300 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY his hunting excursions. He usually constructed a neat bark wigwam to protect his squaw and children from the storms and exposure of the forest, while he ranged the woods in search of game. He sometimes exchanged venison for side pork with the pioneers, and frequently met parties who had a curiosity to see Sallie, and the children. Sally was regarded as a very apt housekeeper, and preferred as far as possible to imitate the whites. Johnny Cake was a prominent man in his tribe, renowned for council and courage, and in 1823 had accompanied an exploring expedition to the Far West, beyond the Mississippi. He and his wife accompanied the Wyandots when they removed from their reservation in this county in 1843. Three of his grandsons served in the War of the Rebellion, enlisting at Wyandot, Kan. He was very friendly with the white men, whose superiority he seemed to recognize, though grieving for the approaching doom of his race. On the north banks of the Olentangy, just west of Union street was an Indian burying ground, which was used by the Red men until their departure from this vicinity. After they were gone some young men opened the graves with the hope of finding treasure, but found nothing to repay them for their trouble. The field was subsequently cultivated and the graves plowed level and it is now covered with residences. Sometimes strange Indians from the lake region visited the settlements. Previous to 1820, when there were not more than twenty-five settlers in the township, a party of this kind made their appearance. Several of these went to the home of Benjamin Sharrock and tried to negotiate for the purchase of a young girl, whom they wanted to adopt into their tribe. Of course Mr. Sharrock declined to be a party to any such arrangement. A few days later the Indians went away and about the same time a little girl about four years old, the child of a settler named John Dunmeyer, who lived about a mile southwest of the present site of Galion, was found to be missing. She had been with her mother in the woods, the latter being engaged in boiling sugar water, and, thinking it time for her to be in the house, the mother had taken her little daughter to the fence, lifted her over it and told her to go into the cabin. When she returned the child was gone. The frantic mother gave the alarm; a party was formed who searched the woods for three days and nights, and finally dragged the creek, but the child was never found. It was supposed that she had been abducted by the Indians and taken to Canada, but her fate forever remained a mystery. The fact that such crimes, and worse if worse could be, were not unfrequently committed by the Indians, mitigates to a large extent the feelings of pity and compunction that one might otherwise entertain for the fate of the Red Man in being driven from his ancient hunting grounds and reduced to a few miserable tribal remnants located in far western states under the ever-watchful eye of the Government. Though they were in many cases, undoubtedly deprived of their lands by trickery or force, and had just cause for complaint against the whites, it must be remembered that there is scarcely a square yard of land in any civilized country the title to which has not, at some time or other, been derived in the same manner, namely, by the right of the strongest. The Indians held their lands by the same title, having in the first place driven out or exterminated that mysterious race who held the land before them, and who themselves may have obtained their title in a similar manner; and after the Indians had gained possession of the continent they fought among themselves for territory and deprived each other of their possessions without compunction. That they, themselves, should have been finally ousted by the palefaces may after all have been only a sort of retributive justice. "To the victor belong the spoils" has been the motto of every conqueror since the world began and, though it may not be in accord with the precepts of Christianity, it has had much to do with promoting the cause of civilization and making the world what it is today, and demonstrate the undeniable fact of "the survival of the fittest." Indians traveled this section in early days in large numbers. It was on their route from the cranberry marshes, and loaded down with these berries they passed through to Mansfield, where they disposed of them. Again, bands of them went through with their skins and furs, and bark baskets made by the squaws which found a ready sale at Mansfield, and in the sugar seasons two of the baskets were AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 301 strapped together, placed across their horses, and each basket containing about fifty pounds of maple sugar was conveyed to the market, where they exchanged it for the supplies they needed. The Wyandots made Mansfield their principal market until about 1835, when their trading was removed to Bucyrus and Marion. They always traveled through the woods single file, and when settlers or hunters met a band of half a dozen or more, only one of the Indians would do any talking, and it was almost an impossibility to induce any one except the spokesman to say a word in English. Neither would they talk English except when necessary. One day Tommy Vanhorn, a Marion county hunter, who was returning home from a day in the woods, met one of these Indians who could not understand a word of English, and they were both compelled to talk in pantomime, to express their ideas. Vanhorn had taken one or more drinks during his day's hunting and in the course of his sign language conversation with the Indian, happened to get on the windward side of him, and the Indian's nose being in better working order than his tongue, he caught the fragrance of the hunter's breath. He promptly straightened up, took an interest in matters, and looking Van-horn squarely in the face, inquired in the best of English—"Where you get whisky ?" Polk township lies upon the very summit of the crest or ridge which separates the valley of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence river from that of the Ohio. Thus it happens that, among the numerous springs which are found within its borders, there are two, but a few rods apart, the waters from one of which wend their tortuous way down the northern slope to Lake Erie, mingle with the foaming torrent which plunges headlong to lower depths in the stupendous cataract of Niagara, traverse the length of Lake Ontario, pursue their winding course among the beautiful "Thousand Islands" of the St. Lawrence until they finally rest in the bosom of the broad Atlantic. Those of the other meander here and there, as if uncertain which way to take, but gradually, in obedience to Nature's law, assume a more southerly course, unite with the waters of the Ohio, then with those of the majestic "Father of Waters," flow peacefully past the once shot-battered heights of Vicksburg, and many an other spot famous in our country's history, past the busy wharves and cotton-laden steamers of the Queen City of the South, and through gloomy lagoons overhung with the moss-covered branches of the cypress, until they emerge into the warm and sunlit waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The land of Polk township, though high, is generally level, having a natural tendency to retain the water, on account of which, before artificial drainage was resorted to, it had the appearance of being wet and swampy. The timber consisted mostly of oak, beech, maple, elm, black walnut and ash. The soil, formed chiefly in primitive times by vast glacial deposits of drift, sand and gravel, mixed with iron and clay, is rich and admirably adapted to cultivation. It is watered chiefly by the Olen-tangy river, which meanders in a general westerly direction through the whole length of the township. All along its valley are outcroppings of sandstone belonging to the Waverly group, which were quarried in the early days for building purposes and for years have been one of the profitable industries of the township. This river, which waters the bottom lands of the whole township, had, in former days before the forests had been cleared from its banks, a stream of greater volume than at present and was far more picturesque. In early days numerous mills were erected upon its banks. The western part of the township is eminently adapted to grazing purposes, on account of the variety and luxuriance of the grasses. Sandusky township was organized on July 12, 1818, as a part of Richland county. The territory it then contained was twelve miles long by six wide, including within its limits the present townships of Vernon, and Jackson and a part of Jefferson and Polk. While a part of Richland county, the northern half was taken from it and called Vernon township, thus reducing its territory to six miles square. Changes were being constantly made in boundary lines of townships and counties and in the creation of new townships, counties and county seats throughout the state, and when Wyandot county was erected on Feb. 3, 1845, four tiers of sections were taken from the west side of Sandusky township, Richland county, and annexed to Crawford county. Then, to 302 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY the west side of this tier of four sections was added what was known as the "three-mile strip." On the south was added a strip one mile wide from Marion county. From the territory thus formed a strip of land three miles north and south and seven miles east and west was taken from the south side and named Polk township, which, as still constituted, is bounded on the north by Jackson and Jefferson townships, on the east by Richland county, on the south by Morrow county, and on the west by Whetstone township. There was much dissatisfaction for a time on the part of those farmers residing in that part of Polk that had been taken from Richland county. While citizens of Richland they had been taxed to pay for the erection of its public buildings, and now that, against their will, they had become citizens of another and poorer county the public buildings of which were small, and which had not yet been paid for, they objected to this additional taxation. After considerable agitation of the subject, not unaccompanied by threats of violence, they at last sent Asa Hosford to the State capital as a lobby representative, empowered to look after their interests. He did not accomplish all that was expected, but through their Richland county representative, Isaac Hetrick, the Legislature was induced to pass an enactment whereby the residents of that part of the new township, which had formerly been in Richland county, were released from the payment of taxes upon the county buildings of Crawford. As there was practically no opposition to this enactment, Mr. Hosford asked that the same favor be shown to those residing in the strip which had been taken from Marion county. But the representative of Crawford county, John Carey, objected, stating that the citizens of the southern strip had not asked for any exemption and the matter was dropped. Polk township was named after President Polk, in whose term of office it was created. The resolution of the county commissioners which gave it existence read as follows : March 6, 1845—Board met pursuant to adjournment. Present, full board. Resolution—This day it was resolved by the Commissioners of Crawford County that the following fractional townships, taken from the counties of Richland and Marion, according to an act of the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, passed February third (3d), 1845, to erect the new county of Wyandot, and alter the boundaries of Crawford, was organized into separate townships, to wit: All that part taken from the county of Richland, and being Township twenty (20) north, Range twenty (20) west, and all that part taken from Township nineteen (19), with Range twenty (20), and all that part taken from the county of Marion, and being in Township fifteen (15) with Range twenty-one (21) be, and the same is hereby, organized into a separate township by the name of Polk, and that the County Auditor be and is hereby authorized to cause notice to be given to the said township of the foregoing organization and alteration, according to the statute of Ohio in such case made and provided. JOHN CLEMENTS, HAMILTON KERR, SAMUEL LEE. Attest: O. WILLIAMS, County Auditor. The first election in the new township was held April 7th, 1845, with Isaac Criley, Joshua Canon and Phares Jackson, judges, and Solomon P. Nave and Samuel R. Canon, clerks. This election was held only to fill vacancies caused by the separation, the Sandusky township officers having been previously elected, and some of them being in the Polk township part, Abraham Underwood, the Justice of the Peace, being one of them. Those duly elected and qualified on this occasion were as follows: Trustees—Asa Hosford, Samuel P. Lee, Bartholomew Reed, Jr.; Clerk—Peter Cress; Treasurer—John S. Davis; Assessor—Samuel R. Cannon; Constables—John A. Loneus, Joseph Kimmel; Supervisors—Eri Hosford, Joseph Diddy, Edward Cooper, David Thrush, William White, A. C. Jackson, Frederic Taylor, Jacob Stinebaugh, John Ashcroft, William L. Dille, Bart Reed, Sr., Andrew Reed, A. S. Caton, Phillip Ichorn, Phillip Zimmermaker, Isaac Nayer. The first meeting of the new trustees was held on April 26, 1845, and among the business transacted was "the sale of James Sutton, a town pauper. He was taken by Jacob Steinbaugh for one year for $100, clothing and doctor bills excepted." Other business transacted was the levying of a tax of two mills on the dollar for poor purposes and three quarters of a mile for township purposes. Prior to the formation of the new township, elections had been held at the house of John Fate, a mile southwest of the present town of Crestline. This election booth was now in the new township of Jackson, and on Sept 6, 1845, the trustees met and appointed the place for holding elections at the school house in the village of Galion. Only two of the trustees AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 303 were present—Asa Hosford and Bartholomew Reed. Among the first settlers in Polk township were Benjamin Leveridge and his two sons James and Nathaniel; Disberry Johnson, Samuel Johnson, Edward Cooper and John Sturges in 1817; Benjamin Sharrock, Nathaniel and Nehemiah Story, John Williamson, John Kittridge, David Gill, and George Wood in 1818; Asa and Horace Hosford and John Hibner in 1819; Samuel Brown and his two sons, John and Michael, William Hosford, John and Alpheus Atwood, John Bashford, Samuel Dany, David Reid, James Dickerson, John Dunmeier, Daniel Miller and Jacob Pletcher in 1820. Benjamin Leveridge, and his two sons, James and Nathaniel, were the first settlers, and all three built their cabins on land that is now a part of the city of Galion. The cabin of Benjamin Leveridge was southwest of the present public square, between Atwood and Cherry streets, and near him his son James built his cabin, while Nathaniel erected his on the high ground which is now the public square. The first two had splendid water from the springs in that neighborhood, but Nathaniel was compelled to dig a well, and in 188o, when the Public Square was being improved, remains of this old well were discovered. The next year, 1818, the pioneers were assisting in raising a cabin for John Williamson, and John Leveridge was killed by a falling log. Work was immediately suspended, and the cabin remained for some time without a roof, just as it was when Mr. Leveridge was killed. Later the same year, Nehemiah Story and his son Nathaniel and John Kitteridge came from Maine. They stopped for a short time in the Williamson settlement, east of Galion. They took possession of the unfinished cabin where Leveridge was killed, and having completed it, here they spent the winter, and the next spring moved into a cabin that had been built by John Sturges, on the hill north of the Galion road west of the Olentangy, where they remained for four years. Nathaniel Story was a hunter and trapper, and Kitteridge lodged with him; he was known throughout that section as "Father" Kitteridge, and also devoted much of his time to hunting. Nehemiah Story was a Baptist, and the first minister's name on the court records in Marion county was when Rev. Nehemiah Story was authorized to solemnize marriages Nov. 13, 1826. Disberry Johnson came in 1817, locating on the northwest quarter of section 26, two miles west of Galion. He was born in Virginia in 1764, married there and came to Ohio with six children. His first wife died, and his second wife was a widow named Cooper with six children. And by this union there were six children. So when Johnson decided to come to Crawford county, he brought with him his wife and seventeen children, one daughter being married and remaining in Ross county. Probably all of the five Johnson children who came with him were of age, and probably some of his step-children, the Coopers. Mr. Johnson was early appointed one of the justices of the peace, a position he held for many years. Johnson lived to be 100, and died in 1868 at the home of J. Throckmorton, a grandchild. He was buried in the Galion graveyard. The Browns settled on section 27 west of the Johnson family. Jacob Pletcher lived for a short time near Galion and then entered his land along the Olentangy in section 34, the land now owned by David Tracht. Just north of him was David Reed, a part of his land being that now owned by Isaac C. Guinther; he also entered land across the line in Whetstone township. John Hibner settled on the land just east of Galion now owned by Christian Burgner. It was in the midst of a forest filled with wild animals, and before the bears had left that section. One day while Mr. Hibner was absent, his wife while at her household duties in the little log cabin heard a noise near the chimney, and looking in that direction was horrified to see that the chimney stones had been displaced, and the great black paw of a bear had been thrust through the opening to seize the baby which she had placed near the fire place. She hurriedly grabbed the baby, and removed it to a place of safety, but before she could get the axe or some other weapon, the bear withdrew his paw and returned to the woods. At another time James Neil arose before daylight, and started on foot with a sack of corn to have it ground at the Beam mills south of Mansfield, hoping to return before dark. It 304 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY was before he even had a door to his cabin, skins being hung over the one entrance. He was delayed and night had set in when he reached his cabin, where he was astonished to find everything quiet. On entering the house he found his wife sitting on a stool facing the doorway, with a determined look on her face and the axe in her hand. Just as evening carne on a gaunt and hungry wolf had entered the cabin, and Mrs. Nail grabbed the axe, and the snarling animal beat a hasty retreat, and she was now on the look-out for a second call. The township gained a useful citizen in 1819, by the arrival of Asa Hosford, who with his brother, Horace, trudged in on foot, on Saturday, Sept. 19th, and was given shelter over Sunday at the home of Benjamin Leveridge. He was a man of great tact and ability and from the time of his arrival was the recognized Ieader of all the important matters of the township. His native place was Richfield, Mass., but in his youth he accompanied his father's family to New York. When twenty-one years old he left New York with his brother Horace and set out for the Great West. They arrived at Cleveland on the steamer, Walk-in-the-Water, the first stean, vessel ever on Lake Erie. They set out on foot for the interior, arriving at Galion, Saturday evening, Sept. 19, 18.19. They returned to Huron county where they passed the winter, and in the spring again came to Crawford, where later they were met by their father and the other members of the family. After arriving at the corners the father, William Hosford, erected a double log cabin, where he often entertained travelers who could not find accommodations elsewhere. In the meanwhile Asa Hosford worked at anything he could find to do, while his brother Horace opened a blacksmith's shop near the father's dwelling. It took the former several years to save $ioo with which to buy a piece of land. Finally the elder Hosford sold his property to his son-in-law, from whom it was purchased by Asa, who, in 1824, opened a tavern there. Not as yet being married, his sister acted as landlady. About a year later, however, he married Miss Alta Kent of Bucyrus. For eight years he carried on a prosperous business at the tavern, at the end of which time he sold out to John Ruhl. To illustrate the ease with which a settler might get lost in the immediate vicinity of his own clearing, the story is handed down that Samuel Dany event into the woods to shoot a deer and, having lost his sense of direction, wandered round and round until he was perfectly confused and knew not which way he was going. At last he came to a clearing and saw a cabin, in the door of which a woman was standing. Going up to the fence, he called to her and asked her if she could tell him where Samuel Dany lived. She laughed and told him he alight come in and see, when he discovered that it was his own home and that he had been speaking to his own wife. John Hibner erected the first mill in the township;. it was east of the present town of Galion, where the Erie road crosses the Olen-tangy, on what is now the Christian Burgner farm. Benjamin Sharrock was born in 1779. His father James Sharrock came to America as a British soldier, but joined the American cause and fought under Washington and LaFayette. Benjamin was in the War of 1812, in the New York militia. After that war he married Constantine Williams in Guernsey county, and in i8i8 with his family came to Yolk township, where he had a small cabin for his family on the banks of the Olentangy just ,vest of Galion. Here they lived, while he walked daily to his land two miles south where he erected a cabin on the bank of the river; later he had a saw and grist mill. He was a man of great physical strength, strongly religious, and preached to the pioneers in the early days. He was known to all the settlers as "Uncle Ben." James Nail was born in Somerset county, Pa. During the War of 1812 he was residing with his father's family in Richland county, Ohio. In 1819 he left home and carne to what is now Jefferson township purchasing 16o acres of "Congress" land, two miles north of Galion. In 1821 lie married a daughter of Samuel Brown, walking to Delaware to secure the license, and settled on his land, having previously resided with his brother-in-law, Lewis Leiberger. The latter in 1822 removed from the neighborhood. Having ascertained that the Indians were in the habit of taking large quantities of cranberries into Richland county, where they disposed of them for meal and other produce, Mr. Nail, with his father- AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 305 in-law, Samuel Brown, his brother-in-law Michael Brown and Daniel Miller, set out in 1820, to discover where they procured them, with the view of profiting by the knowledge. They went west for several miles along the Pennsylvania army road, and then turned north, keeping on until they struck the Sandusky river, east of Bucyrus. Here they found Daniel McMichael, who gave them information in regard to the Indian trail that led to the cranberry marsh. As night came on they saw the camp-fires of the Indians, who, however, did not molest them. They camped out all night and in the morning loaded their horses with as many cranberries as they could carry and reached home that same evening. In many places the weeds were as high as their horses' heads. Aside from the Indians, the only man they saw during the trip was Mr. McMichael, on the Sandusky river, just east of Bucyrus. Mr. Nail and his brother-in-law also went on a search for bee trees, of which they found a number and collected nearly two barrels of honey, which at that time was selling in Jefferson county, to which they shipped it, for $1 a gallon. In 1822 Mr. Nail sold his land to Daniel Miller and bought 80 acres on a branch of the Whetstone, or Olentangy, southwest of Galion. About this time Mr. Nail decided to build a mill and let the contract to Alexander McGrew, of Tuscarawas county. A dam was made and the frame and running-gear put together in six weeks' time- In the fall he sold the mill and farm to John Hauck, who was looking for a site for a carding machine and fulling mill. Owing to the smallness of the population, however, Mr. IHauck's project proved a failure. In making the agreement with Mr. Hauck, Mr. Nail had reserved the right to live in the cabin and also to use the mill for one year, which he accordingly did, furnishing lumber to the settlers. In 1822 he moved to another location, about half a mile below his saw-mill, and in 1824 erected a gristmill. In 1825 Mr. Nail added a distillery to his grist mill, and followed the combined occupations of grinding and distilling until 1835, in which year he sold both the mill and distillery to a man named Parks, from Beaver county, Pa. Mr. Nail's name appears on the first will that was ever recorded in Marion county, Crawford being at that time a part of Marion, for legal purposes. The will was made by Samuel Ferrel, and was admitted to probate May 29, 1826. Ferrel left all his property to his mother, Martha Ferrel, and no executor being named she was appointed as