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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY - 325 was a regular millwright, and also understood the business of grinding, and dressing buhrs, etc., etc. The repairs proper were chiefly confined to the water-wheel, and the tools employed in this undertaking were an inch augur, a hand-saw and an ax. The wheel to this mill was one of Mr. Arrowsmith's own invention, and was thought, by him at least, to be a very good one. When the repairs on the mill had about reached completion, and the dressing of the buhrs being the next thing in order, an old ax was added to the former stock of millwright tools, and with this instrument, whether it was called picking or chopping, the buhrs were dressed and the mils set to running. PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. William G. Pierce was born in New Hampshire June 20, 1808. He was married, in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., October 29, 1832, to Miss Ada, daughter of Oney and Amelia Rice. Mr. Pierce is of English and Irish descent. While a boy, he attended school in Wentworth, N. H., where he resided with his parents until six years of age. His father then located in Chittenden County, Vt., in the town of Colchester, afterward removing to St. Lawrence County, N. Y. After his marriage, he came to near Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained about fifteen months, and then removed to what was afterward Farmer Township, Defiance County, in 1836. He helped organize that township in 1836. Mr. Pierce settled in what is now Milford Township in 1837, and was present at the organization of that township. The country was then very new and wild. The Ottawas, some Wyandots and many Miamis were yet in the township. They were a harmless people, but somewhat troublesome to the new settlers in consequence of their visits. They traded their pelts to agents at Defiance and other points, and used a good deal of whisky, and when under its influence were quite noisy and somewhat dangerous. They often camped near the settlers and ranged the forests in search of game. The Ottawas left some time prior to the emigration of the Wyandots in 1843. Mr. Pierce states that schools were taught in cabins built for the settlers at that time. The first school in the township was taught in his cabin by Margaret Brace, now District 3, in 1844. The next teacher was Harriet Ellis. Then followed Jerusha Andrews in 1846, then Uretta Hopkins and Sabrina Hopkins in 1847. There were but few scholars and a small fund. The schools were largely by subscription. At a later day, schoolhouses sprang up in every district in the township. The houses are very com fordable, and frame or brick. Mr. Pierce states that the township was heavily timbered, and much hard work was required to clear up a farm. By the time a pioneer passed through such toil he began to show age and grow old. The diseases of the early settlers were fever and ague, bilious fevers and the like. The early doctors were distant, and the settlers had to travel through the forest many miles to get a physician. Preaching was generally in the cabins of the settlers, and each denomination had its teachers, who occasionally „addressed the people. Mr. Pierce was a noted hunter. Many very amusing anecdotes are told concerning his adventures with deer, bear and wild cats. He generally killed from twenty to thirty deer a year. Of wild cats, about forty or fifty. They were brindle, gray and spotted. They were very numerous and large, weighing from forty to fifty pounds He shot many wolves and deer from the door of his cabin. Wolves were very destructive to sheep, and quite bold. Of bear he killed many. He states that on one occasion, after dark, he took his ax and went into the forest to hunt coons, which were very numerous. After passing into the forest, not far from his house, he heard the crushing tramp, as he supposed, of a cow or horse in the forest. His dog soon raised the usual howl. Mr. P., with ax in hand, sought the place, and to his surprise the dog had a bear, which was brought to a stand. Mr. P. rushed for the bear, ax in hand. The bear fled a few rods and seated himself, and commenced to cuff the dog. Mr. P. halloaed lustily for a neighbor to bring his gun, which attracted the attention of Mrs. Pierce, who hastened to his relief with a torch. Mr. P. told her to hold the light, so he could attack the bear with his ax. Mrs. P., finding it to be a bear, was much alarmed, and covered her retreat by getting behind Mr. P., which rendered the torch useless. Mr. P. urged his dog forward, when the bear retreated a few rods and began to fight the dog. Mr. P. felt confident if he could get a lick at him with his ax that he could kill the bear; but every attempt failed, and finally bruin made his escape. Mr. Pierce had a fine lot of young shoats that fed on mast in the forest. One afternoon these pigs came up the path very much frightened--bristles up. He observed that something had happened the pigs. He took his ax and went down the path with his dog, who was a good hunter. It was not a great while till his dog raised a fierce yell. Mr. P. hastened to the spot, and found that his dog had brought a large bear to a halt, the dog seizing him in the rear whenever he moved. By urging his dog, the bear was made to climb a large tree, having two branches, or a fork. Bruin took a seat in the fork, and looked defiantly about. Mr. P. looked about to see if he could find a tree that would dislodge the bear, but no tree 326 - HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY. would reach his position. He made a careful examination, and found that the bear tree would reach a large sycamore, across which he proposed to cut the hear tree, so that the fork would strike the bear and dislodge it. This was done, and when the tree fell, unfortunately it did not impale the bear, but broke the fork and tore down a large number of trees, and during the fall bruin made his escape. Mr. P. found, on further examination, that bruin had dined on his missing pig. About that time, he had cleared a field near the forest, and sowed it in wheat. There was a bog in one corner, which was the receptacle of brush and other rubbish. The deer often came in to eat the growing wheat in the evening. Mr. P. adopted a plan to catch them while thus feeding on his wheat. He possessed an old hat with a wide rim, in the crown of which he cut large holes and securely placed a candle, which he lighted, and carefully, gun in hand, approached the deer. The deer stared at the burning candle, while the body of Mr. P. was shaded by the broad rim. He carefully raised his gun and succeeded in getting the game. On one occasion, a misty evening, he approached the bog, when a buck with a large pair of horns saw the light and approached it. Just as he got within a short distance of Mr. P., a drop of rain struck the lighted candle, when it commenced to hiss, at which the buck took the alarm, and hurried away at a hop, skip and jump, and entering the bog it commenced to flounder and struggle till it got loose and fled, which so amused Mr. P. that he could not shoot for laughing at the capers of the buck. The children of William G. and Ada Pierce are eight in number—William N., Hiram W., Fanday H., John B., Mary A. and Charles G., living, and Zelma D. and Malinda M., deceased. William N. and Hiram were in the late war of the rebellion. Mr. Pierce has held most of the township offices, and is now the posesssor of 210 acres of well-improved land. He is a member of the Universalist Church. Jacob Green, Jr., was born August 21, 1825, in Licking County, Ohio, and resided near Johnstown, and removed with his father, Thomas Green, a Virginian, and family to what is now Milford Township in 1835, where his father died in 1845, June 7, aged forty-six years. His mother, Mary (Willison) Green, died June 8, 1853, aged about fifty-two. She was horn at Hagerstown, Md. Mr. Green married Lovina Green January 17, 1847. She died October 31, 1870, aged forty-two years. She was daughter of George Green, of Milford Township. The father of Mr. Green settled on Section 5, near the St. Joseph River, the present homestead of Mr. Green, which contains 160 acres. When his parents landed in Milford Township, the forests were quite dense, and very heavily timbered. His father was the second settler in the township, Mr. Slater being the first. Thomas Green, Sr., helped raise Mr. Slater's cabin, in August, 1834, when there to select his land. The cabin of Mr. Green was next put up, in October, 1834. Thomas Green's children were Diadema, Hester, Jacob, Mary, Mahulda, Rosalinda, Ira, David, Jeremiah and Thomas. Mr. Green and his father killed great numbers of deer, and Mr. Green, Sr., killed as high as sixty deer, for five or six years, each autumn, and became somewhat noted for his skill and success in taking bruin. The Pottawatomies, and some Miamis, often camped along the St. Joseph River and hunted. Mr. Green frequently joined them in shooting deer by candle-light from their canoes. They killed large numbers by such means. The deer, except an occasional one, all disappeared about 1850. The bears ceased to appear earlier. Wild cats, of which there were great numbers about the swamps, left about 1870. The remarkable number of wild cats in this region seems to give strength to the old tradition that the tribe that gave name to " Lake Erie," the " Cats," actually existed in this region. Mr. Green and Mr. Pierce say that wild cats existed here in vast numbers and size, and of almost all colors—brown, brindle, spotted and black—and of immense proportion, generally weighing from forty to seventy pounds apiece, and when cornered and incapable of retreat, quite ferocious and sometimes dangerous in self-defense. Mr. Green states that he killed a "cat" that weighed eighty pounds, the largest one ever caught in the township, which was stuffed by Green, and went to Barnum's museum. Milling, in 1835, was done at Edgerton, on Fish Creek, in Ohio, and at a little mill at Clarksville, and occasionally at Brunersburg. The first school remembered was in Williams County, and the teacher was John Sawyer. The first blacksmith was Robert Carr, and a man by the name of Zedicar. The first carpenter was James Weight. The first cabinetmaker was Jeremiah A. Ball. The first shoe-maker was Thomas Olds; the next was John Poper. The first Methodist meeting was at Col. Samuel Lewis, in St. Joseph Township, Williams County, in 1836. The Revs. Brock and Willson were the preachers on the circuit. The Lutherans came in subsequently. Their first preacher was James Carther, about 1843. He had a little church at Clarksville. The road to Hicksville was cut about 1835, and subsequently improved as the township became more compactly settled. The first Justice of the Peace in the township was Elisha Clark. The present Justice of the Peace is C. W. Barney. Farmer Center and St. Joseph, in Williams County, were joined for the election of a Justice of the Peace prior to the erection of Defiance HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY - 327 County. The family of Mr. Green consists of nine children, six boys and three girls, all living. Their names are Thomas Jefferson, George W., Eli, Charles, Levi, Leroy, Caroline, Lucy and Arabelle. Three sons are married, also one daughter. Ava Gingery states that the Universalist Church at Logan Corners was built about 1872. It is of brick, and cost about $1,400. A schoolhouse at the Corners was built in 1878, in District No. 9. Mr. Gingery was born in Wayne County, Ohio, in 1842, and came to the Corners in 1861. His family consists of three children. Mr. G. married Miss Eliza Hopkins January 8, 1872. John Henry was one of the earliest settlers of the western part of Defiance County, having emigrated from New York in 1836, and located on the St. Jo, then the home of the red man, where he continued to reside, witnessing the gradual change of the wilderness to fertile farms, and increasing his fortune with the increasing wealth of the country until his death, April 28, 1856, aged fifty-four years. His children were Maria, Dwight, Elizabeth, Francis and Albert. Jacob D. Serrill was born in Darby, Delaware Co., Penn., August 28, 1811, and came to Milford Township in 1850, directly from Delaware County, Penn. When he arrived, there were William G. Pierce, Sidney Aldeman, Samuel Deihl, Frederick Lane, William Wilcox and others in the township. Mr. S. helped to make the early roads. The first schoolhouse was a cabin, and the first teacher Dr. James, in District No. 7. Preaching took place, generally, in the schoolhouses or private cabins. The preachers were old Mr. Chapman, for the United Brethren, and Nathaniel Crary for the Universalists. The Methodists had an occasional discourse. They have a small church on Section 10, and a few members. He was not an adept in the hunting business, and consequently (lid not follow it up. He attended the mills at Clarksville, which was then quite a business vilfage. The village then contained two taverns, two stores, two doctors, Ladd and a student, and perhaps eighteen houses, and a grist mill. It has now about twenty-five inhabitants, and has gradually gone to decay. The post office is now at George W. Chapman's and named " Milo," and one at Cicero Corners, called " Cicero," which has been in existence since 1861. J. D. Serrill had the office at his house, and was Postmaster from 1853 to 1861. It was removed to the house of Reuben Hyde and then to Mr. Chapman's, and he appointed Postmaster. Mr. Serrill has been Treasurer of Milford Township, Trustee and Postmaster a number of years. He has in his homestead 120 acres of laud, under good cul thation, with a good brick house and frame barn. He resides in an old style log cabin, which he is loath to give up. He possesses many relics of other Jays, that are both curious and interesting. Among these is a family Bible published in 1628, in London, containing the old family record at that time! He aso has an almanac printed by the celebrated Dr. Ben Franklin in 1748, at Philadelphia; a Bible published in 1773, and the family record of his aunt Pearson; an almanac of 1811; a prayer-book of his mother, bearing date 1800; a silver ladle and punch-bowl of his grandfather. used before the American Revolution; a silver set, used at the same time, before 1775, by his grandmother; an old silver tea pot, and pot, a sugar bowl, etc., used by the same parties before 1775. Mr. Serrill, for reasons best known to himself, has remained single. He is a gentleman of fair abilities, and a man of some culture. The right lady has not been found to make an impression on his heart and render his declining years happy. He is in the enjoyment of good health, and possesses good social qualities. Nathaniel Crary was born July 27, 1823, in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., and came to Milford Township with his parents in the spring of 1837, where he remained until his marriage, in 1848, to Miss Mercy Wartenbee, with whom he lived twelve years, when she died, leaving three children--Doraliski, Celestia and Austin B. Mr. C. married, for his second wife, Mrs. Arilla Kemble, on the 8th of April, 1855. She had two girls, Alice and Arilla, whom Mr. Crary adopted, and changed their names to Crary. His children by his second wife are five-- Mercy, Madison N., Demerest H., Gracie and Laura Genevra. The farm Mr. C. now owns is in Milford. in Section 35, and earned by him, in chopping acre for acre, in 1849. The first settlers were Dennis Boyles, J. Hulbert, Daniel Coy, Peter Beerbower, Isaac Wartenbee and Miller Arrowsmith. In March, 1876, said Crary removed to Hicksville, where he now resides. During the last twenty-seven years, he has, in connection with farming, been engaged in preaching the doctrines of Universalism, as taught by Winchester, Mowery, Balton, Whittemore and others. He has engaged in many oral discussions with the opponents to a world's salvation, and is yet alive. He met in discussion with Elder Holmes, of the United Brethren, and Elder Chubb, of the Methodists; John Sweeny, of the Disciple Church, from Chicago; John Mayham, a Methodist preacher from Logansport; W. M. Lord, of La Porte, Ind., and others. Mr. Crary marked the line through the forest with a hatchet, known in his neighborhood as the "Crary road," to Hicksville, and his mother and two other women who had socks to trade, in exchange for groceries, followed the trail 328 - HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY. of the footmen, by the blazed trees made by Mr. Crary, to the village. Hicksville was a place of resort for several years for those who wished to meet to amuse themselves at playing base ball. Among those who were experts were A. P. Edgerton, Elias