the combined attack of five hundred British 
regulars and eight hundred Indians, under command of 
General Proctor. After a furious cannonading of twenty- 
four hours, the assault was made, which resulted in 
complete repulse, with a loss to the assailants of two 
hundred men m killed and wounded, and to the brave 
defenders of one man killed and seven slightly wounded. 
We need not stop here to repeat the many features and 
incidents of that notable event, so highly important in 
staying the advance into Ohio of the confident leader of 
that mongrel command, our present object being rather 
to refer to the notable commemoration of that great 
victory, which took place here on the twenty-sixth 
anniversary of the same, August 2, 1839. This is made 
the more fitting at this time by the occurrence tomorrow 
of the sixty' sixth anniversary of that event. 

Since the celebration of 1839, forty years have 
passed. Forty years! Two score of the earth's cycles! 
How few, of the hundreds who participated in the 
exercises of that occasion, remain to have its pleasant 
memories revived by this reference thereto. Not one in a 
hundred of the present population of Fremont and 
vicinity have any information of that event, except as 
received from others. And yet there are some who have 
all these long years of intervening time kept the matter 
in mind, and these will take special pleasure in a brief 
review of some of the incidents of the occasion. It is 
proper here to state that in 1839 there still remained 
some who were either here or in the immediate vicinity 
at the time of the tragic scenes of 1813. 

The celebration of 1839 was the first formal recog- 
nition made of the anniversary of the battle, and was 
entered into by all classes of citizens with a Spirit and 
an energy which indicated the deepest interest in the 
chief local event of the town. Action looking thereto 
was inaugurated by a preliminary meeting of citizens, 
held at the court house on the evening of July 6, when 
Thomas L. Hawkins was called to the chair and Ralph E. 
Buckland appointed secretary. On the motion of Dr. 
Frank Williams, it was resolved to take measures for the 
celebration of the then approaching anniversary, when a 
committee of arrangements therefore was appointed, to 
consist of the following named citizens, to wit: General 
John Bell, James Justice, N. B. Eddy, John R. Pease, 
Ralph P. Buckland, Dr. Frank Williams, Isaac Knapp, 
Andrew Morehouse, James Vallette, Dr. L. Q. Rawson, 
William Fields, Dr. Daniel Brainard, Rodolphus 
Dickinson, General Samuel Treat, General John 
Patterson, Captain Samuel Thompson, Major James A. 
Scranton, Jesse S. Olmsted, General Robert S. Rice, 
Thomas L. Hawkins, and Jeremiah Everett. This list will 
call up many memories among the readers of the 
Journal. It embraces the names of most of the prominent 
citizens' of old Lower Sandusky then living, nearly all 
of whom, one by one, have passed from earth. Of the 



Twenty-one named, but three remain - General 
Buckland, Dr. Rawson, and William Fields. 

The committee at once entered upon its duties, the 
discharge of which must be judged from results. Suffice 
it here to say that the undertaking committed to their 
hands was not then what it would be now. At that time 
nearly everything of ways and means had to be 
improvised for the occasion, while the population was 
small, with resources limited. The design of the 
committee was of the most liberal kind, and included, 
besides the usual procession, music, orations, etc., a 
grand barbecue dinner, something entirely new in this 
section. The people cooperated zealously and liberally 
with the committees' plans in the supply of money and 
other assistance, while business was wholly given up to 
the festivities of the day. Special invitations were sent to 
a large number of distinguished men throughout the 
country, from many of whom letters were received. A 
splendid ox was neatly and admirably roasted whole, 
after the best Kentucky style, and was supported by 
several smaller animals cooked in the same manner. The 
dinner was served under a capacious arbor especially 
prepared on the hill, in full sight and within a few rods 
of the old fort. 

A SUGGESTIVE INCIDENT. 

In his letter to the committee, Hon. Elisha 
Whittlesey gives, upon the authority of the 
person named, for whom he vouches as "a 
gentleman of respectability and of strict 
veracity," the following statement, which has 
not otherwise been made public. Mr. 
Whittlesey wrote: 

Aaron Norton, then a resident of Tallmadge, Portage 
county, on the ad of August, 1813, left Huron county to 
visit Fort Stephenson on business. He had furnished 
supplies for the Northwestern Army at different times 
after Hull's surrender, and was very well acquainted 
with the country east of the Maumee River. He arrived 
in the vicinity of Fort Stephenson in the afternoon, and 
without knowing that the British and Indians had elected 
a landing, he rode about halfway from the high bank to 
the place for fording the Sandusky River, when he 
discovered the British on the left bank, and that the 
Indians were on each side of him and in his front. The 
road descended from the high bank south of the present 
turnpike, and followed the river bank to the ford, which, 
according to my recollection, was south of the present 
bridge. To gain the fort was impossible, while a safe 
retreat was doubtful. The parties discovered each other 
at the same instant, and each were alike astonished. Mr. 
Norton wheeled his horse and pressed him to the top of 
his speed. As soon as the Indians recovered from their 
surprise and regained their rifles, they 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Ill 



shot at the fugitive, who reached the hill and the woods 
without injury. 

Immediately after this active preparations were made 
to attack the fort. Mr. Norton supposed the enemy, 
apprehending that reinforcements were marching to the 
fort, made the attack sooner and with less caution than 
they otherwise would. Without detracting in the least 
from the brilliant merits of Major Croghan and his brave 
companions-in-arms, he looked upon the incident as 
having, under the guidance of Providence, contributed to 
the signal defeat of the enemy. He claimed no merit, and 
was thankful that he possessed the presence of mind that 
enabled him to make his escape. 

On reading this statement the mind cannot 
wholly resist the view taken by Mr. Norton, 
that his timely appearance may have 
operated to precipitate the attack on the fort, 
which proved so disastrous to the assailants. 

With some readers the memories revived 
by this reference will be of mingled pleasure 
and sadness. It is always gratifying to review 
the past in its pleasant aspects; but in 
proportion to the lapse of time involved, we 
associate thoughts of those who contributed 
to such memories, but who no longer remain 
to share therein. But it is profitable at times 
to stop in life's activities, to give special 
thought to departed sharers in our joys and 
sorrows, for thereby we are lifted out of, if 
not above, the engrossing cares of everyday 
life, which too often shut out thoughts which 
ennoble and elevate. 

After dinner the company adjourned to 
the old fort, a few relics of which still 
remain, where Hon. Eleutheros Cooke, of 
Sandusky, from the steps of the residence of 
General John Patterson (which was the 
wooden building lately removed from the 
centre of Fort Stephenson), delivered an 
able, eloquent, and appropriate address, 
which was published at the time. Letters 
were received from a large number of 
persons invited, including Colonel Croghan, 
General W. H. Harrison, Henry Clay, 
Colonel R. M. Johnson (then Vice- 
President), Governor , Shannon, Hon, 



Thomas Ewing, Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, 
John A. Bryan (Auditor of State), Hon. 
John W. Allen, General James Allen, and 
Dr. John G. Miller, of Columbus. Besides 
the regular, volunteer toasts were offered 
.by General John Patterson, B. J. Bartlett, 
William B. Craighill, Josiah Roop, Dr. 
Niles, Henry Spohn, Sidney Smith 
(subsequently by special legislative act, 
Sidney Sea), Colonel E. D. Bradley, Dr. A. 
H. Brown, Clark Waggoner, Captain 
Samuel Thompson, Pitt Cooke, and John N. 
Sloan, of Sandusky. One of the volunteer 
toasts was this: 

By a citizen: Colonel Bradley, Assistant Marshal of 
the Day, the dauntless hero and friend of liberty. When 
another victory like the one we celebrate is to be won, 
his country will know on whom to call to achieve it. 

"Another victory," and many of them, 
have since been "won" for "liberty," and the 
sentiment of the "citizen's" toast has been 
met in the heroic part taken therein by 
Colonel Bradley, the brave commander of 
the Sixty-eighth Ohio Volunteers in the 
Union army. That gentleman, still at 
Stryker, Williams county, Ohio, survives 
the battles of Point au Pelee and of the 
Rebellion. 

Of those from whom letters were re- 
ceived, only Hon. John W. Allen, of 
Cleveland, and ex-Governor Shannon (now 
of Kansas), are living; while, of the 
volunteer toasters named, only Colonel 
Bradley, Pitt Cooke, and Clark Waggoner 
are known now to survive. 

COLONEL CROGHAN'S LETTER. 

The letter of Colonel Croghan was as 
follows: 

ST. Louis, Mo., 26th July, 1839 
GENTLEMEN: I have had the honor to receive your 
letter of the 8th inst., inviting me, on the part of the 
citizens of Lower Sandusky, to be present with them in 
the coming anniversary of the defence of Fort 
Stephenson. 

It is with regret that I am, on account of official 
duties, unable to comply with your flattering invitation, 
In communicating this, my reply, I cannot 



112 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



forbear to acknowledge with deep gratitude, the honor 
you confer. To have been with those gallant men who 
served with me on the occasion alluded to, permitted by 
a kind Providence to perform a public duty which has 
been deemed worthy of a special notice by my fellow- 
citizens, is a source of high gratification, brightened, 
too, by the reflection that the scene of conflict is now, 
by the enterprise and industry of your people, the home 
of a thriving and intelligent community. 

I beg to offer to you, gentlemen, and through you to 
the citizens of Lower Sandusky, my warmest thanks for 
the remembrance which you have so flatteringly 
expressed. 

With every feeling of respect and gratitude, 

I am yours, ' G. CROGHAN. 

Dr. Frank Williams and others, Committee. 

NAMES OF THE DEFENDERS OF FORT 

STEPHENSON. 

Mr. Webb C. Hayes has expended much 

time and great care in his endeavors to 
obtain the names of the men who so bravely 
defended Fort Stephenson. The results of his 
labors have been a partial, but not a 
complete success. By his correspondence 
and inquiry at different departments at 
Washington and elsewhere, it appears that 
the American force at Fort Stephenson, 
August 2, 1813, consisted of detachments 
from Captain James Hunter's company of the 
Seventeenth regiment of United States 
Infantry; from Captain James Duncan's 
company of same regiment; also a 
detachment from the Twenty-fourth United 
States Infantry, and from the Pittsburgh 
Blues, Petersburgh Volunteers, and 
Greensburg Riflemen, in all amounting to 
one hundred and fifty men. 

Mr. Hayes' correspondence reveals the 
fact that there was not found in the Adjutant- 
General's office in Washington, any rolls of 
volunteers in the War of 1812, all of them 
having been sent to the Third Auditor's 
office many years before he made the 
inquiry. The Auditor's office failed to show 
the names of these detached volunteers. But 
there were records of the regulars, and from 
these Mr. Hayes obtained the following lists, 
which he has 



very kindly furnished the writer, to be used 
in this history, and which are as follows: 

DEFENDERS OF FORT STEPHENSON. 

Major George Croghan, Seventeenth United States 
Infantry, commanding. 

Captain James Hunter, Seventeenth United States 
Infantry. 

First Lieutenant Benjamin Johnson, Seventeenth 
United States Infantry. 

Second Lieutenant Cyrus A. Baylor, Seventeenth 
United States Infantry. 

Ensign Edmund Shipp, Seventeenth United States 
Infantry. 

Ensign Joseph Duncan, Seventeenth United States 
Infantry. 

First Lieutenant Joseph Anthony, Twenty-fourth 
United States Infantry. 

Second Lieutenant John Meek, Seventh United States 
Infantry. 

Petersburg Volunteers. 

Pittsburg Blues. 

Greensburg Riflemen. 

CAPTAIN JAMES HUNTER'S COMPANY, 
SEVENTEENTH UNITED STATES INFANTRY. 

Captain James Hunter, commanding. Sergeant Wayne 

Case. 

Sergeant James Huston. 

Sergeant Obadiah Norton. 

Corporal Matthew Burns. 

Corporal William Ewing. 

Corporal John Maxwell. 

PRIVATES. 

Pleasant Bailey, Samuel Brown, Elisha Condi ff, 
Thomas Crickman, Ambrose Dean, Leonard George, 
Nathaniel Gill, John Harley, Jonathan Hartley, William 
McDonald, Joseph McKey, Frederick Melts, Rice 
Millender, John Mumman, Samuel Pearsall, Daniel 
Perry, David Perry, William Ralph, John Rankin, Elisha 
Rathburn, Aaron Ray, Robert Row, John S alley, John 
Savage, John Smith, Thomas Striplin, William 
Sutherland, Martin Tanner, John Zett. 

CAPTAIN JAMES DUNCAN'S COMPANY, 
SEVENTEENTH UNITED STATES INFANTRY. 

First Lieutenant Benjamin Johnson, commanding. 
Second Lieutenant Cyrus A. Baylor. 
Sergeant Henry Lawell. Sergeant Thomas McCaul. 
Sergeant John M. Stotts. Sergeant Notley Williams. 

PRIVATES. 

Henry L. Bethers, Cornelius S. Bevins, Joseph 
Blamer, Jonathan C. Bowling, Nicholas Bryant, Robert 
Campbell, Samuel Campbell, Joseph Klink en beard, 
Joseph Childers, Ambrose Dine, Jacob Downs, James 
Harris, James Heartley, William 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



113 



Johnson, Elisha Jones, Thomas Linchard, William 

McClelland, Joseph McKee, John Martin, Ezekiel 

Mitchell, William Rogers, David Sudderfield, Thomas 
Taylor, John Williams. 

DETACHMENT TWENTY-FOURTH UNITED 

STATES INFANTRY. 

First Lieutenant Joseph Anthony, commanding. 

PRIVATES. 

William Gaines, John Foster, Jones, Samuel Riggs, 
Samuel Thurman. 

GREENSBURG RIFLEMEN. 

Sergeant Abraham Weaver. 

PETERSBURG VOLUNTEERS. 
Private Edmund Brown. 

PITTSBURG BLUES. 

Mr. Hayes has also furnished us, for use, the 
following correspondence relative to the battle and the 
proceedings of Congress on the subject, which we place 
before our readers, with thanks to Mr. Hayes: 

LOWER SANDUSKY, 25th July, 1813. 
GENERAL HARRISON: 

DEAR SIR: Mr. Connor has just arrived with the 
Indians which were sent by you to Fort Meigs a few 
days since. To him I refer you for information from that 
quarter. 

I have unloaded the boats which were brought from 
Cleveland, and shall sink them in the middle of the river 
(where it is ten feet deep) about one-half mile above the 
present landing. My men are engaged in making 
cartridges, and will have, in a short time, more than 
sufficient to answer any ordinary call. I have collected 
all the most valuable stores in one house. Should I be 
forced to evacuate the place, they will be blown up. 
Yours with respect, 

G. CROGHAN, 
Major Commanding at Lower Sandusky. 
Major-General Harrison. 

GENERAL HARRISON TO MAJOR CROGHAN. 

July 29, 1813. 

SIR: Immediately on receiving this letter, you will 
abandon Fort Stephenson, set fire to it, and repair with 
your command this night to headquarters. Cross the 
river and come up on the opposite side. If you should 
deem and find it impracticable to make good your march 
to this place, take the road to Huron, and pursue it with 
the utmost circumspection and dispatch. 

MAJOR CROGHAN TO GENERAL HARRISON. 

July 30, 1813. 

SIR; I have just received yours of yesterday, 10 
o'clock P. M., ordering me to destroy this place and 



make good my retreat, which was received too late to be 
carried into execution. We have determined to maintain 
this place, and by heavens we can. 

July 30, 1813. 
SIR: The General has just received your letter of this 
date, informing him that you had thought proper to 
disobey the order issued from this office, and delivered 
to you this morning. It appears that the information 
which dictated this order was incorrect; and as you did 
not receive it in the night, as was expected, it might 
have been proper that you should have reported the 
circumstances, and your situation, before you proceeded 
to its execution. This might have been passed over; but I 
am directed to say to you, that an officer who presumes 
to aver that he has made his resolution, and that he will 
act in direct opposition to the orders of his General, can 
no longer be entrusted with a separate command. 
Colonel Wells is sent to relieve you. You will deliver 
the command to him, and repair with Colonel Ball's 
squadron to this place. 
By command, &c, 

A. H. HOLMES, 

Assistant Adjutant-General. 

LOWER SANDUSKY, 3d August, 1813. 

GENERAL HARRISON. 

DEAR SIR: The enemy made an attempt to storm us 
last evening, but was repulsed with the loss of at least 
two hundred killed, wounded, and prisoners. 

One lieutenant-colonel,* a major, and a lieutenant, with 
about forty privates, are dead in our ditch. I have lost 
but one in killed and but few wounded. Further 
statements will be made you by the bearer. 
GEORGE CROGHAN, 

Major Commanding Fort Sandusky. 
P.S. — Since writing the above, two soldiers of the 
Forty-first regiment have gotten in, who state that the 
enemy have retreated in fact, one of their gunboats is 
within three hundred yards of our works, said to be 
loaded with camp equipage, etc., which they in their 
hurry have left. 

GEORGE CROGHAN. 

A true copy. 

JOHN O'FALLOW, Aid-de-Camp. 

HEADQUARTERS, SENECA TOWN, 
4th August, 1813. 
SIR: In my letter of the first instant I did myself the 
honor to inform you that one of my scouting parties had 
just returned from the Lake Shore and had discovered, 
the day before, the enemy in force near the mouth of the 
Sandusky Bay. The party had not passed Lower 
Sandusky two hours before the advance, consisting of 
Indians, appeared before the fort, and in half an hour 
after a large detachment of British troops; and in the 
course of the night commenced a cannonading against 
the fort 



*(Lieutenant-Colonel Short.) 



114 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



with three sixpounders and two howitzers, the latter 
from gunboats. The firing was partially answered by 
Major Croghan, having a sixpounder, the only piece of 
artillery. 

The fire of the enemy was continued at intervals 
during the second instant, until about half after five 
P.M., when finding that their cannons made little 
impression upon the works, and having discovered my 
position here and apprehending an attack, an attempt 
was made to carry the place by storm. Then troops were 
formed in two columns. Lieutenant-Colonel Short 
headed the principal one, composed of the light and 
battalion companies of the Forty-first regiment. This 
gallant officer conducted his men to the brink of the 
ditch, under the most galling and destructive fire from 
the garrison, and leaping into it was followed by a 
considerable part of his own and the light company. At 
this moment a masked porthole was suddenly opened 
and a sixpounder, with an half load of powder and a 
double charge of leaden slugs, at the distance of thirty 
feet, poured destruction upon them and killed or 
wounded nearly every man who had entered the ditch. In 
vain did the British officers exert themselves to lead on 
the balance of the column; it retired in disorder under a 
shower of shot from the fort, and sought safety in the 
adjoining woods. The other column, headed by the 
grenadiers, had also retired, after having suffered from 
the muskets of our men, to an adjacent ravine. In the 
course of the night the enemy, with the aid of their 
Indians, drew off the greater part of the wounded and 
dead, and embarking them in boats, descended the river 
with the utmost precipitation. In the course of the ad 
instant, having heard the cannonading, I made several 
attempts to ascertain the force and situation of the 
enemy. Our scouts were unable to get near the fort from 
the Indians which surrounded it. Finding, however, that 
the enemy had only light artillery, and being well con- 
vinced that it could make little impression upon the 
works, and that any attempt to storm it would be resisted 
with effect, I waited for the arrival of two hundred and 
fifty mounted volunteers, which on the evening before 
had left Upper Sandusky. But as soon as I was informed 
that the enemy were retreating, I set out with the 
dragoons to endeavor to overtake them, leaving Generals 
McArthur and Cass to follow with all the infantry (about 
seven hundred) that could be spared from the protection 
of the stores and sick at this place. I found it impossible 
to come up with them. Upon my arrival at Sandusky I 
was informed by the prisoners that the enemy's forces 
consisted of four hundred and ninety regular troops, and 
five hundred of Dixon's Indians, commanded by General 
Proctor in person, and that Tecumseh, with about two 
thousand warriors, was somewhere in the swamps 
between this and Fort Meigs, expecting my advance or 
that of a convoy of provisions. As there was no prospect 
of doing anything in front, and being 



apprehensive that Tecumseh might destroy the stores 
and small detachments in my rear, I sent orders to 
General Cass, who commanded the reserve, to fall back 
to this place, and to General McArthur, with the front 
line, to follow and support him. 

I remained at Sandusky until the parties that were sent 
out in every direction, returned not an enemy was to be 
seen. 

I am sorry that I cannot transmit you Major Croghan's 
official report. He was to have sent it to me this 
morning, but I have just heard that he was so much 
exhausted by thirty-six hours of continued exertion as to 
be unable to make it. It will not be amongst the least of 
General Proctor's mortifications to find that he has been 
baffled by a youth who has just passed his twenty-first 
year. He is, however, a hero worthy of his gallant uncle, 
General G. R. Clarke, and I bless my good fortune in 
having first introduced this promising shoot of a 
distinguished family to the notice of the Government. 

Captain Hunter, of the Seventeenth regiment, the 
second in command, conducted himself with great 
propriety, and never were a set of finer young fellows 
than the subalterns, viz: Lieutenants Johnson and 
Baylor, of the Seventeenth, Anthony, of the Twenty- 
fourth, Meeks, of the Seventh, and Ensigns Shipp and 
Duncan, of the Seventeenth. 

The following account of the unworthy artifice and 
conduct of the enemy will excite your indignation. 
Major Chambers was sent by General Proctor, ac- 
companied by Colonel Elliott, to demand the surrender 
of the fort. They were met by Ensign Shipp. The Major 
observed that General Proctor had a number of cannon, a 
large body of regular troops, and so many Indians whom 
it was impossible to control, and if the fort was taken, as 
it must be, the whole of the garrison would be 
massacred. Mr. Shipp answered that it was the 
determination of Major Croghan, his officers and men, 
to defend the garrison, or be buried in it, and that they 
might do their best. Colonel Elliott then addressed Mr. 
Shipp, and said. "You are a fine young man; I pity your 
situation; for God sake, surrender and prevent the 
dreadful slaughter that must follow resistance." Shipp 
turned from him with indignation, and was immediately 
taken hold of by an Indian, who attempted to wrest his 
sword from him. Elliott pretended to exert himself to 
release him, and expressed great anxiety to get him safe 
in the fort. 

In a former letter I informed you, sir, that the post of 
Lower Sandusky could not be defended against heavy 
cannon, and that I had ordered the Commandant, if he 
could safely retire upon the advance of the enemy, to do 
so after having destroyed the fort, as there was nothing 
in it that could justify the risk of defending it, 
commanded as it is, by a hill on the opposite side of the 
river, within range of cannon, and having on that side 
old and illy constructed block 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



115 



houses and dry, friable pickets. The enemy, ascending 
the bay and river with a fine breeze, gave M aj or 
Croghan so little notice of their approach that he could 
not execute the order for retreating. Luckily they had no 
artillery but sixpounders and five-and-a-half -inch 
howitzers. 

General Proctor left Maiden with the determination of 
storming Fort Meigs. His immense body of troops were 
divided into three commands, (and must have amounted 
to at least five thousand); Dixon commanded the 
Mackinaw and other Northern tribes; Tecumseh, those of 
the Wabash, Illinois and St. Joseph; and Round Head, 
Wyandot chief, the warriors of his own nation, and those 
of the Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottawatomies of the 
Michigan Territory. Upon seeing the formidable 
preparations to receive them at Fort Meigs, the idea of 
storming was abandoned, and the plan adopted of 
decoying the garrison out, or inducing me to come to its 
relief with a force inadequate to repel the attack of his 
immense hordes of savages. Having waited several days 
for the latter, and practicing ineffectually several 
stratagems to accomplish the former, provisions began 
to be scarce, and the Indians to be dissatisfied. The 
attack upon Sandusky was the dernier resort. The greater 
part of the Indians refused to accompany him, and 
returned to the River Raisin. Tecumseh, with his 
command, remained in the neighborhood of Fort Meigs, 
sending parties to all the posts upon Hull's road, and 
those upon the Auglaize to search for cattle. Five 
hundred of the Northern Indians, under Dixon, attended 
Proctor. I have sent a party to the lake to ascertain the 
direction that the enemy have taken. The scouts which 
have returned, saw no signs of Indians later than those 
made in the night of the and inst., and a party has just 
arrived from Fort Meigs, who make the same report. I 
think it probable that they have all gone off. If so, this 
mighty armament, from which so much was expected by 
the enemy, will return covered with disgrace and 
mortification. As Captain Perry was nearly ready to sail 
from Erie when I last heard from him, I hope that the 
period will soon arrive when we shall transfer the 
laboring oar of the enemy, and oblige him to encounter 
some of the labors and difficulties which we had 
undergone in waging a defensive warfare and protecting 
our extensive frontier against a superior force. I have the 
honor to enclose you a copy of the first note received 
from Major Croghan. It was written before day. He was 
mistaken as to the number of the enemy that remained in 
the ditch; they amounted to one lieutenant-colonel (by 
brevet), one lieutenant and twenty-five privates; the 
number of prisoners to one sergeant and twenty-five 
privates, fourteen of them badly wounded. Every care 
has been taken of the latter, and the officers buried with 
the honors due to their rank and their bravery. All the 
dead that were not in the ditch, were taken off in the 
night by the 



Indians. It is impossible from the circumstances of the 
attack that they should have lost less than one hundred; 
some of the prisoners think that it amounted to two 
hundred. A young gentleman, a private in the Petersburg 
volunteers, of the name of Brown, assisted by five or six 
of that company and the Pittsburgh Blues, who were 
accidentally in the fort, managed the sixpounder which 
produced such destruction in the ranks of the enemy. 
I have the honor to be, with great respect, sir, 
Your obedient servant, 

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 
N. B. Of our few wounded men there is but one that will 
not be well in less than six days. 

HEADQUARTERS, SENECA TOWN, 

5th August, 1813, 6 o'clock A. M. 

SIR: I have the honor to enclose you Major Croghan's 

report of the attack upon his post, which has this 

moment come to hand. Fortunately the mail has not 

closed. 

With great respect, I have the honor to be, sir, Your 
humble servant, 

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 
P. S. — The new ship was launched at Maiden on the 
17th ult. I have apprised Commodore Perry of it. Hon. 
General Armstrong, 

Secretary of War. 
LOWER SANDUSKY, August 5, 1813. 
DEAR SIR: — I have the honor to inform you that the 
combined force of the enemy, amounting to at least five 
hundred regulars and seven or eight hundred Indians, 
under the immediate command of General Proctor, made 
its appearance before this place early on Sunday evening 
last; and so soon as the General had made such 
disposition of his troops as would cut off my retreat, 
should I be disposed to make one, he sent Colonel 
Elliott, accompanied by Major Chambers, with a flag, to 
demand the surrender of the fort, as he was anxious to 
spare the effusion of blood, which he should probably 
not have in his power to do, should he be reduced to the 
necessity of taking the place by storm. My answer to the 
summons was, that I was determined to defend the place 
to the last extremity, and that no force, however large, 
should induce me to surrender it. So soon as the flag 
was returned a brisk fire was opened upon us from the 
gunboats in the river, and from a five-and-one-half inch 
howitzer on shore, which was kept up with little 
intermission throughout the night. At an early hour the 
next morning, three sixes (which had been placed during 
the night within two hundred and fifty yards of the 
pickets,) began to play upon us, but with little effect. 
About 4 o'clock P.M., discovering that the fire from all 
his guns was concentrated against the northwestern 
angle of the fort, I became confident that his object was 
to make a breach, and attempt to storm the works at that 
point. I therefore ordered out as many men as could be 
employed, for the purpose of strengthening that part, 
which was so 



116 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



effectually secured by means of bags of flour, sand, etc., 
that the picketing suffered little or no injury, 
notwithstanding which the enemy, about five hundred, 
having formed in close column, advanced to assault our 
works at the expected point, at the same time making 
two feints on the front of Captain Hunter's lines. The 
column which advanced against the northwestern angle, 
consisting of about three hundred and fifty men, was so 
completely enveloped in smoke as not to be discovered 
until it had approached within fifteen or twenty paces of 
the lines, but the men being all at their posts and ready 
to receive it, commenced so heavy and galling a fire as 
to throw the columns into a little confusion. Being 
quickly rallied, it advanced to the centre works and 
began to leap into the ditch. Just at that moment a fire of 
grape was opened from our sixpounder (which had been 
previously arranged so as to rake in that direction,) 
which, together with the musketry, threw them into such 
confusion that they were compelled to retire 
precipitately to the woods. During the assault, which 
lasted about half an hour, an incessant fire was kept up 
by the enemy's artillery (which consisted of five sixes 
and a howitzer), but without effect. My whole loss 
during the siege was one killed and seven wounded, 
slightly. The loss of the enemy in killed, wounded and 
prisoners, must exceed one hundred and fifty. One 
lieutenant-colonel, a lieutenant, and fifty rank and file 
were found in and about the ditch, dead or wounded. 
Those of the remainder who were not able to escape, 
were taken off during the night by the Indians. Seventy 
stand of arms and several brace of pistols have been 
collected near the works. About three in the morning the 
enemy sailed down the river, leaving behind them a boat 
containing clothing and considerable military stores. 

Too much praise cannot be bestowed on the officers, 
noncommissioned officers, and privates under my 
command for their gallantry and good conduct during 
the siege. 

Yours with respect, 
[Signed.] G. CROGHAN, 

Major Seventeenth United States Infantry, Com- 
manding Lower Sandusky. 
Major General Harrison, Commanding Northwestern 

Army. 

LOWER SANDUSKY, August 27, 1813. 

I have, with much regret, seen in some of the public 
prints such misrepresentations respecting my refusal to 
evacuate this post, as are calculated not only to injure 
me in the estimation of military men, but also to excite 
unfavorable impressions as to the propriety of General 
Harrison's conduct relative to this affair. 

His character as a military man is too well established 
to need my approbation or support, but his public 
services entitle him at least to common justice. This 
affair does not furnish cause of reproach. If 



public opinion has been lately misled respecting his late 
conduct, it will require but a moment's cool, dis- 
passionate reflection, to convince them of its propriety. 
The measures recently adopted by him, so far from 
deserving censure, are the clearest plods of his keen 
penetration and able generalship. It is true that I did not 
proceed immediately to execute his order to evacuate 
this post, but this disobedience was not, as some would 
wish to believe, the result of a fixed determination to 
maintain the post contrary to his most positive orders, as 
will appear from the following detail, which is given in 
explanation of my conduct: 

About 10 o'clock on the morning of the 30th ultimo, a 
letter from the Adjutant-General's office, dated Seneca 
Town, July 29, 1813, was handed me by Mr. Connor, 
ordering me to abandon this post, burn it, and retreat 
that night to headquarters. On the reception of this order 
of the General I called a council of officers, in which it 
was determined not to abandon the place, at least until 
the further pleasure of the General should be known, as 
it was thought an attempt to retreat in the open day, in 
the face of a superior force of the enemy, would be more 
hazardous than to remain in the fort, under all its disad- 
vantages. I therefore wrote a letter to the General 
Council in such terms as I thought were calculated to 
deceive the enemy, should it fall into his hands, which I 
thought more than probable as well as to inform the 
General, should it be so fortunate as to reach him, that I 
would wait to hear from him before I should proceed to 
execute his order. This letter, contrary to my expec- 
tations, was received by the General, who, not knowing 
what reasons urged me to write in a tone, so decisive, 
concluded, very rationally, that the manner of it was 
demonstrative of the most positive determination to 
disobey his order under any circumstances. I was 
therefore suspended from the command of the fort, and 
ordered to headquarters. But on explaining to the 
General my reason for not executing his orders, and my 
object in using the style I had done, he was so perfectly 
satisfied with the explanation that I was immediately 
reinstated in the command. 

It will be recollected that the order above alluded to 
was written on the night previous to my receiving it. 
Had it been delivered to me, as was intended, that night, 
I should have obeyed it without hesitation. Its not 
reaching me in time was the only reason which induced 
me to consult my officers on the propriety of waiting the 
General's further orders. 

It has been stated, also, that "upon my representations 
of my ability to maintain the post, the General altered 
his determination to abandon it." This is incorrect. No 
such representation was ever made. And the last order I 
received from the General was precisely the same as that 
first given, viz: That if I discovered the approach of a 
large British force by water (presuming that they would 
bring heavy 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



117 



artillery), time enough to effect a retreat, I was to do so; 
but if I could not effect a retreat with safety, to defend 
the post to the last extremity." 

A day or two before the enemy appeared before Fort 
Meigs, the General had reconnoitered the surrounding 
ground, and being informed that the hill on the opposite 
side of Sandusky completely commanded the fort, I 
offered to undertake, with the troops under my 
command, to remove it to that side. The General, upon 
reflection, thought it best not to attempt it, as he 
believed that if the enemy again appeared on this side of 
the lake it would be before the work could be finished. 

It is useless to disguise the fact that this fort is 
commanded by the points of high ground around it; a 
single stroke of the eye made this clear to me the first 
time I had occasion to examine the neighborhood, with a 
view of discovering the relative strength and weakness 
of the place. 

It would be insincere to say that I am not flattered by 
the many handsome things which have been said about 
the defence that was made by the troops under my 
command; but I desire no plaudits which are bestowed 
upon me at the expense of General Harrison. 

I have at all times enjoyed his confidence so far as my 
rank in the army entitled me to it, and on proper 
occasions received his marked attention. I have felt the 
warmest attachment for him as a man, and my 
confidence in him as an able commander remains 
unshaken. I feel every assurance that he will at all times 
do me ample justice; and nothing could give me more 
pain than to see his enemies seize upon this occasion to 
deal out their unfriendly feelings and acrimonious 
dislikes; and as long as he continues (as in my humble 
opinion he has hitherto done,) to make the wisest 
arrangements and most judicious disposition which the 
forces under his command will justify, I shall not 
hesitate to unite with the army in bestowing upon him 
that confidence which he so richly merits, and which has 
on no occasion been withheld. 

Your friend, GEORGE CROGHAN, 

Major 17th Infantry, Commanding Lower Sandusky. 

LOWER SENECA TOWN, August 29, 1813. 
The undersigned, being the general, field and staff 
officers, with that portion of the Northwestern Army 
under the immediate command of General Harrison, 
have' observed with regret and surprise that charges, as, 
improper in the form as in the substance, have been 
made against the conduct of General Harrison during the 
recent investment of Lower Sandusky. At another time, 
and under ordinary circumstances, we should deem it 
improper and unmilitary thus publicly to give an opinion 
respecting the movements of the army. . But public 
confidence in the commanding general is essential to the 
success of the campaign, and causelessly to withdraw or 
to withhold that confidence is more than individual 
injustice; it becomes a serious injury to the service. A 
part of the force of which the American Army consists 
will derive its 



greatest strength and efficiency from a confidence in the 
commanding general, and from those moral causes 
which accompany and give energy to public opinion. A 
very erroneous idea respecting the number of the troops 
then at the disposal of the General, has doubtless been 
the primary cause of those unfortunate and unfounded 
impressions. A sense of duty forbids us from giving a 
detailed view of our strength at that time. In that respect 
we have fortunately experienced a very favorable 
change. But we refer the public to the General's official 
report to the Secretary of War, of Major Croghan's 
successful defence of Lower Sandusky. In that will be 
found a statement of our whole disposable force; and he 
who believes that, with such a force, and under the 
circumstances which then occurred, General Harrison 
ought to have advanced upon the enemy, must be left to 
correct his opinion in the school of experience. 

On a review of the course then adopted, we are de- 
cidedly of the opinion that it was such as was dictated 
by military wisdom, and by a due regard to our own 
circumstances and to the situation of the enemy. The 
reasons for this opinion it is evidently improper now to 
give, but we hold ourselves ready at a future period, and 
when other circumstances shall have intervened, to 
satisfy every man of its correctness who is anxious to 
investigate and willing to receive the truth. And, with 
ready acquiescence beyond the mere claims of military 
duty, we are prepared to obey a general whose measures 
meet our most deliberate approbation and merit that of 
his country. 

LEWIS CASS, 
Brigadier General, U. S. A. 
SAMUEL WELLS, 
Colonel Seventeenth R. U. S. I. 
THOMAS D. OWINGS, 
Colonel Twenty-eighth R. U. S. I. 
GEORGE PAUL, 
Colonel Seventeenth R. U. S. I. 
J. C. BARTLETT, 
Colonel, Quartermaster-General. 
JAMES V. BALL, 

Lieutenant Colonel. 
ROBERT MORRISON, 

Lieutenant Colonel. 
GEORGE TODD, 
Major Nineteenth R. U. S. I. 
WILLIAM TRIGG, 
Major Twenty-eighth R. U. S. I. 

JAMES SMILEY, 
Major Twenty-eighth R. U. S. I. 
R. GRAHAM, 
Major Seventh R. U. S. I. 
GEORGE CROGHAN, 
Major Seventeenth R. U. S. I. 
L. HUKILL, 
Major and Assistant Inspector General. 
E.D. WOOD, 

Major Engineers. 



118 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
8th February, 1815. 
THE REWARD OF VALOR. 
Mr. Troup, from the Committee on Military Affairs, 
reported the following resolutions, the adoption of 
which is recommended by the said committee, viz: 
Resolved, 

(2) Resolved, That the thanks of Congress be, and 
they are hereby presented to Major-General Harrison, 
and to Governor Shelby, and through them to the 
officers and men under their command, for their 
gallantry and good conduct in defeating the combined 
British and Indian forces under Major-General Proctor, 
on the Thames, in Upper Canada, the 5th of October, 
1813, capturing the entire British army, with their 
baggage, camp equipage, and artillery, and that the 
President of the United States be requested to cause gold 
medals to be struck, emblematical of this triumph, and 
presented to General Harrison and Governor Shelby. 

(3) Resolved, 

(4) Resolved, That Congress entertain a high sense of 
the merit of Colonel Croghan, and the officers and men 
under his command, for the gallant defence of Fort 
Stephenson, on the Lower Sandusky, on the 1st and 2d 
of August, 1813, repelling with great slaughter the 
assault of a British and Indian army much superior in 
number; and that the President be requested to present 
an elegant sword to Colonel Croghan. 

(5) Resolved, 

(6) Resolved, 

(7) Resolved 

(8) Resolved 

The resolutions were twice read, and referred to a 

committee of the whole. 

Hon. George M. Troup, of Georgia, reported the 
above resolutions. 

[See Annals of Congress, Thirteenth Congress, 
Volume III.] 

No action was taken on the resolutions. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 
January 21, 1835. 
GOLD MEDAL TO COLONEL CROGHAN. 

The joint resolution to present a gold medal to 
Colonel Croghan, for his gallantry in the defence of Fort 
Stephenson, was taken up and considered as in 
committee of the whole. 

Mr. Bibb observed that the brave and noble defence of 
this fort had been the cause of saving all the Western 
country from the hostile and destructive incursion of the 
British and Indians. To Colonel Croghan's valiant 
defence of Fort Stephenson, this and other advantages 
equally great and beneficial were owing. As a reward for 
the gallant and dauntless spirit exhibited by our brave 
soldiers in time of imminent danger, he hoped this bill 
would pass. It should be borne in mind that Colonel 
Croghan 



might, without any dishonor, have preferred a course 
safer, indeed, to himself, but disastrous to his country, 
by not persevering in a defence which appeared so 
difficult, nay, so impossible; that to have abandoned 
the fort, to have left the West open to the enemy, 
would have been deemed a necessary, a prudent, and 
not a pusillanimous proceeding; yet, in the face of 
every obstacle, under the weight of every 
discouragement, he, with a handful of brave men, 
presented a bold and undaunted front to the enemy, 
arrested them on the threshold of the West, and saved 
Ohio and the adjoining States from invasion, from 
desolation, from plunder, and from bloodshed. For such 
a noble and deserving exploit, for such an eminent 
service, this bill provided a just, but a moderate 
compensation. As far as regarded the value given, the 
bill was not of any great importance; but, sir, said Mr. 
B. with great animation, as a tribute to deeds of noble 
daring, as a reward of services performed at the peril of 
life, as an encouragement for soldiers who bared their 
bosoms in defence of their country, and offered them as 
a shield to the defenceless homes of their fellow- 
citizens, in this point of view the provision is of the 
first importance. He hoped, therefore, that no 
difficulties would be offered to the bill; it had already 
undergone the closest examination, and the report of 
the committee establishing the goodness and propriety 
of the bill was full and satisfactory. 

Mr. Hill wished to know whether all the officers 
were included in the bill. 

Mr. Bibb replied that they were all, with one single 
exception, in the case of an individual, whose name he 
should not mention, but who, he regretted to say, had 
not performed his duty on that memorable occasion. 

Mr. Preston suggested the insertion of the words 
"heirs and representatives," by which the benefit of the 
bill might be extended to the children, in case of the 
decease of the original grantees, which was acceded to; 
and the bill, as amended, was read a second time. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
Tuesday, January 27th, 1835. 

GOLD MEDAL, ETC., TO COLONEL CROGHAN. 

Mr. Speight, from the Committee on Military Af- 
fairs, reported a joint resolution, which had been 
referred to that committee, with an amendment, 
authorizing the President to present a gold medal to 
Colonel Croghan, and swords to several officers under 
his command, for their gallant conduct in the defence 
of Fort Stephenson, during the late war. 

Mr. Speight said, as he believed that no opposition 
would be offered to the resolution, he would move its 
third reading. 

Mr. Parker, of New Jersey, said he had no doubt as 
to the gallantry of these officers; not the least; but if 
they conferred these distinctions in the present case, 
why not in others, it would be asked, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



ll c 



which occurred during the last war? It was his im- 
pression also that some acknowledgment had been 
already made to these officers. 

Mr. Mercer said such was not the case. Mr. Mercer 
briefly explained the nature and importance of the 
services rendered by these officers. 

The joint resolution, as amended, was read a third 
time, and passed. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 
February 3, 1835. 

The amendments of the House to the bill making an 
appropriation for presenting a gold medal to Colonel 
George Croghan, and swords to the officers who served 
under him at the defence of Fort Sandusky, during the 
late war, were concurred in; and a further verbal 
amendment having been made, on motion of Mr. 
Preston, the bill was sent to the House of 
Representatives for concurrence. 

This debate was participated in by Senator George M. Bibb, 
of Kentucky; Senator Isaac Hill, of New Hampshire, and 
Senator William C. Preston, of South Carolina, in the Senate; 
and by Honorable Jesse Speight, of North Carolina; Honorable 
James Parker, of New Jersey, and Honorable Charles F. Mer- 
cer, of Virginia, in the House of Representatives. 

[See Congressional. Debates, Vol. XI. 
Part I.] 

RESOLUTIONS, T W ENT Y -THIRD CONGRESS, 
SECOND SESSION. 

No. 2A— RESOLUTION PRESENTING A GOLD 
MEDAL TO GEORGE CROGHAN, AND A SWORD 
TO EACH OF THE OFFICERS UNDER HIS COM- 
MAND, FOR THEIR GALLANTRY AND GOOD 
CONDUCT IN THE DEFENCE OF FORT 
STEPHENSON, IN EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND 
THIRTEEN. 

Resolved, etc., That the President of the United States 
be requested to cause a gold medal to be struck, with 
suitable emblems and devices, and presented to Colonel 
Croghan, in testimony of the high sense entertained by 
Congress of his gallantry and good conduct in the 
defence of Fort Stephenson, and that he present a sword 
to each of the following officers engaged in that affair: 
to Captain James Hunter, to the eldest male 
representative of Lieutenant Benjamin Johnson, and to 
Lieutenant Cyrus A. Baylor, John Meek, Ensign Joseph 
Duncan, and the nearest male representative of Ensign 
Edmund Shipp, deceased. 

Approved, February 13, 1835. 
INDIAN MURDERS IN THE VICINITY OF FORT 
STEPHENSON PREVIOUS TO THE BATTLE, WHICH 
ILLUSTRATES THE DANGERS TO THE EARLY 
SETTLERS ALONG THE SANDUSKY RIVER, AT 
THE TIME. 

Albert Cavalier, esq., who is noticed in the 
history of Rice township, and who 



came to Lower Sandusky from the Maumee, 
in January, 1812, in an interview with 
Homer Everett on the 6th of September, 
1878, amongst other things narrated some 
events connected with Fort Stephenson, 
which seem proper in the history of the fort. 
Mr. Cavalier said: "After arriving here, the 
families who came lived in the government 
barracks during the remainder of the winter. 
In the spring the whole country about the 
fort was infested with Indians in small 
bands, who were giving information to the 
British of the condition of the inhabitants, 
and also of military preparations, and 
plundering, murdering, and scalping such 
inhabitants as they found in a defenceless 
condition. And it soon became evident that 
no family or person was safe from the 
scalping knife and tomahawk of the savages, 
except those who were under cover of 
military protection. When the planting 
season came, we lived in a log house near 
the fort, and planted some corn and potatoes 
on the bottomland, within a short distance 
from the fort, ready to flee into it on the first 
alarm. A few other settlers or pioneers were 
in like manner attempting to raise a living 
from the soil. "Although but a boy at the 
time" said Mr. Cavalier: "I recollect vividly 
one or two incidents which occurred that 
summer." 

"Mr. George Shannon, a son-in-law of 
Mrs. Elizabeth Whittaker, with a man named 
Pomroy, were at work on the flats below the 
fort, and near where the shops of the Lake 
Erie & Louisville Railroad now stand. I 
think they were working in a field, or 
gathering some vegetables. While they were 
engaged, a third man, named Isaac Futy, 
with rifle in hand, was on the lookout for 
Indians. They were startled by the crack of a 
rifle in an adjoining cornfield, or of two 
rifles fired at the same instant. Both Shannon 
and 



120 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Pomroy were hit and wounded, but not 
mortally. Futy instantly fired in the direction 
of the smoke, and then the three men made a 
hasty run for the river bank, to conceal 
themselves in the thick bushes which then 
margined the river. The Indians, losing sight 
of these men, then proceeded to a log cabin 
near the place, where a family resided 
consisting of two elderly people, a son and a 
daughter. On hearing the firing on Shannon 
and Pomroy, and the return fire of Futy not 
far off, the son and daughter left the old 
people and fled to a cornfield near by to 
hide, but here they were met and 
tomahawked and scalped by the savages, 
who then followed the father and mother, 
who had fled to the river bank, and murdered 
and scalped them there as they were in the 
act of getting into a small boat or canoe to 
cross the river. 

"On hearing the crack of the rifles one 
Francis Navarre, a Frenchman, and a hunter 
as well as an Indian fighter, also a dead shot 
with his rifle, scaled the pickets of the fort, 
rifle in hand, and ran down the river toward 
the scene of trouble. Navarre discovered two 
Indians chasing a soldier, who had ventured 
from the fort and was now running toward it. 
Navarre quickly shot the foremost Indian, 
concealed himself by squatting in the high 
grass, reloaded his rifle while thus con- 
cealed, and then shot the remaining savage. 

"Navarre was familiar with the habits of 
the Indians, and though he knew he had 
killed them both, on returning to the fort 
with the rescued soldier told the men that if 
they would go where he shot they would not 
find any dead Indians, but they each had a 
pack on their back, and they would find the 
packs there with the bullets in them or a 
bullet hole through each pack, for he had 
shot them in front through the breast right 
opposite 



the packs, and the bullets went through or 
lodged in the packs. He also said they would 
find that the family had been murdered and 
scalped. 

"A detachment was at once sent from the 
fort, and found Navarre's words true. There 
were the Indians' two packs and the bullets 
in them, but the bodies of their dead owners 
had been carried away by other Indians 
lurking near. The detachment also found the 
bodies of the family of four, and also the 
bodies of two soldiers, all of whom had been 
murdered and scalped. 

"Shannon, Pomroy and Futy were dis- 
covered in their hiding places under the river 
bank. They and the dead bodies were all 
brought to the fort." 

Mr. Cavalier says: 

"I heard these facts from men and women 
at the time, and I saw the six dead bodies 
when they were brought into the fort. The 
alarm and the sight of these six bloody and 
mutilated bodies made an impression on me, 
though young at the time, which I can never 
forget, nor express in words." 

CHILLICOTHE'S TESTIMONIAL. 

Eleven days after Croghan's splendid 
victory, the ladies of Chillicothe, then the 
State capital, presented to the gallant 
commandant a sword, accompanied by an 
address, as a public acknowledgment of his 
bravery and military skill. The names 
attached to the address show that the wives 
of the most prominent men of the time 
anxiously watched affairs, and were ready to 
reward and praise gallantry. 

CHILLICOTHE, August 13, 1813. 
SIR: — In consequence of the gallant defence which, under the 
influence of Divine Providence, was effected by you and the 
troops under your command, of Fort Stephenson, at Lower 
Sandusky, on the evening of the second instant, the ladies of 
the town of Chillicothe, whose names are undersigned, 
impressed with a high sense of your merit as a soldier and a 
gentleman, and with great confidence in 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



121 



your patriotism and valor, present you with a sword. 

To Major George Croghan. 

(Signed by) 

MARY FINLEY, 

MARY STERRET, 

ANN CRAIGHTON, 

ELEANOR LAMB, 

NANCY WADDLE, 

ELIZA CARLISLE, 

MARY A. SOUTHARD, 

SUSAN D.WHEATON, 

RUHAMMAIRWIN, 

JUDITH DELANO, 

MARG'T MCLANBURGH, 

MARGARET MILLER, 

ELIZABETH MARTIN, 

NANCY MCARTHUR, 

JANE McCOY, 

LAVINIA FULTON, 

MARTHASCOTT, 



CATHERINE FULLERTON, 
REBECCA M.ORR, 
SUSAN WALKE, 
ANN M.DUNN, 
MARGARET KEYS, 
CHARLOTTE JAMES, 
ESTHER DOOLtTTLE, 
ELEANOR BUCHANNON, 
MARGARET MCFARLAND, 
DEBORAH FERREE. 
JANE M.EVANS, 
FRANCES BRUSH, 
MARY CURTES, 
MARY P. BROWN, 
JANE HEYLAN, 
NANCY KERR, 
CATHARINE HOUGH, 



ELEANOR WORTHINGTON, SALLY MCLANE. 



To this letter Major Croghan made the 
following reply, dated at Lower 
Sandusky, August 25: 

LADIES OF CHILLICOTHE: I have received the 
sword which you have been pleased to present to me, as 
a testimonial of your approbation of my conduct on the 
second instant. A mark of distinction so flattering and 
unexpected has excited feelings which I can not express. 
Yet while I return you thanks for the unmerited gift you 
have bestowed, I feel well aware that my good fortune, 
which was bought by the activity of the brave soldiers 
under my command, has raised in your expectations in 
my future efforts, which must, sooner or later, I fear, be 
disappointed. Still, I pledge myself, even though fortune 
may not be again propitious, that my exertions shall be 
such as never to cause you in the least to regret the 
honors you have been pleased to confer upon your 
"youthful soldier." 



CHAPTER IX. 



CIVIL HISTORY. 

Erection of Townships — Names on Tax Duplicate of 1823 — Civil Register — Representatives in Congress — Representatives in the Ohio 
Senate and House — Common Pleas Judges — Associate Judges — Clerks Of Court — Sheriffs — Prosecuting Attorneys — Auditors — 
Treasurers — Surveyors — Commissioners. 



THE erection of Sandusky county out of 
the territory to which the United States 
acquired an undisputed title by the treaty of 
1817, has already been noticed. Although 
Seneca county was erected by the same act 
(1820), local government was not organized 
until four years later. During the interval, 
Sandusky county's authority extended over 
Seneca. Sandusky county proper then 
included all the territory between the 
Firelands and Wood county, as far north as 
Lake Erie. All this tract was originally 
divided into two townships Croghan (or 
Croghanville), east of the river; and 
Sandusky, west of the river. 

Note — Prepared by direction of the publishers. 



At the first meeting of the county 
commissioners, in 1820, Thompson township 
was set off from Croghan, and soon after 
Seneca township from Sandusky. Both these 
divisions, as originally constituted, are now 
mainly included in Seneca county. Portage 
township was next set off from Sandusky. 
The petition placed before the 
commissioners by residents of the proposed 
town, is characteristic of official papers of 
the early period of the county's history. It 
reads: 

to the Honorable Commissioners of Sandusky, Gr. 
the inhabitants of the under Signed Residence of 
Sandusky county humbly Shueth that they with the other 
Residence of saide county Leighbour under 



122 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



many seorious defficults and di sad vanti ages in con- 
ciquence of the distance they have to go to the place of 
holding their elections, in fact the Great Bounds of said 
township and the distance we reside one from another 
tends greatly to retard publick business in our quarter of 
the township. under these conci derations your 
pratitioners therefore pray that you may direct a new 
town to be Laid off to be Cald portage. 

The township of Portage, as erected in 
1 820, included portions of the present 
townships of Sandusky, Washington, and 
Woodville, all of Ottawa county, and a 
corner of Lucas, and all of Rice township. 

Townsend was established in 1820; Green 
Creek, York, and Ballville in 1822, and 
Riley in 1 824. Other townships were 
organized from time to time in that part of 
the county now included in Ottawa. The 
Black Swamp region was organized into 
townships as follow: Jackson, 1829; 
Washington, 1830; Scott, 1833; Madison, 
1833; and Woodville, 1840. Bay township 
was divided by the erection of Ottawa 
county, in 1840, and that part remaining in 
Sandusky county, together with several 
sections of Sandusky township, was con- 
stituted a new township named Rice, in 
1840. Fremont was set apart as a separate 
township, in 1878. 

The following names appear on the tax 
duplicate for 1822: * 

Sandusky: Jacob Bowlus, jr.; Jacob Bowlus, sr.; 
George Boyles, Louis Couts, James McCollister, 
William Christie, Jacob Cline, William Dew, E. P. 
Disbro, Cyrus Hulbard, Peter Holbrook, Robert Harvey, 
Thomas L. Hawkins, Israel Harrington, Nathaniel 
Holbrook, George Kemp, James Kirk, Calvin Leezen, 
Joseph Loveland, Alexander McIIroy, Sanford Marn, J. 
& G. G. Olmstead, Reuben Patterson, George Shannon, 
John W. Tylor, Morris Tylor, Nicholas Whittinger, 
Elizabeth Whittaker, Benjamin Wheat, Isaac Whittaker, 
Isaac Ward. 

Total tax of Sandusky township, $19.20. 

Croghan: Jacob Ash, John Ash, Eldridge Bristol, 
Seth Cochran, Peleg Cooley, Andrew Courtright, 
Richard Guinall, G. Davis, Josiah Gate, James 

NOTE. For boundaries see township histories. 
* Townships properly belonging to Seneca county are 
omitted. 



Hopkins, L. Hulbard, Anny Ierey, Rural Loomis, Israel 
Markham, Moses Nicholas, Joseph Parish, Joel Risdon, 
S. Sutton, Aley Harris, Isaac Knapp, Boswell Lomice, 
M. A. Newman, W. & R. Ross, Philip Sutton, William 
Stull, Samuel P. Newman. 

Total tax of Croghan township, $18.70. 

Portage; Pascal Bisnette, J. Ballard, Samuel Cochran, 
G. Cuture, Lewis Cuture, Benjamin Drake, B. Dishetter, 
Lewis Deoo, Archibald Easter, George McFarland, 
Thomas & H. Forguson, A. Fuller, Joseph Phelps, 
Stephen Grissell, John Holmes, Thomas Herold, Thomas 
Demas, A. Jerman, Gabriel Lepoint, S. M. Lockwood, 
A. Mominna, Jasper Mitchell, Francis Mominna, 
William Manor, Wilford Norris, G. S. Brinald, B. 
Rossman, Valentine State, Almond Sands, Samuel 
Scribner. 

Total tax of Portage, $19.40. 

Ballville: Samuel Bond, David Chambers, John 
Custard, David Cochran, James Chard, Jeremiah Everett, 
Phineas Frary, Charles B. Fitch, William Chard, Asa B. 
Gavitt, Lord P. Hast well, Thatcher Lovejoy, Joseph 
Moore, Moses Nicholas, Adam Nuff, George G. 
Olmstead, Isaac Prior, John Prior, John Preslet, 
Theodore A. Rexford, John Thompson, Giles Thompson, 
Elizabeth Tindall, Sarah Woolcutt, William Wirt, Peter 
Wirt, David Chard. Total tax of Ballville, $17.20. 

York: Allison Abby, Augustus Beebe, John Da- 
venport, Benjamin George, Zeby George, Joseph 
George, H. Knox, Martin Knott, Abram Marks, Thesion 
Moore, Rufus Nichols, Andrew Sluson, Simon Root, 
Joseph Will, Peter Wallace, Lansford Wood, Martin 
Powell, Benjamin Follett. 

Total tax of York, $8.20. 

Green Creek : Samuel Baker, Ephraim Bennett, Silas 
Bennett, Clark Cleveland, Thomas Emerson, Thomas J. 
Emerson, Silas Dewey, Joshua Fairchild, Hugh Graham, 
Joseph George, Coonrad Hawks, Elisha Johns, William 
Jinks, Jared H. Miner, Samuel McMillin, Andrew 
McNutt, James Merrill, Daniel Mills, Sumuel Price, 
James Guinall, Jonathan Reterbrook, Josiah Rumery, 
Jacob Right, T. F. Shep, Abraham Russell, Samuel 
Utley, David Underill, Eli Whitney, Thomas Will, A. 
Widener, William Whitney. 

Total tax of Green Creek, $18.70. 

Townsend : William Caspell, Wilford Hall, Samuel 
Markham, Abner Perkham, Jesse H. Putnam, Solomon 
Right, Ebenezer Ransom, A. B. Thomas, William Yew, 
William Wilson, Moses Wilson, Abram Townsend. 

Total tax of Townsend, $8.80. 

CIVIL REGISTER. 

Under this head is included the names of 
those men who have represented Sandusky 
county in the House of Representatives of 
the United States, in the Senate 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



123 



of Ohio, and in the House of Representatives 
of Ohio; also the Judicial Staff of Sandusky 
county, under the old Constitution, and the 
Common Pleas Judges elected from the 
Sandusky county bar, under the present 
Constitution. The register concludes with a 
complete list of county officials since 1820, 
except for the offices of coroner and 
infirmary director. 

REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS. 

The congressional districts of Ohio, prior 
to the apportionment of 1840. were very 
large, especially those including the counties 
of the northwestern part of the State. The 
northwestern Indian reservation, acquired by 
the treaty of 1817. was a small factor in 
politics prior to the census of 1840. The date 
of election is given. 

CONGRESSMEN. 

1820, John Sloane, Wayne county; 1822, Mordecai 
Bartley, Richmond; 1830, Eleutheros Cook, Huron; 
1832, William Patterson, Richland; 1836, William 
Hunter, Erie; 1838, George Sweeney, Crawford; 1842, 
Henry St. John, Seneca; 1846, Rodolphus Dickinson, 
Sandusky; 1848, Rodolphus Dickinson,* Sandusky; 
1849, Amos E. Wood,* Sandusky; 1850, John Bell,* 
Sandusky; 1850, Fred W. Green, Seneca; 1854, Cooper 
K. Watson, Seneca; 1856, L. B. Hall, Crawford; 1858, 
John Carey, Wyandot; 1860, Warren P. Noble, Seneca; 
1864, Ralph Pumeroy Buckland, Sandusky; 1868, 
Edward F. Dickinson, Sandusky; 1870, Charles Foster, 
Seneca; 1878, Frank Hurd, Toledo; 1880, John B. Rice, 
Seneca. 

REPRESENTATIVES IN STATE SENATE. 

1821, Alfred Kelley, Frankland; 1823, Jabez Wright; 
1824, David H. Beardsley, Cuyahoga; 1826, James 
Kooken; 1827, David Campbell, Huron; 1830, Samuel 
M. Lockwood, Huron; 1832, Daniel Tilden; 1834 
Joseph Howard, Delaware; 1837, David E. Owen 
Seneca; 1838, William B. Craighill, Sandusky; 1840 
John Goodin; 1842, Moses McAuelly; 1844, Amos E 
Wood, Sandusky; 1846, Henry Crouise, Seneca; 1848 
James Myers; 1852, Elisha P. Hill; 1854, Albert G 
Sutton, Huron; 1856, Ralph P. Buckland, Sandusky 
1860, F. D. 

*Died March 20, 1849. Amos E. Wood elected to fill 
vacancy, died August, 1850. John Bell elected at a 
special election held December, 1850, to fill vacancy 
caused by the death of A. E. Wood. 

Elected at the regular election, October, 1850. Sworn 
in as Bell's successor, December, 1851. 



Parish, Erie; 1862, John Kelley, Ottawa; 1864, Frederick 
Wickham, Huron; 1866, E. B. Sadler, Erie; 1868, Homer 
Everett, Sandusky; 1872, Welcome O. Parker, Huron; 
1874, James H. Hudson, Erie; 1878, James II. Hudson, 
Erie; 1880, H. E. O'Hagan, Erie. 

REPRESENTATIVES IN STATE LEGISLATURE. 

1821, David Abbott, Huron. --Seat contested by and 
given to Lyman Farwell, Huron; 1822, Eleutheros Cook, 
Huron county; 1824, Jeremiah Everett, Sandusky; 1825, 
Josiah Hedges, Seneca; 1826, Eber Baker, Huron; 1827, 
Samuel M. Lockwood, Huron; 1830, Josiah Hedges, 
Seneca; 1831, Harvey J. Harman, Sandusky; 1832, 
Jeremiah Everett, Sandusky; 1834, Jaques Hulburd, 
Sandusky; 1835, William B. Craighill, Sandusky; 1837, 
Samuel Treat, Sandusky; 1838, John Welch, Sandusky; 
1840, Amos E. Wood, Sandusky; Moses McAuelly, 
Crawford; 1841, Amos E. Wood, Sandusky; George W. 
Baird, Seneca; 1842, George W. Baird, Seneca; Henry 
C. Brish, Seneca; 1843, William B. Craighill, Ottawa; 
Samuel Waggoner, Sandusky; 1844, John Bell, 
Sandusky; 1846, Mathew M. Coe, Sandusky; 1848, Isaac 
VanDoren, Sandusky; 1849, Elber Wilson; 1852, Isaac 
Knapp, Sandusky; 1854, Abner J. Dickinson, Sandusky; 
1856, John L. Greene, sr., Sandusky; 1858, Thomas P. 
Finefrock, Sandusky; 1860, Charles Powers, Sandusky; 
1862, Alonzo Thrope, Sandusky; 1864, Oliver Mclntyre, 
Sandusky; 1866, James Parks, Sandusky; 1870, Hiram 
W. Winslow, Sandusky; 1872, Andrew Smith, Sandusky; 
1874, Benjamin Inman, Sandusky; 1878, Almon 
Dunham, Sandusky; 1880, Almon Dunham, Sandusky. 

JUDGES. 

The following served as judges under the 
old Constitution: 

182 0, George Todd, Trumbull county; 1824, Ebenezer 
Lane, Huron county; 1831, David Higgins, Huron 
county; 1838, Ozias Bowen, Marion county; 1845, 
Myron H. Tilden, Lucas county; 1847, Ebenezer B. 
Sadler, Erie county. 

The following Common Pleas judges, 
under the present Constitution, have been 
elected from the Sandusky County Bar: 

1852, Lucius B. Otis, term expired in 1857; 1861, 
John L. Greene, sr., term expired; 1874, T. P. Finefrock, 
term expired 1879. 

ASSOCIATE JUDGES. 

Under the old Constitution of Ohio, the 
following served as associate judges: 

1820, Israel Harington, David Harold, Alexander 
Morrison; 1821, Israel Harington, Charles B. Fitch, 
Jeremiah Everett; 1822, Israel Harington, Jeremiah 
Everett, Jaques Hulburd; 1824, Israel Harington, 



124 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Jeremiah Everett, Morris A. Newman; 1825, Israel 
Harington, Joel Strawn, James Justice; 1827, Joel 
Strawn, James Justice, Elisha W. Howland; 1832, James 
Justice, Elisha W. Howland, Luther Porter; 1834, James 
Justice, Luther Porter, Jacob Nyce; 1839, Jacob Nyce, 
Isaac Knapp, George Overmyer, sr.; 1841, Isaac Knapp, 
George Overmyer, Alpheus Mclntyre; 1846, Alpheus 
Mclntyre, Jesse S. Olmstead, Frederick Chapman; 1850, 
Jesse S. Olmstead, Frederick Chapman, Samuel Hafford. 

CLERKS OF COURT. 

J. Hubbard, 1821-25; J. O. Scranton, 1825-37; L. Q. 
Rawson, 1837-51; Daniel Copper, 1851-54; Charles H. 
Green, 1854-57; James N. Smith, 1857-65; W. W. St. 
Clair, 1865-67; E. W. Cook, 1867-68; J. Gephart, 1868- 
73; B. W. Winter, 1873-79; Basil Meek, 1879. 

PROBATE JUDGES. 

John Bell, 1852-55; Lyman Gilpin, 1855-58; John 
Bell, 1858-63; W. S. Russel, 1863-66; E. F. Dickinson, 
1866-69;" John L. Green, 1869-72; F. Wilmer, 1872;t 
Edward E. Dickinson, 1877-79;± C. Doncy, 1879. 

SHERIFFS. 

Willis E. Brown, 1820-24; Josiah Rumery, 1824-27; 
Giles Thompson, 1827-31; Samuel O. Crowell, 1831-33 
J. S. Olmstead, 1833-35; J. D. Beaugrand, 1835-39; 
Homer Everett, 1839-43; John Strohl, 1843-46; Daniel 
Burger, 1846-50; James Parks, 1850-52; Jonas Smith, 
1852-54; George Engler, 1854-58; Michael Wegstein, 
1858-62; A. R. Forguson, 1862-66; R. H. Russel, 1866- 
70; A. E. Young, 1870074; Henry Coonrad, 1874-78; 
Charles F. Pohlman, 1878. 

PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS. 

Jacob Parker, 1820-22; P. Latimore, 1822-24; Increase 
Graves, 1824-27; R. Dickerson, 1827-28; John Bush, 
1828-31; R. Dickerson, 1831-35; W. W. Culver, 1835- 
36; Samuel Treat, 1836-38; W. W. Culver, 1838-44; L. 
B. Otis, 1844-50; J. L. Green, 1850-52; E. F. Dickerson, 
1852-56; T. P. Finefrock, 1856-60; A. B. Lindsay, 1860- 
64; W. W. Winslow, 1864-66; A. B. Lindsay, 1866-70; 
A. B. Putman, 1870-74; H. Remsburg, 1874-77; J. T. 
Garver, 1878. 

AUDITORS. 

Josiah Rumery, 1820-22; Thomas L. Hawkins, 1822- 
24; Ammi Williams, 1824-26; Jesse S. Olmstead, 1826- 
28; Ezra Williams, 1828-30; Samuel Treat, 1830-36; 
Nathaniel B. Eddy, 1836-38; Ezra Williams, 1838-40; 
Nathaniel B. Eddy, 1840-42; A. Coles, 1842-48; Homer 
Everett, 1848-52; Horace E. Clark, 1852-56; William E. 
Haynes, 1856-60; 

* Resigned in 1 868, being elected to Congress. 

t Died July, 1897; J. L. Green appointed to fill vacancy. 

± Elected to fill unexpired term of F. Wilmer. 



Thomas Tuckerman, 1860-62; Oscar Ball,* 1862-65; 
John Lynch, 1865-66; Edwin Hoff, 1866-70; George W. 
Gust, 1870-74; F. J. Geible, jr., 1874-78; Adam Hodes, 
1878. 

TREASURERS. 

N. Wittenger, 1820-26; Harvey J. Harman, 1826-28; 
Grant C. Forguson, 1828-30; Isaac Van Doren.t 1830- 
38; Jesse S. Olmstead, 1838-42: Isaac Click, 1842-48; 
Oliver Mclntyre, 1848-52; J. T. R. Sebring, 1852-56; A. 
D. Downs, 1856-58; Wilson M. Stark, 1858-62; D. L. 
June, 1862-64; Charles G. Green, 1864-66; John P. 
Elderkin, 1866-70; J. P. Elderkin, jr., 1870-74; Henry 
Baker, 1874-78; Elias B. Moore, 1878. 

SURVEYORS. 

Ezra Williams, 1820-28; David Camp, 1828-36; David 
Reeves, 1836-46; W. B. Stevenson, 1846-47; Horace E. 
Clark, 1847-52; T. W. Clapp, 1852-56; D. D. Ames, 
1856-58; T. W. Clapp, 1858-60; J. L. Rawson, 1860-62; 
Horace E. Clark, 1862-64; Jeremiah Evans, 1864-76; 
Michael Putman, jr., 1876. 

RECORDERS. 

Charles B. Fitch, 1822-25; James A. Scranton, 1825- 
34; James Robinson, 1834-40; N. S. Cook, 1840-46; 
Benjamin F. Fletcher, 1846-48; William E. Rearick, 
1848-54; Jacob Snyder, 1854-60; A. F. Gallagher, 1860- 
67; W. W. Stine, 1867-73; James Worst, 1873-79; J. R. 
Conklin, 1879. 

COMMISSIONERS. 

Maurice A. Newman, Charles B. Fitch, Moses 
Nichols, 1820; Maurice A. Newman, Moses Nichols, 
Giles Thompson, 1821 ; Giles Thompson, Elisha W. 
Howland, Thomas Emerson, 1824; Elisha W. Howland, 
David Camp, Jared H. Miner, 1825; Elisha W. Howland, 
David Camp, J. S. Olmstead, 1826; Samuel L. 
Lockwood, L. G. Harkness, Jeremiah Everett, 1827; L. 
G. Harkness, Jesse S. Olmstead, Jeremiah Everett, 1828; 
Jesse S. Olmstead, Samuel Hollingshead, Oliver 
Comstock, 1830; Samuel Hollingshead, Oliver 
Comstock, Casper Remsburg, 1834; Samuel 
Hollingshead, Oliver Comstock, George Overmyer, sr.;, 
1835; Samuel Hollingshead, George Overmyer, sr., Paul 
Tew, 1837; Samuel Hollingshead, Paul Tew, Ezekiel 
Rice, 1838; Paul Tew, Ezekiel Rice, Jonas Smith, 1839; 
Paul Tew, Jonas Smith, John Bell, 1840; Paul Tew, 
Jonas Smith, Wilson Teeters, 1841 ; Paul Tew, Jonas 
Smith, James Rose, 1844; Paul Tew, Jonas Rose, John S. 
Gardner, 1845; Jonas Rose, John S. Gardner, Hiram 
Hurd, 1846; John S. Gardner, Hiram Hurd, Eleazer 
Baldwin, 1847; John S. Gardner, Hiram Hurd, Martin 
Wright, 1850; Hiram Hurd, Martin Wright, Michael 
Reed, 1 85 1 ; Martin 

:|: Resigned 1865 to accept treasurer's office. 
tReelected. Died before beginning of second 
term — Isaac Van Doren appointed to fill vacancy. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



125 



Wright, Michael Reed, William Morgan, 1855; Michael 
Reed, William Morgan, John Orwig, 1856; John Orwig, 
Sanford G. Baker, Joseph R. Clark, 1858; John Orwig, 
Joseph R. Clark, Benjamin Inman, 1860; Joseph R. 
Clark, Benjamin Inman, John Beery, 1862; Benjamin 
Inman, John Beery, C. G. Sanford, 1864; Benjamin 
Inman, C. G. Sanford, S. E. Walters, 1865; Benjamin 
Inman, S. E. Walters, Henry Reiling, 1867; Benjamin 
Inman, Henry Reiling, David Fuller, 1868; Benjamin In 



man, Henry M . Reiling, Longanbach, 1 872; M . 
Longanbach, David Fuller, John Morrison, 1873; M. 
Longanbach, John Morrison, F. William Sandwisch, 
1874; John Morrison, F. W. Sandwisch,* Manuel 
Maurer, 1877; Manuel Maurer, N. G. Rathbun, Byron 
O'Connor, 1878, N. G. Rathbun, Byron O'Connor, D. S. 
Tinney, 1880. 



* Resigned November 18, 1878 ; Byron O'Connor 
appointed to fill vacancy. 



chapter x. 

DEVELOPMENT — MATERIAL — MORAL — SOCIAL. 



Sandusky County a Desolate Wilderness — Early Settlement — Suffering Prevails — Pioneer Hospitality — Raisings, Log-rollings and Dances — 
Woman's Work — Early Schools and Establishment of the School System — Churches — Material Advancement — Comparison of Tax 
Duplicates — Abstract of Census Since 1 820 The County's Future. 



THE Indians of Northwestern Ohio 
battled firmly and bravely against 
progressing civilization, but their conflict 
was with destiny. At last, weakened, 
demoralized and discouraged, they sold 
their birthright for but little more than a 
"mess of pottage."* Reluctantly and sadly 
they abandoned their wigwams and 
cornfields, and crowded upon the 
reservations, leaving a desolate wilderness, 
oppressive in the gloom of its solitude. 
Beautiful words and roseate sentences 
would be ill-chosen in a description of the 
forest which baffled the energy of Sandusky 
county's pioneers. A loam soil of boundless 
fertility gave rapid growth to trees of nearly 
every variety, except where inundation or 
fires had left islands of prairie in the sea of 
heavy forest. Vegetables as well as animals 
are subject to a common law of nature, 
which requires the old to give place to the 
new. A tree grows, matures, dies, and falls 
to 



*About 8-10 cents per acre. Treaty of 1817. 



decay, leaving a young and more vigorous 
shoot to shade the spot it had darkened, and 
so on in endless succession. In the forest to 
which the pioneers of this county came, 
foliaged branches crowded each other, and 
enveloped poisonous gasses breathed from 
decomposing vegetation. Fallen trunks, 
crossing each other at every angle, closed 
natural watercourses and made the 
oversaturated soil a fulsome breeder of 
malaria. Armies of insects filled the woods 
with their hungry hum, and howling wolves 
made night melancholy. To such a 
wilderness, every feature of which shot 
arrows of despondency, brave men brought 
determined spirits and generous women 
devoted hearts. 

It has been said that the white settlement 
of Sandusky county began before Wayne's 
war, and that the first settlers were James 
Whittaker and Isaac Williams, the former 
having been brought here a captive, and the 
latter the son of a trader 



126 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



at Upper Sandusky and a captive. These two 
families were indisputably the first 
permanent white settlers. Arundel and 
Robbins, the English traders mentioned by 
Heckwelder in the narrative of his captivity, 
can not properly be called settlers. They 
were here for the purpose of speculating, and 
had no intention of remaining to assist in the 
development of the country. The War of 
1812 brought to the county a company of 
French from Michigan, who made squatter 
settlements on the river prairies as soon as 
peace was established, 

In the earlier and poorer days of the 
Republic there was no public policy for the 
encouragement of settlement. The public 
domain was looked upon by Congress as an 
important source of revenue, and laws were 
passed from time to time making it a 
criminal offence to settle upon public lands. 
One dollar and a quarter an acre was the 
unvarying price, and whoever paid it 
received a patent from the Government. 
Purchasers usually found on their land small 
clearings and rude cabins lately deserted by 
that nomadic class of people known as 
squatters. They are the link which in history 
connects the native hunters with the pioneer 
woodsmen. Partaking of the character of 
both, they precede one and follow the other. 

There is another class of pioneers who 
may be termed squatter settlers, for they 
came to stay, and awaited with patience the 
opportunity to purchase land. This class a 
wholesome homestead law would have 
benefited. Industrious, but poor, they toiled 
amidst every difficulty of forest life, borne 
up by the hope of securing an heritage for 
their children. How discouraging it must 
have been, after two or three years of 
ceaseless toil, to see the title of their 
prospective homes become the possessions 
of another yet such was often the case. 



The first settlers of Sandusky county, 
outside of the old military reservation now 
included in the city of Fremont, and ex- 
cepting the French and captive settlers on 
the Sandusky prairies, penetrated the forest 
near the eastern border, and were mostly 
Eastern people, who had temporarily located 
in the Firelands. Land east of the Reserve 
line was selling at prices ranging from two 
to four dollars. Preferable land on this side 
was surveyed and platted, preliminary to 
being placed on the market at one dollar and 
a quarter per acre. Emigrants, when on the 
ground, with their goods packed in large 
covered wagons, sought out a dry spot in the 
trackless wilderness, cut out a road just wide 
enough to pass through and erected a 
temporary cabin. Two or three families 
usually came together, and gave each other 
such assistance as was needed in raising a 
house, which was made by the first arrival, 
of poles. Notches were cut in on each side at 
the ends, so that the hastily built structure 
might stand more firmly. Mud, plentifully 
mixed with leaves, was used to fill the 
cracks, and a chimney of sticks was built 
outside. These cabins were little better than 
Indian huts, but the lone pioneer was unable 
to erect a hewed log house, such as he had 
heard his Eastern parents talk about. He was 
almost a solitary adventurer in an 
inhospitable forest. Having provided a 
shelter for his family, this advance guard of 
the pioneer army next set to work to prepare 
a spot of ground for corn, which in new 
settlements is the staff of life. He did not cut 
down all the trees, as is done in modern 
clearing, but only the underbrush and 
saplings the larger trees were girdled to 
prevent them from leafing. These advance 
Settlers often planted considerable corn, 
without even clearing away the water-soaked 
logs, which covered more than half the 
surface. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



127 



Skirmishers of the pioneer army made 
their appearance in Townsend in 1818, and 
about the same time in Green Creek and 
York. This year, also, the incipient village of 
Lower Sandusky extended up the river as far 
as the second rapids, and a few openings 
were made in the forest adjoining the 
bottoms below town. 

Sandusky county did not present the true 
picture of pioneer life until after the public 
lands were platted and placed upon the 
market. Huron county was by that time well 
advanced in settlement, and general 
improvement under rapid way. The fame of 
the exhaustless fertility of Sandusky's fertile 
vegetable soil had reached New York, and a 
stream of emigration turned westward. Some 
came in large covered wagons all the way, 
but by far. a larger proportion utilized lake 
transportation from Buffalo to Huron, and 
thence in wagons. Many Huron settlers 
abandoned unfinished improvements, and 
began anew in the adjoining forest. York, 
Townsend, and Green Creek townships 
received their immigration mostly from New 
York. A few years later .Central Ohio caught 
the pioneer fever, and many people of Penn- 
sylvania stock joined axes with the New 
York Yankees in a general war against the 
forest. 

Below the falls, on the Sandusky, the dry 
river hills were entered early, and a French 
colony gathered about the head of the Bay, 
where many of their descendants are yet 
living. The Black Swamp west of the river 
was for many years viewed with an eye of 
despair and abandoned to wolves, frogs and 
mud hens. This dismal region was first 
penetrated for purposes of settlement in 
1826. Its rapid development did not begin 
until neat' the close of 1830. The black 
swamp was a subject for conversation in 
nearly every country house in Perry county, 
Ohio. The settlers, then nearly all sturdy of 
Pennsylvania stock, 



inured to rugged work, looked with favor 
upon this rejected tract which concealed its 
fertility beneath vegetation and water. Old 
men with their families abandoned the 
homes they had made, and young men bade 
farewell to the firesides of their fathers, all 
seeking fortune in a new country. 

Farther west, in Scott and Madison 
townships, the pioneers came from the Seven 
Ranges, many of them from Columbiana 
county, Ohio. They trace their genealogies 
back to New England. The complement of 
settlement is made up of people of 
Pennsylvania German descent, who came to 
this county from Central Ohio Perry, 
Guernsey, Columbiana, and Wayne counties 
have contributed more to the settlement of 
the Black Swamp than any other part of the 
country. The pioneer community of 
Woodville was characteristically Yankee. 

Pioneer life, particularly in such a wil- 
derness as primitive Sandusky county, is a 
most thorough test of strength of character, a 
test which only the fittest survive. Many 
were induced to leave cultured homes and 
communities by the delusive hope of 
accumulating a fortune amidst surroundings 
such as are pictured by romantic fiction; a 
few knew something of pioneer life in other 
places, where nature's wild beauty and a 
healthful air lightened the woodman's task. 
But Sandusky county's forest taxed not only 
the spirit but the bodies of the pioneers. It is 
estimated that less than two-thirds of all who 
joined the advanced settlers endured the 
conflict. Some who had purchased land 
sickened at the sight, and, if they were able, 
either turned back to the homes of their 
childhood, or pushed westward to fairer 
lands. Others entered upon their task with 
spirit and resolution. A willing hand sank the 
axe deep at every stroke, and a buzzing 
wheel furnished music to 



128 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the cabin. All went well till poverty came 
poverty with every discouraging 

accompaniment. A crop almost ready for the 
harvest became the plunder of animals and 
birds. Reserved capital was soon exhausted, 
and nothing remained to supply the 
necessities of life. The awful picture of 
starvation impressed itself upon a troubled 
fancy. Disease and distressing sickness 
completed the desolation of spirit, and often 
grim death entered the loving family circle 
and wrecked every hope. All the past was 
lost, and nothing in future seemed attainable. 
Prudence counseled desertion of an 
undertaking whose only end seemed 
desolation and ruin. It is not to be wondered 
at, therefore, that many of the early 
immigrants deserted improvements 

commenced and lands partially paid for. 
Only those excelling in bravery, sturdiness, 
and determination, continued the battle of 
the wilderness to a successful issue. The 
survivors of that trying period have a right to 
recite the story of their hardships, and we of 
a younger generation would be ungrateful to 
refuse to listen. Their life was one of stern 
reality and work-disinterested work-having 
for its affectionate inspiration a desire to 
leave their children the heritage of an estate. 
But pioneer life had its amusements and 
good cheer as well as toil, privation, and 
sadness. A few outline sketches of early 
scenes may be of interest in this connection. 

The most distinguishing characteristic of 
the pioneers, was their generous, social 
disposition to give each other assistance in 
every time of need. Sincere, welcoming 
generosity shone from every fireplace, and 
when a new corner into a community was 
received with his family into a cabin, and 
entertained with the best its scanty 
accommodations could furnish. The site of a 
house being selected, neighbors for miles 
around welcomed their new neighbor 



by building a cabin for him. Such a 
company was always in the. best of humor, 
for a raising was one of those holiday 
occasions which break in on the dull monot- 
ony of life, dispelling doubt and gloom, and 
leaving only jollity. After a general hand 
shaking with their new neighbor, the 
company organized for work by appointing 
a captain, whose business it was to direct 
the work of the day. Then trees about the 
chosen site of the cabin were cut down, the 
large, straight-grained trunks being split 
into puncheons for the floor and door. The 
ground once cleared, the raising 
commenced. A skilled axe-man stood at 
each corner, and when, with many a "heave, 
oh heave!" a log tumbled into position, it 
was notched near the ends so that the next, 
crossing at right-angles, would rest more 
firmly. Thus log by log the cabin was 
raised, while another party of men, better 
skilled in woodcraft, was dressing 
puncheons and splitting shakes or 
clapboards for the roof. The first houses 
were rarely more than one low story high, 
so that by means of skids, logs were easily 
placed in position. The logs which built up 
the gable were smaller and were secured by 
poles running the whole length of the 
building, at intervals of about three feet. On 
these, clapboards were laid in such a way as 
to make a tight roof. The roof was weighted 
down by poles laid over the rafter poles, 
and held in position by blocks at the ends, 
running from one to the other. A puncheon 
floor vindicates the axe-manship of our 
pioneer fathers. Many of them were as 
smooth as plane dressed floors, yet no other 
tool was used than an axe. One side was 
hewn smooth, and the others notched so 
that the sleepers brought them .exactly to 
the same height. A chimney, a window, and 
a door completed the structure. 

The chimney was built of poles imbedded 
in mud mortar, on a foundation of 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



129 



stone, and was usually placed outside of the 
house against one end; a large opening was 
cut out to form a fireplace. A fire-chamber 
was formed of stone to keep the poles of the 
chimney from burning. 

An opening about five and one-half feet 
high and four feet wide was cut info the side 
for a doorway. The door was made of 
puncheons pinned to cleats at each end, and 
was hung on squeaking wooden hinges. A 
window was made by cutting out a piece of 
one or two logs, pinning bars at right-angles 
across the centre, and pasting over the 
opening greased paper. Glass in the West 
was a rare luxury, and sold at a price far 
beyond the reach of early settlers. 

The cabin completed, the company 
indulged in various amusements, such as 
wrestling, running races, lifting, and 
shooting at a mark. Whiskey, always free on 
such occasions, increased the general 
hilarity, and at times was the cause of a 
friendly fight. 

Cabin furniture corresponded with the 
simplicity of the building. A bedstead was 
made by joining two poles, one into the end, 
the other into the side of the cabin near one 
corner. The two other ends were tied 
together with bark, and supported by a post 
resting upon the floor. Pins were driven into 
a log of the side of the cabin, and into the 
pole opposite, to which was fastened strips 
of hark in such a way as to form a matting. 
Under the bed was a convenient place for 
packing articles not in everyday use. A white 
linen curtain concealed from view this 
useful, though suspicious looking corner. 

Few cabins afforded more than two split 
bottom chairs. These, however, were 
generally easy and comfortable, elegance 
being a secondary consideration. Benches 
were in common use. They were made by 
driving into wide punch 



eons long pins, for legs. The table was 
generally the product of a cabinet shop, and 
constituted part of the outfit purchased 
before leaving home. 

One or two kettles and a spider consti- 
tuted the cooking furniture. The table fare 
consisted of corn bread, pork, and wild 
meats. 

Articles of dress were largely of home 
manufacture, and were made either of flax or 
wool. Every pioneer in the more favored and 
earlier settled part of the county, had a few 
sheep and a flax patch. The flax was pulled, 
bleached, and dressed. The tow was then 
cleanly carded with a hand card. The 
spinning-wheel prepared it for the shuttle. 
Spinning was at one time the National 
employment of American women. It is 
particularly an occupation of pioneer life and 
the accompaniment of penury. There is real 
beauty in that picture representing virtue, 
which figures a devoted wife and mother, 
busily spinning with both hands; one foot is 
on the treadle which moves the whirling 
wheel, while the other is rocking, in a cradle, 
her tender offspring, quieted by the rhythmic 
hum to sweet, innocent sleep. 

The whirl of the wheel and thud of the 
loom, mingled with the echoing stroke of 
axes, the crash of falling trees, and roar of 
clearing fires. The music of the wife's 
industry did not cease at nightfall, but 
wolves heard the sound and owls hooted its 
melody. Shirts, trowsers, bed clothing and 
dresses were all the product of woman's busy 
hands. But upon the woman rested more than 
the burden of spinning and weaving and 
sewing and cooking and rearing her family, 
and hunting cows in a fenceless forest and 
milking and making butter. Mills, during the 
first years of settlement, were inaccessible, 
and the preparation of corn for food involved 
great labor. As among the Indians, corn was 
used considerably in the form of 



130 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



hominy, ashes being used to take off the 
outside shell. Corn was prepared for 
"johnnycake" by cracking it with a hammer 
or wooden mallet, on a block hollowed out 
for the purpose. It took one woman an hour 
to prepare in. this way sufficient meal to 
supply the appetites of three men. It was not 
long, however, until mills with very simple 
machinery were constructed where a creek of 
sufficient size offered a favorable site. Most 
of these consisted simply of a buhr driven by 
an undershot or breast wheel. The bolting 
was all done by hand. Corn was sifted before 
using, by the cook herself, while wheat flour 
was bolted through a web of cloth hung on 
rollers and turned by hand. The customer 
always had to turn the bolt for his own grist. 
These mills, on account of their slowness, 
were wholly inadequate even to the simple 
wants of the 

pioneers. People came long distances 
through the woods to bring such grists as 
they could carry on the back of a horse, and 
when once at the end of their tedious 
journey, were compelled to wait one, two, 
and sometimes even three days for their turn. 
The mills built by Chambers and Moore, on 
Sandusky River, were more efficient. Being 
centrally located, an extensive business 
made the best machinery of the time 
profitable, and the water supply furnished all 
the power, necessary. We say improved 
machinery for the time, for Moore's mill of 
sixty years ago would be an insignificant 
establishment, compared with Moore's mill 
of the present. The pioneers, speaking of the 
old mills, very appropriately termed them 
"corn crackers." But people who had cracked 
grain got along very well; all were not so 
fortunate as to have that. It is a significant 
fact that many of the early settlers of this 
county were poor, sometimes even to the 
point of physical want. 
Very few of the pioneers had more 



than enough money to bring them here. They 
depended for a start upon their own labor 
and the resources of the country, about 
which so much had been said in the old 
communities. The first season's planting, 
owing to the difficulty of preparing the soil, 
was small, but under favorable conditions 
would have been sufficient to furnish bread, 
had the destroyer remained away. What must 
have been the hardworking farmer's 
disappointment and chagrin, to see his crop 
at ripening time become the feast of all the 
multitude of animals and birds, which filled 
the woods. Blackbirds, squirrels, raccoons, 
and turkeys literally devoured the drooping 
ears of an entire field, upon which the hard 
pressed family placed sole dependence for 
their winter's food. 

Another and prevalent cause of poverty 
and want in pioneer Sandusky county, was 
fever and ague, which visited almost every 
cabin. Scarcely a spring opened but the old, 
unwelcome visitor returned in its most 
malignant form. At places clearing fires died 
out for want of attention, and weeds 
smothered the growing corn. The spinning 
wheel, perchance, ceased its cheerful whirl, 
and the dismal prospect, amid desolate 
surroundings, day by day, became more 
gloomy. All were not thus unhappily 
afflicted, but all had generous hearts and 
were willing to lend assistance in a day of 
need. As the forest gradually became more 
broken the years grew brighter and crops 
increased in fullness. Hewed log and frame 
houses took the place of the first rude 
cabins; and when at evening the family 
gathered round the great brick fireplace, the 
parents and older children told and retold to 
the interested little ones, melancholy 
experiences of sickness, want, and hardship. 
Those experiences are, thanks to our hardy 
and resolute ancestors, happily past. Events 
live only in imagination and history; very 
few memories 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



131 



yet retain impressions of the heroic conflict, 
and the number is monthly becoming 
smaller. 

To increase the acreage of tillable land 
was a main object of the well-to-do pioneer. 
He first girdled the trees and cut out the 
underbrush and logs of a small patch, 
probably ten acres, for the first season's 
planting. The next season, if health 
permitted, he more than doubled the "girdle 
clearing," and began to cut or burn down 
dead trees standing on the first opening. 
Those that were hollow or partially decayed 
burned readily, but solid timber had (to be 
cut. Straight white oak, walnut, and poplar 
was split into rails for fencing fields under 
cultivation. Other trees were cut into, logs, 
and when several acres had been thus 
reduced, a frolic was made, to which all the 
neighborhood came. Log-rollings were the 
joy of pioneer life. All work was turned into 
fun. Heavy lifts were made a contest of 
strength, and the fatigues of the day were 
drowned by the contents of well filled jugs. 
These pleasant gatherings, after the logs had 
all been piled ready for the torch, often 
terminated in happy social occasions, in 
which the wives and sisters figured 
conspicuously. Dancing was a fashionable 
amusement, encouraged by the mothers, and 
greatly enjoyed by all. When the men went 
to roll their neighbors' logs, their dames and 
lasses dropped in to help do the cooking, and 
perchance make a quilt between meals. The 
men concluded their labor by triumphantly 
carrying the captain on their backs; the 
women dedicated a quilt by enfolding it 
around their hostess. The strains of a fiddle 
brought all together, when night's shadows 
expelled the day. Round dancing was then 
unknown, but all the variety of movements 
may be described as a free and easy, go as 
you please affair. It was not expulsion from 
the ballroom to step on a lady's toes, 



though such a sad accident rarely happened, 
for the nimble, though not tender feet, of 
these pioneer lasses quickly rebounded from 
the solid puncheon floor. One thing 
commendable can be said of the pioneer 
"French Four" or quadrille; it was performed 
with hearty enthusiasm. The dancers were 
lost in their amusement, and joy inspired 
every step. Beaux swung their partners with 
a generous hug, and the girls made no 
peevish objection. Joyfully the dance went 
on till howling wolves grew hoarse, and 
candles melted to their sockets. 

Stock was allowed to pasture in the 
fenceless woods. Every cow was provided 
with a bell, and every flock of sheep with 
several. Cattle often ate the poisonous 
grass, which caused that terrible disease, 
milk sickness, spoken of at greater length 
elsewhere in this history. Sheep were 
penned in a high enclosure every night, to 
protect them from wolves, which often 
came to the cabin door. Hogs were marked 
and turned out to fatten on nuts and acorns. 
Hogs bred in the woods became wild, and 
sometimes dangerous. It was unsafe to go 
far from the clearing, accompanied by a 
dog, for the sight of that animal arouses all 
the savage nature of a hog. An old settler 
assures us that an infuriated boar was a 
more dangerous enemy than a bear or wolf. 
Every farmer had his stock marked, which 
the law required him to have recorded in a 
book of indentures kept for the purpose by 
the township clerk. 

No market was accessible to the pioneers 
of Sandusky county, where farm products 
could be exchanged for cash, but furs 
always commanded the ready money. This 
circumstance made many of the pioneers 
hunters, particularly those in the north part 
of the county. Soda ash found a ready cash 
market, and several kilns in the east part of 
the county were 



132 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



constructed for its manufacture. Fish filled 
the streams emptying into the bay and river. 
Nature thus afforded the otherwise 
unfavored early settlers a bountiful supply of 
nutritious meat. The woods also abounded in 
deer, squirrels, and turkeys. Nature lavished 
her wealth too bountifully upon Sandusky 
county; too much timber and too many 
animals was the cause of much distress. 

As the little spots of sunshine in the long 
reach of forest grew more numerous and 
larger, the pioneers began to avail 
themselves of the advantages of churches 
and schools. The first schools were kept in 
private houses, where all the children of the 
neighborhood came, each contributing a 
share toward the support of the teachers, 
which was very little, indeed, but, as a rule, 
the teachers were as poor as the pay; there 
were, however, many exceptions to this 
unfortunate rule. The first schoolhouses. 
were built by the voluntary efforts of the 
neighbors. A little council of residents 
determined on a location, and set a day for 
raising. All concerned came, and by night 
the house was under roof. Several holes were 
cut in the walls, over which greased paper 
was pasted, which served the purpose of a 
window, for light alone was needed; cracks 
between logs admitted sufficient fresh air. 
The benches were made of puncheons, and a 
wide puncheon on each side of the room, 
fastened to blocks about three feet high, 
served as a desk. Reading, writing, and 
arithmetic were the only branches taught. 
Until 1825 teachers were supported wholly 
by private subscription. The first school law 
which gave each township at least one 
school, supported entirely or in part by 
taxation and the proceeds of section sixteen, 
which the ordinance of 1787 set apart for the 
support of education, was passed in 1825, 
and went into effect soon after. In 1829 



a new law, authorizing the trustees to divide 
each township into districts, was passed, and 
was more effectual. Still, in the new 
communities of Sandusky county, the tax of 
three-fourths of a mill on the dollar was 
insufficient, and private subscription had to 
be relied upon. The teachers boarded with 
the scholars, and many of them worked for 
two shillings a day. The public school 
system of Ohio was revised and established 
on a solid basis in 1838, when local 
authorities were given permission to levy 
taxes to the amount needed for the liberal 
support of public instruction. 

In 1852 the present school law was 
passed, since which time educational facil- 
ities have steadily improved till there is no 
longer the semblance of an excuse for 
common ignorance. It is to be regretted that 
the public library system, once well 
established, fell to premature decay. It is a 
melancholy fact that but few people through 
the country have given any attention to the 
collection of books for the use of their 
children. Libraries breed scholars, and 
scholarship has become a necessity in almost 
every walk of life. The indifference of 
people in respect to furnishing their children 
proper reading matter, is shown by the 
inexcusably reckless management of the 
excellent library, which the State once 
furnished to every township. The only public 
libraries to which the people of the county 
have access, are those at Fremont and 
Bellevue. 

A gratifying improvement in 

schoolhouses is noticeable all over the 
county. Log structures are no longer to be 
seen anywhere. Frame buildings took their 
places, and these, in turn, are fast being 
displaced by comfortable brick houses. 
People have lately formed an idea of the 
value of talent in the schoolroom, and are 
paying better wages than formerly. It is 
needless to say that the standard of 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



133 



common school education is steadily 
improving. The children of the pioneers, 
now grown frosty with years, esteemed 
themselves fortunate if they learned to spell, 
read, write, and cipher as far as the rule of 
three. Now a common school course 
prepares a student for any department of 
business, or for admission into the higher 
seminaries of learning. The change in school 
government during the sixty years of 
Sandusky county's history, is worthy of 
mention. Early teachers ruled with the rod 
rather than the head. Pupils were reduced to 
obedience by beating out of them their life 
and spirit. There were a few teachers who 
practiced humane and sensible methods of 
government. The names of such are held in 
grateful remembrance by the men and 
women fortunate enough to enjoy their 
association and instruction. 

Nothing is so difficult to reduce to words 
and express on paper as the moral condition 
of a pioneer community. This subject, as 
applied to Lower Sandusky, is referred to in 
other chapters. Throughout the country there 
were conflicting elements of human nature, 
but the moral life, taken as a whole, was 
healthful. Depravity is generally found 
among the idle and indifferent classes. A 
few such there were, but the country 
possessed little attraction for them. 
Sandusky county's pioneers were not, 
generally speaking, an intellectual class of 
people. They were hardworking people 
before they came, and had no time here for 
anything but hard work. But they had due 
appreciation of the value of education, and 
against all adversities of circumstance gave 
attention to the instruction of their children. 
Neither were they a Godless people, but 
heard with interest, and were refreshed by 
the preaching of a devoted, self denying, 
itinerant clergy. 

The mission of early preachers was as 
arduous as the early practice of medicine. 



Long rides through a malarial forest, by 
paths almost untraceable, ministering to the 
sick at almost every house, and preaching in 
every settlement, was the heaven-ordained 
calling of a United Brethren or Methodist 
clergyman. Meetings were at first held in 
private houses, then schoolhouses, and 
finally the little log church made its 
appearance. The United Brethren and 
Methodist were the pioneer churches of 
Sandusky county. Methodism was first 
established at Fremont (then Lower 
Sandusky), as will be seen by reference to 
the proper chapter. A preaching station was 
established in Green Creek township, in 
1822, the outgrowth of which is the Clyde 
Methodist Episcopal church. About 1825 
itinerant Methodists began to hold services 
in Townsend township. A class was 
afterwards formed there, and in 1840 a 
church was built. It is not known just when 
Methodist evangelists carried the light of 
religious instruction into Riley. A class was 
formed there about 1850.* The Methodist 
Episcopal church has made little progress in 
the western townships. Washington was 
made a preaching station as early as 1833, 
probably earlier. A class was formed a few 
years afterwards. This was the only pioneer 
association of that denomination in the 
Black Swamp region. Recent classes have 
been formed in Scott and at Gibsonburg. 

By far the largest church in the county, 
both in number of congregations and in 
membership, is the United Brethren. There 
are two churches in York, one in Townsend, 
two in Riley, one at Clyde, one at Green 
Springs, two in Ballville, four in Jackson, 
two in Washington, two in Rice, one in 
Scott, one in Madison, and one in 
Woodville.+ 

*See township history. 

+A general sketch of the United Brethren church in 
this county, contributed by J. Burgner, will be found in 
the chapter on Ballville township. 



134 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Next to the United Brethren in numerical 
strength, in the country districts, is the 
Evangelical Association, popularly known as 
Albrights. This denomination has one church 
in Townsend, one in Riley, one in Ballville, 
two in Jackson, one in Fremont, two in 
Washington, one in Scott, one in Madison, 
and one in Woodville. The membership, like 
that of the United Brethren, is almost 
entirely of people of Pennsylvania Dutch 
descent. The clergy, as in the United 
Brethren and Methodist, are itinerant, with 
licensed local preachers for assistants. 

Reformed churches are of later 
organization than those of any of the denom- 
inations mentioned. Churches have been 
erected in Fremont, Washington, Jackson, 
and Woodville townships. There are several 
preaching stations besides. 

The first Catholic churches in the county 
were in Fremont and Rice. There are at 
present two congregations in Fremont, one 
in Rice, one in Clyde, one in Jackson, and 
one in Woodville. 

The Evangelical Lutheran church came 
into being in this county in 1836, Adolphus 
Konrad being the pioneer preacher. He 
organized congregations in Fremont and at 
Woodville. Rev. George Cronnenwett took 
charge of the church at Woodville in 1841, 
and Rev. Henry Lang of the church at 
Fremont in 1843. Both have been 
indefatigable in their labors ever since. 
There are six churches in the county, 
organized as follows: Fremont, Four-mile 
Point (Sandusky township), Hessville, and 
Woodville, from 1836 to 1841; Rice, 1843; 
and Gibsonburg, 1876. A large proportion of 
the church in Erie county, four miles north 
of Bellevue, live in this county. There are in 
the county about three thousand Lutheran 
members. 

Besides these congregations of the more 
leading and influential denominations having 
a membership distributed over the 



entire county, there are many individual 
churches. For further details the reader is 
referred to the accompanying sketches of 
Fremont, Clyde, Bellevue, and the several 
townships. 

Fifty years ago people esteemed 
themselves fortunate to have the privilege of 
church service once a month; now a meeting 
house is within walking distance of every 
house in the county. 

The material advancement of any section 
of country depends, in a large degree, upon 
its natural resources. In this respect 
Sandusky county is more than duly favored, 
although without mines of iron or coal. The 
most substantial wealth is fertility of soil, 
and nowhere in Ohio is the soil better 
adapted to general agriculture. The rich 
alluviums of the Scioto have long been 
celebrated, but a comparison of acreage 
productions is in favor of the valley of 
Sandusky Bay. From the time the asperities 
of pioneer life began to soften, and, the real 
natural advantages of the county to stand out 
in public view, population and wealth have 
multiplied with surprising rapidity. In 1826, 
in York township, the total valuation 
(including houses,) of real property was 
$2,303. The names of fifty-two persons are 
entered on the duplicate, with personal 
property amounting to $4,668, of which 
$1,500 is on merchandising. 

Excepting Sandusky township, in which 
the village of Lower Sandusky was then 
included, Ballville paid more taxes in 1826 
than any other township in the county. The 
total valuation of real estate was $6,133, and 
personal property, assessed against thirty- 
seven individuals to the amount of $2,632. 

The real estate of Sandusky township in 
1826 was valued at $19,095, merchandising 
at $9,313, and other personal property at 
$2,416. 

At that time no real estate in Riley 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



135 



township was subject to taxation, but the 
personal valuation was $3,480, $2,440 of 
which was on cattle alone. The personal 
valuation of Townsend was $1,488; no real 
estate was listed. 

The valuation of real estate in Green 
Creek was $819, and of personal property 
$3,480. 

At this time the west part of the county 
was a wilderness, untrodden by the assessor, 
or scarcely any one else. 

In York, in 1826, there were 26 horses 
and 266 cattle; in Townsend, 9 horses and 
141 cattle; in Green Creek, 22 horses and 
175 cattle; in Ballville, 30 horses and 134 
cattle; in Riley, 26 horses and 305 cattle. 

One year later, in 1827, in York, 3,325 
acres were valued at $6,232, or less than two 
dollars an acre; merchandising at $1,200, 
and other chattels at $2,640. 

Five hundred acres in Townsend were 
valued at $900, and the personal valuation 
was $1,240. 

In Green Creek, 1,911 acres were valued 
at $4,255; chattel valuation, $1,664. 

One hundred and sixty acres in Riley were 
valued at $240; personal property amounted 
to $2,800 more than any other township 
except Sandusky, showing the extent of the 
stock-raising industry on the prairies in the 
northern part. 

In Ballville, in 1827, 3,510 acres were 
subject to taxation, valued at $14,131; 
valuation of personal property, $1,152. 

In Sandusky township, 5,249 acres were 
entered on the duplicate at $14,806. The 
valuation of merchandising had increased to 
$7,300, and other chattels to $1,112. 

The progress of improvement was most 
rapid between 1827 and 1840. During that 
period the Black Swamp was entered and 
settled. An important element was also 
added to the population. German emigration 
to Ohio began about 1830. Sandusky county 
began to receive these thrifty immigrants 
about 1835 and for 



ten years the influx was quite rapid. They 
settled chiefly on improved lands in Riley, 
Rice, Washington, and Woodville 
townships. A few scattering settlements are 
also to be found in other parts of the 
county. Germans work hard for their 
money, and when they have it they save it. 
The tax valuation of the county is higher by 
many thousand dollars than it would have 
been without a substantial German element 
in the settlement. 

It will be seen that there exists on the soil 
of Sandusky County rather a remarkable 
mixture of blood — Yankees of almost every 
type; Pennsylvanians, with all the race 
mixture in one individual that that term 
implies; Germans, and French. If the 
doctrine that crossbreeding is productive of 
superiority, surely much may be expected 
of the county in future generations. 

The following statistics show the real 
estate valuation of the several townships in 
1840. Sandusky includes the town of Lower 
Sandusky: Sandusky, $141,695; Ballville, 
$81,883; Green Creek, $74,479 
Washington, $69,579; York, $64,223 
Riley, $58,875; Jackson, $57,259 
Townsend, $51,106; Scott, $49,881; Wood- 
ville, $42,311; Madison, $27,446; Rice, 
$23,754. 

This shows the rapid development of the 
Black Swamp townships, which thirteen 
years before had a population of less than 
half a dozen families. Jackson, the 
settlement of which did not really begin till 
1828, takes rank over Townsend, where, 
settlement was made more than ten years 
before. Washington takes fourth place 
among the townships. The progress of 
settlement in Washington was greatly 
accelerated by the improvement of the pike. 
The following statistics give a comparative 
view of the number and value of horses and 
cattle in the several townships in 1840. The 
following showing makes 



136 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



considerable change in the former order of 
arrangement: 

York — Number of horses 268, valuation $10,720; of 
cattle 600, valuation $4,880. 

Sandusky — Number of horses 255, valuation $10,200; 
of cattle 417, valuation $3,336. 

Green Creek — Number of horses 198, valuation 
$7,920; of cattle 511, valuation $4,088. 

Ballville — Number of horses 170, valuation $6,800; of 
cattle 449, valuation $3,892. 

Washington — Number of horses 141, valuation 
$5,640; of cattle 442, valuation $3,536. 

Jackson — Number of horses 157, valuation $6,280; of 
cattle 353, valuation $2,824. 

Townsend — Number of horses 115, valuation $4,600; 
of cattle 361, valuation $2,888. 

Scott — Number of horses 98, valuation $3,920; of 
cattle 429, valuation $3,432. 

Riley — Number of horses 79, valuation $3,120; of 
cattle 306, valuation $2,528. 

Rice — Number of horses 46, valuation $2,860; of 
cattle 204, valuation $1,632. 

Wood vi lie — Number of horses 41, valuation $ 1,660; 
of cattle 180, valuation $1,440. 

Madison — Number of horses 31, valuation $1,240; of 
cattle 134, valuation $1,072. 

The following table shows the valuation as 
appraised in 1880, including villages and 
towns: 



Fremont 

Green Creek. 
Washington . 

York 

Jackson 

Ballville 

Riley 

Woodville. . . 
Sandusky 

Scott 

Townsend. . . 
Madison .... 
Rice 



Real 
Estate. 



$i ,303.486 
1,217,632 
1,161,050 
110,795 
859,030 
804, 882 
709.940 
709,272 
682,796 
645,989 
624,355 
45 1 .977 
38i,459 



Personal 
Property. 



$479, ° 66 
335,830 
211,850 
383,040 
176,010 

I 7 8 -°5S 
108.646 
284,205 
"124,998 
io 5,35° 
144.365 

101,524 



The population of Sandusky county in 
1820 was 852; in 1830, 2,851; in 1840, 
10,182; in 1850, 14,305; in 1856, 21,429; in 
1870, 25,503, and in 1880, 32,063. 
According to the census of 1880 Sandusky 
county stands thirty-fifth with respect to 
population among the counties of the State. 
In one other respect the county stands 
somewhat higher when placed in comparison 
with other counties. During the year 1879 
there appeared on 



the court docket forty-nine petitions for 
divorce. This number was exceeded in only 
fourteen other counties of the State, and in 
proportion to the population, in not more 
than half a dozen other counties. Of these 
forty-nine petitions, twenty-six alleged as 
the cause, cruelty; sixteen, neglect; six, 
adultery; and one, fraud. 

The following table shows the relative 
growth and comparative population of the 
several townships since 1850. In the last 
column is given the foreign-born population 
in 1870: 



1850 1860 



Fremont .... . 1464 35 

Green Creek 1128913228 

Washington - •-■- "-■- 

York 

Madison. . . 
Sandusky. . 
Townsend . 
Woodville.. 

Ballville 

Riley 

Jackson 



1870 



1880 



5455 8 45i 

3666,4495 

1499J1992J2282J260S: 

181 1'i6i9;2094 2319 



Foreign. 
1870 



389 
1040 

968 
1237 

^s 6 

682 
1092 



!°53 
1516 



147S 



9851836 

1570:1785 
1 290 1697 
1418:1662 



'73 « 
146 1 
1350 



Scott ' 792 12641274 



652 

1621 
1485 
1452 



Rice 1 486I 943I 927! 930 



1072 

374 

366 
288 

85 
266 
182 
412 
205 

274 

141 

90 

204 



Excepting Sandusky township the above 
table includes towns and villages. The 
population of these, severally, as given by 
the census of 1880, was as follows: 

Fremont, 8,451; Clyde, 2,380; Bellevue, 
2,169;* Green Spring, 720; + Gibsonburg, 
589; Lindsey, 409; Woodville, 406; Helena, 
111; Burgoon, 110; Rollersville, 99; 
Millersville, 52. 

The future of any section of country is 
always a subject of hazardous speculation. 
But that Sandusky county is not yet fully 
developed is apparent to every observer. 
Some of the older townships outside of town 
limits are not increasing, and will not 
increase in population with any great 
rapidity, for the tendency in settled com- 
munities is for the farms to grow larger by 
the natural law of concentration of capital; 
but the towns are growing 

737 in Sandusky county, 1,432 in Huron. 
+ 389 in Sandusky county, 331 in Seneca. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



137 



larger, and land advancing in value. There 
are yet in the county large tracts of 
unimproved land which will in the near 
future be developed and add largely to 
wealth and population. In fact, the day is not 
far distant when the swamps, now only fit 
for hunting, will be recovered by ditches and 
dykes, and golden harvests will decorate the 
fertile soil now despoiled by water. A 
beginning has already been made-the end is 
beyond human imagination to predict. 

Railroads are plowing through the county 
in every direction. Towns are springing up in 
every township, making the products of the 
soil and the rocks under the soil more 
valuable. Sandusky county and its towns are 
yet in their youth-every sign points to a 
healthy and full growth. 

•VOTE OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 

The following shows the official vote of 
Sandusky county since the first gubernatorial 
election in 1822, to 1880. The vote is for 
Governor, except when otherwise indicated: 

1822-Allen Trimble, 118; William W. Irvin, 81 
Jeremiah Morrow, 23. 

1826-Allen Trimble, 203, Alexander Campbell, 79; 
John Bigger, 13. 

1828-Allen Trimble, 153; John W. Campbell. 64. 

1830-Duncan McArthur (National Republican), 181; 

Robert Lucas (Democrat), 141. 

1 832-Presidential election, Andrew Jackson 

(Democrat), 279; Henry Clay (Whig), 294. 

1834-Robert Lucas (Democrat), 383; James Findlay 
(Whig), 313. 

1 836-Presidential election, Martin Van Buren 
((Democrat), 799; William H. Harrison, (Whig), 642. 

1838-Wilson Shannon (Democrat), 834; Joseph 
Vance, (Whig), 724. 

1840-Wilson Shannon (Democrat), 930; Thomas 
Corwin, (Whig), 841. 

1842-Wilson Shannon (Democrat), 957; Thomas 
Corwin (Whig), 738; Leicester King, (Abolitionist), 7. 

*[Note. Compiled by the publishers from Secretary of 
State's reports of 1875, 1876, 1879, and 1880]. 



1844-David Tod (Democrat), 1198; Mordecai Bartley 
(Whig), 951; Leicester King, (Abolitionist), 00* 

1846-David Tod (Democrat), 961; William Hebb 
(Whig), 754; Samuel Lewis (Abolitionist), 30. 

1848 John W. Weller (Democrat), 1074; Seabury Ford 
(Whig), 874. 

1850-Reuben Wood (Democrat), 1215; William. 
Johnston (Whig), 742. 

1851-Reuben Wood (Democrat), 1293; Samuel F. 
Vinton (Whig), 687; Samuel Lewis (Abolitionist), 2. 

1853-William Medill (Democrat); 1417; Nelson 
Barrere (Whig), 467; Samuel Lewis (Abolitionist), 154. 

1855-William Medill (Democrat), 1499; Allen 
Trimble (Know Nothing), 447; Salmon P. Chase 
(Republican), 1042. 

1856-For Attorney General, C. P. Wolcott 
(Republican), 1450; S. M. Hart (Democrat), 1443.: John 
M. Bush (Know Nothing), 16. 

1857-Salmon P. Chase (Republican), 1315; Henry B. 
Payne (Democrat), 1699; Philip Van Trump, 67. 

1858-For Attorney General, C. P. Wolcott 
(Republican), 1237; Durbin Ward (Democrat), 1555. 

1859-William Dennison (Republican), 1473; Rufus P. 
Ranney (Democrat), 1822. 

1861-David Tod (Republican), 2160; Hugh J. Jewett 
(Democrat), 1856. 

1862-For Secretary of State, Wilson P. Kennon 
(Republican), 1474; William W. Armstrong (Democrat). 
1993. 

1863-John Brough (Republican), 2571; C. L. 
Vallandingham (Democrat), 2213. 

1864-For Secretary of State, William H. Smith 
(Republican), 2040; W. W. Armstrong (Democrat), 
1917. 

1865-Jacob D. Cox (Republican), 2161; George W. 
Morgan, (Democrat), 2355. 

1 867-Rutherford B. Hayes, 2261; Allen G. Thurman, 
2834. 

1 868-Presidential election, U. S. Grant (Republican), 
2443; Horatio Seymour, 2846. 

1869-R. B. Hayes (Republican), 2175; George H. 
Pendleton (Democrat), 2630. 

1871- Edward F. Noyes (Republican), 2022; George 
W. McCook (Democrat), 2610. 

1 872-Presidential election, U. S. Grant (Republican), 
2380; Horace Greeley (Democrat), 2729; blank, 31; 
O'Conor, 5. 

1873-Edward F. Noyes (Republican) 2025; William 
Allen, 2740; G. T. Stewart, 122; Isaac Collins, 13. 

1875-R. B. Hayes, 2609; William Allen, 3353; J. 
Odell, 



*Sandusky, Henry, Paulding, Putnam, and Van Wert 
were the only counties in the State in which no 
Abolition votes were cast. 



138 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



The following shows the vote for Rep- 
resentative in Congress from the Tenth 
District, October, 1880: 



Counties. 


o 
a" 

pa 

o' 

CD 


s 



a 

d 

rr 

1 




a- 

3 

2 


C 
Z 
H 

-1 
O 

a 

to 

a 


n 

*-< 

3 

c 




3682 3I98 
2876 2992 


J2T 

52 
178 


I 


4 






3374 
39 6 7 


3292 

+ 6 35 


138 


t6 




130 














i8394 


17026 


619 


I 








Majority 


1368 











The vote for President in 1876 is given by 
townships: 



Ballville 

York and Bellevue Precinct. . . 
Green Creek and Stem Precinct 

Jackson 

Madison 

Rice 

Riley 

Sandusky 

Scott 

Townsend 

Washington 

Woodville. 

Fremont 



H 


x 


a 

3 


re 
V 


236 


227 


200 


323 


3S4 


59 6 


r 59 


i«3 


202 


160 


146 


57 


246 


131 


216 


'55 


170 


'53 


162 


170 


349 


194 


262 


100 


628 


579 



Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican 3,032 

Samuel J. Tilden, Democrat 3,330 

Peter Cooper, National Greenback 45 

G.C. Smith 2 

1879 — Charles Foster (Republican) 2643; Thomas Ewing 
(Democrat) 3427; G. T. Stewart (Prohibition) 53; A. S. Piatt (National 
Greenbacker) 287. 

Presidential election; vote given by 
precincts: 



1880 



Ballville 

Bellevue Precinct. . . 

Green Creek 

Jackson 

Madison 

Rice 

Riley 

Sandusky 

Scott 

Townsend 

Washington 

Woodville 

York 

Fremont — 

First Ward 

Second Ward.. ...... 

Third Ward 

Fourth Ward 

Stem Town Precinct.. 



209 262 



47' 
199 

193 

55 
100 

*57 
147 
202 

175 

93 
225 



3 1 / 
188 

2 55 

*53 

269 

220 
202 

170 
378 
275 

137 



157 81 

I22J 213 
203 



I40 

207 
121 



43 



Totals J3Q59 3640 1 148 



CHAPTER XL 
IMPROVEMENTS. 

Maumee and Western Reserve Road — Treaty Providing for Roads — Method of Making — Condition When 
Completed — The Ohio and Michigan War — Road to Fort Ball. 



IMPROVEMENTS. 

HAVING in the preceding chapters of 
this history placed before the readers 
some remarks touching upon the prehistoric 
races, the description of the remains of their 
works as far as found in the county, a brief 
notice of the Indians found here when the 
white man first came upon the soil of the 
county; also remarks to show how we 
became entitled to the land the people of the 
county now live upon, and having given also 
something about the soil, surface, and 
geology of the county, we might properly 
proceed to next give an account of the early 
settlement of the county by the white race. 
But by the arrangement of subjects best 
adapted to accomplish thoroughness, and 
completeness in. the matter of individual 
history, the more particular history of early 
settlements and individual settlers will be 
found in our township and city histories. 
Pursuing, then, the general history of the 
county, it seems not improper to give some 
history of the improvements of the county, 
and some account also of the circumstances 
and incidents which induced them, as well as 
a notice of the men who were actively 
instrumental in bringing them about. 

Slow, sleepy, and dull as it may look now, 
when viewed by the side of the thundering 
locomotive and its immense train, the older 
inhabitants of the county will still realize the 
fact that there never has been an 
improvement which contributed more to 
invite attention to, and induce settlement in 
the county, than did the 



MAUMEE AND WESTERN RESERVE ROAD. 

This road and the men connected with it 
have a history. The men who projected it and 
executed the design in building this road, did 
a great and good work, not only for this 
county but for all people east and west of the 
county, in all parts of the country, and they 
deserve honorable mention in the history of 
the locality, although, in some measure, their 
labors of late are rendered perhaps less 
important than they were, by improvements 
then unknown and unthought of. 

It will be remembered that the title to lands 
generally was not obtained from the Indians 
until the treaty made by Duncan McArthur 
and Lewis Cass, with the Indian tribes, at 
Maumee, in 1817, September 29. But east 
and south the Indian title had been acquired; 
also in part of Michigan. On the 25th of 
November, 1808, at Brownstown, Michigan, 
Governor Hull, on behalf of the United 
States, concluded a treaty with the chiefs and 
warriors of the Chippewa, Ottawa, 
Pottawatomie, Wyandot, and Shawnee 
nations of Indians, which, after reciting that 
the United States had acquired land north of 
the Miami of Lake Erie, and lands east and 
south of that, but not adjoining, and that the 
lands lying on the eastern side of the Miami 
River, and between said river and the 
boundary line established by the treaties of 
Greenville and Fort Industry, with the excep- 
tions of a few small reservations to the 
United States, still belong to the Indian 
nations so that the United States cannot, 



139 



140 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



of right, open and maintain a convenient 
road from the settlements in the State of 
Ohio to the settlements in the Territory of 
Michigan, nor extend those settlements so as 
to connect them. In order, therefore, to 
promote this object, so desirable and 
evidently beneficial to the Indian nations, as 
well as the United States, the parties have 
agreed to tile following articles which, when 
ratified by the President of the United States, 
by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, shall be perpetually binding. 

After the preamble, which is substantially 
given above, the treaty proceeds in the 
following language: 

ART. 2. The several Nations of Indians aforesaid, in 
order to promote the object mentioned in the preceding 
article, and in consideration of the friendship they bear 
towards the United States, for the liberal and benevolent 
policy which has been pursued towards them by the 
Government thereof, do hereby give, grant, and cede 
unto the United States a tract of land for a road of one 
hundred and twenty feet in width, from the foot of the 
rapids of the Miami of Lake Erie to the western line of 
the Connecticut Reserve, and all the land within one 
mile of the said road on each side thereof, for the 
purpose of establishing settlements along the same; also 
a tract of land for a road, only one hundred and twenty 
feet in width, to run southwardly from Lower Sandusky 
to the boundary line established by the treaty of 
Greenville, with the privilege of taking at all times, such 
timber and other materials from the adjacent lands as 
may be necessary for making and keeping in repair the 
said road, with the bridges that may be required along 
the same. 

ART. 3. It is agreed that the lines embracing the 
lands' given and ceded by the preceding article shall be 
run in such direction as may be thought most advisable 
by the President of the United States for the purpose 
aforesaid. 

ART. 4. It is agreed that the said Indian Nations shall 
retain the privilege of hunting and fishing on the lands 
given and ceded as above, so long as the same shall 
remain the property of the United States. 

Done at Brownstown, in the Territory of Michigan, 
this 25th day of November, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand eight hundred and eight, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America, the 
thirty-third. 

WILLIAM HULL, 

Commissioner. 



NE-ME-KAS, or Little Turtle, 

PUCK-E-NESE, or Spark of Fire, 

MACQUETEQUET, or Little Bear, Chippewas. 

SHEMMANAQUETTE, 

WAPE-ME-ME, or White Pigeon, 

MA-CHE. 

KEWECHEWAN, -i Ottawas. 

TONDAGANE. -I 

MOGAN, Pottawatomies. 

MIERE, or Walk-in-the-Water., 

I-YO-NA-YO-TA-HA, or Joe, Wyandots 

SKA-HO-MAT, or Black Chief, 

ADAM BROWN. -I 

MA-KA-TE-WE-KA-SHA, or Black Hoof,-, Shawanees. 
KOI-TA-WAY-PIE, or Colonel Lewis. -I 

It will be noticed that this Brownstown 
treaty, November 25, 1808, was the first step 
in the direction of procuring a road through 
the Black Swamp and on east of the river to 
the west line of the Connecticut Western 
Reserve. 

While the treaty did not in terms set a time 
within which the United States should open 
this road for travel, and thus make it 
available to emigrants, the Government ac- 
cepted the donation of valuable land for the 
purpose. This acceptance raised an implied 
obligation binding the Government, as the 
donee, to establish and open the road 
between the points indicated in the treaty 
within some reasonable time. 

This obligation was clearly and definitely 
recognized by the United States by an act of 
Congress, approved by the President, 
December 12, 1811. This act provided that 
the President should appoint three 
commissioners to survey and mark the most 
eligible course for the road, and return an 
accurate plat of the survey to the President, 
who, if he should approve the same, should 
cause the plat and survey to be deposited 
with the Secretary of the Treasury of the 
United States; and providing further, that 
said road should be located, established and 
constructed pursuant to the treaty held at 
Brownstown on the 25th day of November, 
1808. This act also provided that the 
commissioners should be paid three dollars 
and their assistants one dollar and fifty cents 
per day while employed in the work. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



141 



This act appropriated six thousand dollars 
for the purpose of compensating the 
commissioners and opening and making the 
roads. 

The act contemplated the survey and 
making of two roads provided for in the 
treaty of Brownstown. One from the Miami 
of Lake Erie to the west line of the 
Connecticut Western Reserve, and the other 
from Lower Sandusky southward to the 
Greenville treaty line. 

It is difficult now to ascertain with cer- 
tainty whether the survey provided for by the 
act of Congress of 1811 was made, or, if 
made, at what precise date it was done; or 
the line which was reported for the roads, or 
who were the commissioners under the last 
mentioned act. There is, however, little 
doubt that a survey of a line for the Maumee 
and Western Reserve Road was made some 
time between 1811 and 1816. We find in an 
old volume, entitled Land Laws for Ohio, 
published in 1825, another act of Congress, 
approved April 16, 1816, which authorizes 
the President of the United States to cause to 
be made, in such manner as he may deem 
most proper, an alteration in the road laid 
out under the authority of an act to authorize 
the surveying and making of certain roads in 
the State of Ohio, contemplated by the treaty 
of Brownstown, so that said road may pass 
through the reservation at Lower Sandusky, 
or north thereof not exceeding three miles. 

The act of 1816 provided that the nec- 
essary expenses incurred in altering said 
road should be paid out of moneys appro- 
priated for surveying the public lands of the 
United States. This expression, "altering," 
clearly implies that a survey had before been 
made. Probably the alteration was not, in 
fact, made, nor is the fact material, because 
Congress, in 1823, in authorizing the State 
to make the road, did not restrict the State to 
any survey or par- 



ticular location of the road which had before 
been made, but only gave the termini of the 
road as given in the treaty of Brownstown. 

In the meantime, communication between 
Fort Meigs, on the Maumee, and Fort 
Stevenson, on the Sandusky River, was 
carried on. by way of the Harrison trail, as it 
was called, which will be mentioned in 
another part of this work. About the year 
1820, after this county was organized and 
the lands around Lower Sandusky were 
coming into market, and the country was 
attracting settlers, some unsuccessful efforts, 
were made to have, Congress construct the 
road, according to the obligations to do so, 
by fair implication from the terms and spirit 
of the treaty. These efforts were unavailing, 
but finally Congress consented to transfer 
the building of the road to the State of Ohio. 
This was' done at the earnest solicitation, not 
only of the pioneers who had settled at and 
about Lower Sandusky, but also the 
Kentucky Land Company, who Clad 
invested in lands in the reservation. 

Thereupon, by an act of Congress, ap- 
proved February 28, 1823, it was provided 
that the State of Ohio might lay out a road, 
specifying termini and dimensions, the same 
as specified in the treaty, and to. enable the 
State to make the road, Congress granted to 
the State the same quantity of land given by 
the treaty. But in the meantime the United 
States had been, selling land, regardless of 
the strip two, miles wide for the road, and 
many of the best tracts along the line . had 
been sold to individual purchasers. On the 
east portion of the line, especially from the 
sand ridge and Clyde to Bellevue, a large, 
part of the road land had been thus disposed 
of, and many of the best tracts west of the 
Sandusky River were taken in like manner; 
also much of the reserve of two miles square 
at Lower Sandusky. For 



142 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the lands thus sold which should have been 
applied to making the road, the act provided 
that the Secretary of the Treasury of the 
United States should pay the State, to be 
applied to the construction of the road, one 
dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. The 
United States also provided in the act that 
the Government would stop selling these 
lands as soon as the State reported a survey 
and location of the road, and provided, also, 
that the road should be made by the State in 
four years from the date of the act, and that 
the lands should not be sold by the State for 
less than one dollar and twenty-five cents 
per acre. The lands along the road were by 
this act to be so taken as to be bounded by 
sectional lines as run by the United States. 
The money arising from the sales of these 
lands was, after building the road, to vest in 
the State to keep the road in repair. 

The reader having traced the original 
design of this road back to its source, in the 
treaty of Brownstown, November 25, 1808, 
should not fail to notice that we owe the 
right to it to the liberality and kindness of a 
people we call savages. Having also seen 
that the United States transferred the work of 
making the road to the young and growing 
State of Ohio, February 28, 1823, it is easy 
to realize that a spirited set of pioneers 
would not long be barred, and the seekers 
after homes still further west, as in Michigan 
and Indiana, barred in, too, by the Black 
Swamp. They were wide awake and keenly 
alive to the improvement of the county, and 
country around them. They foresaw that if 
Lower Sandusky was ever to he a place of 
note and thrift, there must be a road 
connecting the place with the East and West. 

The town of Lower Sandusky had in it in 
1823-24-25, such men as Jesse S. Olmstead, 
Josiah Rumery, Nicholas Whittinger, 



Thomas L. Hawkins, Ammi Williams, Ezra 
Williams, Moses Nichols, Cyrus Hulburd, 
Charles B. Fitch, Jeremiah Everett, Jacques 
Hulburd, Elisha W. Howland, Morris A. 
Newman, Israel Harrington, and others, all 
too shrewd, clear of apprehension, and too 
energetic, not to strive zealously for the 
contemplated great improvement. The zeal 
of these early settlers, aided, no doubt, by 
the influence of the Kentucky Company, 
who had purchased largely of the 
reservation, induced the General Assembly 
of the State to accept the proposition made 
by the United States, to assume the work of 
selling the land and making the road. 
SURVEY OF THE ROAD. 

The General Assembly of the State 
promptly took up the subject, and, by laws, 
provided for surveying the line and 
establishing the road, and also for surveying 
these lands which were to be sold to raise 
the money necessary for its construction, and 
also to contract for the making of the road. 

In the year 1824 an office for the sale of 
the lands was opened at Perrysburg, under 
the superintendence of Mr. McNight, who 
began the sales and also contracted for the 
making of the road in 1824. 

Quintus F. Atkins was the surveyor of 
the lands, and of the road also; but he had 
under him a surveyor named Elijah Risdon, 
whose special duty it was to run the line of 
the road and stake it out. The act authorizing 
this survey was passed January 27, 1823, 
and the line was run in the summer and fall 
of that year. Our respected fellow-citizen, 
Hezekiah. Remsburg, who resided near the 
line of the road, on the bank of Muskalonge 
Creek, remembers well, although then a boy, 
that Risdon and his surveying party, coming 
through from the West, were attracted to his 
father's by the light of an outdoor 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



143 



brick oven, which his mother was heating 
quite late in the evening, and called at for 
refreshments and lodging, which the party 
received without charge, according to the 
custom of the generous pioneers of that day. 

METHOD OF MAKING THE ROAD. 

It should be remembered that the line of 
this road, from the Maumee (Miami) River 
to Hamer's Corner, as it was then called, but 
now Clyde, a distance of near forty miles, 
ran through an almost unbroken forest of 
exceedingly dense and heavy growth. The 
roadway was to be cleared one hundred and 
twenty feet wide thirteen feet next the outer 
lines of the one hundred and twenty feet 
was, by the contract, to be cut with stumps 
as high as ordinary clearings; the next inner 
seventeen feet was to be cut nearly or quite 
level with the surface of the earth, with a 
view to have it available for a side road; the 
inner sixty feet was to be grubbed up clean, 
and thrown up in the form of a turnpike. 
This sixty for the pike was placed nearer to 
the south side of the outer line, leaving 
greater room for a side road on the north 
side, where the sun might sometimes shine 
and make that dry sooner than the south side. 
Hence we find now that the side road is on 
the north side of the main or Macadamized 
pike. The timber from the clearing and 
grubbing was piled on the outer thirteen feet. 

It was no child's play to cut down, grub 
out, and roll away the immense trees which 
stood so thick in this one hundred and 
twenty feet, especially when we consider the 
fact that these courageous men had 'to 
contend, not only with the giant trees and 
their roots, but also with tormenting flies 
and mosquitoes, mud and water, and fever 
and ague; and yet the work was done in spite 
of all these obsta- 



cles, and done on time, that is, substantially 
and to the acceptance of Congress, within 
the four years' limit prescribed by their act 
of 28th February, 1823. 

MENTION OF SOME OF THE CONTRACTORS AND 
COST OF CLEARING AND TURNPIKING THE 
ROAD. 

Our much respected, fellow-citizen, 
Nathan P. Birdseye, now of Fremont, in a 
recent interview with the writer, stated that 
his father, James Birdseye, was one of the 
early contractors for work on the road. His 
contract was to make seven miles in all, and 
also to build the bridge over the Sandusky 
River at Lower Sandusky. About two miles 
and a half of his job was west of the river, 
and the remainder east of it, a part being in 
York township, and a part between the river 
and Green Creek. Our informant was then a 
young man, and worked with his father in 
the performance of his contracts. He says the 
first work done on the road was in 1824, 
(Mr. Birdseye "began his in September of 
that year), and that the whole was cleared 
and piked up in the year 1827. 

Messrs. Fargo & Harmon had a large 
contract to make this road between Green 
Creek and Clyde. 

Mr. James Birdseye finished the bridge 
over the Sandusky River in January, 1828, 
for the contract price of three thousand 
dollars. It was built of solid, heavy white 
oak timber of the very best quality procured 
from land east of Lower Sandusky, about 
two miles distant. There were no stone piers 
or abutments, but instead, strong double 
bents were used. These bents were boarded 
up with strong plank, and the space between 
the two walls filled with stone to give weight 
and solidity to the structure, and to resist the 
high waters of the river. 



144 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



THIS BRIDGE CARRIED AWAY BY A FLOOD. 

In February, 1833, occurred the greatest 
flood ever known on the Sandusky river. The 
ground was frozen and covered with a deep 
snow. Several successive days of heavy rain 
dissolved the snow, and the combined water 
from the rain and snow, no part of which 
was absorbed by the earth, was suddenly 
precipitated into the ice-covered river. The 
large bodies of ice in the upper portion of 
the stream were soon raised and loosened by 
the accumulating water, and brought against 
the still firm ice a little below the city, 
where it gorged and for a time prevented the 
water passing; the gorge of broken ice 
extended a long distance above the bridge. 
The water rose until in about twenty-four 
hours after the gorge was formed the ice 
began to lift the bridge; the great pressure 
forced a movement of the ice below, and the 
whole body of ice at and above the bridge 
moved down stream carrying on its surface 
the entire structure without parting it except 
from the shore at each end. The bridge was 
carried down stream about half way from 
where it stood and where the present iron 
bridge stands, and head of the island next 
below the bridge. 

The movement thus far was slow, steady, 
and majestic, growing slower and slower 
until the river was again gorged with ice 
below, and the movement ceased with the 
bridge intact, though a little curved, and 
nothing broken. After this second gorging of 
the ice, the pent up waters turned from the 
channel above, flowed over the valley, and 
formed a strong current down Front street, 
which brought and lodged there great cakes 
of ice. It was then a river from hill to hill on 
either side of the channel, and the whole 
covered with broken ice of more than a foot 
in thickness. Through the crevices in the 
broken ice the water went gurgling and 
roaring for several days. A sudden change 



in the weather froze this mass together, and 
the bridge was for weeks, perhaps a month, 
used as a footbridge to cross the river on. A 
few boards used as an approach made it a 
great convenience for the time. All this time 
a current of water was running quite swiftly 
down Front street, and canoes and skiffs 
were used to go from one part of the town to 
another for a period of about ten days, when 
the water found an outlet below and the 
flood subsided. But the bridge remained in 
the place where the ice left it until the usual 
spring freshet, which was comparatively 
moderate, carried it further down and broke 
it. The bridge was floored with two-inch oak 
plank, sawed at Emmerson's sawmill, which 
then stood on Green Creek, on the farm now 
owned by George T. Dana, and about half a 
mile south of the line of the road. Mr. 
Birdseye says there were four double bents 
to support the bridge, besides those at each 
end. That it was well put together, and of 
good material, is shown by its tenacious 
resistance to the forces brought against it. 
But the engineer had not raised it high 
enough for such a flood. The bridges built 
after this one will be noticed in another 
chapter of this work. 

COST OF ROAD AND PRICE OF LAND. 

The average cost of clearing, grubbing, 
and throwing up this road was about dollars 
per mile, exclusive of the cost of bridges; 
and the contractors in many instances paid 
for land by the work they performed. The 
road lands, Mr. Birdseye said, were sold at 
different prices, ranging from one dollar and 
twenty-five cents to two dollars and fifty 
cents per acre, during the time of making the 
road. 

CHARACTER OF THE ROAD WHEN COMPLETED. 

When the road was completed according 
to the original design, in 1827, it was simply 
a strip one hundred and twenty 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



145 



feet wide cleared through the woods, with a 
ridge of loose earth about forty feet in width 
between the ditches along the sides. 

The trees outside of the hundred and 
twenty feet stood thick and towering on 
either side, giving at a little distance the 
appearance of a huge wall about a hundred 
feet high, and when in foliage almost 
shutting out the rays of the sun except a little 
time in the forenoon. Still, this road was a 
benefit. It was at least a guide through the 
Black Swamp, which travelers could follow 
without fear of losing their way, and during 
the dry seasons of the year was a tolerable 
road for a few years. It soon became a stage 
route, and about 1830 a line of four-horse 
post coaches was established on this road. 
The attempt, however, to run passenger 
coaches with regularity was a failure, for the 
road, then being much travelled through the 
swamp, was found impassable for coaches 
more than half the. year. Occasionally, in the 
dry portions of the year, from July to the 
equinoctial rains, the coaches would go 
through with some regularity. The 
contractors, however, endeavored to carry 
the mails through every day. As a con- 
veyance for the mails the hind wheels of a 
wagon were furnished with a tongue, a large 
dry goods box made fast to the cart thus 
improvised, into which the mail pouches 
were stowed. To this four stout horses were 
harnessed to plunge and flounder through 
thirty-one miles of mud and water. If a 
passenger on this line would pay well for the 
ride and take his chances to get through, he 
was permitted to mount this box and keep 
his seat if he could, but there was no 
insurance against being splashed all over 
with mud, or plunged into it headforemost 
by being thrown from his seat. When this 
conveyance arrived at either end of the line 
the cart, the driver, and the horses often pre- 



sented almost an indistinguishable mass of 
slowly moving mud. 

Meantime emigration to the West 
increased, and the more the road was trav- 
elled the worse it became. Some attempts 
were made now and then by the superin- 
tendent to fill up an impassable mud-hole 
with earth, but such work only made it 
thicker and deeper. The condition of this 
road, traversed by emigrants from all 
sections of the east; the reported failures in 
carrying the mails according to contract, by 
reason of its impassability, gave it a 
National reputation for being, perhaps, the 
worst road on the continent. The distance 
from Lower Sandusky to Perrysburgh was 
thirty-one miles. Hauling stalled teams, out 
of the worst mud-holes had become a regular 
and well-established employment of the 
settlers along the route, and in 1834, 1835, 
and 1836, there were thirty-one taverns 
between Lower Sandusky and Perrysburgh, 
which would be a tavern averaging one to 
every mile of road. These taverns had two 
purposes; one was to give the traveler food 
and shelter for the night, and the other to 
pull their tired and stalled teams through the 
worst places with ox teams, and start them 
forward to the next impassable mud-hole, 
where they would find another ready to 
perform a like service. These taverns, be it 
remembered, were log huts in the woods, on 
the borders of the road. Our very worthy 
citizen, John P. Moore, says that one 
Andrew Craig happened to locate on the 
road in the vicinity of several of the worst 
places in the track; that Andrew charged 
exorbitant prices for pulling out the. stalled 
teams, and for the use of his cabin for 
emigrants to rest in over night. That it was a 
common occurrence for Andrew to work all 
day in getting the team through one or two 
bad places, and then have the emigrants go 
back to stay at his house for three successive 
nights, until they got 



146 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



within the jurisdiction of the next tavern. 
Andrew's charges were never too low to 
afford him a good income. He was a 
representative tavern-keeper of the time, on 
that road. 

There was little variation in the condition 
and management of this road until an event 
happened which aroused public attention 
throughout the State to the necessity of its 
improvement, and that event was what is 
called 

THE OHIO AND MICHIGAN WAR. 

While this war, as it was called, was not 
the direct result of any action of Sandusky 
county, still its influence and bearing upon 
the subsequent improvement of the road had 
such an importance in the advancement of 
the county that a brief allusion to it seems 
proper. Beside this, the prominent part taken 
in that dispute by citizens of the county 
makes a notice of its causes and results 
pertinent to this history. 

The convention of delegates which met at 
Chillicothe in September, 1802, formed a 
Constitution for the purpose of presenting it 
to Congress for acceptance, and for then 
being admitted to the Union as a State. In the 
seventh article of the sixth section of the 
instrument as finally agreed upon and 
accepted by Congress, the convention 
undertook to set out the boundaries of the 
State. After minutely and clearly describing 
the eastern, southern, and western boundary, 
the section continued in the following 
words: 

On the north by a line drawn east through the 
southern extreme of Lake Michigan until it shall in- 
tersect Lake Erie or the territorial line; thence with the 
same through Lake Erie to the Pennsylvania line. 
Provided that said line shall not intersect Lake Erie east 
of the mouth of the Maumee River; then and in that case 
it shall, by and with the consent of Congress, be 
bounded by a line drawn from the southern extreme of 
Lake Michigan to the northern cape of the Maumee Bay. 

It was soon ascertained that an east line 
drawn from the southern extreme of Lake 



Michigan would intersect Lake Erie far east 
of the mouth of the Maumee or Miami River. 
Ohio, upon ascertaining this fact, solicited 
Congress to assent to the establishment of 
her northern boundary according to the 
proviso contained in the seventh article of 
the sixth section of her Constitution. The 
opinions of members of Congress differed on 
the subject, some holding that the proviso 
had already been assented to by the adoption 
of the Constitution; others believed that the 
assent of Congress was made necessary by 
the terms of the proviso, and that further 
action was necessary to establish the 
boundary beyond all question. In 1815 the 
Senate of the United States acted on the 
subject, favoring the claim of Ohio, but the 
bill was rejected by the House of 
Representatives. Again, in December, 1834, 
the Senate passed the same bill and it was 
again rejected by the House of 
Representatives. Thus it appears that the 
State of Ohio had, for a period of nearly 
thirty years, solicited Congress from time to 
time to establish beyond a doubt or cavil her 
northern boundary, without accomplishing 
the purpose. In the meantime she had 
exercised civil jurisdiction to the line 
mentioned in the proviso, and had at great 
cost constructed the Miami canal, which 
connected with the Maumee River at 
Manhattan, which place then, 1834, 
promised to be what the city of Toledo now 
is, the chief commercial city of northwestern 
Ohio. It should be mentioned here, in order 
to properly understand the cause of dispute, 
that in 1805 Congress, in organizing the 
territorial government for the Territory of 
Michigan, had bounded that Territory on the 
south, unconditionally, by a line drawn east 
from the southern extreme of Lake 
Michigan. This line would leave Toledo, 
Manhattan, and the mouth of the Maumee 
River, to the territory of Michigan, and take 
from Ohio a strip of land 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



147 



about ten miles in width at the west line of 
Ohio, and running to a point; then the line 
due east from the southern extreme of Lake 
Michigan touched Lake Erie. 

For many years the country was so wild 
and had so few settlers that there was no 
strife and no question about its occupancy or 
the civil jurisdiction over it, and Ohio in 
good faith held possession and built the 
canal through it without hindrance or 
opposition. After the project for building the 
canal was formed and the work under way, 
the then future commercial importance of the 
mouth of the Maumee River and the Maumee 
Bay, and this ten miles of territory including 
them, began to be appreciated. 

The repeated failures of Congress to pass 
the necessary enactment or declaration, 
especially the last failure in 1834, served to 
attract attention to the subject and induce a 
discussion of the question whether Ohio or 
Michigan owned this strip of valuable 
territory. To Ohio this question had become 
one of grave importance. She had spent large 
sums of money in improvements on it, and it 
was then clearly seen that in the future 
development of the Northwest a large 
commercial city must grow up somewhere 
near the mouth of the Maumee River. Wea- 
ried of importuning Congress, the State itself 
took action in the matter. February 6, 1835, 
the Governor of Ohio, Robert Lucas, sent a 
communication to the General Assembly of 
the State, recommending the passage of a 
law "declaring that all the counties bounded 
on the northern boundary of the State of 
Ohio, shall extend to and be bounded by a 
line running from the southern extreme of 
Lake Michigan to the northern cape of the 
Maumee Bay." On the 23rd day of February, 
1835, an act was passed by the General 
Assembly in accordance with the Governor's 
recommendation. Over a part of the 



territory included by this line, which was the 
line mentioned in the proviso above noticed, 
Ohio had not up to that time exercised any 
specific jurisdiction. This act specifically 
required the public officers of the townships 
and counties bounded by this line to exercise 
jurisdiction to it, thus enforcing the laws of 
Ohio over a considerable territory, which for 
a number Of years had been tacitly subject 
to the laws of the Territory of Michigan. 

On the 12th of February, 1835, the 
legislative council of Michigan passed an 
act, the second section of which reads as 
follows: 

And be it further enacted, that if any person residing 
within this Territory shall accept any office or trust from 
any State authority other than the government of the 
United States or the Territory of Michigan, every person 
so offending shall be fined not exceeding one thousand 
dollars, or imprisoned five years at the discretion of the 
court before which any conviction may be had. 

The act of the General Assembly of Ohio 
above mentioned, also provided that the 
Governor should appoint three commis- 
sioners to run the line and distinctly mark it 
on trees, and by monuments where trees 
were not available for the purpose; that is, 
mark the line which terminated at the 
northernmost cape of the Maumee Bay. 

In the two acts above mentioned may be 
seen the rising clouds which were soon to 
culminate in a storm of opposing authorities, 
and the collision of hostile forces. The 
acting governor of Michigan, Stevens T. 
Mason, seeing Ohio preparing to take from 
Michigan a part of her territory, prepared to 
execute the laws and defend what he 
understood to be the rights of the people of 
Michigan. To do this and to effectually drive 
off all hostile invaders from the soil in his 
Territory, he ordered Brigadier-General 
Brown, under his command, to have in 
readiness a military force to repel any 
encroachment upon their Territory, and 
intimated to the authorities of 



148 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Ohio in plain terms, that the first man who 
should attempt to run the line ordered by the 
authorities of the State of Ohio, would be 
shot without hesitation or compunction. 

The citizens of Toledo, then a small 
village situated on the disputed territory, 
manifested a disposition to yield to the 
claims and jurisdiction of Ohio. This 
disposition on their part raised a spirit of 
jealousy against them in the minds of the 
people of Michigan, which led the latter to 
commit unwarrantable and odious dep- 
redations upon the citizens of that village. 

Numerous instances of violence and 
kidnapping resulted from the hostility engen- 
dered by the contest for civil jurisdiction by 
Ohio over this disputed territory, and to 
prevent the survey of the line as required by 
the law of the State. These outrages brought 
Governor Lucas to the conclusion that the 
commissioners he had appointed to make the 
survey would be arrested while performing 
their duty, and the work prevented unless 
protected by adequate force. Sincerely 
believing that the claim of Ohio was legal 
and just, and feeling it to be his solemn duty 
to see the laws of the State faithfully 
executed, though regretting the necessity for 
force, he resolved to use force, if it must be 
used, to execute the law and maintain the 
rights of the State. 

The Governor, for the purpose of pro- 
tecting the commissioners and maintaining 
the peace, ordered General John Bell, then a 
brigadier-general of Ohio militia, to raise 
five hundred men to rendezvous at Lower 
Sandusky on the aid of April, 1835, and 
repair immediately to headquarters at Fort 
Miami, on the Maumee River and there be in 
readiness for service. 

On the 31st of March of that year 
Governor Lucas, with his staff and the 
boundary commissioners, arrived at Perrys- 



burgh on their way to run the line as directed 
by the law of Ohio. 

General Bell, then in command of the 
Seventeenth division of Ohio militia, the 
boundaries of which included the disputed 
territory, arrived about the same time with 
near three hundred men, who went into camp 
at Fort Miami to await orders. This force 
was the first to report, and was from the 
vicinity of the expected conflict, being under 
the command of Colonel Mathias Van Fleet. 
The Lucas Guards, an independent company 
of Toledo, formed a part of this force. These 
were soon after joined by part of a regiment 
from Sandusky county, under command of 
Colonel Lewis Jennings; also a part of a 
regiment from Seneca and Hancock counties 
under command of Colonel Henry C. Brish, 
of Tiffin, numbering about three hundred 
more; all together numbering about six 
hundred effective men. The last mentioned 
three hundred men, and the Governor and 
staff, as well as the surveying party, 
necessarily had to pass through the Black 
Swamp, by the Maumee and Western 
Reserve road, in the spring of the year. 

And now we have arrived at the event 
which makes the mention of this war perti- 
nent in the history of the Maumee and 
Western Reserve road, and that lies in the 
fact that the contest over the north boundary 
of the State, made it necessary for the troops 
and officers, the Governor and his staff, and 
the commissioners, to run the line, and many 
other distinguished and influential men of 
the State and from other States, to wallow 
through thirty-one miles of mud and water, 
and to realize that it was for land travel the 
connecting and only way from the East to 
the rapidly developing region of the 
Northwest ; and to realize further, that the 
condition of the road was a shame and a 
disgrace to the State. 

But now that we have gone thus far in 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



149 



the mention of the war, let us briefly trace it 
to the conclusion and then resume the more 
direct history of the road. 

On Sunday, the 26th of April, the sur- 
veying party which had been engaged in 
running the line, when resting about a mile 
south of the line, in what they consider a 
part of Henry county, in Ohio, at about 12 
o'clock noon, were surprised by about fifty 
of Governor Mason's mounted men, well 
armed with muskets, under command of 
General Brown. The commissioners who at 
the time, had only five armed men with 
them, who had been employed as a lookout 
and as hunters for the party, thought it 
prudent to retire, and so advised the men. 
Several made good their escape, but nine of 
the party did not leave the ground in time, 
and, after being fired upon by the enemy, 
were taken prisoners and carried away to the 
interior of Michigan. The names of those 
who were thus captured are, Colonels Scott, 
Hawkins, and Gould, Major Robert S. Rice, 
father of our Congressman-elect, and of our 
other prominent citizens, William A., Robert 
S., and A. H. Rice; Captain Samuel 
Biggerstaff, and Messrs. Ellsworth, Fletcher, 
Moale, and Reckets. These men were taken 
by an armed force to Tecumseh, Michigan, 
brought before a magistrate there for 
examination, and, though they there denied 
the jurisdiction of Michigan, six entered bail 
for their appearance, two were released as 
not guilty, and one, Fletcher, refused to give 
bail and was retained in custody. 

Governor Lucas, finding it impracticable 
to run the line without further Legislative 
aid, disbanded his forces and called an extra 
session of the General Assembly to meet on 
the 8th of June, which was held accordingly. 
That body passed an act to prevent the 
forcible abduction of citizens of Ohio, and 
made the crime punishable by imprisonment 
in the penitentiary, not 



less than three nor more than seven years; it 
also passed an act to create the county of 
Lucas out of the north part of Wood county, 
including the disputed territory north of it, 
and a portion of the northwest corner of 
Sandusky county. The General Assembly 
also provided ample means to enforce the 
claims of Ohio. It appropropriated three 
hundred thousand dollars to carry its laws 
into effect, and authorized the Governor to 
borrow the money. 

It was ascertained by the Adjutant-General 
of Ohio, Samuel C. Andrews, that not less 
than twelve thousand men in the State were 
ready to volunteer to sustain and enforce the 
claims and laws of Ohio. 

The partisans of Michigan continued, 
during the summer of 1835, to arrest and 
harass the people on the disputed territory, 
and the war cloud daily became more and 
more portentous and threatening. 

Before the forces under General Bell had 
reached the scene of military operations, the 
President of the United States had sent Hon. 
Richard Rush, of Philadelphia, and Colonel 
Howard, of Baltimore, as commissioners to 
use their influence to stop the warlike 
demonstrations. These eminent men were 
accompanied by Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, one 
of Ohio's most honored public men, and 
these endeavored to persuade Governor 
Mason to permit the line to be peaceably 
surveyed and marked, and then let matters 
rest as they had been before, until the next 
session of Congress; but he refused compli- 
ance with the proposition, while Governor 
Lucas assented because he considered the 
Governor of the Territory as a subaltern to 
the President and subject to his (the 
President's) control. This reliance on the 
President's authority it was that induced 
Governor Lucas to believe he could run the 
line in peace, and hence he set 



150 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the surveyors at work without a military 
guard, as above noticed. But no effort for 
peace was successful in modifying the 
warlike determination of the Governor of 
Michigan, and Ohio went on with her 
preparation, to meet force with superior 
force. 

The war cloud rose higher, became 
darker, and spread wider until the authorities 
at Washington began to feel uneasy about 
the peace of the country. President Jackson, 
to whom the proceedings and the preparation 
for hostilities were reported, became 
strongly impressed with the necessity of 
interposing a check to the tendency to 
serious trouble. 

Governor Lucas, perceiving the state of 
mind at Washington, wisely chose the time 
to make an effort to induce the President to 
interfere in behalf of peace. For this purpose 
he sent a deputation to confer with the 
President on the subject. This deputation 
consisted of Noah H. Swayne, William 
Allen, and David T. Disney, all eminent and 
very influential men, who procured from the 
President an urgent appeal that no 
obstruction should be interposed to running 
the line; that all proceedings begun under the 
Ohio act of February 23rd be discontinued, 
and that no prosecutions be commenced for 
any violation of it, and that all prosecutions 
then pending be discontinued. This ar- 
rangement or appeal from the President was 
obtained July 3, 1835. The authorities of 
Michigan, however, disregarded the 
President's recommendation, and continued 
their resistance to running the line, still 
claiming jurisdiction over the disputed 
ground; and thus matters stood until the 15th 
of June, 1836, when Michigan was admitted 
into the Union and her southern boundary 
fixed as Ohio had claimed it to be. To 
console Michigan for what her people 
thought was wrongfully taken from them, the 
same act gave her a 



large scope of mineral lands about Lake 
Superior. Thus, by the liberality of Con- 
gress, the contending parties were reconciled 
and made happy. 

Having followed this digression to its 
termination, let us now go back to the 
subject from which we diverged and return 
to the history of 

THE ROAD. 

The dispute with Michigan, which we 
have briefly mentioned, brought the condi- 
tion of the Maumee and Western Reserve 
road, and its future importance, prominently 
into notice. The militia from Lower 
Sandusky and the counties south of it; the 
commissioners appointed to run the line of 
the State; and their assistants; the peace 
commissioners sent by the President to the 
theater of impending conflict; high 
functionaries of the State, including the 
Governor and his staff; all were in the dis- 
charge of public duties, compelled to plunge 
and wallow through thirty miles of mud and 
water in order to reach ,the objective point 
of contest. Thus leading men in our own 
State councils were by actual and 
disagreeable experience brought to a correct 
understanding of the condition of the road. 
True it is, that for some years before the 
contest with Michigan, the stage drivers, the 
emigrants, and all others who were 
compelled to travel the road, out of their 
wallowings in the mud had sent up oaths and 
imprecations sufficient to split the skies. But 
the stage driver had little to do with moving 
public opinion of the State, and the emigrant 
passed on, and the imprecations never 
reached the ears of the State authority but 
the road obtained a frightful reputation all 
over the country. Now, however, our own 
people, and our Governor and many of his 
influential friends, had found to their own 
discomfort and the shame of the State, the 
true condition of the road, and had realized 
its future importance. In 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



151 



1836 Rodolphus Dickinson, of Lower 
Sandusky, was, fortunately for the 
northwestern part of the State, and especially 
for the town in which he resided, chosen a 
member of the board of public works of the 
State. The road was in his division of the 
works, and thus came under his personal 
direction and management. He at once put 
his rare abilities, favored by his public 
position, into the work of procuring the 
improvement of the road. In his efforts he 
was, of course, warmly supported by the 
localities to be benefited, and such progress 
was made in moving public opinion in the 
right direction for the accomplishment of the 
purpose, that on March 14, 1838, the General 
Assembly of the State passed an act 
providing for the repairing and 
macadamizing the road, and appropriating 
forty thousand dollars to be expended in the 
work. This act provided that the work should 
begin at the western termination of the road, 
and progress eastwardly from that point 
through to the eastern termination. It also 
provided that after a good roadbed had been 
made, and before the stone covering should 
be put on, gates might be erected and tolls 
charged upon teams travelling over the 
repaired portion. Here it should be noticed 
that the United States had not at the time this 
act was passed, in any way given the State a 
title to the one hundred and twenty feet in 
width of land on which the road was made, 
but only the land on each side of it, with 
authority to make the road, and pay for the 
making out of the proceeds of the sale of the 
land. Therefore, before the State actually 
began the expenditure of the appropriation, 
the act of Congress of July 7, 1838, was 
passed, ceding the title to the road and land 
which it covered, that is the one hundred and 
twenty feet in width between the termini of 
the road, to the State of Ohio; since then the 
State has been the real owner of the road. 



Soon after the appropriation of this forty 
thousand dollars was made and the above 
mentioned act of Congress passed, the Board 
of Public Works sent General John 
Patterson, one of the State engineers, to 
survey and superintend the work of repairing 
and macadamizing the road, and too much 
praise cannot be bestowed on General 
Patterson, though he is now dead, for the 
honesty and skill, and the fidelity with which 
he executed his duties. March 16, 1839, the 
State appropriated one hundred thousand 
dollars to forward the macadamizing of the 
road. The timber originally grubbed out and 
cut off the road and piled on the sides, had 
now become dry and was burned off. The 
roots and stumps had so much decayed that 
they were easily removed, and the plowing 
of the ground and scraping up of a good road 
bed was comparatively easy. Mr. Patterson 
skillfully laid the grade with a view to the 
best possible drainage into all the rivers, 
creeks, and swails, by which the water could 
be carried away, and where necessary con- 
structed large lateral ditches leading to the 
north from the road. The new roadbed or 
pike was sixty feet in width, located about 
ten feet nearer the south line than the north 
line of the road. This location of the road 
bed was adopted for the purpose of affording 
an ample side road on the north side, which, 
in dry periods, was preferred by teamsters to 
the stoned road bed, and thus the wear of the 
stone was made much less than if it bore the 
wear of all the travel-twenty feet in width of 
the crown of the road bed was covered with 
stone, well broken. A prominent feature in 
the work of General Patterson in designing 
the improvement of the road, was the 
capacious, and, in some places, deep side 
ditches which he caused to be constructed 
along the sides of the sixty feet road bed, 
with frequent culverts, by which water was 
conducted from one ditch 



152 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



to the other, under the roadway. The water 
which had rendered this road such a terror to 
travelers in very rainy or wet seasons, had a 
tendency to slowly soak away to the north 
with the general direction of the rivers and 
creeks, and hence the ditch on the south side 
of the road caught the water as it slowly 
drained in from the south. The system of 
culverts and large ditches afforded a passage 
for the water along the road to the nearest 
point where a natural or artificial channel 
would carry it towards the lake. 

At this day, and in future times, the reader 
may feel tempted to ask, Why were these 
dry, commonplace details about the 
construction of this road set out here as a 
matter of history? The answer is simple; 
when completed to some outlet, these 
ditches almost instantly — though in some 
instances the water would necessarily run 
many miles along the road-relieved the lands 
along them of surface water; especially was 
this the case with lands south of the road. 
This, however, is not the full answer. It was 
thereby demonstrated that the Black Swamp 
lands could be drained, and that dreadful 
locality made one of the most productive 
regions of Ohio, as it now, in fact, is. A new 
spirit was given to the inhabitants; their land 
had become valuable, and they could 
discern, through all their former 
discouragements, that their part of the 
county would soon be filled with inhabitants 
and become rich and prosperous. The result 
was to draw public attention to a realizing 
sense of the great benefits to this country to 
be derived from draining land, and in this 
view, the location, construction, and 
improvement of the Maumee and Western 
Reserve road was not only the first, but the 
most important public improvement made in 
the county. The State, through the Board of 
Public Works, collected the tolls, repaired 
and managed the road, until 



the misconduct of a few unfaithful officers 
and agents aroused public opinion to a belief 
that our whole system of public im- 
provements, including our canals and roads, 
were managed to promote plunder and 
political party ascendancy. So thoroughly 
disgusted and offended did the people 
become at the revelations of an investigation 
into their management, that it was 
determined to rid the State of the cause of so 
much expense and corruption. The General 
Assembly, under the force of this public 
opinion, on the 8th day of May, 1861, passed 
an act which provided for 

LEASING THE PUBLIC WORKS OF THE STATE. 

This was accomplished, and the lease 
included the transfer of the management of 
the Maumee and Western Reserve road to 
the lessees, who took charge of it in the year 
1861. 

The lessees, of course, managed the road 
in a way to produce for them the greatest 
amount of net profit, and like tenants 
generally, became negligent in making the 
repairs provided for in the lease. They 
collected the tolls with the utmost rigor, but 
failed to renew the road with a covering of 
stone when the same was worn out, until the 
people along the line became so dissatisfied, 
that they demanded from the General 
Assembly a repair of the road by the lessees, 
or a forfeiture of the lease. This 
dissatisfaction resulted in an act passed 
March 30, 1868, withdrawing the road from 
the charge of the lessees and offering the 
care and management of it to the county 
commissioners of the counties respectively 
through which it passed; each county to have 
jurisdiction over that portion within its own 
limits. 

The county commissioners of Wood and 
Sandusky counties, after consultation, 
declined to take charge of the road, because 
the lessees had permitted it to become so 
much out of repair. Much talk of suing the 
lessees by the State for 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



153 



breach of the lease, then ensued; finally, 
the matter was adjusted by the lessees 
putting on about three thousand dollars in 
repairs and giving up the road to the charge 
of the State about June 1, 1870, and ever 
since the road has remained in charge of the 
board of public works of the State. 

The following is the mention of some of 
the men of the county prominently in- 
strumental in procuring the construction 
and maintenance of the road: 

We have already mentioned the names of 
the settlers at Lower Sandusky, who, in 
1821 and 1822 and '23 began to agitate the 
public mind on the subject of having the 
road constructed. Among these, Jeremiah 
Everett was conspicuous, for, although the 
acts of Congress of 1823, giving the State 
charge of the clearing and making the road, 
and the sale of land granted by the Indians 
for the purpose, and the act of the General 
Assembly of Ohio accepting the trust, had 
been passed by the concurrent efforts of 
Mr. Everett and other citizens of Lower 
Sandusky, Sandusky county did not have a 
representative at Columbus to represent 
there the local interests of the vicinity until 
the year 1825. In this year Jeremiah Everett 
was elected to the House of Representatives 
of the State, and took his seat as a member 
on the first Monday in December of that 
year. Important legislative acts were passed 
during that session, concerning the road and 
the sale of the road lands, and his exertions 
and influence were highly serviceable in 
hastening on the work. He was elected 
again in 1835, and did much to produce that 
public sentiment which finally impelled the 
State to appropriate money to repair and 
macadamize the road as provided by the act 
of 1838. 

Rodolphus Dickinson, from the time the 
question was first agitated, was an 



ardent advocate for the improvement of the 
road. When, however, he was made a 
member of the board of public works in 
1836, his influence became more potent on 
the public mind, and probably no one man 
did more to have the road improved, and to 
induce the State to appropriate money for 
the purpose in a season of great financial 
depression, than Mr. Dickinson. 

McKnight, of Perrysburg, Wood County, 
was the first superintendent of the road, and 
commissioner, in 1824, to sell the road 
lands. He officiated until his death, which 
occurred January 11, 1831, by accidental 
shooting. Mr. McKnight travelled on the ice 
in 1820, from what is now Sandusky City to 
a place then called Orleans, afterwards 
called Fort Meigs, and now the town of 
Perrysburg, on the Maumee River. He was 
clerk of the court in Wood county, an 
active, well esteemed business man, and 
has descendants of much respectability now 
residing near Perrysburg. 

John Bell, of Lower Sandusky, succeeded 
Mr. McKnight, who continued to sell the 
land until all was sold, and superintended 
the road under the direction of the State 
authorities, until the road was placed in 
charge of General Patterson, State engineer, 
about the last of the year 1838. General 
Bell, however, closed out the sale of the 
road lands, and made an acceptable report 
of his administration, settled his accounts 
with the State, and the office was 
discontinued some time in 1840. 

THE ROAD TO FORT BALL. 

Although the treaty of Brownstown, A. D. 
1808, which provided for the construction 
of the Maumee and Western Reserve road, 
provided also for a road, or rather ceded to 
the United States a tract of land for a "road 
only," one hundred and twenty feet in 
width, to run southwardly from Lower 
Sandusky to the boundary line established 
by the treaty of Greenville, little attention 
seems to have been 



154 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



paid to the construction of this road, either 
by the United States or the State of Ohio, for 
no legislation by either can be found upon 
searching the indexes of legislation of that 
time or since. But about the years 1827 and 
1828, a road southward from Lower 
Sandusky was cleared through the woods, on 
a straight line from Wolf Creek south until it 
struck the bank of the river a few miles 
below Fort Ball, and then followed the river 
to Fort Ball, which was at that time an im- 
portant post next south of Lower Sandusky. 
Previous to opening this road the travelled 
track meandered the river all the way 
between the two places. This old road, which 
was traversed by portions of General 
Harrison's army in the War of 1812, was not 
only crooked and greatly 



increased the distance to Fort Ball, but 
crossed a deep ravine at Old Fort Seneca, the 
steep hills on either side of which were a 
terror to all teamsters who were compelled 
to travel that way. The new road was straight 
from Wolf Creek to a point above Fort 
Seneca, and was located so far west of it as 
to avoid the hills and shorten the distance 
materially. From the best information now to 
be had, it is believed that the expense of 
clearing out and improving this road was 
borne, by the counties of Seneca and 
Sandusky. Whether this information be 
accurate or not, the fact remains that the 
opening of this road was the second and a 
very important improvement, in the way to 
and from the country south of Lower 
Sandusky, and greatly facilitated its trade. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE OHIO RAILROAD. 



Design of the Road — Manner of Building — The Plunder Law — Financial Management — Bankruptcy and 

Failure. 



ALTHOUGH it may at first appear to 
the reader that a history of improve- 
ments should not notice such as were 
never completed, still the design of 
building this road was so bold for the 
time at which it originated, as well as for 
the then financial condition of the 
country, and it came so near being a 
success, that some mention of it seems 
proper. Besides these reasons, the form of 
the road, and the manner of constructing 
it, were novel and ingenious, and the 
financial methods for obtaining money to 
pay the expenses, are all so well 
calculated to illustrate the 



spirit of the time and the consequences of bad 
legislation, that a brief record of the 
enterprise may be of value to legislators as 
well as to financiers, and thus justify the 
mention of it in this work. 

The Ohio canal, through the eastern portion 
of the State, and the Miami canal in the west, 
bad developed an improved condition of 
business and increased prices for farm 
products along the lines. Thither capital and 
enterprise were attracted, and the business and 
chief markets were found along and near 
them. But the districts remote from the canals 
and not fa- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



155 



vored with a navigable river in their vicinity, 
were stuck in the mud, with a long haul for 
the marketable products of their farms and 
factories. The State had contracted millions 
on millions of debt in the construction of 
these canals, and the people remote from 
them must, of course, give their labor and 
sweat for tax money to pay the obligations. 
Under these circumstances what was more 
natural than for the people to demand of the 
State her help to make easy transportation to 
the markets on these canals. Hence arose a 
clamor for roads, turnpikes, other canals, 
and railroads to enable the people located 
away from the canals, to carry their products 
away. The demand for a more extended and 
more generally diffused system of internal 
improvements became imperative. Under 
this pressure the General Assembly, on the 
24th day of March, 1837, passed an "act to 
authorize a loan of the credit of the State of 
Ohio to railroad companies, and to authorize 
subscriptions by the State to the capital stock 
of turnpike, canal, and slack-water navi- 
gation companies. This act provided as to 
railroad companies substantially as follows: 
That every railroad company that was then, or 
thereafter might be duly organized, and to the 
capital stock of which there shall be 
subscribed an amount equal to two-thirds of 
its authorized capital, or an amount equal to 
two-thirds of the estimated cost of the road 
and fixtures, shall be entitled to a loan of 
credit from the State equal to one-third of 
such authorized capital, or equal to one-third 
of the estimated cost of such road and 
fixtures, to be delivered to the company in 
negotiable scrip or transferrable certificates 
of stock of the State of Ohio, bearing an 
annual interest not exceeding six per cent, 
and redeemable at periods not exceeding 
twenty years, and the State should then 
receive certificates of stock in the conr- 



piny for the amount so paid. The provisions 
of this law as to turnpike companies were in 
substance like those as to railroad 
companies, with this difference, that on 
showing the plan of the proposed work, the 
amount of stock subscribed, and that one- 
fourth of the stock subscribed had been paid 
in cash to the treasurer of the company, the 
Governor should subscribe to the stock of 
such company for an amount equal to that 
subscribed by private persons, which was to 
be paid in installments out of the treasury of 
the State. In like manner the act provided 
that the Governor should subscribe to the 
capital stock of canal and slack-water 
companies an amount equal to one-half that 
subscribed by private persons. 

A Solomon or a Solon might have sus- 
pected that such a law would soon exhaust 
the treasury and seriously impair the credit 
of the State; they might have suspected that 
companies would soon be very numerous, 
and that some Utopian enterprise would be 
undertaken, and that sham subscriptions and 
false statements of stock paid in would be 
resorted to in some instances for the purpose 
of drawing money from the State. But if 
Solomon and Solon had been out in the 
wilderness and stuck in the mud, where their 
wisdom and glory could not be known of 
men, and the laws promised them a way out 
into the world to bless it, they perhaps would 
not have cried their condemnation of the law 
in a very loud voice. Whatever may be said 
about the wisdom of such a law, practically 
it served one good purpose, and that was to 
stimulate all over the State enterprises to 
improve the means of transportation of her 
products, and facilitate travel and 
intercourse among the people. 

The Ohio Railroad Company was one of 
the enterprises brought into life by the 
patronage offered in this statute. It was 
chartered by act of March 8, 1836, and 



156 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



empowered to build a railroad with single or 
double track, from the east line of the State 
at some suitable point in Ashtabula county, 
west-wardly through the counties of 
Ashtabula, Geauga, Cuyahoga, Lorain, 
Huron, Sandusky, Wood, and Lucas, to the 
Maumee River, and thence to some point on 
the Wabash and Erie Canal. The act of 
incorporation carefully provided that if such 
road passed below the lower rapids of rivers 
it crossed it should not obstruct navigation. 
The capital stock of the company was four 
million dollars, divided into shares of one 
hundred dollars each, and the charter named 
influential men in each of the counties 
through which the road was to pass, as 
commissioners to open books and receive 
subscriptions to the capital stock. The 
commissioners named for Sandusky county 
were, Jesse S. Olmstead, Jacques Hulburd, 
and Sardis Birchard, all of whom, at that 
time, were prominent and leading citizens of 
Lower Sandusky, especially in all matters of 
finance and public improvement. 

The act of incorporation further provided 
that the money of the company should be 
paid out of the treasury thereof, on orders 
drawn on the treasurer, in such manner as 
should be pointed out by the bylaws of the 
organization. The reader will see, as the 
progress of the work went on, that this very 
reasonable and innocent looking provision 
for orders on the treasury was made to play a 
very important part in the financial 
management of the road. 

The commissioners to open books and 
receive subscriptions for stock were 
empowered to call the stockholders together, 
to elect directors, and the directors thus 
elected to organize the company, by electing 
president, secretary, and treasurer, etc., so 
soon as one thousand shares, or one hundred 
thousand dollars, should be subscribed to the 
capital stock. The exact 



date of the organization of the company is 
not conveniently ascertainable, and in fact is 
not deemed material to the purpose for 
which this sketch is written. But, sure it is, 
Nehemiah Allen was chosen president and 
Samuel Wilson treasurer. It is also true that 
surveys had been made, the line of the road 
established, and that rights of way were 
secured as early as January 19, 1838, 
perhaps earlier. 

FORM OF THE ROAD. 

The form of this railroad is peculiar, and 
deserves mention in this history, and 
whatever merits there may be in the plan, 
and whoever was the author of it (though 
President Allen is by some supposed to be 
that person), succeeding railroad engineers 
appear not to have adopted it as a general 
form for the construction of railroads. The 
base or foundation of this road was to be on 
piles, or sharpened trunks of white oak or 
bur-oak trees, about fifteen inches, more or 
less, driven into the ground by a machine 
called a pile-driver. This pile-driver was 
worked by steam (a wag might here 
interpose and say, so was the whole 
concern); this same pile-driver worked a 
horizontal buzz-saw which cut off the piles 
when thoroughly pounded down, to 
correspond with the engineer's tine for the 
grade of the road. This pile-driver and 
sawing-machine was trundled along on rails 
laid as occasion required, on the top of the 
piles as they were cut off. These pile- 
drivers were set to work, one somewhere 
near Cleveland, and another at the Maumee 
River opposite Manhattan, which place 
being then the terminus of the Miami canal, 
was to be the great future city of 
northwestern Ohio, which Toledo now is. 
Timber was plenty and cheap in those 
forests through which the line of the road 
passed. The pile-drivers went merrily on, 
booming, puffing, screaming, and pounding 
through 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



157 



the woods, leaving behind them a clear track 
with two lines of piles cut level and ready 
for cross ties. The ties were to be laid from 
pile to pile; on these cross ties were to be 
laid timbers about eight inches square, an 
auger hole two inches in diameter was then 
bored through the square timbers or rails, 
down through the ties and into the pile; into 
this hole was firmly driven a red cedar bolt 
or pin about two feet in length, to hold the 
structure firmly together. On the square 
timbers thus fastened, were to be laid and 
spiked down the strap rail of iron on which 
the cars were to be propelled. 

Riverius Bidwell, then owner of the water 
power and mill site in the city, contracted to 
furnish the cedar pins. Machinery, with a 
turning lathe, was erected and attached to his 
water power; large contracts were made in 
Canada and elsewhere for red cedar timber, 
and Mr. Bidwell manufactured and had ready 
for delivery great piles of the fragrant cedar 
pins to fasten the superstructure together. 
Meantime a superb trestle work of solid oak 
timber was erected across the valley of the 
Sandusky River, from hill top to hill top on 
either side. Huge and substantial limestone 
abutments and piers rose out of the waters of 
the river to receive the woodwork of the 
bridge, which was located about half way 
between the Maumee. and Western Reserve 
road bridge, and the southern extremity of 
the island next below; being near one 
hundred rods below the present iron bridge. 

The work of driving the piles was begun 
at Brooklyn, on the west side of the 
Cuyahoga River, to work toward the west; 
also at the Maumee River, opposite Man- 
hattan, now Northern Toledo, to work 
eastward. 

THE FINANCIERING. 

The financial management of the 



company deserves particular notice. After 
the first hundred thousand dollars of stock 
was subscribed and the company organized, 
the State as bound by the act of March 24, 
1837, issued in scrip or negotiable 
obligations to the company thirty-three and 
one-third thousand dollars. This scrip could 
be converted into ready cash, or 
hypothecated to local banks with the 
agreement that the bank should redeem or 
pay the orders of the company to an equal 
amount of the deposits. The orders of the 
company on the treasury were nicely 
engraved and printed in the similitude of 
bank bills, in various denominations, and 
largely in fractions of a dollar. The 
contractors and laborers on the road were 
paid off periodically with these orders, 
which were promptly paid in currency at the 
treasury, or taken at bank as cash. Soon 
merchants and traders of all kinds, finding 
the Ohio Railroad money as good as any 
other currency then used, began to accept it 
in payment of debts, or for any thing they 
had to sell. Thus the means were obtained to 
start the building of the road. After the line 
was established and the work absolutely 
begun, men along the line whose lands were 
to be greatly benefited, began to subscribe, 
quite liberally, believing the stock would be 
worth its face, and that they would make 
great gains in the increased value of their 
property. One man in Lower Sandusky 
subscribed for twenty-five thousand dollars 
of the stock, although good judges thought at 
the time his whole property of all kinds was 
not worth twenty-five hundred dollars, but 
subscriptions drew one-third of this amount 
from the State treasury in an available form, 
and this is but a single example of what was 
extensively practiced all along the line. Ohio 
Railroad money became the general 
circulating medium, and for a time was 
considered as good as our local bank paper, 
which at the time 



158 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



was our chief medium of exchange and 
payment of debts. The Auditor of State, John 
Brough, in his annual report to the General 
Assembly for the year 1839, gave the 
amount for which the State had subscribed 
and paid stock to turnpike, canal, and slack- 
water navigation companies, but the amount 
of scrip or obligations of the State issued to 
aid in the construction of railroads, does not 
appear in the report of that year. He, 
however, informed the Assembly that the 
State debt was rapidly increasing, and that 
the revenues of the State were not sufficient 
to pay the interest on her debt. This report, 
doubtless, drew the attention of legislators to 
the financial condition of Ohio, and 
awakened public attention to consider the 
outcome and results of the then existing 
policy. Here it should be said that, although 
under this very liberal policy many useless 
schemes were organized, and, no doubt, 
much swindling of the State treasury had 
been accomplished in various ways under 
pretended compliance with the law, still 
many works were begun, and accomplished, 
which were of great value to the State, and 
served to hasten the development of her 
resources. 

The pile-drivers, meantime, were working 
towards each other. It was expected they 
would meet somewhere near Huron. The one 
from the east had neared that place, and that 
from the west was somewhere between 
Castalia and Venice, when the bubble burst, 
the machines stopped, and the people had the 
worthless Ohio Railroad money in their 
pockets. This crash came about 1840. 
Auditor Brough, in his report of 1840, 
complained again that the State had been 
compelled to issue its obligations to raise 
money to pay interest on her debt, and in one 
brief line stated the amount of scrip issued to 
railroad companies to be three hundred and 
fifty-eight thousand dollars, most of which 
was 



probably issued to aid in building the Ohio 
Railroad. Judge Nehemiah Allen bore the 
reputation of an honest and honorable man, 
who was sincerely engaged in accomplishing 
what he considered a great work for the 
State, and especially the north part of it, and 
the collapse left him poor in his old age. 
Samuel Wilson, the treasurer, was said to be 
poor at the beginning of the work, but at the 
bursting up of the concern was rich, and had 
bought land and built a splendid mansion on 
it, but the title to his property was found to 
be in his wife. 

The amount of Ohio Railroad orders 
outstanding at the time they became 
worthless, is not known, but almost every 
man in this part of the State had some of it, 
and many had large amounts. 

Mr. Charles O. Tillotson, who left a 
charge on the Maumee and Western Reserve 
Turnpike to assist in the construction of this 
railroad, and was in the employ of the 
company when the failure occurred, 
remarked to the writer a few days ago, that if 
this railroad had been completed, this county 
would have, been fifty years in advance of 
what it now is in the development of its 
resources and in wealth. 

About forty years have passed since this 
enterprise closed in ruinous insolvency. 
President Allen and Treasurer Wilson have 
passed away; all the bright anticipations of 
those who designed and gave their money in 
support of the work are vanished, and the 
magnificent trestle was long ago taken 
down, and the superb timbers were 
converted into the third bridge for the 
Maumee and Western Reserve road, under 
the engineer, Cyrus Williams. Even the solid 
stone piers and abutments have been taken 
down. The ties and timbers prepared for he 
superstructure are gone, the more than three 
hundred thousand dollars contributed by the 
State are 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



159 



gone, the money paid by its stockholders is 
gone, and the only visible remains of the 
work are the broken lines of decaying piles, 
to be yet seen in sections where the march of 
improvement has not taken them away. 
These still stand, silent, but fast disappearing 
witnesses of the great failure. 

"The best laid schemes of mice and men 
Gang aft a glee." 

The people, in 1839, had come to believe 
that the act of 1837 was ruining the State 
credit, and would soon result in bringing her 
hopelessly in debt. This be- 



lief became so general that it resulted in the 
repeal of the act, which had come to be 
popularly designated as the plunder law, by 
repealing the act passed March 17, 1840. 
And when the consequences of this plunder 
law became fully understood, so strong 
became the feeling against the principle in 
legislation, that in framing the new 
constitution such legislation is strictly 
forbidden, in the plainest and most 
unmistakable language. 

If "history is philosophy, teaching by 
example," then this mention of the Ohio 
Railroad may not be in vain. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
PLANK-ROAD. 

The Lower Sandusky Plank — Road Company — Stock Subscribed — Cost of Buildings — Benefit of the Road to the County. 



FOR a period of about nine years after the 
failure of the Ohio Railroad Company, 
the spirit of enterprise seemed to slumber in 
the county, and enterprising business men 
talked of the dullness of our prospects, and 
some even expressed a desire to leave and go 
to where business was more promising. Still, 
Lower Sandusky was a good point for 
collecting produce and selling merchandise. 
It was then the central trading point of a 
tolerably improved country, extending 
southward more than half way to Tiffin, 
eastward to a point at least half way to 
Bellevue, north almost to Port Clinton, and 
west half way or more to Perrysburg, and 
southwest as far as Risdon and Rome (now 
Fostoria), in the west part of Seneca County. 
Here was a circumference, then, 



of an average diameter of about forty miles, 
the products from which were brought to 
Lower Sandusky for sale or exchange, and 
for shipment by way of the river and lake to 
Buffalo, and thence to New York. The 
people residing on this circle were chiefly 
supplied with dry goods, groceries, drugs, 
salt and leather, and fish by the retail stores 
in Lower Sandusky, and, in fact, a large 
retail and barter business was carried on 
notwithstanding the absence of all railroads. 
But the roads, excepting the Maumee and 
Western Reserve turnpike, were unimproved 
earth roads, never good, and much of the 
year impassable. Consequently the time and 
expense of hauling heavy articles, such as 
wheat, corn, and pork, was very 
considerable, and of course materially 
reduced the 



160 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



value of the products at the respective farms 
where raised. Notwithstanding the bad 
condition of the roads, however, the farm 
products, in great quantities, were hauled to 
Lower Sandusky and trade was lively at 
certain seasons. A very large proportion of 
the products brought to the place for 
transportation came by the roads leading to 
Bettsville and Rome (Fostoria), and the trade 
was annually increasing, though the only 
transportation from Lower Sandusky was by 
water, and this method was of course closed 
during a considerable portion of the year. 
While this state of affairs existed, the idea of 
building plank roads came to be promulgated 
and discussed, and indeed it appeared to he 
precisely the system best adapted to the 
improvement of the roads through the 
county. The words "plank road" at once 
awakened the spirit of enterprise which had 
slept so long, and the 

LOWER SANDUSKY PLANK ROAD COMPANY 
WAS CHARTERED, 

with a capital stock of one hundred thousand 
dollars, in shares of fifty dollars each, to 
build a plank road from the south 
termination of Front street, in Lower 
Sandusky, southward along the Sandusky 
River to the south line of Edward Tindall's 
land; thence southwesterly to Bettsville, and 
thence to Rome, in Seneca county, with a 
branch starting from the south line of 
Tindall's land south to Tiffin. 

The stock subscription book of the 
company, so safely and carefully preserved 
by its president, James Justice, during his 
life, and since his death, by his daughters, 
shows the names of the subscribers and the 
amount of stock taken by each. The names of 
subscribers then living in the county and the 
amount of stock subscribed respectively are 
as follows: 

R. Dickinson, $2,000; S. Birchard, $3,000; J. R. 
Pease, $2,500; L. Q. Rawson, $2,000; R. P. Buckland, 
$1,500; I. S. Tyler, $500; James Moore, $2,000; 



C. Edgarton, $500; James W. Wilson, $500; Daniel 
Tindall, $1,800; L. B. Otis, $500; P. Brush, $500; C. 
Betts, $500; F. I. Nortun, $200; Kendall & Nims, 
$1,000; Morgan & Downs, $1,000; Doncyson & Engler, 
$200; J. Lesher, $200; John Joseph, $100; J. F. R. 
Sebring, $100; H. Everett, $200; H. E. Clark, $100; J. 
Millious, $200; G. F. Grund, $50; A. A. Bensack, $50; 
L. M. Bidwell, $100; C. O. Tillotson, $100; J. Kridler & 
Co., $100; I. VanDoren, jr., $100; E. Leppelman, $100; 
P. Door, $50; J. F, Hults, $50; S. Lansing, $200; J. 
Sendelbach, $50; D. Capper, $50; H. R. Foster, $50; C. 
Smith, $50; J. Emerson, $500; H. Bowman, $100; J. 
Justice, $1,500; A. B. Taylor, $500; A. J. Dickinson, 
$200; M. E. Pierce, Imo; P. Beaugrand, $300; H. Rems- 
burg, $100; J. B. Smith, $500; D. Marten, $50; M, A. 
Ritter, $200; C. J. Orton, $100; Samuel Thompson, 
$500; John Moore & Vallette, $5,500; Daniel Seaman, 
$200; A. Coles, $200; Dean & Ballard, $250; L. E. 
Marsh, $100; S. M. Steward, $100; John Hafford, $100; 
John Simon, $50; S. N. Russell, $200; J. W. Davis, 
$100; G. Kisseberth, $50; John Houts, $100; A. Phillips, 
$50. 

The first fifty-three names in the above 
list were residents of Fremont at the time 
they subscribed, 1849. They were all men, 
excepting two, Mariah E. Pierce and Lucy E. 
Bidwell, both widows, but not of advanced 
age. The men were in middle age or younger, 
and were, at the time, active managing 
members in society and business. Thirty-two 
years have passed, and of these fifty-three 
persons, thirty-one are known to be dead. 

Thirty-two years ago these stockholders 
elected five directors, namely, James Justice, 
LaQ. Rawson, Charles W. Foster, John R. 
Pease, and James Vallette. 

FIRST MEETING OF THE DIRECTORS— WORK 
BEGUN IN 1849. 

At a meeting of the directors of the Lower 
Sandusky Plank Road Company, held at the 
office of L. Q. Rawson, in Lower Sandusky, 
on the 11th day of April, A. D. 1849, 
present, James Justice, James Vallette, John 
R. Pease, and LaQ. Rawson, the following 
proceedings were had, to wit: 

James Justice was elected president, L. Q. Rawson 
Secretary, and John R. Pease Treasurer. It was ordered 
that the treasurer give bond with 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



161 



Sardis Birchard, his surety, in the penal sum of five 
thousand dollars. 

Ordered also that the stockholders pay an installment 
of ten per cent on their subscriptions, on or before the 
15th day of June next. 

It was also ordered that the president be authorized 
to contract for materials for building the road from 
Lower Sandusky to Rome and Swope's Corners. And the 
board also ordered, at this meeting, that notice be given 
to the stockholders of the order for the payment of the 
installment aforesaid, by publication in the Lower 
Sandusky newspapers for thirty days. The record is 
signed: "James Justice, President of the Lower Sandusky 
Plank Road Company; L. Q. Rawson, John R. Pease, 
James Vallette." 

The president lost no time in entering 
upon the work of constructing the road as 
directed by the board. Contracts for grading 
were promptly made and promptly executed, 
under the vigorous management of President 
Justice, assisted by Superintendent Daniel 
Tindall. The sawmills in the vicinity were at 
once engaged exclusively in sawing planks 
and stringers for the road, and at least one 
steam sawmill was erected and operated by 
Joshua B. Smith for special purpose of 
manufacturing lumber for the road. This mill 
was erected by the side of the road, in the 
woods, about three miles north of Swope's 
Corners, to which point the road was 
completed about the 1st of October, 1849, 
and tollgates erected. 

The branch to Rome was also being 
rapidly constructed. 

On the parts constructed tolls were col- 
lected before the 1st of January, 1850, to the 
amount of three hundred and eighty-seven 
dollars and twenty-six cents. 

The road was finished the following year 
(1850), from Swope's Corners to Tiffin. 

From Fremont to the south line of Edward 
Tindall's land, where the two branches 
diverged, the distance was five miles, and 
from there each branch was about thirteen 
miles long; total length of road built was 
about thirty-one miles. 



Tolls received in the month 



It appears by the hooks that on September 
30, 1851, there had been paid into the 
treasury of the company on stock, forty-two 
thousand five hundred dollars; donations 
made to the amount of two hundred and 
ninety-five dollars, and tolls collected from 
October 1, 1849, to September 30, 1851, six 
thousand seven hundred and twenty-two 
dollars, making a total of receipts of forty- 
nine thousand five hundred and seventeen 
dollars. 

The total expenditures from the com- 
mencement of the work to September 30, 
1851, was forty-eight thousand eight hundred 
and forty-five dollars. 

ofMay, 1850 $194.00 

1851 498.00 

1852 558.57 

1853 471.34 

1854 428.96 

1855 363.16 

The amount for the corresponding month 
in 1856, 1857, and 1859, cannot be obtained, 
but the tolls declined, and the planks and 
timbers had so decayed that the income 
would no longer meet the expenses and 
repairs, and it was surrendered up in 1860, 
and the gates removed. 

Many of the subscribers considered what 
they paid on the stock a donation for the 
public good, and when they had paid about 
half the amount subscribed, or less, forfeited 
their stock; some few never paid anything. 
Such forfeitures reduced the amount of 
actually paid up stock, when the road was 
completed, to thirty-nine thousand dollars, 
on which amount several dividends were 
declared, amounting, in the aggregate, to 
about forty per cent., as appears by the 
president's books. Although this enterprise 
was not a financial success for the 
stockholders, and although it demonstrated 
that plank roads were not durable, and would 
need rebuilding once in about ten years, still 
this, and one built about the same time from 
Fremont to Green Spring, were greatly 



162 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



beneficial to the county, and to the trade of 
Fremont. 

SOME OF THE CONSEQUENCES AND INCIDENTS 
WHICH RESULTED FROM THE PLANK-ROAD 
ENTERPRISE. 

As was stated in the beginning of the 
history of this plank road, the spirit of 
enterprise in Lower Sandusky seemed to 
have departed from the people. True, it was 
a good point for retailing merchandise and 
bartering for products of the land, but there 
was no faith in the future growth of the 
place, and little or no capital was invested in 
real estate or in building, nor, in fact, in any 
kind of improvement. So gloomy had the 
prospect of the future growth of the town 
become, that a number of the most ambitious 
and enterprising inhabitants had, in fact, 
determined to remove to some more 
enterprising locality, and where there were 
some better prospects for increase of 
business, and of increase in the value of real 
estate. 

Prominent among those who had become 
impatient with the slow progress Lower 
Sandusky had been making for years past, 
was Ralph P. Buckland, who, by laborious 
practice of the law, had accumulated some 
money and a good reputation as an honest 
and responsible lawyer. He had been for 
some time seriously contemplating removal 
from Lower Sandusky to either Cleveland or 
Toledo, where enterprise and the future 
looked brighter and more encouraging to 
those ambitious of fame and fortune. But 
when he saw this plank-road enterprise 
started, he at once enlisted in it with means 
and enthusiasm, and seeing the project 
supported by the able men of the place such 
as Rodolphus Dickinson, John R. Pease, 
Sardis Birchard, and James Justice, of Lower 
Sandusky, and Charles W. Foster and others 
of Rome, in Seneca county, he concluded to 
remain and cast his lot for "weal or woe " 



with the people where he was. In con- 
versation with the writer only a few days 
since, General Buckland (he has earned the 
title of General, as may be seen in his 
biography in this work) said, in substance, 
that plank-road enterprise is the one thing 
that induced him to remain in the place. 
"And," said he, "do you not remember, that 
the very summer while the plank-road was 
being built, I built the first brick block ever 
erected in Fremont?" The interviewer did 
remember the fact. This block was erected 
on lot number two hundred and forty-three, 
on Front street, on what had been the 
Western House property, and is now a 
central business place of great value. It was 
fortunate for the then future of Fremont that 
General Buckland was induced to remain, as 
will appear by the more particular history of 
the city, and by General Buckland's 
biography. 

Mr. John England, now quite aged, 
residing in the village of Ballville, states that 
he was in the service of Charles W. Foster as 
a teamster about seven years; four years of 
this term of service was spent in hauling on 
this plank-road between Rome and Lower 
Sandusky. The reader must bear in mind that 
Rome is now Fostoria, and Lower Sandusky 
is now Fremont. Mr. England says that he 
hauled produce from Rome to Tiffin, and 
also from Rome to Lower Sandusky, on the 
earth roads, before the plank-road was made; 
that then forty bushels of wheat, or twenty- 
four hundred pounds, was a full average load 
for a wagon and one span of good horses; 
fifty bushels, or thirty hundred pounds, was 
a large load and not often undertaken. After 
the plank-road was completed, he says he 
often hauled at one load one hundred and ten 
bushels of wheat, or a weight of six thousand 
six hundred pounds, with one span of horses. 
Thus it will be seen that the cost of 
transportation was reduced 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



163 



One-half, while the tall charged for such a 
load was forty-five cents. The time saved by 
hauling on the plank more than compensated 
for the toll charged. From that time (1850) to 
the early part of 1860, the salt, and all other 
articles of merchandise for Rome and the 
western part of Seneca county, and also for 
the whole country trading at Lower 
Sandusky, was transported by water to the 
head of navigation in the Sandusky river, 
and thence distributed by wagons to the 
various trading points. This merchandise 
furnished loads for many of the returning 
teams which came in with wheat, corn, and 
pork, and encouraged and supported a lively 
business for about ten years, of which the 
plank-road was the main artery. The amount 
of farm products brought to Fremont in 
wagons during the period between 1850 and 
1860, and the display of wagons which 
brought these products for shipment, storage 
or sale, were such as to make casual visitors 
express surprise, and wonder at the amount 
of business done in the place. Strangers 
passing through or stopping a time on 
business in the place would see the streets 
crowded with loaded teams, waiting their 
turn to be unloaded, and the signs of active 
trade everywhere about them, and were often 
heard to remark at that period that Fremont 
was the liveliest town they had seen in their 
travels. 

Mr. Charles O. Tillotson was, during the 
larger part of the period above mentioned, 
engaged in buying and shipping grain at 
Fremont. He said to the writer a few days 
ago that it was not an uncommon thing to 
see four or five hundred two-horse wagons 
standing in the streets and along the way to 
the elevators, waiting their turn to unload 
their wheat; that during the wheat buying 
season, although there were a number of 
other persons engaged in buying wheat and 
competing with him, it was usual for him to 



receive from the farm wagons and store 
away from ten to fourteen thousand bushels 
in a day. The pork trade at Fremont during 
the period mentioned was also very large. 
The trade of the place then employed a large 
number of vessels to carry this produce to 
Buffalo. 

Though all this system of trade was 
destined to change; though the plank-road 
was to decay and be abandoned on the 
advent of a system of railroads through 
northwestern Ohio; although the noble 
horses of flesh and blood, whose food was 
oats and corn and hay, and which must have 
rest, was, in the grand march of invention 
and progress, soon to retire and leave this 
long and heavy hauling to be done by the 
iron horse which lives on coal and water, 
and never tires; still, these plank-roads 
encouraged our people to stay and strive on 
in the labor of developing the material 
resources of the county, and at the same time 
widely advertised the town and county as 
good places for business, and our people as 
active, enterprising and progressive. The 
completion of the Toledo, Norwalk & 
Cleveland Railroad, in 1852, by which 
produce was carried East and West, 
superseded in large part the carriage of 
produce by water from Fremont. The 
building of this railroad will be the next 
noticed. The finishing of the Fremont, Lima 
& Union Railroad from Fremont to Fostoria 
took the carrying of produce and 
merchandize away from the plank-road, and 
the latter was abandoned early in 1860. 

THE FORM OF THE ROAD, AND LINE 
BUILT ON. 

The form of the plank-road, when finished, 
was that of a turnpike well graded and 
ditched. The crown or flat surface of the top 
of the pike was eighteen feet wide. The 
plank were eight feet in length and two 
inches thick, of best white or bur oak, laid 
crosswise on firm stringers 



164 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



embedded in the earth, on one side of the 
crown, leaving a good earth road for use in 
dry weather, and for the use of teams in all 
weather which had to turn out for the team to 
pass which was entitled to the plank track. 

"In several instances," said Mr. England 
whose name is above mentioned: "I met 
heavily loaded teams on this plank road 



where the side or earth road was so soft that 
it would not do to turn off the plank, for if I 
did, I could never pull out. The result was 
that the team bound by the law of the road to 
turn out, would unload in part and then turn 
out to let the other pass, then take the plank 
again, reload his wagon, and then go on. But 
such difficulty did not often occur. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
RAILROAD. 

The Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad — Opposition Encountered — County Bonds Issued — Consolidated With the Junction 
Road — Name Changed to Cleveland & Toledo Road, Afterwards to Lake Shore & Michigan Southern — Benefits of the Road. 



THE Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland 
Railroad was the next improvement in 
this county, and had such great influence in 
developing its resources and increasing the 
wealth and business of the people, that it 
should have a prominent place in this his- 
tory. The act incorporating this company 
was passed by the General Assembly of the 
State of Ohio, March 7, 1850. The first 
section of the act provides that Timothy 
Baker, Charles L. Boalt, John R. Osborn, 
George G. Baker, John Gardner, and James 
Hamilton, jr., of the county of Huron; 
Frederick Chapman, L. Q. Rawson, L. B. 
Otis, H. Everett, A. B. Taylor, and R. P. 
Buckland, of the county of Sandusky, and 
Hezekiah D. Mason, Edward Bissell, Daniel 
O. Morton, J. W. Bradbury, and John Fitch, 
of the county of Lucas, and their associates, 
successors and assigns be a body corporate 
and politic, by the name and style of the 
Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad 



Company, with perpetual succession and all 
the usual powers granted to such companies, 
under the general law regulating railroad 
companies, passed February it, 1848. This 
last mentioned general law conferred the 
right to survey, locate, and appropriate lands 
necessary for any railroad which might be 
organized in the State. The second section of 
the act of incorporation provided that the 
capital stock of the company should be two 
millions of dollars, and that the company 
were empowered to construct a railroad from 
Toledo, in the county of Lucas, by way of 
Norwalk, in Huron county, so as to connect 
with the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati 
railroad at Wellington, in Lorain county, or 
at some other point in said counties of Huron 
and Lorain to be determined by the directors 
of said company. 

The third section of the act of incorporation 
provided that the county commissioners of 
any county through which 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



165 



the road would pass in whole or in part, 
might subscribe to the capital stock of the 
company any sum of money not exceeding 
one hundred thousand dollars, and to borrow 
money to pay the sum at any rate of interest 
not exceeding seven per cent., payable 
semiannually in advance; and for the final 
payment of the principal and interest of the 
sum so subscribed, the county 
commissioners were empowered to make, 
execute and deliver such bonds, notes and 
instruments of writing as may be necessary 
or proper to secure the payment of the 
money so borrowed or subscribed, and to 
levy and collect annually such taxes as, 
together with the profits, dividends or tolls 
arising from said stock, will pay at such time 
or times as shall be agreed upon, said money 
so borrowed or subscribed, with the interest 
and incidental charges. The fourth section of 
the act of incorporation, however, provided 
that no subscription should be made by the 
county commissioners until a vote of the 
qualified voters of the county should be had 
in favor of the subscription. The vote was to 
be taken according to the provisions of the 
act of February 28, 1846, which was then in 
force, which provided that county 
commissioners should give at least twenty 
days' notice in one or more newspapers 
printed and in general circulation in the 
county, to the qualified voters of the county, 
to vote at the next annual election to be held 
in the several townships and wards in the 
county, for or against the subscription, and if 
a majority of the electors voting at such 
election for or against such subscription 
shall be. in favor of the same, such 
authorized subscription might be made, but 
not otherwise. 

The company was organized and sub- 
scriptions solicited from the commissioners 
of the several counties through which the 
road would pass. In this county a public 



meeting was called and Charles L. Boalt, 
president of the company, addressed a 
meeting at the courthouse, and endeavored, 
by stating numerous facts about the effect of 
railroads on towns and on the rural districts, 
particularly the beneficial effects of such 
means of transportation to farmers and farm 
lands, and produce, to convince our people 
that it would be to the interest of the whole 
county to have the road built, and that 
sufficient private subscriptions were not 
attainable. The subject was new to the mass 
of the voters a few years before the Ohio 
Railroad had swindled a great number of 
them and they were suspicious that this 
enterprise was got up for another swindle. 
Some went so far as to express the belief 
that if these sharp railroad men once got 
their hands on the county bonds they would 
be sold, the money arising from them would 
go into the pockets of the railroad men, and 
that would be the last we would hear about 
building the road. Arguments and suspicions 
like these rendered it difficult to move the 
popular mind toward farming the county 
subscription. But, fortunately, there were a 
few men in the county whose calmer 
judgment and better foresight led them to 
realize the importance of the road, not only 
to the city of Fremont, but to the people of 
the whole county. 

About this time a rival project, to build a 
road from Cleveland to Sandusky City, and 
thence to Lower Sandusky, on such a line as 
would not necessarily touch Norwalk or 
Bellevue, was designed. The charter for this 
latter road was passed March 12, 1846, and 
was entitled an act to incorporate the 
"Junction Railroad Company." This company 
was authorized to construct a railroad, 
commencing at such point on the Cleveland, 
Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad as the 
directors might select, either in the county of 
Cuyahoga or Lorain, and within thirty miles 
from 



166 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the city of Cleveland, thence to Elyria, in 
Lorain county, unless the junction with the 
Cleveland and Columbus road should be 
made at Elyria, and from thence on the most 
feasible route to intersect the Mad River & 
Lake Erie at Bellevue, or at such other point 
as the directors should choose, and thence to 
Lower Sandusky (Fremont), and the power 
was also given to this company to construct 
the railroad, or a branch of it, from Elyria to 
Sandusky City, in Erie county, and from 
thence to Lower Sandusky. The act of 
incorporation of the Junction Railroad 
Company also provided that if the directors 
of said company and the directors of the 
Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad 
Company could not agree upon the terms of 
junction, then, in that case, the Junction 
Railroad should commence at the city of 
Cleveland. 

The agitation of the project to build a 
road from Toledo to Cleveland by way of 
Fremont and Norwalk, had the effect to put 
the Junction Company into active rivalry and 
earnest opposition against the interests of 
Norwalk. Fremont at that time would have 
been satisfied if the Junction Company 
would have pledged its faith and promised to 
construct a railroad from Sandusky City to 
that point. A delegation was sent, and a 
consultation had with the authorities of the 
Junction Company, but no satisfactory 
arrangement was offered, and the 
consultation was without effect, except to 
satisfy the leading railroad advocates of 
Fremont that the Junction Company intended 
to ignore both Norwalk and Fremont, and 
build their road across the Sandusky Bay to 
Port Clinton, and thence direct to Toledo. 

Charles L. Boalt, of Norwalk, President of 
the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad 
Company, assisted by the strong men of 
Norwalk and Fremont, became the financial 
manager of his road, while 



Ex-Supreme Judge Ebenezer Lane, of 
Sandusky City, assisted by the strong men of 
that place, became the financial manager of 
the Junction road. 

These two managers were brothers-in-law, 
and each worked with untiring zeal for the 
interests of his own locality. Both were able 
men. Boalt, however, was the younger man, 
and though not a large man, he was by 
nature endowed with a remarkable capacity 
to endure mental and physical labor, and he 
certainly put them all into intense service in 
working his railroad through. At a meeting 
addressed by him at the courthouse in 
Fremont, in the summer of 1850, about 
twenty-five thousand dollars was subscribed 
on the spot by the citizens individually. The 
influential friends and advocates of the 
Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad then 
set themselves about persuading the county 
commissioners to give the requisite notice 
for a vote on the question of a county 
subscription. The application was so far 
successful that on the 11th day of 
September, 1850, two of the commissioners, 
namely, Martin Wright and John S. Gardner, 
with Homer Everett, then county auditor, 
met at the auditors office. (Hiram Hurd, the 
other commissioner did not attend). The 
record opens in the following form : 

AUDITOR'S OFFICE, September 11, 1850. Be 
it remembered, that on this 11th day of September, in 
the year 1850, the commissioners of Sandusky county, 
upon application, met for the purpose of considering the 
propriety of giving notice for a vote of the people of 
said county in favor of or against subscription to the 
capital stock of the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland 
Railroad Company. 

The result of the meeting was that notice 
was ordered to be given to the voters of the 
county to vote for or against subscription at 
the next annual election, to be held on the 
8th day of October, 1851. 

The notice specified that the voters 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



167 



were to authorize the commissioners to 
subscribe one hundred thousand dollars. The 
vote was taken, and there was a majority 
against the subscription, and the question 
was decided adversely to the subscription. 
The line of the road was located, and did not 
pass through either Woodville or Townsend 
township, the voters of which naturally felt 
averse to being taxed for an improvement 
which would confer no special benefit on 
them. Besides this, many of the people of 
Townsend township did their trading at 
Sandusky City, and were more interested in 
the advancement of that place than that of 
Fremont, and it was suspected at the time 
that Sandusky City influence and argument 
had something to do in influencing the votes 
of. these townships, and both townships 
voted heavily against the subscription. As to 
procuring individual subscriptions sufficient 
to do Sandusky county's fair proportion of 
the amount necessary to build the road, that 
had been tried and seemed to be an 
impossibility. The success of the road by this 
adverse vote was put under a cloud, and 
many of its friends were discouraged, while 
others of the never-give-up sort, among 
whom the indefatigable president, Boalt, was 
a leader, did not for a moment despair of 
final success, nor abate their zeal and work 
in behalf of building the road. The efforts of 
these persevering men resulted in the 
passage of an act by the General Assembly 
of the State, January 20, 1851, authorizing a 
vote of the county on the question of 
subscription, excepting the townships of 
Woodville and Townsend, which townships 
should not be taxed to pay for the stock. 

At the next regular session of the com- 
missioners, March 4, 1851, the board, then 
consisting of Messrs. Martin Wright, Hiram 
Hurd, and Michael Reed (who succeeded Mr. 
Gardner), ordered that notice 



be given to the voters of the county, ex- 
cepting those in Woodville and Townsend 
townships, to vote for or against a county 
subscription of fifty thousand dollars to the 
capital stock of Toledo, Norwalk & 
Cleveland Railroad Company, at the then 
next ensuing annual April election. 

The question of subscription now became 
the absorbing topic in the public mind, 
throughout that portion of the county on 
which the responsibility was placed, by the 
amended law of January 20, 1851. At that 
time the political parties were the 
Democratic against the Whig party, and the 
former was largely in the majority. R. P. 
Buckland was then a practicing lawyer and a 
prominent and influential man, and was also 
the acknowledged leader and champion of 
the Whig party. On the other side, Homer 
Everett was also a lawyer and then held the 
office of county auditor by the suffrage of 
the Democratic Party. Both were in favor of 
the proposition to subscribe the stock. The 
county commissioners were all ardent Dem- 
ocrats, and not very decided in their views 
on the question at issue, but like wise pol- 
iticians, expressed no convictions or opin- 
ions on the measure. The friends of the 
measure very wisely concluded that it would 
not advance their cause to permit the 
proposition to assume the form of a political 
party issue, which some of the opposition 
were striving to give it. It was finally 
determined to hold a series of meetings at 
schoolhouses in the different townships in 
which the people were to vote, and have 
addresses made to convince the voters, 
especially the farmers, that the construction 
of the road would benefit them in a 
pecuniary point of view. An arrangement 
was thereupon made that these meetings 
should be attended and addressed by Ralph 
P. Buckland and Homer Everett jointly, and 
that both should give assurance that the 
question 



168 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



had no relation to party politics, and the two 
gentlemen very willingly volunteered in the 
service without pay and at their own 
expense. Numerous meetings and 
consultations were appointed and advertised, 
at which the time was equally divided 
between the two speakers, and various 
arguments were by them offered, such as the 
increased price of wheat, pork, eggs, butter, 
etc., which would result from cheap and 
rapid transportation by the railroad, and the 
resulting increase in the value of their lands. 
The speakers also offered to answer as well 
as they could any questions about the matter 
in discussion which anyone in the meeting 
would ask. Some of the questions asked and 
some of the objections to building the road 
were really curious, and if propounded today 
would bring out only laughter from old and 
young in response. Some would ask how the 
building of the road would operate on the 
prices of horses and oats? Would not the 
railroad destroy the occupation of teaming, 
and thereby throw a great number of men 
and horses out of employment. Another 
objection was raised by certain hotelkeepers 
and land owners residing along the Maumee 
and Western Reserve turnpike. These 
claimed that not only would the occupation 
of hauling by wagon be destroyed, but that 
all the emigration which afforded these their 
chief income, would be diverted; that it 
would be very unjust to the State; that travel 
on the turnpike would cease, no tolls would 
be collected, and the road on which the State 
had spent such large sums of money would 
grow up to grass and be abandoned and so 
the State be made a great loser by the 
railroad. The speakers answered all these 
questions in a friendly and respectful way, as 
well as they could, and pressed on in their 
work. Particular mention of two meetings 
will serve to illustrate the spirit and the 
persistence with which this 



railroad campaign was carried by those who 
opposed as well as those who worked for the 
road. One was at Van Waggoner's 
schoolhouse, as it was called, a little north of 
what is since called Winters' Station, in 
Jackson township. That township was not 
touched by the line of the road, and of 
course not so directly benefited by its 
construction as some other townships. Nord 
came to the friends of the road that 
opposition to it had sprung up in that 
township and neighborhood, and that the 
vote of the township would probably go 
against the county subscription. 

Sardis Birchard, who had influence and 
many personal friends and acquaintances 
there, volunteered to go with the speakers to 
that meeting. In the evening Messrs. 
Birchard, Buckland, and Everett, and John 
R. Pease, started on horseback from 
Fremont, and reached the schoolhouse a 
little after eight o'clock. They found there 
from thirty to fifty voters. Addresses were 
made, and then a free consultation over the 
subject took place, in which Mr. Birchard 
did effective work in telling the voters what 
he had seen of the effect of railroads in other 
localities, and in answering questions. This 
consultation became so animated and 
interesting that the meeting did not disperse 
until after twelve o'clock; and when Mr. 
Birchard and the speakers reached Fremont, 
on their return, it was after two o'clock, A. M. 
Another meeting was appointed for the 
speakers at the schoolhouse at Gale Town, a 
little hamlet about three miles southward 
from Hamer's Corner, now Clyde. 

The leading man of Gale Town was one 
James Morrel. He was a justice of the peace, 
an active man in all public affairs, and 
withal the controlling member of the local 
board of school directors. Mr. Morrel was 
ardently opposed to having the county 
subscribe for the stock, and had infused his 
feelings and sentiments 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



169 



into the minds of his neighbors, so that the 
locality was quite strongly anti-subscription. 
The speakers were there about eight o'clock, 
expecting to find the schoolhouse lighted 
and the men assembled to hear what was to 
be said. But all was dark. One of the 
residents was found, who at once set off to 
Mr. Morrel's residence for the key to the 
schoolhouse, but returned with the word that 
the directors had consulted over the matter 
and concluded that the schoolhouse should 
not be used to advocate a scheme to swindle 
the taxpayers of the county. However, a man 
was found, after some effort, who said, 
though he was opposed to subscribing for 
the road, he thought it wrong to treat men so 
who came to speak on the subject, and he be- 
lieved it was right to hear both sides. 

This gentleman procured admission into a 
small wagon-maker's shop, where the work 
man had left his tools and lumber in readi- 
ness to commence the next day's work. He 
also procured, a single tallow candle, which 
he fastened to the wall back of the 
workbench; and, after partially clearing the 
bench, a few men besides the speakers 
gathered in to hear. The only way to get light 
enough to read memoranda, or reckon 
figures, was for the speakers to stand on the 
workbench and read, and from there deliver 
their remarks and answer questions. They 
mounted the bench and undertook to set 
forth the benefits which that part of the 
county would derive from the railroad when 
constructed. Hamer's Corners, since named 
Clyde, was indeed a promising place for 
marketing farm produce, and the speakers 
endeavored to convince the few hearers there 
of the fact. After talking about half an hour 
each, and answering various questions and 
replying to sundry objections, the speakers 
came home, quite well satisfied that if the 
people of Green Creek township were so 



blind about their own interest, the success of 
the road was very uncertain. 

On the Saturday next before the election, 
there were more men in the city than usual 
on that day. Mr. Birchard, and John R. 
Pease, and other friends of the road had 
become alarmed about the result. These men 
noticed the fact that there was, for some 
reason, on that day, a large proportion of 
Democrats on the streets, and also a number 
of the active opponents of the road. Mr. 
Everett had been out speaking the night 
before until quite late, and, after dinner, 
hoarse, tired, and thoroughly exhausted, had 
sought the refreshment only to be found in 
sleep. He was awakened by a delegation, 
sent by Mr. Birchard and others, with orders 
to go at once into the street and make an 
address on the railroad question. Worn and 
hoarse, and unfit as he was, he obeyed the 
orders under the impulse of his own zeal in 
the work, and for about half an hour summed 
up the arguments pro and con to a large 
crowd of listeners on Front street, in the 
open air, and this ended his labors in that 
campaign. Much discussion of the measure 
between individuals was had that day, and 
great good for the work was no doubt 
accomplished. 

The election was held on the first Monday 
in April, 1851, and the following certificate 
shows the result: 

STATE OF OHIO, SANDUSKY COUNTY, COURT OF 

COMMON PLEAS. 
I, La Q. Rawson; Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas in and 
for said county, hereby certify that, at the election held in the 
several election districts in said county, except the townships 
of Townsend and Woodville, for the purpose of voting for or 
against railroad subscription to the capital stock of the Toledo, 
Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad Company, the vote, as appears 
by the abstract and returns on file, stands as follows: 

For railroad subscription 1,174 

Against railroad subscription 774 

Majority 400 

D. CAPPER, Deputy Clerk, 
April 10, 1851. 



170 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



On the 16th .day of April, 1851, the county 
commissioners, namely: Martin Wright, 
Michael Reed, and Hiram Hurd, met at the 
auditor's office, and, as their journal shows, 
found that the election had been had, and 
that a majority of the votes cast on the 
question was in favor of subscribing fifty 
thousand dollars to the capital stock of the 
road, ordered the stock to be subscribed 
accordingly, and that bonds to pay the same 
be issued, bearing interest coupons at seven 
per cent, per annum, payable semiannually, 
in due form, and in two series; one series 
numbered from one to forty, inclusive, for 
one thousand dollars each, and the others 
numbered from one to one hundred, 
inclusive, for one hundred dollars each. The 
order further provided that these bonds be 
delivered when there was executed a stipu- 
lation to abide the proposition of the 
directors of the company against loss, and 
upon delivering the proper certificate of 
stock equal to the amount of the bonds. 

The stipulation with the directors of the 
road alluded to in the order was, that the 
county should not suffer any loss by the 
subscription for stock. The bonds were made 
ready for delivery, but the commissioners 
refused to deliver them until there was ample 
security given to indemnify against loss, 
according to the verbal promise of the 
directors. 

The undertaking of the directors 
themselves did not satisfy the 
commissioners, and they then demanded a 
bond, signed by residents of the county, of 
known ability, to pay any damage or loss the 
county might suffer. 

Thereupon came a suspension of the 
delivery of the bonds for nearly two days. 
The friends of the road finally agreed to 
indemnify the county against all loss by 
reason of subscribing the stock and issuing 
the bonds, on condition that the com- 
missioners would stipulate in the bond of 



indemnity to sell and transfer the stock 
whenever the signers of the bond should 
require them to do so. A bond was drawn, 
with the conditions clearly set out, and 
delivered to Sardis Birchard, who undertook 
to return it, signed by men whose pecuniary 
circumstances would satisfy the 

commissioners, that in no event could the 
county be a loser by taking the stock and 
delivering the bonds. This undertaking was 
returned on the second day after, signed by 
about thirty of the solid men of the county. 
The bond is not now in existence, or at least 
cannot be found, but the writer of this sketch 
thinks now it was for the penal sum of one 
hundred thousand dollars, and, though he 
cannot remember the names of all the 
signers, recalls now among them the names 
of Sardis Birchard, R. P. Buckland, 
Rodolphus Dickinson, Nathan P. Birdseye, 
James Moore, John R. Pease, and La Q. 
Rawson. He much regrets his inability to 
place on record all the other signers, that the 
present and future inhabitants of the county 
might know who is entitled to their gratitude 
for the great benefits the road has conferred 
and is still conferring, and will continually 
confer on all who reside or may reside in the 
county. At the time this indemnity was 
demanded, it was plainly to be seen that, but 
for the prompt action of these signers, the 
road would probably not have been built, or, 
if built, it would not have passed through 
Fremont. But the indemnity was so ample 
that there was no longer any excuse for the 
exercise of that vigilant, if not extreme 
prudence, on the part of the commissioners, 
which came so near to working a final defeat 
of the enterprise. 

The bonds were delivered and the stock 
taken, however, and the rapid construction 
of the road followed. A consolidation of the 
Junction and the Toledo, Norwalk & 
Cleveland roads was doubtless 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



171 



arranged for privately by the managers early 
in 1853. But the agreement to consolidate 
was not publicly and certainly known until 
July 15, and then to take effect September 1, 
1853. 

In this arrangement such terms were made 
as to raise the value of the stock of Toledo, 
Norwalk & Cleveland considerably above 
par, and create a demand for it, in which 
condition of affairs the signers of the 
indemnifying bond demanded a sale of the 
stock held by the county. The stock was sold 
sometime in April, 1853, and the bonds 
redeemed and burnt up July 1, 1853, by the 
commissioners. In the transaction the county 
gained by the rise of the stock over fifteen 
hundred dollars above all expenses. 

The first through passenger train passed 
over the road on the 7th day of February, 
1853. After the consolidation the road was 
called the Cleveland & Toledo Railroad, and 
passed by that name until it was consolidated 
with the Lake Shore road, April 6, 1869, 
since which date it has been denominated the 
Southern Division of that road, and has 
formed a part of one of the great trunk lines 
of road from east to west. 

THE BENEFITS OF THE ROAD CONSIDERED. 

The reader will remember how, in the 
history of this road, the project was opposed 
and was once voted down; how cautious the 
county commissioners were in requiring a 
guarantee against loss by the county, in 
consequence of subscribing fifty thousand 
dollars to the capital stock, in order to insure 
the construction of the road, and how, 
afterwards, the stock was sold at a premium 
of fifteen hundred dollars. Now let us glance 
briefly at the further results which so 
completely justify the friends of the road in 
their efforts to 



build it, and at the same time illustrates the 
folly of opposing the march of improvement 
which had then (1852), reached this county 
on its way to the Great West. 

In 1854 the county duplicate shows that 
the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad 
Company paid into the county for taxes on 
its property the sum of three thousand three 
hundred and sixty-four dollars and thirty- 
five cents. Ten years later, in 1864, it paid 
for taxes into the treasury, nine thousand 
four hundred and fifteen dollars and twenty- 
five cents. 

This annual tax increased year by year 
until, in 1876, it paid into the treasury for 
taxes the sum of seventeen thousand two 
hundred and ninety-eight dollars. 

In the year 1877 the amount was a little 
less, being sixteen thousand three hundred 
and seventy-four dollars. In 1878 the amount 
paid for taxes was twelve thousand two 
hundred and thirty-four dollars. In 1880 the 
sum paid was thirteen thousand and ninety- 
nine dollars and thirty cents. 

The county auditors will show, that 
during the twenty-eight years of its 
existence, and including the year 1880, the 
road has paid into the treasury of this county 
alone, an average yearly tax of not less than 
nine thousand dollars, or an aggregate sum 
of two hundred and fifty-two thousand 
dollars. Now add to this large sum, which is 
to be swelled year by year, the gain to our 
farmers from the increased price of their 
products, and also the increased value of 
farming and city real estate in the county, 
and surely the friends of the road who 
resided in the county and struggled so hard 
to have it built, are justified in their views 
and opinions, and rewarded amply for all 
their labors for the public good. 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE FREMONT & INDIANA RAILROAD. 

Organization of the Company — Building the Road — Its Financial Difficulties — Sales of Road — Reorganization of the Company — 
Change of Name — Perseverance, Trials, and Pluck of the President and some of the Directors — How it came to be Part of a Great, 
Important Line of Transportation, now called the Lake Erie & Western Railway. 



THE construction of the plank-roads had 
given such impetus to business, and the 
completion of the Toledo, Norwalk & 
Cleveland Railroad had so clearly demon- 
strated that all, and more than all, the 
benefits promised by its advocates were 
realized, that the town became ambitious for 
further improvements, and under the 
stimulus of this ambition the 

FREMONT AND INDIANA RAILROAD COM- 
PANY WAS INCORPORATED. 

The General Assembly of the State of 
Ohio had passed an act, May 1st, 1852, to 
create and regulate railroad companies. The 
act provided that any persons, to the number 
of five, by certain proceedings might obtain 
from the Secretary of State a certificate of 
incorporation, and thereby become a body 
corporate, with all the powers necessary to 
build a railroad in Ohio. The Fremont & 
Indiana Railroad Company was incorporated 
under this law by certificate dated April 25, 
1853. The incorporators were L. Q. Rawson, 
Sardis Birchard, James Justice, John R. 
Pease, and Charles W. Foster Mr. Foster 
residing at that time at Rome, in Seneca 
county, and the other corporators at 
Fremont, in Sandusky county. 

The corporators, their associates, suc- 
cessors, and assigns were empowered to 
build a railroad from Fremont, in Sandusky 
county, thence through Sandusky and Seneca 
counties to the town of Rome, in Seneca 
county; thence through Seneca 



and Hancock counties to the town of 
Findlay, in said county of Hancock; thence 
through the counties of Hancock, Allen, 
Auglaize, Mercer, and Darke to the west line 
of the State of Ohio, in the county of Darke. 
The certificate of incorporation specified the 
capital stock of the company to be two 
hundred thousand dollars. This capital stock, 
on the 17th of October, 1853, was increased 
by the proper certificate to one million two 
hundred thousand dollars, and again 
increased, July 23, 1855, to two millions of 
dollars. 

The law of May 1, 1852, to create and 
regulate railroad companies, provided that, 
so soon as ten per centum of the capital 
stock should be subscribed, and five dollars 
on each share paid in, the corporators might 
notify the stockholders to meet and elect 
directors, and the directors should then meet 
and elect a president, secretary, and 
treasurer. 

These requirements of the statute were 
promptly complied with, and the company 
organized, during the time that the capital 
stock was fixed at two hundred thousand 
dollars, as designated in the original cer- 
tificate of incorporation. The increase of 
capital stock was authorized subsequently. 

The directors elected L. Q. Rawson, 
president; A. J. Hale, secretary, and Squire 
Carlin, treasurer of the company. 

The work of obtaining the right of way 
and contracting for the building of the road 
was promptly begun. True it was, that the 
completion of the Toledo, Nor- 



172 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



173 



walk & Cleveland Railroad, and advent of 
the iron horse harnessed for regular business 
on the 7th of February, 1853, had 
demonstrated the advantages of railroads to 
the county, and had overcome the prejudices 
which the advocates of that road were 
compelled to meet and vanquish. But the 
friends of the Fremont & Indiana road 
encountered difficulties which, though of 
another kind, were no less formidable; these 
were an indifference on the part of a portion 
of our people, resulting partly from the 
unfavorable condition of our money market. 
These causes combined rendered the ob- 
taining of money to carry on the work very 
difficult. But the president of the company, 
L. Q. Rawson, was determined to build the 
road. In his indomitable will to accomplish 
this he was supported by such men as James 
Moore, Charles W. Foster, David J. Corey, 
and Squire Carlin, the two latter named 
being residents of Findlay, in Hancock 
county; Foster residing at Fostoria, formerly 
Rome, in Seneca county, and Rawson and 
Moore being residents of Sandusky county. 

How the road was bonded; how and at 
what rates the bonds were sold and secured 
by mortgage on the road; how the 
obligations of the company were found 
unavailable for the purchase of iron for the 
road; how the five men above named, under 
the influence of President Rawson's will and 
pluck, pledged their private fortunes to 
obtain the iron for the road, and what and 
how much these five brave men were 
compelled to sacrifice for the completion of 
the road to Findlay, and how they labored to 
extend the road further on, might form an 
interesting chapter in this history, if space 
permitted its insertion. But it is enough to 
say briefly, that, but for the bravery and 
pluck of these men, under great 
discouragements, and their 



large sacrifices of their own private means, 
the road would not have been built, and 
Fremont might never have realized the 
benefits of a southern and southwestern line 
of transportation: 

WHEN THE CARS FIRST RUN TO FOSTORIA. 

By the pluck, perseverance, and pecuniary 
sacrifices of these men the road was built, 
iron laid, and cars for carrying freight and 
passengers put running from Fremont to 
Fostoria, formerly Rome, on the 1st day of 
February, 1859. 

During the summer and fall of 1859 the 
work progressed, and. iron was laid to within 
about one mile of Findlay. The people of 
Findlay were very desirous of its 
completion, but they did not come forward 
with the money, and the resources of the 
company were exhausted. 

In this condition of affairs David J. Corey, 
one of the directors above named, usually 
called Judge Corey, went to New York early 
in the spring of 1860, and on his own private 
credit bought iron sufficient to complete the 
track into the town of Findlay, thereby 
making a distance of thirty-seven miles from 
Fremont. 

While this was being done, the road had 
been made ready for the iron nearly to Lima, 
in Allen county. In this condition of the 
company's affairs it was overtaken by 
insolvency. 

In the same year Joseph B. Varnum and 
Henry L. Mott, trustees named in the 
mortgage given to secure the first mortgage 
bonds of the road, commenced an action in 
the Court of Common Pleas of Sandusky 
county, to sell the road to pay arrearages of 
principal and interest which had become due 
to the holders of the bonds. This suit was 
prosecuted by Messrs. Buckland and Everett, 
attorneys for the trustees, and resulted in a 
decree of foreclosure, and an order for the 
sale of the road was entered October 14, 
1861. The sale 



174 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



was made between the October and January 
terms of the court, the road franchises, 
property, and fixtures being bid off by the 
creditors. 

The sale was confirmed, and a deed or- 
dered January 6, 1862. 

On the 21st of January, 1862, a new 
company was organized, and took the name 
of the Fremont, Lima & Union Railroad 
Company, to construct a road on the same 
route as that which had been adopted by the 
Fremont & Indiana Railroad Company. 

The corporators of the Fremont, Lima & 
Union Railroad Company were: Charles 
Congdon, of the city of New York; David J. 
Corey, and Squire Carlin, of the county of 
Hancock, and L. Q. Rawson and James 
Moore, of the county of Sandusky, State of 
Ohio. 

L. Q. Rawson was made president, and R. 
W. B. McLellan secretary, and also treasurer 
of the new company. 

The Fremont & Indiana Railroad, at the 
judicial sale, sold for twenty thousand dol- 
lars; not sufficient to pay the bonds men- 
tioned in the mortgage, and the original 
stock in that road was, of course, lost to the 
holders. 

The capital stock of the Fremont, Lima & 
Union Railroad Company was increased by 
the proper certificate of the Secretary of 
State, under date of May 17, 1864, to two 
million five hundred thousand dollars. 

On the 4th of February, 1865, the Fre- 
mont, Lima & Union Railroad Company 
entered into an agreement with the Lake Erie 
and Pacific. Railroad Company, of the State 
of Indiana, by which it was agreed to 
consolidate the two companies, and that the 
consolidated road should be called the Lake 
Erie & Louisville Railroad Company. The 
agreement was ratified by the stockholders 
of the Fremont, Lima & Union Railroad 
Company, on the 14th of January, 1865, and 
by the stock 



holders of the Lake Erie and Pacific 
Company on the 18th of the same month, 
and the road on that day took the new name 
of "Lake Erie & Louisville Railroad 
Company," with a capital stock of six 
million dollars, in fifty dollar shares. After 
this organization was consummated, it 
became the settled purpose of the company 
to build a through line of railroad from 
Louisville to the head of navigation on the 
Sandusky River, so that heavy freight could 
be carried by water, thence to Buffalo and 
New York, and passengers and light freight 
could pass east or west from Fremont on the 
southern division of the Lake Shore railroad. 

The Lake Erie and Louisville Railroad 
Company continued to operate and extend its 
line beyond Findlay, and also, by contract 
with other companies, namely, the Columbus 
& Indiana Central, and the Jeffersonville, 
Madison & Indianapolis, constructed twenty 
and three-fourths miles of their line, and put 
it in operation between Cambridge City and 
Rushville, in the State of Indiana. 

There remained unpaid bonds issued by 
the Fremont, Lima & Union Railroad 
Company, and also bonds issued by the Lake 
Erie and Louisville Railroad Company. On 
these bonds a large arrear of interest was 
unpaid. These bonds were secured by 
mortgages to trustees for the benefit of the 
bondholders. 

On the 29th day of March, 1871, the 
trustees commenced proceedings in the 
Circuit Court of the United States, to 
foreclose their mortgages and sell the road. 
On the 4th day of April, 1871, L. Q. Rawson 
was appointed receiver by the court, and 
took charge of the road as such. The road 
was sold under the decree of foreclosure, on 
the 18th day of October, 1871, but the 
property remained in charge of the receiver, 
Rawson, until January 1, 1872. The road and 
property 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



175 



of the company was sold to trustees for the 
bondholders. 

The part of the road located in Ohio, that 
is from Fremont to Union City, was 
reorganized November 4, 1871, under the 
name of the Fremont, Lima & Union 
Railway Company, and the trustees con- 
veyed the road property to the new company, 
December 26, 1871. That part of the road in 
Indiana was reorganized November to, 1871, 
under the name of the Lake Erie & 
Louisville Railway Company, and these two 
companies were consolidated April 12, 1872, 
under the name last above given. 

Bonds were issued by the road as follows: 
Five hundred thousand dollars on that part in 
Ohio, and ninety thousand dollars for that 
part in Indiana between Union and 
Cambridge City, and mortgages given 
respectively. This company put the road in 
operation to Lima, and then to St. Mary's, 
and graded the roadbed from Union City to 
Cambridge City, Indiana, a distance of 
thirty-four miles. 

But the bonds were not paid, and on suit 
of trustees to foreclose the mortgage on the 
property of the Lake Erie & Louisville 
Railway Company, the road was again 
placed in the hands of a receiver. From the 
first organization of the Fremont & Indiana 
Railroad Company, through all its ups and 
downs, all its trials and tribulations, L. Q. 
Rawson had been president and chief 
manager. He adhered to the enterprise, 
through good and through evil report, and he 
gave his time, his untiring energy and great 
executive ability, and largely of his 
pecuniary store, to keep it up and carry it 
through. But President Rawson saw his 
wishes accomplished so far that the road was 
completed and cars running on it to St. 
Mary's, a distance of eighty-six miles, before 
the 25th day of April, 1874, when under 
foreclosure proceedings the road 



and its property were placed in the hands of 
a receiver, and as such receiver Isadore H. 
Burgoon, of Fremont, took full charge of the 
road, and managed it successfully, and to the 
satisfaction of all concerned, until March, 
1877. The road was finally sold at judicial 
sale in two separate parts; that is, the part in 
Indiana being the subject of one, and the part 
in Ohio the other. The sale of the part in 
Ohio was confirmed February 24, and that in 
Indiana March 8, 1877. 

This last purchase was made by the newly 
formed Lake Erie & Louisville Railroad 
Company, through Mr. James B. Hodgskin, 
acting as trustee for the owners and holders 
of the first mortgage bonds of the Lake Erie 
& Louisville Railway Company. This sale 
carried to the purchasers all property of the 
company, personal and real, and the 
purchaser took it, of course, divested of all 
prior claims. 

On the confirmation of this sale to Mr. 
Hodgskin, or soon after, Mr. Burgoon, the 
receiver, filed in the Court of Common 
Pleas, of Sandusky county, his final report 
and the account of his doings and dealings in 
the management of the road of which he had 
full charge as receiver, under direction of the 
court, for almost three years. 

Isadore H. Burgoon is a son of one of the 
many worthy pioneers of Sandusky county, 
Mr. Peter Burgoon, now deceased. After 
attending the common school near his home, 
was for a time sent by his father to Oberlin 
College. After leaving Oberlin he went into 
the service of the Fremont & Indiana 
Railroad Company as office and errand boy, 
and from that station was advanced, step-by- 
step, in the service of the company, to that of 
general superintendent. We are pleased to 
record the fact that every step of this 
advancement was earned by hard work, 



176 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



combined with unusual activity and integrity 
exercised in behalf of his employers. 

Mr. Burgoon's final report and account as 
receiver was presented to the court and 
confirmed, not only without question, but by 
consent of the counsel on both sides, and he 
was highly complimented for his 
management of the affairs of the road, as is 
shown by the order of confirmation, which is 
as follows: 

And this court, having examined the said final 
account and report, and found the same in all respects in 
accordance with law and the order of the court, and that 
the said receiver has duly paid and delivered all money, 
credits and property of every kind which came into his 
possession or control, by virtue of his appointment and 
office in accordance with the order and direction of the 
court, and has in all respects well and truly and 
faithfully discharged all his duties as such receiver, it is 
hereby ordered that the said final report and account be 
and the same is hereby approved and confirmed, and the 
said Isadore H. Burgoon discharged from all further 
accountability as such receiver. And he is especially 
commended for the ability and faithfulness with which 
he has discharged the arduous duties of his office. 
Approved. 

R. P. BUCKLAND AND CALVIN BRICE, 
Attorneys for Lake Erie & Louisville Railway Company. 

OTIS, ADAMS & RUSSELL, 
Attorneys for Plaintiffs, the Trustees. 

This account being confirmed, Mr. 
Burgoon's duties as receiver were ended. Yet 
he was to receive further manifestations of 
approval for his energy and activity. The 
road was now under the management of Mr. 
Hodgskin as a representative of the 
purchasers. A new company was promptly 
formed after the purchase, in New York city, 
of which Mr. Hodgskin was president. Mr. 
Hodgskin, from the time he purchased the 
road, seemed to appreciate Mr. Burgoon's 
ability and integrity, and kept him as 
superintendent of the road until the decease 
of President Hodgskin, which occurred 
March, 20, 1879. Soon after the death of Mr. 
Hodgskin the annual report of the company 
was made showing, its condition for the year 
ending December 31, 1878, and 



was signed by Charles Foster, as president, 
under date of March 26, 1879. C. R. 
Cummings, of Chicago, succeeded Mr. 
Hodgskin as president, and the directors 
again chose Mr. Burgoon as superintendent 
of the road. 

The road was now scaled of all its debts, 
and was represented by one million five 
hundred thousand dollars of stock. A 
syndicate, it is said, was formed to purchase 
in this stock, for good judges affirm that the 
road at this time was worth at least two 
millions of dollars. This syndicate probably 
embraced the holders of large amounts of the 
stock, and the stock held by those outside 
this syndicate was quietly purchased at about 
twenty cents on the dollar, until all was 
gathered in. Soon after the purchase of the 
stock had been accomplished, and probably 
in June 1879, the road seems to have been 
consolidated with other western lines, and 
became part of what has since been known 
as the Lake Erie & Western Railway. 

The northern terminus of the Fremont & 
Indiana Railroad, under all the different 
names by which it was known, had been at 
the head of navigation on the Sandusky 
River in Fremont, and all freight intended 
for transportation by water was carried down 
the river and through the Sandusky Bay, past 
Sandusky City, into Lake Erie, to any 
desired port on the lakes. 

However, after the first consolidation 
with an Indiana road, and the design was 
formed to make Louisville the southern 
terminus of the line, the intention was 
entertained to extend the road to the lake at 
some point, but this intention was never 
executed by that company. When the road 
was last transferred and took the name of 
Lake Erie & Western Railway, the new 
company made proffers to the people of 
Sandusky to extend their road to that place if 
sixty thousand dollars were 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



177 



raised in that city to donate towards the cost 
of the extension. 

Under an act of the General Assembly of 
the State, the voters of Sandusky authorized 
the city to issue sixty thousand dollars of 
bonds, which were sold, and the sixty 
thousand dollars procured. The proceeds of 
these bonds were not paid to the Lake Erie & 
Western Railway Company, 



but a new company, called the Sandusky & 
Fremont Railway Company, was formed, and 
proceeded to construct a road between the 
two cities named. Work was commenced on 
this road about July 1, 1880, and made ready 
for trains about the last of February, 1881, 
and is practically an extension of the Lake 
Erie & Western Railway. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



COUNTY ROADS. 



Macadamized and Gravelled Roads in the County — Date of Building — Persons Prominently Connected 
with their Construction, and their Cost and Benefits. 



THE man who, seated in a fine carriage, 
with perhaps wife, or sweetheart, or 
bride at his side, drives pleasantly along the 
good roads of today at the rate of from six to 
ten miles per hour, or the anxious one who 
has occasion to ride posthaste over the same 
road for a surgeon or physician, is not very 
likely to think of, nor thank the men who 
devised, and toiled, gave their time and 
money, and contended for the building of the 
structure which saves him or them from 
wallowing through the mud and mire which 
used to be there. The same may be said of 
the farmer as he, comfortably seated on his 
great load of produce or building material, 
jogs comfortably along without stalling, 
strain, or breakage. But history would not be 
just without making some specific mention 
of such improvements and of the men who 
contended for and executed them. Therefore 
we mention in our chapter on improvements, 
the macadamized roads made under the 
authorities 



of the county, and some of the men 
connected with the construction of them. 

The law under and by virtue of which 
these roads were made, provided that on the 
application of a majority of land owners 
whose land would be subjected to a charge 
for the construction of the road, the county 
commissioners might appoint three viewers 
or commissioners, and a surveyor or 
engineer, to view the route proposed for the 
road, and if the construction of the road 
should, in their opinion, be required by the 
public convenience, they should also report 
an estimate of the cost of construction, and a 
description of the land which, in their 
judgment, should be taxed to pay for the 
work. They also reported the form of the 
road and the materials to be used, whether 
gravel or stone, and the width and thickness 
to which the material should be laid on. On 
the filing of this report commissioners might 
approve the same and order the construction 
of the road. The commissioners were also 



178 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



empowered to issue bonds of the county 
bearing interest, and sell them to raise the 
money necessary to carry on the work. To 
pay the interest and principal of the bonds an 
assessment was made on the land, to be paid 
in installments as taxes are paid, and these 
assessments were charged against the lots 
and tracts respectively, on the tax duplicate 
of the county, and collected by the county 
treasurer and applied to the redemption of 
the bonds. 

This brief outline of the statute governing 
the construction of free turnpikes in Ohio 
will serve to help the reader to understand 
better what follows on the subject. 

THE GREENSBURG MACADAMIZED ROAD. 

Ever since about 1831 settlers had been 
locating in the southwestern part of the 
county. Among the county roads laid out 
about that time was one from near James 
Moore's mill, in Ballville township, thence 
due west on section lines, to near the 
northwest corner of section ten in Jackson 
township, where the road angled southward 
through sections, until it intersected the 
south line of section eight in the same 
township, a little west of the southeast 
corner of the section, and where the village 
of Millersville now stands. From there the 
line ran due west through Greensburg on 
section lines, to the west line of the county, 
a distance of about fourteen miles and a half 
from the starting point. To describe the 
difficulties of travelling and the still greater 
difficulties of hauling heavy loads over this 
road, is needless to those who have had 
experience with roads in new, level, 
timbered countries. True, the inhabitants had 
done much in mending and draining the road 
from time to time, but with all they could do, 
more than half the way for about half the 
year, was mud, or if a dry surface was 



found it was hard travelling over the rough 
surface, cut into deep Tuts. 

On the 6th of March, 1867, Martin Wright 
and one hundred and twenty-eight others, 
owners of land along this road, filed their 
petition with the county commissioners, 
asking them to take the necessary 
proceedings to macadamize this road. The 
county commissioners at the time were 
Benjamin Inman, Samuel E. Watters, and 
Henry Reiling. A bond to pay all expenses of 
view, survey, etc., in case the report should 
be against the request of the petitioners, was 
filed by Martin Wright and Lewis K. Wright, 
of Scott township. On filing the bond the 
commissioners appointed William E. 
Haynes, Charles G. Green, and Hiram Haff, 
viewers, and Beman Amsden surveyor. 
These men performed their respective duties, 
and on the fourth of June, 1867, reported 
that in their opinion the prayer of the peti- 
tioners ought to be granted. They also 
viewed the land to be benefited by the road, 
and recommended that the road be graded 
twenty-two feet wide on top, and that twelve 
feet in width of the twenty-two, be covered 
with stone to the thickness of one foot. The 
viewers' and engineer's estimate of the cost 
of the road, was for grading, one thousand 
nine hundred and thirty-six dollars, and for 
macadamizing, twenty-three thousand four 
hundred and sixty-three dollars and fifty 
cents; making a total estimated cost of 
twenty-five thousand three hundred and 
ninety-nine dollars and fifty cents. The last 
paragraph of this report is as follows: 

We cannot conclude without commending to your 
favorable consideration the prayers of the petitioners, 
who are intelligent, prudent men, many of them large 
land owners and tax payers, and we respectfully, but 
earnestly recommend that you order the improvement, 
as provided by law. 

WILLIAM E. HAYNES, -i 

C. G. GREENE, Viewers. 

HIRAM HAFT, -I 

B. AMSDEN, Engineer. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



179 



There was no remonstrance against the 
proposed improvement, and no claim for 
damages by reason of it, as is shown by the 
commissioners record. The work was 
promptly begun, bonds for the payment of 
the costs of construction were issued, and 
taxes, or rather assessments, levied upon the 
land to be benefited to meet the payment of 
the bonds, and Commissioner Inman gave 
his special attention and much time to 
directing and superintending the work. There 
was, as a matter of course, some contention 
among the land owners, in the apportionment 
of the burden of assessment each tract 
should bear. Such contention is almost 
inseparable from the prosecution of every 
improvement in town, city or country where 
there is to be an apportionment of the 
expenses of the work. But these wranglings 
have an end, which usually terminates in the 
dissatisfaction of part of those who have to 
pay out their money, for a perfectly 
satisfactory adjustment of such burden is 
seldom, if ever, arrived at. So blinding is the 
effect of selfishness on the perceptions of 
men that it is doubtful whether in such a 
case all would be satisfied, if the most 
perfect equity could be made to operate on 
such an apportionment. Mr. Inman being a 
resident of Scott township, a land owner to 
be benefited, as well as one of the county 
commissioners, and as such, exercising a 
kind of special supervision over the work, 
received the chief animadversions of the 
dissatisfied. But Benjamin Inman was an 
honest man and bore the unfavorable 
comments of some of his esteemed 
neighbors with patience and silence, though 
with pain and regret, until shame silenced 
the dissatisfied ones, and time vindicated 
and made clear his honesty of purpose, as 
well as sound judgment concerning the 
work. 

The road was finished during the year 
1870, at a total cost of forty thousand 



three hundred and twenty-one dollars and 
ninety-one cents, being fourteen thousand 
nine hundred and twenty-two dollars and 
forty-one cents more than the estimated cost 
as returned by the viewers and engineer; the 
actual cost per mile being a fraction less 
than two thousand eight hundred dollars. 

WILLIAM E. LAY ROAD MACADAMIZED. 

On the 4th day of December, 1867, 
William E. Lay and forty others, constituting 
a majority of the owners of land to be 
affected, petitioned the commissioners of the 
county for the macadamizing or gravelling 
of the county road, on the following routes: 
Beginning at the Lake Shore railroad, in 
Clyde, thence south on the east line of 
section 23, 26, and 35. in Green Creek 
township, to the county line between 
Sandusky and Seneca counties. Bond was 
given by C. G. Eaton, J. M. Lemmon, and 
William W. Wales. 

The county commissioners, namely, 
Benjamin Inman, David Fuller, and Henry 
Reiling, at their December session, 1867, 
appointed Andrew Smith, Hiram Haff, and 
John Orwig viewers, and Jeremiah Evans, 
surveyor. These viewers and the surveyor 
met according to notice, at the store of 
Darwin E. Harkness, in the village of Clyde, 
on the 15th day of January, 1868. They 
reported on the 3d day of March, 1868, that 
no claim for damage had been made, and 
recommended that the improvements be 
made as prayed for, by macadamizing or 
gravelling the same; that the road be opened 
sixty feet wide, top of roadway to be 
eighteen feet wide and covered with broken 
stone or gravel. The viewers and surveyor 
reported their estimate of the cost of the 
work to be as follows: For grading, eight 
hundred dollars; for gravelling, three 
thousand six hundred dollars; making a total 
of estimated cost of four thousand four hun- 



180 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



dred dollars. The length of the road was 
three miles and a-half. 

The road was constructed according to the 
recommendation of the viewers and 
engineer, and finished about the beginning 
of 1870, at a total cost often thousand seven 
hundred and thirty-even dollars and sixteen 
cents, or at the rate of two thousand nine 
hundred and sixty-seven dollars per mile. 

This William E. Lay road improvement 
was made under, regulations and proceed- 
ings like those by which the Greensburg 
improvement was made, and a repetition of 
them would be superfluous. 

THE FREMONT AND SOUTH CREEK 
MACADAMIZED ROAD. 

On the petition of Charles H. Bell and 
others for the macadamizing of that part of 
the State road which lies between the east 
line of the city of Fremont and Bark Creek, 
and on filing the proper bond signed by C. 
H. Bell and J. H. McArdle, on the 9th of 
December, 1868, the county commissioners, 
namely: Benjamin Inman, Henry Reiling, 
and David Fuller, appointed Piatt Brush, A. 
B. Putman, and Jonas Smith, viewers, and 
Jeremiah Evans, surveyor. These were 
ordered to meet at A. B. Putman's office, in 
Fremont, on the 18th of February, 1869, 
which they did, proceeded to the discharge 
of their duties, and reported to the 
commissioners on the 6th day of March 
following. Their report was in favor of 
making the improvement, and they reported 
also that they estimated the cost of the work 
at nine thousand eight hundred and fifty-two 
dollars and eighty cents. Like proceedings 
were had as in the cases of the other im- 
provements, and the macadamizing of this 
road was completed to South Creek about 
1872, at a total cost of fourteen thousand 
eight hundred and twenty-six dollars and 
seventy cents, exceeding the statement by 



four thousand nine hundred and seventy- 
three dollars and ninety cents. 

The length of this improvement is three 
miles and a half, with stone macadamized 
track nine feet in width, at an actual cost of 
four thousand four hundred and thirteen 
dollars per mile, paid for by the land owners 
benefited. 

THE FREMONT AND PORT CLINTON ROAD 
IMPROVEMENT. 

The macadamizing of that part of the road 
leading from Fremont to Port Clinton which 
lies between the north boundary of the city 
of Fremont and the south line of Rice 
township, was petitioned for by Andrew 
Engler and others. On May 4, 1874, bond 
was given, and Oscar Ball, Christian 
Doncyson, and Barney Donahu were 
appointed viewers. Their report was 
favorable, and the work was executed at an 
actual cost of six thousand and eighty-nine 
dollars and thirty-five cents. The estimated 
cost of this improvement was not found on 
the record of the proceedings, and is 
therefore not given here, nor is it deemed 
very material. The proceedings in the matter 
of this improvement were like those of the 
others above mentioned. The improvement is 
an important one, especially on that part of 
the road through the Whittaker reserve, 
where the road had been notoriously bad for 
a great many years. 

The reader may notice that in these works 
the actual cost is far in excess of the amount 
estimated by the viewers, in every instance, 
this excess being nearly fifty per cent above 
the estimate. This shows that estimates are 
as unreliable in these works as in the 
estimates for building houses, or any other 
work men undertake. The experience of 
persons who have built a house or a barn 
will confirm the assertion that the only safe 
way to proceed is to add about fifty per cent 
to the 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



181 



estimate of the carpenter who was consulted 
as to the cost of the proposed structure. Why 
this is so we leave to the reader to find out. 

The history of these roads is perhaps 
neither exciting nor attractive to the reader, 
but it will serve hereafter to mark the time 
when the people of the county began to 
realize that it does not pay to travel in deep 
mud when a little expense will give them a 
firm, dry wagon way, and that by comfort in 
travel, and cheapening the expense of 
transportation of produce and merchandise 
over the road, the outlay is very soon 
balanced, and the well-improved road 
thereafter, by repairing only, will remain a 
permanent source of economical saving to 
the community. 

These roads are now repaired with money 
derived from taxes levied on the 



property of the entire county, and the par- 
ticular locality thereby relieved from further 
special assessments. The aggregate cost of 
the macadamized roads made by the county 
commissioners, at this writing (1881), is 
seventy-one thousand nine hundred and 
seventy-five dollars and twelve cents. There 
have been portions of some of the other 
roads in the county macadamized by 
appropriations from time to time from the 
county and township road funds, the cost of 
which cannot well be ascertained. The 
people are now quite alive to improvement 
of roads, and ere long Sandusky county will 
be a delightful land to drive through, on 
good roads, and not a tollgate on any of 
them, excepting the Maumee and Western 
Reserve turnpike, which is controlled and 
managed by the State. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

COUNTY BUILDINGS AND INSTITUTIONS. 

The First Court-House — How and When Built — Its Removal and What Became of It — Organization of the 
County Infirmary — Subscription for Public Buildings. 



IN Chapter VIII of this history we made 
some mention of the subscription for 
building the first courthouse in the county 
showing that it was built by subscription of 
individuals, signed under date of April 1, 
1823. The subscription showed obligations 
to pay in cash two hundred and thirty-five 
dollars; in labor, three hundred and five 
dollars; in produce, five hundred and fifteen 
dollars; in material, seven hundred and 
forty-five dollars-making an aggregate of 
one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five 
dollars. 



THE COURTHOUSE ORDERED BUILT. 

The county commissioners, viz: Giles 
Thompson, Moses Nichols, and Morris A. 
Newman, met according to appointment on 
the 12th day of April, 1823, as the record 
shows, for the purpose of "investigating the 
propriety of immediately building a jail or 
some other public building with the funds 
subscribed for said purpose, in and for the 
county of Sandusky." After transacting some 
other business, such as ordering the trustees 
of the different townships to direct the 
supervisors to 



182 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



open all county roads through the townships 
at least sixty feet wide, they made an order 
that there should be erected a building for 
public purposes, out of the funds subscribed 
for that purpose, and a part thereof to be 
appropriated for a courthouse until other 
arrangements might be made, on the ground 
selected and donated for public purposes, 
and that the building should be of the 
following dimensions : A good and 
substantial frame, thirty-six feet long, 
twenty-four feet wide, twenty feet high, so 
as to furnish two full stories; a good and 
sufficient brick chimney at each end, with 
four fireplaces below and two above; joint- 
shingle roof, floors well laid, four rooms and 
a passage below, and one room above, etc. 
The following is a copy of the concluding 
order of the session: 

Ordered that the Auditor be authorized and instructed 
to write sundry advertisements comprehending the above 
order, for the purpose of letting said building to the 
lowest bidder, on the 10th day of June next, and that one 
of said advertisements be filed in the office and 
recorded, and that a draft thereof be attached to each 
advertisement so published and recorded. The 
commissioners adjourned until their June meeting. 

By order of the commissioners, 

THOMAS L. HAWKINS, 
Auditor and Clerk of said Board. 

County Auditor Hawkins issued the notices 
ordered by the commissioners, which is of 
record in the words and figures following: 

PUBLIC NOTICE 
is hereby given to all who may feel interested in the 
same, that the commissioners of Sandusky county will 
sell to the lowest bidder who will give bond and 
approved security for faithful performance, the building 
of a courthouse in and for the county aforesaid, on the 
17th day of July next, comprising the following 
dimensions: A good and sufficient frame thirty-six feet 
long and twenty-four feet wide, and twenty feet from the 
ground sill to the top of the plate, so as to form two full 
stories high, and the frame to be elevated two feet above 
the ground with a good, substantial stone wall ; joint- 
shingle roof; two good and sufficient brick chimneys, 
with four fireplaces below stairs and two above; the 
lower story to be divided into four rooms, two at each 
end, and a passage eight feet wide between them; 



stairs to go up in the passage, and to be three and a half 
feet wide, and not to rise more than seven inches to each 
step; all the walls and ceilings to be lathed and 
plastered, except the two small rooms on the one end of 
said building and a small closet under the stairs; floors 
to be laid with tongue and groove joints; five windows 
and two outside doors in the lower story, four inside 
doors and a door to the stairway; eight windows in the 
second story, which shall all be left in one room; all 
windows to be filled with twenty-four lights of eight by 
ten glass; all doors to be panel work; all joiners' work of 
every description to be finished off in neat but plain 
order; all rooms, fireplaces, stairs, passage, windows 
and doors to be situated agreeable to the underneath 
plan. A subscription now in the hands of the com- 
missioners, signed by thirty-four of the most creditable 
citizens of the town of Sandusky, amounting to eighteen 
hundred dollars, will be given for the completion of said 
building, or so far as it may go towards the same. The 
subscription calls for two hundred and thirty-five dollars 
in cash, three hundred and five dollars in labor, five 
hundred and fifteen in produce, and seven hundred and 
forty-five in materials. All enterprising men and 
industrious mechanics will do well, considering the 
depreciation of the times and scarcity of good jobs, by 
making their terms known on said 17th day of July next. 

It is expressly understood that the seats such as is 
customary is to be finished off in court room, and the 
frame up and covered and underpinned with said stone 
wall, on or before the first day of December next. 
THOMAS L. HAWKINS, Auditor. 

Sandusky County, April 26, 1823. 

To this notice was appended a front view 
of the building, presenting seven windows, 
four above and three below, and one door 
below; also a draft showing the plan of the 
courtroom in second story, and the offices, 
hall, stairway and fireplaces on the ground 
floor. 

Tradition says that when the letting of the 
job of building the house took place, on the 
17th of July, 1823, Cyrus Hulburt's proposal 
was accepted, but on reflection he declined 
to complete his contract, and on the 10th of 
the same month Thomas L. Hawkins entered 
into a contract to erect the building for two 
thousand four hundred and fifty dollars. The 
commissioners, in payment of this sum, 
assigned to him the subscription list, 
amounting, as they called it then, to eigh- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



183 



teen hundred dollars, and also agreed to pay 
him six hundred and fifty dollars in orders 
on the county treasury. 

The building was begun in the fall of 
1823; the frame was raised and the chimney 
partly built, but the work progressed slowly. 
The location proved unsatisfactory to the 
subscribers, and the result was that the 
building, in its unfinished condition, was 
moved out of the woods to the brow of the 
hill, a little north and west of where the city 
hall now stands, and was placed on lands 
now designated on the plat of the city as in- 
lots one hundred and three and one hundred 
and four. The building was moved on rollers, 
and was drawn from the old site to the new 
by twenty-four yoke of oxen. The exact date 
of this removal cannot now be ascertained; 
but the house was finished off and ready for 
the holding of court as early as 1830 or 
before. The commissioners procured the title 
to lot one hundred and three from Samuel 
Treat, by deed dated January 13, 1829, and 
the title to lot one hundred and four from 
James Birdseye, by deed dated October 9, 
1830. There is no doubt, however, but there 
were contracts for titles before these dates. 
On the same premises the commissioners 
shortly after built 

THE FIRST JAIL 

was erected about 1832, by Elisha W. 
Howland, under contract with the county 
commissioners. The walls, and ceilings, and 
floor of this building were composed of 
hewn timbers eighteen inches square, laid 
one upon another and bolted through with 
iron bolts. The windows were secured by 
iron grating of perpendicular bars one inch 
square, about three inches apart, and passing 
through horizontal flat bars about one inch 
thick, and with a space between them of 
about three inches. All these bars were 
deeply inserted into the timbers at the sides, 
and above and 



below the open space cut for the windows. 
This jail was completed about the year 1832. 
The courthouse was completed earlier, 
probably about 1826. 

THESE BUILDINGS 

were used for their respective purposes the 
one for the administration of justice and the 
county offices, the other for the confinement 
of criminals, until the year 1843, when 
another and better courthouse and a better 
jail were built by the county. 

In the old jail above described, S perry 
was incarcerated for the murder of his wife; 
in this old courthouse he was tried, 
condemned, and sentenced to be hung. 

The same jail confined Thompson for the 
murder of a young lady at Bellevue. 

In this old jail Sperry committed suicide, 
in the presence of Thompson, to escape the 
gallows. 

The walls of this old courthouse echoed 
the arguments of attorneys Hiram R. 
Pettibone, Peter Yates, Asa Calkins, 
Nathaniel B. Eddy, Homer Everett, L. B. 
Otis, C. L. Boalt, E. B. Sadler, Brice J. 
Bartlett, W. W. Culver, and fairly shook 
with the crashing voice of Cooper K. 
Watson, in his prime, when he prosecuted 
Sperry with wonderful powers of eloquence 
and logic. 

These buildings served their purposes 
well, until the increasing population and 
legal business of the county required more 
room and structures more secure from de- 
struction by fire. 

Soon after the erection of the brick 
courthouse the lots on which the old 
courthouse and jail were situated were sold 
by the commissioners. 

The deed conveys the lots numbers one 
hundred and three and one hundred and four 
to John Karshner for the sum of eight 
hundred and ten dollars, and bears date 
January 13, 1845, and the county 
commissioners who executed the conveyance 



184 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



were: Paul Tew, John S. Gardner, and James 
Rose. 

On the 14th day of March, A. D. 1845, 
John Karshner conveyed the same lots, for 
the same amount of consideration, to Daniel 
Schock, David Deal; John Stahl, John 
Heberling, and Frederick Grund, as trustees 
of "The United German Evangelical 
Lutheran, and German Evangelical 
Reformed St. John's Church, of Fremont." 
Rev. Henry Lang, pastor of the church, took 
possession of the buildings soon after the 
sale. The jail was used for a stable, the court 
room was converted into a place of worship, 
while the room below served as a residence 
for the worthy pastor and his family many 
years. The two societies separated, and the 
property is now owned exclusively by the 
Lutheran Church of Fremont, and the whole 
building is used as a parsonage of the 
church. 

The jail was taken down several years 
ago, but the old first frame courthouse is still 
standing, with all its timbers strong and 
sound. 

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE OLD COURTHOUSE. 

On the judge's seat in this old courthouse 
sat John C. Wright, and as one of the judges 
of the Supreme Court of the State under the 
old constitution, heard and determined 
causes with wonderful promptness and 
marked ability. It was here that Judge 
Wright heard a divorce case, the cause 
alleged being cruel treatment of the wife by 
the husband. The testimony showed a 
chronic habit of indulging bad temper by 
both parties, but the wife, who sought the 
divorce, was the greater and more talented 
scold of the two. Judge Wright patiently 
heard the evidence and arguments in the 
case. As soon as the arguments were closed, 
the judge, in his sharp, ringing voice began, 
and said: "This is a petition for divorce, on 
the ground of extreme cruelty. The 



proof shows that the parties have been about 
equally cruel toward each other, and taking 
the evidence all into consideration, the Court 
is satisfied that in this case two people have 
been joined in the holy bonds of wedlock 
who are possessed of very unhappy tempers, 
but if bad temper should be held to be 
sufficient cause for divorce, we fear that few 
matrimonial contracts in Ohio would stand 
the test. The divorce is therefore refused." 
More such decisions are needed to preserve 
the sanctity of the marriage relation in more 
recent times. 

In this old courthouse Judge Ebenezer 
Lane sat and announced decisions as learned 
and sound as any since his day. In the old 
court room Brice J. Bartlett, Nathaniel B. 
Eddy, Lucius B. Otis, and Homer Everett 
first appeared in the practice of the law. The 
old house has served for a time as the temple 
of justice, then as a temple for illustrating 
God's mercy to man, and finally as the abode 
of a pious, peaceful, and happy family. 

THE SECOND COURTHOUSE AND JAIL. 

The county, in 1840, had so increased in 
inhabitants and business that the old 
courthouse, twenty-four by thirty-six feet in 
dimensions, no longer afforded room for the 
proper and convenient transaction of the 
public business, nor a safe repository for the 
public records. Hence public opinion urged 
the county commissioners to the 
construction of a safer and more 
commodious building. It appears by the 
journal of the county commissioners, that the 
public desire put them in motion towards 
this object in March or April, 1840. The first 
recorded action of the commissioners is 
found in their journal under date of April 3, 
1840, when they met at the auditor's office 
with Nathaniel B. Eddy, then county auditor. 
They met, as the journal entry shows, and 
not having completed their view and location 
of a 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



185 



site for the courthouse, adjourned until the 
next morning. The next journal entry shows 
that on the 4th of April, 1840, the 
commissioners met pursuant to adjournment, 
and having completed the survey and 
location of a site for a courthouse, adjourned 
without delay. The commissioners then 
were: Paul Tew, of Townsend township; 
Jonas Smith, of Ballville township; and John 
Bell, of Sandusky township. 

The commissioners, at their meeting 
under date of June 2, 1840, after having 
published for proposals, met, and opened 
and examined offers filed, and after having 
them under advisement accepted the pro- 
posal of Isaac Knapp, to build the 
courthouse and jail, for the sum of fourteen 
thousand five hundred and fifty dollars. 

On the 4th day of June, 1840, the county 
commissioners ordered a levy on all taxable 
property of the county, of one mill and a half 
on the dollar valuation, for courthouse and 
jail purposes, to be held exclusively for 
those purposes and no other. 

PLAN OF THE HOUSE. 

The contract between the commissioners 
and Mr. Knapp, and the plans and 
specifications of the building, were not made 
matter of record, and cannot now be found, 
but the following items respecting the 
materials, form, and dimensions of the 
building as erected by Mr. Knapp, are 
gathered from those who are familiar with 
the courthouse before any alteration was 
made. 

The length of the building east and west, 
was fully sixty-seven feet; the breadth north 
and south, was fully forty-five feet. 

The basement was the jail, built of large 
blocks of cut limestone, with a wide hall 
along the north basement wall, and the south 
side partitioned by thick walls of cut 
limestone into cells for prisoners. These 
walls were all of unusual thickness, 



and the cells closed by doors made of strong 
iron bars. The floor of the jail was of very 
heavy limestone flagging, and the ceiling of 
the same material. Both floors, that is, first 
and second floors above the jail, were of 
sandstone flagging laid in mortar, on heavy 
timbers placed near together. 

The height of the wall from the eaves 
trough to the ground was forty-five feet; the 
roof, what mechanics denominate quarter- 
pitch, covered with pine shingles, with 
belfry a little east of the centre. The style 
was plain Grecian, with a porch on the front, 
or eastern gable end, supported by four 
fluted columns of woodwork, about eight 
feet deep, floored with dressed limestone 
flagging. A flight of steps, extending north 
and south, and in front centre about thirty 
feet, led from the pavement to the porch, 
which was elevated about four feet above the 
sidewalk. 

The exact time when the building was 
completed, or when it was first used, is now, 
after the lapse of forty years, rather difficult 
to find. But certain facts of record serve to 
show a near approximation to the time the 
building was completed, so far as Mr. 
Knapp's contract had to do with it. For 
instance, at a meeting of the commissioners, 
under date of December 5, 1843, they 
ordered, as appears by their journal, that as 
soon as the new courthouse should be 
finished, the auditor should let, to the lowest 
bidder, a contract for finishing and 
furnishing the inside of the clerk's office, 
according to plans and specifications 
furnished by the clerk. This entry indicates 
very clearly that the courthouse was not 
completed at the date of the order, December 
5, 1843. But under date of August 1, 1844, 
we find an entry in the commissioners' 
journal, reciting that a large number of 
taxpayers, being convinced that Isaac Knapp 
had lost largely in building the courthouse 
and 



186 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



jail for the county, asked the commissioners 
to make him an extra allowance, to cover his 
losses, and they then ordered an allowance 
of two thousand dollars, to be paid out of the 
county treasury. This indicates that the job 
had been completed before the time this' 
extra allowance had been made, and leads to 
the conclusion that the spring term of the 
court of common pleas, of the year 1844, 
was held in the new courthouse. 

The building was intended to be safe 
against fire, but the stone floors were found 
to be objectionable, especially for the court 
room, on account of the noise produced by 
walking on the stone flagging. The stone 
floor in the court room, after a few years use 
was removed, and a wooden floor, with 
manila carpet, put down, which was a great 
improvement. Soon after, the stone floors in 
the offices were removed, for reasons of 
health, and wood floors substituted for them, 
but the stone floor in the hall is yet kept in 
use as it was originally laid. The jail, made 
with so much care and cost, was, in a few 
years, found to be so damp and unhealthy 
that it was repeatedly reported by the grand 
jury to be a nuisance, and finally the com- 
missioners built a jail on the rear of the 
courthouse lot, above ground, with means of 
ventilation, which is now occupied for the 
purpose. 

COURTHOUSE ENLARGED. 

On the 10th of September, 1870, the court 
room was again found too small for the 
convenient transaction of business, and the 
commissioners on that date contracted with 
D. L. June & Son to extend the building 
westward a distance of forty feet, with 
dimensions of width and height, and style of 
work, to correspond with the main building. 
The June contract was only for the mason 
work, and the agreed price was eight 
thousand nine hundred dollars. 



After D. L. June & Son had finished the 
extension of the courthouse, the com- 
missioners contracted with Jacob Myers for 
doing the joiner work of the enlarged court 
room, who completed the work in the fall of 
1871, at a cost of about one thousand five 
hundred dollars. The court room was 
completed and occupied by the court in the 
fall of 1871. Hitherto the court room and 
offices had been warmed by stoves in each 
of the separate rooms and apartments. About 
this time two important ideas came over the 
county authorities in the way of progressive 
means of economy and safety. One was the 
heating of the courthouse by steam, and the 
other that of providing fireproof and 
burglarproof vaults for the preservation of 
the county records in the offices of the clerk, 
auditor, recorder, and probate judge; also a 
capacious time-lock burglarproof safe for the 
county treasury. 

STEAM HEATING APPARATUS. 

On the 6th of September, 1871, the 
commissioners contracted with Sales A. 
June, of Fremont, to put into the court house 
a boiler and furnace in the basement, with a 
tank and heater sufficient to furnish steam to 
warm the courthouse; and with Davis & 
Shaw, of Toledo, to furnish pipe and coils 
sufficient to warm the halls, offices, and the 
court room in the house. They contracted to 
pay Sales A. June, for his work, the sum of 
six hundred dollars. The amount to be paid 
Davis & Shaw, for their work and materials, 
was two thousand seven hundred dollars. 
The steam heating apparatus was completed 
and used for the purpose of warming early in 
the winter of 1871-72, and has ever since 
worked satisfactorily, and is likely to be 
long continued in use. 

From the completion of the courthouse to 
the year 1880, the county clerk's office had 
been kept on the first or lower floor of the 
courthouse, in the northeast room. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



187 



This arrangement was inconvenient, 
especially during sessions of the court, for to 
get access to the files and records of the 
office the clerk must leave the court room 
and descend the stone stairway. After the 
election of the present efficient and 
experienced clerk, Basil Meek, he suggested 
an improved arrangement of the clerk's 
office, by removing it up stairs on the same 
floor as the court room, and adjoining it in 
the rear. This was done in 1880; and now the 
attorneys and all concerned feel gratified 
with the improvement. A new fireproof vault 
was constructed up stairs in the new office, 
for the preservation of the court records, and 
there is now a sense of convenience and 
safety in the well-arranged clerk's office. 

We have thus traced the building of the 
second courthouse in the county to its 
present condition; and if the reader shall be 
impressed that the account is tedious in 
unimportant and uninteresting details, we 
suggest that as time passes, and when the 
county in its multiplied wealth and 
population shall, in the progress of events, 
build a more commodious and elegant 
structure in which to transact the business of 
an advanced generation, the particulars we 
have given will become more and more 
curious and interesting. 

The difference in cost, convenience, 
safety, and elegance, between the first 
simple framed courthouse, we have 
described, and this second one we have 
given an account of will not be a tithe of the 
difference between the present building and 
the next one the people will erect for the 
same purposes. 

THE COUNTY INFIRMARY. 

Order is heaven's first law, and this confess'd, 
Some must be richer, greater than the rest. 

Pope's Essay on Man. 

The Lord said when on earth in the flesh, For 
the poor always you have with you. 

In these utterances we see that the poet 



philosopher simply and beautifully 
amplifies what the Divine Master of 
humanity had tersely uttered centuries 
before the poet lived. The utterances are 
both true, and both enunciate, not only what 
was and still is true, but what is always to 
be true. The word poor is applied to many 
objects, as our language is now framed, but 
no doubt in the quotations above given the 
word was used to signify persons who were 
destitute of money and property, and 
needed the assistance of others to obtain the 
proper means of subsistence, and would 
seem to embrace all who are found in that 
condition, whether by loss or lack of 
property, or by the mental or physical 
inability to acquire their own proper 
subsistence. When we consider the number 
of imbecile, and deaf and dumb, and blind 
from birth, born into this breathing world, 
how many men and women, once able to do 
their full share of productive labor, are 
disabled by the lapse of time, and decay of 
their powers. When we observe how many 
who are well endowed with will, and brain, 
and muscle, and who have worked well to 
maintain, improve, and ornament the great 
fabric of civilized society, are by fire and 
flood, cyclone and earthquake, and war, and 
all the minor accidents to which property, 
and life, and limb, and reason are subject, 
on sea and on land, society may well settle 
down to the conclusion that "the poor will 
be always with us," and that Christ in this, 
as on all other subjects he spoke of, uttered 
a truth which will not fail. The same Christ 
who uttered the truth referred to, also taught 
the universal brotherhood of man, with the 
sublime doctrine of love toward all. Under 
the influence of such teachings, the human 
heart individually, as well as in the 
aggregate of communities and States, has 
been moved up higher in the scale of 
charity and good will towards men, Marked 
and wonderful as the present 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



age is, by its unparalleled progress in 
science, in explorations, in inventions for 
travel and transportation, and in the march 
of thought, the organized charities for the 
relief, maintenance, and comfort of the 
unfortunate, form the grandest, and at the 
same time the most beautiful work and 
proof of our progressive civilization. When 
one looks at the grand edifices raised by the 
people of the State, and given as homes for 
the deaf and dumb, and blind, and those 
who by birth or accident are deprived of 
reason, and the like, in the counties, for the 
poor and infirm, and considers the tender 
care bestowed upon them, all by 
kindhearted and Christian men and women, 
the contemplation fairly forces out the 
exclamation: "Surely the spirit of Christ is 
abroad in the earth." 

SKETCH OF THE POOR LAWS OF OHIO. 

The early settlers of the State were of 
that class of people, few of whom needed 
more than temporary relief, which the 
generous heart of the pioneer promptly 
furnished, without resort to legal methods. 
In those communities so thinly populated 
that the face of a man or woman is of itself 
a matter of cheer and pleasure whenever 
met, neighborly kindness rendered poor 
laws unnecessary. But as the population 
increased and inhabitants began to crowd 
and cross each other in interest and design, 
that, free heartedness which prevailed 
among old pioneers subsided, or took 
another form of manifestation. 

On the 5th of March, 1831, the General 
Assembly passed a law providing for the 
organization of townships, and for the 
election of officers thereof. Among the 
township officers, this law required the 
election annually of two overseers of the 
poor. In another act, passed March 14, 
1831, and which took effect June 1, 1831, it 
was provided that when the overseers of the 
poor of any township in any county 



not having a poorhouse, should be satisfied 
that any person having a legal settlement (a 
residence of one year) in such township, 
was suffering and ought to be relieved at 
the expense of such township, they might 
afford such relief at the expense of the 
township as in their opinion the necessities 
of such person might require; and if more 
than temporary relief was required, then the 
overseers of the poor should give seven 
days notice, by written or printed notices, 
posted up in at least three public places in 
the township, of the time and place at which 
they would attend and receive proposals for 
the maintenance of such pauper. The 
contract for maintenance was by the law 
limited to one year. This provision, 
therefore, required an annual advertising 
and contracting for the support of each 
unfortunate. Whatever service the pauper 
could reasonably perform was done for the 
benefit of the person supporting him or her. 

BLACK AND MULATTO PERSONS EXCEPTED. 

In the act of March 14, 1831, the second 
section reads as follows: 

SEC. 2. That nothing in this act shall be so 
construed as to enable any black or mulatto person to 
gain a legal settlement in this State. 

We mention this provision of the statute 
in a total absence of all admiration or 
approval of it, but for the purpose of 
exhibiting a fact in history and preserving it 
as a point from which the progress of 
civilization and humanity may be measured. 
Fifty years ago the people of Ohio drew the 
color line, and excluded the man "with 
skins not colored like their own," from the 
pale of public charity, and turned him out to 
die like a dog in a fence-corner, or beg his 
bread from the hand of some individual 
whose heart had been touched by the spirit 
of Christ, or by the natural impulse of pity. 
While we remember that the white people 
of Ohio, by solemn legislative enactment, 
denied 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



189 



and withheld a crust of bread from a starving 
man on account of his color, in 1831, let the 
people of Ohio be moderate in their 
condemnation of other people who resist 
being governed and ruled by the same race 
of people in 1877. Until the angel of mercy 
has blotted our statute with his tears, as he is 
said to have blotted out Uncle Toby's oath, 
let us have charity for a more justifiable sin. 
But God's great work is going forward 
apace. 

John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, 
But his soul is marching on. 

On the 8th of March, 1831, an act was 
passed, authorizing the county 

commissioners to purchase sites and erect a 
county poorhouse in their respective 
counties, and to levy and collect taxes to pay 
for and maintain the same; but this did not 
supersede the poor laws requiring townships 
to support the poor, nor was the law to erect 
poorhouses compulsory on the 

commissioners. 

An act passed February 8, 1845, abolished 
the office of overseers of the poor, and 
imposed their duties on the township 
trustees. Under these statutes the townships 
of Sandusky county gave relief to the poor 
as from time to time they were required by 
circumstances, until the time when the 
commissioners resolved to 

BUILD A POORHOUSE. 

After considering the subject quite 
earnestly for some time, and calculating the 
cost of keeping the unfortunates by the 
township, and looking to the future increase 
of that class of persons as the population of 
the county should increase, the 
commissioners arrived at the conclusion 
that, all things considered, the establishment 
of a county poorhouse, with a farm 
connected with it, would be for the interest 
of the people, as well as the comfort of those 
whose condition or misfortunes in life 
demanded help. Accordingly, 



on the 9th day of June, 1848, the county 
commissioners, namely, John S. Gardner, 
Hiram Hurd, and Eleazer Baldwin, ordered 
that there be levied on the taxable property 
of the county, to be collected by taxation on 
the duplicate, the sum of one thousand five 
hundred dollars, for purchasing a site and 
erecting a poorhouse. At this time Homer 
Everett was county auditor, and his advice 
and influence with the commissioners were 
earnestly used in favor of the measure, and 
there was no dissenting voice on the board. 
The tax was placed upon the duplicate, as 
directed, and so far collected in the fall of 
1848 that on the 16th day of January, 1849, 
the commissioners purchased of John P. 
Haynes, and partly paid for, the southwest 
quarter of section number twenty-five in 
township five, range fifteen, containing one 
hundred and sixty acres, and also the 
southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of 
the same section, containing forty acres, 
making together a tract of two hundred acres 
of land, for the agreed price of three 
thousand dollars. The object in purchasing 
this tract of land, which is situated about 
one-half mile east on a direct line outside of 
the city limits, was that those inmates of the 
institution who were able might till the land 
and thus contribute to their own support, 
according to their ability. The buildings on 
this land were fitted up and converted into a 
poorhouse. From time to time the buildings 
were improved, as was also the farm. 

Experiment and observation developed 
the fact that there were instances of not 
uncommon occurrence, where men who had 
some property were without friends who 
would minister to them, and supply their 
wants, and that public relief ought to be 
afforded to such, as well as to those who 
were destitute of property. Hence, an attempt 
to soothe the feelings of those who might be 
compelled to accept relief, by changing the 
name of the institution. 



190 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



The dreaded poorhouse was abolished by an 
act of the General Assembly, passed March 
23, 1850, and thenceforth the name of 
"county infirmary" was substituted. There 
probably were some good reasons for this 
change of name, but black is black whatever 
name be given to it, even should the General 
Assembly pass an act that it shall henceforth 
be called white. The rose would smell as 
sweet by any other name and the odor of the 
skunk would be as strong. 

Still, it should be considered that in the 
early history of the country, in some of the 
States, the inmates of the poorhouse were by 
law deprived of some of the civil rights 
enjoyed by other inhabitants of the town, or 
county, hence the charge of having been in 
the poorhouse carried with it, in a popular 
sense, a charge of degradation and disgrace. 
The change of name was, therefore, not only 
polite, but proper, for it cannot be truly said 
now that there is a man, woman, or child, 
kept in a poorhouse in Ohio, although many 
are relieved and maintained in our county 
infirmaries. It should be recorded that the 
State never, by law or decision of court, 
deprived a man of any civil right for being 
poor. 

Man's inhumanity to man 



Makes countless thousand 



s mourn. 



We have already mentioned that the first 
legislation in Ohio making provision for the 
poor and unfortunate, denied all public relief 
to black and mulatto persons. This fact 
shows the deep prejudice entertained by the 
white people of Ohio against the colored 
race, in 1831. 

The flutter of some angel's wing must 
have moved the air over the stagnant sea of 
mercy, and produced a little ripple of 
humanity, which reached the heart of Ohio, 
for, on the 14th of March, 1853, the General 
Assembly added a proviso to the then 
existing statute, whereby, 



although black and mulatto persons were 
excluded from infirmaries, the law of 
exclusion should not be so construed as to 
prevent the directors of any infirmary, in 
their discretion, from admitting any black or 
mulatto person into said infirmary. 

SECOND PURCHASE OF LAND. 

The farm, though good and commodious, 
was not large enough to afford full and 
profitable employment for all the inmates, 
and it was thought good economy, in 1870, 
to acquire more land. Therefore the 
commissioners, on the 30th of January, 
1870, purchased of F. S. White, and took a 
conveyance in fee simple for the following 
described other tracts of land: 

The northeast quarter of the southeast 
quarter, and north part of the southeast 
quarter of the southeast quarter of section 
twenty-five, township five, range fifteen, 
containing together seventy acres of land, 
and paid for it the price of four thousand five 
hundred and fifty dollars. 

This last purchased tract is about eighty 
rods east of the main body of the tract first 
purchased by the commissioners for 
poorhouse purposes. 

The infirmary farm now embraces two 
hundred and seventy acres of excellent land 
near the city limits. This land has cost the 
county an aggregate sum of seven thousand 
five hundred and fifty dollars. 

Improvements in clearing, fencing and 
draining have, from time to time, been made 
on the property, which are so mingled with 
the profits and products of the land, that it is 
now impracticable to tell the exact cost, or 
the precise amount of the people's money 
from taxes which has been expended on the 
farm. The commissioners have sold a small 
parcel of the land, and recently the 
continuation of the Lake Erie & Western 
Railway from 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



191 



Fremont to Sandusky, appropriated land for 
a track through the farm, leaving now about 
two hundred and sixty-five acres of the land, 
the title to which remains in the county. 
Good judges estimate the land, without the 
buildings, at one Hundred and thirty dollars 
per acre. The buildings are estimated now to 
be worth twelve thousand dollars. The 
infirmary, at the present time, is of sufficient 
capacity to receive and accommodate 
continually sixty-five persons, with a 
separate building for the insane which has a 
capacity to keep from five to seven persons. 

NUMBER MAINTAINED IN THE INFIRMARY. 

A statistical and detailed statement of the 
names, ages, and the particulars of birth, 
nationality, and circumstances of the persons 
who have been received into the institution 
and cared for by the county, does not seem 
to be necessary in a work of this kind, nor 
would such matter be interesting to our 
readers. Unfortunately the early reports of 
the directors do not afford the data for a 
detailed statement of the infirmary affairs 
and management, and some of the reports 
cannot now be readily found. We have, 
however, been able to find sufficient 
documents on file, and books from which to 
glean sufficient facts and figures to give 
some idea of the average number of persons 
supported at the infirmary in certain years. 
These facts will furnish some part of what 
has been done by the county for the 
unfortunate portion of men, women, and 
children. 

Beginning with the year 1869, for 
instance, we find the average number of 
inmates to be 35; 1870, 42; 1871, 40; 1874, 
40; 1875, 50; 1876, 56; 1880, 57. 

The report for the year 1870 shows that 
one hundred and thirty transient persons 
were furnished with temporary relief such as 
a night's lodging, and supper and breakfast, 
and then sent on their way to some other 
place they wished to reach. These 



persons do not, by the report, appear to be 
considered inmates, nor estimated in 
calculating the average number of those 
maintained at the institution. 

The report for the year 1880 is the most 
complete and satisfactory of all on file, and 
furnishes some facts of interest to those who 
are engaged in works of charity. While the 
average number of inmates for the year is 
given at 57, the total for the year is given at 
122; the number received was 39; born in the 
infirmary, 3; deaths in the infirmary, 14; 
removed to other counties, 5; removed to 
other institutions, 9; children under sixteen 
years of age, 12; children placed in homes, 
3; hopelessly crippled when received, 1; 
number of inmates at date of report, 
September 1, 1880, 53. Idiotic males, 7; 
females, 3: total, 10. Taken together the 
reports show that of the inmates there are 
only about half as many females as males. 
But no doubt the proportion of females 
assisted is much larger, for more outside 
assistance is given to the women at their 
residences, then to men in like 
circumstances. 

CARE OF THE POOR. 

We cannot now state in detail the annual 
expenses for each year which has elapsed 
since the purchase of the poorhouse farm. 
But it is well to place on record some facts 
and figures concerning the cost of 
administering relief, as data for reference 
and comparison with the future. We find, by 
reference to the auditor's books, that for the 
years 1858, 1859, and 1860, the average 
expenditure of the poor fund for all 
purposes, was eighteen hundred and sixty- 
seven dollars per year. 

For the two years ending September 10, 
1874, the total for all purposes was seven 
thousand five hundred and thirty-three 
dollars and sixty-one cents, or at the rate of 
three thousand seven hundred and sixty-six 
dollars per year. 
For the single year ending September 



192 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



21, 1865, the total expenses were five 
thousand and five dollars. 

For the year ending September 2, 1867, 
the total was four thousand two hundred and 
thirty-two dollars. 

For the year ending September 2, 1872, 
eight thousand five hundred and ninety-six 
dollars. 

For the year ending September 1, 1873, 
seven thousand six hundred and forty three 
dollars. 

For the year ending March 1, 1877, five 
thousand eight hundred and ninety-five 
dollars. 

For the year ending March 1, 1878, seven 
thousand one hundred and thirty-three 
dollars. 

For the year ending March 1, 1879, seven 
thousand six hundred and thirteen dollars. 

For the year ending March 1, 1880, the 
total is about double that of the preceding 
year, and amounted to fourteen thousand and 
sixty dollars. 

For the year ending March 1, 1881, the 
aggregate expenditures amounted to fourteen 
thousand two hundred and thirty-five 
dollars. 

Of this sum of expenditures for the year 
ending March 1, 1881, seven thousand two 
hundred and ninety-three dollars were spent 
in giving relief to necessitous persons 
outside of the county infirmary. Thus we see 
that more than half the total expenditures go 
for what is called in the report, outside 
relief. 

TRAMPS CAUSE INCREASED EXPENDITURE. 

Following quickly after the financial 
panic of 1873 came the suspension of 
business in almost all its various 
departments, especially in the different 
branches of manufacturing and their 
dependent industries. The water was turned 
from the wheels of the great factories, the 
spindle ceased to revolve, and the inside of 
great 



mills for the production of fabrics for 
clothing, were silent receiving-vaults for 
dead industry there. The great engines which 
furnished the driving power for machine 
shops ceased to puff and pulsate, the fires 
went out, and the boiler and the driving- 
wheel stood cold and motionless; the mines 
were closed, and the fires went out in the 
furnaces, and silence reigned in and around 
them. In short, the great manufacturing 
industries, on the employment in which so 
large a portion of our people depended for 
bread, were suddenly paralyzed. The 
workers in coal and wood, and cotton and 
brass, and iron and steel, had their bread and 
raiment, as it were, snatched from their 
hands by the terrible revulsion. Hundreds of 
thousands of workingmen were thus 
suddenly thrown out of employment, without 
food, without money, without property or 
other means to procure the necessaries of 
life. There were three things which they 
could do: starve, seek other and new 
employment which they knew nothing about, 
or appeal to the charity of their fellow men. 

Some were assisted to live by acquaint- 
ances, neighbors, and relatives, and many by 
organized charitable institutions and 
kindhearted strangers. Still, there was a vast 
army who took the road to find employment, 
and beg for bread until they found it. Some 
time in the year 1877 these travelling 
seekers after employment became rather 
numerous in Sandusky county. At first they 
were well treated, relieved by our 
kindhearted people, and some found 
employment among our farmers and in other 
pursuits. This wave of labor-seekers rolled 
from East to West, and touched every city, 
town, hamlet, and house in its course. In 
time the really idle, vicious vagabonds of the 
cities and towns, saw their opportunity to 
travel without expense, and plunder as they 
went along by joining in the march and 
adopting the 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



193 



habits of the travelers. These vicious recruits 
tramped from place to place and house to 
house, and obtaining victuals and clothes 
without work became a regular pursuit, and 
the vagabonds had their systematic 
communications, with cabalistic signs and 
ceremonies, by which they knew each other, 
and., one could tell by marks upon the door, 
fence or gatepost where another visited, and 
whether the visit was successful, and also 
the character and circumstances of the 
occupants of the house. 

Although the men who first started out in 
search of employment and bread were honest 
men and deserving of charity, and succeeded 
in obtaining it, when it became a regular 
occupation, and the scoundrels and 
vagabonds who adopted it began to develop 
their real characters by the commission of 
thefts, outrages, and crimes, the name 
became odious. The name formerly was 
applied to all travelling workmen who went 
from one place to another seeking 
employment, and was in no way disgraceful, 
but the name in 1879 and 1880 became the 
synonym of all that was vile and criminal. 
Numerous instances of theft, arson, and 
outrages upon unprotected women 
committed by tramps, were put before the 
public by telegraph and print, until the States 
were stirred to legislation for the 
suppression of their business. The General 
Assembly, of Ohio passed an act on the 5th 
of May, 1877, to take effect July 1, 1877, to 
punish vagrancy, and therein declared that a 
male person physically able to perform 
manual labor, who had not made reasonable 
effort to procure employment, or who had 
refused to labor at reasonable prices, who is 
found in a state of vagrancy, or practicing 
common begging, shall be fined not more 
than fifty dollars, and be sentenced to hard 
labor in the jail of the county until the fine 
and costs of prosecution are paid; and, for 
his labor, such convict shall receive credit 



upon such fine and costs at the rate of 
seventy-five cents per day. This law was 
never very effective, nor very rigidly 
enforced. 

The city of Fremont, in 1878, built a 
lodging house for tramps, and also an 
enclosure where they could be put at work 
breaking stone for the public. But the 
expenses of this establishment were borne by 
the infirmary directors, and this, with the 
temporary relief to such tramps as could not 
work, greatly increased the expenditures of 
the infirmary fund for the years ending 
March 1, 1880, and March 1, 1881. Although 
the additional expenses for the relief of 
tramps in part occurred before 1880, the 
increased expenditures did not, in the regular 
course of business, appear in the reports 
until the years mentioned. 

While the report of 1881 shows that the 
average daily number of inmates in the 
infirmary was only fifty-seven, the same 
report shows that relief was given to one 
hundred and thirty persons outside of it. 

COST OF SUSTAINING THE INFIRMARY. 

It is difficult to arrive at the exact cost of 
maintaining each person in the infirmary, but 
it may be approximated by taking the report 
of March 1, 1881, and estimating the present 
value of the land and buildings devoted to 
the purpose, and stated thus: 

Total value of lands at forty six thousand three 
hundred and forty dollars. 

Interest on value of farm for the year $2780.00 

Add total expense account for the year 14235.00 

Total expenses $17015.00 

Deduct amount used for outside relief 7293.00 

$9722.00 
Deduct for furnace and other improve- 
ments, say 500.00 

Cost of supporting average number of fifty- 
seven inmates $9222.00 

The average cost is therefore within a few 
cents of one hundred and sixty-two dollars 
per year, or three dollars and seven cents per 
week for each inmate, 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY. 

Soil — Surface — Timber. 



LOOKING at the county as it appears 
now, covered with fields and meadows, 
orchards and woodland, yielding rich 
support to vegetable and animal life, all 
contributing to and culminating in the 
support of an intelligent and orderly pop- 
ulation of men, women, and children, in the 
full tide of plenty and prosperity, and 
enjoying all the delights of social life, it is 
difficult to realize that this region was once 
the bottom of an ocean. Yet science says it 
was so, and spreads out before the mind 
many and convincing facts to prove the 
assertion. The granite boulders which are 
found thickly scattered in various parts of 
the county, testify that they have been 
transported from some granite shore, and 
rounded into the form we find them by some 
of nature's forces. They bear no relation to 
any strata of rock found in the vicinity, but 
correspond with rock found in the highlands 
in the Northern and Western mountains. The 
best solution of the presence of the boulders, 
is that vast glaciers were formed in some 
remote period of unnumbered years, on the 
sides of the granite mountains North and 
West of this locality. That the action of frost 
and water had first detached large and small 
pieces from the mountain side, and they had 
tumbled down to where the action of the 
waves rolled them against each other until 
the sharper angles were worn away. Then, in 
the colder seasons, these huge masses of 
stone were grappled by the frost, in icy 
holdings, and when the glacier was full- 
formed the whole mass was by its own 
gravity precipitated down the 



mountain side into the deep waters when it 
floated away to a southern shore, or shallow 
water, where it grounded and dissolved, 
leaving at the bottom its mass of debris. This 
debris consisted not only of the loosed stone, 
but also of the finely ground particles which 
had been worn from them, which were left to 
the action of the waters, washed from place 
to place to finally settle in the deeper and 
therefore calmer portions of the sea, and 
formed the clay beds so frequently met with 
in this part of the State. The coarser particles 
were not held in solution, but like the sand 
we see on the shores of our present lakes, 
were with pebbles washed to the shore lines 
and left as the water subsided. 

Another proof of the assertion that this 
region was submerged is found in the rocks 
of the period. When uncovered these rocks 
show stria, or grooves, in parallel directions, 
which geologists trace directly to the action 
of glaciers, icebergs, and water. 

Still another proof may be seen in the sea 
shells (mollusca), which are found in the 
lime rock at the highest point on Kelley's 
Island, in Lake Erie. 

By some process of nature the waters, as 
generally stated in Genesis, subsided, whether 
by upheaval of some part of the earth, or by the 
depression of another part, is matter of 
speculation which does not properly form a part 
of this work. The subsidence of the water was 
slow, and the geological survey of Ohio, 
especially the district including the Maumee 
Valley, reveals several distinct shore lines of the 



194 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



195 



ceding waters, one of which sweeps through 
a part of Michigan and Indiana, as far west 
as Fort Wayne, thence down through Van 
Wert, Allen, and Hancock, and including 
Sandusky county; another sweeping 
southward only as far as Defiance, but also 
including Sandusky county. By this we see 
that the land in Sandusky county, and all 
north of it to the lake, was amongst the latest 
to appear above the waters in this region of 
country. 

Finally, after the lapse of ages, the sea, 
which once covered this goodly land, 
subsided into the confines of the Atlantic 
Ocean, and the trough of its bottom formed 
the chain of great lakes, with their tributary 
rivers draining the fresh waters from the 
rains and snows of nearly half a continent. 

FORMATION OF THE SOIL. 

As the water receded, the land, thrown 
under the direct influence of the rays of the 
sun, produced vegetation, which decaying 
upon the surface of the clay, gravel and sand 
deposited by the water, formed our soils. 
West and north of the sand ridge, called 
York North Ridge, north of Clyde, and 
Butternut Ridge, south of it, so much of this 
vegetable deposit had accumulated that the 
land would not produce wheat for the first 
white settlers. It was too rich for wheat 
farming. This was the case especially with 
that portion of the county lying in what has 
been known as the Black Swamp, which us- 
ually designated that level portion of the 
county west of the Sandusky River and to 
the Maumee. 

The soil in this part, now including the 
townships of Scott, Madison, Woodville, 
Rice, and the west part of Sandusky, was of 
this character. The township of Riley and a 
part of Townsend was similar in formation 
and soil to the Black Swamp proper. 



On these soils when first plowed, es- 
pecially the Black Swamp proper, corn, 
grass, and potatoes were produced in won- 
derful abundance; but wheat and oats would 
overgrow, fall down and blast, and 
sometimes rot before harvest time. It was 
found, however, that after from five to ten 
years of tillage and drainage, this same land 
produced such crops of wheat as made the 
heart of the farmer glad, and now, this once 
forbidding and often condemned Black 
Swamp, ranks as one of the most productive 
portions of the State for all kinds of grain, 
grass, roots, and fruit. 

It was no holiday amusement, however, to 
make a good farm in the Black Swamp. Real 
stalwarts were required to contend with 
water and mud under foot, while leveling 
and burning great tall trees, which spread out 
their branches overhead, almost entirely 
excluding the rays of the sun from the earth. 

The horse was little used in the clearing of 
the Black Swamp; that animal was too fiery, 
nervous and thin-skinned to endure the mud, 
brush, flies, and mosquitoes which hindered, 
fretted, and tortured horses. 

The more patient, stolid, and thick-skinned 
ox was preferred, and almost always used to 
drag the logs together for burning, and 
drawing the loaded cart or wagon through 
the mud and water. 

For many years of the early settlement the 
Black Swamp was the favorite locality for 
the fever and ague and intermittent fever, 
then so common in all parts of the West, and 
was a bonanza for the physician. Now, 
however, an ox team can hardly be found; 
horses are universally used, and this once 
sickly locality is as healthy as any other 
portion of the county. The first lands entered 
and settled upon in the Black Swamp were 
those along the creeks and Portage River. 
Between these streams lay level land and 
shallow swails, where 



196 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the water stood from the fall rains until July 
or August annually. These were considered 
of little value for some time afterward. 
Excepting the courage, industry and 
perseverance of the settlers, nothing has 
contributed so much to the reclamation of 
the Black Swamp as the system of public 
ditches, introduced into the county in 1859, 
under an act of the General Assembly of that 
year. This act gave the county 
commissioners of all the counties in the 
State, on the petition of inhabitants, the right 
to locate and cause ditches to be constructed, 
and have the expenses charged upon the land 
according to the benefits conferred on the 
several tracts. 

William Driftmire, of Madison township, 
a native of Germany, has the distinction of 
first petitioning for a ditch under the law. 
The system of ditching which followed this 
first experiment of Mr. Driftmeir may be 
noticed more in detail in this work under the 
head of improvements. 

The eastern portion of the county, es- 
pecially that part lying south and east of the 
sand ridge on which Clyde is situated, 
presented to the earlier settler a more 
inviting soil, not so heavily timbered, and 
most of it well drained by reason of its 
undulating or rolling surface. The sandy soil 
quickly absorbed the surface water, or 
collected it into limited spaces, connected 
frequently with what were commonly called 
sink-holes, where the water was conducted 
by a natural funnel down into the fissures of 
the lime-rock underlying that part of the 
county for a considerable distance east of 
Bellevue, which is situated on the east line 
of Sandusky and west line of Huron county, 
which divides that enterprising and wealthy 
village. 

These features of the eastern portion of 
the county account for the fact that that part 
was settled and developed much earlier than 
the western part. This eastern portion 



when first settled, unlike the western, was 
good wheat land from the first breaking up 
and tillage of the soil, and by proper farming 
is still producing superior crops of wheat, in 
both quantity to the acreage and quality of 
grain. For fruit, no better region can be 
found than the eastern portion of the county. 
There is, perhaps, less poor and waste 
land in Sandusky county than in almost any 
other county of like dimensions in the State. 
On the whole, then, it may be said, that for 
richness of soil, and capacity for agricultural 
and horticultural productions, the county 
takes high standing among the best counties 
of the State. 

GENERAL INCLINATION OF THE SURFACE. 

The general inclination of the surface is 
from south to north, while the most authentic 
measurements of altitude indicate also a 
descent from west to east. Bellevue is stated 
to be one hundred and ninety-one feet above 
the average level of Lake Erie, Clyde one 
hundred and twenty-seven feet, and Fremont, 
at the site of the courthouse, where it is 
presumed the measurements were taken, 
only sixty-two feet above the surface level 
of the Lake. Notwithstanding this result of 
measurements, which are probably correct, 
the Portage and the Sandusky River bear 
strongly to the east or north as they flow, the 
former into the lake and the latter into 
Sandusky Bay, and all the creeks have the 
same general direction. This apparent 
difference between the altitude, ascertained 
by measurement, in indicating the general 
inclination of the surface, can no doubt be 
reconciled. Various causes may be assigned 
for the direction of a creek or river differing 
somewhat from the general inclination of the 
surface as a ledge of rock, the tenacity of the 
soil, and especially minor inclinations of the 
surface in a direction opposite to that of the 
general inclination. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



197 



TIMBER. 

The county when first formed included 
nearly all of what now composes the county 
of Ottawa, the territory of which was part 
prairie land. Ottawa county was organized in 
the year 1840, and left Sandusky with its 
present boundaries. The county, as now 
formed, was originally timbered land. In the 
south part of York township were found oak 
openings where the timber was not heavy, 
but all the other parts, saving a little prairie 
in Scott and Rice townships, were heavily 
timbered. Among the trees were found white, 
black, red, yellow, pin, and burr oak, white 
and red elm, shell-bark and smooth-bark 
hickory, black, white, and blue ash, poplar, 
cottonwood, black walnut, butternut, some 
mulberry, maple, honey-locust, beech, iron- 
wood, dogwood, and in two localities, one 
about three miles north of Fremont, on the 
east side of the river, the other on the ridge 
south of Clyde, in Green Creek township, a 
few chestnut trees; occasionally was found a 
tree of Pepperidge. Of all these kinds of 
timber the black walnut is now the most 
sought for as well as the most valuable. The 
primitive forests along the streams, 
especially along the Sandusky River and 
Green Creek; were largely made up of grand 
black walnut trees, On the river, in the 
vicinity of the mouth of Wolf Creek, in 
Ballville township, on quite a scope of land, 
this was the only, or nearly the only, timber. 
The farmers who first settled there used the 
best and straightest of these grand trees for 
rails with which to fence their farms. The 
timber split easily, and the rails were 
durable, it is true, and there was then no 
market in this region for either the logs or 
the lumber made from them, and besides, at 
the time of the earlier settlement, there were 
no sawmills to make the logs into lumber. 
Therefore, what of this now valuable timber 
was not used for rails was 



burned up or girdled in clearing the land. No 
doubt the walnut timber thus destroyed, if 
standing now, would buy the land and fence 
many of the farms in that locality with costly 
iron fences. But the settler must have bread, 
bread must be raised by tilling the earth, and 
the land to be tilled must be cleared, and so 
the timber, whatever it was, gave way to the 
necessities of the time. But that necessity is 
now past, and the now great value of timber, 
if it was here again, admonishes the people 
to wisely care for what is left, and guard 
against future costliness of timber by 
preserving what is left, had also looking to a 
judicious reproduction of it for future use. 

The history of the county, without some 
mention of its geological structure, would be 
incomplete. This science, which has done so 
much within the half century last past to 
reveal and interpret to the present age the 
various forces engaged, and the different 
periods occupied in the formations of the 
earth's present surface, presents some 
subjects of interest in almost every locality. 
In fact, it may be said that the geological 
structure of the United States and that of 
Canada also, was a sealed book until visited 
by Sir Charles Lyell, the British geologist, in 
1841, when he made many interesting 
observations which he published on his 
return to England. He again visited America 
in 1845, and made further investigations. 
The publication of Mr. Lyell's works 
awakened so much interest in the public 
mind, especially those fond of that line of 
study, that it stimulated investigation, and 
the investigations revealed the utility of the 
science, not only in solving theories about 
the earth's formation, but for practical pur- 
poses, in discovering the location of valu- 
able mineral deposits, wherever located. 
Especially has this science been of great 
service to mankind in determining the 



198 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



locality of coal deposits, so necessary for the 
comfort and business of the people of the 
present day. It is worthy of remark that since 
Sir Charles Lyell drew attention to this 
geology, in 1841, the efforts made under its 
teaching and practical application have been 
such that almost all our States and nearly all 
civilized nations have prosecuted 
investigations under its teachings, with great 
results to wealth and comfort for the world 
at large. At present no State is satisfied 
without a thorough geological survey, by 
which the people are almost as well and as 
certainly informed of what is hidden deep 
down in the earth, as they are of the 
geography or topography of their 
surroundings on the surface. This grand 
science has of late years been well and 
thoroughly applied to every county in the 
State with results which make Ohio proud 
and rich in mineral resources. 

So far as the geological survey of 
Sandusky county is involved, it may be said 
that it presents not so many remarkable 
features as some other parts of the State. But 
some particulars are interesting and worthy 
of notice, among which are, that this survey 
and report convinces the careful reader that 
the clays and gravels of our soil are what is 
called in geological phrase, drift, that is, the 
matter brought first in the ice period by 
glaciers, and then afterwards supplemented 
with the deposits from icebergs, and the 
remainder of the soil is either vegetable 
matter which grew upon and decayed on this 
drift, or deposits by the succeeding waters 
which prevailed; that Lake Erie at one time 
covered the lands of the county and from its 
waters came further deposit; that the sands 
and gravel found in heaps and beds in the 
southeastern part of the county, in parts of 
York, Townsend and Green Creek 
townships, were washed and heaped there by 
the action of the waters of the lake after the 
sea had subsided; that the prairies 



in the southwestern part of Scott township 
were formed by undulations in the surface of 
what is denominated the limestone, which 
underlies the soil a little below the surface. 
This rock is called by geologists the Niagara 
limestone. A depression of this rock, with a 
raised rim on the northern inclination, held 
the water in pools, so that vegetation grew 
and decayed until it became a wet prairie. 
The prairies north of Fremont, beginning six 
miles north on the road to Port Clinton, and 
on to the north line of the county below Big 
Mud Creek, must have been of a different 
origin. 

The soil of these prairies is but little 
above the still waters of the mouth of the 
river and Sandusky Bay, and no doubt 
emerged from the water at a comparatively 
late period; hence the soil, being a wet, 
tough, bluish-colored clay, was unfavorable 
for the growth of timber. This prairie, as 
you travelled down the river, made its 
appearance about the present residence of 
Grant Forguson, esq., on the north half of 
section two, township five, range fifteen. At 
this point the traveler going north, as late as 
1825, perhaps later, emerged from the 
heavy timberland south of it into an open 
prairie, with a few scattering trees of burr 
oak and elm, and occasionally a limited 
grove or single tree. The grass was thick 
and tall, much of it what was called blue- 
joint, rising above a horse's back, and 
almost walling in the narrow wagon way for 
the greater part of the distance from Lower 
Sandusky to the present site of Port Clinton. 
The present county line of Sandusky, next 
to the south line of Ottawa County, crosses 
this road now about half a mile below Mud 
Creek bridge, and does not include a very 
large portion of this once prairie land. 

OF THE ROCKS IN THE COUNTY. 

It has often happened that persons 
travelling through the western part of the 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



199 



county would find localities where in the 
forest they would see water and rock on the 
surface, and the same surface covered with a 
growth of trees whose roots seemed to draw 
nourishment out of the crevices and 
depressions in the surface rock. This rock 
was coarse limestone, and the surface of it 
rough and seamed by the action of the 
elements and frost. Such persons would 
generally remark that they never before saw 
such trees growing on rock which was 
almost bare, nor such a formation of land. 
Several such spots were found in Woodville 
township, some in Washington, Madison, 
and Jackson; but those most marked by the 
characteristics mentioned were probably 
found in Woodville, where many were 
deceived in the selection of their land when 
there was snow on the ground. The timber, 
often sugar and beech of good growth, 
indicated a good soil, but in fact, the land 
when cleared was of little value and could 
not be tilled. 

Geology, though it does not make such 
land valuable for farming, explains how 
these tracts came by this deceptive 
peculiarity. First, there is limestone, called 
the Niagara group, which underlies a large 
portion of the county. Second, the drift 
which had been deposited on this rock in 
former ages by the sea, when it prevailed 
over the land and subsided, was eroded or 
worn and eaten away by the action of the 
waters of Lake Erie, and in many places the 
rock left bare. There are out cropping of this 
rock in the townships of Woodville, 
Madison, Washington, Ballville, and 
Jackson. The most conspicuous exhibition of 
this outcropping is at Moore's Mill, a little 
above the village of Ballville, at the southern 
termination of the dam of Dean's woolen 
factory in the village. These outcropping 
rocks, however they may, in some degree, 
impair a small portion of the land for tillage, 
are not without a compensating benefit when 
fully considered. 



Immense quantities of superior white lime 
and good building stone, especially for 
foundation and cellar walls, also stone for 
paving and for macadamizing roads are 
conveniently distributed over the county. 
Mr. J. S. Newberry expresses the opinion 
that quarries could be opened into this 
Niagara limestone, in the west part of the 
county, and stone taken out equal in value 
for building purposes to the famous Dayton 
stone. If this be so, the time may not be far 
distant when the advancement in the 
requirements of business and improvements, 
and the increase of permanent structures at 
Toledo, Detroit, and other cities of the 
country around will demand the opening of 
these quarries and show them to be beds of 
immense value. 

HARD-PAN. 

This substance, the great dread of those 
who dig wells, underlies deeply a large 
portion of the county. People often wonder 
what it is made of, and how it came where 
they find it. Geology answers by informing 
us that the finely ground particles of rock 
were pulverized and deposited by the 
glaciers and icebergs during the period when 
the sea covered the land, a part of which 
time this latitude was subjected to an arctic 
temperature. This debris was most probably 
brought from the highlands of the Canadas, 
and being ground into extreme fineness 
settled to the bottom when the ice which 
brought it melted away, leaving the fine 
sediment to compact into a solid mass. 
Excepting solid rock, we find no portion of 
the earth's element so impervious to water 
and so well adapted to resist the action of it 
as hard-pan. Over this lies the deposits of the 
lake, which together form the drift. 

This drift, the geological survey informs 
us, covers the whole county with nearly a 
uniform spreading, but thicker in the eastern 
than in the western part, because 



200 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the rock in the western part was more 
stripped or denuded by the action of the 
waters of Lake Erie. The average depth 



of this drift, or these deposits, it is esti- 
mated, would not be more than one hundred 
feet, 



CHAPTER XIX. 

IRON BRIDGES AND DRAINAGE. 

Bridges — When Built — Cost of Bridges — Ditching — Underground Draining and Tiling. 



THE preceding chapters give the reader to 
understand that the early settlers of the 
county, especially the western part of it, 
travelled through mud, and crossed the 
streams by ferry or fording. 

The first method resorted to for 
overcoming the inconveniences resulting 
from a soft, wet soil, was the making of 
corduroy road over the portions where the 
swail or very deep mud made the passage 
most difficult. The corduroy road was made 
by laying round logs across the track, side 
by side, in contact with each other. The 
wagon was trundled over these logs, and the 
motion was healthy for dyspeptics. That 
formed the purely primitive corduroy, but 
the highly finished road of this kind was 
made by throwing a little earth or rotten 
wood over the logs, to break the jolt, in 
some measure. These corduroy roads 
abounded in the west part of the county, and 
in parts of Riley and Townsend townships, 
as late as 1840, or say forty years ago. At the 
date mentioned the Greensburg road, the 
macadamizing of which we noticed in a 
preceding section of this chapter, consisted, 
in great part, of the corduroy. 

But we were to give an account of the 
iron bridges in the county. As everyone 
would naturally expect, the county, as 



soon as strong enough, began to bridge the 
streams where the roads crossed them. 
Sometimes the bridges were built by 
voluntary labor, and contribution of 
materials by those most deeply interested in 
the improvement. At other times, in the early 
settlement, the supervisors of roads would 
apply the two days' labor of each able- 
bodied resident of his district, which the law 
of the State required him to perform, to the 
building, in whole or part, of a much needed 
bridge. The bridges thus built were of the 
simplest form and cheapest construction, but 
they answered the purpose for a time. Then 
came the day of framed bridges, with stone 
work for abutments, which was a long step 
in advance; but these would decay and 
require rebuilding every few years, often in 
consequence of flood, and if not by flood or 
fire, then from natural decay of the timber. 
Meantime the increase in the manufacture of 
iron, and the uses to which it was found to 
be economically applicable, were going on, 
while the price of iron was reduced by the 
development of the vast iron deposits in the 
hills of Ohio; and iron bridges were one of 
the results of the consequent progress in the 
utilization of the wonderful substance. While 
the earth has stored away and preserved for 
unknown 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



201 



ages, the evidence that a race of men in- 
habited its surface who did not know the 
uses of iron, and, although it was known to 
men, and utilized to a limited extent in times 
of great antiquity, the knowledge of it 
antedating the composition of the Old 
Testament writings, still, the uses to which it 
is applied, the facility with which it is now 
found and produced, and the quantity used in 
the present age, entitles it to the just 
appellation of the age of iron. Happily for 
us, these advances in the manufacture and 
the uses of iron, evolved the iron bridge for 
common ways amongst the inhabitants of 
Sandusky county, and we record the erection 
of the 

FIRST IRON BRIDGE IN SANDUSKY COUNTY. 

The first iron bridge erected in the 
county, was built over Mud Creek near the 
village of Millersville, in Jackson township, 
in the year 1870, and on the macadamized 
road called the Greensburg road, described 
in a former chapter. 

The stone work for this bridge cost about 
four hundred dollars, and the iron 
superstructure cost precisely eight hundred 
and seventy dollars. The bridge was put up 
by the King Bridge Company, of Cleveland. 
The length of this bridge is twenty-seven 
feet span, and width about eighteen feet. 

The county commissioners who are 
entitled to the honor of first introducing the 
iron bridge into the county, were Benjamin 
Inman, Samuel E. Walters, and Henry 
Reiling. 

The next iron bridge in order of time, put 
up in the county, was over Wolf Creek, near 
Bettsville, and on the line between Seneca 
and Sandusky counties, June 26, 1872. This 
bridge was erected under a joint contract 
between the commissioners of Seneca and 
Sandusky counties on one part, and the 
Wrought Iron Bridge Company, of Canton, 
Ohio, on 



the other part. The iron work alone cost 
eight hundred and thirty-eight dollars and 
fifteen cents, of which amount each of the 
above named counties paid one-half. John P. 
Elderkin, sr., was the agent of the Wrought 
Iron Bridge Company in the contracts with 
that company. 

The third iron bridge in the county was 
built over Mud Creek, in Washington 
township, near the residence of Levi Fought. 
This was also put up by the Wrought Iron 
Bridge Company, of Canton, Ohio, at a cost 
of seven hundred and ninety-five dollars, for 
the superstructure alone, and was erected in 
the fall of 1874. The commissioners were 
John Morrison, Martin Longenbach, and 
William F. Sandwish. 

The same year, 1874, another iron bridge 
was put up over Mud Creek, in Scott 
township, near the residence of James 
Inman, at a cost of seven hundred and 
seventy-five dollars for the iron 
superstructure, contracted for between the 
same commissioners last above named, and 
Mr. Elderkin as agent for the Wrought Iron 
Bridge Company, of Canton. 

In the fall of the year 1876 an iron bridge 
of the same make was erected over Mud 
Creek, where it is crossed by the road from 
Fremont to Oak Harbor, contracted for by 
the same commissioners, namely: John 
Morrison, Martin Longenbach, and William 
F. Sandwish. The cost of the iron 
superstructure for this bridge was eight 
hundred and sixty-two dollars and fifty 
cents. 

Another iron bridge was built over Sugar 
Creek, in Woodville township, completed 
and paid for January 3, 1876, at a cost of 
eight hundred and fifty dollars. Contracted 
for by same commissioners last above 
mentioned, with same bridge company. 

At the same time was completed and paid 
for the iron bridge over Toussaint 



202 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Creek, in Woodville township, at a cost of 
seven hundred and eighty-one dollars and 
twenty-five cents, by the same commis- 
sioners and company. 

The bridge over Mud Creek, near Frank 
Fought's, was completed and paid for 
January 5, 1877, at a cost, for the iron su- 
perstructure, of six hundred and seventy-five 
dollars. 

On the 30th of July, 1877, another iron 
bridge over Mud Creek, near the residence 
of Noah Snyder, in Washington township, 
was completed and paid for, at a cost, for the 
iron superstructure, of six hundred and five 
dollars. 

December 18, 1877, an iron bridge was 
erected over Mud Creek, near the residence 
of Luther Winchell, in Scott Township, at a 
cost, for the iron superstructure, of five 
hundred and fifty-two dollars. 

The Portage River bridge, on the Maumee 
and Western Reserve turnpike, in Woodville 
Township, was finished in November, 1878, 
under a joint contract between the State and 
county commissioners, on one part, and the 
Bridge Company on the other part. The 
county contributed over half the costs, and 
paid towards the structure over two thousand 
dollars. 

The bridge over Green Creek, near Mr. 
Huber's residence, in Green Creek township, 
was completed and paid for by the county 
alone, August 15, 1879, by Commissioners 
John Morrison, Martin Longenbach, and 
Herman Sandwish, under contract with the 
Smith Bridge Company, of Toledo, at a cost 
for the superstructure alone of eight hundred 
and sixteen dollars. 

The bridge over Muskalunge Creek, in 
Sandusky Township, on the Port Clinton 
road, is a combination of wood and iron, 
constructed by the Smith Bridge Company, 
of Toledo, finished and paid for August 16, 
1879, and is thought to be a good and 
durable structure for the place. 



The exact cost of this bridge is not 
ascertained. 

The foregoing mention of the date of the 
introduction of iron bridges into the county, 
will enable future observers to determine the 
relative economy between building the 
superstructure of bridges on our county 
roads of wood and of iron. The comparative 
cost with comparative durability of the two 
materials, will in time, settle the question 
with mathematical certainty. The present 
outlook indicates that timber for such 
purposes will, a few years hence, be much 
higher in price, and more difficult to obtain, 
while on the other hand the rapidly 
extending discoveries of seemingly 
exhaustless deposits of iron, and the daily 
improvements for mining and manufacturing 
it, indicate that not many years hence iron 
will be almost as cheap as wood, and with its 
far greater durability of the metal as a 
material for the superstructure of all our 
bridges, will settle the question in favor of 
iron superstructures for the purpose. 

IRON BRIDGE OVER SANDUSKY RIVER. 

The bridge built over the Sandusky River, 
in Fremont, on the line of the Maumee and 
Western Reserve Road, by Cyrus Williams, 
as master mechanic, under the employment 
of Rodolphus Dickinson, Member of the 
Board of Public Works, in 1841-42, was, as 
has been mentioned, a wooden structure. The 
supporting trestle-work erected across the 
Sandusky Valley, built by the Ohio Rail- 
road Company, which failed in 1840, fur- 
nished the timber for the bridge. This bridge 
was of good material, and was well roofed 
with pine shingles. The roof was renewed 
once during the time it stood, which was 
near thirty-five years. At the end of this 
period it was pronounced unsafe by 
engineers, and the Board of Public Works 
was importuned to construct a new bridge. 
The board had not suffi- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



203 



cient money at its disposal to rebuild it, and 
an appropriation by the State was petitioned 
for. But there were objections, and 
consequent delay. Meanwhile the old bridge, 
though condemned and much slandered, 
continued to do duty while agitation for a 
new bridge continued. 

STATE APPROPRIATION FOR THE BRIDGE. 

After being urged for two previous ses- 
sions, the General Assembly, by the per- 
sistent and wise efforts of Hon. Benjamin 
Inman, then our representative, passed an act 
on the 27th day of February, 1877, entitled 
"An act to aid the Board of Public Works to 
build a bridge on the line of the Western 
Reserve and Maumee road, over the 
Sandusky River. 

The preamble to the act, in substance, set 
forth that the bridge over the Sandusky 
River, on the line of the Western Reserve 
and Maumee road, one of the public works 
of the State, a wood structure built by the 
State over thirty-five years ago, is now 
unsafe and so far decayed that the Board of 
Public Works say it will be an injudicious 
expenditure of money to repair the same; 
therefore, 

SECTION 1.— Be it enacted by the General Assembly of 
the State of Ohio, That the sum of nine thousand 
dollars be and hereby is appropriated out of any moneys 
paid into the State treasury by the lessees of the public 
works, and also the sum of nine hundred dollars that the 
lessees have paid into the State treasury for the repair of 
said bridge. 