administratrix. Benjamin Jeffrey and Jonathan Smith were the witnesses, and James Nail and William Moore were the sureties for the administratrix. Daniel Miller bought r 6o acres of timberland from James Nail in the spring of 1822, the land being a little over two miles north of Galion. He married Lydia, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Ruhl) Hershner. They had seven daughters, the fifth of whom, Lydia Tabitha, married Col. Robert Cowden. At the time of Miller's arrival in the county the settlers were few and far between. Their nearest flouring mill was on the Clear Fork of the Mohican, twelve or fourteen miles soutneast of Galion. A blazed trail through an unbroken forest marked the road, and there were no bridges over any of the streams. Al settler would start with a sack or two of his own corn, and some for his neighbors, and would go and wait at the mills until it was ground, which sometimes took several days. Col. Cowden writes that one time his father-in-law, Daniel Miller, had made the trip, taking provisions for himself and food for the horse. It was the fall of the year, and the nights were chilly. He arrived at the mill late, and slept in his wagon. Arising early the next morning, 4 o'clock, he took a brisk walk to warm up, and met Mr. Hisky, the miller, going to the mill to start it tip for the day. Mr. Hisky inquired his name, and he told him it was Daniel Miller. "Daniel Miller !" was the reply. "Where do you conic from ?" "York county, Pennsylvania," replied Miller. Mr. Hisky looked at him in astonishment, and said "Daniel Miller? From York county, Pennsylvania? That is strange! My wif.e's name was Miller, she is front York county, Pennsylvania and I have often heard her speak of her little brother, Daniel." Mr. Miller was now interested, and the two men went back to the house, and sure enough the woman was his sister, and Miller had slept out in the cold in the dooryard of his sister's house, and never knew it. The explanation is simple. Eve Mil- 306 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY ler was the oldest of fourteen children and Daniel was the youngest. He was but a small boy when she married and left her Pennsylvania home. She married a man named George Bidleman, who became too lazy and shiftless to work and degenerated into a robber, following the line of travel to the west, and assaulting the unsuspecting traveler, taking from him the money he was bringing west for the purchase of land. All efforts to reform the husband were unavailing. Discouraged and feeling the disgrace, she wrote home but seldom, and finally ceased to write altogether. During one of his attempted robberies he was killed, and the sister was left a widow in the wilderness. Later she met and married Mr. Hisky and with her name changed all trace of her was lost, until the accidental discovery reunited the brother and sister. Daniel Miller's farm was in the track of the Windfall. When the saw the storm coming, the children took refuge in the big chimney; there were but two daughters at the time, Laura and Elizabeth, and while the roof of the log cabin was blown away, no one was hurt. All around them the trees, large and small, were blown down, and piled criss-cross in every direction. Much of the stock was killed outright, and the settlers were busy for days chopping away the trees to get at their cattle and other stock, which had been penned up by the fallen trees, and were still alive. Other early settlers in Polk township were John Cracraft and Jacob Miller in 1821; John Eysman, John Hauck, John Jeffrey, William Murray, Alexander McGrew, James Nail, Rev. John Rhinehart, and Rev. James Dunlap in 1822; Owen Tuttle and Phares Jackson in 1823 ; James Auten and Nathan Merriman in 1824; William Neal, James Reaves, George Row and John Shawber in 182 ; John Ashcroft, Jonathan Ayres, Andrew Poe, Thomas Harding, and John Sedous in 1826; Francis Clymer and Rev. John Smith in 1828; Samuel Gerbrecht, and Christopher Beltz, wife and seven children, in 1829; Jonathan Fellows, and John, Michael, Jacob, Levi, Henry, and Peter Ruhl, in 1830; Benjamin Grove, Joseph Rech, Jacob Cronenwett, Rev. John Stough, Jacob Seif, and William Hise in 1831; Solomon Nave in 1832; John Morriso, John Kraft, Daniel, Benjamin, John, Joseph, and Randolph Hoover, John and Adam Klopfenstein, and Samuel and Joseph Lee in 1833. In 1822 Rev. James Dunlap came to Polk township from what is now, Ohio county, West Va. In an article in the Forum published in December, 1874, he thus describes the condition of this section at that time: "About 1822 my uncle, William Murray, Major Benjamin Jeffrey and myself, rigged up an old one-horse wagon with a pole for two horses. We gathered up our traps, consisting of a rifle gun, some ammunition, a crosscut saw, two axes, several old quilts, and some kitchen furniture, covering the whole with a linen cover. We then bid our friends farewell and started for the "Far West," as it was then called. We crossed the Ohio at Short Creek, a few miles above Wheeling, cane through Mt. Pleasant to Cadiz, down the Stillwater to New Philadelphia, through Wooster to Mansfield, a town then of some note, having three stores, two taverns and a blacksmith shop; continued west to `Goshen,' `Moccasin,' or `Spangtown,' as it was then called, but now Galion. We found five families between Mansfield and Galion—Judge Patterson, Alfred At-wood's mother, a widow; old John Edginton, John Marshall and John Hibner. "All was woods until we came to what is now the public square, Galion, where we found two log cabins occupied by a man named Leveredge. Just at the foot of the hill where Mrs. J. W. Gill now lives was another cabin occupied by a man named Frederick Dickerson. A little further west, where J. R. Clymer's brick house now is, there was a double log cabin hotel, which was kept by old Uncle William Hosford, father of Asa Hosford. Horace Hosford lived and had a blacksmith's shop at Reisinger's Corners. Old Grandfather Kitteridge lived on the other corner and followed trapping wild game for fur. Thence we went southwest to Benjamin Sharrock's house, arriving safely and having made a trip of i ~o miles in twelve days through mud, water, ice and snow, sometimes up to our wagon-bed. "Next day we went to our land and found a camp of twelve or fourteen Indians upon it, who had had a big drunk the day before. One of them had been stabbed through the left side with a large butcher or scalping-knife. But he recovered and afterward bragged that he was AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 307 a 'berry stout Injin—stick big knife through—no kill-whoop!' They were a Wyandot tribe, very friendly with the whites; ever ready to help us at our log-rollings and cabin raisings, which were very common in those days. We got old Mother Sharrock to bake us some bread and started for the woods. Pitching our tent by the side of an old log, we built it into a half-faced shanty, chincked it with moss and piled in with some straw for bedding. One of our party went upon a ridge and killed a very fine deer, so we had plenty meat. He cooked our venison and lived sumptuously and deliciously. At night we would crawl into our nice bed-chamber to rest. Then would come the howling of wolves to lull us to sleep. Sometimes they would venture so near that we could hear them gnawing the bones of our venison behind the fire. Sometimes we would shoot at them in the dark to scare them away. They would then scatter with a howling that made music indeed. We continued there three weeks cutting logs, and raised a cabin. We prepared it fit for use and then returned home for the family." The principal food of the pioneers consisted of bear's meat, venison, turkey, corn-meal, potatoes and hominy. The hominy was prepared in what was known as a hominy block, which was hollowed out something like a druggist's mortar; the hominy being cracked with a sort of pole or long pestle, armed with an iron wedge. Their clothing was generally buckskin and linsey-woolsey, a kind of linen also being made from nettles. The children went bareheaded and barefooted during the greater part of the year. Adventures with wolves and other wild animals were common. In 1825 the first distillery in the township was erected by Nathan Merriman, who had arrived in the year previous. It was located at the springs, not far from the home of the Leveridges. Besides the Hibner grist-mill, north of Galion was a saw-mill, while Hosford's and Park's grist-mills and Sharrocks' grist and saw-mill were all located on the banks of the stream south of Galion and within a few miles of each other. Modern "improvements" have made a great change in this stream, and it has long since lost the picturesque aspect it once possessed. Many of the springs which once fed it have become dry and except in the spring, or immediately after heavy rains, it consists of a mere succession of pools imperfectly drained by a small rivulet, the waters turbid with the rinsings and refuse of gas-works, dye-houses and other debris from the drainage of a city. All these mills along the Whetstone were run by water-power and to secure sufficient fall to run the water wheels, mill races were dug, in the case of Horsford's and Nail's mills, those water courses being nearly, if not, a quarter of a mile in length. At the Sharrock mill the fall of water in the stream was heavier and here the mill race was much shorter. All these mills passed out of existence except the Hosford mill, which has continued to this day. It was built in 1832 by Asa Hosford, and the old mill race was long since abandoned and the mill run by steam. It is a three-story frame structure, and is today the oldest mill in the county; on the beams in the second story, can still be seen carved in rude letters the words "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," one of the rallying cries of the campaign of 1840. The crude millstones of the early days have been long since replaced by the more modern machinery, and one of these early stones finds a last resting place as a curiosity of the pioneer days at the home of R. V. Sears in Bucyrus. Still another of these ancient mill stones was brought to Bucyrus by Oscar Sharrock, and is now in his yard, his grandfather, nearly a century ago, having used similar mill-stones at his mill. The first road built through the township was the Portland road surveyed by James Kilbourne. It was from Columbus to Sandusky and was called the Portland road from the fact that tip until about 1824, what is now the city of Sandusky was known as Portland. The next road was the one from Galion to Bucyrus. Over this latter road about 1830 a line of stages were running to Bucyrus three times a week, going east from Galion toMansfield and Wooster and on to Pittsburg. This road is now Main street in Galion, but prior to 1830 it branched to the north, east of the present square, and followed the Whetstone until it again joined the old road east of Galion and then continued to Mansfield. The most important point between Galion and Mansfield on this old State road was Riblet's 308 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY Corner. Here Christian Riblet had settled two miles east of the Crawford county line and his son Daniel kept the Riblet House at the Corners, the best known tavern between Bucyrus and Mansfield. Daniel Riblet afterward was justice of the peace of the township (Sandusky) for 18 years, and from 1839 to 1841 represented Richland county in the Legislature. A post office was established at Rib-let's Corners and after Galion became more prominent as a settlement the Riblets came to the new town and became among the most active citizens. A line of stages never passed over the Columbus and Portland road. At the time it was surveyed the route from Columbus to Sandusky was east of this road through Mansfield and Norwalk, and later the road was surveyed from Columbus to Sandusky through Delaware, Marion and Bucyrus, and these roads became the routes for stages and for mails, but the Portland road was one of the . most prominent in the State, being used by the farmers in carrying their produce to the markets on the lake, coming sometimes from Delaware and other points further south. A majority of these farmers carried their provisions with them, and also feed for the horses, and slept in their wagons, as owing to the low price of produce, wheat being seldom more than fifty cents per bushel, they had to be very economical. Two farmers made the trip from this county to Sandusky, disposed of their wheat and other grain and returned after being gone six days and their entire expense was six cents, and this they state was spent for two drinks of whiskey, which in those days was regarded as a necessity and required cash, the same as it does even to this day. Some, however, put up for the night at one of the many taverns which lined the road. The expense for the night's lodging being only a sixpence. The number of these houses of entertainment was much increased in the early thirties by the wild mania which set in for land speculation, bringing people here who desired to enter land. The panic of 1837 exploded the bubble of speculation and was the ruin of many, besides leaving much of the farming business paralyzed for the want of money. In order to relieve the financial stringency relief measures were taken by the State legislature. At that time the national Government had a surplus of money which they turned over to the State and this money in turn was loaned out to farmers and others at 7 % interest. The county paying the State 5% for the use of this money. The loans were handled by the county commissioners and Jacob Mollenkopf, at that time one of the commissioners in Crawford county, went to Columbus and brought Craw ford's share of the funds to Bucyrus on horseback. The money was carried in his saddle bags and amounted to $7,000. These saddle bags which carried this fund are still in the possession of his descendants. The fund was carried on the books in the auditor's office by both the names of the 2% fund and the 7% fund, so called because 7% was the amount at which it was loaned and 2% was the amount of profit to the county. This fund was originally started in 1837, and shows conclusively that the idea of the Government lending money to the people in time of need is not a new one. The fund itself, the records show, was collected with but little loss to the county and there was a profit arising from the , interest, for when the present new jail at the County Seat was built it was a part of the profits arising from this and other funds that was transferred to the construction of the jail so that it was built without the necessity of a tax levy. There is but one church in Polk township outside of the city of Galion, and that is an old Baptist church which is still standing, a frame structure about a mile east of Galion on the land now owned by L. F. Reed. The first preacher was Rev. Nehemiah Story. Polk township advanced with educational facilities as fast as the settlement of the county made schools necessary. The earliest settlers were in and around what is now Galion and here the first building was erected as early as 1822. It was built of round logs and was located on West Main street near the present residence of Mrs. Martha Crim. now No. 422 Nest Main. David Gill was the first school teacher. For the second school the site selected was the old graveyard and this building was destroyed by fire in 1844. When the next school house was erected the settlers had advanced a stage and the building was of AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 309 hewn logs, where Lewis W. Riblet's residence now is, r z6 North Market. Although the settlers had hewn the logs instead of having them in the rough, as in the two earlier schoolhouses, slab seats were still used and the balance of the furniture was equally crude. Jim Mann taught in this school. In the country districts many of the early settlers in the northeastern part of the township attended the school which was established at the Russel schoolhouse. The school in district No. i now on the farm of A. L. Stevens was originally in Marion county, and only became a part of Crawford county in 1845 when the new county was organized. Hence the schoolhouses in districts Nos. r, 2, and 3 were all on the border line of the county. One of the earliest populous settlements was in the northwest part of Polk township in what is known as the Beltz neighborhood. Here was Disberry Johnston and the Browns and later Christopher Beltz with his family of seven children, and the first schoolhouse was started on what is now the land of H. E. Mader, just south of the Galion road. There was a little stream there at that time and on the west bank of this stream the log schoolhouse was built on slightly rising ground and beside the creek was a little spring where water was procured. J. C. Beltz, still living, remembers attending this schoolhouse, and it was in the midst of a dense forest and when a boy he walked a half a mile through the woods to attend the school, seeing an occasional deer and being frequently scared by the wild hogs which roamed through the woods. Other settlers arriving, a frame schoolhouse was built on the Beltz farm, a mile west of the first location, and later the school was removed further to the east where it is today, just south of the Galion road on the farm of Lida M. Beck. The other schoolhouses are those in district No. 5 north of the Galion road a mile west of Galion on the farm of Frank W. Tracht. District No. 6, is a mile north of Galion on the farm of J. M. Tracht while district No. 7 is on the farm of the Henry Peister heirs in the northeastern section of the township. Outside of the city of Galion the early pioneers had a burying ground on the farm of Jacob Pletcher, three miles west of Galion. Here, the first known burial was the son of Samuel Pletcher who died March 15, 1830. Several other Pletchers were buried here and also David Reed who was one of the early pioneers of the township and died October 12, 1844. Near here is another burial ground, known as the Snyder graveyard. The first burial being that of George Snyder who died May 26, 1848. Polk township was a part of Richland county prior to 1845, and among the justices of the peace in the earlier days were Daniel Riblet, John Williams and Thomas Jackson. As in most townships, the people generally had some justice whose office they made as near perpetual as possible. Abraham Underwood being the justice when the township was formed in 1845, and being elected his last time in r 885, but in the meantime the people started Charles B. Shuniaker in as justice in 1878, and he was elected for eight terms of three years each. The following have held the office in Polk township Phares Jackson-1845-47-59. Abraham Underwood-1845-47-50-61-65-73-76-79-82-85. John Williams-1850-53. William C. Parsons-1852. M. R. Payne-1853-56-63. Samuel Sillex-1855. Peter Pfeifcr-1856. Peter Cress-1858-61-63-66-69. James C. Wordon-1860. Seth G. Cummings-1868. O. T. Hart-1869-72-75. Samuel Myers-1870. H. S. Z. Matthias-1873-1904. Charles B. Shumaker-1878-81-84-87-90-99-02-05. Sylvester Price-1888. Jacob Riblet—1891-94. D. O. Castle-1893-96-98. Morris Burns-1896. L. C. Barker-1898. George J. Kochenderfer-1901. Harry R. Schuler-1904. Wendel Helfrich-1907-I1. Carl J. Gugler-1907. J. R. Rummel—1911. A. W. Lewis—1911. CHAPTER XIX SANDUSKY TOWNSHIP Sandusky Township—The Township From. Which All Others Were Erected—The Pioneers—The Knisely Springs—First Camp Meeting and First Sunday School—"Governor" Ferguson Deals Out Justice to the Indians—A Woman Missionary. The mighty oak, proud monarch of the wood, Upon this land in stately grandeur stood; Throughout the wilds did mortal panthers prowl, And oft was heard the wolf's terrific howl. Put all these savage beasts have passed away, And the wild Indians, too, where now are they? Sandusky township contains today only eighteen square miles, one of the smallest townships in the county. Yet the time was when it was the entire county, and from its territory every township was taken. Crawford county was secured from the Indians by a treaty signed July 4, 1905, and the four eastern miles were surveyed by Maxfield Ludlow in 1807, and the new territory was attached to Franklin county and known as Sandusky township. In 1814, when Richland county was organized the four eastern miles of the present county of Crawford and the two western miles of Richland county were erected into a township which was named Sandusky township, Richland county. This township was six miles wide and eighteen deep. The balance of Crawford county still retained the name of Sandusky township. When the county of Crawford was erected in 1820 it was placed under the jurisdiction of Delaware, and the commissioners of that county erected the first township in Crawford county. The following is the record: "Dec. 3, 1822.—Ordered, That all that part of Sandusky township which lies west of the middle of the Seventeenth Range* of lands be and the same is hereby erected into a separate township by the name of Bucyrus." * The 17th Range alluded to is not taken from the ranges along the base line on the northern border of Crawford county, but is Range 17 on the Greenville This left Sandusky a narrow strip, three miles wide, extending from the northern to the southern boundary of the county. This was known as the "Three Mile Strip," as it was secured by the treaty of 1805 from the Indians, was not surveyed in 1807, and for a dozen years was unattached territory. It was not on the market until 1820. The eastern boundary of this three mile strip was Richland county; the western boundary was the commencement of the "New Purchase" secured from the Indians in 1817. Before this three mile strip was open for settlement, adventurous men had "squatted" on the land, in defiance of the law, made improvements in the most desirable locations, with the ultimate purpose of perfecting their titles when the land was thrown on the market. Later in 1820 this land was opened for settlement at Delaware, and there was a rush to enter lands, and many found to their sorrow that the land had been legally entered by others; some honestly entering the land, while other shrewd men, having visited the section, and discovering where the land had been cleared hurried to Delaware, and entered and paid for the claim. Those who filed their entries at Delaware were the legal owners, and when they came to settle on their land much trouble followed. The original settlers were "squatters" with no legal rights, and many refused to leave treaty line. On the base line, ranges were numbered from west to east. On the Greenville treaty line they run from east to west. The present western boundary of Sandusky township is the centre of Range 17, Greenville treaty line, and the cast line of Range 17, on the base line survey. - 310 - AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 311 the land they had cleared, and in cases violence was resorted to. It took years to settle these disputes by courts especially appointed to adjudicate the matter, and in many cases, after years of litigation, the unfortunate early settlers had no recourse but to see the legal purchaser secure his land with all the improvements the original settler had placed on it by years of toil in the wilderness. When the first recorded vote was cast in this county in 1824, there were but two townships in the county, Sandusky with 12 votes and Bucyrus with 50. In 1828 Cranberry township was erected, leaving Sandusky a strip three miles wide, and 12 deep. It was good farming land and became settled rapidly, and this long narrow strip was so inconvenient to the people that a petition was presented to the county commissioners for a division of the township, and on June 2, 1835, Sandusky township was erected, by the following order: "This day came David Reed and filed a petition, praying that some relief may be given to the inhabitants of Sandusky township, stating that the township is 12 miles in length and three in breadth, and requesting the commissioners to divide and alter said township and the adjoining townships, so that it may be more convenient. Whereupon the commissioners ordered that all the original surveyed fractional township 16, Range 21, commonly called the south end of Sandusky Township, and the east tier of fractional sections in Township 3, Range 17 (Whetstone Township), viz: Sections 1, 12, 13, 24, 25 and 36, and Sections 34, 35 and 36, Township 17, Range 21, are hereby organized into a separate township, to be designated and known by the name of Jackson. And it is further ordered, that all the original surveyed fractional township 17, Range 21, except Sections 34, 35 and 36, called the northern end of Sandusky Township, and the east tier of sections of Township 2, Range 17 (Liberty Township), viz: Sections 1, 12, 13, 24, 25, and 36, and Sections 34, 35 and 36, Township 18, Range 21 (Cranberry Township), shall constitute a separate and remain and be known by the name and title of Sandusky Township." Sandusky township is drained in part by the Sandusky river, from which it takes its name, and which flows in a serpentine course across the southern part. Loss Creek, flowing from Vernon township, enters the Sandusky near the center of Section 26. These streams, with their tributaries, drain the southern half of the township. The northern part is drained chiefly by Broken Sword Creek and its tributaries, this stream, a winding branch of the Sandusky, entering from Vernon township. In the extreme northern part branches of Honey Creek convey the water to the Huron river, by