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CHAPTER II.

THE PIONEERS OF HANCOCK COUNTY- THEIR SACRIFICES AND HEROIC PERSEVERANCE-BLANCHARD, THE FRENCH EXILE-ERECTION AND OCCUPATION OF FORT FINDLAY-THORP, THE SUTLER - FIRST PERMANENT WHITE SETTLERS-BIRTH OF THE FIRST WHITE CHILD IN HANCOCK COUNTY-PIONEERS OF THE COUNTY PRIOR TO 1830 - IMMIGRATION TO NORTHWESTERN OHIO AND ITS ACCOMPANYING HARDSHIPS-BEGINNING WORK IN THE UNBROKEN FOREST-THE PIONEER CABIN AND ITS FURNITURE-TABLE WARE, FOOD AND MEDICINE OF THE PIONEERS-HABITS, LABOR AND DRESS-EARLY MANNERS AND CUSTOMS - SOCIAL GATHERINGS - FIRST MARRIAGE IN TH COUNTY-THE GRATER AND HOMINY BLOCK-PIONEER MILLS OF HANCOCK COUNTY-DIFFICULTIES OF GOING TO MILL-PRICES OF STORE GOODS, PRODUCE AND FURS DURING EARLY DAYS - MODE OF LIVING-THE PIONEER CHURCH AND SCHOOL. RAPID GROWTH AND MATERIAL PROGRESS OF THE COUNTY AFTER ITS ORGANIZATION-THE HANCOCK COUNTY PIONEER AND HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.

"What heroism, what perils, then !

How true of heart and strong of hand,

How earnest, resolute, those pioneer men!"

IN every country there is but one generation of pioneers. The history of that generation possesses a value and an interest which belong to no subsequent period. Leaving behind them the comforts and influences of a civilized community, the pioneers came to a new country, densely forested, and applied their. sturdy and earnest energies to the destruction of the

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towering timber, and the rearing upon its ruins of a new civilization, similar to that from which they migrated. The struggles and dangers they must undergo, the habits and customs which their new environment engendered, the gradual approach of their institutions from the inadequacy at their inception to the present stage of efficiency, and the self-denying mode of life they were obliged to adopt, present a phase of life that has now departed from this State forever.

Less than one hundred years ago there was not a single white settlement throughout the length and breadth of Ohio, and seventy-five years ago not a single white family living in Hancock County. Could those who have seen this county only as it now is, borrow the eyes of the sturdy pioneers who helped to make the transformation, in place of the now smiling fields and comfortable homes, naught but a vast wilderness, filled with savage beasts, would greet their sight. The present generation can form no just conception of the trials, endless labors, sacrifices and privations to which the first settlers heroically submitted: They were not seeking fortunes nor fame; they were intent only on making a home for their children, and from that laudable impelling motive has arisen the splendid structure of Western civilization we see all around us.

"These Western pioneers an impulse felt,

Which their less hardy sons scarce understand."

Their industry, enterprise and perseverance wrought from out nature's wilds the great prosperity which in the sunlight of to-day, from every hillside and glen, looks up to smile upon us. The pioneers of Hancock County, with few exceptions, have passed to their final account, and it remains for their descendants to keep bright the recollections of such names and events as have come down to them, for the memory of their deeds deserves to be "written in characters of living light upon the firmament, there to endure as radiant as if every letter was traced in shining stars. "

Prior to the coming of the real pioneers, a few wandering whites had found their way into the territory drained by the Blanchard River. On the authority of Col. John Johnston, long the government agent of the Shawnee Indians, Howe, in his "Historical Collections," speaking of Blanchard, after whom the stream was named, says: "He was a native of France and a man of intelligence, but no part of his history could be obtained from him. He doubtless fled his country for some offense against its laws, intermarried with a Shawnee woman, and after living here thirty years died in 1802, at or near the site of Fort Findlay. When the Shawnees immigrated to the West seven of his children were living, one of whom was a chief." There is no doubt that this portion of the State was traversed by French traders many years before and after the planting of the first permanent American settlement northwest of the Ohio. Many of these men married squaws and lived with the Indians as one of themselves. It is therefore probable that Blanchard, who, it is said, was a tailor, map have dwelt at intervals and worked at his trade in the several Indian villages located on the stream which bears his name; and as there was a village on the site of Mount Blanchard, another on the site of Findlay, and a third farther down the river in Liberty Township, one of these was doubtless the place to which Col. Johnston had reference.