Crary, A. Crary and others, who used to meet every few weeks for the purpose of playing ball. Mr. Crary, in an early day, ran an old-styled threshing machine. The horse-power and cylinder were all one macdine, and conveyed on one wagon. For three years he threshed every job from Farmer Center to the State line on the Fort Wayne road. He would drive into the field where the wheat was stacked or unstacked, and drive down some stakes, and put up some boards to keep the wheat from scattering all over the field, and after the grain was threshed off the straw he left the man who owned it to clean up and report the quantity. We give, in Mr. Crary's own words, the following: " When my father removed to this county from Canada, in 1839, we landed at Defiance, and there, for the first time, I saw some of the Ohio dent corn; and it being such a novelty, and as my father had bought a piece of land in Milford Township, at the northwest quarter of Section 36, I thought we would need some of the new but strong corn to plant the next spring, so we took the liberty of lodging two of the large ears in our coat pocket, and carried them through the wilderness out to Farmer Center, driving a number of cows through the mud and swamps, and when we stopped over night at Farmer Center, with one Jacob Conkey, and behold! we found our host had a large crib full of the same kind of corn which we had brought in our pockets, and we have admired that kind of corn ever since. " When my father commenced on the farm where the Widow Crary now lives, we soon found ourselves in want of provisions, especially meat. In the month of June, after a hard day's work, hoeing corn among the logs, father proposed that we would go down two miles south and watch a deer lick, and try and kill us a venison (as we called killing a deer in those days). We found the lick then in the wilderness (but now on the farm owned by Ray Maxwell, Esq.), and as the lick was an open piece of springy ground, father perched me up in a tree to watch that end of the lick, while he stationed himself at the other end. I had not sat but a short time before I heard the step of something in the dry • leaves, and as I turned myself around I saw a deer walking directly toward me. I took a dead aim at him, resting my old shotgun across a limb, which was loaded with one ball and nine buckshot (we always put in odd number of shot for luck), and when I pulled trigger out went the ball and nine buckshot, and down went the deer. I screamed at the top of my voice, 'Father! father! I killed—I have killed him!' Father soon came to my relief, cut the deer's throat, and we drew him at little distance, where we dressed him. I remained with the dead deer all night, while father went back and watched the lick, but saw no more deer. My eldest brother, Elias, while once chasing some deer on horseback, found a bear's track, and found, aso, that old bruin had been back-tracking himself; he had heard that the bear, just hefore burrowing up for the winter, would turn and follow his back track, to avoid detection of his winter quarters. So brother came home, and reported what he-had seen of the bear's track, and he thought he was in a hollow sycamore, not far from where he left the tracks. The next morning, brother and Uncle Royal Hopkins and myself, with dogs, ax and guns, started for the tree. We followed him but a short distance from where brother left his track the night before, when we found he had gone into a large hollow sycamore tree. The tree forked about twenty feet from the ground, and right in the fork of the tree was the entrance into the trunk. The bear was in the tree, down next to the ground. After deliberation, we decided to fell a small elm tree which stood in the right place to fall into the forked sycamore, thereby closing up the hole that admitted the bear into his retreat. Uncle Royal chopped the little elm, while brother stood with cocked rifle to his face, so if the bear should undertake to come out of the tree he would shoot him. The little elm, instead of falling down into the fork of the sycamore, caught on one of the branches of the sycamore, about six feet above the entrance into the bear's house. We heard a mighty Ecratching in the tree, and out came the bear. As he looked around, brother fired, and we supposed he had shot him, for he fell to the ground like a puffball. The dogs went for him, but the bear commenced rolling over and over, and finally freed himself from the dogs, and away he went; he soon got out of our sight, and soon the dogs came back. Whether brother hit him or not we had no means of knowing, and started for home feeling the truthfulness of the old adage: "There is many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.'" John F. Haller, the eldest of the family of William and Sarah (Arrowsmith) Haller, was born in Champaign County, Ohio, March 17, 1826. Mr. Haller realizing, as all ambitious young men should in setting out in life, that it was his duty to make a living in an honorable way, with this purpose in view, concluded to look around the country, and see what the prospects were. Consequently, on the 24th day of December. 1844, he took up his line of march with $2.50 in cash, and after a three days' mach HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY - 329 reached Defiance on the 26th day of the same month with some money left. Mr. Haller makes no pretensions to being one of the first settlers, but at the same time the country was very new, and comparatively few people living here, and they had but small improvements. Wild game was plenty, of various kinds common to a new country. But as Mr. Halfer was not cut out for a hunter, he paid the business of hunting and shooting wild game very little attention. He chose, rather, to teach the young idea how to "shoot," and taught school the following winter. He also commenced to improve the farm on which he now lives. Mr. Haller followed school teaching a part of the time for five years, in connection with making improvements on his farm. Wages were low at that time; labor commanding, generally, not more than half the present prices. The first settlers of this country were very poor, as men of means don't choose to expose themselves to the hardships and privations incident to the settlement of a new country. February 13, 1851, Mr. Haller married Miss Ellen Bassett, of Paulding County, Ohio, daughter of Elias and Fanny Bassett, who were born and married in the county of Kent, England, and emigrated to this country soon after their marriage. Mrs. Bassett died at Independence, this county, at an early day. Mr. Bassett died in Iowa in 1872. Their daughter, Ellen, was born in Huron County, Ohio, October 23, 1831, and died September 20, 1874, leaving four children—Sarah A., William E., Clara E. and Jesse R. November 27, 1878, Mr. Haller married, for his second wife, Mrs. Mary A. Hollon, daughter of David and Sophia House, of Oswego County, N. Y., who was born in the same county January 8, 1841. John Haller, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born at Haller's Gap, Penn., on the Schuylkill River. Mr. Haller emigrated West in 1796, and after exploring a part of Ohio, finally settled in Kentucky. He was of German parentage, a blacksmith by trade, and a superior workman. He was married in Kentucky, in 1797,. to Mary Allen, a native of Virginia. Mrs. Mary Allen Haller died in 1811, leaving seven children, the father of John F. Haller, mentioned above, being the second of the children. In 1812, he moved to Urbana, Ohio, and in 1815 was again married, to Mrs. Mary Weaver. By this marriage they had eight children. About the year 1833, he moved to Brunersburg, Defiance County, and settled on the farm now owned by his youngest son, H. R. Haller, where he died in 1835, aged sixty-five years. Mary (Weaver) Haller, his wife, died in 1849. There are four children yet living. Ezekiel Arrowsmith, grandfather on the mother's side of John F. Haller, the subject of the above sketch, was born near Baltimore, Md., in 1770, and emigrated to Kentucky when about twenty-three year of age, and soon after married Elizabeth Kenton, daughter of William Kenton, who was a brother of Simon Kenton, the noted Indian fighter. The Kenton family went to Kentucky at an early day, and landed where Louisville now stands. Mr. Arrowsmith moved to Ohio about 1801, and settled on Mad River, four miles west of Urbana. Their family consisted of ten children; three only are now living. Mr. Arrowsmith died in 1849, where he first settled in Ohio. His wife, Elizabeth (Kenton) Arrowsmith, died in 1866, at the advanced age of ninety years. William Haller, father of John F. Haller, was second son of John Haller, and was born in Kentucky in 1801, and was married in Champaign County, Ohio, in 1825, to Sarah Arrowsmith, daughter of Ezekiel and Elizabeth (Kenton) Arrowsmith, and who was also born in Kentucky in 1801. There were three children by this marriage--John F., Benjamin L. and Emily J. Mrs. Sarah (Arrowsmith) Haller died in 1835. Mr. William Haller married, for his second wife, Miss Jane Arrowsmith, sister of his first wife. By this marriage there were two children—Sarah A. and Lavina. In 1852, Mrs. Jane (Arrowsmith) Haller died, and for his third wife Mr. William Haller married in 1856, Myrtilla Bishop. They had but one child, a son, William A. William Haller died in Champaign County, Ohio, December 2, 1880, aged about eighty years. At the time Mr. Haller moved into Defiance County, there lived in the north half of Hicksville Township Joshua Hall, -- Tannehill, Benjamin Kimball, Luther Loveland, B. Ayers, Isaac Wartenbee, D. M. Grier, Thomas McCurdy, Cass Ginter. On the Fort Wayne, Newville and Spencerville roads there were a few, and only a few, settlers, and there were but a few families living in the town of Hicksville at that time. On the south half of Milford Township were living A. W. Wilcox, --- Thompson, Harvey Hastings, Daniel Coy, C. M. Hulbert, M. J. Hulbert, William Pierce, E. Crary, D. Boyles, Peter Beerbower, E. C. Crary, Royal Hopkins and Benjamin Forlow. In the south half of Farmer Towwnship were living Jacob Conkey, Dr. Rice, David Allen, William Powell, James Fisher, Martin Johnson, James Durham, Ira Brown, John Mortimore, Nathan Farmer, L. Bronson, M. Arrow- smith, Jesse Haller, Alexander Tharp, A. Bercaw, Anthony Huber, R. M. Kells, Jared Hulbert. What is now known as Mark Township was attached to Farmer for judicial purposes at the time Mr. Haller came to the county. At that time there was a Mr. Hughes and one or two of his sons living on Sulphur Creek, on Section 13, in that township. Mr. Haller helped to get out the timber to build a house on lands then owned by Edward Bassett, which was 330 - HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY. probably about the third house built in the township. C. M. Hulbert was born January 14, 1820, in Summit County, Ohio, and remained there until six teen years of ago, and then came to Farmer Township, Defiance County in 1840. His father, Jared Hulbert, subsequently moved to Mark Township, where he died in February, 1876, aged about seventy-seven years. His mother died the sime year, five days before, in the same township, aged about seventy eight years. The famify of Mr. Hulbert consists of Clement M., Harvey R. Sanford P., Malissa, Warren S., Minerva (dead), Pheha (dead), Celesta and Timothy. The rest are all grown and married. Clement M. married Miss Ellen Farnsworth January 20, 1851. His family, Wesley N., Rilie L., Ida M., Edna C. and Frank E., are all living. The first school was on "Lost Creek," in Farmer Township, and taught by Fletcher Hueler. In this township, Milford Schoolhouse was on Jared Hulbert's farm, Section 25, southeast corner, and taught by Caroline Powell. Church services were in private houses and in the schoolhouse. The first settlers were Ezra Crary, G. W. Chapman, Dennis Boyles, James Fisher, Isaac Fisher and William Wartenbee. Rudolph J. Battershell was born September 9, 1844, at Berlin, in the county of Holmes, Ohio, and came to Milford Township in September, 1850, with his parents, William and Elizabeth Battershell. Mr. B. married Miss Libbie A. Clarke. His family consists of Charles C., Allen P., Arthur C. The parents of Mr. B. are yet living in the township, Mr. B. is a merchant, and resides in Cicero, which is a sort of village, and has two blacksmith shops and one shoe store; in a fine farming country. John Jackson Hootman was born June 23, 1815, in Washington County, Penn. He removed with his father, John Hootman, to Wayne County, Ohio, Mohican Township, now in Ashland County, in October, 1826. John J. learned the blacksmith trade from his father, with whom he worked until he was twenty-four years of age. He married Miss Mary Eichelbarger, of Wayne County, May 9, 1839. Their children are John B., Charles (deceased), George B. and Mary E. John B. was elected and served as Sheriff of Defiance County. Mr. Hootman was a member of the Ohio Constitutional Convention of 1850, from the district composed of Wayne and Ashland Counties. In 1852, he went to California, and was absent nearly three years, and from 1856 to 1860 was Sheriff of Ashland County. He settled in Milford Township, Defiance County, January, 1860. He has a homestead of 120 acres, with fair improvements. Upon his arrival, he started a shop in which he worked at his trade, making edge tools, axes, etc. He was nominated for Representative for Williams, Paulding and Defiance Counties in 1862, but was defeated because Republican excitement ran very high on the war. Mr. H. has been very industrious all his life, and is a man of unflinching industry and honesty. John Hootman, father of John J., survived to a remarkable age, and during his long residence in Mohican Township, Ashland County, was an industrious citizen, whose moral and business integrity was never questioned by his neighbors or the community. He was noted as a mechanic, and made hundreds of axes, at which he was thought to be hard to excel. He was born in Brooke County, Va., March 3, 1786, the third son of Christian Hootman, who was one of the Hessians captured at Trenton, and who served the remainder of the war in the American army. In early life he worked his father's distillery. Leaving home, he learned the trade of blacksmithing, serving three years, in that time becoming one of the best workmen in that section. In 1811, lre married Jane Childers, an aunt of Mrs. President Polk. About the year 1826, he moved to Wayne (now Ashland) County, Ohio, where he lived until 1856, when he moved to Defiance County, having bought 520 acres of land. His children soon gathered around him, and that which was covered with an unbroken forest is now seen as beautiful farms. He was a man of iron will and indomitable energy, never swerving from what he believed to be right, Physically, he was one of the strongest of men; his heart was as tender as a child's, and ever responded to the wants of the poor and needy. Religious excitement running high in 1819 and 1820, and never having learned to read and write, he concluded that he would then commence, that he might read the Old and New Testaments. With the aid of the country schoolmaster he soon accomplished both, and memorized a great portion of the New Testament. He was baptized hy John Secrest, going sixteen miles to have the rite performed, uniting with the Church of Christ (or Disciples), and remained a faithful member until his death, a period of fifty-two years. He filled the place of Elder for many years. His hospitality was unbounded. Conferences always found a home for their ministers, for the time, irrespective of denomination. In politics, he was a Democrat of the strictest kind, and took great interest in the same, never missing an election. He cast his first vote for Thomas Jefferson for President, and voted for every Democratic nominee since for President, except Horace Greeley. Mr. Hootman became blind about five years before his death, but there was always a silver lining in the dark clouds that surrounded, him. He lived and (lied, an ardent patriot and a faithful Christian, be- HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY - 331 loved and respected by all. He was the father of eleven children, fifty-eight grandchildren and seventy-three great-grandchildren, 130 of whom are now living. Surviving the death of his wife thirty-two years, he died the 23d day of February, 1880. Christopher Hootman was born March 10, 1818, in Washington County, Penn., and came to Ashland County, then in Wayne, to Perry Township, in 1826. He married Miss Sarah A. Winbigler, sister of John J. and daughter of John and Mary Winbigler, November 11, 1841. He removed to Rowsburg in 1843, and from thence to La Grange County, Ind., in 1846, where he remained