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250 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY Uri Martin under arrest as an insane person," and the developments in future are awaited with interest. THE 1920 NATIONAL ELECTION It is urged by some that government begins in the home, expands to the state and nation and that finally the church is the controlling influence, but in a community where not all the citizens are identified with the church, there is some question about it. The government of the family, school, state and nation must be vested in some recognized head, and here is where politics enters into the consideration. With three presidential candidates headed directly for the White House in Washington City, Ohio was the political storm center, A. D. 1920, and Allen County was one of the high spots touched by all of the electric currents in the presidential campaign as well as county affairs—the storm clouds lowering over Lima frequently. Indeed, some of the heavy artillery in the campaign was fired in Allen County. The presidency of the United States simply forced itself upon the people of Ohio, and it seemed like the ultimate choice would be a printer. Since the Front Porch and Trailsend are both in Ohio, what could the people of Allen County do about it? It was like the ultimatum in 1840: "Therefore, without a why or wheref ore, vote for Tippecanoe and Tyler, too," and prior to 1920, the state had furnished six presidents, one vice president, three presidents of the United States Senate, one speaker of the House, two chief justices, five associate justices, and twenty-two cabinet officers. In 1888, Lima had furnished the national democratic chairman in the person of Senator C. S. Brice, and thus political prominence is not an unknown quantity in Allen County. Two sides to every question-the name of Vallandingham was once heard in Allen County ; there were Knights of the Golden Circle, and yet law and order have always been in the ascendency. When there were but seven families in Lima, the Browns, Mitchells, Marks, Edwards and Peltiers were whigs, while the Bashores and the Cunninghams were democrats, but the scale changed and the democrats were in the majority. Next to a good winner is a good loser, and the political landslide, November 2, 1920, revolutionized things, and it was said of the democrats that they "also ran," when there was a summary of results. While a political landslide buries everything but the hatchet, Allen County democrats accepted the situation philosophically and came out with colors flying— were cheerful about it. One aged man, William Bressler, did want to see another democratic jubilee in the public square of Lima, then soliloquized : "We've had the Allen County courthouse a good while, but they've 'slipped one over on us.' " The Allen County political landslide, A. D. 1920, was not attributed to the glacial period, and the courthouse majority became republican for the first time in its history. For the first time the women aroused themselves to the duties and privileges of citizenship ; they were face to face with ballots, saying nothing of bullets, and they had their political headquarters with campaign literature adapted to their requirements ; the democratic women trained with their husbands, but the republican women were under a different roof and their campaign of education was carried on so extensively that there could be no way of determining who had cast the discarded ballots ; the women demonstrated their efficiency at the polls, although in each precinct there was a collection of umbrellas left in the voting booths. HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 251 On the threshold of their new life, Allen County women were told by an Ohio campaigner that they had made an excellent showing, and the "wheel horses" of the different parties were rejoiced about it. The pickets had discharged their whole duty ; while handling the ballot had hitherto been regarded as a man's job, the women did it with efficiency. While they may find it necessary to vote for women and measures, their first vote was cast for men in their determination to save the country. "Votes for women," had always inspired mirth, but in 1920, it became a reality. Tariff versus free trade was not the issue, and some one remarked that women did dress warmer after havmg the ballot. There have always been free silver republicans, and gold standard democrats, and wets and drys have not been confined to a single political party, and why should first voters commit themselves ? The League of Nations seemed to be the party issue, and the women were divided on the question. Allen County was a political storm center, and all of the winds were blowing—pitiless publicity being assured, and in the face of the franchise for women the platform orators no longer appeal to the "plain pee-pul." Why should not the women of Allen County be styled young when they were casting their first ballot? In addressing voters and voteresses —citizens and citizenesses-the spell-binders have all said I, thou, he, she, it, we and they in an effort to befog the issue, and sometimes the "pettifoggers" succeeded in doing it. It was urged that the feminist did not wish to think along sex lines only, and when women entered politics they demanded from the men the same welcome they had always extended "mere men" in their research clubs ; the average woman desires true equality with menfolk and she is inclined to investigate, and to vote with an understanding; she wishes to mingle with men on a basis of mentality rather than sex. One suffragette declared that women would foster education as well as promote legislation, the illiteracy reports from the war having aroused the womanhood of the country. While compulsory education may result from the franchise of women, they will retain their womanly graces while exercising the prerogatives of citizenship. Equal suffrage disclosed the fact that in many instances, from time out of mind, women had influenced the family vote, although in Allen County some houses were divided-there had been no precedent, and all was uncertainty about it. In some precincts it was simply more ballots without changed results ; the ward-heelers did not know where to fortify ; there were republican women married to democrat husbands, and there were republican men married to democrat wives-one group seemingly offsetting the other. One man attending a democratic meeting said it was not his wife's day, and he was not an isolated example at all. Article 10 in the League of Nations was analyzed in every political meeting, and there were few parades in the 1920 campaign. Older voters remember the delegation wagons of fifty years ago, when flag poles and torch-light processions made everything spectacular ; there were bands leading the processions, and every campaign has had its distinguishing characteristics. The use of intoxicating liquor was eliminated from the 1920 campaign in Allen County. CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN ALLEN COUNTY It is understood that the judge and the prosecuting attorney are the terrors of evil-doers in any community. However, the judgeship is regarded as the honorary elective position in county history. Under the provision of the first Ohio Constitution, 1802, the Allen County judges HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 253 of Common Pleas Court were : George B. Holt of Montgomery County, who held the first court of common pleas in Allen County, sitting as president of the probate or associate judges, the session in the cabin home of James S. Daniels who was a member of the first Allen County Board of Commissioners ; Judge Holt met with them in May, 1833; he was assisted by Christopher Wood, James Crozier and William Watt-the combination conscientiously upholding the necessary dignity of the law. Judge Holt served till 1836; Judge William L. Half enstein, also from Montgomery County, served until 1839 ; Judge Emory D. Potter from Lucas County until 1844 ; Judge Myron H. Tilden -from Lucas County until 1845, and Judge Patrick G. Goode of Shelby County was the last judge under the old constitution, serving until 1851, when there was a reorganization of the district, the jurisdiction covering Allen, Hardin, Shelby, Auglaize, Marion, Union and Logan counties. Judge Benjamin F. Metcalf of Allen, who was the first common pleas judge under the new constitution, served until 1857 ; Judge William Lawrence of Logan County until 1864 ; Judge Jacob S. Conklin of Shelby County until 1872 ; in 1858, the district was changed again, including Allen, Auglaize, Mercer, Van Wert and Putnam; Judge Metcalf remaining incumbent through it all until his death in 1865 (who will reconcile some statements taken from the older histories ?) ; Judge Metcalf died in March and Judge O. W. Rose of Lima served until November ; Judge James Mackenzie of Allen until 1879; in 1869, Judge Edwin M. Phelps of Mercer County was elected under an act creating an additional judge for Sub-division No. 1 ; in 1879, the district again reorganized, dropping Putnam and adding Shelby County : Allen, Auglaize, Van Wert, Mercer and Shelby. Upon the reorganization of the Judicial District Subdivision, Judge Charles M. Hughes of Allen County served until 1889 ; then followed Judge John E. Richie of Allen County ; Judge James H. Day of Mercer ; Judge Hiram C. Glenn of Van Wert ; Judge W. T. Mooney of Mercer ; Judge William D. Davis of Shelby, succeeded by Judge Glenn who resigned to become a judge of the circuit court ; Judge S. A. Armstrong of Mercer, and Judge Hugh T. Mathers ; in 1898, Judge W. H. Cunningham was elected, and in November, 1906, he died, and Governor Harris appointed George H. Quail to the vacancy till the general election in 1908, when M. L. Becker was elected to finish the term ; in 1908, William Klinger was elected for the succeeding term and in 1920, Fred C. Becker was elected and has just begun his term of service. COURT OF APPEALS-The Allen County Court of Appeals has only been in existence since the 1912 change in the Ohio constitution ; it was organized in 1913, and is associated with a group of sixteen counties and is known as the Third Ohio District Court; the Third Ohio includes Allen, Auglaize, Paulding, Van Wert, Mercer, Henry, Putnam, Defiance, Logan, Union, Marion, Hardin, Hancock, Seneca, Wyandotte and Crawford counties. There are three judges, only Judge Kent W. Hughes living in Allen County ; his father, Judge Charles M. Hughes, was the only Allen County man ever elected circuit judge. While the majority of the business in the Third Ohio District Court of Appeals is transacted in Lima, the court is in session twice a year in each county. Being the largest town in the Third Ohio District Lima is favored in the matter of court sessions. The Court of Appeals attracts many people from all over the district to Lima. PROBATE JUDGES-Under the first constitution of Ohio, 1802, the associate judges of the Court of Common Pleas in each county had jurisdiction in matters of probate, according to Section 5, Article 3, of the Constitution, and the Allen County incumbents have been Christopher Wood, 254 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY James Crozier and William Watt ; their term of service beginning in 1831, with the organization of the county ; they served until 1837; Charles Levering, Joseph Hover and John Jamieson till 1841 ; John Elliott and George B. Shriner until 1845 ; Charles W. Adgate and John B. Fay until 1851, when under the new constitution there was a change in arrangements. Under the Constitution of 1851, a Probate Court was established in each county, according to Section 7, Article 4, and the Allen County incumbents are : William S. Rose, who resigned, and whose term was finished by Michael Leatherman till 1854 ; Thomas M. Robb, 1857 ; Charles M. Hughes, 1863 ; Luther M. Meily, 1869 ; George W. Overmeyer, 1875 ; Samuel S. Yoder, 1881 ; John F. Lindemann, 1886; Theodore D. Robb, 1893 ; A. D. Miller, 1899 ; J. N. Hutchinson, 1905; Fred C. Becker, 1911, and Jesse H. Hamilton, 1920. While the construction placed upon the statutes sometimes seems to be a matter of personal opinion by some particular officer, taken as a whole the official roster of Allen County is made up from good, honest citizens. Sometimes the fault may be in the law itself, and yet efficiency prevails in the administration of local affairs. While the manner of transacting business is not specified in the constitution, some things of an administrative character are implied, and men elected to official position have little difficulty in construing the law governing the conduct of their particular offices. The Board of Commissioners is the real governing body, and was the first organized in the history of Allen County. The Allen County Juvenile Court is under the supervision of the probate judge; it was organized in 1906, as a safeguard for youthful offenders who may thus be spared further careers in crime ; the 1920 probation officer is J. H. Callihan with Mrs. Nettie Miller as assistant ; they visit the homes of delinquents and exercise a parental influence when necessary; their supervision is in secret, and youthful offenders are never associated with those steeped in crime ; the department is amenable to the State Board of Charities, and juvenile records are frequently suppressed in the interest of future prospects. The Juvenile Court sentences offenders to the Boys' Industrial School at Lancaster. and to the Mansfield Reformatory. Females are sent to the Girls' Industrial School at Delaware, and to the Woman's Reform School at Marysville. The Juvenile Court has charge of offenders under the age of eighteen years. There is an Ohio Council of Child Welfare, and there are local charities promoting child welfare. PROSECUTING ATTORNEY—Intimately associated with the judge of the court is the prosecuting attorney ; in order to hold court he is a necessity. Until 1835, prosecuting attorneys in Ohio were appointed by the state ; since then they are elected by the people, and those who have served Allen County are : Aaron T. Miller, appointed in August, 1831 ; Patrick G. Goode, appointed in 1833 ; Hamilton Davison, 1834 ; Loren Kennedy, 1837; George W. Andrews, 1845 ; Lester Bliss, 1847 ; Mathias H. Nichols, 1851 (who resigned in 1852 to enter Congress) ; Jasper N. Guthridge, 1859 ; James Mackenzie, 1861 ; Isaiah S. Pillars, 1865 ; John F. Brother- ton, 1867 ; Ed A. Ballard, 1871 ; Charles M. Hughes, 1873 ; Hinchman S. Prophett, 1877; James P. Townsend, 1881 ; Isaac S. Motter, 1887; Jacob C. Ridenour, 1893 ; William Klinger, 1901 ; B. F. Welty, 1905 ; James J. Weadock, 1910; Ortha 0. Barr, 1914; John L. Cable, 1916; Eugene Lippincott, 1920. CLERK OF THE COURT—The clerk of the Allen County court is required to keep the docket, and to enter all proceedings in books provided for such purposes ; in the order of succession they are : John Ward, 1831; John Alexander, Jr., 1842; Richard Metheany, 1849; Joseph H. HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 255 Richardson, 1851 ; James Cunningham, Sr., 1854; John M. Meily, 1857; Ormund E. Griffith, 1863 ; Robert Mehaffey, 1869; Daniel L. Crites, 1875; Eugene C. Mackenzie, 1881; David H. Tolan, 1887 ; U. M. Shappell, 1893; M. J. Sullivan, 1899; C. A. Graham, 1908; D. A. Bowsher, 1912; I. F. Clem, 1916; John T. Cotner, 1920. COUNTY SHERIFF—The sheriff is the chief executor and peace officer of Allen County; he is provided with a domicile in connection with the bastile, and it becomes his duty to prevent lynchings, riots and all violent disorders. He must pursue and capture felons, and those guilty of misdemeanors. The incumbents in Allen County are : Henry Lippencott, 1831; John Keller, 1835 ; Alexander Beatty, 1839 ; John Keller, 1843; Charles H. Williams, 1845; Hiram Stotts, 1849 ; Mathias Ridenour, 1853 ; William Tingle, 1855; Samuel R. Buckmaster, 1857 ; Samuel Collins, 1861; Isaac Bailey, 1865 ; James A. Colbath, 1869 ; William Miller, 1873 ; John Franks, 1877; William H. Harter, 1881; M. P. Hoagland, 1885 ; Lawrence O'Neill, 1889 ; Aaron Fisher, 1893 ; Elias A. Bogart, 1898; Eugene Barr, 1902 ; Henry Van Sunten, 1906; F. M. Watt, 1910 ; Sherman E. Eley, 1914; C. W. Baxter, 1918. While one requirement of the sheriff is that he prevent lynchings, it is not such an easy matter when the mob is organized to take him, an experience that came August 30, 1916, to Sheriff Sherman Eley. It seems that at one time Sheriff Eley had appealed to the State Militia to suppress a prize fight that was to be staged in Lima, and the feeling of indignation asserted itself against him in 1916, in connection with the wet and dry issue that was then stirring the community. The sporting element was defeated in connection with the proposed prize fight, and the feeling of smoldering hatred burst into flame when the sheriff extended protection to a negro prisoner—Charles Daniels. Sheriff Eley had been elected by the dry vote of Allen County, and the outlaws in the community held that fact against him. When the mob appeared at the Allen County jail and demanded the negro, the sheriff removed him and concealed the hiding place—simply discharging his duty as an officer of the law. When they were unable to force from the lips of the sheriff the secret, a rope was fastened about his neck and the frenzied mob was about suspending him from a lamppost when there was friendly intervention—but Sheriff Eley required hospital attention; the negro was later sent to the penitentiary, but the Allen County sheriff had a narrow escape with his own life while protecting the prisoner while in the discharge of his sworn duty. The mob did not represent Allen County in its attitude toward an officer in the discharge of duty. Sheriff Eley was later the recipient of a medal given him in recognition of his bravery. Only the iron nerve of the officer saved the day. THE EXECUTION OF BRENTLINGER There has been a near-lynching, and there has been a hangman's day in the Allen County jail. There is a bit of rope hanging in the office of Sheriff Baxter that was used in the execution of Andrew Brentlinger, Friday, April 7 or 15, 1872—there being conflicting reports about it. Brentlinger was a resident of historic Shawnee—although a disgrace to the community. He killed his second wife, October 24, 1871, stabbing her to death; he was a man of fifty while she was a woman of twenty- seven ; he made her grave a short distance from the house ; he plowed and harrowed the ground in order to conceal it ; when his children finally gave the alarm, the murderer was found concealed in his garret ; while he had swallowed poison, medical assistance saved his life; his trial of 256 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY ten days in duration was before Judge Mackenzie ; the verdict was guilty, and he was sentenced to be hanged January 20, 1872, but Governor Rutherford B. Hayes granted a reprieve of 100 days. Prisoner Brentlinger was confined to a cell in the basement of the second courthouse in Allen County; there were so many curious visitors that it was very annoying to the sheriff who was his custodian; the commissioners had ordered the high board fence enclosure in readiness for the out-of-door execution in January; because of the reprieve of 100 days, the prisoner was removed to the new jail in advance of the execution, the delay in accordance with Legislative enactment. On Wednesday before Black Friday—hangman's day—the Brentlinger children and ISAIAH PILLARS grandchildren called at the jail and the condemned father was the least affected of all ; the aged father and brothers did not visit him. On Thursday his counsel, Isaiah S. Pillars and C. M. Hughes, visited him, With them went T. E. Cunningham, who had assisted in the prosecution. The prisoner heard the sound of the saws and the hammers when the scaffold was being built for him. He heard the talk of a threatened mob, and fifty men assembled that night to guard the jail. The light of the lanterns and the glitter of the muskets held the mob spirit under subjection, and members of the local press witnessed the condemned man prepare himself for the night with as little concern as if nothing awaited him the next day. Andrew Brentlinger arose early the morning of the execution, had a hearty