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Center for Archival Collections - Index to Civil War Letters - Crawford County, Ohio Newspapers

Before the days of wire services or news bureaus, newspapers frequently printed letters from local soldiers to provide more in-depth coverage of war news. Since regiments were recruited by geographical regions, most of the men serving in a unit were neighbors, and their families often shared letters with each other. Some soldiers specifically arranged to send reports of company news to their hometown newspapers. This index, prepared by Dan Masters, records all soldiers' correspondence printed in the Bucyrus Journal and Crawford County Forum newspapers during the Civil War. Researchers should be aware that these indexes do not necessarily represent the holdings of the Center for Archival Collections. Those wishing to review the news articles or editorials cited here should consult the Guide to Newspaper Holdings.

Bucyrus Journal - Bucyrus Journal (w) general newspaper; Whig (1853-1854); Republican [1855-1923)
Jan 6, 1853-Dec 28, 1900*

April 24, 1863
Hospital Steward Andrew Poe, 63rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Corinth, Mississippi, April 5-6, 1863, pg. 3

May 22, 1863

Hospital Steward Andrew Poe, 63rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Corinth, Mississippi, May 6, 1863, pg. 3

March 20, 1863

Hospital Steward Andrew Poe, 63rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Corinth, Mississippi, February 15, 1863, pg. 3

Hospital Steward Andrew Poe
Letters: Bucyrus Journal: April 24, 1863, May 22, 1863
Crawford County Forum: March 20, 1863

Northwest Ohio In The Civil War

Infantry Units: 63rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry

The biographical sketches here show only those members of the unit who wrote letters to their local newspapers. Information may be drawn from the unit roster, newspaper obituaries, or other biographical sources.

Field and Staff Hospital Steward Andrew Poe Andrew Poe enlisted as a 35 year old Private in Company A, 63rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry on August 30, 1862, mustering into service the same day. He was promoted to Hospital Steward September 14, 1862, and was commissioned Captain of Company C, 106th U.S. Colored Troops to date November 14, 1863. He was transferred to Company C, 40th U.S. Colored Troops to date November 7, 1865 and was mustered out April 25, 1866.
Letters:Bucyrus Journal: April 24, 1863, May 22, 1863
Crawford County Forum: March 20, 1863

Two other Poe men at this site [Note biographies at this site are contributors of letters to newspapers]

Roster - Company I, 111th OVI 1st Lieutenant Daniel W. Poe Enlisted 8/14/1862 as 1st Lieutenant, resigned commission 3/18/1864
Perrysburg Journal- 10/8/1862

Roster - Company I, 68th OVI Captain Hiram H. Poe Enlisted October 3, 1861 to serve three years; appointed December 18, 1861; mustered out October 28, 1864, on expiration of term of service
Napoleon Northwest- 5/21/1862, 8/20/1862
Perrysburg Journal- 9/14/1864

HISTORY of

CRAWFORD COUNTY

AND

OHIO

Containing a History of the State of Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present nine, embracing

its topography, geological, physical and climatic features; its agricultural, stock growing, rail-

road interests, etc.; a History of Crawford County, giving an account of its aboriginal

inhabitants, early, settlement by the whites, pioneer incidents, its growth, its

improvements, organization of the County, its judicial and political

history, its business and industries, churches, schools, etc.;

Biographical Sketches; Portraits of some of the Early

Settlers and Prominent men, etc., etc.

ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO

BASKIN & BATTEY, HISTORICAL PUBLISHERS, 186 DEARBORN STREET.

1881.

ARLY SETTLEMENT BY THE WHITES-ORIGIN AND ORGANIZATION OF CRAWFORD COUNTY

TERRITORIAL CHANGES-COUNTY BUILDINGS-JOHNNY APPLESEED.

EARLY SETTLEMENT BY THE WHITES-ORIGIN AND ORGANIZATION OF CRAWFORD COUNTY

TERRITORIAL CHANGES-COUNTY BUILDINGS-JOHNNY APPLESEED.

THE pioneers who made the early white settlements of Ohio, came from the south and east, following close upon the steps of the retreating savages. The hardy sons of toil, who had wrested the fair lands of Western Pennsylvania and Kentucky from the Indian, turned their backs upon this, and pressed forward to the Ohio River, eager to cross and possess the lands beyond. Here, for a time, the savage defense of the natives delayed the fatal tide, until at last, overwhelmed and beaten from the south, they withdrew to the Maumee Valley. By a treaty made at Greenville, August 3, 1795, the Indians ceded the whole of the State, save that portion included within a line drawn from the mouth of the Cuyahoga River to Fort Laurens, the present site of Bolivar, in Tuscarawas County, and thence west, with the line known as the Greenville Treaty Line or Indian Boundary. It was not many years before the vast wilderness, thus thrown open to peaceable settlement, was everywhere clotted with the cabin of the pioneer, and the squatter, the advance guard of the pioneer hosts, was again upon the Indian border. In 1807, a further cession was made by the Indians of that part of their territories, which was included between the line of the Cuyahoga River and a new one, drawn from a point on the southern shore of Lake Erie, between the mouth of Sandusky Bay and Portage River, to a point due south on the Boundary line, a point just a little east of the village of Cardington, in Morrow County. This line passed through what is now Crawford County, on the western boundary of the Three Mile Strip, represented in its width in this county by Sandusky Township. In 1813, the army, under Gen. Crook, starting from Pittsburgh to join the forces of Gen. Harrison at Fort Meigs, traversed this territory from Rooster through Mansfield, Bucyrus and Upper Sandusky, thence northerly to their destination. This was the first road made through the country west of Mansfield, and this event, not only served to open up the territory, but brought it to the observation of many who were not slow to sound the praises of this country through which the army passed. Richland County, which extended to the eastern border of Three Mile Strip, was rapidly settling up, and that restless portion of her population, which is found in every pioneer community, longing for newer scenes and plentier game, began to move over into the newly opened territory. On September 29, 1817, by a treaty made at the foot of the Maumee Rapids, the whole of the remaining portion of the State, under Indian domination, was ceded to the United States, and immigration, greatly stimulated by the news of the "New Purchase," began to pour in. On the 20th of February, 1820, the General Assembly of the State passed an act for the "erection of certain counties " out of the vast tract of wilderness thus acquired, and Crawford was the seventh in order out of fourteen thus created.

The country; which thus invited immigration, presented every variety of surface. In the lower part of the county, south and west of the Sandusky River, though seldom touching its banks, stretched out the great Sandusky Plains; north of the river, extended an immense cranberry marsh, that furnished the natives their principal stock in trade with the whites. In the northern and eastern parts of the territory, marshes of greater or less extent were everywhere found. In the northern part of Cran-

206 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

berry and Auburn Townships, the Government Surveyor planted his stakes from a canoe, and describes the country in his notes as the most "abandoned and God-forsaken" of any he had met with in a long surveying experience. But in all parts of the county, save on the plains, the land was covered with a dense growth of heavy timber,

" Where the rude ax with heaved stroke

Was never heard the nymphs to daunt'

The character of this country in 1821 is thus described by an early settler: "The Indians had been accustomed to bring cranberries East, when we first came to Richland County. We could often see ten to twenty horses, loaded with cranberries put in bark boxes, which were tied together and swung over the horses' backs, following each other east, each horse led by an Indian in single file. Our curiosity was, of course, raised to know where these cranberries grew. So in the fall of the year 1821, my father-in-law, John Brown, Michael Brown, myself and a Mr. Jacob Miller, who had moved in our neighborhood from Pennsylvania, started on a trip to see whether we could find out where the cranberries grew. We took our horses, horse feed. etc., and started in a southwesterly direction, until we struck the Pennsylvania army road, then followed the route, which we could clearly distinguish. After passing along said route for several miles, we thought we were not getting far enough to the north, and, therefore, turning further north, struck the Sandusky River east of Bucyrus. As we came to the stream, we heard a man chopping wood a little further up the river. I told the men that there were Indians around or else some white man had got in here. We rode up the river and found Daniel McMichael, a man whom I had seen before. He looked rather scared, but knew me as soon as I came close to him. He had come there in the spring and put up a little cabin, where he and his family resided. He gave us directions and accompanied us a little distance, showing us the old Indian trail, which would lead to the cranberry marsh. We followed it until we reached our destination about sunset. After tying and feeding our horses, we started into the marsh for cranberries, Mr. Miller walking behind, with his head up, expecting to find the fruit on bushes. All incautious step plunged him into a hole up to his waist, while he screamed for help, declaring that the bottom of the marsh had fallen out. We camped out that night. We saw several Indian camp-fires during the night, and heard several screaming but were not molested. The next morning we gathered as many cranberries as our horses could carry, in a short time, the ground being literally covered with them. We left, perhaps, at 9 o'clock in the morning. passing back to Mr McMichael's, and then home, where we arrived late in the night. During this trip we saw no living man, except McMichael and his family, and no sign of any settlement from the time we started until our return. As long as we followed the army road, the weeds were as high as the horses' heads, and from there the country was heavily timbered. We concluded this country would never be settled."*

As in the early settlement of almost every new country, there were two classes of pioneers that left a more or less durable impress upon the earlier settlements of Crawford County. Held back from settlement by treaties with the natives until the tide of population beat against the barriers. this section was peculiarly fitted for the occupation of the squatter element, that knew no law but its own convenience, and feared no danger that freed it of the irksome restraint of civilization. " The improvements of a back-woodsman (squatter) were usually confined to building a rude log cabin, clearing and fencing a small piece of ground for raising

* Personal Recollections of James Nail, in Bucyrus Forum, January 24, 1874.

PAGE 207 - PICTURE OF A. MONNETT

PAGE 208 - BLANK

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. - 209

Indian corn; a horse, a cow, a few hogs and some poultry, comprise his live stock ; and his further operations are performed with his rifle. The formation of a settlement in his neighborhood is hurtful to the success of his favorite pursuit, and is the signal for his removing into more remote parts of the wilderness. In case of his owning the land on which he is settled, he is content to sell at a low price, and his establishment, though trifling, adds much to the comfort of his successor. The next class of settlers differs from the former, in having considerably less depenence on the killing of game, in remaining in the midst of a growing population, and in devoting themselves more to agriculture. A man of this class proceeds on small capital; he either enlarges the clearings began in the woods by his back-woodsman predecessor, or establishes himself on a new site. On his arrival in a settlement, the neighbors unite in assisting him to erect a cabin for the reception of his family; some of them cut down the trees, others drag them to the spot with oxen, and the rest build up the logs. In this way a house is commonly reared in a day. For this well-timed assistance, no payment is made and he acquits himself by working for his neighbors. It is not in his power to hire laborers and he must depend, therefore, on his own exertions. If his family is numerous and industrious, his progress is greatly accelerated. He does not clear away the forest by dint of labor, but girdles the trees. By the second summer after this operation is performed, the foliage is completely destroyed, and his crops are not injured by the shade. He plants an orchard, which thrives abundantly under every sort of neglect. His live stock soon becomes much more numerous than that of his backwoods predecessor; but, as his cattle have to shift for themselves in the woods, where grass is scanty, they are small and lean. He does not sow grass seed to succeed his crops, so that his land, which ought to be pasturage, is over-grown with weeds. The neglect of sowing grass seeds deprives him of hay; and he has no fodder laid up, except the blades of Indian corn, which are much withered, and do not appear to be nutritious food. The poor animals are forced to range the forests in winter, where they can scarcely procure anything which is green, except the buds of the underwood, on which they browse. These are sometimes cut down that the cattle may eat the buds. Want of shelter in the winter completes the sum of misery. Hogs suffer famine during the droughts of summer, and the frosts and snows of winter; but they become fat by feeding on the acorns and beech-nuts which strew the ground in autumn. Horses are not exempted from their share in these common sufferings, with the addition of labor, which most of them are not very able to undergo. * * * The settler, of the grade under consideration, is only able to bring a small portion of his land into cultivation; his success, therefore, does not so much depend upon the quantity of produce which he raises, as on the gradual increase in the value of his property. When the neighborhood becomes more populous, he, in general, has it in his power to sell his property at a high price, and to remove to a new settlement, where he can purchase a more extensive tract of land, or commence farming on a larger scale than formerly. The next occupier is a capitalist, who immediately builds a larger barn than the former and then a brick or frame house. He either pulls down the dwelling of his predecessor, or converts it into a stable. He erects better fences, and enlarges the quantity of cultivated land, sows down pasture fields, introduces an improved breed of horses, cattle, sheep, and these probably, of the merino breed; he fattens cattle for the market, and perhaps erects a flour mill, or a saw-mill, or a distillery. Farmers of this description are frequently partners in the banks, members of the State Assembly, or of Congress, or Justices of the Peace.

210 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

The condition of the people has, necessarily, some relation to the age and prosperity of the settlements in which they live. In the earliest settlements of Ohio, the first and second rate farmers are most numerous, and are mixed together. The three conditions of settlers described, are not to be understood as uniformly distinct, for there are intermediate stages, from which individuals of one class pass, as it were, into another. The first invaders of the forest frequently become farmers of the second order; and there are examples of individuals, acting their parts in all the three gradations."*

This general picture of the early settlements of Ohio, is borne out by the first twenty-five years of history in every township in Crawford County. The Ohio fever took strong hold of many of the communities in the older States, and no sooner was the "New Purchase" heard of, than hundreds, anxious to secure a home with plenty of land, flocked to the new country. The eastern tier of townships formerly belonging to Richland, Auburn, Vernon, Jackson and Polk, were surveyed by Maxwell Ludlow, in 1807. The remaining territory was surveyed in 1819, by Deputy Surveyor General Sylvanus Bourne. The early pioneers came close after the surveyors, and in many places found the bark still fresh upon the stakes that marked the different sections. The first actual settler, however, was more bold, and, braving the dangers and inconveniences of frontier isolation, penetrated the dense forest, and took up a claim on the border of the Sandusky Plains, eight miles from the nearest cabin, and twice that many miles from what might be called a community. He is represented as a man of large athletic proportions, standing six feet high, of strong determination, keen intelligence, and full of the true spirit of enterprise. This was Samuel Norton, the founder of the village of Bucyrus. He came from Susquehanna County, Penn., and, after selecting his quarter-section

*Flint's Letters from America, 1818.

on the present site of the county seat, he returned to his native State for his family. The land was not yet surveyed, nor offered for sale; but here he erected his pole cabin, and proceeded to make a clearing, trusting that he would have no difficulty in securing the land by purchase, when put on the market. In this cabin, located near the site of the present railroad bridge, his daughter, Sophronia, was born; the first white child, probably, within the original limits of the county. At this time his only neighbors were David Beadle, and his sons, Mishel and David, Daniel McMichael, and Joseph Young. Col. Kilburn's `Song of Bucyrus' has it

"'First Norton and the Beadles came

With friends, an enterprising band;

Young and McMichael men of fame,

Soon joined the others hand in hand,'

"Of these. Daniel McMichael settled on a quarter-section, two miles east on the river: Young settled on the farm now owned by John A. Gormly; Mishel Beadle, on the farm now owned by L. Converse, and David Beadle, just southwest of the village of Bucyrus. Of the settlers who came into the various parts of the county about this time, were Resolved White, a descendant of the child born on the Mayflower; Rudolph Morse and David Cummins, in the present limits of Auburn Township; Jacob Snyder, near Leesville; David Anderson and Andrew Dixson and sons, in Vernon Township; John Brown and his son. Michael Brown, on the farm owned by the late Mr. Beltz, of Polk Township; David Reid and two men named Pletcher, a little south of that point; in Sandusky Township, there were Westel, Ridgely and J. S. Griswell, near where the Bucvrus and Leesville road crosses the Sandusky River; a little south was Peter Bebout; Samuel Knisely, at Knisely's Springs, and his brother Joseph, and John B. French, just north of him. Near the Bear Marsh, were Isaac Matthews

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. - 211

William Handley, Nelson Tustason, two families of McIntyres, and John Davis. "*

"*The great avenue of travel at this early period was along the route followed by Gen. Crook's army in 1813, and rendered this section of country particularly accessible to immigration from Pennsylvania. Another feature of the early settlement of the county, will be observed in the fact that there was no common center in this territory, from which the increasing population seemed to disperse over the county. This country had filled the eye of many in the older settlements, who were prepared to move forward so soon as the way should be opened, and, when once the treaty barriers were removed, there as a general rush for the various points that had already been canvassed. The settlement in what is now Auburn Township, was largely made up of New Englanders, and received its first white inhabitants in 1815. These facts, somewhat at variance with the history of the greater part of the county, have their explanation in the location of this township adjoining the 'fire lands' of the Western Reserve. These lands, appropriated for the use of certain citizens of Connecticut, who suffered by the devastation of the English during the Revolutionary war, were early settled by these beneficiaries, and naturally attracted others of their friends to the same vicinity. Although much of the land in Auburn at an early date was occupied by marshes, it still presented attractions enough in its nearness to old friends, to induce John Pettigon and William Green to settle here as early as 1815. Two years later, Charles Morrow joined the little settlement; in 1819, the little colony from New York, named above; John Blair, in 1821, and A. T. Ross in 1825. Vernon was principally settled by New Englanders, many of them locating Revolutionary war land warrants. The land was not the most inviting, a large part of it being covered with marshes.