which channel it finds its way into Lake Erie. In Section I in the northeastern corner there is a swampy tract of land known as Bear Marsh, which is noticeably depressed below the surface of the surrounding country and was formerly covered with water the year round, though since the removal of the forests much of the water has been evaporated or has found its way into Broken-sword Creek. This tract, however, affords good pasture land and has been largely used as such. The surface aspect of Sandusky township is picturesque and the land generally is of a gentle rolling character, though along the valley of the Sandusky the hills are so steep and precipitous as to render cultivation on their sides impossible. The rolling character of the surface is more pronounced along the valley of Brokensword Creek. Considerable coarse gravel is found interspersed with boulders—relics of a former geologic age, when, carried southward by glaciers from their home in the highlands of Canada, north of the Great Lakes, they were released by the melting of the ice on reaching a more southerly latitude and were deposited where they are now found, and where they have been lying since a date far anteceding human history. An abundance of Waverly sandstone may also be found underlying the heavy beds of drift in the southern part of the township, and some of it has been taken out and used for building purposes. A dark brown slate of shale, of uncertain formation, is also found along the Sandusky river. In addition to the foregoing geologic features, Section 26 contains a number of gas and medicinal springs, the latter of which have apparently pronounced curative properties, as some remarkable cases of cure from disease have been recorded. Eleven of these springs are on the Knisely farm, and were first discovered by Samuel Knisely, the pioneer, who came to the county in 1819, and, foreseeing their value, purchased the land on which they flow. Their waters are found on analysis to contain sulphureted hydrogen gas, carbureted hydrogen gas, sulphur, iron, potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, with traces of siliceous and other matter and also of sulphuric and phosphoric acids. These eleven springs, which are all contained within an area of four rods, 312 - IIISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY are located in a small basin on a little rill that flows into the Sandusky river. From one of them an unpleasant-smelling gas, probably carbureted hydrogen gas—is constantly bubbling. This gas is lighter than air, is highly inflamable and burns with a light yellow flame, showing occasionally fine scintillations indicative of small particles of carbon. Situated along the creek at no great distance above these springs are twelve others, some of which, strange to say, contain no trace of sulphur. About 4o rods southeast of the Knisely residence is a section of land several rods square, from which large quantities of inflammable gas are constantly escaping into the atmosphere. Long before the advent of the white man these springs were a frequent resort of the Indians on account of their medicinal qualities. Here they camped for days using the waters for their healing properties, and while no trace remains, it is fairly certain that in this section was an old Indian graveyard. Many of these Indians came for miles to plaster themselves with the mud which was considered very healing for their sores, and frequently this mud was taken away on their ponies to relieve some Indian who was unable to make the journey to the springs. James Gwell came to the township in 1819 and began a clearing. He was followed the same year by Matthew Elder and John Shull, who built cabins into which they moved their families. Mr. Shull built a water-power sawmill on Sandusky river, prior to 1830. In 1821 Samuel Knisely moved his family to the "Spring farm," which he had selected and partially purchased .in 1819. Mr. Knisely was noted as a most skillful hunter and woodsman, and it is said that he killed ioo deer each winter for many years. He also destroyed many bears, in which he did the community good service, as these animals were too fond of pork to be convenient neighbors. They would also on occasion make an attempt to seize a baby, though no reports are handed down that they were ever successful. Samuel Knisely Jr. was also a successful hunter, though the larger species of game had mostly disappeared before he was old enough to attain name and fame in this direction. IIe had a trained dog named Lyon. which he made use of in his hunting expeditions after deer, wild cats and other animals. Mr. Knisely was also a successful bee hunter, and collected large quantities of wild honey,Whichfound a ready sale in Sandusky city or Mansfield. As many as 20 or 30 gallons were sometimes taken from a single tree. In August, 1821 John B. French, a Virginian, built a hewed-log cabin in Section 23, into which he moved with his family. He was a man of great sociability and intelligence, but was in somewhat impaired health when he came here, and the privations of a life in the wilderness, where he was surrounded by marshes and swamps, were too much for his enfeebled constitution, and he gradually failed until he died in 1830, his death being one of the first in the township. He was one of the first three associate judges in the county appointed when it was organized in 1826. His cabin was quite a resort for travelers, who often went some distance out of their way to reach it. His wife, a woman of superior mind and character, survived her husband 5o years, dying in West Liberty. The French cabin was frequently visited by the Wyandot Indians, they having a camp near by; they came without warning or invitation, seated themselves before the fire, and, lighting their pipes, would hand one to Mrs. French—in the absence of her husband—as a token of amity. To return the civility she would take a few puffs and then return it. One of these Indians, named Blacksnake,* who was looked upon with distrust by the settlers, had quite a number of scalps in his possession, which he claimed to have taken from the heads of white settlers. He said he had ninety-nine and wanted one more to make the number an even hundred. This unabashed savage soon after left the neighborhood, doubtless to the relief of some of the settlers. The latter often received invitations to attend the peace dances of the Indians or to attend their great feasts, and occasionally friendly contests and games were gotten up and participated in by whites and red men alike, prizes being assigned to the victors. Though the Indians usually excelled in running, it is said that the white men * Probably Tom Lyons, as all historians in this section, state Toni Lyons was the Indian who boasted of the ninety-nine scalps. AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 313 frequently carried off the prizes for marksmanship with the rifle, and it is a well known fact that the Indian, though sometimes a fair marksman, never learned to shoot with the same unerring precision and deadly aim as the skilled white scout or frontiersman. The Indians had a warm regard for Mr. French, and went to him for counsel and advice, and his influence over them was great. He was of an easy, kindly disposition, strictly just, and could do more with them than any other man in the township. But when any really serious case arose they took it before Thomas Ferguson. French was gentle, courteous, affable, and not of strong build. Ferguson was a man of great physical strength which partly accounted for the Indian admiration of him. He was also a man of great common sense, and thoroughly understood the Indian character. He was spoken of by them as "Governor" Ferguson, and this title later was given him by his neighbors. He lived near the line between what is now Sandusky and Jefferson townships. Sandusky, Jefferson and Polk had been their favorite hunting grounds, and fifteen years after the land had passed from their hands by treaty, they still lingered in this section with their camps, and roamed through the forests until the advancing civilization had driven away the game, and the Indians reluctantly retired to their own reservation. The Indians had been cowed into submission, and except when under the influence of liquor were fairly harmless. True, anything they wanted they took, making no distinction as to whether it belonged to then or some one else, and no household utensil or stock of the farmer was safe. The most serious case that came before "Governor" Ferguson was in the early twenties. Two young men came from the east, brothers named Philip and William Beatty. When they were but children their parents had been murdered by a marauding hand of Indians, and the two boys being away in the woods escaped; they returned to the cabin only to find their parents cruelly butchered. Naturally they were filled with intense hatred of the entire Indian race, and when they arrived in this section continued their vengeance against the unoffending Wyandots. One very dark night they crept cautiously toward an Indian camp and took careful aim on two unsuspecting Indians. Fortunately, both shots missed, but the Indians sprang to their feet and started in hot pursuit. In the darkness of the wood the young men easily eluded their pursuers. The next day the Indians visited "Governor" Ferguson, and demanded justice. The "Governor" patiently listened to their story, was justly indignant to the intense delight of the Indians; he assured them it was an outrage which should not go unpunished, and they could depend upon him to see that the attempted murderers received the punishment they so richly deserved. But in the meantime they should find out who it was that committed the cowardly act, and notify him, and whoever it was should receive the most severe punishment. These children of the forest left supremely happy over the fatherly care the "Governor" was taking of them, but as they never discovered who fired the shot the matter was finally dropped, except that the Indians had a greater confidence than ever in the wisdom, impartiality, and strict sense of justice of their good friend, "Governor" Ferguson. Sandusky township gives the first record of a traveling managerie in the county. In the year 1829 one passed through the township on the way from Mansfield to the northwest, and camped for the night on the farm of John B. French. They had several cages of lions and other wild beasts, and also an elephant and some camels, and people came from miles around to get a glimpse of the strange animals, but tradition states that the roars of the lions, as the caravan was traveling through the county, startled many a timid pioneer, while the more valiant hurriedly seized their rifles, and started for the noise, only to discover the unknown wild animal was not a beast at large in the forest. In 1823 the nearest mills—of any note—were eight miles away. In that year, however, there arrived Jacob Dull, Jacob Ambrosier, and Benjamin and William Bowers. The Bowers brothers, soon after their arrival erected a large, hewed-log, two-storied cabin on Loss Creek, not far from its mouth, which they converted into a saw and grist-mill, and this mill, especially the saw-mill department, rendered good service for many years. Sawmills at this time were greatly needed, for 314 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY there were not enough to supply the home demand for lumber, although, besides the one above mentioned, another was established near the settlement now known as Sulphur Springs, and one or two existed in adjoining townships. The finest timber was then wasted with what today would be regarded as reckless prodigality. The Bowers Brothers also built an addition to their mill, designing it for a distillery, but its product at any time was small and not more than sufficient to supply the local demand. They started a saloon which became a noted resort for the more convivial spirits in the neighborhood. After running for about ten years both mills and distillery were abandoned. It was near this mill, as late as 1838, that William Wert killed a large panther, which he found in a tree, and which he at first took to be only a catamount. He had a desperate struggle with the animal, which killed one of his dogs and badly wounded another, but he finally effected its destruction, after cutting down no less than three trees, in which it had taken refuge in succession, and bore home his prize in triumph. James Magee came to the township in 1821 he was accompanied by three brothers-in-law: John Clements, John Magers and William Moderwell. James Magee was the father of William Magee, who is still living in Bucyrus, and who .assisted at the raising of the mill of James Robinson on the Sandusky. It was first built as a saw-mill, and later a grist-mill was added; a small dam was erected to furnish the power, but even with this the supply of water was so small that it was impossible to run it in dry weather. Later the mill burned down, and only the saw-mill was rebuilt. William Magee has a record showing that in his early days he assisted at the raisings of ioi mills, houses and barns, and some of these buildings were built almost entirely of walnut logs. John Clements was one of the commissioners from 1839 to 1845, and his son James was sheriff and probate judge. William Moderwell was the father of J. Watson Moderwell, a prominent stock-buyer, farmer and land owner. John Magers was a Pennsylvanian and a Presbyterian, and when he entered the land it was one unbroken forest. This he cleared, and lived on the same farm until his death, which occurred on July 18, 1862, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. He was one of the first commissioners of Crawford county, elected in 1826, and voted to locate the county seat at Bucyrus. William Handley settled in the northern part of the township in 1822, near the Bear Marsh. This was the name given it by the Indians before the arrival of the whites, on account of its being a favorite resort for bears. Near him were Nelson Tustison and William _XIatthews who came in 1825. David Dewalt, came in 1823 and John Mayer in 1824. Joseph Smith and James Tarnes came in 1825. Smith was known as Capt. Smith, having been a commissioned officer in the War of 1812, and on account of his military experience was elected captain of a militia company raised in and around Sandusky township. He was a graduate of an eastern college and had come west for his health believing the rugged life of the open air would be of benefit, but he died a few years later of consumption. Tarnes settled on a quarter section in the western part of the township on which he built his cabin of hewed logs. He was a blacksmith by trade, and near his cabin he built a small shop and was the first blacksmith in the township, and here he carried on his trade for many years, clearing his land and farming in connection \\ith his blacksmithing. Isaac Hilborn settled in the northern part of the township in 1825. He came with nothing, and mauled rails to secure the money to pay for his land. He was an expert marksman and resorted to his rifle to secure cash to pay his taxes and purchase necessaries. Coon skins then brought from 25 cents, but occasionally a. dollar for those that were well dressed. One night when hunting coons with his young son, Robert, they were attacked by wolves. He placed the boy in the hollow of a tree, and with a large fire-brand kept the wolves at bay, occasionally rushing forward and waving the blazing brand in their faces until the scared animals sneaked back into the forest. Hilborn later moved to Auburn township where he died April 30, 7864, and was buried in the Hanna graveyard. In 1826, the arrivals were Andrew Dewey. George M. Kitch, Henry Magner, John Ramsey and Joseph Wert. Isaac Dorland came AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 315 into the township the same year from Liberty township, where he had first settled three years previously. He was a tanner by trade, and dressed skins for several years. Joseph Wert was born April 28, 1775. He established the first Sunday school in the township, was active in church work, and died Jan. r, 1855, and was buried in the Biddle graveyard. Other of the early settlers were William and Philip Beatty, Isaac Henry and John Peterman in 1827; John Davis, Charles Burns, Isaac Beck, William Core, Peter Long, John Ruth, John McIntyre and two sons, Emanuel and Patrick, in 1828; Abel Dewalt, John Kaler and Adam Stone in 1830; William and George Cox, Andrew Dickson, John Luke and Samuel Stone in 1831; Benjamin Lobe in 1832; John Brown, Matthias Pfahler and Lewis Rutan in 1833; John Kile in 1834; Jacob Orewiler and John P. Wert in 1835. Charles Burns was probably the most patriotic of the early pioneers; he was born in Dauphin county, Pa., and made it a duty every Fourth of July to read the Declaration of Independence, and when he had advanced in years and his eyesight was failing he had one of his sons read it to him; and still later, one of his grandchildren read the document to him each Fourth of July until his death, which occurred on Oct. 2, 1869. By 1835 conditions were much improved. There were about fifty families in the township. Industries and improvements had been started, markets were nearer, and excellent flour and meal could be obtained within a few miles. Mansfield and Bucyrus were the principal trading points. A rude shingle factory was erected by Mr. Ruth in about 1836, but turned out an inferior product and was discontinued after a few years. Isaac Beck owned a one-horse saw and grist-mill on the river about 1835 and conducted it for about four years. The foot-wear of the community was attended to by John Kaler a cobbler, who during the winter season, in accordance with pioneer custom, traveled from house to house mending shoes. John McIntyre, whose original trade was that of weaver, had a loom in one end of his cabins, which he operated when not engaged on his farm. The first tavern in the township was the cabin of John B. French where travelers were is principally entertained as a convenience and generally without any charge. John Luke came to the county from New Jersey, and established the first tavern at Luke's corners where the road between Liberty and Sandusky townships crosses the Sandusky river. It was on one of those fractional sections which are now a part of Liberty township. This tavern was on two important roads and did a large business, Mr. Luke becoming fairly well to do in this world's goods. It was the only early tavern ever in the township. Across the road from his tavern he gave land for the Luke graveyard, in which several of the old pioneers are buried, the first known interment being Mary Peterman, a child who died Nov. 15, 1838. Other burials are Matthias Ambrosier, born April 16, 1776, died Dec. 12, 1850 ; John Essig, born Feb. 12, 1798, died Aug. 26, 1880; John Peterman, born Sept. 20, 1776, died Sept. 27, 1859; Jesse Spahr, born March 3, 1800, died May 5, 1881 ; Jacob Waters, born June 5, 1788, died Sept. 26, 1860. Some years ago an attempt was made to convert the Knisely Springs into a watering place. At a heavy expense the buildings were remodeled, a little lake was constructed, and for a time it was a popular resort for picnic parties, and a few regular boarders, but the investment did not prove profitable, and after several parties had tried and failed the hotel was closed, and it is now again a residence. In the early days Jacob Warner had a blacksmith shop in the township about two miles east of Annapolis, and Z. Staple also had a blacksmith shop near where John B. French first settled in 1821. Henry Kalb about 1836 had a saw-mill on Slate Rock run. Sandusky township is the only township in the county which has no village and never had one. It has no postoffice today but is supplied by rural route from Bucyrus and Tiro, yet it has had in the past three postoffices, and one of the first offices established in this county was in Sandusky township. There were so many settlers along the Sandusky river .on account of the excellence of the land, that the people petitioned for better mail facilities and their request was granted, and in 1834 a post-office was established called Loss Creek. John Clements was appointed the first postmaster 316 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY on February 7, 1834. He served three years and was succeeded on July 21, 1837 by Obadiah Roberts. On July 29, 1840 Matthew Torrence was appointed the postmaster and served until Jan. 26, 1852, when the office was temporarily discontinued, but the demand for mail facilities was such that it was opened again on Sept. 27, 1852, with Matthew Torrence again the postmaster, but with the name changed to Camp Run. The office now continued for over 20 years as Camp Run and with no change of postmaster until it was finally discontinued on July 21, 1873. These offices were in the southern part of the township near Loss Creek after which it was first named. After the office had been discontinued there was a general desire for its re-establishment, and pressure was brought to bear and on March 31, 1880, a postoffice was again started in the same neighborhood and this time called Biddle. William H. Korner was the first postmaster, being appointed March 31, 1880. Succeeding him were Joseph Parr, Jan. 11, 1883, Thomas S. Dewald July ii, 1884, Woods R. Mitchel, Jan. 6, 1890, Isaac Kieffer, Feb. 12, 1891, S. S. Elberson, May io, 1893, Guy E. V. Fry, Feb. 12, 1895. The latter served until the postoffice was discontinued on Jan. 14, 1904, since which time patrons have been served by rural routes. The first justices of the peace were appointed by the commissioners of Delaware county, on April 15, 1821, and had jurisdiction over the entire county, the appointees being Westell Ridgely of near Leesville, and Joseph Young of near Bucyrus, neither town then being in existence. The first election was May 15, 1824 when Matthias Markley and Ichabod Smith each received 22 votes, both living in what is now Liberty township. The following are the justices of Sandusky township. Westell Ridgely-1821. Joseph Young-1822. Matthias Markley-1824-27-30. Ichabod Smith-1824-27. John Cox-1832-35. Disberry Johnson-1833. John Slyfer-1835. Obediah Roberts-1838. Peter Esler-1840. Adam Stone—1844-47-50. Henry Cobb-1842-45 Isaac N. Fry-1848. Andrew Dickson-1850-56-59-62-65. William C. Parsons-1853. John Burns-1853. Lewis Littler-1856-59-62-65. Joseph Knisely-1868-71-74. James Smith—1868. Philip Keller-1870-73-76-79. John Knisely-1877. J. H. Blackford—1880-83-86-93. John Burns-1882. Josiah Keller—1886. A. D. Grogg-1887. Solomon Harley-1890-93-96-99-03-06-08-11. B. F. Warden—1890-98-01. H. J. Roop—1911. The first religious services in Sandusky, as in other townships, were conducted by itinerant ministers, who always received a cordial welcome, and held forth in the cabin or barn of one of the settlers, all attending regardless of the denomination of the preacher. As early as 1822 a Methodist society was organized and services were held whenever a minister could be secured in the cabins of Mr. French, Samuel Knisely, and later Isaac Henry. The first ministers were Rev. John O. Blowers, who after 1823 was constantly preaching to the little congregations all over the central portion of the county; another early minister was Rev. James Martin, who came from England in 1823, settling in Holmes township, and gave spiritual teaching to the early pioneers. Efforts were made by the early missionaries to convert the Indians, who were still living in the township. One of these early missionaries was a Miss Melinda Hunt, who had her home on the Sandusky river, and from there visited the various Indian camps, where she sang to their great delight, they never tiring of the singing and always demanding more. She also taught them the lessons of Christianity, they listening patiently as they knew more singing was to follow. By degrees her teaching had its effect, and many attended the regular services in the cabins. The impression prevailed that in her early days her family had been murdered by the Indians, and instead of taking the usual course of retaliation, she sought to convert them from their evil ways. When the Indians finally left this section, she followed them, continuing her good work in their new location still further to the westward. The first camp meeting ever held in the county was in Sandusky township, on the farm of John B. French north of the Sandusky river. It was in 1831, and the settlers came AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZEN'S - 317 from many miles around, over 6o families being present and erecting their tents in the woods, while on the edge of the camp grounds over 100 Indians established themselves in their wigwams. The tents were erected around a square about an acre in size, and in this square was a platform, surrounded by roughly made seats for those in attendance. Services were held morning, noon and evening; among the ministers taking charge of the exercises were Revs. Prentice, Bell, Palmer, Chase and Havens. Game could still be shot in the woods, and other supplies were brought to the camp and all the food was cooked on the ground, and many had brought their cows, which gave them a supply of milk. There was also a little store adjoining the grounds where tobacco, candy, fruit, etc., were sold. The Indians attended the services, many of them understanding sufficient English to follow the minister. The Indians sat on the ground by themselves, and during the services a number were converted. Among the whites there ,vere a large number of