SEC. 2. — That the sums thus appropriated shall be 
expended by said Board of Public Works in erecting 
such iron bridge of such plan and dimensions as they 
may deem best for the interest of the State; and the fund 
hereby appropriated by the State shall be drawn from the 
treasury from time to time according to law. 

SEC. 3. — That there shall not be any money drawn out 
of the State treasury for the building of said bridge until 
the county commissioners of San-dusky county shall 
enter into bond to complete said bridge, after the sums 
above mentioned have been expended by the Board of 
Public Works. Said bond shall be made payable to the 
State of Ohio, and deposited in the office of the 
Secretary of State. 

SEC. 4. — This act shall take effect and be in force 
from and after its passage. 



On the 16th of March next after the 
passage of this act, the county commis- 
sioners, namely, Martin Longanbach, 
William F. Sandwish, and John Morrison, 
were in regular session, when, on motion of 
Mr. Longanbach, it was resolved that the 
bond required by the above act be filed. To 
this all the commissioners agreed, and 
recorded their votes in the affirmative. This 
bond was so framed as to bind the county to 
complete the bridge after the expenditure of 
the nine thousand nine hundred dollars 
appropriated by the act. 

The reader may notice that the act 
appropriates nine thousand dollars of money 
paid into the State treasury by the lessees of 
the public works, and nine hundred dollars 
which the lessees had paid into the State 
treasury, for the repair of the bridge. How 
this sum of nine hundred dollars came to be 
thus separately mentioned in the 
appropriation, perhaps ought to be ex- 
plained. The reader may remember that, 
prior to the date of this appropriation, the 
State had leased all her public works, which, 
of course, included the Maumee and Western 
Reserve road. The lessees paid an annual 
rent into the State treasury for the use of the 
works, and out of this fund the nine thousand 
dollars mentioned in the appropriation bill 
was to be paid. These lessees, like all other 
lessees, so managed the Maumee and 
Western Reserve road as to clear a nice little 
sum from the tolls upon it; this saving, 
however, was made the greater by neglecting 
to repair the road and permitting it to run 
down. They were bound by the terms of the 
lease to keep the road in repair, and seeing 
this neglect, the people along the road began 
to clamor for the State to compel the lessees 
to repair the road. The State authorities were 
convinced finally that in the management of 
the road the lessees had violated their 
contract, and 



204 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



were about to force a forfeiture of the lease 
and put the Board of Public Works in 
authority over it, and sue the lessees for 
damages for breach of the conditions of the 
lease. A compromise was, however, effected, 
by which the lessees agreed to put a 
covering of stone on parts of the road most 
worn, and to put a new roof on the old 
bridge, or pay nine hundred dollars into the 
treasury in lieu of the roofing, as the State 
should elect, and then surrender their lease 
so far as this road was concerned, and let the 
State take charge of it. When it was 
determined to build a new bridge, the 
authorities elected to have the nine hundred 
dollars paid into the treasury, and apply the 
amount towards the erection of the new 
structure; this will explain how this 
peculiarity in the appropriation act was 
induced. 

WORK BEGUN. 

The filing of the bond by the commis- 
sioners secured the immediate application of 
the nine thousand nine hundred dollars 
appropriated by the State. A conference 
between the county commissioners and the 
Board of Public Works soon resulted in a 
plan of the bridge and an estimate of the 
cost. The letting of the mason work took 
place June 22, 1877, and the contract was 
awarded to John P. Elderkin, for four 
thousand six hundred and fifty-one dollars 
and forty cents. The contract for the iron 
superstructure was awarded to the King 
Bridge Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the 
sum of fourteen thousand nine hundred and 
seventy-five dollars and five cents. 

The work was pushed rapidly during the 
summer and autumn of 1877, and the bridge 
was formally opened for travel on the 25th 
of December of the same year in which it 
was begun. The total cost, including 
engineering and all incidental expenses, was 
twenty thousand three hundred and fifty- 
seven dollars and seventy-six 



cents, of which the county paid ten thousand 
four hundred and fifty-seven dollars and 
seventy-six cents. The bridge is three 
hundred and twenty and one-half feet in 
length, resting on two abutments and three 
piers. The width affords two tracks, or ways, 
on each of which teams can pass each other. 
The structure is convenient, capacious and 
durable, at the same time presenting an 
ornament to the city of Fremont which is a 
monument testifying to the merit and 
enterprise of the people of the county, and 
especially to Hon. Benjamin Inman and the 
county commissioners named. 

The passage of this bridge appropriation 
bill, through the persistent urgency of Mr. 
Inman, was his last act in public life. In the 
election for representative in the county he 
was opposed by Daniel L. June, whose 
friends claimed for him greater ability to get 
the bill through, while Mr. Inman's friends 
claimed equal ability for him, and the matter 
entered in this form largely into the canvass. 
Therefore, Mr. Inman felt under special 
obligations to procure the passage of the 
law. During the session of 1877 his health 
failed, but he remained in his seat and 
worked and waited for his bill to pass, when 
prudence would have bid him home for rest. 
As soon as the bill was passed he hastened 
home, and soon after died amidst all the 
tender cares and affectionate surroundings 
which a devoted wife and loving children 
could bestow. His death was much regretted 
by the people of the county. 

REMARKS ON THE DRAINAGE OF THE WET 
LANDS IN THE COUNTY, WHEN BEGUN, BY 
WHOM, AND THE RESULT. 

And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be 
gathered into one place and let the dry land appear, and 
it was so. -Genesis 1:9. 

This was commanded and was done on 
the second day. Science, as illustrated by 
geologists and accepted by enlightened 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



205 



theologians, gives us to understand that this 
second day was a very long one, that it was 
in fact an indefinite period of time, so vast 
that the finite mind can neither count or 
comprehend the number of years. Hugh 
Miller, in his Testimony of the Rocks, and 
other geologists give us some idea of the 
progressive steps in the formation, and how, 
in obedience to the command quoted at the 
beginning of this subject, the dry land was by 
the process and forces of nature, slowly but 
surely made to appear, and was finally 
prepared for the abode of man. Now, without 
any feeling of irreverence or wish to express 
any such feeling, it may here be said in 
support of the conclusions of geology as to 
the slowness of the process, that 
notwithstanding the great antiquity of the 
order quoted, it is a fact that the west part of 
Sandusky county, called in early times the 
Black Swamp, was not all dry land in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and fifty-nine. Yet that there was such a 
command, and that it was executed as as- 
serted at the close of the verse, "and it was 
so," must be true, for man could not fish 
from the banks of the waters nor construct 
floats to fish from without land, nor could he 
capture his living in the forests. And as 
fishing and hunting are claimed to have been 
his earliest pursuits, we conclude that the 
formation of land preceded the existence of 
man. There need be no strife of argument 
about the when and the how of the matter 
under consideration. Let every man be fully 
persuaded in his own mind. Waiving all 
argument and speculation, however, it is 
very clear that - the Black Swamp, or a great 
part of it at least, could not be tilled so as to 
produce bread and meat, or at least the larger 
portion of it could not, without draining. 

The first settlers in the western part of the 
county selected their lands along the streams 
where the banks afforded a strip 



of dry land, which, when cleared of the 
timber, could be tilled without artificial 
drainage. But the structure of the surface and 
nature of the soil were such, that generally a 
little way from the bank artificial drainage 
necessarily preceded tillage. It must be 
confessed that the pioneer residents of the 
county were slow, indeed, to adopt the 
system of draining even the surface of their 
wheat fields in a proper manner to insure a 
good crop. When, however, a few German 
and English farmers located in the county, 
they brought with them the habit of more 
thorough drainage of their wheat fields, as 
practiced in the countries from which they 
came. The increase of the quantity and the 
certainty of the crop under this treatment 
soon demonstrated to all observers that it 
paid, and paid well, to keep the surface water 
from standing on their wheat fields. At first 
this was effected on the better class of land 
by plowing into narrow lands with deep 
furrows between, into which the water 
settled and was thence absorbed by the earth 
without covering so much surface. This 
arrangement, with a deep furrow entirely 
around the field, connecting with the dead 
furrows between the plowed strips, was 
found to be a great help to the crop. 

From these furrows, where sufficient fall 
could be found, sometimes you would see a 
deep furrow traced away from the field, 
forming an outlet for the whole field, but 
much of the land was so level and so widely 
surrounded with other level land, that this 
plan could not be put in operation without 
trespassing on a neighboring farm. 
Neighbors could not always agree; in fact, in 
a mixed settlement of Germans, English, and 
Yankees, they seldom would agree or 
sacrifice a jot or tittle of their own for 
another. But the water must be drained away 
or the labor of the farmer would be lost. If 
Mr. Mean owned a 



206 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



quarter section, including the banks of a 
creek into which the wet land back of him 
might all be drained, Mr. Poor, who had 
taken second choice land in the rear of Mr. 
Mean, would ask in vain for the privilege of 
cutting a small ditch across Means' land that 
he might raise his bread or get a reward for 
his labor. If some Jonathan Spikes, from the 
land of the terrible Yankees, had a piece of 
dry land through which, only, the waters 
could be taken off the land of Mr. 
Vonslaughterlaugh, Mr. Spike would never 
let a ditch be made through his land to 
accommodate a foreigner, or if he could be 
brought to consent, he would demand four 
times what he should, even though the ditch 
would be a benefit to his own land. If Mr. 
Johnson owned a piece of wet land near Mr. 
Jones, and wanted to get the water off by 
draining through Jones' land, he could not 
obtain it because, perhaps, Johnson, ten 
years before, threw a club at Jones' yellow 
dog to drive him out of the road and keep 
himself from being bitten. Standing water, 
stagnant water, and stinking water were 
destroying crops and breeding disease and 
pestilence in the land, and yet such is the 
perversity of men's nature, that they would 
not, even for their own benefit, abate the 
nuisance. Finally a remedy was given by 
law. 

On the 24th of March, 1859, the General 
Assembly of the State of Ohio passed an act 
to provide for locating, establishing, and 
constructing ditches, drains, and water 
courses. This act authorized county 
commissioners throughout the State to lo- 
cate, establish, and construct ditches, drains, 
and water courses in their respective 
counties, and it was the first law enacted in 
Ohio. It is a little remarkable that such a law 
was not put in force at an earlier period in 
the settlement of the State. 

Our State Constitution of 1852, jealously 



guarded the citizens of Ohio in their rights 
of property, by incorporating in it by clear 
language," Private property shall ever be 
held inviolate, but subservient to the public 
welfare." 

It appears, that in 1859 some statesman 
discovered that draining away stagnant pools 
of water, and thus preventing malarial and 
deadly diseases, would be subserving the 
public welfare, and justify the exercise of 
the right of eminent domain; that is, take the 
land of a private citizen sufficient for a ditch 
or drain, to promote the public health. Hence 
the act of 1859 conferred upon county 
commissioners, the right to enter upon and 
appropriate the land of any person for a 
ditch; drain, or water course, whenever, in 
their opinion, the same would be conducive 
to the public health, convenience, or welfare. 

With this law in force Mr. Jones could no 
longer deny Mr. Johnson the right to have a 
drain over his land, if Mr. Johnson's swail or 
pond could be found injurious to the public 
welfare. True, Mr. Jones had to be paid for 
the land, but he could no longer refuse to 
sell it, nor put on it a price so high as to 
forbid the improvement. Three impartial 
landholders fixed the value of the land to be 
taken, also the amount of damages, if any, to 
his premises over and above the mere value 
of the land taken. Ditching was by this law 
made practicable, and judicious county 
commissioners could make it effective in the 
improvement of the county. 

THE FIRST COUNTY DITCH CONSTRUCTED. 

According to the records in the office of 
the county auditor, which, no doubt, present 
the truth, the first application for a ditch 
under the first ditch law of the State was 
made by William Driftmire, an enterprising 
and determined German, who had settled on 
wet land in Madison township. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



207 



On the tenth day of September, 1859, 
William Driftmire, with a number of others, 
he, however, being prime mover and 
principal petitioner, filed a petition, under 
the act above mentioned, in the county 
auditor's office, praying for the es- 
tablishment and construction of a ditch on 
the following route: Commencing in 
Madison township eighty rods north from the 
southeast corner of section twelve, thence 
north along the township line road on the 
west side of the centre of said road to a swail 
called Wolf Creek, about one mile and a 
half. 

This swail or creek, which was to be the 
terminus of the ditch, entered the land of C. 
H. Damschroeder, also of Eberhard Myers. 
These men claimed that Driftmire's ditch 
would greatly increase the collection of 
water in the swail, and subject their lands, 
now dry, to overflow and consequent injury. 
Litigation followed by Eberhard Myers and 
C. H. Damschroeder on one side, and the 
county commissioners on the other. The case 
was taken to the probate court-John Bell, 
judge; a jury of twelve good men was 
selected, who viewed the premises and heard 
testimony and the arguments of counsel, and 
after due deliberation returned a verdict, and 
finding that Eberhard Myers and C. H. 
Damschroeder would sustain no damage by 
reason of the construction of the ditch. The 
case was taken on error to the Court of 
Common Pleas, where it was decided that 
persons owning land below the terminus of 
the ditch, could not, under the statute, claim 
damages, nor prevent the construction of a 
ditch. 

This decision, whether right or wrong, 
had a salutary effect on the utility of the 
ditch law, for, if it had been held that an 
increase of the flow of water in any swail, 
creek, or outlet, in which a ditch should 
terminate, would be good cause for re- 



straining the construction, very few ditches 
could be made. The natural tendency of all 
draining and ditching is to increase the flow 
of water in the natural channels, at least for a 
time. 

The result of this litigation was a cost bill 
for the plaintiffs, Myers and Damschroeder 
to pay, of one hundred and eight dollars. The 
total cost of constructing the ditch, aside 
from the cost of litigation, was one hundred 
and eighty-six dollars. From this time on 
parties were rather careful how they entered 
into litigation against the construction of 
ditches, although there were a few cases 
where projects were started under the law, in 
which perpetual injunctions were afterwards 
granted for irregular proceedings, or where 
the object was simply to make some man's 
land more convenient or valuable without 
any bearing or benefit to be conferred on the 
public welfare. The ditch law was modified 
and amended from time to time, as practice 
under it developed defects in its provisions, 
and under its improved provisions ditching 
in the county has gone steadily on without 
much litigation, although not without some 
controversy before the county 

commissioners, to the present time. The 
whole number of ditches established in the 
county previous to July 18, 1881, is two 
hundred and seventy. 

A minute description of each ditch and its 
cost, and the contentions arising from the 
constructions, would swell our history 
beyond proper limits, without being 
interesting to the general reader. 

INTRODUCTION OF DITCHING. 

Probably, if the beneficial consequences be 
made the criterion of decision, there has 
been no improvement introduced into the 
county so beneficial and at the same time so 
remunerative in a pecuniary point of view as 
ditching and draining. The improved 
statutory enactments provided 



208 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



for not only ditching but also for clearing 
out obstructions to natural water courses, 
and thus facilitating the passage of the 
surface water from the swamps and swails, 
to the rivers and thence to the bays and the 
lake into which they empty. The result of 
this surface draining in the increased 
productiveness of the soil, cannot now be 
easily calculated or given in figures. But that 
there has been a vast increase, not only in 
the product of the land per acre in all kinds 
of cereal crops, but great addition to the 
acreage of good farming land in the county, 
is plain and undeniable. These added acres 
of good land are not merely an addition of 
the value of the reclaimed land to the wealth 
of the county, but they are exhaustless mines 
of wealth out of which skill and industry will 
bring perpetual supplies of food more 
valuable than gold or silver. 

IMPROVED SYSTEM OF DITCHING. 

The object of the ditch law, so called, 
under which the system of ditching has 
hitherto been prosecuted, was to drain the 



water from the surface of the land. This was 
done, as has been said, to effect two 
purposes, one of which was to promote the 
public, health by removing the stagnant 
waters by which malarial diseases were 
produced; another was to adapt the surface 
of the country to the more easy construction 
of good roads. These are both matters of a 
public nature. In carrying out the plan to 
serve these purposes, lands of many persons 
were incidentally drained and greatly 
benefited; but the ditches were laid out and 
constructed with the single purpose of 
drawing off the surface water. The county 
commissioners are now, however, pursuing a 
different plan. In a recent conversation with 
Mr. Brian O'Connor, one of the 
commissioners, he informed us that the 
board was now making their ditches much 
deeper than formerly. The reason given by 
Mr. O'Connor for this change of plan, is that 
the old or first ditches were generally too 
shallow to admit of complete tiling or under 
draining of the lands along and in the 
vicinity of the ditches. 



CHAPTER XX. 



SANDUSKY COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



IT has been often said, and will bear 
repeating to each generation of men, as 
they succeed each other, that he who makes 
two blades of grass grow where only one 
grew before, is a benefactor to mankind. The 
enlightened mind readily consents to the 
truth of this assertion. But it is equally true 
that he who invents 



the method of extracting from the earth six 
heads of wheat where five grew before, or of 
obtaining four pounds of meat from the same 
space of earth which before produced only 
three, or from the area raises ten pounds of 
wool, or cotton, or sugar where before only 
eight pounds were produced, is equally a 
benefactor to the hu- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



209 



man race. The same may be said of all those 
whose observations and reasonings result in 
the improvement of our fruits and 
vegetables, and our domestic animals. 
Agriculture and horticulture of late years 
have made rapid advances toward the front 
rank of the sciences, but they still fail to 
stand where their real importance demands 
them to be placed, in the social and scientific 
scale. Among the noblest works of the 
earnest, thinking men of Sandusky county, is 
that to improve agriculture and bring the 
pursuit of it into a proper position in the 
opinions of high-minded and scientific men, 
by the organization of the society named at 
the head this chapter. 

COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

In the summer of 1852 Doctor La-Quinio 
Rawson, who had become the owner of 
valuable farming lands, within the city 
limits, began to turn his attention to the 
cultivation of the soil. He at once began to 
call the attention of neighbors and friends to 
the advantages which would be derived to 
the farmers of the county, and the people 
generally, by the formation of an agricultural 
society. His reasonings and persistent 
urgency of the movement, soon brought 
others to his support, and resulted in a 
meeting at the courthouse in Fremont, on the 
31st day of August, 1852, at which the 
society was organized. 

At this meeting Hon. John Bell was 
chosen chairman, and Daniel Capper 
secretary pro tem. Sardis Birchard and Jonas 
Smith were made a committee for the 
appointment of a board of directors for the 
ensuing year. This committee, after 
consultation, reported as directors for the 
ensuing year the following names: LaQuinio 
Rawson, president of said board; Samuel 
Hafford, vice president; Stephen Buckland, 
treasurer; Daniel Capper, secretary; and 
James Vallette, Isaac Glick, Samuel Skinner, 
Alvin Coles, and 



D. Adams, managers, which appointments 
and report, on motion, were adopted and 
approved by the meeting. The meeting then 
adopted a constitution, which provides, in 
substance, as follows: 

First. — That the officers of the society should be a 
president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, and five 
managers, who together constituted a board of directors 
for the general management of the affairs of the society, 
to be elected annually by the members of the society, 
and hold their respective offices until their successors 
should be chosen. 

Second. — That the members of the society should be 
residents of the county, and pay the sum of one dollar 
annually to the treasurer. 

Third. — That competitors for premiums must be 
members of the society. 

Fourth. — That notice of the articles for which 
premiums would be awarded by the society should be . 
published in a newspaper, or in hand-bills, at least one 
month previous to the day of exhibition. 

Fifth. — That all articles offered for premiums must be 
owned by the persons offering the same, or by members 
of their families, and products of the soil or 
manufactured articles must be produced within the 
county. 

Sixth. — That awarding committees to examine the 
articles offered for premium, and award premiums 
thereon, should be annually appointed by the directors. 

Seventh. — That awarding committees should comply 
with the provisions of the law requiring competitors for 
premiums on crops and other improvements to furnish 
full and correct statements of the process and expense of 
cultivation, or expense of manufacture or production, 
etc. 

Eighth. — That competitors for the premiums on crops 
be required to have the ground and its produce 
accurately measured by not less than two disinterested 
persons, whose statements must be verified by affidavit. 

Ninth. — That premiums on crops of grain and grass 
should not be awarded on the crops of less than one acre 
of land, and those on root crops on not less than one- 
fourth of an acre; the whole quantity produced and the 
amount of land specified shall be measured or weighed- 
the root crops to be estimated by weight, divested of the 
tops, and sixty pounds to be considered a bushel; and 
grain crops to be measured or weighed according to the 
usual standards; the rules in relation to other crops and 
productions to be agreed on by the directors of the 
society. 

Tenth. — The tenth and last article of the constitution 
provided that the annual exhibitions should be held at 
some period between the first day of September And the 
first day of November, the premiums on crops to be 
awarded if thought necessary. 



210 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



The foregoing is the substance of every 
provision in the first constitution of the first 
agricultural society in the county. 

The names of the members of this society 
when this constitution was adopted, are 
recorded in this work as upon a roll of 
honor, to be hereafter remembered with 
gratitude by the future patrons of husbandry 
in the county. They are: 

Matthew M. Coe, Samuel Hafford, James Parks, 
Edward Leppelman, Daniel Capper, John Bell, F. I. 
Norton, James Vallette, Isaac Glick, Samuel Skinner, 
Jonas Smith, J. F. R. Sebring, L. E. Boren, Jacob Lesher, 
David Garvin, Jacob Bowlus, Peter Burgoon, LaQ. 
Rawson, J. S. Olmsted, Alvin Coles, F. S. White, S. 
Birchard, C. D. Hall, George R. Haynes, L. B. Otis, E. 
F. Dickinson, C. Edgarton, S. Buckland, J. P. Haynes, 
James Mitchell, J. L. Greene, William Kepler, Horace E. 
Clark, F. Vandercook, R. P. Buckland, G. M. Tillotson, 
B. J. Bartlett, A. J. Dickinson, C. O. Tillotson, George 
Engler, J. R. Pease, D. Adams, J. S. Fouke, J. B. Downs, 
John S. Tyler, Homer Everett, John Moore, Samuel 
Thompson, Jesse Dorcas, Aaron Loveland, John 
Lefever, Daniel Tindall, Henry Nichols, J. C. Wales, J. 
justice, Philip King, Paul Tew, Samuel Fennimore, C. J. 
Orton, Dean & Ballard, James Moore, William A. Hill, 
W. M. Stark, Isaac Knapp, Daniel G. Shutts, Joseph R. 
Clark, Christian Doncyson, H. Shiveley, James H. 
Hafford, Jacob Kridler, Thomas L. Hawkins, W. B. 
Stevenson, John Orwig, Seneca Hitt, J. F. Smith, N. P. 
Birdseye, Adam Jordan, Norton Russell, F. Lake, 
George Cogswell, A. B. Taylor, John Younkman, W. C. 
Shutts, Hiram Haff, Miles W. Plain, Jesse Emerson, 
Martin Bruner, Sidney Forgerson, Lyman Miller, C. 
King, Orlin Sylva, John Whitmore, Isaac Mowrer, Henry 
Bowman, Hiram Miller, A. J. Henper, Edwin Doud, S. 
H.Tibbals, F.M. Clayton. 

FIRST MEETING OF THE DIRECTORS. 

The board of directors of the Sandusky 
County Agricultural Society, chosen as we 
have mentioned above, met at the office of 
the secretary on the 4th day of September, 
1852; present, LaQuinio Rawson, Samuel 
Hafford, Stephen Buckland, 
Daniel Capper, James Vallette, Samuel 
Skinner. 

The board, after due consultation and 
deliberation, resolved that the first fair of 
said society should be held at Fremont, on 
the 13th day of October, 1852; and 



they also then and there resolved to invite all 
the members of the society to exhibit at said 
fair horses, cattle, sheep, swine, poultry, 
field crops, fruit, dairy products, and 
manufactured articles, and at the same time 
fixed the premiums on the various articles to 
be exhibited. 

Although it might be interesting in the 
future to publish a detailed statement of the 
premiums offered at this first county fair, we 
omit the details, because we intend giving 
the premiums actually awarded, what for, 
and the amounts, which will give all the 
facts the reader will desire, and will avoid, at 
the same time, a repetition of matter in this 
connection. 

AWARD OF PREMIUMS. 

At the first annual fair of the Sandusky 
County Agricultural Society, held in 1852, 
premiums were awarded as follows: 

Class A, Cattle. — Best yoke of working oxen over 
four years old, to Isaac Glick, of Ballville, $5. Best 
bull over four years old, William Hill, of Scott 
township, $3; second best bull, Otho Lease, of Jackson 
township, $1 . Best bull over three years old, D. 
Seaman, Ballville township, $3; second best over three 
years old, Lyman Miller, Green Creek township. Best 
bull over one year old, James Vallette, of Ballville 
township; second, best bull, John Lefever, Green Creek 
township, $1. Best milch cow, John Moore, of Ballville 
township, $3; second best milch cow, James Vallette, 
Ballville township, $2. Best fat ox, John Moore, 
Ballville township, $3. Best two year old heifer, 
George Cogswell, Sandusky township, $2; second best 
two year old heifer, Samuel Fennimore, of Ballville 
township, $1. Best yearling heifer, William Kessler, of 
Sandusky township, $2; second best yearling heifer, D. 
Seaman, Ballville township, $1. 

Class B, Horses. — Best stallion, S. H. Tibbals, York 
township, $3; second best stallion, John Colvin, York 
township, $2. Best brood mare and colt, P. Burgoon, 
Sandusky township, $3: second best brood mare and 
colt, John Whitmore, Townsend township, $2. Best pair 
matched horses, J. C. Wales, of York township, $3; 
second best pair matched horses, H. Haff, Townsend 
township, $2. Best gelding over four years old, J. Hale, 
Sandusky township, $3; second best gelding over four 
years old, B. J. Bartlett, Sandusky. Best work horse 
over four years old, Otho Lease, of Jackson, $2; second 
best work horse over four years old, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



211 



E. Doud, York, $1. Best carriage horse, William Tew, 
Townsend township, $2. Best three year old colt, C. G. 
Green, Ballville township, $3; second best three year old 
colt, N. Bowlus, Sandusky township, $2. Best two year 
old colt, W. Shutts, York township, $2; second best two 
year old colt, Hiram Haff, Townsend township, $1. Best 
yearling colt, John Whitmore, Townsend township, $2; 
second best yearling colt, John Whitmore, $1. Best three 
year old stallion, J. Gibbs, Riley township, $3; second 
best three year old stallion, William Shrader, $2. Best 
jack, Joseph R. Clark, Riley township, $2. 

Class C, Sheep. — Best buck, Hiram Haff, Townsend 
township, $2; second best buck, S. Hafford, Ballville 
township, $1 . Best pen of five ewes, D. Capper, 
Sandusky township, $2; second best pen of five ewes, S. 
Fennimore, Ballville township, $1. 

Class D, Hogs. — Best boar over one year old, James 
Vallette, Ballville township, $2. Best breeding sow, 
John Moore, Ballville township, $2; second best 
breeding sow, James Vallette, $ 1. Best fat hog, S. 
Thompson, Sandusky township, $2. Best pen of pigs, 
William Kepler, Sandusky township, $2. 

Class E, Fowls. — Best lot five domestic fowls, P. 
Brush, Ballville township, $2; second, James F. Hults, 

$i. 

Class F, Dairy and Kitchen — Best roll five pounds 
butter, Mrs. Treat, Ballville township, $2; second do. 
Mrs. S. Buckland, Sandusky township, $1. Best lot 
cheese, Mrs. P. Tew, Townsend township, $2. Best 
bread, Mrs. P. Brush, Ballville township $2; second do. 
Mrs. S. Buckland, Sandusky township, $1. 

Class G, Fruit. — Best variety table fruit, Lyman 
Miller, Green Creek township, $2; second do. A. 
Loveland, Sandusky township, $1. Best lot winter fruit, 
H. Bowlus, Sandusky township, $1; second do. William 
King, Ballville, $1. Best lot grapes, Mrs. L. B. Otis, 
Sandusky township, $1. Best quinces, Mrs. Russell, 
Green Creek township, $1; second do. Mrs. S. Treat, 
Ballville township, $1; third do. Mrs. R. P. Buckland, 
Sandusky township, $1. 

Class H. — Best acres of corn, H. Haff, Townsend 
township, $5; second do. William Hyatt, Ballville 
township $2. Best variety garden corn, Mrs. Dickinson, 
Sandusky township, $1. Best potatoes, George Brim, 
Wood vi lie township, $1. Best turnips, George Hyatt, 
Ballville township, $1. Best squashes, Miles W. Plain, 
Greek Creek township, $1. Best beets, Mrs. Vallette, 
Ballville township, $1 Best honey, Mrs. S. A. Loveland, 
Sandusky township, $1. 

Class I. — Best faun wagon, J. C. Wade, York 
township, $3; second do, M. Halderman, Rice township, 
$2. Best straw cutter, William Orr, Sandusky township, 
$1. Best dressed calf skin, Dickinson & Co., Sandusky 
township, $ 1 . Best side harness leather, same, $2; 
second do. M. Justice, $1. Best buggy, William 
Raymond, Sandusky township, $3. Best barrel flour, 
James Moore, Ballville township, 



$2. Best bacon, M. W. Plain, Green Creek township, 
$2. Best two-horse buggy harness, James Kridler, 
Sandusky township, $2. Best farm harness, M. W. 
Plain, Green Creek, $2. Best lot fruit trees, J. A. 
Watrous, Green Creek, diploma. Best tin roof, Canfield 
& Co., diploma. Best sofa, J. W. Stevenson, Sandusky, 
$3; second do. same, $2. Best card table, same, $2. 
Best panel door, F. Luke, Sandusky, $2. Best domestic 
carpet, M. W. Plain, Green Creek, $2; second do, S. E. 
Edgerton, Sandusky, $1. 

Class K. — Best woollen stockings, Mrs. Tew 
Townsend, $2; second do. Mrs. Tyler, Sandusky, $1. 
Best comforter, Mrs. Norton, Sandusky, $1. Best made 
quilt, Mrs. Hyatt, Ballville, $2; second do, Mrs. 
Zimmerman, Sandusky, $1. Embroidery, A. M. 
Olmsted, Sandusky, $2; do. Miss E. Knapp, $2; do. 
Miss A. Kepler, $1; do. Mrs. Thorndyke, $1; do. Miss 
E. Ball, $1. Needlework, Mrs. Thorndyke, $2; do. Mrs. 
Parker, 2; do. Mrs. Boren, $1; do. Mrs. J. Nyce, $2; do. 
Miss Taylor, $1; do. Mrs. Momeny, $2. Best coverlet, 
Mrs. Younkman, $2; second do. Mrs. Treat. 
Embroidery, Miss Justice, $1; do. Miss S. E. Ball, $1. 
Drawing, Miss A. Norton, $1; do. Miss O. Dickinson. 
$1; do. Miss S. Dickinson, $1 . Best variety house 
plants, Mrs. J. W. Wilson; second do. Miss Olmsted. 
Best collection wax work flowers, Mrs. Orton, $1. Best 
basket of flowers, Mrs. C. King, $1. Needlework, Mrs. 
Wells, $1; do. Miss Montgomery, $1; do. Miss Ray- 
mond. 

RECEIPTS. 

From voluntary subscriptions and donations, 

and from fees $236.54 

From the county treasury under the law to 

encourage the formation of agricultural societies200.00 

For lumber sold after the fair 58.88 

Total $495.42 

DISBURSEMENTS. 

For lumber $105.00 

For laborers 88.00 

For printing 23.00 

For brass band 15.00 

Premiums awarded 205.00 

Total expenses $436.00 

Balance in the treasury on settlement $59.42 

This detailed statement of premiums 
awarded, to whom and what for, and the 
statement of the receipts and disbursements 
of the first agricultural fair in the county, 
may not now be of much interest to the 
reader. But the time is coming when, like 
the incidents of early pioneer 



212 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



life, to the present age, all the particulars of 
the first fair will be deeply interesting to 
those who would watch the progress of the 
society in all its phases, and more especially 
to that portion of the people of the county 
who would measure the progress of the 
county in the most important of all the 
industries pursued by man. 

WHERE THE FIRST FAIR WAS HELD. 

The society had acquired no land on 
which to hold the fair of 1852. However, it 
procured the right to sufficient room to 
begin. If the reader will take the map of 
Fremont, find State Street, and follow it to 
the east end of the bridge over the Sandusky 
River, and find lots number four hundred 
and sixty-four and four hundred and sixty- 
five, fronting that street on the south side of 
it, and notice numbers four hundred and 
thirty and four hundred and thirty-one in the 
rear of them, they will find the ground where 
the first agricultural fair was held, beginning 
on the thirteenth day of October, 1852. 

The memoranda of the finances of this 
first fair are worth preserving in history, and 
the names of the men and women who 
organized or patronized the society, are 
worthy of preservation, and will receive the 
honor due them for the starting of an 
institution which has been productive of so 
much good already and promises so more in 
the future of the county. 

FAIR OF 1853 

A meeting of the board was held on the 
15th day of September, 1853, at which it was 
resolved that the second fair of said society 
be held at Fremont on the 12th and 13th days 
of October, 1853; also a resolution fixing the 
premiums for different articles, animals, and 
agricultural products, and works of art and 
domestic industries. This fair was held on 
ground, the use of which, for the purpose, 
was donated by General John Bell, on the 
east 



side of the river, on an out-lot since sub- 
divided, and about where in-lots eleven 
hundred and sixty-two and eleven hundred 
and sixty three now are in the third ward of 
the city, as now bounded. 

The receipts for this year were as follows: 

Balance in treasury, 1852 $59.42 

Amount received by voluntary subscriptions 

and fees imposed on members 356.78 

Received from county 200.00 

From sale of lumber, etc 62.45 

From sale of bull 4 1.76 

$720.41 
EXPENDITURES. 

Payment on premium list $188.00 

Paid lumber, labor, printing, etc 325.22 

Loss on county bull 11.25 

Unpaid bills last year 55.67 

$583.71 
Balance in treasury $136.67 

At a meeting of the society held at the 
courthouse in Fremont, on the 8th day of 
July, 1854, the following officers for the 
ensuing year were chosen, to wit: 

Horatio Adams, president; W. H. Rey- 
nolds, vice-president; Hiram Hurd, treasurer; 
A. Thorpe, secretary; C. G. Sanford, John 
Moore, Lewis Wright, Stephen Buckland, 
and Jeremiah Gibbs, managers. At a meeting 
held at the courthouse in Fremont, June 17, 
1854, the next fair was appointed to be held 
in Clyde, Ohio, on the 26th and 27th days of 
September, 1854. At a meeting in Clyde in 
July, 1854, a premium list was made out and 
published. The fair for that year was 
accordingly held at Clyde on the days 
appointed, with the following results: 

Total receipts, including two hundred dollars 
paid by the county and balance from the 
preceding year, amounted to $483.45 

Total disbursements 413.41 

Balance in treasury $70.04 

On the 25th day of April, 1855, the board 
met in Fremont; present, LaQ. Rawson, 
president; William Russell, vice-president; 
C. R. McCulloch, treasurer; 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



213 



D. Capper, secretary, and Paul Tew, Henry 
Nichols, and Samuel Skinner, managers. 

On motion it was ordered that James 
Vallette be and is appointed one of the 
managers of the society, in the place of 
Samuel Treat, deceased. 

At this meeting the society took the first 
step towards purchasing a suitable parcel of 
land on which to build proper structures, 
whereon to hold their future fairs, and LaQ. 
Rawson, Daniel Capper, James Vallette, and 
C. R. McCulloch, were appointed a 
committee to negotiate for or purchase the 
ground, and also to make out and publish a 
premium list for the next fair. 

THE FAIR OF 1855 

The annual fair of the society for the year 
1855, was held on the 2d, 3d and 4th days of 
October of that year, on the ground 
bargained for by the committee above 
named, being what was then known as the 
east part of out-lot number one hundred and 
sixteen, in the city of Fremont. The purchase 
was made of Downs & Company, and 
consisted of seven and two one-hundredths 
acres, bounded by the river on the east, and 
situated east of their mill race. 

The result of the fair held in 1855, was 
financially as follows : 

Receipts from certificates of membership ....$366.82 

From donations to purchase and improve 

fair grounds 646.00 

From county treasury 489.08 

From unpaid subscriptions 148.50 

J. C. Wales" note from former treasurer 5.00 

Donations from publishers of papers 14.20 

Total $1,669.60 

EXPENDITURES. 

Paid expenses of fair $39.99 

Paid printing 27.00 

Paid premiums 162.80 

Paid silver cups 24.06 

Paid improvement of fair grounds. ..564. 53 
Paid Morgan & Downs on land 691. 89 

Total $1,510.27 

Balance $159.33 



The society from this time had a local 
habitation as well as a name. 

At a meeting of the members of the 
society, held pursuant to notice at the office 
of John Bell, in Fremont, on the 1st day of 
March, A. D. 1856, the following officers 
were elected for the ensuing year: LaQ. 
Rawson, president; William Russell, vice- 
president; C. R. McCulloch, treasurer; 
Daniel Capper, secretary; James Vallette, 
Samuel Skinner, Martin Wright, Nathan P. 
Birdseye, Paul Tew, managers. 

On the 22d day of August, 1856, at a 
meeting of the board, it was ordered that the 
annual fair for the year should be held on 
the 7th, 8th, and 9th days of October. A 
premium list was made out and published 
soon after, and the annual fair held 
accordingly. The financial results of this 
fair were a total expenditure, including two 
hundred and twenty-three dollars and 
seventy-five cents for premiums, and two 
hundred and eighteen dollars for fitting up 
the grounds, amounting to six hundred and 
thirty-nine dollars and thirty cents. 
Receipts, six hundred and thirty-eight dol- 
lars and forty-three cents. Being an excess 
of expenditures over receipts of eighty- 
seven cents. 

At a meeting of the members of the 
society, held at the office of John Bell, on 
the 28th day of February, 1857, John Bell 
chairman and B. Amsden secretary, the 
following officers were elected for the 
ensuing year: L. Q. Rawson president; 
Jacob Winters, vice-president; J. F. R. 
Sebring, secretary; Daniel Capper, treas- 
urer; H. R. Adams, James Vallette, James 
Parks, Daniel Smith, and Peter King, 
managers. 

FAIR OF 1857. 

The board met at the office of John Bell, 
in Fremont, Ohio, on the 18th day of April, 
1857, and ordered that J. F. R. Sebring, 
Daniel Capper, James Vallette, 



214 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



and L. Q. Rawson, be appointed an executive 
committee to prepare and publish a premium 
list, and fix the day, and to prepare the 
grounds for the next fair. 

The journal of the society hitherto 
recorded the premium list, the premiums 
awarded, and the financial results of the 
year's transactions, but no such record is 
made for the fair of 1857, and therefore the 
figures in these respects are omitted. But it 
is quite apparent that a fair was held in 1857, 
because the record shows that on the third 
day of the fair in that year, the society, at the 
office of the secretary, on the fair ground, 
pursuant to public notice, elected the 
following officers for the ensuing year: L. Q. 
Rawson, president; S. Buckland, treasurer; 
Daniel Capper, secretary; James Parks, 
Charles Powers, A. Thorp, J. Vallette, and 
Jacob Winters, managers. We have thus 
given the meetings, officers, and financial 
results of the society and its fairs up to the 
year 1857, and the election of officers for 
the ensuing year. 

FAIR OF 1858. 

The fair of 1858 was successfully held on 
their ground in Fremont, and on the last day 
of this fair, according to notice, the 
following officers were elected for the 
ensuing year: James Vallette, president; 
James Parks, vice-president; S. Buckland, 
treasurer; William E. Haynes, secretary; L. 
Q. Rawson, U. B. Lemmon, and Charles 
Powers, managers. 

Each year of the fair produced an enlarged 
premium list, and increased premiums for 
the various articles exhibited. 

THE FAIR OF 1859. 

This fair was duly and successfully held 
on the same ground purchased by the so- 
ciety, but the minutes of the proceedings do 
not show who were elected officers and 
managers for the ensuing year. 

FAIR OF 1860. 

On the third day of the fair, held on 



the society's grounds, in October, 1860, the 
following officers were elected for the 
ensuing year: Daniel Capper, president; John 
M. Smith, secretary; Theodore Clapp, 
treasurer; John S. Gardner, vice-president; 
Jesse Emerson, Benjamin Inman, Saxton S. 
Rathbun, Timothy Wilcox, and Alfred Black, 
managers. 

On the 8th day of January, 1861, the 
society had paid for, and received a deed 
from Morgan & Downs, conveying to the 
society the east part of out-lot number one 
hundred and sixteen, in Fremont, containing 
seven and two-hundredths acres of land, for 
a fair ground. For this ground the society 
paid the sum of one thousand and fifty-three 
dollars. It was a very good location, 
affording shade and convenient access to the 
Sandusky River for water. But time 
afterwards showed the ground was subject to 
inundation by the river, and the fences and 
other structures were sometimes swept off 
by flood. For these reasons and also to 
accommodate the expansion of the society in 
the future, this land was sold, and other 
ground bought, as will be noticed further on. 

On the 5th day of June, 1861, the board 
met at the store of Theodore Clapp, in 
Fremont. At this meeting there were present, 
D. Capper, president; Theodore Clapp, 
treasurer; and Piatt Brush, Benjamin Inman, 
Saxton S. Rathbun, and Jesse Emerson, 
directors. At this meeting John M. Smith 
was elected secretary, to fill the vacancy 
caused by the absence of A. J. Hale, former 
secretary, and Amos R. Carver was elected 
vice-president, to fill the vacancy occasioned 
by the death of John S. Gardner, former 
vice-president, the persons so elected to 
serve in the respective offices for the 
ensuing year, and until their successors 
should be elected. At this meeting Theodore 
Clapp, Piatt Brush, and John M. Smith, were 
appointed a committee to make out a 
premium list 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



215 



for the year, to be submitted to the board at 
their next meeting. 

On the 22d day of June, 1861, the board 
again met at the store of Theodore Clapp. At 
this meeting those present were D. Capper, 
president; Theodore Clapp, treasurer; John 
M. Smith, secretary; and Piatt Brush, 
Benjamin Inman, Saxton S. Rathbun, Jesse 
Emerson, and Timothy Wilcox, directors. 

The committee to make out a premium list 
for the annual fair made their report which 
was read and approved by the board. The fair 
was appointed to be held on Wednesday, 
Thursday, and Friday, the 2d, 3d and 4th 
days of October, 1861, and the meeting then 
ordered the premium list published. 

On the 26th day of August, 1861, the 
board met and appointed Jeremiah Gibbs 
director, in place of Timothy Wilcox, absent. 
The premium list of this year was extensive 
and more elaborate than those of former 
years, and the fair was a success. But the 
financial results are not given on the journal 
of the society, and we therefore omit any 
statement of them. 

WHO FITTED UP FLORAL HALL IN 1861. 

As a matter of history, already interesting 
in the county, and to become more and more 
interesting as time rolls on, we give the 
names of the committee designated by the 
board of the society, to fit up floral hall for 
the fair of 1861. We record them here for 
two reasons. First, because it gives some 
idea of the interest the people took in these 
annual exhibitions. Secondly, because it 
preserves for future mention the names of a 
number of the men and women then 
prominent in our social circles, for their taste 
and devotion to the cause of improvement in 
all directions. The committee named by the 
board for fitting up floral hall, for the annual 
fair of 1861, were as follows: 



J. W. Failing, O. W. Vallette, Henry Buckland, Willard 
Norton, L. Morehouse, E. Simpkins, Mrs. G. Grant, Mrs. 
L. Q. Rawson, Mrs. G. Canfield, Mrs. Nat Haynes, Mrs. 
John Magee, Miss Eliza Simpkins, Miss Beckey 
Simpkins, Miss Isabella Nyce, Miss M. Justice, Miss 
Martha Raymond, Miss Ellen Hafford, Miss Jennie 
McLellan, Miss S. Botefur, Miss E. A. Morehouse, Miss 
Mary Canfield, Miss Amelia Norton, Miss Sarah Jane 
Grant, Miss G. Thompson, Miss Myra Kepler, Miss L. 
Kepler, Miss Emma Downs, Miss A. Sharp, Miss Sarah 
Wilson, Miss Mary Durand, Miss Eva Bartlett, and Miss 
Bell Maxwell. 

To the resident of Fremont in the year 
1861, who was familiar with the social or- 
ganization at that time, the names on this 
committee will awake reminiscences of 
intense interest. The list of young, and 
beautiful, and cultured ladies, embraces what 
was, at that time, the cream of our collected 
beauty of person, and culture of intellect, 
and, no doubt, those who resided in Fremont 
in the fall of 1861, and witnessed how these 
earnest, and beautiful, and good women 
labored to make the fair of the society for 
1861 interesting and profitable, will trace the 
history of each gentleman and lady of this 
committee through the checkered scenes of 
their after life with intense interest. 

On the third day of the fair held in 1861, 
the members met according to notice, and 
elected officers for the ensuing year, as 
follows: Daniel Capper, president; Hiram 
Haff, vice-president; O. W. Vallette, 
secretary; Theodore Clapp, treasurer; S. S. 
Rathbun, C. G. Greene, Jeremiah Gibbs, 
Samuel Hafford, and Daniel Waggoner, 
managers. 

A premium list for the next fair was 
prepared by Daniel Capper and O. W. 
Vallette, and submitted to the board, and 
approved at a meeting held on the 31st of 
May, 1862. At this meeting it was resolved 
that the next annual fair should be held on 
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the 1st, 
2d, and 3d days of October, 1862. 



216 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



DURING THE WAR. 

From the formation of the society in 1852, 
to the year 1862, although the civil war 
broke out in 1861, the annual fairs had been 
held without a single failure in any year. 
True it is that in the year 1861 the war cloud 
hung heavy over all the land, but so remote 
were the people of Sandusky county from 
the contending armies and the battlefields, 
that our business was not seriously 
interrupted until the summer of 1862. Then 
the cloud, thicker and darker than before, 
spread over the whole sky and enveloped us 
in darkness, gloom, and fear. 

After the premium list was published and 
the days for the fair selected, we find the 
following entry on the journal of the society, 
in the handwriting of the secretary, Vallette: 

Owing to the unsettled state of the county on account 
of the war, and the fact that the draft in our county came 
on the days appointed for our fair, it was decided by the 
officers of the society to postpone the fair for this year. 
O. W. VALLETTE, Secretary. 
Fremont, August, 1862. 

Hence, the society held no fair in the year 
1862. 

At the meeting of the members of the 
society held at the store of Theodore Clapp, 
in Fremont, in January, 1863, the following 
officers were elected to serve the ensuing 
year: Daniel Capper, president; Piatt Brush, 
vice-president; Theodore Clapp, treasurer; 
O. W. Vallette, secretary; S. S. Rathbun, U. 
B. Lemmon, C. G. Greene, and Daniel 
Waggoner, managers. An extended premium 
list was made out and published, and the fair 
was held successfully on the 7th, 8th, and 
9th days of October, 1863. The premiums 
were regularly awarded and paid. 

At a meeting of the members held on the 
16th of January, 1864, the following officers 
of the Sandusky County Agricultural Society 
were elected to serve the 



ensuing year: J. L. Greene, sr., president; 
John Moore, of Ballville, vice-president; 
John P. Moore, treasurer; O, W. Vallette, 
secretary; Daniel Waggoner, Jasper King, 
William E. Lay, Jason Gibbs, and Warren G. 
Hafford, managers. 

At a meeting of the officers of the society 
held on the 26th day of March, 1864, the 
president, J. L. Greene, sr., and Secretary O. 
W. Vallette, were appointed a committee to 
prepare a premium list for the next fair. 

On the 16th of April, 1864, the board met 
and appointed the fair to be held on 
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the 12th, 
13th, and 14th days of October. 

The financial results of the fair of 1864 
are not recorded, and therefore not pub- 
lished. 

On the 18th day of January, 1865, the 
members of the society met at the office of 
John L. Greene, sr., and elected the 
following officers to serve the ensuing year: 
Theodore Clapp, president; William E. 
Haynes, vice-president; DeWitt Krebs, 
treasurer; O. W. Vallette, secretary; Edward 
Tindall, U. B. Lemmon, James N, Campbell, 
B. Amsden, and Charles Powers, directors. 

On the 27th of March, 1865, the board 
met at the office of Theodore Clapp. At this 
meeting William E. Haynes, DeWitt Krebs, 
and O. W. Vallette, were appointed a 
committee to revise and prepare a premium 
list for the next fair and report the same to a 
future meeting of the board, The premium 
list was approved and published, and the fair 
again successfully held on the 6th, 7th, and 
8th days of September, 1865, and the 
premiums awarded and paid. 

On the 27th day of January, 1866, the 
society met at the office of Theodore Clapp, 
and elected the following officers for the 
ensuing year. Theodore Clapp, president; 
William E. Haynes, vice-presi- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



217 



dent; D. W. Krebs, treasurer; O. W. Vallette, 
secretary; Edward Tindall of Ballville, 
James N. Campbell of Washington, B. 
Amsden of Sandusky, Hiram Haff of York, 
managers for one year; O. W. Vallette of 
Ballville, D. W. Krebs of Sandusky, J. P. 
Elderkin of Woodville, Benjamin Inman of 
Scott, S. S. Rathbun of Green Creek, and 
David Betts of Sandusky township, 
managers for two years. 

In May, 1866, the board met and ordered 
that Theodore Clapp superintend the 
building of a new fence around the fair 
grounds, and put the grounds in good 
condition. 

On the 28th of September the board met 
and made the following entry on their 
journal: 

FREMONT, September 28, 1866. 
Owing to the late floods, and the damage done on the fair 
grounds, it has been decided to postpone the fair for this 
year. 

O. W. VALLETTE, Secretary. 

Therefore no fair was held in the year 
1866, on account of a flood. Thus we see the 
society was prevented from holding its fairs 
twice in the first fourteen years of its 
existence, first in 1862, by the war, and, 
second, in 1866, by a flood which 
overflowed and damaged its grounds. 

On the 14th of February, 1867, the 
members of the society met at the office of 
Theodore Clapp, and elected the following 
officers to serve the ensuing year: Piatt 
Brush, president; Charles H. Bell, vice- 
president, E. Walters, Charles Powers, 
George W. Beck, and J. V. Beery, managers. 

On the 7th of March following, the board 
met, and elected, J. V. Beery secretary, and 
J. P. Elderkin treasurer. 

Let it be remarked that about this time 
some enterprising gentlemen who were fond 
of cultivating speedy horse-flesh, had 
organized the Fremont Driving Park Asso- 
ciation, and had rented some out-lots on the 
hill, on the east side of the river, on 



which a fine track was formed, on which the 
speed of trotting and running horses could be 
tested and compared. Let no one think or 
suspect that anything like vulgar horse- 
racing was connected with this Driving Park 
Association. The out-lots rented by this 
association were very finely situated for a 
fair ground. Hence, at the meeting of the 
board in March, 1867, on motion of Mr. 
Rathbun, Piatt Brush and Charles H. Bell 
were appointed a committee to confer and 
make arrangements with a committee of the 
Driving Park Association, to hold the county 
fair upon their ground. 

On the 23d day of May, 1867, the board 
met; present, P. Brush, George Beck, D. 
Betts, B. Inman, E. Walters, and John V. 
Beery. The committee, C. H. Bell and P. 
Brush, reported that they had rented the 
driving park for nine years, at a yearly rent 
of seventy-five dollars, for the purpose of 
holding the fairs of the society. After the 
adoption of this report, the president 
appointed Charles H. Bell and Saxton S. 
Rathbun, a committee to attend to the 
removal of floral hall from the old fair 
ground to the driving park. At this same 
meeting the premium list was arranged, and 
the next fair of the society appointed to be 
held on the 2d, 3d, and 4th days of October, 
1867, the days of the week being 
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The fair 
was held, accordingly, on the grounds of the 
Driving Park Association, the premiums 
awarded and paid, and the fair was now 
established on the east side of the river, on 
the hill and above the reach of floods. But 
the facilities for procuring a supply of water 
were lacking, and there was no shade. Still 
the fair was well attended, and was 
reasonably successful. 

On the 1st day of February, 1868, the 
society met at the office of Theodore Clapp 
and elected the following officers: 



218 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Charles H. Bell, president; Oscar Ball, vice- 
president; J. P. Elderkin, treasurer; J. V. 
Beery, secretary; B. Inman, John P. 
Elderkin, jr., Samuel Skinner, Piatt Brush, 
William McPherson, and David Fuller, 
managers. 

On the 6th of February the board met and 
appointed Samuel Skinner, Oscar Ball, 
Benjamin Inman, Piatt Brush, and William 
McPherson a committee to prepare a 
premium list for the fair of 1868. 

The fair was held on the 17th, 18th, and 
19th days of September, 1868, and the 
premiums were awarded and paid as usual. 
This fair was held on the Trotting Park 
ground, east side of the river. 

The officers and directors of the society for 
1868, met on the 13th day of January, 1869. 
Present — C. H. Bell, Piatt Brush, Benjamin 
Inman, David Fuller, George Beck, J. P. 
Elderkin, jr., and John V. Beery. 
The object of this meeting was to consider 
on the disposal of the old fair ground, and to 
arrange the distribution of the finances, and 
pay out the funds on hand. It was, on motion 
of Piatt Brush, resolved that the old fair 
ground be offered for sale, provided that 
over fifteen hundred dollars should be 
offered for it, and the motion was carried 
unanimously. 

Here crops out the intention of the society to 
abandon the old fair ground, purchased of 
Morgan & Downs long before. The reasons 
for this movement were sufficient 
justification for abandoning the location. 
First, all the fences and buildings the society 
might erect there were subject to be annually 
swept away by the floods in the river. 
Second, the quantity of ground was 
insufficient to accommodate the growing 
demands of the society. 

The secretary was ordered to advertise the 
ground in both the county papers, to be sold 
on the 29th day of January, 1860, at 2 
o clock P. M., at the east door of the 



court house in Fremont, and that it should be 
sold to the highest bidder. After ordering the 
payment of certain sums out of the treasury, 
the meeting adjourned. 

On the 30th of January, 1869, the members 
of the society met pursuant to published 
notice, and elected the following officers for 
the ensuing year: Benjamin Inman, 
president; Charles H. Bell, vice-president; 
Frederick Fabing, treasurer; James S. 
Vanvalkenburg, secretary; Elijah Kellogg, 
George Beck, James Parks, and John K. 
Richards, managers. This meeting appointed 
the time for holding the next fair to be on the 
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the 7th, 8th, 
and 9th days of October, 1869. 

The old fair ground was sold at auction at 2 
o'clock P. M., January 29, 1869, to Canfield 
& Co., for sixteen hundred and five dollars. 
Such is the mention of the record on the 
journal of the society. But the record of 
deeds shows that the old fair ground was 
conveyed to Downs & Co. (which is 
probably another name for Canfield & Co.), 
by deed dated February 11, 1869, for the 
consideration of one thousand six hundred 
and fifty-five dollars, 

On the 2d day of June, 1869, the board met 
upon notice, and Charles H. Bell, George 
Beck, Benjamin Inman, and Frederick 
Fabing were appointed to prepare a premium 
list for the year 1869, which they did. 

For this year the results of the fair are 
summed up as follows: 

Amount received from former treasurer $1.32 

Amount from State Board of Agriculture 106.00 

Amount from rents of ground and tickets sold.. 741.45 

$848.77 

EXPENDITURES. 

Paid expenses and repairs at fair $219.47 

Paid printing 66.00 

Paid secretary's salary 50.00 

Paid assistants 9.00 

Paid treasurer's assistants 10.00 

Paid premiums to date 54.55 

$809.02 

Cash balance on hand $39.75 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



219 



The foregoing exhibit of the financial 
transactions of the year was reported to a 
meeting of the board, held on the 29th of 
January, 1870, and was then approved. 

On the same day of the above mentioned 
meeting of the board, after the approval of 
the treasurer's report above given, the 
members of the society proceeded to the 
election of officers for the ensuing year, 
with the following result: President, 
Benjamin Inman; vice president, Beman 
Amsden; treasurer, Christian Doncyson; 
secretary, William H. Andrews. The 
directors were David Fuller, for one year; for 
two years, W. W. Cooper, Green Creek; 
James Havens, Jackson, H. B. Hineline, 
Rice; Peter Burgoon, Sandusky; and Samuel 
Skinner, of Washington township. 
At this same meeting, held on the 29th 
January, 1870, James Parks, Samuel Skinner, 
and George W. Beck were appointed a 
committee to report on the purchase of fair 
grounds. 

PURCHASE OF NEW GROUNDS. 

At a meeting of the bard of directors of 
the society, held at the county auditor's 
office, on the 17th day of March, 1870, the 
board received the report of the committee 
above named on the purchase of a 
fairground, and by a unanimous vote 
selected the site proposed to be purchased of 
LaQ. Rawson, and appointed B. Amsden to 
survey the same under the direction of a 
committee consisting of James Parks, Peter 
Burgoon, and Samuel Skinner. The board 
then adjourned until the 23d day of April, 
1870, to meet at the county auditor's office 
at 10 o'clock A. M. A meeting was duly held 
at the time and place appointed. The 
committee and surveyor made their report. 

Without narrating tedious details, we may 
state that the survey and report offered the 
society twenty acres of land, 



fronting west on Elm street, and going near 
the brow of the hill overlooking the 
Sandusky valley, but did not include the 
side-hill. The society desired the hill, and 
hill-side, and on further negotiation relin- 
quished a strip about fourteen rods wide on 
Elm street, and took about twenty-seven 
acres covering the side-hill, for the sum of 
about seven thousand dollars. By this 
purchase the society acquired one of the 
most convenient and beautiful sites for a fair 
ground in the State. 

Pursuant to notice the members of the 
society met at the courthouse, in Fremont, on 
the 10th day of February, 1871, and elected 
the following officers for the ensuing year. 

William E. Haynes, president; Oscar Ball, 
vice-president; William H. Andrews, 
secretary; John M. Smith, treasurer; David 
Fuller, B. W. Lewis, Elijah Kellogg, Ben- 
jamin Inman, Jacob Stetler, and James Parks, 
directors. 

At a meeting held March 11, 1871, Peter 
Darr was added to the list of directors to fill 
the vacancy occasioned by the death of H. B. 
Hineline. The board at this meeting also 
appointed Oscar Ball, B. Inman, David 
Fuller, B. W. Lewis, Peter Burgoon, and 
William E. Haynes, an executive committee 
to transact all business of the society in the 
absence of the board, and this executive 
committee was instructed to prepare a 
premium list for the next fair. At this 
meeting, it should be noticed, the society 
adopted a new constitution, the particular 
changes in which from the former one it is 
not deemed necessary to particularize, but it 
made some changes which time and ex- 
perience had proved necessary to the more 
successful management of the affairs of the 
society. 

At a meeting of the board, held May 13, 
1871, it was ordered that the next fair be 
held on the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th days 



220 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



of October, 1871. Vigorous measures were 
adopted to prepare the new grounds, and 
erect suitable buildings for the fair of 1871, 
the first held there. 

The fair was held according to appoint- 
ment, and the popular verdict was that the 
society had done a good thing in securing 
such an admirable location. The results of 
this fair were reported to the next meeting, 
held February 3, 1872, and may be briefly 
stated as follows. The report was made by 
the treasurer, Isaac M. Keeler, successor to 
John M. Smith, and shows 

RECEIPTS. 

Citizens' loan $2500.00 

County agricultural fund 2745.00 

Nineteenth annual fair and excursion 2465.66 

$7710.66 
DISBURSEMENTS. 

Improvement of new grounds $549.00 

Old debts prior to 1871 571.60 

Premiums to date 848.50 

Expenses of nineteenth fair 498.07 

Cash on hand 302.49 

$7710.66 

At a meeting held at the courthouse on the 
3d day of February, 1872, the following 
officers were unanimously elected: William 
E. Haynes, president; Oscar Ball, vice- 
president; Joseph Waggoner, Peter Burgoon, 
William J. Havens, Peter Darr, W. W. 
Cooper, and R. P. Buckland, managers. 

On the 23d of April, 1872, William H. 
Andrews was elected secretary, and Isaac M. 
Keeler treasurer for the year. At this meeting 
it was resolved to hold the twentieth annual 
fair of the society on the 25th, 26th, 27th, 
and 28th days of September, 1872. The 
following committee was then appointed to 
arrange for the fair, namely: William E. 
Haynes, Oscar Ball, B. W. Lewis, David 
Fuller, and William H. Andrews. The fair 
was successfully held at the appointed time. 
Mr. Edward Tindall reported and proved to 
the board, accord- 



ing to the rules of the society, that at the 
harvest of 1872 he raised two hundred and 
twenty bushels of wheat on six and thirty- 
one-hundredth acres of his land. The land 
was measured by J. L. Rawson, surveyor, the 
wheat was measured and the quantity sworn 
to by Mr. A. Mosier. Mr. Tindall was 
awarded the premium. 

Pursuant to published notice the members 
of the society met at the courthouse in 
Fremont, on Saturday, February 1, 1873, and 
elected the following officers: William B. 
Sheldon, president; J. R. Gephart, vice- 
president; Z. Brush, B. W. Lewis, T. H. 
Bush, J. Fairbanks, and Frederick Smith, 
managers. Mr. Sheldon refused to serve, and 
on the 22d of February, 1873, Piatt Brush 
was elected president, and on the same day 
F. J. Giebel, jr., was elected secretary, and 
John P. Elderkin, jr., treasurer, for the 
ensuing year. Mr. Brush declined serving as 
president, and, on the 3d of May, 1873, the 
society elected John R. Gephart president. 
By this election a vacancy was caused in the 
office of vice-president, and T. H. Bush was 
elected to that office, which left a vacancy in 
the board of managers, which was filled by 
the election of Charles H. Norton. An 
executive committee was chosen, and the 
time for holding the next fair fixed for the 
1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th days of October, 1873, 
and the fair was held accordingly. 

This fair was a financial failure, for an 
entry on the journal shows that afterwards 
the executive committee met, and ascer- 
tained by the treasurer's report that the 
disbursements exceeded the receipts by the 
amount of seven hundred dollars, and that 
the treasurer had paid the excess of 
expenditures out of his own private funds. 
The committee authorized a loan to be made 
by the society for the amount, to be paid, 
with eight per cent, interest, on the 2d day of 
November, 1874. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



221 



On the 7th day of February, 1874, pursuant 
to the provisions of the constitution of the 
society, and to printed notice, the society 
met at the county auditor's office, in 
Fremont, and received the treasurer's report, 
which shows the following receipts and 
disbursements: 

RECEIPTS. 
1873. 

March 22, cashonhand $23.63 

August 27, cash from excursion 208.75 

October, cash receipts from fair 2,687.00 

Cash, city of Fremont 100.00 

Cash, loans 689.50 

$3708.88 
DISBURSEMENTS. 

Paid interest on loan $200.00 

Paid premiums on class 17 617.00 

Paid improvements on grounds 538.56 

Paid premiums 818.00 

Paid expenses during fair 425.00 

Paid band for music 50.00 

Paid sec'y salary and expenses 90.00 

Paid L. Q. Rawson, on land 561.06 

Paid printing etc 222.55 

Steamer and band for excursion 185.00 

Balance on hand 73 

$3,708.88 



On the 27th day of February, 1874, the 
society met at the county auditor's office and 
elected the following officers, to serve the 
ensuing year, namely: R. P. Buckland, 
president; W. W. Stine, vice-president; Isaac 
M. Keeler, secretary; W. H. Andrews, 
treasurer. 

The president was instructed to appoint an 
executive committee, to consist of five 
members. The committee was afterwards 
appointed, and consisted of the following 
persons : C. A. Norton, W. W. Stine, B. W. 
Lewis, Joseph Waggoner, and E. W. 
Amsden. 

During the summer and autumn of the 
year 1874 an amphitheater or grand stand 
was erected on the fair ground, which af- 
forded visitors an excellent view of the 
ground, and all the proceedings of the fair to 
be seen by the eye. It also afforded shelter 
from the rain and shade from the 



often uncomfortable rays of the sun. 

The contract for this building was 
awarded to Mr. A. Foster, of the city of 
Fremont, at the price of one thousand two 
hundred and seventy-five dollars. 

It was also arranged and ordered by the 
board that there should be several new 
features in the fair of 1874, such as a special 
premium for the best pair of draught horses, 
and mules, also for single horse or mule. The 
first were offered a premium of twenty 
dollars, and the second ten dollars, to be 
tested on the ground by the dynamometer. 
Premiums were also offered for plowing, 
dragging, and drilling contests, to be put 
under the charge of D. C. Richmond, of Erie 
county, then member of the State Board of 
Agriculture. 

The fair of 1874 began September 30, and 
continued four days, with the following 
financial result: 

RECEIPTS. 

Received from former treasurer $179.96 

From loan of C. Norton 3,000.00 

From loan of W.W. Stine 350.00 

From loan of Bank of Fremont 175.00 

From annual fair 4,291.40 

From J. M. Raymond, pasture 24.00 

From State Board of Agriculture 227.52 

$8,047.68 
DISBURSEMENTS. 

Paid F. I . Geibel, secretary, 1 873 $21.50 

Paid F. S. White, trustee citizens' loan 2,500.00 

Paid F. S White, interest on citizens' loan 200.00 

Paid C. A. Norton, interest on loan 45.00 

Paid L. Q. Rawson, on ground 1,088.00 

Paid B.Donahue, for loan 400.00 

Paid B. Donahue, loan interest 23.29 

Paid Bank of Fremont, loan and interest 3 1 8.20 

Paid W. W. Stine, interest 6.53 

Paid I. M. Keeler, expenses to Columbus 15.00 

Paid premiums to date 1 ,682.00 

Paid fair expenses 253.71 

Paid permanent improvement on grounds 840.40 

Paid Bank of Fremont on note 150.00 

$8,042.68 

Cash on hand February 5, 1 875 $3.28 

Here it will be noticed that the fair of 
1874 shows a marked increase in the re- 



222 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



ceipts and disbursements of the society. 

In an elaborate report made by the 
secretary, Isaac M. Keeler, of the fair of 
1874, to the State Board of Agriculture, held 
at Columbus, Ohio, January 6, 1875, he says, 
among other things: 

The exercise of horses on the half mile track during a 
portion of each day, attracted a large crowd, and some 
excellent time was made. 

Further on the report says: 

The results of the fair of 1873 were unfortunate to 
the society, for instead of decreasing the sum of its 
indebtedness, it added considerably thereto, and left a 
bad feeling among former friends of the society. The 
officers of 1874, therefore, felt the greater necessity for 
economy in expenditures, and at the same time to make 
the exhibition so attractive as to induce the people from 
all parts of the county to show their interest in the 
society by being present at the annual fair. The total 
indebtedness of the society at this time cannot be far 
from four thousand five hundred dollars. 

On the whole, the fair of 1874 was a 
success, and awakened a new interest in its 
support. 

Pursuant to notice, the society met at the 
county auditor's office, and, after hearing the 
treasurer's report, and ordering it referred to 
a committee, a resolution was passed at this 
meeting to amend the constitution, so that 
thereafter there should be thirteen directors 
of the society. One thereof should be chosen 
from each township, there being twelve 
townships, and also one director at large. 
Thereupon the following persons were 
unanimously chosen directors for the 
ensuing year: J. K. Richards, of York 
township; Levi Cowell, of Riley; W. G. 
Hafford, of Ballville; Piatt Brush, of 
Sandusky; Adam Bair, of Scott; John 
Sandwish, of Woodville; Casper Stausmire, 
of Madison; David Fuller, of Townsend; R. 
B. Hayes, Fremont, director at large. 

Of the preceding board the following 
directors held over and were also part of the 
board for 1875, namely: Henry Ludwig, of 
Jackson township; Joseph Waggoner, of 
Washington; S. S. Rathbun, of 



Green Creek; and Fred Smith, of Rice 
township. 

On the 13th of February, 1875, the board 
met and elected the following officers: 
William W. Stine, president; Charles A. 
Norton, vice-president; Isaac M. Keeler, 
secretary; Henry Baker, treasurer. 

A premium list was prepped and adopted 
by the board at their meeting, May 1, 1875. 

The board of directors appointed the time 
for holding the annual fair to be Wednesday, 
Thursday, and Friday, September 21, 22, and 
23. 

An extended premium list was prepared 
and the fair was held according to ap- 
pointment. This year the fair was not as 
successful as the year before. The entries for 
exhibition were about one hundred and fifty 
less than at the fair of 1894. Another 
injurious fact was the unfavorable weather 
of the first two days, which greatly reduced 
the entries, the attendance, and the amount 
received at the entrance gates. 

RECEIPTS. 

Cash received from treasurer $11.78 

Cash received from city of Fremont 100.00 

Cash received from annual fair 3,438.14 

$3,549.92 
DISBURSEMENTS. 

Paid interest on loans $ 182.67 

Paid premiums on class 18 417.00 

Paid annual premium list 818.25 

Paid L. Q. Rawson, on land 615.95 

Paid permanent improvements 575.00 

Paid printing and stationery 1 80.00 

Paid Light Guard Band, music 75.00 

Paid secretary, for services 50.00 

Paid Bank of Fremont, note, 101 .75 

Paid bills of 1873 and 1874 72.00 

Paid expenses of the fair 437.00 

Paid cash in treasury 30.00 

$3,549.92 

The wheat crop of 1875 was reported not 
to be as good nor as large as that of 1874, 
but was, notwithstanding, above an average 
crop. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



223 



The fair was actually held four days, the 
last two of which brought fine weather and 
greatly increased the attendance and swelled 
the receipts, and also rescued the society 
from the losses of the first two days. 

SHADE TREES. 

This year the board, to encourage the 
planting of shade trees along the highways in 
the county, offered premiums for their 
planting. To the owner planting the best row 
of not less than forty trees, twenty dollars. 
For best row containing not less than twenty- 
five trees, ten dollars. The trees were to be 
planted during the year ending June, 1876, 
and the premiums to be awarded at the 
annual fair, in 1876. 

Pursuant to notice published, the members 
of the society met at the auditor's office, on 
the 5th day of February, 1876. A committee 
was duly appointed to report the names of 
seven directors, whose time had expired, and 
one director at large. This committee 
consisted of Henry H. House, Joseph 
Waggoner, James Wickards William J. 
Smith, and Nehemiah Engler, who reported 
the following names: W. B. Lewis, director 
at large for one year; W. D. Stine, one year; 
Casper Stausmire, William J. Smith, James 
D. Benner, S. S. Rathbun, W. H. Hineline, 
and E. A. Beebe, each for two years. The 
directors holding over were J. K. Richards, 
Levi Cowell, W. G. Hafford, P. J. Gossard, 
and John Sandwish. This board met on the 
12th of February, 1876, and. elected the 
following officers for the year: General R. P. 
Buckland, president; J. P Elderkin, vice- 
president; Henry Baker, treasurer; Isaac M. 
Keeler, secretary. 

Afterward, Vice-President Elderkin being 
about to remove from the county, resigned 
his office, and Henry Coonrod was elected to 
fill the vacancy. The premium list was 
agreed to and duly published. 



The fair was held October 3, 4, 5, and 6, 
1876. The number of entries for premiums 
was eleven hundred and seventy-five. The 
membership tickets, at one dollar each, were 
twelve hundred and seventy-eight. The total 
receipts of this fair amounted to three 
thousand two hundred and seven dollars and 
forty cents. The premiums paid, including 
races, amounted to one thousand four 
hundred and thirty-seven dollars and 
seventy-five cents. The more particular 
items of disbursement are not given, but the 
fair was a success, as the receipts appear to 
embrace no loans. 

On the 2d day of November, 1876, at 
night, floral hall, the pride of the fair 
grounds, was totally consumed by fire, 
which was said to be no doubt the work of 
an incendiary. It was, however, fully 
insured. 

In the secretary's report to the State Board 
of Agriculture, on the fair of 1876, the 
following showing is made: 

RECEIPTS. 
Amount received for tickets of membership, single tickets and 

tickets to the grandstand $2,672.90 

For booths, refreshments, stands and per- 
mits 357.00 

From other sources 437.25 

On hand from 1 875 39.42 

$3526.64 
DISBURSEMENTS. 

Paid premiums $1,438 00 

Paid permanent improvements 1,057 16 

Paid fair expenses 928.00 

Paid balance to new account 103.48 

$3526.64 

This must have been a prosperous year for 
the society, for the fair made by this 
showing more than a thousand dollars' worth 
of permanent improvements, paid all 
expenses and left a balance of one hundred 
and three dollars and forty-eight cents, in the 
treasury. Besides the items of receipts given 
in the secretary's annual report to the State 
Board of Agriculture, the State Board had 
paid 



224 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the society one hundred and twenty-seven 
dollars and fifty-one cents, and the insurance 
on floral hall was paid into the treasury on 
the 3d day of February, 1877, amounting to 
one thousand dollars, which amounts do not 
appear in the secretary's report, and were no 
doubt standing to the credit of the society for 
the succeeding year, or promptly applied to 
the society's indebtedness. These two items 
were probably received too late to be 
included in the financial report of 1876, 
though paid in before the annual election of 
officers. 

This fair was remarkable for a better 
exhibition of horses, cattle, and sheep than 
any preceding one, also for a better exhibit 
of mechanic arts, and of machinery, among 
which latter the Hubbard mower and reaper, 
manufactured by the Fremont Harvester 
works, was prominent; also June & 
Company's portable engine, manufactured in 
Fremont, and invented here. Lehr Brothers, 
also of the city of Fremont, had on 
exhibition agricultural implements and other 
articles, which did great credit to the 
growing manufactures of the county. At this 
fair it was shown that the farm products of 
grains, seeds, vegetables, butter, cheese, etc., 
were greater and better than ever before. 
Fruits, excepting peaches, were fine and in 
great variety. The hay crop was unusually 
abundant and good. Potatoes were what is 
commonly expressed as a short crop. 

In the report of 1876, the secretary es- 
timates the value of the fair grounds and 
improvements, the land being about twenty- 
eight acres, at fifteen, thousand dollars, 
which is generally thought to be a low 
estimate. 

Lewis Balsizer, of Riley township, raised 
on seven and one-eighth acres, two hundred 
and forty-eight bushels of wheat by weight, 
and on seven and one-eighth acres five 
hundred and thirty bushels of corn, 



and being the only one who made an entry 
for premium on these crops, took a premium 
of ten dollars on each. It is not improbable 
that other farmers raised an equal and even 
greater quantity per acre than Mr. Balsizer, 
but did not see fit to make the entry for the 
premium. 

We have mentioned that the property of the 
society was estimated at fifteen thousand 
dollars at the close of the year 1876. On the 
17th of February, 1877, the secretary, Mr. 
Isaac M. Keeler, endeavored to ascertain 
accurately the entire indebtedness of the 
society, and after doing so stated it to be, on 
the 17th of February, 1877, one thousand 
nine hundred and ninety-eight dollars and 
thirty-two cents. This showing indicates a 
healthy financial condition, which promises 
well for the future. 

Assets in real property $15,000.00 

Debts 1,900.00 

Net balance on real estate $13,100.00 

At a meeting of the members, held at the 
auditor's office, on the 17th of February, 
1877, the following directors were elected, 
to wit: At large — Hiram Pool, Ballville 
township. For two years — W. D. Stine, 
Sandusky; Fred Smith, York; Joseph R. 
Clark, Riley; James Wickard, Ballville; D. S. 
Tinney, Scott; Henry Herman, Woodville. 
For one year — T. D. Stevenson, Madison, to 
fill vacancy. 

The directors holding over were: William 
J. Smith, Jackson; James D. Benner, 
Washington; S. S. Rathbun, Green Creek; W. 
H. Hineline, Rice; David Fuller, Townsend. 

This board of directors met on the 3d day 
of March, 1877, and elected the following 
officers: L. Q. Rawson, president; W. W. 
Stine, treasurer; Isaac M. Keeler, secretary. 

The executive committee was then chosen, 
consisting of the following-named persons: 
C. H. Bell, W. W. Stine, W. H. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



225 



Hineline, James D. Benner, James Wickard, 
and Hiram Pool. 

The board, at their meeting April 25, 1877, 
resolved to encourage the planting of Osage 
orange hedge, and offered a premium of 
twenty dollars for the best forty rods, and ten 
dollars for the best twenty rods. 

At the same meeting the president and 
vice-president were appointed a committee to 
select the place and decide upon a plan for a 
new floral hall. The plan for the hall was 
made by J. C. Johnson, architect, and the 
place chosen near the site of the one 
destroyed by fire. 

The contract for building the hall was 
awarded to Henry Shively on the 2d day of 
June, 1879, at the price of one thousand six 
hundred and fifty-nine dollars. Floral hall 
was insured while being built, and was ready 
in time for the fair. 

On the first day of the fair of 1879, being 
October 2, at 9 o'clock in the evening, fire 
broke out at the northeast corner of the fair 
grounds, a locality occupied by trotting and 
running horses. In a very short time a block 
of stalls, twenty-two in number, were 
consumed. The loss on the stalls was fully 
insured. Mr. J. H. Harley, of Huron, lost a 
valuable mare, and some valuable harness, 
and some saddles were also burned. 

This fire was said to have been caused by 
fire communicated to straw in the halls from 
candles used by men who were sleeping in 
the stalls, and who went to sleep without 
properly caring for the light they had used. 
Perhaps the man fell asleep while reading. 
The damage done to the property by this fire 
was less than one hundred dollars, and was 
repaired by vigorous work the next day, 
without interrupting the proceedings of the 
fair. 

The receipts and disbursements of the 
society, for the fair of 1877, were as follows: 



RECEIPTS. 

Amount in treasury from 1876 $161.81 

Gate fees and entrance 2,714.84 

Stand rents 465.00 

Permits 75.25 

Pasturage, racing, etc 455.55 

$3,872.46 

DISBURSEMENTS. 

Amount of premiums paid $1,400.00 

Paid on real estate and improve- 
ments 1,288.95 

Current expenses other than pre- 
miums 1,217.75 $3,872.46 

Funds in treasury December 14, 1877 $15.76 

The society, at the date of this report, had 
a membership of fifteen hundred and fifty 
persons, with an indebtedness of two 
thousand five hundred and seventy-one 
dollars and sixty cents. 

Directors were elected on the 2d day of 
February, 1878, for the ensuing year, as 
follows; Henry Filling, Madison township; 
Joseph D. Benner, Washington township; W. 
H. Hineline, Rice township; W. J. Smith, 
Jackson township: E. A. Beebe, Townsend 
township; Henry Herman, Woodville 
township, each for two years, and Henry 
Coonrod, of Fremont, director at large. 

On the 16th of February, 1878, the board 
of directors met and elected the following 
officers: L. Q. Rawson, president; Charles 
H. Bell, vice-president; W. W. Stine, 
treasurer ; John Landgraff, jr., secretary. 

The president then appointed an executive 
committee, as follows: L. Q. Rawson, C. H. 
Bell, Henry Coonrod, W. W. Stine, and 
William J. Smith. This committee, on the 5th 
of March, arranged a premium list for the 
next fair. 

In this list, for the first Time, a premium 
was offered to encourage bee culture. 

This year the board designed and com- 
pleted a building for the use of the officers 
of the society, on the grounds. 
The fair was held on the 1st, 2d, 3d, 



226 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



and 4th days of October, 1878, and was 
attended by an estimated number of ten 
thousand persons. The weather was of the 
most favorable character for the exhibition. 
The arrangement was good, the grounds in 
better order than ever before, and the fair a 
success in all respects. The Driving Park 
Association were permitted to use the race 
track for a consideration, which no doubt 
contributed to swell the attendance. 

The receipts and expenditures for the fair 
of 1878 are as follows: 

RECEIPTS. 

Amount in treasury February, 1878 $15.76 

Received from State allowance for 1877 127.52 

Received from sale of tickets 2,888.40 

Received from stands and permits 852.00 

Received from county 507.00 

Received from other sources 402.66 

$4,793.34 
DISBURSEMENTS. 

Premiums paid $1,609.50 

Paid for permanent improvements 860.21 

Paid on old indebtedness 1,325.82 

Paid for current expenses 992.51 

Balance on hand December 19, 1878 5.30 

$4,793.34 

The great financial success and the suc- 
cess in other respects of this fair, encouraged 
the society to hope that in another year it 
would free itself entirely from debt, and be 
on the highway of advancement clear of all 
obstructions. 

This year's statistics showed that there 
were forty thousand acres of wheat raised in 
the county, and that the average yield was 
twenty-two bushels to the acre. 

The exhibition of machinery exceeded 
any thing done in that way on the ground at 
any previous fair. The inventions for binding 
grain were first exhibited at this fair, and 
attracted much interest and close attention. 

On the 1st of February, 1879, the 
members of the society met at the 
courthouse in Fremont, for the election of 
direct- 



ors. At this meeting, before proceeding to 
the election, the president, as a matter of 
advice, wished an expression of the sense of 
the members on the question of allowing the 
sale of beer on the fair grounds. 

After considerable discussion, on motion 
of L. W. Ward, a vote was taken to express 
the opinion of the meeting on the question, 
but not to be binding on the directors, nor to 
take away their control of the matter. The 
vote was taken by ballot. The whole number 
of votes was forty-three; of this number 
thirty-two were in favor of allowing the sale, 
and eleven against it. 

The members then proceeded to the 
election of directors for the ensuing year, 
with the following result: Sandusky 
township, Manual Maurer, two years; York, 
T. E. Gardner, two years; Riley, Joseph R. 
Clark, two years; Ballville, James E. 
Wickert, two years; Scott, D. S. Tinney, two 
years; Woodville, H. Herman, two years; 
director at large, Joseph Waggoner, one 
year. Directors holding over one year were 
Joseph D. Benner, W. H. Hineline, William 
J. Smith, E. A. Beebe, S. S, Rathbun, and 
Joseph Waggoner, the director at large, 

On the 8th of February, 1879, the board 
met, and elected L. Q. Rawson, president; 
John L. Greene, jr., vice-president; William 
B. Kridler, secretary, and E. B. Moore, 
treasurer. 

The executive committee for 1879 con- 
sisted of the following named gentlemen, 
who were appointed by the president, 
namely: Manuel Maurer, John I.. Greene, jr., 
and William J. Smith. At this meeting the 
rule of the State Board of Agriculture, 
requiring the exhibitors of thoroughbred 
animals to furnish the secretary of the 
society a pedigree of the animal at the time 
of making the entry, was adopted. At the 
same meeting the board resolved to hold the 
next annual 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



227 



fair on the 30th of September and the 1st, 
2d, and 3d days of the month of October, 
1879. 

The premium list was revised and pub- 
lished, and the fair was held at the appointed 
time. The receipts and expenditures of this 
fair, according to the treasurer's report, were 
as follows: 

RECEIPTS. 

Balance in treasury, February, 1879 $35.89 

From sale of 4,500 tickets 1,127.75 

From sale of 251 half-tickets 25.10 

From sale of 856 grand stand tickets 58.60 

From sale of 1,543 membership tickets 1,543.00 

Received from other sources 81.80 

$3,601.14 

DISBURSEMENTS. 

For current expenses $1,157.15 

For permanent improvements 958.96 

For premiums paid 1,997. 10 

$4,093.21 

The total indebtedness of the society on 
the 1st day of January, 1880, as stated in 
the journal of its proceedings, was one 
thousand three hundred and nineteen dollars 
and eighty-three cents. While apparently the 
expenditures of the society for the fair of 
1879 exceeded the receipts by the amount 
of four hundred and ninety-two dollars and 
seven cents, it must be remembered that 
nine hundred and fifty-eight dollars and 
ninety-six cents were invested in permanent 
improvement of its property. This shows, in 
fact, a net gain of four hundred and sixty- 
six dollars and eighty-nine cents, which is 
doing well. It should also be noticed that 
the amount of premiums paid in 1879 is 
much greater than that paid at any 
preceding fair. 

At a meeting of the society held at the 
courthouse on the 7th day of February, 
1880, Joseph Waggoner was elected 
director at large, but declined to act as such, 
and William J. Smith was elected to the 
office. 



The directors for the year 1880 were as 
follows: For Fremont township, M. Maurer, 
one year; York, T. E. Gardner, one year; 
Riley, Joseph R. Clark, one year 

Ballville, James E. Wickert, one 
year; Scott, D. S. Tinney, one year; 
Woodville, H. Herman, one year; Madison, 
J. Marvin, two years, Jackson, Daniel 
Sueckert, two years; Washington, N. Engler, 
two years; Green Creek, Joseph Lutz, two 
years; Rice, Peter Darr, two years; 
Townsend, Frank Dirlam, two years; 
Sandusky, Fred Smith, two years; director at 
large, William J. Smith, for one year. 

Amongst the proceedings at this meeting 
was the passage of a resolution forbidding 
the sale of beer or any intoxicating liquors 
on the grounds of the society, which was 
passed by a unanimous vote of the members 
of the society present at the meeting. At this 
meeting another resolution was unanimously 
passed, that the directors be requested to 
obey the laws of the State of Ohio in the 
matter of gambling, and that no wheel of 
fortune or gambling device of whatever kind 
be permitted upon the society's grounds at 
their annual fair. 

On the 14th day of February, 1880, the 
board of directors met at the city council 
chamber, and elected the following officers, 
namely: J. L. Greene, president; Joseph 
Waggoner, vice-president; William B. 
Kridler, secretary, and E. B. Moore, 
treasurer. 

At this meeting, February 14, 1880, the 
time for holding the next annual fair of the 
society was fixed for the 28th, 29th and 30th 
of September, and the 1st of October, 1880. 

The fair was held according to appoint- 
ment, and was a success, as the treasurer's 
report to the board, made on the 1st of 
February, 1881, will show, and which is as 
follows: 



228 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



RECEIPTS. 

Balance in the treasury February 1, 1880 $189. 17 

Received from sale of tickets 2,622.27 

Received from sale of stands and permits 347.00 

Received from other sources 188.00 

Received from pasturage 95.50 

Received from county 479.48 

$3,921.42 
DISBURSEMENTS. 

Amount paid for premiums $1,861. 17 

Amount paid for permanent improvements 813.11 

Amount paid for current expenses 794.09 

Amount paid for interest on certificates 63.00 

Amount paid on principal of debt 72.62 

Balance in treasury 316.86 

$3921.42 



At the meeting on February 1, 1881, the 
total indebtedness of the society was 
ascertained, and stated to amount to six 
hundred and sixty dollars. 

This shows the society to be on a solid 
financial basis, with the good will of the 
people to support it in the future, and in 
possession of one of the most attractive 
county fair grounds in the State. 

NOTE. — The reader will find inaccuracies in the 
figures forming the tables of receipts and disbursements, 
but wherever they occur the publishers have followed the 
manuscript exactly, and are not responsible for the errors 

and discrepancies. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



THE PRESS. 



History of Newspapers Published in Fremont, Clyde, Bellevue and Green Spring — Their Editors, Politics' Changes, 

&c. — A Mistake and its Consequences. 



THE first step toward a complete civil- 
ization of a people is to open a way by 
which facts and ideas can be conveyed 
to and deposited in the storehouse of each 
one's heart and memory. This process may 
be likened to the removal from a highly 
productive region of country to other and 
new regions, rich by nature but unimproved 
and yielding nothing.. To clear the way and 
prepare the track to such new region of 
undeveloped hearts and minds of the people 
is the peculiar office and result of common 
education. And here the simile ends, for the 
whole earth may, within some vast period of 
time, be reached and subdued, and put in 
direct or indirect communication with every 
other part. But new territory to be reached 
and developed in the cause of civilization 
will be found in every succeeding genera- 



tion of men, and will be as perpetual as 
humanity itself. 

When education has opened the way to 
the hearts and understandings of the people, 
then next in importance comes 

THE PRESS, 

which may be likened to the locomotive and 
train attached, transporting rich cargoes of 
fact, science, thought, and information from 
the old to the new region; and when the new 
region is developed, the train returns with 
rich freights from the new to the old, thus 
establishing a vast exchange of new thought 
and facts to enrich the world. 

The later inventions of the telegraph and 
telephone have not yet superseded the 
newspaper. The first is used for business 
chiefly, and beyond that is the hand- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



229 



maid of the press only; the second is too 
limited in its capacity for communication 
with the great masses of the people. 

Notwithstanding the wonderful progress 
of invention, the newspaper yet remains the 
great engine for the rapid diffusion and 
transportation of facts and thoughts from 
mind to mind, and today stands the strongest 
helper in the great work of elevating 
mankind to a higher plane of sympathy and 
civilization. 

It is probably true that the press has not 
always raised those seed thoughts of 
progress which have produced so much 
good. These have in part come from the 
scientist s laboratory, the advanced thinker's 
brain, or the pulpit. But the press has sown 
the good seeds of progress, from whatever 
source they came, further, wider, and more 
broadcast amongst the people than any other 
instrumentality among men. 

It is, therefore, fitting that, whatever has 
been done toward establishing and 
supporting the press here should be made 
part of the county's history. Such a record 
will furnish interesting matter for reference 
and comparison in the future, and at the 
same time be only an act of justice to those 
who worked so hard, under financial 
discouragements, to establish this great 
medium of communication amongst the 
people of the county. 

LOWER SANDUSKY GAZETTE. 

The first printing press brought to Lower 
Sandusky (now Fremont), was a small hand 
press, introduced by David Smith. The first 
paper printed on it was called the Lower 
Sandusky Gazette, edited, and published, 
and in fact printed by the proprietor himself, 
alone, he being the only hand about the 
office. The first number was issued in July, 
18 29. The size of this paper when opened 
and entirely spread out, was seventeen by 
twenty-one inches, by exact measurement. 



The editor and publisher, typesetter and press 
man, all in one person, was a thin, pale, slip- 
shod specimen of humanity. He always wore 
his shoes, or rather slippers, broken down at 
the heels, and his socks were ragged. He was 
afflicted in the autumn of the year 1829, 
soon after the commencement of his brave 
enterprise, with fever and ague, which at that 
time no person of fashion was without in the 
dread month of September, who resided at 
Lower Sandusky. The editor and publisher's 
woodpile was always out doors in front of 
his office, and the pieces were eight feet 
long, to be chopped by himself into proper 
lengths of about four feet for the fireplace, 
from which the whole office was to be 
warmed in the winter. He would leave the 
care of the press whenever the temperature 
of his office fell near the freezing point, and 
go out to chop wood to replenish his fire, 
warm up the office, and then resume his 
place at the press, or case, or the editorial 
table, as the case might be. While, after a 
sudden, cold snap in the weather, Smith was 
cutting wood one winter in the snow, his 
heels being bare, were frozen before he 
could cut sufficient wood for the night, and 
his feet remained sore for a long time, 
during which kind friends volunteered to cut 
and carry in his firewood. 

Smith found after a while that the paper 
would not pay, and being generally disgusted, 
left the country with his press, and the 
Lower Sandusky Gazette died of malaria and 
hard times at the age of about eighteen 
months. The future life and fate of Mr. 
Smith is not obtainable at the present day, 
but wherever he may be, whatever his fate, 
David Smith stands as the pioneer newspaper 
editor and publisher of the county, and we 
cheerfully give him the honor in return for 
his daring and sufferings in the attempt to 
establish a paper at that early day in Lower 
Sandusky. 



230 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Mr. Reuben Rice, now deceased, late of 
Ottawa county, near Elmore, in a communi- 
cation to the Sandusky County Pioneer and 
Historical Society, on the 26th of August, 
1875, said he was a practical printer, and 
settled on Portage River in 1823, after 
spending some time at Lower Sandusky and 
trading there. Mr. Rice, in this com- 
munication, further said: 

That in the year 18 — year not recollected — there was 
a man by the name of Smith started a paper at Lower 
Sandusky, called, I think, the Lower Sandusky Gazette. 
He was taken sick and he — no, he didn't, — but his paper 
drooped and died, not a natural death; but Sandusky 
being at that time a place infested with the effluvia 
arising from the marshes and stagnant waters, 
jeopardized almost every thing that had life, and some 
things inanimate as well as animate, suffered from the 
malaria of a sickly place, so the printing of the paper 
died out though the printing materials he removed. I had 
the honor of printing said paper for a few weeks while 
the editor and proprietor was sick, but whether this had 
a tendency to bring about a more speedy termination of 
the malady with which said paper was afflicted, I know 
not, but this I do know, that the paper was to no great 
degree benefited by the operation, as the sequel goes to 
prove. 

It is not known now that the Lower 
Sandusky Gazette was the organ or advocate 
of any political party, church, or sect. It was 
probably only a newspaper and advertising 
medium of no marked proclivities or objects 
except to live, and in this primary object it 
failed. From some time in 1831 to the month 
of June or July, 1837, a period of more than 
six years, no paper was printed in Lower 
Sandusky, and newspapers published in 
other localities and townships, which, in a 
small village is about equal to a daily paper, 
fed the appetite for news. 

The next venture in the way of newspaper 
publication in Lower Sandusky was the 
publication of 

THE LOWER SANDUSKY TIMES. 

The press for this paper was brought here 
by Alvin G. White, who edited and 
published it for a time, under the auspices 



of some leading politicians of the county 
who were opposed to the administration of 
Martin VanBuren. The first number was 
issued in June or July, A. D. 1837. It was, 
under the management of Mr. White, a very 
useful medium for advertising, and in 
advocating moral order in society. Mr. White 
published the Lower Sandusky Times several 
years, when ill health caused him to retire, 
and Peter Yates succeeded him in the 
management and editing of the paper, Mr. 
Yates was a bitter partisan and a most 
acrimonious writer, and under his 
management the paper lost ground in 
popularity and patronage. The Democratic 
party being in the ascendancy in the county, 
it had no public patronage, and was printed 
at a loss to those interested. Mr. Yates sharp, 
personal attacks on men, and the bitterness 
in the treatment of the feelings and opinions 
of the party opposed to him, finally resulted 
in a transfer of the management, and a 
change of the name of the paper, In 1839 
Clark Waggoner, then a young printer, was 
placed in charge of the press and materials 
of the office, and commenced the publication 
of the. 

LOWER SANDUSKY WHIG. 

At this time events were tending to a great 
political excitement. Mr. Ogle, of 
Pennsylvania, had made his remarkable 
expose, in Congress, of the extravagance of 
the administration of Martin VanBuren, His 
great speech about the gold spoons and other 
golden furniture of the White House, and the 
immense defalcations which had taken place 
under his administration, amongst which was 
the notable defalcation of Swartwout, 
collector of customs in New York, were 
being exposed, and party spirit was being 
aroused under the cry of reform. The Lower 
Sandusky Whig, printed and published by 
Mr. Waggoner, was the organ of the Whig 
party of 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



231 



the county, through the memorable campaign 
of 1840. It had the patronage and support of 
such men as Ralph P. Buckland, who was an 
active leader in the Whig party, with many 
other able and influential men, such as 
Revirius Bidwell, John A. Johnson, Dr. L. G. 
Harkness, Barney Kline, Amos Fenn, 
Frederick Chapman, Alpheus Mclntyre, 
William S. Russell, Norton Russell, Caleb H. 
Bidwell, Elisha W. Howland, Thomas L. 
Hawkins, Dr. Thomas Stillwell, and many 
others, whose names do not now occur to the 
writer, who took an interest in the support of 
the paper, and many of whom became 
contributors to its columns. Some of these 
men still live, and will remember the 
political contest; but most of them have 
"passed to that bourne from whence no 
traveler returns," unless they return to 
communicate with the Spiritualists. It was in 
the heated campaign of 1840 that the now 
veteran editor of the Fremont Journal, Isaac 
M. Keeler, took his first lessons in the art of 
printing. The paper became an effective one 
in the campaign of 1840, and was rewarded 
for its labors by the triumph of its party in 
the election of William Henry Harrison to 
the Presidency. 

It is proper here to place on record a 
description of the printing press on which 
the Lower Sandusky Whig was printed. It 
was what was called a "Ramage," almost a 
facsimile of Benjamin Franklin's old press, 
now so carefully preserved in the patent 
office in Washington, and the same one on 
which, years before, the Albany Argus had 
been printed. With three pulls to print one 
side of the paper, it was no small job to work 
off an edition. 

The Lower Sandusky Whig was, after a 
few years, transferred to John Shrenk and 
changed to the 

LOWER SANDUSKY TELEGRAPH. 

Mr. Shrenk edited and published the 



paper with fair success until March, 1849, 
when it was purchased by James S. Fouke, 
who changed the name and edited and 
published it under the title of the 

LOWER SANDUSKY FREEMAN. 

When, at the October term of the Court of 
Common Pleas, the name of the city was 
changed from Lower Sandusky to Fremont, 
of course the name of the paper was changed 
accordingly. Mr. Fouke edited and published 
the paper until November 6, 1852, when it 
was transferred to Mr. J. M. Main, who 
issued about six numbers, when he sold the 
office. 

On the 27th of January, 1853, Mr. I. W. 
Booth commenced, with the same press, the 
publication of 

THE FREMONT JOURNAL. 

and continued it until December 24, 1853, 
when John Mastin, became the sole 
proprietor. 

On the 26th day of May, 1854, Isaac M. 
Keeler purchased a one-half interest in the 
press and paper, and became the editor of it, 
and continued the publication under the firm 
name of Mastin & Feeler. 

On the 1st of December, 1854, Mr. Keeler 
bought out Mr. Mastin's interest and became 
editor and sole proprietor. Under Mr. 
Keeler's management the paper flourished, 
and became not only a paying concern, but 
the best record of passing events, local and 
national, in the county. He managed it 
carefully and ably in the interest of the city 
and county, and was always stalwart and 
able on the side of morality, law and order, 
and the right in politics, as he understood the 
right. The paper was born a Whig, and under 
his management did good service to that 
party, and also the Republican party since its 
organization. 

Mr. Keeler continued to publish and edit 
the journal until the 18th. of September, 



232 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



1865, when he sold the establishment to 
Redway Brothers, under whose management 
the paper was published until the 5th of 
October, 1866, when they sold out to 
Messrs. Wilcox and Greene. 

On the 22d of May, 1868, Mr. Wilcox 
sold his interest in the paper to his partner, J. 
H. Greene, who managed it some months, 
when he sold the establishment to A. H. 
Balsley. Mr. Balsley continued in the 
management of the paper until November 12, 
1875, when Messrs. Harford & Grove 
became the proprietors and publishers, and 
conducted the journal until December 12, 
1877, when Mr. Keeler again became the 
owner of the journal office, and resumed 
control of the paper, after having been out of 
the publishing business for more than twelve 
years. 

The frequent changes in the management 
of the paper had not improved it in either 
popularity or profit in the publication of it. 

Mr. Keeler says that in all the twelve 
years he was engaged in other business he 
had a yearning for the journal office, where, 
for a period of twenty-five years, he had 
labored almost continuously. 

Since Mr. Keeler resumed the manage- 
ment of the Fremont journal, it has been 
much improved in all respects. It is now on a 
sound financial basis. The journal is now 
printed on a Wells' cylinder power press, 
moved by steam power. It has in the job- 
room two steam power-presses, and has a 
full patronage. 

Mr. Keeler, it is true, continues to edit 
and manage the paper, but has associated 
with him his son Samuel, who is local editor, 
and who is now in well advanced training in 
the newspaper business. The father now 
regrets that he ever left the management of 
the journal. He intends, however, when the 
course of human events shall disable him 
from the proper discharge of editorial labors, 
that his son, 



who is already a promising proficient in the 
business, shall become the editor and 
manager of the journal, and the indications 
are now quite plain that whenever the 
Fremont journal shall pas to the control and 
management of the son the paper will be 
fully sustained in all those qualities which 
make it an able, and pure, and popular 
county newspaper. 

The Lower Sandusky Times, the Lower 
Sandusky Whig, the Lower Sandusky 
Telegraph, and the Lower Sandusky Freeman 
were all staunch advocates of the Whig party 
and its principles, and the Fremont journal 
has always been an earnest Republican 
paper, and has been consistent in urging the 
party to organize and contend for its 
principles. It opposed the election of 
Buchanan, and supported the war for the 
Union with zeal and great effect. 

THE SANDUSKY COUNTY DEMOCRAT. 

It should be noticed that the Lower 
Sandusky Times, which by sundry mutila- 
tions and changes of name became the 
Fremont journal, was first issued in Lower 
Sandusky in June or July, 1837. It soon 
appeared that A. G. White, the editor, was 
opposed to the Democratic party. After a few 
months the political course became clearly 
apparent, as it grew more and more 
pronounced in its political inclinations. This 
at once aroused the attention of the dominant 
Democracy, and they at once began to 
counsel, and devise the ways and means of 
meeting the advantages which the opposition 
had acquired by the establishment of a party 
organ in the county. 

About this time Adolphus Kreamer had 
purchased a tract of land at the head of 
navigation of the Portage River, then in 
Sandusky, but now in Ottawa county, and 
had laid off and platted a town there, which 
was named Hartford, and was to become a 
great city. Among 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



233 



other wise things, Mr. Kreamer, in order to 
make known the existence of the future city 
of Hartford, had determined to start a 
newspaper there, and had obtained for that 
purpose a printing press and type for a 
newspaper and moved them from Toledo to 
Hartford. It was an old and second-hand 
press, as was also the material. Mr. Kreamer 
was a good Democrat, and Hartford was then 
in the bounds of the county. The newspaper 
material had lain there some time but the 
paper did not make its appearance. A 
financial crisis occurred, and the sale of 
town lots in a wilderness, as Hartford was at 
that time, was cut off and the future 
prospects of the embryo town were 
shadowed by thick, dark clouds. 

In the fall of 1837, about three months 
after the advent of the Lower Sandusky 
Times, the leaders of the Democratic party 
were called together for consultation upon 
the question of establishing a Democratic 
paper in Lower Sandusky. John Bell was 
perhaps foremost in this enterprise and was 
chairman of the meeting. An association was 
formed to purchase a press and publish a 
Democratic paper. Stock was liberally 
subscribed, and a committee appointed to 
visit Hartford and endeavor to negotiate with 
Mr. Kreamer for his press and printing ma- 
terial. In due time the committee reported, 
and the press and printing material were 
finally purchased for twelve hundred dollars. 
The press, etc., was hauled by wagon from 
Hartford up the Portage River to the 
Maumee and Western Reserve road, and by 
that to Lower Sandusky: The paper was to be 
published by the joint stock company, not 
incorporated, and was to be under the 
control of a committee, of which John Bell 
was chairman. A young printer by the name 
of William Davis was employed to superin- 
tend the mechanical department, and the ed- 



iting was to be done by anyone who wished 
to write for the paper, the matter subject to 
the admission or rejection of the committee. 
The first number of the paper, under the title 
of the Sandusky County Democrat, was 
issued in the fall of 1837. The paper was 
managed in this way for a year, perhaps a 
year and a half, when it was found not to pay 
expenses. The office was, during this time, 
on the second floor of the old building on 
the southwest corner of Front and Croghan 
streets, where the First National Bank now 
(1881) stands. The company afterward gave 
the publication of the paper entirely into the 
hands of William Davis, the printer, on his 
agreement to faithfully publish and edit the 
paper, and to keep the stockholders from 
further charges and expense. 

Mr. Davis took charge of the paper on 
these conditions, and managed it to some 
profit for himself until after the October 
election of 1838. At this election Homer 
Everett, then a young man not quite twenty- 
five years of age, was elected sheriff of the 
county. Everett had written for the paper 
during the campaign, and on his election to 
the office, of course, became the dispenser 
of considerable advertising patronage. For, 
be it remembered that the financial crisis of 
1836 and 1837 produced more sheriff's sales 
than any period before or since in the history 
of the county. 

The stockholders by this time had become 
willing to donate their subscription for the 
benefit of the party, if the paper could be 
continued without further charge upon them. 
There was about four hundred dollars still 
due from the committee who had given their 
notes for the press, and they offered it to Mr. 
Davis if he would print the paper and pay 
that sum, or keep the signers harmless from 
the notes. On these conditions Everett and 
Davis bought the paper in the fall of 1838, or 
early in 



234 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the year 1839. From this time Everett & 
Davis published the Sandusky County 
Democrat until 1842, when they dissolved, 
and at which time Everett was admitted to 
the bar, and entered the practice of the law 
in partnership with Nathaniel B. Eddy. Mr. 
Davis continued to publish the paper until 
some time in the year 1842, when he sold it 
to Charles J. Orton, who, for a time, had sole 
charge of it, after which Edward F. 
Dickinson bought an interest in the paper, 
and it was published a while by the firm of 
Orton & Dickinson, who transferred it to 
John Flaugher. Mr. Flaugher was a high- 
minded, honorable man, and a true 
Democrat, but his views on slavery and the 
war of the Rebellion were not satisfactory to 
the anti-war and pro-slavery portion of the 
Democratic party, who gave it a rather poor 
support, and the paper lost patronage and 
influence. In fact, as early as 1856, during 
the great discussion over the extension of 
slavery, the leaders of the extreme pro- 
slavery portion of the Democrats of the 
county started another paper, which drew off 
a large part of the patronage formerly 
enjoyed by the Sandusky County Democrat, 
and it had a hard struggle for life until, 
sometime in the spring of 1856, Mr. 
Flaugher sold the press and materials of the 
Democrat to Isaac M. Keeler, and the 
publication of the paper caused the radical 
pro-slavery Democrats of the county, who 
were dissatisfied with the principles 
advocated by the Democrat, to combine and 
bring about the establishment, in 1856, of 

THE DEMOCRATIC MESSENGER. 

This paper was started in 1856, under the 
editorial control of Jacob D. Botefur, who 
came from Boston. Mr. Botefur successfully 
conducted the paper for several years, but he 
had been reared where Democracy was 
composed of men of different characteristics 
from those of Sandusky county. Although 
his Democracy was radi- 



cal enough, he did not understand the mental 
and moral condition, or tastes of those who 
supported the Messenger, and it was thought 
best for the party to put the paper in charge 
of men to the manor born, and Mr. Botefur 
accordingly sold out and retired from the 
editorial charge of the Messenger, and it 
passed to the hands and control of John B. B. 
Dickinson. After managing the paper for 
some time successfully, and with more talent 
than the paper before had shown, he was 
willing to retire from the charge of the 
paper, and sold it to Messrs. John and Frank 
Foulke brothers, and young men of some 
literary aptness, but of too romantic 
proclivities to make a solid Democratic 
paper. The Foulke Brothers, after a short 
experiment, failed to please the Democracy, 
and failed financially. 

This condition of things resulted in a 
transfer of the press and materials for the 
printing of the Democratic Messenger to 
Mordecai P. Bean, who assumed the edit- 
orship and publication of the paper. For a 
time Mr. Bean conducted the paper and gave 
it considerable party popularity, but the 
patronage declined and the party then placed 
the paper in charge of J. S, Van Valkenburg, 
who conducted it until about the 1st day of 
April, 1872, when the establishment passed 
to the control of James M. Osborne, who had 
been a partner with Van Valkenburg about 
one year before, and who took charge as 
editor and publisher. Since Mr. Osborn took 
charge of the paper it has been a well- 
conducted political journal, thoroughly and 
decidedly Democratic. It is well received as 
the organ of the Democracy of the county. 
The Messenger office has a steam power- 
press, and a large job office attached, which 
is doing a thriving business aside from the 
patronage of the county officials, who are all 
of the Messenger's political party. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



235 



THE FREMONT COURIER. 

This is a weekly paper published in 
Fremont, in the German language, to supply 
the reading wants of a large, industrious, and 
intelligent portion of the inhabitants of 
Sandusky county. The Courier was founded 
and first published in Fremont, March 10, 

1859, by Dr. Ferdinand Wilmer, a German 
physician by birth and education. Dr. 
Wilmer was a man of much learning, a ready 
translator of the English and German 
languages, and became at once, through his 
paper, the advocate of the most extreme 
party measures of the Democratic 
organization. Dr. Wilmer was not a practical 
printer, and Mr. George Homan was the 
printer of the Courier until the 14th of June, 

1860, when Mr. Homan withdrew from the 
firm, and Dr. Wilmer assumed sole control 
of the paper until August 28, 1862, at which 
time Mr. Paul Knerr took charge of the 
mechanical department of the office. Dr. 
Wilmer, however, continued as editor until 
the 6th day of November, 1862, when he 
sold the office to George Homan. 

It was during the day of the 18th of April, 

1861, when the excitement produced by the 
Rebellion was kindling into flame, and many 
patriotic Democrats were going into the 
service to fight for the Union, that one 
forenoon the Fremont Courier, printed that 
day, fell into the hands of Frederick Fabing, 
a prominent German citizen of Fremont and 
a thoroughly patriotic man at heart. Mr. 
Fabing read and translated an editorial 
article to the bystanders. The Courier was, at 
the time spoken of, printed in the third story 
of what is now known as White's block, cor- 
ner of Front and Croghan streets. 

The effect of this article in the Courier so 
well illustrates the temper of the times, that 
we give it as a part of the history of the 
Courier, as well as to show to future 
generations the true state of feeling at that 



memorable time. This can not better be done 
than by a simple and brief narration of what 
followed Mr. Fabing's interpretation of the 
Courier's article. 

In thirty minutes after the nature of the 
article was made known by Fabing, Front 
and Croghan streets, facing the Courier 
office, were filled with men. There were men 
with set teeth, and pale countenances, and 
eyes that expressed unutterable indignation; 
in fact, the whole crowd, numbering from 
five hundred to a thousand determined and 
angry men, had congregated under the 
windows of the office. One of the most 
pallid countenances in that crowd was our 
cool, level-minded fellow-citizen, Stephen 
Buckland, as patriotic a man as the city 
contained, and it contained many good ones. 
As he saw the crowd swelling and every 
moment becoming more threatening, he 
secured a location on the northwest corner of 
Front and Croghan streets. Colonel R. P. 
Buckland and Charles O. Tillotson took a 
position about half way up the outside stair 
leading to the Courier office. 

When the storm was about to burst, and a 
movement of the crowd, and the utterances 
from below indicated a rush up stairs, with 
threats looking to the destruction of the 
office, and to serious personal injury, if not 
the life of the editor of the Courier, Stephen 
Buckland mounted a railing running along 
the street, near the northwest corner of Front 
and Croghan streets, and holding by an 
awning post, called the meeting to order, 
saying, that if the paper had done wrong, as 
was claimed, he was in favor of doing all 
that was fair to suppress it. "True," said he 
"the paper can speak to thousands while by 
our words we can speak to few. Now," said 
Mr. Buckland, "we must not do anything un- 
manly or rash. I move that judge John L. 
Green be chosen chairman of this meting, 
that we may deliberate in an 



236 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



orderly manner." The crowd listened, and 
Mr. Green was chosen chairman. 

This firm and manly stand by Mr. 
Buckland had the desired effect. A com- 
mittee was chosen, consisting of William E. 
Haynes, Charles O. Tillotson, Doctor Robert 
S. Rice, and Jacob Snyder, who were at once 
permitted to pass up the stairs to perform the 
duty assigned them. 

In less than five minutes after the com- 
mittee passed Tillotson and R. P. Buckland 
on the stairs, a window of the Courier office 
was raised, and the whole edition of the 
Courier, containing the offensive article, 
came whirling down like leaves upon the 
pavement. The papers were carefully piled 
near the middle of the street, and every one 
burned to ashes. None of the edition had 
been sent beyond the city limits, and the 
angry multitude was satisfied when the 
committee announced from the window that 
the whole edition was destroyed, and the 
type which printed the offensive article 
distributed, and that the paper would print no 
more articles to prevent the enlistment of 
men in the Union army. 

The following is the translation of the 
offensive article, which appeared as editorial 
in the Courier of April 18, 1861: 

The Union in its past proportions is irrevocably lost. 
The Republicans will be answerable at the judgment seat 
of history for the annihilation of the freest republic in 
the world, and the curse of the oppressed, whom they 
have robbed of the last place of refuge, and last hope 
that could become their part. The Republicans are now 
everywhere calling meetings of all citizens, irrespective 
of party, to devise means how to support the 
Government. They succeed in their ruse to get some 
easily deceived Democrats into their trap. We caution all 
our Democratic friends to take no active part in such 
meetings, for after the first heat of the excitement is 
over, they will repent of having been caught in such a 
dull way. 

The next day, April 19, 1861, the Fremont 
journal published the foregoing in- 
terpretation of the Courier's article, with the 
following comment: 



When the liberty-loving citizens of our 
town and vicinity, without distinction of 
party, understood the above, their 
indignation knew no bounds. They at once 
secured an American flag and took it to that 
office, and saw that it was flung to the 
breeze from out of the window. 

The edition of the Courier, which had just 
been printed, was destroyed, and the editor 
requested to issue an extra, both in the 
English and German language, giving some 
explanation of his treasonable and palpably 
false article, which he did. 

DOCTOR WILMER'S CARD. 

A CARD TO THE PUBLIC. -An article which ap- 
peared in my paper of this morning, it seems, has 
created an immense excitement in our town. But few 
papers have been circulated, the balance of the edition 
has been destroyed. I declare to the public, upon my 
honor as a man, that it never has been, and is not now, 
my intention to write or publish a word, or to commit 
any action, against the General or State Government, or 
advise it to be done by others. 

F. WILMER. 

Isaac M. Keeler was, at the time spoken of, 
when this affair occurred, editor of the 
Fremont journal, and appended to Dr. 
Wilmer's card in his paper, the following fair 
and manly editorial comments: 

The above explanation seems to have satisfied the 
people. We do not think Mr. Wilmer is a secessionist, or 
that he really had any intention of injuring the 
Government, but that he has permitted the partisan to 
get the upper hand of his patriotism. Let us all now 
throw aside party feeling, and unite in an endeavor to 
save the country at this serious crisis of its existence. 
Neither party, nativity, or sect, should now stand in the 
way of a hearty union of the people for putting down 
treason and rebellion, and of restoring peace and civil 
liberty to the whole country. 

Mr. Homan continued the publication of 
the Courier until July, 1865. He, however, 
labored under some disadvantages, arising 
from the war, and the position he had taken 
on that question. He therefore concluded to 
discontinue the publication of the paper, and 
its issue was suspended for a period of about 
eighteen months, when Messrs. Anthony 
Young and Paul Knerr bought the office, and 
recommenced the Courier, which again 
appeared. In 1867 Mr. Young sold his 
interest in the paper to Mr. Knerr, who 
remained the sole owner until 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



237 



1870, in which year Dr. Wilmer, who all the 
time edited the paper, became a partner with 
Mr. Knerr. Dr. Wilmer stood thus connected 
with the paper until his death, which took 
place on the 17th of July, 1879. Mr. Joseph 
Zimmerman, an editor from Cleveland, at 
once took charge of the editorial 
management of the paper. Mr. Knerr, 
meantime, bought of Dr. Wilmer's widow the 
interest his estate held in the paper, and 
continued to be sole proprietor of the 
Courier until July 1, 1881, at which date Mr. 
Zimmerman, by purchase, became sole 
proprietor of the concern, and so remains 
sole editor and proprietor of the paper. 

The Courier is now doing well. Mr. 
Zimmerman is a fine writer, as well as a 
gentleman of winning manners, whose 
management and talents will make the 
Courier welcome to the German reading 
citizens of the county and elsewhere. While 
thoroughly Democratic, Mr. Zimmerman is 
not of that bitter partisan nature which will 
make his paper odious to his opponents; on 
the other hand, he is a gentleman of such 
broad views and intelligence, that no doubt 
the paper will prosper under his 
management. 

THE CLYDE TIMES. 

Mr. Joseph C. Loveland has the honor of 
making the first attempt to establish a 
newspaper at Clyde. He issued the Clyde 
Times in April, 1866, sold it in 1867 to J. M. 
Lemmon and Mr. Notly, who continued the 
publication about one year, and sold out to 
parties from Elmore, in Ottawa county, who 
moved the press and material away. 

THE CLYDE NEWS 

was the next paper printed in Clyde. It was 
started by Clark Brothers, from Berea, in. 
1868. Six months afterwards one of the 
brothers died and the printing of the paper 
was for a time suspended. In 



the fall of the year 1868, George E. 
Sweetland & Brothers bought the material 
and resumed the publication of the paper. In 
1869 H. H. Sweetland became the sole 
owner, and for a time published the paper; 
then L. D. Sweetland bought an interest in 
the business. The two Sweetland brothers 
last named carried on the paper until 1870, 
when it was discontinued for want of 
support. 

THE CLYDE INDEPENDENT. 

This paper was started by W. W. White in 
1870, who conducted it until 1874, when he 
sold the paper, and material for printing it, to 
F. J. Tuttle, on whose hands the paper lost 
patronage and died within a year. Mr. White 
emigrated to Canada, and, after his departure 
it was revealed that he had so badly dealt 
with the patrons of the paper as to ruin it, 
hence the chief cause of its failure in the 
hands of Mr. Tuttle. 

THE CLYDE REVIEW. 

In 1873 Mr. George E. Sweetland returned 
to Clyde and commenced the publication of 
the Clyde Review, and carried it on until 
August, 1877, when he suddenly removed 
the press and material, and himself also, to 
the State of Michigan, and the publication of 
the Review was discontinued. In August, 
1881, Mr. Sweetland came back to Clyde 
and resumed the publication of the Review, 
beginning where he left off in 1877. It is a 
small sheet, printed in an amateur office 
owned by William Frederick, publisher of an 
insurance paper, Mr. Sweetland having no 
office or printing material of his own. 

THE CLYDE SENTINEL. 

In the winter of 1874-75 A. D. Ames, who 
was publishing a paper at Green Spring, 
came to Clyde and began the publication of 
the Clyde Sentinel. George J. Hulgate 
afterwards became his partner, and, in 
company with his brother, R. P. 



238 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Holgate, subsequently bought the paper and 
material. The Sentinel was discontinued in 
May, 1880, when it became merged in the 

CLYDE ENTERPRISE. 

The Enterprise was established in March, 
1878, by Mr. H. F. Paden, with whom H. N. 
Lay was a partner until May, 1880, and A. 
D. Kinney from that date until July, 1881. In 
May, 1880, as above mentioned, the Clyde 
Sentinel was discontinued as a distinct 
publication, and its material and subscription 
list transferred to the Enterprise. The 
Enterprise, under the management of Mr. 
Paden, has become a public favorite. He 
wields a free, graceful, and fluent pen, and is 
a genial gentleman, of straight-out Republi- 
can principles, though courteous to oppo- 
nents when duty will permit him to be so. 
The Enterprise under his editorial control 
has obtained a much larger circulation than 
any former paper of Clyde, and seems to rest 
on a solid foundation, not only financially, 
but in public favor. While we acknowledge 
ourselves under obligation for much 
information concerning the press at Clyde, 
we must clear him of egotism by saying that 
the favorable comments on Mr. Paden and 
his paper are made by the writer, and must 
not be attributed to himself. 

THE PRESS OF BELLEVUE. 

Although the wealthy, pleasant village of 
Bellevue is not wholly within Sandusky 
county, it may be interesting to some of the 
people of the county to have the history of 
the whole press of that place put on record in 
this work, and we therefore do so. 

The first venture was made by G. W. 
Hopkins, in the fall of 1851. He opened an 
office in the old Howard house — now 
defunct on Monroe street, and issued 



THE BELLEVUE GAZETTE, 

with the still more pretentious title of Huron, 
Seneca, Erie, and Sandusky Advertiser, 
having a spread eagle at its masthead, 
bearing a scroll with "open to all" 
emblazoned upon it. The paper was a five- 
column folio, in coarse type, devoted to 
current news and the ventilation of such 
ideas as contributors were ambitious to 
furnish. C. C. Cook, at present deputy 
postmaster, served in the capacity of "devil," 
thus being the first "printer's devil." His 
most vivid remembrance is that of his duty 
to ink the forms on an old wooden Franklin 
press — a duty with little sentiment and no 
poetry to allure him on to continued service. 
The people felt disposed to give the paper a 
fair support, but its editor was a victim to 
that human bane-strong drink; so, after a 
brilliant but brief career of six months, the 
fledgling perished. 

In April of 1861, Mr. O. B. Chapman 
opened a printing office in Squire's block, 
corner of Main and Sandusky streets, and 
issued 

THE BELLEVUE INDEPENDENT. 

a seven-column folio, devoted to general and 
local news. This was the first year of the 
great rebellion, and it would seem that the 
stirring events of those times would furnish 
the necessary pabulum to make it a success. 
But it continued only a short time, and then 
perished for reasons not now apparent. 

We now come to consider the first suc- 
cessful paper established in the village - one 
to which the town is largely indebted for 
many of its most valued improvements, 
being always intensely devoted to the 
welfare of the place and the advocacy of 
such public works and measures as would 
secure its greatest prosperity. We therefore 
think its editor worthy of more than a 
passing notice. Mr. E. P. Brown says of 
himself that he was born at Oxford, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



239 



Ohio, March 5, 1842, of distressingly poor 
but outrageously honest parents, and claims 
that the laws of hereditary transmission have 
not, therefore, allowed him a fair chance. 
His early life was one of toil, with little 
advantage in the way of education, an old 
darkey preacher being his best tutor, but was 
successful in obtaining a "sheepskin" in a 
public school and valedictory honors. He 
learned the trade of printer in the office of 
the Oxford Citizen at the age of fourteen, 
when he obtained employment in a 
Cincinnati job office. He enlisted in the 
Thirteenth Ohio volunteer infantry at 
Urbana, Ohio, in 1861, and fought the 
enemies of his country for two years, lacking 
a week, serving in all the engagements of 
that regiment until the battle of Shiloh, when 
a rebel bullet between the eyes placed him 
hors du combat. He was left for dead, and 
was thus reported, and had the pleasure of 
reading his own obituary, containing much 
of a laudatory nature, a privilege seldom 
accorded the human family; but subsequent 
events show him to be an exceedingly lively 
corpse. His wound gave him an honorable 
discharge from the Thirteenth, but he finally 
reentered the army in the one hundred day's 
service as substitute for a Dutchman, in the 
One Hundred and sixty-seventh regiment, re- 
ceiving three hundred dollars therefor. After 
the close of the war Mr. Brown casually 
made the acquaintance of William L. 
Meyers, of the Tiffin Tribune, who proved a 
fast, firm, friend, and proposed that, since 
Bellevue was an excellent place to establish 
a paper, they embark together in the 
enterprise. They did so, but at the end of the 
first six weeks Mr. Meyers became 
discouraged and sold his interest to his 
partner for four hundred and fifty dollars, on 
a year's time. Mr. Brown himself had had but 
two years experience in editorial work, and 
never managed an 



office on his own responsibility, hence he 
entered upon it with fear and trembling, 
almost certain he would fail inside the first 
six months. The outfit of type was purchased 
of the Franklin foundry, amounting to eight 
hundred and twenty-three dollars. A six- 
column Washington hand press and a half- 
medium Wells' jobber was purchased 
second-hand of other parties, for two 
hundred and thirty-seven dollars. This 
comprised the outfit. On Saturday, August 
10, 1867, the first number of 

THE BELLEVUE GAZETTE 

saw the light. The interest taken by the 
business men in the success of the paper is 
shown by the material aid they accorded it. 
C. A. Willard, a leading business man, 
solicited all the subscriptions. Business men 
pledged one thousand two hundred dollars, 
deposited in Sinclair's bank, to be paid at the 
first issue, and taken in advertising during 
the first year, which was conscientiously 
done, and made the capital used by the 
energetic, intelligent, and careful 
management of Mr. Brown, insuring success. 
At the time the first number was printed, 
an all-absorbing interest gathered around the 
press. Indeed, the room was full, and as the 
clean, handsome twenty-four-column sheet 
was taken off the press, Mr. Willard's 
rhapsody was beyond expression. Peter 
Brady, present village mayor, was present, 
and as deeply interested as any until, in 
looking over the church notices, the blunder 
was discovered of dubbing him Rev. Peter 
Brady, pastor of the Catholic church. This 
was too much, and any idea that the editor 
may have had that Mr. Brady was a member 
of the clerical profession was immediately 
dispelled then and there. Proper correction 
being made, the printing of the edition 
proceeded. 



240 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Under Mr. Brown's careful management 
and the fulfillment of every anticipation the 
citizens may have had as to the benefits the 
village would derive from the paper, it 
proved an unbounded success, and all fears 
on his part of a failure were dispelled like 
clouds before the morning sun. In the course 
of the next three years Mr. Brown purchased 
a Hoe cylinder railroad press at a bargain, 
one which originally belonged to Dan Rice, 
and was used to print his show bills. This 
enabled him to branch out in the business. 
He, therefore, engaged in furnishing ready- 
prints for other offices, and introduced 
steam. Business increased on his hands until 
Mr. Aiken, the originator of the ready-print 
method of publishing newspapers, made him 
a very advantageous offer to accept the 
management of a new establishment in 
Cincinnati, which he did, and ultimately 
became, as he is now, the sole proprietor- 
only another example of what pluck, energy, 
and good management will do. 

Mr. E. J. Hammer bought the Gazette 
when Mr. Brown went to Cincinnati, en- 
tering upon its management July 1, 1874. 
Mr. Hammer was not a large man, but had 
large ideas, aspiring to greater things than 
the conduct of a one-horse country paper. 
Although that was very well done, yet his 
more ambitious views led him to unite with 
George B. Pratt to start the Norwalk 
Chronicle, which, being a county paper, was 
a step, at least, in the direction of excelsior. 
He finally turned the Gazette over to his 
father, Rev. George Hammer, of Van Wert, 
Ohio. The old gentleman, though very kindly 
disposed, had little or no practical skill in 
the publishing business, hence found it an 
elephant on his hands. In the spring of 1877, 
he sold it to Messrs. C. D. Stoner and S. C. 
Thompson, under whose care the paper 
throve, finding a cordial, generous support 
among the people of the community, whose 
at 



tachment for an old friend was proof against 
mismanagement of the former proprietors, as 
well as the machinations of enemies. In the 
fall of 1879 Mr. Thompson retired from the 
paper, and C. D. Stoner conducted it until 
the following year, when he associated with 
himself Mr. C. R. Callighan, a promising 
young man, under the firm name of Stoner & 
Callighan, who continue the publication with 
a fair degree of success. 

At the time, Mr. K J. Hammer had started 
the Chronicle, and therefore contemplated 
the sale of the Gazette, as well as removal to 
Norwalk, H. F. Baker, son of Hiram Baker, 
one of the early pioneer settlers in Lyme 
township, proposed to buy it, but, unable to 
agree upon the price, he decided to purchase 
new material and start another paper. He had 
really no experience in the printing business, 
but his son, H. L. Baker, had mastered some 
of the intricacies of the trade in the Gazette 
office, and having a natural tact for it, they 
together hoped to make their venture a 
success. This determination was acted upon; 
an office was opened in the new Union 
block, and on Thursday, October 21, 1875, 
the first number of 

THE BELLEVUE LOCAL NEWS 

was issued. The paper flourished from the 
start. Being managed with full average 
ability, and by those brought up in the 
community, well versed in all its lore, it 
represents the local interests of the town 
with greater intensity than any other has 
been able to do. In April, 1878, Mr. Baker 
purchased the old Burlington stone building, 
contiguous to the new city hall, and tearing 
down the old front, rebuilt of brick in the 
same style of the city hall, which together 
make as fine a block among the many fine 
business houses as the town can boast. The 
proprietors put steam presses and engine 
info their new quarters and are conducting a 
flourishing business. 




The Mcpherson Monument at Clyde, Ohio. 



CHAPTER XXII. 
MILITARY HISTORY. 



The War of 1812 — Mexican War — Volunteers of the War of the Rebellion, with Brief Histories of Regiments Recruited in whole or in 

part in Sandusky County. 



THE war of the Revolution was history, 
the Indian wars in which Wayne's 
memorable campaign occurred, the mem- 
orable battles at sea, the battles of Tippe- 
canoe and the Thames under Harrison, the 
last gun fired by Jackson at New Orleans had 
ceased to reverberate, Packenham had 
surrendered, and the War of 1812 brought to 
a glorious termination by American valor, 
before Sandusky county, as a civil and 
political organization, came into existence. 

Although the county was not organized 
until several years after the close of the War 
of 1812, a number of the soldiers of that war 
were pioneer settlers and aided in the 
organization. Amongst these we are able to 
give the following names, not doubting that 
there were others whose names cannot now 
be obtained. Among those soldiers of the 
war with England commonly designated as 
the War of 1812, who are known to have 
been here when the county was organized, 
we give the following: David Gallagher, 
Jeremiah Everett, Thomas L. Hawkins, 
Charles B. Fitch, Captain Jonathan H. 
Jerome, Israel Harrington, Josiah Rumery, 
and James justice. 

The county, however, embraces ground 
rendered memorable by the War of 1812, 
and such localities as Fort Stephenson, in the 
present city of Fremont, and Ball's battle 
ground, in Ballville township, are places of 
which our people are proud, and from which 
they still inhale the inspiration of true 
patriotism. The war with Mexico offered the. 
citizens of the county their 



first opportunity to display their zeal in the 
military service of the country. In the spring 
of 1847, a company of infantry was promptly 
recruited by Captain Samuel Thompson, a 
veteran who was wounded in the battle of 
Lundy's Lane, in the War of 1812. The 
members of this company were: 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain Samuel Thompson. 
First Lieutenant Isaac Knapp. 
Second Lieutenant George M. Tillotson. 
Second Lieutenant Lewis Leppelman. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Orderly Sergeant Isaac Swank. 
Sergeant Thomas Pinkerton. 
Sergeant Michael Wegstein. 
Sergeant James R. Francisco. 
Corporal John Williams. 
Corporal John M. Crowell. 
Corporal Benjamin Myers. 
Corporal Edward Leppelman. 
Musician Charles Everett. 
Musician Grant Forgerson. 

PRIVATES. 

William Scothorne, David Beery, C. D. Bishop, David 
Mowry, Joseph Stout, John Quinn, David Sane, David Beagel, 
John Beagel, Charles Faught, Charles Dennis, Samuel Faught, 
Timothy Wilcox, Franklin Dirlam, Frank Rathbun, Hosea 
Maxham, Henry McMillen, George A. Wheeler, Byron 
Wheeler, David Westfall, Albert Stinson, W. L. Engst, George 
Smith, Henry Swint, Sebastian Smith, John Deterly, Christian 
Steblin, Jacob Gugle, Jacob Fuller, Alexander Hartdrink, G. F. 
Wisner, L. D. Bunce, John Linebaugh, Darwin Clark, David 
Morton, Martin Zeigler, George Newman, William Parrish, 
Elias Shawl, Lewis Barkimer, Levi Hufford, Holly Newton, 
Elias Lowens, John McConnel, Samuel Hartly, John Stull, 
David Garret, Monroe Coffin, Erastus Honeywell, John G. 
Bartow, John J. Clark, Henry Lovejoy, Evan Davis, George 
Beem, Barzillia Inman, Holly Seeley, Theodore Fitzgerald, 
Frank Robbins, Charles Michael, Jacob Yanny, John Davis, 
John Fabing, James Van Pelt, Henry Fisher, Daniel Bender, 
George W. Kershner, Frederick Grider, Frederick 



241 



242 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Weiker, Jacob Sabley, Lewis Newcomer, Patrick Dougherty, 
Richard Cowper, Thomas Mason, Charles Cook, Charles 
Fitch. 

After Captain Thompson had enlisted the 
required number of men for his company, he 
was ordered to report at Cincinnati. The 
company travelled by wagons from Lower 
Sandusky, now Fremont, to Perrysburg, 
where canal-boats were furnished for their 
further movement. Thence they were 
transported through the Miami Canal to 
Cincinnati on the same boats. They arrived 
at Cincinnati in due time, and in June, 1847, 
were mustered into service in the Fourth 
regiment of Ohio Volunteers, then forming 
in that city. 

The Fourth regiment of Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry, of which this company, C, now 
formed a part, were: 

Colonel Charles H. Brough. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Augustus Moore. 
Major William P. Young. 
Surgeon Oliver M. Langdon. 
Assistant Surgeon Henry E. Foote. 

The regiment was transported by 
steamboat down the Ohio and Mississippi 
Rivers to a place called Carleton, eight miles 
above New Orleans. From New Orleans the 
regiment was transported by steamer to 
Brazos Santiago, Texas, thence it marched to 
the mouth of the Rio Grande River. From the 
mouth of the Rio Grande the regiment 
moved by water transportation to 
Matamoras; thence to Vera Cruz, where the 
regiment was incorporated into, and became 
part of Brevet Major-General Joseph Lane's 
brigade. 

At Vera Cruz Captain Thompson returned 
home, on account of age and disability, and 
from that time the command of the company 
devolved upon Lieutenant Knapp through the 
entire war. 

The company, with the brigade, left Vera 
Cruz on the afternoon of Sunday, September 
19, 1847. At this time General Lane's 
brigade consisted of a battery of five pieces 
from the Third regiment 



United States artillery, under Captain 
George Taylor, also a battery of two pieces 
from the Second artillery, under First 
Lieutenant Henry C. Pratt, Lewis's cavalry, 
Sinlon's battalion, Fourth regiment Indiana 
volunteer infantry, and Fourth regiment of 
Ohio volunteer infantry, commanded by 
Colonel Charles H. Brough. A part of the 
road between Vergara and Puentade Marino, 
lay through sand ridges almost destitute of 
verdure, and the soldiers were obliged to 
push the artillery carriages up many of the 
steep ascents, on account of the large, deep 
ruts which had been formed. General Lane 
and his staff accompanied the brigade. About 
night-fall the brigade halted for the night at a 
little hamlet called Santa Fe. Here were 
found signs of the ravages of war, in the 
blacked and charred remains of the beautiful 
little hamlet. It had been the scene of a fight 
on the 25th of March, 1847, between 
Harney, with his dragoons, and a body of 
Mexicans. At this place the command 
camped for the night. 

The brigade marched thence with various 
interesting incidents, to the National fridge. 
This bridge is an ancient structure, and a 
brief description of it will be interesting to 
the general reader, and especially so to those 
who have an interest in what the volunteers 
from Sandusky saw on their march, as well 
as where they went. The National bridge of 
Mexico is a magnificent structure, and 
crosses the Rio Antaiqua, a swift stream 
which rises near the base of Mount Orizaba, 
and rests on a number of arches. The mason- 
ry is of the most durable character. It was 
finished in the year 1776, and at that date, 
1847, near three-quarters of a century after 
its completion, showed no sign of decay or 
displacement. At the middle of the bridge is 
a monument giving the date of its 
commencement and its completion, and by it 
are stone seats for weary 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



243 



travelers. There is a strong wall on each side 
of the bridge, running the whole length of it, 
which is between three and four feet high. 
Midway between the east and west ends of 
the bridge there is a high rocky eminence on 
which a fort was built by the Mexican 
empire. The bridge was formerly called 
Puente del Rey, or the Bridge of the King, 
but after Mexico became a republic the name 
was changed to Puenta Nacional, or National 
Bridge, and was a point of great military 
importance during the revolutions in 
Mexico. This bridge, with surrounding 
scenery, travelers say without doubt forms 
one of the most sublime landscapes in 
Mexico. The brigade of which the Sandusky 
volunteers formed a part, arrived at the 
National bridge about the 23d of September, 
1847. The bridge was then under the control 
of the American forces, but the possession of 
it had cost several severe struggles and the 
loss of more than a hundred brave men. 
Finally Colonel Hughes, in command of a 
battalion of Maryland, District of Columbia 
troops, after a hard struggle obtained 
possession of the fort at the summit of the 
rocky elevation, and thenceforward there 
was no more trouble from that fort. This 
action took place on the 9th of September, 
and about two weeks before General Lane's 
brigade arrived at that point. 

The ascent of this eminence, which was 
necessary to dislodge the Mexicans, was, if 
possible, more difficult than that of Lookout 
Mountain. Historians say that the only way 
the men could get up, was to pull themselves 
up by clinging to the roots and branches of 
the shrubs which covered the rocks on the 
sides of the steep acclivity. 

The brigade pushed forward, passing the 
battle ground of Cerro Gordo, and reaching 
the city of Jalapa on the afternoon of the 
30th of September, 1847. 



Although it would be interesting to 
describe minutely the marches, incidents, 
country, and scenery through which our 
Sandusky boys passed, still such narration 
would involve a portion of the history of the 
Mexican War, and would hardly be pertinent 
to our history of the county-still, to show the 
true state of affairs, and why Lane's brigade 
was urged on to Pueblo, it is proper to say, 
that when General Scott advanced upon the 
city of Mexico, which is seventy miles from 
Pueblo, he left Colonel Childs, of the 
artillery, at Pueblo with a body of men to 
guard the city, and protect the sick who were 
in the hospitals to the number of eighteen 
hundred men. The force left under the 
command of Colonel Childs numbered in all 
three hundred and ninety-three men. The 
cured from the hospitals afterward swelled 
this force to the number of fourteen hundred 
effective men. 

Everything was quiet about Pueblo while 
Scott was fighting at the city of Mexico, but 
as soon as the Mexicans there were 
overcome, they turned their attention toward 
Pueblo. On the 24th of September a large 
body of Mexicans came into Pueblo, and 
commenced the siege of that place which 
lasted until the lath of October, when 
General Lane arrived with his column. 

On the 22d of September, 1847, Santa 
Anna arrived at Pueblo from Mexico, with a 
considerable force, and assumed command 
of the Mexican forces, which at this time 
amounted to eight thousand men. Childs was 
summoned to surrender, but politely 
declined to do so, saying that Americans 
were not inclined to do such things. And he 
did not surrender, but held the fort until the 
arrival of Lane with his brigade, which, after 
a fight in the streets of Pueblo, drove the 
Mexicans away, and relieved Colonel 
Childs. 
The Fourteenth Ohio regiment re- 



244 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



maimed at Pueblo until after the treaty with 
Mexico was ratified. On the 2d of June, 
1848, the regiment left Pueblo on the return 
home. They reached Cincinnati in the latter 
part of July, where they were discharged, 
and Company C, homeward bound, travelled 
to Tiffin by railroad, thence to Fremont by 
wagons, to be warmly and thankfully 
received by their friends. Although the 
company lost few in battle, there were few 
sound men in the ranks when they reached 
home. Nearly all were greatly enfeebled by 
the diseases incident to Mexico and army 
life, and chronic diarrhea carried off a 
number after reaching home, and enfeebled 
many during the remainder of life. 

Captains Amon C. Bradley and J. A. 
Jones also recruited a number of men in 
Sandusky county for the Mexican war. It has 
been ascertained that the following named 
were enlisted in the company of Captain 
Jones, whose company, however, was 
chiefly composed of men from Huron 
county, their headquarters being at Norwalk: 

Matthew H. Chance, John Stahl, George 
Momeny, John Griffin, Nathan Griffin. 

The following other named men were 
volunteers from Sandusky county, and went 
into service, but whether in Captain 
Bradley's or Captain Jones' company, cannot 
be determined by the information within our 
reach, to wit: 

Jesse Herbster, Ephraim Herbster, Amos Crain, 
Frederick Noss, Michael Oberst, Amos Cumings, Aitkin 
Morton, George Fafer, George Parrish, Joseph F. 
Francis, Henry S. Francisco, and Andrew Kline. 

THE WAR OF THE REBELLION 

The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, 
gave offense to the leading statesmen of the 
South. 

The baneful teachings of Calhoun had 
planted deeply and widely in the minds of 
the Southern people the political heresy that 
the several States of the Union were 



each sovereign, and had the right to secede, 
and to be the judge of their cause for 
seceding, and when they might respectively 
exercise the right. Not only did this doctrine 
prevail in the South, but the Northern 
Democracy, under the same, had for years 
given at least tacit assent to the teachings of 
Calhoun as the true theory of our 
Government. The Republican party rejected 
this theory, and claimed that we were a 
Nation, that for National purposes the 
Government of the United States must 
necessarily be supreme and the States 
subordinate. 

The right and wrong of slavery in the 
Southern States, and the question of its 
extension into the territories which were 
soon to become States, had for years been 
debated in Congress, by the press of the 
country, by orators on the stump, and by 
lecturers on the platform, until the public 
mind had become profoundly agitated on the 
subject, both North and South. 

The election of Abraham Lincoln dem- 
onstrated that the institution of slavery could 
not be extended, and Southern statesmen 
whose influence had dominated the 
Government so long, saw plainly that 
without an extension of their peculiar 
institution, their power was destined to pass 
away, and that the sentiment of freedom 
would dominate in all departments of the 
Government. They clearly foresaw that such 
a condition, coupled with the growing and 
aggressive anti-slavery sentiment in the free 
States, would not only take from them the 
ascendency in the Government and the 
benefits of its patronage, but threatened the 
very existence of their own peculiar 
institution of slavery in the States where it 
existed. Hence, we see, political convictions, 
State pride,, love of power, and a 
tremendous force of self interest in the 
ownership of slaves, all converging to drive 
them to the terrible resort of a conflict of 
armed force. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



245 



It is unnecessary here to recite all the 
steps taken by the enemies of the Union 
anterior to the inauguration of Abraham 
Lincoln. 

Fort Moultrie, when surrounded by 
scowling, deadly foes too numerous to be re- 
sisted, had been wisely abandoned by Major 
Anderson, who was compelled to transfer his 
feeble force to Fort Sumter in the night of 
December 26, 1860. 

John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, had 
resigned his post on the 29th of the same 
month. 

Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Inte- 
rior, had left his post with a heavy defalca- 
tion of eight hundred and seventy thousand 
dollars in his department. 

The Star of the West, carrying rein- 
forcements and supplies to Major Anderson 
at Fort Sumter, had been fired upon by the 
rebels and compelled to turn back. 

General Twiggs, commanding the United 
States military forces in Texas, had, on the 
aid of February, 1860, treacherously, 
traitorously, turned over to the State of 
rebellious Texas, all the forces under his 
command, being nearly half the then regular 
army of the United States, with all the 
property and military stores in that State, 
amounting to near two millions of dollars in 
value. 

The ship Star of the West, which, after its 
return from the abortive attempt to reinforce 
and provision Fort Sumter, was dispatched, 
laden with supplies for the army of the 
frontier, went into the harbor of Indianola 
unsuspicious of the extent of the rebellion, 
and became an easy prey to the exultant 
rebels., 

The defensive fortifications located 
within the seceded States, mounting over 
three thousand guns, and having cost more 
than twenty millions of dollars, had been 
seized and appropriated by the Confederates- 
all under the eyes of President Buchanan, 
without a hand raised to prevent the rob- 



bery of the Nation, or to punish treason to 
the Government. 

There it no doubt but the naturally weak 
President, by accepting the doctrines of 
Calhoun, and by pledges to administer the 
Government according to the requirements 
of Southern statesmen, was fettered and 
bound hand and foot, and all his powers to 
save the Union were paralyzed. Hence he 
stood stupid, amazed, and helpless while 
the Union was crumbling, betrayed, and 
robbed, and an opposing confederacy 
formed with the purpose of overthrowing 
the Constitution of the fathers, and 
subjugating the North by armed force. 

While the later events above noticed were 
being enacted, and on the 11th of February, 
1861, Abraham Lincoln left his home at 
Springfield, Illinois, for Washington City. 
The story of his journey, how the people 
honored him on the way, how at Harrisburg 
his friends, having good ground to believe 
he would be assassinated at Baltimore if he 
should pass through there at the appointed 
time, started him on his journey through 
that city twenty-four hours in advance of 
the contemplated time, that he should 
escape from the assassins lying in wait for 
their opportunity; how he arrived at 
Washington; how he was inaugurated, his 
pleading with the rebels to desist and accept 
his most generous offers for peace 
consistent with the existence of the Union, 
are all too familiar to the people to need 
particularizing here. 

On the 15th of April, 1861, President 
Lincoln issued his proclamation for 
seventy-five thousand volunteer militia to 
be furnished by the several States according 
to population. The apportionment to Ohio 
was thirteen regiments, of seven hundred 
and eighty men each. 

The intelligent people of Sandusky county 
had watched all the events preceding this 
proclamation, with a burning, pat- 



246 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



riotic indignation. And now, when this 
proclamation came to them, they fairly 
leaped into the service. The first opportunity 
offered was to form two companies of the 
Eighth Ohio volunteer infantry, to serve 
three months. Hundreds of able-bodied men 
of Sandusky county offered to volunteer, but 
the quota for Ohio was so suddenly filled 
that they were denied the coveted privilege 
of serving their country under this first call. 

The Eighth regiment Ohio volunteers was 
first organized as a three months' regiment, 
at Camp Taylor, Cleveland, Ohio, and sent 
to Camp Dennison for equipment and drill, 
April 28, 1861. It was subsequently 
reorganized for three years, and left camp 
for West Virginia July 8, 1861, the following 
named officers and companies having been 
mustered into the service: 

FIELD AND STAFF. 

Colonel Herman G. DePuy, Erie county. 

Lieutenant Colonel Charles A. Park, Lorain county. 

Major Franklin Sawyer, Huron county. 

Adjutant Joseph R. Swigout, Crawford county. 

Quartermaster Herman Reuss, Huron county. 

Surgeon Benjamin Tappan, Jefferson county. 

Assistant Surgeon Samuel Sexton, Hamilton county. 

Chaplain L. N. Freeman, Erie county. 

Surgeons B. Tappan, resigned; Thomas McEbright, 
resigned; Joseph L. Bunton. 

Assistant Surgeons-S. Sexton, resigned; T. Culver, 
resigned; Freeman A. Tuttle and James S. Pollock. 

Chaplains — Rev. L. N. Freeman, resigned, and 
Alexander Miller. 

Adjutants — Lieutenant Joseph R. Swigart, transferred 
to General Kimball's staff; Lieutenant David Lewis, 
promoted to captain, and Lieutenant John W. DePuy. 

Quartermasters — Lieutenant Herman Ruess and 
Lieutenant E. F. Dickinson, promoted to captain. 

The regiment was composed of ten 
companies: Company A, from Seneca 
county; Company B, Cleveland; Company C, 
Crawford county; Company D, Huron 
county; Company E, Erie county; Companies 
F and G, Sandusky county; 



Company H, Medina and Lorain; Company 
I, Lorain, and Company K, Medina. 

Company F was organized in Sandusky 
county. Captain George M. Tillotson died at 
Fremont, Ohio, March 4, 1863; First 
Lieutenant Charles M. Fouke, resigned; 
Second Lieutenant E. W. Cook, resigned; 
First Lieutenant Henry Farnum, promoted 
from sergeant, also promoted to captain, 
wounded at Gettysburg; Second Lieutenant 
Thomas H. Thornburgh, promoted from 
sergeant, wounded at Mine Run. 

Company G was organized in Sandusky 
county. Captain William E. Haynes, pro- 
moted to Lieutenant Colonel Tenth Ohio 
volunteer cavalry; First Lieutenant Ed. ward 
F. Dickinson, promoted to captain, served as 
regimental quartermaster (since a member of 
Forty-first Congress from Ninth 

Congressional district of Ohio); Second 
Lieutenant Creighton Thompson, wounded at 
Antietam. 

The regiment left Camp Dennison for 
Virginia, July 8, 1861, and served in the 
campaign against Garnett's force; was 
present at an attempt on Romney, under 
Colonel Cantwell of the Eighty-second Ohio, 
at its capture under General Kelley. It was 
also engaged in a skirmish at Blue Gap and 
at Bloomey Gap. During the winter of 1861- 
62 it formed a part of General Lander's 
force, on the Upper Potomac, Patterson's 
Creek, and Paw Paw Tunnel. 

In November, 1861, Colonel DePuy and 
Lieutenant-Colonel Park resigned and Cap- 
tain S. S. Carroll, of the United States Army, 
was appointed colonel. Major Sawyer was 
promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and Captain 
A. H. Winslow to major. Colonel Carroll 
was a graduate of West Point, brave, active, 
and devoted to his profession. During six 
weeks under his command, at Romney, the 
regiment attained a high state of proficiency 
in drill and tac- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



247 



tics, and the esprit du cords for which it was 
afterwards greatly celebrated., 

In March, 1862, the regiment joined 
General Shields' division, in the Valley of 
the Shenandoah, and took part in the 
campaign against "Stonewall" Jackson; and, 
on the 23d of March, in the battle of 
Winchester, Colonel Carroll, with part of the 
regiment, was at one time hotly engaged on 
the left of the position, losing three men 
killed, and receiving several balls in his 
clothing. Colonel Sawyer, with companies C, 
D, E, and H, was on the right, and charged 
the enemy in flank, in conjunction with the 
Fifth and Sixty-second Ohio. The loss in 
these four companies in killed and wounded 
was more than one-fourth the number 
engaged. 

After this battle Colonel Carroll was 
placed in command of a brigade, and did not 
again command the regiment, which was, 
during the balance of its service, in 
command of Lieutenant-Colonel Sawyer, 
with brief exception. The regiment was at 
this time assigned to General Kimball's 
brigade, consisting of the Fourth and Eighth 
Ohio, Fourteenth Indiana, and Seventh 
Virginia. 

Shields' division now moved to Fred- 
ericksburg, and left General Banks to his 
fate in the valley; and as soon as he had been 
driven back into Maryland, Shields marched 
back to the valley. Kimball's brigade retook 
Front Royal, the Eighth being in front, and 
Captain Haynes, of Company G, entered the 
town, capturing most of the force and 
supplies of the rebels, also capturing the 
famous Belle Boyd. After Shields' failure at 
Port Republic he was relieved, and Kimball, 
with his brigade, sent to join McClellan, on 
the James, where he arrived on the 2d of 
July, by steamer, and debarked at Harrison's 
Landing as McClellan was falling back from 
Malvern Hill. Immediately, under command 
of General Ferry, the 



brigade pushed out for the Chickahominy, 
constantly skirmishing with the enemy for 
several days. On the 4th of July the Eighth 
drove in the enemy's pickets, losing seven 
men killed and wounded. 

The regiment remained at Harrison's 
Landing until the line of the James River 
was abandoned, August 16, 1862, when, 
being organized with French's division, 
Sumner's corps, then and afterwards known 
as Second Division, Second Corps, the 
regiment returned to Yorktown, thence to 
Newport News, whence, by transports, it 
arrived at Alexandria; thence marched to 
Centreville, where the retreating army of 
Pope was met. Here the corps protected the 
retreat of the army; supported Kearney at 
Chantilly, and moved on the left flank, 
crossing the Potomac at the chain bridge. 
From this point the corps moved to the 
Monocacy, having a brisk skirmish, thence 
to South Mountain, where the corps 
supported Burnside, and witnessed the battle 
of the 15th September. The corps crossed the 
mountain next morning, and took position on 
the Antietam which it crossed early on the 
morning of the 17th, and attacked the enemy 
by divisions in front of Sharpsburg. The 
First division, under Sedgwick, had been 
driven back, and our division, under French, 
was ordered forward, and finally carried an 
important position at the point of the 
bayonet. Kimball led his brigade gallantly to 
the work; not a man faltered, but the position 
was gained only at a loss of nearly one-half 
his men. But few over three hundred, rank 
and file, of the Eighth were present, and its 
loss in the battle was one hundred and sixty- 
two killed and wounded. Lieutenants 
Delany, Lantry, Bill, and Barnes were killed, 
and Lieutenants Shilletto Smith, company A, 
and Thompson, company G, each losing an 
eye, were carried from the field supposed to 
be dead. Nine other officers 



248 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



were severely wounded. Colonel Sawyer's 
and Adjutant Lewis' horses were both shot. 
Lieutenant Dickinson, then acting as 
quartermaster, was on the field during the 
day acting as aid-de-camp to General 
Kimball. The Fourteenth Indiana lost 
heavily, and in conjunction with the Eighth 
made a partial change of position under fire. 
The Seventh Virginia lost heavily also, and 
Colonel Oakford, One Hundred and Twenty- 
sixth Pennsylvania, was killed. This 
regiment — One Hundred and Twenty-sixth 
Pennsylvania — replaced the Fourth Ohio, 
which was at the time in convalescent camp 
at some distance from the battlefield. 
General French honored the brigade with the 
title of "the Gibraltar brigade." 

From this place the brigade was pushed 
rapidly to Harper's Ferry, and thence to 
Leesburgh, on a tedious and fruitless ex- 
pedition. From Harper's Ferry the regiment, 
with the army, marched to Falmouth, and 
participated in the battle of Fredericksburg, 
December 12, 1862. In this battle the Eighth 
and Fourth Ohio and First Delaware on the 
left, in command of Colonel Sawyer, formed 
a sort of forlorn hope, being ordered to drive 
in the pickets and sharpshooters between the 
town and Marie's Hill, to cut and level the 
fences, etc. This was gallantly done, and the 
position designated taken by the troops, at a 
point beyond which no organization of 
troops passed during the terrible battle that 
followed. 

Captain Allen, company I, and Sergeant - 
Major Henthorn were killed, and several 
men were killed and wounded. 

Winter quarters were established at Fal- 
mouth. General Kimball having been 
severely wounded was relieved from com- 
mand. On the 10th of January, 1863, Colonel 
Carroll assumed command of the brigade, 
which he retained until wounded at the battle 
of Spottsylvania, May 12, 1864. 



The next battle was Chancellorsville. The 
Eighth regiment, though engaged in line of 
battle during the 2d, 3d, and 4th days of 
May, suffered but little, losing but one man 
killed and six wounded. 

Next came the Gettysburg campaign. In 
this battle the regiment showed conspicuous 
bravery. Midway between the two armies the 
turnpike is cut through a ridge, thus forming 
a good rifle-pit. This the rebels held, and 
from it their sharp-shooters were picking off 
our officers and men. The Eighth was 
ordered to take and hold the place. Colonel 
Sawyer led the charge, mounted, and drove 
out and captured the rebels in fine style. 
They were soon reinforced and attempted to 
retake it, but were driven back with great 
loss. 

This was on the afternoon of July 2d. The 
loss in the regiment had been severe, but the 
order was to "hold the fort." At daylight on 
the morning of the 3d the rebels again made 
a determined attack, but were repulsed. 
About noon a tremendous cannonade began, 
the shot from both armies passing overhead, 
and two of the men were killed. As soon as 
the artillery duel had ceased the rebel 
infantry began to move in force toward the 
line, the main body moving to our right, but 
three regiments confronting us. The whole 
regiment now remaining was drawn up in 
line and made a desperate charge with the 
bayonet as the rebel line approached, which 
broke and ran, leaving half its men and three 
battle-flags in our hands. One-half the 
regiment present were killed and wounded. 
Among the killed were Lieutenant Hayden, 
company H, Sergeant Kipko, company A, 
and Sergeant Peters, company G; among the 
wounded were Lieutenants Farnam and 
Thornburgh, company F, and Captains 
Pierce, Miller, Ried and Nickerson. The 
regiment, with its corps, followed up the 
rebels, skirmish- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



249 



ing continually, to Harper's Ferry, and 
thence to Culpeper. At this point the 
regiment was relieved from the front, and 
sent, with other troops, to New York city, by 
steamer, to suppress the draft riots. This trip 
was, to all, a most pleasant episode in army 
life. 

Returning from New York the regiment 
joined its corps, still at Culpeper. General 
Lee had turned the right wing of the army 
and was forcing it back over the path of 
Pope's retreat of the year before. During the 
retreat the Eighth was engaged in a severe 
skirmish at Auburn, and the brisk little battle 
at Bristow Station. Colonel Carroll's horse 
was killed, our baggage horses captured, and 
several men wounded. 

Lee now fell back to Mine Run, and 
Meade, commanding our army, followed. At 
a skirmish near Robinson's Tavern Colonel 
Sawyer's horse was killed, and several men 
killed and wounded. 

The army now went into winter quarters. 
On the 8th of February the Eighth 
participated in the skirmish at Morton's 
Ford, crossing the ford with the division 
under General Alexander Hayes. 

On the 3d of May, 1864, the regiment, 
with its corps, the Second, still commanded 
by General Hancock, crossed the Rapidan 
for the final campaign. The corps struck the 
enemy on the afternoon of the 5th, and the 
Eighth recaptured a gun just taken from 
Sedgwick, in which skirmish Lieutenant 
McKisson was wounded. The next morning 
the brigade was pushed forward, and the 
Eighth become hotly engaged in an almost 
hand to hand fight. Captain Craig, 
commanding company F, was killed, and 
Captain Lewis, commanding company G, 
was dangerously wounded, his left thigh 
bone being shot off. Several other losses 
occurred. Two wounded men fell into the 
hands of the rebels, and were carried to 
Anderson 



ville. Following the enemy to Spottsylvania 
the Eighth was engaged on the 9th, charging 
the enemy's works, with the division, which 
was repulsed. Lieutenant Huysung and 
Color-bearer James Conlan, were among the 
severely wounded. 

At a little after midnight on the morning 
of the 12th, the Second Corps drew out of its 
position, and, amid profound darkness, 
passed noiselessly to the left, with the design 
of attacking the enemy's right wing. By 
daylight we were supposed to be in its 
vicinity. The Eighth Ohio and First 
Delaware, in command of Colonel Sawyer, 
were ordered forward to clear out what 
appeared to be a few troops in an orchard 
and some negro huts in front. This developed 
the picket line, and the whole corps was 
soon in motion. The Eighth joined its 
brigade as it came up, and the whole 
division, moving forward at a quick-step, 
came upon a rebel brigade, which 
surrendered with hardly a shot, and soon 
received the first volley from the real rebel 
line. 

The salient, as the rebel right was 
repulsed, had been struck, and the whole 
corps, pushing forward at a double-quick, 
was soon master of the rebel works. The 
whole corps suffered fearfully, and the loss 
in the Eighth was terrible. Lieutenant 
Manahan, Company D, was killed; the color- 
bearer, Sergeant Gallagher, mortally 
wounded, with many others. Colonel Sawyer 
was severely wounded, at the time it was 
supposed mortally; Colonel Coons, 
Fourteenth Indiana, with other officers of his 
regiment, were killed; Colonel Lockwood, 
Seventh Virginia, terribly wounded; Colonel 
Davis, Twelfth New Jersey, the captain 
commanding the First Delaware, and several 
officers of the Fourth Ohio, all from our 
little brigade, lay dead around us as the 
smoke of the battle for a moment cleared 
away. The enemy soon rallied, and the fight 
went on. During 



250 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the day Colonel Carroll was severely 
wounded and carried from the field. 

Major Winslow now assumed command of 
the regiment. On the 19th it participated in 
the battle of the North Anna, crossing the 
river under fire, and losing several men. On 
the 26th it was again engaged at Hanover 
Court House, and on the 31st at Cold 
Harbor, in which battle the loss in the 
regiment was twenty-four killed and several 
wounded. 

The regiment was not again seriously 
engaged, but followed the fortunes of the 
Second Corps to the front of Petersburg, 
from which place it was relieved, and 
returned home, its term of enlistment having 
expired. It arrived in Cleveland on the 
morning of the 3d of July, 1864, and was 
mustered out on the 13th, numbering less 
than one hundred rank and file fit for duty. 

The regiment had been engaged in forty- 
eight battles and skirmishes. It had never 
wavered in its duty, never had lost its 
position in battle, had lost, all told, but six 
prisoners, and they were wounded and 
unable to be removed from the field. It had 
taken four rebel battle flags and twice its 
own number of prisoners. It had frequently, 
as a regiment, been commended by 
commanding generals for its bravery, and 
was complimented by Governor Brough as 
one of the best of Ohio's brave regiments. 

COMPANY F. 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain George M. Tillotson died March 4, 1863, at 
Fremont, Ohio. 

First Lieutenant Charles M. Fouke, resigned. 
Second Lieutenant Edward W. Cook, resigned. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant Henry A. Farnum, promoted to first 
lieutenant and captain, wounded at Gettysburg, July 3, 
1863. 

Sergeant Thomas H. Thornburgh, promoted to second 
lieutenant, wounded at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863, and at 
Mine Run, December 4, 1863. 

Sergeant James Daugherty, jr. 



Sergeant William H. Kirk, wounded at Antietam and 
discharged. 

Sergeant Joseph A. Fry, discharged January 16, 1862, 
for disability. 

Corporal Alfred M. Brown, discharged February 4, 
1863, for disability. 

Corporal Louis Mathews, killed at Antietam, Sep- 
tember 17, 1862. 

Corporal Michael Halderman, killed at Antietam. 
Corporal Richard Smithurst, killed at Antietam. 
Corporal Joseph Fisher, killed at Antietam. Corporal 
Edward S. Cooper. 

Corporal Charles A. Klegin, wounded at Chancel- 
lorsville. 

Corporal William H. Myers. 

PRIVATES. 

Charles D. Atkinson, discharged for disability; Zenus 
Nye, wounded at Antietam; Michael Moore, killed at 
Gettysburg; Philip Andrews, wounded at Gettysburg; 
Rudolph Arman; Noah Alspah; John Ashnell; Jonas 
B osier, killed at Antietam; William Burton, died 
September 21, 1872; Bernard Bondeli, discharged; John 
A. Bonnell, wounded at Winchester, discharged (since 
has been county treasurer of Wood county, Ohio); 
William W. Crandal, wounded at Antietam; Frank C. 
Culley, discharged for disability; Anthony C. Culver, 
discharged for disability; Isaac C. Chamberlain, 
wounded at Antietam; Vincent Dungheet, wounded at 
Chancel lorsvi lie, May 6, 1863; John B. Davis, 
discharged for disability; Benjamin D. Evans, 
discharged for disability; Josiah Fitzgerald; Joseph 
Fitzgerald; John S. (Fields, killed at Antietam; Matthew 
Freek, discharged for disability; Theodore Foster, 
wounded before Richmond; John D. Francis, discharged 
for disability; Henry Fairbanks, discharged for 
disability; Thomas W. Gordon, discharged for disability; 
Charles S. Grant; George Grisshaber, discharged for 
disability; Charles Guss, discharged for disability; 
Henry Graback, wounded in battle; Simon Gobble, 
wounded in battle; John Heller; Morris Hill, wounded at 
Antietam and discharged; William Jones, promoted to 
sergeant; Christian Jacobs; Joseph Kihm, discharged for 
disability; Josiah Linton, discharged for disability; John 
E. Lemon, died November 21, 1862; Balsar Leblo, 
wounded at Gettysburg; Emelius J. Leppleman, 
discharged for disability; Devit C. Lloyd, discharged for 
disability; John C. Mason, discharged for disability; 
William McBride; William Mullen, killed at 
Fredericksburg, December, 1862; William Miller; 
George W. Myers, wounded at Winchester; Anthony 
Magram, killed at Spottsylvania, May 12, 1864; Sophery 
Mayram; Jacob H. Milburn; Rufus M. Norton, wounded 
at Wilderness and Spottsylvania; James Olds, killed at 
Antietam; Samuel Paden, wounded at Cold Harbor; John 
Pepfer, discharged; W. S. Palmeter, killed at Antietam; 
Eurotus A. Pel ton, discharged; Francis B. Reynolds, 
killed at Antietam; Julius Reynolds, killed at Antietam; 
James 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



251 



Richmond, killed at Spottsylvania, May 12, 1864; 
George Saur, wounded at Gettysburg; Martin A. Shrenk, 
promoted to ordnance sergeant; Eli Stanley, discharged; 
Emanuel Smith, wounded at Antietam and discharged; 
John Teel, wounded in Wilderness; Charles Taylor 
wounded at Fredericksburg and discharged; William A. 
Wilson, wounded at Gettysburg; Louis Zimmerman, 
wounded at Antietam and discharged; Simon Louis, 
discharged; Andrew J. Beith; Myron Watts, wounded at 
Chancellorsville and died; George Meyers, wounded at 
Winchester and discharged; Joseph Gullant, died at 
Grafton, Virginia, August 27, 1861; George Douglass, 
died at Grafton, Virginia, August 31, 1861; David A. 
Lemon, killed at Mine Run, November 27, 1863; John 
Fisher, wounded at Antietam; C. Shoemaker, died in 
Andersonville prison. 

COMPANY G. 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain William E. Haynes, promoted to lieutenant- 
colonel Tenth Regiment Ohio cavalry. 

First Lieutenant Edward F. Dickinson, promoted to 
captain, and served as regimental quartermaster, 

Second Lieutenant Creighton Thompson, wounded at 
Antietam, and resigned. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant Harrison Hoffman. 

Sergeant Morris Morrison, died December 9, 1862, at 
Cumberland, Maryland. 

Sergeant Daniel Miller, wounded at Winchester and 
the Wilderness. 

Sergeant Philip Tracy, wounded at Gettysburg, and 
died July 6, 1863. 

Sergeant Cyrus P. Taylor, wounded at Antietam. 

Corporal Charles W. Arlin. 

Corporal John A. Bevington, wounded at Winchester 
and Gettysburg. 

Corporal Virgil J. Crowel, wounded at Antietam. 

Corporal Manville Moore, wounded at Gettysburg, 
and died at Baltimore. 

Corporal William Luckey. 

Corporal Samuel S. Thirwictor. 

Corporal Rodolphus Dickinson, wounded at Antietam. 

Corporal James Hagarty, wounded at Gettysburg. 
Bugler Edward Sheetinzer. 

PRIVATES. 

Henry Hone, Charles H. Culp, Charles G. Aldrich, 
Lewis S. Baker, Nicholas Frunkhouser, Wilbur G. Finch, 
Peter Grover, John Gbense, Michael Gassin; Charles 
Baker, George J. Bixler, John D. Bradv, Charles F. 
Clark, Albert Fayo, Alvin R. Gossard, Anthony George, 
Peter J. Hershey, John 1. Haynes, James Lordand, David 
Nighswander, John W. Stone, discharged for disability; 
David Biddle, died February 13, 1 863; Christian 
Binkley, Peter Bohler, wounded at Fredericksburg; 
Orville B. Cole, killed 



at Antietam; Bartholomew Conner, George W. Crosley, 
Richard Clark, Tobias M. Edwards, killed at Winchester; 
Nathaniel G. Foster, wounded at Gettysburg; John 
Guither, wounded at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg; 
John Gazin; John M. Hite, wounded at Antietam and 
discharged; Henry Herman; Eugene A. Hodges, 
wounded at Gettysburg; Thos. M. Heffner, Peter 
Heidelman, Adam Innes, Jason J. Jack, John W. James; 
Professor James, wounded at Antietam; William Jacobs, 
wounded at Fredericksburg; Matthias Knobble, killed at 
Fredericksburg; John Keran, killed at Antietam; John M. 
Roch; Samuel Kepfer, killed at Spottsylvania; Henry 
Kaettz, John Keefer; Jacob Saemstell, died March 12, 
1862, at Cumberland, Maryland; Daniel Sarg, Cornelius 
Mulachi; Philip Michael, wounded at Antietam and 
discharged; Samuel Metzker, died at Cumberland, 
Maryland; Homer Millious, wounded at Gettysburg; 
James McKeefer, died in Andersonville prison; Anthony 
Moier, wounded at Antietam and discharged; Austin J. 
Moore, died at Falmouth, Virginia, April 17, 1863; John 
Miller, Henry Nahliz, Joseph Orr, Henry Pulaski; John 
G. Peters, promoted to sergeant, and killed at Gettysburg 
July 3, 1863; George Reinhard, wounded at Antietam 
and Gettysburg; Francis M. Rivets, wounded at Gettys- 
burg; Patrick Roch, wounded at Antietam; William 
Shuher; Jefferson Taylor, died at Grafton, Virginia, 
September 6, 1 861; John M. Vail, Isadore Wentling; 
Lewis Winegardner, died at Fortress Monroe; Hiram 
Wing, wounded at Gettysburg and Antietam; John A. 
Williams, died at Fremont, Ohio, in November, 1862; 
John Walker, Morris Yates; Absalom Zeducer, wounded 
at Spottsylvania; Milton Miers, James M. Johnson; 
Myron Watts, wounded at Chancellorsville; Samuel 
Nafe. 

THE TWENTY-FIFTH OHIO VOLUNTEER 

INFANTRY. 

Sandusky contributed a company, or nearly 
a company, to the Twenty-fifth Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry. The regiment was 
organized at Camp Chase in June, 1861, and 
contained men from various localities in all 
quarters of the State. On the 29th day of 
July, 1 86 1 , it went into service in West 
Virginia, and was stationed along the 
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, from Oakland to 
the Ohio River. While there the regiment 
paid attention to bushwhackers which 
infested the vicinity and broke up several 
gangs of them, to the great relief of the 
forces, as well as the loyal inhabitants. The 
regiment went through a long course 



252 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



of suffering and arduous service. It was in 
the battles of Cheat Mountain, Greenbriar, 
Camp Baldwin, Monterey; the engagements 
and marches in the Shenandoah Valley; in 
General Pope's campaign along the 
Rappahannock, in the second battle of Bull 
Run, at Gettysburg, and a great many battles, 
and many trying marches. 

It re-enlisted on the 15th of January, 
1864, and started for home, on veteran 
furlough, reaching Camp Chase on the 5th of 
March, 1864. While there, many recruits 
were added to the regiment, and were 
organized, and called Company B. 

On the 16th of February, 1864, the reg- 
imental flags, which had passed through 
twenty battles, and under which eighteen 
color-bearers had been killed or wounded, 
were presented to Governor Brough, to be 
placed in the archives of the State, and the 
regiment received a beautiful new stand of 
colors. 

It served well in the Carolinas, and, in 
fact, all through the war; and on the 18th of 
June, 1866, when it held its last parade at 
Columbus, Ohio, surrendered again its sec- 
ond set of colors to Governor Cox, and was 
then mustered out, and discharged, having 
been in active service over five years. 

The following are the men of Sandusky 
county who enlisted in the Twenty-fifth 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and who are 
entitled to a share of its glory, and the thanks 
of the country: 

COMPANY E. 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain Moses H. Crowell, resigned. 
Captain Michael Murray. 
First Lieutenant Hezekiah Thomas. 
Second Lieutenant George W. Iden. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant Peter Molyett. 
Sergeant Samuel Hoffman. 
Sergeant Henry Barnup. 
Sergeant Christian Joseph. 
Corporal Henry Overmeyer. 
Corporal Frederick Gilyer. 



Corporal John Wise. 
Corporal Edward J. Teeple. 
Corporal Richard Kenny. 
Corporal Daniel Potter. 
Corporal Frederick Holderman. 
Corporal Byron Hutchins. 
Wagoner Joseph Hess. 
Musician Bryan Carrigan. 
Musician Andrew J. Lake. 

PRIVATES. 

Obediah A. Bidgely, Gephard Rush, P. Duffey 
Thomas J. Overman, Joseph Vallance, Samuel Black, 
George W. Algyer, John Bigley, James Bacon, Frederick 
T. Bigler, James W. Barnes, Charles Cimmerer, Ethridge 
Comstock, Frederick Cannell, Charles Caul, George W. 
Clelland, Thomas C. Coalwell, Samuel H. Deselms, 
Andrew J. Davis, George Dagan, Samuel Edgar, John 
Everingham, Isaiah Eastick, George C. Edgerton, Josiah 
Fought, Samuel Frantz, August Freeh, John Ferrell, 
Monta Heath, Harvey N. Hall, Thomas C. Hemminger, 
William S. Hutton, Thomas Howell, John Q. Hutchins, 
Frederick Halderman, Oliver P. Hershey, Virgil Jacobs, 
John Jell, George Kessler, John Knappenberger, Jesse 
Little, John Leary, John Lose, Lawson Marsh, Joseph 
Mitchell, William Meuser, Linnus Marsh, Darius I. 
Minnier, William Mackey, John Morris, Lewis Moore, 
Michael Mulgrove, Blando L. Mills, Harrison I. Meyers, 
Peter Miller, Isaac Nye, Hiram Odell, Hiram Ostrander, 
Richard D. Phelps, Alexander Pemberton, John E. 
Rearick, Joseph Riddle, Lewis Robber, Frederick Shultz, 
William R. Stump, Abednego Stephens, Norton G. 
Skinner, Joel Spohn, Levi S. Stewart, Henry Smuch, 
Florian Smith, Alexander Scott, Benjamin Staley, 
Charles Slaughterbeck, Edward Teeple, Christopher 
Thayer, John Tweedle, Decatur Whiting, George D. 
Wormwood, Joseph C. Wright, Lewis Zeigler, Volney 
A. Dubel. 

THE FORTY-NINTH REGIMENT, OHIO 
VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 

This regiment, which did such conspicuous 
service in the war for the suppression of the 
Rebellion, was organized at Tiffin, in the 
county of Seneca. It left Camp Noble, near 
Tiffin, on the 10th of September, 1861, for 
Camp Dennison, where it received its 
equipments on the 21st of the same month, 
and moved for Louisville, Kentucky. The 
next day it reported to Brigadier General 
Robert Anderson, then in command at that 
place, and was the first organized Union 
regiment to enter Kentucky, where it met a 
most cordial re- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



253 



ception on its arrival at Louisville. Two 
boats lashed together, conveying the regi- 
ment, approached the wharf at Louisville, 
while the regimental band was playing 
National airs. Its arrival was a surprise to 
military headquarters, and as the regiment 
debarked, the people received them with 
great enthusiasm. As they marched from the 
landing, the citizens formed in the rear and 
marched with them through the principal 
streets to the headquarters of General 
Anderson. The General appeared on the 
balcony of the hotel, and welcomed the 
regiment in a short address. To this address 
General Gibson responded, and tradition 
says that his response was full of that soul- 
stirring, heart-warming eloquence in behalf 
of the Union cause for which he is so 
celebrated wherever he speaks on the great 
theme of Union and liberty. 

A magnificent dinner for the regiment 
was given at the Louisville hotel by the 
citizens, and the men of the regiment were 
magnificently entertained. In the evening of 
the same day the regiment started from 
Louisville by railroad for Lebanon junction, 
to report to General W. T. Sherman, then at 
that point. The next morning it crossed the 
Rolling Fork, wading the river, and marched 
to Elizabethtown and went into camp at 
Muldsdraugh's Hill. Here the regiment re- 
mained until the 10th of October, when it 
moved to Nolan Creek, and went into Camp 
Nevin. 

The Forty-ninth regiment was soon after 
assigned to the Sixth Brigade under com- 
mand of General R. W. Johnson, of the 
Second Division of the Army of Ohio. On 
the 10th of December, 1861, the Second 
Division moved to Mumfordsville, on the 
Green River, and drove the rebels to the 
opposite side of the river, and established 
Camp Wood. On the 17th of December the 
National pickets from the Thirty-second 
Indiana Infantry, on the south side of 



Green River, were attacked by Hinman's 
Arkansas Brigade and Terry's Texas Ran- 
gers. In sending troops to the relief of the 
pickets, the Forty-ninth Ohio was the first to 
cross the river, followed by the Thirty-ninth 
Indiana. The enemy was met and repulsed, 
Colonel Terry, one of the rebel commanders, 
being killed. 

The regiment remained at Camp Wood 
perfecting itself in discipline and drill until 
the lath of February, 1862, when it left the 
camp for Bowling Green, Kentucky. It 
marched thence towards Nashville, 
Tennessee, which place it reached on the 3d 
of March, 1862, and established there Camp 
Andrew Johnson. From this camp it moved 
on the 16th of March with Buell's army, to 
join General Grant's forces at Pittsburg 
Landing, and arrived there on the 6th of 
April. Here Colonel Gibson took command 
of the brigade, leaving the Forty-ninth 
regiment under the command of Lieutenant- 
Colonel A. M. Blackman. The regiment went 
into the fight at 1 1 o'clock in the morning, 
occupying the left of the brigade, and next to 
Crittenden's division. This position was 
maintained under a terrible fire from the 
enemy until 4 o'clock in the afternoon, when, 
with the enemy in full retreat, the regiment 
stacked arms and lay down to rest. In this 
battle the regiment twice successfully 
performed the hazardous feat of changing 
front under fire. 

The Forty-ninth then moved towards 
Corinth. The other portions of the army had 
some severe fighting at Bredges's Creek, and 
at other points on the way, and entered 
Corinth with the army on the 30th of May, 
1862. From Corinth it was sent in pursuit of 
the enemy, passing through Jericho, Iuka, 
and other points to Tuscumbia, Alabama, 
and Florence, crossing the river at Florence. 
Thence it marched to Battle Creek, 
Tennessee. At this time 



254 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Bragg's army was found to be threatening 
Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, and 
the Forty-ninth was put in pursuit of him. On 
the march from Battle Creek, Tennessee, the 
Union forces were urged forward with all the 
speed the men could endure, and they 
suffered terribly from exhaustion, intense 
heat of the weather and from want of water 
and rations. These sufferings were, however, 
born with fortitude by the men, and the 
apprehension that their own Ohio might be 
invaded by rebels nerved them to most 
extraordinary endurance and hard marches. 
The regiment reached Louisville on the 29th 
of September, where, after a few clays rest, 
the march in pursuit of the enemy was 
resumed. Moving out on the Frankfort 
turnpike, through Shelbyville, driving the 
enemy before them, Frankfort was reached 
on the 5th of October in time to disperse the 
rebel troops gathered there to guard the 
inauguration of Captain Dick Hawes as rebel 
Governor of Kentucky. The march was 
resumed on the morning of the 7th of 
October, under orders to join the main army, 
the junction being made the day following 
the battle of Perryville. During the whole of 
the march from Louisville to Perryville, 
there was daily skirmishing. At Lawrence 
and Dog Walk brisk engagements were 
fought, in each of which the Forty-ninth 
Ohio was conspicuously engaged, under 
command of Lieutenant-Colonel Levi Drake. 
Pursuing the enemy to Crab Orchard the 
regiment, with its brigade and division, 
marched to Bowling Green. Thence it 
marched toward Nashville, and on the 5th of 
November was with the advance that raised 
the siege of that city. The regiment then 
went into camp at Mill Creek, where it 
remained until the 26th day of December. On 
the 26th of December, 1862, General 
Rosecrans then, in 



command of the Army of the Cumberland, 
commenced his movement on Murfreesboro. 
The Forty-ninth moved out of Nashville, on 
Nelsonville turnpike, with the right wing, 
under Major General McCook, and after 
constant skirmishing found itself in line of 
battle on the extreme right of the Union 
army before Murfreesboro, on the evening of 
the 30th of December, 1862. At six o'clock 
the next morning Kirk's brigade was 
furiously assaulted by the enemy, and giving 
way was pressed back on the Forty-ninth, 
which at once became engaged, and was in 
its turn borne back by overwhelming 
numbers to the Nashville turnpike, a distance 
of a mile and a half from the point of 
encounter. In this resistance to the rebel 
forces the Forty-ninth sustained an incessant 
conflict of nine hours' duration. 

The following morning the regiment was 
sent to reconnoiter on the right and rear of 
the main army. Returning from this duty, it 
rejoined its brigade, and that day was more 
or less engaged, operating on the extreme 
right of the army, in connection with 
Stanley's cavalry. On Friday, January 2, it 
occupied a position in reserve to the centre 
until late in the afternoon, when, upon the 
repulse of Van Cleve's division on the left, it 
was ordered, with its brigade, to retrieve the 
fortunes of the day on that part of the field. 
It joined in a magnificent bayonet charge, 
which resulted in recovering the lost ground, 
and a severe defeat of the enemy. 

The Forty-ninth went into this battle with 
the entire field and staff officers present. At 
its close it was under command of junior 
Captain S. F. Gray. The capture of General 
Willich placed Colonel Gibson, of the Forty- 
ninth, in command of the brigade. Lieutenant 
Colonel Drake was killed while bravely 
cheering on his men. Major Porter was 
wounded, and all the senior captains present 
were either 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



255 



killed or wounded. It should be noted here 
that, before this battle, Captain J. R. Bartlett 
had been promoted to the office of major, 
and was not in the immediate command of 
Company F, but served during the fight. 

For a time after this battle the Forty-ninth 
was engaged in various foraging expeditions, 
wherein it had frequent encounters with the 
enemy, and lost a number of men. 

From Murfreesboro, the regiment 
marched, on the 24th of June, 1863, and 
found the enemy strongly posted at Liberty 
Gap, to dispute the further advance of the 
Union forces. The Forty-ninth was attached 
to the First brigade, which was at once 
formed in line of battle, and, after some hard 
fighting, the Forty-ninth assaulted the 
enemy's works on a high hill, advanced upon 
him, scaled the heights in the face of severe 
fire, and drove the enemy from that position, 
and compelled him to fall back upon another 
equally strong position about a mile in the 
rear. 

On the following day the National forces 
attacked the enemy again in the new po- 
sition. The Forty-ninth was brought into 
action about 3 o'clock p. m., after other 
troops had been engaged several hours. The 
regiment was selected to attack the enemy's 
centre, which rested in a valley, while the 
flanks rested upon the hill, on both sides. 
Here the Forty-ninth adopted a new method 
of attack, which had then lately been 
introduced, by the formation of four ranks, 
and to advance while firing. This method of 
attack proved efficient in this case, and the 
enemy's centre was soon .broken, and the 
position occupied by the Union army. 
Without further fighting, the brigade, with 
the Forth-ninth, reached Tullahoma July 1, 
and the regiment then went into camp. 
At the bloody battle of Chickamauga 



the Forty-ninth did great service, and dis- 
played the fighting qualities of veterans. It 
made a charge on the right of the enemy, 
drove him out of a dense wood, and captured 
two pieces of artillery. 

The next day the Forty-ninth was con- 
stantly engaged in various parts of the field, 
and accomplished a brilliant exploit in 
connection with Goodspeed's Battery, the 
Fifteenth Ohio, and other troops, which, it is 
claimed, saved Thomas' Corps from being 
swept from the field. 

In the battle of Mission Ridge the Forty- 
ninth shone with conspicuous gallantry, and 
was amongst the first to plant its colors on 
the summit of the ridge. It next moved with 
Granger's Corps to the relief of Burnside's 
forces at Knoxville. This march was of the 
most severely trying nature upon the troops. 
The weather was intensely cold, and snow 
was on the ground. The men were almost 
naked, and without shoes, and the rations 
were exhausted. Like the march from Valley 
Forge in the Revolutionary War, the army 
could be tracked by the bloody foot marks of 
the indomitable patriots who went out to 
save the Union. And yet these brave men did 
not complain, but were eager to be led 
against the foes of their country who were 
also the foes of liberty. At Strawberry Plain 
they heard that Burnside had repulsed 
Longstreet, and as he was no longer in need 
of relief the National troops returned to 
Chattanooga. At the heel of all this 
suffering, the men of the Forty-ninth were 
called upon the re-enlist for the war. To this 
call a prompt response was given in the 
affirmative. The regiment returned to Ohio 
to enjoy its veteran furlough of thirty days. 
At Tiffin, its place of organization, the 
regiment was received with every possible 
manifestation of respect and honor. Judge 
John K. Hord, now of the Cleveland Bar, but 
formerly a citizen of Tiffin, 



256 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



welcomed the brave men in an eloquent 
speech in their praise, which was responded 
to by Colonel Gibson and other officers of 
the regiment. 

Thirty days, oh! how brief to the soldier 
who returns after three years absence, to see 
his father, mother, wife, children and 
friends, and meantime hear the plaudits, and 
enjoy the feastings and manifestations of 
honor from a grateful people, for whom he 
has encountered danger and toiled and 
suffered. Still true to country, with the 
instinctive patriotism of the Union soldier, 
the Forty-ninth in due time reported at the 
headquarters of the Fourth Army Corps at 
Cleveland, Tennessee. 

At this time the National forces were 
concentrating and reorganizing at Cleveland, 
Tennessee, and making all things ready for 
the campaign against Atlanta, Georgia. Here 
the Forty-ninth was incorporated into the 
Fourth Army Corps, and the history of that 
corps is the history of the Forty-ninth 
regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The 
regiment participated in the engagements at 
Dalton, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, 
Chattahoochie River, and Atlanta, suffering 
severely in the loss of men killed and 
wounded in all these battles. The regiment 
pushed on with the army beyond Atlanta, 
and participated in the battles at 
Jonesborough, and at Lovejoy's Station, and 
after abandoning the pursuit of the enemy, 
returned to camp at Atlanta. The Forty-ninth 
from 

this time was assigned with the Army of the 
Cumberland to the command of General 
Thomas who was left to look after the rebel 
forces under General Hood, who was moving 
toward Nashville. 

In the movements of Thomas' forces the 
Forty-ninth Ohio, under command of 
Lieutenant-Colonel Strong, fully sustained 
its reputation for bravery and military skill, 
and bore a prominent part in many 



skirmishes and displayed great courage and 
efficiency in the battles of Franklin and 
Nashville. The battle of Nashville occurred 
in December, 1864, and on the 15th and 16th 
of that month the regiment made several 
brilliant charges and suffered severely in 
killed and wounded. 

After this battle and after returning from 
the pursuit of Hood's army, the regiment 
went into camp at Huntsville, Alabama, 
where it remained until the middle of March, 
1865. It then moved by rail into East 
Tennessee and went into camp at Greenville. 
On its return from the expedition to 
Nashville the regiment was, on the 16th of 
June, 1864, taken by transports to Texas, by 
way of New Orleans. Reaching Texas in 
July, the regiment landed at Victoria, and 
moved to the interior as far as San Antonio, 
passing by way of Green Lake and Gonzales. 
After suffering great hardships in this ser- 
vice for four months the regiment returned to 
Victoria, where it was mustered out of 
service on the 30th day of November, 1865. 

The whole number of names on the rolls 
of the regiment was fifteen hundred and 
fifty-two. Nineteen were born in Europe, 
seven hundred and sixty in Ohio, of whom 
four hundred and forty were from Seneca 
county. Eight officers were killed in battle, 
and twenty wounded (six of them mortally). 
Of the privates, one hundred and twenty- 
seven were killed in battle, seventy-one were 
mortally wounded, one hundred and sixty- 
five died from hardships or disease, and 
seven perished in rebel prisons at 

Andersonville and Danville. Six hundred and 
sixteen were discharged on account of 
wounds or other disability, five survived 
with the loss of an arm, and two with the 
loss of a leg. The killed and mortally 
wounded of the enlisted men were as one to 
seven and four-fifths, and the entire deaths 
as one to 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



257 



five and one-sixth. The men of the regiment 
suffered nine hundred and forty-two gunshot 
wounds. During two-thirds of his term of 
service, Colonel Gibson commanded a 
brigade by virtue of his rank. 

Although the Forty-ninth Regiment of the 
Ohio Volunteer infantry, engaged in the war 
for the suppression of the Southern 
Rebellion, was organized in the adjoining 
county of Seneca, and drew largely and 
chiefly from the patriotic and able-bodied 
citizens of that county, Sandusky county, in 
her exuberance of patriotism, contributed-a 
company to the regiment, consisting of some 
of her best and bravest men. The -history of 
Company F cannot be fully and fairly 
written without giving an account of its 
organization, marches, battles, victories, 
achievements, sufferings and losses of the 
regiment, of which it formed an important 
part. 

We would here acknowledge that for many 
of the facts regarding this regiment we are 
indebted to Colonel J. R. Bartlett, also to 
Ohio in the War, by Whitelaw Reid, as well 
as from records kindly submitted for 
inspection by the Adjutant-General of Ohio. 

INCIDENTS AND PERSONAL MENTION. 

The following incident, which occurred in 
the battle of Shiloh, in front of the Forty- 
ninth regiment, illustrates the appreciation 
which true soldiers entertain for bravery and 
desperate daring, when displayed by an 
enemy. The Forty-ninth made a dashing and 
sudden charge on the enemy in front of it, 
and drove them with great precipitation from 
their position. So sudden was the onset and 
the retreat, that the rebels forgot their colors, 
leaving them standing on the ground from 
which they retired. A storm of bullets were 
flying after the retreating foe, when the ene- 
my discovered their forsaken flag, then but a 
little way in advance of the Forty-ninth. 
Suddenly a rebel on a white horse was seen 



to leave the ranks, coming at full speed back 
to the flag. As soon as the men of the Forty- 
ninth realized the object of the desperate 
attempt to rescue the flag, struck by the 
bravery and daring of the act, and 
recognizing his qualities as a soldier devoted 
to his colors, they instinctively ceased firing 
and spared the life of the brave fellow while 
he took the flag and carried it back to his 
command, without harm. Had they not 
ceased firing as they did, the man would 
have been cut to pieces by their volleys. 

ORGANIZATION OF COMPANY F. 

Captain Joseph R. Bartlett began re- 
cruiting, or rather enlisting men for Com- 
pany F, in July, 1861. After obtaining about 
forty men recruiting became dull and it 
seemed impossible to obtain a full company 
in any reasonable time. Charles A. Norton 
had assisted actively so far in procuring 
men, and expected to be first lieutenant of 
the company. Meantime Timothy H. Wilcox 
had enlisted about forty men to form a 
company of Home Guards, who were willing 
to join Captain Bartlett's company, and go 
into the service, on condition that Mr. 
Wilcox should have the position of first 
lieutenant. Mr. Norton generously gave way 
to Mr. Wilcox, and the men enlisted by the 
latter entered, and this, with little further 
effort, soon completed the company, and it 
went to Camp Noble, near Tiffin, Seneca 
county, for equipment and drill. 

The generosity of Mr. Norton soon met 
with reward in his appointment to the office 
of adjutant of the regiment, in which 
capacity he proved a good soldier and 
efficient officer during the service. 

About the middle of November, 1862, 
Captain Bartlett's soldierly qualities at- 
tracted the attention of General I. W. Sill, 
who appointed him Inspector-General of the 
Second Division of the Army of the 
Cumberland, of which General Sill 



258 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



was then in command. In December, 1862, 
General Sill was assigned to another 
command, and on leaving the division 
addressed to Inspector Bartlett the following 
complimentary and friendly letter: 

CAMP ON MILL CREEK, December 10, 1862. 
Captain Bartlett, Acting Division Inspector, Division 
Aid-de-Camp: 

SIR: In parting with you I beg to express my thanks 
for the zeal and fidelity with which you have performed 
your duties, and to assure you that if associated in future 
it will be a source of much gratification, as it is now a 
source of regret, that I am obliged to separate from you. 
Whatever be your course hereafter, I doubt not it will be 
creditable in the highest degree, and I tender you my 
best wishes for your success and promotion. 
Very respectfully, your friend, 

I. W. SILL, 
Brigadier-General. 

General R. W. Johnson then took command 
of the division, and continued Captain 
Bartlett in the same position on his staff that 
he had held under General Sill, and, until 
after the battle of Liberty Gap, he acted as 
chief of staff and Adjutant-General of the 
division, in addition to the duties of 
Inspector-General. Captain Bartlett has 
numerous testimonials of faithful service, 
and also recommendations for promotion. 
Amongst these are found commendations 
and recommendations from Colonel Keufler, 
commanding Third Brigade, Third Division, 
Fourth Army Corps; Major-General D. S. 
Stanley, commanding Fourth Army Corps; 
Major-General O. O. Howard, formerly com- 
mander of the same corps; Brigadier-General 
Thomas J. Wood, commander Third 
Division, same corps; also Colonel William 
H. Gibson, afterwards Brigadier-General 
commanding First Brigade, Third Division. 

COMPANY F. 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain Joseph R. Bartlett. 
First Lieutenant Morris E. Tyler. 
Second Lieutenant Timothy Wilcox. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant John J. Kessler. 



Sergeant Israel C. Totten. 
Sergeant Charles W. England. 
Sergeant Levi Laughlin. 
Sergeant Myron Sweet. 
Corporal James Maxwell. 
Corporal Edward Haff. 
Corporal Eli Lewman. 
Corporal William H. H. Wadsworth. 
Corporal David J. Wilson. 
Corporal William Whittaker. 
Corporal John W. Heason. 
Corporal Josiah Terry. 
Drummer James Michael. 
Fifer Thomas P. Folton. 

PRIVATES. 

(All of Fremont.) 
Isaac N. Anderson, David Armstrong, James M 
Dennison, John Wesley Ash, Lewis Baker, Austin O. 
Bolton, Gustavus Boesh, David H. Barber, George H. 
Bearss, Thomas Bovill, Charles S. Bon, James N. 
Campbell, Eli Chaney, Thomas Clarke, George Davis, 
Albert Dodge, Jonathan Durfee, Wilson S. Flaugher, 
LaQuino Fletcher, Benjamin S. Frank, John Frees. 
Richard Gallagher, George W. Gurst, Charles E. 
Haskins, Joseph Hunt singer, George W. Heberling, 
Oscar June, Daniel Jackson, Edward D. Kintz, Cyrus C. 
Laughlin, Henry O. Marsh, John D. Maine, Henry 
Mark waiter, George Mears, Wesley Miller, Lewis 
Michael, John L. McAfee, Daniel McSorley, John W. 
Maxwell, John A. Nash, Charles A Norton, Jasper 
Palmer, John Charles Parrish, George H. Phillip, Joshua 
Powell, James Ragan, James Ramsey, Jeremiah Reed, 
Phillip Reiling, Moses Rogers, Josiah Rollins, Josiah T. 
Russell, William B. Richards, George Skinner, Josiah 
Stocking, Charles Stull, Daniel Sweet, Albert Sweet, 
Joel G. Sbiats, Jeremiah Smith, John H. Stoner, George 
J. Ferry, Luther White, George W. Yencer, William J. 
Yencer. 

THE FIFTY-FIFTH REGIMENT OF OHIO 
VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 

This regiment went into camp at Norwalk, 
Ohio, on the 17th of October, 1861. On the 
25th of January, 1862, it left Norwalk for 
Grafton, West Virginia, and after a short 
stay there it moved to New Creek. It moved 
by hard marches thence through Romney to 
Moorefield, where it participated in some 
skirmishing. It was raised chiefly by the 
exertions of Colonel John C. Lee, who 
afterwards became Lieutenant Governor of 
Ohio. Colonel Lee resigned May 8, 1863, 
and the command of the regiment devolved 
on Lieutenant Colo- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



259 



nel Charles Gambee, of Bellevue. Colonel 
Gambee was killed at the battle of Resaca, 
on the 15th of May, 1864. On the 1st of 
January, 1864, three hundred and nineteen of 
the men of the Fifty-fifth had re-enlisted and 
returned to Ohio, arriving at Norwalk on the 
10th of the same month. On the 4th of 
March, 1 864, it was again encamped in 
Lookout Valley. It marched through Atlanta 
with the Twentieth Army Corps, toward the 
sea coast, and entered Savannah, Georgia, on 
the 21st of December and camped near that 
city. After much hard service and suffering, 
having passed through Goldsboro and 
Raleigh, on the 30th of April, 1865, it 
commenced its march to Washington, 
reaching Richmond on the 11th of May, and 
on the 1 8th camped in the vicinity of 
Alexandria. On the 24th of May, 1865, it 
crossed the long bridge and participated in 
the grand review and went into camp near 
Washington. On the 11th of July, 1865, the 
Fifty-fifth was mustered out of service, was 
paid off at Cleveland, Ohio, and discharged 
on the 19th day of July, 1865. 

The fighting qualities of this regiment are 
displayed in a brief statement. During its 
term of service it enrolled one thousand 
three hundred and fifty men, and of these 
about seven hundred and fifty were either 
killed or wounded in battle. 

A number of good men for this regiment 
were recruited in Sandusky county in the 
vicinity of Bellevue. The memoranda 
furnished the writer gives the names of men 
of certain companies of the regiment, but 
does not designate those of Sandusky county 
from those enlisted from other counties. We 
therefore give the list as furnished, as the 
time allowed the writer to finish his work 
will not permit of further search or 
investigation into the places of enlistment. 



COMPANY A. 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 
Captain Charles B. Gambee. 
First Lieutenant Benjamin F. Eldridge. 
Second Lieutenant William H. Long. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 



Sergeant 

Sergeant 

Sergeant 

Sergeant 

Sergeant 

Corporal 

Corporal 

Corporal 

Corporal 

Stillson. 

Corporal 

Corporal 

Musician 

Musician 

Cryder. 



Henry H. Moore. 

John E. Kunkel. 

Charles M. Smith. 

Albert J. Demick. 

William H. Harringer. 

Lyman Ford. 

Martin O. Smith. Corporal John Stevens. 

John Ryan. 

James W. Saunders. Corporal George H. 

Sidney F. Sinclair. 
Oren J. Stark. 

Daniel Herring. 

George W. Goodell, Wagoner William H. 



PRIVATES. 



Horace B. Adams, Horace A. Bartlett, Nelson Barber, 
Philip Beckley, Thomas Beckley, Stephen Beckley, 
James Bought on, Lewis S. Bergstrener, Joseph Ball, 
James Carrer, John Chenrock, Howard M. Coleman, 
Albert Chapman, Albert P. Curry William Charrill, 
Nelson Crockett, Elliot A. Cobb, Alonzo Corser, Henry 
R. Carrer, Levi Close, Miles Duesler, John J. Duesler, 
Francis Davis, George G. Deitrich, Uriah M. Eckhart, 
Martin J. Ford, Benjamin F. Fulkerson, Arthur Franklin, 
John Grubb William H. Goodson, Francis Gale, Henry 
Gale, John Gleason, Henry Gerring, George H. Gale, 
Charles Gale, Charles Haler, Henry J. Hayward Henry 
Hanney, Theopholis P. Howard, William Hart man, 
Samuel Henney, William J. Hanson, William Hyde, 
Dexter R. Jones, Rollin Jacoy, Henry C. James, Thomas 
A. Kunkel, Jesse Kline, William E. Miller, John Moyer, 
Charles Mathis, Mandus Mohr, Aretas Miller, James G. 
Millen, David McCormick, James C. Moon, George W 
Orning, John Peightle, Silas P. Riley, Eli as Smith, 
William Stegman, Samuel Smith, Elias Stephens, Dewalt 
J. Swander, James Slinker, Jonas Shoemaker, William E. 
Sheffield, James Sowards, William Sowards, Ashael P. 
Smith, Ross C. Treamain, Amaziah Thorp, George W. 
Todd, Charles H. Welch, Eli C. Wright, George O. 
Winters, Jefferson Wright, Moses P. Wilt, Russell S. 
Williams. Benjamin Zimmerman, Martin Kinney, 
Samuel Hoofnagle, Francis A. Pixlev, Moses H. Smith, 
James H. Bitting, Sylvester Hevelone, Martin Lauden- 
schlager, William M. Giles, James J. Null, Milton 
Crockett, Edward Farnsworth, John Norris, Robert Otis, 
John Ryan. 



260 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



COMPANY E. 
PRIVATES. 
William Clinton, Joseph Hewitt. 

COMPANY A. 
Private Francis Pixley. 

COMPANY E. 
Private William Clinton. 

COMPANY D. 
Private William Upton. 

FIFTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT OHIO VOLUNTEER 

INFANTRY. 

The Fifty-seventh regiment Ohio Vol- 
unteer Infantry was organized at Camp 
Vance, near Findlay, in Hancock county, 
Ohio, under authority of Governor Dennison, 
given September 14, 1861. Before its 
organization was completed the regiment, on 
the 22d of January, 1862, moved to Camp 
Chase, where its organization was 
completed, on February 10, 1862. It 
numbered, when mustered in, nine hundred 
and fifty six men, and thirty-eight 
commissioned officers. 

Sandusky county furnished a number of 
men for different companies of the Fifty- 
seventh, whose services cannot be properly 
known and appreciated without a brief 
sketch of the services of the whole regiment. 

On the 18th of February, 1862, the Fifty- 
seventh was ordered to report at Fort 
Donelson, On its way, and while at 
Smithland, Kentucky, the order was 
changed, and it consequently reported at 
Paducah, Kentucky. Here it was assigned to 
the Third Brigade, Fifth Division of the 
Army of the Tennessee. Thence it was 
moved, by the steamer Continental to Fort 
Henry, arriving there on the 9th of March, 
1862. From Fort Henry it moved to 
Savannah, Tennessee, arriving there on the 
11th of March. After participating in an 
ineffectual attempt to strike the Memphis 
and Charleston railroad at Iuka, Mississippi, 
they returned 



and went to Pittsburg Landing, where they 
arrived on the 16th of March. Here the Fifth 
Division was employed in reconnoitering 
towards Pea Ridge, and also towards 
Corinth. On the 19th it went into camp at 
Shiloh Chapel, three miles south of the 
Landing. On the 1st of April the regiment in 
company with other troops and two 
gunboats, went to Eastport, Mississippi, 
about thirty miles from the Landing. The 
Fifty-seventh was on the foremost transport. 
The boats shelled the woods and towns along 
the way, but elicited no reply. Passing up as 
far as Chickasaw, Alabama, they there 
shelled the town and the rebel works, but the 
enemy had left, and the Fifty-seventh was 
ordered to debark and scout the surrounding 
hills and villages. In this scouting the 
regiment captured a few prisoners, men and 
boys, and then returned to camp. 

So much had the regiment suffered from 
sickness, that on the morning of the 6th of 
April there were but four hundred and fifty 
men for duty. Being posted with the right 
resting on the Corinth road immediately 
south of the church, it was among the first to 
meet the advance of the rebel forces. About 
six o'clock A. M., of the 6th of April, 1862, 
the Fifty-seventh formed and advanced until 
it reached the little eminence upon which 
Shiloh church stood. It held this position 
until ten o'clock, and successfully withstood 
the attack of the Mississippi Rifles, Crescent 
Guards from New Orleans, and the 
Fourteenth Tennessee, from Memphis. It was 
then ordered to fall back upon the Purdy and 
Hamburg road, which it did in good order. 
The Union line was pressed back three- 
quarters of a mile further. In three days 
fighting in and around Shiloh, the Fifty- 
seventh lost twenty-seven killed and one 
hundred and fifty were wounded (sixteen 
mortally), and ten captured. The regiment 
remained in 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



261 



camp at Shiloh Church until the 29th of 
April, and was engaged in drilling and 
preparing for the coming campaign. On the 
29th the regiment started for Corinth, and 
did good service until the rebels evacuated 
that place. It did good fighting at camps Six 
and Seven, and at the Russell House was 
warmly engaged. While advancing on 
Corinth the Fifty-seventh was assigned to 
the First brigade of the Fifth division. After 
various services in repairing roads and 
guarding bridges, the regiment, on the 12th 
of November, was assigned to the First 
brigade of the First, division of the Fifteenth 
Army Corps. During the stay at Memphis the 
regiment was drilled thoroughly in the 
skirmish drill and bayonet exercise. 

The Fifty-seventh was part of a con- 
siderable force sent against General Price on 
the Tallahatchie River near Wyatt, in 
Mississippi, which place it reached on the 2d 
of December, and finding the place 
evacuated the march was continued towards 
Grenada. 

On the 9th of December the Fifteenth 
Corps returned to Memphis, where it arrived 
on the 13th. Here the Fifty-seventh was 
strengthened by receiving one hundred and 
eighteen volunteers and two hundred and 
five drafted men, which made the aggregate 
force six hundred and fifty men. Thence the 
regiment next moved, with the Fifteenth 
Army Corps, down the Mississippi, and 
reached Young's Point on the 26th of 
December. The corps next moved up the 
Yazoo River and disembarked at Sidney 
Johnson's plantation; marched thence to 
Chickasaw Bayou, where the corps, in trying 
to effect a crossing, was for five days 
engaged with the enemy. In this action the 
Fifty-seventh lost thirty-seven killed and 
wounded. 
On the 2d of January, 1863, the corps 



moved down the Yazoo to the Mississippi, 
and up the Mississippi to White River, and 
up the latter river to the cut-off, and through 
the cut-off into the Arkansas, and up the 
Arkansas to Arkansas Post, disembarking 
there on the 10th of January, 1863. 

The Fifty-seventh led the brigade in the 
charge and assault of Fort Henderson, where, 
after three days hard fighting, the enemy 
surrendered. In this action the regiment lost 
in killed and wounded, thirty-seven men. 
The regiment then moved back towards 
Vicksburg, disembarking at Young's Point 
on the 21st of January, 1863, and went to 
work on the canal. The regiment advanced 
upon Vicksburg, participating in the battles 
of Raymond, Champion Hill, and Black 
River, and reached the works around 
Vicksburg on the 18th of May, and partic- 
ipated in the general assault on the 19th, and 
after considerable hard fighting, was within 
seventy yards of the rebel line when, at 2 
o'clock of the morning of the 10th, the entire 
brigade was withdrawn to a position three 
hundred yards in the rear of the line of 
fortifications. Excepting a short time spent 
in reconnoitering between the Big Black and 
Yazoo Rivers, the regiment was in service in 
the trenches or on picket duty, until the sur- 
render of Vicksburg. 

After much hard service, on the 1st of 
January, 1864, it reenlisted in the Fifteenth 
Army Corps. After spending a furlough of 
thirty days at home among friends, the 
regiment rendezvoused at Camp Chase with 
two hundred and seven recruits. On the 29th 
of March, 1864, it arrived at Nashville, and 
was there detained until the 4th of April 
when it marched to Larkinsville, Alabama, 
where, on the 17th of April, it rejoined its 
brigade. On the 1st of May it moved with the 
corps in the Atlanta campaign, arriving 



262 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



in the vicinity of Chattanooga on the 6th, 
and advanced through Snake Creek Gap to 
Resaca, where it participated in the battle at 
that place, on the 13th and 14th of May, 
1864. This was one of the most severe 
contests in which the regiment was engaged, 
and its loss was fifty-seven killed and 
wounded. It joined in the pursuit of the 
enemy, who made a stand at Dallas, where 
fighting continued for three days. The 
regiment here lost fifteen men. After several 
days skirmishing, the regiment, on the 27th 
of June,, participated in an assault on the 
enemy's lines at Kennesaw. In this 
engagement it lost fifty-seven men in killed 
and wounded. 

From Atlanta the regiment was with 
Sherman's army, doing good service and 
enduring much hardship, until it reached 
Richmond byway of Petersburg. Thence it 
passed to Washington city and was in the 
grand review there on the 24th of May, 
1865; was ordered thence to Louisville, 
Kentucky, where it arrived on the 7th of 
June. On the 14th of June it was mustered 
out and paid at Camp Chase and finally 
discharged from the service. 

When the Fifty-seventh was first organ- 
ized the regimental officers were: Colonel 
William Mungen, Lieutenant Colonel 
William Mungen, Major Silas B. Walker, 
Surgeon John P. Haggett. There were many 
promotions and changes in rank and date of 
rank of these officers which are here 
omitted. 

The following list shows the men of 
Sandusky county who volunteered and 
served with the Fifty-seventh regiment and 
the companies to which they belonged. 

COMPANY C. 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain Samuel R. Mott. 

First Lieutenant John W. Underwood. 

Second Lieutenant John Doncyson. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant George Bush. 



Sergeant David W. Baker. 
Sergeant David C. Edmiston. 
Sergeant Anthony Bentler. 
Corporal Hamilton Granville. 
Corporal Israel W. Giberson. 
Corporal Franklin Burden. 
Corporal Henry Bruntuter. 
Corporal David Clenger. 
Corporal Francis Ganther. 
Corporal William H. Kellison. 
Corporal John Schlegel. 
Musician John M. Lanning. 
Musician John T. Schawn. 
Teamster Andrew L. Donnelly. 

PRIVATES. 

George Casanova, Jacob Frank, Anthony Frees, 
Frederick Heltwein, Joseph Haberstock, Henry Link, 
Andrew Martine, John Malliet, Henry Winnes, Griffith 
F. Wilson, George Shriner, Anthony Rendlez, David 
Ohlinger, William P. Ayres. 

COMPANY F. 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain Alva S. Skilton. 

First Lieutenant George T. Blystone. 

Second Lieutenant Edward E. Root. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant Marcellus B. Dickey. 
Sergeant Henry H. Swisher. 
Sergeant Alexander K. Sipes. 
Sergeant Peter N. Gaberel. 
Sergeant William Berwick. 
Corporal Lewis Winemiller. 
Corporal William H. Pelton. 
Corporal Alonzo Blackson. 
Corporal William H. Green. 
Corporal David T. Bull. 
Corporal James Hathaway. 
Corporal Charles Hathaway. 
Corporal John Byers. 
Musician Sidney D. Briggs. 

PRIVATES. 

William Brown, Daniel Bover, Peter Boyer, Moses 
Courchune, Thomas Current, John Current, John P. 
Franks, William King, John Matthews, John Mallett, 
Patrick Madigan, Frederick Picker, Lewis Peter, Edgar 
Peter, Frank Snope, Adam Sorg, Levi Smith, John W. 
Smith. 

COMPANY H. 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain Daniel N. Strayer. 
First Lieutenant John A. Smith. 
Second Lieutenant Lucius Call. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant William M. Newell. 
Sergeant Thomas B. McCormick. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



263 



Sergeant Stephen H. Carey. 
Sergeant George M. Berger. 
Sergeant James R. Wilson. 
Corporal Robert J. Hemden. 
Corporal Jesse Meranda. 
Corporal William B. Carl. 
Corporal James R. McCormick. 
Corporal Bernard Poorman. 
Corporal Philip Hank. 
Corporal Henry Whitney. 
Corporal Henry Schultz. 
Musician Josephus Dodd. 
Musician John Botkin. 

PRIVATES. 

Levi Binkley, Melancthon Binkley, Eugene A. 
Chapman, Ernst Dippman, James Hearl, Emanuel 
Lyburger, Daniel McMahon, James McMahon, Jacob 
Miniries, Michael Norton, Albert Overmier, William 
Poorman, Thomas Poorman, George S. Royce, Samuel 
Shannon, Samuel A. Shroud. 

COMPANY I. 

PRIVATES. 

Edgar Peter, Levi Smith, Perry Russell, John Molliett, 
William O'Neil, Tarleton Schultz, Frank Swope, Daniel 
Boyer, Peter Boyer, Thomas Current, John P. Franks, 
John Matthews. 

COMPANY K. 

PRIVATES. 

Henry E. Charrs, Edwin Wrenn, George Wagerman, 

Philip Harck. 

THE SEVENTY -SECOND REGIMENT OF OHIO 
VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 

Although Sandusky county had furnished 
quite liberally of her brave and patriotic men 
to the Eighth, the Twenty-fifth, Forty-ninth, 
and Fifty-seventh regiments of volunteer 
infantry, all of which were organized in 
other counties, and also to the naval, 
artillery and cavalry service, and although 
these different organizations attracted those 
most ready and eager to go, there remained 
in the county many patriotic men whose 
business, family ties, or some particular 
temporary reasons held them back. But as 
the progress of events developed the dangers 
which environed the Nation and threatened 
more alarmingly the existence of the Union, 
it became evident that another appeal must 
be made to the men of the county, and more 
sacri- 



fices offered to save the country's flag from 
disgrace and to rescue the Constitution from 
the hands of traitors. These grave 
apprehensions for the Nation's existence 
brought out that state of feeling which in- 
duced the organization of the 

SEVENTY -SECOND OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 

The first formal public notice of such an 
undertaking appeared in the Fremont Journal 
of October 4, 1861. It was an editorial 
mention that Hon. R. P. Buckland, of 
Fremont, had received orders from Governor 
Dennison, dated October 2, 1861, to raise 
regiment number seventy-two, and establish 
Camp Croghan in Fremont, of which he had 
been commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel. 
Isaac M. Keeler, then editor of the journal, 
made an appeal to the people to come 
forward and help to fill and organize the 
proposed regiment, and send it forward 
promptly to sustain the Constitution and the 
Union. 

The next issue of the paper, October 11, 
1861, contained a call over the signature of 
Colonel Buckland. He reminded the men of 
Sandusky county that Kentuckians fought for 
us at Fort Stephenson, and that Kentucky 
was now appealing for help from us to drive 
back the invading enemies of the 
Constitution and of liberty; of the 
obligations we owed them and to the cause 
of constitutional liberty, and urged men to 
enlist and fill up the regiment as soon as 
possible, and march to the aid of brothers 
and fathers who had preceded them to the 
scenes of conflict and danger, and assist in 
rescuing them from impending danger and 
destruction. 

On the 6th of December it was announced 
through the press that recruiting for the 
Seventy-second was progressing 

satisfactorily. At that date company A, 
Captain C. G. Eaton, of Clyde, Ohio, had 
eighty-four men; Company B, Captain 
George Raymond, First Lieutenant Henry 



264 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



W. Buckland, Second Lieutenant William T. 
Fisher — had eighty-three men; company F, — 
Captain S. A. J. Snyder, First Lieutenant 
Jacob Snyder, Second Lieutenant Daniel 
Huffman — had eighty-four men; that two 
hundred Enfield rifles for the flanking 
companies, A and B, had been received at 
camp. 

On the 19th of December, 1861, the cit- 
izens of Fremont presented Colonel R. P. 
Buckland with a beautiful and trusty sword, 
which he still retains and treasures with 
great care. 

On the 10th of December, 1861, the 
citizens of Clyde presented a sword to 
Captain C. G. Eaton, with an appropriate 
address, to which Captain Eaton responded 
in a short address, full of patriotism and 
eliciting hearty applause. 

On Friday, the 17th day of January, 1862, 
it was announced that the Seventy-second 
regiment was full and formed, and that the 
captains and lieutenants were as follows: 

COMPANY A. 

(One hundred men.) 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain G. C. Eaton. 

First Lieutenant W. H. Gifford. 

Second Lieutenant S. Russell. 

COMPANY B. 

(Eighty-six men.) 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain George Raymond, 

First Lieutenant Henry W. Buckland. 

Second Lieutenant W. J. Fisher. 

COMPANY C. 

(Ninety men.) 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain S. A. J. Snyder. 

First Lieutenant Jacob Snyder. 

Second Lieutenant D. W. Huffman. 

COMPANY D. 

(Eighty-six men.) 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain Andrew Nuhfer. 
First Lieutenant M. A. Fowler. 
Second Lieutenant Jesse J. Cook. 



COMPANY E. 

(Eighty-two men.) 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain J. H. Blinn. 

First Lieutenant C. D. Dennis. 

Second Lieutenant W. A. Strong. 

COMPANY F. 

(Eighty-five men.) 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain Leroy Moore. 
First Lieutenant A. H. Rice. 
Second Lieutenant J. B. Gilmore. 

COMPANY G. 

(One hundred men.) 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain T. C. Fernald. 
First Lieutenant J. Fernald. 
Second Lieutenant J. Poyer. 

COMPANY H. 

(Eighty-four men.) 
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 
Captain Michael Weigstein. 
First Lieutenant A. Young. 
Second Lieutenant A. Kline. 

COMPANY I. 

(Eighty-five men.) 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain Jacob Fickes. 
First Lieutenant A. Bates. 
Second Lieutenant J. W. Donnell. 

COMPANY K. 

(Eighty-one men.) 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain S. A. Barron. 

First Lieutenant W. C. Biddle. 

Second Lieutenant T. W. Egbert. 

It was at the same time also announced that 
the regiment would be armed with Minnie 
rifles, which were then daily expected at 
camp. 

REGIMENTAL COLOR PRESENTATION. 

On Friday, January 17, 1862, it was 
announced that the next day, Saturday the 
18th, would be a lively day at Camp 
Croghan. A picnic for the soldiers had been 
prepared by the ladies of Fremont and 
vicinity, to be served out to them at 12 
o'clock of that day. There was 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



265 



also notice that on the same day at 2 o'clock 
P. M., a beautiful regimental color, worked 
by the ladies, would be presented to the 
regiment by Homer Everett, on behalf of the 
ladies, and to Captain Weigstein's company 
(German) through the Rev. Henry Lang, a 
beautiful National silk flag, thus completing 
the stand of colors for the regiment. 

The picnic and flag presentation took place 
according to announcement, and the 
following extracts from the Sandusky 
County Democrat, published on Friday, the 
24th day of January, 1862, will show what 
was done and the manner of the ceremonies 
on that occasion. These extracts will also 
awaken in the minds of the surviving 
soldiers of the Seventy-second regiment, and 
of the men and women who participated in 
the ceremonies, many pleasing and many sad 
thoughts of persons and events connected 
with the regiment and the men who went out 
with it. 

PRESENTATION OF COLORS TO THE SEVENTY- 
SECOND REGIMENT. 

The presentation of a stand of colors to the Seventy- 
second Regiment took place at Camp Croghan on 
Saturday last, and was witnessed by a large number of 
citizens from town and country. The day was very 
favorable, and the occasion was one of deep and heart- 
felt interest to all, but more especially to the soldiers, 
their families, sisters, brothers, fathers, mothers, and 
sweethearts, who there greeted each other with words of 
counsel, encouragement, and affection, while their 
hearts were stirred by those feelings and anxieties which 
none but they can know. 

Through the enterprising liberality of the ladies of 
Fremont, a picnic dinner was served up at 12 o'clock, of 
which the soldiers partook with a hearty relish. They 
will never forget the kindness of the ladies, as evinced 
in this as well as other acts intended to promote their 
comfort. 

After dinner, the chaplain of the regiment, Rev. Mr. 
Poe, assisted by Rev. Messrs. Bushnell, Lang, and 
Phelps, distributed to each officer and private in the 
regiment, a copy of the Testament and Psalms. Prayer 
was then offered by Rev. Mr. Bushnell. Horner Everett, 
Esq., on behalf of the ladies, then presented the 
regimental flag — a splendid one — prefacing the 
presentation by the following address, for 



a report of which, as well as the other addresses which 
follow, we are indebted to Mr. J. Burgner, teacher of the 
Fremont high school: 

MR. EVERETT'S ADDRESS. 

"COLONEL BUCKLAND:— The ladies of Fremont 
have observed your untiring energy and labor, and your 
exertions in enlisting and organizing the Seventy-second 
regiment — the Fort Stephenson regiment. They are 
always patriotic, always quick to observe merit; and 
they have observed, sir, how you have proved yourself 
willing to give up, for a time at least, the enjoyments of 
an ample competence, a pleasant home, a dear family, 
and all the enjoyments of social life amongst us, and 
exchange them for the labors, the trials, and the dangers 
of a command like yours. They have observed, sir, how, 
when our county had sent to the service Captains 
Till ot son, Haynes, Crowell, Bartlett, and Amsden, 
furnished with men for the service, and had furnished 
many to other commands to fight the battles of this 
country, that when more help was called for, you came 
forward, and by the exertion of your widely extended 
personal influence, your personal efforts, your zeal, your 
stirring appeal to the hearts and patriotism of the people, 
which touched in them a deeper chord than bad been 
touched before, you impelled them to come forward and 
enroll themselves under your command, and they have 
observed that, under difficulties which would have 
prevented others from succeeding, by your perseverance 
the Seventy-second regiment is formed, and now ready 
for the field of action. Observing all these merits in you, 
they have determined to give proof of their appreciation 
and approval of these virtues, and to that end they have 
determined to present you with such proof as may be 
ever present to you and your command, reminding you, 
and stimulating you to high and noble action; and, sir, as 
a means of this expression on their part, have bid me 
present to you this beautiful regimental banner. 

"You will see, sir, upon its azure field, that beautiful, 
rich likeness of the soaring eagle, and that motto, 'The 
Seventy-second, Fort Stephenson regiment; and, sir, it is 
an apt and beautiful inscription. Let the one be ever 
suggestive to you and to the noble men under your 
command, of fearless and lofty sentiments; while the 
other, by its historic recollections and associations, will 
inspire you to emulate, in deeds of valor and daring, the. 
cherished hero of Fort Stephenson. Sir, the ladies, in 
presenting this to you, would have me say: 'Men of the 
Seventy-second regiment, of Fort Stephenson, officers, 
privates, and all: The ladies of Fremont have not been 
inattentive to your merits. They know well that every 
one of you has sacrificed much and will suffer much in 
the cause of our country; and they wish me to assure 
you, each and all, that these sacrifices, these labors on 
the altar of the country, are seen and appreciated by 
them, and will be remembered, too.' 



266 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



"Colonel Buckland, in your regiment are those of 
extended relations amongst us. Fathers and brothers, 
sisters, wives, and lovers, who refused and could not 
consent that their dear ones should go forward under any 
other commander, relying upon your justice, your 
courage, your kindness, and your reputation for all the 
qualities that fit you for the command, have consented 
that under you they may go and fight for the restoration 
of the Government that our fathers gave us, over the 
rebellious territory. 

"Sir, what higher expression of approbation of your 
character could we give? What greater responsibility, 
sir, could you receive? Your regiment, sir, is composed 
of those who, by the ties of kindred, acquaintance- 
father, brother, sister, wife-extends to every heart and 
hearthstone throughout our county. Not only so, but 
many of the other counties adjoining, and in distant 
portions of the State. More than this, your regiment 
embraces men who have come from Germany, from 
France, from Ireland, and perhaps from other foreign 
lands, whose connections and sympathies stretch across 
the wide Atlantic itself. And, sir, the happiness of all 
this connection, by this voluntary act on the part of our 
people, is, for a great measure, committed to your 
hands; and these sympathies and sentiments on the part 
of the ladies, permit me to assure you, are entertained by 
all the people as far as the Seventy-second regiment is 
known. 

"Take, then, that beautiful banner; and the ladies bid 
me say that it is presented to you and to all the members 
of the Seventy-second regiment; and when you go 
hence, if it shall be your fortune to do service, remember 
that the sympathies of all this people will follow you, 
and let that banner always be speaking to you of their 
happiness and your responsibilities. Let it be a beacon 
light, an assurance of the affection, respect, and 
confidence of the people who have given all these dear 
ones into your hands with such implicit confidence and 
trust. And when you are brought upon the soil of the 
enemies of this Government, whether upon the march, or 
in camp, or in the front of battle, remember, whenever 
that banner is unfurled, that the cords of affection in 
your regiment reach back to us; and that every heart in 
Sandusky county will thrill with the fortune of the Sev- 
enty-second regiment; and if it be its fate to be injured 
and to fall, every household in Sandusky county will 
shed a tear over its loss. 

"Colonel Buckland, take this banner, and remember 
that the prayers of this extended connection will follow 
you through every trial, every day and every moment 
while you are in the service of the country, for your own 
welfare, and the welfare, safety, and honor of the 
Seventy-second, Fort Stephenson Regiment." 

REV. MR. LANG'S ADDRESS. 

The flag of the German company, the gift of the 
German ladies of Fremont, was next presented to 



the regiment by Rev. H. Lang, who spoke as follows: 

"COLONEL BUCKLAND: It has fallen to my lot to 
present you this day, this standard, bearing the National 
colors. It was in the first instance the gift of the German 
ladies of Fremont to the German company of your 
regiment. In behalf of those ladies, and also of that 
German company, I bequeath it to you and your 
regiment, the noble band of patriots whom you have 
gathered around you to assist in fighting the battles of 
your country. You will perceive, sir, that it is a true 
pattern of the old noble ensign of '76; and I believe that 
the patriotism of those who bequeath it, as well as those 
who receive it, is of the old stamp of '76. The German 
company of your regiment, Colonel, will take care that 
not a leaf of the laurels of the German revolutionary 
heroes shall be disgraced by their cowardice, their 
treachery, or their want of bravery. I am proud, sir, of 
my German countrymen, who have, al lover the land, 
rushed to the rescue. You will remember Si gel, 
Blencker, Willich, and other noble German patriots. You 
will expect bravery from this company as well as from 
the rest of your regiment, and be assured, sir, you may 
depend upon them as long as you lead them to battle for 
the Constitution and the Union. The officers of the 
German company of your regiment have seen severe 
military service in Mexico. They have smelt Southern 
powder once before, and they are going to try it again. 
They will stand by your side in every contest. Give them 
an opportunity, sir, and they will show themselves 
worthy of your trust. 

"Accept then, this Star Spangled Banner; bear it on to 
victory and triumph; and be assured, sir, that my prayers 
and the prayers of this whole community shall follow 
you to the field of danger and honor; and, if called into 
actual service, see to it that not one star of this glorious 
constellation shall fall under the feet of those that have 
forgotten that they who take the sword shall perish with 
the sword. May. you return with this flag after glorious 
deeds of military honor, and may history inscribe upon 
its broad stripes: 'The Ohio Seventy-second was as true 
as the patriots of '76.' God speed you, sir, and let this be 
the war cry in your regiment: ' The sword of God and 
our country." 

On account of the throng it was impossible to 
obtain a verbatim report of 

COLONEL BUCKLAND'S RESPONSE. 

"I tender my heartfelt thanks to you, the noble donors 
of these flags, and also the thanks of the Seventy-second 
regiment, which I have the honor to represent; and I 
know that I express not only my own feeling, but the 
feelings of the officers and men under my command, 
when I say to you that, so far as bravery and courage 
will do it, we have pledged ourselves here today to 
sustain the honor of the flags which you have done us 
the honor to present to us. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



267 



I heartily concur in the remarks made by my friend, 
Lang, in behalf of my German fellow-soldiers. It is true 
that incidents are recorded everywhere in the history of 
this country, in every war, proving that the Germans 
have been among the bravest, most loyal, and patriotic 
of our countrymen. They were such during the 
Revolution, and in the present war we have a Sigel, a 
Blencker, and a host of German patriots; and wherever 
the fight has been the hottest, there have been our 
German fellow-countrymen; and nobly have they 
sustained the German character by their courage and 
patriotism. They are friends of liberty the world over, 
and when they are fighting under the stars and stripes, 
they are fighting under the emblem of liberty known 
wherever civilization has made any headway. They are 
here now, and we rely upon those in our regiment, as 
well as in others, to help sustain the honor of the 
regiment and the honor of the colors you have this day 
presented to us. I am well aware of the great responsi- 
bility I myself have assumed as colonel of this regiment; 
and I feel that I am not competent to the task; not so 
well qualified for the position as I wish I were. But all I 
can say in reply to that is, that I consented to supply that 
place, and that I will devote all my energies and 
abilities, whatever they may be, to advance the interests, 
the comforts, and the glories of the Seventy-second 
regiment. It is perhaps the greatest undertaking of my 
life, and I have pledged myself and my all to sustain the 
honor of this regiment. More than this I cannot do. I 
know it is one thing to propose what we will do, and 
another thing to accomplish that promise when the day 
of trial comes; and it would be useless for me to detain 
you here today with any promises. All I have to say is, 
look to these praying men who are surrounding me, and 
ask yourselves if you have any fears of the result. I say 
no! you cannot. I believe, yes I have full confidence, 
that we shall some day return marching under these 
glorious banners; and when you come to examine them 
you will not find anywhere on them a single stain of 
dishonor. However much they may be shattered and 
torn, they will be untarnished so far as honor is 
concerned. If I shall be mistaken, then I shall consider 
that my efforts have been in vain; but I have no fears, so 
far as the officers and men under me are concerned. 
When they bear in mind by whose influence these 
banners have been conferred today, they will be 
prompted to deeds of bravery, and the presence of these 
flags will have an influence on every act and every duty 
which shall be performed by the Seventy-second reg- 
iment. Whenever they go into the battlefield and behold 
these banners, the glorious stars and stripes under which 
our fathers gained their independence, and under which 
our men are now in the field fighting for the honor and 
glory of this country- 1 say whenever they go into battle 
under these banners, they will go in with a shout, 
remembering the beauti- 



ful donors, and be encouraged to acts of heroism by the 
recollection that they are fighting not only for 
themselves and the regiment, but for the honor of the 
ladies who have presented these banners to them. 
Therefore, ladies, I say I have no fear but that when 
these banners are returned to you, which I hope they will 
be, they will be returned covered with honor, and that 
there will be no spot of dishonor anywhere within their 
folds. 

"Mr. Everett has referred particularly to the part I 
have taken in getting tip this regiment. I wish in reply to 
that barely to remark that I owe very much to the 
officers and men who have taken hold with me and 
worked so faithfully and energetically in this cause. I do 
not wish to assume to myself the whole honor of getting 
up the Seventy-second regiment; it does not belong to 
me. I only say I have done what I could, and I will give 
honor to those who have done what they could. We have 
raised a regiment where it was thought none could be 
raised. It has been well remarked that many of these men 
have left families and kindred at home. They have made 
greater sacrifices than I have made. Some can not well 
leave their families; and I wish now on this occasion to 
ask you to look well to the families of the men who have 
assembled here to do battle for our country and for your 
benefit. In our absence let them not suffer for want of 
the necessaries of life. I will not detain you longer, but 
will return you the heartfelt thanks of the whole 
regiment for these beautiful flags. 

"And now, fellow soldiers! Attention battalion! I 
propose that the whole battalion give the donors three 
hearty cheers. " (Cheers by the regiment.) 

In the afternoon of Friday, the 24th of January, 
1862, the Seventy-second left Camp Croghan, 
and travelled by railroad to Clyde, Ohio, and 
thence by the same conveyance to Camp Chase. 

The soldiers were apparently in good 
spirits and cheerful. But the very heartstrings 
of social life and love throughout the county 
quivered with suppressed anguish while the 
men cheered, and the women waved them on 
to duty. The Infinite God alone can ever 
know and measure the secret anguish that 
found relief in tears shed in secret, and the 
inarticulate prayers which followed the 
march of the brave boys of the regiment, as 
they took their departure for three years to 
expose their lives to all the chances of war. 

Companies A, B, C, D, E, F, H, and I 



268 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



were formed almost entirely of citizens of 
Sandusky county; company G, with a small 
portion of companies H and A, were 
recruited in Erie county, and company K was 
mostly recruited in Medina county, while a 
few men in companies C and E were of 
Wood county, Ohio. 

As the regiment did not, when it left 
Fremont, contain the maximum number of 
men, company K was broken up, and 
distributed among the other companies, and 
the officers of that company discharged. A 
company originally recruited for the Fifty- 
second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was 
assigned to the Seventy-second at Camp 
Chase, and denominated company K, which 
made the regiment full. 

*The regiment was fully equipped in 
February, and was ordered to report to 
General Sherman at Paducah. Here it was 
assigned to a brigade composed of the Forty- 
eighth, Seventieth, and Seventy-second Ohio 
regiments, and Colonel Buckland placed in 
command. The Seventy-second proceeded 
with Sherman's division to Fort Henry on the 
steamer Baltic, by way of the Tennessee 
River. This movement was early in March, 
1862. From Fort Henry the main army 
proceeded to Savannah, but Sherman's 
division was ordered up to Eastport, 
Mississippi, for the purpose of cutting the 
Memphis & Charleston Railroad, and thus 
prevent General J. S. Johnson from 
reinforcing Beauregard. Heavy rains and 
consequent high water defeated the plan, and 
after a detention of sixteen days on board of 
the boats Buckland's brigade disembarked at 
Pittsburg Landing, and encamped near 
Shiloh Church. 

From the long confinement on the 
transports and bad water at Shiloh, the 
troops under General Buckland suffered 

*For the following account of the services of the 
Seventy-second regiment we are indebted to Reid's Ohio 
in the War. 



greatly in health, and the Seventy-second 
was weakened and greatly reduced in 
numbers. On the 3d of April Buckland's 
brigade was engaged in a reconnaissance, in 
which the Seventy-second met the rebel 
pickets, and exchanged shots. On the next 
day (the 4th of April) companies B and H 
were ordered to reconnoiter the front of the 
picket line. These companies became 
separately engaged, and Major Crockett and 
two or three men of company H were 
captured, and several were wounded. 
Company B was surrounded, but it fought 
for an hour against great odds, and was 
saved by the fortunate arrival of companies 
A, D and F, which were sent forward to their 
relief. Company B lost four men wounded. 

All this time the rebels were massing near 
Shiloh, and preparing to sweep away the 
Union forces there, by an unexpected attack 
in force. But General Buckland, by 
reconnoitering, had felt the enemy, and was 
too vigilant to be prepared for an attack at 
any moment, so far as he was concerned. 
Whatever has been said, or may be said 
about our forces being surprised at Shiloh, 
sure it is that General Buckland was not 
surprised. His brigade was ready, from the 
time of Crockett's capture, and all that 
prudence and bravery could do, General 
Buckland did to be ready for the enemy at 
any and every moment. He felt sure from the 
3d of April, that the rebels intended an 
attack in force on the army at Pittsburg 
Landing, and acted accordingly. And when, 
on the morning of the 6th of April, 1862, the 
onset came, he was up and ready. His 
brigade met the enemy on that memorable 
morning, and withstood the furious onset of 
three successive lines; and notwithstanding 
the defection of the brigade on his left, he 
held his position for two hours, when 
General Sherman ordered his brigade to 
retire. The rebels had advanced 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



269 



on the left, and threatened to cut off the 
retreat, but Buckland's brigade made a rapid 
detour to the right through a dense wood, 
and at 1 1 o'clock was in position to the right 
of the National line. The regiment was 
constantly at the front, and acted with great 
bravery and coolness throughout the day, 
and on the 7th effectively participated in the 
charge which finally swept the enemy from 
the field, and that night rested in the camp 
from which it had been ordered to retire the 
day before. In this action the regiment lost 
Lieutenant-Colonel Canfield mortally 
wounded, and two company officers killed, 
one of them being the brave captain of the 
German company, H, and one officer 
missing. Thirteen men were killed, seventy 
were wounded, and forty-five were missing. 
The Seventy-second participated in the 
pursuit of the enemy as far as Monterey. 

At the siege of Corinth the Seventy- 
second bore a conspicuous part, and 
although its losses in the action were not 
great, it suffered great loss by disease and 
consequent disability. During the siege 
General J. W. Denver assumed command of 
Buckland's brigade, and Colonel Buckland 
returned to the command of his regiment. 

After the evacuation of Corinth, 
Sherman's division moved along the 
Memphis & Charleston Railroad, in a 
westerly direction, and on the 21st of July, 
1863, entered Memphis. When the regiment 
arrived at Memphis it presented a dilapida- 
ted condition; the men were worn, sick, 
weary, and ragged, having drawn no clothing 
since the battle of Pittsburg Landing. Here 
the Seventy-second was brigaded with the 
Thirty-second Wisconsin, Ninety-third 
Indiana, Ninety-third Illinois, and the One 
Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois. This 
brigade was designated the First brigade of 
the Third division. The di- 



vision was placed under the command of 
General Lanman, while Colonel Buckland 
command d the brigade under the new 
organization. 

On the 26th day of November the reg- 
iment marched toward Wyatt, on the Tal- 
lahatchie. The rebels retreated, and 
Sherman's forces were ordered back to Mem- 
phis. When the Memphis & Charleston 
Railroad was reached, the regiment was 
ordered to Moscow, to hold the bridge over 
Wolf River. Here the regiment fell in with - 
Richardson's guerillas, but experienced no 
loss. It remained at Moscow about two 
weeks, in the performance of picket duty 
there, until the 9th of January, 1863, when it 
was ordered to Corinth. The march to 
Corinth was made by way of Bolivar and 
Purdy. In the night next after arriving at 
Corinth, the weather became intensely cold, 
from which the men suffered severely. Here 
Buckland's brigade was assigned to the 
Sixteenth Corps, and was concentrated near 
Memphis. 

The Seventy-second reached White's 
Station, nine miles east of Memphis, on the 
31st of January, 1863, and was engaged in 
picket duty, and in work on the 
fortifications. It moved to Memphis on the 
13th of March, embarked on the steamer 
Champion, and on the 14th proceeded down 
the stream. 

The regiment had been reinforced by 
about forty nine-months recruits, which, 
with returning convalescents, somewhat 
increased its effective strength. On the 2d of 
April the regiment went into camp four 
miles above Young's Point. Here, it was for 
a time engaged in working on the canal, and 
in preparations for the coming campaign. It 
commenced its march for a position in the 
rear of Vicksburg on the 2d of May, 1863, 
moved seventy miles southward, through 
Louisiana, and reached the Mississippi 
opposite Grand Gulf. It crossed the river on 
the 



270 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



7th of May, and on the 8th moved toward 
Jackson, Mississippi, and was in the battle 
there on the 14th of May. The next day the 
regiment continued the march toward 
Vicksburg, and arrived there on the 18th. 

The regiment took a part in the assault on 
the rebel works at Vicksburg, on the 19th 
and 22d days of May, and then began the 
labors of the siege. The position of the 
regiment was on the right of Tuttle's 
division, and within a half mile of the 
Mississippi River, and north of Vicksburg. 

On the 22d of June the Seventy-second 
formed part of the force ordered to Big 
Black River to intercept Joe Johnson, who 
was attempting the relief of Vicksburg. After 
this the Seventy-second was thrown out on 
the advance picket-line, and continued to 
hold that hazardous position until the 
surrender of Vicksburg. 

The regiment then moved against General 
Johnson at Jackson, and after the battle 
pursued the rebels to Brandon, where it had 
an engagement. After destroying a portion of 
the railroad it returned to Big Black to rest 
and refit. 

In the latter part of the summer the 
regiment moved to Oak Ridge, twenty-one 
miles distant from Vicksburg and near the 
Yazoo River, and in September it 
participated in a four days' scout to 
Mechanicsville, in which it experienced 
some very hard marching, and lively 
skirmishing. On the 15th of October, 1863, it 
took part in General McPherson's expedition 
to Canton, Mississippi, and on its return 
went into camp eight miles in the rear of 
Vicksburg. About the middle of November 
the regiment was ordered with its division to 
Memphis, to guard the Mississippi and 
Charleston railroad, and was stationed at 
Germantown, fourteen miles east of Mem- 
phis. 

On the 2d of January, 1864, the regiment 
re-enlisted and soon after moved to 
Memphis. In February it took part in 



the expedition under Colonel McMillen, to 
the Tallahatchie River, to create a diversion 
in favor of General W. S. Smith's cavalry 
expedition, all being part of General 
Sherman's Meridian expedition. This lasted 
thirteen days, and the regiment marched one 
hundred and fifty, miles. 

VETERAN FURLOUGH. 

On the aid of February, at Memphis, it 
received a veteran furlough and proceeded 
North. And it is the pleasing duty of the 
historian to follow the gallant veterans of the 
Seventy-second regiment, who had re- 
enlisted, from the scenes of their labors and 
suffering, their marches, sieges, and battles, 
back to their homes and friends and dear 
ones, from whom they parted more than two 
years before. 

On Friday, the 26th day of February, 
1864, a telegram to Fremont announced that 
the regiment was at Cairo the day previous, 
on its way home. This good news soon put 
the public mind in the city and county in 
motion. The brave men we had sent out more 
than two years before, and who had toiled 
and suffered, and marched and fought at the 
front so many weary days, were now coming 
home to greet those whom they left behind 
shadowed with anxiety and tears at their de- 
parture. It may truly be said that the hearts 
of the whole county thrilled and throbbed 
with joyous anticipations at the meeting, and 
with a desire to honor the veterans on their 
arrival. The mayor of Fremont at once gave 
notice of a public meeting of the citizens to 
make arrangements for a proper reception of 
the regiment. A large meeting was held, over 
which the mayor, Captain John M. Kline, 
was called to preside, and D. W. Krebs was 
chosen secretary. On motion the mayor and 
common council of the city appointed a 
committee of arrangements, with power to 
appoint such subcommittees as they might 
think proper. The sub- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



271 



committees were then promptly announced 
as follows: The committee on arrangements 
and refreshments were: H. R. Shomo, Isaac 
E. Amsden, John Flaugher, Captain A. 
Young, C. H. Burdick, and Isaac M. Keeler. 
The committee on reception were: Homer 
Everett, J. L. Greene, sr., John Bell, David 
Betts, James Justice, Dr. Thomas Stilwell, 
William N. Morgan, Isaac Knapp, Nathaniel 
Haynes, and William S. Russell. Dispatches 
were then sent to Columbus, Ohio, inquiring 
what time the regiment might be expected in 
Fremont, and also to Governor Brough, 
asking that the regiment might be ordered to 
come here in a body, and be furloughed at 
Fremont instead of at Columbus. To this the 
Governor gave his assent, and the 
information came that it was expected to 
arrive in Columbus Saturday afternoon, and 
would leave that night at 10 o'clock, and 
reach Fremont at Io o'clock A. M., Sunday 
morning. This left but a few hours to make 
arrangements to receive the brave men in a 
proper manner. The great Daniel Webster 
once proclaimed at Philadelphia during a 
great financial crisis, that "there are no 
Sabbaths in revolutionary times." All our 
statutes on the observation of the Sabbath, 
have an exception from the prohibition of 
labor on the Sabbath, which says works of 
necessity and charity excepted. Here, in the 
reception of the brave boys in blue, our 
people found a work of necessity and charity 
combined, and notwithstanding the fact that 
our people loved the Sabbath, and the 
common, quiet duties of that sacred day as 
well as any other people, on this occasion 
they made it a holy duty to feed the hungry 
and thank the brave defenders of, our flag. 

Our people at once took hold of the 
preparations with a will. Union hall was 
procured in which to set the tables for re- 
freshments. Word was immediately sent 



through the town and vicinity for provisions 
to be sent in. The Ladies' Aid Society at 
once began work with an energy only known 
to the women of Fremont, who know no such 
word as faint or fail. Their efforts soon put 
the question of ample provision for the 
patriots beyond all doubt. Had there been 
twenty-four hours more time there would 
have been sufficient to feed five times the 
number. 

Eight tables were set, each containing forty 
plates, besides, in the anteroom adjoining, 
about fifty more plates were set. Tables were 
never more tastefully arranged, nor more 
bountifully supplied. There were oysters, 
stewed and raw, hot coffee, turkeys, 
chickens, ham, beef, sliced tongue, slaw, 
pickled cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, 
peaches, cherries, bread, biscuit, cakes in 
quantity, pies, apples, canned peaches, 
strawberries, cherries, currants, with all 
other varieties of fruits. No such sumptuous 
tables were ever before spread in Fremont; 
they were, in short, loaded with the best that 
could be provided. At half past eight o'clock 
Sunday morning a telegram announced that 
the train conveying the Seventy-second had 
passed Oberlin at 8 o'clock that morning, on 
its way to Fremont. At Wakeman this train 
lay on the side track an hour and a half, 
waiting for a freight train to pass. After this 
delay the train bearing our brave boys came 
thundering into the depot at Fremont, a few 
minutes after 12 o'clock, Sunday, February 
28, 1864. Acres of people were assembled at 
the depot, and welcomed them with well 
rendered music from the Fremont band, and 
cheers and shouts from the glad multitude. 
The soldiers quickly left the cars and 
promptly took position in the regiment for 
the march. The reception committee 
conducted them down in good order, through 
Croghan street to Main, on Main street down 
to State, down State to Front, and up Front 



272 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



street to Union hall, on the corner of Front 
and Garrison streets. Here the regiment 
standing amidst a throng of men, women, 
and children, were welcomed on behalf of 
the citizens by Homer Everett, esq., in a 
brief speech, which was as follows: 

BRAVE MEN, PATRIOTS AND SOLDIERS OF THE 
ARMY OF THE UNION:— The people of Fremont and 
vicinity, by the mayor and common council of Fremont, 
desire me to say that during your absence in the field of 
active military duty for more than two years, they have 
watched your conduct with intense interest. We have all 
observed your sacrifices, hardships, suffering, and 
sympathized in them all. Our best wishes and prayers 
have been constantly offered in your behalf. We feel 
that the honor and glory you won on the bloody field of 
Shiloh, and at the laborious and trying siege of 
Vicksburg, is in a measure reflected back on us, and we 
rejoice to share it with you. We thought and believed 
when we parted with the Seventy-second, that we were 
sending into the field as fine, intelligent and brave a 
regiment as ever adorned the service of any State or 
Nation. Now we know it to be so. You left as volunteer 
citizens unused to war; you return soldiers, veteran 
soldiers, with banners soiled and tattered in the storms 
of battle. It is the Sabbath day ; we hope we do not 
violate it in discharging our solemn duty to thank you on 
the only occasion we can have to do so. We remember 
that on the Sabbath of the 6th of April, 1862, you beat 
back the assailing foe, that we might enjoy this day in 
peace. Hence today you see this great assemblage of 
men, women and children here to thank you. You went 
away a thousand strong, you return with less than half 
that number. Battles and disease have thinned your 
ranks. Many dear and once familiar faces no longer 
answer to the roll call. Many cheering voices, once 
animating your ranks, are heard no more. To all those 
who fell or died of wounds received in battle, as 
Canfield, Weigstem, Witmer, Wonders, Glass, and many 
others ; to all those who died of disease in the service, 
as Crocket, Caldwell, and many others of the Seventy- 
second, as well as to all who have perished in this great 
war, we here pay our grateful tribute of dear 
remembrance, holding them as priceless offerings on the 
altar of Freedom and Union. They have not died in vain. 
Your brave and beloved Colonel Buckland, so devoted 
to the honor and welfare of the Seventy-second, though 
not present on this occasion, we rejoice to know still 
lives to serve the country in another and advanced 
sphere of service. 

Brave men, notwithstanding your sufferings and 
services, with a full knowledge of all the privations and 
dangers of war, you have further proved your 



devotion to the great cause by re-enlisting, by volun- 
tarily promising to fight the battle through. This noble 
act crowns your merit, proves you worthy of the 
country's confidence and excites our admiration to the 
highest point. We thank you! We are proud of you! You 
are weary and hungry; fathers, mothers, wives and 
sisters, and other dear ones, are yearning to embrace 
you; your hearts are bounding to embrace them. It is not 
the time to hold you here to recount all, all you have 
done for us. 

Brave men, veteran soldiers of the Grand Army of 
the Union! The people with open arms gratefully, 
thankfully welcome you to our hearts, our homes, and 
the best cheer we can give. 

After heartily cheering the welcome, the 
regiment marched in order into the hall for 
refreshments. The men had eaten nothing 
since 8 o'clock the Saturday night previous 
to their arrival. They were, as may be 
properly supposed, in a condition to 
appreciate the repast prepared for them. 
Never did men eat with a better relish, or 
with more earnest, heartfelt thankfulness 
take a feast of good things amidst smiling 
and grateful faces of beautiful and good 
women than did the veterans of the Seventy- 
second on that memorable day. Such 
expressions of gratitude by both the 
entertained and the entertainers were never 
heard before in the county. The hearts of all 
the soldiers, and all the citizens, were never 
before so manifestly sympathetic and tender. 
It was a scene and a time long to be 
remembered in Fremont, and in fact 
throughout the county of Sandusky. 

In two hours after the men had surfeited 
on the good things, all but forty or fifty had 
left town for their homes in the country. The 
remaining ones took sup per at the hall, and 
about thirty were present at breakfast on 
Monday morning. There were three hundred 
and fifteen men who re-enlisted. About one 
hundred were left behind who had not 
reenlisted, and were, of course, not entitled 
to the veteran furlough. No accident 
occurred to mar the joys of the occasion, and 
no impropriety was manifested during the 
day. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



273 



As the men marched along their way from 
the depot to the front of the hall, between 
lines of cheering citizens, they appeared 
grave, silent, and almost sad. In fact, they 
were travel-worn, weary, and hungry. Their 
march was not a holiday parade; they moved 
steadily and slowly along, without noise or 
demonstration of emotion whatever. As they 
took position in front of the hall, and 
listened to the words of welcome, some 
countenances in the ranks were momentarily 
lighted by an expression of satisfaction. 
There was a total absence of everything gay, 
or gaudy, or frivolous about them. But 
behind those bronzed faces could be seen the 
deep determination of brave, patriotic men, 
who had tasted war and knew its perils, and 
were still determined to endure more for the 
flag and the Union. Beneath the soiled and 
battered caps on their heads there were 
brains sufficient to organize and conduct the 
affairs of a State; underneath the ragged 
blouses were big, brave, noble hearts, ready 
to dare and to do for their country. And, 
although the external appearance of the men 
as they stood plainly indicated that they 
were in want of the bath, the barber, and the 
tailor to fit them for parlor entertainments in 
the lives they had lea in the homes they had 
left for the tented field, there were thousands 
present who knew that each man was a 
precious jewel, whether placed in the storm 
of battle for his country, or in the discharge 
of civic duties in social or political life. 
"God bless the boys," was the heartfelt utter- 
ance of thousands on that day. 

No doubt equal merit should be awarded to 
hundreds of thousands of our volunteers 
from other localities, but as we are writing 
the history of Sandusky county, of course it 
is our special duty to mention our own 
soldiers. 



AGAIN TO THE FRONT. 

On the 5th of April, 1864, the regiment 
reassembled at Fremont and moved to 
Cleveland, Ohio. During the furlough 
considerable recruiting was done, and the 
regiment returned to the front with nearly five 
hundred men. It next moved, April 8th, to Cairo, 
by railroad, and arrived there on the 10th of the 
same month; and while there, awaiting river 
transportation, it was ordered to Paducah, 
Kentucky, to assist in the defence of that place 
against Forrest, whose forces made a slight 
attack on the place, which was repulsed. It re- 
mained at Paducah until the 22d of April, 1864, 
when it embarked for Memphis, and arrived 
there the next day. The regiment here remained 
quietly in camp, drilling the new recruits, until 
the 30th of April, when it joined an expedition 
under General Sturgis, against Forrest. They 
moved by rail nearly to Wolf River, thirty-eight 
miles from Memphis, and from there marched to 
Bolivar, arriving just in time to see the place 
evacuated. From there the regiment marched 
with the expedition southward, toward Ripley, 
Mississippi, but finding no enemy, turned back, 
and on the 9th of May reached Memphis. The 
regiment formed part of an expedition which 
started June 1, 1864, against Forrest. The forces 
sent on this expedition consisted of twelve 
regiments of infantry and a division of cavalry. 
The force encountered Forrest's men at Brice's 
Cross Roads, Mississippi, and the cavalry began 
skirmishing. The enemy was in a well chosen 
position at and behind Tishomingo Creek. The 
infantry was brought up on the double-quick for 
several miles, and at once went into action. No 
attempt was made to establish a line, and the 
regiments were hurled against the enemy one at 
a time, and thus each regiment was subjected to 
great odds, and was badly cut up. To make 
matters worse, an attempt 



274 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



was made to advance the wagon train across 
the creek, directly under the enemy's fire. 
This attempt brought great confusion; a 
retreat was ordered, and the retreat became a 
panic. A portion of the train was destroyed, 
and the remainder fell into the hands of the 
enemy, and the National troops were left 
without ammunition and without rations. No 
attempt was made to cover the rear or to 
secure an orderly retreat. It was a regular 
stampede, and on the same day of the fight 
the expedition fell back twenty-three miles, 
to Ripley. Here an attempt was made to 
reorganize, but to no purpose: The Seventy- 
second was the last to retreat from the fight 
at Guntown or Tishomingo Creek, and the 
last to reach Ripley. Whitelaw Reid's History 
of Ohio in the War, says the officer in 
command of the expedition surrounded 
himself with cavalry and started for 
Memphis, leaving the infantry, as he 
expressively said, "to go to the devil." Why 
any historian could suppress the name of the 
wretch who would so imprudently lead-no, 
not lead, but order-his men to certain 
destruction, and coward-like ride away and 
leave them to their fate, seems to be an 
emphatic omission. The name of the 
miserable mismanager of this expedition was 
General Sturgis, and his name should always 
be connected with that terrible disaster, to 
shut out all chance for inference that some 
worthy man who was there might be charged 
with the slaughter and terrible imprisonment 
of the brave men who were there sacrificed. 
In this expedition General Buckland took no 
part, but was at the time post commander in 
Memphis, and faithfully doing duty as such, 
while the immediate command of the 
Seventy-second devolved on Lieutenant- 
Colonel Charles G. Eaton, a brave man and 
noble commander. 

The only safety to the infantry from 



death or rebel prison lay in reaching 
Memphis, and to do this the men on foot 
must outmarch the rebel cavalry. Incredible 
as it may seem, nine officers and one 
hundred and forty men of the Seventy- 
second, reached Germantown on the morning 
of the 12th; thus marching at the close of a 
battle without a morsel of food, one hundred 
miles in forty-one hours. Eleven officers and 
two hundred and thirty-seven men of the 
Seventy-second were killed, wounded, or 
captured. The greater portion were captured, 
and of these very few returned to the 
regiment. Many of those who reached 
Germantown were broken down completely, 
and on reaching Memphis, where the 
regiment was transported by rail, many of 
the men were utterly helpless and could 
neither walk nor stand. 

On the 15th day of June, 1864, five days 
after the sad affair, Captain Leroy Moore, of 
Company F, wrote from Meridian, 
Mississippi, to the Fremont journal, as 
follows: 

MERIDIAN, MISSISSIPPI, June 15, 1864. 
MR. KEELER, SIR:-The following is a list of 
prisoners from the Seventy-second regiment Ohio 
Veteran Volunteer Infantry, now at this place. We 
arrived here this (Wednesday) morning, June 15. The 
greater number of these men were taken on the 1 1th and. 
12th of June. Quite a number have undoubtedly been 
since taken, and perhaps some have been killed and 
wounded, but I have no account of any but the above 
named. The health of the men is good and they are in 
excellent spirits, but are very hard up for clothing about 
one-half being without shoes, and a less number without 
blankets or coats. 

Knowing the anxiety which our friends feel for our 
welfare, I have concluded to send this to you for 
publication. 

Very respectfully, 

LEROY MOORE, 
Captain Company F, Seventy-second Ohio Veteran 
Volunteer Infantry. 

A more complete list was furnished a few 
days later by Captain J. M. Lemmon, which 
is published below: 

On the 18th of June, 1864, Lieutenant 
Colonel C. G. Eaton, who commanded 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



275 



the Seventy-second regiment in this ex- 
pedition, made the following report to his 
superior officer. Of course military dis- 
cipline would not allow him to criticize 
General Sturgis' conduct, but the facts stated 
in the report are sufficient for the purpose. 

HEADQUARTERS SEVENTY-SECOND REGIMENT, 
OHIO VETERAN VOLUNTEER INFANTRY, 

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, June 18, 1864. 
LIEUTENANT O. H. ABLE, Acting Assistant Adjutant- 
General First Brigade, First Division, Sixteenth Army 
Corps: 

SIR: — In compliance with special order NO. 39, 
headquarters First Brigade, First Division, Sixteenth 
Army Corps, dated Memphis, Tennessee, May 31st, 
1864, this regiment, as part of the infantry force com- 
manded by Colonel W. L. McMillen, reported at the 
Memphis & Charleston depot, at 6 o'clock A. M., June 
1st, 1864. From the depot we were transported by rail to 
a point about three miles east of Colliers-Ville, from 
whence we proceeded, by slow and easy marches, to our 
camp on the side-hill, about four miles north of the 
Hatchie bottom, where we arrived the evening of June 9. 
The march of the command of which the Seventy-second 
Ohio formed a part, from Colliersville to this camp, was 
slow, on account of rainy weather, muddy roads, and 
being encumbered with a train of some two hundred and 
fifty wagons. At 6 A. M., June 10, we moved from this 
camp, marching at a good pace for about nine miles, 
when I was notified by Captain Buckland, of Colonel 
McMillen's staff, that the cavalry command was engaged 
with the enemy in front, and that it would be necessary 
for me to hurry up my regiment. Accordingly, I moved 
my regiment at a very rapid pace, some three miles, to 
the battlefield, where we arrived between z and 3 /•. M. 
The day being extremely hot and sultry, quite a number 
of my men fell out before we arrived there, being 
overcome with heat and fatigue. Upon arriving at the 
battlefield, by order of Colonel W. L. McMillen, 
commanding infantry division, the Seventy-second 
regiment was stationed on the left of the line, to support 
Miller's battery-which was immediately on its right-and 
cover the road to the rear. The battery was stationed on a 
hill in front of a log house, the right of the Seventy- 
second resting near the battery, and the regiment 
extending to the left nearly to the foot of the hill. In 
front of the Seventy-second, about two hundred and fifty 
yards, was another hill, on top of which were stationed 
n. few rebels, concealed by bushes and a rail fence. The 
space between the Seventy-second and the rebel line was 
an open field, giving us a good opportunity to see any 
advance on the part of the enemy. I had five companies 
deploy as skirmishers to the front, and to the right. They 



kept up a little skirmishing with the enemy for about an 
hour and a half, when Colonel Wilkins, commanding 
brigade, ordered me to withdraw my regiment from the 
position on the left of the line, and to form it in line, so 
that the left would rest about one hundred yards to the 
right of Miller's battery. Colonel Wilkins informed me 
that the object of this movement was to protect the 
cavalry while they should retreat across the bridge to the 
rear. Accordingly, I withdrew my regiment, with the 
exception of the five companies which had previously 
been deployed as skirmishers, but had not arrived at the 
position where I was ordered to establish my regiment, 
before the five companies deployed as skirmishers were 
heavily engaged with the skirmishers of the enemy. I 
suggested to Colonel Wilkins the propriety of moving 
my regiment back to its former position, for the reason 
that, if the enemy should drive back my five skirmish 
companies, it would enable him to pass up the road to 
our rear, thereby cutting us off from retreat in case of 
disaster, and also enable him to destroy the large train of 
ammunition and commissary stores. Colonel Wilkins, 
seeing how much damage the enemy could do by forcing 
back the left of our line, consented to my returning to 
my first position. 

As soon as my regiment arrived at the first position, a 
heavy line of the enemy's skirmishers, which extended 
quite a distance beyond the left of my skirmish line, was 
seen advancing across the open field. I formed my 
command so as to give my men a good range of that part 
of the enemy's line of skirmishers which extended 
beyond the left of my line of skirmishers. A few volleys 
fired by my command caused the enemy to withdraw. 
Just at this moment I discovered that the whole infantry 
command, with the exception of my regiment, was 
retreating. In a very few minutes, Colonel McMillen, in 
person, ordered me to hold my position until all of the 
other regiments should have crossed a creek and swamp 
to our rear, to the end that they might have time to form 
a new line of battle about half a mile in the rear. By the 
time the last regiment had crossed, the enemy was 
advancing from the right, left, and front of my position, 
and it was almost by chance that my regiment escaped 
being captured. After crossing the creek and swamp, 
Colonel McMillen ordered me to march my regiment 
along with the train, keeping the right hand side of the 
road, This I did until I arrived at a house on a ridge 
about half a mile to the rear of the battlefield, where 
General Grierson suggested that I should station my 
regiment behind a rail fence, to protect the train until it 
should all have passed this point. This suggestion I con- 
sidered a good one, and immediately formed my 
regiment in line on the right hand side of the road, 
where I remained until the last wagon passed. Again I 
moved my command to the rear, keeping the right hand 
side of the road, as directed. We had gone 



276 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



but a few rods when the teamsters near the middle of the 
train began to destroy their wagons by setting them on 
fire, thus blockading the road so that all the wagons in 
the rear of those destroyed had to be abandoned. Seeing 
that no new line of battle was established, and that all 
the rest of the command were continuing to retreat, and 
receiving no order from my superiors in command, I 
continued to march to the rear, until I arrived on the hill 
on the north side of the Hatchie bottoms, where I 
ordered my regiment to halt, intending to allow the men 
a rest of about an hour, as they were getting very much 
fatigued, having marched about eight miles from the 
battlefield without rest. The regiment had hardly halted 
when an aide to General Sturgis, in the name of the 
General, ordered me to keep up the retreat still further to 
the rear. 

In obedience to these orders I again moved my 
command to the rear until I arrived on the ground where 
my regiment had bivouacked the night previous. My 
men, overcome by fatigue, having marched some twelve 
miles from the battlefield, without rest, I ordered a halt 
intending to remain until I should receive orders from 
some of my superiors in command. About half an hour 
afterward Colonel Warren's brigade of cavalry came up 
and the commanding officer ordered to move my 
command to Ripley. I enquired by what authority he 
gave me such orders. He replied, "By order of General 
Sturgis." Again I moved my command to the rear, and 
came up with General Sturgis and Colonel McMillen at 
a bridge crossing a creek about six miles south of 
Ripley. Colonel McMillen ordered me to continue the 
retreat to Ripley, which I did, arriving there at 5 o'clock 
the following morning having in twenty-three hours, 
marched a distance of thirty-eight miles, and engaged 
the enemy two hours. At a little before 7 o'clock Colonel 
McMillen sent an aid (Lieutenant Livings), ordering me 
as the senior officer of the brigade then present, to 
immediately move the brigade on the Salem road 
following the cavalry, with instructions to have the 
armed men organized so as to be available at a moment's 
warning. Only three regiments were in motion before 
Colonel D. C. Thomas, Ninety-third Indiana infantry, 
came up and assumed command. After marching about 
two miles Captain Fernald, of Colonel McMillen's staff, 
ordered me to keep well closed up on the cavalry, which 
was the last order I received that day from any of my 
superior officers. 

About eight miles from Ripley the enemy tired into 
the centre of the regiment from the left hand side of the 
road, which caused a slight delay of the left companies, 
thereby forming quite a gap between the fourth and fifth 
companies. The cavalry in advance began to march at 
such a rapid pace that it became utterly impossible for 
infantry to keep closed up with them-but the 
organization of my regiment was still kept up, keeping 
as close to the cavalry in 



front as possible. After marching about two miles 
further, the Fourth Missouri cavalry, which was acting 
as. rear guard to the whole command, suddenly made a 
rush to the front, riding through the ranks of my 
regiment, causing the men to scatter in all directions to 
avoid being ridden over; at the same time the enemy 
made an attack on the rear. My men, being wholly out of 
ammunition, and seeing that it was absolutely necessary 
to rid themselves of all encumbrances in order to avoid 
being captured, broke their guns and destroyed their 
accoutrements by cutting them in pieces. They then 
pressed rapidly forward, with the intention of keeping 
up with the cavalry and saving themselves if possible; 
but the majority of them being overcome by the 
excessive heat of the day and the long and rapid march, 
were compelled to leave the road and seek safety in the 
woods. However, one hundred and forty-three of my 
command kept pace with the cavalry, and arrived at 
Colliersville about 8 o'clock the following morning, 
having marched a distance of nearly ninety miles in 
forty-eight hours. After resting part of the. day at 
Colliersville, these men became so stiffened as to 
require assistance to enable them to walk, some of them, 
too foot-sore to stand upon their feet, crawled upon their 
hands and knees to the cars. 

When I left Ripley in the morning my command had 
three hundred and twenty guns, and averaged about 
eight rounds of ammunition to the man. Eleven officers 
and two hundred and thirty-five enlisted men have not 
yet returned to Memphis. They are most of them 
undoubtedly prisoners of war in the hands of the enemy. 
Of the officers and men under my command, I have just 
reasons for feeling proud. Not an officer or man did I 
see who failed to do his whole duty, and none of them 
surely are responsible for any part of the disaster. 

C. G.EATON, 
Lieutenant Colonel Commanding Seventy-second 

regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. 

On the 19th of June, 1864, Captain J. 
Mack Lemmon sent the following letter, 
which was published in the Fremont journal 
of the following week: 

MEMPHIS, TENN., June 19, 1864. 
EDITOR JOURNAL: Enclosed I send you a complete 
list of names of missing officers and men of the 
Seventy-second Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry, in the 
retreat from Guntown, June 10 and 11, 1864. It is 
hoped-though hardly possible-that some may yet come 
in. Prisoners who made their escape from the rebels 
report that our men were well treated when they fell into 
rebel hands. The loss of the expedition will amount to 
very nearly two thousand killed, wounded, and missing; 
besides, we have lost one hundred and eighty wagons, 
sixteen pieces of artil- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



277 



lery, about thirty ambulances, and two thousand 
animals. Major General A. J. Smith has been placed in 
command of the active forces here, and we may now 
look for better results. 

Respectfully, 

J. MACKLEMMON, 
Captain Seventy-second Ohio Infantry. 

The following is a list of the officers and 
men of the Seventy-second Ohio, who were 
missing: 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain Andrew Nupher, commanding Company D. 
Captain Leroy Moore, commanding Company F. 
Captain Charles L. Dirlam, commanding Company K. 
First Lieutenant John B. Gillmore, Company F. 
First Lieutenant Lorenzo Dick, commanding 
Company H. 
Second Lieutenant Edward McMahon, Company F. 
Second Lieutenant Zelotus Perrin, Company K. 
Second Lieutenant Jay Winters, Company B. 
Second Lieutenant Morris Rees, Company D. 
Second Lieutenant David Van Doren, Company G. 
Second Lieutenant Josiah Fairbanks, Company I. 

NON-COMMISSIONED STAFF. 

Hospital Steward G. A. Gessner. 
Principal Musician James Drinkwater. 

COMPANY A. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant S. K. Dwight. 
Sergeant H. N. Lay, 
Sergeant J. N. Wadams. 
Sergeant W. Woolverton. 
Sergeant C. N. Davis. 
Corporal W. G. Miller. 
Corporal A. L. Bush. 
Corporal A. Bradbury. 
Corporal Charles Boyd. 
Corporal S. Chadwick. 
Musician William Fega. 

PRIVATES. 

A. Almond, T. Babcock, F. Babcock, G. Burkett, 
Andrew German, Jacob Helsel, Augustus Harris, Z. 
Hutchinson, William Hinton, Jesse Hemp, Frank Lay, A. 
Murry, L. McCarty, N. B. Mason, Henry Miller, 
Valentine Ott, Morris Pilgrim, Noble Perrin, Almon 
Rodgers, E. Rorebach, William Ross, A. Simmerson, W. 
Sturtivant, L. Wentworth, Eli Whitaker, John Whitaker. 

COMPANY B. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant W. Millious. 
Sergeant W. F. McEntyre. 



Sergeant John Collins. 
Corporal Christ Bower. 
Corporal G. W. Camp. 

PRIVATES. 

J. F. Adams, D. Bruner, C. H. Bennett, H. Bischoff, 
M. Cowell, John Dardis, F. M. Engler, A. T. Fisher, T. 
H. Fisher, J. F. Faust, Peter Gurst, F. Hollager, Thomas 
Hearly, P. Mulrain, B. E. Mclntyre, S. P. Obermier, H. 
Overmyer, A. Polley, Sol Stage, H. B. Whitaker, M. 
Rubels. 

COMPANY C. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Corporal A. Brackley. 
Corporal Jacob Huffman. 
Corporal Jeremiah Heath. 
Corporal Hiram Edgar. 
Corporal J. P. Heritage. 

PRIVATES. 

J. C. Beery, John L. Cook, Emanuel Smith, John 
Whit come, Daniel Shoe, Ed Chapman, J. Hutchinson, 
Lewis Edgar, W. C. Team, David Henline, John P. King, 
R. Kelvington, M. Lattig, S. Overmyer, Fred Smith, 
Henry Martin, H. E. Hassenplug, Owen Hudnell, Jacob 
Bunket, George Lowe. 

COMPANY D. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant John Carbaugh. 
Sergeant Perry Chance. 
Sergeant William Duke. 
Corporal George Albert. 
Corporal Solomon Cook. 
Corporal Franklin Grove. 
Corporal Elijah Neible. 
Musician J. Sherwood. 

PRIVATES. 

Henry Basor, Joseph Beam, Orson Bower, M. 
Cuthbertson, H. Ewing, James Findley, George Grove, 
James Hales, Jacob Ludwig, J. McDaniel, Charles Piper, 
John Purcell, John Reese, Conrad Sheller, Fred Visher, 
John Walter. 

COMPANY E. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant L. A. Jackson. 
Sergeant J. P. Elderkin. 
Sergeant Jacob Snyder. 
Sergeant D. J. Hagarty. 
Sergeant Jacob Baker. 
Corporal Fred Stattler. 
Corporal William Furry. 
Corporal M. S. Haines. 
Corporal R. W. Medkirk. 
Corporal George Eslibe. 

PRIVATES. 

B. C. Beach, J. Gullenbeck, C. J. McGurnsey, Henry 
Innus, Martin Lochner, Hetiry Potter, M. 



278 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Stateler, A. Shoemaker, William Stewart, A. J 
Zink. 

COMPANY F. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant E. B. Moore. 
Sergeant T. N. Russell. 
Corporal I. A. Entsminger. 
Corporal A. Brunthaver. 

PRIVATES. 

Andrew Barto, A. R. Ballard, Chris Beck, William 
Craft, Ira Crane, H. W. Chamberlain, J. S. Duerler, J. M. 
Gillmore, George Hawk, Louis Hawk, John Johnson, 
Thomas Jackson, William H. Kirk, Hiram Neff, James 
Nesbit, Sardis Patterson, Chaun Reynolds, William 
Repp, Orrin Russell, Henry Shook, Jerry Scanlon,, 
Martin Saner, William Scrimeger, T. Whittington. 

COMPANY G. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant Joseph L. Turner. 
Corporal John Warner. 
Corporal Charles Kramb. 
Musician C. Engle. 

PRIVATES. 

S. Blackman, W. S. Crain, F. Eslewooder, W. H. 
French, E. Frankenburg, Charles Harley, A. Mulchey, 
Philip Moses, John Mowery, W. H. McEnally, William 
Seitt, Piatt Soper, C. Thompson, DeWitt C. Vance. 

COMPANY H. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant Charles Hobert. 
Sergeant J. S. Welch. 
Corporal Christ Molter. 
Corporal G. Everhardt. 
Corporal Fred Bimmick. 
Musician J. H. Rose. 

PRIVATES. 

Morris Aubrey, C. Benedict, Jacob Fessler, William 
Frank, Fred Frank, Chris Gardner, Martin Killian, 
Theobald Kirsch, Louis Muth, John Michael, Michael 
Nice, Joseph Orth, Andrew Spaeth, Henry Stoll, Marcus 
Wolf, Fred Wermer, Michael Weaver. 

COMPANY I. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant Chaun Walters. 
Sergeant Lewis Monroe. 

PRIVATES. 

Dan Brienman, Charles Caldwell, William Eckert, 
Thomas Flinn, D. A. Goodrich, H. K. Hurlbut, A. 
Hoilman, P. C. Miller, Perry Walters, Michael Walters. 



COMPANY K. 
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 
Sergeant H. B. Turrill. 
Sergeant J. W. Prickett. 
Sergeant W. Baumgartner. 
Sergeant L. Albershardt. 
Sergeant Michael Burns. 
Sergeant George W. Cox. 
Sergeant Thomas Cavanaugh. 
Sergeant William Chrisman. 
Sergeant Pat Donoughe. 
Sergeant Patrick Handley. 

PRIVATES. 

A. E. Inloes, Philip King, Henry McCabe, John 
Ollendick, Elijah Purdy, Joseph Service, J. A. Woerner, 
R. WEbster, E. Williamson. 

Enlisted men missing 237 

Officers missing 11 

Total .~248 

These communications present a sad view of 
the terrible consequence of a military 
blunder in the officer — Sturgis — in 
command of the expedition. The indignation 
of the returned men was such that General 
Sturgis found it prudent to keep out of sight 
and out of reach of their fury. And, although 
more than seventeen years have elapsed 
since this terrible scene was enacted, such is 
the indignation of the surviving men of the 
Seventy-second, that any insurance policy on 
General Sturgis' life would be collectable 
soon after any of them should find him in the 
county. 

Soon after the sad affair General Buckland 
heard that Sturgis had tried to screen himself 
from accountability by reporting that the 
men would not fight. General Buckland lost 
no time in writing a letter to General 
Sherman, indignantly denying the truth of 
any such charge as to the men of the 
Seventy-second, or of the brigade he had 
commanded, asserting boldly that he had 
often witnessed their patient endurance of 
the hardships of the service; had often led 
them in battle, and knew that truer, braver; 
or better soldiers never went into action — 
and that if properly 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



279 



commanded no men would do better 
anywhere than the men of the Seventy- 
second. 

In an interview with the writer in Sep- 
tember, 1881, Archibald Purcell, who was 
color-bearer for the Seventy-second in the 
Guntown fight, related the following inci- 
dent: 

He said that the Seventy-second regiment 
was the last to cross the bridge over 
Tishomingo Creek on the retreat. They 
arrived in a body and in order at Ripley 
about 3 o'clock in the morning of the 12th of 
June. Colonel Watterhouse's Board of Trade 
Battery, of Chicago, lost their battery about 
half a mile from Ripley, the guns being stuck 
in the mud and abandoned. 

Purcell had brought away the flag and staff 
safely as far as Ripley, but when the men left 
there, after daylight, he found that he, with 
the flag in view, was a conspicuous target 
for the shots of the pursuing rebels. 
Concealing himself as well as he could he 
took, the flag off the staff and wrapped it 
around his body, under his shirt, so that it 
could not he seen. "I thought," said he, "if I 
got killed the flag might be undiscovered, or 
buried with me, and that if I escaped I would 
save it for the regiment, and prevent the 
rebels from getting it." He escaped, and after 
entering the depot at Memphis General 
Buckland asked him, with a sad counte- 
nance, what had become of the flag. Not 
seeing it in Purcell's possession, he seemed 
to fear it was lost. Purcell finally told him it 
was safe, and pulling open his shirt he drew 
it forth, when the General's countenance 
brightened as he took it, and the men and 
women in the depot cheered and shouted as 
they realized the fact that the sacred emblem 
had been safely brought away. 

Having thus given the sad results of the 
disaster at Guntown, we resume the 



subsequent history of the Seventy-second, 
which happily was not destined to any more 
such reverses, but soon entered on a brighter 
career, in which the conduct of the regiment 
proved that the assertion of General 
Buckland was true, and the base insinuation 
of Sturgis was false. 

After a little rest, the Seventy-second 
regiment was assigned to the First brigade, 
under command of General McMillen, and 
became a part of General Mower's division 
of the Sixteenth Army Corps. 

On the 22d of June it was ordered on an 
expedition, moving in the direction of 
Tupelo, Mississippi. 

On the 1 1th of July the rebels were found 
near Pontotoc. The corps made a feint 
against the enemy and then moved rapidly 
eastward toward the Mobile & Ohio Railroad 
at Tupelo. In this movement McMillen's 
brigade, only nine hundred strong, was in the 
rear of the infantry column, and just in 
advance of the wagon train. When about two 
miles west of Tupelo, Bell's brigade of N. B. 
Forrest's command, which was in ambush, 
attacked the column. This attack fell mainly 
upon the Seventy-second. They at once 
charged the enemy. The remainder of the 
brigade was brought into action, and within 
twenty minutes the rebels were driven from 
the field utterly routed. On the return march 
McMillen's brigade again marched in the 
rear of the infantry column, and just as it 
was about to bivouac for the night at 
Tishomingo Creek, Bell's rebel brigade fell 
upon the cavalry rear and drove it into camp. 
McMillen's brigade formed rapidly and 
advanced. A volley checked the enemy, and 
a charge drove the rebels from the field. 

It was in this charge that the brave, 
gallant, and much loved Major Eugene Allen 
Rawson, of Fremont, Ohio, lost his life 
while bravely leading his men in a charge 
upon the enemy. 



280 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



HISTORY OF THE SEVENTY-SECOND RESUMED. 

Although the charge at Tishomingo Creek 
was fatal to the brave Major Rawson, the 
rebels were driven from the field. Color- 
bearer Archibald Purcell says that some 
rebels, when they made the attack, were 
imprudent enough to shout, "Give them 
Guntown." This so exasperated our boys that 
in the charge and pursuit there was a spirit of 
vengeance and retaliation manifested which, 
under other circumstances, would have been 
unbecoming a cool soldier, but the 
provocation was great, and the men felt 
keenly, even to madness, the taunting 
mention of Guntown, and he could pardon 
them for the cruelties they committed. After 
the charge in which Major Rawson fell, and 
after the rebels were driven from the field, 
the expedition returned to Memphis without 
again encountering the enemy. The Seventy- 
second had, however, lost nineteen men and 
two officers wounded, one officer, Major 
Rawson, and four men, mortally. 

The regiment next moved, about the 27th 
of July, 1864, from Memphis in the direction 
of Oxford, Mississippi, but the Third 
division of the corps was ordered to Atlanta, 
and the troops returned to Memphis. 
Mower's division was ordered to Arkansas 
on the 1st of September to resist General 
Price. The regiment embarked on the 2d on a 
steamer for Duvall's Bluff, but did not reach 
its destination until Price had passed north, 
and therefore failed to intercept him. From 
Duvall's Bluff the division moved 
northward. The march lasted eighteen days, 
and in that time the troops travelled three 
hundred and fifty miles, forded four rivers, 
and reached the Mississippi River at Cape 
Girardeau, Missouri. During this march the 
weather was hot and the troops on half 
rations. At Cape Girardeau the 



troops took transports for St. Louis, and from 
there moved to Jefferson City, from which 
point the division moved against Price. The 
troops made extraordinary marches, from early 
morning until late at night, making from thirty 
to forty-five miles each day. But Price's 
division was well mounted, and it proved, vain 
to attempt to overtake him. The pursuit, 
however, continued to Little Santa Fe, on the 
Kansas lint, where the infantry turned back to 
St. Louis. The weather during this march 
became intensely cold, and the men had only 
the clothing which was on their backs and a 
rubber blanket. No wood was to be found, and 
snow fell twelve inches deep. After enduring 
many hardships the Seventy-second reached St. 
Louis on the 16th of November, 1864. The 
division was next ordered up the Cumberland, 
and on the 30th of November it joined the 
forces under General Thomas, at Nashville, 
and was posted on the right of the line there. 
The command of the division now devolved on 
General J. A. McArthur, General Mower 
having been ordered to General Sherman. On 
the 7th of December the Seventy-second was 
on a reconnaissance, and was warmly engaged 
and lost eleven men killed and wounded. 
During the first day of the battle of Nashville, 
the regiment participated in a charge, in which 
three hundred and fifty prisoners and six pieces 
of artillery were captured from the enemy. 
This, among many other brave acts, proved that 
the men of the Seventy-second would fight 
when properly commanded, General good-for- 
nothing Sturgis to the contrary 
notwithstanding. At night the Seventy-second 
was sent to Nashville with prisoners, but it 
returned in time to take part in the fight of the 
16th of November, 1864, and engaged in the 
charge on Walnut Hills. In this battle 
McMillens brigade, numbering less than 
twelve hun- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



281 



dred men, captured two thousand prisoners 
and thirteen pieces of artillery, while its total 
loss was only one hundred and sixty men. 
Here the Seventy-second proved again it 
would fight when properly commanded, as, 
General Buckland asserted, and that the 
assertion of the miserable sham of the 
regular army, Sturgis, that they would not 
fight, was a base falsehood. 

The division then moved to Eastport, 
Mississippi, and went into camp, where 
supplies were very scarce, and there the 
brave men of the Seventy-second, as well as 
the other soldiers of the division, subsisted 
for days on parched corn and water 

In February, 1865, the regiment moved 
with the division to New Orleans, and there 
camped. February 28, it embarked on the 
ocean steamer Empire City, and on the 3d of 
March landed at Fort Gaines, on Dauphin 
Island. On the 19th it crossed the east side of 
Mobile Bay, and moved up Fish River and' 
landed about thirty miles east of Spanish 
Fort. Here a short time was allowed for 
bringing up supplies, and on the 27th 
Spanish Fort was invested. The siege lasted 
until the 8th of April, when the rebels 
evacuated the fort. In these operations the 
Seventy-second lost one man killed and 
three wounded. On the 9th of April it 
marched for Montgomery, Alabama, and 
after a toilsome march of thirteen days 
reached its destination. On the 10th of May 
the division moved toward Selma, and 
arrived there on the 14th. On the following 
day McMillen's brigade was ordered to Me- 
ridian, Mississippi. Here the regiment re- 
mained on garrison duty until June, when it 
was placed along the line of the railroad 
west of Meridian. About this time orders 
were received to muster out all men in the 
regiment whose term of service would expire 
before October 1, 1865. Under this order 
forty-one men were discharged. In 
September the Seventy-second moved to 



Corinth, but was soon ordered to Vicksburg, 
where it was mustered out on the 1 1th of 
September, 1865. It then at once embarked 
for Ohio, and was paid off at Camp Chase. 

AN ERROR CORRECTED. 

The hasty correspondents who sent to the 
press an account of the battle of Shiloh were 
inaccurate, and did injustice to the Seventy- 
second regiment. This correspondence was 
hastily compiled, and thus the errors were 
incorporated into some early histories of that 
battle. These errors were a source not only 
of injustice to the brave men of the regiment, 
but caused much mortification to all the 
officers and privates. No one, perhaps, felt 
so keenly the mortification of the mistake as 
General Buckland himself, who always 
afterward labored to correct the error. Fi- 
nally a most fitting opportunity to set the 
history right occurred. 

At a meeting of the Army of the Ten- 
nessee, at Cincinnati, on the 6th of April, 
1881, a paper was read on the battle of 
Shiloh by General Sherman. The statements 
in this paper were such as to call from 
General Buckland a full and true statement 
of his part, and of the part of the Seventy- 
second regiment in that battle. General 
Buckland's statement was published in the 
Toledo Blade of June 9, 1881, and copied 
into many other papers in different parts of 
the United States. The principal error which 
appeared in the correspondence first 
published giving an account of the battle, 
was in stating that the troops under General 
Buckland's command were surprised. 
General Buckland's communication refutes 
this statement successfully. It has been 
submitted to General Sherman and many 
others, and has been adopted by the Society 
of the Army of the Tennessee as the true 
statement, and printed by it as the correct 
history of the battle of Shiloh. Therefore, as 
a mat- 



282 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



ter of justice to General Buckland and the 
men under his command, and especially 
the brave men of the Seventy-second regi- 
ment, we give his statement in full in this 
history. 

THE BATTLE OF SHILOH.* 
At the Reunion of the Society of the Army of the 
Tennessee in Cincinnati , April 6, 1881, General 
Sherman read a paper on the battle of Shiloh, and 
submitted a map (made by himself) of the battlefield and 
the location of the Union troops on Sunday morning, and 
at the close of the fighting at night. This map he sent to 
my seat, and requested my opinion as to its correctness. 
From a cursory examination I expressed the opinion that 
it was substantially correct. At the same time I said that 
the commencement of the battle of Shiloh had been 
grossly misrepresented, and the truth about it had never 
been properly understood by the public; that the first 
accounts published in the Northern papers from their 
correspondents, particularly the account of "Agate," 
(Whitelaw Reid) correspondent of the Cincinnati 
Gazette, stated that officers and men of my brigade, 
among others, were surprised in their tents, etc., and 
these accounts had been adopted by historians, whereas 
there was not one word of truth in such statement. I then 
made a brief statement of the events which occurred 
within my own knowledge in front of Sherman's division 
during the three days preceding the battle, and the 
circumstances of the commencement of the battle on 
Sunday morning, and the position of my brigade at the 
close of the fighting at night. My remarks were very 
imperfectly reported in the papers,, and have been 
criticized by the Gazette's correspondent, "H. V. B." I 
had not read Agate's account for several years. Upon 
examination of it as published in The Record of the 
Rebellion, by Frank Morse, I find that he does not say 
that my brigade was surprised in their tents, but as this 
account of "Agate" has been quoted for history, I will 
give here the following extract: 

"About dawn Prentiss's pickets were driven in; a 
very little later Hildebrand's (in Sherman's division) 
were; and the enemy were in the camps almost as soon 
as were the pickets, themselves. 

"Here began scenes which, let us hope, will have no 
parallel in our remaining annals of war. Some, 
particularly among our officers, were not out of bed; 
others were dressing, others washing, others cooking, a 
few eating their breakfasts. Many guns were unloaded, 
accoutrements lying pell-mell, ammunition was i 11 - 
supplied-in short, the camps were virtually surprised, 
disgracefully, it might be added, unless some one can 
hereafter give some yet undiscovered 

* By General R. P. Buckland, 



reason to the contrary—and were taken at almost every 
possible disadvantage. 

"The first wild cries from the pickets rushing in, and 
the few scattering shots that preceded their arrival, 
aroused the regiments to a sense of their peril. An 
instant afterward shells were hurtling through the tents, 
while before there was time for thought of preparation, 
there came rushing through the wood, with lines of 
battle sweeping the whole front of the division camp, 
and bearing down on either flank, the fine, dashing, 
compact columns of the enemy. 

"Into the just aroused camps thronged the rebel 
regiments, firing sharp volleys as they came, and 
springing toward our laggards with the bayonet. Some 
were shot down as they were running, without weapons, 
hatless, coatless, toward the river. The searching bullets 
found other poor unfortunates in their tents, and there, 
all unheeding now, they still slumbered, while the 
unseen foe rushed on. Others fell as they were 
disentangling themselves from the flaps that formed the 
doors of their tents; a few, it was even said, as they were 
vainly trying to impress on the cruelly exultant enemy 
their, readiness to surrender. 

"Officers were wounded in their beds, and left for 
dead, who, through the whole two days' fearful struggle, 
lay in their agony, and on Monday were found in their 
gore, inside their tents, and still able to tell the tale. 

"Such were the fearful disasters that opened the rebel 
onset on the line of Prentiss's division. Similar were the 
fates of Hildebrand's brigade in Sherman's division. 

"Meantime what they could our shattered regiments 
did. Falling rapidly back through the heavy woods till 
they gained a protecting ridge, firing as they ran, and 
making what resistance men thus situated might, 
Sherman's men succeeded in partially checking the rush 
of the enemy long enough to form their hasty line of 
battle. Meantime the other two brigades of the division 
(to the right) sprang hastily to their arms, and had barely 
done so when the enemy's lines came sweeping up 
against their fronts too, and the battle thus opened 
fiercely along Sherman's whole line on the right." 

This is certainly a most sickening and, if true, would 
be a disgraceful picture of a great army surprised and 
slaughtered by its enemy, but I aver that as to the three 
brigades of Sherman's division camped near Shiloh 
Church, there is not a particle of truth in this story of 
surprise on Sunday morning. I have no personal 
knowledge as to Prentiss's division; but I have good 
reason to believe that the story as to that division is 
equally false. 

Again "Agate" writes to the Cincinnati Gazette, under 
the date of April 15, 1862, and after saying that other 
troops besides Ohio's run on Sunday, says: "The amount 
of that 'disgraceful' running of Ohio troops" on Sunday 
morning is substantially this: 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



283 



the men were completely surprised; some of their 
officers were bayoneted in their beds, others were shot 
in their tents while sleeping; all were under heavy fire 
from an enemy fairly in their camps before they had an 
instant for seeking and grasping their weapons. There 
may have been Spartan veterans, who under such 
circumstances would have stood to be shot down rather 
than "disgracefully run,' but I suspect that modern 
armies do not contain many of them." 

In Headley's History of the Great Rebellion, among 
other equally absurd and false statements about the 
surprise of Shiloh, I find this : 

"The on-pouring thousands swept the camps of the 
front division like an inundation, and the dreadful 
spectacle of a vast army in disorderly flight, before it 
bad time to form a line for battle, was presented. So 
swift was the onset on Buckland's brigade, of Sherman's 
division, that between the long roll of the drum and the 
actual presence of the shouting foe in the camp, the 
officers were not yet up and had not time to dress, and 
the troops seizing their muskets as they could, fled like 
a herd of sheep towards the rest of the division." 

Such are the first reports of the commencement of the 
battle of Shiloh, given by newspaper correspondents, 
who must have obtained their information from the 
cowards who sneaked away to the rear on the first 
appearance of danger. These widely published 
newspaper reports have been adopted by several his- 
torians as true, and are still believed by some people. 
The facts which I shall give will show how utterly false 
and groundless are all such stories to these brigades of 
Sherman's division encamped near Shiloh Church. 

Sherman's division was organized at Paducah, 
Kentucky, about the 1st of March, 1862, and contained 
four brigades, each of three regiments of infantry, as 
follows: 

First-Sixth Iowa, Colonel McDowell commanding 
brigade; Forty-sixth Ohio, Colonel Worthington, and 
Tenth Illinois, Colonel Hicks. 

Second -Fifty-fifth Illinois, Colonel Stewart com- 
manding brigade; Fifty-fourth Ohio, Colonel Smith, and 
Seventy-first Ohio, Colonel Mason. 

Third-Seventy-seventh Ohio, Colonel Hilde brand 
commanding brigade; Fifty-third Ohio, Colonel Appier, 
and Fifty-seventh Ohio, Colonel Mungen. 

Fourth-Seventy-second Ohio, Colonel Buckland 
commanding brigade; Forty-eighth Ohio, Colonel 
Sullivan, and Seventieth Ohio, Colonel Cockerill. 

Most of these regiments were new and reported at 
Paducah, mostly unarmed. My brigade embarked on the 
steamers on the 6th of March, and our arms were sent on 
board in boxes and were distributed to the men on the 
boats after we left Paducah. We left Paducah on the 
morning of the 7th of March, in advance of General 
Sherman, with orders to report to General C. F. Smith, 
near Fort Henry, he then 



being in chief command. I reported to General Smith, 
who ordered me to remain there until further orders. 
After some delay we steamed up to Savannah, then up to 
the mouth of Yellow Creek, above Pittsburg Landing, 
for the purpose of cutting the Memphis & Charleston 
Railroad, but the extreme high water prevented the 
accomplishment of that purpose, and we came back to 
Pittsburg Landing. On the 18th of March we commenced 
disembarking at that point, and on the 10th we took our 
position at Shiloh Church, fronting towards Corinth. The 
road leading from Pittsburg Landing to Corinth passes 
along close to, and on the left of the church. The right of 
Hildebrand's brigade rested on the road, and the left of 
mine at the church, there being only a few rods between 
the two brigades. The Seventieth Ohio on the left, 
Seventy-second Ohio on the right, and Forty-eighth 
Ohio in the centre. Mc-Do well's brigade was some thirty 
rods to the right of mine, there being a considerable 
ravine or valley between the two. Stewart's brigade was 
located, as I understood, about one mile to the left of 
Hildebrand's, and to the left of Prentiss's division, to 
guard an important crossing of Lick Creek. In front of 
our line was Owl Creek, which is a crooked stream and 
ran nearer our line at the church than at any other point. 
According to my recollection the creek was about thirty 
rods from the left of my brigade and about twice that 
distance from the right. The space between my color line 
and the creek was covered with woods and underbrush, 
but not very thickly. Along the creek and beyond it was 
densely wooded. There was a bridge across the creek on 
the Corinth road, and we built a bridge about in front of 
the centre and another to the front and right of the 
brigade. It seems to me that this latter brigade was near 
half a mile from the right of my brigade. Something like 
a mile in front of our line were large, open fields, 
beyond which our picket line was established, and 
beyond these fields were dense woods for several, miles. 
I don't know whether any regular cavalry pickets were 
established in front of our picket line or not, but the 
Fifth Ohio cavalry were out in front of us and 
consequently had frequent skirmishes with rebel cavalry 
for ten days or two weeks before the battle. 

On Thursday, April 3, General Sherman ordered me to 
take my brigade to the front on the Corinth road four or 
five miles, send out scouting parties and see what I 
could discover; but cautioned me not to be drawn into a 
fight with any considerable force of the enemy. I 
marched my brigade to the forks of the road about five 
miles from our line, where I halted and formed the 
brigade in line between the two roads facing towards 
Corinth. Both roads, as I understood, led to Monterey, 
about two miles further toward Corinth. I then sent two 
companies of the Seventieth Ohio, under Major 
McFarran, forward on the left hand, and two companies 
of the Seventy-second 



284 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Ohio, under Major Crocket, on the right hand road. They 
both encountered rebel cavalry pickets within less than 
half a mile, and commenced skirmishing with them. 
Major Crocket soon after sent word to me that there was 
a large force of cavalry in sight, and that he would need 
reinforcements. In accordance with my instructions not 
to be drawn into a fight, I ordered Major Crocket and 
Major McFarran to return to the brigade. While there 
several of the soldiers reported to me that they distinctly 
heard the long roll in the direction of Monterey. I did 
not. Soon after the scouting companies returned, we 
commenced our march back to camp, where we arrived a 
little before dark, and I reported immediately to General 
Sherman. 

The next day, April 4, about 2 o'clock P. M., a 
considerable force of rebel cavalry attacked the left of 
my picket line, capturing a lieutenant and seven men of 
the Seventieth Ohio. Happening at the time to be near 
the right of the line, where the Seventy-second Ohio was 
drilling under Major Crocket, I rode in the direction of 
the firing, directing Major Crocket to follow with his 
regiment. On ascertaining what had occurred I sent 
Lieutenant Gear, of the Forty-eighth Ohio, acting as my 
aid, to inform General Sherman, who soon returned with 
word that General Sherman would send one hundred and 
fifty cavalry to pursue the enemy. In the meantime, on 
learning from Major Crocket that he had sent company 
B of the Seventy-second to scout outside the picket line, 
I told him that was wrong ; the officers and men being 
inexperienced, I feared they would get into trouble, and 
directed him to take company H, find company B and 
return with them to the regiment as soon as possible. 
Soon after we began to hear musketry firing in front. 
Colonel Cockerill arrived on the picket line with several 
companies of the Seventieth Ohio. The firing in front 
became constant and more regular. We therefore 
concluded that our men were intercepted and unable to 
return as ordered. I took three companies of the 
Seventy-second, A, D, and I, and started into the woods 
in the direction of the firing, directing Colonel Cockerill 
to come to my aid if he heard heavy firing. We had not 
gone far when we met some of Major Crocket's men, and 
learned that they had been intercepted and attacked 
before reaching company B, the Major either killed or 
captured, and that company B was surrounded by a large 
force of rebel cavalry. About the same time there came 
upon us one of the severest rain and thunderstorms I 
ever witnessed. My boots, worn outside of my pants, 
filled full of water and ran over the tops. The storm 
stopped us and the firing for a time, but as soon as the 
storm was over the firing commenced again, and we 
pushed on with as much speed as possible, my men 
being deployed in line, and I riding eight or ten rods in 
front. About two miles from the picket line, on reaching 
near the top of something of a hill, I discovered through 
the 



thick underbrush that I was nearer a line of rebel cavalry 
faced from me than I was to my own line, and the rebels 
just at that moment gave a cheer, evidently preparatory 
to charging on company B. I waived my hand to my 
men, indicating that I desired them to hurry tip. As they 
came in sight of the rebel line, distant only a few rods, 
they opened a destructive fire, taking the enemy 
completely by surprise, and threw them into such 
confusion that they made but a short stand. My men 
charged upon them and drove them from the field, 
killing a considerable number of horses and men, and 
capturing several prisoners, and company B was saved. I 
soon discovered that the enemy were reforming in great 
force, with the evident intention of charging back upon 
us ; and whilst I was getting my men in position to meet 
the charge, Major Ricker came up with his Fifth Ohio 
cavalry, and enquired where the enemy were. I pointed 
them out to him, and he immediately charged them, 
dispersing them and capturing several prisoners. I 
followed him as rapidly as I could. We pursued about a 
mile when the enemy commenced firing artillery at us. 
Some of Major Ricker's men charged right into a rebel 
battery, and one of his men was killed at the battery. We 
discovered that the enemy had a large force of infantry 
and artillery in line. We thereupon deemed it prudent to 
retire to our own lines with as little delay as possible. 
When we reached our picket line General Sherman was 
there with several regiments in line of battle. When I 
rode up to him at the head of my column, with about 
fifteen prisoners close behind me the General asked me 
what I had been doing. His manner indicated that he was 
not pleased. I replied that I had accidentally got into a 
little fight, and there was some of the fruits of it, 
pointing to the prisoners. He answered that I might have 
drawn the whole army into a fight before they were 
ready, and directed me to take my men to camp. 1 knew 
enough to know that my proceedings were irregular, but 
consoled myself that I had saved one of my companies 
from annihilation, whatever might be the consequences 
to myself. Soon after reaching camp one of General 
Sherman's aids came and said, "The General desires you 
to send him a written statement of what you have done 
and seen today," which I did the same evening. General 
Sherman afterward informed me that he sent my 
statement to General Grant the same night. 

I was along the picket line several times during the 
day, and saw rebel cavalry at different points in front of 
the line. The pickets reported seeing infantry and 
artillery. I saw Lieutenant-Colonel Canfield, 
commanding the Seventy-second regiment, Colonel 
Hildebrand, and several other officers of the division, on 
the picket line watching the movements of the enemy in 
our front. I talked with Colonel Hildebrand and other 
officers about the situation, and it was believed by all 
that the enemy intended to at- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



285 



tack us, either during the night or early in the morning, 
and I talked with Colonel Hildebrand particularly about 
the measures we ought to take to prevent a surprise. 
Colonel Hildebrand went with me to General Sherman's 
headquarters, and we told him what we had seen and 
that we apprehended an attack. I saw General Sherman 
several times during the day, and talked with him about 
the matter. He said we must strengthen our pickets, and 
instruct them to be vigilant, and keep our commands in 
readiness for an attack at any time. He said he was 
embarrassed for the want of cavalry, that his cavalry had 
been ordered away that morning, and that the cavalry he 
was to have in their place had not arrived, and that, as 
soon as his cavalry returned, he would send them to the 
front and find out what was there. My understanding 
was that by order of General Grant there had been a 
reassignment of both cavalry and artillery, which was 
being carried into effect on Saturday. 

Late in the afternoon I had a consultation with the 
commanders of my regiments and it was agreed that 
several additional companies should be sent forward to 
strengthen and sustain the pickets, which was done 
accordingly. I also established a line of sentinels from 
my camp to the reserve of the pickets under command of 
an officer, with instructions to notify me instantly of any 
alarm on the picket line. Officers and men of my brigade 
were well aware of the near approach of the enemy; all 
were expecting an attack; and such precautions were 
taken that a surprise was impossible. The same must 
have been true as to McDowell's and Hildebrand 's 
brigades, for there could hardly have been an officer or 
soldier in the three brigades ignorant of the fight on 
Friday, or of the presence of the enemy in our front on 
Saturday. Officers of my brigade were instructed on 
Saturday evening to be prepared for a night attack, and 
to have their men up and at breakfast as soon as daylight 
or before. As may well be imagined, I was very uneasy 
during the night, and slept very little. I was up before 
daylight and ordered my horse fed and saddled. Soon 
after daylight, before I had quite finished my breakfast, 
word was brought that the enemy was advancing in 
strong force. I immediately ordered the long roll, 
mounted my horse and rode toward the picket line. I 
found the reserve of the picket's had fallen back across 
the bridge in front of the right of my brigade, and the 
pickets were skirmishing with the enemy's advance, and 
slowly falling back. I instructed the reserve of the 
pickets to make a stand at the bridge, take to the trees 
and keep the enemy back as long as they could. I then 
returned and found my brigade formed on the color line, 
awaiting orders. I rode through and along the line, and 
spoke to Colonels Sullivan and Cocke rill, and to 
Colonel Canfield and others in passing, telling them that 
the rebels were coming, and that we should soon have a 
big fight, and cautioning them to be 



ready. I rode to General Sherman's headquarters, eighty 
to one hundred rods to the left and rear of my camp, and 
about in the rear of the right of Hildebrand's brigade. I 
informed General Sherman that I had been to the front 
and found the enemy advancing in strong force, and my 
pickets falling back; that my brigade was in line, ready 
for orders. He answered, "You must reinforce' the 
pickets. Send a regiment forward and keep them back." I 
returned, and met Colonel Sullivan and Lieutenant - 
Colonel Parker on their horses in rear of the Forty- 
eighth Ohio. I told them what General Sherman's orders 
were. They both requested me to send their regiment, 
which I designed to do, it being the centre regiment. I 
ordered Colonel Sullivan to take his regiment, as 
speedily as possible, across the bridge in his front, take 
position in the woods beyond with the pickets, and keep 
the enemy back as long as possible. When the head of 
his column reached the bridge he discovered that the 
enemy was forming line of battle under the bank, on our 
side of the creek, to the right. He fell back a short 
distance, and reported the fact to me. I first ordered 
companies A and B, of the Seventy-second, forward as 
skirmishers, and in a few minutes after ordered the 
Seventy-second and the Seventieth to advance, and the 
Forty-eighth to form on the advanced line. We advanced 
from thirty to forty rods, to within full view, and short 
musket range of the enemy's line, and the fight com- 
menced simultaneously on both sides. The right of the 
brigade was considerably in advance of the left, to take 
advantage of the formation of the ground, the creek 
being much nearer the left than the right of the brigade 
color line. 

Up to this time there had been no artillery firing, or 
heavy musketry, on any part of the line. My brigade had 
been in line awaiting orders full one hour before it 
advanced, and before any fighting anywhere within our 
hearing, except skirmishing by the pickets, and the 
brigade fought, with great bravery, in this position more 
than two hours, driving the enemy back under the bank 
of the creek as often as they attempted to advance; and 
the right of the brigade was advanced considerably 
forward during the fighting to obtain a better position, 
which widened the space between my right and the left 
of Colonel McDowell's brigade. I sent an officer to say 
to Colonel McDowell that I feared the enemy would turn 
my right and get in between the brigades, and asked him 
to look to it. Colonel McDowell sent Colonel Hicks, 
with the Fortieth Illinois, who took a position to the 
right and rear of my right flank, where he remained at 
least one hour. I remember riding up to Colonel Hicks 
and speaking to him twice during the time he was there. 
The first time I asked if he did not think my men were 
fighting bravely. He replied: "Yes, they are doing 
splendidly." The second time was after we had been 
fighting about two hours, and I found the 



286 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Seventy-second was getting out of ammunition., I asked 
Colonel Hicks if he would hold my position until the 
Seventy-second could replenish their ammunition. He 
replied that he was ordered not to engage in the fight 
unless attacked in his position. After we had been 
fighting about one hour one of General Sherman's aids 
came to me and said: "The General desires to know 
whether you can hold your position." I replied: "Tell 
General Sherman that my men are fighting bravely, and 
I will hold my position." At that time, I had not the least 
idea that we would be compelled to go back, although 
Lieutenant-Colonel Canfield, commanding the Seventy- 
second, had been mortally wounded and carried from the 
field, leaving the Seventy-second without a field officer, 
and many company officers and men had been killed and 
wounded. During the remainder of the battle the Seventy 
second was commanded by myself, with the efficient aid 
of Adjutant Eugene Rawson, who displayed great 
courage from the beginning to the end of the battle. My 
adjutant's horse was killed, and my own horse wounded 
just in front of the saddle, and was bleeding profusely. 
As I rode along the line, speaking to officers and men, I 
found them everywhere standing up to the work bravely, 
and when I saw that my brigade was making a glorious 
fight and beating back every attempted advance of the 
enemy, I felt highly gratified and full of confidence. As 
the Seventy-second was without a field officer to 
command, the senior captains of companies A and B, 
were both sick and unable to command their companies, 
Captain Wegstein, of company H, was killed early in the 
fight, and other company officers had been wounded, I 
spent most of my time on the right of the line, the Forty- 
eighth and Seventieth having all their field officers. 
Consequently, I did. not know what was going on in 
Hildebrand's brigade on my left. I discovered, however, 
that the enemy were bringing up heavy reinforcements 
in my front, and, after we had been fighting about one 
hour and a half, I sent word to General Sherman that the 
enemy were being heavily reinforced, and that I would 
need help. He returned for answer that he could not send 
me any reinforcements, and that I must do the best I 
could. This answer convinced me that matters were 
going wrong somewhere, and that sooner or later I 
would be compelled to fall back, and so informed my 
quartermaster, Lieutenant D. M. Harkness, and my 
surgeon, Dr. J. B. Rice, and directed them to make 
arrangements to take the sick and wounded to the rear as 
speedily as possible. We maintained our position, 
however, along the whole line for more than two hours, 
when the Seventy-second was compelled to fall back for 
ammunition, finding it impossible to distribute it along 
the line under the fire of the enemy; but the enemy did 
not advance at that point. The Seventy-second quickly 
filled their cartridge boxes, and were ad- 



vaned into line again, and were about ready to renew the 
fight, when I received an order from General Sherman to 
fall back to the Purdy road. The Seventy-second 
marched by the right of companies to the rear through 
their camp. In the meantime, Hildebrand's brigade had 
been fiercely attacked and given way, so that my left 
flank was completely turned, and Colonel Cockerill was 
compelled to face his regiment to the left. We fell back 
in good order to the Purdy road, followed closely by the 
enemy in front and on the left. We had formed our line 
on the Purdy road, and were ready to renew the fight, 
when we were shoved out of the road and thrown into 
confusion by Berk's battery of artillery, which came 
rushing along the road at full speed from the right, and a 
mass of flying men from Hildebrand's brigade on the 
left. The enemy were so close upon us that it was 
impossible to form again along the Purdy road. Back of 
the road was all woods and thick underbrush, and I 
found great difficulty in riding through it. Farther back- 
some forty rods-it was more open, and I succeeded in 
forming a new line, but in the confusion the Seventieth 
Ohio became separated from the rest of the brigade, but 
was constantly engaged in the fight farther to the left, 
and rejoined me later in the day. Soon after leaving the 
Purdy road I received an order from General Sherman to 
go to the left, and as soon as I had succeeded in rallying 
and reforming my men, I attempted to obey the order, 
but encountered a superior force of the enemy and was 
compelled to fall back again. We were all day 
contending against superior numbers, and resisting their 
advance at every point as long as we could. 

Late in the afternoon, after the last repulse of the right 
of our line, my brigade was near a bridge across Snake 
Creek, which, I was informed by some staff officer 
whom I did not know, it was very important to protect, 
as General Wallace would have to cross his division 
over it in coming from Crump's Landing. I placed my 
brigade in position to defend the bridge, but after 
remaining there some time and no enemy appearing, I 
was not satisfied that 1 was where I ought to be, and 
rode to the left to find General Sherman and get his 
orders. I had not gone far when I found a new line being 
formed, and not finding General Sherman I said to the 
officer in command that if desired I would form my 
brigade on the right of his line, which he said he would 
be glad to have me do. 

When I returned to my brigade, to my surprise, I 
learned that the Forty-eighth Ohio had marched away 
toward the landing. I immediately formed the Seventieth 
and Seventy-second on the right of the new line, about 
one mile and a half from the landing. Soon after my line 
was formed, General Sherman came along our front and 
said to me, "You are just where I want you. Remain 
where you are until further orders." 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



287 



About dark General Wallace's division commenced 
arriving, and formed to the right of my brigade. About 
10 o'clock my quartermaster, Lieutenant Harkness, came 
to us from the landing. I learned from him that the 
Forty-eighth Ohio was at the landing, and had been 
ordered by General Grant in position to defend his 
batteries, and that the regiment .had done good service 
there. I sent orders by Lieu-tenant Harkness to Colonel 
Sullivan to join me with his regiment forthwith, but 
owing to the rain and darkness he did not arrive until 
just after day light. Colonels Cockerrill and Hildebrand 
and myself tied our horses to trees and lay down 
together for the night, in rear of and close to my brigade 
line. The rebels' line was only a short distance from us 
on the other side of a ravine. 

General Wallace opened his batteries on the enemy 
early Monday morning, and the three regiments of my 
brigade were formed in line of battle, with all their field 
officers present except Lieutenant-Colonel Canfield and 
Major Crockett, of the Seventy-second, the one having 
been mortally wounded on Sunday morning, and the 
other captured on Friday. Sherman 's division during the 
day occupied a position on the left of Wallace's division, 
and we kept steadily up with his left, frequently under 
very severe fire from the enemy. General Wallace in his 
report says that at one time "the right of Sherman's 
division fell hastily back." I think General Wallace is 
mistaken. I know that my brigade was not driven back 
one rod on Monday. On one occasion when General 
Sherman ordered an advance under heavy fire of 
musketry and artillery from the enemy, I gave the order; 
but at the moment the men seemed to hesitate. I im- 
mediately rode to the color-bearer of the Seventy-second 
Ohio, took hold of the flag staff, and conducted the 
bearer to the point indicated. The whole brigade quickly 
advanced and was on the desired advanced line as soon 
as I was. Colonel Sullivan was wounded and taken to the 
rear. 

Our forces drove the enemy back over the same 
ground that they drove us the day before. The fighting 
was severe but not so destructive, at least to our troops, 
as on Sunday. We drove them back more rapidly than 
they drove us. About 4 P. M. the enemy were in full 
retreat, and about 5 P. m. my brigade took possession of 
its camp at Shiloh Church. The rebels took such articles 
as they could on their hasty retreat, but my tent and bed 
I found in good condition, and I enjoyed a good sleep in 
them Monday night. 

Early Tuesday morning I, with others, visited the 
ground of our fight on Sunday morning. In a small space 
on the line of the enemy in front of the Seventy-second, 
were found eighty-five dead bodies, and the dead of the 
enemy were found thickly strewn all along the line in 
front of the brigade. General Wallace also visited that 
battle ground, and when he saw the number of dead 
bodies of the 



enemy in so small a space, asked what troops did that. 
When told that it was the Seventy-second Ohio, he said, 
"That was the best fighting on the field." The number of 
the wounded in that Sunday morning fight with my 
brigade must have been very great, as the number of the 
wounded is always much greater than of the killed. The 
underbrush between the two lines was literally mowed 
down by musket balls. Not a twig could be found that 
was not bit; and every tree from the ground ten or 
fifteen feet up was literally peppered with bullets. I 
think more of the enemy's fire was too high than of ours, 
and, for that reason, more of the enemy were killed. The 
enemy in that fight greatly outnumbered my brigade, but 
our men, though inexperienced in war, were many of 
them used to the rifle at home, and took good aim. 

I have detailed incidents of small importance in 
themselves, perhaps, in order that the reader may better 
judge how much truth there is in the charge that my 
brigade was surprised, in any sense, on Sunday morning. 
Instead of being surprised we were all expecting an 
attack early in the morning, if not attacked during the 
night, and we took every precaution and made every 
preparation that one knew how to make to be ready for 
the attack when-ever it should come, and we were ready 
when it did come, as the result abundantly proves. I feel 
perfectly justified in saying that no troops ever went 
into battle more deliberately or with more coolness, and 
none ever fought more bravely or effectively than did 
my brigade on Sunday morning. 

On the question of surprise I give the following 
extract from a recent letter to me from General M. T. 
Williamson, now United States marshal at Memphis, 
Tennessee, who was First Lieutenant of company C, 
Seventy-second Ohio, and in command of the company 
at the commencement of the battle. General Williamson 
says: 

"On the morning of the 5th of April, company C 
furnished a portion of the pickets for the Seventy- 
second, under Lieutenant Hoffman, and company E the 
remainder, under Captain Blinn. In the afternoon I went 
out to the picket line and could distinctly see some 
suspicious movements on the Confederate side. We were 
confident they were preparing for an attack, and I knew 
this was our conviction. We expected it before morning, 
and had arranged a line of communication from the 
pickets to the camp, so as to know when the forward 
movement began. I have forgotten the name of Captain 
Snyder's company clerk at that time, but he 
communicated with me during the night. I was up early 
Sunday morning, and had breakfasted, as had the men of 
the regiment, before the long roll was ordered, and I do 
not believe there was a man in the regiment but expected 
the long roll before it came, and every man was ready to 
fall in when it did come." 

Since writing the foregoing I have read, with great 



288 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



interest, the article on the battle of Shiloh, by General 
B. W. Duke, published in the Cincinnati Gazette of the 
28th of May. The article evinces candor, and was 
evidently prepared with care and consideration. He fully 
sustains all I have said in regard to the fight my brigade 
made on Sunday morning, but he is mistaken about 
McDowell's brigade participating in that fight, and as to 
some other matters. He says: 

" While McDowell's and Buckland's brigades of 
Sherman's division had not been fiercely assailed at the 
inception of the Confederate advance, they soon 
received their full share of attention. The ground which 
they occupied, however, was, perhaps, the strongest 
position on the line. Every demonstration against it was 
repulsed; artillery was used in vain against it; some of 
the best brigades of the army moved on it, only to be 
hurled back and strew the morass in its front with their 
dead. The Confederate loss at this point was frightful. 
At last, after having held the position from 7 or 7:30 
A.M. until after 10 A.M., everything upon its right (left) 
having been driven back, and the Confederate artillery 
having reached a point where the guns could play upon 
its rear, it was abandoned as no longer tenable. The 
tenacious defence of this positron, and the fact that, by 
massing on his own right, General Johnson turned it, 
when it proved impregnable to direct assault, ought to 
be of itself a sufficient explanation of the correctness of 
his plan of battle. Sherman falling back, formed on 
McClernand's right, the same relative position he had 
previously held." 

Now, the fact is, that McDowell's brigade was not 
attacked at all on the front line, and did no fighting until 
after we had fallen back to the Purdy road. As I have 
stated above, the Fortieth Illinois, Colonel Hicks, at my 
request, came and took position at the right and rear of 
my right flank, and remained there without firing a gun, 
until the Seventy-second went back for ammunition, 
when the Fortieth Illinois marched back to its own 
brigade ; and this was after my brigade had been 
fighting more than two hours, and only a few moments 
before the whole line was ordered back to the Purdy 
road. What General Duke says about the fighting at that 
point is all true, and his is the first account I have seen 
that does full justice to my brigade. My brigade 
advanced to the front and commenced the fight before 
Hildebrand's brigade was attacked, and remained until 
ordered back to the Purdy road, after Hildebrand's 
brigade had been driven back and the enemy had 
completely turned my left flank. 
General Duke, in another part of his article, says: 

"Hardee's line carried all before it. At the first 
encampment it was not the semblance of a check. 
Following close and eager after the fleeing pickets, it 
burst upon the startled inmates as they emerged, half 
clad, from the tents, giving them no time to form, 
driving them in rapid panic, bayoneting the dilatory 



-on through camps swept together pursuers and pur- 
sued." 

I wish General Duke had pointed out which camps 
were thus surprised. They were certainly not the camps 
of McDowell, Hildebrand, or Buckland's brigades. 
Captain Skelton, of the Fifty-seventh Ohio, one of 
Hildebrand's regiments, informs me that the first alarm 
he heard was the long roll in my camp, which was 
immediately followed by the long roll in the camps of 
Hildebrand's brigade, and that the brigade was in line of 
battle very soon after. I saw the brigade in line when I 
was returning from General Sherman's headquarters with 
orders to send a regiment forward to sustain the pickets. 
General Sherman says he rode to the front of 
Hildebrand's brigade into the woods, where his orderly, 
Holliday, was killed. He then went to Colonel Appier, of 
the Fifty-third Ohio, and ordered hint to hold his posi- 
tion. It cannot be, therefore, that any of Hildebrand's 
brigade were surprised, bayoneted, or shot in their tents. 

It is a well-established fact, I think, that General 
Prentiss was well aware of the presence of the enemy in 
considerable force in his front. His cavalry had 
skirmished with them on Saturday, and at 4 o'clock in 
the morning of the 6th he sent to the front one of his 
regiments to look for the enemy. 

General Prentiss has made his statement, in which he 
says: "My division was in line of battle near one-fourth 
of a mile in advance of the color line, and received the 
assault of the enemy at an early hour of the morning of 
April 6, 1862, and held them in check for hours, until 
the enemy appeared in our right rear, and, as I learned 
afterwards, aided by the misconduct of a regiment not of 
my division." He further states that his division fought 
gallantly during the day, and "at 5:30, completely 
surrounded by numbers so numerous, the gallant officers 
and soldiers, with myself, were compelled to surrender." 

It is quite probable that some sick and wounded men 
were left in the camps, but I cannot believe the enemy 
would have shot and bayoneted such, or any unarmed or 
helpless men. Private - Smith, of company I, Seventy- 
second Ohio, was shot through the breast and left in 
camp, or near it, as too badly wounded to be moved, 
When we returned to camp on Monday evening, we 
found him alive in one of the tents. The enemy had 
taken good care of him, and he is now an inmate of the 
Soldiers' Home at Dayton. Therefore, I am compelled to 
believe that all these horrible stories about our officers 
and men being surprised, shot, and bayoneted in their 
tents are false. 