*John Moderwell's letters in Bucyrus Journal, 1868.

The first settler was George Byers, in 1818. He occupied a squatter's claim, and was notorious in the early times as a trapper. Coming soon after him was James Richards in 1821, and George Dickson from Pennsylvania, in 1822. The settlement in the southeast corner of the county was an early and important one. This whole corner of the county was known as Sandusky Township, in Richland County. Benjman Leveredge and his sons James and Nathaniel, together with George Wood and David, came in 1817, and were the first to settle on the present site of Galion. Benjamin Sharrock came in 1818 and Asa Hosford in 1819. These hardy; stalwart men were followed, in 1820, by Father Ketteridge, a great trapper and hunter, by Rev. James Dunlap, in 1822, and Nathan Merriman in 1824. James Nail, in his printed recollections, says : "In 1819, I left my father's farm and came to what was then called Sandusky Township, Richland County, and bought 160 acres of Congress land, about two miles from Galion, on the road to Leesville. All the settlers then heard of in what is now Crawford County, were three brothers by the name of Leveredge living a little west of where Galion is and my brother-in-law, Lewis Leiberger, who settled on a piece of land adjoining me. Living with Leiberger, I put up a cabin on my land and commenced clearing it. In the fall of 1821, I married and settled on my piece of land. By this time, some other settlers came into the community, such as John Brown, Benjamin Sharrock, Nehemiah Story and others." Whetstone was first settled about 1820, and numbered among its earliest pioneers. Esi Norton, Frederick Garver, Heman Rowse, Christopher Bair, John Kent and others. The community here grew rapidly, and by 1827 numbered some thirty families, principally from Pennsylvania and the New England States. Liberty was first invaded by Daniel McMichael, who was followed by Ralph Bacon in 1821, from Mentor, Ohio. In the same year, the families

212 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

of John Maxfield, a native of Vermont, and John O. Blowers, from Wayne County, Ohio, were added to the population of the township. In 1822, William Blowers, Calvin Squier and Nehemiah Squier, came from New York, and in 1823, some sixteen families were added to this settlement, principally from the far Eastern States. The settlement of Chatfield was not quite so rapid as some of the southern and eastern parts, but had a nucleus about which a settlement gathered as early as 1820. An early character was Jacob Whetstone, who spent his time hunting and trapping. The more important family was represented by Silas and Oliver Chatfield, whose name has been perpetuated in that of the township. Holmes township labored under some disadvantages at this period. The western portion was still reserved to the Indians, and along its southern border an extensive cranberry marsh made it undesirable for settlement. Mr. Hearman was the first resident of the township, who was followed in a short time by William Flake. The growth of the settlement here was slow, and it was probably 1825, before it could aspire to the title of community.

"The difficulty and trials of the early settlers of Crawford County, although not so great as those encountered by the first settlers west of the Alleghanies, were yet such as would be considered by their descendants of the present day as almost insurmountable. Nearly all the land within the present limits of the county was covered by heavy timber, which almost entirely prevented the sun's rays from reaching the ground. This, in connection with the formation of the country and the nature of the soil, necessarily made very muddy roads, even with the little travel then passing on them, and mud, and the fever and ague produced by the same causes, were the great drawbacks to the rapid development of this country. The distance from mills and from other settlements was also among the serious difficulties they had to contend with. For several years, nearly all the flour used had to be brought from the mills on Mohican Creek and its tributaries, in Richland County, thirty and forty miles distant. The practice then was to make a trip in an ox wagon to the vicinity of one of these mills, purchase a small quantity of wheat from some of the settlers there, have it ground, and carry the flour back to Bucyrus the voyage consuming from a week to ten days' time.

"Most of the pioneers were men of small means. Their stock of cash being generally exhausted upon paying the Government price for eighty, or, at most, one hundred and sixty acres of land, many became discouraged at the hardships they had to encounter and returned to their old homes. Others would have done so could they have raised the wherewith to carry them there. This, however, did not last long, most of them becoming entirely satisfied after a few years' residence, the improvement of the country each year making it more tolerable to live in, and giving increasing promise of its future prosperity.

"The total change in the appearance of the country to one who can look back forty-five years (written in 1868) seems almost miraculous. Could one of the residents here in 1825, after an absence of forty years, now return. He would find it difficult to recognize a single familiar landmark or half a dozen familiar faces; and one who has not a correct record of his age is inclined to think he has been here a century instead of less than half of one."*

It will be observed that quite a large proportion of those early settlers were of New England origin. This fact of late years has been entirely changed, and the German element in most parts of the county has assumed the ascendency. This change began about 1832. In this year and succeeding ones, there was a

* Moderwell's Letters, 1868.

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. - 213

large accession of German population coming direct from Europe. Coming by the Erie Canal to Buffalo, and thence to Cleveland or Sandusky, the Maumee Valley presented the most available place for settlement at that time, and this fact undoubtedly determined the destination of scores of persons who have since made this once marshy and unhealthful country to become a strong competitor with localities far more highly favored by nature. In 1848, the political troubles of Germany brought another considerable addition to the Teutonic element of Crawford, and many a German "agitator" is today among the county's most reliable citizens.

The origin of Crawford County as a distinct political division of the State dates back to February 20, 1820. At this time, the whole Maumee Valley was opened to settlement, and was divided up into counties for judicial and governmental purposes. Townships 1, 2 and 3 south, in Ranges 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 east, and all the land east of these townships up to what was then the western limits of Richland County, was named Crawford County, in honor of the gallant soldier who ended, in 1782, a brave and praiseworthy career on the plains within these boundaries. This division did not at that time have any political significance or power, but was simply attached to Delaware County, an association that did not even have the merit of equality in the disadvantages. Fortunately, the matter of law or taxation did not enter very largely into the experiences of the pioneer settlements until a nearer county seat was provided. December 15, 1823, the county of Marion, roughly blocked out at the time Crawford was named, was regularly organized, and became the guardian of her younger sister, as the act reads,"for judicial purposes." Save that some of its townships had received a name and something of a start toward civilization, Crawford was the same insignificant figure in affairs of state as before. On the 17th of February in the following year, the increase of population having become so great as to make it inconvenient for the more remote settlers to go to Marion to transact their business, that part of Crawford which was situated north of the Wyandot reservation, " including one tier of townships lying east and west," was attached to Seneca County for judicial purposes. This continued until January 31, 1826. Crawford County was independently organized and introduced the sisterhood of counties by the following act:

SECTION 1. Be it enacted, etc., that the county of Crawford be, and the same is hereby, organized into a separate and distinct county.

Sec. 2. That all Justices of the Peace residing within the county of Crawford shall continue to discharge the duties of their respective offices until their commissions shall expire and their successors are chosen and qualified.

SEC. 3, That the qualified electors residing in the county of Crawford shall meet in their respective townships on the first Monday of April next, and elect their several county officers, who shall hold their respective offices until the next annual election, and until others are chosen and qualified according to law.

Sec. 4. That all suits and actions, whether of a civil or criminal nature, which shall have been commenced, shall be prosecuted to final judgement and execution, and all taxes, fines and penalties which shall have become due shall be collected in the same manner as if this act had not been passed.

Sec. 5. That Zalmon Rowse is hereby appointed Assessor for said county of Crawford, who shall, on or before the first dry of April next, give bond, as is provided in the fourth section of the "act establishing an equitable mode of taxation," to the acceptance of Enoch B. Merryman, who is hereby authorized to receive said bond, and deposit the same with the County Auditor of said county forthwith after such Auditor shall have been elected and qualified; and the Assessor herein appointed shall be required to perform the same duties, hold his office for the same time and in the same manner as if he had been appointed by a court of common pleas for said county of Crawford and the Auditor of State is hereby required to transmit to said Assessor a schedule of all lands subject to

214 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

taxation within said county, which schedule said Assessor shall return with his other returns to the County Auditor.

Sec. 6. That the Commissioners elected according to the provisions contained in the third section of this act shall meet on the first Monday in May next, at the town of Bucyrus, and then and there determine at what place in sail county of Crawford the judicial courts shall be held till the permanent seat of justice shall be established in said county.

Sec. 7. That those townships and fractional townships in Crawford County which have heretofore been attached to and formed a part of any township in Marion or Seneca Counties respectively, are hereby attached to, and declared to be a part of, Crawford Township, in said Crawford County, till the same shall be otherwise provided for by the Commissioners of said county.

The county thus organized included a scope of territory three Congressional townships in width. and extending from the eastern boundary of Sandusky and Cranberry Townships to the western boundary of Crawford, Salem and Mifflin Townships. in Wyandot County. The larger part of what is now Wyandot County, and three miles of the western portion of Holmes and Bucyrus townships, was covered by the Wyandot Indian reservation. In 1835, the Indians sold to the government a strip seven miles off the east end of their reservation, which was sold by the government publicly in Marion, Ohio. This tract extended in what is now Wyandot County, some two miles. A considerable part of this land located around the present village of Osceola was bought by a company who laid out this town and sold a good many lots in the belief that the county seat would eventually be removed there, as it was near the center of the county as then constructed. This speculation was defeated on February 3, 1845, by the erection of Wyandot County. In the general re-organization of the counties that then took place, Crawford lost all the territory west of the middle line of townships in Range 15 east and gained from Marion County a strip of territory two miles while extending to the Richland County line, and from the latter county on the east a tract four miles wide, extending the whole length of Crawford from north to south, some twenty miles. In 1848, a tier of fractional sections were taken off in the erection of Morrow County, leaving Crawford in its present outlines. In the matter of township lines the information is not so accurate. The early records of this comity having, unfortunately, been burned, the only clew is to be found by a tedious search in the early records of Delaware and Marion Counties. Bucyrus, Liberty and Whetstone were probably erected by the Commissioners of Delaware County, but with what boundaries is not known. During the three years this county was attached to Marion a number of townships north, east and west of the Indian reserve were erected. Sycamore, Tymochtee, Pitt and Antrim Townships were among these. "Tymochtee Township," says Mr. Moderwell, "lay directly west of Sycamore and probably contained more inhabitants forty [now fifty-two] years ago, than any township in the county, and contributed its full share to the business of our courts." What was done before the latter part of 1831, by the Commissioners of Crawford is open to conjecture only. In 1845, there were the following sixteen township, of which none of those located within the present limits of Craw ford were erected subsequent to 1831: Antrim, Bucyrus, Center, Chatfield, Cranberry, Crawford, Holmes, Jackson, Liberty, Lykens, Mifflin, Pitt, Sandusky, Sycamore, Tymochtee, and Whestone. On the 6th of March 1845, the commissioners of Crawford County took the following action in regard to the fractional townships and territory added:

This day, it was resolved by the Commissioners of Crawford County, that the following fractional townships taken from the counties of Richland and Marion, and those lying on the west side of said county of Crawford, according to an act of the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, passed February 3, 1845, to erect the

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. - 215

new county of Wyandot, and alter the boundaries of Crawford, be organized into separate townships, to wit:

All that part taken from the county of Richland, and being in Township twenty-two (22) north, Range twenty (20) west, be, and the same is hereby, organized into a separate township, and shall be known by the name of Auburn

All that part taken from the county of Richland, and being in Township twenty-one (21) north, Range twenty (20) west, be, and the same is hereby, organized into a separate township, and shall be known by the name of Vernon.

All that part taken from the county of Richland, and being in Township twenty (20) north, Range twenty (20t) west: and all that part taken from Township nineteen (19) north, Range twenty (20) ; and all that part taken from the county of Marion, and being in Township fifteen (15) north, Range twenty-one (21), be, and the same is hereby, organized into a separate township, and shall be known by the name of Polk.

All that part taken from the county of Marion, and being in township four (4) south, Range sixteen (16) east; and all that part taken from the county of Marion, and being in Township four (4) south, Range fifteen (15) east ; and all that part taken from Township three (3) south, Range fifteen east, except six sections off the north end of said fractional township, be, and the same is hereby, organized into a separate township, and shall be known by the name of DALLAS:

All that part taken from Township two (2) south, Range fifteen (15) east, and six sections off the north end of fractional Township three (3) south. Range fifteen (l5) east be, and the same is hereby, organized into a separate township, and shall be known by the name of Todd:

All that part taken from Township one (1) south, Range fifteen (15) east, be, and the same is hereby, organized into an independent township, and shall be known by the name of Texas

All that part taken from the county of Marion, and being in Township four (4) south, Range seventeen (17) east, be, and the same is hereby, attached to Whetstone

All that part of fractional Section thirty-one (31), thirty-two (32), in Township three (3) south, Range sixteen east, be, and the same is hereby, attached to Bucyrus.

It will be observed that the township of Polk, as thus constructed, occupied the southeast corner of the county as Dallas does the southwest. To this arrangement the citizens objected, and in the following June the line of division between Jackson and Polk Townships was run from the "northeast corner of Section twenty-seven (27), in Polk Township, and thence west on the section line to the southwest corner of Section twenty-two (22), in Jackson Township."

On the 10th of March, 1873, Jefferson Township was erected out of the twenty sections in the western part of .Jackson Township. There had been two polling precincts for some time, and, a jealousy springing up in regard to the division of officers, a division was made, cutting Jackson Township off with but eight sections. With these changes, Crawford County stands as at present, divided into sixteen townships. Three of these have thirty-six sections, one has forty full sections besides eight fractional sections, two have thirty sections, and two eighteen sections, and the others have respectively twenty-eight, twenty-six, twenty-four, twenty-two, twenty-one, twenty, twelve and eight sections.