conversions, which greatly strengthened the churches of Sandusky township and the surrounding country. A Presbyterian church was organized in 1829, near the centre of the township. Occasional services had been held in the cabins of the settlers, and the nearest church of that faith was about three miles east of Crestline, where a church had been erected in 1822. This was the Hopewell church, and it was nothing unusual for the people to start on Sunday morning, walk the twelve miles, and be there in time for the morning services. It was not alone these pioneers, but all over the county the people went long distances to hear the word of God. Nearly all wore moccasins in those days, but some of the women had real shoes, and these, on Sunday morning, carried their shoes on their long walk and when near the church stopped beside some little stream and put on their shoes, and thus appropriately dressed entered the house of God. After settlers became more numerous it was decided to build a church, and the site selected was about four miles southwest of the present town of Sulphur Springs. Money was scarce in those days, and instead of contributing cash every man did a certain amount of work, and by 1833 the building was finished. It was a hand-made building, the settlers not only putting it up, but making the platform and the rough seats, and this structure remained practically as built and furnished by the early pioneers, except necessary repairs, until another church was erected, the old church being removed half a mile to the west where it did duty as a barn on the farm of William Stone, the land now owned by Caleb Pfahler. In September, 1870 the present church was dedicated. Before the church was built a graveyard had been started, for here the oldest tomb records the death of Emanuel McIntyre, who died March 4, 1829. Other graves are those of James Magee, who was a soldier in the War of 1812; Rev. J. F. Blayney, who died Aug. 16, 1886, after a half a century of religious work in many places; and many other names are there whose willing hands assisted in the building of the first church. A Lutheran church was organized and a church erected about r 840 on Loss Creek, and in the southwestern part of the township is the U. B. church. Probably the first cemetery started was what is known as the Biddle graveyard. Here the first record is that of George M. Kitch, who died Dec. 21, 1827. Here is buried Rev. Alexander Biddle, who was a United Brethren Minister for 62 years. The first Sunday School in the county is claimed by Sandusky township, having been first held in the cabin of Joseph Wert, soon after his arrival in 1826. This township was the birthplace of Robert Cowden, who organized the Crawford County Sunday School Association in 1867. and from that time on devoted his life to the Sunday school work, being one of the recognized leaders in the State. He was born in the township in 1833, and his father died when he was a boy of but five years of age, and his death is another record of the trial and experiences of the early pioneers. Kind neighbors did all that was possible. one of them making the coffin, and on the day of the funeral they assembled at the little cabin where services were held. A wagon was secured on which to carry the coffin, to the graveyard several miles distant, the family and friends walking behind this improvised hearse. The distance was too great for the 318 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY little son to walk, so he rode, having for his seat his father's coffin. Robert Cowden learned the carpenter trade at the age of 15 to assist in the support of his mother, entered the army, rose to the rank of colonel, was later postmaster of Galion, and then devoted all his time to religious work in connection with the United Brethren church. The first school in Sandusky township was taught probably during the winter of 1826-27, in a small round log cabin, on the farm later owned by Alexander Smith. Miss Jane Hogan, who afterward became Mrs. Smith, was the teacher. The cabin, though divided into two compartments, was provided with but one window, and the appointments were of the crudest kind. During the following winter Mr. Dewey taught a term of three months in his own cabin, having about fifteen or twenty pupils. Mr. Dewey's cabin was much better lighted, having three glass windows, and it is said he kept an unusually successful school. He was a well educated man and continued in this occupation until the first schoolhouse was erected a number of years later. Miss Mary Ann Higby taught a short term in Dewey's cabin during the summer in 1828, and afterwards taught many terms in this and adjoining townships. It is thought that there may have been other schools taught previous to 1826, but, if so, there is no definite record of them. In 1830 a hewed log schoolhouse was built on the corner of Isaac Henry's farm. It was in use for about fifteen years, when it was superceded by a frame building. The second schoolhouse was built south of the river in 1838, and was used for many years. Another was built in 1842 in the extreme northern part of the township. Sandusky township with its eighteen square miles has five school districts, No. i being on the northwest quarter of section 2 on the land of O. J. Keller; No. 2 the southwest quarter of section i r on the land of O. P. McKeehen; No. 3 the northwest quarter of section 23, the land of Angelina Roop; it is opposite the township hall, which is the exact centre of the township, Holmes and Sandusky being the only township where the township hall is exactly in the center. No. 4 the northeast quarter of section 34 on the land of Louisa McMichael; No. 5 the northwest quarter of section 36, the land of George Lahr. Sandusky township is the only one of the sixteen townships in the county through which no railroad passes. CHAPTER XX TEXAS TOWNSHIP Texas Township—Early Settlers with Their Mills on the Sycamore—Benton Incorporated as a Village to Comply With the Law—Its Early Mayors—"Old Pipes'" Store Gives the Name to Pipetown—"Bishop" Tuttle, an Influential Citizen and His Hobbies—Postmasters and Justices of the Peace. "Ah ! on Thanksgiving Day, when from East and from West, From North and from South come the pilgrim and guest. When the gray-haired New-Englander sees round his board The old broken links of affection restored, When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more, And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before, What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye? What call, back the past like the rich pumpkin-pie?" JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. What is now Texas township was first a part of Crawford township, organized in 1821 by the county commissioners of Delaware county, the new township including the present Texas, and the territory for r6 miles to the west, the present townships of Sycamore, Tymochtee and Crawford in Wyandot county. Here the first election took place April 1, 1821, but there were no votes cast from Texas township, as at that time there was not a settler in the present township, the entire region being a dense forest; in no part was there an acre, or a half acre or even a quarter but what was covered with trees; it was the forest primeval awaiting the coming of the pioneer and the axe of the settler. In 1825 Crawford township was divided by the commissioners of Delaware county, the eastern six miles being Sycamore township, and the two eastern miles of this township were the present Texas township. The first election was held in the house of George Kisor where Deunquat now is, two miles west of the present village of Benton: there were several settlers then in Texas township who may have participated in this election. Until the organization of Crawford county in 1826, Texas township was under the judicial supervision of Seneca county. In 1845, Wyandot county was erected and on March 6, 1845, the Crawford county commissioners arranged the new townships, the dividing line of the two counties being through Sycamore township, the four western miles of that township going to Wyandot and the two eastern miles remaining in Crawford. The clause in the resolution relating to Texas is as follows: "All that part taken from township one (1) south, range fifteen (15) east, be, and the same is hereby, organized into an independent township, and shall be known by the name of Texas." It was named Texas after the independent state of Texas, whose admission to the Union had been a subject of political discussion for many years, and the act admitting it to the Union had been signed by President Polk on March i, just five days before the commissioners gave the new township its name. The township contained only 12 square miles. Lying, as it did, on the nothern border of the Wyandot Reservation, the township was first inhabited by white hunters and other adventurous spirits, who made their living in the main by trespassing on the Indian reservation in search of game, which was more abundant there than in the regions which had been already settled by the white man. These hunters and their families, when they had any, - 319 - 320 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY were generally a worthless and shiftless class of people, with little regard for the rights, either of the Indians or for those of their early white neighbors, whose hogs they appropriated whenever they could find them running at large in the woods, together with any other property on which they could lay their hands. Though they often made considerable money by the shooting and trapping of furbearing animals, they spent the greater part of it for liquor and seldom invested any of it in the purchase of more land or the improvement of their property. Their children were usually ill clad and poorly fed and often extremely dirty. It was for the benefit of the community when this class of settlers finally disapeared and was replaced by an industrious, God-fearing class of men, who set to work to subdue the wilderness, cultivate farms, establish little industries, and build schools and churches, which have made the township what it is today. One of the last of this shiftless band of petty thieves was waited upon by his indignant neighbors and peremptorily ordered to leave that section. It was the fall of the year, and the man protested against being driven away just as winter was approaching; that his children were without clothing, and it would be impossible to protect them from freezing. The settlers were humane, and returned to their homes, and a few days later again called with a supply of winter clothing they had gathered for the wife and children. The man was now more reluctant than ever to leave so generous a neighborhood, and he was only finally compelled to leave after some very forceful threats, and a little accidental violence, and the neighborhood was not only rid of him but it had a good effect on others who were inclined to live partly on the labor of others. The township is drained in the northern part by Buckeye creek, a small tributary of the Sandusky river and by two or three small streams that empty into the Sycamore. Through the southern part the Sycamore passes, and its largest branch is the Big Run. The land in both the northern and southern parts of the township is quite rolling, especially along Sycamore creek, where the hills rise in some places to 8o feet above the bed of the stream. In the central part of the township it is more level, but this part is well drained and contains the most fertile territory. The first settler in Texas township not belonging to the wandering hunter class, was George Bender, who came from Pennsylvania with a wife and three children and entered a tract of land in the southern part in 1824 and built a round-log cabin thereon. About three years later he built a rude dam on Sycamore creek, southwest of the present village of Poplar, or Benton, and employed a man named James McGrew to construct a saw-mill. But having unfortunately erected his mill on the land of John Hazlett, he received notice that he must relinquish his claim to the property. Hazlett took. charge of the mill and conducted it until 1834, when its usefulness came to an end owing to the washing away of the dam. Bender in the meanwhile had erected another mill further down the creek on his own land, which was operated for a few years and then discontinued. Bender also conducted a farm, the work being done by a team which consisted of a large bay horse and an ox; these he used to hitch to one of those old fashioned wide-track wagons and with the odd rig he was often seen on the streets of Bucyrus in the early days, it taking two days to make the trip to Bucyrus and return. His first cabin had two doors, hung on wooden hinges, one on each side of the building, while one end was entirely occupied by the fire-place. A pleasing addition to his domicile was a long shed, made of rough boards, which answered the combined purposes of swine, cow and horse stable. Bender was the first postmaster at Poplar and died in 185o. His wife, Mary, died in 1832. In 1825 the arrivals were Eli Adams, Anthony Detray, Charles Morrow, Adam Miller, John Nedray, David Palmer, Laban Perdew, Doddridge Paul, Robert Roberts and Alva Trask. In 1826, Lewis L,emert, William Pennington, Robert Mays, Ebenezer Culver, Jacob Foy, Andrew Gregg and William Griffiths. Eli Adams was horn in Massachusetts in 18o3, and came with his parents to Huron county in 1813. When 22 years of age he came to this county entering 8o acres of land in what is now Texas township. The land was all forest, in the midst of which he erected AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 321 his cabin, and commenced clearing the land. He married Mary Andrews who cane to Seneca county with her parents in 1823, and later to Crawford county. Isaac Miller settled on the Sycamore, just below the present village of Benton. Here in 1836 he placed a rude dam across the river, and erected a saw-mill, which he ran about eight years, when dam and mill were washed away by a rising of the stream during a spring freshet, and the mill was never rebuilt; he then devoting his attention to farming. Laban Perdew settled in the northern part of the township, took an active hand in local matters and was one of the early justices of the peace. Jacob Miller settled in the northern part of the township. His grandfather Andrew Mueller was the owner of a large mill in Germany, but during one of Napoleon's marches into Germany the mill was destroyed by fire, and two of his sons drafted into the army. In order to escape, the entire family secretly left the country for America, but within a year after their arrival the entire family, except Jacob, died at Hagerstown, Md. Jacob came to Fairfield county, 0., and with his son Jacob came to Seneca county in 1830, settling on 80 acres which they purchased for $ioo; later they came to Texas township, the younger Jacob marrying Phoebe Pennington, daughter of one of the pioneers. Daniel Walter was born in July, 1797, and came to this section in March, 1821, with the family of Peter Baum, one of the first pioneers to settle in Sycamore township, Crawford county, now in Wyandot county. He worked thirteen months for Thomas Leeper, a pioneer who came the same year and entered land a few miles west of Baum. Walker received $ioo for his services, and with this bought 80 acres of land, on which he erected his own log cabin, with its mud chimney and puncheon floor. He married Susanna Baum, the daughter of the pioneer who came to the county with him. While he lived near to county line, it was not tuitil late in life he moved into Texas township, where he died Aug. 7, 1875, and was buried in the Benton graveyard. Another settler on the border was Adam Coon. His grandfather, John Coon, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and settled in Pickaway county in 1803, and when the War of 1812 broke out his son John shouldered his musket to fight against the British. John Coon, the father of Adam, was a blacksmith, and made a number of articles for the Indians, among them a tomahawk and pipe combined, which delighted the red man. His son Adam also learned the blacksmith's trade, and in 1821, started out in life for himself, his father setting him up in business by presenting him with an axe, an iron wedge and a maul. Carrying these, Adam walked to this section where he started just west of Texas township with 80 acres, for which he promised to pay 75 cents an acre. The contract was too large for him, and he had to give up forty acres. He followed in the footsteps of his father by making the combination pipe and tomahawk, and by degrees his land was partly cleared, and in three years he had money enough to buy back the forty acres he had been compelled to relinquish at the start. He married Elizabeth Hackerthom, whose father was also in the War of 1812. Her parents came to this country when she was an infant, and when they came west she was carried in the arms of her mother and aunt the entire seven hundred miles. When they first married, the cabin was one built entirely by the husband; it had only a hark roof and the bare ground for a floor, and here they lived for several years until a better cabin was erected of hewn logs. He died on March 19, 187 7. Doddridge Paul, another pioneer, came here from Huron county (now Erie county) in May, 1825. He had previously married Roxana Whitney but left his wife with friends in Seneca county until he could prepare a home for her. He built a cabin in the forest, a neighbor helping him to put on the bark roof. His family arrived before he had finished the cabin, and they had to sit on the stumps outside, with their goods, while he was cutting out a place for a door, when they moved in, his wife building a fire in one corner, where she prepared their first meal in their new home. At the start their only door was a blanket, which they hung across the entrance, and at night their sleep was 'dis- turbed by the howling of the wolves. Indians made frequent calls for something to eat. Mr. 322 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY Paul cleared three acres the first season, which he put into wheat, and in the next season built a better cabin. He also cleared six acres for corn and set out ioo apple trees, the first orchard planted in the township. Lewis Lemert was born in Virginia in i8o2. His father, Joshua Lemert, was an officer in the War of 1812. On Jan. 2, 1823, Lewis Lemert married Ruth Perdew in Coshocton county, and in 1826, the young couple came to Texas township entering 8o acres in the northwestern part of the township. On this he built his cabin and cleared away the forest, took an active interest in church work, and assisted in the building of the Ebenezer M. E. Church at Pipetown. He died Aug. 4, 1882, and was buried in the Pipetown graveyard. One of his sons was Col. W. C. Lemert, who worked on the farm in early life, taught school, came to Bucyrus, entered the army, and after the war devoted his attention to railroad building and manufacturing. Other of the early settlers were John McGrew who came in 1827; William Gregg and Martin Holman in 1829; Charles Dickens in 1830; James Andrews in 1832; John Ballack in 1834; David Beal, Robert Clark, Washington Duncan, William Jackson and James Longwell in 1835. James Andrews came to Texas township in 1832, his sons Arthur and John being twins, and 24 years of age when they came to the township. Arthur worked on a farm in Pennsylvania and having accumulated $113, walked from Steubenville, O., to Texas township, where he invested $100 in an 80-acre tract to which the family moved in 1832. Jacob Walcutt came to Texas township and entered 80 acres just west of Benton. Before he removed to the land, he died, and his wife, Elizabeth (Riley) Walcutt, settled on the land with her seven children, between 1835 and 1840, and the farm was cleared and carried on by the mother and children. Jacob Walcutt was a soldier in the War of 1812. Those who located in the southern part of the township were Anthony Detray, Charles Morrow, Robert Mays, Adam Miller and Robert Roberts. Those in the northern part were Eli Adams, Joseph Nedray, Doddridge Paul, David Palmer, Laban Perdew, Lewis Lemert, and Alva Trask. Nearly all of the settlers in the northern half of the township came from Seneca county and were of New England origin, some of them having settled in that county about the time of the War of 1812. The same time another wave of colonization was sweeping westward into Crawford from Mansfield and vicinity, coming north from Bucyrus, most of those who came from this direction settling in the southern part of Texas township. Many of these pioneers started on little or nothing but succeeded by dint of willing hearts and busy hands in building up a good homestead and laying the foundations of prosperity for their descendants. When Adam Miller and wife arrived, their combined fortune consisted of an ox, a rifle, a few plain cooking utensils, and about 12 1/2 cents in money, yet with this they began to clear and improve a farm and prospered. Owing to the proximity of the Wyandot Reservation the settlers had plenty of opportunity of getting acquainted with the habits and manners of the Indians. Though great beggars, and sometimes thieves, they were on friendly terms with the whites and after the white settlement of the township began no serious trouble ever occurred between the two races. One of the most successful resident hunters was John Hazlett. The Hazlett brothers are said to have killed a hundred deer every winter for many years after coming to the township. They had many exciting adventures. One of the humorous incidents is related of Robert Clark, who had just come from the East and was not accustomed to life in the woods. His cabin had no door, but only an opening, which was covered by a blanket suspended from above. One night, soon after their arrival, the family heard strange and bloodcurdling cries issuing from the forest around their, and, thinking that some ferocious wild animals were meditating an attack upon them, he hurriedly sent his wife and children into the loft, and valiantly took up his position at the entrance with an axe ready to exterminate any intruder or perish in the attempt. He thus kept guard all night and in the morning discovered that the unearthly cries which had so alarmed them were merely the screeching of owls. The children of the pioneers frequently lost their way in the woods and sometimes several days would elapse before they AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 323 were recovered. On such occasions the whole neighborhood would turn out with bells, guns and horns and scour the woods until the wanderers were found. Occasionaly grown persons also lost their way and wandered about in the dense forest for hours or even days before they found their way to a clearing or some settler's cabin, which they did not recognize though it might prove to be their own, so bewildered were their faculties. In the early days the Sycamore creek, small as it is today, by means of little dams had water sufficient to run several saw-mills about four months in the year. The first mill was that of George Bender about 1827. He had his machinery first, and erected his mill in the woods on the bank of the stream, and in the open air sawed the lumber with which the mill was built. This mill he lost, as it was built on another man's land, who claimed it, so he built another on the same stream, being careful this time to have it on his own land. Isaac Miller also had a saw-mill. These were small affairs but a great convenience to the settlers. In 1837 Janes Longwell built his saw-mill on the Sycamore, charging 40 cents per hundred feet or sawing the lumber on shares. After he had operated it profitably for a number of years he entered into partnership with Uriah Wooster, and the first grist mill was erected in the township. It was a three-story building, with all the modern machinery necessary to a mill at that time. It was in this mill that Wooster met his death; one of the stones broke while he was running the mill at high pressure, and a piece of the flying stone struck him in the head, fracturing his skull and killing him ir.shantly. The mill was in the possession of several owners, and in 1862 came into the possession of Samuel Clapper of Bucyrus, and the following year he sold it to C. S. Miller of Bucyrus. The saw-mill was discontinued but the flouring mill still did a large business being constantly improved with the demands of the time. and became one of the leading mills in the county. Outside of the milling business there were no special . industries in the township in the early days, a couple of blacksmith shops being the headquarters of the neighborhood. Most of the trading was done at Sycamore or Melmore, and on larger purchases the headquarters being at Bucyrus or Tiffin. In 1848 Martin Holman established a tannery, but it was not a profitable venture and was discontinued. Mr. Holman was born in Pennsylvania and cane to Texas township in March, 1829. About a mile and a half northeast of Plankton, the old state road from Plymouth to Sycamore crosses the present boundary line road between Crawford and Wyandot counties. In the early thirties a store was started near this crossing. The owner of the store had noticed the joy of the Indians when they became the proud possessors of one of the tomahawk pipes of Adam Coon, and saw a fortune in furnishing the Indians, who were inveterate smokers, as well as the settlers, with a cheap pipe. So he bought a large stock of clay pipes, and any one entering