breakfast and was visited by the Lutheran minister, Reverend HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 257 Bartholomew, who offered prayer and read to him from the Bible. He was unmoved through it all. D. H. Tolan, who related the incident, may be the last living witness of the Brentlinger execution. He was publishing a newspaper in Delphos. Sheriff James A. Colbath had invited all Allen County publishers to witness the execution. After Mr. Tolan had reached Lima, his courage almost failed him ; Edward Walkup was another Delphos newspaper man ; D. S. Fisher represented the Lima Democrat ; Cornelius Parmenter the Gazette, and the Cincinnati Enquirer had a representative present. They were there to herald the story to the world. The memory of the occasion has never left Mr. Tolan. Editor Walkup of Delphos assisted Sheriff Colbath in conducting the prisoner to the scaffold ; it was built in the corridor of the jail, and the prisoner stepped from the landing of the stairway onto the death trap ; all other spectators remained on the main floor. Sheriff Colbath trembled while reading the death warrant, knowing it was his next duty to launch the man into eternity. When asked for a final statement, Brentlinger said nothing. An old account says : "After the black cap was adjusted, Sheriff Colbath asked, 'Andrew Brentlinger, have you anything to say?' " The answer : "I have nothing to say." Reverend Bartholomew sang the hymn : "Eternity is waiting," and the scaffold disappeared from under the man. A traveling show was staged in Lima that day, and the living skeleton, the fat woman and the wonderful dwarfs attracted the crowd. Lima was full of visitors. Brentlinger's body was prepared for burial, and his bier stood on the street where all might see him. He was not sensitive in life, and why should he be shielded in death? There has been one execution in the Allen County jail, and two found resting places within the county, whose death was from electrocution in the Ohio State Penitentiary. The misdemeanor and sentence is a matter of record in Lucas County. They were brothers, Isaac and Benjamin Wade ; their heads were shaved, and visitors who saw them in a local morgue will always remember it. The sheriff has more of adventure in the discharge of his official duty than any other custodian of county welfare. Some of the foregoing data was obtained from persons in waiting there. The mob struck terror to all who knew about it. There have been suicides—those who died at their own hand, but not as a punishment inflicted under the law. COUNTY RECORDER—The Allen County recorder is charged with the safe-keeping of all records, deeds, mortgages, and other instruments affecting the title to lands ; the incumbents of the office are : Nathan Daniels, 1831; John Ward, 1835; John Alexander, Jr., 1840; John M. Anderson, 1843 ; John B. Wamsley, 1844; Horatio N. McGuire, 1846; Edmund S. Linn, 1848 (appointed in January vice H. N. McGuire) ; John B, Wamsley, 1847; John W. Thomas, 1850; John B. Wamsley, 1854; John G. Ridenour, 1857; Jacob M. Haller, 1863; Albertus R. Krebs, 1869; Henry H. Heman, 1875 ; William Timberlake, 1881 ; George Monroe, 1887; Abram Harrod, 1893 ; P. T. Mell, 1899; Fred Zeits, 1905; F. A. Stephen, 1910 ; Emmet E. Fisher, 1914, and Guy Custer, 1920 ; Mr. Wamsley repeated himself. COUNTY AUDITOR—The Allen County auditor keeps all the accounts of the Allen County Commissioners, and he prepares the annual tax duplicate from the transfer books ; the auditor is the Allen County bookkeeper, and a warrant or order from him is necessary before the county treasurer pays out any funds at all. In their turn the Allen County auditors are : William G. Woods, 1831 ; Samuel Black, 1835 ; H. D. V. Williams, 1838 ; John W. Thomas, 1841 ; Joseph H. Richardson, 1845; David Dalzell, 1849; William Dowling, 1853 ; Richard Matheany, 1855; George W. Overmeyer, 1859 ; John B. Haller, 1861; William Dowling, Vol. I-17 258 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY 1865 ; Sylvester J. Brand, 1869 ; Nelson McBride, 1874 ; Samuel D. Chambers, 1878 ; William D. Polling, 1881 ; Cyrus D. Crites, 1887; Philip Walter, 1893 ; George Feltz, 1899 ; Edwin C. Akerman, 1905; J. W. Douglas, H. J. Lawler, 1910; T. A. Welsh, 1914, and C. R. Phillips, 1918-at present the county auditor. COUNTY TREASURER—The Allen County treasurer receives all taxes paid for the support of the state, county and township, and he is held to a strict account for the safety and proper application of such funds. The incumbents to date are : Adam White, 1831 ; Dr. William Cunningham, 1833 ; Charles Baker, 1835 ; Col. James Cunningham, 1837 ; Thomas K. Jacobs, 1841 ; Alexander Beatty, 1845 ; Thomas K. Jacobs, by appointment, 1847 ; T. K. Jacobs, 1849 ; William Armstrong, 1853 ; George W. Fickle, 1855 ; William Armstrong, 1857 ; Shelby Taylor, 1859 ; Miles W. Vance, 1861 ; Emanuel Fisher, 1865 ; Washington R. Partello, 1867; Richard T. Hughes, 1871 ; David East, 1875 ; James Armstrong, 1879; David M. Fisher, 1881 ; Jacob B. Sunderland, 1885 ; Edward Holman, 1889 ; Amos Young, 1893 ; August C. Lutz, 1897 ; John W. Gensel, 1901; Thomas H. Jones, 1905 ; H. N. Lamberton, 1909 ; W. E. Tussing, 1913; Lehr E. Miller, 1917 ; Henry E. Botkins, 1921 ; a number of men having repeated themselves. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS-While the Allen County Board of County Commissioners is the real governing body, their duties are numerous and of much importance to the taxpayers. They have control of all public property, and if they see fit they may even sell the courthouse. While all other county officers have their duties outlined by statute, the county commissioners have latitude. They may use their own discretion in many things. The county auditor is ex-officio member of the board, and he keeps a record of its proceedings ; the sheriff preserves order. The Allen county commissioners are : James S. Daniels, John G. Wood and Samuel Stewart, already mentioned, and upon this board devolved the beginning of things-the building of the first courthouse and the organization of the county. The old rosters have shown the organization of the commissioners' court from year to year, naming the president of the board first, and it seems that there has sometimes been reorganization when there has not been an election. Sometimes vacancies have occurred and such must have been the case in the first board, as the name of Morgan Lippencott supplants the name of Samuel Stewart. Without further effort to show their time of service, the Allen County commissioners' roster is : Griffith John, James C. Coleman, James A. Anderson, Henry B. Thorn, John Brand, Michael Leatherman, John Schooler, John M. Wilson, Henry B. Thorn (when a name has been omitted and appears again, as in the case of Mr. Thorn, it means commissioner at another election), Shadrach Montgomery, Charles H. Williams, Charles C. Marshall, Matthew Dobbins, Nicholas Zanglenn, Jacob B. Haller, Samuel B. Walker, William Ackerman, Samuel Rock- hill, Burgess Dickey, Christian Steman, Moses Patterson, Horace Bixbey, Joseph Griffith, Cadwallader W. Jacobs, Freeman Bell, Almon E. Hadsell, C. W. Jacobs, Horace Bixbey, A. E. Hadsell, Samuel Ice, Freeman Bell, George W. Goble, Johnzy Keeth, James McBeth, Bernard Esch, William Ackerman, W. W. Williams, Jacob Crites, Francis M. Clum, Joseph A. States, Abraham Crider, C. C. Marshall, Albert Shenk, John Ackerman, William Bice, John Amstutz, George D. Kanawl, James A. Jacobs, Aaron J. Osman, Samuel T. Winegardner, Thomas C. Burns, G. D. Kanawl, Albert Hefner, Samuel W. Wright, Alexander L. Conrad, Charles W. Johnston, A. L. Fry, S. H. Arnold, A. L. Fisher, Beech Graham, Enos Huffer J. L. Heath, W. W. Craig, F. C. Wright, J. I. Lugunbuhl, J. A. Miller, Joseph Haunhorst, J. L. HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 259 Heath, M. C. Crossley, A. J. Gray, James G. Mackenzie, W. W. Craig, A. J. Gray and J. W. Thompson. In the 1920 election the short term expiring January 21, 1923, fell to Mr. Craig, Gray and Thompson filling the terms expiring two years later ; however, Mr. Craig took exception to the election returns, claiming that he received more votes than either of the others, entitling him to the long term of service. He has since been awarded one of the long terms and Mr. Gray the short term. COUNTY CORONER: The coroner of Allen County is a conservator of the peace. While the office is usually filled by medical doctors, it is one political preferment that always seeks the man. Some times coroners are elected who do not qualify and court bailiffs or any other available persons may be sworn in temporarily to perform urgent duties. The powers and duties of the county coroner are identical with those of the sheriff when it is necessary to suppress riots and arrest offenders, and under certain conditions the coroner may take charge of the county jail and imprison the sheriff himself. The prime requisite of the coroner, however, is to hold inquests where deaths result from unnatural causes, or where the cause of death is unknown. The coroner takes charge of all money or valuables found on the body of such person, disposing of them according to law. The incumbents are : H. Clippinger, Mathias Ridenour, Jacob S. Baker, William Myers, Samuel Sanford, William Sullivan, Samuel Sanford, Charles Metzger, Gustavus Feiss, Elijah Curtiss, Tobias H. Foltz, Peter H. Brooks, Levi Reichelderfer, John C. Convery, S. S. Herman, Louis G. Steuber, Enos G. Burton, Andrew W. Bice, Oliver Steiner, Albert Pfeiffer, E. J. Curtis, V. K. Hay, D. T. McGriff and A. J. Adams. While most county offices were established when Allen County was organized, there was no county coroner until 1844, and at times since then the coroner-elect has failed to qualify. In an emergency it is the most important office in the county. COUNTY SURVEYOR: The surveyor of Allen County establishes all lines and boundaries. He usually marks corners by stones and records the surveys. The incumbents of the office are : John Jackson, 1831 ; Hamilton Davis, 1837 ; Michael Leatherman, 1842 ; William Dowling, 1844 ; John P. Haller, 1850 ; D. W. Littlefield, 1859 ; S. J. Brand, 1861; David D. Nicholas, 1867 ; Johnzy Keeth, 1879 ; James S. Pillars, 1885 ; John C. Cronley, 1891; George Taylor, 1894 ; J. C. Cronley, 1898 ; Charles E. Craig, 1904 ; J. F. Cripp, 1908; Jonathan K. Brice, 1912 ; Walter R. Toy, 1914 ; E. A. Miller, 1916 and Walter R. Toy, 1920. It is understood that James W. Riley, who came into Ohio with Anthony Wayne as a scout, was a surveyor, and that he established the boundaries of the group of counties coming into existence simultaneously, February 12, 1820, and all bearing the names of Revolutionary patriots. It has been intimated that he surveyed the public square in Lima, giving it the appearance of a military defense. Some of the other counties in the group have similar public squares. No doubt the same public surveyor planned them. COUNTY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: The office of school superintendent was created by Act of the Ohio Assembly in revising the school code, and it became effective August 1, 1914. The requirements are that the superintendent act as clerk of the board of education, have charge of the public schools, formulate the course of study and conduct teachers' institutes, etc. He is elected by the presidents of the various villages and rural district boards of education. In Allen County he is not responsible for the Lima and Delphos public schools. From the beginning, the county superintendent has been Prof. C. A, Argenbright. 260 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY DISTRICT HEALTH COMMISSIONER : The latest acquisition to the official roster of Allen County is district health commissioner, the jurisdiction including the entire area outside of Lima and Delphos. The office was opened at the beginning of 1920 and the one incumbent is Dr. J. H. Sutter. All county offices are in the Allen County courthouse except the superintendent of schools and the health commissioner ; they are in the Memorial Hall. OHIO ASSEMBLY: In its various district combinations Allen County has been represented in the Senate by James Johnson, John E. Hunt, Jacob Clark, Alf red P. Edgerton, Sabirt Scott, James Cunningham, John Taylor, Ed M. Phelps, Edward Foster, Charles C. Marshall, Meredith R. Willett, Thomas J. Godfrey, W. Carter, Charles Boesel, P. W. Hardesty, William Sheridan Jr., G. W. Andrews, C. M. Saltzgaber, Thomas J. Godfrey, Elmer White, Robert Mehaffey, J. P. Schmieder, Robert Mehaffey, M. D. Shaw, John L. Geyer, Henry J. Lawlor, James D. Johnson, William F. Conley, William G. Brorein, William E. Decker, S. D. Crites, Thomas M. Berry, W. M. Denman and William Boehne. Some of the foregoing are recognized as residents of Allen County, while all of them have received the official support of Allen County voters. The Senate representation began December 2, 1833, while the House has had representation since December 4, 1837, as follows : James Cook, R. I. Skinner, Edwin Fisher, George B. May, J. F. Hinkle, John W. Walters, James B. Steedman, G. C. Mudgett, S. S. Sprague, Isaac Spear, Michael Leatherman, P. J. Hines, Cyrenus Elliott, Samuel R. Mott, Henry Lipps, William Blackburn, Lester Bliss, Charles Crites, Charles Post, Charles C. Marshall, Thomas K. Jacobs, John Monroe, Dr. R. E. Jones, William Armstrong, Isaiah Pillars, Thomas M. Robb, M. L. Baker, W. H. McCullough, G. W. Hull, William E. Watkins, D. C. Cunningham, William Rusler, C. H. Adkins, John W. Manges, Howard W. Pears, R. R. Kennedy, A. H. Herr and J. C. Cochran. When a man once enters politics—places himself in the hands of his friends—he bobs up for office frequently. When he once gets his feet wet he wades in, and many whose names appear in the Ohio Assembly list have had local preferment. Some of them have served Allen County in several different capacities. U. S. CONGRESS : Allen County has been represented in the U. S. Congress by Senator Calvin S. Brice, Mathias H. Nicholas, Charles N. Lamison, S. S. Yoder, B. F. Welty and John L. Cable. Because of the fact that the salaries of county officials are based upon the population, and there has been an increase since the last census, those elected to office A. D. 1920 will have an advance in their income, the increase automatically becoming effective as the newly elected officials begin their terms of service. The recorder and sheriff, who were re-elected, benefit from this increase when their new terms begin, the salary being computed on the population. While there are some chronic jurymen and officeholders, the voters are inclined to keep tab on such ambitions. Men are frequently re-elected and some have held the same office more than two consecutive terms. James Nicholas, who was the first Welshman honored with any political office in Allen County, was elected a justice of the peace in 1834, and he held the office continuously fifty-seven years. Citizens of Bluffton establish the claim that Richland Township has furnished the man for every office in the Allen County Courthouse. While there always has been more democrats than republicians in office in Allen County, the result of the 1920 political landslide will be apparent to the courthouse visitor. CHAPTER XXII THE URBAN SIDE OF ALLEN COUNTY It was William Cowper who declared that God made the country, while admitting the town to be the handiwork of man. Sometimes art has improved upon nature and there are some attractive community centers in Allen County. Like the cities of the plain, however, some of the early hamlets are known now only in history. An old account speaks of Auglaize City, but today the local geographers have no trace of it. While it was only on paper, Auglaize City was once the dream of Judge W. L. Helfenstein. Like the Fort Amanda pioneers, Judge Helfenstein also hailed from Dayton. He acquired land along the Auglaize River, and there was a blueprint made of Auglaize City. In this paper city there were stately avenues and magnificent squares, and while it put to blush all other nearby Ohio towns because of its ambitions, its princely avenues continued indefinitely to be shaded by the primeval forests. It was inhabited only by the wild life of the frontier—the American Indian, frogs and mosquitoes. While there are other crossroads towns that serve as community trading centers, the points mentioned in the last census report are : Beaver Dam, Bluffton, Delphos, Elida, Harrod, Lafayette, Lima, Spencerville and West Cairo. While Allentown, Gomer, Landeck and Westminster are attractive villages, they are under township organization. While "Goldsmith's Deserted Village" does not exactly describe Allentown today, the younger generation will marvel that it was one time ambitious to be the seat of government in Allen County. There are still a few landmarks of the past in Allentown. When the Allentown visitor quoted the line "Under a spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stands," William F. Bolender, the village blacksmith, continued the poem which seemed so descriptive of the community. He is one of the half dozen residents who have always lived in Allentown. The automobile has annihilated distance, and Mr. Bolender and others find employment in Lima. His talk was not exactly an "Anvil Chorus," but a simple review of changed economic conditions in the community—Allentown and the rest of the world. The garage has supplanted the blacksmith shop, once such an integral part of every community. The special horseshoer of today is different from the all-round blacksmith of yesterday. Time was when people had things mended by the blacksmith, but today they visit the ten-cent stores. Mr. Bolender has not mended a fire shovel or a pair of tongs in "many a day." When asking her for food, a tramp explained to a woman that price readjustments had put him on the road, and changed community conditions have eleminated the old-time blacksmith. While there were once blacksmith shops all over the country, the "chariot of fire" has changed it all. It was Gen. William Blackburn who really promoted the hope of the future in the breasts of the citizens of Allentown. When he came into Allen County as a government land agent he thought to locate the county seat in Allentown. It is perched high and dry on the Ottawa and when Lima sewage is properly disposed of, Allentown will become a suburban residence community. While fish only survive near the mouth of the contributing streams, Honey Run and Turkey Run, people seeking suburban property will not appreciate such an investment. It - 261 - 262 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY is said the vapor gas from the water discolors the houses in Allentown and there is not much incentive to improvement. The Blackburn house was a landmark there from 1850, until one summer night in 1904, when it went up in flames, and the loss of the solid walnut finish was the loss of quite a fortune. When the residents of a community are seized by the spirit of progress, nuisances may be abated and the hope of Allentown lies in the purification of the water in the Ottawa. The far-seeing citizen—the man with a vision—is the hope of any community. As a rule, the pioneers had breadth of vision—a glimpse of the future, and they were community builders. There are three kinds of citizens in every community—those who cuss, discuss and those who do things. Beaver Dam has its ambition and Bluffton points out its advantages to the world. It draws its patronage from three counties and six townships, saying nothing about the transient feature. As a business center Bluffton serves every need of the community. The population of Delphos places it among the cities of the first class, and in the past the canal was what made the community. Its appeal for patronage changed with the changing conditions, and Delphos is a voice in the commercial world today. The name occurs frequently in the many-sided developments of Allen County history. The community building spirit has been in evidence there since the coming of Father John Otto Bredeick, when the community was part of Putnam County. It is only by a turn in the wheel of fortune that Delphos is in Allen County. Section Ten was a Putnam County village. As a villiage of homes, Elida offers varied