There has been a persistent effort on the part of 
newspaper correspondents and others, ever since the 
battle, to make it appear that Sherman's and Prentiss's 
divisions were asleep on the morning of the 6th, 
ignorant of the approach of the enemy, and surprised 
and thrown into almost utter confusion by the first 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



289 



onset of the enemy. I think the facts I have given ought 
to convince every candid person that such was not the 
case. It is true that Colonel Appier of the Fifty-third 
Ohio, of Hildebrand's brigade, after his regiment had 
fired a few rounds, ordered a retreat, and then 
abandoned his regiment to its fate. This was no fault of 
the regiment. Such conduct of a commanding officer 
would demoralize any troops. This gave the enemy such 
advantage over Hildebrand's brigade that, although 
Hildebrand heroically strove to maintain his position, he 
was unable to withstand the overpowering onslaught, 
and his brigade was forced back and irretrievably broken 
to pieces. Yet a large portion of his officers and men 
rallied by companies and squads, joined other commands 
and fought bravely during the day. But for this 
unfortunate conduct of Colonel Appier, of the Fifty- 
third, which is the regiment where bad conduct is 
referred to in the statement of General Prentiss, I have 
no doubt but Hildebrand's brigade would have 
maintained its position as did mine, and we would have 
held the enemy in check on the front line much longer 
and given McClernand's and other troops ample time to 
come to its support or place themselves in positions 
where they could best meet the enemy. The stubborn 
resistance of my brigade alone saved our army from 
greater disaster. The splendid fighting of our troops 
during the entire day is a Sufficient answer to the charge 
that any considerable portion of them were demoralized 
by being surprised in their camps, or otherwise. The 
number that disgracefully fled to the rear was not much 
greater, if any, than in other great battles. Sutlers, 
teamsters, and all other non-combatants and hangers on 
of the army were concentrated into a small space at the 
landing, and mixed with the sick, the wounded, and 
runaways, and altogether they made a great, panic- 
stricken mob. No wonder Buell's men, if passing 
through such a mob, supposed the Army of the 
Tennessee was demoralized, but if they had been in 
front at any time during the bloody day, they would 
have come to a different conclusion. 

If General Lewis Wallace, with his division of eight 
thousand men, had continued on the road he started 
upon, which I think he ought to have 'done, and struck 
the enemy on the left flank and rear by two or three 
o'clock P. M ., the tide of victory would have been 
turned against the enemy. It would have saved the 
disaster to Prentiss's division, and I think we would have 
driven the enemy from the field the first day. I will not 
undertake to say who was in fault for the course General 
Wallace took. It is not the purpose of this article to 
defend Generals Halleck, Grant, or Sherman, but to state 
facts within my own knowledge and observation, and 
such as I believe to be true, taken from other reliable 
sources, and leave to the reader to determine in his own 
mind, from the facts, where blame or credit should be 
awarded. 



We are indebted to Dr. G. A. Gessner for 
a record of the officers and men of the 
regiment. 

OFFICERS OF S EVENT Y -SECOND OHIO 
VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 

Colonel Ralph P. Buckland, appointed lieutenant-colonel 
October 2, 1861; appointed colonel October 30, 1861, 
mustered into service January 10, 1862; commission dated 
January 11, 1862; appointed brigadier-general November 29, 
1862. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Herman Canfield, appointed 
lieutenant-colonel October 30, 1861; mustered into service 
January To, 1862; commission dated January 11, 1862; 
mortally wounded at Shiloh April 6, 1862; died April 7, 
1862. 

Major Leroy Crockett, mustered into service December 

10, 1861; commission dated January 1 1, 1862; taken prisoner 
April 4, 1862; promoted to lieutenant-colonel April 6, 1862; 
date of commission June 20; 1862; paroled at Richmond, 
Virginia, October 12, 1862; exchanged November, 1862; 
found regiment January 17, 1863, in obedience to Special 
Order No. 1, Headquarters Paroled Forces, Columbus, Ohio, 
January 5, 1863; died at home of disease December 10, 1863. 

Adjutant Eugene A. Rawson, appointed December 4, 
1861; mustered into service December 12, 1861, commission 
dated January 11, 1862; promoted to major July 23, 1863; 
died of wounds received at the, battle of Tupelo, Mississippi, 
July 15, 1864. 

Quartermaster Daniel M. Harkness, appointed October 8, 
1861; mustered into service October 8, 1861; commission 
dated January 11, 1862; resignation accepted January 16, 
1863; Special Order No. 10, Headquarters Department, 
Memphis, Tennessee, January 16, 1863. 

Surgeon John B. Rice, mustered into service November 
25, 1861; commission dated January 1 1, 1862; detailed 
surgeon-in-chief District of Memphis, Tennessee, Special 
Order No. 89, Headquarters District of Memphis, Tennessee, 
April 28, 1864. 

Chaplain Abraham B. Poe, mustered into service January 

11, 1862; commission dated January 11, 1862; resignation 
accepted January 15, 1863, Special Orders No. 115, 
Headquarters Department of the Tennessee, by order of 
Major-General U. S. Grant. 

Assistant Surgeon William M. Kaull, mustered into 
service November 6, 1861; commission dated January 11, 
1862; resignation accepted June 4, 1863, Special Order No. 
150, Headquarters Department of the Tennessee, near 
Vicksburg, Mississippi. 

Assistant Surgeon John W. Goodson, mustered into 
service August 21, 1862; commission dated Au-gust 21, 
1 862; deserted November 20, 1 862, from Memphis, 
Tennessee; dismissed the service of the United States of 
America March 30, 1863; Special Order No. 205, War 
Department Adjutant-General's 



290 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Office, Washington, District of Columbia, May 7, 1863. 

Steward William Caldwell, appointed steward 
February 6, 1862; mustered into service February 6, 
1862; appointed assistant surgeon April 17, 1863; 
mustered into service April 27, 1863; resigned on 
account of disability January 7, 1865, Special Order No. 
8, Par. 5, Headquarters Department of Mississippi, 
Memphis, Tennessee. 

Principal Musician Nicholas B. Caldwell, died at 
Keokuk, Iowa, in general hospital, June 5, 1862, of 
disease. 

COMPANY A. 

Captain Charles G. Eaton, appointed and mustered 
into service as second lieutenant October 9, 1861; 
appointed captain November 30, 1861; commission 
dated January 1 1, 1862; promoted to major April 6, 
1862; date of commission June 20, 1862; appointed 
lieutenant-colonel July 23, 1863; mustered as lieutenant- 
colonel December 24, 1863, at Memphis, Tennessee. 

First Lieutenant H. W. Gifford, appointed first 
lieutenant November 30, 1861; mustered into service as 
private October 10, 1861, date of commission as first 
lieutenant January 11, 1862; promoted to captain April 
6, 1862; commission dated June 20, 1862; died at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, July 27, 1862, of wounds received in 
the battle of Shiloh April 6 and 9, 1 862. 

Second lieutenant Spencer Russell, appointed second 
lieutenant November 30, 1861, commission dated 
January 11, 1862; mustered into service as private 
October 10, 1862; promoted to first lieutenant April 6, 
1862; date of commission June 20, 1862; promoted to 
captain May 17, 1862; resignation accepted August 21, 
1863; Special Order No. 228, Headquarters Department 
of the Tennessee, Vicksburg, Mississippi, August 21, 
1863. 

COMPANY B. 

Captain George Raymond, mustered into service as 
private October 9, 1861; appointed captain December 2, 
1861, commission dated January 11, 1862; resigned May 
23, 1862; Special Field orders No. 71, Headquarters 
Department of the Mississippi, camp in Corinth road, 
Mississippi, May 28, 1862. 

First Lieutenant Henry W. Buckland, mustered into 
service as second lieutenant October 8, 1861; mustered 
into service as first lieutenant December 2, 1861; 
commission dated January il, 1862; promoted to captain 
May 23, 1862, date of commission June 20, 1862; 
mustered out by reason of expiration of term of service, 
Memphis, Tennessee, November 23, 1864. 

Second Lieutenant William T. Fisher, mustered into 
service as private October 23, 1861; appointed second 
lieutenant December 2, 1861, commission dated January 
12, 1862; promoted to first lieutenant May 23, 1862, 
date of commission June 20, 1862; resignation accepted 
July 27, 1863; Special order No. 



198 Headquarters Department of the Tennessee, Vicksburg, 
Mississippi, July 22, 1863. 

COMPANY C. 

Captain Samuel A. J. Snyder was mustered into service as 
second lieutenant October 16, 1 86 1 ; appointed captain 
December 8, 1861, commission dated January 1 1, 1862; 
appointed major April 9, 1864; mustered as major July 27, 
1864. 

First Lieutenant Milton T. Williamson was mustered into 
service as second lieutenant October 29, 1861; appointed first 
lieutenant February 13, 1862, commission dated April 24, 
1861; aid-de-camp to General Denver, General Orders No. 4, 
Headquarters, Third brigade, Fifth division, Camp No. 8, June 
2, 1862; mustered out by reason of expiration of term, 
Memphis, Tennessee, November 4, 1864. 

Second Lieutenant Daniel W. Hoffman was mustered into 
service as private November 19, 1861; appointed second 
lieutenant December 8, 1861, commission dated January 11, 
1862; appointed first lieutenant February 18, 1864; mustered 
March 1, 1864; wounded severely at the battle of Tupelo, 
Mississippi, July 13, 1864; left at Tupelo, Mississippi, in 
hospital, prisoner of war. 

COMPANY D. 

Captain Andrew Nuhfer was mustered into service as 
second lieutenant; appointed captain December 12, 1861, 
commission dated January 11, 1862; wounded severely at 
Shiloh, Tennessee, April 6, 1862; taken prisoner at the battle 
of Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, July 11, 1864. 

First Lieutenant Manning A. Fowler was mustered into 
service as private October 18, 1861; appointed first lieutenant 
December 12, 1861, commission dated January 11, 1862; 
appointed captain January 15,1868; mustered into service as 
captain March 8, 1863; resigned July 23, 1863, Special Order 
No. 199, Headquarters Department of the Tennessee, 
Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 23, 1863. 

Second Lieutenant Jesse J. Cook was mustered into service 
as private; appointed second lieutenant December 12, 1861, 
commission dated January 11, 1862; resigned June 6, 1862, 
Special Field Orders No. 90, Headquarters Department of the 
Mississippi, Corinth, Mississippi, June 6, 1862. 

COMPANY E. 

Captain John H. Blinn was mustered into service as second 
lieutenant; appointed captain December 28, 1861, commission 
dated January 11, 1862; resignation accepted January 15, 
1863, Special Orders No. 15, Headquarters Department of the 
Tennessee, Mississippi, General U. S. Grant. 

First Lieutenant Charles D. Dennis was mustered into 
service as private October 12, 1861; appointed first lieutenant 
December 28, 1861, commission dated January 10, 1862; 
appointed captain January 15, 1863; mustered into service as 
captain March 1, 1863, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



291 



Special Orders No. 210, Headquarters Department of the 
Tennessee, Vicksburg, Mississippi, August 3, 1863. 

Second Lieutenant William A. Strong was mustered 
into service as private November 10, 1861; appointed 
second lieutenant December 28, 1861, commission dated 
January 11, 1862; appointed first lieutenant January 15, 
1863; mustered into service March 1, 1863; resigned, on 
account of disability, August 1, 1864, Special Orders 
No, 1 72, Headquarters Department of the Tennessee, 
Chattanooga, Tennessee, August 1, 1864. 

COMPANY F. 

Captain Leroy Moo re was mustered into service as 
second lieutenant October 8, 1861; appointed captain 
January 4, 1862, commission dated January 11, 1862; 
taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's Cross Roads, 
Mississippi, June 11, 1864; mustered out of service, by 
reason of expiration of term, March 12, 1865, 
Washington, District of Columbia. 

First Lieutenant Alfred H. Rice was mustered into 
service as private November 2, 1861; appointed first 
lieutenant January 4, 1862, date of commission January 
11, 1862; discharged at Washington August 18, 1863, by 
order of Secretary of War, for disability. 

Second Lieutenant John B. Gill more was mustered 
into service as private October 9, 1861; appointed 
second lieutenant January 4, 11862, commission dated 
January 11, 1862; appointed first lieutenant February 18, 
1864; mustered as first lieutenant April 24, 1864; taken 
prisoner at the battle of Brice's Cross Roads, 
Mississippi, June 11, 1864; died in prison, October 9, 
1864, at Charleston, South Carolina. 

COMPANY G. 

Captain James Fernald was mustered into service as 
second lieutenant October 9, 1861; appointed first 
lieutenant January 10, 1862; appointed captain February 
13, 1862, commission dated February 13, 1862; 
reenlisted 1 865. 

First Lieutenant William C. Bidle was mustered into 
service as second lieutenant November 12, 1861; 
appointed first lieutenant January 10, 1862, commission 
dated January 11, 1862; appointed captain April 9, 1864; 
mustered as captain April 23, 1864; mustered out, by 
reason of expiration of term, at Vicksburg, Mississippi, 
February 15, 1865. 

Second Lieutenant John H. Poyer was mustered into 
service as second lieutenant October 19, 1861, 
commission dated January 11, 1862; resigned December 
10, 1862, Special Orders No. 43, Headquarters 
Thirteenth Army Corps, Department of the Tennessee. 

COMPANY H. 

Captain Michael Wegstein was mustered into service 
as private October 14, 1861; appointed captain January 
10, 1862, commission dated January 11, 1862; killed at 
Shiloh April 6, 1862. 



First Lieutenant Anthony Young was mustered into 
service as second lieutenant October 12, 1861; 
appointed first lieutenant January 10, 1862, commission 
dated January 11, 1862; promoted to captain April 6, 
1862, date of commission June 20, 1862; resignation 
accepted July 23, 1863, Special Order No. 199, 
Headquarters Department of the Tennessee, Vicksburg, 
Mississippi. 

Second Lieutenant Andrew Kline was mustered into 
service as private; appointed second lieutenant January 
10, 1862, commission dated January 11, 1862; 
discharged at Washington, September 11, 1862, by order 
of Secretary of War, for disability, Special Orders No. 
234. 

COMPANY I. 

Captain Jacob Fikes was mustered into service as 
second lieutenant October 12, 1861; appointed captain 
January 10, 1862, commission dated January 11, 1862; 
resignation accepted February 4, 1863, Special Orders 
No. 35, Headquarters Department of the Tennessee, 
Young's Point, Louisiana. 

First Lieutenant Albert Bates was mustered into service 
as private, October 11, 1861; appointed first lieutenant 
January 10, 1862, commission dated January 11, 1862; 
resignation accepted August 9, 1863, Special Orders No. 
215, Headquarters Department of the Tennessee, 
Vicksburgh, Mississippi. 

Second Lieutenant James Donnell was mustered into 
service as private; appointed second lieutenant January 
10, 1862; commission dated January 11, 1862; resigned 
September 3, 1 862, at Memphis, Tennessee, Special 
Orders No. 3 1 6, Headquarters Department of the 
Mississippi. 

COMPANY K. 

Captain Thes M. Thompson was mustered into, service 
as second lieutenant, October 5, 1861; appointed captain 
January 11, 1862, commission dated March 13, 1862; 
mustered out by reason of expiration of term, October 4, 
1864, Memphis, Tennessee 

First Lieutenant W. H. Skerrett was mustered into 
service as private, November 2, 1861; appointed first 
lieutenant January 1 1, 1862; detailed as division 
quartermaster April 15, 1862, Special Orders No. 22, 
Headquarters Fifth division; mustered out by reason of 
expiration of term of service, January 11, 1865. 

Second Lieutenant Caleb T. Goshom was appointed 
second lieutenant February 13, 1862; mustered into 
service as second lieutenant February 19, 1862; 
resignation accepted January 15, 1863, Special Orders 
No. 15, Headquarters Department of the Tennessee, 
Mississippi, General U. S. Grant. 

COMPANY A. 

Second Lieutenant Charles Dirlam, mustered into 
service as private October 10, 1861; appointed second 
lieutenant April 23, 1862, commission dated June 20, 
1862; promoted to first lieutenant December 



292 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



30, 1863; mustered as first lieutenant March 1, 1863; 
appointed captain April 9, 1864; mustered as captain 
April 28, 1864; taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's 
Cross Roads June 11, 1864. 

COMPANY B. 

Second Lieutenant John M. Lemmon, mustered into 
service as private October 9, 1861; appointed second 
lieutenant April 23, 1862, commission dated June 20, 
1862; appointed captain July 23, 1863; mustered into 
service as captain January 29, 1864. 

Second Lieutenant Alfred Put man, mustered into 
service as private October 12, 11861; appointed second 
lieutenant September 1 , 1 862, commission dated 
September 1 16, 1862; promoted to first lieutenant 
February 1 8, 1 864; mustered into service as first 
lieutenant March 2, 1864. 

COMPANY A. 

Second Lieutenant Jonathan F. Harrington, mustered 
into service as private October 15, 1861; appointed 
second lieutenant January 1, 1863; mustered as second 
lieutenant March 1, 1863; appointed first lieutenant 
April 9, 1864; mustered as first lieutenant April 9, 1864; 
promoted to captain May 2, 1865; mustered as captain, 
May 25, 1865. 

Second Lieutenant Morris Leese, appointed second 
lieutenant September 5, 1862; mustered into service as 
second lieutenant March 1, 1863; taken prisoner at the 
battle of Brice's Cross Roads June 11, 1864. 

Second Lieutenant Merritt Sexton mustered into 
service as private November 7, 1861; appointed second 
lieutenant November 1, 1862; mustered as second 
lieutenant April 24, 1863; appointed first lieutenant 
April 9, 1864; mustered as first lieutenant April 28, 
1864; promoted to captain March 18, 1865; mustered as 
captain April 11, 1865. 

Second Lieutenant Lorenzo Dick mustered into the 
service as private October 15, 1861; appointed second 
lieutenant April 6, 1862 ; appointed first lieutenant 
February 26, 1863; mustered as first lieutenant March 1, 
1863; taken prisoner at the battle of Brices's Cross 
Roads June 11, 1864. 

Joseph Seaford appointed second lieutenant February 
26, 1863: appointed first lieutenant November 20, 1864; 
mustered as first lieutenant January 3, 1865, at Clifton; 
promoted to captain May 2, 1865; mustered as captain 
May 25, 1865. 

Second Lieutenant James H. Stewart, appointed 
second lieutenant January 15, 1863; mustered as second 
lieutenant March 5, 1863; resignation accepted May 3, 
1863, Special Orders No. 123, Headquarters of the 
Department of the Tennessee, Mi Hi ken's Bend, 
Louisiana, May 3, 1863. 

Adjutant Alonzo C. Johnson, July 23, 1863; mustered 
as first lieutenant and adjutant August 11, 1 863; 
resignation accepted August 1, 1864, Special Orders No. 
172, Headquarters Department of the Tennessee, 
Chattanooga, Tennessee. 



Captain Charles L. Hudson, appointed second 
lieutenant November 16, 1864; mustered into the service 
as a private November 8, 1861; mustered as second 
lieutenant November 22, 1864; wounded severely at the 
battle of Tupelo, Mississippi, July 15, 1864; appointed 
first lieutenant and adjutant March 18, 1865; mustered 
as first lieutenant and adjutant April 11, 1865; appointed 
captain September 4, 1865; never mustered into service. 

Second Lieutenant Joy Winters, appointed April 9, 
1864; mustered as second lieutenant April 29, 1864; 
taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's Cross Roads June 

11, 1864. 

First Lieutenant Jacob Snyder, appointed December 8, 
1861; appointment revoked by Governor Dennison, of 
Ohio, February 18, 1 862; mustered into service as 
private October 25, 1861. 

Charles McCleary, second lieutenant, appointed April 
9, 1864; mustered into the service as sergeant October 

12, 1861; mustered as second lieutenant April 29, 1864; 
appointed first lieutenant November 16., 1864; mustered 
as first lieutenant November 20, 1864; promoted to 
captain April 14, 1865; mustered as captain June 14, 
1865. 

Rollin A. Edgerton, mustered into service as quar- 
termaster-sergeant November 14, 1861; appointed 
second lieutenant February 26, 1863; mustered as 
second lieutenant April 24, 1863; resigned on account of 
disability September 28, 1864, Special Orders No. 220 
Headquarters Department of the Tennessee, Eastport, 
Georgia. 

Andrew Unckle, second lieutenant, appointed April 9, 
1864; mustered as second lieutenant April 9, 1864; 
mustered out of service by reason of expiration of term 
of service, December 10, 1864, Nashville, Tennessee. 

Edward McMahon, second lieutenant, appointed April 
9, 1864; mustered as second lieutenant May 14, 1864; 
appointed first lieutenant March 18, 1865; mustered as 
first lieutenant April 11, 1865; taken prisoner at the 
battle of Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 1 1, 
1864. 

David Van Dorn, second lieutenant, appointed April 
9, 1864; mustered as second lieutenant April 9, 1864; 
taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's Cross Roads, 
Mississippi, June 11, 1864. 

Josiah Fairbanks, mustered into service as a private 
October 3, 1861; appointed second lieutenant April 9, 
1864; mustered as second lieutenant April 9, 1864; 
taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's Cross Roads, 
Mississippi, June 11, 1864. 

Ze lotus Perrin, mustered into service as private 
October 10, 1861; appointed second lieutenant April 9, 
1864; mustered as second lieutenant April 9, 1864; 
taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's Cross Roads, 
Mississippi, June 11, 1864. 

John G. Nuhfer, mustered into service as a private 
October 16, 1861; appointed first lieutenant March 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



293 



18, 1865; re-enlisted; mustered as first lieutenant April 
12, 1865. 

PRIVATES. 

John P. Aldrick, native of Massachusetts, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, November 24, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 
20, term three years; re-enlisted as veteran December 1; 
1863, at Germantown, Tennessee. 

Spencer Ames, native of Connecticut, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, October 16, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 20, 
term three years; died in Cincinnati, April 20, 1862. 

Alexander Almond, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Sandusky, Ohio, February 26, 1864, by Z. Perrin; age 
20, term three years; taken prisoner at the battle of 
Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864; died at 
Andersonville, July 23, 1864. 

Thomas Babcock, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, October 16, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 28, term 
three years; taken prisoner April 6, 1862, at Shiloh, 
Tennessee, paroled during guard duty at Columbus, 
Ohio; re -enlisted as a veteran at Germantown, 
Tennessee, December 22, 1864; taken prisoner at the 
battle of Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 
1864. 

William Blanchard, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, November 23, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 18, term 
three years; mustered out by reason of expiration of term 
of service at Nashville, Tennessee, December 14, 1864. 

Frank Babcock, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, March 7, 1864, by Z. Perrin; age 18, term three 
years; taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads, 
Mississippi, June 11, 1864, exchanged and returned to 
company for duty June 20, 1865, 

Huway W. Brown, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, November 8, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 18, term 
three years; discharged at Columbus, February 20, 1862, 
by order of supreme court, cause under age. 

Jacob Brant, native of Germany, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, March 18, 1864, by Z. Perrin; age 27, term three 
years; taken prisoner at the battle of Tupelo, 
Mississippi, July 15, 1864. 

Albert L. Bush, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, October 10, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 28, term 
three years; appointed third corporal December 2, 1861; 
taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's Cross Roads, June 
11, 1864; mustered out by reason of expiration of term 
of service, January 13, 1865, at Columbus, Ohio. 

Charles Barber, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, October 21, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 17, term 
three years; re -enlisted as a veteran at Germantown, 
Tennessee, December 22, 1863; promoted to eighth 
corporal, December 14, 1864. 

Nelson Barber, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, November 15, 1861, by C. G: Eaton; age 18, term 
three years; re-enlisted at Germantown, Tennessee, 
December 1, 1 863. 



George W. Brace, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, November 23, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 24, term 
three years; discharged September 3, 1862, at Camp 
Dennison, Ohio, for disability. 

Thomas Bartlett, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, March 21, 1864, by Z. Perrin; age 21, term three 
years; died of chronic diarrhea in hospital at Memphis, 
Tennessee, October 24, 1864. 

Andrew Bradbury, native of Maine, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, October 16, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 16, term 
three years; promoted to corporal February 26, 1863; 
taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's Cross Roads, 
Mississippi, June 11, 1864; mustered out by reason of 
expiration of term of service; killed in railroad accident, 
December 2, 1878. 

Samuel Berger, native of Switzerland, enlisted at 
Tuckertown, October 21, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 37, 
term three years; died at Monterey, Tennessee, June 9, 
1862, of fever. 

George Burkett, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, February 20, 1864, by Captain Strong; 
age 25, term three years; enlisted as veteran February 
29, 1864; taken prisoner at battle of Brice's Cross 
Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864. 

Charles Boyd, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, 
October 15, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 19, term three 
years; promoted to corporal February 26, 1863; taken 
prisoner at the battle of Brice's Cross Roads, June 11, 
1864; mustered out by reason of expiration of term of 
service, March 20, 1865, at Columbus, Ohio. 

George Bolander, native of Ohio, enlisted at Attica, 
November 8, 1861, by P. Bolinger; age 40, term three 
years; re-enlisted as veteran at Germantown, Tennessee, 
December 22, 1863. 

Robert Barron, native of Ohio, enlisted at Lowell, 
Ohio, November 3, 1861, by Lieutenant W. Egbert; age 
18, term three years; discharged August 9, 1 862, at 
Columbus, Ohio, for disability, 

William E. Colwell, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, December 23, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 19, term 
three years; died at Cincinnati, Ohio, May 21, 1862, of 
fever. 

Willi ard Chapin, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, May 7, 1864, by Z. Perrin; age 18, term three 
years; died of typhoid fever at Memphis, Tennessee, 
September 14, 1864. 

David Collver, native of New Jersey, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, November 8, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 18, term 
three years; discharged March 10, 1863, at Memphis, 
Tennessee, for disability. 

William Chamberlain, age 19, term three years; 
deserted January 1, 1862, from Camp Croghan, Ohio. 

Samuel Chadwick, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December 20, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 34, term 
three years; re-enlisted at Germantown, Tennessee, 
January 1, 1 864; promoted to corporal February 28, 
1864; taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads, 
Mississippi, June 11, 1864. 



294 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Seth Cloud. 

James A. Drown, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, October 16, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 22, 
term three years; discharged October 24, 1 862, at 
Columbus, Ohio, for disability. 

William Dennis, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, January 5, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 
30, term three years. 

Reuben Drinkwater, native of Ohio, enlisted in Adams 
township, November 8, 1861, by L. W. Egbert; age 21, 
term three years; discharged at Cincinnati, Ohio, 
January 28, 1863, by General Order 65. 

John Davis, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Sandusky, Ohio, March 1, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; 
age 44, term three years; deserted at Clyde, Ohio, March 
5, 1864. 

James Drinkwater, native of Ohio, enlisted in Adams 
township, by L. W. Egbert; age 16, term three years; re- 
enlisted as veteran at Germantown, Tennessee; 
transferred to field and staff as chief musician, January 
2, 1864; taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's Cross 
Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864. 

Sidney D wight, native of New York, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, January 1, 1862, by C. G. Eaton; age 26, 
term three years; promoted to sergeant January 15, 1863. 

Charles Durham, native of Massachusetts, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio; October 10, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 30, 
term three years; appointed first sergeant December 2, 
1 86 1 ; promoted to second lieutenant April 6, 1 862, 
commission dated June 20, 1862. See officers. 

Richard Dalton, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, November 
12, 1861; term three years; deserted January 1, 1862, at 
Camp Croghan, Ohio. 

John H. Downs, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, November 18, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 31, term 
three years; mustered out by reason of expiration of term 
of service, December 14, 1864. 

Nelson Dennis, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, February 10, 
1 86 1 , by C . G. Eaton; age 29, term three years; 
discharged November 13, 1862, at Memphis, Tennessee, 
for disability. 

David Doing, native of New York, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, October 11, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 42, term 
three years; discharged at Camp Shiloh, Tennessee, 
March 24, 1862, by order of Surgeon John B. Rice, 
cause disability. 

David Denison, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, October 17, 
1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 20, term three years deserted 
January 1, 1862, Camp Croghan, Ohio. 

Edward L.oudenslager, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, November 23, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 
26, term three years; mustered out by reason of 
expiration of term of service, December 13, 1864, at 
Columbus, Ohio. 

Peter Ernst, native of Germany, enlisted at Columbus, 
Ohio, January 30, 1862, by C. G. Eaton; age 45, term 
three years; discharged at Columbus, 



Ohio, August 13, 1862, by order of the Secretary of 
War, cause disability. 

William Yeaga, native of Maryland, enlisted at 
Seneca, Ohio, November 8, 1861, by L. W. Egbert; age 
25, term three years; re -enlisted at Germantown, 
Tennessee, December 22, 1863; taken prisoner at the 
battle of Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 
1864. 

George Black, native of Ohio, enlisted at Homer, 
December 28, 1861, by Lieutenant Bidle; age 35, term 
three years; mustered out by reason of expiration of term 
of service. 

Albert Fry, native of Switzerland, enlisted at 
Sandusky, Ohio, March 1, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; 
age 26, term three years; died at home March 25, 1864. 

Martin Golden, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, October 18, 1861, by C. G. Eaton, age 18, term 
three years; discharged, place and date unknown. 

Andrew German, native of New York, enlisted at 
Sandusky, Ohio, February 29, 1864, by Lieutenant 
Perrin; age 1 8, term three years; taken prisoner at 
Brice's Cross Roads, June 11, 1864. 

James Gessinger, native of Ohio, enlisted at Medina, 
January 5, 1862, by W. C. Bidle; age 17, term three 
years; re-enlisted at Germantown, Tennessee, January 1, 
1864; deserted near Sedalia, Missouri, October 19, 
1864. 

Freedom S. Gates, native of New York, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, October 16, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 23, 
term three years; died at Clyde, Ohio, May 5, 1862, of 
wounds received at the battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, 
April 6, 1862; appointed second sergeant December 2, 
1861. 

Thomas Genanan, native of New York, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, October 14, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 17, 
term three years; discharged, date unknown. 

George H. Godfrey, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, February 29, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 23, 
term three years; died of disease in general hospital, 
Memphis, Tennessee, March 15, 1865. 

James Gorden, native of Massachusetts, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, August 22, 1862, by A. B. Rutman; age 
22, term three years; deserted September 1 1, 1862, 
Memphis, Tennessee. 

Andrew German, native of New York, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, October 18, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 15, 
term three years; discharged, date unknown; re-enlisted 
as veteran February 29, 1864; taken prisoner at the 
battle of Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 
1864., 

William Gorden, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, November 
21, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 28, term three years; 
deserted January 1, 1862, Fremont. 

Augustus Harris, native of New York, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, January 5, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 
39, term three years; taken prisoner at the battle of 
Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



295 



Emmons Harkness, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, October 10, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 16, term 
three years; mustered out by reason of expiration of term 
of service, November 10, 1864, at Columbus, Ohio. 

George Gearhout, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, March, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 39, 
term three years. 

Charles L. Hudson, native of Canada, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, November 8, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 18, 
term three years; mustered out by reason of appointment 
as second lieutenant (see commissioned officers' list). 

Benjamin F. Hannin, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, November 3, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 23, 
term three years; mustered out by reason of expiration of 
term of service, December 4, 1864. 

Zemira Hutchinson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, February 25, 1864, by C. G. Eaton; age 19, term 
three years; taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's Cross 
Roads, Mississippi, June 1 1, 1864; died at 
Andersonville, October, 1864. 

William Hassingtinger, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, 
October 17, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; aged 20, term three 
years; deserted January x, 1862, Fremont. 

Oslin Harrison, native of New York, enlisted at Clyde, 
November 23, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; aged 18, term three 
years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, August 5, 1862, 
by order of the Secretary of War; cause disability. 

William Hinton, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, February 29, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; 
age 33, term three years; taken prisoner at the battle of 
Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864; died at 
Andersonville, October 5, 1864. 

David Hackett, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, December 20, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 25, term 
three years; discharged at Camp Shiloh, Tennessee, 
March 24, 1862, by order of Surgeon John B. Rice; 
cause disability. 

Enoch F. Jones, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, February 29, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 21, 
term three years; promoted to corporal December 14, 
1864. 

McFall Harkness, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, October 23, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 19, term 
three years; promoted to commissary sergeant January 
17, 1864; discharged for disability June 1, 1864. 

Jacob Heath, native of Maryland, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, December 20, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; aged 53; term 
three years; deserted Camp No. 5, before Corinth, 
Mississippi; unfit for service. 

Henry W. Kunsman, native of Pennsylvania, en-listed 
at Clyde, Ohio, March 23, 1864, age 40. Harkness Lay, 
native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, October 10, 
1 86 1 , by C. G. Eaton; age 25, term three years; 
appointed fifth corporal December 2, 1861; appointed 
second sergeant April 6, 1862. 



James Hastings, native of Ireland, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, November 21, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; aged 49; 
term three years; re-enlisted at Germantown, Tennessee; 
deserted November 26, 1864, Cairo, Illinois. 

John Hastings, native of Ireland, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, February 5, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 17, term 
three years; deserted March 19, 1862, Pittsburg Landing, 
Tennessee. 

Jesse H. Kemp, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, 
March 12, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 31, term 
three years; taken prisoner at battle of Brice's Cross 
Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864. 

Charles Hartman, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, October 23, 
1861, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 23; term three years; 
deserted June 1, 1862, Fremont. 

James Helsel, native of Ohio, enlisted at Adams 
township, November 8, 1861, by Lieutenant Egbert; age 
19, term three years; taken prisoner at the battle of 
Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864; 
mustered out by reason of expiration of term of service 
March 20, 1865, Columbus, Ohio. 

Henry Jax, deserted January 1, 1862, Fremont, Ohio. 

David Jones, native of New York, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, October 10, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 15, term 
three years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, August 5, 
1 862, by order of Secretary of War; cause disability. 

Frank M. Lay, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, 
February 25, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 18, term 
three years; taken prisoner at battle of Brice's Cross 
Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864; died at Savannah, 
Georgia. 

Joseph L. Jackson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, November 24, 1864, by C. G. Eaton; age 29, term 
three years; discharged at Memphis, Tennessee, May 31, 
1864, by reason of wounds received during the siege of 
Vicksburg, Mississippi. 

Jacob D. Lafever, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, March 28, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 25, 
term three years; wounded in the foot while on picket in 
front of Nashville, Tennessee, December 6, 1864, 
accidentally. 

Martin L. Jordan, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, November 24, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 
29, term three years; discharged at Memphis, Tennessee, 
on surgeon's certificate, date unknown. 

Rodolphus Lagore, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, December 31, 1864, by J. Winters; age 
22, term three years; discharged on surgeon's certificate at 
Memphis, Tennessee, April 29, 1865. William Miller, native 
of Pennsylvania, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, October 29, 1861, by 
C. G. Eaton; age 23, term three years; deserted January, 1862, 
at Fremont, Ohio; returned from desertion May 1, 1863; died 
in Fifteenth Army Corps hospital, Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 
29, 1863. 
William S. Miller, native of Ohio, enlisted at 



296 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Clyde, Ohio, October 10, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 25, 
term three years; appointed first corporal December 2, 
1861; taken prisoner at battle of Brice's Cross Roads, 
June 11, 1864. 

William Murray, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, November 23, 1861, by C. G. Eaton. 

Charles H. McCleary, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, November 23, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 
18, term three years; appointed fifth sergeant December 
2, 1861; appointed sergeant-major February 15, 1863; 
appointed second lieutenant April 9, 1864. (See officers 
list.) 

George Maltby, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, November 
23, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 18, term three years; 
deserted January 1, 1862, at Fremont 

Nathan Mason, native of New York, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, October 14, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 24, term 
three years; taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's Cross 
Roads, June 11, 1864. 

Israel Mer, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, November 22, 
1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 40, term three years; deserted 
January 1, 1862, at Fremont, Ohio. 

Lafayette McCarty, native of Vermont, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, October 11, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 37, 
term three years; re-enlisted as veteran at Germantown, 
Tennessee, December 20, 1863; taken prisoner at the 
battle of Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 1 1, 
1864. 

James Miller, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Homer, Medina county, December 28, 1861, by E. 
Miller; age 43, term three years; discharged at 
Columbus, Ohio, July, 1862, by order of the Secretary 
of War; cause disability. 

Morgan Morse, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, November 22, 
1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 56, term three years; deserted 
January 1, 1862, at Fremont, Ohio. 

Ezra Moe, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, 
October 23, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 20, term three 
years; re-enlisted as veteran at Germantown, Tennessee, 
December 1, 1864; appointed corporal May 1, 1865. 

Ludwig G. Miller, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, January 7, 1862, by C. G. Eaton; age 21, term 
three years; died at Shiloh, Tennessee, March 31, 1862. 

Sherman Nivoman, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, November 3, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 29, term 
three years; mustered out by reason of expiration of term 
of service, December 14, 1864, at Nashville, Tennessee. 

Jacob Metz, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, 
March 4, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 26, term three 
years. 

Christopher Metz, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, November 24, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 22, term 
three years; re-enlisted at Germantown, December 22, 
1863; drowned in White River, Arkansas, September 5, 
1864. 

Samuel B. Mason, native of Ohio, enlisted at 



Clyde, Ohio, February 25, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; 
age 37, term three years. 

Edwin O'Connor, native of Ireland, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, December 6, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 15, term 
three years; deserted at Camp Chase February 25, 1862. 

Zelotus Perrin, native of New York, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, October 10, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 36, term 
three years; appointed sergeant; appointed second 
lieutenant April 9, 1864. 

Henry Miller, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde Ohio, 
January 5, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 27, term 
three years; taken prisoner at battle of Brice's Cross 
Roads, Mississippi, June 1 1, 1864; exchanged and 
returned to company for duty, May 14, 1864, 

Nathaniel Pittenger, native of New York, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, November 15, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 
24, term three years; appointed fourth corporal 
December 2, 1861; mustered out by reason of expiration 
of term of service, December 14, 1864, Nashville, 
Tennessee. 

James H. P. Martin, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Sandusky, Ohio, March 23, 1864; by Captain Steiner; 
age 30, term three years; wounded at Oldtown Creek, 
July 15, 1864. 

Elihor Parker, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, 
December 10, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 16, term three 
years; discharged October 25, 1862, Columbus, Ohio, 

Julius W. Parmeter, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 24, term three years. 

George Pittenger, native of New York, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, October 23, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 23, 
term three years; re-enlisted at Germantown, Tennessee, 
as veteran, December 3 1, 1863. 

Hiram Plain, native of Maryland, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, November 15, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 41, term 
three years; killed at the battle of Shiloh April 6, 1862. 

Peolo Coy, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky, 
Ohio, May 25, 1864, by Captain Steiner; age 30, term 
three years; substitute. 

Charles Reminger enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, November 
24, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; term three years; deserted 
January 1, 1862, Fremont. 

Almon Rogers, native of New York, enlisted at 
Sandusky, Ohio, October 23, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 
24, term three years; taken prisoner at the battle of 
Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864; 
exchanged; mustered out of service by reason of 
expiration of term, June 13, 1865, Columbus, Ohio. 

Jeremiah Stage, native of New York, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, October 20, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 22, 
term three years; deserted, May 5, 1862, camp Number 
Five before Cenewth. 

Samuel L. Shuck, native of Ohio, enlisted at Republic, 
November 20, 1861, by P. Bollinger; age 25, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



297 



term three years; killed at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 
1862. 

Noble Perrin, native of Ohio, enlisted at Mansfield, 
Ohio, November 18, 1862, age 42, term three years; 
taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's Cross Roads, 
Mississippi, June 1 1, 1864; died at Anderson vi lie, 
August 12, 1864. 

Adam Stoner, native of Germany, enlisted at Sharon, 
January 9, 1862, by Captain Barron; age 45; term three 
years; died at Monterey, Tennessee, June 2, 1862, of 
fever. 

Emil Roschach, native of Switzerland, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, January 5, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 
27, term three years; taken prisoner at battle of Brice's 
Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 1 1, 1864. 

Solmian Stage, native of Ohio, enlisted at Medina, 
November 20, 1861, by Lieutenant Bidle; age 23, term 
three years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, July 24, 
1 862, by orders of Secretary of War; cause disability. 

Henry J. Roush, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, February 29, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 27, 
term three years. 

Alonzo Simerson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, January 1, 1862, by C. G. Eaton; age 18, term 
three years; re-enlisted as veteran at Columbus, 
Tennessee, January 1, 1864; taken prisoner at the battle 
of Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864. 

Elisha Taylor, native of New York, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, January 1, 1862, by C. G. Eaton; age 27, term 
three years; sent to general hospital unfit for service. 

William Ross, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky, 
Ohio, March 16, 1,864, by Captain Steiner; age 40, term 
three years; taken prisoner at battle of Brice's Cross 
Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864. 

Jerome Wentassel, native of Massachusetts, enlisted 
at Clyde, Ohio, November 6, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 
19, term three years; deserted January 1, 1862, Fremont, 
Ohio. 

John Vantessell, native of Massachusetts, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, November 21, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 
21, term three years; died at Monterey, Tennessee, June 
15, 1862, of fever; appointed seventh corporal 
December 2, 1861. 

Russell Z. Sturtevant, native of New York, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, January 5, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 
43, term three years; died. 

William Weeks, native of New York, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, October 10, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 43, 
term three years; appointed fourth sergeant December 2, 
1861. 

Warren Sturtevant, native of New York, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, by Lieutenant Perrin, February 29, 1864; 
age 18, term three years; taken prisoner at the battle of 
Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864; died at 
Andersonville, September 8, 1864. A. J. White man, 
native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 



Ohio, January 1, 1862, by C. G. Eaton; age 21, term 
three years; died at Cincinnati, Ohio, July 9, 1862, of 
fever. 

George A. Stilson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, March 30, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 21, 
term three years; veteran. 

Abraham R. White man, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, December 21, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 
23, term three years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, 
July 24, 1862, by order of the Secretary of War, cause 
disability. 

Harmon Wright, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, November 3, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 18, term 
three years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, August 5, 
1 862, by order of Secretary of War, cause disability. 

George Collom, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, October 19, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age term 
three years; deserted January 7, 1862, camp No. 8, 
before Corinth, Mississippi. 

David Suggitt, native of England, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, January 5, 1862, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 44, 
term three years; died at Camp Shiloh, Tennessee, 
March 30, 1862, of typhoid fever. 

Jacob W. Duesler, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, October 28, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 18, term 
three years; killed at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862. 

William S. Tuck, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, February 29, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age term 
three years. 

James S. Burroughs, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fre- 
mont, Ohio, September 15, 1862, by A. B. Putman; age 
22, term three years; died of disease at Young's Point, 
Louisiana, June 27, 1863. 

Luther Wentworth, native of New York, enlisted at 
Clyde, Ohio, March 3, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 
34, term three years; taken prisoner at battle of Brice's 
Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1 864; died at 
Andersonville, September 2, 1864. 

Robert M. Bercan, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, August 13, 1862, by A. B. Putman; age 
34, term three years. 

Seth R. Cloud, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, September 10, 1862, by A. B. Putman; age 18, 
term three years; discharged in rear of Vicksburg, 
Mississippi, September 7, 1863, on surgeon's certificate. 

Allen J. Wentworth, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Sandusky, Ohio, March 22, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; 
age 18, term three years. 

Ephraim F. Dwight, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, by A. B. Putman, August 22, 1862; age 
41, term three years; discharged at general hospital, St. 
Louis, Missouri, January 25, 1862. 

James Gorden, native of Massachusetts, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, August 22, 1862, by A B. Putman; age 
22, term three years; deserted October 21, 1862, 
Memphis, Tennessee. 



298 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Eli Whitaker, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, 
January 5, 1864, by Lieutenant Perrin; age 24, term 
three years; taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads, 
Mississippi, June 11, 1864; died at Andersonville rebel 
prison, February 4, 1865. 

John Whitaker, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, February 22, 1864, by Z. Perrin; age 18, term 
three years; taken prisoner at battle of Brice's Cross 
Roads, Mississippi, June 1 1, 1864; exchanged and 
returned to company for duty February, 1865. 

Valentine Ott, native of Germany, enlisted at Fre- 
mont, Ohio, September 12, 1862, by A. B. Putman; age 
26, term three years; taken prisoner at battle of Brice's 
Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864; exchanged and 
returned to company for duty May 14, 1865. 

Samuel Persing, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, August 12, 1862, by A. B. Putman; age 
25, term three years; appointed corporal February 29, 
1864. 

Joshua Watterson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, November 23, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 26, term 
three years; appointed commissary sergeant November 
24, 1 861; appointed first lieutenant and regimental 
quartermaster January 17, 1863. 

Reuben W. Hess, native of New Jersey, enlisted at 
Sandusky, Ohio, by Captain Steiner, February 28, 1865; 
age 44, term one year. 

J. F. Harrington, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, October 15, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 20, term 
three years; appointed second corporal December 2, 
1861; appointed first sergeant April 6, 1862; appointed 
second lieutenant January 15, 1863. 

Lymon Sturtevant, native of New York, enlisted at 
Sandusky, Ohio, February 24, 1865, by Captain Steiner; 
age 32, term one year. 

T. W. Egbert, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, 
February 19, 1862, by C. G. Eaton; age 39, term three 
years; appointed third sergeant February 20, 1862; 
discharged at Memphis, February, 1863, 

John A. Russell, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky, 
Ohio, February 28, 1865, by Captain Steiner; age 37, 
term one year. 

John Waclams, native of New York, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, November 6, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 28, term 
three years; appointed eighth corporal December 2, 
1861. 

Stephen Rogers, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, October 21, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 24, term 
three years; appointed eighth corporal December 2, 
1862; mustered out by reason of expiration of term of 
service. 

Fredrick Metz, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky, 
Ohio, February 24, 1865, by Captain Steiner; age 30, 
term one year. 

Harrison Whiteman, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, October, 
17, 1861, by C. G. Eaton, age 20, term three years; 
deserted January 1, 1862, Fremont, Ohio. John Fritz, 
native of Germany, enlisted at San- 



dusky, Ohio, February 13, 1865, by Captain Steiner; age 
29, term one year. 

Sebastian Nice, deserted January 1, 1862, Fremont, 
Ohio. 

Leslie E. Sparks, enlisted at Clyde, Ohio, October 21, 

1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 18, term three years; deserted 
January 1, 1862, Fremont, Ohio. 

Seth Lovingood, native of Ohio, enlisted at Clyde, 
Ohio, October 18, 1861, by C. G. Eaton; age 23, term 
three years; deserted May 5, 1862, Shiloh, Tennessee. 

Nathan Sewell, native of Tennessee, enlisted at 
Germantown, January 2, 1864, by Lieutenant 
Harrington; age 18, term three years; undercook, A. F. 
D. 

Dick Richards, native of Mississippi, enlisted at 
Germantown, Tennessee, January 2, 1864, by Lieutenant 
Harrington; age 18, term three years; under cook, A. F. 
D. 

Stephen C. Aiken, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 9, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 28, term three years; died at Monterey, Tennessee, 
June 4, 1862, of typhoid fever; appointed sergeant 
December 2, 1861. 

Anderson Anderson, enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, 
October 19, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 30, term 
three years; deserted December 24, 1861, Fremont, 
Ohio. 

Henry C. Barney, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December 25, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 19, 
term three years; wounded at the battle of Shiloh, April 
7, 1862; died at Louisville April 18, 1862; appointed 
sergeant December 25, 1861. 

George J. Bixler, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 9, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 45, term 
three years; died at Cincinnati, Ohio, January 23, 1862, 
of chronic diarrhea. 

Charles H. Bennet, native of New Jersey, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 9, 1861, by H. W. Buckland, 
age 38, term three years; discharged September 21, 
1863, Columbus, Ohio, for disability; wounded in a 
skirmish at Shiloh April 7, 1862. 

Samuel Burr, native of New York, enlisted at Fre- 
mont, October 15, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 45, 
term three years; died at Muscon, Tennessee, July 13, 

1862, of chronic diarrhea. 

David Burner, native of Ohio; enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 24, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 31, 
term three years; taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's 
Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864; re-enlisted at 
Germantown, Tennessee, December 23, 1863; died in 
prison Millen, Georgia, October 27, 1864. 

Chester A. Buckland, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 22, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 20, term three years; wounded at the battle of 
Shiloh, April 6, 1862; died on the boat near Cincinnati, 
April 18, 1862. 
Christopher Bower, native of Prussia, enlisted at 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



299 



Fremont, Ohio, December 2, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 
24, term three years; taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's 
Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 1 1, 1864; re-enlisted at 
Germantown, Tennessee, December 23, 1863; promoted 
from corporal to sergeant January 1, 1865; died at 
Andersonville. 

William Burr, native of Ohio; enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, 
December 9, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 23, term three 
years; discharged November 22, 1862, Columbus, Ohio, for 
disability. 

Joseph B. Brush, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December 28, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 17, term 
three years; discharged from service at Fremont, January 24, 
1 862, by order of Judge Green; cause under age. 

John Collins, native of Ireland, enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, 
October 21, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 21, term three 
years; appointed sergeant December 25, 1861; wounded at 
the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862; taken prisoner at the 
battle of Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864; 
exchanged and mustered out by reason of expiration of term 
of service, January 21, 1865, at Columbus, Ohio. 

Thomas H. Caffery, native of Ireland, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 12, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 40, term 
three years; appointed corporal December 25, 1861; 
discharged March, 1863; cause disability. 

Martin Cowel, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, 
October 17, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 32, term three 
years; appointed corporal December 25, 1861; appointed 
sergeant July 1, 1862; taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's 
Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864; exchanged and 
mustered out by reason of expiration of term of service, 
January 13, 1865, at Columbus, Ohio. 

Nathan Cochrane, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 16, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 
20, term three, years; mustered out by reason of expiration 
of term of service December 14, 1864, at Nashville, 
Tennessee. 

John C. Colloph, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 9, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 44, term 
three years; discharged March 13, 1863, at Memphis, 
Tennessee. 

George W. Clark, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 2, 1861; age 18, term three years; deserted 
April 10, 1863. 

Lawrence P. Cunnady; native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 21, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 39, term three years; discharged September 6, 1862, at 
Columbus, Ohio, for disability; wounded in a skirmish at 
Shiloh, Tennessee, April 4, 1862. 

John Dardis, native of Ireland, enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, 
December 2, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 35, term three 
years; taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's Cross Roads, 
Mississippi, June 11, 1864. 

Thomas Donahoe, native of Ireland, enlisted at 



Fremont, Ohio, October 13, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 20, term three years; appointed corporal February 1, 
1863; mustered out by reason of expiration of term of 
service, December 14, 1864, at Nashville, Tennessee. 

Orrin England, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 9, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 21, term 
three years; appointed sergeant major December 2, 
1861; appointed first lieutenant January 1, 1863. 

Francis Engler, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 2, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 20, 
term three years; re-enlisted at Germantown, Tennessee, 
December 23, 1863; taken prisoner at the battle of 
Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1863. 

Zooth S. Farrand, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 16, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 22, 
term three years; discharged December 1, 1862, at 
Columbus, Ohio, for disability. 

John Fisher, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November e, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 23, 
term three years; died in hospital boat, on. Mississippi 
River, between Memphis and Cairo, in the fall of 1863. 

Arthur C. Fitch, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December 5, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 25, 
term three years; appointed chief musician December 
25, 1861; mustered out by reason of expiration of term 
of service, December 9, 1864, at Columbus, Ohio. 

Samuel Frazier, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 18, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 34, term three years; deserted from Jefferson 
Barracks, October 28, 1863. 

Peter P. Fussleman, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted 
at Fremont, Ohio, October 19, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 45, term three years; discharged March 12, 1863, at 
Memphis, Tennessee, for disability. 

Joseph Fry, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, December 25, 1861, by H. W. Buck. 
land; age 36, term three years; discharged November 11, 
1 862, at Columbus, Ohio, for disability. 

James Gunning, native of Ireland, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 4, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 33, 
term three years; deserted May 28, 1862, at Camp 
Number Six, before Corinth, Tennessee. 

Peter Gurst, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 25, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 40, 
term three years; taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's 
Cross Roads, Mississippi, Tune 11, 1864. 

Henry Hopwood, enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, October 
9, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 19, term three years; 
deserted December 5, 1861, at Fremont, Ohio. 

Thomas Hearly, native of Ireland, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 16, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 19, 
term three years; taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's 
Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864; 



300 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



exchanged and discharged by reason of expiration of 
term of service, April 24, 1865, at Columbus, Ohio. 
William H. Hackenberry, native of Pennsylvania, 
enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, October 22, 1861; age 19, 
term three years; died at St. Louis, Missouri, April 20, 
1862, of wounds received at the battle of Shiloh, April 6 
and 7, 1862. 

Zachina Hendrickson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fre- 
mont, Ohio, October 25, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 

22, term three years; discharged October 11, 1862, at 
Columbus, Ohio, for disability. 

Michael Hearly, native of Ireland, enlisted at Fre- 
mont, Ohio, October 26, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 

1 8, term three years; re -enlisted at Germantown, 
Tennessee, December 23, 1864; promoted to corporal 
January 1, 1 865. 

Levi Hollinger, enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, October 21, 
1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 18, term three years; 
deserted November 15, 1861, at Fremont, Ohio. 

William H. Hawkins, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 11, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 20, term three years; wounded at the battle of 
Shiloh, April 6, 1862; died at St. Louis, April 20, 1862. 

Martin Hoofnazel, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 11, 1861; age 21, term three 
years; appointed corporal March r, 1863; re-enlisted at 
Germantown, Tennessee, December 28, 1863; promoted 
to sergeant April, 1864. 

Henry Hunsinger, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 30, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 17; 
discharged without pay or allowance, April to, 1863, for 
absence without leave. 

Allen L. Hal comb, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, December 11, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 19, term three years; re -enlisted at Germantown, 
Tennessee, December 23, 1863; promoted to corporal 
January 1, 1865. 

Joseph Hunsinger, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fre- 
mont, Ohio, January 14, 1862, by H. W. Buckland; age 

23, term three years; re -enlisted, as veteran, at 
Germantown, Tennessee, January 21, 1864. 

Samuel Jackson, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 19, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 32, term three years; mustered out by reason of 
expiration of term of service. 

Jacob Klusman, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 29, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 22, term three years; died at Quincy, Illinois, July 

19, 1862, of typhoid fever. 

Peter Kline, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 5, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 25, 
term three years; died in Sandusky county, Ohio, May 
18, 1862, of typhoid fever. 

John M. Lemmon, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 9, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 21, term 
three years; promoted to second lieutenant May 23, 
1862. 



Marcellus Mellious enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, 
October 9, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 19, term three 
years; appointed corporal January 1, 1863; re-enlisted at 
Germantown, Tennessee, December 23, 1863; promoted 
to sergeant April, 1864; taken prisoner at the battle of 
Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1 864; 
escaped from prison September 19, 1864; returned to 
regiment October 17, 1864. 

James McDaniels enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, October 
14, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 36, term three years; 
deserted November 21, 1861, Fremont, Ohio. 

David H. Mclntyre, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 24, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 24, term three years; died September 2, 1862, at 
Memphis, Tennessee, of disease; appointed corporal 
December 2, 1862. 

Peter Mulraim, native of Ireland, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 15, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 39, 
term three years; taken prisoner at battle of Brice's 
Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864; exchanged and 
mustered out, by reason of expiration of term of service, 
March 2, 1864, Columbus, Ohio. 

William F. Mclntyre, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 15, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 25, term three years; appointed corporal January 1, 
1863; taken prisoner at battle of Brice's Cross Roads, 
June 1 1, 1864; blown up in Sultana, near Memphis, 
1865. 

Frederick Martin, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 21, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 20, term three years; missing in action at Shiloh, 
April 6, 1862, reported killed. 

Jacob Myers, native of Virginia, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 11, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 29, 
term three years; died January 2, 1862, at Memphis, 
Tennessee, of disease. 

Thomas Michaels, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 12, 1861, by H. W. Buck land; age 20, 
term three years; died at Cincinnati July 21, 1862, of 
chronic diarrhea. 

Peter Mapus enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, November 23, 

1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 23, term three years; 
mustered as deserter April 10, 1863; returned; re- 
enlisted at Germantown, Tennessee, December 23, 1863; 
deserted August, 1864, Clyde, Ohio. 

Samuel Maurer, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December 16, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 30, 
term three years; discharged December 15, 1862, for 
disability. 

Simeon Obermier, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 13, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 36, 
term three years; taken prisoner at battle of Brice's 
Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864; discharged at 
Columbus, Ohio, March 22, 1 865, by reason of 
expiration of terns of service. 

Henry H. Olds, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, January 14, 1862, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 21, term three years; appointed corporal January 14, 

1862, sergeant January 1, 1862. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



301 



Hiram Overmier, native of Pennsylvania, taken 
prisoner at the battle of Brice's Cross Roads June ; 11, 
1864; discharged and mustered out, by reason of 
expiration of term of service, March 22, 1865, Colum- 
bus, Ohio. 

Archibald Purcell, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fre- 
mont, Ohio, November 11, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 19, term three years; re -enlisted at Germantown, 
Tennessee, December 23, 1863; promoted to corporal 
January 1, 1 864. 

Thomas Pirson, native of England, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 12, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 47, term three years; discharged September 2, 1862, 
at Columbus, Ohio, for disability. 

George E. Ryan, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 25, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 36, term three years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, 
January 25, 1862, by order of A. B. Dod, for disability. 

Alonzo Rhine, enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, December 
15, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 30, term three years; 
mustered out by reason of expiration of term of service, 
December 14, 1864, at Nashville, Tennessee. 

John Rady, enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, November 2, 
1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 21, term three years; 
deserted November 12, 1861, at Fremont, Ohio. 

James Ritchey, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 17, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 27, term three years; discharged December 13, 1862, 
at Columbus, Ohio, for disability; appointed sergeant 
December 2, 1861; wounded at battle of Shiloh April 6, 
1862. 

Emanuel D. Smith, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 16, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 25, term three years; appointed corporal December 
25, 1861; wounded at battle of Shiloh April 6, 1862; 
discharged January 21, 1863, for wounds. 

Samuel H. Shutts, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 15, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 24, 
term three years; wounded at the battle of Shiloh April 
7, 1862; died at Pittsburg Landing. 

Matthias Swartzbauder, native of Pennsylvania, 
enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, October 16, 1861, by H. W. 
Buckland; age 19, term three years; appointed corporal 
March 1, 1865; re-enlisted at Germantown, Tennessee, 
December 23, 1863; promoted to sergeant April, 1864. 

Henry M. Sargeant, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 25, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 22, term three years; discharged January, 1863, at 
Memphis, Tennessee, for disability. 

Aaron Spohn, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 29, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 18, 
term three years, died in Sandusky county, Ohio, June 
12, 1862, of consumption. 

Jacob Shoalts, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 



Ohio, November q, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 22, 
term three years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, by 
order of A. B. Dod, for disability. 

Lemuel Sparks, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 11, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 25, 
term three years; died at Camp No. 6, Tennessee, of 
typhoid fever. 

Elisha Sprague, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December to, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 19, 
term three years; died at Montery, Tennessee, June, 
1862, of typhoid fever. 

John P. Thompson, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 25, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 19, term three years; discharged at Columbus, 
Ohio, July 14, 1862, by order of A. B. Dod, for 
disability. 

Edmond J. Thompson, native of Scotland, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 18, 1861, by H. W. 
Buckland; age 43, term three years; discharged at 
Sandusky, March 1, 1862, by order of surgeon; cause 
drunkenness. 

Aaron Thierwechter, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 2, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 17, term three years; discharged December 24, 
1861, at Fremont, Ohio, by probate judge. 

Douglass Tucker, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 16, 1861, by H. W. 
Buckland; age 30, term three years; discharged at 
Columbus, Ohio, September 2, 1862, by order of A. B. 
Dod, for disability. 

James Tits wood, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 16, 1861, by H. W. 
Buckland; age 26, term three years; died at Cincinnati 
April 29, 1862; wounded at the battle of Shiloh April 6, 
1862. 

Joy Winter, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, 
October 9, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 22, term 
three years; appointed first sergeant December 2, 1861; 
promoted to second lieutenant April 9, 1864. 

Clarence Williams, enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, 
October 9, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 18; term 
three years; wounded at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 
1862; discharged for disability. 

Matthias Waber, native of France, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 9, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 20, term three years; mustered out by reason of 
expiration of term of service. 

Asaph P. Webster, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 21, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 20, term three years; died at Covington, Kentucky, 
April 20, 1862, of typhoid fever. 

Jacob Worst, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 16, 1861, by H. W. 
Buckland; age 55, term three years; killed at the battle 
of Shiloh, April 6, 1862. 

George W. Vincent, enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, 
October 12, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 42, term 
three years; deserted December 29, 1861, Fremont. 



302 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Josiah Williams, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December 25, 1861, by H. W. Buckland; age 37, 
term three years; died at Memphis, Tennessee, August 
21, 1862, of consumption. 

Jeremiah Yeagle, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 19, 1861; age 21, term three 
years; deserted April 10, 1863. 

George W. Camp, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, January 21, 1862, by H. W. Buckland; 
age 27, term three years; taken prisoner at battle of 
Brice's Cross Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864. 

Martin Palk, native of Ohio, enlisted at Columbus, 
Ohio, February 10, 1862, by H. W. Buckland; age 18, 
term three years; deserted May 26, 1862, Camp No. 5, 
before Corinth, Tennessee. 

William Herri gan, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Columbus, Ohio, February 15, 1862, by H. W. 
Buckland; age 17, term three years. 

Milliam Whimer, discharged at Columbus, Ohio, June 
24, 1862, by order of Captain A. B. Dod, cause 
disability. 

Austin Fisher, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, August 29, 1862, by A. B. Putman; age 22, term 
three years; taken prisoner at battle of Brice's Cross 
Roads, Mississippi, June 1 1, 1864; died at Fremont, 
September, 1865. 

George W. Hufford, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, August 30, 1862, by A. B. Putman; age 
24, term three years; died of disease, at Memphis, 
Tennessee, November 13, 1862. 

Christian Brinkley, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Cleveland, October 10, 1862, by drafted man; age 30, 
term nine months; discharged by reason of expiration of 
term of service. 

Roger Casmody, native of England, enlisted by 
drafted man, October 10, 1862; age 19, term nine 
months; discharged by reason of expiration of term of 
service. 

David Mooney, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cleveland, 
October 10, 1862, by drafted man; age 29, term nine 
months; discharged by reason of expiration of term of 
service. 

Henry Rich, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cleveland, 
October lOo, 1862; drafted man; age 21, term nine 
months; discharged by reason of expiration of term of 
service. 

John H. H. Caster, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Cleveland, October 10, 1862; drafted man; age 21, term 
nine months; discharged by reason of expiration of term 
of service. 

Michael Lynch, native of New York, enlisted at 
Cleveland, October 10, 1862; drafted man; age 23, term 
nine months; discharged by reason of expiration of term 
of service. 

Jacob Seagur, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Cleveland, October 10, 1862; drafted man; age 32, term 
nine months; discharged by reason of expiration of term 
of service. 



George W. Maurer, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Cleveland, October 10, 1862; drafted man; age 26, term 
nine months; discharged by reason of expiration of term 
of service. 

Aaron Maurer, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cleveland, 
October 10, 1862; drafted man; age 19, term nine 
months; discharged by reason of expiration of term of 
service. 

Charles Lautner, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Cleveland, October 10, 1862, by drafted man; age 18, 
term nine months; discharged by reason of expiration of 
term of service. 

Henry Amsboch, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 17, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 21, term 
three years; died at Camp No. 5, Tennessee, May 12, 
1862. 

Allen Amsboch, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 6, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 18, 
term three years; discharged September 2, 1862, at 
Columbus, Ohio, for disability. 

Harrison Anderson, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 26, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder.; 
age 21, term three years; discharged December 25, 1862, 
at Memphis, Tennessee, for disability. 

Weems P. Acton, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
November 29, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 20, term 
three years; discharged September 4, 1862, at Columbus, 
Ohio, for disability. 

Henry Algnyre native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
December 12, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 18, term 
three years; discharged at Fremont, Ohio, January 15, 
1 862, by probate judge. 

August Affel, native of Kentucky, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati, December 16, 1861, by M. F. Williamson; age 
19, term three years; died at Pittsburg Landing, April 8, 
1862, of wounds received at the battle of Shiloh, April 
6, 1862. 

John Bates, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, 
October 17, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 21, term three 
years; deserted May 12, 1862, at Camp No. 5, before 
Corinth; killed by rebel pickets before Corinth. 

Samuel Busket, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 26 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 22, term 
three years; re-enlisted at Germantown, Tennessee, 
December 22, 1863. 

Jacob Busket, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 26, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 34, term 
three years; re-enlisted at Germantown, Tennessee, 
December 22, 1863. 

Ezra Brayton, native of Vermont, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 28, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 46, term 
three years; died at Camp Dennison, April 30, 1862, of 
wounds received at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862. 

Calvin Boardner, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, November 19, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 19, 
term three years; died at Fort Pickering, Memphis, 
Tennessee, July 29, 1862. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



303 



Alfred Buchtle, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, November 19, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 24, 
term three years; mustered out by reason of expiration of 
term of service, December 14, 1864, at Nashville, 
Tennessee. 

Anthony Brackley, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Freeport, Ohio, December ., 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 23, term three years; re -enlisted at Germantown; 
Tennessee, December 23, 1863; promoted to corporal 
January 2, 1864; promoted to sergeant December 31, 
1864. 

Elias Burkett, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 28, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 22, term 
three years; mustered out by reason of expiration of term 
of service, December 14, 1864, at Nashville, Tennessee. 

William Ball, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cincinnati, 
Ohio, February 3, 1862, by M. T. Williams, age 41, term 
three years; discharged December 25, 1862, at Memphis, 
Tennessee, for disability. 

Joshua Books, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 28, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 38, term 
three years; discharged February 22, 1862, at Fremont, 
Ohio, by probate judge. 

William T. Cludy, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Freeport, Ohio, December 12, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 18, term three years; discharged July 25, 1862, by 
General Order No. 36. 

John L. Cook, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, November 26; 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 19, 
term three years; re-enlisted at Germantown, Tennessee, 
December 22, 1863. 

John Currigan, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December 10, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 18, 
term three years; re-enlisted at Germantown, Tennessee, 
December 22, 1863. 

Lawrence Christ, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, November 27, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 19, 
term three years; discharged August 2, 1 861, at 
Columbus, Ohio. 

Joseph Christ, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, November 27, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 21, 
term three years; appointed fourth corporal December 8, 
1861; discharged September 8, 1862, at Columbus, 
Ohio, for disability. 

William Crossman, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Freeport, Ohio, November 23, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 35, term three years; mustered out by reason of the 
expiration of term of service, December 14, 1864, at 
Nashville, Tennessee. 

Duncan Carter, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, October 26, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 23, term 
three years; re-enlisted at Germantown, Tennessee, 
December 22, 1863. 

George Crafford, enlisted at Freeport, Ohio, De- 
cember 25, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 35, term three 
years; deserted at Camp Croghan, Ohio, December 31, 
1861. 

Dennis Debany, native of Ireland, enlisted at Cin- 



cinnati, December 9, 1861, by M. T. Williamson; age 
19, term three years; discharged February 3, 1863, at 
Memphis, Tennessee, for disability. 

John Dume, native of Indiana, enlisted at Cincinnati, 
December 31, 1861, by M. T. Williamson, age 21, term 
three years, mustered out by reason of expiration of term 
of service, December 14, 1864, at Nashville, Tennessee. 

Henry Deal, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 13, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 17, term 
three years; deserted January 5, 1862, at Camp Croghan, 
Ohio. 

William Duglass, native of New Jersey, enlisted at 
Freeport, Ohio, December 12, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 38, term three years; re -enlisted at Germantown, 
Tennessee, December 22, 1863. 

Amandis Derhamma, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, December 25, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 18, term three years; re-enlisted at Germantown, 
Tennessee, December 2, 1863. 

Charles H. Davis, native of Indiana, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, December 16, 1861, by M. T. Wil- 
liamson; age 19, term three years; transferred to invalid 
corps February 15, 1864, by General Order No. 57, War 
Department. 

Nathaniel Ebersole, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 17, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 20, term three years; mustered out by reason of 
expiration of term of service, December 14, 1864, 
Nashville, Tennessee. 

Corwin Ensmunger, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Freeport, Ohio, November 19, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 19, term three years; appointed fourth sergeant. 
December 8, 1 861 ; re-enlisted at Germantown, 
Tennessee, as veteran, December 22, 1863; promoted to 
first sergeant March 29, 1864, to quartermaster-sergeant 
April 12, 1865. 

Hiram Edgar, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, November 19, 186t, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 19, 
term three years; re-enlisted as veteran at Germantown, 
Tennessee, December 22, 1863; promoted to corporal 
February 24, 1864. 

Gotlieb Fisher, native of Germany, enlisted at Fre- 
mont, Ohio, October 19, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 
1 8, term three years; mustered out by reason of 
expiration of term of service, December 14, 1864, 
Nashville, Tennessee. 

Solomon Peterman, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 26, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 20, term three years; discharged July 23, 1862, 
Columbus, Ohio, for disability. 

Joseph Furgerson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December 1, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder;, age 38, 
term three years; discharged December 25, 1862, 
Memphis, Tennessee. 

Milton Gilmore, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 25, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 17, term 
three years; discharged February 3, 1862, in Fremont, by 
probate judge. 



304 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Michael F. Fredrick, native of Spain, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, December 10, 1861, by S. A. J. 
Snyder; age 25, term three years; re -enlisted at 
Germantown, Tennessee, December 22, 1863; wounded 
severely at the battle of Tupelo, Mississippi, July 13, 
1861. 

Reuben Gager, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 28, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 24, term 
three years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, July, 1862, 
by order of Secretary of War, cause disability. 

Charles Gumsey, enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, 
November, 23, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 22, term 
three years. 

William Garber, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 26, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 23, term 
three years; appointed first corporal December 8, 1861, 
promoted to sergeant; re -enlisted at Germantown, 
Tennessee, as veteran, December 22, 1863; promoted to 
first sergeant April 12, 1865. 

David Grant, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 28, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 31, term 
three years; appointed fifth corporal December 8, 1861; 
discharged July 8, 1862, Columbus, Ohio, for disability. 

Robert L. Handy, native of Indiana, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, February 1, 1 862, by M . T. 
Williamson; age 44, term three years; died at St. Louis, 
May 2, 1862, of chronic diarrhea. 

Lawrence Higgins, enlisted at Cincinnati, Ohio, 
December 22, 1861, by M. T. Williamson; age 24, term 
three years; deserted February 22, 1862, at Cincinnati, 
Ohio. 

Jerry P. Heritage, native of Kentucky, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, December 16, 1861, by M. T. 
Williamson; age 19, term three years; appointed 
corporal September 15, 1862; re-enlisted as veteran at 
Germantown, Tennessee, December 22, 1863; promoted 
to sergeant May 1, 1864. 

Thomas Hemminger, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 26, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 27, 
term three years; missing in action near Brownsville, 
Mississippi, while on the Canton scout; is supposed to 
have been killed. 

Martin Homen, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 2, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 27, term three years; discharged July 30, 1862, for 
disability. 

Harrison Hemminger, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 25 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 27, term three years; deserted May 23, 1862, Clyde, 
Ohio. 

Jacob Huffman, native of Ohio, enlisted at Free-port, 
Ohio, November 29, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 28, 
term three years; re-enlisted as veteran, at Germantown, 
Tennessee, December 22, 1863; promoted to corporal; 
promoted to sergeant April 12, 1865. 

David Henline, native of Ohio, enlisted at Free- 



port, Ohio, November 26, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 
29, term three years; re -enlisted as veteran at 
Germantown, Tennessee, December 22, 1863; taken 
prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads, June 11, 1864; died in 
rebel prison. 

Jacob Hutchinson, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Freeport, Ohio, November 29, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 24, term three years. 

Jeremiah Heath, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, November 19, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 21, 
term three years; re-enlisted at Germantown, Tennessee, 
December 22, 1863; promoted to corporal. 

John Hetrick, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 28, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 22, term 
three years; mustered out by reason of expiration of term 
of service, December 14, 1864, Nashville, Tennessee. 

John Jackson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, November 22, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 27, 
term three years; appointed fifth sergeant December 8, 
1861; died at Fort Pickering, near Memphis, August 18, 
1862. 

Charles Jeffreys, native of Canada, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 13, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 48, term three years; deserted at Camp Croghan, 
Ohio, October 10, 1861. 

A. P. Johnson, native of New Hampshire, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 23, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 25, term three years; appointed first sergeant 
December 8, 1862; promoted to second lieutenant July 
23, 1862. 

Christian Kiser, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 17, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 19, term three years; mustered out by reason of 
expiration of term of service, Nashville, Tennessee, 
December 14, 1864. 

William H. King, native of Ohio, enlisted at Port 
Clinton, November 19, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 46, 
term three years; discharged December 25, 1863, 
Memphis, Tennessee, for disability. 

Joseph Kibby, enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, October 17, 
1 861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 30, term three years; 
discharged February 2, 1862, at Fremont, Ohio, by 
probate judge. 

Robert Kelrington, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, December 12, 1861, by M. T. 
Williamson; age 27, term three years; reenlisted as 
veteran at Germantown, Tennessee, December 22, 1863. 

Washington Lewis, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, December 26, 1861, by M. T. Williamson; 
age 26, term three years; deserted August 7, 1862, at 
Memphis, Tennessee. 

Michael Latty, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 17, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 20, tern three years; mustered out by reason of 
expiration of term of service. 

William Myres, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fre- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



305 



mont, Ohio, December 5, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 
22, term three years; re -enlisted as veteran at 
Germantown, Tennessee, December 22, 1863; promoted 
to corporal February 24, 1864. 

James Monaghan, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December 12, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 20, 
term three years; re-enlisted as veteran at Germantown, 
Tennessee, December 22, 1863. 

William H. G. Meng, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 13, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 18, term three years; died at Monterey, Tennessee, 
June, 1862, of fever. 

James Madden, enlisted at Freeport, Ohio, December 
12, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 17, term three years. 

William Naylor, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, December 1, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 21, 
term three years; discharged November 5, 1 862, at 
Columbus, Ohio, for disability; wounded in the thigh at 
battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862. 

Joseph Myres, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 26, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 25, term three years; appointed third corporal 
December 8, 1861; died at Evansville, Indiana, May 24, 
1862, of fever. 

Devault W. Miller, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Freeport, Ohio, November 19, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 32, term three years; appointed second sergeant 
December 8, 1862; killed May 20, 1863, in action at 
Vicksburg, Mississippi. 

Benjamin Olinger, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fre- 
mont, Ohio, October 17, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 
18, term three years; promoted and transferred to field 
and staff as commissary sergeant November 23, 1864. 

Samuel Obermier, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 17, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 19, term 
three years; died in prison. 

Henry Orindorf, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 1, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 78, 
term three years; died at Camp Shiloh, May 6, 1862. 

John Parish, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 7, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 30, 
term three years; died at Monterey, Tennessee; June, 
1862, of fever. 

Mahlon Penn, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, December 13, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 21, 
term three years; died at Fort Pickering, Memphis, 
Tennessee, August 17, 1862. 

Ezekiel Penn, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, November 30, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 24, 
term three years; appointed sixth corporal December 8, 
1861; discharged September 14, 1862, at Columbus, 
Ohio, for disability. 

Joseph Reed, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 26, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 29, term 
three years; re-enlisted as veteran at Gepantown, 
Tennessee, December 22, 1863. 



William Pierce, native of Maine, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 19, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 32, term 
three years; appointed third sergeant December, 8, 1861; 
discharged for promotion March, 18645. 

Demitrius Rood, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 19, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 18, term 
three years; re-enlisted at Germantown, Tennessee, as 
veteran, December 22, 1863; died at Eastport, 
Mississippi, January 31, 1865. 

George Rock, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 25, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 28, term 
three years; mustered out by reason of expiration of term 
of service December 14, 1864, Nashville, Tennessee. 

Emanuel Reed, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December 12, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 18, 
term three years; discharged January 31, 1862, at 
Fremont, Ohio, by probate judge. 

Valentine Ran, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, December 1, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 23, term three years. 

Peter Smith, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cincinnati, 
Ohio, November 11, 1861, by M. T. Williamson; age 20, 
term three years; deserted August 7, 1862, at Fort 
Pickering, Tennessee. 

Jacob Snyder, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 25, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 35, term 
three years. 

Nathaniel Sanderson, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Freeport, Ohio, November 19, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 18, term three years. 

Daniel Shoe, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, November 19, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 18, 
term three years. 

Emamuel Shoe, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, November 19, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 20, 
term three years; in prison. 

Columbus St. Clair, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Freeport, Ohio, November 19, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 18, term three years; discharged September 18, 
1862, at Columbus, Ohio, for disability. 

Martin Smith, enlisted at Freeport, Ohio, November 
19, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 17, term three years; 
discharged January 31, 1861, at Fremont, Ohio, by 
probate judge. 

Emanuel Smith, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 25, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 30, 
term three years. 

William H. Sharp, enlisted at Cincinnati, Ohio, 
January 18, 1862, by M. T. Williamson; age 20, term 
three years; deserted August 10, 1862, Columbus, Ohio, 

John Sevits, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 25, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 22, 
term 3 years; died at Camp No. 6, May 29, 1862, of 
smallpox. 

James St. Clair, enlisted at Freeport, Ohio, November 
25, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 35, term, three- 



306 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



years; deserted January 15, 1862, at Cincinnati. 
Frederick Smith, native of Ohio, wounded at Vicksburg. 
Reuben Stephens, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Freeport, Ohio, December 12, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 20, term three years; discharged September 2, 1862, 
at Columbus, Ohio, for disability. 

William Stanton, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, November 19, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 18, 
term three years; discharged December 6, 1 862, at 
Columbus, Ohio, for disability. 

Charles Stanton, native of New York, enlisted at 
Freeport, Ohio, December 1, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 21, term three years; appointed second corporal 
December 8, 1861. 

Edward Shorb, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, December 1, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 28, 
term three years; appointed eighth corporal December 8, 
1861. 

Solomon Snyder, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 19, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 41, 
three years; appointed seventh corporal December 8, 
1861. 

William Stockhouse enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, 
October 28, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 25, term three 
years, deserted November 18, 1861, at Camp Croghan, 
Ohio. 

Emanuel Shretfler enlisted at Freeport, Ohio, 
November 26, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 24. term 
three years; deserted December 31, 1861, at Fremont, 
Ohio. 

Thomas Smith enlisted at Cincinnati, Ohio, November 
xi, 1861, by M. T. Williamson; age 22, term three years; 
died in Memphis, Tennessee; shot by provost guard July 
22, 1862. 

John Underwood, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, November 30, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 22, 
term three years; killed at Vicksburg May 19, 1863; shot 
through abdomen. 

James Underwood, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Freeport, Ohio, November 22, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; 
age 18, term three years; died on hospital-boat City of 
Memphis. 

Charles W. Seame, native of England, enlisted at 
Cincinnati December 16, 1861, by M. T. Williamson; 
age 16, term three years; deserted August 7, 1862, at 
Memphis, Tennessee. 

John Vandercook, native of Ohio, enlisted at Freeport, 
Ohio, December 2, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 19, 
term three years. 

John Wise enlisted at Freeport, Ohio, November 26, 
1 861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 18, term three years. 

Reuben Wood, native of Virginia, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, November 17, 1861, by M. T. Wil- 
liamson; age 24, term three years. 

George Worley, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, December 26, 1861, by M. T. Wil- 
liamson; age 22, term three years. 



William Wallace enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, October 
28, 1861, by S. A. J. Snyder; age 32, term three years; 
discharged July 31, 1862, at Columbus, Ohio, for 
disability. 

John Witcolmb, native of England, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, January 16, 1861, by M. T. Wil- 
liamson; age 42, term three years. 

John P. King, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, August 30, 1862, by A. B. Putman; age 26, tern 
three years; taken prisoner at the battle of Brice's Cross 
Roads, Mississippi, June 11, 1864; died while enroute 
for our lines from rebel prison. 

William Camnity was appointed fifth sergeant August 
17, 1862. 

Andrew Abel, native of Germany, enlisted at Fostoria, 
Ohio, December 2, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 18, 
term three years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, 
September 6, 1862, surgeon's certificate. 

George Albert, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Wood vi lie, Ohio, November 3, 1 861, by Andrew 
Nuhfer; age 19, term three years; wounded in the battle 
of Shiloh. 

William Allen, native of Ohio, enlisted at Woodville, 
Ohio, October 14, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 19, 
term three years; wounded at the battle of Shiloh April 
6, 1862; died at Pittsburg Landing April 9, 1862. 

Henry Basor, native of Ohio, enlisted at Pemberville, 
Ohio, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 24, term three years; 
deserted from general hospital May 5, 1862; returned; 
re-enlisted. 

Joseph Beem, native of New Jersey, enlisted at 
Fostoria, Ohio, October 15, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 37, term three years. 

Michael Beckly, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fostoria, Ohio, December 2, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 19, term three years. 

Flyman Billings, native of New York, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 41, term three 
years. 

Nelson Bowen, native of Ohio, enlisted at Marseilles, 
Ohio, December 30, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 27, 
term three years. 

Orson Bowers, native of Ohio, enlisted at Marseilles, 
Ohio, December 30, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 18, 
term three years. 

Thomas G. Campbell, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted 
at Arcadia, Ohio, November 13, 1861, by Andrew 
Nuhfer; age 28, term three years. 

John Carbaugh, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fostoria, Ohio, October 31, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 28, term three years; appointed third corporal 
January 28, 1 862; appointed fourth sergeant June r, 
1862; died in Andersonville prison. 

Perry Chance, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fostoria, 
Ohio, November 5, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 21, 
term three years; appointed eighth corporal January 28, 
1862; appointed fifth sergeant July 1, 1862. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



307 



Solomon Cook, native of Ohio, enlisted at Marseilles, 
Ohio, December 20, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 18, 
term three years. 

Jesse J. Cook, native of Ohio, enlisted at Wood Ville, 
Ohio, October 14, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 39, 
term three years. 

Samuel Crais, native of Ohio, enlisted at Woodville, 
November 18, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 20, term 
three years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, October 15, 
1862, for disability. 
John W. Dale, age 25. 

Charles R. Davis, native of Vermont, enlisted at 
Fostoria, Ohio, November 17, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 30, term three years, appointed third corporal July 1, 
1862; discharged at Memphis. 

Matthew Degroft, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 21, term three 
years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, August 14, 1862, 
for disability. 

Theodore Dern, native of Maryland, enlisted at 
Fostoria, Ohio, November 19, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 30, term three years. 

Thomas Divine, native of New York, enlisted at 
Pemberville, November 28, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 18, term three years. 

Thomas Drumheller, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Pemberville, Ohio, November 23, 1861, by Andrew 
Nuhfer; age 19, term three years; died at Overton 
hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, 1863. 

William Duke, native of Ohio, enlisted at Woodville, 
by Andrew Nuhfer; age 20, term three years; appointed 
sixth corporal July 1, 1862. 

Henry A. Ernst, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fostoria, Ohio, November 6, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 20, tern three years; killed at the battle of Shiloh 
April 6, 1862. 

Samuel Eriom, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fostoria, 
Ohio, November to, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 20, 
term three years; discharged at Fort Pickering, 
September 14, 1862, by surgeon's certificate. 

Joseph Finley, native of Ohio, enlisted at Pemberville, 
Ohio, November 24, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 18, 
term three years; killed at the battle of Guntown, 
Mississippi, June is, 1864. 

Manning A. Fowler, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fostoria, October 18, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 31, 
term three years 

Ezra Fowler, native of Ohio, enlisted at Nelson, Ohio, 
February 8, 1862, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 21, term three 
years. 

Franklin Fowler, native of Ohio, enlisted at Nelson, 
Ohio, March 1, 1862, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 18, term 
three years. 

Levi Gramling, native of Ohio, enlisted at Woodville, 
Ohio, October 23, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 24, 
term three years; discharged at Fort Pickering, 
Tennessee, September 14, 1862, on surgeon's certificate. 
William Grotie, native of Germany, enlisted at 



Woodville, Ohio, December 12, 1862, by Andrew 
Nuhfer; age 24, term three years. 

Cornelius F. Groner, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fostoria, Ohio, December 10, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 18, term three years; wounded at the battle of 
Tupelo, Mississippi, July 18, 1864. 

George W. Grove, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fostoria, 
Ohio, October 31, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 20, 
term three years. 

Franklin H. Grove, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fostoria, 
Ohio, October 31, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 18, 
term three years. 

Charles Grove, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fostoria, Ohio, February 8, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 44, term three years; deserted from general hospital 
April 11, 1862. 

John Horstman, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 22, term three 
years. 

James P. Hale, native of Ohio, enlisted at Arcadia, 
Ohio, December 7, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 24, 
term three years; deserted from general hospital 
February 11, 1862. 

Moses M. Hart sock, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fostoria, Ohio, November 7, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 22, term three years; died in the rear of Vicksburg, 
1863, probably at Bear Creek, Mississippi. 

Henry Holtnomp, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, October 23, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 18, term three years; died at Covington, Kentucky, 
May 18, 1862, of typhoid fever. 

Arthur Householder, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, November 28, 1861, by Andrew 
Nuhfer; age 24, term three years; discharged at 
Columbus, Ohio, August 20, 1862, for disability. 

David Huff, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fostoria, Ohio, 
November 13, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 22, term 
three years; discharged at Cincinnati August 28, 1862, 
for disability. 

Lafayette Halcomb, native of Ohio, enlisted at Nelson, 
Ohio, March 1, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 19, term 
three years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, July 23, 
1862, on surgeon's certificate, for disability. 

William Hutson, age 18; discharged at Fremont, Ohio, 
December 27, 1861, by John Bell; cause under age. 

Frederick 1. Jaeger, enlisted at Woodville, Ohio, 
December 14, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 25, term 
three years. 

Morris Jones, native of Ohio; age 18; term three years; 
discharged at Camp Shiloh by order of R. P. Buckland, 
colonel of the Seventy-second regiment, March 22, 
1862, cause disability. 

Benjamin Jones, native of Wales, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, December 30, 1861, by Andrew 
Nuhfer; age 38, term three years. 
Charles A. Johnsmyer, native of Germany, enlisted 



308 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



at Wood vi lie, Ohio, December 14, 1861, by Andrew 
Nuhfer; age 26, term three years; appointed fifth 
corporal January 27, 1862. 

William Reil, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, October 14, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 23, term three years; appointed seventh corporal 
January 28, 1 862; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, 
September 15, 1862, by surgeon's certificate. 

Jacob J. Ludwig, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fostoria, 
Ohio, November 18, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 18, 
term three years; wantonly murdered by being shot 
through the breast by a rebel prison guard, at Meridian, 
Mississippi, June 14, 1864. He had been captured near 
Guntown, June 10. 

Charles H. Lightner, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted 
at Woodville, Ohio, October 30, 1861, by Andrew 
Nuhfer; age 34, tern three years. 

John Logan, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, November 12, 1861, by Andrew 
Nuhfer, age 30, term three years. 

Oren Levi see, native of New York, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, December 31, 1861, by Andrew 
Nuhfer, age 28, term three years. 

Isaac Mincks, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fostoria, 
Ohio, January 7, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer, age 21, term 
three years. 

John G. Nachtierb, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, October 23, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 25, term three years; died at Camp Shiloh, 
Tennessee, May 2, 1862, of typhoid fever. 

Elijah Neibel, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fostoria, 
Ohio, October 28, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 22, 
term three years. 

John G. Nuhfer, native of Ohio, enlisted at Woodville, 
Ohio, October 16, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 18, 
term three years. 

Alexander J. Ogle, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, November 3, 1861, by Andrew 
Nuhfer; age 18, term three years. 

Charles Piper, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, December 14, 1861, by Andrew 
Nuhfer; age 30, term three years; died at Andersonville 
prison, 1864. 

Morris Rees, native of Ohio, enlisted at Woodville, 
Ohio, October 26, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer, age 23, 
term three years. 

Edward C. Owens, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, October 28, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 18, term three years. 

Jackson Peoples, native of Ohio, enlisted at Wood- 
ville, Ohio, October 28, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 
36, term three years. 

Frank Percell, native of Ohio, enlisted at Pemberville, 
Ohio, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 18, term three years; died 
in 1862. 

Alexander Perkey, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fos- 
toria, Ohio, November 6, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 
20, term three years; died on board steamer Empress, 
June 17, 1862, cause rheumatism. 



Archibald Ried, native of Ohio, enlisted at Pem- 
berville, Ohio, November 18, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 20, term three years; appointed fourth corporal 
January 28, 1862; died after return home in 1865. 

Even Rees, native of Ohio, age 42, term three years; 
discharged at Camp Shiloh by order of Colonel R. P. 
Buckland, March 22, 1862, cause disability. 

John W. Reinhardt, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 35, term three 
years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, July 17, 1861, on 
surgeon's certificate of disability. 

George H. Rice, native of New York, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, October 14, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 24, term three years; appointed third sergeant 
January 28, 1862; died at Vicksburg in 1865. 

William Richards, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fostoria, Ohio, December 28, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 33, term three years. 

Lewis Ruppert, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, October 23, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 22, term three years; appointed second corporal 
January 28, 1862. 

Jerome A. Roytt, deserted from Camp Croghan, 
Fremont, Ohio. 

Charles H. Rood died at Camp Shiloh, April 10 1862, 
of typhoid fever. 

Conrad Sheller, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fostoria, 
Ohio, October 31, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 26, 
term three years; died in Andersonville prison in 1864. 

Henry Sheller, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fostoria, 
Ohio, October 31, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 28, 
term three years; discharged at Louisville, Kentucky, by 
order of Major Granger, July 19, 1862, cause disability. 

John Stadle, native of Germany, enlisted at Wood- 
ville, Ohio, October 14, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 
33, term three years; wounded at Shiloh in 1862; died 
soon after the siege of Vicksburg in 1865. 

Henry Stinkamp, native of Ohio, enlisted at Wood- 
ville, October 23, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 19, term 
three years; wounded at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 
1862; died at Pittsburg Landing, April 10, 1862. 

William Lains, native of Ohio, enlisted at Woodville, 
Ohio, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 28, term three years; 
discharged at Fort Pickering, Tennessee, September 23, 
1862, on surgeon's certificate of disability. 

Emery M. Sanders, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Pemberville, Ohio, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 23, tern 
three years. 

Hugh Vanelten, native of Ohio, enlisted at Woodville, 
Ohio, October 14, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 21, 
term three years; appointed second sergeant January 28, 
1862; died after the siege of Vicksburg, while at home 
on a furlough. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



309 



Charles Sanders, age 18. 

Jacob Vanelten, native of Ohio, enlisted at Woodville, 
Ohio, December 9, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 45, 
term three years. 

Christian Whitmer, native of Switzerland, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, October 23, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 44, term three years; appointed first corporal 
January 28, 1862; killed at the battle of Shiloh, April 7, 
1862. 

Uriah J. Whitmer, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, October 19, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 18, term three years; appointed sixth corporal 
January 28, 1862; died at New Albany, Indiana, May 17, 
1862, of typhoid fever. 

Rans Whiteman, native of Michigan, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, November 4, 1861, by Andrew 
Nuhfer; age 20, term three years; died at Camp 
Dennison, Ohio, April 25, 1862, of camp fever. 

Ami Whiteman, native of Ohio, enlisted at Woodville, 
Ohio, November 3, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 28, 
term three years; died at Camp Dennison, Ohio, April 
25, 1862, of camp fever. 

John Walter, native of Virginia, enlisted at Woodville, 
Ohio, November 9, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 20, 
term three years; died after the siege of Vicksburg, 
1863. 

Andrew J. Wenner, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, December 5, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 28, term three years; died about the time of the 
Beige of Vicksburg, 1863. 

George W. Warner, native of Maryland, enlisted at 
Fostoria, Ohio, November 15, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 28, term three years; appointed fifth sergeant 
January 28, 1862; died at Monterey, Tennessee, June 17, 
1862, of typhoid fever. 

Simon Wiseman, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fostoria, 
Ohio, November 9, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 31 
years, term three years; appointed fourth sergeant 
January 28, 1862; died on board steamer Superior May 
10, 1862, of typhoid fever. 

Samuel Wiseman, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fostoria, 
Ohio, November 11, 1862, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 37, 
term three years; died at Fostoria, Ohio, May 12, 1862. 

David Wineland, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fostoria, Ohio, December 12, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; 
age 36, term three years; deserted from general hospital 
May 15, 1862. 

John Wininger, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fostoria, 
Ohio, December 31, 1861, by Andrew Nuhfer; age 22, 
term three years; died. 

Abram Sams, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, September 12, 11862, by A. B. Putman; age 21, 
term three years; living near Wauseon, Ohio. William 
Buffington, native of Ohio,, enlisted at Elmore, Ohio, 
November 21, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 22, term 
three years; died at Louisville, Kentucky, April 19, 1862, 
of wounds received at the battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, 
April 5, 1862. 



John Rees, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, 
1862, by A. B. Putman; age 20, term three years; taken 
prisoner at the battle of Guntown, Mississippi, 1864; 
paroled at Goldsboro February or March, 1865; died at 
Grant's general hospital, Willett's Point, New York, 
April 3 or 4, 1865. 

Anthony Branard, native of Michigan, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 7, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 
32, term three years. 

George Buffington, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 24, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 45, term three years. 

Benjamin C. Beach, native of New York, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 25, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 25, term three years. 

Charles H. Baird, native of Ohio, enlisted at Per- 
rysburg November 20, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 30, 
term three years; appointed fourth sergeant February 25, 
1862; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, July 18, 1862, for 
disability. 

Jacob H. Baker, native of Ohio, enlisted at Stone 
Bridge October 21, 1862, by John H. Blinn; age 21, term 
three years; appointed fifth corporal January 28, 1862, 

John Clauser, native of Switzerland, enlisted at Stone 
Ridge October 21, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 24, term 
three years; deserted from Memphis, Tennessee, August 
7, 1862. 

John Clapper, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 21, 1862, by John H. Blinn; 
age 27, term three years. 

George Cramer, native of Ohio, enlisted at Stone 
Ridge, November 10, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 19, 
term three years. 

John Croft, native of Ohio; age 18; discharged July 5, 
1 862, at Columbus, Ohio, for disability. 

Henry Cook, native of Germany, enlisted at Co- 
lumbus, Ohio, December 12, 1861, by H. W. Chidsey; 
age 44, term three years. 

Lawrence Cremernig. 

David G. Dean, native of Ohio, enlisted at Stone 
Ridge November to, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 22, 
term three years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, July 
28, 1862, for disability. 

Benjamin Davison, native of Vermont, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, December 4, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 
30, term three years. 

Gideon F. Draper, native of New York, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, December 28, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 39, term three years; died July 15, 1862, at New 
Albany, Indiana, of disease. 

John P. Elderkin, jr., native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Woodville, Ohio, October 2, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 19, term three years; appointed third sergeant 
December 28, 1862. 

Morman Easterly, native of New York, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 16, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 18, term three years; discharged at Memphis, 
Tennessee, September 16, 1862, for disability. 



310 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



John P. Daily. 

Richard Elder, native of Ohio, enlisted at Stone Ridge 
December 1, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 18, term three 
years. 

Simeon Eversole, native of Ohio, enlisted at Elmore, 
Ohio, November 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 39, 
term three years. 

Emanuel Fink, enlisted at Elmore, Ohio, October 20, 
1 86 1 , by John H. Blinn; age -- , term three years; 
appointed first corporal January 28, 1862; died at 
Louisville, Kentucky, April 20, 1 862, of wounds re- 
ceived at battle of Shiloh April 6, 1862. 

John Furry, native of Ohio, enlisted at Perrysburg, 
Ohio, October 19, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 24, term 
three years. 

Jacob H. Furry, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Stone Ridge October 19, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 
30, term three years; appointed fifth sergeant February 
25, 1862; wounded at Shiloh April 6, 1862; discharged 
at Columbus, Ohio, August 21, 1862, for disability. 

William Furry, native of Ohio, enlisted at Perrysburg, 
Ohio, November 10, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 20, 
term three years. 

John Furgurson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Perrys- 
burg, Ohio, November 10, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 
23, term three years. 

Harmon G. Fortress, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 20, term three years. 

Christopher Finkbinder, native of Germany, enlisted 
at Perrysburg November 4, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 
18, term three years. 

Francis Gagin, native of Ohio, enlisted at Stone Ridge 
November 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 22, term 
three years; died at Stone Ridge, Ohio, April 20, 1862, 
of rheumatism. 

Alexis T. Garril, native of Ohio, enlisted at Stone 
Ridge December 4, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 19, term 
three years. 

Charles T. M. Gunsey, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 10, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 21, term three years. 

Mathias Garnhart, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 42, term three years. 

George Gossman, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 28, term three years; deserted from Memphis, 
Tennessee, August 4, 1862. 

John Gullingbuck, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Columbus, Ohio, December 26, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 31, term three years. 

George Hazel, native of Prussia, enlisted at Stone 
Ridge, October 28, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 21, term 
three years. 

George Icelep, native of Germany, enlisted at Elmore, 
Ohio, November 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 39, 
term three years. 



Richard Hays, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, October 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 
39, term three years; died July 15, 1862, at New Albany, 
Indiana, of disease. 

Henry Hyde, native of New York, enlisted at Elmore, 
Ohio, November 25, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 41, 
term three years; died June 8, 1862, at New Albany, 
Indiana, of disease. 

Levi Heberling, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, January 20, 1862, by John H. Blinn; age 24, term 
three years; discharged at Memphis, Tennessee, 
September 16, 1862, for disability. 

Orin S. Harris, native of New York, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, October 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 
26, term three years; appointed eighth corporal January 
28, 1862; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, July 22, 1862, 
for disability. 

William Johnson, native of New Jersey, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 40, term three years; discharged at Memphis, 
Tennessee, September 16, 1862, for disability. 

Jerrit Johnson, native of Germany, enlisted at Stone 
Ridge December 4, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 21, term 
three years. 

John M. Jeffreys, native of New York, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 20, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 37, term three years; appointed first sergeant 
December 28, 1861; discharged at Memphis, Tennessee, 
August 18, 1862, by order of Surgeon John B. Rice, 
cause disability. 

Sherman A. Jackson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Stone 
Ridge, November 10, 1862, by John H. Blinn; age 29, 
term three years; appointed fourth corporal January 28, 
1862. 

Frederick Kepler, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Stone Ridge, October 28, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 
21, term three years; discharged at Columbus, 
September 19, 1862, for disability. 

David Kinney, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 21, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 30, term three years; deserted from Paducah, 
Kentucky, March 6, 1862. 

Harrison Kinney, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 21, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 24, term three years; died July 4, 1862, at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, of disease. 

John Krais, native of Germany, enlisted at Elmore, 
Ohio, November 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 18, 
term three years; died June 13, 1862, New Albany, 
Indiana, of disease. 

Isaac Kaufman, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, January 9, 1862, by John H. Blinn; age 
30, term three years. 

John Lodge, native of Germany, enlisted at Elmore, 
Ohio, November 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 39, 
term three years; appointed third corporal January 28, 
1862; died May 20, 1862, at St. Louis, Missouri, of 
wounds received at Shiloh. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



311 



Barnard H. Krampleber, native of Germany, enlisted 
at Cincinnati, Ohio, July 31, 1862, by John H. Blinn; 
age 40, term three years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, 
October 1, 1862, for disability. 

Samuel Loosher, native of Ohio, enlisted at Stone 
Ridge, October 27, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 20, term 
three years. 

Augustus Lodge, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 29, 1861, by John. H. Blinn; 
age 39, term three years; died September 17, 1862, at 
Elmore, Ohio, of disease. 

Martin S. Luchman, native of France, enlisted at' 
Cincinnati, Ohio, December 13, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 42, term three years. 

Henry Lohi, native of Germany, enlisted at Elmore, 
Ohio, December 28, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 28, 
term three years. 

Wallace Maine, native of Ohio, enlisted at Stone 
Ridge, October 19, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 22, term 
three years; died at Camp Shiloh, Tennessee, May 1, 
1862, of typhoid fever. 

Jacob Mayer, native of Ohio, enlisted at Stone Ridge, 
November 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 22, term 
three years. 

Henry Maas, native of Prussia, enlisted at Cincinnati, 
Ohio, December 26, 1861, by M. T. Williamson; age 39, 
term three years. 

Robert W. Medkirk, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, November 1 , 1 861 , by M. T. 
Williamson, age 29; term three years. 

John March, native of England, enlisted at Stone 
Ridge, December 25, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 21, 
term three years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, 
September 12, 1862, for disability. 

Lewis Otto, native of Poland, enlisted at Elmore, Ohio, 
November 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 39, term 
three years. 

Edward Otto, native of Poland, enlisted at Elmore, 
November 29, 1861, by J. H. Blinn; age 20, term three 
years. 

Frederick Snider, native of Switzerland, enlisted at 
Stone Ridge, October 22, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 
21, term three years; deserted from Memphis, 
Tennessee, August 7, 1862. 

Alexander Shoemacker, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 19, term three years. 

John G. Suffert, native of Germany, enlisted at Elmore, 
Ohio, November 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 34, 
term three years; deserted from Memphis, Tennessee, 
July 21, 1863. 

Michael Statler, native of Ohio, enlisted at Elmore, 
Ohio, November 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 18, 
term three years. 

Francis M. Smith, native of Ohio, enlisted at Elmore, 
Ohio, December 21, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 18, 
term three years; discharged at Memphis, Tennessee, 
August 13, 1862, by order of Surgeon John B. Rice, 
cause disability. 



Ferdinand St oiler, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 27, term three years. 

Jacob Stall, native of Germany, enlisted at Elmore, 
Ohio, November, 29, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 36, 
term three years. 

Michael Shimer, native of Ohio, enlisted at Stone 
Ridge, October 18, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 19, term 
three years; died at New Albany, Indiana, May 15, 1862, 
of disease. 

Jacob Smith, native of Ohio, enlisted at Stone Ridge, 
October 19, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 36, term three 
years. 

George Scott, native of England, enlisted at Stone 
Ridge, October 19, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 25, term 
three years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, October 15, 
1862, for disability. 

Jacob Snider, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 12, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 22, term 
three years; appointed sixth corporal, January 28, 1862. 

Mathand Tryand, native of Connecticut, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 23, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 45, term three years. 

Miles Treat, native of New York, enlisted at Stone 
Ridge, October 19, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 18, term 
three years; died November 26, 1862, at Memphis, 
Tennessee, of disease. 

William Trimer, native of New Jersey, enlisted at 
Elmore, January 6, 1862, by John H. Blinn; age 25, term 
three years. 

John J.. Thornton, native of New York, enlisted at 
Perrysburg, October 19, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 27, 
term three years. 

Franklin Tucker, native of New York, enlisted at 
Woodville, October 30, 1861, by John H. Blinn; age 30, 
term three years; appointed seventh corporal January 28, 
1862; died at Corinth, Mississippi, January 1, 1863, of 
disease. 

Francis Yarger, native of Switzerland, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, December 14, 1861, by M. T. Williamson; 
age 23, term three years; discharged at Memphis, 
Tennessee, September 16, 1862, for disability. 

Louidus Whitmore, native of New York, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 21, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 33, term three years; appointed second corporal 
January 28, 1862; appointed first sergeant September 1, 
1862. 

Edgar H. Bo wen, native of New York, enlisted at 
Elmore, Ohio, November 21, 1861, by John H. Blinn; 
age 35, term three years; appointed second sergeant 
December 28, 1862. 

James M. Madden, native of Massachusetts, enlisted 
at Fremont, Ohio, October 3, 1862, by drafted man; age 
18, term nine months. 

George S miner, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 3, 1862; drafted man; age 43, 
term nine months. 

Martin Willeck, native of Germany, enlisted at 



312 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Fremont, Ohio, October 3, 1862; drafted man; age 39, 
term nine months. 

Jacob Springer, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Norwalk, Ohio; drafted man; age 27, term nine months. 

Henry Wapse, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Norwalk, Ohio; drafted man; age 20, term nine months. 

Alfred Marshall, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 12, 1861, by L. More; age 39, 
term three months; appointed fourth sergeant January to, 
1862; died at Fremont, Ohio, April 19, 1862, of fever. 

John Bates, native of Ohio, enlisted at Green Creek, 
Ohio, November 1, 1861, by L. More; age 18, term three 
years; discharged at Camp Chase, Ohio, July 29, 1862, 
by order of surgeon for disability. 

David Bates, native of Ohio, enlisted at Green Creek, 
Ohio, November 1, 1861, by L. More; age 20, term three 
years; discharged October 9, 1862, Camp Chase, Ohio, 
for disability. 

Abraham Bates, native of Ohio, enlisted at Green 
Creek, Ohio, December 6, 1861, by L. More; age 22, 
term three years. 

Robert Bowland, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 4, 1861, by L. More; age 44, term three 
years; appointed third corporal January 10, 1862. 

Adam Brunthara, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 15, 1861, by L. More; age 18, term 
three years; taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads June 
10, 1864; died at home. 

Andrew Broto, native of Ohio, enlisted at Greencreek, 
October 26, 1861, by L. More; age 22, term three years; 
taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads June 10, 1864. 

William Croft, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted 
October 9, 1861, at Fremont, Ohio, by L. More; age 22, 
term three years; taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads 
June to, 1864. 

Edgar Carnell, native of Ohio, enlisted October 26, 
186t, by L. More; age 25, term three years; died in 
Camp at Oak Ridge, rear of Vicksburg, Mississippi. 

Lafayette Carnell, dative of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 2, 1861, by L. More; age 19, term three 
years; wounded at Guntown June to, 1864. 

N. B. Cadwell died at Keokuk, Iowa, April 27, 1862, 
of fever. 

Harvey M. Chamberlain, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 25, 1861, by L. More; age 18, 
term three years; killed on the retreat from Guntown 
June, 1864. 

C. Hubbard Cross, native of Canada, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 16, 1861, by L. More; age 45, 
term three years; deserted from general hospital July, 
1862. 
Leandet Clark, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 



Ohio, December 16, 1861, by L. More; age 22, term 
three years. 

Shellock Cook, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December 16, 1861, by L. More; age 19, term 
three years; died at home. 

Ira Crain, native of Ohio, enlisted at Green Creek, 
Ohio, November 1, 1861, by L. More; age 15, term three 
years; taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads June 10, 
1864; blown up on the Sultana in 1865. 

Joel Crain, native of Ohio, enlisted November 1 1, 

1861, age 29; discharged at Camp Chase, Ohio, July go, 

1862, by order of surgeon; cause disability. 

N. B. Clark, native of Ohio, enlisted at Green Creek, 
Ohio, November 6, 1861, by L. More; age 20, term three 
years. 

Abraham Durfee, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 18, 1861, by L. More; age 21, term 
three years; deserted from general hospital May, 1862. 

Isaac Etsminger, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 11, 1861, by L. More; age 27, term three 
years; appointed second corporal January 1 0, 1 862; 
taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads June 10, 1864; 
died at Andersonville. 

William Entsminger, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 9, 1861, by L. More; age 31, 
term three years; discharged at Camp Chase, Ohio, July 
25, 1862, by order of surgeon, cause disability. 

David Entsminger, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, December 2, 1861, by L. More; age 29, 
term three years; died at Monterey, Tennessee, June 8, 
1862, of fever. 

Lewis Entsminger, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, January 28, 1861, by L. More; age 21, 
term three years; died in hospital in 1862. 

Rollia A. Egerton, native of Vermont, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 14, 1861, by L. More; age 21, 
term three years; appointed quartermaster sergeant 
November 15, 1861. 

John England. 

Christopher Esminger, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, December 19, 1861, by L. More; age 19, 
term three years; discharged, October 24, 1862, at 
Columbus, Ohio, for disability. 

Andrew Fisher, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 2, 1861, by L. More; age 23, term three 
years. 

W. A. Frances, native of France, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 18, 1861, by L. More; age 23, term 
three years. 

James Frances, native of France, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December 7, 1861, by L. More; age 23, term three 
years; wounded at siege of Vicksburg, May, 1863, died 
at Chicago. 

John Fitzgerald, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 23, 1861, by L. More; age 21, term 
three years. 
Henry Grant, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



313 



Ohio, October 26, 1861, by L. More, age 23, term three 
years. 

John B. Gillmore, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 9, 1861, by L. More; age 23, term three 
years. 

Peter A. Glass, native of Ohio, enlisted at Ballville, 
Ohio, October 28, 1861, by L. More; age 24, term three 
years; appointed second sergeant January 10, 1862; 
killed at the battle of Shiloh April 6, 1 862. 

Christopher Glos, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 7, 1861, by L. More; age 32, 
term three years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio,. 
September 16, 1862, by order of Captain A. B. Dod, 
pause disability. 

Marcellus Gray, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 20, 1,861, by L. More; age 
18, term three years. 

James Gilmore, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December 18, 1861. by L. More; term three years; 
discharged at Columbus, Ohio, September 19, 1862, by 
order of Captain A. B. Dod, for disability. 

M. K. Hite, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, 
October 26, 1861, by L. More; age 20, term three years. 

No B. Huss, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 26, 1861, by L, More; age 21, term three 
years; appointed sixth corporal January 10, 1862; 
discharged December 4, 1864; deserted July 20, from 
general hospital. 

Michael Huffman, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 16, 1861, by L. More; age 24, term 
three years. 

Jesse Harpster, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 26, 1861, by L. More; age 18, term 
three years; severely wounded in the assault at 
VicksburgMay 11, 1863. 

George Hawk, native of Ohio, enlisted at Green Creek 
November 1, 1 861, by L. More; age 21, term three 
years; taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads, June 10, 
1864. 

John A. Harris, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December 3, 1861, by L. More; age 18, term three 
years; deserted from general hospital, June, 1862. 

Jasper Johnson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Ballville, 
Ohio, October 30, 1861, by L. More, age 20, term three 
years; killed at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1 862. 

Daniel Johnson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Ballville, 
Ohio, October 28, 1861, by L. More; age 18, term three 
years; sent to general hospital at Shiloh, discharged 
December 14, 1861. 

Albert Jones. 

Charles Jones. 

William W. Jones, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fre- 
mont, Ohio, January 21, 1862, by L. More; age 25, term 
three years; discharged October 31, 1862, Memphis, 
Tennessee, for disability. 



David Kaull, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, January 23, 1862, by L. More; age 18, 
term three years; wounded at Shiloh, April 6, 1862. 

John Lary, native of Ireland, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 29, 1861, by L. More; age 19, term three 
years. 

Cyrus Lockwood, native of Ohio, enlisted at Green 
Creek; age 18, term three years; died at New Albany, 
Indiana, May 23, 1862, of fever. 

James Logan, native of England, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December 14, 1861, by L. More; age 33, term 
three years; discharged October 31, 1862, Memphis, 
Tennessee, for disability. 

Daniel Mcintosh, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 9, 1861, by L. More; age 25; term three 
years; discharged. 

W. G. Mclntyre, native of Ohio, enlisted at Green 
Creek, Ohio, October 26, 1861, by L. More; age 18, 
term three years; appointed fifth corporal January 10, 
1862; appointed fourth sergeant April 12, 1862; 
discharged August 28, 1862, for disability, at Memphis, 
Tennessee. 

John Miller, a native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 7, 1861, by L. More; age 21, term three 
years; appointed third sergeant January 10, 1862; died of 
fever at Cincinnati, May 14, 1862. 

Elias B. Moore, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 26, 1861, by L. More; age 20, term three 
years; appointed fifth sergeant January 10, 1862. 

Ezekiel Mott, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, December 31, 1861, by L. More; age 56, term 
three years. 

William E. Neason, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, October 26, 1861, by L. More; age 25, 
term three years; appointed first sergeant January 10, 
1862; died in 1864. 

Hyram Neff, native of Ohio, enlisted in Ballville, 
November 2, 1 861, by L. More; age 1 8, term three 
years; taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads, June 10, 
1864. 

Sardis Patterson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 11, 1861, by L. More; age 19, term three 
years; captured at Guntown; died at Andersonville rebel 
prison. 

George Patterson, native of Fremont, Ohio, enlisted 
November 12, 1861, by L. More; age 25, term three 
years; deserted from general hospital, July, 1862. 

John Purney, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 30, 1861, by L. More; age 23, term 
three years; died at Whitestone, Tennessee, November 
or December, 1863. 

Danforth Patterson, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, Ohio, November 30, 1861, by L. More; age 23, 
term three years; deserted February x, 1861, at Fremont, 
Ohio. 
Chauncy Reynolds, native of Ohio, enlisted at 



314 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Fremont, October 19, 1861, by L. More; age 18, term 
three years. 

Enos Reynolds, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, October 26. 1861, by L. More; age 20, term three 
years; died October 12, 1862, at Memphis, Tennessee. 

Jefferson Russell, native of Ohio, enlisted at Ball ville, 
Ohio, October 28, 1861, by L. More; age 20, term three 
years; appointed first corporal January 10, 1862, taken 
prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads. 

T. M. Russell, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
November 15, 1861, by L. More; age 22, term three 
years; appointed eighth corporal January lo, 1862. 

A. H. Rice, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
November 2, 1 861, by L. More; age 21, term three 
years. 

Burton Rathbun, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
November 15, 1861, by L. More, age 18, term three 
years. 

Wilson Robinson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
by L. More, December 19, 1861; age 18, term three 
years. 

Henry Shook, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont October 11, 1861, by L. More; age 27, term 
three years; died at Andersonville prison of gangrene. 

Ezra Smith, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont 
November 6, 1 861, by L. More; age 28, term three 
years; died at St. Louis, Missouri, June 16, 1862, of 
fever. 

William Smith, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont 
November 16, 1861, by L. More; age 21, term three 
years; died at Louisville, Kentucky, May 28, 1862, of 
fever. 

Augustus H. Smith, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont November 20, 1861, by L. More; age 21, term 
three years. 

Peter Smith, enlisted October 24, 1861, died at 
Cincinnati May 15, 1962, of fever. 

Absolom Shell, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont 
November 19, 1861, by L. More; age 22, term three 
years; appointed seventh corporal January 10, 1862, 
discharged at Camp Chase, Ohio, July 17, 1862, by 
order of surgeon, cause disability. 

Alrymen Stine, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 22, 1861, by L. More; age 22, term 
three years; discharged November 11, 1862, at Camp 
Chase, Ohio, for disability. 

David Stiges, enlisted December 18, 1861. David 

Stager, enlisted November 7, 1861. 

Wesley Tillotson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Green 
Creek, Ohio, November 1, 1861, by L. More; age 18, 
term three years. 

David Werner, enlisted November 7, 1861. 

Lewis D. Williams, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont, November 12, 1861, by L. More; age 34, term 
three years; died July 30, 1862, at Fremont, of disease. 



James Tillotson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
Ohio, November 1, 1861, by L. More; age 21, term three 
years. 

Joseph M. Tillotson, enlisted November 5, 1861; 
appointed fourth corporal January in, 1862; sent to 
general hospital April 13, 1862; deserted. 

Thomas M. Withington, native of Pennsylvania, 
enlisted at Harrisonville by E. Miller, January g, 1862; 
age 44, term three years. 

Reuben Westman, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Harrisonville, December 27, 1861, by E. Miller; age 43, 
term three years; died at Harrisonville. 

Andrew J. Culp, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont February 5, 1861, by A. H. Rice; age 19, term 
three years; deserted June in, 1862, at Chuwalla, 
Tennessee. 

David Vandoren, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont 
February 7, 1861, by L. More; age 27, term three years; 
appointed second sergeant April 10, 1862. 

Orin Russell, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont February 5, 1861, by L. More; age 20, term 
three years; taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads June 
10, 1861. 

William Henry Signs, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Fremont February 7, 1861, by L. More; age 21, term 
three years. 

William Rapp, native of Ohio, enlisted at Harri- 
sonville December 15, 1861, by E. Miller; age 21, term 
three years. 

Edwin Miller, native of New York, enlisted at 
Harrisonville December 15, 1861, by E. Miller; age 28, 
term three years. 

Francis Mansin, native of Ohio, enlisted at Harri- 
sonville December 15, 1861, by E. Miller; age 29, term 
three years; died at Harrisonville, of fever. 

Peter Mates, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Harrisonville December 13, 1861, by E. Miller; age 41, 
term three years; discharged November 20, 1862, for 
disability. 

Joseph Vandermark, native of Indiana, enlisted at 
Harrisonville December 31, 1861, by E. Miller; age 19, 
term three years. 

Benjamin Vandermaker, native of New Jersey, 
enlisted at Harrisonville December 16, 1861, by E. 
Miller; age 58, term three years; died at Harrisonville 
May 25, 1862, of fever. 

Alonzo L. Trapp, native of Ohio, enlisted at Har- 
risonville December 15, 1861, by E. Miller; age 29, term 
three years; discharged at Memphis, Tennessee, 
September 14, 1852, by order of surgeon, with 
certificate of disability. 

George Park, native of Ohio, enlisted at Harrisonville 
December 30, 1861, by E. Miller; age 20, term three 
years. 

Harlow Underhill, discharged. 

Martin Stann, taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads, 
June 10, 1864; died at Andersonville, of gangrene. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



315 



Jeremiah Scantlan, enlisted November 16, 1861. 
William S. Rhodes. 

James Gilmore, taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads; 
died at Annapolis, Maryland; in the winter of 1864, 
shortly after being paroled. 

George Loveland, term nine months, died in the 
vicinity of Vicksburg in 1863. 

James H. Morrell, discharged with regiment Sep- 
tember 19, 1865. 

Lewis Hawk died in Monterey in 1862. 

James Peudy, discharged with regiment September 9, 
1865. 

John Deusler, taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads, 
June 10, 1864. 

Thomas Purcell, discharged with regiment September 
19, 1865. 

James Necbit, taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads, 
June 10, 1864. 

H. H. Rozell, discharged with regiment September 19, 
1865. 

Christian Beck, taken prisoner at Brice's Cross Roads, 
June 10, 1864. 

William H. Sheets, discharged with regiment Sep- 
tember 19, 1865. 

Edward Scanlan, discharged with regiment September 
19, 1865. 

Rollin Ames, died at Memphis, Tennessee, in general 
hospital, July 4, 1864, cause chronic diarrhea. Timothy 
Sullivan, sent to general hospital June 9, 1865; 
discharged from hospital. 

Peter Andrew, mortally wounded near Tupelo, 
Mississippi, July 12, 1864. 

Chesney Van Dyke, died at Fremont, February 10, 
1865. 

Bensinger Joseph, mortally wounded at battle of 
Tupelo, Mississippi, July 13, 1864; taken prisoner and 
died in rebel hospital Mobile, Alabama, 1864; one arm 
and one leg mangled. 

John C. Yonkman, discharged with regiment Sep- 
tember 19, 1865. 

Louis Bolack, wounded at Tupelo, Mississippi, July 
13, 1864; discharged September 9, 1865. Marion Spohn 
died at Jefferson general hospital, near St. Louis, 
Missouri, September 17, 1864. 

Peter Byers, discharged at Columbus, September 19, 
1865. 

Henry England, discharged at Columbus, September 
19, 1865. 

Gill Jacob, sent to general hospital at Memphis, 
Tennessee, September 2, 1864. 

Archibald Grubb, discharged at Columbus, September 
19, 1865. 

J. M. Hite, discharged at Columbus, September 19, 
1865. 

David M. Hite, sent to general hospital at Nashville, 
Tennessee, December 3, 1 864; discharged. S amuel 
Hague, taken prisoner at Tupelo, Mississippi, July 12, 
1864; blown up on steamer Sultana, 1865. 



George Jackson, mortally wounded at battle of Tupelo, 
Mississippi, July 13, 1864; taken prisoner, died in rebel 
hospital in 1 864, one arm and one leg shattered by 
musket balls. 

Charles Joseph, discharged with regiment September 
19, 1865. 

Daniel Lary, discharged with regiment September 19, 
1865. 

Sidney Adams, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence, 
October 26, 1861, by J. H. Poyer, age 43, term three 
years. 

John R. Akins died May 14, 1862, at general hospital. 

Erasmus H. Andrews, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Florence December 23. 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 38, 
term three years; discharged at Columbus, by order of 
post-surgeon, June 28, 1862; cause disability. 

Ebenezer G. Allen deserted February 17, 1862, at 
Camp Chase. 

John Ammon, native of Germany, enlisted at Florence 
December 2, 1861, by W. C. Bider; age 20, term three 
years; wounded at the battle of Shiloh April 7, 1862. 

Burrell Butman, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence 
October 25, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 18, term three 
years; discharged at Columbus, by order of Captain A. 
B. Dod; cause disability. 

Peter Burns, deserted at Camp Chase January 20, 1862. 

David Brownell, native of New York, enlisted at 
Sandusky November 1, 1861, by O. J. Fernald; age' 26, 
term three years. 

Jacob M. Bucher, native of Michigan, enlisted at 
Sandusky November 11, 1861, by O. J. Fernald; age 20, 
teen three years. 

Lewis Clark, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky 
November 18, 1861, by O. J. Fernald; age 20, term three 
years; wounded at the battle of Shiloh April 6, 1862. 

John Coon, deserted January 20, 1862, at Camp Chase. 

Nelson S. Crum, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence 
October 25, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 24, term three 
years. 

John Call, deserted January 8, 1862, at Camp Chase. 

Samuel Dailey, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky 
October 28, 1861, by O. J. Fernald; age 18, term three 
years. 

Robert Dalzell, native of Michigan, enlisted at 
Sandusky October 28, 1861, by O. J. Fernald; age 18, 
term three years. 

Edward Daniels, native of Michigan, enlisted at 
Sandusky November 10, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 26, 
term three years. 

Willard Dike, native of Vermont, enlisted at Florence 
November 14, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 33, term three 
years. 



316 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Cornelius Dunivon, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Florence November 21, by J. H. Poyer; age 18, term 
three years. 

William Davie, native of England, enlisted at 
Sandusky December 14, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 34, 
term three years. 

Henry W. Dakin, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sharon 
December 12, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; age 21, term three 
years. 

George Downing, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Sandusky October 21, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 23, term 
three years. 

Christian Engle, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky 
December 12, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 15, term three 
years. 

Lewis A. Ervine, deserted February 7, 1862, at Camp 
Chase. 

Erastus Erskine, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence 
October 23, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 22, term three 
years. 

W. M. McEnally, enlisted at Sandusky October 23, 
1861, by J. Fernald; age 23, term three years; wounded 
at the battle of Shiloh April 6, 1 862. 

Christopher Edwards, native of New York, enlisted at 
Sandusky October 26, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 28, term 
three years. 

Henry Ewing, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence 
October 20, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 21, term three 
years. 

Henry French, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence 
October 25, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 21, term three 
years. 

Eugene Franklin, deserted December 12, 1 862, at 
Camp Chase. 

Hiram B. French, native of Maine, enlisted at 
Florence, October 23, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 44, term 
three years; missing since the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 
1862. 

Edward B. Fuller, deserted February 1, 1862, Camp 
Chase. 

Elihu Fernald, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky 
November 8, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 19, term three 
years. 

Norman Foster, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence 
November 11, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 27, term three 
years, 

John Flanigan, native of Ireland, enlisted at Florence 
November 19, 1861, by J. H. Pover; age 35, term three 
years; missing since the battle of Shiloh, April 6 and 7, 
1862. 

Wickeler Groves, deserted February 5, 1862, Camp 
Chase. 

Edward Gibbs, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky 
December 2, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 18, term three 
years. 

Joshua Geiger, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Liverpool November 18, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; term 
three years; deserted from camp before Corinth, 
Tennessee, and died near Corinth, Tennessee. 



Charles Harm, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence 
November 20, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 22, term three 
years. 

John Harm, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence 
November 7, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 21, term three 
years; wounded at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1 862. 

Alfred Harm, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence 
November 7, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 42, term three 
years; died at Moscow, Tennessee, July 14, 1862; cause 
fever. 

Solomon Hower, deserted February 7, 1862, Camp 
Chase. 

Charles Harley, native of England, enlisted at 
Florence November 7, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; term three 
years. 

James Hagely, deserted January 20, 1862, Camp 
Chase. 

Wesley Howard, native of Ohio, enlisted at Liverpool 
November 27, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; term three years; 
deserted April 8, 1862, Shiloh, Tennessee. 

W. B. Halsey, native of New York, enlisted at Liv- 
erpool November 27, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; age 32, term 
three years. 

Francis Higgens, discharged February 1, 1862, 
Columbus, for disability. 

Charles Hawes, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky 
October 27, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 23, term three 
years. 

Joseph Imhof, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Sandusky November 8, 1861, by J. Fernald; term three 
years; discharged at Columbus, by order of Captain A. 
B. Dod; cause disability. 

John Jefferson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence 
November 11, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 22, term three 
years; discharged at Columbus September 11, 1862, by 
order of Captain A. B. Dod; cause disability. 

David H. Jones, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky 
October 26, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 20, term three 
years; discharged from Memphis, Tennessee, by order of 
Captain A. P. Dod, August 18, 1862; cause disability. 

Charles Kromb, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Sandusky October 27, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 21, term 
three years. 

Frantz Kramer, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Sandusky January 10, 1862, by J. Fernald; age 43, term 
three years; wounded at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 
1862. 

John Ladd, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky 
October 20, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 27, term three 
years. 

Andrew Laughlin, deserted February 7, 1862, Camp 
Chase. 

George Lewis, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence, 
November 20, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 22, term three 
years. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



317 



Comfort Lewis, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence 
November 4, 1861, by J. H. Pover; age 18, term three 
years; discharged at Columbus by order of Captain A. B. 
Dod; cause disability. 

Charles Lanson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence, 
November 22, 1861, by J. H. Payer; age 22, term three 
years; wounded at battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862; died 
on board hospital boat April 28, 1862, of wounds 
received at the battle of Shiloh. 

Dennis Lawler, native of Ireland, enlisted at 
Sandusky, December 23, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 34, 
term three years. 

Rufus W. Lawrence, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Florence, October 26, 1862, by J. H. Poyer; age 18, term 
three years; wounded at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 
1862. 

Joseph L. Lumer, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence, 
October 21, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 26, term three 
years. 

Dennis Mack, native of Ireland, enlisted at Sandusky, 
October 27, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 48, term three 
years; discharged at Memphis, Tennessee, September 
14, 1 862, by order of Surgeon John B. Rice; cause 
disability. 

Augustus Mulchy, native of New York, enlisted at 
Sandusky, October 27, 1861, by J. Fernald; ago 18, term 
three years, wounded at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 
1862. 

Michael McCarty, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Sandusky, November 17, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 18, 
term three years; discharged at Columbus, by order of 
Captain A. B. Dod; cause disability. 

Phillip Moss, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Sandusky, November 23, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 22, 
term three years. 

John Melery, deserted January 18, 1862, Camp Chase. 

Robert Meek, native of Ohio, enlisted at Copley, 
December 31, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; age 18, term three 
years; discharged at Columbus July 24, 1862, by order 
of Captain A. B. Dod; cause disability. 

George Metcalf, deserted December 20, 1862, Camp 
Chase. 

Calvin Porter, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sharon, 
December 28, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; age 34, term three 
years. 

James Porter, deserted February 7, 1862, Camp Chase. 

William Perry, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky, 
December 25, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 18, term three 
years; deserted June 3, 1862, general hospital. 

John Plumb, discharged at Columbus July 24, 1862, 
by order of Captain A. B. Dod; cause disability. 

William L. Robertson, discharged February 1, 1862, 
Columbus, for disability. 

Jacob Rath, deserted November 25, 1863, Liverpool, 
Ohio. 



Albert Rice, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky, 
November 23, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 19, term three 
years. 

Augustus Rice, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky, 
January 4, 1 862, by J. Fernald; age 18, term three years. 

George W. Reed, deserted February 7, Camp Chase. 

William Rood, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence, 
December 7, 1861, by J. FL Poyer; age 22, term three 
years; died at Monterey, Tennessee, June 8, 1862, of 
typhoid fever. 

J. Y. Right, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky, 
December 5, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 21, term three 
years. 

George Sutherland, native of New York, enlisted at 
Florence, October 23, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 43, tern 
three years. 

James M. Smith, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky, 
October 26, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 28, term three 
years; discharged at Memphis, Tennessee, by order of 
Colonel R. P. Buckland, August 18, 1862; cause 
disability. 

John C. Stewart, deserted December 1, 1862, at Camp 
Chase. 

Frederick Shafer, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Sandusky, October 26, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 26, term 
three years; wounded at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 
1862. 

William Seitt, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Sandusky, October 31, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 34, term 
three years. 

Morris Sweet, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky, 
December 10, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 18, term three 
years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, by order of 
Captain A. B. Dod, cause disability. 

Ephraim Squire, discharged January 25, 1 862, at 
Columbus, Ohio, for disability. 

Henry Sprow, native of Germany, enlisted at Sandusky, 
December 9, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 19, term three 
years. 

John Shoddock, enlisted at Sandusky, December 25, 
1861, by J. Fernald; age 30, term three years. Merrill 
Sexton, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence, November 
7, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 24, term three years; 
wounded at the battle of Shiloh April 6, 1862. 

Jonas Stanbury, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky, 
November 4, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 20, term three 
years. 

W. P. Sheik, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence, 
October 23, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 22, tern three 
years. 

George Taylor, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Florence, October 23, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 18, term 
three years. 

John D. Turner, native of Ohio, enlisted at Sandusky, 
November 23, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 18, term three 
years. 



318 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Michael Tashner, native of Hungary, enlisted at 
Sandusky, December 4, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 18, 
term three years; promoted to principal musician; died 
in hospital train, near Lunieda, Kentucky, of wounds 
received December 6, 1864; buried from Clay United 
States hospital, Louisville, Kentucky. 

Jonathan Taylor, enlisted at Sandusky, December 25, 
1861, by J. Fernald; term three dears; wounded at the 
battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862. 

Dewitt C. Vance, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Sandusky, December 4, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 36, 
term three years; wounded in the thigh at the battle of 
Guntown, Mississippi, June 10, 1864, captured, and died 
in a rebel prison. 

William M. Walker, native of Tennessee, enlisted at 
Sandusky, December 16, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 37, 
term three years; wounded at the battle of Shiloh, April 
6, 1862. 

Eri Warner, native of Ohio, enlisted at Liverpool, 
January 11, 1862, by W. C. Bidle; age 48, term three 
years. 

John Warner, native of Ohio, enlisted at Liverpool, 
December 2, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; age 19, term three 
years. 

Henry Will, native of Germany, enlisted at Sandusky, 
October 27, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 21, term three 
years; died April 10, 1862, on board boat on the 
Tennessee River, of wounds received at the battle of 
Shiloh, April 6, 1862. 

Harrison Warner, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Sandusky, December 26, 1861, by J. Fernald; age 20, 
term three years; died at Camp Shiloh, Tennessee, April 
11, 1862, of diarrhea. 

John R. Akens, native of Ohio, enlisted at Florence, 
October 25, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 19; term three 
years; died on board boat near Madison, Indiana, of 
typhoid fever, May 14, 1862. 

Benjamin Thurlby, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Florence, October 29, 1861, by J. H. Poyer; age 18, term 
three years; killed at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862. 

Lucian Abel, died January 2, 1862, at Camp Number 
Five, before Corinth, of disease. 

John Buchman, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont, November 25, 1861, by A. Young; age 22, 
term three years; appointed second sergeant January 10, 
1862; killed during reconnaissance, December 6, 1864, 
on Franklin Pike, Nashville, Tennessee. 

John Burger, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont 
November 20, 1861, by A. Young; age 45, term three 
years. 

Christian Benedict, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont December 4, 1861, by A. Young; age 32, term 
three years. 

Bernard Brost, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont 
December 15, 1861, by A. Young; age 26, term three 
years; deserted June 14, 1862, Moscow, Tennessee. 

Jackson Benter, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 



Fremont October 29, 1861, by A. Young; term three 
years; wounded at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1 862. 

Michael Bauman, native of Germany, enlisted at York 
December 4, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; term three years; 
discharged August 1, 1862, at Columbus, for disability. 

John Buider, enlisted at Fremont November 15, 1861, 
by A. Young; term three years; deserted January 16, 
1862, Fremont. 

Simon Cable, enlisted at Fremont November 23, 1861, 
by A. Young; term three years. 

Lorenzo Dick, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont October 15, 1861, by A. Young; age 22, term 
three years; appointed first sergeant January 10, 1862; 
promoted to second lieutenant April 6, 1862; died of 
consumption June 20, 1862. 

Rudolph Dilger, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Sandusky December 28, 1861, by A. Young; age 37, 
term three years; died October 12, 1862, at Memphis, 
Tennessee, of disease. 

Louis Durr, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont 
November 1, 1861, by A. Young; age 35, term three 
years; died September 7, 1862, at Memphis, Tennessee, 
of disease. 

Henry Dickman, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Sandusky January 5, 1862, by A. Young; age 21, term 
three years; died June 23, 1862, at 'Lafayette, 
Tennessee, of disease. 

Martin Engle, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont 
January 16, 1 862, by A. Young; age 22, term three 
years; killed at siege of Vicksburg. 

John Engle, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont 
November 21, 1861, by A. Young; age 18, term three 
years. 

Clemans Eckhorn, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont December 14, 1861, by A. Young; term three 
years. 

Gotthelf Eberhard, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Akron December 31, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; term three 
years. 

Jacob Pessler, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Fremont October 28, 1861, by A. Young; age 29, term 
three years; died in Andersonville prison 1864. 

John Fileman, native of Germany, enlisted December 
28, by A. Young; age 28, term three years. 

Philip Fertig, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont 
October 7, 1861, by A. Young; age 24, term three years; 
appointed fourth sergeant January 10, 1862. 

Frederick Frank, native of Liverpool, enlisted at 
Liverpool November 25, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; term 
three years; discharged September 3, 1862, at Columbus, 
because of wound received at Shiloh. 

George Frideritzi, native of France, enlisted at 
Fremont October 25, 1861, by A. Young; age 35, term 
three years; died April 28, 1862, at Shiloh, Tennessee, 
of disease; wounded at Shiloh in April. 

Gustavus A. Gessner, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont December 9, 1861, by A. Young; term 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



319 



three years; appointed fourth sergeant January in, 1862; 
appointed third sergeant April 6, 1862. 

George Grumbauer, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Wadsworth December 20, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; term 
three years. 

Joseph Griner, deserted January 6, 1862, Fremont. 
John Glohr, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont 
October 14, 1 861, by A. Young; age 44, term three 
years; died May 10, 1862, at Shiloh, Tennessee, of 
wounds received at Shiloh. 

John Gerstenberger, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Medina November 16, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; age 28, 
term three years; appointed fifth sergeant January 10, 
1862; appointed fourth sergeant April 6, 1862. 

Christopher Gardner, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont November 25, 1861, by A. Young; age 33, term 
three years. 

Simon Gieble, discharged April 2, 1862, at Shiloh, 
Tennessee, for disability. 

William Holderman, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont December 7, 1861, by A. Young; age 18, term 
three years; died June 17, 1861, at Paducah, Kentucky, 
of disease. 

George Holderman, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont October 23, 1861, by A. Young; age 20, term 
three years; discharged October 11, 1862, at Columbus, 
Ohio, for disability. 

George Hobart, deserted December 15, 1862, at 
Fremont, Ohio. 

Fridolin Haid, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Sandusky December 30, 1861, by A. Young; age 44, 
term three years; discharged September 14, 1862, at 
Memphis, Tennessee, for disability. 

Charles Hobart, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Columbus January 8, 1862, by Able Dod; age 23, term 
three years. 

Nichlaus Huber, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont October 30, 1861, by A. Young; term three 
years; killed by a comrade at Memphis, Tennessee, 
November 13, 1862. 

George Hubbard, enlisted at Sandusky January 5, 
1862, by A. Young; term three years. 

Christian Hauer, enlisted at Sandusky January 8, 

1861, by A. Young; term three years; deserted January 

13, 1862, at Fremont, Ohio. 

Lucas Haas, enlisted at Fremont November 20, 1861, 
by A. Young; term three years; discharged April 2, 

1862, at Shiloh, Tennessee, for disability. 

John Carley, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont 
October 30, 1861, by A. Young; term three years. 

Andrew Kline, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont 
October 24, 1861, by A. Young; term three years. 

Frederick Lamnus, enlisted, at Sandusky November 

14, 1 861, by A. Young; term three years; deserted 
January 25, 1862, at Fremont, Ohio. 

Lewis Lehr, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont 
November 16, 1861, by A. Young; term three 



years; died May 9, 1862, in general hospital, of disease. 

Jacob Lang, native of Germany, enlisted at Sandusky 
December 28, 1861, by A. Young; age 28, term three 
years; appointed sergeant January 10, 1862; died of 
wounds received May 20, 1863. 

Abel Lucan, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont 
October 19, 1861, by A. Young; term three years. 

Rochus Link, native of Germany, enlisted at Sandusky 
December 14, 1861, by A. Young, age 18, term three 
years. 

Francis Mittler, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Sandusky November 15, 1861, by A. Young; age 21, 
term three years; deserted June 11, 1862, at Moscow, 
Tennessee. 

Frederick Mittler, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Sandusky November 16, 1861, by A. Young; age 18, 
term three years; murdered Nichlaus Huber November 
13,1 862; was arrested, escaped from prison and 
deserted. 

Henry Markwalder, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont January 11, 1861, by A. Young; age 27, term 
three years; killed accidentally by discharge of his gun, 
July 25, 1862, near Memphis, Tennessee. 

Lorenzo Miller, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Republic November 25, 1861, by Egbert; age 36, term 
three years. 

John Mailed, native of Ohio, enlisted at Liverpool 
November 25, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; age 18, term three 
years. 

Jacob Mohler, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont 
November 16, 1861, by A. Young; term three years. 

Fred. Moerder, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont November 20, 1861, by A. Young; term three 
years. 

George Moll, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont 
December 7, 1861, by A. Young; age 29, term three 
years; killed at the battle of Shiloh April 6, 1 862. 

Adam Michal, enlisted at Fremont November 1, 1861, 
by A. Young; term three years; deserted January 24, 
1862, at Fremont. 

Andrew Mollock, enlisted at Liverpool November 30, 
1861, by W. C. Bidle; term three years; discharged April 
2, 1862, at Shiloh, Tennessee, for disability. 

Jacob Naas, native of France, enlisted at Fremont 
October 30, 1 861, by A. Young; age 35, term three 
years; appointed first corporal January 10, 1862: 
deserted August 10, 1862, at Memphis, Tennessee. 

Lewis Mouth, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont 
October 28, 1861, by A. Young; age 40, term three 
years. 

John Momany deserted December 17, 1862, at 
Fremont. 

Sebastian Nice, native of France, enlisted at Fremont 
October 14, 1861, by A. Young; age 18, term 



320 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



three years; died July 27, 1862, at Memphis, Tennessee, 
of disease. 

Michael Nice, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont 
October 14, 1 861, by A. Young; age 19, term three 
years. 

Anthony Ottne, native of Germany, enlisted October 
26, 1861, by A. Young; age 21, term three years. 

Joseph Orth, native of France, enlisted October 26, 

1 861, by A. Young; age 21, term three years. John 
Oblinger, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont 
December 2, 1861, by A. Young; age 29, term three 
years; died of wounds received at Shiloh May 14, 1862. 

Christian Ostermerir enlisted at Fremont December 
25. 1 861, by A. Young; term three years; deserted 
January 16, 1862, at Fremont. 

John Rertzenger deserted December 9, 1861, Fremont. 

Louis Rapp, native of Germany, enlisted at Harrisville 
December 30, 1861, by W. C. Bidle, age 41, term three 
years; appointed eighth corporal January 10, 1862; 
discharged September 16, 1862, Columbus, for 
disability. 

Charles Ruemele, enlisted at Fremont, January 10, 

1862, by A. Young; term three years; deserted February 
2, 1862, Camp Chase. 

John Row, enlisted at Sandusky, January 6, 1862, by 
A. Young; term three years; deserted December 
14, 1862, Fremont. 

William Roos, enlisted at Sandusky, January 5, 1862, 
by A. Young; term three years. 

John Ritz, native of Germany, enlisted at Liverpool, 
December, 1 86 1 , by A. Young; age 32, term three years. 

Louis Ran, native of Germany, enlisted at Sandusky, 
December 28, 1861, by A. Young; age 18, term three 
years. 

Joseph Remele, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
November 21, 1861, by A. Young; age 18, term three 
years. 

Joseph Seiffert, native of France, enlisted at Fremont, 
October 23, 1861, by A. Young; age 24, term three 
years; appointed second sergeant January 10, 1862; 
appointed first sergeant April 6, 1862. 

Jacob Shreiber, native of Bavaria, enlisted at Fremont, 
October 26, 1 861, by A. Young; age 29, term three 
years; appointed fifth sergeant April 6, 1862. 

Charles Smith, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont, October 13, 1861, by A. Young; age 21, term 
three years; deserted June 14, 1862, Moscow, 
Tennessee. 

Andrew Spaith, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont, December 14, 1861, by A. Young; age 20, 
term three years. 

Martin Swartzen, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont, November z, 1861, by A. Young; age 32, term 
three years. 

Nicholas Stimert, native of Germany, enlisted at 



Medina, December 10, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; age 40, 
term three years; discharged November 15, 1862, at 
Memphis, Tennessee, for disability. 

Frederick Shuler, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont, October 15, 1861, by A. Young; term three 
years; appointed fifth sergeant January 10, 1862; died at 
Macon rebel prison, date unknown. 

Jacob Stirtz, native of Germany, enlisted at Fremont, 
December 15, 1861, by A. Young; age 49, term three 
years; died November 15, 1862, in Southern hospital, of 
wounds received at the battle of Shiloh. 

Henry Stoll, native of Ohio, enlisted at S andusky, 
December 30, 1861, by A. Young; age 21, term three 
years. 

Jacob Stoll, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
November 15, 1861, by A. Young; age 24, term three 
years; died April 30, in general hospital, of disease. 

John Shatymann, enlisted at Fremont, October 31, 

1 861, by A. Young; term three years; discharged 
December 20, 1 861, at Fremont, Ohio, by probate judge. 

Charles Smith, enlisted at Sandusky, January 6, 1862, 
by A. Young; term three years; deserted December 15, 

1862, at Fremont, Ohio. 

Andrew Shoemaker, enlisted at Sandusky, December 
29, 1861, by A. Young; term three years; deserted 
February 9, 1862, at Camp Chase, Ohio. 

George Unkart, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont, October 17, 1861, by A. Young; age 19, term 
three years. 

John Urich, native of Germany, enlisted November 
25, 1 862, by A. Young; age 3 1 , term three years; 
wounded at Vicksburg May 19, 1863. 

Andrew Unkel, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Sandusky November 17, 1861, by A. Young; term three 
years; appointed third sergeant January 10, 1862; 
appointed first sergeant April 6, 1862. 

John S. Welch, native of France, enlisted at Fremont 
November 7, 1861, by A. Young; age 21, term three 
years. 

Frederick Werner, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont December 14, 1861, by A. Young; age 21, term 
three years. 

Markus Wolfe, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont November to, 1861, by A. Young; age 21, term 
three years. 

M. Wegstine, native of Germany; enlisted at Fremont 
October 14, 1861, by A. Young; age 43, term three 
years; killed at battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862, 

Joseph Willi, native of Germany, enlisted at Sandusky 
December 9, 1861, by A. Young; age 21, term three 
years. 

G. E. Young, native of France, enlisted at Columbus 
February 7, 1862, by A. Dod; age 37, term three years; 
deserted May 22, 1862, at Camp No. 5, before Corinth, 
Tennessee. 

George Yeaerger, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont, October 16, 1861, by A. Young; age 41, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



321 



term three years; died April to, 1862, in general hospital 
of disease. 

Joseph Youngel, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont November 6, 1861, by A. Young; age 25, term 
three years; died of wounds received at Shiloh, 
Tennessee, in hospital at Cincinnati. 

George Vangauzte, enlisted at Fremont October 14, 
1861, by A. Young; term three years; deserted October 
17, 1862, at Fremont. 

Anthony Young, native of France, enlisted at 
Columbus October 12, 1861, by John Eddie; age 34, 
term three years. 

Lucian Greihch, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont December 14, 1861, by A. Young; age 34, term 
three years. 

Martin Kilian, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Sandusky December 30, 1861, by A. Young; age 28, 
term three years. 

Leonard Keller, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Fremont November 20, 1861, by A. Young; age 36, term 
three years. 

Louis Snyder, deserted January 14, 1862, Memphis, 
Tennessee. 

John Denning, drafted man, term nine months. John 

Hine, drafted man, term nine months. Frederick 

Hogrif, drafted man, term nine months. Julius Luders, 

drafted man, term nine months. George Stolts, drafted 

man, term nine months. Henry Schloman, drafted 

man, term nine months. George Gemaka, drafted man, 

term nine months. George Kiseling, drafted man, term 

nine months. Wisefield S. Ache, native of 

Pennsylvania, enlisted 
at Greensburg December 16, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 19, 
term three years. 

Otis At well, native of New York, enlisted at 
Greensburg December 30, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 34, 
term three years; discharged at Memphis, Tennessee, 
August 13, 1862, on surgeon's certificate of disability. 

Samuel Aldstadt, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg October 15, 1862, by J. Fickes; age 23, term 
three years. 

Samuel Boar, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg October 15, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 24, term 
three years. 

Norman Brean, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg October 29, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 19, term 
three years. 

William Bates, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburgh November 5, 1861, by J. Fikes; age 18, 
term three years. 

Daniel Breneman, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg December 5, 11861, by J. Fickes; age 23, 
term three years. 

John Berile, native of France, enlisted at Greensburg 
December 19, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 40, term three 
years; died on the march between Corinth, Mississippi, 
and Grand Junction, June 15, 1862. 

F. Bowers, native of Ohio, enlisted at Greenburg, 



December 20, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 20, term three 
years. 

Joel Bungeret, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg, October 15, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 31, 
term three years. 

Jeremiah Baker, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg January 3, 1862, by J. Fickes; age 18, term 
three years. 

Jefferson Baker, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg December 31, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 20, 
term three years. 

Jackson Brawn, native of Ohio, enlisted at Greensburg 
January 2, 1862, by J. Fickes; age 18, term three years; 
deserted. 

Albert Bates, native of Ohio, enlisted at Greensburg 
October 11,1 862, by J. Fickes; age 19, term three years. 

Abel H. Campbell, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg November 1, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 18, 
term three years. 

Levi Clinge, native of Ohio, enlisted at Greensburg 
November 1, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 18, term three 
years. 

Charles Cad well, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg November 1, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 20, 
term three years. 

Hobart Cole, native of Massachusetts, enlisted at 
Liverpool December 9, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 36, term 
three years. 

William Donnell, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg October 30, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 18, term 
three years. 

Christian Dater, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Greensburg November 11, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 19, 
term three years. 

Jerry W. Doubt, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg December 31, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 19, 
term three years. 

Uriah A. Dunkes, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg December 31, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 27, 
term three years. 

Henry Dickson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Columbus 
January 24, 1862, by A. B. Dod; age 18, term three 
years; died at Paducah, Kentucky, April 2, 1862, of 
fever. 

James Donnel, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg October 22, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 32, term 
three years. 

Martin Eckhart, native of New York, enlisted at 
Greensburg November 21, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 22, 
term three years; discharged at Paducah, Kentucky, 
March 22, 1862, by order of Surgeon John B. Rice, 
cause disability. 

Abraham Eldridge, enlisted at Greensburg November 
9, 1861, by J. Fickes; term three years. Henry Friar, 
enlisted at Greensburg October 16, 1861, by J. Fickes; 
age 18, term three years; discharged at Columbus by 
order of Secretary of War July 12, 1862, cause 
disability. 



322 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Jacob Fickes, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Columbus October 11, 1861, by J. R. Eddie; age S9, 

term three years. 

William C. Fancey, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg October 15, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 23, term 
three years; appointed eighth corporal January 10, 1862; 
died at Cincinnati May 14, 1862, of typhoid fever. 

Jesarah Frantz, enlisted at Greensburg December 

21, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 18, term three years. Thomas 
Flinn, enlisted at Groton December 9, 1861, by W. C. 
Bidle; age 34, term three years. Alexander Games, 
native of Ohio, enlisted at Greensburg October 15, 1861, 
by J. Fickes; age 18, term three years; died at general 
hospital October 

23, 1862, of disease. 

William Graves, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg November 21, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 21, 
term three years. 

Martin V. Garn, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg November 24, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 

22, term three years; discharged at Columbus August 5, 
1862, for disability. 

William Gilger, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg, October 21, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 21, 
term three years; died at Camp Shiloh, May 3, 1862, of 
typhoid fever. 

Jackson Gossard, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg, February 12, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 22, 
term three years. 

D. L. Goodrich, native of Connecticut, enlisted at 
Medina, November 21, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; age 

24, term three years; appointed first sergeant, January 
10, 1862. 

Henry K. Hulbert, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg, October 15, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 18, 
term three years. 

John Holland, native of Ohio, enlisted at Greensburg, 
October 15, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 18, term three years; 
died at Cincinnati, April 12, 1862, of typhoid fever. 

Isaiah Huff, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg, December 9, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 43, 
term three years; discharged at Columbus, July 21, 
1 862, by order of the Secretary of War, cause disability. 

John W. Hoils, native of Ohio, enlisted at Greensburg, 
November 13, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 38, term three 
years. 

Minniah Hyatt, enlisted at Harrisville, December 18, 
1 861, by W. C. Bidle; age 42, term three years. 

William A. Hill, jr., native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg, October 15, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 21, 
term three years; appointed second sergeant January 10, 
1862; discharged at Memphis, Tennessee, August 13, 
1862, on surgeon's certificate of disability. 

Milton Hazzer, native of Ohio, enlisted at Greensburg, 
October 21, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 21, term three years; 
appointed fifth sergeant, January 10, 1862; 



reduced to ranks September 1, 1862; deserted at 
Moscow, January 9, 1863. 

Solomon B. Heberling, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg, October 21, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 21, 
term three years; appointed seventh corporal January 10, 
1862; discharged at Columbus July 20, 1862, by order of 
the Secretary of War; cause disability. 

Henry Jokes, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg November 23, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 35, 
term three years; appointed first corporal January 10, 
1862. 

William Koutz, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg, November 23, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 31, 
term three years; died. 

Edward Kermerling, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg, October 15, 1861, by J. Fickes; aged 18, 
term three years. 

John Kemmerling, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg, October 10, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 23, 
term three years; appointed sixth corporal January 10, 
1862; discharged at Indianapolis September 10, 1862, 
for disability. 

John T. Koontz, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg, November 23, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 25, 
term three years; appointed fourth corporal January 10, 
1862; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, July 11, 1862, by 
order of A. B. Dod; cause disability. 

Christian Monarchy, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Greensburg, October 12, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 44, 
term three years; died at Fremont, Ohio, of fever. 

John Moses, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg, October 16, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 18, 
term three years. 

Jacob Martyr, native of Ohio, enlisted at Greensburg, 
October 29, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 22, term three years. 

Eli Metcalf, native of Ohio, enlisted at Greensburg, 
December 28, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 18, term three 
years; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, October 5, 1862, 
for disability. 

Louis Monroe, native of New York, enlisted at 
Medina, January 8, 1862, by W. C. Bidle; age 36, term 
three years. 

James Mansfield, native of Ohio, enlisted at Chip- 
pewa, January 8, 1862, by W. C. Bidle; age 18, term 
three years; arrested for murdering a negro woman in 
June, 1864; escaped and deserted to enemy. 

Ephraim Metcalf, native of Massachusetts, enlisted at 
Greensburg, October 21, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 20, 
term three years; appointed second corporal January 10, 
1862; discharged at Columbus, Ohio, September 12, 
1862, by order of A. B. Dod; cause wounded received at 
the battle of Shiloh April 6 and 7, 1862. 

Emanuel Plains, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg, November 14, 1861, by J. Fickes; 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



323 



age 21, term three years; wounded at the battle of Shiloh 
April 6, 1862; died April 7, 1862. 

Franklin Plants, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg November 20, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 18, 
term three years. 

James Park, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted 
December 15, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; age 52, term three 
years; discharged at Columbus September 24, 1862, for 
disability. 

A. B. Putman, native of Ohio, enlisted at Greensburg 
October 12, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 23, term three years; 
appointed fourth sergeant January 10, 1862; promoted to 
second lieutenant September 1, 1862: date of 
commission September 16, 1862. 

William Ream, native of Ohio, enlisted at Greensburg, 
October 19, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 21, term three years. 

Samuel Raush, native of Ohio, enlisted at Greensburg, 
October 15, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 19, term years. 

Charles Robinson, enlisted at Greensburg, October 15, 
1861, by J. Fisher; age 22, term three years. John C. 
Rhodes, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at Greensburg 
January 4, 1862, by J. Fickes; age 44, term three years. 

John M. Reinhart, enlisted at Greensburg November 
16, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 23, term three years; died at 
Memphis. 

Joseph Shell, enlisted at Greensburg October 25, 
1861, by J. Fickes; age 21, term three years. 

Daniel D. Snyder, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg, November 16, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 27, 
term three years: 

Edwin Smus, native of Ohio, enlisted at Greensburg, 
November 1, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 22, term three 
years. 

William Scott, native of Ohio, enlisted at Greensburg 
October 21, 1861, by J. Fisher; age 36, term three years. 
Godfrey Stahl, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg November 15, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 44, 
term three years; died in camp near Corinth, Mississippi, 
May 29, 1862. 

John Stahl, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg October 31, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 26, term 
three years. 

Joseph Smith, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg November 25, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 33, 
term three years; discharged at Louisville, Kentucky, 
June 28, 1862, by order of Major Granger, for disability 
caused by wounds received at the battle of Shiloh, 
'Tennessee, April 6 and 7, 1862. 

George Shafer, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Homer December 23, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; age 50, term 
three years. 

Charles D. Trego, enlisted at Greensburg, November 
14, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 31, term three years. 

Henry Unger, native of Ohio, enlisted at Greens- 



burg December 30, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 21, term 
three years; died at Fremont March 7, 1862, of fever. 
Henry Spangler, native of Germany, enlisted at Homer 
January 14, 1862, by W. C. Bidle; age 42, term three 
years; discharged at Paducah, March 22, 1862, by order 
of Surgeon John B. Rice, for disability. 

Andrew Wanders, enlisted at Greensburg October 22, 
1861, by J. Fickes; age 28, term three years; killed at the 
battle of Shiloh April 6, 1862. 

Jacob Whitmore, enlisted at Greensburg November 22, 
1 86 1 , by J. Fickes; age 25, term three years. John 
Whitmore, enlisted at Greensburg October 22, 1861, by 
J. Fickes; age 22, term three years. 

Charles Woodrough, enlisted at Greensburg November 
11, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 21, term three years. 

Chauncey Walters, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Greensburg November 13, 1861, by J. Fisher; age 19, 
tern three years. 

Cyrus F. Wing, enlisted at Greensburg, November 18, 
1861, by J. Fickes; age 21, term three years; mortally 
wounded at the battle of Spanish Fort, near Mobile, in 
April, 1865. 

Michael Welch, enlisted at Greensburg December 17, 
1 861, by J. Fickes; age 40, term three years. Joel 
Woodruff, enlisted at Paducah February 14, 1862, by J. 
Fickes; age 19, term three years; discharged at 
Columbus, Ohio, June 28, 1862, for disability. 

Josiah Fairbanks, native of Massachusetts, enlisted at 
Greensburg October 31, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 31, term 
three years; appointed third sergeant January 10, 1862; 
appointed first sergeant September 1, 1862. 

John O'Brian, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Greensburg October 25, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 28, term 
three years; appointed third sergeant January 10, 1862. 

Jacob Wagner, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Greensburg October 26, 1861, by J. Fickes; age 30, term 
three years; appointed fifth corporal January 10, 1862; 
appointed fifth sergeant September 1, 1862. 

Andrew Baker, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont 
August 13, 1862, by A. B. Putman; age 18, term three 
years. 

Solomon Baker, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont 
August 13, 1862, by A. B. Putman; age 21, term three 
years. 

Samuel Frazier, native of New Jersey, enlisted at 
Fremont August 30, 1862, by A. B. Putman; age 31, 
term three years. 

Solomon J. Munsell, native of New York, enlisted at 
Fremont August 29, 1862, by A. B. Putman; age 30, 
term three years. 

Jacob Putman, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont 
August 28, 1862, by A. B. Putman; age 18, term three 
years; killed in the assault on Vicksburg May 19, 1863. 



324 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Hiram Philipps, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont, 
August 29, 1862, by A. B. Putman, age 21, term three 
years. 

John Riley, native of England, enlisted at Fremont 
September 13, 1862, by A, B. Putman; age 18, term 
three years. 

Charles Riegler, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont 
September 6, 1862, by A. B. Putman; age 24, term three 
years. 

David F. Shoe, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont 
August 28, 1862, by A. B. Putman; age 22, term three 
years. 

Joseph Strause, native of Ohio, enlisted at Fremont 
August 30, 1862, by A. B. Putman; age 18, tern three 
years. 

Louis Albershazdt, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Cincinnati December 11, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 
18, term three years. 

Michael Bardin, native of Ireland, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, December 19, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; 
age 29, term three years; appointed fourth sergeant April 
30, 1862. 

Edwin R. Beach, native of Ohio, enlisted at Medina 
November 4, 1861, by W. C. Bidle; age 23, term three 
years; appointed first sergeant February 12, 1862. 

Henry Bookshon, native of Kentucky, enlisted at 
Cincinnati December 14, 1861, by M. T. Williamson; 
age 19, term three years; deserted November 26, 1862, 
at Memphis, Tennessee. 

William Baumgartner, native of Kentucky, enlisted at 
Cincinnati December 5, 1861, by M. T. Williamson; age 
16, term three years; murdered by rebel prison guard for 
picking up a small piece of wood for fuel on entering the 
rebel stockade prison at Millen, Georgia, in September 
or October, 1864. 

Michael Byrns, native of Ireland, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati November 20, 1861, by M. T. Williamson; age 
23, term three years. 

Henry Cook, native of Germany, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati, by L. M. Thompson; age 45, term three years; 
became insane and wandered away. 

Edward Costello, enlisted at Cincinnati December 9, 
1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 17, term three years; 
died in hospital prison at Camp Chase. 

John Carlisle, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cincinnati 
December 9, 1861, by W. H. Skarrett; age 44, term three 
years. 

George W. Cox, native of Ohio, enlisted at Miami 
December 25, 1861, by W. H. Skarrett; age 19, term 
three years. 

Jackson Cox enlisted at Miami December 25, 1861, by 
W. H. Skarrett; age 17, term three years. Thomas 
Cavanaugh, native of Ireland, enlisted at Cincinnati 
January 9, 1862, by M. T. Williamson; age 32, term 
three years. 

Andrew H. Crawford, native of Kentucky, age 45, 
term three years; discharged March 22, 1862, at Shiloh, 
Tennessee, for disability. 



William Dutton, native of Ireland, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati November 7, by W. H. Skarrett; age 37, term 
three years. 

John J. Dugans, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cincinnati 
January 25, 1862, by L. M. Thompson; age 37, term 
three years; discharged at Memphis, Tennessee, August 
20, 1862, by order of John B. Rice; cause disability, by 
account of wounds received at the battle of Shiloh, April 
6 and 7, 1862. 

Patrick Donahue, native of Ireland, enlisted at 
Cincinnati December 10, 1861, by M. T. Williamson; 
age 19, term three years. 

Peter Eagan, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cincinnati 
December 4, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 18, term 
three years. 

Thomas Erles, died June 9, 1862, at E vans vi lie, 
Indiana. 

William Emasing, native of Prussia, enlisted at 
Cincinnati November 29, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 
40, term three years; appointed sixth corporal January 
11, 1862. 

John B. Emerking, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati December 17, 1861, by W. H. Skarrett; age 20, 
term three years; appointed third corporal January 11, 
1862. 

Isaac Finley, enlisted at Chilli cothe November 5, 
1 861, by W. H. Skarrett; age 50, term three years; 
discharged January 14, 1862, at Camp Dennison, for 
disability. 

Patrick Faman, native of Ireland, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati Decembers, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 26, 
term three years; deserted July 21, 1862, at Memphis, 
Tennessee. 

Henry F. Frank, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Cincinnati December 6, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 
36, term three years. 

Jesse Flinn, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cincinnati 
December 12, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 53, term 
three years; discharged September 20, 1861, at 
Memphis, Tennessee, from wounds received at Shiloh. 

James Farrell, native of Ireland, enlisted at Cincinnati 
December 7, 1861, by L. M. Thompson, age 36, term 
three years. 

James Foley, native of Ireland, enlisted at Cincinnati, 
January 20, 1862, by M. T. Williamson; age 20, term 
three years. 

Leopert Goldsmith, enlisted at Cincinnati, Ohio, 
December 17, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 18, term 
three years; discharged December 20, 1861, by probate 
judge. 

Patrick Gallagher, native of Ireland, enlisted at 
Chillicothe, November 13, 1861, by W. H. Skarrett; age 
33, term three years; taken prisoner April 6, 1862, at the 
battle of Shiloh, Tennessee. 

John Graham, enlisted at Cincinnati, Ohio, December 
30, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 33, term three years; 
deserted January 9, 1862, Camp Dennison, Ohio. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



325 



Ephraim Grant, enlisted at Cincinnati, Ohio, January 
21, 1862, by L. M. Thompson; age 23, term three years; 
deserted January 30, 1862, Camp Dennison, Ohio. 

Peter F. Glardin, native of France, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, December 25, 1861, by L. M. 
Thompson; age 43, term three years. 

Samuel Green, native of Ireland, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, January 28, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; 
age 52, term three years; died at Moscow, Tennessee, 
July 16, 1862. 

John Harley, native of Ireland, enlisted at Cincinnati, 
Ohio, December 3, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 45, 
term three years; deserted at Cincinnati, February 19, 
1862. 

John Henry, enlisted at Cincinnati, Ohio, October 7, 
1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 21, term three years; 
deserted January 25. 1862, Camp Dennison, Ohio. 

Isaac B. Holman, native of Massachusetts, enlisted at 
Chillicothe, November 8, 1861, by W. H. Skarrett; age 
45, term three years; appointed seventh corporal January 
11, 1862; deserted April 14, 1862, Cincinnati. 

John Hinson, native of Ohio, enlisted at Chillicothe 
December to, 1861, by W. H. Skarrett; age 56, term 
three years. 

Patrick Handly, native of Ireland, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, December 12, 1861, by L. M. 
Thompson; age 24, term three years. 

Henry Hokkman, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Cincinnati December 13, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 
39, term three years. 

Thomas D. Homer, native of Pennsylvania, enlisted at 
Cincinnati December 12, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 
36, term three years; taken prisoner at Shiloh, April 6, 
1862. 

George W. Howell, native of Maryland, enlisted at 
Cincinnati November 30, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 
41, term three years. 

William Isdell, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cincinnati, 
January 16, 1862, by L. M. Thompson; age 18, term 
three years. 

Edward Ireland, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cincinnati 
November 4, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 

18, term three years. 

Alexander Inloes, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati October 17, 1861, by M. T. Williamson; age 

19, term three years. 

Charles Johnston, enlisted at Cincinnati November 6, 
1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 21, term three years, 
deserted January 15, 1862, Camp Dennison, Ohio. 

John W. Jeffries, native of New York, enlisted at 
Cincinnati December 7, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 
25, term three years; appointed fifth corporal January 
11, 1862; deserted August 4, 1862, Memphis, 
Tennessee. 

Daniel Lucas, native of Pennsylvania, age 23, 



Philip King, native of Germany, enlisted at Hamilton 
November 25, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 30, term 
three years. 

William Kelley, deserted February 19, 1862, Camp 
Chase, Ohio. 

John Miller, enlisted at Cincinnati November t9, 186t, 
by L. M. Thompson; age 29, term three years; deserted 
February 7, 1862, Camp Dennison, Ohio. 

Peter Michels, native of Prussia, enlisted at Wil- 
liamstown November 20, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 

17, term three years. 

Joseph Maier, native of Germany, enlisted at Power 
Station December 4, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 26, 
term three years. 

Joseph McMakin, enlisted at Cincinnati December to, 
1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 18, term three years; 
deserted January 11, 1862, Camp Dennison. 

Alexander Mathews, native of Louisiana, enlisted at 
Cincinnati December 12, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 

18, term three years. 

William McMillen, enlisted at Cincinnati December 7, 
1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 17, term three years; 
discharged at Memphis, Tennessee, August 20, 1862, by 
order of Surgeon John B. Rice, cause disability. 

James McNeal, native of Massachusetts, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, October 22, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 
18, term three years; discharged March 22, 1862, Shiloh, 
Tennessee, for disability. 

Henry McCabe, native of New York, enlisted at 
Cincinnati December 25, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 
18, term three years. 

Alleck Moore, native of England, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati November 26, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 49, 
term three years; taken prisoner April 6, 1862, at Shiloh, 
Tennessee. 

Edward McMahn, native of Ireland, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, November 16, 1861, by M. T. Williamson; 
age 25, term three years; appointed second sergeant 
April 30, 1862. 

Theodore Murray, deserted July 10, 1862, at Moscow, 
Tennessee. 

James Musser, native of Maryland, enlisted at 
Cincinnati December 8, 1861, by M. T. Williamson; age 
30, term three years; appointed eighth corporal April 30, 
1862; deserted August 4, 1862, at Memphis, Tennessee. 

Thomas Neville, native of Ireland, enlisted at 
Cincinnati November 13, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 
33, term three years. 

Patrick Norton, native of Ireland, enlisted at 
Chillicothe, November 26, 1861, by W. H. Skarrett; age 
43, term three years. 

John P. O'Connell, native of Massachusetts, enlisted 
at Cincinnati October 28, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 
25, term three years; discharged at Memphis, Tennessee, 
August 22, 1862, by order of Surgeon John B. Rice, 
cause disability. 
Dennis L. O'Connor, enlisted at Chillicothe, No- 



326 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



vember 16, 1861, by W. H. Skarrett; age 45, term three 
years; deserted February 7, 1862, at Camp Dennison, 
Ohio. 

John O'Connor, native of Lower Canada, enlisted at 
Chillicothe, December 9, 1861, by W. H. Skarrett; age 
16, term three years; discharged August 20, 1862, at 
Memphis, Tennessee, for disability. 

William O'Donnell, enlisted at Cincinnati, December 
26, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 26, term three years; 
deserted February 1, 1862, at Camp Dennison, Ohio. 

David O'Connor, killed at the battle of Shiloh, 
Tennessee, April 6, 1862. 

Jeremiah O'Donnell, native of Ireland, enlisted at 
Chillicothe, December 6, 1861, by W. H. Skarrett; age 
23, term three years. 

Dennis O'Connor, jr., native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, December 5, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 
18, term three years. 

John Ollendick, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cincinnati 
January 6, 1862, by M. T. Williamson; age 19, term 
three years. 

Orlando P. Pierce, native of New York, enlisted at 
Cincinnati by L. M. Thompson, October 29, 1862; age 
43, term three years. 

Henry Pulse, native of Indiana, enlisted at Miamitown 
January 3, 1862, by L. M. Thompson; age 18, term three 
years; discharged August 15, 1862, at Cincinnati, Ohio, 
for disability. 

William Payne, native of Indiana, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati November 25, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 21, 
term three years; discharged October 1862, at 
Louisville, Kentucky, for disability. 

James Palton, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cincinnati 
December 14, 1861, by M. T. Williamson; age 22, term 
three years; deserted November 26, 1862, at Memphis, 
Tennessee. 

William Rooten, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cincinnati 
December 5, [861, by L. M. Thompson; age 35, term 
three years; appointed first corporal December 13, 1861; 
died September 27, 1862, at Cincinnati, of disease. 

William F. Smith, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati October 24, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 24, 
term three years. 

Edward St. Helens, native of Ireland, enlisted at 
Cincinnati November 5, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 
41, term three years; discharged November 13, 1862, 
Memphis, Tennessee. 

Joseph G. Service, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati November 13, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 18, 
1861, term three years; sent to general hospital June 3, 
1862. 

John Shifflett, enlisted at Chillicothe December 6, 
1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 49 term three years; died 
at Camp Dennison, January 7, 1862. 

Alonzo Stewart, enlisted at Xenia December 16, 1861; 
discharged July 20, 1862, at Cincinnati, for disability. 



John Sullivan, native of Ireland, enlisted at Cincinnati 
December 31, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 45. 

Henrick Siefert, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Cincinnati January 4, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 31, 
term three years. 

George M. Schlundts, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Cincinnati October 14, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 
27, term three years. 

John Stapleton, native of Ireland, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati January 6, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 46, 
term three years. 

Henry Shefer enlisted at Cincinnati January 2, 1862, 
by L. M. Thompson; age 39, term three years. 

Isaac Stem, enlisted at Cincinnati, November 30, 
1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 17, term three years; 
discharged December 28, 1862, Cincinnati, probate 
judge. 

William H. Skarrett, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Cincinnati November 2, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 
26, term three years. 

James H. Stewart, native of Virginia, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, September 28, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; 
age 37, term three years; appointed first sergeant 
October 5, 1861. 

Michael Lerry, native of Ireland, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati November 29, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 29, 
term three years; discharged October 6, 1862, 
Cincinnati, of wounds received at Shiloh. 

Granville Log, enlisted at Cincinnati December 13, 
1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 18, term three years; 
deserted February 5, 1862, Camp Dennison, Ohio. 

Theodore M. Thompson, native of Ohio, enlisted at 
Columbus October 5, 1861, by J. R. Eddie; age 34, term 
three years. 

Horatio B. Lurrill, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati October 31, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 26, 
term three years; appointed third sergeant October 31, 
1861. 

John Loy, native of New Jersey, enlisted at Cincinnati 
December 31, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 53, term 
three years; appointed eighth corporal January 11, 1862; 
died at Cincinnati, May 7, 1862. 

Peter Hernick, native of Ohio, enlisted at Cincinnati 
December 11, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 18, term 
three years. 

David S. Vallette, native of New York, enlisted at 
Chillicothe December 15, 1861, by W. H. Skarrett; age 
50, term three years. 

James Wright, native of Vermont, enlisted at New 
Haven November 23, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 44, 
term three years; killed at the battle of Shiloh, April 3, 
1862. 

James Thomas Wickershany, enlisted at Cincinnati, 
November 12, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; term three 
years; deserted January 10, 1862, Camp Dennison, Ohio, 
unfit for service on account of disease contracted before 
enlistment. 

John Warner, native of Germany, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, December 12, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



327 



age 22, term three years; appointed fifth sergeant 
December 26, 1861. 

W. C. Wright, enlisted at Cincinnati December 21, 
1861, by L. M. Thompson; age 21, term three years; 
appointed first sergeant January 11, 1862. 

Francis Whilter, native of Maine, enlisted at Cin- 
cinnati, December 25, by L. M. Thompson; age 53, term 
three years. 

Richard Webster, native of Ireland, enlisted at 
Cincinnati, November 16, 1861, by L. M. Thompson; 
age 25; term three years. 

THE ONE HUNDREDTH OHIO VOLUNTEER 
INFANTRY. 

Sandusky county contributed a company to 
the One Hundredth regiment of Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, and to record the ser- 
vices performed by these men it is necessary 
to give some account, of the services of the 
entire regiment. 

It was organized at Toledo in July and 
August, 1862, and was mustered into service 
in September of that year, and moved to 
Cincinnati on the 8th of the same month for 
the purpose of defending that city. The next 
day it was put in position on Covington 
Heights, near Fort Mitchell. It marched 
thence for Lexington, Kentucky, on the 8th 
of October, where it remained for drill and 
took a thorough course of instruction in the 
science of war until the 1st of December of 
that year. It then moved to Danville, and on 
the 3d of January, 1863, moved to Frankfort. 
About the last of February, 1863, the 
regiment marched to Lexington to intercept a 
rebel raid, and from that point it marched to 
Crab Orchard, Mount Vernon, Somerset, and 
to various other points where the presence of 
the enemy seemed to require. On the 13th 
day of August, 1863, it went into camp at 
Danville, Kentucky, to be ready for a march 
into East Tennessee. Upon reaching 
Knoxville a portion of the regiment was sent 
up to the Virginia State line to guard the 
railroad. The portion so detached, being two 
hundred and forty in number, were captured 
by the enemy on 



the 4th of September, and the men sent to 
Richmond, Virginia. This regiment 
participated in the defence of Knoxville, and 
was on active duty during its stay in East 
Tennessee. In the spring of 1864 the 
regiment marched in the Twenty-third Army 
Corps to join General Sherman, then at 
Trumbull Hill, in Georgia. Thence it moved 
on in the Atlanta campaign, and was present 
at almost every battle, from Rocky Face 
Ridge to Atlanta. 

On the 6th of August, 1864, it was 
engaged in an assault on the rebel works in 
front of Atlanta, with a loss of one hundred 
and three men out of three hundred taken 
into the fight. Thirty-six men were killed on 
the field, and eight more died from wounds 
within the next thirty days. The colonel was 
disabled for life. After the evacuation of 
Atlanta the regiment joined in the pursuit of 
Hood, and participated in the battles of 
Franklin and Nashville. With the Twenty- 
third Army Corps it then went to 
Wilmington, North Carolina, and was there 
actively engaged. Then it marched into the 
interior and from Goldsborough to Raleigh 
with Sherman's army. Next it moved to 
Greensborough, and from there to Cleveland, 
Ohio, where it was mustered out of the 
service on the 1st day of July, 1865, having 
served two years and ten months from the 
time it was mustered into the service. 

LOSSES OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH. 

This regiment lost during its term of 
service: Sixty-five men killed in action, one 
hundred and forty-two wounded; twenty- 
seven died of wounds; one hundred and eight 
died of disease; three hundred and twenty- 
five were captured by the enemy, and eighty- 
five died in rebel prisons. It gloriously 
participated in the battles of Lenoir Station, 
Knoxville, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, 
Dallas, Etowah Creek, Atlanta, Columbus, 
Franklin, Nashville, 



328 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



Town Creek, and Wilmington. At the or- 
ganization of the regiment the following 
were the officers: John C. Groom, colonel; 
Patrick Slevin, lieutenant colonel; Edwin L. 
Haves, major; George A. Collamore, 
surgeon; Henry McHenry, assistant surgeon. 

There were a number of changes by 
resignation and promotion of these officers, 
which are not necessary to be stated in this 
history. 

The officers and privates of company K, 
of this regiment, were from Sandusky 
county, and were as follows: 
COMPANY K. 
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain Nathaniel Haynes. 
First Lieutenant Sanford Haff. 
Second Lieutenant William Taylor. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 



Sergeant 
Sergeant 
Sergeant 
Sergeant 
Sergeant 
Corporal 
Corporal 
Corporal 
Corporal 
Corporal 
Corporal 
Corporal 
Corporal 
Musician 
Musician 
Wagoner 



Joshua H. Green. 
Zeno T. Brush. 
William Ferguson. 
Ephraim Wheeler. 
Frank W. Russell. 
Horatio W. Allen. 
William Harris. 
John Elliott. 
Henry Donneyson. 
William Wolcott. 
Henry B. Nichols. 
Edward Heath. 
William G. Parks. 
Richard Moore. 
William Young. 
Frederick Brown. 

PRIVATES. 



Cornelius Abbott, William H. Anderson, George 
Ames, George L. Bixler, John Berkley, Charles Bennett, 
Henry Adams, William H. Batesole, Bliss Baker, Samuel 
Binkley, Cyrus T. Call, Corto Call, Daniel Carnicomb, 
P. Carnicomb, Evander Dunning, Edwin R. Dunning, 
John Donmire, John Dillon, James Dymond, John A. 
Ensperger, Taylor Fuller, James H. Fowler, John Fowler, 
Peter Fleagle, John Fleagle, William Gambere, Jonathan 
Herbster, Norman Hill, George J. Hill, Charles Hardy, 
Hiram L. Hines, James E. Hislet, Christian Hoopnail, 
Abraham Hoopnail, Charles F. Hiseman, Lyman K. 
Jones, William H. Jackson, Cyrus W. Jones, Eliphalet 
Jackson, Rodolphus Kepfer, Reuben Klose, Barney 
Kline, Joseph A. Loveland, Henry Lance, Philip Lutes, 
William Mowrer, Daniel Munger, Orin 



Mott, McCreary, Hiram May, Thomas McKillips, John 
McKillips, William Midcup, Hezediah McDowell, Judge 
T. Metcalf, Carlol Nash, Joseph M. Parish, William 
Parish, George Pierson, Joseph Pierson, Sylvester 
Peasley, Lyman G. Richards, Silas L. Richards, 
Alexander Reigurt, William Rogers, Michael Stull, 
Alexander Scrymger, John A. Shively, Frederick Shahl, 
Henry T. Smith, John F. Schwartz, Henry Shultz, John 
Sevibeck, Benjamin Smith, Reuben Stine, John W. 
Stone, Joseph Sharp, John M. Steward, Joseph Wentting, 
Sheldon Westover, Samuel Whitehead, Nathan Warring, 
Hiram Stull, William H. Havice, William Young. 

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVENTH OHIO 
VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 

FIELD AND STAFF OFFICERS. 

Colonel John R. Bond, honorably discharged October 
18, 1864, and succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac R. 
Sherwood, February 2, 1864. 

Lieutenant-Colonel B. W. Johnson, resigned Feb- 
ruary 6, 1862. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Moses R. Brailey. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac R. Sherwood. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas C. Norris, mustered 
out as Major. 

Major Moses R. Brailey. 

Major Isaac R. Sherwood. 

Major Benjamin F. Southworth. 

Major Henry J. McCord. 

Surgeon Lyman Brewer. 

Chaplain A. Hollington. 

The following will show the men of this 
regiment from Sandusky, and a history of the 
services they performed with the regiment 
during the war for the suppression of the 
Southern Rebellion. The sketch is prepared 
from information furnished by Captain J. V. 
Beery, and the diary of Corporal Joseph 
Schwartz, kept by him while in the service, 
and also from information given by private 
Robert Long, of company A, of the regiment, 
and was compiled by H. Everett, esq., as a 
part of his intended history of Sandusky 
county, in the year 1876, and published by 
him in February, 1877. 

Sandusky county furnished one full 
company, A, for this regiments and also a 
major part of company G. Company A, 
usually designated as Captain Beery's 
company-because its enlistment and or- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



329 



ganization were accomplished chiefly by his 
zealous labors was organized at Fremont, 
August 11, 1862, mustered into the United 
States service at Camp Toledo, Ohio, 
September 5, 1862, and moved thence to the 
front with the regiment, September 11, 1862. 
The following named officers and privates 
constituted this company: 

COMPANY A. 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain John V. Beery. 

First Lieutenant Joseph H. Jennings. 

Second Lieutenant Orin B. Frome. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant William Beery. 
Sergeant Charles Abies. 
Sergeant Charles Baker. 
Sergeant David Fausey. 
Sergeant Merrit Holcomb. 
Corporal Zemira G. Burton. 
Corporal Charles F. Edwards. 
Corporal Christopher C. Wonders. 
Corporal James L. Tindall. 
Corporal George D. Evans. 
Corporal John P. Walker. 
Corporal. Henry VanBuskirk. 
Corporal John R. Ramsey. 
Musician James Current. 
Musician Isadore Shell. 
Wagoner John A. Grant. 

PRIVATES. 

William H. Aden, David A. Andrews, James Bennett, John Boyer, 
John Buchold, George W. Beery, Henry H. Baker, William S. 
Baldwin, Isaac Baughman, Elias Babine, Eli Bruner, Martin 
Bumthaver, John Burns, James C. Carpenter, William Craig, George 
Charter, George Dillon, Linden Donalds, Jacob Decker, John D. 
Evans, Nelson R. Forster, John K. Farver, Charles F. Flowers, 
Frederick Geisicker, John Gillard, James B. Garter, Mannington 
Garten, George Grace, Louis Hemminger, John Hailer, Harmon 
Hazleton, Sylvanus Hathaway, William H. Huffman, Charles A. 
Hamshur, Elias Holenbaugh, Herbert L. Hathaway, Anson L. Hariff, 
Charles A. Hariff, Samuel Jackson, Joseph Jackson, Joseph C. King, 
Nicholas Kihn, Jared M. Lern, Robert Long, Franklin Lance, George 
W. 'Long, William Little, Henry Leflar, Edward Myers, John Mosier, 
Henry C. Munson, John Madden, George Myers, Herman 
McDaniels, Jahn H. McNutt, Anthony Nonnemaker, Jonas Neff, Orin 
Overmyer, Theodore Ogle, John R. Parker, Joseph. A. Porter Elisha 
Prior, Emanuel Roush, Samuel Ridley, John K. Rickard, Edward 
Sibrell, David H. 



Speaker, John Scomlon, Joseph Stephenson, A. Smart, Charles E. 
Sheffer, Richard Smith, Jacob Smith, John Stoll, Joseph Swartz, 
George W. VanSickle, Martin Vanhorn, John White, Jacob Parker. 

For the organization of company G, of the 
One Hundred and Eleventh regiment Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, this county furnished the 
following named officers and privates: 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain H. J. McCord. 

First Lieutenant M. P. Bean. 

Second Lieutenant George W. Moore. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

First Sergeant Robert Lattimore. 
Second Sergeant G. B. McCord. 
Third Sergeant P. F. Dalton. 
Fourth Sergeant Moses P. Boose. 

PRIVATES. 

R. B. Alexander, James H. Boore, Eli Brough, Daniel Beekley, 
Coonrod Cramer, Jacob A. Crawn, Jackson Cuisno, George N. 
Crowell, Henry Disler, R. K. Dalton, Silas B. Dymond, Isaac Down, 
Addison Fulton, David Gemberliz, Bradley Gould, John Geshart, 
William Groves, Cyrus Hoff, Mathias House, William Vadersoll, 
William Winters, David Warner, Erastus Alexander, Philip Mathia, 
A. Hineline, Jack Shepler, Robert W. Parks, Isaac M. Garn, Herman 
Ickes, William Fought, Thomas H, Meek, James L. Miller, Henry 
Oswalt, John Payne, James Park, Peter Rickle, Perry Ritter, Isaac 
Shole, John A. Siler, Lewis Smith, John Shepler, John Schuster, 
Orison Smith, Daniel I. Ickes, Josiah Jones, James Keeran, Jonas L. 
Klure, William Kime, Absalom Mowry, William Gain, Jeremiah 
Sherer, William H. Stokes, Frederick Wilbur, A. T. Hineline, 
Nicholas Dewyer, Jeremiah Everett, Allen McKillop, Frank ORork, 
Porter B. Woods, Henry Weston, Jacob Disler. 

The foregoing list is furnished by Captain 
J. V. Beery, and is doubtless correct. 

Corporal Joseph S chwarts and Private 
Robert Long, both of this city, gave the 
following incidents relative to this regiment 
and the men from this county, which are 
worthy of mention: 

In the winter of 1863 and 1864, while 
retreating from Strawberry Plains, Ten- 
nessee, and at the siege of Knoxville, the 
regiment was often on short rations. In ten 
successive days rations were drawn only 
four times and these rations 



330 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



consisted of, one day, half a pint of corn 
meal; one day about two pounds of fresh 
pork; another day half a pint of corn meal 
again, and another day about half a pint of 
wheat and on duty all the time, and part of 
the time on the march. These supplies were 
obtained by foraging, supplies from Union 
sources being cut off by the position of the 
enemy. 

Eli Babied, Ballville, was wounded at 
Strawberry Corners. 

At Resaca, May 14, 1864, John D. Evans, 
Madison township, was killed, and Edward 
Myers, Hessville, wounded. 

Charles T. Flowers, of Green Creek, was 
wounded by bushwhackers on the train to 
Chattanooga, where he was sent for injuries 
received at Burnt Hickory. 

Charles Smith (Scott), wounded at Burnt 
Hickory May 27, 1864. Joseph Schwartz 
also wounded at the same place, and John 
Scanlon and John Tarver, wounded near 
Dallas, Georgia, June 3, 1864. Scanlon lost 
the use of his arm. 

James Jackson (Ballville), killed at 
Franklin. Charles Baker (Clyde), wounded 
at Franklin, December, 1864. David Plants 
(Scott), wounded shortly before the battle 
of Franklin. 

At Nashville, Lewis Hominger was 
wounded. 

Of this company, A, the following died in 
the service: Franklin Lantz, at Bowling 
Green, Kentucky; David Carpenter and J. C. 
Carpenter, of Washington township; Joseph 
Stevenson and James Current, of Riley. 

The following extract from Reid's Ohio In 
the War will show the marches of this 
regiment and the battles in which these men 
were engaged: 

This regiment was organized in the month of August, 
1862, and was mustered into the service on the 5th and 
6th of September. It was a Northwestern Ohio 
regiment, having been raised in Sandusky, Lucas, 
Wood, Fulton, Williams, and Defiance 



counties. It took the field at Covington, Kentucky, on 
the 11th of September, 1862. 

The regiment remained in front of Covington until the 
1 8th of September, when, in company with four 
regiments and a battery, it made a reconnaissance to 
Crittenden, Kentucky. After driving out the cavalry of 
Kirby Smith from that place, the regiment returned to 
Covington. It remained at Covington until the 25th, 
when it took transports for Louisville, where it was 
assigned to General Buell's army, being in the Thirty- 
eighth Brigade, Twelfth Division, under command of 
General Dumont. The regiment moved on Shelbyville 
October 3. On the 8th of October it took the advance in 
the movement on Frankfort, where a slight skirmish took 
place. It moved on Lawrenceburg October 1 1 , and 
camped at Crab Orchard, where it joined with General 
Buell's whole army. After General Bragg's army had 
escaped through Cumberland Gap the One Hundred and 
Eleventh moved by rapid marches to Bowling Green, 
Kentucky, where it remained garrisoning forts and 
guarding the railroad from that place to Nashville. On 
the 29th of May, 1863, the regiment was ordered to 
Glasgow, Kentucky. At this place the One Hundred and 
Eleventh was assigned to the Second Brigade, Second 
Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, and remained in 
this brigade, division, and corps until mustered out of 
the service. From Glasgow it took part in the movement 
on Scottsville and Tompkinsville. 

About this lime John Morgan's cavalry made a raid 
into Indiana and Ohio. The regiment took part in the 
pursuit. On the 4th of July, 1863, it marched from 
Tompkinsville to Glasgow, a distance of thirty-two 
miles, in one day, carrying guns, equipments, and forty 
rounds of ammunition. On the 6th of July the regiment 
marched to Mumfordsville, and remaining three days, it 
took the cars for Louisville. Morgan having crossed the 
Ohio River, the One Hundred and Eleventh was ordered 
to New Albany, Indiana. It then marched to 
Jeffersonville and took transports to Cincinnati. 

On an island ten miles above Louisville the regiment 
was landed, and a detachment of Morgan's command 
was captured. It arrived at Cincinnati on the 13th. From 
this city it proceeded to Portsmouth, arriving at that 
place on the 1 8th. 

After the capture of Morgan the regiment returned to 
Kentucky. Arriving at Lebanon. Kentucky, it marched to 
New Market, where the Second division, Twenty-third 
Army Corps, rendezvoused preparatory to the march to 
East Tennessee. On the 19th of August this movement 
commenced. The command arrived at Jamestown, 
Tennessee, on the Cumberland Mountains, eighty-five 
miles distant from Knoxville, on the 26th. From this 
point the command moved, by rapid marches, through 
Yannan's Gap, and arrived on the 30th of August at 
Montgomery. On the 2d of September it forded 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



331 



the Big Emery River, and arrived at Loudon, Tennessee, 
on the Tennessee River, on the 4th. The regiment 
remained at Loudon until November 14, and took part in 
the movement north of New Market to check the rebel 
advance from Virginia. It also took part in several 
forced marches, scouts, and skirmishes along the 
Tennessee and Holston Rivers. 

The advance of General Longstreet's army appeared in 
front of Loudon on the zed of October, and considerable 
skirmishing was kept up between the two armies. On the 
14th of October the command marched to Lenoir, but 
meeting reinforcements here a counter-march was 
ordered, and the Second brigade was ordered to march to 
Huff's Ferry, three miles below Loudon, and prevent the 
crossing of General Longstreet's troops. Owing to the 
almost impassable condition of the roads it was nearly 
dark before arriving at the ferry. On a high bluff, about 
half a mile from the river, a brigade of rebels was 
encountered. The Second brigade was immediately 
formed in single line and ordered to charge. The charge 
was successful. In it the One Hundred and Eleventh only 
lost a few wounded, as it was on the right flank of the 
brigade, and partly under cover of dense woods. The 
brigade stood to arms all night in the pelting rain, 
without food or shelter. At daylight the entire division 
fell back, and the One Hundred and Eleventh covered 
the retreat. At Loudon Creek a brisk skirmish took place 
between the regiment and the Sixth South Carolina 
Sharpshooters, composing General Longstreet's advance. 
The stand was made to enable Henshaw's Illinois battery 
to get its caissons up a hill above the creek. In this 
engagement the One Hundred and Eleventh lost four 
killed and twelve wounded. After this skirmish the 
command marched rapidly to Lenoir unmolested, On 
this night all camp and garrison equipage and 
transportation were destroyed, and on the morning of the 
16th, at 3 A. M., it moved out for Knoxville, Tennessee. 

At daylight on this morning Lieutenant O. P. Norris 
and fifty-two men of company B of the regiment were 
captured by the rebels while on picket. Of these fifty- 
two stalwart men' thirty-six died of starvation and 
exposure at Andersonville prison. Campbell's Station 
was selected by General Burnside as the point at which 
to give battle to General Long-street. In this engagement 
the One Hundred and Eleventh occupied the front line, 
directly in front of two batteries of rebel artillery, and 
was for six hours exposed to the shells of the enemy's 
concentrated fire.. The loss in killed and wounded was 
only eight, as the enemy used percussion shells, which 
mostly fell in the rear of the first line. The regiment 
marched with the command into Knoxville, a distance of 
six miles, having been three nights without sleep, food, 
or rest, and having participated in three separate 
engagements, it passed through the siege 



of Knoxville, occupying the fort on College Hill, and 
lost six men killed and wounded. After General 
Longstreet's retreat it took part in the skirmishes at 
Blain's Cross Roads, Danville, and Strawberry Plains, 
and occupied an outpost six miles in front of the city 
when General Schofield fell back the second time on 
Knoxville. 

It protected the crossing of the Second division at 
Strawberry Plains on the 21st of January, 1864, losing 
one man killed. On the 9th of February, General 
Schofield arrived at Knoxville and took command of the 
department. On the 24th of February the Second division 
marched to Strawberry Plains; on the 27th crossed the 
Holston River, and marching some distance, counter- 
marched at night as far back as Mossy Creek. On the 
14th of March the regiment moved to Morristown, East 
Tennessee. On the following day it was on the picket- 
line, and had a brisk skirmish with the rebel cavalry. 
The One Hundred and Eleventh was moved back to 
Mossy Creek, where it remained until the 26th of April, 
when it marched to Charleston, on the Hiwassee River, a 
distance of one hundred miles. This it accomplished in 
four days, arriving at Charleston on the 30th. From this 
point it marched to Red Clay, Georgia, arriving on the 
6th of May. At this place the army of the Ohio united 
with the left wing of General Sherman's army to 
participate in the Atlanta campaign. It marched to 
Tunnel Hill on the 7th of May, and on the following day 
skirmished into a position in front of Buzzard's Roost. 
On the 9th, in the advance on Rocky Face Mountain, the 
regiment was assigned the front line of the skirmishers, 
and during an advance of three-quarters of a mile lost 
nine men killed and wounded. 

On the 12th of May the One Hundred and Eleventh 
marched through Snake Creek Gap, and arrived in front 
of Resaca on the evening of the 15th. The brigade made 
a charge on the enemy's works on the following day. 
Being unsupported by artillery, the charge was 
unsuccessful, and the loss heavy. The One Hundred and 
Eleventh had but seven companies engaged, three 
companies being in the rear guarding transportation. Out 
of the number engaged, seven men were killed and thirty 
wounded. The regiment took part in the second day's 
fight at Resaca, but being in the supporting column, it 
sustained no losses. After an unsuccessful assault at 
midnight upon the National lines, the rebels evacuated. 
On the 16th of May the regiment participated in the 
pursuit; had a skirmish with the rebel cavalry, the 20th, 
and captured six prisoners. On the 27th a brigade of 
rebels made an advance on the National lines. The One 
Hundred and Eleventh was ordered out on the double- 
quick, made a charge, and broke the rebel lines. In this 
engagement the regiment lost fifteen men killed and 
wounded. 

It took part in the entire campaign against Atlanta. It 
actively engaged in the siege of Kenesaw, 



332 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the battles at Pine Mountain, Lost Mountain, Dallas, on 
the Chattahoochee River near Nicojack Creek, Decatur, 
Peachtree Creek, and in the siege of Atlanta, and the 
skirmishes at Rough-and-Ready, Love-joy's Station, and 
Utoy Creek. It started on the Atlanta campaign with 
three hundred and eighty men, and of this number lost, 
in killed and wounded, two hundred and twelve. On the 
8th of September the regiment went into camp at 
Decatur, Georgia, and remained until the morning of the 
4th of October, when the movement against General 
Hood's forces commenced During the stay at Decatur the 
regiment made a reconnaissance to Stone Mountain, 
where it encountered rebel cavalry, and lost a few of its 
men. The One Hundred and Eleventh marched rapidly to 
Allatoona Pass, and to within eighteen miles of 
Chattanooga, where the corps was ordered into Alabama 
in pursuit of General Hood's army. It marched south as 
far as Cedar Bluffs, on the Coosa River, where, in a 
skirmish with rebel cavalry, one officer and three men 
of the One Hundred and Eleventh were captured on 
picket. From this point the regiment marched to Rome, 
Georgia, where a brisk skirmish took place. From thence 
it moved to Resaca, where it arrived on the 1st of No- 
vember, 1864. 

At Resaca the regiment tools the cars and was moved 
to Johnsonville, on the Tennessee River, eighty-five 
miles west of Nashville, to protect that place against a 
rebel raid. It remained at Johnsonville until the 10th of 
November, when it was again moved by rail to 
Columbia, Tennessee, to assist in checking General 
Hood's advance. It participated in the skirmishes at 
Columbia, and was detailed to remain in the rear to 
guard the fords of Duck River while General Thomas' 
army fell back on Franklin. The regiment guarded a 
wagon train to Franklin, and was twice attacked. Each 
time it repulsed the enemy. The regiment at night 
marched by the outpost of General Hood's army in 
bringing up the rear. It arrived at Franklin on the 
morning of the 30th of November, and was immediately 
assigned to the front line of works, on the left flank of 
the Second Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, to the 
right of the Franklin turnpike. In the fight of that day the 
regiment, out of one hundred and eighty men engaged, 
lost twenty-two men killed on the field and forty 
wounded. Many were killed by rebel bayonets. The 
contest was so close that once the flag of the regiment 
was snatched from the hands of the color sergeant, but 
the bold rebel was instantly killed. The troops on the 
immediate left of the One Hundred and Eleventh fell 
back during the charge, and the rebels, holding this part 
of the line for an hour, poured an enfilading fire along 
the line of the whole brigade. Owing to the large losses 
of officers in this and previous engagements, a detail 
from other regiments was necessary to command the 
companies. 

On the morning of the 1st of December the One 



Hundred and Eleventh marched back to Nashville, where 
it was assigned a position on the line of defenses on the 
left. It was severely engaged during both days of 
fighting in front of Nashville. In a charge on the second 
day it captured three rebel battle flags and a large 
number of prisoners. The loss was seven killed and 
fifteen wounded. The regiment took part in the pursuit 
after General Hood. It was marched to Clifton, 
Tennessee, where, on the 17th of January, 1865, it took 
transports to make the campaign of North Carolina. It 
passed through Cincinnati January 23, and arrived at 
Washington, District of Columbia, on the 31st. From 
Alexandria the regiment took an ocean steamer for Fort 
Fisher, where it joined the army under General Terry, 
and took an active part in the capture of Fort Anderson, 
and in the skirmishes at Moseby Hall and Goldsborough. 
After the surrender of General Johnston the regiment 
was moved to Salisbury, North Carolina, where it 
remained on garrison duty until ordered home for muster 
out. It arrived at Cleveland on the 5th of July, 1865, and 
was mustered out on the 12th. 

The One Hundred and Eleventh re-enlisted as veterans 
in February, 1864, in East Tennessee; but, owing to the 
demand for troops in the field, the veteran furlough 
could not be granted. Again (in October, 1864), after the 
Atlanta campaign, more than two-thirds of the regiment 
re-enlisted as veterans; but, after General Hood's 
campaign to the rear, the order to furlough it was 
revoked. The One Hundred and Eleventh numbered one 
thousand and fifty men when it entered the service, and 
received eighty-five recruits. Of these men two hundred 
and thirty-four were discharged for disability, disease, 
and wounds; two hundred died of disease contracted 
while in the service; two hundred and fifty-two were 
killed in battle or died of wounds, and four hundred and 
one were mustered out. 

The regiment was on a steamer being 
transported from Alexandria to Fort Fisher, 
January or February, 1865. The boat, in a 
violent storm lay rolling in the troughs of the 
immense waves, while rounding Cape 
Hatteras. The stoves in the upper cabin upset 
and fired the boat. Captain McCord, while 
others left the cabin, remained and with 
great coolness and activity collected 
blankets, overcoats, and other woolen gar- 
ments at hand, and by great efforts smoth- 
ered the fire and saved the boat. "But for this 
act," says company Commissary Robert 
Long, "the boat would have perished." 

At the battle of Franklin the One Hun 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



333 



dred and Eleventh was complimented for 
gallant conduct, in holding the right of the 
turnpike, while other regiments gave way. 
Here the One Hundred and Eleventh saved 
the important position by its firmness and 
pluck. 

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT OHI O 
VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 

To this regiment of Ohio volunteers, 
Hoffman's battalion, Sandusky county fur- 
nished the following named soldiers: 
COMPANY C. 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain Philetus W. Norris. 

First Lieutenant Amon C. Bradley. 

Second Lieutenant George Carner. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Sergeant Lewis D. Booth. 
Sergeant George W. Hollenback. 
Sergeant James L. Camp. 
Sergeant Shelly A. Gish. 
Sergeant Styles Rich. 
Corporal Nathan Tefft. 
Corporal Jonathan L. Smith. 
Corporal Charles N. Mallery. 
Corporal Emery Bercaw. 
Corporal Samuel M. Alexander. 
Corporal Meron M. Starr. 

PRIVATES. 

Israel H. Bittner, Josephus Gaver, Rodolphus Lagore, James 
Williamson. 

THE ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-NINTH 
OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.* 

That we may more fully understand the 
history of the One Hundred and Sixty ninth 
Ohio National Guard, it will be necessary to 
commence this narrative with the formation 
of the Fiftieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, from 
which the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth was 
formed. The Fiftieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry 
was recruited in Sandusky county in the fall 
of 1863, under the militia law of Ohio, the 
object being the protection of the borders of 
the State from raids and invasion. The 
regiment held its first meeting 

*To Sergeant-Major I. H. Burgoon we are indebted for many of 
the facts in the history of this regiment. 



at the courthouse in Fremont, to elect 
officers and transact other business. Na- 
thaniel Haynes was elected colonel; C. G. 
Sanford, lieutenant-colonel; Jacob Fickes, 
major; W. B. Dimick, quartermaster; J. L. 
Greene, adjutant; I. H. Burgoon, sergeant- 
major; Peter Beaugrand, surgeon; S. B. 
Taylor, assistant surgeon; Wesley 
Vandercook, hospital steward; Theodore 
England, quartermaster-sergeant; Ferguson 
Greene, commissary sergeant. 

A general meeting for parade and drill was 
held in Fremont the same fall. The regiment 
was ordered into camp at Camp Lucas, 
Toledo, Ohio. Transportation was obtained 
by railroad to Toledo, where they arrived on 
the 18th of September, 1863, remaining 
about one week. 

Early in the spring of 1864 the regiment 
was called into service by John Brough, 
Governor of Ohio, to serve for the term of 
one hundred days unless sooner discharged. 
The time named in the proclamation was the 
2d of May, 1864, and so anxious were the 
boys to be on hand at the appointed time that 
by 12 o clock noon, of the 2d, every 
company was reported for duty. They were 
camped on the old fair ground, where they 
remained until the 7th of the month, drilling 
during the day, and at night they were 
quartered in the courthouse, engine-house 
and the different halls of the town. Marching 
orders were received on the evening of the 
6th, and at 10 o'clock on the morning of the 
7th the regiment was in line ready to start for 
the depot, which they did at 1 1 o clock, and 
after waiting, finally started at 2:30 P. M. 
Lieutenant-Colonel C. G. Sanford 
commanding, the colonel having been left 
behind on account of an accident, which 
befell him while riding down Front street. 
The destination was Sandusky City. Further 
than that no one knew. This suited the boys 
so far as rations were taken into account, 
they having 



334 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



foraged there during the fall of 1863. Most 
of them, however, were anxious to get into 
active service, and see more of the country. 
They arrived at Sandusky at 5 P. M., via 
Clyde. The several companies were 
distributed in various places about the town, 
A and F in the courthouse, D and I in 
Massey's block, C and H in the armory, K 
and G in council-room, B in a lumber-room. 
Company E did not go with the command. It 
was disbanded at Fremont on account of 
being composed mostly of minors. May 8 
was Sunday, and the boys put in the, time 
going to church and seeing the sights. The 
citizens provided them with supper which 
was received and relished with thanks. As no 
particular provision had been made for 
rations the men were getting short, and stood 
very much in need of a warm meal, On 
Monday, May 9, the Eighty-second battalion, 
from Van Wert, Ohio, the Seventy-first 
battalion from Ottawa, and the Ninety-fifth 
from Defiance were consolidated with it, 
[Waking the regiment over one thousand 
strong. It received orders to report at Camp 
Taylor, Cleveland, Ohio, but on account of 
not getting transportation did not get started 
until 10 A. M., on the 11th. The regiment 
was mustered into the service of the United 
States on May 15 and 16, and on the 17th the 
organization was completed. The battalion 
from Van Wert was thrown out, and four 
companies from Wayne county assigned in 
their stead. These four companies were 
under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel I. 
Robinson, from Wooster, who, for some 
reason not known to the writer, was relieved, 
and J. H. Carr, his adjutant, placed in charge 
by the consolidation at Cleveland. 
Companies I and K were disbanded, their 
officers either given command in other 
companies, or sent home. The men were 
distributed and attached to other companies. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Sanford 



was also relieved, which the men regretted 
very much, as he was a genial gentleman, 
and they had become very much attached to 
him. After so many changes the newly 
fledged regiment was named the One 
Hundred and Sixty-ninth Ohio National 
Guard, and as finally organized, was 
officered as follows: 

FIELD AND STAFF. 
Colonel Nathaniel Haynes. 
Lieutenant-Colonel I. H. Carr. 
Adjutant J. L. Greene, jr. 
Quartermaster H. J. Kauffman. 
Surgeon Peter Beaugrand. 
Assistant Surgeon S. B. Taylor. 
Sergeant-Major I. H. Burgoon. 
Quartermaster Sergeant Ferguson Greene. 
Commissary Sergeant Theodore England. 

COMPANY A. 
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain A. Beideer. 

First Lieutenant David W. Hardy. 

Second Lieutenant Jesse W. Fleckinger. 

COMPANY B. 
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain M. J. Tichenor. 

First Lieutenant W. M. Bacon. 

Second Lieutenant Emanuel Sanders. 

COMPANY C. 
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain Harry C. Shirk. 

First Lieutenant Thomas I. Robinson. 

Second Lieutenant Samuel B. Hughs. 

COMPANY D. 
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain Abram Gift. 

First Lieutenant Henry McGill. 

Second Lieutenant David Hoitzer. 

COMPANY E. 
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain W. K. Boone. 

First Lieutenant W. H. Fleck. 

Second Lieutenant Benjamin F. Baltzley. 

COMPANY F. 
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain Charles Thompson. 
First Lieutenant Charles Baldwin. 
Second Lieutenant George J. Krebs. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



335 



COMPANY G. 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 
Captain 1. H. Jennings. 

First Lieutenant John Lichty. Second Lieutenant C. S. 
Long. 

COMPANY H. 
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 
Captain Jacob Thomas. 
First Lieutenant W. T. Havens. 
Second Lieutenant Solomon Warner. 

COMPANY I. 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain A. C. Anderson. 

First Lieutenant W. H. Goodson. Second Lieutenant 

Sidney Sinclair. 

COMPANY K. 
Captain Hanson R. Bowlus. 
First Lieutenant Jonathan Loveberry. Second 
Lieutenant Philip Overmyer. 

On the 18th marching orders were re- 
ceived, but owing to a lack of arms suffi- 
cient to equip the whole regiment they were 
detained and did not get away from camp 
until 2 P. M., of the 19th. They left the 
Cleveland depot at 5 P. M., via Cleveland & 
Pittsburg and Pennsylvania roads to 
Harrisburg, and from there via Northern 
Central to Washington, where they arrived at 
12 o'clock Saturday night, May 21. They 
were marched to some old army barracks 
near the depot, where they were quartered 
until 2 P. M., Sunday, when they took up 
their line of march down Pennsylvania 
avenue and over Long Bridge to Arlington 
Heights, in Virginia, but owing to some 
misunderstanding they were marched over 
Aqueduct Bridge to Georgetown, then up the 
Potomac on the Maryland side, several miles 
to Chain Bridge, where they recrossed to the 
Virginia side to Fort Ethan Allen, the place 
which was designated as the home of the 
regiment for the coming three months. They 
arrived at the fort at 10 o'clock Sunday 
night, and turned into quarters on the bare 
ground in an open lot, after a march of some 
dozen or more miles pretty, good for the 
first march, 



In justice to the men it ought to be 
mentioned here that the regiment was 
applauded and congratulated frequently 
while in transit, as being one of the most 
orderly and civil which had passed through. 
On inspecting the location it was found that 
they were posted in one of the largest and 
strongest among the forts on the line of 
defence around Washington. 

The ordnance consisted of forty cannon, a 
dozen or more mortars, some large enough to 
throw a twenty-two inch shell, a large store 
of small arms, magazines filled with 
ammunition, and a garrison of two thousand 
men, seated on the highest hill which could 
be found in the vicinity, with a commanding 
view of the surrounding country. From the 
top of the parapet encircling the fort could 
be counted a dozen or more flags floating in 
the breeze, from the top of so many flag 
staffs, showing the location of so many forts, 
and each in supporting distance from the 
other. A nice brook of clear water on either 
side wended its way down among the ravines 
toward the Potomac, with innumerable 
springs in the valleys, several in close 
proximity to the fort. The 23d, 24th, 25th, 
26th, 27th, 28th, and 29th, were spent in 
getting settled and putting things to rights in 
the fort and on and about the parade ground. 

May 30th Grant Holcomb, a member of 
company G, died. This was the first death in 
the regiment. He was taken sick while in 
Washington, but bore up until his arrival 
here, when he was sent to the hospital and 
died, having been sick one week. His 
remains were forwarded to his home near 
Fremont, Ohio. The writer cannot refrain 
from inserting a few lines written by one of 
his comrades on the occasion. 

Then weep not, friends, though he is gone, 
A righteous cause has called him hence; 
He died as heroes die--alone; 
He died in freedom's just defence. 



336 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



On fame's eternal camping ground 

He occupies a tent of glory; 
Though now he is lost, he will be found 

When every thing shall pass away. 

Then sleep, brave soldier, take thy rest 

Til God shall call thee from the tomb; 

Then, with the saints and martyrs blest, 
Arise to thy celestial home. 

From the 1st day of June until the 10th, 
the time was pissed in the usual routine of 
camp life. About this time the regiment 
began the practice of artillery drill on the 
guns and mortars in the fort, in which they 
became proficient in a very short time, so 
much so that the regiment was complimented 
very highly by General DeRussey, the 
commandant of this department, and, by 
him, placed on record as the best drilled 
regiment on the line of the defenses. The 
writer will relate an exercise of drilling 
which he witnessed one afternoon by a squad 
of Fremont boys among which he remembers 
our genial friend Captain Charley 
Thompson, and Lieutenant Baldwin. They 
fired six shots from a thirty-two pound 
Parrot, at a target stationed at a distance 
from' the fort of one and one-third miles, 
cutting off the tree against which the target 
rested, at the second fire, and dropping four 
balls out of six within twenty feet of the 
target. This would be hard to beat by the 
oldest and most experienced of gunners. 

On the morning of the 1 1th the boys were 
called out in double-quick, in anticipation of 
a raid from rebel cavalry, but luckily for the 
cavalry they did not put in an appearance. 
One hundred men were detailed daily to 
work on the bomb-proofs of the fort, and the 
rifle pits surrounding it. This was. not very 
desirable for the boys, as the sun's rays 
would dart down on them day after day, 
making them long for the cool, shady breeze 
of some friendly and familiar shade tree in 
the corner of the hay or wheat field at home. 
This work continued through the months of 



June, July, and August; and, with the early 
and unseasonable hour at which the regiment 
was called out (usually at 3 A. M.), and the 
miasms arising from the Potomac, caused a 
great deal of sickness. On June 23 they 
recorded the second death, Jacob Schuster, of 
company H, whose remains were sent home to 
Green Spring, Ohio. On the 30th they were 
mustered for pay, which the boys were very 
anxious to get, but did not have the pleasure 
of seeing until after being mustered out at 
Cleveland, Ohio, several months later. On 
July 3 Silas Bowlus, a member of company K, 
died. His remains were sent home, several 
miles from Fremont, Ohio. 

On the 4th Charles Risley died. He was a 
member of company G. His remains were 
buried near Fort Ethan Allen. 

This being the glorious Fourth of July, it 
was decided to celebrate it in some ap- 
propriate manner, as they had been taught 
from childhood, even if no better way than to 
steal away and go swimming in some creek or 
stream running by the homestead. After 
getting permission from headquarters, 
companies A, C, D, E, F and K marched down 
to Colonel Lee's headquarters, a distance of. 
three or four miles, where several other Ohio 
regiments joined in an old-fashioned 
celebration, consisting of music, speeches, 
etc., after which the boys tramped back over a 
dusty road, hungry and tired, feeling that the 
fewer celebrations the better humor they could 
be kept in, and the better they could enjoy 
them. 

On the 5th they recorded the death of 
David Marion, of Ottawa county. His remains 
were sent home, near Port Clinton, Ohio. 

July 6th, George Karbler, of company G, 
died. His remains were buried at Fort Ethan 
Allen. 

Early on the morning of the 8th the camp 
was thrown into considerable excitement by a 
report from the outer picket 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



337 



posts that the enemy were concentrating 
their forces near Brownsville, which turned 
out, as do a great many reports in the army, 
as unreliable. However, it had a tendency to 
show the efficiency of the men, and the 
promptness with which they could be got 
ready for action in case of necessity. Four 
companies were quickly detached from our 
command and dispatched to Fort Marcy to 
strengthen that garrison and give them a 
helping hand in case of an assault. But 
happily once more for the rebels, they did 
not come. 

On July 9 Joseph Field died and his 
remains were sent home. He was a member 
of company B. 

On the night of July 11th and morning of 
the 12th, the long looked for enemy made its 
appearance on the Maryland side of the 
Potomac, and in front of forts Stevens and 
S locum. Early on the 12th the One Hundred 
and Thirty-fourth regiment, from the 
garrison, was dispatched across the river to 
strengthen those forts, while the One 
Hundred and Sixty-ninth was left to take 
care of matters at home, and as no enemy 
ventured in reach of their guns, all they had 
to do was to keep quiet, and look on. 

On the morning of the 18th, at 1 o'clock, 
Jerome Seibert died. He was a very worthy 
young man. His father came and took his 
remains home, to be buried near West 
Fremont. Here the writer wishes to 
introduce, by way of quotation, a beautiful 
poem written to his memory by a lady 
friend: 

Carefully fold his cold arms 
O'er his heart, forever stilled. 
Gently close his loving eyes, 
Never vet with anguish filled. 
O, gently speak and softly tread, For 
Jerome, our noble boy, is dead. 
Only three short months ago He 
went at his country's call; And, oh 
how little we realized That our 
Jerome, too, could fall. 



Can it be that death so soon 
Has called away our brave Jerome? 
Yes, it has, his brow is cold; 
Hushed the music of his voice. 
Never more with songs to make 
Every heart that thrills rejoice; Yet 
his songs in Heaven will be From 
all earthly passions free. 
Father, mother, sister, brother, 
Mourn not for your Jerrie dear, But 
remember God released him From 
the cares and trials here. Peacefully 
in the Saviour's arms Jerrie rests 
from war's alarms. 

Never more shall bugle's call Rouse 
him from his soldier's bed, Till the 
trumpet that summons all Wake the 
nation of the dead. Sweetly sleep-thy 
work is done, And thy Father calls 
thee home. 

Oh, it was hard to give him up. None but 
loving hearts can know How you 
wrestled with your grief, How you 
stuggled with your woe. But the Saviour 
hears your prayer, Gives you strength 
your grief to bear. 

July 20 John Stahl died. He had been 
detailed to go to Arlington with a corps of 
engineers, for the purpose of surveying an 
addition to the National Cemetery, which 
now contains eighteen thousand Union dead, 
and covers the famous Arlington property, 
which was General Fee's home before the 
rebellion, and an inheritance from the 
Washington family. While there he was 
taken sick, and returned to the fort and 
hospital to die. The writer met him on the 
afternoon of the 18th, on his return, at the 
captain's headquarters near the parade 
ground, and again at the hospital on the 
morning of the 19th. He conversed 
pleasantly and freely of home and friends, 
not thinking that his sickness was anything 
serious. But alas! on the morning of the 10th 
he was reported with the dead. 

On the 21st the color sergeant, Edward 
Holcombe, died. He was as generous and 
whole-souled a fellow as ever lived. His 
sickness and death were similar to 



338 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



that of Stahl's. The writer met him only a 
few hours before he passed away. His voice 
was clear, and his grip strong, and, in answer 
to the question, "How do you do this 
morning, Sergeant?" he said: "I am all right 
this morning, Sergeant-Major." The reader 
can imagine the writer's surprise when, 
within a few short hours, he, too, was 
reported among the dead. 

From this time forward, until we were 
relieved and ordered from the fort, on the 
21st day of August, the death list increased 
daily. Death seemed to lurk in every part of 
the fort and barracks, and none knew what 
the morrow would bring forth. On some days 
scarcely a well man could be found in the 
regiment. It was said at the time 'that only 
one man of the one thousand strong and 
able-bodied men could say, on his departure, 
that he had not been sick a single day while 
at the fort. Owing to an attack of malarial 
fever at this time, the memoranda of the 
writer became lost, and we are, therefore, 
unable to give the names and date of death 
of the remainder of the forty-three men who 
died, and were daily carried by the tent door, 
to be sent to their several homes, where 
many sad hearts were waiting to receive 
them. Among the many sad deaths which 
occurred was that of John Downey, a clever, 
good-natured fellow, a member of company 
H, whose home was near Fremont. On the 
departure of the regiment, when the sick 
were taken from their respective hospitals, 
preparatory to starting for home, he was 
accidentally left behind, at Mount Pleasant 
hospital, near Washington. There is no doubt 
but that he received the best of treatment 
from good nurses, but as soon as he found 
out that the regiment had departed for home, 
he probably became homesick, and died. The 
writer is of opinion that, had he started home 
with his comrades, he would have recovered, 
We took out of the same 



hospital three hundred or more pick, two- 
thirds of whom were as bad off as Mr. 
Downing, men who, apparently not able to 
help themselves, on being told we were to 
start for home on the morrow, at once 
seemed to be miraculously cured, or much 
improved, and, like the sick mentioned in 
Holy Writ, could get up and walk without 
any assistance and get about, packing their 
knapsacks, with a cheer, and saying: "Count 
me in; I'll be ready at 8 A. M. sharp." That 
was the time set to leave the gate of the 
hospital, where the sick were all to assemble 
preparatory to leaving for the depot. 

The regiment was all in readiness to 
march from the fort at an early hour on the 
morning of the 22d of August, 1864, which 
all seemed to do without any regret. They 
got under way at 9 A. M., via Baltimore, 
Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh, arriving at 
Cleveland on the 25th at 9 P. M., having 
been on the road eighty-four hours, and a 
tedious ride it was, with over five hundred 
sick men to feed and take care of on the 
route. A great many accidents occurred 
which would be worthy of note. One of a 
ludicrous nature transpired while waiting on 
a siding for a down train. Some of the boys 
spied an old oil well near the track, and, 
being inquisitive, had the audacity to apply a 
lighted match, when the flames, like a flash, 
shot high in the air. Just then the train 
started, to the great relief of the thoroughly 
frightened men. 

The regiment was finally mustered out of 
the service on Sunday, the 4th day of 
September, 1864, and left Cleveland for 
home on Monday, the 5th, where they 
arrived at 4 P. M., having been absent one 
hundred and twenty-six days. They received 
pay for one hundred and twenty-five days' 
service. 

The following is the list of names of 
privates furnished by Sandusky county to 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



339 



the several companies of the One Hundred 
and Sixty-ninth regiment of Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry: 

COMPANY B. 

PRIVATES. 
Alonzo Aldrich, Murray Brown, Franklin Bowersox, 
William H. Bowersox, Nathaniel Bush, Samuel Boyd, 
James Clark, George Carleton, Reuben Chapman, Robert 
Clapp, Jacob Close, Martin W. Cemple, George W. 
Colver, Edward D. Curtis, William Dymond, Theodore 
Dirlam, Nathaniel Everhart, George Ellis, Alva Fenn, 
James Fields, David Felty, Isadore Gilbert, Charles 
Hess, Henry Hatfield, Enos Hoofnale, Kneel and 
Hamden, John Hardin, Orlin W. Harrison, Rudolph B. 
Hineline, Peter Hutson, John Heffner, Josiah Jackson, 
William Jackson, Ambrose Kernahan, William 
Loudenslager, Burton Lemmon, Byron O. Leslie, George 
Mugg, Josiah Miller, Hiram Monger, Oscar Miller, 
Philip Michael, Henry Parker, William L. Richards, 
Charles G. Rising, George Supner, Albert Stark, 
William Scott, Lyman Sturtevant, Edward Streetor, 
Theodore Strickland, D. R. Sutton, Joseph Sparks, John 
Stull, John Thorp, Bradford Tuttle, Theodore Thomas, 
Scott Thomas, Sandford Terry, Samuel H. Tibbells, 
Milton Weeks, Elijah West, Edgar Woodworth, Edward 
Waltz, Asaph Walters, Samuel D. Wykoff, William 
Wise, Tobias Watson, William Whitehead, Robert Tuel. 
COMPANY F. 

PRIVATES. 

Harvey Arling, Selah E. Anderson, Henry Alexander, 
Forest Bixler, George Barlheimer, James Briggs, John 
Burg, Lewis Bolan, Hiram W. Blood, Isadore H. 
Burgoon, Harrison Clayhorn, Henry Cochran, Darwin 
Clark, Thomas Durfee, Flavel W. Downs, John P. Deal, 
Theodore England, Henry Ernst, Calvin Freeman, James 
Fowler, John Garvin, Stephen Green, Thomas E. 
Gilmore, Daniel Gulden, William Helt, Frederick Hilt, 
Abraham R. Hall, Benjamin I. Hall, Otto Hecke, David 
Halter, Burr Huss, William I. Hughes, E. Holbrook, 
Edwin Holcomb, Henry Imler, William Ice, Samuel Ice, 
John Ice, Oliver P. Jenks, Isaac Joseph, Peter Kessler, 
David Leppleman, John* B. Lott, Sardis B. Lockwood, 
Joseph H. Mourer, William C. Meek, Hiram Mock, 
Wilbur F. Manning, Benjamin Mooney, Eli Maurer, 
Joseph Myers, Leander Myers, Joshua E. Mellen, Joseph 
Maggrum, William Ott, John Patterson, John Pease, 
Sylvanus P. Parker, Eugene Pelton, Joseph Parkhurst, 
John Quinn, James Russell, Chap Rathburn, J. Ridley, 
Daniel Rice, William Rowe, Henry C. Stacy, Joseph L. 
Shueereman, A. Stuller, George Shrine r, E. Shields, 
Tilghman Siegfreid, Charles B. Still well, Russell Smith, 
Andrew J. Sanford, Samuel Shannon, Darling Trail, 
John Treat, 



Wesley Vandercook, Hixton Vansickles, Alexander 

Walters, John Washburn, Austin Whittaker, Gilbert 

Williams, David Younkman, Washington Younkman. 

COMPANY G. 

PRIVATES. 

Jacob H. Anderson, Isaac Anderson, Henry W. Angus, 
John W. Angus, Francis H. Boor, Canfords Buckland, 
Thomas Bracy, John L. Cook, Haman Carr, Tateman 
Clary, William Cook, Joshua Cook, William B. 
Callihan, Harrison Cobb, Henry Clink, Matthew Duke, 
Isaac Duke, Thomas Dunlap, Demce Drain, Charles 
Dawley, Frank Decker, George W. Davis, Everett 
Evans, Joseph Evans, Charles Entsminger, Martin 
Eckhart, Henry Frear, Richard Fickas, Joseph I. Garn, 
David Garn, Tobias Garn, Orin Greesman, George 
Grivel, Rodney Gardener, Rodney Golden, Jacob 
Geiger, John W. Hutchinson, Victor J. Hoffman, 
Samuel Hoff, Jerome Herrick, George Hedrick, Samuel 
Harley, Isaac Harley, Oliver P. Hoffman, Stanton 
Hoffman, Henry C. Holbrook, Grant Holcomb, 
Solomon Immel, John W. Jomes, James Jotnes, Samuel 
Klute, Andrew J. Keller, George Karbler, Samuel S. 
Long, William H. Lemmon, William H. Layman, 
William Lemmon, John W. Manning, Calvin Miller, 
Thomas Madden, Adam Miller, Peter Plantz, Jonathan 
Reams, Charles Risley, Robert Ruthford, Theodore 
Rinehart, Philander H. Smith, Isaac Sanders, Solomon 
Shusly, Henry W. Sentz, William Sting, Alexander H. 
Thorn, Charles T. Thompson, Adam W. Taylor, Herbert 
Thomas, William Totten, Jacob Yeasling, Philip 
Zimmerman, Milton Garn, Daniel Garn. 

COMPANY H. 
PRIVATES. 
Pierson Abel, Abraham Bruner, Martin Bruner, Isaac 
Bruner, Henry Beckman, William C. Boor, William C. 
Brerman, Daniel F. Babb, William Bowlus, Christian 
Batesole, Joseph Burkett, Jacob Burgner, D wight 
Bement, Philip Cole, Jacob Cherrier,, James Campbell, 
Alfred Cobb, John L. Daniels, John Doll, Samuel Doll, 
Darius Drake, George Daniels, Franklin Durlem, 
Thomas J. Eldridge, John Fabings, Lewis Freese, James 
Fuller, Phineas Gilmore, Marcellus Gray, Lester L. 
Holcomb, David Harley, Hugh Harries, Hubbard Hill, 
Emmett Hubbert, Lucian Hull, Chaplain R. Husse, 
James Jones, Isaac W. Krotzer, John Kemmerley, 
Thomas J. Kenan, Peter Kenan, William D. Lee, Henry 
Lance, William Lightner, Amos Ladd, William Lute, 
Newton Long, Henry A. Mowry, Irvin Michael, Joseph 
T. Myers, Jacob E. Moary, William Miller, John 
Miller, Jackson McDonald, James A. Mills, Winfield 
G. Mclntire, Martin Mowry, Samuel Myers, John Ira 
Overmire, Thomas Price, Joseph Putas, John Bozell, 
Jacob Sampsel, Adam Strout, Rariah Shasteen, Peter C. 
Smith, 



340 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Daniel Spoon, Valentine Shale, Jacob Shale, Leonard 
Smith, Steward F. Shoup, John M. Stall, John Shutts, 
Isaiah VanDersole, Daniel Warner, Taylor G. 
Wickersham, Samuel Warner, Andrew Whitmore, Levi 
Wall, Francis M. Winters, Cyrus Wise, Henry Walters, 
Joseph Whitehead, Nelson Winters, Lafayette Wright, 
Benjamin Wright, Gustavus Young. 
COMPANY I. 
PRIVATES. 

John R. Bulger, Samuel Lutz, James M. Lindsey, John 
T. Meek, Samuel McCormick, Pierson Milan Parson, 
Charles M. Richards, Sylvester Robinson, Jacob 
Remelshosher, Edwin Stone, Abel Willis, Edwin Van 
Doren, Abram Van Doren. 

COMPANY K. 

PRIVATES. 

Melancthon Albert, John Q. Andrews, William 
Benner, James Benner, Silas Bowlus, Edward Bowersox, 
Levi Bowersox, William Boyer, Amos Boyer, Simon 
Bowersox, Romanus Binkley, Emanuel Bowersox, John 
Cochran, Amos Cornicorn, George Cross, William 
Deemer, David Davis, Joseph, Druckenmi Her, John 
Downing, Noah Eversole, Frederick Friar, Solomon 
Fetterman, Peter Fisher, Sardis Fisher, Daniel Garin, 
David Geesman, Ernest Greeper, Wesley Hullinger, 
James Hartgrove, Zacheus Hendricks, Charles Haccum, 
Adam Ickes, Charles June, John Koons, Samuel Sinton, 
William Leomalia, Joseph Mapes, Harrison Mowrey, 
Daniel Miller, Solomon Manch, Aaron Mowrey, John 
Moyer, Edward Overmeyer, Henry Overmeyer, Michael 
Overmeyer, Amos Overmeyer, Isaac Overmeyer, Homer 
Overmeyer, George Oliger, Lafayette Ridout, Franklin 
Rid out, George Rearick, Joseph Rearick, William 
Reckerd, Daniel Reed, Samuel Reed, Park Rickele, John 
Remsburg, Jerome Seibert, Daniel Stutts, Levi Smith, 
George Skinner, Gustavus Schert, Aaron Stufler, Henry 
Shively, Monroe H. Seibert, Moses Ulch, Israel 
Walborn, Emanuel Walter, Joshua Walter, Josiah Wolf, 
Peter Wool cot, Andrew J. Wolf, Ferdinand Wilson, 
Charles Zichraft. 

The following named men, members of the 
One Hundred and Sixty-ninth regiment Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, died during their term of 
service,, as shown by the records of the 
Adjutant General's office: 

COMPANY A. 

Peter Eberly, July 17, 1864, at Fort Ethan Allen, 
Virginia; Ross Myers, July 27, 1864, at Fort Ethan 
Allen, Virginia; Walter M. Myers, July 30, 1864, at Fort 
Ethan Allen, Virginia. 

COMPANY B. 

James Field, July g, 1864, at Fort Ethan Allen, 



Virginia; Joseph Sparks, August 20, 1864, at For Ethan 
Allen, Virginia; Elijah West, August 31, 1864, at. 
Clyde, Ohio; William Whitehead, July 18, 1864, at Fort 
Ethan Allen, Virginia. 

COMPANY C. 

E. C. Beistle, July 21, 1864, at Fort Ethan Allen, 
Virginia; John, Smith, August 1, 1864, at Fort Ethan 
Allen, Virginia. 

COMPANY D. 

Isaac N. Bricker, August 7, 1864, at Fort Ethan Allen, 
Virginia; David Lichty, August q, 1864, at Fort Ethan 
Allen, Virginia; James Y. Orr, August q, 1864, at Fort 
Ethan Allen, Virginia; George H. Snyder, July 29, 1864, 
at Fort Ethan Allen, Virginia. 

COMPANY E. 

Samuel Joyce, July 12, 1864, at Fort' Ethan Allen, 
Virginia; Elias D. Martin, July 12, 1864, at Fort Ethan 
Allen, Virginia; Allen K. Rohrer, August y, 1864, at 
Fort Ethan Allen, Virginia 

COMPANY F. 

David Halter, July 25, 1864, at Fort Ethan Allen, 
Virginia; Edwin Holcum, July 21, 1864, at Fort Ethan 
Allen, Virginia; Daniel Rice, July 14, 1864, at Fort 
Ethan Allen, Virginia; Gilbert Williams, August 6, 
1864, at Fort Ethan Allen, Virginia. 

COMPANY I. 

S. W. Hollingshead, August 12, 1864, at Fort Ethan 
Allen, Virginia; David Marion, July 5, 1864, at Fort 

Ethan Allen, Virginia. 

COMPANY K. 

.Silas Bowlus, July 3, 1864, at Fort Ethan Allen, 
Virginia; Jacob Hausborger, July 21, 1864, at Fort Ethan 
Allen, Virginia; John Karnes, August 12, 1 864, at 
Defiance, Ohio; Harrison Mowery, August 23, 1864, at 
Washington, District of Columbia; Lafayette Ridout, 
July 25, 1864, at Fort Ethan Allen, Virginia; William 
Reckerd, August ., 1864, ,at Fort Ethan Allen, Virginia; 
Jerome Seibert, July U, 1864, at Fort Ethan Allen, 
Virginia; Ferdinand Wilson, August 5, 1864, at Fort. 
Ethan Allen, Virginia. 

Of the sad accidents which occurred none 
was more regretted than the over-looking of 
John Downey (or Downing), a private of 
company K. He was accidentally left in the 
hospital at the Soldiers' Home, near 
Washington, and died September 6, 1864, 
and is buried in the National cemetery at 
Arlington, Virginia, in grove eight thousand 
three hundred and forty-six. He rests in a 
beautiful spot, beneath the foliage of an 
over-hanging oak tree, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



341 



ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT 
OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 

This regiment was one of those raised 
under the last call of the President, to serve 
for one year, and was composed of men 
gathered from all parts of Ohio, the great 
majority of them having already seen ar- 
duous service of the regimental officers, all 
but two had seen service. At 12 o'clock on 
the 2d day of March, 1865, the last company 
to complete the regiment was mustered in at 
Camp Chase, and placed under the command 
of Colonel Thomas F. Wildes, who on the 
11th of the same month was made a brevet 
brigadier-general. Its rendezvous was Camp 
Chase. It moved in boats to Louisville, and 
there, taking the cars, was soon at Nashville. 
On the 8th of March it left Nashville for 
Murfreesborough, arriving there on the 10th 
of March, 1865. The march of the night of 
the 9th of March was one which will long be 
remembered by the men of the One Hundred 
and Eighty-sixth. There was not a tent in the 
command the regimental quartermaster had 
not yet been mustered in and could not 
legally draw them, if they were to be had. 
There was rain and snow during the day, and 
at night the weather turned very cold. In all 
their three years' previous service the men 
had never experienced such a night. The cold 
was intense, but not a murmur of complaint 
was heard. The destination of the regiment 
was Cleveland, Tennessee, where it went 
into camp, and, following the example of the 
old soldiers, soon erected comfortable 
quarters. 

On the 2d of May, 1865, the regiment 
moved from Cleveland to Dalton, and re- 
mained there a few days. General Wildes, 
meantime, had been assigned to the com- 
mand of a brigade at Chattanooga, and, on 
his request, the One Hundred and Eighty- 
sixth was transferred to his brigade. At 
Chattanooga Lieutenant. Colonel Wil- 



helm disciplined the men to such proficiency 
that the regiment became the best drilled of 
the command. 

On the 10th of July the One Hundred and 
Eighty-sixth was ordered to Nashville. This 
consequently returned General Wildes to the 
command of his regiment. September 13, 
orders were received to prepare the rolls for 
the muster out of the regiment. On the 25th 
of September they were mustered out, and 
paid, at Columbus, Ohio. The regiment 
faithfully and earnestly performed every 
duty required of it, and bore all its privations 
without a whisper of complaint, and, if the 
continuance of the war had required, they 
would have been found equal to the best and 
bravest of the defenders of the Union. 

To this regiment Sandusky county fur- 
nished the following named men, most of 
whom as has been said, had seen service 
before: 

COMPANY E. 
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain John L. Greene. 

First Lieutenant Edward Cook. 

Second Lieutenant James Daugherty. 

PRIVATES. 
Alonzo Aldrich, Edmund R. Ash, John Applegate, 
Austin Applegate, Seldon Arnold, Peter H. Baker, Henry 
Baker, Isaac Carl, Harrison G. Claghorn, Edward S. 
Cooper, John M. Davis, Henry Dyer, Isaac M. Dickens, 
Jacob Doll, Edward P. Daharsh, George Drew, Henry 
Delling, George Endsley, Martin Eckhart, Henry W. 
Ernst, Thomas Fowler, Nathan Foster, Orin M. Geisman, 
George W. Greener, Orville R. Hine, William S. 
Hammond, Henry Hunsinger, Eugene A. Hodges, Isaac 
H. Hughes, Isaiah Hague, Henry W. Imler, Francis N. 
Kinney, Henry Lopp, William McCraw, John G. 
Michael, George Miller, Philip Michael, Adam Miller, 
Calvin F. Miller, Henry Oberbouse, George B.. 
Overmyer, Calvin Pratt, William Pike, Barnard 
Poorman, Gilbert Perna, John O. Quince, George W. 
Roush, George Ryan, Frederick Riser, Conrad Sennert, 
Joseph Strasbaugh, Henry Spade, Jacob Snyder, 
Benjamin F. Sprout, Philip Shafer, Jacob Steinard, 
Martin Shroily, Henry 'Tucker, Luke Tuttle, Ezra B. 
Tuckerman, Charles I. Tyler, John W. Tyler, James 
Walden, William A. Wilson, George Wir- 



342 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



mess, George Wright, Rufus Lybarger, Joseph Kiln. 
THE THIRD OHIO VOLUNTEER CAVALRY. 

The Third Ohio Cavalry was organized 
in September, 1861, at Monroeville, in 
Huron county, Ohio. 

Captain William B. Amsden recruited a 
company designated company D, in 
Sandusky, Colonel Lewis Zahm being the 
moving spirit of the organization of the 
regiment. It moved from Camp Worcester, 
near Monroeville, to Camp Deanison on the 
14th of January, 1862. From there it went 
to Jeffersonville, Indiana, opposite 
Louisville, Kentucky, in the following 
February. Then it moved on the 2d of 
March, 1862, to Nashville, Tennessee, and 
arrived there March 18. On the 10th of 
March it left Nashville for Pittsburg 
Landing. On the 4th of April, 1862, General 
Buell detached the first battalion and sent it 
to Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, to oppose 
Biffle's rebel cavalry there. The rebels were 
met and driven out of Lawrenceburg. 
Several rebels were wounded and one man 
killed and six horses captured. Another 
detachment, under Major John H. Foster, 
was sent to Mount Pleasant on the 6th of 
April to seize a quantity of bacon, which 
was duly captured and turned over to, the 
quarter-master. It then joined the regiment 
at Savannah, whither the Third had moved 
in advance of Buell's army. On the 25th of 
April it marched up to Pittsburg Landing 
and went into camp four miles from the 
river. 

During the first year of its service the 
Third Ohio Cavalry was attached to General 
T. J. Wood's division, and most of the time 
was under his immediate command; and the 
history of Wood's division is referred to for 
the gallant acts the regiment performed. 
From this time on the regiment did faithful 
service. It fought many hard battles and 
displayed those 



qualities which reflect honor to every 
individual, whether officer or private, who 
was so fortunate as to be on its rolls. To give 
a detailed account of the marches, charges 
and services of the brave and gallant body of 
men, would need a whole book. It fought, 
and marched, and charged with unflinching 
obedience to orders. It suffered without 
complaining all through the war. It finished 
its long career of arduous service at Macon, 
Georgia. It was, during the latter part of its 
service, under command of Captain E. M. 
Colver, and under him did some glorious 
work. Under orders from General Thomas 
the Third turned over its horses and arms at 
Macon, and was ordered to report at 
Nashville, Tennessee, for muster out. 
Proceeding to Louisville, Kentucky, and 
thence to Camp Chase, Ohio, the regiment 
was there paid off and discharged on the 
14th day August, 1865, having served four 
years lacking twenty days. 

The following is the roster and roll of the 
men furnished to this grand regiment from 
Sandusky county: 

COMPANY D. 
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain William B. Amsden. 
First Lieutenant Richard B. Wood. 
Second Lieutenant George F. Williams. 

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Quartermaster Sergeant Henry H. Sears. 

Sergeant Edward Haines. 

Sergeant Joseph A. Hill. 

Sergeant Paul Deal. 

Sergeant George W. Butler. Sergeant 

William L. Stackhouse. Corporal 

John Linebaugh. 

Corporal Jacob Stahls. 

Corporal Charles S. Kelsey. 

Corporal William Meredith. 

Corporal Michael Farmer. 

Corporal George Walcott. 

Corporal Dennis D. Glass. 

Corporal William A. Blanden. 

Blacksmith Oliver Mallerne. 

Blacksmith Gabriel Burrough. 

Teamster John L. Dickinson. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



343 



PRIVATES. 

George Abel, Hezekiah Albee, William Albee, 
Stephen Bice, Edward Cavil, John Clary, Joseph 
Deitrich, John A. Deitz, Hezekiah Edwards, Wheeler 
Ferguson, Aaron Fought, Peter Grigwire, Lewis 
Grigwire, Alanson Grover, Henry Grayback, Levi Hair, 
Marion Hawk, Philip C. Huffman, Allen Holcomb, Jacob 
Helmkee, Benjamin F. Hill, Thomas Jackson, Milo 
James, James Kelsey, Richard Lemmon, Daniel H. 
Lentz, Sardis B. Lock wood, David O. Lucas, Jacob 
Miller, Abel Miller, Reuben Miller, Marion Minkley, 
George W. Muney, Samuel Heff, George Heff, Thomas 
Odell, Joseph Parrish, Jefferson Peck, Obid C. Russell, 
Henry Stahl, Isaiah Stout% Joseph G. M. Stackhouse, 
David West, George D. Walker, James White, Henry 
Yeasting, Julius Beck, John R. P. Foster, William A. 
Gregg, Hiram Arlin, Hiram Aldridge, Silas C. Boor, 
James S. Donnell, William Eno, William H. Fawsy, 
Augustus Graback, Dennis Gem, Samuel Games, 
Thomas M. Hill, Gilbert W. Hill, Philip Hathaway, 
Barzillai Inman, William L. Long, George Michael, John 
Sweet, Emanuel D. Smith, George W. Smith, Solomon 
Shively, John Temons, John Buck, John C. Curry, 
Harvey Kerns, Henry P. Pope, Franklin Ream, Charles 
Ferguson. 

COMPANY F. 

PRIVATES. 

Samuel Riggs, Martin Rowe, James Watson, John 
Young, Barkdall Arnott, James Arnott, James H. Green, 
John Wall. 

COMPANY K. 

PRIVATES. 

William Jones, James McCormick. 

THE NINTH OHIO VOLUNTEER CAVALRY. 

This regiment was recruited in the fall and 
winter of 1862. The nucleus of the regiment 
was raised in the central and southern 
portion of the State, with rendezvous at 
Zanesville. It did faithful service, for the 
particulars of which the reader may consult 
the history of Ohio in the War. 

The following is the list of names given 
the writer from records as men from 
Sandusky county: 

COMPANY I. 
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER. 

Sergeant Tames Turner. 

PRIVATES. 

Francis H. Bartlett, Ferdinand Bates, Jefferson 
Baker, Oscar T. Lefever, William H. Nortrip, Henry D. 

VanFleet. 



COMPANY K. 

PRIVATES. 

Henry W. Baker, Winfield S. Ballard, Benjamin F. Bolus, 
Henry C. Dicken, Curtis S. Elder, William Fisher, Elias 
Howard, Valentine Lybarger, Samuel G. Martin, Daniel S. 
Moses, John Momyshaffer, Alexander J. Ogle, Francis 
Overmyer, Benjamin Philips, Joel G. Woodruff, James R. 
Wilson, William M. Wyant, Jacob Yourts. 

TENTH OHIO VOLUNTEER CAVALRY. 

The following is a list of men who volun- 
teered from Sandusky county and enlisted in 
the Tenth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. For the 
services performed by this regiment the 
reader is referred to Ohio in the War, by 
Reid. 

COMPANY G. 
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER. 

Corporal Jehial Halliday. 

PRIVATES. 
Francis Howell, Uriah Mitchell, Andrew Powers. 

This list is defective because it fails to 
mention Lieutenant James H. Hafford, who 
was afterwards promoted to captain, was 
taken prisoner, his horse being killed and so 
falling on his legs as to prevent his escape 
from the enemy; a brave soldier and worthy 
commander of his company. 

Sandusky county also contributed patri- 
otic and brave men to other military or- 
ganizations as follows: 

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXT Y -SIXTH OHIO 
VOLUNTEER INFANTRY-COMPANY F. 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain Martin Edgar. 

First Lieutenant Samuel W. Curtis. 

Second Lieutenant Sterry H. Cole. 

PRIVATES. 

David Acker, Larry Arnold, William H. Ames, Jacob 
Burden, Simon DeGraff, Peter R. Draper, Isaac N. 
Degraff, Peter D. Norris, Edmund J. Husted, Abbot 
Jones, William M. Jenkins, Joseph W. Lee, Marshall 
Lester, Robert Lester, Marshall W. Lowe, Thomas 
Millman, John Tenney, John B. Perkins, Walter Pitayo, 
David M. Pelton, William Rice, Dwight Ruggles, Henry 
Sayers, John Sly, Lyman J. Swift, Van Renssalear Swift, 
Wilber Waldron, Giles Yapel, Andrew J. Lock wood, 
Thomas W. Miller, Horace Draper, Allen D. Owens, 
Henry C. Owens, William S. Smith, Sperry Green, 
Cornelius S. Plue, George W. Steele. 



344 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINTH OHIO 

VOLUNTEER INFANTRY-COMPANY H. 

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

Captain L. W. Davis. 

First Lieutenant L. B. Shafer. Second Lieutenant 

George A. Hall. 

PRIVATES. 

John Barr, James Bradshaw, Clark Daniels, Jeremiah 
Daniels, Henry Garvin, William N. Golden, Christian 
Heisy. 

COMPANY I. 
COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 
Captain Thomas J. Davis. 

First Lieutenant Samuel H. Eckelburg. Second 
Lieutenant Abraham Balyeat. 

PRIVATES. 

William Adams, George Bashaw, James Babcock, 
Matthias Earney, Joseph Ellis, Hessy Edwards, George 
Fitzgerald, George Higley, John Lance, James Pearson, 
William Pearson. 

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOURTH OHIO 

NATIONAL GUARD-COMPANY H. 

PRIVATES. 
William J. Raymond, Merritt C. Beymer. 
SEVENTEENTH BATTERY, LIGHT ARTILLERY 
Private Edwin Snyder. 

TWENTY-SECOND BATTERY. 

PRIVATES. 

Andrew J. Culp, William H. Deal, John W. Knapp, 
Charles Neff, Andrew J. Paden, Daniel M. Shiveley, 
Clarence Williams, Thomas M. Hill, Joseph C. Knapp. 

TWENTY-THIRD REGIMENT. 

COMMISSIONED OFFICER. 

Major Rutherford B. Hayes. 

THIRTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT, OHIO 
VOLUNTEER INFANTRY-COMPANY B. 

Corporal Nicholas Messer. Private Jacob Kopp. 

COMPANY G. 

PRIVATES. 

Henrich Boesinger, Frederick Emseh, Carl 
Heimburger, Jacob Loesch, Philip Loesch, John W. 
Loesch, Jacob Mueller, Valentine Oetzel, John BueBer, 
Ernst Saupe, Joseph Twaerenbold, Samuel Zimmerman. 

SIXTIETH REGIMENT 

COMPANY I. 
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 
Corporal George Runnion, 



Drummer William K. Thomas. 
PRIVATES. 

Job Runnion, George Weaver. 

FOURTH REGIMENT OHIO 
VOLUNTEERS. COMPANY B. 

Private Andrew J. Bitle. 

SEVENTH COMPANY OHIO VOLUNTEER 

SHARPSHOOTERS. 

Corporal Benton Deyo. 
Private Andrew Hush. 

SECOND REGIMENT OHIO VOLUNTEER 
HEAVY ARILLERY-COMPANY L. 

PRIVATES. 
Jacob Hoover, Byron Holly, Albert E. Ingham, Jacob 
Smith, Nelson R. Forester. 

Sandusky county gave to the Naval 

Service in United States Mississippi 

squadron, Lysander C. Ball, Charles E. 
Everett and Peter Parker. 

OUR WOMEN AS "HELPMEET" IN THE WAR OF 
THE REBELLION. 

No fair or true history of the war to 
suppress the Southern rebellion, and to save 
the Constitution and the Government, can be 
written without placing on record, by the 
side of the heroic deeds of the men, the 
noble acts and the uncomplaining endurance 
of suffering and privation patiently borne by 
the patriotic women of Sandusky county, as 
well as everywhere in the country. 

In the autumn of 1861, President Lincoln 
and General Scott became convinced that the 
war would be prolonged through the 
approaching, winter, and convinced also 
that, with all the efforts Government could 
make with the resources then in its hands, 
there must be much suffering in the army 
necessarily to be kept in the field, for want 
of clothing and other supplies, made an 
appeal to the mothers and daughters of the 
republic for help. They were requested to 
make an effort to furnish shirts, drawers, 
socks, mittens, etc., to the soldiers in the 
field, and also such 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



345 



articles as the sick and wounded might need. 

And now we pause to consider and ask: 
What could a whole volume upon the then 
alarming condition of the country say or 
prove better than an appeal of this kind, 
made by the commander-in-chief of the army 
and navy of the United States, and his 
venerable, war-worn lieutenant-general, to 
the women of the country? Alarm and fear, 
and want of resources to carry on the war 
successfully, are all implied in this appeal to 
the women. The wisdom and experience of 
the men who made this appeal are obvious. 
They knew well the organism of the two 
sexes that man is strongest in intellect and 
reasoning, while woman is more affectionate 
and intuitive than man; that her intuition 
often leads her to safer conclusions in the 
practical affairs of life, than the slow 
judgment and reasoning of man. They knew 
also that, while love is the controlling 
influence in woman, when the object of her 
love was placed in a position of danger and 
suffering, her labor to rescue and relieve was 
intense, sleepless, and knew no bound but 
the limit of life itself. These wise ones knew 
also the power of woman in the domestic and 
social circles of life to stimulate man to 
action. This wise and timely appeal to 
mothers and daughters was well made and 
most nobly responded to, especially by the 
women of Sandusky county. 

On the 14th of October, 1861, at a meet- 
ing held in Buckeye Hall, in Fremont, for the 
purpose of recruiting for the Seventy-second 
regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, among 
other proceedings resolutions were passed 
noticing this appeal to the mothers and 
daughters of the country, and requesting that 
they organize a society for the purpose 
indicated. 

SOLDIERS' AID SOCIETY. 

Promptly after publication of the reso- 
lutions, the women of the vicinity were 



called together, and on the 19th day of 
October, 1861, about one hundred of the 
best and most influential women of the city 
met at Birchard Hall to consider the matter, 
and organized a society, adopted a 
constitution, and elected officers, as fol- 
lows: 

Mrs. R. P. Buckland, president; Mrs. 
James Vallette, vice-president; Mrs. Geo. 
C. Canfield, treasurer; Mrs. A. Phelps, 
secretary. 

Mrs. S. Buckland, Mrs. Isaac E. Amsden, 
Mrs. Dr. St. Clair, Mrs. James W. Wilson, 
Mrs. James Graham, Mrs. A. Norton, Miss 
M. Raymond, and Miss Eveline Ball, 
directors. 

The visiting committee was as follows: 
Mrs. F. I. Norton, Mrs. L. Canfield, Mrs. 
William B. Sheldon, Mrs. Oscar Ball, Mrs. 
Piatt Brush, Mrs. M. W. St. Clair, and Miss 
Bell Nyce. 

The receiving and distributing committee 
was composed of Mrs. J. B. G. Downs, Mrs. 
George Raymond, and Mrs. Lewis Canfield. 

The object of the society was to collect 
and forward to the Union soldiers clothing, 
medicine, and food fit for the sick soldiers, 
lint, bandages, and every other article 
available to relieve our soldiers from the 
sufferings incident to the war. 

The society at once made its organization 
and objects known through the press of the 
county, and gave notice that any donations 
to the soldiers might be deposited with 
Stephen Buckland, or R. C. McCulloch, of 
Fremont. 

At a meeting of the Soldiers' Aid So- 
ciety, held January 30, 1862, the following 
officers were elected for the ensuing year: 

Mrs. A. H. Miller, president; Mrs. J. L. 
Greene, vice-president; Miss M. Raymond, 
secretary; Mrs. George C. Canfield, 
treasurer. 

The board of directors was as follows: 



346 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Mrs. S. Grant, Mrs. Isaac Sharp, Mrs. A. B. 
Taylor, Mrs. Henry Lesher, Mrs. William B. 
Sheldon, Mrs. P C. Dean, Mrs. I. Camfield, 
Mrs. Theodore Clapp, Mrs. Oscar Ball, and 
Miss Alvira Ball. 

Mrs. F. I. Norton, Mrs. Piatt Brush, and 
Mrs. Benjamin Flint, composed the receiving 
and distributing committee. 

To give a detailed account of all that our 
women did for the safety and comfort of our 
soldiers in the service, whether in the field 
or hospital, or in prison, would fill a book, 
but is not necessary to a fair appreciation of 
their works. From the day the society was 
organized, they worked for the comfort and 
health of the men in the army. They worked 
as only women can work for country, and for 
loved ones away, and in danger. Their minds 
and hands were busy in contriving and 
executing plans for the most good, and how 
much good they accomplished the Infinite 
alone can ever know and measure. Women 
whose hands had before been strangers to 
work, and whose circumstances in life then 
were such as to free them from toil at home, 
cheerfully met and mingled with those who 
had known toil all their lives, on a common 
level in their great work, and toiled together 
and earnestly for the soldiers of the Union 
army. And the soldier in prison, or in 
hospital, or in camp on duty, received the 
letters from the noble women at home, 
bearing messages of recollection, kindness 
and encouragement, accompanied with the 
free offerings of things needed for their 
comfort, the soldier was not only relieved 
and comforted, but was inspired with fresh 
and higher courage to fight and suffer on to 
a glorious close of the war. 

The records of the society are not at hand, 
but we have gathered sufficient facts to give 
future generations the kind of work they 
performed all through the war after the 
society was first organized. Al- 



most every week, and sometimes often 
shipments were made of articles needed. One 
or two would capture a horse and spring 
wagon, drive through the country, calling on 
every one they met for donations. They 
would enter a well-to-do farmer's residence. 
The good wife on being informed of their 
object, would at once throw open closet, 
larder, and cellar, and whatever the callers 
wanted they took, and the donor was happy 
in the giving. Her store of preserves, jellies, 
pickles, blankets, old sheets, in fact anything 
they wanted was at their disposal, and the 
wagon would soon return loaded with good 
and comforting things for the boys in the 
war. These collections and the donations 
from those nearer the head of the 
organization were packed in boxes, and 
promptly sent by railroad to where they were 
most needed. 

We here append the quarterly report of 
the Soldiers' Aid Society of Fremont, made 
February 4, 1864, to give a sample of the 
articles collected and forwarded, also a 
report of a similar organization at Clyde, in 
September, 1864, which are as follows : 

During the quarter, one box, containing 8 woolen 
shirts, 26 pairs socks, 7 pairs drawers, 3 sheets, 6 
towels, 8 cotton shirts, 9 double gowns, 29 
handkerchiefs, 3 pounds compresses, 5 cans peaches, 
28 pounds dried apples, 5 pounds dried cherries, 4 
pounds peaches (dried), 1 pair mittens, 2 pounds sugar, 
4 pounds soap, 3 cans of apple-butter, 1 can of 
tomatoes. 

This box contained also the Woodville donations, 
viz: 17 shirts, 4 pairs socks, 8 pillows, 6 pillow slips, 4 
pounds old cotton, and 9 pounds of dried fruit. 

Also two other boxes, containing 14 flannel shirts, 
11 cotton shirts, 13 pairs drawers, 10 pillow slips, 7 
sheets, 7 towels, 21 handkerchiefs, 12 pairs socks, 7 
jars apple butter, 16 pounds dried apples, 6 pounds 
dried peaches, 5 pounds soap, 2 rolls cotton, 3 jars 
cherries; 2 boxes, 3 cans, and 2 bottles tomatoes; 1 
bottle wine, 1 jar cherries, 1 jar peaches, 1 jar quinces, 
1 jar raspberries, and 1 gallon boiled cider. 

MRS. DOUGHERTY, President. 

MRS. B. AMSDEN, Secretary. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



347 



CLYDE AID SOCIETY. 

CLYDE, September 23, 1864. The 
second financial year of our society has come, and we 
still find ourselves in a cruel war. Though at present we 
rejoice over our victories, and were it not for Northern 
rebels we might think the work almost done; but they 
will meet a fall one day that will tell them and their 
children the doom of traitors. In casting up our 
proceedings we find as follows : 

Money received during the year $266.00 

Paid out 258.91 

Leaving in treasury $ 7.10 

We return our thanks to Mr. H. Adams for his 
donations—four hundred and fifty dollars, --also for the 
melons; thanks to Mr. Hatfield for money received from 
taking pictures on Thursdays. All who want a good 
picture call on Mr. Hatfield on Thursdays, and you will 
not only have a good picture but will help the Aid, as 
half of the proceeds of that day go to the society. To 
Messrs. Lemon, Mook, Streeter, Russell, Nichols, 
Tichnor, Birdsey, and Steward for fleeces of wool, our 
thanks. And to all who have so kindly donated during 
the year, we say keep on, as we shall need all the help 
we can have in these times of high prices. We have 
shipped to the Commission at Cincinnati during the year 
the following: Two coats, 4 pair mittens, 2 sheets, 74 
shirts, 54 pair drawers, 9 comforts, 215 handkerchiefs, 
45 double gowns, 33 pillows, 35 pillowcases, 64 pairs 
socks, 77 towels, 293 pads, 1,492 yards bandages, 1,967 
compresses, 19 rolls linen, cotton and flannel, 9 
napkins, 6 armslings, 24 rolls wide bandages, 3 vests, 6 
pair slippers, 4 packages hops, 3 of sage, 374 magazines 
and papers, 3 dozen buttons, 1 ounce linen thread, 17 
quires letter-paper, 13 packages envelopes, 56 combs, 
47 cakes of soap, 4 dozen lead-pencils, one dozen pens 
and holders, bunch toothpicks, 2 fans, 1 can sugar, 1 
package beans, 163 pounds apples, 80 pounds small 
fruits, 3 pounds canned beef, 1 keg pickled cabbage, 3 % 
bushel potatoes, 1 box blackberry root, 29 quarts cucum- 
ber catsup, r quart wine, 8 quarts canned blackberries, 1 
quart candy, r quart crabapple, 1 quart currant jelly, 1 
quart canned gooseberries, 2 quarts canned raspberries, 
8 of peaches, 12 of cherries, a boxes mustard, 4 pounds 
corn starch, 1 can fruit, kind not known. 

At a reorganization meeting September 22, the 
following officers were elected: Mrs. Nathan P. 
Birdseye, re-elected president; Mrs. Dr. Weaver, vice- 
president; Mrs. Colonel Faton, secretary; Mrs. Dr. 
Seeley, treasurer; Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Jackson, 
directors. 

MRS. NATHAN BIRDSEYE, President. 
MRS. BRADLEY TUTTLE, Secretary. 

These are mere specimens of what was 



done, and by no means indicate the extent 
of shipments made during the four years of 
the war after the women's movement was 
inaugurated. 

The women of Fremont did not limit their 
work to sending good things forward for the 
soldiers. As the hardships, exposure, and 
the bloody work on the fields of battle went 
on, during 1863, 1864, and part of 1865, 
thousands of men were discharged for 
disability and sent home. Such women as 
Mrs. John R. Pease, Mrs. R. P. Buckland, 
Mrs. Dr. Stillwell, Mrs. Grant, and probably 
others in concert with them, discovered 
these soldiers making their way homeward 
in destitute circumstances. They at once 
seized the opportunity for doing good, and 
rented a house and furnished it with 
comforts for needy, returning invalid sol- 
diers. They watched for these needy patriots 
and when one was found he was at once 
taken to their impromptu home for needy 
soldiers. They would place him there and, 
furnish him with medicine if needed, and 
food and lodging until he was refreshed and 
able to go on his journey; and if he had no 
means to travel with, the means also were 
furnished him through their efforts, and the 
thankful soldier, sick, wounded, or needy, 
was sent towards his home rejoicing. Such 
women need no words of praise; their acts 
praise them better, before God and man, 
than language can. 



348 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 



GENERAL CHARLES GRANT 
EATON. 

As a soldier, physician, and citizen, Col- 
onel Eaton is alike favorably and honorably 
remembered. He was one of those peculiar 
men whose ability commanded respect, and 
whose qualities ingratiated him into the 
affections of his companions. .Since people 
are naturally interested in .what is said of 
their friends, this sketch is sure to receive a 
general reading. 

Charles Grant Eaton was a son of Abel 
and Julia Eaton, and was born at Lowell, 
Massachusetts, September 27, 1825. His 
parents removed to Ohio in 1828, and settled 
in Licking county. Charles worked on a farm 
and attended the common schools of that 
community until young manhood, when he 
began the study of medicine in Granville,, 
under the tutorage of Dr. Austin. He 
attended lectures at Cincinnati College of 
Medicine, where he graduated in the class of 
1847. 

Dr. Eaton began practice at Savannah, 
Athens county, Ohio. He married, May 15, 
1.849, Mary H. Conant, who was born in, 
Worcester county, Massachusetts, July 8, 
1825, Her parents, Lot and Mary Conant, 
settled in West Virginia in 1830. 

In 1853 Dr. Eaton began the practice of 
his profession in Clyde. His tact and skill 
soon found favor, and a full share of the 
practice of the eastern part of the county 
came under his care. His professional career 
was uninterrupted until the opening of the 
Rebellion. The political storm had not been 
raging without his notice. He felt that 
patriotism demanded political activity, and 
responded heartily to the call. 

When the country was aroused by the 
sound of battle, Dr. Eaton abandoned his 
practice and began recruiting troops for 



the Seventy-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
then being formed mainly through the efforts 
of General Buckland. Dr. Eaton was 
complimented for his activity with the 
captaincy of company A, composed mostly 
of citizens of the east part of the county. 

The biography of Dr. Eaton from now 
until the close of the war is closely 
interwoven with the history of the noble 
Seventy-second Although his commissioned 
rank in the service did not obtain higher than 
the lieutenant-colonelcy, he was in command 
of the regiment during many of its most 
perilous expeditions. The regiment, soon 
after enlistment, was ordered up the 
Tennessee River. At Shiloh Captain Eaton 
was quite sick, and in consequence was 
unable to participate actively in this 
engagement, in which the lieutenant-colonel 
was killed and the major captured.. The 
command then devolved upon Colonel 
Eaton, until the regiment reached Camp No. 
6, in front of Corinth, when Colonel 
Buckland, Who had been in command of the 
brigade, reassumed command of the 
regiment. 

Captain Eaton was promoted to major 
July 23, 1862. In November, 1862, Colonel 
Buckland being again called to the command 
of a brigade, Major Eaton was given 
command of the regiment on Grant's 
Mississippi campaign, and several 
independent expeditions, until the return of 
Lieutenant-Colonel Crockett in January, 
1863. He served with credit through the 
Vicksburg campaign, and was soon after 
commissioned lieutenant-colonel. In the 
absence of the colonel he commanded the, 
regiment until it was mustered out, 
September 11, 1865. 

Colonel Eaton commanded his regiment 
on McPherson's expedition to Canton, 
Mississippi, and in Sturgis' fight with 
Forrest near Tupelo, Mississippi, where his 
bravery and devotion saved many men 




GENERAL CHARLES G. EATON 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



349 



from capture. In General A. J, Smith's fights 
with Forrest; on, Mower's raid through 
Arkansas into Missouri after the rebel 
General Price; at the battle of Nashville, 
December, 1864, where the Seventy-second 
won distinguished honor; in the attacks upon 
the forts around Mobile in the spring of 
1865, he bore himself like a true soldier. 
When hostilities had finally ceased, lie 
marched with his command, by way of 
Montgomery and Selma, to Vicksburg, 
where the regiment was mustered out. 

He came out of the service," says the 
memorial of the Army of the Tennessee, 
"without a blemish on his military record, 
and at the close of the war was brevetted 
brigadier-general for gallant and meritorious 
services." 

Colonel Eaton was firmly attached to his 
regiment. He was a man of heart as well as. 
courage. While he was ambitious to honor: 
his regiment, he at the same time protected 
them so far as possible from rash and 
hazardous undertakings. An incident 
illustrating his character as a military 
commander occurred on the field of 
Nashville. The lines were drawn up in front 
of the enemy's position, the Seventy-second 
being placed before a strong point. 
Brigadier-General McMillen sent his aide to 
Colonel Eaton, ordering hint to lead the 
advance. Eaton saw at once that the 
execution of this order would be the certain 
destruction of the regiment: He told the 
officer to present General McMillen his 
compliments, and to tell him that he was not 
going to advance. The aide communicated 
Eaton's reply to McMillen, who rode in 
person to the front and repeated the order. 
Eaton, in his characteristic way, said, in 
effect: General, you can't see the situation. I 
am here in front where I can, and I tell you 
this regiment is not going to advance on that 
position." General McMillen com- 



promised his order, and saved the regiment 
from foolish destruction. 

Colonel Eaton, as it is popularly expressed, 
was "one of the boys"; always ready to join 
in their amusements, exert himself to relieve 
their suffering, and make the burdens of 
army life as light as possible. No body of 
men could help but, be attached to such an 
officer. Friendship, heightened into love, 
which has not yet been forgotten by 
comrades in arms. On one occasion, at a 
reunion, a veteran caught his old colonel by 
the hand, and, as he remembered the 
multiplied kindnesses shown the rank and 
file on the field, his eyes filled and tears 
drowned the words with which he wanted to 
express himself. A similar feeling of 
affection is cherished by his entire 
command. 

After the war Dr. Eaton resumed the 
practice of his profession in Clyde. He died 
October 13, 1895. In his profession, General 
Eaton was not bound by any school of 
practice. He was practical in the treatment of 
cases, never wanting in resources, and 
always prompt in their application. While his 
knowledge of the science of medicine 
covered a wide range, he relied more upon 
his own judgment and experience . than 
upon books and rules. He perceived quickly 
and accurately, and discriminated finely. A 
retentive memory was his faithful servant, 
and trade a diversified experience valuable. 

As a citizen, General Eaton was 
enterprising and influential. He was 
freehanded with his money, and loved 
association. His affable manner, generosity, 
and interesting conversation caused his 
companionship- to be sought and 
appreciated. Although without early training, 
and never a hard student, he was a well- 
informed man. His was one of those peculiar 
minds which absorb the acquirements of 
minds with which they come in contact. 
Having engaged in a consulta- 



350 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



tion of physicians, or social conversation, he 
came away possessed of all the information 
called out. 

Dr. Eaton was buried with Masonic 
honors, having been connected with that 
fraternity from the age of twenty-one years. 
He was also a member of the Odd Fellows 
lodge. 

Mrs. Eaton is yet a citizen of Clyde. The 
family consisted of three children-Charles 
Henry, born March 14, 1850, lives in 
Colorado; Mary Julia, born October 31, 
1851, married August 6, 1875, to John H. 
King, lives in Michigan; Frederick C, born 
January 13, 1861, died March 14, 1862. 



CHESTER AVERILL BUCKLAND, 

son of Stephen and Lucy Buckland, was 
born January 6, 1841, at Edinburg, then in 
Portage, but now in Summit county. He 
came with his parents, while quite young, to 
Fremont, and at an early period determined 
to learn a trade, and be independent. He 
accordingly served an apprenticeship at the 
printing business in the Fremont journal 
office, under the instruction of Isaac M. 
Keeler, the then editor and publisher of the 
paper. He evinced so much manliness and 
intelligence that his parents determined to 
give him an education, and for that purpose 
sent him to Hudson College. Here young 
Buckland made rapid progress in his 
studies, and developed qualities which 
promised a high and noble manhood. From 
the time the war of the Rebellion first broke 
out, he had a burning desire to enter the 
Union army, but could not obtain the 
consent of his loved and loving mother. 
When his older brother, Henry W. 
Buckland, enlisted, and became lieutenant 
of Company B, of the Seventy-second 
regiment, Chester made further 



appeals to his mother by writing to her from 
Hudson, asking her to consent to his 
enlistment. The letters he wrote are so full of 
expressions of filial obedience, and yet so 
earnest, that they honor both parents and 
their child. They are given here, not 
specially to praise young Buckland, but to 
show the spirit of a representative young 
man of our county: 

HUDSON, November 10, 1861. 
DEAR PARENTS: I write home, at the present 
time, for your permission to enter the army. 
Notwithstanding my great and burning desire to go and 
help overturn the rebels, I have held back by your 
advice, and in accordance with your wishes. You do 
not know how many times I have regretted I was not in 
the army, and often I think I seem a coward that I have 
not gone. But I gave my promise that I should not go 
without your consent, and I do not wish to break it. A 
great many of my friends have gone, and to me it 
seems as if I should be with them. You think me unable 
to undergo the life of a soldier. I, as well as others, 
have sound and unblemished limbs, fine-textured 
muscles, capable of great development, and which can 
be taught to bear fatigue. To be sure, I am small in 
stature, but it has been proved that small men make the 
best soldiers, capable of enduring more fatigue, 
excitement, hunger, thirst, and danger than large men, 
being sounder, and more compactly made. I have calcu- 
lated the costs, the danger, toil, and privation I will 
have to undergo, and with your consent, I will most 
gladly endure them all. Do not refuse me. I know it 
will cause you many an anxious hour, but you will love 
to boast of me, as well as of my brother. I would, of 
course, want to go with Henry. Besides, I should no 
longer be a burden to you, but could let you have the 
most of my money which I would draw from the 
Government, instead of drawing from you, which you 
can scarcely spare. Do not think this is a sudden streak 
in me, for it is not. It has long been forming, and every 
day becomes stronger and more powerful, and many 
times I have almost said I would go. You well know 
that long since I should have gone had you not 
restrained me, and now it requires but one word, and I 
will go. Do not withhold it. The more I see of the 
hardship, pain, and suffering in this war, the more I 
want to go and help punish the causes of it. I have 
delayed long enough, and I feel that I can not do so 
very long. I think it my duty to go. There are none who 
are dependent on me, and I can afford, as well as 
others, to leave my home and all I love for my 
country's welfare. Now that I have gone thus far, do not 
refuse me. There are many men who have left their 
wives and children 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



351 



to go. I have neither, and there are none who would 
suffer should I fall, Besides, I should be in far better 
health after I got used to it. I bad a letter from 
Lieutenant Tyler yesterday. He said all were well. I had 
a letter from Fred Collins during the week; he sends 
love. I had one from Pollie Stratton Wednesday. I must 
close now. So good-bye, and soon return a favorable 
reply to your son, 

CHESTER A. BUCKLAND. 

MOTHER, CAN I GO? 

I am writing to you, mother, knowing well what you will 

say, 
When you read with tearful fondness, all I write to you 

today; 
Knowing well the flame of ardor, on a loyal mother's 

part, 
That will kindle with each impulse, with each throbbing 

of your heart. 
I have heard my country calling for her sons that still 

are true; 
I have loved that country, mother, only next to God and 

you, 
And my soul is springing forward to resist her bitter 

foes; 
Can I go, my dearest mother? Tell me, mother, can 1 go? 

From the battered walls of Sumter, from the wild waves 
of the sea, 

I have heard her cry for succor, as the voice of God to 
me; 

In prosperity I loved her, in her days of dark distress; 

With your spirit in me, mother, could I love that country 
less? 

They have pierced her heart with treason; they have 
caused her sons to bleed; 

They have robbed her in her kindness; they have tri- 
umphed in her need; 

They have trampled on her standard, and she calls me in 
her woe. 

Can I go, my dearest mother? Tell me, mother, can I go? 

I am young and slender, mother; they would call me yet 

a boy; 
But I know the land I live in, and the blessings I enjoy. 
I am old enough, dear mother, to be loyal; proud, and 

true 
To the faithful sense of duty I have ever learned from 

you. 
We must conquer this rebellion; let the doubting heart 

be still; 
We must conquer it or perish; we must conquer, and we 

will. 
But the faithful must not falter; and shall I be wanting? 

No! 
Bid me go, my dearest mother. Tell me, mother, can I 



He who led His chosen people, in their efforts to be 

free 
From the tyranny of Egypt, will be merciful to me; 
Will protect me by His power, whate'er I undertake, 
Will return me home in safety, dearest mother, for your 

sake; 
Or should this, my bleeding country, need a victim 

such as me, 
I am nothing more than others who have perished to be 

free. 
On her bosom let me slumber; on her altar let me lie; 
I am not afraid, dear mother, in so good a cause to die. 

There will come a day of gladness, when the people of 

the Lord 
Shall look proudly on their banner which His mercy 

has restored, 
When the stars, in perfect number, on their azure field 

of blue, 
Shall be clustered in a union, then and ever firm and 

true. 
I may live to see it, mother, when the patriot's work is 

done, 
And your heart, so full of kindness, will beat proudly 

for your son; 
Or through tears your eyes may see it, with a sadly 

thoughtful view, 
And may love it still more dearly for the cost it won 

from you. 
I have written to you, mother, with a consciousness of 

right; 
I am thinking of you fondly, with a loyal heart, tonight. 
When I have your noble bidding, which shall bid me to 

press on, 
I will come and see you, mother, come and see you and 

be gone- 
In the sacred name of freedom and my country as her 

due; 
In the name of law and justice, I have written this to 

you. 
I am eager, anxious, longing, to resist my country's foe. 
Shall I go, my dearest mother? Tell me, mother, shall I 

go? 

-Chester A. Buckland. 

CAMP SHILOH, WEST TENNESSEE. 
Saturday April 5, 1862. 
DEAREST MOTHER:, 

You may glory in us now. 
Yesterday, while drilling, about a mile from here, our 
pickets were fired upon. In a very few moments the 
Seventy-second was on its way to battle at a double 
quick-step, company B in the rear. When we arrived at 
a convenient place, we were deployed as skirmishers, 
and were to try and surround the rebels. We wandered 
along a couple of miles. I and Henry were near the end 
of the company. The 



352 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



company was in groups of four, each group twenty paces 
apart. An order was given to rally on first group, when 
the front commenced to fire, but ceased before we could 
get up. We wandered in a body for near an hour, making 
frequent halts. Every ear was listening and every eye 
watching eagerly for sound or sight of the enemy. 
Nearly an hour from the first fire we got sight of them 
again, and nearly all got a chance to fire. We think one 
was killed or badly wounded. Here we found there were 
more than we thought, and so we retreated to a kind of a 
pen built of rails, and then to a big tree on the brow of a 
ravine. In a little time the rebel cavalry rude up in sight, 
and then the fight began. I could hear the balls go 
"whip" through the air, and hear them strike the trees 
around us. There were a hundred, and fifty rebels 
against forty-four of us! Once in a while one would drop 
from his horse or a horse would fall dead or wounded. 
We would load, run up where we could see, drop on our 
knees, take aim and fire, and then run back to load. In 
this manner we made them believe there were a good 
many more than there were of us. 

In this part of the fight two of our men were wounded, 
Charles H. Bennet, in the right leg and James Titsword 
through the left breast above the heart. When we had 
fought about three-fourths of an hour, it commenced to 
rain and hail, which made it difficult to load without 
wetting the power. Then the rebels retreated. In a very 
little time it rained so hard we could not see more than a 
couple of rods, which was just exactly the time for them 
to ride on to us and cut us in pieces. We threw out 
guards to watch for them. I never knew it to rain so 
hard. When the rain had ceased, we saw them forming 
on a sort of prairie beyond the reach of our Enfields. Ina 
short time they gave a great shout and advanced on us. 
As soon as they were within good reach, we commenced 
to drop them again. They had been reinforced to about 
four or five hundred, beside what may have been in 
reserve. We fought here about a quarter of an hour more, 
during which three more were wounded, and several had 
holes shot in their clothes, one having a thumb broke, 
two shots in his arm, one through his clothes and one in 
his boot. Now was the desperate time. The rebels fired a 
volley, drew sabres and began to advance. They were on 
three sides of us. Our hearts began to sink. We rallied 
round the old white oak, each one firmly grasping his 
gun with its powder-stained bayonet, and determined to 
give as good as we got. How fierce we felt. Our last 
chance seemed gone, when a volley sounded in the rear 
of the rebels. It was the Seventy-second! How loud the 
hurrahs sounded then! It was the sweetest music I ever 
heard! The rebels turned and fled. We were saved. We 
fired as long as we could reach them and then took 
Titsword in care, and then we went over to where part of 
the rebels had been. We found two mortally 



wounded ones. Our Enfields . make wicked holes. The 
first was a young boy about eighteen. He was afraid of 
us, and wanted to know what we would do with him. We 
promised to take care of him, as we would of our own 
men. He was assured of this, for one wanted to kill him,, 
but we raked him so" the boy was encouraged. The 
other was a man about twenty-five. We carried them as 
far as the pickets, where we had to leave them, for we 
could carry them no farther. Each one said there were 
four or five hundred of them. They were from Alabama, 
were well dressed and pretty well armed. These two men 
died last night. The rebels had carried all their wounded 
and dead away, but our cavalry say they saw about 
twenty dead rebels in the woods, and there must have 
been many wounded. I saw four dead horse. 

Company A passed over the ground where our 
heaviest fire was aimed, and found a great many, sabres, 
pistols, guns, blankets, and everything they couldn't take 
away. They had a battery not far from where we were, 
and the cavalry followed them nearly into it. I have 
heard our men took two pieces of artillery, but am not 
certain if it be true. None on our side were killed, but 
Major Crockett, I fear, is a prisoner. The last seen of 
him, he was riding like a flash through the woods, fol- 
lowed by a dozen rebel horsemen. He had no arms with 
him, and couldn't fight them. A sergeant and a corporal 
were taken prisoner from company H. Company H had 
four wounded, one the color-sergeant, old Dr. Gessner's 
son. He was taken prisoner and told to climb behind one 
of the rebels, which he would not do. The rebel drew a 
revolver and snapped it at him, but it missed fire. He ran 
while the rebel was cocking it again, when the fellow 
shot and hit him in the shoulder.. Our men took nine or 
ten prisoners, who said they hadn't thought we could 
shoot so well. We must have killed about as many as 
there were of us, for every man took aim, and there are 
some who don't miss often. Orin England and Eugene 
Rawson were with our company, and neither one of 
them had even a pistol; but as soon as Titswood was 
wounded, Orin took his gun and cartridge box and 
fought well, while Eugene stood up with the boys and 
talked and laughed, and told them to keep cool and take 
good aim. It was no light matter to stand up unarmed, 
and a lot of fellows shooting at one. While we were 
bringing in the wounded there was a heavy battle not far 
from where we fought. Our fight will not probably 
appear in the papers, but we had a hard struggle, and 
against most fearful odds. Ten to one is a great 
disadvantage. Two minutes more and company B, 
Seventy-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, would have 
been no more. We would have all been killed, for each 
one would have died fighting. It would have been a 
barren victory, for there would have been a dead rebel or 
two for everyone of us. Our bayonets were 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



353 



fixed, and they are sorry things to run upon. We were 
willing to stop fighting. How soon we will have another 
fight I don't know, but any minute the long roll may 
sound for the battle. We may fight and die; but, mother, 
your sons will never quail. 

It is getting too dark to write, so I must close. Good- 
bye, dear mother, and remember if I die it is for my 
country. 

Your son, 

CHESTER A. BUCKLAND. 

That these appeals were successful the 
above letter shows. The patriotic mother 
could no longer withhold her consent. On the 
22d day of November he enlisted in 
company B, of the Seventy-second regiment, 
at the age of twenty years. He went with the 
regiment to Shiloh, and there, early in the 
day of the 6th of April, he was wounded in 
the knee by a rifle shot from the enemy. 

The news of his being wounded reached 
home. Lists of the wounded who had been 
sent homeward were published in the papers. 
The anxious parents watched eagerly the list 
of those sent to Ohio, but Chester's name 
was not found. It appeared subsequently that 
by mistake his name was in the list of those 
sent to Indiana, which the friends here did 
not search with so much interest. 

Our people at once, after the battle of 
Shiloh, sent a committee there and another 
to Cincinnati, to look after the returning 
wounded. Dr. L. Q. Rawson, while at 
Cincinnati, found that young Buckland had 
died of his wound on a steamboat which was 
bringing him to that city from Cairo. Dr. 
Rawson at once placed the body in a metallic 
case, and sent the remains homeward, and 
informed the parents by telegraph what had 
happened. 

The remains arrived in due time, and, 
after solemn services, were deposited by a 
large collection of mourning, patriotic 
citizens in Oakwood cemetery, where he 
rests. 
Who did more for the country than 



Chester A. Buckland, who gave to it a dearer 
offering than did his father and mother? 



MICHAEL WEGSTEIN. 

The first man of the Seventy-second 
regiment to give his life on the field of battle 
for our Union and liberty, was Captain 
Michael Wegstein, of company H. He was 
born in Baden, Germany, in the year 1818. 
He emigrated to the United States in 1834, 
and as soon as time allowed became an 
American citizen by naturalization. He was 
an industrious and useful citizen, and in 
1859 was elected sheriff of Sandusky 
county. In the year 1861 Doctor A. R. 
Ferguson was elected his successor, whose 
term of service began on the 1st of January, 
1862. After the October election of 1861, 
Mr. Wegstein, being defeated in the election 
by Dr. Ferguson, at once set himself about 
recruiting a company of Germans, to form a 
part of the Seventy-second regiment. He 
succeeded, notwithstanding a portion of his 
party, the Democratic, was much opposed to 
the war at that time. Captain Wegstein was a 
brave, honest, and patriotic man. He ably 
and faithfully commanded company H, of 
the Seventy-second regiment, and was with 
it in all its movements until the morning of 
the memorable 6th of April, 1862. At the 
first onset of the rebels in that battle he was 
found ready and at the head of his company. 
As he was forming them into line for a 
charge upon the enemy, a mini rifle ball 
from the enemy's ranks struck him in the 
throat, a little above the breast bone, and he 
fell dead upon the field of battle. He was 
certainly the first man of the Seventy-second 
killed in battle, and probably the first life 
offered up by the patriots of Sandusky in the 
great struggle for the Nation's life. Michael 
Wegstein was an honest 



354 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



man, faithful in the discharge of all the 
social duties of life-a good citizen in all 
respects. He was always a brave man, and a 
patriot who gave his life for his adopted 
country. 

If Sandusky county shall ever perform her 
sacred duty in honoring her soldiers with a 
monument to them, the name of Michael 
Wegstein should have a prominent place, 
and justly and truly record the fact that of all 
the men the county gave to the Seventy- 
second regiment, he, an honest, brave, and 
patriotic man, was the first to die in battle. 



LIEUTENANT-COLONEL HERMAN 
CANFIELD, 
of Medina county, was the next offering of 
life on the field of battle from the Seventy- 
second regiment. He was a scholar, a 
graduate, a lawyer, and left a good and lu- 
crative practice to enter the service. By his 
efforts a company was enlisted in the eastern 
portion of the State. A few minutes after 
Captain Weigstein fell, Lieutenant-Colonel 
Canfield was shot through the breast while 
riding in front of his command, on the 
morning of the 6th of April, 1862, in the 
battle of Shiloh, and died on the 7th of the 
same month. 



MAJOR EUGENE ALLEN RAWSON. 

Among the noble men who have earned 
the gratitude of a Nation, by giving their 
strength and their lives to its defence, few 
there are whose memory deserves to be more 
warmly cherished than he whose name 
stands at the head of this article. While at 
school at Homer, New York, and just about 
finishing his academic course, preparatory to 
entering Yale College, the President's first 
call came for volunteers, and young Rawson, 
not stopping to count 



the cost of the sacrifice he was about to 
make, joined the Twelfth New York regi- 
ment as a private. In that capacity he took a 
noble part in the battle of Bull Run, evincing 
great coolness and bravery. When the 
fortunes of the day went against General 
McDowell's army, and when, in the 
confusion that followed, regiments were 
thrown into disorder and scattered, he and a 
tried companion sought the protection of a 
tree, from behind which they loaded and 
fired until his friend fell dead by his side. 

In December, 1861, he was appointed 
adjutant of the Seventy-second Ohio Vol- 
unteer Infantry by the Governor of Ohio, and 
was accordingly transferred to it by the War 
Department. He could have received no 
transfer more agreeable to his feelings, and 
none more complimentary. The Seventy- 
second was chiefly raised in his own county, 
and was composed in a great measure of 
those who had been the companions of his 
boyhood. Entering upon the duties of his 
new field, he at once exhibited a peculiar 
fitness for the position to which he had been 
called, and, from his previous experience in 
the service, was of great advantage in the 
early training of the regiment. He left 
Fremont with the regiment in January, 1862, 
when it moved to Camp Chase, preparatory, 
to setting out to its final destination, 
Paducah and the Southwest. When, joined to 
the Army of the Tennessee, the Seventy- 
second disembarked at Pittsburg Landing, 
the men composing the command were 
mostly sick, suffering terribly from the 
effect of their transit and with the disease 
peculiar to that Southern climate, to which 
they were unused. Major Rawson's natural 
buoyancy of spirit, and cheerful, sprightly 
manner could not otherwise than revive the 
drooping spirits of the boys, amongst whom, 
in their hour of calamity, he went about 
"doing good." On Friday preceding the 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



355 



battle of Shiloh, Major Crockett, with 
company A and company B, was sent 
forward by Colonel Buckland on a 
reconnaissance to ascertain the reason of the 
unusual firing heard in the direction of the 
picket line. Advancing some distance and 
failing to discover the cause, Major Crockett 
separated his little command, moving 
himself with one company to the left, while 
he sent company B, accompanied by 
Adjutant Rawson, to the right. Major 
Crockett's company, after proceeding but a 
little way, was met by a superior force of 
rebel cavalry. The Major and some of leis 
men were captured, while the balance barely 
made good their retreat. Company B, 
continuing its course to the right, 
unconscious of the fate of their gallant 
Major and his men, were confronted at a 
distance of a mile or two farther by the same 
cavalry which had so summarily disposed of 
their companions, now largely reinforced. 
Comprehending at a glance their situation, 
they discovered at once that retreat was 
impossible, and that the alternative remained 
to surrender or attempt to hold the enemy at 
bay until reinforcements should arrive. The 
latter course was unhesitatingly adopted. 
Choosing an elevated piece of ground, 
covered sparsely by trees, they prepared for 
the attack. 

Their position placed the enemy in front, 
the ground being unfavorable for a flank 
movement. Making a fallen tree their 
breastwork, those forty men, who had never 
before stood face to face with an enemy, 
who, for the first time were required to point 
a gun or pull a trigger-held in check, for 
hours, six hundred rebel cavalry, by 
emptying the saddles of the advance until, to 
their great relief, a volley in the rear of their 
enemy announced the arrival of part of the 
Seventy-second regiment, led by Colonel 
Buckland, who, becoming alarmed at their 
long absence, 



hastened to their rescue at a double quick, 
and arrived just in time to defeat a charge 
the rebels had drawn sabre to make. 

Although Major Rawson was not in 
command of the detachment, yet owing to 
the feeble health of Captain Raymond, the 
conduct of the 'defence devolved principally 
upon him. Under his direction a volley of 
only ten guns was fired at one time, so that a 
sufficient reserve should remain to mete out 
with steady aim another and still another 
volley, if the dashing chivalry should choose 
to follow up their advance after receiving the 
first round. 

After the fight was over, the enemy's dead 
of men and horses counted, and the few 
wounded prisoners cared for, all, both 
officers and men, were lavish of the praise 
they bestowed upon their young adjutant. 
Without a musket himself, he picked up that 
of a wounded comrade, and fired his rounds 
with a composure that did no discredit to his 
exploit at Bull Run. 

When the battle opened on the 6th of 
April, two days afterwards, and the rebels 
came like an avalanche upon our unsus- 
pecting troops at Shiloh, Buckland's brigade 
responded to the beat of the long-roll with 
such alacrity that they stood in the very front 
of Sherman's division, ready to meet the 
corning shock before the enemy had gained 
rifle distance of their position. Colonel 
Buckland being in command of the brigade, 
the command devolved upon Lieutenant- 
Colonel Canfield. Major Crockett, the only 
other field officer of the regiment, being a 
prisoner, by common consent Adjutant 
Rawson assumed his position for the 
occasion. At the first or second fire 
Lieutenant-Colonel Canfield fell mortally 
wounded, and he alone remained to 
command and cheer the undaunted boys who 
stood steadfast amid the storm of leaden hail 
that mowed through their ranks, until Col- 



356 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



onel Buckland, seeing the disaster that had 
befallen his own brave regiment, put himself 
at their head, and led them through the fight. 
The horse of our young adjutant was shot 
from under him, and another that had been 
sent forward for him being captured before it 
reached him, his duties were no less bravely 
or efficiently performed on foot. 

The history of the Seventy-second; of the 
part it bore in the three days' fight at 
Pittsburg Landing; in the siege of Corinth; 
in. the pursuit of Forrest through Tennessee; 
of its marches, skirmishes and battles from 
Memphis to Vicksburg; of its pursuit of 
Johnson, under Sherman, to Jackson; of its 
return to Memphis, and of the part it enacted 
in the great expedition of General Sherman 
into Mississippi — is the history of Major 
Rawson. After the Seventy-second had re- 
enlisted as veterans, and after the main body, 
composing Sherman's expedition, had moved 
southward, a small force, consisting of not 
over sixteen hundred men, was sent out on 
the venturesome expedition of making a 
feint into the enemy's country, who were 
holding a position on the bank of the 
Tallahatchie, to intercept and defeat the 
crossing of the reinforcements moving to the 
support of General Sherman. Of this 
comparatively small force the Seventy- 
second formed a part under the command of 
Lieutenant-Colonel Eaton and Major 
Rawson, Adjutant Rawson having been 
promoted to the rank of Major by the 
unanimous recommendation of the officers, 
and in accordance with the known feeling of 
the regiment, although he stood not in the 
regular line of promotion. 

Arriving at the Tallahatchie River in the 
evening, and finding the enemy encamped in 
large force on the opposite bank, they lit up 
their camp fires in such profusion as to 
deceive the rebels into the belief that they 
were a body of some six 



or eight thousand strong. So well did they 
play their part that they kept the enemy 
beguiled and at rest until time enough had 
elapsed for General Smith to cross the river 
above, at the point chosen, without 
interference. The object of the expedition 
attained, they were ordered to return to 
Memphis. But they were in the enemy's 
country, out of reach of reinforcements, 
numbering less than sixteen hundred, with 
the rebels in strong force on the opposite 
side of the river. To render less hazardous 
their retreat it became necessary to burn two 
bridges. Colonel Eaton received the order 
from the general in command to execute the 
task. Dividing his regiment, he marched 
before morning with the main body to the 
one supposed to be the most strongly 
guarded, assigning to Major Rawson two 
small companies with which to proceed to 
the other, where it was thought but few 
would be found to offer resistance. The 
reverse proved to be the case. The Major it 
was who encountered the largest force. 
Having arrived at the bridge Major Rawson 
sent his pickets across to reconnoiter. No 
sooner had they gained the opposite side 
than from a point out of sight, came dashing 
up a large body of rebel cavalry, who 
commenced firing on the pickets. Veterans 
as they were, they knew too much to run 
across the bridge, where they would be sure 
to receive the raking fire of the rebel 
carbines. So they jumped over the sides into 
the water. This gave them the protection of 
the bank, as they well knew the trusty rifles 
of their companions would make a near ap- 
proach to the bank a place where a rebel 
would hardly venture to "make ready, take 
aim, fire," even at the command of a major- 
general himself. A brisk little fight ensued- 
the bridge was destroyed without the loss of 
a man on Major Rawson's side, while more 
than one rebel grave marks the site where 
the old bridge 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



357 



stood — the commanding rebel general's own 
son being one of the slain. 

From the badly managed expedition, of 
which the Seventy-second formed a part, 
sent out from Memphis under General 
Sturgis, which ended so sadly at Guntown 
and Ripley, in Mississippi, Major Rawson 
reached Memphis with such of the officers 
and men of his regiment as were saved from 
the general disaster, marching over eighty 
miles, without food or rest, in less than 
forty-eight hours. The Seventy-second, 
acting as a rear guard of the fleeing troops, 
valiantly beat back the pursuing foe until out 
of ammunition, and their supply train 
destroyed by the rebels, they were forced to 
make good their escape by flight, which they 
did, but two hundred and fifty of the 
regiment being captured. Scarcely rested 
from the terrible scenes and suffering 
through which they had passed, the 
regiment, now over half reduced in number, 
in command of Major Rawson, started again, 
under General A. J. Smith, to encounter the 
same foe. Coming up to the enemy at 
Tupelo, Mississippi, Major Rawson was 
mortally wounded at Oldtown Creek, six 
miles beyond, while gallantly leading a 
charge against the rebel lines. Borne from 
the field he was conveyed back to Memphis. 

Major Rawson was the son of Dr. La- 
Quinio and Sophia Rawson. He was born at 
Fremont on the 14th of March, 1840; was 
married to Miss Jennie Snyder, an amiable 
and accomplished young lady of Courtland 
county, New York, on the 31st of August, 
1863, while absent from his regiment on a 
short furlough. He died at Memphis, 
Tennessee, on the 22d of July, seven days 
after he received the fatal wound, aged 
twenty-four years. Embalmed, his remains 
were sent to his home-Fremont-and with 
appropriate funeral services were interred in 
Oakwood cemetery, followed thither by a 
very large 



concourse of his friends and fellow-citi- 
zens, who loved the boy, and mourned the 
death of the young hero and patriot. 

At a meeting of the officers and soldiers 
of the Seventy, second Ohio Veteran 
Volunteer Infantry, held at Memphis, 
Tennessee, the 28th day of July, 1864, for 
the purpose of expressing their feelings in 
regard to the death of Major Eugene A. 
Rawson, Lieutenant-Colonel C. G. Eaton 
was elected chairman, and Lieutenant J. 
Wells Watterson, regimental quartermaster, 
secretary. The meeting was called to order 
and the following members appointed a 
committee on resolutions: Lieutenant A. B. 
Putman, company A; Lieutenant J. F. 
Harrington, company A; Sergeant Corwin 
Ensminger, company C; Sergeant Abraham 
Eldridge, company I; Corporal Samuel 
Persing, company A. The following 
resolutions were presented and' 

unanimously adopted by the meeting: 

WHEREAS, It has pleased Almighty God to remove 
from us our brother officer and soldier, Major Eugene 
A. Rawson, by death on the zed of July inst., of 
wounds received on the 15th inst., while bravely 
leading his regiment in a charge against the enemy's 
lines at the battle of Oldtown Creek; and 

WHEREAS, We, the officers and soldiers of the 
Seventy-second Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry, 
desire to express in a suitable manner our respect for 
the noble dead, and our deep regret for his untimely 
fall, therefore 

Resolved, That in the death of Major Eugene A. 
Rawson our regiment has lost a brave, heroic, and 
devoted officer and soldier, the nation one of her most 
ardent patriots and defenders, his family a dis- 
tinguished member, his friends and brothers in arms a 
dear and valued companion. 

Resolved, That we declare our conviction that the 
life of the deceased, while connected with the Seventy- 
second Ohio, has been one of unwearied devotion to 
duty and to the service of his country, and whether in 
the quiet camp or the toilsome march, or in the blaze 
and fury of battle, he alike ably, patiently, and 
heroically performed with untiring energy all that fell 
to his lot; and when struck by the fatal ball, was found 
at his post fearlessly offering his life that his country 
might live. 

Resolved, That we tender the family and friends of 
the deceased, and especially the young wife who has 
thus early been called to mourn the death of her 



358 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



husband, our deepest sympathy and condolence in this, 
their sad bereavement. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be fur- 
nished the friends of the deceased; also a copy to the 
Fremont Journal and Sentinel and the Courtland County 
Journal, of Homer, New York. 

C. G. EATON, Chairman. J. 

WELLS WATTERSON Secretary. 



KESSLER AND BELDING. 

And yet 'tis true 

Sweet romance follows after 

Grim visaged, bloody war. 

John J. Kessler was a promising young 
man of Fremont, Ohio, who volunteered in 
company F (Captain Bartlett). He became a 
second lieutenant, was promoted to first 
lieutenant and then to captain. He was then 
chosen aide on General Rosecrans' staff, in 
which capacity he did good service in the 
battle of Chickamauga. 

Captain E. B. Belding, of Medina county, 
Ohio, volunteered in battery A, First light 
artillery, and was on duty in the same battle. 
The two men had become acquainted, 
although in different branches of the service. 
Belding was that day on horseback doing 
duty, when his horse was wounded in one 
hind leg by a ball from the enemy, and 
became frantic and almost unmanageable. 
While struggling with his horse Captain 
Belding found it necessary to put both hands 
to the bridle, which movement brought his 
hands and wrists close together. While the 
horse was struggling and turning round, a 
rifle ball struck the upper part of his hand 
and passed through both wrists. Notwith- 
standing this wound the Captain managed to 
use one thumb and finger on the rein to keep 
the horse in a circle, for if he had dashed off 
straight in his then condition, the rider 
would have been thrown or dashed against a 
tree. While the horse was circling Belding 
freed himself from the stirrups but still held 
one rein of the bridle when assistance, in the 
form of a single man, 



came up, to whom he surrendered the 
horse. Captain Belding was then in a very 
unsafe position, where the enemy's fire 
from the front was cutting down wounded 
men who were under orders retiring to the 
rear for safety and surgical aid. He started 
to the rear to find a surgeon. When the 
shock of the wound gave way to reaction, 
he found himself weak from pain and loss 
of blood, but he continued walking, and 
sitting down occasionally to rest. He 
finally concluded that he could not hold 
out and sat down upon a log, faint and 
with the desperate conclusion that he could 
not move any farther, and would there 
await his fate. 

Captain Kessler fortunately discovered 
hits in this condition, rode up to him, dis- 
mounted, placed Belding on the horse and 
took him back to a ravine where a surgeon 
was at work among the wounded. Here 
Captain Belding's wounds were hastily 
bandaged, and soon after he obtained an 
ambulance which took him back and into 
the hospital. 

This incident produced a friendship 
between the two men, for Belding believed 
he owed his life to Kessler's kindness. 
Kessler had two sisters at home, whose 
pictures Belding happened to see although 
he was ignorant of their relationship to the 
Major. One of them struck his fancy and 
he told the Major if he could find that girl 
he would marry her. "I don't know about 
that," replied the Major; "that is a picture 
of my sister Louise, now in Fremont. She 
may have something to say about that." 
"We shall see," said the Captain. About a 
year after, Captain Belding, while on a 
furlough, found Fremont, accidentally, of 
course, and found the Kessler House, then 
the leading hotel in the city. Of course 
Captain Belding recognized the girl whose 
picture he had seen and fancied. When the 
war was over, as was very natural, Captain 
Belding must 




Gen 7 McPheson 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



359 



see his brave friend who had saved his life. 
Major Kessler told his sister the story of 
their acquaintance, and, Captain Belding was 
warmly welcomed by Major Kessler and by 
his family. 

Well, what next? married, of course. A 
fine, bright youth, the exact miniature of 
Captain Belding, called Willie, with father 
and mother, make a most happy trio for a 
family. A more thoroughly devoted, trustful, 
and affectionate husband cannot be found 
than Captain Belding, and himself and wife 
are as happy as human faith and affection 
can render roan and women, and this forms 
what Bob Ingersoll says is the best heaven 
he has ever found. 

But what of Major Kessler? The ex- 
posures and hardships of the war hurried 
consumption upon him, and, like hundreds of 
thousands of other brave men, he came home 
to linger and hope a little while. He sleeps in 
our beautiful Oakwood cemetery, where a 
fine and well deserved monument marks the 
spot where the brave and good man is at rest. 
Often you may see fond friends lingering 
there, and every returning annual decoration 
day sweet, beautiful flowers are seen, giving 
fragrance to the last resting place of the 
remains of John J. Kessler. Captain Belding 
and his noble wife are among the first to 
visit Major Kessler's grave, and there drop 
the sweetest flowers, and bedew them with 
the tears of gratitude and affection. 



major-general james b. 
Mcpherson. 

The only Federal major-general who 
perished on the field of battle was James B. 
McPherson. His ability as a commanding 
officer has been variously estimated. His 
career, brilliant and crowded as it was, was 
prematurely cut off before his capacity had 
been fully tested. One 



fact, however, is significant. He gained, in 
an unprecedentedly short time, the con- 
fidence of commanders justly celebrated for 
their accurate estimates of men. With the 
meager field experience of one campaign, he 
was given command of as noble an army as 
ever marched to defend the Union. Every 
man in that army admired him for his superb 
gallantry, and for his open, generous heart. 
The feeling of friendly affection and 
admiration was not confined to the tented 
field. Those here, who knew him from 
childhood, and called him "Jimmie," those 
who had been his play-fellows and knew his 
boyish fancies, watched his career and 
applauded his triumphs with affectionate 
interest. The Army of the Tennessee and his 
friends at Time have fittingly shown their 
appreciation of a noble friend and, gallant 
general, by seeking to preserve in moulds of 
imperishable bronze, the features of his 
handsome body. He is idolized by his old 
neighbors at Clyde. The story of his life, 
from childhood to the gallant but fatal 
exploit on the field before Atlanta, is a 
familiar topic of conversation. 

James Birdseye McPherson was born at 
Hamer's Corners (now Clyde), November 
14, 1828. His father was of Scotch-Irish 
descent, and married, in New York, Cynthia 
Russell, a native of Massachusetts, and 
came to Ohio, the first time, in 1822, on 
foot, his travelling companions being 
Norton Russell and James Birdseye, whose 
name was given to the first-born as a mark 
of friendship. Mr. McPherson entered land 
and built a cabin. A year later his wife 
joined him and the pair began 
housekeeping. He was a blacksmith, but 
found it difficult to earn a livelihood on 
account of the sparse settlement of the 
country and scarcity of money. He was 
constitutionally nervous and excitable, but 
had the reputation of being a skilled 
tradesman, until overthrown by the nervous 
dis- 



360 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



order which eventually terminated his life. 

James was known among the mothers of 
the backwoods settlement, as a "good baby," 
happy, good-natured, healthy. He seemed to 
enjoy being petted, but was not peevish 
when neglected. Tall Chief once visited the 
homely McPherson residence, during one of 
his strolls from the Seneca reservation, four 
miles south. After fondling the babe, then 
just beginning to prattle, the Indian was 
asked by the proud mother what he thought 
of her boy. "Fine boy, fine boy," was the 
prophetic reply of the red-skin. "Be big 
man." This remark, which only amused the 
mother at the time, was recalled after the fall 
of Vicksburg. The child grew into a healthy 
and strong boy, full of spirit and never idle. 
He delighted in, and always sought the 
praise of his parents and neighbors. An 
incident is told which shows that that 
caution which, in after life, characterized all 
his actions, was the product of maturer 
years. When seven or eight years old, he 
visited his uncle, Norton Russell, whom he 
found in the field cutting corn. The boy was 
anxious to help, and was finally permitted 
to, but cautioned to be careful and not try to 
cut more than one stalk at a time. The future 
general soon became impatient. He raised 
the heavy knife high over his head and said: 
"Uncle, I am going to cut like men do." A 
half-dozen stalks of corn tumbled to the 
ground, but a severe wound of the knee 
punished the lad's rash- disobedience. 

It was the father's desire that his son 
should have a good education, but financial 
embarrassment prevented sending him away. 
James, however, attended district school, 
which was held in a log house occupying 
almost exactly the same spot now occupied 
by the base of his statue. Here he mastered, 
by the age of thirteen, the common branches 
taught at that time, and became a good 
writer. While not in 



school, his time was employed on the farm. 
But at the age of thirteen there came a crisis; 
his father was no longer able to work, and 
James felt called upon not only to earn his own 
living, but also to give assistance to his mother, 
struggling against poverty. He obtained a 
situation as store boy in the establishment of 
Robert Smith, at Green Spring, five miles 
south of his home. He has himself described 
this first farewell to his home and mother. "The 
whole family were in tears when he bade them 
good-bye; and taking up his little bundle, 
commenced his journey of five miles, afoot 
and alone. After walking boldly forward for 
some distance, he looked back and saw them 
all at the door, watching and weeping. To shut 
out the painful sight he clutched his bundle 
tighter and ran as fast as his young feet would 
carry him, until he reached the woods, when he 
sat down and wept abundantly. Then he took 
up his bundle again and came on to Green 
Spring." 

Here is exhibited that tender sympathy and 
affection which were such important elements 
of his character. Even in the blaze of military 
triumph, home and mother occupied his first 
thoughts. 

Young McPherson worked faithfully, and 
seemed contented while under the employ of 
Mr. Smith at Green Spring, but his ambition 
never permitted him to settle upon 
merchandizing as an employment. He devoured 
the contents of the well filled little bookcase of 
his employer, and received with heartfelt 
thankfulness the promise of an appointment to 
West Point. He had for a long time desired to 
make more out of himself than a country 
storekeeper, and a way was now open to the 
realization of his aspirations. Two seasons 
were spent in the academy at Norwalk, prepar- 
ing for the dreaded entrance examination, 
which he passed with credit. He entered the 
famous class of '53, composed of fifty- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



361 



two members, among whom were Sheridan, 
Sill, Schofield, Bell, Tyler, Chandler, 
Vincent and others, who achieved renown 
daring the Rebellion; also his antagonist at 
Atlanta, James B. Hood. At the end of the 
first year McPherson stood second, and from 
then till the end of the course was always at 
the head of the class. He was not only a fine 
scholar, but a popular, kindhearted, generous 
cadet. He was familiarly called "Mac" by his 
classmates, who never asked of him a 
reasonable favor in vain. His principal 
offence while at the institution had for its 
cause a desire to relieve a part of the class of 
unnecessary burdens. He had been promoted, 
on the ground of merit, to the Cadet 
Captaincy, but his rank was reduced to the 
lieutenancy for the grave offence of 
permitting a part of his class to ride in an 
omnibus to engineering drill. Eighteen other 
marks of delinquency stand against him at 
West Point, showing that, although a perfect 
student, he, like others, was sometimes 
derelict according to the strict rule of West 
Point conduct. But his promotions at the 
academy followed each other in almost as 
quick succession as, a decade later, his 
promotions in the army. 

Graduating at the head of his class, 
McPherson, according to the rules of the 
academy, was appointed to the engineering 
corps. He was retained the first year at the 
academy as assistant instructor of practical 
engineering-an honor never before conferred 
upon so young an officer. From a private 
letter we learn that McPherson felt, keenly, 
this splendid compliment, although the 
duties of the position did not suit his tastes. 
For the next three years he was engaged on 
engineering duty on the Atlantic coast; for 
three and a half years at Alcatraz Island, one 
of the defences of San Francisco harbor. 
Then came the war. While in New York he 
came in contact with the finest society in 



the city, which, private letters show, 
engrossed a fair share of his attention. A 
promising young officer, handsome, ac- 
complished, and cordial in his bearing, 
there was no reason why he should not be a 
welcome guest in any home. He at length 
found his "pearl of great price" in the 
person of a Baltimore lady, whom he was to 
have married early in 1864, but the plan of 
the Atlanta campaign rendered it impossible 
to spare time from the army long enough to 
meet the engagement. Sherman, in a letter 
to the betrothed lady, explained affairs, and 
the marriage was postponed. We naturally 
have an interest in the woman whom a man 
of McPherson's culture and character would 
select for a wife. In a letter, written from 
California to his mother, he pictures in one 
sentence his idea of feminine loveliness. He 
says: "You will love her as I do, when you 
know her. She is intelligent, refined, 
generous-hearted and a Christian; this will 
suit you as it does me, for it lies at the 
foundation of every pure and elevated 
character." 

The spirit of West Point during the period 
when the Abolition sentiment was 
organizing into an active movement, is well 
remembered. McPherson, like so many 
young officers of his day, imbibed the 
prejudices of the institution, and his 
opinions during the formative period of the 
Abolition movement are expressed in 
unmistakable language. In 1853 he writes to 
a friend in Ohio: "I believe, if I were to 
meddle with politics, I would be a Know 
Nothing." A year later he openly rejoiced in 
an Abolition defeat. He writes: 

Not a few are highly gratified at the result of the 
recent elections in Massachusetts and in this State, 
which have been such a signal rebuke to Seward and 
his Abolition supporters. It is very seldom that military 
men meddle with politics, except when broad national 
principles are assailed; and then they feel it a duty to 
place themselves in the van and rally to the support of 
the Union. I have felt a good 



362 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



deal of interest in politics since I have seen the efforts 
which have been made to form a sectional party, a party 
with but one idea, and that one calculated to awaken a 
feeling of animosity from one extremity of the Union to 
the other, the fatal effects of which neither you nor I can 
predict. When I see men, endowed with superior powers 
of mind and occupying high stations, putting forward 
their utmost energies to excite dissension, and not only 
dissension but absolute hatred between the different 
sections of our country, I feel that it is time they should 
be shorn of their strength and rendered powerless to 
commit evil. Could I believe in their sincerity or 
patriotism, and that motives of humanity actuate them, I 
might be a little more charitable. But when such men as 
Salmon P. Chase, whose position gives him influence, 
gets up before a public assembly in Maine, or any other 
State, and declares that there is a deep feeling of hatred 
between the North and the South, that the Allies do not 
hate the Russians or the Russians the Allies any more 
than the people of the North hate the people of the South 
or the people of the South hate the people of the North, 
it is time all candid men should unite to defeat the 
schemes and machinations of such demagogues. I do not 
hesitate to say that I am gratified at the result of the 
elections; and I believe every Union Whig — Henry Clay 
and Daniel Webster Whig — can say the same. 

The young engineer, it will be noticed, 
emphasized his devotion to the Union. It was 
not until the first overt acts of rebellion that 
McPherson saw his mistake as to who the 
real assailants of the Union were. A manly 
letter, written shortly after the beginning of 
secession, to his mother (published first in 
Hours at Home) shows that West Point 
training, although it had affected his 
prejudices, had not sullied his ardent 
patriotism. He says: 

However men may have differed in politics, there is 
but one course now. Since the traitors have initiated 
hostilities and threatened to seize the National capital, 
give them blow for blow, and shot for shot until they are 
effectually humbled. I do not know whether I shall be 
kept here, or ordered East; but one thing I do know, and 
that is, that I am ready and willing to go where I can be 
of the most service in upholding the honor of the 
Government and assisting in crushing out rebellion; and 
I have faith to believe that you will see the day when the 
glorious old flag will wave more triumphantly than ever. 
I wish I were at home now to join the Ohio Volunteers. I 
swung my cap more than once on reading the telegraphic 
message of Governor Dennison: "What 



Kentucky will not furnish, Ohio will." Now that the fires 
are kindled, I hope they will not be permitted to die out 
until Jeff. Davis and his fellow-conspirators are in 
Washington to be tried for treason, or, in the language 
of old Putnam, "tried, condemned and executed." 

After such a letter, there is no mistaking the 
position of McPherson. He was ready to devote 
his energies and talent to the preservation of 
the Union. He became a martyr on the field of 
battle. 

At the opening of the rebellion McPherson's 
talent did not receive proper recognition. He 
was a capable engineer, but little known. 
Incompetent drill masters were receiving 
promotion, while he was compelled to solicit a 
transfer to the service in the East. There he was 
given but a junior captaincy of engineers, and 
assigned to duty at Boston harbor. He was 
always modest, and refrained from actually 
seeking appointment, but we have information 
from private sources that he was ambitious to 
enter upon field duty. The time came when his 
well trained faculties were to have a broad 
scope and severe test. The result subsequent 
events show. In November, 1861, he was ap- 
pointed aide-de-camp to General Halleck, with 
the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Promotions 
followed rapidly. From assistant engineer of 
the Department of Missouri, he became chief 
engineer of the Army of the Tennessee in the 
expedition against Forts Henry and Donelson. 
He engineered the expedition against Corinth, 
with the rank of colonel. On the 15th of May, 
1862, he was appointed brigadier general of 
volunteers, and the following June was 
assigned to the general superintendency of 
military roads in East Tennessee. On his return 
from Corinth after the battle he was given a 
commission as major general of volunteers, to 
date from October 8, 1862 a position to which 
he had risen in little more than a year, from 
junior captaincy of engineers. His first 
experience as a com- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



363 



mander was at Corinth. His subsequent 
operations were under the direction of Grant, 
in the campaign which terminated in the 
capture ofVicksburg. 

McPherson in this campaign bore a 
conspicuous part. Port Gibson, Clinton, 
Jackson, and Champion Hill, first brought 
him into public notice and favor. After the 
fall of Vicksburg he was generally credited 
at the South with the planning of the whole 
campaign. This was certainly a mistake, but 
Grant owed a large measure of his success to 
McPherson's care, bravery, and ability in 
executing commands. While his private 
letters show that he was not insensible to the 
honor which promotion implied, yet he never 
permitted his ambition to lead him into 
expressing official reports in any other than 
the most simple and matter-of-fact terms. At 
Raymond, just as the issue of the battle 
seemed plain, his adjutant approached him 
with a dispatch to Grant, ready for the 
signature. It said that "he had met the enemy 
in immensely superior force, and had 
defeated him most disastrously, and was now 
in full pursuit." McPherson quietly tore up 
the paper and wrote: "We met the enemy 
about 3 P. M. today; have had a hard fight, 
and tip to this time have the advantage." 

Grant generously acknowledged 

McPherson's services in a letter recommend- 
ing him for promotion to the rank*of brig- 
adier-general in the regular army. The letter 
reviews his record thus far and will be of 
interest at this time: 

He has been with me in every battle since the com- 
mencement of the Rebellion, except Belmont; at Forts 
Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, and the siege of Corinth, 
as a staff officer and engineer his services were conspic- 
uous and highly meritorious. At the second battle of 
Corinth his skill as a soldier was displayed in suc- 
cessfully carrying reinforcements to the besieged gar- 
rison when the enemy was between him and the point to 
be reached. In the advance to Central Mississippi, 
General McPherson commanded one wing of the army 
with all the ability possible to 



show, he having the lead in the advance, and the rear 
retiring. In the campaign and siege terminating in the 
fall of Vicksburg, General McPherson has filled a 
conspicuous part. At the battle of Port Gibson it was 
under his direction that the enemy was driven late in the 
afternoon from a position they had succeeded in holding 
all day against an obstinate attack. His corps, the 
advance always, under his immediate eye were the 
pioneers from Port Gibson to Hankinson's Ferry. From 
the north fork of Bayou Pierre to the Black River it was 
a constant skirmish, the whole skillfully managed. The 
enemy was so closely pursued as to be unable to destroy 
their bridges of boats after them. From Hankinson's 
Ferry to Jackson the Seventeenth Army Corps marched 
on roads not travelled by other troops, fighting the entire 
battle of Raymond alone, and the bulls of Johnston's 
army was fought by his corps, entirely under the man- 
agement of General McPherson. At Champion Hills the 
Seventeenth Corps and General McPherson were 
conspicuous. All that could be termed a battle there was 
fought by the divisions of General McPherson's Corps 
and General Hovey's division of the Seventeenth Corps. 
In the assault of the 22d of May on the fortifications of 
Vicksburg and during the entire siege, General 
McPherson and his corps took unfading laurels. He is 
one of the ablest engineers and skilful generals. I would 
respectfully but urgently recommend his promotion to 
the position of brigadier-general of the regular army. 

The request was granted and he was 
confirmed as such in December, 1863. 

McPherson was given command of the 
district of Vicksburg, a well-earned com- 
pliment. During the winter his old chiefs, 
Grant and Sherman, were advanced, and in 
order of merit the command of the Army of 
the Tennessee fell to McPherson. He 
assumed the duties of his new position 
March 26, 1864. He repaired at once to 
Nashville and was present when the Georgia 
campaign was planned, before the glorious 
results of which were realized he was 
sleeping in an honored grave. The Army of 
the Tennessee was at this time widely 
scattered. The Seventeenth Corps was absent 
on veteran furlough; the Fifteenth and 
Sixteenth Corps were stationed from 
Huntsville to Memphis, while a portion was 
reinforcing Banks in the Red River 
campaign. McPherson at once concentrated 
these scattered forces and 



364 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



by the 5th of May had his columns in hand at 
Ringgold, Georgia. Two days later he 
commenced his march on Resaca, making 
the first flank movement of the celebrated 
Atlanta campaign. 

We can not detail this whole campaign in 
which the Army of the Tennessee took so 
conspicuous a part. Nowhere in the , 
Rebellion was finer generalship displayed 
than by Johnston in blocking the progress of 
Sherman's superior army. But Johnston was 
succeeded' at a critical point by Hood- 
McPherson's classmate at West Point. On the 
17th of July, after a long series of 
engagements, generally successful, we find 
Sherman's army thus disposed before 
Atlanta, ready to move on the defences of 
the city: The Army of the Cumberland, under 
Thomas, occupied the right and the right 
centre, resting on the river northwest of the 
city; the Army of the Ohio, under Schofield, 
occupied the left centre, and the Army of the 
Tennessee took a position on the left, thus 
throwing Thomas and Schofield in front of 
the enemy's main line of fortifications. On 
the 18th McPherson, by a rapid swing, 
struck the Georgia railroad about fifteen 
miles northeast of the city, at Stone Moun- 
tain, and broke up four miles of road which 
brought supplies to the besieged city from 
the east. Schofield occupied Decatur, six 
miles east of Atlanta, and Thomas moved his 
forces toward Peach Tree Creek, north of 
Atlanta. On the 19th McPherson and 
Schofield passed eastward of Decatur, while 
Thomas, though meeting strong opposition, 
crossed from the north of Peach Tree Creek, 
in front of the enemy's entrenched lines. The 
Federal forces on the morning of the 20th 
then lay in a curved line from the railroad 
running northwest across the Chattahoochee, 
to beyond the Georgia railroad east of 
Atlanta. The position of the armies changed 
little during this or the following 



day, although on the afternoon of the 10th 
Hooker, after a severely contested battle, 
repulsed an attempt of Hood to force through 
a gap between the armies of Schofield and 
Thomas. On the 21st Leggett's division of 
the Seventeenth Corps, under McPherson, 
carried a strong point commanding the city 
and the two main roads leading north and 
south. This was a strongly fortified hill 
which the rebels made two desperate but 
unsuccessful attempts to recover. 

