600 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY his opinion, which often brought him into conflict with others. Ht was a good neighbor, however, very hospitable, and for many years a sort of a leader in the vicinity He was born in Martinshoehe, now in the Palatinate, Bavaria, Germany, then belonging to France, on the 26th Nivos, year 9 of the French Republic (January 16, 1801). Mrs. Dockweiler's maiden name was Mary Schirk. She was born January 6, 1805, at Niederset, Alsacea. They were married near Easter, in 1828, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Dockweiler died Match 7, 1880. His widow is still living. Christian Scherer, Philip Bauer, Theobald Wagner, Francis Bartz. Frederick Becker, Franz Masson and John Brandt were also early German settlers in this township. WILLIAM ARNOLD. Close by Seneca township, where the state road crosses, Thorn creek, a little south of McCutchenville, William Arnold and his young wife located in the spring of 1823. They were married in the fall previous, in 1822, in Fredericksburg, Maryland. William Arnold was born in Fredericksburg, in 1802. Mrs. Arnold, whose maiden name was Noel, and who was a sister of Michael Noel, was also born in Fredericksburg, Maryland. Michael Noel lived a short distance south of McCutchenville, also, and was a man of good repute as a farmer and citizen. He raised a family of interesting sons and beautiful daughters, two of whom were married to citizens of this county, one being the wife of my good old friend, the distinguished hardware merchant, Martin Kingseed, of Fostoria. Here at Thorn creek, Mr. Arnold entered a piece of land and put up a cabin. The state road was surveyed close to his house, and this being the only road running north and south, west of the Sandusky river, it was the only thoroughfare for emigrants and others traveling north and south. Forty years ago, new as the country then was, there was more travel on that road than there is now. The Wyandots were then still living on the plains and became great friends of Mr. Arnold and his wife, who had opened at their house a small beer and ginger bread stand; they also sold carbonated mead, of all of which the Indians were fond. Sometimes the Indians would get too much fire-water at McCutchenville, and going home, stop in at Mr. Arnold's, acting ugly. One trme an Indian named Spotted Tail wanted more beer, and the stock being exhausted, became very boisterous and drew a tomahawk to strike Mrs. Arnold, who was alone in the house. For want of any other pro- SENECA TOWNSHIP - 601 tection, she set her big dog on the Indian, who drove the savage away. At another time, " Stokey," another Wyandot, became very insulting at the house and Mr. Arnold struck him with the end of his whip handle over the head. The Indian became very angry, jumped onto his pony and going away, told Mr. Arnold that he would fix him. He was gone but a short time when he returned with six other Indians. Meantime Mr. Arnold prepared himself for an attack, and when the Indians rode up to the door, where they were met at the small end of Arnold's old musket and other persuasives, they desisted from all further attempts to do injury. Big Crow, Round the Lake and Black Snake were also customers at Arnold's beer shop, but were always of good behavior. Mr. and Mrs. Arnold were very devout Catholics, and being far re moved from a church of their faith, experienced the want very much. After their first child was born and the mother was able to travel, Mr. Arnold left his lone cabin in the woods, hitched up his team and took wife and babe to Lancaster, Ohio, to have it christened. It took a whole week to make the trip. Soon, however, other Catholics settled in the neighborhood, and Mr. Arnold was one of the prime movers in the establishment of the first Catholic church at McCutchenville. Mr. Arnold was as ingenious as he was industrious. He was always at work at something, and while he opened up a farm with great industry, he was ever busy making tools and implements for household and husbandry. They raised a large family of Children; and Mrs. George Strausbaugh, who furnished the writer much valuable information of early life on Thorn creek, and Mr: Anthony H. Arnold, of Tiffin, are two of them. The parents have both passed away and so have also Mr. and Mrs Noel. The latter survived them all and died only recently in the enjoyment of comfort and peace. GEORGE HECK. The subject of this sketch is now the oldest settler in the township. The writer has not been able to trace any one who settled here before Mr. Heck and is still living. Mr. Aiken was a. very respectable pioneer and he died but a few years ago. He came about the same time that Mr. Heck arrived. The grandfather of Mr. Heck came from Germany. George Heck was born October 5, 1797, near the mouth of Hocking river, in Athens county, Ohio. He grew up on his father's farm there. He married Sarah Grelle, who was a widow with four children. Samuel Grelle, Esq., late county commissioner, is one of them. With her he had ten 602 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. children, of whom five are still living, the others having died in childhood. The oldest one living is his daughter, Catharine, wife of Harry Fiser; next, Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Bowlin, and Maria, wife of John Strebin, all living in the state of Indiana; Daniel G. Heck, the popular superintendent of the Seneca County Infirmary, and John, the youngest son, who is living near his father on the old homestead. The children all have families and are all doing well. Soon after the land sales, Mr. Heck's father bought, at the Delaware land office, the southwest front quarter of section twenty-five, in this township, and made a deed for it to his son George. Three years after he was married he moved onto the land here. Mrs. Heck died on the 18th of December, 1840. About one year thereafter, he married Sarah, the sister of John Kerr, Esq., now residing in Tiffin. She dropped dead on the floor in 875 after living on the old homestead with Mr. Heck thirty-five years At breakfast, on the morning of the day she died, she told Mr. Heck her dream of the previous night. She said she dreamed that their canoe got loose (their house stands near the river), and drifted to the other side of the river; that she walked after it on the top of the water, and as she reached the other shore, she stepped onto a log, and looking back saw her steps on the log. Mr. Heck says: I am my father's youngest son. I had one brother and four sisters, and am the only one remaining of my father's family. My parents talked German to each other, but always English to us children, and therefore I never learned the German. We hired a team and moved up here in the spring of 1823, by the way of Upper Sandusky along. the Negrotown road, as it was then called. It was not the present Negrotown road, but a trail by thatname that wound through the woods in all directions. Anderson's and rocker's were all the houses between Mexico and Tiffin, and they were cabins in the woods. When we arrived here and found our land, we hunted for, and found, a suitable place to locate near the bank of the river in the woods. We unloaded and the team returned. I paid the man $20 to bring us here, and that left me but $5, all told, and here I was with a wife, five children, five dollars, no house, no team, no neighbor and no friend near. I cut four forks, put them into the ground in a square, laid poles across them, made some clap-boards and covered the shed, and here we camped until my brother-in-law, Peter Baum, who had married my wife's sister, helped me cut some logs, which, for want of a team, we carried together and-built a cabin. For want of other material to make a floor, I took the bark of large elm trees and spread it on the ground, which answered very well. There was a spring on the bank of the river, near this cabin, and here we lived two years, when I built a better log house and moved into it. There was not a stick cut on this land nor in the woods for miles around. There were neither roads nor bridges. When I was a boy grown up, my father moved SENECA TOWNSHIP - 603 with his family to Perry "county, where I was married. From there I came here. We had a couple of cows, and after struggling along during that summer, fall and winter as best we could, my father brought to me a yoke of oxen the following spring. This was a sort of God-send