The first election provided for by the act erecting the county, was contested with considerable spirit. By a provision of the act, the first Commissioners were empowered to fix the place for holding the courts, until permanently fixed by commissioners appointed by the State. The result of the election, therefore, practically decided this interesting question, and this fact constituted the point on which the factions joined issue. The western part of the population considered the village of Crawford, located on the Broken Sword Creek, the more generally accessible, and the southern part preferred Bucyrus as the site for the county seat. The result was a victory for the partisans of Bucyrus, in the election of Thomas McClure, John Magers and George Poe, who established the county seat, temporarily, at Bucyrus. In 1830, Judge Williams, of Delaware; R. S. Dickenson, of Fremont, and J. S. Glassgo, of Holmes County, Commissioners appointed by the Legislature for the purpose, confirmed this action of the County Commissioners, and es-

218 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

tablished the county seat permanently at Bucyrus. A Mr. Beardsley received the first appointment as Clerk, but shortly afterward resigned, and was succeeded by Col. Rowse, who held the office for a number of years, and at the same time discharged the duties of County Recorder. He was succeeded as Clerk by J. B. Larwill, D. W. Swigart, Alexander P. Widman, J. R. Clymer, Thomas Coughlin, David C. Cahill and A. A. Ruhl ; and as Recorder, by Jacob Howenstine, James Robinson, Frank M. Bowyer, William Stremmel and D. O. Castle. Hugh McCracken was the first Sheriff, and was succeeded by John Miller, John Moderwell, David Holm, John Shull, Samuel Andrews, James L. Harper, John Caldwell, James Clements, Jonathan Kissinger, William C. Beal, John Franz, Joseph Worden, Daniel Keplinger, James Worden, Henry J. Row and John A. Schaber. James Martin was first elected Auditor, and was succeeded in this office by Charles Merriman, Edward Billips, John Caldwell, Jacob Howenstein, George Sinn, Owen Williams, John Pitman, A. M. Jackson, E. R. Kearsley, A. A. Ruhl, Samuel Hoyt, William Scroggs, Frederick M. Swingley, J. H. Robinson. The first County Treasurer, John H. Morrison, was succeeded by Gen. Samuel Myers George Lauck, Charles Hetich, Otto Fieldner, George Donnenwirth, Joseph Roop, John Franz, J. B. Franz John G. Birk, C. H. Shoner and W. Riblet. The first Probate Judge was Harvey Eaton, who was succeeded by George Wiley, P. S. Marshall, J. S. Elliott, Abram Summers, James Clements, Robert Lee and Shannon Clements.

The delay in permanently locating the county seat, caused a delay in erecting public buildings. The Commissioners provided for the first sessions of the courts in private houses, but feelirg the need of a jail, contracted with Z. Rowse, in 1827, to build one of squared timber. This served to accommodate the county as a place for the archives of the county as well as the rogues, but was destroyed by fire about 1831, destroying all the records of the Commissioners up to October 31, 1831. When, in 1830, the question of the location of the seat of justice was settled, the proprietors of Bucyrus donated Lots 89, 90 and 92, and the citizens made liberal contributions to erect the public buildings. In this year the first court house was built and finished, in 1832, though not finally accepted by the Commissioners until June 4, 1833. Col. Kilbourne was architect, and Nicholas Cronebaugh, Abraham Holm, Sr., and William Early, contractors. There is no clew to the specifications, but from later records it is ascertained that it was built with a cupola, and the whole was painted white on the outside. The inside was painted a light blue. In 1837, a bell was added, at a cost of about $100. In this year, a proposition to build a new jail was submitted to the people, which was indorsed, and, on February 4, 1839, Z. Rowse received a contract for the building. The records give no inkling of specifications, but it was built of brick, on the court-house yard, and was finally accepted by the county in July, 1840, and fenced around at a cost of $53, in 1844. In 1854, the building of a new brick court house was agitated, and, in 1856, was completed at a cost of about $18,000. O. S. Kinney, of Cleveland, was the architect, and Auld & Miller, of Mount Gilead, Ohio, the contractors. In the fall of this year, a proposition to spend $12,000, in buying a farm and building an Infirmary building, was submitted to the people and lost, but in the following spring, April, 1857, the people voted for a new jail. Accordingly, on August 3, 1858, a contract was entered into with E. Jacobs & Co., of Cincinnati, to build the whole of the prison part, at a cost of $5,500, and with George B. Terwilleger, of Bucyrus, for all the work, save the prison part, for $3,076.98. This was placed on Lot 88, which was donated to the county for this purpose by Samuel Norton. Finally, in 1867, the

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. - 217

building of an Infirmary was undertaken, at a cost of $33,000, David Shank being the contractor. This building is a large two-story rectangular brick building, With basement, with an addition in the rear, and is finely situated on the farm in Whetstone Township. The style of construction is plain, verging on unsightliness. A recently erected building for the insane is much more presentable, though showing off the main building at a disadvantage. The farm is composed of 300 acres of good farming land. and is provided with good barns and outbuildings.

"At the time the town of Bucyrus was laid out, the only outlet to the lake with teams was by was of New Haven, and the time required to make the trip with an ox team was usually from ten days to two weeks. Directly north was an almost unbroken wilderness to the Huron Plains, and very few settlers between this and Sandusky City. The citizens here raised, by subscription, funds to open a wagon track through to Honey Creek. Any person that ever passed over it found it a hard road to travel. At this time, we had a weekly mail from Marion and Sandusky City. At times in the winter, when the ground was not sufficiently frozen in the woods to bear a horse, the carrier would leave his horse here, take the mail on his shoulders. and carry it afoot to Sandusky and back. One of the first, and probably the most important public improvement, and one that did more for the interest of the town and the opening up and settlement of the county, was the Columbus and Sandusky Turnpike road.

"In 1826, an act was passed by the General Assembly incorporating seven gentlemen of Franklin County, Judge Merriman and Col. Rowse, of Bucyrus, and seventeen others named in the act, and residing along the line of road, and their associates, by the name of the Columbus and Sandusky Turnpike Company, with a capital of $100,000, the stock divided into shares of $100 each, and the company to be governed by a board of nine directors. The charter was accepted by the company, and, by an act of ' Congress, passed in 1827, there were about 32,000 acres of land given to the State of Ohio in trust for the use of said company, to aid them in the construction of the road. Soon after, the incorporators met in the brick school house in Bucyrus, and completed the organization of the company. Col. Kilbourne was surveyor, and Orange Johnson was one of the locating Commissioners and the principal agent as long as the road was under the control of the company. It was some seven years in building, and was finished in 1834, and was 106 miles in length from Columbus to Sandusky. The average cost was a little more than $700 per mile. It was a splendid road when dry, but being only a clay or mud pike, in the spring or wet season of the year, it was in places almost impassable. This finally wore out the patience of those who were obliged to pay toll for the use of the road, and an attack was made upon the toll gates by an armed mob, which started out from Columbus and leveled every gate to the northern part of Delaware County. This brought the question before the Legislature of 1843, which repealed the act incorporating the company. The case was brought before the Legislature again for a re-hearing, but was passed over from time to time, until the session of 1856, when the Senate passed a bill authorizing the company to bring suit against the State, but this was lost in the House, which seems to have ended the matter.

"The citizens, from the time the building of this turnpike was determined upon, took a lively interest in having it pass through Bucyrus. For some years, it was the great thoroughfare of the State from the river to the lakes, and was the principal road to market for the counties of Delaware, Union and Marion. Seventy-five wagons loaded with wheat were counted passing through Bucyrus in one day, all of which would return loaded with goods, and the constant traffic incident to so much transporta-

218 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

tion, created business, and was an active stimulus in developing the town and county.

"For the first ten years after the settlement of the county, it may be truly said of the inhabitants that they were poor, having but little to sell, and no market for that little, except what supplied the wants of new-comer and some cattle and hogs which had to be driven mostly to the east on foot, and there sold at barely living prices. One steer or cow would bring about as much now as four did at that time, and other products were equally low. After the New York Canal was completed, there was quite a change for the better; prices of store goods came down, and many articles of produce, particularly wheat, found a ready market at the lake.

"About 1828-29, there was a very marked improvement in times. Emigrants, in large numbers, were arriving, many of them substantial men with considerable means who bought out many of the first settlers, enabling such as were in debt to pay up with cash; thus gradually substituting a money currency for our old system of barter. About this time. the Germans commenced settling rapidly in the county, some of them locating on low, wet land, which they have since brought into a fine state of cultivation.

"At this time a better class of houses was being put up than heretofore. In 1831, Mr. Hahn got into his new brick hotel in Bucyrus, now the Sims House. The following summer, Mr. Norton built his brick house at the north end of the town. In this year, 1832, the United States Land Office was removed to Bucyrus, from Tiffin. Thomas Gillipsie was Register, and Joseph H. Larwill, Receiver. Lands were now rapidly entered; frequently, on Monday morning (or if the office had been closed for a day or two), from twenty to forty persons have been seen gathered around the office of the Register, waiting for the door to open, each fearful some other person was after the same land he wished to obtain. This was the commencement of the days of wild speculation that apparently pervaded the whole country. Crawford County, being comparatively new and less wealthy, did not partake of this spirit so fully as the older sections. The removal of the Government deposits from the United States Bank to local banks gave an impetus in this direction, which resulted in the opening of a large number of banks and the flooding of the country with paper money. Produce and real estate, both in town and country, ran up to fabulous prices. A kind of mania for land appeared to possess the people. This continued until 1837, when the bubble burst and Crawford County suffered keenly with the rest of the nation for its folly. The recovery was slow, and it was not before 1845 that the effects of the panic of '37 could be said to have lost their power. The establishment of the State Bank in this year had a salutary effect upon the business of the county. The Irish famine, occurring directly after this creating a demand for our produce, which brought coin principally return, added to the improved feeling here. The Mexican war, closely following this event, resulting in large expenditure by the Government, was of great benefit to a new country like Crawford, that needed nothing so much as a good market. Then followed the discovery of gold in California. These causes together furnished the county, with the rest of the country, all abundance of money and an excellent currency. The county now improved rapidly; towns were flourishing, and the farming interests were never more flourishing."

The growth of the county in point of population has been regular and healthful, as will appear from the accompanying table. In the census of 1830, it has been found impossible to ascertain the proper division of the total among all the townships. So far as given, the information has been derived from reliable sources.

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. - 219

In bringing this chapter to a close, the name of Johnny Appleseed, whose kindly charity and generous philanthropy wrought so much for every frontier community in Central Ohio, should not be forgotten. The scene of his early activity in this State was in Richland County and Crawford, which profited so largely by its close neighborhood to this section, certainly owes him the tribute of a good word. He was frequently seen here by the earliest settlers, and nine out of ten of the early orchards here are said to leave originated from his nurseries. He was born in the State of Massachusetts. As early as 1780, he was seen in the autumn, for two or three successive years, along tile banks of the Potomac River in Eastern Virginia. He attended the cider-mills when the farmers made their cider, and picked the seeds from the pomace after the juice had been expressed. This occupation procured for him the sobriquet of Johnny Appleseed. After he had procured a sufficient quantity of seeds for his purpose, amounting to about a half bushel at one visit, he started westward with his sack of seeds upon his back, on foot and alone, to cross the Alleghanies, and to penetrate the wilderness west

* Erected in 1873.

of the mountains, embracing what was then known as the 'New Purchase,' and which is now a part of the State of Ohio.

"Years afterward, when the hardy pioneers from Western Virginia and Pennsylvania, scaled the Alleghany Mountains and sought homes in the valleys of the Ohio, they found the little nurseries of seedling apple trees on Braddock's Field, at Wheeling Creek, the Flats of Grave Greek, Holiday's Cove, and at other places along the Ohio Valley.

"The eccentric, but ever amiable Chapman,* was also found here, ready to sell his seedlings to the settlers at a 'fippennybit' apiece. His habits of life were then as they remained until his decease. He would spend a week or ten days among the white settlers, or borderers, then penetrate to his nurseries on the banks of the Tuscarawas, or, as that river was then called in the language of the aborigines, Ne-tusta-raws. At length the fertile soil of Richland County invited this enterprise and industry farther west. Here were traced the foot-prints of Johnny Appleseed. On the banks of the Mohican Creek, at Mansfield. near the present site of the depot of the Pittsburgh & Chicago Railroad, was found one of his seedling nurseries. For years he remained in the vicinity of Mansfield, as his home or headquarters, whence he would make trips of two or three months length, farther west into the wilderness, to attend to his nurseries.

"Near his plantations, which were remote from any habitation, he provided comfortable shelters from the inclemency of the weather. Hollow trees and hollow logs, provided with a deep nest of dry leaves served this purpose in some cases. At his nursery in Sandusky Township, near the present location of Leesville in Crawford County, he erected a shelter by rearing large sections of the bark of an elm tree against a log. Under this he had a home. From this nursery was obtained many of the

* His real name was John Chapman

220 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

orchards of Springfield Township, Richland County. The father of the writer, Mordecai Bartley, Joseph Welch, Richard Congdon, Matthew Curran and Jonathan Beach, went to this nursery in company, spent the night with Johnny and packed their trees home the next day on horses. They supped and broke their fast in the morning with the recluse, both meals consisting of mush made of Indian meal. The culinary utensils of the household consisted of a camp kettle, a plate, and a spoon.

"The residence of Chapman at Mansfield covered the period of the war of 1812 and several years following it. During the dangers and alarms of this period, Johnny Appleseed was regarded in the light of a protecting angel. On the night of the massacre of Seymour's family on the Black Fork, within a few miles of Mansfield, he left the house of Seymour on foot and entered Clinton, one mile north of Mount Vernon, by sunrise, pausing everywhere on his way to give the alarm. Although I was then but a mere child, I can remember, as if it were yesterday, the warning cry of Johnny Appleseed, as he stood before my father's log cabin door on that night. I remember the precise language, the clear, loud voice, the deliberate exclamation, and the fearful thrill it awakened in my bosom. 'Fly! fly for your lives! the Indians are murdering and scalping Seymours and Copuses.' My father sprang to the door, but the messenger was gone, and midnight, silence reigned without. Many other circumstances incident to the exposed frontier settlements in days of danger which tried men's souls, manifested the cool courage, the discreet foresight, and the mature and deliberate. judgment, as well as the fidelity, patience and abnegation of this frontier philanthropist.

"John Chapman was a small man, wiry and thin in habit. His cheeks were hollow, and his face and neck dark and skinny from exposure to the weather. His mouth was small; his nose small, and turned up so much as apparently to raise his upper lip. His eye was dark and deeply set in his head, but searching and penetrating. His hair, black and straight, was parted in the middle and permitted to fall about his neck. His hair withal, was thin, fine and glossy. He never wore a full beard, but shaved all clean, except a thin roach at the bottom of his throat. His beard was lightly set and very black. This was his appearance in l840, when the writer last saw him in Mansfield, and at that time he had changed but little, if any, in general appearance during the twenty-five years preceding. The dress of the man was unique. The writer assumes to say that he never wore a coffee sack as a part of his apparel. He may have worn the off-cast clothing of others ; he probably did so. Although often in rags and tatters, and at best in the most plain and simple wardrobe, he was always clean, and, in his most desolate rags, comfortable, and never repulsive. He generally, when the weather would permit, wore no clothing on his feet, which were consequently dark, hard and horny. He was frequently seen with shirt, pantaloons, and a long-tailed coat of the tow-linen then much worn by the farmers. This coat was a device of his own ingenuity, and in itself was a curiosity. It consisted of one width of the coarse fabric, which descended from his neck to his heels. It was without collar. In this robe were cut two arm-holes, into which were placed two straight sleeves. The mother of the writer made it up for him under his immediate direction and supervision.