On the morning of the 22d the advance 
lines of the enemy were found abandoned, 
which led Sherman to believe that Hood 
meant to evacuate the city. He ordered a 
general advance, but McPherson was more 
prudent. He well knew the character of his 
old classmate and antagonist. Orders had 
been received from Sherman to employ the 
Sixteenth Corps, under Dodge, to break up 
the railroad, and with the rest of his 
command to move rapidly upon the city. 
Skirmish lines were advanced and 
McPherson, in company with Logan, made a 
personal examination of the fortifications 
from the crest of the hill overlooking the 
works and the city. Few persons could be 
seen either behind the fortifications or in the 
streets. Suspecting Hood's design to 
suddenly fall upon the advancing columns 
from the side and rear, McPherson, after 
giving some general directions to Logan and 
Dodge to maintain their positions, hastened 
to Sherman's headquarters to the right. His 
explanation to Sherman of the situation was 
interrupted by the sound of battle at the 
extreme left, which confirmed his suspicions. 
At full speed he rushed toward the sound. He 
found the Sixteenth Corps facing the left 
flank and struggling firmly against an as of 
terrible fierceness. The Seventeenth Corps 
was maintaining their fortified eminence, but 
between the two was a gap through which it 
was feared 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



365 



the enemy would force his way and cut off 
the Seventeenth Corps. Behind this gap lay a 
wood, through which a narrow road led to 
the eminence occupied by the Seventeenth 
Corps. McPherson, after sending his staff on 
various errands, accompanied by a single 
orderly, dashed along this road to the wood. 
He was met by a staff officer and informed 
that the Seventeenth Corps was being 
severely pressed by an overwhelming force. 
After a moment's hesitation the staff officer, 
John T. Raymond, was hurried back with 
orders to General Leggett to form his lines 
with all possible speed, parallel to the road. 
McPherson then, at full speed, hurried along 
the fated road, but already the enemy was 
crowding down into the gap. A shrill "halt!" 
rang out from behind the trees. The faithful 
steed, quickly obeying his master's bidding, 
dashed into the thick wood, followed by a 
volley from the skirmish line in gray. A 
minute later the riderless horse, with two 
wounds, came out of the thicket, while the 
brave, loved General of the Army of the 
Tennessee lay dying with lacerated lung and 
shattered spine. The subsequent battle is best 
described by Logan, who succeeded to the 
command; 

The news of his death spread like lightning speed 
along the lines, sending a pang of keenest sorrow to 
every heart as it reached the ear. But especially terrible 
was the effect upon the Army of the Tennessee. It 
seemed as though a burning, fiery dart had pierced every 
breast, tearing asunder the flood gates of grief; but at 
the same time heaving to their very depths the fountains 
of revenge, the clenched hands seemed to sink into the 
weapons they held, and from the eyes gleamed forth 
flashes terrible as lightning. The cry, "McPherson! 
McPherson!" rose above the din of battle, and as it ran 
along the lines swelled in power, until the roll of 
musketry and booming of cannon seemed drowned by its 
echoes. 

McPherson again seemed to lead his troops, and 
where he leads, victory is sure; each officer and soldier, 
from the succeeding commander to the lowest private, 
beheld, as it were, the form of their bleeding chieftain 
leading them on in battle. " McPherson," and "onward to 
victory," were the only thoughts; 



bitter, terrible revenge their only aim. There was no 
such thought that day of stopping short of victory or 
death. The firm, spontaneous resolve was to win the 
day or perish with the slain leader on the bloody field. 
Fearfully was his death avenged that day. His army, 
maddened by his death and utterly reckless of life, 
rushed with savage delight into the fiercest onslaughts, 
and fearlessly plunged into the very jaws of death. As 
wave after wave of Hood's daring troops dashed with 
terrible fury upon our lines, they were hurled back with 
a fearful shock, breaking their columns into fragments, 
as the granite headland breaks into foam the ocean 
billows. Across the narrow line of works raged the 
fierce storm of battle, the hissing shot and bursting 
shell raining death on every hand. Over dead and 
dying, friends and foes, rushed the swaying hosts, the 
shout of rebels confident of victory only drowned by 
the battle cry " McPherson " which went up from the 
Army of the Tennessee. 

Many thousand rebels bit the dust ere the night 
closed in, and the defeated and baffled enemy, after 
failing in their repeated and desperate assaults upon 
our lines, were compelled to give up the hopeless 
contest. Though compelled to fight in front and rear, 
victory crowned our arms. 

A detail bf Union troops recovered the body, which 
was taken to the headquarters of the commanding 
General, and the following day was sent to its final 
resting place, in the beautiful cemetery at Clyde. 
Sherman wept bitterly, and Grant assured the broken- 
hearted, devoted mother, and affectionate grandmother, 
that their sorrow could not exceed his. But weeping 
was not confined to generals and friends at home. The 
rank and file of the Army of the Tennessee felt that 
they had lost a devoted personal friend. Their 
acquaintance was short, it is true, but so kind-hearted, 
so devoted to their comfort and safety had he been, that 
their admiration of his gentle manhood and splendid 
gallantry amounted to nothing less than love. Sherman, 
in his feeling official' announcement said: "General 
McPherson fell in battle, booted and spurred as the 
gallant knight and gentleman should wish." 

Not his the loss; but the country and the army will 
mourn his death and cherish his memory as that of one 
who, though comparatively young, had risen by his 
merit and ability to the command of one of the best 
armies which the Nation had called into existence to 
vindicate its honor and integrity. 

History tells us of but few who so blended the grace 
and gentleness of the friend, with the dignity, courage, 
faith, and manliness of the soldier. 

But most deeply affecting was the funeral 
scene at Clyde a week later. The pure grief 
of a tender, devoted mother, and of a doting 
grandmother, was uncontrollable. 



366 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



The hundreds of strong men who had known 
the martyr hero from innocent boyhood, who 
remembered the friendly grasp of his tender 
hand which had always been extended to his 
old neighbors and friends during his annual 
visits home, these wiped with brawny hands 
from tanned faces, tears of profound sorrow. 
Mothers, friends of the grief-stricken parent, 
who had never known the young soldier by 
any other name than "Jimmie," dampened 
with weeping the sweet flowers with which 
fair hands had covered the sad but honorable 
tomb. 

THE M'PHERSON MONUMENT. 

General McPherson fell July 22, 1864. One 
year later the following circular was issued 
by General Logan: 

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE. 
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky, July 7, 1865 

Many officers and soldiers of the Army of the 
Tennessee, having expressed a desire to pay some fitting 
tribute the memory of their late gallant commander, the 
noble McPherson, who fell in the front of battle, booted 
and spurred, on the bloody day of the 22d of July, I 
submit to the several corps and other commanding 
officers for their consideration the following plan of 
action : 

I would suggest that each regimental commander have 
lists prepared for subscription, and that those soldiers of 
the army who may desire to subscribe register their 
names thereon; as soon as the lists have been completed, 
that they, with the funds raised, be forwarded to the 
brigade commander, and by him transmitted for the 
purchase and erection of a suitable monument at the 
grave of that gallant soldier. As soon as the monument 
has been erected these lists should be deposited at the 
grave. 

I would further suggest as a member of the executive 
committee, Major General William B. Hazen, Brevet 
Major General M. D. Leggett and Brevet-Brigadier- 
General A. Hickenlooper, citizens of McPherson's native 
State, and in every way fitted to discharge the duty of 
their position. 

Corps commanders will please take such steps in the 
matter as will insure the result desired. 

JOHN A. LOGAN, Major 
General. 

These circulars were distributed, as 
directed, among the soldiers of the various 
corps, at the first regular meeting of the 
Society of the Army of the Tennes- 



see, in Cincinnati, 1866. Reports were 
received, showing that three thousand nine 
hundred and fifty-six dollars had been 
received for the fund toward erecting a 
monument to General McPherson. The 
minutes of that meeting also show that a 
strong effort was made to have the 
McPherson monument located at West Point 
instead of Clyde. General Hickenlooper 
strongly opposed the proposed change of 
location. In a letter to General Hazen he 
said: 

The subscriptions thus far received have been almost 
entirely from the rank and file of the army which 
McPherson commanded — probably two-thirds from his 
own corps — with the distinct understanding that the 
monument would be erected over his remains at Clyde. 
The feeling which prompted this action on the part of 
his officers and men was not such as usually actuates 
men to subscribe to such an object; it was not so much 
for the purpose of perpetuating his military success and 
renown, but as a testimonial of their love and affection 
for the man. The feelings of the mother, who gave such 
a son to her country, together with the remaining 
members of the family, should be consulted, and they 
are decidedly opposed to the removal of his remains to 
the Point, if a monument can be erected at Clyde. It 
appears very absurd to erect a monument at West Point, 
and leave the place where he was born and raised, and 
where his remains now lie, unmarked and uncared for. 

The matter of location was discussed at 
some length during the first regular meeting 
of the society, and finally a resolution was 
adopted: 

That we, the members of the Society of the Army of 
the Tennessee, pledge ourselves to the erection of a 
monument to the memory of Major General James B. 
McPherson, to be placed over his remains at Clyde, 
Ohio. 

CLYDE M'PHERSON MONUMENT SOCIETY. 

On the 3d of August, 1866, McPherson 
Monument Society of Clyde was organized. 
Its officers were General R. P. Buckland, of 
Fremont, president, and Captain John M. 
Lemmon, of Clyde, secretary. The whole 
cost of the monument was to be eleven 
thousand dollars and the Clyde society 
pledged itself to raise three thousand dollars 
of the amount. This 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



367 



money was all subscribed and most of it paid 
in. Besides supplying three thousand dollars 
of the monument fund, the Clyde society has 
greatly beautified the cemetery wherein lie 
the remains of the fallen hero. Through the 
efforts of General Buckland and Captain 
John M. Lemmon, Congress had been 
induced to grant an appropriation of four 
iron cannon, four bronze cannon, one 
thousand muskets and twenty-five cannon 
balls, which have been placed in the 
cemetery by the side of the monument. 

General James B. McPherson was born in a 
small frame house in the extreme 
northeastern limits of the city, and the 
cemetery wherein he now lies, with his 
father and two brothers, once formed a 
portion of the homestead of the McPherson 
family. His mother's neat, white cottage now 
stands just at the edge of the graveyard, and 
through a latticed window she gazes with 
tearful eyes upon the stately monument 
erected to the memory of her hero son. 

The statue of General J. B. McPherson is 
pronounced a perfect piece of art. The. 
pedestal is of granite, nine feet in height and 
six and one-half feet at the base. The figure, 
which is also nine feet in height, and 
composed of bronze, represents the 



commander in full military uniform, with 
sword, belt, and hat. The left hand holds a 
field-glass, while the right hand and arm are 
extended, as if pointing to where the battle 
rages fiercest. 

The piece is from the Cincinnati art 
foundry of Rebisso, Mundhenk & Co., who 
are also the designers and sculptors of the 
equestrian statue of McPherson erected at 
Washington three years ago. The statue 
occupies a high knoll, the most commanding 
point in the beautiful little cemetery, just at 
the edge of the city, where it forms a most 
imposing central figure. 

The unveiling ceremonies, July 22, 1881, 
were attended by about fifteen thousand 
people, a large number of military societies 
and distinguished military men. A procession 
more than a mile long was formed at 1 
o'clock, and at 2 o'clock marched to the 
cemetery, where the assemblage was called to 
order by the president of the day, General R. 
B. Hayes. The statue was unveiled by General 
W. T. Sherman; General M. F. Force 
delivered the dedicatory oration. Formal 
addresses were delivered by General W. E. 
Strong and General W. T. Sherman, followed 
by short addresses by Generals Gibson, Ha- 
zen, Leggett, Belknapp, and Keifer. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



COURT AND BAR OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Notice of the First Court in the County — The First Grand Jury-Some of the Early Judges — Organization of the 
Court — The Lawyers of Early Times — Their Characteristics, Habits, Talents, etc. — Also, Notice of the Present 
and Former Members of the Bar. 



IN the county clerk's office, carefully 
preserved, is a little book, six inches wide 
and about nine inches long, bound in 
pasteboard covering, without ruling for line 
or margin. It is, in fact, a very plain book, 
without any numerical paging. On the top of 
the first page written upon are the following 
words, in a fine handwriting: "May Term, 
1820." The record in this book then goes on 
to state: 

SANDUSKY COUNTY, May 8, 1820. 

In pursuance of a law passed by the Legislature of 
the State of Ohio, the 12th day of February, one 
thousand eight hundred and twenty, organizing the 
County of Sandusky, the court was opened by the 
sheriff. Present, the Honorable George Tod, president. 
Willis E. Brown produced his commission as sheriff, 
and was sworn to office. Israel Harrington, David 
Harold, and Alexander Morrison produced their 
commissions as associate judges of the court of common 
pleas of the county of Sandusky, which were read by the 
clerk, and the said Israel Harrington, David Harold, and 
Alexander Morrison having taken the oaths required by 
law, took their seats as associate judges of said court. 
James Williams was appointed clerk pro tern. 
Whereupon the sheriff returned the venire for the grand 
jurors, and upon it appearing that the venire did not 
issue thirty days before the return, the array being 
challenged, the panel was quashed. Whereupon the 
sheriff was ordered to select a new jury from the 
bystanders, and the following, being legally called, 
appeared, to wit: Joshua Davis, Elijah W. Howl and, 
Jonathan H. Jerome, William Morrison, Josiah Rumery, 
Nicholas Whitinger, William Andrews, Ruel Loo mis, 
James Montgomery, Caleb Rice, Robert Harvey, Thomas 
Webb, Elijah Brayton, Charles B. Fitch, and Reuben 
Bristol ; whereupon Charles B. Fitch was appointed 
foreman and took the oath prescribed by law, and his 
fellow jurors, after having taken the same oath, received 
a solemn charge from the court and retired. 

The next business of the court, after sending out 



the first grand jury, was the granting of a license to 
Israel Harrington to keep a tavern at his dwelling house 
in Sandusky township, for one year, and fixing the price 
of the license at fifteen dollars. 

The court then, on application, ordered the election 
of two justices of the peace in the township of 
Thompson. The election was to be held on the first 
Monday in June, 1 820, at the house of Joseph Parmeter. 

This Mr. Joseph Parmeter then resided in 
what is now Green Creek township, on the 
east side of Green Creek, where the road 
from Fremont to Green Spring now crosses 
the creek. He afterwards erected-a mill there, 
and his son,. Julius W. Parmeter, occupied 
the premises for many years after the father 
died. 

Upon application, David Gallagher was then ap- 
pointed county inspector. Mr. Gallagher then entered 
into bond, according to law, and assumed the duties, 
which were to see that barrels and packages of pork, 
whiskey, fish, flour, etc., were of proper quality and of 
prescribed weight. 

Then the court appointed Philip R. Hopkins clerk of 
the court for the time being, who entered into bond, as 
required, and was sworn into office after taking the oath 
of office in open court. 

This completed the first day's work of the 
first common pleas court ever held in 
Sandusky county. 

TUESDAY, May 9, 1820. 
The court convened, and there were present the same 
judges as on the day previous. Letters of administration 
were then granted as follows: 

To West Barney, on the estate of John Orr. The 
sureties for Barney were David Gallagher and George 
Halloway; bond, two hundred dollars; appraisers, Caleb 
Rice, Anson Gray, and John Eaton. 

To Josette Vellard, on the estate of Gabriel Vellard; 
bond, five hundred dollars; sureties, Joseph Mominy and 
Charles Bibo; appraisers, Asa B. Gavit, Halsey 
Forgerson, and Thomas Forgerson. 



368 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



369 



To Moses Nichols, on the estate of Aaron T. Kerr; 
bond, two hundred dollars; sureties, David Gallagher 
and Jeremiah Everett. 

License was, on this second day of the court, May 9, 
1820, granted to Morris A. Newman to keep a tavern at 
his dwelling in Croghansville, for one year, for the price 
of fifteen dollars. 

The court on the same day ordered two justices of the 
peace to be elected in the township of Seneca, on the 
first Monday in June, 1820, the election to be held at the 
dwelling house of West Barney, in said township. 

License to William Andrews to keep a tavern at his 
dwelling house in Sandusky township, for one year, for 
the price of fifteen dollars. 

License also to Samuel Cochran to keep a tavern for 
one year at his dwelling house in Sandusky township, 
for six dollars. 

Thereupon the grand jury came into and presented a 
bill of indictment against Almeron Sands, for assault 
and battery on the body of Calvin Leezen. 

To lawyers and to others who are fond of 
old-fashioned things, the record of the plea 
of Sands and the disposition made of it, will 
be interesting, not only for the matter of the 
record and the terms used, but as the first 
judgment of a court in the county. We give 
the proceeding, therefore, verbatim as found 
in the record, the indictment being indorsed, 
"A True Bill, by Charles B. Pitch, foreman 
of the Grand Jury:" 

Almeron Sands being arraigned at the Bar, and it 
being demanded of him how he would acquit himself of 
the charge in the Indictment contained and set forth, 
Pleads and says he is guilty thereof and puts himself 
upon the mercy of the court. There-upon it is considered 
ordered and adjudged by the court that the said Almeron 
Sands be fined in the sum of fifteen dollars, to be paid 
into the treasury of Sandusky county, and also all the 
costs of this prosecution, and that execution issue 
therefore. 

The Indians at that time, 1820, were quite 
numerous in and about Lower Sandusky 
(now Fremont), as well as in other parts of 
Ohio. The red man, as well as the white, was 
almost sure to have his fighting proclivities 
waked into action by whiskey. After many 
sad tragedies resulting from the drunkenness 
of the aborigines, the State Legislature made 
it a penal offence to sell intoxicating liquors 
to Ind- 



ians. The untutored child of the forest loved 
whiskey as well as the white man, and every 
licensed tavern keeper could, at that time, 
sell intoxicating liquor to the white man by 
the drink or larger quantity, but he was 
prohibited from selling to the Indian. True, 
the white man then, as now, was more likely 
to fight when under the influence of liquor, 
but he was not so free in the use of deadly 
weapons when in that condition as the 
Indian, who always carried his butcher-knife 
and tomahawk about his person, hence the 
discrimination in the law in the penalty 
between selling whiskey to the white man 
and the red. 

Whiskey plenty for the white man, Not 
a drop for the red. 
The Indian must keep sober 

While the whites lay drunk in bed. 

On the second day of the term, May 9, 
1820, the grand jury returned six more in- 
dictments, three of which were for selling 
intoxicating liquor to Indians. One against 
Calvin Leezen, a tavern keeper, one against 
George G. Olmsted, a merchant, and one 
against Ora Bellows, a trader; one for 
nuisance against John Kirkendale and Guy 
Dudley, and one for same offence against 
Augustus Fexier; and one for riot against 
John Holbrook and others. The court then 
adjourned until May 10, 1820, at 10 o'clock 
A.M. 

The court journal for each of these two 
days is regularly signed by the presiding 
judge, George Tod. Judge Tod doubtless left 
the place after signing the journal of that 
day, for on the next morning court was 
opened and conducted by Associate Judges 
Morrison, Harrington, and Harold, who 
transacted the business of the day and 
adjourned the court without day. Amongst 
other things done by the associate judges, 
after judge Tod left, was the order fixing the 
charges for ferrying across the Sandusky 
River: 



370 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



For a footman 6 'A cents. 

For a man and a horse 12 Vi cents. 

For a wagon and one horse 25 cents. 

For a wagon and two horses 37 Yi cents. 

For a wagon and four horses 50 cents. 

Thus we see that at that early day, 
although at the usual stage of water the trav- 
ellers forded the river above the mill at the 
rapids, ferrying was resorted to in order to 
cross when the river was high. This ferry 
was located where the new iron bridge now 
crosses the stream. 

Philip R. Hopkins, at the above term, on 
the last day appointed Dennis L. Rathbone 
deputy clerk, and he was duly approved and 
sworn into office as such. And thus closed 
the first term of the court held in Sandusky 
county. 

The record does not show whether this 
first term was held on the east or west side 
of the river, nor at what house it was held. 
Tradition, however, places it at the house of 
Morris A. Newman, who then kept a tavern 
in Croghansville. 

THE OCTOBER TERM, 1820. 

The record of the next term, however, 
which was held October 9, 1820, does show 
that the court was held in Croghanville, on 
the east side of the river. The same judges 
were then present as at the May term next 
preceding. 

Charles B. Fitch and Jeremiah Everett, at 
a special term, held on the 17th of February, 
1821, were severally sworn into office and 
took their seats, with Israel Harrington, as 
associate judges. Judge Tod was not present 
at this term. The law then authorized the 
three associate judges to hold court and 
transact business. 

At this special term Philip R. Hopkins 
resigned the office of clerk and the judges 
appointed Alexander Morrison to fill the 
office. 

At this special term Elsey Harris was 
appointed administratrix of the estate of 
Joseph Harris, deceased. Joseph Harris 



was living on Portage River in 1818, and 
may have been there before that time. His 
cabin was near the east end of the bridge 
across the river at Elmore, and he was then 
the only settler between Lower Sandusky 
and Fort Meigs or Perrysburg, and 
travellers were entertained as at a tavern. 
Elsey Harris was the daughter of Morris A. 
Newman, an early settler in Lower 
Sandusky. She, after the decease of Harris, 
married Isaac Knapp, who is mentioned in 
this history. 

The next term commenced on the 7th day 
of May, 1821. George Tod, Israel 
Harrington, Charles B. Fitch, and Jeremiah 
Everett were the judges composing the 
court. Picket Lattimer was appointed 
prosecuting attorney for the county, to hold 
the office during the pleasure of the court. 
Mr. Lattimer was a resident of Huron 
county. The court also at this term 
appointed "McKinzey Murray inspector of 
flour, meals, biscuit, pot and pearl ashes, 
beef, pork, butter, lard and fish." 

At this May term, 1821, the grand jurors, 
George Shannon, Daniel Brainard, Silas 
Dewey, Ebenezer Ransom, John G. Thayer, 
Seth Cochran, Joseph Keeler, and Ezra 
Williams, were regularly summoned, but 
not being a full panel the court ordered the 
sheriff to fill it up to the number of fifteen, 
which he did by bringing into court the 
following talesmen, to wit: Josiah Rumery, 
Hugh Knox, Nicholas Whitinger, David 
Gallagher, Asa B. Gavit, Caleb Rice, and 
Abraham Townsend. Josiah Rumery was 
appointed foreman, and the grand jury 
charged and sent. 

These names and proceedings are noted 
and placed in our history for two reasons: 
first, to show that at that early day the 
forms of law were well observed, second, to 
show that the men named were residing in 
the county at the time, and active par- 
ticipants in the affairs of society. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



371 



Judge George Tod was father of David 
Tod, who was elected Governor of Ohio in 
1859, and who proved to be a true patriot, 
judge George Tod regularly presided over 
the court until the close of the October term, 
1823. 

Judge Ebenezer Lane first presided in the 
county at the May term, 1824, which term 
commenced on the third day of the month. 
Judge Lane was afterwards advanced to the 
bench of the supreme court of the State, and 
is admitted to have been a pure, honest man, 
and a superior jurist. It was a decision 
announced by judge Lane, from the supreme 
bench of the State, which first established 
the rights of the owners of property bounded 
by navigable rivers in Ohio, and which 
declared as the laws of the State that such 
ownership extended to the centre of the 
stream, subject to the right of the public to 
pass and repass. This decision may be found 
in the Thirteenth Ohio Report, in the case of 
the administrators of Gavit vs. David 
Chambers. The principle declared by judge 
Lane in this case has been since contended 
against, but the court, as late as 1880, has 
held the decision sound, and enforced it as a 
rule of property. 

After the advancement of Judge Lane to 
the supreme court, there was a succession of 
able common pleas judges who presided at 
the court of the county with the associate 
judges until 1851, when the new constitution 
changed the organization of the court of 
common pleas, abolished the office of the 
associate judges, and left a single man to 
adjudicate and administer the law in the 
court of common pleas. 

The successors to the first two common 
pleas judges of the court above named will 
be found in our chapter on the civil history 
of the county. 

From the time the State was admitted into 
the Union, in 1802, until the present 
Constitution was adopted, in 1851, the 



judicial department of the State government 
consisted of a supreme court, with three 
supreme judges for the whole State. These 
supreme judges held a circuit, at which one 
judge heard and decided causes. This circuit 
court was held once a year in each county. 
They also held a court at Columbus, at 
which all three were present, and heard and 
decided causes reserved from the circuit 
court and cases in error. 

Next in order came the court of common 
pleas, presided over by one common pleas 
judge assisted by three associate judges, in 
each county. This court had jurisdiction over 
all settlements of the estates of deceased 
persons and all guardianships. Under the 
constitution of 1802 there was no separate 
probate court. 

The associate judges, or a majority of 
them, could be called together at any time to 
hear the proof of the execution of wills, or 
grant letters of administration or 
guardianship, and to settle the accounts of 
such and order sales of real estate when 
necessary, in the settlement of estates, and 
the records of their proceedings became part 
of the records of the court of common pleas. 
There were also justices of the peace, one, at 
least, sometimes three, in each township. 

The forms of pleading and practice, with a 
few exceptions where varied by statute law, 
were according to the English or common 
law, and this system of pleading and practice 
continued in all our courts of record until the 
enactment of the code of civil procedure, in 
1853. 

The new Constitution of 1851, and the 
code of civil procedure of 1853, reorganized 
the judicial department of the State 
government, and made very marked changes 
in the system of pleading and practice. 

However, under the new, as well As the 
old Constitution, crimes and offenses 



372 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



were defined and punished by legislative 
enactment and not according to the common 
law. 

The Constitution of 1 85 1 organized a 
probate court for each county, and took away 
from the court of common pleas jurisdiction 
over guardians, wills, and all testamentary 
matters, and conferred them exclusively on 
the probate court, except that petitions to sell 
real estate of deceased persons may be filed 
either in the common pleas or probate court, 
and appeals are provided for from the 
decisions of the probate, in some instances, 
to the court of common pleas. 

NOTEWORTHY TRIALS. 

There have been many interesting scenes 
and trials in the courts of the county, and 
many displays of logical power and 
eloquence, as is the case in almost every 
county in the State. But our readers will not 
expect all these to be placed in history. We 
select, however, two remarkable trials which 
took place in the county, and the incidents 
attending them, which are rather 
extraordinary and interesting. 

The accounts of these murders were 
published in the Fremont Courier (German) 
and translated by Mr. L. von Schloenbach 
for publication in the Fremont journal, from 
which they are compiled: 

THE MURDER OFMRS.SPERRY. 

The year was 1842; the place was the farm of Joseph 
Sperry, an Englishman by birth, and it was situated 
between Green Spring and Clyde, Sandusky county, 
about one and one-half miles northeast of Green Spring, 
on the road leading to Clyde. Here Joseph Sperry lived, 
together with his wife, Catharine Sperry, and two small 
children (a boy and a girl), seemingly in the best kind of 
harmony and happiness. Sperry always had been a hard- 
working, industrious man, and in course of time had 
succeeded in gaining a comfortable home for himself 
and family. In the fall of 1841 he concluded to build 
himself a better and more comfortable dwellinghouse, 
for which purpose he entered into a contract with a 
certain young and skilful carpenter, who, aside front 
having a rather prepossessing appearance, and being a 
captain of a militia company, was also counted, as 



one of the prominent young men in that vicinity. Mrs. 
Sperry, the farmer's wife, was very industrious, and also 
a good-looking woman. In March, 1842, certain rumors 
with regard to criminal intercourse between Mrs. Sperry 
and this young carpenter gained considerable publicity, 
and finally reached the ears of Mr. Sperry. At that time, 
the young carpenter had begun the work on Sperry's new 
house, and from casual observations, Sperry mistrusted 
that there might be good cause for these rumors; from 
doubting his wife, he began to suspect her, and this led 
to very frequent family quarrels, which from that time 
on became an almost daily occurrence. These quarrels, 
inspired by the ominous poison of jealousy and 
misplaced confidence, reached their climax on the 9th of 
April, 1842, when Sperry took up a flatiron, with which 
he inflicted a fearful wound about two inches long and 
one inch deep upon the head of Mrs. Sperry, near the 
temple, from which she died almost instantly. This 
bloody deed took place in the kitchen of the old house, 
near an old-fashioned fireplace; near by stood a ladder, 
leading up to the garret. Gazing upon the dead body of 
his wife, and casting his eyes upon that fireplace and the 
ladder close by, this picture must have become 
transfixed in his mind like a flash of lightning, for it was 
in that moment in which he formed the combination of 
what afterward proved the entire basis of his defense. 
He ran at once for a neighbor, informing him of a fearful 
accident that had befallen his wife, and which had 
resulted in her death. His story was, that she had fallen 
off the ladder, and struck her head against the corner 
stone of the fireplace, and had died from the effects. The 
news of Sperry's wife's death spread like wildfire 
through the vicinity, and the next day the coroner of 
Sandusky county, who then lived in Lower Sandusky, 
convened a jury and held an inquest. 

Among the jurymen (all residents of Fremont) we find 
Mr. Charles O. Ti Hot son and Judge Olmsted. The 
verdict of this jury was, that Mrs. Sperry came to her 
death by a wound caused by her husband, who had 
struck her with a flat-iron. Upon this Sperry was 
indicted for murder in the first degree, but the 
prosecuting attorney, Mr. W. W. Culver, effected 
Sperry's release upon a bail of two thousand dollars for 
his appearance at the next term of court. Sperry's 
counsel, the Messrs. Homer Everett and Bishop Eddy, 
tried their utmost to circulate the belief that there had 
been no murder committed at all, and that Mrs. Sperry 
had been the victim of a most unfortunate and terrible 
accident. Prosecuting Attorney W. W. Culver and his 
assistant, Mr. Cooper K. Watson (afterwards judge of 
Common-Pleas for the counties of Erie and Ottawa) 
were satisfied that it was a cool-blooded murder, and 
left nothing undone to have Sperry convicted. The 
defence persistently kept up the theory of accident just 
as it had come from the lips of the accused at first. The 
cor- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



373 



oner's jury had neglected to give an exact and detailed 
description of the wound, and the prosecuting attorney, 
in order to avoid any doubt whatever, caused the body of 
Mrs. Sperry to be taken from the grave and brought to 
Fremont, where it was subjected to a medical 
examination by Drs, Rawson and Anderson. Dr. 
Rawson's office at that time was near the old Dickinson 
dwelling (northwest corner Arch and State streets). Said 
physicians made a thorough examination and returns to 
the prosecuting attorney, who could now explain and 
satisfy the jury of the utter impossibility of an accident. 
The grand jury, which at that time was composed of the 
following gentlemen, to wit: Messrs. Warren H. Stevens, 
John Houts, Hugh Overmeier, Hugh Bowland, Michael 
Fought, Joshua B. Chapel, David Engler, Stephen Teary, 
Orson Bement, Peter McNit, John Reed, George 
Donaldson, John Betts, Charles Lindsey, and Thomas 
Ogle, on the 14th day of September, 1842, found an 
indictment against Sperry for murder in the first degree, 
and on the next day the trial commenced before judge 
Ozias Bowen and his assistants, Alpheus Mclntire, Isaac 
Knapp, and George Overmeier. Dr. L. Q. Rawson at that 
time held the position of clerk, with B. .F. Fletcher as 
his assistant. Mr. John Strohl was sheriff, and Peter 
Burgoon deputy sheriff. A jury, composed of the 
Messrs. John Bell, Michael Reed, Henry Havens, Daniel. 
Tindall, Samuel Rose, David Chambers, Michael 
Overmeier, sr., William McGonnley, Joseph Kelley, 
Lewis E. Marsh, Levi Marsh, and Samuel Skinner, was 
duly sworn, and upon the defendant's plea of "Not 
guilty" the trial commenced. The prosecution had no 
direct proofs, but the very strongest kind of 
circumstantial evidence, proving by their witnesses 
(especially the Drs. D. Tilden, L. Q. Rawson, and 
Anderson) that the theory of accident had absolutely no 
foundation whatever, and came not even within the 
reach of possibility. The defence had substantially 
nothing else to counterbalance this testimony but the 
defendant's good character; and, strange as it may 
appear, . the question of jealousy was raised on neither 
side. Certain, however, is the fact that the young Adonis 
of a carpenter left the vicinity shortly after the trial. The 
trial lasted five days, and on the 20th day of September, 
18A2, the jury returned a verdict of guilty in the first 
degree. A motion on the part of the defence for a new 
trial was overruled by judge Bowen, who *thereupon 
sentenced Sperry to be hung on Wednesday, November 
2, 1842. Sperry received his sentence with perfect 
calmness, and Sheriff Strohl took him to jail, into a cell 
already occupied by George Thompson, also a murderer. 
The jail at that time was where now stands Rev, Mr. 
Lang's house, and here Sperry was given ample time to 
brood over his crime and repent, but all to no good, 
since he rejected all religious consolation, and remained 
the hard-hearted man he was-up to the time of his death. 
Sperry had 



made several attempts to take his own life, but was 
frustrated in this by the constant vigilance of Sheriff 
Strohl and Deputy Sheriff Burgoon, but it was destined 
that he should succeed after all. It was on Sunday, 
October 30, (he was to be hung on, the following 
Wednesday) when Sperry 's children,: Jefferson and 
Mary Ann (a boy seven years, and a girl eight years 
old), were brought into his cell to take a final parting of 
their father. The children were too young to comprehend 
the situation, and, their father was too reluctant and 
hardened to give way to any emotional feelings 
whatever, and so of course their conversation was turned 
entirely upon minor affairs. Sperry, who had noticed a 
small pen knife in the boy's hands, asked to look at it, 
and then returned it again with apart of the blade broken 
off, but which was not noticed by the boy at that time. 
Alter taking leave of their father, the children were then 
taken to what is now called the Kessler House, where for 
the first time the boy noticed the broken blade. This 
soon became known, and the sheriff made a most 
thorough search for the missing part of the blade, but all 
in vain, since Sperry had concealed it in the lining of his 
coat. This broken off blade it was which cheated the 
gallows of its prey, for that very night Sperry cut open 
some main arteries, and was found dead in his cell the 
next morning. But we are told that his death was a 
dreadful one, and in the presence of such a fiend as 
George Thompson, whom he had begged repeatedly to 
kill him, so as to end the agony of his sufferings, but 
which Thompson refused to do, and answered only with 
mocking laughter. When Thompson was asked why he 
had not tried to prevent Sperry from killing himself, 
Thompson (who also was an Englishman) answered, 
with the air of a bravado, "I rather see a countryman of 
mine kill himself than see him hung." Thus ended the 
life of a once good and industrious man, and it goes to 
show that the terrible fangs of jealousy will sometimes 
nettle around the best of human kind, and drag them 
down to the lowest degradation. 

THOMPSON MURDER IN BELLEVUE, 1842. 

Almost daily we read accounts of some brutal murder, 
when the motive was nothing else but an, unhappy love 
affair. Thirty-eight years have rolled by since this 
murder took place at Bellevue. We have undertaken to 
acquaint the public with the facts of these two murders, 
that appear like two dark and ominous spots in the 
history of our county. It was on the 30th day of May, 
1842, when the inhabitants of Bellevue were thrown into 
a fearful state of excitement by the news-that a murder 
had been committed right in their midst. 

The victim was a Pennsylvania German girl, by the 
name of Catharine Hamler, and the murderer was an 
Englishman by the name of George Thompson. Both 
parties were in the employ of Robert O. Pier, who at that 
time kept the Exchange Hotel in Bellevue (built by 
Chapman & Amsden). This 



374 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



Thompson, who had paid considerable attention to the 
girl (who at that time was but eighteen years old); had 
finally approached her with a proposal of marriage, but 
was refused by the girl, who emphatically told him that 
she entertained nothing but friendship toward him. 
Instead of taking this hint, Thompson kept up his love 
proposals in a still more persistent manner, until finally, 
seeing all his efforts crushed to pieces, the thought of 
murdering this girl entered his mind. The Both day of 
May, 1842 was destined to become reddened with the 
blood of his victim. On this day. he took a gun, loaded it 
properly, and so armed, he proceeded to execute his 
terrible deed. In order to get up the proper courage and 
strengthen his nerves, he took several drinks of whiskey, 
and then went to the hotel, into a back room, close to the 
stairway leading to the cellar kitchen. Catherine Hamler, 
who was in this very room, busy with ironing, upon 
noticing Thompson, with a gun in his hand, became 
frightened at once, ran out of the room and down the 
stairway. She was followed by Thompson, and before 
she had arrived at the last step of the stairs she received 
the unlucky discharge of Thompson's gun into her back, 
in the upper part of the shoulder blade, killing her 
instantly. The hotel keeper's wife, who had been busy in 
the cellar kitchen, hearing some one coming down stairs 
in such a hurry, ran out to learn the cause of it, and 
arrived just in time to catch the girl, who exclaiming: 
"I'm shot!" expired in her arms. The medical 
examination proved that the wound was half an inch 
wide and ten inches deep. We may well imagine what 
kind of an uproar and general consternation this foul 
murder created. Thompson was immediately arrested 
and brought to Fremont, where he was taken to jail and 
locked in the same cell where Sperry was then awaiting 
his trial. This was in the summer of 1842, and in 
September of the same year the grand jury, whose 
foreman was Mr. Charles Lindsey, found an indictment 
against Thompson for murder, in the first degree. 
Shortly afterward Thompson made his escape from jail, 
but was retaken in Woodville township and brought back 
to jail. 

He remained in jail until shortly after Sperry's suicide, 
when he and several other prisoners again made good 
their escape. Before we proceed any further, we will 
give our readers a detailed account of Thompson's 
escape which was furnished us by Mr. Michael McBride, 
of Woodville, to whom, and also to Mr. Stephen Brown, 
of Woodville, we feel greatly indebted. Mr. McBride's 
letter to us reads as follows: 

"On the first occasion of Thompson's breaking jail, in 
his journeying to escape, he reached a house about a 
half-mite to the westward of my place, then owned and 
occupied by John P. Elderkin, sr., now a resident of 
Fremont, and, in knocking for admission, he was met at 
the door by Mr. Stephen Brown, 



of Woodville, who at that time was a boarder at 
Elderkin's. Thompson then told Mr. Brown that he. was 
hungry, and would like to get something to eat, and then 
disclosed the fact that he was Thompson,, the murderer, 
and at the same time expressing himself as lacking in 
hope in the prospect of making good his escape; in 
consequence of which he requested Brown to be 
instrumental in returning him to jail, telling him at the 
same time that a reward, without doubt, would be 
offered for his arrest, and therefore he might as well 
obtain the same as anybody else. After listening to this 
conversation, Brown remarked that he was only a 
boarder at said house, (Elderkin being absent at the 
time,) therefore he had no rightful authority to give him 
anything to eat; 'but,' said he, 'I will accompany you to 
Woodville, and there you can obtain eatables, and the 
matter of your return to jail can be settled also. This 
proposition was accepted and carried out, and it was 
arranged, when at the village, to have Mr. Wood return 
the prisoner to jail, which he accordingly did. From the 
[reported] fact of Wood having expected a reward for 
the return, and failing in this, he was so chagrined that 
he told Thompson, upon separating from him in 
Fremont, that if he succeeded in escaping again, he 
desired him to make for his (Wood's) home, and, if he 
reached it in safety, he would use his endeavor to further 
his escape by letting him have one of his horses in order 
to accelerate the same. The two individuals then bade 
each other good-bye, Thompson at the same time telling 
Wood that he might expect him with him again just one 
week from that date, and this he fulfilled to the very 
day. o much for Mr. Stephen Brown's information, and 
now the thread of this story is followed still further by 
what I elicited from a conversation with Captain Andrew 
Nuhfer, of Woodville, who says that Thompson, when 
making his second escape, arrived in Woodville in the 
night and entered a blacksmith shop belong to said 
Nuhfer, and there cut the fetters from his wrists by 
means of tools in the shop. Nuhfer plainly discovered 
traces of some one having used his forge and tools when 
he entered his shop next morning. It seems that the 
prisoner, after having rid himself of his fetters, carried 
the same; with the connecting chain, and threw them 
behind a barn belonging to Wood, and soon after, having 
procured a horse from Mr. Wood, he set out on 
horseback to make good his escape. The horse, upon 
proving to lack endurance, was soon abandoned, and the 
escape continued, otherwise successfully, until the stage 
driver informed on him. The chain and handcuffs, lying 
behind Wood's barn, were subsequently appropriated as 
the property of Mr. Wood, and Nuhfer says that Mr. 
Wood conceived the idea of putting the same to some 
use he had in view, by, in the first place, having, the 
same remodeled into a complete chain by the 
blacksmith, This idea was carried out and Nuhfer did the 
work of remodeling." 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



375 



Mr. I. K. Seaman's information upon this subject 
coincides in the main with that of Mr. McBride. Mr. 
Seaman was, during the years of 1842 and 1843, toll- 
gate keeper near Woodville, and remembers distinctly 
that Thompson had been seen close to an old oak tree, 
about half a mile north of Woodville. Seaman says that 
he and Amos E. Wood had taken the prisoner to the jail 
in Fremont. A week later Thompson again came back to 
Woodville, where he met Wood and Seaman, whom he 
begged to stick to the promise they had made to him and 
further his escape. Mr. Wood told Thompson that his 
promise should be kept, whereupon he and Seaman went 
with Thompson to Nuhfer's blacksmith shop, where 
Thompson got rid of his fetters. Thompson staid at 
Seaman's house over night, and the next morning, 
sufficiently provided for with eatables and other 
necessaries, he went on his journey. A part of the 
distance from Woodville to Perrysburg he made in a 
sleigh. From Perrysburg, he travelled west until he 
reached Ottawa, Illinois. Mr. Seaman is of the opinion 
that the name of the stage-driver who finally discovered 
Thompson, was Jackson. He also says that Thompson 
after this last capture never attempted another escape. 
He had free access to Sheriff Strohl's yard, where he 
split wood and made himself generally useful, and that 
Thompson, had he chosen to do so, could have escaped 
very easily, especially where nearly all the farmers in 
the neighborhood rather sympathized and pitied him and 
would have furthered his escape; but Thompson was 
prepared to die, and continually thought of his victim, 
poor Catharine Hamler, whom he never could forget and 
whom he professed to love up to his death. 

We now proceed to acquaint our readers with the final 
capture of George Thompson. It was in the fall of 1843 
when a certain stage-driver left this vicinity in order to 
take mail matter to the far West. In the fore part of 
October this stage-driver came to Ottawa, county seat of 
La Salle county, Illinois, and stopped, with some of his 
passengers, at the same hotel where at that time George 
Thompson was employed as hostler, As chance would 
have It, one of the passengers had a conversation with 
the stage-driver about what time they intended to go 
back home. George Thompson, who happened to stand 
near by, became an attentive listener to their 
conversation from the fact that he heard the names of 
Bellevue and Lower Sandusky mentioned. The stage- 
driver, although acquainted in Ottawa, still did not know 
Thompson personally, and when he noticed the sudden 
change in Thompson's face from a living red to a deathly 
pallor, he exclaimed, "Well! what is the matter with 
you?" Thompson, finding it hard to control his emotion, 
begged the stage-driver not to betray him, telling him at 
the same time that he was the murderer of Catharine 
Hamler. The stage-driver, astonished over the discovery 
he 



had made, immediately sent this information to Sheriff 
Strohl, who, after receiving the same communicated it to 
Prosecuting Attorney W. W. Culver. In consequence of 
this, the county commissioners, Messrs. Paul Tew, Jones 
Smith and James Rose, (A. Coles was auditor at that 
time,) on the 8th day of December, 1843, ordered the 
sum of one hundred dollars paid to Sheriff Strohl to 
enable him to go and get Thompson. In the meantime the 
necessary papers of requisition had been made out by 
Governor Thomas W. Bartley, whereupon Thompson 
had been imprisoned in Ottawa until the arrival of 
Sheriff Strohl, who finally returned with his prisoner in 
the fore part of March, 1844. His trial commenced in 
June before a jury composed of the following persons, to 
wit: Joseph Reed, James P: Berry, Benjamin Inman, 
Archibald Rice, James A. Fisher, William Boyles, 
Abraham Gems, Washington Noble, Michael McBride, 
Stephen Lee, John Weeks, and Amos K. Hammond. 
Thompson was defended by Brice J. Bartlett (father of 
Colonel Joseph R. Bartlett) and Cooper K. Watson. The 
State was represented by W. W. Culver and L. B. Otis. 
The presiding judge was Ozias Bowen, assisted by the 
Messrs. Isaac Knapp, Alpheus Mclntyre, and George 
Overmeier. During the trial the counsel for the 
defendant tried their best to show that Thompson, at the 
committal of the murder, was not in his own mind and 
not capable of distinguishing right from wrong. This 
was corroborated by the testimony of a young Irishman, 
who said that he and Thompson had once been employed 
together as sailors upon the same ship, and upon landing 
on a British isle in the West Indies, Thompson there had 
had a severe case of sunstroke, the effects of which, in 
his opinion, Thompson never could have overcome. The 
theory of temporary insanity was prepared and skillfully 
worked upon by the able counsel for the defense. The 
State, on the contrary, proved by sufficient testimony, 
that during his stay in Bellevue Thompson never had 
shown the least signs of insanity, and had not only 
talked good common sense but had proved himself an 
upright and industrious man. Mr. Robert O. Pier, the 
keeper of the Exchange Hotel in Bellevue, testified that 
while in his employ Thompson had behaved admirably, 
and had fulfilled promptly all duties required of him, 
and that in his opinion Thompson knew perfectly well to 
tell right from wrong. After the arguments on both sides 
were concluded judge Bowen instructed the jury, who 
then retired about noon. They remained out about four 
hours, and at their first ballot the jury stood ten for 
guilty in the first degree; one, William Boyles, for 
acquittal, and Michael McBride for guilty in the second 
degree. Boyles kept hanging back for several hours but 
finally consented, and shortly after three o'clock on the 
10th day of June, the jury brought in their verdict of 
guilty in the first degree, The defense filed a mo- 



376 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



tion for a new trial, but the judges overruled said 
motion; whereupon the accused was asked to arise, and 
when questioned whether he had anything to say why 
judgment should not be passed upon him, Thompson 
answered that he had nothing more to say. Then Judge 
Bo wen addressed the prisoner as follows: "George 
Thompson, you have been accused, tried, and found 
guilty of the greatest crime known in the annals of the 
law in this State. You have been tried by a jury of 
twelve men, chosen by yourself; you have had a 
decidedly impartial trial; you have been defended by the 
most able counsel, who have tried the utmost on their 
part to withhold a verdict of guilty; you have tried to 
show that you were afflicted with temporary insanity, 
but for the sake of humanity, it has been clearly proven 
that on the 30th day of May, 1842, you willfully, 
maliciously and knowingly killed Catharine Hamler. The 
laws of this State for the crime of which you have been 
found guilty punish with a dishonorable death on the 
scaffold; but the law in this is more merciful than you 
have been toward your victim, and gives you ample time 
to repent of your terrible crime. Do not resort to any 
vain hopes of pardon but use your short ti me for 
repenting, for which purpose you may have the religious 
consolation of a minister of your own free choice. And 
now there remains nothing else for me to do but to 
pronounce sentence upon you according to the laws of 
our commonwealth. Thus reads-the sentence: That you 
George Thompson, prisoner before the bar, be taken 
back to jail, whence you came, and there remain under 
close confinement until Friday, the 12th day of July, 
1844, on which day, between the hours of 10 o'clock A. 
M. and 2 o'clock P. M., you shall be taken to the place 
of execution, and there hung by your neck until you are 
dead, and may God have mercy upon your soul." 

Thompson, who was quite overcome with emotion by 
the reading of his death warrant, was then taken back to 
jail. What a change had taken place in this man, for it 
was but two years previous, that this very George 
Thompson had shown and proved himself such a perfect 
brute, deprived of all human affection, at the time of 
John Sperry's suicide, and henceforth he became an 
entirely changed and repentant man. There were many 
persons who visited him during his last confinement, to 
whom he talked and conversed freely about the murder 
and its victim, poor Catharine Hamler, who, he said, was 
constantly before his eyes and troubled his mind 
considerably. Once upon being asked by Mr. David 
Betts whether he sincerely repented of his terrible deed, 
he answered: "I have loved this Catharine Hamler more 
than any other person in the world, and since she 
rejected my love I concluded to make certain that no 
other person should have her." 

Thompson was a member of the English Protestant 
Episcopal church, but he refused to see any 



Protestant minister and demanded a Catholic priest. His 
wish was complied with and he received occasional 
visits from a French priest, by the name of Josephus 
Projectus Macheboeuf, the present apostolic vicar at 
Denver, Colorado, and also from Father McNamee, of 
Tiffin. Rev. Macheboeuf at that time had charge of 
several parishes, as Peru, Sandusky, and several other 
places. At the beginning of the year 1880 he was in 
Rome, where he had an interview with Pope Leo XIII, 
who, according to the London Tablet, is said to have 
expressed very favorable comments on the ministerial 
efforts of this Rev. Macheboeuf. The day of execution 
drew near, and Sheriff Strohl made the necessary 
preparations for the same. Mr. John Sendelbach took the 
measure and made the coffin, and Mrs. Sarah Barkimer, 
nee Parish; who still resides here in Fremont on Elliott 
Street, on the east side of the river, made a white 
shroud, to which a white cap was attached. Thompson 
was hung in this very shroud. Sheriff Strohl, who 
himself was a carpenter by trade, erected the gallows, 
enclosing the space (twenty by, thirty feet) with a board 
fence, twelve feet high. 

The day before the execution Rev. Macheboeuf held 
holy mass in the prisoner's cell; on which occasion Mr. 
Ambrose Ochs assisted, who at that time was learning 
the wagonmaker's trade with Mr. Bait. Keefer. 
Thompson expressed great fear that after the execution 
his body might come under the eager hands and knives 
of science-hungry physicians, and he therefore begged 
of Rev. T. McNamee, who lived at Tiffin, to see to it 
that his body was laid in consecrated earth, which was 
solemnly pledged to him. The 12th day of July, 1844, 
the day set for the execution, had finally come. The 
prisoner awoke early and after partaking of a light 
breakfast was visited by Rev. J. McNamee, who 
administered the holy sacrament, after which Thompson 
put on the white shroud, of which we have spoken 
already. 

In the mean time a great crowd of people had 
congregated around the outside enclosure (the very place 
where now stands the new addition of the courthouse) 
and some desperate fellows, eager to become 
eyewitnesses of this sad spectacle, tried their best to 
break down the enclosure. Sheriff Strohl, after having 
become aware of these facts, concluded to have the 
prisoner executed in the morning instead of in the 
afternoon, as had been his first intention. Shortly after 
1 1 o'clock he led Thompson, accompanied by the priest, 
out of his cell to the fatal platform of the gallows. All at 
once some one cried: "He is coming ! " and at that 
moment, Mr. J. R. Francisco, from Ballville, who was 
stationed inside the enclosure as a custodian and armed 
with a gun, observed that some one was trying to cut a 
hole through the board fence, and before he could 
prevent it, one of the boards had been torn off, and in 
less than no 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



377 



time at all, other boards followed until finally the whole 
fence had disappeared, thereby exposing the sad 
spectacle to the entire public. After prayer by Rev. 
McNamee, he was asked by Sheriff Strohl whether he 
had anything more to say, to which Thompson simply 
shook his head. His arms and legs were then tied, the 
fatal noose laid around his neck, the white cap drawn 
over his face, and upon a given signal the trap was 
sprung and Thompson dangled in the air between heaven 
and earth. Thompson's neck was not broken but he died 
of strangulation, the knot of the noose having slipped 
under the chin. He still breathed after a lapse of fifteen 
minutes, and the moving of the muscles of the different 
parts of the body gave sufficient proof of the dreadful 
death agony that was taking place in that man. In twenty 
minutes Thompson was pronounced dead by Drs. L. Q. 
Rawson and Peter Beaugrand, and fifteen minutes before 
12 o'clock the body was taken from the gallows, put into 
the coffin, and given in charge of Rev. J. McNamee, 
who had it taken to Tiffin and buried in the Catholic 
cemetery, thus keeping the solemn pledge he had given 
to Thompson. It is said that after the crowd had 
dispersed certain rumors went afloat that Thompson had 
not been dead at the time he was cut down, and that on 
the way to Tiffin Father McNamee had made successful 
attempts at bringing Thompson back to life again. These 
rumors found their culminative point in the statement 
that Thompson had been seen near Fort Seneca. Of 
course these were only rumors, based upon the stupidity 
and sickly imagination of some foolish people, and 
certainly must have added greatly to the amusement of 
the above-named and certainly well-learned and skilful 
physicians. 

In the early history of the practitioners at 
the bar we find a peculiar class of men, of 
which the present day does not furnish a 
correct likeness. From the date of the or- 
ganization of the county in the year 1820 
until as late as 1840, or thereabouts, the 
larger portion of the litigated cases in the 
courts of the county were conducted by law- 
yers from other and sometimes remote lo- 
calities. They were chiefly men who had at- 
tained a wide reputation for talent and ability 
in the profession, and whenever plaintiff or 
defendant retained one of such a reputation 
the other side was sure to employ another of 
similar acquirements and ability to match 
him. The early local lawyers were poor, and 
there were in fact no law libraries worth 
noticing, and they of course 



could not refer to authorities on many 
questions which arose. But attorneys from 
older towns and cities had access to law 
books and could therefore make a better 
display in arguing cases to court or jury; 
hence they were preferred by litigants in the 
early times of the jurisprudence of the 
county. For such reasons, at every term of 
the earlier courts there came to attend court 
such men as Picket Lattimer, Ebenezer Lane, 
Phillip R. Hopkins, Ebenezer Andrews, of 
Huron county, and later, Charles L. Boalt, 
and Samuel T. Worcester, Cortland Lattimer, 
Thaddeus B. Sturges, Francis D. Parrish, 
John R. Osborn, E. B.. Saddler, and Joseph 
M. Root, of the same county. Though F. D. 
Parrish and E. B. Saddler were residents of 
Sandusky and placed outside of Huron 
county by the erection of Erie county, they 
were, at the time spoken of, within the limits 
of Huron county. There were, at every term 
of the court, John M. May, of Mansfield, 
Richland county, Orris Parrish, of 
Columbus, Ohio, Andrew Coffinberry and 
John C. Spink, of Wood county, Ohio, and 
occasionally such then as Thomas Ewing and 
Willis Silliman were found in the courtroom, 
though not often in this, to them, remote part 
of the State. Excepting Ewing and Silliman, 
in their early practice here, all travelled on 
horseback with the common pleas judge 
from county seat to county seat, and during 
their stay made a home at the best tavern at 
the county seat. They all travelled in 
company on horseback and carried copies of 
pleadings, briefs, and a change of shirts in 
saddlebags or valise. When on the road or 
off duty at the tavern they were a social, 
often a convivial collection of talented men 
away from home. In court they were as 
earnest and talented on behalf of their clients 
as any lawyers of the present day can be. 
Cards, whiskey, story telling, and dancing 
and 



378 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



singing songs were the alternate amuse- 
ments, and the whole tavern was kept happy 
where they stopped. 

After charging and sending out the grand 
jury, the presiding judge would next take the 
docket and call the cases for trial in the same 
order as they stood upon the docket, and 
every case was disposed of, for that time at 
least. The cases were continued, tried or 
dismissed when called. This practice 
compelled attorneys and clients to be ready 
for trial at all times during the term. 
Therefore all clients and witnesses attended 
constantly until their cases were disposed of. 
The attendance upon court, therefore, was 
much greater than at present. In fact, for a 
few days after opening court there was 
usually a large gathering of country people, 
something like what we now see when a 
menagerie or circus is on exhibition. Woe to 
the attorney who was not prepared to try his 
case. He usually found no indulgence from 
the court. There was in the earlier courts far 
more prompt and rapid disposal of cases 
than there is at present by the court. 

In looking for the causes for this change 
in the transaction of business, two facts 
appear: First, under the Constitution of 1802 
all the judges were elected in joint ballot of 
the General Assembly, and not by popular 
vote of the same people to whom he must 
administer justice. The popular and widely 
influential attorney had no terrors for him, 
because he looked to the General Assembly 
for his reelection if he desired it. Second, 
under the common law system of pleading 
almost every case was narrowed down to a 
single issue of fact or law, and the scope of 
the jury's enquiry was much less than the 
scope under the present system. Another 
cause may have had some influence. Then 
there were fewer judges to do the work, and 
a rapid dispatch of the business in each 
county in 



short terms was an absolute necessity. 

EARLY RESIDENT MEMBERS OF THE BAR. 

BENJAMIN F. DRAKE was the first lawyer 
who settled in Lower Sandusky. He came 
there in 1817, and was for a time clerk of the 
court of common pleas, but resigned his 
office and removed to Delaware county, 
probably in 1823. Nothing further of his 
history or fate can now be obtained for 
record. 

HARVEY J. HARMON was the second law- 
yer who settled in Lower Sandusky. Mr. 
Harmon was a well educated man and a good 
lawyer, and at one time had considerable 
practice. He loved political discussion, 
however, and during the latter years of his 
life gave most of his time and efforts in that 
direction. He was an ardent Jackson 
Democrat in the election of 1828, and 
afterward received the appointment of 
postmaster at Lower Sandusky. Mr. Harmon 
was father of one daughter, now living, who 
is the wife of our esteemed citizen, Colonel 
William E. Haynes. This daughter was a 
small child when her father died. He died in 
August, 1834, of Asiatic cholera, in Lower 
Sandusky. The way he contracted the 
contagious and fatal disease reflects much 
credit on his character as a man and a 
Mason. There had been no case of cholera in 
Lower Sandusky, and no thought that it 
would stray from the great thoroughfare to 
attack the people of as small a village as 
Lower Sandusky. A small steamboat then 
plying between Sandusky City and Lower 
Sandusky, about the 4th of August, 1834, 
brought a number of passengers and landed 
them about three-quarters of a mile north of 
where the courthouse now stands. Among 
the passengers were two or three families of 
German emigrants, who had recently arrived 
in the United States. These people camped 
out near the landing and did not enter the 
town. A very respectable stranger in 
appearance 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



379 



came from the landing in the evening and 
took lodgings in the Western House, then the 
best hotel in the country and kept by a Mr. 
Marsh. In the early part of the night this 
stranger was taken sick, and was in need of 
help; he inquired of the landlord if there 
were any Free Masons in the place, and was 
told that Mr. Harmon was reputed to be a 
member of the order. A messenger was sent 
to give word and returned with Mr. Harmon, 
who recognized the stranger as a brother in 
the order. Mr. Harmon stayed with and 
ministered to him through the night, and 
until the stranger died early the next day. 
Harmon was taken with the dread disease the 
following day and died in about twenty-four 
hours after the attack. 

INCREASE GRAVES came to Lower 
Sandusky and began the practice of the law 
as early as 1821, if not before. He married 
the daughter of Israel Harring, an early 
settler, and died after about three years of 
married life, leaving a widow and one child. 

RODOLPHUS DICKINSON was in order of 
time probably the fourth resident lawyer who 
settled in Lower Sandusky. There are better 
means at hand to furnish a history of Mr. 
Dickinson than of those who preceded him. 
From these sources of information we gather 
and place in this work the following facts 
concerning him and his career: 

Rodolphus Dickinson was born in the State 
of Massachusetts, December 28, 1797. He 
graduated at Williams College and soon 
thereafter repaired to Columbus, Ohio, 
where he taught school for a time. He then 
entered upon the study of the law with 
Gustavus Swan, of that city. After 
completing his studies and after being 
admitted to the bar, Mr. Dickinson removed 
to Tiffin, the county seat of the then new 
county of Seneca. Here he c ommenced the 
practice of the legal profession, and was 
appointed prosecut- 



ing attorney of that county at the first term 
of the court of common pleas held. In 1826 
he removed to Lower Sandusky (now 
Fremont) and in the following year was 
married to Miss Margaret Beaugrand, 
daughter of John B. Beaugrand, one of the 
early settlers in Lower Sandusky. He was 
for a time prosecuting attorney for 
Sandusky, and soon gathered a profitable 
practice. He continued in practice for 
several years, but like many other lawyers 
was eventually called into the arena of 
political and party contention. Here Mr. 
Dickinson displayed all the qualities neces- 
sary to a politician without the sacrifice of 
integrity. In the schemes for the early 
public works and finances of the State he 
became, and was for several years, the 
master mind. The Wabash & Erie Canal and 
the Maumee & Western Reserve road are 
monuments of his ability and energy. He 
was a member of the Board of Public Works 
of the State from the year 1836 to the year 
1845, which dates include an era of 
financial embarrassment the most severe 
ever known in the State. Mr. Dickinson's in- 
fluence with the Board of Fund Commis- 
sioners of the State and with the State 
Legislature was generally potential, and 
during a series of years when the credit of 
the State was so prostrated that the bonds 
sold as low as fifty cents on the dollar (the 
proceeds of sale being realized in the paper 
of suspended banks, which was depreciated 
ten or twelve per cent.), his prudent 
counsels contributed largely to save the 
prosecution of the public works from 
indefinite suspension. In 1846 Mr. 
Dickinson was elected to Congress, and re- 
elected in 1848. He died in Washington city 
soon after his re-election, and on the 10th 
of March, 184. 

Mr. Dickinson, for his private virtues 
and his public services, is still held in 



380 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



grateful remembrance by the people not only 
of Sandusky county but throughout 
Northwestern Ohio. 

HIRAM R. PETTIBONE was born in Gran- 
ville, Connecticut, on the 20th of May, 1795. 
In 1830 he served one term in the 
Legislature of his native State. He studied 
law with judge Fouscey, of great repute in 
that State as a jurist. He came to Lower 
Sandusky and entered the practice of the law 
in the year 1835, and was a popular and 
successful practitioner until 1849, when he 
removed to Wisconsin, where he still resides 
with his son Chauncy. While residing here 
Mr. Pettibone enjoyed the high esteem of the 
moral and intellectual portion of our people. 
In practice he was faithful to his clients, and 
was engaged in many of the important cases 
tried in the county. While practicing law in 
Lower Sandusky Mr. Pettibone and his wife 
reared and fitted for useful lives a family, 
consisting of Mr. Chauncy Pettibone, who 
was an accomplished business man at an 
early age, and was at one time a partner in 
the mercantile business at Lower Sandusky 
with Mr. James Vallette. His eldest daughter, 
Delia, married Austin B. Taylor, one of our 
early and successful merchants, and a man of 
ability in business circles. His second 
daughter, Harriet, was married to C. G. 
McCulloch, an early druggist of Lower 
Sandusky, but now of Chicago. A son, Milo, 
and son William, were next in order of age. 
Then a daughter, Jane, who married Dr. 
Kramer, of Sandusky City; a son, Alfred, 
now residing in Ripon, Wisconsin. Dr. 
Sardis B. Taylor, now practicing medicine in 
Fremont, is a grandson of Lower Sandusky's 
early and able lawyer, Hiram R. Pettibone. 
This venerable member of the Bar of 
Sandusky county is now eighty-six years of 
age, and comfortably enjoying the sunset of 
life with his oldest son, 



Chauncy, an active and successful merchant 
at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. 

After or about the time Mr. Pettibone 
settled in the practice of the law at Lower 
Sandusky, came Asa Calkins, Peter Yates, 
W. W. Culver, and William W. Ainger. 
Little of they history of these then can now 
be gathered. They are either long ago dead, 
or in other States, and in unknown locations, 
excepting William W. Culver, who, at last 
accounts, was still living and resides at Penn 
Yan, New York. But the means of giving his 
birthplace, where he was educated, and 
where he studied his profession, are not at 
hand. Mr. Culver was prosecuting attorney 
for the county, being appointed first in 1839, 
and continued four successive years. In his 
addresses to a popular assembly, or to a jury, 
Mr. Culver exhibited wonderful brilliancy 
and acumen and always commanded the 
close attention of the jury and the court, and 
if not always right in his views of the law, or 
his deductions from facts in the testimony of 
a cause, he was always listened to with in- 
terest and pleasure by all who heard him. 
Mr. Culver left the practice about 1847, and 
afterwards went to California where he 
taught school. He accumulated considerable 
property, and finally settled with a sister in 
Penn Yan, New York. 

RALPH P. BUCKLAND'S history is so 
fully written in other parts of this work that 
our notice of him as a lawyer may be made 
brief without doing him injustice. We will 
therefore but briefly sketch the life of this 
distinguished citizen in its connection with 
the practice of the law. He came to Lower 
Sandusky in the summer of 1837, and 
commenced the practice of the law. He has 
frequently told the writer that when he 
arrived at Lower Sandusky to commence the 
practice of his profession he was without 
means, and his only monetary resources 
were seventy-five cents, which 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



381 



he brought with him in his pockets. His 
subsequent success, and the eminent char- 
acter he achieved, stands as a monument to 
his industry and integrity, as well as an 
enduring encouragement to all young 
members of the profession that by imitating 
his noble and virtuous example they may 
succeed in life. We commend the life of 
General Buckland, as given in another 
chapter, to the reading and consideration of 
all into whose hands this work may come. 
General Buckland is now engaged in practice 
in partnership with his son, Horace S. 
Buckland, and Wilbur Zeigler, and is the 
only lawyer now in practice who practiced in 
Fremont before 1840, and is also the oldest 
member of the bar in the county, both in 
years and in practice. 

LUCIOUS B. OTIS was born March 11, 
1820, at Montville, Connecticut, and was 
educated in Ohio at common schools in 
Berlin, Erie county; at Huron Institute, 
Milan, Ohio; the Norwalk Seminary, 
Norwalk, Ohio, and at Granville College, 
Granville, Ohio. He commenced the study of 
law at Norwalk, Ohio, in August, 1839, in 
the law office of Hon. Thaddeus B. Sturgis 
and John Whitbeck, and during the fall and 
winter of 1840 and 1841 attended the law 
school of the Cincinnati College, at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, front which he graduated 
in April, 1841. At the August term of the 
Supreme Court, held in Huron county in 
1841, he was duly admitted to the Bar as a 
practicing attorney. On September 1, 1841, 
he took up his residence in Lower Sandusky, 
Sandusky county, Ohio. For the first year or 
two he practiced law in partnership with the 
late Brice J. Bartlett, and subsequently for 
several years with Hon. Homer Everett. He 
was married to Miss Lydia Ann Arnold, of 
East Greenwich, Rhode Island, in January, 
1844, and has seven children living, four 
married and well settled in life, 



and the three youngest living with their 
parents at the family home, No. 2011 
Michigan avenue, Chicago. At the close of 
his term of office as judge of the court of 
common pleas in Ohio, in December, 1856, 
he removed to Chicago, Illinois, which is 
still his residence. He has never practiced his 
profession since he took his seat upon the 
bench as judge in Ohio, in February, 1852. 

When he located in Lower Sandusky, in 
September, 1841, Mack Bump kept the old 
historic corner tavern, at which he boarded 
for a long time at two dollars and a half per 
week. It was a well kept hotel. He recalls the 
following names as fellow boarders at that 
time: Elisha W. Howland, Charles O. 
Tillotson, Dr. Thomas Stilwell, Clark 
Waggoner, C. G. McCulloch, John A. 
Johnson. That so many are still living after 
nearly for years have elapsed is quite 
remarkable. 

To show how judge Otis succeeded in life 
after he left Fremont, we give the following 
from a correspondent of the Sandusky 
Register in Chicago, under date of January 
11, 1881, which details his life with more 
particularity: 

Judge Lucius B. Otis is a typical Ohioan in physical 
proportions and mental acquirement. It is often said that 
sons of Ohio, particularly Northern Ohio, are men of 
large frame and fine physique; whether this is true or not 
I cannot say, but it certainly is true in this instance, and 
is true of the family, a numerous one. While L. B. Otis 
was born in Connecticut, he is essentially an Ohio man, 
having come to the State when two years of age. He 
comes of rare old New England stock, his father and 
mother possessing fine native abilities, rare attainments, 
force of character, integrity and many Christian virtues, 
which qualities were inherited by the subject of this 
mention in a marked degree. He was born in 1820, and 
his parents moved to Berlin, Erie county, Ohio, in 1822, 
which has been the home of the family since. Lucius 
attended the common schools of that place, dividing his 
time between study and farming, until eighteen years of 
age, when he attended the Huron Institute at Milan, later 
the Norwalk Institute and Granville College., when he 
commenced the study of law in Norwalk, with Sturgis & 
Whitbeck, and attended the law school at Cincinnati, 
returning to Norwalk in 



382 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



1841, where he was admitted to the Bar by the supreme 
court. Soon after this he established himself in practice 
at Lower Sandusky, now Fremont; was elected 
prosecuting attorney in 1842, and re-elected each two 
years and served until 1850. In 1851, under the new 
Constitution, he was elected judge of the court of 
common pleas, his circuit comprising the counties of 
Huron, Erie, Sandusky, Ottawa, and Lucas, and involved 
a vast amount of work, often holding court ten months 
of the year, besides sitting as one of the district judges. 
In 1 850, with Sardis Birchard, he established the 
banking house of Birchard & Otis, at Fremont, which 
enterprise proved a decided success, and in 1 864 
developed into the First National. Bank of Fremont. At 
the expiration of his judgeship, in 1 856, having 
accumulated considerable means and believing Chicago 
was destined to become the great metropolis of the 
West, he moved here in December of the same year, and 
at once began operating in real estate, buying, building, 
and renting; exercising that tact, sagacity, and judgment 
which had previously characterized his course, and have 
to this day, and he has become one of our largest real 
estate owners and among our most enterprising and suc- 
cessful business men. One of the finest and most 
conspicuous marble front blocks, known as the "Otis 
Block," is owned by him and his brother James. 

He was a large property owner before the fire, and 
being in the burnt district, his property was nearly all 
destroyed, but, being well insured in responsible 
companies, he was not as heavy a loser as many, and 
was able to rebuild and almost wholly replace his 
buildings with new ones of a much better class. He was 
president of the Grand Pacific Hotel Company, and 
superintended the finances when it was rebuilt after the 
fire, and had a general supervision of its building. 
Among the many responsible positions he has been 
called upon to fill, financial and otherwise, is that of 
receiver of the insolvent State Savings Institution, which 
had a deposit account at the time of failure of over four 
million dollars, to the credit of poor people almost 
wholly. The court sought to protect this vast interest and 
save as large a per cent, as possible to the depositors, 
and to accomplish this object selected judge L. B. Otis 
for receiver, knowing his eminent fitness for such duty. 
He has more than met the expectations of both court and 
depositors. He has realized on the real estate assets a 
full quarter of a million dollars more than almost any 
other man could have done, and will be able to pay over 
forty per cent., in place of fifteen or twenty, which was 
only looked for, hardly expected. This is the result of his 
sagacious management of the assets. His bond is two 
million dollars, signed by ten of the best men in the city. 
I instance this fact to indicate to his former friends and 
neighbors the kind of man Erie county has furnished 
Chicago. His name is identified with some of our 



best corners, as to property, and our best institutions of 
all descriptions. 

He is one of our most prominent citizens, and his 
fine and varied literary attainments and refined social 
qualities make him a most agreeable and edifying 
member of the social circle. He has a large library, filled 
with a choice collection of books. He is a lawyer of the 
highest standing in the profession; has not been an 
office seeker, though office has often sought him, but, 
being a Democrat, his friends have been unable to put 
him in high State positions (for which he was fitted) in 
this Republican stronghold. He supported Lincoln both 
terms, but has returned to his first love, no doubt being 
conscientious in his views and belief. In religion he is 
an Episcopalian, and a noble layman in the matter of 
expounding the laws and canons of that church. 

In 1893 and 1894, with a portion of his family, he 
visited Great Britain and the Continent, making an 
extensive tour. He was married in 1844, and has had 
eight children, seven of whom are now living. His wife 
is an estimable lady. His sons are among our prominent 
business men, engaged in banking and other business. 
Ohio, and Erie county in particular, may point with 
pride to judge L. B. Otis as one of her sons. 

JOHN L. GREENE, SR., was born in St. 
Lawrence county, New York, July 16, 1806. 
In August, 1815, he moved with his father's 
family to Ohio, and located at Newburg, on 
the Western Reserve. He shortly after went 
to Plattsburg, New York, where he spent two 
years, and there began the study of the law, 
under the instruction of his uncle, John 
Lynde. He spent some time in the University 
of Burlington, Vermont, but was compelled 
to relinquish his course on account of ill 
health. 

Returning to Ohio he was soon invited to 
take charge of an academy at Cleveland, 
which position he accepted for a short time. 
While engaged in teaching he still pursued 
the study of the law, under the tuition of 
Leonard Case. 

After the termination of his engagement 
in the academy, he gave himself more ex- 
clusively to the study of law, and while 
giving his days to that purpose, employed 
his evenings in keeping the books of the 
mercantile house of Irad Kelley. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



383 



On the 16th of July, 1828, he was married 
to Miss Julia L. Castle, of Cleveland. In this 
year he also engaged in various speculations, 
by which he accumulated a handsome 
property. 

In 1833 he came to Sandusky county and 
purchased some fourteen hundred acres of 
land, and in the spring of the following year 
moved with his family here. After a failure 
in mercantile business at Greensburg, a 
village named after him, in Scott township, 
which failure was caused by the financial 
crisis of 1836-37, Mr. Greene, in 1840, came 
to Lower Sandusky and commenced the 
practice of the law. 

His earnings for the first year were forty- 
five dollars. He had a wife and six children 
to provide for. At this juncture he received 
aid from an old Samaritan named Riverius 
Bidwell. The next year his earnings 
amounted to sixteen hundred and fifty 
dollars. From this time he had a successful 
practice until 1855, when he was elected 
Representative in the General Assembly, by 
the people. In 1861 he was elected judge of 
the court of common pleas, to fill a vacancy 
occasioned by the resignation of Hon. 
Samuel T. Worcester, which position he held 
until February, 1864, at which time he 
resumed the practice of the law. He 
afterwards formed a partnership with his 
son, John L. Greene, jr., in which relation he 
continued until the time of his death. 

He was the father of eight sons and four 
daughters. One of his peculiarities was a 
fondness for horses, and, at the bar, 
wherever he practiced, he was king of all 
attorneys where the value, or quality, or 
disease of horses were drawn into litigation. 
In social life, and as a citizen of good 
example, public spirit, and liberality, judge 
Greene had few superiors in Fremont. The 
fact that Mr. Greene was chosen as a judge 
and elected to that position by the people of 
the subdivision 



of the judicial district in which he resided, 
folly certifies his ability and standing as a 
lawyer and a man. 

COOPER K. WATSON came to Lower 
Sandusky to attend court occasionally as 
early as 1841. He had studied law in Marion, 
Ohio, and recently been admitted to the Bar. 
At that time he was a man of unusually clear 
and quick perception of legal principles and 
with great argumentative power. He assisted 
in the prosecution of Sperry for the murder 
of his wife, and his management of the case, 
and especially his argument to the jury, at 
once placed him in a high position in his 
profession, which he maintained through 
life. Of his birthplace, parentage, and early 
life, we are not informed. 

Mr. Watson served two successive terms 
in the House of Representatives in Congress, 
being first elected in 1856, and after he had 
become a resident of Tiffin, in Seneca 
county, having changed his residence about 
the year 1850. Subsequently he located and 
practiced his profession in Sandusky. After 
the death of judge Lane, of Sandusky, he 
was appointed to fill the vacancy in the 
judgeship of the court of common pleas, and 
was twice elected to the office, in which he 
continued until his death, in 1880. He was 
buried in the cemetery at Sandusky, and his 
funeral was attended by a large concourse of 
people, including judges and lawyers from 
various distant parts of the State, also a large 
concourse of Knights Templar, of which 
order he was a prominent member. 

JOHN A. JOHNSON was born in Canfield, 
Trumbull county at that time, but now in the 
county of Mahoning. After receiving a fair 
academic education he studied law in the 
office of judge Newton, in Canfield. He 
came to Lower Sandusky and commenced 
the practice of the law in the latter part of 
the year 1839. In 1842 he formed a 
partnership in practice with 



384 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Cooper K. Watson, under the name of 
Watson & Johnson. This firm had the benefit 
of Mr. Watson's growing reputation, and for 
a time did a large legal business. 

In 1842 Mr. Johnson married Almira B. 
Hafford. In 1849 he left his practice and his 
family, in Fremont, and, with several other 
citizens of the place, went, to hunt gold in 
California, and was absent about fifteen 
months. A few months after his return he 
sold his farm and residence near the town, 
and moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, 
where he died many years ago. His wife and 
four children-three sons and one daughter, 
are still living. 

Mr. Johnson was in every way an exem- 
plary man. While residing in Lower 
Sandusky he was a member of the Presbyte- 
rian church, and acted as its trustee in 
building the first brick house of worship for 
the society. 

NATHANIEL B. EDDY, a native of the 
State of New York, came to Lower Sandusky 
and commenced the practice of the law 
sometime about the year 1839. Mr. Eddy was 
well educated and had thoroughly studied his 
profession. His brother, Azariah, had settled 
in Lower Sandusky previously, and at the 
time mentioned was, perhaps, the leading 
merchant of the town. His influence at once 
helped his young lawyer brother into 
practice and into social standing in the 
community. Mr. Eddy practiced successfully 
alone for about two years. Homer Everett 
had for some years been studying law at leis- 
ure times, and was then sheriff of the county. 
In December, 1842, Mr. Eddy persuaded 
Everett that ho was qualified to be admitted 
to the Bar, and proposed that if he would do 
so, he would accept him as a partner in the 
business on equal terms. Mr. Everett at once 
travelled to Columbus and was there, after 
due exam 



ination, found qualified, and admitted to 
practice in all the courts of the State. After 
returning from Columbus he at once resigned 
the office of sheriff, which had some months 
to run, and entered into partnership, under 
the firm name of Eddy & Everett. This firm 
continued a prosperous business until some 
time in 1844 or 1845, when Mr. Eddy was 
seized with a desire to become suddenly 
rich, and entered into mercantile business 
with Frederick Wilkes, his brother-in-law. 
The firm of Eddy & Wilkes occupied a store 
near the law office used by Eddy & Everett. 
On the retirement of Mr. Eddy from practice, 
Lucas B. Otis and Homer Everett formed a 
partnership, and did a successful business as 
lawyers until the close of the year 1847, 
when Mr. Everett retired from practice and 
settled on his farm on the Sandusky River, 
about five miles below town. 

Mr. Eddy closed up his business a few 
years after, and moved to Madison, Wis- 
consin. There he was chosen county judge, 
and held the office many years, and died in 
the capital of his last adopted State. 

Thus far we have mentioned only the 
lawyers who practiced in Lower Sandusky 
prior to the year 1842, who with the ex- 
ception of General Buckland, are all dead or 
have removed from the State. However, 
while the ranks of the practicing lawyers of 
the olden time have been thinned by death 
and removal, the recruits have been 
abundant since, and the force not only kept 
up but largely increased from time to time 
by the settlement in the county from abroad, 
and by admissions to the Bar of those who 
lived and studied within its limits. Of those 
who came into practice in 1842, and since 
that time, we have to mention the follow- 
ing: 

J. W. CUMMINGS is now a resident of 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



385 



Green Spring. He was born in Richland 
county, Ohio, in 1836, and in 1838 removed 
with his parents to Lagrange county, 
Indiana, where he resided until 1864. He was 
educated at Ontario Academy, Indiana, and 
Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, 
Michigan. Mr. Cummings studied law at 
Lagrange, Indiana, and was admitted to the 
Bar there in the year 1860. He was elected 
to, and held the office of district prosecuting 
attorney for the five northeastern counties of 
the State; was afterwards a candidate for 
circuit prosecuting attorney for the circuit 
composed of the ten counties in the 
northwestern part of the State. This can- 
didacy was in 1864, and Mr. Cummings was 
not elected. In 1864 he went to Washington, 
and there held a position in the land office 
until 1866, when he left Washington and 
located at Toledo, Ohio, and resumed there 
the practice of the law. Here Mr. Cummings' 
merits and talents soon gave him 
prominence, and he held public office 
several terms. He in the meantime married a 
daughter of the late Robert Smith, of Green. 
Spring, and in 1876 retired from the practice 
of the law and engaged in other business. 

While Mr. Cummings was engaged in 
practice at Toledo he was frequently seen 
attending to business in the courts of 
Sandusky county. He always commanded the 
close attention of Court and Bar wherever he 
appeared. He was made administrator of his 
father-in-law's estate, and the large amount 
of property and the widely extended business 
thus thrown on Mr. Cummings' care and 
management, together with the fact that he 
has a large share of this world's goods, will 
probably prevent a good lawyer and 
admirable man from returning to the 
drudgery of practice. 

JOHN H. RHODES, now in practice in our 
courts, and residing in Clyde, in the eastern 
part of the county, was born in 



February, 1836, in Westfield township, then 
Delaware, but now Morrow county, Ohio. He 
was educated at Wesleyan University, 
Delaware, Ohio. 

Mr. Rhodes commenced the study of the 
law in the year 1860, with O. D. Morrison, at 
Cardington, Ohio, and completed his study 
under the teaching of Homer Everett, of 
Fremont, Ohio, in the year 1870. At the April 
term of the district court of Sandusky county, 
he was admitted to practice and at once 
opened an office at Clyde, Ohio, where he has 
since done, and still is doing a good business. 

Mr. Rhodes was married on the 28th day of 
December, 1867, in Brooklyn, New York, to 
Miss May Antoinette Brown, also a graduate 
of the Ohio Wesleyan University. They now 
have a happy family of three children. 

Mr. Rhodes served a term as Repre- 
sentative of Morrow county in the General 
Assembly of Ohio. He had also served in the 
Union army in the War of the Rebellion, 
having volunteered. 

In purity of life, in gentlemanly conduct 
and courtesy, and in pleasing manners, 
Colonel Rhodes has no superior in the 
Sandusky county bar. As a lawyer, he ranks 
well and is a good and faithful attorney. 

Mr. Rhodes enlisted as a private in 
company B, of the Forty-third Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry, in 1861. He served with his regiment 
through the entire war, being mustered out as 
lieutenant-colonel. He was promoted in 
obedience to the desire of the officers and 
men of his own regiment. After returning 
from his honorable service in the army, the 
people of Morrow county elected him to 
represent them in the General Assembly for 
the sessions of 1866-67. He filled the office 
with satisfaction to the people and credit to 
himself. 

HENRY R. FINEFROCK, now an esteemed 
member of the Bar of Sandusky county, 



386 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



was born at Lancaster, Fairfield county, Ohio, 
on the 16th day of October, 1837. He was 
educated in the common schools and high 
school in. Lancaster, Ohio. He became an 
approved and efficient school teacher, and 
spent some years in that profession in Marion 
county, Ohio, and perhaps in other counties. 
His brother Thomas P. Finefrock, had been in 
successful practice for a number of years at 
Fremont, and while he was a partner with. John 
L. Greene, sr., Mr. Henry R. Finefrock studied 
law with them. 

In 1862, Henry R. Finefrock was admitted 
to the Bar at Fremont, Ohio, at the April term 
of the district court. He, however, did not 
really commence practice as a lawyer until 
1867, when he located in the city of Fremont, 
for the purpose 

of entering into practice. Mr. Finefrock is 
highly esteemed among the members of the 
Bar, as an upright, moral man, and an attorney 
with excellent business qualifications. He has 
rendered good service to the county, and 
helped much to improve our schools, while 
acting as a member of the board of examiners 
of school teachers. For this position his 
accurate learning and his experience as a 
teacher, gave him good qualifications, and he 
exercised them happily in advancing the 
qualifications of our teachers. Mr. Finefrock is 
still in active practice at Fremont, in 
partnership with Colonel Joseph R. Bartlett. 

M. B. LEMMON, now an active member of 
the Sandusky county Bar, located at Clyde, 
Ohio, was born August 7, 1847, in Townsend 
township, Sandusky county, and therefore "to 
the manor born." He is the youngest son of 
Uriah B. Lemmon, one of the pioneers of the 
county. The subject of this sketch was educated 
in early life in our common schools, and 
attended quite regularly until 1864, when he 
volunteered in the military service of his 



country a little before coming to the age of 
eighteen years. He enlisted as a private in 
company B of the One Hundred and Sixty- 
ninth regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He 
served with this regiment until it was finally 
mustered out. On his return young Lemmon 
determined to obtain a better education and 
to that end promptly entered Hillsdale 
college at Hillsdale, Michigan, which he 
attended one year. After leaving Hillsdale, 
he taught school several terms, after which 
he began service as a railroad engineer, 
which he followed for a time, and then began 
reading law. He commenced the study with 
Stephen A. Powers, esq., at Fremont, in the 
State of Indiana, and was admitted to the Bar 
September 5, 1876, at Angola, Indiana, and 
at once went into practice. In March, 1877, 
he entered into partnership with his brother, 
John M. Lemmon, of Clyde, and remains an 
active member of the firm. 

He was married October 11, 1871, to Miss 
Emma T. Stewart, of Fremont, Indiana, and 
is now the happy father of three children. 

WILBUR G. ZEIGLER is the son of Henry 
Zeigler, formerly a prominent merchant and 
business man of Fremont, who, after the war, 
located in the South with his family, and 
returned a few years ago, bringing his son 
Wilbur with him to Fremont. 

Wilbur G. was born at Fremont, Ohio. 
While in the South, he, though compara- 
tively a young man, displayed unusual 
literary ability in his correspondence with 
various newspapers, which marked him for a 
literary career. For some time he read law 
with Henry McKinney, now judge, in 
Cleveland, Ohio. However, he came back to 
Fremont, and finished his legal studies in the 
office of Ralph P. & Horace S. Buckland. He 
was admitted to practice under the lately 
established rules, in the 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



387 



supreme court at Columbus, in March, 1881. 

Mr. Zeigler was educated in the public 
schools of Fremont, graduating in the high 
school in the class of 1876. On his admission 
to the Bar, Mr. Zeigler at once entered upon 
the practice of his profession and was 
received into partnership with the 
Bucklands, with whom he had finished his 
studies. He is unmarried, but his future 
career is full of promise whether he shall 
devote himself exclusively to his profession, 
or strike off into a literary career. 

F. R. FRONIZER was born October 15, 
1852, at the city of Buffalo, New York, and 
emigrated to Ohio with his parents in the 
spring of 1853. He was educated in the 
common schools of Ohio. For some time Mr. 
Fronizer was a school teacher, and while so 
engaged, taught the high school at 
Woodville, Ohio. 

He commenced reading law in the law 
office of John T. Garver in Fremont, in the 
fall of 1874, and was admitted to the Bar in 
Sandusky county in the fall of the year 1877. 
He has since been elected a justice of the 
peace for Ballville township, which he 
resigned, and is now engaged in practice at 
Fremont. 

P. O'FARRELL was born at Sandusky City, 
Erie county, Ohio, May 24, 1856. In the 
spring of 1860 he moved with his parents, 
and settled in Scott township, Sandusky 
county, Ohio. Here young O'Farrell worked 
on the farm of his father, attending a district 
school in the winters until the spring of 
1871, when he went to the Northwestern 
Normal School, then located at Republic, 
Seneca county, Ohio, to prepare himself for 
teaching. The ensuing winter he taught his 
first school for a term of four months in 
Montgomery township, Wood county, Ohio. 
At this time Mr. O'Farrell was not sixteen 
years old, yet lie taught with good success, 
which indi- 



cates an aptness to acquire learning which is 
quite unusual. He continued to teach in the 
winter, and attend school in the summer 
until he commenced the study of the law, 
which was in the summer of 1876. He, 
however, taught the Hessville graded schools 
when studying, and there closed his career as 
a school teacher in April, 1880. 

In June, 1880, Mr. O'Farrell passed 
examination under the new rules of the 
supreme court at Columbus, Ohio, and was 
there admitted to practice. He was elected a 
justice of the peace for Sandusky township 
in the spring of 1879, but resigned the office 
on the 16th of August, 1881. He was 
appointed a member of the board of county 
school examiners on the 3d day of July, 
1881, which office he still creditably fills. 

On the 24th day of May, 1881, Mr. 
O'Farrell married Miss Catharine O'Connor, 
daughter of Bryan O'Connor, who is now 
one of our most popular county 
commissioners. 

Mr. O'Farrell has fine, natural gifts of 
perception, memory and language, which, if 
properly used, will make him a good 
advocate and lawyer. 

MARCUS D. BALDWIN was born at Fre- 
mont, Ohio, on the 25th day of September, 
1851. He received his early education at 
Toledo, Ohio, finishing a course at Oberlin, 
attending the latter institution about four 
years. He commenced reading law at Toledo, 
Ohio, borrowing the books he read from 
Messrs. Dunlap and M. K. Waite. He 
subsequently was located at Green Spring, 
Ohio, and while there read law under the 
tuition of Hon. T. P. Finefrock, of Fremont, 
Ohio. He was admitted to practice at 
Fremont by the district court on the 1st day 
of March, 1874, and began practice at Green 
Spring, May 1, 1874. He subsequently 
removed to Fremont and opened a law 
office. He 



388 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



was chosen city solicitor for the city of 
Fremont soon after settling in the city; and 
satisfactorily discharged the duties of that 
office for several years. At this writing (May 
1, 1881,) Mr. Baldwin is still in practice, 
doing quite a successful business as an 
attorney, and dealing in real estate, but 
contemplates a removal to Shelby, Ohio. At 
one period Mr. Baldwin resided and taught 
school at Mitchell, Indiana. On the 31st day 
of October, 1874, he was married at Shelby, 
Ohio, to Sarah S. Rogers, by whom he has 
two living children, having lost one. 

THOMAS P. DEWEY, now residing at 
Clyde, Ohio, was born on the 27th day of 
December, 1852, in Crawford county, State 
of Pennsylvania., and was educated at the 
common schools, mainly at Kelloggsville, 
Ashtabula county, Ohio. He commenced 
reading law at Painesville, Ohio, with Tinker 
& Alvord in the spring of 1876, came to 
Clyde in the spring of 1877, and finished his 
course of legal study in the office of 
Lemmon, Finch & Lemmon at that place, 
reading there until 1879. He was admitted to 
the Bar April 27, 1879, and commenced 
practice in Tiffin, Ohio, in September 
following. He, however, returned to Clyde, 
and is now practicing. Mr. Dewey was 
married on the 9th day of September, 1879, 
to Miss Jennie Stilwell. He is a young man 
of good faculties, and no doubt will in time 
make a successful lawyer. 

BYRON R. DUDKOW was born in Adams 
township, Seneca county, Ohio, on the 1st 
day of March, 1855. He was educated at 
Baldwin University, Berea, Ohio, from 
which institution he received the degree of 
Master of Arts. He commenced the study of 
law in the office of Basil Meek, at Clyde, 
Ohio, on the 18th day of June, 1877. On the 
26th day of April, 1879, he was admitted to 
the Bar by the district court of the county. 
He did not, how- 



ever, at once enter into active practice. He 
served as deputy county clerk from the time 
of his admission to the Bar. until April 26, 
1880, at which time he commenced practice 
in Fremont. On the 22d day of November, 
1878, he was married to Miss Mary E. Meek, 
daughter of Basil Meek, who is now the 
popular clerk of Sandusky county. Mr. 
Dudrow is a promising young member of the 
Bar, and with his excellent habits and genial 
good manners will probably attain a high 
professional standing. He is now, by 
election, the city solicitor of the city of 
Fremont, and is to all appearance on. the 
road to prosperity in his profession. 

JOHN B. LOVELAND was born in New 
Haven township, Huron county, Ohio, on the 
10th day of February, 1827. At the age of 
nineteen years he left his father's farm for 
Oberlin College to supplement the education 
picked up in a pioneer district school on the 
classic Huron River. On the 22d day of 
August, 1850, he was married to Miss 
Martha Jane Watts, of New Haven, by whom 
he has had three children. In 1854 he 
removed to Fremont, Sandusky county, 
Ohio, to take a position as teacher in the 
Fremont graded schools. This position he 
held with credit to himself and to the entire 
satisfaction of all concerned for the term of 
ten years. From his position in the schools of 
Fremont he was called to the 
superintendency of the schools at Bellevue 
and Green Spring respectively, in which 
position he spent eight years. All this time 
he was one of the reliable members of the 
board of county school examiners, in which 
position he well and faithfully discharged 
the duties of the office for the term of 
fourteen years. He commenced the study of 
the law while superintending the schools of 
Green Spring, with Marcus D. Baldwin, esq., 
and was admitted to the Bar by the district 
court of 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



389 



Sandusky county at Fremont, Ohio, on the 
20th of March, 1876, where he commenced 
the practice of law, and has continued to 
practice until the present time. Although a 
member of the legal profession Mr. 
Loveland does not make the practice of the 
law a specialty, preferring the retirement of 
his farm, situated one and a half miles 
southwest of the city. In solid scientific 
attainments, and in that practical common 
sense which is the result of learning and 
original thought, Mr. Loveland has few 
superiors. His father, Mr. John Loveland, 
one of the oldest pioneers of Huron county, 
is still in good health at the advanced age of 
eighty-three years. 

BASIL MEEK was born at New Castle, 
Henry county, Indiana, April 20, 1829, In 
1832 he removed with his parents to Wayne 
county, Indiana. In August, 1841, with his 
parents, he went to Owen county, Indiana, 
and there resided until September, 1864, 
when he came to Ohio and settled at Clyde. 
His school education was that of the 
common schools. He was married to Cynthia 
A. Brown, in December, 1849, who died 
August 14, 1861, at Spencer, Owen county, 
Indiana. By this marriage he had four 
children, viz.: Minerva B., Mary E., Lenore 
Belle, and Flora B. Mary E., who is the wife 
of B. R. Dudrow, esq., and Lenore .Belle, 
only, are now living. He was married to 
Martha E. Anderson, September 30, 1862, by 
whom he has had two children, both living, 
viz.: Clara C. and Robert C. He served as 
clerk of the courts of Owen county, Indiana, 
continuously from February 20, 1854, to 
February 20, 1862. At the November term, 
1861, of the Owen county circuit court, he 
was admitted to the Bar, and formed a law 
partnership with Hon. Samuel H. Buskirk, 
practicing at Spencer till his removal to 
Ohio. In 1871, at Clyde, he resumed the 
practice of law, continuing in the practice 
until 



he entered the clerk's office of Sandusky 
county, February 10, 1879, to which office 
he was elected in October, 1878. He is at 
this time serving as such clerk, and was, at 
the October election, 1881, re-elected to said 
office. 

THOMAS P. FINEFROCK was born at 
Franklin county, Pennsylvania, January 9, 
1826. He came to Ohio and settled in 
Lancaster, where he studied law with Medill 
& Whitman. He was admitted to the Bar in 
August, 1851, and came to Fremont and 
began practice with Brice J. Bartlett in the 
following September. He soon be-came well 
known as a lawyer, and the firm became 
prominent in the legal business of the 
county. Mr. Finefrock was chosen to the 
position of prosecuting attorney in 1853, and 
served two successive terms. In 1857 he was 
the Democratic candidate for representative 
in the General Assembly, his Republican 
opponent being Ozias L. Nims, a prominent 
merchant of Fremont. After a closely 
contested campaign, Mr. Finefrock was 
elected by a small majority. During the war 
he took an active interest in politics, being a 
leader of the ultra-Democratic party. In 1866 
he received the Democratic nomination for 
Congress in the Tenth District, but was 
defeated by General R. P. Buckland, the 
Republican candidate. His practice from the 
time he located in. the county was large and 
remunerative. In 1874 he was elected judge 
of the court of common pleas, on the 
Democratic ticket, and served for the full 
term of five years, when he again re-turned 
to the practice of law, entering into 
partnership with Charles H. Bell, under the 
firm name of Finefrock & Bell. The firm is 
now in full practice. He has always 
maintained the reputation of a good jury 
lawyer. Mr. Finefrock was married in May, 
1854, to Miss Emma E. Carter. They have 
raised a family, of children, and reside east 
of the city. 



390 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



S. S. RICHARDS is a native of Townsend 
township, this county, and was born Au-gust 
8, 1857. He was educated in Clyde, and 
graduated from the high school of that place 
in 1875. Just after graduating he went to 
California, where he spent about one year. 
Re-turning, he began the study of law in the 
office of Basil Meek, at Clyde, in the fall of 

1876. He was admitted to the Bar by the 
supreme court at Columbus in the spring of 
1879, and immediately opened an office at 
Clyde. In June, 1879, he formed a 
partnership with D. A. Heffner for the 
practice of the profession, which partnership 
still continues. Mr. Richards is a promising 
young member of the Bar. 

D. A. HEFFNER came to Sandusky county 
with his parents, who settled in York 
township in 1856. He was born in Union 
county, Pennsylvania, May 20, 1849. He was 
educated in the common schools and in 
Hillsdale college, Michigan, where he spent 
one year-1869-7o. From 1870 to 1875 he 
taught school in the winter and farmed in the 
summer. In the spring of 1875 he entered the 
Normal school at Lebanon, Ohio, where he 
received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 

1877. He then entered the office of J. H. 
Rhodes and continued two years, teaching 
school each winter. In April, 1879, he was 
admitted to the Bar by the district court at 
Fremont. He began to practice in partnership 
with S. S. Richards in June, 1879. He was 
married May 27, 1879, to Miss Belle Haff, 
daughter of Hiram Haff, of Townsend town- 
ship. He is an honorable and worthy member 
of the Bar. 

JOHN T. GARVER was born in Congress, 
Wayne county, Ohio, July 26, 1848; was 
educated in the common school and at the 
academy at Smithville, Ohio; taught school 
six terms. He commenced reading law in 
March, 1846, in the office of 



Hon. H. G. Blake, at Medina, Ohio, where he 
remained until September, 1869, when he 
entered the Ohio State and Union Law college 
at Cleveland, where he took a regular course, 
and from which institution he was graduated on 
June 29, 1870, receiving the degree of 
Bachelor of Laws; was admitted to the Bar by 
the supreme court of Ohio at Columbus, on 
March 17, 1870, and in June of the same year 
he was admitted to practice in the West Salem 
district and circuit courts at Cleveland. He 
commenced the law practice at West Salem, 
Ohio, in July, 1870, where he remained until 
May, 1871, when he re-moved to Fremont, 
where he has ever since been engaged in the 
active practice of his profession. In politics a 
Democrat, he was elected to the office of solic- 
itor for Fremont in April, 1873 and re-elected 
to the same office in April, 1876, holding that 
position four years. In October, 1877, he was 
elected to the office of prosecuting attorney of 
Sandusky county, and reelected in October, 
1879, which position he now holds. He has 
been a member of the board of teachers' 
examiners of this county since August 5, 1876, 
of which board he is now president; was 
married, in February, 1878, to Miss Sarah E. 
Gilbert, of Medina county; and is the father of 
two children. Mr. Garver has built up a good 
practice, and is now in partnership with his 
brother, S. C. Garver. 

JAMES H. FOWLER is a native of Fremont, 
Ohio, and was born January 5, 1846. His father 
was, by birth, an Englishman, and his mother a 
Pennsylvania German. He attended common 
school and desired more extensive school 
privileges, but the financial circumstances of 
his father seemed to forbid. James, however, 
met these circumstances honorably, by amply 
remunerating his father for the loss of his 
services, from the time of leaving home- 
eighteen-to the time of his majority. He 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



391 



taught school for several terms and then 
learned the printer's trade in the office of the 
Sandusky County Democrat. He enlisted as a 
private in the One Hundredth Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry April 24, 1861. He was 
advanced from the ranks to the first 
lieutenancy. At Limestone Station he was 
taken prisoner, with many others of his 
regiment. For four months he suffered the 
hardships of prison life at Salisbury and 
Libby, the greater part of the time at Libby. 
While in prison he fell into association with 
a well-educated Frenchman, who was also a 
prisoner. Mr. Fowler indicated a desire to 
learn the French language, and was 
instructed by his fellow prisoner. He was an 
apt student, and advanced rapidly until the 
time of his escape, which was really a 
romantic episode of prison life. The 
suffering in-mates of Libby were detailed 
each day to gather wood to supply the 
prison. One damp day, while on this dreary 
mission, a companion and Mr. Fowler made 
a daring and successful attempt to escape. 
As soon as they reached the woods they 
speed on their way northward, being aided 
and guided by negroes. They slept during 
daylight and travelled at night. Pursuing 
blood hounds were evaded by travel-ling the 
rocky beds of streams. At last they safely 
reached the Union lines at Knoxville, and re- 
entered the service. At the close of the war 
he was mustered out with his regiment as 
first lieutenant, and returned to Fremont. He 
at once began the study of law in the office 
of Homer Everett, and was admitted to 
practice August 15, 1876. After a short time 
of practice, he formed a partnership with Mr. 
Everett, and the firm has been continued 
without change since that time. Mr. Fowler 
has a fair knowledge of the French and 
German languages, has a large fund of 
general information, and by his own in- 
dividual efforts has earned a good standing 



among members of the Bar of the county. 

ERNEST B. WILLIAMS is a native of Salem, 
Oregon, and was born February 15, 1853; 
was educated at Willamette University, 
Oregon; studied law at Portland, Oregon, 
with W. W. Thayer, now Governor, and was 
admitted to practice by the supreme court of 
the State, in August, 1874. He began practice 
at Salem immediately after his admission, 
and came to Fremont, Ohio, in May, 1880. 
He shortly after entered into partnership with 
M. D. Bald-win, who has since removed 
from the county, and Mr. Williams is now 
practicing alone. 

GEORGE W. GLICK and CHARLES S. 
GLICK for some time practiced law at Fre- 
mont. Both removed to Kansas, and 
practiced there for some time. Charles S. 
died there several years ago. George W. is 
still living at Atchison, Kansas. He has been 
a member of the State legislature, was a 
centennial commissioner, and is a man of 
considerable local influence. 

GEORGE R. HAYNES practiced in San- 
dusky county during the early part of his life. 
He removed to Toledo where he enjoyed a 
high reputation as a lawyer and citizen. 

WILLIAM AUNESLY was a graduate of 
Oberlin College; studied law many years ago 
with Buckland & Everett and was admitted 
to the Bar in Sandusky county, and after a 
short term of practice here he re-moved to 
Port Clinton, Ottawa county. He was elected 
prosecuting attorney of that county, and after 
acquiring considerable reputation and a 
remunerative practice he died in the prime of 
manhood. 

WILLIAM W. AINGER located in San-dusky 
county for the practice of law about 1837, 
having come from the Western Re-serve. He 
married, in Fremont, the daughter of Dr. 
Daniel Brainard. After-practicing for a few 
years he removed to Chagrin Falls, where he 
died years ago. 



392 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



JOHN K. HORD came from Tiffin to 
Fremont about 1856 or 1857 and began the 
practice of law. He practiced here 
successfully a few years, when, on account 
of ill health, he was induced to remove to 
Louisiana, and engaged in the management 
of a sugar plantation. When rebellion was 
threatened he came North and settled in 
Buffalo. After a short time he removed to 
Cleveland, where he has attained a standing 
in his profession. He is still in practice in 
Cleveland. 

EDWARD F. DICKINSON, son of Rodolphus 
Dickinson, was educated at Cincinnati and 
was admitted to the Bar at an early age. He 
was a bright scholar and well qualified for 
the profession. He is a man of talent, but has 
never devoted himself arduously to the 
profession. He was prosecuting attorney for 
two terms, beginning in 1852. He was 
elected probate judge in 1866 and served 
three years. While in this office he was 
elected to Congress in 1868. He represented 
this district in Congress one term. He has 
also been mayor of the city. 

ALPHEUS P. PUTNAM was born in Wy- 
andot county, Ohio, in 1837. At the or- 
ganization of the Seventy-second he en- 
listed, and was wounded at the battle of 
Shiloh. He rose in rank from private to 
captain. After the war he studied law in the 
office of T. P. Finefrock and was admitted to 
the Bar in April, 1867, and practiced in 
Fremont till the time of his death. He was 
prosecuting attorney four years. 

HIRAM W. WINSLOW began practice in 
Bellevue, but afterwards removed to Fre- 
mont about 1860. He was a good advocate 
and ranked well as an attorney. He was 
elected prosecuting attorney in 1864, and 
served two years. He afterwards rep-resented 
the county in the legislature. He was for a 
time the law partner of Judge J. L. Green, sr. 
While in the General Assembly his eyesight 
failed entirely, but he con- 



tinued in practice with the assistance of a 
guide. His health finally failed, and after a 
protracted sickness he died. Mr. Wins-low 
never married, nor had he any relatives in 
this vicinity. During his last sickness, 
however, he was kindly cared for by 
personal and professional friends. 

JOHN MCINTYRE LEMMON was born in 
Townsend township, Sandusky county, 
Ohio, July 25, 1839, his father being Uriah 
Blake Lemmon, and his mother Emily A. 
Mclntyre Lemmon. John Mclntyre 
remained with his parents until eighteen 
years old, and received a common school 
education. He taught a district school in the 
winter of 1857-58; attended school at 
Oberlin college in the summer of 1858; 
taught again the following winter, and in 
the spring of 1859 went to Missouri, and 
began the study of law in the office of 
Knoll & Mclntyre. In November, 1859, he 
went to Jefferson City, Missouri, and 
studied with Mr. Knoll, who had been 
appointed attorney general of the State. In 
April, 1860, Mr. Lemmon was admitted to 
the Bar by the supreme court of Missouri, 
and soon after returned to his home. 

July 12, 1860, his mother died, after a 
lingering illness. In the winter of 1860-61 
Mr. Lemmon again taught a district school. 
April 24, 1861, he enlisted in company F, 
Eighth Ohio, in the three months' service, 
and was discharged August 18, 1861. 
October 9, 1861, Mr. Lemmon again 
enlisted in company B, Seventy-second 
Ohio Volunteer infantry, and continued in 
the service until the close of the war; was 
promoted to second lieutenant May 23, 
1862, and to captain July 23, 1863, and was 
mustered out at Selma, Alabama, June 21, 
1865. During part of the war he was on 
detached duty as judge advocate of a 
military commission at Memphis, 
Tennessee. 

March 29, 1864, Mr. Lemmon was 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



393 



married to Miss Annie Covell, of Perkins, 
Erie county, Ohio. In December, 1865, he 
settled in Clyde, and began the practice of 
his profession. He has met with good success 
in his practice and has for many years past 
enjoyed an extensive practice in the State 
and Federal courts. He has one child living, 
named Mack, born April 8, 1870. One child, 
Frank, born October 8, 1865, died November 
9, 1867. 

When the village of Clyde was incor- 
porated, in May, 1866, Mr. Lemmon was 
chosen its first mayor, and was re-elected in 
April, 1867. He has never held any other 
civil office. 

Mr. Lemmon is one of the most studious, 
active, and industrious members of the Bar 
now in practice in the county. He has 
accumulated money and property by his 
practice. His library at Clyde consists of 
fifteen hundred well selected, volumes. Mr. 
Lemmon's energy and industry have brought 
him into such prominence in the northwest 
portion of Ohio, that a bright career is 
opening before him. His practice already 
extends into Erie, Huron, Ottawa, Seneca, 
and other counties in northwestern Ohio. He 
also practices in the circuit, district, and 
supreme courts of the United States, as well 
as the supreme court of Ohio. 

MORRIS ELBERT TYLER was born No- 
vember 16, 1836, at Lower Sandusky. His 
father was Captain Morris Tyler, and his 
mother Sophia (Bristol) Tyler. He attended 
the common schools of his native place until 
qualified to enter Kenyon college, at 
Gambier, Ohio, where he graduated. He 
began the study of law in the winter of 1853- 
54, in the office of Buckland & Everett, at 
Fremont, and was admitted to the Bar in 
1857. He at once opened an office in what is 
known as Buckland's old block, in Fremont. 
In the summer of 1862 he volunteered in 



pany F, of the Forty-ninth Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry, and was made first lieutenant. 
Afterwards Lieutenant Tyler was promoted 
and commissioned as captain of company I, 
of the same regiment. Captain Tyler is 
naturally a brave man and soon after 
entering the service became a good soldier. 
On the 24th day of July, 1864, while fighting 
in front of Atlanta, Georgia, he received a 
severe wound from a rifle ball, which struck 
him in the mouth, knocking out some of his 
front teeth, and passing into the roof of his 
mouth passed on and out behind his left ear. 
This wound was received, it will be noticed, 
just two days after General McPherson fell, 
he being killed on the 22d day of July, 1864. 
Captain Tyler, on the 24th day of November, 
1864, was honorably mustered out of the 
service on account of the disability resulting 
from this wound. On returning to Fremont he 
was for some time engaged as assistant 
editor of the Democratic Messenger. Captain 
Tyler was elected justice of the peace soon 
after he began practice in 1859, and has 
since held that office, with the exception of 
the time spent in the military service of the 
country, and as a civil officer is as good and 
true as he was faithful and brave in the army 
of the Union. 

HORACE STEPHEN BUCKLAND was born 
in Fremont on the 21st day of April, 1851. 
He is the son of R. P. and Charlotte 
(Boughton) Buckland. In early boyhood he 
attended the common schools of Fremont. 
For a time he attended the preparatory 
school at Gambier, Ohio, and afterwards a 
like school at East Hampton, Massachusetts. 
He then entered Cornell college, New York, 
and after remaining there about one year 
returned to Fremont and studied law in the 
office of Buckland & Everett about one year 
and a half. He then attended the law 
department of Harvard college about a year, 
when he re- 



394 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



turned to Fremont and read law for a short 
time with Everett & Fowler. In September, 
1875, he was admitted to the Bar after a 
close examination by a committee appointed 
by the district court at Elyria, Ohio. Upon 
his admission Mr. Buckland at once formed 
a partnership with his father, General Ralph 
P. Buckland, in the practice of law, in which 
he is still engaged. 

Horace Buckland is a promising young 
member of the Bar, of peculiarly exemplary 
life and conduct, and already begins to 
develop those qualities of mind and habits of 
industry which will surely place him high in 
his profession. 

Mr. Buckland was married to Eliza C. 
Bowman, on the 10th day of June, 1878, 
with whom he is still living in Fremont. 

HEZEKIAH REMSBURC was born in Ha- 
gerstown, Maryland, February 2, 1812; 
emigrated with his father to Lower San- 
dusky, arriving at the latter place on the 11th 
day of March, 1822. His education was in 
the common school after he came to Ohio, 
and began in the first school house built 
between the Sandusky River and the 
Maumee. The house was a rude log structure 
which stood on the east bank of Muskellunge 
Creek and north of the Maumee and Western 
Reserve turnpike, and was probably erected 
about the year 1825. Mr. Remsburg helped 
his father to clear off a fine farm on 
Muskellunge Creek, south of the turnpike 
above mentioned and adjoining it. The father 
of Mr. Remsburg was a mechanic, whose 
services were in much demand as a 
millwright, and the son learned the trade by 
working with his father in the preparation of 
the mills which were built in an early period 
in different parts of the county. Young 
Remsburg inherited his father's mechanical 
talent, and afterwards worked at various 
mechanical jobs when his services on the 
farm could be dispensed 



with. Thus he passed his time, and also 
began the study of law in 1849, under the 
tuition of Judge John L. Green, sr., now 
deceased. He was admitted to the Bar at 
Fremont in the year 1851, and has ever since 
practiced law, and is now so engaged. He 
was elected prosecuting attorney for 
Sandusky county, and performed the duties 
of that office four successive years with 
ability and diligence. Mr. Remsburg has 
been married, and has raised to man-hood 
four sons now living, and has now been a 
widower for over ten years. He is a well 
preserved man, of good habits, and bids fair 
to be strong and active for many years to 
come. 

MERRITT L. SNYDER was born at the farm 
of his father, George N. Snyder, esq., in 
Scott township, Sandusky county, Ohio, on 
the 8th day of January, 1838. He was 
educated at the Ohio Wesleyan University, at 
Delaware, Ohio, where he remained three 
years, having previously attended the 
common school of his township. After 
leaving Delaware he became a school 
teacher and taught twelve terms, and was a 
faithful and efficient teacher. In 1860 he 
began the study of the law in the law office 
of Hon. Judge T. P. Fine-frock, at Fremont, 
Ohio. He then went to Fort Wayne, in the 
State of Indiana, where he was a fitted to the 
Bar in May, 1864. After his admission he 
returned to Fremont, Ohio, and shortly after 
that, in May, 1864, removed west and 
located at Holton, Jackson county, Kansas, 
where he at once commenced the practice of 
his profession. While in Kansas Mr. Snyder 
acquired a good standing as a lawyer, and 
for three consecutive years was chosen 
prosecutor for Jackson county, and also held 
the office of clerk of the courts. He left 
Kansas on the 12th of November, 1894, on 
his return to his former home, arriving at 
Fremont, Ohio, on the 18th of the same 
month, and at 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



395 



once entered upon the practice of the law in 
the same city where he had received his 
instruction in the science of the law, where 
he has ever since and still is engaged in the 
practice of his profession. He was married to 
Miss Susan Boland, of Sandusky county, on 
the 14th day of June, 1866, who has proved 
a faithful and devoted wife, and with whom 
he still lives, having three children living to 
cheer and beautify their home. Mr. Snyder is 
a fair lawyer, an ingenious advocate, and a 
kind-hearted and courteous gentleman in his 
intercourse with men and in his practice at 
the Bar. 

SAMUEL C. GARVER is a native of Wayne 
county, Ohio, where he was born on the 14th 
day of May, 1855. Mr. Garver in his early 
life attended the common schools of his 
native county, and obtained such instruction 
as they afforded. After leaving these schools 
he attended Smithville academy, where he 
made considerable advancement in the 
various branches taught in that institution. 
After leaving the academy Mr. Garver taught 
school two terms. He commenced the study 
of the law in the office of Winslow & 
Garver, at Fremont, Ohio, in the year 1874. 
After reading two years he took a regular 
course of study and lectures at the Ohio 
State and Union Law College at Cleveland, 
from which he graduated on the 25th day of 
May, 1876, receiving the degree of LL. D. 
Mr. Garver was admitted to practice in the 
several courts of the United States on the 
24th day of May, 1876, and about the same 
time admitted to practice in the courts of the 
State of Ohio. He has been a member of the 
law firm of Garver & Garver since his 
admission, and is still engaged as such in 
active practice. Mr. Garver is a young man 
of much energy, and his present 
developments indicate that he will become a 
practitioner of good 



standing in the profession he has chosen. He 
remains unmarried, but his brothers in the 
order of "Haugastols" are in great fear that 
he will soon forsake them for a life of 
double blessedness. 

CHARLES F. BELL was born at Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin, on the 15th day of November, 
1856. He came to Fremont with his parents 
about 1864, and attended common schools 
for a time, then took a course of study at 
Hellmouth college, in London, Province of 
Ontario. Besides these opportunities for 
acquiring an education, Mr. Bell was placed 
under the private tuition of the Rev. Richard 
L. Chittenden, pastor of St. Paul's church, 
Fremont, Ohio, who faithfully and suc- 
cessfully taught him in Latin, mathematics, 
and in fact, all the branches generally taught 
in institutions of learning in this country. He 
studied law with Everett & Fowler two 
years, and was admitted to the Bar by the 
district court of San-dusky county, on the 
19th day of March, 1878. After his 
admission young Bell continued to read in 
the office of Bartlett & Finefrock until Judge 
Thomas P. Fine-frock left the bench and 
returned to practice. Mr. Bell then formed a 
partnership with the judge, and is still in 
practice with him at Fremont, with 
influential friends to help him on. No doubt 
Mr. Bell, with time and experience, will 
develop into a popular and successful practi- 
tioner. A few years ago he married the 
daughter of one of Fremont's prominent 
citizens, H. R. Shomo, esq. 

JOSEPH R. BARTLETT, one of the most 
popular attorneys at the Bar of Sandusky 
county, was born in the county of Seneca on 
the 16th day of July, 1830, and came to 
Lower Sandusky with his father, Brice J. 
Bartlett, in the fall of 1833. Young Bartlett 
received his education in the public schools 
of Lower Sandusky and Fremont. He studied 
law with his father 



396 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



and was admitted to practice in 1853. He 
began practice with his father. Joseph R. at 
first rather discouraged his father by a want 
of enthusiasm in the practice of his 
profession, but as time passed and he awoke 
to the responsibilities of life which were 
thrown upon him by his father's death, he 
devoted himself intently to study and 
practice. He has steadily advanced in 
practice and knowledge of the law, until 
there are few, if any, superior to him now in 
the management and trial of causes at the 
Bar of the county. Mr. Bartlett has 
continuously, practiced law since his 
admission to the Bar, excepting the time 
spent in the service of his country in the war 
for the suppression of the Southern 
Rebellion, in which he was distinguished for 
bravery and efficiency in connection with 
the Forty-ninth regiment, and for a more 
complete notice of the military services of 
Colonel Bartlett the reader is referred to the 
history of the Forty-ninth Regiment Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry in another part of this 
history. Mr. Bartlett was married many years 
ago to Miss Rachel Mitchner, but has no 
children living,, having lost by death a few 
years ago a daughter who was one of the 
brightest and most promising young ladies in 
Fremont. 

BRICE J. BARTLETT, son of Samuel and 
Elizabeth Bartlett, was born in the county of 
Lincoln, State of Maine, on the 21st day of 
September, 1808. His father, Samuel, with 
his family, emigrated to Ohio in 1824, and 
settled in Hamilton county, near Cincinnati, 
where he resided until November, 1824, 
when he moved and settled in Seneca 
county. Young Bartlett was in early life 
apprenticed to the trade of cabinet-making. 
He was married in 1829 to Phebe Ellis, and 
moved to Lower Sandusky, now Fremont, in 
the fall of 1833. The next year, upon the 
breaking out of the cholera, he 



moved his family to Seneca county, and 
returned himself and rendered assistance. 
Upon moving to Lower Sandusky he for a 
time followed the business of painting, and 
afterwards watch repairing, and then 
engaged as clerk for Andrew Monhuse, in 
the grocery business. He commenced reading 
law in April, 1838, and in July, 1840, was 
admitted to practice. In September, 1841; he 
formed a partnership with Hon. L. B. Otis, 
afterwards judge of common pleas, which 
partnership was dissolved in May, 1842, In 
1843 he formed a partnership with Hon. J. L. 
Green, afterwards judge of common pleas, 
and continued to October, 1845, when he 
formed a partnership with Charles Edylin, 
which was dissolved in August, 1846. In 
1848 he formed a partnership with S. N. 
Wilcox, and afterward, in August, 1851, 
with Hon. T. P. Finefrock, afterwards judge. 
In 1853 he formed a partnership with his 
son, and his health failing he retired from 
practice in July, 1854. His health afterwards 
improved, and in July, 1855, he resumed 
practice in partnership with his son, Joseph 
R. Bartlett, under the firm name of B. J. 
Bartlett & Son, and continued in practice 
until March 23, 1859, at which time he died 
from pneumonia, resulting from a cold 
contracted at the March term of Sandusky 
common pleas. 

JOHN L. GREEN JR., was horn July 7, 1838, 
and was educated in the common schools of 
Sandusky county. He learned the printer's 
trade in the offices of the Fremont Journal 
and Cleveland Plain Dealer. He studied law 
under his father and was admitted by the 
supreme court of Ohio in January, 1861. He 
enlisted in company G, Eighth Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, three months service, 
April, 1861. He enlisted in company D, One 
Hundred and Twenty-fourth Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry in March, 1862, and was discharged 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



397 



for disability, in January, 1863. He was 
appointed adjutant of the One hundred and 
Sixty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry in 
May, 1864, and discharged in September 
1866. He raised company E, One Hundred 
and Eighty-sixth, in December, 1864, and 
January, 1865; was discharged 



September 25, 1865. He was appointed 
probate judge by Governor Hayes in Jan- 
uary, 1869; elected probate judge in Oc- 
tober, 1869; served nearly six years on 
appointment and election. He married Emma 
Shaw, October 10, 1867, and has four 
children-three boys and one girl. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



FREMONT. 

The Village and Village Life. 



INTEREST clings around the old fort; 
memory carries us back to the scene of 
fast filling ditches, leaning pickets and de- 
serted block-houses. Imagination, assisted 
by history and tradition, goes farther back, 
and the events of more than a century, 
which filled this little square with action 
and activity, rush upon a bewildered fancy. 
Going backwards in chronological order 
from the close of the war, here and there is 
seen a small cabin adjoining to which is a 
field of corn cultivated by men who were 
accustomed to keep one eye on their work 
while the other was watchful of the forest 
inhabited by savage men and wild animals. 
A commissary merchant lazily attended his 
easy duties, and a few soldiers day after 
day amused themselves with their guns, 
pipes, and bottles, and re-. counting past 
experiences. Cannon balls here and there 
washed from the embankments, and 
scarred pickets are the souvenirs of battle. 
The scene of an heroic conflict fills the 
mind. What must have been the anxiety of 
Croghan and his brave little band, when 
vessels laden with trained 



soldiery and improved instruments of de- 
struction disturbed the Sandusky's still 
waters? What fearful apprehension must 
have- been added to anxiety when Tecumseh 
came at the head of a band of red warriors, 
wrought to rage by the memory of past 
grievances? The battle terminated most 
gloriously, yet sadly; for under what 
circumstances can we think of destruction 
and death without sadness ? Follow back the 
clear pathway of history to before the 
existence of Fort Stephen-son, when 
Wyandots made this their own home, seeing 
white men only as traders or agents. Canoes 
glided over the still water's surface, where, 
on several occasions, might be seen the 
thoughtful, plotting face of Tecumseh. 
Indian cabins dotted the beautiful hill west 
of the river. Council fires lighted the 
evening sky, and night often resounded with 
the war-dance and revelry. 

Go back a quarter of a century further. 
When the Wyandots made the valley of the 
Sandusky the tribal seat of empire. What 
meeting within our corporation 



398 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



in the importance of its deliberations equaled 
that assembled around a council fire in 1785, 
where the eloquent and masterly Brant 
formed the league and union which defeated 
two American armies and retarded nearly a 
decade the settlement of the Northwest. 
White captives and their treatment appear, as 
the picture is fast fading in the distance. 
That dream of fact or fancy, as may be, 
paints two neutral forts upon the river's 
bank-peaceful resting places amidst the 
fright and blood of exterminating war. The 
fancied picture has at last faded, and, as we 
come back to our own time, we seek a reason 
why this one small tract has figured so 
conspicuously in history. 

We have an answer, at least partially 
satisfactory, in the geographical conforma- 
tion of Northern Ohio. Much has been said 
of the pathless and almost impenetrable 
forests. Even Indians made streams their 
highways, and the line of communication 
between Ohio and Detroit, a trading centre 
from the first exploration of the country. The 
Sandusky River, a friendly arm of the lake, 
stretched across flats and swamps to a range 
of sandy bluffs, admitting of navigation 
further south than any other point within the 
lake system. This reservation was therefore a 
beautiful inland harbor-a commercial and 
military port of two races of men. After the 
treaty of 1815 had brought joy to every 
home in America, and every foreign troop 
had left our shores, men resumed peaceful 
occupations, Western emigration revived, 
and every Eastern high-way presented the 
spectacle of long trains of covered wagons, 
conveying families from cultured 
communities to pioneer homes Indian power, 
which had long held sway over northwestern 
Ohio, was broken, and the white settlements 
and improvement of this fertile region was 
the irresistible course of destiny. 



This historic reservation already had an 
inhabitance of as many as twenty families 
and a few squatters were encroaching upon 
the Indian domain. Negotiations were early 
set on foot looking toward the 
extinguishment of Indian titles, and there 
being no further apparent use of a military 
post in this quarter, Congress made pro- 
vision for the sale of lands reserved for that 
purpose. The reservation was surveyed into 
lots facing upon the river on both sides and 
running back to the limits of the tract. On 
the east side of the river Mr. Wormley, the 
United States surveyor, laid out, in 1816, a 
regular town, which he called 
"Croghanville," in honor of the hero the 
scene of whose triumph lay within sight of 
the prospective metropolis of the Northwest. 
The city of Croghanville, when this survey 
was made, commanded scenery of rare 
beauty which the settler's axe and the growth 
of a city have destroyed. There was nothing 
of the grand or sublime in the surroundings, 
but a rare variety of simple beauty, which 
interests the imagination and satisfies 
aesthetic longings. High above the 
surrounding country a green gulf of waving 
forest stretches far in the distance to where it 
meets the descending blue horizon. Below, 
the Sandusky's sleeping water fills a tortuous 
bed, fringed with alternating prairie and 
underbrush, with here and there a cluster of 
plum or locust trees filling the air with the 
sweet perfume of their white, blossoms. But 
a perfume yet sweeter was brought by 
northwestern breezes; and the eye, following 
the direction of its coming, found a 
fascinating resting place. The hill rising 
from a green sward, within the river's bend, 
was thickly covered by crab and plum trees 
mingling their branches, and in spring-time 
appeared like a mountain of flowers. Toward 
the west could be seen something of life and 
human activity, and smoke curling 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



399 



from the wooden chimneys of isolated 
cabins. The plowman's song was heard in the 
valley below, and toward the south and west, 
skirting cornfields, the sparkling river hurried 
over a bed of rock. Beyond, a steep, at some 
places, precipitous bluff intercepted the 
view. Such were the surroundings of the site 
chosen for a city. 

That the location was deemed one of 
promise is indicated by the fact that a 
reservation was made by Congress of one lot 
for a ship-yard. At the time of the survey a 
boat was being built on the west side of the 
river, by the firm of Wilson & Disbrow. 
Surrounded by excellent inland timber, and 
the facilities for floating vessels to the lake 
being remarkably good, there was no reason 
why ship building should not become an 
important enterprise. War experience had 
taught the Government the necessity of 
having in the West secure facilities for 
recruiting an inland navy. 

Excepting the ship-yard the town of 
Croghanville was held for sale by in- and 
out-lots, under the direction of the land 
commissioner. It was expected that a city, in 
fact, would soon cover this picturesque 
elevation, regularly laid off in streets, and 
squares. But a rival, almost within a stone's 
throw, changed the expected course of 
affairs and left Croghanville for many years 
with an existence only on paper. 

THE KENTUCKY COMPANY. 

Among the inhabitants of the reservation 
in 1817 were a number of men of good 
business capacity and keen foresight, who 
were able to command a limited amount of 
capital. Who they were and their 
characteristics as citizens and men, will be 
told subsequently. The Kentucky Company 
was formed June 9, 1817, and was composed 
of the following members: Israel Harrington, 
Thomas L. Hawkins, Ephraim Johnson, 
Morris A. Newman, 



William Andrews, David Gallagher, Aaron 
Forgerson, Randall Jerome, Thomas. E. 
Boswell, John Drury, Joseph Mominne, 
Joseph Rumery, John A. de La Cost, John 
Baptiste Mominne, and John Anderson. All 
became residents of the town they founded 
except Boswell and Anderson, the former 
being a Kentucky gentleman of means, who 
was afterwards associated in business with 
Thomas L. Hawkins, but never became a 
citizen. 

The reservation was originally surveyed 
into lots forty rods wide, facing upon the 
river, and numbered from north to south. 
The Kentucky Company appointed, in June, 
1817, Israel Harrington, Thomas L. 
Hawkins, and Ephraim Johnson, agents of 
the company to attend to the land sales at 
Delaware and purchase lots (or ranges, as 
they are known in the old records) eight and 
nine, which include all that part of the 
present city lying west of the river between 
parallels intersecting the river near the 
turnpike bridge and Lake Shore & Michigan 
Southern railroad bridge. The conditions of 
the sale provided that a percentage should be 
paid down and the balance in annual 
payments; that, in case of failure to pay, the 
land should revert to the United States. It 
was the policy of the Kentucky Company to 
divide their lands proportionately to the 
stock subscribed, and to give to each 
member a separate title of ownership, thus 
making each individual responsible for 
future payments. This was a wise 
arrangement, for subsequent records show 
that much of the purchased tract reverted in 
consequence of non-payment. The causes of 
this are hinted at in a poem written by one of 
the associates, from which we shall presently 
quote. The tract was looked upon as 
especially eligible for a town, and it seems 
there were many bidders, each determined to 
have a piece. Mr. Thomas L. Hawkins, in his 
poetical reminiscence, says: 



400 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Where now Sandusky rolls her lovely tide 

Few years since no human footsteps glide; 

One dark, dense forest for the bounding roe 

From Lake Erie to the pleasant Ohio; 

Where silence reigned with her old magic spell, 

Broken only by the wolf's or savage yell; 

One spot was marked for Virtue's soft retreat, 

Where Proctor's legions met a sore defeat; 

Where the young Croghan won a deathless fame, 

Implanted honors on Sandusky's name. 

And oh' ye warriors, venerate the dead, 

Nor fear in danger's path to take the lead; 

Shrink not, I say, at threats of Mexico, 

But for your country's glory go meet them, go. 

This great achievement rang throughout the land, 

For this favored spot Congress took a stand; 

In their wise council ventured to declare 

That in '17 should be sold two miles square; 

That in war's event they on arms relied, 

A conspicuous place should be fortified. 

Now what rushing to the public sale! 

All emulous, tract too small, some must fail; 

Great speculators, ready to cut a dash, 

O'erbid each other, and felt the want of cash. 

Yet, keeping in view their first great intent, 

Each got a piece, advancing small per cent. 

Blessed their stars! weather superbly fine! 

Per acre a hundred and fifty dollars for lot number nine! 

Oh! do you doubt your simple, plain narrator, 

And say no man would buy thus in a state of nature? 

Yet so it was, and they so deemed them blessed, 

Establishing emporium of the West. 

Did they misjudge? Do they stand convicted? 

Or is Sandusky what they then predicted? 

This poem from which we have extracted 
was written in 1845. It is not probable that 
Mr. Hawkins foresaw the completion of a 
grand trunk line of railroad and other great 
public enterprises which have built a city of 
the second class from the small village 
which he knew and of which he wrote. But 
we return to the Kentucky Company. The 
purchased tract, lots eight and nine, was 
carved into town lots and equitably divided 
among the shareholders. The first town plat 
of "Sandusky" was made, and recorded at 
Norwalk in December, 1817, attested by the 
following names: Thomas L. Hawkins, for 
self and Thomas E. Boswell; Morris A. 
Newman; William Oliver, for self and 
company; Israel Harrington, for self and L. 
E. P.; Josiah Rumery. 



The lots were appraised by commissioners 
for the purpose of distribution among the 
proprietors. They considered the land, even 
though it was in a state of nature, very 
valuable. For instance, the mill lot 
containing one acre was appraised at three 
hundred dollars. We will now cross the river 
to 

CROGHANVILLE. 

The original village was laid off in out- 
lots and in-lots, after the manner so suc- 
cessfully adopted in the founding of towns 
during the early settlement of Ohio. One lot 
in each block of sixteen lots and two out- 
lots, containing about sixteen acres, were set 
apart for the support of public instruction; 
one large lot lying on the east bank .of the 
river in the north part of the survey was 
reserved for a ship-yard. A large number of 
the village lots were purchased by Alexander 
Morrison, a very respectable citizen who 
lived on that side of the river for many 
years, and who filled with honor various 
local and county offices. Morris A. Newman, 
one of the proprietors of Sandusky, 
purchased a tract of lots in Croghanville, and 
erected a frame house in which he kept 
tavern. A school-house was erected on that 
side, in which also the first courts were held. 
After the seat of justice was removed to the 
west side of the river, Newman closed his 
tavern, but for many years resided in the 
house. With the exception of these and a few 
other scattering houses, Croghanville 
remained a common, without fences, and 
even the stakes which marked the streets and 
lots of the prospective city rotted away. In 
1830, when Lower Sandusky which had 
become a flourishing village, was 
incorporated, it included with-in its limits 
the platted village. Thus Croghanville, which 
had never existed in fact, passed out of 
existence even in name. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



401 



LOWER SANDUSKY SIXTY YEARS AGO. 

We mean by this heading, Lower San- 
dusky in the days of its incipiency. The town 
was always peculiar in its character, made so 
not only by being an emporium of trade, but 
a number of eccentric and brainy men gave 
interest to every street meeting and bar room 
gathering. 

The first frame house was erected by 
Israel Harrington in the year 1815. It stood 
near the corner of Croghan and Front streets, 
on the ground now occupied by the stores of 
Lewis Leppelman and Philip Dorr. The 
building, when first erected, was unique in 
appearance. There were no saw-mills, and 
the builder brought by water lumber only for 
the frame. The weather-boarding was, there- 
fore, made of split white oak shingles, or 
clapboards. These were afterwards re-moved 
and sawed boards took their place. Mr. 
Everett, in a lecture delivered many years 
ago, remarks: "A frame house at that time 
was a great curiosity in this part of the 
country, and Harrington's tavern was for 
some time the centre of attraction." The bar 
was handy and whisky cheap. The villagers 
made the tavern a frequent place of resort. 
The travelling public had to be depended 
upon for news, and loquacious emigrants and 
traders de-tailed events and at times most 
astonishing stories. In this tavern took place 
many events of revelry and joy, not un- 
mingled with the inspiration of spirits. 

The second frame house was the store 
building of J. S. and G. G. Olmstead, fully 
described in another chapter. 

The third frame building was built by 
Cyrus and Jaques Hulburd, on Front street, 
and was used for a store. This building was 
erected in 1817. 

William Andrews built the fourth frame 
house in 1818 or 1819. It was three stories in 
height, and stood on the present site of 
June's foundry. In the third story 



of this building the Masonic lodge met. 

The fifth frame building is yet standing, 
and is one of the two oldest structures in the 
city, now known as the Peach House. It was 
built about 1821 by Nicholas Whittinger. In 
the upper story was a hall in which Hawkins' 
theater gave entertainments. 

The oldest house yet standing was also the 
first brick house in the town. For half a 
century it has been the Beaugrand residence. 
It was built about 1819 by a man named 
Williamson, who never be-came a citizen, 
nor paid his building bills. 

The next brick building was erected by 
Josiah Rumery about 1820, on the hill just 
south of the old Catholic church. It was 
removed in 1857. 

Besides these frame and brick houses, 
there were about thirty cabins scattered over 
the tract now covered by substantial blocks 
and handsome dwellings. 

The buildings of the fort were sold in 
1818. These block-houses had been useful 
resorts and stopping places for emigrants 
until houses could be built. One block-house 
was occupied by three families for a short 
time just after the war closed. 

One of the families who stopped in the fort 
before making permanent settlement was the 
Braytons. The capture and life of the eldest 
son, Matthew, is an episode in the early 
history of this region. The following is 
Doctor Daniel Brainard's account: 

Mr. Brayton, who lived in this village, moved to the 
country some time during the year 1824 or 1825, for the 
purpose of farming more largely. On the 10th of 
September, 1825, his eldest son, a boy of about fifteen 
years, and a younger one of about seven years named 
Matthew, started at evening when the sun was half an 
hour high, to hunt the cows. Not finding them in their 
usual range, the oldest told his brother Matthew he had 
better return to the house, as they might be some 
distance off, and he himself would find them. On getting 
upon a log they both thought they could see the opening 
on their father's farm, and Matthew cheerfully left his 
brother to return. Some short time after dark the oldest 
brother 



402 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



drove home the cows, when he was asked by his mother 
"Where is Matthew?" He told the facts, which much 
alarmed and disturbed the parents. A communication 
was immediately made to several of their nearest 
neighbors who turned out and helped to hunt for the boy 
till morning without effect. A general alarm was then 
given along the river for forty miles, and to all the 
settlements on the west side, for it was on the west 
Brayton lived. The whole people, or all who could leave 
home, became at once anxious about the fate of the boy, 
and showed their sympathy for the parents by joining in 
the task of hunting him. The weather was quite mild, 
and high hopes were entertained of their being able to 
find him alive. On the first morning after his absence, 
the place where the brothers had parted was carefully 
examined. He was barefooted and could be tracked a 
short distance towards home, then in a more westerly 
direction till the hardness of the ground admitted no 
further impression. It was now the third day when the 
grand turnout took place. The neighboring Indian 
villages had been looked to. Many of them in a very 
kind manner joined in the hunt. As it was thought that 
all persons, and more especially children, would soon 
become wild or partially deranged, and would hide or 
flee on hearing their name called, or the sound of a horn 
or voice, they thought it advisable to form two extensive 
wings at some distance apart, to penetrate the wilderness 
in perfect order, and meet at some given point, then 
circling in smaller and smaller compass till they would 
all come together in the centre, that if he was encircled 
he could not escape. This, no doubt, was a rational plan, 
but unsuccessful. Many persons in the hunt imagined 
they had seen under logs, or in thickets, where the child 
might have bedded in leaves, etc., yet no certain trace 
could be found. The pursuit was continued daily and 
unremittingly till the 10th of December, when some 
gave out from fatigue, and their places were supplied by 
others. Such was the anxiety of all to afford some relief 
to the almost distracted parents. If they could find the 
dead body, or some part of his clothing, it would 
mitigate their grief, even if they had proof he had been 
devoured by wolves, and that his sufferings were at an 
end. But no such consolation; not a foot trace could be 
discovered; the whole wilderness and settlement had 
been thoroughly searched from the Sandusky to the 
Maumee in width, and as much as fifty miles in length, 
and principally in the manner described, when further 
pursuit was abandoned in despair. 

From that day to this, the fine, active, promising little 
Matthew Brayton has never been heard of. The mystery 
will never be solved in this world. Two or three journeys 
have been made to the far distant tribes of Indians to the 
West and beyond the Mississippi for the purpose of 
discovery, believing it possible that some straggling 
Indians might have come across him, and taken him to 
some remote tribe. No 



comments need be made on the unhappy affair, or the 
affliction of the parents, brothers, and sisters; they can 
better be conceived than told. However, with regard to 
Matthew's fate, I am myself of the opinion that if the 
wolves had killed him, some part of his clothing and 
some portion of his body would have been found. My 
conclusion is that he wandered till life was nearly spent 
by want of food and excessive fatigue; that in this 
exhausted state he laid him-self down in some secret 
place and peri shed-though his death has been more 
generally ascribed to the wolves. 

Such is the account of the late Dr. 
Brainard, of the loss of Matthew Brayton, 
and the extensive search made for him by his 
friends and neighbors. It was not the 
Doctor's lot to live to see Matthew, after 
thirty- four years captivity among the In- 
dians, return to his parents, and thus to clear 
up all doubts as to his fate. None would have 
rejoiced more with the family than he, for, 
undoubtedly, he had often seen Matthew, 
and dandled him upon his knee, for he was 
born in this town. 

The Sandusky River was, in the early 
history of Lower Sandusky, of great 
commercial and economic value. The settlers 
produced a surplus of corn and pork, but 
these articles of food were at first not 
exchangeable for groceries and wearing 
apparel. Flour was also a scarce article, and 
salt was almost impossible to obtain, except 
occasionally when a schooner ascended the 
river from Portland (now Sandusky). But in 
the village there was a man of enterprise and 
remarkable inventive genius, whose name 
we have mentioned and shall frequently have 
occasion to mention again. Lieutenant 
Thomas L. Hawkins was ever alive to the 
interests of the settlement, and his ingenious 
method for facilitating trade with Port-land, 
for the accommodation of immigrants, is 
worthy of minute description. 

The boat constructed by Mr. Hawkins 
consisted of two large canoes placed at a 
proper distance apart, on which were placed 
a platform sufficiently large to carry the 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



403 



superstructure of machinery, a large amount 
of freight, and several passengers. The 
machinery consisted of a four-horse power, 
by which was turned wheels or paddles at 
each side of the boat. When freights were 
light only two horses were used. The boat 
was propelled in this way with facility, 
making trips when-ever the demands of trade 
or travel required. This craft was built in 
1819, and during the following three or four 
years made many rounds trips without any 
serious accident, though occasionally an in- 
cident relieved the monotony of tedious 
journeys. On one occasion a refractory horse 
made a successful attempt to escape his 
dreary work. He broke his halter and leaped 
over the railing, plunging head first into the 
water, and in that precarious situation hung 
until cut loose. He then swam triumphantly 
to the shore, "to the great delight and 
satisfaction of the whole crew."* 

Hawkins' boat was built the same year the 
first steamer navigated Lake Erie. The horse 
power boat brought goods, groceries, and 
salt, and carried away furs, flour and pork. 
Lower Sandusky being the most southern 
market of the lake, be-came the trading 
emporium of a large part of Northern Ohio. 
Fish, which at times literally filled the river, 
gave Lower Sandusky a prestige in the trade 
with, southern farmers. They brought their 
flour and pork here in exchange for fish, 
which cost practically nothing, for, as an old 
manuscript remarks, "every spring the 
pickerel and white bass were found in such 
multitudes lying (apparently waiting to be 
caught) all along the rapids, that it was often 
found quite impossible to ride a horse across 
the ford till much exertion was made to drive 
them away to make room for his feet."* Did 
we not know the author of this statement to 
be 

*Dr. Brainard's Manuscript. 



a man of sincere truthfulness, it might be 
accredited to Munchausonism. The tes- 
timony of many others confirms the state- 
ment. Such was the trade in fish that every 
spring many of the villagers became fishers 
and fish packers. From the middle of March 
till early in June other business was 
practically laid aside. Shanties were built on 
the river bank, and as often as they cast their 
nets they drew forth fish in abundance. Early 
in spring time suckers were drawn forth; 
next came red horse. Pickerel was the choice 
quality, which came third during the season; 
and last, but in greatest numbers, were 
brought up out of the water white bass. The 
sight of these fishers at work was really an 
interesting one. A law required that all the 
offal should be buried. For violation of this 
law criminal proceedings were frequently 
brought. At the first term of court, held in 
May, 1820, three indictments were found on 
the charge of causing nuisance. Fines for this 
offence were from one to twenty dollars. In 
the board shanties those in the business kept 
salt, barrels and salted fish. Outside was a 
long scaffold or table of convenient height, 
on one side of which the men engaged at 
dressing stood, and on the other was a long 
trench in which the offal dropped and was 
buried. Fish-dressing was a trade which 
required a quick hand and accurate eye to 
learn. By the side of the dresser stood a 
barrel in which live fish were poured from 
the seine. They were seldom given time to 
die a natural death, but while yet fluttering 
were caught in the left hand of the dresser, 
thrown upon the board, when one cut of the 
knife severed the head and sent it flying into 
the trench. One more cut opened the back, 
and a single scrape sent the entrails into the 
trench. A barrel for the purpose received the 
dressed fish, and the operation, which 
required but a few seconds, was repeated. 



404 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Barrels of fish were in this way dressed 
and salted down. Some men became 
notorious for their expertness. David Grant 
and John S. Tyler were known as leaders and 
masters of their trade. 

As soon as roads became passable in 
spring time, the scattered little village filled 
with teams from southern counties. Till long 
into the autumn the road from Urbana, 
Dayton, and Franklinton was thronged by 
great covered wagons, drawn by four, six, 
and sometimes eight horses. Coming down 
they were weighted with flour, linsey cloth, 
dried fruit, bacon, and other articles such as 
in older settled communities were produced. 
Here they bartered their commodities for 
fish, salt, and leather, often leaving much 
cash, occasionally their tavern and whiskey 
bills. It is said that a marching army is 
greatly supported by display of uniform and 
music. Even horses catch the inspiration of 
display and are enabled to bear extra- 
ordinary fatigue. On the same principle the 
old-time teamster surrounded his business 
with attractive paraphernalia and glittering 
pretension. There was something animating 
in a street scene, as we picture it on the 
imagination from a description be-fore us. 
The horses were large and well trained. No 
elaboration was spared to make their strong 
gearing handsome. Broad straps and fancy 
housings, and an arch of small bells jingling 
at every step, gave the animal a proud 
consciousness of being an object of 
attention. The teamster, almost always a 
jolly fellow, occupied a saddle on the near 
wheel horse. In one hand he swung a long 
whip, which cracked with pistol shrillness 
whenever a horse was indisposed to pull his 
share. The other hand held a single line, 
guiding six horses over roads which, to our 
untrained eyes, would seem impassable for 
two. The accuracy attained by the teamster 
in whip craft is remarkable. It was 



an old-time hotel amusement to test each 
other's teamstership by snuffing with a whip- 
lash a tallow candle, at a distance of twenty 
feet; the driver who outened the flame or 
missed the candle altogether was ruled out. 
We have heard tell of teamsters able to pick 
off with a whip-lash a horse-fly without 
hurting the animal on which it was sitting. 
The full-freighted wagon, arched over with 
canvas, was the driver's dwelling place as 
well as store-house. The typical teamster 
was jolly and full of good nature. Nothing 
would ruffle his cheerful temper except 
inability to procure feed for his horses. He 
was willing to endure hardship for himself, 
but that the horses in which he took an 
affectionate pride should suffer from hunger, 
was more than his manly heart could stand. 
These traders "made our roads, bad as they 
were, vocal and cheerful, and presented an 
animating spectacle." During the early life of 
the village the arrivals and departures of 
these teams, -sometimes one alone, but 
frequently consisting of a train of five or six- 
was of daily occurrence, and the tavern 
nightly rang with the merry laugh of self- 
contented, fun-loving teamsters. 

Such was the beginning of trade in Lower 
Sandusky, and such were daily village 
scenes during the summer for a great many 
years. A decade later wheat and stave 
wagons crowded homely Front street, and 
oftentimes blockaded the way. Indians, from 
the beginning, made Lower Sandusky their 
principal trading point. The Senecas, and 
kindred tribes from the neighboring 
reservation, traded here exclusively, and the 
Wyandots of Upper Sandusky often visited 
and traded with the white man at this ancient 
seat of their tribe. What change a quarter of 
a century had made in the condition of this 
heroic tribe, whose dominion for more than a 
century had been acknowledged by all the 
West. Wayne's expedition was 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



405 



the arrow which struck deep into the body of 
Indian power, and its deadly effect pen- 
etrated the heart. Did the Wyandots who 
came here to trade ever picture the village 
home and corn-fields, the gauntlet track and 
the council fire of their heroic ancestors? We 
know that they were familiar with the history 
of their tribe, and we have a right to suppose 
that, as they sat upon store benches or 
reclined upon the smooth sod of the 
common, drawing from homely pipes dense 
mouthfuls of smoke, consciousness of 
humiliation and degeneracy oppressed them. 
Little more than a quarter of a century 
before, their tribe headed a confederacy 
which defeated two American armies; but 
the spot lighted by the council fire, around 
which these great campaigns were planned, 
was now the scene of busy traffic and trade. 

It is a pleasure to record the fact that the 
Indians who came to Lower Sandusky were 
treated with becoming courtesy. Scarcely a 
day passed without the appearance of some 
of them, bringing furs, venison or sugar to 
exchange for tobacco, pork, ammunition, 
blankets and calico. A balance was usually 
due the merchants, which was paid from the 
annuities. Once a quarter the head chiefs of 
the Senecas came to Lower Sandusky to 
transact tribal business and draw their 
annuity. The Olmsted firm transacted their 
business, and it is remembered that Hard 
Hickory, Coonstick, Tall Chief, Crow, 
Seneca John, and others, being detained late 
by business, often remained in the store all 
night. They slept on blankets with their feet 
towards the fire, the thought of theft or 
dishonesty never entering their honest heads. 

The chiefs of the Senecas were singularly 
honest and honorable in their business 
transactions. They were abiding in their faith 
that no Indian could enter the happy hunting 
ground who left debts be- 



hind. We believe, however, that purer 
promptings made these pagans honest. The 
Socratic death of Seneca John, told 
elsewhere, shows that he, at least, was a man 
of lofty character and capable of high moral 
convictions. The Senecas and Ottawas traded 
here till 1832. The Wyandots made 
occasional visits till they . moved away in 
1842. Of Seneca John, who was murdered by 
his brothers, Coon-stick and Steele, an 
account of which is given in the chapter 
relating to Ballville township, Mr. Everett, 
who knew him well, says: 

He was a man of remarkable power of mind, and head 
chief of the Senecas. When any difficult matter was 
presented in council Seneca John was looked to by all as 
the right man to solve and explain it; and, as the Indians 
said, he always made crooked things straight. At the age 
of about forty-five years his remarkable mind, with a 
brave heart, fine person and manly demeanor, had given 
him unbounded influence over his tribe. 

A VILLAGE NIGHT. 

While Lower Sandusky sixty years ago 
was a spot busy with enterprise and traffic, a 
forest oppressive in its shade, and deep 
gloom extended on all sides, wild beasts 
made night hideous and dangerous, and at 
times in their midnight prowlings ran 
through the village. Wolves were the boldest 
of all wild animals, and were often alarming 
to the settlers. They in-habit almost all 
unsettled districts; climate has little effect 
upon them. From Mexico to Hudson's Bay 
the primitive forest echoed with their howls. 
Like the Indians they receded before white 
settlement, but kept up a prolonged and an- 
noying border war. 

The primitive village of Lower San-dusky 
was especially troubled with these 
obnoxious animals. The packs driven from 
eastern and southern counties took refuge in 
Northwestern Ohio, adding greatly to the 
number already here. To the Indian wolves 
could do little injury, 



406 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



and were of no value. They consequently 
escaped the primitive hunters, being left to 
roam the woods at will and multiply rapidly. 
The bear was a choice mark, and in 
consequence they were more numerous 
around this Indian camping ground, and soon 
disappeared after white settlers broke the 
stretch of forest. Wolves are naturally 
thievish. Neither in town nor in country, 
during the period under consideration, were 
young cattle, hogs, or sheep safe outside of 
secure stables. Dr. Brainard, an old resident 
of the village, remarks in his manuscripts 
that their hunger and rapacity knew no 
bounds, and fearing their ferocity,, and 
knowing their peculiar and exquisite taste 
for sheep, for many years settlers did not 
attempt to keep this useful animal. They 
would very often prowl through the village 
after night, to secure some more delicious 
repast. This is shown by an incident. A man 
living on the first street from the main one, 
one evening being in a paroxysm of chill and 
fever, recollecting that his horse, in the 
stable across the street nearly opposite, had 
not been fed his grain, requested his wife to 
carry his accustomed allowance to him. She 
being an accommodating partner in hard 
times, readily consented. She had proceeded 
about half way when a gang of wolves made 
an assault. Being yet young and active, you 
may conclude she was not long in retracing 
her steps; fear lent wings to her speed, the 
wolves close to her heels when she shut the 
door against them. They being thus foiled 
and disappointed, appeared to be in great 
rage, set unrepeated and tremendous howls, 
and seemed unwilling to depart. In a few 
minutes, however, as the people had not yet 
retired to rest, nearly all the male part 
assembled at the scene of this wild 
confusion, armed with such weapons as they 
in the moment could most easily grasp. The 
common 



enemy, seeing they would be overpowered 
by numbers, fled, and all again was quiet, 
except their distant howls, which still 
sounded upon the ear. This is one of many 
similar attacks that occurred in our village 
during the hours of night. The only serious 
consequence of this was the husband being 
told by his affectionate wife that, sick or 
well, he would there-after feed his own 
horse for all her. 

THE FIRST THEATRE. 

Thomas L. Hawkins, the village miller, 
was one of those useful men in a small 
community to whom we apply the phrase 
"universal genius." He was a mechanic and a 
landscape painter, a poet and a philosopher, 
a preacher and a stage actor. As master of 
the village theatre, three of his many 
faculties were called into exercise. He 
painted the scenery for the stage, wrote the 
prologue, and performed difficult and 
important parts. The Lower Sandusky theatre 
was formally opened in 1819, by 
Goldsmith's play, "She Stoops to Conquer," 
acted by the young men of the village. Mr. 
Hawkins wrote a prologue, in which he 
predicted the introduction of railroads, 
steamboats, and telegraphs. He also hints at 
the town's general bad reputation for 
wickedness, and then proceeds to preach a 
sermon in verse. Here is the prologue in full: 

Sandusky Theatre, of tender age, 

Now makes its first appearance on the stage. 

Lord! what a crowd! I blush for what? These are but 

men, 
And fellow mortals every soul within. 
Then, first, my friends, — for friends you surely are, 
As foes and critics have no business here, 
Yet, should they come, their astonished sense shall burn 
To find how youths in Lower Sandusky learn. 
But you, my friends, on your good sense 
I call, Oh, pray excuse our imperfections all. 
Your uneasy seats — on poles and wooden pins 
May try your patience ere the play begins. 
Our paper scenes, and flimsy curtains new, 
May make you think our actors flimsy too. 
Not so. I hope, and hope you'll hope with me; 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



407 



Tis all I crave, -the exhibition's free. 

"That's false! I paid before I entered here!" 

You did? But 'twas to pay the music, sir. 

What, free?" says one. "Upon my soul I thought 

These painted scenes, these candles bought!" 

They truly were, and dearly paid for, too; 

Yet we live in hopes to get that pay from you. 

For, if our youths should now be blessed with skill, 

We'll force you here, though much against your will. 

Our time and talents we will devote to you; 

You cannot wish to take our money too? 

"Oh!" cries the foe, "I see your whole intent; 

I've long wished to know what the deuce you meant. 

You think, by painting, pasting, rhyming, jokes, 

E'en to make money from us poor folks!" 

Not so, good sirs; let me begin again; 

Lend but your patience, I'll not long detain. 

Long has our place with crimson dies been stained, 

And counterfeiters' residences gained; 

Both far and near our character been lost, 

In the life of Spicer and death of poor La Coste. 

But now, thank God! a happy change succeeds; 

(With painful hearts we face those wicked deeds.) 

'Tis time, good sirs, those actions to despise, 

Since all around our tender offspring rise. 

In their blest lives let us re-live again 

A life of virtue, freed from conscious pain. 

Those are the pillars of expected state; 

As life declines, they will our souls elate. 

In future days, when snug on yonder rise 

Their once loved parents, freed from toil, lies, 

In senates they, as statesmen bright, will stand, 

While arts and science roll at their command; 

Thy sons shall then in fond remembrance tell, 

And bless the sires that tutored them to spell. 

Blessed be the mart, that friend, who taught me first 

From science's page, undaunted, to rehearse 

To stand, regardless of the critic's sneer, 

And boldly speak, nor mortal face to fear. 

With thoughts like these, we anticipate delight; 

'Tis this alone which brings us here to-night. 

Dear fathers, mothers, guardians, tutors too, 

Oh, what a task, good heavens! devolves on you. 

Look forward then, anticipate with joy, 

What prospects burst upon your infant boy! 

Behold yon wide, uncultivated plain, 

From ocean's wave to ocean's wave again; 

Where silence reigns, nor human face is found 

All nature sleeps secure from human sound; 

Where bounds the deer, pursued by savage cries, 

Shall adventurous man with villages arise. 

Town after town and State on State unfurled, 

'Tit the proud Pacific hails a new-born world. 

When solitude sits with time and age grown gray, 

The arts shall flourish, e'en like the blaze of day. 

Hammers shall ring, and the anvil's lab'ring peal 

Shall cheer the maid that hums the spinning-wheel. 

Those hidden ores that line Superior Bay 

Shall quit their beds and shine in upland day; 



While o'er its tide sail after sail shall bend, 

And with proud cars of fire and steam contend. 

Rivers that have rolled since time itself began 

Shall lend their aid to bear adventurous man; 

While through the groves, uncultivated plains, 

They extend their arms, and meet with arms again. 

To unite their forks, oh! wonderful to tell! 

The upthrown earth bespeaks the proud canal! 

With spreading sail, then merchantmen may go 

From Hudson's mouth through States to Mexico. 

The fluted railroad, with bars above, below, 

Thus man may speed a hundred miles a day, 

And leave the bird a lingering on the way. 

The speaking-tube, concealed beneath the ground, 

All news convey to distant seats around. 

These, fathers, these might cause e'en stones to speak, 

And thoughts like these might entertain a week; 

But I too long have trespassed on your time, 

Strove to explain, in disconnected rhyme, 

Why we those scenes and exhibitions plan; 

Instruct the youth to thoughts and acts of man. 

Perhaps from these, to fill us with surprise, 

Some Newton, Milton, Washington may rise. 

I here would close, but, mixed among you all, 

The old bachelor sits, on whom I'm forced to call. 

In joys like those which sires anticipate, 

You have no share, nor can you, -'tis too late; 

But if youthful strength there still remains in one, 

Who wishes to live immortal in a son, 

Rouse from your stupor! awake your torpid brain! 

And quick the heart of some fair maid obtain! 

A bright example for you we set to-night; 

Four happy souls we shortly will unite. 

To prepare for these, good-night, I won't intrude, 

But soon return in woman's attitude. 

Such was the prologue recited before the 
play opened. In a literary sense it is, of 
course, crude, but it has the high merit of 
being suited to the occasion. 
The play, considering conditions, was very 
well produced, and its reproduction on 
several occasions, and the presentation of 
other plays from time to time, gave a 
wholesome spice to village life. The hint at 
the slab benches, with pins protruding 
through them, and at the paper scenes and 
flimsy curtains, gives an interior view of the 
hall, which was the first place of public 
entertainment in the village. 

LAW AND ORDER. 

This is a delicate topic. It would be 
perverting the truth of history to represent 
the village from which this city has grown 



408 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



as a moral paradise, and at the same time 
we are inclined to think there was no more 
depravity here than at other frontier trading 
posts. The leading citizens were not of the 
class lauded for piety, yet they were good 
people who, by example and executive 
action, endeavored to support law and order 
in society. But, being the leading village of 
Northwestern Ohio, it is not strange that a 
full share of knaves and villains made their 
temporary home here. There were petty 
thieves, common swindlers, and a few of 
that class, one of whom, on a certain 
occasion, declared that he be-longed to a 
society "for the transportation of horses and 
improving the currency." How much 
counterfeiting was done here no man knows 
nor ever will know; the expeditious method 
"for transporting horses" made the town 
somewhat celebrated. Evil report went out 
from here more than from other frontier 
posts because Lower Sandusky was made a 
well-known place by its precedence in trade. 

Very few of the village's were close 
Sabbath observers. This is almost uni- 
versally the rule of pioneer settlements. 
Those people who have persuaded them- 
selves that the commandment setting apart a 
day of rest has been downtrodden by 
constant violation in these latter years, and 
that the world is daily becoming more 
Godless, will find in the history of Ohio 
communities, with hut few exceptions, a 
refutation of their opinions. In Lower 
Sandusky, sixty years ago, a few of the 
residents observed the Sabbath, but a weekly 
day of rest, and worship, and thanksgiving 
was not on the calendar of the business men 
or an influential proportion of the citizens. 
Now, as a rule, the Sabbath is observed; 
disregard is the exception. When Rev. Jacob 
Bowlus, an ardent Methodist, came here in 
1822, he was very unpopular. The account 
given by his son, at a pioneer meeting a few 



years ago, is full of interest, for it reflects 
not only the moral status of the village at 
that time, but also the impolitic method of 
the preacher in his hasty zeal to reform the 
place in which he was a very new resident. 
People then, as now, became indignant at 
interference with their private affairs, 
especially so when interference touched their 
method of living. Mr. Bowlus, in his address 
in 1878, said: 

I was with father when he came here in 1822. The 
first Sabbath after our arrival he thought it was his duty 
as a minister of the Gospel to use his influence to have 
the Sabbath properly observed. He went around town 
and told the people what he came here for-to live among 
them and have them live as Christian people. He went 
from house to house and from store to store, and 
induced the people to close their places of business and 
observe the Sabbath. Previous to that, Sunday had been 
to them like any other day. They did probably more 
business on Sunday than on other days. It is true, 
however, that some permitted smuggling goods through 
the back doors. Father noticed this, and talked to them 
about it frequently, but did not succeed in preventing the 
practice altogether. 

Several families were considered pretty rough folks. 
Among them, some of you remember old Mr. Dew and 
family. A man lived with this old man Dew named 
Sanford Maines. Father met him down in the village 
after Sabbath was over, and said to him: "Is your name 
Sanford Maines?" He told him it was. "They tell me," 
said father, "you are a set of horse thieves, and I warn 
you to take care." "What!" exclaimed Maines, 
apparently surprised. Father repeated the same words 
and passed on. The next night father's buggy was hauled 
back of where the court-house now stands, where there 
was a thicket of hazel bushes. A chip fire was started 
and the vehicle burned up. Many such instances 
occurred in those days. It was a wild country indeed. 

The forefathers of our city occasionally 
inflicted summary punishment upon those 
who trespassed upon the laws of society. 
One characteristic instance is remembered: 
A man by the name of Avery, some time 
during the year 1820, stole an axe. He was 
arrested, and, there being no jail to confine 
him in till he could be tried, the citizens 
decided to take him down to a locust tree 
about where the Fremont & Indiana railroad 
engine house now stands, and give him a 
sound thrashing. They 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



409 



tied him up to the tree and gave him one 
hundred lashes, well laid on. After being 
released he swam the river, and never came 
back. 

The practice of stealing firewood is shown 
by the records of the village justice, to be a 
very old one. An eccentric old man by the 
name of Hawkins, father of the miller, poet, 
preacher and actor, spent a portion of the 
time from 1816 to 1820 in Lower Sandusky. 
He was interested in the mill with his son, 
Thomas L. Hawkins, and occasionally 
missed slabs from the log yard. Being 
convinced that they went for firewood, he 
prepared some slabs by boring, and then 
loading them with tremendous charges of 
powder. The next morning there was such an 
explosion, in a log-cabin near the mill, as to 
take the gable end and a part of the end wall 
out of it, besides frightening and somewhat 
injuring the inmates. This was considered 
dangerous, and although the man owned up 
to stealing the slabs, Hawkins was arrested 
for an attempt upon his life. The old man, 
when arraigned before the justice, told all he 
had done, and, in justification, said his slabs 
were green, and wouldn't burn without some 
powder to help them, and he prepared his 
own slabs just as he pleased, and if they 
didn't quit stealing, he blow them all to 



Hawkins was a party to another novel 
lawsuit of the period. He kept a canoe in the 
mill pond. A Frenchman one day took the 
canoe to hunt ducks, and after landing it on 
the other side, left his gun in the canoe; and 
went after plums. The old man waded the 
river, and took the canoe, fired off the 
Frenchman's gun, and paddled for the other 
shore. Fastening his canoe, he hastened to 
Esquire Harrington, a justice of the peace, 
and had the Frenchman summoned, to the 
tune of fifteen dollars damages for taking 
one canoe. But the old man found his match, 



Frenchy came, and laid in a counterclaim to 
same amount, in about this style: "Mr. 
Hawkin owe me for shoot my gun one time 
for noting, fifteen dollars." The justice 
suggested that that was a pretty high charge 
for one load of powder and shot. "Sacre," 
said the Frenchman, "suppose he sharge me 
ver' high, I sharge him ver' high, too, aha ! 
dat not right, sare." 

Whatever may have been the reputation 
inflicted upon the town by a coterie of rakes, 
outlaws and swindlers who were not citizens 
but only transient sojourners, there was 
much virtue here. People were generally 
hospitable and generous, honest in dealing 
with each other, and united heartily in the 
amenities, and sympathized with each other 
in the asperities of border life. 

POSTAL FACILITIES. 

We are unable to say just when postal 
facilities were provided for Lower San- 
dusky, but it is altogether probable that 
military routes were established in the winter 
of 1812-13 when the stockade was built. 
After the war a post office was established, 
and according to our best in-formation 
Morris A. Newman was commissioned 
postmaster. Three mail routes were 
established — one up the river through Fort 
Seneca to Delaware, another east to 
Norwalk, and a third west to Fort Meigs. 
During the war mail-carriers were in great 
personal danger. Some of the Indians were 
hostile, and the mail-bag was a tempting 
object of plunder. The first mail-carrier of 
whom we have any personal knowledge, was 
a man named Munger, whose route was from 
here to Fort Meigs. One mile from the fort 
he was attacked by a party of Indians, but 
made his escape with but slight wounds, 
leaving the mail-bag and his horse to the red 
robbers. The thick woods and swamp 
sheltered him while he travelled four days, 
as he supposed toward Fort Stephenson. 



410 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



At the termini of his route he was supposed 
to be dead, or taken captive, but on the fifth 
day he made his appearance at Lower 
Sandusky, having wandered as far north as 
Port Clinton on the lake shore. 
During the early stages of the war it was, 
sometimes necessary to give the mail- 
carriers a military escort. This was the 
mission of Colonel Ball's detail when 
attacked by a party of Indians about one mile 
south of Fort Stephenson, in 1813, a full 
account of which is given elsewhere. 
It is difficult to realize the perils and 
hardships of the early mail-carriers. The 
most difficult and dangerous route was from 
here to Perrysburg (Fort Meigs). There was 
no road, and the carrier was guided by blazes 
or scars made on the trees. The route was 
from Lower Sandusky down the river 
through the Whittaker farm, to where two 
large white oaks were blazed. These two 
trees were solid guides pointing to the thick, 
swampy forest westward. Muskellunge was 
forded some distance from the mouth, and 
from there to the site of Elmore was a 
tortuous path, at places scarcely wide 
enough for a horse to pass through. From the 
Portage River at Elmore, a crooked path led 
to Fort Meigs. After leaving Mrs. Whit- 
taker's, there was not an inhabitant on the 
whole route. After Munger had been robbed, 
it was difficult to get any one to travel this 
route. In spring or winter time, when the ice 
was breaking, the journey could be 
performed only on foot. Isaac Knapp, a 
young man of distinguished bravery, who 
had located here in 1814, undertook the 
perilous contract. He associated with himself 
his lion-hearted brother Walter, who carried 
it some of the time, Walter being selected 
chiefly on account of his lightness of body, 
and consequent ability to walk lightly over 
their ice or frozen crust, which would break 
through with a heavy man or horse, and 
make 



progress extremely difficult. It .needed the 
Knapp sort of spirit to travel this lonely path 
during that dangerous period. One day, just 
before leaving Fort Meigs, Isaac Knapp saw 
from the fort two men who had just, started 
out, waylaid and murdered by a, party of 
Indians. With this terrible scene fresh on his 
mind, he, a few hours afterward, shouldered 
the mail-bag, and set off into the forest. By a 
devious route he evaded the watching red- 
skins, and safely performed the journey. 

The Knapps had hearts for any fate. Isaac 
became a highly esteemed citizen of the 
town, and an associate judge of the county. 
Walter also located here in later years, where 
he raised a, family and died. These two 
brothers were the, heroes of a romantic 
adventure which illustrates, their character, 
and proves their fitness for the public service 
performed during times which tried men's 
souls: 

Shortly after the War of 1812 closed, Walter Knapp, 
for speaking disrespectfully of the British Government, 
was arrested and imprisoned in Sandwich, Upper 
Canada, a town opposite Detroit. The crime charged to 
him was punishable by fine, and his brothers James and 
Isaac prepared to pay the fine, and went to Detroit to 
await the trial of Walter; pay his fine for him and bring 
him away. The court sat at Sandwich at this time, but, 
contrary to usage, the trial of Walter was not brought 
on, and the court adjourned leaving him in jail where he 
might stay another year. The brothers, James and Isaac, 
therefore resolved on rescuing him, for he was badly 
treated, and might die before trial day. They found 
friends enough in Detroit who were willing to go over 
and assist in the enterprise, but upon consultation-it was 
thought best for only two to go over, as that number 
would not excite suspicion. At about 10 o'clock at night 
Isaac applied to the ferryman for the use of his canoe for 
three hours to go to Spring Wells, a place on the 
American side, but the suspicious Frenchman refused to 
let him have it until he promised three dollars for its 
use, and left ninety dollars as a pledge for its safe return 
inside of three hours. It was a good-sized pine canoe, 
light, and easily propelled. 

At a little after to o'clock that night Isaac Knapp left 
the American shore at Detroit. They selected a landing 
place on the Canada side under a high bank near a 
church, whose steeple towered up visible in 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



411 



the gloomy sky. After landing and securing their canoe 
the brothers proceeded a, mile through the streets to the 
jail, which they intended to enter, with the aid of saws, 
through a window. All was dark and quiet. - The work at 
the window was commenced but a little while when the 
saw broke. They then tried the front door of the jail, and 
found it locked and immovable, and impregnable. They 
then proceeded to the rear of the jail yard, which was 
enclosed with pickets twelve feet high, set in the 
ground. A strip of scantling was spiked to the pickets 
about ten feet from the ground to hold them parallel at 
the top. By a run and a leap they found they could reach 
and hold to the scantling. After throwing over a sledge- 
hammer, which they anticipated would be necessary for 
their purpose, they leaped the pickets and went to the 
back door of the jail hall. This door was not locked. 
They had learned from one McDonald, a tavern keeper 
in Detroit, the plan of the jail, and where the jailor hung 
the keys. The prison was on one side of the hall, and the 
room right opposite the jail door was occupied by the 
jailor and his family, and behind the door of the jailor's 
room hung the prison keys. Walter was awake, and 
James went to the prison door and whispered to his 
brother, who informed him where the keys hung, and 
that the largest key was the one to his door. James 
entered the jailor's apartment into perfect darkness, and 
began feeling for the keys, but was some time in finding 
the largest one. Isaac stood in the door of the room. 
James, in fumbling for the keys, unfortunately knocked 
a large bunch of heavy keys from their suspension, 
which fell rattling like a log-chain upon the floor, 
rousing the jailor, who instantly sprang to his feet and 
exclaimed: "What in the name of God is that? Who's 
here?" Isaac Knapp, guided by the sound, sprang 
directly in front of the jailor as he stood at the bedside, 
and said, in a low, determined voice, "Not a word, sir. 
We have come for a prisoner; we must have him; and if 
you utter one word of alarm I will dispatch you in a mo- 
ment!" At this the jailor's wife and children were 
terrified, but the same command, backed by the 
command of the jailor himself, to save his life, soon 
quieted them. Meantime the key was found, and James 
and Walter were at the door of the jailor's apartment 
saying: "We are here." Isaac followed the sound and 
reached the door, joined his brothers, and proceeded to 
scale the pickets at a different point and over into an 
alley. As they were going through the yard, which was 
planted with potatoes, Walter lost his bundle of clothes, 
and began to search for them. Just then the jailor gave 
the shout for alarm, and they heard numerous voices at 
the front door of the jail. There was no time for hunting 
old clothes in the dark, and James whispered "come," 
and instantly they scaled the pickets. Isaac seized Walter 
by the collar, and with a bound threw him over to James, 
and with another scaled the 



pickets, bounding almost at the same time into- the 
alley. Walter was weak from confinement, and illness, 
and the brothers seized each arm, emerged from the 
alley into the main road or street, which led to the 
church steeple, under which they knew their canoe was, 
a mile distant. By this time the alarm became loud, and 
the inhabitants were hurrying to the jail from every 
quarter. They met many, but when out of sight made 
such speed as permitted Walter to touch ground only 
once in a while. They reached the canoe, but Walter was 
exhausted, and they laid him in the bottom of it and 
shoved off. The canoe was furnished with oars and 
rowlocks. James and Isaac took their seats at the oars 
with their backs towards the Detroit shore, struck in the 
oars as strong and active men would in such a case, till 
they supposed they were in the middle of the river, and 
out of sight and hearing from the Canadian shore. At 
this point Walter, who had been rendered breathless and 
fainted hi the race, carne to, and told them to give him a 
paddle, as he was able to steer. The Judge, in narrating 
this adventure, said that it seemed to him as if the canoe 
leaped out of the water at every stroke of the oars. At 
the middle of the river they slacked their exertions to 
rest a little and take observations. They soon gained 
breath and found their direction, and then pulled 
leisurely to the landing from which they had started. 
Isaac's ninety dollars would be forfeited if he kept the 
canoe over three hours, and he found the Frenchman, 
who hoped for the forfeit, 10th to wake, but finally suc- 
ceeded to make him acknowledge that he was awake, 
receive the canoe, and refund the ninety dollars, less 
three, the agreed pride for the use of the craft. After half 
an hour spent at this place and in reaching John 
Halmer's tavern, they found it lacked five minutes of 
two hours from the time they left the landing on the 
American side. 

With the Judge himself, and others who knew the 
facts, it is still a mystery how Isaac got Walter over the 
pickets of that jail yard; and this rescue was considered 
one of the most daring and successful of Northern 
adventures. The Judge said: "I was in Major Holmes' 
command on the Thames when we were one hundred and 
fifty surrounded by about five thousand British, and yet 
entering that jail in the dark was more trying to my 
nerves than that battle. But as soon as the jailor waked 
and spoke, and I had something to do, my courage and 
coolness came to me at once. I was cool and determined. 
I did not wish to injure the jailor, but I had determined 
to save my brother, and we did."* 

In 1818 Jeremiah Everett was appointed 
mail-carrier on this route, which was 
somewhat changed, but reached the 



* Judge Knapp himself com municated this adventure, 
substantially as detailed, to Hon. Homer Everett. 



412 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Portage River as formerly, at Elmore, where 
there was now a solitary cabin, occupied by 
the family of a Mr. Harris, who kept the 
mail-carriers over night. Hon. Homer Everett 
gives the following account of his father's 
experience while in the service: 

From two to three days, often four, were required to 
perform the trip. I have heard my father frequently 
mention his disagreeable experiences in this service, 
being often compelled to camp out between Maumee and 
Portage River at night and alone. He told of a fallen 
hollow sycamore tree which he used as a protection on 
these occasions, when the state of the roads, or accident 
prevented him from reaching Portage River on his return 
trip, which frequently happened. If on foot, the mail, 
and a blanket made into a pack, were slung upon his 
shoulders, with bread and meat for the journey,-and with 
a hatchet and knife in his belt, he would set out. If on 
horse-back, which the roads permitted only a part of the 
year, a more ample outfit was carried, and grain for the 
animal. At the sycamore tree the axe, steel and flint 
aided to build him a good fire in front, which kept off 
cold and wolves. The wolf's howl near by was familiar 
music then, and he was waked in the morning, and found 
a path beaten in the snow around him by the feet of 
these prowlers. He was always anxious to have a good 
road from Lower Sandusky to Fort Meigs, and lived to 
be eminently useful and influential in having one made. 

One of the old mail-carriers on the route 
up the river to Delaware was named Brush. 
Samuel Cochran was stationed near the 
mouth of Wolf Creek, in Ballville township, 
to ferry the mail-carriers over 



the creek during times of high water. 
The route from the east, opened soon after 
the war closed, came from Norwalk across 
Strong's ridge to Amsden's corners 
(Bellevue); from thence by a crooked path 
through the southern part of Green Creek 
township to the old Rumery place and thence 
to Lower Sandusky. A fourth route was 
established during the period which we are 
describing, from Lower Sandusky to Venice 
on the bay shore. 

After the Maumee road was completed a 
stage line was established, which carried 
east and west mails. Mails from the south 
were brought down the river on horse-back 
for a number of years afterward. 
Harvey J. Harman succeeded Newman as 
postmaster, and alter his death in 1834, the 
office was placed in charge of Grant F. 
Forgerson. Jesse S. Olmsted succeeded. 
Homer Everett, who had charge of the office 
during Olmsted's administration, was 
commissioned postmaster in 1839. His 
successors have been Benjamin F. Meeker, 
Wilson M. Stark, Isaac M. Keeler, L. E. 
Boren. We are unable to conclude the list, no 
record having been kept. George Krebs is the 
present efficient incumbent. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



FREMONT CONTINUED. 



Civil Government. 



THE first organization of local government 
on the soil of Sandusky county followed 
in consequence of an order directing the 
erection of the township of Sandusky, in 
August, 1815. The first page of the record has 
been torn out of the musty old book and is 
destroyed. On the cover of the book is written 
in a large, clear hand: 

This book was presented by Israel Harrington, esquire, to 
the township of Sandusky for the purpose of keeping the 
records of said township. 
August 15, 1815. 

For seventeen years this book, containing 
less than two hundred pages, is the only record 
of the township. 

Israel Harrington was the first justice of the 
peace. The other officers elected August 15 
were: Isaac Lee, clerk; Isaac Lee and William 
Ford, fence viewers; Jeremiah Everett, Randall 
Jerome, and Israel Harrington, trustees; 
William Andrews and Morris A. Newman, 
overseers of the poor; David Gallagher, 
treasurer; Henry Disbrow and Charles B. Fitch, 
appraisers of property; Thoda A. Rexford and 
William Hoddy, constables. 

At the succeeding election, held October 10, 
1815, twenty-eight votes were cast. The 
following was the poll: 

William Andrews, Thoda A. Rexford, Daniel 
McFarland, Asa Stodard, William Ford, Israel 
Harrington, Elisha Harrington, Randall Jerome, 
Jeremiah Everett, Moses Nichols, Anthony 
Arndt, Joseph Done, Obediah Morton, 
Jonathan Jerome, Joel Thomas, Thomas D. 
Knapp, Peleg Cooley, Antoine Laurent, Isaac 
Lee, Joseph Mominne, Charles B. Fitch, John 
M. Clung, Henry Disbrow, James Whittaker, 



Nathaniel Camp, Samuel Avery, Peter 
Menare, Lewis de Leonard. 

There seemed to be great unanimity at this 
election. None of the candidates voted for or 
received less than twenty-six votes, and four 
of them received the full twenty-eight. 
Partisan bitterness was not yet born and an 
election was much like a council of friends. 
It seems, too, that it was a council in which 
all were pretty much of one mind. 

The first appraisment of property was 
made by Charles B. Fitch and Daniel Hill, 
May 23, 1816. Only eight houses were 
appraised, as follows: Morris A. Newman, 
one, $250; Muses Nichols, one, $100; Israel 
Harrington, one, $300; Aaron Forgerson, 
one, $200; Randall Jerome, three, $450; 
Thomas Brown, one, $150. 

At the October election of 1816 thirty- 
three votes were cast. Since very few of the 
citizens whose names are given lived beyond 
the present corporate limits of the present 
city of Fremont, we give the poll as a census 
of the cluster of homes about old Fort 
Stephenson, just beginning to assume the 
appearance of a village: 

Joseph Harris, William Andrews, T. A. 
Rexford, Obediah Norton, William Avery, 
Moses Nichols, Almeron Sands, Daniel 
McFarland, Samuel Avery, Jonathan Jerome, 
W. S. Drake, Charles B. Fitch, Jeremiah 
Everett, Daniel Hill, Thomas D. Knapp, 
Israel Harrington, William Downs, David 
Gallagher, Hugh B. McKner, Thomas 
Brown, Aaron Forgerson, Joshua Davies, 
Ruel Louis, John Payne, Morris 



413 



414 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



A. Newman, Peleg Cooley, John Robinson, 
John Cooley, Thomas L. Hawkins, Thomas 
Forgerson, Holsey Forgerson, Aaron Willis, 
and John W. Tyler. 

We give one more list of elections of 
Sandusky township, taken from the records 
of the October election of the year 1826: 
Samuel Treat, James A. Scranton, John 
Downs, Esbon Husted, Thomas Gallagher, 
Richard Sears, Asa Bliss, Giles Thompson, 
Jacob Bowlus, Jesse S. Olmsted, James 
Fuller, Casper Remsberg, Francis Call, 
Mahlon Thomas, Jonathan Holcomb, Jacob 
Nyce, Ammi Williams, Phineas Ball, David 
Bowlus, Jacob Melius; William McClelland, 
Elisha B. Johnson, Francis A. Wally, Merrit 
Scott, John Wolcott, Cyrus Hulburd, Thomas 
Hawkins, William Dew, Rodolphus Dickin- 
son, George Shannon, Abram Bark, Harvery 
J. Harman, George Jackson, George J. 
Whitaker, Moses Wilson, John W. Tyler, 
William Knapp, Jacob Bowlus, jr., Charles 
Cole, John McLaughlin, Thomas Bonner, 
Michael Egan, Leonard Kider, Charles 
Runnels, Warren Waterman, William 
Suthorn, Peter Bellow, Eldridge A. Bristol, 
John Culbertson, John Andrews, Joel Van 
Doren, James P. Stephenson, Ferdinand 
Wilson, Joseph Mominne, David Grant, 
Abram Van Doren, Andrew Baker, Joseph 
Hall, Thomas Ware, William Ware, 
Benjamin Bailey, L. C. Ball, Joseph Connel, 
John Woods, Ezra Williams, Elisha W. 
Howland, Calvin Seager, David Gallagher, 
William Baker, Elisha Thompson, Daniel 
Brainard, Daniel Brainard, jr., Thomas 
Holcomb, Aaron Love-land, McKinsey 
Mowery, Abner Loveland, and Thomas 
White. 

By 1831 the number of votes in the township 
had increased to one hundred and forty-six. 
Previous to 1830 there was no corporate 
government for the village, which had now 
changed the name Sandusky for that 



of Lower Sandusky. Sandusky township had 
exercised exclusive jurisdiction over the 
village. By special act of the Legislature, 
passed February 11, 1830, so much of the 
reservation as is included in the surveyed 
township number five, range fifteen, was set 
apart and granted the powers and privileges 
of a corporate town, under the statutes of the 
State. The complement of the two miles 
square reservation, being a strip about three- 
quarters of a mile wide off the south side, 
continued under the jurisdiction of Ballville 
township exclusively. In 1856 the corporate 
limits were so ex-tended as to include this 
strip, making the town of Fremont co- 
extensive with the ancient and historic 
reservation. John Bell was elected first 
mayor. 

CIVIL ROSTER. 

Previous to 1843 the records of the town 
are lost. The mayors of Lower Sandusky, 
elected in the spring of each year, were: 
John Bell, 1830; R. P. Buckland, 1843;* 
John Bell, 1844; Cornelius Letscher, 1845 
and 1846; Chester Edgerton, 1847; L. C. 
Ball, 1848; J. G. B. Downs, 1849. That year 
the name of the town was changed to 
Fremont. At the expense of repetition we 
give the full council for each year: 

1850— Brice J. Bartlet, mayor; C. R. 
McCulloch, recorder; LaQ., Rawson, John R. 
Pease, C. O. Tillotson, James Hufford, 
Samuel Wilson, trustees. 
1851 — B. J. Bartlett, mayor; Alvin Coles, 
recorder; James Parks, Thomas Pinkerton, 
Frank Bell, Christian Doncyson, John P. 
Haynes, trustees. 

1852— B. J. Bartlett, mayor; Thomas P. 
Finefrock, recorder; William Herbster, 
Christian Doncyson, Isaac Sharp, O. L. 
Nims, J. F. R. Sebring, trustees. 

1853— A. B. Taylor, mayor; T. P. 
Finefrock, recorder; Christian Doncyson, 



"From- 1830 to 1843 unknown. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



415 



O. L. Nims, Isaac Sharp, J. F. R. Sebring, M. 
Wegsson, trustees. 

1854— A. J. Hale, mayor; Charles L. Glick, 
recorder; Thomas Pinkerton, J. F. R. 
Sebring, George C. Canfield, R. C. 
McCulloch, William E. Haynes, trustees. 
1855 — B. J. Bartlett, mayor; Charles L. 
Glick, recorder; Thomas Pinkerton, J. F. R. 
Sebring, G. C. Canfield, C. R. McCulloch, 
William E. Haynes, trustees. 

1856— B. J. Bartlett, mayor; E. M. 
Hulburd, recorder; R. P. Buckland, S. 
Thompson, Jesse S. Van Ness, J. F. R. 
Sebring, Ira Smith, trustees. 

1857 — John R. Pease, mayor; Nat Haynes, 
recorder; H. Cleland, C. Doncyson, Casper 
Smith, W. Beaugrand, John Joseph, trustees. 

1858 — John L. Green, mayor; Oscar Ball, 
recorder; S. M. Ellenwood, C. Doncyson, 
Casper Smith, Joseph Stuber, Daniel Capper, 
trustees. 

1859 — Stephen Buckland, mayor; J. R. 
Bartlett, recorder; W. N. Morgan, Andrew 
Morehouse, Theodore Clapp, Detleff 
Thompson, Samuel Thompson, trustees. 

1860 — James Justice, mayor; Joseph R. 
Bartlett, recorder; Thomas Kelly, F. J. 
Geibel, Nat Haynes, Philip Dorr, Thomas 
Pinkerton, trustees. 

1861 — Daniel L. June, mayor; D. W. 
Krebs, recorder; G. M. Tillotson, O. A. 
Roberts, Ira Smith, Joseph Chapman, 
Creighton Thompson, trustees. 

1862— John M. Kline, mayor; D. W. 
Krebs, recorder; O. A. Roberts, D. Capper, 
Bryan OGonnor, C. Hodes, A. Bennett, 
trustees. 

1863— John M. Kline, mayor; D. W. 
Krebs, recorder; O. A. Roberts, Bryan 0. 
Connor, D. Capper, Casper Hodes, Aaron 
Bennett, trustees. 

1864 — LaQuinio Rawson, mayor; D. W. 
Krebs, recorder; D. Garvin, John 



Koons, Isaac Dryfoos, J. S. Van Ness, Charles 

Thompson, trustees. 

1865 — Homer Everett, mayor; D. W. Krebs, 

recorder; Fred Fabing, A. J. Harris, Oscar Ball, 

Charles Thompson, George Williams, trustees. 

1866 — John Bell, mayor; E. F. Dickinson, 

recorder; Ambrose Ochs; J. Stierwalt, William 

E. Haynes, Thomas Kelly, F. G Geibel, 

trustees. 

The number of trustees in 1867 was increased 

to six, and one of their own number was 

chosen president. Previous to 1867 it was the 

duty of the mayor to act as president of the 

council. We give below the names of members 

of the council as they appear on the roll; the 

president always being named first: 

1867 — John Bell, mayor; F. Wilmer, recorder; 

Jacob D. Botefur, Betts, Brush, Ochs, Quilter, 

and Keller, trustees. 

1868 — John Bell, mayor; F. Wilmer, recorder; 

C. H. Bell; Betts, Botefur, Brush, Engler, and 

Quilter, trustees. 

1869 — Jesse S. Van Ness, mayor: J. S. Van 

Valhenburgh, recorder; Charles H. Bell, Betts, 

Gores, Haynes, Horn, and Sheldon, trustees. 

1870— J. S. Van Ness, mayor; J. S. Van 

Valhenburgh, recorder; Paul Gores, Botefur; 

Kridler, McArdle, Haynes, and Sheldon, 

trustees. 

1871 — E. F. Dickinson, mayor; George J. 

Krebs, recorder; James Kridler, Sheldon, 

Haynes, Thompson, McArdle, and Botefur, 

trustees. 

1872 — E. F. Dickinson, mayor; George J. 

Krebs, recorder; James Kridler, Haynes, 

Sheldon, Thompson, Stuber and Geibel, 

trustees. 

1873 — E. F. Dickinson, mayor; F. J. Geibel, 
jr., recorder; F. J. Geibel, Stuber, Kridler; 
Greiner, Fabing, and Bauman, trustees. 

1874 — E. F. Dickinson, mayor; F. J. Geibel, 
jr., recorder, resigned, F. J. Smith 



416 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



appointed to fill vacancy; George W. Gurst, 

Fabing, Greiner, Elderkin, Heider, and 

Bauman, trustees. 

1875 — E. F. Dickinson, mayor; H. B. Smith, 

recorder; J. P. Elderkin, jr., Fabing, Greiner, 

Bauman, Gurst, and Heider, trustees. 

1876 — E. F. Dickinson, mayor; W. W. Stine, 

recorder; A. Young, Bauman, Fabing, 

Greiner, Dickinson, and McCulloch, 

trustees. 

1877 — Jesse S. Van Ness, mayor; W. W. 

Stine, recorder; C. K. McCulloch, 

Dickinson, Young, Sheldon, Haynes, and 

Parks, trustees. 

1878— Jesse S. Van Ness, mayor; W. B. 

Kridler, recorder; James Parks, Haynes, 

Sheldon, Kridler, Reinick, West, Meng, and 

Thompson, trustees. 

1879— C. H. Bell, mayor; W. B. Kridler, 

recorder; S. P. Meng, Butman, Geibel, 

Johnson, Kridler, Parks, Thompson, and 

West, trustees. 

1880— Charles H. Bell, mayor; W. B. 

Kridler, recorder; F. J. Geibel, West, Baker, 

Loudensleger, Johnson, Bauman, Moos, and 

Butman, trustees. 

1881 — Jesse S. Van Ness, mayor, (de-ceased 

in July, E. Loudensleger appointed to fill 

vacancy); W. B. Kridler, recorder; E. 

Loudensleger,* J. V. Beery (vice president), 

Geibel, West, Baker, Price, Moos, and 

French, trustees. 

One more change of local government 

remains to be spoken of. The township 

jurisdiction of Sandusky township extended 

over the city until 1878, when, by act of the 

county commissioners, a new town-ship, to 

be called Fremont, was erected. The 

boundaries of the township are co-extensive 

with those of the city. 

NAME OF THE CITY. 
As has already been seen, the first name 
of the capital city of the county was 

* Appointed mayor in place of J. S. Van Ness, 
deceased. 



Sandusky. The post office was entered as 
Lower Sandusky, and by 1830, when the 
incorporating act was passed, Lower San- 
dusky had become the commonly accepted 
name. There was, however, endless con- 
fusion in the mail service and among bus- 
iness men, caused by the number of pests 
along the river bearing the same name with 
but slight modifications. There were Upper 
Sandusky, Little Sandusky, Middle 
Sandusky, Lower Sandusky, and Sandusky 
City. It was felt, therefore, not only 
expedient, but a business necessity, that the 
name should be changed. The town was 
already giving promise of that rapid growth 
which has since been fulfilled. What the new 
name should be was a matter, therefore, of 
no little interest and discussion. 
Croghanville was the natural choice of a 
certain class of citizens who delight to recall 
the past and memorialize great deeds and 
heroic characters. This, too, was the name of 
the original village surveyed under authority 
of the United States as early as 1816. 
But there were practical business men who 
foresaw the difficulties which would follow 
the adoption of the historic name. 
Croghanville was a hard name to spell, and, 
should it be adopted, was almost certain to 
be the cause of many orthographical 
blunders. 

Discussion materialized into action in 1849. 
A name, at that time, in every newspaper, in 
almost every mouth, was John Charles 
Fremont. Our interest in events of local 
history and admiration of heroic conduct 
compels us to regret that the town did not 
receive the name of the officer who made the 
ground over which it has spread, a place of 
National interest. In the firmament of 
history, brightened by many lustrous names, 
Colonel Fremont appears not as a brilliant 
star, but as a permanent light. His useful 
explorations and discoveries in the far West, 
were valua- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



417 



ble contributions to geographical science, and 
gave a powerful impetus to the settlement and 
development of California. 
John Charles Fremont was born in Georgia, 
entered Charleston college at the age of fifteen, 
and was noted for mathematical genius. Before 
the completion of his course he became 
infatuated with a West India girl, whose raven 
locks and soft, black eyes interfered sadly with 
his studies. He was expelled from college. His 
first employment was as private teacher of 
mathematics, and in 1833 the situation of 
instructor in mathematics on a United States 
sloop of war was given him. He was 
subsequently given a professorship of 
mathematics in the navy, and a few years later 
was employed in the survey of several 
Southern railroads. In 1838 he was 
commissioned second lieutenant and placed on 
the corps of topographical engineers. While 
compiling a series of re -ports in Washington, 
in 1840, he made the acquaintance of Miss 
Jesse Benton, daughter of Colonel Thomas H.. 
Benton, then a leader of his party in the United 
States Senate. The lady was only fifteen years 
old, but youth is no barrier to love. Colonel 
Benton, taking advantage of his influence, had 
the young officer peremptorily ordered on an 
exploring expedition to the Des Moines River. 
Returning the following year, Fremont claimed 
his betrothed, whom he secretly married. 
Fremont made the first systematic exploration 
of the Rocky mountains, one of the highest 
peaks of which bears his name. His reports 
were of great value, as furnishing information 
about overland routes to California, and setting 
forth the mineral resources of that region. 
During the troubles with Mexico, Colonel 
Fremont's services were of great value, in 
protecting American settlers in California, and 
ultimately in expelling Mexican authority from 
the Territory. In 1 847 



he bought an estate in California, on which 
he determined to settle. In 1849 the State 
was admitted to the Union, and as a mark of 
appreciation of his services as an explorer, 
and for having secured the annexation of the 
Territory to the United States, Colonel 
Fremont was elected by his State to 
represent her in the United States Senate. A 
cast of lots gave Fremont the short term of 
three years, While he occupied a seat in the 
Senate, California interests received his 
close attention. He was author of the most 
important legislation relating to her early 
interests. He took a decided stand against the 
ex-tension of slavery, which lost him a re- 
election to the Senate. His ideas concerning 
the "peculiar institution" conformed to the 
principles upon which the Republican party 
was established, and he became the party's 
first Presidential candidate. In a letter to the 
convention he said: 

I heartily concur in all movements having for their 
object to repair the mischiefs arising from violation of 
good faith in the repeal of the Missouri compromise. I 
am opposed to slavery in the abstract and upon 
principle, sustained and made habitual by long settled 
convictions. While I feel inflexible in the belief that it 
ought not to be interfered with where it exists, under the 
shield of State sovereignty, I am as inflexibly opposed 
to its extension on this continent beyond its present 
limits. 

This was the platform on which the 
spirited campaign of 1856 was fought. 
Buchanan received one hundred and seventy- 
four votes from nineteen Slates, while 
Fremont received one hundred and fourteen 
votes from eleven States. 

Colonel Fremont, in 1858, removed to 
California, where he became identified with 
important measures of public improvement, 
but suffered financial misfortune. In 
recognition of the high political station to 
which he attained, he was appointed to the 
Governorship of Arizona Territory, in which 
office he served one term. 



418 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



We have now sketched briefly the career of 
the man in honor of whom the county seat 
was named — a man who enjoyed immense 
popularity while in the zenith of his career, 
and a man, too, who left the impress of his 
life upon an important section of our country. 
About the only opposition to changing the 
name of the town was made by Judge 
Howland, who was always odd. While the 
subject was under discussion he wrote the 
following poem: 

There is a prayer now going round, 

Which I dislike to hear, 
To change the name of this old town, 

Which I hold very dear. 

They pray the court to alter it, 

I pray to God they won't; 
But let it stand Sandusky yet, 

And not J. C. Fremont. 

Sandusky is a pleasant name, 

"Tis short and easy spoken, 
Descending to us by a chain 

That never should be broken. 

Then let us hand it down the stream 

Of time, to after ages, 
And Lower Sandusky be the theme 

Of future bards and sages. 

Won't the old honest sachems rise 

And say to us pale faces: 
"Do you our ancient name despise, 

And change our resting places?" 

"Our father's fathers slumber here 

Their spirits cry: 'Oh don't 
Alter the name to us so dear, 

And substitute Fremont.' " 

Therefore my prayer shall still remain 

Until my voice grows husky- 
Oh change the people, not the name, 

Of my old home, Sandusky. 

SURVEYS. 

Fremont now embraces several different 
surveys or plats; 

First. Croghanville, laid out and surveyed 
by Lieutenant Wormley, United States 
surveyor, in 1816, and held for sale by in-and 
out-bits, the title still being in the General 
Government. Then it was expected that a city, 
fort, and ship-yard would 



soon be built on that elevated and beautiful 
site. 

Second. Sandusky, the first survey on the 
east side of the river, made, or dedicated and 
acknowledged, December 6, 1817, by 
Thomas L. Hawkins, Thomas E. Boswell, 
Morris A. Newman, Israel Harlington, and 
Josiah Rumery. 

Third. The survey made by Quintius F. 
Atkins, in 1825. This was a survey of the 
unsold and reverted tracts and lots in two 
miles square, into in- and out-lots, to be sold 
for the purpose of constructing the Western 
Reserve and Maumee Road. At this time the 
east side of the river, along the turnpike, 
called East-town; the lots along the river 
above and about the warehouses, North- 
town; and the lots about the shipyard and 
around the late residence of Dr. M. E. 
Rawson, called Middle-town; a number of 
lots in the vicinity of McArdale's new 
planing mill and sash factory, called the 
Triangular Survey, were made. 

Fourth. The Brush survey, including that 
part of town where the court-house and the 
Episcopal Church now stand, dedicated by 
Piatt Brush, Piatt Brush, jr., Samuel Brush, 
and John T. Brush, April 4, 1840. 

Fifth. Dickinson and Birchard's addition to 
the town of Lower Sandusky, including the 
lots along the turnpike, on the hill, on the 
west side of the river, dedicated September 
6, 1840, by Rodolphus Dickinson, Sardis 
Birchard, and Richard Sears. 

These are the chief surveys made in the 
town, though a number of others have since 
been made. To mention them all would be 
tedious. These several surveys made it 
expedient to re-number the whole city, 
which has been done, and each added plat 
has been numbered in the same series. The 
whole of two miles square is platted and 
numbered, either in in- or out lots. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



FREMONT— BUSINESS PROGRESS. 

Mercantile, Manufacturing, and Banking — Business Directory. 



THE mercantile history proper of Fremont 
begins in 1817 with the arrival here of a 
large stock of dry goods, groceries, 
hardware, crockery, liquors and wines, 
shipped from Albany, New York, to J. S. & 
G. G. Olmsted. This miscellaneous 
assortment was one of no small proportions 
for a country store, the invoice amounting to 
no less than twenty-seven thousand dollars, 
and the transportation on the same being 
four thousand four hundred dollars. Even in 
those days it required men with something 
besides heavy bones and brawn, elements of 
endurance, strengthened by hardships, and a 
spirit of enterprise to build up towns and 
populate the surrounding wilderness. 
Capital, then as now, was the principal 
motive power. The firm also brought with 
them a number of carpenters to erect a store 
building, and several coopers to make 
barrels to be used in the river fisheries. Pine 
lumber for building material was brought 
here from Buffalo by water. Immediately on 
the arrival of men and material, the 
construction of a commodious frame 
building was commenced on tract number 
six, as it was called, about on the present site 
of I. E. Amsden's saw-mill office. It was two 
stories in height, and presented a front of 
sixty feet towards the Sandusky River. 
Dormer windows jutted out above, and under 
them were projecting beams with pulley- 
blocks and tackle for raising goods. The 
lower story was divided into two 
departments, one used for a general 
salesroom and the other for a warehouse in 
which to store away the pro- 



duce received in barter for the necessary 
household wares and luxuries for the 
pioneers and villagers. The dimensions of 
the structure were thirty by sixty feet. It was 
considered a mammoth building, and the 
stock of merchandise, which soon piled high 
the counters and shelves, was greater than 
any other between Detroit and Cleveland, 
and Urbana and the lake. For a number of 
years the store was in truth a commercial 
emporium. The following prices, at that time 
demanded for goods, which, in comparison, 
now bring but a pittance, may be read with 
interest: Brown sheeting, three-fourths of a 
yard wide, fifty cents per yard; calico, from 
fifty to seventy-five cents per yard; satinet at 
two dollars and a half per yard. In articles of 
consumption there is not so much difference 
in the figures, for coffee sold at thirty-eight 
cents, tea for one dollar and one dollar and a 
half, and tobacco at fifty cents. Ponder sold 
for one dollar, and lead for twenty-five cents 
per pound respectively. Under such 
circumstances, to make it pay, every shot 
had to count. In contrast to these prices, but 
still to our own advantage, whiskey, which 
of like quality would now cost from two to 
four dollars per gallon, then was easily 
purchased at seventy-five cents. It is curious 
what changes are brought about by the 
advance of civilization. Refined loaf sugar 
was the only article of that nature imported, 
as .the sugar maple forests well supplied the 
inhabitants with this staple article, and also 
took the place of molasses and syrups. 
Probably the first manufacturing 



419 



420 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



done by the Indians was the converting of 
the sap of the maple into a portable pro- 
duction — sugar. They exchanged this for the 
storekeeper's gew-gaws. It was put up in 
boxes made of birch bark, holding from 
thirty to fifty pounds, and the package 
called, in the musical language of the noble 
red man, a "mocock." These "mococks" 
formed a prime article of exportation, as 
well as for local consumption. Foreign 
brown sugar, or that made from the cane, 
was not sold in the village until 1828 or 
1829. At this early time (1817) the rivers 
and woods abounded in valuable fur-bearing 
animals, and it would seem from the 
following figures that the occupation of a 
trapper and hunter might then have been 
followed to exceeding great ad-vantage. 
Soon after opening business the Olmsted 
firm received in trade and shipped during 
one season, twenty thousand muskrat pelts, 
worth twenty-five cents each; eight thousand 
coon skins, worth fifty cents each; one 
hundred and fifty otter skins, worth five 
dollars each; and two hundred bear skins, 
worth five dollars each. 

The first wheat shipped East from this city, 
then the village of Lower Sandusky, was a 
lot of six hundred bushels, sent forward by J. 
S. Olmsted in the year 1830. It was bought at 
the vice of forty cents per bushel, and sold in 
Buffalo at sixty cents per bushel. The high 
rates of transportation consumed all the 
profits. In 1820 the lust cargo of pork, to the 
amount of one hundred and fifty barrels, was 
shipped to Montreal by the firm of J. S. & G. 
G. Olmsted, where it was sold at a 
considerable loss. These latter statements of 
shipments and prices of goods will give 
some idea of the mercantile business at an 
early day in Sandusky county. 

While the Olmsteds, as related, were the 
first merchants here, in the true sense of the 
teem, they were not the earliest 



traders. Before the war of 1812, Mr. James 
Whittaker had traded to some extent with the 
Indians, bartering with them a few goods for 
their own peculiar use. Hugh Patterson, a 
Scotchman, who had been a partner in these 
transactions with Mr. Whittaker, soon after 
the date last mentioned kept a store at 
Muncietown, on the east side of the river and 
about two miles from this city. There was 
one other trader, by name Augustus Texier, 
who kept a small stock of cheap goods in the 
village, and managed to gain a livelihood 
thereby. David Gallagher, another of the 
early merchants, came here before the war of 
1812, and was employed for a number of 
years as an assistant commissary at Fort 
Stephenson. He was afterwards connected 
with the Olmsteds, both as a clerk and a 
partner. 

In 1823 Dr. L. Brown was selling general 
merchandise in a frame building where Mrs. 
Tyler's block now stands. Richard Sears, a 
young man and accredited as having been 
one of the beaux of the village, was a 
merchant at the same date, and afterwards on 
the same site. In 1831, removing his stock 
from a frame structure on the present site of 
the Heffner block, he formed a co- 
partnership with J. S. Olmsted, who in the 
meantime had dissolved partnership with his 
brother, and having left his original store 
house on the river bank below, was selling 
general merchandise on the northwest corner 
of Front and State streets. The firm name 
was Olmsted & Sears. Four years the 
partnership continued, dissolving on Mr. 
Sears engaging in business by himself. Mr. 
Olmsted, soon after this dissolution, 
removed to the old Harrington block, and 
from thence, in 1840, to a building standing 
on a portion of the lot now occupied by the 
Fabing & Hime block. 

John W. Tyler was another of the taller 
storekeepers, and Esbon Rusted, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



421 



between 1820 and 1825, kept a general store, 
with drugs, on the southeast corner of Front 
and State streets. Isadore Beaugrand and 
George Grant were his clerks. Rodolphus 
Dickinson, Sardis Birchard, and Esbon 
Husted, in 1831, began the dry goods 
business on the same site, under the firm 
name of R. Dickinson & Co. From 1841 to 
1844 the firm of Cutter & Heywood sold dry 
goods and bought grain there. Among the 
other pioneer trades-men, still well 
remembered by the older citizens, was Judge 
Knapp, who sold groceries in the old Knapp 
building, on the present site of White's 
block. In 1836 or 1837, John M. Smith 
commenced selling dry goods where Dryfoos 
Brothers & Bach now hold forth. Eddy & 
Wilkes succeeded him. Where the First 
National Bank is at present, John Bell and 
Merritt L. Harman kept a general store of 
dry goods, groceries, hardware, etc., 
between the years 1830 and 1840. John P. 
Haynes, J. K. Glen, and Austin B. Taylor 
were three more of the old merchants com- 
mencing here early in the thirties. 
Richard Sears opened a store on the corner 
.of Front and Croghan streets shortly after 
dissolving with the Olmsteds. He made a 
fortune trading with the Indians, and in 1827 
sold out to Sardis Birchard and left for 
Buffalo. Mr. Birchard's long and successful 
business life is traced in a biography 
elsewhere in this volume. Like his 
predecessor, he had a large trade with the 
Indians. 

The first pork was shipped from this place 
in 1820 by the Olmsteds, and was marketed 
at Montreal. It consisted of one hundred and 
fifty barrels. The cost here was two thousand 
dollars for the lot. The venture cost the firm 
considerable loss, but pork afterwards 
became an important and profitable 
commodity of trade. The first wheat was 
shipped from here in 1830, by J. S. Olmsted, 
and consisted 



of a lot of six hundred bushels. Mr. 
Olmsted's first venture in wheat was little 
more successful than the pork speculation of 
ten years previous. Forty cents per bushel 
was paid at the warehouse here and sixty 
cents the price received in Buffalo. 
Transportation was then so high that the 
margin of twenty cents per bushel was con- 
sumed. But the trade in pork and wheat from 
1830 to 1850 was enormous. Every day the 
streets were filled with teams of four and six 
horses drawing great wagons with high 
wheels, making it almost impossible to pass 
through town. About 1840 staves were in 
general demand, and stave wagons with high 
racks crowded among the produce wagons, 
altogether presenting a bewildering spectacle 
of busy life and business activity. Those 
scenes will never be repeated in this country. 
A vast network of railroads gives to every 
community the means of rapid transporta- 
tion, and consequently a steady market for 
all productions. Lower Sandusky and Milan 
were the main produce markets west of 
Cleveland. Both at the time were small 
villages. One is now a deserted town, the 
other a prosperous, city, made prosperous 
chiefly by the good, fortune of securing 
early railroad facilities. 

The largest store (one for general mer- 
chandise of all descriptions,) that ever 
existed in Fremont, was started in 1846, by 
two enterprising merchants from Elyria, H. 
K. Kendall, and O. L. Nims. The former, the 
elder member of the firm, never resided 
here, the business being carried on by Mr. 
Nims, then a young man twenty-six years of 
age. Possessing remarkable business 
qualifications, an exemplary character, and a 
winning disposition, he soon built up a trade 
that extended around for a radius of fifty 
miles into the counties of Erie, Huron, 
Wyandot, Seneca, Hancock, Ottawa, Lucas 
and Wood. The building occupied by this 



422 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



firm was then owned by F. I. Norton. It was 
a frame structure of two stories in height, 
and faced on Front street. The salesroom 
covered the space now occupied by Rice's 
dry goods store and Strong's clothing 
establishment, being forty feet in width and 
extended back into the warehouse that was 
soon afterwards added. This warehouse, at 
right angles from the original main building, 
extended in the rear of the old Lesher bakery 
building and Betts' corner store, and opened 
on Croghan street. It was user for produce, 
wool, and pork. The largest number of clerks 
employed, and the largest number ever 
employed by a single mercantile firm in 
Fremont, was twenty-one. Mr. Kendall died 
a few years after starting in business, and 
Mr. Nims remained sole proprietor until 
1853, when Henry Zeigler and C. B. King 
removed their stock of goods from Findlay, 
where they had been in business a short 
time, and entered into partnership with 
Nims, under the firm name of O. L. Nims & 
Co. In March, 1854, this store, known as 
"Headquarters," together with Lesher's 
bakery and Betts' store, was entirely 
destroyed by fire. Mr. Nims immediately 
purchased the ground on the northeast corner 
of Front and Croghan streets, and removing 
the shaky frame tenements that covered it, he 
erected the brick building now owned by F. 
S. White. In the corner storeroom the old 
"Head-quarters" store was opened anew by 
Henry Zeigler, David Garvin, and Michael 
Zeigler, under the firm name of Zeigler, 
Garvin & Zeigler, in the fall of 1854. 
Michael Zeigler died the same autumn, and 
soon after C. B. King resumed a partnership 
interest, the style being C. B. King & Co. 
Several changes were made from that time 
on to 1866, the firm name being successively 
as follows: King, Zeigler & Co.; D. Garvin 
& Co.; Clark & Zeigler; D. Gatlin & Co. 
Under the latter style 



Garvin and Zeigler continued partners until 
1875. At that date David Wagner, of 
Ottawa, Ohio, purchased Garvin's interest, 
and until 1878 business was transacted 
under the style of Wagner & Zeigler, when 
the latter sold out and Wagner be-came sole 
owner. Besides those already mentioned, a 
number of others, at present business men 
of Fremont, were clerks in the old 
"Headquarters," that is, S. P. Meng, H. R. 
Shomo, William A. Rice, and Daniel 
Altaffer, who are mentioned under their 
respective business heads. 

In 1847 David Betts, who had clerked for 
J. K. Glen for six or seven years, rented the 
room formerly occupied by his employer on 
Shomo's corner, and moving in a stock of 
goods, continued doing business on that site 
until June 7, 1849, when the building was 
destroyed by fire. The following month Mr. 
Betts purchased of Frederick Wilks, the 
corner lot now occupied by the Dryfoos 
block, and refitting the old building, made a 
new start that fall. The large fire of March, 
1854, that destroyed the headquarters 
establishment and Lesher's bakery also 
burned out Mr. Betts. He rebuilt the same 
year, and, with D. W. Krebs as a partner, 
engaged again in business under the firm 
name of D. Betts & Co. In 1856 the stock 
was sold to Edgerron & Wilcox, who 
discontinued the year after; when I). Betts 
& Co. repurchased the whole interest. The 
next change was made in 1862, by Mr. 
Betts, who sold his interest to Krebs, 
Sargent & Price. Krebs & Boardman were 
the successors a year after. 

The dry goods store of William A. & C. 
F. Rice was started at its present site some 
time in the fifties by P. C. Dean. In 1859 
Dean sold out to William A. Rice. Alfred 
Rice, who was a partner for several years, 
closed out his interest in 1877. 

Condit Bros, was the firm title of the 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



423 



original proprietors of the dry goods 
establishment of their present successors, 
William W. Brandt & Co. In 1867 William 
Brandt went into business with the first 
company, the Co. icing added. Brandt & 
Condit, succeeded William W. Brandt, 
following as stile proprietor, and continuing 
as such until the present co-partners were 
admitted. 

The present extensive clothing-house of 
Dryfoos, Bro. & Bach, consisting of Isaac 
and S. Dryfoos and S. Bach, was started by 
Isaac & M. Dryfoos, in 1852, on Front street 
near the corner of Garrison street. After a 
few years they removed to a room in 
Birchard block, where they continued doing 
business till 1873, when the block, now 
partly occupied by them, was purchased, and 
the stock transferred to the corner sales- 
room. M. Dryfoos sold out his interest in 
1880. 

The merchant tailoring establishment of 
Philip Gottron and Charles Augustus, 
located on Croghan street, was started three 
years since. The firm name is Gottron & 
Augustus. 

The first exclusive drug and book store, an 
offshoot from the general country store for 
dry goods, boots and shoes, drugs, hardware 
and jewelry, was started in a room of the old 
headquarters building on the present site of 
Lesher's grocery, in 1840, by C. G. 
McCulloch. In 1847 C. R. McCulloch 
succeeded his brother and two years after 
removed his stock to the site of the store 
room now occupied by him, where he was 
ever since remained in business. Stephen 
Buckland was a partner for a few years. 

On the dissolution of the partnership of C. 
R. McCulloch & Stephen Buckland, the 
latter, in 1856, went into rival drug business 
in the room now occupied by him and his 
son, Ralph P. Buckland, jr. The firm, until 
1859, was Wooster & Buckland, when 



Wooster retired, and Buckland's sons entered 
into partnership with their father. 

The Thomas & Grund drug house was 
established by Dr. E. Dillon & Son in 1860. 
Lantnan & Thomas purchased the business 
in 1868, and in 1872 Thomas, Grund & Long 
succeeded. On the death of the latter member 
of the firm some few years since, the title 
was changed to Thomas & Grund. 

Dr. L. B. Myers entered into the drug 
business in this city in 1876. His son, Kelley 
Myer?, was a partner during a portion of the 
time. Previous to the above date, Dr. Myers 
was engaged with Strausmeyer and Kelley in 
the grocery business on Front street. 

The cigar and tobacco store of Charles 
Barth was started by his predecessor in the 
business, P. Poss, in 1856, who commenced 
the manufacture and sale of cigars in a small 
frame building, where Burley's restaurant 
now stands. No changes were made in the 
firm until 1877, when Mr. Poss removed to 
Chattanooga and the present proprietor took 
possession. The store was moved to where it 
now is, on the block being opened for 
occupancy, 

Where White & Haynes' office now stands 
the shop of the first harness-maker for 
Fremont, H. R. Foster, was started. J. C. 
Montgomery succeeded him, and in 1845 
John Kridle, became a partner. In 1847 
James Kridler, the present leading harness 
dealer and manufacturer, purchased the 
interest of Montgomery, and with his brother 
continued in business under the firm name of 
J. & J. Kridler, in the old frame building 
covering the land now occupied by the 
Thompson & Corn-'my hardware store. 
When the frame structure was moved further 
south on the street they removed their 
business with it. Mr. McNeal was a partner 
for a few years. In 1859 James Kridler 
bought in all the interest. For five years he 
carried on his 



424 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



business in the low brick building formerly 
occupied by the First National Bank, and 
then moved, in the early part of September, 
1881, to the post office building. 

In 1835, when the country closely sur- 
rounding the village of Lower Sandusky was 
still the veritable "howling wilderness" 
spoken of in the Indian and early settler 
romances, Edward Leppelman located in an 
old, yellow frame building that stood on the 
present site of Mrs. Heifer's block on Front 
street, and opened out a scanty stock of 
clocks, jewelry and groceries. As a watch- 
maker he also repaired the stationary and 
portable time-pieces of the worthy villagers 
and backwoodsmen. Business in the three 
branches increased, and in the course of a 
few years he removed to a one-story frame 
structure, standing on the site of John Horn's 
grocery. The next removal, was to the first 
frame building erected in Fremont, and 
occupied before the removal first as a hotel 
by Harrington, and immediately preceding 
Leppelman's advent by J. K. Glenn. Edward 
Leppelman here remained in the jewelry 
business until he was succeeded by his son, 
Lewis Leppelman, the present proprietor. 
The old frame building was entirely 
destroyed by fire in February, 1857, and on a 
brick block being erected in its place, the 
business was resumed. It is now the largest 
jewelry house in the county; business, both 
wholesale and retail, being carried on, and 
an organ and sewing machine store con- 
nected with the main salesroom. 

The first regular hardware store started in 
Fremont was opened on the pike by George 
Camfield and James Mitchell in the year 
1850. After several changes they removed to 
the store-room occupied by the present 
successors of the old firm. The first change 
in the firm was occasioned by the 
withdrawal of Mitchell, and Lewis Camfield 
taking his interest. Camfield, 



Brother & Company succeeded this firm, and 
on the successive deaths of the two senior 
partners, George and Lewis Camfield, the 
company has changed to the title of Hedrick 
& Bristol (Fred Hedrick and E. A. Bristol). 

The corporation of Thompson & Co. 
hardware dealers, was formed in March, 
1877, the being composed of Charles 
Thompson, John T. Thompson, John P. Bell, 
Robert Lucas, and Edward C. Gast. The 
original house, of which this firm has been 
the outgrowth, was started by Oliver 
Fusselman, on the east side of the river, in 
1859. In 1860, Fusselman having in the 
mean time removed to the present location, 
Charles Thompson purchased the business, 
taking in as partners Orin England and John 
T. Thompson, in 1865. Charles A. Norton 
was a partner a few years. England and he 
retired in order, the latter in 1876. 

Philip Dort is the oldest of the boot and 
shoe merchants in Fremont. He commenced 
in 1841, on the east side of the river, and 
continued there a number of years, until he 
removed his stock and the tools of his trade 
to a store-room on the northeast corner of 
Front and Garrison streets. The present store 
is on Front street, just south of the First 
National Bank. His sons, Fred, Lewis, and 
Henry, are partners. 

In 1867 H. R. Shomo, immediately after 
the expiration of his term as post-master, 
opened a boot and shoe store and has 
continued in the business since that date, 
occupying for the last twelve years his 
present site. 

The boot and shoe store owned and 
conducted by S. P. Meng, and now located 
on the northeast corner of Croghan and Front 
streets, was started in 1862, under the firm 
name of S. P. Meng & Co. A. Hoot was his 
partner until 1868. The original firm having 
dissolved, in 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



425 



1870 Mr. Meng again opened up a boot and 
shoe store under the style of Meng, Altaffer 
& Co. This continued for two years, when 
Mr. Meng bought out the en-tire interest. 

A. Hoot, the early partner of S. P. Meng, is 
at this date engaged in the boot and shoe 
business in Buckland's new block, on Front 
street. 

Perry Close is the oldest representative 
grocer of the city, having followed that 
business entirely since 1850, when he 
commenced with a stock in the room at 
present occupied by John Horn. Mr. Close 
has had no partners, with the exception of 
his son, Clarence Close, which partnership 
was dissolved a year ago. A glassware 
department is connected with the grocery 
proper. 

Pork packing, as a regular business, was 
commenced by Andrew Morehouse, in 1846 
or 1847. For a number of years he carried on 
the trade on the southeast corner of Front 
and Garrison streets. He then removed to 
some buildings erected on Front street, near 
the railroad bridge, and continued there for 1 
en or twelve years. 

In 1859 Mr. A. Gusdorf entered into the 
pork packing business in the ware-houses 
where Rice & Co., and Strong are at present. 
Two years after he removed to the building 
still occupied by the firm, just north of the 
gas factory. The firm members are M. 
Gusdorf, A. Gusdorf, and S. M. Gusdorf, 
under the style of Gusdorf Brothers. 

Jacob Bauman is extensively engaged in 
the same business. 

ARDENT SPIRITS. 

The business of whiskey distillation, 
commenced at a very early date in Fremont, 
was entirely discontinued before the year 
1838, and has never since been revived. The 
earliest distiller was William R. Coates, who 
came here from New Orleans, and about the 
year 1820 



erected a great hewn-log building on the old 
Glenn farm, between the spring that still 
wells up there and the Edgerton property. He 
carried on quite an extensive distilling 
business, keeping two sets of hands at work, 
one for the day, and one for the night. The 
whiskey was barreled and shipped by boats 
to eastern markets. It was not the pure, 
unadulterated article; the proprietor was 
intent on making money, and used a good 
deal of water to dilute, then drugs to 
strengthen the weakened extract. Coates, 
when he came here, was considered very 
well off financially, and was coining money 
with the distillery, but he became entangled 
in a series of lawsuits in relation to his mill 
property above Ballville, which consider- 
ably embarrassed him, and he at length 
discontinued distilling, and left the country. 
Weed & Wilder afterwards occupied the 
vacated buildings, but after a few years the 
business ceased altogether, and the buildings 
were left to gradually rot and crumble away. 

Ammi and Ezra Williams began op- 
erations in 1825, in a log building standing 
where Ammi Williams, jr., now resides. 
Nothing now remains of the structure or the 
apparatus of the still, the last vestige — a 
great, heavy, black-walnut trough, into 
which the still swill was poured — having 
been chopped for firewood only two years 
since. Ammi Williams, sr., died suddenly in 
1826. In the following year Ezra Williams, 
having completed a building at the foot of 
the east side-hill on the south side of State 
street, moved his still therein, and continued 
operations. 

The building was a substantial, unpainted 
frame one, of two stories in height. It was 
close to the foot of the hill, and afforded a 
fine basement in which the high-wines and 
whiskey were stored. The furnace and steam 
tubs were also below, On the main floor was 



426 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



located the mash tubs and worm, and the 
second story was used as a grain floor. This 
structure was afterwards torn down in 1839. 
Ezra Williams was a very conscientious 
man. The whiskey he manufactured was 
absolutely pure, and although even preachers 
drank in those days, no cases of delirium 
tremens were ever known to result from even 
an over-load of this early-day liquor. The 
whiskey jug had its place with more 
necessary articles of consumption in the 
cabin of the settler, and at meal time helped 
set off the table. The Indians were great 
imbibers of "fire-water," and bought it at the 
distillery by the pint, quart or gallon. They 
were generally very much excited under its 
influence, and Williams avoided selling to 
them as much as possible, this course being 
agreeable to the old chief, Hard Hickory, 
who was desirous to altogether prevent the 
sale to them. 

The article manufactured was distilled 
from corn and rye-two-thirds of the former 
to one-third of the latter. Copper boilers 
were not used, but to render it better it was 
distilled by steam in air-tight wooden tubs or 
casks. Joseph Edwards was the head 
distiller, and under his experienced 
management one bushel of grain produced 
from eleven to thirteen and one-half quarts 
of whiskey. From twelve to thirty-three 
bushels of grain was distilled per day, the 
distillery running generally all the year 
round, with from two to three men in 
attendance. In those days corn was worth 
from twenty-five to fifty cents per bushel, 
and rye from sixty to ninety cents. The 
whiskey retailed at from thirty-five to fifty 
cents per gallon, and from twenty-eight to 
forty cents per gallon by wholesale. It was of 
the color of purest spring water, and held a 
good bead for the length of a minute. Burnt 
sugar was the only foreign material used in 
its composi- 



tion, and this was introduced to give it the 
rich, yellow color, indicative of mellow old 
age. 

A treadmill, to do the grinding, was 
connected with the establishment. Williams 
also occupied himself with farming, and was 
necessarily a butcher, as he raised large 
numbers of hogs and kine on the refuse 
matter of the still. 

It seems that the subject of temperance was 
little discussed, at least not openly, in those 
days, and no demonstrations of a crusade 
nature ever disturbed the serenity of these 
primitive distillers; but about 1830 a 
temperance society, known under the name 
of the Washingtonians, began to exert some 
influence in the county. Religious revivals 
were held here in ensuing years, and with 
this movement the temperance organization 
grew stronger. In 1837 Ezra Williams joined 
the church, and the same year, deeming that 
spiritual and spirituous matters (in spite of 
the seeming paradox), could not consistently 
blend together, he, in keeping with his recent 
profession of faith, abandoned a pursuit 
which was opening to him a sure road to 
wealth. 

The manufacture of whiskey was of con- 
siderable benefit, in a commercial light, to 
the county. It was the chief source of 
revenue to the farmers. Corn was then the 
principal production, and the rates of 
transportation were so high that any under- 
taking to convey it to the markets of the East 
assured financial failure on the part of the 
operator. The distillery acted as a medium. 
The corn was sold to the distillers; the 
whiskey was exchanged for goods with the 
traders and merchants, and then easily 
shipped to the metropolis. 

BREWING INTERESTS. 

The first Fremont brewer was Sarius 
Young, who, in 1851, built a frame brewery 
on the east side of Ohio avenue, below the 
brow of the hill. In the fall of 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



427 



1853 Anthony Young went into partnership 
with him. One year later the original 
proprietor sold out his interest in the 
business to Lawrence Romer, who continued 
with A. Young until the spring of 1855, 
when the latter sold out. During 1856 and a 
portion of 1857, the Youngs, who still 
owned the building and property, rented it to 
Charles F. Giesin and C. Doncyson. After 
the withdrawal of the latter firm, Fred Her 
purchased the property, who, after 
continuing brewing for a few years, sold it to 
John Paulus, who built the present brick 
building. For several years it has not been in 
operation, and at a sheriffs sale some time 
since, It was purchased by the Fremont 
Brewing Company. 

In 1857, Charles Giesin purchased the old 
packing house below the gas works, and 
fitted it into a brewery. A few years after he 
sold the building to the Gusdorf Brothers, 
and in 1862 he built the brick brewery now 
occupied by the Fremont Brewing Company. 
In 1876 he sold out to Felix Stienley, 
William Mefort, Frank Hiem, Joseph Stuber, 
and Barney Casper. Mr. Casper has since 
died. The company is known under the style 
of the Fremont Brewing Company. They are 
making many improvements, and doing a 
considerable business. 

THE LIVERY BUSINESS. 

The first livery stable in the village was 
opened by David W. Gould in 1842. The 
primitive stables of this first proprietor were 
located on Water street close to the bank of 
the river, and at the foot of the alley between 
Croghan and Garrison streets. In 1847 Mr. 
Gould removed his horses, carriages, and 
provender to a frame building on the site of 
the brick building now occupied by Charles 
Close. Three years after he commenced 
carrying the mail between Toledo and 
Cleveland, and, using his stock for that 
purpose, he 



was obliged to discontinue the livery busi- 
ness. In the old stables vacated in 1847 by 
William Gould, Ira Smith and Henry Sweet 
carried on the livery and horse-trading 
business for a number of years. About this 
time Reuben Wood kept a rival 
establishment on Arch street, below the old 
Dickinson property that faces on the pike. 

The most prominent livery proprietor of 
Fremont is Timothy H. Bush, who came to 
this city in 1840. In 1855 he purchased John 
Pitman's entire interest in the business, at 
that time located on the river bank and 
facing on Front street, below the former 
Kessler House. William Bush became a 
partner in 1862. The death of the latter 
occurred six or seven years later, and Daniel 
Bunnell was taken in as an equal partner,, 
under the firm name of Bush & Bunnell. 
Their business was carried on in the original 
stables until in 1875, when they removed to 
the brick building in the rear of the former 
Cooper House. These stables were built for 
the livery business in 1855, by Charles W. 
Moore, and run by him until his death, when 
Frank Gurney carried on the business In 
connection with his hotel. Charles Close 
purchased Bush & Bunnell's interest in 1879 
and has continued there since. Mr. Bush is 
the only extensive horse dealer in the 
county, and also the only one who has made 
a comfortable fortune in that line. 

Besides Close's the present stables are: 
Doncyson's, located on State street, near the 
bridge, and Bunnell's; in the rear of the Ball 
House. Dr. G. O'Harlan is the proprietor of 
the Fremont hack line. 

MANUFACTURING. 

The manufacturing interests of this city, as 
well as that of the county, like those of all 
other communities in a new and unsettled 
country, commenced with the erection of 
grist-mills and saw-mills 



428 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



on the banks of the streams. These mills, 
necessary to supply food first, and then 
convenient shelter, were, very naturally, 
succeeded by the factories for the making of 
cloths, then by the foundries for 
manufacturing articles needed in an 
agricultural section of country, and so on, as 
the increase of population and variety of 
pursuits gave rise to different and more 
varied wants, or the peculiar situation and 
facilities for a certain branch of man- 
ufacturing induced enterprising men to 
engage to it. 

In 1818; the same year that the Olmsteds 
brought on their large stock of merchandise 
and erected their frame store-house, Thomas 
L. Hawkins and Thomas E. Boswell, full of 
the spirit of the early pioneers, and with an 
eye to business, dug the race that at. the 
present day runs the water flouring mill, 
built the dam, and erected, where the mill 
now stands, a diminutive, well ventilated 
grist-mill, which in every way merited the 
appellation of a primitive "corn-cracker." 
Here came the settlers for miles around, and 
patiently waited from sunrise till evening 
twilight for the slow-running mill-stones to 
empty the hopper and grind out their bushel 
of meal. In the course of time Boswell sold 
out to Elisha W. Howland. Here, as it is told 
in a happy manner by the oldest inhabitants, 
Howland, who was a cabinet-maker and 
joiner, a man of good humor and made the 
best of all things, manufactured coffins, and 
often of evenings, with boon companions, 
played cards on these last receptacles for the 
dead. Some ghastly pictures might well be 
.drawn with graphic pencil, either of artist or 
writer, of the rude interior of a primitive 
mill. A work-bench in one corner, the rafters 
overhead, the rough, white-coated mill- 
stones, all lighted up by a flickering, 
unsnuffed candle, and the light of this candle 
flaming in the faces of a group of good- 
natured 



looking men gathered around the bench, and 
dealing cards in an exciting game of "old 
sledge" on the white top of a pine board 
coffin. One could hear the roar of the mill 
race below — a dead, ceaseless voice, and 
well imagined the spiritual form of the 
destined inmate of the coffin, standing in 
silence and grave clothes in one of the 
cobwebbed corners of the room. Whiskey 
was cheap in those days, and it required but 
little money to brace the nerves. 

Some time in 1830 Revirius Bidwell 
purchased the mill property, and tearing 
down the primitive structure, he erected a 
substantial frame building in its place. The 
property has since that date gone through 
various hands, and been greatly enlarged in 
room, and its facilities increased. Morgan & 
Downs succeeded Bidwell at an early date, 
and in 1857 or 1858, the business was 
carried on by J. B. G. Downs, F. S. White, 
and George Canfield. Depp & Ensminger 
were afterwards sole proprietors, and Koons 
Brothers, who afterwards succeeded them, 
are now conducting the business. A saw-mill 
was, during the first years of its existence, 
connected with the mill. 

About the same year that Hawkins and 
Boswell commenced grinding corn in the 
valley by water-power, Ruel Loomis built a 
horse and ox grist-mill on Ohio avenue, 
upon the brow of the hill, on the east side of 
the river. This was not the nucleus of any 
lasting or extensive business enterprise, and 
but few of the citizens of Fremont will 
remember the fact of a mill being in 
operation there, and still less recall the tread 
of the yoked oxen as they prepared the grain 
for backwoods consumption. 

The first saw-mill in Ballville was built in 
1822, by David Moore, a wealthy land 
owner, who came there in 1821, and im- 
mediately made his preparations and 
commenced 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



429 



building, at the head of the race that now 
runs Dean's Woolen Mills, and on the space 
of ground now occupied by the old red 
tannery. While he actively employed his 
laborers in the mill, his wife, who came soon 
after his arrival, boarded them in a rough 
slab shanty near by. 

In 1827 John Bell commenced the carding 
of wool, giving an opportunity for 
woodsmen to purchase, at a reduced price, 
the goods for their clothes, and enabling 
them to discard the skin-tight breeches and 
coats made of hides. He run his carding 
machine in a part of the water-power 
flouring-mill in this city. His machinery was 
carried away by a disastrous spring flood a 
few years after. 

In 1831 Charles Choate, a practical carder, 
came to this county from Milan, Ohio, where 
he had learned his trade in his brother's mill. 
He brought with him a double carding- 
machine and picker, and located it in a 
portion of the frame grist-mill belonging to 
David Chambers, which stood on the river's 
west bank, about one-half mile above where 
Moore's stone mill, in Ballville, now stands. 
During the first year he carded a little over 
eight thou-sand pounds of wool. Business 
kept increasing, and in eight years he was 
running four double carding-machines, and 
carded that year forty thousand pounds of 
wool. At that date (1839) he closed out to a 
Mr. Otis. The first two years George Moore 
was a partner on shares with him. In the 
summer of 1834 Mr. Choate erected a large 
frame building close by the old yellow mill 
owned by James Moore, and occupied it for 
carding for one summer. About 1845 he sold 
out his interest in the business to P. C. Dean. 
In the early days Mr. Choate commanded for 
his business an extent of country from 
Bellevue to the head of the rapids on the 
Maumee River, and from the Peninsula to 
Upper Sandusky. P. C. Dean con- 



tinned in the woolen-mill business until his 
death some few years since, when his two 
sons succeeded under the firm name of Dean 
Brothers. A year ago they dissolved 
partnership, Philip Dean closing out his 
interest to W. Dean. The mill on the present 
site of the one erected by Mr. Choate, was 
built only a few years since upon the 
destruction by fire of the first one. 

The manufacture of pottery was com- 
menced in 1822 by Elijah Drury, in a rude 
log house that reared its unpretentious front 
on the corner of Front and Garrison streets, 
on the ground now occupied by Tchumy's 
block. Here Drury moulded his clay and 
baked his crocks and jugs for ten or more 
years, until succeeded in due course by 
Robert S. Rice. Rice continued in the 
business until he was elected .justice of the 
peace. 

The earliest tanner was Moses Nichols, 
whose tannery was located by the lower road 
to Ballville, on the little stream that courses 
through the low lands adjacent to the 
property owned by the heirs of Jacob H. 
Hultz. 

George S. Brainard was probably the first 
tinner in Fremont. He started in business 
here about 1837. John R. Pease bought him 
out in 1840. The shop in which they did 
business was on the site where Pease, 
Perrine & Co. now carry on the manufacture 
of carriages. After continuing here a few 
years Mr. Pease removed to the east side of 
the river, and erecting a brick block on Front 
street, moved in his stock. In 1848 O. A. 
Roberts went into partnership with Mr. 
Pease. In 1853 Mr. Pease sold out to Roberts 
& Sheldon, who continued in business to- 
gether until 1869, when they sold out their 
Interest to Charles Dillon. The brick block, 
on the site of the old Pease building, and 
now owned by Roberts & Sheldon, was built 
in 1863. 



430 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



In 1840 F. I. Norton and Cornelius 
Letcher, recognizing the fact that they were 
in the centre of a rich farming country, that 
the inhabitants depended mainly for their 
existence upon the product of the soil, and 
that agricultural implements were the chief 
want of the community, decided to engage in 
the manufacture of plows, and with this end 
in view, entered into a co-partnership under 
the firm name of Norton & Letcher. Their 
first foundry, a small frame structure, was 
erected in the rear of the brick block now 
occupied by William A. and C. F. Rice, on 
Front street. Here they remained for two 
years, increasing their business until it was 
found necessary to secure more space and 
enlarge their buildings. To meet these 
requirements they purchased the property 
close to the river's bank and cornering on 
River and Garrison streets, where stands the 
present foundry of D. June & Co. A brick 
foundry and frame shop was built on this 
land by them in 1842, and a four-horse 
power engine purchased and put in place for 
blowing the blast. On the death of Mr. 
Letcher Mr. Norton became sole owner and 
proprietor, and continued running the 
business until in 1853, when he sold out to 
David June and Mr. Curtis. Curtis remained 
a member of the firm only six months, 
closing out his interest to D. L. June, a 
brother of his partner, the firm name being 
changed to June & June, continuing until 
1856, when Lyman Gilpin bought out D. L. 
June. June and Gilpin remained together as 
partners until November 1, 1859. At that 
time the firm consolidated in D. June, the 
present proprietor, who, .immediately after 
the dissolution, took again into partnership, 
with him Curtis. Seven years elapsed, when 
Curtis retired, and three years after the 
present firm, composed of David June, 
Robert Brayton, and O. S. French, formed a 
partnership under the 



style of D. June & Co. The changes in 
buildings and great increase in business 
speak well for the energy and business and 
financial qualifications of David June and 
his partners. In 1861 the old brick and frame 
structures of the original firm of Norton & 
Letcher were razed and a permanent block 
erected on the former's site. An addition of 
seventy-six feet front has since been added, 
and in 1877 a boiler shop proper and 
erecting shop were built on the opposite side 
of Garrison street. When D. June and partner 
purchased the concern from Norton & 
Letcher the business yearly amounted to five 
thousand dollars. At the present time it 
amounts to one hundred thousand dollars, 
and from sixty to seventy-five men are 
constantly employed. Their work consists in 
the building of portable, stationary, and mill 
engines, the Champion engine being their 
principal manufacture. This latter engine 
was patented in 1875, 1876, and 1899. At 
the time of the Centennial Exposition the 
attention of Russian manufacturers was 
called to the Champion, and shortly after 
they visited the works in this city and 
examined models for the purpose of 
introducing it in Russia. 

Francis Lake, of Milan, Ohio, came here in 
1852 and commenced the manufacture of 
sash and blinds on the east side of the river, 
in a large frame building where the carriage 
shop of Pease, Perrine & Co. now stands. 
The manufacture was steadily continued for 
a number of years, McClellan, McGee, Nat. 
Haynes, N. C. West, George T. Dana, and 
William Haynes forming the successive 
firms until the business was discontinued. In 
1859 J. H. McArdle and Chester E. Ed- 
gerton, under the firm name of J. H. Mc- 
Ardle & Co. built the brick sash factory next 
to the Fremont gas company's works on 
Front street. In 1864 Chester E. Edgerton 
bought out McArdle's interest and 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



431 



the same year G. G. Edgerton became a 
partner. 

Ambrose Ochs is the oldest wagon and 
carriage manufacturer in Fremont. In 1847, 
four years after his arrival here from 
Germany, Mr. Ochs and B. Keefe started a 
wagon shop in a two-story frame building on 
the present site of the brick block now 
occupied by the former. For five years this 
partnership continued under the firm name 
of Keefe & Ochs: then Ochs bought out the 
business, and in 1863 started a blacksmith 
shop in connection with the factory. The 
brick building was erected in 1872. 

J. P. Moore is one of the most successful 
carriage and wagon manufacturers in the 
county. From where he first started into 
blacksmithing, on the pike west of Fremont, 
he removed to the site of his present 
extensive works in 1851, where, a small 
frame shop was erected and business done 
under the firm name of Samuel & John P. 
Moore. In 1854 Samuel sold out to John P. 
who soon after formed a partnership with his 
brother William. This latter firm was 
dissolved in 1854, the present owner 
remaining in charge. The brick block now 
used as blacksmith shop, paint shop, and 
salesroom, was built in 1863. The addition 
occupied by the wagon and carriage 
manufacturing departments was erected in 
1869. 

In 1873 the old, dilapidated frame building 
on the east side of the river that had been 
used as a sash factory, was razed and a 
frame structure erected in its place. In this 
building Ed. Pease, John Pease and Frank H. 
Rummell, under the firm name of Pease, 
Rummell & Co., commenced the 
manufacture of carriages and wagons and 
blacksmithing, The partner-ship dissolved in 
1876, and Ed. Pease became the sole owner 
and proprietor, running the business till 
1879, when G. A. Perrine and Jacob 
Harbrond were taken 



in as partners and business resumed under 
the title of Pease, Perrine & Co. 

The Star City flouring mill was built by 
David June for D. L. June in 1858. Curtis & 
Camfield succeeded and remained partners 
till 1861, when Curtis sold out his interest to 
John Geeseman. Koons Brothers were the 
next partners, Bowlus & Beery succeeding, 
the former selling to Quale. The present firm 
is VanEpps & Cox. 

The elevator destroyed by fire in the 
summer of 1881, standing one mile south of 
the city, at the head of navigation on the 
Sandusky River, was built by I. E. Amsden 
in 1859. A half interest in it was owned by 
Dr. L. Q. Rawson and James Moore. The 
grain business trans-acted by means of the 
elevator was one of great profit until the 
years of the great Rebellion, when the 
production of grain be-came less with the 
years of the struggle, and dwindled down to 
an inconsiderable amount, in comparison to 
what it had formerly been. The elevator went 
through successive hands, and when burned 
be-longed to the Lake Erie & Western Rail- 
road company. 

Immediately after the sale of his interest in 
the elevator Mr. I. E. Amsden, in 1857, went 
into the lumber business. His first saw-mill 
was built near where the elevator stood, but 
about two years after he re-moved to the 
north end of Front street, where he is now 
engaged in an extensive trade. The amount 
of lumber produced yearly at his mill 
averages one million five hundred thousand 
feet, and besides this he purchases largely to 
meet the demand. 

N. C. West is the other large lumber dealer 
in this city. He commenced business here in 
1863 with George T. Dana as his partner, 
and doing business under the title of West & 
Dana. Their saw-mill was located three or 
four miles from town; at the present, and for 
many years past, it 



432 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



has been located a short distance west of the 
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern depot. Mr. 
West purchased Mr. Dana's interest in 1876. 

In 1861 F. I. Norton began the manu- 
facture of spokes in the sash factory built by 
Francis Lake on the east side of the river. In 
1863 he built the brick building on Arch 
street, between Croghan and Garrison streets 
(which has since been enlarged by the 
Trommer Extract of Malt Co.), and 
continued the manufacture of spokes until 
1874, when he sold the building to Edward 
Underhill. Williard Norton, his son, was his 
only partner. 

The first gas company formed for the 
manufacture of that article for this city, was 
organized in 1860, by a Mr. Stephenson, 
who remained here but two years after 
securing stockholders and erecting works. At 
the end of that time a sheriff's sale became 
necessary to settle up the claims of creditors, 
and the business and works were purchased 
by Morris Gusdorf; interests taken by C. 
Doncyson, C. O. Tillotson, Fred Fabing, and 
D. June. For five years the company 
conducted business under the firm name of 
Gusdorf & Co., when it was changed to the 
Fremont Gas Co. D. June sold out his 
interest ten years since. 

One of the largest branches of industry in 
the city is the manufacture of Trommer's 
Extract of Malt. The company occupy for 
their works the large brick block and its 
adjoining buildings on Arch street, between 
Croghan and Garrison streets. The company 
was originally formed in 1874, between Hon. 
John B. Rice, Dr. Robert H. Rice, Dr. 
Gustavus A. Gessner, Stephen Buckland, and 
Ralph P. Buckland, jr. The two latter 
gentlemen withdrew from the firm in 1877. 
The article manufactured by them is an 
inspissated extract of malt, with a small 
proportion of hops, and consists of malt 
sugar, dextrine, 



resin and bitter of hops, tanin, diastase, 
phosphates of lime and alkaline salts. It is 
considered by eminent practitioners to be a 
valuable agent in pulmonary consumption, 
dyspepsia, etc. Experiments were made for 
some time by Drs. J. B. Rice and Gessner, 
before they succeeded in making a 
satisfactory article. They have built up an 
immense trade, extending through all the 
United States, and into Mexico, Central 
America, South America, England, Japan, 
Sandwich Islands, West India Islands, and 
Canada. This has been done by extensive 
advertising in all medical journals, and 
employing physicians as agents. 

The Fremont Cultivator Company was 
incorporated in September, 1881. The 
officers and stockholders are H. C. Stahl, 
president; Samuel Brinkerhoff, secretary; A. 
E. Rice, treasurer; and Henry Fine-frock and 
J. S. Bower. Their works are located just 
south of the Lake Shore and Michigan 
Southern Railroad, in the valley. 

The largest branch of industry in San- 
dusky county is the manufacture of the 
Hubbard mowers and self raking reapers, by 
the Fremont Harvester Company. Their 
extensive works occupy a large tract of land 
on State street, in the west out-skirts of the 
city of Fremont, and on the line of the Lake 
Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad. The 
buildings are substantial brick structures and 
fully furnished with machinery and great 
engine power. One hundred and fifty men 
are the average number employed in the 
works. The business is increasing and the 
stock bids fair to soon being a rich paying 
investment. Movements were first made 
early in 1872, by William B. Sheldon, for 
the organization of an incorporated company 
for the manufacture and repairing of cars. 
An interest was soon manifested by the 
citizens, and on the 15th of February, 1872, 
articles of incorporation, signed by 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



433 



R. P. Buckland, L. Q. Rawson, F. S. White, 
James W. Wilson, and A. H. Miller, were 
granted, the company to be known under the 
title of the Fremont Car Co. The capital 
stock was placed at two hundred thousand 
dollars; the shares at one hundred dollars 
each. William B. Sheldon was elected 
president of the organization; F. S. White, 
treasurer; and J. M. Smith, secretary. The 
board of directors were William B. Sheldon, 
F. S. White, James W. Wilson, R. P. 
Buckland, and LaQ. Rawson. No changes 
have been made in the officers or board, 
with the exception of the resignation of F. S. 
, White from the position of treasurer, and 
the election of John M. Smith to fill this 
vacancy. The buildings were erected soon 
after the incorporation, and fitted up with all 
necessary machinery for the manufacture of 
railroad cars, in accordance with the original 
intention of the organization; but about this 
time the panic of 1873 began, and with it fell 
off the demand for cars. The works were 
never put in operation for their manufacture, 
but in June, 1875, the name of the company 
was changed to its present one of the 
Fremont Harvester Company, and the 
manufacture commenced of mowers and 
reapers. 
SHIP-BUILDING ON THE SANDUSKY RIVER. 

While the Sandusky River and the country 
along its banks bearing forests of grand oak 
trees were in a state of nature, few places 
afforded such facilities for ship-building as 
Lower Sandusky. In fact, ship-building 
began at an early day and was continued 
many years. But the timber in time was 
cleared away from the banks, and each year 
made ship-building less profitable by reason 
of the lengthened haul of the timber. Then 
again, the advent of the iron horse, careering 
along the lake shore, has seriously dwarfed 
the commerce on the waters of Lake Erie and 



its tributaries. Hence the ship-building at 
this, as well as all other points, has been of 
no magnitude for some years past, and ship- 
building at Fremont may probably be called 
one of the past industries of the place. Still, 
as time and change go on, it may he 
interesting, as in fact it is already, to know 
that ship-building was once carried on, and 
to obtain some idea of the extent to which 
the business was prosecuted. Hence, we 
place in this history such information on the 
subject as can now be obtained. 
THE NAUTILUS. 

In 1816 a small sloop was built on the west 
bank of the river, nearly opposite the lower 
end of the island, and launched about where 
the dock of the elevator lately burned now 
stands. The Nautilus was of twenty tons 
burden, and was built by Wilson & Disbrow. 
Little information can now be gathered about 
the vessel. No doubt, judging from her size, 
she was built for the bay and river trade, 
probably between Venice, now in Erie 
county, and Lower Sandusky. 

We are under obligations to Charles B. 
Tyler, esq., son of Captain Morris Tyler, 
deceased, for the following additional facts 
relative to the building of vessels at Lower 
Sandusky: 

Next after the Nautilus came the Horse 
Boat, built by Thomas L. Hawkins, which 
was a platform resting upon two large pi- 
rogues or canoes, with a shaft across which 
worked a paddle-wheel on each side. Over 
the shaft was a circular platform with 
perpendicular cogs on the rim of the circle, 
matching into cogs on the shaft on each side. 
Horses were placed on this circular platform 
and cog-wheel, hitched to stationary posts, 
and by pulling moved the circle and turned 
the main shaft to which the paddle-wheels 
were attached, thus propelling the boat. This 
boat could, in good weather, run from 



434 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Lower Sandusky to Venice in one day and 
return the next. There was no covering over 
the platform and no hold in the boat. It was 
merely a floating platform propelled by 
horse-power. But this simple contrivance 
was quite useful, and per-formed the 
carrying trade up and down the river for 
several years. 

The next vessel after the horse boat was 
the schooner Cincinnati, built by Captain 
Morris Tyler, in 1825 or 1826, and was a 
fair-sized vessel for that period. A Mr. Jones 
was the master-builder, and the vessel was 
built and launched about where the wagon- 
shop of Mr. Baltas Keefer now stands, on the 
bank of the river, perhaps fifty or sixty rods 
below the bridge on the Maumee and 
Western Reserve road, over the river. This 
vessel, under the command of Captain 
Morris Tyler in person, was a profitable 
investment, and plied for a number of years 
between Lower Sandusky and intermediate 
ports. Her tonnage was equal to about five 
thousand bushels of wheat. 

The steamboat Ohio was the next vessel 
built on the river. She was built by a joint 
stock company, and launched near the same 
place where the schooner Cincinnati was, in 
the year 1828. Captain Morris Tyler was 
placed in charge of this steamer, and 
remained in charge of her until 1833 or 
1834, when she was sold to persons 
interested in the commerce of Toledo. She 
afterwards became old and unseaworthy, and 
was laid up as useless, and her remains were 
covered up when the middle-ground was 
filled, and are buried under the Island House 
in Toledo. 

The schooner Wyandot was next built, and 
launched near the mouth of Muskellunge 
Creek. Captain John L. Cole, now a well-to- 
do farmer residing about one mile north of 
Fremont, was master of this vessel. 

The schooner Home was the next vessel 



built on the river. She was built by Captain 
Morris Tyler in the year 1843, and placed in 
charge of Captain Sacket. She was launched 
a little below where the steamer Ohio was, 
and near where John Pero's coal office now 
stands. Our fellow-citizen Charles B. Tyler 
remembers working on this vessel, in the 
building of it, at the rate of seventy-five 
cents per day, when quite young. The 
master-builder was William Redfield. The 
Home, after being in the carrying trade from 
Lower Sandusky to Buffalo and intermediate 
ports, and sometimes in the upper lake trade, 
for a period of about six years, was sold to 
parties residing in Sandusky City, and was 
chiefly engaged afterwards in trade between 
that port and Buffalo and Detroit, although 
she occasionally came back to Lower 
Sandusky, her native place, with freights, 
after she was sold. Her carrying capacity 
was probably about eight or ten thousand 
bushels of wheat. 

The schooner Almina Meeker was the next 
vessel built on the Sandusky River. The 
enterprise of building this vessel was 
undertaken by Benjamin F. Meeker, after 
whose wife the vessel was named. After 
commencing the building of this schooner 
Mr. Meeker became financially embarrassed, 
and before the vessel was finished she was 
transferred on the stocks to the Messrs. 
Moss, of Sandusky City. She was built on 
the river bank and near the south bank of the 
mouth of Muskellunge Creek, and launched 
there in the year 1846 Her carrying capacity 
was eight thousand bushels of wheat or 
thereabouts. 

The next craft built on the Sandusky River 
was the Ben Flint, and received her name 
from her intended captain of that name, who 
afterwards was her captain in fact for several 
years. The proprietors were Nims & 
Tillotson, and Captain Williams was master- 
builder. She was built and launched near 
where the bridge of 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



435 



the Lake Erie & Western Railway now 
strikes the west bank of the river. The 
carrying capacity of this schooner was equal 
to about sixteen thousand bushels of wheat. 
Captain Benjamin Flint sailed her for a 
number of years with great regularity and 
financial success. 

The next vessel built on the river was the 
schooner Dan Tindall. She was built by 
Captain William Totten, an experienced 
ship-carpenter and builder, who came from 
Staten Island, New York, and settled in 
Fremont, he choosing the place as an ad- 
vantageous point for business. She was built 
and launched at about the same point on the 
river where the Ben Flint had been 
previously built. The Tindall was built and 
launched in the years 1861 and 1862. Her 
carrying capacity was equal to twenty 
thousand bushels of wheat. Her first captain 
was Gordon Wilson, then Captain James 
Hone commanded, her, and Captain George 
M. Tyler was her master for several years. 
The Tindall proved to be a vessel of superior 
sailing qualities and was very successful 
while he commanded her, clearing net by her 
earnings thirty-five thousand dollars in the 
three years the vessel was under his control 

The Cornelia Amsden was modeled built, 
and owned by Captain William Totten, and 
was another success of his skill in building 
and designing water craft. She was launched 
in 1863, from the west bank of the river, 
about one-fourth of a mile below the bridge 
of the Lake Erie & Western Railway. Her 
carrying capacity was one hundred and 
eighty-four tons. She was named after the 
wife of Isaac E. Amsden, then and now one 
of the esteemed citizens and prominent 
business men of Fremont. After being in the 
Fremont trade about two years she was sold 
to Messrs. Hubbard, of Sandusky City, and, 
thereafter, visited Fremont occasionally, but 
not regularly. 



The N. C. West was built for the Fremont 
trade. Having been begun by Messrs. 
Skinner & Donaldson, who failed 
financially, she was transferred to Charles 
Foster, George T. Dana, and Charles O. 
Tillotson, who finished and launched her 
about half a mile below the Lake Erie & 
Western Railroad bridge on the west bank of 
the river. Her carrying capacity is equal to 
about nine thousand bushels of wheat. She 
was launched in 1867, and is still in the 
Fremont trade. The N. C. West is the last 
vessel built in Fremont, and should railroad 
building go on it may be doubted whether 
there will be any further ship-building at this 
once admirable point for that industry. 

A railway leading to Sandusky City now 
crosses the river at a point where some of 
the above-mentioned vessels were built, and 
gives a cheap and rapid transit for freight 
and passengers to that city, thus establishing 
a competing line which has superseded 
transportation by the waters of the river and 
Sandusky Bay. 

And a fact worthy of note, and which 
palpably illustrates the changes of time and 
progress of the day, is that at this very time 
the Wheeling & Lake Erie Rail-way is 
engaged in procuring the right of way along 
the bank of the river, and appropriating for a 
railroad track the very ground on which most 
of the vessels above-mentioned were built. 
BANKS AND BANKING. 

The first banking house in Fremont was a 
private bank started by Sardis Birchard, esq., 
and Judge Lucius B. Otis, and was opened 
for general business on the 1st day of 
January, 1851. Mr. Birchard, who was at that 
time about fifty years of age, had for many 
years been one of the leading merchants of 
the place. He was one of the early settlers, 
greatly interested in the town, and always 
active and earnest in his efforts for its 
prosperity. Judge Otis, 



436 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



his partner, was a lawyer about thirty-three 
years of age, and was about that time elected 
judge of the court of common pleas, which 
position he filled with ability. In 1856 he 
moved to Chicago, where he still resides, a 
gentleman of wealth and prominence. 
Starting with two such men as its founders, 
the banking house of Birchard & Otis 
commenced at once doing a prosperous 
business. Mr. Jacob Lesher, who is still a 
worthy business man of Fremont, was the 
first depositor. 

The following letter from Judge Otis, in 
response to one from A. H. Miller, gives an 
interesting account of the beginning of 
banking business in Fremont: 

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, October 3, 1881. 

DEAR SIR:— On the 1st day of January, 1851, Sardis 
Birchard, in partnership with Lucius B. Otis, established 
the first banking house in Fremont, under the name of 
Birchard & Otis. The firm continued without change, 
doing business in the same bank building (the first one 
erected in the town), until January 1, 1856, when I 
commenced making my arrangements for a removal to 
Chicago. Birchard and Otis were equal partners. I 
withdrew from the firm January 1, 1856, and then Anson 
H. Miller, and one year later Dr. James W. Wilson, came 
into the bank as partners with Mr. Birchard, under the 
firm name of Birchard, Miller & Co. I removed to 
Chicago from Fremont December 9, 1856. 

For twenty years previous to the starting of the first 
bank in Sandusky county, merchants and others doing 
business with banks had been compelled to send to 
Norwalk or Sandusky, where the nearest banks were to 
be found. One was established, how ever, in Tiffin about 
1849. It was the custom for some one to go from 
Fremont, about once a week to one of these places 
where banks could he found, and do up the whole 
banking business for all the business men of Fremont. 
Mr. Birchard, General Buckland, and myself frequently 
made these trips, purchasing New York drafts for 
several merchants, getting certificates of deposit, paying 
notes, etc., at banks. The well-known wealth of Sardis 
Birchard, and his high standing and character as an old 
merchant, gave the banking house of Birchard & Otis 
first-rate standing and credit from the day of its opening. 
It never had a run upon it, and never failed to pay on 
demand, and I am rejoiced to say that such has been the 
standing of its successors to the present time. When the 
bank was first opened, January 1, 1851, Dr. Alvin Coles, 
now living at Ottawa, Illinois, at the advanced age of 
seventy-six, 



was employed as cashier in the bank for Birchard & 
Otis. He had long been a popular county officer in the 
court-house, a man of sterling worth. His name and face 
in the bank contributed considerably to make it popular. 
For a few months after the business was opened, and the 
word "Bank" was put up over the door, it was a common 
occurrence for clusters of Sandusky and Ottawa county 
farmers to form in the street, looking at the sign and 
discussing the subject. Few of them had ever seen or 
knew anything about a bank. It was a common thing to 
hear some of them say: "Well, Birchard has land 
adjoining my farm, and I know the bank is safe. I'll 
deposit my money there." 

Yours truly, 

L.B.OTIS. 

The building in which Birchard & Otis 
commenced banking is still standing, and is 
the small, one-story brick on the east side of 
Front street, between State and Croghan 
streets. Mr. F. S. White, a gentleman well 
known among bankers, was cashier in the 
banking-house of Birchard & Otis for about 
two years previous to the summer of 1854, at 
which time he re-signed to establish with 
Mr. O. L. Nims and Mr. C. O. Tillotson, 
another banking, house, which for many 
years did a highly successful business. The 
position made vacant by the resignation of 
Mr. White was offered to Mr. Anson H. 
Miller, who at the time was bookkeeper for 
Dr. William F. Kittredge, treasurer of the 
Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad 
company. He accepted, and came to Fremont 
on the 2d day of August, 1854. 

At the time referred to in Judge Otis' letter, 
from 1851 to 1856, and for some years later, 
the customary rate for money was one per 
cent, a month, and for New York exchange 
one per cent, premium was charged. The 
paper money in those days was a queer 
mixture of various and uncertain values. The 
sorting of this money was one of the 
important duties of the bank clerk. The New 
York city, New England, and some of the 
Ohio bank notes, being carefully selected to 
be sent home, or to some broker for the 
purpose 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



437 



of getting in return New York exchange, that 
being one of the cheapest and most available 
ways of obtaining it. 

On the first day of January, 1857, Dr. 
James W. Wilson became a partner in the 
bank of Birchard, Miller & Co., the firm 
name remaining unchanged. Dr. Wilson had 
been, since 1838, one of the leading and 
most successful physicians in the town, was 
well known in Sandusky and the adjoining 
counties, and his wealth and careful business 
habits gave to the bank still another element 
of strength and safety. The bank continued 
to prosper with Sardis Birchard, Dr. James 
W. Wilson, and Anson H. Miller as partners, 
and without further change until the year 
1863, when it was merged into the First 
National Bank of Fremont, which succeeded 
the private banking-house of Birchard, 
Miller & Co., and was organized in 1863, 
with a paid up capital of one hundred 
thousand dollars, and with an authorized 
capital of two hundred thousand dollars. 
THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK. 

The first preliminary certificate was dated 
April 24, 1863, but in consequence of a 
change in the regulations of the department 
at Washington, this was afterwards 
cancelled, and another dated May 23, 1863, 
was adopted; the articles of association were 
dated May 23, 1863. Both the preliminary 
certificate and articles of association were 
signed by the following named persons: 
Sardis Birchard, James W. Wilson, Anson H. 
Miller, James Justice, Robert W. B. 
McLellan, Jane E. Phelps, LaQuinio 
Rawson, Martin Bruner, Robert Smith, 
Abraham Neff, Augustus W. Luckey. 

The first stockholders' meeting was held 
May 27, 1863, at which James Justice was 
chairman and Robert W. B. McLellan 
secretary. At this meeting the following first 
board of directors was elected: Sardis 
Birchard, James W. Wilson, James Justice, 



Martin Bruner, Robert Smith, Augustus W. 
Luckey, Anson H. Miller. 

The first directors' meeting was held on the 
same day, at which Sardis Birchard was 
elected president; James W. Wilson, vice- 
president, and Anson H. Miller, cashier. 

The certificate of authority from the 
Comptroller of the Currency, at Washing- 
ton, was dated June 22, 1863. The bank 
commenced business September 1, 1863, and 
soon thereafter was designated by the 
Government as a depository of the public 
money. The first report of its condition was 
made April 1, 1864, which shows among its 
resources, of loans, $121,305.29; total 
resources, $347,703.05; and among its 
liabilities, due depositors, $ 133,620.56; due 
United States as Government depository, 
$64,450. In its last published re-port, dated 
October 1, 1851, the bank makes the 
following showing under the same heads: 
Loans, $417,443.91; total resources, 
$694,112.32; due depositors, $414,216.91, 
which only partially shows the increase in 
the bank's business. At the time the bank was 
merged into the First National, Mr. Miller, 
with the help of a young clerk, did all the 
routine work of the bank; now six 
experienced men are constantly employed. 
The bank came near being the first one 
organized in the United States, being only 
number five on the official list. 

On the 21st day of January, 1874, Mr. 
Birchard deceased, and the vacancy there-by 
caused in the presidency, was filled January 
27, 1874, by the election of Dr. James W. 
Wilson to the place. 

The bank has lost by death four directors, 
viz: James Justice, who died May 28, 1873 
Sardis Birchard, who died January 21, 1874 
Robert Smith, who died April 2, 1878 
Augustus W. Luckey, who died March 20 
1881. 

There have been no changes in the offi- 



438 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



cers or directors, only such as were caused 
by death, except in the case of Martin 
Bruner, who, in consequence of having 
disposed of his stock in the bank, had ceased 
to be a director several years before his 
death. He died September 24, 1876. 

The bank never made a practice of paying 
interest on deposits-neither did its 
predecessors after the 1st of April, 1859 At 
that time both Birchard, Miller & Co. and 
the banking house of Nims, Tillotson & 
White, discontinued the custom, satisfied 
that for the future it would be an unwise one. 

This bank has been fortunate not only in its 
officers, but also in its employees. Mr. 
Augustus E. Rice, one of the directors and 
the present assistant cashier, came into the 
bank in March, 1865, and was at that time a 
mere boy. His industry, integrity, and good 
habits have well entitled him to the 
important place he now occupies, not only in 
the bank, but as an influential citizen. Mr. 
William E. Lang, teller; John G. Nuhfer, 
individual bookkeeper; James W. Wilson, 
collection clerk; and John W. Pero, general 
bookkeeper, have all been in the bank for 
years, and are young men well qualified for 
the positions they hold. 

The present officers of the hank are: James 
W. Wilson, president; Anson H. Miller, 
cashier; Augustus E. Rice, assist-ant cashier. 
The present directors are: James W. Wilson, 
LaQuinio Rawson, Rutherford B. Hayes, 
Anson H. Miller, Augustus E. Rice. 

Until the first of January, 1877, the-busi- 
ness of the bank was carried on in the 
building occupied by Birchard & Otis, 
previously mentioned. About the 1st of 
January, 1876, the bank purchased of Mr. P. 
Close the lot owned and occupied by him on 
the southwest corner of Front and Croghan 
streets. The two-story brick building, in 
which he had been doing business, 



was torn down and the same year the. bank 
erected on the spot a new and elegant three-story 
Amherst stone front bank building into which it 
moved January 1, 1879, and in which it still 
does its business. 

The bank was one of the few that continued to 
pay its depositors during the panic of 1873 in 
full on demand. The condition of the bank on 
the 1st of October, 1881, is shown in the 
following report: 

RESOURCES. 

Loans $417,443.91 

Over drafts 1,275.31 

United States bonds 150,000.00 

Due from other banks 41,647.15 

Real estate 15,618.27 

Expense account 4,425.58 

Checks and cash items 106.42 

Cash on hand 59,195.68 

Due from United States Treasury 4,500.00 

Total $694,112.32 

LIABILITIES. 

Capital stock $100,000.00 

Surplus fund 60,000.00 

Undrawn profits 18,384.58 

Bank notes out 90,000.00 

Deposits 414,216.91 

Due other banks 10,389.03 

Tax account 1,121.80 

$694,112.32 

Anson H. Miller, who has been so 
prominently connected with this bank, and 
consequently with the business interests of the 
city, is a native of Hinsdale, New Hampshire, 
and was born May 2, 1824. His father, John 
Miller, was a descendant of Nathan Doyles, who 
was a sufferer by the burning of New London, 
Connecticut, during the Revolution, and to 
whose heirs was granted a large tract in the 
Firelands near New London, in Huron county. 
By inheritance and purchase Mr. Miller came 
into possession of the whole tract. He removed 
with his family to Norwalk in 1825 and in 1839 
settled on the farm near New London. Anson H., 
during the family's residence in Nor- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



439 



walk, attended the seminary, and during the 
year 1845 continued his studies at Milan 
academy. In 1847 Mr. Miller entered the 
employ of Prague & Sherman, lumber 
dealers, at New Orleans. He was there about 
fourteen months, during the yellow fever 
epidemic, and was himself a sufferer from 
the disease. In 1852 he attended Commercial 
college at Cleveland, and soon after was 
employed as bookkeeper in the office of the 
treasurer of the Toledo, Norwalk & 
Cleveland Railroad, which position he held 
until entering the bank in 1854. Since 1856 
the burden of management has mainly been 
borne by the cashier. The exceptionally 
successful career of the bank, both as a 
partnership and a corporation, is the best 
commentary on Mr. Miller's worth as a 
banker. His management has always been 
honorable to himself and profitable to the 
stockholders. 

BANK OF FREMONT. 

The partnership of Nims, Tillotson & 
White was formed in 1854, and conducted a 
general banking business under that name 
for about four years. The name was then 
changed to Bank of Fremont, and business 
conducted to the entire satisfaction of its 
patrons until 1878, when every depositor 
was paid in full and a successful career 
closed by a dissolution of the partnership. 
THE BANK OF FREMONT. 

In October, 1880, a partnership under the 
above style began a general banking 
business with L. Wideman, president; C. M. 
Spitzer, cashier, and J. C. Wideman, 
assistant cashier. The business has been in 
charge of the two last named gentlemen. In 
addition to general banking an exchange and 
brokerage business is transacted. 

FREMONT BUSINESS DIRECTORY. 

Besides the long-established and more 



extensive firms mentioned in the above 
pages, the following business houses and 
factories are located in Fremont: 

Agricultural implements — Treat & Corl. 

Architect — J. C. Johnson. 

Attorneys-at-law — Bartlett & Finefrock, H. 
P. and H. S. Buckland & Zeigler, Samuel 
Brinkerhoff, Everett & Fowler, Byron 
Dudrow, F. R. Fronizer, Finefrock & Bell, 
Garver Bros., J. L. Green, Lemmon, Wilson 
& Rice, Frank O'Farrell, Smith & Kinney, 
M. L. Snyder, L. E. Stetler, M. E. Tyler, E. 
Williams. 

Baggage, express and hack line — Dr. G. O. 
Harlan, J. H. Stewart. 

Bakers — D. Hock, H. Lesher, A. Voght. 

Barbers-J. Berling, O. E. Curtis, F. E. 
Gerber, F. J. Rheinegger, F. Schoeffel, S. 
Wolf. 

Billiard halls — C. P. DePuyster, George 
Nighswaner, W. D. Sherwood, C. Grett. 

Blacksmiths — G. A. Berger, D. S. Blue, J. 
Cookson, John Fend, G. Greiner, William 
Groves, W. Hund, Peter Nolf, D. Rooney. 

Bottling works — A. Hauck. 

Cabinet-makers — S. Doer, Casper Smith. 

Carpenters — S. E. Anderson, A. Foster, 
Anthony Kiser, Rich & Richards, J. B. 
Schraff. 

Carriage-manufacturers — D. Consedine & 
Son, John Keefer. 

Cigar manufacturers — A. Good, J. L. 
Rafferty, John Stober. 

Clothing — Charles Strong, B. Youngman, 
W. Dean & Co. 

Coal dealers— E. P. Underhill & Co. 
Cooper shop-John A. Grant. 

Dentists — A. F. Price, F. T. Creager. 
Druggist-G. W. Petty. 

Dry goods — Hermon & Wilson, Jenkins & 
McElroy, John Ryan, J. Joseph. 

Elevator— E. H. Underhill & Co. 

Fancy goods — D. H. Altaffer, S. P. 
Hansom & Co., E. Sympkins, W. H. Hart 



440 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



Flour and feed — Chan. Norton. 

Grain dealers — George Engler, Gusdorf 
Bros., D. Wagner. 

Grocers — Baker & Stine, G. F. Buchman, 
P. Dillane, H. F. Dwelle, Ernst Bros., T. F. 
Heffner, Frank Bauman, D. Hock, J. Horn, 
Kelly & Hauck, Lynch, A. Miller, J. C. 
Street, Robert Hidber, S. P. Wottring, 
Lawrence Dick. 

Gun manufacturers — George Thompson, 
Harry Thompson. 

Hotels — Ball House, John Ford, proprietor; 
Peach House, Richard Peach, proprietor; 
American House, J. Paulus, proprietor; Tell 
House, William Hocke, proprietor; Germania 
House, J. B. Weber, proprietor. 

Ice dealer — A. Hodes. 

Insurance agents — L. B. Ward; J. K. 
Elderkin, William B. Kridler, jr., D. F. 
Thomson, Z. Ross. 

Jewelers — E. L. Cross & Bro., William 
Gasser, A. V. Hamilton. 



Justices of the peace — Samuel Brinkerhoff, 
M. E. Tyler, F. R. Fronizer. 

Lime manufacturers — Gottron Bros., A. D. 
& F. L. Noble, Quilter Bros. 

Marble works — Gurst & Son, Purdy & 
Williams. 

Meat markets — Henry Adler, J. Bauman & 
Co., S. Cohn. 

Merchant tailors — N. Barendt, S. Ballau, 
F. Brady. 

Organs and pianos — Heberling & Darst. 
Photographers — Charles Pascoe, H. Post, R. 
Groben. 

Pump manufacturers — C. Baker, Barney 
Meyers. 

Saddle and harness manufacturer — 
William Schroder. 

Sign painter — George Dole. 

Stoves and tinware — Winter Bros. 

Tile works — Fremont Brick and Tile Co., 
William Parker. 

Undertakers — E. Swartz, C. W. Tschumy. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 
FREMONT-MEDICAL 



*Sanitary History and the Medical Profession. 



THOSE who have travelled over San- 
dusky county within the past ten or 
twenty years can form but an imperfect idea 
of this region, then known as the Black 
Swamp, between twenty-five and forty years 
ago. There can not probably 

*Note. — We are under obligations to all the 
physicians who have furnished information for this 
chapter, but especially to Dr. John B. Rice and Dr. 
Thomas Stillwell, for interesting contributions, and to 
Dr. James W. Wilson for the special interest he has 
taken in having the subject fully presented. 



be found elsewhere a richer or more durable 
soil. The farms are now mostly well 
improved, and their owners occupy 
commodious dwellings, constructed not 
merely with reference to furnishing com- 
fortable homes for their occupants, but with 
due regard to appearances. The barns and 
other out-buildings are large and pleasing to 
the eye, and afford ample room for storing 
and sheltering the immense crops and 
improved stock that now reward 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



441 



the farmer's toil and intelligent enterprise. 
The land is adequately drained, for the 
numerous creeks that help to swell the San- 
dusky, the Portage, and the Maumee, afford 
every desirable facility toward this end. 
Thorough ditching, and in many instances 
tile under-drainage, and the removal of dead 
timber from the small streams, have 
accomplished the rest. 

The roads are generally well improved, 
many of them macadamized, and the bridges 
safe and of good construction. 

How remarkable is the change! Formerly, 
where now are large farms, there were only 
small clearings of a few acres each, fairly 
covered with stumps and "girdled" or 
deadened trees. The small log cabin, with its 
chimney of sticks and clay, puncheon floors 
and clapboard roof, and the little log stable, 
were the means of protection from wind and 
weather erected by the hardy pioneers, 
generally with their own hands, assisted by 
willing neighbors on the day of "raising." 
The small pro-duce of the soil and the stock 
were generally kept without shelter. The un- 
threshed grain, hay, and fodder were 
systematically stacked to favor shedding the 
rain. Potatoes and other vegetables were 
covered in "pits," in the absence of cellars. 
The pigs ran at large, and fattened well on 
hickory nuts and acorns. A little corn was 
fed for a brief period before butchering, to 
"harden the fat." The grain saved from the 
ravages of blackbirds and raccoons was 
required for bread, and for the work-horses 
and oxen that richly earned their share for 
the hard work performed among the logs and 
stumps. The driver was often noisy, and by 
no means choice in his expressions. 

In those days there were few roads worthy 
of the name, and the best of these were 
mostly thickly set with stumps and dead 
trees, and scarcely passable for teams during 
the spring and fall. In the worst 



places, where they were otherwise impass- 
able, causeways were made of logs, often of 
unequal size, placed side by side. This 
constituted the now obsolete "corduroy 
road," which, serving a useful purpose in its 
time, one can not now contemplate without a 
shudder, remembering the horrible jolting of 
the springless vehicles that passed over 
them, and the almost unfathomable mud-hole 
with which they commenced and ended. 
There were few bridges, and these of very 
primitive construction, and often unsafe. The 
prudent horseman often went round them, or 
dismounted in crossing. 

The swales and small creeks were so 
obstructed by fallen trees, that had ac- 
cumulated as driftwood, that the flow of 
water was greatly hindered, and when there 
was much rain it overflowed the adjacent 
land. A large part of the rainfall disappeared 
by evaporation, and slow percolation 
through the soil. The well water, especially 
where the land was particularly wet, was 
colored and flavored by decaying vegetation. 

The prevailing diseases during this period, 
in Sandusky county, were the same as were 
encountered during a similar era in all 
Northwestern Ohio, and in Indiana and 
Michigan, as well as elsewhere. They were 
of miasmatic origin, and most prevalent in 
the autumnal months. Some sea-sons hardly 
an inhabitant escaped. Occasionally the 
fevers were especially malignant. The 
remittent form of fever was generally, 
however, amenable to treatment, but still 
always regarded as a serious malady. When 
not of the pernicious or congestive type, the 
cases of intermittent fever were usually 
promptly relieved by remedies. This was, 
however, by no means so with the chronic 
intermittent, or ague, which was also most 
prevalent in the fall, and yet had a fashion of 
staying around during the rest of the year. 
Whether the 



442 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



attack occurred daily, or every second or 
third day, its coming on was seldom a sur- 
prise. Its pale and sallow victims were often 
discouraged by the recurrence of the disease 
upon the slightest exposure. They wearied of 
the doctors' monotonously bitter doses, and 
themselves scoured the woods plucking and 
digging after indigenous "sure cures." It was 
an open question among the people whether 
it were better to try any cure at all, or to 
bravely "wear it out." 

As prevalent as miasmatic fevers were in 
those days, the improvement of the county 
gradually effected a decided change for the 
better, until now Sandusky county is as free 
from this class of disease as any part of 
Northwestern Ohio. It is doubtful, indeed, 
whether any part of Ohio is now more 
salubrious. Within recent years this region 
has enjoyed a fair degree of exemption from 
epidemic diseases. The year 1834 was 
probably the most dreadful in the history of 
this locality, made so by a terrible cholera 
scourge. In August of that year a boat load 
of emigrants came from Buffalo, among 
whom was a travelling man. The traveler, 
upon the arrival of the boat at our landing, 
came up to the Western House, then the 
leading hotel of Northwestern Ohio. A man 
named Marsh was the landlord. The 
emigrants encamped on the bottom near the 
landing. During the night after his arrival the 
stranger in the hotel was taken sick. He 
requested the presence of a Free Mason, if 
there were any in the village, and Harvey J. 
Harman was sent for. Mr. Harman attended 
the stranger during the night and until he 
died in the morning. Drs. Brainard and 
Rawson pronounced cholera the cause of 
death. The village was panic-stricken. 
Harman, in a couple of days, died, and then 
Marsh, the land-lord of the Western House, 
and his wife. All who could get away left 
town, and with 



few exceptions, those who could not get 
away closed their houses and admitted no 
one. The Olmsteds went into the country, 
leaving their store and the post office in 
charge of Mr. Everett. Dr. Anderson - would 
see no one, and Dr. Brainard was himself 
attacked but recovered. At the beginning of 
the scourge death followed attack quickly. 
An old bachelor — Billy Stripe — who lived 
east of the town, came in one day and was 
seized on the street. He found refuge on a 
pile of shavings in a new building being 
erected on the corner of Croghan and Front 
streets, and in a few hours was dead. The 
emigrants' camp down by the landing was a 
place of indescribable suffering. Many of 
them died without attendance, and the living 
could scarce bury the dead. Joel Everett was 
one day passing this encampment on his way 
home from Lower Sandusky. He had not 
gone far before the dread disease compelled 
him to stop. The neighbors dared not take 
him into their houses, but built a tent over 
him by the roadside and provided a bed, on 
which he died on the following day. He was 
buried near his lonely death-bed. 

The scourge lasted about three weeks, and 
the percentage of mortality was large. 
During the whole time Mr. Brown, Mr. 
Birchard, Judge Hulburd, and Dr. Rawson 
made themselves eminently useful in caring 
for the sick and burying the dead. Homer 
Everett acted as general commissary, having 
the keys of nearly all the stores, with 
instructions to take out whatever was 
needed. Most of the merchants cleared the 
town. About one month elapsed before the 
disease was wholly eradicated. 

In 1849, when cholera visited Sandusky 
city with such frightful mortality, there were 
one or two deaths among those who had 
taken refuge here, but it did not spread. 
Almost every family forsook the town. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



443 



There were also one or two deaths in 1854, 
and two cases, both fatal, in 1866. An 
epidemic of cerebro spinal meningitis, not 
affecting large numbers, but character- 
istically fatal, occurred in 1847-48 in 
Fremont and vicinity. This disease has 
reappeared two or three times since, and was 
the cause of several deaths during the 
present year. 

During the latter part of the winter of 
1848-49 an exceedingly malignant type of 
erysipelas prevailed throughout the town and 
county. It attacked many and was very fatal. 
Among those who fell victims were two 
physicians, Drs. A. H. Brown and B. F. 
Williams. In 1856 dysentery prevailed and 
caused many deaths. Fremont has enjoyed a 
remarkable exemption from diphtheria, for 
although since about 1857-58 this dreadful 
malady has carried off a small number 
during several and even the present year, the 
disease never at any time prevailed 
extensively in the town. It has, however, 
been in some seasons very destructive in 
various neighborhoods in different parts of 
the county. As miasmatic fevers grew less 
and less prevalent, typhoid fever seemed in 
some sense to take their place, and appears 
now to be firmly implanted. This fever is 
fully as prevalent, if not indeed more so, in 
the country than in the town, and appears, in 
both instances, to be clearly traceable to 
local causes within the reach of practicable 
means of prevention, when intelligence 
respecting the causes of its development and 
diffusion becomes more general. The first 
appearance of scarlet fever is believed to 
have been about the year 1852, when it 
occurred in a malignant form, and since that 
year, although it has occurred on several 
occasions, the disease has been confined to a 
few families, and has not been remarkably 
fatal. Cases of smallpox have now and then 
been witnessed, 



but the disease has never spread among our 
people. 

The pioneers of Sandusky county who 
endured, with almost matchless fortitude, 
great privations, were, by the force of 
circumstances, unable to avoid those 
diseases which inevitably result where, in 
such a climate as this, the virgin soil with its 
rank vegetation is first exposed to the rays of 
the sun by work done with the axe and the 
plow. No human foresight or skill is able to 
prevent the development of the peculiar 
miasma or germ thus brought into activity, 
and which, though unperceived by the 
senses, is still the undoubted source of 
miasmatic fevers. Prolonged cultivation, 
however, diminishes, if it does not finally 
entirely remove the conditions favorable to 
the causation of diseases of this class. The 
case is far different with many of the 
diseases with which we are now called upon 
to contend, and which are produced by 
decaying matter supplied by living beings. In 
our cities, villages, and country places little 
attention is paid to the prevention of con- 
tamination of wells and springs supplying 
water used for drinking by filthy accumu- 
lations. In many situations, if not in most, 
the water thus used is manifestly rendered 
noxious by such sources of contamination, 
and not until the importance of this 
condition of affairs is fully realized in its 
relation to the production of disease, and 
intelligent and effective measures, in 
accordance with modern sanitary science, 
are faithfully carried out, can we hope to 
wipe out those diseases, which are now 
looked upon by the medical faculty as 
practically preventable. 

DR. GOODIN was probably the first 
physician to locate in the village of Lower 
Sandusky. He came soon after the garrison 
was removed. His very meager income was 
increased somewhat by teaching school. He 
was somewhat eccentric, and 



444 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



was particularly noticeable on account of his 
frontier dress, which he continued to wear 
for several years. He always wore a coat and 
pantaloons of deerskin, which looked very 
well in fair weather, but in rainy times his 
clothes stretched and drew to disagreeable 
shapes. He left here after about ten years. 

DR. HASTINGS came to Lower Sandusky 
about 1816. He was a man of refined 
manners and general scholarship. In his 
profession he was successful, and had con- 
siderable practice, but it was of a laborious 
and unprofitable character, not differing in 
this respect from the practice of all the 
pioneer physicians. He left here in 1828. 

DR. HOLLOWAY was another of the 
pioneer doctors, but we are unable to learn 
anything about him. He remained but a short 
time. 

DR. DANIEL BRAINARD, a native of 
New York, began the practice of medicine 
in Lower Sandusky in 1819, and continued 
for a period of about forty years. He ranked 
among the first practitioners in Northwestern 
Ohio, and for many years his practice 
embraced the settlements included by a line 
running east of Bellevue, south as far as Fort 
Seneca, west to Portage River and north to 
the lake. Perhaps no man ever lived in the 
county who had a more varied experience of 
pioneer life. He was here when the county 
east and west was a roadless expanse of 
dark, damp forest, cut into two parts by a 
tortuous stream over whose rapid current in 
its upper course skirting trees joined their 
outstretching branches, and bordering the 
still waters in its lower course were grassy 
prairies. Lower Sandusky was an expansion 
of this forest path, which Indian romance 
and military history had already celebrated. 
When Dr. Brainard came here, a village was 
already showing signs of life and growth, 
but all around was dark wilderness, the 
gloom of which was broken only 



by an occasional habitation. The practice of 
medicine was especially arduous, be-cause it 
required almost constant travel. Dr. Brainard 
was not only sound in the science of physic, 
but was a descriptive writer of force and 
interest. He was himself the hero of an ad- 
venture worthy of being preserved. The 
world has little enough romance without any 
being lost. Prosy detail is the bane of 
history. Romantic episodes are necessary to 
destroy the drudgery of life, and make 
history interesting. The scene of Dr. 
Brainard's experience is laid between twenty 
and thirty miles southwest of his office at 
Lower Sandusky, in a dense forest. On a 
March morning, while a blustering snow 
storm was closing every path; and a cold 
northwester was whistling among the trees, 
this faithful servant of a suffering pioneer 
community started to see a patient thirty 
miles distant. The last twelve miles of the 
journey was through a forest which fallen 
snow had made path-less. The Doctor, of 
course, did not reach this forest till late in 
the day. Snow-laden saplings bent across 
what seemed the woodland road, and made it 
necessary to seek openings around. This 
circumstance not only retarded his progress, 
but bewildered him in his course. He finally 
lost the road altogether, and was compelled 
to rely upon his judgment to direct the horse 
the remaining miles of the journey. The 
weary horse and anxious rider both became 
impatient with their uncertain, zig-zag 
progress. Slowly, and with a consciousness 
of his rider's bewilderment, the horse 
stumbled through snow-heaps, seemingly 
multiplying every hour. At last a plain road 
was reached, but where it was and whither it 
led was more than the Doctor or the horse 
knew. In the hope of soon reaching a house, 
the horse, whose load was made doubly 
burdensome by discouragement, (for an 
animal is not 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



445 



slow to detect the thoughts of his master,) 
was urged on. Night drove light from the 
inhospitable wilderness. The fatigued horse 
lagged slowly through the deep snow, while 
hope kept up the rider's confidence, but 
hunger and cold sadly afflicted both. Dr. 
Brainard notes that melancholy began to 
send strange fancies across his troubled 
brain. Cold, hungry, lost, with a horse 
shaking with fatigue, what if some wild 
animal should, attack him while in such a 
situation? While revolving these 

uncomfortable anticipations, the cold, snow- 
burdened breeze brought the well-know howl 
of a distant wolf. The lash clashed oftener 
and louder upon the poor horse, but. the 
faithful animal, exhausted by long travelling 
without food, reeled under the smarting cuts 
of his frightened rider. The terrible howl 
grew in volume, and fast came closer. No 
cabin light was within sight. The horse 
staggered in his exertions to hurry. Cold, 
hunger, exhaustion — fear had displaced them 
all when the red-tongued pack dashed into 
the road but a few rods behind. Now others 
crossed the road in front, and, circling near 
and nearer, their hideous howl became more 
terrible. The poor horse was too weak to 
frighten at the situation, which increased the 
danger. If he should fall from exhaustion, 
the issue was not doubtful. While Dr. 
Brainard was debating his ability to escape 
by climbing a tree, the thought occurred to 
him that a loud voice would frighten them. 
He lifted his chest to "his lungs' fullest 
capacity, and sent a strong shout at his 
unwelcome companions, but his voice was 
like a musket amidst the roar of artillery. 
The howling of the circling wolves became 
more threatening. Desperately they snapped 
their jaws in the horse's face, and dreadfully 
their red eyes gleamed from the snow- 
covered surface. The Doctor seriously 
contemplated sacrificing his 



horse to the appetites of his pursuers, and 
indeed hints that he would have done so had 
not such an undertaking been too hazardous. 
He therefore, as the safer alternative, 
resolved to stick "to his wearied horse as 
long as it could walk, and trust to 
Providence for the event." The pack gathered 
so near that their horrid grin was 
discernable. They seemed to be gathering 
resolution to make an attack. Fearing that his 
fatigued horse might give way, the doctor 
prepared to climb. He took off his overcoat, 
released his feet from the stirrups, and chose 
his tree at every point of the slowly- 
traversed road. In this way a distance of at 
least four miles was passed over. At length a 
bright spot appeared in the not far distant 
darkness. It was the star which hope had 
seen during more than four hours of peril. 
The sight of that cabin window brought joy 
inexpressible. Even the way-worn horse 
recovered his spirits and quickened his step. 
Maddened animals, fierce winds, and beating 
snow were all forgotten at the glimpse of a 
log hearth, caught through a paper window. 
The horse, a moment before on the point of 
falling, pricked up his ears and neighed 
aloud. The hospitable inhabitants of that 
lonely forest home had heard the coming of 
the weary traveler and his unwelcome train. 
They were at the door, ready to receive their 
guest and serve his wants. The emboldened 
beasts pressed near, but the heavy sound of a 
musket, the bark of a faithful dog, and the 
light of several torches sent them howling to 
the wilderness. It was now 2 o'clock in the 
morning. The Doctor's wants were 
abundantly provided for, and the horse given 
the best of corn. Upon inquiry, he found that 
he was ten miles south of the point of his 
destination. 

Dr. Brainard had the respect and confi- 
dence of the people, whom he served for 
forty years. He was one of the first 



446 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Free Masons in Lower Sandusky, and a 
member of Fort Stephenson lodge after the 
revival of Masonry. Brainard lodge was 
named in his honor. His funeral was 
conducted with Masonic honors. Dr. 
Brainard died in 1859, just forty years after 
beginning his useful career in this county. 

DR. LAQUINIO RAWSON.— A biography 
of Dr. Rawson is part of the legitimate 
history of Sandusky county. He came here in 
an early year of its settlement, and has since 
devoted his strong energies and very 
respectable talent to the service of his 
fellow-citizens, both as a physician and in 
business enterprises of a public and useful 
character. 

Dr. Rawson' s descent is traced from the 
age of English chivalry, the coat of arms 
descending from family to family, until 
finally inherited by Edward Rawson, who 
came, to America in 1636, or 1637, and was 
chosen to the secretaryship of the Colony of 
Massachusetts Bay. He several times 
represented his town of Newbury in the 
General Court of the colony, and was a man 
of mote and influence in the early history of 
New England. Of the fifth generation from 
Secretary Edward Rawson, was Lemuel 
Rawson, father of the subject of this 
biography. He was born in 1767. He was 
occupied as a tanner at Warwick, 
Massachusetts, until about 1812. He then 
turned his attention to agriculture, residing 
in each of the following named places: 
Orange, New Salem, and Irving Grant, all in 
Massachusetts, until 1836, when he came to 

Ohio, and located at Bath, Summit county, 
where he remained until September 20, 
1844, when his wife died, after which he 
lived with his children in Northern Ohio. He 
died December 2, 1851, at Dr. Rawson' s 
residence in Fremont. His wife was Sarah 
Barrus, whom he married at Warwick, 
Massachusetts, in 



1791. The family consisted of six sons and 
three daughters. Five of the sons came to 
Ohio; four of them were successful 
practitioners of medicine, and the other 
attained a high place in the legal profession 
of Northern Ohio. Secretary Rawson, oldest 
of the five brothers, practiced, medicine in 
Richfield, Summit county, Ohio, forty-two 
years. Success followed him through his 
professional life. 

Abel Rawson, second of the five Ohio 
brothers, was well-known in this county. He 
was one, of the pioneer lawyers at Tiffin, 
Ohio, and his presence was familiar in every 
courtroom in this part of the State. He 
studied law in Massachusetts, and when 
admitted to the Bar was over four hundred 
dollars in debt. He came to Ohio in 1824; 
and taught school at Norwalk. In 1826, he 
opened a law office at Tiffin, and at once 
took high rank in his profession, 

Dr. Bass Rawson first learned the trade of 
a hatter but in a few years began the study of 
medicine in New Hampshire. In 1829 he 
located, in Findlay, Hancock county, Ohio, 
where he earned a reputation as a skillful 
physician, and was very successful. 

Dr. Alonzo Rawson, youngest of the 
brothers who came to Ohio, first learned the 
trade of printing. He established, in Tiffin, in 
1834, the Independent Chronicle. After two 
years experience he discontinued editorial 
work to engage in mercantile enterprises, but 
finally studied medicine, and was a 
successful practitioner. 

Few families have honored the memory of 
a worthy ancestor by successful and useful 
lives as have the members of this branch of 
the Rawson family. Depending wholly upon 
their own exertions, each has left the impress 
of his life and character upon the history of 
the com- 




L Q. Rawson 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



447 



munity in which he lived and labored. We 
have spoken of these members of the Rawson 
family partly to show the character of the 
family, and partly because they are 
remembered by a large number of people 
living within the proper scope of this history. 
We now turn to the subject of this biography. 
LaQuino Rawson was born at Irving, 
Franklin county, Massachusetts, September 
14, 1804. His earlier boyhood was spent on 
his father's farm, and in the common schools 
of his neighborhood. At the age of sixteen, 
being ambitious to acquire an education, and 
being wholly dependent upon himself for the 
means of pursuing his cherished purpose, he 
left home and entered the academy at New 
Salem, where he attended instruction for 
some time, except during the intervals spent 
at common labor and teaching school, by 
which means he earned money to pay his ex- 
penses at the academy. In 1824, being then 
nineteen years old, he came to Ohio and 
entered upon the study of medicine, and at 
the same time taught school to meet his 
expenses. In 1826 he was granted license to 
practice by the Ohio Medical Society, and 
entered upon the duties of his profession at 
Tyamochtee, Crawford county. At that time 
the Wyandot Indians occupied a large 
reservation in the county, and he had 
frequent calls to attend their sick. The 
Indians received the intelligent services of 
their white physician very gratefully, and 
paid their bills much more promptly than the 
white people. The Indians generally en- 
tertained an idea that they could not enter 
the happy hunting ground without every 
obligation having been discharged, and 
consequently cheerfully handed over to their 
doctor the shining half dollars received as 
annuity from the Government. The Indian 
doctors and their herb remedies were in most 
cases abandoned as 



soon as they were given the opportunity of 
scientific treatment. The honesty of these 
weak descendants of a powerful and noble 
nation is illustrated by a incident in the 
practice of Dr. Rawson. He was asked to 
visit a very sick Indian at Upper Sandusky, 
and while there an old chief came to him and 
said: "Mr. Doctor, this sick Indian very poor; 
he no money; not pay you now; but you cure 
him all same and when we get our pay 
[annuity] I pay you." The sick Indian got 
well, and soon after pay day the old chief 
came to the Doctor's office and left the 
amount of the bill in shining half dollars. 

The Indians were afflicted by the same 
diseases which prevailed among their white 
neighbors — fevers, ague, and other malarial 
complaints. The Doctor says about one- 
fourth of his practice at Tyamochtee was 
among the Indians. 

In 1827 Dr. Rawson began the practice of 
his profession in Lower Sandusky, where his 
life has since been spent, except during an 
interval of about three years. From 1831 to 
1833 he practiced in Findlay, Ohio, and 
during the winter of 1833-34 attended 
lectures at the Ohio Medical College, and 
received the M. D. degree in the spring of 
1834. He afterwards attended a course at the 
University of Pennsylvania, and was the 
recipient from that institution of the ad 
eundem degree of M. D. After completing 
this thorough course of study and 
preparation, he again opened an office in 
Lower Sandusky, and was in constant 
practice until 1855. During this time Dr. 
Rawson's standing as a physician was 
recognized by complimentary diplomas of 
membership in the Cincinnati Medical 
Society, the Philadelphia Medical Society, 
and the Ohio Medical Lyceum of Cincinnati. 

All through this volume are paragraphs 
descriptive of the county in its early history. 
No class of men suffered more 



448 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



than the early doctors. The statement has 
been made, and indeed needs little 
modification, that sickness was a constant 
unwelcome guest of every cabin. Houses 
were far apart and forest paths and primitive 
roads forbid description. The profession had 
in it very little to remunerate all these dismal 
and sometimes dangerous rides. People were 
all poor and some of them destitute. They 
were without money and without a market 
where agricultural products could be 
exchanged for money. As a consequence the 
physician saw little hard cash for the hard 
times he experienced. Dr. Rawson says: 

When I located at Lower Sandusky, there were two 
physicians here — Dr. Hastings and Dr. Daniel Brainard. 
They were both well educated and skilful in their 
profession, and now, when looking back to those times, 
when Sandusky county was a wilderness and 
uncultivated swamp, and many of the settlements 
composed of rough pioneers, I wonder why educated and 
accomplished men, such as the two physicians I have 
mentioned were, should have come to this desolate place 
to spend their lives. But such is the history of the human 
race. 

This is a generous compliment to his early 
contemporaries. Whatever opinions we may 
entertain of providential dispensations, here 
we have a peculiarly striking picture 
illustrating the eternal fitness of things. The 
spectacle of men of intelligence and science 
devoting themselves, body and soul, to their 
lofty calling, often without hope of reward, 
always amidst the most discouraging 
surroundings, is worthy of a better pen. 

We have given in the preceding sketch of 
Dr. Brainard, who came here in 1819, some 
idea of Lower Sandusky's wild surroundings. 
When Dr. Rawson located here, eight years 
later, the east part of the county had been 
opened and clearing fires blazed in every 
direction. Dr. Harkness had established 
himself near Bellevue, and considerable 
territory, formerly embraced within Dr. 
Brainard's circuit on the east, was cut off. 
The general limit of Dr. 



Rawson's practice was west to the Portage 
River, from the source of that stream to its 
entrance into the bay at Port Clinton; on the 
east Hamar's tavern (now Clyde); and on the 
south Fort Seneca. None of the streams 
within this tract, embracing a large part of 
the present counties of San-dusky, Ottawa, 
Wood, and Seneca, were bridged, except the 
Sandusky River, at Lower Sandusky. 

The year 1834 was an epoch in the medical 
history of this county. The cholera scourge 
prevailed, and many of the frightened people 
of Lower Sandusky locked their doors and 
refused to leave their houses or to admit 
visitors. The village population at that time 
amounted to about three hundred, a large per 
cent, of whom were afflicted with the fatal 
disease, and the mortality was large. Four 
men, — it is a delight to record their names 
and preserve the memory of their 
disinterested charity — Dr. Rawson, Mr. 
Brown, Mr. Birchard, and Judge Hulburd, 
went from house to house of the afflicted, 
performing the tender offices of physician 
and nurse, and, when sad necessity required, 
attended the rites of burial. This was the first 
visitation of the cholera on the Sandusky. It 
subsequently appeared several times, but 
never with such fatal results. 

As the country developed, Dr. Rawson's 
practice grew more extensive and 
remunerative. His practice was laborious, 
but a physique capable of almost any 
endurance was his best inheritance. The 
rugged labor of his early life was a fit 
preparation for the toils of his professional 
career. In his case vigor of body was happily 
equaled by vigor of mind. To a close and 
extensive knowledge of medical science he 
brought the aid of practical judgment. 

Many were the regrets, in 1855, when he 
announced his intention to withdraw from 
professional life. His patients 




Sophid Rdwson 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



449 



cherished toward him more than professional 
affection. He had been to them a prompt 
friend in every hour of physical distress and 
anxiety. Aside from his skill and sincere 
honesty in the treatment of diseases, Dr. 
Rawson had one characteristic as a 
practitioner worthy of imitation by members 
of his profession. He never failed to meet an 
engagement. Every summon to a bed of 
sickness was promptly answered by his 
cheerful presence, regardless of financial 
condition, or prospect of remuneration. He 
thus endeared himself to the people whom he 
served. 

He was successively appointed to, the 
office of county clerk from 1836 to 1851, 
inclusive. His laborious professional 
business made it necessary that the charge of 
the office should be confided to a deputy. 

We have now briefly traced the career of 
Dr. Rawson as a practitioner of medicine 
during a period of nearly thirty years. But 
his career of usefulness by no means ended 
with his retirement from professional life. 
He had accumulated considerable property, 
and had for years been alive to every 
enterprise which promised to become a 
public benefit. In previous chapters of this 
volume are detailed the history of three of 
the most important public improvements in 
the history of the county, the plank-road 
from Tiffin to Fremont and Fostoria, the 
Cleveland, Toledo & Norwalk Railroad, and 
the Fremont & Indiana Railroad. In the 
plank-road enterprise Dr. Rawson worked 
actively and vigorously, and when money 
was wanted his hand went deep into his 
treasury. 

To detail Dr. Rawson's connection with the 
other two enterprises would be to re-peat 
what has already been said by one familiar 
with all the circumstances. Dr. Rawson and 
others, when the Cleveland, Toledo & 
Norwalk Railroad was first inaugurated, 
obligated themselves to in- 



demnify the county commissioners, who, 
without ample personal guarantee, refused to 
issue the bonds, as authorized by vote of the 
people of the county. When stock books 
were opened, Dr. Rawson was among the 
heaviest subscribers. For the history of the 
Lake Erie & Western Railroad, with which 
the name of Dr. Rawson is so closely 
associated, we again refer to a preceding 
chapter. To the united energy of the 
incorporators — L. Q. Rawson, Sardis 
Birchard, James Justice, Charles W. Foster, 
and John R. Pease-the country benefited by 
this road is indebted. The leading spirit and 
advocate from the beginning was Dr. 
Rawson, who, at the first organization of the 
company in 1853, was elected president and 
director, and served in that capacity until 
1875. For about twenty years he had the 
general management of all the interests of 
the road. His connection with the county 
agricultural society is duly mentioned under 
the proper head. 

Dr. Rawson married, July 8, 1829, Sophia. 
Beaugrand, daughter of John B. Beaugrand, 
who was born in Bordeaux, France, in 1768. 
He was married in St. Anne's church, 
Detroit, in 1802, to Margaret Chabert, 
daughter of Colonel Chabert de Joucaire, of 
the French army. Mr. Beaugrand was a 
merchant at Maumee from 1802 till 1812. He 
then went back to Detroit, where the 
remained till 1823, then came to-Lower 
Sandusky. 

"Mrs. Rawson was born October 20, 1810. 
The family of Dr. and Mrs. Raw-son 
consisted of seven children, four of whom 
survived childhood — Dr. Milton E., Joseph 
L., Eugene A., and Estelle S., two of whom 
are living, Joseph and Estelle. 

We have in this sketch touched upon only 
the leading features of the life of a worthy 
man and citizen, who from early youth was 
busy, and who in old age has not wholly laid 
aside the cares of business. His life has been 
one of real worth, which 



450 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



we have but feebly reflected. Mrs. Rawson is 
a woman of quiet temperament and refined 
taste. She is a consistent member of her 
church, and possessed of the virtues which 
only Christian convictions can give a 
woman. 

DR. ROBERT S. RICE was born in Ohio 
county, Virginia, May 28, 1805, and died in 
Fremont, Ohio, August 5, 1875. At the age 
of ten he came with his father's family to 
Ohio and located in Chillicothe, Ross 
county. From that place, in 1818, the family 
removed to Marion county, and in 1827 he 
settled in Lower Sandusky. He worked at his 
trade, a potter, until about the year 1847, 
when, having long employed his leisure 
hours in the study of medicine, he began the 
practice; and al-though he labored under the 
disadvantages of limited educational 
opportunities in his youth, and of not having 
received a regular course of medical 
instruction, his career as a physician was 
quite successful. He numbered as his patrons 
many among the most respectable families in 
his town and county. 

Dr. Rice was a man of sound judgment, 
quick wit, fond of a joke, and seldom 
equaled as a mimic and story teller. He was 
a keen observer, and found amusement and 
instruction in his daily intercourse with men 
by perceiving many things that commonly 
pass unnoticed. His sympathies were 
constantly extended to all manner of 
suffering and oppressed people. He 
denounced human slavery, and from an early 
period acted politically with the opponents 
of the hated institution. During a period also 
when the most brutal corporal punishment 
was the fashion and practice in families and 
schools, his voice and example were given in 
favor of the humane treatment of children. 
He was of a deeply religious turn of mind. In 
early years, when preachers were few in this 
new country, he often exhorted and 



preached. He was colonel of the first reg- 
iment of cavalry militia organized in the 
county, and also general of the first brigade. 
He assisted in running the line between Ohio 
and Michigan, the dispute in regard to which 
led to the bloodless "Michigan war." He also 
served one term as mayor of Lower 
Sandusky, and several terms as justice of 
the- peace. He was married to Miss Eliza 
Ann Caldwell, in Marion, Ohio, December 
30, 1824. They had seven sons and two 
daughters. The first two were boys, and died 
in infancy. William A. was born in Fremont, 
July 31, 1829; John B., June 23, 1832; Sarah 
Jane, February 20, 1835; Robert H., De- 
cember 20, 1837; Albert H., September 23, 
1840; Charles F., July 23, 1843; Emeline E., 
January 14, 1847. Sarah Jane died June 20, 
1841; Emeline died September 19, 1859. 

The name of Mrs. Eliza Ann Rice de- 
serves more than bare mention in connection 
with the record of the family whose chief 
ornament she was, and to whose intelligence, 
affection, and example they owe whatever of 
good they have, or shall accomplish in the 
world. This amiable and Christian lady, and 
loving and devoted wife and mother, was 
born near Chillicothe, Ohio, March 19, 1807. 
She died on January 17, 1873, in her sixty- 
sixth year. She belonged to the older class of 
the community, and occupied a high place in 
the affection of a large circle of friends. She 
was a devoted mother, and in return was 
loved and revered by her family. The 
following is an extract from a notice in the 
Fremont Journal of January 24, 1873-one 
week after her death. It is from the pen of 
Dr. Thomas Stilwell: 

It was not for her to shine in the fashionable as- 
sembly, or the more ostentatious circles of social life, 
but wherever "the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit" 
was the passport to recognition, she was eminently 
entitled to receive it. But it was within the sacred 
precincts of home, the true woman's grandest 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



451 



field of display, that she exhibited the virtues that win 
the heart and add a charm to the sacred name of mother. 

From early life a member of the church, 
the Protestant Methodist, her heart was ever 
in unison with the teachings of the Divine 
Master, and she died prepared, by a life of 
faith, "to pass through the valley of the 
shadow of death, and to fear no evil." Wise 
in counsel, devoted in her love for her 
children, her sons, who rank as prominent 
and respected professional business men of 
our city, honor themselves by the rec- 
ognition they give that sainted mother's 
teachings, for much of what they have at- 
tained in the walks of life. 

Her father, William Caldwell, was the 
third of the ten children of Robert Caldwell 
and Mary Stephenson, and was born in York 
county, Pennsylvania, on the 5th of June, 
1779. His parents emigrated to Bourbon 
county, Kentucky, in 1782. William 
Caldwell was married to Miss Polly Park, 
August 2, 1804, in Kentucky. She was born 
in the State of Virginia, in a block-house to 
which her mother had fled for refuge from 
an Indian massacre which threatened the 
settlement where she lived. Mr. and Mrs. 
Caldwell settled near Chillicothe soon after 
their marriage, but afterwards removed to 
Marion, and finally made their home in 
Lower Sandusky. The former died June 29, 
1835, the latter in 1861. He was a gun-smith 
by trade; served in the War of 1812, under 
General Hull, at whose surrender he was 
made a prisoner of war. They also had two 
sons: Robert A., who died in California, and 
Judge William Caldwell, of Elmore. 

PETER BEAUGRAND, a son of John B. 
Beaugrand, came to Lower Sandusky with 
his father's family in 1823. He was born in 
Detroit, in August, 1814. In March, 1833, he 
began the study of medicine at Findlay, 
Ohio, in the office of B. and. L. Q. 



Rawson, and when Dr. L. Q. Rawson re- 
moved to Lower Sandusky, Mr. Beaugrand 
came with him. In the winter of 1835-36 he 
attended a course of lectures at the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons, at Fair-field, 
Herkimer county, New York, and afterwards, 
in 1845, graduated at Ohio Medical college, 
Cincinnati. Dr. Beaugrand began practicing 
in Lower Sandusky in 1834. Between 1837 
and 1840 he was a partner of Dr. Rawson. At 
the dissolution of the partnership he went to 
Michigan and practiced at Monroe City three 
years. He returned to Fremont in 1843, and 
has since been in practice here except while 
serving as surgeon of the One Hundred and 
Sixty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. 

DRS. BROWN and ANDERSON are two 
physicians of the earlier period. Both were at 
different times partners of Dr. Rawson. Dr. 
Anderson was a partner of Dr. Rawson 
during the cholera scourge of 1834, but gave 
no assistance to the suffering. Dr. Brown 
was a merchant at that time, and made 
himself conspicuously useful. He afterwards 
practiced medicine with a fair degree of 
success, but was all the time more or less 
interested in mercantile pursuits. He died 
during the epidemic of 1848-49. 

DR. B. F. WILLIAMS was born in Pom- 
fret, Chautauqua county, New York, June 27, 
1811, and came to Lower Sandusky in 
October, 1822. He attended school at the 
academy in Sangersfield, New York, after 
which he returned to Fremont in 1829. About 
two years later he began the study of 
medicine with Dr. Anderson, with whom he 
remained three years. He then went to 
Cincinnati, where he became a student of Dr. 
Drake, and attended lectures. He graduated 
in 1835 or 1836. During his stay in 
Cincinnati he became acquainted with and 
married Miss Sarah Addison, a descendant 
of the English 



452 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



author, Joseph Addison. He then returned to 
Lower Sandusky and began the practice of 
medicine, in which he continued until the 
time of his death, which occurred February 
9, 1849. Dr. Williams' untimely death 
terminated what would have been an 
honorable and successful career. His mental 
powers were good, and he applied himself 
closely to study. He was exceedingly fond of 
scientific pursuits, and possessed excellent 
literary taste. His manners were cultivated 
and agreeable, and his character pure and 
above reproach. 

His widow, a son and a daughter reside in 
Brooklyn, New York, and another son in 
Minnesota. 

DR. LOUIS GESSNER was born April 6, 
1804, in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. His 
father died in 1809, leaving a widow and 
four children. Although in moderate cir- 
cumstances, she succeeded, through true 
motherly sacrifice and devotion, in securing 
for them a good education. Louis left home 
at the age of fifteen, and travelled on foot to 
the Danube, and thence went to Vienna, 
where he had relatives, who kindly rendered 
him assistance in the completion of his 
education. After finishing his course of 
study in medicine, he left Vienna, travelling 
on foot to Switzerland. Arriving at the 
Canton of Berne in 1828, he commenced the 
practice of medicine, and in the same year 
was married to Miss Elizabeth F. Schwartz, 
daughter of a prominent physician of Thun. 
In 1833, with his family, he emigrated to 
America, and located first near Tonawanda, 
but soon afterwards in Buffalo, New York. 
In 1837 he removed to Williamsville, Erie 
county. Leaving his family in that place, he 
returned to Switzerland, and coming back in 
1838, decided to move West. He accordingly 
settled in Lower Sandusky in that year. He 
soon enjoyed a good practice, largely, but by 
no means exclusively, 



among the early German settlers in San- 
dusky county. As a physician, Dr. Gessner 
won the confidence of the public, and his 
standing among his brethren of the medical 
profession was always high. He purchased a 
house and lot of Thomas L. Hawkins in 
1841, and his present residence in the 
country in 1848. 

The offspring consisted of eleven children, 
three of whom-Karl, Louis, and Louise-were 
born in Thun, Switzerland. Karl, the eldest, 
died during the voyage to America, and was 
buried at sea. Frederick and Emily were born 
in Buffalo, and Matilda, Caroline, Gustavus 
A., Randolph, and two others who died in 
early infancy, in Fremont. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Frederika Gessner was, on 
the maternal side, of Italian descent. Her 
mother's father was a physician of the name 
of Rubini. Her great-grandfather, of the 
same name, was the author of a treatise on 
materia medica, written in 1688, a copy of 
which is still preserved. Mrs. Gessner died 
in 1864. She was a lady of excellent 
education and great refinement of feeling, 
tender and sympathetic. Amidst the constant 
and exacting duties of wife and mother, from 
which she never shrank, and which she never 
slighted, her moments of leisure were given 
to books and music, her passion for which 
ended only with her life. She delighted most 
of all in the songs and traditions of the land 
of her birth, and dwelt on them and kindred 
topics with a pathos often tinged with 
melancholy, that impressed those with whom 
her memory is sacred forever that her lot 
should have been so cast that the land of her 
birth had been also the land of her life and 
death, surrounded only by familiar scenes, 
and gentle and loving friends. 

DR. JAMES W. WILSON was born in 
New Berlin, Union county, Pennsylvania, 
February 1, 1816. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



453 



His grandfather, James Wilson, emigrated 
from Connecticut to Eastern Pennsylvania 
about 1791. His father, Samuel Wilson, the 
only son of James Wilson, was born in 
Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, November 
25, 1793. He married Miss Sarah Mauck, a 
native of Pennsylvania, at New Berlin, and 
resided there, a much esteemed and 
successful merchant, until his death, 
November 3, 1855. His wife, the mother of 
Dr. Wilson, died May 31, 1872, aged eighty- 
four years. 

Dr. Wilson studied medicine with Dr. 
Joseph R. Lotz in New Berlin, and after- 
wards attended lectures at Jefferson Medical 
College, Philadelphia, where he graduated in 
March, 1837. He commenced the practice of 
medicine in Centre county, Pennsylvania, in 
November of the same year. He emigrated to 
Ohio in June, 1839, in company with Dr. 
Thomas Stilwell, and settled in Lower 
Sandusky (now Fremont), July 24, 1829, 
where they opened an office, and continued 
to practice as partners most of the time until 
1862. 

During the years that Dr. Wilson was 
engaged in the practice of his profession, he 
ranked among the most successful 
physicians in this section of the State. He 
was distinguished for promptitude, and 
faithful punctuality in fulfilling 

engagements. The urbanity of- his manners 
made him ever welcome to the bed-side of 
the sufferer. His intelligence and manly 
deportment won the confidence of the 
public. His acknowledged skill, and the 
painstaking care with which he investigated 
the cases submitted to his judgment, 
commanded the respect and regard of his 
fellow-practitioners. It is probable that no 
physician outside the large cities of Ohio has 
ever enjoyed a larger practice, or performed 
more arduous labor in meeting its 
requirements. 

In consequence of extraordinary ex- 



posure, while attending to this large practice, 
Dr. Wilson was attacked, January 9, 1858, 
with a severe pneumonia, from the effects of 
which he has never completely recovered; 
nor has he since devoted himself to the 
practice of medicine. He has, however, 
retained a lively interest in whatever pertains 
to the profession of his choice. He is 
president of the San-dusky County Medical 
Society, and a member of the Ohio State 
Medical Society. During the war of the 
Rebel-lion he was appointed by Governor 
Tod (August, 1862), surgeon for Sandusky 
county, to examine applicants for exemption 
from draft. 

On the 25th of May, 1841, he was married 
to Miss Nancy E. Justice, daughter of Jude 
James Justice, of Lower Sandusky. They 
have four children — two sons and two 
daughters. Charles G., the eldest son, a 
graduate of Kenyon College and Harvard 
Law School, now of the law firm of Pratt & 
Wilson, of Toledo, married Nellie, daughter 
of J. E. Amsden, of Fremont. The younger 
son, James W., is collection clerk in the First 
National Bank. The eldest daughter is the 
wife of Dr. John B. Rice, of this city. Mary, 
the younger daughter, is married to Charles 
F. Rice, of New York City. 

In 1857 Dr. Wilson became a partner in the 
banking house of Birchard, Miller & Co. In 
September, 1863, the bank was merged into 
the First National Bank of Fremont, with Dr. 
Wilson as vice-president. January 27, 1874, 
after the death of Mr. Birchard, Dr. Wilson 
was elected president, which position he 
now holds. 

To the various enterprises tending to 
promote the business interests and growth of 
Fremont, the doctor has been a liberal 
contributor. 

Dr. Wilson is a man of conservative views, 
but still not wanting in the liberality which 
accords to others the same 



454 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



rights and privileges he desires for himself. 
He is a man of firm religious convictions, 
and has always been consistent with his 
professions. For thirty years he has been a 
member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
and a regular attendant upon its services. Dr. 
Wilson holds the church to be the 
mainspring of law and order in society, and 
contributes liberally for the support of its 
charities. 

THOMAS STILWELL, M. D., was born in 
Buffalo Valley, Union county, Pennsylvania, 
five or six miles west of Lewisburg, in 
January, 1815. His father, Joseph Stilwell, 
for more than half a century an honored 
citizen of that county, died in 1851, aged 
seventy-four years. His mother, Anna 
Stilwell, died eleven years later aged eighty- 
four years. 

While a child his parents removed to New 
Berlin, the county seat of Union county, 
where he continued to reside, with the 
exception of such time as he was absent at 
school, until he left to make the West his 
future home. 

After a full academic course at Milton, 
Pennsylvania, under the tuition of Rev. 
David Kirkpatrick, a distinguished teacher in 
that section of the State, and a brief course 
of selected studies at Lafayette college, 
Easton, Pennsylvania, he entered upon the 
study of medicine with Dr. Joseph R. Lotz, 
at New Berlin, and graduated at Jefferson 
Medical College, Philadelphia, 

Pennsylvania, in March, 1839, and located 
the same year at Fremont. 

He was married to Miss Jerusha A. 
Boughton, of Canfield, Mahoning (then 
Trumbull) county, in 1842. Their children, 
five in number, are: Charles B., who resides 
at Watertown, New York; Thomas J., at St. 
Louis, Missouri; Charlotte E., married to 
John T. Lanman, at New London, 
Connecticut; Mary, married to W. T. Jordan, 
Louisville, Kentucky; and Anna M., at home 
with her parents. 



At the close of forty-one years of pro- 
fessional life he still continues in the prac- 
tice of medicine. 

Dr. Stilwell's place in the profession has 
always been with those in front. For the past 
two years he has been vice-president of the 
Sandusky County Medical Society, and for 
many years a member of the State Medical 
Society. He was among the first appointed 
pension examining surgeons (February, 
1863), which position he held until he 
resigned in 1879. To his letter of resignation 
the Commissioner of Pensions replied in 
very complimentary terms, expressing regret 
for its having been tendered. He has recently 
been elected one of the censors of the 
medical department of the Western Reserve 
University at Cleveland, having held the 
same position in Charity Hospital Medical 
College, afterwards known as the Medical 
Department of Wooster University. Dr. 
Stilwell has been a member of the 
Presbyterian church during the whole of his 
mature life, and has for many years been an 
elder. 

Dr. Stilwell, at our request, has furnished 
the following account of some of the 
experiences of himself and Dr. Wilson 
connected with their practice: 

Drs. Wilson and Stilwell-who grew up 
together in close companionship in their 
Pennsylvania town, and were fellow-students 
in Dr. Lotz's office, graduating at the same 
college-formed the purpose, while yet office 
students, to emigrate to the West together. 
Accordingly, on the 13th of June, 1839, in a 
two-horse covered carriage, purposely 
constructed with ample room for themselves 
and baggage, which included a small stock 
of books and instruments, they left their 
home for a Western prospecting tour, with 
the design, if no location to their liking 
offered sooner, to go on to Illinois, at that 
day the "Far West." Travelling leisurely, 
they stopped long enough at each important 
town on 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



455 



the way to ascertain what inducement it 
could offer two adventurous young men who 
were in the pursuit of bread and fame. 
Calling on their professional brethren, both 
as a matter of courtesy and interest, the 
pleasure of their journey was much increased 
thereby. In this way they reached Lower 
Sandusky (Fremont). Spending a few days 
visiting friends — who a few years before, on 
coming West, settled in the neighborhood of 
Lower Sandusky — they continued on to 
Perrysburg and Maumee. Here they saw 
what had often been the exciting theme of 
their childhood — a tribe of Indians — the 
Ottawas, who were encamped on the flats 
opposite Maumee, preparatory to their being 
removed to their new hunting-grounds west 
of the Mississippi, assigned them by the 
Government. 