and I began to take courage. Some time afterwards I went back to Perry county and brought home a young brood mare I had left there. My father brought me flour twice, which kept us from starving, and some of the other settlers also. When they found out that we had flour, they came for several miles around to borrow some, to be paid back some time in kind. We had good flour, but some who returned flour brought a very inferior article. Foncannons never brought theirs back until two years afterwards, and others never Made return at all. Then the clothes I brought with me were worn out, and how to get others I did not know. I killed two large bucks and took the skins to the Mohawk squaws, on the Van Meter section, who tanned them for me. I paid them for it with a few pounds of flour. I cut a pair of pants out of these skins and my wife helped me sew them. For three years I wore these every day, and they were the most serviceable pants I ever had. I got Jacob Price to tan a skin also, out of which we made a pair of pants for Samuel Grelle, but whenever they got wet and dry again, they became as, stiff as boards. Price did not, understand tanning deer skins as well as the Mohawk squaws. When James Aiken came here, he was a single man. William Anderson came here also about the time we did, and Aiken married Anderson's daughter. They lived on the Negrotown road. Aiken was a Virginian, but lived at Delaware a short time before he came here. He was here when came. Anderson's land joined mine on the east. The first wheat I raised I took to Moore's mill, near Lower Sandusky to get it ground. We all took sick and had a great deal of trouble with the diseases incident to life in the forest. Soon after my arrival here I became acquainted with Hard Hickory, of the Senecas. He was a very intelligent Indian and spoke English very plainly. He prided himself on his French blood. They camped near our house, and brought their camp equipage with them, in their canoes. One night Hard Hickory and another Indian killed two deers near my house. The Indians fixed a candle over their heads in the canoes, and while the deers were feeding on the tender grass in the river, they would look at the light, while the Indians, sitting in the dark beneath, could row almost up to them and kill them. They put two forks into the ground and a pole across them about four feet up. The meat was cut into pieces, laid on this pole and dried by a fire Made beneath. The meat was salted a little before it was dried, and when thus well cured, it was put into a square pack, the skin of the deer wrapped around it and tied with strings of raw hide. A crooked stick was fastened on the back of a pony and a pack of this dried venison, called "jerk," fastened to each end, to be taken home. This drying and packing and cutting up of the meat was all done by a squaw. One time when Hickory camped here, and before I had a team, I borrowed one of his ponies to go to Tiffin for a half bushel of salt. He was always kind to me. There was also a Tawny Indian through here occasionally they 604 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. called Pumpkin. He was the biggest Indian I ever saw, and the most savage looking. Everybody, even the other Indians were afraid of him. He was fully six feet high, had a glaring look, showed his teeth very much and he must have weighed fully two hundred pounds. Somewhere down about Cold creek a white man by the name of Snow, had his cabin. One time; in the absence of Snow, Pumpkin came into the house and killed Mrs. Snow. He then cut her open and took out of her womb a full grown babe, stuck it on a stick and roasted it over the fire in the house. The white neighbors gave the alarm and the Senecas caught Pumpkin and brought him to Snow, telling him that he should kill him or do anything else he pleased with him. Mr. Snow, fearing the consequences, let Pumpkin run.. Soon after that, Pumpkin stole a corn hoe from my neighbor, Aiken. Aiken told Pumpkin to leave the country and never show his face again. It was not long after that, when Pumpkin got into a fight with a Wyandot and killed him. They made him sit on a log, when some six of them plunged their tomahawks into his brain. Joseph Foncannon, two of his brothers and his father, settled near the mouth of Honey creek, in Eden. Joseph was married. His wife was a Poorman. Peter Lott, David Foght and Frederick Wagner also came in soon. Peter Baum settled near Mexico. He moved to Missouri afterwards, where he and his wife both died. Baum was never satisfied anywhere. We raised hemp and flax and spun and wove tow-linen. Many a cold day I chopped in the, woods all day in tow-linen pants, my bare feet in shoes full of water and ice. Sometimes the ice packed around my feet so tight that when I came into the house I had to hold them to the fire a while before I could get them off; but I never had my feet frozen. I often had to go to Tiffin on cold days in winter with tow-linen pants on. We lived very fine after we could raise sheep and have the whole family dressed in linsey woolsey. One time my father paid us a visit, and when he started back my wife gave him a loaf of bread to take along on the road. He met a man on the road near Upper Sandusky, who was nearly starved. He had not eaten a mouthful of bread for three weeks, and had lived on boiled nettles and milk. He had a little hut near the road. ANTON KOENIGSAMEN Was born June 26th, 1796, in Dreyson, in the Palatinate of Bavaria. On the 26th of January, 1816, he was married to Margaret Rauth, of Boerstadt, in the Palatinate also. She was born July 28th, 1796 . They settled in this town of Boerstadt, where he followed the trade of a cabinet maker, until he moved with his family, then embracing six children, to America. He landed in New York in the fore part of October, 1832, after a short voyage of thirty-two days, and soon after located in Hamburg, Berks county, Pennsylvania, working at his trade, My old friend Martin Kingseed was noticed under the head of Fostoria, in chapter xxxvii. He was the oldest son of the family, and was born November 19th, 1817. The other five were Catharine, Peter, SENECA TOWNSHIP - 605 Christian, Magdalena and Margaret. From Berks county Mr. Koenigsamen, in April, 1833, moved to Pine Grove, in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, where he located on a farm and undertook farming. The mountains and the stony fields were not congenial to him, and in 1834 he sold out and came to Ohio by wagons. After a journey of six weeks he reached Tiffin, on the 18th of June, 1834. Here he stayed a few weeks, and bought ninety-four acres of land six miles south of Tiffin, on the Sandusky river, in section fourteen. Here he opened up a farm, the land being all in the woods. He had but few neighbors. William Hitt joined on the east of him, Richard Connor on the north, Benjamin Peck on the west, and the Sandusky river on the south. Across the river lived Alex. Bowland and William McCormack. Starting here in the woods 'he experienced all the hardships of foreigners who had no practical knowledge of clearing land, for this was a peculiarly American science. Farmers in Europe are not compelled to remove the forest in order to make a farm. The first year is generally the hardest, because while you are not able to raise anything, you are compelled to buy all you need, and live out of pocket. So with Mr. Koenigsamen, but the next year he had cleared ten acres and began to raise provisions. Mr. Koenigsamen speaks very feelingly of the kindness of his old neighbors. in assisting him with everything needful until he got a better start in the world. The readiness and willingness with which neighbors would come to a raising or logging has frequently been mentioned. So here. Help was never refused. Now the opening grew larger, and grain was being raised in abundance. Everything prospered, and the family were happy until, on the 19th of May, 1842, Mrs. Koenigsamen died, a few days after giving birth to her tenth child. The babe died six weeks thereafter. Five years later, in 1847, Mr. Koenigsamen was again married, to Catharine Bauer, of this township, with whom he had three children, Joseph, Emelia and Catharine, On the 26th day of October, 1862, his second wife also died. The elder daughters then took charge of the household, and the youngest; Emelia, is now the matron of the homestead. For several years past his oldest son, Martin, has been in the