the store found pipes to the right of him, pipes to the left of him, pipes in front of him. In fact, it seemed as if there was nothing in the store but pipes ; they were so prominent that all the other stock was eclipsed. The pipe venture was not a success, the Indians did not take kindly to them and neither did the settlers, but they gave the proprietor of the store the name of "Old Pipes," and the Corners the name of Pipetown, and while the name originated in burlesque the Ebenezer M. E. Church built there was seldom known as Ebenezer, but called the "Pipetown" church, and the little graveyard was known as the Pipetown graveyard, while near the church stands the Pipetown school. Benton was laid out in August, 1841, by George Bender and John Hazlett, and was named after Senator Thomas Benton of Missouri, Hazlett being a great admirer of that statesman. Previous to its being laid out, in 1837, a post office had been established there called Poplar. It has always carried the two names; at the start the name of Benton being the generally accepted one, but in the last few years there is a heavy tendency prevailing toward the Government name. The site of the town was excellent, on a bluff on the north bank of the Sycamore. When the town was started there was a blacksmith shop at the crossing of the two roads kept by Daniel Beal. This was a great resort for the farmers who gathered there in 324 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY the early days to pitch horse shoes, and after dark and in rainy weather sit around the forge and exchange the latest news and discuss politics. Another blacksmith shop was near the crossing, built by John Leigh about 1837, also a headquarters for political and other discussions. After the village was laid out, John Hazlett built the first frame house there in 1842, now the tavern kept by Cell Jump. Alvin Williams kept the first store in the village, having as a partner, Amos L. Westover. In 1845, Texas township was organized, and under the law 12 square miles was too small a territory to be erected into a township, unless it contained a village. Benton could hardly then be classed as a village. The commissioners solved the problem by incorporating the village of Benton, probably at the time the smallest settlement ever burdened with the responsibilities of a village government. But the citizens stood up to the rack and on Aug. 23, 1845, elected Alvin Williams as the first mayor and Joseph Pietzel as recorder, and Williams gave bond in the sum of $1,000 for the faithful performance of his duties. In 1846, Williams was again elected, and in 1847 the office was given to Joseph Pietzel, but the next year the people returned to their first choice and again entrusted the responsibilities of government to Williams. The village organization long since gave up its existence, although in its palmiest days the population reached over 200. The postoffice was first established in 1837, and has always been called Poplar. The following have been the postmastsrs : George Bender, July 3, 1837; George W. Saltsman, Oct. 24, 1849; Joseph Pitezel, Nov. 1, 1850; Abraham Eyestone, March i8, 1852; Nathan Hollinshead, July 18, 1854; Daniel Tuttle, Jan. 15, 1855; Fayette Thornton, Sept. 25, 1857; Daniel Tuttle, July 11, 1859; A. F. Bender, Jan. 3, 1860; Solomon Feltis, May 24, 1860; W. S. Mulford, April 25, 1861 A. B. Stewart, May 26, 1869; J. P. Temple, Nov. 3, 1871; William A. Longwell, Feb. 11, 1873; Adam R. Winter, Sept. 14, 1881 ; G. B. Valentine, July 30, 1885; William T. Horton, Dec. 15, 1890; James Beistle, April 19, 1899; V. D. Campbell, March 17, 1903. On Nov. 30, 1905, the office was discontinued, the people being supplied by rural route. When the Northern Ohio road was built a station was located two miles north of Benton, which was called Plankton and a post office established. The first postmaster was Peter J. Thompson, appointed Oct. 13, 1891; he was succeeded by A . H. Miller on May 13, 1899, who still holds the office. On the establishment of the station a grain elevator was built there and a small store for the convenience of the people in that neighborhood, but notwithstanding the railroad Benton is still the larger place, having a hotel, a store, two churches, the schoolhouse, and two or three small shops. The store of Williams & Westover when first started at Benton, carried a stock of about $500, and after being run about four years they retired from business. While running the store Williams conducted an ashery and later a saloon, the first in the township. The next store keeper was G. W. Saltsman, who had a stock of $i,000, with the post office at his store, and after running the business two or three years he retired. In 1844 William Sigler purchased the building erected by Hazlett, and opened a tavern with a store in connection; and this prospered as he ,continued in business a number of years. In 1850 the town had two stores, Andrew Failor opening tip there with a stock of goods from Bucyrus; Robert Martin started a carpenter shop, and in 1845, Daniel Rank established a tannery, which he ran successfully for a dozen years; there were two shoemakers in the village and the leather they failed to use he sold at Bucyrus and Tiffin. William Jackson also started a tannery. The first physician in the village was Dr. Pitezel, who settled there in 1844, remaining fourteen years. Dr. John Atwood was there from 1846 to 1849. Dr. D. Alvord was there from 1847 to 1853. Dr. Yates and Dr. Bissell were also there prior to i85o, but remained but a short time. The tavern started by William Sigler he disposed of to Daniel Tuttle who ran it as a hotel and grocery, also selling liquor. Mr. Tuttle in 1849 went to California on the breaking out of the gold excitement; he went by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and was gone two years, and on his return again went into the hotel business. AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 325 He seems to have been a somewhat original character, as is evidenced in the following notice posted in his hotel, which may indicate his humor, and the improvement in manners and habits that have taken place in the last fifty or sixty years Oct. 29, 1852. TUTTLE AT HOME AGAIN DANIEL TUTTLE AT TUTTLE HOUSE, BENTON Meals 12 ½ to 50 cents, according to the quality and quantity of the "fixings" packed or stowed in. Lodging 12 ½ cents. Every horse in stable one hour, 12 ½ cents. Every gill of tobacco juice deposited on a clean floor 25 cents. Ditto on a white wall behind a bed, 50 cents. For every half pint on the floor, 50 cents. For every old quid of cigar stump thrown in the corner of the room or under the table or bed, 25 cents. For every time a "loafer" forgets to clean his boots at the "scraper" and brings 100 pounds of mud into the hall or sitting-room and there deposits it, $1.00. For every bed tumbled by a "loafer" in the day time with his boots on, 50 cents. "I shall never forget these dear patrons of old, To me they're more precious than mountains of gold." Mr. Tuttle did much to build up and improve the town. He was, however, an infidel in his religious principles and an open enemy of all christian denominations.Beginning with 1850 he published occasional numbers of a paper, which he called "The Divinity Physician," the object of which was to satirize and burlesque the doctrines held by the various Christian churches. He expended several thousand dollars in the publication of this paper with practically no return to himself, except several prosecutions for libel, together with a good deal of abuse. The last issue was published in 1870. On account of his anti-religious views he became universally known as "Bishop" Tuttle. He was liberal and generous, of good education, and outside of his infidelity, very little criticism could be passed on him as a citizen. He was a strong advocate of the right of freedom of speech. In 1837 an abolition meeting had been held at the American Hotel at Bucyrus, which was attacked by indignant citizens, the windows of the building were broken, and the abolition speaker compelled to flee form the hotel for safety and leave the town. The "Bishop" was a prominent member of the Democratic party at the time, and he wrote a strong letter to the editor of his party organ, then the Bucyrus Republican, in which he denounced the outrage and those connected with it. The "Bishop" being a subscriber, and a staunch supporter of the "organ," and of such sterling democracy as to be unquestioned, the young editor had no hesitation in printing the communication. But the party rose in their righteous indignation against supporting a paper that dared insinuate that any one had any rights except a Democrat. The editor humbly explained how he had came to publish the communication, but it was useless, and he was summarily bounced, and a new editor installed. In 1853 Daniel Tuttle was a candidate for representative, and issued a characteristic announcement, in which he stated frankly that he was a temperance man but opposed to any law founded on the iniquitous Maine liquor law; that he was opposed to taking the people's money to pay for chaplains to pray in the State House, neither was he in favor of their praying there under any circumstances; he was opposed to the modern practice of "treating" by candidates before election, and closed by saying: "As a great many and perhaps all know me in the county. I shall during the canvass stay at home, and mind my own business." He probably did, as the returns showed his overwhelming defeat, his own township of Texas giving him one vote, and his adjoining township of Tod not one. In 1859 he was postmaster at Benton, and saw fit to espouse the candidacy of Stephen A. Douglas for the presidency, as did nearly all the Democrats in this county. This was unsatisfactory to Hon. L. W. Hall, at that time representing this district in Congress, and a Breckenridge man, and he very promptly removed Tuttle from office. The "Bishop" was 326 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY then publishing the "Divinity Physician" at irregular intervals, and the next number was a sizzler. The pioneers of Texas township were mostly from New England and from the East, and the Bible was found in nearly every home. Religious services were held at the cabins of the settlers, any cabin being willingly tendered for this purpose. The road from Bucyrus to Tiffin, laid out soon after the first settler arrived, passed through Texas township, and the itinerant missionaries in passing on horseback from one town to the other stopped at some cabin, where he was always gladly and hospitably entertained, "without money and without price." The township was so narrow and so small that when it came to churches, the settlers attended in some adjoining township, many in the northern part attending the church in Seneca county, of which they were members. The Methodists held meetings in the cabins and about 1834 those in the northern part decided to build a church. It was on what is now the county line road between Crawford and Wyandot counties, a few rods north of the road that led from Sycamore to Plymouth, one of the important and most traveled east and west roads. When Wyandot county was formed in 1845, the church was in that part that went to Wyandot county, just across the road from the farm now owned by Benjamin W. Moore. The church was of frame, and was 30x40 feet in size, and was built by the settlers, all turning out and contributing their work. The first minister was Rev. Thomas Thompson, followed by James Wilson and H. O. Sheldon, and the first trustees were Robert Weeks, William Gregg and Thomas Yates. It was known as the Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal Church. About the time the church was built "Old Pipes" started his clay-pipe store a little south of the church, and it gave the building the name of the "Pipetown" church. The first building, while of frame, was roughly constructed, all the interior work being done by the settlers themselves. The church prospered and in ten years had a membership of about forty-four. In December, 1844, tinder the pastorate of Rev. Martin Welsh a revival took place and about two dozen new members were added, and in 1854 under Rev. Luke S. Johnson, another revival added largely to the membership. In connection with the church was the "Pipetown" graveyard, and within its enclosures rest many of the early pioneers, the oldest stone being that of Lydia Cowgill, wife of Elisha Cowgill, who died June 8, 1840. Prior to 1838 the Presbyterians held services in the various cabins and in the schoolhouses, and in 1838 they formed an organization, under the guidance of Rev. Robert Lee. Robert Clark, William Jackson and William Marquis were appointed as elders. The following year Rev. William Hutchinson, who was pastor of the Presbyterian church at Bucyrus, was engaged to supply the congregation on Sunday afternoons in the summer months. The little church was built on the Andrews' farm on the angling road from Bucyrus to Tiffin, and the little graveyard adjoining the church is best known as the Andrews graveyard. Here the oldest stone is that of James Andrews, who died April 25, 1840. He was a soldier of the War of i812; another of the veterans of 1812 buried here is Moses Pugh, who died Sept. 27, 1848. In the southern part of the township, church societies were organized as early as 1830, but no church edifice was built for 20 years, services being held in the cabins and later in the schoolhouses. About 1830 a schoolhouse had been built west of where Benton now is, and this was extensively used for church purposes. In the thirties Rev. Mr. Oliver had arranged to hold services in this building, but before he or the congregation arrived "Bishop" Tuttle had entered the building, and written on the wall with a piece of charcoal: "Oliver, Bender and Gillim Have caught the devil And are going to kill 'im." Bender and Gillim were two of the pillars of the church. The minister took the scrawled words for his text and preached a forceful, extemporaneous sermon. About 1851 a United Brethren Church was built in Benton, at a cost of about $1,500, and in 1870 the Methodists erected a church in the village that cost $3,000. Both churches prospered, and nearly all the "Pipetown" congregation united with this new church or joined the M. E. Church at Sycamore. AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 327 The first settlers in Texas drifted into the county from Seneca, and in the early days the children went long distances for their schooling, sometimes four and five miles. This was too inconvenient, and the pioneers in the northern part of the township built a log structure of fairly good size for those days. They put in a puncheon floor and covered it with a clapboard roof. They introduced an innovation in construction by having the chimney in the centre of the roof, and it was constructed of small stones and mud and hung down to within six feet of the floor, widening out funnel shaped at the bottom to facilitate ventilation. The seats were clapboard benches, and a walnut table, constructed by some settler expert with an axe, furnished the desk for the teacher and served as a pulpit when religious services were held, which were almost every Sunday in summer by a traveling minister of some denomination. In 1833, this building, which resembled in looks a modern pottery, was abandoned and another erected, more modern, nearer the center of the township; this new building was of frame. The next schoolhouse was the one west of Benton, about i83o, and ten years later it was replaced by a frame structure, which was in the western part of what is now Benton, near the graveyard. In 1858 the first schoolhouse was built in the village. Although the township contains only 12 square miles, and in the locating of schoolhouses should have but three, yet when school districts were organized at the same time as the township in 1845, there were four districts in the township, and are today. The northern four miles in district No. 1, and the schoolhouse is in the northeastern corner of section 11, the farm now owned by Jacob Zigler. District No. 2 is the central four miles and the schoolhouse is in the southeastern part of section 14, the land of Samuel Dunlop. The southern four miles has two districts, No. 3 being in the village of Benton, and No. 4 northwest quarter of section 36 on the farm of Jacob Rank. All these schoolhouses are on the north and south road which passes through the center of the township, the one in District 4, being about forty rods north of the old Indian Reservation line. What is known as the Benton graveyard was probably the first burial place in the township, as here is buried Mary Bender, wife of the first settler, who died May 13, 1832. Three veterans of the War of 1812 are buried here, John Coon, who died March 22, 1856; Elijah Jump, who died Dec. 5, 1871; and David Wickham, who died Sept. 15, 1848. George Bender and John Hazlett, the founders of the town of Benton are buried here. Hazlett dying Nov. 8, 1841, and Bender, Feb. 10, 1851. Another grave is that of Amos L. Westover, who died July 17, 1859, and received a Masonic funeral, the first society funeral in that section. He was one of the charter members of the Bucyrus Lodge of Masons, started in 1846, and for over ten years drove 12 miles to attend the meetings of the order, and on his death, his brethren from Bucyrus attended and gave him a Masonic burial. Westover was one of the early justices of the peace, and was always active in the affairs of the township. Prior to 1845 Texas was a part of Sycamore township. The following is a list of the justices Charles Morrow-1832. John Knapp-1832. Laban Perdew-1833-36. James Milligan—1834-37 James Griffith—1836-46. Amos L. Westover-1840-53-54-57. Robert Weeks-1846. Joseph Pitezel-1848-52. Abraham Eyestone-1851. Nelson Close—1852-55-58-61-67-70. Daniel Tuttle-1859-73 Samuel Beistle—1862-65. Arthur Andrews—1864. Martin Woodside—1868. A. B. Stewart-1879-73. George Wickham-1873-76. Nelson Holt-1876-79. Harvey Close-1880-83-86-89-92-97-01-07-09. M. W. Wickham—1881-84-87-90. J. H. Beistle-1893-97 C. H. Miller—1895. Melvin C. Huddle—1900-01. H. J. Miller—1994-05 George W. Wickham-1905-07-09. CHAPTER XXI TOD TOWNSHIP The Last Land in the County Occupied by the Indians—The Township Named Three Tines and Named Wrong Each Them—Osceola Laid Out With County Seat Expectations—Early Settlers—Churches and Schools—Reminiscences—A Horse Monument. "Dear country home ! can I forget The last of thy sweet trifles? The window-vines that clamber yet Whose bloom the bee still rifles? The roadside blackberries, growing ripe, And in the woods the Indian pipe?" -RICHARD HENRY STODDARD. Tod township was the last township in this county to be opened for settlement. The treaty of the Indians in 1817 reserved to them a tract of land 12 miles square in what is now Wyandot county. By a supplementary treaty in 1818 the Wyandots were given an additional five miles adjoining this tract on the east. In this five-mile strip was Tod township. On the north and the south and the east, the land was being rapidly taken up by the settlers, and all along the border the forests were being cleared away and the farms cultivated. Many settlers, besides hunting in the reservation as it suited their pleasure, settled on the land, some honestly leasing from the Indians, but most of them "squatting" on the reservation. As early as 1825 the advancing civilization demanded this land, but the Indians refused to sell, but finally in 1836, they agreed to dispose of the 6o square miles (12 miles deep and 5 miles wide) which they had secured at the supplemental treaty and two additional miles. In 1837, these lands were thrown on the market, and what is now Tod township was open to settlement, and the Indians had no Ionger any land in the present Crawford county. Tod township is nine miles from north to south and two miles east and west. In March, 1838, the Crawford county commissioners divided the territory secured from the Indians into two townships. The northern six miles was called Leith and the southern six miles was attached to Antrim. There was objection to the name of Leith. George W. Leith was one of the prominent men in the new territory, and with William Brown was appointed justice of the peace of the new township. His ancestry goes farther back in this county than any other white settler. His father, Samuel Leith, was the first known white child born in the Sandusky valley, probably in the old Indian town on the river, about three miles southeast of the present town of Upper Sandusky. The original John Leith in 1763, when a boy.of i6, was captured by the Indians. Instead, of killing him they adopted him into their tribe, in the family of Capt. Pipe, the Delaware chief who burned Crawford at the stake. They brought him to their town on the Sandusky, and when the War of the Revolution broke out. the British appointed him in charge of the store at the Wyandot town and here he re-. mained during the Revolution, and was also there during the Crawford campaign of 1782. His store was naturally the headquarters of the British, Indians, and the renegades during the Revolution and the Indian wars which followed. In 1762 the Mingo Indians on one of their raids into Pennsylvania captured a young girl, Sallie Lowry, and adopted her into their tribe. During one of the hunting expeditions of the lingoes to the Sandusky region Leith met the - 328 - AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 329 captive white girl and they were married, and in 1775, Samuel Leith was born. The husband and wife were captives of different tribes, and the wife was taken to the home of the Mingoes on the Muskingum, while Leith remained on the Sandusky. Every argument and inducement were offered the Mingoes to let the, wife join her husband, but they refused to give her up, and Indian courtesy prevented more drastic measures. Finally the Mingo Indians held a council, and decided to let the wife join her husband but the decision was that they would give to the Wyandots nothing but the wife and child. So every vestige of clothing was removed from the mother and child, and she was informed that if she wanted to join her husband, she could go. Leith in his narrative thus describes her reunion with her husband : "She shouldered her boy, waded the Walhonding, the Tuscarawas, passed through the wilderness, slept in the leaves by a log, contending with briars, nettles, flies, mosquitos, living on June berries, wild onions, wild peas, elm bark, roots, etc. She came to a squaw who was tending a small piece of corn and taking care of several Indian children, while the warrior was abroad. The squaw said: `Where you go?' She replied : 'Sandusky; my husband.' `Where clothes?' `They took them,' (pointing from whence she came.) `You hungey?' `Yes.' Me get meat.' The squaw told her to remain until the warrior returned; but she concluded to journey on. The squaw gave her a piece of blanket and some deer meat and she started. I was at the time busily engaged in handling pelts, revolving in my mind what I should do. I was whipping the pelts and throwing them on a pile, and had just stepped in to get another supply, when I saw my wife approaching. She threw the child down on the skins, dropping there herself, saying: `Here, John, I've brought your boy.' The fatigue of the journey and the joy of the meeting overwhelmed her for a time. There have been many happy meetings under far more favorable circumstances, but at no time or place was there ever a meeting that filled the parties with more triumphant joy." John Leith continued with the Indians until about 1792, when with his wife and two children, he made hisescape, and was closely pursued by the Indians until he reached Fort Pitt, (Pittsburg.) The son, Samuel. came to Ohio and was a soldier in the War of 1812 on the side of the Americans. He settled in Fairfield county., and here John Leith was born in 1807 and George W. Leith in i8io, the latter coming to this county in 1824, making his home with his guardian, his father, Samuel Leith, having died. After this family the township was named Leith on account of the influence of George W. Leith. But the name was not satisfactory to many of the settlers, on account of the original Leith being a British agent and an ally of the Indians during the Revolution and the Crawford campaign. Through courtesy toward George W. Leith, and for whore all had the greatest respect, the specious argument was presented that there were many Germans in the township, and the word Leith was as difficult for them to pronounce as was the world Shibboleth to the Scriptural heathens two thousand years previously. The commissioners took this as their cue, and changed the name of the township to Centre, in June, 1839, it being at that time the exact centre of the county, a name which was certain to get them into no trouble on account of ancestors. This name continued until Wyandot county was formed in 1845, which left only two miles of Centre township in Crawford county, and this two miles was no longer in'the centre, but was the extreme western part of the county, so that name was a misnomer, and in 1845 the commissioners named the new township Tod, after David Tod the democratic candidate for Governor in 1844, who was defeated and his supporters on the Board of Commissioners did him what honor they could by naming a township after him. South of Tod the fractional township of Antrim that remained in the county was named Dallas, after George M. Dallas, the Vice President of the United States. In the eastern part of the county the land