Finding the roads impassable for their 
carriage the travelers returned to Lower 
Sandusky, and turned south. At Tiffin they 
met with Dr. Dreslaach — of lasting 
reputation in that locality for his genial 
manner, and his ability as a physician and 
surgeon. Advised by him, they decided to 
remain at Lower Sandusky, to which they 
returned, and "put up" at Corbin's, the 
Kessler House of today, it being the 24th of 
July. A week subsequently occurred the 2d 
of August, whereon the citizens of Sandusky 
and neighboring counties celebrated the 
anniversary of Croghan's victory by 
barbecuing an ox on the commons — now the 
courthouse park, Eleutheros Cook, of 
Sandusky City, delivering an oration from 
the porch of the low frame dwelling-house 
erected a few years before by Jacques 
Hulburd, standing in the middle of Fort 
Stephenson, and which, three or four years 
ago, was removed from the grounds when 
they became the property of the city and 
Birchard library by purchase. 

The breastworks of the fort were, at 



that day, still conspicuous, a few of the 
decayed palisades yet to be seen. 

Within a few days after their arrival both 
were taken sick with fever. Occupying beds 
at the hotel in the same out-of-the-way room, 
they were left pretty much to themselves, to 
acquire experience as patient, nurse, and 
doctor, all at the same time and at their 
leisure. A new settler had a good deal to 
learn about sickness, and but few lacked 
opportunities for acquiring knowledge by 
personal experience. 

A notable fact connected with the history 
of the hotel that season is remembered by 
living participants, namely: That at one time, 
for a few days, not a woman remained in the 
house, filled as it was with guests and 
boarders, of whom many were sick, except 
the landlord's wife, and she, too, down with 
the fever. The women help had all gone 
home sick. It was very hard to obtain others. 
A colored man — a steamboat cook — with 
man help for general housework, supplied 
their place. 

The sickness that season being very 
general all over the town and country, before 
either had so far recovered as to be able to 
do more than leave their room they were 
importuned to visit the sick and were 
compelled to comply long before they were 
fit for the service. 

They secured for an office a little one- 
story frame structure, which stood where 
Buckland's block now stands, at the corner 
of Front and State streets. It was an 
unpretentious building, belonging to Captain 
Morris Tyler. Their neighbors on the south 
were Morris & John Tyler, merchants, whose 
store occupied one-half of a low two-story 
frame house of very moderate dimensions, 
but for size and appearance one of the noted 
mercantile establishments of the town. To 
the north they were in close proximity to 
General R. P. Buckland's law office, of 



456 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



about the same size as their own, and in no 
way superior to theirs, excepting it was a 
shade whiter from having probably had two 
coats of paint, while theirs had but one, and 
that one almost washed off by the 
northeasters which swept its front, 
unobstructed by three-story blocks on the 
opposite side of the street. 

And just here a digression may be 
pardonable to relate how nearly this office, 
with that of General Buckland, came to be 
put out of sight, or left standing only in 
ruins — a testimonial of the patriotism that 
periodically continued to display itself upon 
these historic grounds. A cannon fired at the 
intersection of State and Front streets, on the 
occasion of a jollification in 1842 over the 
election of Wilson Shan-non as Governor of 
Ohio, burst, sending its butt-end through the 
north side of General Buckland's office, and 
but for its wise discrimination in the interest 
of humanity, it would have gone through the 
north side of the doctors' office as well. 

The "doctor's ride" in that day meant 
twelve or fifteen miles in all directions, and 
on horseback, mostly through woods on new 
cut-out roads, often oaths for some part of 
the way. He found his patients in the 
scattered cabins in which the farmers of 
Sandusky county then lived. 

During the continuance of their part- 
nership, and until Doctor Wilson's health 
became impaired by a severe attack of 
sickness by exposure, as noted in his per- 
sonal biography on a preceding page, they so 
arranged their business that their attendance 
upon patients was by alternate visits, making 
thus an equal division of the labor. He who 
went on the eastern round today would go on 
the western tomorrow. 

The "sickly season" — meaning from about 
the middle of July to the middle of 
October — was a phrase very familiar in those 
times, happily not applicable to this 



day, for the State may be challenged to 
name, within its bounds, a county healthier 
now than this same Sandusky. The change 
has been wrought partly by clearing up the 
land, but mostly by constructing ditches to 
carry of the water that over-spread the 
surface. 

During the sickly season the pressure on 
their time was such as to enable them to 
make the round only once in two days. 
Oftentimes each passed over the other's 
route before they met in their office-not 
seeing each other for days-the necessary 
communications being made on a large slate 
kept in the office for that purpose. 

The story of the daily ride, extending far 
into the night, oftentimes with fog above and 
mud below, the weariness of body and limb, 
the loss of sleep, the burden of thought-all 
this now sounds like exaggeration, but to 
them who underwent it all it is a well 
remembered and now wondered at reality. 
Their contemporary physicians were equally 
hard pressed. 

In the season of which this is written, in 
the cabins visited, which meant some-times 
every cabin on the road travelled, it was very 
exceptional to find but one of a family sick. 
To find two, three and-four was commonly 
the case. Not infrequently the whole family 
were patients, and this with no outside help, 
sometimes not procurable even in times of 
dire necessity. 

While extreme cases could not be given 
fairly, as the general experience, yet this 
class, after all, constituted a large proportion 
of the whole. An enumeration would include 
cases of scanty house-room; of lack of 
supplies; of distance from neighbors; of 
remoteness from physicians; of absence of 
help; of the number down in a family; of 
neglected ones; of work undone; of fields, 
such as they were, unprepared for seed. 
These, in their varied 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



457 



forms, composed a large list. In making their 
rounds one day, he whose circuit included a 
cabin to be visited, which had recently been 
erected in a small clearing-a half acre or so- 
in a dense woods south of where Hessville 
now stands, and reached by passing through 
David Beery's lane and then along a path, 
which led to the opening, found upon en- 
tering the man of the house lying upon a bed 
in one corner of the room in a burning fever; 
the woman in another part of the room 
sitting upon the edge of an ex-temporized 
bed, with a face flushed with fever, and wild 
with excitement, leaning over a cradle in 
which lay their little child in spasms, it too 
having the fever. Quickly enquiring of the 
woman for the water-bucket, he was told it 
was empty, that their well had just been dug, 
and was unwalled and uncovered; the only 
way they had to get water was to climb down 
a ladder that stood in the well and dip it up, 
which neither had been able to do that day, 
and no one coming to the house, they had 
had no water. Procuring water from the well, 
he remained until the child was relieved of 
the spasms, when, having dispensed the 
medicines necessary, he departed, telling 
them to expect some one in soon, as the 
result of his effort to send somebody, if 
possible, from the first house he reached on 
his way. 

The fevers of the country had peculiarities 
which for years have ceased to be observed, 
and which were conditions ex-citing anxiety 
in the mind of the doctor as well in the 
friends of the sick. 

Intermittent fever, one of the forms very 
common, was sometimes with chills, 
sometimes without, as now, and was 
manageable enough unless, as not 
infrequently was the case, it assumed a 
malignant type, known in the books as 
congestive chill, or pernicious intermittent. 
With the best that could be done, 



they were often fatal; many times for want 
of care at the critical period. 

But more marked was the condition which 
attended the latter stage of bilious remittent 
fever, the other form of miasmatic fever 
generally prevalent in the latter part summer 
and in the autumn months. Whether it run a 
short or long course, whether of a high or 
low grade, it usually terminated with a sweat 
and extreme exhaustion. A "sinking spell," 
as it was commonly called, was frequently 
its dreaded sequence, and the danger to life 
at the time imminent. A failure on the part of 
the attendants then to keep up the circulation 
by rubbing the surface, by applying warmth 
to the extremities, by spreading plenty of 
cover over the bed, and by administering 
stimulants freely, with liberal doses of 
quinine — was sure to seal the fate of the 
patient. 

Many died in this way. A representative 
case occurred in a small frame house of two 
rooms, which stood on what was then open 
common, but now the corner of Croghan and 
Wood streets, occupied by a man and his 
family of the name of Tyler, strangers-no 
relatives of the Tyler family resident here. 
He was a stone-mason, and came to work on 
the courthouse, the building of which had 
just been commenced. He and his wife were 
taken sick with the fever. No one could be 
found to take the constant charge of them. 
The neighbors, sparsely settled then in that 
part of the town, as they could be spared 
from home, went in, one now and another 
then, and did what they could, but withal the 
case was far from what their condition 
required. The fever of the husband yielded 
first-instructions having been left as to what 
was to be done when the crisis came, which 
during the day gave signs of its near 
approach. The doctors both having reached 
their office on their return from the country 
at the same time 



458 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



-about 12 o'clock at night-upon being 
informed that a messenger had just been 
down for them from the Tylers, went to the 
house to find the patient cold and pulseless- 
no appliances, no stimulants having been 
used as directed-and he died. They had the 
wife removed to a neighbor's house. When 
the crisis came to her-the breaking up of the 
fever in the manner described,-she had the 
necessary care, and lived. 

And here it should be remarked that 
whatever allusions may have been made in 
this or any other sketch of years ago, to 
hardship suffered for want of help in times 
of sickness it was never refused, when it 
could be given. To the extent of their ability 
to give it, no neighbor ever withheld it. The 
brotherly spirit displayed at such times made 
itself proverbial, and could the deeds to 
which it prompted be written, they would 
form a grand chapter in the history of 
Sandusky county. 

DR. JOHN B. RICE was born in Lower 
Sandusky, June 23, 1832. He enjoyed such 
educational advantages as the village 
afforded during his boyhood. He entered the 
office of the Sandusky County Democrat, 
and worked at the printing trade three years, 
after which he spent two years at school. He 
studied medicine, graduating at Ann Arbor 
in the spring of 1857, and soon after 
associated himself with his father, Dr. 
Robert S. Rice, and made a beginning in 
practice. In 1859 he further prosecuted his 
medical studies at Jefferson Medical 
College, Philadelphia, and Bellevue 
Hospital, New York. On returning home he 
resumed practice. On the breaking out of the 
rebellion he was appointed assistant surgeon 
of the Tenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and 
served with his regiment, under the gallant 
Colonel Lytle, in Virginia. November 25, 
1861, he was promoted to surgeon, and 
assigned to the Seventy-second Ohio, and 
served with 



this regiment over three years in the im- 
portant campaigns in which it took part. 
During the war Dr. Rice was on different 
occasions assigned to duty as surgeon-in- 
chief of Lauman's and Tuttle's divisions of 
the Fifteenth Army Corps, and of the District 
of Memphis, when commanded by General 
Buckland. 

Dr. Rice was married, December 12, 1861, 
to Miss Sarah E., daughter of Dr. J. W. 
Willson, of Fremont. They have two 
children-Lizzie, born September 28, 1865, 
and Willie, born July 2, 1875. 

Since the close of the war Dr. Rice has 
been associated with his brother, Dr. Robert 
H. Rice. He has had a large surgical practice, 
and there are few capital operations in 
surgery that he has not performed many 
times. His consultation practice extends to 
adjoining counties. He is a member of the 
Sandusky County and Ohio State medical 
societies. For several years he delivered 
courses of lectures in the Charity Hospital 
Medical College, and medical department of 
the University of Wooster, at Cleveland. His 
topics were military surgery, obstetrics, etc. 

In July, 1880, Dr. Rice received, with-out 
solicitation, the nomination for Congress, by 
the Republican party of the Tenth District. 
The most gratifying incident attending his 
election the following October, was the 
circumstance that he received a majority of 
votes in Sandusky county, although the 
opposite political party is largely in the 
ascendency. He had, however, never 
engaged actively in politics, and does not 
expect to be again a candidate. 

DR. LOUIS S. J. GESSNER was born 
September 25, 1830, in Thun, Switzerland, 
and emigrated to America with his parents 
during childhood. He studied medicine with 
his father, and returning to Europe graduated 
in Heidelberg, in 1858. He 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



459 



has practiced in Fremont since 1858. He 
served as assistant surgeon of the Thirty- 
seventh regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in 
Virginia, and as a contract surgeon at Brown 
hospital, Louisville, Kentucky, and hospital 
number two, Nashville, Tennessee. 

DR. J. W. FAILING is a native of Wayne 
county, New York, and was born in 1833. He 
was educated in the common schools of New 
York, and at an early age was employed in a 
drug store where he be-came proficient in 
pharmacy. After six years experience 
handling and compounding drugs, Mr. 
Failing began the study of medicine in 
Norwalk, Ohio. He graduated at the 
Cleveland Homeopathic college and came to 
Fremont to practice in 1854, being then but 
twenty-two years old. 

Dr. Failing was for many years well re- 
ceived and had the foundation of a suc- 
cessful professional career. A great many 
people felt self-interested regret when he 
became practically disabled for active 
practice. 

JOHN M. COREY was born at Austin- 
town, Trumbull county, Ohio, January 21, 
1837. He was reared on a farm and at-tended 
the district school. He completed his 
preliminary course at Western Reserve 
seminary, at West Farmington, Trumbull 
county, passing through the junior year. He 
began to read medicine in Warren, in 1854, 
in the office of Daniel B. Woods. He 
attended medical lectures at the University 
of Pennsylvania, from which institution he 
received the degree of M. D. in the spring of 
1859. He entered the office of H. A. Ackey, 
in Warren, but remained there only three 
months. He came to Fremont in December, 
1859, and began the practice of his 
profession here. When the Forty-ninth Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry was organized, in 
August, 1861, Dr. Corey enlisted as hospital 
steward. In April, 186z, after passing an 
examination before a board 



of surgeons, he was assigned to the position 
of acting assistant surgeon in the United 
States army. After serving in several 
hospitals in the South, he returned to 
Fremont, in September, 1864. In the winter 
of 1864-65 he attended lectures at the 
Charity Hospital Medical College, at 
Cleveland. At the end of the course he was 
awarded the Salisbury prize (a gold medal), 
for the best examination and observations in 
physiology. He was also awarded, by G. C. 
Weber, as a prize for the best Latin 
prescription, Piper's Illustrated Treatise on 
Surgery. After completing this course he 
again entered the army service, being made 
assistant surgeon at Camp Chase, and 
afterwards at Cincinnati, and was finally 
appointed major-surgeon of volunteers, with 
headquarters at Sandusky. 

Dr. Corey was mustered out of the army 
service in September, 1865, and at once 
returned to Fremont. He was in 
uninterrupted practice from this time until 
1873, when he attended a course of lectures 
at Bellevue Medical College, New York, 
receiving from that institution, in 1874, the 
ad eundem degree of M. D. Since that time 
he has been in regular practice in Fremont. 
Dr. Corey's practice is of a general character, 
but his liking is for surgery, which he has 
made a special study. 

DR. ROBERT H. RICE was born in Lower 
Sandusky, December 20, 1837. In his 
boyhood he was for several years employed 
as a clerk in the store of O. L. Nims. He 
afterwards attended school at Oberlin 
college about two years, then began the 
study of medicine with his father and brother 
John; attended medical lectures at the 
Medical Department of the University of 
Michigan, and graduated from that 
institution in March, 1863. He then returned 
to Fremont and began the practice of 
medicine with his father, Dr. 



460 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Robert S. Rice, Dr. John being at that time in 
the army. 

May 14, 1865, he married Miss Cynthia J. 
Fry, a daughter of Henry Fry, of Ballville 
township. They have, three children: Henry 
C, born July 11, 1867; Anna, born 
November 30, 1869; and Ada, born May 6, 
1874. 

Dr. Rice soon acquired a very extensive 
practice, which (associated with his brother, 
Dr. John B. Rice;) he has ever since 
prosecuted with untiring zeal and in which 
he has been eminently successful. 

In 1872-73 Dr. Rice spent a year in 
Europe, during which time he travelled 
extensively over the continent and Great 
Britain and Ireland, devoting some time in 
the medical schools of Paris and Berlin to 
the study of his profession. His knowledge 
of the German and French languages, which 
he acquired by his own efforts, and for 
which he has a great fondness, enabled him 
to derive unusual pleasure and advantage 
from his travels abroad. 

The Doctor has many excellent qualities of 
head and heart, which peculiarly fit him for 
the practice of his profession, being of a 
kind, sympathetic and generous nature, 
agreeable and affable in his manners, 
bestowing on all alike the same respectful 
consideration, he has won a high place in the 
esteem of those with whom his professional 
relations have brought him in contact. He 
aided in the organization of the Sandusky 
County Medical society, was chosen its 
secretary, and still holds that office. 

For some years past Dr. Rice has taken 
considerable interest in agricultural pursuits, 
having a large farm near Fremont which he 
has greatly improved. Few things at present 
afford him more pleasure than regarding his 
growing stock and waving fields. 

SARDIS B. TAYLOR, M. D., born in Fre 



mont, March 19, 1843, was educated in our 
public schools with the exception of nine 
months at Hudson, Ohio, Western Reserve 
College. He commenced the practice of 
medicine in, 1864, at Fremont, Ohio. He 
served as volunteer assistant surgeon of the 
One Hundred and Sixty-ninth regiment Ohio 
National Guards, at Washington, District of 
Columbia, summer of 1865. Graduated at 
Starling Medical College, Columbus, Ohio, 
February 22, 1875. He is the oldest son of 
Austin B. Taylor, and is now in active 
practice. His standing as a physician has 
always been creditable. 
DR. GEORGE E. SMITH, born June 
27, 1832, at Lyme, Huron county, Ohio, 
prepared for college at Lyme and Milan, and 
graduated from Western Reserve College in 
1855. He taught school in Tennessee from 
1855 to 1857; and as principal of Western 
Reserve Teachers' Seminary from 1857 to 
1860. Received the degree of A. M. from 
Western Reserve College in 1858. Attended 
medical lectures at Cleveland Medical 
College in the winter of 1858-59, and at Ann 
Arbor, Michigan, in the winter of 1859-6o. 
Taught as principal of a boys' grammar 
school, at Circleville, Ohio, from September, 
1860, until the spring of 1862. Attended a 
course of lectures at Ohio Medical College 
in the spring of 1862, and graduated with the 
degree of M. D., at the close of the session. 

He was married to Sarah Brinkerhoff in 
September, 1862, and commenced the 
practice of medicine at Willoughby, Lake 
county, Ohio, in the fall of the same year. He 
was appointed assistant-surgeon of the 
Seventy-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
December 23, 1862, and joined the regiment 
January 14, 1863, at Arkansas Post, 
Arkansas. Resigned on ac-count of sickness, 
June 4, 1863. Went to Hillsdale, Michigan, 
July, 1863; was 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



461 



surgeon of the post and to examine recruits, 
from January, 1864, until April of the same 
year. Left Hillsdale in the spring of 1875, 
and came to Fremont, Ohio, where he has 
been engaged in the practice of medicine 
since that time. 

DAVID EL BINKERHOFF, M. D., was 
born December 5, 1823, in the township of 
Owasea, Cayuga county, New York. In the 
year 1837 his father, Henry R. Binkerhoff, 
removed to New Haven, Huron county, 
Ohio, and the son attended school at Aurora 
academy, New York, and at Auburn 
academy, in the same State, during the years 
1839, 1840, and 1841. He commenced the 
reading of medicine with Drs. Benschoter 
and Bevier, at Plymouth, Ohio, in the year 
1843. During the years 1844, 1845, and 1846 
he continued the reading of medicine in the 
office of Dr. Thomas Johnson, at New 
Haven. He attended the medical department 
of the Willoughby University of Lake Erie, 
at Willoughby, Ohio, during the session of 
1846-47, and again attended medical lectures 
at the Cincinnati College of Medicine and 
Surgery, at Cincinnati, graduating therefrom 
at the session of 1856-57. He entered the 
service of the United States in the year 1862 
as assistant surgeon, and was promoted to 
surgeon-major in 1864. He served on the 
staff of General Schofield from the time of 
the capture of Atlanta, Georgia, until the 
close of the Rebellion. He was mustered out 
with his regiment, the One Hundred and 
Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in 1865, at 
Raleigh, North Carolina. He has been 
engaged in the general practice of medicine 
and surgery since the year 1847, and for the 
past twelve years at Fremont, Ohio. He has a 
large practice. 

DR. JOHN W. GROAT studied medicine 
in the office of Dr. Sampsell, of Elyria, and 
graduated at the Cincinnati Eclectic Medical 
College; he afterwards attended 



lectures at Cleveland Medical College. He 
began practice at Port Clinton, from which 
place he removed to Fremont in 1866. In 
1877 he went to Illinois, and is now 
practicing in Aurora. Dr. Groat was 
possessed of remarkable mechanical abil- 
ities. The attention he bestowed upon 
mechanical science somewhat impaired his 
usefulness as a practitioner. He is, how-ever, 
a man of good mind and training. 

DR. H. F. BAKER, present editor and 
proprietor of the Bellevue Local News, 
practiced in this city from 1865 until 1868. 
He had previously been located in Fulton 
county, and removed from here to Bellevue. 

DR. GEORGE LEE practiced in Fremont 
about three years, removing to Washing-ton, 
District of Columbia, in 1880, where he is 
now in practice. He is a graduate of Western 
Reserve College, and of Lane Theological 
Seminary. He edited a paper for some time 
in Minneapolis, and then studied medicine 
and graduated at Cleve-land Homeopathic 
Medical College in 1877. His first location 
was in Fremont. 

DR. J. D. BEMIS is a native of Lorain 
county, Ohio. At an early age he was re- 
ceived into the office and family of his 
uncle, Dr. L. D. Griswold, of Elyria. While 
attending the public schools of the city, he 
devoted considerable time in his uncle's 
medical library. After about three years 
spent in this way, Dr. Griswold was 
appointed superintendent of the Soldiers' and 
Sailors' Orphans' Home, at Xenia. Mr. 
Bemus continued his residence in the family, 
and completed the full course of instruction 
of the schools of the Home. The study of 
medicine, as when at Elyria, consumed the 
odd hours of his time. In 1871 Mr. Bemus 
was appointed bill-room messenger for the 
Ohio Senate by Lieutenant-Governor J. C. 
Lee, and served in that capacity two years. 
During the State Constitutional 



462 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



convention of 1873-74 he served as first 
assistant sergeant-at-arms, having been ap- 
pointed to that position by M. R. Waite, 
president of the convention, now chief 
justice of the United States. During the 
school year 1874-75 Mr. Bemus attended 
Baldwin University. In January, 1876, he 
resumed the study of medicine in the office 
of E. C. Perry, of Elyria. His winters were 
spent in attendance upon lectures and 
summers in the office at Elyria, until 1 
February, 1879, when he graduated at 
Cincinnati. He opened an office in Fremont 
in June, 1879, and now has a full and 
successful practice. 

DR. W. CALDWELL, son of Judge 
William Caldwell, of Ottawa county, a short 
sketch of whom will be found elsewhere, 
attended the public schools of his 
neighborhood and Oberlin College. During 
the winter of 1860-61 he attended medical 
lectures at Ann Arbor, and in 1861 enlisted 
as hospital steward in the Seventy-second 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was promoted 
to assistant surgeon in April, 1863, and mus- 
tered out of service January 4, 1865, After 
the war he located in Michigan for the 
practice of his profession. He graduated 
from Cleveland Medical College in the class 
of 1869. During the winter of 1879-8o he 
took a special course in New York. In June, 
1880, he located at Fremont, where he has 
since been meeting with flattering success. 

DR. C. B. WHITE received his preliminary 
education in West Virginia, in which State 
he also studied medicine. He at-tended 
lectures at the Eclectic Medical College of 
Cincinnati, and was graduated from that 
institution in 1878. He had previously 
practiced several years in West Virginia and 
Ohio. He began practice in" West Virginia in 
1871. Dr. White located in Fremont in 1879. 

DR. A. J. HAMMER was born in Bedford 
county, Pennsylvania, Tune 1, 1853. He 



graduated at Pulte Medical College, of 
Cincinnati, in the class of 1880, and com- 
menced practice at Fremont in September 
following. 

DR. S. P. ECKI was born in Holmes 
county, Ohio, in 1854. After attending the 
common schools of his neighborhood he 
pursued a course in Northwestern college, 
Illinois. He studied medicine in Mansfield 
under J. C. Anderson, and at-tended lectures 
at the New York Homeopathic Medical 
college, from which institution he graduated 
in 1881. He selected Fremont as the field of 
his practice, and opened an office there in 
June. 

SANDUSKY COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY. 

As an auxiliary to the State Medical so- 
ciety, the Sandusky County Medical society 
was organized November 6, 1879, with the 
following members: James W. Wilson, 
Thomas Stilwell, Robert H. Rice, Lewis S. 
T. Gessner, Sardis B. Taylor, John B. Rice, 
John M. Corey, George E. Smith, M. Stamm, 
Gustavus A. Gessner. 

James W. Wilson was chosen president; 
Thomas Stilwell, vice-president; Robert H. 
Rice, secretary; L. S. T. Gessner, treasurer; 
and Sardis B. Taylor, librarian. The officers 
have been annually re-elected, and have 
served without change to the present time. 

Members have been added since the time 
of organization as follows: Cyrus E. 
Harnden, Clyde; John C. Tomson, Rol- 
lersville; R. S. Hittell, Gibsonburg; D. G. 
Hart, Gibsonburg; W. T. Gillette, 
Millersville; William C. Caldwell, Fremont; 
A. D. Shipley, Helena; R. S. Shipley, 
Lindsey; LaQ. Rawson, Fremont; George 
Lanterman, Bellevue, and U. B. Irwin, 
Gibsonburg. The membership of this society 
embraces physicians only of the regular 
school of practice. Meetings are held once a 
month, or oftener, at which there is a free 
interchange of experiences and opinions. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



463 



The society is accumulating a fine library, 
and already has a valuable collection of 
books and periodicals, which are pro-cured 
by annual subscriptions of the mem- 



bers and by donations, Space in Birchard 
library has been allotted to the society where 
this collection is kept for the convenience of 
its members. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 
FREMONT — IMPROVEMENTS. 

building of the City Hall — Laying of the Comerstone-Birchard Library — City Parks — Fire Department — Street Paving 



THE stranger is given a favorable im- 
pression of this city's public spirit and 
enterprise while passing from the depot to 
the centre of business. He rides over a 
Medina paved street, thickly shaded on both 
sides by thrifty maples. He passes between a 
quiet park and large, substantial public 
school buildings and a moment later is in 
presence of another park on which is located 
a very fine library building, and an elegant 
stone front three-story structure for public 
uses. An old cannon mounted in the centre 
of this park is a reminder of historic 
associations. Front street, the main business 
thoroughfare, presents the appearance of 
activity and thrift. The good opinion formed 
is slightly marred, however, by the very 
noticeable absence of plate-glass store- 
fronts. Commercial blocks are generally 
large and in other respects present a good 
appearance. But it is the mission of history 
not to comment on what is nor to suggest 
what ought to be, but only to narrate what 
has been and to reproduce the story of the 
growth of what is. 

This chapter comprehends so many distinct 
topics that it is not convenient, nor would it 
be desirable to preserve any- 



thing like chronological arrangement. The 
subject which naturally comes first to mind 
is public buildings. 

THE CITY HALL. 

It is rather a remarkable fact that prior to 
1878 this city did not own a public hall. 
Union hall, Birchard hall, and Opera hall had 
all been open to the public for meetings, 
entertainments, etc., but were and are 
controlled by individuals. The pressing need 
of a building for the accommodation of the 
fire department, city officers, and public 
meetings of a general character was long 
felt, but no action looking towards the 
consummation of such an improvement was 
taken until in 1877, when the city purchased 
of its individual owners the square formerly 
included in the old fort. The terms of this 
purchase are given elsewhere. On June 7, 
1877, the city council, consisting of Colonel 
William E. Haynes, W. B. Sheldon, C. R. 
McCulloch, James Park, jr., J. B. Dickinson, 
and A. Young; Mayor J. S. VanNess, and 
Clerk W. W. Stine, unanimously 

Resolved, That the city of Fremont build the first 
story of a city hall building, and that it be ready for the 
fire department as soon as practicable. 



464 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



In accordance with their resolution work 
was immediately commenced and by 
September the foundation was ready for the 
corner-stone. The occasion of laying the 
corner-stone, September 14, 1877, was made 
the most memorable in the history of 
Fremont. In obedience to common custom, 
the ceremonies proper were under charge of 
the Masonic fraternity. The same day was 
appointed for the reunion of the Twenty- 
third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and a home 
visit of the esteemed colonel of that 
regiment, and President of the United States. 
Elaborate preparations had been made by the 
citizens for the accommodation of 
distinguished guests and great crowds of 
people, who came from every direction. The 
day is well remembered. A National salute 
roused people from their slumbers, and a 
cloudless sky gave promise of a perfect day. 
Morning light revealed a brilliancy and 
elaboration of decoration never before 
equaled in our history.. Flags fluttered in 
every direction, and artistic banners bearing 
patriotic sentiments, added beauty to pro- 
fusion. Most noticeable was a splendid arch 
thrown over Croghan street, with the 
inscription, "Welcome to the Twenty-third 
O. V. I.." On the keystone was painted 
Masonic symbols and over this was an 
immense gilt eagle, measuring eight feet 
from tip to tip. To the right of this central 
arch was a representation of a camp scene, 
and to the left Ohio's coat of arms. Over the 
entrance at each corner of Fort Stephenson 
park was an arch, that at the southwest 
corner bearing the inscription, "Colonel 
Hayes, the Soldier and Statesman;" at the 
southeast corner, "Colonel Rosecrans: He 
Came at His Country's Call;" at the 
northwest corner, "Colonel Scammon, Ever 
at His Post;" at the northeast corner, 
"Colonel Comly: Honor to the Brave." 



At least twenty thousand people thronged 
the streets by ten o'clock, and many of the 
most distinguished men of the Nation 
participated in the ceremonies. Nine bands 
of music entertained the crowds, and the 
brilliant uniforms of Knights Templar added 
impressiveness to the day's scenes. Ten 
o'clock was the hour appointed for laying the 
corner-stone. Masons began to assemble at 
half-past eight, and at half-past nine the 
Grand Lodge of Ohio was in session in 
Brainard lodge-room. At the same time war 
veterans and members of the Twenty-third 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry were holding a 
reception in Birchard Hall, where, at to 
o'clock, President R. B. Hayes, General Phil. 
Sheridan, Senator Stanley Matthews, 
General J. D. Cox, Secretary McCrary, and 
General E. P. Scammon arrived, and from 
there walked to the City Hall foundations 
while the Masonic procession was parading 
the streets in the following order: 

Light Guard Band. 

Walbridge Light Guard. 

Masonic Commanderies. 

Erie of Sandusky. 

Shawnee of Lima. 

DeMolay of Tiffin. 

Grand Lodge of Ohio. 

Mayor and City Council. 

Other Guests. 

After marching through the principal 
streets they halted at the City Hall foun- 
dations; where President Hayes, General 
Sheridan and a number of other distin- 
guished men and a dense crowd of spectators 
had already assembled. It was with difficulty 
that the marshals succeeded in forcing back 
the crowd to get sufficient standing-room for 
the Masons. Their efforts were watched by 
General Sheridan with a merry twinkle in his 
eye. Not only the adjacent streets and a large 
pile of bricks lying near, but the high bank 
along the park and even the roofs of build- 
ings were crowded with eager spectators. 
The heavy corner-stone lay ready and in 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



465 



its foundation was the usual box of me- 
mentoes. 

The corner-stone is inscribed as follows, 
on the east side: 

A. D. 5877, A. D. 1877. SEPT. 14. 

G. A. WOODWARD, 

Grand Master of Masons of Ohio. 

J. C. JOHNSON, 

Architect. 

D. L. JUNE & SON, 

Builders. 

The following is the inscription on the north 
side: 

FORT STEPHENSON. 

1813. Col. GEORGE CROGHAN. 

1877. R. B. HAYES, 

President of the U. S. 

J. S. VANNESS, Mayor. 

CITY COUNCIL. 



C. R. MCCULLOCH, 

WM. E. HAYNES, 
A. YOUNG. 



J. W. PARK, JR., 
WM. B. SHELDON, 
J. B. DICKINSON. 



The following articles are deposited in the 
corner-stone: 

Silver coins of 1877, programme of the 
day, copies of the Democratic Messenger, 
Fremont Journal, and Fremont Courier, 
School Report for 1877, photograph of 
Colonel Croghan, list of notables present, 
population of the city, list of churches and 
pastors, photograph of City Hall, picture of 
Fort Stephenson, copy of invitation to 
promenade concert and programme, copy of 
premium list of Sandusky County 
Agricultural Society for 1877. 

Time of the organization of the Masonic 
bodies of the city of Fremont, Ohio. 

Fort Stephenson Lodge, No. 225, Free and 
Accepted Masons. 

Brainard Lodge, No. 336, Free and 
Accepted Masons. 

Fremont Chapter, No. 54, Royal Arch 
Masons. 

Fremont Council, No. 64, Royal and Select 
Masters. 

Address of Isaac M. Keeler, delivered 
before Brainard Lodge, February 22, 1876. 



Masonic Calendar City of Fremont, 1877. 

Masonic Circular of Invitations to Lodges. 

The city programme of the day, and report 
of the meetings held on Wednesday and 
Thursday. 

The ceremony was conducted by C. W. 
Woodward, of Cleveland, G. M. of Ohio, in 
accordance with the ritual of the order, 
assisted by A. T. Brinsmade, D. G. M.; R. E. 
Richards, D. G. S. W.; R. H. Rice, D. G. J. 
W.; O. Bale, P. M.; G. H. Bell, P. M.; C. 
Doncyson, P. M.; W. W. Ross, P. M.; O. E. 
Phillips, P. M.; J. C. John-son, P. A.; Rev. 
G. W. Collier, D. G. C; I. M. Keeler, D. G. 
T.; W. H. Andrews, D. G. S.; S. P. Meng, D. 
G. S. W.; E. S. Thomas, D. G. J. W.; J. F. 
Heffner, D. G. S.; W. G. Hafford, D. G. S.; 
T. F. Heffner, D. G. T. 

There was no speech-making, but at the 
close of the ceremony President Hayes 
mounted the stone and said: 

Ladies, gentlemen, and fellow-citizens: For the 
purposes of the city of Fremont we erect here on 
this ground made illustrious by the victory of Col- 
onel Croghan in his gallant combat with the 
British, a City Hall. The corner-stone has now 
been laid. The ceremonies in connection with it 
are now ended and I am requested to announce 
that the further public exercises of the day will 
take place immediately after dinner, at the park in 
front of the court-house. 

At the close of Hayes' announcement loud 
calls were made for Sheridan, but he quietly 
slipped away without making any public 
response. 

The ladies of Fremont distinguished 
themselves on this occasion by spreading a 
magnificent dinner. We append the Journal's 
comments: 

The members of the regiment then proceeded to Opera 
Hall, where they partook of an elegant dinner provided 
for them by the ladies of Fremont. 

The hall was grandly and tastefully decorated, and the 
long tables were loaded with the very best the season 
afforded, and which the skill, and the pains, and the 
money of the citizens of Fremont 



466 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



could procure, and the whole was arranged in such 
excellent taste that it looked like a banquet good enough 
for a feast of the gods. 

Upon the wall on the left hung a large portrait of 
President Hayes in the centre of a waving scroll in- 
scribed "Union Forever," and immediately below, in one 
grand group, were the names of all the States of the 
Union, each on a separate shield, the whole creating an 
impression at once pleasing and gratifying to the friends 
of the President. 

At the further end of the hall, in addition to the fine 
landscape painting in the centre, there was on either 
side, in beautiful lettering, a list of the battles fought by 
the Twenty-third and associated regiments. Among them 
were the following: Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek, 
Kearnstown, Cloyd Mountain, Clark's Hollow, 
Lynchburg, Opequan, Antietam, South Mountain and 
Giles' Court House. 

The proceedings of the afternoon were 
devoted exclusively to the veterans. The 
occasion was the subject of so much 
newspaper comment at the time, and the 
unreserved efforts of our citizens resulted in 
such triumphant success, that a partial record 
of the day deserves a place in this volume. 

At 1 o'clock P. M. the Twenty-third 
regiment, preceded by the Light Guard band, 
of Toledo, were conducted to the city park 
by the committee of arrangements, the 
mayor and city council, followed by other 
bands and a vast concourse of people. 
President Hayes marched with them. In the 
line behind him was led his old war-horse, 
twenty-seven years of age, and enjoying the 
so well-earned ease and rest on the farm of 
his former rider. 

The speaker's stand was tastefully dec- 
orated, and not far from it stood a beautiful 
evergreen monument surmounted by a cross, 
in honor of the gallant dead. 

The platform was soon reached and filled. 
General Sheridan escorted Mrs. Hayes, and 
that lady was assigned a prominent position. 

It is seldom that so many men whose 
names are familiar to the people are gathered 
upon one platform as were to be seen on the 
speakers' stand: 



President and Mrs. Hayes, Secretary 
McCrary and wife, Chief Justice Waite, 
General Phil Sheridan, General W. S. 
Rosecrans, General J. D. Cox, General S. S. 
Carroll, General J. H. Duvall, Generals F. H. 
Devol, Scammon, Barnett, Kennedy, 
Swayne, Buckland, and Gibson, Senator 
Matthews and Major McKinley. 

The public square was soon packed full by 
a dense crowd of spectators, and thou-sands 
were unable to get within hearing distance. It 
is estimated that about fifteen thousand were 
present in and around the square during the 
afternoon exercises, and the crowds down 
town did not seem sensibly diminished; 

As soon as the Twenty-third regiment, the 
several bands, speakers and others were as 
comfortably seated as the circumstances 
would permit, and the crowd had partly 
quieted, General R. P. Buckland, same 
forward and said: 

LADIES AND G ENT LE M EN :— YOU will now please 
come to order. The exercises of the afternoon will 
commence by the introduction of Chaplain Collier to 
whom you will listen for a few moments. 

Chaplain Collier then stepped forward and 
said: 

It seems to me that these exercises could be com- 
menced appropriately by taking off our hats, rising, and 
joining in singing: 

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow, 
Praise Him all creatures here below, 
Praise Him above ye Heavenly Host, 

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," 

Let every one that can sing, sing this song of praise to 
the giver of all good. 

The vast multitude then stood and sang 
those solemn words with more than usual 
interest, after which they were led in prayer 
by Chaplain Collier. 

After prayer General Buckland introduced 
Hon. Homer Everett, who delivered the 
welcoming address on behalf of the home 
committee of arrangements. 

The orator of the day was Hon. William 
McKinley, whose polished address, was 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



467 



highly eulogized by the daily press of the 

State. 

We now come back to the City Hall 
building. The first story was completed at an 
expense of two thousand eight hundred 
dollars, and paid for from receipts from 
rents, and without special taxation. Under 
authority of a special legislative enactment, 
the council resolved to submit to a vote of 
the people the proposition of issuing bonds 
to the amount of twelve thousand dollars, 
bearing seven per cent, interest, for the 
purpose of completing the building. The vote 
was taken on the 18th of March, 1878, and 
almost unanimously carried, and the bonds 
issued accordingly. 

The following were the municipal officers 
under whose management the building was 
brought to completion: Council -William E. 
Haynes, James Kridler, S. P. Meng, James 
Park, jr., D. Reinick, William B. Sheldon, J. 
P. Thompson, and C. N. West; J. S. Van 
Ness, mayor; William Kridler, jr., clerk; M. 
D. Baldwin, solicitor; J. W. Moore, - 
marshal; J. S. Rawson, engineer; E. 
Underhill, chief of fire department; and J. C. 
Johnson, architect. 

The building was completed in February, 
1879, and dedicated on the 21st of that 
month to the use of the public. The occasion 
was one of general enjoyment. The fire 
company had charge of the ceremonies, and 
Chief Underhill presided at the dedicatory 
meeting. Professor W. W. Ross delivered an 
address, and Hon. Homer Everett recited the 
growth of the fire department. 

Professor Ross, in his address, said: 

The total cost of the building, including steam heating 
apparatus and furniture, is fourteen thousand one 
hundred and seventy-eight dollars, and inclusive of the 
city stables adjoining, about sixteen thousand dollars, 
the bonded indebtedness incurred being twelve thousand 
dollars. No one, I think, who surveys this structure can 
question that every dollar of this money has been 
judiciously and economically expended, that for the cost 
we have an admirable 



City Hall building. There is another occasion for 
congratulatory pride, in that the architect who conceived 
and designed it is one of our own citizens, with a 
reputation, however, fast becoming State and general. 
To him our thanks are due for the tasteful conception 
and successful completion of his design. [ ought, 
however, in justice to him, to say that his ideal was 
necessarily qualified by the expenditure it was thought 
wisdom to ask at the hands of the people. For the first 
time in the history of our city we have a city hall, with 
good acoustic properties, commodious and attractive, 
and whose free use is guaranteed to our citizens on all 
appropriate occasions, for meetings, lectures, festivals, 
and entertainments under the auspices of home 
organizations. For years our city officials and our fire 
department have been without suitable accommodations. 
Hereafter they will be occupants of the most beautiful 
structure in our city. 

The uses to which this building this evening is 
dedicated are among the most vital to the interests of 
our city, both moral and material. The City Hall building 
is to the city what the Capitol building is to the State 
and the Nation. We have in our country three forms of 
government, National, State, and municipal, all of them 
possessed to some extent of legislative, executive, and 
judicial powers. The vast growth of American cities 
occasioned by the influx of population both from the 
country and foreign lands, is rapidly throwing upon our 
city governments a responsibility even greater and more 
delicate than that devolving upon the State government 
itself. 

The first floor of the building is used by 
the fire department and for a city prison. On 
the second floor are offices for the city 
clerk, mayor, city engineer, city solicitor, 
and a council chamber. The third story is a 
commodious, well seated hall, for public 
meetings, entertainments, etc. The front is of 
Amherst stone, tastefully ornamented. This 
building excels in architectural beauty any 
other structure in the city. 

BIRCHARD LIBRARY.* 

Birchard Library derives its name from the 
late Sardis Birchard, of Fremont, who was 
its founder. Early in the year 1873 Mr. 
Birchard indicated to several citizens that he 
was about to set apart, in property and 
money, the sum of fifty thousand dollars for 
the purpose of establishing a free library for 
the benefit of the city of 



Jy E. Bushnell, D. D. 



468 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



Fremont and the county of Sandusky. He 
designated the following gentlemen to act as 
a board of trustees, viz: The Hon. R. B. 
Hayes, L. L. D., General R. P. Buckland, L. 
Q. Rawson, M.D., Rev. E. Bushnell, D.D., 
James W. Wilson, M. D., Col. William E. 
Haynes, Thomas Stilwell, M.D., Hon. E. F. 
Dickinson, ex-officio, being mayor of the 
city of Fremont, and William W. Ross, A. 
M., ex-officio, being superintendent of the 
public schools of Fremont. 

These gentlemen held their first meeting at 
the office of the mayor on the evening of 
July, 1873. At this meeting measures were 
taken to secure a fitting room in which to 
open a library, to procure a suitable 
librarian, and to effect a corporate 
organization. 

February 13, 1874, the board of trustees 
met, and adopted articles of association, 
forming themselves into a literary and 
benevolent association under the name and 
style of "The Birchard Library." All the 
trustees affixed their names and seals to the 
articles, and ex-Governor R. B. Hayes was 
elected president; Dr. J. W. Wilson, 
treasurer, and W. W. Ross, secretary. 

By the articles of association, and ac- 
cording to the wish of Mr. Birchard, the 
mayor of Fremont and the superintendent of 
public schools of the same are ex-officio 
trustees of the library. Any vacancy which 
may occur among the other trustees, is to be 
filled by appointment of the Court of 
Common Pleas of Sandusky county. Or, if 
the court shall fail to appoint, a majority of 
the trustees present at a regular meeting may 
do so. 

Birchard Hall was selected as a fitting 
place to locate the library for the present. 
Jessie E. McCulloch was chosen librarian, 
and Governor Hayes, Rev. Dr. Bushnell and 
W. W. Ross were appointed a committee to 
select and purchase books. 



Mr. Birchard having deceased in January, 
1874, his executors at sundry times 
transferred money and property to the 
possession of the treasurer of the board to 
the amount of the bequest. The library was 
opened June 2, 1874, with one thousand six 
hundred and eighty-three volumes. By June 
2, 1875, there were four thousand two 
hundred and five volumes. 

In order to secure a permanent site for a 
library building, and also to aid the city of 
Fremont in securing the historic site of Fort 
Stephenson as a park, the library board paid 
nine thousand dollars towards the purchase 
of the square now occupied by the Library 
Building and the City Hall, and known as 
Fort Stephenson Park. The board became 
part owners of the same, and have erected 
their building on a portion mutually agreed 
upon. 

In January, 1878, a communication was 
received from the president of the board (at 
that time President of the United, States), 
suggesting the propriety of erecting a library 
building during the ensuing summer. After 
full consideration of the matter at several 
meetings, on the 14th of April, 1878, a 
building committee was appointed, 
consisting of E. Bushnell, R. P. Buckland 
and William E. Haynes. Under their 
direction the building was erected during the 
summer and autumn, at a cost of six 
thousand three hundred and sixty-nine 
dollars and thirty-one cents. Early in the 
year 1879 the library was re-moved from 
Birchard Hall to the new building. 

The building is provided with a spacious 
gallery, which is used as a museum, and now 
contains many articles of interest secured 
through the kindness of ex-President Hayes, 
Hon. Mahlon Chance, Rev. A. Phelps, of 
Painesville, Mrs. Judge Ferris, of 
Washington, District of Columbia, and 
others. Room is devoted to 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



469 



such articles as may belong to the Pioneer 
Association of Sandusky county. 

To the present writing (October, 1881) no 
changes have taken place in the board of 
directors, except such as have resulted from 
changes in the mayoralty of the city. The 
position has been occupied by J. S. Van 
Ness, Charles H. Bell and E. Loudensleger. 
The librarians have been Jessie E. 
McCulloch, Miss F. G. McCulloch, and Mrs. 
Hattie Ross, the present incumbent (October, 
1881). 

The number of books in the library in June, 
1880, including public documents, was six 
thousand and seventy-five. The number 
drawn during the year preceding June 1, 
1880, was sixteen thousand four hundred and 
eighty-five. 

The whole square of Fort Stephenson Park 
is in process of improvement under the 
direction of the city's board of park 
commissioners. The library building is 
heated by steam conveyed through under- 
ground pipes from the boiler of the city Hall 
building. 

The financial condition of the library is 
such that current expenses can hereafter be 
met, and additions of from three to five 
hundred volumes can be annually made. 

CITY PARKS. 

Towns, like individuals, during the period 
of early growth, should prepare for the 
contingencies of full maturity. Villages, 
surrounded by or rather scattered over 
spacious commons, do not need places of 
outdoor resort and amusement. But far 
different is it with a city whose inhabitants 
are compelled to spend the day in close 
rooms or dusty shops. It is highly important 
that for such attractive resorts should be 
provided where an occasional hour can be 
spent in health-giving exercise and the 
indulgence of aesthetic appetite. 

Fort Stephenson, the most finely situa- 



ted and most interesting of Fremont's four 
parks, occupies the ground included in the 
old stockade. The history of its purchase has 
been given in a previous chapter. The site is 
naturally elevated, and the improvement of 
surrounding streets has made it necessary to 
construct an abutting wall on all four sides. 
This improvement was completed in 1881 at 
a large outlay of money. The library building 
stands near the western side, the city hall at 
the northeast corner, and heavy stone 
stairways at each of the other corners 
leading to circling walks. In the centre 
stands mounted "Old Bess," an enduring 
monument of an heroic day. This old cannon 
has often spoken 

What bloody carnage then befell 
The foes of great Ohio. 

She was returned to Fremont in 1852, 
through the efforts of B. J. Bartlett. At the 
2d of August celebration of that year a local 
poet apostrophised as follows: 

Perhaps like Hamlet's ghost you've come 
This day, to celebrate the fame 
Of Croghan's honored, worthy name — 
The hero of Ohio. 

Court-House Park occupies the square 
opposite the court-house. This space was set 
apart for a park mainly by Piatt Brush, and is 
so recorded in the Brush addition to the town 
of Lower Sandusky, made in 1840. Two 
small or fractional lots have since been 
added to the original reservation, making the 
park co-extensive with the square. The tract 
is enclosed by a substantial fence, and is 
well shaded by thrifty maples. A band stand 
and speakers' stand for public meetings have 
been placed near the centre. 

Two other parks are the gifts of Sardis 
Birchard. One is a small three-cornered tract 
at the corner of Buckland and Birchard 
avenues, and named Diamond Park. The 
other is an important addition to the public 
property of the city. The tract is large 
enough for any public gathering, and is 
highly favored 



470 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



in respect to topography. It is well shaded by 
native forest trees, and already possesses 
many of the elements of an attractive, quiet 
resort. Its location is in the extreme western 
part of the city, far removed from the 
annoying bustle of business, but within easy 
walking distance from any of the upper 
avenues. 

These parks are annually growing in value 
as the city grows up around them. All except 
one have been donations of liberal spirited 
citizens for the public good. The other was 
fortunately purchased at a low sum, 
considering its commanding location and 
proximity to the business centre of the city. 

STREETS AND STREET IMPROVEMENTS. 

The city in general is laid out in squares, 
with streets of convenient width. It was, of 
course, impossible to adhere to rigid 
regularity in this particular, on account of 
the turnpike angling through the center in 
one direction, and the river in another. Few 
of the streets are numbered. Nearly all bear 
historic names. The names of the two chief 
commanders on Fort Stephenson day are 
perpetuated in the names of the streets 
passing the two points of attack, Croghan on 
the north and Garrison on the south. The 
most beautiful avenue leading westward 
bears the name of a man who spent fifty 
years of his life here, and who proved his 
town love by bequeathing to the city's 
interests, and for the use of her citizens, 
more than seventy thousand dollars' worth of 
property. One of the branches of Birchard 
avenue is Buckland avenue, named in honor 
of a man yet living, the story of whose life is 
told elsewhere. 

On the opposite side of the city are Justice 
street and Rawson avenue. Many other 
streets and avenues are named in honor of 
historical characters or honored citizens. 

Nothing gives a town so much freshness 



and beauty as well shaded streets. A fertile 
soil has contributed to the rapid growth of 
trees in all parts of the city. Almost every 
street and avenue is fringed with an 
unbroken line of maples on both sides. Much 
credit is due in this connection to General R. 
P. Buckland, who set a worthy example and 
followed it with influential' precept. 

Croghan street is travelled more by heavy 
vehicles than any other highway in the city. 
It was found necessary, a few years ago, to 
substitute for ordinary lime-stone 
macadamizing more substantial paving 
material. In 1874 the council resolved to 
pave this street with Medina (New York) 
stone, and provide for effectual sewerage. 
The paving was completed at a cost of 
twenty-four thousand dollars. 

FIRE DEPARTMENT.* 

The first effort in this direction was an 
ordinance passed by the town council May 
12, 1843, when R. P. Buckland was mayor, 
and David E. Field recorder. It was en-titled 
"An ordinance relating to fire buckets." By 
this ordinance owners and occupants were 
required to procure for each house a leather 
bucket, holding not less than two and a half 
gallons; and to keep it at or near the front 
door of the house, for the use of the 
inhabitants in case of fire, and to be used for 
no other purpose. The initials of the owner's 
name were required to be painted on the 
outside of the bucket, in plain letters. This 
ordinance was promptly obeyed, and for a 
time these black leather buckets formed a 
conspicuous appendage to every house. 

March 13, 1844, under the administration 
of the same mayor and recorder, an 
ordinance was passed "To organize the fire 
department;" that is, a hook and ladder 
company. 

On the 26th of the same month, the same 
mayor, recorder, and trustees ap- 

* Written by Hon. Homer Everett. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



471 



pointed Stephen C. Smith chief engineer, 
Robert Caldwell first assistant, Michael 
Huffman second assistant. 

Under this ordinance a hook and ladder 
company was organized, which did service 
until 1853, a period of about ten years. 

An engine to be worked by hand was 
contracted for in January, 1851, and on the 
3d of March, 1853, an ordinance was passed 
to organize engine company number one, 
and hook and ladder company number one. 

The old organization gave place to the 
new. 

During the time of this purchase and the 
organization of these companies, Brice J. 
Bartlett was mayor, and T. P. Finefrock was 
recorder of the village, and Mayor Bartlett 
was zealous and efficient in bringing about 
the organization. 

After the great fire of 1835 in New York, 
premiums were offered by insurance com- 
panies for plans of steam fire engines. In 
1841 one was built from plans by Mr. 
Hodges, but it was too heavy and was finally 
abandoned. The honor of a successful 
invention was reserved (as many other great 
affairs are) for an Ohio man. 

Early in 1853, and probably about the time 
we purchased our hand engine, A. B. Latta, 
of Cincinnati, introduced his steam fire 
engine into successful operation in the 
Queen City. 

July 5, 1865, the city council, namely, A. 
J. Harris, George Williams, Oscar Ball, 
Charles Thompson, and Frederick Fabing; D. 
W. Krebs, recorder; H: Everett, mayor, 
passed an ordinance authorizing F. I. Norton 
to buy a steam fire engine, subject to the 
approval of the council. 

This movement resulted in the purchase of 
the steamer which was named McPherson, 
and a quantity of hose which was de-livered, 
tested, and accepted about the 1st of October 
following. The cost of engine and hose 
amounted to about six thousand 



dollars. This engine was almost destroyed 
when the engine house burned, but was 
repaired or made over and is now in service. 

January 6, 1874, the city council bought 
what is now known as steam fire engine 
number one, manufactured by Clapp & 
Jones, for four thousand dollars. 

The council, at this time, consisted of 
Jacob Bauman, Fred Fabing, George 
Greiner, James Kridler, Joseph Stuber, and 
F. J. Geibel; E. F. Dickinson, mayor. ' The 
hand engine has for several years been on 
the east side of the river. Until 1870 each 
engine was managed by a separate company, 
and all were volunteers. 

In the year 1870 the department was 
reorganized and all the engines and com- 
panies were placed in the charge of a chief 
engineer, E. H. Underhill, who has since 
remained in charge, except a short time 
when Peter Stine was chief, and an-other 
when Captain M. E. Tyler was chief 
engineer. 

In 1872 the east side company was 
merged. It consisted of about thirty men who 
had been paid one dollar and a-half each, for 
every fire they attended. 

The present organization consists of 
twenty men, including officers-one chief, 
and one first, and one second assistant chief. 
The men are paid five dollars per month, and 
the chief one hundred dollars a year. 

The total cost to the city .for maintaining 
the fire department now, after deducting 
earnings of the horses at outside service, is 
about one thousand five hundred dollars a 
year. 

The steam engines are kept together, well 
stored and cared for in the basement of the 
City Hall building. 

Insurance agents and firemen from abroad 
say this is the cheapest and most efficient 
organization in the State. These excellencies 
are largely to be accredited to 



472 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the tact, steadiness, and energy of the 
present worthy chief, E. H. Underhill. 

This brief outline enables us at once to see 
the progress made in means to resist the 
destroying element, and prevent the 
destruction of life and property. We have 
progressed from the leather bucket to-the 
steam fire engine in thirty-five years. 
Though we may be so fortunate as to have 
no fires, still it will be wise to maintain the 
organization, for no one can tell how soon it 
may be needed. Again, the expense is fully 
compensated in easier and cheaper insurance 
on our property, resulting from our ability to 
cope with fire if it does occur. 

The duties of a fireman are akin to those of 
the soldier. He encounters privation, hard 
labor, and danger, for the benefit of others 
for little pay. His service is in a degree 
patriotic, and he seeks his reward in the 
sense of doing good and hoping to be 
honored by those he serves. 

The foregoing is a brief history of the fire 
department as it stood in 1879. On the 25th 
day of October, 1881, we find many 
improvements and additions which greatly 
facilitate the working of the department, and 
improve its promptness on call. There are 
now two steam fire engines in the town, one 
manufactured by Clapp & Jones, and the 
other made by Button & Son. Two thousand 
feet of hose are constantly kept dry and in 
good order. Four hose carts are always 
ready, as is also a fine hook and ladder 
truck, well furnished with excellent 
extension ladders. There are four sets of 
swinging harness, so arranged and hung on 
each side of the tongue of the carriages and 
engines to be moved, that when the horse 
takes his place the harness drops upon him, 
and he is buckled in and hitched in a 
moment. 

The steam fire engines are constantly, day 
and night, kept heated with steam up 



to a pressure of from five to ten pounds to 
the square inch. There is no hose-tower in 
which to dry the hose of this department, and 
for a long time, especially in winter and 
rainy weather, much difficulty was 
encountered in keeping the hose in order and 
preserving the sections ready at all times for 
use. 

Dr. Charles F. Reiff, the present efficient 
chief of the department, has obviated the 
difficulty in drying and preserving the hose 
by an ingenious invention of his own. The 
apparatus consists of a small boiler, which 
generates steam, heats an air chamber, and 
forces the hot air through the hose when it is 
screwed on to an attachment tube the size of 
the hose. With this contrivance, the hose are 
kept in good order, and are well preserved, 
ready for use at all times. The same chief has 
invented an ingenious method of kindling 
fire under the boiler the moment it moves, 
without the aid of a hand to look after it. 
This is done by two small vials of chemicals 
inserted in an auger-hole in a block of wood 
and placed under the kindling and coal. The 
vials are surrounded by a cord, which is 
attached to a chain fastened to the floor by a 
staple or rivet in the rear of the steamer. The 
moment the steamer is moved forward the 
cord breaks the vials, and a powerful 
combustion is caused by the mingling of the 
chemicals within them, and the fire is 
strongly burning in an instant. These 
inventions, with many conveniences 
introduced by Chief Reiff, have greatly 
improved the fire department of Fremont. 

The department now keeps and uses four 
black horses, which are well kept in a room 
adjoining that in which the engines are 
stored, and always ready. 

At the present time the force of men 
engaged in the fire department of the city, 
and their pay, is as follows: Charles F. Rieff, 
chief of department, salary one hun- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



473 



dred. dollars per year; A. M. June, engineer, 
salary one hundred dollars per year; John 
Fend (who is also assistant chief), William 
Lang (stoker), George Fend, Robert F. 
Hidber, Frank Myers, George Grable, 
Stephen Cook, Ed Schwartz, Charles Miller, 
John Donaho, William Burgess, Charles 
Bump, and Philip Dutt, the whole force 
consisting of seventeen men. These minute- 
men are paid one dollar and fifty cents for 
each fire they attend, and thus far have 
proved 



prompt and efficient under the present or- 
ganization. 

The alarm bell over the city hall is so 
arranged that it can be rung by cords on both 
the inside and outside of the engine-room. 
The engine-room has also connection by 
telephone with every part of the city. These, 
with a published and posted signal for 
alarms, enables the people and the 
department to act with great promptness and 
efficiency whenever the devouring element 
makes its appearance. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



FREMONT— PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



Village Schools and Teachers — Graded Schools and School Officers. 



THE first school-house in Fremont was 
erected about the year 1816, on the site 
of the present High School building, a few 
rods west of Fort Stephenson (then 
standing) and within three years after the 
heroic defence of that fort by Colonel 
Croghan. 

It was constructed of rough, unhewn logs, 
cut from the surrounding trees and hastily 
put together by the joint efforts of the early 
settlers. Oiled paper took the place of glass 
in the windows, and the seats were of the 
most primitive construction. It was replaced 
in 1817 by a more substantial structure, 
erected on the same site, fronting east, and 
built of hewn logs, with some such 
improvements as glass windows, a row of 
desks around the walls, and a blazing fire- 
place at the eastern extremity. 

* Contributed to the Centennial Educational Volume 
published by the State authorities. 



TEACHERS.* 

In recording the names of such of the early 
teachers of our common schools as we have 
been able to find, we may mention Mr. 
Jocelyn, Dr. Gooding, Miss Beebe, Mr. 
Bradley, Dr. Brainard, and Ezra and Justus 
Williams; but we cannot name them in 
regular order from 1819 to 1828, except E. 
B. Johnson and Mr. Simms, who taught in 
1824 and 1825. 

During the winter of 1818-19 a select 
school was taught by Mrs. Lysander C. Ball, 
in one of the rooms of old Fort Stephenson, 
and she says that one of her pupils was an 
Indian boy, whose capacity for learning was 
quite equal to that of her brightest scholars, 
and he was so considered by the rest, and 
respected accordingly. Mrs. Ball was born 
February 15, 1800, and is still living (1881) 
in her 

* What is said under this head is the contribution of 
Dr. Thomas McCune. 



474 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



old home near Fremont; a well-preserved old 
lady, cheerful, kind-hearted, and highly 
respected by the whole community. 

Samuel Crowell, from Virginia, was 
engaged in the common schools in 1828 and 
1829; he was a fine teacher and a very 
worthy man. He was afterwards twice 
elected sheriff of Sandusky county. 

Edson Goit came next, who taught in 1830 
and 1831; he then studied law, was admitted 
to the Bar in 1833, and died at Bowling 
Green in 1879. He was a man of superior 
ability and leaves an honorable record. 

Wilson M. Stark was engaged in teaching 
from 1836 to 1839 inclusive; he was then 
appointed postmaster, and afterwards elected 
county treasurer for four years, and then 
county superintendent of schools; he was 
highly respected as a fine scholar and 
teacher, a thorough business man, a 
gentleman of strict integrity, and thoroughly 
qualified for every position he was called to 
fill; he died, in 1864, honored and loved by 
all. 

Horace E. Clark, after teaching a number 
of years, was elected county surveyor seven 
years, and county auditor four years; he died 
at Lower Sandusky, and is remembered as a 
very worthy citizen. 

One of the most prominent and efficient 
pioneer teachers of Sandusky county was 
John W. Case, who came to Lower Sandusky 
about the year 1834, and served the people 
as teacher for about ten years with eminent 
success, and he has always stood so high in 
the estimation of this community, as a 
scholar, teacher, and Christian gentleman, 
that we feel assured our readers will justify 
us in presenting to them an epitome of his 
history, which we clip from a report of the 
proceedings of the Muskingum Methodist 
Protestant conference in 1877. 

The committee on obituaries reported 



touching the life and death of Rev. John W. 
Case as follows: 

WHEREAS, Death has visited our conference during 
the past year and removed from our midst one of our 
pioneers, as well as a revered father of the church; and 

WHEREAS, We believe that the name and services of 
such a minister of Christ should not be forgotten, 
therefore, 

Resolved, That we, as a conference, join in recording 
the following facts in regard to the deceased: Rev. John 
W. Case was born in October, I808, in Orange county, 
New York. He was converted and united with the Baptist 
church in his sixteenth year. He was married in August, 
1829, to Miss Rachel M. Bylia of New York city. He 
taught school in Georgia, New York city, Rochester, 
Adams' Basin, and Lower Sandusky. When he moved to 
Ohio, he united with the Methodist Protestant church. In 
1839 he was licensed to preach; and in 1841 he was 
admitted into the itineracy. He preached and labored on 
the following circuits and stations: Bellevue, Bucyrus, 
Coshocton, Pleasant Hill, Steubenville, Vienna, Mount 
Pleasant, Belmont, Zanesville, Pennsville, Wellsville, 
Cambridge, Pisgah, Otsego, Huntingdon, Richwood, and 
Lewistown. On all these fields of labor Brother Case 
was highly esteemed, and he still lives in the memories 
and hearts of these people. His dear companion was a 
true wife, a loving mother, and a sympathizing co- 
laborer; she died August 24, 1874, in great peace. He 
was again married to Mrs. Mary Conning, of York, 
Medina county, Ohio, June, 1876, with whom he lived in 
harmony until March, 1899, the day of his death. He was 
buried at Hartwood, Tuscarawas county, by the side of 
his first wife. Thus rests a veteran of the cross. 

To which we append the following poetic 
address delivered by Dr. Thomas McCune, 
of Fremont, Ohio, at the r& union of the 
John W. Case association held at the court- 
house during the annual pioneer meeting, 
September 6, 1881. 

REMINISCENCES OF LOWER SANDUSKY. 

Dear schoolmates, do I dream once more, 
Or am I as in the days of yore, 

Again in Lower Sandusky? 
It's now past forty years, you know, 
Since 'round these streets we used to go 
With youthful feelings all aglow, 

In that old Lower Sandusky. 
Those times were grand, those girls and boys 
Were happy in their youthful joys, 

In good old Lower Sandusky. 
Our minds were free from anxious care, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



475 



Our sports and pastimes all might share, 
And roguish mischief was not rare, 

In that old Lower Sandusky. 

That old brick school-house where we met 
Is sacred in our memories yet, 

In good old Lower Sandusky. 
The log, and stone-house on the hill, 
Come back in memory sacred still 
To all our hearts with vivid thrill, 

From that old Lower Sandusky, 

There we were wont from day to day 
To con our lessons, laugh and play, 

In that old Lower Sandusky; 
And when at last our school was out 
We bounded homeward with a shout, 
And people knew we were about 

That good old Lower Sandusky. 

John W. Case, upon the hill, 

Our youthful memories tried to fill 

In that old Lower Sandusky, 
With Webster, Daboll, Kirkham's rules, 
To wisely shun the fate of fools, 
And learn the truths then taught in schools, 

In good old Lower Sandusky. 

A generation's passed away, 
Since we were happy in our play 

In that old Lower Sandusky; 
But we are spared to meet once more, 
And greet each other as before, 
E're we go hence forever more, 

From dear old Lower Sandusky. 

Then let us now recall once more, 

The names and friends we knew of yore 

In that old Lower Sandusky, 
Miranda, Orrin, Joe and Sam, 
Miss Emily Hunt and Sally Ann, 
And Casper Smith, the furniture man, 

All lived in Lower Sandusky. 

Miss Nancy Justice, Minerva, too, 
With Chauncey Roberts, a jolly crew, 

Lived then in Lower Sandusky. 
Miss Sarah Bell and Williams Joe, 
With Mary Case and Catharine-O., 
And Kridler Jim, now white as snow, 

Belonged to Lower Sandusky. 

George Momenne and Tristam Hull, 
With Capper Tom, of mischief full, 

In that old Lower Sandusky. 
George Loveland, always on the wing, 
Ed. Hawkins, of the genuine ring, 
And Leppelman the jewelry king, 

All boys of Lower Sandusky. 

Pierre Beaugrand and Betsey Brainard; 
Nancy, too, and Washington Maynard, 

Were here in Lower Sandusky; 



Miss Sylvia Roberts, Shannon Jim, 
The boys and girls respected him; 
And Mary Hafford, neat and trim, 

All there in Lower Sandusky. 

Miss Hannah Bates and Delia Ann, 
Nett Shepardson and Hafford Sam, 

Were there in Lower Sandusky; 
Orland Smith and Thomas Nyce, 
With Eveline and William Rice, 
With other girls and boys as nice, 

Were here in Lower Sandusky. 

Almira Hafford, Frances Case 
Were often foremost in the race 

To spell in Lower Sandusky; 
But Charles B. Tyler, Herbster Bill, 
Would manage with consummate skill 
To come out best and beat them still, 

In jolly old Sandusky. 

Lodusky Everett, now on high, 
Maria Bell, above the sky, 

Look back to Lower Sandusky. 
Miss Nancy Tracy, Ami, too, 
Who sealed their friendship firm and true, 
With love of deep indellible hue, 

Down there in Lower Sandusky. 

Nor is this list complete at all 
Without Thad and Alvira Ball, 

In good old Lower Sandusky; 
Dick Beaugrand and Orland C, 
Belle Nyce and Sweet Alvira P., 
With Betsey Maynard, full of glee, 

In that old Lower Sandusky. 

Lucinda Cowden, Hawkins Jane, 
Beery and Moore, of Hessville fame, 

Not far from Lower Sandusky; 
Clarissa Meeker, John McNath, 
Ann Olmsted, often full of laugh, 
Is now on Governor Foster's staff, 

Short distance from Sandusky. 

Our much-respected Homer E. 
Still honors this society, 

That comes from Lower Sandusky. 
Jim Hadley, seldom out of tune, 
Miss Harrington, and Tom McCune 
Who got the mitten one night in June 

In naughty old Sandusky. 

Almira Brainard, Charley Bell, 
And more my memory could tell, 

Who lived in Lower Sandusky, 
But time forbids; I must be brief, 
For fear I bring you all to grief, 
And sleep should come to your relief, 

To dream of Lower Sandusky. 

How many things, we think of yet, 
Those spelling schools we can't forget. 



476 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



In good old Lower Sandusky; 
For, after we'd spelled down, you know, 
The girls were glad to take a beau, 
And walk with only two in a row, 

Down there in Lower Sandusky. 

And this suggests more winter sports, 
According to our old reports, 

In good old Lower Sandusky. 
The sleigh ride with its jolly whoa! 
The laugh and light fantastic toe, 
Till near the morning home we'd go, 

To jolly old Sandusky. 

And by the way, we'd sing our song, 
And never thought the road too long 

To jolly old Sandusky. 
And as we went they'd hear us sing, 
Until we made the welkin ring, 
For we were happy as a king, 

Sleighing to Lower Sandusky. 

But joys of youth with us are pass'd, 
For youthful pleasures could not last 

In that old Lower Sandusky; 
But we will not begrudge them to 
Our children, and their children who 
Have lived and loved as we used to, 

In good old Lower Sandusky. 

But Lower Sandusky's pass'd away, 
And with it, too, our joyous days, 

That good old Lower Sandusky. 
And nearly all our school-mates, too, 
Have bid that good old town adieu, 
And gone to realms of brighter hue 

We trust, than Lower Sandusky. 

Our teacher, too, has gone to rest, 
Among the mansions of the blest, 

Far from old Lower Sandusky. 
At last may we, who linger here, 
In that bright realm of Heaven appear; 
But while we live, we'll still revere 

Our old home, Lower Sandusky. 

Those who were pupils of the old log 
school-house remember very distinctly the 
deep ravine that used to run just south of the 
present High School building, in whose 
waters, swollen by recent rains, they used to 
play; also the graves of the British officers 
near by, and a mound which marked the 
common burial place of the British soldiers 
that fell in the battle of Fort Stephenson, 
over and among which they were 
accustomed to ramble in their school-day 
sports. This school-house was 



also the church and court-house. In it the 
teacher taught, the missionary preached, and 
the judge expounded the law and 
administered justice. 

The studies pursued in the earlier schools 
were reading, writing, arithmetic, a little 
grammar, and very little or no geography, 
Among the text books were Pike's Arith- 
metic, Murray's Grammar, the introduction 
to the English Reader, the English Reader, 
and the sequel to the same, together with 
Webster's Spelling Book. 

The schools were supported entirely by 
subscription. 

The old log school-house stood until the 
fall of 1834, when it was burned down, as it 
was considered unsafe for school purposes, a 
cholera patient having died in it the previous 
August. In its stead a rough stone building 
was erected, containing at first one room, 
and eventually two. This remained until after 
the organization of the schools on the graded 
or union school plan, and the erection of the 
new brick building in 1852-53. The same 
year a brick school-house was erected on the 
east side of the river, on Howland street, 
which continued to be used for school 
purposes for nearly thirty years, when it was 
sold to the city council for an engine house. 

The stone school-house on the west side of 
the river and the brick on the east side 
supplied the school wants for many years, 
although before 1850 additional buildings 
were rented on both sides of the river. 

During these years many select schools 
were taught in rented buildings. 

Dr. Dio Lewis, who has since obtained a 
National notoriety, taught school in 1843-44, 
in the old Exchange building, north of the 
Kessler hotel. The school was incorporated 
as the Diocletian Institute. Mr. Lewis not 
meeting with sufficient encouragement, 
abandoned the project after about two years' 
trial. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



477 



Horace E. Clark taught for several years in 
the public schools. 

GRADED SCHOOLS. 

In January, 1850, a public meeting of the 
citizens of Fremont was held at the court- 
house, for the purpose of taking preliminary 
steps toward the organization of the schools 
on the graded or union-school plan, under 
the State law of 1849. Akron had led the way 
in the establishment of graded schools, under 
a special law passed at the instance of that 
town. Fremont was not slow to improve the 
opportunity afforded by the general law of 
1849, whose passage by the Legislature had 
been induced by the favorable reception of 
the Akron experiment. Among the active 
supporters of such reorganization of the 
schools were Dr. L. Q. Rawson, Rev. H. 
Lang, General Buckland, Hon. Homer 
Everett, Judge James Justice, Sardis 
Birchard, and Horace E. Clark. The question 
was submitted to a vote of the people 
February 2, 1850. The measure met with 
active opposition, and the election was, 
perhaps, the most exciting local election in 
the history of the city, electioneering 
carriages being brought out to gather in 
voters as on great political occasions. The 
measure of reorganization on the graded 
school plan was carried by a majority of 
forty-four in a total poll of two hundred and 
eighteen votes. 

The school record from this date, 1850, for 
a period of twelve years, is unfortunately 
lost, and we are therefore obliged to depend 
for information relative to the early 
organization of the schools very largely 
upon the memory of men, together with such 
documents as poll books and the occasional 
reports of treasurers and teachers found 
among the papers preserved. 

On the 14th of February, 1850, the fol- 
lowing gentlemen were elected members of 
the first board of education: Jesse 



Olmsted, Rev. H. Lang, Homer Everett, J. B. 
G. Downs, D. Capper, and J. H. Hafford. 

Mr. Olmsted had been an active and even 
violent opponent of the new departure in the 
school organization, and had done what he 
could to defeat the measure. The friends of 
new organization, as a stroke of policy, 
determined to elect him a member of the 
board, of which he was chosen president. He 
gracefully accepted the situation, and 
became a warm supporter of the schools. 

The first board of education proceeded to 
take measures for the erection of a new 
building for the better accommodation of the 
schools. There were, at this time, five 
schools-two in the stone school-house, one 
in the brick on the east side, one in the frame 
building, still standing just east of the 
bridge, known in the records as the Bridge 
school-house, and another in the basement of 
the old Methodist Episcopal church, the 
latter two being rented for school purposes. 

The new school building, containing four 
rooms, and costing between six and eight 
thousand dollars, was not completed so as to 
be ready, for the schools until the fall of 
1853. Three different appropriations were 
made for the erection of this building, the 
first being carried with scarcely any 
opposition, and the last by a small majority 
only. 

It does not appear that any attempt was 
made to grade or classify the schools for two 
or three years subsequent to the organization 
under the law of 1849, probably from the 
want of suitable accommodations. 

The following amounts were paid for 
tuition for the fall term of three months in 
1851: Rev. F. S. White, one hundred and 
twenty dollars; Horace E. Clark, ninety 
dollars; Miss R. P. Mitchener, Sarah G. 
Downs and Elizabeth Ryder, 



478 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



forty-five dollars each. F. S. White, before 
his removal to Fremont, had been a teacher 
in Cleveland, and an active and warm 
supporter of Superintendent Frieze in the 
organization of the schools of that place, 
contributing articles to the Cleveland Plain 
Dealer in furtherance of their interests and 
the interests of the public schools in general. 
His salary of forty dollars per month was 
considered by many as extravagant in its 
character. It was the largest amount that had 
ever been paid. He only taught one term. 

In a report of one of the male teachers, in 
1853, we find the statement that three- 
fourths of the pupils lose, at least, one-sixth 
of their time, or one hour every day, in 
consequence of tardiness. Teachers of today, 
who rightly enough feel that they have cause 
to complain of the tardiness of their pupils, 
can gather consolation from this statement of 
twenty-three years ago. 

The schools were first graded when the 
new school building was occupied, in the 
fall of 1853. Horace E. Clark, a former 
teacher in the schools, and at that time a 
member of the board of education, and 
county auditor, exercised a general super- 
vision over the schools during this school 
year. B. W. Lewis taught in the high school, 
S. Treat in the west, and J. W. Hiett in the 
east side grammar schools. There is no 
report for this year. 

The following year, 1854-55, J. W. Hiett 
acted as principal of the high school, and 
Superintendent B. W. Lewis and S. Treat 
having charge of the grammar schools, and 
Julia Kridler, Helen Morgan and Mary 
Tichneor being teachers in the primary and 
secondary schools. 

The report of this year, the first general 
report ever made, shows a total enumeration 
of eight hundred and sixty-four, a total 
enrollment of five hundred and ninety-two, 
and an average daily attendance of 



three hundred and twelve, or fifty-three per 
cent, of the entire enrollment. The salaries 
paid were forty dollars per month for the 
high school, thirty-five dollars in the 
grammar schools, and twenty dollars per 
month for the lady teachers in the primary 
and secondary grades. 

There were at this time six schools, re- 
spectively styled the high school, the west 
side and east side grammar schools, the west 
side secondary, and the west side and the 
east side primary schools, four of which 
occupied the new school building. 

The studies pursued in addition to the 
common branches were, according to the 
reports, philosophy, physiology and 
chemistry. In the fall of 1855 George A. 
Starkweather was employed as 

superintendent, and his wife as grammar 
school teacher, at a joint salary of one 
thousand dollars. 

J. B. Loveland taught in the east side 
grammar school. Mr. Loveland continued an 
efficient teacher in the grammar and high 
schools from this time until the year 1864. 
Mr. Starkweather remained in charge of the 
school for two years. History, algebra and 
Latin are reported among the additional 
studies pursued. 

C. C. Woolard, the present principal of one 
of the Cincinnati schools, succeeded Mr. 
Starkweather as superintendent in the fall of 
1857, holding the position two years, at a 
salary of eight hundred dollars per year. 
From their correspondence the board seemed 
anxious to obtain all the information 
possible from other towns of the State 
relative to the management of graded 
schools. At this time there were eight 
schools, four in the central building, one on 
Wood street, two on Howland street, and one 
on Croghanville hill, three new one-story 
buildings having been erected about this 
time. In 1858 it became necessary to rent the 
Presbyterian session room for the use of the 
high school. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



479 



The superintendent complains to the board 
of the irregular attendance of teachers upon 
the teachers' meetings. This is the first 
reference we find, in the history of the 
schools, to teachers' meetings for 
professional instruction. They were held on 
Saturday, and attendance upon them had 
been rendered obligatory by action of the 
board. 

That this period was not one of perfectly 
harmonious action and good feeling is 
evident from the tone of the letter of Don. A. 
Pease, in which he speaks of the excited 
state of the public mind in school matters, 
and rather reluctantly, in consequence 
thereof, accepts the position of 
superintendent for the year 1859-60, at a 
salary of seven hundred dollars. 

Mr. Pease discharged the duties of su- 
perintendent for one year only. No general 
annual report seems to have been made 
during all these years, since Superintendent 
Hiett's report, nor for the three following 
years, or if made they took no permanent 
shape and have been lost. 

In 1860 the Rev. Dr. Bushnell, resident 
pastor of the Presbyterian, church, was 
elected to the position of superintendent of 
schools at a salary of three hundred dollars 
per year. Mr. Bushnell was a fine classical 
and mathematical scholar. His work was 
exclusively of a supervisory character. He 
did not teach, and in connection with his 
school work continued to discharge his 
ministerial duties. He held the position of 
superintendent, and ably discharged its 
duties for a period of three years. During the 
first year of Mr. Bushnell's administration J. 
B. Loveland taught in the high .school, Mr. 
Sowers in the west side grammar school, and 
J. Burgner in the east side grammar or mixed 
school. In the following year J. Burgner 
taught in the high school, J. B Loveland in 
the grammar school, and F. M. Ginn was 
employed on the east side. Mr. Ginn 



remained connected with the schools, an 
efficient and acceptable grammar school 
teacher, until the year 1870, when he be- 
came superintendent of the schools of Clyde, 
Ohio. In the fall of 1862 G. C. Woolard 
returned to the schools as principal of the 
high school, at a salary of five hundred 
dollars a year; J. B. Loveland continuing in 
the grammar school at a salary of four 
hundred and fifty dollars, F. M. Ginn, at 
three hundred and fifty dollars, and the lady 
teachers generally receiving two hundred 
dollars a year. The Presbyterian session 
room was occupied by the high school, and 
the basement of the Methodist Episcopal 
church was rented for a primary school. This 
was the last year of Mr. Bushnell's superin- 
tendency. He was endeavoring, we learn, to 
bring the schools to a course of study which 
he had marked out for his own guidance, 
something that had not heretofore been done. 
His superintendency closed, however, before 
the work had been thoroughly accomplished. 

The following year, 1863-64, Mr. Woolard 
was first elected principal of the high school, 
and then clothed with the powers of 
superintendent, and an assist-ant teacher for 
the first time employed in the high school. 
Hitherto the superintendent, with the 
exception of the Rev. Mr. Bushnell, had 
been sole principal of the high school, and 
supervision under such circumstances must 
necessarily have been of a nominal 
character. There seems to have been 
considerable friction during this school year, 
in the working of the school machinery in 
the teachers corps, and, as a. natural 
consequence, between board and teachers. 

Toward the close of the year the powers of 
supervision over the schools on the east side 
of the river were conferred temporarily on 
Mr. Ginn. 

Two new school buildings were erected 



480 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



this year, one on John street and one on 
Hickory street. It seem to have been the 
policy of the board, after the erection of the 
central building, to build one-story 
structures, with a view almost solely to local 
accommodations. 

This year terminated Mr. Woolard's 
connection with the schools of Fremont. We 
are disposed to regard him as a gentle-man 
of good ability, and possessed of a large 
fund of valuable information in the theory 
and practice of teaching, especially in the 
lower departments. 

SUPERINTENDENCY OF W. W. ROSS. 

In 1864 W. W. Ross was elected super- 
intendent, his brother Zachary Ross being 
employed in the grammar school, both at a 
joint salary of one thousand one hundred 
dollars, which was increased to one thousand 
two hundred dollars at the close of the first 
term. Miss Kate Patrick was assistant in the 
high school. 

At this time there were ten schools, re- 
spectively styled high, grammar, inter- 
mediate, secondary, and primary. Two of 
these schools occupied rented rooms, 
entirely unsuited to school purposes. There 
was no printed course of study, and in fact 
no definite course of study of any kind, 
especially in the high school, that was 
considered as of a binding character. 

A course of study was marked out during 
the first term, covering a period of eleven or 
twelve years, four years being given to the 
high school. It received the sanction of the 
board, and was published for the guidance of 
teachers and the information of parents. 

The high school studies hitherto pursued 
were, according to the reports, algebra, 
philosophy, physiology, and history, a very 
few pupils having occasionally studied 
geometry, chemistry, and Latin. 

The new course of study embraced, in 
addition to the common branches, algebra, 
geometry, trigonometry, physiology, phys- 



ical geography, philosophy, history, book- 
keeping, botany, chemistry, rhetoric, science 
of government, natural history, astronomy, 
geology, logic, mental and moral 
philosophy, and Latin, the latter being 
optional. 

During the first year the superintendent's 
time was wholly occupied in teaching, the 
work of supervision being effected chiefly 
through teachers' meetings, which were held 
weekly. During the second and third year 
about one hour each day was given to the 
work of supervision. The last term of the 
year 1864-65, Zachary Ross having resigned, 
Mr. Ginn was transferred to the west side, as 
principal of the grammar school, and the east 
side school became one of secondary and 
intermediate grade. 

At the beginning of this school year, 1865- 
66, Miss E. L. Otis, an intermediate teacher, 
was transferred to the high school, a position 
she has continued to fill, either as assistant 
or principal, with marked fidelity and 
success to the present time. 

In June, 1867, Eliza Bushnell graduated 
from the high school. She was the first 
graduate. 

In May, 1866, the question of appro- 
priating sixteen thousand dollars for the 
erection of new school buildings, one on the 
east and one on the west side of the river, 
was submitted to the vote of the people. It 
was carried by a vote of two hundred and 
seven to one hundred and twenty one. These 
buildings, one a two-story and the other a 
three-story structure, were built the 
following year, and first occupied about 
January 1, 1868. 

An additional teacher was first employed 
in the high school at the beginning of the 
school year of 1867-68. This arrangement, 
which thenceforward gave, the su- 
perintendent two-thirds of his time for 
supervision, together with the new school 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



481 



buildings, enabled the schools to start on a 
new and more successful career. 

A German-English school was first es- 
tablished in 1868-69, covering the five lower 
grades. It has been maintained ever since, 
having for several years been in charge of 
Miss E. Augspurber, a teacher of twenty-five 
years' experience. 

None but lady teachers have been em- 
ployed in the English schools since 1870. 
Miss G. A. Lawton, the first lady principal 
of the grammar school, filled the position 
with rare ability for one year. Her successor, 
Miss M. E. Wood, has continued to 
discharge the onerous and responsible duties 
of grammar school principal from that time 
to the present, with such ability, energy, and 
success as few gentlemen could excel. She 
has been assisted most of the time by Mary 
Fanning, a faithful and competent teacher. 

There has as yet been no conscious loss of 
power in the schools, either in discipline or 
in other respects, from the exclusive 
employment of lady teachers. 

In 1873 a new and beautiful two-story 
primary school building was erected on John 
street, at a cost of five thousand dollars, and 
a one-story school-house on John street, and 
another on Hickory street, were sold by the 
board. This was a move in the direction of 
centralization of the schools, rather than 
their isolation. 

In this year, 1873, the schools prepared 
work for the Vienna Exposition, illustrative 
of the work of all the grades, for which they 
received a diploma of merit. 

This same year the board of education, for 
the first time, gave the annual report of the 
schools a more permanent form, by the 
publication of a neat little volume of sixty 
pages, containing the regulations, course of 
study, and report of the superintendent. 

In this report the grades were slightly 
modified, and their nomenclature changed 



from grammar, intermediate, secondary, and 
primary to grammar and primary, four years 
being given to each department, the grades 
being respectively styled A, B, C, and D. 

Shortly after, the number of grades in each 
room was reduced from two to one, as far as 
the scattered state of the school buildings 
made it practicable. These changes, which 
more definitely marked out the work of the 
lower grades, and determined their 
boundaries, resulted in immediate 
improvement in the work of the first six 
years, and a more general advancement in 
the annual promotions. 

More recently these single-grade schools 
have been subdivided into two sections, with 
a view ultimately to have one five months in 
advance of the other, both to be promoted 
annually, and the advanced section of the A 
grammar grade, when promoted to the high 
school, to have the privilege of completing 
the course in three years, or of taking up 
additional studies. 

ATTENDANCE, ETC. 

1855 1865 1875 

Number of pupils enrolled 592 917 950 

Average daily attendance 312 482 643 

Number of teachers 6 12 18 

Number of school-rooms 6 10 14 

Number of weeks in session 36 36 40 

EXPENDITURES. 

1855 1865 1875 

Amount paid teachers $1,530 $3,500 $9,385 

Total expenditures 5,000 13,000 

Value of school property.. 8,000 20,000 50,000 

The apparently small increase in the en- 
rollment of 1875 over 1865 was occasioned 
by the withdrawal of pupils from the public 
schools to attend the new denominational 
schools in the city. The per cent of the total 
enrollment in average daily attendance has 
increased from fifty-three per cent in 1855 
and 1865 to sixty-eight per cent in 1875. 

The management of the schools has grown 
constantly easier, with exceptional periods, 
in different schools. There is 



482 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



not one case of corporal punishment now 
where there were five eight years ago. 

Suspensions have been rarely resorted to, 
too rarely, perhaps, for the interests of the 
schools. The policy has been one of extreme 
caution in setting a boy adrift, even when 
there was small prospect of amendment. It is 
believed there is a general willingness in the 
community to sustain the teacher's authority, 
the cases being exceptional where parents 
seem to regard that the tardiness and 
irregular attendance of their children is no 
one's concern but their own, and that their 
misconduct forfeits none of their school 
rights. 

The recent regulation which puts children 
or parents to the inconvenience of reporting 
to the superintendent or board, in case of 
repeated delinquencies in the matter of 
regular and punctual attendance, is helping 
to lessen these evils. 

The high school course of study, from the 
time it was adopted in 1864, has been a four 
years' course. It has been slightly modified 
by giving two less terms to algebra in the 
second year, and substituting arithmetic in 
its place, and by substituting English 
literature for moral science in the last year of 
the course. 

The present course is: First year, gram- 
mar, algebra, physiology and physical 
geography; second year, algebra, arithmetic, 
philosophy, history, botany, bookkeeping; 
third year, geometry, chemistry, rhetoric, 
zoology and science of government; fourth 
year, trigonometry, astronomy, English 
literature, geology, logic and mental science. 

Latin may be selected in the place of 
grammar and history in the first and second 
years; zoology and mental science in the 
third and fourth years, or pursued conjointly 
with all the studies of the last two years. 

Two years ago the plan was adopted of 
giving to the best scholars among the 



boys promoted to the high school the 
privilege of completing the course in three 
years. This plan has operated admirably, 
such pupils often proving the very best in the 
classes to which they have been advanced. 
The privilege has. not been given to the 
girls. 

The high school has never met with any 
opposition in this city. No larger audiences 
assemble than on commencement occasions. 
It is believed no school is more highly 
appreciated, or more thoroughly fortified in 
the affections of the people. Its efficient 
principal, Miss E. L. Otis, has been 
continuously connected with the school for a 
period of ten years. She was assisted for 
three years by Estelle S. Rawson, a former 
graduate of the schools, and for the last three 
years by Miss M. L. Smith, of Mount 
Holyoke, Massachusetts,, both competent 
teachers. 

Some attention is now paid to the elements 
of natural history in the D grammar grade, 
the elements of botany in the C, of 
physiology in the B, and of physics in the A 
grammar grade. United States history is also 
studied in the A grammar grade, and takes 
the place of geography. Practical language 
lessons form a more important feature than 
formerly in the work of the C and D 
grammar and primary grades. Writing is 
commenced with the first day of school life, 
and an effort is made to give the pupil 
constant daily practice in the use of writ-ten 
language. 

Mental arithmetic, formerly pursued as a 
separate study, is now taught in combination 
with written arithmetic. Effort is made to 
give its analytical processes merited 
attention, and to use them as a key to the 
operations in written arithmetic. Number 
lessons commence with the lowest grade. 

Music and drawing have, at different 
times, received consideration, with varying 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



483 



success. Two years ago L. S. Thompson, of 
Sandusky, was employed as a special teacher 
in drawing, to visit the schools once a 
month, and give instruction to teachers as 
well as pupils, and S. C. Collins, of the same 
place, as a special teacher of music, to visit 
the schools twice a month. Under their 
efficient supervision the schools are making 
commendable progress in these branches. 

One new feature has been introduced into 
the schools, worthy of mention. Practical 
drill in music and literature has been made a 
daily exercise, with excellent results. A 
series of concerts was given at the close of 
the school year 1880 and 1881, which 
showed gratifying proficiency. Burns' and 
Moore's songs were sung with enthusiasm. A 
regular course of reading is being 
encouraged this year as a special feature. 

The following is a list of members of the 
board with the dates of their election, 
beginning with the year following the or- 
ganization, and continuing up to 1872: 

1851 — H. Lang, Homer Everett. 

1852 — Samuel Wilson, Jacob Kridler. 

1853— Dr. L. Q. Rawson, H. E. Clark, C. 
Doncyson. 

1854 — John Younkman, Aaron Loveland. 

1855— Dr. Brainard, H. Lang. 

1856— L. Q. Rawson, John Bell. 

1857— James Justice, R. W. B. McClellan. 

1858 — Thomas Stilwell, Thomas Kelley. 

1859— Isaac Glick, D. L. June. 

1860— James Justice, R. W. B. McClellan. 

1861— H. Everett, H. E. Clark. 

1862 — Ammi Williams, John Flaugher. 

1863 — Colonel Nat Haynes, James Justice. 

1864— H. Everett, J. S. Van Ness. 

1865 — H. R. Shomo, Charles Thompson. 



1866 — C. Doncyson, H. Lesher. 

1867— H. Lang, J. M. Smith. 

1868— John McArdle, J. S. Van Ness. 

1869— C. Doncyson, J. P. Elderkin. 

1870— W. W. Stine, J. Elwell. 

1871— J. S. Van Ness, H. Lang. 

1872— C. Doncyson, A. J. Hale. 

From 1872 to 1876 the board was constituted 
as follows: J. S. Van Ness, presdent; William 
Stine, treasurer; A. J. Hale, secretary; J. Elwell, 
H. Lang, and C. Doncyson. 

The board for 1880-81 were: H. R. Finefrock, 
president; A. J. Hale, secretary; J. P. Thompson, 
treasurer: Jesse S. Van Ness, E. A. Bristol, J. 
Stierwalt. 

Hon. Homer Everett was secretary of the first 
board of education, and has served as secretary 
and president many terms since, contributing 
efficient and judicious service to the schools. 

The Rev. H. Lang, to whose research we are 
indebted for many of the facts of this review, 
was a member of the first board, and C. 
Doncyson was elected in 1853. Both have 
served from twelve to fifteen years, and been 
active, earnest, working members. J. S. Van 
Ness has been a member of the board for ten 
years, and most of the time president, without 
remuneration, giving careful attention to the 
school property and interests of the city. Mr. 
Stine has been an active member and treasurer 
for six years. Under his able management of the 
finances, the board are able to report themselves 
free from debt. 

Mr. Elwell served efficiently for three years as 
secretary. Mr. Hale, the present secretary, is in 
his third term, and has proven himself a liberal 
and efficient member of the board. 

Very much of the efficiency of the schools is 
due to the hearty co-operation the present board 
has extended to the teachers, and the liberal and 
yet judicious 



484 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



manner they have responded to the school 
wants. 

The following gentlemen have served as 
superintendents since the grading of the 
schools in 1853, in the order mentioned: H. 
E. Clark, one year; J. W. Hiett, one year; G. 
A. Starkweather, two years; G. C. Woolard, 
two years; Don A. Pease, one year; Rev. E. 
Bushnell, three years; G. C. Woolard, one 
year; and W. W. Ross, who is in the 
eighteenth year of his superintendency. 

The schools completed, with much labor 
and pains on the part of the teachers, 
fourteen volumes of school work for the 
Centennial Exposition. 

THE PRESENT SUPERINTENDENT. 

W. W. Ross was born at Seville, Medina 
county, Ohio, December 24, 1834. He 
attended the village school until he was 
eleven years old, and then, for a few years, 
enjoyed the advantages of instruction in a 
private or academic school, common in those 
days on the Western Reserve, taught by 
Charles Foster, a graduate of Dartmouth 
college, and a very successful teacher, who 
died during the war of the Rebellion. 

At the age of fourteen he had completed a 
very good course of study, including algebra 
and geometry. 

He attended school little after he was 
sixteen years old, and none after he was 
seventeen, and but nine weeks outside his 
native village. He taught his first school at 
the age of sixteen, at fourteen dollars per 
month. 

He built up a flourishing private or 
academic school, at Spencer, Medina county, 
Ohio. He took charge of this school for four 
or five years, and subsequently, for a like 
period, had charge of the academy in his 
native village. 

He devoted the summer vacation of these 
years to the law, pursuing the study 



in the office of Noble & Palmer, Cleve-land, 
Ohio; also in the office of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Canfield, of the Seventy-second 
Ohio regiment, Medina, Ohio, and with the 
Hon. J. C. Johnson, Seville, Ohio. 

He was admitted to the Medina county Bar 
in 1861. In consequence of indifferent 
health, he did not commence practice. 

His first experience in connection with 
graded schools was at Clyde. He was 
superintendent of the schools of that place 
from 1862 to 1864. In the latter year he was 
elected superintendent of the public schools 
at Fremont, a position he has filled for 
seventeen years, and still occupies. 

Formerly quite active as a political orator, 
he has always taken a lively interest in 
political matters, and was the candidate of 
his party for State school commissioner in 
the year 1871. 

He has filled the position of State school 
examiner for two terms; has served as 
president of the Tri-State Teachers' 
Association, and of the Northwestern Ohio 
State Teachers' Association; has been an 
active institute worker, and a frequent 
contributor to educational journals. 

From earliest childhood more or. less 
familiar with legal proceedings in the office 
of his father, who served as justice of the 
peace almost uninterruptedly for a period of 
thirty years, he early elected the law for his 
chosen profession, and although 

circumstances have led him into another 
field, he has never, perhaps, entirely 
abandoned the thought of ultimately entering 
upon the practice of the law. 

This thought, however has never pre- 
vented his giving his best activities and 
energies to the educational work in which, 
by the judgment of his peers, he has met 
with eminent success. 



CHAPTER XXX. 
RELIGIOUS HISTORY. 



THE Rev. Joseph Badger was an early 
missionary on the Western Reserve. 
After laboring there for a time he connected 
himself with the Synod of Pittsburgh, and in 
1805 made a tour as far west as Michigan. 
June 14, he crossed the Sandusky River, 
swimming his horse by the side of a canoe. 
Here he speaks of meeting the Rev. James 
Hughes, and conferring with the Indian 
chief about preaching. He found a temporary 
home with Mrs. Whittaker, about three 
miles below Lower Sandusky. On his way 
back from Michigan he was at Lower 
Sandusky July 26, and preached to the 
Indians. 

In 18o6, May 13, he ran into Sandusky 
Bay in a boat of three tons burthen, which 
he had himself built. That night, he quaintly 
says, "there being no fuel on shore, we had 
patience for supper." Next day he arrived at 
Mrs. Whittaker's. 

At Lower Sandusky he found the Indians 
gathered together attending to their prophet, 
who was pointing out several of their 
women to be killed as witches. He got 
Crane, the chief, to stop the prophet and 
wait for an interpreter. His diary is not very 
full, but the impression left on the reader's 
mind is that he succeeded in saving the 
women from death. Here an Indian named 
Eunouqu, but called by the whites Barnett, 
was converted. Mr. Badger often afterward 
speaks of him as a steadfast and honest 
Christian. 

At Lower Sandusky Mr. Badger and Mr. 
Hughes not only preached to the Indians, 
but they used to take their own 



: Rev. Doctor E. Bushnell. 



horses and help them plow and draw logs 
and rails for building. In this work he was 
opposed by some traders and government 
officers, but by persuading the Indians to 
avoid the use of strong drink he broke up the 
traders and they went off. 

In September, 1809, there were rumors of 
a war with England. Mr. Badger appointed a 
meeting for the Indians in Lower Sandusky, 
at which he made an address dissuading 
them from taking any part in the war if it 
should come. 

The labors of this missionary were of 
varied character. He speaks of making his 
own boat, of making a plow for Mrs. 
Whittaker, to replace one that had been 
broken, and the following are characteristic 
extracts from his journal: 

Spent part of the week hoeing in the garden, digging 
for water, writing letters, and administering to the sick. 

Friday: rode to the upper town, and preached a short 
lecture to the black people. Bled three women. 

Monday: returned home and spent most of the week 
in administering to the sick; made a last and a pair of 
shoes. 

Mr. Badger died in 1847, at Perrysburg, in 
the ninetieth year of his age. A few years 
ago the members of the Presbyterian synod 
made a contribution of money to place a 
stone at his grave. 

Mr. Badger's labors were largely for the 
benefit of the Indians. It was only after a 
long interval that a Presbyterian church was 
organized here. Before this took place 
religious worship had been occasion-ally 
had here after the forms of this church. This 
worship had been conducted, and the Lord's 
Supper administered, 



485 



486 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



by the Rev. James Robinson, a clergyman 
from Southern Ohio. These services were 
held in a log school-house, which stood upon 
or near the site now occupied by the high 
school building. No organization was 
effected until Saturday, November 30, 1833, 
when Rev. Messrs. Enoch Conger, 
Xenophon Betts, and Ellery Bas-com met 
with those interested to form a church. This 
meeting was held in the court-house, the 
building which, remodeled, is now the 
dwelling of the pastor of the Lutheran 
church. 

Twenty-two persons joined in constituting 
the church. All but two had been members of 
churches in other places, and most of them 
had regular letters of dismission. 

The ministers who formed the church were 
all members of the Presbytery of Huron. At 
the next stated meeting of the Presbytery, 
April 8, 1834, the formation of the church 
was reported, and it was received under the 
care of the body. 

One of these ministers, Rev. E. Bascom, 
became the first ministerial servant of the 
church. He was graduated at Western 
Reserve College, 1830, a member of its first 
class. He had studied theology at Princeton, 
and was ordained by the Huron Presbytery, 
October 8, 1833. At last accounts he was 
still living in Wisconsin. 

David Camp and William C. Otis were 
chosen elders, and were ordained in the 
evening after the organization. Mr. Camp 
was the father of Mrs. Jacob Stahl. 

For some time the Sunday services were 
held in the court-house, or in a stone school- 
house near the present high school building. 
Prayer meetings were held at the house of 
the minister. His house has been enlarged, 
and is now the residence of Dr. Failing, on 
Justice street, between the park and State 
street. After leaving the court-house the 
congregation, 



for some time, used a small building which 
stood on Front street, a few rods north of the 
post office, which has given place to 
business edifices. 

The church was incorporated by act of the 
Legislature of Ohio, under date of March 4, 
1836. But no meetings of the body as thus 
incorporated are recorded until January 7, 
1841. From that time the annual meeting in 
January has never failed. The annual meeting 
of January 1, 1842, is recorded as held "in 
their meeting-house." At this meeting the 
trustees were directed to complete a lease 
with Isaac Prior for his house, as a place of 
public worship. That house was erected by 
Mr. Prior on purpose for the use of the 
church, and the church continued to use it 
rent free, till the completion of an edifice. It 
is still standing, used as a dwelling, on the 
south side of State street, next door to the 
marble shop, east of the bridge. 

At. a meeting held in April, 1844, it was 
resolved expedient to make an effort to build 
a house of worship. The trustees were 
directed to immediately purchase, a lot on 
the northwest corner of Main and Garrison 
streets. This was done, and the location has 
ever since been occupied. In May (1844) a 
building committee was appointed. The 
house was erected, and was dedicated 
January lo, 1847. It was forty-five by sixty 
feet, was the first house built by the 
congregation, and was used until the last 
Sabbath of March, 1869. In January, 1852, it 
was resolved to undertake the building of a 
lecture room. Such room was- built in the 
rear of the church, and was used as long as 
the church itself. 

In January, 1869, the trustees were in- 
structed to raise, if possible, a subscription 
of twenty-five thousand dollars, and if suc- 
cessful to proceed to the erection of a more 
commodious edifice, having first re-moved 
both the old edifices. The effort 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



487 



succeeded, and the house now occupied was 
built, the congregation meanwhile 
worshiping ten months in Birchard hall. The 
basement rooms were first occupied January 
30, 1870. The completed edifice was 
dedicated on Sunday, the 28th day of April, 
1870, without debt, having cost nearly forty 
thousand dollars. The congregation has 
occupied this location nearly thirty years. 

The church has elected seventeen elders, 
two of whom declined to serve. The first 
two, as already stated, were David Camp and 
William C. Otis. March 31, 1838, Ezra 
Williams and John Tindall were elected. The 
latter appears never to have been ordained hr 
to have served. In November, 1841, Samuel 
Hafford was elected. In November, 1833, 
Samuel Clark, Samuel Crowell, and Dr. 
Franklin Williams were elected. Mr. Crowell 
declined to serve, and Chauncey J. Pettibone 
was chosen. In January, 1848, George Wall 
was elected. In April, 1849, J. B. G. Downs; 
in January, 1852-53 Joseph T. Moss and 
Thomas Gilimon; and in February, 1856, Dr. 
T. Stillwell and R. W. R. McLellan were 
chosen, and April 30, 1869, C. R. McCulloch 
and I. M. Keeler. 

In regard to the ministers who have served 
the church, the records, whether of the 
church or the session, do not snake it clear, 
in all cases, when they came or when they 
went. There have been ten ministers. Three 
have been regularly installed pastors, viz.: 
Rev. Ferris Fitch, May 16, 1839, dismissed 
May 8, 1844; Rev. Flavel S. White, installed 
October 20, 1847, dismissed June 29, 1852; 
and Rev. Ebenezer Bushnell, installed May 
12, 1857, still in office (October, 1881). The 
church has been in existence for forty-eight 
years. These three pastors have ministered 
thirty-four and a half of those years. The 
remaining thirteen and one-half years have 
been divided between vacancies and 



seven stated supplies. Messrs. E. Bascom, E. 
Conger, H. A. Reed, and John McCutchen 
preceded the pastorate of Mr. Fitch. Between 
Mr. Fitch and Mr. White, was Rev. F. T. 
Backus. After Mr. White came Rev. H. A. 
Rossiter and Rev. F, Hendricks. 

The records give no clue to the date of the 
organization of the Sunday-school. The most 
prominent name among the earlier 
superintendents is that of C. J. Pettibone, though 
he alternated with J. B. G. Downs, Dr. B. F. 
Williams, and C. R. McCulloch. For about 
twenty-five years C. R. McCulloch has been 
superintendent. 

Many of the members of this church have 
joined it by letter from other churches, and many 
others have come in on profession of their faith. 
There have been times of unusual accessions. In 
July, 1837, five persons were received by letter, 
and forty on profession. Of these, some 
afterwards became prominent members and 
officers. In April, 1843, eight were received on 
profession. Between January, 1845, and July 4. 
of the same year, twenty-eight were received on 
profession and eight by letter. In May, 1850, 
sixteen were added; in May, 1859, thirty-two; in 
May, 1865, seven; in May, 1866, eight; in May, 
1867, seven; and in March, 1872, eleven were 
added. In the first four months of 1873 twenty- 
five were received on profession. These 
members are a key to the fact that the church has 
enjoyed not a few seasons of special revival, 
while in the meantime accessions have been 
made more gradually. 

During the first half of the church's history 
statistics were very sparingly put on the books. 
The first gives the number of members in 1846 
as 123, but no "funds raised" are recorded. Since 
1854 the statistics have been regularly recorded. 
In 1852 the number of members is given as 103; 
in 1855, 109; in 1856, 114. The highest number 
ever reported in the annual report is 199. 



488 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



In April, 1876, it was 193. The neglect to 
record statistics prevents one knowing what 
the church has given for benevolent 
purposes. 

In the ordinary course of things this church 
has caused the preaching of more than five 
thousand sermons, and held two thousand 
five hundred prayer meetings, and two 
thousand two hundred and fifty sessions of 
the Sunday-school. 

Could the town afford to do without this 
and other churches? 

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH.* 

The parish of St. Paul's, Fremont, does not 
possess a very lengthy history, yet that 
history includes facts of interest which 
should be recorded, and thus preserved from 
oblivion, and handed down for the 
information of future generations. 

It was upon a conviction of the value of 
religious influences to a community, and a 
desire to establish here the services of the 
Protestant Episcopal church, that this parish 
was organized, in the year 1842, under the 
name of St. Paul's church, Lower Sandusky. 

The population of the town was then below 
two thousand. Many who were then leading 
spirits of the place have now passed away 
from the stage of action. The majority of the 
men who united in forming this parochial 
organization were not professors of religion, 
but they acted, no doubt, under a sense of 
duty to themselves and families and a desire 
to advance the interests of the town. 

The first meeting for the purpose of or- 
ganizing a religious society according to the 
constitution and canons of the Protestant 
Episcopal church, was held at the court- 
house on Wednesday, the 15th day of 
January, 1812. The articles of association 
then and there adopted were signed by 
twenty-eight citizens. At a meeting 



*Rev. R. L. Chittenden. 



held January 25, 1842, Messrs. D. E. Field 
and William C. Otis were chosen wardens, 
and John P. Haynes, A. Coles, John R. 
Pease, A. B. Taylor and N. B. Eddy, 
vestrymen of the new parish. 

The average attendance at Sunday 
morning services is from eighty to one 
hundred. 

The following occurs in the record of the 
first meeting of the vestry, February 5, 
1842: 

Ordered that the secretary be directed to write to 
Rev. James O'Kill, assuring him that the sum of one 
hundred dollars may be raised for him to officiate as 
pastor of this church once a month for the space of one 
year, or at that rate, the arrangement, however, subject 
to be put an end to by the vestry of this church, so soon 
as a permanent pastor can be secured. 

Resolved, That the Secretary write to the Rev. Bishop 
Mcllvaine, requesting him to furnish this church with a 
pastor so soon as possible. 

In accordance with this resolution, the 
Rev. Mr. O'Kill came from Norwalk and 
held service a few times. It is said that a 
few of the earlier services were held in the 
building then occupied by the Methodist 
society, on the southwest corner of Arch 
and Garrison streets. The abilities of Mr. 
O'Kill are highly praised by those who 
knew him. He was a man of brilliant talents. 
In November, 1842, the Rev. William Fagg 
was invited to the charge of the parish at a 
salary of four hundred dollars per annum. 
This, as we are informed, was Mr. Fagg's 
first parish. After serving the congregation 
one year he left on account of ill-health. Mr. 
Fagg died a number of years ago in the 
South. There is a record of one marriage 
and five burials by Mr. Fagg, but no record 
of any baptism or of anyone presented for 
confirmation during his rectorship. William 
C. Otis and D. E. Field held the offices of 
warden, and D. E. Field was chosen 
delegate to the diocesan convention. 

The meetings at this time were held in 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



489 



the old stone school-house, a small building 
which stood on the present site of the high 
school building. Subsequently the meetings 
of the congregation were held in the 
courthouse. 

In 1843-44 the members of the congre- 
gation erected a handsome and commodious 
church edifice-of brick with stone 
trimmings-on the lot on the northwest corner 
of Main and Court streets. A small portion of 
the subscriptions for the work promised 
labor, teaming and materials-the balance 
money. The building was sixty by forty-two 
feet, with Gothic windows and a handsome 
steeple in which hung a sweet-toned bell, 
from the manufactory at Troy, New York. 
This bell, not being of sufficient size and 
weight for the expected new tower, was sold 
a few years ago, and now serves to give fire- 
alarms in case of a threatened conflagration. 
The church was heated with stoves, from 
which long smoke-pipes extended through 
the building, entering the rear wall on each 
side of the chimney. The number of slips 
was fifty-two. A pulpit of Gothic design, and 
a heavy gallery for the organ and choir at the 
east end, completed the interior equipment. 
A small room in the rear, lighted by one 
north window, served as a vestry-room, and 
was also used for the instruction of the 
infant class. The interior of the wood-work 
was of an oaken-brown color. The location 
of the church is quite central, and the 
building at the time of its erection was, 
probably, with hardly an exception, the best 
and most tasteful church edifice in the 
county. The building being completed, the 
pews were appraised and offered for sale 
(six being reserved), the purchase money to 
apply on the subscription of the purchaser. 
Only seventeen are marked sold in the record 
of proceedings. If no more were disposed of 
it may be conjectured that it was because the 



pews were to be subject to assessment for 
debts of the church, as well as the support of 
the minister. The cost of the new building 
exceeded the amount raised by subscription. 
At the close of the year 1844 a debt of one 
thousand three hundred and eighty-three 
dollars and six cents yet remained, being 
money advanced in equal amounts by six 
gentlemen, over and above their 
subscriptions for the erection of the church. 

Some two years afterward an average of 
about sixty-three dollars was paid to each of 
these gentlemen on the above indebtedness, 
and they afterwards generously gave up their 
claims, still amounting to about one 
thousand two hundred dollars. The names of 
these gentlemen are: R. P. Buckland, John R. 
Pease, N. B. Eddy, John M. Smith, A. Coles, 
and A. W. Cutter. In 1844 the pews were 
ordered to be sold for the support of a 
minister. Rev. Humphrey Hollis having been 
elected rector, entered upon his duties on the 
15th day of July, 1844, and continued in 
charge until the 10th day of August, 1846, at 
a salary of five hundred dollars per an-num. 
The first baptism on record in the parish is 
that of Caroline Elizabeth Eddy, at the 
residence of her parents, on Thursday, 
August 29, 1844. Date of birth, April 13, 
1842. Sponsors, the parents, Azariah and 
Harriet M. Eddy, and Mrs. John P. Haynes. 
Clergyman officiating, Rev. H. Hollis. 

On the 14th of November, 1845, fifteen 
persons were confirmed by Bishop 
Menvaine-presented by Mr. Hollis. During 
these two years the baptisms numbered 
eleven. Rev. Mr. Hollis died not long since 
in Ashtabula county, this State. 

We find on record under date of November 
1, 1845, a formal request ad-dressed to the 
bishop of the diocese, asking him to 
consecrate the new church, thereby 
separating it from all unhallowed, 



490 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



worldly and common uses, and solemnly 
dedicating it to the worship and service of 
Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Ghost, according to the provisions of 
the Protestant Episcopal church in the 
United States of America. 

We have also a copy of the sentence of 
consecration signed by Charles P. 
Mcllvaine, bishop of the Diocese of Ohio, 
under date of November 14, 1845. 

The parish now entered upon a new era, 
having the advantage of a new and pleasant 
house of worship. 

On the 15th of August, 1846, the Rev. 
Oliver Taylor entered upon his duties as 
rector, and resigned July 1, 1847. During his 
ministry the baptisms were six, and one 
confirmed. In the clergy list of 1875 Mr. 
Taylor is recorded as a resident of Pontiac, 
Michigan. During these three years the 
wardens of the church were William C. Otis, 
senior warden; A. W. Cutter and A. Coles 
successively, junior wardens. 

The Rev. H. P. Powers entered upon the 
charge of St. Paul's church in September, 
1848, and remained with some interruptions, 
until August 9, 1851. About this time the 
name of the town was changed from Lower 
Sandusky to Fremont. The change was 
desirable from the fact that the name 
Sandusky was attached to a number of 
towns, townships and streams in this part of 
the State. During the rectorship of Rev. Mr. 
Powers there were twenty-four baptisms and 
six persons presented for confirmation; there 
were four marriages and five burials. 
Wardens, A. Coles, A. J. Dickinson and Dr. 
J. W. Wilson; R. P. Buckland, J. W. Wilson, 
and H. Everett, delegates to the diocesan 
convention. 

Bishop Mcllvaine visited the parish during 
the vacancy that followed and ad-ministered 
baptism to five children. 

The Rev. H. T. Hiester entered upon 



the charge of St. Paul's church in June, 1852, 
and resigned on Easter Monday, 1856. 
During his stay in Fremont the baptisms 
were 19; presented for confirmation 7; 
marriages 4; burials 17. Soon after leaving 
here Mr. Heister took charge of St. Andrew's 
church, Farm Ridge, Illinois, where he still 
remains. Mr. Hiester was evidently very 
much respected by the people, who regarded 
him as "a true Christian and faithful 
minister." 

We find that in April, 1853, H. E. Clark 
and M. A. Elder were appointed a committee 
to raise funds to pay the debt on the 
melodeon. In those days the congregation 
turned around and faced the choir in the 
gallery during the singing. At one time the 
bass viol and flute were played by two 
gentlemen in the choir as an accompaniment 
to the hymns and chants. More than twenty- 
five years ago a pipe organ was purchased in 
the city of New York, having been used for a 
short time by a congregation there. This 
instrument was cleaned and repaired several 
times, and served a useful purpose until 
1881, when it was replaced by a .fine, large 
organ of superior quality. After a vacancy of 
a few months the Rev. R. L. Chittenden, of 
Columbus, Ohio, entered upon the charge of 
the parish, remaining eight months, when he 
resigned in consequence of ill health. He 
administered baptism once to six persons, all 
members of one family, and officiated at 
four burials. 

The second service at that time was in the 
afternoon instead of the evening. During the 
vacancy which followed Mr. Chittenden's 
stay here three persons were con-firmed. The 
Rev. W. H. Cooper, of Tiffin, supplied the 
church with Sunday afternoon services for 
some time. Rev. William Fulton assumed 
charge in August, 1857, and held the 
rectorship until October, 1859, a period of 
two years and two 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



491 



months. Mr. Fulton is spoken of as an able 
preacher. During his pastorate the baptisms 
were fifteen, and fourteen persons were 
presented for confirmation. Marriages, six. 
Burials twelve. 
During the eight years preceding October, 

1859, the following persons held the office 
of warden: James W. Wilson and Dr. Coles, 
senior wardens; A. J. Dickinson, Daniel 
Cooper, Charles Trowbridge, and John 
Flaugher were in succession junior wardens. 
The names of delegates to conventions 
during the same period are James W. 
Wilson, Daniel Capper, and John Flaugher. 

The church building had now been in use 
for fourteen years, and the bare walls had, no 
doubt, become somewhat discolored by time 
and smoke. An artist was accordingly 
procured who should adorn the walls with 
fresco painting. After a number of days the 
doors of the church were opened, and the 
members of the congregation were admitted 
to view the work. For some cause the work 
fell far below their hopes and expectations. 
It was lacking in taste and adaptation, and to 
say the least, the interior of the church was 
not improved. The parish was now vacant for 
more than a year. During the interval The 
Rev. Lyman N. Freeman visited Fremont and 
administered baptism to four children. 

The. Rev. Alanson Phelps, of Painesville, 
Ohio, commenced services as rector of the 
church, on the first Sunday in December, 

1860, and remained in charge just five years. 
During his rectorate there were: baptisms, 
thirty-six; presented for confirmation, 
twenty-four; marriages, nine; burials, 
twenty-three. 

Dr. J. W. Wilson and John Flaugher held, 
the office of warden, and Messrs. Wilson, 
Flaugher, William St. Clair and E. W. 
Amsden were delegates to the diocesan 
convention. 



Gas was introduced into the church in the 
year 1861. A donation of prayer-books was 
made to the church by the New York Bible 
and Common Prayer-Book Society. The gift 
was very thankfully received, as is proved 
by the resolution of the vestry regarding it. 
Special pains were taken to attract children 
to the Sunday-school, and it became 
unusually large. 

During a part of the year 1865, Mr. Phelps 
held only one service on Sunday on account 
of ill health, and in November he resigned 
the charge from the same cause. The vestry 
accepted his resignation with expressions of 
regret and good-will. 

During the residence of Mr. Phelps here, 
some preliminary steps were taken looking 
to the enlargement and improvement of the 
church edifice. 

The Rev. George H. Jenks now accepted a 
call to the rectorship, but resigned within a 
week. This sudden change in his plans was 
caused by the receipt of a message from 
friends in California, requesting him to come 
to that State. The Rev. Charles H. Young, of 
Tiffin, Ohio, assumed charge of the church 
in January, 1866, retaining it for over four 
years, or until April 1, 1870. Under Mr. 
Young's ministry the baptisms were forty- 
two, and seventeen persons were presented 
for confirmation. Marriages, sixteen; burials, 
twenty. Wardens, Dr. Dillon and John 

Flaugher. Delegates, Messrs. Wilson 
Flaugher, George H. Rice, E. S. Thomas, and 
John Weaver. 

Mr. Young's ministry was marked by an 
event which, it is believed, stands alone in 
the whole history of the church in Fremont. 
He induced a worthy and intelligent young 
man, a communicant of the church, to begin 
his studies at Gambier with a view of 
preparation for the ministry. Frank M. Quig 
might have done good work in the cause of 
Christ, but the Lord 



492 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



of the harvest ordered otherwise. His health 
failed, and he came home to die. After 
languishing for several months, he departed 
this life in October, 1870, in the comfort of a 
reasonable, religious, and holy hope. Who 
among the youth of this church will take up 
and carry forward the work which he began. 

The Rev. Mr. Young is now in charge of 
St. John's Church, Worthington, and Christ 
Church, Clinton, in the Diocese of Southern 
Ohio. 

During the brief vacancy which followed 
Mr. Young's removal, the Rev. C. S. 
Doolittle, of Mansfield, Ohio, held Sunday 
services. In June, 1870, the Rev. R. L. 
Chittenden (the writer) took charge of the 
parish the second time, and remained until 
succeeded by Rev. D. W. Coxe, in 1879. In 
1872-73 the church building was enlarged, 
and the interior entirely reconstructed, at a 
cost, including furnace, carpets and other 
improvements, of some eight thousand 
dollars. The plan includes a handsome tower 
and spire to be added at some time in the 
future. The leading features of the 
improvement are, an addition of fourteen 
feet in the length of the building, giving 
room for fourteen additional pews, a 
handsome recess, chancel, vestry and organ 
room, an ample cellar for the furnace and 
fuel, the removal of the gallery, a tasteful 
pulpit, lecture and communion-table, and 
stained glass windows. Handsome 
chandeliers have since been added by the 
young ladies, who are now organized as a 
Church aid society. We also have the 
promise of an appropriate baptismal font. 
The chancel window is the gift of Rev. Mr. 
Phelps, a former rector, and is a memorial of 
a deceased daughter. Mr. Phelps now resides 
with his family in a very pleasant home in 
Painesville, the scene of his earlier labors, 
and occasionally looks in upon us. The first 
chancel window having been broken 



by a hail storm, the windows are now all 
protected by wire netting. These improve- 
ments occupied about one year, during 
which time the court-room was used for our 
services and Sunday-school. 

I have said little of the part taken by the 
lady members in the work of the church. 
Their efforts have been constant and very 
helpful. I recall the names of four who were 
valued helpers and have been removed by 
death, viz: Mrs. D. E. Capper, Mrs. Susan A. 
Everett, Mrs. Priscilla Brown, and Mrs. 
Josephine A. Dougherty. 

LUTHERAN ST. JOHN'S CHURCH. 

In the third and fourth decades of the 
present century (1820-1830), Lutherans from 
Pennsylvania and Germany began to 
emigrate to Sandusky county, and to the 
town of Lower Sandusky. They were visited 
at very long intervals by the missionaries 
Stauch, from Western Pennsylvania, J. 
Krauss and Rev. Charles Henkel, from 
Somerset, Ohio. 

In 1836 a highly esteemed and pious pastor 
by the name of Adolph A. Konrad, located at 
Tiffin, Ohio. The Lutherans of this vicinity, 
hearing of his settlement there, applied to 
him for his services as pastor among them. 
Although he had charge of nine preaching 
places, in Seneca and Wyandot counties, he 
saw the need of the Lutherans here, and so 
consented to visit them once every four 
weeks. But the labors and exposures of such 
a field proved to be too much for the good 
man, and being of a frail constitution, he 
died at Tiffin, March 23, 1841. After his 
death, Rev. J. J. Beilharz, from Seneca coun- 
ty, New York, was called to the pastorate, 
and in the autumn of 1841, moved with his 
family to Tiffin, Ohio, from which place he 
served this congregation and also that four 
miles west of this city. The sainted Konrad 
having promised the little flocks in this 
vicinity to send them 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



493 



Henry Lang as their future pastor, as soon as 
he should leave the theological seminary at 
Columbus, Ohio, his promise was complied 
with by the proper authorities of the synod, 
and in July, 1843, he was installed as their 
future pastor. The congregation being very 
small and poor, was glad to obtain 
permission to worship in the school-houses 
of the town. For nearly two years the 
congregation worshiped in the Howland 
street school-house. 

In 1.843 the congregation purchased of the 
county commissioners, the old court-house 
and the two lots on which it and the old jail 
stood, for the sum of eight hundred and ten 
dollars. Eleven years elapsed before this 
property was paid for, None but God knows 
the anxiety experienced while this debt was 
hanging over the congregation. But then, 
what joy when the last installment was paid 
off ! The membership was small, and, as 
already stated, poor; money was scarce, 
farmers receiving store-pay for their produce 
instead of money. The struggle to pay off 
this debt, small as the sum may at present 
seem to have been, was greater than the 
burden of the erection of the new church 
edifice, that being by no means insignificant. 

In 1842 the congregation was incorporated 
by an act of the Legislature, under the name 
of the Evangelical Lutheran and German 
Reformed St. John's Congregation. By a 
unanimous vote of the congregation this 
name was changed, January 1, 1853, to the 
name Evangelical Lutheran St. John's 
Congregation, only two active members 
being German Re-formed, and their families 
being Lutheran. Judge Otis, of the court of 
common pleas, granted this petition for 
change of name in 1856. 

For fifteen years the congregation wor- 
shipped in the old court-house, which had 
become quite a respectable place of wor- 



ship after the necessary changes and re-pairs 
were completed. Here gradually the flock 
grew larger, and it needed a larger fold. 

At a meeting of the congregation held 
October 31, 1857 (anniversary of the 
Reformation,) it was resolved "to erect a 
new and more suitable church building." A 
lot was purchased of Miss Jennie Grant, 
corner Court and Clover streets, for the sum 
of four hundred dollars, November 10, 1857 
(Luther's birthday); the plan for the church 
was adopted (seventy-six by forty-six). June 
1, 1858, work was begun; June 25 
(anniversary of the presentation of the 
Augsburg Confession), the corner-stone was 
laid; and October 31, 1861, the church was 
dedicated as a house of divine worship. 
April 11, 1870, a bell weighing two thousand 
five hundred pounds was hung in the tower. 
The tower having as yet no spire, Mr. A. 
Foster was employed to erect one, after a 
plan drawn by Mr. J. C. Johnson. This spire 
was dedicated on the pastor's fifty-fifth 
birthday, November 28, 1873, being 
Thanksgiving Day, and also the pastor's 
thirtieth jubilee as pastor of this 
congregation. On that occasion, among other 
statements the following was made: 
Baptisms, 2,300; confirmed, 1,005; 
communicants, 15,000; marriages, 680; 
burials, 810; sermons preached, about 5,000. 
These figures include all his congregations, 
however. 

As stated above, the congregation 
consisted, in 1843, of forty communicants. It 
now numbers about six hundred. The 
congregation, though numerous, is not 
wealthy, as the impression seems to be in the 
community. It possesses a number of well- 
to-do citizens and farmers, but the greater 
number are yet struggling for an existence. 
The growth of the congregation has been 
gradual, but healthy. The labors be- 



494 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



stowed upon it have been blessed, and not 
been in vain. But the changes since 1843 
have been great indeed. The pioneers have 
nearly all passed away. 

But to return. In 1865 the old court-house, 
having become greatly dilapidated, the 
congregation determined to renovate the 
same thoroughly. At an expense of one 
thousand six hundred dollars it was changed 
into a comfortable parsonage. Since 1845 the 
pastor occupied the three lower rooms, 
which were formerly occupied by the county 
auditor, clerk of the court, and county 
treasurer, as offices. The frame of this 
building is an immense one, some of the 
timbers in it measuring fourteen inches 
square. In 1822 it was erected, in the vicinity 
of the Pease property, when the 
commissioners determined to remove it to 
the present spot. Judge Knapp told the writer 
of this repeatedly, that in the removal of this 
frame twenty-five yoke of oxen were used, 
all pulling at the same time. And this seems 
likely, judging from the ponderous structure, 
and the want of convenient implements, such 
as are now used for the removal of buildings. 
Since 1845 the pastor of the Lutheran 
congregation occupied this house as a 
parsonage. Here all his children were born, 
save one. From this house were conveyed the 
remains of his wife, three children, a son-in- 
law, and a little grand-daughter, to their 
resting-place in Oak-wood cemetery. Joys 
and sorrows ex-changed places repeatedly 
within its walls. 

The old county jail stood a few feet south 
of the old court-house, and it was used as a 
stable. It was here where Sperry, of Green 
Spring, who had killed his wife, and who 
had been sentenced to be hanged, committed 
suicide in 1842. Our lamented friend 
Birchard once asked the pastor if he was not 
afraid of spooks, coining home late and 
putting away his horse in the old jail. The 
reply was that 



he did not suffer himself to be scared by evil 
spirits, when Mr. Birchard said: "What! not 
afraid of spooks in the old jail, where Sperry 
killed himself? It is a capital place for 
spooks, sir, a capital place." This old jail, 
used as such until the prison under the 
present court-house was prepared to receive 
evil-doers, was taken down in 1865, when 
eight men worked industriously for three 
days to level it with the ground, the logs of 
which it was built being two feet square. The 
foundation still remains, but the spot where 
it stood has become an inviting one, forming 
part of the pastor's flower garden. It is no 
longer a "capital place for spooks." But if 
that spot could speak, what a sad history it 
would relate of the persons imprisoned 
above it. But the flowers that grow there 
annually seem to say: "Cast the mantle of 
charity upon all their sins." 

On festival occasions our church proves to 
be too small for us, and the church officers 
have been seriously talking of an 
enlargement. 

The church council consists of the pas-tor 
(being chairman by virtue of his office), 
three trustees, two deacons, and a treasurer. 

Since 1845 a Sunday-school has been 
sustained by the congregation, At first it 
numbered twenty-thirty children, now 
upward of two hundred. For a number of 
years Mr. Jacob Tschumy has acted as 
superintendent with efficiency. He is 
assisted by twenty-five teachers, all of whom 
were former scholars of the Sunday-school, 
and are confirmed members of the church. 
Catechetical instruction is given by the 
pastor each Sunday before the close of the 
Sunday-school, in which the children and 
teachers participate. 

Our history may seem monotonous, but to 
the congregation and the pastor it seems 
varied enough. Every year brought forth new 
labors, trials, and conflicts; every year 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



495 



brought with it new mercies, rewards and 
victories. 

Both the German and English languages 
are used in conducting the services of the 
church. This makes the labors of the pastor 
greater than they would be if only one 
language could be made to answer the 
purpose. But the greater part of the 
congregation being: European Germans, the 
German language is indispensible. The 
younger members, speaking the English 
better than the German, would prefer to have 
the English language used exclusively. 

May God safely conduct us to that land, 
where but one language is spoken-the 
language of Zion. 

We conclude this sketch with a brief 
mention of the faithful pastor of the church. 
He has all this time been emphatically a 
worker. He came to Fremont young and poor 
in this world's goods, and took charge of a 
congregation as young and poor as himself. 
Thirty-eight years spent in incessant 
application to self-improvement and in 
discharge of his pastoral duties, have at last 
borne abundant fruit. Often laboring against 
adverse circumstances, which would have 
.discouraged other men, he was always at his 
post. In addition to his pastoral duties, he 
has exercised a large and beneficial 
influence in the public schools by the 
faithful discharge of his duty as a member of 
the city board of education. He has preached 
and taught his congregation weekly in two 
languages, and his incessant work has 
evoked, from almost nothing, a large 
congregation, a comfortable parsonage, and 
a church edifice worth about twenty-five 
thousand dollars, which is an honor and an 
ornament to the city. His influence now, 
through his congregation, is wide-spread and 
efficient for good. Without detracting from 
the merits of any man, it may be pertinently 
asked, of all citizens, who has labored so 



many years and so faithfully, to uphold and 
extend morality and religion, as the subject 
of this notice ? 

*THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

In 1819, Rev. J. Montgomery, Indian agent 
at Fort Seneca, and a local preacher in the 
Methodist Episcopal church, came to Lower 
Sandusky and preached the first Methodist 
sermon ever preached in this place. He 
continued to preach here at stated intervals 
until 1820, when, so far as he had authority, 
he organized himself, wife, and daughter 
into a class. This organization, though well 
intended by him, was evidently more in 
assumption than in reality. It was, however, 
the nucleus of a church. A letter from 
Montgomery's daughter, Mrs. Sallie Tryham, 
now living in Tiffin, Ohio, to the writer, 
says: "At the first communion service the 
communicants were the above mentioned 
three persons with the addition of a local 
preacher from Springfield, Ohio, named 
Moses Hinkle." 

In March, 1822, the Bowlus family em- 
igrated from Maryland and settled in Lower 
Sandusky. Of this family Jacob Bowlus, wife 
and four sisters, and brother-in-law, Thomas 
White, were members of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. These were the first 
members so far as can be ascertained, of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, that settled 
either in Lower San-dusky, or what is now 
included in the territory of Sandusky county. 

In the fall of the same year Joel Strahn 
with his family, emigrated from Perry 
county, Ohio, and settled on what is now 
known as the Hafford farm, three miles up 
the river from Fremont. Mr. Strahn and his 
wife were members of the church before 
they emigrated to this place. 

Very soon after Mr. Strahn's arrival Rev. 
James Montgomery proceeded regularly to 

* R e v . A. Skinner and H. R. Adams. 



496 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



rganize the first class of the Methodist 
Episcopal church ever formed in Lower 
Sandusky, with eleven members, namely: 
Jacob Bowlus, Sarah Bowlus, Margaret 
Bowlus, Susan Bowlus, Elizabeth Bowlus, 
Sophia Bowlus, Thomas L. Hawkins, 
Thomas White, Joel Strahn, Sarah Strahn, 
and Nancy Halloway. Joel Strahn was 
appointed leader. Shortly after the organ- 
ization their number was increased by the 
addition of Rebecca Pryor, Mrs. Wilson, and 
Mrs. Tyler. Of these fourteen none are now 
living but Jacob Bowlus, who still lingers 
among the men of another generation, the 
honored patriarch of the Methodist 
Episcopal church in Sandusky county. His 
connection with the church has never been 
broken for a day, and he has always enjoyed 
not only the respect but the confidence and 
love of his brethren and the community. Joel 
Strahn moved to Illinois after he had been 
here some ten years, and died in 1864. 

Rev. James Mclntyre, a local preacher 
living in Huron county, visited Lower 
Sandusky occasionally and preached in 
1822. He subsequently joined the Ohio 
conference; travelled a few years and retired. 
The date of his death is not known to the 
writer. 

Rev. James Montgomery was ordained by 
Bishop Asbury, at Lebanon, Ohio. He was a 
local preacher thirty years, and died at Fort 
Seneca in 1830. His funeral was preached by 
Rev. Ezekiel Cooper, at that time travelling 
the Lower Sandusky circuit. Methodism and 
religion, not only in Fremont but in the 
surrounding country, owes him a debt of 
lasting gratitude. He preached the gospel to 
the scattered communities in the country 
where no church in its regular organized 
capacity had found its way among the 
people. By him and his early associates in 
this irregular work the word of life was 
carried to the sparsely settled communities, 
and the way 



or a more regularly organized ministry 
prepared. 

From the best evidence at my disposal, it 
appears that John and Nathan Walker, two 
men of the same name, were appointed to the 
Huron circuit in the fall of 1822, and that 
Lower Sandusky was sup-plied by them. In 
the fall of 1823, William Swazy, presiding 
elder on Lancaster district, employed Benija 
Boardman, a local preacher living in Huron 
county, as a missionary to organize a circuit 
up and down the Sandusky River, and from 
the adjacent settlements, with Lower 
Sandusky for headquarters. Mr. Boardman 
seems to have been a man of fair talents, and 
blessed with a good degree of energy and 
fidelity to his work. The enterprise was a 
success, and the close of that conference 
year the Lower Sandusky circuit was 
organized by the Ohio conference, placed 
upon the ministers, and the Rev. E. H. 
Fields, a young man who had recently been 
received into the conference, appointed, with 
Rev. James McMahon as presiding elder. 
This is the first recognition of Lower 
Sandusky circuit we have. What the extent 
of the territory or number of appointments it 
embraced I do not know. There were ninety- 
seven members in all the circuit. Mr. Fields 
remained on the circuit but one year, it then 
being the practice of the church not to return 
young men the second year unless there was 
something-in the circumstances to require it. 
Rev. J. W. Clarke was appointed to succeed 
Mr. Field in the fall of 1825. Mr. Clarke 
remained but one year. What his future 
history was is not known. 

In the fall of 1826 Rev. Arza Brown was 
appointed to the circuit. He remained two 
years. The members of the church and those 
that were interestedly associated with it — 
who are still living — have a distinct 
recollection of Mr. Brown. During his 
pastorate. Lower Sandusky was 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



497 



lessed with a powerful and extensive re- 
vival, perhaps, considering the number of 
population, the most remarkable religious 
awakening the place was ever favored with. 
This revival and ingathering Into the church 
was a matter of great encouragement to the 
little struggling society, that had become 
well nigh discouraged in consequence of the 
hardships and privations of a new country. I 
am informed by Mrs. Sallie Ingham, a 
daughter of Rev. James Montgomery, that 
Mr. Brown died in Chicago in 1870. How 
long he continued in the ministry, or what 
his occupation was after he left it, is not 
known. 

The revival gave great strength to the 
circuit, and at the conference held in 1828, J. 
Hill and A. Billings were appointed. They 
remained on the work but one year, and B. 
Cooper and William Sprague were appointed 
to succeed them at the conference of 1829. 
Rev. Russell Bigelow was presiding elder. 
Nothing special occurred during the year, 
and in 1830 they were succeeded by Rev. 
Eline Day and Rev. E. C. Gavitt. At the end 
of the first year Mr. Gavitt was removed, he 
being a young man. He is still living, a 
member of the Central Ohio conference, and 
doing effective work. 

In 1831 Mr. Day was returned with the 
Rev. E. B. Chase for his colleague. Mr. Day 
remained in the ministry of the Methodist 
Episcopal church for a few years, became 
disaffected and joined the United Brethren, 
remained with them a while, and in his old 
age asked the privilege of returning to the 
church of his youth. He was received back 
and recognized as a local elder. 

In 1832, Mr. Day and Mr. Chase having 
closed their pastorate, Rev. Elmore Yocum 
and Rev. J. Martin were appointed to the 
circuit. Mr. Yocum continued to travel 
several years in Ohio, and was transferred to 
Wisconsin, where he has 



continued to labor on districts and in the best 
appointments of his conference. He has been 
more than once, I think, honored by his 
brethren with a seat in the general 
conference. No man has a warmer heart, or 
has been more beloved by the people with 
whom he has labored than Elmore Yocum. In 
the year 1833 Rev. C. Goddard, with the 
Rev. J. B. Austin as assistant, were 
appointed. They were both removed at the 
end of the first year, and in the fall of 1834 
Rev. William Sullivan and Rev. John T. 
Kellom were appointed. The community this 
fall was greatly afflicted with cholera. Mr. 
Kellom says in a letter to the writer: 

On my way to Lower Sandusky I was stopped by a 
kind friend, some three miles above the town, and 
informed that there were but three living persons in the 
place. I staid with him over night, and the next morning 
rode to town and found Mr. Birchard, Judge Hulburd, 
and Dr. Rawson. All the others had fled from the 
cholera. Some were tenting on a camp-ground on Father 
Bowlus' farm, and some had fled to other places. After 
stopping a while, I went over to what is now Clyde, and 
then returned and assisted in burying some of the dead. 

In consequence of the prevalence of 
cholera, Mr. Kellom received but fifty six 
dollars for his year's service. 

Rev. J. Kinnear and Rev. J. H. Pitzel were 
appointed to the circuit in 1835. They 
remained one year, and were followed, in 
1836, by Rev. Leonard Hill and Rev. Wesley 
J. Wells. Mr. Hill remained two years and 
had for his colleague the second year Rev. 
Osborn Mennett. Father Hill continued to 
travel as an itinerant preacher for several 
years, took a superannuated relation to the 
conference, returned to Fremont, where he 
spent the evening of his life, and died in 
great peace, April 13, 1869, in the eightieth 
year of his age, honored and beloved by all 
who knew, him. Mr. Wells continued to 
travel till 1868. He now holds a 
superannuated relation to the Central Ohio 
conference, and is engaged in busi- 



498 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



ness in Toledo, Ohio. In 1838 Rev. Peter 
Sharp was appointed to the circuit, with Rev. 
B. Blanchard as assistant. Mr. Sharp's health 
was poor, and he insisted on the work being 
divided and he allowed to remain all the 
time in town that he could attend to the 
work. The presiding elder accordingly 
consented to the arrangement, and Lower 
Sandusky was organized into a station. Peter 
Sharp was eccentric, and there are many 
amusing anecdotes told about him, one of 
which is here related: 

At one of the conferences a good brother 
was arraigned for heresy. The conference 
heard the case and pronounced him guilty. 
The bishop said: "Brethren, you have 
convicted this brother of heresy; what do 
you propose to do with him?" This was a 
stunner, for the church has no law to punish 
heretics. In the midst of embarrassment, 
Peter gravely arose in his place on the 
conference floor and said: "Mr. President, I 
move we proceed at once to burn him." 

Mr. Sharp was succeeded, in 1839, by Rev. 
Wesley Brock. Mr. Brock was the homeliest 
man I ever saw. He remained here but one 
year — continued to hold important positions 
in his conference for a number of years. 
Finally took a superanuated relation and 
moved on his farm in Mercer county, Ohio, 
where he became guilty of a shameful crime, 
for which he was expelled from his 
conference in 1859. He died a few years 
afterward, dishonored and forsaken. I never 
knew a man for whom I felt so deeply as I 
did for Wesley Brock. 

In 1840 Rev. A. Campbell was appointed 
to the station. This was unfortunate for the 
charge. Mr. Campbell was of a despondent 
turn of mind, which grew upon him, and 
before the close of the year the poor man 
lost the balance of his mind and went crazy. 
What became 



of him I do not know. With the misfortune of 
Mr. Campbell the station became discouraged, 
and failed to sustain itself. It was accordingly 
again united with the outlying appointments, 
and in 1841 Thomas Thompson and Rev. 
Darius Dodge were appointed. Father Thomp- 
son is still living, a member of the North Ohio 
conference, and, I believe, in the religious 
world, no man has sustained a better character 
through a long and useful ministry than he. 
Darius Dodge became ambitious to be rich, 
took a supernumerary relation to the 
conference, went to Illinois, and commenced 
the practice of medicine, became guilty of an 
offence that disgraced himself and the church. 
He is no longer a member of the conference, 
and so far as I know is out of the church. 
Thompson and Dodge remained on the circuit 
but one year, and in 1842 the Rev. Samuel P. 
Shaw was appointed to circuit, with Rev. Mr. 
Grutnley as junior preacher. Mr. Shaw 
remained on the circuit for one year, and the 
Rev. Hibbard P. Ward was his colleague the 
second year. Mr. Shaw afterwards held a super- 
annuated relation to the North Ohio con- 
ference, and lived alone on his farm in 
Crawford county, Ohio. He became wealthy, 
and endowed a university in the South named 
after himself. 

Hibbard P. Ward died of cholera while 
stationed at Sandusky City. He led his prayer 
meeting in the evening, and before morning he 
was dead. His last words were, "Gliding 
sweetly." He was a young man of fine talent, of 
great goodness of heart, and of much promise 
to the church. He and William Cooper, and a 
young Presbyterian minister, all died in 
Sandusky City of cholera, and are buried side 
by side in the cemetery at that place. 

Messrs. Shaw and Ward were succeeded, in 
1844, by Rev. W. C. Huestis and Rev. Joseph 
F. Kenedy. Mr. Huestis remained 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



499 



two years, and Rev. S. Fairchilds was his 
assistant the second year. Mr. Kennedy 
continued in the work of the ministry until 
1872, when he took a nominal appointment, 
fell into a state of despondency, and put an 
end to his existence by a pistol shot. He was 
a sad illustration of the use of opium, and of 
disappointed ambition. 

In 1846 Rev. Joseph Jones and the Rev. 
Jacob T. Caples were appointed to the 
circuit. In 1847 Mr. Caples was removed and 
Mr. Jones was returned, and a young man by 
the name of Wait assisted him. At the close 
of Mr. Jones' legal term in 1848, Rev. J. 
Reese and Rev. J. Elliott were the preachers. 
Mr. Reese died on the 4th of the following 
February, and Elliott was entrusted with the 
charge of the circuit. He was followed in 
1849 by Rev. S. M. Beatty, with Stillman 
George for a supply. During Mr. Beatty's 
first year on the work Lower Sandusky was 
favored with an extensive revival which 
greatly strengthened the charge, and at the 
close of his first year the circuit was again 
divided, and Fremont was organized into a 
charge by itself; to which Mr. Beatty 
returned in 1850. 

He was followed in 1851 by Rev. Dorcas 
Dodge, and in 1852-53 Rev. W. J. Wells was 
again appointed to the charge, and at the 
close of his pastorate in 1854, Rev. W. H. 
Seeler succeeded him. He remained but one 
year, and was followed in 1855 by Rev. L. 
A. Pounds, and he in 1856-57 by Rev. Jacob 
T. Caples. One year after, Mr. Caples left 
Fremont. In 1869, at the conference held in 
Fremont, he was appointed by Bishop 
Morris, presiding elder on the Findlay 
district. He served the district with great 
acceptability and usefulness until near the 
close of the first year, when he was suddenly 
stricken down by acute brain trouble, and 
died in Findlay, Ohio — Brother 



Caples was a young man of wonderful 
preaching powers. At the expiration of Mr. 
Caples' term in 1858 Rev. Charles. G. Ferris 
was appointed. At the close of that 
conference year the Central Ohio conference 
held its annual session in. Fremont in 1859. 
The conference was, hospitably entertained 
by the citizens, the members of other 
churches, and. those who were not connected 
with any church, generously assisting. The 
conference adjourned with grateful feelings 
to ward the people for their kind and hos- 
pitable entertainment. At this conference. 
Mr. Ferris was removed and Rev. W. S. Lunt 
was appointed. He remained for the two 
conference years. No pastor ever enjoyed 
more fully the confidence and affection of 
the charge than did Mr. Lunt. He has been 
for some time broken down in health, and 
sustains a superannuated relation to the 
Central Ohio conference. He resides in 
Fostoria, and enjoys the confidence and 
affection of the people. He closed his legal 
term of service on the charge in 1861, and 
Rev. Simeon Alderman was appointed to 
succeed him. He. remained but one year, and 
in 1862 Rev., E. R. Morrison was appointed. 
Mr. Morrison was of an unfortunate mental 
organism. During his ministry here there 
were marked indications of mental 
aberration: He afterwards became entirely 
incapacitated, from this difficulty, for work. 
At present he holds a superannuated relation 
to the North Ohio conference, and resides 
with his helpless family among his friends, 
somewhere in the West, an object of 
profound sympathy. In many respects he was 
a man of fine intellect. At the end of his first 
year in Fremont it was thought best to 
remove him, and in 1863 Rev. Amos Wilson 
was appointed to succeed him. The general 
conference, of 1860 had changed the rule 
relating to the term of pastorate to three 
instead of Two 



500 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



years, and Mr. Wilson remained the full 
legal term. He was followed in 1866 by Rev. 
Joseph Wykes, who remained two years. He 
was followed in 1869 by Rev. G. W. Collier. 
Mr. Collier resigned his charge during the 
year to accept the agency of the Soldiers' 
Orphans' Home, and Rev. A. Wheeler, of the 
North Ohio conference, was employed by the 
presiding elder to fill the balance of the con- 
ference year. In 1869 Rev. F. Merriott was 
appointed to the work. He remained two 
years, and was succeeded in 1871 by Rev. 
W. W. Winter. At the close of his first year 
he was appointed presiding elder in the 
Findlay district, and Rev. Gershom Lease 
was appointed to the charge. He was 
reappointed in 1873 and also in 1874. Rev. 
Mr. Wilson became pastor of the church in 
1878, and retired in October, 1881. 

EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION. 

This church is one which seems to have 
been formed to carry the gospel to the poor. 
It has been doing good work in this county 
for many years, and many souls have been 
saved through the earnest, self-sacrificing 
labors of its missionaries. All through the 
county the church buildings of this 
denomination are found, there being one in 
almost every township. Revivals are of 
frequent occurrence, and though the 
preachers are usually itinerants, the church 
keeps about its work of doing good, and 
receives the support of a large portion of the 
intelligent farmers of the county. The 
present number of church edifices in the 
county is fifteen; the entire membership 
seven hundred and seventy. 

The first organization of the church in this 
county was effected in 1830. Since that date 
the progress of the association has been 
highly gratifying to those who have its 
interests at heart. 

The society in Fremont was organized 



in 1860 or about that date. In 1862 Revs. 
Shireman and D. Strohman purchased a lot, 
and an unpretentious but comfortable church 
building was erected. During the first ten 
years the congregation was composed almost 
exclusively of Germans, and the services 
conducted in their language. But in 1870 
Rev. A. Vandersoll commenced holding 
services, in which English alone was used. 
Since that time the church has been quite 
prosperous. Its present membership is 
seventy. 

In the formation of the societies of the 
Evangelical church in Sandusky county, the 
itinerant preachers were men who hesitated 
at no hardship which they met in the 
discharge of duty. They travelled chiefly on 
horseback, and with hymn-book and Bible 
and wardrobe packed in a valise or saddle- 
bags met their engagements, and fulfilled 
their appointments, through snow and rain 
and mud. Often their services were at first 
held in private houses, log cabins and even 
barns along the circuit. Rank and style and 
wealth were all ignored, while there was an 
enthusiasm in the service of "The Master" 
that never fainted or flagged. In diffusing the 
religion of Jesus through the early 
settlements and carrying the gospel into 
remote places, in the woods and over the 
prairies, the Evangelical church has done a 
great and noble work for religion and 
civilization, and is still prosecuting its work 
with zeal and success. 

THE REFORMED CHURCH.* 

The earliest record we find relating to the 
Reformed church of Fremont is dated 
November 5, 1857, at a meeting of the male 
members at the house of the Rev. J. Heller, 
where the following resolutions were passed: 

Resolved, That we organize ourselves into a German 
Reformed congregation, and place ourselves under the 
care of Tiffin classes of the synod of the 



: Robert Lucas, clerk. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



501 



German Reformed church of Ohio and adjacent States, 
to be known as the First German Reformed church of 
Fremont, Sandusky county, Ohio. 

2. Resolved, That we elect a consistory to consist of 
three elders and three deacons who, together with the 
pastor in charge, shall be the directors of the or- 
ganization. 

The following persons were then appointed: E. B. 
Buchman, Michael Binkley, N. Naaman, elder,; 
Frederick Tschumy, John Melhaupt, H. Zweler, deacons, 
who were regularly inducted into office on the 9th day 
of November, 1857, in the Union church at a regular 
meeting of the congregation. 

Recorded above May 31, 1858. 

JACOB SNYDER, Recorder, 

Per Charles Atkinson, Deputy. 

On the 1st of February, 1862, a joint 
meeting of the Salem (or Four-mile house) 
congregation and the Fremont congregation 
was held at the Reformed church in Fremont, 
and the two congregations united under 
name of one charge. The following persons 
were elected as trustees to serve a term of 
three years: Fremont church, Daniel 
Karshner, D. Koons, Peter Bauman; Salem, 
or Four-mile church, A. Hensel, Peter King, 
William Rearick; J. J. Siebert was elected 
treasurer, George B. Heller clerk. Up to this 
time Rev. J. Heller was the regular pastor. In 
1863 Rev. J. B. Thompson accepted a call 
and became the pastor, with the following 
persons in the consistory: John Dull, Peter 
Bauman, and John Younkman, elders; D. 
Karshner, William Shrader, and Daniel 
Koons, deacons of the Fremont church. In 
1865 we find the consistory made up of the 
following members: David Brohm and J. 
Younkman, elders; Robert Lucas and 
William Shrader, deacons. The church 
membership at this time numbered about 
eighty. Upon the resignation of Rev. J. B. 
Thompson a call was extended to Rev. James 
Seibert, which was accepted by him, he 
entering upon his duties as pastor April 9, 
1868. Upon his entering the charge he found 
several impediments in the way which were 
quite embarrassing, the greatest one the 
burden of debt that 



the charge was carrying on the church 
property in Fremont, no money having been 
paid on the debt for some years, and interest 
accumulating. He set to work to pay the debt 
by having the members give their notes, 
payable in five years, with interest, 
providing enough could be raised to cancel 
the debt; if not, none was to be collected. 
But by hard, untiring labor, he at last had 
enough to cancel the debt. He was 
universally liked by his people — plain, 
unassuming, conscientious, and upright; not 
a brilliant orator, but one whose whole 
mission seemed to be to be about his 
Master's work. By his industry and 
systematic course of life he not only relieved 
the church of the burden of debt it was 
under, but awakened a spiritual interest also, 
that was manifest in the Sunday school, 
prayer meeting and church. Being naturally 
fond of music he did much to encourage the 
younger members in that branch, often 
meeting with them during the week for 
practice. In the fall of 1870, while assisting a 
brother minister in Henry county, he 
returned feeling quite unwell, and was soon 
confined to his bed with typhoid fever, from 
which he never recovered. He died 
November 13, 1870. His remains were taken 
to Galion, his former home, for burial, a 
large number of his members attending the 
funeral. Some weeks after a funeral sermon 
was preached by Rev. Dr. Williard, of Tiffin, 
Ohio, in the church at Fremont. 

In 1869, at a meeting of the general synod 
held in Philadelphia, the name of the society, 
or church, was changed from the German 
Reformed to the Reformed Church in the 
United States. After the death of Rev. James 
Seibert, the charge was supplied by ministers 
and students from the theological seminary 
at Tiffin for over a year. The names of those 
officiating during 1871 are: Rev. R. Good, 
C. G. A. Hulhorst, J. M. Kendig, A. 
Zortman, 



502 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



and others. In 1872 S. J. Bacher, a 
theological student, of Tiffin, took charge of 
the congregation, and, upon completing his 
course of studies, was ordained as regular 
pastor, serving very acceptably till 1875, 
when failing health obliged him to resign, 
much to the regret of his people. Rev. Jesse 
Richards served the charge till 1880, when 
his resignation was accepted, to take place 
June 1, 1881. At a special meeting of the 
Tiffin classes, held at the Four-mile church, 
September 13, 1881, the Fremont charge, 
which consisted of the Fremont congregation 
and the congregation at the Four-mile 
church, was divided into two separate 
charges; the Four-mile church and Lindsay 
congregations to constitute a charge, to be 
known as the Lindsay charge, and the 
Fremont congregation and the congregation 
southeast of the city (known as the Mourey 
church) to form a distinct charge, to be 
known as the Fremont charge. A call has 
been extended to Rev. J. I. Swander, of 
Tiffin, Ohio, who is expected to become the 
regular pastor as soon as the way is clear. 

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES.* 

Within the earliest period of Fremont's 
existence, Canadian Catholics had settled in 
and around Fremont, but years passed by ere 
their earnest desire for a Catholic priest was 
gratified; until, shortly after the arrival of 
the Beaugrand family from Detroit, Mr. 
Gabriel Richard, a French missionary and an 
old acquaintance of the Beaugrand family, 
and who had married Mr. Beaugrand and 
Miss Chabert, made his appearance in 
Fremont. This priest came to America on the 
26th of June, 1792, where, in the far West, 
his apostolic services covered a territory of 
fifty-five thousand four hundred and nine 
square miles, until in 1832 he died in 
Detroit, at 

* Written by Helen Furst; translated from the Courier. 



the age of sixty-eight years. He it was, who, 
in the Northwest, published the first 
Catholic extracts out of the Holy Bible, and 
distributed them among the people. In the 
year 1809 he published a paper called, 
"Essay du Michigan," for which 
publication, however, on account of its 
altogether too strong Catholic tendencies, 
he was imprisoned for some time. Rev. 
Richard, who had come here on a visit, 
soon left, and the settlers again were left 
without a priest. Irish Catholics began to 
arrive, and also a young German Catholic 
by the name of John Christian, a joiner by 
trade, and during the years 1835, 1836, 
1837, and 1838 our settlement was strongly 
enlarged by families coming from Buffalo. 
Among the first was the family of Jacob 
Andres, and in the fall of the same year 
came Joseph Baumgartner. The next year, 
1836, brought Mr. Jacob Gabel and his 
sons, John and Michael. In the following 
year came. Mr. Joseph Huntzinger and 
several other families. About the year 1839 
came Father Tscheuhens, from Tiffin, on a 
visit, and services were held in Beaugrand's 
house, which was on the side of and near 
the river. From that time on our settlers 
were visited alternately by Catholic priests 
from Tiffin and other neighboring places. 
Also, Mr. Gabel, who lived four miles out 
of Fremont, in Jackson township, and Mr. 
Huntzinger, willingly gave the use of their 
houses for the purpose of holding services. 
Among those priests who from time to time 
visited our town we only mention two, 
namely: Amadeus Rappe and Josephus 
Projectus Macheboeuf. The former became 
bishop of the Cleveland diocese in October, 
1847, resigned in August, 1870, and died in 
September, 1877. The latter became bishop 
in part, infid. of Epiphamia for the apostolic 
vicariat of Colorado, in August, 1868, 
which position he still holds. As the 
congregation be- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



503 



came larger they were obliged to look for a 
suitable place wherein to hold their services, 
and gladly accepted the kind offer of Mr. 
Pease, to use his smith-shop on the east side 
of the river. In this building Mr. Balthasar 
Keefer was married by Father Macheboeuf, 
in 1840. 

Here also was held the first high mass in 
Fremont, by Father Martin Henni, who, in 
1844, become bishop of Milwaukee, and in 
1875 archbishop of the same place, where he 
died last year. Soon after Arch-bishop 
Purcell, from Cincinnati, officiated here in 
the holy sacrament of confirmation, and on 
the same evening lectured in the court- 
house. In the year 1842 Mr. Rodolphus 
Dickinson donated to the Catholic 
congregation a lot, where now stands the 
present St. Ann's church, on State street, 
which was built at that time. The first 
stationed priest was Father Nightingale; his 
successors were Carobaine, Welsh, Rose and 
Mullen. From 1842 to 1857, Canadians, Irish 
and Germans formed one congregation. In 
1857 Father Franz Xavier Wenninger, a 
Jesuit missionary, came to Fremont, and 
seeing that the German element was the 
predominant factor, induced them to build a 
church of their own. Thereupon they bought 
a lot of General Buckland for eight hundred 
dollars, situated on the corner of Croghan 
and Clover streets, and upon it erected the 
present St. Joseph's church. Among the 
members, at that time, we are able only to 
mention the following: Michael and Jacob 
Gebel, Ambrose Ochs, Joseph and John 
Stuber, George Greiner, Philip Gottron, 
George Rimmelobacher, John Gompert, L. 
Haberstroh, Charles Oltine, Casper Rust, J. 
Swartz, John Buchmann, Anthon and John 
Reineck, Franz Geibel, sr., John Haaser, jr., 
Anthon Hochenedel, Paul Gaurus, Anton 
Young, Adam Muller, William Horn, etc. 

Father Mullen's successor was Father 



Moos, who at present is in Sandusky. On the 
Zest day of September, 1862, Father Bauer 
took charge of the congregation, and has 
been here ever since. Soon another lot near 
the church was bought from Mrs. Moore for 
nine hundred and fifty dollars, whereupon 
the old school-house was erected, and in 
1865 was built the present residence of 
Father Bauer. 

In 1870 it became necessary to enlarge the 
Catholic schools. The sisters, who soon 
became teachers in place of hitherto 
employed teachers, had to give up part of 
their dwelling for school purposes, until in 
1878 it became absolutely necessary to build 
a new school-house. The lot, where at 
present the new school-house stands, was 
bought from Mrs. James Wilson, for four 
thousand dollars, and upon it was built the 
present elegant school-house. The schools 
are in a flourishing condition, and aside from 
the common elementary branches, some 
higher sciences are taught; also drawing is 
taught, and the girls are .instructed in fancy 
needlework. The number of scholars at 
present is two hundred and fifty, while the 
entire congregation embraces about one 
hundred and eighty families. 

ST. JOSEPH'S SOCIETY. 

This society was first introduced by Father 
Mullen, who himself acted as president, and 
Jacob Gabel, sr., acted as vice-president. 
This society was reorganized in 1866 and 
1867 by Father Bauer, who at first became 
president, but after his resignation Mr. 
Joseph Stuber took his place. At present Mr. 
Franz Giebel, sr., is president; Mr. John 
Horn, vice-president; Mr. Fred Buchmann, 
treasurer; and Mr. John Rectenwald, 
secretary. The beautiful Munich flag is 
carried by John Weber at extraordinary 
occasions, 



504 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



A GREAT SUNDAY-SCHOOL GATHERING. 

August 18, 1867, was a memorable 
Sunday-school day in Fremont. The county 
Sunday-school society at a meeting held in 
May, resolved upon a general meeting and 
picnic of all Sunday-school workers and 
scholars in the county. Circulars were 
addressed to every school in the county. 
How well they responded a report of the 
meeting will show. 

There were in procession, by actual count, 
more than four thousand people, besides the 
crowds who came in from the different 
townships, and interested spectators from 
town who filled the grove. The procession 
was under the direction of C. R. McCulloch 
and several assistants. It was five miles long 
and contained four hundred and nineteen 
wagons packed with happy children and 
drawn by four, six, eight, and ten horse 
teams, many of them handsomely decorated. 
Several of the wagons were filled with girls 
beautifully dressed in white. It was a 
refreshing spectacle to see these passing 
wagons bearing their beautiful and precious 
burdens to a day's meeting of enjoyment and 
encouragement. Many of the wagons con- 
tained fifty or sixty children, and in one 
there were as many as eighty-six. 

Every school had made an elaborate effort 
to excel in beauty and tastefulness of 
emblem and decoration. The day was 
pleasant, and when eight thousand voices 
joined in chorus, the grove rang with 
swelling melody. Rev. J. B. Thompson made 
the opening prayer, and Dr. Stilwell 
interested the children with a speech. Other 
speeches were made by Professors J. 
Tuckerman and W. W. Ross, and Rev. Mr. 
Inglf. 

A feature of the meeting was the display of 
banners borne in the procession. The Green 
Spring school carried a banner painted by 
General McPherson at the age of seventeen, 
when he was a teacher in 



the first school organized in that place. This 
much-prized banner was used in a wide- 
awake procession and afterwards laid aside 
and forgotten until found a few days before 
this convention. Another banner was carried 
by a Clyde school, for which it was painted 
in 1851, by McPherson while home from 
West Point on a vacation. The device is a 
child leading a lion, and has under it the fol- 
lowing text: "They shall not hurt nor destroy 
in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord." 

A third banner possessing historic interest 
was borne by one of the Clyde schools. It 
was presented to Captain Chapman, on 
entering the Mexican war, by the ladies of 
Tiffin, and brought home by him after 
victorious peace. The interesting horse 
which General McPherson rode on the fatal 
22d of July, 1864, was an object of interest 
in the procession. 

The following schools were represented by 
delegations: Fremont Presbyterian, 

Reformed, Episcopal, Methodist Mission, 
Clyde Methodist and Baptist; Butternut 
Union, South Ridge Baptist, Townsend 
Centre, Green Spring Union, North Riley 
Union, Galestown Union, Mt. Lebanon 
United Brethren, Ballville Union, Maple 
Union, Centre Union, Wolf Creek Chapel, 
Tawa United Brethren, Shiloh Union, Eden 
Chapel Union, Rollersville Union, Hessville 
Reformed, Madison Union, Jackson Sunday- 
school, Muskallonge Union, West Fremont 
Union, Rice Union, Fostoria, Mill Grove. 
The whole number present connected with 
the membership of these schools was four 
thousand seven hundred and fifty-four. 

COUNTY BIBLE SOCIETY. 

It is a striking fact in the history of 
Sandusky county that old institutions, both 
business establishments and charitable 
societies, were seriously retarded in their 
operations by financial embarrass- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



505 



ment. The Sandusky county Bible Society 
was no exception to the rule, yet general 
poverty throughout the county made its labor 
especially valuable. There are rigid 
necessities of life which must be supplied, 
but hooks, even the Bible, do not belong to 
that catalogue. People must eat and have the 
wherewithal to be clothed first of all things, 
and, as was seen in a previous chapter, 
Sandusky county pioneers were scantily 
supplied even in those necessities. But an 
association of good people, esteeming the 
Bible, if not a vital at least a moral 
necessity, at an early period of our history 
engaged with spirit and earnestness in the 
praiseworthy enterprise of supplying to the 
needy and destitute a copy of the Holy 
Scriptures. 

The Sandusky county auxiliary of the 
American Bible Society was organized May 
24, 1830, at Lower Sandusky, and was 
officially recognized by the Continental 
Association on the 2d of the following 
December. An installment of books, con- 
sisting of two hundred and fifty Bibles, and 
six hundred Testaments, besides a number of 
Bibles and Testaments sent as specimens, 
was ordered from the American Bible 
Society the following spring. The work was 
then formally inaugurated. 

By January 1, 1832, every township, and 
probably every family in the county, had 
been visited and supplied. The good work, 
however, was not kept up with that constant 
and watchful zeal which should attend every 
educational and reformatory movement. 
Nothing worthy of mention was effected 
from January 1832, till July 1835. During 
this period a flood of immigrants had' been 
pouring into the county, most of them poor, 
and some of them wholly destitute. Duty 
made vigorous work imperative, and the 
society resolved upon the utmost exertion. A 
debt, however, to the general society 
remained unpaid, and nothing effective 
could be 



accomplished without assistance. A donation 
of fifty German Bibles and one hundred and 
fifty Testaments was received and a credit 
purchase made of one hundred and fifty 
English Bibles and thirteen hundred and fifty 
Testaments. The finances of the society 
prevented general free distribution of books 
and the poverty of newcomers and pioneers 
prevented their sale. This attempt to 
resupply the county was practically a failure. 
In the language of the record, "from this 
time until February 15, 1840, the society 
languished." 

At this latter date a reorganization was 
effected and a better feeling seemed to exist 
among the members, and more de- 
termination to carry out the objects of the 
association. Forty new members were added. 
There were received at this time from the 
parent society donations in Bibles and 
Testaments to the amount of two hundred 
and forty-three dollars, and by purchase 
books to the amount of two hundred and 
eighty-eight dollars. The society was yet 
embarrassed by debt and sought voluntary 
contributions. The society was active and 
efficient from this time on. The county was 
thoroughly canvassed, the poor sought out 
and supplied, and those in better 
circumstances induced to become members 
and contribute funds. It was emphatically a 
home missionary organization, and many 
homes have not yet forgotten timely favor 
and assistance. Meetings have been held an- 
nually for the last, forty years. On account of 
changes in population it is necessary to be 
constantly watchful in order to carry out the 
design of the society. In 1862, two thousand 
six hundred and nine families were visited. 
Two hundred and nine were found without 
any part of the Scriptures in their 
dwellings — one family out of every twelve 
visited. One hundred and seventy-five of the 
destitute were supplied. Most of the 
recipients of the society's 



506 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



charity "seemed to receive the gift of God 
with heartfelt gratitude. Among the destitute 
families some had lived ten years without a 
Bible, having been overlooked, probably, in 
the previous supply." A few instances are on 
record which go to show the spirit in which 
the society's charity was received. One said: 
"I have been wanting to get a Bible for a 
long time. I am poor and have to live by hard 
labor. I give you a thousand thanks." 
Another said. "I thank you kindly for this 
Bible. I will read it myself, and will also 
read it to my family." With tears in her eyes 
a poor wife said: "I have often wanted a 
Bible, but my husband would never buy one. 
I have kept house ten years. Oh, how I prize 
this Bible!" It is more difficult to receive 
with disinterested thankfulness than it is to 
give out of the fullness of the heart. It is 
certainly a subject of congratulation that the 
society's efforts of charity were received 
with gratitude and brightened and gladdened 
spirits depressed by penury. The secretary's 
report of 1863 says: "There has been 
something to encourage the society in giving 
the Word of Life to the destitute in the 
liberality with which many have responded 
to the solicitations of the agent. A poor 
widow being called upon said: I rejoice to 
have the good work go on. I have but two 
cents; I give them freely, and. would rejoice 
to give more if I had it. 

A complete canvass of the county was 
made in 1874, and another in 1879. N. J. 
Jones was appointed to make the last 
canvass, his compensation being rated at one 
dollar a day. Mr. Jones canvassed the entire 
county except York, Green Creek and 
Townsend townships, which have been 
included in the territory of the Clyde and 
Bellevue societies for a number of years. In 
the course of one hundred and fifty days 
occupied in the canvass, and twelve hundred 
and eighty-four 



miles travel on foot, Mr. Jones visited thirty- 
one hundred and ninety-nine families. He 
found two hundred and fifty-two families 
wholly destitute of any part of the Scriptures; 
of these, two hundred and thirty-five were 
supplied, leaving in 1880 less than twenty-five 
families without the Bible. This was a fitting 
consummation of the labor of fifty years. The 
present officers of the society are: Dr. James 
W. Wilson, president; pastors of the various 
churches co-operating with the society, vice- 
presidents; C. R. McCulloch, depositary; John 
G. Nuhfer, treasurer; John Ellston, auditor; 
Isaac M. Keeler, secretary. 

BURIAL PLACES. 

The military cemetery during the War of 
1812 was on the hill south of the city. The 
English soldiers who fell in the trench before 
Fort Stephenson were buried in the bottom east 
of the fort and near the river. 

The first settlers set apart a lot for cemetery 
purposes on the hill sloping toward the south, 
just south of the present track of the Lake 
Shore & Michigan Southern Rail-road. This 
was the common burial place until Oakwood 
Cemetery was laid out. 

Oakwood Association was formed in 1858, 
and was composed of the following 
individuals: S. Birchard, James Justice, Israel 
Smith, O. L Nims, David Betts, James W. 
Wilson, John P. Price, James Valletti, L. Q. 
Rawson, James Moore, Thowas Stilwell, and 
Piatt Bush. A tract of land containing twenty- 
three acres was purchased and laid out in lots. 
Since 1858 Oakwood has been the common 
burying place of this community. Within the 
last five years the trustees have been especially 
diligent in making improvements. Walks and 
roads have been constructed, lots graded and 
otherwise beautified. In the year 1878 a 
residence for the superintendent was erected, at 
an expense of one thousand dollars, and in 
1869 a stone vault was constructed at a 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



507 



cost of eight hundred and fifty dollars. The 
present official board are: Stephen 
Buckland, C. R. McCulloch, F. S. White, 
William E. Haynes, and R. B. Hayes, 
directors; Stephen Buckland president; E. 
Loudensleger, secretary; C. R. McCulloch, 
treasurer; and C. Cramer, superintendent. 

The Catholics in this part of the county 
buried their dead near the river below this 



city until 1853, when a lot of two and one- 
half acres was purchased in Jackson 
township. This lot is yet used by the 
Catholics of that part of the county. In 1863 
St. Joseph's church, of Fremont, purchased 
eight acres for cemetery purposes, located in 
the southwest part of the town. St. James' 
church purchased, at the same time, eight 
acres lying east and adjoining St. Joseph's 
cemetery. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 
SOCIAL SOCIETIES. 

Sandusky County Pioneer and Historical Society — Secret and Benevolent Societies. 



SOMETIME in February, 1874, ex- 
Governor Hayes suggested the formation 
of a historical society to his friend, General 
Buckland, and others. The result was a 
conference of several persons, who favored 
such an organization. At this first 
conference were present General Hayes, 
General Buckland, L. Q. Raw-son, James 
W. Wilson, and Homer Everett. These 
gentlemen, after exchanging views, 
concluded to make a start in the formation 
of a society, to the end that the pioneers of 
the county might be brought together and 
more intimately know each other and at 
times enjoy themselves in social 
intercourse. There was the further intent to 
so organize that as much as possible the 
events and the names of persons who were 
pioneers might be rescued from the oblivion 
of forgetfulness and kept on record. 
Accordingly the following call was 
published in the papers of the county: 



SANDUSKY COUNTY PIONEERS. 

The old settlers and all other citizens of Sandusky 
county favorable to the formation of a County Pioneer 
and Historical Society are invited to meet at Birchard 
Hall on Saturday, June 6, 1874, at 2 o'clock P. M. 

A meeting was held accordingly, at which a 
constitution was adopted, providing for the 
name, officers, etc., and also that any resident 
of the county might become a member by 
paying one dollar, and that, any person who 
resided in the county on or before the 1st day 
of January, A. D. 1830, shall be exempt from 
the payment of any membership fees or dues. 

At this first meeting the following persons, 
having complied with the constitution, 
became members, and signed it, to wit: 
Homer Everett, Thomas Holcomb, George 
Bixler, Edward Tindall, Robert S. Rice, L. Q. 
Rawson, Piatt Brush, O. A. Roberts, Henry 
Bowlus, Samuel Skinner, John B. Rice, J. L. 
Green, R. P. Buckland, James W. Wilson, C. 
R. McCulloch, H. Lang, F. S. White, and R. 
B. Hayes. 



508 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



On motion the following officers were then 
elected to serve until the regular annual 
election, to be held August 3, 1874, to wit: 
Homer Everett, president; L. Q. Rawson, 
vice-president; R. B. Hayes, secretary; 
James W. Wilson, treasurer; H. Everett, R. 
B. Hayes, H. Lang, Piatt Brush, R. P. 
Buckland, and J. L. Green, executive 
committee. 

On the 3d day of August, 1874, the society 
met and elected the same officers to serve 
the ensuing year. The constitution was 
amended so that, in addition to the members 
of the executive committee, there should be 
one person from each township, and the 
following-named persons were added, 
namely: Edward Tindall, Ballville; William 
E. Lay, Green Creek; David Overmyre, 
Jackson; Martin Klutz, Madison; Grant 
Forgerson, Rice; Thomas Holcomb, Riley; 
Charles H. Bell, San-dusky; David Fuller, 
Townsend; John F. Bowman, Washington; 
Rev. C. Cronenwett, Woodville; John B. 
Mugg, York. 

The meeting then, on motion, appointed a 
basket picnic, to be held on the county fair 
grounds, in September, 1874. The executive 
committee designated the 3d day of 
September as the time for holding the picnic. 
The meeting was held accordingly, and was 
eminently successful in the number of 
attendants from the country, as well as from 
the city. This first gathering of the pioneers 
was novel and interesting in many respects. 
The old settlers were there in goodly 
number, and the care-worn countenances, 
silvery locks, and, in many cases, the 
tottering steps of the venerable participants 
in the reunion, afforded unmistakable 
evidence as to whom the county is indebted, 
at that day, so largely for 

Fields of waving, golden grain; 
Each flowery field, mead, and verdant plain 
Decreed to those who toil. 

At this meeting the names of Samuel 
Hollingshead and Augustus W. Luckey 



were added as honorary members of the 
society. 

The society has maintained its organization 
ever since, re-electing, annually, the same 
officers, with the exception of the secretary, 
Mr. Hayes being called, in the fall of 1875, 
to the Governorship of Ohio, for the third 
time, and, in 1876, to the Presidency of the 
United States. In his stead the society 
elected Isadore H. Bur-goon, who has 
faithfully discharged the duties of his office 
to the present time. 

This society has done much good in 
several directions. It has annually held its 
basket picnic, and brought the old settlers of 
the county into each other's presence and 
acquaintance in pleasant, social intercourse, 
and thus increased their happiness. It has 
promoted reverence and respect towards the 
early settlers, and made them realize that 
their toils and hardships are appreciated by 
the succeeding generations. By the numerous 
discourses and addresses at these meetings a 
very good photo, so to speak, of early 
pioneer life has been placed on the records 
of the society for preservation. It has 
preserved the likeness and biography of 
many of the early settlers in its archives, 
which will increase in interest as years pass 
by, and it has been instrumental in 
furnishing facts for this history. 

MASONIC. 

Masonry was instituted in Lower San- 
dusky during the early years of the history of 
the village. Daniel Brainard, Harvey J. 
Harman, David Gallagher, and others of that 
jolly coterie of village wits and friends held 
meetings in a three-story building which 
stood on the present site of June's foundry. 
They paraded the streets on several 
occasions, and gave the lodge considerable 
prestige. But the anti-Masonic frenzy, which 
spread over the country like wildfire in 
consequence of the reputed murder of 
Morgan in New York, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



509 



compelled the suspension of meetings here 
as well as at many other places. After the 
bitterness of feeling had died away, a few of 
the old members who survived, and several 
other Masons who had in the mean-time 
located here, desired that the lodge should be 
reinstituted and work resumed. 

FORT STEPHENSON LODGE. 

The grand master, W. B. Hubbard, was 
appealed to, and a dispensation received 
May 12, 1852, directed to J. F. Simpkins, 
Daniel Brainard, and J. W. Smith, author- 
izing them to organize a lodge of Free and 
Accepted Masons, to be known by the above 
title. A regular meeting for organization was 
held May 27, 1852, at which officers were 
chosen as follows: J. F. Simpkins, W. M.; 
Washington B. Smith, S. W.; Daniel 
Brainard, J. W.; J. S. Olinsted, secretary; D. 
Gallagher, treasurer; L. Caul, S. D.; A. 
Gusdorf, J. D.; H. B. Burdick, tyler. Besides 
these there were present at this meeting J. 
W. Main, P. Brown, and O. True. 

At a session of the Grand Lodge, held in 
Chillicothe October 19, 1852, a charter was 
issued to Fort Stephenson lodge, its number 
being 225. The charter is signed by W. B. 
Hubbard, grand master, and B. F. Smith, 
grand secretary, and others. The lodge 
prospered and grew so rapidly that in less 
than ten years it was thought expedient to 
divide. Such a measure was made almost 
imperative by the fact that a large proportion 
(more than half) of the membership was 
German, and desired to work in the German 
language. In 1861 seven members withdrew 
for the purpose of establishing a new lodge, 
and in December of the following year a 
resolution was unanimously adopted making 
German the language in which all the 
proceedings of the lodge should be 
conducted. This rule has been adhered to 
ever since. 

Fort Stephenson lodge has been presided 
over by the following masters: J. F. 



Simpkins, till November, 1852; Daniel 
Brainard, till December, 1855; F. Wilmer, 
till November, 1858; C. Doncyson, till 
November, 1859; F. Wilmer, till July 19, 
1877; C. Doncyson, till December, 1878; 
Lorenz Dick, since December, 1878. 

BRAINARD LODGE. 

A charter was issued to Brainard Lodge 
dated February 11, 1861, which bears the 
following names: John F. Simpkins, Lewis 
Canfield, Samuel M. Ellenwood, Homer 
Everett, E. F. Hafford, Oscar Ball, John H. 
McGee, George W. Steele. The dispensation 
which was read at the first meeting, held 
February 11, 1861, designated John F. 
Simpkins to act as master, L. Canfield, 
senior warden, and S. M. Ellenwood, junior 
warden. Masters since organization have 
been elected as follows: December, 1862, 
Homer Everett; 1863, L. Canfield; 1864 and 
1865, Oscar Ball; 1866, H. W. Bristol; 1866 
to 1871 inclusive, Robert H. Rice; 1872, W. 
I. Norton; 1873, J. P. Elderkin; 1874-76, W. 
W. Ross; 1877-79, S. P. Meng; 1880, E. 
Stanley Thomas. The lodge occupies a 
handsomely furnished room in the third story 
of the block corner Front and Croghan 
streets. The membership is active and 
energetic. 

FREMONT CHAPTER. 

A charter was issued February 2, 1855, to 
Fremont Chapter, No. 54, Royal and 
Accepted Masters. The charter members 
were: Francis B. Bell, George R. Brown, 
William Hamer, William S. Russell, James 
W. Foster, J. S. Olmsted, Ferdinand Wilmer, 
L. Canfield, I. M. Keeler, E. F. Hafford, B. 
J. Bartlett. 

FREMONT COUNCIL. 

No. 64, Royal and Select Masons, was 
chartered February 7, 1856, with the fol- 
lowing officers: E. F. Hafford, T. I. M.; J. V. 
B. Ames, D. Q. M.; S. P. Meng, R. C. W. 



510 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



DRUIDS. 

The first society entirely German in its 
membership was established in Fremont in 
1859, as a lodge of the United Order of 
Druids. It was chartered as Schiller Grove, 
August 15, 1859, with the following 
members: Charles Billinger, George Homan, 
Jacob Zorn, Charles H. Shade, C. G. 
Rumoff, James Unkrich, Jacob Fowler, 
Jacob Fretzel, Christoph Rosbach, Christian 
Michael, Joseph Magrum, and William 
Schrader. 

The Druids have a hall on State street, 
painted in the Oriental style of Christian art. 

KNIGHTS OF HONOR. 

Fremont Lodge, No. 95, was chartered in 
March, 1875, with the following members: 
H. R. Shomo, P. F. Heffner, James Kridler, 
Byron Schoville, A. F. Price, C. Strausmyer, 
J. K. Heffner, Perry Close, E. B. Belding, C. 
M. Dillon, D. H. Brinkerhoff, E. F. Hafford. 
This lodge meets in Odd Fellows' Hall. 

Humboldt Lodge, No. 852, Knights of 
Honor, is a German society, and was 
chartered January 1, 1878. The following 
were charter members: P. Knerr, Charles 
Schade, Joseph Zimmerman, John G. 
Weisbecker, L. Dick, Charles Klegin, F. 
Richards, J. Baumann, Christian Neeb, L. 
Younkman, Dr. M. Stamm, John Buchler, 
John Renchler, Charles F. Geisin, and C. W. 
Tschumy. This lodge has a membership of 
forty-two. Its hall is one of the finest in 
town. 

AMERICAN LEGION OF HONOR. 

A lodge of the American Legion of Honor 
was organized in Fremont in 1879, and is 
now one of the most prosperous societies of 
its class in the city. 

CROGHANLODGE,N0.77,I.O.O.F.« 

Like all other institutions devised for the 
benefit of mankind, Odd Fellowship is 

* By W. V. Marsh, secretary. 



the fruit of progressive civilization. By this 
power it has been wonderfully advanced and 
developed in the expansion of its 
capabilities, and the enlargement of its field 
of labor. It has grown, as many other orders 
of kindred character, formed in a good 
degree upon its example, out of the demand 
for auxiliaries, by the physical as well as the 
moral needs of men. 

Progress and civilization, which are 
practically correlative terms, are always 
moving under the light of accumulating 
experience, never losing sight of the grand 
object of their exalted mission-the amel- 
ioration of humanity. All our institutions, 
whether social, political, religious, or moral, 
are the creatures of this mystic force, and 
have been controlled, modified, reformed, 
and perfected under its processes, so that 
their present excellence has been graduated 
from rude and simple originals. Under this 
law of the social organization, united co- 
operation against the trials of life has been 
introduced, as alike the instinct of common 
humanity and the suggestion of a wise 
Providence. It has enabled men to uplift and 
succor each other in adversity, free from 
public dependence, and to promote a spirit 
of fraternity which knits them together in 
spite of the partition walls set up to estrange 
and separate them. Although but feebly 
supported in its inception, it has conquered 
its way by persistent effort, and today it 
stands on a foundation as firm as the "eternal 
hills." 

Who can calculate the value of such in- 
stitutions, not only to their immediate 
membership, but as substantial supports? 
Their withdrawal would be seriously felt, not 
only as a loss of an immense moral power in 
society, but also from the fact that their 
absence would necessarily transfer the 
burdens which they bear to the public. 
Among the many tributaries to the general 
welfare of this character which 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



511 



are noiselessly, yet most effectively diffus- 
ing blessing upon humanity, Croghan Lodge, 
No. 77, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
the pioneer of Odd Fellow-ship in Sandusky 
county, has made a record fully verifying the 
scriptural quotation that "By their works ye 
shall know them." 

A brief statement from the records of the 
lodge will abundantly verify this fact: 

Croghan lodge was instituted Friday 
evening, February 5, 1847, by the Right 
Worthy District Deputy Grand Master Henry 
G. W. Crouse at, then, Lower Sandusky, 
Sandusky county, Ohio, in an upper room of 
John R. Pease's building, situated on Front 
street, on the site of the present block of 
Roberts & Sheldon. 

The petitioners who applied for a charter 
in May, 1846, and at the installation of the 
lodge became charter members, were: N. S. 
Cook, D. H. Hershey, W. M. Stark, B. W. 
Lewis, and A. E. Wood, five in number, of 
whom Past Grand B. W. Lewis is the only 
surviving member. 

The district deputy grand master was 
assisted at the installation by Past Grands T. 
H. Sheldon, George Rumpp, and Richard 
Williams; John E. McCormic, Casper 
Parsons, Chester R. Johnson, and R. W. 
Ruthman, all of Seneca Lodge, No. 35, 
Tiffin, Ohio, and Mr. Conner, of Apollo 
Lodge, No. 61, Middlebury, Summit county, 
Ohio. After the formal institution and 
presentation of charter, the first election was 
held to provide officers for the current term, 
which resulted as follow: H. S. Cook, M. G.; 
D. H. Hershey, N. G.; W. M. Stark, 
secretary; B. W. Lewis, treasurer. Their 
installation followed in due and regular 
form. For the purpose of giving the new 
officers instruction in the initiatory work, 
the district deputy grand master held an 
initiation, Mr. John Smith being the 
candidate. 

The Pease building was occupied about 
one, year, when the lodge was removed to 



the Morehouse building, owned by Theodore 
Clapp, on the southeast corner of Front and 
Garrison streets. Here they remained about 
two years, when they again removed to a 
room in the third story of Buckland's "old 
block," on Front street. This room they 
occupied from 1850 to March, 1870, when 
another change was made to the present 
large, commodious, and beautifully 
appointed rooms in the Foster block, Front 
street. 

The lodge continued to increase in 
membership until 1876, when, numbering 
one hundred and sixty-two contributing 
members and thirty-five past grands, some 
of the brotherhood evidenced a desire to 
withdraw and form a new lodge. In June of 
the same year the matter took tangible form 
in the institution of McPherson Lodge, No. 
637, with twenty-nine charter members, a 
history of which will appear elsewhere in 
this work. Since that time both lodges have 
worked harmoniously together, as brothers 
of one great family, in cherishing the 
sentiments and diffusing the divine 
principles of friendship, love, and truth. 

The following summary has been care- 
fully compiled from records and annual 
grand lodge reports, from February 5, 1847, 
to July 1, 1881, and is approximately 
correct: 

SUMMARY. 

MEMBERSHIP. 

Contributing members January, 1850 37 

Admitted by initiation from January, 1850, to 

July, 1881 270 

Admitted by card from January, 1850 to July, 

1881 73 

Admitted by reinstation 20 

Total membership to July, 1881 400 

Withdrawn by card 104 

Dropped 114 

Died ....26 

244 

Present membership 156 



512 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



RELIEF. 

Number of brothers relieved to July, 1881 344 

Number of widows relieved to July, 1881 9 

Number of brothers buried by the lodge 24 

Total 377 

Amount paid for relief of brothers from Jan- 
uary, 1847 to July, 1881 $4,731.10 

Amount paid for relief of widows 89.93 

Amount paid for burial of deceased brothers ...639.40 
Amount paid to charitable purposes 73.50 

Total $5,533.93 

FINANCE. 

Minimum receipts from 1847 to 1881 $23,192.66 

Expenses from 1847 to 1881 18,866.03 

Balance $4,326.88 

List of Past Grands to July, 1881, in nearly the 
regular order: N. S. Cook, D. H. Hershey, W. 
M. Stark, John Bell, R. P. Buckland, sr., John 
L. Greene, sr., C. R. McCulloch,* James S. 
Fouke, O. A. Roberts, J. F. R. Seibring, W. H. 
Morgan, James H. Hufford, G. W. Steele, G. C. 
Canfield, S. Buckland, D. L. June, C. M. 
Fouke, I. M. Keeler, T. Clapp, D. W. Krebs, S. 
Buckland,* John McKee, N. Haynes, John 
Flaugher, J. R. Bartlett, L. Gelpin, E. H. 
Underhill, Joseph Rumbaugh, George 
Reymond, John Bell,* John P. Moore, Aaron 
Bennett, L. M. Jackson, Charles H. Krebs, H. 
L. Pennell, H. R. Shomo, S. P. Meng, A. D. 
Wiles, C. K Phelps, B. W. Lewis, James 
Kridler, D. L. Camfield, Henry Lesher, James 
H. Fowler, F. K. Tetter, David Otto, George 
Beck, Henry Stacy, S. E. Anderson, H. R. 
Tucker, G. M. Tyler, John T. Beck, J. C. 
Rosebaugh, T. F. Seigfried, R. Hermon, 
William Foresythe, John Treat, John L. 
Greene, jr., D. S. June, T. M. Hobart, H. R. 
Finefrock, M. A. June, C. E. Reiff, E. H. 
Morgan, I. Walborn, Samuel Brinkerhoff, 
Henry W. Kent. 

Following is the present list of Past Grands 
of Croghan Lodge, July 1, 1881: 

* P assed the chair twice . 



R. P. Buckland, sr., C. R. McCulloch, James 
H. Hafford, S. Buckland, D. L. June, I. M. 
Keeler, E. H. Underhill, Jos. Rumbaugh, 
John P. Moore, George J. Krebs, H. R. 
Shomo, B. W. Lewis, David Otto, George 
Beck, Henry Stacy, S. E. Anderson, H. L. 
Pennell, M. R. Tucker, John T. Beck, T. F. 
Seigfried, R. Hermon, William Foresythe, 
John Treat, John L. Greene, jr., D. S. June, 
T. M. Hobart, H. R. Finefrock, M. A. June, 
C. F. Reiff, E. H. Morgan, I. Walborn, 
Samuel Brinkerhoff, Henry W. Kent. 

M'PHERSON LODGE I. 0. 0. F. 

In 1876 the lodge had grown so large that 
it was thought better results could be secured 
by division. The Grand Lodge was applied 
to, and on May 11, 1876, a charter was 
issued to McPherson Lodge No. 637. The 
lodge was formally instituted June 29, 1876, 
with the following members: George J. 
Krebs, John W. Greene, John Pero, C. B. 
Tyler, John P. Thompson, S. P. Meng, A. 
Alfred, George Maycomber, W. B. Kridler, 
jr., Charles B. Greene, James West, Henry 
Coonrod, James Park, S. J. Ludwig, H. R. 
Bowlus, G. W. Heberling, Charles 
Thompson, Benjamin F. Evans, J. H. 
Robinson, James Kridler, Charles Moore, 
Henry Lesher, Frank Q. Ickes, S. A. Wilson, 
P. Knerr, Samuel Ridley, J. C. Rosebach, W. 
S. Witmer, and James S. Fowler. 

FREMONT ENCAMPMENT 

was chartered in May, 1855, with the fol- 
lowing members: D. W. Armstrong, T. G. 
Amsden, A. J. Knapp, Samuel Z. Culver, 
David Moore, A. D. Wiles, Theodore Clapp, 
J. F. R. Sebring, W. W. Seely. 

Lincoln Lodge, Daughters of Rebecca, 
was chartered May 21, 1880. 

In concluding this brief and abstract re- 
port, it affords great pleasure to he able to 
say that both lodges are, at the present, in a 
most healthful, progressive, and thriv- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



513 



ing condition, both in membership and 
finance. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 



RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES. 

An able historian has observed that native 
talent is about equally distributed in all 
nations, but it goes to waste wherever the 
surroundings are not propitious. Intellectual 
strength, to be useful must have cultivation, 
and be associated with good moral qualities; 
great occasions are necessary to make it 
prominent in an individual. This is a 
somewhat abstract theory, but it is a 
legitimate deduction from the career of that 
one citizen of Sandusky county who has 
filled the highest office provided for by the 
Constitution of the Nation. 

It is our purpose to give only a bare outline 
of the life of the ex-President whose home is 
within the limits of this city. His biography 
is beyond our scope, it is a part of the 
history of the country. But so much of his 
time, when not engaged in the performance 
of public trusts, has been spent here that a 
sketch of his career falls within the 
legitimate sphere of local history. 

Rutherford B. Hayes is a descendant of 
George Hayes, a native of Scotland, who, 
after living for a time in Derbyshire, Eng- 
land, came to America in the latter part of 
the seventeenth century and located at 
Windsor, Connecticut. Rutherford Hayes, of 
the fifth generation from George Hayes, was 
born in West Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1787. 
He is spoken of as a man of florid 
countenance and sandy hair, as having a 
great fondness for athletic sports and of 
popular manners. He married, in 1813, 
Sophia Birchard, of Wilmington, 



Vermont, a lady of fine intellect and lovely 
character. In 1 817 Mr. Hayes, with his 
family, came to Ohio, the trip being made in 
a covered wagon and consuming forty-seven 
days. They settled at Delaware, where, in 
July, 1822, Mr. Hayes died, leaving a wife 
and one daughter. Rutherford Birchard 
Hayes was born on the 4th of October 
following. The estate and management of 
family affairs was entrusted to Sardis 
Birchard, Mrs. Hayes's brother, who was 
then a young than, and took a loving interest 
in his sister's welfare. Mr. Birchard became 
very fond of his nephew, and at the age of 
twelve years took him under his immediate 
charge, sending him to school and 
afterwards to Kenyon college. During this 
school period Mr. Hayes spent a large part of 
his vacation time at the residence of this 
uncle in Fremont. His sister had married 
William A. Piatt, of Columbus, and his 
Hither made her home in that city. - Mr. 
Hayes graduated from Kenyon with the first 
honors of his class. During the course he 
kept a diary in which is recorded not only 
casual events of college life, but his 
estimates of persons with whom he come in 
contact, and occasionally lets drop a remark 
about himself and his aspirations. Mr. 
William D. Howells, in his biography, 
observes concerning this journal: 

There are few instances and none of importance set 
down in these early journals. What distinguishes them 
from other collegian diaries and gives them peculiar 
value in any study of the man, is the evidence they 
unfold of his life-long habit of rigid self-accountability 
and of close, shrewd study of character in others. At the 
end of the third year he puts in writing his estimate of 
the traits, talents and prospects of his fellow-students; 
and in a diary opened at the same time he begins those 
searching examinations of his own motives, purposes, 
ideas, and aspirations, with-out which no man can know 
other men. These inquiries are not made by the young 
fellow of nineteen any spirit of dreamy or fond 
introspection. Himself interests himself, of course, but 
he is not going to give himself any quarter on that 
account. He has 



514 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



got to stand up before his own conscience, and he 
judged for his suspected, self-conceit, for his pro- 
crastinations, for his neglect of several respectable but 
disagreeable branches of learning; for his tendency to 
make game of a certain young college poet, who 
supposes himself to look like Byron, for his fondness, in 
fine, of trying the edge of his wit on all the people about 
him. Upon consideration he concludes that he is not a 
person of genius, and if he is to succeed, he must work 
hard and make the very most of the fair abilities with 
which he accredits himself. He has already chosen his 
profession and is troubled about his slipshod style and 
his unreadiness of speech, which will never do for an 
orator. He is going to look carefully to his literature, and 
takes an active interest in the college literary societies. . 
. He has to accuse himself, at the age of nineteen, of be- 
ing a boy in many things. Even after he is legally a man, 
he shrewdly suspects that the law will have deceived 
itself with regard to him. He also finds that he is 
painfully bashful in society, but that great relief may be 
found by making fun of his own embarrassments. It is a 
frank, simple, generous record, unconscious even in its 
consciousness, and full of the most charming qualities 
both of heart and mind. 

While at college, Mr. Hayes, with all his 
introspection, did not foresee the course of 
his life. He resolved to devote to law his 
exclusive attention. "But a little later," runs 
the biography from which we have already 
quoted, "we find that he has aspirations 
which he would not conceal from himself, 
and of which one may readily infer the 
political nature from what follows. But what 
follows is more important for the relation it 
bears to his whole career than the light it 
throws on any part of it. "The reputation I 
desire is not that momentary eminence which 
is gained without merit and lost without 
regret,' he says, with a collegian's swelling 
antithesis; and then solidly places himself in 
the attitude from which he has never since 
faltered: 'Give me the popularity which runs 
after, not that which is sought for.' So early 
was the principle of his political life fixed 
and formulated. Every office he has had has 
sought him; at every step of his advance- 
ment, popularity, the only sort he has cared 
to have, has followed him. He is and has 
always been a leader of the people's 



unprompted choice." 

Mr. Hayes graduated in the class of 1842, 
and began reading law the same year in the 
office of Thomas Sparrow, of Columbus, a 
contemporary of Thomas Ewing, Thomas 
Corwin, and William Allen. He afterwards 
attended the law school of Harvard college, 
from which he graduated in 1845, and was 
admitted to the bar at Marietta. Returning to 
the home of his uncle in Fremont, he formed 
a partnership with R. P. Buckland for the 
practice of law. This partnership continued 
two years. Mr. Hayes then accompanied his 
uncle Birchard to the South, the trip having 
for its object the recovery of the tatter's 
health. In 1849 the young lawyer opened an 
office in Cincinnati, and for some time had 
the experience of most young professional 
men in a city. He was all the while, however, 
by diligent .reading, preparing for future 
emergencies. He had, in fact, always been a 
close student, going through book after 
book, seeking to know the facts and ideas 
contained in them rather than paying 
attention to the author's art and style of 
composition. He read pretty much everything 
of importance in current general literature. 
He has carried this habit of reading through 
life, except during those periods too fully 
occupied by public duties. 

It was through a circumstance of ex- 
ceptional good fortune that Mr. Hayes was 
given an opportunity to show his powers as a 
lawyer, and to earn standing as a 
practitioner. His first case in Cincinnati was 
his defence of an idiot girl, who had been 
arraigned for murder. The half daft creature 
was brought into court to answer to the 
charge, and, being without money or friends, 
had made no provision for an attorney to 
defend her. Judge Warden was then common 
pleas judge, and was on the bench when the 
case was called. The case was such an 
undesirable one, and the 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



515 



accused such an unprepossessing client that 
none of the attorneys present were anxious 
to undertake the defence. The judge, finding 
the poor girl had no counsel, asked the bar 
who should be appointed to defend her. Mr. 
Hayes, then almost a stranger in the court 
room, was singled out as a proper person to 
undertake the undesirable case. After making 
some inquiry concerning the character and 
fitness of the young barrister, the 
appointment was made, and after a short 
preparation on the part of the defence, the 
trial proceeded. The case was tried with 
vigor on both sides. Mr. Hayes' argument 
was particularly strong, and at once gave 
him a reputation as a lawyer. From that time 
he enjoyed a remunerative practice. In 1856 
he declined a nomination for judge of the 
Hamilton county Court of Common Pleas. 
Two years later he. became a candidate, and 
was elected to the office of city solicitor of 
Cincinnati, to which, on the expiration of his 
term, he was re-elected. 

In 1861, when the first call for troops was 
made, Mr. Hayes offered his services, which 
were at once accepted by the Governor, and 
when the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry was organized, in June, he was 
commissioned major. He served under 
Rosecrans in West Virginia, during the 
summer and fall, part of the time being judge 
advocate on the General's staff. He was 
appointed lieutenant colonel November 4, 

1861, and took formal command of the 
regiment at the opening of the campaign of 

1862. The first great battle in which the 
Twenty-third participated was South 
Mountain, culminating in the battle of 
Antietam, September 17, 1862. The summer 
had been occupied in skirmishes and forced 
marches until August, when the regiment 
was transferred to McClellan's command. 
The enemy was driven from Frederick 



City, Maryland, and on September 13 
Middletown was reached. Here began the 
battle of South Mountain, in which 
Lieutenant Colonel Hayes, in command of 
the Twenty-third, led the advance. It was 
ordered at an early hour to advance by an 
unfrequented road, leading up the mountain, 
and to attack the enemy. The enemy, posted 
behind stone walls, poured a destructive fire 
of musketry and grape into the advancing 
column. Lieutenant-Colonel Hayes, Captain 
Skiles, and Lieutenants Hood, Ritter, and 
Smith were each badly wounded. Colonel 
Hayes' arm was broken. Out of the three 
hundred and fifty who engaged in the action, 
more than one hundred lay dead and 
wounded upon the field. The command now 
devolved upon Major Comly, and remained 
with him from that time forward. The enemy 
charged from the left and the regiment 
changed front on the first company. Colonel 
Hayes, with his wound half dressed and 
against the remonstrances of his whole 
command, again came on to the field and 
fought until carried off. Soon after the 
remainder of the brigade, came up, a gallant 
charge was made up the hill, and the enemy 
was dislodged and driven into the woods 
beyond. Three bayonet charges were made 
during the day, in each of which the enemy 
were driven with heavy loss. The Twenty- 
third participated actively in the battle of 
Antietam, which followed, being under 
command of Major Comly. In October the 
Twenty-third was ordered back to West 
Virginia, and on the 15th of that month 
Lieutenant-Colonel Hayes was appointed 
colonel, in place of Scammon, promoted to a 
brigadier generalship. In December of that 
year Colonel Hayes was placed in command 
of the First brigade of the Kanawha division. 
During all that toilsome West Virginia 
service of more than a year, Colonel Hayes 
won, 



516 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



not only the respect, but hearty friendship of 
his command. He exerted himself to make 
camp life agreeable and to relieve laborious 
marches, so far as possible, of hardships. 
The affection of members of the Twenty- 
third for their colonel is manifested yet at 
regimental reunions. In the battle of 
Winchester Colonel Hayes, commanding a 
brigade, took a conspicuous and important 
part. In this battle he exhibited rare personal 
bravery, which is a characteristic of the man 
and an important element of his success. He 
never hesitated, either on the field or in 
politics, to do what occasion seemed to 
require. At North Mountain, Colonel Hayes 
took command of the whole Kanawha 
division, and at Cedar Creek, where a horse 
was shot under him, his conduct was highly 
meritorious. Immediately after this battle 
Colonel Hayes, "for gallant and meritorious 
services in the battles of Winchester, 
Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek," was 
appointed brigadier-general, to take rank 
from October 19, the date of the last named 
battle. General Hayes was given command, 
in the spring of 1865, of an expedition 
against Lynchburg, and was making active 
preparations when the war closed. He was 
breveted major-general at the close of the 
war to date from March 13, 1865, for 
gallantry and distinguished services in West 
Virginia in 1864, and at the battles of 
Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek. He was 
engaged in much severe service and 
participated in many battles. He had three 
horses shot under him, and was four times 
wounded. 

In the spring of 1865 there was a lull in the 
campaign in West Virginia, and many of the 
leading officers sought retirement from the 
service, which to them was be-coming 
wearisome. Several of the military friends of 
General Hayes desired that he should have a 
furlough or be advanced to a civil position of 
honor. A meeting was 



called at Winchester in May, 1865, over 
which Colonel Devol, of the Thirty-sixth 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, presided. A 
resolution was unanimously and enthusi- 
astically passed, declaring that: "Gen-Hayes, 
in addition to possessing the ability and 
statesmanship necessary to qualify him in an 
eminent degree for chief magistrate of the 
State of Ohio, is a soldier unsurpassed in 
patriotism and bravery, he having served 
four years in the army, earning his 
promotion from major in one of the Ohio 
regiments to his present position." 

This was the first suggestion of his name 
for Governor, and while the proposition was 
received with enthusiasm by the army, it met 
with earnest protest from him. General 
Hayes had previously, in October, 1864, 
been elected to Congress from the Cincinnati 
district. He had also protested against this 
nomination, and when informed of the 
unsolicited honor, he re-plied in a letter, 
since several times reproduced in political 
campaigns, in which he said: "I have other 
business just now. Any man who would 
leave the army at this time to electioneer for 
Congress ought to be scalped." Despite this 
protest, however, General Hayes was 
triumphantly elected by twenty-five hundred 
majority over Joseph C. Butler, a popular 
business man of the city. In 1866 he was re- 
elected by about the same majority over 
Theodore Cook. General Hayes was 
prominent in Congress rather for his 
usefulness then for the display of brilliancy. 
He was unobtrusive, and seldom took up the 
time of the House, even with a short speech. 
He was not ambitious to display oratorical 
ability, but his congressional career is 
worthy of great respect for the interest he 
took in the questions which at that time 
agitated Congress. 

The Republican State Convention of 1867 
mot in Columbus in June. The 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



517 



importance of having a strong candidate was 
deeply felt throughout the State, and the 
country looked upon the approaching contest 
with interest. The Republican party proposed 
a suffrage measure, which, owing to race 
prejudice, accrued wholly to the benefit of 
the Democrats. Further than this, Mr. 
Pendleton had announced plausible and 
popular currency theories, then new to the 
people and well calculated to attract votes. 
The Republican convention made General 
Hayes its spontaneous choice for the head of 
the ticket, wholly without his solicitation. 
The Democrats further increased their 
strength which the popular side of two great 
issues gave them, by selecting for their 
candidate Allen G. Thurman. The canvass 
was vigorous on both, sides. The Democrats 
were on the offensive and pushed 
prominently the proposition to pay the 
bonded debt in non-interest bearing green- 
backs. Mr. Hayes resigned his seat in Con- 
gress, and early in August entered zealously 
into the canvass. He spoke in nearly every 
one of the eighty-eight counties of the State, 
opposing with all his force the position of 
his opponents with regard to the currency, 
and supporting with the same fervor the 
stand taken by his own party for equal 
suffrage. General Hayes is a campaign 
speaker of peculiar force and influence. He 
is not what is generally known as an 
eloquent speaker, yet he has canvassed this 
State several times, and drawn large 
audiences in the same towns at each 
campaign. His power lies in clear, bold, 
pungent statement, and he inspires an 
audience, with, confidence in the sincerity of 
his convictions. As a campaigner he 
belonged to that class who appeal to the 
reason of the wavering and doubtful. He 
fought a political battle on the issues rather 
than by working upon prejudice or inspiring 
faithful partisans with confidence of victory. 
In a cam- 



paign without an issue General Hayes would 
have been out of place. The contest in Ohio 
in 1867 was a pivotal one with reference to 
the disposition of the National debt and the 
question of negro suffrage. The Republicans 
lost the Legislature, but General Hayes and 
the rest of his ticket were elected. The 
suffrage amendment was defeated, owing to 
its unnecessary disfranchising clause, but the 
principle had developed popular strength and 
subsequent triumph was assured. 

Governor Hayes' administration com- 
manded the respect of the people of the 
State, and a second nomination was con- 
ceded long before the convention met in 
1869. The Democrats adopted an ultra 
platform and nominated General Rosecrans 
for Governor. General Rosecrans, who was 
in California at the time, declined the 
position, and Hon. George H. Pendleton was 
selected as the opposing standard-bearer. 
The campaign was fought on issues growing 
out of the reconstruction measures of the 
Republican Congress, and attracted National 
attention. Governor Hayes was re-elected by 
a largely increased majority. His second 
administration was liberal and popular, as 
the first had been. As Governor he was 
eulogized by the leaders of both political 
parties. 

General Hayes met his first political defeat 
in 1872, but it was a party and not a personal 
defeat. On the 31st of July a large number of 
Cincinnati Republicans united in the 
following letter: 

Hon. R. B. Hayes: 

Believing that it is the desire of the Republicans 
generally of the Second Congressional District, that you 
be a candidate for the nomination, and feeling that you 
would receive a larger vote from the district than any 
other person that could be agreed upon, we unite in 
respectfully asking that you accept a nomination for 
Congress. 

General Hayes positively and unequivo- 
cally declined allowing his name to be 



518 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



used in connection with the candidacy, but 
in the face of protestation he was nominated, 
and to prevent dissension in the party 
accepted. He foresaw defeat from the start, 
but made a good canvass, and carried a much 
larger vote in his district than General 
Grant's vote for President a month later. 
Hamilton county was carried for the 
Democrats that year by five thousand 
majority. 

In 1873 General Hayes was unexpectedly 
nominated by the President for Assistant 
Treasurer at Cincinnati, but declined the 
office, being desirous to return to his home 
at Fremont. He resumed his residence here in 
the summer of that year, and naturally 
enjoyed relief from more than twelve years 
of official care. The two subsequent years of 
his life were passed quietly and contentedly. 
But his party in Ohio was approaching an 
important political crisis. The October 
campaign in Ohio in 1875 was looked upon 
as the preliminary battle of the National 
contest of 1876. Far more import-ant 
interests than mere partisan advantage were 
at stake. Upon the issue of the contest 
depended, in an important measure, the 
character of legislation on the currency 
question. The question was similar to the 
one which General Hayes, eight years 
before, had been called from his seat in 
Congress to champion. Republicans of the 
State felt the weight of great responsibility, 
and discussed, with solicitude, the choice of 
a standard-bearer. The Democrats, two years 
before, had elected their candidate for 
Governor, and the year before carried the 
State by seventeen thousand majority. 
Business failures and general industrial 
depression made the theory of expanding the 
paper currency of the country extremely 
popular. In addition to this, discontent with 
the National Administration made 
Republicans indifferent. Seventeen thousand 
majority, the unpopular 



side of an all-absorbing issue, and an 
Administration at Washington generally 
unpopular, all these obstacles in the way of 
victory had to be overcome, and who should 
be chosen to lead in the unequal contest? 
General Hayes, as in 1864 he had been 
sought out of the army to be chosen to 
Congress; as in 1867 he had been recalled 
from Congress to lead in a doubtful State 
campaign, against his will and solemn 
protest, was in 1875 forced from his pleasant 
and quiet home to lead in a campaign which 
was to decide, not only the immediate 
destiny of parties, but to formulate important 
National legislation. General Hayes was the 
spontaneous choice of the rank and file of 
the Republican party in that great political 
emergency. There were grave doubts, 
however, as to whether he would accept the 
nomination, and they were not without 
reason. To all who had approached him on 
the subject he had expressed extreme 
disinclination, and he discouraged, at every 
opportunity, the use of his name. 
Nevertheless Republican sentiment asserted 
itself, and grew in volume until, by the time 
the State Convention met, It was simply 
overwhelming. The only other name 
proposed was that of Judge Taft, of 
Cincinnati, whose high standing and ability 
were beyond question. When the convention 
assembled Judge Taft was presented as a 
candidate. There was also placed before the 
convention a dispatch from General Hayes 
positively declining to be a candidate. He 
sincerely desired relief from public life, and 
on convention day confidently supposed that 
he had set at rest the movement toward his 
own. nomination. While the convention was 
assembling at Columbus, General Hayes, at 
Fremont, was quietly directing some farm 
work. The feeling of the convention was 
unmistakable, and its demands irresistible. 
Mr. Hayes did not realize 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



515 



the situation on that day until a bundle of 
sixteen dispatches was delivered to him 
imploring a withdrawal of his positive 
declination and another dispatch received 
soon after, notified him of his nomination by 
a vote of more than three-fourths of the 
delegates. Judge Taft, by his representative, 
moved to make the nomination unanimous, 
and General Hayes, after consultation with 
his friends here, telegraphed: "In obedience 
to the wishes of the convention I yield my 
preferences and accept the nomination." 

General Hayes entered that campaign with 
all his force, fighting not Allen and Cary but 
the theory of finance which their party 
advanced, and which he believed to be 
pernicious. Few Ohio campaigns have been 
so free from personality. The candidates of 
both parties were men of the highest 
integrity, and with honorable records. The 
contest was not for the Governorship but for 
the triumph of a principle which had an 
intimate relation to the Nation's most vital 
interests. General Hayes was master of the 
campaign which he led, having at the outset, 
in a speech before the central committee, 
conspicuous for clearness, defined the issues 
which he desired to have placed before the 
people. That speech, occupying less than 
five minutes in its delivery, was the 
Republican keynote, on which the campaign 
was fought, the result of which brought its 
author prominently into the circle of 
Presidential candidates. The Ohio election of 
1875 was the turning point in the course of 
party destiny. The political revolution of the 
previous two years was brought to a stand- 
still, and restored to Republicans all over the 
country confidence in their ability to 
maintain ascendency in the affairs of the 
Nation. Pennsylvania, largely influenced by 
Ohio, was a month later carried by the 
Republicans. The results in these two 
powerful and 



pivotal States gave assurance of success in 
the approaching Presidential contest, and it 
was about this time that Governor Hayes' 
nomination for the Presidency became a 
subject of serious discussion. The Governor 
himself, though plainly seeing the possibility 
of his nomination, was free from that intense 
ambition which led some other candidates to 
push themselves to the front. Therein was a 
secret of his success. If he was to be the 
standard-bearer of his party, the nomination 
had to be offered to him. He did not seek the 
high honor, and by not seeking, antagonized 
the ardent partisans of none of those who 
were candidates in the full sense of the term. 

When the National Republican convention 
assembled in Cincinnati, Governor Hayes' 
eligibility as a candidate was universally 
recognized, although his delegate support 
outside of his own State was small. But six 
ineffectual ballots exhausted personal 
enthusiasm, and on the seventh the man 
whose fitness was universally recognized, 
was nominated. 

The result of he convention was most 
gratifying to the people of this county, ir- 
respective of party differences, This was 
shown by the brilliant reception tendered 
Governor Hayes on the occasion of his visit 
home, June 24. For three days the city was 
alive with the excitement of preparation. 
Dwellings, business houses, and public 
buildings were tastefully decorated and 
brilliantly illuminated. The reception was 
held in the evening, and participated in by 
fifteen thousand people. The event was a 
most fitting tribute of respect to a fellow - 
citizen who had been designated by the 
dominant party for the first place in the 
Government. 

General Hayes' letter accepting the 
nomination for the Presidency, was char- 
acteristically strong and clear. If there had 
been any doubt in the public mind as to his 



520 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



courage, it was dispelled by the bold and 
advanced ground upon which the candidate 
placed himself at the opening of the 
campaign. His position on the then great 
questions then occupying the attention of the 
whole country — reform in the civil service, 
resumption of specie payments and 
restoration of fraternity throughout the 
Union — was especially pronounced and 
emphatic. With respect to the system of 
making official appointments, he announced 
that the "reform should be thorough, radical, 
and complete." On the currency question 
then uppermost among business men, he 
said: 

I regard ail the laws of the United States relating to 
the payment of the public indebtedness, the legal tender 
notes included, as constituting a pledge and moral 
obligation of the Government, which must in good faith 
be kept. 

His attitude toward the South was equally 
assuring: "What the South needs is peace, 
and peace depends upon the supremacy of 
law." In the last paragraph of the letter is 
summed up the Republican candidate's 
pledge to the country. 

Let me assure my countrymen of the Southern States 
that if I shall be charged with the duty of organizing an 
administration, it will be one which will regard and 
cherish their truest interests-the interests of the white 
and the colored people both and equally, which will put 
forth its best efforts in behalf of a civil policy which 
will wipe out forever the distinction between North and 
South in our common country. With a civil service 
organized upon a system which will secure purity, 
experience, efficiency, and economy, a strict regard for 
the public welfare solely in appointments, and the 
speedy, thorough, and unsparing prosecution and 
punishment of all public officers who betray official 
trusts; with a sound currency; with education 
unsectarian and free to all; with simplicity and frugality 
in public and private affairs, and with a fraternal spirit 
of harmony pervading the people of all sections and 
classes, we may reasonably hope that the second century 
of our existence as a Nation will, by the blessing of 
God, be pre-eminent as an era of good feeling and a 
period of progress, prosperity, and happiness. 

We have been endeavoring, so far as a 
brief sketch will permit, to point out the 
successive steps by which General Hayes 



rose in popular favor and official station. 
The letter of acceptance was undoubtedly the 
most influential document in the campaign 
which terminated in his election to the 
Presidency. It was the expression of a man 
of decided convictions and with courage to 
maintain them. Further than this, it was a 
clear, concise definition of Republican 
doctrines, which Republican papers and 
orators amplified, but to which little was 
added. Like the brief speech to the State 
central committee one year before, this letter 
determined the issues of the campaign. 

The election was closely contested on both 
sides. The doubtful result in three Southern 
States threw the whole country into a state of 
anxiety which continued until inauguration 
day. The events of that memorable winter 
are beyond our present scope. General Hayes 
was declared elected by the highest authority 
in the Government, and his title has never 
since been vitiated by the strongest tests 
which partisan enthusiasm could institute. 

It is too soon to write the history of the 
administration from 1877 to 1881. That it 
gave satisfaction to the people is shown by 
the renewed growth of the Republican party 
from inauguration day, and the decisive 
result of the National election of 1880. Its 
crowning accomplishment was the 
resumption of specie payment, and the 
consequent re-establishment of financial 
security and promotion of business 
prosperity. The attitude of the administration 
toward the South went far toward allaying 
public prejudices. The immediate result of 
this measure has been renewed life and 
activity in that long neglected section of the 
country. We can only enumerate a few other 
important measures of administration. An 
Indian policy was permanently established, 
securing the red man undisturbed possession 
of the soil he occupies, and encouraging him 




Lucy 1/1/. Hayes 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



521 



in civilized pursuits. The Mexican border 
difficulties were settled by radical measures 
affording greater security to our border 
citizens than have they enjoyed since the 
annexation of Texas. Foreign commerce has 
been aided by requiring from consular posts 
detailed monthly reports. The most difficult 
question with which the Hayes 
administration had to deal was reform in the 
civil service. A system of political 
patronage, quietly acquiesced in for forty 
years could not be displaced in four years. 
Bold measures were adopted and the results 
have already received the endorsement of the 
country. 

President Hayes was fortunate in 
surrounding himself with a Cabinet of able 
and distinguished men, and holding them, 
with two exceptions, till the close of his 
term. The administration devoted itself 
assiduously to work, and grew more popular 
as the results of its labors became known. 
General Hayes retired from the Presidency 
with the full confidence of the people of all 
parties. He had traveled in all sections of the 
country, and was everywhere received with 
the respect due the Chief Magistrate of the 
Republic. When he again became a private 
citizen, and returned to his home in this city, 
he was tendered a hearty reception as a mark 
of personal friendship and local pride. 

In this sketch of his public services we 
have deferred mentioning the social and 
private life of General Hayes and of Mrs. 
Hayes, who has occupied a conspicuous 
place in the State and Nation. 

LUCY WEBB HAYES. 

The personal appearance of Mrs. Hayes 
and her qualities as a woman are too well 
known to justify any comment here. She has 
been before the public many years, and has 
always been the recipient of the highest 
favor and praise. 

Lucy Webb was the daughter of Dr. James 
Webb and Maria Cook Webb, and 



was born at Chillicothe, Ohio. Her ancestors 
on both sides were Revolutionary soldiers, 
on her father's side being Virginians, who 
came from Kentucky to Ohio, and on her 
mother's side being from Connecticut and 
Pennsylvania. Dr. James Webb was a soldier 
in the war of 1812, and was one of Ball's 
squadron, which engaged with a party of 
Indians just south of this city a few days 
before the battle of Fort Stephenson. He died 
of cholera in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1833. 
Maria Cook Webb, the mother of Mrs. 
Hayes, was a lady of unusual strength of 
character and deep religious convictions. 
After the death of Dr. Webb she removed to 
Delaware, where her sons were being 
educated at the Ohio Wesleyan University. 
Miss Webb was instructed at Delaware by 
the University professors, preparatory to 
entering the Wesleyan Female College at 
Cincinnati. It was while attending college at 
Cincinnati that Mr. Hayes made her 
acquaintance. Both were spending a short 
time at Delaware — Miss Webb visiting her 
mother, Mr. Hayes his old home and 
birthplace. It is said that the first meeting 
was at the sulphur spring on the college 
grounds. Her natural gaiety and 
attractiveness made a strong impression on 
Mr. Hayes, who was thenceforth a frequent 
visitor. 

While at school Miss Webb became a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
She has ever since been ardently attached to 
the duties and requirements of a Christian 
life. At college she bore the reputation of 
being a diligent student, and graduated with 
good standing. 

Her marriage to Mr. Hayes took place 
December 30, 1852. The ceremony was 
performed by Dr. L. D. McCabe, of the 
Wesleyan University, who was also present 
at the twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, 
celebrated at the White House. 

Mrs. Hayes first became known to the 



522 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



outside world during the war. A distin- 
guishing characteristic is the great pleasure 
she takes in making people happy. In the 
army, among volunteer soldiers, she found 
ample opportunity for the exercise of her 
rare faculties in that direction: Upon 
learning of the severe wound received by her 
husband in the battle of South Mountain, she 
hastened East and joined him at Middletown, 
Maryland. As soon as he was able to walk, 
she spent a portion of each day in the 
hospitals, cheering the wounded of both 
armies with delicate attentions and, tokens 
of sympathy. The members of the Twenty- 
third Ohio Volunteer Infantry remember 
Mrs. Hayes with the kindest affection. 

Mrs. Hayes is eminently social and 
domestic. Her residence has seldom been 
without visitors, and she has always been, in 
every station, mistress of her own house- 
hold. One feature of White House life, 
during the Hayes administration, has been a 
subject of much newspaper comment. The 
use of wines was wholly abandoned. Wine 
had never been brought "upon the table in 
their own private residence, and it was the 
desire of both the President and Mrs. Hayes 
that their private custom should be 
maintained, and respected while at the head 
of the Government. 

Spiegel Grove is the name given the home 
of the ex-President in Fremont. The grounds 
are located on Buckland avenue, and consist 
of thirty acres, a large part of which is 
shaded by forest trees. The house, a 
substantial two-story brick, stands near the 
centre. It was built in 1860 by Sardis 
Birchard, and was his residence until his 
death in 1874. General Hayes has since made 
additions to the house. The well-filled 
library on the first floor indicates the 
character of the student whose collection it 
is. Few private libraries in the State will 
furnish more information on topics relating 
to our own country 



than that of General Hayes. His knowledge 
of Ohio and Ohio history is especially 
accurate and extended. 

General and Mrs. Hayes have again settled 
down to the rest and quiet of private life, 
which, for people of their age, they have 
indeed had little opportunity to enjoy. 
Fremont has been for years their home, 
though for the most of the time not their 
residence. It is expected that they are now 
here to remain. 

GENERAL R. P. BUCKLAND. 

Ralph Pomeroy Buckland was born at 
Leyden, Massachusetts, on the 20th day of 
January, 1812. His grandfather and father 
died from the immediate effects of military 
service in the cause of our country; the 
former, Stephen Buckland, who was a 
captain of artillery in the Revolutionary war, 
from East Hart-ford; Connecticut, drying in 
the Jersey prison-ship near New York; the 
latter, Ralph Buckland; a volunteer in Hull's 
army during the War of 1812, dying at 
Ravenna, Ohio from disease contracted 
while a prisoner of war.* The subject of 



*The following is a copy of a letter written by 
General Buckland's father about one year before his 
death: 

RAVENNA, September 12, 1812. 
DEAR SISTER: These lines will inform you that I am 
well. I have just arrived from Fort Maiden in Upper 
Canada, a prisoner on parole. I belonged to General 
Hull's army, and was sold with the rest of my brother 
volunteers to the British and Indians by that traitor and 
coward, Hull. The distress the inhabitants have 
undergone by letting the Indians in upon the frontiers is 
beyond description. Plundered of every article of 
property and clothing; and hundred of families 
massacred adds to the scene of distress. But they will 
have to share the same fate or worse if possible. We 
have a fine army of ten thou-sand men within a two 
days' march of here, which will show them that a Hull 
does not command at this time, Governor Harrison has 
the command of this army, and will do honor to his 
country and himself. He commanded at the Wabash last 
fall at the 




R. P. Buckland 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



523 



this biography completes the family's mili- 
tary record by his service in the Great 
Rebellion. 

His father, acting in the capacity of land- 
agent and surveyor, came to Portage county, 
Ohio, in 1811. About the close of the 
following year, during the severe winter, 
while an unbroken waste of snow stretched 
from the New England States westward, the 
father removed his family in a one-horse 
sleigh, from their Massachusetts home to 
Ravenna in this State, where, as above 
stated, he died only a few months after. His 
mother's maiden name was Anna Kent. Her 
father died at Mantua, Ohio, where he had 
moved from Leyden, Massachusetts. Some 
few years after the death of Ralph's father, 
his mother married Ur. Luther Hanchett, who 
then had four children by a former marriage. 
Six more children were born to them. The 
family were always in moderate 
circumstances. 

During his earlier years Ralph lived with 
his stepfather and family on a farm, but the 
greater part of the time, until he attained the 
age of eighteen, he lived with and labored 
for a farmer uncle in Mantua, excepting two 
years when he worked in. a woollen factory 
at Kendall, Ohio, and one year spent as a 
clerk in a store. In the winters he attended 
country schools, and the last summer, that of 
1830, he attended an academy at Tallmadge, 
Ohio, where he made a commencement in 
Latin. In the following fall he embarked at 
Akron, Ohio, on board a flat boat loaded 
with a cargo of cheese to be transported 
through 

battle of Tippecanoe, and the Indians have not forgotten 
it. I have enjoyed very good health since I saw you last. 
Give my love to my mother and all our friends. I am in 
great haste, and can write no more at present. Yours, 

RALPH BUCKLAND. 
P. S. You will write me an answer soon. I expect to go 
to Cincinnati in a few days, on public business. 



the Ohio canal, down the Muskingum, Ohio 
and Mississippi Rivers to Natchez, 
Mississippi. At Louisville he secured a deck 
passage on the Daniel Boone, and worked 
his way by carrying wood on board. When 
he arrived at Natchez he had less than one 
dollar in his pocket, but he immediately 
found employment in a warehouse on the 
landing, where he remained for a few 
months, but long enough, to so thoroughly 
secure the confidence of his employers, that 
at the end of that time they put him in charge 
of two flat boats, lashed together, and loaded 
with twelve hundred barrels of flour for the 
New Orleans market. On this trip he served 
his turn with the rest of his crew, as a cook. 
The voyage was successfully completed, and 
soon after landing, at the earnest solicitation 
of his Natchez employers, who had opened a 
commission house in New Orleans, he 
remained in their employ in the latter city. 

At that time drinking and gambling were 
quite common with young clerks like 
himself; but, besides a natural disinclination 
to indulge in things of this nature, he was 
further strengthened in his resolution to 
wholly abstain from these evils, by the 
untimely death of the book-keeper of the 
house in which he was employed, who was 
killed in a duel arising from dissipation. 
These resolutions have ever since been 
strictly kept. In his spare moments, of which 
he had many during the summer months, 
while at New Orleans, he pursued the study 
of the Latin and French languages, and 
several of the common school branches. 

In June, 1834, he started for Ohio on a 
visit to his mother, leaving New Orleans 
with the fixed idea of returning and making 
that city his future home. He had been 
offered several first-rate situations, but on 
arriving home, through his mother's 
solicitations, he was induced to remain in 



524 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the North. After spending one year at 
Kenyon College he began the study of law in 
the office of Gregory Powers, at Middlebury, 
and completed it with Whittlesey & Newton, 
at Canfield, being admitted to practice in the 
spring of 1837. 

During the winter of the previous year he 
spent several months pursuing his studies in 
the office of George B. Way, who was then 
editor of the Toledo Blade. While the editor- 
in-chief was temporarily absent at this time, 
he acted, for a few weeks, as editor pro tent. 

Immediately after admission to the Bar, 
with about fifty dollars in his pocket, loaned 
him by his uncle, Alson Kent, he started in 
quest of a favorable location for an attorney. 
The failure of the wild-cat banks was what 
settled Ralph P. Buckland in Fremont. On 
arriving here, at what was then known as 
Lower Sandusky, he found that he had not 
enough good money wherewith to pay a 
week's board. The surroundings could not 
have appealed very favorable to the young 
lawyer; but under the circumstances he was 
compelled to stop. He was trusted, by 
Thomas L. Hawkins, for a sign, opened a 
law office, and soon secured enough 
business to pay, his expenses, which were 
kept down to the lowest possible point. At 
this date he was not only without means, but, 
even worse, he owed three hundred dollars 
for his expenses while a student, and for a 
few necessary law books. This, it would 
seem, to him was but a trifle. He was 
confident of ultimate success, for, eight 
months after opening up his law office in 
Lower Sandusky, while still worth nothing 
in a pecuniary point of view, he went to 
Canfield, Ohio, and there married Charlotte 
Boughton. With his wife he returned here in 
the following spring. Although, as just 
spoken of, he was without means, his credit 
was good. He was 



strictly economical, temperate in all things, and 
diligent in business. His expenses during the 
first year of married life did not exceed three 
hundred dollars, and his business steadily 
increased, so that at the end of three or four 
years he had all he could attend to. In these 
early days of his life he was very slender in 
build, and troubled, to some extent, with 
dyspepsia, but outdoor exercise, gained in 
travelling on horseback to the courts of 
adjoining counties during term time, cured him 
of that complaint, and gradually increased this 
weight and physical strength. 

Mr. Buckland first entered into politics 
prominently as a delegate to the Philadelphian 
convention in 1843, which placed General 
Taylor in nomination for the Presidency. In the 
fall of 1855 he was elected to the State Senate 
as a representative of the Republican party, in 
that, the first Legislature after its organization. 
He was re-elected in 1857, serving four years. 
He was the author of the law for the adoption 
of children, which was passed during his 
service in the Senate. 

In October, 1861, he began to organize the 
Seventy-second regiment, Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry, he having, on the 2d of that month, 
been appointed lieutenant colonel by William 
Dennison, Governor of Ohio, and given the 
authority to raise a regiment for three years 
service in conformity to general orders from 
the War Department at Washington. The 
particulars of the organization of this, the 
Seventy-second regiment, are given in full in 
the history of that body. In three months it was 
fully equipped and ready for the field. 

On the 10th of January, 1862, he was 
mustered and sworn into the United States 
service as colonel of the Seventy-second 
regiment, and two weeks later with the 
regiment, in accordance with orders, he 
arrived, by rail, at Columbus, 




ChdflotteBuckldnd 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



525 



Ohio, and marched at once for Camp Chase, 
near the city. At Camp Chase he assumed 
command, and remained in that position 
until on the 19th of February he was ordered, 
with the regiment, to report to General W. T. 
Sherman at Paducah, Kentucky. 

General Sherman placed him in command 
of the Fourth brigade, First division of the 
Army of the Tennessee. On March 7, 1862, 
General Buckland embarked his brigade on 
steamers on the Tennessee River, under 
"orders to report to Major General C. F. 
Smith at Fort Henry. This order complied 
with; he proceeded, with the rest of 
Sherman's division, up the Tennessee to 
Savannah and Pittsburg Landing, and from 
there he went some fifteen or twenty miles 
further above, for the purpose of cutting the 
Memphis & Charleston Railroad, but in 
consequence of the extreme high water, the 
latter expedition was a failure, and he 
returned to the Landing. The battle of 
Shiloh, which took place in the first week in 
the following April, and in which General 
Buckland, with the Fourth brigade, took a 
prominent part, is given, in all the details, in 
General Buckland's history of the fight, to be 
found in another part of this volume. 

The general opinion entertained by those 
opposing enlistments was that the subject of 
this sketch was a man of no courage, and 
that he would never venture into the field of 
battle. This opinion had been diffused to a 
considerable extent among the soldiers and 
officers under his command; but after the 
first fight on that terrible Friday before 
Shiloh, all doubts as to his courage or 
disposition to go into danger were scattered. 
He there had the opportunity of showing, 
under fire, that valor and determination were 
some of the strong points of his character. 
On one occasion, during the battle of Shiloh, 
being ordered to advance his 



brigade under a very severe fire from the 
artillery and musketry of the enemy, there 
seemed, at the moment, to be some hesitation 
in the lines. General Buckland immediately 
rode up to one of the color-bearers, took hold 
of the staff, and con-ducted the bearer and 
colors to the desired point, followed by the 
cheers of the soldiers as they swept forward. 

General Sherman, in his report of that 
battle, written on the 10th of April, 1862, uses 
the following language: "Colonel Buckland 
managed his brigade well. I commend him to 
your notice as a cool, intelligent, and 
judicious gentleman, needing only confidence 
and experience to make him a good 
commander." 

This opinion of General Sherman's never 
changed during the time of the war, but, on 
the contrary, was strengthened by a more 
intimate and longer acquaintance, which has 
continued up to the time of this writing. 

In the advance on Corinth, begun on the 
29th of April, sickness to a great extent 
prevailed in the ranks, and it required the 
utmost courage and attention to prevent the 
men from becoming demoralized. Being in 
close proximity to the enemy, it was 
necessary to form line of battle before 
daylight every morning. The men had be- 
come so weak and dispirited that few turned 
out. This condition was alarming, and 
foreboded fatal results in case of attack. To 
remedy this increasing evil, General Buckland 
took upon himself to arise before daylight, 
and with Surgeon J. B. Rice and a lantern, 
went from tent to tent of the officers and" 
soldiers, causing all complaints to be 
examined by the surgeon, and compelling all 
those whom the surgeon advised it would not 
injure to turn out. This proceeding made him 
very unpopular, and many bitter letters were 
written home concerning him. But the soldiers 
soon discovered that it was done for 



526 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



their good; their feelings changed, and by 
open thanks they showed him their appre- 
ciation. From thenceforward he became 
universally beloved by his soldiers. 

General Buckland remained in command 
of the Fourth brigade until the army reached 
camp No. 6, on the 13th of May, where he 
was assigned command of the Third brigade; 
but on the following day General J. W. 
Denver, having reported to Sherman, by 
order of General Halleck, was put in charge 
of the Third brigade, and General Buckland 
returned to the command of his regiment. In 
the fight before Corinth, his regiment was 
constantly under the fire of the heavy guns 
on the rebel battlements, and, on the 30th of 
May, entered the city, finding it deserted. 

On the 12th of November, 1862, while at 
Memphis, he assumed command of the Fifth 
brigade of troops in General Lauman's 
division, and formed part of the Tallahatchie 
expedition. Under orders from General 
Grant, who had learned of the capture of 
Holly Springs by General Van Dorn, he 
marched to retake the place, which was 
successfully accomplished. Soon after, the 
brigade was assigned to the division 
commanded by Brigadier General Ross, 
who, three days later, was placed under 
arrest, and General Buckland, as the ranking 
colonel, assumed command of the division 
until December 26. On the following day he 
began a march towards Dresden, Tennessee, 
for the purpose of attacking and driving For- 
rest from that place; but, on arriving there on 
the morning of the 29th of December, he 
found that the enemy had evacuated it the 
same day. 

On the 10th of March he joined General 
Sherman's corps in front of Vicksburg, and 
participated in a series of battles and 
skirmishes which occurred in the movements 
to the rear of that city. During the siege he 
was always active and vigilant, 



and at times much exposed. On the 19th of 
May, on foot, at the head of his brigade, he 
marched down the graveyard road, under a 
terrific fire of musketry and artillery from 
the enemy's works, and, taking a position 
along the first parallel ridge, to support an 
assault on the rebel works, he maintained his 
place until after the assault on the 22d of the 
month. Although he was constantly exposed, 
and his men were shot down around him in 
great numbers, he escaped uninjured. 

While on duty, on the 24th of September, 
by the fall of his horse his right wrist was 
broken. By this injury he was in-capacitated 
for active service, but continued to command 
his brigade, except for a short time, until on 
the 26th of January, 1864, General Sherman 
placed him in command of the district of 
Memphis, where his administrative abilities 
were exemplified and his integrity of 
character was clearly manifested. 

The incidents connected with General 
Forrest's night raid on Memphis shed the 
strongest light on General Buckland's 
sterling traits of character. But for his 
courage, decision and promptness of action, 
the rebel forces would have taken possession 
of the city, and have captured large stores of 
Government property. General C. C. 
Washburne was at that time in command of 
the department, and had his headquarters in 
the city. General Buckland commanded the 
district. Most of the troops, under command 
of General A. J. Smith, had been sent in 
pursuit of Forrest, but, by a piece of 
strategy, the latter had eluded his pursuers 
near Oxford, Mississippi, and made a rapid 
march to Memphis. He captured the cavalry 
patrol, rushed over the infantry pickets, and, 
under cover of the darkness preceding the 
dawn of Sunday, the 21st of August, entered 
the slumbering city. General Washburne was 
surprised at his 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



527 



headquarters, his staff and orderlies cap- 
tured, and he narrowly escaped the enemy's 
clutches. He was in a building near that 
occupied by his officers, and, being op- 
portunely awakened, with only his pants on, 
he made good his escape to the fort below 
the city. General Buckland was aroused by 
the pounding on his door by the sentinel. 
The rebels were then in possession of a 
considerable portion of the city. At once 
realizing the full extent of the danger, and 
determined not to be captured without a 
struggle, but still without the least idea of 
the number of the enemy surrounding him, 
General Buckland rallied about one hundred 
and fifty men; at the same time ordering the 
rapid firing of an alarm gun, which served to 
awaken his own troops and alarm the enemy; 
and, in the gray mist of the early dawn, 
placing himself at their head, he instantly 
attacked the body of rebels collected near 
General Washburne's headquarters. He was 
out-numbered by four to one. He swept the 
enemy before him down the darkling streets; 
his numbers increased, and in such spirit was 
the attack conducted, and so rapidly was it 
carried on, that in less than an hour every 
rebel was driven from the city. A sharp 
battle immediately ensued in the morning, 
on the Hernando road, in the outskirts of the 
city, between the Union troops under 
General Buckland and General Forrest's 
entire forces, in which the latter were 
defeated and turned in full retreat. 

A few weeks after these last occurrences, 
in answer to a letter of General Buckland's 
concerning events at Memphis, the present 
situation and his prospect of being elected to 
Congress, General Sherman wrote him a 
private letter, from which we make the 
following extract: 

I know on all occasions you will do your best. I attach 
little importance to Forrest's dash at Memphis. He is a 
devil of a fellow, and I wish I had 



a few such, but they don't make permanent results like 
such men as you do. I entertain for you not only a 
measure of respect but also of affection. I think you are 
right now in going to Congress. That is National. I did 
not want to see you return to private life on account of 
the labor of war. We must have the assistance of the best 
men in the Nation to reinvigorate it. In Congress you 
take a National position, strengthened by a practical 
knowledge of the labor, responsibility, sleepless anxiety 
and personal danger of war. Your mind can skip the 
personal and selfish for the patriotic and real. 'Wu know 
also that words now must be mistrusted and men judged 
by acts. Opinions may be soft, pleasant and flowing, but 
the real man must act and not talk. Indeed I do value 
your friendship. Poor McPherson was dear to us both; 
and well do I remember in our first Shiloh days how he 
always hunted out your camp. Whatever may befall us, 
believe me that I feel for you more than usual esteem 
and personal friendship, and feel gratified in knowing it 
is reciprocated. 

General Buckland remained in command 
of the district of Memphis until the 22d of 
December, 1864, and on January 6, 
following, he tendered his resignation at 
Washington, to the Secretary of War, and 
was duly mustered out of the service. August 
3, 1866, he was commissioned brevet major- 
general United States Volunteers, to rank 
from March 13, 1865, for meritorious 
service in the army. 

Without having sought or expected 
political favor, and while still serving in the 
army, he had been nominated for Repre- 
sentative in the Thirty-ninth Congress. 
Without having gone home to further his 
interests, he had been elected by the people 
of the Ninth district of Ohio. In obedience to 
their wishes, he left the military for the civil 
service of his country. In 1866 he was re- 
elected to Congress. During the whole of the 
four years in Congress he served on the 
committee on banking and currency, and on 
the military. 

At the close of his Congressional career 
General Buckland resumed his law practice, 
a field of labor in which, before the war, he 
had attained distinction, and at this date he is 
still actively engaged in the labors of his 
profession. 



528 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



To his example and influence the city of 
Fremont is indebted to a great extent for its 
many public improvements, and not the least 
among them are the beautiful shade trees, 
which adorn almost every part of the city. 
He erected the first substantial brick block in 
Fremont, a three-story building of four store- 
rooms, with a public hall in the third story, 
considered at the time a great and hazardous 
enterprise. In 1853 he erected the finest 
dwelling then in Northern Ohio, and sub- 
sequently the three-story brick block at the 
corner of Front and State streets. In every 
public enterprise for the interest of the town, 
he was one of the first to propose and one of 
the foremost to act, relaxing no effort, and 
withholding no help until the thing had been 
pushed to a complete success. 

In 1870 he was elected president of the 
board of managers of the Ohio 'Soldiers' and 
Sailors' Orphans Home, located at Xenia, 
which position he filled for four years. 

On the 30th of January, 1875, General 
Buckland, Hon. R. P. Ranney, Dr. W. S. 
Streeter, as the guests of Henry A Kent, of 
New York, sailed from that city in the 
sailing yacht Tarolinta, for the West In-dies. 
They visited Martinique, Barbadoes, 
Trinidad, Grenada, Santa Cruz, St. Thom-as, 
Porto Rico, San Domingo, Jamaica, and 
Cuba, returning to New York April 19, after 
having sailed about seven thousand miles. 

General Buckland was a delegate to the 
Cincinnati convention that nominated 
General Hayes. It is well known that his 
labors and influence contributed largely to 
the success of the nomination. 

For three years, from 1878 he held the 
position of Government director of the 
Union Pacific Railroad. 

General Buckland's career has been 
measured by a success that adds one more 



example of what may be attained by a boy born 
outside of the pale which is presumed to 
enclose the advantages and the means 
necessary to success, viz: — influential friends 
and parental wealth. Left an infant at the death 
of his father, whose letter, embodied in this 
sketch, shows him to have been a man, the 
impress of whose character was worth more 
than an estate to his son, he made his own way 
in the world, and will leave as an inheritance to 
his children the record of a successful life, 
judged by what it has accomplished, and of a 
character for integrity, honor, and noble 
impulses, worthy of all imitation. 

In his family General Buckland has always 
been kind and considerate of the best interests 
of each. With the wife of his youth, who still 
lives, he came to his Lower Sandusky home, 
and together, with marked mutual esteem, they, 
each in their sphere, worked to prosper, sharing 
alike with cheerfulness and hope the privations 
of the beginning. Suited to each other, as no 
man and wife could be better, they have lived 
happily in each other's confidence and love, to 
enjoy together in an unusual degree the 
comfortable surroundings their industry has 
enabled them to secure; and have always 
shared the pleasures of travel and social 
enjoyment, for which the later public and 
official life of General Buckland afforded 
unusual opportunity. 



SARDIS BIRCH ARD.* 
A detailed biography of Sardis Birchard 
would be an important contribution to the 
history of Sandusky county. Although not 
one of the first settlers, he, at an early day, 
became a man of influence and prominence. 
He was born at Wilmington, Windham 
county, Vermont, January 15, 



information derived mainly from Knapp's History of 
the Maumee Valley. 



v- 3 ^ 




S. Bircherd 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



529 



1801. Both his parents died while he was yet 
a child. Both of his grandfathers were 
Revolutionary soldiers. His grandfather, 
Elias Birchard, died of disease contracted 
near the close of the war. His grandfather, 
Captain Daniel, served as an officer under 
Washington during the war, and survived 
many years. The Birchards were among the 
first settlers of Norwich, Connecticut. Sardis 
was the youngest of five children. He was 
placed in charge of his sister Sophia, who 
married Rutherford Hayes; became one of 
the family, and lived with them at 
Dummerston, Vermont, until 1817, when he 
accompanied them in their emigration to 
Ohio. 

In Vermont young Birchard acquired the 
rudiments of an English education, by 
irregular attendance at such schools as were 
in existence at that day in the country 
districts of Vermont. He became, for a boy 
of his age, an expert hunter and horseman, 
and gained some knowledge of business in 
the store of his brother-in-law, Mr. Hayes. 

In Ohio he worked with his brother-in-law 
in building, farming, driving and taking care 
of stock, and employing all his spare hours 
in hunting. He was able with his rifle to 
supply his and other families with turkeys 
and venison. 

In 1822 his brother-in-law, Mr. Hayes, 
died, leaving a widow and two young 
children and a large, unsettled business. Mr. 
Birchard, who was then only twenty-one 
years old, at once assumed the duties of head 
of the family, and applied himself diligently 
to the management of the unsettled affairs of 
his brother-in-law's estate, and to the care of 
the household. 

Inheriting from his father what was con- 
sidered a handsome start for a young man, 
with a jovial and friendly disposition, fond 
of wild sports and wild company, with no 
one to look to as entitled to control or advise 
him, his future might well be regarded 



with apprehension. He was then a slender, 
delicate, handsome youth, with engaging and 
popular manners, and a favorite among the 
young people of the new country. Warmly 
attached to his sister and her children, he 
devoted himself to them and their interests, 
and was the main-stay of the family. 

While yet a boy he was hired to help drive 
hogs to supply the first settlers of Fort Ball, 
now Tiffin, in 1817. The men in charge were 
hard drinkers, and soon after leaving 
Delaware the whole management depended 
upon Mr. Birchard. It was in the bitterly cold 
weather of early winter. The streams were 
bridgeless, and the roads all but impassable, 
but with praiseworthy energy and zeal he 
pushed forward to the Tyamochtee, where he 
delivered the drove to a party of Fort Ball 
settlers. This was Mr. Birchard's first visit to 
the Sandusky. He saw Lower Sandusky for 
the first time in September, 1824. His 
companion was Benjamin Powers, 
afterwards for many years a successful 
merchant and banker at Delaware. The outfit 
of the young men was a little extra clothing 
and a jug of fine brandy. They travelled in a 
one-horse spring wagon. The custom which 
universally prevailed, of acquaintances 
drinking to each other's health whenever 
they met, made the brandy an important part 
of the outfit. At Fort Ball they met Erastus 
Rowe, and had a jolly time, to which the 
brandy contributed freely. At Fremont they 
stopped at Leason's tavern, a log house 
which stood where Shomo's block now 
stands. The village population at that time 
numbered about two hundred. While 
stopping here they made the acquaintance of 
George Olmstead and Judge Howland. Mr. 
Birchard and his travelling companion went 
to Portland the following day, and on their 
return Mr. Birchard bought a drove of fat 
hogs, which, as soon as the weather was cold 
enough, he drove 



530 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



to Baltimore. Mr. Birchard has narrated two 
incidents of the trip: At Wheeling it was 
necessary to swim the hogs across, and they 
came near losing them all by the swift 
current of the river. By great exertions, and 
at considerable risk, they got all but half a 
dozen safely over. They were overtaken by a 
tall, fine-looking gentleman on horseback, 
who had also a carriage drawn by four 
horses, and two attendants on saddle-horses. 
The gentleman helped Mr. Birchard get his 
hogs out of the way, chatted with him about 
the state of the market, and advised him as to 
the best way to dispose of his drove when he 
got them to Baltimore. He learned that the 
gentleman was General Jackson, on his way 
to Washington after the Presidential election 
of 1824, in which he received the highest 
vote, but was not finally the successful 
candidate. 

In the summer of 1825, while mowing in 
the hay-field, he was seriously injured in 
health by over-exertion. He never entirely 
recovered, but remained in poor health dur- 
ing the remainder of his life. In the winter of 
1825-26 he had an attack pronounced 
consumption, and it was sup-posed he would 
not live till spring. He however thought 
hopefully of his condition, and spoke of a 
horseback trip to Vermont. One day he heard 
two men at work in the room below him, 
discussing his case. One of them said: "It is 
strange how Birchard is deceived; he thinks 
he will make a long journey soon; but the 
only journey he will make is when he leaves 
his house, feet foremost, for the graveyard." 
But the cheerful disposition of Mr. Birchard, 
assisted by the elasticity of his constitution, 
carried him through. In May he made a 
horseback trip to Vermont, where he 
remained till the approach of cold weather, 
and then travelled South to Georgia, where 
he remained till the spring of 1827. Having 
recovered his health he 



went to New York for the purpose of laying 
in his first stock of dry goods. He was 
without money, and had no acquaintances. 
Passing about the streets he fell into 
conversation with a young merchant named 
William P. Dixon, a stranger to him, 
connected with the firm of Amos Palmer & 
Co., to whom he developed his plans and 
explained his condition. Dixon, told him he 
would sell him all the goods he wanted in his 
line and would recommend him to others. 
His stock was made up and shipped to 
Cleveland, he accompanying the goods. Mr. 
Birchard's plan was to sell to laborers on the 
Ohio Canal, then being built from Cleveland 
southward. He followed the canal into the 
Tuscarawas Valley, but became dissatisfied 
and sold part of his goods to another trader, 
and with the remainder opened a store at 
Fort Ball (now Tiffin). Here he remained, 
trading successfully, till December, when, he 
decided to remove to Lower Sandusky. He 
purchased the stock of Richard Sears, who 
had made his fortune trading with the 
Indians. 

Merchants, at that time, paid very little 
cash for produce, and consequently received 
very little cash for goods, except from the 
Indians. For clothing, broad-cloth, Kentucky 
jeans, and linsey cloth was generally in use. 
The Indians bought fine blue cloth, 
Mackinaw blankets, beads, powder and lead. 
A great deal of corn was received in 
payment for goods. This was traded to the 
distilleries for whiskey, and the whiskey was 
shipped to Buffalo and sold. 

Mr. Birchard received the Indian trade to a 
large extent by refusing, to sell them 
whiskey. At the end of about four years he 
had accumulated about ten thousand dollars, 
which at that time was considered a large 
amount of money. He was making 
arrangements to retire, but in 1831. was 
induced into a larger business than 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



531 



ever. In partnership with Esbon Husted and 
Rodolphus Dickinson, under the firm name of 
R. Dickinson & Co., the largest store in Ohio, 
west of Cleveland and north of Columbus, 
was opened. The yearly sales amounted to 
fifty thousand dollars. 

Senecas, Ottawas, Wyandots, and a few 
Delawares, traded in Lower Sandusky at this 
time, and the store was often full of customers 
from the reservations. Mr. Birchard found the 
Indians in his business transactions generally, 
very honest. They would not steal as much as 
the same number of whites with the same 
opportunities. He often had his store-room 
full of Indians sleeping at night, with no 
watch or guard. 

In 1835 Esbon Husted died, and his place in 
Mr. Birchard's firm was taken by George 
Grant, who had been a clerk in the 
establishment since the organization of the 
firm. In 1 84 1 Mr. Grant died and the firm was 
dissolved, the business being settled by Mr. 
Birchard. 

Mr. Grant was one of the most promising 
business men in the place. He was tall, 
slender, of fine address, and full of life and 
ambition. He died young, aged only thirty- 
two years. 

Mr. Birchard's connection with banking is 
mentioned under the proper head. He made 
large investments in wild land which, as the 
county improved, rapidly multiplied his 
wealth. 

Mr. Birchard was one of the few men who, 
with increasing wealth, became more 
generous and public spirited. His good works 
are conspicuous. He advanced by means of 
his wealth and influence every public 
enterprise, and so many were his munificent 
gifts that he fully deserves the title often 
given him — "the city's benefactor," — His 
business operations stimulated commerce 
between this point and Buffalo. He worked 
unceasingly to secure the necessary 
legislation for the mac- 



adamizing of the Western Reserve and 
Maumee road. The Toledo, Norwalk and 
Cleveland railroad enterprise received his 
strongest efforts. 

In politics Mr. Birchard was an enthu- 
siastic Whig, and after the formation of the 
Republican party became an earnest 
supporter of its principles. During the war he 
used his influence to encourage enlistments, 
and when money was wanted he was never 
appealed to in vain. He was the first Ohio 
purchaser of Government bonds, in 1862. 

Mr. Birchard's private charities were large, 
and his public gifts are a monument to his 
memory. He had a deep sympathy for the 
poor, and could not bear to know suffering 
without offering relief. During the last years 
of his life, when poor health required 
confinement at home, he left with Mr. 
Miller, cashier of the bank, standing 
instructions to contribute liberally to worthy 
charities. His tenderness and solicitude for 
the unfortunate is illustrated by a letter 
which Mr. Miller still preserves. It was 
written on a cold, stormy day in early winter, 
and reads as follows: 

MR. MILLER: 

What a storm! I fear many poor people are suffering. 
If you hear of any such, give liberally for me. 

S. BIRCHARD. 

The Fremont Messenger, in an obituary 
sketch, sums up Mr. Birchard's benefactions, 
as follows: 

About three years since Mr. Birchard presented to the 
city of Fremont the large park lying between-Birchard 
avenue and Croghan street, and the small triangular park 
at the junction of Birchard and Buckland avenues. 

In 1873 he set apart property amounting to fifty 
thousand dollars, for the purpose of establishing a public 
library in Fremont. He contributed from this fund, for 
the purchase of a library, about one third of the amount 
required to obtain for the public the square on which old 
Fort Stephenson formerly stood, and was thus mainly 
instrumental in securing that famous historical locality 
to the people of Fre- 



532 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



mont forever. His gifts to the city are estimated at 
seventy thousand dollars, or about one-fifth of his 
estate. 

In addition to the above gifts made during his 
lifetime, we understand he made in his will the fol- 
lowing bequests: Five thousand dollars to Oberlin 
college, five thousand dollars to Home Missions, one 
thousand dollars to the Fremont Ladies' Relief Society, 
and one thousand dollars to the Conger Fund. Mr. 
Birchard was benevolent to a degree and in a manner 
known only to his most intimate friends. Aid in 
necessity was extended to many when none knew it 
except the recipients, and perhaps a friend whom he 
consulted. Mr. Birchard was especially devoted to the 
fine arts, and during his eventful life made a fine 
collection of oil paintings, which will eventually form 
one of the attractions of the "Birchard Library." 

In May, 1857, Mr. Birchard became a member of the 
Presbyterian church of Fremont, and remained in its 
communion all his life. He contributed constantly to its 
incidental and benevolent funds. He also contributed 
seven thousand dollars to the erection of the new edifice 
occupied by the congregation. In this he took especial 
satisfaction. Though a member of this church, he 
frequently aided other congregations without distinction 
of denomination. He gave most satisfactory evidence of 
sincerity in his religious experience, and died in perfect 
composure of mind. He had talked much with his friends 
concerning death, and seemed to be altogether ready. 

Mr. Birchard was characteristically hos- 
pitable, warm-hearted, and friendly. He was 
one of the marked characters in the history 
of the county. His life was fortunately spared 
to ripe old age. He died at 12 o'clock m., 
January 21, 1874, aged seventy-three years 
and six days. 



GENERAL JOHN BELL. 

General John Bell was a native of Penns- 
borough, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, 
and was born on the 19th of June, 1796. 
When he was but fourteen years old his 
father emigrated to Ohio, and located, in 
1810, in Greene county, near Xenia. While 
here he laid out a village, which, in honor of 
him as a proprietor, was called Bellbrook. 

On the 28th of March, 1816, the subject of 
this sketch was married to Miss Margaret 
Masten, of Greene county. 



In 1823 he visited Lower Sandusky, and 
after having made arrangements for a resi- 
dence, moved his family here in the year 
following. He was a millwright by trade, and 
upon his arrival he immediately engaged in 
the milling business, which he followed for 
some seven years. The first wool-carding 
machine in this vicinity was brought here 
and put into operation by Mr. Bell, in the 
year 1827. Referring to this fact, the Hon. 
Homer Everett, in a historical lecture 
delivered at Birchard's Hall, in February, 
1860, facetiously remarks: 

The judge (at that time probate judge) used to pull 
wool over the cards, and learned the science so well that 
he has since somehow succeeded in pulling wool over 
the eyes of the people, till they sent him to Congress and 
to many other good places; and lie still seems to hold 
on. He sticks the wool on by an adhesive plaster, called 
doing about right, in a very kind manner. 

Leaving the mill, he entered into extensive 
speculations in wheat and flour, shipping 
large quantities to Venice and Buffalo. After 
a number of years spent in this, business, he 
turned his attention to merchandising, which 
he followed for some eight years. He had 
quite extensive dealings with the Indians, 
with whom he was a special favorite. Time 
and again his house was literally filled and 
surrounded by the red men, in each of whom 
he and his family recognized a friendly 
guard, not an enemy. These and similar 
scenes are, today, yet vivid in the memory of 
his descendants. 

By a course of fair and honorable dealing 
from the time he first visited the place until 
he ceased to move among us, he acquired a 
high degree of regard and consideration on 
the part of all the citizens. This feeling of 
respect and esteem went on increasing in 
volume and intensity while he lived, and 
only culminated when the portals of the 
tomb shut him out forever from mortal sight. 

For a considerable length of time he 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



533 



was the Government land agent at Lower 
Sandusky, and also superintendent of the 
Western Reserve and Maumee road, between 
Lower Sandusky and Perrysburg; and it was 
through him, as agent, that the. Government 
lands along this road were disposed of to 
settlers for the construction of the same. 

Mr. Bell was deeply interested in devel- 
oping the resources of the country, and on 
all occasions manifested a strong desire to 
build up the town and to advance its material 
prosperity; and, disregardful of his own 
interests, this cardinal purpose was kept 
steadily in view during his whole life. In the 
meetings of the people for the advancement 
of public improvements and the promotion 
of the public welfare, he was always a 
conspicuous and leading actor. 

He was the first mayor of Lower 
Sandusky, and also the first in the same 
office of the city of Fremont, to which 
position he was repeatedly reelected. For 
three or four terms he served the people as 
probate judge; also for a number of years he 
was a justice of the peace. In 1838 he was 
appointed postmaster, which position he held 
till 1844. Subsequently he was a member of 
the House of Representatives in the Ohio 
Legislature, to which he was several times 
re-elected; and afterwards, in 1851, elected 
to Congress. During the Toledo war of 1835, 
Mr. Bell was the commander of the Ohio 
forces, being at that time a major-general of 
the State militia, having received his 
commission March 1, 1834. 

He was one of the most popular men in the 
county, as evinced by the fact that, whenever 
a candidate for an office, he ran ahead of his 
ticket in almost every instance. 

There was one striking trait in his char- 
acter that deserves special mention in this 
connection. In all of his public service, 



as well as in his private life, he was pre- 
eminently a peace-maker. He was always in 
for a compromise if it could possibly be 
effected, rather than to press a matter to 
litigation. His great aim seemed to be to aid 
people to keep out of the clutches of the law, 
and his advice in legal matters was always 
given to promote this end. So implicit was the 
confidence of the people in his judgment and 
honesty, that his counsel was almost 
invariably followed, and many a wrangling 
lawsuit was lost to unprincipled pettifoggers 
through the sensible, manly advice, "Settle 
your difficulty between yourselves by 
yielding each a little, and be brethren." 

General Bell was among the earliest settlers 
in Fremont, and, along with others, could tell 
of those deprivations, hardships, and dangers 
which constitute the life of the pioneer. The 
actual history of any of these worthy veterans 
would far surpass in interest and grandeur 
even the recitals of a modern romance. 

And has the West no story 
Of deathless deeds sublime? 
Go ask yon shining river! 

Up to the day of his fatal illness the General 
was remarkably healthy, and, although he had 
outlived the number of years allotted to the 
human race, he had the appearance of being 
much younger. He passed away from the 
scenes of earth on the 4th day of May, 1869, 
at the advanced age of seventy-four years. He 
was a Mason and an Odd Fellow. 

The companion of his life had preceded him 
by about ten years. She died on the 29th of 
May, 1859. 

The family comprised four children, three 
sons and one daughter. The daughter is now 
Mr. John M. Smith, of Fremont. The only 
surviving son is Charles H. Bell, also of 
Fremont. 

Both Mr. Bell and his wife united with the 
Protestant Methodist church at an early 



534 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



age, and both were members of the same at 
the time of their death. 

Mrs. Bell possessed an affable, noble 
nature; and he, a man of generous, genial 
heart, was a universal favorite with the 
people, and at the time of his decease 
probably had not a real enemy living. He was 
always the same unassuming, cheerful, 
obliging neighbor and gentleman, and in his 
death the city of Fremont and county of 
Sandusky lost a valuable and much-esteemed 
citizen. 



EBENEZER BUSHNELL, D. D. 

Rev. E. Bushnell has been pastor of the 
Presbyterian church of Fremont since 1857. 
He was born near Granville, Ohio, November 
18, 1822. His parents, Thomas H. and 
Charlotte Bailey Bushnell, came from 
Norwich, Connecticut, in 1816, and settled on 
a farm in Licking county. His father was a 
surveyor and civil engineer. Mathematical 
ability is a characteristic of the family. When 
our subject was eleven years old his parents 
removed to Newark. There the son was placed 
under the instruction of tutors preparatory to 
attending college, but the death of his father 
necessitated a change in the plans made for 
him, and he learned the trade of carpenter and 
joiner as an expedient for earning money to 
pursue his course in college. Not only the 
desired end was attained, but a business and 
mechanical experience was acquired, which 
has been valuable to him since entering 
professional life. 

Mr. Bushnell became a student at Western 
Reserve College, in 1842. He graduated in 
1846, with the third honors of his class, 
although weak eyes had seriously interfered 
with his study. After graduating he entered 
the theological seminary then connected with 
the college. During 



the first two years of the course in theology 
he acted as instructor in the preparatory 
school, and the third year was principal of 
the preparatory department. After graduating 
in theology, Mr. Bushnell, on account of an 
affection of the throat, was unable to enter 
the ministry. He accepted the tutorship of 
mathematics for a period of one year, and 
then entered upon his first charge, at Burton, 
Geauga county. He was pastor of the Burton 
Presbyterian church seven years. Ex- 
Governor Sebra Ford was a member of his 
church; as was also Chief Justice Hitchcock 
and Peter Hitchcock, since well known as a 
member of the Ohio Legislature. 

Mr. Bushnell became pastor of the 
Presbyterian congregation of this city in 
1857, since which time his clerical work is 
set forth in the history of the church 
elsewhere in this volume. 

Mr. Bushnell married, in 1850, Julia E. 
Baldwin, daughter of Sylvester. Baldwin, of 
Hudson. She died in 1856, leaving four 
children, all of whom are living, viz.: Mrs. 
Dr. Byal, of Beardtown, Wood county; 
George W. Cleveland; Albert B. 
Washington; and Thomas H. 

Mr. Bushnell married for his second wife, 
in - 1858, Cornelia K. Woodruff; daughter of 
Rev. Simeon Woodruff, a pioneer preacher 
of the Reserve. She is a graduate of Mount 
Holyoke seminary, and at the time of her 
marriage was engaged in educational work. 
Three children are the fruit of this 
marriage — Annie, Charlotte, and Edward. 

Mr. Bushnell, in addition to his pastoral 
work, superintended the city public schools 
from 1860 to 1863. He has been active in the 
ecclesiastical affairs of his denomination. He 
has been secretary of the Synod of Toledo 
for more than a decade, and a member of the 
board of trustees of Western Reserve 
College for more than twice that length of 
time. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



535 



During the war Dr. Bushnell was active in 
encouraging enlistments and otherwise 
laboring in the cause of the Union. He was a 
member of the Christian Commission and 
was during the year 1865 stationed at 
Petersburg. 

Mr. Bushnell is the most scholarly clergyman 
in the city. In addition to general and 
professional studies, he has been constantly 
adding to his early attainments in mathematics, 
for which he has a special aptitude, and the 
languages, particularly Latin, Greek, and 
German. In 1871 Marietta College conferred 
upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He 
has not entirely laid aside his Mechanical 
training. Several buildings in Fremont have been 
erected under his supervision. 



FAULKNER I. NORTON. 

The subject of this sketch was prominently 
identified with the business interests of 
Fremont. He was born in Cam-bridge, 
Washington county, New York, March 2, 
1811. He left home at the age of thirteen 
years and began clerking in Keysville, New 
York, and afterwards learned the saddle and 
harness making trade in Saratoga county. He 
came to Ohio and settled in Lower Sandusky 
in 1833. Here he worked at his trade until 
1835, and then returned to Claremont, New 
Hampshire, where he married Harrietta M. 
Willard. After returning to Lower Sandusky 
Mr. Norton engaged in mercantile business. 
His next enterprise was to build a foundry, 
which after operating a few years he sold to 
Mr. June. He next engaged in the 
manufacture of spokes and hubs. The large 
brick building on Arch street was erected by 
him for that purpose. Mr. Norton died 
November 4, 1878. Mrs. Norton is still 
living in this city. Mr. Norton pushed his 
enterprises with commendable zeal and 
enthusiasm, and con- 



tributed largely to the growth of the town. 



JOHN S. TYLER, 



the subject of this sketch, was a native of 
the State of New York, born in Cayuga 
county, on the 25th day of December, 1806. 
In 1816 he came to. Lower Sandusky with 
his father's family, from Detroit, Michigan. 
His advantages for education were limited 
by the meager facilities of the day. He was, 
therefore, a self made man. For a number of 
years he was clerk in the store of George G. 
Olmsted, from whom he gathered much 
valuable information in business matters, 
and whom he made his model for deportment 
and social habits, which were those of the 
true gentleman. He became a man of 
remarkably quick discernment, and was 
acknowledged one of the best business 
managers in the community. He was 
probably one of the best judges of 
investments that the city of Fremont ever 
had. 

From his arrival here till his retirement 
from active life he was intimately connected 
with the business interests of this place. He 
contributed to the growth, of the city in the 
erection of a substantial brick block on the 
corner of Front and Croghan streets, and 
subsequently a two-story brick on Croghan 
street. The mercantile business was his chief 
employment. His first trade was largely with 
the Indians, with whom he was a special 
favorite: 

About the year 1832 he married Miss 
Phebe Ann VanDoren, of Lower San-dusky. 
By this marriage he had three sons and three 
daughters. Charleston, his eldest son, served 
in the Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
was wounded at Chickamauga, and died 
September 28, 1863. Mrs. Tyler having 
deceased, Mr. Tyler married Eliza Kridler in 
1850. Death again removed his companion in 
1861. 



536 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



He married for his third wife Helen S. 
Norton, of Wood county. Mr. Tyler died 
after a brief illness, January 12, 1873, at the 
age of sixty-seven years. 



ISAAC MARVIN KEELER. 

The man whose name is most intimately 
connected with the history of the Fremont 
Journal is the subject of this sketch. He is of 
Puritan parentage, on both sides, both his 
father and mother having been born in 
Fairfield county, Connecticut, in 1799. His 
grandfather, Luke Keeler, and his 
grandmother, and Isaac Marvin, with their 
families, emigrated to Ohio in wagons in the 
year 1817. The former settled in Huron 
county, and, in partnership with Piatt 
Benedict, built the first house in Norwalk. 
The latter settled in Richmond county. Isaac 
M. Keeler was born in Sharon township, 
Richland county, September 8, 1823. He 
lived at Norwalk until September, 1840, 
when he came to Lower Sandusky and 
entered the office of the Lower Sandusky 
Whig, as an apprentice. Between 1843 and 
1849 Mr. Keeler was temporarily located in 
Milan, Norwalk, Sharon, and New York. He 
was commissioned postmaster at Fremont in 
October, 1850, and served in that capacity 
two years. In 1854 he purchased the Fremont 
Journal, which he edited and published until 
1865, when he sold the office on account of 
poor health, and entered the insurance and 
real estate business, in which he continued 
until 1877. In December of that year he 
repurchased the Journal, and, in association 
with his son, continues to edit the paper. 

Mr. Keeler was married to Anna F. 
Hulburd, of Lower Sandusky, June 23, 1847. 
She died October 26, 1850, leaving one 
child. He married for his second wife, May 
12, 1859, Jeannette Elliott, 



by whom he has two children, a son, S. M., 
and a daughter. Mrs. Keeler is a highly 
educated and literary woman. 



REV. SERAPHINE BAUER. 

Rev. Seraphine Bauer was born in France 
on the 17th day of October, 1835. His father 
came from Baden, Germany, but he lived in 
France for a period of twenty-three years. 
His mother came from Southern France. In 
the year 1848, after the death of the mother, 
which occurred in 1846, the father went back 
to Germany with his son (the only child), 
whose life up to that time had been quite an 
agitated, one. Within the earliest period of 
his life this son began to show remarkable 
talent, and his father was bound to use all his 
available means to give his son - a thorough 
education. He soon became familiar with the 
German language and literature. Like most 
of the students he took an active part in the 
revolutionary period at that time. From 
youth up he began to show a great desire to 
become a priest, and in order to reach this 
aim he subjected himself to many a sacrifice. 
The first disharmonious conflict, which took 
place in 1851, between the Government and 
the Archbishop of Freiburg, suddenly put an 
obstacle in the way of this young man's most 
ardent wish. After several attempts, first to 
study medicine, then to enter the army, then 
to be-come a merchant, he finally came back 
to the profession of his first desire, and, after 
first consulting with Bishop Rappe, of 
Cleveland, Ohio, he came to America in the 
year 1854, having lived six years in 
Germany. 

In Cleveland he finished his studies, and 
on the 13th day of June, 1858, he was 
ordained a priest. Soon after he took charge 
of the church in Maumee City, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



537 



the present South Toledo, where he found a 
large field for his priestly work. Aside from 
his own church he had offered and given his 
services to eight different mission places. At 
that time a Catholic priest had to battle with 
the difficulties of pioneer life, especially so 
in the entire district from Toledo to Fort 
Wayne, hence in all Northwestern Ohio only 
two priests were to be found. In this place 
Rev. Seraphine Bauer remained for four 
years and three months. The old pioneers of 
Perrysburg today will tell you of their 
everlasting love for the Rev. Seraphine 
Bauer, remembering the time when this 
young priest frequently rode his twenty and 
thirty miles to come up to their place in 
cases of sickness or death among their own. 
members. Finally the bishop was pleased to 
give this meritorious priest a position less 
burdensome, and put him in charge of the St. 
Joseph's congregation, of Fremont, on the 
21st day of September, 1862, which position 
he has since held, now nineteen years. 

In order to regain his strength and general 
health he went back to the Old World in 
February, 1872. His longing to see the Holy 
Land was gratified. He spent Palm Sunday, 
Good Friday, and Easter in Jerusalem, at the 
grave of our Savior. On Easter Monday he 
was favored with a rather unexpected honor. 
For centuries past there has existed in the 
Catholic church different orders of knights, 
especially instituted for benevolent 
purposes. Among these the most principal 
ones are the order of the Knights of the Holy 
Sepulchre, and Knight Templar. The first- 
named still exists in the church, but the 
Knights Templar was dissolved and 
cancelled at the Concilium of Vienna in 
1311, by Pope Clement V. The Knights of 
the Holy Sepulchre, who, with few 
exceptions, are only of nobility and rank, are 
designated to be the custodians 



of the Holy Sepulchre. But since it is 
impossible for the members to be constantly 
in attendance, the church has created the order 
of the Franciscaner to represent the same. On 
Easter Monday, 1872, as before stated, three 
new members of the order were created by the 
Patriarch Valerga from Jerusalem, and these 
three were Rev. Father Bauer, of Fremont; 
General Vicar, from the Island Burboun, and 
a gentleman from Lima, Peru. 

In two years Father Bauer will celebrate his 
twenty-fifth anniversary, and one year later he 
expects to see the new church completed. 

Father Bauer is a man of extraordinary 
talent. He is gifted with a wonderful memory, 
and with a sharp and penetrating mind. His 
character and his sociability in general has 
made him friends, not only among his own 
church members, but also all other 
denominations. 



WILLIAM CALDWELL 

was born near Chillicothe, Ross county, Ohio, 
December 23, 1808. His parents were William 
and Mary Park Caldwell, with whom he came 
to Port Clinton, Ottawa county, in 1828, and 
four years later, came to Fremont. Mr. 
Caldwell married in Fremont in 1836, Jane 
A., daughter of Thomas and Eliza Davis. She 
was a native of New York city, and was born 
December 17, 1808. 

William Caldwell, sr., was a native of 
Pennsylvania, and was one of a family of six 
sons and one daughter, who emigrated to 
Kentucky in 1787. He removed to Ross 
county in 1806, and in 1812 enlisted in the 
army, being in the Northwestern division 
under Hull at Detroit. Through that 
commander's cowardice the whole army 
became British captives. After 



538 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



peace Mr. Caldwell located at Columbus, 
then just made the State capital. He did the 
blacksmith work on the Ohio penitentiary. 
He came to Lower Sandusky in 1832, and 
subsequently removed to Elmore, where he 
died in 1861. 

William Caldwell, jr., has been justice of 
the peace at Elmore for eighteen consecutive 
years. He was in earlier years deputy sheriff 
of this county, and well known among the 
early men of this city. 

Dr. William Caldwell, son of William 
Caldwell, jr., is a practicing physician at 
Fremont. 

William and Jane Caldwell have had four 
children: William, born May 27, 1837; 
Charles, born February 5, 1839, died in 
1852; Robert H., born June 14, 1841, died 
February 8, 1863, and Juliet, born January 8, 
1844. 

William Caldwell, jr., was elected probate 
judge of Ottawa county at the October 
election of 1881. 



JOHN FABING. 



John Fabing was born in Loraine, France 
(now Germany), in 1797. In 1824 he married 
Miss Mary Greiner, who still survives. They 
emigrated to this country in 1834, and 
located near Syracuse, New York, where 
they lived ten years. December 24, 1844, 
they came to Sandusky county from Buffalo, 
New York. Mr. Fabing died July 25, 1845. 
He was the father of six children, four of 
whom are living, viz: Catharine, John, 
Frederick, and Barbara. John and Frederick 
both reside in this county, Catharine and 
Barbara in California. 

Frederick Fabing, the son of John Fabing, 
was born June 14, 1832, in France, and came 
with his parents to this country. In 1858 he 
married Miss Mary J. Webber, of Fremont. 
She was born in France, January 3, 1833. 
They have no children. 



Mr. Fabing has been a member of the city 
council two terms. He is at present 
superintendent of the Fremont gas works. 



JOHN NEWMAN. 



John Newman, son of John and Eve 
Newman, was born in York county, Penn- 
sylvania, in 1809, and came by wagon to 
Ohio in company with his brother, Michael 
B., in the fall of 1835. He located at Tiffin, 
and with his brother engaged in the grocery 
business for a short time. In the spring of 
1836 they came to Fremont and engaged in 
the same business and continued together 
until the death of Michael B., in the spring 
of 1839. John then sold out and returned to 
Pennsylvania. In 1841 he came back to 
Fremont, and in the spring of the same year 
was married to Miss Margaretta Livingston, 
who was born in Canton, Stark county, in 
1821. They have had five children, three of 
whom are now living, viz: Charles, 
Catharine, wife of Charles Boyer, of Lind- 
say, and Mary S., wife of William E. For- 
sythe, of Fremont. 

Mr. Newman made his first purchase of 
land in 1853, buying a farm of eighty acres 
of General Buckland. 



ISAAC B. SHARP. 



Isaac B. Sharp, an old resident, was born 
in Delaware in 1809. In 1834 he came to 
Ohio and settled in Fremont. He is the son 
of Abraham and Catharine (Gray) Sharp. 
They were the parents of five children, two 
of whom are living, Isaac B. and Abraham 
Sharp, both residents of Fremont. 

In 1835 Mr. Sharp was married to 
Elizabeth L. Davis. She was born in Utica, 
New York, in 1812. Her father, Thomas 
Davis, carne to that place from Ireland in 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



539 



1805. Her mother was Mary Avery, of 
English descent, born in Tarrytown, 
Weschester county, New York, in 1776. 
Thomas Davis was born in 1771, died in 
1861. They were the parents of eight 
children, four of whom survive, Jane Ann, 
Elizabeth L., Mary G., and Thomas Robert. 

To Isaac and Elizabeth Sharp have been 
born five children: Isaac B., born January 3, 
1836, resides in Wyandotte, Kansas; 
Angelica, born September 29, 1837, lives in 
Bellevue, Kansas; Athenia, born October 28, 
1841, resides in Seneca county, Ohio; 
Emma, born August 21, 1845, lives at Mount 
Pleasant, Pennsylvania; Estella, the 
youngest, and the only unmarried daughter, 
resides at home. 

The first work Mr. Sharp engaged in, after 
coming to Fremont, was to assist in building 
the second bridge across the Sandusky river, 
where the iron bridge now stands. In 1834 he 
built the first Methodist church in Fremont. 
He also built the first Catholic church in the 
city. Mr. Sharp worked at carpentry eighteen 
years, and then took a trip to California. On 
his return he engaged in the lumber business 
for fourteen years, retiring from active 
business at the expiration of that time. 

Mr. Sharp has not seen a sick day for more 
than forty years, nor has his family required 
the attendance of a physician during all that 
time. 

Mrs. Sharp is a descendant from a worthy 
family, and bears an excellent reputation as a 
wife and mother. 



FRANK CREAGER. 

Frank Creager was born in Bellevue, Ohio, 
July 25, 1849, and is of German descent. He 
studied dentistry with Dr. B. S. Boswell, of 
Rochester, New York, and S. M. Cummings, 
of Elkhart, Indiana, 



and has practiced that profession twelve 
years, four years in Indiana and the re- 
mainder of the time in Fremont. 

In 1875 Mr. Creager married Miss Clara 
Moore, oldest daughter of John and Eliza 
Moore, of Ballville, this county. Mrs. 
Creager was born November 9, 1851. They 
have had three children, only one of whom is 
living. Edna died February 19, 1880, aged 
three years, six months, and twenty-seven 
days. Volta died February 29, 1880, aged 
one year, nine months, and six days. Both of 
these deaths resulted from membranous 
croup. Grace was born December 7, 1879. 



W. B. KRIDLER. 



William B. Kridler was born in Fremont 
July 12, 1848. He was educated in the public 
schools of this city, and at Cornell 
University, New York, graduating from the 
scientific department of that institution in 
1872 with the first class that graduated after 
the university was founded. 

Mr. Kridler was engaged in the banking 
business in Fremont from 1872 until 1878. 
In the spring of that year he was elected city 
clerk, which office he holds at present. In 
politics he is a Republican. 

Mr. Kridler was married in 1878 to Miss 
Mattie L. Smith, of Hadley, Massachusetts. 
They have two children, Helen Lyman and 
James Huntington. 



AUSTIN B. TAYLOR 

was born at New Fayne, Vermont, No- 
vember 14, 1813. His father was Simon 
Taylor, M. D. His mother's maiden name 
was Cynthia Birchard, a sister of Sardis 
Birchard. Left an orphan he was bound out 
as a saddler's apprentice; learned the trade, 
but did not work at it after attaining his 
majority. On that day 



540 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



he started for Lower Sandusky to enter the 
store of his uncle, Sardis Birchard, arriving 
in Fremont in the fall of 1834. His whole 
capital at that time consisted of six dollars 
and an old jack-knife. But he had pluck and 
business energy, and in course of time 
became the successor of the firm of 
Birchard, Dickinson & Grant in the dry 
goods business, which he carried on until 
1850, when he sold out to Eisenhour & 
Coles. In 1851 he was elected justice of the 
peace and served one term. April 4, 1853 he 
was elected mayor, defeating Brice J. 
Bartlett by four votes. The vote stood: A. B. 
Taylor, 137; B. J. Bartlett, 134; total vote, 
271. He was married to Delia Pettibone, 
daughter of Hon. Hiram Pettibone, a former 
lawyer of this city, April 27, 1840. He died 
October 28, 1859, and was buried by the 
Masonic fraternity, of which he was a 
prominent member, holding the office of 
treasurer for many years. He left a family of 
seven children-Mary, died the following 
spring; Sardis B., the doctor; Charles, 
George, Oscar, Austin B., and Delia. He left 
a large estate, and his whole life was a 
marvel of business energy. 



JEREMIAH EVERETT AND 
FAMILY. 

Jeremiah Everett was a son of John 
Everett, and was born in the State of Mas- 
sachusetts in the year 1783. His father 
moved from Massachusetts to the State of 
New York, and settled at Schenectady, 
where he raised, his family and died. 
Jeremiah married Elizabeth Emery, and left 
home soon after attaining his majority, and 
worked at an early day at the Onondaga salt 
works. When the war of 1812 broke out he 
volunteered, and served at Fort Erie for a 
time. The musket he 



carried in that service was preserved in the 
family, and kept after his death by his oldest 
son, Lorenzo, and all traces of it are now 
lost, Lorenzo's family being long since 
dispersed in various parts of the country, but 
the writer remembers well using the old 
musket in boyhood to shoot , blackbirds away 
from the oat and corn fields in and about 
Lower Sandusky. 

In the fall of the year 1812, intending to 
settle on the Connecticut Western Reserve, 
which was then attracting pioneers in search 
of land, he settled on the Huron River, in 
Huron county, at the old county seat, 
sometimes called the Abbott Place, where 
Mr. Abbott, afterwards known as Judge 
Abbott, then resided. There was a settlement 
of several families in the vicinity, and the 
fear of Indian attacks caused them to 
construct a block-house of heavy logs, with 
port-holes, in which the families lodged at 
night, or fled to in case of alarm in the day 
time. The settlement planted corn and 
potatoes, and such vegetables as they could, 
along the river. But the frequent alarms of 
Indians, arising from the capture of Mrs. 
Snow and the Putnam family, on Pipe Creek, 
not far away, put them in great fear, and 
during the summer the settlers tended their 
crops with loaded guns standing near, to fire 
in defence of an attack, and give warning of 
the approach of danger. Here, after the 
arrival of Jeremiah Everett, and on the 30th 
of January, 1813, his son Homer was born. 

Through the summer of 1813 the in- 
habitants tended their crops and managed to 
live without 'any serious demonstration from 
the lurking savages. On the 2d of August, 
1813, Croghan's victory at Fort Stephenson 
rather diminished the danger from the 
savages, and yet the settlers at the old county 
seat did not slack their vigilance. 

On the 10th of September, 1813, when 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



541 



the writer of this sketch was probably on a 
blanket, laid upon an earthen floor in a log 
cabin by the banks of the Huron River, and 
perhaps trying to put his big toe in his 
mouth, his anxious parents were listening to 
the distant roar of the battle on Lake Erie in 
which the gallant Perry gained such a signal 
victory over the British fleet. Jeremiah 
afterwards visited the fleet and saw the 
evidences of the fight in the shattered hulls, 
broken spars and rigging, and bloody decks 
of the vessels which had been engaged. This 
signal victory lifted a load from the hearts of 
those pioneers. If the British conquered they 
must flee, or be scalped; if the Americans 
should win the battle they could stay. There 
is no doubt some very earnest praying was 
done by that handful of settlers while the 
fight was progressing. But the news of the 
victory soon brought joy of deliverance from 
peril, and from that time the little band of 
pioneers felt safer. 

In the spring of the year 1815 Jeremiah 
Everett, with the help of one Aden Breed, 
started for the new El Dorado, Lower 
Sandusky. They moved family and goods by 
team from the old county seat to Ogontz 
place, afterwards called Portland and now 
Sandusky City, on the shore of the Sandusky 
Bay. The household goods and provisions 
and the family were there transferred to a 
pirogue or very large canoe, worked by hand 
with paddles after the aboriginal fashion. 
When the wind was fair, they hoisted a 
common blanket on a pole for a sail and thus 
made the voyage up the Sandusky Bay and 
the river to Lower Sandusky, arriving about 
the middle of April in the year 1815. He 
found shelter with some hospitable pioneers 
until he, with the help of generous neighbors 
and settlers, erected a log house on the 
ground where the present residence of Isaac 
E. Amsden stands, then in Lower 



Sandusky, now in the city of Fremont. While 
living in his house, he farmed from the land 
near the residence to the mill-race, and there 
raised fine crops of corn. A little north of 
and near this house stood a mortar for 
pounding corn into Indian meal, which was 
used by him and his neighbors, before any 
grist-mill had been built in the vicinity. 
While living in this house Jeremiah was, in 
the year 1818, engaged by the Government 
to carry the mail from Lower Sandusky to 
Fort Meigs. This mail was carried both ways 
once a week, when it was possible to get 
through, but was often omitted on account of 
the high streams and impassable swamps. In 
performing this duty Jeremiah Everett often 
encountered difficulties and dangers. There 
were streams to cross and swamps to go 
through, which were enough to discourage 
any traveler. Often it was impossible for a 
horse to go through on account of ice, 
which, while it would bear a man, would 
break under the weight of the horse, rider 
and mail, and the only way to perform the 
service in such case was to put the mail in 
saddle-bags and strap that on the back of the 
man and go on foot. Mr. Everett was often 
compelled to take this course, especially in 
the spring and fall of the year. Sometimes he 
would reach Portage River at night, when he 
would lodge at the house of Mr. Harris. At 
other times on his return trip he would be 
unable to reach their hospitable cabin, and 
would be compelled to stay in the woods 
between the Maumee and Portage Rivers. On 
the narrow blazed way through the woods 
between these two rivers, he found a large, 
fallen, hollow, sycamore tree, which had 
been blown down by the winds which swept 
over the lonely forest. When he, on the trip, 
admonished by the approach of darkness, 
found he could not reach the cabin of Harris 
on the Portage River, he would make his 
home in the 



542 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



hollow of this upturned monarch of the 
forest for the night. Besides the mail he 
carried a large knife, a tomahawk, his pro- 
visions for the day and a steel, flint and punk 
with which to strike and kindle fire and a 
blanket. Reaching his tree he would strike a 
fire and gather logs and sticks until a good 
strong fire was blazing in front of his hollow 
log. Then, after taking a lunch of cornbread 
and dried venison or fried pork, he would 
crawl into the log, wrap himself in his 
blanket for a rest and sleep until the morning 
would break and reveal his way through the 
woods. Several times, while lodging in his 
lonely retreat, he heard the tramp of some 
wild beasts making a circuit about his 
resting place. In. such case he kept his fire 
burning brightly to frighten them away, and 
it did keep them off. One night while thus 
camping out, the wolves beat a path on the 
ground around him, but fled at the approach 
of day and on seeing the fire blaze up. At 
another time he heard a soft, steady tread of 
some animal around his lodging place, when 
there was a light fall of snow, and on 
looking around, found what was evidently 
the track of a panther, which had been 
reconnoitering around his premises during 
the night, but was kept at a respectful 
distance by the fire. 

About the year 1825 Jeremiah Everett 
removed from the log cabin, and settled on 
the farm now owned by Timothy H. Bush, 
within the corporate limits of the present city 
of Fremont. This tract was then owned by 
David Harrold, of Philadelphia, a wealthy 
Quaker. Harrold attended the land sale at 
Wooster, Ohio, and bought this tract. He was 
wealthy and invested his money with a view 
of settling on this land for a home. 

EVERETT AND HARROLD. 

After Harrold purchased the tract of land 
mentioned, which is now known as out-lot 



number thirty-one, in Fremont, he ordered 
pine lumber from Buffalo for a house, which 
he built entirely of that wood, excepting the 
frame, which was mostly of native oak. 
While Everett was living in the log house 
mentioned, Harrold was out in the woods, on 
the premises now owned by ex-President R. 
B. Hayes, looking for suitable timber for his 
building. While waiting for his workmen, 
and having an axe with him, he chopped and 
felled a choice tree while alone. When the 
tree fell in a direction contrary to his 
expectations, he endeavored to escape being 
injured, and started away but was tripped 
down in some way and fell, and the tree fell 
on one of his legs crushing into the ground 
and holding him fast, without any means of 
extrication. It so happened that on the same 
morning Judge Everett was hunting his oxen 
which had strayed into the woods. The judge 
was on horse-back and stopped to look 
around and listen for the cattle, when he 
heard a faint groan at some distance off, and 
presently a loud call for help. He hastened to 
the spot, chopped off the tree with Harrold's. 
axe and released him, when he found that the 
stranger's leg was broken. He put the man on 
his horse and took him home, sent for Dr. 
Brainard, who set his leg, and Harrold was 
nursed at Everett's house until he recovered 
and was able to walk. The men of course 
became acquainted, and were ever after 
warm friends. Harrold was quite wealthy and 
his wife refused to emigrate from 
Philadelphia to the wilderness in the West. 
Harrold, after finishing his house, offered 
the use of the house and farm for a nominal 
rent, and the judge occupied it for about 
eight years, and until he moved his family 
down the river on tract number two of the 
original survey of the reservation. Here, on 
tract two, Judge Everett, having purchased 
it, made a home and kept his family until his 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



543 



wife died in December, 1832. About two 
years after, Judge Everett, to help his sons 
Joel and Lorenzo, sold this tract and married 
Mrs. Eunice Wolley, widow of Daniel 
Wolley, who owned a farm on the Sandusky 
River about six miles north of Fremont. He 
settled there and both husband and wife 
having minor children, devoted their time 
and care to the farm and the welfare of the 
children. He lived on this farm until his 
death, on the 29th day of December, 1842. 

The children of Judge Jeremiah Everett 
were Lorenzo, Joel, Homer, Adelaide, 
Lodoiska, Zachariah, and Charles by the first 
wife; by the second, Elizabeth, Helen, 
Cyrus, and two others, who died young and 
were buried on the Wolley farm. 

Lorenzo Everett, the oldest son, married 
Catharine Kline, the daughter of a 
neighboring farmer, and died in the year 
1847, leaving one daughter, Harriet, who 
married a Mr. Fulkinson, and removed to 
near White Pigeon, Michigan, and died. He 
also left three sons, Charles Henry Everett, 
now of Wood county, Ohio; Thomas Hubert 
Everett, now married and living in Green 
Creek township, in Sandusky county, a 
farmer; and Jeremiah Everett, who married a 
Miss Hutchins, and had one son, who died in 
infancy. Jeremiah volunteered in the cavalry 
service in the war for the suppression of the 
Southern Rebellion, and was shot from his 
horse and killed in battle. The second son, 
Joel Everett, married Mariah Grimes, an 
adopted daughter of Dr. Daniel Brainard, 
and died of cholera in September, 1834, 
leaving one child, a daughter, who married 
Arthur Ellsworth, of York township, and has 
since died, leaving one child, a son, named 
Everett Ellsworth, who is still living. Judge 
Everett's third son, Homer Everett, was 
married, in 1837 to Hannah 



Bates, in Sandusky county. His wife died in 
June, 1840, leaving an infant daughter, 
named Hannah Bates Everett. This daughter 
was married to Henry Hatfield, in the year 
1856, and is still living, having two sons, 
one now in Osborne, Kansas, and one in 
Denver, Colorado. 

Homer Everett married again, Susan 
Albina Brush, widow of John T. Brush, in 
December, 1842. By this wife he had two 
sons and two daughters. George Homer, his 
first child, born at Fremont, November 4, 
1844, was an expert as a telegrapher, and in 
the war of the Rebellion was employed by 
General Thomas as telegraph operator about 
Nashville, while that city was threatened by 
the rebels, and there in his labors and 
exposures as field operator contracted the 
disease of consumption. After working 
successfully after the war, at Cincinnati, he 
came home to his father's house, and as he 
entered the door said, "I have come home to 
die, father." This was in September, 1873. 
After living through autumn and winter, he 
died on the 26th day of March, 1874, at his 
father's house, the home of his childhood, 
and peacefully passed out of this mortal life 
without a murmur. The second child of this 
marriage was Charles Egbert, born on the 
17th day of June, 1846, on his father's farm, 
about six miles below Fremont. Charles 
served in the naval service during the 
Rebellion. On his return from the service he 
married Miss Hattie Tindall, daughter of Ed- 
ward Tindall, of Ballville township. He 
learned, the trade of cabinet-making, is a 
natural mechanic and expert in his business, 
and is now engaged as foreman in the 
manufacturing establishment of H. Bowlus 
& Co. He has two children, Eddie and 
Nellie, all living together in Fremont, at the 
homestead of Homer Everett's family. 

Homer Everett's next and third child 



544 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



of this second marriage was Albina 
Elizabeth, born at Fremont April 27, 1850, 
who went to Kansas as a school-teacher and 
afterwards married at Osborne City, in that 
State, Frederick Yoxall, a native of England, 
with whom she is now happily living there, 
the mother of two beautiful daughters. The 
fourth child by Homer's second marriage 
was Lillie Everett, born at Fremont January 
10, 1853, who followed her sister to 
Osborne, Kansas, about a year after her 
sister's departure, and after carrying on the 
millinery business for a time was married to 
James A. Wilson, then doing a large 
business as a drug and hardware merchant in 
Osborne, where she is now living and has 
one child, a daughter. Susan Albina, wife of 
Homer Everett, died at Fremont, December 
21, 1855, at the age of thirty-four years. In 
November, 1873, Mr. Homer Everett, having 
educated and settled his children, was again 
married and took for his third wife Minerva 
E. Justice, daughter of James Justice, whose 
biography will be found in this history. With 
his third wife he is now comfortably living 
in the old homestead of the Justice family, at 
the foot of the hill on the north side of State 
street in the pleasant city of Fremont. 

Few men were ever endowed with better 
intellectual and conversational powers than 
those possessed by Judge Jeremiah Everett. 
Few men possessed the faculty of keeping 
the respect and confidence and even the love 
of all his acquaintances in so high a degree. 
He was too unselfish to get rich, and too 
industrious to come to want. He was fond of 
social converse and philosophic thought. 
Sardis Birchard used to say that he never 
met a man whom he took as much pleasure 
in conversing with and listening to as he did 
with Judge Everett. Jeremiah Everett was 
appreciated by the early citizens of the 
county. He early held the 



office of justice of the peace, and kept the 
office as long as he could afford to do so, 
and until he positively declined to serve 
longer at the dictates of his own necessities. 
The first suits about the riparian ownership 
on the Sandusky River between David 
Moore and David Chambers, the results of 
which were given by the lately affirmed 
decision of the Supreme Court of Ohio and 
may be found in the Twelfth Ohio Reports, 
were tried before him; and Judge Lane in 
deciding the case, of Chambers vs. Gavit 
announced the same principles as the law 
which Judge Everett as justice of the peace 
had declared in his decisions. He was elected 
Representative to the General Assembly in 
1825, and was the first resident of Sandusky 
county chosen for that place. He was again 
elected in 1835 and served to the satisfaction 
of the people, but declined to accept the 
position again. During his first term of 
service in the Assembly he was largely 
influential in passing measures favorable to 
the construction of the Maumee and Western 
Reserve turnpike. His remains are buried in 
the old cemetery in a lot surrounded by a 
hedge of arbor- vitae, and a plain marble slab 
marks the resting place of an honest and 
honorable man who died a Christian. 



HOMER EVERETT, 

a son of Jeremiah Everett and Elizabeth 
(Emery) Everett, was born at the old' county 
seat of Huron county, on the Huron River, 
below where the village of Milan now 
stands, now, however, within the bounds of 
Erie county, on the 30th of January, 1813. 
The education of Homer Everett was such as 
he could acquire by attending the schools in 
Lower Sandusky two summer and four 
winter terms, and what he afterwards 
acquired by 




Homer Everett 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



545 



his own study out of school. His teachers 
were Justus and Ezia Williams, Edson Goit, 
and Samuel Crowell at different periods, 
who are gratefully remembered by their 
pupil for their efforts to stimulate a desire 
for study. In December, 1830, his father 
gave him liberty to leave home if he thought 
best, and he accordingly procured from 
Rodolphus Dickinson, then examiner of 
teachers, a certificate of qualification to 
teach, and he immediately started on foot for 
York township, where he had heard a teacher 
was wanted. The day brought on a terrible 
snow storm, but he plodded on. When about 
half way to Hamar's Corners, on the Western 
Reserve and Maumee road, he met a man 
with a yoke of oxen and a sled going to mill, 
of whom he enquired the road to the district 
where a teacher was wanted. This man 
turned out to be Oliver Comstock, one of the 
directors of the very district young Everett 
was seeking. Mr. Comstock was well 
acquainted with Judge Everett, the young 
man's father, and on learning that the 
applicant was his son, and on seeing Mr. 
Dickinson's certificate, told young Everett 
that he could have the school, and might 
come and begin the following Monday. He 
then gave him leave to ride back to Lower 
Sandusky and make ready. Meantime Judge 
Everett had seen Jesse S. Olmsted and made 
arrangements for Homer to enter his employ 
as clerk in his store. On returning home the 
young man chose to do what his father and 
mother thought best. Mr. Comstock was seen 
and the engagement to teach school 
cancelled. The following Monday young 
Everett went into the store as clerk. When he 
left home he took with him two plain cotton 
shirts, made by his mother, two pairs of 
woollen socks, knit by her kind hands, one 
suit, coat, vest, and pants, of linsey cloth, 
made by her, one pair of shoes, and one 
wool hat 



which cost fifty cents, and nothing more of 
worldly goods or apparel, but took what was 
better than gold, a father's and mother's 
blessing, with an exhortation to be honest 
and true under all circumstances. 

He was boarded in Judge Olmsted's family, 
and his wages for the first year was, cost 
price for cloth to make a more stylish suit of 
clothes, and thirty dollars. His wages was, 
however, increased the next year to a salary 
of fifty dollars and a suit of clothes, and 
afterwards still further increased, until on 
the close of his engagement, after six years' 
service, he was boarded and drew a salary of 
one hundred and fifty dollars. Judge Olmsted 
held the office of postmaster for several of 
the latter years of young Everett's service, 
and Everett, as deputy postmaster, performed 
the duties of that office in addition to those 
of salesman and bookkeeper in the store. In 
1837 Judge Olmsted resigned the office, and 
kindly recommended his boy Homer, as he 
called him, to be appointed in his stead, an 
appointment which seemed to please the 
people. He was accordingly appointed and 
commissioned by President Van Buren in 
that year. While engaged in this office he 
was elected sheriff of the county, and then 
resigned the office of postmaster. He was re- 
elected sheriff. He commenced reading law 
in 1834, improving his leisure time in so 
doing until 1841, when, on the solicitation of 
Nathaniel B. Eddy, he was admitted to the 
Bar at Columbus, Ohio, and resigned the 
sheriff's office to form a law partner-ship 
with him. He practiced several years 
successfully with Mr. Eddy, when the latter 
abandoned practice and engaged in mer- 
cantile business. Mr. Everett soon after 
formed a partnership in the practice of his 
profession, with Hon. Lucius B. Otis, now of 
Chicago. After several years' practice in 
association with Judge Otis, Mr. Everett 



546 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



retired from practice and removed to his 
farm on the river, about six miles below 
Fremont, intending to lead a quiet farmer's 
life from that time. In 1847, however, he 
accepted the office of county auditor, to 
which he was elected by the people of the 
county. This position he held for nearly four 
years, when, in 1852, he resigned the 
remainder of the last term of that office to 
return to the practice of the law with Ralph 
P. Buckland. This partnership continued 
until 1866, when General Buck-land retired 
from practice, and Everett continued the 
business about one year alone, when he 
formed a partnership with James H. Fowler, 
who had studied law under his instruction. 
This still continues, and Mr. Everett is still 
in the active practice of his profession. 

During his life Mr. Homer Everett has 
held, at various times, the following official 
positions: Deputy postmaster under Jesse S. 
Olmsted; postmaster under the appointment 
of Martin Van Buren; township clerk; 
member of the board of education many 
years, in which position he was active in 
bringing about the adoption of the Akron 
school law; deputy county clerk under, 
James A. Scranton; mayor of the city of 
Fremont. Two scenes while mayor, Mr. 
Everett says he can never for-get. The first 
was the death of Michael Wegstein at the 
battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862. Wegstein had 
been a member of the band of music then 
organized in Fremont. On receipt of the 
news of his death while bravely fighting for 
his country, the whole community of 
Fremont was. deeply affected. The band of 
which he had been a member was perhaps 
affected most of all. When the news of his 
death was made certain, his brother 
musicians, numbering among them some of 
our best citizens, met, draped their 
instruments in mourning crape, and went 
along the sidewalks of the principal streets, 
playing a 



solemn dirge for their lost friend: The band 
and a large procession of sympathizers 
stopped under the window of the mayor, and 
after closing the solemn dirge were silent, as 
if expecting some remarks. 

Mayor Everett advanced to an open 
window and delivered them a .short ad- 
dress, alluding in touching terms to the 
bravery of their lost friend, and urging all to 
support the cause in which he had so 
gloriously died. All present were affected 
and departed in a significant and touching 
silence. The members of the band were too 
deeply affected to even play another dirge 
then for Michael Wegstein. 

The other incident Mr. Everett says was that 
which occurred at the news of the death of 
Abraham Lincoln, in 1865. On coming to his 
office about 7 o'clock in the morning, he 
found the telegraphic, dispatches announced 
the assassination of the President by Booth, 
and that he was dead. Mayor Everett threw 
the black signal of public mourning from his 
office window and repaired to the printing 
office with a notice of the great National 
bereavement. 

Mr. Everett was sheriff of the county two 
terms, county auditor two terms, and, to 
finish up his public services, was elected to 
represent the Thirtieth Ohio Senatorial 
District, composed of Huron, Erie, San- 
dusky, and Ottawa counties, at the fall 
election of 1867, and re-elected in 1869, 
being nominated by acclamation. During his 
service in the Ohio Senate he was a member of 
the. judiciary committee, committee on 
finance, and other committees, But his chief 
labor was on a select committee with 
Charles Scribner and D. B. Lynn, to certify 
the laws relating to municipal corporations, 
which was the first municipal code enacted 
in the State of Ohio. 

Of Hon. Homer Everett's family nothing 
need be said, as they are set, forth in 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



547 



the history of Jeremiah Everett and family, to 
which reference is made for the particulars. 



JOHN P. MOORE AND FAMILY. 

This enterprising and esteemed citizen of 
Fremont was born on the 1st day of 
December, 1829, at Hampton, Adams county, 
State of Pennsylvania. His father was John 
Moore, who was born July 10, 1795. His 
mother, Mary Picking, was born February 19, 
1794. Their family consisted of twelve 
children, of whom John P. was the ninth. Ten 
of the children are now living, the oldest 
sixty-six and the youngest fifty years of age. 

In May, 1834, Mr. Moore moved his family 
from Hampton, Pennsylvania, to Woodville 
township, in Sandusky county, about eleven 
and a half miles west of Lower Sandusky, on 
the Maumee and Western Reserve road. Here 
young John P. spent his boyhood in hard 
work, with little .schooling and little 
amusement, excepting hunting raccoon at 
night. He helped to clear and. improve hi's 
father's farm, burn lime and haul stone for the 
improvement and macadamizing of the road. 
The great subject of anxious calculation 
during the summer was to raise provisions to 
keep the family supplied through the winter 
and until another crop could be produced, and 
hurry the fall work and be ready for two or 
three months attendance at school during the 
winter. 

On the 3d of April, 1848, John P. Moore 
came to Fremont and apprenticed himself to 
the blacksmithing trade, in a shop established 
by Ira Camfield, who had died and left the 
shop to be managed by his widow. That good 
and capable lady is now living and keeping a 
boarding-house in Fremont. In the fall of 
1850 young Moore, having learned his trade, 
returned to his former home in Woodville, 
and 



built a small shop on the corner of his 
father's farm, adjoining the Maumee and 
Western Reserve road, and engaged in 
general blacksmithing. But in that day there 
were stage coaches, and the young smith 
made a specialty of shoeing horses there for 
the Ohio Stage Company, for whom Mr. 
John T. Simpkins, now an aged and 
esteemed citizen of Fremont, was agent at 
the time. 

Mr. Moore worked in this shop about a 
year, and then bought a lot on the corner of 
Water and Garrison streets, in Fremont, 
where he built a shop, and where he has 
since added a large carriage factory, which 
he is still carrying on with marked success. 



DAVID GALLAGHER. 

This very worthy man and early settler in 
Lower Sandusky was born at Pitts-burgh, 
Pennsylvania, November 12, 1790. He came 
from Chillicothe to Lower San-dusky in the 
year 1810. He performed picket duty in the 
army at Fort Meigs at the time of the fight 
there. He was also commissary at Fort 
Stephenson in the year 1814. In 1818 he was 
in business with George G. Olmsted in the 
dry goods trade, most of which was with the 
Indians. Their store was located a little 
below the present gas works in Fremont, and 
was subsequently moved to the corner now 
on the east end of Front street, and opposite 
to Buckland's old block. This store is said to 
be the second frame structure in the town. In 
1830 he was a very large property owner, 
chiefly in real estate. For some years he 
carried on a woollen-mill. 

In 1823, March lo, he married Miss M. 
Claghorn, by whom he had four children. 

Mr. David Gallagher died on the 21st day 
of February, 1860, and as a mark of 



548 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



respect, the Court of Common Pleas, then 
holding a session in Fremont, adjourned 
upon the day of his funeral. The Methodist 
Episcopal church, of which he was a 
member, the order to which he had been 
attached for nearly half a century, and the 
citizens, almost unanimously attended and 
participated in the impressive burial ser- 
vices, thus testifying how much he was 
respected and beloved as a citizen, a man, a 
Mason, and a Christian. He was one of the 
fathers and faithful members of the Masonic 
order in Lower Sandusky, and few there 
were who better practiced the precepts of the 
order in daily life than did David Gallagher. 

His aged widow and four sons are still 
living, and are residing in Fremont, where 
the husband passed so large a portion of his 
life. 

In the historical lecture referred to Hon. 
Homer Everett thus alludes to the subject of 
this sketch: 

He came here a young man, and, as my information 
goes, his first employment here was as assistant 
commissary at Fort Stephenson in the year 1814, and 
ever since that time he has been a resident of our town. 
It need scarcely be said that one who settled here at that 
early day, married, and reared a worthy family, had 
many trials and experienced various turns of fortune. He 
had seen this country a wilderness, inhabited by wild 
beasts, and still wilder men, transformed into what it 
now is, and could look upon its progress for more than 
fifty years, as we can upon a passing panorama. He has 
left this earthly stage! How busy is death! Let us be 
admonished. With Holy Bible, square and compass near 
his heart, David Gallagher has gone up to the mercy-seat 
of Christ. Let us rejoice in the belief that it is well with 
him. 



FRANCIS JOSEPH GIEBEL, JR. 

was born in Fremont, Ohio, March 14, 
1851. His parents were Francis J. Giebel, 
and Maria S. (Duerr) Giebel. The father was 
a native of Hesse Cassel, and the mother of 
Bavaria, Germany. Mr. Giebel sr., emigrated 
in 1847; Mrs. Giebel, in 1839. 



The subject of this sketch was educated in 
Fremont, having attended both the parochial 
and common schools of the city. He married 
Miss Clara Ochs, at Fremont, on the 27th of 
January, 1874. He learned the shoemaker's 
trade with his father. In December, 1868, at 
the age of seventeen years and a half, he, 
with several other citizens of Fremont, 
caught the gold fever, and started from home 
to seek gold in Montana. In the month of 
October, 1869, he left Montana on his 
return, and reached home in the month of 
November following. He immediately went 
into the treasurer's office as clerk, under J. 
P. Elderkin, then county treasurer. Here he 
continued working through the collection of 
the December installment of taxes for 1869. 
He was then employed as clerk in the county 
auditor's office, under George W. Gurst. In 
this employment Mr. Giebel continued until 
his election to that office in the fall of 1874. 
At this time Mr. Giebel was found to be the 
youngest county auditor in the State of Ohio, 
being then only twenty-three years old. He 
was re-elected in 1876, and served until 
1878, when Adam Hodes, present 
incumbent, was elected to succeed him. But 
for the custom of his party to let no county 
officer remain more than two terms, Mr. 
Giebel would no doubt have been retained in 
that office. Upon the election of Mr. Hodes, 
he retained Mr. Giebel as his clerk and 
deputy, on account of his thorough 
knowledge of the office and its duties, which 
position he still holds, and is by all 
acknowledged to be a man fit for the place. 
Meantime, Mr. Giebel has been clerk of the 
city of Fremont, a member of the city 
council, in which he is now sitting a second 
term, and was for one year president of that 
body. He is also a member and stockholder 
in the Fremont Brick and Tile Company. As 
a business man in general, and as a county 
auditor, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



549 



he stands high in the estimation of the 
people of the county. As a citizen of correct 
walk and deportment, he is highly esteemed. 
His career thus far promises well for the 
future, and demonstrates what German 
emigrants may gain for their children by 
emigrating to free America. 



JESSE S. OLMSTED. 

In writing the biographies of pioneers and 
prominent men of Sandusky county, a link 
would be missing and the chain in-complete 
should we omit a sketch of the life and 
services of the gentleman whose family and 
personal history we give in the following 
narrative: Jesse S. Olmsted was born in 
Ridgefield, Connecticut, December 24, 1792. 
When he was quite young his father removed 
to Albany, New York, where young Olmsted 
was placed for awhile under the instruction 
of Dr. Knott. When quite a young man he 
was employed as bookkeeper in a large 
mercantile establishment. Here he became a 
thorough accountant, and took his first 
lessons in mercantile transactions. In the fall 
of 1817 Mr. Olmsted, in company with his 
brother George G., brought from Albany, 
New York, to Lower Sandusky, the first 
stock of goods that rose to the dignity of a 
mercantile transaction. It consisted of a 
general assortment of dry goods, groceries, 
hardware, crockery, liquors, and wines, and 
amounted, upon the invoices at Albany, to 
the handsome sum of twenty-seven thousand 
dollars. This firm of brothers also brought 
with them carpenters to build a store, and 
coopers to make barrels to be used at the 
fisheries here, which trade was then, and has 
since been, very considerable. The workmen, 
eleven in all, together with the nails, glass, 
and the hardware necessary for their 
intended building, were trans- 



ported from Albany to Buffalo by land, 
thence by water to this place. The pine 
lumber was brought from Buffalo by water. 
The amount paid for transportation on this 
stock of merchandise was four thousand four 
hundred dollars. Immediately upon their 
arrival they commenced the erection of their 
store. It was the second frame structure built 
here. It was located near Doncyson's 
brewery. Its dimensions were sixty by thirty 
feet, two stories high, with dormer-windows 
and projecting beams, with pulley blocks 
attached in front for raising goods. It 
presented a front of sixty feet towards the 
river, and the lower story was divided into 
two apartments — one a salesroom or store, 
and the other a warehouse. 

This was considered a mammoth building, 
and for many years it was a kind of 
commercial emporium, the stock of goods in 
it being greater than in any other between 
Detroit and Cleveland, and Urbana and the 
lake. Mr. Olmsted's first trade was chiefly 
with the Indians of the Wyandot, Seneca, 
and Ottawa tribes. Soon after Mr. Olmsted 
and his brother opened business, they 
received in trade and shipped in one season 
twenty thousand muskrat skins, worth 
twenty-five cents each; eight thou-sand coon 
skins, worth fifty cents each; two thousand 
deer skins, at fifty cents; one hundred and 
fifty otter skins, at five dollars each; and two 
hundred bear skins, at five dollars each. In 
1820 the Olmsted Brothers sent the first pork 
from this place eastward, It consisted of one 
hundred and fifty barrels, and was marketed 
at Montreal. The cost here was two thousand 
dollars for the lot, but it was sold for 
considerable less. 

About the year 1825 the firm dissolved, 
and Mr. Jesse S. Olmsted went into business 
at Tymochtee; but in two or three years he 
returned to Lower Sandusky, where he 
remained the rest of his life. 



550 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



The first wheat shipped East from this 
point a lot of six hundred bushels was sent 
by Mr. Olmsted in the year 1839. It cost him 
forty cents per bushel in Lower Sandusky, 
and sold in Buffalo for sixty cents. 
Transportation was then so high that this 
advance of twenty cents per bushel was 
consumed in expenses. He made nothing, 
therefore, by the operation. On the 1st of 
January, 1821, he was married to Miss 
Azuba Forgerson, of Lower Sandusky, 
though a native of Orange county, New 
York. The marriage license on this occasion 
was the second issued after the organization 
of the county. The family comprised three 
children — Dorcas Ann, the first daughter, 
born September 12, 1824, died August 25, 
1826; Ann M., now Mrs. Charles Foster, of 
Fostoria, Ohio, and Charles, now partner in 
the large mercantile firm of Foster, Olmsted 
& Co:, of the same place. Mr. Olmsted died 
in Fremont on the 9th of November, 1860, at 
the age of sixty-eight. He was always held in 
high esteem for his integrity, and 
discernment, and he held for, a time the 
position of county treasurer; also that of 
associate judge of the court of common 
pleas; all the duties of which offices, as well 
as those of other official stations, he 
performed to the entire satisfaction of the 
people. Humbug found no victim, hollow, 
heartless formality no advocate in him. For 
the unfortunate he always had an open and 
helping hand, and in early times here many 
in distress were relieved by his generous 
donations. As an officer, he was prompt and 
reliable; as a business man, he was ever 
strictly honest. His goods had only one 
price, and his book entries told the truth. 
Fair profits and unflinching frankness and 
honesty in all transactions were the cardinal 
principles of his life, and when newly- 
arrived merchants came into the place and 
adopted the usual tactics of cheapening some 
leading articles 



of merchandise, with the price of which the 
people, were familiar, to attract custom, and 
then make up the loss on articles of which 
the customer was ignorant of the value, 
Judge Olmsted's indignation knew no 
bounds. He denounced such a system of 
merchandising as knavery and robbery. 

The fact that Judge Olmsted was the. 
pioneer merchant of the place, that he came 
to Lower Sandusky when the whole country 
was a sickly wilderness, that he was an eye- 
witness to the birth of the town and of every 
step of progress in its early history that he 
had seen the country a wilderness inhabited 
by wild beasts and still wilder men. 
transformed into a peaceful garden, of 
civilization and beauty, all conspire to rank 
him as the leading pioneer man and 
merchant of Lower San-dusky, alias 
Fremont. 

In a lecture at Birchard Hall delivered in 
February, 1860, Homer Everett, esq., who 
had been many years a clerk for Judge 
Olmsted, and a member of his family, the 
judge being then alive and present at the 
meeting, thus alluded to his marriage: 

Forty years a faithful, loving, married pair! For forty 
years the same familiar step upon the threshold of a 
happy home to meet warm comforts and a loving 
welcome; forty years' hand in hand along life's road, eye 
to eye reading the inmost thoughts; and loving more and 
more; faithful, true, confiding, with heart to heart 
through all the trials and changes, of mortal life from 
youth to age. I have been an inmate of that home, and 
claim the right to say there is not in our town a more 
interesting and beautiful social spectacle than the every 
day, life of, this aged pair! Surely such are blest. 

Judge Olmsted departed this life on. the 
9th of November, 1860. Mrs. Olmsted still 
survives, and is now in her eighty-seventh 
year, is still vigorous, and retains her mental 
faculties in a remarkable degree. 

Azuba Olmsted was born in Orange 
county, State of New York, March, 1795 Her 
parents were Richard Forgerson and, Julia 
(Davis) Forgerson. They came to 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



551 



Lower Sandusky with Aaron Forgerson in 
the year 1817. 



ELISHA W. HOWLAND. 

Elisha W. Howland has been dead many 
years. He was never married and left no 
relative in this State, and it is now 
impracticable to obtain facts concerning his 
early life. It is known that he, came to Lower 
Sandusky as early as 1821. He resided there 
continually from that date until the time of his 
death, about the year 1854. He worked at the 
carpenter business and framed and finished 
most of the frame houses in the place built 
previous to that time.. At the time of his death 
he owned considerable property, including the 
hotel on the northeast corner of Front and State 
streets. He was for term one of the associate 
judges of the county, and was afterwards called 
judge Howland. In the early days of Lower 
Sandusky he opened a cabinet-making shop, 
and for many years his shop furnished all the 
coffins used in Lower Sandusky and vicinity. 
He also made bureaus, bedsteads, chests, and 
tables for the settlers, and his work was both 
tasteful and substantial. 

In a lecture delivered by Homer Everett at 
Birchard Hall in 1850, in tracing characteristics 
of the early settlers at Lower Sandusky, he 
gave the following sketch of Judge Howland: 

He was a man of good sense, sound judgment, 
independent, skeptical, of strong intellect and pithy 
expression. Many of his center-shot witticisms and 
eccentric speeches are well, remembered, one or two of 
which will give an idea of the man. 

About the year 1838 our town contained two young 
and aspiring politicians by the names of Bishop Eddy 
and .Homer Everett. They were Democrats, and for some 
time had been very active in every canvass, organizing 
the party, controlling the nominations, and advocating 
the necessity of voting the regular unscratched ticket. 
Their efforts were attended with some success, and they 
became quite conspicuous, and got some offices filled 
by men who were not fit 



for the place, "Judge" Howland, as he was called, hated 
the Democratic party and all belonging to it. About this 
time a young man named Harmon, also a Democrat, 
purchased and brought to our town one of those long- 
eared animals known as cousin of the horse and father of 
the mules-such an animal as Frank Leslie would have us 
believe is the high priest of the Sons of Malta. Harmon 
considered this animal a speculation, and being the first 
in our town, it attracted considerable attention. One 
morning he went to the stable. The halter was in the 
stall, but the jack had stepped out. The door was open, 
and Harmon supposed his favorite was stolen. The news 
of the loss soon spread over the town; scouts were sent 
out in every direction, and everybody was inquiring and 
narrating these events, and speculation was rife as to 
where the chattel had gone. 