habit of arranging surprise parties at the old homestead upon the anniversary of the old gentleman's birthday, when all the children would meet there, with their wives, husbands and children, and have a good time all around. They had another, big time there again this year, when they celebrated his eighty-fourth birthday, showing him all honor 606 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. and filial affection possible, and gladdening the evening of his life with renewed assurances of their love and devotion. Mr. Koenigsamen is still in the enjoyment of good health, and rather robust for his age. He enjoys his old pipe and a good joke as much as ever, and promises fair to so continue for many years yet to come. His son Anthony lives with him, and has charge of the farm. CHAPTER XLII. THOMPSON TOWNSHIP. T. 3, N. R. 17 E. THE name of this good old township is especially dear to the writer, for among its best men and prominent citizens many years ago, he counted many true and devoted friends. Its early settlement and organization, etc., have already been mentioned, and it remains only to refer to several subjects not previously touched upon. The first township election was held on the 6th day of May, 1820, at the house of Joseph Parmenter. Among the first settlers in the township were William and Nathan Whitney, Joseph Parmenter, H. Purdy, David Underhill, James Whitmore, James Underhill, Eli Whitney, Jasper Underhill, Benjamin Clark, Solomon Dimick, Benjamin Murray and A. H. Twiss, most of whom the writer well knew. They are all dead but Jasper Whitney, of whom mention will be made hereafter. There were several squatters upon the openings in Thompson, who, owing to the scarcity of water at that time, left the country. In 1830 the population of the township was 362; in 1840 it was 1,404, and has increased to about 1,900 now. The face of the country is beautifully undulating and the soil remarkably rich and fertile. The very many improvements all over the township, the large barns, splendid farm houses and excellent stock, indicate comfort and wealth, industry, economy and intelligence. The German element predominates very largely, both in the old Pennsylvania and the European stock. There is a large settlement of German Catholics in the southeastern portion of the township, where they have a splendid church and a nunnery, under the auspices of the Precious Blood Society, mentioned in the chapter on Big Spring township. These German Catholics were among the first settlers in that part of the township and had organized a society as early as 1832-3. Among those early pioneers I will mention Anthony Krupp, John Host, Michael 608 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. Reinhart, John Glassner, Anthony Zahm, George Zahm, J. M. Zahm; Franz Hen, David Umlor, Peters Schoendorf and John Gerhartstein. Among the prominent men of later years may be mentioned Jacob and John Bunn, Samuel Stewart, Jacob and Peter Karn, John Royer, John Decker, Daniel Close, M. Good, John Heter, Peter Dewalt, and others; also the Schochs, the Douglas's the Manleys, the Purdys, the Murrays, the Bloomers, John Hobbes, Elder Jackson and others. The soil in Thompson, as elsewhere in the county, is drift, resting ,upon a sub-stratum of loose, shaley limestone, which is full of fissures, forming numerous sink-holes, which are found all over the township. A little stream called Sink creek runs into one of these, where it disappears. Many years ago a saw mill was erected upon this stream, with sufficient water to run it about three months in the year. There is a similar creek with a small saw mill a little west of this. Whenever there is a heavy or continuous rain, these sink-holes overflow, doing a good deal of damage sometimes. The greatest natural curiosity in Thompson is its celebrated cave. The entrance to the cave is near the south end of the east half of the northwest quarter of section one, on the land once owned by Mason Kinney, one and one-half miles from Bellevue, and three-quarters of a mile from Flat Rock. The discovery of the cave is generally attributed to George and Henry Hasson. It was probably first discovered by Lyman and Asa Strong. It was known as early as the year 815 by the settlers on the Fire land, and visited frequently by the hunters for the purpose of killing rattle snakes, which were found here in great numbers, and which gave the name of Rattle Snake's Den to the cave. The mouth of the cave is six feet long and three feet wide. Upon examining the land in the immediate vicinity, it appears that about five acres, from some unknown cause, have sunk several feet. Some have conjectured that the limestone rock once rested upon a bed of soap-stone, which being washed away in course of time, left a cavity that swallowed up the whole mass above. There is no doubt but that sometime in the world's history a great convulsion has racked the substratum here, for as you descend the cavity, you find the rocks 'on one side in a horizontal position, while on the other side they incline to angle of 45 ̊ . Upon entering the cave a natural passage leads downwards, gradually in a northeasterly direction. At a depth of about thirty feet, the light from above is obstructed, below which, darkness forever reigns, unless driven away by the torch of the curious explorer, who examines wonders. of this gloomy place. After a descent of about forty feet, you THOMPSON TOWNSHIP - 609 enter a large cavern, and here, as the eye surveys the lofty ceiling and penetrates the recesses all around, the mind is peculiarly impressed, with the awful grandeur and magnificence of the scene. Proceeding onward, water is observed dripping from the rocks above, which is found, upon examination, to be impregnated with sulphur and not disagreeable to the taste. Beneath are discovered the tracks of harmless animals that roam about in places inaccessible to man; while overhead bats are seen suspended from the rocks, apparently lifeless, but when brought to the sun, they soon recover, and immediately direct their course to the cave. After a descent of nearly two hundred feet, the passage is interrupted by a stream of pure cold water, which is very pleasant to the taste, and has a slow current to the northward. This stream rises during the wettest season of the year about eighty feet, and again recedes upon the recurrence of dry weather. In 1844, a year remarkable for rains, the water rose in the cave 170 feet, and within thirty feet of the surface of the earth. When at its minimum height, the stream presents only a few feet of surface, but its bottom has never been reached. This cave is certainly an object of interest to all who admire the works of nature or delight in subterranean wonders, and were the rocks excavated around the mouth, so as to render the ingress less tedious, it would doubtless be visited by thousands. I have taken the foregoing description of the cave from Butterfield, and copy also a communication signed " W." to the Sandusky Clarion of August 17, 1844. It is so intimately connected with the subject that the reader will peruse it with interest:, MESSRS. EDITORS: I have seen going the rounds of the papers, as a " singular phenomena," the flowing of the water from a well about eleven miles from this place. Singular, I think it is not, and new I know it not to be. Neither as represented did it commence " all at once to flow," for it was known to rise many days before it commenced to overflow, and had been daily' watched. Some days it rose a little, and some days it fell a little, until the last violent rain, when it commenced running over. But perhaps you will better understand the subject if I give you the result of my observations, and what I have learned concerning the subterranean waters of that region, for the last quarter of a century. Cold creek, probably the principal outlet of the water, rises in Margaretta township about three and a half miles from Sandusky bay (and at an elevation of fifty feet above Lake Erie), into which it flows in a northerly direction, and in that distance supplies the water for four large flouring mills. The spring that the creek flows from was originally about an acre in extent, but by damming it close to the head, the course of the water was - 39 - 610 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY changed under ground, so as to divert a part of it, which again bursts out at about two hundred rods distant, from a great