secured from Richland was named at the same time after James K. Polk the Democratic president, and the new townships had the good old democratic names of Polk, Dallas, Tod and Texas, the latter being a rallying cry of the party as the Whigs bitterly opposed the admission of Texas into the union. Had it been given to our pioneer fathers to lift the veil that obscures the future there would have been more protest against the name of Tod than there had been to that of 330 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY Leith. For hardly had the machinery of government started in the new township than there was a re-alignment of parties, and David Tod joined the new party and as the opponent of the Democrats was elected Governor of the State in 1861, so it is not safe to perpetuate. the name of a political idol until after he has quietly died and been honorably buried. Tod township is traversed by three streams, Brokensword, Indian Run, and Grass Run, the beds of which consist of a shaly limestone rock. The first named is the largest and by far the most important, and the derivation of its name is traditional. It is said that after Colonel Crawford's historical engagement with the Indians and subsequent escape, he missed his nephew. With others he retraced his steps, only to be taken prisoner by the Delawares. Conducted by them to this stream, he is said to have drawn his sword and broken it over a rock. Another version is, a broken sword had been dropped by one of Crawford's retreating army. Col. Crawford, after the battle, in making his escape, did pass through Tod township, entering the township about two miles northwest of the present village Oceola, about where the farm of John R. Outhwaite or U. M. Kellogg is now located; he passed through in a southeasterly direction, leaving the township at about the farm of John Fisher or John W. Snavely, a mile and a half northeast of Oceola. After his capture, near the present town of Leesville, the Delawares took him back over the same route as they were desirous of finding the horses which Crawford had been compelled to abandon about the time they entered the township. The stream Brokensword was first known by the Indians as Crookedknife, but there is no authority for connecting the name with anything relating to Col. Crawford. He crossed the stream in Holmes township, near where the Brokensword Stone quarries are now located. The soil of Tod township is a pale clay loam but exceedingly rich. Well improved farms with substantial and attractive buildings are seen on every hand. Lumbering and limeburning for many years formed the chief industries, aside from agricultural, but a number of grist-mills also flourished here, at one time four being along the banks of the Brokensword. In early years when there was much waste timber, potash and blacksalts were manufactured, and in more recent years a considerable amount of quarrying of stone has been done. The timber of this section was largely black walnut, oak, beech, maple, sycamore, butternut and poplar. After the Wyandots had relinquished their claim to this territory in the spring of 1837, the United States held a sale at Marion, Ohio, selling off this land to private ownership. Neighboring landowners, capitalists from the East and from Bucyrus and Marion, both in the form of organized companies and as individuals, vied with each other in acquiring this land. A Mr. Howland of Cayuga, New York, purchased fourteen hundred acres, partly lying within Tod township. Zalmon Rowse, General Samuel Myers, Abram Holm of Bucyrus, with Messrs. Cox and Young of Marion county, formed a syndicate known as the Oceola Company and purchased the choice or central part of the township, with an expressed view of bringing the county seat to the town which they would there establish. That their plan miscarried was probably no disappointment to the promoters, who disposed of their land to good advantage before the death blow to the hopes of the little village of Oceola fell by the erection of Wyandot county by the Legislature. Of the private buyers, judge G. W. Leith, James Winstead, Daniel Tuttle and Jacob Shaffer were first. It has been a debatable question as to whether Leith or Winstead made actual settlement first, for with that distinction goes the honor of being the first settler of Tod township. Regardless of the question, there is a full measure of honor and credit accorded the name of each, for both were men of bright minds and active, and with Daniel Tuttle did more than any others in directing the earliest affairs of the township. Besides Leith, Winstead and Tuttle, other settlers in 1837 were Adam Bair, John Foster, James B. Horick, William Hartman, Edward Kellogg, David Kisor, Lucius P. Lea, Mordecai McCauley, Isaac Miller, John Turner, and Jacob Yost. Other early settlers were John Cronebaugh, Lewis Longwell, James McCain, James B. Robinson, Jacob Snavely, and Stephen White in 1838; Lyman King in 1839: William Brown, William Gordon, Michael Hough, Jesse Ja- AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 333 queth, and John Webb in 1840; William Andrews, Frederick G. Hesche, and Samuel Swineford in 1841; Elijah Jaqueth in 1843, Jonathan Outhwvaite and Amos Souders in 1845. Adam Bair had been a carpenter in Bucyrus, and so had John Cronebaugh, the latter assisting in building the first court house; F. G. Hesche, had also come there from Bucyrus to run a saw mill, and later returned, built the IIesche corner, and was in business at Bucyrus until his death. James Winstead lived to a remarkable old age, honored and respected by all. He was born in Shenandoah county, Virginia, in i8oi, and was fifteen years old when he moved to Ohio, locating in Fairfield county. In 1826, he moved to Bowsherville, Wyandot county, then Crawford county, where he built a cabin on the edge of the Indian reservation and followed his trade as a coppersmith. It would seem there could not be much business done at that trade in those days, and in fact his greatest patronage was not from the settlers but from the Indians. The latter had in their possession ore obtained from Michigan mines and for converting this into rings, bracelets and anklets they would pay most liberally. So. strongly did he become entrenched in the good graces of the redrnen, he was in 1829 persuaded by them to move upon their reservation. He was given the use of a double log cabin east of Upper Sandusky, an orchard, all the cleared land he wished to cultivate, was furnished with meats, and was given a liberal patronage. He lived almost as one of them, taking a seat at their camp-fires and joined them on hunting excursions. Probably no white man had a more intimate knowledge of this tribe, their habits, beliefs and mode of life, than did he. He remained with them until after the sale and then moved to section ii of Tod township, where in the spring of 1837 he erected a rough log cabin, with puncheon floor, but also equipped with glass windows. There was no semblance to a road leading to the tract he located, necessitating the cutting away of timber and brush to permit the passage of his oxen and wagon. The road he made became known as the Perrysburg road, and enabled him to strike the Upper Sandusky road. As illustrative of the customs of the times and neighborly help settlers were glad to give, it may be mentioned that Winstead gave a wood chopping bee with a view to having a better road between his farm and Oceola. Neighbors joined in with a will, and the cost to him was two gallons of whiskey and the expectation that he would be called upon to return the favor upon occasion and for the same remuneration. Mr. Winstead was one of the three first trustees of the township and one of the most active men of the times. Upon the organization of the township as Leith, James Winstead, Z. P. Lea and Jacob Yost were installed as trustees, and G. W. Leith and William Brown as justices of the peace. Stephen White was first clerk, but resigned the same day and was succeeded by Ozro N. Kellogg. Abram Shaffer was constable; Mordecai McCauley and Z. P. Lea, supervisors; Adam Bair, G. W. Leith and Lewis Longwell, fence viewers, and David Kisor was treasurer. G. W. Leith and David Kisor also were overseers of the poor. The first election was held at the home of Mordecai McCauley, and James Winstead, John Cronebaugh and John Horrick were elected trustees; David Kisor, treasurer, and James B. Robinson, clerk. The first officers after the name was changed to Tocl township were : James Winstead, Isaac Miller and Daniel Tuttle, trustees; John Forster, clerk; Isaac Miller, treasurer; F. G. Hesche, assessor; Frank Rapenow, constable; and William illiam Andrews, judge of election. When the name of the township was changed from Leith to Centre George W. Leith immediately tendered his resignation as justice, and his friend George Garrett also resigned. The various justices of the peace of Tod township are as follows Charles B. Garrctt-1836. George W. Leith-1839. William Brown-1839. Daniel Tuttle-1842-45. Thomas L. Lea-1844. Robert Andrews-1846. Cyrus F. Janueth-1847. John Gordon-1849. Jacob Steiner-1850. Horace Martin-1851-57. James Clegard-1852. Samuel Swishcr-1852-55. O. W. Johnson-1854. Frederick Wise-1857-60. G. W. J. Willoughby—1860-63. David Neeley-1862-65-68. 334 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY Frank P. Davis-1866-69. G. P. Lea-1870. Caleb B. Foster-1871-74-77-80. Rufus Aurend-1873-76. David Hosterman-1877-80. Gust Leonhart-1882-86. T. F. Coder-1884-88-91-97-1900-03-07-10. Deloss Jump—1887-90-93-96. S. M. Wilson-1894. W. E. Coonrod-1899-02-03-07-11. The first recorded marriages in the township were those of Isaac Miller and Jane Lea and also Stephen White and Mary Lea, in 1838, Zalmon Rowse going out from Bucyrus to perform the ceremony. A trip from Bucyrus to Oceola was no easy matter in those days. James C. Steen was an early Bucyrus justice, and he was sent for to perform the marriage ceremony of William W. Norton, his bride being Mary Brown of Oceola. Mr. Steen in his recollections gives the following account of his trip, the marriage occurring on the evening of Jan. 8, 1841 : "I was called upon to perform this ceremony at a time of year when the most miserable of all roads were at their worst. There was sufficient frost to make the walking uncertain and the ice on the streams unsupportable. It was impossible to drive from Bucyrus to Oceola in a buggy, could one have been procured. Allowing myself plenty of time, I concluded to make the trip on foot. After a circuitous meandering through the woods, over logs, and through mudholes, I arrived at Grass Run, which was quite swollen and bridgeless. The lateness of the hour forced me to a hasty decision, which was to attempt to cross on rather an insecure limb; but like a friend in need, it failed to furnish its support at the most critical moment, giving me an opportunity to rehearse the oath before the evening ceremony, in water up to my neck, at freezing point. I arrived a little late at the village, and coolly walked to a friend's to brush up a little for the festive occasion. The ceremony was performed without referring to the incident!" The first known birth in the township was a son of William Hartman, born in 1838. Oceola was laid out in May, 1837, by a land company, composed of Bucyrus, Columbus and Marion capitalists, and named Osceola, after the most noted Indian chief of the Seminoles. With the passing of time, probably through carelessness, the letter "s" has been dropped and the name has long since been mispelled Oceola. The land where Oceola was situated had just been purchased from the Indians, and the town was laid out on the north and west banks of the Brokensword, on a site which was almost the exact center of the county, and the idea prevailed that if a thriving village could be built up there, the time would arrive when it would become the county seat. The new town was laid out accordingly on a rather large scale. In the center was a public square. Main street which was the road from Bucyrus to Upper Sandusky was ninety feet wide. South of it was Water street and north of it High street, each seventy feet wide. Commencing on the west the streets were named First, Second, and Third, then came Broken-sword avenue, which crossed the public square, then came Fourth, Fifth and Sixth streets, and the river was reached on the road to Bucyrus. All these streets were 70 feet wide. In all there were 164 lots, and the village progressed from the start, but before it attained sufficient headway to take definite measures to secure the county seat, the legislature erected the new county of Wyandot, and Oceola just succeeded in being in Crawford county, and as it was now cn the extreme western border, all hopes of county seat honors were a thing of the past. There was a large crowd present at the lot sale, and the lots brought good prices, and many were sold; prices ranged from $25 up, some of the corner lots bringing $ioo, the projectors of the town had so impressed the people that it would eventually be a county seat that the speculation was rife. One man had some swamp land in Illinois along the lake; this he traded for Oceola property. The Illinois land is now a part of Chicago, worth far more today than the valuation real and personal of the entire village of Oceola. The first cabins were erected in the town site in 1838. Daniel Tuttle, familiarly known as "Bishop" Tuttle, moved to Oceola in 1840 and became the first merchant and manufacturer of the place. He had prior to that time for some 13 years been a traveling representative of a clock manufacturer, his territory extending from Maine to Louisiana, and was a man of wide experience and observation. While at Bucyrus his attention was attracted to the proposed county seat of Oceola and he located there. He thought great possibilities AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 335 lay in the manufacture of lime, as Bucyrus was at the time hauling in the commodity from a distance of forty miles at an excessive cost. He started a rude kiln in 1841, employing Lyman King to do the burning. He had in 1840 built a water mill, which was run steadily for a few years when power was available. As travel over the Perrysburg Road from Bucyrus to the northwest became more general it became apparent a tavern was needed at Oceola, and Mr. Tuttle soon supplied the need. He built an addition to his house, and as his business justified, later converted it into a two-story tavern. In 1842 he embarked in the fur trade and otherwise dealt with the Indians. He was the first postmaster of Oceola, serving from 1840 to 1845. In fact he was the moving spirit of the village. John Turner conducted a store here until the Mexican War broke out, then enlisted in the army. Jacob Yost, who built the first frame house in the village, continued trading with the Indians for many years. G. Leonard conducted a hat store; in i85o, he was advertising to manufacture corn brooms on shares and also to thresh corn with a machine. In 1851 R. G. Perry & Co. conducted a store and in 1858 he started the manufacture of carbonated pearl ash. In 1854 a waterpower grist-mill was built by David Neeley, but the dam was destroyed in 1860. He sold out in 1862 to A. N. Stonebreaker, and later the property passed into the hands of Judd and Deck, by whom it was sold to Garret Ziegler in 1867. It was on an island near the west bank of the Brokensword just below the bridge. While originally it was run by water power, later steam was introduced, and it was known as the Limestone Island Mills. It finally came into the possession of A. N. Phillips about 1873, a large three-story frame building. After Lemert secured a railroad this large structure was placed on rollers, and moved to its present site at Lemert a distance of over three miles, the trip taking weeks. The lime industry was probably the most prosperous business in the village. Originally started by Daniel Tuttle, others who went into the business were William Miller, and David, Joseph and Moses Snavely, and more than half a century ago there were about 200 kilns in operation, but the lack of transportation facilities, gradually made the lime industry less and less profitable, and by degrees it was abandoned. Samuel Swineford started a chair manufactory in 1841, which he conducted for about three years. G. W. J. Willoughby established a factory for the manufacture of wooden bowls, and built up an extensive business. In 1847 Amos Souders started a tannery, and continued the business for a dozen years when it was discontinued. William Sigler commenced the manufacture of potash in 1841, continuing in the business ten or twelve years. He also bought the Tuttle mill, and put in steam power. He had a saw-mill in connection, and manufactured shoe lasts, butter bowls and other wooden articles, including tables and chairs. He also put in a carding machine, but this branch was soon discontinued. Dr. J. N. Richie settled in the village as a physician in 1847; he took an active hand in township affairs, and became one of the best known physicians in the county, and after following his profession in Oceola for nearly half a century, he died on Dec. 17, 1895. Later day business men of the village were Rodney Poole, J. Grubb, Richard T. Garrigue5, Samuel Teetrich, and William T. Kelly, who established the first drug store and also carried a line of groceries. In 1861, Oceola erected a town hall, the dimensions being 3o by 40 feet. The citizens of Oceola met November 25, 1850, to take action toward inducing the projected Ohio & Indiana Railroad to pass through the village. G. W. J. Willoughby was chairman of the meeting and J. M. Rickey, secretary. Mr. Willoughby, James Clingan and J. C. Steen were appointed a committee to wait upon the directors of the road. Their efforts availed them nothing however, and the little village was doomed to its second great disappointment in a matter of vital importance to its welfare. Losing the railroad, the citizens took an active hand in securing a plank road from Oceola to Bucyrus. The road was built, and proved a great convenience to the people and the business of the village, but a constant loss to the stockholders, and it was finally abandoned. It had two toll gates, one at the outskirts of Oceola, and the other just west of Bucyrus. It was the only plank road ever built in the county. 336 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY A post office was established at Oceola April 1, 1840, with Daniel Tuttle as postmaster. He continued until he left the village and it was discontinued July 8, 1845, but just a year later it was re-established on July 8, 1846, with William H. Sigler as postmaster. He was followed by James C. Steen March 7, 1848; Josiah Morrison, May 18, 1850; Samuel Pike, July 29, 1853; John N. Richey, Oct. T6, 1854; Joseph IIildreth, Dec. 13, 1860; D. D. Martin, Feb. 14, 1861 ; R. T. Garrigues, April 12, 1866; Alfred Owen, Aug. 6, 1885 ; S. M. Wilson, June i g, 1889; W. B. Forrest, June 30, 1893; J. C. Frost, Sept. 18, 1897; P. H. Heater, March 12, 1902. Although Oceola is not on a railroad, the importance of the village is such that a post office is still continued at that place. When the Toledo and Ohio Central Road was built a station was established in the northern part of the township, and a town was laid out called Lemert, after Col. W. C. Lemert one of the men active in securing the road. The Limestone Mills were removed overland from Oceola to a new site along the track of the road. Two stores were started in the village, and one or two small shops. A post office was established there on Feb. 8, 1881, with Gust Leonhart as postmaster; he was succeeded by F. T. Smith, Sept. 13, 1882 ; William Evans, Nov. 23, 1897; E. L. Mansfield, April 25, 1905. All over the county, in the larger cemeteries and in the little country graveyards are hundreds of monuments that mark the last resting place of those who fought in the War of the rebellion. But just north of Oceola is a little monument that marks the spot where is buried one of the dumb heroes a horse who carried his soldier rider over several of the southern states. The horse was drawn by Abe Conger of the Twelfth Ohio Cavalry, at Louisville Ky., and in one of Stoneman's raids the men were 87 days in the saddle, covering seven states and nearly two thousand miles of riding. At the close of the war Conger had become attached to the horse and brought him home; as years passed the horse became a pet; he was taken to reunions where he appeared to recognize the flag and pricked up his ears at the martial music. Finally on Sept. 4, 1886, the old war horse, Frank, died, being then about 26 years of age. The veterans the next day took him to the woods of Capt. John Harter, just north of Oceola, where he was buried, and a little monument erected to mark the site of the old war horse. The first schoolhouse was built on the banks of the Brokensword, southwest of the village, in 1839, and the first teacher was Jane Snavely, who received ten dollars a month, but when winter came her brother taught the school, receiving $15 per month. When the village of Oceola was started, the arrival of settlers made a schoolhouse necessary, and an old Indian cabin was fitted up as well as possible where the children were taught, but the new village contained a schoolhouse site, and on this the trees were chopped down and a log building erected in 1841 ; this was replaced in 1845 by a frame building, which did duty for ten years, and in 1855 it was purchased by the Methodists and removed to their lot to be used for church purposes, and a two story frame erected, the growth of the town necessitating more than one room to accommodate the pupils. This frame was later replaced by the present brick structure. The township has five schoolhouses. District No. i is at Lemert. No. 2 is between Lemert and Oceola, on the northwest quarter of section 24, the Mary E. Doty farm. No. 3 is in the village of Oceola, north of the public square. No. 4 is nearly two miles south of Oceola, the northeast quarter of section 2, the farm of Daniel Songer. No. 5 is two miles south of this in the southeast quarter of section ii, the farm of A. M. Kinsey. These buildings are all on the north and south road which runs through the center of the township. And this road can well be called the schoolhouse road of the county. From the Seneca county line to Marion county, a distance of twenty miles, it has twelve schoolhouses, four in Texas township, five in Tod and three in Dallas, and all modern. No other road in the county comes anywhere near this record. The township of Tod, owing to its smallness and to the manner in which it is scattered out, has been somewhat backward in the matter of building churches. That does not mean the citizens were lax in their religious duties. Far from it, for they held services in their cabins soon after the township was organized, As early as 1838, largely through the efforts of AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 337 Z. P. Lea and his family, a Methodist Episcopal congregation was organized in the northern hart of the township, which subsequently built the first Methodist Episcopal church in Benton. The people were so varied in their faiths and creeds, no single congregation gained strength enough to build a church of its own outside of the village of Oceola. For nearly ten years the Methodists, Campbellites, United Brethrens, iPresb.yterians, Lutherans and Cniversalists, and sometimes the Quakers, held meetings in the village schoolhouse, and a great part of the time these were union meetings, sometimes two denominations used the building on Sunday, the one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. It was also used of evenings, by some denomination, and there was scarcely a day or a night when the building was not in use. The first outside assistance in religious devotion came from Rev. George Reid and J. B. Robinson, of Bucyrus, who established a Bible society in 184o. Rev. William Matthews the Presbyterian minister at Bucyrus was the first to receive a salary, he holding services Sunday afternoons in 1845 and 1846. The Methodist Episcopal denomination became organized as a distinct body about the same time, with Rev. B. F. Royce as pastor, it coming within the Melmore Circuit, North Ohio Conference. The United Brethren congregation soon followed in its organization. The Campbellites, who were numerically strong prior to the Civil War, lost so many in that struggle they did not reorganize after the war. Under the leadership of Capt. John Wert, a Union Sunday School was started in 1846 and conducted in the schoolhouse until 1854, then in the United Brethren church, all denominations uniting and making it a union Sunday school. As churches became stronger they organized Sunday Schools of their own, the Methodists being first. In the graveyard south of the village is buried Benjamin Maskey, who was in the War of 1812, enlisting in the Pennsylvania Militia; be was born Nov. 2, 1789, and died Jan. 21, 1867. Here also is buried James C. Steen, who was first lieutenant in Capt. Caldwell's independent company in the Mexican War, and died June 20, 1885 ; also Cyrus Peck, of the same company, who died June 18, 1870. The oldest stone in this yard is that of Samuel Staley, who died Jan. 15, 1848, but there were burials here prior to this. In the Oceola graveyard is buried James Forrest, born May 17, 1799, and died May ro, i880. He was with Commodore Perry at the battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812. When the war broke out he was living in Huntingdon county, Pa., and his uncle was drafted, but having a large