one summer, and then returned to Jeromeville, Ashland County, in the fall of 1846, and worked in company with John J., his brother, at the hlacksmith business for three years, and then went to Montgomery Township, in the same county, where he remained one year, and then returned to Jeromeville, where he remained until 1859, and removed to Milford Township, Defiance County, where he now resides. The settlers at the time of his arrival were quite sparse; Mr. W. G. Pierce, N. Z. Stone, N. Larabe, N. T. Smith, C. Irish and others were his nearest neighbors. At that time, game had not entirely left the forests. There was an occasional bear, a few deer and many wild turkeys. The remaining forests were heavily timbered and hard to clear. For milling, he generally attended the Webster Mill in De Kalb County, Ind. Alpha Stone was born May 15, 1797, in Luzerne, Warren Co., N. Y., and Rhoda Orton, his wife, was born December 1, 1800, in Willsboro, N. Y. to whom he was married September 6, 1818. They had a family of nine children, all of whom lived to become men and women, but one. Mr. Stone removed with his family to Milford Township in 1846, and in 1856 to Farmer Township, where he died three years later. Isaac Wartenbee was horn in Brooke County, Va., January 24, 1794, and came to Morgan County, Ohio, with his parents when three years of age, and removed from there to Muskingum County when twelve years old, and to Farmer Township, Defiance County, in 1834. Was married to Miss Mercy Robinson, of Brooke County, Va., in 1817. He settled on Section 30 in Farmer Township, on lands row owned by Miller Arrowsmith, and helped organize Farmer Township in 1836, being one of the voters of the first election, and was the third family who settled in the township. Mr. Wartenbee died in March, 1860, aged sixty-sii years. Mrs. Wartenbee died October 20, 1838, aged forty-four years. Their family were Angelina, Aaron R., Jane, Mercy, Mary, Amanda and Mergeline. These children all grew up and married. Amanda married William Henry, of Hicksville; Mergeline married Stephen Strong, of Newville, Ind. ; Mercy married Nathaniel Crary, now of Hicksvifle; Angeline married Daniel Coy, of Milford Township, who died June 22, 1857, aged forty-three years. The family of Mr. Coy consisted of Albert, Mercy, Flora, Frank, Eunice, Daniel and Edith. These are all living but the last named; Albert served fifteen months in the late war and returned all right. He served in Kentucky and Virginia, and was discharged at Alexandria December 8, 1865. Mrs. Daniel Coy was the first person married in Farmer Township, September 6, 1838. The death of Mrs. Wartenbee, as before stated, was October 20, 1838, and was the first death in the township. Mr. Arrowsmith furnished the lumber for her coffin. The first Methodist preaching was at the funeral of Mrs. Wartenbee, by George W. Chapman. Mr. Wartenbee served as Justice of the Peace in the township of Hicksville. Was also a member of the Disciples Church. Charles W. Barry was born in Milton Township, Chittenden County, Vt., January 9, 1823, and attended district school in his native place until he was fourteen years of age, when he removed to Erie, Penn, there attending the academy three years, and for six months teaching mathematics in Room 2. In October. 1840, he came to this township, traveling on foot from Maumee City to Defiance, and there being no bridge at Defiance, lre was ferried over by Mr. Strait. At that time people had almost a horror of the black swamp, consequently there was little emigration here at that time, whereas now there is no better spot in the country than this. Mr. Barry taught- school at $10 a month, and received over $5 a month from the State funds, the balance being raised by parents in proportion to the number of children sent. He taught school eight winters, and as there was no money in those days, deer hides and coon skins were a legal tender. He has in his possession a grindstone received from Rev. N. Crary, 1843, for a school bill, which has done service ever since. He went to Defiance in 1843, twenty-five miles distant, with an ox-team and twenty bushels of wheat, which he sold for $10, and bought a barrel of salt for $18. He married, April 2, 1845, Miss Uretta C. Hopkins, who came from St. Lawrence County, N Y., to Farmer Township. Their family consists of Zoviah, born April 23, 1846; and Wesley O., born August 23, 1848. Mr. Barry has resided on the same farm since 1845. In 1846, he was elected J. P., and has held the office twenty-four years. His first case was in the summer of 1846, without law books or previous experience. The plaintiff came in the morning, stating that defendant had taken some of his corn stalks in the division of a field of fodder. He issued a summons about 9 o'clock, and made it re- 332 - HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY. turnable at 3 o'clock the same day. The parties ap peared, and plaintiff obtained a judgment about C o'clock, and if that day had been one hour longer, he would have collected the debt by execution. A. W. Wilcox was boru in Oneida County, N. Y., June 4, 1817. His parents were from Connecticut. In the fall of 1840, Mr. Wilcox came to Milford Township and entered a farm of 200 acres. He was married, March 24, 1842, to Margaret, daughter of William and Margaret (Collins) Fes, who came to St. Joseph Township, County, in the fall of 1828, there being then but two other families in the township, those of Dicm and Avery. Mr. Fee had twelve children, who afl grew up and were married. But six of them now are living, two in this county—Mrs. Wilcox and her brother Samuel, both in Milford Township, Samuel on Section 21. Mr. Fee died the same year ho came to the county, in 1828, while from home to enter land for a future home, leaving Mrs. Fee to struggle through with a large family. Mrs. Fee entered a farm near what is known as Edgerton, in Williams County, where she raised her family. She died at her daughter's, Mrs. Wilcox, in Milford, September 29, 1876, aged about eighty eight years. Mrs. Wilcox was born in Gallia County, Ohio, November 11, 1824; was seven years old when she came with her parents to Williams County. Her brothers; Thomas and John, had to go to La Grange County, Ind., forty miles, for grain for the family, and on their arrival there had to thresh the wheat and husk the corn in the fields in the snow, as the people there were generally sick at that time, of ague and bilious fever. After being gone three weeks, on their return they gut within ten. miles from home and came to a stream partially frozen, so the team could not cross, and Thomas shouldered a sack of meal, arriving home on foot at midnight, John remaining with the team. For their trading they had to go to Defiance as their nearest point, twenty-five miles distant. George W. Chapman, the subject of this sketch, was born in Gill, Mass., on the 29th day of September, 1803, at which place he resided till the year 1821, when he removed to St. Lawrence County, N. Y. On the 31st day of December, 1822, he married Miss Narcissus Hopkins, of the above-named county. Here Mr. and Mrs. Chapman began a life which proved to be one of toil and hardship, yet withal a most interesting and useful one. Mr. Chapman being a skilled carpenter, found no lack for work, but in the hope of finding a more desirable location, he moved with his family to Canada in the year 1828 or 1829. There he resided till the fall of 1837, when 'yielding to the ambitions of their young natures, they resolved to emigrate to the West and choose them a home from the forest lands of Western Ohio. No sooner was the resolution formed than preparations were begun for its execution. Such of the household furniture as could be conveniently carried was loaded on a wagon, and Mr. Chapman, with his wife and several small children, started with a single team of horses and heavy loaded wagon upon a trip that at this day would seem impossible to accomplish. They proceeded directly to Geauga County in this State, where they stopped for a short time to rest up their horses and decide upon a place to locate. Leaving his family, Mr. Chapman proceeded upon horseback to Milford Township, where he entered 240 acres of land, a part of which was the farm upon which he now resides. He immediately returned to Geauga, and having purchased a yoke of oxen and another wagon, he again set out with his family for his chosen home, where he arrived the 1st of February, 1838. The trip from Canada to Milford Township was one of hardship and fatigue, having been made during the fall and winter months through a new and unimproved country, a great part of the road heing through dense wood, with nothing but blazed trees to indicate where the road was. It is almost a wonder that the journey was accomplished at all. After arriving upon his land, Mr. Chapman proceeded at once to erect a log cabin and prepare for the comfort of his family. Chancy P. Lowry, Dinnis Boyles and Eli Coy were about the only neighbors, and each man had to depend upon himself alone to do his work. The roads had at that time been mostly surveyed, but with the exception of now and then a fallen log removed or a standing tree blazed, there was little else to indicate the line of a road. Mr. Chapman went upon the line of road passing through the center of Milford Township, and, unassisted, felled the trees, removed the logs and cleared a wagon track from his farm west to the St. Joe River, a distance of four miles. Mr. Chapman continued to work at his trade, doing a great part of the building in that section of the county. He also worked at masonry and brick work, and, as well, that of cabinet-making. The first schoolhouse in that district was built upon Mr. Chapman's land, and the first school taught was by Harriet, his eldest daughter. This schoolhouse was burned down in a short time, and until another one could be built Mr. Chapman's carpenter shop was converted into a schoolhouse. Like most of the pioneers, Mr. Chapman was very fond of hunting, a vocation in which he frequently indulged, and as the woods were infested with game, such as turkey, deer, raccoons, wolves, and all smaller game, he was quite a successful hunter, having killed forty deer in one winter, the fore-quarters of which he kept for his own use and gave to neighbors; the hind-quarters he HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY - 333 carried to market and sold for from 2 to 2 1/2 cents per pound. One day as Mr. Chapman was walking along the road on his way home from Farmer Center, he came upon a small, pale-looking man, sitting upon a log by the roadside. Mr. Chapman approached him and inquired rather abruptly why he was sitting there. The ,stranger replied that he was sick and had sat down to rest, and that he did not believe he could travel any farther. "Get right on my back," said Mr. Chapman, "and I will carry you." This was said by Mr. Chapman as a joke, but the stranger after looking at him for a short time, arose and said he believed he wound act on Mr. Chapman's suggestion. Now this was rather more than Mr. Chapman had expected, but he determined not to be backed down. He allowed the stranger to get upon his back, and taking hold of him as a father would his small boy, if he were carrying him on his back, Mr. Chapman started off upon the road, not did he get relieved of his load till he had carried him in this manner for nearly a mile, when the stranger said he would go south from there and asked to be let down. After thanking Mr. Chapman and saying that he felt much better and believed he could easily walk home from there, the two men separated, the stranger going south and Mr. Chapman proceeding toward his home. Now this stranger turned out to be none other than Mr. Jesse Haller, a man afterward very well known throughout the county as Squire Haller, he having served for several years as Justice of the Peace. Mr. Haller and Mr. Chapman having never met before, neither knew the other party to the strange meeting. The matter was nearly forgotten when the two men chanced to meet a year or two afterward, and each recognized the other. The matter was spoken of and Mr. Haller, by way of explanation said, " When you came up to me and asked me to get on your back, I looked at you and concluded you were crazy, and I was afraid to refuse your offer for fear of offending you; besides, I thought it would be safer on a crazy man's back than any other place." Mr. Chapman and Mr. Haller were always afterward very warm friends, and often visited each other, but they never met without having a laugh about the latter's ride upon the back of (as he supposed) a mad man. Mr. Chapman has been an active member of the United Brethren Church since 1840, having helped to organize the first society of that denomination ever organized in Milford, and for which society he labored as local preacher for many years. Mr. Chapman's children consisted of four boys and five girls, viz. : Royal, Lyman, George, Ervin, Harriet, Jemmia, Huldah, Roby and Mary Jane, two of whom are now dead, the others married. Mrs. Narcissus Chapman departed this life August 27, 1870, aged sixty-nine years. Mr. Chapman married Miss Dolly Crary, of Potsdam, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., on the 5th day of February, 1877, with whom he is now fiving on his old farm in Milford Township. Thus it will be seen that Mr. Chapman can truthfully be called one of the most interesting characters of pioneer life in Defiance County; having come here when our county was one vast wilderness, he has lived to see it developed into a rich county; has seen nearly the whole of the first generation of its people pass away and the second grow to old age, and although he is now upward of eighty years old, yet with the exception of a crippled limb caused by an injury received while moving to this county, he is enjoying comparatively good health, and still works at the carpenter bench. Merrill Otis. Jesse Otis, father of Merrill, was born in Vermont; Charlotte Davey, his mother, was born in Maryland. Merrill, their second son, was born March 4, 1820, in Wayne County, Ohio. He lived with his parents until twenty-one years of age, receiving a common school education. On March 4, 1841, he was married to Margaret Saltzman, daughter of George and Mary (Cook) Saltzman. Some time during the same year, they moved to Stark County, Ohio, where they remained until 1843, then returning to Wayne County. In 1847, he made himself a permanent home on a quarter-section of land in the then wilds of Milford Township. Here he still resides, carrying on his farm, and also an agricultural store in Hicksville. Two years of this time-1867 and 1868-he lived in Bryan, Ohio, for the purpose of educating his children. Merrill Otis has served four years as County Commissioner, one year by appointment and three by election. The names of the children are as follows: William D. was born December 14, 1841, in Stark County, Ohio. He served three years in the civil war, after which he entered college, graduating in the classical course from Dennison University, Granville, Ohio. Then entered the Medical College at Cleveland, graduating from there in 1873. The same year, he was married to Miss Hattie Howe, of Granville, and is now a practicing physician in Hicksville. George K., born March 11, 1844, in Wayne County, Ohio. He also entered the army with his brother, but health failing, he was obliged to return home after serving his country ten months. He took a commercial course at Cleveland. In 1867, he was married to Miss Sarah Hilburt. November 27, 1882, she died, leaving two children. He is now engaged in the real estate and agricultural business in Hicksville. Eliza E., born December 14, 1846, in Wayne County. Was educated at Bryan, Ohio, and taught six years in the public schools of Hicksville. Jesse, born August 17, 1849, in Definace County. He lived at home, working with his 334 - HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY. father on the farm until 1874, when he was suddenly stricken with pneumonia, and after a few days' severe illness, died, March 17. Mary C., born June 24, 11853. She has received a liberal education at Oberlin, Ohio, paying special attention to music. Amanda J. was born February 21, 1855. Received her education at Oberlin, Ohio. She was married to Mr. R. F. Kerr, of Hicksville. Salathial, born December 12, 1857; died when seven weeks old. Tryphena M., born April 26, 1859. With the exception of one year, when she was from home attending school, she received her education at Hicksville. Ida 0., born May 4, 1863, was educated at the public schools of Hicksville, Ohio. With the exception of Mrs. Kerr, the girls are all at home. CHAPTER XXVIII. NOBLE TOWNSHIP-PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. THIS is the only inland township in Defiance I County. It is bounded on the north by Tiffin Township, on the east by Richland, on the south by Defiance and on the west by Delaware. It is the smallest township in the county, embracing nearly all of Town 4 north, Range 4 east, which lies north of the Maumee, a little more than twenty-two sections. 