depth in the earth, forming a hole about ten feet across, which was afterwards partially surrounded by a circular dam, with the intention of forcing the water back to the old creek; but as the water would not run up hill, the dam was extended and a canal dug, uniting the springs' in one level. The new spring is now about 100 feet across, bowl-shaped and from 40 to 60 feet deep, with the water so clear that a person looking froth a boat on its surface, can see small objects floating at the bottom", and seem themselves to be floating in the air. These springs rise less than two miles from the Fire lands, which is also our county line, west, within which distance another rises, called the Rock-Well 'spring, which flows west into Sandusky county, and supplies water to a saw mill. The water that supplies these springs is supposed to come from the extensive swamps and marshes that lie from 25 to 30 miles in a southern direction, and about five miles north of the' dividing ridge that separates the waters flowing into the Ohio river and those flowing into Lake Erie at this point, and at rather a gradual elevation of about 400 feet above the level of the lake. From Cold creek to these swamps, there is strong evidence of large quantities of water running under the surface of the earth. The first is about fifty rods from the head of the creek, where the breaking out of a few stones at the bottom of a small ledge, exposed a large and deep stream of water., constantly running, the bottom of which cannot be reached at twenty feet in a slanting direction, and the surface can be seen ten feet wide. At another place, some two miles south, water can always be obtained by sinking a bottle from 40 to 60 feet in the crevices of the rock. Then, again, about five miles south of Cold creek, is a dishing ,prairie, of from one to two hundred acres of land, which, after a series of rainy seasons, fills by the water rising from its bottom, through the.. alluvial soil that forms the surface of the prairie. Then about one mile ,further south, is a similar prairie, from the south side of which, at about ten feet elevation from its bottom, is the flowing well. The first account of the flowing of this prairie reaches back about twenty-seven years. A man who had settled on the north bank for the purpose of cultivating the lands below, which he found ready for the plow, was in the night alarmed by a loud report and the shaking of the earth, and upon going to the door of his cabin, he heard a sound as of running water. :Upon going towards the spot from whence the sound proceeded, he found the water rushing from the surface of the earth with tremendous force, on the south bank of the prairie, in a volume larger than a hogshead, which continued to flow until the prairie was filled, and the water ran off from the northeast side of the basin. After this, the prairie filled several different seasons, through the alluvial soil on its sides and bottom, but not always so as to run over, until about twelve years ago, when the flowing well burst out about 60 rods east of the first one. After. it had ceased flowing, a man living near thought to follow the water as it settled down, .so as to have a well, it being difficult to find water in this neighborhood. After digging about eighteen feet in a perpendicular direction, the course diverged to the westward, in a descending direction, about as much further; then THOMPSON TOWNSHIP - 611  after removing the rubbish about twenty feet further in a perpendicular direction, it was abandoned at a distance of fifty feet from the surface of the earth. Since that time water could always be found at the bottom in the spring of the year. Eight years ago it overflowed again, since which time there has occasionally been high water in it during a wet season, when it filled the prairie to the extent of about seventy-five acres, floating off the fences and destroying the crops. It lasted about ten days, when it ceased flowing, and ran back, so that the prairie was dry within a week, notwithstanding the bottom of the basin is eight feet below where the water was drained to the well, the water settling away through the soil at the bottom. While the water was at its highest point at this time, the family upon the farm where the " flowing well " is situated, heard a loud report in the night, which seemed, to come from the earth, during a thunder storm. In the morning it was found to have come from the " blowing out " of another hole about three-quarters of a mile in a northwesterly direction, from which the -water was flowing in a stream as large as a hogshead. Around all the " blow holes," as they are called, the broken limestone is scattered for many feet, thrown out by the force of the water when it frrst burst out. From this spot for ten miles or more, towards the dividing ridge, the face of the country is indented in numerous places, with flowing prairies, and " sink holes," from a few rods to many acres in extent. Many of the " sink holes" are mere bowl-shaped depressions of the surface, occasioned probably during periods of high water., by the wasting away of the earth below, into. the cavernous region, through some crevice in the compact limestone, immediately beneath. I am led to this conclusion, from the fact that in some places wells have been dug into the compact limestone, that have furnished water, until some dry season; when it has become low, and in blasting for more, they have broken through into the loose limestone, and lost what they had. Others of the " sink holes " have openings at the bottom, through which the water rises in a wet season, whilst through the bottom of others the surplus water from the surface of the country runs off. Advantages have been taken of some of these depressions to form the pond of a saw mill near Bellevue, that runs from two to four months in the spring of the year, carried by water that is accumulated from the draining of a large tract of country above, which after supplying the mill, runs off through a sink hole. I think if it were not for the sink hole to carry off the water, in many places the country would be full of ponds and swamps rendering .it unhealthy. The citizens of Bellevue have been compelled, this season, for the second time, to drain a pond caused by the overflow of a sink-hole. About two miles, still south of Bellevue, there is an opening into a cavernous limestone, that can be traversed about two hundred feet, at the extremity of which runs a large stream of water, at more than 130 feet from the surface of the earth, and this season the cavern was filled to within from twenty to thirty feet of the surface. A few miles still further south is a sunken prairie, in the bottom of which stands a black walnut tree that holds a rail cut eighteen inches through 612 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. amongst its branches, more than twenty feet from the ground, floated there when the water was at that height. In connection with the above I will mention a circumstance that took place a few years ago in the region of the sink holes: A man well known to myself had a team of three yoke of cattle plowing in the spring. When it commenced raining he stopped his work and turned his cattle loose in the field. The rain proved to be a long storm, lasting several days. When it held up and the cattle were looked after, one of them was missing, and supposed by the owner to have jumped the fence and strayed off, until more than three weeks afterwards the ox Was found in the lot, where he had settled down through the soil into a crevice of a rock below, and nothing but his head and shoulders out. He was taken out and lived, with no other injury than the loss of hair from the buried part. Another ox was lost three weeks, and found at the bottom of a sink hole in the woods, the sides of which he had browsed clean. I will further state that when some parts of the country I have been describing were first settled, they were very much infested with rattlesnakes, which were sometimes found early in the spring in large numbers upon the surface of, the earth in their torpid state, driven from the rocks below by the rising of the water, before the sun was sufficiently powerful to warm them into active life. I have written so much more than I had intended when .I commenced that I will finish by adding, that notwithstanding the immense quantity of water in the country above, Cold Creek is never affected