family it was difficult for him to go, so his nephew, James, volunteered to go in his place. He was but 13 years of age, but so large that he was easily accepted. In 1854 he came to Crawford county where he had a farm north of Oceola on which he lived until his death. The oldest stone here is a child of John W. Bates, who died April 12, 1846, but there were a number of burials prior to this. CHAPTER XXII VERNON TOWNSHIP The Township Created—At First a Wilderness—Its Swampy Character in Early Days—Wild Game—Boundaries—Geologic Formation—Drainage—Indian Occupation—First Settlers—First Deaths—Early Mills—West Liberty—A Temperance Crusade in 1838—Postmasters —DeKalb—The DeKalb Seininary—A Row Over Postmaster---Decline of DeKalb—The Underground Railroad—Oil Speculation—Schools and Church es—Justices of the Peace. And the heavy wains creak to the barns large and gray, Where the treasure securely we hold, Housed safe from the tempest, dry-sheltered away, Our blessing more precious than gold! And long for this manna that springs from the sod Shall we gratefully give him the praise, The source of all bounty, our Father and God, Who sent us from heaven the maize. -WILLIAM W. FOSDICK. Vernon township was surveyed by Maxfield Ludlow in 1807, and when the county of Richland was erected by the Legislature it was a part of Madison township, Richland county. After Richland county was organized the commissioners of that county in 1816 erected the township of Bloominggrove, from Madison, and in 1818 divided this township creating the township of Sandusky, six miles wide and twelve deep, and finally in 1825, created the township of Vernon from the northern half of Sandusky township. In 1845 it became a part of Crawford county, and the commissioners carried it under its original name, which had been given it after the home of Washington, Mount Vernon. When it was surveyed by Maxfield Ludlow in 1807 it was an almost impassable wilderness, the congenial home of nearly every species of wild game common to this part of the world, including such fierce and predatory beasts as the wolf, bear, panther and catamount, and crossed only by a few Indian trails. In the southeastern part extensive swamps afforded an almost secure retreat for the wild animals from the Indian or pioneer hunter, who with difficulty and clanger followed them into the treacherous hogs and tangled thickets and into an atmosphere impregnated with malarial vapors. The township is bounded on the north by Auburn, on the east by Richland county and a part of Jackson, on the south by Jefferson and Jackson, and on the west by Sandusky township. Its geologic foundation consists of the Waverly group of rocks, which is overlaid by drift deposits of a depth of from ten to 50 feet. In the northwest corner, in the channel of Bear Marsh, where the drift deposits have been washed away, a slate or shale is exposed, which apparently forms a part of the Huron shale. West of De Kalb and in a few other places, the Berea grit outcrops and along the Bear Marsh run quarrying was done on the farms now owned by Ira O. Hilborn and J. B. Carrothers just west of De Kalb. The south and east portions of the township are flat, and the southern part was very wet and marshy in the early days, but modern drainage and the clearing away of the forests have brought the land into a condition to richly repay the labor of cultivation. In the southern part the soil is deep, rich and black, while in the northern and western parts it consists of a light sandy loam, mixed with clay. Lying on the northern slope of the Ohio watershed, the township is drained by streams which flow into Lake Erie. The principal one of these is known as Loss Creek, the name being a corruption of Lost Creek, it being thus denominated because of the difficulty in dis- - 338 - AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 339 covering its source among the many marshes. It originates, however, in the extensive flat lands in the southern part of the township, and after winding first in a northwesterly direction till it reaches the center of the township, it then turns toward the southwest and joins the Sandusky river. The northwestern corner is drained by Brokensword creek, while Honey Creek, a branch of the Huron river, drains the northeastern part. An Indian trail passed through the township from the northeast to Wingenund's village on the Sandusky river, near Leesville. There was an Indian camp southwest the present site of Vernon Junction for many years after the War of 1812. It is stated that about a dozen Indians, under the lead of Johnnycake, maintained a camp there until 1828. Civilization has blotted out all external evidences of Indian occupation, but here and there Indian relics are often plowed up. Many of these relics may be of a pre-historical instead of an Indian period. In 1816 Andrew Dickson and David Cummins purchased land in the northern part of Vernon township. Cummins was born in Rockingham county, Va., Feb. 28, 1788, and was a soldier in the War of 1812. When they first came to look over this section they assisted. William Green in erecting the first log house ever erected by a pioneer in this county, in the southeast part of what is now Auburn township. William Cummins located on his purchase in i8i8, and it is probable his companion, Andrew Dickson, came at the same time. The records show that on April 26, 1822, he bought of James Given a quarter section northwest of what is now West Liberty, and another quarter section near the same day. His nearest neighbor was Charles Morrow, whose heirs probably hold the oldest known deed of a transfer of property in the county. It was given by William Pettijohn, the hunter and trapper who roamed over Auburn and Vernon as early as 1814. The deed bears date of.Aug. 25, 1819, and is for the northwest quarter of section 34, township 22, range 20 west; section i4 is the southeast section of Auburn. Another resident of this section was Jedediah Moorehead, a trapper and hunter, who like Pettijohn made his living by securing furs and game. A settler named George Byers was occupying a log cabin in section 17, (the section in which West Liberty now is) as early as 1820, and niay have come there a year or two previously, as he had already several acres cleared. It is not unlikely, however, that he may have bought the land from some previous settler, as he was a man much fonder of roaming the forest in search of game and adventures than of performing hard manual labor. He was a most skilful hunter and trapper and is said to have caught more than a hundred mink in one winter, together with quite a number of racoon, beaver, otter and other animals. At that time a mink skin was worth $4, beaver $5, otter sometimes as high as $8, while a fox skin sold at from j 5 cents to $3. It can be seen, therefore, that Mr. Byers was able to earn a pretty good income for those days. He resided in the township for many years and finally died and was buried there. In 1821 James Richards, a blacksmith, came to Vernon, and after erecting his cabin, built a small round-log shop. He was kept employed much of the time in repairing the wagons of the constantly arriving pioneers, which were seldom in good condition after making the long journey to the West. In addition to this he made cow bells, tempered axes, made iron points for the wooden plows and did considerable other work in keeping the settlers' tools in good condition. Two roads, if such they might be called, had already been cut through the township. One, running north and south, was the Columbus and Sandusky, road, known as the Portland road, and at this time was simply a blazed way through the forest, from which the fallen logs and under- brush had been removed. It connected the central part of the State with the cities on Lake Erie, and soon became one of the principal highways in the state. The other was the Bucyrus and De Kalb road, which had been started in 182T. These, as well as most of the other principal roads in the state, were at first only Indian trails through the forest, which had been adopted by the pioneer settlers as the most desirable routes, and afterwards improved until they became passable for the teams, farmers' wagons, and droves of cattle on their way to market, evidences of a rapidly increasing and enterprising population. They are in full use at this day, though the old Con- 340 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY estoga wagon of the pioneer settler has been replaced by the swiftly-gliding automobile of the pleasure seeking tourist, and the cattle, instead of being driven lazily to market, are now drawn there over a steel highway at a rate of 20 to 30 miles an hour, behind a puffing locomotive—to witness which things would considerably surprise the pioneer settler, could he come back to earth and visit the wilderness where he first settled. In 1822 George Dickson, a young unmarried man, arrived in the township and entered land. After clearing a few acres, he went back to Pennsylvania, married, and then brought his wife to their new home in the wilderness. He became one of Vernon's most prominent citizens and resided here many years, and died Aug. 23, 1880, and was buried in the graveyard at De Kalb. Conrad Walters, a cooper, came in 1824 and began work at his trade. He was an intelligent and well educated man, and his manners were superior to those of the ordinary pioneer. He was moreover of a manly and courageous disposition and became a skillful hunter and trapper, learning much from his associations with Byers and the Indians. On one occasion while out hunting, he was nearly killed by a wounded buck, which he had shot in a swamp in the southern part of the township. Thinking it dying, he was about to cut its throat, when the animal started up in a desperate struggle for existence. Mr. Walters seized it by the antlers to prevent it from goring him and clang to it until he was almost exhausted. He finally succeeded in forcing its head into the mud and water and held it there until it suffocated. His body was covered with wounds and bruises and his clothing was torn to shreds by the sharp horns and hoofs of the dying animal. He learned from this experience, however, to always avoid a hand-to-hand struggle with a wounded deer. Besides those mentioned, other early settlers were Jonathan Dickson in 1825; David Holstein and Samuel Tarr in 1828; Levi Arnold, Thomas Gill, James Dickson, and Charles Warner in 1829; David Anderson, Barnett Cole, Samuel Dean, Dennis Orton, Rev. Thompson and William Brown in 1830. These settlers were in the northern part of the township, and through their exertions the forests in this section began to disappear and give way to farming land. Levi Arnold, was a carpenter, and the first to work at his trade in the township, erecting many of the buildings for the late settlers. The first orchard was planted by James Richards in 1825. Jonathan Dickson had a large family of children, and after they were grown and had homes for themselves, there were thirteen settled around the family homestead, so close that when his dinner bell rang it could be heard by the entire thirteen, but this tradition handed down fails to state whether they responded to this "call for refreshments" at the family home. But on Thanksgiving Days they did repair to the old homestead year after year, until finally, in August, 1881, the children and the grandchildren and the great grandchildren paid their last tribute of respect to their ancestral pioneer, and he was laid to rest in the Hanna graveyard. The first known birth in the township is disputed. There are two claimants, and it has always been given to Arthur Cleland, a son of William and Rachel Cleland, who was born on Feb. 6, 1826. The other claimant is Andrew Dickson, and his tombstone in the Hanna graveyard shows he was born Feb. 6, 1826, and died Dec. 9, 1893. As both birth-dates are the same there is abundant reason for the double claim. After 1830, among the settlers arriving were George Amspaugh, Jacob Klahn, and Andrew Dickson, Sr., in 1831 ; Henry Bilsing, Richard Cahill, Dr. Peter Carlton, Conrad Ebner, Jacob Kemp and George Tempy in 1832; Philip Ackerman, John Baumgartner, J. J. Bauer, Leanderline Gosser, John Heimgartner, Samuel Hagarman, Christian Maker-ley, Andrew Miller, John J. Rubly, Jacob Reichlin, John B. Yetzer, Jacob Scheibly, Gottleib Schneider and John Weaver in 1833; Adain Bach, Adam Feik and -- Reiter in 1834; John Fulton, John Farrell, Thomas Mahan, Samuel Reed and Jefferson Walters in 1835 ; Dr. A. N. Bee, Charles Gowan and Samuel Wiggins in 1836. A few of the above settled in the northern part of the township, but most of them were Germans who came with their families and erected cabins among the swamps and marshes in the southern part of the township. A worse place for settlement could hardly be imagined, AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 341 as the marshes were filled with venomous snakes and other reptiles, some of large size, the rattlesnakes being especially numerous and deadly, while the atmosphere was thickly charged with the germs of fever and ague. The Germans had selected this land, or rather had been obliged to take it, because of its cheapness, as their finances had been nearly exhausted by the long journey from their native land. They wasted no time in regrets, but set to work with courage and energy to improve the surrounding conditions. They drained the marshes, made clearings and erected cabins, and as the land became drier the air became better and the neighborhood more healthy. They also killed off the snakes and other noxious animals, so that in the course of a few years a great improvement was visible in the locality and the land became more valuable. The soil was naturally rich and when the water was drained off, yielded bountiful crops. The first of these settlers to arrive was Mr. Tempy, who came in 1831. Leanderline Gosser was a shoemaker and cobbler and had a small shop in one end of his cabin, and he also tanned the leather he needed for his work. In 1832 he planted the first apple trees in the German settlement. Yetzer also planted a small orchard two years later. The latter was a man of excellent education and soon became a leader among the Germans, being active in all public enterprises and especially in promoting the cause of education. Beach was a carpenter and erected the first frame houses in the southern part of the township, beginning in 1835. Bauer worked at cabinet-making, and although he had never learned the trade, he contrived to manufacture rough articles of furniture, such as stands, chairs, tables, and also made coffins for the settlers. As these Germans could not speak English, they had for some time but little commuication with the English-speaking settlements, and were thus an almost independent colony. Most of the settlers obtained their supplies of flour, powder and shot, and other necessary articles at Mansfield, whisky being usually procured at Monroeville, where there were some extensive distilleries. This latter article was an absolute necessity in southern Vernon, as it was the only medicinal remedy for the poison of the rattlesnakes, and also a safeguard from the chills and ague which infected this miasmatic region. No record has been handed down of any deaths from the venomous rattlesnakes, and it is probable that none occurred. Neither is there any record handed down of the deaths of the little children, brought to this malarious region, with its iinpure water, and swampy marshy ground, where only the strongest constitutions could survive the unhealthy surroundings, yet these deaths of the little ones did occur, and it is probable that in southern Vernon, the same as in the southern part of Bucyrus township, there are very few square miles where there are not one or more unknown graves, where the sorrowing parents laid to rest the little one whose death was due solely to a want of pure air and water. It is also safe to say that in the pioneer days these early graves were marked by some rudely carved stone, or wooden slab, but as time passed and the farms passed to other hands these markings decayed, and today no trace remains. Of fifty early graveyards in this county that are still cared for and every one established prior to 185o, the records of the ancient stones that are yet legible show that the first burial in twenty of them was a child, in twelve a woman, and in eighteen a man, showing again the survival of the strongest. Charles and Catherine Warner came to Vernon township in 1829, settling near West Liberty. His son John helped his father to clear the land and later learned the carpenter's trade, and went into business 'for himself. He built a little shop, but soon after it was completed it took fire and was totally destroyed. He immediately rebuilt and was in the business a number of years. David Anderson came to Vernon about 1830 and followed farming for awhile. He then became a merchant at DeKalb and was thus occupied for about fifteen years. Later he went to Mansfield and became a prominent banker. Henry and Christina Bilsing, with their son Adam came to the township in 1832. He built the first house in that vicinity—the old Bilsing home, in the southern part of the township. J. G. Stough came to Crawford county in November, 1826, settling in Liberty township, where his father joined him in 1829. The 342 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY latter was a Lutheran minister, who, entering the ministry in 1793, preached for 56 years. J. G. Stough's maternal grandfather, Trautman, was born in Maryland and while very young, Indians killed his father and carried his three sisters into captivity. When Mr. Trautman grew older he came to Ohio and finding his sisters in an Indian camp on the Kilbuck, near the present city of Wooster, he rescued them and took them home. Mr. Stough after farming in Liberty for forty years, moved to northeastern Vernon. Peter Linker came to Ohio in 1832. He settled on a farm in Vernon township and resided there until his death on Oct. 4, 1870. in the spring of 1827, George M. Keitch came to Crawford county, and built a cabin on land now owned by William and Albert Bilsing in Vernon. IIe died Dec. 21, 1827, one of the earliest deaths in the southern part of the township, and was the first known burial in the Biddle graveyard, a mile east of his home. The first known death in northern Vernon was that of David Holstein, which occurred in 1833. Mrs. Akerman died in the southern part of the township in the same year. Like all the early settlers, at the start, the pioneers were compelled to go long distances to have their grain ground or do the work by hand. In 1833 Conrad Walters erected a frame grist-mill near West Liberty, and did a good business, but later in 1836 Samuel Reed built a better mill two miles east, and in this placed two sets of stones, one of roughly cut "nigger heads" for the corn, the other a pair of first-class French buhrs for grinding the wheat. After this mill started the Walters mill was discontinued. The Reed mill continued for about ten years and was then discontinued, for lack of custom. These were the only two grist-mills ever in the township. Samuel Reed also ran a small saw-mill in connection with his grist-mill. In 1837 Isaac Vanhorn had a large saw-mill on the bank of the Loss Creek, located at a very favorable point, for he had water sufficient to run it for nine months in the year. The mill later was run by a Mr. Kilgore who in turn sold it to Conrad Walters, and then it passed into the possession of Charles Warner, and was abandoned. In 1862 Nicholas Fetter built a steam saw-mill in the eastern part of the township. As early as 1834 Conrad Walters started an ashery, which he continued for several years, and in 1844. Dimmick & Gibbs began the manufacture of potash on a more extensive scale, reaching an output of seven to eight tons per annum. Jacob Kemp started a brick yard in 1838, and a few brick buildings were erected instead of frame. In 1825 Levi Arnold entered 8o acres of government land in section No. 17 of what is now Vernon township. He was a carpenter and house-builder and erected his shop near his cabin in the woods on the site of where is now the village of West Liberty. Just south of hirn lived Conrad Walters, who had moved there two years previously, and opened a cooper shop following that occupation in connection with his farming and also started a tavern. Charles \Varner, a cabinet-maker, located north of Arnold in 1829, and he also did business at his trade as well as farming. By 1831 the section had become so thickly settled that a schoolhouse was erected near Conrad Walter's tavern, and in 1833 a log church was erected one half mile south of Arnold. That same year Walters started a grist-mill, run by horse power, and in 1834 an ashery. About that time Thomas Dean bought Arnold's farm, and he saw that without doubt there was an opening for a town on his land. It was at the crossing of the Portland road and the road between Bucyrus and Shelby. The nearest town to the south was Galion, about nine miles away, and to the northeast was Shelby, nearly the same distance. His scheme was to have all the different industries centralized at the one point, and it would form the nucleus of a town and be more convenient for the settlers and better for the mechanics themselves. So early in the spring of 1835 he had John Stewart, the county surveyor of Richland county, lay out a town on the site where the two roads crossed. The plat was filed in the office of the county recorder in Richland county on May 28, 1835, and gave the location as on "the north' central part of the south half of section No. 17, Vernon township, Richland county." There were only two streets on the plat, the Portland road was named Columbus street, and the other road was called Bucyrus street. After the settlement of West Liberty, the road AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 343 from Bucyrus to Shelby became generally known as the Bucyrus and West Liberty road. There were 28 lots in the plat of which 20 were on Columbus street, ten on each side, and eight on Bucyrus street. Some of the lots in the new town sold as high as There were several buildings in the town, as early as 1830, Levi Arnold having erected a double log-cabin for James Gillespie. Jacob Kemp and Andrew Miller both built log cabins, but they were very small, as they had but one window each. After the town was laid out, Kemp built a larger building and ran a hotel; this was a two-story affair and was a frame structure, the first frame in the village. Charles Warner had started his little cabinet maker's shop in 1830, and continued in the business for i8 years when he sold out to Henry Balsor. Thomas Gill had a cooper shop, Jefferson Wallace a blacksmith shop, John Kaler a shoe shop and Hiram D. Cross a tailor shop. In 1838, the town boasted of a few little shops, five or six houses, but it had no store. And the first store started at West Liberty was the first introduction into the county of the shrewd business man "gold bricking" the unsophisticated citizen. A young peddler who drove through the country with a horse and wagon, furnishing dry goods and other necessaries to the farmers in the small villages, happened to drop into Kemp's tavern. He spoke in glowing terms of the thrift and enterprise of the place, expanded the possibilities of the dinky little cooper shop, carpenter shop and shoe shop, and let his brilliant and vivid imagination wander into the future of what the town would be, situated as it was at the junction of the two most important roads in the state; regretted business would not allow him to remain or he would certainly start a store in the little village. All it needed was a store, and the man who started one was bound to make a fortune, and he wiped the tears from his eyes when he described the opportunity of which he was unable to take advantage. He only expected to unload his stock, about $600 worth, on one man, but he had three offers. It never phased the smooth young man. He dealt with the entire three in secret, and unloaded a third of his goods on each, and with his empty wagon quietly left the town, and Jacob Kemp, Andrew Miller and Samuel Dean learned with astonishment that each one of the three had purchased goods and intended to make a fortune in the dry goods business. Neither one would give way, so three stores were started, and to crowd out the others, each sent to Pittsburg and added largely to the stock. There was not sufficient business for one store, and all three discontinued, and just about that time young Bailey got in his "double cross" by returning to the village, buying all three stores at his own price, and he left the town a second time but this time with a loaded wagon instead of an empty one. The transaction broke up Samuel Dean. The storekeepers were only a few years ahead of their time. In 1845 I. N. Frye and John Kaler started a store with $5,000 worth of goods, but the town had grown; it was now the centre of a well settled region, and was the second most important business centre of the county, doing then more business than Galion. In 1850 the goods of Frye & Kaler invoiced $8,000, but then as now the invoice was not a perfect criterion, as later, Frye sold to C. G. Malic; and the business of Kaler & Malic demanded all the time of the proprietors and Dr. George Keller was employed to keep the hooks of the firm, and he stated theirbusiness reached, one year at least, $ioo,000. Besides a general store, they dealt in grain and stock. John Kaler came to Bucyrus as county treasurer, and C. G. Malic ran the business alone; after