attractions and the retired farmers located in Gomer would not change their environment. Harrod and Lafayette have all the advantages, while the old saying runs "One foot up and one foot down, We're on the way to Limatown." "Kaleidoscopic Lima! Watch her grow !" There are plenty of industrial sites—Lima, Delphos, Bluffton, Spencerville—some good industries in all of the towns. The full dinner pail is the index to prosperity in any community. Aside from the railroad industry, there are 8,000 industrial workers in the towns of Allen County. There are favorable living conditions—no apparent congestion-and houses are built as there is need for them. The building and loan associations have relieved the situation and workmen are acquiring their own homes. It is estimated that three-fourths of the houses in Lima are owned by the occupants, and the percentage is higher in other towns. Despite the foregoing statement, one female property owner in Lima declared she had enough unpaid rent due her to enable her to make the journey around the world, showing that landlords are not altogether heartless in their dealings with tenants. While the rent hog has had little opportunity, some of the factories own houses and shelter those employed by them. In this way they are able to hold them—make them comfortable. The element of profiteering does not enter into the consideration—mutual helpfulness. In many instances factory men have built the bungalow type of houses and have door yards that are an attraction. While there are apartments, in the industrial communities the single house prevails. At booster meetings all unite in singing: "L-L-L-Lima, beautiful Lima, you're the only p-p-p-place in the world for me, N-N-N-Nobody shirking and everyone working, we will put across the C-C-C-C of C," HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 263 the slogan that united the forces on the 1920 Chamber of Commerce community effort. "East or west, home is best," and all who wander away come back in time to Lima. Just like the rest of the world, there comes a time in Allen County when no matter how tenderly reared and carefully sheltered, sentiment plays its part : "The little house says stay, but the little road says go," and the youngster quits the environment of his childhood, Since the beginning of the twentieth century, Lima has had steady growth. Big industries have been added, and the slogan "Lima leads," like the murmurings of many waters, expresses local enthusiasm. "Lima never failed" had to be reconstructed "Allen County never failed," when there was wartime need of countywide concerted effort. The following stoicism seems to be universal : "Lima is a very good village to live in, To lend and to spend and to give in, But to beg or to borrow, or get what's your own, 'T is the veriest town that ever was known." It is said that the people of one generation stone their prophets in order that the next generation may raise up monuments to them, and whatever the community attitude toward them while they are living, in the annals of the past the names of the Hon. Calvin S. Brice, Dr. Samuel A. Baxter and Benjamin C. Faurot have been coupled together as communty builders. In their day and generation they had their share in developing many public enterprises, and their names will always be intimately associated with the history of Allen County. Theodore E. Cunningham of Lima was a member of the Ohio State Constitutional Convention, and Richard Metheany and many others were active in upbuilding Lima, but the names Brice, Baxter and Faurot are inseparable—only Doctor Baxter being perpetuated in the next generation in the community. It is said of all men : "The places that know us now will soon know us no more forever." While Baxter place still shelters the family, the Brice and Faurot homesteads have gone to strangers. It is said that when love-making stretches over a period of ten or fifteen years, it becomes a fixed habit and the future happiness rests in security. While social life may have a par status, there was a romance in Lima as early as 1833, when beautiful young women were rare in the new country. When a covered wagon stopped a young woman who parted the curtain and inquired about food and shelter attracted the attention of a young man standing there. He was an Irishman and quick of perception, and as a result of the incident the Hon. N. W. Cunningham of Bluffton is the youngest in a family of eleven children born to these persons whose future was passed together. While the early marriage permits were granted in Celina, the marriage of James Saxon and Nancy Jones in 1843 is said to be the first wedding ceremony performed in Lima. While Cupid has been busy, there has also been business in the divorce courts since the tying of that first nuptial knot. The simple life—there was no grist mill in Lima and the settlers would go to the mills along the Auglaize at Wapokeneta. The story is told of the man who walked to Wapokeneta with his bag of grain, and when he returned with the flour he distributed it among the families, giving three pounds to each settler. Think of the neighborly spirit in the community. There was a time when the woman who went out to housework by the day never wanted the money for her service. She needed com- 264 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY modities that were not then on the market—were not sold in stores. She needed soft soap or bacon. When a woman had finished a family washing and the housewife had supplied her with soap for her own laundering at home, she said the Lord had heard and answered her prayers—simple faith, not much in evidence at the time of this story. When a pioneer woman who knew the art of weaving had the first carpet on the floor in the community, the neighbor children who saw it informed their mother that the woman had laid down a quilt and she was walking on it. When she was raising her bread in the old- fashioned dough tray, the neighbor children told their mother she was using the cradle for it. Some interested residents of Lima have asked to have Buckeye Island restored to its pristine condition if only on the pages of history, because many citizens of today never heard about it. R. H. Gamble, who has been a city engineer and mapmaker since 1879, admitted that Buckeye Island was new to him, but he immediately located it on an ancient map of Lima—the Ottawa River circling around, although not wholly enclosing it. When the stream was straightened and the loop was taken out there was no island, although at one time the stream followed the foothills along Circular street, and Blue Bird Hill—once the Cunningham homestead—overlooked Buckeye Island, occupied by the Ehrich property and the Rissier property adjoining it. These two properties were benefited from straightening the Ottawa River through Lima. They were then on the market as sites for residences, and near the center of things. While there were asheries and tan yards there, many own homes there today who do not know the island story. It is said the owner of the Ehrich land thus surrounded had sufficient vision to offer his service in straightening the Ottawa River for the privilege of using the dirt in filling the channel, and pedestrians along Elizabeth Street today do not know it was once an island. When the loop was taken out of the river there was no island. It was designated as Buckeye Island because of the buckeye trees covering it. No other community boasts of more bridges than span the Ottawa in Lima today. Mr. Gamble has copies of all the old maps of Allen County, and he has made a number of maps of Lima himself. He has mounted some of the old maps on cloth in order to better preserve them. He has. established more cornerstones and laid out more additions than any other engineer in Allen County. Mr. Gamble completed a real estate map of Lima in 1920 that is found in the realty offices, banks and building and loan offices, but the price was prohibitive and only those having need of it in their business ordered copies of it. When one lists the early industries of Allen County—asheries, tanneries, limekilns and sawmills, and then examines the survey of the industries of today as found in the office of the Lima Chamber of Commerce, he has some understanding of the progress made by the whole county in its first century of existence. The survey shows the need of improved sidewalks in the downtown section, and the attention of the merchants is called to them. When there were board walks in the business district, a merchant always knew when a customer was coming or he had warning of impending danger, but today, where are the board walks or the logs for the lumber ? Since the city is liable for damages should a pedestrian be injured on the walks. There is a campaign for better improvements, expenses to be charged to property owners who do not look after their own improvements. The City of Lima has HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 265 recently paid $110,000 into the country road fund and the commissioners are considering the question of returning it. The cost of removing the snow from 110 miles of streets in Lima on a recent storm occasion was $400 and the city needs its money. There are sixty-four miles of combined storm and sanitary sewers serving all the developed districts, and the system is being extended as rapidly as there are funds for it. When sewer connection was being made at the Lima House, workmen encountered a tree trunk in good state of preservation several feet from the surface. While the public square is now paved with brick, there was a time when it was a mud hole and two horses had a load when drawing an empty wagon through it. This tree may have fallen there in the beginning of community history, or it may have been part of the corduroy system in traveling on the surface. While the Ottawa River, Hog Creek or Swinonia has served as a sewer for Lima, a disposal plant is in prospect and many are confident of the future. While the Lima public square once had two graded streets intersecting it-Main and Market—there were four mud holes in either corner, and wagons loaded with wood or hay sometimes mired there. It was once a wood and hay market-a clearing house for farmers—but those commodities are seldom seen today. It was the original plan that Market Street should become the business center and Main Street the residence section of Lima, but the founders did not accurately forecast its future. Conditions reversed themselves and Main became the business street, while Market is noted today as a residence community. The order was changed in the 80's when the courthouse was located on North Main Street, and the removal of the Y. M. C. A. Building from the site of the Bleum Store and Trinity M. E. Church from the site of the Savings Building on Market at Elizabeth Street, opened up that side of Market Street for the extension of business territory. While Main is no longer a residence street for several blocks either way from the public square, business is steadily advancing along Market Street in either direction. While the Ottawa River and the Pennsylvania Railway effectually check the trend, of business along Main Street, who will prophesy the trend of future developments ? It is said the red light district is always the forerunner of business development. When a residence section has been cast in the shadow the property becomes cheaper and business reaches out in that direction. An unsavory population always reduces realty values, and Lima is rapidly extending its business territory. As the personnel of the community changes the more palatial residences are built on the outskirts of the city. The public square parked with automobiles and electric cars passing through it presents a different prospect today from the time when Main and Market streets were dirt roads intersecting the muster ground of the past—the community center where Dobbin used to do his bit, drawing the family carriage or bringing in the wood and hay wagons. But all that is changed today. The loaded wagons were all pried out of the mud, and instead of the hay there are filling stations, the automobile, truck and tractor having supplanted the horse and some time the motor bus may emancipate the cars. GOVERNMENTS OF LIMA AND DELPHOS The larger the community the more complex the problems confronting it and because of their charters Lima and Delphos govern themselves. While the report of the city auditor in Delphos only mentions HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 267 Mayor B. L. Jauman, the most recent report in Lima enumerates the mayors from the beginning, Lima having been incorporated as a city in 1842, and its first mayor was H. D. V. Williams. Henry DeVilliers Williams was a unique character. He wore buckskin breeches with a loose flannel shirt and a fur cap. He was a generous-hearted, reckless, easy-going man. Mayor Williams would divide his last mouthful of food with the man. who was in need ; he had a penchant for hunting, swapping horses, firearms •or any other property. He would sit for hours relating hairbreadth escapes from wild animals and from the Indians. As raconteur none have since excelled him. He and Daniel Musser were bosom friends and both were hunters who boasted of their prowess. They used to kill deer in the streets of Lima. They were sportsmen par excellence. Mayor Williams once killed a deer that had thirteen prongs on its antlers, and in writing of the period someone says : "Hunting consumed much valuable time, but the law of compensation was as active then as now and the balsamic odors of the woods, the clear blue of the sky, the beautiful verdure of the meadows could not have failed to have a salutary effect upon the huntsman," and since there were no profiteers hunting claimed the attention of Lima's first mayor. It is related that in 1835 Mayor Williams brought his family from Toledo to Allen County. One time when Mayor Williams and his friend Daniel Musser were in Kenton together, Mayor Williams admired and bought a dog. While bringing the animal home it bit him on the hand and, December 19, 1846, he died with all the horrors attendant upon hydrophobia. Since the days of Mayor Williams his successors have been : H. F. Hubbard, John P. Fay, Thomas Dalzell, A. N. Smith, James Cunningham, Thomas Dalzell, Thomas Milligan, Samuel A. Baxter, James E. Harriott, John Melhorn, James A. Newell, John L. Hughes, E. G. Hamilton, John R. Hughes, Isaac T. Hickman, John Collett, Thomas M. Robb, G. W. Overmyer, Richard Metheany, John C. Dunlevy, James B. Townsend, Frank E. Mead, H. S. Prophet, William McComb Jr., Ira R. Longworth, William McComb Jr., James V. Smiley, Samuel A. Baxter, H. S. Prophet, William McComb Jr., L. H. Rogers, Theodore D. Robb, T. D. Robb, Fred C. Becker, George Dyer, C. N. Shook, Theodore D. Robb, who died and his term was finished by Miles Standish ; B. H. Simpson, B. H. Simpson and F. A. Burkhardt. The mayor and members of City Council have hitherto served two years, but under its next reorganization Lima adopts the commission form of government. For four-score years Lima has been ruled by a mayor. The commission form of government comes into effect January 1, 1922, at the end of the term of Mayor Burkhardt. Henceforth initiative, referendum and recall enter into the conduct of public service. It requires genius to operate municipal affairs and nothing can be done in the U. S. Congress at Washington that so directly affects a community as the actions of ifs own lawmaking bodies ; while the stone pile was once a bugbear to evildoers, the outcome of commission government is awaited with interest. The 1912 revision of the Ohio Constitution provides for it. When many laws on the statutes of Allen County were enacted it was purely an agricultural county, but Lima is now an industrial center with manufacturing and commercial interests. Residents of the community have felt the need of different conditions. A movement to replace the aldermanic form of government with the commission- manager charter plan was begun early in 1919, and a commission was named and instructed to draft a charter. It secures home rule for Lima 268 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY except that the charter shall in no way interfere with the tax limit laws of the state governing municipalities ; city officials are not granted any greater debt-incurring power than they now possess. Public hearings are required upon appropriations of public money. Copies of the charter may be obtained by those who desire to study it. Here is a sentiment from the Athenian oath : "We will never bring disgrace to this, our city, by any act of dishonesty or cowardice." There was a time when the Lima police force consisted of one solitary officer called a marshal. He was chosen because of his physical rather than his mental qualifications. There was an unwritten law that no gentleman would be arrested without a fight, and anyone arrested without a fight was no gentleman. The entire population would turn out when it was known that certain characters were abroad for a time. The marshal at once went out for them and he usually landed them. Usually the town marshal was a terror for evildoers. One had a relative who proceeded to jollif y on the strength of their relationship and he found himself in durance vile as a result of his indiscretion. For years Lima has had a well equipped, efficient police department. One of the aims of Greater Lima is the proper zoning idea—safety zones for slow driving in the vicinity of schools ; quiet zones adjacent to hospitals, and the protection of residence districts from business encroachments. Under a modern zoning ordinance there can be no business houses in a strictly residence community. Zoning divides the city into districts, protecting each district from objectionable intruders, and provides that no parcel of land may be used in such way as to prevent all adjacent land from being improved with buildings of similar nature. There is also an effort to rid the streets of the poles used in the lighting system. The time has arrived when definite steps should be taken by the city to get this forest of poles from the main streets. Underground systems for wires and necessary poles in the alleys will solve the problem. THE PARK SYSTEM—In this climate people live out of doors six months of the year, and the modern housing plans seek to bring door- yards and living rooms together. The healthgiving ozone is the necessary thing. As late as 1910 someone exclaimed : "There is no place to rest. The, helplessness of the situation inspires the crowds, and midnight finds the people walking the streets-always good natured—a mass of good natured humanity—men, women, boys and girls out on a hot summer evening and an occasional band concert," and again appeared this paragraph : "Lima is proud of its 317 acres of beautiful parks, its well-paved streets, the high standard of its public schools, its attractive residences, its excellent shopping district, its pure water and the democratic hospitality of its people. All these things point out for Lima a progressive and prosperous future." However, Public Service Director Elmer McClain explains that only two of the parks credited to Lima are municipal, and, therefore, of permanent character. Faurot or City Park is attractive from the hand of nature, while man has accelerated its charms. The driveways are winding and the hillsides are flanked with shrubbery. Hover Park is an inside private property, and it is the ambition of the public service director to finally control it, and by acquiring a small tract connect it with Faurot, and thus establish a chain since Faurot adjoins beautiful Woodlawn Cemetery, and beyond lies McBeth woods and the Shawnee Country Club, part of which is permanent and part of which is leased, but destined to be a pleasure resort for many years. The rugged scenery along the Ottawa is included in this stretch of unbroken woodland, and HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 269 nature has been kind to the community. This connected chain of parks affords a natural stage—a fine setting for pageantry, a stadium for out- of -door operas, airdomes, etc. In Faurot Park is a collection of animals —elks with immense antlers, buffaloes, bears, monkeys, coyotes, foxes, Angora