by the rising or falling of the water (in Thompson) to the extent of six inches. Yours respectfully, I have thus copied at length for the purpose of directing the attention of some geologist to the investigation of the subject. The old notion that Cold creek is the outlet of the subterranean stream in Thompson, might as well be abandoned. Esquire Sherk, of Bellevue, tells me that whenever the water was high in Thompson after a freshet, and running into the sink holes, great quantities of water came out of the ground in the southeast corner of Sandusky county—York township, and in Groton also, in Erie county—and overflowed great tracts of land there, showing that Thompson has a higher altitude than either of the other places named. In 1872 the great " Royer ditch " was constructed, which now carries away all the surface water in its vicinity, and since this time the overflowing in York and Groton has ceased. On the 1st of January, 1841, Jonas Harshberger, the surveyor, platted a town on sections eleven and twelve, in Thompson. George Schock, Frederick Harpster and Jacob Korner were the proprietors. It is a pleasant little village, but Bellevue absorbed it, and checked its growth. The town was named Lewisville, but the name of its postoffice is Flat Rock, and the name of the town is heard but seldom. The THOMPSON TOWNSHIP - 613 country about the town is rich and beautiful. Two of the proprietors, Harpster and Korner, have gone to their long homes. Mr. Schock is still living. The Orphans' Home, under the care of the Evangelical church, is situated here, and under the care of its present gentlemanly and intelligent superintendent; the Rev. Mr. Dresbach, will do great good, as it has already established a reputation for itself, to the honor of the church and the county alike. Thompsontown was surveyed and platted on the corners of sections fourteen and fifteen and twenty-two and twenty-three, on the 14th day of November, 1840. William McCauley, Abraham Sherk and Samuel Sherk were the proprietors. The survey was made in the same month when General Harrison was elected President of the United States. That ended the " hard cider " campaign, but it was no reason why Thompsontown never prospered. JASPER WHITNEY Was one of the early settlers in Thompson. He and old father Royer are, perhaps, the only survivors of that class of pioneers. Mr. Royer still resides in Thompson, but Mr. Underhill lives in Wood county as I am informed. It is said that many years ago Mr. Whitney, while living in Thompson, near Nathan Whitney, was taken sick very suddenly and, after a short illness, died and was laid out on a cooling-board. The neighbors rendered every assistance possible and the doctor assured them all that Mr. Whitney was dead. A coffin was made and brought to the house and preparations made for the burial. Mrs. Whitney could not persuade herself to believe that her husband was dead, and the funeral was put off to an indefinite time. A consultation of physicians was held at the house and no trace of life could be discovered. The doctors, neighbors and all, tried to prevail on Mrs. Whitney to let the funeral take place, but she was unmoved and insisted that her husband was not dead. Some people now began to doubt whether she had her right mind, and matters began to look serious as to her. She cared but little, however, about the gossip of the neighbors, but kept her sleepless watch by the side of her dead husband, occasionally applying restoratives. In the forenoon of the ninth day she discovered signs of life, and in a short time she succeeded in bringing Mr. Whitney to life. With prompt medical aid and good nursing, he was restored to good, vigorous health in a short time. He heard, while lying in this trance, everything that was said near him, and when he recovered sufficiently 614 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. to express himself, he said a great many ugly things of those who wanted to bury him alive. The undertaker refused to take the coffin back, and the family put it up into the loft of the cabin, where for many years thereafter, it was used to keep dried apples in. Several years thereafter the father of Mr. Whitney died, and was buried in the same coffin. His name was Gunworth. Mr. Whitney is still living near, and west of, Woodville,.in Wood county, Ohio. The father of my old friend, Samuel Horner, lived on a farm about one mile east of Flat Rock, which had a little spring on it. All the neighbors came there for water, and kept the spring in bad condition. Mr. Horner thereupon made up his mind, to have a well for his own family use, and dug down some six feet, when he came upon a rock. He took a crow-bar and struck the rock, when a stream of water burst up that overflowed the well and formed a constantly running stream. Mr. John Burman lives on the farm now. CHAPTER XLIII. VENICE TOWNSHIP. T. 1, N. R. 17 E. WHEN, on the 1st day of June, 1829, Ezra Gilbert presented a petition to the county commissioners from the, citizens of this township, praying for its organization into a legal township, to be known by its present name, they and he had very small hope that by this time it would be the rich and beautiful township it is. The prayer was granted, and the first election took place on the 13th of June in that year. The following ticket was then elected, viz : Township Clerk—Philip E. Bronson Trustees—Thomas West, Ezra Gilbert, Moses Smith. Treasurer—James Halsted. Overseers of the Poor—Henry Speaker, Elisha Fair. Fence Viewers—Cornelius Gilmore, Ezra Gilbert. Constable—Warren Blakesley. In addition to these officers there were also among the early settlers: Governeur Edwards, John Woollet, David Kemp, Jacob Cook, Andrew Moore, William McPherson, Johnson Ford, Philip Muck, James McKibben. Mr. Ford and Mr. McPherson are living at this writing. In 1840 Venice had a population of 1,222; in 870 it had increased to 1,781, and in 1880 to 2,231. Its soil is excellent, and it is now in the enjoyment of great agricultural wealth. Of late years such farmers as George Ringle, Thomas Bennett, David Ringle, Samuel Shade, James D. Stevens, John McKibben, Henry Meyer, Z. Bretz, the Sourwines, the Labolts, the Steigmeyers and others added greatly towards its development. Venice has two towns—Attica and Caroline. The former has, to a great extent, absorbed the latter, especially since the Baltimore & Ohio railroad has a station near Attica Both towns are situate on the old Columbus and Sandusky turnpike, which at one time promised to be- come macadamized, and be a general north and south thoroughfare. 616 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. Colonel Kilbourn, who has been often mentioned as one of the pioneer surveyors here, on the 28th day of February, 1828, surveyed and platted Caroline, on sections ten and eleven, and named it after a daughter of Cornelius Gilmore, the first settler in the town and one of the proprietors; Hector Kilbourn and Byron Kilbourn being the others. Andrew Moore settled in this town in 1830, on the first day of April, and resided there to the time of his death, which occurred on the 6th of August, 1846. (His widow died at this writing.) He was county commissioner one time, and a most excellent citizen. James McKibben located here on the 17th of June, 1830. There were but fifteen families in Venice at that time. On the 1st day of May, 1833, William Miller and Samuel Miller, two brothers, from Pennsylvania, laid out Attica. David Risdon was the surveyor. The name was derived from the postoffice by that name, which had been located there before the surrey of the town. Ezra Gilbert named the postoffice after the town in New York, where he formerly resided. Mr. Gilbert kept the first public house here, and Nathan Merriman kept the first store. In 1836 Attica contained twenty dwellings already, and a population of one hundred. In 1840 it had eighteen more. It is now a very lively country town, and has a fine .trade.. A lawyer, Mr. Lester Sutton, is located here, and some six physicians. The Attica Journal is a very readable weekly newspaper, and very ably edited by my old friend Dr. J. C. Myers. The rich farming community surrounding Attica will always make the town a good trading post. The town has a splendid school house, a healthy situation and a good moral community of intelligent people. At the centennial 4th of July celebration in Attica (1876) my venerable old friend Mr. Johnson Ford, had read to the assembled multitude an abstract history of this township, which my friend Dr. Myers was so kind as to place at my disposal, and from which I quote. It was ably prepared by his son. ATTICA, December 29, 1879. Judge Lang : DEAR SIR : I send you the history of Venice township and Attica, as prepared for the celebration of the 4th of July, 1876. If you find any matter to help you in your history, I shall feel amply rewarded. My best wishes for your success. J. C. MYERS. N. B.