a few years he sold out to Brown & Guiss and came to Bucyrus, and went into the dry goods business with his old partner under the old name of Kaler & Malic. Their bookkeeper also came, but no longer to keep books, as his practice as a physician in Bucyrus required all his time. Guiss sold to James Gloyd, and they were compelled to make an assignment, J. J. Bauer securing the stock. William Brown went to Tiro and became one of the prominent men of that rising young town. The advent of railroads had made it impossible to pay the high charges for the handling of freight, and the interior towns could not compete with those more favorably located. Galion in i85o, which was of less importance than West Liberty as a commercial centre, from the time of its rail- 344 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY road had expanded by leaps and bounds until it became the largest place in the county; Crestline in 1850 was a wilderness, and in 1860 an important town, and from the time of railroads West Liberty was on the downward grade, its industries quit business and finally in 1902 its post office was discontinued and with it the little notion store gave up the ghost, while the last saloon made a feeble struggle to survive, gave up the hopeless fight and finally closed for lack of patronage, and what was once the most thriving village of Northeastern Crawford is today a short street with a few old frame houses fast crumbling to decay. In its palmiest days several physicians located in the village, the first was Dr. J. C. Wood in 1842, but he died in 1847. Later Drs. H. B. Hutchinson, James Aikens, and George Keller and Joseph Bevier located there. At one time it also boasted of a distillery, Gibbs & Main starting a small one in 1844, with a capacity of about fifteen gallons a day. This output was consumed by the local trade in that section, but notwithstanding this the firm only continued in business about a year. About 1838 a temperance crusade was started in the northern part of the township and a Mr. Kile tried the experiment of having a barn raising without the necessary lubricant for the men, but the affair was a failure as there were not enough men present to do the work. The temperance. movement was an equal failure, the time was not yet ripe to change the habits of the early pioneers. The mail is now supplied by rural route. Commencing March 24, 1868, for over thirty years Peter Weller was the postmaster, and he lived in Bucyrus all that time his father running the office as deputy, with the last little store in the village. The postmasters of the village were as follows David Anderson, Aug. 12, 1841 ; Isaac N. Frye, Dec. 30, 1845 ; A. N. Miller, May 23, i85o ; Thomas C. Eakin, July 15, 1851 ; Samuel Gloyd, Jan. 26, 1852; George Parsons, May 26, 1852: George C. Brown, March 3, 1865 ; Peter Weller, March 24, 1868; Isaiah Mowen, June 13, 1900. The office was discontinued May 31, 1902, and is now supplied by rural route. In 1827 John Nimmon came to Bucyrus; he was accompanied by his nephew, Richard W. Cahill, a young man 24 years of age. Mr. Nimmon started a store and his nephew was his assistant. One might think that in a little country store in those early days the principal job would be to "kill time." But in those days nearly all business was on credit, little cash passed, and what the farmer bought he paid for in the products he raised. Extensive credit was given. And one of the duties of Mr. Cahill was the collecting. Starting on his rounds he made his trip through the surrounding country, being gone for days, and returning with very little cash, but with whatever farm products he could collect, driving in the hogs and even cattle. This stock was assembled at Bucyrus, and when a drove had been secured Cahill started on his long tramp to Pittsburg, where he sold the cattle and hogs, and in exchange brought back the goods needed in the store, the trip taking over a month. For three years Cahill was clerk, bookkeeper, collector, and driver for the store, and in 1831, his uncle was elected to the Legislature, became the Hon. John 1 immon, and disposed of his store. Young Cahill was tired of the store business so he purchased 16o acres of land in Vernon township, to which he removed. His father was Abram Cahill, who had been an officer in the militia in Westmoreland county, Pa., and at one time had commancl of all the forces in western Pennsylvania. He came with his family to Wayne county in 1817. _Mr. R. W. Cahill after settling in Vernon in 1832, devoted his attention to farming, his land being south of the present village of Tiro. The region was becoming rapidly developed, and Mr. Cahill was easily the most influential man in Vernon township, and was the recognized leader of his party in western Richland county. Through his influence a post office was established in that section, and he was appointed postmaster by Andrew Jackson, the post office being in his house. It was named DeKalb, after Baron DeKalb, a general in the Revolutionary War. He continued to hold this office until the election of Gen. William Henry Harrison, when he forwarded his resignation, but received a letter from the postmaster general suggesting that there would be no change in the postmastership at DeKalb. Cahill was an old school AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 345 Democrat; he believed with his patron saint, Andrew Jackson, that "to the victor belongs the spoils," so he wrote a polite letter stating that he was a Democrat, and he declined to hold office under a Whig administration, and the office passed to David Anderson, the leading WVhig, and when he left DeKalb it was consolidated with the post office at West Liberty. In the October election of 1841, Mr. Cahill was elected as a member of the Legislature for Richland county, serving two years, and in 1850 he was the member of the Constitutional Convention from Crawford county, which gave the state its present constitution, without the amendments adopted in 1912. He died Oct. 4, 1886, and was buried in the Hanna graveyard. The immediate neighborhood of the DeKalb post office was thickly settled, and about three quarters of a mile north of the Cahill farm Samuel Hagarman had a blacksmith shop and there was a carpenter and cabinetmaker shop near it. David Anderson, who owned the land adjoining these two shops, concluded that it would be a profitable undertaking to lay out a town, with the two shops and the post office as a good starter. It was near the junction of a north and south road with the road from Bucyrus to Plymouth. He accordingly had Christian Wise, the Richland county surveyor, lay out and plat the town around the two shops. The plat was filed in the recorder's office in Richland county, on Nov. 20, 1835, and the location was given as "the southwest part of the northeast quarter of section No. 5, Vernon township, Richland county." The only street in the town was the old Bucyrus and Plymouth road, and it was given the name of Bucyrus street. There were sixteen lots in the town, eight on each side of the street. The town grew, and on Oct. 15, 1838 Anderson filed a plat for an addition to the original town. The new plat consisted of 12 more lots and two large outlots. This new addition was `vest of the original town, and brought the village to the road running north from West Liberty into Auburn township, the new street on the ,rest was called Columbus, as just north of West Liberty the north and south road joined the old Portland road running to Columbus. DeKalb in its palmiest days between 1835 and 1860, attained a high state of commercial and industrial standing and was one of the successful of the many towns projected during the era of town building which had such a rage in the county from 1833 to 1840. During that period there were sixteen towns* laid out and platted and placed on the market in four hundred square miles of what is now the county of Crawford. Immediately after DeKalb was started Dr. Peter Carlton opened a general store, with a stock of about $2,000, carrying a line of drugs. In 1840 David Anderson started a store, which he ran for five years and then sold to Gabriel and Cornelius Fox, who disposed of the goods and retired from business. George Cummins started a store in 1840, and in 1842, Elias Cramer started with a supply of groceries. with a bar attached, the only saloon ever in the village. A shoemaker's shop located in the village, and a wagon-maker's shop followed. In 1835 John Felton started a tannery with five vats and Charles Gowan also had a small tannery. In 1837 Thomas Mahan and Samuel Wiggins erected a large two story frame, and here they started a wool-carding and cloth-dressing mill, employing several hands, and for several years did a good business, but eventually it was discontinued. The DeKalb Seminary was started, a Presbyterian Institution of which the Rev. Mr. Thompson was president. It was locally known as the "Boys and Girls Seminary," as it was open to both sexes. At its height it reached an enrollment of over sixty pupils, but it gradually declined; in 1858 it had an enrollment of 48 pupils when the September term started. Mr.. Thompson was then principal; Miss Emma Irwin, preceptress, and Dr. George Keller, secretary. When the war broke out, the membership was still less, and for lack of patronage it was discontinued. The importance of Tiro was such that in 1847 the postoffice was re-established there in 1847, with the appointment of Charles Webb as postmaster on Feb. 23, 1847 he was succeeded by George Cummins on Jan. 28, 1848, the postoffice being in his store, and when he * These sixteen towns were Annapolis, Chatfield, Deckertown, DeKalb, East Liberty, Galion, Jacksonville, Leesville, Middletown, New Washington, New Winchester, North Liberty, Olentangy, Waynesburg, Wingert's Corners and West Liberty. 346 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY disposed of his store to the Fox brothers, Cornelius Fox was appointed postmaster July 31, 1849. On Sept. 6, 1854 Thomas A. Mitchell was appointed. During the incumbency of Postmaster Fox, DeKalb had a weekly mail; it started at Mt. Gilead, and went to Iberia, Galion, West Liberty, DeKalb, Tiro and Plymouth. In 1851, the contract for carrying the mail, from July 1851 to June 30, 186, contained the following "From Shelby, by DeKalb, to Sulphur Springs, to Brokensword, to Bucyrus, 30 miles and back. Leave Shelby every Friday 6 a. m., reach Bucyrus at 6 p. m.; Leave Bucyrus every Saturday at 6 a. m., reach Shelby 6 p. m. "From Galion, by Leesville Cross Roads and DeKalb to Tyro and back, 16 miles, one time a week. Leave Galion every Tuesday at 6 a. in., arrive Tyro 12 in. Leave same date at 2 p. m., arrive Galion 7 P. m." In June, 1858, the Dekalbians learned that H. S. Bevington had been appointed postmaster on June 10, 1858. The people had not asked for any change and wanted Mitchell, and they refused to accept the new postmaster, who was the choice of Congressman Hall. They raised such a protest that Bevington resigned, and the Government, to harmonize the matter, appointed Nancy Hanna. The people accepted this, but the leaders at Bucyrus insisted on Bevington. In those days a Congressman was all powerful, and as the people positively refused to accept Bevington, Congressman Hall had the office discontinued on March 17, 1859, and for two years the entire village was compelled to go nearly three miles to West Liberty for their mail, or five miles to Shelby. In 1861, the administration at Washington changed and post offices passed into the hands of the new party, and on July 3, 1861, George Cummins was appointed, and on Oct. 2, 1865, he was succeeded by Thomas A. Mitchell, the man removed ten years previously. He served this time for seven years, and was succeeded on Nov. 13, 1872, by B. W. McKee, who held the office until the appointment of William Raudabaugh on July 23, 1873. On Dec. i5, 1882, the office was discontinued, being removed to Tiro. About 1850 the population of DeKalb was in the neighborhood of 250 people. Somewhat later the business began to leave the place and go to the larger towns of Shelby and Plymouth, which had become better shipping points by reason of the Sandusky, Mansfield and Newark railroad. After i86o the town's retrogression was very marked, but it hung on, and finally was reduced to only a few houses with one small store and a blacksmith shop. Then the Mansfield and Coldwater road was built, passing less than a mile north and here the railroad established a depot, and in 1874 the village of Tiro was laid out on the land around the station. Stores and shops were started there; it became a centre for the shipment of grain, a mill was erected, a bank started, and DeKalb with its patriotic name was a town of the past. Today absolutely nothing remains to indicate that it was once an important business centre. For thirty years prior to the Civil War, several stations on the Underground Railroad were established in Vernon township, and many runaway slaves were thus assisted on their way to Canada and freedom. David and Samuel Anderson were among those who took part in this work. As the laws of the United States made it a crime to thus assist black fugitives to escape from their piasters, the work had to carried on with great caution. The negroes traveled only at night, and during the daytime were kept closely concealed in the so-called "stations," where they were provided with food and other necessaries. The first speculation in oil was in Vernon township. As early as 1851, James Seanor, living in the northern part of Jefferson township wanted a well, and at a depth of 25 feet struck a stratum of rock; he went through this and found a powerful vein of water which filled the well; a few days later this water was covered with a thick oily substance. A short distance from his house was a spring from which oil flowed in large quantities. No one knew the nature of the oil, or its qualities, but a quack doctor from Sandusky City gathered it for several years and retailed it as a specific for burns, bruises, etc. The oil excitement in Pennsylvania started, and in 1861 the Seanor well was recalled, the land was leased and work commenced and in two days without the aid of machinery about 120 AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 347 gallons of oil were gathered, but machinery did no more; it was not there in paying quantities. The swampy region of southern Vernon and Northern Jackson all showed symptoms of oil. Just south of the Vernon line on the farm of Hugh Oldfield, Pittsburg parties put in a well ioo feet deep from which they gathered a few buckets of oil a day. They put in pumps, believing the well would yield 15 barrels a day, but the investment was a failure. Other wells were dug but all proved failures. Finally in 1862 J. J. Bauer struck oil on his farm the northwest quarter of section 28, Vernon township, the land being today still in the possession of the Bauers. He had dug a well and discovered a few days later that the surface was covered with oil; as fast as he skimmed off the oil it gathered again, and the supply seemed inexhaustible. The excitement in Pennsylvania was at its height, and the citizens flocked to the farm to see the well, and congratulate the owner. A company was formed with a capital of $10,000 to develop the well, one enthusiast taking $500 in stock. Experts were sent for, and $2,000 of the stock was paid in and also paid out, the highest yield being a barrel and a half a day, and the enterprise was abandoned, but it was the most prolific well ever found in the county, a county too, which in the early days had more surface indications than any other county in the state, indications which later cost the people of this county approximately $ioo,000 for experimental wells with absolutely no returns. The first school building in Vernon township was erected in 1831 about half a mile south of West Liberty, and stood a short distance back from the Columbus and Sandusky road. It was built of round logs, was 16 feet square, and had a large conspicuous stone chimney. The first teacher was Thomas Gill, who was a very efficient instructor, anticipating many of the modern methods of imparting knowledge, and in connection with his teaching ran a cooper shop. Miss Richards, who in 1844, became Mrs. R. W. Cahill, and Mr. Orton, were also early teachers in this schoolhouse. In 1835 a hewed-log schoolhouse was built about a mile north of West Liberty. Maria Swan taught school here for 'three months during the summer of that year, while John Farrell taught the following winter. Another cabin was built for educational purposes about a mile and a half east of West Liberty in 1838, and by 1845 there were as many as seven or eight school buildings in the northern part of the township. The schools in the southern part were started later, as that part was settled several years after the northern part, but when established they were well taught and well attended, the German language at first being given preference over the English, owing to the general mass of the settlers being of that nationality. A frame schoolhouse was built in DeKalb in 1841, a Mr. Phillips being the first teacher. This building was afterwards supplanted by a more commodious one. Vernon township has today six school houses, No. 1 being in the southwest quarter of section 6, on the farm of Mary and G. W. Johnson; No. 2, southwest quarter of section 17, the farm of F. P. Warner, a quarter of a mile south of West Liberty; No. 3 the southeast quarter of section 30, the farm of William G. Fisher; No. 4, the southeast quarter of section 28, the farm of Thomas McMahon; No. 5, the southeast quarter of section 16, the farm of John Richlin; No. 6, the southeast quarter of section 4, the farm of Hollister Doll. The first religious services among the settlers were held in the cabins by those faithful missionaries of all denominations who wandered through the sparsely settled regions to preach to the people. Even before settlers were here, a young priest, Rev. J. M. Henni, made occasional trips through this region, making converts among the Indians. About 1824 he was in what is now known as the German settlement, in the eastern part of Vernon township. Here at this early date he found a few Roman Catholic families, and he organized them into a parish. He or others visited them occasionally, holding services in the cabins, and in 1836 they built a little log church, which was used until 1852, when it was replaced by a brick building on the same site, 4o by 80 feet in size. The church had secured a 4o-acre tract on which to build the church and necessary buildings. This church was just east of the Vernon township line, in Richland county. Later in life the first 348 - HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY priest, Rev. Mr. Henni, rose to high rank in the church and became Archbishop of Milwaukee. In 1890 to 1898 Rev. F. A. Schreiber was the priest in charge and under his administration the present church was built. The corner stone was laid by Right Rev. Bishop Horstman on May 29, 1892, and the building was dedicated by him on Sept. 25, 1895. It is called the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The building is 148 feet in length, with a width of 48 feet, with the handsomest of interior furnishings. It is of Berea cut stone, and of Gothic architecture, and when completed was the largest and handsomest church in the Cleveland diocese. Many in eastern Vernon are members of this church. The Methodists organized a society in the northern part of the township in 1832, but they were not strong enough to build a church at that time. Meetings were held in the cabins anc later in the schoolhouses, most of the early members belonging to the churches in Auburn township. About 1830 a society of United Presbyterians was organized, with a membership of about 30, and after holding services for a few years in the cabins and schoolhouses, a church was erected near DeKalb. Rev. Mr. Thompson, a very zealous and highly educated man, was the first pastor. He it was who started the DeKalb seminary. It was in the early thirties that there were a number of Germans settled in the southern part of Vernon, and by 1833 they were strong enough to build a church, the first church built in the township. The Germans were of two denominations, the German Lutherans and the German Reformers. The two congregations united in building a little log structure, a mile south of West Liberty; this was replaced later by a frame building, but for forty years the two sects jointly worshipped in the same building, when both organizations became strong enough to have a church of their own. The German Lutheran church was built on the east side of the Portland road about two miles south of West Liberty, and the German Reformed is half a mile south of this, a short distance east of the road. In 1850 Rev. William Adams organized a society called the Church of God in the northeastern part of the township. For ten years the meetings were held in the cabins and the schoolhouses, and then a little church was built at a cost of about $800. Long before the church was built, a Sunday school was started with Samuel Deatn as superintendent. All the other churches established Sunday schools soon after the churches were organized. Until Vernon was organized as a township it. was tinder the care of Auburn township, and in 1823, when Adam Aumend of Auburn made the first tax returns, he found but three persons in Vernon township to assess for taxation, and in 1826 there were only ten votes cast in the township. In its earlier years the justices of Auburn had jurisdiction over Vernon, and as in Auburn, Jacob Coykendall was the first justice, commissioned in 1821 ; Isaac Hitchcock and George Dickson were the first justices in Vernon in 1825 ; Dennis Orton was elected in 1826, and again in 1828, with James Richards ; William Cummins in 1830. Since Vernon has been a part of Crawford county the following men have held the office: Emanuel Warner—1845. George Cummins-1845,-48-49-52. Mathias Tustison-1848. John Kaler—1851-54-57. James Dixon—1855. James Dixon, Jr.—1858-61. George Parsons-1859. John Warner—1862-65-68-71-74-77-80-83-86-89. Andrew Dickson-1864-68. George Koch-1871-74. Jacob J. Bauer-1875. John W. Humphrey-1879-8o-83-86-89-92-96-99 J. J. Weaver—1892-96-99-02-05. Bert Fix—1905. A. A. Dapper—1911. David Weaver—1911 CHAPTER XXIII WHETSTONE TOWNSHIP Topography—Survey of the Township—Its Erection—First Election—The Soil—Early Prevalence of Malaria—First Settlers—Coning of Zalilion Rowse—Enterprise of James Armstrong—First Mills—Robbery of the Albrights—Crawford's March Through the Township—An Indian Village—The "Green Sea"—Early Roads—A Peculiar Marriage—The First Post Office—Founding of New Winchester, Olentangy and North Robinson—The Underground Railroad—Postmasters—Early Mills—Justices of the Peace—Schools and Churches—Graveyards. Nor heed the skeptic's puny hands, While near the church the schoolhouse stands: Nor fear the stubborn bigot's rule. While near the church-spire stands the school. -JOHN G. WHPPTIER. This township is the largest in the county, containing 40 full sections and eight fractional sections, or nearly 44 square miles, and a little east of the centre of the township is where the forest ended and the famous Sandusky Plains began, the latter extending west for nearly 40 miles, with only an occasional clump of trees, called an "island," to break the monotony of the landscape. The clearing away of the forest has long since obliterated all trace of where this line of demarkation between forest and plain once existed. The township was surveyed by Sylvanus Bourne in 1819, it being a part of the land obtained by treaty from the Indians in 1817, and known as the "New Purchase." Originally the township was but six miles deep, but the addition of two miles from Marion county in 1845 gave it its present depth of eight miles. The fractional tier of sections on the east was a part of Whetstone township when it was first erected in 1824; in 1835 the three-mile strip east of it was the southern half of Sandusky township, and this southern half of Sandusky was erected into a new township called Jackson, and the fractional sections were given to Jackson. In 1845 on the re-organization of the townships, and the erection of the present Crawford, the fractional tier of sections was again given to Whetstone, where they have since remained. In 1820 all of the present Crawford county was two townships called Sandusky, the eastern four miles being Sandusky township Richland county, and the balance being Sandusky township, Crawford county, and from the western part Bucyrus township was erected in 1822. The second township to be erected in this county was Whetstone, by the following resolution passed by the county commissioners of Delaware county on March 2, 1824: "On petition of sundry inhabitants of township 3 south, range 17, in the county of Crawford, said township was ordered by the board to be and the same is hereby declared to be erected into a separate township, by the name of Whetstone. Election ordered." In May, 1824, Crawford county was transferred from the care of Delaware county to that of Marion county, and at the elections that fall Whetstone voted with Bucyrus township. The Marion commissioners at a meeting held on Dec. 7, 1824 authorized the new township to organize. The first election was held in April, 1825, when George Poe and Heman Rowse were elected justices, their commissions bearing date of June 18, 1825. The township was named after the Whetstone creek. This creek and the Mud Run give - 349 - Heman Rowse, a brother of Zalmon, set-