About 1 1 o'clock A. M. a loud braying in the loft of 
the stable announced that the missing property had been 
raised to an elevation above that commonly assigned to 
it. Harmon heard the musical note and hastened with 
eagerness to assure himself that the sound had not 
deceived him. Upon approaching the stable the head and 
ears projecting from an upper opening of the stable 
assured him that all was safe. But how did he get there? 
That was the question. There was no stairs nor ladder, 
and how could such a creature climb on pegs driven into 
the wall? He must have been elevated to the haymow by 
human aid, and who had done it became the great 
question. Whoever had perpetrated this sell on Harmon 
might expect to suffer. Just then Howland and some 
others had been discussing politics in a barroom, and 
Eddy and Everett had undergone some of the judge's 
handling, especially in regard to the bad officers they 
had been instrumental in hoisting into place, when in 
came Harmon saying, excitedly, that he would give 
twenty dollars to know who put his jack up into the loft 
and left his stable door open. Howland quietly replied, 
"I can tell who it was." 

"Well, who was it ?" 

"Homer Everett and Bish Eddy." 

"Why judge, what makes you think so?" 

"Because it's their trade, and has been since they took 
hold of the Democratic party. They have been engaged 
in elevating jackasses for the past three years!" 

During his sickness and while confined to his room he 
sent his landlord, Ira Smith, esq., one evening about 7 
o'clock, for a bottle of medicine, with directions to 
hurry. Smith was detained until about 10 o'clock, when 
he arrived at the door of the Judge's room and found it 
fastened. He had been a little alarmed for fear the Judge 
might die suddenly and alone. He rapped and no reply 
came; rapped again, louder and longer; waited a moment 
or so, and no sound.. He was troubled, and he began to 
think the Judge had locked himself in and become 
speechless, perhaps dead. He took hold of the 



552 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



door handle and rapped and shook it as if he would tear 
it down. As quick as the rattle of the door subsided, a 
well-known powerful voice, hot with anger, roared out: 
"I've been dead these two hours; go way and don't 
bother me ! " 

There was some contention about the location of the 
Cleveland and Toledo Railroad through our town. Judge 
Howland's opinion was that it should cross the river 
north of town; others contended that it should go 
through on the south side, and the latter was finally 
chosen as the route. This line through Bellevue ran near 
a distillery, and at this place, excepting the curve at the 
west side of the river, ran pretty direct towards the old 
cemetery. After the location and line had been fixed the 
judge was asked if he did not think it was the best, after 
all. His reply was: "Well, may be 'tis; they have made 
two points in the road which will ensure a lasting 
business. It runs from . . distillery to our grave-yard. I 
suppose the road can carry off the dead as fast as he can 
kill." 

One Anderson, by cunning management, was 
appointed collector of customs in our town, by the 
proper authorities at Washington city, and the 
appointment was not satisfactory to the faithful. 
Howland disliked Anderson. In course of time, at the 
solicitation of the people, John R. Pease obtained the 
removal of Anderson, and secured the office in his 
stead. On hearing of this change, Howland would say to 
his friends: "It is a fine sight to see a wicked man repent 
and do penance for his sins. Anderson is going about 
with a face as long as your arm, and has peas (Pease) in 
his shoes." 



JACOB MILLIOUS. 

This pioneer of the county was born in 
Rensselaer county, New York, in 1794. At 
an early age he learned the trade of painting, 
and in 1818 started westward. After living in 
various places in Ohio, painting and doing 
odd jobs, in 1821, with a load of whiskey 
and flour, drawn by two yoke of oxen, he 
started from Cincinnati for Lower Sandusky, 
where he opened a grocery store and bakery. 
He suffered for several months after arriving 
from malarial fever, which greatly 
discouraged him. As soon as he had 
sufficiently recovered strength he packed his 
gripsack and started for Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania and did not return until 1822. 
He was for many years employed in trade, 
and be- 



longed to that coterie of friends who did so 
much to enliven village life. 

Jacob Millious, a small, wiry man in 
stature, was three times married, and left a 
number of children to perpetuate his 
honorable name, several of whom, and his 
worthy widow, reside at Fremont, Ohio. 
Mr. Millious died at Fremont in 1880, at the 
age of nearly eighty-seven years. As a 
citizen he was enterprising, and in business 
no man questioned the integrity of Jacob 
Millious. 



JAMES JUSTICE AND FAMILY. 

Among the pioneers of Fremont who 
deserve a notice in this history, few are more 
deserving a place than the subject of this 
sketch and his family. James Justice was 
born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, on 
the 18th day of August, 1794 His father was 
William Justice and his mother was Eleanor 
Umsted. The father of Mr. Justice was of 
English and his mother of German ancestry. 
At about the age of nine years he removed 
with his parents from Bedford county to 
Ross county, Ohio, about six miles from the 
old State capital, Chillicothe. There he 
received a rudimentary education, such as 
that early date in the history of Ohio 
afforded, which was indeed limited 
compared with the grand system of 
education now to be found in every part of 
the State. In early life he manifested an 
uncommon inclination to activity, a good 
share of which was wasted in the 
prosecution of innocent mischief and 
resistance to authority. However, as he grew 
to manhood, business activity took the place 
of mischief, and he engaged at about the date 
of 1817 or 1818 in the flat-boat trade with 
New Orleans. The early settlers along the 
Ohio river and navigable tributaries all 
looked to this trade as a market for the 
bacon, dour and 




JESSE S. VAN NESS. 



This popular citizen of Fremont was a descendant of 
the Van Ness family once so noted for wealth and 
influence in the State of New York. He was a son of 
Simon and Julia Van Ness, and was born to Orange 
county, State of New York, on the 25th day of October, 
1818. There he learned with his father the trade of 
tanning and currying. He was married to Miss Jane A. 
Blakeslee, in Orange county, on the 29th day of August, 
1850, and emigrated from there to Fremont, Ohio, in the 
month of April, 1852. After locating in Fremont Mr. 
Van Ness worked about two years in what was known as 
the old Van Doren tannery. He then bought a lot not far 
away and built a new tannery for himself, not far from 
the Van Doren tannery, on the side hill, on the east side 
of the river. 

In the year 1862 or thereabouts, finding the business 
not remunerative, he sold out, and spent several years in 
putting up and supplying the city with ice. His ice house 
was on the premises of Isaac Sharp, next above the river 
bridge of the Lake Shore Rail-road. 

While thus engaged he was elected Mayor of the city 
of Fremont, and although a Republican, the people liked 
him so well, and had so much confidence in his 
integrity, ability and good judgment 



that although the city was really a Democratic city, Mr. 
Van Ness drew largely from the Democratic party, and 
was elected by a handsome majority at the spring 
election of 1878, and again elected in the spring of 
1877, and again for a third term in the spring of 1881, 
and engaged in discharging the du-ties of the office in a 
very satisfactory manner, and to the great approval of 
the people of the city until a short time before his death, 
when his last sickness disabled him, and his death 
occurred on the 14th day of June, 1881. Mr. Van Ness 
was a warm and faithful friend of the public schools of 
Fremont, and was a valued member of the Board of 
Education for fifteen years, and held that office also at 
the time of his death. He was also for a number of years 
one of the township trustees of Sandusky county. 

He was a member of long and good standing of the 
order of Free and Accepted Masons, having been a 
member of Brainard Lodge of Fremont, Ohio, many 
years. 

He was also a member of the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, perhaps older in Odd Fellowship than any 
person in Fremont, he having joined Goshen Lodge in 
Orange county, New York, before he came to Fremont. 

Though not a member of any church, his wife had 



joined the Methodist Episcopal church when twelve 
years old, and has all her life been a consistent member 
and regular attendant on divine service according to the 
forms of that church, and Mr. Van Ness, out of regard 
for religion generally, and especially out of regard for 
his wife's deep and settled piety, did much for the cause 
of religion according to the forms of the church which 
she adopted and revered. 

Although Mr. and Mrs. Van Ness were not blest with 
children of their own, they adopted and educated two 
daughters, whose education and culture became their 
chief desire. The first adopted child was Elsie Jane 
Karshner, a relative by blood, whom they reared with 
the most affectionate and tender regard, and who was 
ready to graduate in the Fremont high school in the class 
of 1866, when she died shortly before the 
commencement day, to which she and her parents by 
adoption looked forward with such pleasing 
anticipations, at the age of sixteen. 

On the death of Elsie there was dark loneliness in the 
home of Mr. Van Ness, and they soon brought a light to 
supply the place of the beautiful and loved one which 
death had extinguished. This light for 



their home Mr. and Mrs. Van Ness found in the Soldiers' 
and Sailors' Orphans' Home at Xenia, Ohio. Her name is 
May Bell. The parentage of this child her foster mother, 
Mrs. Van Ness, is not now ready to disclose, and the 
secret remains with her for disclosure when 
circumstances may require. She is a bright young 
woman now, engaged in teaching one of the primary 
schools of Fremont, and is at once the companion and 
comfort of Mrs. Van Ness in her widowhood. 

At the funeral of Mr. Van Ness an impressive sermon 
was delivered by the Rev. T. H. Wilson, of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. The Odd Fellows then took 
charge of the remains, and the closing of business 
houses, the large attendance of citizens, the attendance 
in a body of all the remaining city officials, the long line 
of carriages which followed the remains to the cemetery, 
and the impressive burial services by the large 
attendance of Odd Fellows, all testified that Mr. Van 
Ness was held in high esteem as a citizen, an officer, 
and a man. He rests now in Oakwood cemetery among 
the honored ones who sleep there. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



553 



whiskey, so easily and abundantly produced 
in Southern Ohio at that time, and from 
thence drew supplies by exchange, of sugars 
and all those goods which we now term 
groceries. Often, however, the flat-boatman 
would sell his cargo and boat at New 
Orleans for cash and work his way up the 
river to his home the best way he could. In 
this trade young Justice displayed first-class 
financial talents and accumulated 
considerable cash. He maintained regular 
correspondence with the merchants of New 
Orleans, and was at all times well Informed 
of the prices of goods there as well as the 
price of the products which were designed 
for sale or exchange in the South. 

Before engaging in the New Orleans trade 
he had taken some interest in and 
understanding of the business of tanning at 
Chillicothe, but discontinued this to 
volunteer under General William H. 
Harrison in the War of 1812. He was with 
Harrison at Fort Seneca at the time of the 
battle of Fort Stephenson, August 2, 1813. 
After the war he resided at Chillicothe, and 
for a time gave attention to the tanning 
business. On the 12th of October, 1820, he 
married Miss Eliza Moore, daughter of 
David Moore and sister to John and James, 
deceased, two well-known citizens of 
Ballville, and both millers and 
manufacturers, and both wealthy and en- 
terprising men. 

In the month of September, 1822, Mr. 
Justice removed from Ross to Sandusky 
county, and first located in Ballville 
township, and in what is now known as 
Ballville village. The manner of his moving 
from Ross county is quite in contrast with 
the mode of travel at the present day. He 
placed his wife and child on horseback, 
while he started with them on foot. For a 
time after his arrival at Ballville, Mr. Justice 
assisted his father-in-law, David Moore, in 
running his grist- and saw-mill 



at that place. After spending probably two 
years in this manner, he removed to Lower 
Sandusky and erected a tannery on the north 
side of State street, at the foot of the-hill, on 
the west side of the river. With the tannery 
he connected the business of harness and 
shoemaking. Here, again, his financial talent 
was displayed, and he accumulated money in 
his business quite rapidly, and made large 
savings after supporting a family. In this 
business Mr. Justice simply managed the 
financial department, leaving the manual 
labor to expert workmen, whom he 
employed in the different shops. About 1847 
he turned the business over to his son, 
Milton J. Justice, and gave his attention to 
investing and managing his capital. He made 
large gains by buying and selling lands, 
sometimes on his own account, and 
sometimes in partnership with Rodolphus 
Dickinson and Sardis Birchard. Mr. Justice 
was prominent in the part he took in 
constructing the Tiffin and Fostoria plank 
roads, which for a time contributed so much 
to the trade and prosperity of Fremont. When 
the Wyandot Reservation at Upper Sandusky 
was sold, and the Indians removed to the Far 
West, Mr. Justice was selected by the 
Government as appraiser of the land on 
account of his soundness of judgment in 
matters of value. 

Shortly after coming to Lower Sandusky 
Mr. Justice was chosen by the Legislature of 
Ohio one of the associate judges of the court 
of common pleas of Sandusky county, which 
office he filled with singular promptness and 
fidelity for a number of years, under the first 
Constitution of the State. 

For a period of perhaps ten years Judge 
Justice discharged gratuitously and 
efficiently the duties of a member of the 
board of education of the city of Fremont, 
acting most of the time as treasurer of the 
board, a position for which he was 



554 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



peculiarly and well qualified. He was also 
mayor of the village for a term. 

When the First National Bank of Fremont 
was organized, Judge Justice placed some 
capital in the stock of that institution, and on 
account of his well-known financial ability 
and integrity, was one of the first board of 
directors, and he held this position by 
successive re-elections until the time of his 
death, which occurred on the 28th day of 
May, 1893, at the ripe age of seventy-eight 
years, leaving a large estate for the support 
of his wife and to descend to his four adult 
children. 

In person Judge Justice was a man of 
impressive presence and strong magnetic 
power, of large size, weighing over two 
hundred pounds, light hair and complex-ion, 
blue eyes, and full round head and face. In 
business promptness and integrity no citizen 
surpassed him. His punctuality in the 
performance of all contracts and promises 
was a marked feature in his character, and 
his wonderful industry and activity in all 
business affairs continued until the disability 
caused by his last sickness compelled him to 
reluctantly cease his labors. Those who enter 
the First National Bank of Fremont may see 
an admirable portrait of Judge Justice on the 
south wall of the office, which was 
presented by his children. The picture is the 
work of his only living son, Milton J. 
Justice, who is a natural artist and has set 
forth his father's features with wonderful 
accuracy. 

The wife of the subject of the foregoing 
sketch was not only one of the pioneers of 
this county but possessed virtues in a 
remarkable degree. She was born in 
Huntingdon county, State of Pennsylvania, 
on the 13th day of October, 1800, the 
daughter of David Moore and sister of Mrs. 
William Fields, now a widow residing in this 
county, and also sister of the late 



worthy citizens James and John Moore, of 
Ballville township, so well remembered and 
esteemed by the people of the county as men 
of high merit awl success in business and in 
usefulness to the community. 

At the age of fourteen years Miss Eliza 
Moore emigrated with her parents from 
Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, to Ross 
county, Ohio. Her father, David Moore, was 
of full Scotch blood, and her mother was 
born in Pennsylvania. In 1820 she was 
married to James Justice, near Chillicothe, 
and in 1822 emigrated thence to Sandusky 
county, with her husband and only child and 
settled in Ballville township. Her father had 
preceded her in coming into the county and 
was then engaged in the erection of a grist- 
and saw-mill on the Sandusky River, in what 
is now known as Ballville village. But Mr. 
Moore had not then brought his family into 
the county. The journey from Chillicothe to 
Ballville was made by Mrs. Justice on 
horseback. The child, Nancy, she brought 
with her, is now the wife of Dr. James W. 
Wilson, president of the First National Bank 
of Fremont. The way was through an almost 
unbroken wilderness. 

The inhabitants of this northwestern 
portion of the State were very few and very 
poor in the goods of this world, but they 
were rich in that trust in God, irrepressible 
cheerfulness, and indomitable courage which 
distinguished the hardy pioneers of that 
period in this portion of the State. After 
arriving at Ballville, Mrs. Justice passed a 
short time in a fisherman's shanty, until a log 
cabin was finished, in the performance of 
her domestic duties,, with scanty means, and 
for nine months she never saw the face of a 
white woman. In this shanty the only fire- 
place was a heap of stones in one corner to 
prevent the fire from burning the wall. 
Above the fire-place was an opening in the 
roof for the 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



555 



escape of the smoke. If the rain put out the 
fire, Mrs. Justice would be compelled to go a 
mile and a quarter to the nearest neighbor's 
to obtain coals to rekindle her fire. Among 
her cooking utensils she had what was called 
a Dutch oven, an iron shallow kettle, with an 
iron lid or cover, in which all her baking was 
done, by setting the kettle over coals and 
piling coals on the cover. She often 
preserved fire in a stormy time by placing 
brands and coals in this oven, and placing it 
out of the reach of the rain in the back part 
of the shanty, and thus saved the time and 
trouble of going to the neighbor's for fire. 
Mrs. Justice survived her husband until the 
17th day of October, 1876, when she died at 
the advanced age of seventy-six years and 
four days. Her remains now rest by the side 
of those of her husband, marked by it 
beautiful granite monument, in that beautiful 
resting place, Oakland cemetery. 

This venerable and respected pair reared a 
family whose standing in society testify to 
the merits of their parents. The family 
consisted of three daughters and one son, all 
surviving them. Another son was born to 
them, named Granville Moore, who died at 
Lower Sandusky at the age of six-teen years. 
The names of the surviving children are: 
Mrs. Nancy. E. Wilson, wife of Dr. James 
W. Wilson (this daughter was born in 
Chillicothe, and was the child Mrs. Justice 
brought on horseback from that place); 
Minerva E., wife of Hon. Homer Everett; 
Mrs. S. Eliza Failing, wife of Dr. John W. 
Failing, all now residing in Fremont, and 
Milton J. Justice, now a resident of Lucas 
county, Ohio. 

On the 12th of October, 1870, this then 
venerable husband and wife celebrated their 
golden wedding. The occasion was of 
peculiar interest to a large assemblage of 
friends there present to witness the 
ceremonies and festiv- 



ities. Among the other pleasant events of 
that evening was one of peculiar interest and 
pleasure to all present, but especially to Mrs. 
Justice. This was the presentation from the 
children by Rev. R. L. Chittenden of a 
beautiful gold ring, on the inside of which 
neatly engraved was the sacred word, 
"Mother." This was surely a most fitting and 
significant expression of enduring love and 
filial affection of the children. Surely this 
pair of pioneers were honorable, and 
honored by society for their virtues while 
living, and honored in and by their posterity, 
who live to revere their memories and 
imitate their virtues. 

It is worthy of note, that Mrs. Justice had 
received from her father as part of her outfit, 
a set of Windsor chairs, painted yellow, a 
bureau, a table, stand, and bedstead, all of 
solid black walnut and ornamented with 
brass knobs or handles, which she preserved 
to the close of her life and which are still 
kept by her daughter, in the family, at her 
old homestead, now occupied by Mrs. 
Homer Everett. The chairs were used by the 
aged couple at their golden wedding above 
spoken of, and illustrates that care and 
economy of Mrs. Justice which contributed 
so much to the accumulation of wealth and 
the comfort of her descendants. 



JACOB BURGNER 



was born in Thompson township, Seneca 
county, Ohio, November 5, 1833. His 
parents were of Swiss descent. His father, 
Peter Burgner, came from Lancaster county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1812, at the age of nine 
years, to Stark county, Ohio. Here he twice 
helped clear up a home and worked several 
years in the construction of the Ohio and 
Erie canal. In 1830 he married Miss 
Catharine Hollinger, and moved to Seneca 
county, where he en- 



556 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



tered a quarter-section of heavily timbered 
land two miles west of Flat Rock. This he 
cleared up and improved with unremitting 
toil, making it a comfortable home for 
himself and family for thirty-three years. 

Jacob was the eldest of seven children, five 
sons and two daughters. His first teacher was 
John Grimes. Being assisted at home, and 
stimulated by rewards from teachers and 
parents, he made rapid progress in his 
studies, and committed to memory many 
pages of his textbooks, but his mind was 
often over-tasked and his health injured by 
close confinement in the crowded, 
unventilated log school-house where he 
spent the first twelve years of his school life. 
He attended several Sunday-schools, read 
and re-read every library book and 
newspaper that came in his way, and recited 
from memory about one-half of the New 
Testament. When he was eleven years old 
his mother died, and this event led him to 
look too much on the dark side of life. At the 
age of sixteen he became a member of the 
United Brethren church, under the ministry 
of Rev. J. C. Bright, and he was soon after 
elected class leader and Sunday-school 
superintendent, offices which he held at 
intervals for many years afterwards. At the 
age of seventeen he taught a common school 
in his father's district, and during the next 
five winters he taught in the neighboring 
schools of Thompson town-ship. His wages 
meanwhile rose from ten to thirty-two 
dollars per month. He was a careful reader of 
the Ohio Journal of Education. The summer 
seasons were spent at hard work on his 
father's farm. From 1852 till 1856 he 
attended school at Otterbein University, and 
at the Seneca County Academy, Republic, 
Ohio. 

In the fall of 1856 he returned to Otterbein 
University, where he remained three full 
years and completed his course of study. 



On the 8th of September, 1859, he was 
married to Miss Rebecca M. Miller, and 
soon after came to Fremont and taught the 
East grammar school under Don A. Pease 
superintendent. The next year he taught the 
Maumee grammar school. In the fall of 1861 
he returned to Fremont and taught the high 
school in a small brick building in the rear of 
the old Presbyterian church, Rev. E. 
Bushnell being superintendent. In the fall of 
1862 he was elected superintendent of the 
Port Clinton schools, and in 1864 of the 
Green Spring union schools. Finding that his 
health was injured by confinement to the 
school-room, he began farming in the spring 
of 1863. Here he has followed farming 
during the summer season and teaching 
country schools during the winter for the 
past eighteen years. In the summer of 1864 
Mr. Burgner served as clerk of company H, 
One Hundred and Sixty-ninth regiment, Ohio 
National Guards, about four months at Fort 
Ethan Allen, Virginia. In April, 1865, he was 
elected justice of the peace of Ballville 
township, which office he held six years. Of 
Mr. Burgner's brothers, one died in infancy, 
David and Joseph in early manhood, and Dr. 
Samuel H. Burgher, of Bellevue, at the age 
of twenty-eight, leaving an only daughter, 
Orie, an orphan. His sister Mary married 
Henry Biechler, and lives at York Center; 
his sister Lizzie married Joseph B. Maurer 
and lives near Monticello, Indiana. His 
father, Peter Burgner, was three times 
married, and died at the age of seventy-four. 
Jacob Burgner's family consists of his wife 
and three children — Kittie, Linneus and 
Louis. His first daughter, Alice, died in 
infancy. He took in her place his brother's 
child, Orie, at the same early age, 
maintained and educated her, and she is now 
about completing a course of study at 
Oberlin college. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



557 



In the fall of 1853 Jacob Burgner took his 
first lessons in phonography, of Charles S. 
Royce, at a teacher's institute, held at 
Republic, Ohio. The novelty, simplicity, and 
brevity of phonetic shorthand completely 
captivated him, and he at once became 
wedded to it for life. He bought The 
American Manual of Phonography, by Elias 
Longley, (Ben Pitman's system, Cincinnati, 
Ohio), and mastered its contents. He then 
wrote a shorthand letter to Mr. Royce, and 
received a similar one in return. While a 
student at Republic, Ohio, he taught several 
classes in phonography, and began the study 
of Ben Pitman's Reporter's Companion. This 
he mastered, column after column, until he 
could read at a glance, or write instantly, the 
briefest outline for more than four thousand 
of the most frequently recurring words and 
phrases in the English language. But it was 
not until after he had taught several classes 
in phonography at Otterbein University, and 
had made many repeated efforts and failures 
at reporting sermons and lectures, that, in 
1857, he acquired the ability to write legibly 
with the rapidity of speech. Mr. Burgner's 
first verbatim report was one of Bishop 
Davis' sermons, and it was soon after 
honored with the dignity of print by the Rev. 
Alexander Campbell, who solicited and 
published it in the Millenial Harbinger, 
Volume I, No. 12. 

On coming to Fremont; in 1859, Mr. 
Burgner gave a short course of lessons in 
phonography to the teachers of the Union 
Schools, and in the spring of 1861 furnished 
the Fremont papers with a verbatim report of 
the speeches, of Hon. Homer Everett, 
Colonel R. P. Buckland, and Rev. H. Lang, 
at a flag presentation to the Seventy-second 
Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. This 
was the first stenographic reporting done in 
Sandusky county. 



At the May term, 1871, of the court of 
common pleas for Sandusky county, Mr. 
Burgner made the first stenographic report of a 
law suit, in the case of Mrs. Harriet Seager vs. 
J. S. Lutz, at request of the plaintiff. 

In June, 1876, he reported verbatim for the 
Cincinnati Enquirer and the Fremont papers the 
first speech of General R. B. Hayes, after his 
nomination for the Presidency, and, in 1877, 
the speeches of many distinguished generals of 
the army, at the grand reunion of Hayes' 
regiment, the Twenty-third, at Fremont, Ohio. 

At the March term, 1880, Jacob Burgner and 
L. E. Stetler were appointed official 
stenographers for Sandusky county court of 
common pleas, for three years, by Judge J. H. 
Doyle, of Toledo, and they then jointly 
reported the proceedings in the Pelter Welch 
murder trial. 



STEPHEN BUCKLAND AND 
FAMILY. 

This highly esteemed citizen of Fremont was 
born at Hudson, Portage county (since included 
in Summit county) on the 16th day of January, 
1814. He is the son of Ralph Buckland and 
Ann (Kent) Buckland, of Connecticut, and of 
English ancestry. His father died before he was 
born, and was buried at Ravenna, Portage 
county, Ohio. Stephen left home at about six 
years of age and became a member of the 
family of Charles King, whose wife was sister 
to Mr. Buckland's mother. Mr. King moved to 
Brooklyn while Stephen was still quite young, 
and engaged in the manufacture of castor oil, 
and there manufactured the first castor oil 
made in the West. In this business young 
Buckland assisted as he could, and became 
quite an efficient help for Mr. King. At the age 
of about fifteen years young Buckland 



558 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



went home to live with his mother, who 
meantime, had married Dr. Luther Hanchet, at 
Middlebury, Portage county, Ohio. While at 
Mr. King's young Buckland often visited his 
mother at Middlebury, and in doing so passed 
over the site of the present flourishing city of 
Akron. The country where Akron now stands 
was then a wilderness without inhabitants or 
improvement, unless a hunter's cabin situated 
there can be called an improvement. This was 
about the year 1821 or 1822, and before the 
Ohio canal was located. Stephen was in the 
vicinity, and afterwards witnessed the 
construction of the canal and subsequent 
growth of the city. He determined, as all young 
men should, to learn a trade, and according to 
this determination he learned the cabinet and 
chair-making business in the establishment of 
Mr. Harry Purdy, in Middlebury. From there he 
went to Akron, and after working at his trade 
for a time rented the factory at lock number 
four, on the canal, which furnished water- 
power for the establishment. After remaining 
in this business a few years he went to Canfield 
and engaged as clerk in the mercantile house of 
Kent & Lockwood. While so engaged he made 
the acquaintance of Miss Lucy Whittlesey, 
daughter of the late Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, so 
well known and esteemed in the State of Ohio. 
He was married to this lady on the 1 1th day of 
October, A. D. 1838. Soon after the marriage 
the husband and wife removed to Edinburg, in 
Portage county, where Mr. Buckland engaged 
in merchandising, in which pursuit he 
continued until 1850. 

Mrs. Lucy (Whittlesey) Buckland, the wife 
of Stephen Buckland, was born at Canfield on 
the 22d day of December, A. D. 1817. The 
children of this worthy husband and wife were 
all born while they were residing at Edinburg, 
In the year 1850 the family came to Fremont 
and set- 



tied here. Soon after his arrival Mr. 
Buckland formed a partnership in the drug 
and book business with C. R. McCulloch, 
and for some time the firm did a prosperous 
business. In 1855 this partnership was 
amicably dissolved and Mr. Buckland 
opened a drug and book store on his own 
account, in which business he has continued 
to the present time, either alone or in 
company with his sons. To those who know 
Stephen Buckland no praise is necessary. 
His name with them is a synonym of all that 
is sincere, truthful, honest, and patriotic. Mr. 
Buckland now conducts the business he has 
so long been engaged in at Fremont, in 
company with his worthy son, Ralph 
Pomeroy Buckland, named after General R. 
P. Buckland. 



DAVID DEAL. 



The only survivor of the War of 1812, who 
continues to reside in Fremont is David 
Deal. He was born near Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania, in October, 1793. In his 
younger years he took considerable interest 
in hunting and sporting. In 1813 he was 
drafted and placed in Colonel Stephenson's 
regiment, under General Harrison's 
command. He was with the army at Fort 
Meigs and Upper Sandusky, and was at the 
former place during the siege. He-was 
discharged at Fort Seneca shortly after the 
unsuccessful attack on Fort Meigs. He 
married, in 1814, Magdaline Overmyer, 
daughter of Peter Overmyer. In 1829 they 
came to this county and settled in Jackson 
township. Mr. Deal is now feeble, but retains 
correct impressions of military operations in 
the Northwest during the period of the 
second war with England. 



TOWNSHIPS OF SANDUSKY COUNTY, 



SANDUSKY. 



THIS township originally included all that 
part of the county west of the Sandusky 
River, together with parts of Seneca and 
Ottawa counties. Its organization as a 
township of Huron county in 1815 has 
already been given in connection with the 
history of Fremont, which, until recently, 
was included within its limits. The territory 
was reduced to its present boundaries in 
1878, when Fremont town-ship was 
established. 

The sand ridges along the Sandusky River, 
and extending through the central part of the 
township, were the chosen locations of the 
first settlers, although the soil on these 
sandbars is inferior to the vegetable mould 
on Muskellunge or on Little Mud Creek. 
During the early period of settlement, the 
western part being a continuous swamp, the 
first pioneers had no choice in the matter of 
location. Besides, numerous small Indian 
clearings along the river prepared the way 
for white occupation. The narrative of the 
two first white families-the Whittaker and 
Williams families-is fully given in connec- 
tion with the Indian history and discussion 
of land titles. 

Along Muskellunge a road was opened out 
and clearings commenced about 1827, and 
the first improvement on Little Mud Creek, 
so far as can be learned, was made about 
1829. 

On the dry lands along the east side of the 
Sandusky is an extensive chain of 



earthworks. One of the mounds on the river 
bank was excavated some years ago and a 
skeleton found between plates of mica. 
These sepulchres of the distinguished dead 
of a civilized and probably aesthetic race, 
which has perished, not only from the earth, 
but from history, furnish interesting data for 
speculation. The chain of enclosures has 
almost been obliterated by the gradual 
change of the river channel. Here we have 
an illustration of the effect of progressive 
civilization. The Mound Builders, as is 
shown by the location of these earth-works, 
and the Indians who followed them, chose 
the dry sandbars for places of residence. The 
early white settlers followed the ex-ample of 
the races which had vacated. But times have 
changed; axes, plows, and tiles have 
converted the marshy forest, worthless years 
ago, into fields far more productive than the 
sand acres along the river ridges. 

Sandusky township is bounded on the 
north by Rice, on the east by Riley, on the 
south by Ballville and Fremont, and on the 
west by Washington. 

The principal streams on the west side of 
the river are Muskellunge and Little Mud 
Creek, and on the east side, Bark Creek, 
none of which afford available water-power 
for. mills. This, however, was no great 
inconvenience, as the mills on the Sandusky 
River at Ballville and. Fremont were easily 
reached. The celebrated 



559 



560 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



"Black Swamp" region begins at 
Muskellunge and takes in that part of the 
town-ship lying west of this stream. 

SETTLEMENT. 

The settlement of Sandusky township was 
not as rapid as its location would lead us to 
expect. Ballville was improved before 
Sandusky, and the east part of the county 
was filling up rapidly before anything more 
than scattering settlements were made in this 
township. Why this was the case is an easy 
problem when the miasmatic, sickly state of 
the country west of the river is taken into 
account. Muskellunge was dammed up by 
fallen timber, and in consequence a wide 
tract of country was wet and uninviting. No 
roads were opened up in the western part. On 
the whole there was little encouragement to 
settle. 

Except the Whittaker and Williams 
families, Reuben Patterson was the first 
settler of Sandusky township who remained 
to make a permanent improvement and 
home. There were more squatters down 
along the river than perhaps any other place 
in the county, but most of them, being 
unable to enter land, deserted their squatter 
openings and pushed on farther west. Mr. 
Patterson's family consisted of a wife and six 
children-Alvord, Eveline, Danforth, Julius, 
Harriet, and Caroline. The family left New 
York in a wagon in the fall of 1816, and 
came to Huron, then the stopping-place of so 
many Western emigrants. At the opening of 
the following spring they removed to the 
peninsula, but sickness so afflicted them that 
the new home with its improvements was 
deserted. Mr. Patterson made a trip to the 
Maumee in search of a home and there made 
the acquaintance of Captain Rumery, who 
persuaded him to come to Lower Sandusky. 
When the family arrived from the peninsula 
no room in which to put their goods could be 
found, except 



a log house in the fort, which had been used 
during the war by the officers. Esquire 
Morrison occupied one end and Mr. Baker 
the other; the Patterson family were crowded 
into the middle room, the floor of which was 
made of clay. A bedstead was placed in a 
corner, and on this, during the day, all the 
clothing was piled, and at night beds were 
made on the ground. One of the gates thrown 
down before the fireplace furnished one 
small piece of floor, which contributed to the 
comfort of this large family in a small room 
in wet weather. Mr. Patterson and his sons 
set to work and cleared a piece of land on 
the west side of the river, near the forks of 
the road, and in the spring of 1819 the 
family moved into an unfinished cabin on 
this place. The cracks were filled afterwards 
with mortar made of clay and straw, and a 
chimney made of logs heavily interlaid with 
clay mortar was erected on the outside of the 
house. The location of the cabin was on the 
Whittaker Reserve, a part of which Mr. 
Patterson rented. When the Government sale 
of lands was advertised at Delaware, Mrs. 
Patterson took her little bag of silver coin, 
mounted her horse, and in company with 
Lysander C. Ball and James Whittaker, went 
to Delaware. She purchased what was for 
years known as the Patterson farm, on the 
east side of the river. Here Mr. Patterson 
lived until his death in 1841, having 
survived his wife one year. The living 
representatives of the family are: Eveline, 
widow of L. C. Ball; Julius, and Harriet, 
widow of James Moore. 

L. C. Ball was a settler in Sandusky 
township in 1823. He left his home in New 
York in 1818, with a view to locating in the 
West, Detroit being his objective point. 
Being without means, he employed the 
natural method of travelling. High water 
intercepted his progress at Lower Sandusky, 
where he found em- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



561 



ployment at general work. He soon engaged at 
the then profitable trade of blacksmithing in 
James Kirk's shop, and afterwards built a shop 
of his own. In 1823 Mr. Ball married Eveline 
Patterson, and settled on a farm just below the 
corporation, where he lived, raised a family, 
and died. Mrs. Ball remains on the home- 
stead. The children are: Eveline, Alvita, 
Thaddeus, Oscar, Lysander C, and Sarah 
(Emerson). 

George Shannon, a son-in-law of James 
Whittaker, is mentioned in connection with 
Indian events of the War of 1812, in the 
general history, but that event gives us an 
interest in the personal history of the family. 
Mr. Shannon was a native of Schenectady, 
Schoharie county, New York, and was born in 
1787. He came to Lower Sandusky in 1809, 
and married Mary, a daughter of James and 
Elizabeth Whittaker, by whom he had eight 
children, three of whom are living-James, 
residing in Oregon; John, in this township; 
and William, in Wood county. Mr. Shannon 
lived in a cabin on the Whittaker Reserve 
when James, the oldest son, was born. In 
1812, when the Indian troubles began, he 
sought safety for his family on the Scioto, 
having refused to accompany the Whittakers 
in Fort Stephenson, believing that that post 
would eventually be captured. His return to 
harvest the corn crop, and adventure with the 
savages while thus engaged, is narrated 
elsewhere. When the war had closed, Mr. 
Shannon returned from the Scioto, and settled 
on a piece of land given him by Mrs. Whitta- 
ker. He built a cabin near the river, in which 
he moved the entire family, now consisting of 
several children. Posterity must forgive us for 
stating that, on account of an old prejudice, 
Mr. Shannon frequently incurred the wrath of 
his mother-in-law, and the relation between 
the two families was not always lovely. The 
Indians 



usually camped on the river bank near the 
Shannon cabin. Mrs. Shannon's "life in the 
woods" had familiarized her with their 
language and habits, and enabled her to 
detect signs of danger. One day, while her 
husband was at work, an Indian yell startled 
the family. She called to Mr. Shannon, who 
did not hear at first, and, before she could 
repeat the warning, an angry savage had 
almost approached the house. There was no 
time for evading. Shannon was now facing 
the Indian, who drew forth a concealed 
tomahawk, and, with a double oath, said, in 
good English: "Now I going to kill you!" 
Shannon sprang forward, caught the handle 
of the drawn tomahawk in one hand and the 
strong arm of his savage antagonist in the 
other. A vigorous but brief struggle 
followed, in which the redskin was 
prostrated. Shannon was now master of the 
situation. He wrenched the hatchet from his 
antagonist's hand, raised the weapon, and 
was already directing a deadly blow, when 
the savage cried: "Friendship." By a quick 
movement, Shannon changed his fatal aim, 
and the tomahawk, just clearing his enemy's 
head, was buried in the ground. Again 
seizing the weapon, Shannon ordered the 
Indian into the house, and then gave him a 
chair. Shannon also sat down, laying the 
tomahawk on the table at his side. He then 
asked the Indian why he came to kill him. 

"Is your name Joe Williams?" asked the 
conquered savage. 

"No; my name is Shannon," was the reply. 

"I was told," said the Indian, "Joe Williams 
lived here. I came to kill Joe Williams. He 
sold me a barrel of stinking pork." 

The Indian took his tomahawk and left the 
cabin, a warm friend of Shannon. 

John, the third son of George Shannon, 
was born in the Scioto Valley in 1813, 



562 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



and was brought to Sandusky, with his 
parents, after the close of the war. In 1840 
he married Eveline Patterson, daughter of 
Alvord and Julia Patterson, who removed 
from New York to Ohio in 1833. The fruit of 
this union was nine children, four of whom 
are living. Mr. Shannon has always had a 
fondness for the woods, and had a 
reputation, in early times, as an expert and 
successful hunter. Even in his old age he 
mourns the loss of hunting grounds. 

Casper Remsburg was a native of Mary- 
land, who came to the county in 1822, and 
settled on the Muskellunge, where he lived 
as a farmer until 1849, when he died in the 
sixty-third year of his age. He married Mary 
Bowlus, also of Maryland, who is still 
living, being now in her eighty-ninth year. 
She is the mother of ten children, nine of 
whom arrived at maturity. Four sons and two 
daughters are yet living. The names of the 
children in the order of their ages were: 
Matilda, deceased; Hezekiah, attorney at 
law, Fremont; William, a Protestant 
Methodist preacher, residing in Des Moines, 
Iowa; Mary Ann, the wife of James Rosen- 
barger, Sandusky township; Susan, married 
and residing in Rock Island county, Illinois; 
Rebecca, deceased, was the wife of Adam 
Crowell, of Sandusky township; Perry F., 
farmer, Bureau county, Illinois; John, died in 
Sandusky township, in 1849; Lewis E., 
farmer, Bureau county, Illinois. Mr. 
Remsburg was a member of the Protestant 
Methodist church, to which his widow still 
belongs. 

The first settlement in that part of the 
township lying west of the Muskellunge -and 
north of the Perrysburg road, was made by 
three families from Pennsylvania, in 1817. 
They were the families of George Overmyer, 
Michael Overmyer, and Daniel Hensel. 

Daniel Hensel was born in Northum 



berland county, Pennsylvania, 1797, He 
married, in Northumberland county, Christina 
Reed, and in 1819 removed to Perry county, 
Ohio. In 1827 the fertile farms then being 
opened in this part of the State attracted his 
attention, and having made an entry he 
removed his family to the Black Swamp. It has 
been said that many of the pioneers have 
become wealthy as an incidental result of the 
developing force of progressive civilization. 
That is true of those who purchased extensive 
tracts and then depended upon the labor of self 
sacrificing neighbors to develop the country 
around their estates. But those whose memory 
it is our desire to perpetuate, those whose busy 
hands built homes and reduced the fertile soil 
to a state of cultivation, have been indeed 
poorly paid for leaving well organized and 
cultured communities and submitting to the 
conditions of life in the woods. Daniel Hensel 
actually cut his way to the one hundred and 
sixty acres of swampy forest he had purchased, 
and by the time of his death, in 1842, had 
cleared and brought under cultivation fifty 
acres. He also carried on an extensive 
carpentering 

business. His family consisted of six 
children, all of whom are living. Adam resides 
in Sandusky township; Sarah, wife of N. 
Kessler, in Fremont; Eva, wife of J. Waitman, 
in Sandusky township; Daniel, in Sandusky 
township; Christina, wife of J. Binkly; and 
George, in Sandusky township. Adam, the 
oldest son, was born in Perry county, Ohio, in 
1825. He married in 1847, Mary J. Benner, 
whose father Matthias Benner, removed to the 
county, from Union county, Ohio, in 1840. 
Their family consisted of six children-James 
D., Ellen (deceased), Sarah, Harriet 
(Stinewalt), Alice (Waters), and Emma, all 
residing in this township, except Sarah. James 
D., the oldest son, was born in 1849, and in 
1873 married Villa M. Wolf, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



563 



by whom he has two children — Nora O. and 
Mabel M.. Daniel, jr., second son and fourth 
child of Daniel Hensel, was born in 1835. He 
married, in 1862, Sarah Hetrich, daughter of 
George and Catharine Hettrich. His family 
consists of five children, four of whom are 
living, William W., Charles H., Hattie D., 
and Emma M. 

George Reed was born in Northumberland 
county, Pennsylvania, in the year 18o6. In 
the year 1829 the family, consisting of the 
mother, three boys and four girls, started for 
the one hundred acres lying in the northwest 
part of this township, which George had 
entered previously. Three days were 
occupied in the trip from Fremont to the 
farm, a distance of seven miles. Their slow 
progress indicates the condition of the road, 
or rather the trail through the woods, for the 
State road at that time was no more. Mr. 
Reed in a memorandum says: "We came out 
as far as Moses Wilson's. There we staid all 
night. Next day we came down to where 
David Engler lived. Daniel Hensel was our 
nearest neighbor, and John Wagoner lived on 
Little Mud Creek. The country was then 
nothing but a wilderness, and the pike a 
mudhole. It was almost impossible to get 
along with the empty wagon part of the 
time." Mr. Reed adds .in the spirit of the 
good old days gone by: "And it seems people 
enjoyed themselves better then than now. 
They were not so selfish; had their log- 
rollings, and corn-huskings, and old- 
fashioned country dance, and all hands 
engaged in it." 

A description of a corn-husking and 
quilting winding up with a dance, according 
to the fashion of the period, will be found in 
this volume. 

Rev. Jacob Bowlus entered land, and at an 
early day made an improvement south of the 
pike on Muskellunge. His 



connection with religious organizations at 
Fremont is fully noticed in that connection. 
His son, Jacob Bowlus, was for nearly sixty 
years a staid and honored citizen, and a 
staunch Methodist. He once stated that he 
never went further than Muskellunge after 
his father's settlement in Lower Sandusky. 

Samuel Crowell, an early settler of this 
township and an early school-teacher, was 
born in Pennsylvania in 1793. In 1815 he 
married Mary Link, of Virginia, and about 
1826 came to this county. He entered a farm 
on the Muskellunge, in this township, and 
was a school-teacher of prominence and 
more than ordinary severity. He was elected 
sheriff in 1829 and held the office two 
terms. He had five sons and three daughters. 
One of the sons is living — Alexander — in 
Peru, Indiana. Samuel A., who resides in this 
township, was born in Jefferson county, 
Virginia, and came to Ohio with his father. 
He was married three times and had a family 
of twelve children, viz: George W., Samuel, 
Mary C, Clarissa, Eugene B., Moses H., 
Sardis S., Reuben A., Martha L., William E., 
John W., and Sarah R. Mr. Crowell died 
October 10, 1881, aged sixty-three years. 
Eugene Crowell was born in 1851. He 
married, in 1873, Sarah Stine, daughter of 
William Stine, and has four children, Clara, 
William, Ella, and Ida. The old Crowell 
improvement was on Muskellunge. 

Henry Bowlus settled in this township in 
1828. He came from Maryland with a family 
of eight children, four of whom are living. 
He died in 1832; his wife survived him nine 
years. 

Aaron Forgerson was one of the first 
settlers of Fremont, having emigrated from 
New York in 1816. The family consisted of 
eight children, six boys and two girls. 
Sidney, the seventh child, was one of the 
early settlers of this township. 



564 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



He married, in 18J3, Hannah White, whose 
father, Ebenezer White, came to the county 
in 1831. 

Basil Coe, a native of Maryland, married 
Rachel Burgoon, and settled in this county in 
1833. He died soon afterwards leaving a 
family of eight children, the oldest of whom, 
Jessie Coe, was born in Perry county, Ohio, 
in 1815. He married Mary Bazar, a daughter 
of Henry Bazar, a native of Pennsylvania, in 
1832. Mr. Coe died in 1867, leaving ten chil- 
dren living: Rebecca L., Richard A., Martha 
J., Francis M., Sarah I., Charles J., Josephine 
A., James M., Ellen A., and William S. Mrs. 
Basil Coe died in 1881. Mrs. Jessie Coe is 
still living. Seven of her children survive. 
Richard A. Coe was born in 1844, and has 
always resided in the county. He was 
married, in 1870, to Harriet B. Shank, born 
in Cincinnati in 1841. Four children are 
living-William Edward, Carrie A., John F., 
and James W. Lloyd N. is dead. 

George Michael was born in France in 
1816. He came to America, and settled in 
New York in 1831. In 1834 he removed to 
Sandusky township, where he has lived ever 
since. The family consists of eight children, 
all of whom are living, viz: Caroline 
(Parker), Sandusky town-ship; Philip, Henry 
county; George, John H., and Christian, 
Wood county; Mary (Swartz), Elizabeth 
Thompson and Charles reside in this county. 
Mr. Michael followed coopering for forty 
years. He has also improved an excellent 
farm. 

George Engler, a native of Germany, 
settled in this township in 1835, and lived 
here until his death in 1860. The family 
consisted of twelve children, all of whom are 
living. Henry, the sixth child, was born in 
Germany in 1831; he married Christina Will, 
a native of Germany, by whom he had a 
family of eight children, seven of whom are 
living, viz: Caroline, 



Frank, John, Elizabeth, Ella, Herman and 
Edward. 

John Kuns (spelled Koons by some 
representatives of the family), a native of 
Pennsylvania, came to this county in 1836, 
from Perry county, Ohio. He married 
Catharine Overmyer, by whom he had five 
children: Siloma and Catharine, deceased, 
and Samuel, John and Elizabeth, living. Mr. 
Kuns died October 25, 1845, aged fifty-two 
years. He had been an invalid for many 
years, and was so afflicted with rheumatism 
that he was helpless during the last fifteen 
years of his life. Mrs. Kuns died November 
5, 1874, aged seventy-five years and six 
months. Samuel, the oldest son, is living on 
the old homestead, where his grandfather, 
John Overmyer, settled four years before 
John Kuns, sr., came to the place. Samuel 
Kuns was born in Perry county in 1823. He 
married Mary M. Swarm in 1845. They had 
five children: John, Riley township; 
Catharine (Shively), Sandusky township; 
Mary E. (Seibert), Samuel, Sandusky 
township, and Emma A. (Reed), Ottawa 
county. Mrs. Kuns died March 16, 1866, 
aged thirty-nine. Mr. Kuns was again 
married February 4, 1879, to Mrs. Rosanna 
Bruner, daughter of Christian Auxter, of 
Washington township. They have one child, 
Orphie R. John, brother to Samuel, was born 
in Perry county in 1827. He married in 1850, 
Hannah M. Sebring, and has four children 
living: Maria E., John E., Clara E., and 
Wilbur C. Mr. Kuns was in the grocery 
business in Fremont, for several years. 

The Sebring family came from Butler 
county, Ohio, and settled in this county in 
1836. 

Charles Lay and his parents, John and 
Sarah Lay, came to Sandusky township 
about 1840. Charles Lay married in this 
county, Anna Unsbauch, a native of Perry 
county. Three of their children are living: 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



565 



Alfred and Albanus in Sandusky township, 
and Rosanna (Fought), Washington 
township. 

Jacob Hufford, a native of Frederick 
county, Maryland, was born in 1773. He 
married Catharine Creager, and emigrated 
first to Kentucky, and from there to Greene 
county, Ohio. In 1836 they came to this 
county and settled on the farm where she 
died in 1842 and he in 1851. Mr. Hufford 
was a blacksmith by trade, but after coming 
to this county gave his exclusive attention to 
farming and improving his land. James, the 
third child of Jacob Hufford, was born in 
Greene county, in 1812. He married, in 
1838, Susan Arnold, who died in 1847, 
leaving three children, viz: George W., died 
of disease contracted in the army, at 
Memphis, Tennessee; Harriet A., wife of 
William Slates, lives in this township; and 
Joseph N., deceased. Mr. Hufford married, 
in 1849, for his second wife, Elizabeth 
Fisher, by whom one child was born, 
William T., a resident of this township. He 
was born in 1851, and married, in 1873, 
Sarah, daughter of William Rhidout, of 
Ballville township. They have two children, 
Eugene L. and James F. Mr. Hufford has 
been a teacher in the public schools. 

Michael Wolfe crossed the mountains in 
1837, for the first time, coming and going on 
foot. He had been married at the age of 
twenty-two to Margaret Engleman, and, in 
1841, with his family, he came to Ohio and 
settled in this township, where he lived until 
his death, in 1879. He was one of the first 
settlers in the Muskellunge bottom, where he 
lived until 1865, when he removed to the 
pike. It is said of Mr. Wolfe that he never 
had an enemy. Of a family of twelve 
children seven are still living, viz: Levi, 
Sandusky township; Solomon, Seneca 
county; Josiah and A. J., Sandusky 
township; Ella J. (Hook), Tiffin; Anna C. 
(Baker), Fre- 



mont; and Savilla (Hensel), Sandusky 
township. Levi, the oldest son, was born in 
Union county, Pennsylvania, in 1836. In 
1857 he married Christina Lantz. Nine 
children are living — Robert A., Dilla C, 
Emma R., Ellen H., James H., Chester E., 
Michael J., Margaret E., and Addie C. A. J., 
the fourth child of Michael Wolfe, was born 
in 1842, and married, in 1865, Jemima 
Stultz. They have two children — William E. 
and Nannie A. Mr. Wolfe purchased the 
Alexander Paden farm, which was one of the 
first improved in the township. 

Jacob Faller emigrated from Germany and 
afterwards settled in this township in 1846. 
He married, in 1850, Christina Wegstein, 
also a native of Germany. Her parents came 
to America in 1840. Four children blessed 
this union, viz: Sarah E., William, Emma, 
and George. Mr. Faller served in the 
Mexican war. He has engaged in the 
manufacture of chairs, and also in the 
grocery business, but for nine years he has 
been farming. 

William Webster, son of Joseph and Sarah 
Webster, was born in Derbyshire, England, 
in 1820, and came to America and settled in 
Sandusky township in 1851. He lived in this 
township nine years, and then moved to 
Washington township, his present residence. 
He married, first, in 1847, Salina Wood, who 
died in 1858, having borne two children, 
George, and John Joseph, both deceased. He 
married again in 1859, Mary A. Newcomer, 
whose father, Jacob Newcomer, settled in 
Sandusky county in 1830. Mary J. and 
Joseph W. are the children by this marriage. 
Only Mary is living. Mr. Webster followed 
butchering in Fremont during his residence 
there. 

Peter Gilbert was another of the indus- 
trious Germans who settled in this town- 
ship, and have contributed so much to its 
wealth. He was born in Germany in 



566 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



1804. He married Margaret E. Tickel, and 
emigrated to America in 1852. He died in 
1859, on the farm where he settled. Mrs. 
Gilbert survived him three years. The family 
consisted of three boys and three girls: 
Henry, Louis, Adam, Julia, Catharine and 
Mary. Henry, the oldest child, was born in 
1823, and came to this country with his 
father in 1852. The following year he 
married Catharine Graft, daughter of George 
Tickel, who came to America in 1844. Two 
of their four children are living-Louisa, the 
wife of William H. Greene, and Ellen H., 
wife of Lewis Conicom, both residents of 
Sandusky township. Mr. Gilbert is a mason 
by trade. He has served as township trustee, 
clerk, assessor, etc. 

William D. Stine, the second child of 
Philip and Sarah Stine, was born in Penn- 
sylvania in 1827. He married, in Pickaway 
county, Ohio, in 1852, Rebecca Stout, a 
native of that county, and removed to this 
county the following year. Three children 
are living: Sarah C. (Crowell), Isaac 
Franklin, and Lavina E. Mr. Stine followed 
the carpenter and joiner trade for ten years. 

John Shook, a native of Jefferson county, 
Pennsylvania, came to Ohio and settled in 
Pickaway county about 1812. In 1825 he 
removed to the present territory of Ottawa 
county, where he died in 1863. His wife, 
whose maiden name was Susannah Hum, 
died in 1856, leaving seven children. Daniel, 
the sixth child, was born in Pickaway county 
in 1822. He married, in 1850, Rosanna 
Bowlus and in 1854 settled in Sandusky 
township. In 1880 he removed to his present 
residence in Washington. The family con- 
sists of three children, two of them living, 
viz: Franklin P., William D. (deceased), and 
James D. Mrs. Shook is a daughter of David 
Bowlus, of Sandusky township. 

W. L. Greene was among the later set- 



tlers of this township. He was born in 
Pennsylvania, in 1832, and came to this 
county in 1855. In 1859 he married Abigail 
Ramsel, daughter of Jacob Ramsel, of 
Ottawa county. They had two children, one 
of whom is living, James L.; Cora J. is dead. 
Mrs. Greene died in 1873. In 1876 he 
married for his second wife Malinda Bowlus. 
He was in mercantile business eight years. 
By her first husband Mrs. Greene had four 
children: Orville, Rolla, Ada, and Charles. 
Mr. Greene's father resided in this county 
until the time of his death in 1875. He was a 
soldier in the War of 1812. John Stayer, Mrs. 
Greene's father, was also a soldier in the 
War of 1812, and is yet living (1881). 

Jacob J. Seibert was born in Pennsylvania 
in 1820. He married Mary A. Walborn in 
1843, and in 1856 they came to this county. 
Four of their six children are living: Monroe, 
Fremont, Emma (Loose), Michigan; Henry, 
and William. Mr. Seibert has been an elder 
in the Reformed church about fifteen years. 

Eben Root was born in Erie county, in 
1843. In 1868 he married Jemima Fell, and 
settled in this county. Three children are 
living — Isabella, Carrie, and Walter. The 
youngest child, David P., died at the age of 
thirteen months. Mr. Root has a fine farm of 
two hundred and thirty acres. 

SHOOTING ON BARK CREEK. 

The small stream which winds through 
Ballville and Sandusky townships; almost 
parallel with the river, derives its name from 
the methods employed by the early hunters 
for shooting deer along its course. The 
stream flows through a flat country, and at 
places spreads out into little ponds of 
considerable area and depth. In these deer 
were accustomed to gather in large groups or 
herds, to avoid .flies and Other 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



567 



annoyances. The professional hunters of the 
day had canoes in which they embarked for 
game. In one end they placed a candle or 
torch, surrounded, except in front, by a piece 
of bark stripped from an elm tree. Behind 
this dark lantern he could sit in entire 
obscurity, while in front the water and 
shores were well lighted. Deer seem to be 
charmed with a torch in the night. They 
would stand up to their bodies in the water 
and watch the approach of the destroyer with 
evident pleasure, little suspecting that a 
charge of buckshot was being aimed at them 
by a man concealed in the dark end of the 
boat. When the boat had reached a sure 
shooting distance the hunter fired, bringing 
down sometimes two victims at one shot. An 
old hunter informs the writer that he has 
brought in as many as twelve deer as the 
fruit of one night's hunting. 

RELIGIOUS. 

The religious history of Sandusky town- 
ship is so intimately connected with the 
church history of Fremont that little re-mains 
to be said here. Within this territory Rev. 
Joseph Badger, with his assist-ants, 
established their missionary post while 
laboring among the Wyandot Indians. There 
are in the township at present two churches. 

METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH. 

The only congregation of this denom- 
ination in the county, worship in a com- 
modious frame house on the Rollersville 
road, near Muskellunge Creek. The 
Methodist Protestants established their form 
of worship in this county in 1840. Dr. 
William Reeves, accompanied by his wife, 
Hannah Reeves, held a meeting in 



Fremont in 1840, which resulted in gathering 
together a small class, which a split in the 
United Brethren class, a couple of months 
later, strengthened. The meeting conducted 
by Hannah Reeves was very satisfactory in 
its good results, but the church never 
prospered in town. A class was organized the 
following summer in the country, composed 
of Alexander Paden and wife, William Rice 
and wife, William Remsburg and wife, 
Sophia Flick, Mary Remsberg, and Polly 
Remsberg. 

Two years after the class was formed, a 
meeting house was built on Henry Bowlus' 
farm, where services were held until 1873 
when the present house was built. The 
present membership of this class is about 
fifty. Ministers worthy of special mention 
have been William Turner, William Ross, 
Robert Andrews, Alexander Brown, and 
Robert Rice. William Hastings is the present 
pastor in charge. 

OTHER CHURCHES. 

Lutheran service has been held in the 
township since 1843, very closely connect- 
ed, however, with the church at Fremont. 
The meeting-house at the four-mile stone on 
the pike was built in 1845, or about that 
time. The congregation is composed largely 
of Germans or people of German descent. 

The Methodist Episcopal church organized 
a class during the early settlement of the 
township, and about 1845 built a house of 
worship on the pike at Muskellunge. The 
maintenance of service at this point was, 
however, entirely unnecessary, and when the 
building yielded to the dilapidations of time, 
it was abandoned and most of the members 
transferred their connection to the church at 
Fremont. 



RICE. 



RICE is territorially the smallest town- 
ship in the county, and its boundaries 
the most irregular. The fertile farms of the 
eastern end are cut by numerous dead water 
courses; the central part is marshy; the 
western sections will compare favorably for 
agricultural purposes with any part of the 
county. In going the length of this territory 
from east to west, along the Ottawa county 
line, the traveler is given a glimpse of 
pioneer times. Although few of the outward 
appendages of the historic log cabin days are 
there to be seen, enough points are visible to 
enable the imagination to fill up the picture. 
Here are the corduroy roads passing through 
a forest of massive elms, growing from a 
marshy surface made invisible by decaying 
trees and thick underbrush. Flies, 
mosquitoes, and other tortursome enemies of 
human happiness give the mischance traveler 
painful consciousness of their half-starved 
condition. Occasionally we come to a log 
cabin, resembling in most respects the ideal 
residence of the olden time. 

The water courses in the lower part of the 
township are currentless, rising and falling 
with the tides in the bay. Further up the 
current is perceptible but not rapid. The only 
valley is that of Mud Creek, which affords 
excellent drainage to the country on both 
sides. Near its mouth the name river would 
be more appropriate than creek; it is 
navigable for a distance of two miles from 
the mouth, and at places spreads out into 
little lakes. Fishing Creek courses the center 
of the township, Little Mud Creek being the 
principal tributary. 



The Sandusky River skirts the southeastern 
border. 

The head of the bay was, years ago, a 
favorite nesting place for ducks and geese. 
An old settler says that, fifty years ago, 
while riding north of Mud Creek, the geese 
were so plenty that he was able to kill 
dozens of them, striking with his whip from 
the back of the horse. Fur-bearing animals 
were also plenty about the mouth of the 
creek. Otters were the trapper's pride, while 
muskrats, and, further back from the bay, 
minks, were so plenty that, although cheap, 
they were the source of much needed ready 
cash in the pioneer days of poverty. 

Sluggish streams with shallow channels 
have left Rice entirely without water-power. 
Until a recent period there was neither grist- 
nor saw-mill. There has never been a grist- 
mill, but two steam saw-mills have been 
operated. The first was moved from Ottawa 
county, and was owned by Mr. Crosby; the 
other was built in 1871 by Guilson & 
Seigroff, near the centre of the township. 

The soil is of vegetable composition, and if 
surface declination permitted draining, 
would be very productive. Corn and wheat 
are raised with profit as it is. Cultivation 
becomes easier as clearing progresses. There 
was a time when farmers, in dry springs, 
might be seen using axes in place of hoes for 
planting corn. A deep gash was cut in the 
gummy muck; in which corn was dropped 
and imperfectly covered. A good crop was 
generally harvested, even in spite of such 
unpromising planting. In 



568 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



569 



the western part of the township the drain- 
age system is more perfect, and the soil in 
consequence much looser and more easily 
worked. 

Before the days of bridging Mud Creek 
was a serious obstruction to travel. People 
living north of this stream especially were 
inconvenienced in going to and coming from 
market and mill at Lower Sandusky. Mr. 
Boggs, an old settler in the south part of 
Ottawa county, says: 

One time Mud Creek was very high, and I wished to 
cross with seven bags of corn. Trees had been cut across 
and large poles laid on them to walk on. I knew that my 
corn would be wet, if I drove through the stream with it 
in the wagon; so I took one bag at a time and carried it 
on my shoulders thirty or forty rods through the bottom. 
I then swam my horses through the main part of the 
creek, sitting waist-deep in my wagon. This was only 
one case of a great many similar experiences. 

FRENCH OCCUPATION. 

After peace had been restored in 1815, this 
township became the home of many of the 
French families of the colony, which left the 
Maumee and came to Lower Sandusky three 
years earlier. The original settlement of 
these people, after coming to America, was 
at Monroe, Michigan. They afterwards 
established themselves on the Maumee, 
where they settled down to habits of 
industry. But the opening of the British and 
Indian hostilities, in 1812, compelled 
another removal and doomed them to four 
years of migration and unsettled life. 

In January, 1813, by direction of the 
Government, about twenty families packed 
their possessions and started for Lower 
Sandusky. It was a fortunate circumstance 
that heavy ice well covered with snow gave 
them an easy course of travel and at the 
same time made it possible to avoid the 
savage enemies of the forest. All being in 
readiness, a French train was formed. This 
consisted of a procession of one horse 
sleighs, the runners of which were made of 
boards. The train was placed under 



direction of a Frenchman named Peter 
Maltosh, who had been an Indian trader. He 
knew the country thoroughly and proved 
himself a faithful and valuable guide. 

The journey to Locust Point was made 
over the ice with ease, in one day. On the 
following day Port Clinton or Portage,* as it 
was then called, was reached. This day's 
travel was hard on the horses, as the snow 
was very deep. The train was held close 
together and the order of the sleighs 
frequently changed, so that the horses having 
become weary, breaking the way, were 
rested in the beaten track in the rear. Upon 
arrival at Portage the horses were almost 
exhausted. Maltosh, the guide, anticipated 
the failure of the horses from exhaustion and 
on the following morning directed the train 
to follow his tracks. He assured them that he 
would be at Lower Sandusky far in advance 
of the train and would have, at the mouth of 
Muskellunge, teams to assist them to the end 
of the journey. The horses stiffened by two 
days' travel through the deep snow, entered 
upon the third day's trial of endurance with 
reluctance. With frequent changes in the 
order of travel, the train moved slowly 
across the head of the bay, and entered the 
river. The delight of our band of weary 
travelers, on reaching the mouth of 
Muskellunge Creek, can be imagined, There 
a number of fresh teams were in waiting. 
The effect of finding the welcoming hand of 
friendship thus extended far out to them, can 
only be appreciated, when we remember that 
these people were strangers in a strange 
country. They or their ancestors had left 
European homes made miserable by feudal 
despotism and unsafe by revolution and 
invasion. They found habitations in America 
even 



*This place was given the name Portage, because it 
was a custom to land canoes and lift craft there and 
thence transport them overland a distance of a mile and a 
half to Sandusky bay. 



570 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



less secure, and were now fleeing from a 
savage foe under command and direction of 
the hereditary enemy of their mother 
country. With what delight, therefore, did 
these discouraged and exhausted refugees 
receive this token of friendship and promise 
of protection. 

These teams from the fort took most of the 
load and broke the way. Lower Sandusky 
was easily reached. 

The colony was given quarters in 
Government barracks during the remainder 
of the winter. In the spring cabins about the 
fort were occupied, but the forest was full of 
hostile Indians, and at a signal all were ready 
to flee into the enclosure. On the 1st of 
August, 1813, the French families, by order 
of the Government, were removed to Upper 
Sandusky. While on the way the sound of 
Proctor's cannon was heard at Fort 
Stephenson. The families remained at Upper 
Sandusky until the conclusion of the war, 
and were then moved back to Lower 
Sandusky in Government wagons. During 
these four years this company of refugees 
remained together and became warmly 
attached. They had been wards of the 
Government during the war, and the able- 
bodied among them bore their part bravely 
in the lines of soldiery. The war having 
closed, it now became necessary for them to 
seek homes and earn their own livelihood. 
We can give further information of but a few 
individuals and families of the company. 

Joseph Cavalier and wife both died at Fort 
Stephenson before the removal of the 
company to Upper Sandusky. Their son 
Albert, who is yet living, and one of the few 
survivors of the company, was left in charge 
of his aunt, Mrs. Jaco. Gabriel O'Dett de Le 
Point and Thomas De Mars made squatter 
improvements on the river bank eight miles 
below Fremont, on the tract since known as 
the Tucker farm. Mrs. Taco married Le 
Point, and Mr. 



Cavalier was received by Mr. De Mars. Mr. 
Jaco had died during the progress of the war. 
Le Point served as a soldier during the war. 
The sales of 1821. caused serious contusion 
among all these French squatters. Few of 
them were prepared to purchase land, and 
those who had the means did not understand 
how to profit by the opportunities offered. 
The land on which Le Point and De Mars 
had located was purchased by Samuel 
Cochran and the inhabitants compelled to 
seek other homes. De Mars purchased a tract 
on Mud Creek. Three of his sons are 
living — George in Bay township, Joseph in 
Rice, and Thomas in Hardin county. 

The Bisnette family permanently settled on 
the farm at the bend of the river, now owned 
by Mr. Enoch. This farm was the death and 
burial place of the parents. The Catholic 
cemetery is located near the site of their 
cabin. 

Three brothers, Joseph, John, and Peter 
Mominne, made squatter improvements on 
the river bank. Peter finally settled in Bay 
township. Joseph purchased land in 
Sandusky township, and John, after living 
within the present limits of Rice for a time, 
sold his property and removed to Canada. 

A member of the company named Minor 
squatted on Negro Point, and remained there 
about two years. He returned to the Maumee. 

Charles Fountaine, after remaining at 
Fremont for a time, located on Peach Island. 

Christopher Columbo was a migrating 
carpenter. His services were not in great 
demand, as not only houses, but furniture, 
were constructed in the simplest possible 
way, mostly of puncheons. 

The Devoir family, consisting of five 
brothers — Peter, Robert, Francis, Jacob, and 
Alexander — returned to the Maumee. They 
had been raised among the Indians 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



571 



and were thoroughly familiar with their 
habits. Peter and Alexander have several 
times visited their friends about the bay. 

Thomas De Mars had been associated with 
the Indians all his life, and was, therefore, 
able to interpret their conduct. He was brave, 
active and trusty, qualities which made him 
a valuable man for the times. During the war 
he was selected to carry the mails between 
Upper Sandusky and Fort Findlay — a 
dangerous route. He has related rather a 
stirring incident of one of his trips, which 
gives an idea of his character. He says: 

I saw an Indian crossing the trail some distance in 
front of me, who seemed to have discovered me about 
the same time I saw him. I was in doubt whether it was 
one of our few friends among the savages or a "British 
Indian," as those friendly to England were called. After 
some sly maneuvering on part of both of us, I saw the 
Indian had lost my whereabouts, while I knew where he 
was all the time. At length I saw him carefully examine 
the trail for my tracks, with his eyes close to the ground, 
as I supposed, to determine whether I had gone past. 
After watching these movements I became convinced 
that he was not to be trusted. Being armed with a good 
rifle and reliable side arms, I knelt low behind a large 
tree, and having taken careful aim fired. The Indian fell. 
When I passed him he was dying. If I ever ran in my life 
it was then, for I feared other Indians had heard the gun. 
Finally settling down to a rapid walk Upper Sandusky 
was reached in good time. A detachment of horsemen 
brought the dead body to the fort. Our friendly Indians 
identified him as a "bad Britisher," and were delighted 
at what I had done. 

The French settlers of Rice were, all 
Catholics, but it was several years after the 
close of the war before their wild settlement 
was visited by a priest. 

The first mass was held by a Detroit priest 
named Gabriel Re Shoir. He bore on his face 
the marks of two heavy blows received in 
France during the revolution, at the hands of 
a mob maddened by the cry of "down with 
the clergy." The reverend father, after 
administering absolution, promised that a 
member of the clergy should visit their 
settlement at least once a year. This 
arrangement was 



not effected until a few years later. A regular 
congregation was not formed until about the 
year 1830. 

The French settlement did not establish 
any schools. Their children, however, 
attended the English schools, one of which 
was taught by Mr. Forgerson in Sandusky 
township. 

GERMAN POPULATION. 

German is an important element in the 
population of Rice. During the period of 
early settlement the inhabitants were, with a 
few exceptions, all French. About 1835 the 
first German families moved into the woods 
in the western portion, and by that untiring 
industry which is characteristic of their race, 
soon had fertile fields in a state of profitable 
cultivation. Here a large tract of "wild land" 
offered an opening to the emigrants who 
were seeking Western homes. From 1840 to 
1850 the work of clearing and improving 
was pushed with the greatest rapidity. We 
have space to mention only a few of the 
more prominent of these German families. 

John Smith, one of the earliest German 
settlers of this township, came to America 
and settled here in 1833. He was born in 
Germany in 1783, and married there 
Catharine Ernst, also a native of Baden. 
They reared a family of seven children, viz.: 
Catharine, Mary, Elizabeth, John, Christina, 
Frederick, and Rosannah. Both of the parents 
died in 1870. Frederick was born in Baden in 
1829. In 1852 he married Elizabeth Kiser, a 
native of France, and in 1877 settled in 
Sandusky township, where he has a family of 
eight children — Christina (deceased), 
Frederick, Caroline, Elizabeth, William, 
Clara, Amelia, and Edward. 

Christian Kline, who was born in Germany 
in 1790, emigrated to America with his wife 
in 1837, and settled in this county. After 
remaining eight months they removed to 
Lucas county and lived there 



572 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



about three years, after which they returned 
to this county, and made permanent 
settlement in Rice. Mr. Kline died in 1855, 
having survived his wife ten years. Four of 
their eight children are yet living - Christian 
lives in Washington township; Louis lives in 
Monroe county, Michigan; Susan 
(Mullencup), Lucas county; Andrew, the 
third son, was born in 1824, and lives in 
Rice. He married Sarah Ann Kreilick, in 
1848. She was born, in Northumberland 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1832. The fruit of 
this union was thirteen children, nine of 
whom are living. Mr. Kline served both in 
the Mexican war and the war of the 
Rebellion. His children are, Christina 
(Cillias), Rice town-ship; Louisa (Wolf), 
Michigan; Susan (Smith), Rice township; 
Adam, Michigan; John, Rice township; 
Sarah E. (Greasman), Rice township; Macida 
C, Mary M., and Andrew W., Rice 
township. 

Henry and Catharine Swint, natives of 
Germany, had a family of eleven children, 
three of whom came to this country. Henry, 
their fourth child, was born in 1814. He 
married, in 1848, Rosena Reinick, who was 
born in 183 r, in Baden, Germany. Fifteen 
children have blessed this union, viz: 
Anthony, Sandusky township; John,. 
Ballville township; Catharine, wife of Frank 
Zimmer, Fremont; Jacob, Fremont; Joseph, 
Fremont; Ambrose, Rice township; Mary, 
wife of Frank Freek, Fremont; Edward, 
Lizzie, Sarah, Ella, Josephine, Henry, Anna, 
and Rosa, in Rice township. Mr. Swint is a 
weaver, and worked at the trade in Germany. 
He served twelve years in the German army. 
He came to America and settled in Riley 
township in 1845, but at the opening of the 
war with Mexico he joined the army and 
continued in the service until July, 1848, 
when he returned to this county, married, 
and settled down to farming in Rice. 



William Seigenthraller was one of the first 
German settlers of the township. He 
accumulated a large tract of land. 

Gotlieb and Margaret Gnepper had a family 
of eight children, two of whom, Francis and 
Ernst, came to this country. Ernst was born in 
Germany in 1824. In 1853 he married Mary 
Friar, whose father, Frederick Friar, 
emigrated from Germany and settled in 
Woodville township in 1836. Their family 
consists of five children, viz: Henry, 
Angeline, Frances, Freddie, and John, all of 
whom are at home, except Angeline, who is 
the wife of Philip Seigenthraller, of 
Washington township. Mr. Gnepper has 
served in various local offices. 

PENNSYLVANIANS. 

A portion of the population in the western 
part of the township belongs to what is 
commonly known as "Pennsylvania Dutch." 
Peter Hettrick settled near the present location 
of the Lutheran church in 1832. He had a 
family of eight sons, whose labors have been 
considerable in reducing the forest. The 
previous emigrants from Pennsylvania settled 
further south, but an opening once made, fine 
farms were soon cleared up. We can mention 
but a few families. 

Michael Smith, a native of France, came to 
America and settled in Pennsylvania in 1826, 
at the age of twenty years. After remaining 
several years he married Margaret Powell, 
who was also a native of France, having been 
born there in 1815. They came to Sandusky 
county and made permanent settlement in 
Rice. Fifteen children blessed this union, 
seven of whom are living, viz.: Elizabeth 
(Kesser), San-dusky township; Jacob, Rice 
township; Mary (Seigenthraller), Sandusky 
town-ship; Michael, Rice township; John, 
Margaret (Wagner), and Kate Gahn, Rice 
township. John, the fifth child, was born in 
1852. In 1875 he married Susan Kline, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



573 



by whom he has three children — David A., 
Michael L, and Sarah A. 

Hugh B. Hineline was born in Easton, 
Pennsylvania, in 1802, where he married, in 
1825, Rebecca Lettig, who was born in 1808. 
They emigrated to Ohio in 1854, and settled 
in Rice, where he died in 1871. The family 
consisted of fourteen children, two of whom 
lost their lives in the war of the Rebellion. 
Ten are living, viz.: Anna (Ruth), Ballville; 
Cyrus M., Freeport, Illinois; Elizabeth 
(Richards), Fremont; Sarah (Cole), Sandusky 
township; William H., Rice; Alinda (Furry), 
Woodville; Hugh E., Rice; Thaddeus, 
Michigan; R. Emma- (Speller), Ballville; 
and John Franklin, Freeport, Illinois. Abel T. 
was killed at Kenesaw Mountain in 1864. 
Simon P., who was in the naval service, fell 
from a ship mast off the coast of North 
Carolina in 1861. Jacob died in 1870, at the 
age of thirty-nine years. Frances died in 
childhood. William H. and Hugh E. reside on 
the homestead. William H. served three 
years in the army, during which time he was 
confined six months in Libby prison. 

OTHER SETTLERS. 

Peleg Cooley was one of the earliest pi- 
oneers of the county. He emigrated with his 
wife, Martha Bassett, from New York to 
Canada in 1807. In 1815 they came to 
Fremont, Ohio. Their family consisted of 
eight children, but one of whom is living — 
Edmond O. — who was one of the earliest 
settlers of Rice. In 1835 he married 
Catherine Ash, who was born in 
Pennsylvania in 1815. She died in Rice in 
1880. Four of their eight children are living: 
James W., in Kansas; Maggie, in Rice; 
Rebecca (Irwin), in Ottawa county; and 
Jeremiah in Rice. Isaac B., Anna, Isaiah, and 
Frances J. are dead. Mr. Cooley was one of 
the first members of the Fremont Methodist 
church. 

Eleazer Willey emigrated from New York 



to Huron county in 1830 and remained there 
about three years. He then permanently 
settled in Rice township, where he died in 
1852. His wife died in 1866. Of their family 
of eight children three are still living — Sarah 
Ann, wife of O. C. Brunner, in Kansas; Jane, 
wife of Joseph Fry, in Scott township; and 
Richard, the oldest son, who was born in 
New York in 1817. He came to Ohio with 
his parents, and in 1847 married Harriet 
Walker, who was born in New York in 1825. 
They have three children — Eliza, at home; 
George W., in Michigan; and Mary E., wife 
of Wallace Scringer, in Rice. 

Thomas Tuckerman, fourth child of 
Thomas Tuckerman, sr., was born in Vir- 
ginia in 1809. The following year his parents 
removed to Maryland, where Thomas lived 
till 1821, when he came to Seneca county. In 
1836 he married Elizabeth Brown, of 
Melmore, Seneca county, and in 1842 
became a resident of this county, his first 
settlement being in Sandusky township. 
From there he removed to Rice. His family 
consisted of fourteen children, seven of 
whom are living, viz.: John, Orrin, Ann, 
Charlie, Claridon, Arza B., and Clara Belle, 
all living in this town-ship, except Ann 
(Swank ), who resides in Fremont. Mr. 
Tuckerman held the office of county auditor 
one term. 

T. T. Harrison came to Fremont in 1857 
from Michigan. He afterwards removed to 
Hancock county, Ohio, where he married, in 
1865, Sarah E. LePoint, an granddaughter of 
Gabriel LePoint, one of the French colony 
previously spoken of He has been a resident 
of Rice since 1867. 

John Cochran was born in Pennsylvania in 
1801. He married Margaret Patterson, also a 
native of Pennsylvania, and moved to Perry 
county, Ohio, afterwards coming to this 
county. The family consisted of seven 
children, four of whom are living, viz: 
Hannah (Williams), Ball 



574 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



ville; Isabella (Jackson), Fremont; Ellen 
(Mudge), Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Thomas 
W. Cochran, who was born in Perry county 
in 1827. In 1869 he married Jane Wright and 
has a family of three children — John T., 
Edmund F., and Nettie. Mr. Cochran was 
engaged in merchandising three years and in 
the manufacture of woollen goods three 
years in Erie county. He is now farming in 
Rice. 

Nathaniel B. Tucker, a native of 
Massachusetts, was born in 1796. He 
married in New York, in 1821, Mary A. 
Ballard. They came to this county in 1839 
and settled in Rice, where they still reside in 
the fullness of their age. Three children are 
living — N. R.; Mary (Snyder), Ottawa 
county; Henry H., Rice township. Mr. 
Tucker is a tanner and shoemaker. Even at 
the advanced age of eighty-five he continues 
to work on the bench mending shoes. He was 
a soldier in the War of 1812. Nelson R., the 
oldest son, was born in New York in 1823. 
He came to this county with his parents and 
married Miranda Burgoon, by whom he has a 
family of nine children living, viz: Martha 
Ann Margareta Mary E. (Palish), Sandusky 
township; Rachel T. (Kleinhans), Ottawa 
county; Harriet I., Nellie I. (Strouble), Juliet 
J., Charles G., Lilla V., and John P., 
Sandusky town-ship. Adeline M., Barrett E., 
and Morrison M. are deceased. Mr. Tucker 
followed tanning and shoemaking a number 
of years, then purchased the farm in San- 
dusky township where he now resides. 
CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

Public worship according to the Catholic 
ritual was instituted in this township at an 
early period of the settlement. A meeting- 
house was built about 1830 on the bank of 
the Sandusky River, and a lot of ground set 
apart for burying purposes. Most of the 
settlers being French the service of the 
French church was followed. 



This congregation was known as "Philemon 
Church," but in 1870, when a new house was 
built nearer the centre of the township, the 
name was changed and a general 
reorganization effected. The present 
membership is about fifteen families Two of 
them are German, the others of French 
descent. A cemetery beautifully located on 
the bank of the river marks the site of the old 
church. This continues to be the public 
burying-ground. 

ZOAR METHODIST CHURCH (GERMAN). 

Methodist worship was instituted among 
the German families of the southern and 
central part of the township about 1844. A 
mission church was built, and a grave-yard 
set apart about that time. The heads of 
families who formed the class, were Michael 
Schmidt, Nicholas Younker, John Schmidt, 
Michael Hulderman, Mr. Paul, Giles Sigroff 
and Jacob Switzgreoer. In 1873 increasing 
congregations, and the dilapidating effects of 
time made a new house of worship 
necessary. The congregation, which numbers 
about sixty members, is connected with 
Woodville circuit. 

EVANGELICAL CHURCHES. 

Two societies of this denomination have 
churches within the limits of the township. 
Fishing Creek class was organized about 
1850. Meetings were held in school-houses 
until about 1860, when a church was built in 
the southern part of the township. The only 
two surviving members of the first class are 
Joseph Lambert and Michael Stull. Fishing 
Creek is the name of this class. 

A class has been organized in the north 
part of the township, which erected a church 
near the Ottawa county line in 1881. It is 
known as "Mud Creek Class." Both societies 
are connected with Lindsey circuit. 

SOLOMON'S LUTHERAN CHURCH. 

About 1832 the western part of the 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



575 



township began to fill up with Pennsyl- 
vanians and Germans, who had been con- 
nected with the Evangelical Lutheran 
church. Peter Hettrich and Adam Kreilich 
were the leading members, and meetings 
were held at their residences. Rev. Henry 
Lang, of Fremont, formally organized a 
society in 1843, and a log church was built 
in 1844, which accommodated the 
congregation until 1867, when the present 
substantial brick house was erected. Rev. 
Mr. Lang- was preacher for more than forty 
years, until in 1879 Rev. Mr. Althoff was 
given charge. During Mr. Lang's pastorate 
Mr. Thornberry supplied the pulpit one year. 
The services of the church are wholly in 
German, and are well attended by a large 
membership. 

ORGANIZATION. 

Rice was formerly included in Bay 
township, but the organization of Ottawa 
county in 1840 cut off from this county the 
larger part of Bay, and made the es- 
tablishment of a new township in Sandusky 
necessary. The name "Rice" was conferred 
in honor of Judge Ezekiel Rice, who had 
been an associate judge of the court of 
common pleas. He was one of the pioneers 
on the Portage River, and a man universally 
respected. His residence was north of the 
new county line. 

The early records of the township have 
been lost. We are, therefore, unable to give 
any list of officers. 

Public schools under the present law were 
organized in the township in 1851. Six 
districts were laid out. This number was, in 
1880, increased to seven by cutting off a part 
of districts two and three, and erecting it into 
a separate district. 

THE OTTAWA HUNTING AND FISHING 
CLUB. 

In connection with Riley township we have 
spoken at some length on the subject of 
sporting. The marsh and adjoining lands in 
which game abound, and the 



waters best adapted to fishing, are mainly 
owned by two sporting clubs, the Winous 
Point Club and the Ottawa Hunting and 
Fishing Club. The buildings and chattels of 
the latter are listed in Rice township. 

The founder of this corporation was Louis 
Smith night, of Cleveland. He camped on a 
portion of the ground now owned by the 
club, during the hunting season of 1869, and 
at that time conceived the plan of forming an 
association for the purpose of buying lands, 
erecting houses, and purchasing equipments. 
Captain Smithnight's efforts in this direction 
proved successful in 1871, when an 
association consisting of seventy-one 
members was formed. Hone's Point Fishing 
and Hunting Club, of Cleveland, was the 
name adopted, and the following officers 
were chosen: L. Smithnight, president; G. M. 
Barber, vice-president; O. B. Perdue, 
secretary; D. H. Keys, treasurer; J. Laisy, 
surgeon; D. Price, quartermaster; L. 
Smithnight, T. Stackpole, C. D. Bishop, J. 
Huntington, and Charles Pease, executive 
committee. 

In 1879 the association was incorporated 
under the name of Ottawa Hunting and 
Fishing Club. The bylaws of the association 
limit the number of members to one hundred. 
No member is permitted more than once in a 
year to invite a guest to accompany him to 
the club grounds, nor can the same guest 
enjoy the privilege of visiting the grounds 
more than once. A permit in each case must 
first be obtained from the president and 
executive committee. 

Large tracts of land have been purchased at 
different times in Rice and Riley townships 
and in Ottawa county, the whole amounting 
now to about six thousand acres. More than 
thirty-five hundred acres more have been 
leased on long time so that the club has 
under its authority about ten thousand acres, 
a part of which 



576 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



is under cultivation. This land was purchased 
at prices ranging from five to fifteen dollars 
per acre. Shares are worth about one 
thousand dollars each. The old members 
have paid into the treasury more than eight 
hundred dollars each. The current expenses 
for keeper of the club house, patrol, coal, 
boats, insurance, taxes, etc., amount to about 
two thousand dollars a year. The expenses 
are principally incurred, however, by 
continued improvements and purchases of 
land. Many of these improvements are of a 
substantial character — reducing the land to a 
state of cultivation; planting orchards, etc. 
There are on the property more than four 
thousand fruit trees, some of which are 
bearing. 

A vigilant patrol guards the property 
against any infringement of the State laws or 
the rules of the club. The privilege of 
trapping fur is rented. Any person is allowed 
to fish in the waters belonging to the club 
with a hook and line, but seining or netting 
is rigorously prohibited. No one, not even 
members of the club, are permitted to engage 
in shooting of any kind between June 1 and 
September 15, except on a portion of 
woodland, where woodcock shooting is 
permitted to members. 

Ever since the organization of the clubs 
their right to the exclusive privilege of 
shooting on the waters included within the 
limits of their several purchases has been a 
subject of dispute. A decision was finally 
reached by the supreme court in 1881, which 
disposes of the question of riparian rights 
against sportsman's rights, and is a decision 
of general interest, not only to the sporting 
clubs but to owners of property along all the 
water courses of the county. Under the 
Legislative act of May 5, 1877, it is provided 
that: 

Whoever, having received verbal or written notice 
from the owner of enclosed or improved lands, or any 
lands the boundaries of which are defined by stakes, 
posts, ditches, or marked trees, his agent or 



person in charge thereof, not to hunt thereon, shoots at, 
kills, or pursues with such intent, on such lands, any of 
the birds or game mentioned in sections twenty-seven, 
twenty-eight, or thirty of this chapter; and whoever 
shoots, kills, or pursues with such intent any of such 
birds or game on the lands of another on which there is 
set up in some conspicuous place a board, inscribed in 
legible English characters, thus: "No shooting or hunting 
allowed on these premises," or pulls down or defaces 
any such board, shall be fined, etc. 

Among the birds or game mentioned are 
wild ducks. 

John Shannon, on October 29, 1877, as it 
appears from the pleadings in the case, was 
duck shooting on the Sandusky River; 
between the centre of the stream and the 
shore owned by George G. Tindall. He shot 
and killed wild ducks swimming in and 
flying over the river, between the middle and 
the shore owned by Tindall, on whose 
complaint Shannon was arrested. Having 
been bound to appear and answer the charge 
in probate court, he was there tried, 
convicted, and sentenced. On the trial a bill 
of exceptions, containing all the testimony, 
was taken, and upon proceedings in error the 
common pleas court reversed the decision of 
the probate court. To this decision of the 
common pleas court the prosecuting attorney 
took exceptions, and sought the decision of 
the supreme court. The defence did not deny 
the shooting of ducks at the place charged in 
the complaint, but rested his case on the 
ground that the river at that place was a 
navigable stream, and therefore the riparian 
owner was not protected by this statute 
against shooting or killing game on land 
covered by water. 

At the same term of the supreme court, in 
the case of June vs. Purcell, it was decided 
that the title of the riparian owner extended 
to the middle or thread of the stream. It 
followed, therefore, in Shannon's case, that 
the offence had been committed within the 
limits of Tindall's land, and was embraced 
within the literal mean- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



577 



ing of the notice, "No hunting or shooting 
allowed on these premises." 

The court held that while Shannon, was not 
guilty of trespass, a navigable stream being a 
public highway, he was guilty of a violation 
of the statute, insomuch as he had shot game 
on the property of another, contrary to 
notice. The purpose of the legislature in 
enacting this statute was to confer upon the 
owner of lands in this State the exclusive 
right to hunt and kill the designated game 
upon his own premises, and to protect him in 
such right, provided he complies with the 
prescribed conditions in regard to notice. 

And in regard to notice, if the lands be 
"enclosed and improved," or if the boun- 
daries be "defined by stakes, posts, water 
courses, ditches, or marked trees," verbal or 
written notice not to hunt thereon, will bring 
the offender within the operation of the 
statute. 

It was the decision of the court that where 
a water-course, for instance a navigable 
stream, constitutes the boundary, if the 
conditions of the statute with regard to 
notice have been complied with by the 
owner, all persons are bound to take notice 
that his lands extend to the middle of the 
water-course. 



In regard to the claim that the statute was 
not intended to protect lands covered by the 
water of navigable streams, a majority of the 
court held that there was no ground upon 
which such lands should be excluded. They 
are as much the subject of private ownership 
as unnavigable streams. There is no 
distinction made between them by the terms 
of the statute. True, navigable streams in this 
State are declared public highways, but the 
right to use a public highway is not abridged 
by protecting the owner in the exclusive 
right of killing game therein. Travel and 
commerce are not thereby hindered. Since 
the power of the legislature to protect game, 
or the exclusive right of the owner of the 
land to kill the same on his own premises, is 
as ample over land covered by water; 
whether navigable or innavigable, as it is 
over dry land, and as there is no attempt to 
distinguish between them in the statute, all 
alike come within the protection of the 
statute. 

The clubs took a special interest in this 
case, for upon its decision depended in an 
important measure the extent of their au- 
thority over a large hunting area, to secure 
which heavy purchases had been made. 



BALLVILLE. 



BALLVILLE embraces all of township 
four, range fifteen, in the original 
survey, except so much of sections two, 
three and four as are included in the two 
mile square reservation now constituting the 
town of Fremont. The boundaries are: 
Sandusky and Fremont on the north, Jackson 
on the west, Seneca county on the south, and 
Green Creek township on the east. 

The surface is generally level, but has a 
steep, general slope in a northerly direction, 
thus giving the streams a rapid current. The 
Sandusky River, the main drain of the 
central part of the county, enters from 
Seneca County, about two miles from the 
corner of Jackson, and flows almost due 
north until within about a mile of the 
Sandusky township line, where it takes an 
easterly direction for a distance of two 
miles, and then again bows to the north, 
leaving the township. Nearly the entire 
length of its course through this territory the 
water rushes over a bed of solid limestone, 
having a well-marked dip toward the north, 
making the stream shallow but rapid, 
affording excellent mill sites; and, on that 
account, as well as the natural drainage 
furnished by its deep channel, this river has 
been an important agent in developing the 
township. 

The main tributaries to the Sandusky River 
are: Wolf Creek, a stream entering from 
Seneca county, near the line of Jackson 
township, and having a course of about two 
miles in this county; Sugar Creek, a small 
stream, flowing in a north-westerly 
direction, and draining the west- 



ern part of the old Seneca reservation Bark 
Creek flows from south to north through the 
entire length of the township, and is the most 
important natural drain of the eastern portion 
of the area. Green Creek crosses the southeast 
corner. 

The soil of the eastern part of this area is 
black muck, and when properly drained is 
very productive. The work of tiling began 
more than a decade since, and at present 
nearly the entire surface is capable of a high 
state of cultivation. The soil along the river 
on the west side is of a sandy character, and 
consequently dry. This condition led the 
Indians to locate their clearings and cornfields 
here, and at a later period invited the first 
white settlement. 

Except these few Indian fields, the white 
emigrants found the whole township heavily 
timbered with oak, sugar, ash, and other trees 
common to this climate. 

A MILITARY EPISODE. 

The first road through the township was 
opened along the river from Lower Sandusky 
(Fort Stephenson) to the upper military posts. 
Along this road, on the present site of 
Oakwood cemetery, occurred an encounter 
between a squadron under command of 
Colonel Ball and a band of Indians, which is 
immortalized in the name of the township. 
Two days before Croghan's victory at Fort 
Stephenson, Colonel Ball's squadron was 
dispatched to guard the mail and military 
communications between Fort Seneca and 
Fort Stephenson. At the place above indicated 
an unexpected fire was opened upon the 



578 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



579 



squadron by the Indians, who were con- 
cealed on the west side of the road. Quick 
action was required, and the Colonel ordered 
a charge without stopping to form his men. 
Ball himself led the advance and struck the 
first blow. The savage braves stood their 
ground, and fought to desperation. Two 
strong warriors opposed Ball's advance. He 
cut down the one on the right; as he passed 
the other made a blow with a tomahawk at 
his back, but a sudden spring of the horse 
caused it to fall short, and left it buried in 
the pad of the saddle. Corporal Ryan's 
prompt rifle prevented a repetition of the 
blow. Lieutenant Hedges (afterwards 
General Hedges of Mansfield), made a 
narrow escape in this skirmish. Mounted on 
a small horse he pursued a large Indian and 
just as he was about to strike, his stirrup 
broke, throwing him from his horse against 
his victim, knocking him down. Both sprang 
to their feet and engaged in a hand to hand 
combat. Hedges finally got the better of the 
Indian and struck him a blow on the head, 
and as he was falling buried the full length 
of the sword in the Indian's body. On another 
part of the ground Captain Hopkins was in 
full pursuit of a powerful savage, when the 
latter suddenly turned and made a blow at 
the Captain with a tomahawk, but his horse 
suddenly sprang to one side, thus saving his 
life. The Indian then struck at Cornet Hayes, 
who followed in the pursuit, but his horse 
saved him in like manner. This determined 
savage met his third combat-ant, Sergeant 
Anderson, by whose hand he lost his life. It 
is said the Indians numbered twelve, but one 
of whom escaped.* Colonel Ball reformed 
his men 

*A published account of this affair says the Indians 
numbered twenty, seventeen of whom were killed. The 
statement in the text is on authority of general tradition. 



ready for a charge, expecting to meet a 
formidable force of Indians at any point, but the 
squadron reached the fort without further 
molestation. A large elm tree on the site of the 
skirmish for many years marked the spot, and 
eleven hacks through the bark recorded the 
number of Indians killed. The place has ever 
since been known as "Ball's battle ground," and 
the town was not inappropriately named in 
honor of the heroic Colonel. 

THE SENECAS. 

Indian history and tradition clusters along the 
east bank of the Sandusky River for a 
considerable distance below the Seneca county 
line. The various treaties with these original 
owners of the soil have already been fully 
detailed, but it is proper that a few of the scenes 
and incidents with which the early settlers of our 
soil were familiar should be reproduced for the 
entertainment and instruction of the present and 
future generations. 

The Senecas of Sandusky were a mixed tribe, 
composed of the remnants of the tribes of 
Northern and Western New York — the 
Wyandots, Tuscarawas, and others. At. the time 
they became known to our early permanent 
settlers they were, in some instances, indolent 
and dissolute in their habits. They were rather 
depraved than otherwise by intercourse and 
trade with the whites. They had cleared some of 
the dry land along the river and raised corn, 
which was mostly traded for whiskey at the 
backwoods distilleries, the art of distilling being 
unknown to them. In their intercourse with the 
settlers they were always friendly, but drunken 
quarrels and fatal jealousies not infrequently 
disturbed the peace of their own state. 
Witchcraft was an unpardonable sin, and 
punishable by death. Here, as in the more 
bigoted ages of the world among so-called 
civilized people, many cold-blooded murders 
were committed, in the name of 



580 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



punishment for this felony. Both the witch 
and the bewitched were held guilty. 
Important trials were held at the council 
house, which stood near the bank of the 
river, on the farm lately owned by Mrs. 
Harriet Seager, now owned, by Mr. Myers. 
This was also the place of their tribal 
meetings and religious ceremonies. 

There was among them a tall, noble- 
looking man, whose full head of pure white 
hair gave him the name of "White-head 
George." He was, in his younger years, a 
man of good habits and industrious, but his 
squaw, whose hair was also whitened by age, 
became excessively intemperate. Old White- 
head for a few years contemplated the ruin 
of his happiness with sadness, but finally 
lost spirit and joined his consort in a life of 
dissipation. To see one of their most worthy 
and venerable men habitually in the depths 
of drunkenness grieved the great men of the 
tribe, who knew enough of the tradition of 
Adam's fall to adjudge Whiteheads squaw 
the cause of his ruin. A council was called 
and the squaw declared to be possessed of a 
witch. A sentence of death was executed 
with a tomahawk in presence of her husband, 
who was deeply grieved. The short 
remaining period of his life was spent in 
licentiousness and drunkenness. 

Virtue was at a very low stage among the 
Senecas. They maintained in name only the 
marriage relation, and their free practices led 
to many quarrels and difficulties of a serious 
character. 

The burying-ground was nearly opposite 
the mouth of Wolf Creek. Great numbers 
were probably buried here. An old citizen of 
the township relates that after the removal of 
the tribe to their Western reservation, he, in 
company with George Moore, was riding 
over the spot, and the feet of their horses, at 
places, sank into cavities caused by the 
decay of bodies. 



Among the Indians was one named Seneca 
John, who bore a good reputation in the 
white settlements. He was the youngest 
brother of Comstock, a principal chief of the 
tribe. John maintained his credit at the 
trading posts, and often went security for the 
more improvident members of his tribe. He 
was a gentle, peace-loving man, but was the 
victim of brotherly jealousy. The cold- 
blooded, unprovoked murder of this worthy 
red-skin is told by Henry C. Brish, the sub- 
agent of the Government at this station. The 
cabin of the chief, Hard Hickory, where the 
deed was executed, stood north of Green 
Spring, in Green Creek township. 

About the year 1825, Coonstick, Steel, and 
Cracked Hoof left the reservation for the 
double purpose of a hunting and trap-ping 
excursion, and to seek a location for a new 
home for their tribe in the far West. At the 
time of their starting Comstock, the brother 
of the two first, was the principal chief of 
the tribe. On their return, in 1828, richly 
laden with furs, and having many horses, 
they found Seneca John, their fourth brother, 
chief, in place of Comstock, who had died 
during their absence. Comstock was the 
favorite brother of the two, and they at once 
charged Seneca John with causing his death 
by witchcraft. John denied the charge in a 
stream of eloquence rarely equaled. Said he: 
"I loved my brother Comstock more than I 
love the green earth I stand upon. I would 
give up my-self limb by limb, piecemeal by 
piecemeal - I would shed my blood drop by 
drop to restore him to life." But all his 
protestations of innocence and affection for 
his brother Comstock were of no avail. His 
two other brothers pronounced him guilty, 
and declared their determination to be his 
executioners. 

John replied that he was willing to die, and 
only wished "to see the sun rise once 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



581 



more." This request was granted, and John 
told them that he would sleep that night on 
Hard Hickory's porch, which fronted the 
east, where they would find him at sunrise. 
He chose that place because he did not wish 
to be killed in the presence of his wife and 
children, and because he desired that the 
chief, Hard Hickory, should witness that he 
died like a brave man. 

Coonstick and Steel returned for the night 
to an old cabin near by. In the morning, in 
company with Shane, another Indian, they 
proceeded to the house of Hard Hickory, 
who informed Mr. Brish of what there 
happened. 

He said a little after sunrise he heard their 
footsteps upon the porch, and opened the 
door just enough to peep out. He saw John 
asleep upon his blanket, and Coonstick, 
Steel, and Shane, standing around him. At 
length one of them awoke him. He arose to 
his feet and took off a large handkerchief 
which was around his head, letting his 
unusually long hair fall upon his shoulders. 
This being done he looked around upon the 
landscape, and at the rising sun, to take a 
farewell look of the familiar scene which he 
was never, again to behold, and then told 
them he was ready to die. Shane and 
Coonstick each took him by the arm, and 
Steel walked behind. In this way they led 
him about ten steps from the porch, when 
Steel raised his malicious tomahawk and 
struck him a heavy blow on the back of the 
head. John fell to the ground, bleeding 
freely. Supposing the blow fatal they 
dragged him under a peach tree near by. In a 
short time, however, he recovered, the heavy 
matting of hair having arrested the 
tomahawk. Knowing that it was Steel who 
had struck him, John, as he lay on the 
ground, turned his face toward Coonstick 
and said: "Now, my brother, take your 
revenge." Coonstick 



was already repentant, and the composed 
face and forgiving remark of John so greatly 
affected him that he interposed to save his 
brother; but so enraged was the envious 
Steel that he drew his knife and cut John's 
throat from ear to ear. Seneca John was 
buried with the usual Indian ceremonies on 
the following day, not more than twenty feet 
from where he fell. His grave was 
surrounded by a small picket enclosure. 
"Three years after," says Mr. Brish, when I 
was preparing to move them (the Senecas) to 
the far West, I saw Coonstick and Steel 
remove the picket fence and level the 
ground, so that no vestige of the grave 
remained." There could be no better 
evidence that both the brothers were 
ashamed of their crime. 

Coonstick was arrested on charge of 
murder and brought before the supreme court 
at Lower Sandusky. Judge Higgins decided 
that the act came completely within the 
jurisdiction of the tribe, and that Coonstick, 
as chief, was justified in the execution of a 
judicial sentence, and was the proper person 
to carry it into effect. The case was 
dismissed and the accused discharged. 

Sardis Birchard, in Knapp's History, says: 

I remember well the death of Seneca John. He was a 
tall, noble looking man, and is said to have looked much 
like Henry Clay. He was always pleasant and cheerful. 
He was called the most eloquent speaker on the reserve. 
He could always re-store harmony in their council when 
there was any ill feeling. In the evening before the 
morning of his death he was at my store. The whole 
tribe seemed to be in town. Steel and Coonstick were 
jealous of John, on account of his influence and power. 
John was a great favorite among the squaws. John bade 
me "good-bye," and stood by me on the porch as the 
other Indians rode away. He looked at them with so 
much sadness in his face that it attracted my attention, 
and I wondered at John's letting them go away without 
him. John inquired the amount of indebtedness at my 
store. We then went behind the counter to the desk. The 
amount was figured up and stated to John, who said 
something about paying it, and then went away without 
relating any of the trouble. 



582 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



An old settler of Seneca county, in giving 
his recollections of these Indians, says: 

The Indian tribes here at the time of the first set- 
tlement of the whites were the Senecas, Cayugas, 
Oneidas, and Mohawks. The — Senecas — the most 
numerous — and Cayugas occupied the lower part; the 
Mohawks and Oneidas the upper part of the reservation, 
which was nine miles north and south and six miles east 
and west, on the east side of the Sandusky River. The 
land was held in joint stock, and each had the privilege 
of making improvements as he wished. They numbered 
seven hundred, and were not bad in general character, 
but friendly and kind when not maddened by whiskey 
and. well treated. They had a strong passion for 
whiskey. I have known them to offer two or three 
dollars' worth of goods for a quart of whiskey, and when 
intoxicated would give anything they possessed for it. 

They depended largely upon hunting for subsistence, 
in which they began, when children, by shooting fish 
and small game with the bow. Most of the Indians and 
squaws cultivated each a small piece of land varying 
from a half to two acres, which they formerly did with a 
hoe, but seeing us use the plow and the amount of labor 
saved thereby, concluded to change their custom. Seeing 
two Indians plowing on the other side of the river one 
day, I crossed over, and discovered them going the 
wrong way over the land, throwing the furrow in, and 
next time running inside of it, and then another which 
they thought very well, until I turned them the other 
way, and gave them a little instruction which they 
thankfully received. They raised a soft corn which they 
pounded into meal, and used to thicken soup. 

They had much idle time which they liked, the 
children spending it in shooting, the old people in 
smoking from pipes made in the heads of tomahawks, 
with an adjustable stem. They smoked the sumac leaves 
dried and pounded, which gave a pleasant odor. 

The young Indians had a love for sports. Their chief 
game was ball — a game in which ten or twelve on a side 
engaged. The ground was marked off in a space of about 
sixty rods, the centre of which was the starting point. 
Each player had a staff about five feet long, with a bow 
made of raw hide on one end, with which to handle the 
ball, as no one was allowed to touch it with his hands. 
At the commencement the ball was taken to the center 
between two of the staffs, each pulling toward his 
outpost. The strife was to get the ball beyond the outpost 
which counted one for the successful side. Once out, the 
ball was taken back to the centre, and the contest 
repeated. The squaws and older Indians were the 
witnesses of these sports, and added zest by their cheers. 

A favorite winter sport was running upon skates. They 
would spread a blanket upon the ice, and jump 



over it with skates on, trying to excel in the distance 
made beyond. 

The Mohawks and Oneidas had some very well- 
educated people, and most of their tribe could read, and 
write. They had religious services every Sunday in the 
form of the Church of England, conducted by a minister 
of their own tribe. They were excellent singers, and 
were always pleased to see the whites at their meetings. 
The Senecas and Cayugas were more inclined to adhere 
to the worship of their forefathers. They held in 
reverence many gatherings. The green corn dance was 
prominent among them, but that most worthy of note 
was the dog dance. This was the great dance which took 
place about midwinter, and lasted three days, at the end 
of which they burned dogs. 

The annual feasts and dances of the Senecas 
took place at their council house, which stood on 
the river bank in this township during the early 
settlement of our county, but was afterwards 
abandoned and a new council house built near 
Green Spring. Only particular friends were 
received on these occasions of hilarity, but the 
Indians being on good terms with their 
neighbors, respectable white people found little 
difficulty in gaining admission. These occasions 
year after year were much the same, and a 
description of one will suffice for all. The 
religious ceremony consisted mainly in the 
sacrifice of two dogs to the Great Spirit. The 
following description of the sacrifice and feast 
will be especially interesting in view of the fact 
that these people, of whom no trace is left, were, 
less than fifty years ago, an important element 
both in the trade and amusement of the white 
settlements. The following was first published in 
the Sidney Aurora: 

We rose early and proceeded directly to the council 
house, and though we supposed we were early the 
Indians were already in advance of us. The first object 
which arrested our attention was a pair of the canine 
species, one bf each gender, suspended on a cross, one 
on either side thereof. These animals had been recently 
strangled; not a bone was broken nor could a distorted 
hair be seen. They were of a beautiful cream color, 
except a few dark spots on one naturally, which same 
spots were put on the other artificially by the devotees. 
The Indians are 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



583 



Very partial to their selection of dogs for this occasion, 
and for which they will give almost any price. 

Now for the decorations to which I have already 
alluded, and a description of one will suffice for both. A 
scarlet ribbon was tastefully tied just above the nose, 
and near the eyes another; next, around the neck was a 
white ribbon to which was attached some bulbous 
substance concealed by another white ribbon This was 
placed directly under the right ear, and I suppose was 
intended as an amulet or charm. These ribbons were 
bound around the forelegs at the knees, and near the 
feet. These were red and white alternately. Round the 
body was a profuse decoration, and the hind legs were 
decorated as the fore ones. Thus were the victims 
prepared and thus ornamented for the burnt offering. 

While minutely making this examination, I was almost 
unconscious of the collection of a large number of 
Indians who were assembled for the purpose of offering 
their sacrifices. 

Adjacent to the cross was a large fire built on a few 
logs, and though the snow was several inches deep, they 
had prepared a sufficient quantity of combustible 
material, removed the snow from the logs and placed 
thereon their fire. I have often regretted that I did not 
see them light this pile. My own opinion is they did not 
use the fire from their council house, because they 
would have considered that as common, and as this was 
intended to be a holy service, they no doubt struck fire 
from a flint, this being deemed sacred. * 

It was a clear, beautiful morning, and just as the first 
rays of the sun were seen in the tops of the towering 
forest and its reflection from the snowy surface; the 
Indians simultaneously formed a semi-circle enclosing 
the cross, each flank resting on the aforesaid pile of 
logs. Good Hunter, who officiated, now appeared and 
approached the cross; arrayed in his pontifical robes, he 
looked quite respectable. The Indians being all 
assembled — I say, Indians, for there was not a squaw 
present during all this ceremony — at a private signal 
given by the High Priest, two young chiefs sprang upon 
the cross, each taking off one of the victims, brought it 
down and presented it on his arms to the High Priest, 
who, receiving it in like manner, advanced to the fire 
and with a very grave and solemn air laid it thereon-this 
he did with the other, but to which, whether male or 
'female he gave the preference, I did not learn. This 
done he retired to the cross. 

In a devout manner he now commenced an oration. 
The tone of his voice was audible and some -what 
chanting. At every pause in his discourse he took from a 
white cloth which he held in his left hand a portion of 
dried odoriferous herbs, which he threw on the fire. This 
was intended as incense. 

*Some tribes are in the habit of kindling their fire for 
sacrifices by the friction of two dry sticks. 



with grave aspect, in solemn silence, stood motionless, 
listening attentively to every word he uttered. 

Thus he proceeded until the victims were entirely 
consumed and the incense exhausted, when he con- 
cluded the service; the oblation now made, and the 
wrath of the Great Spirit appeased; as they believed, 
they again assembled in the council house for the 
purpose of performing a part in the festival different 
from any I had yet witnessed. Each Indian as he entered, 
seated himself on the floor, thus forming a large circle, 
when one old chief rose with that native dignity, which 
some of the Indians possess in a great degree, recounted 
his exploits as a warrior; told in how many fights he had 
been the victor; the number of scalps he had taken from 
his enemies; and what, at the head of his braves, he 
intended to do at the "Rocky Mountains," accompanying 
his remarks with energy, warmth and strong 
gesticulation, and at the conclusion received the 
unanimous applause of the assembled tribe. 

This need of praise was awarded by the chief by 
"three times three articulations, which were properly 
neither nasal, oral, guttural but rather abominable. Thus 
many others in the circle, old and young, rose in order 
and delivered a speech. Among these was Good Hunter, 
but he 

Had laid his robes away, 
His mitre and his vest. 

His remarks were not filled with such bombast as 
some of the others, but brief, modest, and appropriate; 
in fine, they were such as become a priest of one of the 
ten lost tribes of Israel. * 

After all had spoken who wished to speak, the floor 
was cleared, and the dance commenced, in which Indian 
and squaw united with their wonted hilarity and zeal. 
Just as this dance was ended, an Indian boy ran to me, 
with fear strongly depicted in his countenance, caught 
me by the arm, and drew me to the door, pointing with 
his other hand toward something he wished me to 
observe. I looked in that direction and saw the 
appearance of an Indian, running at full speed toward 
the council-house. In an instant he was in the house, and 
literally in the fire, which he took in his hands, and 
threw fire-coals and hot ashes in various directions 
through the house, and apparently all over himself. At 
his en-trance, the young Indians, much alarmed, had fled 
to the other end of the house, where they remained 
crowded, in great dread of this personification of the 
Evil Spirit. After diverting himself with the fire a few 
moments, at the expense of the young ones present, he, 
to their no small joy, disappeared. This was an Indian 
disguised with a hideous false face, having horns on his 
head, and his hands and feet pro- 



* The writer probably held to the theory no longer 
generally entertained that the Indians are descendants 
from the ten lost tribes." 



584 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



tected from the effects of the fire, and, though not a 
professed "fire king," he certainly performed his part to 
admiration. 

During the continuance of the festival the hospitality 
of the Senecas was unbounded. At the council-house and 
at the residence of Tall Chief were a number of bucks 
and fat hogs hanging up and neatly dressed. There was 
bread also of both corn and wheat in abundance. Large 
kettles of soup already prepared, in which maple sugar 
profusely added made a prominent ingredient, thus 
forming a very agreeable saccharine coalescence. All 
were invited, and all were made welcome; indeed, a 
refusal to partake of their bounty was deemed 
disrespectful, if not unfriendly. I left them in the 
afternoon enjoying themselves to the fullest extent, and, 
so far as I could perceive, their pleasure was without 
alloy. They were eating and drinking, but on this 
occasion no ardent spirits were permitted, dancing, and 
rejoicing, not caring, and probably not thinking, of 
tomorrow. 

The departure of the Senecas marks an 
epoch in the history of the south part of the 
county. They had become an element in the 
trade and life of the community. A large 
tract of land was thrown on the market, and 
the white man's industrious axe echoed in 
the forest which had previously known only 
the red-skin's rifle and hilarious shout. But 
the settlers on the other side of the river had, 
by association, become somewhat attached 
to their forest neighbors. While for many 
reasons they hailed with pleasure the 
prospect of a more advanced civilization, on 
the other side, there were yet demonstrations 
of profound sorrow when the day of parting 
came. 

THE WHITE SETTLEMENT. 

The land came into market in 1820, the 
first general sale being at Delaware. But the 
Indians here, as elsewhere, were disturbed 
by white intruders on the soil which for 
centuries had been the rightful possession of 
their race. They had learned by the 
experience of their neighbors on all sides, 
that the white man's axe and plow were the 
destroyers of their home and employment. It 
is not strange, therefore, that an attempt was 
made by them to en- 



courage squatter settlers to leave. It would 
not have been strange under the 
circumstances had acts of actual violence 
been resorted to. 

The first settlement was, however, in that 
part of the township adjacent to the two mile 
square reservation. Squatters in this part of 
the territory were quite numerous and 
changed residences with such frequency that 
only the names of a few of them can be 
given. There were, however, two classes of 
squatters, a reckless and indifferent class, 
who sought only temporary places to live 
and hunt, and those who came with a view to 
making this their permanent place of 
residence, and as soon as the lands came into 
the market, made permanent improvements. 

Samuel and Margaret Cochran, natives of 
Massachusetts, after their marriage, re- 
moved to Vermont and from Vermont to 
Buffalo, New York, where Mr. Cochran built 
a half-deck vessel and transported his 
family, in 1816, to the mouth of the Huron, 
where the family remained about three years, 
during which time, in 1818, Mrs. Cochran 
died. In 1819 General Cass, then Indian 
agent, employed Mr. Cochran to assist the 
mail-carriers at the mouth of Wolf Creek 
when the water was high. This necessitated 
the removal of the family to the heart of the 
forest. The Indians, who at that time held 
title to the soil, tried to persuade him to 
leave, but resorted to no acts of violence. He 
cleared a small tract and built a cabin. This 
was the first white man's cabin in the upper 
part of the township. By the time the land 
came into market, after the Indian title 
became extinguished, he had cleared twenty 
acres, part of which had been planted in 
corn. But like many other squatter settlers, 
he lost his improvements in consequence of 
being overbid at the Government sales. A 
Mr. Henninger purchased the property, but 
did not move 




Mrs. Hdrridi S&igsr. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



585 



to the county for several years after. Mr. 
Cochran afterwards purchased land on the 
river about seven miles below Lower San- 
dusky, where he lived from 1822 until his 
death, in 1825. He left surviving him nine 
children, viz: Elizabeth (Johnson), Minerva 
(Smith), Cynthia (Sherman), David, Samuel, 
Henry, Fannie (Court-right), Harriet 
(Seager), and Nancy (Frary). Phineas Frary 
(husband of Nancy Cochran) was one of the 
early settlers at the mouth of Wolf Creek. 
Their daughter, Margaret, was probably the 
first white child born in the township. 
Harriet first married Thomas Miller, October 
23, 1826. After her father died and until the 
time of her marriage she lived with her 
sister, Mrs. Frary, and assisted in clearing 
the farm. Mr. Miller settled on Portage 
River, where Woodville has since been laid 
out. Here he died in 1828. His widow 
remained and kept tavern, which is noticed 
more fully in the chapter on that township. 
She purchased land after the Seneca Reserve 
came into market, where the council-house 
of the Senecas had stood. In 1835 she 
married Charles Seager and removed to her 
farm. Mrs. Seager is one of the oldest 
persons in the county and the only survivor 
of the original settlers of Ballville. By her 
first husband she had two children, both of 
whom died young. Charles L. Seager, her 
second husband, was a native of, New York. 
He came to. Ohio and settled in this 
township in 1835. He cleared a large tract of 
land, and was an extensive farmer until his 
death, in 1843. Charles D. Seager, the only 
son, was born in 1843. He married, in 1858, 
Caroline Hoover. 

Among the settlers of 1818 in the north 
part of the township were David Moore, Asa 
B. Gavit, John Wolcutt, Mr. Rexford, Mr. 
Chaffee, and perhaps a few others. In 1819, 
the first family, Samuel Cochran's, located 
above the bend of the river, 



This year added to the inhabitants of 
township number four several families, 
among them being John Fitch, John Custard, 
and the Prior family. In 1820 permanent 
settlement began. The squatters, most of 
them, made purchases at the sales at 
Delaware, and the country rapidly filled up 
with emigrants from New York, 
Pennsylvania, and Southern Ohio. Many had 
made purchases before visiting the county, 
and their first realization of the swamps and 
forest to be contended with was upon their 
arrival in covered wagons with household 
goods, farming utensils and families. In 
another chapter is given a general idea of the 
log-cabin life of the period. The 
surroundings and homes in one locality were 
much similar to those of another. This fact is 
a clear illustration of the important influence 
of natural surroundings and conditions upon 
the habits and character of a people. 

The Prior family came from Virginia to 
Ohio in 1816. There were at that time but 
few white families in this county. The family 
consisted of three sons and two daughters. 
The second son had his eyes picked out in a 
most shocking manner. Before coming to 
Ohio he was engaged in a fight with a 
ruffian who got the better of him, and 
endeavored to force him "to give up." Prior's 
father arrived on the scene of action and 
charged the son not to yield. The ruffian's 
threat that he would pick his eyes out called 
from the father another charge not to give 
up, with the assurance that if he lost his 
eyesight he would take care of him all his 
life. The boy lost both his eyes, thus paying 
the penalty of his father's foolish vanity. 
When the first sale of land occurred the 
blind boy appeared as a bidder, and his 
condition commanded so much sympathy 
that no one appeared to bid against him. He 
thus became the possessor of a good farm. 
This family suffered another shocking 
accident 



586 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



while living in Ballville. Foxes were plenty at 
that time and frequently made raids on 
chickens, and even sometimes on young pigs. 
Their frequent visits at the Prior homestead 
caused the gun to be always standing ready 
for the shy thieves. It happened that Henry 
Prior, one evening about dark, was doing 
some work in the pig pen, and his red hair, 
just visible in the dusk of evening was 
mistaken for a fox by his uncle, Wilkinson 
Prior, who, with steady aim, fired a fatal shot. 
It is not surprising that a suspicion should go 
forth that the mistake was feigned, but there 
are in the circumstances no ground for such a 
suspicion. 

David Moore moved from Huntingdon 
county, Pennsylvania, to Ross county, Ohio, 
in 1814, and from Ross to Sandusky county in 
1818. He was a son of Samuel Moore, who 
emigrated from Dalkeith, Scotland, about the 
year 1760, and settled in New Jersey. He built 
a double log cabin on the bank of the river, 
opposite the residence of Mrs. Eliza Moore, 
in the village of Ballville. A little below that 
he built a grist-mill, and ground the grain of 
the pioneers until his death, December 24, 
1829, which was caused by an accident in 
falling at night from the attic in the mill to a 
lower story. He was sixty-three years old. A 
small freestone monument marks his resting 
place near the centre of the old cemetery. The 
old settlers in those days did not all use patent 
flour. The following is a copy of one of many 
orders for meal, which are still in the 
possession of Mrs. Eliza Moore, in Ballville: 

PORTAGE RIVER, July 20, 1825. 
David Moore: 

DEAR SIR: Please send by the bearer two bushels 
of corn meal, and charge to me. 

EZEKIEL RICE. 

David Moore's wife, whose maiden name 
was Elizabeth Davis, remained on a farm in 
Ross county, where she died July 1, 1826. 
The children of David Moore 



were Eliza (Justice), Sarah (Fields), George, 
James, and John Moore, all of whom came to 
Sandusky county. George Moore returned to 
Ross county in 1830, and settled on. Paint 
Creek, Light miles south of Chillicothe, 
where he died October 1, 1850, leaving a 
widow, Mrs. Rachel Moore, still living, and 
four children — David, Eliza, Morris, and 
William — all of whom are dead but Eliza, 
who is a widow having married Philip 
Rhodes. George's son, David, left four 
daughters — Georgia, Ella, Kate, and Willie. 
James Moore died December 20, 1873, from 
an accident that happened to him in his mill, 
aged sixty-seven. John Moore died May 31, 
1876, aged seventy-eight. Eliza Justice died 
October 17, 1876, aged seventy-six. Sarah 
Fields, the only living child of David Moore, 
is aged seventy-seven. 

J. D. Moore, son of John and Eliza Moore, 
was born in Ballville in 1844. His parents 
were among the first settlers of the county. 
John Moore died in 1876. He was a miller by 
trade, and also carried on farming. His 
widow, Mrs. Elizabeth (Rutter) Moore, still 
survives him. They had eleven children, 
seven of whom are living. J. D. Moore 
married Ellen Dean, and has three children 
living — Guy, Philip, and Daisy. Freddie, the 
eldest, died, aged ten years. Mr. Moore was 
in business as a merchant in Fremont from 
1866 to 1873. Since the latter date he has 
been engaged in milling in Ballville. 

Asa B. Gavit, a native of New York, 
settled on the west bank of the river about 
1818. He married, in this county, a Miss 
Strawn, whose family settled further up the 
river, near the mouth of Wolf Creek. Gavit 
was one of the shrewdest and most 
progressive men in the settlement. He had 
the reputation of being an excellent trader. 
He died, his wife and one son surviving him. 
She married for her second husband Charles 
Blinn, and for her 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



587 



third Stephen Emerson, Mr. Gavit's 
connection with the famous lawsuit re- 
garding the ownership of the bed of the 
river, is given in this chapter. 

William and David Chard came as 
squatters in 1819, and when the land came 
into market they made permanent settlement 
on section twenty-one. Their reputation was 
by no means enviable. 

Morris Nichols came to the township in 
1820. He constructed a tannery on the river 
road just outside the limits of the mile 
square reservation. 

John Wolcott was known in early times as 
a hunter, which was a profitable 
employment, in fact it was the only 
employment; which brought in ready cash; 
labor and farm products were paid for in 
trade. He was a native of Pennsylvania, and 
lived with his mother after coming here. 

We have already spoken of the first 
settlement at the mouth of Wolf Creek, 
between here and the village of Ballville. By 
1824 nearly every farm on the west side of 
the river had been improved. 

Elizabeth Tindall kept the only public 
house along this road. She came to the 
township with her family, consisting of five 
sons, — Samuel, Daniel, William, John, and 
Edward, and two daughters — Eliza 
(Lovejoy) and Amy (Bond). J. L. Tindall, 
the oldest son of Edward Tindall, still 
resides in the township. He was born May 4, 
1838, and in 1860 married Martha J. Fields, 
of Sandusky township. 

Between the Tindall estate and the Gavit 
farm were a number of improvements made 
about 1822, among the settlers being Mr. 
Woodruff and John Custard. 

David Chambers purchased a tract of land 
in section eight, with a view to engaging in 
milling. His location, although naturally 
good, was unfortunate as the result of a long 
course of litigation detailed 



in this chapter will show. Mr. Chambers was 
highly respected in the community, and it 
was a matter of regret on the part of many 
that circumstances compelled him to sell his 
property and seek a home elsewhere. His 
son, Benjamin Chambers, moved west. His 
daughter married John Custard. 

Mr. John Rhidout, father of William 
Rhidout, was one of the first settlers in the 
northwest part of the township. He was a 
shoemaker, and came west for the purpose of 
engaging at his trade at the Indian 
missionary posts on the Maumee. After 
settling here in 1824 he engaged in farming. 

The settlement in the upper part of the 
township, on the east side of the river, began 
in 1832, after the Senecas had been removed 
to their western home, and the reservation 
which they had occupied thrown, upon the 
market. There were, however, earlier 
settlements further down. 

On the east side of the river, on section 
twenty, had been an Indian sugar-camp of 
considerable size, which was purchased at 
the Government sales by John Sherrard. 
Thomas Sherrard, a brother of John, re- 
moved from Jefferson county, Ohio, to 
Lower Sandusky in the summer of 1823, 
with the intention of building a mill on 
Green Creek, where he owned a tract of 
land, but after his arrival concluded to settle 
on a farm near the site of Oakwood 
cemetery, in Ballville township, where he 
built a cabin and made a clearing. His family 
was highly esteemed in the neighborhood, 
and the untimely termination of his life was 
the occasion of great sadness. John Sherrard, 
who owned the sugar-camp, was afraid the 
Indians would destroy the trees, and 
requested his brother to rent it to some one 
who would live on the property. Mr. 
Sherrard effected a contract with William 
Chard, by which he was to give a stipulated 
amount of sugar for the 



588 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



use of the camp. But during the first season a 
disagreement arose, and Mr. Sherrard began 
to suspect the honesty of his tenant. He was 
prevented by high water from crossing the 
river until March 26, when he came to 
Colonel Chambers' house on his way to the 
camp. After telling the object of his errand, 
he inquired the best place to ford the river. 
Colonel Chambers says, in a memorandum 
of the affair, that Mr. Sherrard looked 
melancholy, and seemed to be apprehensive 
of something about to happen. He crossed 
the river, but it was the last time. The 
Chambers family became uneasy regarding 
his safety in the evening, and Mrs. Sherrard's 
appearance on the following morning, with 
the announcement that he had not returned, 
increased their apprehensions, which 
noontime confirmed when James Chard 
appeared on the other side of the river with 
the horse, and made the announcement that 
Sherrard had left their house in the afternoon 
for home, and the horse had returned alone. 
The river was searched for nearly a month, 
but to no effect, and a high freshet at length 
destroyed all hopes of recovering the body. 
Mrs. Sherrard was greatly affected, and left 
the cabin home, being kindly received in the 
family of Colonel Chambers. It is worthy of 
remark in this connection that on the day 
following the misfortune all the cattle and 
horses forsook the home and came to the 
Chambers residence. On April 1 1 the saddle 
was found below Moore's mill-dam. His hat 
was found on the previous day, and bore 
evidence of having been in the water but a 
short time. On April 21 Joseph Prior saw a 
white, fleshy form in the water about half a 
mile below the Chambers ford, and supposed 
it the body of a skinned animal, but that 
same evening the body was carried down to 
Moore's mill-dam, and discovered between 
the breast of the dam and the spill 



of water. It was impossible to recover the 
body that night, there being no water craft at 
hand; but on the following day the body was 
removed from the lower mill-dam. When Mr. 
Sherrard left home he had on an overcoat, 
light under-coat, vest, and two shirts; the 
body was found naked. The bridge of his 
nose was broken, one of his eyes bruised 
out, and his right jaw-bone broken, as if 
done by the stroke of a club. The fore teeth 
were broken and the mouth bruised, and the 
throat callous. All these wounds bore 
evidence of having been inflicted before the 
extinguishment of life. The place and time of 
the discovery of the body, and its condition, 
are circumstances almost conclusive of a 
most brutal murder. The whole affair 
naturally caused intense excitement 
throughout the neighborhood, and suspicion 
condemned the family supposed to be guilty, 
but sufficient proof could not be found to 
warrant an arrest. 

The first settler of the farm now owned by 
L. B. Fry was Benjamin Decker. Thuman 
Holmes and Dennis Duran lived east of the 
S eager farms already spoken of, on which 
the council house of the Senecas stood. The 
Willis family, representatives of which are 
yet living, settled at an early period. Samuel 
Treat was the first settler on section twenty- 
nine. John Myers made an early 
improvement on the same section. Mr. 
Ensminger, David Halter, Peter Doell, and 
Henry Fry made improvements along down 
the river, on the east side, from 1830 to 
1835. Joseph Edwards made an improvement 
on the farm in the interior of the township, 
which was afterwards purchased by Jonas 
Smith, and is yet in part owned by him. 

One of the earliest settlers in the centre of 
the township was Samuel Smith, third son of 
Adam Smith, who was an early settler in 
Green creek township. He was born in 
Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1817, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



589 



and came to the county with his parents. 
After his marriage, in 1844, to Elizabeth 
Frary, he settled on section ten and made the 
first improvements. Mr. and Mrs. Smith had 
four children, two of whom are living — Dora 
and Clara. Hattie, wife of Samuel Zontman, 
died, leaving a family of four children. 
Charles is also dead. 

The Strawn family were highly respected 
people, who settled near the mouth of Wolf 
Creek. 

The Bixler family settled in the north-west 
corner of the township. They were people 
who took a prominent part in affairs. John 
Nyce and family, consisting of three sons — 
Philip, Isaac, and Michael — and three 
daughters — Theny, Sarah, and Nancy — came 
from Pennsylvania at an early day, and 
settled on the east side of the river. 

We have now sketched in a general way 
the settlement of the township previous to 
the later period, when, all the lands were 
taken up and most of them cleared. It yet 
remains to speak more particularly of those 
families who have taken a leading part in 
public affairs, and contributed to the growth 
of society, since the period of first 
settlement. 

Among the earliest settlers of the central 
part of this township, and one of the oldest 
pioneers now living, is Jonas Smith. He was 
born in New York in 1807. In 1829 he 
married Mary Gilmore, who is two years his 
senior. In 1833 they came to this township, 
and made a settlement near the centre. Their 
family consisted of two boys and four 
girls — James N., resident of Michigan; 
Martha J. (Frary), Michigan; S. S., 
Michigan; Ann (Maurer), Fremont; Hannah 
(Brunthaver), Ballville and Emma 
(Hampshire), Ballville, Mr. Smith has been 
crowded with official trusts, having served 
his county as commissioner six years, and 
sheriff four years. He has 



also served as magistrate in Ballville, for 
nineteen years. Providence has dealt with 
this family most generously. Mr. and Mrs. 
Smith celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of 
their wedding, February 19, 1879. During 
this period of, more than fifty-two years of 
married life, death has never visited their 
family. 

From 1833 to 1840 the improvement of the 
township was pushed vigorously. All the 
land at the end of that period had been 
entered, and clearings commenced at least on 
every lot. Along the river and through the 
centre and eastern line of sections, well 
improved farms were already richly 
rewarding the husbandman's industry. From 
the list of worthy families who carried on 
this work of improvement and consequent 
production of wealth, the plan of our work 
will permit brief sketches of but a few 
families. 

John Hutchins, a native of Vermont, 
settled in this township in 1834. He had a 
large family (ten children) by his first wife, 
whose maiden name was Russel, and six by 
his second wife, whose maiden name was 
Hannah Collins. Mr. Hutchins died in 1845, 
aged seventy-seven years. Matthew 
Hutchins, the fourth child, of John and 
Hannah Hutchins,. was born in Oswego, 
New York, in 1822. In 1843 he married 
Elizabeth Young, and contributed his labors 
to the improvement of the eastern part of the 
township. The family consists of four 
children — William L., Adrian A., Marion. 
M., and Lewis D., living, and Emery M., and 
Milo J. A., dead. 

The Frys are representative Germans of 
this township. They came from Prussia and 
settled here in 1834 and 1835. George Fry 
was born in Prussia in 1809. He came to this 
county in 1835. In 1842 he married Mary 
Guss, by whom he had nine children, seven 
of whom are living. He has been a resident 
of Jackson town- 



590 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



ship since 1846. Henry N. Fry, oldest son of 
George Fry, was born in this township in 1844. 
In 1874 he married Ella M. Burgoon, and has 
two children — Roscoe A., and Virginia. 

John Fry was born in Prussia in 1810. He is a 
carpenter and millwright by trade, and was 
employed in the construction of the frame mill, 
the predecessor of the stone mill, and other 
buildings along the river. He also improved a 
farm a short distance above the village. He 
came, also, in the year 1835. In 1850 he 
married Julia A. Miller, of Seneca county. 

Henry Fry was born at the paternal 
residence in the Province of Westphalia, in 
1813. He came to America in 1834, one year 
before his brother, John, and his cousin 
George. In 1841 he married Abbie Rhidout, 
daughter of John G. Rhidout, who came from 
Ross county and settled in this township in 
1825. Mr. Fry's family consists of two 
children living — Cynthia J., the wife of Dr. 
Robert H. Rice, and Amelia S., the wife of E. 
B. Moore. The oldest child, John L. Fry, is 
dead. Mr. Fry followed his trade, carpenter 
and mill-wright, several years after coming to 
this township. 

Isaac Maurer was born in Chester county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1808. He married in Wayne 
county, Ohio, in 1831, Mary Ernsberger, who 
was born in Maryland in 1812, and died in 
this township in 1879. They settled in 
Ballville township in 1834, and raised a 
family of six children living, viz: Martin, 
Emanuel, William J., Eli B., Martha J., and 
Owen. 

William, the third son, was born in this 
township in 1840. He married in 1865, Eliza 
J. Worst, and has a family of three children: 
Tillie L., Delphin B., and Orpheus C. Mr. 
Maurer was wounded at the battle of Franklin. 
He was in the One Hundredth Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry. 

Owen L., the youngest son of Isaac 



Maurer, was born in this township in 1853. 
He married in 1873, Martha J. Brunthaver, 
and has two children, Gertrude and Maggie. 

One of the first among the settlers of 1835 
was John Halter. He was born in New York 
in 1803. He married in 1825, Elizabeth 
Bastic, by whom one child was born- 
Catharine, wife, first, of James Jackson, who 
was killed in the army; second of Isaac N. 
Halter, of Fremont. Mr. and Mrs. Halter are 
now enjoying the fruits of their early 
industry. 

David Halter was born in New York in 
1816. He married Margaret Plants, and had a 
family of four children, viz: John, resident of 
Seneca county; David, deceased; Leander, 
Ballville township, and Jacob, who 
continues his residence in this county. Jacob 
was born in 1849, married in 1872, Mary J. 
Cochran, and has four children: Nellie M., 
David F., Edith and Earlie (twins). Both 
David Halter and his wife died in August, 
1881. 

Joseph Hershey, one of the Ballville 
settlers of 1836, was born at Hagerstown, 
Maryland, in 1796. In 1808 his father 
removed to Canada, where he remained until 
the opening of the War of 1812. He then 
removed to Erie county, New York. In 1836 
Joseph came to this township, where he died 
in 1851, leaving a family of four children 
living-Eliza (Myers), Frances (Wire), Peter, 
and Martha (Willard). Mrs. Hershey, whose 
maiden name was Magdalene Frick, died in 
1871. Peter, the only son, born in Erie 
county, New York, in 1819, in 1855 married 
Elizabeth Bruner, by whom he has a family 
of seven children — David, Anna, Willard P. 
Elmer E., Grant U., Daisy M., and Bessie S. 

Peter Doell was born in Germany in 1819. 
In 1838 he emigrated to America and came 
to Ballville township. Some six years later 
he settled upon a farm on 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



591 



the east side of the river. In 1841 he married 
Margaret Resch, also a native of Germany. 
Twelve children blessed this union, four of 
whom are living, viz: Mary (Rearick), 
Sandusky township; George, Riley township; 
Catharine (Kraft) and Joseph, Ballville 
township. 

Roswell Osborn, a native of New York, 
was born in 1800. He married for his first 
wife, Phebe Card, who died in New York in 
1830, leaving eight children. He married for 
his second wife Mida Lansing, by whom he 
had three children. The family came to Ohio 
about 1835 and settled in Huron county. He 
was a Baptist minister, and about five years 
were occupied in preaching. About 1840 Mr. 
Osborn settled in Ballville township and 
remained about nine years. He then moved to 
Wisconsin, where he died in 1860. Enos, the 
sixth child, was born in New York in 1820. 
He came to Ballville with the family in 1840 
and has continued his residence here since 
that time. In 1847 he married Margaret 
Strohl, who died in 1863, aged thirty- four 
years, leaving six, children, viz: James, 
editor Fremont Messenger; George, resides 
in Logan county, Ohio; William, Roswell P., 
Anna, and Idella (Hufford), Ballville 
township. Mr. Osborn married for his second 
wife Leah Brunthaver, by whom he has had 
one child — Frank. Mr. Osborn was a soldier 
in the Mexican war. 

George Reynolds was born in New York in 
1817. He immigrated to Ohio in 1841, and 
settled in Ballville township, where, in 1844, 
he married Maria Prior, a daughter of John 
Prior. A family of five children blessed this 
union, four of whom are living, viz.: 
Chauncy, Cynthia (Parker), Delia 
(Mitchner), and Rant. Orrin died in 1880, 
aged twenty-four. He was a practicing 
lawyer. 

The settlement and mysterious death of 
Thomas G. Sherrard has already been 



chronicled. The Sherrard family of this 
county is descended from John Sherrard, a 
native of county Derry, Ireland, who 
emigrated to America in 1772, and joined 
the patriot army, in 1775, at Bunker Hill. He 
settled in Jefferson county, Ohio, where he 
died in 1809, leaving five sons. Robert 
Andrew Sherrard, the fourth son, was born 
in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1789, 
and died near Steubenville in 1894 he was a 
highly-esteemed man, and a prominent 
member of the Presbyterian church; he was 
twice married — first, to Mary Kithcart, by 
whom he had five children, and second, to 
Jane Hindman, who bore seven children. 
David A. C. Sherrard, the third child by the 
first marriage, was born in Jefferson county 
in 1820; in 1843 he married Catharine 
Weldy, who died in 1847, leaving three 
children, viz.: Laura, Kizzie W., and Lizzie 
C; in 1848 he married Narcissa Grant, by 
whom he had seven children, viz.: Hattie 
(deceased), Robert, John F., Emma, Mary J., 
Rose P., and Ida M. 

William Smith was born in New Jersey in 
1789. He married, in 1814, Sarah Trimmer, 
also a native of New Jersey. In 1836 the 
family removed to Perry county, Ohio, and 
thence to this county, in 1847, when they 
settled in Ballville township. Mrs. Smith 
died in July, 1858, and Mr. Smith in 
October, 1865. Four of their children are 
living — Sarah Ann (Cole), William P., 
George G., and John C. Henry, the oldest of 
the family, died in Newark, Ohio, in 
October, 1858. Jacob, the third child, died 
young, in New Jersey. Anna Maria, the 
youngest, died in Perry county in 1845, aged 
about twelve years. William P., the oldest 
son living, was born February 28, 1824; in 
1858 he married Sarah M. Siberal, and had 
one child, Mina, deceased; Mr. Smith was 
treasurer of his township twelve years. On 
account of injuries received in 1844, 



592 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



he is unable to perform manual labor. He 
has brought up two children in his home — 
Carrie D. Smith, now the wife of Leonard 
Sliger, of Bradner, Wood county, and Mary 
E. Harrison, at home. 

Daniel Sherer was born in Seneca county, 
Ohio, in 1828, and in 1846 married Mary A. 
Rubenault. He settled in this township in 
1848. The family consisted of four children, 
two of whom — Henry and Elizabeth A. — are 
dead; Albert O. and Daniel O. are residents 
of the township. Mr. Sherer died in 1858. 

Albert O. Sherer was born in 1852, and in 
1875 he married Jane Siberal. They have two 
children living — Blanche E. and an infant 
daughter. 

Daniel O. Sherer was born in 1855. He 
married, in 1875, Martha J. Jackman. Annie 
E., Minnie D., and Benjamin F. are their 
children. 

Victor Rich was born in Switzerland in 
1832. He came to America in 1851, and 
stopped in New York during the winter, 
having been employed to chop wood, but 
was initiated into Yankee ways by being 
cheated out of his wages. The next spring he 
came to Fremont, and was for" many years a 
well-known stone-mason. He built the vault 
in the "Oakwood Cemetery," which is a very 
fine piece of workmanship. In 1861 he 
settled in this township, where he owns a 
farm. In 1859 he married Mrs. Catherine 
Swilly, and has five children — Joseph, 
Charles, George, Victor, and Clara. John 
Swilly is her son by a previous husband. 

Cornelius Hufford settled in Ballville 
township in 1836. He was born in Kentucky 
in 1806. In 1833 he married Mary J. Zook, 
daughter of Abram 

Zook, and a native of Bedford county, 
Pennsylvania. Their family consisted of ten 
children, five of whom are living — Sarah, 
Simon, Elizabeth, Catharine, and Martha. In 
1869 Mr. Hufford removed 



to his present residence in Washington 
township. 

Simon Hufford was born in 1837. He 
married, in 1861, Sarah — Short, and has a 
family of five children living — Lillie J., 
Jennie, Frank, Armina, and Hattie. Burton 
died when less than one year old. 

Jacob Kline, with his wife and family, 
came to America in 1832, and settled in New 
York. Mrs. Kline died at Buffalo in 1845. 
Mr. Kline died in this township in 1859. 
Jacob Kline, jr., was born in Germany in 
1814. He married Lena Zimmerman in 1845, 
and in 1852 came West and settled in 
Ballville township. The family consists of 
eleven children, viz.: Jacob, George, Philip, 
Martin, Charles A., Lena, Mary M., William 
H;, Edward F., John A., and Adam H. The 
last seven were born in this township. Martin 
and Charles have been teachers in the public 
schools. Charles is preparing for the practice 
of the law. 

James Traill, with his family, removed 
from Bedford county, Pennsylvania, to 
Coshocton county, Ohio, and from there to 
Seneca county, in 1851. Thomas, his son, 
was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, 
March 20, 1818. In 1844 he married Mary E. 
West, of York township. In 1852 he moved 
from Seneca county to Ballville township, 
his present home. Four children are living — 
Darling, Olive E., Lovie, and Perry J. "Clara 
E., the oldest daughter, died at the age of 
twenty-two. 

Andrew Wolfe was born in York county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1797. He married Saloma 
Garber, a native of Switzerland, and came to 
Ohio, settling first in Knox county, then in 
Richland: In 1855 he removed to Sandusky 
county, and settled in this township, where 
he died in 1874: Daniel M., the fifth child, 
was born in Knox county in 1831. He 
married, in 1855, Eunice J. Black, and 
settled where 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



593 



he now lives. The family consists of five 
children — Charles M., Sarah I., Elbridge G., 
Inez M., and Daniel M. Mr. Wolfe is a 
carpenter and followed the trade twenty-five 
years. 

Henry Turner was born in Fairfield county, 
Ohio, in 1809. He married Susan Spangler in 
1829. She died in 1849, leaving six children, 
viz.: William, Emanuel, Samantha, Daniel, 
Perry I., and Mary J. Of these only two are 
living — Samantha (Neff), Saginaw, 

Michigan, and Daniel. In 1852 Mr. Turner 
married for his second wife Elizabeth 
Delong, and had by this marriage two 
children — Henry Otis, a resident of Lima, 
Ohio, and Marcella, dead. The family came 
to Seneca county in 1830; moved to Ballville 
township in 1853. 

John G. Speller, jr., proprietor of the stone 
mill, was born in Prussia in 1843. In 1857 he 
came to America and engaged in farming in 
this township. The following year his 
parents, Lambert C. and Mary Speller, came 
to this country with their family of five 
children, and remain residents of this 
township. In 1867 John G. Speller began 
clerking for Herman & Wilson, and 
continued in mercantile business seven 
years, the last year in partnership with Mr. 
Herman. In 1875 he purchased the Ballville 
stone mill, half of which he sold to Simeon 
Royce. Business has since been conducted 
under the firm name of Royce & Speller. Mr. 
Speller, in 1872, married Oriette J. Moore. 
James and Allie are their children. 

George Flumerfelt, the oldest son of D. V. 
Flumerfelt, settled in this township in 1865. 
His father, however, was one of the first 
settlers of the neighboring town-ship of 
Pleasant, in Seneca county, having come 
there from New Jersey in 1826, at the age of 
eighteen. He married Melinda Littler, and 
has a family of seven children living. George 
was born in 1842, 



He married Ellen Chancy in 1865. Five 
children are living — Eva P., Edward P., 
Laura, William A., and Clarence. Mr. 
Flumerfelt is a Greenbacker in politics. He 
owns the old Hiett farm, one of the first that 
was cleared in this township. 

Abel M. Franks, only son of Uriah M. 
Franks, was born in Wayne county, Ohio, in 
1834. He married in 1862 Eliza McQuigg, a 
native of Ireland. They have five children — 
Uriah F., John W., Sarah E., James E., and 
Samuel C. John, second son, graduated at the 
age of fifteen and is preparing for the Bar. 
Mr. Franks came to the county in 1865, and 
settled first in Sandusky township, where he 
remained two years, then settled in Ballville. 

J. B. Lott, son of Peter and Mary Lott, was 
born in Seneca county in 1832. He came to 
this county in 1858, and settled on his 
present farm. He married in 1858 Sarah A. 
Bretts, a native of Lancaster county, 
Pennsylvania. Three of their five children 
are living — Charles, Wilson, and Jennie — 
Clara Ann and an infant daughter are dead. 

Thomas Wickert, a native of Lehigh 
county, Pennsylvania, was born in 1809. He 
married in 1832 Lucy Vennor. With their six 
children they came to this township in 1860. 
The children are: James E., George Harrison, 
Thomas J., Mary E., Emma, and Lucy N. 
Wickert. James E., the second child, was 
born in Pennsylvania in 1834. In 1859 he 
married Martha Abbott, who died in 1865, 
leaving three children — Frank, James, and 
Chester. In 1866 he removed to this county, 
and in 1869 he married Christina Lutz, by 
whom six children have been born — Bert, 
Fred, Guy, Hattie, Daisy, and Richard. 

M. B. Fry emigrated from Virginia to 
Seneca county in 1833, and died in Pleasant 
township in 1853, leaving a family of seven, 
children, five of whom are living. 



594 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Littler B., the oldest son, was born in 
1826. He came to Ohio with his father, and 
in 1865 married Belle Ramsey, a native of 
Pittsburg. Mr. Fry has been living in this 
township since 1871. 

A CHARIVARI. 

John Hofford lived on the lot in Ballville 
now occupied by the cooper shop of J. D. & 
George Moore. About 1841, while John 
Moore was building his mill-race, on which 
twenty Irishmen were employed, Almira 
Hofford was married to John Johnson, an 
attorney, who lived on the farm now owned 
by Dr. Wilson, west of Fremont. The 
Irishmen determined upon making It an 
eventful occasion by giving the newly 
wedded couple a serenade after the wild 
fashion of the day. They collected all the 
guns, dinner-horns and cow-bells in the 
neighborhood, and taking these, together 
with rosined boxes, horse-fiddles and a pail 
of powder stolen from the supply used for 
blasting, they proceeded to the house. At this 
time the excitement caused by the "patriot 
war" was at its highest, and a general raid 
was feared. When the confusion of guns, 
horse-fiddles, horns, etc., which was 
intended only to disturb the honeymoon of 
the lately united couple, began, the whole 
community was aroused. One Irishman, who 
knew nothing of the proceedings, expressed 
the thoughts of many people, when, leaping 
from his bed, he exclaimed: "I thought the 
Bredish were a cumin, and I tepped out of 
bed to put." The man who carried the powder 
pail met a serious accident. Becoming 
excited, he rushed with Irish ardor into the 
crowd of musketmen. A spark dropped into 
the bucket, and the explosion sent him 
speechless to the rear. He finally, however, 
recovered. This is only one of the many 
amusing tricks carried out by this party of 
witty Irishmen whose residence in Ballville 
is well remembered. 



Here arose a controversy, which en- 
gendered bitter personal feeling between 
neighbors and led to a decision by. the 
supreme court of the State on an important 
legal question. David Moore, David 
Chambers and Asa B. Gavit owned the lands 
adjoining the river in the order named, 
beginning at the village of Ballville and ex- 
tending up for considerable distance. The 
controversy at first seems to have been 
grounded in the natural desire of both Moore 
and Chambers to have the exclusive use of 
the water-power. Chambers built a dam and 
erected a mill, but Moore cut off his water- 
power by building a dam below, thus 
throwing the back water on Chambers' 
wheel. Chambers sued Moore for trespass, 
but as the conclusion of the whole matter 
shows, was himself a trespasser, for the 
back-water from his dam covered the 
hitherto exposed limestone ledges in the 
bottom of the river opposite Gavit's land, to 
the depth of four feet. 

Gavit brought suit for trespass and the case 
came to trial in the court of common pleas of 
the county. He proved at the trial that he 
owned certain lands bounded by the river 
and situated an its western bank. He also 
proved that by the erection of Chambers' 
dam the water was flowed back in the bed of 
the river opposite his land, so as to stand 
four feet deep on a stone quarry between his 
lands and the middle of the stream. In the 
original surveys the river was intersected by 
lines, but the area occupied by the stream 
when at high water mark was deducted from 
the whole area, so that the purchaser paid the 
United States for lands only to high water 
mark. It was, therefore, claimed by 
Chambers that the bed and banks of the river 
was public property. 

The court of common pleas charged the 
jury that the plaintiff could set no right, in 
consequence of owning the lands 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



595 



on the shore, to the bed of the river adjacent 
to such lands. The jury on this charge gave a 
verdict in favor of the defendant 
(Chambers). 

The case was taken to the supreme court 
on a writ of error, where it was argued, on 
part of the defendant, that as the Sandusky 
River was declared a navigable stream no 
individual could acquire exclusive property 
in its bed. The long course of litigation was 
watched eagerly, not only by those having a 
personal interest in the parties to the suit, 
but by owners of river lands throughout the 
State, for upon its decision depended many 
rights and privileges liable at any time to 
cause difficulty. The decision of the supreme 
court will be of interest in this connection. 

The question presented for decision in this case is, 
Has the proprietor of land bounded by a navigable 
stream a separate and individual interest or property in 
any portion of the bed of the river? 

The cession of the United States of lands within the 
territory of which Ohio is now a part, was made subject 
to no condition with respect to navigable streams. But in 
the first frame of government, commonly called the 
Ordinance, which is fundamental in its character, it is 
stipulated that "navigable waters leading into the 
Mississippi and St. Lawrence shall be forever free" to 
all people of the United States. The legislation of 
Congress for disposition of lands has strictly conformed 
to this stipulation. The lands within the beds of 
navigable rivers have not been sold as lands to be paid 
for, and whether the lands have or have not been made 
boundaries of surveys, the and usually covered by water 
has been deducted from that upon which purchase 
money was charged. This, it is argued, is a fact 
conclusive to establish the position that the individual 
purchaser acquires no tights to the bed of the river 
adjoining his lands. But we do not think it properly 
attended with such consequence. 

It is, we conceive, virtually essential to the public 
peace and to individual security that there should be 
distinct and acknowledged legal owners for both the 
land and water of the country. This seems to have been 
the principle upon which the law doctrine was originally 
settled, that when a stream was not subject to the ebb 
and flow of the tide it should be deemed the property of 
the owners of the soil bounding on its banks. The reason 
upon which this rule is founded applies as strongly in 
this country as in any other, and no maxim of 
jurisprudence is of more 



universal application than that where the reason is the 
same the law should be the same. 

If, in the case before us, the owners of the lands 
bounded on the banks of the Sandusky River do not own 
the fee simple in that stream, subject only to the use of 
the public, who does own it, and what is its condition? 
The "Ordinance" reserves nothing but the use. No act of 
Congress makes any reservation in relation to the beds 
of rivers. We find no provisions but those of the act of 
1996 which are confined to reserving the use of 
navigable streams, and declaring the existence of the. 
common law doctrine in respect to streams not 
navigable. 

A river consists of water bed and banks. At what point 
does the right of the owner of adjoining lands terminate, 
on the top or at the bottom-of the bank? At high or low 
water mark? Does his boundary recede and advance with 
the water, or is it stationary at some point? And where is 
that point? Who gains by alluvion? Who loses by 
disruptions of the streams? No satisfactory rules can be 
laid, down in answer to these questions, if the common 
law doctrine be departed from. And if it be assumed that 
the United States retain the fee simple in the beds of our 
rivers, who is to preserve them from individual 
trespassers, or determine matters of wrong between the 
trespassers themselves. It can not be reasonably doubted 
that if all the beds of our rivers supposed to be 
navigable; and treated as such by the United States in 
selling lands, are to be regarded as unappropriated 
territory, a door is open for incalculable mischiefs. 
Intruders upon the common waste would fall into 
endless broils among them-selves and involve the 
owners of lands adjoining in controversies innumerable. 
Stones, soil, gravel, the right to fish, would all be 
subjects of individual scramble necessarily leading to 
violence and outrage. The United States would be little 
interested in pre-serving either the peace or the 
property, and indeed would be powerless to do it 
without an interference with the policy of the State. 

We do not believe that it was the intention of the 
United States to reserve an interest in the bed, banks or 
water of the rivers in the State, other than the use for 
navigation to the public, which is distinctly in the nature 
of an easement, and all grants of land upon such waters 
we hold to have been made subject to the common law, 
which in this case is the plain rule of common sense, 
and it is this: He who owns the lands upon both banks 
owns the entire river, subject only to the easement of 
navigation, and he who owns the land on one bank only 
owns to the middle of the river subject to the same 
easement. This is the rule recognized not only in 
England but in our sister States. 

Before this decision was reached by the 
supreme court Mr. Davit died, but his 

administrator gained a verdict. Messrs. 



596 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Chambers and Moore settled their diffi- 
culties by Moore buying Chambers out; thus 
giving him full and exclusive right and 
privilege to the water power along the 
Bellville rapids. 

EARLY EVENTS. 

It is difficult to tell who was the first white 
child born in this township, but our best 
information is that it was Margaret Frary, 
who was born some time in the year 1821. 

A squatter named Coburg was the first 
citizen, so far as is known, "to end the earth 
chapter of life." He died about 1819. During 
his sickness Harriet Cochran (Mrs. Seager), 
was the only person in the neighborhood to 
wait on and care for him. 

The first cemetery in the township was the 
one at Salem church, in the south part. This 
lot was set apart at the death of Mrs. Frary, 
who was the first person buried there. Her 
husband, Phineas Frary, was the second. The 
inhabitants of the north part of the township 
were accustomed to bury their dead at 
Fremont, then Lower Sandusky. 

The early families of the north part of the 
township sent their children to school in 
Fremont; those in the south part first 
attended school in Seneca county, where a 
man named Dicely taught. The first school- 
house in the south part of the township was 
built on the Seager farm, on the east side of 
the river, about 1833. Moses Coleby is 
remembered as the first master. 

TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION. 

The following petition appears on the 
commissioners' records, which sets forth the 
reason for setting apart a new town from 
Sandusky, and the signatures also show who 
were the leading men at that date in favor of 
a division of the townships. 



To the honorable Commissioners o f Sandusky County. 

SANDUSKY TOWNSHIP, STATE OF OHIO. 

This petition of the undersigned, residents of San-dusky 
county, Sandusky township, prays, that they with the other 
residents of said township labor under many serious 
difficulties and disadvantages in consequence of the 
distance they have to go to the place of holding general 
elections. In fact, the great bounds of said township and the 
distance public officers reside from each other tends greatly 
to retard public business, particularly as it relates to the 
business of the township. Under these circumstances your 
petitioners therefore pray, that you would direct a new 
township to be laid out embracing township four, range 
fifteen, your petitioners will ever pray. 
1st of March, 1822. 

N. B. And your petitioners also pray that the township be 
called Ball's township. 
[Signers] 

DAVID CHAMBERS. 

ASAB. GAVIT. 

DAVID CHARD. 

GILES THOMPSON. 

MOSES NICHOLS. 

JOHN WOOLCOT. 

JEREMIAH EVERETT. 

JOHN PRIOR. 

ISAAC PRIOR. 

HENRY PRIOR. 

JOHN CUSTARD. 

BENJAMIN CLARK. 

T. A. REXFORD. 

WILLIAM CHARD. 

The petition was granted and the first election 
ordered to be held at the house of David 
Chambers on the 1st Monday of April, 1822. 
The early records of the township are lost, so 
that we are unable to give the first officers 
elected or the civil list. 

MANUFACTURING. 

The water power furnished by the second 
rapids of the Sandusky River has been the 
natural means of building up a little settlement 
in the north part of the town-ship, which 
deserves to be called a village. It takes the name 
of the township. About 1821 three mills were 
built in this locality — two grist-mills, one by 
David Chambers, the other by David Moore; 
and, further up, a sawmill, by Mr. Tindall. The 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



597 



mains of the saw-mill are yet standing. 
Messrs. Moore and Chambers became in- 
volved in an expensive litigation, which is 
spoken of at length in this chapter. Moore 
settled the difficulty, and at the same time 
obtained exclusive control of the available 
water power by buying Chambers' farm and 
mill. 

In 1831 Charles Choate came to Ballville 
and leased the shed and water power at 
Moore's mill, where he began the carding 
and fulling business. (Mr. Choate's father 
was one of the first settlers of Ohio, and was 
taken prisoner at Big Bottom during the 
Indian war of 1791-95.) James Moore, a son 
of David Moore, began the erection of a new 
mill in 1835, which was completed and 
placed in operation in 1837. Mr. Choate 
removed his carding machinery to this mill, 
where he continued the business three years 
longer, making a period of nine years since 
the beginning of wool carding. The last year 
he worked forty thousand pounds of wool. 
Mr. Choate sold his factory to Asa Otis and 
P. C. Dean. 

The stone mill, which is yet in operation, 
was built in 1858 by James Moore. Mr. 
Moore had also built a cotton factory in 
1845, but was in a short time burned out. 

In 1839 James Valletti purchased an 
interest in the mills and real estate. The 
village of Ballville was surveyed and laid 
out in lots by Messrs. Moore and Valletti the 
following year. 

P. C. Dean and John Moore built what is 
now known as the Croghan mill in 1867. Mr. 
Dean sold his interest to his partner, who 
conducted the business until his death, when 
it became the property of his sons. The 
building and machinery were destroyed by 
fire in 1878, but rebuilt the same year. It is 
now owned by J. D., George N., and C. B. 
Moore. 

During most of the time since the sur- 



vey of the village a small mercantile 
business has been carried on at Ballville. C. 
B. Moore has been in the grocery business 
since 1876. 

THE UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH.* 

The name United Brethren has been 
adopted successively by four distinct and 
separate religious organizations. Early in the 
fifteenth century a church was formed in 
Bohemia, Germany, similar to that of the 
Waldenses, which took the name United 
Brethren. In the sixteenth century a part of 
the German Reformed church united with the 
Waldenses, and formed what was called the 
Church of the United Brethren. In the 
eighteenth century was organized the Church 
of the Moravians or The Renewed United 
Brethren. These churches, though similar in 
name, faith, and practice, had no 
ecclesiastical connection. 

The Church of the United Brethren in 
Christ was organized in the city of 
Baltimore, Maryland, in 1775. Its principal 
founder was Rev. William Otterbein, a 
minister of the German Reformed church. He 
had been sent as a missionary to America 
from Dillenberg, Germany, and after 
preaching in southeastern Pennsylvania and 
northern Maryland several years with great 
success as a revivalist, he organized an 
independent church which at first was called 
the Evangelical Reformed church, then the 
United Brethren church, and finally, to avoid 
a mixing of titles with the Moravians or 
United Brethren, it was called the Church of 
the United Brethren in Christ. 

The co-laborers of Otterbein in this work 
were Rev. Martin Boehm, Rev. Christian 
Newcomer, and Rev. John Neiding, each of 
the Mennonite church, and Rev. George A. 
Guething and John G. Pfrimmer, of the 
German Reformed church. 



: By Jacob Burgner. 



598 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



The first great meeting (grosze versamm- 
lung), and the one which suggested the name 
United Brethren, was held at Mr. Isaac 
Long's in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, 
and was attended largely by members of the 
Lutheran, German Reformed, Mennonite, 
Tunker and Amish persuasions. 

The labors of these ministers and others 
who joined them, were for half a century 
confined almost exclusively to the Germans 
in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. 

Since the year 1825, the German language 
in many places has entirely given place to 
the English, and the church has also spread 
in English communities, where it was 
formerly unknown. 

Among the earliest religious workers in 
Sandusky county, Ohio, were the local and 
travelling preachers of the church of the 
United Brethren in Christ. 

Previous to the year 1833 a strong tide of 
emigration set in towards the north-west, and 
among the emigrants to the Sandusky Valley 
were quite a number of United Brethren 
families, including some local preachers. 
These held religious meetings in their 
respective neighborhoods and prepared the 
way for the missionaries or travelling 
preachers which were sent into this region 
by the Muskingum conference, as early as 
the year 1829. They had a string of 
appointments extending from Mount 
Pleasant, Pennsylvania, to Lower Sandusky, 
Ohio. In common with other pioneers these 
preachers endured many trials and privations 
and performed much toilsome and difficult 
work for very meager salaries. They often 
met with abundant success in revival 
meetings and in the organization of religious 
societies, but owing in part to the constant 
shifting of population, they did not succeed 
in establishing permanent societies, and 
building churches as well as those who came 
later and labored in towns and villages. 



Their preaching places were mostly at 
private houses or barns, or in log school- 
houses, often in widely separated neighbor- 
hoods, reached only by winding roads or 
paths cut through the woods. These routes 
were often almost impassable on account of 
high water and an almost interminable black, 
sticky mud. They travelled usually on foot or 
on horseback, and preached every day in the 
week and two or three times on Sunday. 
Their meetings were as well attended on 
weekdays as on Sunday. Farmers in those 
days cheerfully left their work to attend 
religious services. In times of big meetings 
they came from several adjoining 
neighborhoods, even in bad weather and 
over bad roads, on foot, on horseback, and 
not unfrequently in large wagons or sleds, 
drawn by ox-teams. Thirteen persons 
constituted a Methodist load, but United 
Brethren load was as many as you could pile 
on. At these meeting the early pioneers 
manifested a large-hearted hospitality, 
unaffected sociability, and much religious 
enthusiasm. 

In the year 1822 Rev. Jacob Bowles came 
from Frederick county, Maryland and settled 
near Lower Sandusky (now Fremont, Ohio). 
He was the first Evangelical preacher in the 
Black Swamp. He preached faithfully to the 
new settlers, as he had opportunity, and 
opened his doors to the Methodists and to 
ministers of other denominations. A few 
preaching, places were thus established, a 
few classes formed, and in 1829 the general 
conference of the United Brethren church 
recognized a circuit called the Sandusky 
circuit. At the next session of the 
Muskingum conference Jacob Bowlus was 
elected presiding elder of the Sandusky 
district, and John Zahn was appointed to 
travel Sandusky circuit. In the year 1830 Mr. 
Bowlus was re-elected presiding elder, and 
Israel Harrington and J. Harrison as- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



599 



signed to Sandusky circuit. These four, 
Zahn, Bowlus, Harrington, and Harrison are 
said to have been the first pioneer itinerant 
preachers of this church in Northwestern 
Ohio. During the next four years Sandusky 
circuit was supplied with, travelling 
preachers by the Muskingum conference. 

In the year 1833 the general conference of 
the United Brethren church made ar- 
rangements for the organization of the 
Sandusky conference. 

The new conference held its first session 
on the 12th day of May, 1834, at the house 
of Philip Bretz, on Honey Creek, in Seneca 
county, Ohio. Bishop Samuel Hiestand 
presided. Preachers present — John Mussel, 
Jacob Bowlus, George Hiskey, Jeremiah 
Brown, C. Zook; John Crum, W. T. Tracy, 
Jacob Bair, O. Strong, H. Erret, John Smith, 
L. Easterly, Philip Cramer, B. Moore, Daniel 
Strayer, Israel Harrington, Jacob Ciunt, H. 
Kimberlin, J. Fry, J. Alsop, Jacob Garber, 
Stephen Lillibridge, and John Davis 
[familiarly known in Northwestern Ohio as 
"Pap" Davis, the hatter]. Mr.. Davis labored 
with great faithfulness as a travelling 
preacher for many years, much of the time as 
a presiding elder. On a salary of from 
seventy-five dollars to one hundred and fifty 
dollars, he travelled on horseback from 
Crawford county, Ohio, to Allen county, 
Indiana, four times a year; year after year. 
The roads were extremely bad, but he 
seldom missed an appointment, never 
complained, and always wore a smile as he 
entered the cabin's of the West. 

Stephen Lillibridge, during the eight short 
years of his itinerancy, travelled, the Black 
Swamp at a salary of less than one hundred 
dollars a year and preached nineteen hundred 
and thirty-sermons, as shown by his diary. 
He died at the early age of twenty-eight. 



Among other successful evangelists who 
travelled the Black Swamp may be mentioned 
Rev. Joseph Bever, Rev. Samuel Long, Rev. 
Michael Long,, and Rev. J. C. Bright. 

The second session of the Sandusky 
conference was held at the house of A. Beck, in 
Crawford county, Ohio, April 15, 1835. The 
following were received: Jacob Newman, 
Joseph Bever, Jeremiah Brown, George 
Newman, H. G. Spayth;* J. C. Rice, and 
Joseph Logan. 

In the first assignment to the fields of labor, 
Benjamin Moore and Joseph Bever were sent 
to travel the Sandusky circuit, which then 
extended across Sandusky county, and into the 
present counties of Ottawa, Huron, and Seneca. 
Rev. M. Long also travelled the circuit during 
the latter half of the year. 

The other circuits of the conference were 
Maumee, Scioto, Richland, and Owl Creek, in 
Knox county, travelled respectively by S. 
Lillibridge, J. Alsop, J. Davis, and B. 
Kaufman. 

The third session of Sandusky conference 
was held at the house of J. Crum, in Wood 
county, Ohio, April 26, 1836. Preachers 
received — John Dorcas, T. Hastings, Francis 
Clymer, Michael Long, Alfred Spracklin, and 
William Williams. 

Jacob Bowlus was chosen presiding elder, 
and the assignments to fields of labor were: 
Sandusky circuit, J. Davis; Swan Creek, S. 
Lillibridge; Richland, Dorcas and B. Kaufman; 
Mt. Vernon; Jacoli Newman; Maumee, John 
Long; Findlay Mission, Michael Long. 

The first delegates to the general, conference 
of the United Brethren church from the Black 
Swamp were John Dorcas and George Hiskey, 
in 1837. 

The salaries paid during the year 1835-36 
were: J. Brown, presiding elder, $16; B. 
Moore, $76; B. Kaufman, $49; Joseph 



:|: Author of History of United Brethren Church. 



600 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Bever, $40; M. Long, $41; S. Lillibridge, 
$80; Jonas Fraunfelder, $2.50; and Samuel 
Hiestand, bishop, $20.50. 

The circuits comprised from a dozen to 
twenty or more preaching places, and the 
preacher was obliged to travel about two 
hundred miles in making one round, which 
he usually completed in from two to four 
weeps. The following is an outline from 
memory of the appointments of Sandusky 
circuit in 1835, as given by Rev. Joseph 
Bever: 

Commencing at Peter Bevers, north of Melmore, 
Seneca county, I went successively to Philip Bretz's, 
east of Melmore; Solomon Seary's, southeast of 
Melmore; Fred Rhodes, north of Republic; Mr. Payne's, 
in Huron county; the Snow school-house, near Amsden s 
corners, now Bellevue; Jacob Bowlus, west of Fremont; 
Port Clinton, Ottawa county; McNamor's or Zink's, 
south of Fremont; Mr. Gaines, southwest of Fremont; 
James Mathews, near Bas-com; Mr. Bodine's, near 
Fostoria; school-house near Gilboa; Dr. Hastings, on 
Tawas Creek; Philip Cramer's, on same; Mr. Bixler's, 
east of Findlay; Father Brayton's, Springville (father of 
the Brayton captured by the Indians); Mr. Wyant's, 
Tyamochtee, and at other places occasionally. It took me 
three weeks, travelling every day, to make the round in 
good weather, and I received for my salary twenty-five 
dollars! 

The following is a list of the preachers who 
travelled the old Sandusky and the Green 
Creek circuits from the year 1834 to 1881: 
Benjamin Moore, Joseph Bever, M. Long, 
John Davis, John Dorcas, S. Lillibridge, J. C. 
Bright, S. Hadley, John Lawrence*, P. J. 
Thornton, D. Glancy, B. J. Needles, William 
Bevington, Wesley Harrington, R. Wicks, 
Jacob Newman, John French, William Jones, 
James Long, H. Curtis, S. T. Lane, B. G. 
Ogden, A. M. Stemen, Silas Foster, William 
Miller, Peter Fleck, R. K. Wyant, J. Mathews, 
D. F. Cender, S. H. Raudabaugh, D. D. Hart, 
B. M. Long, E. B. Maurer, A. Powell, D. S. 
Caldwell, and T. D. Ingle. 

Sandusky county is now (1881) divided 
among five circuits: Green Creek, Bay Shore, 
Clyde, Sandusky, and Eden, com- 

^Author of History of United Brethren Church. 



prising eighteen societies in this county. 
Green Creek was detached from the old 
Sandusky in 1834, and lies mostly in Ball- 
ville township. It has five societies, three 
churches, and one parsonage. The United 
Brethren church and parsonage, at Green 
Spring, were built in 1871-72-73, under the 
direction of Rev. S. H. Raudabaugh. The Mt. 
Lebanon United Brethren church, two miles 
southeast of Fremont, was built in 1864. The 
first trustees were: Rev. M. Long, Rev. M. 
Bulger, Rev. N. Young, Anson Eldridge, and 
John Batzole. The society was formed by the 
union of the classes at the Batzole and 
Dawley school-houses. The superintendents 
of Mt. Lebanon Sabbath-school from 1864 to 
1881 were: Rev. N. Young, Sidney Young, 
Charles Young, Rev. N. S. Long, Rev. B. M. 
Long, Jacob Burgner, J. W. Worst, and Hugh 
C. Smith. 

The church at Hoover's Corners, or Hard 
Scrabble, which is used jointly by the United 
Brethren church and the Evangelical 
Association, was built by the latter about the 
year 1854. 

A class of the United Brethren in Christ 
was formed of citizens living in the neigh- 
borhood of the mouth of Wolf Creek. It was 
organized as the "Clinger Class," April 20, 
1860, Samuel Jacoby at that time being 
circuit preacher. The first members were: 
John and Catharine Sibberrel, Samuel and 
Anna Clinger, Rachel Turner, Jacob and 
John Ridgley, Lucinda, John, and Lucinda B. 
Hite, Mary Clinger, Jane Hudson, and Mary 
Mills. A meeting-house was built that year 
and the class became known as Wolf Creek 
congregation. It has a membership of about 
seventy, and has preaching service each 
alternate Sabbath. A summer Sunday-school 
has been maintained from the first, but in 
1880-81 it was kept up with profit and 
interest throughout the year, winter as well 
as summer. 




Re/. Michdd Long 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



601 



UNION CHURCH. 

The citizens along the river about four 
miles south of Ballville felt the need of a 
more convenient place for holding religious 
services, and in 1868 contributed and built 
what is known as Union Chapel, for the use 
of all denominations. Rev. E. Bushnell, of 
Fremont, supplied the pulpit for a short time. 

Rev. Mr. Willard, of Tiffin, organized a 
class according to the discipline of the 
German Reformed church in 1870, and held 
services in this house. Messrs. Kesselman 
and Smith have served since. Preaching is 
nut regularly maintained. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



REV. MICHAEL LONG. 

The subject of this sketch is the son of 
Daniel and Margaret (Brill) Long, who were 
born in the State of Pennsylvania. Their son, 
Michael Long, was born May 3, 1814, in 
Guernsey county, Ohio. He was educated in 
attending the common schools of the 
neighborhood, and worked on a farm until he 
entered the ministry of the United Brethren 
church, in Sandusky, in the year 1835. He 
afterwards, on the 20th of April, 1837, 
married Sarah Gear, of the same county. Mr. 
Long had emigrated from Guernsey to 
Sandusky in the year 1834. Rev. Michael 
Long is still living with this wife, Sarah, by 
whom he has had five children yet living, 
namely: De-sire Angeline, who is married to 
Martin Mowrer, of Ballville township; 
Newton S., who married Carry C. Stahl, 
daughter of Jacob Stahl. (This son is 
laboring in the ministry at Osceola, Wyandot 
county, Ohio); Barzillai M., not married, a 
minister, now stationed at Galion, Ohio; 
Sarah Calista, now wife of Professor John 
Worst, superintendent of the schools at 
Elmore, 



Ohio; M. DeWitt, who married Pauline C. 
McCahan, and is now principal of Roanoke 
Academy, Roanoke county, Indiana, and 
who is also an ordained minister of the 
United Brethren church. 

Mr. Long has continually, since the 
commencement of his labors as a preacher, 
been in the service of the church, some- 
times as an itinerant preacher, sometimes on 
a station, and for a number of years as 
presiding elder. 

Mr. Long's services in the United Brethren 
church are set forth in an address delivered 
at a ministerial association, held in Attica, 
Seneca county, Ohio, in 1879. We here give 
the address in full, which relates many 
hairbreadth escapes, and also most palpably 
illustrates his zeal in the work he was 
engaged in. He is endowed with remarkable 
physical powers, weighs near two hundred 
pounds, and his voice is remarkable for its 
strength and power to reach the outermost 
limits of the largest gathering at any camp 
meeting. The following anecdote is told by a 
friend who happened to live about three 
miles from where a camp-meeting was in 
progress several years ago. A stranger 
enquired of the man where the camp-meeting 
was, and what road to take to get there. The 
farmer told him to listen, and on being silent 
a moment, the voice of Michael Long in full 
exercise came through the woods. The 
stranger was told to follow the sound, and he 
would find the camp-meeting about three 
miles distant in that direction. If there ever 
was a harder worker for the church than 
Michael Long, he has not been found in this 
vicinity. And he is still at the same work, 
and, no doubt, will be while life and strength 
are given him to work. He lives on a farm 
about three miles southeast of Fremont, and 
is still a hearty, vigorous and courageous 
man. Read the address, and you may gather a 
faint idea from it of Mr. 



602 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Long's labors in preaching the gospel. The 
address is as follows: 

I recollect a little over forty years ago I joined the 
Sandusky annual conference, and I have not forgot-ten 
the way preachers were then taken into conference. 
There was not half the trouble getting into conference 
then that there is now. Those days are gone by, and I do 
not wish to speak of or recall them now. I well recollect 
when I started on my first circuit, which was four 
hundred miles around, numbering twenty-eight 
appointments. It took me four weeks to get around the 
circuit; there was not to my recollection one meeting- 
house in the entire conference; we preached, as a 
general thing, in private houses. The outline of my work 
was something after the following: Northeast three miles 
below Port Clinton, on the lake; southeast, near 
Bucyrus; southwest, on the Auglaize, twelve miles 
below Find-lay. The points alluded to were the outposts 
of my field of labor. My salary the first year was forty 
dollars, although it was not quite a full year. My second 
year I was appointed to Findlay mission; I had given to 
me two appointments to start with; I increased my 
appointments to about one dozen; it was a year of great 
success. During that year I received into church 
fellowship about one hundred and sixty members; a 
revival spirit continued the whole year. I held one camp- 
meeting that year at which there were between forty and 
fifty conversions. There were wonderful demonstrations 
of God's power manifested during the meeting; many 
fell to the earth and lay for hours as dead, and when 
raised from that state they generally shouted "glory." 
This manner of demonstration was very general during 
that meeting. Surely God was there to kill and make 
alive. There was one circumstance transpired during that 
camp meeting very much like the one we read of in 
Mark, the ninth chapter. The conversion of Brother 
Galbreath was almost like that of St. Paul. Through the 
persuasion of his daughter he went with her to my 
meeting and then and there he became so powerfully 
convicted that on his way home he fell from his horse to 
the ground, where he lay for sometime. When he came 
to, his daughter was on her knees by his side praying for 
him, and holding both their horses. Surely his 
conversion all the way through was marvelous. I 
remember of forming what we then called Huron 
mission; it was an entire new field. The conference got 
up a subscription for me to the amount of thirty dollars, 
although I never got it all. With that encouragement I 
started, having no assurance of any other support, but 
still I had a good time; the grace of God sustained me, 
and I had plenty to eat, such as it was. 

I remember near this place (Attica, Seneca county, 
Ohio), or within a few miles of there, of crossing what 
we then called the Swamp bridge. The people on the 
west side of the bridge said they would go over 



the bridge to hear Long preach. There were about 
seventy on the bridge at once. It was built with great 
logs-they were all afloat and would not lie still, and 
some of the people got a very little wet, but on they 
went. They reached the place of worship, and we had a 
good time, as some of them, no doubt, remember well. I 
am not a little happy to look on some of those faces at 
this convention. Little did I think that I would live to see 
a ministerial association held on my missionary ground. 
I will now speak of some other circumstances. 

I well remember when I travelled in the Maumee 
country, I would pass trains of Indians near half a mile 
long. I recollect preaching on this side of the Maumee 
River and then would ford the river and preach on the 
west side, and when I crossed the river I would take 
corn in my saddle-bags to feed my horse. One place I 
preached at they were real old Yankees. I asked them 
what they thought I was? They said they could see that I 
was a Yankee. I just let them have it so. We did not 
quarrel over our pedigree, nor over what we had to eat; 
it all tasted good so long as it lasted. We were thankful 
those days if we had a little corn-bread and a little 
venison. There was a difference between those days and 
the present. Oh, Lord, bring back some of the old 
kindred feelings that used to characterize this church. In 
those days there were but few bridges across the rivers 
in this country. When on my first mission in Hancock 
county I had to cross the Auglaize River some nine 
times; my mission was so assigned that I could not do 
otherwise. I often would swim my horse across the river. 
I recollect of one time at-tempting to cross on the ice, to 
go to my quarterly meeting Rev. Z. Crom was my 
presiding elder, and my mission was his district. In 
those days we had local presiding elders; they would 
have one, two, three, or four circuits to preside over. I 
was the first man that spoke out in the conference in 
answer to the bishop when the question was asked, "Will 
you have local or traveling presiding elders?" I said 
travelling, and it raised a commotion for a little while, 
but it subsided. My elder and I, in crossing the Auglaize 
River, near the mouth of Riley Creek-it was in the 
spring of the year, and the ice was then very rotten. The 
elder's horse being the smallest I told him to cross first. 
He got across all right. 1 took off my saddle and saddle- 
bags, took my horse by the bridle and started, and when 
I got near the middle of the river the ice broke and my 
horse went under all but his head. I kept ahead of the 
horse; the bridle pulled off, and when I caught hold of 
the halter he made a number of springs. He finally 
succeeded in getting nearer the shore, and the ice bore 
him up. I then led him to the shore, put my saddle on 
him, and, having but about two miles to go to the 
appointment, I went those two miles in pretty quick 
time. My horse came out all right, 

I recollect another circumstance in going from El- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



603 



more to the lake. The first four miles (all the way forest) 
brought me to Tousaint Creek. It being high I swam my 
horse across. I then had eight or ten miles yet through 
the woods to the lake. When I came to the prairie I came 
into a French settlement. It was so fenced up that there 
was no way getting through without going through the 
field or through Turtle Marsh. I called at a house. A 
French woman came out and muttered her French and 
motioned across the marsh. I started across, but had not 
gone more than one rod when my horse fell over some 
timbers of some kind. I slid off from my horse into the 
marsh, held on to the bridle, and got out on the same 
side. I think it was a little different from the Slough of 
Despond that Bunyan speaks of. I know the Lord did not 
want me to go through Turtle Marsh. The citizens told 
me that some French ponies bad gone through, but an 
English horse could not. By that time a boy came there. 
I told him I wanted to go through the field. He opened 
the fence and let me through. I asked him if they had 
any meeting in their place. He said they had. I wanted to 
know who preached for them. He said the priest. I asked 
no more questions — I conjectured the rest. It was 
enough; the Lord delivered me out of Turtle Marsh. 

Well, you see something of the trials of one of the old 
itinerants of Sandusky conference. I recollect when my 
circuit led through Wood county, at one time I came to 
the Portage River, near New Rochester; the river was 
very high. It extended all over the bottom about forty 
rods. The water had taken away part of the bridge. The 
middle bent and the one that extended to the shore on 
the east side was all that was left. Heavy timbers being 
laid on the bridge held those two bents and stringers 
together. I first got on the bridge and tried its strength. I 
then led my horse on the first part; then he had to jump 
down about two feet on the middle part of the bridge. I 
then led him to the end of that part, then made him jump 
into the water. It was about mid-sides to my horse. He 
then was so far from me that I jumped into the water and 
waded a few rods. I saw a stump extended above the 
water. I got onto the stump and then onto my horse, and 
after riding twenty or thirty rods my horse had to swim 
the rest of the way, Whenever I started for the west 
branch of Portage I had about one-half a mile from the 
river to the main woods. Before I got to the woods I 
heard a wonderful noise. I could not tell what it was till 
all at once a terrible storm broke upon me. 



The timbers or trees fell all around me. I turned my 
horse and ran him back to the river, jumping him over 
the timber that fell. By that time the storm had passed 
over. I then again went on my way. When I came to the 
west branch of Portage I kept up the river, diet not cross 
it. When I came within one-half mile of Brother Crum's 
the water again extended over the road so that my horse 
had to swim. When over or through the water I then got 
down into my stirrups and commenced singing, and sang 
all the way till I reached the house, and felt fine to 
preach for them at night — just as happy as I well could 
be. God said: "My grace is sufficient. As thy day is so 
shall thy grace be." 

Let me state one more recollection. Well do I 
remember crossing what was known as the Lance bridge, 
a little west of Carey. My appointment was at Father 
Shoup's. The bridge across the prairie was one mile 
long, and there had been heavy rains, and on the south 
end of the bridge the freshet had taken away about two 
rods of the bridge. The rails had been laid tight one 
against another on the sod. At this place loose rails had 
been laid for people to walk over, about fifteen or 
twenty inches apart. It looked rather dangerous; there 
was no water there, yet I knew not what a wonderful 
place it was. I took off my saddle and knelt down and 
implored God to help me as on other occasions. 1 took 
my horse by the bridle, intending to lead him by the side 
of the loose rails, and as I started and stepped quick, 
intending the horse to walk by the side of the rails, he at 
once sprang upon the rails and followed me over; I 
returned my grateful thanks to the Lord. I then walked 
back and got my saddle, and got upon my horse, and 
went to my appointment. They asked me what way I 
came. I told them. They were alarmed when I told them 
how I crossed the prairie, knowing that some of the 
bridge was gone, that scattering loose rails were laid for 
people to walk over. A pole could be run down twenty 
feet anywhere near that place. So I was convinced the 
Lord safely led roe through. Now, my dear brethren, I 
have just noted down a little of the travels of an early 
itinerant. Those days were days of grace, and not days 
of money or high salaries. Those days were days of 
grace and glory; many loud hallelujahs went up to God. 
Those days were days of love to God and love toward 
each other; no sparring, no trying to excel. The glory of 
God and the salvation of the world was the grand theme. 



GREEN CREEK 



GREEN CREEK township embraces an 
area six miles square, bounded on the 
north by Riley, on the east by York, on the 
south by Seneca county, and on the west by 
Ballville. The surface is more undulating 
than any other part of the county, except in 
the immediate vicinity of the river in 
Ballville township. Three well defined sand 
ridges Ingle through the township in a 
northeast and southwest direction. The roads 
on the summit of these ridges are the oldest, 
the ridges being followed on account of their 
dryness. These roads in dry weather become 
almost impassable for heavily freighted 
wagons, as the wheels sink in the sand to the 
depth of six inches, causing resistance 
almost as great as clay mud in spring time. 
These roads are always best just after a 
dashing rain. 

The township is drained by three creeks of 
considerable size, all flowing the whole 
length of the territory from south to north. 
Farthest east is Raccoon Creek, which passes 
through the village of Clyde. Through the 
centre flows South Creek, which rises in this 
township. The stream of greatest size is 
Green Creek, the two branches of which 
meet about one mile and a half from the 
Seneca county line. The west branch rises in 
Seneca county, its source being a spring 
which discharges about six hundred cubic 
feet of water per minute. The spring which 
gives rise to the east branch is the most 
celebrated place in the county. 
GREEN SPRING. 

One-half mile north of the Seneca county 
line is a beautiful valley shaded by 



young forest trees, near the centre of which 
is a spring of rare interest, whether 
aesthetically or scientifically considered A 
river of water forces itself through a fissure 
in the rock-bed fifty feet below the surface 
and overflows from a great well ten feet in 
circumference, and reaching to the depth of 
eighteen feet without an obstruction, at the 
rate of more than two barrels per second. 
The water is strongly saturated with sulphur 
and mineral solutions which stain every 
substance coming in contact with it, a rich 
green, varying in shade under the influence 
of light. No-where in nature is to be seen a 
more gorgeous display of coloring than in 
this well on a clear morning when the 
angling rays of the sun, reflected by the 
rising current of clear liquid, give to every 
object an appearance of moving and 
gorgeously colored forms. 

That the Indian has an appreciation of the 
beautiful in nature is shown by the historical 
connections of the place. The surrounding 
grove was once an Indian clearing and at the 
same time a place of resort and amusement. 
Here the chiefs met for consultation and 
mingled with the sulphurous odors of the 
waters the smoke of cannakanick, arrow 
wood and tobacco. 

The Senecas, whose reservation included 
the spring, knew well the medicinal prop- 
erties of the water, and were familiar with its 
uses. There are many traditional stories 
connected with the departure of these 
Indians and the springs. They are of little 
historic value, being probably poetic 
inventions. One of these generally 



604 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



605 



accredited is, that a council of chiefs ordered 
that the spring should be forever destroyed 
before their unwilling departure for the 
unknown regions of the West. Logs were cut 
and thrown into the well lengthwise, 
brushes, earth and stones were piled upon 
them, and the channel thus closed. But the 
force of the ascending current was 
irresistible; water would plow its way 
through the interstices which greatly enraged 
the Indians. A celebrated chief damned the 
water, and to emphasize the curse which he 
had pronounced, placed the muzzle of his 
heavily charged musket in the stubborn 
stream, and fired, but the barrel burst, which 
indicated the disapprobation of the Great 
Spirit, and no further attempts to destroy this 
healer of man's infirmities were made by the 
red men. 

The water has been known to possess 
healing properties ever since the first 
settlement of the country. Year by year the 
number who came to receive its benefits, 
increased, until better accommodations 
became desirable. In the summer of 1868 
Robert Smith, the owner of the property, 
organized a stock company for the 
improvement of the grounds and the erection 
of suitable buildings. Having had the water 
analyzed, the company became sanguine of 
being able to build up a great health 
institution. A large hotel and water cure 
building was erected, and has been open for 
the reception of patients and visitors since 
that time. The company is largely indebted 
to Dr. Sprague, who, by efficient 
management, gave the institution a full share 
of its well deserved popularity. 

From the spring a stream capable of 
turning a large mill, flows through a beauti- 
ful glen. The water at several places in 
Green Creek township contains mineral 
solutions, but nowhere in such per tentage as 
at Green Spring. Fish come up Green Creek 
to within about four miles of its 



source. The bay near the mouth of Green 
Creek is filled with bass and other fish, but 
they are unable to live in sulphur water, 
except very small solution. 

THE SENECAS. 

Considerable attention is given this tribe of 
Indians, or more properly, collection of 
tribes, in the chapter relating to Ballville, 
and also in the general history in the fore 
part of this volume. But as their new council 
house stood within the present boundaries of 
this township, and consequently in later 
years the seat of empire changed, it is proper 
that something should be said in this 
connection descriptive of the habits and life 
of these semi-barbarians. 

They had been driven from their native 
homes in New York, corrupted by contact 
with the border settlements, and as we find 
them in this county from 1818 to 1831, 
confined to a comparatively small tract of 
forty thousand acres. The general description 
which we here present is based upon an 
interview with judge Hugh Welsh, of Seneca 
county, who knew these people well. He, in 
fact, was one among them. It will be seen 
that the distance between the red-skin and 
the white-skin was not so great as is 
commonly supposed. 

The members of the several tribes — 
Wyandots, Mohawks, Oneidas, and Senecas 
— did not speak a language sufficiently 
uniform in vocabulary to carry on common 
conversation. They, however, made each 
other understand their simple wants. Their 
vocabularies were very different. The 
Wyandots called tobacco "hamahmah," the 
Senecas and Mohawks, "mah." The 
Mohawks called a knife "winnasrah," 
accenting the last syllable, while the Senecas 
accented next to the last. 

Quite a number of the Indians had shanties 
built of twelve foot poles, notched at the 
corners like a corn crib, and covered with 
bark. The roof, was also made 



606 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



of bark weighted down with poles. They lived 
in these huts winter and summer, except when 
hunting. They frequently made expeditions to 
trap, hunt, and make sugar. There was more 
game here than further west where there were 
more Indians. There were plenty of deer, bear, 
and wolves. There never were any beaver in 
this vicinity. Venison was the staple food, but 
in winter, while the deer were poor in 
consequence of snow on the .ground, 
raccoons, turkeys, etc., were used for food 
instead of venison. Indians are born strategists 
as well as hunters. Close observation and 
native ingenuity enabled them to invent calls 
by which deer and turkeys were enticed 
almost within reach. Turkeys were called by 
hiding behind a log and sucking air through 
the bone of a turkey wing. In this way a sound 
was made identical with that of a tame turkey 
hen. The deer call was made by blowing 
through a hollow piece of wood with one end 
stopped up and a hole cut in at the side, over 
which was fastened a piece of metal. The 
sound was like that of a young fawn bleating 
ma-aa-a. 

These Indians had a great many ponies, 
almost every man owning one. Many of the 
squaws were also expert riders. The only 
grain they cultivated was corn, which they 
raised in little patches. The corn raised on a 
quarter of an acre would keep two or three 
individuals in that article a whole winter. 
Several methods were employed for preparing 
corn, but the common practice was to boil the 
grain whole, the hull having been removed 
with lye. There was, however, variety in the 
manner of serving their plain fare. The corn 
was sometimes pounded to a meal and sifted 
through a skin with holes punched in it. The 
meal was baked into bread, and the coarser 
pieces remaining in the sieve were made into 
hominy. The pounding was done in a mortar 
made by cutting a tree 



off square and cutting or burning out the 
centre. The pestle was a hard piece of iron- 
wood, made round at both ends. The squaws 
did the pounding as well as cooking. Meat 
was usually boiled with the corn. A 
peculiarity of their eating was that only one 
article was eaten at a time. They never 
mixed different kinds of food in their 
mouths. 

Their corn was long-eared, and had eight 
rows of grains, sometimes entirely blue, 
some almost black, and some a mixture or 
white, blue, and black. It is raised in this 
county yet sometimes, the seed having come 
from the Indians. 

Their kettles were of copper or brass, and 
held from ten to fifteen gallons. These were 
used for making sugar and hominy. They 
made considerable sugar which was used for 
sweetening corn. They tapped the trees by 
cutting in notches with hatchets, and made 
troughs of elm bark, for catching the sap. 
Canoes were made of the same material. 

In the absence of kettles the meat and corn 
was placed on sticks and roasted. The 
Indians were particularly fond of roasting 
ears. They usually ate in smell companies, in 
relationships rather than in families. At 
times food was hard to get, the supply of 
corn having been exhausted, and game 
scarce in spring time. Occasionally they 
were driven to the necessity of boiling old 
deer heads, which were anything but savory. 

The boys used for hunting, bows and 
arrows. The arrows used for shooting low 
were made with heavy steel points, bought 
ready made. Feathers set on with a twist 
were always used on the sharp arrows. They 
hunted squirrels with a blunt arrow, on 
which there was no feather. Boys were given 
the rifle at the age of eighteen. Grown 
Indians generally hunted with the rifle. 

These Indians were almost incessant 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



607 



smokers. Smoking is one of the few customs 
of civilized society to which the red man 
takes naturally. Drinking stimulants is 
another. The inference is that all humanity is 
naturally predisposed to both. The Senecas 
smoked tobacco and the bark of wahoo, 
which they called kannakanick. They also 
smoked the bark of a species of dogwood, 
and sometimes mixed all three of these 
articles in the same pipe. They were what 
has been termed aesthetic smokers, never 
indulging except when at leisure, which was 
the greater part of the time. 

These Indians did their own tanning. If a 
hide was dry, they soaked it in the water of a 
running stream. They then stretched it over a 
smooth log the size of a man's leg, and with 
a knife-blade placed in a curved stick, would 
scrape off all the hair and outside skin; then 
turning, they scraped off the flesh, and laid 
the skin out to dry. They then soaked them 
in deer's brains and warm water worked into 
a suds. After leaving them to soak two or 
three days, these self-taught tanners dressed 
them by rubbing with a stone much like 
those called axes, which are sometimes 
ploughed up in the fields. The skins were 
frequently palled during this operation. The 
leather thus tanned was colored by digging a 
hole in the ground, hanging the hides on 
sticks standing upright in this hole and 
throwing in burning rotten wood until the 
color suited. 

Judge Welsh says: 

When I first knew the Indians, the men dressed in 
moccasins and leggings, a calico shirt reaching to the 
knees or hips, and above a jacket, or some garment. The 
principal dress was, however, one of the Canadian 
blankets fastened with a belt. The arm was protected 
with deer-skin from brush in the woods. They wore 
bracelets and ornaments on the breast. The squaws wore 
broadcloth long enough to fasten with a belt at the waist. 
Above they wore a jacket; they had moccasins and 
leggings. They wore hats got from the whites, when they 
could get them, otherwise nothing. Leggings were worn 
much by the whites; rattlesnakes could not well strike 
through 



them. The Indians were fond of paints, using them 
especially in their war dances. For red they used blood- 
root; for yellow, some other root, the name of which is 
not recalled; and for black, coal mixed with grease or 
oil. 

The Indians indulged much in gaming, 
foot-racing, horse-racing, and wrestling be- 
ing the favorite sports. The burial customs of 
the Wyandots were like the whites. The 
Mohawks buried along Honey Creek, in 
Seneca county. The body was placed in a 
sort of box made of slabs or poles. The 
Sauks, Foxes, and Pottawattomies placed the 
body in a sitting posture on the ground, and 
built a pen around of sticks and logs. 
SETTLEMENT. 

Sometime during the war of 1812 Samuel 
Pogue, a soldier in General Harrison's army, 
drove a stake near the spring in the west part 
of Clyde, and declared his intention of 
settling at that place after the cessation of 
hostilities. It is also learned from tradition 
that after viewing the surrounding country 
from the elevation on the other side of the 
creek, he ventured the prophesy that 
sometime A town would occupy that land. 
This prophesy was made nearly seventy 
years ago, when Fort Stephenson and a few 
army trails were the only evidence, in this 
county, of the existence of white men; when 
the forest abounded in the native animals of 
the locality; railroads existed only in the 
fancy of dreamy philosophers. But when Mr. 
Pogue, in 1820, came to take formal 
possession of the land lie had selected, he 
found a hastily built cabin occupied by the 
family of Jesse Benton. Benton had preceded 
him but a few weeks, and was attracted by 
the same spring and general surroundings. A 
squatter's title is possession, and Benton had 
possession, but being a typical squatter Mr. 
Pogue surmised his weak point and brought 
to bear on him the strongest temptation to 
abdicate the favorite tract. 



608 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



The offer of a barrel of whiskey accom- 
plished the purpose, and the cabin was 
vacated. Benton built a cabin further up the 
creek, and put out a tavern sign. This was an 
ideal pioneer tavern. One of the early settlers 
of York township informs us that he once 
stopped at Benton's when the table fare 
consisted entirely of squash. It was not the 
fault of the proprietor of this forest tavern, 
for it was simply impossible to obtain other 
food. 

But before proceeding with this sketch it is 
proper that we should go back to mention the 
first family in the township — the Bakers. 
Samuel Baker, sr., emigrated from New 
York to Ohio in the winter of 1818 with a 
family of one son and four daughters. This 
was the first family to penetrate the woods 
of Green Creek and begin life among the 
Indians. The oldest son, Samuel, who died 
recently, was acquainted with the life of this 
community from its beginning. A biography 
of the family will be found in this volume. 
The Cleveland family settled in this 
township soon afterwards. A biographical 
sketch is given in this chapter. 

Samuel Pogue was accompanied to the 
township by his stepson, Lyman F. Miller, 
Silas Dewey, Giles Thompson, and Amos 
Fenn. The farm on which lie built his cabin 
and commenced a clearing was purchased at 
the first Government sale. After the death of 
Mr. Pogue it came into possession of his 
stepson, Lyman Miller, and his son-in-law, 
George R. Brown, who, after the railroads 
were built laid it out in lots, as will be seen 
further along. 

These first families, Clevelands, Bakers, 
Pogue, Dewey, and Fenn, were not squatters 
in the common sense of that term. They 
came with the idea of staying-improving 
their farms and buying the land when it was 
placed upon the market. The squatter, in the 
commonly accepted sense of the term, was 
one who found a place 



to live in the wild country where he could 
supply the simple wants of his appetite 
without the inconvenience of hard labor. He 
reasoned well that it would be folly to stir 
his blood by swinging an axe for the benefit 
of the man who would eventually crowd him 
off. This class of squatters became a peculiar 
people. Living between the savage red man 
and the hard working pioneer, they became 
semi-savage. It should, therefore, be 
remembered that there is a wide difference 
between "squatters" and "squatter settlers," 
of which last-named class the pioneers of 
Green Creek belong. Thus having given a 
glimpse of the beginning of white 
occupation, we will now proceed to sketch 
briefly the general settlement of the town- 
ship. 

Amos Fenn was born in Litchfield county, 
Connecticut, in September, 1793. His 
educational facilities were limited, but a 
taste for reading led him to employ his 
leisure time in the acquisition of informa- 
tion, so that he became a remarkably well 
posted man. At the age of fifteen, his father 
having died, he was apprenticed at the trade 
of house carpentering. In 1817 he came to 
Ohio, and landed first at the mouth of the 
Huron, then went to Ogontz Place, now 
Sandusky. He was accompanied on this 
journey by Silas Dewey, with whom he 
afterwards came to Green Creek. While at 
Sandusky he made the acquaintance of W. B. 
Smith, whose sister he married. In February, 
1820, he joined the party consisting of the 
Pogue family, Silas Dewey, and Giles 
Thompson, and came to Clyde. Mr. Camp 
was at that time making the survey of the 
Indian purchase, and found Mr. Fenn a 
valuable employee. When the land came into 
market; Mr. Fenn made a purchase and 
started an improvement. He was in the habit 
of saving the odds and ends of time. He 
occupied bad weather in the manufacture 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



609 



of chairs, which were in demand. Their 
substitution for slab benches was greatly 
appreciated by the labor-burdened settlers. 
Mr. Fenn served as justice of the peace for a 
period of eighteen years from 1843. He was 
also a local preacher of the Methodist 
church. Mrs. Fenn died in June, 1839. In 
1840 he married Mrs. Brace, of Erie county, 
who is yet living. Mr. Fenn died January 16, 
1879. 

Lyman Miller removed from New York 
with his mother, his father having died some 
years before, and settled at Huron. His 
mother was married to Samuel Pogue at 
Huron, who in 1820 came to Green Creek. 
Mr. Miller attended the first school in the 
township, which was taught by Joshua 
Fairchilds. In 1835 he married Melissa 
Harkness, daughter of Dr. Harkness, of the 
Corners. His connection with the founding 
of Clyde is noticed in this chapter. 

Giles Thompson, who lived on the op- 
posite side of the creek from Mr. Pogue, was 
a man of good character. His wife was an 
invalid. 

Jonathan Rathbun, grandfather of Saxton 
S. Rathbun, one of the oldest residents of the 
county, came to Sandusky county in 1820, 
and settled on what is now known as the 
Persing farm. He had four sons — Clark, 
Chaplin, Lucius, and Martin. Clark remained 
a few years, and then returned to New York. 
Chaplin lived and died in this township, on 
the place where S. S. Rathbun now lives. 
Lucius remained in the township, and reared 
a large family. He died in Michigan. Martin 
lived in the township a number of years, 
moved to Michigan, and died there. The 
daughters were: Sally, Marvel, Eliza, and 
Laura. Sally married Roswell Merrill, lived 
in Green Creek some years, and then 
returned to New York. Marvel married 
Lyman Jones, and lived and died in the 
township. Eliza married Anon Mil- 



liman, resided in Green Creek some time, 
and died in Michigan. Laura married John 
Davidson, and died in this town-ship. 

Chaplin and Lucinda (Sutliff) Rathbun 
came from Lorain county in 1824. They 
were born in New York State. Of their 
children one son and four daughters are 
living, viz: Saxton S., Janet (Cleveland), and 
Catharine (Huss), Green Creek S Sarah 
(Foster) and Eliza (Hunter), in Indiana. 

S. S. Rathbun was born in Livingston 
county, New York, in 1813. In 1835 he 
married Barbara Huss. She bore hire eleven 
sons and two daughters. The daughters and 
five of the sons are still living, viz: Norton 
G., Green Creek; Saxton Burton, Green 
Creek; Chaplin L., Ballville; Mary Lucinda 
(Storer), Green Creek; Martin Brace, Green 
Creek; Orvilla (Sackrider), Green Creek; and 
John E., Ballville. 

Norton G. Rathbun was born in Sandusky 
county, Ohio, September 19, 1839. He is a 
son of Saxton S. and Barbara Rathbun, of 
this township. Mr. Rathbun was brought up 
and educated in Green Creek township. 
When young he travelled for some time in 
the West. He was married December 25, 
1865, to Miss Elizabeth Hufford, daughter of 
Cornelius and Mary Hufford, of Ballville 
township. They have three children — Edwin, 
Arthur, and Herman. Mr. Rathbun was 
elected county commissioner in 1878, and is 
at present serving in that capacity. 
Previously he was superintendent of the 
infirmary. 

Samuel McMillan came from Livingston 
county, New York, to Thompson township, 
Seneca county, in 1818, where he improved 
a farm and planted apple and peach seeds. In 
1821 he purchased a tract of land near the 
present site of Clyde, and removed there 
with his family, consisting of a wife and five 
children. He brought to the 



610 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



township the first fruit trees — the growth 
from the seeds planted in Seneca county. 
Their children settled as follows: Samuel, in 
Central Ohio; Henry (deceased), in the 
western part of Clyde; Sibyl, wife of Norton 
Russell, York township; Nancy, widow of 
Elder Isaac May, Townsend; Luther P. 
settled in Wisconsin, where he died; Betsy 
died at Amsden's Corners, in 1818. 

Henry McMillan married Sophia Beau- 
camp, a native of Guernsey Island, France. 
Their family consisted of seven children, 
only two of whom are living — Nancy and 
Mary. Nancy married Ezra Hall, who was 
born in Vermont, in 1829. He came to Clyde 
in 1852, being employed under a contract to 
lay railroad iron on the Lake Shore & 
Michigan Southern railroad. He has made 
Clyde his home since that time. In 1853 he 
was married to Nancy McMillen, who was 
born in 1833. He is now engaged in 
gardening at Clyde. Their family consisted 
of one child — William. Mary McMillen is 
married to Gideon Rhodes, of Clyde. They 
have two children. 

The following list of voters shows who 
were residents of the township in 1822. The 
poll is of the fall election: Samuel S. Baker, 
Benjamin Collings, Joshua Woodard, Samuel 
Uttley, Samuel Pogue, Josiah Rumery, Levi 
F. Tuttle, Silas Dewey, John J. 
Quackenbush, Jared H. Miner, Clark 
Cleveland, Moses Cleveland, Clark 
Cleveland, jr., Jesse Benton, Roswell 
Merrell, Jacob H. Benjamin, Jonathan 
Rathbun, Andrew McNutt, Lucius Rathbun, 
and Levi Sawyer. The whole number of 
votes at this election was twenty. At the first 
election, held the preceding spring, there 
were seventeen votes cast, but the list of 
names was not preserved. At the election 
held in the spring of 1823, thirty-two votes 
were polled. As these poll sheets 
approximately indicate the changes and 
increase of population, the 



full list is given: Jared H. Miner, Moses 
Cleveland, Josiah Rumery, Andrew Matoon, 
Abram Mauleray, Rozel Merrel, Samuel 
Pogue, Andrew McNutt, Levi Fox, Levi F. 
Tuttle, Jacob Wessels, James Guinall, Levi 
Dunham, John J. Quackenbush, Lucius 
Rathbun, Samuel McMillan, George Jones, 
Joshua Woodard; Samuel S. Baker, George 
Kemp, Albert Guinall, Samuel Baker, Jesse 
Emerson, Harris Reed, Hiram Baker, Jesse 
Benton, Alexander McMurray, Jonathan 
Rathbun, Benjamin Collins, Gideon P. 
Chauncy, Clark Cleveland, Abraham Spunn. 

We add one more list of electors, that of 
the October election, 1831: George S. 
Beven, William Helens, William McPherson, 
Nathan Worster, Boston Shoup, John J. 
Quackenbush, Silas Grover, Amos H. 
Hammond, Luther Porter, Elisha Babcock, 
Reuben Tilson, Silas Dewey, Elial Curtis, 
Hiram Hurd, James Morrill, Lucius Rathbun, 
Hugh Graham, Isaac W. Brown, John 
Netcher, William Netcher, George Hemp, 
Jacob Wessels, Jacob Daggot, John Monroe, 
Chaplin Rathbun, George Jones, Orsanus 
Barnard, Hiram Rice, Shubel Reynolds, 
James Gruinall, James Rumery, Erastus 
Tuttle, Elijah Buell, Jared Hoadley, Samuel 
McMillen, Jason Judd. 

So rapidly did the township fill up after the 
initial, improvements had been made that it 
is impossible even to give the names of all 
settlers, even those who built permanent 
homes. This part of the county has been 
particularly favored with a progressive, 
energetic class of people who have 
accumulated wealth, and given praise worthy 
attention to matters of general culture and 
refinement. Brief mention of some of the 
leading families will not be inappropriate in 
this connection. 

Elisha and Prudence (Hinkley) Babcock 
came from Middlesex, Ontario county, New 
York, in 1823, and settled on 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



611 



Butternut Ridge in Green Creek township, 
where they lived and died. They were among 
the very first settlers, and located in the then 
almost unbroken wilderness. They came by 
team all the way from New York State, from 
Buffalo going a part of the distance upon the 
ice, and arrived in the township in the month 
of March. The first few weeks after their 
arrival the family lived in an old sugar 
shanty until a cabin could be erected. After 
he had arrived and settled down, Mr. 
Babcock found himself with a cash capital of 
just two shillings. 

Elisha Babcock died in 1841, aged fifty- 
four years; Mrs. Babcock in 1857, aged 
seventy-four. They were the parents of three 
sons and two daughters. Their oldest child, 
Esther, was married to Mr. Walldorff in New 
York State before her parents came to Ohio, 
and remained there until tier decease. Laura 
became Mrs. Chapel, and afterwards the wife 
of J. C. Coleman, of Fremont. She is also 
dead. Clark, who married Ann Lee, died in 
Porter county, Indiana. Hiram married Mary 
Ann Lay, and after her decease Josephine 
Woodruff. He died upon the old place in 
Green Creek township about nine years ago. 
He has seven children living — three in this 
county, viz: Thomas, Green Creek; Margaret 
(Leslie); Michigan; Prudence (Drown), 
Pennsylvania; Mary (dray), Wood county; 
Mahala (Craig), Iowa; Clementine, and 
Harry, Green Creek. 

Merlin Babcock, the only representative of 
the original family, was born in 1819, and 
now resides in York township. For his first 
wife he married Almira Dirlam. There were 
three children by this marriage: Sarah 
(Craig), Franklin county; Callie (Kinney), 
York township, and Frank, Clyde. For his 
second wife Mr. Babcock married Agnes 
Donaldson. John, the only child by this 
union, is now a resident of Colorado. 



Adam Smith, a native of Pennsylvania, 
came to Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1820. and 
four years later settled in the western part of 
Green Creek. He died in 1854. Mrs. Smith, 
whose maiden name was Fanny Johnson, died 
in 1879. Their children were Mary 
(Brunthaver), Catharine (Preston), Samuel, 
Adam, and David. 

Noah and Mary (Burkolder) Huss, natives 
of Pennsylvania, settled in Fairfield county in 
1822, and in 1825 in Green Creek township. 
Two of their sons and four of their daughters 
are still living, viz: Mrs. Eleanor Hawk, 
Green Creek; James Huss, Centreville, 
Michigan; Mrs. Barbara Rathbun and Mrs. M. 
J. Mclntyre, Green Creek; Jacob Huss, in 
California, and Mrs. Martha Conelly in Iowa. 

Joseph Hawk was born in Pickaway county, 
in 1814. He came to Sandusky county in 

1825. He married for his first wife Sarah 
Tillotson, by whom he had, four children. For 
his second wife he married Martha Harris, by 
whom he had eight children, all of whom are 
living. Mr. Hawk has always given his 
exclusive attention to farming. 

Truman Grover was born in New York, 
March 13, 1810. He came to Green Creek in 

1826, and in 1835 married Catharine Swart. 
Their family consists of seven children, viz: 
Eunice (Perin); Milo, Frank, Margaret 
(Clapp), Enos, Melvina (Hart), and Ella. 
Ransom died at the age of twenty-one years. 
Mr. Grover has probably made more railroad 
ties than any man in the township, having 
furnished the ties for twenty-eight miles of 
the Michigan & Dayton; while for the 
Cleveland, Sandusky & Cincinnati, he 
furnished all the bridge and culvert timber 
from Green Spring to Castalia. Commencing 
in 1838 he worked about three years on the 
old Ohio railroad. 

One of the old residents, William E. Lay, 
was born in Seneca county (now 



612 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Tompkins county), New York, October 20, 
180g. His parents, John and Mary Lay, 
moved to Ohio in 1816; stopped in Huron 
county a little over a year; moved to Seneca 
county and remained there until 1828, when 
they came to Sandusky county: John Lay 
died at the age of eighty-four, his wife at the 
age of seventy-six. William E. Lay was 
married, April 11, 1-833, to Margaret Lee, of 
Adams township, Seneca county. They have 
had eleven children, nine of whom survive. 
The oldest, Minerva, died in infancy; 
Harkness N., resides at Clyde; Elizabeth, at 
home; Cornelia (Lefever), Green Creek; 
Henry S., at home; Clementine, at home; 
Frank, died at Savannah, Georgia, while in 
his country's service, in the nineteenth year 
of his age. He was in the Seventy-second 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry; was a prisoner at 
Andersonville, and the hardships and 
deprivations of that prison doubtless caused 
his death. Harkness was a member of the 
same regiment and was also imprisoned. 
Fidelia married Cyrus Alexander, Erie 
county. Alice is the wife of Cyrus L. 
Hamden, Clyde. William B. and Mabel are at 
home. 

Samuel Storer was born near the city of 
Portland, Maime, January 22, 1807. He came 
to Ohio with his parents, Joseph and 
Charlotte Storer, who were among the 
pioneers. They settled at Zanesville in 1816; 
remained there ten years, moving to 
Cuyahoga county in 1827. Mr. Storer moved 
to Sandusky county in 1863. He was 
married, in 1831, to Sarah J. Fish, a daughter 
of James Fish, the first permanent settler in 
Brooklyn, Cuyahoga county, Ohio. They 
have seven children living, and three 
deceased, viz: Samuel Elisha (deceased); 
Sarah (Pool), Green Creek; Miranda P. 
(Cunningham), Clyde; James, Cleveland; 
Mary J. (Clapp), Green Creek; Susan M. 
(deceased); Charles W., Green Creek; John 
W. (deceased); Henrietta 



(Huss), Green Creek; and Benjamin A., a 
physician at Republic, Seneca county, While 
Mr. Storer was in Brooklyn he carried on the 
business of tanning; since he settled in this 
county he has been a farmer. Mr. Storer is a 
Republican. Both he and his wife are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal church. 

Francis and Sarah (Swope) Ramsey came 
from Fairfield county, Ohio, to San. dusky 
county in 1830. Three of their children are 
living — David, in Green Creek; Jane, in 
Clyde; and Frank, in Kansas. George died at 
Clyde in 1879. 

David Ramsey was born in Fairfield 
county in 1820. He married Sarah Ann York, 
by whom he had two children — Ella 
(Waugh) and Euphemia (Combs). Mr. 
Ramsey married, for his second wife, 
Charlotte McHenry, by whom he had three 
children, two of whom are living, Belle and 
Grace. Mr. Ramsey has served in various 
local official capacities. 

Willard Perin was born in Massachusetts in 
1802. The family removed to New York, and 
thence to Ohio in 1833. In 1833 Willard 
married Lucy Gale, and lives on the same 
farm on which he settled that year. Mrs. 
Perin died July 31, 1881, aged seventy. 
Their children are: Willard Henry, born in 
1833, killed by a threshing machine in 
Michigan in 1862; Dolly Rebecca, born 
1835, the wife of James B. Drown, Green 
Creek; William Taylor, born 1837; Fernando 
C, born 1839, died in Michigan in 1863; 
Austin G., born 1841, resides at Green 
Creek; Lucy A., born 1844, married Milo 
Grover, Green Creek; Bloomy E., born 1847, 
married John Shaw, Green Creek; Genevra 
A., born 1850, Green Creek. 

John T. Perin, brother of Willard, was born 
in 1820. He came to this county in 1833. In 
1848 he married Miss Gale, by whom he has 
four children. 

William T. Perin, son of Willard Perin, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



613 



married Eunice Grover, of this township, and 
has five children — Perry, Willie, Fannie, 
Frank, and Bertie. 

Christian Huss was born February 21, 
1815, and married, in 1837, Catharine 
Rathbun, who was born in Ontario county, 
New York, in 1818. Her parents removed 
thence to Lorain county, and a few years 
later to Sandusky county. Ten of her twelve 
children are living, viz.: Chaplin, Eliza 
(Morrison), Noah B., Burr, Maurice L., Jane 
(McMillan), Oliver P., Barbara (Young), 
Saxton, and Christian E. Christian Huss died 
in 1864, aged forty-nine years. He came 
from Pennsylvania to Ohio in 1824. 

Hosea and Mary (Harrington) Harnden 
came to the county about 1835, and lived 
about one year on what is now the Hildwein 
farm. Then they moved and lived in different 
parts of the State until 1849, when they 
returned to the township and settled where 
Kneeland Harnden now lives. Jonathan 
Harnden, son of Hosea, came with his 
parents. He married Nancy Smith in Huron 
county, and was the father of nine children, 
six of whom are living, located as follows: 
Hosea and Kneeland, Green Creek; Smith, in 
Ottawa county; Alexander and Cyrus L., 
Clyde, Mary (Tuttle), Clyde. Jonathan 
Harnden died in 1867, aged fifty-two years, 
and Nancy Hamden in 1873, aged fifty-eight. 
Kneeland Harnden was born July 3, 1841, in 
Huron county, now Ashland county, and 
came to Sandusky county with his parents. 
In 1865 he married Hattie Fuller of 
Townsend township. They have two 
children, Minnie and John. 

David Hawk was a native of Pennsylvania, 
and came to Ohio with his parents, Conrad 
and Elizabeth Hawk, when five years old. 
They lived in Huron county, and. later came 
to Sandusky county. In 1819 David Hawk 
married Peanar Buss, barn in Pennsylvania 
in 



1812. Mr. Hawk died, in 1855, aged fifty 
years. He was the father of fourteen 
children, thirteen living: David, Green 
Creek; John, California; Mary (Hutchins), 
Ballville; Lewis, died in Andersonville 
prison — was in the Seventy-second Regi- 
ment Ohio Volunteer Infantry; Noah, Green 
Creek; Charles, Iowa; George, Green Creek; 
Elizabeth (Parker), Iowa; James, Green 
Creek; Eliza (Scholey), Clyde; Clementine 
(Flora), Green Creek; Clarissa (Moore), 
Wood county; Cyrus, Green Creek; Alice 
(Young), Green Creek. 

David Hawk is a son of David and Eleanor 
(Huss) Hawk, both of whom were members 
of some of the early families which settled in 
this township. Mr. Hawk was born in Green 
Creek township February 6, 1830, and his 
home has been here ever since, excepting 
about one year, which he spent in California 
at the time, of the gold digging excitement. 
Mr. Hawk was married, September 1, 1853, 
to Mary O. Mclntyre, daughter of Oliver and 
Maria (Tyler) Mclntyre. His parents, were 
both natives of New York, and she was born 
in Otsego county December 7, 1833. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Hawk have been born five children, 
viz: Frederick, who married Flora Short, and 
resides in this township; Maria, Oliver, 
Ralph, and Laura residing at home. 

Charles Brush was born in the State of 
Pennsylvania, March 30, 1816. In the spring 
of 1833 he came to Ohio with his parents, 
Medad and Armida Brush, who located on 
the farm in Green Creek which he still 
occupies. The Brush family consisted of four 
children — Charles and three sisters: Mary 
Elizabeth (Thorp), Sally, Martha (Dawley), 
and Amanda Jane (Gray). Mrs. Gray died 
some years ago. The others all reside in 
Green Creek township. Charles Brush was 
married, October 26, 1856, to Hannah F. 
Swart, daughter of Conrad and Margaret 
Swart, 



614 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



of Green Creek. This union has resulted in 
two children: Pamela Aurelia, wife of 
Wilton C. Gray, Clyde, and Sarah Jane, wife 
of Willard S. Drown, Green Creek. They 
have also an adopted son, Stephen Sodan, 
now about twenty-one years of age. Mr. 
Brush has held various local offices. 

Orrin and Annis (Gibbs) Dirlam were 
natives of Massachusetts, and Mrs. Dirlam 
died there. In 1833 Mr. Dirlam moved with 
his family to Green Creek township. Three 
of their sons and one daughter are still 
living: Martin Dirlam, Ashland county; Mrs. 
Mary Hutchinson, Green Creek; Franklin 
Dirlam, Townsend; and James Dirlam, Wood 
county. Franklin Dirlam was born in 
Blandford, Massachusetts, December 12, 
1814; came to Ohio with his parents, who 
settled in Green Creek township. Mr. Dirlam 
was married in 1855 to Rebecca Van 
Buskirk, a native of Tuscarawas county, 
born in 1828. Her parents, William and 
Jemima (Lindsey) Van Buskirk, are residents 
of Riley, where they settled in 1833. Mr. and 
Mrs. Dirlam have five children living, two 
deceased: Howard, in Michigan; Adele, 
deceased; Etina, Burt, Inez, Henry B., at 
home. The next, a son, died in infancy. Mr. 
Dirlam served in the Mexican war over a 
year under Colonel Bruff. He has resided in 
Townsend since 1856, and has held the 
office of township trustee. 

Adam Brunthaver, father of the 
Brunthavers of Green Creek and Ballville 
townships, was born in Pennsylvania in 
1787. He married Mary Ridenhour, and first 
settled in Fairfield county, Ohio. In 1835. 
the family moved to this county and settled 
in Green Creek. The family consisted of ten 
children, seven of whom are living, viz.: 
Henry, John, Peter, Mary, Christina, 
Elizabeth, and Leah. Mrs. Mary Brunthaver 
died in 1835. He married again in 1839, 
Mary Smith. The 



family by this wife consisted of twelve 
children, six of whom are living, viz.: Lewis, 
Martin, William, Margaret, Delilah, and 
Martha. Mr. Brunthaver died in 1859, the 
patriarch of a large and respect, able family. 
Peter Brunthaver was born in Fairfield 
county in 1823. He married, in 1847, Mary J. 
Cook, and has a family of seven children 
living, viz.: Charles E., Washington, District 
of Columbia; Samuel W., Wood county; 
Orrin J., Ballville; Frank P., Ballville; 
Lucinda J. (Dawley), Green Creek; Ellen E. 
(Bennett), Wood county, and Minnie E., 
Ballville. Mr. Brunthaver, by trade, is a 
carpenter. He lives on a farm in Ballville 
township. Levis Brunthaver was born in 
Green Creek township in 1839. In 1860 he 
married Laurena Forgerson. Two of their 
four children are living, Elnora and Ralph. 
William Brunthaver was born on the old 
homestead in 1850. In 1874 he married — 
Annis Smith. Meta O. is their only child. 

John Brunthaver was born in Fairfield 
county in 1815. In 1846 he married Matilda 
Schouten and has six children — Esther (Jay), 
in this county; Mary (Waltrus), near Genoa, 
Ohio; J. W. Rodolphus, Lavina, and Flora, in 
Green Creek. Five children died before 
reaching maturity. 

Daniel Dawling was born in New York, in 
1813, and came to Ohio in 1835, locating in 
this township. In 1835 he married Emily 
Woodward, who was born in New York but 
came to Ohio when two year, old, in 1815. 
She died August 26, 1870, leaving five 
children, viz: Zerruah, wife of H. J. Potter, 
Ballville; Susan O., wife of Jeremiah Wolf,. 
Green Creek; Martha M., wife of Amon 
Kelsey, Ballville;. Emily, wife of J. W. 
Knapp, Riley township; and Frances, wife of 
U. H. Palmer, of Lorain county. Mr. Dawley 
married for his second wife Mrs. Martha 
(Ball) Gale, Mrs. Dawley had two children 
by a former 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



615 



Marriage — Charles J. Higgins, residing in 
Kansas, and Adelia Higgins, deceased. 
Elisha Dawley was born in Montgomery 
county, New York, in 1815. In 1839 lie came 
to Ohio and settled on the farm on which he 
now resides. In 1843 he married Sallie 
Brush, who has borne him six children, viz: 
Charles, in Green Creek; Armida (Thraves), 
Ballville; Mary (Moore), Wood county; 
Emeretta (Meggit), Green Creek; Randolph, 
Ballville, and Eisner, Green Creek. Mr. 
Dawley in New York engaged in the 
manufacture of gloves and mittens. 

George T. Dana was born in Pembrook, 
Western New York, in 1829. With his 
parents, Daniel H. and Philinda Dana, he 
came to Sandusky county, where his home 
has been ever since. Mr. Dana remained at 
home and worked in his father's shill at 
Green Spring until lie began business for 
himself. He was engaged in stock buying a 
number of years with Mr. Crockett; 
afterwards was employed, in the same 
business at Bellevue for three years by 
Chapman & Woodward. He next managed 
the grain warehouse of Mr. Woodward at 
Clyde one year. From 1862 until 1876 Mr. 
Dana was engaged in the lumber business in 
Fremont with N. C. West. Since that time he 
has been living upon his farm three miles 
east of Fremont. Mr. Dana was married in 
November, 1868, to Miss Sophia Abies, of 
Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. They have three 
children living, one deceased. The names are 
as follows: Philinda H., Grace T., Marion 
(deceased), and Anlanda C. Mr. Dana is a 
Republican. He was census enumerator in 
1880. 

George Hutchins was horn in Onondaga 
county,. New York, May 5, 1811. He 
married, in 1833, Matilda Anthony, and in 
1836 came to Sandusky county, Ohio. Three 
children by his first wife are living — Willet, 
in this county; Maria (Bush); in 



Nebraska; and Francis M., in Green Creek. He 
married for his second wife Annie Huss. One 
child is living, Ellen (Phillips), in Colorado. 
For his third wife Mr. Hutchins married Sarah 
V. Brumley, by whom he has six children 
living, viz: Eveline (Upton), Clara, George, 
Flora, Robert, and Ida J. Mr. Hutchins served 
as township trustee several terms. 

Joel Moore was born in New Jersey in 
1825. Three years later his father removed to 
Trumbull county, Ohio, and in 1839 to 
Sandusky county. Joel Moore, who resides 
upon the farm on which his father settled, 
married Mahala Reed, of Knox county. 
Three children by this marriage are living — 
Milton, Isaac, and Robert. Mr. Moore 
married for his second wife Mary Dice, by 
whom he has five children, viz: John J., 
Alice, Laura, Cora, and Jennie. When the 
Moore family settled in this township only 
one acre was. cleared on the tract which is 
now known as the Moore homestead. 

W. C. Lefever, a son of John Lefever, was 
born in this township in 1836. In 1866 he 
married Lizzie Mackey, a native of Ross 
county. Mr. Lefever taught school in 
Missouri before the war. He entered the 
army as private, and was mustered out with 
the rank of lieutenant-colonel. 

J. D. Lefever was born in this township in 
1838. In 1865 he married Cornelia Lay. Mr. 
Lefever served during the war about three 
years in the Seventy-second Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry. 

Jonathan Spohn was born in Perry county, 
Ohio, January 10, 1822. He came to 
Sandusky county in 1843. In 1844 he 
married Elizabeth Brunthaver. Three 
children are living and one dead — Adam, 
Jacob A., and Mary E., all live in this 
county; Francis M. died at the age of 
eighteen. Mr. Spohn worked at 
blacksmithing some time, but has been 
farming 



616 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



a number of years. He has a good farm of 
seventy-six acres, situated on the turnpike, two 
miles east of Fremont. Mr. Spohn is a 
Democrat in politics, and belongs to the 
Lutheran church. 

Benjamin Colwell was born at Poolville, 
New York, in 1810. In 1829 lie came to Ohio, 
stopping first in Seneca county. He then 
removed to Huron county, and from there to 
York township, this county, where he resided 
five years. In 1849 he removed to Green Creek 
township, which has been his home since that 
time. He married, in 1830, Lydia Philo. Two 
children are living — Sarah (French) and Frank 
E., both in this township. William E. died in 
the army, having been a member of the 
Seventy-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry; John, 
the second child; died when fourteen years old. 
Mr. Colwell engaged in the merchant tailoring 
business in Clyde for three years. Joseph and 
Mary Philo came to this county with Mr. 
Colwell and lived here until their decease. 

William Hughes, a native of Philadelphia, 
died in 1875, aged about seventy-three. He 
married Mary Ann Ramsey, by whom he had a 
family of eight children, four of whom are 
living-James, C. J., Melvina E. (Spade), and 
George. Mrs. Hughes came to Ohio from 
Pennsylvania, where she was born, with her 
parents, Charles and Sarah (Hughes) Ramsey. 
There were four children in this family, who 
are still living, Mrs. Hughes being the oldest. 
Her parents first settled in Ohio in Columbiana 
county, and moved to Sandusky county in 
1830. 

Daniel Pocock was born in Baltimore county, 
Maryland, in 1813. Five years later his father 
came to Ohio and settled near Canal Dover, in 
Tuscarawas county. In 1834 he married 
Elizabeth Malone, by whom he had twelve 
children, five of whom are living — Levi and 
Elias in Green Creek township; Mary Ann 
(Walters), in 



Indiana; Elijah in Riley, and George in 
Green Creek. His first wife having died he 
married Rebecca Pocock, and has four 
children — Eliza J., Ruth E., Daniel I., and 
Eve A. Mr. Pocock settled in this township 
in 1845. 

Sidney Tuck was born in Wayne county, 
New York. In 1835 he settled on Butternut 
Ridge, in Seneca, with his parents, John and 
Eunice Tuck. The same year he introduced 
the first steam threshing machine ever in this 
part of the State. In 1851 Mr. Tuck married 
Lydia Lee, a native of Seneca county. Their 
family consists of three children — Elva 
(Colwell), Ward, and Harry. Mr. Tuck 
carried on wagon-making and farming. He 
died June 29, 1880, aged sixty-two years. 

Alexander Kernahan, a native of Ireland, 
settled in this county in 1854. He died June 
3, 1876, aged seventy-five years. His widow, 
Mrs. Hannah Kernahan, is still living. She is 
the mother of three children, who are living 
James; Eliza, and Ambrose, all residents of 
Green Creek. James Kernahan was born 
April 11, 1830, in Onondaga county, New 
York. Eliza Kernahan was born in the same 
locality January 7, 1832. Ambrose Cernahan 
was born in Livingston county, New York, 
July 19, 1836. He married Elizabeth 
McKinney, a native of that county, 

Constantine Meyer was born in Germany 
in 1836. He settled in this county in 1854. In 
1858 he married Barbara Schreiner, who 
bore four children-Ezra, Caroline, Ida, and 
Clara, all living. For his second wife he 
married Sarah Schupert, who bore four 
children — Rawley (deceased), Frank, 
Wesley, and Lilly. His third wife was 
Margaret Schuster, with whom he is now 
living. She has one child — Gertie. 

Richard E. Betts was born in Cayuga 
county, New York, in 1829. His parents 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



617 



were Zachariah and Maria Betts. In 1834 
Richard came to Ohio with them. They 
located in Seneca county. In 1852 Mr. Betts 
was married to Lavinia Donaldson, daughter 
of George and Ann Donaldson from 
Pennsylvania. Her parents came to Ohio at 
an early date; lived in Pickaway county, then 
in Seneca county, and, in 1833, moved to 
this county and township. Three of their nine 
children are living, Mrs. Betts being the 
oldest. Susanna (Dixon) and Samuel 
Donaldson reside in Indiana. Mr. Donaldson 
followed blacks mithing many years. 

John Steffey came to Ohio when quite a 
young man. He married Eve Pocock and has 
a family of seven children — Christina 
(Vice), Michigan; Sarah (Stokes) and 
Catharine (Miller), Riley township; Calvin 
and Edward, Green Creek; Levi, Riley 
township, and Mary Ann (Wykoff), Toledo. 
Calvin married Emily Gilbert and has four 
children living Jesse, W. IV., and Allen and 
Ellen (twins). 

MILLS ON GREEN CREEK. 

The inhabitants of this township were at 
first wholly dependent upon the mill on Cold 
Creek for flour. The slow process of 
grinding made it extremely inconvenient, 
and sometimes caused actual suffering, for 
the consumption of breadstuffs was faster 
than the simple machinery of this pioneer 
mill could produce them. It was, therefore, a 
great relief to the inhabitants of Green 
Creek, particularly those living in the 
western part, to have a mill in their own 
neighborhood. 

Sometime between 1821 and 1823 Josiah 
Rumery built a dam on Green Creek, and with 
a small buhr began grinding wheat and corn. 
Customers were compelled to assist at bolting 
their own flour, as that part of the work at that 
time had to be done with hand bolts. The 
flour, in a sanitary point of view, was better 
than that produced by modern mills. 



The coarse bolts removed only the useless 
hull, leaving the hard but nutritious 
substance of the grain in the flour. Bread 
made of this flour was rougher but had more 
of the muscle-producing elements in it. Mr. 
Rumery removed from Green Creek about 
1830, his mill by that time having become 
inadequate to the necessities of the 
increasing population. 

Another mill was built on Green Creek 
further down by Mr. Emerson about 1825, 
but was used as a saw-mill only until Mr. 
Wilks purchased the site. He attached a 
grist-mill, which was in operation until 
1852, when the building of the Lake Shore & 
Michigan Southern Railroad necessitated its 
removal. 

Jacob Stine built a mill on the east branch 
of Green Creek in 1836, which is still in 
operation. 

OTHER INDUSTRIES. 

Mr. Kneeland Harnden has established a 
successful industry — that of ice-packing. He 
began packing this agreeable summer luxury 
in the winter of 1875. In the winter of 1880- 
81 lie stored away about two thousand tons. 
Mr. Harnden was born in Ruggles township, 
Huron county, in 1841, and in 1849 came to 
Sandusky county with his father's family. In 
1865 he married Hattie Fuller. The fruit of 
this union was two children — Minnie and 
John. 

The largest saw-mill in the township is 
owned by Walter Huber. It was formerly 
owned by Huber & Ellsworth, and has been 
in operation since 1873. The capacity of this 
mill is sixteen hundred feet per day. The 
proprietor was born in this county and has 
lived here nearly all his life. He married, in 
1866, Emeline Young, by whom he has a 
family of four children, viz: Ida, Vernon, 
Edith, and Floyd. Mr. Huber built in 1881 
the largest, and perhaps the finest farm- 
house in the township. 



618 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



JOHN LAY TREED BY WOLVES. 

No animal is more annoying to the pioneers 
of a country than wolves. The bear is stronger 
and more dangerous when met, but with the 
first sound of the wood-man's axe he emigrates 
to the wild seclusion for which his nature 
yearns. He never seeks the destroyer of his 
home, and only meets him when retreat is 
impossible. But howling wolves prowl about 
seeking what they may devour. Fifty years ago 
sheep, pigs, and young cattle were not safe, 
even within the cabin door-yard. There is not a 
county in Ohio which at some period of the 
settlement did not pay a bounty for the scalps 
of these camp followers of the army of the 
wilderness, whose peculiar business it seems to 
have been to obstruct the march of 
improvement by doleful howling and nocturnal 
depredations. The record of their presence and 
conduct is found in the commissioners' journal 
in every courthouse, whether among the hills 
or in the flat country. The Black Swamp was 
no exception. An incident is told which 
indicates that in this neighborhood they 
became even more bold and daring than their 
character would lead us to expect. Romance 
writers have given startling descriptions of 
wolves attacking grown men, and an actual 
occurrence in this locality proves that these 
writers' fictions have been limited to the realm 
of possibility. 

Mr. John Lay, about 1833, set out one 
evening on a hunt for his cows, which had 
straggled off far into the thick woods of the 
northern part of Thompson township and did 
not return. He wandered along narrow paths, 
his attention being so wholly occupied with the 
object of his search that the decline of the sun 
was not noticed, and darkness coming on 
unexpectedly found him a considerable 
distance from any settler's cabin and several 
miles from home. To retrace his steps seemed 



the only intelligent course of action. But 
while standing a moment trying to 
comprehend the situation, the distant howl of 
a wolf sent whirling his meditations. An 
echo seemed to curve from the other side, 
then another and another, till the dark air 
quivered with dismal, doleful barking. The 
howling grew louder and more savage. 
Shortly, stealthy steps and the shaking of 
bushes became discernible amid the general 
noise. The benighted farmer, armed only 
with a strong club, stood his ground, 
determined to fight, until there gleamed 
through the underbrush seemingly two balls 
of fire, illuminating a scarlet tongue and 
uncovered tusks. Fright banished the resolve 
to fight, and the central figure of our picture 
made industrious progress toward the top of 
a small tree. By the time he had obtained 
safe footing among the branches, the hungry 
beasts were running and jumping to and fro 
beneath, snarling and gnashing their teeth. 
Night progressed. The besieging beasts, 
whose horrid confusion of noises gradually 
died into a low, dreary cry, one by one stole 
mournfully away in search of other prey. 

The man in the tree found an easy resting 
place between two spreading branches, and, 
overcome by fatigue, a deep sleep buried in 
oblivion all the varying emotions caused by 
the singular evening's experience. But the 
place proved an unsafe couch. An 
unconscious turn restored consciousness to 
the body, which fell prostrate on the ground. 
The fall resulted seriously. One leg was 
broken and his body considerably bruised. 
He was unable to move, and no cabin was 
within hearing distance. Patiently he lay, 
suffering the most excruciating tortures for 
nearly twelve hours, until his sons, who, 
having become alarmed by his prolonged 
absence were making search, found him, 
wholly exhausted. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



615 



ORGANIZATION. 

The county commissioners resolved, at 
their March session, 1822, to establish the 
fourth township of the sixteenth range a 
town corporate. Josiah Rumery, then auditor 
of the county, issued the following notice: 

Notice is hereby given to the qualified electors of 
township four, range sixteen, known as Green Creek, to 
meet the first Monday of April, 1822, at the house of 
Samuel Baker, and there proceed to elect between the 
hours of ten and four of said day, township officers as 
the law directs in such cases made and provided. 
Auditor's Office, March 9, 1822. 

By order of the commissioners, 

JOSIAH RUMERY. 

The town meeting system was then yet in 
vogue. The electors assembled at the house 
designated. John Pumphrey, Samuel Kepler 
and Samuel Baker were appointed to act as 
judges. No party spirit divided the assembly, 
and no candidates appeared on the field. 
Nothing in modern politics so nearly 
approaches one of these old town meetings 
as a county convention of a party hopelessly 
in the minority. No one desires to be 
distinguished above his fellows, and all are 
anxious that perfect harmony should prevail. 
The votes show almost entire unanimity. At 
this first election Jered H. Miner and George 
Hines acted as clerks. For treasurer, Silas 
Dewey received seventeen votes; for 
trustees, Josiah Rumery received sixteen; 
Samuel Pogue, seventeen; and Samuel 
Baker, fifteen votes Benjamin Collins 
received fourteen to Joseph Baits one, for 
constable. Joshua Fairchild and Samuel 
McMillen received fourteen and thirteen 
votes respectively for overseers of the poor. 
For appraiser of property, Samuel Baker 
received thirteen votes; Samuel Pogue, 
fifteen: and Samuel McMillen, one. For 
lister, Samuel Baker had thirteen votes. 
Jonathan Rathbun and Samuel Uttley were 
chosen fence-viewers. Jered H. Miner had all 
the votes except his own for clerk. The vote 
for 



supervisors stood: Benjamin Collins, eleven; 
Samuel Uttley, seven; Josiah Rumery, one; 
and Jonathan Rathbun, three. It appears, 
from the number of votes some of those 
present received, that modesty did not 
prevent them from voting for themselves. 

The first justice of the peace was Jered H. 
Miner. He was the learned than of the early 
settlement and the selection was entirely 
proper. This office in some localities might 
be exalted by more care as to the quality of 
talent selected to fill it. 

The first township charge to pass from 
poor existence was Joseph Baits, who died at 
Baker's tavern. Bills were allowed as 
follows: 

To Samuel Balser, for taking care of Joseph Baits, 
three dollars and fifty cents, and for boards for coffin. 
To Abigail Wortley, four dollars for shirt and sheet, and 
attendance. Amos Fenn, for furnishing coffin, two 
dollars and fifty cents; and to Jonathan Forbes, M. D., 
two dollars and ninety-six cents for treating the said 
Baits; James Guinall, seventy-five cents for nursing; 
Prudence Benton, same; Polly McMillen, thirty-two 
cents for washing. 

The first list of jurors returned were: 
Grand Jurors — Albert Guinall, James 
Guinall, Samuel S. Baker, Joshua Woodard, 
Jonathan Rathbun, John Harris. Petit 
Jurors — Roswell Merrell, John J. 
Quackenbush, Samuel Pogue, Jered H. 
Miner, Moses Cleveland. 

AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 

A citizens' meeting was held July 23, 
1870, in pursuance of a call issued by a 
number of citizens for the purpose of 
instituting an agricultural fair, independent 
of the county agricultural association. A 
constitution was adopted and board of 
directors appointed as follows: C. G. 
Sanford, Lynlan Miller, David Beard, John 
Whitmore, George Mugg, Humphrey 
Whitman, David Neikirk, Charles Bell, 
Alfred Stibbins, Darwin Groves, J. W. 
Payne, M. Sanford, O. J: Stultz; and S. V. 
Hume. A. Throp was chosen president; 



620 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



S. H. Rhodes, secretary; and J. T. Chapman, 
treasurer. 

Sixteen and one-half acres of land were 
purchased by the board of directors for fair 
grounds, and preparations at once commenced 
for the first annual exhibition. Articles of 
incorporation were filed and recorded July 28, 
1870, by J. M. Lemmon, B. French, W. H. 
Bacon, Henry Nichols, Meek, R. F. Patrick, IV. 
W. White, T. W. Reed, and S. H. Rhodes. The 
articles declared that the object of the 
association shall be to encourage and promote 
agriculture, stock-raising, and mechanical and 
industrial pursuits, and to hold annual fairs for 
the exhibition of stock and agricultural 
productions. 

The capital stock was fixed at one hundred 
shares at ten dollars each. 

The exhibitions at Clyde have uniformly 
been well patronized, and the eleven years of 
the existence of the association prove the 
enterprise a success, not so much financially, 
as in the end for which it was established. 
PHYSICIANS. 

The first resident physician of Green Creek 
township was Dr. Forbes, who located near the 
corners as early as 1822. He was also a school 
teacher. As a physician he possessed the 
confidence of most of the early settlers and was 
universally well liked as a teacher and a man. 
Death did not spare him long to the settlement. 

The next physician was Dr. Henry Niles, who 
was a graduate of Dartmouth college. He came 
to Hamer's Corners in June, 1833, and gave his 
exclusive attention to practice for two years. 
He then removed to a farm on the county line 
of Seneca and Sandusky, where lie continued 
to practice for a number of years. He died in 
1864. 

Dr. William G. Harkness was educated in 
Salem county, New York, and began 



practice in Cayuga county, where he re- 
mained twenty-five years, and then came to 
Ohio in 1833, settling at Hamer's Corners, 
where he practiced until his death. 

Dr. Seely came from Medina to Hamer's 
Corners about 1840. He continued practice 
most of the time until his death, in 1867. 
Most of his patients remember him. 

Charles G. Eaton commenced the practice 
of medicine in Athens county, Ohio, in 1849. 
After two years he removed to West 
Virginia, where he remained until 1853, 
when he came to Clyde and soon won the 
confidence of the people by his skill in 
physic. Except during the four years spent in 
the war, he was in active practice until his 
death, which occurred in 1875. A biography 
of him will be found in this volume. 

Dr. Treadway was a man of learning, and 
had the true instincts of a physician. He 
came to Clyde from Kentucky, and had it not 
been for his suggestion the village would be 
called Hamerville, Middletown, or some 
other common name. He remained in 
practice here but a short time. 

J. W. Luse was born in Mercer county, 
Pennsylvania; attended medical lectures at 
Ann Arbor, Michigan, and at Cleveland, 
Ohio. He began practicing in Huntingdon 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1854. In 1857 he 
came to Clyde and has been in full practice 
ever since. At several different times he has 
been connected with the drug trade here. 

Doctors Price, Leet, and Decker each 
practiced in Clyde, but remained only a few 
years. 

W. V. Stilson was born in Trumbull 
county, Ohio, in 1815. He studied medicine 
in Wayne county, Ohio, and graduated at 
Cincinnati Medical College. He practiced a 
short time in Ashland county, then came to 
Bellevue in 1842, where he 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



621 



had a full practice for thirty years. In 1872 
he removed to Clyde. He married, in 
Ashland county, Elizabeth Cummings. 

Corwin Griffin was born in Huron county 
in 1845. He entered Pulte Medical College, 
Cincinnati, in 1873, and received the degree 
of M. D. in 1876. He began practice in 
Clyde, and possesses a fair share of public 
confidence. He is the only graduate of the 
Homoeopathic school, in Clyde. 

Dr. Brown removed from Tiffin to Clyde 
in 1875. He was surgeon for the One 
Hundred and Eighth Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry. 

Mrs. Owens and Messrs. Harndon, 
Robinson, and Soper are the remaining 
physicians now in practice. 

M'PHERSON CEMETERY. 

Beneath these rugged elms, that yew tree's shade, 

Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, 

Each in his narrow cell forever laid, 

The rude forefathers of our hamlet sleep. 

— Gray's Elegy . 

Imperishable marble is the fit emblem of 
that love which survives all that is mortal of 
friends and relatives, that love which is the 
noblest attribute of the soul. There is 
something, too, in the unchanging features 
of the country to perpetuate the memory of 
friends who gave animation to every lonely 
scene. The grave seen from our dooryard, or 
passed in a lonely walk or drive, arrests our 
planning and softens the mind to pensive 
meditation. A wound is kept open, it is true, 
but it is a wound from which flows 
sanctifying sorrow. We plant flowers to 
sweeten the grave, and trees to protect the 
gentle tear of recollection. 

The cemetery at Clyde is fast becoming all 
that the most loving heart could wish. 
Public-spirited citizens have supplemented 
nature's generosity, and the place charms the 
eye and nurtures the affections. 

The old burying ground lay to the north 
and reached to the foot of the elevation 



on which the statue of General McPherson 
stands. It was formerly owned by the 
Methodist Episcopal church, and bore the 
name of Evergreen Cemetery. The site was 
selected by Mrs. Guinall who, during a 
supposed fatal sickness, pointed to the spot 
where she wished to be buried, from the 
chair on which she was carried to the door 
for that purpose. The lot was fenced off by 
her husband, who owned the land, but she 
was not the first to be buried there. She 
recovered and was a witness of the burial of 
her son John in the place selected for her 
own grave. Mrs. John J. Quackenbush and 
Benjamin Collins were the two next buried. 

Many moss-covered freestones mark the 
last resting places of pioneers of this 
township — places of sacred and hallowed 
memory. It became necessary, as the village 
grew and the death roll became longer, to 
enlarge the boundaries. A cemetery 
association was formed in 1867, and 
Evergreen Cemetery transferred to this 
association by the Methodist church. Lands 
adjacent, extending to the junction of the 
two streets, were purchased and the lot on 
the summit of the beautiful natural mound 
dedicated to the McPherson family, in 
affectionate remembrance of that noble 
soldier and cherished fellow-citizen, Major 
General James B. McPherson, whose statue, 
cast in imperishable bronze, testifies a 
grateful people's love, and symbolizes 

the immortality of his fame. 

THE SCHOOLS. 

The first school in the township was taught 
by Joshua Fairchilds. Jered H. Miner, esq., 
taught school in 1820 in a cooper shop 
owned by Abby & Dagget, which stood on 
the present Persing place. Here the children 
were gathered, five days in the week, for 
three months. The only seats were split slabs 
or puncheons, with-out backs. A large slab 
was placed along one side for a writing desk. 
Reading, 



622 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



writing, and the elements of arithmetic were 
taught. The "rule of three" was the stopping 
point for the pupils of that early day. 

In the course of a couple of years a school- 
house was built on what is now Buckeye 
street. Dr. Forbes, an amiable, learned man, 
was the first teacher, in the winter of 1822-23. 
There was great dissatisfaction with the 
location of the house. The settlers of the east 
part of the neighborhood clamored for a 
school in their vicinity, while those of the 
west were just as determined to keep it in 
theirs. In 1825 a house was built near the 
Corners, much to the dissatisfaction of the hill 
residents, and the cause of a fire which 
destroyed the building a short time afterwards 
was not regarded a mystery. A compromise 
was made in the location of a new house. It 
was built near the site of the railroad crossing, 
but was after a short time moved to the knoll 
within a few rods of the burial place of 
General McPherson. This was the last log 
school-house in Clyde, or at Hamer's Corners, 
as it was then. Here James B. McPherson, 
whose statue is the pride of the town and 
county, received his first instruction. 

After the township was divided into districts 
under the general school law, a frame house 
was built a quarter mile further west, on the 
hill, which was known as the Dewey school- 
house. 

The first school in the west part of the 
township was taught by Grant Forgerson, in a 
school-house which stood a short distance 
west of the Rathbun place. 

The public school law of 1852 went into 
effect in Green Creek in 1853, since which 
time comfortable houses have been built, and 
generally competent teachers provided for the 
instruction of the youth. 

CLYDE SCHOOLS. 

The rapid growth of Clyde during the years 
following the war made it desirable 



that a special school district should be 
organized. The necessary legislation was 
procured, and on April 8, 1867, the Clyde 
schools became independent of the town- 
ship. The new board consisted of A. B. 
French, Chester Hunter, and C. G. Eaton. 
The village system was adopted May 30, 
1868, with the following named gentlemen 
as directors: M. Benner, John Le fever, Milo 
Hunter, D. Terrill, S. B. Taylor, and Smith 
Motley. The salary of the superintendent was 
fixed at one hundred dollars per month, and 
S. Motley was elected to the position. He 
served in that capacity until 1870, when the 
present incumbent, F. M. Ginn, was chosen. 

The subject of a new school building was 
discussed by the citizens as soon as. the 
village system had been adopted. In 1869 
plans were submitted, and a new building 
decided upon. The large and well-arranged 
three-story brick structure now in use was 
completed in 1870, and in the fall of that 
year opened to the public. Schools began 
with the following corps of teachers: F. M. 
Ginn, superintendent; Rena Richards, 
principal of the high school; Jennie Winters, 
assistant; Mary BeMuent, grammar; Miss 
Emma Adams, first secondary; Nettie 
Reynolds, second secondary; Julia Eaton, 
first primary; Alice Keating, second 
primary; Nettie Van Cleat, intermediate. The 
principals of the high school have been: 
Rena Richards, Eliza Bushnell, Miss 
Hitchcock, Anna Kuhn, Miss Barnaby (five 
years), Maggie Taggart, Nellie McDonald. 
The assistants in the. new building have 
been: Edgar Barnett, Emma Taylor, Miss A. 
L. Snyder, and. Emma Londe. 

Professor Ginn, the superintendent for the 
past eleven years, is deserving of much 
credit for his efficient management of the 
schools. The board gave into his hands entire 
control over all departments. The 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



623 



present condition of the schools shows the 
wisdom of the board in thus selecting a 
competent head and then abstaining from 
officiousness. 

There were, in 1870, four hundred and 
twenty-five pupils. The enrollment of the 
year 1880-81 reached six hundred and sixty- 
one. 

Regular courses of study were arranged for 
all departments in 1870. The aim is to 
prepare pupils for any of the ordinary 
callings of business; in other words, to 
provide a good English education. In the 
high school, English language and literature 
is taught during the whole four years of the 
course. Students are taken through the 
elements of trigonometry, and given a 
knowledge of the elements of general 
science. 

The first class which completed the 
course — the class of 1874 — numbered four; 
1875, eleven; 1876, seven; 1879, nine; 1878, 
ten; 1879, fifteen; 1880, ten; 1881, nine; 
whole number of graduates seventy-five, of 
whom twenty-five were boys. Few schools 
can show so large a proportion of male 
graduates. 

Primary and secondary teachers have 
received twenty-five dollars per month. Miss 
Barnaby received sixty dollars per month. 
The salary of the principal is now fifty 
dollars per month. The superintendent 
received, in 1870-71, one thousand dollars; 
1871-73, twelve hundred dollars; 1873-77, 
fourteen hundred dollars, since which time 
the salary has been twelve hundred dollars. 
CHURCHES. 

The first sermon preached to white people, 
so far as is known, within this town-ship, 
was delivered by a colored man, whose name 
tradition has not preserved. This religious 
enthusiast gathered together as many as he 
could, and that was nearly all who lived in 
the settlement. His violent manner, linguistic 
gymnastics, and 



novel system of doctrine naturally caused 
amusement, and sometimes provoked 
laughter. His glowing description of the 
place of eternal punishment was received 
with provoking ridicule, which caused the 
preacher to burst forth with the remark: 
"You white folks a' afraid to go to heaven 
'cause ye 'magin thar be niggers thar; but I 
tell you dar be niggers in de hot place too!" 
It is unnecessary to state that no conversions 
resulted from this man's preaching. 

The credit of organizing religious worship 
is due here, as in most pioneer communities, 
to the itinerant clergy of the Methodist 
church. Some of the early settlers were 
Baptists, and, at a later period, Universalists 
obtained a foothold. 

METHODIST CHURCH. 

Methodism was organized in this part of 
the county in the spring of 1821. The 
country being sparsely populated no regular 
stations were established, but large districts 
of country organized into circuits. Lower 
Sandusky district embraced the whole 
county. The class in this neighborhood was 
organized by Rev. Mr. Boardman, in the 
spring of 1821, composed of six members — 
Samuel McMillen and wife, James Guinall 
and wife, and Albert Guinall and wife. These 
three families, together with a few who were 
not members but were interested in seeing 
public worship instituted, met in a log 
school-house near where the Cleveland, 
Sandusky & Cincinnati railroad crosses 
Main street. The preacher, whose circuit was 
large, could visit this backwoods post but 
once in four weeks, and then generally on 
week days, his Sundays being occupied 
elsewhere. Samuel McMillen was the class 
leader. He held prayer meetings and praise 
meetings. He never accepted a license as a 
local preacher, but performed the duties of 
that office — how well, the prosperity of this 
little society 



624 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



of Christians shows. In 1825 there was an 
especial and important awakening. The 
whole settlement became interested in the 
meetings, and several joined the church; 
among the number, Amos Fenn, who became 
a local preacher, and was to the end of his 
long life a faithful member and earnest 
worker. In 1827 occurred a revival which 
brought into the church about twenty-five 
new members, among whom were the three 
oldest of the present members — Norton 
Russel, his wife, and Mrs. McPherson. Mr. 
Russel was the first convert. This revival 
extended throughout the circuit. Prayer 
meetings were held every night and each 
church enjoyed preaching once every two 
weeks, the circuit preachers — Adam Poe and 
John Hazzard — and Presiding Elder 
McMahon dividing up their time among the 
several classes. 

But it is too often the case that rest, 
profound sleep, follows a season of activity 
and exhaustive effort. A church needs more 
than a start; it needs the watchful care of an 
intelligent clergy. As soon as the protracted 
effort had ceased the visits of the circuit 
preachers were few and irregular. The local 
ministry and a few old members were 
depended upon to carry on the work. They 
labored zealously and did all that time would 
permit and talent could do. Meetings after a 
time were attended only by the "faithful 
few," but their faith did not permit 
discouragement. The clouds began to hang 
dark. Years had passed with but few 
additions, while death and emigration was 
constantly reducing the number. A brighter 
day came in 1844. An especial interest was 
created among the young people. It was 
during this revival that James B. McPherson 
joined the church. 

Preaching was held semi-monthly after this 
revival. The old school-house became unfit 
for use, and the Dewey school- 



house was occupied. In 1851 it was decided 
to build a church. Mr. Norton Russel 
canvassed Green Creek, Townsend and York 
townships for money. Jonathan Ames 
donated a lot, and a contract for building 
was let to William Weeks by Amos Fenn, 
Norton Russel, M. Persing and others. 
George Eaton was at that time a preacher in 
charge, but his health failed before the 
completion of the building, and Alfred 
Wheeler supplied the pulpit. In December, 
1852, Presiding Elder Disbrow preached the 
dedicatory sermon, at which time four 
hundred dollars were raised. This amount 
freed the society from the debt incurred by 
building. The cost of this house was fifteen 
hundred and thirty dollars. Meetings 
continued several weeks, and many were 
added to the membership. Sabbath-school 
under the superintendence of Mr. Weeks, 
was continued for the first time through the 
winter. In the winter of 1853-54 thirty united 
with the church under the pastorate of 
Messrs. Pelton and Vertican. 

In 1856 Revs. E. Y. Warner and Mr. 
McKane were stationed at Clyde, as the 
charge was now called. During their pastorate 
the church increased in numbers. Revs. Castle 
and Thompson occupied the pastorate till 
1859. In 1859 Revs. Halderman and Barker 
were appointed; in 1860 Wilson, and Sites in 
1861. The circuit had previously embraced 
the classes in the eastern part of Sandusky and 
western part of Huron and Erie counties. In 
1862 it was reduced to three appointments — 
Clyde, Green Spring and Townsend. Rev. Mr. 
Barker was pastor in 1862. Rev. Mr. Jones, in 
1863, remained six months, and enlisted in 
the army, Rev. Mr. McKillips being appointed 
supply. During this time protracted efforts 
were made every winter, and the membership 
steadily increased. In 1864 Rev. J. T. 
Broadwell became pastor. The largest revival 
in the history 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



625 



of the church followed. The membership 
increased, and the house no longer 
accommodated the congregations attracted 
by eloquent sermons. In 1866 the official 
board resolved upon building a new house of 
worship. As is not uncommonly the case in 
enterprises of this character, land was 
purchased, and contracts let without 
carefully estimating the cost or knowing the 
resources. The handsome edifice on the 
corner of George and Buckeye streets was so 
far completed by February, 1867, that the 
basement was ready for occupancy. In 
August, 1867, the house was formally 
dedicated by Rev. Dr. Donaldson. The spire 
and gallery remained to be built. Thirty- 
seven hundred dollars were subscribed at the 
dedication service, and the announcement 
was made that no debt remained, but an 
examination of accounts and subscriptions in 
1868 showed an indebtedness of eight 
thousand dollars which was refunded at a 
high rate of interest. A brief summary of 
how this debt was paid may not be amiss. It 
is only one of many instances of costly 
edifices burdening societies, and really 
injuring the cause which it was the intention 
to promote, and for which generous members 
were willing to make sacrifices, but under 
pressure of forced assessments became 
indifferent and discouraged. When W. S. 
Paul became pastor, he took hold of the debt 
question in a business-like way. A 
committee of inspection, was appointed, 
which found the debt to be nearly eight 
thousand dollars, and the annual interest 
nearly eight hundred dollars. Through his 
influence a loan was negotiated in 1870 for 
six thousand dollars to be paid in annual 
installments, without interest. Before the 
close of Mr. Paul's pastorate of three years, 
the debt had been reduced to less than seven 
thousand dollars, very little of which was 
bearing interest. Dr. Hartupee succeeded Mr. 
Wright 



to the pastorate, and applied himself to the 
reduction of the debt, but in December, 
1871, the great storm so damaged the 
building that twenty-eight hundred dollars 
were required for repairs. The debt increased 
this year six hundred dollars. A re-opening 
service was held in May, 1873, Bishop 
Bowman preaching. On this occasion forty- 
eight hundred dollars were subscribed, 
which with notes and previous subscriptions, 
was thought a sufficient amount to cancel 
the debt. During the pastorate of Dr. S. L. 
Yourtee only six hundred dollars were 
raised. The subscriptions taken on the "Re- 
opening Day" for some unaccountable 
reason, had lost their value. In 1875 Rev. J. 
H. Mendenhall, on assuming the pastorate, 
found a debt of four thousand dollars with 
no resources to meet it. Mr. Mendenhall 
deserves the highest praise for his zeal, and 
credit for his talents displayed during his 
pastorate. Before the close of the second 
year the burden which had oppressed the 
congregation, and stifled its work, was 
removed. The members and citizens of Clyde 
are also to be commended for their liberality. 
About forty-five hundred dollars were 
subscribed and paid within eighteen months. 

The pastors, succeeding Mr. Warner, were: 
W. S. Paul in 1868; B. Wright in 1871 (to 
fill the unexpired term of Mr. Paul); J. H. 
Hartupee in 1871; S. L. Yourtee in 1874; J. 
H. Mendenhall in 1875; W. H. Painter in 
1878. 

In 1869 Clyde was made a station, and the 
other classes constituted a circuit known as 
"Green Spring." 

The membership of the church has 
constantly been increasing since 1844. An 
interesting Sunday school has been 
maintained throughout the year since 1851. 
A ladies' society was organized in 1865, 
which has been instrumental in raising funds 
for the church. 



626 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY 

George R. Brown was the founder of 
Universalism in this part of the county. 
Nathan Birdseye and Mr. Holbrook, of 
Townsend, were among the more prominent 
members. Mr. Brown came to Hamer's 
Corners about 1833, and was engaged to 
teach the school, which position he filled 
acceptably during two winters. He then left 
for a short time, but returned in 1835 and 
married Jane Pogue, a daughter of Samuel 
Pogue, and lived here until his death, in 
1873. He had a strong mind and was well 
informed. Few men could cope with him. He 
met several Methodist clergymen on the 
rostrum. The result of the debates was the 
gradual increase of adherents to the doctrine 
of Universalism. The society which he 
formed built the second church at Clyde, 
which was for many years the most 
influential religious association in the place. 
The meeting-house stood on what has since 
become Main street, but the growth of the 
town made the site desirable for business, 
and the building was removed to its present 
location. The society was supplied 
occasionally by other ministers, but Elder 
Brown was the main stand-by, as affairs 
since his death have proved. The 
membership was largest about 1860, 
embracing many of the leading citizens. No 
regular service has been held for a number 
of years, but the organization yet maintains 
its existence. 

ST. MARY'S— CATHOLIC. 

In 1854 Rev. Father Waist visited Clyde 
and held the first mass. There were at that 
time but few Catholics in the township, and 
they were recent arrivals, being induced to 
make settlement by the employment the 
railroad opened up. The service for the first 
few years was held in the residences of the 
members. Fathers Rose, Mellon, and Peters, 
came over from 



Fremont and held services in the same way. 
The two last named commenced the erection 
of a church building, which was completed 
by Father Monaghan. The property was 
enlarged by the addition of two more lots by 
Fattier Mahony, of Bellevue. These three 
lots, embracing church and burying-ground, 
are located at the corner of Spring and Vine 
streets. He was succeeded by Father Means, 
in July, 1872. Father Bowles was the first 
resident pastor. The present parsonage was 
purchased by him. Up to this time all the 
preaching was in English, but in 1875, when 
Father Rudolph became pastor, both German 
and English worship were used, and the 
congregation grew rapidly until 1879, when 
Father Nunan became pastor. The pastorate 
became vacant in 1881, J. C. Cahill acting as 
supply. Two-thirds of the membership is 
Irish, the other third German. 

BAPTIST CHURCH. 

There were a few Baptists among the early 
settlers of the township. Jered H. Miner, 
esq., had meetings at his house occasionally, 
and Elder Throp sometimes exhorted. 
Missionaries held services at irregular 
intervals, and in 1857 the house of worship 
which is yet in use was built. The first 
organization into a congregation was 
effected April 9, 1859, at which time L. D. 
Caulkins was chosen clerk, Gideon Palmer, 
Lyman* Ames, and George N. Thornton, 
trustees. Anson Ames was also a member at 
this time. Joseph Jackson was chosen pastor, 
a choice which, at that time, was particularly 
unfortunate. Mr. Jackson was a man of 
radical opinions, and did not hesitate to 
propound abolition doctrine in the pulpit. 
Political feeling being at its height, his 
preaching caused dissension, and some of 
the members withdrew. A debt of one 
thousand six hundred dollars remained on 
the church building, which was an additional 
embar- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



627 



rassment. Services were irregularly held by 
supplies. In the winter of 1860 a revival was 
held, which resulted in three ac-cessions to 
the membership. O. L. Ames, who has since 
been a member, joined at that meeting. 
Measures were at once taken to pay off the 
debt and re-establish the congregation on a 
solid foundation. In August, 1864, a pastor 
was called — Rev. Adam Snyder. He was a 
strong preacher, and attracted large 
congregations. In May, 1866, Rev. W. E. 
Ryon became pastor, and served the church 
with success about four years. In January, 
1867, a revival was commenced, which 
continued three months and resulted in 
seventy-five conversions. The church was 
now on a solid foundation and able to 
standalone. Missionary aid was no longer 
necessary, and the contributions previously 
received have long since been repaid. During 
the remaining years of his ministry the 
membership grew steadily, revivals being 
held each winter. Rev. J. T. Shepard 
succeeded to the pastorate, and remained 
between one and two years. Rev. J. V. K. 
Seely assumed charge in. November, 1872, 
and during his term of five years service 
added about forty to the membership. 
Twenty additions was the result of a special 
revival in 1873, conducted by Rev. Van 
Buskirk. In 1878 Mr. Fernald became pastor, 
and remained two years. The greatest revival 
in the history of the church was held during 
this pastorate by an evangelist, Rev. W. H. 
Hurlbut. More than one hundred were 
converted, and eighty-four joined the church. 
Rev. J. L. Phillips was installed pastor in 
August, 1880. Seventeen have been added to 
the membership since that time. The present 
membership is about two hundred. 

The Sunday-school work of this church has 
been made a special feature. A Sunday- 
school was organized in April, 1865, C. W. 
Page, superintendent. O. L. Ames 



became superintendent in 1867, and has 
served with commendatory success since 
that time. More than a hundred of the 
members of this school have been brought 
into the church. The average attendance is 
about one hundred and fifty. 

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Among the early settlers of the east part of 
the county were a few Presbyterian and 
Congregational families from New York and 
New England. For some years they 
maintained their own form of worship by 
family instruction and attending the church 
of their choice in the neighboring towns. But 
the natural desire for regular service, and the 
difficulty of attending at distant points, 
induced some to unite with the churches of 
other denominations, while others became 
indifferent. The few who remained attached 
to the doctrines of their fathers entertained 
the idea of establishing a church of their 
own, but the prospect looked doubtful for 
many years. Now and then they met 
together, at long intervals, until Rev. E. 
Bushnell, D. D., of Fremont, took the matter 
in charge and gave them more frequent 
services. Encouraged by him a meeting was 
called and a congregation organized in the 
Baptist meeting-house in Clyde, April 6, 
1867, Dr. Bushnell, of Fremont, and George 
H. Fullerton, of Huron, being present. At 
that meeting the following* persons were 
received as members: J. W. Luse, M. D., 
Mrs. E. C. Luse, Hiram Vincent, Adam 
Dunlap, Mrs. Kate B. Dunlap, Mrs. Margaret 
Luse, Mrs. Emily Fletcher, Mrs. Jane Throp, 
Mrs. C. Loveland, George B. Fuller, and 
Mrs. Alcena Ellsworth. The first regular 
service of the church was held on the 
following day, conducted by Mr. Bushnell, 
who preached and administered the 
sacrament. This first service was solemn and 
impressive, and is remembered by those 
present. Rev. J. B. Smith was the 



628 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



first minister chosen. He preached at stated 
intervals for two years. During this time a 
prayer meeting service was instituted, and a 
number of new members added to the 
church. In 1869 D. W. Marvin succeeded to 
the pastorate, and in the winter of that year 
initiatory steps were taker, toward the 
building of a house of worship. The 
membership at this time numbered thirty-six. 
By reaching their charitable hands deep into 
their pockets and with the assistance of the 
Presbyterian board of church erection, a 
comfortable brick house was erected which 
was dedicated January 30, 1870. A Sabbath- 
school was organized about this time. From 
the organization to the present the growth of 
this church in members and influence has 
been gradual. 

In 1871 E. R. Chase, then a student of the 
Theological Seminary at Chicago, accepted a 
call to the pastorate, and was ordained here 
in June of that year. In April of the 
following year he was regularly installed 
pastor. 

Elder H. Vincent and wife, two of the most 
earnest and useful members of the church, 
were killed by a railroad accident, November 
29, 1871. The church in their death sustained 
a sad loss. David E. Hayes and A. J. Wilder 
were added to the eldership in 1872. The 
church was greatly strengthened by a revival 
in the winter of 1873. On April 6th of that 
year, twenty-seven were received into the 
church. Mr. Chase was a young man beloved 
by all. The church prospered under his care, 
bit he was not long spared to his labor. A 
disease of the lungs, contracted in the army, 
brought him to the grave May 25, 1874. 

Rev. A. M. Meili, formerly a priest in the 
Roman Catholic church, was elected to the 
pastorate in March, 1875. During the 
following year troubles of a serious char- 
acter arose, growing partly out of personal 



difficulties and partly out of an effort of the 
session to enforce stricter conformity to the 
rules of the church. These troubles grew, and 
all efforts at peace, even on the part of the 
presbytery failed. The future of the 
congregation was doubtful. The pastor 
resigned in 1876, and all services, including 
Sunday-school and prayer meeting, were 
suspended. Some joined other churches, and 
others withdrew, so that in 1878. only about 
twenty members could be found out of a 
flourishing congregation at the beginning of 
the troubles of eighty communicants. At the 
beginning of 1878 those yet remaining 
faithful united with the church at Green 
Spring and employed the services of Rev. J. 
S. Axtell. The prayer meeting and Sabbath- 
school were reorganized and the general 
church work again set on foot. The former 
elders having resigned, their places were 
filled by N. T. Wilder, J. H. Herrick, and H. 
T. Barnum. These, with the minister in 
charge, constitute the session of the church.. 
During the last three years seventeen new 
members have been added and all have 
worked peacefully. The church, although it 
has not grown rapidly in members since the 
healing of the breach, has increased in 
energy and courage, and now the foundation 
seems secure and the outlook favorable for 
great usefulness. 

SPIRITUALISTS. 

Spiritualism had for along time a strong 
foothold in Clyde, but as a society no longer 
has an existence. The promulgation of the " 
Woodhull" doctrines caused dissension 
which has never been over-come. The 
number of adherents is gradually decreasing. 
ADVENTISTS. 

The Seventh Day Adventist church of 
Clyde was organized by Elder J. H. 
Waggoner August 11, 1867. It consisted of 
the union of two companies of Sabbath 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



629 



keepers known as the churches of Green 
Spring and West Townsend. This union was 
made at the request of the companies named 
and also by a vote of the Seventh Day 
Adventist conference, at the session of 
August 1 and 2, 1867. At the time of the 
organization of the Clyde church, O. F. 
Guilford was chosen elder and William 
Herald deacon, and ordained at the same 
meeting by Elder J. H. Waggoner. W. D. 
Sharp was elected church clerk and William 
Herald treasurer. W. D. Sharp served as 
clerk until 1876, when A. A. Hutchinson 
succeeded and served two years. In 1878 
Dora F. Rowe became clerk. She opened the 
first book of records and recorded the above 
facts, collected from the scraps left by the 
previous clerks. 

The society built a. house of worship in 
1899-78. It was dedicated January 20, 1878, 
by J. H. Waggoner. Elder H. A. St. John is- 
the present pastor. 

CLYDE. 

This beautiful and flourishing village is the 
veritable fulfillment of a prophesy made 
during the War of 1812, when an Indian trail 
along the ridge was the only course of travel 
through the township. Samuel 'Pogue, a 
soldier in Harrison's army, drove a stake at 
the spring south of Buckeye street, which 
was the spot marked out for his future 
residence. Here he foresaw a busy town. 
What was there in the surroundings to 
inspire such a prophesy? Nothing could be 
seen save a forest awful in its stillness and 
its density. A surface, except on the sand 
bars saturated with water, was surely no 
encouraging sight. Nor would an occasional 
glimpse of a hostile savage, caught among 
decaying logs and underbrush, give hope to 
anticipation. However this may be there is a 
growing town where it was prophesied there 
would be one. 

A glance over the ground, in 1840, would 
show the pike filled with white 



covered wagons, carrying the goods and 
families of emigrants to the West; at the 
cross roads, Hamer's double log tavern, on 
one corner, McPherson's blacksmith-shop 
within a short distance; Amos Fenn's 
cabinet-shop, and two small stores. On the 
ridge to the west and southwest were 
flourishing farms; to the south, where the 
business center of Clyde now is, an 
untouched forest: 

The term of "Bang All" had passed out of 
use and Hamer's Corners was the only name 
known to travelers or residents. 

Clyde, as we see it to day, is the creature 
of the two railroads which cross here, af- 
fording better facilities for transportation 
than any, other point in the county. The first 
town lots were laid out by William Hamer 
and Philip Beery. The construction of the 
railroads was the death blow not only to the 
name, but also the hamlet of Hamer's 
Corners. Mr. Hamer had surveyed, in town- 
lots, the land extending from the pike as a 
base line toward the south, so far as the 
junction of Maple and Main streets, being a 
triangular tract. This is recorded as "Hamer's 
addition to Centreville," from which it 
appears that Centreville had become the 
accepted name of the place, although the 
post office was never so known. On the same 
day, February 6, 1852, Philip Beery had 
surveyed a small tract recorded as "Beery's 
addition to the village of Centerville," lying 
south of the Lake Shore & Michigan 
Southern track and east of the Cleveland, 
Sandusky & Cincinnati. 

In July, 1852, Lyman Miller fell, in with 
the growing spirit of founding a town, and 
remembering the prophesy of his step-father, 
Samuel Pogue, laid out a large tract west of 
the Cleveland, Sandusky & Cincinnati track, 
which is recorded as Miller's "Addition to 
the town of Centreville," but the papers were 
dated "Clyde," which shows that the name 
had been 



630 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



changed, probably about the time the survey 
was made. 

A public meeting was field for the purpose 
of naming the infant Town, there being much 
difference of opinion. A number of names 
were proposed, but the three most favored 
were Centreville, Hamersville, and Clyde. 
The last was the proposal of Dr. Treadway, 
whose personal popularity had perhaps as 
much weight with the assembled citizens as 
the beauty and brevity of the name. It is in 
the traditional history of the town that a few 
of the older heads were slightly sore because 
of the treatment their suggestions had 
received in the town meeting. Clyde had a 
large majority and was the name known in 
the records of the county, post office 
department, and railroad offices thereafter. 

The next addition was made by George R. 
Brown, in September, 1852. Adjacent lands 
have since, from time to time, been added, as 
growing industries have increased the 
population. 

A notable feature of the plat of this village 
is the irregularity of streets and lots. This 
condition of things is produced by following 
the direction of the railroads, which cross at 
an angle of about seventy degrees. The street 
system is still further complicated by the 
angling roads, which were laid out before 
the existence of the town. The streets in 
Miller's addition are parallel with the Lake 
Shore & Michigan Southern railroad; those 
of Brown's addition run with the Cleveland, 
Sandusky & Cincinnati railroad. The streets 
of Ames' addition follow the county road 
leading north, and those of Hamer's addition 
are laid off with reference to the pike. This 
irregularity in the system of streets detracts 
somewhat from the simple beauty the place 
might have, but the luxuriant shading more 
than supplies the loss. The sidewalk of every 
avenue is 



hidden from the burning sun by the foliage of 
thrifty maples and elms. 

Clyde was incorporated a separate and 
independent borough under the laws of Ohio 
March 8, 1866, and a village government 
organized soon after that time — in April — with 
John M. Lemmon, mayor. Succeeding mayors 
have been: Joseph Zepernich, to June, 1871; S. 
W. Reed, till April, 1872; Z. Perin, till April, 
1880; since which time J. B. Bush has filled 
the office. 

TAVERNS AND HOTELS. 

It is reliably stated that at one time there 
were eight public houses of entertainment 
between Clyde and Fremont. This was during 
the days of the mud road from Bellevue to 
Perrysburg. 

A line of stages was early established to 
Sandusky over the north sand ridge, intersecting 
the State, road at the site of the cemetery. This 
crossing became a popular place for taverns. 
The first tavern-keeper of note and prominence 
was William Hamer, whose name the place bore 
for more than a quarter of a century. Mr. Hamer 
begun to keep tavern on the Corners about 1826. 
The building was a double log structure, with 
the cracks well filled and a sawed board floor, 
and withal quite comfortable. In this respect it 
contrasted favorably with the two first taverns in 
the township, Benton's and Baker's, which were 
built six or seven years before, when boards 
were not to be obtained at any price. William 
McPherson's black-smith shop, and in a short 
time a small store, gave the Corners a village 
appearance, and the residents bestowed upon it 
the name Hamer's Corners. This, however, is not 
the name by which the outside world knew the 
place. Bang All was the more common 
designation. The landlord of the corners is not to 
be held accountable for the condition of things 
which gave origin to this disagreeable pseudo 
name. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



631 



Hamer, like all good hosts, sold whiskey, but 
for that reason is not to be blamed for the 
unfortunate reputation the place in early 
times acquired for drunken rows and general 
banging of eyes. Mr. Hamer's kind 
hospitality is remembered by some of the 
guests of his house. Old men are not few 
who regret that the good log tavern days 
have passed away. Whatever else may be 
said of the benefits conferred by industrial 
and social developments, it must be admitted 
that the homely hospitality of the days of 
slab benches and cheap whiskey has been 
lost. There was a romance about the old 
tavern which clings to the memory of old 
men and fires the imagination of generations 
born since the decay of pioneer institutions. 

It was the practice of the period for 
travelers to attend to their own horses. 
Generally the log barn was of sufficient size 
to accommodate all, but in busy seasons it 
was not uncommon to hitch to the hind end 
of the wagon. The first business of the 
traveler was to water, wash, and feed the 
horses, while the female portion of the 
caravan took care of the babies and engaged 
lodgings. The men having tended their teams 
made straight-way for the bar, where all 
bodily aches and pains were banished by a 
full glass. No time was lost in establishing 
an acquaintanceship, either among the 
women who formed a cheerful circle around 
a large log fireplace or among the men who 
were drinking each other's health in the bar- 
room. The supper bell brought all together 
around a table bearing steaming cornbread, 
well roasted venison or pork; and other 
staple articles of food. Supper over, the more 
sober and orderly retired early to their beds, 
while some of the gay and festive spent the 
early evening in cracking jokes and spinning 
yarns between drinks, winding up 
sometimes, though not frequently, in a 
drunken row. The rising 



sun generally found travelers on their journey. 
Horses were fed by the break of day, and after 
partaking of a cornbread breakfast the 
travelers repaired to their wagons and began 
the day's travel which, in muddy seasons, was 
sometimes not further than the next tavern. 
These taverns were everywhere much alike. 
We have applied these remarks to Hamer's 
only because it was the main point between 
Bellevue and Lower Sandusky. 

The first frame tavern was built by Mr. 
Smith and afterwards owned by Wesley 
Anderson. After the railroad was built the 
junction House, the oldest tavern in the 
present village of Clyde, was built by Lyman 
Miller. 

In 1867 Henry Nichols, seeing the need of a 
comfortable hotel for the accommodation of 
the general public, and at the same time an 
opportunity for a profitable investment, began 
the erection of the Nichols House, which is 
now the only hotel, properly speaking, in the 
village. In 1871 this property passed into the 
hands of Josiah Barnet. After several changes 
William H. Kauffman became proprietor in 
1873, and in 1875 purchased the property. He 
brought with him the experience necessary to 
the successful management of a hotel. He was 
for a number of years connected with hotels 
in Columbus and Indianapolis, and was 
afterwards, until coming to Clyde, proprietor 
of the Murray House, Springfield, Ohio, of 
which town he is a native. 

MERCHANDISING. 

It is not easy to say who opened the first 
store at the Corners, nor is it of any 
consequence. The Corners has been a trading 
point for fifty years. A man named Turk 
opened a store at an early day. Previous to 
1845 stores were kept by Wesley Anderson, 
William Hamer, Mr. Bohl, Fred Vandercook, 
and E. M. Cook. Darwin E. Harkness began 
busi- 



632 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



ness in 1840, in a small room on the pike. 
He had previously been doing cabinet work. 

One of the busiest places in the little 
village was William McPherson's black- 
smith shop. This forge drew to the Corners 
considerable trade, for had it been presided 
over by one less skilled, farmers would have 
gone to Bellevue or Fremont more frequently 
than they did, The largest store at the 
Corners was opened by P. B. Beery, in 1851. 
Mr. Beery was a trained merchant and a man 
of tact. He had been in business in Sandusky 
and Fremont as a clerk previous to coming to 
Green Creek. One of Mr. Beery's clerks, Mr. 
William H. Bacon, has since been a 
successful merchant in Clyde. 

The building now occupied by Norton 
Russel as a residence was used in 1848 by 
Mr. E. Ames for a store. Jonathan Ames 
soon after purchased the stock and removed 
the business to a small room on the opposite 
side of the street. 

Mr. Beery sold his business in 1857 to 
Curtis, Bacon & Co. In 1854 W. H. and B. 
R. Bacon began business on the south side of 
the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern 
railroad, and in the following spring 
removed to the first brick business block in 
the village, which had just been completed 
the three-story block nearly opposite the post 
office where they engaged in trade till 1866, 
when Powers & Joseph succeeded. B. R. 
Bacon removed to Kansas City; William H. 
the following year opened a store on the 
south end of Alain street. From 1873 to 1878 
he engaged in farming; since the last named 
date he has been, in the dry goods trade. 

D. E. Harkness, the oldest merchant in 
Clyde, is a son of Dr. William G. Harkness, 
who is mentioned under another head. He 
has never pushed an extensive trade, but has 
always been successful. 



His store at the Corners, from 1840 to 1857, 
had a substantial patronage. In 1857 he 
removed to the new business centre, and 
maintained a steady trade till 1876, when E. 
M. Harkness purchased the store and 
succeeded to the business, which he still 
conducts. In 1878 the veteran merchant, not 
content with rest, again opened a store at the 
north end of Main street. 

Powers & Joseph continued trade till about 
1874, when Powers died. Joseph has been a 
successful merchant. The largest store ever 
opened in Clyde was established by Taylor 
& Richards, in 1872. After the fire of 1873 
they occupied a double room in the new 
block now occupied by W. H. Bacon. Their 
stock was equal in quality and variety to any 
store in Northern Ohio, outside of Cleveland 
and Toledo. For the past few years Mr. 
Richards has been the sole proprietor, but on 
a smaller scale. 

There are at present four dry goods stores. 
W. K. Bartlett was the pioneer in the 
hardware business. His store was in a little 
room in a frame building, which stood on the 
corner of Main and Buckeye streets, about 
1858. Subsequent dealers were James 
Vandercook, S. B. Mann, William Wicks, W. 
C. Andrews, and Frank Rader. 

The first drug store was opened by Dr. 
Eaton, on the pike. William Miller purchased 
the stock, and about 1860 removed to Main 
street. He died in 1865. Dr. Luse engaged in 
the trade a short time, and after him it passed 
through various hands, till it ceased to exist. 
H. H. Rabe has been in the drug trade on 
Main street since 1862. Rushton & Moll 
opened a store a few years later, which has 
for a number of years been owned by H. B. 
Tiffany. M. A. T. Pope completes the list of 
present druggists in Clyde. 

In boots and shoes, groceries, and other 




^.<?|^«^C^X^&*W*. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



633 



branches of trade there is fair and honorable 
competition between a number of creditable 
stores in each department. 

The Clyde Banking association was 
organized October 1, 1870, B. Kline, D. E. 
Harkness, A. Richards, and F. W. Parkhurst 
being the partners. Mr. Kline has since 
retired. 

MILLS AND MANUFACTURING. 

Clyde stone mill, the oldest mill in the 
village, was built by a stock company in 
1863. It is now owned by Lawrence & 
McConnell. 

Hunter & Miles built the Star mill in 1870. 
C. Hunter is now the exclusive proprietor. 

An edge tool factory was established by 
Hunter & Brigham in 1869. Ten men are 
employed throughout the year. 

W. A. Hunter established a bath in 1874 
with complete modern furniture. A well-used 
bathing establishment contributes more to 
the beauty and health of a town than is 
commonly supposed. 

Clyde, during the last five years, has 
become an important point for the 
manufacture of brackets and other similar 
novelties. Wilbur Finch and George Super 
began the business in the summer of 1876 by 
making, on a small scale, work-baskets and 
paper-holders. Mr. Super continues the 
business. He employs three hands. 

Hutchins & Brother began the manufacture 
of toilet brackets. Their patent double-frame 
bracket and glass has an extensive sale and 
employs ten hands in its manufacture. 

D. F. Beck fitted out an establishment with 
suitable machinery and began making toilet 
brackets in the fall of 1876. He makes 
thirteen different styles, and has machinery 
which enables him to work up common 
walnut cord wood into the most handsome 
chamber decorations. 

lohn W. Wolcott employs twelve hands in 
the manufacture of slat work novelties. 



His patent work-basket, particularly, com- 
mands a ready sale. He has just patented, 
and is preparing to manufacture on an 
extensive scale, a kitchen table which 
combines many features valuable to the 
housewife. Mr. Wolcott came to Clyde in the 
spring of 1868 and started a sash and blind 
factory which he operated one year, and then 
engaged in the lumber business until the 
manufacture of novelties received his 
attention. 

The Mefford Fruit Company was 
established in 1878 with a capital of three 
hundred thousand dollars, which includes the 
Mefferd patent for drying fruit. D. M. 
Mefford was elected president of the company 
and has had general charge of the business. 
The establishment at Clyde has a capacity of 
three to five hundred bushels of green fruit 
per day. Establishments of this kind are of 
greater consequence to a town than at first 
glance might be supposed. It created an active 
market for all kinds of staple fruit, and not 
only benefits the producers, but brings to the 
town a large trade which would otherwise be 
lost. If public patronage is the proper ground 
on which to estimate merit, the success of the 
Mefford process has already been established 
beyond contradiction. 

SMALLER INDUSTRIES. 

There are in Clyde two carriage shops, two 
planing mills, a number of blacksmith shops, 
cabinet shops, etc. The first black-smith was 
William McPherson, who carried on the trade 
until failing health necessitated his retirement. 
The first cabinet-maker was Amos Fenn; he 
"picked up" the trade, but became an efficient 
workman. Darwin Harkness did a prosperous 
business in this line for some time. 

A veteran tradesman of the present time is 
Oliver M. Mallernee. He was born in Harrison 
county, Ohio, in 1836. Having learned the 
blacksmithing trade, he came to Clyde in 
1857. In 1861 he enlisted 



634 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



as army blacksmith in the Third Ohio cavalry, 
and served till 1864. After the war he again 
worked at his trade in Clyde for a period. He 
then turned his attention to farming. He is 
now in the marble and monument trade in 
Clyde. Mr. Mallernee married, in 1866, Mrs. 
Elijah West, whose maiden name was Mary 
Blake. 

POST OFFICE. 

William McPherson was the first 
commissioned postmaster in the township, the 
name of the office then being Harrier's 
Corners. He was followed by D. E. Harkness, 
who gave the villagers the benefit of a free 
delivery. Taking the mail in his hat, he would 
walk around to the taverns and stores on a 
distributing tour. There were at this time two 
mail lines, one along the pike, the other on the 
north ridge road to Sandusky. Succeeding 
postmasters have been Jacob McCleary, D. E. 
Harkness, J. W. Wales, W. H. Reynolds, J. B. 
Bush, J. P. Fish, J. B. Fellows, R. B. 
McPherson, and Mrs. Z. Perin. 
FRATERNITIES. 

Five of the leading orders in the United 
States have flourishing lodges at Clyde. They 
are all fortunate in having a large and 
enthusiastic membership. 

MASONIC* 

Monticello Lodge NO. 244 was chartered 
October 18, 1854, with the following members: 
William M. Harrison, Charles G. Eaton, Jacob 
McCleary, William, S. Rupell, William Hamer, 
James W. Forster, Henry Burdick, John N. 
Rupell, and George R. Brown. A dispensation 
had been granted by the Grand Lodge of the 
State December 3, 1853, authorizing William 
M. Harrison, worshipful master; Charles F. 
Eaton, senior warden, and Jacob McCleary, 
junior warden, to assemble and work as a lodge 
of Master Masons. The first election under the 
charter, in 

♦Information furnished by W. M. Harrison. 



1854, resulted in the choice of W. M. 
Harrison, W. M.; C. G. Eaton, S. W.; Jacob 
McCleary, J. W.; W. S. Rupell, secretary; 
William Hamer, treasurer; P. B. Beery, S. 
D.; William Hinton, J. D.; Robert Clapp, 
tyler. 

The succession of worshipful masters has 
been; W. M. Harrison, C. G. Eaton, W. M. 
Harrison, William E. Lay, J. B.. Stark, 
William E. Lay, A. B. French; J. W. Forster, 

E. T. Gettings, R. F. Patrick, A. B. French, 

F. M. Ginn. 

The following Clyde Masons have re- 
ceived the Knight Templar degree: William 
E. Lay, Frank Rader, Tiffin comandery; W. 
H. Kauffman, Springfield; and W. M. 
Harrison, Orlin W. Harrison, and Eli Miller, 
Sandusky. 

Acadia Lodge, No. 42, Free and Accepted 
Masons (colored), received a dispensation 
and was organized June 21, 1870, with the 
following officers: T. G. Reese, W. M.; G. 
R. Taylor, S. W.; D. Whitsell, J. W.; H. 
Winsor, treasurer; Edward. Simpson, 
secretary; S. Manby, S. D.; C. Wood, J. D.; 
Peter Points, tyler. The lodge was instituted 
December 10, 1872. This was the most 
notable occasion of the kind which has ever 
taken place in the town. Colored Masons 
were present from Toledo, Cleveland, and 
other surrounding towns and cities. The 
lodge disbanded July 13, 1875, at which 
time there were twenty-four members. 
ODD FELLOWS. 

A charter was granted to Clyde Lodge, No. 
380, May 10, 1866. The lodge was instituted 
August 3, 1866, by Right Worthy Grand 
Master Daniel Fitchen. The charter members 
were: Matthias Benner, George B. Fuller, 
Richard F. Patrick, S. M. Reynolds, George 
T. Bell, W. W. Stilson, B. R. Bacon, George 
Smith, Peter Upp, N. K. Taylor, Joseph 
Barnett, John McMartin, James McMartin, 
A. T. Smith, G. R. Brown, and W. W. 
Whitton. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



635 



The past noble grands of this lodge are: 
Matthias Benner, George B. Fuller, R. F. 
Patrick, W. W. Stilson, E. T. Gettings, 
Henry Baker, E. F. Drake, Albert Stark, 
Charles Wright, B. F. Rodgers, G. P. 
Humphrey, N. H. Taylor, N. B. Mason, John 
Malcolm, George H. Brace, J. G: Bruncker, 
Henry Bobst, George Carlton, G. W. Dwight, 
S. B. Taylor, W. S. Vale, John Gazly. 

The hall in which the lodge was instituted 
was burned March 9, 1874. In this fire was 
lost all the furniture, one set of new regalia, 
and all the emblems. Meetings were held on 
the west side of the street until after the 
completion of the Lemmon block, which the 
lodge has since used. The largest number of 
members at one time was one hundred and 
fifteen. The lodge has at present seventy-five 
members and eleven hundred dollars in the 
treasury. 

Earl Encampment No. 105 was instituted 
June 12, 1868, with M. Benner, E. T. 
Gettings, Henry Baker, Henry Graback, 
George T. Bell, E. F. Drake, Peter Copsey, 
and G. B. Fuller as charter members. 

Charity Degree Lodge No. 18, Daughters 
of Rebekah, was chartered May 12, 1870. 
The charter members were: Henry Baker and 
wife, N. H. Taylor and wife, M. Benner, R. 
F. Patrick, H. F. Barnum, E. Gettings, and 
wife, H. V. Nichols and wife, G. S. Rhodes 
and wife, J. W. Forster, and J. J. Nichols. 
KNIGHTS OF HONOR. 

Clyde Lodge, No. 989, was instituted 
March 9, 1879. The charter members were E. 
T. Gettings, John Surbeck, C. Griffin, B. F. 
Rodgers, George Carlton, Louis Hoch, M. B. 
Lemmon, W. J. Payne, S. D. West, W. A. S. 
Ward, T. J. Carlton, J. F. Harris, N. W. 
Bush, H. B. Tiffany, W. H. Kauffman, John 
Billman, and C. H. McCleary. The present 



bership of this lodge is one hundred and seven. 
Since organization one death loss has been 
paid. There is in the treasury a' balance of 
fourteen hundred dollars. At the date of 
organization M. B. Lemmon was chosen past- 
dictator, and E. T. Gettings, dictator. He served 
three terms and has been succeeded by B. F. 
Rodgers, A. B. Chapman, and H. M. Howard. 

KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS. 

Clyde Lodge, No. 126, Knights of Pythias, 
was instituted January 13, 1881, by Deputy 
Grand Chancellor D. M. Lazarus. B. F. Rogers 
was elected past-chancellor and E. T. Gettings, 
chancellor commander. The lodge was 
chartered with twenty-nine members, which 
number has been increased to forty-two. 

AMERICAN LEGION OF HONOR. 

Clyde Council, NO. 298, of this order was 
organized September 13, 1880. C. H. McCleary 
was elected past-commander, and W. C. 
Andrews commander. The other officers 
elected were: George W. Lawrence, vice- 
commander; J. H. Rhodes, orator; O. W. 
Harrison, secretary; P. W. Parkhurst, treasurer; 
C. K. Hamden. medical examiner; George P. 
Huntley, chaplain; A. B. Chapman, guide; J. H. 
Davenport, warden; John Baker, sentry; H. B. 
Tiffany, Louis Hoche and Giles Dewey, 
trustees. 

PERSONAL. 

Mrs. Lydia Slocum is held in grateful 
remembrance by the people of this community 
on account of her inherent excellence of 
character. Lydia Norton was born at New 
Canaan, Massachusetts, in 1777. In her twenty- 
first year she married John Russel. Four years 
later they removed to Ontario county, New 
York. Mr. Russel died in 1813, leaving a 
family of five children, three of whom finally 
settled in this county — Norton, 



636 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



William S., and Cynthia McPherson. A few 
years after Mrs. Russel married James 
Chase, but after a short period was again left 
a widow. She came to this township in 1828 
and engaged in school-teaching for a period 
of seven years. She was a competent teacher. 
This cannot be truthfully said of many of the 
teachers of the time, when the profession 
was not appreciated as it is at present. In 
1840 Mrs. Chase married Isaac S locum and 
removed to Bellevue. After the death of her 
husband she returned to Clyde and made her 
home with Mrs. McPherson until two years 
before her death, when she joined the family 
of her son, Norton Russel. Mrs. Slobum died 
October 4, 1876, aged ninety-nine years, six 
months and seven days. Mrs. S locum was a 
lady of rare intelligence and Christian 
character. During seventy-eight years of her 
long life she was a zealous church member. 
Her full life was jeweled to the end with 
good works. 

U. B. Lemmon, the subject of this sketch, 
was born in Livonia, Livingston county, 
New York, March 16, 1808; came to Ohio 
with his father's family in 1827. When a 
young man he learned the carpenter and 
joiner's trade, at which he worked for some 
six years. On the 14th of August, 1834, he 
was married to Miss Emily Mclntyre, of 
Ithaca, New York. For some thirty years 
subsequent to his marriage he was engaged 
in farming. In 1864 he removed to Clyde, his 
present residence. He has been blessed with 
a family of six sons and four daughters. Four 
sons and three daughters are heads of 
families. He had four sons in the late war, 
two in the Seventy-second Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry, and two in the One Hundred and 
Sixty-ninth National Guards. 

That William M. Harrison is an enthu- 
siastic Mason will be seen by glancing at the 
paragraph relating to that subject in a 
previous part of this chapter. 



He is a son of James Harrison, a native of 
New Jersey, but during most of his life a 
resident of New York. William Marks was 
born in 1807. In 1837 lie married Adaline M. 
Wright. In 1845 he came to Sandusky 
county, and settled in Green Creek township. 
He served as deputy sheriff of the county for 
a number of years. 

Darwin E. Harkness, son of Dr. William G. 
Harkness, was born in 1814 in Spring-port, 
New York. The family settled at Hamer's 
Corners in 1833. Darwin E. worked at 
cabinet making until about 1838, when he 
engaged in the grocery business, and has 
since been engaged in trade of various kinds. 
Mr. Harkness married Mary De Zang, of 
Seneca county, New York. They have had a 
family of three children, two of whom are 
living. Emmons D. is in business in Clyde; 
Nettie L. Davenport resides in Missouri. 
McFall, the oldest child, died of disease 
contracted in the army. 

Moses O. Nichols was born July 17, 1818, 
at Deerfield, New Hampshire. At the age of 
sixteen he engaged in business at Haverhill, 
Massachusetts; in less than a year he 
engaged in the manufacture of shoes on his 
own account, but a taste for music induced 
him to give all his spare time to 
experimenting on musical instruments. He 
invented the first pipe key melodeon. In 
1843 he began the manufacture of organs, at 
Brattleborough, Vermont, making the first 
box swell used in the reed organ. From 
Vermont, Mr. Nichols removed to Boston, 
where he manufactured organs for ten years, 
He afterwards had a factory at Syracuse, 
New York, which employed one hundred 
men. From 1860 till 1879 Mr. Nichols 
engaged in newspaper publishing and in the 
sale of musical instruments for the greater 
part of the time in Indiana. In 1879 he 
settled in Clyde. His last invention is the 
grand dynamicon. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



637 



Among the residents of Clyde are a number 
of retired farmers, men who spent their best 
days in hard toil, and are now passing the 
evening of their life amid the pleasant 
surroundings of a village. One of the most 
highly respected citizens of this class is John 
Lefever. He was born in Chester county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1807. In 1816 the family 
removed to Fairfield county, Ohio, where, in 
1829, John married Rachel Swope. Three 
years later he came to this county and settled 
on one hundred acres of land which he had 
entered in Green Creek township. On this 
farm he lived till 1865, when he sold and 
removed to Clyde. Mrs. Lefever died in 1847. 
The family consisted of nine children, seven 
of whore are living — Louisa, Rebecca, John 
S., William C, Jacob D., Oscar T., and Jane. 
Mr. Lefever married for his second wife, in 
1849, Etvira Reed, who was born in Ottawa 
county, New York, in 1814. Mr. Lefever has 
frequently been chosen to fill local offices, 
township trustee, etc. His services on the 
school board of Clyde since 1868 are worthy 
of special mention. 

William Hamer was born in Geneseo, New 
York, in 1791. In 1815 he married Kezia 
Cleveland, who died September 19, 1856. He 
came to Ohio in 1826, and began keeping 
tavern at the Corners. Soon after that time he 
laid out the first town lots in Centreville, 
now Clyde. He married for his second wife 
Mrs. Priscilla Blanchard, who is yet living. 
GREEN SPRING. 

This thriving little village contains 
between eight and nine hundred people, and 
is situated partly in the southwestern part of 
Green Creek township, and partly in Adams 
township, Seneca county. It is well known 
as a health resort, the Water Cure and Dr. 
Brown's Diabetic Cure being among the 
prominent institutions of the place. The 
village received its name 



from the mineral spring situated near it. The 
industries of the place are as follows: 

Sash and blind factory, Smith heirs, 
proprietors; the spoke and hub factory of 
John Netcher; the furniture manufactory of 
A. R. Young & Co.; the pork-packing house 
of J. W. Stinchcomb & Co.; Hahn's tannery; 
the saw-mills of John Netcher and Levi 
Huber; the First National Bank, two hotels in 
the village and one near the Water Cure, two 
drug stores, two variety stores — hardware, 
groceries, etc.; three groceries, one stove and 
tinware shop, one harness shop, besides 
black-smiths' shops, saloons, etc., may be 
mentioned among the business interests. 
Several attempts have been made to run a 
newspaper in the village, but each paper has 
had but a short existence. 

M. B. Adams was the first settler in the 
place, and built the first house. He came 
from Norwich, Connecticut, in 1834, or 
perhaps the year previous. His daughter 
Ellen, who afterwards became the wife of 
George Backus, and died in Defiance, Ohio, 
was the first child born in the village. Mr. 
Adams remained only a few years, then 
moved to Defiance, where he died. His 
widow is still living there. 

Daniel H. Dana, born in the State of 
Vermont, March 29, 1798, moved from New 
York State and settled at Green Spring in 
1834, being attracted hither by a belief that 
the mineral spring would some day become 
known and valued. The Indians had been 
removed a short time previous to his 
settlement. Mr. Dana obtained an analysis of 
the spring water, and learned its valuable 
medicinal qualities. He kept the first store in 
the place, having his goods in a room of his 
log-house the first year. The following year 
he built a frame store on the corner opposite 
the store now occupied by Mr. Watrous. He 
also carried on the mercantile 



638 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



business in a store on Butternut Ridge, one- 
half mile east of where William Lay resides, 
at the same time. Mr. Dana built a tannery 
which he operated in company with Robert 
Smith. Soon after they erected a shop in 
which the manufacture of boots and shoes 
was carried on quite extensively. Mr. Dana 
was a useful citizen, and did much toward 
the advancement and growth of the village. 
He served as justice of the peace, and was 
the first postmaster. 

In 1823 Daniel H. Dana married Philinda 
Tiffany. Three of their children are living — 
George T. Dana, Green Creek township; 
Marian and Mary, Green Spring. Mr. Dana 
died March 29, 1881, aged and honored. He 
was an uncle of Charles A. Dana, of the New 
York Sun. 

J. A. Watrous, who was born in New 
London county, Connecticut, in 1803, came 
to Green Spring in 1834, from Huron county. 
Before coming here he married Eunice 
Stewart, by whom he had four children, only 
one of whom is living — Mary — wife of 
Frederick Wheeler, residing in Iowa. His 
daughter Laura, afterwards the wife of 
William Western, Sandusky City, was the 
second child born in the village. She died in 
Michigan. For his second wife Mr. Watrous 
married Mrs. Hannah (Carpenter) Adams. To 
them were born four children, three of whom 
are living — Nancy, wife of Frederick Durant, 
in Canada; Alice married D. P. Campbell, 
and lives near Manchester, New Hampshire; 
Hannah married J. P. Turner, and lives with 
her parents. 

Jacob Stem, originally from Carroll 
county, Maryland, was an early settler. He 
moved to Green Spring from Tiffin. Three of 
his daughters still reside in the village. Mr. 
Stem built the second store erected in the 
place the building now occupied by Mr. 
Watrous, as a tin shop. He also built the first 
saw-mill and the 



first gristmill north of the village. For use in 
the saw-mill he took the water from the 
sulphur spring. This mill was erected very 
near the old mill which the Government built 
for the use of the Indians. 

The place settled slowly. Other early 
comers were Phineas Adams, Wilcox, Robert 
Smith, and Jacob Huber. Wilcox acted as 
clerk in Stem's store. Robert Smith became 
one of the leading citizens, and a most 
successful business man. General McPherson 
came to this place when a boy fourteen years 
old, and clerked for A. M. Stem and Robert 
Smith, the successors of Jacob Stem in the 
mercantile business, until he was about 
twenty. 

The post office was established in 1837, 
Daniel H. Dana, postmaster. The petitioners 
were allowed a post office on condition that 
it should pay current expenses. Mr. Watrous 
acted as mail-carrier the first year, carrying 
the mail from Hamer's Corners, now Clyde, 
twice a week in summer and once a week in 
winter. The proceeds of the office during 
this year were thirty-seven dollars and fifty, 
cents, and this amount was paid to Mr. 
Watrous for his services, the postmaster 
receiving no compensation whatever. 

Mr. Todd began wagon-making and Elisha 
Alvord succeeded him in the business. The 
first blacksmith in the place was Ephraim 
Porter, who remained only two or three 
years. J. A. Watrous was his successor. The 
first hotel was kept by Roswell George, in 
1838. It was built by Colonel Bradley. The 
first shoemaker was Jacob Huber, now living 
in Green Creek township. A lot was donated 
him by Jacob Stem, on condition that he 
engage in his trade upon it. 

The first church was built by the 
Methodists in 1853. Doctor Wheeler was its 
prime mover. The other churches of the 
village are the Presbyterian, the United 
Brethren, and Catholic — all of recent date 







Alfred Hutchinson 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



639 



The village was incorporated in 1873. John 
A. Wright was the first mayor and served 
about two months. His successors have been 
O. L. Bartlett, Gideon Gordon, C. S. Burton, 
and J. S. Myers. 

The school district has recently voted to 
assess its tax-payers to the extent of twenty 
thousand dollars, and has given bonds for 
that amount for the purpose of erecting a 
school-building. Work has already begun. 
The school-building will be leased and used 
as an academy for tuition schools. The 
school to be free to scholars in the district. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 



ALFRED HUTCHINSON. 

Nathaniel Hutchinson was a native of 
Massachusetts, and passed his life in Cam- 
bridge in that State. He was the father of 
John, Thomas, and Joseph Hutchinson, who 
moved to Clark county, Ohio, about the year 
1818. John remained only a short time in this 
State, but went to southern Indiana and 
settled on the Wabash, where both he and his 
family fell victims to the fever. Thomas 
remained in Ohio some twenty years, then 
removed to Lagrange county, Indiana, and 
died in that State. 

Joseph Hutchinson, the father of the 
subject of this biography, was born April 21, 
1782. He was married in his native State in 
the month of October, 1805, to Mary A. 
Hodgman, who was born in Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, October 10, 1783. She was 
left an orphan while very young, and was 
brought up in the family of Mr. Adams until 
her marriage. After coming to this State 
Joseph Hutchinson resided in Clark county 
until 1827, and in April of that year moved 
to Green Creek township, Sandusky county. 
He was a me- 



chanic, and followed his trade through life. 
After locating upon his land in this county 
he went to Monroeville, Huron county, and 
there worked at his trade about six years. At 
the end of this period he returned to Green 
Creek and remained here until his death. 
Joseph Hutchinson was the father of eight 
children, three of whom are living at present. 
Following are their names and dates of birth: 
Mary A., born September 9, 1807, married 
June 14, 1829, to Asahel Franklin, Clark 
county; died in May, 1848. Joseph H., born 
April 17, 1809, died November 24, 1823. 
(He was killed by being thrown from a 
horse.) Charlotte, born February 7, 1811. 
February 10, 1831, she married S. S. 
Kellogg, in Huron county, where they 
resided several years. She died in Huron 
county, in February, 1854. Louisa, born 
September 12, 1814, became the wife of 
Elisha Lake; resided in Huron county until 
her husband's death; married Charles Petty, 
and now resides in Woodbury county, Iowa. 
Josiah B., born November 30, 1817, died 
May 28, 1836. Alfred, born September 17, 
1820. Phebe M., born May 29, 1825; married 
Noble Perin, who died in Andersonville 
prison. She now resides in Green Creek 
township. Joseph, jr., born May 29, 1830; 
was killed by falling from a loaded wagon, 
the wheels of which passed over him. 

The mother of these children died in 
February, 1851. Mr. Hutchinson died in 
January, 1855. They were both members of 
the Baptist church from their youth up, and 
were honored and esteemed for their 
integrity, industry, uprightness, and worth. 

Alfred Hutchinson attended the common 
schools when a boy. At the age of eighteen 
he commenced learning the trade of brick- 
laying and plastering, working at this 
employment in summer and attending school 
in winter until he became of age. 



640 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Mr. Hutchinson followed his trade about 
thirty years in this vicinity, and since quitting 
it has been engaged in farming. 

He was married, April 6, 1843, to Mary 
Dirlam, daughter of Orrin and Annis (Gibbs) 
Dirlam. Mrs. Hutchinson is the fourth of a 
family of seven children, and was born 
August 18, 1823. Her mother died in 
Massachusetts when Mrs. Hutchinson was 
only six years of age. Her father came to Ohio 
and was a resident 9f Green Creek many 
years. He is still living in Lorain county at an 
advanced age. 

Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Hutchinson are the 
parents of four children, two of whom are 
living, viz.: Zemira, born December 2, 1844; 
served in company A, Seventy-second Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, and died in prison at 
Florence, South Carolina, October 30, 1864. 
Charles B., born March 21, 1848; married 
Emma Strickland, daughter of Franklin and 
Hannah Strickland, of Green Creek, and 
resides near his parents. He is the father of 
four children, three of whom are living — 
Aleck, Claude (deceased), Chellie, and Lottie. 
The next of the children of Mr. and Mrs. 
Alfred Hutchinson was a son, born May 30, 
1851, who died in infancy. Frederick, the 
youngest, now living at home, was born 
January 28, 1861. 

Mr. Hutchinson and wife have never united 
with any church, but in their work and in their 
lives they are recognized as friends to truth 
and religion. Mr. Hutchinson is a temperance 
man and a sound Republican. During the past 
years he has held various township offices, all 
of which he has filled acceptably. Both he and 
his wife are nicely situated in a pleasant 
home, and are now able to enjoy with tranquil 
minds the fruits of their toil and industry. 



HON. OLIVER McINTYRE. 

This departed worthy citizen of Sandusky 



county was born in Otsego county, State of 
New York, on the 19th day of January, 1802. 
His father's name was Oliver Mclntyre, and 
his mother's name was Mary Hitchcock, a 
widow, whose maiden name was Miller. The 
subject of this sketch was married on the 
12th of April, 1831, to Miss Maria Tyler, of 
Otsego county, New York, who died at 
Fremont on January 14, 1849. Mary, his 
oldest daughter, was born in Otsego county, 
and with his wife and this daughter he 
immigrated, and settled in Townsend 
township in 1835, where the following other 
children were born, namely: George T. and 
Winfield G. After locating in Town-send, 
Mr. Mclntyre taught school winters and 
worked by the day in the summer for about 
twelve years. Here Mr. Mclntyre bought land 
and settled, and thus taught and labored, 
serving meantime as justice of the peace for 
a number of years, and until he was elected 
county treasurer of Sandusky county, in the 
fall of 1847. He served as treasurer four 
consecutive years, and no man ever served 
more faithfully, nor accounted for the funds 
of the county with more sincere honesty than 
he did. 

Mr. Mclntyre was married a second time 
on the 25th day of February, 1851, to Mrs. 
Margaret Bement, of Sandusky, whose 
maiden name was Margaret Heep, her first 
husband, George D. Bement, having died 
several years before, and about the same 
time Mr. Mclntyre's first wife died, and of 
the same disease, erysipelas. By this second 
marriage he had one son, named Wallace, 
now living, who is unmarried. He lives with 
his mother, and is a devoted helper. 
Mr. Mclntyre, shortly before his second 
marriage, bought the Hawk farm on Green 
Creek, and settled on it, and was residing 
there at the time. This farm was situated on 
the cast side of Green Creek. He sold this 
farm April 1, 1875, and purchased 




0. Mclntyre 




jdmes C/a/af dnd 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



641 



one on the west side of the creek, to which 
he immediately moved, and there lived until 
the time of his death, which was nearly a 
year after his removal. He died on the 11th 
day of September, 1876. 

Wallace Mclntyre, the son by the last 
marriage, was born at the farm on Green 
Creek on the 11th day of December, 1857, 
and is a bright and promising young man, 
devoted to the maintenance and comfort of 
his widowed mother. Although an ardent 
Democrat, when the news came that Fort 
Sumter had been fired upon, Oliver 
Mclntyre's patriotism submerged his party 
predilections, and a more thorough and 
patriotic Union man could not be found in 
the county. 

One day a member of his party, who had 
publicly uttered disloyal sentiments and 
denounced the war, was waited upon by a 
committee, who wished to save him from 
violent treatment. The accused came with the 
committee, a large crowd following, and was 
placed on a dry goods box in the middle of 
Front street, and asked to declare his 
sentiments, while a Union man floated the 
Stars and Stripes over him. The man made a 
satisfactory statement and apology. The 
writer was then standing near Oliver 
Mclntyre, who, pale with excitement, and 
flashing eyes, in a voice half-choked with 
emotion, turned to the writer, and said: 
"Homer, thank God! there is yet power in 
that old flag, and we can save the country!" 



JAMES CLEVELAND. 

This early settler in Green Creek town-ship 
was born March 14, 1806, at Mount Morris, 
State of New York. His father was Clark 
Cleveland, sr., and his mother was Jemima 
(Butler) Cleveland. When James was at the 
age of eighteen years, his father removed 
with his family 



from Mount Morris to Huron county, Ohio, 
and settled and remained there several years. 
Mr. Cleveland, the father, lost the title to the 
farm he settled on in Huron county, and then 
removed to Green Creek township, Sandusky 
county, where lie bought land of the 
Government, eighty acres, on which he made 
improvements and remained until the day of 
his death, which occurred in 1831. 

Clark Cleveland, sr., left surviving him the 
following named children: Abigail, who 
married Oliver Hayden, not living; Cozia, 
who married William Hamer, not living; 
Moses, not living; Sally, who married 
Benjamin Curtis, was left a widow and 
afterwards married Alpheus Mclntyre, not 
now living; Clark, jr., married Eliza Grover, 
and left six children, four girls and two 
boys, — parents both dead; Polly, who 
married Timothy Babcock, not living; 
Betsey, who married Samuel Baker, and is 
now living, a widow aged about seventy- 
eight years. 

James Cleveland, the subject of this 
sketch, resided with his father until he was 
twenty-five years of age, at which time he 
married Jeanette Rathbun, sister of Saxton S. 
Rathbun, of the same township, on the 3d 
day of March, 1831. At the time of his 
marriage James Cleveland had earned and 
saved sufficient money to purchase forty 
acres of land, which was part of what was 
known as the Sawyer land. On this forty 
acres he began his married life. For about 
five years he worked on this farm in making 
improvements and supporting his family. He 
then, in company with his wife's father 
(Chaplin Rathbun), rented a saw-mill on 
Green Creek, about two or three miles from 
his farm, and during the winter kept his 
family in a house near by the mill. There 
was connected with the saw-mill a small 
grist-mill, in which they also took an interest 
by lease. In this way Mr. Cleveland 
supported his family 



642 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



and obtained sufficient lumber to build a 
barn on his farm the next year. After he left 
the miles, having run them one winter, he 
returned to his farm and continued working 
and improving it, and also purchased more 
land adjoining him. 

About the year 1841, when the road bed of 
the Maumee and Western Reserve turnpike 
was being graded and made ready for 
macadamizing, Mr. Cleveland took a 
contract to grade a half mile of the road, 
next east of the present residence of Charles 
Clapp, esq. He again moved his family to his 
place of work and there kept them about five 
months, when he moved back again to his 
farm. His pay for his job on the road was in 
certificates of indebtedness under the 
authority of the State and was not realized in 
cash. He realized about six hundred dollars 
for his work. This scrip, or most of it, he 
traded to Edward Whyler, then a merchant at 
Lower Sandusky, and bought nails, glass, 
and such articles of hardware as were then 
used in building frame houses. He then set 
about building a frame dwelling of good 
proportions which he finished in the year 
1845, and occupied until his death. 
Meantime he kept on buying land and adding 
to his possessions quite rapidly, proving 
himself to be an active, vigilant, and 
industrious citizen. 

Mr. James Cleveland and his wife Jeanette 
had born to them ten children, six sons and 
four daughters, namely: James B., who 
married Julia Parmeter, still living, and has 
one son and one daughter; Eliza, who 
married A. J. Harris, and died in 1861, 
leaving one son; Clark R. Cleveland, who 
married Sarah Hearl, with whom he is still 
living, and has seven children, three 
daughters and four sons; George D. 
Cleveland, who married Rosa Metts, who is 
dead, leaving one son and two daughters; 
Lucinda, 



who married Horace Tyler, with whom she is 
still living, having a family of two daughters 
and one son living; Chaplin S. Cleveland, 
who married Susie West, with whom he is 
still living, and has two sons and three 
daughters living; John H. Cleveland, who 
married Helen Starks, and died October 28, 
1879, leaving one daughter; Sarah, who. 
married Charles Sackrider, still together, and 
have one son; Mary married George Crosby, 
still living together, and have one child, a 
daughter; Charles Cleveland, who never 
married, and who died on the 14th day of 
December, 1879. Mrs. James Cleveland, who 
gives the data of this notice, says there are of 
James Cleveland's family two great- 
grandchildren which were not noticed in the 
foregoing list. 

Mr. and Mrs. James Cleveland were what 
may be termed workers. Both were active 
and incessant in their efforts to prepare for 
old age and also for assisting their children 
to their start in life. At the time of Mr. James 
Cleveland's death, which occurred on 
September 1, 1878, himself and wife, by 
their hard work and care, had accumulated 
very near four hundred acres of land, with 
dwellings comfortable, several orchards, 
three barns, and other property in 
abundance. The children now living are all 
settled and comfortable within a distance of 
not over four miles from the mother, who is 
now healthy, vigorous, lively and intelligent 
at the age of sixty-six years. Mrs. Cleveland 
is a woman below the medium size, and in 
her best days weighed about one hundred 
and twenty pounds. She never shrank from 
any work she could do for the advancement 
of the family. When clearing up their farm 
she assisted by hauling rails with a yoke of 
oxen and laying them up into fences, while 
her husband cut down the trees and split the 
timber into rails. One season when help 




Re/. Nodh Young 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



643 



was not to be had Mrs. Cleveland fastened 
her child on her back with a shawl and 
carried it with her while she planted and 
hoed corn in the field. Her first calico dress 
she obtained by picking strawberries and 
bringing them from home on foot, a distance 
of about eight miles, to Lower Sandusky. 
These she traded to Jesse S. Olmsted for 
twelve and one-half cents a quart, and thus 
paid for her calico dress pattern of five yards 
at twenty-five cents per yard. When her 
husband died he left an estate worth about 
thirty thousand dollars and owed no man a 
cent. The widow now enjoys a handsome 
support from the land and other property left 
by her husband. Five generations have lived 
in the vicinity and chiefly on the farm which 
she and her children now occupy: First, 
Clark Cleveland, sr.; second, James 
Cleveland (the subject of this sketch); third, 
James Cleveland's children; fourth, James 
Cleveland's grand children; fifth, James 
Cleveland's great grand children, of which 
there are now two. Surely few localities can 
show as well in permanent residence and 
numbers as the Cleveland neighborhood in 
Green Creek township, and few boast of 
better citizens than the Cleveland settlement. 



NOAH YOUNG. 

Among the earliest settlers in Sandusky 
county were the Young family. Charles 
Young was born in Berkeley county, Vir- 
ginia, February 28, 1789. He passed the most 
of his youthful days in Pennsylvania. At an 
early date he came to Ohio, took up a tract 
of wild land in Pickaway county, and entered 
upon the work of a pioneer. His wife was 
Nancy Scothorn, a native of Pennsylvania. 
After living some years in Pickaway county, 
they moved to Seneca county, and remained 
one year. In 1825 



Mr. Young came to Sandusky county with 
his family, and located upon a quarter 
section which he had previously purchased 
in Green Creek township. His son is still 
living upon a part of the old place. To 
Charles and Nancy Young were born three 
sons and six daughters, namely: Noah, 
Nathan, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Susan, Mary, 
Nancy, Lewis I. C, and Elsie. Nathan died 
when an infant. Rebecca married James 
Huss, and died in Texas. She was the mother 
of two children, who are still living. 
Elizabeth married Matthew Hutchins, and 
now resides in Ballville township. She has 
four children living and three deceased. 
Susan became the wife of Milton Brown, and 
died in Steuben county, Indiana. She bore 
one child who is still living. Mary married 
James Fowl, and died in Ballville. One child 
living. Nancy now resides in California. She 
is the wife of James Rollins, and the mother 
of two children living. Lewis I. C. resides in 
Steuben county, Indiana. He is the father of 
six children, four of whom are living. Elsie 
married Hubbard Curtis, and lives in 
California. She has five children living, and 
one deceased. The parents of this family of 
children had their share of the rough 
experiences of pioneers. When they came to 
Sandusky county the whole region was little 
more than a wilderness. Indians were far 
more numerous than white people. Their toil 
and hardships were similar to those which 
almost all of the early settlers encountered, 
but they lived to see a great change wrought 
upon the face of the country. 