"John Chapman was a regularly constituted minister of the Church of the New Jerusalem, according to the revelations of Emanuel Swedenborg. He was also a constitued missionary of that faith, under the authority of the regular association of that faith in the city of Boston, Mass. The writer has seen and examined his credentials as to the latter of these. This strange man was a beautiful reader, and never traveled without several of the Swede nborgian

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. - 221

pamphlets with him, which he generally carried in his bosom, and which he was ever ready to produce and read upon request. He never attempted to preach or to address public audiences. In private consultations, he often became enthusiastic, when he would frequently arise to expound the philosophy of his faith. On such occasions, his eyes would flash, his wiry little form would swell, his voice expand, and his clear thought would burst into a startling inspiration of eloquence, complete and consummate, exalted, beautiful, forcible and replete with chaste figures and argumentative deductions. His diction was pure and chaste, and his language simple but grammatical.

"The year of the erection of the old court house in Mansfield, while the blocks of foundation stone and the timber lay scattered upon the public square, a wandering street preacher, of the name of Paine, a man with a long, white beard, who called himself 'The Pilgrim,' entered the town. After blowing a long tin horn which he carried with him, he assembled an audience on the stone and timbers of the court house. In the course of his sermon, he pointed to where Johnny Appleseed lay upon the ground, with his feet resting upon the top of one of the stones, and exclaimed : 'See yon ragged, old, barefooted sinner, and be warned of the paths of sin by his example.' Johnny arose to his feet, folded his hands behind him, under his tow-linen coat, and slowly approached the speaker. As the speaker paused a space, Johnny commenced in this wise: `I presume you thank God that you are not as other men?' 'I thank God that I am not as you are,' returned Paine. `I am not a hypocrite, nor am I of the generation of vipers. I am a regularly appointed minister, whether you are or not.' 'Lord be merciful unto me a sinner,' said Chapman, and walked away.

"In the character of John Chapman there was nothing light or frivolous. He was free from all affectation. He never affected the style or language of the sacred Scriptures. His language was plain, simple and graphic - his manner earnest and impressive. His utterances always commanded respect, and awakened deep and thoughtful consideration from those who heard him. His deportment was uniformly chaste and respectable, and marked by a passive dignity. In his method of thought, he was analytical, and in his line of argument, varying between the inductive and logical. . He spoke apparently without effort, in a natural and simple, yet elegant flow of language, to express a deep current of metaphysical reasoning and ethical thought. He penetrated his auditors, apparently without intending to do so, and moved them without knowing it.

"Physically, he was indolent and fond of ease. The writer once watched him, undiscovered, as he was working in his nursery, near the Big Bend in the creek near Mansfield. He lay in the shade of a spreading thorn tree in the center of his nursery, and there, lying on his side, he reached out with his hoe and extirpated only such weeds as were within his reach. He preferred sleeping upon the floors of the farmers, as he said that the indulgence in the luxury of soft beds would soon beget a bad habit which he could not hope to indulge in his varied method of living.

"This man cherished the kindest feelings toward all living things. His every act and step in life manifested this attribute as the pervading trait of his nature. He was as tender and innocent as a child, and as easily moved to tears by the sorrows of others, or even the sufferings of animals. He has been known to pay the full value of horses, take them from the harness, and, with a blessing, turn them loose to the luxurious pastures of the wilderness, to become their own masters. He was never without money, and frequently furnished the housewives with a pound or two of tea, a great expense at that time, although he held that the indulgence in that aromatic luxury was a dissi-

222 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

pation. At one time he bought six breakfast plates at a Mansfield store, and, upon being asked what use he had for them, he replied that he would save dishwashing by having so many; that by eating his meats upon a fresh plate each day he need not wash dishes more than once a week. The truth was, he carried the plates to a poor family near Spring Mills, Richland County, who had a few days before had the misfortune of losing the most of their table furniture by an accident.

"In 1838-thirty-seven years after his appearance on Licking Creek - Johnny noticed that civilization, wealth and population were pressing into the wilderness of Ohio. Hitherto he had easily kept just in advance of the wave of settlement; but now towns and churches were making their appearance, and, at long intervals, the stage-driver's horn broke the silence of the grand old forest, and he felt that his work was done in the region in which he had labored so long. In 1840, he resided near Fort Wayne, in the State of Indiana, where he had a sister living, and probably made that his headquarters during the nine years that he pursued his eccentric avocation on the western border of Ohio and in Indiana. In the summer of 1847, when his labors had literally borne fruit over a Hundred thousand miles of territory, at the close of a warm day after traveling twenty miles, he entered the house of a settler in Allen County, Ind., and was warmly welcomed. He declined to eat with the family, but accepted some bread and milk, which he partook of sitting on the doorstep and gazing on the setting sun. Later, he delivered his ' news right fresh from heaven' by reading the Beatitudes. Declining other accommodations, he slept as usual on the floor, and in the early morning he was found with his features all aglow with a supernal light and his body so near death that his tongue refused its office. The physician, who was hastily summoned pronounced him dying, but added that he had never seen a man in so placid a state at the approach of death. At seventy-two years of age forty-six of which had been devoted to his self-imposed mission, he ripened into death as naturally and beautifully as the seeds of his own planting had grown into fiber and bud and blossom and the matured fruit."*

"He had full many a story to tell,

And goodly hymns that he sung right well;

He tossed up the babies, and joined the boys

In many a game full of fun and noise.

" And he seemed so hearty, in work or play,

Men, women and boys all urged him to stay."

Thus passed from earth one of the memorable characters of pioneer days but his memory will linger in the hearts of succeeding generations for years to come, and their children will learn to revere the decaying monuments of his industry and benevolence, as the memorials of one whose character, though unbalanced, swayed to the brighter side of human nature.

* Bartley, in the Mansfield Shield and Banner.

266 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

In 1855, the first newspaper was published in Galion. The establishment was owned by John W. Putnam, who was for many years, the worthy editor of the Ohio Statesman. The office was removed by him from Union City, and the first numbers were printed in the building now owned by James Martin, but at that time by P. W. Webber, and which stands on Main street. Dr. D. Abger became a partner, and the name of the paper was changed to the Galion Weekly Train. It was independent in politics, but the partnership lasted but a short time. Dr. Abger removed to Crestline, where he started a paper, and J. N. D. Moore came from Union City, and took his place as a partner with Mr. Putnam. When the campaign of 1856 opened, Mr. Moore retired and Jacob Riblet took his place. With this change of proprietors, there came a change in the political complexion of the paper. From Independent it became Democratic, and was re-christened the Gallon District Democrat. In 1857, Andrew Poe, a former citizen of Mansfield, purchased Mr. Riblet's interest in the paper, and soon after Mr. Putnam retired. The business did not pay Mr. Poe, and soon after it was sold under an execution. In the year 1864, it was bought by the Matthias brothers, and edited by Peter Schum, who is now publishing a daily and weekly journal in Joplin, Mo., called the Joplin Morning News.

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. - 365

This project to secure a county named Bucyrus was not successful, but. December 15, 1823, the General Assembly of Ohio passed an act organizing Marion County, and, for two years from April 1824, to April 1826, the southern portion of Crawford was attached to Marion.

The population in the vicinity of Bucyrus increased rapidly, and after considerable agitation and petitioning, the Legislature, on January 31, 1826, passed another act, organizing Crawford County which authorized the Commissioners elected in accordance with the third section of the act " to "meet on the first Monday in May next at the town of Bucyrus. and then and there determine at what place in said county of Crawford the judicial courts shall be held till the permanent seat of justice shall be established in said county." This duty of these commissioners, to be elected in April 1826, was the great issure discussed at the first election for county offices. The people in the southern part of .the county were in favor of Bucyrus as the county seat, and those living in the western part insisted upon its being located at a town called Crawford, laid out by Joseph Newell, on the Broken Sword Creek, in Holmes Township. The friends of Bucyrus were successful, and Thomas McClure, John Magers and George Poe, their candidates, were successful and the county seat was temporarily established in the village. The first court was held in Lewis Cary's front room, and, after the Brick schoolhouse was erected, occupied temporary quarters in that building. For several years, the new county was without a court house. In the meantime the Auditor, Clerk of the Court and Recorder occupied quarters in the north end of Bucyrus. A man named Fleck was convicted for some crimes and about the year 1831, his friends set fire to the buildings in which the records were kept; and the early papers of the new county were all destroyed. The county seat was not permanently located at Bucyrus until 1830, when the Legislature appointed a commission, consisting of Judge Williams, of Delaware: R. S. Dickenson. of Fremont and J. S. Glassgo, of Holmes County, to visit Crawford County and decide the troublesome question. The report made by these gentlemen was favorable to Bucyrus, and this was accepted by the Legislature. Samuel Norton then donated a large number of town lots and other citizens made liberal contributions for the erection of public buildings. The first jail was erected about the year 1827, on the site now occupied by the Monnett House, which lot was donated by Samuel Norton, Zalmon Rowse was the contractor, and the building was made of squared timber and contained two apartments. This jail was destroyed by fire, and when the next one was built it occupied the lot immediately south. The present jail was erected in 1859. The first court house was commenced and finished in 183'2.

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. - 379

CHAPTER X.*

The first ministers of the Gospel who visited the pioneer settlements in the vicinity of Bucyrus for the purpose of organizing the religious element, were missionaries sent out by the Methodist Episcopal Church. It is probable that the first person to preach the word of God at what is now Bucyrus was a Rev. Mr. Bacon, who visited the place several times during the year 182l, and conducted religious services at the house, of various settlers. It is doubtful if he traveled a circuit regularly organized by the denomination to which he belonged but, as a missionary, visited in a roving manner many neighborhoods. His appointments were about once every four weeks, but were very irregularly filled. 'Ihe early Methodists of Bucyrus, when first organized as a station, were attached to the Scioto Circuit. Rev. Jacob Hooper, who was appointed to take charge of this work by the M. E. Conference in the fall of 1821, preached occasionally a Bucyrus. His circuit

* Contributed by Thomas Y. Hopley.

was about seven hundred miles around and services were held at each place about once every eight weeks by the regular minister in charge. Stephen D. Rowse states that, in after years, Rev. Hooper told him that he preached the first sermon ever delivered in Bucyrus under a big oak-tree which stood near the present railroad depot. This minister was undoubtedly assisted by others. and it is likely the settlers had religious services more frequently than once every two months. Rev. Hooper was seceded on the circuit in the fall of 1822 by the Rev. Thomas McCleary. The next year, the M. E. Conference marked out another smaller district for itinerant preachers to travel over, in order to give other new settlements regular circuit preaching. Revs. Thomas McCleary and James Roe traveled this new circuit, and these men were assisted at times by Rev. William Blowers, of Liberty Township. (Revs. John O. and William Blowers were the first licentiates of the M. E. Church in Craw-

380 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

ford County.) The labors of these early circuit riders were almost herculean. Mansfield, Plymouth, Bucyrus, Marion and Delaware were points of their district, with numerous intermediate appointments. all to be visited by each preacher once in four weeks, occupying nearly every day of the time to make preaching regular once in two weeks at every appointment on the circuit. At that early day, there were scarcely an bridges over streams. Some of the way no roads, only Indian trails to follow, and oftentimes the sun, moon, and stars, or a pocket compass. were the only guides through the pathless forest. But the unselfish labors of these early circuit riders were fully appreciated by the sturdy pioneer, among whom universal friendship and unbounded hospitality prevailed. When the weather was fine, the ministers preached in the woods; but, if otherwise, the services were conducted at the log cabins or schoolhouses. The old brick schoolhouse, erected about 1826, was used for many years as a meeting-house by the M. E. Church. Occasionally an unfinished building answered the same purpose. About 1830, a large revival meeting was held in what is now the Sims House, which building was then in the process of erection. The early Bucyrus Church held several very interesting camp-meetings in the large barn of Samuel Shaffner, who resided where Daniel Boyer lives at the present time. The first M. E. Church in Bucyrus was erected about 1832. This was the first building dedicated to the worship of God in the village. In those early days of the M. E. Church in Crawford County, the "quarterly conference and love feast" created a much greater impression upon the community than at the present time. The members anticipated these meetings for weeks and great preparations were made in order to provide food and lodging for those who attended from a distance. Some families, who possessed sufficient accommodations would entertain on these occasions several dozen guests. It is reported that at times the crowd was so large that tickets were issued on the occasion of love feast, and a doorkeeper appointed for the house of the lord. These tickets were given to the various Class-Leaders, and by them distributed to church members. This system was necessary in order that those who desired to attend for their spiritual edification could gain admission to the church, and not he crowded out by some of the impious multitude who only assembled out of curiosity. This ticket system also served to keep the ungodly who came occasionally to have fun by creating a disturbance For many years, the Bucyrus Church was a station on the Delaware Circuit, and the various congregations contributed to build a parsonage at that place. About the year 1832, the circuit was changed and funds were then raised for a parsonage at Marion. After 1840, the Bucyrus Circuit was formed and the parsonage built about 1841. Every fall, the Conference appointed two ministers to supply the stations on each circuit with regular religious services. These men were called senior and junior preachers with generally the one who served in the latter capacity was appointed to the same circuit the next year as senior preacher, with some new man under him, but this was not always the case. The Methodists of Bucyrus were supplied with regular preaching by this system until September 1855, when the Conference made the congregation a special station. Some difficulty then arose in regard to whether the parsonage was the property of the Bucyrus Methodists or of the other congregations who had also contributed to erect it. The appointments for the circuits of which Bucyrus and Delaware formed two stations for many years were as follows: 1821, Jacob Hooper: 1822, Thomas McCleary: 1823, Thomas McCleary and James Roe, 1824, Jacob Dixon; 1825. James Gilruth; 1826, Abner Goff: 1827, James Gilruth and Cyrus Car-