—It should be mentioned here that the address as delivered was prepared by Mr. H. J. Ford, but I will insist that uncle Johnson Ford furnished much of the material. VENICE TOWNSHIP - 617 A CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF VENICE TOWNSHIP AND THE VILLAGE OF ATTICA. Arranged and written by H. J. Ford, and delivered at the celebration in Attica July 4, 1876. For the names, dates, and all facts pertaining to the earliest ,record of the then new township of Venice, I am indebted to the two veteran pioneers, Father McPherson and Father Ford, whose heads, whitened by the frosts of more than four score years, are permitted to sit to-day on this platform. (Still living at this writing, May 28th, 1880.) All honor to them and the other pioneers, to whose perseverance, privations and self-denial we to-day are blessed with a home in as beautiful, productive and wealthy a township as any in the grand old state of Ohio. Looking over our rich rolling farms, it is hard to realize that only fifty years ago these same fields were an extended and unbroken forest. In the memories of the few whose silvered heads appear among us to-day, those scenes are distinct and real still, while we, the younger generation, must resort to fancy to catch a view. I wish it were possible to portray the dark forest, the roving Indians, the howling wild beasts, the pioneer hardships met and endured by our fathers,. and make the impression go with us through life, so that we might be taught thereby to respect with a proper degree of veneration the gray hairs of the few who remain. A fact in the history of this township should not be overlooked in reference to the Columbus and Sandusky turnpike. Each alternate section of land was granted by the legislature of the state to a company as an inducement to undertake its construction. Colonel James Kilbourn, of Worthington, Ohio, in 1827, was employed by the company to survey and locate this road. In the same year Cornelius Gilmore built for himself a cabin on the south bank of Honey creek, where the residence of O. J. McPherson now stands, and he was thus the first settler in Venice township. Being a blacksmith by trade, his services were required by customers far and near. Ezra Gilbert settled here in 1829. In August, 1828, Samuel Halsted built a cabin house on the present site of Rininger and Srlcox's store. In September of the same year Johnson Ford moved into his cabin, erected where the residence of Dr. Barber now stands. In October, the same year, Thomas West built east of the pike, near Honey creek.. In November William McPherson built his house in the center of the township, and in December Elisha Fair settled on the site of L. 0. Green's present residence. In the month of November, 1828; at the instance of Ezra Gilbert, a petition was presented to the commissioners of the county, asking for a road commencing at the township line road, two and one-half miles west of Attica, and running diagonally to the south of east, to intersect the road leading to New Haven, near the Huron county line, three and one-half miles east of Attica. The petition was granted, and David Risdon, the county surveyor, located the road, and immediately Samuel Halsted, Ezra Gilbert and Johnson Ford took their axes, and in six days they underbrushed the whole line, taking their dinners with them, and returning home at night to enjoy their frugal suppers of corn bread and crust coffee. Thus these pioneers, looking 618 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. ahead to the future, gave us these important cross-roads, which proved the nucleus of our fair village. Ezra Gilbert, early in the spring of 1829, erected a cabin on the corner where Ford and Strannler's hardware store now stands, and opened a public tavern. Shortly thereafter, Nathan Merriman, from Bucyrus, opened out a small stock of dry goods and groceries in a log building on S. A. Ringle's corner. On the 19th d4 March, 1829, Esther, the- wife of Johnson Ford, died, leaving her.husband alone to his sorrow. A neighbor went to Republic to assist in the preparation of a cherry coffrn. At the funeral the remains were placed on a rude sled drawn by oxen. Samuel Halsted drove the team and Ezra Gilbert walked by the side of the lone husband eight miles, to the cemetery in Scipio. township. It had been arranged that a funeral discourse should be preached at the house of Ethan Smith, near the place of burial, and the settlers gathered there, but no minister came, and without so much as a Christian prayer, the body was put to rest. The pioneer returned to his lone cabin, and although nearly a half century has passed away, he is with us here to-day. The second death was a child of Samuel Halsted. Mr. Ford donated an acre in the center of his farm for a burial place, and cleared the same. The remains of a child of Philip Muck was the first interment there and the third death. During 1829 the following persons settled here : Nathan Merriman, Governeur Edwards, Philip Muck, John Armatage, Jacob Cook, Henry Speaker, Jr., James Willoughby, David Hoop, David Kemp, John Woolet, Samuel Woolet; Samuel Croxton and Jollier Billings. Men were also employed on the turnpike. On the 1st day of June, 1829, this township was a part of Bloom, and the three qualified voters residing here went to the polls of Bloom township to cast their votes for John Quincy Adams, opposing candidate to Andrew Jackson in the autumn of 1828. On the same day Ezra Gilbert presented a petition to the county commissioners for the organization of this township as originally surveyed. The name was suggested by Johnson Ford, being the name of the township in Cayuga county, N. Y., from whence he came. It is a fact worthy of note that up to 1840 no township officer made any charge for his services. The postoffice at Caroline was taken away by Gilmore, and the government refused to make other appointments for Caroline. Then the Attica postoffice was established. From this time forward the settlement of the township and village was rapid. In 1830 or 1831 Jacob Newkirk, from the state of New York, erected the first frame. house in the township, on the present site of F. H. Steigmeyer's store. Many of us remember the old Huddleson house. It was removed only six years since, when it was the property of David Ayres. The first saw-mill in Venice township was erected by Henry Speaker, Sr., about the year 1831, on his farm, between Attica and Caroline. The motive power was a yoke of oxen and an extra steer in a tread-wheel. It was afterwards converted by the owner into a grist mill, with one run of small stone and a carding. machine.   VENICE TOWNSHIP - 619 In 1836 Ebenezer and George Metcalf, with some local aid, erected a steam saw-mill near the present site of the Heabler grist mill, in Attica. In the month of March, 1840, this Mill was destroyed by fire, entailing a heavy loss on both the owners and the community. John and Frederick Steigmeyer were the owners of the next steam sawmill erected on this site. In course of time a gristmill was connected therewith by them, and after a few changes in owners we now have our excellent flouring mill owned by J. Heabler & Bros. Early in our history a steam saw mill and also a grist mill were built at Caroline by Peter Kinnaman, both of which were afterwards swept away by fire. [NOTE.