goats, ponies and a collection of birds, all of which require the presence of a custodian in winter as well as in the season when there are park visitors. McCullough Park and Lake on the other side of Lima affords indoor amusements as well as fishing which is limited to club members, and, with the river frontage and shaded boulevards, there is no dearth of out-of-door attractions. The public schools afford playgrounds and there are baseball diamonds and football grounds. The steam and electric cars transport citizens to nearby pleasure resorts, and with some natural forest still intact, and the smaller towns having their breathing spots, Allen County does not suffer for out-of-door amusements. The Delphos Public Library nestles away in a pretty little park that was provided in the beginning as a resort, and the love of the beautiful so permeates the community that many private homes are like pleasure resorts— front lawns and rear door yards alike attractive. The City of Lima covers an area of almost eight square miles, which means 5,000 acres, and in 1919 there were 9,915 registered voters-the Eighteenth Amendment not yet a reality. The total in 1920 was 17,670, indicating that about 7,000 women registered in Lima. With 175 streets aggregating 110 miles of improvement, and forty-six miles of pavement, there are advantages offered to citizens. With a police force of thirty- five efficient men, and adequate fire protection, with attention given sanitation, with a model business community, "Lima is the hub of a mighty industrial wheel with spokes of steel radiating in every direction." Since Lima is a manufacturing center in a rich agricultural territory, it is but natural that "Lima leads." It would require a full-sized directory to enumerate the business and social enterprises of the community. The promoters all had the opportunity in the biography section of the Allen County History. CHAPTER XXIII A RESUME—TOWN AND COUNTRY In 1790 the first United States census, taken under the supervision of President George Washington-the year following the beginning of his first administration—disclosed a total population of 4,000,000, and since about one-fifth of the inhabitants were Negro slaves, there was a problem confronting the new republic. The whirligig of time has changed many things. The 1920 census reveals an increase of, 106,000,000 people in the United States, with human slavery out of existence, the liquor business in the throes of dissolution, and the women of America emphasizing the fact of their emancipation. The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution applies to Negroes, while the Eighteenth Amendment liberates the women of the United States. Schools of citizenship were a feature of the 1920 presidential campaign in Allen County and the womanhood of the country, has asserted itself in the community. It was not until the sixth official census of the United States that Allen County was listed, although in 1830 there were 578 persons reported from the area then tributary to Mercer County. On June 6, 1831, Allen was detached from Mercer and established its own legal existence. Since then the official returns have shown the Allen County population as follows: 1840, 9,079; 1850, 12,100; 1860, 19,185 ; 1870, 23,623 ; 1880, 31,314 ; 1890, 40,644 ; 1900, 47,976 ; 1910, 56,580; 1920, 68,203, and while the ax man "Death" deals right and left, it is apparent that the stork has made more visits than the undertaker in the homes of Allen County. Although the air-man may supplant mundane travel in twentieth century transportation, nothing will ever interfere with the plan of the stork in bringing youthful passengers into the community, While P. T. Barnum was right in his day, it is no reflection on the children of Allen County to say that the birthrate of fools has been doubled with the increase in the world's population. It is estimated that, as a whole, the 1920 census shows an increase of 175 per cent in fifty years. The result in Allen County is a fraction more than 180 per cent in the last half century. In actual figures the gain in population is 44,580, being an average increase of almost 1,000 annually. The county enters its second century in local history unabashed and unashamed of its past. It is a front line county in its agriculture and livestock interests, and its voice has been heard in the councils of state and nation. It is prominent in law, medicine and statesmanship and with its millions of wealth in its undeveloped resources, Allen County is a fit type for the councils of the commonwealth. It is no longer fit. ting to discuss Allen as a new county since it has passed its centenary It is the most populous of the six counties in the Fourth Congressional district, of the seven counties in the State Senatorial district, and of the sixteen counties in the Appellate Judicial district of Ohio, and because of its population the board of elections in Allen County always receives election reports from all those centers. Lima is in the limelight-a political storm center. There was a time when "everybody knew everybody" in Allen County, but that was in the "good old days" that will never come again. When the returned traveler meets one old friend who has forgotten him and another who did not know of his absence, he calls the community - 270 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 271 selfish and wonders why he had not impressed himself upon it more definitely. He forgets that there is a vacant chair in every household and that the waters of oblivion soon close over the absentees like the waters of the ocean over a fish that has leaped out of them and then dropped back again. The certain way to be remembered is to leave the community owing everybody, and then old acquaintances are not always the best friends; some have unfailing memories for one's age and family secrets. The pioneer had the right idea who said it is upon the better things of life one must fix his gaze who would be remembered in any community. Births, marriages and deaths make up the sum of living in any community ; the citizenry of today did not look into the faces of those sturdy pioneers who inhabited Allen County prior to 1850—the days of personal struggle and heroism in conquering the wilderness. It is a source of gratification to think of that generation as exalted before God and man. Someone says : "We understand them better today when we see things unfolding before us, of which they had definite vision in their generation; they were building for the future." What shall be the state of society when this generation shall leave it to the next—this new civilization in Allen County, coming out of the World war and entering upon the task of reconstruction? A generation is an average lifetime in a community-about one-third of a century—and about three generations occupy the stage of action in a century. The next generation always takes up the white man's burden where the men and women of the past choose to leave it, and it seems a far cry from the log cabin home in the wilderness of Allen County to the stucco mansion of today. The architect builder of today would be unable to draw plans for the Allen County settler, who went to the woods with an ax when he was ready to construct his primitive American abode. He cut and trimmed the logs and rived the clapboards, and the architect of today would be mystified with weight poles and eavebearers, nor could he construct the stick and clay chimney of the long ago. Who was it said: "A weight-pole roof and puncheon floor, A mud-stick-chimney and a clapboard door," and even the heating system is changed today. There was a fireplace from four to six feet wide, and about four feet in height with a layer of mud on the inside walls to prevent them from burning, and the cracks were scutched and daubed instead of the modern lath and plaster. There were wooden hinges and a wooden latch on the door, and the latchstring out was a welcome to frontier visitors. Instead of skylights and bay windows, the settlers used greased paper to admit the light, and how to rid themselves of the forest trees was the problem rather than where they would obtain the next armfull of stove wood. Not all the timber was of the quality for the rail-splitter when fencing was the difficulty and much of it went up in smoke to rid the ground of its encumbrance, nor was it exactly wilfull waste that has brought about this woeful want in the country. A recent jokesmith has said : "Don't live too fast, my friends, or mind you— We'll soon be walking slow behind you," although it was not the spectacle of pride going before the fall with the Allen County settler. In reminiscent mood Dr. Samuel A. Baxter wrote : "A pioneer who has not an Indian, panther or wolf story which for blood-curdling 272 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY details surpasses all other stories of the like, is not a pioneer worthy of the name," and the time has come in Allen County history when none are left to tell those stories firsthand-all hearsay stories today. The people of the long ago would say "What became of Old-Man-So-andSo ?" and they would preface their remarks with "Don't you recollect ?" Aye, that part of Allen County's population long since went the way of the world. While some of the stories will always remain, it is impossible to reproduce the animated faces and hear the hearty laughter of "other days." The settlers had no newspapers and they "must needs" drive dull care away with word-of-mouth stories, but there is a changed civilization today. The span of fifty years—it depends upon whether it is in prospect or retrospect, when it seems like an eternity. In the annals of the Welsh community appeared the following: "Gradually the wilderness gave way to the pioneer. His sturdy arm and untiring frame never knew rest until the forest was made to blossom with fruit and grain. Along the stream he built his mill and in the protected valley he laid out his village, and there is another glimpse of the picture—old log barns have disappeared and there are frame barns painted red, an attractive color scheme against the landscape. The cabins of the settlers long since disappeared and there are frame and brick dwellings-every man's home his castle. His 'children are with him in bed,' and they are free from molestation." Evidently the sacred writer had some conception of Americanism, but now the modern city has transformed all those primitive conditions. The wilderness dweller in Allen County history met the howling wolf with defiance and dined upon the wild meats of the forest. He inhabited the land with the panther, wolf, bear, deer, wild hog, raccoon, opossum, porcupine, wildcat, groundhog, squirrel, rabbit, mink and weasel, but, as the virgin forest yielded to his ax, cattle, sheep, hogs and horses flourished in the meadows. Among the feathered tribes were wild turkey, pheasant, quail, wild goose, owl, partridge, duck, wild pigeons—there were many birds of fine plumage when the white man came—the red, blue and black birds, robin, humming bird, jay, woodpecker, yellow hammer, lark, swallow, whippoorwill, dove and mocking birds-and there were reptiles, some of them poisonous, but the children of today only have the printed stories as proof of their existence. The wild life of the forest disappeared with the woodlands, and there is now no friendly shelter. At the end of 100 years ref orestration is the problem. When the woodman first went forth with his ax he encountered walnut, oak, hickory, these monarchs of the forest offering the settler some suggestion as to the quality of the land. It required good soil to grow big trees, and when Allen County land was on the market many families from the older Ohio counties took advantage of the opportunity. Weary of hillside farming in the unproductive, stony country, they simply changed ends of the state, and they were wise enough to seek the lands along the streams, both for quality of land and the advantage of water. In Knapp's "History of the Maumee Valley," dealing with conditions in the '70s, is the statement that within a radius of five miles of Delphos there were thirty-five sawmills, and if the ratio was the same all over Allen County that fact alone explains the disappearance of the forest. There are portable saw mills today and sometimes teams are seen drawing logs, and trucks rapidly deliver them at the mills. It is hard to understand that there was a time when there was no market for timber in Allen County. While the work of clearing the farms was a laborious undertaking, the ax was applied to the giants of the forest HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 273 and in due time the "cabin in the clearing" was the harbinger of the present-day civilization. While it requires a Paul to plant and Apolis to water, when the settler did his part God gave the increase, and the lowing herds and the fields of waving grain are in evidence at the end of the first century in Allen County history. The log heap and the brush pile were links in the chain, the white ash, wild cherry, red beach, walnut—all went up in smoke in the advance of civilization. It is said that all shade trees in Allen County towns today are second growth timber and it seems a matter of regret that the settler did not have the vision and leave some of the giants of the forest. The settler must perforce cut off sufficient space for his cabin, and when the logs were cut in lengths four to six of the neighbors would come in and with handspikes they would consign them to the pile. There was a community spirit and they invited everybody. The women and children came along, and sumptuous dinners cooked before the fire were placed on the tables. There were viands at hand and hospitality asserted itself. It is changed environment today, but the community spirit still rules in the hearts of men. While the snow-white loaf has supplanted the johnny cake of the settler, the menus are changing again. The wholesome diet of the pioneer entered into the health conditions. While the pioneer was his own manufacturer and could shoe a horse or iron a wagon with equal dexterity—no comparisons • necessary with the finished workmanship of today—the wholesome ,advice to all knockers was to build houses where they could knock to some purpose, and the pioneer was never the prisoner of fate who learned only one part of the trade, as does the penitentiary convict of today. Aye, for many years the fathers, mothers, sons and daughters were all clad in garments made by their own hands, when everybody worked from daylight until late at night, and nothing was said about shortening the hours of labor. The father made the shoes and the mother knit the socks by the light from the embers, and when a new broom was a necessity it was brought from the forest ; they swept their door yards oftener when they had the wooden brooms. As the markets came nearer the rude cabin the settler became less versatile in his resources, and today everything is produced in the American factory. Time was when the children studied the three R's by the light from the hearth, and who would refuse a helping from the chicken potpie, the apple or berry dumplings or vegetables cooked before the fire when once they found their way to the table? When the mothers used ears of corn for rolling pins, and hung their dinner pots on the cranes and pot trammels they were never uncertain about results. The potatoes roasted in the ashes had no uncertain flavor, and the bread and the pones baked in the skillets always passed muster. Before there were Lucifer matches the woman with the pipe always managed to keep a bed of coals alive on the hearth. It was an improvident neighbor who was reduced to the necessity of borrowing fire, and what would the settler have known about the bath room and the steam heated homes that have followed in the wake of his wilderness activities ? In 1835, when Allen County began filling up rapidly with men and women determined to conquer the wilderness, they thought nothing of the long distances to mill and to market, in Sandusky and Piqua—those hardy frontiersmen. When the settlers came some of them were so fortunate as to bring provision—cornmeal, meat, a horse, a cow, a gun for the wild meats and some of them had dogs, and building material was never the problem ; the people of England recognized the situation and bought timber Vol. I-18 274 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY in America for a song. Yes, Allen County shipped timber to the British Isles in an effort to rid the ground of its encumbrance. While every corner of the county has its legends, and every community has its heroes in whose honor there are picnics and celebrations, it remained for the Elida Pioneer Association, organized in 1895, to draw aside the curtain of the years and see it all again. This annual reunion and home-coming attracts many visitors, and as they listen to the voice of the past and "hear the sound thereof as the sound of many waters," they are glad to wait awhile in the grove—God's First Temple. M. J. Sanford is credited with the suggestion, and the Elida Pioneer Association meets always on the second Thursday in August. In Allen County are many who are "the stuff that dreams are made of" and they like to think of the pioneers as having lived for the future. They sank their personal hopes and ambitions for the advancement and development ; they looked for their reward in the advantages they might secure for posterity, in the welfare of the community. While a community may fall prey to its own inherent weakness, they had no false standards or ambitions. They were not included in the category of an old-fashioned philosopher, meditating on what ails the world, who said there are "too many diamonds and not enough alarm clocks ; too many silk shirts and not enough flannel ones ; too many pointed-toed shoes and not enough square-toed ones ; too many serge suits and not enough overalls ; too much of decollette and not enough aprons ; too much of the spirit get while the getting is good' and not enough old-fashioned Christianity ; too much discontent that vents itself in mere complaining, and too little real effort to remedy conditions ; too much class consciousness and too little common democracy and love of humanity." While the pioneers always discuss the "good old times," under World war economic conditions Allen County citizens have been united in their quest for the profiteer, and their discussion of "high old times," incidentally taking many flings at the high cost of living, literally submerging Hi Cost with vindictive charges, while all the dealers attempt to convince them that the higher the cost the less the margin of profit. Business has necessarily been on a sliding scale, seeking to adjust itself at every stage, and it is the shrewd dealer who avoids the sandbars in steering his craft through the troubled waters. There are two opinions of profiteers-what they think of themselves and what others think about :hem—and while profiteering may be curbed it is said the wages of sin remain unchanged-the wages of sin is death. The word growing out of war time conditions has been used recklessly, all recognizing the iced of legitimate profit. While some argue about the prices of commodities, others pay what is asked and do not question it. While ecoaomic conditions have been unsatisfactory, all are agreed that Allen County skies are just as blue, and that on the other hand the clouds are sometimes just as threatening as anywhere else in the world. CHAPTER XXIV MARKING THE TRAIL-THE MILESTONES It is said that the first real Americans belong to the Old Northwest— the Northwest Territory. On December 23, 1837, when addressing the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus, Judge Timothy Walker of Cincinnati said : "There was a time in the history of Massachusetts when they sought to overcome a popular craze for moving to Ohio." The Ordinance of 1787 secured so many advantages and Ohio was the nearest area to the emigrants. It is said that in Massachusetts resort was had to counteracting fiction in an attempt to check the emigration to Ohio. The region was represented as cold, sterile, sickly and full of all sorts of monsters. There were caricatures of those who had ventured into the Old Northwest who