CHAPTER X.*…

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. - 381

The labors of these early circuit riders were almost herculean. Mansfield, Plymouth, Bucyrus, Marion and Delaware were points of their district, with numerous intermediate appointments. all to be visited by each preacher once in four weeks, occupying nearly every day of the time to make preaching regular once in two weeks at every appointment on the circuit. At that early day, there were scarcely an bridges over streams. Some of the way no roads, only Indian trails to follow, and oftentimes the sun, moon, and stars, or a pocket compass. were the only guides through the pathless forest. But the unselfish labors of these early circuit riders were fully appreciated by the sturdy pioneer, among whom universal friendship and unbounded hospitality prevailed. When the weather was fine, the ministers preached in the woods; but, if otherwise, the services were conducted at the log cabins or schoolhouses. The old brick schoolhouse, erected about 1826, was used for many years as a meeting-house by the M. E. Church. Occasionally an unfinished building answered the same purpose. About 1830, a large revival meeting was held in what is now the Sims House, which building was then in the process of erection. The early Bucyrus Church held several very interesting camp-meetings in the large barn of Samuel Shaffner, who resided where Daniel Boyer lives at the present time. The first M. E. Church in Bucyrus was erected about 1832. This was the first building dedicated to the worship of God in the village. In those early days of the M. E. Church in Crawford County, the "quarterly conference and love feast" created a much greater impression upon the community than at the present time. The members anticipated these meetings for weeks and great preparations were made in order to provide food and lodging for those who attended from a distance. Some families, who possessed sufficient accommodations would entertain on these occasions several dozen guests. It is reported that at times the crowd was so large that tickets were issued on the occasion of love feast, and a doorkeeper appointed for the house of the lord. These tickets were given to the various Class-Leaders, and by them distributed to church members. This system was necessary in order that those who desired to attend for their spiritual edification could gain admission to the church, and not he crowded out by some of the impious multitude who only assembled out of curiosity. This ticket system also served to keep the ungodly who came occasionally to have fun by creating a disturbance For many years, the Bucyrus Church was a station on the Delaware Circuit, and the various congregations contributed to build a parsonage at that place. About the year 1832, the circuit was changed and funds were then raised for a parsonage at Marion. After 1840, the Bucyrus Circuit was formed and the parsonage built about 1841. Every fall, the Conference appointed two ministers to supply the stations on each circuit with regular religious services. These men were called senior and junior preachers with generally the one who served in the latter capacity was appointed to the same circuit the next year as senior preacher, with some new man under him, but this was not always the case. The Methodists of Bucyrus were supplied with regular preaching by this system until September 1855, when the Conference made the congregation a special station. Some difficulty then arose in regard to whether the parsonage was the property of the Bucyrus Methodists or of the other congregations who had also contributed to erect it. The appointments for the circuits of which Bucyrus and Delaware formed two stations for many years were as follows: 1821, Jacob Hooper: 1822, Thomas McCleary: 1823, Thomas McCleary and James Roe, 1824, Jacob Dixon; 1825. James Gilruth; 1826, Abner Goff: 1827, James Gilruth and Cyrus Car-

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. - 381

penter: 1828, James Gilruth and William Runnels: 1829, David Lewis and Samuel P. Shaw: 1830, Samuel P. Shaw and Alfred M. Lorain: 1831 Alfred M. Lorain and David Cadwallader. These ministers commenced their labors in each of the years above mentioned about September 1. During this period, the following ministers were Presiding Elders: 1821 and l822. Jacob Young of the Scioto District; 1825 to 1828, James McMahon, of the Sandusky District. 1828 to 1831, Russell Bigelow and Greenwbery, R. Jones, of the Portland District. Among the ministers who preached regularly to the Bucyrus churches from 1832 to 1854 were the following person: David Cadwallader, Zephaniah Bell, Erastus Felton, Harvey Camp, John Kinnear, James Wilson, Adam Poe son to the great Indian fighter; Thomas Thompson, Samuel P. Shaw, Peter Sharp, - Conoway, Oren Mitchell, - Hazzard, Hibbard P. Ward, George W. Breckenridge, Samuel B. Giberson, Liberty Prentice, Henry Warner, Hobert Dubois and others: 1849, David Gray, Gabriel Williams and Jesse Durbin, 1850, David Gray and assistant: 1851, N. Taylor and M. K. Hard: 1852, Stephen Fant and assistant; 1853, Stephen Fant and George Moore: 1854, O. Burgess and E. B. Morrison. Since Bucyrus was made a special station, the following appointments have been made by the Conference, the pastorate commencing after the regular annual session in September: 1858, Dr. H. M. Shaffer: 1860, Dr. L. B. Gurley: 1861, O. Kennedy: 1862, Isaac Newton: 1863 A. Harmount: 1867, Gershon Lease: 1869, D. D. T. Mattison: 1871, G. W. Ball: 1874, Dr. A. Nelson: 1877, J. J. Henry (died in March, 1878, and J. H. Barron sent as a supply): 1878. O. Badgley. The want of space forbids a more extended reference to the many ministers who, during the past sixty years, have preached to the Bucyrus charge. Not a few of these were eminent for their piety, and during their lives exerted much influence in shaping the destiny of the early M. E. Church. It is, however, no disparagement to the rest to briefly tell of one who labored with the church in later years, and just as he commenced to firing rich harvests to his Masters feet, he was called to his reward. Joseph J. Henry was born at Ironton, Ohio, January 9, 1853. He was converted in his eighth year, and July 11, 1871, licensed to preach the Gospel by the North Indiana Conference. Desiring to qualify himself for the work, he entered the college at Delaware. Before he had completed the course, he was induced to take charge of the Olive Green Circuit, and in his twentieth year, commenced his short but eventful ministerial course. God blessed his labors, and the membership of booth congregations was doubled the first year. He was returned, and the conversions were more numerous than before. In 1874, he was appointed to take charge of the M. E. Church at Cardington, where in three years large revival meetings were conducted by him, which yielded rich harvests of Christians hopefully converted. In the fall of 1877, he was appointed as the successor of Dr. Nelson in the work at Bucyrus A large revival meeting was held, lasting from January 6 to February 17, 1878, which was blessed by the Spirit. Over two hundred conversions were reported, and one hundred and eighty-three of these admitted to the church. After remaining at the church until 10 o'clock, Rev. Henry would frequently go home and study until past midnight in the preparation of sermons for the next day and evening. The intense mental exertion consequent upon this series of protracted meetings brought on brain fever, and. after suffering for some twos or three weeks, he died March 16, 1878. The M. E. congregation of Bucyrus continued to worship in their first brick church until the year 1851, when the present edifice was erected on the same site. It was dedicat-

382 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

ed Wednesday, October 29, 1851. Elder Poe preached the dedication discourse. In December, 1871; the building was repainted, refitted and improved under the pastorate of Rev. G. W. Ball, at a cost of $2,000. The organ was purchased of the Congregational Church about the year 1865. The M. E. Sunday school was established about the year 1834. Among those who have been Superintendent of it during the past quarter-century are Martin Deal, B. B. McVey, W. C. Lemert, G. W. Myers, James Lewis and H. E. Kratz. Of these gentlemen, Mr. Deal has had charge for some fifteen years at different times. Services have been conducted once each week for the Bucyrus congregation since the year 1832.

540 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY

CHAPTER XVIII

WHETSTONE TOWNSHIP-SANDUSKY PLAINS-EARLY SETTLEMENT AND INCIDENTS-PIONEER IMPROVEMENTS-GROWTH OF VILLAGES-CHURCH AND SCHOOL HISTORY.

THE human mind delights in novelty and variety and the whole being demands a change of pursuits. Nature's countless designs are never frustrated. Harmony and logical sequence are found everywhere pervading the laws of nature by both theologian and atheist. The appetite. cloyed with continual sweets, loves the relief afforded by bitterness. The traveler becomes weary with the sight of unending plains or a continuous range of elevations, and loves to see small vales encircled with hills and cloud-capped mountains. Weary with the long journey through the tiresome forests of Ohio, the early settler was attracted to the Sandusky Plains, in Whetstone Township. In early years, they were the most noticeable feature in the township: but, since the surrounding woods have been partly cleared away and the Plains in many places have become covered with forest trees, it requires careful scrutiny to detect prairie from woodland. The Plains originally comprised fully the western half of the township. extending far down the Scioto Valley and on the boundary lines, were irregular sending off long spurs into the woods and being pierced in turn by long, knifelike projections of forest land. Some portions of considerable extent are free from trees, though generally the surface is dotted here and there with "lone trees" or small groups varying in size from half a, dozen to several hundred. The plains extend largely

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. - 541

over Bucyrus and Dallas Townships and far down into Marion County, covering quite an extensive tract of land. In Whetstone Township they are generally flat, though the monotony is relieved by knobs of clay and gravel, deposited with the drift formations. Many of these knobs were originally covered with trees. It is observable that all the trees growing on the plains are comparatively small, having an approximate age of forty or fifty years. This seems to indicate that before the advent of the white settlers the plains were swept over by fire. Which kept down the growths of forest trees. But, after the land was purchased by the pioneer and the Indian had disappeared, the destructive fires were avoided and the trees began to grow. The plains were early covered with tall rank grass anti weeds that furnished an excellent hiding place for wild animals. When the grass was dry and the wind blew heavily, the Indians were in the habit of setting out fires on the windward side, and then posting themselves to leeward, shot down the game that fled before the burning grass. The earliest white settlers did the same: but it was soon necessary to avoid the fires, as the cabins and grain were in danger of being burned. Many years after the first settlers arrived a while the Wyandots were still on their reservation. they were in the habit of establishing their camps outside their own lands, wherever the hunting or trapping was good. and where they did not give too much offense to the settlers. They were cunning, and adopted this course to save the game in their reservation. Whenever they approached a settlement they were accustomed to give the whip to their ponies and come in on the gallop, with "whoop and halloo," as some of them said. "to scare white man." They were notorious beggars, rivaling the modern "tramp" in skill and expediency. When the settlers failed to respond liberally, strategy was adopted. A cabin was watched until the husband and father had gone, when the Indians presented themselves with scowling faces, exhibiting an array of weapons that were an "open sesame" to the woman's lavish generosity. A small encampment was located one fall near the center of the township, on Whetstone Creek. An old Indian, named "Crum," was among them with his squaw and a "new " papoose. Several young women in the neighborhood went one day to view the little stranger, that lay wrapped in blankets and furs, swinging in its cradle of deer thongs strapped to trees. The young women went forward and began raising the garments to see the face of the little one, but they were interrupted by a burst of laughter from Mr. and Mrs. Crum, who pointed to the other extremity of the bundle, signifying that the face could he found there. The young; women. though confused at first by their mistake and the laughter of the Indians, soon recovered sufficiently to join in the merriment at their own expense. The young women's descendants are yet laughing at the mistake of their grandmothers.

The date of the creation of Whetstone Township is uncertain, though the old settlers say that it was very probably in 1824. The land was surveyed in 1821 or 1822, and the township then received its appropriate range and number. It took its name from the principal stream draining it, and its name was the one suggested by the settlers when they petitioned for the creation of the township. The township, as originally created, was six miles square; but, in 1835, when Sandusky and Jackson Townships were altered. the eastern tier of fractional sections became a part of the latter township. But, some time previous to this event. these sections had been annexed to Sandusky Township, as can be seen by reading the extract taken from the report of the commissioners in 1835, and given in the history of Sandusky Township, which appears in this work. After 1835 and until 1845, the township of Whetstone was five

542 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

miles square; but, at the latter date, when Wyandot County was created, and nearly all the townships in Crawford County were altered, the fractional tier of sections mentioned above, was re-annexed to Whetstone Township, of which it has since formed part. There were also added to this township twelve sections two tiers from Marion County, thus making Whetstone the largest township in the county. At present, it comprises forty full sections and eight fractional ones, and has an area of almost 28,000 acres. There is no existing account of the names of the first officers. The township is favorably situated, none of its territory being farther than eight miles from either Bucyrus or Galion. This gives the citizens the boon of a choice of markets, which they greatly prize.

Much of the soil of the township, especially on the flat prairie land, is deep and black, and is largely composed of decaying vegetable matter. Numerous banks of drift clay and gravel are found along the course of the shallow Olentangy. The water of the creek is turbid, presenting a faint, milky appearance, evidently caused by many small sulphur springs that feed it. As has been said, the Olentangy is the principal stream. It flows from Polk Township, entering Section 13, thence flowing across Sections 35, 26, 27, 22. 28, 33, 5 and 4 on the lower extremity, and leaving the township from Section 8. It and its branch, Mud Run, drain about two-thirds of the surface. The latter stream has its source in Section 17 and flows across Sections 20, 19, 30, 31, and enters Bucyrus Township. Most of the surface north of the Galion road is drained by small branches of Sandusky River. This river flows across the extreme northwestern corner of Section 6. The beautiful Scioto River has its source in the western part of the township. This division of the county is thus situated on the Ohio watershed, as part of its water reaches Lake Erie, and part the Ohio River. It has a few flat portions poorly drained, but generally the township has excellent drainage, and the soil is kept in fine working condition.

The name of the first settler is lost in the obscurity of the past. The settlers began to appear before the land became marketable; and, so great was the rush after 1820, and before 1827, that as many as thirty families had settled in the northern part. There were but few Germans at first. though many of those genial and hospitable people known as "Pennsylvania Dutch" came with the New Englanders, who composed the majority of the earliest settlers. Looking from the present, it would appear wise for the first settlers to select the prairie land, which could be cultivated almost immediately; but this they did not do, partly because there was no market for grain, and partly Because the settlers imagined that within thirty or forty years the timber would be largely destroyed, which led them to select farms covered with heavy groves of black walnut or oak, and to leave the prairie land for subsequent settlers, using it in the meantime to supply themselves with hay and with pasture for the few horses, cattle and sheep that had been brought in from the East. The ambition of the early settler was to live well, and to secure as much, as possible of the land that was being taken up so rapidly around him. He raised a small crop of corn and potatoes, pulverizing the former in mortars made from an oak block, and roasting the latter in the ashes of the capacious fire-place. Joseph Stewart, now an old man of fourscore years, remembers of going to bed many a night with no supper except roasted potatoes and milk. The corn-meal prepared with the mortar and pestle was coarse: but, when eaten under the stimulus of long fasts (a common occurrence for the early settler) was greatly relished. The cows of the settlers furnished them with milk - that all-important factor in domestic economy. Horses and cattle suffered severely from mosquitoes, that came in clouds from the surrounding marshes. This harassing annoyance, and

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. - 543

an insufficient quantity of grain, swept off the horses of the settlers, though the tough little Indian ponies lived on and enjoyed life as well as Indian ponies could. Deer, prairie chickens, ducks, squirrels and swine furnished abundant meats. In a few years, swine in large numbers ran wild in the woods, and fed upon "mast " beech and hickory nuts and acorns - that covered the around in the fall of the year. They were often quite fat, some of them weighing 200 pounds, though usually they turned the scales at from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty pounds. These "hazel-splitters " bore but little personal resemblance to the well-bred and shapely Berkshire and Poland-China swine of to-day. Their legs were long and strong, and their snouts were abundantly ample for all practical purposes. Some of the tusks on the male gender attained a length of five or six inches, and were formidable weapons in the hands (or rather the snout) of an enraged sus scrifa. Unless they had some distinguishing ear mark, the swine were considered the property of those who could capture them. There was quite a demand for pork, as early as 1823. Judge Merriman, then doing a general mercantile business in Bucyrus, bought live or dressed hogs on commission for men living in Sandusky City. He was authorized to pay cash, or to give goods in exchange, for pork. paying about $2.50 per hundred for dressed hogs, and about $2 per hundred live weight. This was considered a good price, as the rearing and fattening of the swine cost nothing not even in the: winter. The result was that during the fall of the year, when hogs were fattest, the settlers turned out with dogs and horses to drive them in from the woods. Several of the settlers made considerable money by driving droves of thirty or forty to Sandusky City.