'The Maumee forms a part of its southern boundary and the Tiffin River flows south through its territory. Brunersburg, the only village in the township, containing about 300 people, was laid out by Daniel Bruner and Henry Zeller in May,. 1834. The original plat consisted of only twenty-eight lots, but five additions have since been made to it. PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. Brice Hilton, one of the few remaining pioneers of Defiance County, was born March 13, 1808, the son of Joshua and Hepzibah (Hilton) Hilton, both of whom were born in Starks, Somerset Co., Me., the former June 17, 1780, the latter July 2, 1785. His grandfather, Benjamin Hilton, was a resident of the same county and a miller by trade and occupation. -Joshua and Hepzibah Hilton were married in Somerset County, Me., October 10, 1805. Joshua was a miller, like his father, and made milling his life pursuit. His children were Mary, born August 2, 1806, married Clark Philbrick March 15, 1827, and the same spring moved with her husband to Geauga County, Ohio; Brice, the subject of this sketch, born March 13, 1808; Thomas H., born June 25, 18'0, died September 6, 1826; John born October 14, 1811, died February 9, 1838; Ezra, born June 4, 1813, died September 28, 1846; Horace, born August 31, 1815, died in Osborne County, Kan., December 28, 1874; Eben, born August 21, 1818, died September 16, 1848; Benjamin and an infant daughter, deceased, born September 10, 1820; Benjamin died November 5, 1865; Richard, born September 18, 1823, died August 17, 1848. In September, 1817, Joshua Hilton with his family emigrated in a three- horse wagon from Maine to Ohio, reaching the town of Reading, Hamilton County, December 2. The following April he moved to a farm in Butler County, paying a cash rental of $100 for one year, at the expiration of which he removed to Carthage, and in the fall of the same year (1819) moved to Miami County, where he remained till the fall of 1822. In January, 1822, he made a journey afoot to Defiance and vicinity, having with him maps of the surrounding townships, for the purpose of selecting a farm. While here he stopped at the tavern of Robert Shirley. Mr. Hilton returned home, then went to Piqua, where the land office was located, and entered 140 acres on the south side of the Maumee, immediately above the plat of West Defiance, where he removed with his family, December 3, 1822. In the spring of that year, he had come with his son Thomas to plant a crop of corn, but having no land cleared, Judge Shirley permitted him to put out as much corn as he wished on the land opposite the old fair. ground on an old Indian improvement. With his ox team he broke the blue grass sod and planted six acres, which yielded enough corn to last the family one year. Mr. Hilton erected the first log cabin between Defiance and Fort Wayne on the Maumee, except one, built by a Mr. Rodger, five miles below Fort Wayne. Mr. Hilton aso built the first brick house in the county, except two at Defiance. He was a Whig, and died August 15, 1835. His wife died September 24, 1850. Brice Hilton spent his youth in working for his father and attending what schools were then available. During the winter of 1820, he attended school in Cincinnati, remaining about nine months. After he reached Williams County with his father, his educational advantages were indeed meager, but he had already mastered Stephen Pitts' Arithmetic, Bonnicastle's Algebra and Greenleaf's Grammar. He studied surveying and HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY - 335 practiced it to some extent. From 1824 to 1830, he cleared land, boated on the river, split rails, hunted and worked on the farm. He then went to live with Dr. John Evans; read medicine with him, and after practicing it six months, abandoned the profession. In May, 1834, he went to Brunersburg with a stock of goods, having formed a partnership with Foreman Evans. At the end of twelve years, he sold out to his brother, Benjamin Hilton, and bought a farm adjoining Brunersburg. He has ever since followed farming, hut in connection with it has beon engaged in other pursuits, among them stock-dealing, taking contracts for building bridges, cutting out and piking roads, building embankments, etc. In 1850, he purchased the Brunersburg Mill property and in 1854 erected a grist mill, which he still operates. In 1855, he built a saw mill just opposite, which he ran till recently. In 1844, he bought the Brunersbrug Tannery and operated it for thirty years in connection with a shoe shop. About 1863, he built, on Lot l 82, Brunersburg, mostly with his own means, a Universalist Church, which now has a membership of sixty-two. Mr. Hilton was married, December 4, 1836, to Sophia Umbenhour, who was born near Winchester, Va., July 29, 1821, and emigrated with her father's family to Williams County in 1835. Of their two daughters and ten sons, but five sons survive—Walter, born February 12, 1845, a merchant of Defiance; Ezra, born January 7, 1847, now a merchant at Pioneer, Williams County; Gilmore, born August 9, 1850, now living at Brnnersburg; Lyman, born January 20, 1860, at home; John, born September 2, 1862, at home,. teaching school. Mr. Hilton in early life was a Clay Whig. and is now a Republican. John Perkins was the first settler in Noble Township, and moved from near Chillicothe to the Maumee Valley as a surveyor in 1816. He assisted in surveying the lands of Northwest Ohio, under the contract taken by Gen. Riley. He purchased the lands upon which the Brunersburg Mills now stand; soon moved on and commenced building a saw-mill and built a dam. In 1828, he built a grist mill at the end of the dam opposite the saw mill and continued to run both until 1833, when he sold out, moving to La Fayette, Williams County, where he built a mill. He was one of the first Judges of Williams County. He raised the first wheat in the township in 1826. James Partee came with Perkins to help to build the mill, married a daughter of Mr. Perkins, bought lands just above Brunersburg, cleared up a farm and lived with his family thereon until his death a few years ago. John Plummer also came with Perkins, helped build the mill, bought land in Tiffin Township, and cleared up a farm. The next settlers were William Buck, W. Kibble, John Partee, John Lawrence, 0. Webb, Enoch Partee, and S. Hughes, who came here as a millwright. John Partee was born May 15, 1812, in Ross County, Ohio, and came with his parents, John and Nancy Partee, to Defiance County in 1823. Their route was by Sidney and Wapakoneta and by the Auglaize River, to old Fort Amanda and Fort Jennings; thence down the river to old Fort Defiance, which was yet partially preserved, as well as old Fort Winchester, which at that time was a " stockade," not far from the present site of the Russell House, on the west bank of the Auglaize River. He staid all night at Brunersburg. Mr. John Perkins had a mill at that place. It is now the " Hilton" Mill. At that time there were but two houses on Bean Creek, in which the town of Brunersburg is located. These houses were occupied by John Perkins and Joseph Partee. Mr. Perkins sold the mill to Daniel Bruner in 1839. Perkins removed to Pulaski, Williams County, and built another mill. From what is now Brunersburg, Mr. Partee says he cut to the place where he now resides. At that time there were large numbers of Pottawatomie and Ottawa Indians in the county on what was then called " Bean Creek," now the Tiffrn River. He says it was called that name because many French and Indians resided along its bottoms and raised great quantities of beans and corn, which were grown in patches along the rich bottoms and eaten by the Indians and French for food. The old chief, Occonoxee, often visited him. He aso became acquainted with an old Indian by the name of " Shane," who stated he was born under the " old apple tree " across the Maumee River, opposite Defiance. There were then but few buildings. Old Fort Defiance and Fort Winchester were then used as houses. David Hull, a relation of the General, built the first ferry-boat across the Maumee River at Defiance. Mr. Partee states that large numbers of bullets were found on the banks of the Maumee when he first came to the county, and sometimes brass kettles were found hid in hollow trees, no doubt left by the Indians during the campaign of Wayne in 1794. Mr. Partee married Miss Mercy Brown, October 10, 1839. Their family consists of Alvaro (dead), Reuben (dead), Sirena, Mahala, Frank. Clara I. and Warren A. Alvaro was killed at the battle of Chickamauga, in the war of 1861-65. The first settlers were Obadiah Webb, William Travis, Peter Blain, Thomas Carr, John Perkins, Joseph, Enoch and James Partee, Sr.. John Lawrence, Enos Partee. William Buck, William Graham, Brice Hilton, William Doty and John Whistler. Deer, bear, wolves, wild cats and smaller game were quite plenty; wild honey was abundant. Mr. Perkins 336 - HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY. found three bee trees in one day. At the time of the excitement about the line of Ohio and Michigan, when the citizens of Defiance expected war, ho remembers that the line was surveyed by Miller Arrowsmith and Sydney Sprague and others, and of a great charge upon them and their retreat, which proved quite a rich joke, and was told with many exaggerations, at the time, but the excitement died out and no harm, was done. Mr. John Partee died on the old farm owned by his son John, about 1844, aged about eighty years. He was a soldier in the war of 1812; James and Joseph Partee were also soldiers in the war of 1812. The first school was taught by W. W. Sellick in a double log cabin where Enoch and Joseph Partee's families lived. Mr. Brice Hilton was also an early teacher. Cannot give the number of schools taught in the township. There are two Methodist Episcopal Churches, one United Brethren and one Evangelical Church, which cost about $1,000. Rev. Bechtol is the United Brethren pastor. Mr. Partee attended school when taught by Mr. Brice Hilton. Barnett G. Statler was born in Danville, Knox Co., Ohio, March 2, 1822, son of Mathias Statler, who was siborn in Hagerstown, Va., December 28, 1787. Mathias Statler. Sr., Barnett's grandfather, when a boy fourteen or fifteen years old, in 1764, ran away from his home in Berlin, Germany, and concealed himself in a vessel which sailed for America, landing at New York in November, 1764. He served during the Revolution, and for a gallant act, whereby he saved an officer's life, he was given a farm near Hagerstown, Md. He had determined to return to Germany and wed, if possible, a young woman, Katie, the playmate of his youth, but shortly before sailing, a German emigrant ship arrived with his mother and Katie on board. Mathias and Katie were married and settled on the farm near Hagerstown. Of their four children, Mathias was the eldest. At seventeen, he left home, went to Pittsburgh and there learned the blacksmith trade. At the age of twenty, he removed to Stillwater, Belmont Co., Ohio, and worked at the trade. January 1, 1811, he married Nancy Groves, a daughter of Capt. Groves, a Revolutionary officer. She was born April 25, 1793, the eldest of a family of thirteen children. Her father was English and her mother Irish. Mathias was drafted in the service in the fall of 1814 and left Stillwater with twenty-five others for Fort Meigs. They arrived just in time to assist in burying the dead, and soon after went to Fort Defiance. When they reached it, peace was declared, and they returned home. Mathias soon after removed to Danville, Knox County, where he engaged in backsmithing and keeping tavern. Shortly after, his house was destroyed by fire and the eldest daughter, Rebecca, perished in the flames. Of their thirteen children, ten grew to manhood and womanhood. Of these, Barnett learned the blacksmith trade. He traveled about a great deal, and at Lima, Ohio, met Laura E. Slayton, whom he married December 29, 1845. She was of Scotch and English descent. After marriage, they removed to Kalida, Putnam County, where he worked at his trade eight months. He came lo Defiance August 1, 1846, and blacksmithed for William Warren a short time at $20 per month. He then built a shop on the site of P. Kettenring's machine shops, and later further down the canal near Green's printing office. He followed this trade here for thirteen years; then traded his property and removed to the farm in Noble Township where he now resides. He has since followed farming very successfully. Mr. Statler has five children, three daughters and two sons. William Travis, one of the early settlers of Defiance County, was born in Adams County, Ohio, February 1, 1800. His parents were formerly from Ken Lucky, moving from there to Adams County, Ohio, and remaining until March, 1809, when they moved to the county of Delaware, remaining in this county until 1819, when Mr. Travis left his father's home and came to Fort Defiance. He returned to Delaware County the same year, remaining until the summer of 1822, and on the 23d of July, 1822, was married to Miss Mary C. Swartz, of Delaware County. Mr. Travis, his wife and one child, accompanied hy David Perdue, his wife and one child, on the 1st of March, 1824, started from Delaware County to come to this county. They loaded their goods and effects belonging to both families on a big wagon which was drawn by two yoke of oxen and one horse. They came across the country through the woods, cutting their way a part of the time, the woods being thick and the roads narrow and not much traveled. The timber would fall across the road and would have to be cut away by them before they could pass on their way. Passed through the counties of Delaware, Union, Champaign and Miami, then turned to the St. Mary's River. On arriving at the river, they met with Oliver Crain, who had a large dugout, a boat made out of a large tree. He, too, was coming to this county, and they made arrangements with him to bring their families and goods on this boat down the river to Defiance; they helped manage the boat on the way down as a compensation to him for bringing their families and goods. Before they reached Defiance, they bought the boat of Mr. Crain, he stopping off in Crain Township, Paulding County. They brought their goods on to Defiance, landing here on the 1st day of April, 1824. Mr. Travis then settled on the Auglaize River, south of Defiance, about one HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY - 337 mile up the stream on the east side on what was then called the Shirley farm, whore he raised a crop of corn, which he fed to stock cattle; he took them to Detroit, Mich., and there sold his cattle at $4 net weight and took his pay in leather; came home and disposed of the leather as best he could and purchased land on the river at Delaware Bend. He lived there for a few years, sold out and purchased land below on the river in Delaware Township, now known as the Elias Bruner farm. From there he moved to Defiance, bought property and kept hotel for a short time; aso hought other property in the neighborhood, then sold his property in Defiance and purchased the land in Noble Township that he afterward cleared up and made his home till his death, which occurred March 3, 1882. His wife died February 11, 1872. Their children were eleven in number, of whom the following survive: Permillia (Armstrong), William C., an attorney of Defiance, Nancy A. (Swartz), of Defiance; Foreman E., of Defiance; David, of Noble Township; and Martha E. (Williams). The deceased are John, who was lost on the ill-fated Central America, on his way home from California, in September, 1857; and Mary Harriet Gilliman first, and Gilliman second, who died young. By the fruits of his labor, Mr. Travis saved a sufficiency for himself and family during his life, and at the same time contributed to the relief of the poor whenever the necessities of the case required it, and also contributed to public improvements. He was an active business man, always prompt to meet any engagement that he would make or any demands brought against him, and was considered by all that knew him to be a straightforward and upright business man, energetic and determined in anything that he undertook to do. He was a great reader in his day, and a man of a wonderful memory and of good mind, the latter of which he retained up to the last moment of life. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL REMINISCENCES. BY LYMAN LANGDON. I was born September 9, 1809, at South Canton, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. My father was born in Fishkill, Dutchess Co., N. Y.; my mother was born in the town of Dorset, Bennington Co., Vt. My childhood was spent in going to school three months in summer and to school again next winter, to relearn what we learned the season before, and helping on the farm, except on Saturdays, where we fished for brook trout and were very successful. At the age of eighteen, I commenced teaching common school— taught for nine winters. At the age of twenty-three was married to Fannie Marie Sanford, then living in the same neighborhood, who was born in Bridgeport, Addison Co., Vt., July 7, 1811. We have had ten children, four eldest and the youngest are deceased. Those living are Lucia A., at home; Adeline A., married to J. M. Bridenbaugh, living in Toledo, Ohio, in the provision trade; Emma B., married to J. A. Sheffield, farmer, in this (Noble) township; Ruth Almira, married to Oren A. Sim), of this county, now in mercantile trade in Augusta, Butler Co., Kan. ; and Grace E., married to J. W. Reid, of this county,. and now in business with J. M. Bridenbaugh. In 1835, farming in Northern New York was at a low ebb; most of the farms were purchased on time, of the Harrisons and Van Renselaers, and some on Brown's tract. Settlers had all they could do to clear up the forests, make roads and ]wild necessary buildings, extinguish the debt on their lands, and, as a consequence, they were obliged to deal with them as best they could. The proprietors were liberal, often throwing off interest, giving new contracts, many selling out their betterments, as it was called, moving West. In 1835, in company with Dr. Oney Rice (who had married Miss Lydia Barrows, a cousin), John Rice, E. Lacost, Jacob Conkey, who then lived in Warrensville, Ohio, came to the then Williams County, for Government lands; at this time buyers had to go outside the canal reservations. We left Cleveland in October, 1835, with wagon; found dry roads through the black swamp, forded the Maumee at Maumee City, drove around tree-tops, through ravines, up and down the bluff banks, without working, reaching Defiance, a town of about 150 inhabitants; found some of our acquaintances from St. Lawrence County. Among these were John W. Moore, Erskine Perkins, Edwin Phelps, William A. Brown, Amos Stoddard and Mr. Blackman. Left the team and went on foot to Centertown, passing through Brunersburg (the town at that time had been purchased by Samuel Sargeant of Mr. Bruner, the proprietor), kept possession five or six years, moved the mill down below the erected dam; got it running. First, high water washed the dam away; nothing more was done with the new mill, only moving back some machinery to the old mill. In 1836 and 1837 was built a small steamboat to run on the Maumee. Lacked power, and was only used in comparatively still water. It made its way to Fort Wayne, wintered in Rochester, fourteen miles above Defiance. In the spring of 1838, it came down with the ice; it was boarded by several men who tried to save it, but of no avail; it landed several miles above Maumee City; it was gotten off and run between Maumee, Perrysburg and Toledo. We followed the road or trail, not seeing a house till we got to Centertown; there we hired Mr. Overlease and Mr. Skinner to show us land. Stayed over night; next day followed section lines and our 338 - HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY. guides. Found lands at Farmer Center, where we located our lands, which some of the descendants now occupy. Dr. Rice and Jacob Conkey located at the center; I located south one-quarter mile, eighty acre's. There were three settlers in Farmer Township at that time. We came back to Defiance, counted out our Land Office money (only certain banks and specie were receivable) and sent Mr. Jacoh Conkey to the Land Office at Wapakoneta to get our certificate of entry. For several years it was customary to send packages of any amount by the mail carriers (boys). We never heard of lost money.. How different now. At that time J. W. Moore had a store in the Parker Tavern, with E. S. Perkins, clerk. There we parted company. I took my. way down the Maumee on foot, passing through Napoleon, a village of a few log houses. Stayed over night at Patrick's; next day called on our former townsman, Dr. Darius Clark (still living in Toledo), in Vistula, two miles below Port Lawrence (now Toledo). Took steamboat for home; it took about a week from Defiance to Ogdensburg. The next spring being cold and backward, with seven inches snow-fall on the 13th of May, accompanied by heavy freezing, I caught the Ohio fever in earnest. During the summer, I sold out my effects, and started for Defiance September 16, 1836, with horses and wagon. Had wife and one child sixteen months old . with my wife's brother, Seneca A. Sanford. Stopped two days in Eden, Erie Co., N. Y., with friend Barnum, who afterward became an honored citizen of Defiance. We reached Defiance after being twenty-two days on the road. We stopped with Mr. J. W. Moore a week; meantime, I went to Farmer Center to make arrangements for moving. Found I could take provisions with family and live with Dr. Rice until we could build a cabin. During my traves from Fanner to Defiance, I fell in company with Payne C. Parker at Mr. Craig's, in Georgetown. I then got his terms and rented his tavern from the 25th day of January, 1837, and made arrangements accordingly. During this time, I had underbrushed two acres and rolled up the logs for a house. Houses were built in those days without nails or boards, with puncheons, clapboards, mud hearths and stick chimneys. Then settlers were neighbors miles away, and it was customary to go fifteen or twenty miles to a raising. In taking charge of the hotel, I paid quarterly for two years at the rate of $500 per year. At that time, Horatio G. Philips and myself went on horseback to Maumee and purchased of Gen. John G. Hunt the four lots fronting on Clinton street, be. tween Front and First streets, for $3,000. During our stay in the hotel, we soon had the satisfaction of hearing that we kept as good a tavern as any on the river, but it was hard enough. With all the improvements we were able to make, the house, the country and everything in its primitive state, sometimes without help, and especially during rhe summer and fall of 1838 and 1839, the most sickly time in the year, and during the making of the Erie & Wabash Canal. There were no bridges, and travelers have been delayed for weeks. Then tavern-keepers had to lay in supplies when they could. It was hard for the early settlers to get to the river over almost impassable roads for provisions and other necessaries of life. I have often heard the remark, they had rather pay than go for them. As an incident of early settlers' life, I will note of being in Dr. Rice's family with only a few acres cleared about the house; had raised a few shocks of corn. Without barn or stable or protection of any kind, horses turned loose in the inclosure. On the 18th of December, 1836, it had snowed the night previous, it commenced raining and rained steadily all day without melting the snow, which was ten inches deep. At dusk, the wind from the northwest, with a heavy black cloud and a few flakes of snow in the air. It was the lot of Mr. Osborn, of Hicksville, to go to mill on Little St Joe River, with an ox team. Coming home, the oxen gave out, and he being wet with walking in rain and slush, ice frozen to his clothes and limbs, his cries for relief were heard and assistance lent. Both limbs had to be amputated. He was known to be an upright, honest man. On the morning of the 19th, our pity was excited to see our horses standing on balls of ice a foot high or more, with icicles hanging from their manes and tais, eyes and noses-- the coldest day within the memory of the oldest inhabitant. That season, and for years after, it was common to go to sleep by the music of the wolves. I shall leave the hunting and trapping stories to those who have the bow-and-arrow blood in their veins. I can vouch for anything they will say. But to return. I can hardly picture how the Maumee country looked to me with its original inhabitants, its virgin soil, its stately oaks, the river with its islands, the home of the Pottawatomies. I have in mind the assembling of the Indians at or near the rapids of Rush-to-Bean. Just below the battle ground of the fallen timbers, there were gathered together nearly 800 Indians, preparatory to moving west of the Mississippi. While going by, they were congregated at the top of the ridge and around a large bowlder on which a turkey foot is engraved, said to be where chief Turkey-Foot fell. Robert Forsyth and Isaac Hull had the contract, and our townsman. James Colby, as Surgeon. Among the business men in Defiance were, as merchants, Dr. John Evans, Forman and Albert Evans, and Benjamin Brubacher, all doing business at the foot of Jefferson street, and HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY - 339 John and William Seamans in the brick house owned by L. Davidson, Esq. E. C. Case had a small store on the corner of Front and Wayne streets. Had two groceries, one by George Hickox, one by Waterhouse & Goodyear on Front street. Our lawyers were Horace Sessions and John and William Seamans. William C. Holgate was studying. Justices of the Nate, Sydney S. Sprague and William Seamans. County officers were John Lewis, Treasurer; George T. Hickox, Clerk; Bishop Adams and Payne C. Parker were County Judges. I was elected as Trustee of the township, and one of the Council in 1838; was appointed County Judge in the place of Bishop Adams, removed to Henry County. Among the citizens were Robert Wasson, Mr. Purcel, plasterer; Amos Zellers, tailor; Walter Davis, cooper; Peter Bridenbaugh, Thomas Lewis, Jacob Kniss, shoe-maker; John Oliver, Stoddard & Blackman, keepers of the ferry, Jehu Downs, etc. The brick building now occupied by Henry Hardy was the court house and schoolhouse; a log jail on the court' house square. The old fort built by Gen. Wayne and the stockade built by Gen. Wilkinson were objects of curiosity. They were then much dilapidated; the spoiler had put in his work. The timbers of the block-houses are doing service in some of the old barns, and the earthworks were plainly visible, the bastion, the moat, the entrance, the covered way to either river for water, the line of pickets, as also the stumps of the pickets of Fort Winchester. The place was admirably chosen, well built and would defy the combined attack of all foes. There must have been some belligerent practice by the citizens, fishing up shells before the fort. It is related that a shell having been brought out of the river by the old warehouse, on the bank and center of Jefferson street, John Lantz and several ̊the) s, speculating on its bursting after being in the river so long, L antz thought, with others, that the powder had become wet and would not burn, and in order to prove it, touched it off with his cigar, and it went. None were hurt, but one piece four inches in length went through a double battened door and lodged in the ceiling on the opposite side of a store. While living in Defiance, we got up a dinner on the 4th of July, 1837, and had a dancing party at C. C. Waterhouse's in the evening. Frequently horseback parties would ford the Auglaize at the Shirley farm, pick whortleherries on the openings, or cross the Maumee for peaches at the Hiveleys. The young people had their rides, their socias, parties and dances if in a new country. Langdon became quite a resort, as we kept the best of boarders. The latter part of 1837, the engineers on the canal boarded with us. The canal drew paymasters to our house. At the time of holding court, the Judges and bar were at home with us. I may name some: Hon. E. D. Potter, Higgins, Coffinberry, Young and Waite; later others. I must add, to show how the bench and bar traveled, about 1839, two-thirds or more of the business for the courts originated in Defiance, was taken on horseback to Bryan, our new county seat, tried, brought back and settled. There were farmers and townsmen living in a few miles of each other, or else there would be no need of Justices, Judges, courts and juries, and it is to be hoped that farmers may become so educated that all questions of difficulty may be settled among themselves. When that time comes won't it be millenium year? I will mention a few of the farmers: Five families of Shirleys, four of Hudsons, five of Evans, three of Travis, two of Branchers, Hiveleys, Warrens, Lewis Downs, Davis, Keplers, Rhona and Dunn. Travelers from the Wabash and Fort Wayne, in going east for goods and on various kinds of business, were our guests, and occasionally were prevented from traveling by running ice, freshets, etc. Mr. R. Waite, returning from Bryan, was thrown by accident off his horse tripping into one of those slashes, covering himself,„ horse, saddle and portmanteau with mud; he looked rather sorry. It is said that Chief Justice Waite made his maiden speech in our old brick court house. Late in 1841, the canal was nearly completed, and travel slow. I sold my property to Samuel Rohn and C. I. Trude, and bought the farm where we are now living, of Ad lison Goodyear, and moved in April, 1842. Before leaving Defiance, I wish to add that leaving that place, 25th of October, 1836, with team and load of MO pounds for Farmer. stayed at Mr. Gardenhires tavern, in Brunersburg, for an early start next morning. Had corn bread, venison and coffee, without sugar or cream, for supper and same for breakfast. Started next morning before sunrise, drove half way, seven miles. At noon, rummaged our victual chest for scraps for dinner, watered and fed our horses by the side of the road, started again for Farmer, drove as fast as we could through mud, banging over roots, around tree-tops, till 9 o'clock that night. Had to go on foot forward of team to find the trail; saw no house on that day. Mr. Boyles started with us at Brunersburg; he having a heavy load, I was forced to leave him at Kibble Run. On the third day, he drove through Farmer, lost his way, and laid out two nights. We could buy neither crackers, bread, nor provisions of any kind in Brunersburg. Such were some of the difficulties farmers had to contend with. We think at some seasons we have it hard now; our blood ran faster then than now. Before leaving Defiance, I learned from old Mrs. Shirley that when they came into the fort the block-house was in a good state of preservation. At that time, there was a row of apple trees on each bank 340 - HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY. of the river from the point, standing far enough back from the riversl to admit of a wagon road between them and the river. They stood thirty feet outside of the pickets to the fort. In 1836, the trees stood on the edge of the bluff of the river and were bearing fruit to-day; and for years the rivers have undermined the trees the land has all left up to the very pickets of the fort. The fur trade was the principal part of the profits of the merchants. The different families of Indianso loided down with peltries, stopped off with squaws and papooses, were met with deputations of boys in the interest of each merchant. The Indians were taken in the store, the skins assorted and the price agreed upon, specie paid, then the whisky passed around. Before they left, all the money was paid back, and frequently were trusted some on the next pack. We have prepared supper and entertained the Indians over night; they were very civil. It was common for the different fur buyers to hire young men to canvass the different districts, embracing a circuit of fifty miles from home, or more, often leaving money with pioneers in advance, sometimes at a loss. E wings of Fort Wayne and Lafayette constituted one company, the Hollisters, the American Fur Company; opposition then as now. The buyers were C. L. Noble, Mr. Brigham, of Maumee, John Fury, of Perrysburg, and a half-breed by name Clark, who was quite a gentleman and educated at the Mission on the rapids, C. Frygine, Gen. Curtis, Daniel Ridenhauer and others. After the removal of the county seat to Bryan, the subject of a new county was agitated, and Defiance County was formed from the two south tiers of Williams County, three townships from Henry and Putnam Counties, and a half township from Paulding County. Noble. Township was formed from the north part of Defiance Township, after having the one-half township added from Paulding. In the latter part of 1849, formed a partnership with Horace Hilton in merchandising and buying produce at the north end of Maumee River bridge. Purchased an acre