were glad to get back again. While the settlers all lived on "hog and hominy," many did not wish to return to New England. In some communities the historian finds so little data of the past that he is reminded of the ancient story of when the nations of the earth were given their religions. Each one inscribed the sacred creed upon either metal, parchment or stone, but too often the pioneer has had the characteristics of the Gypsy who is reputed to have written his creed upon cabbage leaves, when the donkeys were browsing in that direction, so meager has been the record left behind him. Lord Byron once said : " 'Tis strange but true; truth is always strange—stranger than fiction," and while a great deal of fiction may be written about one single fact, in Allen County there is a commendable spirit of veneration for long-established institutions. While the pioneers practically remained in their own dooryards, their sons and daughters have wandered far. There are "globe trotters" among them. "See America first," and in this age of steam, electricity and gasoline the sons and grandsons have enlarged neighborhood limitations. The third and fourth generations are living under such changed conditions that they frequently whirl through adjacent county towns, while their fathers and mothers seldom or never saw them. While some of the vanguards of society who say the world is traveling too rapidly sound the warning "Beware—beware of the dog. Beware of pickpockets," and "Watch your step" is the timely admonition, any appliance to make the machinery run smoother seems to have been utilized-anything that supplies the oil in toil, or provides the ease in disease, is welcomed by the community. It is said that in the matter of hope boxes Allen County maidens still walk in the footsteps of their grandmothers, and in some things society remains unchanged today. When Jacob's character and manner of living changed, he was henceforth known as Israel ; however, it would be confusing to history and directory publishers were such the custom today. "All things to all men" renders such violent change an impossibility. When Simon became Peter he had a different personality. Some Allen County folk change their natures without the formality of changing their names. THE ALLEN COUNTY HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY The constitution of the society is the same as the State Historical and Archaeological Society, but the by-laws are made to suit local require- - 275 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 277 ments. While sentiment has been crystallizing in favor of a local historical society for many years, things were brought to a focus in 1908, and the name of James Pillars will always be associated with the organization. The story of the organization of the historical society and of the building of the Allen County Memorial Hall are closely linked together. When it was nearing completion it offered permanent shelter for the society. While Mr. Pillars had served Allen County as surveyor, and had an intimate knowledge of its history, he was interested more as curator than historian. He was always a collector of relics and antiques and he agitated the question of the preservation of such things. When it came to assembling curios,. Mr. Pillars knew where to locate them, and all unite in paying tribute to him in connection with the organization. When the society was finally installed in the Memorial building, Allen County provided the cases for the preservation of the antiques, and in the collection are things that are growing priceless with the passing of the years. The pictures of many Allen County pioneers line the walls and to the casual visitor some of them live again. A visit to the museum maintained by the historical society is a liberal education in the lost arts of the long ago. While sentiment was apparent, the moving spirits in effecting the immediate organization of the Allen County Historical and Archaeological Society were : H. D. Campbell, Ezekiel Owen and Grant M. Sprague. While the Lima Club still occupied the site of the Argonne Hotel, it offered the use of its parlors, thereby encouraging the effort. The plan was to call a meeting of the sons of the pioneers—the most interested citizens. The meeting was called in December, 1908, and there was a general response—a satisfactory attendance. A charter was ordered and an adjourned meeting was called for January 4, 1909, when inclement weather reduced the attendance. On January 15th the organization was furthered by naming trustees as follows : H. D. Campbell, John Davison, G. M. Sprague, John W. Lutz, T. D. Robb, Dr. R. E. Jones, Ezekiel Owen, Daniel Baxter, Andrew Bice, T. K. Jacobs, G. M. McCullough, J. E. Grosjean, Dr. George Hall and George Feltz. At another meeting, January 20, 1909, Theodore D. Robb was named president ; H. D. Campbell, vice president ; J. W. Lutz, secretary ; George Feltz, treasurer. When it came to the choice of a curator, there was just one name in the minds of all—James Pillars. Since his death, Mrs. Pillars has served the society both as curator and its secretary. The committee on by-laws, T. D. Robb, J. M. Prague and J. E. Lutz, had in mind the local situation, and the townships all had recognition in the organization. The curator remains on duty from 9 A. M. till 4 P. M. each day, and there are many visitors. There are life, active, non-resident and honorary memberships, and it has always been the plan to have persons interested in the historical and anecdotal sides of Allen County address the meetings. All papers read before the society become its property, and thus there is a complete Allen County history on file in the archives of the Historical and Archaeological Society. While the Historical Society has made many social surveys, as yet no papers are on file showing the foreign population of Allen County. It is said that because of the World war, the foreign population has not materially increased in several years, and Congressman B. F. Welty has actively opposed indiscriminate immigration from Europe. It has been urged that everybody from everywhere in Europe is headed for the United States these days, and the question has been raised as to how long this country is to maintain its identity. While America has been characterized as the melting pot of the world, as long as other languages 278 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY are heard there will be no amalgamation of society. As long as colonization is permitted, the different nationalities will spread their political, mental, moral, social and religious characteristics. While the different tongues are heard there will never be harmony in citizenship. Under the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787, a good class of people had been attracted to the Northwest Territory. There are more foreigners in Allen County on the threshold of its second century, than were here in the wilderness days of its history. Almost all the nations are represented today in Lima, and but few f oreigners relinquish their own tongue in an attempt to master English. There is a sentiment against the use of the hyphen in connecting any foreign country with America. Among the early settlers were the Welsh people who wish to be characterized as American, and the most hopeful sign is the fact that they are relinquishing their language in favor of English, both in church and social life, D. D. Nicholas saying : "The Welsh language is fast giving way to the English in all the churches and among the Welsh people generally." There were three Welsh families in the Gomer community from the beginning of local history. The Swiss or Mennonites—the devotees of Simon Menno, were also among the early settlers about Bluffton. Seeming to think the chances were better for the churchman, one of the deacons said he had come to Allen County while the settlers were still on mercy's side of the grave. The negro would hardly be classed as an immigrant because he has been in Allen County almost from the dawn of its history. Many of the colonies of foreign born citizens are comparatively recent acquisitions to the community. Those who came early were Randolph slaves liberated under the Emancipation proclamation, and their descendents are still in the community. In the beginning the negroes had farms, but the whites soon acquired them and they flocked to the industrial centers ; the same thing is true in surrounding counties. The Allen County negroes are nearly all in Lima. A few families live in Delphos, and a few live in the country. It is estimated that there are 2,500 negroes in Allen County. In 1916, there were 552 negro voters in Lima ; there has been an exodus of negroes to Allen County within the last four years, and in 1920, counting the women, there were almost 1,000 negro voters. A large percentage of the Allen County negroes own their own homes ; they take advantage of educational opportunities, and there are a number of high school graduates among them. Some have become teachers in other communities. The Lima negroes are law-abiding citizens, and they are found in business and in the professions. There are two African Methodist Episcopal and two Baptist churches ; the secret orders are : Samuel W. Clark Lodge Free and Accepted Masons, Morning Star Knights of Pythias, Siroc Chapter Royal Arch, Hamilton Commandery Knight Templars, and Lone Star Court Calanthes. While most of the negroes live in certain localities, there is no segregation. It is related that the first negro in Lima was named Banks, and that he married a white woman named Brown. They lived on the bank of what is now called McCullough Lake—happy ever afterward. A few times there have been race riots, and the negroes do not move into communities where the Irish are in the majority. It is said the negroes do not live north of the Pennsylvania railway tracks in Lima. In 1888, at the time of the spring election there was a riot between the Irish and the negroes ; it broke out in the Del Flora saloon when the negroes and whites were there together ; some one started the song "Don't like a nigger, no how," and one word followed another as the negroes and Irish mixed up together. An Irish boy named HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 279 Pat Hughes was an innocent by-stander. While pumping a drink of water outside the saloon, a negro, Fred Harrison, stabbed him, and he died from the injury. Knives and razors were brought into service, and a lot of people were slashed that night ; there were no other fatalities. Harrison served time for the offense but was out again when he killed a soldier, and he is now in the penitentiary. Once in a while the color line is drawn, and the negroes remain south of the railway tracks for safety. They are represented on the Lima police force, and they do not unnecessarily antagonize the Irish. It is said that of all the problems presented by immigration, the most important and the most difficult of solution, are the social problems ; they attain practical solution when members of a community feel themselves such, recognizing mutual duties and obligations. When it comes to citizenship and patriotism, the Lima negroes fill the requirements. They furnished about 200 soldiers in the World war, and Capt. Peter McCown is a retired army officer. As a soldier in the standing army, Captain McCown was at San Juan Hill with Theodore Roosevelt and his Roughriders in the Spanish-American war. When the post of United States minister to Liberia was tendered him in reward for his political zeal, Captain McCown declined with thanks, preferring the quiet life vouchsafed to him in Lima as a ward of the United States Government. In reviewing the history of the race, Captain McCown said that in the sixty years the negro had enjoyed his freedom, he had made rapid advancement in civilization. While some trust wholly in the Lord, others are inclined to take care of themselves and to work out their own destiny. THE JEW IN ALLEN COUNTY—Jacobs, Simon, Goldsmith—Levi Jacobs was the first Jew to take up his residence in Lima. It was about 1850, the Jacobs clothing store was opened, and the Jews have never located in any other town in Allen County. Because the Jews are in business, the average citizen is greatly mistaken in estimating the Jewish population. They always seem more numerous than they are—perhaps 350 Jews in all. There are both Reformed and Orthodox Jews in the community. When Joseph Simon located in Lima he engaged in the hotel business, and Joseph Goldsmith, who later married his daughter, still owns the Lima House although a non-resident today. Nathan L. Michael, who has been identified with the Lima business community since 1878, relates that the Jewish colony when he came comprised about one dozen families. There are now perhaps 100 families, although a smaller population than the casual observer would say without investigation. The Lima Jews have diversified business interests—manufacturing and commercial pursuits—and some of the big enterprises are Jewish capital. Jews have turned their attention to both law and medicine, although the commercial world claims most of them. While it is said the Jews constitute about 2 per cent of the population of the United States, they are less than 1 percent of the citizenship of Lima. The Reformed Jews are those best known to the public, and through long years of training they are Americanized and conform to local customs. The Orthodox Jews are Oriental in their forms and ceremonies, and the kosher superintends their diet. They are a later acquisition to Lima. The Reformed and Orthodox Jews do not worship together. The Jewish Synagogue on West Market Street is a community center for the Reformed Jews. They own their own homes, and their home ties are sacred; when the Jew engages himself to marry a woman, his sacred obligation begins and the Jews seldom appear in the divorce courts. The Jews are exclusive, and with them religion is law ; through common sense 280 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY social alliances they avoid clash of opinions, and thus they maintain the sanctity of the marriage relation. The Lima Jews have co-operated in all community movements and war measures ; they bought their share of Liberty bonds and do not hold themselves aloof from the citizenship requirements. Their children are given an English education, although they cling to their own tongue in family conversation. The Jews take care of their own unfortunates, and contribute to community benevolences. Lima Jews contribute to the support of a national tuberculosis hospital in Denver. In one day, B'nai B'rith raised $1,500 for the Cleveland Orphans' Home, only soliciting among Lima Jews. All had been asked to have their checks in readiness, and in two hours three solicitors had accomplished the service. Local Jews always celebrate the different feast days and holidays, and they are always represented in Jewish conventions. While there are occasional outbreaks of anti-Semitism--the merest propaganda, these attacks are not of religious inspiration. They arise from the fallacy charging the Jew with an ambition to rule the world. While "Rich as a Jew" is a common expression, the Jews are not in control of the finances of the world. In this country the Jews are Americans-always loyal to the country in which they maintain citizenship. THE ITALIANS IN LIMA—While immigrants have helped make this the richest and most powerful country in the world, and the Italians are simply flocking to a land discovered by one of their countrymen, the men at the helm in governmental affairs now recognize the dangers arising from admitting foreigners. War-stricken Europe would soon occupy all the vacant spaces, and Americans would be crowded like the older nations of the world. There are a dozen nationalities in Lima today. While the Italians come and go, there are about sixty permanent families -perhaps 300 Italians. While many Italians are engaged in the fruit and confectionery business downtown, the majority of them live in the industrial communities and are employed in factories. Frank Colluci, who is spoken of as "the King of Italy," came to Lima in 1889, and Victor Cardosi was already in the community. The majority of the Italians in Lima came in the '90s, among them the names : Cardosi, Colluci, Pelligrini, Gomella, Deprato, and while some are floaters, others acquire citizenship ; they educate their children in public and parochial schools, but "about as many don't go to school," said Edward Cardosi, representing one of the oldest families. The Lima Italians are all Catholics with membership in St. Rose and St. John Catholic churches, and they only go back to sunny Italy for short visits, realizing that they are better off in America. It is said that John Gomella was the first Italian to locate in Lima. The Greeks live in colonies, and they are frequently classed as Italians. Since the World war many f oreigners are becoming naturalized American citizens. At one hearing twenty-two were asking for naturalization in Lima, among them some Italians. While there are Austrians, Hungarians, Greeks and Japanese and Chinese in the community, they are not yet in such numbers as the Jews and Italians. When the Japanese student heard the Englishmen speak of "hencroachments," he thought it was only a matter of gender, and decided not to "cockroach" upon society, and thus the campaign of education is the hope of the immigrant to America. With the transient foreigner, there is little sense of community obligation and the American finds it hard to be neighborly with him ; it was St. Ignatius who defined Christianity as a way of living together, and real Christianity emphasizes the community spirit and intensifies the social virtues. CHAPTER XXV THE HOUSE OF THE LORD IN ALLEN COUNTY In the Bible is this personal experience related : "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the House of the Lord," and all through the ages that sentiment has expressed the feeling of Christians. The Grand Old Man of England, William E. Gladstone, once said : "I go to church on the Sabbath day not because I believe in religion, but because I love England," and it was a little hard to establish the line of demarcation between religion and patriotism—the love of God and the love of country, predominating seemingly the same in the early days of Allen County history. It used to be said : "Once in grace always in grace," and yet there are back-sliders in some of the Allen County churches as. well as in the rest of the world. While the Allen County Lima Ministerial Association is not of enduring and historic nature, because its personnel changes with the changes in local pulpits, the history of Allen County churches goes back to the founding of Lima, the Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists all occupying the field early, and in each instance of those three denominations the present organization occupies its third church edifice in the development of the community. Some of the later churches also hold that relation to the community. Some one has said that denominational machinery is the instrumentality through which great moral impulses and convictions are brought to a realization. While the Ministerial Association promotes the interests of the churches in a general way, it is peculiarly true of ministers that they "have no continuing city," and now and then their mantles fall on others. While the American Indians had an awe of the Great Spirit, and had traditions about the Happy Hunting Grounds—had a vague form of religion, the first record of any Christian minister in the community states that Rev. Samuel Shannon was a chaplain at Fort Amanda in connection with the second war with England. Since he was a Princeton University man, it would seem that the Presbyterians were first in the local field, although an old account says the Methodists frequently conducted religious services in the blockhouse there. Being a university man, the Rev. Samuel Shannon established high rank for the ministry long before the organization of Allen County. When the first court assembled in August, 1831, the records say that the Rev. William Chap man produced credentials as a Baptist minister, and he was granted a license to perform marriage ceremonies. He was of the Sugar Creek Society of Baptists. Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists—these three abode early, and the greatest of these was—but who'll risk saying it ? One peculiar thing—this Baptist minister accumulated a small fortune. He was enrolled as a minister in 1831, purchased a farm in Shawnee in 1832, and in 1833 he located in Lima ; the story goes that he lost his money, and that he died in an insane asylum at Indianapolis. While many ministers successfully finance large churches, most denominations find it necessary to superannuate and care for some of the aged ones. When ministers used to preach two hours before dinner and two hours again after dinner, they required attention. When the old-time minister warmed up to his text, he removed coat, vest, collar and neck scarf and sinners realized when he "served the Lord in fear and trembling." It was sometimes said of the pioneers that they were - 281 - 282 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY "more bold in the gospel," when some one supplied them with whisky before entering the pulpit. It was remarkable how clearly some of them presented the gospel who farmed on weekdays and preached on Sundays, dispensing wholesome admonition and plain facts from the Word of God. The preacher who is a man before he is a minister, usually has a following in any community. The old story of the three sexes : men, women and preachers, has about spent itself. When two children saw a minister, one said: "Hello man," while the other cautioned her : "Sh - that's no man; it's a minister." The Christian church, the public school and the secular newspaper- this great educational triumvirate, is within the reach of all in Allen County today. The Interchurch World religious movement has discovered the fact that men are thinking less about creeds and more about deeds, and the Rev. 0. E. Smith, who completed the survey of the rural churches came to the conclusion that fewer churches would better serve the communities. While there may be some need of missionary effort, there are pastorless and over-churched communities, and combinations of the working forces would serve a better purpose ; fuller data is given of some churches than others simply because some of the churches possess the necessary information themselves ; some have it in printed form while others are absolutely void of data. The charge is established in many instances that names are retained on church rolls after they are inscribed on tombstones, owing to the failure of church clerks to keep the mortuary records. One Lima church folder carried this statement with reference to church attendance : "It is a perpetual duty year in and year out, and not an infrequent visit to be rendered on special occasions ; a man cannot regulate his business successfully in that manner ; nor can you make a success in your religious life by such methods." While the rural survey was carefully made, and the Rev. 0. E. Smith discovered ninety-two rural churches in Allen County, he was convinced of the fallacy of so many denominations and of so many factions within some of them. He found two different sects of Christians ; two different United Brethren ; four kinds of Mennonites and four kinds of Methodists. Lack of leadership is the difficulty with the rural church ; while most of them are one-room buildings, in many of them there is an excellent community spirit ; the survey reveals the fact that 80 per cent of the Allen County farmers own their own f arms—a fact that augurs well for both the future of the church, and of agriculture. There are about half a dozen abandoned rural churches—an abandoned church being classed as one that is never opened only for funerals, as well as churches allowed to go into ruin from neglect. While there are some foreigners in the rural churches, most of the members are two and three generations removed from the emigrants. The groves were God's first temples, and the missionary and circuit rider had their day in Allen County. It is said that religion flourishes more in strenuous times : "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth," and likewise the population increases more rapidly under such conditions. While the population in Allen County increased more than 180 per cent in the last fifty years—from 1870 to 1920—there is no way of computing the gain in church membership because of the lack of figures, although a census report says that the church membership in the whole United States increased 350 per cent in that time, showing that the Christian religion is not dying out in the world. The Christian Register carried the story that a visitor in a town where there were four different churches, none of whom were properly supported, inquired of a member of one about the state of religion ; he committed himself by saying : "We are HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 283 not getting along very well, but, thank the Lord, none of the others are doing any better," and in the face of similar conditions a Methodist church at Gomer recently went in a body to the Congregationalists, and by uniting the churches doubled their advantages and halved their difficulties. An old account says : "In the early history of the Allen County churches the circuit rider had large parishes ; he was a welcome guest in the log cabin homes, and in the log schoolhouses where he preached the gospel to the people who came from miles around to hear him ; now the same gospel is preached in beautiful, commodious and modern churches." Theologians and sacred 'historians say of the religious denominations that had their beginning in history have not made the growth in numbers that has been true of churches of later origin; and yet the earlier churches stood for definite conviction ; the church of Mayflower origin was the earliest in United States history, and yet many churches have outstripped it in numerical development. "Train up a child in the way it should go," and it is a truism that the man or woman who had church training in childhood seldom strays so far that he does not in time return to it. The man with a distinctive message always has an audience; when God calls a man to preach Ile calls the people to hear him ; some may not agree with the oft-reiterated assertion, but quite as of ten the fault lies in the pulpit as in the pew. The minister who said Firstly, Amen ; Secondly, Amen ; Thirdly, Amen, had condensed his sermon more than the average minister. The short sermon has its claim on the pewholder in most churches. It is commonly understood that Dr. J. J. Muir, chaplain of the United States Senate, was invited to fill the position because 284 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY of the uniform brevity of his prayers ; his first prayer before that august body contained forty-nine words, and it is supposed to forecast the later prayers, Doctor Muir being expected to "boil down" everything. While the gospel of love is the keynote today, and no one is frightened into heaven, the theology of the past was total depravity in expounding man's accountability to God. The old-time religion embraced principles that many who sing that song, dream not of today. The viewpoint of all theological leaders changes, and the accepted conditions of the past are in the distance today. The business men of America recognize religion as the only solution of the political, commercial and industrial problems ; America's future demands a spirit of service ; the church is a body of believers associated in the work of Christ ; it is only a matter of accommodation that the place in which they meet is called a church ; it may be a public or a private place ; the pioneers met in the homes ; no matter what the place as long as it is a powerhouse of spiritual energy. Aye, the American civilization of today owes its existence to the white steeples surmounting the churches of other years ; there were bells in the steeples calling the populace to worship ; these structures, and the praying people assembled in them, prepared the foundation on which all commercial structures and great industries rest today ; religion must be found side by side with industry in order to secure the peace of the world. Since the brotherhood of man begins with the manhood of the brother, the early church was on the highway to better things. There was a time when the work of the church was practically all done by the women, but the brotherhoods came along and relieved them --the Father and Son movement, the Elder Brother-all have combined to change conditions. Men are today taking advantage of the social and educational opportunities offered in the Brotherhood meetings, and some of the former brothers-in-law to the church are becoming identified with it themselves. In a Lima church this placard was on the wall at a Brotherhood meeting : Happy New Year, all of you-wonder why the old church grew— You, you and you must keep comin'—yes, we'll keep the women sewin'. The dollar a plate service added to the exchequer—the women had a social evening, and the men listened to a travelogue worth the money. The Brotherhood dinner has largely supplanted the donation party, it one time being the custom for all to meet at the parsonage with a pound of something useful to the minister—the pound party of the past. While the Interchurch World movement was unable to secure data in Allen County except from the rural churches, the survey everywhere demonstrated conclusively the utter impossibility of uniting the different denominations on any definite evangelistic basis, since the ministers are multiplied who hesitated about giving out statistical information. The decadence of the rural church has long been a problem in society, and the city minister knows the depressing influence of an auditorium filled with empty pews. While there are fewer abandoned churches in Allen than in some other counties, there are changed community centers. In view of the situation the National, State and County Religious Survey. was planned, and through it people are learning of the under and over- churches communities. Persons with undimmed recollection of the hazy past, remember with regret that men and women who appeared in their best raiment when some of the now little used churches were dedicated to the worship of Almighty God have moved into other parts of the HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 285 mortal heritage, or sleep in the church yards and do not know of the seeming desecration. The men of affairs in every community are interested in the moral welfare, and they have respect for the church even though their names may not be on its roster. It is leaders rather than drivers the world needs today. It needs men with their feet on the ground even though their heads are in the clouds. The dreamers always have opened the way for material things, and idealism still precedes realism in the church as in the rest of the world. The survey has shown the overlapped church parish both in town and country, the majority of people in the towns passing other churches to reach their own, and since only about 25 per cent of the population attends church there are something like 17,000 communicants in Allen County. With a 75 per cent non-church going population, the missionary slogan, "Go ye into all the world," may be changed to Allen County alone. There are some who advocate home missions. While the Fort Amanda church effort was prehistoric as far as the Allen County of today is concerned, it would seem that the Methodists were first in Lima. The cornerstone at Trinity indicates as much ; the whole story is told in imperishable stone; in 1829 there was a mission; in 1832 there was a church organization; in 1835 there was a mission house, and in 1852 there was a church ; in 1872 there was a second church, and in 1910 the present magnificent edifice. While the Allen County circuit rider was once the Apostle of Methodism, Trinity is now said to be the seventh largest Methodist Church in the world ; its home missionary society of 800 members is said to be the largest similar organization in the world. There is a membership of 2,000, and the church is active in all of its departments. It is said that the Rev. Jesse Prior of St. Marys was the Methodist Episcopal circuit rider when the first marriage was celebrated in Lima, and that he performed the ceremony in 1833-the Saxon-Jones nuptials. There are divergent accounts of the organization of Trinity, one writer saying that in 1833 John Alexander and James Finney, missionaries from St. Marys, visited the community and established the church. It seems that Patrick G. Goode had organized a Sunday school two years earlier. The church at Market and Union streets has long ago been converted to other uses, although the framework still stands there. The parsonage of Trinity at Market and Elizabeth is still intact, and it is said that when the church had stood for thirty-five years the walls had been so well built it was difficult to raze it. The congregation needed a larger edifice in which to worship, and it was planned to remove farther from the business center, the site of the Lima Club being under consideration. However, it was not on the market and a site was chosen only one square from the old one. The present edifice was dedicated on March 17, 1912, and it is one of the most attractive pulpits in Methodism. The centenary apportionment to Trinity was $78,000, but being a missionary church committed to the Lima habit, it overreached its apportionment and raised $123,000, thus holding its place in the denomination at large. Other Methodist churches in Lima are : Grace, Epworth and Second Street, all doing excellent work in their respective commnities. The Methodist Episcopal Church is also found in the rural community. There are Methodist churches in Bluffton, Delphos and Spencerville. The Rev. J. M. Mills, who is assistant minister at Trinity, is the one Methodist Episcopal minister whose permanent home is in Allen County. While the Presbyterians are at least contemporary with the Methodists, the Market Street Presbyterian Church having been organized 286 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY August 24, 1833, by the Rev. James Cunningham and the Rev. Thomas Clark, there. are also other churches : Olivet in Lima, and churches in Bluffton, Delphos and Gomer. In the beginning the Presbyterians had their differences, and their difficulties, but today they are committed to a program of evangelization and are progressive, holding their own with other denominations. When the Market Street Presbyterian Church was organized it had fourteen charter members, and in 1879 it began the construction of its present church edifice, completing and dedicating it one year later. Cornerstone 'information is public property, but not all building committees have seen fit to furnish it. The Baptists were early, and in the first half century about all the denominations were planted in Allen County that are here today-1870 being considered the semi-centennial in local history. In 1854 came Zion's Evangelical Lutheran Church with its preliminary missionary service, and St. Paul's Lutheran Church began its missionary existence in 1870, although it was not chartered until ten years later. The German Reformed Mission was established in 1865, the minister riding on horseback from Riley Creek to conduct the service. Calvary Reformed Church was organized in 1894, in Lima. The Wayne Street Church of Christ vas organized December 2, 1869, and the South Side Church of Christ, March 2, 1897, and this denomination is represented in other Allen County communities. As a denomination it has made rapid growth. As early as 1870, there were occasional Episcopalian church services in Lima, and in 1873 there was a mission. In 1874, a lot was secured and in 1878 a church was built on it. In 1920, this church was rebuilt and its windows present some interesting studies in art. There are both liberal and radical branches of the United Brethren Church, the difference arising within the last generation over secret societies. There are Christian churches in Lima, Delphos, Spencerville, West Cairo, Lafayette, Harrod and Westminster with enough rural charges to bring the number up to fourteen. The Rev. G. R. Mell is the one permanent Allen County minister in this denomination. There are Methodist Protestant churches in Westminster and other communities. When the Mennonites first located in Allen County they began holding preaching services in the homes, those deemed best fitted becoming the ministers. Usually three different persons had turns in the preaching service. This denomination centers at Bluffton. The Lima Congregational Church was established March 18, 1887, and there had long been a Welsh Congregational Church at Gomer. The Catholic Church is elsewhere mentioned since it was early, and has a strong foothold in the community. The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Lima received its charter August 20, 1898, opening with twenty-one adherents. The C. S. Brice homestead was dedicated to its use November 5, 1916; the tenets of this church are the same as the mother church in Boston. Temple Beth Israel, the Jewish Synagogue in Lima, was erected in 1914—the Jewish year 5674—and over the door is this inscription : "Mine House of Prayer for All Peoples." It is said there are Spiritualists, Swedenborgians and other religious cults, and there have been meetings held in tents—different religionists finding expression of themselves through different instrumentalities. The story is told of the boy who crawled under the side of a tent thinking he was gaining admittance to the circus, but when he found himself in a religious meeting he lost all interest in it. The Salvation. Army is recognized by evangelical churches, and for a quarter of a century it has been active in Lima. In May, 1919, the whole community co-operated in a financial drive, securing $30,000 for HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 287 the army, and the Kibbey homestead was purchased and a memorial hall is to be built there. The community leader was A. W. Wheatley in securing the money. Ensign and Mrs. G. E. Purdum were then in charge of the local army. The Salvation Army distinguished itself through its doughnut service in the World war, and Lima has always been liberal in its support of the work in the local field. A personal story comes from Westminster, that 'Mrs. Rebecca Creps one time built and sustained an English Reformed Church there. She and her husband, Alexander Creps, had prospered in the community. When he died he left her with plenty, and this church was her monument to him. She was a devout woman, and she assumed all operating expenses—minister's salary and janitor service. When the church was struck by a cyclone, the community never rebuilt it. In the annals of the Welsh community is the statement that in 1838, when Rev. B. W. Chidlaw of Paddys Run first preached in the Welsh tongue to the people of the settlement in the home of James Nicholas, the pulpit was improvised from clapboards. In 1913, when the community was reviewing its seventy-five years of church history, the Rev. William Surdival of the Welsh Congregational Church at Gomer, said : "The fathers have labored and sacrificed that their descendents might have the benefit, so be careful how you build," and among the permanent Welsh ministers were : Revs. Michael Martz, Henry Morris, A. R. Brebbs, John W. Thomas and David Jones. There have been Presbyterian, Congregational, Christian, Methodist and Baptist church spires in the community. The organ was introduced into the first Welsh church in 1857, and the congregation was divided in sentiment about it. The first log church among the Welsh was built in 1841, and an old account says of it : "The building was not large and the architecture was not grand, and the interior furnishings were not elaborate, but it was larger and better than any of the cabins of the pioneers who built it." The Welsh are a religious people ; and they were not long satisfied without a church in the community. The first one was the Calvanistic Congregational Church at Cambria, and James Nicholas donated one acre of land for it. It was a hewed log house with clapboard roof, and the seats were made from logs split