Mr. Young died December 10, 1841. Mrs. 
Young died some years later at the home of 
her youngest son in Steuben county, Indiana, 
aged about sixty-three years. She was a 
sincere Christian and a lady of most 
excellent character. Although Mr. Young 
was a member of no church, he was a man of 
upright principles, 



644 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



strictly honest in business, obliging and 
agreeable in his personal address, and died a 
most respected citizen. 

Noah Young was born in Pickaway county, 
Ohio, December 24, 1818. Being the son of a 
pioneer farmer, he was brought up to hard 
work, and had few opportunities for 
obtaining a school education. Some idea of 
his early experiences may be gathered from 
the following account, it being remembered 
that Noah was a boy in his seventh year 
when his parents settled in their new home. 
The family arrived upon the 25th of 
February, 1825. A small log cabin had been 
erected by Mr. Young the same winter. It 
was built of unhewn logs. In the front side 
was an opening, without door or glass in it, 
which served both as a door and window. 
There was also a small opening in the back 
part of the cabin, but this, too, had no glass 
or other substance to keep out the winter 
winds. Part of a floor had been laid of loose 
boards, and overhead was a similar floor or 
scaffold, where the family stowed their 
goods. The cabin had no chimney or fire- 
place; the roof was made of "shakes," or 
long clapboards, held down by poles laid 
upon them. The sides of the building were 
"chinked up" without mud or plastering. 

Mr. Young well remembers the keen 
disappointment his mother felt when she 
arrived, and surveyed the spot that was to be 
her home. She bore up as long as she could, 
but finally seated herself and indulged in a 
hearty cry. But the father at once set about 
making improvements, and in a few days had 
the cabin more comfortably fixed, and better 
suited for human habitation. Then he began 
clearing away the trees, and preparing a spot 
for a garden and a corn patch. He exchanged 
work with his neighbors, and made such 
progress that, by the 4th of June, he was 
ready to plant his corn. He 



began planting on Saturday, and it being so 
late in the season, he became so anxious to 
finish the job, that he decided to work on the 
following day. After breakfast, Sunday 
morning, he went out to the field, but soon 
returned to the house, greatly to the surprise 
of his wife. "What!" exclaimed she, "Aren't 
you going to finish your planting today?" 
"No," he replied; "if the corn would get ripe 
by planting today, it will have almost time 
enough to ripen if I put the work off until 
tomorrow." And he adhered to this 
determination to respect the holy Sabbath, 
although the necessity for working seemed 
great. 

The corn patch was on the high ground, 
some two hundred yards from the house. 
After the corn had begun to grow, the 
chipmunks, which were numerous, became 
very troublesome. No corn would be raised 
if they were allowed to have their way. So 
little Noah was put in charge of the 
cornfield, and watched it from before sunrise 
until after sunset. To a boy less than seven 
years of age, in the midst of a dense forest 
where there was only one small, solitary 
clearing, a charge of this sort could not be 
the most agreeable thing in the world. He had 
no company, save when he could coax the dog 
to go with him. There in the lonely forest he 
watched patiently day by day, rejoicing as the 
hours passed by, and the long shadows of the 
trees admonished him that night was near. He 
did his work faithfully and well, although his 
courage was often so tried that when darkness 
came on, and he was to return to the cabin, he 
would shout to his mother to come and meet 
him, and attend him through the woods. For 
about three weeks he was kept at this 
employment, and rejoiced when the corn had 
grown so that watching it was no longer 
necessary. What boy of the present day would 
crave a similar job? 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



645 



Again, in the fall, when the corn had begun 
to ripen, new enemies appeared — blackbirds, 
raccoons, opossums, besides the squirrels. 
Blackbirds came in flocks; and were more 
numerous by far than the ears of corn. These 
must be kept away, and, of course, the 
services of the small boy were again in 
requisition. 

Of Mr. Young's school days something 
deserves to be said. When he was about 
eight years of age, a young man established 
a tuition school in the shoemaker shop of a 
neighbor. Noah's father decided to allow his 
son to attend. But he had no book, and no 
means of procuring one. As a substitute his 
father took a sheet of foolscap and wrote out 
the letters of the alphabet as best he could 
make them, he was not an excellent penman, 
and furnished with this outfit the boy 
trudged off to school. One day the master 
gave him a slight cut with a small stick and 
admonished him to "study." The pupil 
objected to this treatment and soon afterward 
severed his connection with the school. He 
attended school nine days in all, and learned 
a part of the alphabet. The following winter 
he attended school a few days at the house of 
a neighboring lady, and made a little further 
progress. The third school he attended about 
one month, having Webster's spelling-book 
as his only textbook. When Noah was. about 
seventeen he went to school a portion of two 
terms and began the study of arithmetic and 
geography. He had just begun to get a little 
insight into these sciences when the school- 
house took fire and burned down, thus 
abruptly ending the term. A school was not 
re-established for a year or two. In 
arithmetic he advanced sufficiently to be 
able to add a little, and resolved to pursue 
his studies at home. By this time he had 
become a tolerably good reader, and was 
able to comprehend the most of the first 
rules in 



the book. But in addition, the mysterious 
words, "carry one for every ten," stopped 
short his progress, though he puzzled many 
hours over their meaning. At length he 
obtained the assistance of a young man who 
explained away the difficulty; and from that 
time onward he pursued the study of 
arithmetic alone, and became master of the 
greater part of the book. When he was 
twenty years of age, the school house having 
been rebuilt and a teacher procured, Mr. 
Young resumed his attendance for the most 
of two terms. He studied by fire-light at 
home and gained quite a reputation for 
scholarship among the neighbors. At the age 
of twenty-four the directors of his school 
district urged him to become their teacher 
for the winter term, assuring him that he was 
qualified for the position, although English 
grammar and other branches, now taught in 
every school, were subjects which he had 
never investigated. After some hesitation 
Mr. Young accepted their offer, and the 
directors took him before Mr. Stark, the 
examiner, at Fremont, and assured this 
official that they considered the young man 
competent to instruct in their school. Upon 
this recommendation a certificate was 
granted and Mr. Young entered upon his 
duties. He taught three terms very 
successfully, though to qualify himself for 
his work he often studied until late at night 
to be sure that none of the scholars should 
catch him tripping over any difficulties in 
the lessons for the next day. Thus ended his 
school education; but careful reading and a 
habit of thoughtfully considering all that he 
peruses, has made Mr. Young a man of good 
general information. 

Mr. Young's father, at his death, be- 
queathed a portion of his farm to his son, 
and soon after attaining his majority Noah 
took possession and began work for himself. 
September 11, 1842, he was married 



646 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



to Orlintha Brown, daughter of Jeremiah and 
Olive (Hutchins) Brown. Mrs. Young was 
born in Oswego county, New York, May 27, 
1824, and came to Sandusky county with her 
parents. She died April 15, 1870. She was a 
woman of industry and economy, a fitting 
companion and helpmate to her husband, and 
bore a good reputation as a wife and mother. 
To her were born eleven children, ten of 
whom are living. Norman, the first child, 
died when about twelve years of age. The 
others are living, located as follows: 
Emeline, wife of Walter Huber, Green 
Creek; Norton, Green Creek; Sidney and 
Charles, Ballville; Chauncy, Steuben county, 
Indiana; Olive, wife of Oliver Huss, Green 
Creek; Burton, Edwin, Nancy, and Villa 
Viola, Green Creek. 

Mr. Young's second marriage took place 
April 7, 1872, when he wedded Miss Louisa 
Braund, daughter of Edward and Ann 
Braund, natives of England. Mrs. Young was 
born in Devonshire, England, June 3, 1834. 
She belongs to the church of the United 
Brethren, of which Mr. Young has been a 
prominent member for many years. About 
twenty years ago he was licensed as an 
exhorter by the quarterly conference of this 
church, and during the past fifteen years has 
been a licensed local preacher. 

Mr. Young was formerly a Democrat, but 
since the war he has voted with the 
Republicans. He has never sought office but 
has served in various local offices. 

Mr. Young has always believed in tem- 
perance and practiced it. He has never used 
liquor, except as a medicine, and does not 
know the taste of tobacco. His large family 
of children have been reared properly and 
carefully. None of the sons use tobacco or 
liquor, and profane language was never 
heard in his household. Mr. Young enjoys a 
contented mind and has no enemies. 



THE BAKER FAMILY. 

A portrait is presented of the first known 
representative of the family which made the 
first permanent settlement in this township. 
Samuel Baker, sr., emigrated from New York 
State to Sandusky county in the winter of 1818, 
bringing with him a family of five children, 
namely: Samuel, Sarah Ann (Brown), 
Cincinnati; Almira (Grover) Michigan; 
Samantha (Shields), Fremont; Amelia 
(Simpers), Iowa. Samuel Baker, jr,, oldest 
child of Samuel Baker, was born in New York 
in 1802. Rugged labor from boyhood gave him 
a constitution capable of enduring the 
experiences of pioneer life. At the age of 
sixteen he was placed in the midst of an 
unbroken forest, with no other society than the 
home circle. Clearing and planting was his 
only occupation, but every working day of the 
year was diligently occupied. 

In September, 1826, Mr. Baker was united in 
marriage to Elizabeth Cleveland, a lady also 
accustomed to the privations of the country, 
being a daughter of Clark Cleveland, one of the 
earliest settlers of this part of the county. The 
fruit of this union was eight children, as 
follows: Samuel Baker was born February 20, 
1827, married Emeretta Rathbun; died June 1, 
1855, leaving two children of whom is living 
Emma (Wadsworth). 

Clark Baker, born May 20, 1828; married 
Nancy Vroaman; died November 14, 1873, 
leaving three children — Ward, Nellie, and 
Evangeline. 

Keziah Baker, born in March, 1831; married, 
first, William Hoel, who died leaving one 
child, Samuel; married, second, Edwin Gittins, 
by whom two children were born, one living — 
Clark. Mrs. Gittins died July 7, 1859. 

Sarah Ann Baker, born August 26, 1833; 
married Solomon Knauss, who died in 1865. 
The family consists of three children — Clark, 
Elizabeth, and Solomon, 




Semud Mar 




Samuef 1/1/. Chdpin 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



647 



Napoleon Baker was born June 7, 1836; 
married, first, Cynthia Leach, after her death, 
Diana Weaver; has a family of five children — 
Frank, Susan, Thomas, Abbie, and James. 

Abigail Baker, born July 9, 1838, married 
Franklin Short; died September 30, 1864, 
leaving one child — Flora. 

James Baker, born August 28, 1842; married 
Alice Hayes, and has a family of six children — 
Ella, Joseph, Elizabeth, Ellsworth, James, and 
Anna. 

Jeremiah Baker, born February 24, 1844; 
married to Norman Ellsworth and has six 
children — Elizabeth, Florence, Nellie, 

Frederick, Norman and George. 

Mr. Baker died April 5, 1880. Mrs. Baker 
continues to reside on the old homestead, 
surrounded by her large family of children and 
grandchildren. Samuel Baker was a man of 
quiet habits and unassuming manners. He was 
a farmer and wasted little time on outside 
affairs. His many friends will recognize in the 
portrait the plain, honest old gentleman who 
but a short time ago finished life's duties, hav- 
ing attained to the ripe old age of seventy- 
eight. 



THE CHAPIN FAMILY. 

The grandparents of the subject of this sketch 
were Deacon Samuel Chapin and his wife, 
whose maiden name was Josselyn, of 
Litchfield county, Massachusetts. Deacon 
Chapin moved from Massachusetts to Cayuga 
county, New York, in 1792, his being the third 
white family to settle in that county. Samuel 
Chapin was an upright and devout man, and 
was a deacon of the Baptist church for many 
years. He was married twice, the second time 
to Mrs. Whitney, and was the father of seven 
children. Calvin C. Chapin, his oldest son and 
first child, was the father of Samuel 



W. Chapin. Luther lived in Cayuga county, 
New York, until he reached a ripe old age. 
Electa married Peter Stiles, moved to 
Michigan in 1834, and died in Genesee 
county in that State. Chauncy moved to 
Michigan about the same date and died there 
in 1873, in Genesee county. Samuel also 
went to Michigan and died there, at Ann 
Arbor. He was a postmaster and justice of 
the peace in New York State, and an active 
business man, although a farmer the most of 
his days. Willard lived in Perry, New York, 
and was a tanner and currier by trade. He 
served as postmaster several years. In 1849 
he died of the cholera. Sibyl married and 
remained in New York State until her death. 

Calvin C. Chapin was born in Litchfield 
county, Massachusetts, October 22, 1780. He 
received a fair common school education. 
When about twenty years of age, he married 
Rhoda Crofoot, a native of Massachusetts. In 
1817 he moved to Kanawha county, West 
Virginia, where he remained about four 
years, and then went to Gallia county, Ohio. 
There his wife died April 16, 1830, in the 
town of Green, aged about fifty-two. In the 
fall of 1831 he moved to Bellevue, Sandusky 
county, and after changing his location 
several times, lived with his son, S. W. 
Chapin, during the last fourteen years of his 
life, and died at his home in Green Creek 
township, December 28, 1864. He was a man 
of restless disposition and was never long 
contented without a change of abode. He was 
married twice, the second time to Mrs. 
Adaline Russell. By his first marriage six 
children were born. Asenath, born June 1, 
1802, married John McKeen in Gallia county 
and died there; Pamelia, born May 8, 1804, 
married, in West Virginia, Oglesbury 
Higginbottom; Amarilous, born June 16, 
1806, remained single. She died at the home 



648 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



of her brother Samuel in September, 1835; 
Robert P, born May 18, 1808, lived in Gallia 
county several years, died in Steuben 
county, Indiana, about the year 1845; 
Samuel Willard, born April 10, 1812; Mary 
Jane, born April 15, 1822, married Henry H. 
Manahan, and resides in Norwalk township, 
Huron county. Samuel and Mary are the only 
survivors. The others all died of 
consumption. 

Samuel W. Chapin was born in Aurelius, 
Cayuga county, New York. He received a 
limited common school education in a log 
school-house. But in the school of experience 
he has been well taught, and reading and 
practice have stored his mind with a good 
supply of practical information. He passed his 
boyhood at home until old enough to work, 
when he began business life by working out 
upon a farm, — a hard means of earning a 
livelihood, as every farmer's boy who has 
tried it can testify. This life he followed for 
eleven years, working in a shoemaker's shop 
in the winter time toward the close of this 
period. He worked on the Ohio canal along 
the Scioto Valley three summers, 
commencing when sixteen years of age. 

In 1832 Mr. Chapin came to Sandusky 
county, which has since been his home. He 
was married, February 14, 1835, to Jane 
Tuttle, daughter of Van Rensselaer Tuttle, of 
Green Creek township. They had but one 
child, that died in infancy. In 1835 Mr. 
Chapin leased a farm and began work for 
himself. His wife died April 30, 1836, aged 
about twenty-two years. This great loss 
destroyed his home, and Mr. Chapin again 
became a wanderer and a day-laborer for 
three years. 

May 21, 1839, the married Sarah A. Dirlam, 
daughter of Orrin and Annis (Gibbs) Dirlam. 
Her parents were both natives of 
Massachusetts, and Mr. Dirlam moved to 
Green Creek township in 1833. 



This union was blessed with six children, 
two of whom are living: Fatima, born March 
21, 1840; married, in 1863, Fernando Perin, 
of Green Creek; after his decease, married 
Oscar Lefever; she now resides in Liscomb 
township, Marshall county, Iowa. Corydon 
C:, born December 10, 1841; died September 
5, 1849. Willard, born March 30, 1844; 
enlisted in March, 1864, in the Seventy- 
second Ohio Volunteer Infantry; died in 
Memphis September 14, 1864. Willie, twin 
to Willard, died an infant. Ralph H., born 
August 3, 1854, resides in Clyde, and is 
engaged in the livery business, a member of 
the firm of Chapin & Gray. The next, a son, 
born February 8, 1858, died in infancy. 

Mrs. Sarah A. Chapin died September 10, 
1873, aged fifty-five years. 

Mr. Chapin is now living with his third 
wife, to whom he was united in marriage 
September 16, 1874. Her maiden name was 
Emma H. Meacham, second daughter of Dr. 
A. G. and Polly (Gault) Meacham. Dr. 
Meacham was a native of Vermont, moved 
to Adams township, Seneca county, near 
Green Spring, in 1841, and practiced a 
number of years in this vicinity. From here 
he went to Illinois, where the died. Mrs. 
Meacham, a native of New York, is still 
living at Green Spring. Mrs. Chapin was 
born in Booneville, New York. 

Mr. Chapin is a Universalist in his 
religious belief, though his parents were 
Baptists. He is liberal in his views, and a 
friend to every true religious faith. In 
politics he is a thorough Republican, and a 
strong temperance advocate. 

Mr. Chapin is a self-made man. What he 
has gained in this life the has earned, and 
earned, too, by toil, and frequently by 
hardship. Now nearly three score and ten, he 
can look back with pleasure upon a busy life, 
without regret for idle days, for these he 
never had. He has cleared and 




Dr.j. L Brown 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



649 



improved over one hundred acres, and early 
and late has been active in working in the 
forest or the field. 



DOCTOR J. L. BROWN. 

Dr. J. L. Brown was born in Oneida county, 
New York, August 31, 1829, His parents were 
Charles and Anna (Phelps) Brown, of New 
England birth, and both descended from the 
Plymouth colonists. His grandfather, General 
John Brown, was a distinguished soldier of 
the Revolutionary war; his father served in 
the War of 1812, and the doctor himself was 
in the late Rebellion. His father and mother 
went to New York State with their parents 
when but children, and there were brought up 
and married. In 1832 they removed thence to 
Ashtabula county, Ohio. Both are now 
deceased. 

Doctor Brown is the youngest of a family of 
six children. His father was a teacher by 
profession, and under his instruction each of 
his children received their first educational 
training. The doctor attended school at the 
Jefferson Academy until he was eleven years 
of age, then continued his studies at 
Austinburg Institute, in Ashtabula county, 
working for his board In the family of a 
dairyman, where night and morning he milked 
seven cows and drove them to pasture a 
distance of two and one-half miles. His 
employer allowed him no lights, and as a 
substitute for these necessary articles in a 
student's outfit, while driving the cows he 
gathered hickory bark and made it serve 
instead of candles. His room contained a large 
fireplace, and in this he built the bark fire, by 
the light of which he studied, having 
suspended a large board in front of the fire- 
place to protect himself from the heat. By this 
dim light he prepared his daily lessons, often 
sitting up until late at night. In this manner he 
passed the 



winter, making good progress in his studies. 
At the age of twelve, at the request of his 
mother, he was taken into the family of Rev. 
Mr. Austin, a Presbyterian minister, there to 
be educated for the ministry of that 
denomination. Here he remained about one 
year. At the end of this period he decided 
that he never could become a clergyman, 
having no taste for such a life; besides, he 
was already firmly convinced that he never 
could accept the teachings of the 
Presbyterian church. 

At the age of thirteen he entered a drug 
store for a term of five years; of this time 
four months of each year was allowed to 
himself, and this time he improved to the 
best advantage, continuing his studies and 
preparing himself for a teacher. When fifteen 
years old he taught his first term, thus aiding 
himself in furthering the great object of his 
life, the practice of medicine. At the age of 
eighteen he attended his first course of 
medical lectures. At twenty he was united in 
marriage to Miss Mary N. Mclntyre, a lady 
still younger than himself. Soon after taking 
this step he imbibed the western fever, 
which was raging in his vicinity in those 
days, came to Fort Seneca, Seneca county, 
Ohio, and there began the practice of 
medicine, with a fortune of one dollar and 
seventy cents as the sum total of his worldly 
possessions. He practiced medicine in this 
obscure little village for a period of eight 
years. Not satisfied with the slow growth of 
the place, in the fall of 1859 he removed to 
Green Spring. The following winter he 
graduated from the Cleveland Medical 
College, and pursued his profession until the 
winter of 1862-63, when he was called to 
examine the Western troops at Fort 
Dennison. Soon after arriving there he 
enlisted as a volunteer surgeon, and in that 
capacity was given charge of the One 
Hundred and Sixteenth 



650 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



Ohio Volunteer Infantry, stationed at 
Winchester, Virginia, where he continued 
until June 16, 1863, when he was taken 
prisoner at the battle of Winchester, General 
Milroy being in command. The doctor was 
then sent to Richmond with other prisoners, 
and confined in that historical prison, 
"Castle Thunder," under grave charges 
preferred by the rebels. These charges not 
being sustained, after nineteen days of 
dungeon life he was removed to Libby 
prison and put on equal footing with other 
prisoners of war. Here he was kept seven 
months and twenty-two days. At the 
expiration of this time he was exchanged, 
and returned to his regiment in Virginia, 
where he found awaiting him a commission 
as post surgeon of that department, having to 
report monthly to Washington the sanitary 
condition of all the hospitals from 
Martinsburg, Virginia, to Harper's Ferry. 
This arduous duty Dr. Brown performed with 
honor to himself and fidelity to the Nation, 
until the troops were all returned from these 
points to Richmond and vicinity. He then 
returned to his home and family at Green 
Spring, and soon after commenced his 
present business. 

Dr. Brown has attained great renown for 
his marvelous cures of diabetes. A little girl 
was his first patient and after her cure, he 
received patients from far and near, 
compelling him to remove from the place he 
then occupied to his present institution, 
which is situated in the most pleasant part of 
the village. The Health Resort is fitted, 
furnished, and arranged in the best manner, 
and secures to his patients the most possible 
enjoyment. The rooms are well ventilated, 
the grounds pleasant and shaded, and 
everything is carefully superintended by the 
doctor and his wife. Many patients have 
expressed their gratitude to Dr. Brown by 
presenting him with sworn testimonials, that 
others 



afflicted might know where to obtain relief. 
The doctor's practice is very large; the 
patients he has treated are numbered by 
thousands, and come from all parts of the 
land. All the credit for his successful career, 
however, should not be given to the doctor 
alone: his faithful wife has assisted and co- 
operated with him, proving a faithful and 
constant helpmate. 

Dr. Brown is, and has ever been, the 
sincere friend of the suffering and 
oppressed. Previous to the war he was a 
pronounced anti-slavery man, and worked 
with every means at his command to put 
down the nefarious traffic in human lives. 
With his father, and his brother, the late O. 
P. Brown, he made addresses throughout a 
large portion of this State, urging the people 
to vote and work for the freedom of the 
slaves. As a "boy orator" the doctor gained a 
wide reputation. Nor did his work consist in 
talk alone; for while the celebrated 
underground railroad was in operation, he 
assisted many a poor negro to gain his 
liberty. The doctor is a firm supporter of the 
principles of the Republican party. 



CHARLES CLAPP AND FAMILY. 

Charles Clapp was born in Somersetshire, 
England, November 30, 1812. When nine 
years of age he emigrated to this country 
with his parents, Ambrose and Hannah 
(Bartlett) Clapp. They located in Onondaga 
county, New York, and resided there until 
1849, when they came to Clyde, in this 
county. Charles Clapp is the fourth child of a 
family of five sons and three daughters. He 
has three brothers and one sister living. 
Matthew, his oldest brother, resides in 
Onondaga county, New York; Joseph, 
younger than Charles, lives in Oakland 
county, Michigan; and Robert, the youngest 
of the four brothers, resides 



& 




l\ 




HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



651 



at Clyde. Mrs. Hannah Kernahan, of Green 
Creek, is the only sister living. She is older 
than Mr. Clapp. 

Ambrose Clapp, the father, died about two 
and one-half years after he came to Ohio. 
Mrs. Clapp followed her husband two years 
later. Both belonged to the Church of 
England, and were worthy people and 
devoted Christians. Ambrose Clapp followed 
farming after coming to this country. 

The subject of this sketch was brought up a 
farmer. He received a good common school 
education. For several years, while residing 
in New York State, he was engaged in 
working with a threshing machine. About the 
year 1835 Mr. Clapp came to Toledo, where 
he worked two years and a half farming and 
clearing land, excepting eight months of this 
time, when he was sick with the fever. After 
this he was engaged upon the turnpike from 
Lower Sandusky to Perrysburg, and labored 
upon this job until it was completed. While 
working at this, probably none of the 
laborers broke more stone than Mr. Clapp. 

He next purchased the farm in Green Creek 
township, which is still his home, and on the 
22d day of February, 1844, married Matilda 
Seaman, of Ottawa county, and began 
farming and keeping public house. His house 
was a well-known stopping place for 
travelers upon the turnpike for twenty-five 
years. The tract he had purchased was a wild 
lot, upon which few improvements had been 
made. There was a log house upon the land, 
and about five acres had been cleared. By 
unremitting industry and labor, assisted and 
encouraged by the work of his excellent 
wife, Mr. Clapp succeeded in making a fine 
farm and a pleasant and beautiful home. 

About the year 1852 Mr. Clapp introduced 
the first successful artesian well in this part 
of the State. He made the first 



wells of this sort for Mr. Park and Mr. Johnson, 
in Ottawa county. He also did the first work of 
the kind in Sandusky county for Paul Tew, in 
Townsend township. 

Mr. Clapp has been an industrious farmer, a 
careful business manager, and has succeeded 
well in every work which he has undertaken. 
When he began life in the West it was under 
most unfavorable conditions. From New York 
he proceeded to Detroit, thence to Toledo, 
having paid his fare to the latter place. While 
stopping in Detroit he had all of his money 
stolen. On his arrival at Toledo, he was 
therefore a stranger in a new place, and, worst 
of all, without money. But, happening to meet 
a gentleman whom he had known in England, 
he borrowed fifty cents from him, and this 
amount served for his use until he could earn 
more. 

Mr. Clapp is a worthy and respected citizen. In 
politics he is a Democrat. He has been infirmary 
director, and has held other local offices. 

Mrs. Matilda Clapp was born in Sussex 
county, New Jersey, February 22, 1824. Her 
parents were Daniel and Susannah (Knight) 
Seaman. Her father was born on Long Island, in 
the State of New York. Her mother was of 
German parentage, and was born in 
Pennsylvania. In 1833 Mr. Seaman and wife, 
with two sons and one daughter, moved from 
New Jersey to what is now Ottawa county, 
where they remained about fifteen years, when 
they came to Woodville, Sandusky county. 
There Mr. Seaman died, March 25, 1853, at the 
age of seventy-six. After her husband's death 
Mrs. Seaman resided with her daughter, Mrs. 
Clapp, twelve years. She died May 15, 1864, in 
her eighty-fourth year. 

Mrs. Clapp is the youngest of a family of 
eleven children. Her brothers and sisters who are 
living at this writing, are — Daniel Seaman, 
Fremont, now seventy-four; 



652 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Ira K. Seaman, Toledo, in his sixty-fourth 
year; Isaac N. Seaman, Brown county, 
Kansas, aged sixty; Mrs. Jemima Roberts, in 
Sussex county, New Jersey, in her seventy- 
second year; and Mrs. Susannah Edinger, 
Warren county, New Jersey, aged sixty-five. 
Mrs. Clapp has given birth to eight 
children, five of whom are living — Daniel 
Ambrose, born January 9, 1845, married 
Margaret Grover, of Green Creek town-ship, 
now resides in Brown county, Kansas; 
Ernestine, born April 30, 1847, died 



July 28, 1851; Charles Holmes, born 
November 7, 1849, married Sarah Noble, of 
Green Creek, resides in Clyde; Seaman J., 
born December 10, 1851, married Mollie 
Jackson, of Green Spring, resides in Green 
Creek township; Horace, born November 25, 
1853, married Sudie Keating, of Green 
Creek, resides in Toledo. The next child, a 
daughter, born February 28, 1856, died when 
eleven days old. Arthur, born July 17, 1857, 
resides at home. Robert Benjamin, born 
December 8, 1861, died January 16, 1865. 



YORK. 



THE most striking feature of the topog- 
raphy of York is the three parallel 
ridges or sand bars extending in a north- 
easterly and southwesterly direction. The 
township itself embracing an area of six 
miles square, lies in the southeast corner of 
the county and is bounded on the north by 
Townsend township, on the east by Erie and 
Huron counties, on the south by Seneca 
county, and on the west by Green Creek 
township. No streams of sufficient size to 
furnish water-power for mills flow through 
this territory. The sand ridges give the 
surface an undulating appearance, and the 
porous character of the drift formation 
overlying a heavy stratum of limestone 
contributes to the dryness of the fertile soil. 
It is unnecessary to elaborate on geological 
theories concerning the origin of the sand 
bars. They are merely accumulations of 
fragments and disintegrated particles of 
rock, washed together by powerful waves 
and currents during the last period of 
geological history when the water of the lake 
basin covered all this region of country. 
Such bars of gravel and sand are yet forming 
near the shores of the great lakes. At the 
present time events of real and traditional 
history in York are located by these sand 
bars, and it will therefore be necessary to 
know their location. 

The crest of North ridge trends through 
Green Creek in a northeasterly direction, and 
extends across the northwest corner of York 
and southeast corner of Townsend into Erie 
county. South ridge takes a parallel course, 
and its crest is about two miles 



southeast from the crest of North ridge. 
About the same distance toward the south- 
east trends Butternut ridge, beginning near 
the southeast corner of Green Creek and 
losing its identity near the pike in York. The 
name Butternut ridge was, very naturally, 
applied in consequence of the number and 
size of the white walnut, or butternut trees, 
which shaded its surface before the day of 
railroads and lumber markets. 

Nowhere in the county did the primitive 
forest appear more hospitable than in York. 
West of the Sandusky River was, seemingly, 
an endless reach of dismal swamp, steaming 
with vapors poisoned by decaying 
vegetation. But here, trees grew to graceful 
size, and shaded soft grasses. The perfume 
of wild flowers wakened birds to song, and 
the fleet-footed deer gave gayety to the 
scene. Propitious nature welcomed with open 
arms all who came to build homes for 
themselves and an heritage for their 
children. 

The soil of York is a sandy loam inter- 
mixed with small particles of limestone, and 
is unexceptionable for agricultural purposes. 
The upper rock stratum is lime-stone of 
superior quality and more than ordinary 
thickness. An outcrop occurs near Bellevue 
which supplies large quantities, of stone, 
both for building and for making lime. Land 
commands a higher price per acre in York 
than anywhere else in the county. Nowhere 
in Ohio can be found better improved farms. 

THE SETTLEMENT. 

The circumstances leading to the settle- 



653 



654 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



ment of York were somewhat peculiar. The 
improvement of the Fireland district had 
commenced before the War of 1812, and was 
well progressed while Indian camp fires 
were yet burning on the other side of the 
line. After the restoration of peace with 
Great Britain real estate took a rise in the 
Firelands which induced emigrants to camp 
over on the Congress lands until they should 
be surveyed and offered for sale. Many, too, 
who had cleared farms and built houses in 
Huron, were induced to sell and begin again 
the trials of pioneer life. The ridges of York 
were favorite places for squatters, who put 
up temporary buildings, and made small 
clearings with the expectation of buying the 
land when in market, thus saving the value 
of their improvements. But men were selfish 
then as now, and it frequently happened that 
the most cherished hope of an industrious 
squatter who had cleared and cultivated, 
cheered on by the anticipation of being the 
rightful and legal owner, was blasted by one 
who had risen earlier, and secured a front 
place at the land office when the book of 
entries was opened. The scene is said to have 
been highly exciting when the turnpike lands 
were placed upon the market. Horses were 
rode at full speed to the office, where a 
lively contest for turns ensued. Each man 
had his lot picked out, but each suspected his 
neighbor of having envious eyes, a suspicion 
which, in many cases, proved well founded. 
The feeling of hatred caused by what was 
considered a transgression of rights was in a 
few instances lasting, and the cause of 
neighborly feuds in later years. The scramble 
for land was conducted with as much ardor 
and self interested feeling then, as the 
scramble for office at the present time, 
although the assertion may appear to a 
casual observer of affairs extravagant. 
We know of no more accurate way of 



introducing the topic under discussion than by 
giving a list of the original proprietors, taken 
from the book of land entries. 

It will be necessary, in order to understand 
the dates here given, to know the method of 
making entries on the books in the recorder's 
office. The United States land office gave 
each purchaser a certificate of entry and 
receipt of payment. These certificates 
entitled the holder to a patent from the 
United States. They were also filed in the 
auditor's office, and under the law, five 
years from their date, the property, of which 
they stood as a receipt of Payment, was 
listed on the tax duplicate, and recorded in 
the book of entries. It will appear, therefore, 
that the date of record given in the following 
table of Congress lands, is five years later 
than the real purchase at the land office. 

But the turnpike lands embracing a strip 
one mile wide on each side of the pike, were 
ceded by the United States to the State of 
Ohio for the purpose of constructing a pike 
road from the Western Reserve through the 
Black Swamp. These lands were offered for 
sale at the land office at Perrysburg in 1826, 
and were taxable from the date of entry. 
They were at once listed on the duplicate, 
and the date of record is also the date of 
purchase. 

The following entries are recorded in 
1826: 

SECTION ACRES 

James Birdseye 17, 20 and 25 542 

Joseph George, jr 21 135 

J. C. and Isaac Hinds 21 30 

D.Searls and M. McCoy 21 and 22 222 

Jeremiah Smith 22 124 

William T.Tuttle 19 79 

Entries are recorded in 1827 as follows: 

SECTION ACRES 

Augustus Barber 1 85 

Winthrop Ballard 31 160 

Abram Marks 17 160 

James Birdseye 21 211 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



655 



SECTION ACRES 

Perry Easton 20 and 22 230 

L. G. Harkness 18 and 21 142 

Reuben Pixley 22 and 27 196 

L.G.Raymond, 22 116 

Samuel Sparrow 24 and 26 268 

Jeremiah Smith 22 124 

Samuel Sparrow 24 70 

The following entries are recorded in 1828: 

SECTION ACRES 

Joseph M. Jenkins 11 80 

Henry Miller 29 80 

John Mugg 10 400 

SethW. Merry 7 and 18 160 

Frederick Persing 17 80 

Norton Russell 7 160 

Jeremiah Smith 9 and 15 160 

SmithBarber 2 80 

Roderick Bishop 5 80 

H.Baker 2 and 1 1 640 

James Birdseye 5 160 

LymanBabcock 7 160 

Oliver Comstock 7 80 

William Christie 18 160 

JosephP. Dean 31 80 

JohnDunse 13 80 

John Davenport 19 80 

Elkana Daniels 17 80 

Edmond Fuller 7 and 8 160 

Stillman George 33 80 

Esther F. Green 19 80 

Martin Hart 36 80 

Joseph Hill 34 80 

Entries were recorded in 1829 as follows: 

SECTION ACRES 

David Acklar 25 80 

William Cookson 4 160 

Elizabeth Cady 25 80 

Thomas W. Canada 9 80 

John Davenport 20 80 

Joseph T.Doan 31 80 

Edmond Huldeah 30 160 

Richard Freeman 17 80 

Stillman George 28 80 

Truman Gilbert 30 160 

Elnathan George 33 80 

Jared Hadley 34 80 

Samuel Hackett 28 80 

Lyman Jones 15 80 

John Knickerbocker 4 340 

Robert Longwell 8 80 

Ransom and Major Purdy 2 80 

Simeon Root 29 80 

James Strong 25 147 

Samuel Sparrow 23 and 24 160 



Entries are recorded in 1830 as follows: 

SECTION ACRES 

N. P. Birdseye 19 79 

Elisha Avery 12 80 

James Chapman 15 80 

George Colvin 9 80 

JohnDunse 13 80 

Eli Knickerbocker 3 86 

S. W. Murray 7 80 

Charles Sherwood 12 80 

Lansford Wood 12 80 

L. C. Watkins 10 80 

The entries recorded in 1831 were as follows: 

SECTION ACRES 

Gideon Brayton 31 80 

Nathaniel Chapman 36 75 

Jesse Gilbert 30 80 

Philip Click 30 160 

Samuel Grover 34 80 

JohnGlick 30 80 

James M. Jenkins 11 80 

James Munger 29 80 

Return Burlingston 25 2 

Nathaniel Chapman 25 40 

Chapman and Amsden 25 27 

Zadock Story 25 78 

A. D. Follett 27 78 

Stillman George 28 79 

John Lemmon 18 33 

Henry McMillen 18 14 

John West 17 80 

George W. Franklin 19 79 

R. C. Brayton 28 76 

Roswell George 146 

R. Burlingson 24 67 

N. P. Birdseye 20 79 

Jacob May 121 

The only entry in 1832 was: 

SECTION ACRES 

Lyman Amsden 35 80 

In 1833 the following lands were entered: 

SECTION ACRES 

WilliamDrum 11 160 

William P. White 14 80 

Eli Knickerbocker 3 80 

R. Burlingson 23 80 

R. Burlingson 24 80 

Cro well and McNutt 20 125 

DyerCarver 27 316 

E.T. Gardner 26 116 

John Lemmon 19 80 

Lemuel Morse 24 79 

JohnRiddle 28 79 

E.W.Rice 22 76 



656 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



SECTION ACRES 

Ephraim Simmons 26 143 

Reuben McWilthey 26 131 

T.Alexander 35 160 

Crowell and McNutt 24 124 

R.Burlingson 24 79 

Lemuel Morse 24 79 

John Lemmon 19 80 

Ephraim Simmons 26 143 

JohnRiddle 28 78 

DyerCarver 27 313 

R.W.Willy 26 130 

E.W.Rice 22 76 

E.T.Gardner 26 116 

The entries recorded in 1834 were as 
follows: 

SECTION ACRES 

Theophilus Alexander 35 160 

Nathaniel Chapman 36 80 

Chapman and Amsden 30 75 

Philip Crapo 30 78 

Samuel Foster.jr 24 80 

H. and Hiram Palmer 29 80 

Phebe Sharp 36 80 

Tim Sunderland 26 101 

R.Burlingson 23 79 

MarthaBaker 23 79 

Wesley Anderson 18 160 

John W. Hone 18 78 

Entries were made in 1835 as follows: 

SECTION ACRES 

William Bates 6 80 

JohnBrush 5 80 

William Brumb 1 80 

Truman Gilbert 29 240 

Kiah Gould 36 80 

In 1837 were recorded the entries of: 

SECTION ACRES 

GilbertBohls 8 80 

Joseph Chapman 3 80 

In 1837 entries are recorded as follows: 

SECTION ACRES 

Fred Chapman 35 and 36 158 

Samuel Clark 33 80 

James Armstrong 14 80 

E. Hiland 31 80 

Wooster McMillen 33 80 

M.P. Sprague 29 80 

The entries of 1838 were: 

SECTION ACRES 

Thomas G. Amsden 34 80 

John E. Armstrong 14 80 

James Armstrong 14 40 

George Pettyome 35 80 

Augustus Barker 12 and 13 146 



SECTION ACRES 

John Barber 13 40 

Daniel Clouse 35 80 

M.M.Coe 1 80 

Almon Gray 3 38 

James Haynes 33 160 

Joseph Hoover 13 126 

Robert Irwin 31 120 

E. G. Kearney 33 80 

David Smith 1 80 

Henry Stetler 34 240 

S. L. Simpson 14 160 

The entries of the year 1839 are recorded as 
follows: 

SECTION ACRES 

James Armstrong 14 and 15 120 

Elisha Avery 13 40 

William Bailey 3 43 

H. H. Brown 33 40 

William Barcan 6 240 

Edmond Brace 2 42 

SmithBarber 3 40 

Lester Beach 9 40 

JohnColvin 9 40 

George Colvin 9 40 

J. G. Coons 2 85 

Matthew M. Coe 12 80 

O.F.Clark 32 and 33 80 

H. S. Cooper 32 40 

James S. Connell 6 80 

Jacob Decker 21 40 

William Degs 15 80 

William Dalzell 9 80 

D. Q. Ellsworth 8 40 

Henry Friligh 1 198 

George Stillman 32 40 

Hezekiah Grover 28 52 

W.F.Gormen 8 40 

Ephraim Hastings 3 120 

R.Harding 9 80 

Silas Howell 13 40 

William Henrick 12 113 

Robert Erwin 31 and 32 220 

Robert Erwin, jr 32 80 

A. C. Jackson 3 42 

JohnKnuttle 9 40 

James Lemmon, jr 3 84 

U. B. Lemmon 3 42 

James Meacham 14 80 

Richard Nickerson 14 80 

George Parker 2 42 

DanielRife 5 and 8 122 

E.R.Smith 15 40 

Dean Squire 10 and 13 279 

William Stevenson 6 328 

Asa Stanley 3 43 

JoelSiezer 4 80 

Storey Wills 15 200 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



657 



1840 closed out the balance of Congress 
lands as follows: 

SECTION ACRES 

Martin Dart 5 85 

A. D. Follett 32 40 

Ephraim Hastings 9 40 

Dennis Hamlin 8 80 

W. J. Whittaker 8 and 9 200 

The settlement of York proper began in 
1822. The squatters whose shabby cabins for 
three years had broken the monotony of 
continuous forest, cannot be called settlers, 
nor would it be prudent to attempt to 
chronicle their comings and goings. A 
squatter community, such as York was from 
1819 to 1822, would be a fruitful field for 
the study of character. Here were the class of 
people who may be termed the overflow of 
civilization — families driven from time to 
time from the public domain by legal 
owners. They push a little further along, 
crowding the savage before them. Their 
improvements are never of much value. A 
cabin, eight by ten feet in the clear, built of 
round logs, with a rough puncheon door and 
two holes over which white paper was 
pasted, the only windows. A mixture of mud 
and leaves filled the cracks, and the earth 
shorn of grass and smoothed down by bare 
feet, made a floor unnecessary. Squatters of 
this class farmed very little. In an Indian 
clearing, if one chanced to be in the 
neighborhood, or in a field prepared by 
cutting out the underbrush and deadening the 
larger trees, they planted corn. Corn was the 
complement of game in their table-fare. 
Hunting and story-telling was the only 
occupation of this class of semi-civilized 
vagabonds. The women, rather from 
necessity than choice, were more industrious 
than the men. However much the children 
might be neglected in other particulars, and, 
indeed, were neglected, they had to be fed, 
and the mothers had to do it. They hoed the 
corn, harvested it, and cracked it on a 



block, while the men, rather as a pleasure 
than a duty, shot game and brought what 
could not be traded for whiskey, or some 
other luxury, to the cabin, where hands 
already over-worked, prepared it for the 
table. It is often asked, "How did these 
people live?" When life loses every motive 
except existence, man becomes a very 
simple sort of animal. Culture and ambition 
are the creators of wants, to supply which 
toil, even hardship, is cheerfully endured. 
These people never aspired to the ownership 
of property, to the enjoyment of travel nor to 
the refinement of education. Good clothes 
would have made them uncomfortable and 
good houses miserable. The woods was their 
chosen paradise, and cabins preferable to a 
"house of many mansions." We cannot, of 
course, fathom the life of people and 
understand what circumstances have been 
their guides along the highway of existence. 
Crime, laziness, and disease are possible 
causes of their degradation. 

But a respectable class of people also were 
known as squatters. Brave, industrious men 
and women left pleasant abodes and planted 
in the forest the germs of that civilization 
which is already bearing golden fruit. They 
bore with patience, not only the hardships 
which nature imposed, but also the 
depredations of the vagrants who had gone 
before. The progress of material 
development is like the march of an invading 
army. Retreating barbarism is followed by a 
horde of half-breed camp-followers pressed 
closely by the skirmishers of the pursuing 
forces. 

Legal barriers, for a while, prevented the 
rank and file of the pioneer army from 
occupying the fertile country beyond the 
limit of the Firelands. But when these 
barriers had been removed, the way was 
already opened by squatters in name, but 
settlers in reality. 

Jeremiah Smith, one of the earliest set- 



658 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



tiers of this township, removed from Ful- 
ton ville, New York, in the fall of 1822, 
arriving at Bellevue, October 15th. He 
entered land near the central part of the 
township. 

A. D. Follett, a son of Eliphalet Follett, of 
Huron county, settled in this township soon 
after the settlement of Mr. Smith. His family 
is of Norman origin, and came into England 
with William the Conqueror. One of the 
descendants was attorney general to Queen 
Victoria and member of Parliament for the 
city of Exeter. His monument in 
Westminster Abbey bears the inscription, 
"Sir William Webb Follett, Kt." The 
grandfather of Abel D. Follett was murdered 
at Wyoming during the Revolution. That day 
of dreadful butchery is one of the most 
barbarous episodes of American history. It 
was more than an Indian massacre. It was 
inspired, planned, and conducted by Tories, 
which name has become synonymous with 
treason. Among four hundred brave patriots 
who marched to the defence of their wives 
and children was Eliphalet Follett. The 
murderous horde of allied savages and 
Tories surrounded this brave company, of 
whom only twenty succeeded in cutting their 
way through the lines. One of these was 
Follett; but a bullet cut him down before 
reaching the opposite side of the 
Susquehanna. Mrs. Follett escaped the 
massacre of the women and children which 
followed, and with an old horse started 
toward the east, taking her six children, the 
oldest of whom was thirteen, and the 
youngest two. Before she had progressed far 
her arm was broken by an accident, but by 
heroic perseverance she succeeded in 
rescuing the family, which has become well 
known in the annals of Huron and Sandusky 
counties. Abel D. Follett, who settled in 
York, was a grandson of Eliphalet Follett, 
and son of Eliphalet Follett, jr., who settled 
in Huron county about 



1820. Abel D. and Laura Follett removed to 
California. 

The school section number sixteen was 
settled mostly by poor people, who may be 
classed as "good, bad, and indifferent." 
Some lived by begging, some by stealing, 
and a few by working. After the lines of 
ownership began to become marked many of 
the old squatters took to the school section, 
feeling sure that their days would be spent 
before the uncharitable hand of industrious 
landlords would defile, with axes and plows, 
this last haven of wandering humanity. 

Sid Perry was a character in his day. He 
was an industrious visitor, especially about 
butchering time. Jeremiah Smith used to 
make a custom of saving the hogs' heads and 
bony meat, knowing that Sid's complaints of 
poverty and ingratitude of the world would 
be forced into his ears soon after the last 
squeal of the dying swine had ceased. Sid 
was a zealous Baptist, and always wanted to 
lead the singing. He had a nasal, high-keyed 
voice, and stretched out his syllables to a 
distressing length. He seemed to think of his 
wicked neighbors when he sang: 

I long to see the season come 

When sinners shall come marching hum. 

Speaking of ardent church members calls 
to mind another early settler whose piety 
exceeded his education. Adam Brown lived 
on the ridge, and was in most respects a 
worthy man. Revivals always conquered his 
nerves. He had but one speech, which was 
delivered, seemingly with fear, certainly 
with trembling. His tearful sincerity 
drowned laughter even among the sinners, 
when he began his stereotype speech by 
saying: "Brethren and cistern, I tell you 
'ligion is good, I know it by knowledge 
experimental." 

There never was enough business along the 
pike to make taverns a necessity. They were 
to be found every mile or two. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



659 



Most of them were poor concerns, while 
others made comfortable stopping-places. 

Henry McMillen had a cooper shop west of 
the Centre. It was an easy matter to get out 
staves and make barrels from the fine, 
straight timber in which the forest abounded. 
Barrels, too, were in considerable demand in 
Lower Sandusky, and Portland (now 
Sandusky), also a great many were used for 
shipping potash, which was extensively 
manufactured in the east part of this county. 

Rollin Benson sold the first goods in the 
township. He brought with him from the East 
a stock of cotton fabrics and notions, also a 
barrel of whiskey, which was a necessary 
article of merchandise. When the whiskey, 
calicoes, muslins, etc., had been disposed of, 
the frontier merchant shut up store and 
moved away. 

John Davenport was one of the first 
squatter settlers in the county. He lived on 
what is now known as the Nathan P. 
Bridseye farm, and then removed further 
north, where he entered land and died. His 
family went west. Davenport was the first 
postmaster in York, which was also the first 
post office in the east part of the county. 

The Tuttles were early settlers of the 
southwest part of York and southeast part of 
Green Creek. They were of a sporting 
disposition, and often at raisings or log- 
rollings demonstrated considerable 
combativeness. 

The years 1824 and 1825 were sickly in 
York. Three of the prominent settlers were 
among the first to die. Mr. and Mrs. 
Longwell died in 1824, and Seth M. Murray 
in 1825. 

Dr. L. Harkness was the physician for all 
this part of the country at that time. He 
found considerable difficulty in obtaining 
medicine. On one occasion he declared that 
he would give his horse for a bottle of 
quinine. 



Oliver Comstock was an early settler on 
the North ridge, probably having come there 
before the land was in market. 

Dr. Avery was the first physician in the 
township, but gave most of his attention to 
farming and clearing land. 

William Christie settled on the farm on 
which John Davenport first settled. It next 
came into possession of his son-in-law, 
Nathan P. Birdseye. 

The Utbey family settled early on the 
North ridge. 

David Acklar, though generally a fair sort 
of a man, was in the habit of much drinking, 
and when under the influence of the 
beverage, so much used by the pioneers, was 
disposed to be quarrelsome. He had the 
reputation of being a fighter. 

Doctor James Strong and Charles F. Drake 
purchased in the name of Z. Story a lot now 
occupied by the west part of the village of 
Bellevue. 

Gideon Brayton was a large, good-natured 
settler of the north part of the township. His 
presence at a log-rolling or raising was an 
assurance that fun would be plentifully 
intermingled with the work. He came to 
York about 1825. 

Return Burlingson was one of the early 
settlers of Bellevue. He afterwards moved to 
California, where he died. 

Deacon Raymond was one of the first 
settlers on the pike. He was a local preacher 
and farmer. 

The first tavern on the pike was opened by 
Reuben Pixley, who had a family of six 
sons — Reuben, Elanson, Alvah, George, 
Theron, and Charles. The Pixley's were a 
very religious family, and kept the York 
Centre tavern after the fashion of the times. 

Wesley Anderson was the popular land- 
lord of the pike at a later date. He moved 
from York to Hamer's Corners, in Green 
Creek. Hiram Baker was born at Homer, 



660 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Courtland county, New York, in the year 
1798. His father, John Baker, was one of the 
early settlers of Lyme township, In 1817, 
while assisting to raise a log-house in York, 
he received an injury which resulted in his 
death the following day. Hiram thus found 
himself at the early age of eighteen, charged 
with the management of the farm and 
support of his mother. In the course of a few 
years he was obliged to sell the farm his 
father had purchased, getting some advance 
for the cost of improvements. He purchased 
a tract on Butternut ridge, in this county, and 
moved into an unfinished log-house in 
midwinter. Mechanics of all kinds were 
scarce, and Mr. Baker finding himself in 
need of shoes began cobbling with an awl 
made of a piece of fork-tine, pegs whittled 
out with a penknife, and common knives and 
hammers. He soon became expert in making 
the fashionable stoga shoes of the day. He 
could make two pair a day. His neighbors, 
and everybody within a distance of several 
miles were neighbors in those days, 
cheerfully gave a day's work for a pair of 
shoes and furnish the leather. In this way 
Mr. Baker soon succeeded in getting his 
farm under a good state of cultivation. Shoe- 
making being profitable, he sold his farm 
and moved to Bellevue, where he employed 
a journeyman and learned the trade 
regularly. Eventually his business became 
quite extensive and brought sufficient 
accumulation of property to make old age 
comfortable. He died in 1874. In 1826 Mr. 
Baker married Mary Ann Forbes, by whom 
he had three children — Arabella, Henry, and 
Hiram F., the last named being editor of the 
Bellevue Local News. Mr. Baker's first wife 
dying in 1835, he married, in 1836, 
Catharine Hagaman, daughter of John 
Hagaman. She was born in 1815. John H., 
her oldest child, died in 1880 leaving a wife 
and one child, 



Grace. David A., the second son, was a 
member of the Thirteenth Ohio Cavalry and 
was killed near Petersburg, Virginia, in 
1864. 

Elder John Mugg settled on the South 
ridge in 1822. Being a man of more than 
ordinary piety and a devout member of the 
Baptist church he at once began to plan for 
the organization of a religious society. His 
desire was realized in 1825, as will be seen 
further along in this chapter. He eventually 
became a preacher and exhorter. He bore the 
reputation of being a truly good man. His 
children were: Thomas, John B., William, 
Marcus, and Jesse, sons, and two daughters, 
Mary (Bennett), and Harriet (Colvin). 
Thomas, Mary, and Jesse died in Indiana; 
Marcus became a preacher and removed to 
Michigan, where he died; William farmed on 
the South ridge until his death; Mrs. Colvin 
died in this township. John B. Mugg, who 
was more intimately identified with the 
affairs of York than any of the other 
children, was born in New York in 1801. He 
married, in 1823, Susan Wheeler, and soon 
after removed to Ohio and settled in this 
township; but after a residence in the pioneer 
country of two years, they returned to New 
York, where they remained till 1836. 
Returning to York, they settled on the farm 
on which he died. Their family consisted of 
nine children, only two of whom are living- 
William A. and George H., the last named of 
whom was born in 1838, married Adelia Hitt 
in 1860, and has three children — Elmer E., 
Luella E., and Susan M. He was in the 
nursery business in Green Creek township 
from 1872 to 1874. 

In October, 1822, a party of four men, 
William McPherson, his brother-in-law 
Norton Russel, Lyman Babcock, and James 
Birdseye, left their homes in Ontario county, 
New York, for the purpose of 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



661 



seeking new homes in the West. All, except 
Mr. Russel, were married, but left their 
families behind until a location could be 
selected. At Buffalo they engaged passage 
on a packet, but fearing robbery and 
personal violence at the hands of the crew, 
they concluded at the harbor at Ashtabula 
that safety was preferable to ease, and 
started for the Sandusky territory on foot. 
After two or three weary days' walking Mr. 
Birdseye, who was the oldest member of the 
party, became exceedingly tired, and 
throwing himself down by the roadside, 
insisted that his hips had penetrated his body 
at least two inches. But the tiresome journey 
was at last finished, and as a result of it the 
county gained four good citizens. They each 
entered a quarter section of land, all in York, 
except Mr. McPherson, who settled in Green 
Creek. All except Mr. Russel returned to 
New York for their wives. A full sketch of 
the Birdseye family is found at the 
conclusion of this chapter. Further mention 
is made of Mr. McPherson in connection 
with Green Creek. Mr. Babcock was a 
worthy and respected citizen of York for 
many years. Mr. Russel married, in 1825, 
Sibyl McMillen, a daughter of Samuel 
McMillen, of Green Creek. The wedding 
ceremony was performed by James 
Mclntyre, the Methodist preacher of this 
circuit for that year. He had by this time 
made considerable improvement on his farm 
on the North ridge, where he lived and raised 
a family of seven children, viz: John N. and 
William M., Clyde; Charles P., York; 
Phoebe S., wife of William Mugg, York; 
Sarah R. (Bell), Clyde; Mary M. (Taylor), 
Colorado Springs; and Belle R. (Culver), 
Cleveland. The children and grandchildren 
held a reunion at Mr. Russel's residence in 
Clyde, June 15, 1881, the occasion being the 
eightieth anniversary of his birth. Twenty- 
two grand- 



children and one great-grandchild are living. 
Joseph George, the oldest man now living in 
Clyde, and also one of the earliest pioneers, 
was born in Vermont, in 1795. He belonged 
to the volunteer militia of New York, when 
the British made the raid through Western 
New York and burned Buffalo, and at that 
time he was on the march. The war over, he 
married Sarah McMillen, and in 1819 came 
to Ohio, first stopping where Bellevue now 
is, at the frontier tavern kept by his cousin, 
Elnathan George. He first settled in 
Thompson township, but after a few years 
bought turnpike land, near the centre of 
York, which he improved after the fashion of 
the day. The land was not well adapted to 
agriculture and was therefore sold by Mr. 
George after a residence of nine years, at an 
advance barely covering the cost of 
improvements. This has since become a 
valuable tract on account of inexhaustible 
deposits of fine gravel. It is now owned by 
the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern 
Railroad company. Soon after Mr. George 
moved to York an incident occurred which 
shows the friendly disposition of the Indians 
who roamed through the extensive 
woodlands, hunting. Mrs. George started on 
horseback to the cabin on the pike, where 
Rollin Benson was disposing of a small 
stock of goods. In sight of the little store her 
horse frightened and threw her violently to 
the ground, inflicting a severe stunning and 
painful bruises. A party of Indians loafing 
near by seeing what had happened promptly 
came to her rescue, carried her to Amsden's 
Corners, and summoned medical aid. Mr. 
George removed from York to Townsend, 
where he lived thirty-three years, and then 
retired in Clyde, where he yet resides in the 
fullness of his years, being in the eighty- 
seventh year of his age. Mrs. George died in 
1880, having 



662 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



borne a family of fourteen children, thirteen 
of whom came to maturity. Nine are yet 
living: Lorenzo D., Allen county, Indiana; 
Alfred, Bowling Green, Ohio; Rev. Norton 
R., Hill City, Kansas, Joseph, jr., Clyde; 
Mrs. Archibald Richards, Clyde; Mrs. Joseph 
Whitehead, Clyde; Mrs. George McFarland, 
Bowling Green, Ohio; Mrs. Milton Gaskill, 
Medina, Michigan; and Mrs. James May, 
Fairfield, Michigan. 

John Riddell, a native of Pennsylvania, 
removed to New York in 1824, at the age of 
twenty-four years. He married, in New York, 
in 1828, Laura Haynes, and three years later 
removed to Ohio and settled in York 
township, near York centre. They had one 
child, William B., who was one year old 
when his parents came to Ohio. In 1853 he 
married Barbara Cupp, and has a family of 
three children: Ida (Angel), Emma, and John 
C. John Riddell is one of the few old settlers 
still living. His wife died about nine years 
ago. He belongs to the Christian church. His 
son, W. B. Riddell, does a good farming 
business. 

Isaac Slocum was born in Rhode Island, in 
1775. He married, in Pennsylvania, 
Elizabeth Patrick, and they emigrated to 
Huron county, Ohio, in 1824, settling in 
Lyme township, where they remained five 
years, and then, in 1829, removed to York. 
Mr. Slocum died in York in 1858. The 
family consisted of twelve children, five of 
whom are living, viz : Isaac, in Minnesota; 
William, in Iowa; Abel, in Wisconsin; Giles, 
in Minnesota; Elizabeth, the only daughter 
living, is the widow of Mason Kinney, and 
lives in York township. 

Mason Kinney was born in 1806. In 1833 
he married Elizabeth Slocum, by whom be 
had a family of seven children, six of whom 
are living: Mary, George, Sarah (Bachman), 
William, Joseph, and 



Erastus W. All the children, except Joseph, 
live in York township. 

Prominent among the Pennsylvania 
German families of this township are the 
Harpsters. Jacob Harpster was born in 
Pennsylvania in 1811. He came to Ohio in 
1834, and settled in Seneca county, where he 
lived five years, and then made York his 
permanent residence. He married, in 1838, 
Elizabeth Mook, and has a family of four 
children — Frederick, Jacob D., Benjamin F., 
who live in Kansas, and Eliza S., wife of 
Henry Miller, of York township. 

Isaac Parker and family emigrated from 
Pennsylvania to Ohio in 1842, and remained 
in Huron county one year, then came to York 
township. Mr. Parker married Elizabeth 
Mook, also of Pennsylvania. He is still 
living; his wife died several years ago. They 
had nine children, seven of whom are living- 
Levi, in York township; Isaac, in Michigan; 
Jackson, in Erie county; Solomon, in 
Michigan; Anna (Rupert), in Michigan; 
Andrew, in the West; and Henry, in Iowa. 

Levi Parker was born in Pennsylvania in 
1823. In 1861 he married Caroline Michael, 
to whom seven children were born-George, 
Charles, Isaac, Mary, Oren, Emma, and 
Nettie. 

Ephraim Sparks was born in New Jersey in 
1790. He settled in Pennsylvania, and there 
married Sarah Cook in 1813. Four years later 
they removed to Tuscarawas county, Ohio, 
where Mrs. Sparks died, in 1828, and her 
husband in 1871. Four of their seven 
children are still living, two in this county — 
Randall, and Isaac. The latter resides in 
Clyde. David died in Carroll county, Ohio, 
in February, 1881. The daughters now living 
are: Mrs. Elizabeth Tressel, Tuscarawas 
county, and Mrs. Mary Neal, Westmoreland 
county, Pennsylvania. 

Randall Sparks was born in Pennsylva- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



663 



nia in 1814. He married Ann Wingate in 
1835, and settled in York township, his 
present residence. Mr. Sparks has served as 
justice of the peace six years, and has held 
other local offices. He is the father of eight 
children, only two of whom are living: 
Lemuel, the oldest, enlisted in company B, 
Seventy-second Ohio infantry, November 9, 
1861, and participated in the battle of 
Shiloh. He died in camp before Corinth, May 
16, 1862, in the twenty-sixth year of his age. 
Catharine died January 5, 1858, in her 
nineteenth year; Albert died May 31, 1861, 
in his twentieth year. Leslie E. was mustered 
in as a member of company M, First 
regiment Ohio Heavy Artillery; he was 
drowned in the Tennessee River, near 
Loudon, Tennessee, June 2, 1864, in the 
twenty-first year of his age. Melissa died 
November 6, 1869, in her twenty-second 
year; Elinda Jane died April 25, 1872, in the 
twenty-second year of her age. The surviving 
children are Wilbur L., born February 27, 
1854, and Ella B., born June 15, 1859; both 
reside at home. 

Samuel Shutts was a native of New Jersey, 
and was born in 1797. His family moved to 
New York while he was young. He married 
in New York, and in 1847, with his wife and 
five children, removed to Sandusky county, 
and settled in York township; where his wife 
died in 1855, leaving five children — Oliver 
J., Mary, Sarah H., John, and Emma. Mr. 
Shutts removed to Ballville township in 
1861. Oliver J., the oldest child, was born in 
New York in 1828; he married, in 1859, 
Margaret Barlow, of York township; their 
children are all deceased. Mr. Shutts was one 
of the founders of the Diabetic Cure at 
Green Springs. 

John Mook was born in Pennsylvania in 
1765. He was married in Pennsylvania, in 
1818, to Mary Baughy, and in 1836 removed 
to Western New York. In 1844 



they came to Ohio, and settled in this 
township. Seven of their nine children are 
yet living — Mary, wife of Isaac Parker, York 
township; Abraham, New York State; Effie, 
wife of Lewis Burgess, New York State; 
Solomon, living in Illinois; Sampson, in 
New York, and Benjamin, in York township. 
The last named was born in Pennsylvania in 
1820; he came to Ohio with his parents, and 
in 1848 married Susan Boyer, who was born 
in Union county, Pennsylvania, in 1827. 
Their family consists of nine children, viz.: 
Simon B., Fidelia, Malcomb, Samuel E., 
Elmer J., Clara, Emma and Emerson (twins), 
and William G. Mr. Mook made carpentering 
a business while living in New York. John 
Mook, father of the Mooks of this township, 
died in 1848. His wife survived him ten 
years. 

William, the only living child of William 
and Mary Mills, was born of Jersey 
parentage, in 1809. He married Cornelia 
Berry in 1857, and has a family of two 
children — Eliza J., Huron county, and Mary 
E., York township. 

William Dymond was born in England, in 
1811. He married Elizabeth Greenslade, in 
1838. The family consists of eleven children, 
viz.: James, resides in Kansas; John, Huron 
county; Anna (Coleman), Clyde; William, 
jr., Kansas Richard, died in 1872; Samuel; 
Alice (Clacknor); Alfred, York township; 
Elizabeth (Stotler), Toledo; Mary, Frank, 
and Frederick, York township. Mr. Dymond 
is a mason, and followed that trade thirty 
years. He has resided in this county since 
1848. 

James F. Smith was born in New York, in 
1809. He removed to Pennsylvania in 1823, 
where he married, in 1833, Elizabeth 
Alexander. They settled in Huron county, 
Ohio, in 1843, and removed to York 
township, five years later. Six of their eleven 
children are living, viz: Mary. 



664 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



J., York township; Charles, Kansas; John, 
Kansas; Alice, York township; Samuel and 
Clara B., York township. Mr. Smith is a 
carpenter, and worked at that trade twenty 
years. He has been extensively engaged in 
the manufacture of lime for about twenty 
years. 

Joseph P. Roush was born in Pennsylvania, 
in 1814. In 1839 he married Catharine 
Kreisher, and with his family moved to York 
township in 1856. Five children are living 
and two are dead. Charles F. and James P. 
reside in York township; John Henry, at 
Lindsey; Mary E. (Williams), in Huron 
county; and William A., in York. Alice and 
George W. are deceased. Mr. Roush attends 
his farm, but during the winter works at 
tailoring. He has about two hundred acres of 
good land. Mr. and Mrs. Roush, and Charles, 
belong to the Reformed church. Mrs. 
Williams is a Methodist. 

Gideon Billman and family, originally 
from Berks county, Pennsylvania, moved to 
Sandusky county in 1848, and settled where 
the sons now live, in York township. Mr. 
Billman married Hannah Donner, and to 
them were born six sons and three daughters. 
Three of the sons and all of the daughters 
survive. George resides near Burr Oak, 
Michigan; John and George, on the home 
farm; Susan is the wife of John Bauchman, 
York township; Sarah is the wife of Joseph 
Smith, Erie county; Mary Jane, the wife of 
Henry Toogood, resides in Sturgis, 
Michigan. The father and mother have both 
died within the past six years. 

George Billman was married, in 1876, to 
Mary Ann Boop, a native of Groton 
township, Huron county. They have five 
sons-Joseph, James, George, Cloyd, and 
Frank. Mr. Billman and his brother are 
Democrats. They worked at fence-making 
several years, and have been carrying on the 
same business in connection with 



their farming for the last fifteen years. 

M. J. Tichenor removed from New York to 
York township in 1851. He was born in 
1821, and, in 1827, married Joanna 
Torrence, a daughter of William H. and 
Salome Torrence. Nine children blessed this 
union-Mary A. (Tea), Clyde; Helen (Kline), 
York township; Zachariah, Kansas; Salome 
(Lemmon), Townsend township; George, 
Ida, Elizabeth (Haff), Jessie, and John, York 
township. Mr. Tichenor was an active, 
energetic citizen until his death. Mrs. 
Tichenor continues a resident of York. 

Jacob Kopp was born in Pennsylvania in 
1827. In 1851 he removed to Erie county, 
Ohio, and in 185.9 to York township. He 
married Matilda E. McCauley in 1853. The 
fruit of this union is six children, as follows: 
John P., Minnesota; Frances (Hoy), Erie 
county; Benjamin F., Anna E., Abraham L., 
and Alice E., York township. Mr. Kopp is a 
Republican, He and his family belong to the 
Reformed church. He has five hundred and 
fifty-four acres, and does an extensive 
farming business. Commencing with little, 
he is now in very good circumstances as the 
reward of his untiring energy. 

One of the first of the "Pennsylvania 
Dutch" settlers in York was Adam Jordan. 
He was horn in 1803, and in 1829 married, 
in Pennsylvania, Sophia Orwig. They came 
directly to York and settled on the farm on 
which he died in 1861. She died in 1872. 
Their family consisted of eight children, viz: 
Sarah (Weaver), Lucas county; Martin, 
Lucas county; Lucy (McCauley), York 
township; Joseph, Mary, Hannah M., James, 
and George W. live in York township. 

William Frederick was born in Pennsyl- 
vania in 1796. He married, in 1835, 
Catharine Kline, who was born in Penn- 
sylvania in 1809. In 1861 they removed to 
York, where they still live. Their eight 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



665 



children are: George, York township; Jesse, 
Maumee, Ohio; William, jr., York township; 
James, Michigan; Samuel, York township, 
and Henry, Riley township. Reuben and 
Robert are dead. Mr. Frederick, though well 
advanced in years, enjoys good health. 

Godfrey Deck, one of the later settlers of 
this county, was born in Pennsylvania in 
1805. He married Christiana Bixler in 1827; 
settled in York in 1864. He had a family of 
five children. He died in York in 1871. She 
is yet living. John, the oldest child, was born 
in Pennsylvania in 1828. In 1852 he married 
Sarah Klingman, who bore a family of eight 
children, five of whom are living: A. H. and 
Sarah C, York township; Anna M. 
(Bradley), Canada; John F. and William G., 
York township. The names of those that are 
deceased were Christiana, Charley, and 
Joseph. All died young. 

Edward Kern was born in Pennsylvania in 
1825. He came to Ohio in 1833, and settled 
in Seneca county, where he married Sarah 
Stetler in 1846. In 1871 he removed to York 
township. His family consists of six 
children, viz: A. J. and Jacob H., Seneca 
county; Samuel E., York township; Mary F., 
wife of John Swartz, Michigan; Laura E. 
(Stewart), York township, and Abbie E. 
(Ebbersol), Missouri. Mr. Kern's parents 
were George Jacob and Elizabeth (Shuck) 
Kern, both natives of Pennsylvania. After 
coming to Ohio they lived and died in 
Seneca county. They brought up a family of 
five sons and five daughters. All, excepting 
three daughters, are still living. The sons 
are: Yost, St. Joseph county, Michigan; 
George, Bellevue; Isaac, Seneca county; 
Edward, York township; Bennel, in Iowa. 
The daughters: Sophia, deceased; Sarah, 
deceased, was the wife of John Romick, 
Seneca county; Hannah, wife of George 
Heater, Bellevue; Mary married Jacob 



Miller, and died at Coldwater, Michigan; 
Rachel, the widow of Jacob Sieber, resides in 
Seneca county. 

Jacob Hilbish, a native of Pennsylvania, 
came to York township in 1871, and settled on 
the farm which he now occupies. He married 
Susannah Paulin, also a native of Pennsylvania. 
They have had six sons and three daughters, 
viz: Harriet, wife of Nathan Knauer, 
Pennsylvania; Agnes, wife of Daniel Cleckner, 
Seneca county; Ammon, Pennsylvania; Aaron, 
in the West; Matilda, wife of George 
Hassenplug, York township; Charles, Kansas; 
Wilson, at home; James, Indiana; David, 
Illinois. Mr. Hilbish has a good farm of one 
hundred and thirty-seven acres, situated near 
town, and does a good farming business. 

A WEDDING EPISODE. 

A wedding in a new country is a particularly 
interesting event. Our pioneer fathers and 
mothers had no newspapers to interest them 
with the events of the world at large, nor did 
many of them have books to occupy an 
occasional hour stolen from the clearing or 
farm. Similar surroundings and pursuits 
effected a kind of homogeneity in the 
community. These two circumstances 
conduced to a social feeling and interest which 
it is impossible to appreciate at the present day. 
Marriage is the second great event in the life of 
an individual, and the one in which people 
generally are more interested than any other. It 
is but natural, therefore, that in a community 
bound together by personal friendship and 
social unity, the prospect of a wedding became 
the family talk of every cabin. 

The story of an early wedding in York, as 
told by a gay and favorite beau among the red- 
cheeked lasses of the time, furnishes a pleasing 
episode to the naturally dry chronicle of prosy 
facts. 

Miss Abigail Bardman, a gay, vivacious, and 
handsome girl just past her teens, 



666 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



tired of the changeless succession of events 
at her home in New York, and captivated by 
the romance of border life as pictured in the 
letters of her sister, Mrs. Knickerbocker, 
from York, resolved upon a visit to the new 
Sandusky country. Having packed the 
plainest articles of her wardrobe she started 
upon the long journey, and in a few weeks 
was the guest of her sister's cabin home. She 
at once conquered the rural beaux, while on 
the other hand the strong and manly knights 
of the forest found favor in her sight. Mr. 
Piatt, from Huron county, pushed his suit 
most ardently and won the pearl. The pain of 
jealousy was part of the price, for he 
suspected Norton Russel of being a rival and 
feared the issue. The load bore heavily upon 
Mr. Piatt's heart. One day he and Mr. Russel 
were teaming together. Determined to know 
whether his companion was a stumbling- 
block in the way of his most cherished 
ambition, he asked in the most confidential 
manner possible the exact status of affairs. 
On being informed by Mr. Russel that there 
was no cause for anxiety, deep melancholy 
took rapid wings and the pathway of the 
lovers was straight and clear until the 
eventful wedding day. That consummation is 
best told in the following lines, written by 
another:* 

When York was wild, when in her woods 

The clearings' timbers nightly blazed; 
When deer grazed in those solitudes, 

And but few hardy men had raised 
Their cabin roofs; it chanced a pair 

Of lovers from an Eastern State 
Here met, and here agreed to share 

Their lives, and leave the rest to fate. 
The records say not whether it 

Was when the woods leaf, or when the wheat 
Was ripe, or when the wild geese quit 

This clime, or 'mid the snow and sleet 
The day was set; but we judge it 

Was in the season for bare feet 
The sequel shows. Enough to tell, 

One smiling morn, a smiling set 
Of settlers, friends from hill and dell, 

Had, in invited concourse, met 
* W. G. Zeigler. 



To witness the solemnities 

Of marriage in New England style. 
The bride in white, all blushes, sighs, 

Was like all brides, most sweet; her smile, 
Soft sunshine; and the groom was dressed 

In black, as were his Eastern kin, 
A gay assemblage for the West. 

All things were ready, and loud in 
Its "Varmount" casings struck the clock 

Twelve sounding strokes, still was not heard 
The parson's long-expected knock. 

What could the good man have deterred? 
Most gloomy grew the good groom's face; 

The bride felt his anxiety, 
And, sighing, sat and gazed in space; 

The house-wife lost her piety, 
And maledictions poured apace 

Upon the tardy parson's head, 
As fast the steaming feast grew cold, 

That marriage feast already spread 
To be devoured, the service told. 

Right here arose a settler old, 
And with some hesitation said: 

"I swow thish 'ere's a powerful shame! 
These woods '1 1 get no population, 

Ef parsons be so slack. 
Why blame My soul, it's meaner 'n all creation! 

But I hev got a good idee 
Thet soon'll make these two relation. 

I know thet you'uns chu'ch-folk be, 
An' a chu'ch-weddin' you desire, 

But law without an ordained man 
Can bind. Let's call Ballard, the squire." 

Objections to this wise man's plan 
Were scattered like the wind-blown straws, 

And word dispatched unto the squire 
To seize his hat, to seize his laws, 

And come forthwith as to a fire. 
Time passed; at length was heard the slap 

Of bare, flat number tens before 
The house, and then, without a rap, 

Wide swung the creaking puncheon door. 
A general snicker rose, then died 

As one would snuff a candle's flame. 
What wonder, when they all descried 

The figure of the man who came! 
A tattered hat of straw revealed 

Red hairs through every gaping tear; 
A matted, sandy beard concealed 

The staring face beneath the hair. 
A woollen shirt, no coat, no vest; 

The baggy breeches home-spun blue, 
Thus stood the last-invited guest, 

And gruffly stammered, "How dye do?" 
As 'gainst the casement rude he leaned. 

"Are you the Justice?" some one cried; 
And, in the quiet that intervened, 

"I guess I be, " the man replied; 
"You're one, I 'spect, (the groom he eyed,) 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



667 



An' you, I reckon, am the tother," 
And nodded toward the happy bride, 

Who vainly tried a smile to smother. "Right? 
Guess I be! Stan' over there." 

The wond'ring pair rose side by side; 
The house-wife breathed a silent prayer; 

The squire stepped in with one long stride, 
He cast his straw hat on the floor, 

That straw hat minus top and band, 
Then turned his Treatise' pages o'er 

Most slowly with his trembling hand, 
To where Ohio's laws provide 

How weddings shall be sanctified; 
What forms the Justice sage shall guide; 

What questions ask the groom, the bride; 
What costs assess when they are tied. 

One foot he rested on his knee, 
Then on the knee thus raised he put 

The opened book, and thus stood he 
As asleep a goose with one web-foot 

Hid in her wing, while high o'er head 
Hot beats the sun. Then tracing slow, 

With finger brown, he spelt and read 
In drawling tones, pitched deep and low, 

And closed by saying, "Yous be wed." 
The squire's bare foot fell to the floor; 

He stooped and seized his tattered hat, 
Then looked towards the puncheon door, 

And wished that he was out of that. 
"You'll stay to dinner?" "No," he said. 

"Salute the bride?" His face grew red 
Then all the color from it fled; 

Unnerved he stood and shook his head; 
But still remained as in suspense, 

Until the groom placed in his hand 
The usual fee, with fifty cents 

Additional, which made expand 
The squire's blue eyes and mouth immense. 

Slow backed he from the cabin trim; 
Slow climbed he o'er the clearing's fence; 

Deep were the woods that swallowed him! 

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. 

The pioneer church of York township was 
the Free-will Baptist. The first page of the 
church book reads: 

Be it remembered that on the twenty -third day of 
June, 1825, a number of Christian brethren of the order 
of Free-will Baptist, met in the town of York, county of 
Sandusky, for the express purpose of being organized 
into a church composed of the following brethren, to 
wit: Elder John Mugg, Jered H. Miner, Jeremiah P. 
Brown, Moses George, Abner Walker, James Benton, 
Thomas Mugg, John B. Mugg, Elisha B. Mugg, Polly 
Brown, and Lydia Miner. These brethren, agreeably to 
the rules of the New Testament, were organized into a 
church, and received by the right hand of Christian 
fellowship from Elder Bradford. 



The society thus formed was known as the 
Free-will Baptist church of York town-ship. 
Meetings were held at the houses of 
Jeremiah Brown and John Mugg until the 
log-school house (the first one on the south 
ridge) was built. In 1855 the meeting-house 
on the south ridge was built, but the 
organization has been losing its membership 
gradually, until but one remains — Mrs. 
Jeremiah Smith. Sunday-school continues to 
be held in the meeting-house during the 
summer months. The cemetery, which is one 
of the oldest in the north part of the 
township, was donated by John Calvin. 
Tryphena C. Smith was the first person 
buried in this cemetery. This church, in its 
early history, being the only religious 
society, collected, into its membership 
nearly everybody in the neighborhood. 

The next religious society organized in 
York, was the Christian church, the first 
members of which were James Haynes and 
wife, Moses George and wife, and John 
Riddell and wife. Elder Mallery was the first 
preacher. He was succeeded by Elder Vail, 
who removed from New York to Huron 
county in 1839, and took charge of the 
churches in this part of the State. He had 
been a Methodist during the first years of his 
clerical life, but became a zealous preacher 
of the denomination which he afterwards 
joined. Under Elder Vail's ministry the Free 
chapel was built in 1842. In 1849 he 
removed to York, where he died in 1878. 
Elder Manville succeeded to the pastorate. 
The meeting-house is the oldest in the 
township. Services are held regularly. 

Emanuel Evangelical church is composed 
mostly of Pennsylvanians. Isaac Parker was 
a member of the church in Pennsylvania, and 
after settling in York, collected the families 
of Michael Waltz, Jacob Harpster, David 
Harpster and John Orwig and formed a class, 
which 



668 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



met in private houses. Rev. Mr. Nevil was 
the first preacher. This was about 1850. In 
1860 the frame church on the pike was built. 
The organization of a class at Bellevue 
divided the membership, but each year has 
brought new accessions, so that there are 
about eighty members at present. The first 
class leader was John Orwig. Succeeding 
leaders have been Reuben Parker, Daniel 
Loudenschlager, John Null, Daniel Mook, 
Henry Mook, Michael Finsinger and Jere 
Filhering. 

The United Brethren began holding 
meetings in the southwest part of York. As 
the Pennsylvania element of the population 
grew the membership increased until in 1863 
the class had acquired sufficient strength to 
build a meeting-house. The house and class 
took the name "Mount Carmel" and is 
supplied by the pastor of Clyde circuit. 



BELLEVUE. 

ITS LOCATION. 

About one-half of the village lies in Huron, 
and the other half in Sandusky county. The 
county line road, or that part of it lying 
within the corporate limits of the village, 
being called West street, divides the town 
into nearly equal divisions. The centre of 
this road is the western limit of the Firelands 
and of the Western Reserve. The eastern half 
of Bellevue is situated in the extreme north- 
western part of Lyme township, and the 
western half in the southwestern part of 
York township, Sandusky county. The 
southwestern corner of Erie county, and the 
northeast corner of Seneca county, lie 
adjoining the extreme northeast and south- 
west limits of the village. The town is 
situated on the southern branch of the 
Toledo and Cleveland division of the Lake 
Shore railroad, the New York, Chi- 



cago & St. Louis railroad, and the Wheeling 
& Lake Erie railroad. 

ITS NAME. 

The post office was first known as York X 
Roads, and the village was called Amsden's 
Corners, in honor of T. G. Amsden, its first 
merchant. It continued to be so known until 
the year 1839, when, upon the completion of 
the Mad River & Lake Erie railroad to this 
point, it was changed to Bellevue. The 
prevailing opinion among the old settlers is 
that it was so named in honor of James H. 
Bell, the civil engineer who surveyed the 
route through this place for the Mad River 
road. Some, however, claim that the 
proprietors of the road, and the chief 
residents of the town agreed upon the name 
of Bellevue because the signification of the 
word made it an appropriate name for the 
village, which, by reason of its location and 
surroundings, well merited a name which 
means "a beautiful view." At all events the 
name has a musical ring, and no resident of 
the place can regret that it was so called. 

ITS FIRST SETTLERS. 

The year 1815 marks the date when Mr. 
Mark Hopkins, the first settler within the 
corporate limits of Bellevue as now es- 
tablished, came to this locality. He came 
hither with his family and accompanied by a 
bachelor brother, from Genessee county, 
New York, and built a log house on land 
now owned and occupied by Peter Bates. 

Elnathan George, from the same place, was 
the next settler. He purchased one acre of 
land embracing, with other contiguous 
ground, the lot whereon now stands the 
Tremont House. He gave a cow in exchange 
for his purchase. Here was built, by Mr. 
George, the second building of the town, in 
the year 1816. In the following year he built 
an addition to his dwelling and opened his 
house as a tavern. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



669 



The third newcomer was Return 
Burlingson, who selected land on the 
Sandusky county side, and in the year 1817 
built him a log dwelling, and started a 
blacksmith shop. His purchase comprised 
what is now known as the Herl property. Mr. 
Burlingson was a resident of Bellevue for 
many years, but finally left for California. 

In the year 1819 Mr. John C. Kinney 
completed a log house near the present site 
of the Bellevue bank building. 

This year, 1819, marks the date of the 
arrival of two very important newcomers, 
men who were identified with the history of 
the village, and to whom, more than any 
other two men, was it indebted for its 
prosperity. These men were Thomas G. 
Amsden and Frederick A. Chapman. The 
Chapmans came first to Ohio in 1814, soon 
followed by Mr. Amsden, and, establishing 
their headquarters at the mouth of the Huron 
River, carried on a very successful traffic 
with the Indians, exchanging with them 
goods and articles of which the red men 
stood in need, for pelts and furs. Besides 
trading with the Indians, they were engaged 
in hunting and trapping. They were daring 
and intrepid, full of push and energy, with 
excellent business abilities, and though they 
were young men, they accumulated consider- 
able means for those days. Mr. Chapman's 
father and brother followed him to Ohio in a 
year or two after his own arrival and settled 
at or near the present town of Huron, in Erie 
county; In 1819 Mr. Amsden and Mr. 
Chapman came to this locality and began the 
purchase of property at this point, and did all 
in their power to attract settlers hither. 

However, they continued their traffic with 
the Indians and French, and for two years 
Mr. Amsden made his headquarters at 
Carrion River, now Port Clinton. In 1821 he 
established himself at Detroit, and during the 
latter part of 1822 he car- 



ried on a mercantile business at Green Bay 
for Daniel Whitney. In 1823 he returned to 
this locality. He brought from Boston a stock 
of goods, and, in partnership with Mr. 
Chapman, opened the first store at this point 
in November, 1823. This was Bellevue's 
pioneer store, and the business was carried 
on in the building erected by Mr. 
Burlingson, which stood on ground now 
occupied by the town hall. They opened a 
store at the same time at Castalia, Mr. 
Chapman taking charge of the business at 
that point, and Mr. Amsden of the business 
at this point. It was at this time that the 
village received its name of "Amsden's 
Corners." 

In the meantime Charles F. Drake had 
settled here, and in the year 1822 purchased 
of the Government the east one-half of the 
southeast quarter of section twenty-five of 
what now is York township, embracing the 
greater part of the present village on the 
Sandusky county side, and in 1823 Captain 
Zadoc Strong entered for Dr. James Strong 
the eight acres next west. Mr. Nathaniel 
Chapman was among the first citizens of the 
place. Like his brother, he had traded with 
the Indians, and when he arrived here for the 
purpose of making this his home, he had 
some means. 

He purchased a large tract of land, a part 
of it lying within the present limits of the 
village. He was a man of strong, native 
ability, and was always recognized as one of 
the leading men of the town. He possessed 
the ability to accumulate property, and died 
worth a good many thousands of dollars. He 
dealt largely in real estate, and in the 
purchase and sale of sheep, horses, and 
cattle. He and Mr. Bourdette Wood together 
purchased large tracts of land in the West. 
He was universally esteemed for his sound 
business integrity, and for his liberality in 
the support of benevolent enterprises. He do- 



670 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



nated the lands upon which the old Baptist 
church stands, and, in many ways, proved 
himself a staunch friend of all institutions 
whose object is the enlightenment and 
elevation of man. 

His daughter Angeline, in 1846, married 
the Rev. James M. Morrow, a prominent 
minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
He was a chaplain in the late war for about 
two years, and was connected with the 
Ninety-ninth Ohio infantry. While in the 
service he came home several times on 
various benevolent errands for the soldiers 
of his regiment — the last time, in December, 
1863. Returning January 4, he was fatally 
injured in a railroad collision near Dayton, 
Ohio, to which place he was taken, and died 
there February 12, 1864. His widow resides 
in Bellevue. 

THE GROWTH OF BELLEVUE. 

From 1825 to 1840 the growth of the 
village was slow, and it was not until about 
the time of the building of the Mad River 
railroad to this place, in 1839, that the 
advancement of the town received any 
considerable impetus. This was an event of 
no little importance to the prospects of the 
place, and in 1835, in view of the ap- 
proaching completion of the road, the land 
of the village on the Huron county side was 
purchased of Gurdon Williams by F. A. 
Chapman, T. G. Amsden, L. G. Harkness, 
and others, who lent their best efforts to the 
advancement of the place. The decade from 
1830 to 1840 witnessed a number of 
important arrivals in Bellevue — men who 
became permanently identified with the 
town, and to whom its rapid prosperity was 
in no small measure due. Dr. L. G. Harkness, 
who had been a practicing physician in the 
western part of York township, came in 
1833. Abram Leiter came the same year. J. 
B. Higbee and Benjamin and David Moore 
came in 1835. William Byrnes came in 1835. 



H. H. Brown was at this time the hotel 
keeper, and was very active in his efforts to 
assist the growth of the place. In 1835 the 
population of the village could not have 
exceeded a hundred people, while in 1840, a 
year after the completion of the Mad River 
railroad, it numbered not less than five 
hundred, and at the date of its incorporation, 
1831, about eight hundred. 

Cuyler Green came here from New York 
State at the age of twenty-two, where he was 
born March 10, 1811. Upon his arrival he 
was engaged as salesman for Chapman & 
Harkness, and afterwards superintended for 
Chapman & Amsden the old stone tavern, 
since called the Exchange hotel. He built the 
old stone blacksmith shop that for so many 
years stood where the Bellevue bank, 
building now is. In later years he became the 
landlord of the Exchange hotel, and then of 
the Bellevue House, and then purchased the 
farm on the pike, two miles east of town, 
now known as the Richards farm. 

In 1852, the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland 
railroad was located through Bellevue, and 
in the following year completed, and the cars 
came whistling through here from the four 
points of the compass — north, south, east 
and west. New impetus to the life of the 
village was given by this event, and the town 
rapidly increased in population. The country 
had also been rapidly settled, and Bellevue, 
situated in the midst of a fine wheat growing 
country, came to be an important market for 
the shipment of grain. The Higbee flouring 
mill was erected in 1850, and other manu- 
facturing enterprises were soon established. 
The Mad River road was lost to the place in 
1855, but the detriment to business on this 
account was not serious. The town continued 
to enlarge and populate, while the 
surrounding country in every direction 
became thickly settled with an industrious 
farming population. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



671 



INCORPORATION. 

The town was incorporated by act of 
Legislature January 25, 1851, its charter 
limits embracing an area of about one mile 
from east to west, by about one-half mile 
from north to south, the centre of the area 
being the central point of intersection of 
Main street with the county line. In the 
month of February, 1851, the following were 
chosen the village officers: Abraham Leiter, 
mayor; S. L. Culver, recorder; Thomas G. 
Amsden, Eliphalet Follett, Benjamin F. 
McKim, David Armstrong and Joseph M. 
Lawrence, trustees. The corporate limits 
were enlarged in 1869, so as to be about one 
mile and a half from east to west and from 
north to south. 

DISTINCT CLASSES OF POPULATION. 

The village has a population of about 
twenty-five hundred inhabitants. This 
population embraces not less than four 
distinct classes of people, each of which is 
represented by about the same number of 
individuals. First there are those of Ameri- 
can birth, whose parents came to this region 
at an early day, from New England or New 
York State, and who were the real pioneers. 
Representative families of this class are the 
Chapmans, the Woodwards, the Harknesses, 
the Woods (the Bourdette branch), the 
Sheffields, the Greenes, the Bakers, etc. 
Second, there are the Pennsylvania people; 
many of whom came, at an early day a 
thrifty, sober, industrious class. They are 
represented by the Moores, the Hilbishes, 
the Sherchs, the Leiters, the Boyers, the 
Kerns, etc. Third, came the English, England 
born, of whom may be mentioned the 
Greenslades, the Wills, the Heals, the Fords, 
the Maynes, the Joints, the Radfords, etc.; 
and the Germans, who perhaps outnumber 
any other one class. Of these may be 
mentioned the Egles, Ruffings, the 
Biebrichers, the Liebers, the 



Webers, the Ailers, the Setzlers, etc. The 
Yankees were the first to arrive, then the 
Pennsylvania Dutch people, then the Ger- 
mans, and lastly the English. 

CHURCHES. 

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

This church was first organized on 
September 20, 1836, by a committee from 
the Presbytery of Huron, and was started as a 
Presbyterian church on what was known as 
the accommodation plan, that is, a church 
under the care of a Presbytery, but which 
received and dismissed its members, and 
transacted other business, not by a vote of 
the elders, but by a vote of the whole church. 

The number of male members at the 
organization was nine; five of these brought 
letters from the church at Lyme, Ohio; three 
from churches in the State of New York, and 
one from Norwalk. 

Among many important resolutions 
adopted on the day of the organization, was 
one declaring that the manufacture or sale of 
intoxicating liquors was an immorality 
which, if practiced by any member of this 
church, made him liable to discipline the 
same as if guilty of any other immorality. 

The church continued under care of the 
Presbytery ten years, and then, so far as we 
are able to learn from the records, with much 
unanimity, decided to separate itself from its 
Presbyterial connection, and become a 
regular Congregational church. This action 
was taken March 7, 1846. 

The first pastor called by the church after 
the reorganization was Rev. A. D. Barber, 
who was installed by a council October 19, 
1853. Mr. Barber's salary was four hundred 
dollars, and parsonage, which shows that the 
society had a parsonage at that time. This 
pastorate continued five years. In the 
following year after Mr. Barber's departure, 
the church 



672 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



called the Rev. James W. Cowles, and of- 
fered him a salary of seven hundred dollars. 
Mr. Cowles served the church about three 
years, and was succeeded on October 30, 
1863, by Rev. John Safford. 

During this pastorate the house of worship 
was removed, enlarged and repaired. The 
work was completed in the fall of 1865, and 
immediately afterwards the church invited 
Mr. Safford to become its installed pastor 
with an increase of three hundred dollars in 
salary. Mr. Safford accepted the call, but 
seems to have continued in the pastoral 
relation only about a year. 

When the house of worship was originally 
built, it seems that the pews were sold with 
the understanding that the buyers became 
permanent owners. This arrangement was a 
source, afterwards, of much inconvenience 
to the society. The owners were not all 
induced to give their pews up again to the 
society until some time in 1868. 

After the departure of Pastor Safford, in 
1867, the Rev. S. B. Sherrill was called and 
was acting pastor from December, 1867, 
until some time in 1873, a period of nearly 
six years. The successor of Mr. Sherrill was 
the Rev. J. W. White, whose letter accepting 
the call of the church is dated February 28, 
1874. Mr. White's labors did not begin until 
some time after this acceptance, and closed 
near the end of 1878, continuing with the 
church a little more than four years. Within 
two months after Mr. White's resignation, 
the church called Rev. S. W. Meek, who was 
installed in the pastoral office by the council 
on February 11, 1879, having begun his 
labors with the church on the 1st of January, 
previous. 

The church has been blessed at various 
times in its history by revivals. In the year 
1854, during the pastorate of A. D. Barber, 
thirty-seven were received into 



membership of the church. In 1859 twenty- 
two were added to the church. Again, in 
1861, the church was visited by a revival 
which resulted in the addition of twenty to 
the membership. In the year 1865, during the 
labors of Mr. Safford, seventeen were 
received into membership; and in 1870, 
under Mr. Sherrill's labors, twenty-three 
connected themselves with the church. In 
1873, the year that Mr. Sherrill closed his 
labors, forty-five names were added to the 
roll. 

THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 

of Bellevue, was formed in the year 1839. 
The first class was composed of James 
Anderson, his wife, Betsy, and daughter, 
Melissa; Alvin Anderson, his wife, Harriet, 
and daughter, Adaline; and Mann and 
daughter. Meetings were held at this time in 
the stone school-house, standing on the site 
at present occupied by the school-building 
near the Episcopal church. In about 1835 
this church erected a substantial brick 
edifice, at a cost of some five thousand 
dollars. This building is at present owned by 
the German Lutheran society. After 
organization, however, the church fitted up a 
room in the second story of the warehouse, 
standing where the Richards and Egle block 
now stands, and this was occupied until the 
building of the church as before stated. 

The present elegant church edifice was 
completed during the summer of 1868, and 
was dedicated by Bishop Simpson on August 
17, of that year, and cost, including real 
estate and parsonage, some thirty thousand 
dollars. Among the largest contributors to 
the erection of the church are: Messrs. 
Anderson, Higbee, Williams, Dole, Adams, 
and Huffman. The first resident minister was 
Rev. Oliver Burgess, who remained two 
years. Father Anderson gives from memory, 
the following names of ministers who have 
preached 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



673 



to this church in Bellevue: Wilson, Camp, 
Pierce, Hill, Cooper, Fast, Start, Fant, 
Pounds, Breakfield, Thompson, Worden, 
Spafford, Morrow, and Cables. 

In 1852, when the minister's "historical 
record" begins, the church reported a 
membership of two hundred and twelve, and 
three hundred scholars in attendance at 
Sabbath-school, Rev. Samuel Beatty, pastor. 
September 18, 1852, it was formally 
organized as a station, with the following 
board of stewards: H. R. Adams, Alvin 
Anderson, Jesse Haskell, W. W. Stilson, J. 
B. Higbee, Orrin Dole, and Barney 
Campbell. Its leaders were Jesse Haskell, 

B. Campbell, 0. Dole, David Williams, and 
W. Curtiss. Superintendent of Sabbath- 
school, W. W. Stilson. 1853— William M. 
Spafford, pastor. He was succeeded in 1854 
by Rev. Wesley J. Wells. The following are 
the pastors from that time to the present 
(1881): 1855— John Mudge; 1857— William 
Richards; 1859— Asbury B. Castle; 1861 — 
Daniel Stratton; 1862 — Simon P. Jacobs; 
1863— E. Y. Warner; 1865— Garretson A. 
Hughes; 1868— E. Y. Warner; 1871— Elvero 
Persons. He was succeeded by Rev. Searls. 
T. B. Warner succeeded him, remained three 
years, and was succeeded by Rev. G. W. 
Pepper, who was appointed at the Wel- 
lington conference, in 1879. The prosperity 
of the church seems to have declined under 
Mr. Pepper's charge, and during the latter 
part of his pastorate the pulpit was filled by 
a stated supply, Mr. Pepper making a trip to 
Europe. In September last the conference 
appointed Rev. O. Badgely pastor, who is 
now officiating. 

PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

Before there was any parish organization 
in Bellevue, the Rev. Ephraim Punderson 
officiated from the year 1842 to that of 
1847; but not until April, 1851, was the 
parish duly organized by Rev. Dr. Bronson. 
Messrs. T. G. Amsden and 



John Grimes were chosen wardens; Messrs. 
F. A. Chapman, G. Woodward, and G. W. 
Sheffield, vestrymen; and, on September 10, 
1851, this parish was received into 
connection with the Protestant Episcopal 
church. 

In the spring of 1852 Rev. R. K. Nash was 
chosen rector, and the church building was 
begun and enclosed. Mr. Nash having 
resigned in 1854, the building remained 
unfinished. In the spring of 1857 an effort 
was made to open the church, and a rector 
was called. Rev. M. Hamilton took charge of 
the church on the first Sunday in July, 1857. 

Improvements were made in the old church 
building, and the old debt paid off, and the 
church was consecrated by Bishop Bedell, in 
January, 1861. 

The lot and buildings cost about three 
thousand five hundred dollars. In July, 1869, 
the parish became self supporting, and the 
following year repairs and improvements 
were made, at a cost of one thousand four 
hundred dollars. 

The first Sunday-school was organized by 
the Rev. M. Hamilton in 1857. In 1881 
George A. Holbrook succeeded to the 
rectorate of the parish. 

ST. PAUL'S REFORMED CHURCH. 

The members of St. Paul's Reformed 
church originally worshiped at the Free 
Chapel, a few miles west of Bellevue. Some, 
a goodly number, were also members of the 
Zion's church, in Thompson township, 
Seneca county. In February, 1862, Rev. Eli 
Keller commenced to preach in Bellevue. 
Services were held in the old school 
building, owned by Mr. George Weikert, 
afterwards in the old Methodist Episcopal 
church, then again in the old school-house. 
At this time, a weekly prayer-meeting was 
well sustained, and a Sunday-school 
organized August 16, 1862, at a meeting 
held at the chapel, it was resolved that a 
church should be 



674 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



built in, or near, Bellevue, and measures 
taken to select a site and procure building 
funds. The cornerstone of the church was 
laid on the 19th of June, 1864. On the 19th 
of June, 1865, the church was dedicated; 
sermons by Rev. M. Kieffer, D. D., and Rev. 
H. Rust, D. D. The ceremonies of laying the 
cornerstone were performed by Rev. E. 
Keller, the pastor. 

Some time in the fall of 1865, the St. 
Paul's Reformed congregation was organized 
by the election of a consistory of elders and 
deacons. Since 1865 the following persons 
served respectively as elders, deacons, and 
trustees, viz: Jacob Bunn, Levi Korner, D. S. 
Arnold, John Hilbish, H. Kimmel, Isaac 
Kern, elders, John Bunn, David Hoch, Moses 
Miller, Joseph Zieber, John Bowman, Aaron 
Walters, William Knauss, John Deck, 
Benjamin Bunn, W. C. Smith, William 
Aigler, and J. Ferdinand Smith, deacons; 
David Hoch, Harrison Wilt, Elias Schmidt, 
Henry Stetler, John Deck, Aaron Walters, 
Jacob Aigler, and Frederick Smith, trustees. 
The Sunday-school was organized in the old 
Weiker school-house; superintendent, a Mr. 
Albert. Since 1865 Mr. John Hilbish has 
been the superintendent, with the exception 
of one year, when Rev. J. H. Derr officiated 
as head of the school. 

In the year 1872, July 1, Rev. Eli Keller 
resigned the pastorate, having served the 
people for a period of eleven years. He was 
succeeded by Rev. Joshua H. Derr, on the 
1st of December, 1872. His pastorate 
continued for four and a half years, closing 
his services June 3, 1877. During this 
pastorate the congregation suffered serious 
damage to their church edifice by a severe 
storm, which took off about one-third of the 
roof and also broke down the gable end to 
the square. This much injured the ceiling and 
the interior in general. A cost of about one 
thousand 



dollars restored and much improved the now 
beautiful and commodious church. 

The congregation owns the cemetery 
adjoining the church, and a large and 
comfortable parsonage. The present pastor, 
Rev. N. H. Loose, took charge of the 
congregation August 1, 1877. The interests 
of the church are prosperous and 
encouraging. 

EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. 

St. John's Evangelical Lutheran church was 
organized January 7, 1866, under the laws of 
the State of Ohio. The directors were Adam 
Zehner, Christian Engel, and Philip 
Biebricher. The trustees were Jacob Beiler, 
Charles Beiler, and John Weis. Rev. Jacob 
Dornberer was instrumental in its 
organization, and remained its pastor three 
years, when he was succeeded by Rev. C. 
Buechler, who has remained as pastor twelve 
years. At its organization there were thirty- 
nine members. The present membership is 
about forty-five. They also have a 
prosperous Sunday-school of some seventy 
members, under the superintendence of 
David Meyers. Soon after the organization 
of the church, the present building was 
purchased from the Methodist society for 
two thousand dollars. Since that time some 
six or seven hundred dollars have been 
expended in refitting and repairing it. 
SALEM EVANGELICAL CHURCH. 

This church was organized in Bellevue 
under the ministration of Rev. L. W. 
Hankey, in the summer of 1875. The 
congregation purchased the building 
formerly occupied by the Baptists, for three 
thousand dollars. They then expended six or 
eight hundred dollars in repairing and 
refitting it. At first, and until the spring of 
1879, the church was a mission. At that time 
it was cut loose from missionary aid, and is 
now self-supporting. The present 
membership is about, seventy- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



675 



five. Thirty-one accessions were made dur- 
ing the year 1878. The church has had five 
pastors: Revs. L. W. Hankey; S. B. Spreng, 
who remained eight months; G. W. Meisee, 
who remained one year; Rev. D. C. 
Eckerman, was in charge a little more than 
two years, and W. F. McMillen, who is the 
present pastor. There is connected with the 
church a Sunday-school of seventy-three 
members, of which the pastor is 
superintendent. Regular services of the 
church are held twice each Sunday. The 
church government is very similar to that of 
the Methodist Episcopal, but there are some 
differences on minor points. 

CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE 
CONCEPTION— ROMAN CATHOLIC. 

About 1852 Rev. James Vincent Conlin, 
stationed at Sandusky, established a mission 
at Bellevue, and held services some three or 
four years, when Rev. Punshell, of Norwalk, 
came, and then for a short time Father Boff 
officiated. Father Tighe, of Sandusky, came, 
and bought from J. B. Higbee the building 
they now occupy as a church, and perfected 
an organization. The first resident priest was 
Rev. James Monaghan, who remained some 
seven or eight years. While in charge he 
bought a house of Rev. Mr. Flagler for the 
use of the priest. Father Mahony came next, 
and remained some five years. He purchased 
ground for burial purposes, and built a 
school-house. Father Mears next came; he 
bought a house and lot on the corner of 
Centre and Broad streets, with the intention 
of building a church. He remained about 
three years, and was succeeded by Father 
Bowles, who also remained three years. The 
church was then attended by Father Rudolph, 
of Clyde, for about three months, when 
Father Molloy came, and officiated for three 
years. Father Cahill succeeded and officiated 
three years, to the entire satisfaction of the 
parish. The congregation 



comprises about one hundred and ten 
families. The church still owns the lot 
bought by Father Mears, and at one time it 
owned the lot on which stands the present 
union school building. 

BELLEVUE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.* 

It is greatly to be regretted that the records 
of the early history of the Bellevue schools 
have been lost. The data for the following 
article have been furnished by some of the 
older citizens, and are as correct as can be 
ascertained outside of the school records. 
The first building that was used for school 
purposes was a little log-house that stood on 
the Herl property, just west of Mr. John 
Baker's residence. Here a school was opened 
in the fall of 1827, by a gentleman named 
Harris, from Milan. In the following year 
(1828), Miss Clemence A. Follett (now Mrs. 
Frederick Chapman) taught school in the 
same building. In those days the village was 
known as Amsden's Corners, and consisted 
of the Exchange hotel, a frame building just 
east of it, a double log-house, where Mr. 
Greenslade's store stands, the houses now 
occupied by Dr. Harris and Mr. John Reis, 
and a few scattering log-huts. The scholars 
came to Miss Follett's school from the 
country for miles around, walking to school 
along the trails of the woods, and bringing 
their dinners with them. In this school the 
girls spent half an hour each day in learning 
to sew. It was a pleasant little school, and 
Mrs. Chapman still recalls with delight the 
days she passed as teacher in the log school- 
house. In the following year, 1829, Miss 
Julia Follett taught in the same log school- 
house. 

The next school of which we can find any 
record was taught in the old stone school- 
house that stood on West Main street, where 
the brick school-house now 



1 y J. M . Greenslade, superintendent, 



676 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



stands. The land was donated by Chap-man 
& Amsden, and the building was probably 
built by the Chapmans — Nathaniel and 
Frederick — Dr. L. G. Harkness and Mr. 
Thomas G. Amsden, as we find these names 
are closely associated with the early 
educational interests of the town as well as 
with its business and social interests. The 
stone school-house was built about 1832. In 
the fall of 1835 Mr. J. B. Higbee commenced 
to teach in this building, and taught two 
years. Mr. Higbee seems to have been a 
successful teacher; at least he was not 
carried out by the boys, which misfortune 
did happen to the gentleman who preceded 
him. We are unable to learn who succeeded 
Mr. Higbee, but the building still continued 
to be used for school purposes until the old 
brick school-house was built, after which the 
stone school-house was unoccupied for 
several years. For some years before the old 
brick was built, the increasing number of 
pupils compelled the directors to rent rooms 
in different parts of the town to be used for 
school-rooms. 

At one time a school was taught in a frame 
building that was built for a warehouse by 
James Bell. It was afterwards moved, and 
the upper rooms used for school-rooms 
during the weekdays, and by the Methodist 
society for services on Sunday. About the 
same time Miss Town, now Mrs. Kent, of 
Toledo, taught a very successful private 
school for girls, on Monroe street, in the 
house now occupied by Mr. James Purcell. 

In 1845 the number of scholars had 
increased to such an extent that the school 
directors saw the necessity of providing 
better accommodations than those afforded 
by the stone school-house and rented rooms, 
so they purchased of Chapman, Amsden, and 
Harkness the lot on which, the same year, 
they built the old brick school-house. The 
contract for erecting 



the building was let to Mr. A. Leiter. It was 
at first intended to build only a one-story 
building, but while in process of erection 
Mr. J. M. Lawrence offered to raise it to a 
two-story building, provided the upper 
rooms could be used for the Baptist society. 
His proposition was accepted, the directors, 
at the same time, reserving the privilege of 
buying the upper part when the growth of the 
school required it. The building was used as 
a district school until 1851, when the present 
system of union schools was organized in 
accordance with the law of 1849. 

The first superintendent of the union 
schools was Rev. Mr. Waldo, an eccentric 
old gentlemen. He wore a wig which, of 
course, furnished endless sport to his pupils. 
He was also in the habit of lecturing his 
scholars every morning before beginning the 
day's work. 

During Waldo's administration, in the year 
1851-52, Miss Gardner was assistant 
superintendent, and the two lower grades 
were taught by two sisters, Mrs. Covil and 
Miss Wilkinson. Mr. Waldo was succeeded 
in the fall of 1852, by Mr. Harvey Holton, 
who is well and favorably remembered by 
many of our citizens. Mr. Holton was 
superintendent several years and was a 
successful teacher. His assistant in the high 
school was Miss Celestia Gould, now Mrs. 
Spencer Boise. Mr. Holton was succeeded by 
Mr. Jerome Drury who taught two years, 
from the fall of 1855 to the spring of 1857. 
He was succeeded by Mr. Edward Bradley, 
who was superintendent for one year in 
1857-58. In the fall of 1858, the Hubbard 
brothers came to Bellevue, and secured 
positions in our schools, Dwight Hubbard as 
superintendent, and E. B. Hubbard as teacher 
in the stone schoolhouse. Mr. Dwight 
Hubbard held his position one year and one 
term from the fall of 1858, to December, 
1859. His 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



677 



place was supplied during the remainder of 
the school year by Mr. Henry Bramwell for 
the second term, and Dr. Cornell for the 
third term. The last superintendent in the old 
brick school-house was Mr. Ellis, who held 
the position from the fall of 1860 to the 
spring of 1862. After the high school 
building was built, the old brick school- 
house was sold, and has since been used as a 
tenement-house. 

In 185o the "old stone" school-house, 
which had been unoccupied for several 
years, was. refitted; and continued to be used 
for school purposes until replaced by the 
present brick building. During these years 
several teachers were employed; among 
others was Mrs. Eliza Cook, who taught in 
the stone school-house two years, in 1856 
and 1857, until her marriage with Mr. David 
Williams in the fall of 1 57. 

In the same building, Mr. E. B. Hub-bard, 
who is now a prominent druggist of Tiffin, 
taught three years, from the fall of 1858 to 
the spring of 1861. Mr. Hubbard is 
remembered as a very successful teacher, 
and still keeps up his interest in educational 
matters; being at present president of the 
board of education of Tiffin, Ohio. 

The German school was first started as a 
private enterprise in 1860, and was held in 
the house now used as a residence by Mr. 
John Warren. The first German teacher that 
taught here was Mr. Ludwick, who is 
considered as the best German teacher that 
we have ever had. The German school was 
partially united with the union schools in 
1860, but received for a year or two only 
fifty dollars from the public funds. Mr. 
Ludwick was followed by Mr. Cobelli, who 
taught the German school after it was moved 
to the "old stone" school-house. Mr. Menges 
succeeded Mr. Cobelli, and taught for 
several years, and was a successful teacher. 
Mr. Menges was followed by Mr. Rabe, and 



Mr. Rabe by Mr. Beck, who resigned in 
October, 1875. Mrs. Beck was employed as 
assistant in the German department at the 
same time. Her place is filled by Miss Bessie 
Radford, who has had charge of the English 
branches in the German department since 
October, 1875. 

Mr. Jacob Frenz succeeded Mr. Beck in 
November, 1875, and retained his position 
nearly three years. His successor, Mr. Henry 
Ebertshauser, is the present principal of the 
German department. The German schools 
occupy the two lower rooms of the school 
building on West Main street. The classes 
recite alternately in English and German 
branches during the day. 

The high school building was erected in 
1861, although it was not ready for use until 
the fall of 1862. The contract was so poorly 
filled that the contractor was obliged to put 
on the second roof within a year, and before 
the board of education, would accept the 
building. Mr. Edward Bradley was the 
superintendent at the opening of the high 
school building in the fall of 1862. Mrs. 
Bradley taught at the same time in a lower 
grade, and. also during the following year. 
Mr. Bradley was superintendent one year in 
the high school building. After him came 
Mr. Highland, from September, 1863, to 
June, 1864; Mr. J. B. Loveland, from 
September, 1864, to June, 1867; Mr., Avery, 
from September, 1867, to June, 1868;. Mr. 
Loveland, from September, 1868, to June, 
1869; Mr. L. C. Laylin, from September, 
1869, to June, 1875; Mr. E. E. Phillips, from 
September, 1875, to June, 1877; Mr. J. M. 
Greenslade, from September, 1877, to the 
present time. The Bellevue schools now 
occupy two buildings — the high school 
building and the brick school building on 
West Main street, which was built in 1871, 
and enlarged in 1875. These buildings are 
not large enough to accommodate the 



678 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



number of pupils, so that the board of 
education will enlarge the high school 
building, which will even then afford only 
temporary relief. The schools which started 
with four departments in 1852, now have 
nine, and most of these having two grades. 

For several years previous to 1877 the 
course of study which had been prepared for 
the schools had been disregarded altogether, 
as not being suited to the wants of the 
schools. The result was that the teachers and 
scholars worked at a disadvantage; and their 
efforts were ill-directed, or entirely wasted. 
The evil effects of this lack of system was 
especially noticeable in the high school, 
where the scholars pursued such studies as 
were agreeable, without any regard to 
previous training, or the relation of the 
different studies to each other. The board of 
education, recognizing the value and 
necessity of systematic work in our schools, 
at a meeting held on the 29th of July, 1877, 
adopted the present course of study, and 
rules and regulations of the Bellevue public 
schools, and ordered them to be published. 
The schools are at present in excellent 
condition. In the lower grades the aim is to 
give thorough instruction in the common 
branches. In the high school all of the 
studies are pursued that are commonly found 
in a good high school course. Especial 
attention is paid to the languages and the 
natural sciences. Through the liberality of 
the board of education, the superintendent 
has been able to accumulate considerable 
apparatus and supplies for the illustration of 
the natural sciences. 

PHYSICIANS. 

Among the oldest practitioners of medicine 
in the township were Doctors Stevens, Otis, 
Boise, and Charles Smith, of Lyme. 
Contemporary with them, and earlier, were 
Doctors Kittredge, Sanders, 



and Tilden, who visited the township 
occasionally. Dr. L. G. Harkness was the 
first physician prominently identified with 
the history of Bellevue. He was born in 
Salem, Washington county, New York, April 
1, 1801, educated for his profession in the 
State of his nativity, and came West in 1823. 
He located upon the ridge, in Lyme 
township, and became associated, 
professionally, with Dr. Stevens, He 
removed, afterward, to the village of Belle- 
vue, and not long after abandoned his 
practice. He continued to reside here. 

In 1835 Dr. Daniel A. Lathrop cane to 
Bellevue from his birthplace, Montrose, 
Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, and 
almost immediately became a very 
successful practitioner, taking up Dr. 
Harkness' ride, and having all of the business 
which that physician formerly attended to 
upon his hands. He not only took Dr. 
Harkness' place, but filled it, and enjoyed as 
extensive a practice, perhaps, as any 
physician who ever located in the village. It 
extended over a long term of years, too, and 
really did not terminate until a short time 
before the doctor's departure from town, in 
1861, though he was not actively engaged in 
the pursuit of his profession for two or three 
years previous to this date. The doctor 
returned to Montrose, Pennsylvania, where 
he is now located. He is a graduate of a 
Philadelphia college. 

The physicians who followed him were 
numerous. We shall only speak of those most 
prominently identified with the history of the 
town. Dr. Gray came in and remained a short 
time. Dr. W. W. Stilson was in practice for a 
number of years, and removed to Clyde, 
where he is at present in practice. Dr. Amos 
Woodward, a native of Lyme, began practice 
in 1846, and after six or seven years retired, 
though he continued to reside in the village, 
and has long been one of its leading 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



679 



citizens. Dr. Charles Richards, now of 
Binghamton, New York, came in soon after 
Dr. Woodward began practice, and read 
medicine with Dr. Lathrop, afterwards 
entering into practice. 

Dr. John W. Goodson, now in Sterling, 
Rice county, Kansas, began the study of 
medicine in Bellevue about 1840, and 
completed his professional education at 
Buffalo, there receiving his diploma: He 
immediately returned to Bellevue and en- 
tered into practice. He had a lucrative 
practice and accumulated a fine property. He 
was for a time assistant surgeon of the 
Seventy-second regiment Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry, and was with Grant's army before 
Vicksburg. The doctor was a native of 
England, and was born on the 4th of July, 
1817. He came to this country when a lad 
thirteen years of age. 

Dr. Ralph A. Severance began practice in 
Bellevue in 1854. He was a native of 
Greenfield, Massachusetts, and read med- 
icine there with Dr. Brigham, who was 
afterwards in charge of one of the great 
asylums for the insane. He attended lectures 
in New York city, and graduated from 
Bowdoin college, Bowdoin, Maine, with the 
class of 1831. He first went into practice at 
Rockingham, Vermont, and remained there 
twenty-three years, coming directly from 
that place to Bellevue in 1854. 

Dr. J. J. Hartz, who came to Bellevue in 
1852, was one of the most eminent men of 
the profession who have practiced in this 
part of the State. He was born in Versailles, 
France, in 1798, and received his medical 
education at the University of Heidelberg. 
After coming to this country he travelled 
through the South, was for a short time a 
resident of Charleston, and a transient 
resident of Texas. For a number of years 
before coming to this village he was located 
in Portage county, and at Upper 



Sandusky, in both of which neighborhoods 
he had a very extensive practice. He ren- 
dered efficient service at Sandusky during 
the prevalence of the cholera there, going 
upon the request of some of the local 
physicians. During the whole of his long 
service in the profession in Bellevue, he was 
regarded by all as a man of marked ability in 
his profession, and as a gentleman of rare 
worth in all of the affairs of life. He was a 
man of liberal culture outside of medicine, 
and was a remarkable linguist, speaking with 
fluency seven languages. He was ever the 
courteous, polished, dignified gentleman, 
and won the admiration and esteem of all. 
He died, in 1865, of consumption, such of 
his patients as were able coming to see him, 
whom he treated even up to the hour when 
he breathed his last-such was their 
confidence in his skill. He was a surgeon as 
well as a physician. 

Dr. H. L. Harris, born June 30, 1819, in 
Oxfordshire, England, is a graduate of the 
Starling Medical College of Columbus, and 
received his diploma in 1858. Next to Dr. 
Severance he is the oldest practitioner in the 
place. He was in practice in South Bend, and 
in 1849 removed to Flat Rock, where he 
remained until 1859 when he came to 
Bellevue. 

Quite a number of physicians have 
practiced in Bellevue for a short term of 
years and then removed to other points. 
Among the present physicians who have 
been in practice in Bellevue for some time 
are Dr. Severance, Dr. Harris, Dr. Robinson, 
Dr. Sandmeister, and Dr. Lanterman. 

BELLEVUE CEMETERY. 

This cemetery was begun about the time of 
the first laying out of the village of 
Bellevue, in 1835, on land given for the 
purpose by Messrs. Chapman, Harkness and 
Amsden, who were the first proprietors of 
the land on which the town is 



680 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



now situated. The first burial in this ground 
was that of Rebecca Christopher, who died 
March 20, 1836. At the time of giving the 
land for this purpose, the owners fenced it. 

In 1855 the village authorities purchased 
something more than five acres of land and 
made an addition to the cemetery, which 
now contains over seven acres. The old part 
was laid out in good form as far as 
practicable, with walks and paths between 
the lots, but no uniformity had been 
observed in first laying it out, and it was not 
possible to arrange it according to the best 
order, still it was much improved. The 
addition was laid out in good shape, and lots 
staked off, which have been disposed of 
from time to time. When the last purchase 
was made a board of trustees was elected, 
consisting of W. H. King, mayor of the 
village at the time, Barney York, Lowell 
Chandler, and D. Moore, for terms of one, 
two, and three years. One trustee is now 
elected yearly. Most of the religious 
denominations of the town bury their dead in 
this cemetery, as it is situated in a better 
location than any other ground in the 
vicinity. D. Moore is superintendent of the 
cemetery, and has acted in that capacity 
most of the time since its organization. 

FIRE DEPARTMENT. 

In June, 1870, the village council of 
Bellevue purchased a second-hand hand fire 
engine, a hose cart and several hundred feet 
of hose from the authorities of Tiffin, for the 
sum of about three hundred dollars. A fire 
company was organized with Dr. J. W. 
Goodson, foreman; Charles Nicolai, first 
assistant; B. Benn, second assistant, and J. 
H. Webber, secretary. In 1874 the council 
appointed as chief of the fire department A. 
B. Smith, who served in that capacity one 
year. In 1875 William R. West succeeded 
him, he also remaining one year. Charles 
Nicolai was 



appointed in 1876 and served until 1879, 
when C. C. Cook was appointed. J. L. 
Painter is present chief. A first-class Silsby 
rotary steam fire engine was purchased in 
1875, with a hose cart and one thousand feet 
of hose, at a cost of about four thousand 
seven hundred dollars. In May, 1879, the 
companies were reorganized and formed into 
one company, under one set of officers, but 
one division was assigned to the engine, 
another to the hose, and another to the hook 
and ladder. The officers elected were John 
Eichhorn, foreman; John Toomy, first 
assistant; William Estnaur, second assistant; 
John L. Painter, secretary; William Mayne, 

engineer and treasurer. The "hooks" were 
first organized in 1877, more as a sporting 
company, though active at fires. C. C. Cook 
was captain; John M. En-right, foreman; 
Seth H. Cook, assistant foreman; J. C. 
Morrell, secretary, and Thomas Rudd, 
treasurer. 

SOCIETIES. 

The charter of Bellevue Lodge, No. 123, I. 
O. O. F., was granted July 21, 1848. The 
following are names of the charter members: 
William W. Stilson, A. Leiter, M. H. 
Seymour, R. C. McElhany and P. G. Sharp. 
The lodge was instituted November 9, of the 
same year, by Grand Master McElwin, when 
the following officers were elected: A. 
Leiter, N. G.; William W. Stilson, V. G.; W. 
H. Seymour, R. S.; R. McElhany, P. S.; P. G. 
Sharp, treasurer. The N. G. appointed C. 
Cone, Con.; T. Baker, warden; F. H. Cone, I. 
G.; J. Hoover, O. G.; J. L. Hunt, R. S. to N. 
G.; S. G. Culver, L. S. to N. G.; H. G. 
Harris, R. S. S.; C. Dwight, L. S. S. ; B. F. 
Taylor, R. S. to V. G.; C. L. Cook, L. S. to 
V. G. Meetings are held Monday evenings of 
each week. 

A charter was issued by the Grand Lodge 
at its session in Mansfield, Ohio, October 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



681 



26, 1855, for Bellevue Lodge, No. 273, Free 
and Accepted Masons. The charter members 
were: W. B. Disbro, L. W. Frary, L. S. 
Chandler, M. Peters, D. A. Lathrop, James 
Cady, W. B. Dimick and C. B. Gambles. The 
first officers were: W. B. Disbro, W. M.; L. 
W. Frary, S. W.; L. S. Chandler, J. W. 

A charter was issued for Bellevue Chapter, 
Royal Arch Masons, No. 113, at Dayton, 
Ohio, on the 17th of October, 1868. The 
charter members were: D. M. Harkness, J. K. 
Richards, M. A. Severance, W. W. Beymer, 
W. E. Greene, M. A. Barnes, H. Peck and 
John Cowles. The following officers were 
appointed: R. A. Severance, high priest; H. 
Peck, king; W. E. Greene, scribe. 

Bellevue Lodge No. 957, Knights of 
Honor, was organized March 8, 1878, with 
the following charter members: H. N. 
Richards, R. A. Boyer, F. L. Goodson, R. 
Greenslade, W. H. Kern, G. S. Lanterman, 
H. F. Baker, G. A. Beckwith, H. B. Acker, 
E. H. Smith, T. H. Wood, J. W. Close, 
William Mayne, Joseph Sherck, E. W. 
Dorsey, T. C. Wood, C. D. Smith, W. H. 
Dimick, Joseph Bannister, Thomas, 
Thorneloe, C. H. Welch. The first officers 
were: H. F. Baker, P. D. ; E. H. Smith, D.; 
H. N. Richards, V. D.; George A. Beckwith, 
A. D.; R. Greenslade, chaplain; R. A. Boyer, 
guard; F. L. Goodson, R.; W. H. Kern, F. R.; 
Joseph Sherck, treasurer; W. H. Dimick, 
guardian; William Mayne, sentinel. The 
lodge was instituted by H. R. Shomo, grand 
dictator of Ohio. Meetings are held 
Wednesday evening of each week in Odd 
Fellows' Hall. 

BANKING. 

Chapman, Harkness & Company for some 
years prior to 1852, Harkness & Company 
from 1852 to 1868, and H. M. Sinclair from 
1868 to 1873, carried on a business 
comprising some of the features 



of banking; but it was not until 1871 that a 
house was established with the clearly 
defined object of doing a strictly banking 
business. On the 22d of May, of 1871, was 
organized the banking firm of Wood, 
Woodward & Company, Bourdette Wood, 
Abishai Woodward and E. J. Sheffield being 
the partners. The firm opened their bank in 
the room now occupied by the First National 
Bank, but in 1875 purchased of Mr. 
Woodward the site of the present building, 
and erected the fine brick block wherein the 
bank is now located. In September, 1876, the 
bank was incorporated by act of the State 
Legislature, and commenced business 
October 2, 1876, as a stock company. The 
capital stock with which the bank organized 
was one hundred thousand dollars, Messrs. 
Wood, Woodward and Sheffield becoming 
the largest stockholders. The company 
included many of the leading business men 
in the place, and several of the ablest 
farmers in the vicinity. A board of directors 
was chosen September 23, 1876, consisting 
of Bourdette Wood, Abishai Woodward, E. 
J. Sheffield, Andrew Smith, A. C. Beckwith, 
and the following year two more directors 
were added, viz.: D. M. Harkness and J. B. 
Higbee. Bourdette Wood was chosen 
president; Abishai Woodward, vice- 
president, and E. J. Sheffield, cashier; and 
these gentlemen are the present officers, 
with Thomas Woodward, jr., as teller. The 
stockholders of this bank in number 
represent not less than one million three 
hundred thousand dollars, two of the 
directors, Mr. Wood and Mr. Harkness 
representing, together, three-fourths of a 
million. 

The First National Bank was organized 
September 30, 1875, the capital stock being 
fifty thousand dollars. The directors are: J. 
T. Worthington, Dr. Amos Wood-ward, J. B. 
Higbee, William McKim, Joseph Egle, and J. 
K. Richards. J. T. 



682 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Worthington is president, and E. H. Brown 
cashier. 

FLOURING MILLS. 

The manufacture of flour has been an 
industry of considerable importance to 
Bellevue for many years. There are two large 
mills owned by Higbee & Company. The old 
mill was first built in 1849 by J. B. Higbee 
and a Mr. Lawrence. In 1859 the mill was 
burned, Mr. Higbee then owning the 
property alone. The loss involved him to a 
considerable extent, but he succeeded in 
effecting a compromise with his creditors 
and soon rebuilt the mill and resumed 
business. Since then the mill has been 
enlarged and improved, and Mr. Higbee 
associated with him in the business his son, 
J. A. Higbee. 

In 1873 or 1874 the Higbees purchased the 
mill of H. M. Sinclair & Company and 
received Mr. T. L. Branan as a partner. 

DISTILLERIES. 

Soon after the settlement of the county a 
small distillery was started near Bellevue. 
The grain used was ground at Clear Creek, 
and the still was run by hand. This was 
previous to 1836. 

In October, 1849, Chapman, Harkness & 
Company built the first large distillery, with 
a capacity of sixty bushels of grain per day. 
This was run until 1852, when it was sold to 
D. M. Harkness, who formed a partnership 
with L. G. Harkness and H. M. Flagler. It 
was then increased to a capacity of six 
hundred bushels of grain daily, and was run 
under this management until 1864, when it 
was purchased by H. M. Sinclair. Since that 
time it has not been run continuously, and is 
now abandoned as a distillery. 

In 1853 Chapman, Woodward & Company 
built another distillery, with a capacity for 
six hundred bushels daily. This distillery has 
been run most of the time since built, and is 
still in operation. 



The original cost of these distilleries was 
not far from thirty thousand dollars each. 

THE FARMER'S ELEVATOR. 

Early in 1875 the farmers living in the 
vicinity of Bellevue formed a joint stock 
company for the purpose of erecting an 
elevator that should be under their own 
control, and from which they could ship 
their grain if they thought best, or could sell 
on the street if prices offered suited them. 
The charter members of this company 
consisted of seventeen persons, and stock 
was subscribed to the amount of five 
thousand dollars. 

A building about twenty-four by sixty feet 
was erected, and completed September 11, 
1875. An engine house was also built, and an 
engine provided for hoisting grain and 
running a cleaner and a mill for grinding 
feed. The cost was about nine thousand 
dollars, a part of it being paid from the 
earnings of the elevator after its completion. 
The building and attachments were put in 
charge of John Decker, who, the first season, 
received and shipped some four hundred 
thousand bushels of grain. 

On the night of April 10, 1878, the 
elevator was burned. A new one was 
immediately commenced, and was in running 
order about August 1, 1878, but the feed- 
mill and cleaner were not replaced. Mr. 
Decker continued as manager until 
November, 1878, when Messrs. Wood & 
Close took charge. The 1st of January, 1879, 
they leased the elevator, the stock-holders 
reserving the right to use it for their own 
grain, on paying the lessees one cent per 
bushel for elevating and storing. 

The stock company is managed by a board 
of directors, consisting of nine persons, three 
of whom form an executive committee. It is 
believed by the members of the company 
that since the erection of the elevator, prices 
for grain have ruled 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



683 



firmer, and thus the patrons have received 
benefit from the investment. 

There are two elevators in the building, 
both run by horse power, two horses being 
used. This is found much more economical 
than an engine, and answers the purpose 
equally well. 

WATERWORKS. 

The village of Bellevue is situated in a 
comparatively level country, with no hills 
and no elevated land from which to obtain 
water by means of springs or natural res- 
ervoirs. Underlying it is a limestone for- 
mation, full of cracks and seams, by means 
of which the surface water is effectually 
drained off, thus forming a fine system of 
drainage for farms, but giving the town the 
reputation of a dry place. On the purchase of 
a hand fire engine, in 1869, cisterns were 
built in various parts of the town, but the 
supply of water was not thought adequate. 
About that time the subject of some system 
of water works was agitated, and the village 
authorities caused an experimental well to be 
bored, but the drill became stuck and it was 
given up. 

In 1872 the village council submitted the 
question of a reservoir, to be fed by a large 
ditch on the eastern border of the 
corporation, to the people for a vote, which 
resulted almost unanimously in its favor, 
only two votes being recorded against the 
question. An ordinance was then passed 
authorizing the construction of water works, 
and providing for the issue of bonds for the 
village, not to exceed the amount of forty 
thousand dollars, the same to expire in 1880. 
A special election was held July 5, 1875, for 
the election of three trustees, for one, two, 
and three years. J. W. Goodson, A. B. Smith, 
and B. Moore were elected, and immediately 
proceeded to work out the plan. A lot of five 
acres was purchased from McKim and Bates, 
with the right of way to the 



ditch before mentioned. Two more acres 
were subsequently added to the first pur- 
chase, making the present area seven acres. 
In digging out the reservoir, the dirt was 
piled up around the sides, making a 
substantial embankment. The gravel in the 
side of the ridge was struck in some places, 
and when the reservoir is full the water 
filters through the gravel into the ridge for a 
great distance, forming an almost 
inexhaustible supply, for one season at least. 
In 1875 water conductors were laid 
through Main street, but it was found that 
there was not sufficient pressure to furnish 
all the water that was needed. In 1877 a tank 
house of brick was built, thirty-two feet 
high, and surmounted by a boiler iron tank, 
twenty-five feet high and eighteen feet in 
diameter, capable of holding fifty thousand 
barrels of water. A Knowles engine and 
pump were purchased for the purpose of 
forcing the water into the tank. 

POWER HOUSE. 

In 1871 some of the capitalists of Bellevue 
conceived the idea of erecting a large 
building, putting in an engine and suitable 
machinery, and renting to any persons or 
companies, who required power for 
manufacturing purposes, such part of the 
building as they might need for carrying 
forward the business in which they were 
engaged. A subscription paper was started 
and the names of eighty-seven persons were 
obtained. It was the intention to start with a 
capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, 
though it was found that this amount would 
not be required, and but thirty thousand 
dollars were called in. Some few of the 
signers of the subscription did not finally 
take shares, though eight hundred and thirty- 
six were taken. 

A contract was made August 8, 1871, for a 
building forty by one hundred and fifty feet, 
two stories in height, and thirty feet to the 
roof. This was completed in 



684 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the fall of the same year. An engine house 
was also built, twenty by thirty feet in size, 
the total cost being about thirty thousand 
dollars, including the land on which the 
building was erected. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



NATHAN P. AND MARY A. BIRDSEYE. 

Industry, strength, and sagacity build up 
estates; worth of character is a sure 
foundation of public esteem; acute business 
capacity and fine moral sensibilities are the 
elements of a complete man whose life 
makes mankind better and by whose living 
human welfare has been promoted; such a 
man was Nathan Phelps Birdseye. 

The Birdseyes of this country are de- 
scended from Rev. Nathan Birdseye, a 
Presbyterian clergyman, who came to 
America in the eighteen century and died at 
Meriden, Connecticut, in his one hundred 
and fifth year. He preached on the centennial 
of his birth. This worthy patriarch's family 
consisted of six sons and six daughters. 

James Birdseye, father of Joseph and 
Nathan P. Birdseye of York township, was 
born in Connecticut. In early life he removed 
to Ontario county, New York, where he 
married Phebe Phelps, by whom was born a 
family of four sons and one daughter. James 
Birdseye came to Sandusky county on a 
prospecting tour in company with William 
McPherson and Norton Russel in 1822. He 
entered one eighty-acre lot and returned to 
New York. Two years after, accompanied by 
his son, Nathan P., he came to Ohio, and the 
following year entered upon the discharge of 
a contract with the State for grading a 
portion of the Maumee and Western Reserve 
road. He received in payment 



a large tract of State land in York township. 
Mr. Birdseye was also contractor and builder 
of the first bridge across the Sandusky River. 
Having completed his contracts on public 
works, he returned to New York, leaving his 
son, Nathan P., on the farm in York. For a 
period of eight years from 1824, our subject 
lived alone, all the while enlarging his fields 
and reducing the cleared land to a better 
state of cultivation. The first cabin in which 
he lived was built by a man named Harman. 
In 1828 he erected a frame house, which was 
occupied for a short time by Dr. L. G. 
Harkness. Mr. Birdseye married; April 8, 
1832, Mary Ann Christie. This name carries 
us back to one of the earliest pioneer 
families in the county. 

William Christie, son of Andrew and 
Abigail (Hopper) Christie, was born in 
Orange county, New York, where he married 
Mary Slauson. Their family consisted of 
three children — Andrew, Abigail and Mary 
Ann. Soon after marriage Mr. Christie 
moved to Tompkins county, New York, and 
in 1817 came to Lower Sandusky, making 
the entire journey from Black Rock by 
water. There were only about twenty-five 
families in the village at that time. Mr. 
Christie was a carpenter by trade and found 
ready employment. His first engagement was 
on a frame store building for Jaques 
Hulburd. A year or two later the first brick 
house in Lower Sandusky was built, and Mr. 
Christie did the carpenter work. This house 
is yet standing, and has for years been 
known as the Beaugrand property. In 1822 
Mr. Christie entered two eighty-acre lots in 
York township, and in February of the fol- 
lowing year joined the pioneers of that part 
of the county. The only son, Andrew, died in 
1822, and is buried in the old cemetery at 
Fremont. He was a young man of superior 
intelligence, and was employed at writing 
for Auditor Rumery and 




A/. P. Birdse/e 




-•■v A.JIFruu* 5 " 



Mrs. A/. P. Birdse/e 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



685 



other officials. Mr. Christie himself was not 
spared long to his family and new farm; he 
died August 1, 1826, leaving two daughters 
to support a widow's affliction. The two 
daughters, Abigail and Mary Ann, have 
never been separated at any one time for a 
longer period than three months. Mrs. 
Christie died at the home of her daughter, 
Mrs. Birdseye, November 2, 1846. 

The old Christie farm in York township 
has never changed ownership, except by 
inheritance to the daughters. The original 
patent was issued in 1822, by James Monroe. 
The family cherish this old homestead, made 
doubly dear by the reposing ashes of their 
parents. 

Nathan P. Birdseye was born in Hopewell, 
Ontario county, New York, January 27, 
1 804. His education was such as the 
common schools of his native State afforded. 
He was the only member of the family who 
desired to come to Ohio, and by inheritance 
and purchase came into possession of the 
large tract of land in York township, taken 
by his father in payment of services on 
public works. After his marriage he united 
with his own estate that belonging to his 
wife, and to further increase his possessions 
and advance his lands in value by means of 
improvements, was the constant aim of his 
industrious life. For twelve years he kept a 
house of entertainment between Bellevue 
and Clyde, at the same time superintending 
extensive farming operations. He was an 
accumulator of real estate, but speculation of 
no kind received his attention. Before 
retiring from his active labors, Mr. Birds-eye 
could look over farms embracing in all more 
than one thousand fertile acres, with the 
proud consciousness of honestly earned 
ownership. His virtues of character are well 
summed up by his intimate friend and 
physician, Hon. John B. Rice, in an obituary 
published after his death, 



which, occurred 13th day of August, 1881: 

The demise of such a man as Nathan P. Birdseye calls 
for something more than the bare mention of the fact 
that one who had so long lived in our midst, is dead. It 
is paying but a just tribute to his memory that there be 
placed on record, by those who knew him well, an 
acknowledgment that he lived in such a manner as to 
deserve and win the respect and affection of all good 
men. 

He was of strong frame; industrious, prudent and 
thrifty; clear-headed, firm, persevering, benevolent and 
tender-hearted. He possessed, indeed, in a remarkable 
degree, the traits which distinguish the good old New 
England stock whence he sprung. He was a farmer, and 
loved the land which, through years of trial and labor, 
he saw transformed from forest to orchard and field. 
Until enfeebled by disease and advancing years he found 
actual enjoyment in the work of his farm, laboring in the 
fields with his hired men whom he treated as equals. 

Mr. Birdseye was a man of earnest convictions. He 
looked upon mankind as a brotherhood, and regarded 
individuals not from appearances but according to their 
acts. He was originally an anti-slavery Whig, but joined 
the ranks of the Republican party at its organization. 
During the war he was active in the cause of the Union; 
encouraged enlistments, and contributed freely toward 
the support of the families of those who were fighting 
the battles of the country. In religion he was a 
Universalist. His natural love of his kind made him hope 
and believe that 

Good, at last will fall, 

At last, far off, will come to all. 

Mr. Birdseye acquired riches; his landed property was 
large, and includes some of the finest in this county. But 
he gained by honest industry and thrift, he never 
wronged or oppressed any man. His word was as good as 
his bond. He continually performed the uncounted deeds 
of neighborly kindness. 

In early times when there was much sickness in the 
country, he would, after laboring on his farm all the day, 
watch with those stricken by disease, through every 
night in the week. At other times when a whole family 
were down with contagious illness, he entirely neglected 
his own work, and gave all his care to nursing the sick. 
He practiced, too, the ancient hospitality which is so 
little the fashion now-a-days. To the stranger overtaken 
by storm or by night, no matter what his condition, he 
always gave food and shelter, and he never knowingly 
allowed the hungry to pass his house unfed. 

As has been said, fortune smiled upon him. But he 
rendered the equivalent by the labor of his own hands, 
and that honest kind of economy which has been 
commended by good men in every age. It came to him as 
praise of his memory will came, as the love and 
faithfulness of dear wife and child, and 



686 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



friends; came when disease attacked him, and his work 
was being finished — as the promised reward of a well- 
spent life. 

Mrs. Mary Ann Birdseye was born May 
17, 1810. She attended school in Lower 
Sandusky during her father's residence there, 
and afterwards continued her studies in the 
seminary at Norwalk. She taught school four 
terms before her marriage — two terms in 
Bellevue, during which time she made her 
home at the residence of Thomas Amsden, 
and two terms in her home district in York. 
As a teacher she is very kindly remembered 
by those who were benefited by her 
instruction. She possesses a cultured 
imagination and has written some poetry, 
which, for imagery has real merit: 

It is not necessary to say that the home 
presided over by a woman of Mrs. Birdseye's 
generous, womanly disposition was a model 
for regularity and concord. During the war 
her sympathies naturally went out toward the 
soldiers. She was during all that sad period 
president of the Clyde Ladies Aid Society, 
and contributed of her means and labors to 
the cause. Mr. Birdseye was careful at the 
same time that no soldier's home in his 
community should suffer for support. They 
had no sons to send to the field of battle, but 
their benevolent labor at home was no less 
useful and appreciated. 

Mrs. Birdseye is a remarkably well 
preserved lady. Her face beams with 
intelligence and good nature, and she holds 
in memory with exceptional correctness the 
scenes and events of by-gone years. A 
visitor is particularly impressed with her 
cheerfulness of temperament. She 
remembers and narrates with pleasure amus- 
ing incidents, but, unlike many old people, 
has little to say of the rougher side of 
pioneer life, a full share of which she ex- 
perienced. 

Mrs. Birdseye enjoys her quiet home in 



Fremont, having with her constant friend, 
companion and sister, Miss Abigail Christie, 
who was born December 7, 1806. She has 
near her, for comfort and support, her only 
child, Cornelia, wife of Isaac Amsden, who 
was born December i6, 1832. The family of 
Mr. and Mrs. Amsden consists of five 
children. 



THOMAS GATES AMSDEN. 

The subject of this sketch was a 
conspicuous character in the history of 
Bellevue for more than thirty years. Thomas 
Gates Amsden was born in Ontario county, 
New York, October 8, 1797, His father, 
Isaac Amsden, was a Revolutionary soldier. 
After the war he settled on a farm in Ontario 
county, on which the son was accustomed to 
hard work, being given the advantage of a 
short term of schooling each winter, 

During the War of 1812, when the 
Governor of New York, made a call for 
militia to defend Buffalo, Thomas, then in 
his seventeenth year, responded bravely to 
the call in place of an older brother. Bravery 
and courage, which were predominating 
characteristics of the man, thus early found 
expression in the boy. 

In early life Mr. Amsden came West, and 
in company with F. A. Chapman and one or 
two of his brothers, engaged in the 
hazardous business of hunting and trapping 
and trading with the Indians. They finally 
entered the employ of General Whitney, who 
at that time was conducting Indian stores at 
many of the frontier posts of the Northwest. 
Mr. Amsden was stationed at Green Bay, 
where he was quite successful, and won the 
confidence of his employer to the degree 
that, in 1823, General Whitney gave to 
himself and Mr. Chapman letters of credit on 
the great Boston house of 




Ihomds G. Amsdei 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



687 



A. & A. Lawrence, to the amount of a 
general stock of goods calculated to the 
wants of pioneer trade. This stock, placed in 
a log cabin, was the first store in Bellevue. 
General Whitney, in the same way, had 
started eight other clerks in business, but his 
kindness on the whole cost him considerable 
money, for, as he told Chapman & Amsden 
afterwards, they were the only two who paid 
for their stock and made a success in trade. 

So popular did the store of Chapman & 
Amsden become that the place received the 
name Amsden's Corners, the last named 
member of the firm being best known to the 
customers. For several years from 1823 they 
continued general merchandising. Their 
goods were at first adapted to trading with 
the Indians, who were then the principal 
inhabitants. As the Indians decreased, and 
the whites multiplied, they continued the 
business, increasing it as trade demanded. 
Beginning in a log hut, they finally carried it 
on in a more pretentious frame building, the 
first of the kind in this region, a part of it 
being occupied by Mr. Amsden as a family 
residence. This building was eventually torn 
away to make room for the stone block now 
occupied by the First National Bank. 

During this time they built the Exchange 
Hotel, which they continued to own for 
twenty years. This was the best hotel 
building for a long distance around, and had 
considerable influence upon the growth of 
the village by attracting emigrants and 
business men to the place. 

The frame building which displaced the 
first log store, was painted red, and was 
known as the "Red Store." It was the largest 
mercantile establishment between Norwalk 
and Lower Sandusky. 

In 1833 Mr. Amsden sold his interest in 
the store to Dr. L. G. Harkness and 
purchased of Samuel Miller a farm which 



was only partially improved. This farm 
included nearly all of that part of the present 
town of Bellevue in Sandusky county. While 
he was engaged at farming he was elected 
and served as justice of the peace. While a 
merchant he was postmaster. Mr. Amsden 
afterwards again entered active business in 
partnership with Mr. Chapman, under the 
firm name of T. G. Amsden & Co., dealers 
in general merchandise and farm products, 
until 1855, tinder the successive firm names 
of T. G. Amsden & Co., Amsden, Bramwell 
& Co., Amsden, Dimmick & Co., and 
Amsden & Co. He was in mercantile and 
general business in Bellevue. In 1848 he 
became interested in a store and distillery in 
Monroeville. This proved an unfortunate 
enterprise. It was not only in itself a 
financial failure, but carried the Bellevue 
house, in which his son, Isaac E., was 
interested, with it. Mr. Amsden's course was 
in the line of the strictest business integrity. 
He refused to adopt any method which 
prudence might suggest for saving a part of 
his hard-earned estate. He turned over to his 
creditors all his property, and emerged from 
the general crash in very straitened 
circumstances. He retained his home in 
Bellevue, where he lived for a few years in 
comparative retirement. Then selling out he 
purchased a small farm just below Fremont, 
where he died December 7, 1876. 

The maiden name of Mr. Amsden's first 
wife was Lydia Chapman, a daughter of 
James Chapman, who served in the 
Revolutionary army during the whole seven 
years of the war. This marriage occurred in 
1823. They had a family 'of seven children, 
five of whom survived infancy- Sarah, Mary, 
Isaac E., Thomas, and William. 

Sarah was married to Hon. J. P. 
Shoemaker, of Amsden, Michigan, a place so 
named because Mr. Amsden once owned 



688 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



the land upon which it is located. Mary is 
married to Abishai Woodward, son of the 
late Gurdon Woodward, of Bellevue. Isaac 
E. married Cornelia Birdseye, daughter of N. 
P. Birdseye, and is in business in Fremont. 
Thomas died some years since in Bellevue. 
William, at the opening of the Rebellion, 
enlisted in the army, and was soon made 
captain in the Third Ohio Cavalry; was 
prostrated by camp fever in the spring of 
1862, and was first brought to the hospital at 
Cincinnati and then to his home in Fremont, 
where he died June 19. 

Mrs. Amsden died in 1841. 

Mr. Amsden subsequently married Harriet 
Williams, of Monroeville. The family by this 
marriage consisted of five children — Emily, 
Edward, Lizzie, Maggie, and Harriet. 

Emily is married to Charles Cullen, of 
Delta, Fulton county, Ohio. Edward resides 
at Canton, Ohio. Lizzie resides in Fremont. 
Maggie died at the age of ten years. Harriet 
resides in Fremont. 

Mrs. Amsden occupies the residence to 
which the family removed from Bellevue. 

Mr. Amsden was a man of great physical 
energy and endurance, as well as of fine 
intellectual qualities, and in his long 
partnership with Mr. Chapman took the 
principal charge of the outdoor business, 
while Mr. Chapman managed the office 
work. Mr. Amsden was highly respected for 
his unswerving integrity, and genial, affable 
manners. He was so widely known for his 
sound and reliable judgment that, for many 
years, his advice was uniformly taken before 
any new enterprise of importance was 
started. He was, during his prosperous 
business life, free in his charities. Nothing 
seemed to gratify him more than to relieve 
want or suffering. He was a supporter of the 
Episcopal church. He was for nearly thirty 
years a prominent and faithful member of the 
Independent 



Order of Odd Fellows in Bellevue, and 
afterward in Fremont. At the time of his 
death appropriate resolutions of sympathy 
and respect were passed by the order, and a 
large delegation from the encampment at 
Fremont accompanied his remains to the 
beautiful cemetery at Bellevue, where they 
were deposited amid the ashes of his dead. 



FREDERICK SMITH AND FAMILY. 

In the spring of 1818 George Frederick 
Schmidt and family, natives of Wurtemburg, 
Germany, emigrated to America and settled 
in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, In his 
native land Mr. Smith — as the name is now 
written by his descendants — was united in 
marriage to Dorothea Maumann. They 
brought up a large family, there being nine 
children in all, seven of whom arrived at 
maturity. Four are still living. Seven of them 
were born in this country. The names of the 
children in the order of their ages were as 
follows: Maria D., married David Moore, 
and resided in Bellevue; died December 7, 
1879, in her sixty-seventh year. Anna M. 
married James Chapman, of York township; 
died November 8, 1879, aged sixty-five 
years. Frederick, the subject of this sketch; 
David, a resident of York township; 
Catharine, widow of William White, Grundy 
county, Tennessee; Sarah A., wife of Elmer 
Simpson, Placer county, California; and 
John F., a resident of York township; and 
two who died young. 

The family resided in Pennsylvania until 
the year 1836, when they came to York 
township and settled upon the farm now in 
possession of one of the sons. At the time of 
their settlement this entire region bore a very 
uninviting aspect. After coming here Mr. 
Smith purchased a piece of land on which a 
small clearing had 



s 







fc 



*.7 



i ^ 




HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



689 



been made and a cabin erected. They had the 
usual difficulties and experiences incident to 
life in the woods, but by the combined 
efforts of the whole family they succeeded in 
accomplishing the mission which led them 
hither and established a home. Mrs. Smith 
did not live to enjoy many of the subsequent 
improvements. She died in November, 1842. 
Her husband survived until the 18th of 
February, 1858, when he passed away. Both 
were worthy people, and possessed of that 
industrious and frugal disposition which 
enables the German emigrant to succeed in 
the face of many obstacles. 

Frederick Smith was the oldest son. He 
was born in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, 
December 10, 1818, and consequently was 
about eighteen years of age when his parents 
came to this county. He lived at home and 
assisted in clearing up The farm and making 
improvements. In 1845, on the ad day of 
October, he was joined in marriage to Mary 
A. Box, of Washington township. The 
following year he bought a farm adjoining 
the old homestead, upon which he passed the 
remainder of his days. His first purchase was 
eighty acres, twenty of which were partially 
cleared. There was also a small cabin upon 
the farm. Mr. Smith labored diligently, 
making inroads upon the forest and 
improving his fields, and as they became 
fruitful under his skilful hands, thus 
furnishing the means for enlarging his farm, 
he made additional purchases, upon which in 
turn he continued the work of clearing. 
Before his death he became the owner of six 
hundred and forty acres of excellent land, as 
the reward of his steadfast industry and 
perseverance. His elegant brick residence, 
the present home of his widow, was erected 
in 1866. 

Mr. Smith was a successful farmer and a 
lover of his occupation, which he carried on 
most extensively. He also possessed 



considerable skill and ingenuity in the use of 
various kinds of tools, and frequently did 
blacksmithing and carpentry work for 
himself. He was a man who had many 
sincere friends, won by his upright character 
and manly qualities. In politics he was a 
strong Democrat, and always labored to 
promote the success of his party. Early in 
life he became a Christian, and continued to 
the end a devout member of the Reformed 
church. Just before his death, while 
conversing on religious subjects, he referred 
to his early religious associations with much 
pleasure and satisfaction. He was elected a 
trustee of St. Paul's church some three years 
previous to his death, and faithfully served 
in that office until prevented by failing 
health. He was prostrated by illness in 
December, 1878, and continued gradually 
declining until the 1st day of April, in the 
year 1879, when the end came. 

Mrs. Frederick Smith was born in 
Northampton county (now Carbon county), 
Pennsylvania, August 13, 1826. Her parents 
were Nicholas and Eve Margaret Box. Her 
mother's maiden name was Mehrcome. Her 
father died in Pennsylvania December 2, 

1835. Her mother came to this county in 

1836, and settled in Washington township, 
where she died April 22, 1857. Mrs. Smith is 
the youngest of a family of eleven children. 
She has three brothers and two sisters living. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born three 
sons and four daughters, all of whom are 
living in York township. Their names are: 
William Frederick, Mary Armena, Samuel 
David, Henry Franklin, Margaret Anna, 
Sarah Catharine, and Dora Ella. Two of the 
sons and one of the daughters are married. 
William F. married Sarah C. Wilt, and has 
two children; Henry F. married Hannah E. 
Richards; Mary Armena is the wife of 
George Wilt, York township, and has four 
children. 



690 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



THE McCAULEY FAMILY. 

Joseph McCauley was born in Mifflin 
county, Pennsylvania, May 23, 1811. His 
father, John McCauley, of Scotch-Irish 
blood, came to America from Ireland with 
his parents when a young man. He married, 
in Pennsylvania, Mary Stumphff, and had a 
family of seven sons and four daughters. Of 
these four sons and two daughters are yet 
living. Joseph was the sixth child. He was 
brought up and educated in Pennsylvania. He 
was a farmer throughout his life. On the 28th 
of October, 1830, he married Anna Ulsh, 
daughter of Andrew and Barbara Ulsh. She 
was born February 17, 1811, and was the 
second child and oldest daughter. The Ulsh 
family consisted of nine children, five sons 
and four daughters. The youngest of these 
children reached the age of fifty-one years 
before any were removed by death. Three of 
the sons and all of the daughters are still 
living. Andrew Ulsh spent his life in 
Pennsylvania. He was born September 12, 
1785; died April 9, 1864. Barbara Ulsh, born 
September 20, 1788; died October 22, 1828. 
Mr. Ulsh was married twice, Catharine being 
the name of his second wife. 

After his marriage Mr. McCauley resided 
one year in Snyder county, thence moved to 
Mifflin county in 1832, where he lived until 
the spring of 1845. In the month of April of 
that year he came to the farm in York 
township, which he had purchased two years 
before, and set about making a home. The 
farm contained seventy-eight acres, but was 
afterwards increased in size to one hundred 
and sixty-four acres. There had been slight 
improvements made, but not enough to make 
the farm of much utility until a large amount 
of work had been done. Mr. and Mrs. 
McCauley labored diligently, saved 
economically, and in due season had a 
comfortable home, Three children 



were born to them — John A. McCauley, born 
December 27, 1831; Matilda E. McCauley, 
born August 30, 1833; Sarah I. McCauley, 
born January 29, 1839. The daughters are 
both living, Mrs. Matilda E. Kopp in York 
township, and Mrs. Sarah I. Ulsh in St. 
Joseph county, Michigan. Joseph McCauley 
died April 21, 1853, a worthy and highly 
respected man. He was a man of industry 
and perseverance, and during the eight years 
he lived in Ohio, he made a large number of 
clearings and improvements, erected a 
substantial house, barn and out-buildings. He 
was a self-made man; commenced life with 
little, and worked his way upward by strict 
and careful attention to business. He was a 
member of the Lutheran church in 
Pennsylvania, but after coming to Ohio 
joined the Congregational church. He was a 
man of a cheerful and obliging disposition, 
and is. gratefully remembered by his old 
friends and neighbors who had an 
opportunity to become thoroughly 
acquainted with him, and to know his worth. 

After his death his widow lived upon the 
old homestead over ten years. November 17, 
1863, she was married to John Orwig, and 
since that time she has resided at Bellevue. 
Mrs. Orwig belongs to the Congregational 
church, and is a faithful member. 

John A. McCauley, only son of Joseph 
McCauley, was born in Snyder county, 
Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio with his 
parents. He lived and died upon the old 
homestead, enjoying the peaceful life of a 
prosperous farmer. January 13, 1853, he was 
united in marriage to Lucy A. Jordan, born 
January 18, 1832, in Union county, 
Pennsylvania. This union was blessed by 
three children, two of whom are living — 
Alice A., born January 26, 1854; married 
March 16, 1874, to Harry S. Knauss; resides 
in the house with her mother; has 



K 










* 





HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



three children — Virgie M., born November 
22, 1875; Olive Maud, born August 3, 1877; 
and John W., born February 6, 1880. John 
Ezra, born May 25, 1857, died September 7, 
18.58. Joseph Ervin, born June 8, 1859, 
married Alice C. Drake, and resides in York 
township, this county. 

John A. McCauley died August 28, 1879. 
He united with the Congregational church 
when about sixteen, and lived a faithful 
Christian. He was a man of the highest 
integrity of character, and was highly 
esteemed by the community in which he 
resided. Like his father he supported the 
Democratic ticket. 

Mrs. Lucy A. McCauley is the daughter of 
one of the pioneers of Ohio. Her father, 
Adam Jordan, was born in Lancaster county, 
Pennsylvania, February 22, 1803. He was 
married in his native State to Sophia Orwig, 
who was born in Schuylkill county, 
September 16, 1803. These parents had five 
sons and four daughters — Sarah A., who 
married Uriah Weaver; Martin married Mary 
Soyer; Lucy A. (McCauley); Joseph married 
Hannah Gamby; Mary A., George, and 
Hannah M., single; James married Emma 
Hubble; John, the only member of the family 
not living at the time of this writing, died 
when fourteen years old. 

Adam Jordan moved from Union county, 
Pennsylvania, to Ohio, in 1832; remained 
one year in Richland county, then, settled in 
Seneca county, whence he moved to York 
township, Sandusky county, in 1844. Mr. 
Jordan died September, 22, 1860 His widow 
survived until August 28, 1871. 

Mrs. McCauley joined the Congregational 
church in 1853. Her children also united, 
with the same organization when quite 
young. She is a lady who enjoys the 
friendship and esteem of a large circle of 
neighbors and acquaintances. 



THE RIFE FAMILY. 

Michael Rife was born in Frederick 
county, Maryland, February 15, 1814. His 
parents were Daniel and Elizabeth 
(Sumbrun) Rife. They had three sons and 
seven daughters, with names as follows: 
Susan, Michael, Daniel, Julia Ann, 
Elizabeth, Mary and Sarah (twins), Sophia, 
John, and Frances. The sons and four of the 
daughters are now living. Michael and John 
reside in York township, and Daniel in the 
village of Clyde. They are all farmers. Susan 
is the widow of Chester Kinney, and resides 
at Green Spring, in this county; Julia Ann 
married John Hamlin, her home is in Steuben 
county, Indiana; Mary married Aaron 
Bartlett, and lives in Fulton county; 
Elizabeth is single, and resides in Bellevue; 
Sarah, Sophia, and Frances are deceased. 
Frances was the wife of Frank Joint, of 
Bellevue. 

The parents of Mr. Rife came to Sandusky 
county in 1832 and located where John Rife 
now lives. The country at that date was but 
thinly settled, and the father and his sons had 
before them the difficult task of making a 
home in the wilderness and earning a living 
there. That they succeeded well in this 
undertaking, the neat and pretty farms in 
possession of the family are sufficient 
proofs. Daniel Rife died when fifty-five 
years of age, and his wife when fifty seven. 
Both were members of the Lutheran church 
during the greater portion of their lives, and 
were earnest and sincere Christians. 

Michael Rife has always followed the 
good, old-fashioned employment of tilling 
the soil. At the age of twenty-five he married 
and began work for himself. His marriage 
took place January 1, 1839. His wife, whose 
maiden name was Mary Longwell, was born 
in Berlin township, Delaware county, Ohio, 
November 9, 1821. She was the only 
daughter of Robert 



692 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



and Lucinda (Butler) Longwell, who were 
among the very first settlers in this county. 
They moved to York township in 1823. Mr. 
Longwell brought his goods in an ox-wagon, 
and Mrs. Longwell rode horseback, carrying 
her child in her arms. They were here but 
one brief year before they were overtaken by 
death. Mrs. Longwell died September 17, 
1814, aged thirty-two years, and her husband 
followed on the 22d day of the same month 
and year, dying at the age of thirty. After the 
death of her parents, Mary lived with her 
relatives until her marriage with Mr. Rife, in 

1839. 

For the first few years after this couple 
began housekeeping the utmost diligence 
was required to "make both ends meet." Mrs. 
Rife raised chickens many seasons to sell, 
and paid taxes with the proceeds. Produce 
brought but a small equivalent in money, 
butter often selling for only five cents per 
pound, and other articles in proportion. 
Young people at the present day can form 
but a vague idea of the difficulties which 
this stout-hearted pair met and overcame. 

Their union has been blessed with four 
children, three of whom are living. The 
family record is as follows: Eudora Ann was 
born March 30, 1841, she married Robert 
Zuel, and resides in Johnson county, Kansas; 
Sarah F. was born September 7, 1842, she is 
the wife of William L. Richards, and lives 
near her old home; Robert L., born April 27, 
1846, married Maria Dimock; he also resides 
near his parents; Charles, born February 20, 
1848, died March 24th of the same year. 

Mr. and Mrs. Rife, now in their declining 
years, are the happy possessors of a pleasant, 
pretty home, a good farm of three hundred 
acres, well improved, and supplied with a 
good orchard and plenty of timber. They 
have always been industrious and 
economical, and by toiling 



early and late have merited the good things 
they now enjoy. 

Mr. Rife is a Republican and has never 
voted any other ticket, excepting that of the 
Whig party. He has never aspired to 
township or other offices. 



JAMES CHAPMAN. 

James Chapman was born in the north- 
western part of the State of Pennsylvania, 
December 26, 1809. He is the oldest of the 
children of Jeremiah and Sarah (Wilbur) 
Chapman. Jeremiah Chapman was a native 
of Connecticut, but moved to Pennsylvania 
when quite a young man and was one of the 
pioneers in the part of the State where he 
settled. He was the son of James Chapman, a 
Revolutionary soldier, who lived and died in 
Connecticut. Sarah Wilbur was born in 
Rhode Island, but removed to Pennsylvania 
with her parents when young. Soon after he 
was married, Jeremiah Chapman removed to 
Ontario county, New York, where he lived 
until about 1819, when he came to Ohio. He 
remained one year in Huron county, then 
located on Sandusky River in Seneca county, 
where he resided about four years, moving 
thence to Sandusky county in 1824. Here he 
settled in York township on a farm which is 
still in possession of the family. He was the 
father of four children, three of whom are 
still living — Sarah, the second child and 
oldest daughter, is the wife of George Wood 
and resides in Erie county; Maria married L. 
P. Warner, and lives in Hillsdale county, 
Michigan; and James. The other child, a son, 
died in infancy. 

Jeremiah Chapman was a farmer during his 
life. He was a man of hearty constitution, 
strong and vigorous physically, in short, 
almost a perfect type of the sturdy pioneer. 
He served a short time in the War of 1812. 
Both he and his 




.3 






1 

c 



s* 8 






*<^ 




$ 






HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY, 



693 



wife were members of the Free-will Baptist 
church. Mr. Chapthan died July 1, 1845, 
aged sixty-four years. Mrs. Chapman 
survived her husband, a few years, and died 
at the home of her youngest daughter, in 
Michigan. 

From the foregoing it will be seen that Mr. 
James Chapman came to this county when 
about fourteen years of age. He had limited 
opportunities for obtaining an education, 
except in the wide and varied field known as 
the school of life. He attended school .for a 
few years during a portion of the winter time 
in some of the few log school-houses then in 
York township. His boyhood was passed at 
home on the farm. When about, thirty years 
old he married Anna Smith, daughter of 
George Smith, of York township. She was 
one of a family of seven children, and was a 
native of Germany. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Chapman were born 
seven children, four of whom are still living. 
Following are their names in the order of 
their ages: Albert, died December 14, 1873, 
aged thirty-two years; he was unmarried. 
Reuben resides near his father's home; he 
married Nettie Riley, of Riley township. 
Mary died September 11, 1873, aged twenty- 
eight; she was the wife of Atwell Forgerson, 
of York township. Emeline and Adeline 
(twins); Erneline married Henry Kopp, and 
resides in York township. Adeline lives at 
home. The next child was a daughter, who 
died in infancy. Amelia, the youngest, 
resides at home. Mrs. Chapman died 
November 8, 1879, at the age of sixty- five. 

Mr. Chapman has been one of the 
successful farmers of this vicinity. Of recent 
years he has given up the management of his 
place to his son, who continues doing a 
thrifty business. Mr. Chapman has been a 
sound Republican ever since the party was 
formed. He was a member of the Free-will 
Baptist church as long as that 



organization was in existence in his town- 
ship. His wife belonged to the Lutheran 
church. 



SENECA D. AND MAHALA E. HITT. 

Seneca Dusenberry Hitt was a native of 
Danby, Rutland county, Vermont, and was 
born, October 6, 1800. His father Henry D. 
Hitt, was a native of New York, being of 
Welsh parentage on his father's side, and 
Dutch on his mother's side. The mother of 
Seneca D. Hitt was Mary Nichols, a native 
of Vermont. General Greene, of the 
Revolution, was her uncle. 

The boyhood of Mr. Hitt was spent on the 
shoemaker's bench, in business, and teaching 
school. He married, June 15, 1837, Mahala 
E. Stafford, a daughter of Palmer and Betsy 
(Paddock) Stafford, of Wallingford, Rutland 
county, Vermont. The ancestry of the 
Stafford family is traced back to a Rhode 
Island family of that name. 

The newly wedded couple left their home 
in Vermont on the 27th of June, and after a 
tedious journey of one month and two days; 
arrived in Bellevue. Mr. Hitt had, the year 
before, in partnership with his cousin, Henry 
Nichols, purchased the farm on which he 
settled, being one hundred and twenty-six 
acres, twelve of which was cleared. Mr. Hitt, 
during the earlier years of his residence in 
this county, made use of his experience at 
shoemaking to earn a few odd dollars, for 
ready cash was scarce, and the pioneers were 
driven to various expedients for earning 
money. But hard labor and economy 
triumphed over the rugged opposition of 
heavy forest and general scarcity. Mr. Hitt 
purchased, in a few years, Mr. Nichol's 
interest in the farm, which he continued to 
improve till death, when, as an heritage to 
his family, he left an enviable home. 



694 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Mr. Hitt died in January, 1872, in his 
seventy-second year. He was frequently 
entrusted with local offices. He was a warm 
advocate of Whig principles, and after the 
fall of that party became a Republican. In 
appearance he was robust and strong, being 
five feet eight inches tall, and weighing 
about two hundred pounds, 

Mrs. Hitt is still living on the old farm. 
She is a well preserved woman, both 
physically and mentally. A naturally happy 
disposition fills her home with good cheer 
and hospitality. 

The family consists of three children living 
and one dead. 

Mary E. was born April 3, 1840. She was 
married in 1871 to Silas A. Wood, who died 
in June, 1872. She is employed as a teacher 
in the Fremont public schools. 

Marion Adelia, was born February 3, 1842. 
She was married September 27, 1860, to 
George H. Mugg, a resident of Green Creek 
township. Their family consists of three 
children — Elmer E., Luella, and Susan M. 

Tamson Lavina was born January 17, 
1845. She was married October 23, 1867, to 
Charles H. Welch. Their family consists of 
four children — Alice R., Mahala, Adelia, and 
Charles H., jr. 

Seneca D. was born January 16, 1849, died 
October 2, 1849. 



JOHN S. AND ANN GARDNER. 

John Gardner was a pioneer in York 
township. With his family, consisting of a 
wife and six children, he emigrated from 
Vermont and settled here while nearly the 
whole township was original forest. John S. 
Gardner, the oldest son, was born in Ver- 
mont, on the 24th of February, 1806, and 
was consequently seventeen years old 



when the family settled in this county. Of a 
robust constitution he was well calculated 
for the toils and hardships which life in a 
new country imposed. Mr. Gardner, by 
working hard on his father's farm and for 
himself, accumulated some money which he 
invested in land then held at a very low 
price, but as improvements were made, 
gradually increased in value, making him by 
the time he had reached maturity, a man of 
considerable means. Mr. Gardner married, 
January 3, 1833, Ann Alexander, daughter of 
Theophilus and Mary Alexander, who came 
to Ohio in 1825, with a family of eleven 
children, from the State of New York. Ann 
was born in New York in 1811. 

John S. and Ann Gardner have had a 
family of seven children, five of whom are 
living — John A., was born June 25, 1834, 
was married March 12, 1857, to Emeline J. 
Bemis; Theophilus E., was born August 6, 
1836, married May 20, 1866, to Sarah Ann 
Thompson, she having deceased, he married 
Justina Alexander in 1869; Mary E. was 
born, December 4, 1838; Charles C. was 
born June 9, 1842, married Rebecca A. 
Lemmon; Dyer C. was born July 23, 1845, 
served in the army, married, in 1870, Sarah 
R. Rowe; Ann, born April 15, 1847, married, 
in 1868, William Ritter; Julia, horn January 
9, 1850, married to Henry Thomas; Mary E., 
died July 25, 1867; Charles C, died October 
26, 1877. 

As will be seen by reference to the civil 
list of the county, John S. Gardner served as 
county commissioner for the period of four 
years. He was always prominent in the 
affairs of his township, and a working 
member of the Democratic party in the east 
part of the county. He was strong in 
physique and capable of doing much hard 
work. He was a persevering, farmer and 
pushed work with a diligence which 
manifested itself in rapidly increasing 




jer&nidh Smith 




Mrs. Dd.ora5mith 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



695 



landed possessions. He died May 23,1861. 
Mrs. Gardner remains on the old farm. She 
has an excellent memory for a woman of her 
age, and narrates in an interesting manner 
the scenes and incidents of years gone by. 



JEREMIAH SMITH. 

Among the many courageous men and 
women who penetrated the forests of Ohio 
while the State was yet the hunting grounds 
of the Indians, the sons and daughters of 
New England hold a conspicuous place. 
Bravery, generosity, unwavering honesty, 
united to a strong religious faith, were the 
virtues that characterized them, and the 
principles that animated them. 

In 1822 a worthy couple, both natives of 
the State of Connecticut, settled on the South 
ridge, in York township. Their names were 
Jeremiah and Experience (Mills) Smith. 
Enough has been written in this volume to 
portray the condition of Sandusky county at 
that date. The trials, difficulties, and dangers 
which beset these bold representatives of the 
Yankee nation need not be rehearsed here. 
Here they lived, reared a family, and died. 
But one of their children survives, although 
the family consisted of three sons and three 
daughters. The names were as follows: 
Jeremiah, Edward, Barzilla, Lucy, Laura, 
and Triphena. Jeremiah settled in York 
township and resided here until the close of 
his days. Edward died in Lagrange county, 
Indiana. Barzilla died in New York State, 
where his parents had lived before coming to 
Ohio. Lucy married Charles Gardenier, of 
Montgomery county, New York, and died 
years ago. Laura married Abel D. Follett, of 
Bellevue, and now resides in Ventura 
county, California. Triphena died the year 
after her parents moved here, aged thirteen 
years. 



Jeremiah Smith, sr., died October 7, 1826, 
aged forty-nine years. His wife, a most 
estimable lady, survived until September 6, 
1840, when she passed away at the age of 
sixty-six, universally respected as a woman 
of Christian benevolence and genuine worth. 

Their son, Jeremiah Smith, was among the 
most worthy and highly honored of the 
citizens of York township. He was born 
October 15, 1801. On the 10th of June, 1835, 
he married De Lora Knapp, daughter of 
Alvin and Lovisa (O'Bryant) Knapp. Mrs. 
Knapp's father, John O'Bryant, was an 
officer in the Revolutionary war. Alvin 
Knapp was barn at Lebanon Springs, 
Columbia county, New York, and his wife in 
the western part of Massachusetts, about 
fourteen miles from the place of her 
husband's nativity. Mr. and Mrs. Knapp. 
lived in New York State until 1833. At. this 
date they came to Ohio and settled near the 
centre of York township. They had thirteen 
children who arrived at maturity, five of 
whom are yet living. Their names in the 
order of their ages were; Arad, Chester, 
Balsorah, Alanson, Kingsley, De Lora, 
Mary, Wilson, Sarah F., Henry, Martha, 
Anna, and Amanda. These were all married 
and all came to Ohio, but scattered to 
various parts of the country. Those now 
living are, Chester, in Cass county, 
Michigan; Wilson, Lucas county, Ohio; 
Henry, in Decatur county, Iowa; Martha 
(Alexander), Whitewater, Wisconsin; and 
Mrs. De Lora: Smith, York township. 

Mr. and Mrs. Jeremiah Smith, jr., had no 
children. Mr. Smith died August 21, 1874, in 
his seventy-third year. He was a man of 
sterling integrity, friendly and courteous in 
his manners, pure in motive, and honest and 
fair in all his dealings. He passed through a 
long life with, out losing a friend or gaining 
an enemy by any fault of his own. During 
the most 



696 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



of his years he was a member of the Free- 
will Baptist church. 



JOSEPH AND AMANDA B. BIRDSEYE. 

The oldest son of James Birdseye, whose 
ancestry and operations in this county are 
mentioned in the foregoing sketch of Nathan 
P. Birdseye, was Joseph Birdseye. He was 
born in Ontario county, New York, 
November z6, 1800. His boyhood was spent 
at hard work on his father's farm. He had 
opportunity to at-tend school only a few 
months during the winter, affording a very 
limited education. 

Mr. Birdseye married, in 1823, Amanda 
Beach, daughter of Jonathan and Betsy 
Beach, who were natives of Connecticut. 
After his marriage Mr. Birdseye purchased a 
farm in New York, now the site of 
Rochester, one of the most flourishing cities 
of the State. Through -the failure of a 
neighbor to meet an obligation on which Mr. 
Birdseye was security, this farm was lost. He 
then looked toward the West as a field for 
the restoration of his lost fortunes. In 1834 
he purchased a farm in York township, on 
which he settled with his family in 1835. He 
was a hard worker, and continued making 
improvements and adding to his possessions. 
In partnership with his brother, Nathan P., he 
discharged a contract for macadamizing the 
pike between Bellevue and Clyde. 

Mr. Birdseye, in 1853, sold his farm in 
York township and moved to Clyde, where 
he had purchased a tract of land, now 
embraced in that part of the town lying 
between the Lake Shore & Michigan 
Southern railroad track and the turnpike. As 
the village grew he sold, in town lots, about 
fifty acres, a part of which was forest at the 
time of making the purchase. 



This operation showed Mr. Birdseye's 
business sagacity, and leads to the conclu- 
sion that but for his early misfortune at 
Rochester, New York, he would have been a 
very wealthy man 

The family of Joseph and Amanda 
Birdseye consisted of five children-two sons 
and three daughters. Eliza was born in 
March, 1824. She died in 1847. Adalaide 
was born October 16, 1825. She resides in 
New York City. Emily was born September 
27, 1827. She is married to John Bruen and 
lives in Santa Cruz, California: Her husband 
is dead. Gould was born November 26, 1829. 
He re-sides in Clyde. Nelson H. was born 
October 6, 1832. He resides in Clyde. 

Joseph Birdseye died April 19, 1868, and 
is buried in McPherson Cemetery in Clyde. 
Amanda B. Birdseye is still living in Clyde. 
She is of genial disposition, affable in 
manners, and possessed' of good business 
qualifications. She manages the estate left by 
her husband with care and discretion. 

Mr. Birdseye, in many of his 
characteristics, resembling his brother, 
Nathan P. and at the same time possessing 
many traits of character differing widely 
from those of his brother. Both were 
scrupulously honest in all business 
transactions, and social intercourse. Both 
were Whigs, and afterwards Republicans, in 
politics. They were simple in their manners 
and determined in their convictions. It was a 
characteristic of Joseph Birdseye never to 
withdraw a command, nor to modify an 
opinion deliberately formed. He was uni- 
formly kind and charitable to the sick or 
suffering. In him an iron will was coupled 
with a tender heart. 

No family stood higher in York town-ship 
than the Birdseyes. They were always alive - 
to the welfare of the community, whether in 
deeds, of public improvement or acts of 
private charity: 




josqphBirdse/e 




Amdndd B. Birdse/e 




H. R. Addms 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



697 



H. R. ADAMS 

Horatio Rogers Adams was born in 
Montville, Connecticut, May 8, 1802, He 
was the oldest of three children, and only 
son of William Adams and Nancy Rogers, 
who were also natives of Connecticut. When 
Horatio was about seven years of age his 
parents removed from Montville to Albany, 
New York, where they afterwards lived. 
William Adams was a sea-captain, was the 
owner of a number of vessels, and a man of 
enterprise and thrift. His wife died in the fall 
of 1820 aged about thirty-seven, and some 
two years afterward he married Delia 
Olmsted, an estimable lady of Albany, and 
sister of Judge Jesse Olmsted, the pioneer 
merchant of Fremont, Ohio. Of his three 
children by his first wife (his second 
marriage being without issue) only one is 
now living, viz: Sophia Adams, who still 
resides in Albany. The younger sister, Mary, 
died in Albany. Neither of the sisters ever 
married. 

Horatio being the only child; and his father 
well-to-do, was permitted to follow his 
inclinations and grew to young manhood 
surrounded by the social influences of city 
life. He attended school but little and 
employed a part of his leisure in fishing, his 
favorite sport, and in visiting at his uncle, 
Isaiah Adams's; a farmer living a few miles 
out of Albany. During these visits he would 
help in the work on the farm and it was 
there, doubtless, he formed the desire for the 
occupation which he subsequently followed. 
When about eighteen he made his way to 
Norwalk, Ohio, where a relative of his 
mother, Frederick Forsythe, was then living. 
He left home in company with George 
Olmsted on the 1st day of October, 1820, 
coming to Sandusky on the Walk-in-the- 
water, the pioneer steamer of Lake Erie. 
Shortly afterward he made a visit to his 
friends, the Olmsteds, in Lower 



Sandusky, now Fremont, being piloted 
thither through the wilderness by William 
Chapman, the mail-carrier. There was then 
no laid-out road west of where Bellevue now 
stands, which then consisted, according to 
Mr. Adams' recollection, of but one log- 
house. We next find him in Columbus, 
whither he journeyed on foot. He was now 
thrown upon his own resources and among 
strangers, and he found it necessary to do 
something to earn a living. The first job he 
found to do was to take a horse for a man a 
distance of thirty miles for which service he 
received one dollar. Of course he had to 
walk back, but he was well satisfied with his 
bargain. It was the first money he had ever 
earned. A short time afterward he went to 
Worthington, a little village nine miles north 
of Columbus, where he found employment 
for a time in a printing office. In 
Worthington he first met his future wife; 
Amy R. Bedell. They were married on the 
4th day of May, 1823, and a few years 
afterward settled on Darby Creek, Madison 
county. The farm on which they located had 
been partly cleared by a former occupant, 
who had abandoned it, and the cleared part 
had grown over with a heavy undergrowth 
and practically required a second clearing. 
The first season he raised a small crop of 
corn and a few bushels of beans, which 
found a market in Columbus, twenty miles 
distant, at fifty cents per bushel. Cotton 
goods were fifty cents per yard, and other 
necessaries in proportion. It required a good 
deal of fortitude and hard toil to keep the 
wolf from the door during their stay there. 
While fighting under countless difficulties 
for a livelihood, Mr. Adams was much 
distressed by doubts as to the validity of his 
land title, his farm being embraced in what 
is known as the Virginia Military District. 
This tract comprised a large extent of 
territory lying 



698 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



between the Little Miami and Scioto Rivers, 
and was reserved by act of Congress for 
compensation of the Virginia soldiers who 
had served in the Revolutionary war. Any 
soldier, or his representative, who held a 
warrant was at liberty to select his lands 
wherever he chose within the military tract; 
and in consequence of the irregularity with 
which many locations were made, some 
locations encroaching upon others, 
considerable litigation ensued. This 
circumstance decided Mr. Adams upon 
disposing of his farm at any sacrifice, and 
consequently, after living there a couple of 
years, during which he and his always 
patient and helpful wife experienced every 
hardship incident to the lot of pioneers, they 
removed, in the summer of 1830, to Huron 
county, and located upon a farm rented of 
Jeremiah Sheffield, near Amsden's Corners, 
now Bellevue. He contracted with Mr. 
Sheffield to build a log-house on the farm, 
eighteen by twenty feet, in consideration of 
fifty bushels of wheat, and moved into this 
house on Christmas Day of the above year. 

The following season being very wet, his 
crops were scanty, and he decided upon 
making another change. He was offered the 
farm on which he afterwards lived till his 
death, in York township, Sandusky county, 
Ohio, for one dollar and fifty cents per acre, 
but he hesitated about making the purchase, 
the "oak openings," as they were called, 
being regarded as almost worthless for 
farming purposes. Against the advice of 
some of his friends, he decided to make the 
investment. That his decision was a wise 
one, one of the finest farms in the county is a 
sufficient proof. 

To this farm on New Year's Day, 1832, he 
brought his wife and two children, and all 
his worldly goods, in an ox-cart, and moved 
into a log house eighteen feet square, with 
puncheon floor, clapboard 



roof and stick chimney. The farm was then 
an almost unbroken wilderness, and the 
prospect anything but bright. But attacking 
his task with his accustomed energy, he soon 
had a portion of his land in a condition to be 
cultivated, from which he managed to 
support an increasing family, while he 
continued to enlarge the boundary of his 
clearing. The next ten years were years of 
hard work, attended by trials and frequent 
failures, but instead of tending to 
discouragement it was an experience which 
only developed the force and determination 
of a man by nature determined and forcible. 
In 1842 he erected the house which was 
afterwards his permanent home, and which is 
still occupied by his widow. They took 
possession of this home on Christmas of that 
year, and it is a somewhat singular cir- 
cumstance that on each removal they began 
the occupancy of their new home on one of 
the winter holidays. 

On the 8th of May, 1874, Mr. and Mrs. 
Adams celebrated their golden wedding. 
They had been married fifty years the 4th of 
May the previous year, but as sickness in the 
family prevented them from assembling that 
year, the reunion was postponed until the 
next year, and held on the 8th of May, which 
was Mr. Adams' seventy-second birthday. It 
was a happy occasion to all, and to the aged 
pair in whose honor it was held, an event 
second in interest only to their nuptial day. 
They had lived to see a large farm brought 
from a wild condition to a high state of 
cultivation, having increased in value a 
hundred fold, and to raise a family of 
children esteemed for their intelligence and 
moral worth. 

Mr. Adams united with the Methodist 
Episcopal Church in 1829, and ever 
afterward was an active member and devoted 
Christian. His family was brought up in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord, 




■2a£?iir a tt.t j.ic^'- 



Amy R. Adams 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



699 



and he recognized no higher duties on 
earth than those of husband and father. 

He contributed with liberality to the 
support not only of the church to whit h he 
belonged, but to that of others as well, and 
there is hardly a church in the region where 
he lived so long that has not bee n the 
recipient of his benefactions. His business 
record was unimpeachable. It was 
characterized by energy, perseverance, and 
the strictest integrity, which was an integral 
part of his nature. 

He stood the embodiment of all that was 
upright, honest and honorable. A 
conspicuous quality of his mind was the 
faculty of humor. He had a keen sense of the 
comic and the ridiculous, and he enjoyed 
nothing, more than a visit with friends, for 
whose entertainment he would relate in his 
droll way, some humorous incident, usually 
in connection with his pioneer experiences. 
In, manner he was to some extent eccentric 
and blunt, but he was always courteous, and 
to those who knew him best he had a nature, 
as tender and sympathetic as a child's. Mr. 
Adams, from force of habit continued his 
labor more or less, on the farm, long after 
reaching an age when most men are 
compelled to rest. In June, 1879, where, at 
work in the field, he was overcome with the 
heat, which resulted in an affection of the 
brain, and after suffering intensely, mentally 
and physically, many months, he died March 
22, 1880, aged nearly seventy-eight. 



AMY R. ADAMS. 

Amy Rosalia Bedell, daughter of Benjamin 
L. Bedell and Sally Burr, was born in 
Manchester, Vermont, January 31, 1804. 
When Amy was quite small her mother 
married for her second husband Smith Bull, 
and about the year 1810 the family removed 
from Vermont to the vicinity of Plattsburgh, 
New York. There 



they lived until the fall of 1815, when they 
removed to Worthington, Ohio. Mrs. Bull 
had by her first husband two children, a son 
and daughter, Burr and Amy. Burr Bedell 
was born September 1, 1802, and at the time 
of his death, a few years since, was residing 
at Clayton, Michigan. By her second 
marriage she was the mother of, twelve 
children, viz: Huldah, Mason, Rosetta, 
Thomas, Smith, Sally, Squire, Alfred, Orrin, 
Henry, Anna, and Alonzo. Mrs. Bull died in 
Urbana, Illinois, in October, 1852, surviving 
her husband some twelve years. She was 
born in Adams, Massachusetts, August 2, 
1782. 

The strongest influence in the shaping of 
the character of our subject was that of her 
mother, who was a woman of much strength 
and excellence of character, capacity, and 
directness of purpose. Her early years were 
spent in a country home, where her time was 
divided between a brief attendance at the 
rude district school and the exacting duties 
of home life on a farm. After the removal of 
the family to Ohio, through the perseverance 
of her mother she was sent out where she 
could work for her board and go to school. 
Possessing a naturally bright mind and an 
insatiable desire for knowledge, the 
opportunity thus afforded for its gratification 
was improved to the utmost, and although 
her education at this time was very limited, 
she made rapid progress in her studies, and 
at the age of sixteen she began to teach 
school. Looking back to this time she says 
those were halcyon days and remembers 
them only with tender and grateful emotions. 
Mrs. Adams taught altogether, though not 
continuously, for a period of seven years, 
continuing to teach for a time after her 
marriage. For a time after she began to teach 
she continued at intervals to attend school 
and had recitations to different instructors; 
so that finally she attained a considerable 
proficiency 



700 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



in the branches of study in use at that day. 
From the time she began to teach she 
supported herself entirely by her own 
exertions. She had a laudable ambition to 
better her condition in the world, physical 
and intellectual, and she possessed an equal 
measure the necessary determination and 
perseverance to accomplish it. An incident in 
the beginning of her career as teacher will 
illustrate this. She went to Columbus for the 
purpose of securing a school. A friend 
endeavored for some time to find one for 
her, but failing to do so suggested as an 
alternative that she accept a vacant position 
as chambermaid in a hotel. This suggestion 
she emphatically refused to entertain, and 
said she knew she was capable of something 
better. Considerably discouraged, but no less 
determined in the attainment of her object, 
she was about to return to Worthington when 
another friend interested himself in her 
behalf and soon brought her the welcome 
announcement that he had secured for her a 
room in which to teach and two scholars, 
and that she could begin the next day. The 
room was in a small building not far from 
where the Neil House now stands, and the 
scholars were his own children. Beginning in 
this small way the number of her pupils 
speedily increased and before her first term 
closed she had a school of sixty scholars, 
and required an assistant. 

At the age of nineteen she was married to 
Horatio R. Adams, and in the hopefulness of 
youth they entered upon that journey of 
mutual cares and joys, which at its 
termination by the death of her husband, 
spanned by nearly seven years more than 
half a century. 

In all the vicissitudes of the early years of 
their married life, when struggling against 
poverty and adversity, Mrs. Adams was the 
true helpmeet of her husband, sharing the 
hardships and privations as 



well as the simple pleasures of frontier life. 
Mr. Adams in later years often referred to 
the heroic conduct of his young wife during 
that trying period, whose Christian fortitude 
had smoothed the rugged path by which a 
virtuous independence had eventually been 
gained. 

Mrs. Adams is endowed with more than 
ordinary intellectual gifts. She is a woman of 
ideas and originality of thought and 
possesses a happy faculty of expression, 
both by speech and pen. She has written 
much in both prose and verse, and her 
productions evince a high degree of literary 
talent. The religious element in her character 
is predominant. For more than sixty years 
the Divine Word, the entrance of which 
irradiated her soul when a girl of fourteen, 
and dispelled the darkness of doubt and 
sinfulness, has been a lamp to her feet and a 
light to her pathway. From her loyalty to her 
Master she has never swerved. She early 
connected herself with the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and has always remained 
a firm adherent of its faith and practices, and 
been a useful member. A good and useful 
woman, with remarkable endowments of 
mind and character, improved by high 
Christian culture, producing those graces 
which adorn society, the church, and the 
world, such is the subject of this sketch to 
those who know her best. We who thus know 
her feel the power of her single, earnest 
faith, the beauty and reward of a life "hid 
with Christ in God." Since the death of her 
husband Mrs. Adams has had the oversight 
of the farm, and although seventy-eight 
years of age, carries it on with admirable 
success. 



Mr. and Mrs. Adams were the parents of 
nine children, two of whom died in infancy. 
The others are as follows: Lucia, born in 
Rochester, New York, April 22, 1828, is 
now the wife of Dr. William Mc- 




Gurdon Woodwerd 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



701 



Cormick, and resides in Grass Valley, 
California; they have two children living, 
Horatio and Jessie, and one (Willie) 
deceased. William, born in Lyme, Huron 
county, Ohio, in 1831, married Martha T. 
Pennell, and resides near Grand Rapids, 
Michigan; they have two children — Charles 
and Julia. Delia, born August 31, 1833, now 
widow of Upton F. Yore, and resides in 
Chicago; she has four children — Delia, 
Horatio, Upton, and Milton. Sophia, born in 
May, 1837, now widow of John S. Berger, 
and resides in Bellevue, Ohio; she has one 
child, Binnie, at present attending school at 
Oberlin, Ohio. Julia, born July 11, 1841, 
now the wife of H. H. Queen, and resides in 
Toledo, Ohio; they have two children — 
Florence and Waldemar. Frank, born June 
27, 1846, died September 8, 1866. Florence, 
born November 29, 1848, now the wife of H. 
Z. Williams, to whom she was married 
September 1, 1870. They have two children, 
Julia and Amy, born respectively May 16, 
1872, and November 14, 1874. All the 
children except the two oldest were born at 
the old homestead in York township. 



GURDON WOODWARD 

was of English ancestry and New England 
birth. His parents were Abishai and Mary 
Spicer Woodward. The Woodwards settled 
in New London, Connecticut, at an early day 
in the history of that State, and Abishai 
Woodward, the father of Gordon, was a 
leading citizen of the town of New London 
during and following the revolutionary 
period. Though not of the number whose 
losses from fire by British soldiery were 
compensated by a donation of western lands 
made by the State, yet he became the owner, 
by purchase, of a large amount of these 
claims, and, upon 



the partition of the Firelands, he acquired 
proprietorship of more than four thousand 
acres, all lying in sections one and four of 
what now is Lyme township. The father of 
eleven children, he gave to each an equal, 
undivided interest in these lands. To the 
ownership, by his father, of western 
territory, is due the fact of Gurdon's coming 
to this locality. Mr. Woodward, Sr., came 
into the possession of his lands November 9, 
1808, the date when partition was effected, 
and died the following year. 

Gurdon Woodward was born February 21, 
1795, in New London, Connecticut, and at 
the age of fourteen, immediately after the 
death of his parents, went to reside at 
Whitestown, New York. There he learned 
the trade of millwright. His educational 
advantages were not the best, yet he made 
wise improvement of such as were afforded, 
and acquired a thorough knowledge of the 
practical branches then taught, and, for his 
day, was more than an average scholar. 

Upon the outbreak of the last war with 
England he volunteered his services in 
behalf of his country; served her with 
fidelity, and, at the close of the war, 
received an honorable discharge at Sackett's 
Harbor, New York. This was in 1815. He 
had at this time reached the age of twenty 
years. His mind now turned with eager 
thoughts toward the distant West. At 
Whitestown, New York, lived at this time a 
young lady to whom he had become 
attached, Miss Mary Shepard Savage, 
youngest daughter of John and Rachel 
Shepard Savage. She became his betrothed. 
Amos, the oldest brother of Gurdon, who 
was the youngest son, had married Rachel, 
the oldest sister of Mary, who was the 
youngest daughter. 

In 1816 Gurdon Woodward started for the 
lands of his inheritance, and after a 
temporary stay in Huron, where his sister 



702 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Betsey and her husband, Mr. George 
Sheffield, located in the same year, he came 
on to Lyme in the spring of 1817, and made 
a selection of his lands. His first night in 
Lyme township; then Wheats-borough, was 
spent by the remains of an Indian camp 
fire — his dog and gun his only 
companions — upon the very ground which 
was afterwards to be his home during many 
years of his life. His dreams that first night 
must have been filled with thoughts of far 
away Whitestown, and of the loved one who 
awaited there his return. 

Two years of heroic toil were now spent in 
fitting his chosen heritage for the advent of 
her who, at the expiration of that time, was 
to be his bride. A log house was erected and 
portions of the land cleared and fenced. The 
day finally came when he retraced his steps 
to his former home, Oneida county, New 
York, and there, at the village of 
Whitestown, on the 14th day of April, 1819, 
he united his fortunes in holy matrimony 
with those of Miss Mary Shepard Savage. 
Westward the star of love, as of empire, took 
its way. Waiting only to receive the 
congratulations of their friends, the happy 
pair started for their Western Ohio home, the 
husband, however, coming some weeks in 
advance of his wife, who came accompanied 
by Amos Woodward, Gurdon's oldest 
brother. Their journey hither, thus taken 
separately, was their only wedding tour, and 
the first days of their wedded life in their 
wilderness home their honeymoon. Those 
first summer days which the young bride, 
then only eighteen, passed in the rude but 
comfortable home which her lover had, with 
dauntless perseverance, prepared for her, 
must have been in striking contrast to the 
life she had spent in her father's home in 
Whitestown. Yet who can doubt that they 
were happy days? 

With energy and determination, endur- 



ing many severe privations, and denied 
innumerable comforts to which both had 
been accustomed, they strove together to 
better their worldly fortunes, to improve the 
condition of their farm and its surroundings, 
to beautify their home, and to make life 
attractive. Heaven smiled benignantly upon 
their constant love and patient labor. Seven 
children blessed the former, and as a result 
of the latter, the rude log cabin, in which 
their wedded life began, gave place, in time, 
to a large, substantial and comfortable 
dwelling at the time of its erection, perhaps, 
the best in the township. Their beautiful 
home they christened "Woodlawn." Here 
they dwelt together for forty years, and here 
were born to them all their children: Lucy, 
Abishai, Amos, William, Mary, Rachel, and 
Julia M. 

In 1859 Mr. and Mrs. Woodward removed 
to Bellevue, and, purchasing the Dr. Lathrop 
property, on West Main street, spent there 
the remainder of their days, receiving kind 
attentions from relatives and friends. Each 
lived to a ripe old age, the former dying 
December 8, 1874, in the eightieth year of 
his life, and the latter February 25, 1879, 
nearly seventy-eight years of age. 

On the fiftieth anniversary day of their 
marriage, April 14, 1869, their relatives and 
numerous friends assembled at their pleasant 
home to celebrate their golden wedding. It 
was a time of joyous greetings and hearty 
congratulations. The aged pair could look 
back upon a happy, well-spent life, and 
regard with pleasure their, present condition, 
blessed with every comfort that heart could 
wish. Death had robbed them of three of 
their children, Lucy, William, and Julia, and 
hence their happiness was tempered with sad 
recollections, but their surviving sons and 
daughters were all happily situated in life — a 
fact that must have been of great gratifi- 




Mdry S. Woodwdfd 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



cation to them. In their declining years, their 
four children and their grandchildren 
ministered to them with devoted attentions; 
and rarely in this life is seen so marked an 
exhibition of filial affection as was shown 
Mrs. Woodward by her sons and daughters 
during the four years of her widowhood. 

Of the children, Lucy became the wife of 
George Sheffield; Abishai married Mary 
Amsden, the second daughter of Mr. Thomas 
G. Amsden, and is vice president of the 
Bellevue bank, and universally esteemed by 
his fellow-townsmen; Amos married 
Arabella, eldest daughter of Mr. Frederick 
A. Chapman; is vice president of the First 
National bank, and a man of wealth and 
influence; William died at about the age of 
fifteen; Mary became the wife of Rev. Mr. 
Hamilton; Rachel married Mr. Boardman, 
who died some years ago; a man of culture 
and intelligence, and a resident of Lincoln, 
Illinois, at the time of his death; Julia M. 
died in early womanhood. 

Gurdon Woodward was a man of marked 
and clearly defined characteristics. Of 
commanding person, he was possessed of 
sound judgment, a strong will and an 
inflexible purpose. In politics, he was a 
staunch adherent to the Democratic faith, 
and never swerved from fidelity to party and 
Jacksonian principles. In religion, though 
not a communicant, he was active in church 
affairs, and liberal in sustaining its service. 
He was ever a kind and devoted husband and 
an affectionate father. Of Mrs. Woodward's 
religious and domestic life the biographer 
can say nothing more to the purpose than to 
quote the following just words taken from an 
obituary notice published in the Standard of 
the Cross, at the time of her decease, and 
written by one who knew her intimately: 
"Amidst the trials and deprivations of 
pioneer life, she ever retained the grace 



and culture of her early life. She loved the 
church, and as soon as opportunity offered, 
received the apostolic rite of confirmation by 
Bishop Mcllvaine. There was nothing 
ostentatious in her piety, yet she did not hide 
it under a bushel, but let her light shine 
before others. She took a deep interest in all 
that related to the prosperity of the church. 
She loved with a pure and earnest affection. 
In every relation of life she was admired and 
loved, but it was as a Christian woman that 
they who loved her best, love now to think 
of her. In her decease the community in 
which she lived has lost a generous 
benefactor, the church a devout and 
exemplary member, and her domestic and 
social circle a most kind and warm-hearted 
relative and friend. Blessed are the dead 
which die in the Lard from hence-forth, yea, 
saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their 
labors." 



BOURDETT WOOD, 

the eldest son of Jasper and Elizabeth 
(Boylston) Wood, was born at Manlius 
Square, New York, on the 19th day of 
February, 1803. The Woods are of English 
origin. Four brothers came to this country 
about two centuries ago, three of them 
settling in Massachusetts, and one in 
Virginia. Aaron, the grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch, with three brothers, 
had emigrated to the State of New York a 
short time preceding the Revolutionary 
struggle, and had settled on the German flats 
just above Schenectady. All four of the 
brothers were soldiers in the Revolutionary 
war, and took part in the memorable battle of 
Monmouth. Aaron Wood was the father of 
seven children, as follows: Thaddeus, 
Benjamin, Jasper, Rebecca, Dorothea, 
Aaron, and Homer. Thaddeus was a lawyer 
of distinction and ability. He was, in his 
time, not only the 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



recognized leader of the bar in Onondaga 
county, where he resided, but was esteemed 
as one of the best lawyers of the State. He 
was an active participant in the war of 1812, 
and, by reason of meritorious service, was 
elevated to the rank of brigadier general in 
1818, and to the rank of major general in 
1820. Jasper Wood, the father of Bourdett, 
was born in the year in which the war for 
Independence was declared, 1776, at Lenox, 
Massachusetts, where he lived until fourteen 
years of age, when he went to New York 
State in the service of a Mr. White, the 
founder of Whitestown, near Utica, that 
State. Here he continued to reside for eight 
or ten years, and then removed to Manlius 
Square, where he remained until 1815, the 
date of his removal to the Far West. After a 
temporary stay at Erie, Pennsylvania, of one 
year's duration, he came on with his family 
to Huron county, and settled at Blooming- 
ville. Here he purchased a large tract of land, 
consisting of about one thousand eight 
hundred acres, for which he paid about two 
thousand dollars. Soon after this, the 
Government lands in the adjoining county of 
Sandusky came into market, and were sold to 
purchasers at one dollar and twenty-five 
cents per acre. This reduced the value of Mr. 
Wood's lands so as to render them 
comparatively worthless. He died in 1821. 
He was a man of rather superior education 
and abilities; was a good surveyor, and could 
speak the Iroquois language with 
considerable fluency. His wife's name was 
Elizabeth Boylston, whom he married May 
3, 1802. The Boylstons were also English 
people, and were among the first settlers of 
Boston. They gave their name to many 
places connected with the early history of 
that metropolis, such as Boylston Common, 
Boylston Square, etc., Boylston Bank, 
Boylston street — places that are still thus 
designated. The Boylstons were a very 



intelligent and well-to-do class of people, 
and many representatives of the family are 
now living in Massachusetts, all occupying 
honorable stations in life. 

Mr. and Mrs. Jasper Wood were the 
parents of six children: Bourdett, Adaline, 
Julianne, Juliette, Worthington, and 
Aramenta. Mrs. Wood died in 1834. 

Bourdett received his given name from the 
Bourdett family, of Fort Lee, New Jersey. 

At the age of sixteen he was bound for a 
term of four years to Judge Timothy Baker, 
of Norwalk, Ohio. After an expiration of two 
years, his father having died, through the 
kindly efforts in his behalf, made by Mrs. 
Baker, he was released from this service. 
The maintenance of his father's family 
chiefly devolved upon him, and he was 
brought in close contact with the utmost 
severity of labor. 

Mr. Wood has been a successful man. To 
trace his career and bring to light the 
discovery of how he accomplished so much 
in the direction of getting on in the world, is 
an interesting undertaking. His father died 
when Bourdett was a young man of eighteen 
years of age, and not only left him no 
inheritance, but placed him in a position 
where he must, by the labor of his own 
hands or the employment of his own wits, 
provide, not for himself alone, but for others 
dependent upon him for the necessaries of 
life. Could the young man, the day after his 
father's death, have had his future career in 
life disclosed to him; could he have seen 
himself standing on the verge of that career, 
penniless and seemingly powerless, and then 
have followed his course through a term of 
fifty or nearly sixty years, to behold himself 
the possessor of hundreds of thousands of 
dollars of this world's goods, he would 
undoubtedly have disbelieved the revelation. 
Yet this is what he has accomplished. The 
acquisition of great wealth furnishes 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



in itself no marvel, for many men become 
possessors of it. Some inherit it; some have 
it thrust upon them by kind fortune or good 
luck; and some obtain it by a systematic 
course of robbery, in which knavery, 
extortion, and theft, in its various forms, 
have their part to play. 

After leaving the service of Mr. Baker, Mr. 
Wood's first employment was in working for 
Charles F. Drake, of Bloomingville, for two 
months, for a barrel of salt and a side of sole 
leather, each of which was equivalent to 
about three dollars and fifty cents, and 
would buy a good two year old steer. The 
following summer he raised five or six acres 
of corn. This he was persuaded to apply in 
the payment of a colt, which Mr. Caldwell 
had obtained at a cost of eleven dollars, and 
for which Mr. Wood was influenced to give 
twenty-five dollars. About one-half this 
money he got together by putting up four 
tons of hay for Mr. Caldwell, at one dollar 
and fifty cents per ton, and by chopping 
twenty-five cords of wood at twenty-five 
cents per cord. In piling this wood he 
showed himself to be a novice, for he made 
but about fifteen cords of it, the wood being 
put up very closely. Eben Dennis, who was 
present when it was measured, and who took 
a friendly interest in the boy, said to Bour- 
dett, slyly: "You are a little fool to pile wood 
in that way; now you go ahead and chop 
more, and by and by, when the old man 
Caldwell is not around, I'll come and show 
you how to cord wood." He did so, readily 
extending the pile so as to include the 
requisite twenty-five cords. In process of 
time he got his colt paid for, and was by and 
by enabled to buy an old horse, and then 
exchanged his colt and horse for a yoke of 
oxen, thus providing himself with a team. In 
1823, at the age of twenty, he raised a fair 
crop of corn, and then went sailing. He 
sailed to Sault St. Marie, and acted in the 
capacity of 



cook. The mate had laid in a barrel of 
whisky to supply the soldiers in garrison at 
St. Mary's, and Bourdett was promised half 
they could make if he would draw the 
whisky for those who purchased it. 

He had the good fortune to obtain quite a 
nice little sum of money in his sailing 
operations. This money he invested in 
calves. In 1825 he worked in the 
Bloomingville brickyard for Dr. Strong. In 
1826 he returned to Manlius, New York, and 
was employed in making water lines for the 
Oswego Canal, the building of which had at 
that time just been commenced. In 1827 he 
bought fifty- seven acres of land for two 
hundred and fifty dollars, a part of the old 
Wood homestead in Oxford, now owned by 
his son Thomas. On this purchase he was 
enabled to pay sixty dollars. In 1829 he 
carried the mail from Sandusky to Bucyrus, 
receiving four dollars and fifty cents per trip. 

On the 1st day of January, 1829, he was 
married to Miss Rhoda, daughter of Mr. Seth 
Harrington. Industrious and frugal, Mrs. 
Wood furnished valuable assistance to her 
husband in his efforts to get a start in life. 
He soon found himself the possessor of 
surplus funds, which he generously loaned to 
his neighbors upon application. Finally, old 
man Coggswell said to him: "Charge for the 
use of your money. It is no use to keep a 
cow unless you milk her." Adopting this 
sage advice, he began to loan money in 
small sums, and the accruing interest soon 
began to tell in his favor. About the year 
1840 he began to buy and sell stock. He and 
Uncle Nat Chapman associated themselves 
together in the business of buying horses and 
sheep, for cash, in Holmes and Tuscarawas 
counties, bringing them to Huron and Erie 
counties, and selling them on credit to 
responsible farmers. And in 1844 he and Mr. 
Chapman began the purchase of Western 
lands. About this time 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



they secured fifteen hundred acres of the 
Wyandot reservation, and in 1853 they 
bought twenty-three hundred acres in Iowa, 
mostly in Tama county. He began the 
purchase of lands also in Erie county, buying 
and selling, and always reaping a gain. 

In 1846 he removed to Bellevue with his 
family, and from this time forward made 
money-lending the leading specialty of his 
business. In 1871 he associated himself with 
Abishai Woodward and E. J. Sheffield in the 
banking business, under the firm name of 
Wood, Woodward & Co., and when the bank 
was reorganized as a stock company, Mr. 
Wood was made president of the 
institution — a position he still retains. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wood are the parents of the 
following children: 1. Jasper, born 
November 15, 1829. He is a resident of 
Bureau county, Illinois, and a very suc- 
cessful farmer and stock raiser. 2. Emeline 
Adelia, born May 6, 1831. She is the wife of 
Peter G. Sharp, and resides near Stockton, 
California. 3. Richard Boylston, born 
December 2, 1832, was killed at the battle of 
Tunnel Hill, Georgia, February 25, 1864. He 
was captain of a company of cavalry 
soldiers, and a gallant soldier, a brave and 
efficient officer. 4. Henry Bourdett, born 
July 25, 1834, died April, 1873. 5. Elizabeth 
Malvina, born March 19, 1836. She is the 
wife of Adam Burgett, a wholesale boot and 
shoe merchant of Toledo, Ohio. 6. Benjamin 
Lester, born June 21,1838. 7. Florella 
Sophia, born September 7, 1840, died May 
14, 1866, of consumption. She was a young 
lady of much attractiveness and superior 
mental qualities. 8. Thomas Corwin, born 
April 27, 1842. He resides in Bellevue. 9. 
Susan C, born August 7, 1844. She became 
the wife of W. W. Williams April 9, 1868, 
and died of consumption November 5, 1872. 
In the Western home 



in which she lived during her wedded life, 
she won many friends, by whom her memory 
is cherished with pleasing recollections. 10. 
Julia Louisa, born February 28, 1847. She is 
the wife of James B. Wood, of Bellevue, 
Ohio, whose home she renders blessed. 

On the 1st day of January, 1879, the rel- 
atives and friends of Mr. and Mrs. Wood 
assembled at their residence in Bellevue, and 
celebrated with them their golden wedding. 
The occasion was one of the pleasantest, to 
all participants, that ever took place within 
that quiet village. 

Mr. Wood is now in his seventy-ninth 
year, but possesses as much vitality as the 
average man of fifty. He has hardly ever 
known a sick day, and the prospect that a 
dozen years or more may yet be added to his 
days is not discouraging. Physically so 
sound and well-preserved, he is no less so 
mentally. He attends to all the details of his 
extensive business, and, though his memory 
is becoming treacherous, his judgment is as 
unerring, his discernment as acute, his 
reasoning faculties as sound, as they ever 
have been. 

Mr. Wood is a man of clearly-defined 
traits of character and mental characteristics. 
In manner often abrupt and blunt, he 
nevertheless possesses a kindliness of heart 
that is rarely found beneath so rough an 
exterior. No man in need, whom he believes 
to be deserving, has ever appealed to him in 
vain. Schooled in the methods of money- 
lending, and having become naturally 
cautious and careful as to his securities, he 
has loaned money to hundreds of people who 
had no security to offer him, and toward 
whom he has stood wholly in the light of 
their benefactor. 

He is not a member of any church, but 
Mrs. Wood has been for many years a 
faithful and consistent member of the 
Protestant Episcopal church, and is active in 
her zeal for its prosperity. 



TOWNSEND 



SANDUSKY Bay and Erie county on 
the north, Erie county on the east, York 
township on the south, and Riley township 
on the west, form the boundaries of 
Townsend. It was ordered by the county 
commissioners at their April session, 1820: 

That a township be detached from the town of 
Croghanville, to be known by the name of "Townsend," 
bounded as follows: Beginning on the east bank of 
Green Creek, at the division line between Sandusky and 
Seneca counties, thence east with said line to the east 
line of Seneca reservation, thence north along said line 
until it shall intersect the road leading from 
Croghanville to Strong's settlement, thence along said 
road until it shall reach the Huron county line, thence 
north along said line to Sandusky Bay, thence along the 
shore of the bay until it shall reach Green Creek, thence 
along the bank of the creek to the place of beginning. 

An old document says there were within 
this territory at that time more than twenty 
voters, but their names are not given, and 
early election records are lost. The estab- 
lishment of Green Creek in 1822, and Riley 
in 1823, reduced Townsend to its present 
size. The first election was held at the house 
of M. Wilson. The town government of that 
year was as simple as possible. It was, 
indeed, little more than a law and order 
society. The land had not yet come into 
market, and consequently the principal 
business of our present official system — the 
collection and expenditure of taxes — was a 
thing of the future. Indeed, as we shall see 
further along in this sketch, officers for the 
protection of personal property were 
unnecessary, for the citizens took into their 
own hands the business of inflicting punish- 
ments. 



Prior to the settlement the southern part of 
the township was all heavily timbered. 
Extensive prairies broke the forest in the 
northern part. These prairies were covered 
with a heavy marsh grass, interspersed with 
an occasional branch of a more nutritious 
variety, which attracted the cows of the early 
settlers. 

The surface slope of the township is 
uniformly toward the northwest, and a 
number of small streams flow rapidly in that 
direction. There is but one mill-site in the 
township, that being in the eastern part, just 
below "Rockwell Spring." This spring is the 
source of the most beautiful stream in the 
township — a rapid current of clear mineral 
water. 

The most valuable feature of the water 
supply of Townsend is the under surface 
currents which are the source of artesian 
wells. These fountains of cold water, 
pleasantly tinctured with mineral matter, are 
found in all parts of the township. The first 
well was sunk by C. G. Sanford about 1850. 
Some difficulty was experienced in this 
operation. After penetrating the surface soil 
and a stratum of blue clay, quicksand, 
saturated with water, baffled further 
progress. Mr. Sanford overcame the 
difficulty by constructing a casing of 
stovepipe through the sand to the top of a 
stratum of hard conglomerate rock. A hole 
was drilled through this rock, which at that 
place was about fifteen inches in thickness. 
The drill being removed the well soon filled 
with pure water and became the source of a 
living stream. By means of casing the water 



703 



704 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



was raised high enough to fill a trough. 

The geological conformation is much the 
same in all parts of the township, but a 
number of attempts to obtain wells have 
failed. The water filling a network of 
fissures seems to be bound down by the 
stratum of conglomerate above spoken of. 
When one of these fissures is struck the 
experiment of obtaining a well never fails. It 
is possible, however, that after a time a 
fissure may become clogged, and a well once 
strong cease to flow. One of the best wells in 
the township — one on the Beebe farm — 
became dry after a number of years. A new 
shaft in the immediate vicinity brought to 
the surface a strong current. 

It is probable that Rockwell Spring and 
Cold Spring, in Erie county, draw their water 
from the same source through natural 
fissures or breaks in this layer of 
conglomerate or covering of an under- 
ground system of currents, whose source is 
higher than the surface of the soil. The depth 
of these wells varies from twenty to fifty 
feet. Some places water can be raised six 
feet above the surface. 

The utility of such a system of water- 
works is inestimable. With proper drain-age, 
two or three wells can be made to supply all 
parts of the farm with fresh, pure water, 
making stock-raising at once more profitable 
and easy. It is by no means Utopian to say, 
that as population grows, and, as a 
consequence, the profits of agriculture 
increase, such a system of drainage and 
water supply will be effected as will render 
the injury of crops by draught an 
impossibility. 

Only a faint idea can be formed by our 
own generation of the "appearance of things" 
before the white man's axe changed the 
condition of nature. Except in the marshy 
northern sections, heavy trees united their 
tops and completely excluded the sun. 
Smaller trees filled the intervening 



spaces below, while at many places shrubs 
and bushes made the forest absolutely im- 
penetrable. Through the central part of the 
township walnut was the predominating 
heavy timber; on the ridge further south oak 
prevailed. Thick grape-vines, with long 
tendrils, bound the trees together and made it 
necessary in some instances to cut half a 
dozen trees before one could be brought to 
the ground. They finally came down with a 
crash, crossing each other in every direction. 
Complete clearings generally were made 
only where it was designed to erect, the 
cabin. Land was first prepared for crops by 
cutting the smaller trees, grubbing out the 
underbrush, and girdling the large trees. This 
method of clearing saved a great deal of 
labor. The girdled trees soon became dry and 
were easily burned down during the warm 
months of the fall. But, although the large 
trees were not cut down, heavy logs had to 
be piled together and burned before the plow 
or cultivator could be used. For ages trees 
had been growing, dying, then falling and 
giving place to others. These dead and 
decaying trunks were lying almost concealed 
by underbrush. 



THE SETTLEMENT. 

The first settler in the township was Moses 
Wilson. He built his cabin on the North ridge 
in the spring of 1818. When the land came 
into market, he made a purchase and 
removed to the west part of the county. 

The Townsend family, whose name the 
township bears, made the second improve- 
ment on the present Brush farm, in the 
spring of 1818. Abraham Townsend em- 
igrated from New York to Canada before the 
War of 1812. His son, Ephraim K., joined 
the United States army, which circumstance, 
together with his known sympathy with his 
native country, made it not only judicious, 
but necessary, at the opening 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



705 



of that unfortunate struggle, for the family to 
return to the States. The war over Mr. 
Townsend was one among the earliest of the 
pioneers of Northern Ohio, and in 1818 
pushed into the thick and heavy forest of this 
county. The place of settlement had possibly 
been selected, during the war, by Ephraim K. 
The family, at the time of coming to this 
county, numbered two sons and five 
daughters, viz: Ephraim K. and Gamalial, 
Margaret (Chit-tendon), Betsey, wife of 
Addy Van Ness, Mary (Loux), Amy, and 
Eliza. Mr. Town-send removed to Huron 
county about 1824, and a few years later to 
Michigan. Ephraim K. remained in 
Townsend, where he owned eighty acres of 
land, until 1826, when he removed to 
Sandusky City, where he died the following 
year. Mr. Townsend was the first clerk of the 
township. He married Rebecca Tew in 1820. 
The farm was purchased in 1826 by Mr. 
Tibbals, who died the following year. 

The third cabin in the township was built 
by Mr. Corbit, who never entered land, but 
left the county when the tract on which he 
had squatted was sold. 

William Tew, sr., built the fourth cabin In 
November, 1818, and was the only one of 
these first families who remained to see the 
country developed and improved. Mr. Tew 
was born in Massachusetts, but early in life 
removed to New York, in which State he was 
married, in 1800, to Susannah Barton. In the 
spring of 1818 he came west to Erie county; 
and in the fall of that year erected a cabin, 
and removed to the woods of Townsend. He 
had a family of eight children — Rebecca, 
wife of E. K. Townsend, was the first 
resident of the township to marry, she died 
in Indiana in 1876; William settled in 
Townsend and lived here till 1865, when he 
removed to Clyde, where he died in 1876; 
Seth finally settled in Illinois, where he died 



1831; Paul has been a resident of the 
township since the settlement of the family, 
except five years, from 1825 till 1830; 
Robert resides in Sandusky, he lost his 
eyesight and became lame in boyhood; 
Hiram died in 1819, and is the first person 
buried in the Tew cemetery on the North 
ridge; Permelia married Alonzo Anson, and 
died in Erie county in 1842; Mary, widow of 
Samuel Ainsley, lives in Erie county. 
William Tew, sr., was the first postmaster in 
the township, and in every way a worthy 
man; he died in 1842. 

Benjamin Barney came to the township 
about 1822. His brother Wesley had 
preceded him a short time. Benjamin sold his 
place to Daniel Rice in 1824. 

A. C. Jackson settled in this township on 
the ridge in 1822. He married Amanda Olds 
in Huron county in 1818, and at the time of 
settlement in this township the family 
consisted of two children. Ten children were 
born in this county. Eight came to maturity, 
and seven are still living. Mr. Jackson died 
October 24, 1865, aged exactly seventy-one. 
Their cabin was the first house of 
entertainment in the township. Mrs. Jackson 
was one of the most useful women in the 
pioneer settlement. Her kindness and skill in 
the treatment of disease is gratefully remem- 
bered by those of the pioneers of that 
community yet surviving. She lives in Clyde. 

The prairie in the north part of the 
township had squatter settlements at an early 
day. Charles Baker and Levi Chapman lived 
at the mouth of Little Pickerel Creek, Fred 
Chapman and his brother on Rush prairie, 
and William Poorman a little farther to the 
south, before 1822. 

The Winters family made an early set- 
tlement in this part of the county. Christian 
Winters was a native of Maryland, which 
State he left on account of anti-slavery ideas, 
and removed to Canada. 



706 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



At the opening of the War of 1812 he vol- 
unteered in the Federal army, and in 1817 
the family settled in Erie county (then 
Huron). A few years later the family, 
consisting of Daniel, Benjamin, and John, 
came to this township and engaged in stock 
raising. 

Ann Winters was born in Canada in 1801. 
She came to Erie county, thence to 
Townsend with the family, and, in 1829, 
married Samuel Kidwell, by whom she had 
two children, both of whom are dead. Mr. 
Kidwell died in 1832. She afterwards 
married Lyttle White, by whom she has had 
one child, Benjamin. 

Silas Freese was born in Ogdensburg, 
Canada, in 1805, and came to Sandusky 
county with his father, John Freese, in 1821. 
The family consisted of four children, one of 
whom is living Hannah (Barney), in Illinois. 
John Freese was a native of New York, 
whence he emigrated to Canada. Silas 
Freese, in 1836, married Eliza Reed, by 
whom he has eight children living, viz: 
James L., Townsend; H. J., Downing, 
Michigan; Ira, Erie county; Isaiah, Ottawa 
county; Lydia (Rodgers), Ottawa county; 
William D., Alice (Cowell), and Elrnina, 
Townsend. Two of the sons were killed in 
the army — George, wounded at 

Chickamauga, and died in prison at Atlanta; 
John, killed in the battle of Altoona. Silas 
Freese died in the spring of 1881. 

Azariah Beebe removed with his family 
from New York to Huron county in 1816, 
and about 1824 came to this township. They 
had eight children, the youngest of whom, 
Ethan, was born in this county. Those born 
before coming to this county were: Diadama 
(Snow), Almira (McCord), William, James, 
Harriet R., Aaron, and Enoch. Azariah Beebe 
died December 12, 1834; his wife, Mary 
(Ryan) Beebe, died December 11, 1864. 
Aaron died in 1840, Almira in 1841, and 
William 



in 1857. The remaining members of the 
family all reside in this township. The 
Beebes were the first settlers in the 
neighborhood of Rockwell Spring. Harriet R. 
lives on the old homestead. 

James Beebe was born near the mouth of 
Huron River, in 1816. He married Mary Jane 
Green in 1839, and by her had one child, 
George A., now living in California. In 1841 
he married Susannah Crandall. The fruit of 
this marriage is seven children living — Mary 
J., Nathan M., Rebecca (Black), Ethan A., 
Frank, Fred, and Harriet A. Mr. Beebe has 
held various township offices. 

Orlin Selvey, who died February 5, 1881, 
was born in Tompkins county, New York, 
December 24, 1811. He moved with his 
father's family to Huron county, and resided 
there eleven years. There the father died. 
The widow, with three sons and one 
daughter, came to Townsend township about 
1824, and here Orlin Selvey lived the 
remainder of his life. In 1840 he married 
Harriet Greenman, of Townsend. They had 
one child, Sanford, who now lives in the 
township, a solace to his widowed mother. 
Oflin Selvey was the only survivor of his 
father's family. He served three terms and a 
part of the fourth as justice of the peace. He 
was a man of excellent character. Sanford 
Selvey was born August 5, 1841. He married 
Anna R. McNitt, of Townsend. They have 
four children-Manly Clay, Guy McNitt, 
Hattie Deborah, and Edith Alvina. 

Robert Wallace and Mary, his wife, came 
to Ohio in 1826, from Pennsylvania. Their 
children were: John Wallace, now residing in 
Yazoo City, Mississippi; Sarah (McCord), 
who died in Townsend; and Mrs. Eliza 
Murtz, still living. After the death of Mr. 
Wallace his widow married Thomas 
Fleming, and had four children — Thomas, 
William, Robert, and George, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



707 



All lived and died in Townsend except 
William, who died in Mississippi. Eliza 
Wallace, the only representative of this 
family now living in this county, was 
married, in 1831, to David White, who was 
born in Pennsylvania in 1812, and moved to 
Townsend township in 1826. Mr. White died 
in 1844. His home was the Smith farm, in 
the southeast corner of the township. There 
were seven children — David A., John W., 
Mary, Sarah Ann, Esther E., Charles W., and 
Harriet S. Of these three are living — Sarah 
Ann (Ream) and Esther E. (McCarty), 
Townsend, and Harriet (Close), Erie county. 
Mrs. White married again, in 1848, 
Christopher Murty, a native of Ireland. He 
died in 1874, at the age of sixty-seven. Mr. 
Murty was an active business man and a 
most worthy citizen: 

Ebenezer Ransom was an early settler in 
the north part of the township, and was the 
first justice of the peace. 

Addy Van Nest was a local preacher and 
evangelist. He did not remain long in the 
township. He settled in the West. 

The old Lemmon farm was first improved 
by the Putnam family. Mrs. Putnam was a 
widow. Her son was a young man, and took 
charge of the clearing operations. 

Josiah Holbrook emigrated from New York 
to Huron in 1816, and six years later came to 
Townsend, where he engaged in the 
manufacture of potash, a common 
employment of the time, and one of the few 
industries productive of ready cash. 

Samuel Love came to Townsend in 1822. 
He was a peaceable and industrious 
Irishman, who was highly esteemed. He 
lived on the North ridge. 

Benjamin Widener was a Pennsylvanian 
who came to Huron county, and from there 
to Sandusky county in 1822. His brother, 
Cornelius, came about the same time. 
Cornelius adopted the Indian 



method of grinding corn in a stump. A stump 
of hard wood was selected, and by burning 
and chopping hollowed out, forming a 
mortar, in which the corn was placed. A 
section of the body of an ironwood tree was 
raised by means of a spring-pole, and 
allowed to drop with its end on the corn in 
the stump. In this way a strong man could 
crack enough corn in one day to last the 
family a week. Owing to the scarcity and 
incapacity of mills, it was a handy machine 
to have, for frequently the good woman of 
the house had her patience sorely tried 
hearing the children cry for bread while the 
man of the household was waiting for his 
turn at some distant mill. 

Joseph McCord and his brother stopped in 
Huron county, where they had a cabin, and 
kept bachelor's hall, until one day the lonely 
sleeping shed caught fire and burned. Joseph 
then came to Townsend, and, like a good 
settler, married a wife, improved a farm, and 
raised a family. 

Harry Snow married Diadama Beebe and 
settled in Townsend. His father was one of 
the best fiddlers in Erie county. Speaking of 
a fiddler calls to mind the enthusiastic dance 
of pioneer days, when, in the language of 
one of the girls of that period, "our dresses 
were shorter and our steps higher than 
nowadays." A dance was the usual happy 
conclusion of a log-rolling, raising, or 
quilting. Carpet-rag sewings were few, for 
few people had carpets or rags enough to 
make a carpet out of. 

If a man had logs to pile up preparatory to 
burning or a building to raise, his neighbors 
were given notice of the fact, and all for 
miles around (for the word neighbor in 
pioneer history has a wide meaning) came to 
his assistance, bringing with them their 
wives, daughters and sisters to do the 
cooking and put in the odd hours at sewing, 
weaving, or perchance cheering the success 
of favorite beaux in 



708 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the many trials of strength which were 
constantly going on in the clearing. The day 
usually closed with wrestling matches, 
lifting contests or other trials of strength and 
agility. The victories of strong and active 
men were rewarded by the loving smiles of 
honest women who were always ready to 
encourage with hand and heart, and were 
willing not only to lighten but to take upon 
themselves a fair share of the burdens of the 
times. On one of these gala days, which 
combined work with fun, as soon as darkness 
had driven day away, all the young people 
repaired to the place of dancing, to the cabin 
or a stand erected for the purpose, but in 
either case the floor was made of split 
puncheons. This sort of a floor had one 
recommendation, it was firm; but on account 
of roughness would be badly calculated for 
the graceful, gliding waltz of the present 
generation. Indeed, when we picture the 
conditions, we cease to wonder why the 
"women stepped higher" than now, when 
dancing is done on waxed floors. The round 
dance was a movement unthought of, but 
they performed all sorts of figures in the 
catalogue of square dancing. Those 
movements requiring most exertion were the 
most popular. The walk around quadrille of 
today is looked upon by the women and men 
of the old school as a silly performance, and 
perhaps it is. The "French Four," "Virginia 
Reel," and other similar exercises were 
participated in with an enthusiasm which 
would have been destructive to set-rings, 
bracelets, or lace sleeves, had the ladies 
worn them. But plain homespun, or in 
exceptional cases calico dresses, constituted 
the ladies' costumes. Wooden stays took the 
place of corsets, and the feet rested upon 
broad soles and heels. When the surrounding 
forest had echoed and re-echoed the in- 
spiring notes of the violin and the clatter 



of joyful feet, till long after wolves had 
ceased their midnight howls, the party, tired 
of pleasure broke up, and all quietly 
followed woodland paths to cabin homes. 

Daniel Rice, one of the earliest pioneers 
along the Sandusky River, and an early 
settler of Townsend, was born in Clarendon, 
Vermont, March 29, 1792. At the age of 
thirteen he went to New York, and served in 
the War of 1812, in Captain John Dix's 
company, New York militia. At the close of 
the war, in company with an older sister, he 
came to Ohio and located for a time in 
Franklin county, near Columbus. In 1819 he 
came to the Sandusky Valley, about eight 
miles below Fort Ball. He was a justice of 
the peace in 1820, and solemnized the first 
marriage recorded in Sandusky county, 
October 24, 1820, the parties being West 
Barney and Sophronia Wilson. Mr. Rice 
married, December 14, 1820, at Lower 
Sandusky, Anna Barney, a native of 
Berkshire county, Massachusetts. In 1825 
they settled in Townsend, on the farm on 
which Mrs. Rice now lives, at the advanced 
age of eighty-eight years. They had seven 
children, four of whom are living. Daniel 
Rice died May 13, 1872. 

M. B. Rice, son of Daniel Rice, was born 
in Townsend township in 1831. Before he 
married he spent fourteen years of his life in 
California, where he was engaged in mining. 
In 1868 he married Mrs. Anna (Hathaway) 
Rice, widow of Daniel Rice, jr. She was 
born in Scott township in 1838. They have 
two children — Thaddeus Waldo and DeWitt 
Clinton. Mr. Rice has a good farm and is a 
successful farmer. He dwells upon the old 
Rice farm. 

Purdy and Warner Smith were early set- 
tlers of the township. Warner was a single 
man and lived with his brother Purdy until 
after the death of Tibbols, when he married 
the widow. He had been a magistrate 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



709 



in Huron county (now Erie), and was a 
practical joker. 

James Lemmon, sr., was born in Nor- 
thumberland county, Pennsylvania, July 17, 
1779. In 180o he removed to New York, and 
in 1805 married Rebecca Blake, a native of 
Connecticut. In 1827 he came to Ohio and 
settled on the North ridge in Townsend, 
where he died May 7, 1854. His wife died 
March 29, 1855. The family consisted of 
five sons and two daughters. Mathew M. was 
born in Livingston county, New York, in 
1812. He came to Sandusky county with the 
family in 1827, and still resides on the farm 
on which his father settled. He married 
Sarah Mclntyre in 1848 and has a family of 
four children-Frank married Hannah Keilor, 
and lives on the homestead; Harvey married 
Bessie Nearkoop, and lives in Townsend; 
Etta, wife of Luther Wilt, resides in 
Townsend; George is unmarried. 

Albert Guinall, a son of James Guinall, 
settled in Townsend, where his son still 
lives. 

John Bush came from New York with his 
family in 1827 and settled in Townsend 
township. The family consisted of five sons, 
viz: Fenner, Medina, Michigan; J. B., Clyde; 
Edwin, deceased; N. W. Clyde; and A. L., 
Ottawa county. 

After 1830 the township filled up so 
rapidly that it is impossible to give the 
names of more than a few of the more 
prominent and influential settlers. 

Alpheus Mclntyre, a native of New York, 
settled in Townsend in 1830. The maiden 
name of his wife was Lois Sanford. He had 
been deputy sheriff of Hamilton county, and 
in this county served as associate judge of 
the court of common pleas. He was one of 
the early school-teachers and magistrates of 
Townsend. He married, for his second wife, 
Mrs. Sally Curtis, nee Cleveland, who was 
the first school-teacher in the township. 



Nathan and Sidney Crandall came to the 
township about 1830. Nathan was a sailor 
and spent only his winters here with his 
brother, Sidney, who owned a farm and had 
a family. 

A man named Lyon lived on Pickle street 
soon after the road bearing that name was 
laid out. A little ill-feeling between him and 
Mr. Smith about a piece of meat gave the 
road its name. 

Zelotes Parkhurst was a native of Vermont. 
He spent his early life in some of the 
Southern States, and subsequently in New 
York. In 1828 he married Lois Stevens, of 
Livingston county, New York, and in 1830 
came to Ohio, settling on a farm in 
Townsend township, where he died, January 
2, 1844. The three sons, W. T., J. S., and 
Phineas W., all served in the army. Phineas 
W. married, in 1869, Miss S. Z. Richards, of 
Townsend, and is now cashier of the Clyde 
bank. Zelotes Parkhurst laid out and donated 
to the public the Parkhurst cemetery, in 
which his remains repose. 

Phineas Stevens was born in Massa- 
chusetts, in 1754. He served in the war of 
the Revolution, and afterwards settled in 
New York. In 1830 he came to Ohio and 
settled in this township, where he died in 
1840. His wife survived him two years. 

The Whitmore family settled in this 
township on the Wadsworth farm in 1830. 
George and Margaret were the names of the 
parents. The children who came with them 
were Rachel, born in 1804; Janet, born in 
1814; and John. Rachel married Holcomb 
Allen, and died at Port Huron, Michigan. 
Janet married Benjamin Winters, and died in 
this township. John Whitmore was born in 
Leicester, Livingston county, New York, 
May 29, 1816, and came to Ohio with his 
parents in 1837. He married Marcia (Swift) 
Chapman. They had only one child, now 



710 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



living, Ann J., the wife of Walter Davlin. 
Mr. Whitmore became a most successful 
businessman and a very prominent citizen. 
He died January 1, 1881. 

The Beaghler family settled in this county 
in 1831. E. Beaghler, still a resident of 
Townsend, was born in Perry county, Ohio, 
in 1826. In 1845 he married Lavina Morse, 
by whom he had five children, three of 
whom are living-Nancy (Batsole), Michigan; 
Mary (Young), Ballville; and Amelia 
(Thompson), Townsend. He married for his 
second wife, in 1858, Caroline Jackson. One 
child is the fruit of this union, Anson J., 
living in Townsend. Mrs. Beaghler was a 
daughter of A. C. Jackson, one of the early 
settlers in Townsend. 

Hezekiah Higley, who is still living in 
Townsend township, was born in Massa- 
chusetts in 1790, April 6. When eleven years 
old, he went to New York State, whence he 
emigrated to Portage county, Ohio, from 
there to Erie county, and in 1832, to his 
present abode. In 1815 he married Jerusha 
Clark, who was born in Berkshire county in 
1794, and died in Townsend township in 
1876. She was the mother of ten children, 
four of whom are living: Laura, wife of 
Cyrus Daniels, Riley; Anson, Hudson, 
Michigan; William, Hessville; and Orson, 
Townsend. 

Simeon Haff was born in the State of New 
York in 1769. At the age of thirty he married 
Betsey Lyon, of the same State. In the spring 
of 1830 he came West, settled in Townsend, 
and passed the remainder of his days here. 
He died October 10, 1841. Mrs. Haff died 
March 18, 1852, aged sixty-six. The family 
comprised five sons and six daughters. Four 
sons and two daughters are living — Hiram, 
Clyde; Israel, Indian Territory; Francis, 
Michigan, and Cyrus in Riley township. 
William, the third son, lived and died in this 
township, and brought up a family. 



Two of his sons are living. The surviving 
daughters of Simeon Haff are Mrs. Sarah 
Bennett, Clyde, and Mrs. Elizabeth Tyler, 
Michigan. 

Hiram Haff, oldest son of Simeon Haff, 
was born in Livingston county, New York, 
December 16, 1812, at which time his father 
was serving in the war. He came with his 
parents to this county, and resided upon the 
old place until 18J4, when he moved to York 
township. About two years ago he moved to 
Clyde, his present residence. July 4, 1836, 
he married Cynthia Avery, of this county. 
She died in December, 1876. They reared six 
sons and three daughters, who are now 
located as follows: Sanford, Wyandotte, 
Kansas; Edwin, Lenawee county, Michigan; 
Elisha, Reuben and Fred, Townsend; and 
Hiram B., York. The daughters: Mrs. 
Melinda Lewis, Townsend; Mrs. Betsey 
Whitaker, Henry county; and Mrs. Belle 
Heffner, Clyde. 

Elisha Haff was born in 1844. In 1871 he 
married Eliza Fuller, and has four children: 
Myrtie, Elver, Zedie, and Mabel. 

Reuben Haff was born in Townsend 
township in 1846. In 1867 he married Laura 
Crippen, and has two children living — Ortiff 
and Elisha. 

Fred Haff was born in Townsend in 1852. 
He married Eva Plumb, of this township, in 
1875, and has two children — Edith and 
Claude. 

H. A. Sanford was born in Ontario county, 
New York, March 4, 1822. He came to Ohio 
with his parents in 1832, and settled in 
Townsend township, his present residence. 
In 1853 he married Mary Rice, daughter of 
Daniel and Ann Rice, of this township. To 
them have been born three children — 
Merritt, who married Mary Beebe, daughter 
of Enoch and Jane Beebe, and resides in 
Townsend; Alma L., the wife of Eugene 
Winters, Eaton Rapids, Michigan; and 
Jennie, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



711 



Townsend. Mr. Sanford has held several 
offices, such as treasurer, trustee, etc. 

G. W. Sanford, son of Zachariah and Mary 
Sanford, was born in Townsend township, 
February 2, 1840. He lived at home until he 
began work for himself. In 1863 he married 
Miss Adaline Hawkins, daughter of Hiram 
Hawkins, of Townsend. He has been residing 
on his present farm since 1868. Politically 
Mr. Sanford is a Republican. 

James Lewis removed from Ontario, 
county, New York, in 1833, and settled in 
the northeast corner of Townsend. He retired 
from the farm some time since and is now 
living at Clyde. 

Benjamin Hooper, another of the settlers of 
1833, was born in Devonshire, England, in 
1787. He emigrated to America in 1833 and 
settled in Townsend the same year. His 
family consisted of four daughters and one 
son. 

Edward Chambers, a native of Ireland, 
removed from Boston, Massachusetts, and 
settled in Townsend township on the farm 
now occupied by Andrew Smith, in 1845. He 
married Mary Hooper, who is still living at 
Clyde. Three of their children are living — F. 
R. Chambers in Townsend, A. B. Chambers, 
Hannibal, Missouri, and Mary A. Chambers, 
Clyde. Edward Chambers died in March, 

1879. F. R. Chambers was born in Townsend 
township in 1847. He married, November 1, 

1880, Annie Mahr, daughter of G. P. and 
Anna M. Mahr, of this township. 

Isaiah Golden was born in Pike county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1819. In 1823 his father 
removed to Wayne county, Ohio, and thence 
to Huron county. Mr. Golden, in 1840, came 
to this county and settled in Townsend 
township. He married for his first wife, Lucy 
H. Gifford. For his second wife he married 
Sarah Ann Short. The fruit of this marriage 
is four children living — Seth, Townsend 
township; Polly 



Ann (Burr), Putnam county; Ora and Eva, 
Townsend. Names of children deceased — 
Franklin, Delilah, Jeremiah and Edward. 

Z. P. Brush was born at Danbury, Con- 
necticut, in 1816. His father's family soon 
after removed to New York, whence Z. P. 
emigrated to Erie county, Ohio, in 1836, and 
in 1841 married Almira Tibbals. He removed 
to Townsend the next spring, and settled on 
the farm on which Abraham Townsend had 
made the first improvement in the township. 
After Townsend removed, this farm was 
owned by Zeno Tibbals, the father-in-law of 
Mr. Brush. The Brush family consists of five 
children living — Z. T., commercial traveler; 
Joseph B., Townsend; Mildred (Nichols), 
Kansas; James Z. and Allie, Townsend. 

The White family settled in Townsend 
township about 1843. Lytle White was a 
native of the State of New York. He married, 
in Townsend, Mrs. Ann Kittle, nee Winters, 
who still survives him. To them was born 
Benjamin L., who now resides in this 
township. By her former marriage Mrs. 
White had one child, Mary, deceased. Mrs. 
White was born in Canada in 1799. 

Charles W. White was born in Prussia, in 
1840. In 1848 he came to Sandusky county 
with his father, and in 1865 married 
Catharine Wahl. Three children are living — 
Charles F., William R., and Ella. Mr. White 
was elected to the office of infirmary 
director in 1878, and has also served his 
township as trustee. 

Joseph Miller, a native of Pennsylvania, 
came to Ohio in 1830, and settled in 
Townsend township. In 1864 he married 
Caroline Wadsworth. Four children of this 
union are living — J. Henry, Anna, Addie, 
and Bertie. Joseph Miller died in March, 
1881, aged sixty-eight years. 

W. W. Fuller, son of David Fuller, and 



712 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



grandson of the venerable William Fuller, 
was born in this township in 1847. In 1873 
he married Clara Stone, and has a family of 
two children, Raymond and Zella. Mr. Fuller 
has filled the offices of township assessor, 
trustee, and treasurer. 

Walter Davlin was born in Erie county in 
1833, his father having been one of the 
pioneers in that part of the State. In 1862 he 
married Ann J., daughter of John Whitmore, 
and four years later settled permanently in 
this township. His children are: William, 
Marcia, Sadie, Margaret, and Ann J. Mrs. 
Davlin had two children by a former 
marriage, Carrie and John. Mr. Davlin is 
postmaster at Whitmore Station. 

Giles Ray removed from Erie to Sandusky 
county in 1866, a few months before he had 
married Sophia Brown, the fruit of which 
union is four children — Scott, Jesse, Sophia, 
and Eva. Mr. Ray served three years in the 
army, being mustered out as a corporal. 
Giles Ray is son of Alexander Ray, now 
living in Clyde. Giles was born in Erie 
county in 1841. Mrs. Ray is a native of the 
same county, and was born in 1844. Her 
father, Orlando Brown, still resides in that 
county. 

James Black was born in Huntingdon 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1835. In 1861 he 
enlisted in the Seventeenth Ohio, and served 
three and one-half months. He settled in this 
county in 1865. 

Manasseh Prentice was born in Erie 
county, Ohio, in 1827. He is a son of Levi 
and Mary Prentice. Levi Prentice was born 
in Madison county, New York, in 1801; died 
in Erie county, Ohio, in 1834. His wife, 
Mary Hartwell, was born in Canada in 1808; 
died in 1872. Manasseh was the oldest of 
their five children. He married Elizabeth W. 
Barnes in 1846, and resided in Erie county 
until 1867, when he became a resident of 
Townsend. There are seven children 



living — Maria A. (Hamilton), Mary E. 
(Hersey), Alice W. (Norman), Henry N., D. 
B., Olive J. B., and Nellie G. 

A TORNADO. 

The 11th of April, 1834, is memorable in 
the annals of Green Creek and Town-send 
townships. Warm thunder-showers 

interspersed by intervals of hot sunshine had 
prevailed during the day, until about the 
middle of the afternoon, when a cloud of 
midnight blackness overhung the thick forest 
in the neighborhood of Green Creek. As this 
huge mass of blackness approached the 
earth, trees surged, then reeling fell, some 
twisted to pieces, others torn from the 
ground. Like a great ball, it rolled in a 
northeasterly direction. The rugged trees of 
the forest for a moment seemed to offer 
resistance to its progress, then snapped and 
were broken like bone between the lion's 
teeth. Smaller trees and shrubs bowed 
obeisance to the passing giant, but were 
crushed beneath the ruins of their stronger 
neighbors. The earth trembled and trees 
bowed down for half a mile on either side of 
its path. 

The course was on across the pike and 
down through Townsend crossing the North 
ridge road near the county line. Its path 
proper was, less than a quarter of a mile 
wide, although the effect of the storm was 
traceable for half a mile on either side. Not a 
tree was left standing in the path, but 
shattered timber lying in every direction 
covered the ground. One cabin was scattered 
and its pieces carried on the bosom of the 
winds. The roof of one house on the ridge, 
although not in direct line of the storm, was 
blown off, and the good housewife's feathers 
filled the air like snow in a winter storm. 

The tornado fortunately did not pass over a 
thickly settled portion of country. So far as 
is known but one life was lost — that of Mr. 
Keiser, of Townsend; Stephen Gillett had his 
arm broken by a 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



713 



falling tree. He was holding to a stump to 
keep from blowing away, when a limb struck 
his extended arm. The movement of the 
black cloud was very rapid, and its 
demonstrations caused great excitement. The 
date we have given is from the diary of a 
trustworthy lady who still lives in 
Townsend. 

A CRIMINAL EPISODE. 

A curious episode of early times in 
Townsend was the treatment of a thief who 
entered the cabin of Mr. A. C. Jackson, 
carried out some clothing and the gun, and 
left the house in danger of being burned. Mr. 
Jackson was away from the house and Mrs. 
Jackson was out on the farm, when a 
stranger, who had the night before been the 
recipient of the household's hospitality, 
entered and committed the crime spoken of. 
On Mrs. Jackson's return she aroused the 
neighborhood. The woods were carefully 
searched and the man found, but the gun and 
bundle of clothes, which included all the 
spare wearing apparel of both members of 
the family, were not so easily found. The 
culprit was asked to tell where the missing 
articles could be found, with the 
understanding that restoration should requite 
the crime. The place of the gun's 
concealment was faithfully described, but 
not so with the clothing. The neighbors, 
exasperated with this deception, again seized 
the robber, and with cudgels and switches 
began to inflict punishment. To free himself 
from torture, the thief again, although not 
yet willing to tell the truth, deceived his 
executioners, who retaliated by plying their 
cudgels with heavier strokes to his body, 
already bruised to blackness. 

The whipping in this wise continued for 
more than an hour, the poor man suffering 
excruciating torture all the time. At last he 
was released on the promise of working for 
Mr. Jackson in the clearing to the value of 
the stolen property. This 



arrangement was effected largely through the 
intervention of William Tew, who adjudged 
the man crazy, and insisted on his release. 
The thief worked for a few days according to 
contract, but soon became tired of the 
clearing and was never seen afterwards. The 
goods were sometime after found in Huron 
county. 

EARLY EVENTS. 

The first road laid out through the 
township followed the ridge from the Cold 
Creek mill, and intersected the pike at 
Hamer's tavern. Stages followed this road to 
Sandusky, and, made the cabin of A. C. 
Jackson an intermediate stopping place. 
Addy Van Nest also kept public house at 
which the stage occasionally "put up." 

There was another road through the 
township further north cut out just so 
wagons could be drawn through during the 
War of 1812. 

The first sermon was preached by Harry O. 
Sheldon in the Jackson neighborhood. 
Services were occasionally held after this 
under direction of Methodist circuit riders. 

The first cemetery was laid out by William 
Tew, sr., on his farm. 

The first school was taught in an un- 
finished log house in the south part of the 
township by Miss Sally Cleveland. 

The first permanent school-house was built 
on the Lemmon farm about 1826. 

Rachel Mack taught a summer school at 
Beebe's, which was attended by the children 
of that neighborhood. She also did such 
needlework as the simple wants of the 
pioneer mothers required. 

An early marriage was solemnized by 
Ebenezer Ransom, the first justice of the 
peace, which, on account of the brevity and 
directness of the ceremony reflects credit 
upon that honorable magistrate. Mr. Putnam, 
accompanied by his betrothed entered the 
homely cabin, and after announcing 



714 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



their errand were joined according to the 
following formula: "Do you take this here 
woman for your wife?" "Yes," was the reply. 
"Do you want this here man for your 
husband?" The bride, whose costume was 
beautifully simple, sighed a faltering "Yes." 
"You're married," was the squire's blunt 
conclusion. The parties most interested 
seemed to doubt the fact, however, and held 
the floor, when the justice, to end the matter, 
said: "See here, you may think that business 
short but it's done just as right as if it took 
half an hour. " 

The pioneers in Townsend or elsewhere 
had great difficulty to secure the cash 
necessary to purchase such articles as could 
not be obtained in exchange for farm 
products. Furs always commanded ready 
money, and in consequence the woods and 
marshes were thoroughly searched during 
the killing season. The manufacture of black 
salt or potash was the only profitable use of 
timber in that early day, and Mr. Richardson, 
Mr. Holbrook, and others, who had kilns 
found the industry profitable. Black salt 
always sold for cash in the market at Milan. 

Hogs were generally fattened in the 
woods on acorns and nuts. 

Each settler owning stock had a peculiar 
"ear mark," which was registered in a book 
kept for the purpose by the township clerk. It 
was against the law for any one to kill 
marked animals of any kind. But hogs 
frequently strayed away and were lost. 
Young pigs as they grew became wild and 
even dangerous; these it was allowable to 
kill, being classed as "wild hogs." An old 
settler declared to the writer that he would 
rather meet a bear in the woods than an 
enraged wild boar. They fought with that 
dumb determination which makes even a 
weak enemy formidable. 

The practice of allowing cows to pasture 



in the weeds has been the cause of dis- 
tressing misery and sickness in Townsend, 
both on the east and west sides. Milk- 
sickness was, during the early settlement, a 
disease wholly beyond the control of 
physicians. Even Indian remedies were 
employed, but to no purpose, for the wisest 
of the tribes could not cure their own strong 
and vigorous kin when afflicted with this 
dread disease. We do not mean to convey 
the idea that the disease was in all cases 
fatal. Many recovered, but in almost every 
case with enfeebled constitutions. 

Other diseases greatly afflicted the pio- 
neers and retarded the progress of im- 
provement. Decaying logs were throwing 
off poisoned vapors, and stagnant pools, 
formed by fallen timbers damming the 
natural water channels, became malaria 
fountains. But in this respect Townsend was 
no worse than other parts of the county. 
Since tame grasses have taken the place of 
wild herbs and plowed fields occupy the 
soil once covered by damp forest, milk 
sickness has become a disease known only 
in tradition, and the general health of the 
township is good. 

The first marriage in the township was 
that of Rebecca Tew and Ephraim K. 
Townsend. 

The first barn in the township was built 
by Zeno Tibbals on the farm now owned by 
Z. P. Brush. 

A collection of houses on the ridge road 
became known as "Coopertown," taking its 
name from the occupation of the Starks 
family, by whom one of the houses was 
occupied. They carried on the coopering 
business on an extensive scale. But 
coopering was not the only industry carried 
on at this hamlet. William Willis had a 
shoe-shop, and William Wales had a 
wagon-maker's shop. Goods of a general 
character were sold here by Benjamin 
Bacon and William Willis. 




•yjify 



C. G. Sen ford 




Lydid Sdnford 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



715 



This village ceased to thrive after the 
completion of the railroads in 1852. 

Townsend post office was established in 
1824 with William Tew, sr., in charge as 
postmaster. In 1853, after the completion of 
the Cleveland, Sandusky & Cincinnati 
railroad, the office was removed to the 
neighborhood of York Station and placed in 
charge of Josiah Munger. Whitmore Station 
was made a post office with Walter Davlin 
in charge upon the completion of the 
Sandusky extension of the Lake Erie & 
Western railroad. York Station is a small 
hamlet on the Cleveland, Sandusky & 
Cincinnati railroad near the center of the 
township. Here, as almost everywhere else, 
religious worship was instituted by the 
Methodists. Harry O. Sheldon and other 
circuit riders preached to the Townsend 
people as early as 1824. The first church was 
built by the Methodists, in 1848, with Daniel 
Wilcox as circuit preacher. The meeting- 
house stands on the North ridge road. 

There is a society of United Brethren in the 
north part of the township. Circuit preachers 
and supplies have held service in the school- 
houses in that community for many years, 
but no house of worship was built till 1870. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 



CARMI G. AND LYDIA SANFORD. 

Zachariah Sanford, father of the San-fords 
of this county, and a Townsend pioneer, was 
born near Saybrook, Connecticut, in the year 
1990. At the age of eighteen he left 
Connecticut, with his widowed mother, and 
settled in Madison county, New York. He 
married Mary P. Mantor, who was born in 
Massachusetts in 1998. The newly-wedded 
couple settled on a farm in Ontario county, 
New 



York, which was their home till the fall of 
1832, when, with their family, they removed 
to Ohio, and settled in this township. Mr. 
Sanford purchased an eighty acre lot entirely 
covered with native forest. The father and 
sons made an opening for a log cabin upon 
their arrival, and during the winter prepared 
a tract for spring crops. On this farm Mr. 
Sanford lived until his death, which occurred 
May 6, 1862. His wife, Mary Sanford, died 
March try, 1868. They reared a family of 
seven children — five sons and two 
daughters. 

Elias M. was born July 19, 1817. He died 
in Townsend township May 31, 1843, 
leaving a wife and one child. 
Carmi G. was born December 28, 1818. 

Henry A. was born March 4, 1820. He 
married Mary Rice, daughter of Daniel Rice, 
and lives on the homestead farm. 

Sally M. was born December 27, 1826. 

William B. was born April 7, 1828. He 
resides in Riley township. 

Almira was born July lo, 1832. She was 
married to Samuel H. Tibbals, and died 
without issue. 

George W. was born February 2, 1839. 
He resides in Townsend township. 

Zachariah Sanford was a man of quiet 
temperament, unobtrusive and hospitable. In 
his family he was kind and indulgent; in 
intercourse and dealing with his neighbors 
he avoided anything like conflict. It has been 
said of him that he died without an enemy. 

Mrs. Mary Sanford was an excellent 
mother. She was a woman of deep religious 
convictions, being in this respect like his 
mother, who made her home for many years 
in the Sanford residence. 

Bible reading was especially encouraged 
in the family. Carmi G., while a boy, was 
given a sheep as a prize for having read the 
entire Bible through. 

Carmi G. Sanford was in his fourteenth 



716 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



year when the family removed to Ohio. His 
educational advantages in New York were 
limited, and in this county still more meagre. 
He worked industriously on his father's farm 
until young manhood. His first purchase of 
land was a tract of forty acres, Which he still 
owns. He married, March 9, 1844, Lydia 
Allyn, and settled on a farm, for which he 
traded three years before. Only a small 
portion of this farm, located three-fourths of 
a mile north of his present residence, was 
cleared. The cabin was made entirely of logs 
and puncheons, except one door, which was 
made of the boards of a store-box. In this 
cabin they lived for about ten years. Mr. 
Sanford removed to his present residence in 
1863, retaining possession of the old farm. 
By economy and industry he has 
accumulated real estate, until at present he 
owns four hundred acres of well-improved 
land. Mr. Sanford has always been an 
advanced farmer, keeping pace, in methods 
and machinery, with the times. In politics he 
has been active, and is looked upon as a 
leader. A Whig by inheritance, he became a 
Republican from principle. During the war 
he spent time and money in the 
encouragement of enlistments and support of 
the families of soldiers in the field. When 
the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry was formed, Mr. Sanford 
was chosen captain of the largest company, 
C, composed of volunteers from Riley and 
Townsend townships. At the regimental 
organization at Fremont, he was chosen to 
the position of lieutenant-colonel, and 
Nathaniel, a brother of William E. Haynes, 
was elected colonel. Through the caprice of 
Colonel Wiley, Mr. Sanford was dismissed 
before being mustered into the service. 

Since the war Mr. Sanford has remained 
an active Republican, by which party he was 
elected to the offices of county infirmary 
director and county commissioner. 



He had previously served his township as 
clerk and justice of the peace. He is a 
member of Clyde Lodge of Free and 
Accepted Masons, and of Erie Commandery 
No. 23, located at Sandusky. 

Mrs. Sanford is the daughter of Isaac and 
Permelia Allyn, and was born March 20, 
1828. Isaac Allyn was born in Connecticut, 
September 21, 1786. He left home at the 
age of eighteen years, and settled, after 
travelling to various places, in Eric county. 
About 1820, in company with Jonas Gibbs, 
he came to this county, and settled on the 
prairie in the north part of Riley township. 
He raised horses and cattle for market, 
frequently making large sales. He also 
engaged largely in raising hogs, and in pork 
packing. Mr. Allyn made his home in the 
Gibbs' family for a few years, and then kept 
bachelor's hall in a cabin on his own place 
until he was married, which event took 
place June 12, 1827. 

Permelia Allyn, daughter of Cyrus 
Downing, was born June 24, 1795, in Win- 
dom county, Connecticut. Before she was 
two years old her parents removed to New 
York, where they lived till 1809, at which 
time they came to Ohio and settled near 
Huron. 

On account of Indian hostilities, the 
family was compelled to leave this new 
home and take refuge in the fort at 
Cleveland. Permelia married, in April, 
1813, Jeremiah Daniels. About twenty 
families lived at Huron at this time. They 
were compelled by hostile Indians to leave 
their homes nine times during one year. Mr. 
Daniels having deceased, Permelia married 
Isaac Allyn, in 1827. The fruit of this union 
was three children — Lydia (Sanford), born 
March 20, 1828; Isaac M., born February 8, 
1832, living in Riley township; and 
Permelia (Sanford), born November 6, 
1537, died June 25, 1881. 




idm Fuller 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



717 



Isaac Allyn died January 30, 1839. Mrs. 
Allyn survived him many years, the date of 
her death being September 18, 1874. She 
was a hard worker, and a woman of good 
business ability. She carried on her 
husband's stock business for several years 
after his death. One year she salted with her 
own hands more than one hundred barrels of 
pork. Mrs. Allyn, during the last year and a 
half of her life, made her home with her 
daughter Lydia. 

Mrs. Sanford is naturally a happy and 
cheerful woman. She takes great interest in 
the welfare of her family. Her home is one 
of the most attractive in the county. 

Mr. and Mrs. Sanford have had seven 
children, three of whom are living — Mary P., 
born April 24, 1846, died in infancy; 
Winfield Scott, born August 16, 1847, 
married Eliza McCartney, and has three 
children, resides in Sandusky; Flora A., born 
February 3, 1850, married James Gaw, died 
February 28, 1872; Morgan C, born July 25, 
1861, resides at home; Kate L., born 
November 7, 1864, died March 1, 1868; 
Hattie M., born January 24, 1868, lives at 
home; Charles G., born January 24, 1871, 
died October 6, 1872. 



WILLIAM FULLER. 

On another page will be found a good 
likeness of one of the few pioneers now 
living. One by one he has seen the first 
settlers carried to their long home, old and 
young, grave and gay, strong and feeble, 
from the gray-haired grandsire to the 
tottering infant. Yet he remains, almost the 
last of a noble race, the heroic race of 
pioneers. 

Jason Fuller was born in Connecticut, 
May 24, 1767. He moved to Massachusetts 
when quite a young man, and settled in what 
is now Franklin county. There 



he married Philanda Taylor and resided until 
1816, when he moved with his family to 
Ontario county (now Livingston county), 
New York, where his wife died in 1818, on 
the 5th of November, at the age of forty- 
nine. Jason Fuller and wife were the parents 
of eight children, all of whom lived to be 
married, and all had families excepting the 
oldest daughter. We will briefly mention 
each in the order of their ages: Cynthia 
married Silas Pratt, in Massachusetts, moved 
to Sandusky county in 1824, and died here. 
Rachel married Amos Hammond in New 
York State; died in Michigan. Philanda was 
the first wife of James Morrill, and died in 
Massachusetts. Electa married James 
Morrill, and is now living in Kansas; she 
was eighty-four, May 24, 1881. William was 
the next child and oldest son. John married, 
in Green Creek town-ship, Rhoda Powell; 
moved to Nebraska, and died there. Betsey 
married Ichabod Munger in New York State; 
died in Michigan. Thomas married Margaret 
Evart in New York; died in Michigan. 

Thus it will be seen there are but two 
members of the family surviving. Jason 
Fuller followed the occupation of farming 
through life. Both he and his wife were 
honest, upright people, and members of the 
Baptist church. They were kind and loving 
parents, and tenderly and carefully reared 
their large family. 

William Fuller was born in Hawley, 
Hampshire county, Massachusetts (now 
Franklin county), on the 23d of January, 
1799. There he lived until the fall of 1816, 
attending school and assisting his father on 
the farm. He went with his parents to New 
York State, and resided there until February, 
1818; then, at the age of nineteen, on foot 
and alone, he started for Ohio, then the "far 
West." He carried in a package upon his 
back a few articles of clothing and some pro- 



718 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



visions to eat upon the way. He traversed the 
entire distance on foot, except when some 
traveler gave him a ride for a few miles. On 
the thirteenth day after he left home he 
arrived in Milan township, Huron county, 
and immediately engaged to work for Squire 
Ebenezer Merry. Two weeks after his arrival 
his father, his oldest sister and her husband, 
and his youngest brother came. His father 
took possession of a tract of land previously 
negotiated for, upon which William engaged 
to clear ten acres as a compensation for the 
use of his time during the remaining period 
of his minority. William returned to New 
York State the following July, his plans 
being to settle up some business for his 
father, do the harvesting on the old farm, and 
return to Ohio in the fall with the rest of the 
family. During this summer he made a 
business trip to Massachusetts; on his return 
he found his mother quite ill and unable to 
think of performing the long journey to 
Ohio. She died in November. His father, who 
had been advised of her illness, was unable 
to accomplish the journey from the West in 
time to be with her during her last moments, 
but arrived in New York in December. 

While at home this winter William took 
unto himself a wife. He was married on the 
7th day of November, 1819, to Mehetable 
Botsford. She was a native of Connecticut, 
but her parents were then living in New 
York. On the last day of February, 1819, 
arrangements having finally been completed 
for a return to the new western home, 
William Fuller, accompanied by his wife and 
father, started again for Ohio, with a yoke of 
oxen and a sled upon which were carried the 
few household goods they were then 
possessed of. They were twenty-two days 
upon the road. 

William then rented a small log cabin, 
where he lived the first summer, and began 
the task of making a home, His 



father, never a very healthy man, was taken 
ill in the month of September, and after 
lingering a few weeks, died at William's 
home on the 25th of October, 1819, at the 
age of fifty-two. Mr. Fuller lived in Milan 
township until 1824. While there he had 
cleared about twenty acres, erected a log 
house and barn, and subdued the land until 
he had a very fair field of some thirty acres, 
including ten acres which his father had 
cleared. For this work he received no pay, 
except the crops he secured; but as neither 
he nor his father had made any payment for 
the land, the only loss was the value of his 
labor for six years. 

In 1823 Mr. Fuller bought forty acres in 
Green Creek township, southeast of Clyde, 
moved upon it in the spring of 1824, and 
began clearing and improving. He had 
erected a cabin before bringing his family 
here. In June he was taken ill, and was 
unable to work until the latter part of 
August. Then he suffered through the fall 
with ague. Altogether, the first year was 
one which might well be deemed 
discouraging, but the next brought even 
greater trials and misfortunes. During the 
following year he was able to do but little 
work. In August, 1826, his wife was taken 
ill with a fever, and on the 15th day of the 
same month his oldest child was killed by 
the oxen running away with the cart, 
throwing him out and killing him. The 19th 
day of August his fourth child was born, 
and on the following day Mrs. Fuller died, 
and was buried, together with her dead 
infant. Mr. Fuller was then obliged to break 
up housekeeping, leaving his two remaining 
children in the care of his sister, Mrs. 
Hammond, until the spring of 1827, when 
he went back to New York State, and 
worked at various employments for four 
years, paying his children's board. 

Mr. Fuller married Cynthia Havens, a 
native of Livingston county, New York, 




j. L La/isee 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



715 



May 15, 1831, and returned to his farm, 
where he continued to reside until March, 

1834, when he came to his present place of 
residence in Townsend township. This, too, 
was wild, and Mr. Fuller once more had the 
work of a pioneer to perform. January 23, 

1835, death again entered the household, and 
deprived Mr. Fuller of his wife. Being thus 
left with a farm to manage and four children 
to provide for, he could not well abandon 
house-keeping, and on the 6th of July, 1835, 
he married his third wife, Marcia M. George, 
a native of his New York home. She lived 
just one year from the day of her marriage, 
and died July 6, 1836. 

October 19, 1837, Mr. Fuller was united in 
marriage to the lady, who presides over his 
home, Emma M. Levisee, born in Lima, 
Livingston county, New York. 

By his first wife he was the father of four 
children, one of whom is living. They were 
Jason H.; David, John, and an infant. Jason 
H. was born March 1, 1820; died August 15, 
1826, as before mentioned. David, born July 
8, 1821; married Mary Z. Higley for his first 
wife, who bore him six children, four of 
whom survive. His second wife, Eliza J. 
Plumb, bore two children, who are still 
living. He died in Townsend, May 18, 1879. 
John, born April 7, 1823 ; married Eliza 
Mallory; now resides in Branch county, 
Michigan; has one child living and one 
deceased. A son, born August 19, 1826, died 
in infancy. 

Mr. Fuller's second wife bore two children, 
one of whom is living:. William T., born 
April 10, 1832; married Mary J. Van 
Buskirk; resides in Townsend; is the father 
of six children, three of whom are now 
living — Cynthia M., born November 2, 1833, 
died December 22, 1853. 

One child was the fruit of the third 
marriage, Jason. E., born July 1, 1836, died 
September, 1836. 

His present wife has borne three chil- 



dren, two of whom are living. Taylor, born 
March 29, 1840, married Angeline Stone, 
resides in York, has one child. James, born 
October 13, 1844, married Betsey Richards, 
resides near his parents, has one child. 
Albert, born June 22, 1846, died September 
26, 1849. 

Mr. Fuller had his full share of the 
hardships and privations of pioneer life. 
Commencing in a new country, while not of 
age, he fought his way onward against many 
difficulties and severe trials. In the days 
when wheat was only twenty-five cents per 
bushel, and groceries were held at enormous 
prices, salt being nine and eleven dollars per 
barrel, it was hard for a man to make and 
pay for a home. But all this is past and gone. 
His industry, activity and patience were 
rewarded in time. Mr. Fuller has been a 
successful business man. Though physically 
somewhat enfeebled by age and the results 
of years of toil, his mind is clear and cheer- 
ful, and he is passing the evening of his days 
among the scenes of his former struggles and 
triumphs, happy and contented. Each of his 
five sons who grew to manhood and married, 
were helped to a farm by their father. 

Mr. Fuller was a Democrat until 1856, but 
since that time has voted with the Re- 
publicans. In religion he is a believer in the 
doctrine of universal salvation. 

Mr. Fuller, wherever he is known, is 
recognized as a just and honorable man, and 
is respected by old and young. 



THE LEVISEE FAMILY. 

Aaron Levisee was born in the State of 
New Jersey, June 19, 1774, to which State 
his father, James Levisee, had previously 
moved from Connecticut. Soon after Aaron's 
birth his parents returned to Connecticut, 
and there his father died. 



720 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Aaron Levisee was the oldest of a family 
of six sons and three daughters. He passed 
his boyhood in Connecticut and 
Massachusetts principally. Before he was 
twenty-one he engaged as a clerk on a 
sailing vessel, and followed the sea about 
three years, visiting many foreign countries. 
He acquired a very fair education, and, after 
quitting the sea, followed the profession of 
teaching, in Connecticut and Massachusetts, 
until he was married. While teaching at 
Lanesborough, in the latter State, he had for 
a pupil the lady who afterwards became his 
wife. One day he punished this scholar for 
some trivial fault, and a month later they 
were married. In his twenty-fourth year he 
was united in marriage to Anna Lyon, 
daughter of Thomas and Thankful Lyon, 
both natives of Massachusetts. Mrs. Levisee 
was born at Lanesborough, May 13, 1778. 
After their marriage they lived a short time 
in Massachusetts, then went to Greenfield, 
Saratoga county, New York, where they 
remained a few years, thence moved to 
Charleston, Ontario county, New York, now 
Lima, Livingston county, where Mrs. 
Levisee's parents had moved before them. In 
this last-named place John L. Levisee was 
born. In 1822 the family moved from 
Ontario county to Allen, Allegany county, 
in. the same State, where Mr. Levisee died 
on the 18th of June, 1828. The widow 
moved, with her family, to Sandusky county, 
Ohio, arriving in Townsend township the 
10th day of October, 1832. Here Mrs. 
Levisee resided until 1844, and then 
removed to the home of her daughter, Mrs. 
Thankful Botsford, north of Ann Arbor, 
Michigan, where she died July 3, 1845. 
There were seven daughters and two sons in. 
the family. Six daughters arrived at maturity, 
and two are yet living. Both of the sons are 
living at this date (September, 1881). 

The names of the children of Aaron 



Levisee, in the order of their ages, were: 
Almedia, Eveline, Thankful, Eliza Ann, John 
L. and Sarah L. (twins), Sarah Sophia, 
Emma Maria, and Aaron Burton. 

Thankful and Emma M. are the surviving 
daughters. The former is the wife of David 
Botsford, and resides in Washtenaw county, 
Michigan. Emma Maria is the wife of 
William Fuller, Townsend township. Mrs. 
Botsford was seventy-seven years old July 
15, 188r, and Mrs. Fuller sixty-three March 
24, 1881. The youngest son, A. B. Levisee, 
whose name was rendered familiar in the 
Louisiana election controversy of 1876-77, 
is now a lawyer at Fargo, Dakota Territory. 
He was born March 18, 1821. 

The records of the deceased members of 
this family are as follows: Almedia, born 
August 1, 1799, married Ezra Lyons in 1819, 
resided in Livonia, Livingston county, New 
York, until 1831, then moved to Townsend 
township, where she died June 28, 1853; 
Eveline, born June 21, 1801, married 
Hubbard Jones in Livingston county, New 
York, moved to Townsend in 1842, died 
June 13, 1873; Eliza Ann, born May 6, 1806, 
married for her first husband Jonathan 
Wisner, resided in Allegany county, New 
York, until 1834, when she removed to 
Townsend, having previously married her 
second husband, Joseph Cummings, and died 
November 6, 1838; Sarah L., born July 4, 
1809, lived to be a little over four years old; 
Sarah Sophia, born February 14, 1815, came 
to Ohio some time after her mother, married 
Charles Gillett in Townsend, moved to 
Steuben county. Indiana, died March 16, 
1847. 

John L. Levisee was born on the 4th of 
July, 1809. He passed his early life upon the 
farm. He being the oldest son, and until 1821 
the only son, a large share of the work and 
care of the farm devolved upon him when 
quite young. He attended 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



721 



the common schools when he could spare 
time from manual labor. His father was 
taken ill when John was about ten years of 
age, and from that time forward the young 
man's cares and duties were numerous. After 
his father's death he worked by the month 
farming, during two seasons, in Lima, his 
former home. Then, in the fall of 1831, he 
started for Ohio, and arrived in Townsend 
township on the 29th of October. Here be 
purchased, with some of the proceeds of his 
father's estate and his own earnings, eighty 
acres of land, the farm which is still in his 
possession. He erected a log cabin, then 
returned to New York. The next year his 
mother, with her two sons and Emma Maria, 
came and settled upon the purchase. Of 
course the country was wild. But one road in 
the township had been cut out, and the 
general aspect of the whole region might 
well be described by the inelegant but 
expressive words, "a howling wilderness." 
John began chopping, and continued through 
the winter and many succeeding seasons 
clearing away the forest and making field 
land. Hard work and a simple diet was the 
rule in those days. Meat was scarce except 
when, occasionally, a deer or wild turkey 
was shot. Wheat was little raised, and flour 
was an article not much in use. Cornbread 
was the staple food. He secured a good crop 
of corn the first season after he began his 
farming operations, and from that time 
onward the family managed to live very 
comfortably. 

May 10, 1836, Mr. Levisee married Diana 
Stanley, daughter of Asa and Anna Stanley, 
of York township. She was born in Rutland, 
Jefferson county, New York, October 25, 
1810. To them were born nine children, viz: 
Sarah, born May 5, 1838; married for her 
first husband James Olds; for her second, 
Joseph Carter; is now living with her third 
husband, Emanuel 



Roush, near Hastings, Michigan. Anna, born 
July 28, 1840, married Hiram Blood in 1862; 
resided in Sparta, Kent county, Michigan; 
died November 30, 1874. Elizabeth, born 
October 27, 1842, married James A. 
Downing in 1865; resides at Whitmore 
Station. Eliza, born August 18, 1844, 
married Wallace Downing in 1866; lives in 
Clay township, Ottawa county. Mary Jane, 
born October 23, 1846, married Winfield 
Thomas in 1872; died August 28, 1873, in 
Townsend township. Civilia, born January 
30, 1849, died September 22, 1853. David, 
born November 21, 1850, married Austany 
M. Cable in 1873; resides in Fremont. 
Chauncy, born May 23, 1855, married Mrs. 
Angeline McCreery in 1879; lives at home 
with his father. 

Mrs. Levisee died July 4, 1855. She was a 
good wife and a kind mother, nobly assisting 
in supporting the family and putting by 
something for future use. She united with the 
Protestant Methodist church when young and 
lived a faithful Christian. After her death 
Mr. Levisee remained single eleven years, 
his daughter taking charge of household 
affairs. 

November 15, 1866, he was married to the 
lady who now shares his home — Mrs. Statira 
E. Cable, nee Reynolds, who was born in 
Sheffield, Lorain county, June 7, 1830. Her 
parents were Shubal and Elizabeth Reynolds. 
Her father is deceased; her mother now 
resides in Fulton county, this State. This 
union has been blessed with two children, 
one of whom is living — Francis A., born 
July 12, 1868; and Willie, born July 12, 
1870. Willie died December 14, 1870. 

Mr. Levisee has followed agricultural 
pursuits principally. For a few years he 
worked at carpentry, but managed his firm at 
the same time. He has now re-tired from 
active business. His son, Chauncy, has 
charge of the farm, and 



722 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Mr. Levisee is enjoying a season of rest after 
years of almost constant labor. 

In politics Mr. Levisee is a consistent 
adherent to the principles of the Republican 
party. He has voted at every Presidential 
election since 1832. In religion he is a 
Universalist, firm in the faith and 
pronounced in his views. He is an enemy to 
cant and hypocrisy, but respects true 
Christians of whatever name or order. 

Mr. Levisee has a valuable and well- 
selected library, and is a diligent reader of 
newspapers. A good memory and a habit of 
careful, constant observation of men and 
things have given him a discriminating, 
sound judgment and a reliable stock of 
useful information. 



FRANKLIN RICHARDS. 

Silas Richards, the father of Franklin, was 
a native of Connecticut and passed his days 
in that State. April 28, 1805, he married 
Mary Rogers, daughter of John Rogers, a 
Connecticut soldier in the Revolutionary 
war. He was a farmer by occupation, and an 
honest, honorable man. Both Mr. and Mrs. 
Richards attained a ripe old age, the widow 
surviving the husband a few years. They 
reared a large family of twelve children, 
whose names were as follows: Harriet B., 
Frances A., Franklin, Ira J., Cynthia H., 
Archibald, Mary, Calista E., Silas, Esther R., 
Patience, and Frances M. Of these there are 
four survivors, viz: Franklin, Townsend 
township; Archibald, Clyde; Esther, the wife 
of Abraham Darrow, New London county, 
Connecticut; and Frances M., the widow of 
Samuel Darrow, in the same county and 
State. 

Franklin Richards was born in Waterford, 
New London county, Connecticut, February 
24, 1809. There he lived until 1834, working 
at farming the greater part 



of the time. He received a limited common 
school education. His father was a poor man, 
and Franklin was accustomed to hard and 
faithful labor from boyhood. In the month of 
September, 1834, Mr. Richards and his 
brother Archibald came to Sandusky county 
and commenced improving land in 
Townsend township which they had bought 
previously. They were both young men and 
unmarried. During the winter they hired their 
board at the house of their cousin, Lester 
Richards. In the spring of 1835 they erected 
a log-cabin in which it was their intention to 
live and keep bachelor's hall. One day on 
returning from a visit to their cousin's they 
found that their house with all its contents 
had been destroyed by fire. Mr. Richards lost 
a considerable sum of money in the flames. 
This was not a pleasing prospect to a young 
man, to be placed in the midst of a large 
forest without a dwelling-place, until one 
could be made by his own labor or earnings. 
However they built a small shanty and lived 
in it, doing their own housework, until a new 
house could be erected. In this way passed 
the first years. 

In 1837 Archibald married and established 
a home of his own. Franklin lived alone until 
July 1, 1838; when he was united in wedlock 
to Diantha May, who continued his faithful 
helpmeet and de-voted wife until May 8, 
1879, when she passed from earth and its 
sorrows in the sixtieth year of her age. 

Of the hardships and perplexities of the 
first years which Mr. Richards spent in Ohio, 
it need only be said that by unceasing 
persistency and courage he was enabled at 
length to accomplish the purpose which 
brought him to the new country to establish 
a home. Rugged toil and exposure gave him 
a constitution capable of enduring much 
physical strain. He never yielded to 
discouragement or despondency, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



723 



and in due time had the satisfaction of 
seeing his efforts to gain prosperity 
rewarded. He planned judiciously, saved 
carefully, and worked diligently. Now, the 
possessor of a fine home and a comfortable 
property, with a mind of quiet contentment, 
he lives at peace with all men in the same 
place where his early trials were experienced 
and his later successes achieved. 

Mr. Richards has never been much of a 
politician. Formerly a Democrat, he now 
votes with the Republicans, but believes in 
electing the best men to office, regardless of 
party. In his religious views he is a Baptist, 
though he has never united with the church. 

Mrs. Richards was a member of the Free- 
will Baptist church in her youth, but 
afterwards joined the regular Baptists. She 
was a sincere and devoted Christian, a noble 
mother, a good neighbor, and one whose 
acquaintance and friendship was valued by 
all. We close this sketch with something of 
her family history. 

Diantha May was born in Livingston 
county, New York, October 10, 1819. She 
was the third child of Isaac and Rachel 
(McMillan) May, and at the time her parents 
came to Ohio, in 1822, she was the oldest of 
the two surviving children. Her father was 
born in Vermont, October 5, 1796, and died 
in Townsend township, November 5, 1874. 
Rachel McMillan was born in New 
Hampshire, January 5, 1797, and died in 
York town-ship, November 13, 1829. They 
were married in New York State, where the 
parents of each had moved when they were 
but children. Mr. and Mrs. May resided in 
Livingston county until 1822, and in that 
year moved to Thompson township, Seneca 
county, Ohio, and the following year settled 
on the North ridge, near the northern line of 
York township, being among the very first 
settlers. In 



1831 the family moved to the eastern part of 
Townsend township, and in 1833 to the 
southwestern part, where they continued to 
reside until the death of Mr. May. By his 
first marriage Isaac May was the father of 
seven children — a son who died in infancy, 
Emily, Diantha, Emily. Louisa, Mary Ann, 
James H., and William. Three survive, viz.: 
Mrs. Emily Louisa Tew, Townsend 
township; Mrs. Mary Ann Mason; and James 
H. May, Lenawee county, Michigan. 

Mr. May married his second wife, Mary 
McMillan, a sister of his first, in 1830. This 
union resulted in ten children — Sophronia, 
Cynthia, Laura Ann, Rosetta, and Hiram, all 
deceased; and Mrs. Laura Maria Vine, 
Townsend; Marilla May, Lenawee county, 
Michigan; Mrs. Emeline Elliot, Jackson 
county, Kansas; Theron R. May, Lenawee 
county, Michigan; and Mrs. Ida Kidman,. 
Townsend, still surviving. 

Mrs. May is still living with Theron and 
Marilla, in Michigan; Isaac May was a 
minister of the Free-will Baptist denomi- 
nation, and preached in this vicinity until 
within a few years preceding his death. He is 
well remembered by many who have listened 
to his sermons. The family had their full 
share of hardships. They came here when it 
required the utmost effort to feed and clothe 
a family. The daughters used to work in the 
field doing manual labor, and often worked 
out for the neighbors. 

Mrs. Franklin Richards bore twelve 
children, five of whom are living. We 
subjoin a copy of the family record: 

Simon G., born July 12, 1839; died in 
Libby prison December 2, 1863, a member 
of the One Hundredth Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry. 

Silas L., born December 10, 1840; married 
Josie Kennedy, March 4, 1869; resides in 
York township. 



724 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



Theron R., born November 8, 1842 ; died 
November 30, 1842. 

Charles M., born February 28, 1844; 
married Phebe E. Rhodes, June 1, 1865, who 
died December 25; 1873; married Florence 
Kellogg, October 20, 1894; re-sides in 
Townsend, near his father. 

James P., born February 20, 1846; married 
Rachel E. Harvey, June 24, 1868, who died 
April 5, 2873 ; married Alice Straight, 
September 12, 1874; resides in Jackson 
county, Kansas. 

Joseph D., born February 16, 1848; died 
March 26, 1848. 

Frances a, born June 1, 1849; married 
Charles E. May, March 1, 1870; lives in 
Townsend near her old home. 

Milo S., born August r, 1852; died August 
24, 1852. 

William A., born September 4, 1853; died 
June 4, 1870. 

Benjamin F., born June 26, 1855; died 
April 18, 1866. 

Mary C, born September 30, 1857; died 
December 20, 1866. 

Imogene D., born August 8, 1861; married 
Ekin Ridman, September 4, 1878; lives with 
his father. 



ALONZO THORP. 



Among the leading, public-spirited men 
who have lived in this county, but are now 
gone from us to return no more, there are 
few more deserving of notice in this work 
than he whose name heads this article. 

Alonzo Thorp was born in Ontario county, 
New York, on the 9th day of September, 
1817. He was the son of John and Jane 
(Wager) Thorp, and was the second of a 
family of nine children. His early life was 
spent in New York, working and attending 
school. When about eighteen years of age he 
came to 



Ohio, and engaged in teaching school in 
different parts of this county in winter, and 
working in summer. He taught several terms 
of school and writing school, and is 
remembered gratefully by many of his old 
pupils. He came here poor, but with a 
determination to get a start in the world, and 
he believed an education to be essential for 
becoming a useful citizen. Therefore he used 
his first earnings to pay his expenses at 
Milan high school, where he attended several 
terms. 

In 1837 Mr. Thorp's parents followed him 
to this county, and settled in Town-send 
township. He then made his home with them 
until 1842, when he married, and 
commenced farming for himself. His first 
wife was Miss Eliza Cole, daughter of Hon. 
Matthew Cole, a man well known to old 
residents. He served as a member of the 
legislature, and in other public offices. By 
this marriage Mr. Thorp became the father of 
one son and two daughters. John C. Thorp 
was born April 12, 1843, died of 
consumption at the home of his father, 
November 6, 1869. Alma E. Thorp, born 
December 11, 1844, was married in March, 
1865, to Dr. George Salzman, and now 
resides in Kenton, Ohio. Gertrude H. Thorp, 
born December 25, 1847, died at home 
January 20, 1873, of consumption. Mrs. 
Thorp died in April, 1850. 

In 1857 Mr. Thorp married Mrs. Mary E. 
Ames, widow of Elon G. Ames, of York 
township, and daughter of Medad and 
Armida (Waller) Brush, who were among the 
early settlers in Green Creek township. Her 
parents were both natives of Connecticut, 
but lived in Pennsylvania until they came to 
this State. Mr. Thorp had no children by this 
marriage. 

In 1852 Mr. Thorp moved from Town-send 
township to the village of Clyde, where he 
engaged quite extensively in the lumber 
business. He owned and operated a saw-mill, 
and was also considerably in- 




O-^^w^? 




HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



725 



terested in farming and stock-raising. In 
1863 he was elected a member of the 
Legislature from this county, and served a 
term of two years in a manner highly 
creditable to himself and satisfactory to his 
constituents. He also held various township 
offices at different periods. While residing in 
Townsend, in 1856, he was elected justice of 
the peace and served one term. 

In May, 1873, Mr. Thorp moved upon the 
farm where his widow still resides, in Green 
Greek township, and lived there until his 
decease. He died January 28, 1879, in his 
sixty-second year. He was an energetic, 
active man, of unblemished character and 
reputation. Having fought 



his own way from poverty to the position he 
attained, he knew how to sympathize with 
the struggling and ambitious. He was 
universally respected as a business man, and 
stood high in social circles. A prominent 
politician of the Democratic party, he 
numbered some of its distinguished leaders 
among his intimate friends. In religion he 
adhered to the principles of the Episcopal 
church, with which he be-came connected 
soon after his first marriage. 

Mr. Thorp was a good father, a good 
neighbor, and a kind and loving husband. 
His circle of friends was large, and. all will 
bear cheerful testimony to his worth and 
usefulness. 



RILEY. 



RILEY, territorially one of the largest 
townships in the county, is bounded on 
the east by Townsend, on the south by Green 
Creek, on the west by Sandusky, and on the 
north by Sandusky Bay and river. Its surface 
is flat, and while yet as nature had made it, 
was marshy. Numerous streams flow 
sluggishly through shallow channels toward 
the bay, and fill its map with black lines 
stretching the whole length of the district 
from south to north. These streams widen as 
they approach their outlet, and near the bay 
are more like ponds than living waters. 
Pickerel Creek flows near the line of 
Townsend township. Its banks are higher and 
cur-rent swifter than the other streams. It 
derives its name from the fact that its mouth 
was formerly a feeding place for fish, a large 
proportion of which was of the variety 
bearing that name. The two branches of 
Raccoon Creek meet near lie:', marsh. The 
quiet waters of its lower course is a harbor 
for catfish. South Creek empties at the head 
of the bay, and Green Creek, the largest of 
all these streams, pours its sulphurous waters 
into the river. In the flat southwestern corner 
are a number of large ponds. Here the hum 
of cheerful mosquitoes, and the hoarse croak 
of lazy frogs break the stillness of summer 
sunset. 

Fishing, during the period of early set- 
tlement, was little sport. Fish were too 
plenty. The fisherman who patiently waits 
half an hour for a bite takes real satisfaction 
and pleasure in drawing from its water home 
one of the finny tribe, but 



when he can dip them out with a market 
basket, or spear barrels of them in one night, 
fishing descends to common labor and 
amuses no one. The early inhabitants made 
fish a staple article of food. Flour was hard 
to get on account of the distance and 
incapacity of mills. Fish were plenty and 
without price. Winged game then, as now, 
abounded in the north part of the township, 
and settlers, unhindered, enjoyed the luxury 
of hunting on common grounds. 

These hunting grounds are included in 
sections thirty-three, thirty-four, and thirty- 
five of township five, and so much of town- 
ship six as lies within the legal limits of 
Riley. Originally this tract was mostly 
prairie, covered heavily with marsh grasses, 
and at intervals with shrubs. The freshets in 
spring time inundate the whole tract, 
bringing from the head waters large quanti- 
ties of feed, which attracts the game later in 
the season. Trapping fur-bearing animals, 
and shooting ducks, afforded the settlers of 
the upland farms considerable contingent 
revenue — in fact was the source of a large 
amount of their cash. Trappers often became 
involved in serious quarrels. A common 
offense was transferring from one trap into 
another the most valuable captives. It thus 
happened "that the early bird caught the 
worm. " Suspicion of foul play of this kind 
not unnaturally produced hard feelings 
between rivals, and often led to blows. 

There was another object of dispute. Some 
locations were better than others, but all 
could not be accommodated at 



726 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



727 



the same place. The ground was public 
property and there was no well recognized 
principle of "trappers' rights." The conflicts 
of claims had their natural results. But the 
impression should not be entertained that a 
hunter's life was a fighter's life. These 
contentions were episodes, the employment 
in general being calculated to encourage a 
rough and ready good cheer. 

Two classes of individuals' harvested the 
resources of the prairie marshes — squatters 
and upland settlers. The settler devoted his 
energies to clearing and improving land for 
farming or in raising stock. Hunting was a 
contingent employment, engaged in only for 
recreation or a little ready cash which farm 
products did not command at that pioneer 
period. The life of the squatter was the 
picture of ease in poverty. A rude cabin 
furnished shelter; fish and game daily diet, 
and the trapped captives were bartered for 
simple clothing and such luxuries as men of 
their character enjoyed. 

But there came a time when the squatter 
lost his home and the settler his hunting 
ground. Our own people failed to see in this 
expanse of marsh any intrinsic value, but left 
open to foreigners the opportunity of a 
speculation. In 1856 all the northern end of 
this township was entered at a mere nominal 
price. It afterwards became the property of 
two sporting clubs, one known as "Winous' 
Point Shooting club," the other as "Ottawa 
Shooting club." The State laws against 
trespass are strictly enforced. It seems unjust 
to the men who have borne the burden of 
improving the country, to be barred by 
foreign landlords from the privileges of 
hunting, but it is the penalty of neglect. This 
tract should have been made a public park, 
and regulated by such legal enactments as 
natural laws require. 

The soil of Riley township is formed of 



decomposed vegetable matter and produces 
large crops of wheat. Originally the south 
part was a thick forest of heavy trees. 
Toward the north the trees were smaller and 
the forest broken by an occasional tract of 
prairie. Prairie prevailed north of the tier of 
sections seven to twelve. The lands of this 
region were found well adapted to stock- 
raising, but too wet for farming. As we shall 
see presently, the first settlement was made 
on the clear district. 

There are on Michael Stull's farm two 
natural mounds, formed by strong springs 
throwing out sand and muck. The hard crust 
will bear the weight of stock but a stamp of 
the foot will shake the mass for twenty feet 
around. These springs empty their water into 
Pickerel Creek, which has its source in a 
similar spring on the Cowell farm about two 
miles south. The cool, fresh water furnished 
by these springs attracted the pickerel and 
white bass, with which this stream once was 
filled. 

Mr. Stull, who was the first settler on the 
prairie, says when he first came there in 
1820 they made hay and stacked it, where 
now the water stands four feet deep. The 
heaviest northeast winds did not then drive 
the water to their stacks. 

ANCIENT WORKS. 

That ancient race, concerning which so 
much has been written, and so little is really 
known, have left marks of their residence in 
this township. A line of mounds and 
enclosures extend along the bay from 
Racoon Creek toward the east for a distance 
of several miles. None are traceable and, 
probably, none existed except on the prairie, 
and cultivation has made the outlines of 
these indistinct. An enclosure on section two 
contains about two acres. The whole 
Mississippi basin is dotted with similar 
structures but their occurrence in the lake 
system is more rare. An old settler informs 
us that he saw these works 



728 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



distinct in their entire outline. By whom and 
when they were built will never be known to 
a certainty, but there is no doubt of their 
great antiquity. That they are not the works 
of the Indians their mathematical regularity, 
and the contents of those which have been 
excavated, furnish proof. 

On Mr. Stull's farm there was a circular 
enclosure about twenty rods in diameter with 
two gates or openings on opposite sides. Part 
of the wall on the west side was made by 
piling up a ridge of limestone of a soft 
quality, found in the vicinity, about four feet 
high, covered with earth. The other portions 
of the wall was made entirely of earth. There 
are three other similar enclosures within a 
radius of a few miles. In all these stone axes 
and earthenware were found. 

Care should be taken not to confound these 
remains of an ancient civilization on our 
continent with the relics of a more recent but 
savage population with which we are better 
acquainted. To this latter class belong the 
two pieces of skeleton plowed up a number 
of years ago by Daniel Carl. One was the 
shoulder blade of a man pierced by a point 
of buck's horn, which had, no doubt, been an 
arrow point; the other was the leg-bone of a 
man on which, near the knee, was an en- 
largement containing the point of a flint 
arrow-head, as large as a man's thumb-nail. 
THE SETTLEMENT. 

The settlement of Riley was later than the 
neighboring townships. The reason for this is 
obvious when it is known that the main 
roads through the county all ran south of its 
territory, and settlement naturally centered 
along the main roads. A view of the 
township in 1824 would show one road cut 
through from Erie county to the prairie, three 
or four improvements near the edge of the 
heavy forest, and 



here and there a squatter's cabin along the 
creek. The school section in every township 
was the apple in the squatter's eye. 
Experience had taught them as they had 
retreated, from time to time, before 
advancing settlement that the school lands 
offered the longest tenure. The first settlers 
located their lands on the prairies, the 
heavily timbered district at the south was left 
till last, and has furnished comfortable 
homes for a large and respectable class of 
Germans, who began to make improvements 
about 1835. 

Andrew Stull, one of the earliest settlers of 
Lyme township, Huron county, was the first 
settler in Riley. He resided in Huron county 
about seven years. In 1820 he packed his 
goods on a wagon and started westward on 
the old army trail, which passed through the 
centre of Townsend township, about one 
mile south of the prairie. The location in 
view was in section one, township five, and 
when a point opposite had been reached, a 
thick and seemingly impenetrable forest 
intervened between the trail and the prairie 
farm. But stout hearts and determined spirits 
were not to be baffled by nature's obstacles. 
A way was cut through, and the spot which 
has been the seat of the Stull family for more 
than sixty years soon reached. Imagine the 
situation of this pioneer family. The nearest 
neighbor was Mr. Tew, of Townsend, six 
miles east, separated by a dark and marshy 
forest. The nearest physician lived at 
Fremont, ten miles away. The nearest mill 
was in Lyme township, Huron county, more 
than twenty miles away. "Our food," says 
Mr. Michael Stull, "was chiefly wild meat — 
venison, turkey and fish in plenty. Salt pork 
was fifty cents per pound. Our bread was 
mostly corn." Michael Stull, the only 
surviving member of the family, from whom 
these facts are derived, says that fifty years 
ago fish were so 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



729 



plenty in Pickerel Creek that he and his 
brother Jacob speared in one night fifteen 
barrel: of pickerel. They built a platform of 
puncheons across the creek, covered it with 
earth and built a fire at the middle of the 
stream. The two fishermen, one in each end 
of the canoe, picked out the fish with their 
spears as the canoe moved along. Swan were 
often seen from the cabin door, and geese 
and ducks could be shot without going out of 
the way for them. Mr. Stull once killed six 
deer in one day within three miles of home, 
and Charles Lindsey shot nine. Howling 
wolves made night hideous. Sheep required 
constant watching while pasturing and a high 
pen at night. Mr. Stull at one time had thirty- 
three killed in daylight. In five successive 
nights a common steel trap captured five of 
these annoying denizens of the forest. After 
the death of his father Michael Stull came 
into possession of the farm. He married, in 
1829, Diana Baker, of Townsend township. 
Two children survived infancy — Michael, 
jr., and Diana, wife of Jacob Brugh. 

Jonas Gibbs was one of the earliest settlers 
of Erie county, having emigrated there from 
New York in 1808. When Sandusky county 
lands came into market, he purchased five 
hundred and sixty acres near the centre of 
the township, and made an improvement on 
it in 1824, when he removed from Erie 
county. His family at that time consisted of 
five children, viz: Mrs. Cynthia Pierson, 
Dicie, and Isaac (deceased), Jonas, and 
Jeremiah; Mrs. William Woodford was born 
in Riley. This family, being one of the 
wealthiest as well as oldest, took a leading 
part in affairs. 

Isaac Allyn came with the Gibbs family to 
Riley. He entered a large tract of land north 
of the Gibbs farm, and engaged in stock- 
raising, mostly horses and cattle. He made 
his home with Mr. Gibbs for 



six years, and then, having secured a woman 
of his choice as a life companion, removed 
to his farm. No better collections of stock 
could be found in the county than on the 
farms of Jonas Gibbs and Isaac Allyn. 

Christopher Straight, a worthy pioneer of 
the township, came about 1822. Three 
families by the names of Markham, and M. 
Bristol, settled on the school section. Forton 
Twist was well known in the early 
settlement. Charles Lindsey came in at an 
early period, and built a mill on Raccoon 
Creek. 

David Camp, the county surveyor at an 
early period of the settlement, was one day 
travelling the trail road coming from 
Bayrush prairie, and found two bucks in the 
trail with horns locked together. One of them 
was dead, and the other unable to extricate 
himself. Mr. Camp cut the throat of the 
living one. The heads were cut off with the 
horns thus locked, and no one was able to 
separate them, until, about two years 
afterwards, Hiram Rawson got them apart, 
but all efforts to fasten them together again 
in the same manner failed. 

Joseph Harris Curtice was born in 
Hillsborough, New Hampshire, June 25, 
1789. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, 
and after the war came to Ohio, and was 
engaged in carrying the United States mail in 
the southern part of the State for several 
years, having his home in Cincinnati. He 
carried the mail in saddle-bags upon 
horseback. In 1822 he came to Sandusky 
county and purchased two hundred and 
sixty-five acres of land from the 
Government. December 27, 1824, he was 
married to Cynthia Gibbs. To them were 
born three children, viz: Betsey, now Mrs. 
Whittaker, who resides at the old home; John 
H., who was killed by a run-away team, 
October 26, 1868; and Cynthia, who died 
April 14, 1847. Mr. Curtice died May 23, 
1868. He was 



730 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



strong, both mentally and physically, to the 
time of his death. After his evening meal he 
walked about half a mile to see some stock, 
returned home and retired to rest feeling as 
well as usual. About midnight he awoke with 
a severe pain in the region of the heart, and 
died in less than an hour. He was widely and 
favorably known, and in his death the 
community lost an esteemed citizen. 

John Karshner settled in Riley in 1830, 
having moved from Pickaway county, Ohio. 
The farm on which he settled is now owned 
by his son Daniel. The children of John 
Karshner now living are: Daniel; Mrs. Mary 
Black, Ottawa county; and Mrs. Sarah 
Woodford, Riley. Daniel Karshner was born 
in Pickaway county, in 1822. He married, 
first, Martha Cooley, and after her death, 
Lydia Robinson, by whom he has seven 
children — Franklin, Madison township; 
Alfred, Riley; Mrs. Clara Sherrard, Ballville 
township; Mrs. Sarah Plagman, Fremont; 
Anna, Edward, and Willis, Riley. 

The Woodford family settled in this 
township in 1834. Zerah Woodford, one of 
the sons, had, however, preceded the other 
members of the family one year. He was one 
of the first school teachers in the 
southwestern part of the township, and was 
variously employed until 1838, when he 
married Sarah Karshner, and made a 
permanent improvement. His children were 
Lucy, Lovisa, Sarah, Rachel, Henry, Martin, 
and Charles S., the last named being the only 
surviving child. He married Jennie 
Matthews, and has two children, Stewart L. 
and Estella. The parents of the Woodfords 
were Sylvester and Sarah, both of whom died 
in 1834. After their deaths, all returned to 
Trumbull county except Zerah Woodford and 
Aurilla (Higbee). William, who was born in 
Trumbull county, in 1831, May 28, 
afterwards returned to Riley, where, in 1861, 



he married Mrs. R. J. Barkimer, and has 
three children living, Clara J., Alva, and 
Ada. Mrs. Barkimer had by her first 
husband one child, Lewis J. Barkimer. Mr. 
Woodford has been justice of the peace for 
eleven years. He was appraiser of real estate 
in 1880, and has held various other 
township trusts. 

George Jacobs was born in Baden, Ger- 
many, in 1804. He came to America and 
settled in Sandusky county, where he now 
resides, in 1834, being one of the first 
German settlers in that neighborhood. Seven 
children are living, viz: Sarah A. 
(Fronhizer), Riley; George, Missouri; 
William, Fremont; Caroline (Hughes), 
Clyde; Mary Ann (Zeigler), Riley; and 
Charles F., Riley. 

Conrad Wonnan removed from 
Columbiana county and settled in this 
township in 1836. 

William Pierson was born in England in 
1806. He came to Canada in 1815, and 
thence to New York, where he remained till 
1836, when he came to Riley and harried 
Cynthia Gibbs, who still survives. 

William Harris was born in Columbia 
county, Pennsylvania, January 16, 1801. In 
the fall of 1822 he was married to Miss 
Susan Wagner, of the same county. In the 
spring of 1837 he emigrated to Ohio, and, 
after some fifteen years passed in Riley 
township, came to Green Creek township 
and settled on a farm near Clyde. 

In the southwest part of the township John 
Faust was one of the first settlers. He was a 
native of Pennsylvania, settled first in 
Pickaway county, Ohio, and in 1826 began 
improving the farm on which he died in 
1859, and on which his son Elias now lives. 
John was a good shot, and enjoyed hunting 
with all the zest of an ardent youth. Another 
characteristic was story-telling ability. 
There was, of course, a class of prosy, 
matter-of-fact people, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



731 



who were inclined to look upon his stories 
as creations of the imagination, but the 
romance of frontier life (if we are to believe 
old hunters) transcends the imagination of 
the present generation. When Mr. Faust tells 
us that, more than half a century ago, fish in 
Green Creek, protected from the sun by 
unbroken shade and secluded by 
impenetrable forest, were in the habit of 
leaving the sulphurous water to bask in 
mellow air, redolent with the perfume of 
fragrant wild flowers, there is no ground for 
skepticism. Even when he tells us that these 
finny creatures sometimes disturbed the 
peace and quiet of these beautiful banks by 
fierce and angry fights, what right have we 
to shake our heads, for who was there to say 
that such was not the case? There was a 
popular prejudice against confounding 
romance with history. The line between the 
two being crooked and imperceptible at 
places, we prefer not to approach it, but to 
keep upon the high ground of fact, even 
though it is dry and unproductive of that 
fascinating interest which we are permitted 
to see in the distant paradise of romance; 
that paradise is not for the historian to en- 
joy- 

Daniel Schoch and family, from Pennsyl- 
vania, settled in Riley in 1836. There were 
eleven children, of whom Henry, William, 
Edward, and Mrs. Charles Livingstine are at 
present residents of Riley. Edward lives on 
the old homestead. Henry Schoch was born 
in Pennsylvania in 1819. He married 
Catharine Longendoerfer in 1860. They have 
one child, Sarah, living, and two deceased. 
William Schoch was born in Pennsylvania in 
1832. He married Lena Schumacher in 1860, 
and has four children living — Lydia Ann, 
Emma J., George S., and Charles F. William 
died in 1880, aged sixteen years. 

Cyrus Haff, son of Simeon Haff, was born 
in 1825, and spent the early part of 



his life with the family at home in Town- 
send township. In 1862 he married Julia 
Clark, and has one child living, Hollis. Mr. 
Haff resides in Riley township, where he has 
served several times as trustee. 

C. P. Daniels, a son of Jeremiah Daniels, 
of Huron township, Erie county, was born in 
Huron county, in 1814. His father was a 
native of New York. C. P. married, in 1840, 
Laura Higley, and has three children — Clark, 
Riley township; George T., Wood county; 
and Chauncy A., Riley. Mr. Daniels is by 
trade a carpenter; he is also engaged in 
farming. He moved to Riley with his mother 
when thirteen years old, his father having 
died in Huron county. Of the children of 
Jeremiah Daniels, there are four — survivors- 
C. P. Daniels, Riley; Sarah (Hinkley), 
Townsend; George, Riley; and Rachel 
(Higley), Michigan. 

Joseph Haaser was born in France in 1803. 
He emigrated to America in 1830, and 
settled in Pennsylvania, where, in 1833, he 
married Catharine Yost, by whom he had a 
family of nine children, viz: Elizabeth (Litz), 
York township; Mary (Baker), Toledo; 
Barbara (Moyer), Kansas; Catharine (Horn), 
Fremont; Joseph, Fremont; Rebecca (Horn), 
Bucyrus; Frank and Rosa, Riley township; 
and Augustus, Black Hills. The family 
settled in Riley in 1841. Mr. Haaser has 
served his township as trustee. He died June 
29, 1881. 

Samuel Meek settled on the farm where he 
now resides in 1848. He was born in Brooke 
county, West Virginia, in 1806. In 1848 he 
married Sarah Farber, daughter of John and 
Elizabeth Farber, who were among the early 
settlers in Tuscarawas county. She was born 
in that county in 1821. Her parents came 
there from their native State, New Jersey, in 
1807. Mr. and Mrs. Meek have nine children 
living, viz.: W. C. and Thomas 



732 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



H., Riley; John, Townsend; Martin L., Wood 
county; Samuel, James, Elizabeth, Peter, and 
George, Riley. Several of the family are 
teachers. 

Charles Livingstine was born in the eastern 
part of Ohio in 1826. He came to this county 
with his parents, Jacob and Elizabeth 
Livingstine, and has been residing on his 
present farm about thirty years. Soon after 
coming here he married Mary Ann Schoch. 
They have had twelve children, five of 
whom are living, viz: Charles Henry, Mary 
(Vogt), Hattie, John and Robert. Mr. 
Livingstine has a large farm and is a 
successful farmer. He has been justice of the 
peace fourteen years, also served as. 
infirmary director, and in other local offices. 

William B. Sanford was born in Ontario 
county, New York, April 7, 1828. With his 
parents, Zachariah and Mary Sanford, he 
came to this county when three years of age, 
and has since resided here. In 1861 he 
married Mrs. Permelia Barrett, nee Allyn. 
They have had three children, one of whom 
is living — Lois, Almira and Grant. Grant 
resides with his parents. 

James Maurer was born in Pennsylvania in 
1823. He came to this county with his 
father's family in 1830. He married Lydia 
Faust in 1851. The family consists of three 
children, viz: Mrs. Maria Mooney, Hancock 
county; Noah, Riley township; and Simon, 
Hancock county. Daniel and Phebe Maurer, 
the parents of James, were natives of Penn- 
sylvania. They had a family of thirteen 
children, eight of whom are living, namely: 
James, Riley township; Samuel, Washington 
township; Jesse, Michigan; George, 
Washington township; Mrs. Mary Unger, 
Helena; Jacob, Gibsonburg; Mrs. Isabel 
Alstatt, and Aaron, Washington township. 

Adam Lute is a native of Washington 
county, Pennsylvania, and was born in 1805. 
He married in Pennsylvania, and 



has six children living, viz: William, Allen 
county; Lizzie (Daniels), Clyde; S. M., Riley 
township; Catharine (Van Buskirk), Riley; 
Abbie (Smart), Townsend township, and 
Peter, Townsend. S. M. married Mary B. 
McConnell in 1869, and has five children. 

Gustavus A. Wright was born in Town- 
send township in 1837, of Vermont par- 
entage. He married, in 1860, Mary A. Gibbs, 
and has a family of nine children, viz: 
Hosea, Emma, Lillie, Clara, Martha, Millie, 
Ida, Frank, and John. Mr. Wright was 
formerly engaged in the lumber trade, but is 
now farming in Riley township. He is a son 
of Gustavus and Julia Wright. 

Henry Vogt was born in Switzerland in 
1811. He emigrated to America in 1833, and 
settled in Philadelphia, where he remained 
till 1860, when he came to Ohio, and settled 
in this township. He married Magdalena 
Mengold in 1849. The family consists of six 
children: Henry, Ballville township; Albert 
and Lizzie, Riley; William, Sandusky; Frank 
and George, Riley. 

The following list of freeholders previous 
to 1830 is appended, together with the 
number of the section embracing their lots. 
Less than half whose names are given, were 
actual settlers of the township: Andrew 
Stull, 12; Robert Long, 34; Susannah Sutton, 
6; Thomas Sherrard, 30; Robert A. Sherrard, 
13; Jacob A. Smith, 20 and 29; William 
Straight, 14; Samuel Thomas, 31; Henry 
Vanpelt, 21 and 23; Jac Welchhouse, 19; 
Isaac Allyn, 2 and 3; Pascal Bisonette, 2; 
Jacob Bowlus, 21; Ezra Clark, 31; Joseph A. 
Curtice, 15 and 10; John W. Clark, 27; Oscar 
De Forest, (township 6), 36; Charles De 
Forest, 1; Gamaliel Fenn, 17; Jonas Gibbs, 9, 
10, 4 and 3; John Hindman, 9; Peter 
Holbrook, 21; G. H. Hopkins, 11 and 14; 
Jane Hindman, 15; Harriet Hindman, 4; 
Alexander Johnston, 1, 8, 4, 13, 26, 33, 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



733 



32, 6 and 27 — 3,360 acres; Isaac Knapp, 5 
and 6; John Herr, 30; Isaac Lathrop, 17 and 
20; David Lathrop, 22 and 15; John Ash, 6; 
Julia D. Forest, 12; Julia D. Forest, jr., 1; 
Coles Forest, 1. 

Thomas Silverwood entered in 1856, 
sections 34 and 26, township 6. 
MILK SICKNESS. 

What we are about to say under this head 
might more properly come under the chapter 
on Townsend township. But the poisonous 
weed which caused so much sickness and 
distress grew most abundantly on the eastern 
bank of Pickerel Creek, within the limits of 
the township now under consideration. The 
hardships of improving the fertile soil in this 
part of the county were increased by this 
distressing and fatal disease in a greater 
degree than is imagined by the present 
generation. The species of grass which made 
milk a dangerous poison is easily expelled 
by cultivation and has almost ceased to grow 
within the limits of the county. The healthy 
cow that eats it (and cattle are very fond of 
the young and tender shoots) is apparently 
little affected. An old settler informs us that 
he has often seen suckling calves tremble, 
fall cold upon the ground and die, while no 
traces of disorder could be detected in the 
mother animal. People, after in any form 
using the milk from an affected animal, are 
usually taken with a chill. The muscles 
contract and excruciating pain is produced. 
The disease, of course, takes different forms 
as it progresses, sometimes settling into a 
low form of fever and sometimes death 
quickly ended the suffering patient's pains. 
In the days when skilled medical aid was 
scarce, the slightest symptoms of the disease 
caused well founded apprehension. Whole 
families, whole neighborhoods, were at 
times brought to beds of suffering, and many 
to silent graves. It is not to be wondered at 
that many left their improvements 



and sought homes elsewhere while others 
remained away altogether. Here we have an 
example of nature's influence upon history. 
ORGANIZATION. 

The early records of the township have 
been lost, so that it is impossible to give any 
civil history. The territory was formerly 
included in Townsend township, which, at 
one time, embraced Green Creek also. 
SCHOOLS. 

The first school-house in Riley stood on 
section sixteen, near the site of the town- 
house. Caroline Camp taught here a number 
of terms and was held in high regard. 
Teaching school in that early day was a 
profitless employment. The teacher's 
dependence was upon subscriptions. 
Comparatively few families lived near 
enough to the school-house to send their 
small children and the large ones had too 
much to do at home to give attention to so 
"trifling" a matter as "schoolin'." People, 
too, were poor in those days and could not 
afford to pay out more money than the home 
demanded. One dollar a week and board was 
once considered good wages for teaching. 

Zerah Woodford was one of the earliest 
teachers in the southwest part of the town- 
ship. 

The public school system went into effect 
in 1852, since which time good school- 
houses have been built and public instruction 
maintained. The number of districts in 1877 
was increased from eight to nine, and in 
1880 to ten. The generation of men, now 
almost passed away, deserve credit for the 
start they have given our educational system. 
Theirs was a difficult task, being burdened 
with too many cares and difficulties to give 
proper attention to matters of culture. Yet 
they have cleared the way and it is the duty 
of the present period to see that trained 



734 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



teachers raise the standard of intelligence in 
every community. 

MILLS. 

It may seem strange to the young reader 
why, in a history of this character, the small 
and seemingly unimportant mills of an early 
period should receive attention, but those 
who have experienced the difficulties of 
pioneer life will look upon the subject in a 
different light. In a period when people were 
compelled to travel long distances through 
marshy forests and across bridgeless 
streams, with their small grists on the back 
of a horse, and when at length the end of the 
journey was reached days were consumed in 
"waiting their turn," it is not strange the 
building of a mill in the neighborhood 
should be hailed as the beginning of a new 
era, and become an epoch in the history of 
the community; Going to mill has become 
but an evening chore; it once required about 
one-fourth of one man's time to get the 
grinding done for a family. Nor did the 
pioneers enjoy the luxury of flaky flour 
made by the present patent process. The 
wheat was then crushed between rude, ill- 
fitting mill-stones, and then sifted by hand 
through a bolt of coarse canvas. The bolting 
was done by the man owning the grist. This 
was a slow process, and it was no uncommon 
thing for mills to be four days behind, thus 
giving the neighboring taverns a good 
business, while the industrious housewife, 
having scraped clean the flour chest, was 
feeding her children on the hard crusts of 
"johnny cake." The manner of going to mill 
on horseback has already been spoken of. 
Soft ground and thick woods made packing 
the only possible method, and frequent 
streams and marshes prevented heavy 
burdens. An old pioneer has said that the 
custom of putting a stone in one end of the 
bag to balance the grain in the other once 
prevailed in Sandusky county. While we 



would not, under any circumstances, be 
guilty of doubting a statement of a survivor 
of the days gone by, it must be remembered 
that some people confuse the location of 
events. The practice referred to is one of the 
traditions of Berks county, Pennsylvania, 
where ancient architects left in the basement 
wall two cat-holes, one for big cats and one 
for little cats. It is not probable that the old 
balancing idea was ever carried into practice 
in this county. It was hard enough work to 
get the wheat to mill without the stones. 

To Charles Lindsey belongs the honor of 
building the first mill in the township. It was 
located on Raccoon Creek, now a stream of 
no value for water power. While the country 
was new, marshes and springs kept up an 
even water supply throughout the year, and 
although the fall was slight a small buhr was 
run by an undershot wheel. Grinding at this 
mill was a slow operation, but it supplied the 
sparsely populated neighborhood. The saw- 
mill connected with it was scarcely less 
appreciated than the grist-mill. Logs 
afforded very good material for cabin walls, 
but puncheon floors and doors were great an- 
noyances. It was impossible to fit split 
puncheons closely enough to keep out cold 
winds in the winter. Besides, doors were 
heavy and hard to open and shut, while 
floors were uneven and full of splinters. A 
saw-mill once started, boards took their 
place, and the interior of these backwoods 
homes assumed a new appearance. 

The Lindsey mill continued in operation 
until clearings had destroyed the water- 
power. The framework is still standing. 

William and James Beebe built a saw-mill 
on Pickerel Creek during the improvement of 
that part of the county. It is now owned and 
operated by Levi Cowell. 

Jason Gibbs built the first steam saw- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



735 



mill in the township. He removed it about 
1870 to its present location at Riley Centre. 

There are at present two grist-mills in the 
township, both on Green Creek. Eli Faust 
built the first one about 1845. The second 
was built by Mr. Schock in 1850. 
CHURCHES. 

In this township, as in most other pioneer 
communities, the first religious services 
were held in private houses, and these 
meetings were very infrequent and informal. 
Attending church is a part of the regular 
routine of life in old settlements, and the 
loss to emigrants of the comforting 
influences of religious ministrations is the 
cause of much discontent. It is a fact 
inherent in the nature of things that the 
conditions in a new country are not 
favorable to piety. Most emigrants leave 
their homes and neighbors in the hope of 
bettering their condition in a financial sense. 
Money becomes scarce, and the demands 
upon their time are heavy, so that there are 
few people disposed to spend sufficient time 
and money to keep up religious 
organizations. The few, therefore, who are 
anxious to hear the gospel expounded must 
make their own arrangements for it — throw 
open their own houses and entertain the 
travelling preachers and missionaries. 

The Methodist church may well be proud 
of its well organized and sensible missionary 
system. The policy of dividing a sparsely 
populated district into circuits, and giving all 
the people an opportunity of occasionally 
hearing preaching, has been the means of 
making that church the strongest, 
numerically, in the State, and entitles it to 
the distinction of being the most useful 
religious organization in the country. The 
first sermon preached in Riley township was 
at the residence of Mrs. Lathrop, on school 
section number sixteen, by a Methodist 
circuit preacher 



whose name is not remembered. Meetings 
were very frequently held at this house to 
accommodate Mrs. Lathrop's mother, Mrs. 
Bristol, who for sixteen years was both blind 
and lame. She was a devout Methodist, and 
was greatly comforted by the preaching and 
prayers of her brethren. Although the cabin 
was not large it was amply sufficient to 
accommodate the small congregations who 
gathered there. After the erection of the 
school-house on the corner where the town- 
house now stands, meetings were held in it. 

The first Methodist class, and probably the 
first religious society of any kind, was 
organized in Tuttle's school-house in April, 
1853, by W. D. Disbro, presiding elder, and 
Alfred Wheeler, preacher in charge. It was 
known as Tuttle's class, Clyde mission. The 
members were Adam Lutz, Elizabeth Lutz, 
William Lutz, Levi Tuttle, Almira Tuttle, 
Benjamin Twist, Lavina Twist, Zachariah 
Franks, Mrs. Franks, and Rhoda Marks. Of 
these ten first members but three are living- 
William Lutz, Almira Tuttle, and Rhoda 
Marks. Services were held regularly in the 
school-house until 1864, when, on account 
of having no suitable place to meet, the class 
went down. In 1869 the class-book was 
renewed by O. Squires. A formal re- 
organization took place in July, 1871, and it 
was connected with Sand Ridge circuit under 
the name of "Riley." There were at this time 
twelve members. A revival was held in 1875 
during the ministry of Hiram Royce, which 
increased the membership and strengthened 
the cause. Henry C. Martindale and Samuel 
Lane of the United Brethren congregation, 
held a joint revival in 1878, which resulted 
in many conversions and additions to both 
organizations. Since 1871 the following 
ministers have served this class and circuit: 
Thomas Thompson effected the 

reorganization and remained 



736 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



in charge until the conference appointments 
in the fall of 1872; T. J. Gard served till the 
fall of 1873; Hiram Royce till 1875; Hugh 
Wallace till 1876; H. C. Martindale till 
1879; E. L. Smith till 1880, when the present 
pastor, Charles E. Ruddick, came in charge. 

Near the time of the formation of the 
Methodist society, a class of the United 
Brethren in Christ was organized by Rev. 
Mr. Lemmon. No record is extant, but from 
the recollection of one of the first members 
we learn that the first members were: Samuel 
Meek and wife, William Jones and wife, 
William Van Buskirk, wife and two 
daughters, Mr. Scouton and wife, and James 
Walden and wife. Meetings were held in 
Tuttle's school-house until the board of 
directors passed a resolution debarring all 
religious societies. The resolution compelled 
the class to meet at the houses of members 
until the new union church was completed in 
1868. This house was built by the joint 
contribution of both churches. Each church 
has preaching on alternate Sabbaths, thus 
giving the community one preaching service 
each Sabbath. The membership has increased 
to about forty. It is known as the North Riley 
class, Bay Shore circuit. 

South Riley class United Brethren in 
Christ had its beginning in a mission which 
built a log meeting-house in the south part of 
the township about 1855. The interest 
gradually increased and the number of 
communicants grew until, in 1873, a class 
was formed with sixty members. In 1877 it 
was deemed advisable to build a new house 
of worship, but a difference of opinion 
created dissension. A portion of the 
congregation, together with other religious 
professors, founded a society of the 
denomination commonly known as 
Albrights, and built a church half a mile 
further west. These two 



houses were completed the same year. The 
South Riley class has now about fifteen 
members. It is connected with the Bay Shore 
circuit. 