of ground where Joseph Ralston now lives, cleared the grounds, built a house and lived in it. Sold to Mr. Ralston. Sold my interest in the store to Mr. Hilton, my partner. In 1851, moved back on the farm; built the house I now live in, in 1852. Before the Wabash Railroad was built through Defiance County, I kept a country tavern, as all Northwest and some of Indiana and Michigan were tributary to Defiance for market. September 13, 1882, the fiftieth anniversary of our wedding was celebrated. Our relatives and friends were in attendance, numbering about eighty guests. We were the recipients of some valuable gifts to cheer us in the down-hill journey of life. With all its hardships, toils and trials, we have managed to experience more pleasures than ills; have formed extensive acquaintances that no money could purchase. Was where all the early settlers were obliged to stop and lay in supplies. Among all the inmates of our home, hired help, travelers, and especially boarders and townsmen are remembered with esteem. We have endeavored to live on good terms with neighbors and friends, so that the world would be no worse off for our living in it. The latch-string is always hanging out. CHAPTER XXIX. RICHLAND TOWNSHIP—THE VILLAGE OP INDEPENDENCE—VOTERS IN 1845—FORT DEFI- ANCE GRANGE, NO 267—PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. RICHLAND TOWNSHIP was organized in 1824, as a part of Henry County. It is located in the extreme eastern part of Defiance County, hounded on the north by Adams Township, on the west by Noble and Defiance and on the south by Highland. Henry County bounds it on the east. THE VILLAGE OF INDEPENDENCE. This village was laid out about 1838, by Foreman Evans, of Defiance. It prospered greatly for about one year. The west part was laid on by Edward Hughes. Both proprietors are now dead. The village continued to grow during the building of the dam, making slack water for navigation across the Maumee River, and then gradually went to decay, and is now an open field, and has probably thirty houses in it. The first business men were C. J. Freedy, who built the hotel, and a merchant, Mr. Benjamin Weidenhamer. The canal— Wabash & Erie-was excavated, commencing in 1837, and completed in 1842. The first boat was run by Capt. McMahan, in the fall of 1842. The dam was built in 1838, 1839, 1840. It is about one mile below Independence; cost the State about $130,000. The State appropriated every alternate section of land to pay for it, along the route of the HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY - 341 canal, and sold it at public sale, from $8 as high as $14 per acre. VOTERS IN 1845. The following is the list of voters in the township in October, 1845. Michael Morthlane, Gibbons Perry, James Liniber, Jacob Handshaw, Charles Rohn, William Lewis, James Cheney, Pierce Evans, John Wilson, Thomas Garrett, Horace Morse, Austin Hauser, William Rohn, Hezekiah Wilson, John Shaw, Josephus Rose, Ishmael Wilson, John L. Groves, Noah Groves, Jeptha Groves, Joshua Wison, Samuel Rohn, Benjamin B. Abell, Arthur M. Dunbar, Hiram Scovill, James Morehead, Robert Boyles, St. John Wilson, James McCain, Lewis Gison, Solomon Shaw, Edmond Shasteen, James Lewis, Jonathan Craig, Daniel A. Craft, Mathias Albert, Christian Matt, Martin Mitter, David Halterman, Christian Halterman, Jacob Halterman, Henry Halterman, Robert Terry, Thomas Elliott, Jonathan Lee, Jacob Van Wormer, Benjamin Weidenhamer, Samuel Keplar, Delase Morse, Isaac Hiveley, Abijah Groves, Jacob Hiveley, Amos Shirley, Jacob Durham, William Durham, Christopher Braucher, Anderson Holley, Thomas Hiveley, Isaac Braucher, Henry Egeller, John Shull, Adam Hiveley, John Matzeh Henry Wilson. Pierce Evans, Samuel Rohn and Benjamin B. Adell, Judges. Hezekiah Wilson and Isaac Braucher, Clerks. FORT DEFIANCE GRANGE, NO. 267. This grange was organized at Independence December 13, 1873, by Deputy State Master W. F. Williams, with forty members, an equal number of each sex. Albert Elliott, the first Master, served over two years, and was followed by W. Willeman, J. B. Elliott, F. H. Rohn and O. U. Woodward. G. P. Seiple was the first Secretary, followed in the. office by O. U. Woodward, A. Elliott, P. Young, E. G. Woodward and Nettie Elliott. This grange is the oldest in the county, meets weekly and has between forty and fifty members. PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. Mrs. Mary Braucher was born March 14, 1807, in Adams County, Ohio, the daughter of John Washburn, who died in Highland County, Ohio, August, 1828, aged fifty-three years. Hannah (Burk), his wife, died in 1851, aged about seventy-five years. Their children were as follows: Margaret, Christina, Ann, Mary Ann, Benjamin Burk, Ellen, John Collins, Richard Burk, Elijah Parker. All are deceased except Mrs. Braucher and John C. Mrs. Braucher was married to Isaac E. Braucher December 10, 1824, and to them were born eight children— Almira, Alphonso L., Adeline L., America R., Annie M., Har riet Augusta, Benjamin Franklin and Isaac F. The first winter after their arrival they lived in one end of a double log house, and the Indians, as they came to town on their trading expeditions, frequently camped in the other end. Mr. Braucher helped to build the first schoolhouge of Defiance, which stood on the east bank of the Maumee, at the fool of what is now Perry street, and William Semans was the first teacher. Mr. Braucher was a blacksmith by trade, and worked at his trade about one year in Defiance, and then bought a farm of thirty acres, where Mrs. Braucher now lives, about two miles below Defiance. Their neighbors were Pierce Evans, Eli Markle and Samuel Rohn and Hiveleys. Here Mr. B. carried on blacksmithing,in connection with his farm, and used to do some work for the Indians, sharpening some of their tools, etc., and the old Indian chief, Occonoxee, was quite a frequent caller. Here Mr. Braucher lived rip to the time of his death, February 8, 1878, aged about seventy-five years. His widow, Mrs. Braucher, who survives him, is living on the old homestead. In early days, Mr. Braucher was identified with most of the township offices, and was among the first Commissioners of the county. In after life, he became connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and lived a zealous Christian life. He was a self-made man, having, when he came here, no means. By economy and enterprise, he gathered together a handsome property, which consisted in three hundred acres of excellent land. He was born in Highland County, Ohio, and was a son of Frederick and Nancy (Earl) Braucher. The former from Pennsylvania and the latter from either Ohio or Kentucky. Mrs. Pierce Evans was a sister to Mr. Braucher, who settled here with her husband before Mr. B. came. Mrs. B. is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which she was raised, and has been a consistent member during her long life. Pierce Evans was born in Bourbon County, Ky., and came to Williams (now Defiance) County, from Fayette County, Ohio, in the fall of 1822. He settled in what is now Richland Township. where he resided until January, 1862, when he died, aged sixty- nine years. His family consisted of Orlando, Rinaldo, Helen, Nancy, Horatio, Alvin, Allen, John Newton, Alphonso and Mary. These are all deceased except Rinaldo and Nancy, in Nevada, California. Rinaldo lives on the homestead, one mile and a quar ter from Defiance, down the north bank of the Manmee. Pierce Evans was with many of Winchester's soldiers in the war of 1812. The troops of Winchester were shot near the apple trees. There were no Indians in the trees, but were behind the banks. The Shawnees, commanded by Blue Jacket, owned the present site of the farm. The island just opposite 342 - HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY. Mr. Evans' was the site of Indian cabins; peach trees and apple trees planted by the French. James Cheny, when cultivating a .field in 1855, plowed up an Indian silver cross, worth $6, that had been carried by an Indian chief probably two hundred years ago. The Delawares were on his farm; Pipe and Buchongahelas. The Ottawas encamped there; the Pottawatomies, too. Mr. Evans, Sr., married Mary Braucher in Highland County, Ohio, in 1815. She died in January, 1862, three days after Mr. Evans died. Rinaldo Evans was born December 17, 1819, in Washington, Fayette County; married Miss Mary Shaw, of Saco, Me., September 28, 1858; was in California in 1863, and returned in 1866; was in Iowa in 1855, and returned in 1863, or went from Iowa to California. His brothers were successful, and remained in the State of California. His children, Rinaldo P., born October, 1859 (died young); Manning S. died June 16, 1864, aged two years., His archaeological collection is very fine, especially the pottery of the Mound-Builders. - His farm being the site of an Indian village, many Indian relics are found there. Many guns from Wayne's expedition have been found. Wayne passed over his farm in 1794. Samuel Rohn was born May 18, 1812, in North. ampton County, Penn., and came with his parents, William and Elizabeth (Landis) Rohn, the latter a daughter of Samuel Landis, to Ohio in 1821, and located in Miami County, in the town of Piqua, where he remained until 1822; when they removed to Camp No. 3, of Gen. Wayne, in Richland Township, Defiance. County, where he found the pickets of Wayne's army still standing, covering about forty acres. In 1813, an Indian chief, called " Turkey Foot," was killed, and the name of " Turkey Foot" is cut on the rock in honor of the chief. Camp No. 3 is on Section 23, in Richland Township, the home of Mr. William Rohn, father of Samuel, and his wife, who died on this farm, and was buried in the home cemetery. William Rohn was born in 1773, and died February 24, 1855, aged eighty-two years. His wife died October 2, 1846, aged sixty-one years. Mr. Rohn married Miss Charity Hughes, of Adams County, Ohio, July 11, 1833. Their family consists of Telitha, Joseph, Nancy J., Margaret Jane, Martha C., Helena, Adelia, Orisabelle, Samuel W. and Frank H. Of these, Telitha, Joseph, Nancy J. and Martha C. are dead. Mrs. Charity Rohn died September 15, 1878, aged sixty-five years eleven months twenty- eight days. Mr. Rohn states that Richland Township was organized in 1824, in Henry County. The first Justice of the Peace was probably Pierce Evans. The Trustees were Pierce Evans, William Rohn and Isaac Braucher. He thinks Eli Markel was the first Clerk. The first school that Mr. R. remembers was taught by Peter Tittle about the winter of 1828, on Section 23, this township. There are now nine schoofhouses, and of these there are seven brick and two frame houses. There are three churches --one Methodist Episcopal, built in 1824. It was the first in the township. It had a class organized in 1826. The first preacher was Mr. Pettit. The Methodist Episcopils have a church on Section 21. The Lutherans built a church, which they occupy jointly with the United Brethren, about 1877, which was divrded by the Maumee River, into a north and south congregation. When Mr. It. came to the county, he found a great many Miami and Ottawa Indians, with many Wyandot and Shawnee hunters. They often came to the village of Independence, to trade their furs and make sugar, baskets, etc. They made their sugar in bark troughs, boiling the water down in brass and copper kettles. The Indians were very fond of "fire water," and would pay a high price to get it. The Ottawas left about 1838, and the Pottawatomies went West, to the Rocky Mountains, at the same time. The agents were Maj. Stickney and Gen. Dodge. Mr. R. knew the chief, Occonoxee, the " Ottawa," who resided at the Indian village of Chartoe, now in Paulding County. The chief was very repulsive in appearance, and high-tempered in disposition. He went West with the rest in 1838. " Blue Jacket," the Shawnee, probably died in his village on the hank of the Maumee River. The Delawares quartered on the north bank of the Maumee, in what is known as " Sulphur Hollow," half a mile above the farm of Mr. Rinaldo Evans. They also had a camp at "Delaware Bend " that has attracted many inquiries. Here it is suspected that the old chief, Captain Pipe,, " Hobean," that caused the death, by burning at the stake, of poor Col. William Crawford, at the plains of Upper Sandusky, finally died. The old trail that extended from Adrian, Mich., ran through Independence, and passed near Upper Sandusky, keeping upon high ground to the home of the Wyandots and Shawnees. Mr. R. has often followed the old trace through Richland Township to its passage across the Maumee, where it continued south. The trace passed through Fulton County, by Wauseon, keeping on high ground to the head of the Scioto, in Hardin County. Mr. R. has found a good many Indian brooches, tomahawks and arrow-heads. He aso found blacksmith tools, formerly used by the soldier of Gen. Winchester in 1813, wagon tires and the relics of wagons used by his army in 1812. Mr. R. has found in Defiance a ball weighing one ounce, fourteen inches from the surface, in a tree three feet in diameter. Mr. R. states that previous to building the State dam, great quantities of fish came up the Maumee. The principal fish were pike, pickerel, HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY - 343 sturgeon, white and black bass, muskalonge and smaller varieties. Some of the larger ones weighed from fifty to two hundred pounds. Up the Tiffin, at Brunersburg, there were formerly vast quantities of fish; could be easily taken by a net or seine. Mr. R. had two brothers and one sister. They were Charles, William and Mary. Charles and William are both dead; Mary is the wife of Arthur M. Dunbar. Mr. R., in company with C. J. Freedy, in the fall of 1812, bought, the old "Exchange Hotel," in Defiance. Mr. Rohn sold his share of the hotel to Allen Braucher in 1843. He afterward moved to his farm, where he has remained nearly ever since. He has a fine farm and is now in good health.\ Thomas Elliott was born May 1, 1822, in Coshocton County, Ohio, and attended school there. He came to Richland Township, Henry County, and settled on Section 8, where Charles Elliott now lives, in 1843. He now lives in Section 19, where he has 160 acres of land. He at one time had 1,140 acres of land, which he gave to his children, reserving but a homestead. He married Miss Mary Williams, daughter of Mathew Williams, of Holmes County, Ohio, February 20, 1842. His family consists of James, Mathew and Sarah (twins). Lany, Fanny, Hester, George, Fanny, Thomas C., Hannah and Mary. Of these, Hester, George, Hannah and Mary are dead. Mathew and James live in Richland Township. They were in the war of 1861-65. Mathew served eight months, and was discharged in consequence of illness. James served over five years, and was discharged at Columbus, Ohio, having been detained one year over his time. Sarah married John W. Robinson, and lives in Hardin County. When Mr. E. settled in the township, in 1840, there were but few settlers. He remembers a few on the north part of the township. Among those that settled at first were Samuel Rohn, Arthur Dunbar, . Benjamin Weidenhamer, Israel Braucher, Christian Braucher, Rinaldo Evans, Pierce Evans, John Whiting, Joshua Wilson, Hezekiah Wilson, John Wilson and their father, Thomas Wichel, Adam and Isaac Hiveley, Sylvester Blackman, Benjamin and Galen Evans. Dr. Gibbens Perry Was at Independence at this time. At the time Mr. E. settled in Section 8, there was no one living between that place and " Bean Creek." His neighbors were all down the Maumee River. Mr. E. cleared up his many acres by hard work ind constant toil. He is well-preserved in body and mind, and is quite active and vigorous Benjamin Weidenhamer was born in Berks County, Penn., December 30, 1803, a son of Adam Weidenhamer. He was raised on the farm, and was married, March 31, 1833, to Elizabeth Kershner, a daughter of John and Christina Kershner, of Berks County, Penn. July 11, 1834, they landed in this township, and settled on the site of the village of In dependence; bought eighty acres of wild land, which he cleared up and improved. They kept a hotel in this place about six years, during the time the canal was built About eight years after the first settlement, he sold his farm, and moved i mile below where John Spangler now resides. In the latter years of his life, he located in Independence, where he died on the night of the 13th of April, 1880. His death was sudden, having passed away during the night, unknown to his aged wife, who occupied a bed in the same room. He was a member of the Lutheran Church, in which he had been raised. To Mr. and Mrs. W. were born six children, of whom only one i s living—Ellen, wife of Mathew Elliott. The deceased are Albert, Frank, Mary, John and