The northern half of the township was settled eight or ten years before the southern half. This was because a location near Bucyrus was desirable, though, in a few, years, the settlers began to build their cabins near Whetstone Creek, where spring; of pure, living water were found. As near as can be ascertained, the settlers came into the township as follows: In 1820, John Kent, Seth Holmes, Joseph Young, Noble McKinstry, Ralph Bacon and a Mr. Willouby: in 1821, John King, Philander and Eli Odell, Samuel Parcher, Asa Howard, Zalmon Rowse, George Hancock and a few others: in 1822, Hugh Stewart and his five sons, William, John, James, Hugh and Joseph, all over twenty-one and all unmarried, Phillip Clinger, Samuel Van Voorhis, John Stien, Henry Harringer, John Beckwith, Benjamin, George, .John and Lyman Parcher, brothers of Samuel, who had come out the year before, Christopher Bear, Heman and Abner Rowse, William Hamilton, Archibald Clark John Campbell and several others: in 1823. Hugh Trimble, George Poe, Cornwallis Reese, Daniel Jones, James Faloon, James Armstrong and others; in 1824. Robert Reed, Charles Chambers, James Henderson, Isaac and Caspar Eichelberger and others : in 1825. Adam Keifer, John Lininger and Robert Walker: in 1826-27, many came in; in 1828. David Savage, John Heinlen, John Brehman Isaac Boyer, Robert Walker, Oliver Jones and others. Many more came in during the years that have been mentioned, but their names are forgotten. The majority of these settlers were from New England or the Middle States, and, with but few exceptions, located on the three tiers of sections on the north. Among the most prominent of the early settlers was the family of Hugh Stewart. This man had come from Ireland. and had lived many years in Cumberland County, Penn. In 1821, he left Pennsylvania, and traveled twenty-four days with his family in a wagon drawn by four horses, arriving at Mansfield, Ohio, where his family remained, while he went to Whetstone Township, Crawford County, Ohio, to select a farm. Favorable reports were in circulation at Mansfield as to the fertile land and

544 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

valuable forests in the New Purchase, and the reports, reaching the East, induced thousands of intelligent and wealthy farmers to go to the West, where the price of a load of wood today would purchase an acre of land, covered with heavy walnut or oak forests. The reports were so favorable that Mr. Stewart went to Whetstone Township and selected 240 acres, which he entered at Delaware for $300. This land was on Section 8. The family remained near Mansfield until the next spring, renting, in the meantime, a small portion of land owned by James Hedges, and putting in a small crop of corn and potatoes on shares. While the family remained at Mansfield tile father and sons went to Whetstone and built a round-log cabin, twenty feet square, having one room, one door and one window. The logs on the inside of the cabin were roughly hewed off, the door was hung on wooden hinges and the family were proud of the distinction of having a window which contained four panes of glass. In this rule cabin, they began life in the backwoods. Mrs. Stewart was in feeble health, and the family had brought with them a widowed lady, named Betsey Anderson, upon whose shoulders fell much of the household duties. A few calves and sheep were driven from Pennsylvania, and these were carefully guarded and fed. The calves, when four years old. were driven to Sandusky City and sold for $10 per head; but the sheep did not thrive so well. They all died, except two, from eating some poisonous weed growing in the woods or on the plain. One of these two was so badly poisoned that it swelled up to twice its natural size, but was saved by a lavish dose of whisky. The family brought with them a small copper still, which was sold soon after their arrival. The sons in after years occupied many positions of honor in the township and county James Stewart served as one of the three Associate Judges of the county in about 1830, and, at one time, was Mayor of Bucyrus. Himself and other sons of the family served frequently as Justices of the Peace. William, the eldest son, went to Kentucky. and what became of him is unknown to his relatives now living in the county. John, James and Hugh are dead, and Joseph is the only child of Hugh Stewart, Sr., left living to tell the tale of hardships and privation of his long and eventful life. The mother died a few years after reaching the county, and her death was one of the first in Whetstone Township.

The Parcher family, in early times, was among the most prominent. Samuel came to this division of the county in 1820, with the family of Ralph Bacon. He had been employed by Bacon to drive an ox team from Painesville, Ohio. to Whetstone Township. Bacon entered 240 acres of land. partly in each of the two townships. Whetstone and Liberty and his cabin was erected in Liberty. Immediately after their arrival. Bacon employed Parcher to maul 10.000 rails for which he was to receive $50. The next year, Samuel's s four brothers, named above came on, and the brothers together entered considerable land on Section 3, and began improving it. Benjamin was the only married one of the brothers, and one large cabin served as home for all. Samuel was employed by Judge Merriman to haul the first stock of goods to Bucyrus. This was in 1821, or 1822. After the goods had arrived. the report became current that the stock consisted of nothing but a half-dozen handkerchief's and a few pounds of powder; but the reader is assured that this report was probably erroneous. In about 1828, the Parcher brothers built a saw-mill on their farm. It was a small affair, with an "up-and-down" saw, and was run by horse power. At the same time, they began the distillation of whisky and ground their grain on a small horse-mill. with the usual "nigger-head " stones. Neither of the mills nor the distillery proved profitable, and, after running two or three years, the three were dis-

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. - 545

continued. Their copper still was bought at Sandusky City. A few descendants of the Parcher family are yet living in the county.

The Rowse family were among Whetstone's earliest and most intelligent citizens. Their family history accompanies this work. It is more than possible that John Kent located in the township in 1819, as he had an acre or more cleared around his cabin in the summer of 1820. During that summer, and for a few subsequent years. Seth Holmes lived in a small log shanty in Kent's door yard. He was an old bachelor, and had the care of an aged father and mother on his hands a task he performed with filial love and devotion Eli and Philander Odell were among the earliest settlers. Eli was a cabinet-maker, and began manufacturing a limited quantity of rough furniture as early as 1826. Between 1840 and 1850, he gained great notoriety as being prominently connected with a well-traveled underground railroad. He publicly avowed it to be the moral and social duty of every man to assist the runaway slaves in escaping to Canada, and to render obnoxious the law requiring a rendition of escaping slaves wherever found. He made no concealment of the fact that he fed and carried every runaway that came to his dwelling to the next point nearer the slave's earthly paradise Canada. He was careful, however, not to be caught in his acts, and thus escaped the clutches of the law. The slaves were brought to him by Peter West, who lived near New Winchester, and who also openly avowed his helief in the sin of slavery, and his intention to thwart the laws he believed to be unjust and unholy. It is likely that these men assisted dozens of slaves in escaping to Canada. Just where the slaves were conveyed from Odell's house is a mystery that has not yet been cleared up, but was probably to some citizen at or near Annapolis.

Settlers who located near the center of the township, were unusually careful to build their cabins near springs of good water. This was an important item in early years, when pure water was a rarity, and when the surface of the country was covered with multitudes of marshes and swamps of stagnant water. Wells were dug with great difficulty, and. when ready for use, were largely filled with surface water, that could not be kept out. Some settlers preferred to locate near promising villages, regardless of water, trusting that time would furnish them with an abundant supply of the purest. Others chose their farms from the proximity of valuable springs, regardless of the remoteness of their land from villages. They were not ignorant of the fact that their houses were in a country where ague and fevers were the certain result of the infectious climate ; and, with all the knowledge and skill at their command, they endeavored to guard against the distressing effects of malarial diseases. Doctors came to Bucyrus at an early day, and were the ones employed by the settlers of Whetstone. Calomel and quinine were dealt out in quantities that are incompatible with the medical logic of today, which requires that the desired results be attained by the use of the least possible quantity of medicine. These medicines were found abundantly in every cabin, and were universally regarded as an unfailing panacea for all the various types of disease. In early springtime, the cabin, that did not contain a case or two of "shakes," became a conspicuous object. Pioneers with frail constitution, who came West, hoping that "roughing it" would soon bring them the priceless boon of good health, found to their sorrow that sickness alone, repaid them for the trouble until death came to relieve them of earthly tribulations. Often during the cold, dreary month of March, every member in large families was ailing; and it was not uncommon to see whole families " shaking" at the same time as they bent over the roaring fireplace. This was true of all Ohio, which, at that time, was termed by the settlers the "shakers' paradise."

546 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

But, after many years, the forests were opened to the sunlight and heat, and the stagnant water was turned into the nearest streams. Ague and kindred afflictions largely disappeared, and good health, with all its attendant blessings, prevailed.

John Campbell, Sr., located near the center of the township, on Section 28. George Hancock had squatted on the same farm the year before, and continued to remain there for several years after Campbell had purchased the land. At the end of the first year, Campbell had cleared eight acres, a portion of which was on the edge of the prairie, and required but little labor to prepare it for the plow. He planted a crop of corn and potatoes, and. in a few years, had saved money enough to purchase more land. He selected his land, and made preparations to start for Delaware to enter it. Jacob Bowers and Henry Lininger had their eyes on the same piece, and employed Henry Remson, an early schoolteacher, to prepare the necessary papers, giving a description of the land. When they reached Delaware, they discovered that their documents did not accurately locate the land. They started back to correct the error; but Campbell, in the meantime, had obtained the necessary papers, and had gone to Delaware, entering the land about the time the others reached home. When the latter learned what had transpired, they were greatly mortified. Quite an extensive settlement was formed near Mr. Campbell's cabin. Van Voorhis, Hamilton, King, Clinger, Poe, Clark, Jones and several others settled near the Olentangy, where overflowing springs furnished an unfailing supply of pure water. These settlers were mostly Scotch-Irish, from the Keystone State, and nearly all, when they came, drove in small herds of cattle, sheep or hogs.

Several manufacturing enterprises and trades arose in early years, to supply the settlers with much-needed articles used in farm and domestic economy. Barney and David Eberhardt erected a frame saw-mill on the Olentangy. It ran from 1830 to 1844, changing owners several times, and was, perhaps, in early years, the best mill of its kind in the township. The dam was constructed of mud, brush, stones, logs and whatever offered sufficient resistance to the flow of the water. The capacity of the mill, though great at that day, cannot compare with the circular mills of the present. The mill had an up-and-down saw, and often ran so slowly that the owner ventured to tread for hours on the large overshot wheel that furnished the saw with motion. It did good work for many years, but finally fell into the hands of careless owners, who allowed the dam to break, which ended the career of the mill. George Sweney was one of the owners, running it successfully for five years. Paul Heddick also owned a saw-mill on the Olentangy, which was erected about the time the Eberhardt mill was built. It ran for twenty-five years, and was well patronized. It was near the Eberhardt mill that a murder occurred soon after 1830. Two wealthy men of the East. named Hammer and Bender, had come out West as far as Mansfield, Ohio, looking for land. While they were stopping at the hotel in Mansfield, it became known that each had in his possession several hundred dollars in gold. After stopping for several days and making inquiries about the land farther west, they journeyed on as far as Galion, and were accompapanied by two strangers, who had joined them soon after leaving Mansfield, and who seemed quite social and friendly. The party, now increased to four, took dinner at Galion, and traveled on until they reached a lonely place on the Olentangy, near the Eberhardt mill, when one of the strangers suddenly drew a pistol from his pocket and shot Bender through the head, killing him instantly. At the same instant, the other stranger struck Hammer a terrible blow on the head with a heavy cane, stretching him senseless on the ground. The murderers im-

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. - 547

mediately left the scene of the tragedy without taking the gold of their victims, leaving the pistol and an overcoat on the ground. It is supposed that they became frightened by hearing the voices of the men at the mill, who were driving the oxen. The murderers escaped. and subsequently could not be traced. Bender was dead, but Hammer soon recovered consciousness and roused the men at the mill, who began scouting the woods after the murderers, but without avail. Hammer conveyed the body of his friend East, where it was buried.

Michael Nye owned a small horse-mill on his farm in 1838 or 1840, Abraham Holmes also owned one about the same time. These mills did not pretend to compete with the extensive flouring-mills on Sandusky River. Their aspirations were modestly confined to the grinding of a coarse grade of corn-meal, and were run more as an act of accommodation than as a scheme to male money. They continued a few years and were then discontinued. In the year 1824, James Armstrong built the first cabin having a shingle roof. Where his shingles were obtained like many other early event, will probably remain locked forever in the jeweled casket of the muse of history. The chimney was not in keeping with the roof, as it was built of sticks laid cross-wise and mortared together with clay mud. The inference is that Mr. Armstrong soon saw the incongruity of the arrangement as, in the spring of 1826, he burned a small kiln of brick and tore down the old chimney, substituting, bricks in the place of the clay and sticks. Another inference is that he was a progressive man and a lover of neatness and order. His bricks were the first burned in the township, if not in the county, and his chimney was the first of its kind and soon excited the envy of his neighbors, all of whom wanted brick chimneys after the fashion was fixed. The remainder of the bricks were sold to unknown neighbors for an unknown price. Mr. Armstrong did not continue the brick business. His neighbor, John Boyer, did, however, although he burned but two or three small kilns. It was about this time or soon afterward that a brick house was built, which is yet standing on the John Boyer farm. Phillip Clinger dug many of the early wells, and finally lost his life from injuries received by falling into one of them. John Boyer and William Fitzsimmons kept tavern in the township as early as 1830. Boyer was located on the Galion Road, and his tavern was known far and near as the "Blue Ball Tavern." On the top of a high post in front of the door was fastened a huge round ball which had been painted blue. This gave name and fame to the tavern, which had an extensive patronage, and was the source of a large income to the owner. It was located on the farm of John Holmes. Fitzsimmons' tavern received a fair patronage. It was located on the route leading from Bucyrus to Delaware, which, in an early day, was well traveled by pioneers westward bound.

HISTORY

RICHLAND COUNTY, OHIO;

(INCLUDING THE ORIGINAL BOUNDARIES.)

ITS PAST AND PRESENT,

CONTAINING

A CONDENSED COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF OHIO, INCLUDING AN OUTLINE HIS-

TORY OF THE NORTHWEST; A COMPLETE HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY;

ITS TOWNSHIPS, CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES, SCHOOLS, CHURCHES,

SOCIETIES, INDUSTRIES, STATISTICS, &c.; A HISTORY OF ITS SOL-

DIERS IN THE LATE WAR; PORTRAITS OF ITS EARLY SET-

TLERS AND PROMINENT MEN; MISCELLANEOUS

MATTER; MAP OF THE COUNTY; BIOGRA-

PHIES AND HISTORIES OF OUR PA-

TRONS AND THE MOST PROMI-

NENT FAMILIES, &c., &c.

COMPILED BY A. A. GRAHAM.

ILLUSTRATED.

MANSFIELD, OHIO:

A..A, GRAHAM & CO., PUBLISHERS.

1807-1880,

RICHLAND COUNTY COURTHOUSE, MANSFIELD, OHIO

- HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

CHAPTER LXV.

POLK TOWNSHIP AND GALION

404 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

CHAPTER XLIII.

CASS TOWNSHIP.

ITS ERECTION, BOUNDARIES AND PHYSICAL FEATURES - SETTLEMENTS - INDIANS - FIRST METHODIST CHURCH SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL TEACHERS - TOWNS - OLD SALEM - LONDON - PLANKTOWN - SHILOH -ITS EARLY SETTLERS, BUILDINGS, SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES - THE SHILOH REVIEW.

CASS belongs to the northern tier of townships, with Plymouth on the west, Blooming Grove on the east, and Jackson on the south. It was named after the Democratic candidate for President in 1848. It was erected out of the east half of Plymouth Township, December 12, 1849, and the name of Cass was at that time a prominent one in political history. Its length, from north to south, is six miles; width, four miles.

It is generally level, very fertile, and an excellent fruit growing district. The southern part is well watered by the Black Fork and tributaries, and the northern part by the tributaries of the Huron River, the dividing ridge running near the village of Shiloh.