The following heads of families formed the 
Evangelical or Albright church: Christian 
Shultz, Daniel Pocock, Jacob Miller, Jacob 
Stoker, John Gilbert, and Adam Johns. Rev. 
Mr. Whitting was the minister in charge at 
the time of organization. Revs. Evans, 
McMillan and Monk have been the 
successive pastors since. 

The cemetery in the south part of the 
township was laid out by the Brethren 
mission but has since become a public 
burying ground. The population in the south 
part of the township is largely Lutheran and 
Catholic. They worship at Clyde. 
MARSH RECLAIMED. 

Truth has made common the expression: 
"The ingenuity of man knows no bounds." 
At one time the whole west end of the 
county was thought a worthless marsh; but 
cutting down trees and clearing the natural 
water channels of logs and brush made 
cultivation possible and profitable. Several 
thousand acres bordering the Sandusky Bay 
have always been considered absolutely 
worthless except for hunting grounds. The 
experiment of Dr. Robert H. Rice has, 
however, demonstrated that much of this 
marsh land can be reclaimed. The device is 
not new. The fens of Lincolnshire and 
Holland flats are kept out of the water by 
similar methods. 

The reclaimed farm land consists of about 
seven hundred acres, and extends from South 
Creek into the marshes that border the 
Sandusky River. Only about one hundred 
acres of this land is covered with timber, but 
before last year less than three hundred acres 
was tillable, the remainder of the 
underwooded section being covered with 
water, grown deep and green with 




Christidn Schultz 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



737 



marsh sedge, a good breeding ground for 
bullfrogs, and a retreat for mud-hens and 
solitary bittern. Portions not covered 
throughout the year with water were fre- 
quently inundated by wind tides from the 
bay. Dr. Rice had for several years en- 
tertained the idea of draining the marsh and 
excluding the wind tides by means of dikes. 
While in Europe, a few years ago, he made a 
careful examination of the dikes and drains 
in the low lands of England and Holland, 
and on his return home began in earnest to 
carry into execution his long cherished idea. 

In the fall of 1878 he employed ten or 
twelve Danes living near Port Clinton and at 
once set to work. For a year they dug in 
water up to their knees. The ditches were 
kept partially clear, however, by two large 
wind-mills. These Danes were familiar with 
that kind of work and prosecuted it with 
energy in spite of difficulties which would 
have baffled native Americans. 

There are two trenches from ten to twenty 
feet wide and three to five feet deep, 
extending along the lower part of the tract a 
distance of two miles. The earth from these 
excavations is banked up on the outside and 
forms a dike from four to eight feet high. 
This embankment of compact earth 
completely dams out the marsh water on the 
other side and inter-poses an effectual 
fortification against the high waves driven 
by strong northeast winds. 

One trench begins on the high ground near 
the creek and extends in an easterly 
direction, then south. The other runs parallel 
and close to the south bend of the first, 
forming between their dikes an outlet to a 
swamp in the woods at the south — then takes 
an easterly direction. The two trenches are 
connected by a tunnel. The accumulating 
water is drained into these trenches, out of 
which it is 



lifted by machinery. An iron wheel sixteen 
feet in diameter furnished on its 
circumference with twenty paddles, which 
act like buckets, is driven by a ten-horse 
power engine. By means of properly 
arranged races the water is driven into the 
marshes beyond the dike. The wheel 
revolves seven times per minute and each 
bucket dips up a barrel of water. The water 
is therefore poured from the trenches at the 
rate of one hundred and forty barrels per 
minute. In ten hours the trenches can be 
drained dry. This reclaimed land was first 
cultivated in 1880. Plows were drawn by 
four horses the first season, but the rich 
vegetable soil once disturbed becomes a 
light mold and is easily cultivated. The 
whole cost was about four thousand dollars. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



CHRISTIAN SCHULTZ. 

Christian Schultz was born May to, 1820, 
in Alsace, department of Strasburg, county 
of Bichweiler, in Oberhoffen, France. When 
ten years of age he came to the United States 
with his mother, Mrs. Margaret Schultz, his 
father having died when Christian was about 
six months old. He was the only child by the 
first marriage of his mother. She became the 
wife of Albert Strawhacker, and bore five 
other children, of whom three daughters and 
one son are yet living. With this family his 
mother came to America, where her husband 
had gone two years previously. They 
remained near Kenton, in this State, one 
year, then came to the southern part of 
Sandusky county, about one mile west of 
Green Spring, where Mr. Strawhacker had 
entered land, and where the family continued 
to reside. 



738 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Christian Schultz engaged in farming until 
he was about seventeen years of age. Then 
he entered the mills of Jacob Stem at Green 
Spring, and continued this employment 
about twelve years. He commenced work in 
the saw-mill, but during the last eight years 
of this time was engaged in running the 
grist-mill. While at work here, he was united 
in marriage May 26, 1849, to Anna 
Longanbach, daughter of George and Anna 
Longanbach, of Rice township. 

In 1856, in the month of November, having 
purchased a farm, he removed and settled in 
Riley township, on the place which is still 
the home of the family. The farm had a few 
improvements, but Mr. and Mrs. Schultz 
found work enough to keep them busy. 
There was only a small log cabin upon the 
place, and no barn or stable. About forty 
acres of land had been fenced, but it was not 
all improved. The land was wet, and 
remained so until it had been drained. Crops 
were small; little of wheat or other staples 
could be raised. During the first few years of 
his residence here Mr. Shultz devoted a large 
portion of his time to getting out timber for 
staves, hubs, spokes, etc., which he sold, and 
supported the family with the proceeds. 
During the last few years a great change has 
been wrought in this part of the county. 
Twenty-five years ago a trip to Fremont and 
back was an all-day's journey for Mr. 
Schultz. The school-house was three-fourths 
of a mile distant, and during a part of the 
year it was impossible to get to it with a 
team, owing to the condition of the roads. 

But the log cabins have mostly 
disappeared, and in their places stand the 
neat and tasteful residences of today, 
comfortably and even elegantly furnished, 
and barns and outbuildings, with all modern 
improvements. The beautiful and substantial 
dwelling now the home of the 



Schultz family, was the result of the untiring 
labor, and constant, progressive industry of 
Mr. Schultz and his worthy wife. 

Mr. Schultz was an energetic man. Though 
not possessed of great physical strength, he 
could never endure being idle. . Through his 
efforts and economy he prospered, though 
very likely his life was shortened by too 
vigorous exertion. 

Mr. Schultz was an honest farmer, a good 
husband, a kind and indulgent parent, and a 
respected citizen. In his business 
transactions it can safely be asserted that he 
never wronged any man. January 16, 1877, 
he passed peacefully from this life to the 
other, a victim of the dread disease, 
consumption. He had been ill for nearly two 
years, but through the entire period he 
manifested a cheerful disposition and uttered 
few complaints. He was a member of the 
Evangelical Association for twenty years, 
and bore the reputation of being an upright 
and sincere Christian. Politically he was a 
Republican, an anti-slavery man and a true 
lover of his country. 

Mrs. Anna Schultz was born in the 
Province of Wurtemburg, Germany, May 12, 
1829. She was the sixth child of a family of 
thirteen children, eight of whom are living, 
four sons and four daughters. Her parents 
came to the United States in 1836, and 
settled in Seneca county, New York, where 
they remained five and one-half years, 
removing to Rice township, where Mr. 
Longanbach died in July, 1861, in his fifty- 
fourth year. Mrs. Longanbach is still living 
in Sandusky township, at the home of her 
oldest son, Martin. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Schultz were born nine 
children, five of whom are living. Amelia 
Margaret was born October 7, 1850; married 
C. Frederick Jacobs, February 7, 1875; died 
August 8th, the same year. John Frederick, 
born December 




John Zegfer 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



739 



18, 1852; died January 15, 1854. Ezra 
Christian, born October 29, 1854; died April 
2, 1856. Lydia Ann, born December 23, 
1856; died December 23, 1877. Mary 
Elizabeth, born March 6, 1859. Charles 
Martin, born May 12, 1861. Jesse Nelson, 
born February 26, 1863. Ida Elmira, born 
October 12, 1865. Estella Rosine, born June 
24, 1869. Mrs. Schultz belongs to the 
Evangelical Association. Now situated in a 
pleasant home with all her surviving 
children about her, she enjoys the peaceful 
consciousness that in all things she has 
striven to do her duty to her family, her 
neighbors and associates. The Schultz family 
are well known and respected. 



JOHN ZEIGLER. 

Among the early pioneer farmers of 
Sandusky county was Martin Zeigler, a 
native of Hessen, Germany, born in the town 
of Griinberg on the 3d of April, 1795. His 
wife, Catharine E Kruder, was born in the 
same place on the 23d of November, 1796. 
With a family of five children, in June, 
1832, they took passage in a sailing vessel 
from Bremen, and after a stormy voyage of 
seventy-two days arrived at Baltimore, 
Maryland. Here, Martin Zeigler was taken 
with the cholera, which was then raging in 
the city. He escaped with his life, but with 
feeble health, which for some time prevented 
him from taking active measures for his 
family's support, and consequently reducing 
his capital to a considerable extent. They 
removed to Zanesville, and remained there 
until 1835, when, having purchased a tract of 
three hundred and twenty acres of land in 
Riley township, four miles north-east of 
Fremont, they settled themselves 
permanently. A stranger had determined 
upon the purchase of this land at the same 
time with Mr. Zeigler. The former, 



with that intention, left Zanesville by stage, 
for the Government land office at Bucyrus, 
on the same morning that the latter started 
on foot on the same errand. The foot-traveler 
beat the stage by several hours, and 
accomplished his purpose before his 
disappointed competitor put in an 
appearance. Martin Zeigler was a man of 
great energy and perseverance, of sterling 
honesty and uprightness of character. He was 
of nervous disposition, showing this strongly 
in his conversation which he always carried 
on in a remarkably impressive, earnest and 
most excitable manner. He died at his home 
July 24, 1867. His wife died in Fremont, 
February, 3, 1879. They reared a family of 
eight children, all of whom (with the 
exception of their oldest son, Henry, who 
was for twenty-five years one of the leading 
merchants in Fremont), carried on the oc- 
cupation of farming. 

John Zeigler, the subject of the engraving, 
was born at the residence of his parents, 
Martin and Catharine Zeigler, in Riley 
township, on the 15th of December, 1841. In 
1865 he married Mary Jacobs, and lived up 
to the date of his death on the homestead left 
vacant by his father's demise in 1867. His 
death occurred in a violent manner on the 
15th day of August, 1876. While working in 
the field on the morning of the last- 
mentioned date, he was kicked in the 
abdomen by a vicious horse, and died the 
same evening, at the age of thirty-four years, 
leaving a wife and four children. He was an 
exemplary father and husband and a model 
farmer. Through hard labor and ceaseless 
industry he had accumulated a small fortune, 
and had life been granted him, by the time 
he had reached middle age he would have 
been one of the wealthy farmers of that 
district, as he was then a representative man. 
Honesty, frugality, and industry are 
unfailing indicators of ultimate success. 



740 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



CASPER HIRT. 

Casper Hirt, a prominent farmer of Riley 
township, was born the 3d day of August, 
1820, at Stilli, Canton Aargau, Switzerland. 
His parents were in limited circumstances, 
and had a large family. Under such 
conditions Casper Hirt concluded, in the 
year 1848, after the struggle of the Helvetic 
government, in which he was personally 
engaged, against her rebellious Cantons 
(Sonderbund); to emigrate to America, 
where better prospects are offered a poor 
man than in his native country. He came to 
Ohio, but not pleased with his fortune yet, he 
started about two years after for California. 
To travel from Ohio to California on foot, 
over the vast plains and deserts of the un- 
settled territories was in that time no small 
undertaking. Having arrived there Mr. Hirt 
met with fortunate circumstances. 
Nevertheless he was discontented, and, 
being fond of travelling, the new reports of 
very rich gold mines in Australia led him to 
new adventures. But he was badly 
disappointed in his hopes. He turned back to 
California again, but experienced a voyage 
over the Pacific of great privation and 
hardship. Gold could not deliver him from 
the suffering of homesickness. He was 
longing painfully for his native country. In 
May, 1854, he reached Switzerland again, 
and remained at his home until the fall of the 
same year, and then started, accompanied by 
a large num- 



ber of emigrants, for America. After his 
arrival at Philadelphia he married Miss 
Fanny Vogt, born November 24, 1826, in 
Villigen, Canton Aargau, Switzerland. From 
Philadelphia he came to Ohio, and settled in 
Riley township, Sandusky county, the 
present residence of his family. In 
consequence of his industry, economy, and 
skill as a farmer, he made rapid progress in 
the accumulation of an estate. In the summer 
of 1878, he visited his native land for the 
second time. During his life he crossed the 
Atlantic Ocean five times, and the Pacific 
twice. In politics he was a Democrat. His 
family consisted of eight sons and one 
daughter — John Henry, born August 16, 
1855, died January 21, 1877; Charles, born 
February 2, 1857; Samuel I., born August 
20, 1858; Anna Maria Eliza, born June 10, 
1860; Frederick Franklin, born February 18, 
1862; Henry Albert, born April 20, 1864; 
Edward Ursinius, born April 20, 1867; 
Adolph, born April 24, 1869; Lewis S., born 
October 26, 1872. 

Mr. Hirt was brought up a member of the 
German Reformed church, and at-tended its 
services throughout life. 

In the long and severe winter of 1881 Mr. 
Casper Hirt died (February 3d), in 
consequence of a bad cold, which turned into 
a lung disease, aged sixty years and six 
months. By his death his family lost a tender 
husband and father, the township a good 
citizen, and his neighbors a true friend. 




Of 



ff 



* 
* 




JACKSON, 



AT a session of the county commission- 
ers, held in December, 1829, town-ship 
four, range fourteen was constituted a 
separate town, with corporate powers and 
privileges. The name was conferred in honor 
of the celebrated general, who was then 
serving his first year as President of the 
United States. For several years after 
settlement began in the county, this township 
and its western ands northern neighbors 
seemed a blot upon the face of the earth. The 
black surface earth, by its own robe of dense 
forest and luxuriant undergrowth of shrubs 
and grasses, had entirely excluded the light 
and heat of the sun. Vegetable gases rested 
upon the surface, undisturbed by a troubled 
atmosphere, and year by year the soil was 
absorbing chemical elements which, under 
cultivation, have made large houses and fat 
bank accounts. 

But before the period of clearing and 
grubbing, all this level tract was a con- 
tinuous marsh, and where now heavy ears of 
corn are bowing to the ground, fifty years 
ago only muskrats and snakes were able to 
live. 

The general surface slope of the town-ship, 
is toward the northeast, the three, principal 
streams — Wolf Creek, Muskallonge, and 
Mud Creek-flowing in that direction. The 
valleys of these streams are scarcely 
perceptible, and the channels are shallow. 

A heavy stratum of limestone underlies the 
black vegetable earth, mixed with de- 
composed particles worn from the rock 
surface during the glacial period of geolog- 



ical history. The lime element greatly 
increases the productiveness of the soil. 
Long before man appeared on the face of the 
earth, and while this sheet of limestone rock 
was yet uncovered, huge mountains of ice, 
bearing at their base massive ledges of 
northern rocks, were slowly forced 
southward. These hard fragments of a harder 
and deeper stratum, called boulders, moved 
under great pressure, and ground from the 
native limestone surface a powder which, 
when a warmer age had reduced the glaciers 
to water, formed the basis of our fertile soil. 
A belt of boulders across the township marks 
the path of one of these moving ice moun- 
tains. These boulders came from north of 
Canada, and were transported more than a 
thousand miles. But this subject can not be 
understood without a general knowledge of 
the science of geology. The facts of 
geological history are as plainly and 
unmistakably written in the structure and 
conformation of the rocks as. the events of 
human history are recorded on tablets and 
scrolls. 

Nowhere is the relation between natural 
resources and industrial progress better 
shown than in Jackson township. A territory 
which fifty years ago was an unreclaimed 
wilderness will now compare favorably in 
improvement and wealth with any similar 
agricultural district in Ohio. In the winter of 
1828 the first road was cut through the 
woods, and, by means of logs and brush, 
made passable for a wagon from 
Muskallonge to the Sandusky River. Piked 
roads now accommodate every 



741 



742 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



corner of the township. Large, well-repaired 
houses and barns are evidence to the stranger 
of the productiveness of the soil and 
prosperity of the farmers. 

There is practically no water power. The 
creeks are small, and their shallow channels 
do not admit high dams. 

Stone is quarried in several places. The 
ballasting of the two railroads which cross at 
Burgoon comes from these quarries, and 
large quantities are used on the public 
highways. 

ORIGINAL PROPRIETORSHIP. 

The first entries of land within the limits 
of township four, range fourteen, were re- 
corded in 1828, and the last entry was made 
in 1852. Many changes of owner-ship took 
place at the beginning and during the period 
of early settlement, so that the man who 
made the first purchase did not, in every 
case, make the first improvement. But no 
improvements, except temporary squatter 
shanties, were made before the entries. 
Settlement, in most cases, followed soon 
after the transfer from the Government. The 
following table will, therefore, show in a 
general way the date and location of 
improvements, as well as give the names, 
among others, of most of the early settlers. 
Many early settlers, however, purchased 
wild land at second hand; their names, 
therefore, do not appear in this list: 

Entries were made in 1828 as follows: 

SECTION. ACRES. 

Jacob Nyce 1 81 

Thomas Nicholson 35 80 

Daniel Tyndall 2 80 

John Billsland 1 169 

Smith Clauson 25 160 

John Custard 24 80 

J. and H. F. Hartrell 25 80 

Samuel Henderson 35 80 

Elizabeth Kendall 1 160 

Elizabeth Kendall 2 160 

The following entries were made in the 
year 1829: 



SECTION. ACRES. 

Jacob Bruner.jr 24 80 

Christian Bruner 24 80 

JohnBruner 24 79 

The following entries were made in the 
year 1830 : 

SECTION. ACRES. 

Caleb Cooplin 11 80 

George Foltz 1 81 

Peter F.Ludwig 35 160 

Adam Zarung 36 80 

The following entries were made in the 
year 1831: 

SEC TI0 N. ACRES. 

George Phillips 2 88 

Samuel Treat 14 160 

In 1833 the following entries were made: 

SEC TI0 N. ACRES 

William Carr 2 88 

Martin Reaper 13 80 

In 1834 entries were made as follows: 

SEC TI0 N. ACRES. 

Joseph Cookson 12 80 

JohnM. Garn 8 80 

JohnM. Garn 7 80 

John Garn 7 80 

George Kessler 11 160 

George Kessler 12 80 

Joseph Leib 36 560 

Gilbreath Stewart 18 80 

The following entries were made in 1835: 

SECTION ACRES 

William Andrew 18 80 

Daniel Green 25 80 

John Madding 4 333 

George Overmyer 2 180 

George Stockbarger 4 89 

George Stockbarger 3 92 

Henry Spohn 4 87 

James Stult 3 80 

John Garn 8 80 

David Holts 5 160 

John Madding 5 80 

JohnRiddell 5 80 

The following entries were made in 1835, 
subject to taxation in 1840: 

SEC TI0 N. ACRES. 

Matthew Barringer 3 46 

W. E. Chenowith 10 40 

Jacob Faber 3 136 

Thomas Gassago 3 40 

John Graves 3 45 

John Graves 11 89 

Peter Hicky 21 40 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



743 



SECTION. ACRES 

John Hummel 8 40 

Samuel Hofford 10 80 

David Hoplin 20 40 

D. McCollough 11 80 

J.H.Morrison 12 160 

David Ripley 6 80 

Flora Rodgers 13 40 

John Seavault 23 80 

Cynthia Spencer 22 40 

Henry Bason 5 40 

Entries are recorded in 1836 as follows: 

SECTION. ACRES 

William Andrew 18 80 

Jacob Bruner 27 80 

Jacob Bruner 26 160 

Jacob Bruner 13 80 

John Brubaker 2 80 

Michael McKinney 35 80 

John Stump 25 160 

Peter Sypher 18 80 

Jacob Shiltz 14 80 

Christian Dersham 6 160 

William Russell 17 80 

William Russell 7 80 

William Vernon 17 158 

The following lands were entered in 1836, 
taxable in 1842: 

SECTION. ACRES 

Jeremiah Brown 19 153 

Hartman Bower 9 80 

Martin Bruner 13 40 

Samuel Fry 31 40 

William Hederman 30 80 

Jacob Krum 31 80 

Lewis Overmyer 15 40 

C. W. A. Rodgers 10 160 

Andrew Ruffner 4 80 

Rufus Spencer 19 73 

Jesse Stone 13 80 

Newell Wolcott 30 36 

George Wild 9 40 

R. Dickinson 5 40 

The following entries were made in 1837: 

SECTION. ACRES 

John Carnes 6 168 

Jeremiah Brown 19 149 

Henry Havens 10 160 

John Ickes 6 86 

Hugh lams 12 80 

James Keith 11 80 

Samuel King 3 160 

Conrad Miller 22 160 

Hugh Mitchell 22 80 

Jacob Overmyer 15 160 

Daniel Roads 23 80 

David Ripley 7 80 



The following entries were made in the 
year 1838: 

SECTION. ACRES. 

Daniel Baker 35 40 

Jacob Fry, jr 30 73 

Leonard Gebhan 12 40 

S. P. Henthom 22 40 

Jacob Henry 32 40 

George Hollinger 34 80 

John Ickes 6 86 

Abram Johnson 14 80 

Hugh Mitchell 22 40 

John Mowry 33 80 

Daniel Roads 12 80 

John Thrause 1 8 37 

Martin Garn 5 160 

Andrew Roszell 35 80 

The following entries were made in 1839: 

SEC TI0 N. ACRES 

William H. Bair 7 77 

Jacob Dawhower 7 77 

Isaac Posey 5 80 

Henry Baughman 15 240 

J. W. Baughman 1 120 

David Baughman 9 80 

Josiah Bair 18 37 

John Betz 29 40 

John Bruner 24 80 

George Bobletz 27 80 

John Betz 29 80 

George Bobletz 27 80 

M. Barringer 13 40 

M. Betz 21 80 

John Betz, sr 30 80 

Christian Bruner 13 80 

Martin Bruner 13 40 

Henry Burkhett 23 60 

James Canfield 17 80 

Calvin Catkin 22 40 

Amos Catkin 26 40 

Stephen Dickens 35 80 

Jacob Disler 28 160 

Jacob Disler 29 40 

George Dunbar 34 40 

Jacob Disler 28 120 

Jacob Disler 29 80 

Jacob Disler 30 80 

Stephen Dickens 35 40 

Isaac Dickens 27 80 

John Doll 10 60 

Daniel Mowry, jr 33 80 

John Mair 26 40 

James McGowen 15 40 

Peter Miller 30 80 

Peter Miller 19 80 

Elijah Moody 12 40 

Hugh Overmyer 21 80 



744 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



SECTION. ACRES 

Isaac Robbins 8 80 

George Rapp 24 240 

Samuel Rickel 31 80 

Jonathan Robbins 17 16o 

William Robbins 17 40 

Philip Siler 28 40 

George Stoner 34 160 

George Stoner 27 16o 

Christian Stoner 34 80 

Andy Swickard 8 16o 

Andy Swickard 3 40 

Andy Swickard 4 40 

Silas Stafford 26 16o 

George N. Snyder 6 80 

Robert Tevis 14 80 

Robert Tevis 23 80 

James Tissue 27 40 

Jacob Vandersall 20 16o 

Jacob Vandersall 29 16o 

Peter Walter 29 80 

Jacob Winter 21 120 

Joseph Whitmore 21 80 

Peter Whitmore 20 80 

Peter Yost 27 40 

Jacob Fry, jr 30 36 

JohnErb 28 16o 

Jacob Fry 30 80 

Jacob Fry 31 80 

Jacob Fry 32 80 

John Fahi 28 80 

J. G. Gaphard 28 74 

George Gehr 28 240 

George Gehr 31 40 

George Gehr 32 40 

David Greene 25 40 

Henry Hone 3 40 

Henry Hone 4 40 

Henry Hollinger 34 160 

S. P. Henthorn 14 82 

S. P. Henthorn 23 80 

Abraham Helm 20 16o 

Isaac Hite 25 40 

John Inkes 12 40 

Abram Johnson 9 40 

Lewis Johnson 9 40 

George Kemp 33 80 

John Lytle 18 75 

Archer Ford 34 40 

Joseph Mayor 8 40 

John Miller 11 16o 

John Mercer 26 40 

Daniel Mowry 33 160 

In 1840 lands were entered as follows: 

SECTION. ACRES 

John Leshler 21 160 

Barney Myers 26 40 

Samuel Myers 26 40 



SECTION. ACRES. 

Joseph Myers 8 40 

Catharine Murray 31 78 

John Mowry 32 80 

Jesse Mowry 32 80 

David Mowry 32 40 

William McFarland 22 40 

James Russell 1 120 

Ludwig Schwartz 15 80 

John Stand 17 80 

Elijah Voorhees 26 40 

Jacob Winter 21 80 

Peter Warner 32 0.8 

Benpri Williams 8 40 

John Weaver 22 80 

John Weaver 14 160 

Michael Betz 31 151 

Peter Brouff. 20 40 

George Bolander 33 80 

William H. Bair 18 37 

Jacob Bowman 20 120 

Jacob Bowman 9 200 

John Betz 30 73 

Jacob Bayor 33 40 

Meshack Fried 27 80 

John G. Gossard 18 37 

Isaac Hite 25 40 

Samuel Henry 32 40 

Martin Hopkins 19 120 

Martin Hopkins 20 40 

Daniel Hite 13 80 

Samuel Henry 32 40 

P. M. Haas 23 40 

John Houseman 26 40 

Jacob Henry 32 80 

Jesse Inks 3 46 

John Inks 12 40 

Samuel Ludwig 1 40 

Samuel Ludwig 22 80 

Samuel Ludwig 23 80 

Moses Lyth 8 80 

Joseph W. Lyth 17 80 

The following entries were made in 1852: 

SECTION. ACRES 

Charles Choate 23 40 

Martin Kagey 30 73 

Benpri Walters 10 40 

THE SETTLEMENT. 

The first man to penetrate the thick forest 
and inhospitable marsh which once covered 

the whole of this township, was Peter Stultz. 

He was soon after followed by his brother, 
Henry Stultz. They were natives of New 

Jersey, and emigrated to Ohio about 8808. 
They settled in Frank' 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY, 



745 



lin county where they remained until 1828. 
That year Peter, first, and then Henry, 
erected cabins and removed their families to 
Muskallonge, near the bridge on the 
Greenesburg pike. They were not, however, 
left long to the solitary enjoyment of forest 
life. Others soon followed their trail and 
pushed even further into the uninviting 
wilds, to the banks of Mud Creek. The creek 
lands were dryest, and consequently were the 
first chosen. Gilbreath Stewart was the 
probable builder of the third cabin. He 
located near the Mud Creek bridge, on the 
Greenesburg pike. There was at that time no 
road in the township. Settlers made their 
way through the woods as best they could, 
now and then cutting down a tree where it 
was impossible to get between. In the winter 
of 1828 the county commissioners, on the 
petition of Henry Stultz, granted a public 
road from Muskallonge to Chamber's mill on 
the Sandusky River. This road was cut 
through that winter, the logs and brush being 
used to bridge the swamp. Henry Stultz 
erected on his lot a saw-mill. This was a 
high water mill, the water in Muskallonge 
during most of the year not being sufficient 
to drive the machinery. 

The Stultz family remained but about five 
years, and from here removed to Indiana. 
These two brothers had been leading 
citizens. 

In the spring of 1829, David Klotz* removed 
his family from Bedford county, Pennsylvania, 
and came to this township, John Garn being one 
of the party. After remaining at Chamber's mill, 
on the river, about one week, they followed the 
west-ward trail, passed the Stultz improvement, 
and finally arrived at the cabin of Gilbreath 
Stewart, where they were received until a cabin 
was completed. In the course of a couple of 
weeks the log frame 

*Now spelled Klutz 



was covered, and the family, consisting of 
five persons, moved in. No chimney had yet 
been built, and the cooking was done on the 
outside, except in rainy weather, when smoke 
was left to find its way through the cracks in 
the sides and roof. 

David Vernon moved to this township in the 
fall of 1829, and his son-in-law, Mr. 
Campbell, immediately set to work to make 
an improvement. Mr. Vernon was a retired 
Scotch merchant, a bred gentleman, and stood 
high in the regard of the early citizens of 
Lower Sandusky, where he lived for a time. 
An incident once occurred in Olmsted s store 
which shows that the spirit of Puritan 
Scotland had not forsaken him, even in this 
wicked border town. Judge Howland, a man 
habitually profane in conversation, became 
provoked, and swore terribly. As soon as 
Howland had left the group, Vernon, then a 
late immigrant, with an expression of surprise 
and indignation, enquired: 

"Da you cavil that mon Judge? 

On being informed that that was his office, 
the high-bred Scot continued: 

"Indade, saire, and you mak' such mon 
judge in this America! In Scotland, saire, they 
wud scarcly allow him to ba a wetness." 

It is said that when the family were moving 
to this township they stopped at the Klutz 
cabin, where an interesting situation of affairs 
can be imagined. The Scotch people made 
several enquiries which the good Dutch 
people of that home were unable to 
understand. After enthusiastic gesticulation 
on both sides, an understanding was finally 
arrived at. A bountiful supper was spread, and 
although the guests could not understand their 
hosts, or the contrary, their friendship became 
mutual. The Vernons were all good people, 
but unfortunate. Sickness afflicted them and 
two of them died, A small lot was set apart 
for a 



746 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



burying-ground, which has since become a 
public cemetery — the Metzger cemetery, in 
Scott township. David Klutz was buried in 
this graveyard in 1834. 

John Garn made an improvement on Mud 
Creek. He was a native of Bedford county, 
Pennsylvania, and came to this county with 
the Klutz family. Here he married Catharine 
Garn, a second cousin. He built a saw-mill 
on Mud Creek, which has long since been 
abandoned. 

John Waggoner first settled within the 
limits of this township but soon moved down 
the creek, and is more properly classed with 
the pioneers of Washington township. 

These few settlements attracted the at- 
tention of the many emigrants then seeking 
homes. It now began to appear that the 
swamp wilderness could be made a fit place 
for the habitation of man. The spring of 1832 
brought from Pennsylvania, and from the 
counties of Central and Southern Ohio 
family after family. The scenes of a decade 
earlier in York and Townsend, had now 
become the every day life of the "Black 
Swamp" country. It is impossible in the 
scope of this book to sketch every family 
that came to the township. But it is due to 
those who endured the toil and bore the self- 
sacrifice of pioneer life, that their names 
should be preserved to posterity. 

George Overmyer, a native of Nor- 
thumberland county, Pennsylvania, came to 
Ohio and settled in Perry county, in 1804, 
and lived there until 1829, when he came to 
Sandusky county, and settled soon after in 
this township, near the centre. Lewis 
Overmyer joined him in the spring of 1832. 
Both were highly respected citizens. Daniel 
Overmyer died March 28, 1859, leaving a 
family of ten children — six boys and four 
girls. 

Daniel Overmyer, a son of George 
Overmyer, came to the township with his 



father, and has been a resident all his life, 
except about ten years, during which he 
lived in Washington township. He married, 
in 1838, Elizabeth Overmyer, by whom he 
had six children, two of whom are living — 
Joel and George W. She died in 1849. He 
married for his second wife, in 1854, Harriet 
Coon, whose father, Adam Coon, settled in 
this township in 1853. William H., Charles 
L., Cornelius K. and Adam N. are the 
children by his second wife. Mr. Overmyer 
has held nearly all the local official trusts 
within the gift of the people of his township. 

John Moomy, a native of Pennsylvania, 
came with his parents to Pickaway county, 
Ohio. In 1830 he came to this township, 
where he has resided since that time. He has 
helped to improve the township and seen it 
transformed from a wilderness into a garden 
of plenty. He married Elizabeth Abbott, who 
gave birth to seven children, five of whom 
are still living. 

John Mowry was one of the first to 
penetrate the damp and unbroken wood- 
lands of the southern part of Jackson. He 
was born in Northumberland county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1808, being the fifth of a 
family of eleven children. He married, in 

1831, Eliza Gear, born in Cumberland 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1810. The fruit of 
this union was nine children, five of whom 
are living — William A., Aaron J., Absalom, 
Sarah E., and Amos G. Mr. Mowry is the 
type of the real pioneer. He saw in the 
uninviting swamp, to which he came in 

1832, rich possibilities, and all his energies 
were devoted to the development of them. 

Hugh and Mary (Huff) lams, both natives 
of Bedford county, Pennsylvania, emigrated 
with their family to Franklin county, Ohio, 
in the year 1811. In 1832 they came to 
Sandusky county and settled in Jackson, 
where Mr. lams died in 1838. The family 
consisted of ten children, four 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



747 



boys and six girls. Jasper lams, the fifth 
child, was born in Franklin county, in 1821. 
In 1844 he married Mary A. Moomy, of this 
township, and lived here until 1857, when he 
moved to Washington township, his present 
residence. Mr. lams' family consists of 
eleven children, four boys and seven girls. 
Their names are as follows: Harriet, 
Elizabeth, John, Mary, Minerva, Sarah, 
Franklin, Russell, Jesse, Marcella and Etta. 

Michael and Eleanor Shawl emigrated to 
Ohio in 1822 and settled in Seneca county. 
Two years later they removed to Sandusky 
township, this county, but made final 
settlement in Jackson, in 1832. Seven 
children of the family are living viz: 
Margaret (Remsburg), Illinois; Elizabeth 
(Michaels), Indiana; Sophia (Remsburg), 
Seneca county; George W., Jackson 
township; Vincent, Illinois; Melissa 
(Vandersall), Seneca county, and Caroline 
(Overmyer), Scott township. George W. 
Shawl was born in Sandusky township in 
1832. He married in 1854, Mahala Havens. 
The fruit of this union was six children, five 
of whom are living. John W., Alamina, 
Birchard, Hattie, and Edwin. Caroline Shawl 
was born in 1843. She was married to 
Benjamin Franklin Overmyer in 1862. Their 
family consists of two children living — 
William G. and Hattie. B. F. Overmyer died 
in February, 1879, aged thirty-nine years. He 
was a son of Hugh and Eleanor Overmyer, of 
Jackson township. His mother is still living 
in Huron county. 

George Gier, a native of Carlisle, Penn- 
sylvania, came to the township in 1832 and 
settled near the site of Burgoon crossing. His 
descendants have all left the township. 

Hugh Mitchel, a brother-in-law of Lewis 
Overmyer, came in about the same time. He 
was one of the most useful men of the times. 
His presence seemed 



necessary at every log-rolling and raising, 
where, all recognizing his superior tact, 
placed themselves under his command. His 
familiar voice sounding the "Heave, oh, 
heave" had a peculiar inspiring effect. He 
was not one of those rural generals who 
insulted a jolly crowd by imperious 
commands, but always with a good natured 
"Come on, boys," led the way. Nor did he 
ever refuse the heaviest hand-spike. But an 
untimely death deprived the community of 
his services. While holding the handspike he 
called out, "Take care of me," and in a few 
minutes expired. His son, William Mitchel, 
is still a resident of the township. He was 
born in Perry county, in 1832, and in 1850 
married Sarah J. Stewart. The fruit of this 
union was five children, two of whom are 
living — Charles E. and Austin. Mr. Mitchel 
served in this township as trustee a number 
of years. 

George Roberts removed from Perry 
county, Ohio, and settled in Jackson 
township in 1833. He remained a resident 
here until his death, in 1880. The family 
consisted of seven children. John Roberts, of 
Washington township, and a son of George 
Roberts, was born in this township in 1835. 
In 1867 he married Louisa Hufford. Their 
family consists of six children — Annie, 
Edwin, William, George, Nettie, and Sarah. 

Samuel King settled on the pike in 1833. 

George Camp settled southwest of 
Burgoon Station in 1833. 

Samuel Clinger removed from Hocking 
county, Ohio, to Jackson, in 1833, and was 
one of the first settlers of the eastern part of 
the township, on Wolf Creek. He was 
married in 1831 to Anna Hite, who, with 
their oldest son, John H., came with him to 
the new home, which has been his residence 
since that time. The other three children — 
Mary A., Sarah, and 



748 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Elizabeth J. — were born in this township. 
Mrs. Clinger died June 1, 1873. John H., 
born in 1832, their only son, lost his first 
wife, Mary A. Ridley, whom he married in 
1856, in 1865. He married for his second 
wife, August, 1868, Sarah M. Wise. His 
children are Daniel M., Samuel J., and 
Estella. Mrs. Clinger had by her first 
husband one child, Emma A. (O'Bryan). 

About 1835 the Hite family removed from 
Fairfield county and settled in the 
southeastern part of this township, where 
representatives of the family are still living. 
Isaac Hite, sr., was the father of five sons, 
all of whom settled, lived, and died in 
Jackson township, with one exception, Isaac, 
who died in Michigan in 1881. Their names 
were: Abraham, John, Isaac, Thomas, and 
Martin. There were also five daughters: 
Anna became the wife of Samuel Clinger; 
Sarah married Jesse Holt; Polly, and Nelly 
(Eldridge); Betsy married David Hill, and 
lives at Green Spring, she being the only 
survivor of the family. Isaac Hite, sr., 
married a second time. Seven children by 
this marriage are living. 

Abraham Hite came with his parents, and 
lived where his son Thomas now resides, 
from 1842 until his death in 1858. He 
married Susan Bruner, a native of 
Pennsylvania. But one of their children is 
living. 

Thomas A. Hite, son of Abraham Hite, was 
born in this township in 1840. In 1862 he 
married Catharine King, by whom he had 
two children, one of whom, George W., is 
living. For his second wife, in 1867, he 
married Sophia King, born in Seneca county 
in 1844, by whom he has three children- 
Rolland D., Myra S., and Cora E. Mr. and 
Mrs. Hite are both working members of the 
United Brethren church. Mr. Hite is a 
carpenter, and has worked at his trade about 
five 



years, but is now giving exclusive attention 
to farming. 

Jacob Winter came from York county, 
Pennsylvania, to Ohio, in 1830, and settled 
in Wayne county, where he remained until 
1833, when he removed to this township. 
From that time to the present he has been a 
leading citizen of the county, and taken an 
important part in the affairs of his 
community. 

Francis M. Winter was born in 1845. He 
married, in 1866, Samantha Fry, daughter of 
George Fry, of this township. They have one 
child, William F. Mr. Winter served in the 
army. He was a member of company H, One 
Hundred and Sixty-ninth regiment Ohio 
National Guards, from May 2, 1864, until 
September 4, 1864. 

Another of the settlers of 1833 was Peter 
Whitmore, who was born in Bedford county, 
Pennsylvania, July 7, 1801. He was a 
resident of the township until the time of his 
death, which occurred in March, 1875. He 
was accompanied to the county by his wife, 
Catharine Stofer, whom he married in 1832. 
The fruit of this union was seven children — 
six boys and one girl — Joseph, Fulton 
county; Jacob, Jackson township; Samuel, 
Michigan; Levi, deceased; John, deceased, 
Andrew, Fremont; and Susanna (Smith), 
Fulton county. 

Peter Warner, a son of Jacob Warner, was 
born in Union county, Pennsylvania, April. 
15, 1821. The family emigrated to Ohio, and 
settled in Wayne county in 1826, and 
remained there until about the year 1833, the 
time of coming to this township. Peter 
Warner has been married twice, first to 
Susannah Ickes; she died in 1863. He 
married, in 1866, Elizabeth Lockland. The 
family consists of three children — John M., 
Aaron N., and Howard M. Mr. Warner is a 
carpenter, and worked at that trade until 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



749 



about 1850, since which time he has been 
farming. 

Andrew Swickard was brought with his 
parents from Washington county, Penn- 
sylvania, to Franklin county, Ohio, when he 
was quite young. In 1833 he made an 
improvement in Jackson, and removed here 
with his family. The first camp-meeting in 
the township was held on his farm. He died 
in 1849. Of a family of four children but one 
is still living. Daniel, the second child, was 
born in Franklin county in 1824. He married 
Harriet Metzger, who died in 1850. He 
married in 1851, for his second wife, Sarah 
A. Garn, who was born in Washington 
township in 1834. His family consisted of 
eleven children, seven of whom are still 
living. Their names are as follows: Marietta 
(Vandersall), Jackson; Huldah (Cramer), 
Fremont; and a son who died an infant. 
These were by Mr. Swickard's first wife. By 
his second wife: Margaret M. (Havens), 
Jackson; Perry D., Scott; Elba J., Jackson; 
Isaac, died, aged eight years; Eli, Jackson; 
Deborah (Dudgeon), Scott; Clark died at the 
age of two months and seventeen days; and 
another son died in infancy. 

This brief notice of the settlers of 1833 
cannot be closed without speaking of the 
Havens family. Henry Havens was born in 
New Jersey in 1809. At an early age his 
father moved to Ohio. In 1832 Henry 
married Sarah lames, and chose for his home 
the then new country of Jackson township, 
where he moved soon after. He and his wife 
bore a full share of the labor and self- 
sacrifice of pioneer life. Mr. Havens, after 
serving his community and family faithfully, 
"closed the earth chapter of life in 1853," at 
the age of forty-four years. His wife 
preceded him two years. William J. Havens, 
oldest child of Henry Havens, was born in 
this county December 13, 



1833. He married Ann M. Paden, who was 
born in this county the same year. The fruit 
of this union was ten children, eight of 
whom are still living. Mr. Havens served his 
township as treasurer for a period of ten 
years. 

Birchard Havens was born August 16, 
1846. He married, in 1867, Elizabeth C. 
Overmyer, daughter of Lewis Overmyer, 
They have four children — Clara, Harriet, 
Myrta, and Adella, all of whom except 
Myrta are still living. 

Six children of the family of Henry Havens 
survive, viz: William J., Hugh, Mahala 
(Shawl), Birchard, Orra (Stahl), Jackson 
township; and Mary J. (Carr), Michigan. 

The township after 1833 filled up rapidly 
with an industrious class of people, whose 
axes made the forests ring in every direction. 
Roads were laid out and the natural water 
courses cleared of logs and underbrush, so 
that the fertile soil became dry and ready for 
the plow. During the winter and spring few 
days passed without a raising or log-rolling 
somewhere. Later in the spring the evening 
sky, in all directions, reflected the leaping 
flames of burning logs and brush. There is 
something romantic and fascinating in the 
imagined scene, but when all the realities of 
that period of work and privation are 
contemplated, the picture loses its agreeable 
cheerfulness. Looking from this distance we 
are too apt to see in fancy only the spectres 
outlined on a background of dull horizon, by 
curling smoke from clearing fires. It is well 
to appreciate the poetry of pioneer times, for 
it is the gold which occupies small fissures 
in the great granite mass of that life. 

We will notice briefly a few of the rep- 
resentative families who have become 
citizens of Jackson since the period of early 
settlement, which we have arbitrarily fixed 
at previous to 1833. 



750 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



Elijah Voorhies, a native of Hamilton, New 
Jersey, emigrated to Ohio in 1834, and 
settled in the eastern part of the township, 
where he lived until his death, February 11, 
1863. His family consisted of ten children, 
eight of whom are still living — five boys and 
three girls. Oliver D., the ninth child, lives 
on the homestead on which his father settled 
in 1834. He was born July 12, 1843. August 
22, 1863, he married Lucina Schoch, who 
died in 1871. In 1872 he married, for his 
second wife, Sophia Stahl. The fruit of both 
marriages is five children — Mary J., Vernon 
B., Benjamin W., George and Frederick. 

John Doll, a native of Pennsylvania, came 
to Ohio in 1834, with his family, and settled 
near the centre of this township, where he 
lived until his death, in 1871. He was 
married in Pennsylvania to Catharine Day 
Hoff, by whom he had a family of eleven 
children, seven boys and four girls. Samuel, 
the sixth child, was born in 1835. In 1859 he 
married Mary A. Hummel, whose father, 
George Hummel, settled in this township in 
1833. Eleven children blessed this union, 
viz: Artemus J., Mary C, Harmanus, John 
Leroy, Lucy M., Eddie, George W., Elsie E., 
Orvill, Arvilda, and Estella. Harmanus, John 
Leroy, Eddie, and George W. are dead. 

Daniel Mowry removed from Pennsylvania 
to Stark county, Ohio, in 1823, and after a 
residence there of several years he removed 
to Wayne, whence, in 1834, he came to 
Sandusky county. His son Samuel, who was 
born in Centre county, Pennsylvania, in 
1820, married, in 1844, Rebecca J. 
Rosenberger, and is father of a family of five 
children living, viz: Sarah J., George W., 
Michael N., Alice I., and Milan E. One son 
died in the army, Henry A., the oldest. 

Silas Kenan emigrated from Virginia to 



Perry county, Ohio, where he remained until 
1835, when he removed to Jackson 
township, where he resided till the time of 
his death, in 1875. His family consisted of 
eight children, seven of whom are still 
living — George, Peter, Minerva, Mahala, 
Francis, Mary A., and Oscar. Peter, the 
second son, was born in 1828, in Perry 
county. He has been a resident of Jackson 
ever since the settlement of his family here. 
He married, in 1856, Sarah A. Hodgson. 
Their family consists of one child, William 
A., who married, in 1878, Sylvia A. Powell. 
Mr. William Kenan has a fine collection of 
Indian relics. 

William Fisher, a soldier of the War of 
1812, was born in Virginia in 1789. He 
settled in Jackson township in 1836. He had 
previously lived in Perry county, where his 
first wife, whose maiden name was Jane 
Anderson, died in 1833, leaving five 
children living: James A., in Colorado; 
George W., Harriet H. (Fought), Margaret 
(Hummel), and Mary E. (Hufford), this 
county. Mr. Fisher married for his second 
wife, in 1833, Mary McCullough. The fruit 
of this union was eleven children, six of 
whom are living, viz.: Belinda (Miller), 
William T., Thomas H., Peter B., Sarah 
(Klotz), and Flora. Six of Mr. Fisher's sons 
served in the army — William T., Thomas H., 
John, and Austin T. in the Seventy-second 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and Sardis B. and 
Peter B. in the one hundred days' service. 
Mr. Fisher died in 1872. George W., the 
oldest son living in this county, was born in 
1819. In 1844 he married Clara Black, and 
has a family of three children living-Rhoda 
J. (Hathaway), John C, and William F. John 
C. Fisher was born in 1848. He married 
Celia Moore in 1873. They have five 
children — Claude, Guy, Webb, James, and 
Maud. 

William Boor emigrated from Pennsyl- 
vania to Ohio in 1836, and settled in the 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



751 



northwestern part of Jackson township. He 
was the father of six sons and five daughters. 
Five sons and four daughters are yet living. 
All of the sons, excepting the oldest, were in 
the army. The sons are: Josiah, Steuben 
county, Indiana; William C, Wood county; 
Samuel, Jack-son township; James H., died 
in the war; Silas C, Blackhawk county, 
Iowa; and Francis M., Jackson township. 
The daughters are: Mary Ellen (Robbins), 
Indiana; Margaret (Grimes), St. Joseph 
county, Michigan ; Eliza Jane (Rickle), 
Berry county, Michigan; and Elizabeth Ann 
(Garn), Steuben county, Indiana. Martha 
died in Pennsylvania when about two years 
old. Samuel Boor was born in Pennsylvania 
the year before the family came to Ohio. He 
married, in 1869, Mary E. Snyder, and 
settled on a farm in Scott township. They 
have three children — Mary, Jessie, and John. 
Mr. Boor served throughout the war as a 
member of the Seventy-second Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry. Francis M. Boor, 
youngest of the eleven children of William 
Boor, was horn in Jackson township in 1845. 
He married Elizabeth N. King in 1867, 
daughter of George King. Their family 
consists of two children — Charlotte and 
Charles. 

Peter Nickles was born in France in 1815. 
He emigrated from that country in 1836, 
and, after stopping a short time in New 
York, settled in Jackson township in the fall 
of the same year. In 1858 he settled on his 
present farm in Washington township. He 
married Sarah Joseph in 1845, who has 
borne eleven children, viz: Sophia (Hufford), 
Washington township; Mary A., deceased; 
Christina (Mapes), Iowa; Margaret 
(Wengert), deceased; Sarah (Ross), Fremont; 
John G., Washington township; Anna, 
deceased; Jennie C, Lydia E., George H., 
and Minnie. 

John and Nicholas Shale, two sons of 
Nicholas Shale, sr„ emigrated with their 



family to Wayne county, and subsequently 
settled in Jackson township, where they still 
reside. They were originally from Baltimore, 
Maryland, but came to this State from 
Pennsylvania. John was born in Baltimore in 
1808. He came to Wayne county in 1826, 
and to Jackson township in 1836. Two years 
later he married Catharine Crites, a native of 
Stark county. Ten children blessed this 
union: Valentine, Abraham (deceased), 
Isaac, Jacob, Elizabeth, Mary C. (deceased), 
William, Lydia, Mary, and John. Before 
coming to this county Mr. Shale worked at 
the carpenter trade. 

Isaac Shale, the third child of John Shale, 
was born in Jackson township in 1841. He 
married first Barbara Myers in 1865, who 
died in 1870, aged twenty-eight years. He 
married for his second wife, in 1871, Lavina 
Clapper. The children by the first marriage 
were: William F., Ida E., and Samuel C; by 
the second, Solomon C. and Harvey L. Mr. 
Shale, besides his farming operations, was in 
the grain trade at Burgoon for about three 
years. 

Nicholas Shale, jr., was born in Baltimore 
in 1810. About 1835 he came to Ohio, and in 
1836 settled in Jackson township. For his 
first wife he married Elizabeth Herring, a 
native of Bedford, Pennsylvania, who bore 
one child, now dead. His second wife is 
Mary Herring, a sister of the first. They have 
had no children. The Shale family are all 
members of the Evangelical Association. 

John Vandersall has been living on the 
same farm since 1838. He was born in 
Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in 1814. His 
father, Jacob Vandersall, removed to Stark 
county in 1818. In 1837 Mr. Vandersall 
married Susan Kaler, a native of 
Pennsylvania, and in 1838 he settled on the 
farm, where he now resides. The family 
consisted of eight children, four of 



752 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



whom survive: Jacob, William, John and 
George. Two sons were in the late war. 
Jacob Vandersall, jr., was born in Stark 
county in 1818. He married in 1842, Lucetta 
Hair, and the following year settled in 
Jackson township. The fruit of this union 
was two children — Isaiah and Maria. Isaiah 
married for his first wife, Mary J. Feasel. 
After her death he married for his second 
wife Mary E. Swickard. 

Samuel and Elizabeth Ludwig with their 
family removed from Berks county, 
Pennsylvania, to Crawford: county, Ohio, in 
1831. Jeremiah, the second child, was born 
in Berks county, 1811. In 1836 he married 
Rachel Meller, and in 1839 removed to 
Jackson township, where he still lives. They 
have eight children living — Elizabeth, 
Rachel, Samuel J., Thomas I., Mary J., 
Geneva, Jeremiah M., and Michael W. Mr. 
Ludwig was well known in former years as a 
stock buyer and drover. Henry Ludwig, the 
ninth child of Samuel Ludwig, was born in 
Berks county, Pennsylvania, in 1826 In 1857 
he married Anna Townsend, of Erie county, 
and two years later settled on the farm on 
which he now resides. Mrs. Ludwig died in 
1864. In 1875 he married Loretta Hodgson, 
by whom two children were born — A. C. and 
Anna. Henry Ludwig has also engaged in the 
stock trade. 

There is near Millersville a German 
settlement composed mostly of industrious, 
hard-working people, whose labor has as- 
sisted materially in the economic develop- 
ment of the township. A representative 
family of this class are the Hoffmans. John 
G. Hoffman, a son of Frederick Hoffman, 
was born in Loteringen, France, in 1814. The 
family came to America and settled in Stark 
county in 1831. In 1834 they removed to 
Ottawa county. John G. married, in 1839, 
Catharine. 



Young, a native of Loteringen, and settled 
where he now lives, in Jackson town-ship. 
Twelve children blessed this union, seven of 
whom are living. The children were: John, 
Mary, Catharine, George, Barbara, Henry, 
Catharine, Joseph, Flora, Michael, Rose M., 
and Fred. Mr. Hoff-man worked at tailoring 
for about twelve years. The children are all 
married except the youngest. Henry L. 
Hoffman was born in 1843. He married, in 
1870, Mary C. Weible, and settled on a farm 
in Scott township. Their family consists of 
three children, — Agnes R., Lawrence, and 
Jacob. Henry Hoffman was born in 
Loteringen, in 1813. He married, in 1840, 
Barbara Livingston, a native of Stark county. 
In 1848 he came to Sandusky county, 
settling first in Sandusky township, then in 
Riley. He settled permanently in Jackson in 
1861. Six of their nine children are still 
living, -George W., Henry L., Elizabeth, 
Barbara, Charles, and Jacob. The Hoffmans 
were early settlers of Ottawa county, and 
bore bravely the hardships of pioneer life. 
They settled there about 1835. 

David Koleman came, in 1826, from 
Pennsylvania, where he was born in 1809, to 
Ohio and settled in Wayne county. In 1833 
he removed to Stark county, and in 1847 
settled in Jackson township. He married for 
his first wife, in 1841, Catharine Carr, who 
died in 1851. Four years later he married 
Lucinda Carr. The children by his first wife 
were: Mary E., Lucinda (deceased), and 
Harriet (deceased); by the second, Rosetta 
C, Jacob F., Perry E., and William A. Mr. 
Koleman served his township as clerk fifteen 
years and as treasurer seven years. 

Most of the settlers of a later period came 
to the township from Wayne, Franklin, 
Perry, Stark, and other counties of Central 
Ohio. They were originally, however, 
Pennsylvania or Maryland people. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



753 



Otho Lease, a native of Maryland, came to 
Ohio in 1834 and settled in Wayne county, 
whence he removed to Seneca county, and 
thence to Sandusky county, and settled in 
this township, where he lived until his death, 
in 1876. His family consisted of six boys and 
three girls. Jefferson, the eighth child, was 
born in Seneca county in 1843. He married, 
in 1864, Rebecca Carr, a daughter of James 
Carr, of Ballville township. The fruit of this 
union was four children, only one of whom 
is living Maria B. Mr. Lease owned the saw- 
mill at Jackson for about six years. 

Samuel M. Smith was born in Wayne 
county, Ohio, in 1825. He married, in 1857, 
Elizabeth Deahofr, and settled in Seneca 
county. The following year he removed to 
Sandusky county, and has been a resident of 
this township since that time. Their children 
are John W., Alfred, and Samuel. 

John H. Feasel was born in Franklin 
county in 1822. In 1843 he married Martha 
J. Bowers, and in 1853 made permanent 
settlement in this township. The children 
were Mary J., Susan, Alexander, and 
Amanda E., all deceased. 

John King was born in Perry county, Ohio, 
in 1819. He married Mary Mowry in 1841, 
and, in 1851, settled in this town-ship, where 
he remained twenty-five years, then removed 
to Ballville township, where he still lives. 
He has seven children living — Mary 
(Musier), Allen county; Lydia Reichelderfer, 
Auglaize county; George, Allen county; 
Sarah (Mowry), Ballville; John, this 
township; Jacob and Perry, Ballville; and 
Elmira (Searfoss), Scott township. 

John W. King, son of John King, sr., and 
Mary (Mowry) King, was born in this 
township in 1853. He married, in 1875, 
Clara B. Hunlock, and has one child — John 
C. 



Frederick Miller, a native of Wurtemberg, 
Germany, came to America and settled in 
New York in 1828. In 1854 he came to Ohio 
and settled in this township. He married, in 

1831, Sarah Hoil, a native of Pennsylvania, 
and has a family of five children living — 
Christian F., William S., Sarah, John R., and 
Frederick C. Christian, William, and John, 
were in the army, and one of the sons-in- 
law, J. R. Rosenberger, died in the service. 
Christian, the oldest son, is married to Sarah 
Zink, and lives on the homestead. He has 
one child — Esther A. 

Joseph Burgett, second child of John 
Burgett, was born in Mahoning county in 

1832, and in 1856 he settled on the farm on 
which he now lives. He married, in 1855, 
Malinda Hammon, who died in 1879. In 
1880 he married Alma Flood. The family 
consists of three children. Mr. Burgett 
worked at blacksmithing in Mahoning 
county about ten years. During the war he 
was appointed to supervise the Greenbrier 
road in West Virginia. 

Jacob Andress settled in Ballville town- 
ship in 1835, being a native of Buffalo, New 
York, where Joseph L. Andress, his son, now 
living in Jackson, was born in 1834. In 1859 
he married Anna Young, a daughter of 
Michael Young, and settled in Jackson 
township. Their family consists of eight 
children — Mary A., Jacob, Catharine, 
Johanna, Magdaline, Rosa, Theresa, and 
Joseph L. 

Michael Ickes settled in this township in 
1856. Hp was born in Bedford county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1817, where he was 
married, in 1839, to Hannah Ow. Six of their 
children are living — Joseph H., Jackson; 
Harmonous, Anna M. (Oswald), Jackson; 
Margaret I. (Kenan), Illinois; Sarah C, 
Jackson and Lucinda J. (Garn), Jackson. 

James W. Laird was born in York county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1818. He settled 



754 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



in Perry county, Ohio, in 1836, and in 1856 
came to Seneca county, where he remained 
six years, and has since been a resident of 
this township. He married Eliza C. Wilson, 
and has seven children: Calvin, Elijah H., 
Mary E., Emma J., Minerva E., Anna, and 
William. Mrs. Laird died in 1866. He is a 
blacksmith by trade, but is now living a 
retired life. 

Alexander Smith, fourth child of Richard 
Smith, was born in York county, Penn- 
sylvania, in 1824. He married in 1846, 
Catharine Richerd, a native of Germany. 
This union was blessed with twelve children, 
seven of whom are living: Mary J., 
Elizabeth, Alexander, Anna, William H., 
Matilda, and Josephine C. Before coming to 
this county Mr. Smith worked at 
blacksmithing for a period of twenty years. 

David A. Pence, son of David L. Pence, 
was born in Seneca county in 1844. He 
settled in this township in 1871. In 1866 he 
married Henrietta Gallant, who died in 1877, 
leaving three children, William D., Oliver 
L., and Carrie E. Mr. Pence married for his 
second wife, in 1880, Amelia Finkbeiner. 

Rev. Joseph Blaser, pastor of the Catholic 
church of Jackson, was born at Wurtemberg, 
Germany, in 1846. He came to America in 
1874, and began pastoral duties in Defiance 
county, Ohio. Since 1877 he has been 
officiating in Jackson. 

THE LAST BEAR. 

The last of the tribe of bruin seen in this 
township was shot in the fall of 1833 by Mr. 
Zimmerman, who lived on Muskallonge. 
This species of forest inhabitant prefer hills 
and clear, flowing, rapid currents, and were 
consequently infrequent visitors of this flat 
country. Now and then one, however, sought 
refuge in the deep shade of this impenetrable 
forest, and having sought out some hollow 
tree or stump, lived a quiet life. But the time 
came when even the "Black Swamp" 



ceased to be a refuge. The last one seen in 
Jackson fell a victim the fourth year of the 
settlement. Zimmerman was quietly strolling 
along the bank of Muskallonge, carrying his 
gun, when a little black animal arrested his 
attention, which, after sneaking up to within 
fair shooting distance, was seen to be a fine 
fat cub. A well aimed ball made the 
youngster his victim. But the sound of the 
gun and smell of blood brought an angry 
mother from her quiet den. A moment later 
the composed hunter was confronted by the 
fiery eyes and open red mouth of the en- 
raged beast. "A message of death," directed 
by a steady hand, did its work. One more 
cub was seen and quickly dispatched. The 
settlers, who were all recent arrivals, 
purchased the meat. The cubs were 
especially "fine eating." 

DESTRUCTION OF CROPS. 

The settlers of the spring of 1833, by dint 
of hard labor, succeeded in getting into 
ground a few acres of corn — enough in the 
event of a good crop to keep their families in 
corn-bread over winter. The work required to 
raise corn on this new, black soil, can be 
imagined only by the experienced. Although 
standing trees were only deadened and not 
cut down, an enormous mass of decaying 
logs had to be cleared away, underbrush 
grubbed out, and the water drained into its 
natural channels. After the planting has been 
accomplished, the difficulty of keeping 
down the weeds will readily be appreciated. 
But this small patch of grain was all the 
newcomer, without money, had to depend 
upon for his next year's living. He cultivated 
and watched, therefore, with zealous care. 
The season of 1833 was fortunately good. 
Corn promised well, and all things were 
encouraging until about ripening time. 

First came the blackbirds in darkening 
flocks. The numerous deadened trees 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



755 



furnished them a perching and roosting 
place, while heavy ears were being rapidly 
stripped of their yellow fruit. The black- 
birds were not icing alone. A larger and 
more destructive fowl played havoc with the 
corn. Wild turkeys were so plenty that it was 
almost impossible to discharge a load of shot 
into the field without bringing one or more 
of these ravenous intruders to the ground. 
Blackbirds and turkeys were not alone in the 
general campaign against these first 
cornfields. The raccoon tribe carried on an 
active and powerful warfare, while squirrels 
of all kinds lost no time in laying aside for 
winter use a fair share of the crop. It is 
unnecessary to state that this activity was of 
short duration. Grainless cobs were the only 
mementoes of what had been. 

Mr. Jacob Winter informs us that of five 
acres which, at roasting ear time, promised a 
good crop, not a full ear and scarcely a grain 
was left. Some became discouraged and left 
the country. Faith in a better day ahead 
detained others. There was, indeed, occasion 
for discouragement. Flies and mosquitoes 
made war upon the household and stock no 
less industriously than the birds, turkeys, 
raccoons, and squirrels upon the corn, the 
only difference being in degree of 
accomplishment. To add to this more or less 
sickness incident to a new and wet country, 
we have a picture of distress seldom 
equaled. 

ORGANIZATION. 

The first election was held at the residence 
of Henry Stultz on Christmas Day, 1829. We 
regret that the first records were either not 
preserved at the time or have since been lost, 
for it would be a satisfaction to give the 
names of the settlers who had conferred 
upon them honor-able Christmas gifts. _ John 
Garn, George Overmyer, Jacob Winter, and 
Henry Haven were among the early justices 
of the peace. 



SCHOOLS. 

The first school-house in the township was 
a log building which stood near the bridge, 
across Mud Creek on the pike. James Drake 
was the teacher. This house was built by 
Campbell, Klutz, Garn, and a few others, 
about 1832. Webster's spelling book was the 
standard for spelling, and at the same time 
served as primary reader. "The English 
Reader" was the consummation of an 
English education, and very few pushed 
beyond the "rule of three" in arithmetic. 

The first school-house in the southern part 
of the township was located on Muskellunge, 
and built about 1834. The school board as 
constituted by the act of 1852, the act which 
provided for and enforced a free public 
school system, met the first time in April, 
1853. There were at that time five school- 
houses. Eighty-three dollars were ordered 
expended on repairs. 

A public library — the Ohio School Li- 
brary — was furnished the schools, and for a 
time faithfully managed according to the 
rules. But like all other libraries of this sort, 
it was in a few years dissolved by neglect. 

Rev. Father Young, pastor of the Catholic 
church, founded a parochial school in 1871; 
a building was erected the same year at a 
cost of six hundred dollars. This school is in 
a flourishing condition, the average 
attendance during the winter of 1880-81 
being about seventy-five. 

There are in Jackson at present twelve 
public school-houses, including the double 
brick building at Burgoon. This district 
employs two teachers, one for the primary 
and one for the higher grade. 
PHYSICIANS. 

Jackson has had a doctor's office within 
her boundaries, with but few intermissions, 
for the last twenty-five years. We shall 



756 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



give the names only of a few who remained 
to establish themselves in a practice. Dr. 
Moore opened an office at Winter Station 
before the war. He went into the army as a 
volunteer and never returned to the county. 
Dr. Lee and Dr. Orwich were successive 
practitioners at Winter's Station. 

Dr. Andrews removed from Fremont to 
Millersville in 1872, being the first physi- 
cian at the place. In 1895 he removed to 
Genoa, where he is continuing the practice. 
Dr. Paul succeeded him at Millersville and 
remained a few years. In 1879 W. J. Gillette, 
a graduate of Cleveland Medical, college, 
located at that point. 

MILLS. 

We do not know the exact year of the 
building of the first saw-mill, but it was 
during the period of early settlement. It was 
located on Muskallonge and owned by Henry 
Stultz. The machinery has long since been 
removed and but few traces of its existence 
remain. 

The second mill was built and operated by 
John Garn, on Mud Creek. Like its 
predecessor it has also passed away. 

Jacob Winter built a mill on Muskallonge 
in 1843. Considerable work was turned out 
in wet seasons. As the country became more 
generally cleared the stream became less 
reliable as a source of power. 

The fourth saw-mill, and the only one 
remaining, except the steam mill and factory 
at Burgoon, was built by Joshua Smith, and 
is located on Muskallonge, near Winter 
Station. It is now operated by Thomas 
Fleming, and steam power is depended upon. 

There never was a grist-mill in the 
township until 1880, when the steam-mill at 
Burgoon was built. 

WINTER STATION. 

The first village was laid out by Jacob 
Winter and was located on the line of rail- 



road then called the Lima & Fremont, now 
the Lake Erie & Western. For the 
accommodation of the neighborhood a 
petition for a post office was sent to the 
Department, which was granted, and the new 
office christened Winter's post office. From 
that time the place was known as Winter's 
Station. The man who laid out a town, and 
whose name it bore, erected the first 
business building, in which David Lemmon 
placed a stock of general merchandise. Mr. 
Edwards opened the second store; John Keen 
succeeded him. 

David Lemmon was the first postmaster. 
His successors in business continued the 
office. 

But Winter's Station came to grief in its 
youth. When the Toledo, Tiffin & Eastern 
railroad was built the town was discovered 
to be about one mile too far to the northeast, 
for the railroad crossing was undoubtedly 
the most promising site for a village. 

BURGOON. 

The land on the east side of the Lake Erie 
& Western, extending as far north as the 
pike, belonged to Peter Warner. After the 
completion of the Toledo, Tiffin & Eastern 
railroad he laid out a section of town lots 
and gave the prospective village his own 
name. Mr. Warner was not long permitted to 
enjoy a monopoly of village making. A 
company, consisting of Messrs. Huss, Noble, 
Nailor, and Loomis, purchased twelve acres 
of the Wise estate and laid it out in town 
lots. M. F. Hostler purchased a half interest 
in this company soon afterwards. The 
subject of a name caused a division of 
opinion. Mr. Warner's friends insisted that it 
should be called Warner; Lorain was the 
choice of the stockholders across the road, 
but the post office was listed Burgoon, as a 
compliment to the superintendent of the new 
railroad. 

The dry goods business was commenced 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



757 



by Rufus Baker in 1873. He was succeeded 
in a short time by Randall Glass, who 
continued the business about three years. J. 
W. Powell was the next merchant. After 
about two years he sold to A. J. Mowry. P. J. 
Kenan opened a store in 1880. His business 
was destroyed by fire on the night of March 
29, 1881. 

M. F. Hostler has been in the grain and 
stock business since 1874. He has a large 
elevator and two stock yards. 

William F. Fry, in the summer of 1880, 
erected a large steam grist-mill, saw-mill, 
and planing-mill. 

A. Mowry and Randall Glass each kept 
tavern two years. 

Bricks of fair quality are manufactured 
here, and wagon-making is carried on to a 
limited extent. 

It is within the possibility of things for 
Burgoon to become a town of some im- 
portance. Surrounded with an agricultural 
territory inferior to none, and with good 
railroad facilities there is no reason why it 
should not prosper. 

MILLERS VILLE. 

This is a post village at the crossing of the 
pike and the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & 
Chicago railway. When the railroad was 
built the farmers in the community raised, by 
subscription, sufficient money to build a 
depot. The site seemed auspicious for a 
town. Peter Miller laid out a small portion of 
his land in town lots, and the new burgh was 
called Millersville. The founder of the town 
was commissioned first postmaster, and, 
after serving in that capacity a short time, 
was succeeded by the present incumbent, 
John Garn. 

A man named Grulich opened the first 
general store. He was succeeded in 1897 by 
S. S. Wright. A blacksmith shop and two 
saloons compose the balance of the business 
part of the village. 

Henry Ludwig has laid off a section of 



lots on the north side of the pike. Millers- 
ville is two miles from Helena and five miles 
from Burgoon. 

A sketch of Helena, which is divided by 
the township line between Washington and 
Jackson townships, will be found in the 
chapter on Washington. 

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. 

There are in this township seven churches, 
and it is with pleasure we chronicle the fact 
that the leading citizens are included in their 
membership. The pioneer, preacher of this 
community was Rev. Jacob Bowlus, of 
Lower Sandusky. He extended his 
missionary labors all over the west part of 
the county, and the many flourishing classes 
and neat white churches belonging to the 
conference of United Brethren in Christ, 
testify that seed was sown in good ground. 
Evangelical (Albright) missionaries also 
labored faithfully and successfully. 
UNITED BRETHREN. 

The first sermon was preached in the 
residence of Gilbreath Stewart, in 1829, by 
Jacob Bowlus. After the school-house was 
built at the site of Mud Creek bridge, on the 
pike, meetings were held there. Jeremiah 
Brown occasionally preached here. After 
Jacob Winter settled on Muskallonge, 
meetings were held in his barn, generally 
under charge of Jacob Bowlus. It was in this 
barn that Michael Long, who has since 
distinguished himself for usefulness in the 
church, preached his maiden sermon. A class 
was here organized which, about 1840, built 
a meeting-house in the Mowry 
neighborhood. The class prospered and 
grew. In 1866 it became necessary to build a 
new house of worship. A difference of 
opinion in the matter of location was happily 
settled by the preacher, Mr. Long, proposing 
that while the subscription paper was being 
passed around, each one should indicate his 
choice of location. 



758 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Two points were centered upon Mowry's 
Corners and Winter Station. Both parties 
subscribed liberally, but Winter Station was 
the point decided upon. A handsome frame 
building was erected and christened Eaton 
Chapel. This class has a membership of 
about fifty. Mr. Long held an interesting 
revival in the winter of 1867, and also the 
following year, when he was assisted by 
Rev. Mr. Hart. 

In 1874 Otterbein class was formed, the 
first members being M. F. Hostler and wife, 
Absalom Mowry and wife, Aaron Mowry 
and wife, William Nye and wife, Aaron 
Warner and wife, Henry Disler and wife, and 
Emily Wise. Centennial Otterbein Chapel, a 
handsome brick edifice, was erected in 1876, 
as the name would indicate. The class was 
organized by Rev. Michael Long. His 
successor, G. French, was in charge when 
the meeting house was built. 

Succeeding ministers have been William 
Mathers, O. H. Ramsey, and Joseph Bever. 
Revs. Long, French, and Mathers, held 
revivals. The class belongs to Eden circuit, 
and has a membership of about twenty-five. 

Bethlehem class was organized by Michael 
Long in 1875, in the school-house on the 
Greenesburg pike, with the following 
members: James Seagraves and wife, S. Dole 
and wife, Philip Klutz and wife, and Daniel 
Dole and wife. In 1876 a church was built at 
a cost of two thousand dollars. The first 
deacons were S. Dole, J. Seagrave, and W. J. 
Miller. The present membership numbers 
about forty. 

A class was organized a number of years 
ago in the western part of the township, and 
named in recognition of that venerable and 
devoted member, Eli Fetters. "Fetters" class, 
though small in membership, maintains its 
organization and regular preaching. The old 
school-house on the Fetters farm was 
purchased a few years ago and is used for 
worship. 



EVANGELICAL CHURCHES. 

There are in the township two Evangelical 
churches — Zion's and St. Paul's. This form 
of Christian worship was established in the 
community at an early period of the 
settlement, some of the pioneers from 
Pennsylvania having previously been 
members. John Betts and wife, John Shale 
and wife, Daniel Mowry and wife, Samuel 
Leffler and wife, Nicholas Shale and wife, 
and perhaps a few others, are the oldest 
members. Aaron Younker and Thomas 
George are remembered among the early 
preachers. A log meeting-house was built 
about 1840, and the class took the name of 
its faithful leader, and was called; and is yet 
commonly known, as Shale's class. A new 
house of worship, known as Zion's church, 
was erected in 1867, at a cost of twenty-five 
hundred dollars. Rev. Daniel Stroman was 
then the preacher in charge. During the 
winter following the building of the new 
church, an awakening revival resulted in 
many accessions to the membership. The 
class, now numbering fifty-four, belongs to 
Bettsville circuit. 

St. Paul's Evangelical Association is the 
northern class of this denomination in the 
township. The early members were: John 
Vandersall and wife, Jacob Vandersall and 
wife, Michael Shaffer and wife, Jacob 
Harley and wife, Abram Boroff and wife, 
and perhaps others. Meetings were held in 
the residences of these early members for a 
time and afterwards in school-houses. In 
1867 a church was built in the Vandersall 
neighborhood, at a cost of twenty-three 
hundred dollars. This class also belongs to 
the Bettsville circuit. 

CATHOLIC. 

There is in the northwestern part of the 
township a large settlement of German 
Catholics. They are an industrious, pros- 
perous people, and the amount of money 
expended on church buildings proves their 




:¥M: 




I 




HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



759 



devotion. St. Mary's congregation was 
organized by a colony of about twenty 
families from the church at Fremont, in 
1858. The leading members were: George 
Hoffman, George Baker, Peter Golwick, 
John Kuffler, Maggie Young, Peter Keen, 
Myron Hoffman, Joseph Weil, Michael 
Harmer, B. Wilhelm, — Groff, Peter Miller, 
John Rumble, Casper Foos, George Rush, 
John Newberg, Leodegan Lehman, Benjamin 
Ontrich, George Strassel, and Andy Foos. 

The congregation, was organized by Father 
Engly. Succeeding pastors have been: 
Fathers Folm, Barber, Young, Litters, Sproll, 
and Blaser. The cost of the church besides 
the general work, which was done 
voluntarily by the members, was eighteen 
hundred dollars. A priest's house was built 
the following year, which cost about seven 
hundred dollars. In 1878 a new parsonage 
was built, which cost two thousand dollars. 
In 1871, during the pastorate of Rev. Father 
Young, a parochial school was established, 
and a school-house erected at a cost of six 
hundred dollars. The average attendance is 
about seventy-five. 

BAPTISTS. 

There was at one time a flourishing 
congregation of Baptists in this township. 
The church stood near Winter Station. 
Among the members were: William Russel, 
Lewis Overmyer, Hugh Overmyer, Silas 
Kenan, B. Fried, and Mrs. Hansen. All 
things moved smoothly until the Seventh 
Day Adventists began to hold service in the 
church, the use of which was kindly granted 
them. The faith of some of the members was 
changed; the congregation weakened and 
finally died out. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, 



CHARLES ROZELL AND FAMILY. 

Charles Rozell was born in Mercer county, 
New Jersey, October 21, 1 803. His parents 
were John and Jane Rozell, both natives of 
New Jersey. Charles was the oldest of a 
family of twelve children, seven sons and 
five daughters. He passed his early years at 
home, and served an apprenticeship to learn 
the shoemaker's trade, but not liking it, left 
the shop and engaged in farming. In 1826 he 
married Catharine Wiley, of Mercer county. 

In 1831 Mr. Rozell left New Jersey and 
came to Jackson township, Sandusky county, 
and purchased the farm upon which he 
passed the remainder of his days. The farm 
was a wild lot; not a stick of timber had been 
cut, and only an unbroken forest marked the 
spot which he selected for his home. It was 
the month of March when he arrived. He 
erected a log house and cleared sufficient 
ground for a garden and cornfield, and in the 
fall sent for his family, consisting of his wife 
and two children. They came, accompanied 
by Mrs. Rozell's brother. Mr. Rozell met 
them upon their way and con-ducted them to 
his wild and unattractive home. At that date 
there was little of romance about life in the 
woods. The roads, or paths — for there were 
no roads worthy the name — were in the 
worst condition imaginable. Lower Sandusky 
was the nearest point where milling was 
carried on. Mr. Rozell bought a pair of oxen 
with which to do his work. He used up 
nearly all of his money before his farm was 
in a condition to bring any returns. 

Both Mr. Rozell and his wife toiled 
earnestly, and saved economically all they 
could gain. They denied themselves many of 
the comforts and luxuries now found in 
almost every farmer's home, and 



760 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



restricted themselves to the necessaries of 
life. They made sugar from the maples for 
the family use, and strove to curtail expenses 
in every way. 

In 1 836 Mr. Rozell's parents came to 
Seneca county, and settled a few miles 
distant from their son's home. Mrs. Rozell 
died upon their farm in Seneca county, and 
Mr. Rozell a few years later in Jackson 
township. 

John Rozell gave the land for the cemetery 
in Seneca county, south of Bettsville. There 
reposes his body and the remains Of those of 
the family who have died in this vicinity. 

The industry and economy of Mr. Charles 
Rozell were rewarded. He began with eighty 
acres of wild land, but added to his 
possessions at different times Until, at his 
death, he had one hundred and seventy-four 
acres of cleared land, and eighty of wood 
land. 

When the plank road to Sandusky was in 
process of construction, Mr. Rozell 
contracted to build several miles. In 1858 he 
erected a costly and beautiful residence and 
furnished it neatly and tastefully. March 4, 
1861, Mrs. Rozell died in her sixty- first 
year. She bore two children, both of whom 
are living, viz: Susan Ann, wife of John 
Fabing, who resides on the farm adjoining 
her old home; and Martha, the wife of 
Lucien Hull, who lives in Seneca county, 
about taco miles from the place where she 
was brought up. 

On the 14th of January, 1864, Mr. Rozell 
married Mrs. Rachel J. Reed. Her maiden 
name was Bay, and she was born in Morgan 
county, Ohio, November 9, 1822. Her 
grandfather, Robert Bay, 



was a native of Pennsylvania, who served 
throughout the Revolutionary war; also in 
the War of 1812. Her father also served in 
the War of 1812. Robert Bay married Tama 
Ann Phillis, of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Rozell's 
father, Joseph Bay, was born in 1790; died 
in 1835. In 1813 he married Catharine 
Derrick, who was born in England in 1795. 
She is still living in Zanesville. The Bay 
family were among the first settlers in 
Jefferson county, in this State. They lived 
there until 1822, then moved to Morgan 
county, and to Zanesville in 1824. Mrs. 
Rozell is the fifth of a family of eight 
children, three sons and five daughters. She 
has one brother and two sisters living at this 
time. 

By his second marriage Mr. Rozell was the 
father of one child, Jennie, born April 3, 
1865, who is now living with her mother in 
Fremont. 

Mr. Charles Rozell was always active in 
his business, strictly fair and honorable in all 
of his dealings, and treated every man justly. 
He was kind to the poor and unfortunate, and 
ever ready to assist the deserving. Though 
not a professing Christian, his moral 
character was above reproach, and his 
reputation for sincerity of friendship and 
integrity was unsullied. By attending 
diligently to his business, be became the 
possessor of a good property, and departed 
from earth honored and esteemed. He was a 
Republican, a strong Union man during the 
war, and assisted the soldiers and their 
widows by every means at his command. He 
died at his home in Jackson, November 27, 
1870, at the age of sixty-seven. 



WASHINGTON 



I HIS, the largest township in the county, 
' territorially, embraces all of the 
originally-surveyed township number five, 
range fourteen, and twelve sections of 
township six, range fourteen, which were 
added after the organization of Ottawa 
county. The geographical boundaries are: 
Ottawa county on the north, Rice and 
Sandusky townships on the cast, Jackson on 
the south, and Madison and Woodville on 
the west. Little Mud Creek, Big Mud Creek, 
and Wolf Creek flow from southwest to 
northeast across its territory. The soil, 
excepting the surface of a sand ridge 
extending between the two branches of Mud 
Creek, is a black vegetable mold, the 
mellowed remains of luxuriant swamp 
vegetation. The soil of the sand ridge spoken 
of is loose, and would be easily cultivated 
were it not for numberless boulders which 
were dropped by a sweeping glacier in its 
course toward sure destruction in sunny low 
latitudes. For the source of these 
troublesome masses of hard rock, the reader 
is referred to the chapter on Jackson 
township. 

THE BLACK SWAMP. 

A map of Ohio, drawn in 1825, represents 
an immense tract of country stretching 
westward from the Sandusky River to far 
beyond the Portage River, by a shade of 
varying density, and is designated by the 
unattractive name of "Black Swamp;" and a 
black swamp indeed it was. Go back, in 
imagination, but little more than half a 
century ago and picture the fertile farms you 
cultivate as they appeared prior to the period 
of settlement, Frontier 



poets are in the habit of making us sorry 
because nature's simple beauty has been 
desecrated by the hand of enterprising man. 
But it is the melancholy task of history in 
this instance to picture a wild, desolate, 
almost uninhabitable waste, the sight of 
which made strong constitutions wither, and 
hearts beating nigh with anticipation, sicken, 
and fill with melancholy forebodings. The 
scene presented to the eye possessed no 
encouraging element. Trees of varying size 
locked-tops, and were firmly bound together 
by vigorous vines, with branches shooting in 
all directions, fastened to every limb by 
unyielding tendrils. Carbonic gases, emitted 
from the water-covered muck sixty feet 
below, fed a luxuriant growth of foliage 
which completely filled every interstice, and 
effectually excluded every ray of sun-shine. 
The dismal view caught in the uncertain 
light of this dense shade banished every idea 
of settlement. Immense trunks of fallen and 
decaying trees crossing each other in every 
conceivable direction, could just be seen 
through the thick growth of shrubs, 
underbrush, and coarse grasses. In spring 
time, in consequence of the water courses 
being completely dammed up by fallen 
timber, whole townships of surface were 
submerged. When dry weather came on, the 
water slowly found its way to the bay, 
leaving a spongy soil so thoroughly 
saturated that even the light-footed deer 
found travel difficult. But these conditions 
favored the making of an excellent soil. 
Decaying timber, leaves, and grasses, left 
those chemical ele- 



762 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



ments which enter into the composition of 
cereals and furnish the material for their 
growth. The cost Of reclaiming this 
wilderness is beyond calculation. Picture to 
yourselves a solitary log hut, made of round 
logs, with a floor and door of rough 
puncheons; with two small square holes in 
the sides, closed with sheets of greased 
paper, for windows; the spaces between the 
logs filled with a mixture of leaves and mud; 
an immense chimney at one end, built of 
sticks, through which smoke was forced 
rather than drawn; covered with thin, 
irregularly-split shingles, weighted down by 
poles — such a cabin, situated in the midst of 
wild desolation, was the residence of the 
first settler. The dreary solitude of an 
autumn evening at that home can only be 
felt, not described. What a medley of 
discordant sounds pain the ear! What a rush 
of melancholy thoughts depress the heart! 
Armies of green frogs leave their slimy 
pools and assert, from every log, that they 
are the proud owners of the swamp, while 
their tree cousins mingle disagreeable 
voices; the howl of wolves, as night falls on 
the homesick pioneer, seem to speak in 
strange language the folly of his adventure, 
and the wise owl adds sarcastic hoots to the 
distressing medley. The sharp click of the 
mud which follows every labored step of the 
cow in the dooryard, brings additional 
testimony of the unfitness of the place for 
the habitation of man. The thoughts of the 
homesick, discouraged adventurer are turned 
from plans of clearing, plowing, and 
seeding, to the contemplation of his 
Solitude; and, at length, tired and de- 
pressed, he retires to his simple bed, con- 
vinced of being an intruder in a reservation 
intended by nature for wolves, and frogs, 
and owls. It is not strange, therefore, that 
immigrants either turned back from the 
Black Swamp, or pushed through beyond, 
leaving this vast area, more than 



half of three counties, almost an unbroken 
waste till as late as 1828. Many who did 
enter land and begin improvements soon 
became discouraged, sold out at a sacrifice, 
and sought a more hospitable opening. It 
thus happened that, in the spring of 1830, 
only three families resided within the present 
limits of Washington township. 

ORIGINAL PROPRIETORS. 

The following entries are recorded in 
1826: 

SECTION. ACRES. 

David Hess 10, 15, and 9 739 

Enoch Rush 13 and 24 210 

Josiah Topping 24 140 

Harry Fuller 9 66 

Reuben Wilder 8 and 9 267 

The following entries are recorded in 
1827: 

SECTION. ACRES. 

Pontius Wheeler 12 320 

J. H. Topping 24 205 

George Waggoner 24 86 

Samuel Waggoner 23 83 

George Waggoner 24 293 

The following are recorded in 1828: 

SECTION. ACRES. 

Robert Long 36 160 

Jacob Nyce 36 160 

Jonas Graham 36 80 

Jonas Graham 13 160 

Michael Hogle 1 81 

The following are recorded in 1829: 

SECTION. ACRES. 

William Floyd 2 240 

David Grant 21 160 

Michael Hogle 1 81 

The following are recorded in 1830: 

SECTION. ACRES. 

Magdalina Bowman 13 80 

George Watt 36 160 

Michael Hogle 1 81 

The following are recorded in 1831: 

SECTION. ACRES. 

David Church 22 160 

David Church 15 80 

Joseph Deck 14 108 

A. W. Green 25 160 

Jacob Hendricks 13 80 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



763 



SECTION. ACRES. 

Jacob Hendricks 24 309 

Jacob Hendricks 6 147 

Jacob Hendricks 7 91 

Daniel Hendricks 8 370 

Daniel Karshner 15 79 

John Mackling 15 251 

Michael Overmyer 10 121 

Peter Poorman 8 237 

John Rose 23 185 

John Rose 25 80 

N. P. Robbins 9 157 

William Rose 22 80 

Solomon Shoup 14 86 

John Shoup 14 129 

Jacob C. Stults 25 80 

William Skinner 25 80 

John Strohl 19 68 

J. H. Topping 25 80 

Hector Topping 15 94 

John C. Waggoner 23 79 

John Smith 13 83 

Isaac Rhidnour 129 

John Baird 22 79 

William Chenaworth 23 79 

George Hettrick 13 81 

The following entries are recorded in 
1833: 

SECTION. ACRES. 

Joseph Cookson 36 80 

Joseph Cookson 35 80 

William Burkett 16 60 

Daniel Burkett 16 160 

The following entries of land were 
recorded in 1834: 

SECTION. ACRES. 

George Skinner 25 79 

David Karshner 22 79 

Samuel Murdock 150 

Isaac Moore 137 

Justice & Birchard 6 211 

Justice & Birchard 7 255 

Jacob Karshner 5 88 

Henry Forster 17 161 

Solomon Waggoner 12 240 

James Ross 22 79 

David Stingier 24 79 

Isaac and D. Moore 6 111 

The list of each year now becomes longer. 
The following are recorded in 1835: 

RANGE SECTION. ACRES. 

Chris Graham 33 160 

Nicholas Schall 27 160 

George F. Whitaker 17 161 

Marcus Burley 7 79 

Grant & Beaugrand 7 89 



RANGE SECTION. ACRES. 

Samuel Miller 8 80 

Benjamin Schothorn 17 161 

A.C.Ross 27 80 

C. Whitman 23 80 

Henry Sanders 11 40 

Henry Salman 6 31 40 

Michael Walter 28 40 

C.M.Welsh 6 30 80 

George Wales 6 27 40 

William Walter 28 40 

Jonas Walter 29 80 

L. Q. Dawson 27 40 

Jacob Arnstadt 6 33 40 

Dickinson & Pease 6 29 and 30 372 

John Evans 6 31 44 

Jos. Ferris 6 30 44 

M.L.Harmon 6 31 44 

Isaiah. Johnson 20 40 

Henry Johnson 34 80 

Jacob Moses 28 40 

Michael Miller 6 31 44 

Isaiah Morris 6 31 160 

Jos. Nuding 6 27 40 

G.T.Necher 6 30 80 

Dennis Neil 6 31 169 

John Snyder, 18 80 

Ambrose Shell 26 40 

The records of 1836 show the following 
entries: 

RANGE SECTION. ACRES 

Robert M. Brown 2 80 

Michael Fought 27 80 

Charles D. Ashley 6 36 80 

Christian Augster 6 33 40 

John Bashner 3 87 

Lorenzo Borden 6 31 44 

Edward Bissell 6 25 and 34 2,376 

Christian Clever 6 34 40 

James Easton & F. C. 

Sanford 1 8, 26, 29 and 30 426 

Michael Fought 32 80 

G. G. Folger 532 

Jeremiah Ludwig 29 160 

Samuel Ludwig 33 240 

Samuel Moss 6 25 and 26 240 

John Rinehart 4 80 

James Robb 6 31 80 

H.W.Seymour 6 80 

Scott Seymour 6 31 40 

Henry Shively 6 36 80 

Jesse Stone 33 80 

Jesse Stone, 29 40 

Jesse Stone 12 40 

Narcissa Topping 20 80 

Josiah F. Topping 30 88 

J. M. Turner* Wil- 
liam Laughlin 6 32 120 

William Walter 6 26 40 



764 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



RANGE SECTION. ACRES. 

Daniel Younkman 6 27 40 

P.I. Hetrick& Samuel 

Hinkley 19 84 

Daniel Gam 31 160 

Joseph Garn 31 169 

George Geeseman 34 160 

JohnMoler 21 80 

Michael Obermoyer 2 80 

George Skinner 26 240 

JohnSwinehart 11 80 

Abraham Yost 240 

Samuel Treat 1 80 

John Waggoner 23 80 

John Waggoner 11 160 

George Skinner 35 560 

James Snyder 28 80 

Abraham Yost 1 168 

The following entries are recorded in 1837: 

RANGE SECTION. ACRES. 

Henry Bayer 1 80 

Jacob Eversole 4 176 

Joseph Miller 34 80 

Peter Morton 27 80 

Jacob Newcomer 11 80 

Peter Swinehart 21 80 

Michael Fought 28 80 

Peter Ebersole 4 160 

The entries recorded in 1838 are: 

RANGE SECTION. ACRES. 

Jacob Heberling 32 160 

William Kay 36 80 

Peter Overmyer 21 80 

Daniel Spohn 32 240 

Lands were entered in 1839 by: 

RANGE SECTION. ACRES. 

Benjamin Burkett 6 34 80 

Henry Burkett 6 35 160 

Jacob Brubaker 5 26 80 

JohnBaird 26 80 

John Cams 31 173 

Andrew Craig 4 43 

George Fought 3 40 

Benjamin Hamberger 30 160 

John Heiser 4 80 

Jacob Harter 10 40 

Christian King 30 160 

George Miller 34 80 

Daniel Houser, 3 87 

Daniel Houser 34 120 

JohnMiller 29 160 

Andrew Miller 28 80 

William Overmyer 3 333 

Jacob Overmyer 34, 35 and 2 202 

George Overmyer 11 and 12 160 

Samuel Overmyer 12 40 

David Olinger 6 34 40 



RANGE SECTION. ACRES. 

Joseph Reed 11 160 

Peter Reed 6 26 80 

George Skinner 26 40 

Abraham Stine 2 170 

Hiram Stalter 34 80 

Isaiah and J. Topping 6 34 80 

The balance of the lands were closed out in 1 840 
as follows: 

RANGE SECTION. ACRES 

Amos Arnold 20 80 

Ellis Ayres 21 120 

John Bowersoc 6 25 80 

John Burkett 19 160 

Abram Bruce 12 40 

Simon Barnhard 6 29 160 

John Clover 19 84 

Samuel Crotzer 3 and 4 80 

Samuel Cover 6 33 160 

George Diehl 26 40 

Robert Eckley 6 35 80 

Abraham Gam 30 87 

John Hudson 30 87 

David Hiser 3 80 

JohnHoutz 19 80 

William Johnson 19 89 

Samuel Ludwig 32 160 

John Lyme 6 28 80 

Jacob Moses 31 160 

Conrad Miller 6 32 160 

Peter Morton 33 and 34 240 

John Newcomer 18 40 

John Overmyer, jr 12 80 

Ph. Overmyer 6 35 80 

David Obermoyer 12 40 

George Obermoyer 6 34 40 

Noah Obermoyer 21 80 

George Rule 6 25 160 

JohnRinehart 18 90 

Daniel Rife 20 240 

Chris Rinehart 18 45 

George Rinehart 12 80 

William E. Snow 26 80 

Israel Smith 27 120 

Benjamin Stanton 19 89 

Joseph Shively 6 25 80 

Jacob Shaffer 4 40 

D. F. Squire 29 40 

John Smith 29 80 

David Waggoner 6 32 80 

John Walter 6 26 80 

Gabriel Walter 6 34 80 

Philemon Waltz 6 35 80 

James P. Whithour 6 33 40 

Joseph Wengart 28 80 

John Walter 28 80 

David Waggoner 6 30 80 

Note: — Where the number of the range is not indicated, range 
five is meant. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



765 



THE SETTLEMENT. 

The settlers of this township were nearly 
all natives of Pennsylvania, or of Penn- 
sylvania descent, but a large proportion 
came directly from Perry county to this 
county; in fact, it might be called a Perry 
county colony, as our running sketch of the 
representative settlers each decade will 
show. Before, however, proceeding to these 
sketches of a personal character, we will 
give a general view, and preserve the names, 
so far as we can, of the earliest pioneers and 
first improvements of the township. 

The first three permanent settlers were 
Josiah H. Topping, David Grant, and John 
Wolcutt, probably in the order we have 
given their names. Topping kept tavern on 
the pike. He also owned and improved a 
farm, which is now included in the 
Waggoner farm. David Grant settled 
between the two branches of Big Mud Creek, 
about one mile above their junction. No 
more lonely place can be imagined. The 
State road was at that time travelled 
considerably by emigrants going west, but as 
far back as the Grant opening few white men 
ever showed their faces. Indians visited the 
cabin frequently, and squaws were the only 
physicians and nurses at the birth of their 
three first children. George Grant is the only 
member of this family living in the township 
at present. The Wolcutt family settled in the 
southeast corner of the township in 1829. 
The fourth settler was George Skinner, who 
removed from Perry county in the spring of 
1830, and settled upon land entered in 
section twenty-six. A biographical sketch of 
this family will be found, together with a 
portrait of Samuel Skinner, esq., who was 
for nearly fifty years a prominent citizen of 
the town-ship. 

In 1830 the settlement progressed actively, 
so that by the end of that year obstructions to 
natural drainage were well 



removed, and the face of the country became 
more inviting, but continued wet and 
difficult to reduce to a state of cultivation. 
When a few hardy and resolute families had 
made an opening, others took courage and 
followed their example. Many of course 
remained but a few years, and then becoming 
weary and discontented sold their claims and 
sought more congenial climes. Those who 
remained to see the wilderness transformed 
have long since been repaid for their 
sacrifices. We will now give as briefly and 
accurately as possible the names of the first 
settlers on each section, being fully aware of 
our liability of being misinformed in some 
instances: 

Joseph Cookson made the second 
improvement on section thirty-six, in 1830, 
that of John Wolcutt being first. The same 
year Jacob Stoltz, a native of Pennsylvania, 
came from Perry county and settled on 
section twenty-five. The next neighbor north 
was Josiah H. Topping, and north of him on 
the same section, (twenty-four,) and on 
section thirteen, the Waggoner family took 
possession in the fall of 1830. Jacob 
Hendricks soon after built a cabin in this 
neighborhood. West, on the pike, on section 
fourteen, John and Solomon Shoup made an 
improvement the following year. George and 
John Skinner occupied section twenty-six as 
early as 1830, while the mile square lying 
just north was not broken till two years 
afterward, when John Baird came from Perry 
county and Hugh Forgerson removed to 
Washington. Toward the latter part of 1830 
William and Samuel Black settled in the 
southern part of the township, in section 
thirty-five. The first improvement west of 
Skinner's, in 1830, was made by Michael 
Fought, who set apart the first burying- 
ground in the township. Shortly after, in the 
same year, A. G. Ross settled on an 
intervening lot. 



766 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



He was an active and useful citizen during 
this early period. Two years later Mr. Ross 
was joined on section twenty-seven by Peter 
Morton, who also came from Perry county, 
and south of him George Geeseman made an 
opening the same year. Samuel Spohn settled 
on section twenty-two in 1831. The earliest 
settlers on the upper part of Mud Creek, in 
this township, were Jacob Moses and Joseph 
Garn, the latter of whom came in 1831. 
David Grant, on section twenty-one, has 
already been mentioned. But to come back to 
the pike. Henry Forster and Daniel Karshner 
located on section fifteen about 1833. 
Christian Dershen came from Perry county 
and settled in this county in 1830. James 
Ross was the first settler on section twenty- 
two, 1831 being the probable date. Henry 
Bowman was the first settler and original 
proprietor of Hessville, south of the pike, 
and David Hess north of the pike, the latter, 
however, never made permanent settlement 
in the county. The property was transferred 
to his son, Levi Hess, who settled on the 
farm and laid out the north part of the village 
which was named in his honor. Philip 
Overmyer, with his family of seven boys, 
came to the township in 1833, and were 
among the first settlers of the northeast part. 
Previous improvements had been made in 
the part included in the original surveyed 
township number six, by Henry Stierwaldt, 
John Bowersox, Daniel Boyer, and M. 
Yeagle. Mr. Yeagle was one of the noted 
deer hunters of his time. The northwestern 
part of the township was not improved till a 
few years later, when the German emigration 
began. B. H. Bowman had a tavern on the 
pike in 1831, just west of Hessville. The first 
Germans who settled toward the north-west 
were John Avers, E. Humers, H. Bearing, 
and a few others. Until recently it was not 
uncommon to see wooden 



shoes and other native German habits of 
dress. Avers had a small factory for making 
these odd-looking articles of foot ware, or 
more properly foot furniture. People never 
having seen them worn will find a ride to 
Woodville township interesting, for there 
they are worn yet by the women and some 
men at farm work. 

South of the pike, and between Nine-mile 
Creek and Big Mud Creek, were several 
early improvements. John Mohler settled on 
Mud Creek in 1830, and a few years after 
built a saw-mill, which was the first industry 
of the kind in the township. David Dell 
settled on Mud Creek about 1830, and James 
Snyder the same year. Martin Garn settled in 
the south part of the township in 1834. The 
district west of Hessville, extending to the 
Madison township line, was not settled until 
the other parts of the township had been im- 
proved. 

Having now given connectedly a general 
view of the first settlement, brief sketches of 
a few families will be of local interest. 

Michael Fought, a native of Pennsylvania, 
married Elizabeth Cline, and removed to 
Perry county, Ohio, and from there, in 1830, 
to this township. Their family consisted of 
eleven children, six boys and five girls, two 
of whom, Michael and Paul, are among the 
oldest pioneers in the township. Michael, jr., 
was born, in Perry county, in 1814. In 1837 
he married Lydia King, and purchased and 
cleared the farm in section two, known as 
the Fought homestead. Paul Fought was born 
in Perry county, in 1818. He married, in this 
county, Mary Hettrick, who died in 1865, 
leaving thirteen children. He married for his 
second wife, in 1866, Sarah Parret, by whom 
three children were born. Israel, the fourth 
child, was born in 1844. He married Rosanna 
Lay, in 1869, and has three children — Festus 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



767 



L., Bertha M., and William A. Mr. Fought 
has served as teacher in the public schools of 
the county six years. Mr. and Mrs. Fought 
belong to the Reformed church. 

James Snyder, a native of Virginia, set. 
tied in this township in 1830, and lived here 
until the time of his death, July 12, 1876. 
His family consisted of ten children, six 
boys and four girls. Jacob, the third child, 
was born in this township in 1833. He 
married Elizabeth Slates, in 1872, and has 
two children living — Elvia and James. Mr. 
Snyder by trade is a carpenter. He is also 
engaged in farming. 

John Waggoner, a native of Maryland, 
moved to Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in 
1797, and in 1803 to Perry county, Ohio, 
where the family resided until 1830, when 
they came to Washington township. The 
family consisted of eight children, all of 
whom settled in this township. Betsy 
married Henry Bauman; John married a Miss 
Bauman, Jacob married a Miss Heck, David 
married a Miss Fry, George married 
Margaret Clinger, Nancy was married to 
John Machlin, Daniel married a Miss 
Stackbarger, Solomon married a Miss 
Stackbarger, and Samuel a Miss Smith. John 
Waggoner died about 1840. George 
Waggoner, fifth child of John and Betsy 
Waggoner, was born near Hagerstown, 
Maryland, in 1795. He came to Ohio with his 
parents, and, in Perry county, married 
Margaret Clinger. Their family consisted of 
eleven children, four boys and seven girls. 
George Waggoner makes his home at present 
with his son Samuel, on the farm on which 
he settled, and where he has lived for fifty 
years. Samuel Waggoner was born in Perry 
county, in 1827. In 1851 he married Sarah 
Miller, a native of Pennsylvania. The fruit of 
this union is eight children living — George, 
Clara, Eugene, Henry, Malvina, Charles E., 
Harriet, and Milan D. Caroline is dead. 



Mr. Waggoner is one of the most extensive 
farmers in the township. 

John Waggoner, oldest son of John 
Waggoner, sr., carne from Perry county and 
settled in Sandusky township at an early 
date. He married Mary Bauman, and had a 
large family. Daniel Waggoner, his oldest 
son, settled in Washing-ton township, near 
Lindsey, in 1839. For his first wife he 
married Susan Obermoyer. They had four 
children, all of whom are residents of 
Washington township — Louisa (Loose), 
Joseph, John J., and Amos E. Mrs. 
Waggoner died June 20, 1863, aged forty- 
four years. Mr. Waggoner married Mrs. 
Elizabeth Bloker, who died September 30, 
1881. She bore him one child, Mary Ellen, 
who now lives in this township. Mr. 
Waggoner died May 31, 1876, aged about 
sixty. 

Joseph Cookson settled in the township in 
1830. His son, William, married, in 1849, 
Rosanna Metzger, a daughter of Joseph 
Metzger, a native of Bedford county, 
Pennsylvania, who settled in Scott township 
about 1840. The fruit of this union was five 
children — David W., Mahala M. (Snyder), 
James W., Mary M. (Kenan), and Joseph W. 
Mr. Cookson died December 26, 1860. 

Jacob Heberling came from Perry to 
Sandusky county in 1831, and settled in 
Sandusky township, where he lived about 
five years and then removed to Green Creek. 
After remaining in that township three years 
he settled permanently in Washington 
township, where he died in 1845. Those of 
his children who are living are Jacob and 
George in Fremont, John, Washington 
township; and Mrs. Elizabeth Ream, 
Madison township. John, the fourth child, 
was born in Pennsylvania in 1810. He 
married, in 1837, Elizabeth Reed, daughter 
of John and Mary Reed. Fourteen children 
blessed this union — Harriet, deceased; Levi, 
Susauna, 



768 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



deceased; Benjamin F., George W., 
deceased; Thomas J., deceased; Delia A., 
deceased; James M.; Joel, deceased; John; 
Mary E.; Michael, deceased; William, and 
Sarah. Mr. Heberling worked at carpentry 
for ten years in this county. He was justice 
of the peace in Jackson and Washington 
townships, six years in all, and has been 
clerk of Washington township. 

Daniel Spohn emigrated from Maryland to 
Fairfield county, Ohio. From there he 
removed to Perry county, and thence to 
Sandusky county in 1831. He settled in 
Washington township, where he resided until 
his death, in 1852. He married, in 1807, 
Elizabeth Bashor, and had by her a family of 
eleven children. Catharine H. the sixth child, 
was born in 1817. In 1835 she was married 
to Daniel Spohn, son of Henry Spohn, of 
Jackson township. The fruit of this union 
was thirteen children, only three of whom 
are living — Barbara (Klussman), Joel, and 
Lewis W. W. Mr. Spohn died in 1872. His 
widow continues her residence on the 
homestead. Daniel Spohn was in the War of 
1812, and two of his grandsons, Joel and 
Aaron, served in the Federal army during the 
late war. The former was born in this county 
in 1839. He married, in 1864, Nancy J. 
Cookson, and is engaged in farming in this 
township. 

Joseph Garn, the pioneer of the south-west 
corner of the township, was born in Bedford 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1809. He settled 
where he now lives in 1831. His first wife 
was Lydia Ickes, a daughter of Adam Ickes. 
He married for his second wife Sarah 
Andrew, a daughter of William Andrew. The 
fruit of both marriages was fourteen 
children, five by the first and nine by the last 
wife. Mr. Garn may be termed the pioneer 
United Brethren preacher of this part of the 
county, although he has never been an 
itinerant 



circuit rider. He has also been engaged in the 
grain trade at Helena. 

Joseph Reed, with his wife, whose maiden 
name was Sarah Swinehart, both natives of 
Pennsylvania, came to Washington township 
in 1832, and resided here with his family 
until the end of his life. The family consisted 
of ten children. John, one of the enterprising 
farmers of Washington township, was born 
in Perry county in 1823, and, in 1847, he 
married Barbara Orndorf, a native of 
Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Their 
children are Edwin, William H., and. 
Charles. Mr. Reed worked at blacksmithing 
during his younger years. 

Henry Forster came to Ohio and settled in 
Perry county in 1804, and about the year 
1833 came to this township. He was married 
to Tina Walters, and had a family of seven 
children. 

The Overmyers, or Obermoyers, as it is 
spelled by some of the descendants, are 
perhaps the most numerous family in the 
township. Philip Overmyer, a native of 
Union county, Pennsylvania, married 
Rosanna Bishop and removed to New York, 
whence the family came to Ohio in 1833, 
and settled in Washington township, this 
county. The sons numbered seven, viz: 
Samuel, William, Daniel, Jacob, George, 
Philip, and David, the last of whom settled 
in Fulton county, Indiana; the other six 
brothers settled in this county, only one of 
whom survives Philip. He was born in Union 
county in 1801, and, in 1825, married 
Margaret Swinefort, by whom he has a 
family of four children — Israel, William, 
Richard, and Lucinda. Mrs. Overmyer died 
in 1879. 

Jacob Obermoyer came to this county from 
Cayuga county, New York, in 1833 and 
settled in Washington township. Mr. 
Obermoyer was a wagon-maker by trade, but 
followed farming principally. He died in 
1863 in the sixty-sixth year of his age. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



769 



His wife was Catharine Anderson, a native 
of Pennsylvania; she died in 1874, aged 
seventy-two years. They had eleven children, 
ten of whom survive — Philip A,, in Fremont; 
William, in Indiana; George, in Washington 
township; Luke, in Indiana; Sarah Ann, who 
died in 1879, was the wife of Hiram 
Waggoner, of Indiana; Agnes, who is the 
wife of Jacob Hoffman, and resides in 
Indiana; Susan, who married Michael 
Obermoyer; of Washington township; Mary, 
who married Solomon Obermoyer, and 
resides in the same township; Catharine, 
who is the wife of Coonrod Hess, 
Washington township; Amos, Washington 
township; and Amanda, who is the wife of 
Jacob Hess, of the same township. The 
family all attend the Evangelical church. 
Jacob Obermoyer was a well-known citizen, 
much respected in business and social life. 
His sons are all Republicans and successful 
farmers. 

Joseph Shively, an old settler and a worthy 
citizen, departed this life in the latter part of 
the summer of 1881. He was born in Union 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1812, and came to 
Sandusky county and settled in this township 
in 1834. The following year he was united in 
marriage to Susanna Obermoyer, daughter of 
George Obermoyer. They reared a family of 
ten children, viz: Sarah (Engler) and 
Elizabeth (Kramb), Washington township; 
Henry, Sandusky; John, Michigan; George 
A., Sandusky; Solomon, Washington; 
Franklin, Michigan; William H., Texas; 
James A. and Lewis W., Washington. Mr. 
Shively was by trade a wagon-maker. 

Samuel Kratzer came to Ohio and settled 
in Columbiana county in 1831, where he 
remained three years, then removed to York 
township, this county. The following year he 
settled in Washington township, where he 
died in 1861, in his sixty-third year. He 
married Rebecca Mussleman 



and had four sons and one daughter. Harriet 
married Solomon Waggoner, and died in 
Indiana; Aaron and David reside in 
Washington township; Henry died in 
Rochester, Indiana; Emanuel resides in 
Rochester, Indiana. The widow of Samuel 
Kratzer died in Indiana in 1874, aged about 
sixty-seven years. David, the third child, was 
born in Union, Pennsylvania, in 1826. In 
1857 he married Margaret Welker, a native 
of Franklin county. Their family consists of 
four children living — Mary R., Sarah C, 
Lizzie C, and Joseph W. Two are dead — 
Henry F. and an infant daughter. Mr. Kratzer 
worked at carpentry fourteen years, but is 
now giving his whole attention to farming. 

Henry Reiling was born in Germany in 
1816. He came to America in 1838, and 
found employment in Portage county on the 
canal. He came to this county in 1842. In 
1844 he married Sally Forster, by whom he 
had six children, of whom Tina is the only 
one living. Mrs. Reiling died in 1855. In 
1857 he married for his second wife 
Catharine Noss, who gave birth to sixteen 
children, eleven of whom are living. Mr. 
Reiling has been in mercantile business in 
Hessville the greater part of the time since 
1842. Since 1867 he has been proprietor of 
the mill on Mud Creek. The names of Mr. 
Reiling's children who are living are: 
Catharine, Lizzie, Henry, Eva, Mary, Delia, 
Julia, John, Josephine, Helen, and Ann. 

George W. Stull was born in Sandusky 
county in 1843. He married, in 1866, Hannah 
Cole, who was born in Scott township in 
1844. Six children, four boys and two girls, 
blessed this union. 

William Thraves, a native of Nottingham, 
England, was born in 1799. He was married 
in England, in 1827, to Manilla Graves, and 
in 1844, with the family, consisting of seven 
children, emigrated to America and settled in 
Washing- 



770 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



ton township. One child was born in this 
county. The following were the names of the 
children: George, Ann, Robert, Mark, Faith 
E., William, Thomas, and Levi. William was 
killed by a railroad accident on the Isthmus 
of Panama. Mr. Thraves followed butchering 
in England for twelve years and three years 
in this country. He has since been farming. 
His present residence is in Ballville town- 
ship. George, the oldest child, was born in 
England in 1828. He was in California from 
1854 to 1857. In 1853 he married Mary J. 
Crowell, daughter of Samuel and Mary 
Crowell, of Sandusky township. Their 
children are: Samuel, deceased; Anna M., 
Mark E., Ida H., George M., and Lillie M., 
living. Mr. Thraves is a blacksmith by trade, 
but for the last twenty-four years he has been 
giving exclusive attention to farming in 
Ballville township. Mark, the fourth child of 
William Thraves, was born in England in 
1832. He was in California ten years from 
1851, and returning, settled on a farm in 
Ballville township. He married Sarah 
Hufford in 1862, and has three children: D. 
C, William, and Mattie M. 

John W. Bauman was born in Lancaster 
county, Pennsylvania. He married Polly Fry 
and settled in Wayne county, Ohio. From 
there he removed to Knox county, and in the 
year 1845 to Sandusky county and settled in 
this township, where he died in 1854. Five 
of the fifteen children are still living; one — 
John F. — is a resident of this township. He 
was born in Wayne county in 1827. In 1850 
he married Harriet E. Winter, daughter of 
Jacob Winter, of Jackson township. Their 
children are Alvertie J. (Burgett), Emma E. 
(Doll), Sarah F., and Jerome J. 

John Lantz, a native of Pennsylvania, came 
to Ohio and settled in Washington township 
in 1846, and was a resident of the township 
to the time of his death, in 



1880. He married, in Pennsylvania, 
Elizabeth Dieffenbaucher. They had a family 
of eight children. Simon, the second child, 
was born in Pennsylvania, in 1830. In 1852 
he married Mary Waggoner, daughter of 
John Waggoner. Their family consisted of 
eleven children, eight of whom are living, 
viz: Sarah E. (Posey), Elizabeth, Mary E. 
(Pohlman), Louisa M., Simon E.; Nancy A., 
Moses F., and Charles A. Mrs. Lantz died in 
1879. Mr. Lantz has served as township 
trustee four years, and as assessor one year. 
Of the family of John Lantz, five are living: 
Mary A. (Ward), in California, San Joaquin 
county; Simon, Washington township; 
Rosanna (Ward), Wood county; Matilda 
(Wolfe), Sandusky township; and Emanuel, 
Helena. 

Henry Myers, a native of Lancaster county, 
Pennsylvania, emigrated to Ohio in 1840, 
and settled in Montgomery county, where he 
remained until 1847, when he removed to 
Sandusky county and settled in this 
township. The family consisted of fourteen 
children, — ten boys and four girls. Henry, 
the third child, was born in Lancaster 
county, in 1809. In 1832 he married Nancy 
Bork, daughter of James Bork. They had 
four children, Joseph, Sarah A., Mary E. and 
George H., all living except Joseph, who 
died in the army. 

Casper Heseman emigrated from Prussia in 
1847. By his wife, Mary Yeasting, a family 
of twelve children were born, five of whom 
are living. Charles F., the tenth child, was 
born in Germany in 1843. In 1867 he 
married Mary Tebbs, who died in 1871, 
leaving two children, Elmer F., and Emma. 
In 1872 Mr. Heseman married for his second 
wife Mary Vollman, also a native of Prussia. 
Sarah and Herman W. are the fruit of this 
union. Mr. Vollman emigrated from Prussia 
to Ohio in 1869, and settled in Madison 
township. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



771 



Since 1872 he has been living with his 
daughter, Mrs. Heseman, in Washington. 

Benjamin Karshner, a son of Jacob 
Karshner, was born in Berks county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1810. He married Elizabeth 
Box, and in 1848 emigrated to this county 
and settled in Washington township. Their 
family consisted of eight children, viz: 
Henry, Benjamin (deceased), Catharine, 
Edward, Isabel, Elizabeth, William, and 
Newton. Margaret Box, widow of Nicholas 
Box, came to the township in 1837, and died 
in 1857. Mr. Karshner had a store in 
Hessville for about two years, then settled on 
the farm on which his son, William, now 
lives. 

Daniel Ickes, son of Adam Ickes, was born 
in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in 1816. 
He came to Ohio and settled in Washington 
township in 1848. He married, in 1840, 
Delila Zimmers, born in Bedford county in 
1822. They raised a family of ten children, 
viz: Rebecca, Franklin Q., Mary C, Daniel 
W., George Z., Harvey J., Joseph M. Jacob 
F., and Naomi E. Saloma A., the seventh 
child, is dead. 

Christian Schwartzmann was born in 
Germany in 1820. He married Wilhelmina 
Pohlman in 1844, and in 1849 emigrated to 
America. He first located in Madison 
township, but the following year removed to 
the farm on which he now lives. Six of their 
thirteen children are living, five girls and 
one boy, viz: Rosetta (Hornung), 
Washington township; Sophia (Munch), 
Wood county; Charles, Mary Damschroder), 
Addie, and Katie, Washington township. Mr. 
Schwartzmann is a tailor by trade. 

John Adam Bork, one of the oldest of the 
German residents of this township, was born 
in 1802. He was married in Germany to 
Catharine Kehler, who died in 1842; then to 
Catharine Helmuth, and after her death to 
Anna E. Banze, who emi- 



grated with him to America, and is yet 
living. The family came to this country in 
1850, and after stopping a short time in Erie 
county, settled in Washington township. The 
children residing in this county are Adam, 
Elizabeth (Streit), Lewis A., Henry, Amelia, 
Elizabeth, and Caroline. 

Lewis Bolen was born in Perry county in 
1830 and came with his family to Sandusky 
county at the age of four years. In 1851 he 
married Sarah Smith. A family of eleven 
children blessed this union, viz: William, 
Mary, John W., Harry A., Emma, Jesse, 
Lewis, Russell, Clarence, Fannie, and 
Albert. William, Jesse, and Lewis are dead. 

Samuel Sweet, a native of New York 
emigrated to Ohio and settled in Sandusky 
county in 1854. His wife died in New York, 
leaving a family of sixteen children, eight 
boys and eight girls. M Sweet died two years 
after coming to Ohio. Henry Sweet, a son of 
Samuel Sweet, was born in Albany county, 
New York, in 1812. He came to Ohio and 
settled in Seneca county in 1833. The 
following year he moved back to New York, 
and remained there till 1843, when he 
returned to Ohio and settled in Woodville 
township. He next removed to Fremont, 
where he engaged in the livery business for a 
period, and then settled on the farm in 
Washington where he now lives. He has 
been married twice, first to Lavina Schovil, 
and after her death to Mrs. Harriet Reed, 
widow of Samuel Reed and daughter of 
Matthias Benner. The fruit of this union was 
four children, viz: William H., Mary E., 
Lawrence, and Sarah J. By his first wife Mr. 
Sweet had three children — Emma, Ellen, and 
Charley. By her first husband Mrs. Sweet 
had one child-Edwin Reed. By trade Mr. 
Sweet is a shoemaker. He follows farming, 
and is a local preacher of the United 
Brethren church. 



772 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



William Opperman was born in Nassau, 
Germany, in 1819. In 1849 he emigrated to 
America, and settled in Huron county. He 
married Ruth Purington, of Portage county, 
in 1852, and in 1856 they settled in 
Washington township. They have ten 
children, viz: Wilhelmina, Emma, Mary, 
Lydia, Charles W., Clara, William H., John, 
Olive, and Nellie. Mr. Opperman served in 
the German army seven years. 

Jerome L. Loose, second child of Peter 
Loose, was born in 1836, in Perry county, 
Pennsylvania. He lived in Michigan from 
1845 to 1863; then came to Sandusky county 
and settled in Washington township. In 1862 
he married Louisa Waggoner, daughter of 
Daniel Waggoner. Their family consists of 
three children living — Ida R., Elam S., and 
Mary S. The youngest three — Alvin J., 
Franklin M., and John H., are dead. Mr. 
Loose has taught school in this county about 
seven years. 

Bryan O'Connor, son of Michael and 
Catharine O'Connor, was born in County 
Kerry, Ireland, in 1830. In 1852 he 
emigrated to America and settled in 
Fremont. In 1858 he married Margaret 
Keffe, and seven years later settled on a 
farm in Washington township, where he 
continues to reside. The family consists of 
six children, viz: Catharine, Martin, 
Michael, Mary, John, and Margaret. He was 
clerk of Washington township six years from 
1868, and justice of the peace from 1877 to 
1879, when he resigned. The resignation of 
William Sandwisch, in 1878, caused a 
vacancy on the board of county 
commissioners, which Mr. O'Connor was 
appointed to fill. He was elected to that 
office in 1879. 

LEGAL ORGANIZATION. 

A petition was presented to the county 
commissioners at their session held 
December 6, 1830, by A. C. Ross, praying 



that the originally surveyed township 
number five, range fourteen, be organized 
into a town with corporate powers and privi- 
leges. This petition was granted, and in 
deference to the choice of Mr. Ross, who 
had been most active in seeking the 
establishment of local government, the new 
township was named Washington. A more 
significant name would have been Perry, but 
the fancies of men are not always, indeed are 
very seldom, influenced by an appreciation 
of historical harmony. 

The first election was held at the house of 
Daniel Karshner January 1, 1831. The old 
record containing the names of the officers 
elected and the first voters can not be found, 
but it is remembered that Josiah H. Topping 
was elected justice of the peace, Michael 
Overmyer, treasurer, and George L. 
Overmyer clerk, which office he held for 
many years. 

Twelve sections were added to Washington 
township after the erection of Ottawa 
county. 

In politics the township has always been 
Democratic. 

HESSVILLE. 

There are in Washington township three 
villages — Hessville, Helena, and Lindsey, 
the two last named being good trading 
points. The founders of Hessville were: 
Henry Bowman and Levi Hess. By reference 
to a preceding topic it will be seen that 
David Hess, at an early date, entered an 
immense tract of land, and on this land his 
son Levi made a settlement. Mr. Bowman 
owned a tract on the opposite side of the 
pike, where he had a tavern. 

William Haverfield opened a store in 1835, 
and the hamlet in the woods and swamp was 
named by the settlers Cashtown. 

Most of the pioneers of that day were poor, 
and the difficulty of obtaining ready money 
has been frequently spoken of in 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



773 



preceding chapters. Bowman, to sacrifice 
dignity for a force of expression, was the 
keeper of a "barrel," and in consequence was 
known by his poor neighbors as "Old Cash," 
and his village, "Cashtown." Judging from 
appearances, no one having any sense of the 
fitness of things can regret that upon laying 
out the north part of the town, Mr. Hess gave 
this trading point his own name. 

The first physician at Hessville was Dr. 
Thompson, who bore a good reputation as a 
skilled practitioner. His successor was Dr. 
McVey. Dr. Philips, the only physician in 
the place at present, has, since locating a 
number of years ago, gained the confidence 
of the people. A few others have opened 
offices but did not remain long enough to 
merit mention in this connection. 

The postmasters at Hessville, as they are 
remembered by old citizens, have been: 
David Berry, Henry Forster, Henry Reiling, 
Samuel Ritter, A. Lay, Jacob Arnstadt, 
George McVey, and Frank Arts. 

There is in the village one church, built as 
a union meeting house in 1843, and used by 
the German Reformed and Lutheran 
congregations, and supplied by Rev. George 
Cronenwett. But in 1851 the Lutherans built 
a house of their own, three-quarters of a mile 
farther west, on the pike. This house, in 
1877, was torn down and the finest church 
building in the township erected a short 
distance east, at an expense of $3,000. 
Services have been held regularly in both 
houses by the respective denominations. The 
first Lutherans were the Auxter, Tappy, 
Schwartzmann, Pohlman, and Upp families. 
The first members of the Reformed 
congregation were Henry Bowman, B. 
Karshner, S. Kratzel, William Keiser, 
William Opperman, the Kline family and a 
few others. 

Hessville is a hamlet of about thirty 



houses and would be easily recognized by 
settlers who left the county thirty years ago. 

The mill and distillery, — owned and 
operated by Henry Reiling, remains to be 
spoken of. The mill was built by B. 
Bowman. It was purchased by Mr. Reiling in 
1867, who, in 1871, fitted up a complete 
apparatus for distilling spirituous liquors, 
with rectifiers and warehouse. The annual 
product is about one hundred barrels. 
Previous to 1875 the business was run on a 
more extensive scale. 

HELENA. 

This village is partly in Jackson township. 
During the building of the Pittsburgh, Fort 
Wayne & Chicago railroad, Toledo branch, 
the conditions seemed favorable to the 
growth of a town. In the midst of an 
excellent grain producing territory, and ten 
miles from any other market, its location is 
most favorable. The first lots were surveyed 
in September, 1871, by Joseph Garn. In 
November, following, John Ickes laid out the 
first addition. Isaac Garn afterwards laid out 
an addition in Washington, and Jonathan 
Wagner in Jackson township. 

Isaac Garn was the first commissioned 
postmaster. He was succeeded by James 
Donald. 

Irvine Mitchell was the first merchant. He 
was succeeded by B. F. Moore, and he in 
turn by the Fausey Bros., who suspended in 
1877. Marvin & Dodge opened a store in 
1875, which was afterwards removed to 
Gibsonburg. Frederick Rutchow opened a 
store in 1876, now owned by Rutchow & Co. 
Garn & Mitchell, proprietors of the only 
other store, began business in 1880. L. B. 
Her opened the first drug store, which is now 
owned by W. H. Spade. Joseph Garn began 
the grain trade as soon as the railroad 
offered shipping facilities. Rutchow & Co., 
and Garn & Mitchell, are the present dealers. 



774 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



There are in Helena two churches, one 
German Reformed, and one United Brethren. 
The first United Brethren class was collected 
soon after the first settlement of the 
township, and held prayer and preaching 
service in private houses, most frequently at 
Joseph Gam's. The first members were 
Joseph Garn and wife, William Boor and 
wife, John and Rebecca Donald, and David 
Vernon. The first meeting-house was built in 
1843. A new house was built at the same 
place, now in the town of Helena, in 1865. 
John Dorcas was the first circuit preacher, 
Michael Long the second. 

The German Reformed Church was built in 
Helena in 1873. The old house stood a mile 
further north and was built about 1855, but 
has been removed. 

Both congregations have Sunday-schools 
and are in flourishing condition. 

Helena is proud of her lodge of 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and if 
individual interest in the affairs of a society 
are evidences of its prosperity and the 
practical benefits furnished, the Helena 
lodge deserves a higher place among the 
sister lodges of the county than its priority 
would indicate. The charter of Helena 
Lodge, No. 592, was issued May 16, 1874, 
and it was instituted by Special Deputy J. W. 
Ritchie, July 28, 1874, with the following 
members: J. C. Tompson, I. M. Garn, W. H. 
K. Gossard, Irvine Mitchell, A. H. Tice, G. 
P. Cornelius, B. E. Bartlett, J. W. Barnes, J. 
W. Marvin, S.. R. Heberling, P. J. Gossard, 
S. Andrew, and P. D. Stephenson. The 
present membership is ninety-six. This lodge 
has given to Gibsonburg lodge seventeen 
members; to Bradney thirteen; and to 
Bettsville three. Two thousand dollars had 
accumulated in the treasury, which fund is 
now (1881) being drawn on for the 
construction of a hall. Dr. Thompson was the 
first noble grand. 



Tompson Encampment, No. 209, was 
instituted July 25, 1876, with J. C. Tompson, 
I. M. Garn, G. P. Cornelius, J. W. Marvin, 
James M. Jones, Charles B. Inman, A. H. 
Tice, Henry W. King, and Morris Reese, 
charter members. A characteristic of the 
Helena Odd Fellows is their punctual 
attendance at meetings. There are not often 
many vacant chairs. 

LINDSEY. 

This village in appearance bears more 
evidence of thrift than either of. the other 
two. It is located on the Lake Shore railroad, 
nine miles west of Fremont, and is a good 
market for grain and other agricultural 
products. The incipient steps toward 
founding a town were taken by Charles 
Loose, who erected a grain elevator and 
began the grain trade. The following year he 
erected a store and dwelling house. The first 
lots were surveyed March 23, 1868, by C. A. 
Monk and Isaiah Overmyer. Isaiah Overmyer 
laid out an addition south of the railroad De- 
cember 20, 1868. 

There is in Lindsey one church, the 
Evangelical, built in 1869. The first 
members were Rev. C. A. Monk, Rev. D. 
Strawman, W. M. Boyer, J. J. Walder, Josiah 
Overmyer, with their families, and perhaps a 
few others. It was a branch of the church 
north of Lindsey, which was the first house 
of worship in that part of the township. 
Services have been entirely discontinued in 
this house, the class being divided between 
Lindsey and the North Rice church. 

The Lindsey saw-mill was built by W. M. 
Boyer & Co., and is now owned by Davis & 
Beery. J. Wolfe owns the business es- 
tablished by Charles Loose. The store now 
owned by Overmyer & Brother was 
established by W. M. Boyer. Brenaman & 
Monk's store was opened by J. V. Beery, and 
has passed through several changes of 
proprietorship. The Lindsey 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



775 



House, now owned by Mr. Kreilich, was 
built by H. J. Kramb in 1869. The National 
House, a capacious hotel building for a small 
town, was erected in 1872, by J. Burger, and 
is now owned by H. M. Nichols, of New 
York; E. S. Bowersox, proprietor. 

Lindsey has been set apart a special school 
district, and has a graded school with two 
rooms. 

The station was at first named Washington, 
but after the survey of lots the name was 
changed. William Overmyer was first 
postmaster, the office being at his house. 
"Loose" was at that time the name of the 
post office. Its style was changed to Lindsey 
to accord with the new name of the station, 
in 1868, since which time W. M. Boyer has 
been postmaster. 

A. J. Monk began practicing medicine in 
Lindsey in 1868. He remained about three 
years, and was followed by Dr. Sailer, whose 
residence was short. The present physicians, 
in the order, of their placing themselves 
before the people, are W. H. H. Wolland, Dr. 
Shipley, and Dr. W. H. Lane. 

Lindsey Lodge, No, 668, Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, was instituted June 
27, 1897. The charter members were Joel 
Burkett, Andrew Weis, J. J. Walters, W. 
Hubbard, Jacob Widener, Andrew Widener, 
John Widener, W. S. Stevens, Nathan 
Cochran, F. J. Weis, William Wiseman, 
Zachariah Clay, and P. H. Overmyer. The 
lodge has a membership, at present, of fifty- 
two. The past noble grands, in their order, 
are J. J. Walters, Joel Burkett, W. C. 
Wiseman, W. S. Stevens, E. W. Hubbard, 
Andrew Weis, A. E. Waggoner, William 
Boyer, and B. F. Overmyer. 

SCHOOLS. 

The first school-house in Washington was 
built about 1822, north of the pike on the old 
Hettrick farm. The citizens were 



called together about 1833, and after a day 
of hard work the house was ready for school. 
It was of typical pioneer fashion, built up of 
round logs, covered with long shingles 
weighted down with poles, and having a 
floor of split puncheons, hewn on one side 
and notched in on the other, where they 
rested on the sleepers so as to make the 
surface even. It may be remarked in this 
connection that some of the woodsmen of 
that early day attained remarkable accuracy 
of stroke with the axe. Some of them could 
dress a puncheon as smooth as a shingle. 
The windows were the most unique feature 
of these early school-houses. A piece was 
sawn out of one log near the middle of each 
side; a frame was fitted into the hole and 
splinters wedged in diagonally, nails being 
very scarce and expensive. Over this opening 
a sheet of white paper, previously greased, 
was stretched and fastened. There were 
plenty of air holes to supply ventilation. 

The first school-teacher was Narcissa 
Topping. From those who were benefited by 
her instructions we learn that she was a 
popular teacher. 

The first school-house in the southwest 
corner stood on the farm improved by Jacob 
Moses, and was built about 1834. 

RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. 

It cannot be determined satisfactorily 
where in the township the first religious 
service was held or who the first preacher 
was. United Brethren circuit riders travelled 
the Black Swamp region as soon as any one 
could be found to preach to, and that church 
was the first to form an organized class. The 
Evangelical and Methodist churches also 
sent their missionaries into the woods, and 
as a result of all these evangelical labors a 
sense of the importance of maintaining 
religious worship was impressed upon the 
people. 

There are in the township nine churches 
representing six denominations — German 



776 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Reformed, Methodist Episcopal, United 
Brethren, Lutheran, Dunkard, and 
Evangelical. We have previously mentioned 
those located in the villages. 

Wilson Union class, United Brethren, was 
formed of residents of Sandusky and 
Washington townships about 1850, and a 
meeting-house was built at the township 
line, between Washington and Sandusky. 
The leading members were David Bowlus, 
Rev. Joshua Hatfield, Jacob Dezelen, and 
Rev. Wesley Harrington. The congregation 
gradually grew smaller in consequence of 
the old members dying and moving away, 
and no new ones being added. In 1817 Mrs. 
Samuel Skinner and daughter were the only 
regular members. That year George W. 
Steward was appointed to the circuit, and 
held a protracted meeting at Wilson's 
meeting-house, which resulted in twenty 
accessions. Since that time the church has 
had a solid footing. A new brick meeting- 
house was built in 1876, opposite the old 
building, in this township. 

The first members of the Evangelical 
church in the south part of this township 
were: Michael Walter, John Walter, and 
Joseph Wingard. Services were held at 
private houses until about 1859, when the 
brick house, still used for public services, 
was erected. Rev. D Kerns has been 
performing the offices of local preacher for 
more than twenty years. He was an itinerant 
ten years. The membership is gradually 
growing smaller, not numbering at present 
more than ten. 

The founder of Methodism in this 
township was Israel Smith, who was one of 
the early settlers and a working member of 
the church. He collected a small class, 
composed of the following individuals: 
Israel Smith and wife, William Black and 
wife, Mrs. Russell Smith, John Lash and 
wife, Mr. Green and wife, and Andrew 
Miller and wife. Mrs. Black and Israel Smith 
are the only original members living 



in the county. The first meeting-house was 
built of stone, and known as Washington 
Stone Chapel. In 1858 a new house was built 
further west, and the stone church allowed to 
go down. The present membership at 
Washington chapel is about forty. M. D. 
Love is entitled to special mention for his 
labors as pastor in 1858. 

A society of Dunkards or German Baptists 
built a meeting-house north of the pike, on 
the Noah Hendrick farm, in 1873. Samuel 
Fink is principal exhorter. Other prominent 
members are: Jonas Engler, Noah Hendrick, 
Mrs. Hettrick, Aaron Mowry, Samuel 
Mowry, John Hendrick, and Solomon 
Snyder. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



SAMUEL SKINNER. 

The first settler of Washington township — 
Josiah Topping — located on the pike in 
1826. He was followed by David Grant, then 
John Wolcutt, and, fourth, in the spring of 
1831, came George Skinner with his family. 

George Skinner and his wife, whose 
maiden name way Mary Goodin, were 
natives of Somerset county, Pennsylvania. 
They removed to Perry county, Ohio, at an 
early period of the settlement of that county, 
and accumulated property which was well 
improved when the Black Swamp became a 
much talked of land of promise. Mr. 
Skinner's desire to give his children, fast 
growing to "maturity, a start in life, led him 
to sell his farm in Perry county and enter 
land here. His original purchase was larger 
than that of any man in the township with 
one exception. 

In April, 1830, the party, consisting of 
George Skinner and wife, and eight of their 
children, three of whom were mar- 




Qj //<!su4s&*c0-\-^' 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



777 



ried, arrived in Lower Sandusky. A short 
time after they penetrated the swamp and 
made a settlement in the southeast part of 
Washington township. The Skinner family 
consisted of twelve children, three of whom 
died in Perry county before the family's 
settlement in this county — Elizabeth, Fanny, 
and Jane. David, the second child, settled in 
Morrow county. Those who came to 
Sandusky were: Rhoda, wife of William 
Black, settled in Washington township, 
where her husband died, and she is yet 
living, being a woman well known for her 
kindness of heart and neighborly assistance 
in every time of need; Rebecca, 
accompanied by her husband, Samuel Black, 
settled in Washington township, where he 
died, she now living with her children in 
Illinois; John, accompanied by his family, 
settled in Washington township and 
subsequently removed to Livingston county, 
Michigan; Samuel, the subject of this 
biography, came a single man; George 
married, in Seneca county, Elizabeth Kimes, 
settled first in Seneca county, then in 
Washing-ton township, and subsequently 
removed to Williams county, where he is 
now living; Aaron, after the immigration of 
his family, returned to Perry county, where 
he married, and then settled in Washington 
township, and has since removed to Illinois; 
Nathan married, in Washington township, 
Sophia Dayhoof, settled in Washington, and 
subsequently removed to Cass county, 
Michigan, where he now lives; Mary Ann 
married; in Washington township, John 
Walters, and died in Tiffin, Ohio. 

It was not for Mrs. Skinner long to bear the 
toils of pioneer life. She died in Washington 
township September 24, 1831, about 
eighteen months after leaving the old home 
in Perry county. George Skinner died 
September 25, 1838, aged fifty-seven years 
and three months. He had abandoned the 
comforts of a well improved 



home with a view to providing homes for his 
children. He came to a country which nature 
had favored with richness, but a full 
generation's labor was needed to make it an 
inviting dwelling place. He lived to see a 
part of his large tract improved. He lived to 
see a cabin on almost every section and 
quarter-section in his township. This was the 
beginning of that transformation which half 
a century has effected. 

Samuel Skinner, whose portrait appears in 
this volume, is one of the few men who has 
seen that transformation from beginning to 
end, and, at the same time, has been an 
active agent in effecting it. He was horn in 
Perry county, Ohio, May 10, 1814, and was 
consequently about sixteen years old when 
the family came to this county. His 
education was such as the primitive schools 
of his native county afforded. Accustomed to 
hard work, he was well calculated by 
physical strength for the life which lay 
before him. He married in Washington 
township, October 17, 1833, Elizabeth 
Geeseman, who was born in Pennsylvania, in 
1812. Her father, George Geeseman, 
removed to Perry county, Ohio, and from 
there to Washington township, Sandusky 
county, in 1831. When Mr. Skinner was 
married, to obtain a start in life was not an 
easy matter. He was unable to provide for 
the necessities of life without performing 
day labor for his neighbors. Agricultural 
productions could not be exchanged for 
money, and the wages of a day laborer look 
very small in this period of plenty. But these 
obstacles of early life finally yielded to the 
continuous hard licks of the pioneers, and 
eventual success and financial prosperity 
rewarded hardships endured. The family of 
Mr. and Mrs. Skinner is somewhat re- 
markable. There were ten children, one boy 
and nine girls, all of whom are living, all 
married, and all in promising circum- 



778 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



stances. Their names and places of residence 
are as follows: George W. was born July 25, 
1834. He married Theresa Fox, and is living 
on the old homestead farm, in Washington 
township. Mary was born December 7, 1835. 
She was married to Jacob Rearick, and 
resides in Henry county, Ohio. Sarah was 
born May 1, 1837. She was married to 
George Rearick, residing in Sandusky 
township, this county. Cynthia was born 
January 4, 1841. She is married to David 
Burgoon, residing in Sandusky township, 
this county. Eliza Ann, wife of Edward 
Choate, residing in Monroe county, Michi- 
gan, was born May 25, 1843. Margaret E., 
was married to Eli Hansberger, of Monroe 
county, Michigan. She was born October 3, 
1844. Laura M., wife of Frederick Zorn, 
lives in Poweshiek county, Iowa. She was 
born April 4, 1847. Harriet M. was born 
October 30, 1849. She is the wife of Lewis 
Zorn, of Madison township. Jane E. was 
born September 7, 185 r. She is married to 
Peter Cornelius, and lives at Helena, Jackson 
township. Emma N., the youngest child, was 
born August 20, 1853. She is the wife of 
Jacob Hendricks, of Henry county, Ohio. 

Mrs. Skinner died March 8, 1869. 

Mr. Skinner married for his second wife, in 
April, 1870, Mrs. Sarah Guyer, daughter of 
George M. Gunter, who settled in Wood 
county in 1824. 

There is enough of danger connected with 
a bear hunt to give it a peculiar interest. Mr. 
Skinner was the discoverer of the track, and 
one of a party to pursue the last bear, so far 
as is known, to enter the marshes of 
Sandusky county. In the winter of 1834 Mr. 
Skinner discovered, one afternoon, the track 
of a large bear. The animal at that period 
was rare in this part of the State, and his 
track promised a fine day's sport. During the 
night a light snow fell, which obscured the 
former 



track, but the following day a couple of 
young men of the neighborhood, while 
returning from an errand to Jackson 
township, on Muskallonge, saw the track in 
the snow. The discovery was reported, dogs 
collected, and on the following morning, at 
four o'clock, a party of four, consisting of 
Samuel Skinner, Robert McCulloch, Samuel 
Geeseman, and James Fisher, with their pack 
of dogs and well charged guns, were on the 
track. Patiently step after step was followed 
by the light of the moon. Daylight came, and 
the dogs, as the track became fresher, were 
more anxious and pushed ahead. About noon 
they bounded forward with fierce barks, and 
the sound soon came from far away in the 
thicket. The party hurried in eager pursuit of 
the pack, for the barking and shrill howls of 
the dogs, just audible, clearly indicated the 
progress of a battle. After the pursuit had 
continued for some time, Mr. Skinner, who 
was far in advance of his comrades, met two 
of the battle-scarred dogs returning from the 
fray. One had been severely wounded, the 
other considerably scratched. Suddenly the 
character of the barking changed from sharp 
yelps and long-drawn howls, which hunters 
recognize as the rapid advances and retreats 
of determined fighting, to the continuous 
noise of the chase. When the party came to 
the place of encounter, under a large tree, 
the snow tracks clearly indicated what had 
happened. The pack had overtaken their 
game at that place, and he backed himself 
against the tree, thus being securely fortified 
in the rear and prepared to give battle with 
both paws. The condition of the dogs and 
blood on the ground showed bruin's victory, 
and as the pack returned one by one from 
their futile pursuit, the failure of the chase 
was apparent. The party returned to Miller's 
tavern, near Woodville. The host was 
boastful of his 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



779 



dogs, and anxious to give them a trial. He 
offered to keep the party over night, but 
Messrs. Skinner and McCulloch returned to 
their homes. The next day's chase was more 
unsuccessful than the first. But a week later 
a bear, supposed to be the same one, was 
killed near Findlay, Hancock county. 

Mr. Skinner retired from the farm in 1871, 
and has since been living in Fremont. He is a 
large, good-natured, full-hearted gentleman, 
on whom time and hard labor have had little 
effect. As remarked before, he has seen the 
growth of his township, and contributed his 
strong physical energies toward that growth. 
In reply to the question, "Do you feel repaid 
for your labor, and the hardships which 
nature and the times imposed upon the early 
pioneers of the Black Swamp?" he replied: "I 
would not like to say that I have not been 
repaid, but if I was again a young man, and 
could foresee the course of life I have 
followed, I would not sacrifice 



society and improvement for what I have 
accumulated." When we remember that Mr. 
Skinner is among the most successful of the 
pioneers of this part of the county, and has 
certainly been peculiarly fortunate in respect 
to health, his remark has a deep meaning. If 
those of the early immigrants who became 
wealthy do not feel repaid for their toil, what 
sorrow and suffering must have prevailed 
among, the multitude less fortunate! 

But if pecuniary gain has not been suf- 
ficient reward, Mr. Skinner and other 
pioneers of his class can look back over the 
busy and clouded past with a consciousness 
of having added to the world's wealth, of 
having completed nature's work and 
conferred an appreciated boon upon their 
descendants and humanity. No feeling of self 
approbation is stronger in an old man than 
the sense of having been useful. The life of 
such commands our admiration, and the 
memory of such is worthy of preservation. 



WOODVILLE. 



OTTAWA county on the north, Wood on 
the west, Madison township on the south, 
and Washington township on the east with a 
fraction of Ottawa county, define Woodville 
township. In the original division of 
Sandusky county into town-ships the 
territory now comprised in Woodville was 
embraced in Madison and Clay townships. 
The records of the county commissioners 
show that the township, as it now stands, 
was organized pursuant to the following 
order: 

At a special session of the county commissioners held 
April 1, 1840, it was ordered that so much of original 
surveyed township number six, range thirteen as is 
within the boundaries of Sandusky county, and all that 
part of original surveyed township number five, range 
thirteen north of the centre line, running east and west 
through the center of sections seven, eight, nine, ten and 
twelve be organized and constituted a new township by 
the name of Woodville, and that the first election for 
township officers be holden at the house of Amos E, 
Wood in said township on the 14th day of April next, 
between the hours required by law. 

There were at that time a great many more 
electors than were necessary to effect the 
organization. The earliest township records 
have not been preserved so that the exact 
date of the first election cannot be given. 
However, it is known that during the summer 
of 1840 the voting for the first officers took 
place at the old Wood tavern which stood on 
the land now owned by members of the Price 
family, just east of the present village of 
Woodville. This was, perhaps, the first 
public gathering of the members of the new 
community, and as the election was merely 
of local interest with no political signifi- 



cance, it was very harmonious, and 
everybody had a good time, such a time as 
only a pioneer tavern can furnish. The name 
of the township is in honor of Amos E. 
Wood, who was one of the leading citizens 
at the time of its organization. The election 
resulted as follows: David Dunham; Lester 
Allen, and Archibald. Rice, trustees; Ira 
Benedict and Jared Plumb, justices of the 
peace; Ira Benedict, clerk. These men, who 
were the most substantial citizens of the new 
township, succeeded in their honest 
endeavors to further the best interests of the 
people, and their merit was recognized by. 
frequent re-elections. Any one taking an 
interest in the local history of Woodville 
would be amused at some of the old records 
kept by the clerk, in which are carefully 
noted indentures, accounts of stray cattle, 
and the record of the marks by which hogs 
and sheep were recognized. Sometimes the 
unfortunate animal was branded, sometimes 
painted, but the most popular way was the 
rather sanguinary process of slitting and 
otherwise mutilating the auricular 
appendages of the poor animals. Happily, 
since the days of fences this barbarous 
custom is unnecessary, and the ears of the 
head are intact. The elections have always 
been held at Woodville village. The officers 
elected in 1881 are as follows: R. Hartman, 
J. H. Hurralbrink, and Henry Blausey, 
trustees; George Wehrung, justice of the 
peace; Dr. Henry Bush, treasurer; George 
Wehrung, clerk; Jonathan Faler and B. D. 
Enoch, constables. 



780 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



781 



PHYSICAL FEATURES, 

The productive territory of Woodville 
township has been redeemed from the 
famous Black Swamp, elsewhere described 
in this work. It lacks six sections in the 
northeast corner of being six miles square. 
This fractional piece was incorporated into 
Ottawa county at its organization in 1840. 
The surface is a monotonous plain, and was 
at one time covered by the waters of Lake 
Erie. The Portage River traverses the 
township in a northeasterly course, dividing 
it into almost equal parts. The Tousaint 
Creek in the northeast corner, and Sugar 
Creek in the southwest, run parallel with .the 
Portage through the township, thus making 
the gradual slope of the plain toward 
Sandusky Bay. These streams are separated 
by almost imperceptible limestone ridges, 
which are the out-crops of the underlying 
strata of Niagara stone, whose western 
boundary is marked by a line running south 
from section eight, leaving the township and 
county in section six. Beyond this line, on 
the west, may be seen the out-croppings of 
the water-lime stone, which is very valuable 
for building-stone, and bids fair to rival at 
no far distant day, the more celebrated 
building-stone of southern Ohio. The 
Niagara stone is extensively quarried in the 
vicinity of Woodville village, a number of 
lime-kilns being located in section twenty- 
one, near the cemetery. In the same locality 
there are several good sand-banks that were 
deposited here during the days of geological 
formation. The land along the line of these 
stony ridges is unproductive, and in most 
places is covered with a scant growth of 
grass, which affords pasturage to the 
numerous sheep and cattle annually raised in 
the township. The underlying strata are also 
apparent in the courses eroded by the 
streams, and in many places the exposures 
are many feet 



in thickness. Between the ridges the soil is 
the ordinary clay characteristic of the Black 
Swamp. Where there is much fallen timber 
and decaying vegetable matter the earth is a 
black loam, which gives the soil a muckish 
character. There are considerable areas of 
swamp land which, however, is being 
redeemed by a thorough system of drainage. 
Experience has demonstrated that the farmer 
makes most by raising mixed crops. Wheat is 
always good, and its production is 
encouraged by the ready market afforded at 
Woodville. 

The monotony of the view is constantly 
broken by extensive forests on every side. 
The most of the township was originally 
covered with low-land varieties of timber. 
Elm, hickory, cotton-wood, beech, ash, the 
varieties of oak, and the like, are found. 

In the early days these forests teemed with 
game, small and great. Bear and wolves gave 
place to less savage game, such as wild 
turkeys with their gobble, gobble, gobble, 
and the mischievous, barking bunnies, so 
destructive to the corn. There was scarcely 
any bottom to the mud that covered the first 
roads, as those who tried them will testify. 

THE FIRST ROAD 

was the old mud pike, which was called the 
Maumee and Western Reserve turnpike. It 
gave way more than forty years ago to the 
present substantial stone pike. Bisecting the 
township, it was the path of the emigrants 
between Toledo and the far East. It was this 
road that opened the township to the settler, 
and along its course are strewn some of the 
pleasantest pioneer reminiscences. Imagine 
yourself in a road little wider than an 
ordinary narrow street, bordered by tall, 
gloomy-looking forest trees, converging east 
and west and shutting off the view of the 
country ahead and behind. The road which, 
from the beginning, was a thorough- 



782 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



fare, is memorable because of numerous 
mud-holes extending from one tavern to 
another. It was not an unfrequent sight to see 
a mover's wagon stuck in the mud, and many 
a time were the people along the way called 
upon to pull the loads out of the mire. In 
those early days help was freely given, it 
being an unusual thing to charge anything 
for service. 

The building of a stone pike was the 
making of Woodville township, and the pike 
lands rapidly rose in value. Today, with the 
railroad running, through the township, 
together with other facilities for travel, it is 
hard to realize the situation of travelers in 
the early days. In 1840 there were within the 
confines of the township ten pleasant 
carriages, valued at four hundred and 
seventy dollars, and forty-one horses worth 
one thousand six hundred and forty dollars, 
or forty-one dollars apiece. Much of the 
hauling was done with ox teams. In 1840 
there were one hundred and eighty cattle, 
valued at one thousand four hundred and 
forty dollars. All the land in the township 
was worth but forty-one thousand five 
hundred and eighty-seven dollars, including 
houses and other property. Now the real 
estate is valued at four hundred and sixty- 
three thousand three hundred and twenty 
dollars, and chattel property at three hundred 
and seven thousand and seventy-eight dol- 
lars, making a total valuation of seven 
hundred and seventy thousand three hundred 
and ninety-eight dollars. 

THE OLD TAVERNS. 

There were at least three public taverns 
along the pike in Woodville township in the 
early days. The necessity for their proximity 
to one another is more apparent when we 
reflect that between each there was a 
continuous time-consuming, patience- 
exhausting mud hole, so bad, in fact, that it 
took all day to make a journey of a few 
miles. 



The first tavern in the township was 
opened where Woodville village now is, in 
1826, by Thomas Miller, the first settler. 
This hostelrie is described as a little log 
cabin, always full of comfort and good 
cheer. The old shell is still standing back of 
Cronnewett's drug store, in Woodville. 

There was, a few years later, a tavern just 
across the river, which was kept by members 
of the Wood family. This was the place of 
the first election. 

About the year 1840 the old trading post, 
that had been occupied by C. B. Collins, fell 
into the hands of Lewis Jennings, who 
turned it into a tavern, which, for a time, was 
a popular resort. In the spring of 1841 a 
peddler by the name of Smith stopped for 
several weeks at this place. He had a good 
wagon and a fine mare, and his goods were 
of the best quality. His stock of goods 
beginning to decrease the peddler one 
morning bid good bye to his host and started 
on foot to Sandusky, where he intended to 
take the boat for Buffalo. When the time for 
his return had passed he did not arrive. The 
country round about was searched but no 
trace was found. Foul play was suspected 
and Mr. Jennings was arrested and taken to 
Woodville. The preliminary trial failed to 
prove anything and he was released. The 
excitement did not abate for some time. The 
horse, wagon, and goods were kept by Mr. 
Jennings, who, shortly afterwards, moved 
away. Nothing was ever heard of the missing 
peddler. 

LAND RECORD. 

The names of many of the early settlers of 
Woodville township appear in the annexed 
record of land entries, which indicates the 
original owners: It will be observed that 
much of the land fell into the hands of 
speculators who never thought of locating on 
their purchases. 

The first record was made, in 1826, by 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



783 



C. B. Collins; others quickly follow. The full 
list for 1826 is as follows: 

ACRES. 

C. B. Collins section 26 180 

C. B. Collins section 35 143 

C. B. Collins section 35 

Daniel Hubbel section 21 

Daniel Hubbel section 28 312 

Daniel Hubbel section 28 

Thomas McKnight section 27 142 

Joseph Wood section 33 81 

Joseph Wood section 28 68 

Joseph Wood section 27 

Joseph Wood section 27 103 

The record for 1827 is: 

ACRES. 

James Brooks section 28 84 

James Brooks sec. 20-29 79 

Jacques Hulburd section 29 79 

John Hollister section 35 96 

William James section 27 123 

The following records of entries made as 
early as 1829: 

ACRES. 

James Brooks section 28 

James Brooks section 28 85 

James Brooks section 29 

James Brooks section 20 143 

Land was recorded in 1831 by: 

ACRES. 

James Brooks section 28 

James Brooks section 28 85 

James Brooks section 29 

James Brooks section 20 143 

James Howell section 19 71 

Ludwick Ridenour tract 136 143 

Clorinda Morrow tract 100 117 

William James tract 78 68 

Recorded in 1833: 

ACRES. 

Jacob Bunce section 26 80 

Truman Wolf tract 117 84 

William Dunbar tract 80 84 

William James section 26 80 

Dickinson & Birchard tract 94 102 

Truman Wolf tract 113 117 

Jacob Bunce section 26 80 

Dickinson & Birchard tract 94 103 

Recorded in 1834: 

ACRES. 

DavidMiller section 21 80 

David Stahler section 29 80 

John H. Scott section 26 80 

James Scott section 26 70 

Mary Harding section 30 79 

Ignatius Rue section 30 80 



John Gassner section 30 

Samuel Matter section 34 

Samuel Matter section 21 

I. G. Scharber and G. H. Sea- 

ber, section 33 

I. G. Scharber and G. H. Sea- 

ber section 33 

David Day tract 95 

George Welker section 29 

Levi Rice and C. Eno tract 81 

Francis Lefever section 29 

Hiram Preston section 27 

Hiram Preston section 34 

Cyrus Patridge section 34 

Harriet Miller tract 97 

Justice & Birchard section 34 

Justice & Birchard section 36 

Justice & Birchard section 36 

Justice & Birchard section 18 

Justice & Birchard section 19 

Justice & Birchard section 19 

Sardis Birchard section 20 

Sardis Birchard section 29 

Sardis Birchard section 20 

Sardis Birchard section 20 

John Bell tract 98 

William Dunbar tract 80 

Truman Wolfe tract 113 

Truman Wolfe tract 117 

Dickinson & Justice section 18 

Dickinson & Justice section 18 

Jared Plumb section 2 

Jared Plumb section 2 

Benjamin Morpher section 2 

Justice & Birchard section 2 

Justice & Birchard section 1 

Justice & Birchard section 1 

Justice & Birchard section 1 

Justice & Dickinson section 2 

Justice & Dickinson section 2 

Lewis A. Harris section 1 

Daniel Seagar section 2 

Daniel Seagar section 2 

James H. Moore section 21 

Abraham Baity section 30 

Frederick Baity section 30 

Ignatius Rue section 30 

David Leighty section 30 

David Leighty section 19 

In the year 1835 the record of 
entries is : 

Henry G. Folger section 3 

Lewis A. Harris section 18 

Andrew Friesner tract 86 

John Bell section 34 

John Bell, section 34 



ACRES. 

70 

73 



N.E. l A 

248 
121 

1 13 
122 
82 
S.E. Va 
169 
126 
102 
128 
125 
147 
144 
1 18 
95 
74 
128 
84 
80 
84 
84 
1 18 
85 
78 
79 
85 
158 
135 
129 
1 16 
94 
154 
86 
71 
80 
1 18 
85 
81 



137 
69 

land 



126 
72 
84 
79 



784 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



John H. Doane section 26 

George F. Whittaker section 36 

George F. Whittaker section 33 

John Decker section 33 

S. Birchard and William P. 

Dixon section 9 

S. Birchard and William P. 

Dixon section 10 

Philip Bigh section 8 

Charles S. Brown section 17 

P. W. Benjamin section 15 

P. W. Benjamin section 15 

P. W. Benjamin section 8 

P. W. Benjamin section 17 

P. W. Benjamin section 8 

Daniel Church section 9 

Daniel Church section 8 

Eli Church section 8 

R. Dickinson and John R. 

Pease section 25 

Robert Fletcher section 25 

Benjamin Hilligass section 17 

John Harris section 9 

Jonathan Kelery section 17 

Michael Miller section 29 

D. D. Ogden section 9 

H. P. Russell section 17 

Ff. P. Russell section 15 

James A. Scoville section 9 

John Wheeland section 17 



. section 



Anthony Wommer 

In 1836 the record was: 

Benjamin Moore sect 

Benjamin Moore secti 

George Or wig secti 

George Or wig secti 

George Or wig secti 

John Strohl sect 

John Strohl secti 

Jesse Stone secti 

Abraham Tilton secti 

John Decker secti 

P. W. Benjamin secti 

P. W. Benjamin secti 

P. W. Benjamin 

P. W. Benjamin 

P. W. Benjamin 

P. W. Benjamin 

P. W. Benjamin 



secti 

secti 

secti 

secti 

secti 

P. W. Benjamin secti 

P. W. Benjamin secti 

J. B. Larwill secti 

John Strohl secti 

Jesse Stone secti 

In 1837 there is an account of but two entries, viz.: 



4 
4 
3 
3 
3 
5 
5 
5 
4 

on 34 
on 10 
on 15 
on 22 
on 22 
9 
on 22 
on 10 
on 8 
on 15 
on 22 
on 32 
on 32 



ACRES. 

82 
163 

85 
150 



160 



40 
40 



40 
40 
40 
40 
80 
40 
160 
40 
40 
80 
40 
40 

ACRES. 

160 
80 

42 
84 
44 
157 
78 
78 
40 



160 
40 

160 

240 



ACRES. 

John Kline section 4 160 

Abraham Van Tuyl section 8 80 

The list of entries recorded in 1839 is as 
follows: 



John Vanettan 

Ira Benedict 

John Gassner 

John McCormick . 
John Vanettan 



. sect 
. sect 
. sect 
. sect 

. sect 



Moses Young section 

Benjamin Yates section 



ACRES. 

158 
183 
141 

40 
134 



In 1840's record we find more names of 
actual settlers than heretofore: 



Daniel Bauer section 5 

D. B. Banks section 6 

Edward Down section 3 

Edward Down section 3 

Peter Kratzer section 6 

Daniel Kratzer section 6 

David Neely section 3 

Henry Wevrich section 6 

William Wevrich section 4 

William Wevrich section 4 

Newton G. Eno section 17 

Newton Eno section 17 

Peter Korbal section 25 

Abijah Newman section 10 

Abijah Newman section 10 

Abijah Newman section 9 

Abijah Newman section 10 

Abijah Newman section 10 

Samuel Pitcher section 10 

Erastus Pitcher section 10 

Austin H. Walker section 17 

Austin H. Walker section 17 

Amos E. Wood section 32 

Amos E. Wood section 32 

David B. Banks section 32 

David B. Banks section 32 

David B. Banks section 32 

William Chambers section 25 

Davis Dunham section 25 

Davis Dunham section 25 

Jacob Dobbs section 15 



ACRES. 

40 

78 



160 
81 

40 



40 
40 
78 

66 



40 



SETTLEMENT. 

It was not until other parts of the county 
had been settled for a number of years that a 
permanent settlement was made in the 
territory of Woodville township. During the 
Indian occupation of the county the forests 
in the western part, being low and swampy, 
were only used as hunting 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



785 



grounds. The settlement was finally made by 
a number of American families, accom- 
panied by numerous German pioneers. The 
State of New York furnished Woodville with 
most of its American population, while 
nearly all of the Germans came from 
Hanover. 

The line of immigration from New York 
was generally up the Erie Canal to Buffalo, 
thence by boat to Toledo, and then by wagon 
to the place of settlement. Nearly all of the 
first settlers made the first clearings on their 
new farms, and built with their own hands 
their log cabins, many of them being 
compelled to camp out during the first few 
days of their sojourn in the strange land. In 
1825 it was ordered that the mud pike, which 
was little more than a corduroy road, be 
built, and that adjoining land be sold as pike 
lands. This was the signal for settlement. 

Prior to this time there may have been here 
and there an occasional squatter. The first 
clearing was made on the present site of the 
village of Woodville, in 1825, at which time 
a little log cabin was erected, and in the fall 
of 1826 was occupied by Thomas and 
Harriet Miller. After Mr. Miller's death, in 
1828, Mrs. Miller continued to keep tavern 
until 1837, when she married Charles 
S eager. Tradition has it that, at an early day, 
there was an old Indian beating-post at 
section thirty-five, on Sugar Creek, on the 
land now owned by G. H. Damschrader. It is 
known that this land was bought, in 1826, by 
C. B. Collins, of Sandusky, who, ten years 
later, superintended the grading of the road. 
However, it is probable he did not occupy 
the land until 1836. 

In 1832 Ephraim Wood, a native of 
Vermont, and his son-in-law, George H. 
Price, of New York, bought land and built 
houses in sections twenty-eight and seven. 
Price's eighty acres adjoined and 



embraced the south part of what is now the 
village of Woodville. Wood's farm consisted 
of one hundred and sixty acres of land in 
section twenty-seven, just across the Portage 
River from Price's. He put up a log-house 
which not long afterwards received a frame 
addition and became a popular tavern. Here 
it was that the first township election was 
held, in 1840. Mr. Wood was born in 
Vermont, in 1780. He married Hannah Doan, 
a native of Cape Cod. There were four 
children. Amos E. was born in 1811, and 
died in 1850, ten years before his father. 
Both were leading citizens and had much to 
do with the prosperity of the township. Mr. 
Price was a native of New York, having been 
born in Poughkeepsie, in 1783. He was 
married, in 1829, to Parthena, second child 
of Ephraim Wood. They had two children, — 
George E. and William W. The latter was 
born in Kent, Ohio, in 1831. By his wife, 
Louise B. Ladd, he has had three children, — 
Willie H., Nellie P., and Grace E. 

One of the earliest settlements in the east 
part of the township, was that of Lester 
Allen who was one of the first township 
trustees. 

In October, 1831, the Baldwin and Chaffa 
families settled in the Black Swamp, there 
being but five families in Woodville 
township at the time of their settlement. 
They came from Geauga county, having 
originally emigrated from Vermont. 
Ebenezer Baldwin died of cholera, in 1834. 
His son, N. J. Baldwin, married Catharine 
Boose, whose parents came from New York 
in 1850, and settled in Black Swamp. 

Davis Dunham, who was born in Penn- 
sylvania in 1789, came to Woodville 
township in 1833, and settled in the south 
part of section twenty-five. By his wife, 
Anna Widener (born in Pennsylvania, in 
1795, died in 1867), he had nine children, 
viz: Anna, Rebecca, Almon, Sarah, Phineas, 



786 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Margaret, Lucy, Davis, and Samantha. Mr. 
Dunham is the only survivor of the earliest 
pioneers of his neighborhood. He has been a 
prominent man, having had much to do with 
the affairs of the township. His oldest son, 
Almon, was born in Erie county, Ohio, in 
1824, and in 1849 married Mary Allen, who 
died in 1879. Two of their four children are 
living, viz: Oren and Mary E. In 1880 Mr. 
Dunham married Mary E. Miller, who was 
born in 1854. Mr. Dunham is at present a 
member of the Ohio Legislature. 

John H. Scott and his brother James, who 
came from Southeastern Ohio in 1834, 
settled in the eastern part of the township, 
John locating on the line in section one, 
where the toll gate now is, and James 
settling on the road from Woodville to 
Elmore, on a farm adjoining that now owned 
by Michael McBride. They moved to Illinois 
about 1856. 

May 1, 1834, John and Mary Moore, with 
their family of eleven children, started from 
Hampton, Pennsylvania, and on the 19th of 
May arrived at the Black Swamp, three and a 
half miles west of Hessville. Land was 
bought of a Mr. Coleman. There was a cabin 
on the land and two acres had been cleared 
though not fenced. The nearest house west 
was one and a half miles off, east one mile, 
north three, and south three miles. The old 
house was afterwards used as a school- 
house, Mr. Moore having built a larger 
house of his own. 

In 1834 Jared Plumb emigrated from New 
York, coming to Woodville township via 
Buffalo, across the lake to Toledo and 
thence by wagon down the Mud pike. He 
bought land on Sugar Creek now owned by 
C. F. Klansing, in section two. So thick was 
the woods along the creek that he had to cut 
his way to where he erected his log house. 
He rapidly cleared 



his land and made himself a comfortable 
home where he resided until his death, in 
1864. His widow resides in Toledo. 

David B. Banks emigrated from New York 
to Ohio as early as 1834 or 1835 and located 
in section twenty-nine, where he built a 
grist-mill and saw-mill, his being the first 
mills in the township. He died in 1841. His 
widow married again and resides in Genoa, 
Ottawa county. About the time of Banks' 
settlement Archibald Rice and James 
Scoville, his brother-in-law, came from New 
York and settled near Woodville. Mr. 
Scoville's sister, Mrs. Rice, is living in the 
village. In 1840 Samuel and Erastus Pitcher, 
who several years before had entered land in 
the Rice neighborhood, made settlement. 
They afterwards removed to Michigan. Ira 
Kelsy, of New York, came with the Pitchers 
and located in the same neighborhood, as did 
also a Mr. Thatcher. Peter Kratzer also 
settled in 1840 in the southwest corner of the 
township, section six, his house being on the 
county line between Wood and Sandusky. 
He died a few years ago. Members of his 
family live on the old place. 

Edward Down, another settler of 1840, 
bought land in the southern part of the 
township. He was an Englishman, and 
emigrated to Ohio from New York. He only 
lived a short time after his settlement. 

In 1839 Andrew Nuhfer became a resident 
of Woodville, coming from Bavaria. He is 
the present postmaster. 

Ira Benedict, a native of New York, came 
to Woodville township at an early day, and 
bought land up the Portage River, two or 
three miles from Woodville village. He 
rented his land at first, making final 
settlement in 1841. He was a very prominent 
man until his death, which occurred ten or 
twelve years ago. He was considered to be 
an exceptionally fine 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



787 



scholar for his day. He has a son living in 
Toledo. In 1839 John Vanettan settled in the 
Benedict neighborhood. He was also from 
New York. His son Jacob is living. 

Barthol Hurralbrink, a native of Hanover, 
Germany, came to Woodville town-ship in 
1835, and settled on the Seager place. He 
improved a good farm, became a leading 
citizen, and died in 1865, aged sixty-five 
years. His son, John H,, survives him. 

In the same year of Hurralbrink's 
settlement, Hiram Preston, who had formerly 
lived on the State line between Pennsylvania 
and New York, came to this township and 
settled in section twenty-seven, where he 
still is living, at the age of eighty-one years. 

Frederick Myerholtz and a Mr. Frary 
located in the Hurralbrink neighborhood in 
1835. Both are dead. 

About 1836 or 1837 Henry Seabert, an 
emigrant from Hanover, Germany, settled in 
Woodville. His family still lives in the 
neighborhood. 

In 1837 William Blank, a native of 
Pennsylvania, settled in the southern part of 
the township, on Sugar Creek, where 
members of his family are still living. He 
died in 1871, aged eighty-one years. A Mr. 
Burnham, from Lake Champlain, came about 
the same time as Mr. Blank. About this time 
a Mr. Solnan, a wagon-maker from 
Germany, located about three-quarters of a 
mile south of Woodville. It was he who built 
the first frame house after the organization 
of the township. John Duke, an Irishman, 
lived on the north side of the pike, near 
where the village now is, where he sold 
goods. 

Michael McBride, a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, came to Ohio in 1837, and in 1841 
bought land on Sugar Creek, in section 
thirty-five, where he still resides. He was 
contractor for the building of the stone 



pike. His wife, Joanna Kaily, of Ireland, died 
in 1876. He has four children, all living. 

Dr. A. R. Ferguson, who was born in 
Trumbull county, Ohio, in 1814, came to 
Sandusky county in 1839, locating in the 
village of Woodville, where he kept a small 
drug store and practiced medicine until 
1862, when he removed to Fremont. He was 
sheriff of the county for four years, and in 
1866 moved to Ballville township, where he 
still resides. In 1843 he married Mary E. 
Hart, a native of New York, who died in 
1850. Two children were born of this 
marriage, viz: Archibald, who resides in 
Tiffin, and Marietta, deceased. In 1855 Dr. 
Ferguson married Savilla, daughter of 
George and Lucy Cook. Ten children are the 
result of this union, all of whom are living, 
viz: William and Edward, residing at Green 
Spring; Lillie B., wife of Kelley Myers, of 
Fremont; the others are at home — Nellie E., 
Lulu M., Savilla E., Frank R., Farinie G., 
Alice B., and John A. 

William C. Hendricks, a native of Ger- 
many, came from Toledo in 1839 and settled 
near Woodville. He is supposed to have been 
the first German who settled at Toledo. 

Thomas L. Truman, jr., came to Woodville 
township in 1840, from Ottawa county. He is 
the son of Thomas L. Truman, sr., who 
emigrated from Connecticut to Cuyahoga 
county, Ohio, in 1832, and in 1838 moved to 
Ottawa county, and was the first settler in 
Benton township. The younger Mr. Truman 
was married in 1843 to Susannah Baldwin, a 
native of Geauga county, Ohio. The result of 
this union was five children, two of whom, 
Albert A. and Thomas W., are deceased. 
Emeline married Samuel P. Gardner and 
resides at home. Betsy married Albert Myers 
and resides in Madison township; and the 
third daughter, Minnie, is the wife of D. 



788 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



B. Brown, M. D., Pemberville, Wood 
county. 

In 1842 C. F. Klaving, of Germany, and a 
Mr. Hiller settled on Sugar Creek in the 
southern part of the township. In the same 
year two brothers, H. H. and H. B. 
Shoemaker, and Chris Gerion located in the 
same neighborhood. 

Rev. George Cronnewett, pastor of the 
Lutheran church, became a resident of 
Woodville in 1841. During his time he has 
organized thirteen churches, and also been 
their pastoral supply for a greater or less 
number of years. On the third Sunday in 
Advent 1866 his twenty-fifth anniversary in 
Woodville was celebrated. At this time he 
preached from "Come, and let us declare in 
Zion the work of the Lord our God." After 
the sermon he made a report, from which we 
extract the following items: During twenty- 
five years he preached about twelve hundred 
and fifty sermons, among which were a large 
number of funeral sermons. He baptized 
nearly seventeen hundred and confirmed 
about twelve hundred and fifty persons. He 
solemnized three hundred and sixty-four 
marriages. To accomplish this he travelled 
upwards of sixty-four thousand miles. When 
we think of the work he has done since then 
we have an idea of his Christian zeal. 

Elijah Kellogg was born in Canada in 
1819, and settled in Woodville in 1843. His 
grandfather participated, under General 
Ethan Allen, in the capture of Fort 
Ticonderoga. 

Sanford G. Baker came from Wood county 
to this township in 1845, and bought land in 
section twenty. He was born in Georgia, 
Vermont, in 1817. By his own efforts he 
cleared his farm which was then a vast 
forest, and has it now under a high state of 
cultivation. He is the son of Elijah and 
Layina (White) Baker. His father was a 
native of Vermont, and 



his mother, who was born in New York 
State, was a descendant of William White, 
who came over in the Mayflower. The 
Bakers were pioneers of Wood county. 
Sanford Baker married Cynthia A. Webster, 
who died in 1857. Six children were born of 
this marriage, of whom two daughters and 
one son are living. Mr. Baker was again 
married to Phebe Osborn, by whom he has 
had eleven children, ten of whom are living. 
Mr. Baker held the office of county 
commissioner for three years, and has been 
treasurer of the township. Of the children by 
Mr. Baker's first marriage, Helen M. is the 
wife of Israel Morse, and resides in Clay 
county, Kentucky; Emily is the wife of Jason 
Osborn, resides in Taylor county, Iowa; and 
John W., Woodville township. The children 
by the second wife are: Edmund, Ida, 
George, Belle, Rose, San-ford G., jr., Katie, 
Willie, Arthur, and Charlie. 

Herman Kruse settled in 1845, having 
emigrated from Germany with his wife and 
four children. The family was increased to 
eight children, all of whom are living. 

In 1847 John Kline, a native of Germany, 
settled near the Banks' mill. His family 
reside on the home place. 

George Brion, of Wood county, settled in 
Woodville township in 1848. 

J. F. Camper, born in Hanover, Germany, 
in 1794, came to this county in 1850, and 
settled in the northern part of Woodville 
township. He died in 1873. His widow, 
whose maiden name was Catharine 
Burgomeyer, is still living with her son 
Charles. The family consists of five children 
living and one deceased, viz: John, William, 
and Ernest, Woodville township; Mary, 
deceased; Frederick, Ottawa county; and 
Charles, Woodville township. Ernest, who 
accompanied his father from Germany, was 
born in 1827. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



789 



In 1856 he married Catharine Kruse, who 
was born in 1835. Four of the five children 
born of this marriage are living, viz: Henry, 
Caroline, John and Charles, George is dead. 
Mr. Camper farms two hundred and fifty 
acres of land. 

CEMETERIES. 

The oldest burying ground in Woodville 
township is located in section thirty-five, on 
Sugar Creek, about two miles southeast of 
the village of Woodville. The land was 
owned originally by C. B. Collins, who came 
from Sandusky about the year 1834 to 
superintend the grading of the old mud pike. 
In 1836 his wife died, and her grave was 
made across the creek, just west of the 
house. Mr. Collins set apart an acre of land 
for burial purposes, and since that time land 
has been added. Many of the pioneers found 
their last resting place in this yard, but it has 
not been used for seven or eight years, and is 
in a dilapidated condition. 

THE UNION CEMETERY, 

as it is called, has a rather peculiar origin. 
In the summer of 1846 a three-year-old son 
of Stephen Brown, of Woodville, died, and it 
was thought best to bury him near the 
village. Mr. Brown accordingly started in 
search of a suitable spot, and, after 
considerable search in the woods, found it at 
a point one-half mile due north of 
Woodville, in section twenty-one. Hither the 
funeral cortege repaired and in this spot was 
the lonely little grave made. It was not long 
before there was another grave there, and 
then another, until there was quite a 
community as a nucleus for the growth of 
the silent city that was laid out. In 1847 two 
acres were bought, at fifteen dollars an acre, 
and the ground was known as a township 
burying ground. Lots were laid off and 
subscriptions from ten cents upwards to a 
dollar entitled one to the ownership of a lot, 



which was drawn for. The ground has been 
enlarged from time to time, and now consists of 
twelve acres. Fully one thou-sand people are 
buried in the cemetery, and it is now the only 
popular burying place in the township. In 
passing through we noted the names on the 
headstones of the more prominent pioneers. The 
following is the list: Jared Plumb, died in 1864, 
aged sixty-two years; John Duke, 1853, fifty- 
five years; Captain John D. Hart, 1854, sixty- 
seven years; Jacob Hiser, 1878, seventy-four 
years; Peter Koerhel, 1870, eighty years; Abner 
Hart, 1854, sixty-four; Chauncy Rundell, 1856, 
fifty-seven; Frederick Steirkamp, 1879, 
sixty-one; George Brim, 1873, sixty-six; Barthol 
Hurralbrink, 1865, sixty-five; Lester Allen, 
1847, thirty-two; Ephraim Wood, 1860, eighty; 
Amos E. Wood, 1850, thirty-nine; Elijah Baker, 
1864, eighty-nine; John F. Camper, 1873, 
seventy-eight; John Smith, 1877, seventy-three; 
Herman Beose, 1873, seventy-two; John Kline, 
1877, seventy-two; Jacob Enoch, 1859 fifty- 
five; William Geyer, 1870, seventy-one, and 
many others. 

THE CATHOLIC CEMETERY 

is situated immediately south of the Union 
ground and is much smaller. It was laid out 
by Michael McBride. The first burial was 
that of Bryon Fay, a native of Ireland, who 
died October 8, 1854. Among those that 
have since been buried there are Daniel 
Hagerty, died 1875, aged sixty-one; John 
McBride, 1866, eighty- five; Barthol Kaley, 
1861, thirty-four; Robert Dailey, 1877, fifty- 
seven; Thomas Bennett, 1868, seventy- 
seven, and John Bookey, 1878, sixty-three. 

THE VILLAGE OF WOODVILLE 

is the geographical and political centre of 
the township, to which it has given its name. 
It is pleasantly situated on the west bank of 
the Portage River, on the line 



790 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago 
railway, fifteen miles northwest of Fremont, 
and seventeen miles from Toledo. The town 
was laid out June 13, 1836, the proprietors 
being Amos E. Wood and George H. Price. 
The original plat consisted of forty-four lots 
on the west side of the river. At first there 
was a controversy about the name of the 
town, one Samuel Cochran being unwilling 
that it be called Woodville after Mr. Wood, 
but the name finally prevailed. The first 
house on the present site was Miller's tavern, 
built in 1825, described elsewhere in this 
work. The first frame house was erected in 
1833, and was destroyed by fire in 1866. It 
stood on the main street, where the store of 
George Wehrung now is. It was a little 
structure, and in it was kept the first store. It 
was also the office of Dr. Manville, the first 
physician in the township. The second 
physician, Dr. A. R. Ferguson, came to 
Woodville in 1839, remaining until 1862. 
Dr. Huffman came a number of years after 
Dr. Ferguson, as did also Dr. Walker and Dr. 
Bell, from Fremont. Dr. Fred Jager, of 
Germany, located in the village In 1850, 
remaining about eighteen years. The present 
physicians are Drs. Bush and Bricker. After 
the organization of the township the first 
frame building erected was enclosed in the 
summer of 1840 by Garrett Solman, the first 
wagon-maker. The building, which was six 
inches narrower at the foundation than at the 
top, still stands just east of the post office. In 
this same year the old Lutheran church was 
put up. In 1834 John Duke, an old 
Scotchman, kept a general store in a log 
house that Harmon Baker now owns, and in 
1839 B. L. Capel had a store on the property 
now occupied by Jacob Hoof, and afterward 
David Day kept a store. 

In 1839 Dr. Ferguson had his office in a 
little frame building, which stood where 



Brunce's brick store now stands. Charles 
Powers sold goods in the doctor's office in 
1838, where the post office was kept. Mr. 
Powers, the postmaster, was succeeded by 
John P. Endrekin, who was in turn succeeded 
by J. H. Rerick in 1860. In 1869 the office 
fell into the hands of Andrew Nuhfer, who 
still holds it. From a hamlet of three houses 
in 1834 Woodville has become a thriving 
village. What is known as the Pratt addition 
was made in 1855. August 19, 1873, an 
addition was made by Jonas Keil, and a 
second one July 28, 1875. There are at 
present more than five hundred inhabitants. 
The streets are broad, well graded and 
shaded, and are lined with neat dwelling 
houses and well kept yards. The following is 
a list of the business houses: 

Groceries — J. F. Basey and Benjamin 
Otter. 

Dry goods and notions — George Wehrung 
and H. Reinkamp. 

General store — Henry Brunce. 

Hardware — Andrew Nuhfer and William 
Keil. 

Drug store — Dr. Bush and Albert 
Cronnewett. 

Flouring-mill — William Brunce. Woollen- 
mill— W. J. Keil. 

Saw-mill — Lewis Maynard. 

There are two hotels, the Cosmopolitan 
and the Pennsylvania House. 

THE WOODVILLE CHURCHES. 

The Woodville churches are all, without 
exception, in the village, there being no 
other places of worship in the township. 
There are at present five organizations, of 
which the Lutheran is the strongest. The first 
members of this church emigrated from 
Germany in the fall of 1833. In 1840 they 
elected trustees, deacons, and elders. Pastor 
Konrad, of Tiffin, who had ministered to 
them for a short time, dying, Rev. George 
Cronnewett, of Michigan, was called to the 
pastorate, preach- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



791 



ing his first sermon on the third Sunday in 
Advent, 1841. In 1843 the church was 
incorporated by act of Legislature, and 
named the German Lutheran Reformed 
Church, of Woodville. The first house of 
worship, a frame, thirty by forty feet, was 
dedicated March 8, 1843. On March 3, 1860, 
the name was changed to the Lutheran 
Solomon's Church, of Woodville. The new 
church edifice, a brick building, forty-five 
by seventy feet, was dedicated December 24, 
1865. In 1841 the Lutheran society 
numbered thirty-three families; in 1843, 
sixty-seven families; in 1865, eighty 
families; in 1874, one hundred and fifty 
families. The membership has been greatly 
increased through the instrumentality of 
Pastor Cronnewett. 

The German Methodists organized a 
society in 1843, with about twenty members. 
Rev. E. Reinschneider, who had preached in 
Woodville before the organization, presided 
at the meeting, and was the first pastor of the 
church. The first house of worship was built 
soon after the organization and was used 
until 1844, when the congregation moved 
into the new church, also a frame building, 
the old house having been sold to the United 
Brethren. The first trustees were: Henry 
Seabert, Frederick Miller, Frederick Gerke, 
An-drew Nuhfer, and Frederick Steirkamp. 
The present trustees are: Lewis Walter, 
Frederick Wilkie, John Frabish, Christian 
Gerwin, and Peter Knoepe. Lewis Gerke is 
superintendent of the Sunday-school. Rev. 
John Haneke is pastor. 

The Methodist Episcopal church was 
organized in 1844 in the old school-house, 
by Rev. Mr. Norton, the first pastor. There 
were about thirty members. The first 
stewards were: Stephen Brown and Ephraim 
Wood. A Sunday-school was organized with 
the church. Meetings were held in the 
school-house until the building of the Union 
church, since which 



time the services have been in that house. 
Regular preaching is given by the present 
pastor, Rev. Mr. Richards. 

As early as 1843, Father Rappe, late 
bishop of the Catholic church, held services 
in Woodville. He found a goodly number of 
adherents to the Catholic faith, and in 1851 
he succeeded in effecting an organization. A 
dwelling-house was purchased and converted 
into a church. This was used until 1862, 
when the present substantial brick building 
was dedicated, the church receiving 
ministerial supplies from the neighboring 
town of Elmore. Rev. Father Reiken is the 
present pastor. The membership is now 
about seventy. 

Twenty-five years ago the United Brethren 
church was organized by Rev. John Long, 
who preached the first sermon. The services 
were held in the Union church, and 
continued in that place until 1874, when the 
society purchased the old German Methodist 
church building. There are at present about 
thirty members. The present pastor is Rev. 
Hartzel, who resides at Elmore. In 1859 the 
Methodists, Presbyterians, and Evangelicals, 
not having any place for worship, combined, 
without outside help, in building a house, 
which is known as the Union church, each 
society having one representative on the 
board of trustees. The Methodists and 
Evangelicals were organized. The 
Presbyterians were few in number, and their 
society, with that of the Evangelicals, has 
become extinct. As has been stated, the 
Methodists now have a house of their own. 
THE SCHOOLS. 

Woodville township is not lacking in 
educational facilities, and is constantly 
increasing them. In the days of settlement, 
little log school-houses quickly sprang up in 
the several districts established. These relics 
of pioneer days have given way to 



792 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



the more tasty and substantial frame and 
brick buildings of the present time. The first 
school-house was built at Woodville, in 
1836, the same year that the village was laid 
out. Miss Catharine Seager was the first 
teacher. The daughters of Ira Benedict and 
Jared Plumb also taught in the several early 
schools in the township. In 1839 a frame 
building was put up in Woodville where the 
blacksmith-shop now is. This was at first 
used by the Lutherans for church purposes, 
but afterwards became a school-house. 

In 1836, during the winter, the house of 
John Moore, in the southwest part of the 
township, was transformed into a school- 
house, Mr. Moore having removed to a new 
house. His daughter was the teacher at this 
place. The next winter the school was held in 
the bail-room of the old tavern on the 
present Damschrader place, on Sugar Creek; 
John Scott taught this school for his board. 
In 1837 a new building was put up near the 
old tavern. 

The educational advantages of Woodville 
village increased with advancing years. In 
1865 an addition of one story was put on to 
the brick school-house that for years had 
served as a miniature temple of Minerva. 
The crowning work was done in 1878, when 
the present handsome brick house was built, 
that is today the architectural pride of the 
village. About the year 1865 Woodville had 
been made a special school district and the 
number of children of school age justified 
the expenditure of nine thousand dollars. 
The directors at the time of the construction 
of the new building were: Andrew 



Nuhfer, William H. Brunce, and John H. 
Furrey. The school is under good 
management and is doing good work. A. T. 
Aller is the principal, and Miss A. Reynolds, 
with Miss Sacharies are his assistants. 

MILLS. 

The first grist-mill in Woodville township 
was built by David B. Banks, in 1835. It was 
located in section twenty-nine, on the west 
bank of the Portage River, a short distance 
from the present village of Woodville. There 
was also a saw-mill on the other side of the 
river. The flouring-mill was at first run by 
horse and ox power, the customers 
furnishing their teams to grind the grain As 
the whole neighborhood depended on this 
mill, business was lively. It was last run by 
William Hendricks, who rebuilt it several 
years ago. 

The first mill at Woodville was built by 
Henry Seabert, more than twenty years ago. 
It was doing a prosperous business when it 
was destroyed by fire. After it was rebuilt it 
fell into the hands of John P. Endrekin, and 
was afterwards managed by Dr. Archibald R. 
Ferguson. The fine brick structure that now 
occupies the site of the old mill is owned by 
William Brunce. It is run by steam and has 
the trade of the whole township. 

There is also a saw-mill in section four, on 
the farm of Caleb Klink. The steam saw-mill 
at Woodville is owned by Lewis Maynard. 
Since the early days there has been a carding 
machine at Woodville. The woollen-mill, as 
it now stands, is owned by W. J. Keil. 



MADISON. 



MADISON, embracing an area twenty- 
seven miles square, lies between 
Woodville on the north and Scott on the south. 
Wood county is the western boundary, and 
Washington township the eastern. The 
geological feature of this township is the two 
limestone ridges, or out-crops, which traverse its 
territory. A ride on the road leading from 
Hessville to Gibsonburg will convince the most 
unobserving traveler of an unusual formation, 
for protruding ledges occur provokingly near 
each other, and are calculated to disturb the 
mildest temper. But these out-crops are of great 
economic value. Quarries located on their 
summits are worked with comparative ease. The 
rock is of excellent quality for the manufacture 
of lime, an industry which has, been the means 
of building up, since 1871, a town third, 
numerically, within the county. Curiosity 
naturally leads to inquiry into the cause of the 
solid rock formation being thus broken. The 
only explanation geology has ever set forth is, 
that after the upper limestone layer or stratum 
had been formed of calcareous fossils, a 
powerful disturbance took place, perhaps 
making a continent of the bottom of the sea. The 
tenacity of a comparatively thin shell of rock 
could afford very little resistance to a force of 
such giant power. The earth's crust, broken in 
huge blocks, resembled the breaking up of the 
ice on a lake surface in springtime. But an era of 
quiet restored permanence. Drift, which has 
covered the surface and formed the soil, filled 
up the gaps. The drift 



naturally covered lightly the ridges caused 
by meeting edges, leaving the surface stony 
and throwing obstructions in the way of easy 
cultivation. 

The western part of Madison is flat and 
mucky, but an extensive system of ditching 
has made the soil capable of high 
cultivation, and remuneratively productive. 
Sugar Creek takes a course almost due north, 
and is the best natural drain in the township. 
Its source is in Sugar Creek prairie, in Scott 
township. Two branches of Coon Creek 
drain the remaining area of the western part 
of the township. Here log houses, stumpy 
fields, and extensive woods, thick with 
underbrush, indicate the age of the 
settlement; ditches, bearing away streams of 
living water, explain the cause. 

Madison has had an uneventful life, and 
her history will therefore be short. There are 
none of those exciting episodes to record 
which throw a whole community into a 
foment of excitement, and then live in 
fireside traditions longer than the memory of 
families themselves. She passes the 
chronicle of crime to her neighbor Scott, 
where certainly there is plenty of material to 
fill it. Madison has been rapidly developed 
materially against adverse natural 
conditions. No higher compliment can be 
paid her first settlers and citizens. 

THE SETTLEMENT. 

The first lands were entered in Madison in 
1830 and 1831. Very few, if any, squatters had 
penetrated the swamp before that time. This 
sickly flat, made hideous by the hum of 
mosquitoes, had no 



793 



794 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



attractions for the professional rovers, whose 
general character is delineated in a previous 
chapter. Settlement here involved sacrifices 
which no one was willing to endure, except 
in the hope of building up a home, and 
providing a heritage for their children. All 
who came had the necessary resolution to 
make them wealthy men, but more than half 
were wanting in the stability necessary for 
pioneer service; they abandoned their 
stations and sought a more promising clime. 
Most of those who remained, the pioneers of 
today, accomplished in a satisfactory 
measure the object of their ambition. They 
have also performed a high mission in life 
by clearing, plowing, and ditching, thus 
finishing the work of creation by adapting 
nature to the use of civilized man. 

As a guide to the location of early 
settlers, as they are mentioned in the 
foregoing sketch, a list of the original land 
entries is herewith given. The date of entry 
in nearly every case antedates the date of 
record five years. A further explanation is 
found in connection with York township. 
What is said there concerning the State 
turnpike lands does not apply here, there 
being no pike lands in this township: 

The following entries are recorded in 1825: 

SECTION. ACRES 

John W. Allen 7 160 

Joel Benton 25 40 

Eli Charles 11 160 

Charles F. Gilmore 34 40 

E. P. Hathaway 29 160 

Richard I. Hayek 20 80 

Gideon and James Hath- 
away 30 80 

Freborn Hathaway 30 79 

N. P. Hathaway 19 160 

N. P. Hathaway 17 80 

Jac Kemerling 25 40 

David Kepford 18 39 

George Lightner 19 39 

Marcus Montelius 20 160 

Marcus Montelius 11 80 

George Orwig 12 80 



SECTION. ACRES 

Philip Roush 12 80 

Wilson Teeters 34 80 

Thomas Withers 22 80 

The following entries are recorded in 1836: 

SECTION. ACRES 

Jacob Burkett 18 40 

William Blank 9 80 

N. P. Hathaway 31 82 

Augustus Hastings 29 40 

T.P.Johnson 27 80 

Joel Kemerling 26 80 

Daniel Kratzer 26 158 

Isaac Ludwig 25 120 

George Orwig 11 40 

William Reed 14 40 

Merrit Scott 35 160 

Daniel Smith 27, 28 80 

J. D. Storms 19 80 

Jesse Stone 10,11 80 

David Smith 17 40 

David Smith, jr 17 80 

David Smith 20 80 

Morris and John Tyler 20 160 

John Topping 22 80 

Hector Topping 22 40 

A. B. Tyler and C. Petti- 
bone 27 80 

A. B. Tyler and C. Petti- 
bone 15 40 

A. Vroornan 10 40 

The following entries were recorded in 1837: 

SECTION. ACRES 

Charles Hazleton 22 40 

George Sinclair 30 161 

George Sinclair 30 40 

The following entries were recorded in 1838: 

SECTION. ACRES 

Henry P. Allen 33 160 

Joel Russiquire 31 160 

Joel Russiquire 32 and 33 80 

The following entries were recorded in 1839: 

SECTION. ACRES 

John Burus 29, 32 240 

John Brown 25 160 

Solomon Burgman 25 160 

Christian Burgman 13 80 

F. C. Clark 33 40 

John Causer 13 160 

Benjamin Cramer 33 80 

Elias Frank 31 80 

Jacob Garn 22, 23, 15 360 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



795 



SECTION. ACRES 

Jacob Garn 21, 20 160 

John Hazzard 23, 26 160 

Josiah Harman 36 160 

Charles Hazelton 34 160 

George Ickes 25 80 

Elias Miller 36 160 

Jacob Mathews 30 160 

Jonas Rishel 14, 35 160 

William Reed 23 80 

Adam Shaffer 36 160 

John Straughan 28 160 

David Smith 32, 33 120 

Merrit Scott 27 80 

Charles Taylor 32 40 

Benjamin Yates 28 80 

Jasper Whitney 9, 10 320 

John Whitfordjr 32 160 

William Whitford 32 80 

Godfrey Wheeland 14 160 

Lewis 0. Whitmore 34 160 

Edward Webb 28 80 

Andrew Wood 53 160 

Fred Zepherick 14, 13 160 

The following entries were recorded in 1840: 

SECTION. ACRES 

Christian August 80 23 

Patrick Byrne 34 40 

George Barrier 23, 28 240 

Joshua Cope 17 40 

Augustus Campbell 24, 26 160 

Frederick Clark 35 80 

Charles Choate 13 160 

Augustus Campbell 26 240 

Samuel Croaks 13 80 

John Dixon 19 159 

John Dixon, Jr 19 79 

Archibald Esther 35 40 

J. L. Flack, 2d 13 80 

Daniel Forbes 31, 17 200 

Jacob Garn 27 80 

George Hartman 14 80 

James and George Holcomb 27 160 

N. P. Hathaway 31, 32 163 

George Ickes 25 40 

John Kills 34 40 

Jacob Kam 24, 23, 15 360 

Benjamin Kester 14 80 

Daniel Kern 29 80 

Joseph Kratzer 7 80 

George Lightner 19 39 

Jacob Maugas 23 80 

In 1840 the following entries were re- 
corded: 

SECTION. ACRES. 

Daniel Mcintosh 27 80 



SECTION. 

John Marder 80 

Eli Murry, sr 

Samuel Myers 

Adam Moyer 

John Moore, jr 

Philip Moore 

J. D. Orwig 12 

Jacob Poorman 8 and 9 

Henry Roller 35 

Calvin Salisbury 31 

William Smith 44 

Benjamin Stanton 24 

Benjamin Stanton 21 

Daniel Spohn 26 

Jacob Staner 33, 28 and 27 

George Spencer 31 

John Teeters 32 

Wilson Teeters 34 

Samuel Warts 24 



ACRES 

29 
79 



99 
39 
80 

120 
60 
40 
40 

160 
80 

160 

160 
40 

160 
80 

160 



The first settler of Madison was Henry P. 
Allen, who came to the township about 
1831 and built a cabin on the King farm. He 
was a New Englander by birth. Although 
the first settler he is not remembered with 
that affectionate interest which would 
secure for him an extended notice. He left 
the country in a few years and was 
afterward drowned. 

We are unable to mention in their order 
the early arrivals. The year 1833 made a 
great change in the appearance of the 
township. It is often said that people are 
like sheep; when one takes the lead the 
flock follows. This characteristic of human 
nature demonstrates itself in the settlement 
of a country. Thus it happens that the first 
settler of a district, in an historical sense, is 
the central figure of an important epoch. 

The second settler of Madison township, 
and the first one whose residence was 
permanent, was David Smith, who was born 
in Pennsylvania in 1777. He married 
Catharine Blank, by whom a family of 
seven sons and six daughters were born. 
The family in 1821 removed to Columbiana 
county; Ohio. In 1832 Mr. Smith entered a 
tract of land in Madison township, and 
shortly afterward recommenced the life of a 
pioneer. At the 



796 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



first election, in 1834, he was elected one of 
the justices of the peace and held the office 
many years. As will be seen by reference to 
a previous chapter, he filled the office of 
county assessor for a number of years. By 
trade Mr. Smith was a gunsmith, and was a 
workman of more than ordinary skill. He 
died in his ninetieth year. Mrs. Smith died at 
the age of seventy-four. 

Daniel Smith was born in Columbia 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1814. He is the son 
of Daniel Smith, whose family settled in 
Columbiana county in 1821. He entered land 
in this township, on which he settled, and, in 
1834, married Jeanette Holcomb, by whom 
he had seven children. Mrs. Smith died at 
the age of forty-eight. He married again in 
1863, Mrs. Emma Brobst. Mr. Smith held the 
office of justice of the peace in Madison 
township twenty-two years. He was admitted 
to the Bar in 1874. David Smith, jr., came to 
the township from Columbiana county with 
his father and entered a tract of land on 
which he settled and died. 

John Reed was probably the next arrival in 
the township. He was followed by James 
Holcomb, a native of Connecticut, who came 
to Ohio in 1824 and settled in Portage 
county. He was married to Dorcas Trumbull 
and had a family of seven children. In the 
summer of 1832 he removed with the family 
to Madison, where he lived until the time of 
his death. Only three of the children are 
living, George W., Moses V., and Gideon H. 
George W., the oldest child living, is yet a 
resident of Madison township. He was born 
January 11, 1808. He was married, in 1836, 
to Catharine Smith, daughter of David 
Smith. Two of their three children are 
living — David and Eli. 

David Reeves, a native of New York, 
settled first in Columbiana county, and 



then, in 1832, removed with his family to 
Madison. There seems at this time to have 
been a stampede from Columbiana county to 
Madison. It will be remembered that about 
the same time Washington township was 
filling up with people from Perry county, 
most of whom were native Pennsylvanians. 
Mr. Reeves was county surveyor eleven 
years. He died in 1847. The family consisted 
of thirteen children, five of whom are living, 
one — Eli — in this township. The Reeves 
settlement was in the south part of the 
township, near the present village of 
Rollersville. 

Fred C. Clark settled in Madison about 
1833. After a short period he sold to Luther 
Chase, and removed to Wood county. The 
farm was transferred by Chase to John Dean. 

Jacob Staner came to Madison in 1833, 
and settled where Smith's sawmill is now 
located. He removed to Fremont in about ten 
years, and opened a tavern. 

George Ickes, one of the oldest of the 
pioneers of Madison, was born in Bedford 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1800. He settled in 
Madison township with his family about 
1833. He married Margaret Croyle in 1821, 
and had a family of thirteen children, ten of 
whom are living, viz: Henry, Adam, 
Catharine, Thomas, Barbara, Sarah, Michael, 
Margaret, Sophia, and George. Mrs. Ickes 
died in 1867. 

William Whitford settled in the south part 
of the township in 1833. He was one of the 
proprietors of the surveyed village of 
Rollersville. He lived in the township until 
his death. 

Benjamin Yates moved into the town-ship 
from Columbiana county about the same 
time. He removed from here to Michigan. 

Another of the Columbiana county colony 
who came in 1833, was Angus Campbell, a 
native of Scotland. He was 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



797 



a Scotch Presbyterian of the strict school. He 
died in 1868 at the age of sixty- four years: 
His wife survived him nine years. Eight of 
their eleven children are still living. 

Caleb Taylor and William Burkett settled 
in Madison in the year 1833. Both had 
families, and became respected citizens. 

The census duplicates of Jackson, 
Washington, and Madison register the name 
Garn oftener than any other. Jacob Garn, the 
progenitor of the Garns of Madison, was 
born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in 
1799. In 1824 he married Elizabeth Bittle, 
and two years later emigrated to Ohio. After 
spending two years in Richland, and five 
years in Seneca county, the family settled in 
Madison in 1833. It was at Mr. Garn's resi- 
dence that the first election was held in 
1834, also succeeding elections for a number 
of years. This family is characteristic, at 
least for size. The children numbered 
sixteen, fourteen of whom are living — eleven 
boys and three girls. One boy and one girl 
lire dead. Mr. Garn died in 1879 at the ripe 
old age of eighty years. Mrs. Garn, the 
mother of this large family, is yet living on 
the homestead. The children living are: 
Andrew and John (twins), Sandusky county; 
Milton and Lizzie (Turley), Wood county; 
Margaret (Barker), Elijah and Adam, 
Sandusky county; Peter and Samuel, 
Williams county; Susannah (Warner), 
California; Daniel, David and Levi, 
Sandusky county. 

Abraham Shell was one of the earliest 
settlers of Scott township, but is classed 
among the pioneers of Madison because 
more of his life was spent here than any- 
where else in the State. He was born in 
Pennsylvania in 1803. He married Lydia 
Fought and came to Scott township about 
1829, and remained two years, then moved 
to Columbiana county. Mr. Shell returned 



to the county and settled in this township in 
1832, where he remained till 1849, then 
removed to Erie county, and died there in 
1851. The family consisted of eight children, 
five of whom are living, viz: Elias, Illinois; 
John, Nebraska; Absalom, Ballville; 
Jonathan, Ballville; and Isadore, Madison. 
Absalom, who is a well-known citizen of 
Ballville township, was born in 1839. He 
married, in 1859, Elizabeth Glass. 

Josiah Harman came to Madison with his 
brothers, Frank and Merritt, about 1833. 
Josiah taught school, and had a good 
reputation for awhile. What finally became 
of him is not known. 

Benjamin Cramer settled on the Whitney 
farm about 1833. He soon became 
discouraged and removed to Michigan. 

Jasper Whitney was born in Ontario 
county, New York, November 8, 1803. He 
settled in Seneca county, Ohio, in 1825, and 
in 1826 married Elizabeth Gunwer, a native 
of Switzerland. During his residence in 
Seneca county he had a severe attack of 
sickness. For fourteen days he was 
unconscious and apparently lifeless. The 
physician pronounced him dead, and every 
preparation was made for the funeral — 
coffin, shroud, and all. Mrs. Whitney, 
however, insisted on delay. Her judgment 
and resolution prevented what happens more 
frequently than people generally suppose — 
burial before death. Mr. Whitney has never 
fully recovered his strength, but has raised a 
large family and attained to a ripe old age. 
He has cleared four hundred acres of land 
since coming to Ohio. The family consisted 
of ten children, seven of whom are still 
living. Following are their names: Edwin, 
Emily, and an infant daughter, all deceased; 
Amelia (Spooner), Wood county; Erastus, 
Laporte county, Indiana; Ezra, Cass county, 
Iowa; Ann, Washington township; Mary A. 
(Russell), Madison; Ellen 



798 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



(Klotz), Wood county; and Ami E. (King), 
Madison township. Besides the severe and 
almost fatal illness above described, he has 
suffered some severe injuries. In 1840, while 
riding a horse, Mr. Whitney was thrown off 
and broke his left leg. Again, in 1858, he 
was thrown from a wagon and broke the 
same limb, besides receiving such injuries 
upon his head that he was for a long time un- 
conscious. Some six weeks after, while still 
suffering from the effects of this accident, he 
was in the barn watching the men who were 
threshing, when the horses ran over him and 
broke his other leg. 

Ami M., seventh child of Jasper and 
Elizabeth Whitney, was born in Seneca 
county in 1842. He came to Madison with 
the Whitney family in 1852. He married, in 
1862, Julia Damschrader, who was born in 
Toledo in 1844. Two children are living 
Mary M., and Martha A. Mr. Whitney 
removed to Washington township in 1869. 

Elias Miller settled in Madison township 
about 1834. He died in this township. 

Charles Hazleton came to the township in 
1834. He was a native of Vermont. He 
married, in Madison, Mary Wolcutt, and is 
now living In Illinois. 

Jeremiah King was one of the most useful 
men who ever lived in Madison. He was 
born in Rhode Island in 1805. In 1826 he 
married Mary Dean, of Massachusetts, and 
in 1834 they came to Sandusky county and 
purchased a farm in Madison township. 
Being dissatisfied with the country they 
returned to the East, but afterwards came 
back and settled on the farm in Madison. He 
was killed May 6, 1856, at Aspinwall, while 
crossing the Isthmus of Panama. He had 
been justice of the peace twelve years, and 
was county commissioner several years. He 
was a leader in urging forward public 



improvements. He was a machinist by trade. 

Louis O. Whitman was the owner of a saw- 
mill. He settled about 1835. 

Charles T. Gilmore, a native of New 
England, came to Madison about 1835. He 
returned to the East five years afterward. 

I. D. Storms settled in Madison about 
1836. He died five years later. The family 
removed to Michigan. 

Peter and Jacob Kimmerling, born of 
Pennsylvania parentage, in Union county, 
came to this county in 1836. Peter married, 
in Union county, in 1833, Elizabeth Hartzell, 
who died in 1859, leaving thirteen children, 
viz: William, Catharine, James, John, 
Edward, Margaret, Mary, Julia A., Ellen, 
Bennel, Peter, Henry and Sarah. He married 
for his second wife, Catharine Unger in 
1861, and by her had a family of five 
children — Saloma, Samantha, Abram, Jacob 
F., and Lillie M. Mr. Kimmerling left the 
farm a few years ago and began keeping 
hotel in Gibsonburg. His family are all 
married except three. William, Sarah, 
Bennel, Henry, and Peter are dead. 

Noah P. Hathaway was born in 
Massachusetts in 1801. He married Nancy 
Payne in 1823, and in 1836 came to Ohio 
and settled in Madison township, where he 
lived until 1858. He then removed to the 
present site of Helena, where he remained 
two years, afterwards becoming a resident of 
Scott. Fostoria was his home for twelve 
years from 1862. The family consisted of six 
children — Rowena P. (Merrick), Attica, 
Indiana; Ann P. (Thomas), Rollersville; Avis 
(Thompson), Rollersville; Adelaide C. 
(deceased); Helena M. (Lloyd), Fostoria, and 
Sylvanus P., Scott township. Mr. Hathaway 
killed the last wolf seen in Sandusky county, 
in 1858. 

About 1836 Freeborn, Gideon and 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



799 



James Hathaway settled in Madison, and 
Philip in Scott. 

William Blank settled in 1836. He died in 
the township nine years ago. George 
Lightner settled about the same time. 

David Kepford, a stone mason from 
Pennsylvania, came into Madison in 1836. 
He moved west from here. 

Esquire Plumb settled west of the present 
village of Gibsonburg. 

Joseph Slates was born in Carroll county, 
Maryland, in 1809. He married Elizabeth Fleck 
in Pennsylvania. In 1854 he moved to this 
county and resided in Jackson, then in 
Washington township, moving thence to 
Madison, where he now resides. The family 
consists of nine children living: Catharine, 
Madison township; Elizabeth (Snyder), 
Washington township; Rebecca (Garn), 
Williams county; Jennie (Allen), Defiance 
county; Lucinda (Klotz), Scott township; 
Ellen (Klotz), Madison township; Lydia A. 
(Krotzer), Wood county; William, Madison 
township; and Jacob, Michigan. 

William Slater was born in Pennsylvania in 
1837, and came to Ohio with his .parents. In 
1873 he married Emeline Metzger, who died 
in 1874, leaving one child, Joseph. 

D. P. Hurlbut, a native of Vermont, was 
born in Chittenden county in 1809. He came 
to Ohio in 1832 and settled in Geauga 
county. After about one year he left the State 
and did not return till 1837, when he settled 
in Madison township. He married, in 1834, 
Maria Woodbury, a native of New 
Hampshire. Nine children blessed this union, 
seven of whom are living, viz: Wheeler W., 
Emily A., Emory A., George M., Henry K., 
Phebe M., and John L. Mr. Hurlbut 
purchased his farm at one dollar an acre, 
land which would now bring in the market 
eighty times that amount. 



We have now sketched in a general way 
the first settlement of the township. We have 
given our readers as much information 
concerning those who went before and 
prepared the way for rapid improvement, and 
progress, as our space and information can 
supply. It takes time and labor to improve a 
country. The working pioneer really enlarges 
the world by just as many acres as he clears 
and reduces to the use of civilized society. 
But there is a class of later settlers who 
deserve some attention, those who have 
carried on the battle commenced by the 
pioneer army. This class is so large that we 
can mention but a few families. 

William Driftmeyer, son of Lewis and 
Isabella Driftmeyer, was born in Germany in 
1816. He came to America in 1842, and 
settled in Maklison township. He married, in 
1843, Mary Cook, also a native of Germany. 
The fruit of this union was eight children, 
viz: William (deceased), Henry, Mary, Eliza, 
Sarah, Frederick, Sophia, and Louis. Mr. 
Driftmeyer is one of the many foreign-born 
citizens who have earned by labor and 
economy, a handsome estate, with no other 
start than a healthy body and determined 
purpose. He came to this county without a 
cent, but is now one of the wealthy men of 
the township. 

John W. Hutchinson, son of William 
Hutchinson, was born in Wayne county, 
Ohio, in 1832. In 1853 he married Rebecca 
Naylor, a daughter of Samuel Naylor, and a 
native of Medina county, Ohio. He settled in 
1853, in Madison township. Three of their 
six children are living — William W., Willard 
B., and Charles. Mr. Hutchinson engaged in 
merchandising at Rollersville one year, and 
is now carrying on undertaking and farming. 
Mr. Hutchinson assisted in building the 
house now used as the Methodist church, the 
first frame building erected, in Gibsonburg. 



800 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



A. H. Tice, son of Peter Tice, was horn in 
Fulton county, Pennsylvania, in 1820. He 
married Catharine Noggle in 1844, and in 
1853 settled in Jackson township. In 1858 he 
removed to Madison. The family consisted 
of ten children, nine of whom are still living, 
viz: Malinda, Emeline, Andrew J., Elizabeth, 
James B., George W., Sarah J., Hattie, and 
Alpha. Mr. Tice served as magistrate of 
Madison township nine years. 

Samuel Bell, a son of Abraham Bell, was 
born in Cecil county; Maryland, in 1823. He 
came to Ohio and settled in Ottawa county in 
1834, where he lived till 1862, when 
Madison became his home. In 1846 Mr. Bell 
married Catharine Correll, of this county. 
Seven children blessed this union, five boys 
and two girls, all living — Sarah E. (Lloyd), 
Scott; William, Ottawa county; James O., 
Ottawa county; Mary F. (Edmunds), 
Bradner, Wood county; Melvin E., Ottawa 
county; Andrew and Elmer, Madison. 

Robert R. Webster was horn in Ontario 
county, New York, June, in 1807. He came 
to Ohio in 1841, and settled in Erie county. 
Ten years later he moved to Toledo, and 
lived there till 1867, when with his family he 
settled in Madison township. He married, for 
his first wife, Amelia McMillen; after her 
death he married Elizabeth Daum, widow of 
John P. Daum. The fruit of both marriages 
was sixteen children, eleven of whom are 
living. Mr. Webster may truthfully be called 
a veteran soldier, having served three and 
one-half years in the Florida war, one year 
and a half in the Mexican war, and two years 
in the Rebellion, in the Sixty-seventh Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry. 

Thomas Lattimore was born in this county 
in 1829, but while quite young his parents 
moved to Ottawa county. He married, in 
1852, Susan Park, of Ottawa 



county, by whom four children were born, 
one boy and three girls, who are living, viz: 
Elva V., Nancy E., Thomas O., and Susan. In 
1879 Mr. Lattimore returned to his native 
county, and settled in this township. 

GIBSONBURG. 

The construction of the Tiffin, Toledo & 
Eastern Railroad (now the Pittsburgh, Fort 
Wayne & Chicago) seemed to create all 
along the line a craze for towns. For this, as 
well as for the disappointment which has or 
inevitably will result, the projectors of the 
road are responsible. It will be remembered 
that as an inducement to secure a free right 
of way, depots were promised at almost 
every road crossing, and flourishing towns 
pictured at every point. Burgoon, 
Millersville, Helena, and Gibsonburg — four 
towns within a distance of ten miles — have 
for ten years been contesting for supremacy. 
All except one are flourishing villages for 
their age, and good markets. But if the 
enterprise and business of the four could be 
consolidated into two, there would be a 
reasonable hope of growth beyond the limits 
of a village. From experience has been 
deduced the adage: "The fittest survive." 
History is not the place for prophesy. We 
therefore content ourselves with brief 
outlines. 

The founder of Gibsonburg was fortunately 
a man who knew the methods necessary to 
accomplish the ends in view; in other words, 
he was a business man. As a result, his town 
was given a start which attracted the 
attention of other enterprising business men, 
who have assumed management of affairs, 
and are furnishing the food necessary to 
nourish a rapid and healthy growth. In ten 
years a population of six hundred has been 
brought together, who are fed by solid and 
productive industries. 

To William H. Gibson, of Tiffin, be- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



801 



longs the honor of founding this town, which 
bears his name. After the railroad had been 
located, General Gibson purchased a tract of 
ninety acres, and early in August, 1871, 
surveyed forty acres into town lots. 
Associated with him in laying out the town, 
as at first platted, August 5, 1871, were T. 
D. Stevenson and J. F. Yeasting. 

A post office was at once secured, T. D. 
Stevenson being commissioned to take 
charge of the office. He was succeeded in 
1873 by F. W. Dohn, the present incumbent. 

The first store was opened in 1871, by 
Zorn & Hornung, in their own house which 
was also the first business building in the 
place. 

P. H. Zorn, the senior member of this firm, 
was born in Germany. He came to America 
in 1849, and located at Fremont, where he 
was employed at making shoes. He married 
Margaret Stotz and afterwards located at 
Hessville, where he opened a shop and 
worked at the trade. By economy and 
industry he was enabled in a short time to 
purchase a stock of boots and shoes. This 
was the beginning of a successful mercantile 
career. Adam Hornung, who had learned the 
shoemaker's trade in Mr. Zorn's shop, was 
received as a partner, and the business 
enlarged to a general store. The store at 
Gibsonburg was at first placed under the 
management of Mr. Hornung, and conducted 
as a branch. The rapid growth of the village 
soon induced the firm to consolidate at 
Gibsonburg, and Mr. Zorn became a resident 
of the village. Merchandising has been 
continued uninterruptedly since, the only 
change in the firm being the admission of 
Henry Zorn into the partnership, in 1877. 

The business of E. Farmer & Co. was 
established in 1873, by E. Farmer. In 1875 
F. W. Dorhn became a partner, and 



in 1879 the firm name changed to Farmer, 
Dorhn & Co. Since 1880 the style of the firm 
has been E. Farmer & Co. The senior 
partner, Mr. E. Farmer, is also extensively 
engaged in other enterprises. He was born in 
Concord, Massachusetts, in 1842. In 1862, 
he enlisted in the One Hundred and 
Twentieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and after 
the conclusion of the Rebellion settled in 
business in Mansfield, Ohio, where, in 1867, 
he married Jennie Smith. Mr. Farmer 
removed with his family to Gibsonburg in 
1873. He is enterprising in pushing the 
various industries in which he is interested 
and at the same time is a public-spirited 
citizen. 

The first drug store in the village was 
opened by Carlin & Markle, in 1874. In a 
short time it passed under the charge of 
Cribliz & Shull, and the following year was 
purchased by the present owner, S. B. 
Stilson, who is a practical business man and 
trained druggist. Before coming to 
Gibsonburg Mr. Stilson was engaged in the 
drug trade for a number of years at Oberlin, 
Ohio. He was born at Edinburg, Portage 
county, Ohio, in 1848. His present business 
consists of trade in drugs, books, medical 
instruments, etc. 

It would be useless and tedious to trace all 
the changes in the hardware and tin-ware 
business. The first store of this character was 
opened by A. S. Herr. The line of succession 
was from Herr to Bordon & Powers, then to 
A. J. Bordon, and from him, in 1878, to M. 
W. Hobart & Co., H. T. Bowlus being the 
partner. Mr. Bowlus sold, in 1880, to Mr. 
Smith. The business of this house is general 
tinwork, and trade in hardware, tinware, 
stoves, building material, and agricultural 
implements. Mr. Hobart, the senior member 
of the firm, is a native of Portage county. He 
was engaged in trade in Pemberville, Wood 
county, from 1872 till 1878. 

The Gibsonburg hotel was built by W. 



802 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



H. Gibson, and placed in charge of John 
Patterson. The property was purchased by 
Peter Kimmerling in 1875, who has since 
been the obliging lord of the tavern. The 
bane of most small towns, and in this 
connection we do not hesitate to include the 
three first named in the introduction to this 
topic, is miserable dens misnamed houses of 
entertainment. Gibsonburg, in this particular, 
fortunately has nothing to complain of. The 
landlord is as obliging and hospitable as he 
is loquacious, and the landlady as neat and 
careful as the most fastidious could wish. 

Nature here has left a legacy of inesti- 
mable value in the peculiar geological for- 
mation spoken of in the introduction to this 
chapter. The town stands nearly on the 
summit of the break or uplift, making it 
comparatively easy to open quarries. The 
manufacture of lime is the prevailing 
industry of the place. This industry, directly 
and indirectly, employs about one hundred 
and fifty men. 

The first lime-kiln was built by W. H. 
Gibson & Co. in 1873. A second kiln was 
connected in 1877. Both are now owned by 
E. Farmer & Co. Their capacity is eleven 
hundred barrels per week. Connected with 
these kilns, and owned by the same firm, is 
the stave and heading factory. This 
establishment manufactures general coopers' 
supplies, but was primarily built for the 
manufacture of lime barrels. The firm 
employs eighty hands and fifteen teams. 

The lime-kilns operated by L. Friar & Co., 
a two-thirds interest in which is owned by 
Zorn, Hornung & Co., have a capacity of 
seven hundred barrels per week. Closely 
connected with this firm is the Hoop Factory 
company, which supplies the lime barrels 
and also carries on the manufacture of hoops 
on an extensive scale. Twelve thousand 
hoops a day are turned out in busy seasons, 
and forty men 



are given steady employment in all depart- 
ments. 

Zorn, Hornung & Co. inaugurated the 
grain trade. In 1875 they built an elevator 
and are the only dealers at present. 

Two stores have not been mentioned, A. 
Fraunfelter, merchant tailor, and M. H. 
Porter, groceries and provisions. There are a 
number of saloons. 

The first member of the medical profession 
who settled in Gibsonburg was R. S. Hitell, 
who opened an office in 1873. He was a 
graduate of Jefferson Medical college, and 
won a good reputation and profitable 
practice during his residence here. He 
removed, in 1881, to Kansas City, Missouri, 
where he is now practicing. 

D. G. Hart, a native of Ashland county, 
began practicing in Gibsonburg in 1877. He 
is a graduate of Cincinnati Medical college. 
His practice is the best testimonial of the 
confidence reposed in him by the public. 

E. B. Erwin opened an office in this place in 
1881. He is a graduate of Cleve-land 
Medical college. 

We have now outlined the growth of the 
village from a business point of view. The 
exact population in 1880 was five hundred 
and eighty-six. The growth since that time 
has been fully one hundred. 

But a town needs more than business 
establishments. It must have government, 
educational facilities, and societies for the 
promotion of morality and social 
benevolence. Toward the building up of 
institutions of this kind, Gibsonburg has 
already made a good beginning. 

The public school enrolls one hundred and 
fifty pupils, and employs three teachers. The 
growth of the village made the erection of a 
new school-house necessary in 1876. The 
building contains three rooms. A regular 
course of study was arranged in 1877 by T. 
D. Stevenson, who 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



803 



was at that time principal. The village was 
set apart from the township as a special 
school district in 1880. The first board were 
J. W. Marvin, president; John Beach, 
Charles Sardis, J. B. Taylor, E. Garn, J. 
Kininger. 

T. D. Stevenson has been identified closely 
both with the business and educational 
interests of Gibsonburg. He is the son of 
David Stevenson, of Green Creek township. 
He learned the saddle and harness making 
trade at Green Spring, and worked there till 
1861, when he enlisted in the Eighth Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry. At the close of the war 
he returned to Green Spring, and worked at 
the trade till 1866. The next two years were 
spent at Milan Normal school and Oberlin 
college. Mr. Stevenson then came to Madi- 
son township, and engaged in school 
teaching till June, 1881. He has been justice 
of the peace for ten years, and was from 
1874 till 1877 senior partner in the firm of 
Stevenson, Smith & Co. Mr. Stevenson 
married, in 1870, Rosetta A. Fowler, of 
Wood county, and has a family of three 
children — Thomas B., Amos C, and Ray D. 
Mr. Stevenson was admitted to the Bar in 
1877. 

The village was incorporated under the 
laws of Ohio in the spring of 1880. On the 
first Monday of April of that year, the 
following officers were chosen: J. 
Kinninger, mayor; Eli Reeves, J. W. Marvin, 
Elijah Garn, Charles Sanders, T. D. 
Stevenson, and M. W. Hobart, council; S. B. 
Stilson, clerk; Adam Hornung, treasurer; 
George Kaunkle, marshal. 

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
and Knights of Honor are both represented 
in this village. 

Gibsonburg Lodge No. 687, Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, was instituted August 
12, 1879, with the following as charter 
members: T. D. Stevenson, A. P. Johnson, 
John Veipch, Henry H. Tice, 



C. D. Patterson, George L. Donnels, John 
Sandwich, Henry Zorn, C. W. Heseman, 
Charles Urech, A. H. Tice, John D. Donnels, 
W. A. Penfield, John W. Brown, F. W. 
Dohn. The past noble grands in their order 
are: T. D. Stevenson, John Veipch, John L. 
Donnels, John W. Brown, and G. L. 
Donnels. The present membership of the 
lodge is fifty-six. 

Thomson Lodge No. 1413, Knights of 
Honor, was instituted October 9, 1879. Dr. J. 
G. Thomson, of Rollersville, stood sponsor 
at the christening. The charter members 
were: R. S. Hittell, Jesse E. Caples, S. B. 
Stilson, J. Kinninger, Charles A. Eslinger, 
Charles Urech, Henry Diel, S. Immel, D. G. 
Hart, Joseph M. Bowser, Robert A. Mitchell, 
Peter P. Wolcutt, Martin Vosburg, M. W. 
Hobart. The following is a list of past 
dictators: R. S. Hittell, D. G. Hart, J. 
Kinninger, S. B. Stilson, M. W. Hobart, J. B. 
Taylor, and J. W. Lewis. 

There are in Gibsonburg three churches — 
Evangelical, Lutheran, and Methodist. The 
first-named was organized long before the 
town had an existence. There is one other — 
the United Brethren, one mile south of the 
village, which for convenience will be 
sketched in this connection. 

The Evangelical is probably the oldest 
religious society in the township. It was 
formed, in 1836, of the following five 
individuals: Peter Kimmerling and his wife 
Elizabeth, Jacob Kimmerling and his wife 
Nancy, and Dena Wickard. The society was 
known as Basswood class. The first meeting- 
house was built about 1845. The present 
house was dedicated in 1874. The preachers 
have been: Revs. Lintner, Lumbert, Haley, 
Longbrecht, Kopp, Sintzer, Eckley, Stroman, 
Storkley, Zintner, Strohm, Smous, George, 
Thomas, Rife, Schupp, Crouse, Strohman, 
Wingard, and Snyder. The present 
membership is about seventy. 



804 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Salem church, United Brethren, was 
organized near the time of the organization 
of the Evangelical church. The first members 
were the families of Jacob Garn, John Reed, 
and Lucas Fleck. John Long and Peter Fleck 
were the first preachers. The old log 
meeting-house was built in 1845. The 
present house, one mile directly south of 
Gibsonburg, was built in 1864. There are 
about seventy members. 

A Methodist Episcopal class was formed at 
Gibsonburg in 1873, Rev. Christian Wolf 
being the first preacher. In 1877 the old 
school-house was purchased and fitted up for 
a meeting-house. There are at present about 
fifty members. 

A Lutheran congregation was formed in 
1875, Rev. George Gratz pastor. A meeting- 
house was built in 1876. The membership 
includes about fifty families. 

ORGANIZATION. 

Three townships bear the names of il- 
lustrious Presidents of the United States. 
Jackson, the first of the three established, 
adopted the name of the great organizer, if 
not real founder, of the Democratic party, 
who at that time was at, the head of the 
Government. A new township, bordering 
Jackson on the north, was formed a year 
later, and, at the request of its leading men, 
was honored with the name of the noble 
patriot whose name has been a household 
word since the foundation of the 
Government. The first settlers of 
Washington probably felt like declaring their 
patriotism in some way or other, even 
though it was necessary to lay aside partisan 
feeling and accept the name of the great 
antagonizer of Jeffersonian principles, for 
the majority were genuine Jacksonian 
Democrats. It is barely possible, however, 
that the minority who drafted the petition 
took advantage of the majority's ignorance 
of political history, and secured for the new 
township the name of the distinguished 
Federalist leader. 



June 3, 1834, Madison was brought into 
being, and, in answer to the request of 
leading residents, was complimented with 
the name of that other distinguished 
champion of early Democracy, and Chief 
Executive during the War of 18 12- James 
Madison. The township originally included 
all of township five, range thirteen, but, in 
1840, when Woodville was organized, a strip 
one mile and a half wide was struck off the 
north side and attached to Woodville, 
leaving Madison six miles long and four and 
one-half wide. 

The first election was held on the 4th day 
of July, 1833, at Jacob Garn's black-smith 
shop, near the centre of the town-ship, where 
succeeding elections were held for a number 
of years. The officers chosen were: David 
Smith and John Reed, justices of the peace; 
James A. Holcomb, Jacob Garn, and William 
Whitford, trustees; Jesse Johnson, George 
Ickes, and John Reed, supervisors; Daniel 
Mcintosh, treasurer; William Smith, 
constable; Frederick Clark and Henry P. 
Allen, overseers of the poor; Gideon Harmon 
and Elias Miller, fence viewers. 

INITIAL ITEMS. 

The first frame barn in the township was 
built by James A. Holcomb. 

An impetus was given to the settlement of 
Scott and Madison townships in 1836 by the 
erection of a steam saw-mill on Sugar Creek, 
which was placed in charge of Crawford 
King. Why so much importance should be 
attached to the building of a saw-mill it is 
hard for an observer of the present day to 
understand. But a revolution has taken place 
in this part of the county since 1836. Boards, 
if not a necessity, are inestimably 
convenient. Other things being equal, 
settlers will seek locations where the use of 
puncheons for floors and doors is 
unnecessary. The condition of the roads 
made it impossible to haul lumber any 
distance, so that, in 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



805 



the absence of a local mill, there was no 
alternative to the use of puncheons. This mill 
was owned by a joint stock company, known 
as the Farmers' Union Milling company. 
Jeremiah N. King was the leading spirit in 
the enterprise, and was chosen president of 
the company. The stock was owned by local 
parties. In a financial point of view the 
establishment proved a failure, but the main 
object for which it was built was 
accomplished. 

The second saw-mill in the township was 
built by Jacob Garn. 

The first cemetery in the township was 
located in section twenty-three, and has 
become a township burying-ground named 
Madison township cemetery. Mrs. Lucas 
Flake was the first person buried there. 

Quinchan cemetery has also become a 
public burying ground. Its incipiency was 
the burial of a child of Jacob Staner. The 
institutions of a new country usually begin 
in a very simple way. In the case of a 
cemetery for instance, some one dies. No 
tract in the immediate neighborhood has 
been dedicated for the burial of the dead. A 
grave is dug at the nearest dry and elevated 
spot. The place is marked with a wooden 
picket, and fenced up by a square of rails. 
Soon there is another death, and the body is 
buried by the side of the first. In course of 
time it becomes necessary to enlarge the 
enclosure. The place becomes recognized as 
a public lot for burial, and eventually is 
deeded by the owner of the land to the 
township, a church, or association. The 
wooden slabs have, in most instances, been 
displaced by lettered freestone, but in some 
instances the perishable wood has rotted 
away, and the resting-place of the eternal 
sleeper is forever unknown. 

The first school in Madison township was 
on the Staner farm, and was taught by Eliza 
Davidson. Daniel Smith was one of the early 
teachers in this house. 



The last wolf seen in the county was killed 
by N. P. Hathaway in 1858. This is an 
"initial item" in the sense that it marked the 
beginning of safety for sheep and other weak 
domestic animals. 

The first important ditch through the 
township begins in Wood county, drains the 
northwest corner of Scott township and the 
western part of Madison, emptying into 
Sugar Creek in Madison. 

Rollersville is divided by the township 
line, and is briefly sketched in a previous 
chapter. 

HIGH WIND. 

In the year 1839 Madison was visited by 
the most terrific storm ever known in the 
western part of the county. It was one of the 
three great tornadoes which have touched 
our territory, and, as it was second in regard 
to time, so also was it second in power and 
destructiveness. The first passed over Green 
Creek and Townsend, and the last over the 
south part of Green Creek. The Madison 
tornado fortunately passed over a sparsely 
populated region of country and did little 
real damage. The timber in its path was 
splintered and twisted to the ground. But this 
circumstance, at that time when forest was a 
nuisance rather than a resource of wealth, 
had little effect upon values. It made 
clearing so much easier, and, to that extent, 
was a benefit. No one was hurt, no houses 
were blown down; useless trees were the 
only victims of the wrath of jEolus. 
Madison, on account of this circumstance, 
was given the pseudonym "Windfall." 

HARVEST HOME. 

An institution of the west part of this 
county and the east part of Wood county is 
the annual harvest festival and thanksgiving. 
This beautiful social custom of yearly 
meeting and feasting originated in 1857, in 
the form of union Sunday-school and pioneer 
meetings. Historical remi- 



806 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



niscences and speeches relating to Sunday- 
school work were delivered and all. united in 
a bountiful picnic dinner. Gradually, 
however, as the range of visitors extended 
beyond, the limits of the neighborhood, the 
character of the meetings changed until now 
it has become a general holiday. 

These annual gatherings are held August 
30th, and are under the management of a 
president and committee of arrangements. 
Morris Reese, esq., of Pemberville, has been 
president since the institution 



of the holiday. The meetings are held in Mr. 
Reese's grove. Expenses are met by charging 
license to sell confectionary, etc. No 
intoxicating drinks are allowed on the premises. 
The farmers of this section can well afford to 
devote one day in the year to social pleasures 
and thanksgiving. Nowhere in Ohio is 
agriculture better rewarded, besides, such 
gatherings conduce to the unity and 
consequently the happiness of the community. 



SCOTT. 



TO the writer of ardent imagination and 
zealous in multiplying words for the 
purpose of interesting those who skim over 
the chronicles of past times merely for 
relaxation and amusement, Scott township 
would be an interesting field. That this was 
the scene of some criminal episode of more 
than ordinary consequence was clearly 
indicated to the present writer by the 
peculiar manner of a quartette of old settlers 
during his first interview. About some 
persons and places they talked in 
circumlocutions and carried on private 
consultations in a low whisper. From their 
disconnected talk nothing could be gleaned, 
except that there was something to find out. 
We do not belong to that class of 
imaginative narrators who seek only to 
interest. It is the purpose of this history to 
trace the development of the county from a 
wilderness, which blotted the map of our fair 
State, to portray the changes in men and 
manners, effected by the progress of 
knowledge, the vicissitudes of events, and 
the influence of situation. But the rare 
prospect of finding a condiment to give zest 
to the ordinarily flat detail of local history 
made us inquisitive. 

Before proceeding further it will be nec- 
essary, in order that a certain conventional 
arrangement may be preserved, to give some 
idea of the "lay of the ground," and a 
detailed account of the settlement. It will 
offend no one if the reader skips the pages 
covering this last topic. Description and 
biography in local history are respectively 
like sleep and work in human 



life; both are imposed by contingencies 
founded in the nature of things. 

This rambling preface, it is hoped, is 
sufficient to tire the reader into a desire to 
take a view of Scott. 

Madison township on the north, Jack-son 
on the east, Seneca county on the south, and 
Wood county on the west bound a township 
six miles square, containing more acres of 
marsh and prairie land than is embraced by 
any other township in Sandusky county. The 
limestone ridges of Madison barely touch 
Scott along the northern boundary. The 
streams which we have been talking about 
ever since coming into the Black Swamp, 
all, except Portage River and Muskallonge, 
have their sources in the prairies of this 
township. 

Furthest to the south and partly in Seneca 
county, is the Tauwa prairie, embracing an 
area of about three sections and elliptical in 
form, the longest axis being in a northeast 
and southwest direction. Running almost 
parallel with Tauwa and separated from it by 
a strip of woodland, is the largest treeless 
tract in the township. It is named from the 
creek which is fed by its numerous springs — 
Mud Creek prairie. Directly north, and 
almost circular in form, is a pond like 
depression of more than a section named 
Miller prairie as a compliment to an early 
settler on its border. The source of Sugar 
Creek was an elliptical marsh two miles in 
its longest axis and one-mile in its shortest. 
We say the source was a marsh, for at the 
time we write farmers are threshing im- 



807 



808 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



mense crops of wheat taken from the fertile 
surface of this once useless swamp, 
uninhabited except by snakes, frogs, and 
turtles, which grew to frightful size. We 
were told (credulous people, who believe 
everything they see in print, may skip this 
paragraph) we were told - and snake stories 
have been believed since the time of Eve's 
misfortune — that in this swail, about the year 
1841, was captured the monster snake of the 
county. A hunter wading in grass almost to 
his head, just high enough above the wavy 
surface to fire deadly shot at ducks chased 
from their secluded retreats, heard a surging 
noise at some distance in his path, his eyes 
met those of a mortal enemy. The snake's 
forked tongue vibrated angrily in a frightful 
mouth raised above the grass. The barrel of 
the hunter's faithful gun soon contained a 
heavy charge of buck shot. Having taken 
careful aim he fired, dispatching two balls to 
the centre of the monster's head, and a third 
knocking out one eye. The writhing squirm 
and roll of death followed. The snake 
measured eighteen feet eleven and one half 
inches long and three feet nine inches and a 
quarter at the "belt." Careful examination 
showed him to be thirty-three years old. The 
neighborhood was of course somewhat 
aroused, and a congregation of men around 
the dead body determined upon a dissection. 
It was a happy thought, for within that 
serpent's skin was contained a part of a 
human skeleton and a small packet 
containing needles, buttons, and other 
notions. It will be seen by reference to the 
chapter on Woodville that a peddler was 
once mysteriously missing from the hotel at 
that village. That murderer of fair fame, sus- 
picion, was destroying the honest name of 
two or three worthy pioneers, but this story 
cleared the atmosphere of scandal by making 
known the last chapter of the 



life of the Woodville peddler. The snake also 
contained half a bushel of bogus coins and a 
machine for making them. It further 
contained the pocketbook of a man from the 
East who had come to the town-ship to buy 
land, and whose boots the next morning were 
found hanging on a tree. 

We concluded right here in the progress of 
the telling of this remarkable story to give it 
to our readers just as it came to us. We 
spoke above of the indirect way the old 
settlers of Scott have of telling the history of 
their township, and this is undoubtedly an 
allegory invented by a churlish wag, for the 
purpose of giving us a glimpse at the deeds 
of darkness and devilment of times past. We 
hope to be forgiven for this diversion, but it 
seems proper before closing this volume, 
which commits to immortal type the best 
recollections of the best-posted living 
pioneers, for the recorder to give a specimen 
of his varied experience in making the 
collection. This is our only snake story. Its 
meaning will be more clear before reaching 
the conclusion of the chapter. 

One of the large Wood county prairies 
touches the western limits of Scott and is 
drained by a ditch running toward the 
northeast, which is mentioned in the pre- 
ceding chapter on Madison. 

All these prairies seem to have been small 
lakes, or rather large ponds. Exuberant 
vegetation decaying year after year, 
gradually filled them up until they became 
marshes, which was their condition when 
settlers first penetrated the heavy timber 
lands adjoining. They remained in this 
comparatively useless condition until the 
commissioners of the county took one of the 
most important steps in the history of public 
improvements. 

It would not be desirable to follow through 
the construction of all the large 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



809 



drains which have transformed useless 
marshes into fields of inexhaustible fertility. 
That subject has already been touched in a 
previous chapter on public improvements. 

It was out of a contingency arising in Scott 
township that the law regulating the manner 
of constructing ditches was changed in 1879. 
The former law gave the county 
commissioners power to order the 
construction of ditches, so many rods being 
assigned to each property holder in 
proportion to the amount of benefit, in the 
estimation of the board, he would derive 
therefrom. This system in Scott proved 
impracticable, for each farmer, having 
assigned a certain portion to construct, and 
the time within certain limits being optional, 
chose his own convenient season. It often 
happened that the upper part of a long drain 
was excavated first, thus opening the marsh 
and throwing the over-flow upon the lands 
below. Another difficulty lay in the fact that 
it is impossible to secure satisfactory work 
when unharmonious, unskilled, and often 
unwilling hands have to be depended upon 
for its accomplishment. However, 
unpracticable as it was, at least a half dozen 
useful drains were made according to its 
provisions. But the drainage was not 
sufficient to completely accomplish the 
desired object, the entire recovery of the 
prairie marshes. The flow of water from the 
Seneca county marshes no doubt increased 
the necessity for more and larger outlets. A 
new law was passed by the Legislature in 
1879, which overcomes the difficulty 
mentioned above, though deemed somewhat 
tyrannical by the farmers of Scott. Under 
this law the commissioners ordered the 
construction of a ditch. The contract for the 
whole work is given to the lowest bidder, 
and the cost assessed on the property 
benefited in due proportion. Under this law 
several of the largest ditches have 



been constructed. Land, twenty years ago 
covered with water, is now producing forty 
bushels of wheat to the acre. The croak of 
the bullfrog is seldom heard in the land, and 
even mosquitoes have abandoned this once 
favorite watering place. These superfluous 
pests abounded in unimaginable numbers, 
and were of monstrous size, before the 
country was cleared and swamps drained. An 
old settler of simple habits and consequently 
not given to the prevalent vice of exaggera- 
tion, told the writer with religious sincerity, 
that when he came to the township, in 1832, 
swarms of these insects hovered over the 
distracted land in such numbers that the sun 
at times became invisible and the horridly 
monotonous, ceaseless song of these hungry 
millions, smothered and made imperceptible 
the barking of dogs and the ring of cow- 
bells, the melancholy chorus of wolves being 
the only sound which rose above the din. 
Mosquitoes then were hungry, voracious 
creatures, with infinite capacity. It was 
impossible to keep them off children. It is 
known that one child was actually bitten to 
death, and Mrs. Samuel Sprout has informed 
us that when one of her children died, lumps, 
caused by the poisonous "sinker," covered 
its whole head, despite the most careful 
watching. Scott was not the only place 
cursed in this way. The whole Black Swamp 
swarmed with them, but the marshes of Scott 
were summer resorts during dry weather. 

We have several times in the course of this 
history commented on the qualities of the 
wolf. In this last chapter the reader may be 
interested in Dr. Thomson's experience with 
the howlers of the wilderness. The wolf is in 
many respects an eccentric sort of an animal. 
He delights to live on the border of 
civilization, where the wild seclusion of 
dense forest furnishes a home on one side, 
and settlers' sheep, 



!10 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



chickens, etc., occasionally furnish a choice 
morsel of domestic meat, on the other. The 
wolf is a noisy, boisterous animal, but has 
little courage unless driven to it by hunger. 
Inability to foresee events makes him an 
early victim of strategy. A common method 
of trapping practiced by pioneers of all 
climes is to build an enclosure of pickets, in 
which the sheep are driven at night. On one 
side are piled logs on the outside almost as 
high as the enclosure, which gives the wolf 
an easy entrance to the sheep; but once there 
he finds himself in an uncomfortably close 
place, becomes frightened and forgets to do 
what he came for — kill the sheep. Four or 
five wolves have been captured in that way 
in one night. 

As hinted above, a hungry wolf will tackle 
anything, and Dr. Thomson had good reason 
to be frightened on the night of a memorable 
ride into Wood county. It was soon after he 
began practice here, in 1844. Roads then, 
especially west-ward, were in a deplorable 
condition. The bottom, where there was one, 
consisted of logs of irregular size thrown in 
cross ways, and almost swimming in the 
water, so that if a horse stepped between the 
logs a serious accident was liable to happen. 
Over a road of this kind, and through a 
roadway just wide enough to permit two 
teams to pass, Dr. Thomson was riding one 
moonlight night. The horse was stepping 
carefully from one log to another, lighted by 
the moon, which was then at full, and sent 
her light in rays parallel to the direction of 
the roadway. While the plucky young doctor, 
the son of a Congressman, and bred in a 
clime somewhat more congenial, was rather 
enjoying the romantic beauty of the 
situation, the angry howl of a wolf 
quickened aesthetic reverie into a fever of 
excitement. An answer came from the other 
side, and soon the underbrush began to 
rattle. To hurry at 



first seemed impossible, but the horse, with 
increasing danger, became more and more 
impatient, until at last he leaped at full 
gallop over the perilous corduroy. The 
ground trembled at every leap, while the 
snarling, hungry beasts showed their red 
tongues in the moon-lighted roadway behind. 
The life of the rider depended upon the 
surefootedness of his noble animal, for the 
slightest misstep would make him the prey 
of wild beasts. At length "hope saw a star." 
A clearing opened out and a welcoming light 
shone from the cabin window. The doctor's 
face even yet turns pale when he tells this 
experience and thinks of that perilous ride 
over shaking logs. 

THE SETTLEMENT. 

The settlement of Scott began about 1828 
or 1829, and Colonel Merrit Scott was 
without doubt the first settler. He had been 
in General Harrison's army during the War 
of 1812, and had, perhaps, cast a designing 
eye over this wilderness while out on the 
campaign. Mr. Scott lived to old age, and 
raised a family of sons and daughters. He 
was a very respectable man, and the naming 
of the township was a deserved compliment 
to one who had the resolution to begin the 
improvement of its fertile lands. He was a 
native of Kentucky. No land was entered in 
Scott township until the year 1830. The 
dates given in the following table, showing 
the original proprietorship of the township, 
give the time of listment for taxation. Lands 
were entered five years before, but exempt 
from taxation. The table will show, in a few 
instances, that the same lot was entered 
twice, which often happened also in other 
townships. Proprietors became discouraged 
and relinquished their claims, thus throwing 
the land back again upon the market. 

Entries recorded in 1835 are as follows: 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



811 



SECTION. ACRES. 

Jacob Decker 24 80 

WilliamReed 24 240 

Jehiel Abemathy 33 40 

James Crandall 10 40 

J. H. Chipman 4 40 

DanielDoll 10 40 

John Ellsworth 22 80 

Eli Charles 30 172 

William Harpster 25 80 

John Long 35 40 

George R. Lewis 33 480 

George R. Lewis 32 320 

George R. Lewis 17 and 15 240 

Samuel Miller 32 80 

GeorgeMaygatt 31 84 

George Maygatt 11 and 12 160 

E. and J. Pearce 7 84 

E. and J. Pearce 6 81 

John A. Rockett 34 240 

Samuel Sprout 36 40 

John Spade 15 and 22 80 

Entries recorded in 1836 are: 

SECTION. ACRES 

Daniel Garn 4 221 

Peter Cypher 23 80 

Henry Roller 4 215 

Peter Smith 4 3 

George G. Baker 22 40 

L. B. Coates 28 120 

M. L. Hammond 15 40 

Josiah T. Nye 3 66 

Lemuel Randall 18 40 

John F. Scott 2 40 

Entries are recorded in 1837 as follows: 

SECTION. ACRES 

Jeremiah Brown 24 80 

Jacob Fought 10 160 

Peter King 10 160 

Merrit Scott 14 80 

Peter Whitmore 9 160 

Robert Shippy 32 40 

David Solomon 35 and 36 200 

John Strohl 14 40 

Christopher Wonder 2 69 

The following entries are recorded in 1838: 

SECTION. ACRES. 

Albin Ballard 13 80 

Nelson Ballard 14 80 

Patrick Byrne 4 132 

Andrew Ballard 11 40 

WilliamBoyle 15 80 

C. C. Barney 12 80 

James Crusson 11 80 

James Donnell 2 80 

Jacob Fry 25 320 



SECTION. ACRES 

Jacob Fry 35 and 36 80 

Moses Fry 25 80 

Jacob Herbster 27 80 

Jesse Johnson 4 40 

Lewis Jennings 21 40 

Andrew Roush 27 80 

JohnRoush 22 80 

David Scott 12 160 

Michael Seltzer 24 40 

Wilson Teeters 5 160 

Jacob Buckbiel 9 80 

JohnBuckbiel 10 40 

JohnDonnell 1 34 

John S. Murray 5 80 

Entries recorded in 1839 are as follows: 

William Aldrich 14 120 

Jehial Abernathy 27 40 

George Boyles 15 80 

Samuel Biggerstaff 15 40 

Jeremiah Brown 24 80 

Jacob Blantz 18 174 

George Beawoa 7 165 

Seth Ball 11 80 

Samuel Biggerstaff 11 40 

S. R. Ballard 14 40 

Patrick Byrne 4 80 

Peter Corner 5 80 

James Cruson 11 40 

David Darling 6 and 31 81 

James Dormal 2 40 

Benjamin Ettinger 27 80 

John Ellsworth 15 80 

James Eyans 5 156 

G.H.Evans 5 80 

Cyrus Fillmore 21 80 

James Frisby 35 80 

MerritScott 12andl 194 

Michael Seltzer, 34 80 

George N. Snyder 1 160 

John Sample, sr 29 and 30 490 

Henry Smith 32 and 33 120 

John V. Stahl 19 320 

William Stacey 12 40 

Ethan A. Smith 17 80 

A.J. Stearns 12 40 

MerritScott 12 40 

Wilson Teeters 5 75 

Michael Thomas 22 80 

George Thomas 23 120 

Abraham Unger 1 149 

Rice Woodruff 27 120 

George Weiker 23 240 

Jacob Weaver 20 and 29 80 

Edward Webb 4 40 

Newel Wolcutt 3 68 

D.P.Wilcox 27and34 160 



812 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



SECTION. ACRES 

D. P. Wilcox 35 and 26 640 

James Frisley 26 120 

A. P. Gossard 24 80 

A. P. Gossard 13 40 

Horace Gardner 18 177 

John A. Miller 17 160 

John Miller 8 80 

Philip Miller 9 80 

Samuel Miller 8 80 

D. Mittlicrauf 21 80 

Sylvester Murick 8 and 17 320 

R.Daniels 3 160 

John Orwig 28 80 

John Orwig, jr 26 40 

Jacob Plantz 6, 7 and 8 525 

Samuel Ryder 20 and 21 560 

Ph. Rush 27 40 

Jacob Rinehart 13 160 

Christian Ruphe 2 101 

Samuel Ryder 31 84 

Jacob Reigart 1 34 

Jonas Rishell 31 160 

Jonas Rishell 32 40 

Samuel Ryder 21 and 22 160 

Entries are recorded in 1840 as follows: 

SECTION. ACRES 

William Boyles 15 80 

George Boyles 14 40 

Jacob Buckbiel 9 and 10 200 

Daniel Baker 6 and 7 166 

Charles Choate 20 80 

Michael Derrenberger 8 120 

George H. Ellsworth 22 40 

John Ellsworth 22 80 

Cyrus Fillmore 6 158 

Jonathan Fought 6 39 

Moses Fry 25 40 

Samuel Fry 28 80 

Thomas Galauger 17 80 

George Gilbert 36 160 

John Houseman 29 40 

Charles Hubbs 22 40 

John Haines 10 80 

Fetzland Jennings 21 40 

Noah Jennings 21 40 

Henry S. Johnson 29 40 

Jacob Clingman 28 80 

Charles Long 36 80 

Samuel Long 36 80 

Sylvester Merrick 8 40 

Montelius & Templeton 22 80 

Montelius & Templeton 13 and 28 80 

Joseph Metzger 12 40 

Elisha Moore 9 80 

JamesMcKey 3 68 

Samuel Paine 11 40 

Henry Roller 3 160 



SECTION. ACRES. 

Philip Roush 27 40 

Jacob Kinehart 14 10 

Joseph Robbins 2 9 

Isaac Rundel 17 40 

Benjamin Shively 6 40 

Barton Sweet 18 40 

Samuel Schofield 2 and 3 126 

Ethan E. Smith 17 40 

Peter Smith 6 40 

William Stacey 12 40 

Peter Smith 6 40 

Merrit Scott 1 80 

William Stacey 11 and 12 120 

Richard Temple 7 80 

George Weiker, Jr 26 and 1 1 80 

George Weiker, Jr 10 and 33 160 

Edward Webb 4 40 

Solomon Weeks 21 80 

The records of 1847 show the following 
entries: 

SECTION. ACRES 

Reuben Cary 32 40 

DavidEarl 30 40 

Conrad Smith 24 40 

In 1848 is recorded: 

L. Q. Rawson 29 80 

In 1852 are recorded: 

Samuel Long 36 40 

Solomon Sturgess 35 and 36 80 

Margaret Verking 19 40 

Charles Choate 36 40 

C.W.Foster 32 40 

In 1854 were recorded: 

F. I. Norton and A. B. 

Taylor 28 40 

F. I. Norton and A. B. 

Taylor 29 40 

F. I. Norton and A. B. 

Taylor 30 40 

The last entries are recorded in 1856: 

John Hough 29 80 

Horace Sessions 29 40 

Scott was followed closely by Samuel 
Biggerstaff, who settled on section twelve, 
and after several years residence in the 
township, removed to Wood county and is 
now living in Minnesota. He and Mr. Plantz 
are the only two men living who voted at the 
first election in Scott. 

It is not possible to give the names of all 
the early settlers, for many of them remained 
but a short time and deserve no 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



813 



place in a history of this county for they 
never accomplished anything in the way of 
improving the county or building up its 
institutions. 

Henry Roller, one of the earliest settlers, 
and senior proprietor of the projected village 
which bears his name, removed to Scott from 
Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1832. He lived 
in the township until his death, in 1850. The 
family consisted of several children, four of 
whom are living: Elisha T., Nebraska; 
Shedrick B., Columbiana county, Ohio; 
Mary (Clary), Wood county, and Susan 
Breakfield, Michigan. Mr. Roller was a 
native of Tennessee. He enlisted in the War 
of 1812, in Captain Gilbert's command, and 
assisted to cut the first road from the Huron 
River to Fort Stevenson. He received his dis- 
charge from service on Christmas, 1812. 

Wilson Teters came from Columbiana 
county with Roller and settled on the 
adjoining quarter. 

The first settler on Tauwa prairie was 
Samuel Miller, a native of Pennsylvania. He 
came to Scott at an early period of the 
settlement. He is yet living but is no longer 
engaged on the farm. 

The first settled preacher in the town-ship 
was Jeremiah Brown. He came to Scott from 
Muskingum county. After remaining here a 
number of years he moved to Illinois, where 
he died. 

M. L. Smith came to Scott in 1832 and is 
yet a resident of the township. 

Lewis Jennings settled in the west part of 
the township in 1832. He was the first settler 
on the prairie, which has taken his name. 
The prairie lies mostly in Wood county. 
Joseph H. is the only one of the sons yet 
living. 

Jacob Rinehart came from Pennsylvania in 
the year 1832, and settled in Scott township. 
He remained here one year and then moved 
to Jackson, his present residence. 



James Baker settled south of Rollersville. 
The first grave in the township was on his 
place. A further account of the funeral will 
be found in the proper connection. 

C. C. Barney, the first justice of the peace, 
lived on the present Wright farm at 
Greenesburg. He sold to Greene and Ryder, 
the proprietors of the town. 

James Donnel, a native of Ireland, made, 
an early settlement here, where he died. His 
son James is station agent, at Helena. 

Three old settlers, when asked who Patrick 
Byrne was, answered: "He was a fine 
Irishman." He settled in the northern part of 
the township, and acquired the reputation of 
being an industrious worker and excellent 
citizen. He sold his place in 1840, and in 
company with Jesse Johnson, a tenant, or 
more properly a hired man, started for the 
West, but was the victim of a fatal accident 
at the Rock River, Illinois. A hand was 
driving the stock across the stream, but in an 
attempt to swim the current, became 
exhausted, and sank. Byrne, seeing the man's 
peril, leaped into the stream, and succeeded 
in grasping the drowning man, who seized 
both of Byrne's arms with a death grip. Both 
sank, and were drowned. 

The Ballard family came from Rhode 
Island, and settled in Scott soon after the 
first settlement of the township. They were 
factory men in the East. One of them kept 
tavern in Rollersville for a number of years. 
They finally removed to Iowa. Albin Ballard 
is now living in Michigan. 

The most extensive landowner in the 
township was George R. Lewis. He never 
lived in Scott, but entered extensive tracts 
for speculative purposes. He donated to 
Western Reserve college a tract of several 
hundred acres. 

John Harpster came to Scott about 



814 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



1833. He was a native of Pennsylvania. He 
settled on the Ludwig farm. He removed 
from here to the eastern part of the county. 

George N. Snyder settled in this township 
at a very early date. He was born in 
Pennsylvania in 1808. In 1834 he married 
Mary Harmon, a native of Vermont, who 
died in 1870, leaving five children: 
Elizabeth, Scott; Merrit L., Fremont; Harvey 
J., Kansas; Mary E. (Boor), Scott; and Sarah 
E. (Cessna), Scott. Mr. Snyder married for 
his second wife, Mrs. Nancy Houston, 
widow of Alexander Houston, by whom he 
had twelve children. 

Philip and Diadama Hathaway were 
natives of Assonett, Massachusetts. In 1832 
they moved to Ohio and located in Scott 
township. They were the parents of six 
children, four of whom are living: Philo W., 
resides in Fostoria, Wood county; Gardner 
D., in Scott township; Mrs. Eunice W. 
Eaton, at Rollersville, and Mrs. Anna Rice, 
in Townsend. Two children died in 
Massachusetts — Philip and Dudley. Mr. 
Hathaway died in 1844, aged forty-nine; 
Mrs. Hathaway in 1848, aged fifty-one. 

Jacob Kuntz was born in Lancaster county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1793. He married Rowena 
Rhode in 1810, and came to Ohio in 1833. 
He entered a quarter section of land in Scott, 
on which he settled and has lived ever since. 
He is the only one of the first voters yet 
living in the township. He is the oldest man 
in the township. Of a family of ten children, 
seven are living. 

Philip Miller, with his wife Matilda Howe, 
came to Scott in 1833. Mr. Miller died in 
1873, having been the father of thirteen 
children, six of whom are living. 

Abraham Unger and Sarah Snyder Unger 
emigrated from Berks county, Penn- 



sylvania, and settled first in Marion county. 
Ira 1823 they settled in the north part of 
Scott township. Mr. Unger died in Indiana in 
1876; his wife had died seven years before. 
The family consisted of six children, two of 
whom are living in this county — Joel and 
Mrs. Peter Kimmelling. 

Daniel Long, father of the Longs of this 
county, was a native of Maryland. He came 
to Ohio in 1812, and settled in Guernsey 
county, Ohio, where he lived until 1834, 
when he came to the Black Swamp, settling 
in Seneca county just south of Scott 
township, where he died in 1865 at the 
advanced age of ninety-two years. The 
family consisted of ten boys and two girls. 
Seven children are yet living, Two of the 
sons — David and Wesley — died in the army. 
Three — Samuel, John, and Michael — are 
preachers, and have travelled the United 
Brethren circuits of this county. A more 
extended biography of the last-named will be 
found in a previous chapter. Charles Long 
was the first settler in the southeast corner of 
the township, where his widow still lives. 
Charles was soon followed to the county by 
his brother-in-law, Samuel Sprout, the 
husband of Nancy Long. John Long, one of 
the first settled preachers of this part of the 
county, is now living in Wood county; he 
once owned a farm bordering on Tauwa 
prairie. Benjamin lives on the homestead in 
Seneca county. 

Samuel Sprout removed from Pennsylvania 
to Guernsey county in 1816. He married, in 
Guernsey county, Nancy Long, and in 1834 
came to Scott, settling at the west border of 
Tauwa prairie. His children living are: 
Margaret (Doll), John, Samuel, Marion, 
Caroline (Downing), Jane (Hays), Calista 
(Hippie). 

Michael Seltzer was one of those char- 
acters whom everybody knows, for the 
people of the whole neighborhood were 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



815 



called upon to pity him, both on account of 
imbecility of mind and poverty of purse. The 
poor fellow became a Mormon, then a 
pauper, and finally died in Jackson township 
in an open field. He never liked to work, but 
in these days of culture, that could not be 
called an eccentricity. 

Andrew Roush and family left their im- 
provements here and removed to Michigan. 
It will be noticed that many of the settlers 
here made Michigan the objective point of 
second immigration. There was at one time 
what was known as the Michigan fever, 
caused by malarious reports about the 
unbounded fertility of soil and healthfulness 
of climate. It is safe to say that those who 
remained to improve the Black Swamp 
country were wiser than those who were 
lured by Michigan stories, for no agricultural 
tract in the country has grown in value more 
rapidly than this swamp. 

John Spade had a cooper-shop near the 
centre of the township, probably the first 
manufacturing industry in the township. The 
timber in this region made excellent staves, 
being thrifty, straight, and close-grained. 

Ezekiel Abernathy, an early settler of 
Scott, removed from here to York, and from 
there to Iowa, where he now lives. 

No man worked harder and accomplished 
more for Scott than Hon. Benjamin Inman. 
He was a native of New Jersey, born in 
1817. He came to the county in 1832, and in 
1834 settled in Scott township, his residence 
for more than forty years. He was elected 
county commissioner in 1860, and held the 
office twelve years. During that period the 
ditching movement was inaugurated, and 
carried forward with vigor. Mr. Inman was 
personally interested in these public 
improvements, and used his influence en- 
thusiastically, both as an official and a 
citizen. Mr. Inman was elected to a seat in 



the House of Representatives, from this 
county, in 1873. 

Jacob Havley removed from Mansfield, 
Ohio, to Scott. He was the father of a family 
of fourteen children. He died a few years 
since, a highly esteemed old gentleman. 

Prominent among the settlers of 1835, and 
one who has given his life to the im- 
provement of the township, is Elisha Moore. 
He was born in Columbiana county in 1809. 
In 1829 he married, in his native county, 
Phebe Smith, who has been a faithful 
helpmeet. Their family consisted of six 
children — D. W., Charity, Martha, Rachel, 
Elvina (Shively), and Minerva, all of whom 
are dead except Rachel and Elvina. 

It is really gratifying to a young man to 
observe the conscious, though unexpressed 
pride of an active pioneer who has seen the 
wilderness gradually transformed. A talk 
with such a man will convince the meanest 
skeptic that the self-consciousness of having 
added to the world's wealth, material or 
moral, is a reward worth living and working 
for. 

Reuben McDaniels, a native of New 
Hampshire, came to Ohio and settled in this 
township in 1833. The following year he 
married Joanna C. Nye, by whom he had a 
family of five children. Mr. McDaniels has 
taken special interest in educational affairs. 

William Wright, with his family, came 
from New York to Scott in 1836. He died 
about 1855. His sons are Martin, Louis, and 
Solomon. Martin has been in mercantile 
business in Greenesburg for more than 
twenty years. Solomon is in business at 
Millersville. 

John Ellsworth is one of the men whose 
name causes shy glances and winks among 
his old neighbors. He could not read, but 
was naturally a bright fellow. He left the 
country rather hastily on one occasion, 



816 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



much to the disappointment of the sheriff of 
Wood county. But let the report of a man's 
evil deeds decay with his bones. Wickedness 
is born of the flesh and should perish with 
the body. When a man dies he shuffles off 
these mortal sins, and history has no 
business to make a monument of them. It is 
given to us as matter of history, however, 
that bogus coins have been plowed up on his 
old farm. 

James Crandall came to Scott about 1837. 
He was taken away by the California fever, 
and never returned. 

David Solomon should have been men- 
tioned before. He has been one of the old 
standbys in the United Brethren church of 
the south side. He came to the township in 
1836, and is yet living, though in feeble 
health. 

Frederick Bowser was born in Pennsyl- 
vania in 1824. He married Margaret Fickes 
in 1848, and settled in Scott township in 
1856. Mr. Bowser died in 1871. The family 
consisted of seven children, five of whom 
are living, viz: George, Scott township; 
Jacob, Madison; Barbara, Alice, and Maggie, 
Scott township. 

The Wyant family came to Scott township 
at an early date, probably about 1831. The 
father, George Wyant, moved to Seneca 
county and died there. Of his children, Eli 
was a carpenter, and worked several years at 
his trade in Scott and Jackson. He died in 
Farmington, Missouri. Abraham remained in 
Scott township some years. He now resides 
in St. Joseph county, Michigan. Mary is the 
wife of Isaac Harley, of Scott. R. K. Wyant, 
one of the sons who was. very well known in 
this county, was born in Pennsylvania in 
1827. He taught thirty-four terms of school 
in Sandusky county, and was a minister of 
the gospel a number of years. He married 
Sarah Sprout, who died in 1866. Mr. Wyant 
died in 1880. 



The surviving representatives of this family 
are: John W., Madison township; S. I., Scott; 
Ellen (Underwood), Wood county; Irene 
(Smith), Washington township; E. F., Scott, 
and William R., Wood county. 

Henry and Elizabeth Buchtel settled in this 
township in 1837, and resided here a number 
of years. They were from Pennsylvania. Mr. 
Buchtel went to Kansas and died there. Eight 
of his children are now living: George, 
Fostoria; Elizabeth (Smith), Republic; Esther 
(Hartman), Wood county; Jemima 
(Callahan), Wood county; Mary (Cook), 
Freeport; Alfred, Kansas, and Malinda 
(Evans), Scott. 

James Evans settled in the township in 
1837. He was born in Massachusetts in 1808. 
He married Hannah C. Dean, a native of the 
same State. The family consisted of nine 
children, three of whom are living — George 
D. and Joseph, in Scott, and Everett, in 
Bradner. Mr. Evans died in 1864. His wife 
survived him twelve years. G. D. Evans 
occupies the homestead. He was four years 
old when his parents came to the county. He 
married, in 1856, Malinda Buchtel. Anson 
Clark is the only child. 

Joseph Metzger emigrated from Bedford 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1837, and settled in 
the eastern part of the township. 

We have now sketched the early settlement 
of the township. But there are a few others, 
although settlers of a later date, who deserve 
mention in this connection, on account of 
their representative character as citizens. 

W. W. Peck was born in Connecticut in 
1800. In 1811 he went to New York, and in 
1827 married Lima Cole, of Al. bang. In 
1830 he removed to Cortland county, where 
he remained ten years, and then came to 
Ohio, settling in Scott township. He now 
lives in Madison. The family consists of four 
children — Nelson 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



817 



and Catharine (Spade), this county; Jason 
Lee, Kansas; and William, on the homestead. 

Add Bair was born in Stark county, Ohio, 
in 1825. He lived there till 1847, when he 
married Theresa Fay and moved to Scott 
township. His first wife died in 1849. The 
following year he married for his second 
wife Maria Baker. The family consists of ten 
children, nine of whom are living — O. W., 
Miami county; E. E., -Kansas; Frank C, 
Mary E., Rosa M., Grant, Ella E., Charles 
D., and C. Foster, Scott township. 

William A. Gregg was born in New 
Hampshire in 1825. He married Elsie Foster 
in 1852, and settled in Scott township the 
same year. The following year Mrs. Gregg 
died; leaving one child, Frank, who lives in 
Michigan. In 1854 Mr. Gregg married for his 
second wife Harriet Hanline, who has given 
birth to nine children, viz: Charles, lives in 
Illinois; Elsie (Peterson), Wood county; 
Hattie, Sadie, William D., Lettie, Schuyler, 
Grace, and Roscoe. 

John Houtz was born in Pennsylvania in 
1801. His family came to Columbiana 
county, Ohio, in 1808. He married, first, 
Catharine Houtz, of Washington township, 
who died in 1843. In 1847 he married, for 
his second wife, Elizabeth Boyer, and soon 
after moved to this township, where he died 
in 1881. The family consisted of six 
children — Mary E. (Phister), Wood county; 
Cornelius, Scott; Zachariah, Scott; Elizabeth 
(Tyson), Wood county; John, Washington 
township; and Sarah (Tyson), Scott. 
Cornelius, second child of John Houtz, was 
born in 1848. He married Mary Benton in 
1872, and has one child — Jessie M. 

John E. Mclntire was born in Reed 
township in 1851. He married, in 1872, 
Elizabeth Jane Nevils, who was born in 
1850. They had four children, three of 



whom are living — Lillie D., John O., and 
Henry H. Mr. Mclntire is the oldest of the 
six children of James and Catharine 
Mclntire, of Seneca county. 

John Ernst was born in Pennsylvania in 
1833. In 1860 he married Hester Noble, also 
a native of Pennsylvania. In 1865 they came 
to Ohio and settled in Scott township. Their 
family consists of seven children — Lillie 
Amanda (Homerer), Susannah, Savilla, 
Arabella, Ara, Hettie May, and an infant 
daughter. By trade Mr. Ernst is a carpenter. 

TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION. 

On the 4th of March, 1833, there were 
more than twenty voters in Scott, as is 
shown by a petition presented to the 
commissioners on that date praying for the 
erection of a new township, to be named and 
known as Scott, and to comprise the territory 
included in the original surveyed township 
number four, range thirteen. This petition 
was presented by Lewis Jennings, at whose 
house the first election was held on the first 
Monday of April of that year. 

At this election Lewis Jennings was 
elected clerk, and C. C. Barney justice of the 
peace. S. D. Palmer and Samuel Bickerstaff 
were two of the three first trustees. Lewis 
Jennings, at the next election, became 
justice, and held the office a number of 
years. There are but two of the voters at the 
first election living — Jacob Plantz and 
Samuel Bickerstaff — the former being the 
only one living in the township. 

CHURCHES. 

The United Brethren were the first to 
establish their form of worship in this 
township. In most parts of Ohio, Methodist 
missionaries first preached in the rural and 
new settlements, but here the prize of 
vigilance belongs to the United Brethren. 

Canaan class is the oldest. Meetings were 
held in the south part of the town- 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



ship as early as 1834, the first preachers 
being Revs. Beaver, Moore, and Davis, the 
last being known as "John Davis, the hatter." 
Daniel Long and David Solomon organized 
the first class, David Solomon being class 
leader for more than thirty years. A meeting- 
house was built in 1867. The present 
membership is thirty. 

The Evangelicals organized a class at an 
early period of the settlement. Among the 
first members were John Roush, John 
Harpster, John Orwig, Isaac Miller, Mr. 
Hartman, and perhaps a few others. Meetings 
were held in school-houses until 1870, when 
a church was built by public subscription. 
There are about thirty members. 

Sandusky class, United Brethren, was 
formed about 1845, by D. P. Hulbert, and 
was composed of Henry Orwig, L. M. Smith, 
and David Vandersall, with their families. 
The class is at present composed of twenty- 
two members. Meetings are held in school- 
houses and in residences. 

Methodism has had an existence in the 
township for a great many years. Mount Zion 
class was formed, and a meeting-house was 
built, in 1872, near Greenesburg. 

The Congregational church at Rollersville 
was formed in 1842, through the efforts of 
Rev. M. P. Fay, who continued to minister to 
the congregation until 1878. The first 
members were: John Miller and wife, Philip 
Miller and wife, Mr. Jewett, Sylvester 
Merrick and wife, James Merrick and wife, 
Angus Campbell and wife, Mrs. Reuben 
McDaniels, George N. Snyder and wife, 
Williston Merrick and wife, and Mr. 
Harrison and wife. Of these first members, 
Mrs. McDaniels is the only one yet living in 
the community. Rev. Mr. Hadley succeeded 
Mr. Fay to the pastorate. In 1880 Rev. Mr. 
Preston became 



pastor, and was succeeded by Rev. J. C. 
Thompson. The house of worship in 
Rollersville was built in 1860. 

There are a number of families belonging 
to the Disciple church who meet for worship 
at residences and school-houses, and are 
ministered, to by itinerant preachers. They 
are not a regularly organized body. 

GREENESBURG. 

This village is one of the oldest west of the 
Sandusky River. It was laid out by John L. 
Green, who, in partnership with Ryder, 
opened the first store in 1836. About this 
time a road was built to Fremont, and the 
village was supposed to have a future. But 
the fondest hopes of the wisest men are often 
never realized. Certain it is that the reality of 
the village of Greenesburg has never been 
realized except on paper. But a surveyor is 
unable to make a town. Natural advantages, 
business tact, and enterprise are required. 
The projectors of several towns will find this 
out, if they have not already learned it. 
Millersville is an example to the point. 

John L. Green failed in business in 1840 
and then began the study of law. His career 
is noticed in the chapter relating to the Bar. 

The first postmaster at Greenesburg was 
James Russel. He was succeeded by D. G. 
Tinney, and he in turn by Martin Wright, 
who held the office until 1873, when an 
office was established at Millersville and the 
office at Greenesburg cancelled. 

Martin Wright has been the storekeeper for 
more than twenty years. 

ROLLERSVILLE. 

Rollersville is situated on the township 
line between Madison and Scott. The Scott 
side was laid out by Henry Roller and 
Wilson Teeters; the north part, lying in 
Madison, was laid out by William Whitford 
and Luther Chase. James Evans proposed the 
name which was adopted as 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



!19 



a compliment to the oldest of the four pro- 
prietors. 

Jeremiah N. King opened the first store, 
but the woodland village consisted chiefly of 
taverns. Jonathan Fought built the first one. 
This was a log house one and one-half 
stories high and eighteen by twenty-four feet 
in the clear. It stood on lot sixty-three. 

The second tavern was built by Alvin 
Ballard. It was a two-story log house of 
commodious size. 

The third tavern was built by Barringer, 
and stood on the lot now occupied by the 
Congregational church. It was one story 
high, contained one room and was sixteen by 
twenty feet in size. How would you like to 
stay all night in that house? The whisky 
trade gave spirit to village life in those days 
of hard work and unrestrained revelry. The 
average consumption of whisky per week 
was one barrel. Considering the fact that the 
population was then comparatively sparse, 
we must conclude that there were some hard 
drinkers in that community. 

An idea of the value of property in those 
days of cheap whiskey can be formed from 
the following incidents: Barringer met 
Sheriff Crow riding in the streets of Fremont 
one day, and proposed to trade his tavern 
stand for the horse. Crow knowing the 
infirmities of the horse, accepted the 
proposition, and a few days after visited his 
purchase. He was some-what disappointed, 
however, when he found that he had been 
under a misapprehension, supposing that 
Barringer occupied the two-story house. But 
log houses at that time were of little value. 

The first building in the village was built 
by William Whitford. 

The first postmaster was David Smith. Dr. 
Thomson was postmaster from 1847 till 
1862; Daniel Baker till 1874; William 
Herriff till 1875; S. P. Hathaway till 1876, 



and D. B. Baker has filled the position since 
that time. 

D. B. Baker conducts the only general 
store. There are two saloons, a black-smith 
shop and wagonmaker's shop, a church, 
school-house, and about twenty dwellings. 
The hotels have gone down. 

PHYSICIANS. 

The first physician in Scott was Dr. 
William Durbin. He located in Rollersville 
in 1834, and continued in practice three 
years. He is a graduate of Pennsylvania 
Medical College and is now practicing in 
Mahoning county, Ohio. 

John B. Chamberlain, a graduate of 
Quebec Medical College, was the next local 
doctor; he had been previously located in 
Fremont. He had been a surgeon in the War 
of 1812. He left Scott about 1848 and went 
to St. Clair, Michigan, where he died in 
1852. 

J. C. Thomson, with one exception, is the 
oldest active practitioner in the county. His 
father, John Thomson, was born in Ireland. 
He studied medicine in Washington, 
Pennsylvania, and began practice in New 
Lisbon, Ohio, in 1807. He married a 
daughter of Joseph Patterson, a Presbyterian 
clergyman, of Pennsylvania. Dr. Thomson 
was in Congress ten years, being elected first 
during Jackson's administration. He 
represented Columbiana county in the 
Legislature sixteen years. Dr. J. C. Thomson 
was born in 1822. In 1839 he entered a drug 
store in New Lisbon, Ohio, and two years 
later began the study of medicine at 
Mansfield, Ohio, which he pursued three 
years, including a course of lectures at the 
University of Pennsylvania. He began 
practice in Scott, in 1844. His extensive 
practice and the confidence of the public are 
sufficient testimonials of his worth. His 
standing as a citizen is shown by repeated 
elections to local trusts. He was justice of 
the peace from 1853 for a 



820 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



period of twenty-seven years. Dr. Thomson 
married, in 1845, Jane Roller, who died in 
1847. In 1848 he married for his second wife 
Avis P. Hathaway, daughter of N. P. 
Hathaway. Three children are living — Anna 
P. (Inman), John, and Helen M. Dr. 
Thomson holds membership in Masonry in 
Tiffin commandery, Fremont chapter, and 
Brainard lodge; in Oddfellowship, in Helena 
lodge, Thomson encampment, and Rebecca 
lodge; Knights of Honor, in William 
Whitford lodge. He received the degree of 
Doctor of Medicine from Charity Hospital 
Medical College, Cleveland, in 1869. 

Dr. Charles A. Roush had an office at 
Rollersville, and practiced from 1848 till 
1854. He is now practicing in Toledo. 

Dr. John B. Ginn was a physician of worth 
at Greenesburg. He had a large practice. He 
died at Greenesburg in 1856. 

SOCIETY. 

William Whitford lodge, Knights of 
Honor, No. 948, was instituted by H. R. 
Shomo, March 11, 1878. The name was 
conferred as a compliment to one of the 
original proprietors of the village. The 
charter members were: Dr. J. C. Thomson, 
Dr. E. R. Sage, R. A. Foregrave, William H. 
Aldrich, Edwin Aldrich, W. H. Campbell, J. 
E. Dean, Adam Bair, G. D. Evans, Josiah 
Fairbank, J. M. Garn, Theodore Munz, L. A. 
Mitchell, William Peck, S. R. Heberling, H. 
C. Green, John Hutchinson, G. D. Hathaway, 
Charles D. Inman, H. W. King, Joseph M. 
Jones, George W. Miller, and R. C. Thomas. 

The past dictators, in their order, have 
been: Dr. J. C. Thomson, E. R. Sage, J. M. 
yarn, George N. Miller, Charles D. Inman, J. 
Fairbank, W. H. Campbell, and R. A. 
Foregrave. The lodge is in a prosperous 
condition, all the members taking an 
enthusiastic part in its business, and 
cheerfully meeting its demands. Dr. J. 



C. Thomson took the lead in the 
organization, and infused into it his 
characteristic enthusiasm. 

EARLY FUNERALS. 

Life is a frost of cold felicitie, 

And death the thaw of all our vanitie. 

[T. B., 1580. 

The sacredness of the tomb commands a 
reverent approach to a description of early 
funeral customs. The mention of death 
brings a crowd of the saddest but sweetest 
recollections. The sight of a grave refreshes 
mournful memories of some dear friend's 
departing. 

Of all the truly simple usages imposed 
upon the pioneer of this region by natural 
conditions, none more solemnly impressive 
ever existed than their funeral customs. The 
scene of a woodland funeral at fifty years 
distance is picturesque, even poetical. We 
can only give the outlines, the imagination 
must supply the coloring of the picture. 

In this part of the county underbrush and 
marsh grass covered the ground, shaded by 
large trees, making it difficult for even a 
footman to find a way through, except where 
nature had thrown up ridges and seemingly 
provided passageways. Along these ridges, 
densely timbered, ran "cowpaths," no roads 
having yet been cut out. The first burial in 
Scott took place at a very early period of the 
settlement. The deceased had been a veteran 
of the Revolution, and lived about two miles 
west of the line, in Wood county. A path led 
from the house of mourning across the marsh 
and prairie, and along the ridge, to an 
elevated spot on the tract now known as the 
Minkly farm, in Scott. The few settlers for 
miles around all gathered at the house and 
performed the funeral rites. Then six strong 
men volunteered to consign the body to the 
elements from which it had come. The path 
leading to the burial place was, at places, so 
narrow that two men could not walk abreast. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



821 



Single and alone, they started on the 
mournful journey, bearing upon their 
shoulders all that was mortal of him whose 
spirit had gone to the home of the brave and 
honest. One man going before explored the 
path, four bore the precious load, while the 
sixth followed ready to afford relief. Thus 
the sad, silent company moved along over 
swamps bridged with logs, between 
impenetrable growths of underbrush, and 
into a more accessible upland forest. At last 
the open grave was reached. Overshadowed 
by oak, and elm, and maple, this silent, lone 
grave was bathed in the perfume of wild 
flowers and shrubs, and a choir of wild birds 
pensively chanted while the earth was 
swallowing its own. Cold clay, unsoftened 
by the loving tears of mourners, rattled 
against the rough box coffin. Soon this gap 
in the earth's fair bosom was closed. The 
burial company scattered to their homes, and 
even the name of the brave soldier who 
imperiled his life for our liberties, is now 
forgotten. A man's faults fare better than his 
name, for they die and are buried with his 
body, but his name, after a time, sinks into 
obscurity, and at last perishes without the 
rights of Christian funeral. This grave was 
the beginning of a public cemetery. 

The largest cemetery in the township is 
located on the Metzger farm in the eastern 
part. The Vernon family's were the first 
graves here. No roads led to this lot for a 
number of years, the bodies being carried to 
the grave through the woods. It was, indeed, 
a task to be a pallbearer in those days. 
Neither was it an easy task to dig a grave, 
for roots seemed to begrudge enough 
ground. It will be inferred that muddy roads, 
scanty food, uncomfortable houses, severe 
labor, and the torture of wolves howling, and 
mosquitoes biting did not complete the 
catalogue of pioneer hardships. Even 
Christian burial was accomplished with great 
difficulty. 



MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS. 

One of the settlers on the prairie at an 
early date was a good fellow on general 
principles, but he had a keen eye for 
business, and was not burdened with over- 
sensitive susceptibilities. The Senecas made 
a custom of camping annually on the ridge, 
just south of the prairie in Seneca county. 
One season a squaw died during the 
encampment, and was buried after the 
manner of the Senecas. The Indians, out of 
respect, at once abandoned their sports at the 
place of burial, having first invoked the 
blessing of the Great Spirit. But the prairie 
settler was not the man to allow reverence 
for lifeless bodies to stand in the way of 
making a few dollars. The shades of night 
had no sooner enveloped the grave than with 
pick and shovel he was at work. Log after 
log which had been carefully laid to protect 
the body from contact with profane earth, 
was removed until at last the body, dressed 
in a fancy hunting skirt, could be removed. 
The shrine formed by savage but 
conscientious hands, and blessed by pagan 
rituals, was desecrated and robbed of its 
own. Taking the body on his back, the grave 
pilferer started for his cabin through the still 
and black forest, carrying the stiff, cold, 
clammy body on his back. After travelling a 
mile shut off from all the world by dense 
woods, he emerged into the moon-lighted 
prairie, through which lay the remainder of 
the journey. Painful ending, indeed, it was. 
In full view were the glassy eyes half closed 
in death, and ghastly features of his stolen 
burden. But a hard heart assisted him to the 
end, where the corpse was boxed, taken to 
Lower Sandusky and sold. 

In a few years after, the central figure of 
this strange affair sold his farm and left the 
township. 

The first school-house in the township was 
built near Greenesburg in 1834. The 



822 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



second school was on the farm now owned 
by Mrs. Charles Long. Jacob Sprout was the 
first teacher in this part of the township. 

Considerable excitement was caused in the 
north part of the township by the finding of 
the remains of the body of a man, torn to 
pieces by wolves. A pair of boots were 
found on a tree near by, which were 
supposed to belong to a man who had been 
in the country a few days looking for land. 
His sudden disappearance confirmed this 
opinion, but the circumstances of his death 
were involved in mystery, and gave rise to 
considerable suspicion. 

The reader is charged against forming an 
opinion prejudicial to the fair fame of Scott 
township: It is a community of enterprising, 
law-abiding citizens. The early settlers were 
generally a good class of people, but a few 
were not; but these, like pomace from cider, 
have been worked off; and the quality 
improved by their presence. There used to be 
a good deal of stealing going on in this part 
of the county. Hams and wheat were in 
especial danger. An old wheat thief once 
gave his experience to a highly esteemed 
citizen of the township, under promise never 
to reveal the name. Thieves are proverbially 
smart, and these country thieves were no 
exception to the rule, as is shown by the 
strategic methods adopted. The retired thief 
to whom we have referred said in substance: 

A dark night was always selected. Let me tell you 
never try to steal near home. Go where you are not 
known. We always took a team, hitched to a wagon, and 
drove eight or ten miles. The party generally consisted 
of two men and one woman, or a man dressed in 
woman's clothes. We chose a place close to the road. It 
is much safer than a place back from the road, for, you 
see, the plan won't work back from the road. Well, when 
we came to the place, we drive as close to the house as 
the road will take us, there stop. Leaving the woman in 
the wagon to hold the horses, we go to the barn and sack 
the grain. If any body comes out or noise is made, there 
the woman is in the wagon, and no- 



body is so dumb or impolite as to ask her any questions. 
We get the wheat sacked, load it in the wagon, and drive 
off. That is the last of it till next morning, when the 
wheat is gone, and we are away off. Oh, it's no danger to 
steal if you work it right. 

The old man is probably right in his last 
statement. This is a unique method, 
however, and seems to have been peculiarly 
the property of Sandusky and Wood 
counties. 

THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR. 

That the love of money is the root of sin, is 
a doctrine as old as the Bible. Another old 
axiom is, "The way to make money is to 
make it." The history of Scott township 
shows that this doctrine was literally 
believed in by a coterie of sharp and 
ambitious men. No event ever occurred in 
the western part of the county which created 
such general excitement and so much anxiety 
as the arrest of Jacob Weaver, in 1840, on a 
warrant charging him with coining 
counterfeit money. His supposed associates 
were prominent men in the community, but 
Weaver was the only person proved guilty 
by legal processes, and in consequence will 
have to stand the brunt of our description of 
the whole affair. This, too, is in harmony 
with the actual facts of the case, for, in 
reality, he was the willing tool of abler and 
shrewder men. 

A fire in the woods often attracted the 
attention of settlers late at night, but for a 
time nothing was thought of what the 
phenomenon meant. But after a time people 
began to grow suspicious and watched. 
Certain individuals were found often absent 
from home and "what was going on down in 
the woods" became a question which honest 
folks asked each other in whispers. One day 
fragments of metal and a molder's ladle were 
found near the pile of ashes. The discovery 
of several quarter and half dollar pieces of 
suspicious composition began to define 
conjecture, and increased, but quiet 
vigilance followed. 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



823 



At last sufficient evidence was accumulated 
to justify legal proceedings. Noah Jennings 
placed in the hands of Sheriff Everett a 
warrant for the arrest of Jacob Weaver. The 
day was disagreeable and steady rain set in 
toward evening. The utmost quiet was 
prerequisite to the success of the enterprise. 
Sheriff Everett chose as deputies Noah 
Jennings, who knew every crook and turn of 
the roads; Levi Parish, a brave, muscular 
young fellow of more than average size and 
strength, and two other young men. These 
four constituted the sheriff's body guard. 
They planned to reach the house, of their 
victim just after daylight in the morning, that 
hour being the only certain time of finding 
him in the house and at the same time 
affording no possibility of escape in the 
darkness of the earlier hours of the night. 
The sheriff and his deputies quietly left 
Lower Sandusky just after dark. Rain was 
falling thick and fast; the roads were a sheet 
of water and mud; ebony blackness seemed 
to oppress the earth, indeed everything 
conspired to make the expedition successful. 
Jennings took the lead, the others 
following single file in close succession to 
prevent being lost in the darkness. The south 
road, then a mere path through the woods, 
was chosen for secrecy. The horses carried 
their speechless riders, keeping time in their 
pace with the long-drawn hours of that awful 
night. Toward morning the rain ceased. The 
eastern sky gave signs of approaching day 
just as the officers came in sight of the house 
wherein the miserable tool of that wicked 
conspiracy was peacefully sleeping, little 
dreaming that such a night would be chosen 
by the officers of the law for his arrest. The 



sheriff, with his deputies, tarried in the 
woods till light dispelled the darkness which 
had completely concealed their well-timed 
ride. The time for action came. A man stood 
on guard at each corner of the house while 
the sheriff roused the family, entered the 
house, and quietly made the arrest of the 
unsuspecting victim of his warrant. A 
diligent search followed for the wicked 
tools, which proved fruitless until the boards 
of the barn floor were overturned, where was 
found a large leathern bag filled with pieces 
of metal carefully worked to the size of the 
larger silver coins in general circulation. 
These were exhibited to the jury at the trial 
of the case. 

Weaver was tried, convicted of coining 
counterfeit money, and sentenced to the 
penitentiary. There was no direct evidence 
against any one else, but one who claims to 
know says the facts would show even more 
to have been implicated than were suspected. 
But it is better to cover up faults rather than 
parade them; consequently we close the 
chapter against suspicions. 

The method of manufacturing these 
spurious coins has come to light. The metal 
was moulded to the exact size of some 
common piece — quarter dollar, half dollar, 
or dollar. A die was then set on each side 
and pressed into the metal by means of 
screws resting against trees for resistance. 

The money was passed in considerable 
quantities, and could scarcely be detected by 
the inexperienced from genuine coin. In 
some parts of Scott farmers even yet 
occasionally plow up a piece of the bogus 
money. From this circumstance Scott has 
been named "the bogus township." 



MISCELLANEOUS BIOGRAPHIES. 



ALFRED H. RICE. 

This prominent and promising member of 
Sandusky county Bar was born at Fremont 
on the 23d day of September, 1840. He is a 
son of Dr. Robert S. Rice, one of the early 
settlers of Lower Sandusky, and brother of 
Hon. John B. Rice, member-elect of 
Congress from this Congressional district. 
Alfred H. Rice was educated at the common 
schools of Fremont. After leaving school he 
went into the mercantile business with his 
brother, William A., in Fremont, and spent a 
number of years in the business as a partner, 
performing the duties of salesman behind the 
counter, and also performing the duties of 
bookkeeper for the establishment. Their 
store did a large and successful business, and 
Alfred H. acquired there those business 
habits and that knowledge of men which are 
so essential to a good attorney. He had, 
however, aspirations for something more 
intellectual, and finally quitted the 
mercantile business, and, after studying law 
with John M. Lemmon and John T. Garver, 
he was admitted to practice by the Supreme 
Court of the State of Ohio, at Columbus, on 
the 3d day of January, 1878, and at once 
commenced practice in Fremont. Not long 
after commencing practice Mr. Rice became 
a member of the firm of Lemmon, Wilson & 
Rice, who opened an office in Fremont, and 
is now engaged in practice as a member of 
the firm. He married Miss Mary James, at 
Marion, Ohio; with whom he is 

*NOTE. — The following biographies were 
received too late from Mr. Everett for 
insertion in the proper place. 



still living. When the country called for help, 
in 1861, Mr. Rice volunteered as a private in 
the Seventy-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
and in the same year was promoted to first 
lieutenant. 

Mr. Rice has good faculties and is 
studious, and, although not yet old in the 
practice, his prudence and industry will 
carry him upward in his profession. With 
large social and business influences to back 
him and furnish him ample employment, he 
is bound to succeed. 



JACOB NYCE. 

This early settler and esteemed citizen of 
Sandusky county was born in Pike county, in 
the State of Pennsylvania, on the 6th of 
October, 1783. His means of education were 
limited, but his strong common sense and his 
great heart in social life and citizenship put 
him forward into a prominent position 
amongst the pioneers of the county where he 
finally settled and died. 

At the age of twenty-two years he 
purchased a farm in Ross county, Ohio, and 
came there to live. On the 24th day of 
September, 1811, he was there married to 
Miss Margaret Graham by the Rev. James 
Robinson. 

In the spring of the year 1823 he started 
with his family, consisting of his wife and 
five children, from Ross county to Lower 
Sandusky, in Sandusky county. His farm was 
on what is now known as the Stony Prairie, a 
little way west of the line of the Reservation 
of two miles square at the lower rapids of 
the Sandusky River, 



825 



826 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



and he arrived in the county on the 10th day 
of May, 1823. He afterwards bought a lot 
and erected a dwelling house on the 
southwest corner of Croghan and Main 
streets, and a little south of the present 
courthouse. While residing at this place he 
became a prominent citizen of Lower 
Sandusky, and reared and educated a family 
of eight — six daughters and two sons, 
namely: Jane, Susan, Rachel, William, and 
Thomas, who were born in Ross county, 
Ohio; two daughters, who died in infancy, 
were born in Lower Sandusky, as was also 
Isabel H. Nyce, who is still alive and a 
respected lady of Fremont. 

Jane Nyce, the eldest daughter, was many 
years ago married to Isaiah Strawn, son of 
Joel Strawn, a pioneer of Ballville 
township. Isaiah Strawn migrated many 
years ago to La Salle county, Illinois, and 
became very wealthy, and the descendants 
of that family are still residing there. 

Susan Nyce was married to Jacob Kridler, 
and died in 1848, leaving an infant 
daughter, who is married to H. L. Salisbury, 
and is now residing in Fremont. 

Rachel Nyce was married to M. W. Trask. 
She has three children, and resides at 
Independence, in the State of Iowa. 

Thomas Nyce died at Lower Sandusky in 
the year 1845 at the age of twenty-two 
years and unmarried. 

William Nyce died at Fremont, Ohio, in 
August, 1862. William had for many years, 
and, in fact, all the time after the death of 
his brother Thomas, in 1845, been the stay 
and support of his aged mother and the 
unmarried sisters of the family. In 1862, 
when the war assumed an earnest form, and 
the struggle for the life of the Nation 
became palpable, young William Nyce 
could no longer be restrained, and 
notwithstanding his burden of duties to his 
mother and sisters, he sought their 
permission to enter the service of his 
country, and obtained it without murmur 



from their patriotic hearts. He entered upon 
the duty of recruiting a company for the 
One Hundredth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
and after completing that service was taken 
sick in camp at Toledo. He came home in 
the hope of recovering his health, but died 
in August, 1862, in the dawn of his 
promising and patriotic services to the great 
cause of the Union and liberty. 

Margaret (Graham) Nyce, the faithful 
wife of Jacob Nyce, and mother of his 
children, was born in Cumberland county, 
State of Pennsylvania, on the 25th day of 
March, 1791. She came with her father's 
family to Ohio at the age of sixteen years, 
or in the year 1807, and was, four years 
afterwards, married to Jacob Nyce, as 
above stated. She survived her husband 
many years, and was all the time revered by 
our citizens, and especially by her 
acquaintances until her death, which 
occurred on the 8th day of February, 1878, 
at the age of eighty-six years, ten months, 
and thirteen days, having survived her 
husband over thirty-five years. During this 
period the faithful sons, Thomas and 
William, labored for their mother with 
cheerful devotion while they lived, and her 
daughter, Isabel, after they were taken 
away, 

Here history should record that amongst 
the early settlers in Lower Sandusky none 
were more prominent for their good works 
than Jacob Nyce and wife. Was a neighbor 
woman in distress, Mrs. Nyce was there to 
help at the dead of night, regardless of 
weather or comfort to herself. Was a man in 
want of help to raise a log cabin or barn, 
Jacob Nyce was foremost there to help him. 
He won the hearts and respect, of his 
neighbors to such a degree for his honesty 
and humanity that he was, not-withstanding 
his defective early education, made one of 
the Associate Judges of the county, in 
which position he discharged the 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



827 



duties to the satisfaction and approval of all 
interested, for several years. 

Judge Nyce, personally, was a man of 
magnificent proportions and in full health 
weighed over two hundred and twenty 
pounds. 

Shortly after Judge Nyce's coming to 
Lower Sandusky, and during the contest 
between the old fashioned Pennsylvania 
reapers, and the then new fashion of cradling 
wheat, Judge Nyce walked into a field of 
wheat one harvest with his cradle, and put 
the reapers with the sickle to shame by his 
stalwart march through the field, in which he 
demonstrated that the cradle was superior to 
the sickle in harvesting the grain crops of the 
county. 

Jacob Nyce was a monarch in the harvest 
field, and also in every other pursuit where 
muscular power decided the contest. For 
good works in all directions, and for that 
true benevolence and humanity which 
distinguished pioneer life in Sandusky 
county, few could rival Jacob Nyce and his 
noble wife. 



CHARLES ROLLINS McCULLOCH. 

As a representative man in the drug and 
book business of Fremont, as well as a 
conservator of moral order in society, we 
make the following mention of Charles 
Rollins McCulloch, now engaged actively in 
his business. 

Mr. McCulloch is the son of Jonathan and 
Cynthia (Graves) McCulloch, and was born 
at Sherburne, Chenango county, in the State 
of New York, on the 4th day of April, 1825. 
He was removed by his parents with them to 
Erie, Pennsylvania, in the year 1827, where 
they settled. At Erie he received such 
education as was afforded by the common 
schools of the State. About the age of 
thirteen years, in 1838, he became an 
apprentice to C. 



C. Bristol, in Buffalo, to learn the business 
of druggist. Here he displayed remarkable 
industry and aptness in acquiring a 
knowledge of the business, and remained 
with his employers about three years and a 
half. Thence he came to Lower Sandusky, 
and in June, 1842, went into business with 
his elder brother, Carlton G. McCulloch, 
also a druggist, who had preceded him to the 
place, and who has since located in the city 
of Chicago. 

About six years afterwards, in the year 
1848, Charles R. McCulloch bought his 
brother's interest in their business and set up 
a drug store for himself. He became partner 
with his brother-in-law, Charles Burt, in the 
purchase and selling of wheat, which they 
stored in J. K. Glenn's warehouse, a wooden 
building then standing on the site of Shomo's 
Block, on Front street, although the 
warehouse was in fact on the back part of the 
lot. The warehouse, with a large quantity of 
wheat, was destroyed by fire in 1849, and 
Mr. McCulloch lost largely by the fire, so 
much so that he was compelled to sell out 
his drug and book business to S. Buckland & 
Co. After arranging his business Mr. 
McCulloch, in 1851, became a partner in the 
firm of S. Buckland & Co. in the drug and 
book business at Fremont, and so remained 
in business until the year 1858, when he 
bought out the interests of his partners, 
namely, Stephen Buckland and Ralph P. 
Buckland, in the business, and became sole 
proprietor of the concern. Since that date he 
has, through all the vicissitudes of business, 
continued steadily on in the same place 
without check or failure, and is now prob- 
ably the head of the longest established drug 
store in the county, doing business now for 
thirty-two years in Buckland's old block, 
where he has remained since purchasing out 
the Bucklands. 

He married Miss Rhoda Gould in the 



828 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



month of October, 1848, and about six 
months before the above-mentioned fire. 
This marriage has produced seven children, 
six of whom are now living, namely: Jessie 
(now Mrs. J. E. Heffner), Fannie, Margaret, 
Rollin F., Josephine, and Julia. One, Charles 
Rollin, died at the age of eight months. The 
living children are all now residing in 
Fremont. The surviving son, Rollin F., after 
attending the high school of Fremont and 
graduating and also assisting his father in the 
store, graduated at the School of Pharmacy 
at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and having finished 
his course there, became a partner in 
business with his father, in March, 1881, 
which position he now occupies, and is a 
highly accomplished and popular druggist. 

Charles Rollin McCulloch, the subject of 
this notice, has been a consistent and worthy 
member of the Presbyterian church for the 
forty-two years last past, all of which time 
he was connected with the Sabbath-schools 
of that denomination, and for thirty years has 
acted as Sabbath-school superintendent. 
From his first connection with the church he 
has been a member of the church choir, and 
has been leader of it for the term of thirty- 
two years. He was by nature gifted with a 
fine tenor voice and his practice and 
cultivation of it has made him a desirable 
help, not only in church music, but in all 
other proper musical entertainments. This 
taste and talent for vocal music is manifested 
in his children, who are quite talented in that 
direction. He has also been ruling elder or 
deacon of the church in Fremont for about 
sixteen years, and has greatly assisted his 
church in all its enterprises. He has been 
chosen member of the city council of 
Fremont three terms, in which he did honor 
to the place. He was president of the council 
in 1877, when the corner-stone of the City 
Hall was 



laid, and his name is commemorated, by that 
long-to-be-remembered event in the 
engravings on the cornerstone. 

When Mr. McCulloch commenced 
business in Fremont (Lower Sandusky), the 
drug business was comparatively small and 
hardly supported one man. There are now, 
however, six establishments, most of them 
employing numerous clerks, engaged in that 
business in Fremont, and all seem to be 
doing a flourishing business. 

Mr. McCulloch has always been a firm and 
steady supporter and conservator of morals 
and orderly conduct in society, and as a man 
and citizen he has always been, in honesty 
and purity of life, a bright example to all 
who have been favored with his 
acquaintance. Of him it may be said 
emphatically, he is a Christian gentleman, 
and a most worthy citizen. 



CAPTAIN JOHN B. BEAUGRAND. 

This early settler at Lower Sandusky was 
born at Detroit, Michigan, January 31, 1813. 
His father was the John B. Beaugrand 
mentioned in the history of the Catholics, 
found in this work. The subject of this notice 
came with his parents to Lower Sandusky 
about the year 1820, and attended the 
common schools of the place. But the young, 
strong, and daring man that he was, could 
not be contented in the school-room with 
only books and children. His ardent and 
ventursome disposition impelled him to 
some other pursuit, and at an early age he 
was found a sailor on the lakes. For a 
number of years he was under the tuition of 
Captain Morris Tyler, a celebrated lake 
captain whose home was in Lower 
Sandusky. Under Captain Tyler's instruction 
he became a thoroughly trained sailor, and 
his personal strength and fearlessness, 
together with deep enthusiasm in his 
profession, marked him for something more 
than a 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



829 



common sailor. For a number of years he 
acted as Captain Tyler's first mate, and often 
the captain entrusted to him the sole 
management of his vessel, and never found 
his confidence misplaced. The result was 
that Beaugrand became noted for his energy, 
pluck, and luck, as well for his skill in 
managing a vessel, as for his complete and 
accurate knowledge of all the harbors on the 
Lakes, and hence he rose rapidly to the 
position of captain. In his day he 
commanded some of the finest steamers 
plying between Buffalo and Chicago. So 
well acquainted was he with the Lakes, and 
so prudent, withal, that his services were 
always in demand. On one occasion, in 1846, 
he was presented, by the mayor of 
Cleveland, with a beautiful stand of colors 
for safely bringing into that harbor, during a 
terrific storm, the steamer under his 
command, laden with passengers from 
Buffalo. The, grateful passengers also voted 
him their thanks, besides making him a very 
substantial present. Captain Beaugrand was 
well known in nautical circles as one of the 
luckiest commanders who ever stepped on 
board a craft. 

Captain John B. Beaugrand was brother to 
Mrs. L. Q. Rawson, Mrs. Margaret 
Dickinson, and Dr. P. Beaugrand, of the city 
of Fremont, Mrs. M. A. Castle, of Cleveland, 
and James A. Beaugrand, of Racine, 
Wisconsin. He acted for a time in the 
employment of the United States as pilot to 
revenue cutters on the Lakes, and at another 
time as superintendent of railroad repairing 
for the Union army in the South during the 
Rebellion. He was married at Racine, 
Wisconsin, in 1849, His wife died, leaving 
him and a daughter surviving her. The 
daughter subsequently married F. A. Narcott, 
of Chicago, where she is now living. 

Captain Beaugrand, some years ago, on 
account of rheumatic affections brought on 
by exposure in his vocation, ceased active 



life and died at Toledo on the 6th day of 
December, 1879. 



AMOS R. CARVER 

was one of the early settlers of York 
township, and one of its most worthy 
citizens for many years. He was born in 
Cayuga county, New York, July 23, 1802, 
and came to York township, Sandusky 
county, Ohio, to live, in the fall of 1837. His 
family then consisted of his wife and oldest 
daughter, now Mrs. Johnson. Miss Hattie 
Hunt, who made her home with the family 
for a number of years, now living in Topeka, 
Kansas, came with them. The father of 
Amos, Dyer Carver, moved out previous to 
his son, and located on the place which was 
afterwards the home of Amos. He died about 
the year 1866. 

Amos Carver and Martha C. Hazletine 
were married March 6, 1834. She was born 
in Rutland, Vermont, September 15, 1816, 
but removed with her parents when five 
years old to Cayuga county, New York. Mr. 
Carver died July 6, 1874, and Mrs. Carver 
January 9, 1879. They had four daughters. 
Laura E., the oldest, was born July 19, 1835, 
and became the wife of David Johnson in 
1857, who was killed by a railroad accident 
at Springfield, Illinois, in 1865. His widow, 
until recently, had resided in Oberlin, Ohio, 
for a number of years. Adelaide, born 
August 25, 1841, married, in 1869, Eugene 
S. Aldrich, of Pleasant Lake, Indiana, where 
they now live. Julia M., born October 30, 
1844, married, in 1865, David H. Foster, of 
Port Byron, New York, and now resides in 
Hamilton, that State. Clara S., born April 5, 
1848, was married to C. B. Greene, of 
Fremont, Ohio, in 1868, and now resides in 
Toledo. 



830 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



STEPHEN GRISWOLD. 

Of this eccentric man there is little 
information concerning his life except what 
is found in Mr. Everett's lecture. Griswold 
never married and when he died, many years 
ago, left no family and no relatives in this 
vicinity surviving him. Hence the 
impracticability of obtaining information 
concerning his early life. We give Mr. 
Everett's mention of him, which was as 
follows: 

One of the early inhabitants of our town was a strong- 
minded, giant-framed, and eccentric man. One instance 
will give an idea of his peculiarity of mind. Trapping in 
those days was a familiar occupation, and the kind of 
traps and method of trapping various animals were 
matters of frequent discussion. Stephen Griswold used 
to tell about one of his traps, and the conception is so 
odd and poetic that I choose it for the occasion. Said he, 
"I once made a trap to catch earthquakes in. I took two 
large, fine rainbows, and two smaller ones — the best I 
could get — so as to have it double jawed. I had double 
springs at each end. For these springs I took four streaks 
best quality double-refined chain lightning. I used a 
small volcano for bait; got my trap put together and 
commenced business in the hilly parts of South 
America, and was doing pretty well till one day a large 
bull earthquake got into my trap. It held him for a while, 
but by and by he took a lunge and a flounder and tore 
the trap into a thousand fragments. You can see pieces 
of my trap springs flying among the clouds yet, every 
time a thunder-shower comes up." 

In those times cloth was both scarce and dear, but 
dressed deer skins were plenty, cheap, and much worn 
for pants and coats. Griswold, like all of us, followed 
the fashion and got coat and pants of smoke-dressed 
deer skin. This leather is a very good dry weather 
material, but when wet becomes very flabby and 
susceptible of extension in any direction, to almost any 
extent, and when dry would shrink to the exact 
dimensions of any opposing substance. After Griswold 
got his new suit, of which he was very proud, he started 
on a three days' exploring tour into the woods, with a 
traveling companion. Snow lay quite deep upon the 
ground, and rain set in after they had started. The 
consequence was that Griswold's new clothes became 
very wet. The pants began to settle, and soon hung under 
his heels and over his toes, much to his annoyance and 
hindrance in traveling. In vain he tried the roll. They 
would not stay put, and, finally, getting out of patience, 
he applied the ready knife and cut off the extending 
nuisance. They continued walking and wetting soon 
made them too long again, and again Griswold cut 



off and reduced them to the proper length, and during 
the day he found it necessary to repeat the operation 
several times. 

Night came and the two travelers slept in a vacant log 
cabin. Like true woodsmen they kindled a good fire, 
took their supper, and without undressing, laid 
themselves down wrapped in blankets, with their feet to 
a good blazing fire. While they slept the fire burned, and 
the buckskin dried and shrunk, and shrunk and dried, 
until, except in length, it was a perfect counterpart of 
Griswold's skin. The pants contracted so that his 
stalwart walking-beams protruded from the knee. He 
slept soundly, and was awakened by the loud "ha! ha!" 
of his companion. The leather, under the influence of the 
fire, had become not only fitted to the skin, but stiff and 
hard, and he had to make a second effort before he could 
rise to his feet, so tightly were his body and limbs bound 
up. Finally he rose erect and took a deliberate survey of 
himself. Legs naked below the knee, half his forearm 
protruding beyond his coat-sieve; every joint, muscle 
and projection of his person perfectly delineated through 
his garments, there he stood; such a picture! such a 
figure! such a fit! His perplexity was ludicrous in the 
extreme. His companion caught his eye and roared with 
laughter. Griswold could stand it no longer. He opened 
his mouth, and it is said that a "blue stream" went down 
from his mouth to the lower regions, to apprise the 
inhabitants that the science of profanity was well 
understood on earth. Griswold hurried into town, 
changed clothes, and never wore leather pants 
afterwards. 



THOMAS VINCENT CURTIS. 

This worthy citizen of Lower Sandusky is 
the representative man of the colored or 
African citizens of the county. He was born 
in St. Mary's county, Maryland, in the year 
1798, and came to Chillicothe, Ohio, when a 
boy about twelve years old, in the year 1810. 
He came with an uncle and aunt, and was 
apprenticed to James V. Hill, a colored man, 
then carrying on a small tannery in 
Chillicothe, and there learned the tanning 
and currier business in an apprenticeship of 
five years. While an apprentice he 
remembers making the acquaintance of 
James Justice, deceased, late a resident of 
Fremont. Mr. Hill failed in business, and his 
property tannery, and residence, were sold at 
sheriff's 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



831 



sale. Young Justice was then learning the 
same trade with a Mr. McLean, near 
Circleville, Ohio, and was sent by McLean 
to attend the sale of Hill's property, and did 
bid off a considerable amount of the stock, 
and this transaction brought on an 
acquaintance between Curtis and Justice. 
After Hill's failure Curtis went to Cincinnati, 
and there worked at his trade eighteen 
months for a man named Henry Funk. He 
went back to Chillicothe and helped Hill 
finish off his stock. Mr. Curtis then went to 
Piketon, Pike county, Ohio, and worked at 
his trade for Dennis Hill, a brother of his 
former employer. He then returned to 
Chillicothe, worked for Mr. Thomas Jacobs, 
and there married Miss Jane Brison, who 
was raised by Mr. Galbreath, a lawyer from 
the State of Pennsylvania. His wife was full 
half white blood, and a very intelligent, 
lady-like person. There the couple had two 
children — Sarah and Orlando — and with 
these and his wife he moved to Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, where he remained working at 
his trade about three years, and where his 
third child — Charles — was born. He returned 
to Chillicothe and remained about six 
months, thence went to Clarksburg, where he 
worked for a man named George King, a 
tanner, for a time. Mr. King then put Mr. 
Curtis in charge of a large tannery at 
Columbus, Ohio, he not being a practical 
tanner, himself. Here he remained for some 
time, and then, with his family, removed to 
Tiffin, Ohio. After spending a winter at 
Tiffin, he removed with his family to Lower 
Sandusky. Here he met his old acquaintance, 
Judge Justice, and although Curtis had 
letters to another tannery, that of Isaac Van 
Doren, he prevailed on Curtis to go into his 
tannery, where he worked for five or six 
years, when they differed, and Curtis went to 
work for Mr. Van Doren, where he worked 



a number of years at the trade. Here his other 
children were born-Mary, the wife of 
Thomas Rees; Ellen, who married Samuel 
Jones, who died at Norwalk, Ohio, and who 
afterwards married a Mr. Wethers, near 
Oberlin. Another son, Alexander, was born 
at Chillicothe. 

Mr. Curtis, though not rich in lands and 
money, having suffered loss of property by 
fire, has always been a well behaved, 
industrious citizen. Recently, however, his 
infirmities and age have disqualified him 
from manual labor. 

He has never been known to violate the 
laws of the land, nor has he failed at any 
time to observe the proprieties of life, or to 
observe good manners in society. 



J. C. JOHNSON. 



This gentleman is the first professor of 
architecture who settled in Sandusky county, 
and for that reason, rather than for his early 
settlement, deserves mention in this history. 

He was born in the town of Wentworth, 
State of New Hampshire, on the 8th day of 
December, A. D. 1828. His father was Henry 
Johnson, who was Justice of the Peace in his 
native town for more than thirty years, and 
all the time also a farmer, and reared a large 
family who left home, especially the sons, in 
early maturity. His mother was Rebecca 
(Brown) Johnson. Henry Johnson's father 
and the father of his wife were both soldiers 
in the War of the Revolution, and were with 
General Washington at Valley Forge, where 
the army underwent such terrible suffering 
in the service. 

John C. Johnson, the subject of this notice, 
was a graduate of Wentworth Academy and 
intended to study and practice law, but a 
strong natural inclination to mechanics 
diverted his intentions, and he 



832 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY 



learned the trade of carpenter and joiner. 
After learning the trade he worked in the 
towns of Manchester and Nashua for a 
period of about two years. He then worked, 
at his trade in many towns and cities in 
Massachusetts .and Connecticut until he felt 
himself master of the trade and able and 
qualified to do good, work anywhere among 
men of the same vocation. In 1852 he started 
from New England for the West there to 
carve out his future fortune single-handed 
and alone. Mr. Johnson meantime applied 
himself to the study of architectural designs 
and drawings, and made great proficiency 
and soon was prepared to make accurate and 
reliable plans and specifications of all 
buildings in whole and also in the minutest 
detail. 

Mr. Johnson struck the West at Akron, 
Ohio, in the year last named, 1852, where he 
worked at his trade, about one year. From 
Akron he went to Warren, in Trumbull 
county, Ohio. Warren at that time being 
without a railroad was quite elated by the 
acquisition of a down East mechanic, who 
could design and display on paper any 
architectural design in a fine picture in 
whole and in detail, and who was able to 
distance at that time all com-petition in 
talent for architecture. At this place and in 
its vicinity Mr. Johnson built some of the 
finest buildings in that section of the State, 
and gave a new impetus to taste and 
convenience in the building of public and 
private houses. 

Here Mr. Johnson married Celia Sigler in 
the year 1857, and moved to Cleve-land, and 
there followed draughting and building one 
year. He returned to Warren, and in 1860 
removed to Fremont, Ohio, where he carried 
on the business of architect, and of 
contractor to erect buildings. Mr. Johnson 
has furnished drawings, plans and 
specifications for some of the finest and best 
architectural works in 



Northwestern Ohio and Northern Indiana, 
and elsewhere. His skill has been called in 
requisition as far away as Kansas, 
Indianapolis, and various parts of Tennessee. 
The new Ohio penitentiary is one of the 
finest buildings of the kind in the West, and 
is built according to the design of Mr. 
Johnson. This is considered the best building 
of the kind in the United States, and like 
many of the courthouses and jails designed 
by him has been extensively copied for like 
buildings in other places and many States. 

Mr. Johnson was one of eighteen 
competing architects who submitted plans 
for the elaborate and costly State House at 
Indianapolis, a building to cost two millions 
of dollars and stood a tie vote with one other 
competitor for adoption; but his competitor 
in this design was a resident of Indiana, and 
State pride gave the Hoosier the first, and 
real merit gave the Fremont architect the 
second premium for excellence in design, 
and yet Mr. Johnson's general plan for the 
building was afterwards followed in its 
construction. The best architectural skill of 
the whole country, from Boston, New York, 
Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, 
Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Louisville were 
in competition, and the merit of even second 
choice was a high compliment to the State of 
Ohio and to Fremont in particular. The 
Indianapolis Sun said it was the highest 
compliment paid any State. 

Mr. Johnson has introduced into Fremont 
an improved style of tasty and convenient 
residences and public buildings. 

Here a permanent testimonial of his skill 
may be seen in the beautiful and well- 
proportioned City Hall, designed by him, 
and erected on the northeast corner of Fort 
Stephenson Park. Mr. Johnson is highly 
esteemed as a man and citizen, and has for 
some years been a member of the City 
Council of Fremont. 



APPENDIX. 



FORT STEPHENSON. 

Simon Figley, a member of Major Rhodes' 
company in the Northwestern Army, gives the 
following account of Fort Stephenson before the 
battle. Mr. Figley is at present a resident of 
Defiance, Ohio: 

When we arrived at Lower Sandusky in the latter part 
of March, 1813, the fort was not completed. There was 
nothing more than a stockade, in which Government 
horses and cattle had been fed during the winter. We 
spent several days hauling out the mature from the fort. 
After cleaning out the stockade, we set tents into camp. 
Our next business was to get out timber and put up the 
block-houses. We only built two, which were situated on 
the north side of the fort. There was, when we came, a 
smaller house standing in the southwest corner of the 
fort, which appeared to be an old house, and was, I 
presume, used for a trading post. After erecting the 
block-houses, our next business was to dig the trenches 
around the stockade. Our commander was Major Joseph 
Rhodes, who came all the way from Canton with us. The 
work was conducted under the orders of Major Rhodes 
until nearly completed, when Colonel Stephenson 
arrived and took command. About the last of May or 
first of June, 1813, we left the fort by water and went 
down the Sandusky River and Bay, and thence to 
Cleveland. We were, after leaving the fort, under the 
command of Adjutant Samuel Cre swell. I afterward 
enlisted and served three months more. While I was 
serving at the fort a young Frenchman was married to an 
Indian woman. The few inhabitants were a mixed race, 
of French and Indian blood. There were, perhaps, three 
or four of pure white blood. The settlers commonly lived 
near to the fort, and when danger approached would 
come in for protection. There was not a log house for 
residence in sight of the fort, except a log house built 
and used by the Government for storing purposes. It was 
a double log house, near the river. In the winter of 1812- 
13 the inhabitants lived partly under ground, by 
excavating the earth and then setting up puncheons and 
partly covering them with earth. That winter was very 
cold, and clothing was hard to obtain. 



A SOLDIER'S DESCRIPTION OF CROGHAN'S 

VICTORY. 

The following account of the battle of Fort 
Stephenson is from William Gaines, an 
inmate at the National Soldiers' Home;, 
Washington, D. C. He was a member of 
Captain Armstrong's Company, Twenty- 
fourth Infantry, in the command of General 
Harrison. He was at Fort Meigs during the 
siege. His account, as given to a reporter 
there; was as follows: 

Our company was then ordered to Camp Seneca in July. I 
think about this time there came a rumor that Fort Stephenson 
was to be attacked. A detail was made from the different 
companies to relieve Fort Stephenson, this being done so that 
each company should have an equal chance of winning glory. 
At this time I was a private in Captain Armstrong's company, 
having exchanged my drum for a musket. I was also acting as 
cook for Lieutenant Joseph Anthony of my company. 
Lieutenant Anthony, John Foster, James Riggs, Samuel 
Thurman, and myself composed the detail from my company. 
We started at daybreak and reached Fort Stephenson at 9 or 10 
o'clock in the forenoon. We had not been there more than an 
hour and a half or two hours before the British hove in sight 
and began landing their troops, cannon, etc. Between 11 and 
12 o'clock there came a flag of truce and an officer and six 
men. They were blindfolded and taken in at the west gate. It 
was rumored that the officer was sent to demand the surrender 
of the fort or threaten to show no quarter. When they were 
gone Major Croghan told us to prepare ourselves as no quarter 
was to be shown. They came around on the west side, which, 
at the distance of one hundred and fifty yards, was covered 
with woods, and between the woods and fort was a ravine 
down which they would haul the cannon to load and then push 
upon the brow of the hill and fire. They could not approach on 
the east side because that was an open field and we could have 
brought them down. To the north and south it was also quite 
open. The weather was good but warm and a storm which had 
threatened finally disappeared. They fired on us for some time, 
but Major Croghan would not allow us to return it. 



833 



834 



HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY. 



Samuel Thurman was in a block-house and determined 
to shoot a red coat. He climbed upon the top of the 
block-house and peered over when a six-pound cannon 
ball took his head off. Finally, toward evening, they 
made a charge, and when they got on level ground we 
got orders to fire. We shot through loop-holes in the 
pickets and portholes in the block-houses. 

I recollect very well when Colonel Short fell. I see it 
all as plainly as I see you two gentlemen. Our cannon 
was loaded with six-pound ball and grape; I was in the 
block-house, and after Colonel Short fell, he held up a 
white handkerchief for quarter. Some one in the block- 
house said, "That man is hollering for quarter; he said he 
would show none, now give him quarter." It passed all 
through the fort. The bugle sounded a retreat. They had 
old Tecumseh and about one thousand five hundred Ind- 
ians and seven or eight hundred regulars. I only 
estimated them by seeing them march from the water. 
There were no buildings near the fort nor any women in 
the fort, as there was no settlement nearer than 
Franklinton. They landed a mile and a half or two miles 
below the fort, opposite the island. The British wounded 
who were not taken away lay in the ditch. The British 
soldiers were buried the next day — perhaps one hundred 
and fifty. 

I have often thought that if General Harrison had 



marched his troops from Fort Seneca, down on the east 
side of the Sandusky and crossed it, it would have 
brought the enemy between him and their boats, and 
thus he could have captured them all. 

When the firing commenced Lieutenant Anthony was 
panic-stricken, and secreted himself and did not come 
out until after the battle was over. He was put under 
arrest by Major Croghan, sent to Fort Seneca, court- 
martialed for cowardice, and cashiered the service. 

Major Croghan was a very thin man, but became very 
corpulent and fleshy some years after. He was a very 
courageous man, afraid of nothing under the sun. 



ERRATUM. 

On page 123, in the chapter devoted to civil history, the 
residence of John B. Rice, Representative in Congress, should 
be Sandusky county in place of Seneca, as given.