Emaline. John was a member of Company G, Thirty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry in September, 1861. Saw active service during three years. Exposure of camp life disabled him, and he died of rheumatism in 1867. Mr. Weidenhamer was successful during his lire, and always enjoyed good health. His aged wife is in good health and strength, with memory clear, and with ease she recounts the experiences that were in - cident to pioneer life. Mrs. Weidenhamer states that prior to the removal of the Ottawas, they often came to the hotel, but were quite peaceable in their intercourse with the whites, but were quite fond of " fire= water." The post office is now named Jewell. It was removed from Independence in 1866, and named in 1878, and located at the cross roads that pass from the Wabash Railroad. John Hill was born April 22, 1800, in Westmoreland County, Penn., four miles west of Mount Pleasant, of Scotch descent. Here he grew up and attended school. Upon reaching manhood, he learned the trade of carpenter and house-joiner. About 1822, he married Miss Catharine Grandstaff, of Marshall County, Va., and removed to Muskingum County, Ohio. Miss Grandstaff was of German descent, her people emigrating from Hamburg, Germany, about 1777. Mr. Hill resided in Richland Township, Muskingum County, until the fall of 1830, when he removed t near Brownsville, in Licking County. He remained there until the autumn of 1834, when he removed with his family to Hartford Township, in the same county, and settled on a new f aria, where he remained until the spring of 1856, and then sold his land and removed to a farm at the foot of the Welch Hills, near Newark, and resided one summer. Here his wife was taken sick with fever, and after some weeks of illness died September 26, 1834, aged about thirty-six years. Mr. Hill returned, with his children, to his old home in Muskingum County, 344 - HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY. about 1838, and during the slack-Water experiment on the Maumee, he engaged in trade at Independence, Defiance Co., Ohio. That region was very sickly at that time, and many were carried to their graves. Mr. Hill was much afflicted with pleurisy nearly the whole of the winters of 1839 and 1840, and finally died on the 26th of March, 1840. The disease was aggravated by malarial poison, no doubt. He was buried in the midst of strangers, with none to sympathize with him in his afflictions. Mr. Hill was a man of liberal education, and was a fine conversationalist, and took much pleasure in dwelling upon the border history of the Ohio tribes, of whom no man in the Northwest was better versed. He possessed fine historical taste, and delighted to detail the adventures of captives and others during the war of 1812 and of the war of the Revolution, along the borders of Pennsylvania and Virginia. Samuel Kepler, of Richland Township, was born in Bedford, Washington Co., Penn., March 3, 1793. At an early day, his father sold out and settled in Franklin County, Ohio, where he bought quite a large tract of land in and around where Columbus now stands. Soon after he died, their goods were swept away by a flood; their stock sickened and died, and one calamity after another befel them until they became poor. Then they removed to Delaware County, Ohio. Notwithstanding all their afflictions, the widow and her helpless orphans struggled on, enduring all the hardships of an early pioneer life. Mr. Kepler stayed and cared for his mother and family until he saw them comfortably situated. At the age or twenty eight years, he left the parental roof, penniless, to do for himself. In 1822, he Came to the Maumee Valley, and entered 110 acres of land four miles east of Fort Defiance, on the south bank of the Maumee River, which is well known as the Kepler farm. Here Mr. Kepler, by the use of his gun-flint and tinder-box, built his camp fire at the foot of a large black walnut tree, and spent his first night in Defiance County. The stub of the old walnut is still standing, and is carefully protected by the family. December 2, 1825, he was united in marriage to Miss Rachel McKinnis, of Hancock County, Ohio. being the first white couple ever married in that county. Two weeks after their marriage, they moved to their new home—a few scattering whites and the wild Indians of the forest their only neighbors. Their family consists of eight children, viz., Mary and Elizabeth (twins), Nancy, Robert, Josiah, Rachel, Sarah and Lucy. All are living except the youngest, Josiah M., who enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Eleventh Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry August, 1862, and was killed at Lovejoy Station, Ga.. September 5, 1864, Mr. Kepler served through the war of 1812. He ran a ferryboat across the Maumee, at Independence for a number of years, commencing shortly after the State dam was built across the Maumee, and continued until 'abed 1849. Mr. Kepler died December 10, 1872, aged seventy-nine years nine months and seven days. Mrs. Kepler survived her husband about eight years, and departed this life February 25, 1880, aged about seventy-six years John Taylor, Jr., was born in Shenandoah County, Va., December 25, 1796. His parents, John and Barbara (Strucker) Taylor, immigrated to East Tennessee in 1'799, and remained there until October, 1807, when he removed with his family to Ohio and settled in Champaign County, Mad River Township, being six weeks on the road. On their arrival at their new home, Mrs. Taylor, necessarily, had a large washing to get out, but found they had no clothes line. The boys having noticed some wild grape vines not far distant, in due time had their mother amply supplied with the necessary clotheslines, which were soon filled by Mrs. Taylor, as the result of a hard day's washing, and were left remaining on the lines over night; but in the morning she beheld the clothes-lines torn down and the clothes torn to shreds and mostly destroyed by a pack of wolves (taring the night. They had a family of ten children, fourboys and six girls. Here Mr. and Mrs. Taylor both died. Mr. Taylor, Jr., subject of this sketch, had no advantages for an early education, and, to use his own language, " he never had any." Mr. Taylor, before he was twenty-one years of age, chopped over three hundred acres ready for logging. At the age of twenty-one, he was elected Constable, and afterward was elected Justice of the Peace, and served two terms. ;November 6, 1817, Mr. Taylor was married to Miss Anna McAllister. They had seven children—William, James, David, Benjamin, Polly, Nancy and Sarah. William enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Eleventh Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, August, 1862, and was discharged in A. D. 1864, and died at home from disease contracted in the service. Maj. David Taylor was also employed in the United States service, as Paymaster in the regular army. At the breaking-out of the late civil war of 1861-65, he was appointed to that position, which he held up to the time of his death, A. D. 1878. He died at Leavenworth, Kan., February 21, 1878, at which place he was stationed as a Government officer. Mr. Taylor, after serving two terms. as Justice, was appointed by Gov. Lucas, Associate Judge to fill a vacancy. The Legislature then elected him for six years, making in all nine years' service iu that capacity. He was appointed Assessor of damages caused by breaks on the Miami & Exton- HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY - 345 sion Canal, and served three years, when he was appointed. Register of the United States Land Office at Defiance, Ohio. In 1851, he was elected to the Senate from the Thirty-second Senatorial District, composed of the counties of Van Wert, Auglaize, Allen, Paulding, Defiance and Williams, and reelected as an independent candidate in 1852-53. He was then appointed a member of the Board of Directors of the Ohio Penitentiary, and served in that capacity for three years, at the close of which he re tired from public life, and settled on his farm of 160 acres, situated about three and a half miles south of Defiance, which he had previously entered at $1.05 per acre; $1 being the Government price per acre for a homestead, and the half cent per acre to cover expenses at the land office. Mr. T. then proceeded to build a cabin and clear up his farm for a home, eighty acres of which he still owns, and on which he lived until 1870, when he moved to Defiance on account of ill health of his wife, who died Decemher 21, 1875. Henry Ort was a native of Germany, and was born in Linsengen Kur Hessen, Germany, November 29, 18f3. When twenty-six years of age, he emigrated to America, coining directly to Defiance. Mr. Ort, being a tailor by trade, made that his business while living in town. In 1841, he married Miss Anna M. Ott, who was also from Germany. Mr. Ort then bought forty acres of land in Richland Township, on what is called the South Ridge, six miles east of Defiance, and immediately set about the work' of hewing out for himself and family a home in the unbroken wilderness. His nearest neighbor was three miles distant. His first work was to cut a road to a suitable spot whereon to build a house. His first house was a small log cabin, where they lived for a number of years, working almost day and night to clear up the farm and surround themselves with some of the comforts of civilized life. From time to time, as they, through industry and frugality, earned the money, they added little by little to the former purchase, and finally built themselves a larger and more comfortable house. When Mr. Ort first moved into the woods, they received frequent visits from the Indians, who came around their cabin in search of their ponies, making themselves quite familiar with their new neighbors. Wolves, too, were numerous, and exceedingly neighborly, not unfrequently making their calls at what seemed, to the unsophisticated immigrants, unseasonable hours, often arousing the family from their sweet slumbers in the dead hours of the night by their unearthly howls; making it necessary for Mr. Ort, in compliance with the rules of etiquette in such cases, to leave his bed, and, with his old flintlock, to salute them from the door of his cabin. The report of the old Queen's arm they usually accepted as a recognition of their friendly call, and retired for the night, accordingly, leaving the family to resume their repose undisturbed. Mr. Ort, as may reasonably be sup; osed, passed through many hardships-suffered many privations incident to pioneer life. His first grist he carried to mill on his back, a distance of eight miles, and returned the same day. By his unflagging toil, he cleared up a farm of heavy timber land, made a comfortable home and secured a fair competence for those that might come after him. He died of consumption in the spring of 1863, at the age of forty-nine years; since which time, Mrs. Annie M. Ort, now in the sixtieth year of her age, being born April 8, 1824, has succeeded, by her more than common industry and good management, and provided for her household, though some of her children were quite smalf at the death of their parent. The farm now contains 246 acres, and is counted among the best farms on the South Ridge, which is unequaled for productiveness by any portion of the county. The family consist of nine children-William, Henry, Mary, Catharine (died in infancy), George, John C., Katie C., Minnie and Adam S. William, the eldest, born February 6, 1842, remained at home, helping his mother, until April 26, 1866, at which time he married Sarah J. Davis, and by her had two children, both of whom died in infancy. His wife died August 29, 1874. He then came to Defiance and engaged in the grocery business. He married, for his second wife, the Widow Marcellus, of Defiance, September 15, 1875. Henry, the second son, who still lives on the farm with his mother, was born February 7, 1844; married September 20, 1868, to Sarah A. Heister, who died June 16, 1880. Mary was born August 24, 1846; married, August 8, 1868, to Jacob P. Davis. Catharine, born October 20, 1848, died October 5, 1849. Hattie, born January 9, 1851; married, April 11, 1872, to John H. E. Sebatz. Minnie, born March 1, 1853, died June 22, 1876. George, born May 17, 1855, married May 18, 1878, to Catharine Hire. John K., horn February 18, 1.858; married, June 9, 1879, to Elizabeth Hahn. Adam L., born July 3, 1860. Orestus U. Woodward, farmer, P. O. Defiance, was born in Cayuga County, N. Y., in 1832, and is a son of Eleazer and Henrietta (Ingraham) Woodward, natives of Connecticut. He died in New York in 1843. Mrs. W. came to Ohio, and died in Henry County in 1855. Nine children were born to them five are living, four of whom reside in Henry County, Ohio. Our subject was reared on the farm, and obtained a good academic education. In 1856, he came to Defiance County, and in 1858, purchased a farm 346 - HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY. of eighty acres, on which he located in 1859, the same place being his present home. He is a member of the first Defiance Grange, which was organized December 16, 1873, and is the present Master. He was appointed Deputy, and organized the Granges of the county Mr. W. began teaching in the public schools in New York in 1852, and afterward taught in Pennsylvania. He has likewise taught in the schoos of Henry and Defiance Counties since 1855. In 1858, he was married to Miss Margaret J., daughter of Samuel Rohn, by whom he has had four children, viz., Clayton, Rollin, Grace and Gertrude. J. B Elliott, farmer and stock-raiser, P. 0. Defiance, was born in Coshocton County, Ohio, December 5, 1837, and is a son of Samuel and Sarah (Seward) Elliott. He (Samuel) was born in Ireland in 1800, and in 1817, accompanied by his mother, brother and two sisters, emigrated to America and settled in Ohio. They were preceded in this county by two sons, and after the mother came two other sons. Samuel Elliott was a son of John Elliott, who died in Ireland. The children of John who came to this country were James, Moses, Andrew, Charles, John, George, Samuel, Jane, Thomas, Fanny and Simon. All originally settled in Holmes County, Ohio, and afterwards a part of the family removed to Coshocton County, Ohio. Samuel was an Associate Judge of the latter county, and a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He located in this township in 1855, in which he bought 480 acres of land, all of which, excepting sixty acres, is owned by his children. He died September 12, 1859. He was married in 1826, and was the father of ten children, eight of whom are living, viz„ Simon, Phoebe, John B., Albert, Nancy, Sarah, Samuel W. and Hester A. The deceased were Eleanor and Eli. Mrs. Elliott is living, at the age of seventy-eight years. Our subject was reared on the farm, and in the district schoos he obtained a good practical education. September 8, 1861, he was married to Miranda, daughter of Philemon and Rachel Dodd. He first settled in Adams Township, and in 1864 located where he now resides. To them have been born eight children, six of whom are living, viz., Nettie, Emma, Sarah, William F., Ruth and Rachel. Ellen and Charles deceased. In October, 1862, Mr. E. enlisted in Company G of the Thirty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served till August, 1863. Philemon and Rachel Dodd, parents of Mrs. J. B. Elliott, were natives of New Jersey, and located in Adams Township, this county, in 1842, in which both died, he in 1859, aged sixty years; she departed this fife December 2, 1875, aged sixty-seven years. A. Elliott, farmer, P. 0. Defiance, was born in Coshocton County, Ohio, December 27, 1839, and is a son of Samuel Elliott, of whom mention is made above. His boyhood was passed upon the farm, and obtained the advantages of a common school education. November 2, 1863, he enlisted in Company G, of the Twelfth Ohio- Volunteer Cavalry; served under Gens. Burbridge and Stoneman; saw active service until the close of the war, and was honorably discharged November 25, 1865. Upon his return to civil fife, he settled on the farm where he now resides, owning 200 acres of land, 100 acres of which are well improved. September 22, 1868, he was married to Henrietta, daughter of John and Anna (Wolcott) Emory, of Fulton County, Ohio, by whom he has had three children, viz., Samuel, Flora Belle and Albert Wolcott. Isaac F. Braucher, the only surviving son of Isaac E. Braucher, was born where he now resides December 1, 1848. He was married, March 21, 1872, to Rose, daughter of John Parrott, of Knox County, Ohio, who has borne him four children, viz., Gertrude, Alice, Earl and Mary. His brothers, Alphonso L . and Benjamin F., were members of Company