in halves ; there were wooden pins for the legs and while the seats were substantial they were neither ornamental nor comfortable. The pulpit of lumber encased the preacher, and while a tall man could see over it the short man was hidden in it. When a minister short of stature was engaged to fill the pulpit a thick plank was laid in the bottom of it. The communion service consisted of a brown earthen jug with two tin cups made flaring and without handles for the pulpit wine ; there were two queensware plates for the bread. The individual communion service was then a long time in the future. The baptismal font was an ordinary earthen table bowl. Instead of lockers or wardrobe service, wooden pegs were driven in the walls for the hats, shawls and overcoats. The checking service was unknown in the Welsh community. While the Welsh were given to Sabbath observance, it is related that David Morgan, who was a strict Sabbatarian, was coming out of the meadow one day with a load of hay when he noticed vehicles about the church ; as soon as he gained the road with his load, church was dismissed and he led the procession highly mortified about it, while the rest of the community enjoyed it. It was not a case of an ox in the ditch, since Mr. Morgan had simply failed to consult the almanac. The story is told of a Lima woman who recently dressed for church attendance, notwithstanding the protest from her family, and a neighbor was con- 288 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY suited before she was convinced that it was Saturday. She was not a Seventh-Day Adventist, but was wrong in her calculations. The common cup in church communion service is not much used in Allen County since the Thomas Individual Cup Communion Service is on the market. It is a Lima enterprise, the service being designed by Rev. J. G. Thomas, M. D., whose combined experience as pastor and physician suggested it. The design of the pattern emphasizes the quiet dignity of a beautiful communion service. This was the first individual cup service to receive letters patent in the United States, and the discussion arising from it has hastened the abolishment of the public drinking fountain. Numerous sanitary reforms have followed in the wake of the individual communion service ; its inventor had noticed a communicant with a diseased mouth condition, and at once recognized the need of it. The Thomas Communion Service is now used in 40,000 churches, and the demand for it has placed Lima on the map of the church world. It is a dignified aid to the spiritual participation in the most intimate form of the holy church sacrament. It suggests reverent meditation- communion in the fullest spiritual sense without thought of contagion, and there are trays or cabinets as are desired for the use of the service. Cupholders may be attached to the backs of the pews, or the cups may be returned to the outer circles in the service. Just as there is a changed theology there are changed methods in church service ; a local writer has said : "Now that Billy Sunday has been here and shown us our shortcomings," and then she indicated that people would go on in about the same way ; some had taken a stand for better things. While Lima is not a wide open town, some of its citizens are not strictly in favor of the Blue Laws with reference to Sabbath observance. A local judge said : "I don't interpret the Bible, saying Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,' as meaning that people are to sit around in idleness all day. There are men who work every day except Sunday ; if they can have no pleasure on that day, they have no pleasure at all." A local minister was quoted as saying : "In Lima the Large majority of church members attend theaters on Sunday," but in another city where a minister had explained the lack of church attendance by saying the church members were at the theaters on Saturday night, a newspaper tested the matter by telephone, finding that less than 10 per cent among fifty random calls were at the theaters. It was Billy Sunday who said the dancing church member was an abomination to the Lord, but there seems to be conscientious backsliders in every community. While the theaters do not shut down on account of weather conditions, some of the churches are closed on Sunday nights, and the members are free to follow their own inclinations. The churches have vacation periods while the theaters are open all of the time. The enriched church service is a successful way of counteracting the attractions of the theaters. "The new songs and the good old songs add to the meeting all that perfume adds to the flower; some songs like gathered rose leaves are permanently sweet ; but most songs like most flowers lose .heir perfume when they grow old," and yet some of the lofty old hymns the church seem to withstand the tests. Some one described the enriched service as "Interesting, spectacular and gripping, and they don't have a moment to say their prayers," and such an experience seems to defeat the purpose of the enriched service. The pipe organ has supplanted the church spire in many instances, and there is no lack of music in Allen County churches. While some pray others pay, and the church is not without its problems today. While Martha of old was worn with much serving, it was HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 289 said that Mary had chosen the better part, and men and women will always have different understandings of things. There have been intellectual and spiritual changes in the passing years, and denominational lines are not so severely drawn in Allen County today. The twentieth century has. witnessed many changes, and churches co-operate today which once were separated by hatred and bitterness. It is a stock story that when a city church choir was singing "Will there be any stars in my crown?" the answering ref rain from the choir across the street rang out, "No, not one ; no, not one," but local church fellowship has been demonstrated frequently. The nation-wide religious survey has revealed the fact that church members are more prosperous than men outside of the churches, and while "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof," in the Allen County churches are very many men and women who are conscientious in their giving—who bring tithes into the storehouse ; one- tenth of everything is consecrated to Christian purposes. The budget system is proving satisfactory in Allen County churches, many giving on the first day of the week as the Lord has prospered them, and it is urged : "The life of a church is vitally related to the frequency of its public preaching service." While the cost of living has increased, the minister's salary has been increased in some instances, and the every-member-canvas insures the support of the ministry. The community center occupied by but one religious denomination simplifies conditions, and it is said the stove is the only warm religious thing in some of the multiplied churches of today. While the church bell is still heard, the modern church does not have the steeple adapted to it. There is still a religious sentiment in connection with the steeple and the church bell in it, and whether or not they admit it most people have religion— Vol. I-19 290 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY will at least defend the religion of their ancestors ; since people have automobiles they "go and go and go," while the church bell says : "Come, come, come," and one student of the church-going problem exclaimed: "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy," is an economic impossibility as long as there are Saturday night band concerts, and the stores in all the towns remain open until the "wee small hours." He had arrived at the conclusion that the business men shared the responsibility for Sabbath desecration. Lima grocers seem to have outgrown the late Saturday night habit, and 9 o'clock finds some of the stores in darkness ; as long ago as when delivery horses were used by grocers, there was agitation of the Sabbath observance question ; the argument was advanced that late Saturday night buying was a hardship to the grocers, their clerks, the delivery boys and the horses that were driven late into the night. The Sunday dinner entails hardships upon the housewives, and the Sabbath observance agitators hark back to the customs of the forefathers who stopped business on Saturday afternoon in order to properly prepare themselves physically, mentally and spiritually for the next day's religious service. There are special church days—go to church Sundays, Mothers' days, Fathers' days and Children's days and many strenuous efforts are made to attract all of the people into the churches ; while "the very looks of some of the pioneer ministers would frighten sinners from the errors of their ways," the gospel messenger is not necessarily a forbidding looking character. The church in any community is an asset—the real-estate dealer's hobby, the price of land always being advanced because of it. While the choir is recognized as the war department in many churches, music is admitted as a feature to increase church attendance. While those who want back seats must come early, the future gives promise of the shifting pulpit in order that the minister may meet them half way when they stray into the service. While "Jesus paid it all" is a popular song, there is something left for the individual to do when the church becomes the efficient center of the community. God and one are called a majority, and "Where two or three are gathered together" there is established a community of interests. CHAPTER XXVI CATHOLICITY IN ALLEN COUNTY Just as the first records of civilization in Allen County cluster about historic Fort Amanda, now in Auglaize County, when the first Catholic settlement was made at Delphos, it was then in Putnam County. Father Joseph Otto Bredeick organized the Catholic Church at Delphos in 1844, and it was a good many years before the coming of the first resident priest in Lima—Father Edward J. Murphy. The Catholic Church has always been planted in any community soon after transportation was established there, but emissaries were in advance of the canal at Delphos. The railroad had reached Lima before there was a church in the community. Allen County Catholics belong to the diocese of Toledo. The churches in Allen County are : St. Rose's, the mother church and St. John's and St. Gerard in Lima ; St. John's, in Delphos ; St. John's, in Landeck ; St. Patrick in Spencerville, and St. Mary's in Bluffton. There are 800 Catholic families at Delphos and 1,200 in Lima. While Landeck is a strong Catholic community, all other Catholic centers are smaller ones. There are more Catholics in the western than in the eastern part of Allen County. There are about 4,000 Catholics in the immediate vicinity of Delphos. Peter Gengler, a zealous Catholic, was active in organizing the church at Landeck where there is valuable church property. The church was organized there in 1866, and the modern church was built in 1904, that is spoken of as an unusual edifice among Catholics. This church was in process of building for ten years. Father Bredeick, who had such an important part in Catholic developments at Delphos, came direct from Hanover, the Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, and in 1844 he built the first Catholic chapel from logs and at his own expense. For two years it was both chapel and his place of residence ; it was then enlarged and used as a school as well as a chapel. Father A. F. Manning of the mother church, St. Rose, has been in Lima since 1893, and he is dean of the Lima district, having the supervision of Catholic affairs in five counties : Allen, Van Wert, Putnam, Hancock and Paulding. Allen County Catholics are abreast of the times in educational affairs, maintaining the grade and high school courses in their parochial schools ; very few Allen County Catholics attend public schools ; the course of study in the parochial schools corresponds to that used in the Catholic University in Washington City. It is a four-year high school course, and it is only distance that causes Catholic children to attend public school. The St. Rose Parochial School opened in 1872, and it is recognized by the faculty of Ohio State University and other state institutions. Its diplomas are accepted at all colleges without the requirement of entrance examinations. Many Allen County Catholics enter Notre Dame, and some go to Protestant schools in quest of higher education. In 1920, there were nine young men from Lima studying for the priesthood at Mount St. Mary's Ecclesiastical School in Cincinnati. The same conditions exist in St. John's parish and parochial school at Delphos with reference to the course of study. While Delphos was in Putnam County until 1848, the history of local Catholicism began with the activities there. Father Bredeick was succeeded by Father F. Westervelt, Father A. I. Hoeffel and now Father - 291 - 292 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY F. Rupert is priest in St. John's parish ; the Rev. Father Hoeffel served the parish forty years. Father Frederick, who was stationed there for a short time, died in 1854 at the time of the cholera epidemic. Landeck was set off from the Delphos parish, and is now a wealthy Catholic rural community. The Latin speaking nationalities who came to Allen County affiliate with the Irish, Germans and French in the different Catholic communities. Many Allen County Catholics journey to the Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey for healing from physical ailments ; there is a relic there of historic interest, and some remarkable cures have been reported in Allen County. Visitors who pray at the shrine lodge in Pilgrim House while tarrying in Carey. All Catholic societies are under the direct supervision of the priesthood ; the Knights of Columbus, Lodge No. 436, was organized in Lima, June 25, 1899, and Father A. E. Manning is chaplain. While Delphos once affiliated with the Lima lodge, it now has a branch lodge Knights of Columbus, with well-equipped lodgerooms over the Commercial Bank; it has acquired building lots and will erect its own Knights of Columbus lodgeroom. The Lima lodge is housed in its own Knights of Columbus recreation building. The Lima Commandery Knights of St. John is a fraternal organization ; there was a Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, but its reserve fund was exhausted in wartime and it ceased to function; the Catholic Knights of America have branches in Lima and Delphos ; the Ancient Order of Hibernians has branches in North and South Lima with members from outside parishes ; the Catholic Order of Foresters sustains one court in Lima; these secular societies are available for all Catholics. All Allen County Catholics have a feeling of pride in the Knights of Columbus recreation building in Lima. The building contains thirty living rooms for gentlemen who appreciate home comforts ; each room is equipped with bath and running water ; the long waiting list of applicants indicates the popularity of the recreation building as a place of residence. The dining hall is attractive, and a lunch or banquet accommodations may be had there. The assembly hall has seating capacity for 700, and it is used for all social purposes. There are smoking and rest rooms for the men, and waiting rooms for the women ; the conveniences of the modern home are joined with the characteristics of the modern club, and the public appreciates the service. It is a social center and all are welcome there. The Knights of Columbus are always ready to promote community affairs ; the record established in the World war for humanity's sake has given a new meaning to knighthood, and made membership in the order a matter of privilege and honor. World war social leaders realized that the public conscience had awakened to a new vision of duty and obligation, and with that thought in mind the erection of a recreation building and social center became the dominant purpose. It supplies an opportunity for the restless energy of youth surrounded with uplifting and wholesome influences, and thus it becomes a factor in the morale of the community. Women are as welcome as men, and thus the recreation center introduces the home atmosphere into the club existence. This Lima Knights of Columbus recreation house is unique inasmuch as it stands alone—the only institution of its kind in the country. It is a three-story modern fireproof building in the busy center of Lima. CHAPTER XXVII THE SUNDAY SCHOOL IN ALLEN COUNTY It is said that the first Sunday school in Allen County was held in the home of Christopher Wood; before locating in Allen County, he was a scout in the American army and a soldier in the War of 1812, coming to Allen County in 1824, where he once entertained Daniel Boone ; they had been scouts together. He was a Virginian, and was active in local development ; it is said that Christopher Wood was the first justice of the peace in Lima, and his home was always open for religious meetings. In the Wood family were two sons : Joseph and Albert, and a son-in-law, Benjamin Dolph, and they were community builders. The Sunday school appealed to them. While most records attribute the missionary effort to Patrick G. Goode, one account says : "In 1832, Patrick Gaines Goode was appointed state Sabbath school agent to travel in Shelby and the counties north of it, for the purpose of establishing Sundays schools," and it is understood he was at the home of Christopher Wood while engaged in that service. He was a Sunday school man, a Methodist preacher, a lawyer, a judge and a representative in Congress. While Patrick G. Goode never lived in Allen County, his name is interwoven with local history. He was spending the night in the Daniels cabin when Lima was christened, some of the accounts creditmg him with dropping the name in the hat that came out last in naming the community. Mr. Goode is revered as a classical scholar and lover of literature, and he devoted himself with assiduity to the work of establishing Sunday schools ; the friendships he contracted were of lasting nature, his labors extending over the entire valley of the Maumee. The man who gave the Sunday school to the world was Robert Raikes of Gloucester, England. However, he had nothing on Messrs. Goode and Wood in the beginning of Allen County Sunday school history. Robert Raikes was interested in the welfare of the poor in Gloucester, and in 1781, he gathered the children together and employed teachers for them. He taught them Sabbath observance, and others soon caught the spirit of it. Within five years there were 250,000 children under Sunday school influence, and under the present day understanding of things all Christians accept the Sunday school as the most efficient branch of modern church extension service. The Allen County Sunday school was organized half a century after the initiative by Robert Raikes. However, the Sunday school was simultaneous with the beginning of local history. The pioneer churches were not long without the aid of the Sunday school. About ten years after Robert Raikes called the world's first Sunday school together, the idea was introduced into Philadelphia, and it soon spread throughout the United States. December 19, 1890, was the first centennial of the Sunday schools in the United States, and from a group of one dozen interested persons in Philadelphia, it had grown in 100 years to vast proportions ; when Robert Raikes had only a few followers, John Wesley wrote : 'Who knows but what some of these schools may become nurseries for Christians ?" The first Welsh Sunday school in Allen County was organized at the home of Rowland Jones in 1836, and it seems there were many Sunday schools within the first decade in local history. Thomas Griffith, who was later killed by a falling tree, was - 293 - 294 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY superintendent of the first Welsh Sunday school ; the Welsh Sunday schools had been conducted in English for several years ; in 1852, when there was an influx of immigrants from Wales, the church and Sunday school were again in the Welsh tongue. For more than fifty years the Welsh prevailed, and now the service is in English again. The present