—In 1857, one morning in the Winter, a boy named Ephraim Groves, while standing in front of the boiler warming his feet, was scalded to death by the bursting of the boiler of this mill. He lived a few days after the accident, but never spoke from the time he was hurt.] After the completion of the school house an invitation was sent to the Rev: Mr. Robinson, a Presbyterian minister living at Melmore, who came and preached to the people, it _being the first sermon delivered in the township. After this his services were secured for one year, he preaching every third week on a week day. In the spring of 1833 a union. Sabbath school was organized by Rev. Mr. Patty, an agent of the American Sabbath • School Union,, and Mr. Martain was chosen superintendent for one year, but he moving away before the expiration of that time, Johnson Ford succeeded him, and his services were retained in that capacity for twenty-five consecutive years, when he resigned on account of defective hearing. A Presbyterian church was organized in October, 1833, with thirteen members, by Revs. E. Conger and E. Judson, of Huron Presbytery, and John Holmes and J. Ford were ordained elders thereof. The Episcopal Methodists organized a small class in 1835, and in 1838 the English Lutherans formed a church, and in 1840 or 1841, with the help of the community at large, erected the church now owned by the United Brethren. This house they were unable to finish, and the writer well remembers the rude slab benches without backs, which, for a number of years, furnished the sittings. This society, failing to pay for their building, were compelled to sell it, and fearing it might be devoted to other uses and the community be deprived of a place for public worship, Johnson Ford shouldered the burden of its purchase, and obtained a clear title thereto. In a short time thereafter it was reseated and improved, and for a number of years the three above mentioned denominations worshiped therein, and in harmony conducted Sabbath school and church services. This is the history of the frrst religious denominations and church building in our township. About the year 1840 a one story brick school house was built on the spot where the one in present use now stands. The interior was arranged with desks running along the side walls and seated with slab benches. In the year 1841. the Attica Baptist church was organized with nine members, and on the 2d day of April, 1842, Rev. S. M. Mack became its first regular pastor. In the year 1852 this denomination built its present house of worship. In the winter of 1849 and 1850, as nearly as can be conveniently ascertained, the 620 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. village of Attica was duly incorporated, and on the 6th day of April, 1850, the first election of city officers was held, resulting as follows : Mayor—John L. LaMeraux. Clerk—Samuel Miller. Councilmen—Samuel Crobaugh, David K. Burg, Benjamin Kelley, John Heckman, John Ringle. Board of Education—Samuel Miller, M. R. Moltz, John Lay, Ebenezer Metcalf, Orlando Miller, James H. Brisco. At the first council meeting on the 15th of the same month, S. E. Martin was appointed marshal, and William Rininger treasurer. Thus was our village launched forth to rank among the small cities of our land. In the winter of 1853 the buildings then occupying the southeast corner of Main and Tiffin streets were consumed by fire. William Rininger then bought the vacant lot and erected thereon his present storeroom. Two or three years later a conflagration occurred on the northwest corner of said streets, and the large frame hotel building erected then by William Miller, early in Attica's history, and then owned by H. M. Chandler, was swept away. Chandler then caused to be erected the brick block we see here today. Attica has been visited by several smaller fires, of which we have not time to speak. In the year 1856 or 1857 the school house still in use in our town was built. the contract having been let to Levi Rice, for which he received $1,328.42. The Universalist society erected their house of worship in the year 1860. Attica has not been without her sensations, prominent among which are the great fraudulent failures of Higley, Chandler, Schuyler and others in 1856 or 1857, and the discovery of the den of counterfeiters, and the subsequent conviction of one of our citizens for the crime. Perhaps it would not be out of place, as we draw our history to a close, to give the names of those‘ and the years in which they served, who have had the honor to serve the village as chief. John L. LaMeraux served as mayor in 1850 ; William Miller in 1851; Wm. Rininger in the years 1852, 1853, 1854, 1858, 1860, and 1865; P. Kinnaman in 1855 and 1859 ; R. H. Blodget in 1856, 1857, part of 1861 and all of 1862 ; J. R. Buckingham was elected in 1861, but resigning, R. H. Blodget was, appointed to fill his place. The record of 1863 and 1864 does not show who served as mayor during those years. William M. Miller was elected in 1866, April 2d, and resigned May 14th, when H. M. Chandler was appointed to fill the unexpired term. Chandler was elected in 1867, and again in 1868, and during the latter year the burden of the purchase of the town hall was imposed upon the people. H. J. Ford served in 1869 ; J. C. Meyers was elected in 1870 for two years, and re-elected in 1872 for the same time. J. W. Simpson was elected in 1874, but failing health incapacitated him for the service, and his death occurred in the following winter. Our present honorable mayor, James L. Couch, was appointed to act during the unexpired term. The peoples' voice at the ballot-box a short time since proclaimed James L. Couch mayor for 1876 and 1877. In conclusion, we have only to add the number of public buildings in township and village, and the population, as nearly as it can be ascertained VENICE TOWNSHIP - 621 in this centennial year of our nation and semi-centennial of our township. In the township we have eight churches and thirteen school houses, and a population, including Attica, estimated at 2,300. Attica, within her corporate limits, contains three churches, one school house, three dry good stores, two hotels, two hardware stores, two tinshops. two drug stores, two provision stores, two furniture stores, one cabinet shop, two undertakers, one clothing store, one marble shop, two harness shops, two blacksmith and carriage shops, two carriage painters, one gunsmith, one flouring mill, sash and blind factory, one foundry and machine shop, one shoe factory, two boot and shoe shops, three millinery stores, one photograph gallery, two cooper shops, one grist mill, one ashery, one carding machine, one confectionery and ice cream room, two billiard and drinking saloons, three village groceries, three tailor shops, one livery stable, one jewelry store, one printing office, one express office, two meat markets, one attorney, four practicing physicians, one dentist, one barber shop, one Odd Fellows lodge, one Masonic lodge, one grange lodge, one weekly newspaper. Our village has increased materially in population, and the number of dwellings since the completion of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad and the establishment of a station bearing the name of Attica, which occurred on the 1st of January, 1874. This centennial year finds us in the midst of prosperity and healthy growth, with a bright business future before us, and our corporate limits extended, giving ample room for those who desire to purchase building lots, and locate among us. We will not attempt to scan the future with prophetic eye and declare what our township and village will be fifty or one hundred years hence, but we may safely say the historian of the second centennial of our nation's life will record as great changes as any we can chronicle toto-day. We must not overlook the part our aged mothers took in this war-fare of pioneer life. Side by side they stood with husbands, enduring dangers and privations like heroes, as they really were. Many of them left homes of comfort and even luxury, at the east, to follow the fortunes of the one to whom they had given their heart and hand. All unused to the solitude of the western forests, and its attendant dangers, they faltered not, but putting their trust in their father's God, and leaning on the strong arm of their husbands, they came, and we to-day have reason to bless their coming. Let us respect and love them while they live, and when they are gone, may our recollections of them be as sweet incense to their memory. With uncovered head, and bated breath, let us always speak the sacred name of " Mother." And now, friends and fellow citizens, while we are called upon to-day to review the past and to celebrate the words and deeds of those who, one hundred years ago, declared us a nation of freemen, and whose blood bought the precious boon, let us remember also those who saved our country when rebels sought its life. Some we have laid to rest, and their graves are honored year by year. Let us cherish the gift of freedom while we live, and transmit it unimpaired to coming generations. 