G, Thirty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which they enlisted in September, 1861. The former was mustered into service as Second Lieutenant; he died at Somerset, Ky., January 2, 1862, aged thirty- three years. The latter died at his home August 6, 1862, at the age of nineteen years. Samuel Rohn, farmer, P. O. Defiance, was born May 12, 1812, in Northampton County, Penn. He was reared on a farm, and was nine years old when his parents settled at Piqua, Miami Co., Ohio. The following year, he came with his parents to Defiance County. He remained with his parents till ahout twenty-two years of age. In July, 1833, he was married to Miss Charity Hughes, daughter of Edward Hughes, of Adams County, Ohio. He and his wife settled in this county quite early, in which both lived until they died. Mr. R. purchased land in his present vicinity, in which he first settled. At present he owns 370 acres of excellent land, highly improved. He has held some of the petty offices of the township, but has never had any aspiration for political honors. To Mr. and Mrs. Rohn were boru ten children, six of whom are living, viz., Margaret, Helena, Adelia A., Orisa B., Samuel W. and Frank H. His deceased children were named Joseph, Telitha, Nancy J. and Martha E. Mrs. R. died in September, 1878, aged sixty-five years eleven months and twenty-eight days. He has been quite successful in life, having accumulated a good property, and is spending his declining years amidst the comforts of life HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY - 347 CHAPTER XXX TIFFIN TOWNSHIP—EARLY VOTERS—VILLAGE OF EVANSPORT—EVANSPORT LODGE, F. & A. M., NO. 511—PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. THIS township was organized in 1832. The first election was held at the house of Ephraim Doty, and the following are remembered as first voters: Ephraim Doty, Enos Purtee, Lewis Purtee, Samuel Russell, Oliver Conrad, Peter Knipe, Jacob and George Hall, Jacob, John and Adam Coy, John and Thomas Holmes and John Snider. The officers elected were Jacob Coy and Ephraim Doty, Justices of the Peace; John Snider, Constable and Treasurer; James Guthrie, Clerk; Jacob Coy, Ephraim Doty and probably Enos Purtee, Trustees. The first school in Tiffin was taught by Ephraim Doty, in a double log cabin, which stood on his farm in the northwest quarter of Section 21. Hester Ann, George and William Partee, Caleb, Andrew and Polly Coy and Houston Russell and Kitty, Rachel and Abner Doty were the pupils. One end of this double cabin was used for a blacksmith shop. The first schoolhouse was afterward built near the old Evansport Cemetery. John Arnold and John Cameron were early teachers in that shop. There are now ten schoolhouses in the township, six of them hrick. Ephraim Doty was the first settler in the township, coming about 1825 and settling on Tiffin River, then called Bean Creek. Enos Purtee followed soon after; also Lewis Purtee and William Graham. Samuel Russell and John Acus came in the spring of 1831, and in the fall of the same year the Coys, Sniders, Halls and Mrs. Conrad. Mr. Hollingshead and James Guthrie settled soon after, but did not remain long. The first sermon was delivered at the cabin of Enos Purtee by Rev. Prior. There are now six churches in the township, two at Evansport, a Methodist Episcopal Church on Section 33, which cost over $1,000, a German Methodist Episcopal Church on Section 15, which cost about $700, a United Brethren Church on Section 15, which cost over $800, and a Catholic Church on Section 31, which cost over $3,000. Tiffiu River was the only public highway open to the first settlers, and canoes and pirogues the only means of conveyance or transportation: About 1847, a boat called the Experiment plied between Evans- port and Brunersburg; its capacity was 600 bushels of wheat. Ephraim Doty, the first settler, died in 1845. He built the first saw mill in the township, on Doty Run, on the old up and down style; he also had the first brick kiln in the township, from which the settlers got their brick to build the chimneys of their cabins. About the year 1834 or 1835, Lewis Purtee built a saw mill on Webb Run in Section 34, and had a small run of stone to grind corn for the early settlers, but it has long since passed away. Mr. John Plummer, an old hunter, trapped in the township several years before. any settlement was made, and settled in the township about 1835. Mr. Frederick Von Beron erected a tannery about 1842, in Section 16, and carried on quite extensively until about 1866, when he sold his farm and moved to Iowa. About the year 1847, there was a small distillery carried on by Jacob Kintigh, which disappeared about 1855. About the year 1852, a great wolf hunter named Skiver came through the township, and was so well . skilled in hunting wolves that he rid them all out so they have troubled nothing since. He could track them better than a dog. About the year 1837, came the Toberons, Hockmans, Biderwels, Shermans, Rumkeys, Wisemiller and Miers; all German families, and settled on the east side of Tiffin River, forming what is called the German settlement, but now mostly English. The soil of Tiffin Township along the river was covered with walnut, poplar, beech, sugar, white ash, huckleberry, dogwood, wild cherry, white and red oak, making farms when brought under cultivation equal to gardens. Away from the river, the timber was mostly burr oak, white oak, black ash, elm and hickory, with some beech and sugar ridges, making it more difficult to bring under cultivation, but with proper drainage it brings good wheat and corn, clover and timothy, all kinds of fruit do well, but apples and pears do the best. As an agricultural township, Tiffin is second in the county in wheat and corn, with plenty of good pasture land to rear horses, cattle, sheep and hogs; there being some fine stock in the township. EARLY VOTERS. The following were the voters of Tiffin Township in October, 1845: Reuben Brown, Permenus Kibble, Frederick Ingle, Henry Graham, Wesley Brown, 348 - HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY. Isaac H. Huyck, Isaac W. .Gibbs, William Purtee, James Purtee, Henry Brown, Lewis Purtee, John Collins, Jr., Andrew Sellinger, Jacob Coy, Lawrence Purtee, Patrick McCauley, Mordecai Cameron, William Stinger, Robert Kibble, John Suider, David Strauser, Henry McCauley, Israel Denman, John Sellinger, Christian Thurmburg, Thurston Russell, Daniel Kintigh, Levin Porter, Simon Figley, Philip McCauly, E. F. Lindenberger, William C. Porter. Jacob Hall, Henry Hockman, Henry Toberian, Jacob Smith, Stephen Squires, Daniel Martin, Aaron Bennett, Alonzo C. Barber, Dederick Biderwell, George K. Kendal, Frederick Tobrian, Solomon Snider, John Donaldson, Samuel Russel, Jacob Dieden, Enos Purtee, Coonrod Rumka, George Purtee, Frederick Van Beron, Caleb Sellinger, Rolle Sellinger, Michael J us- tic, John Plummer, John R. Cassel,. Isaac Evans, Elihu Taylor, Thomas Churchman, Ely Johnston, Solomon Wisler, Coonrod Myers, George Hall, John P. Winters, Henry Shearman, Thomas Winters, Nathaniel Mitchel, Efferson Toel, John Wisler, H. B. Hall, John A. Garber, William S. Kintigh, David Myers, Jacob Kintigh, Simon Kent and E. W. Fuller. Patrick McCauley, John Donaldson, and Solomon Snider, Judges; Daniel Martin and Henry McAuley, Clerks; election held at the residence of Jacob Hall. VILLAGE OF EVANSPORT. The town was laid out by Jacob Coy and Albert G. and Amos Evans, December 14, 1835. The original plat consisted of 122 lots. It has a population of about 350. It has two churches, one Methodist Episcopal, brick, built in 1874, and cost $2,800 and one United Brethren Church, frame, cost about $800, aud built in 1876. There is one Masonic and one organized Odd Fellows hall. The Masonic hall was built in 1875, The Odd Fellows built in 1871. They have about fifty members each. The school buildings are frame, but have two departments, with about eighty scholars in attendance. There are two dry goods stores, one drug store, one hardware store, five cooper shops, two blacksmith shops, two shoe-maker shops, one wagon shop, three millinery and dress-making shops, one harness shop and one post office and two hotes. The grist mifl at Evansport is the only one in the township. It was built in 1836-37 by Jacob and John Coy and John Snider. The saw mill was built about the same time and by the same parties. Both have been running continuously up to the present time. The mill is now owned by Fribley & Kimball, the latter purchasing an interest in December, 1882. It has been remodeled and rebuilt by Fribley & Co., and does an extensive business. This first mill was built by Coys & Snider, and ceased to grind in 1868. In 1872, Daniel Fribley and Abram Coy built the present mill on same site, or nearly so, where the old pioneer mill stood. EVANSPORT LODGE, F. & A. M., NO. 511. This lodge was organized under a charter granted by the Grand Lodge of Ohio, October 17, 1875, the charter members being as follows: Enos Kimble, Abram Coy, William B. Showman, John S. Cameron, Samuel Donaldson, Robert B. Cameron and George W. Scott, John M. Welker, of Bryan, Ohio, being appointed first W. M. At the first election of officers held under the charter, the following were chosen: Robert B. Cameron, W. M.; Enos Kimble, S. W.; Samuel Donaldson, J. W.; Abram Coy, Treasurer; John S. Cameron, Secretary; George W. Scott, S. D.; James C. Sandford, J. D.; William B. Showman, Tiler. At the time of its organization, the financial conditions of the people in its jurisdiction, was such as to prevent many from making application for membership, but as money began to be more plentiful, in consequence of which times got better, men good and true began to inquire the way, and the growth of the lodge from that time to the present has been a steady one, the membership at present numbering sixty. Present officers for 1883 are John S. Cameron, W. M.; Judson McCord, S. W. ; Frank W. Ury, J. W.; Abram Co;-, Treasurer: J. H. Hockman, Secretary; Robert B. Cameron, S. D.; Sandford Posey, J. D.; and Robert C. Hall, Tiler. Stated meetings are held on the first and third Friday evenings of each month, hour of meeting, 7 o'clock, P. M. All Masons in good and regular standing are cordially invited to meet with the brethren of said lodge. PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. The Coy Family. Jacob Coy, Sr., and his wife were natives of Germany who immigrated to Beaver County, Penn., in 1857. They were married March 8, 1776, and had a family of five sons and three daughters. John Coy, son of Jacob Coy, Sr., ibout 1800 settled in Greene County, Ohio, and in 1804 married Mary Jones, and they had six sons and three daughters. John Coy died November 8, 1823, aged forty-one years, his widow and all his family moving to Tiffin Township in the fall of 1831. All the members of the family entered Government land. Mary (Jones) Coy, the widow of John, was born in Kentucky August 13, 1787. Her father, John Jones, born in Wales in 1752, came at an early age to America. His wife (née Nancy Powers) was born in Scotland in 1756, and came when but a child to America. They were married in 1776 and had four sons and five daughters. Jacob Coy, son of John and Mary Coy, was born February 20, 1807, in Greene County, and married HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY - 349 January 7, 1830, Mary Shank, and immigrated to what is now Tiffin Township in the fall of 1831. He entered 109 acres of land in Section 3. and commenced his improvements where Evansport now stands. The village of Evansport was laid out in 1835 by Jacob Coy, Albert Evans and Amos Evans. The first copartnership was formed by Jacob and John Coy and John Snider, in the spring of 1835, for the purpose of building a grist and saw mill. The latter was completed September, 1835, and the former April, 1837. This firm, under the style of Coy & Snider, remained in business up to 1857. Jacob and Mary Coy still survive at a ripe old age, having raised a family of eleven sons and two daughters. Abram Coy, son of Jacob and Mary Coy, was born January 18, 1833, in Evansport, and still resides within a few feet of where he was born. He re-mained at home until twenty-four years old, helping clear up the farm. February 19, 1857, he married Margaret, daughter of John M. and Margaret (Johnson) Donaldson, born August 13, 1830, in Lycoming County, Penn., and her parents were natives of Pennsylvania. Her father was a millwright, and assisted in putting up the first mill at Evansport and settled on Section 3. They had six sons and four daughters--David (dead), John, Rachel (Mrs. C. A. Skinner, and living on the old Donaldson homestead), Mary (wife of Judge J. J. Greene, of Defiance), Margaret (Mrs. Abram Coy), Susan and James (both dead), Samuel, Jacob C. and William. Mr. Donald. son was in the war of 1812 as Captain, and had four sons, all commissioned officers, in the late war. One son, James, died in the service; the rest completed their services at the close of hostilities. The families who " pitched their tenth " together when they first came to Tiffin Township were those of Jacob, Miry, John and Adam Coy, and John Snider and Jacob and George Hall. We are enabled to give the following sketch of Mary Conrad, whose maiden name was Mary Jones, and whose first husband was John Coy and second husband Oliver Conrad. She was born on the present site of Booneboro, Ky., in the early days of Indian hostilities, and experienced the privations of that era. She sought refuge in Boone's fort, and soon after located in Greene County, where she married John Coy, hy whom she had nine children. Mr. Coy died in 1823, and after eight years., she, with the old spirit of frontier life, moved into what is now Tiffin Township, when there were but seven families residing therein, who all pitched one tent on the banks of Tiffin River near the present residence of Thomas Rethmel. Mrs. Coy, after remaining a widow for years, married Oliver Conrad. She was a fine shot, and found the accomplishment of service in protecting her crops. She was energetic and firm as adamant, and beloved by all who knew her. She died in the faith of Jesus Christ at the age of eighty-three. She died December 16, 1870, at her daughter Nancy's (Mrs. John Snider), and was buried at Evansport. Joseph Collins. William Collins came to this county from Lycoming County, Penn., in March, 1837, aged about seventy-seven years; purchased land, and lived in Tiffin Township eleven years; died in 1848, aged eighy-eight years. Joseph Collins, son of William Collins, was born in Lycoming County, Penn., in 1808; was married to Matilda Tallman in 1831. They bought 200 acres in Section 11, in Tiffin Township, where they moved in 1835. They endured many hardships, in common with those who moved into the thick woods. Their land was cleared by him. Malarial fevers and ague were frequent; supplies often gave out before their crops came in, then long journeys had to be made to get provisions. An incident: Once Mr. Collins was very sick; the flour was all gone; Mrs. Coflins must get some. Early in the morning, after leaving the sick man, unable to leave his bed, with their two little girls, aged two and four years; she had to go two miles to the river, through the woods, with no path through the deep snow except a " blazed way," that is, a chip taken off from trees, marking them so that the marks could be seen from one large tree to another; then, after crossing the river, to the farm now occupied by Thomas Rethmel, where J. Leisure lived, she found they had gone to mill the day before; Mrs, Leisure was sick, the man gone, and would not be back before night, and they had nothing in the house to eat; if she went home she would have to come back, and that would take all day; so, with an anxious heart, she stayed, doing what she could for Mrs. Leisure in the meantime, who needed her. Mr. Leisure came with his meal after dark, too tired to go any further. She took what meal she could carry; it took her a long time to get home; she heard the wolves howl on her way. When she got home, Mr. Collins, was making efforts to get out, but could not stand alone; the children were crying. Before she could make gruel, she had to go out in the cold, and grope around to cut wood. Mr. Collins died March, 1859, aged about fifty years, having lived here twenty-four years. His wife. Matilda Collins, remained a widow for sixteen years. She died January, 1875, aged sixty three years, having lived here forty years. They both were respected by all of their neighbors. The children of Joseph and Matilda Collins were Elizabeth, horn May 9, 1832, married to David Justus, July, 1849. deceased; Mary Ann Collins was born March 22, 1834, died July 15, 1857, aged twenty-three years; Martha M. Collins, born October, 1849, married to Louis