generation has been educated in English, and Welsh is seldom heard from a pulpit in Gomer. A folder given out at the 1920 annual convention of the Allen County Sunday School Association at the Central Church of Christ, Lima, October 12th and 13th, with the general theme: Education and conservation—an adequate program of Christian education for the church, school and community, failed to attract a satisfactory attendance. One of the speakers prophesied that the day is not far distant when there will be no session of the Sunday school, the church adapting itself to tbe needs of the young, and the knowledge of the Bible being imparted to them in the public school. It was cited that Van Wert has already had good results from such methods. The expense is taken care of through the churches, and better instructors are secured than some who volunteer their service. There was an unusual situation developed in the reorganization of the county, the name of the president being suppressed until after the result of a political campaign, John C. Cotner not wishing to use the Sunday school as a leverage while waging a political campaign. In its reorganization, the roster is : president, J. C. Cotner ; vice president, Mrs. F. H. Creps ; secretary, I. C. Bretlinger, and treasurer, Homer Sloniker. The association was entering upon the forty-fifth year in its history. Everybody refers to some one older than himself when inquiries are being made on subjects about which the pages of history are silent, and yet all pay tribute to Joseph Dague, Albert Stewart and Samuel A. Watson who were active Allen County Sunday school workers many years ago. Miss Elizabeth Schneider, who is a beneficiary of Joseph Dague, remembers the time when all Sunday school convention speakers were entertained in the Dague home, while today they make themselves comfortable in the Lima hostelries. Mrs. Harriet Watson remembers making many trips with her husband who was active in the first Sunday school organization, and this trio of Sunday school workers : Dague, Stewart and Watson, introduced the song: "Where is my wandering boy tonight?" throughout Allen County. One night when they were several miles from Lima, and all found themselves minus their whips they really wanted to know the whereabouts of some "wandering boys." The secretary's record must be in error about the 1920 convention being the forty-fourth annual session, since a newspaper clipping of September 23, 1865, announces a Sunday school mass meeting and picnic to be held in Lima, the procession forming on the public square at 10 o'clock and marching to the fair grounds ; the committee recommended that provision be brought by the different schools, and that a dinner be arranged together. The speaking and the music were to be provided by the committee, but there was no intimation of the official head of the organization. However, the old coterie of the Allen County Sunday School Association has long since entered into the reward of the faithful, promised from the foundation of the world. The Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists are credited as bemg the oldest churches in Lima, and Mr. Dague was a member of the Market Street Presbyterian ; Mr. Watson of Trinity Methodist Episcopal, and Mr. Stewart was a Baptist. The Allen County Sunday School Association indorses all forward movements in church and Sunday school, and it cultivates an inter- HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 295 denominational spirit at all times. There were not lesson study helps in existence when those pioneer Allen County Sunday school workers used to make their evangelistic efforts so attractive ; they always had full houses wherever conventions were held, but A. D. 1920, the people had become inured to such things, although some districts in Allen County were well represented in the convention. The number of delegates is based on one for twenty members of each Sunday school, but Lima citizens did not live up to their privilege. In the early convention history, Mr. Dague used a tabernacle—something he planned himself, in illustrating Bible stories. While in attendance at the World's Sunday School Convention in Tokio, Japan, A. D. 1920, Evangelist W. E. Biederwolf of Winona Lake asserted that 25 per cent of the ministers in America do not maintain daily family worship, and perhaps that explains the absence of Lima ministers from the Sunday school convention. There are large Sunday schools in some Lima churches, but the officers and teachers do not affiliate with the County Sunday School Association. In wartime it was discovered that 25 per cent of the American soldiers were illiterate, and the same criticism may be laid at the door of the Sunday schools. Sousa's Band in Lima was the counter attraction at the time of the Sunday school convention. The conventions are held in Lima because of transportation facilities, and Lima is a logical center. In the Ohio Sunday School Association official directory, there are five field workers, and F. C. Kattner of Lima is in charge of five counties : Allen, Auglaize, Mercer, Van Wert and Putnam. His field is known as the Lima district ; it is his mission to foster Sunday school activities and unite forces in the different communities. He is recognized as an expert in Sunday school affairs. While some adults object to supervision, it is simply applying business methods and many sociologists recognize the need of outline and definite action. It is not conducive of good results to allow a class argument about the number of angels in heaven -put such members out of the class, and stop singing: "O Lord, we thank thee for our church, A thousand years the same," and allow the religious expert to suggest changes in it. The Sunday school is the business college of the church, and the recent version of an old saying is : "What cannot be endured must be cured," and the trained, determined religious specialist sets about it. The trained religionist says why Americanize people unless the same force should Christianize them, and religious education is concerned with political training-Americanization. Every American citizen should be able to read the Constitution of the United States and the Holy Bible, and if he is Christianized there will be no difficulty about Americanizing him. Religious education should parallel secular training, and the trained religionist enters a plea for better citizenship. Exalt the work of the Sunday school and grow enthusiastic about politics, patriotism and religion. Dean N. E. Byers of Bluffton College, who is a secular educator with a grip on community welfare questions, said in the convention that religion is more than just a Sunday school affair, and he urged that society take valuable time through the week to acquire religious knowledge. Why hold the Sunday school teacher responsible for the religious training of a child? It is under the teacher's influence, perhaps, twenty- four hours in an entire year. How is the Sunday school teacher to offset the training of the whole week in thirty minutes on Sunday morning? 296 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY The Allen County Reorganized Sunday School Association has outlined a country-wide program : township organization, city council of religious education, a summer school for Bible study and office service. The office staff is to distribute Sunday school literature, gather statistics and issue information bulletins. The awakening of young life is both physical and mental, and the adolescent period requires careful handling in order to retain the young in the Sunday school ; it is the transition period, and social awakening immediately follows the physical development. One who deals with the adolescent period requires tact in supervision, and should cling to the motto : "One is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." In order to have the adult become a church .communicant the child must be properly trained, and the modern churches are planned with reference to the Sunday school ; the junior church is a reality in some communities. While some one has likened the Sunday school to the merry-go-round, intimating that those who ride get off where they get on minus the coin, there is no denying the fact that it is a citizenship factory. The output of the Sunday school is Christian character. When the church and the Sunday school are at low spiritual ebb it is the strategic hour, the psychological moment when wisdom is needed in directing the forces that make for righteousness. Sometimes the war horses—the wheel horses of the past, see everything wrong because the rising generation has adopted forward methods, and eternal vigilance is necessary on the part of those directing the movements. When the drunken man with a wooden leg was crossing the bridge he encountered a knot hole, and with the artificial limb in it he kept moving but did not get anywhere, and that has been, a difficulty—round and round without making progress. It is said that progress is never indicated by the tape measure-round and round, but the yardstick marks the straight forward movement. The day is not far distant—an outcropping of the Allen County Sunday School Convention, when specialists will impart the knowledge of the Bible to the rising generation. There is psychology connected with it, and yet in the Sunday school the parents are eligible to religious training; when this privilege is removed they will wail about it ; too many mothers now feel that they have discharged their whole duty to their children when they get them ready for Sunday school. All the Sunday school in the church and all the church in the Sunday school, would be the ideal condition ; the standing criticism is that there are two Sunday audiences, the children attending Sunday school and leaving before the church service ; the junior church helps to solve that difficulty. In some communities one service is merged into the other, the burning question being how to hold all for both services. It is a recognized fact that there are two doors to the Sunday school, and while the multitude is finding the front entrance too many are allowed to escape at the rear from want of proper attractive features; the unfolding powers of the adolescent period require wise guidance. "Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves," and raise the standard of Bible knowledge. A little girl knew what was in the Bible: a lock of her hair, and mother's new cake recipe. When a young man in the World war flashed a message to his mother, "Colossians 11 :5," he was arrested as a spy because the military authorities did not understand his code ; when they ref erred to the passage they found these words : "For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ." While many are familiar with John III :16, from often hearing about it, the church, people of today know less of the Bible than did the pre- HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 297 ceding generations who read it through, chapter by chapter, of ten as many times as the number of their years ; some mathematical genius has figured out that by reading three chapters every day and five chapters on Sunday, one may complete the Bible in a year with two Sundays exempt from reading it. Since America has become a nation of newspaper readers all that is changed, and only Bible students read daily from the Book of Books, usually the course of study outlined by the International Sunday School Lesson. Committee ; this series was adopted in annual convention in Indianapolis in 1872, and Allen County now has all the advantages ; the graded system of lesson study was adopted in 1910, but it did not at once spring into popularity. The Sunday school has been the great agency for the removal of denominational barriers, and in Sunday school association conventions no questions are raised about which there may be a difference of opinion. The people now think in community fashion, and co-operation is the watchword; community welfare includes everything. While some Allen County Sunday schools adhere to the use of the Bible, and others prefer some special outline study, most of them use the lesson commentaries from their own denominational publishing houses, although uniform lessons are studied through the influence of the International Sunday School Association. Perhaps it is through the weakness of the organization that all Sunday schools are not affiliated with the Allen County Sunday School Association ; just as there are mere fillers—seat warmers, in the church service there is inefficiency in the Sunday school, and the mission of the Association is to counteract such difficulties. Under prevailing conditions, it is through the medium of the Sunday school that a knowledge of the Bible reaches the home, although the Sunday school teacher may encounter the same difficulty in finding the Book of Jonah that she would have in locating St. Jacob in the New Testament. "Ponder the Bible until it is written on the heart," says some of the Sunday school advocates, and yet the little girl who learned the golden text, "Ye cannot serve God and Mamma," is not an isolated example of the work of the inefficient Sunday school teacher. CHAPTER XXVIII EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES—THE SCHOOLS OF ALLEN COUNTY There was an educational provision in the famous Ordinance of 1787, under which the Northwest Territory was organized, and thus Ohio and the other states carved out of the Old Northwest attracted the best class of settlers. One who has distinctive remembrance of the three R's as the entire educational curriculum in Allen County is inclined to take some note of the panorama—the evolution of the educational system ; an investment in the mind and heart of the child is laying up treasure where moth and rust do not corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal ; the school should develop in the youth a sense of responsibility for the welfare of the community. Truth does not flourish in the midst of illiteracy ; wherever educational budgets exceed military appropriations, there is hope for the future; as long as more money goes to gun foundries than to type industries, there will be an unsettled condition in the world. In the Old Northwest there was an early provision for the free schools, the sixteenth section in every township being set aside for the maintenance of schools in each of the five states : Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. From the beginning these states have led the world in educational progress. In them there is a $5,000,000 land income for education alone. In Athens County, Ohio University occupies one of those school sections ; since it is the oldest university west of the Allegheny Mountains that fact is significant. The same condition prevails in Allen County-section 16 in each congressional township, without regard to civil boundaries provides public school money. This source of revenue has been liberally increased by donations from private sources, and from the state. However, until 1850, there were many subscription schools in Allen County ; there was nothing to tax to produce an educational fund, and the teachers collected the subscription money themselves. There were no schoolhouses, and for several years there was school in the courthouse. John Ward was the first schoolmaster ; it was a subscription school, and each householder paid for one scholar, one half scholar, or for the number of children he sent—a half scholar always meaning a beginner. There were thirty-nine pupils in this first school, and it continued sixty-six days. The school term was usually thirteen weeks, the teacher agreeing to "keep school," and the parents obligating themselves to send their children and pay for it. In one article of agreement, the tuition for reading and spelling was $1, and if writing were required the tuition was $2, the charge for spelling and the three R'sreadin', 'riten and 'rithmetic—being $3 for the term. Each school was a separate business enterprise, and one who mastered the three R's had a liberal education. There were no blackboards, maps or other schoolhouse fixtures because there were no schoolhouses. There are only a few lingering in the community today who tell of the dirt floors, greased paper windows and smoky rooms. There were no swindling school furniture salesmen when the youngsters sat on puncheon benches, and the writing desks were against the. walls. Miss Margaret Poague was the first female teacher—the first new woman in Allen County. In later years she was known as Mrs. William - 298 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 299 Cunningham. In 1831, an act was passed providing that "on the petition of the inhabitants of a district when the school examiner had granted such petition such district should appoint a female to teach spelling, reading and writing," and when this enactment became a law Lima was nothing but a howling wilderness. In the early '50s free schools were first established in Allen County. An old account says that in a district school near Lafayette, there were forty-two pupils and twenty-one of them were Halls.' There were so many Williams among them that they were designated as William, Evil Bill and Little Bill, and the Josephs were Big Joe, Little Joe and Monkey Joe. When the teacher boarded around, she dreaded the by-ways to other homes unless some of the Bills or Joes accompanied her, because snakes frequently crossed the strange paths in front of her. There were all kinds of insects and reptiles along the narrow pathways marked by the children, and today there are hardly enough of those old landmarks left to make the country seem picturesque at all. There was once a private school in Lima called the Teakettle Seminary. Reverend Stirewalt taught this select school one winter. It was above Tuttle's tinshop and all of the girls in town who could afford it went there ; the teakettle was a sign in shape of a teakettle in front of the Tuttle store ; the unique name was given the school and the story will live as long as somebody relates it again. One of the Lima schools was once designated as the Onion School because so many of the pupils ate onions. It seems that Virginia gave. to Allen County its first school teacher. In 1830, John Ward came from Virginia with his family, and he was both an educator and an agriculturist. He began the arduous task of making a farm in the unbroken wilderness ; he was a farsighted man, and while he had only been at school three months himself he imparted what knowledge he had gained to others. When he opened that first school at the site of Hawke's mill. he had a vision; he would need help clearing his land in the spring, and he allowed them tuition under that consideration ; he had the necessary foresight to make him a practical schoolmaster. Mr. Ward was casting bread on the waters which returned to him before many days ; with him exchange was not robbery, and he taught the young idea the use of firearms, and later on the boys helped clear his land and split his fence rails. Mr. Ward was a citizen before the formal organization of Allen County. He was a clerk of the court and a school teacher in the Allen County courthouse. After the official survey of Lima he moved into the town. John Cunningham taught school in the Allen County courthouse from 1834, for four years. The Rev. Constantine Southworth, who was a Presbyterian minister in Lima in 1836, taught a term of school in the church ; he was a practical man as well as a minister ; on warm days he brought a yoke of oxen to school, and with the aid of the boys he cleared the land adjacent to it. Reverend Southworth combined work and play—was many years in advance of manual training under the Smith-Hughes law, and while the boys cleared the ground the girls studied botany, roaming at will plucking spring beauties. Between times the youngsters listened to dissertations on the inclined plane by the teacher-minister. Tribute is paid by all to Joseph H. Richardson, who as early at 1836 was called "the very best teacher." Mr. Richardson was of royal blood, being himself related to President Andrew Jackson, while his wife was related to President James Madison ; they both survived their birth distinctions. Mr. Richardson entered farm land, and for many years he