The first settlement of this township was made near the head-waters of the Black Fork, in 1815, on Sections 13 and 24. John Long, from Knox County, formerly from Pennsylvania, settled on the former, and John McCart on the latter. Both families came about the same time, but McCart built the first cabin in the township, and Long the second. Other settlements were rapidly made. Among those who came in that and the year following, may be mentioned John Morris, who settled on Section 4 ; Daniel Gonsales, Section 9 ; Asa Murphy and family, including a son, Asa, from Virginia, Section 1 ; Daniel Prosser, Section 21. Robert Greene came in 1816, from Hampshire County, Va., and Thomas McBride in 1817, settling on Section 3. The following persons settled near the present site of the village of Shiloh, from 1816 to 1825: Frank Carmichael, Levi Bodley, William Bodley, Theson Richardson, Cornelius Brink, John and Aaron Pettit, Ephraim Vail, Richard Thew, John and Isaac Murphy, Reason Barnes, Thomas James, Benjamin Young, William Cotton, Peter Hall, John Long, Jr., Thomas Hamilton and James Long. The settlement of this township began after the war of 1812, when there was a good deal of excitement about, and quite a rush for, Ohio lands; consequently, it filled up rapidly, a majority of the settlers being from Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, a few, from New Jersey and the New England States. The early history of the township is meager. It does not differ from the general history of other townships in early days, except perhaps it was more quiet, no Indians of consequence being encamped within the limits of the township, except a small band of Wyandots or Delawares (probably a part of Armstrong's band of Greentown Indians), who had a permanent camp on the head-waters of the Black Fork. The settlers were never molested by them. There is the usual supply of bear and deer hunting stories, but none of sufficient importance for preservation. The entire township was heavily timbered with beech, oak, sugar, hickory, ash, and all other varieties of hard wood. It is quite probable that none of the early settlers found sufficient room to build their cabins without first cutting away the trees and brush. Thus the pioneers hewed out the homes for those who now enjoy them. A few

PAGE 405 - PICTURE OF F. W. STRONG

PAGE 405 - BLANK

HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY. - 407

of them yet remain, grayhaired and bending with the weight of years, living monuments of days that are fast fading, and can scarcely be comprehended by the generations of to-day.

The Methodists seem to have been the pioneer religious body in this township. About 1816 or 1817, Bennajah Boardman held the first religious services, in the cabin house of John Long, on the site of the village of Planktown, or Richland. He was a missionary, and continued preaching among the settlers several years before any church was erected. Money to build churches, or for any other purpose, was scarce, and the meetings were held in private houses, barns, and in the open air. In 1828, through the Rev. Boardman's influence, a log church-the first one in the township was erected on the southeast quarter of Section 1, where a town was laid out which they called Salem, and the church received the name of Salem Church. The settlers came together and built this church by their united labors. Its first members were John, Catharine, Nancy, Betsy and Sarah Long; Asa Murphy, who was considered a leader in the congregation; Peter and Annie Maring, John and Hannah Bell. This church was of hewed logs, and about fifty feet long by forty wide, with rude puncheon benches for seats. Following Bennajah Boardman, the ministers were Erastus Felton, the Revs. Chase and Goddard. Adam Poe, a nephew of the famous Indian fighter, also preached here occasionally. Boardman was, finally, the local preacher; settled here, and died in 1858. The log church was used until 1852, when it was torn down and a frame erected which cost $1,625. When the railroad (Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis) came through the township in 1850, and the town of Shiloh began to grow, the Methodists proposed building a church in that place, and the old one was neglected. It was finally sold, in 1874, to Wesley McLaughlin, for $300, who, in turn, sold it to the Dunkards, by whom it is now occupied. This is the only church in the township outside the towns.

606 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

The religious sentiment of the township is well developed. seven churches belonging to different denominations having been erected within its limits, six of which now have an organized and healthy existence. The first church, organization, so far as known. was that of the Methodist Episcopal, about 1823 or 1824: their first meeting for organization being at the house of John Conwell. The first members of this society were Wesley Barnes and wife, David Newlon and wife, John Conwell and wife, James Sirpliss, Henry Hull, Henry Moser and wife, Richard Sirpliss, Jacob Reed, George, Robert and John McFarland and their wives. Benjamin and John J. Barnes and their wives, and Mary Pollock. Their first meetings for several years were held at the cabins of Conwell and the Messrs. Barnes, but, in 1828, they erected a log church on the site of Washington Village, about 25x35 feet. Their first ministers were Abner Gough, Shadrick Rewark, Zepheniah Bell, Joseph Reed, John Powers and Andrew Poe. The present Pastor is Rev. Mr. Lewis. The log church was used until about 1850, when the present frame was erected, costing about $1,000. The present membership is about twenty-five or thirty. They generally have a Sunday school during the summer.

LOCATION - NAME - EARLY SETTLERS - FIRST ROADS -AN INDIAN CAMP-MILLS-FIRST SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS -EARLY RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES AND PREACHERS - THE ESTABLISHMENT OF GALION-FIRST POST OFFICE AND STOP STORE - CHURCHES - THE RAILROADS AND BANKS-THE PRESS.

THIS township was surveyed by Maxfield Ludlow, and bears the name of President Polk. It once belonged to old Richland, but is Low the southeastern township of Crawford County. It contains twenty-one sections of and, considered among the richest in Central Ohio. Gallon, the only important town, is located in the southern part of the township. Its any settlers were principally from New York and Pennsylvania.

Benjamin Leveredge and his sons, James ad Nathaniel, together with George Wood and David Gill, came in 1817, and -were the first settlers on the present site of Galion. To these were added, in 1818, Benjamin Sharrock, and, in 1819, Asa Hosford. The Leveredges did the first clearing and put up the first cabins. Benjamin Leveredge's cabin was erected of unhewn logs, near the spring, now within the corporation limits, on Atwood street. That of James Leveredge stood on the site now occupied by David Mackey's fine brick residence on Atwood street, and Nathaniel's stood near the center of the present public square. The old well on the square, filled up several years ago, was dug by him, and was but a few yards from his cabin door.

The vicinity was heavily timbered in those days, and rather swampy. This was twelve years before Galion was laid out.

The Whetstone Creek (formerly called the Olentangy) passes a little north of Galion, and upon land north of this creek, George Wood and David Gill settled in 1818, erecting then.

* Now in Crawford County, formerly in Richland.

cabins near the old army road over which troops passed in 1812, which was, probably, the first road cut through the township by white men. The site of these cabins is yet marked by a few apple-trees.

In those early days, the Wyandot Indians had a camp on the south side of the Whetstone, east of the Catholic Cemetery. They were peaceable, and rendered valuable assistance to the whites at their log rollings, and in the construction of their primitive homes.

Asa Hosford, yet living near Galion, relates that he employed these Indians to assist him at a log rolling, the only pay required for their services being a plentiful supply of whisky. In the evening, after working hard all day, and being slightly intoxicated, they, at his request, executed a war-dance at his house. They placed one of their number, named "Buckwheat," in the center of the cabin floor, and began their dance in a circle around him. They became greatly excited, but Mr. Hosford had taken the precaution to conceal their arms. that they might not be able to commit any serious outrage. After a time, they dragged Buckwheat roughly from his seat, threw him upon the floor, and one of them, placing his foot on his neck, imitated the operation of taking his scalp, and of plunging their knives into him; and Buckwheat played his part well, going through all the necessary motions of a dying white man.

These early settlers were followed in 1820 by Nathaniel Story and Father Ketteridge, the latter living with the former, who was a trapper

HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY. - 647

and hunter, and erected his cabin near Reisinger's Corners, west of town. Rev. James Dunlap came m 1822, and Nathan Merriman in 1824, the latter erecting, in the following year, the first distillery in Polk Township. It was located near the spring, before mentioned, and was familiarly known throughout the settlement as the " still house."

About the same year, the first grist-mill in the township was erected by John Hibner on the land now owned by John Burgener. The buhrs were made of "nigger heads." Near the railroad bridge may yet be seen the ruins of this mill. The next mill was built by Asa Hosford, a few years after, on his farm southwest of Galion, which is yet in operation and owned by him.

The first hotel was kept by Asa Hosford in 1824, on the J. R. Clymer property west of town. The large orchard adjoining the property was raised from the seed by Mr. Hosford. He was elected in 1826, the first Justice of the Peace, and was, from the time of his location, one of the prominent men, visiting the State capital frequently in the interest of this section, which owes much of its prosperity to his efforts. He circulated a petition to have a road cut through the woods from Mansfield to Upper Sandusky, and was afterward instrumental in getting a north and south road, from Columbus to Lower Sandusky, through this settlement. The opening of these roads aided largely in developing and settling the country. These roads intersect at Reisinger's Corners, and Main street, in Galion, was formed by that portion of the east and west road, which passed within the present limits of the corporation. Its original course was, however, changed nearly fifty years ago. When laid out, it diverged to the northward at the corner of East Main and North Columbus streets, following the meanderings of Whetstone Creek to a point beyond the present eastern limits of Galion.

The first schoolhouse was erected near the residence of C. S. Crim, on West Main street. in 1822. It was of round logs, and was modeled after the generality of cabins in those days. The first school teacher was David Gill, who, however, only taught two or three weeks, when Asa Hosford took the school and continued it to the end of the term. The next schoolhouse was of "scutched logs " (which means that the logs were lightly hewed on the outside after the building was erected) and stood on the ground now occupied by the old graveyard on West Main street. This building was also used for religious worship. This building having been destroyed by fire, the next school was taught in a log building on the site of Joel Riblet's residence.

The first religious meeting in the township was held in Benjamin Leveredge's cabin, near the spring. It was a Methodist meeting, at which Russel Bigelow, who organized many churches through this county, in an early day, preached a most eloquent sermon. Though possessing a limited education, Bigelow was very eloquent, and one of the most remarkable of the pioneer preachers.

Galion was laid out September 10, 1831, by Michael and Jacob Ruhl, whose father had entered several quarter-sections of land in the neighborhood. The original plat consisted of thirty-five lots, and extended from the Ristine Block, which covers Lot No. 1, to the alley west of the old frame meeting-louse on West Main street.

The first post office was established in 1824, and Horace Hosford was first Postmaster. Mr. Hosford says if they averaged one letter per day, they did well. When this office was established, the inhabitants could not agree upon a name for the town. It had previously been numerously and variously named, but was best known as Goshen, Greensburg, Moccasin and Hardscrabble. The matter was submitted to the Postmaster General, who christened it Galion.

The first store was kept by Horace Hosford, who carried a general stock. At this time, the

648 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

town was situated at Reisinger's Corners, but buildings were rapidly erected upon higher ground, to the eastward, where the new town had been laid out by the Ruhls. The public square became the favorite spot, and the best buildings at the Corners were removed thither. In 1832, Asa Hosford erected upon this square the first frame house in the township. He also erected the first frame barn on what is known as the I. R. Clymer property, west of town, where he had kept the first tavern.

At this time, Jacob Ruhl kept a tavern where the Sponhauer Block stands, and his brother Michael kept the village store in a double log cabin on the Central Hotel corner. The first saw-mill in the township was erected by Jacob Ruhl in 1836, on North Market street, near the bridge.

In the log schoolhouse on Joel Riblet's lot, was organized the first Sabbath school in Galion by Mrs. Sarah Buhl and Mrs. Dr. Johnson. They were Lutherans, and the first religious services of the Lutherans were held in this building.

In 1839, the first brick block was erected by Davis & Bloomer, in which they carried on the dry-goods business for many years. The building is yet standing on the northeast corner of the public square.

The old red brick church, that stood many years on the corner of North Union and West Church streets, was erected in 1840, by the Lutheran and German Reformed congregations. The Lutherans afterward purchased the Reformed interest. This was the first church, and the Rev. F. J. Ruth, yet living and preaching, officiated at the laying of the comer-stone. The first Pastor was Rev. John Stough.

The same year work was commenced upon the old Methodist Church, yet standing on West Main street, and it was the first fully completed and ready for worship. The ground upon which it stands was donated by Father Fellows, who was an active worker in the church for many years.

Rev. Francis Clymer held the first United Brethren services in 1851, in the old Lutheran Church.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church on East Main street, though no longer used for worship, was erected in 1851. Rev. Peter Kreush of the Shelby settlement was the visiting Pastor.

There are at present, eleven churches in Galion, viz.: the Methodist Episcopal, corner of Columbus and Walnut streets ; United Brethren, Walnut street, between South Market and Columbus streets ; English Lutheran, Columbus street, between Main and Walnut ; Baptist, Walnut street, between South Market and Union , Presbyterian, South Market street; German Reformed, West Main street; German Lutheran, South Market street ; German Methodist, corner of South Market and Atwood streets ; Episcopal, Union street, between Atwood and Walnut; St. Patrick's Catholic, North Liberty street, and St. Joseph's Catholic, North Washington street.

Galion became an incorporated village about the year 1840. Joel Tod was the first Mayor.

Between 1850 and 1854, two railroads, the Bellefontaine & Indianapolis, and the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati, were completed to Galion. These were afterward consolidated, and have been for years tinder one management. Their shops were located at Galion, and these, employing a large number of hands, have materially added to the wealth of the place. The Atlantic & Great Western Railroad put in an appearance at Galion in 1863. These three roads with their immense business and shops constitute the life and vitality of the town, which has made some mighty strides since they were completed. Sixty-five per cent of its population, of over five thousand, are railroad employes, and the average monthly sum paid out by these roads, to these employes, is over $40,000.

Many large, fine brick residences, churches and business blocks have been erected in Gal-

HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY. - 649

ion within a few years. In 1854, the brick schoolhouse on the comer of Liberty and Church streets was completed, and the first union schools organized by David Kerr, Superintendent. In 1869, the present large, brick school building was erected, costing over $75,000.

The First National Bank was organized in 1864, and the Citizens Bank in July, 1866.

The Galion Weekly Times was started in 1855, by John H. Putnam, who moved the office here from Union City, Ind. The first numbers were printed in the building now owned by James Martin, on East Main street. Dr. D. Alger became a partner, and the name was changed to the Galion Weekly Train. It was independent in politics. In a short time, I. V. D. Moore bought out Alger. When the campaign of 1856 opened, Mr. Moore retired and Jacob Riblet became a partner. The paper became Democratic, and was called the Galion District Democrat. In 1857, Andrew Poe purchased Mr. Riblet's interest. Mr. Putnam soon after left it, and it was sold out on execution. In 1864, it was bought by Matthias brothers, and the paper edited by P. Schnur, who was soon succeeded by H. S. Z. Matthias, and the name changed to Galion Democrat. The paper was soon after abandoned, and the office continued as a job office until July 6, 1865; when the Weekly Review was established by Mr. Matthias as an independent sheet. In 1871, it was purchased by John C. Covert, of the Cleveland Leader, who changed it to a Republican paper, and its name to the Galion Democrat. In 1872, it was purchased by G. W. De Camp, and in 1874, passed into the hands of its present proprietors, A. D. Rowe and F. E. Coonrod, and given its present name, Galion Review.

October 31, 1872, the Galion Sun, an independent weekly newspaper, was established by its present editor and owner, George T. Ristine, and was soon enlarged to its present size. Steam power was introduced in December, 1875, making it the first steam printing house in Galion.