622 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. May our love for God and our own kindred alone, take deeper root in our hearts, than our love of country and our country's flag. On the 4th of March, 1851, an act was passed by the general assembly of Ohio authorizing the establishment of a grammar school in Attica, and which provided for the levying of a tax for that purpose, not to exceed twenty cents on the $100 valuation in the district. Philip Bollinger, who this day, June 1st, 1880, is ninety-two years old, and perhaps the oldest inhabitant of this township, was born in Homburg, in the Palatinate of Bavaria, and came to this country in 1843. He is healthy and vigorous, and can walk fifteen or twenty miles a day. He is lively and cheerful, and has an excellent memory. He enjoys the comforts of the home of his son, Louis Bollinger, a respected citizen of Venice township. JOHNSON FORD Was born in Rensselaer county, New York, June 9th, 1796. His father died when he was but eight years old; his father was poor and had a large family, and consequently the most of the children had to be bound out. Young Johnson was one of them, but fortunately he found a good home, where he remained until he was twenty-one years old, getting all his education while he was yet bound. After he became of age he worked with his brother on a farm they had bought, in the same county, for eight years, when he sold his interest in the farm and married, and immediately removed to Venice township, Seneca county. Ohio, he being the first settler in the township. He entered a quarter section of land, upon a part of which the village of Attica now stands, and built one of the first log cabins, in the year 1828, fifty-two years ago this June, 1880. He helped to clear off the land and lay out the village of Attica, giving it its name, having come from Attica, New York. For several years he was engaged in clearing up his farm, and assisting in building the Sandusky and Columbus turnpike, which was being built at that time, to develop the resources of the unbroken forest. He cleared the first land, ploughed the first furrow, and raised the first wheat in Venice township. He is in reality the pioneer of this township. His wife died during the first year of his pioneer life from over exertion and exposure, to which her constitution had not been accustomed, and she failed from the trials incident to early life in the woods. He returned to the state of New York and married again, and returned to his new hOme, where he has lived to see the forest melt away like the morning dew, and the ground to be cleared from all traces of VENICE TOWNSHIP - 623 the old monarchs that formerly stood thickly over the face of the country, the pride of all Americans. Twelve years ago he sold his farm and retired from active work, and now his means are invested in a large hardware store in Attica, in the firm of Ford and Strandler, a son and son-in-law, from which he derives his support at present. He has always been an active, hard, working, industrious man. He has always been religiously inclined, having united with the Presbyterians in his youth. For twenty-five 'years he conducted a Sabbath school in Attica, the first and for' many years the only one in the township. He raised three children by his. second wife—two. daughters and a son. One daughter is now living in Great Bend, Kansas. The wife of James W. Brown is the other daughter. Young Ford and Brown are partners in the hardware store. Mr. Johnson Ford is wonderfully preserved, having been burn June 9th, 1796, which at present,. July. 2d, 880, makes him eighty-four years, one month and thirteen days, and from present prospects, he is good for another decade. For the last ten years he has received a second sight, being able at present to read fine print without his glasses, a thing he was unable to do for thirty years. The following sketches were kindly furnished by Prof. S. McKetrick, of College Hill, Tiffin, Ohio: History and literature are practically useful only so far, and to such a degree, as they inspire those who read their pages to aspire to the noble example they portray, whether it be in mental discipline or physical execution. History should be nothing but truthful facts, and therein differ from fiction. History is the truth of the past. Fiction is fancy, and belongs neither to time or place. The one is healthful and invigorating, the other weak and debasing. The page we present here shall be history. We present this page not to relieve memory of its burden, but to recall deeds and their actors, as we all love to do ; to live again a 'few moments with friends of the past; to be enlivened again by their association, though they come but from memory, and from it I draw the most hallowed associations of my life, which were acted in Venice township. The men who first impressed upon my mind the realities' of living, lived and toiled upon its' soil. The one who ranks first there was James D. Stevenson. I now little of his early life. He was born in the state of Vermont ; served as a soldier in the latter part of the last war with Great Britain. A part of his life was spent as a sailor upon our northern lakes. About the year 1838 he left a wife and five children and came to Ohio. He traveled over the greater part of the state in search of a spot where he might make a home in the new country. He found, and entered into a contract with, Mr. Zachariah Betts for the 624 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. farm he owned until 1863. The ,contract between the parties was that he should chop and clear one hundred acres of land, and for this service he was to receive the full and free title for the one hundred acres which he owned. All in the world he possessed was a strong body and a willing heart. He earned his living by threshing out grain with a flail by the light of a lantern. His board bill was not extravagant, for lie told me of many days of hard toil with nothing to eat but batter, baked upon an iron griddle, and maple syrup. After such hard life for several years, he received the title for his land, and had a few acres cleared and a log house upon it. He then returned and removed his family (who knew nothing of his whereabouts all these years of toil) to their new home in the west. A few years of such severe toil and the deepest privation and he has changed his forest to a beautiful farm, producing abundance. But in those few years death has visited their circle and taken his wife, and soon after, fire consumes his house and its contents, save himself and children, but soon upon the ashes of that house is built a better one, and his second wife makes cheerful its hearth. Another farm is added to the first, and prosperity smiles on every effort. About the year 1850 he commenced to shake with the palsy. That strong frame was wrecked. It grew weaker and still less able to battle with the realities. it had known so well in life, and fell to its last resting place in Ionia county, Michigan, in the spring of 1865. In politics my subject was an Abolitionist, a Republican and a true Union man during the dark days of the rebellion. In religion he was a member of the Baptist church. The hard circumstances through which he had past made him a close dealer, though in money, weights and measures, strictly honest. Ile was naturally noble, kind-hearted and true. MAURICE MOORE Was born in Germantown, Huntington county, New Jersey, July 15, 1798, and is therefore eighty-two years old. He was raised on a farm, and when twenty-five years of age, he was married and then moved to Harrison county, Ohio, where he located near the county line of Tuscarawas in 1823. Here he lived three years, and being dissatisfied with this hilly country, he left it in the spring of 1834, and packing his household into a covered wagon, he arrived in Venice township with his wife and two children early in June, the same year. Here he immediately entered a quarter section of land in the east part of the township, where he pitched his tent. On the 19th of June he moved into his cabin, and on the following night a heavy thunder storm drove the rain through the clap-boards and the open spaces, between the logs, drenching the family in their beds, spoiling their goods and making them wish to be back on the sand lots of New Jersey. On the next morning the woods were a lake. Intercourse with neighbors was com-