Cass County MI Archives Photo Place.....Poe's Corners Historic Site Sign July 30, 2005

http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/mi/cass/photos/poescorn15010gph.jpg

Poe Cemetery is located on the corner of Born and Patterson Hill Streets,

Jones, Newberg Township.

SURNAME FIRST NAME DATE OF DATE OF AGE COMMENTS BIRTH DEATH

POE ADAM 1/5/1884 38y 8m 18d

POE GEORGE 8/3/1851 72y 10m 16d

POE LETTICE 1/17/1852 65y 7m

…..

POE CHARLES G 4/7/1819 5/19/1888

POE JULIA June of 1828 June of 1899

POE FATHER 1840 1914

POE MOTHER 1838 1916

KINNEY NELSON Co H 28th Mich Inf

POE ALFRED 8/7/1852 44y 8m 7d

POE JOHN son of Alfred

POE EVA 9/6/1860

POE WILLIAM 8/7/1852 52y

POE ANN 6/3/1872 81y

WHEELER CARRIE 7/16/1876 8 months dau of Thomas & M

POE ETTIE 1871 1y dau of A J & C M

POE WILLIAM S 1868 1y son of AJ & CM

MANNING ELIZABETH POE 1831 1917

A Twentieth Century History of Cass County, Michigan, Illustrated

By Lowell H. Glover

Secretary, Cass County Pioneers Association, Editor

The Lewis Publishing Company

Chicago and New York

1906

Page 75

Morelan, Joseph — Born in Virginia September 11, 1797; came to Volinia in 1829; died February 16, 1854; his wife, Sarah Poe, born in Ohio August 15, 1805; died .

Page 116

NEWBERG.
The first land selected for settlement from the now well peopled Newberg township was in Section 34, where John Bair chose his home in October, 1832. Here he made the first improvements effected in the township, built a cabin in which he dispensed hospitality to all who came, whether they were ministers of the gospel, land viewers, hunters

Page 117

and trappers, white men or Indians ; and he himself divided his time between the cultivation of a pioneer farm and the avocation of hunting and fishing, which he loved with a frontiersman's devotion. He soon had a neighbor in the person of Daniel Driskel, who located on Section 36 in the fall of 1834. In 1835 land was entered by George Poe, Marvick Rudd, Thomas Armstrong, Samuel Hutchings, Felix Girton, John Grennell, William D. Jones. These and such men as Barker F. Rudd, William D. Easton, Alexander Allen, Spencer Nicholson, Samuel Eberhard, Hiram Harwood, formed the nucleus around which larger settlements grew up, resulting in the separate organization of the township in 1838.

Page 474

CHARLES W. POE

POE,SCHALL,THOMAS,NEWELL,GALPIN,STEPHENSON,KAHLER,MEEK

Charles W. Poe has been a resident of Newberg township for fifty-three years and therefore justly deserves to be classed with the old settlers. He has a farm of one hundred and forty-eight acres, which is carefully cultivated and improved, his entire life having been devoted to agricultural pursuits. This tract of land lies on section 21, Newberg township, and is now a valuable property, owing to the care and labor which he has bestowed upon it. Mr. Poe is one of Michigan's native sons, for his birth occurred in Fabius township, St. Joseph county, on the 5th of August, 1853. His father, Charles R. Poe, was a native of Crawford county, Ohio, and was the son of George Poe, who continued his residence in Crawford county until 1835 and then sought a home in Michigan, making his way to Cass county, which was then a wild and unimproved region. Most of the land was raw and uncultivated and only here and there had a little settlement been made amidst the dense forest to show that the work of civilization and improvement had been begun. George Poe located on land on section 22, Newberg township, entering the same from the government on the 16th of September, 1835. Not a furrow had been turned, not an improvement made, and the arduous task of developing the land developed upon Mr. Poe and his sons. He, however, possessed the spirit of the pioneer such as was displayed by his ancestor, Adam Poe, the famous Indian fighter.

Charles R. Poe, the father of our subject, was reared amid the wild scenes of frontier life, sharing with the family in the usual hardships and trials incident to settling in the far west. He took part in the work of cutting the timber, clearing the land, and throughout his entire life he followed the occupation of farming. He was twice married, the first union being with Miss Cassie Newell, who died leaving three child-

Page 474

ren, one of whom yet survives, namely: George W. Poe, who makes his home near Jones. After losing his first wife Mr. Poe was joined in wedlock to Miss Julia Schall, a native of Pennsylvania, who came to Michigan with her parents, the family home being established in St. Joseph county. There were two sons and four daughters born of this marriage and with one exception all are yet living. All were born in this county with the exception of Charles W. and George W. Poe, who were young when their parents removed to Newberg township.

He was reared here to farm life and pursued his education in the district schools, wherein he mastered the branches of English learning usually taught in such institutions. During the summer months he worked in the fields and remained at home until twenty-two years of age, assisting in the task of clearing the farm and placing it under the plow. He gained practical knowledge of the best methods of tilling the fields, learned to know what was demanded in the soil for the various crops and the most favorable time of planting, so that he was well qualified to engage in farm work on his own account when he married and established a home of his own.

It was on the 25th of August, 1875, that Mr. Poe was united in marriage to Miss Carrie Thomas, a daughter of William and Delight (Galpin) Thomas. Her father was a native of New York and on removing to Michigan settled in Macomb county. In his family were six children, two sons and four daughters, of whom Mrs. Poe was the second child. She was thirteen years of age when brought to the west and has since lived in Cass county. At the time of their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Poe began their domestic life on a farm on section 22, Newberg township, and there in the midst of the forest he cleared a tract of land. Their first house was a log cabin eighteen by twenty-four feet, two stories in height. Mr. Poe continued the work of cultivating the place for fourteen years, when he removed to his present farm on section 21, Newberg township. Here he has one hundred and forty-eight acres of productive land, which he has brought under a high state of cultivation. He has been a hard-working man and has lived a busy and useful life, his labors resulting in bringing him a comfortable competence.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Poe have been born four daughters: Loviso, the wife of Delbert Stephenson, who is living in Newberg township; Minnie, the wife of William Kahler, also of Newbert township; Mabel, the wife of William Meek, of Emmet county, Michigan; and Leon, at home. The name of Poe has been closely associated with the history of the county through many long years, the grandfather of our subject taking a very active and helpful part in the early pioneer development, and Poe cemetery was named in his honor. The work of progress was carried on by the father and has been continued by our subject, who is an enterprising citizen, desirous of promoting the best interests of the county. In his political views he is a Democrat, but without aspiration for office, preferring to give his undivided attention to his business affairs. He is well known in Cass county, where he has son long resided, having lived continuously on sections 21 and 22 in this township for fifty-three years, and has an extensive circle of friends. Both he and his wife are estimable people and well deserve mention in this volume among the representative citizens of the county.

Page 653

ISAAC S. POUND

POUND,SMITH,HINCHMAN,WHITE,POE,TIMM,BARKS,BUTLER

Isaac S. Pound is one of the leading old settlers of Cass county and a veteran of the Civil war. Coming to southern Michigan at an early day he has assisted in making the county what it is, the labors of the early settlers winning for it a place among the leading counties of this great commonwealth. His mind bears the impress of the early historic annals of southern Michigan and he can relate many interesting incidents of the early days when the land was largely unimproved and the work of development had been scarcely begun. He was born in Ontario county, New York, September 22, 1837, and is of English lineage. His paternal great-grandparents came from England, settling in New Jersey. The great-grandfather, Thomas Pound, served as a soldier of the Revolutionary war, becoming aide-de-camp on the staff of General Washington and acting for a part of the time as staff quartermaster. He had three sons, Thomas, Isaac and John. The second was the grandfather of our subject and he, too, manifested his loyalty to his country by serving in the war of 1812 as a private. The family record is notable because of the industry, integrity and high principles of its representatives. There has never been a drunkard, a pauper nor a criminal among the Pounds and such a record is one of which any man might well be proud.

Thomas Pound, father of our subject, was a native of Orange county, New York, in which locality he was reared and educated. He married in that county to Miss Sallie Smith, also a native of that county and a daughter of Isaac Smith, who likewise served as a private in the war of 1812. He was supposed to have been of Irish lineage. Following their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Pound removed to Chemung county, New York, and afterward became residents of Ontario county, that state, where they resided until 1844. Hoping to enjoy better opportunities in the west they then started for Michigan and as this was before the era of railroad transportation, they traveled by wagon, making their way direct to Newberg township, Cass county, where Mr. Pound had secured one hundred and sixty acres of land. The tract was entirely wild and uncultivated, not an improvement having been made on the place. He first built a log house about sixteen by twenty-four feet and then began to clear the land, performing the arduous task of cutting away the timber, taking out the stumps and preparing the fields for the plow,. In due course of time, however, his land was placed under cultivation and brought forth rich harvests. He was a hard working man, energetic and enterprising, and was regarded as one of the leading and representative early citizens of his community. His political allegiance was given to the Whig party until the organization of the Republican party, when he joined its ranks and continued one of its supporters until his death. He served as highway commissioner and acted as a member of the grand jury that held a session in 1856. His religious faith was indicated by his membership and loyalty to the Protestant Methodist church. He died upon the old homestead November 26, 1963, and was for some years survived by his wife, who reached the advance age of eighty-three years. In their family were eight children, seven sons and a daughter, of which number five reached adult age, while four are still living.

Isaac S. Pound, the second child and the first born son of this marriage, was a lad of seven summers when brought by his parents to Cass county. His education was acquired in one of the old-time log schoolhouses of the township, with its slab seats and other primitive furnishings. The building was heated by a large fireplace, occupying almost one entire end of the room. His educational privileges, however, were very limited, for his services were needed upon the farm and he assisted in the development of the fields until about twenty-one years of age. He afterward took charge of the old homestead property, which he had farmed for three years, when he purchased the place upon which he now resides. For a year thereafter he kept “bachelor’s hall,” but in March 1862, won a companion and helpmate for life’s journey, being married at that time to Miss Elizabeth Hinchman, a daughter of J. K. and Panena (White) Hinchman. Mrs. Pound was born in Boone county, West Virginia, and was seven years of ages when she came to Cass county with her parents, who settled in Silver Creek township. She was the youngest in a family of seven children. At the time of this marriage Mr. Pound brought his bride to the farm upon which he now resides, having lived here for forty-five consecutive years with the exception of a brief period of four years spent in VanBuren county and his term of service in the war of the Rebellion. In August, 1864, he responded to the country’s urgent need for troops, enlisting as a member of the Fourteenth Michigan Battery of Light Artillery, and served until July, 1865, when, the war having closed, he was mustered out as a private and returned to his home. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Pound has been blessed with six children, who are yet living: Ella, now the wife of Fred W. Timm, a resident of Cassopolis; Fred J., a mail carrier living in Marcellus, Michigan; Eve E., the wife of Andrew J. Poe, whose home is in Newberg township; Carrie, the wife of Thomas G. Barks of Vandalia; Arthur W., who is living upon the old home farm; and Jane, the wife of W. Butler of Newberg township.

Throughout his entire life Mr. Pound has followed the occupation of farming, and is now the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of arable land, which he has brought under a high state of cultivation, and it is known as “The Maple Grove Farm.” there are good buildings upon the place and he has divided the land into fields of convenient size by well kept fences. He has secured many of the late improved farm implements and in all of his work is progressive and enterprising. He votes with the Republican party and is unfaltering in his advocacy of its principles. He has attended the county conventions for forty years or more, usually as a delegate, and his opinions have carried weight in the party councils. He held some minor offices, and at all times is loyal and progressive in his citizenship. He belongs to W. J. May post, No. 65, G.A.R., in which he has filled all the chairs save that of chaplain, and he has been a member of the Grange for more than thirty years. His residence in the county covers a period of sixty-one years, and he has been closely and helpfully identified with its development and progress. When the family located in Michigan there were only about twenty-five voters in Newberg township, and now there are about five hundred. There were a number of wild animals and considerable wild game, including bears, wolves, deer and turkeys and prairie chickens, so that it was not a difficult talk for the pioneer settle to secure game for his table. This was largely a timer region, the forests having as yet been uncut, but today there are seen waving fields of grain where once stood the native trees. The little pioneer cabins have long since given place to commodious and substantial farm residences, while here and there towns and villages have sprung up, containing excellent industrial and commercial interests. Mr. Pound rejoices in what has been accomplished, and at all times he is regarded as a citizen whose aid can be counted upon to further every movement or measure for the public good.

[Note: 1841 The 1st Regular Baptist Church of Newberg (AKA - Poe's Church) was organized and church erected in 1858.]

NEWBURG TOWNSHIP - 1840
This census record was transcribed and donated by Mike Peterson. Our thanks to Mike for all his hard work and donation.

NAME NUMBER IN FAMILY

Poe, George 7

Poe, William 6

NEWBURG TOWNSHIP - 1850 CENSUS
This census was transcribed and donated by Mike Peterson. Our thanks to Mike for all his hard work and donation.

Poe, George                                     72                        Pennsylvania
Poe, Setuce                                      68                        Pennsylvania
Poe, Sarah                                       33                        Ohio
Poe, George W.                               24                        Pennsylvania
Prescott, Irving                                 15                        Pennsylvania

Poe, William                                     45                        Ohio
Poe, Ann                                          44                        Pennsylvania
Poe, Julia                                          21                        Ohio
Poe, Elizabeth                                   19                        Ohio
Poe, Alfred                                       17                        Ohio
Poe, Resiah                                      14                        Michigan
Poe, George                                     11                        Michigan
Poe, Mary                                          8                        Michigan
Poe, Martha                                       3                        Michigan

NEWBURG TOWNSHIP - 1860 CENSUS
Our deepest thanks and gratitude to Mike Peterson for all his hard work in transcribing this census record and donating it to our site.

Ann Poe                                           53                        Pennsylvania
Elizabeth Poe                                    28                       Ohio
George Poe                                     18                        Michigan
p. 9
Mary Poe                                        16                        Michigan
Martha Poe                                     13                        Michigan

…..

George Poe                                      31                         Ohio
C. Poe                                             27                         New York
J. Poe                                                5                         Michigan
E. A. Poe                                          2                         Michigan
E. Poe                                         4 mos.                       Michigan
J. Poe                                               25                         Michigan

…..

Alfred Poe                                        26                         Ohio
M. J. Poe                                         24                         New York
Eva A. Poe                                         3                         Michigan
John Poe                                             1                         Michigan

George Poe                                      41                         Ohio
p. 13
Julia Poe                                           38                         Pennsylvania
George Poe                                      11                         Michigan
Charles Poe                                       6                         Michigan
Mary Poe                                          4                         Michigan
S. Poe                                               3                         Michigan

Land Owners Donated by Nancy Corwin

Cass County Michigan in 1872

________________________

| SC  | WY | VO  | MA  |

|________________|_____|

| PO  | LG | PE  | NE  |

|__________|_____|_____|

| HO  | JE | CA  |     |

|__________|_____|PO   |

| MT  | ON | MS  |     |

|__________|_____|_____|

Codes for the Townships - NE               Newburg

All names in this index appear as they  are in the record.

Question mark(s) appear where there is no name  or the name cannot be read.

I have transcribed these records to the best of my ability.

POE, Ann                               NE           21

POE, Betsey            NE           27

POE, Chas                             NE           14

POE, Geo                               NE          27

POE, Geo                               NE          22

POE, L                    NE           27

POE, Mary                             NE           21