The following account of Blanchard, prepared and read before the

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"Hancock County Pioneer and Historical Association," by W. H. Whiteley, of Findlay, in 1877, is worthy of a place in this chapter:

"There is, perhaps, no character that presents itself in the whole history of the Northwest, about whom there clings so much of interest and mystery as that of Jean Jacques Blanchard. The personal history of this strange man is vague and indefinite, but in the occasional glimpses which we get of it through the long lapse of years, we see a life of adventurous wanderings and vicissitudes-a life that seems to have forgotten the dreams of its childhood, and thrown aside and abandoned as worthless the purer instincts of nature, and in their stead embraced a wild and semi-savage existence. A man of education, culture and refinement, he left the home of his birth, and all that the human heart holds near and dear, and plunging into the wilderness he dwelt with a strange people, who spoke a strange language, and who worshiped a strange God. From the best information that can be obtained it appears that Blanchard was born in France, about the year 1720. The immediate place of his birth, or who or what his parents were, is, and probably will be forever, unknown. That he had received a liberal education there can be no reasonable doubt; he was well versed in mathematics, and from an account of him given by an officer of the American army, who met him in 1799 near the present site of the town of McArthur, Ohio, the supposition is that he at one time possessed an intimate acquaintance with the Latin and Greek languages. He spoke his native language fluently and with that peculiar accent known as the ` Paris dialect.' The theory long held in reference to Blanchard is that he was a Frenchman, who, either to escape the penalty of some crime, or for the love of adventure, had taken up his residence among the Indians. In the meager account of himself which Blanchard gave to Capt. Forth, the officer before referred to, he says that he emigrated from France to Louisiana in the year 1760. Here he remained until a few months after the cession of that territory to Spain, in the year 1762. What his employments were during the two years he remained in Louisiana has never been ascertained. For the next seven years nothing whatever is known of him. The presumption in the mind of the historian, Elliot, was that Blanchard had joined a band of Spanish freebooters, and with them engaged in plundering small vessels in the West India waters.

"In the autumn of 1769, or the spring of 1770, Blanchard made hia appearance among a band of Shawnee Indians, who resided about twenty-two miles south of the place where Dayton now stands. How or from whence he came no one knew, nor did he ever explain it. It is supposed that, becoming tired of being a pirate, he had returned to Louisiana and joined a party of traders, and after visiting several Indian tribes became weary of his mercenary companions and plunged into the wilderness alone, and coming to the village of the Shawnees he determined to take up his abode with them. He was kindly received by the tribe, and it was not long until he was regarded as one of their number. When he came into the Shawnee tribe he had with him an elaborate case of curiously wrought tools. These he used in making ornaments for the Indians from the small coins and shells which they furnished him for that purpose. So skilled was he in manufacturing ornaments, with which the savages were wont to adorn themselves, that his fame spread abroad among other tribes, and they came

* Elliot's Algonquins.

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from far and near to bring him material, out of which he formed wonderful devices that delighted the hearts of the Indian braves. The natural conclusion to be drawn from this circumstance is that he was at some period of his life a skilled artisan. Another account of Blanchard, given in one of the earlier histories of Ohio, states that he was a tailor, or one who sewed garments,' and from this fact the Shawnees gave to the river, now called after the old Frenchman, the name of Sha-po-qua-te-sepe, or Tailor's River.

"In 1774 Blanchard married a Shawnee woman, by whom he had seven children-five sons and two daughters. At the time the tribe went West the second son was a sub-chief. * In 1857 there were several Indians in the tribe who claimed to be descendants of Blanchard. The stream now known as Blanchard's Fork of the Auglaize River, was named in his honor. Previous to 1812 the stream was simply known as Blanchard's River, but on the completion of certain government surveys the name of the river was changed to Blanchard's Fork of the Auglaize. Abort the year 1786 a part of the tribe with which Blanchard lived moved to a point near the head of the river. Here it was that they were visited by traders, and so skilled was the band in obtaining furs that the village soon became the resort of the agents of the Canadian Fur Company. . It was they who gave the name to the river. There is no evidence that Blanchard ever resided permanently in Hancock County, and the only visits he ever made within its present boundaries were to the villages along the river. There was nothing striking in the personal appearance of the man. He was a little below the medium height, and his features were regular and expressive of some strength of character. He was quiet in his demeanor, and at times morose. He seldom talked of his early life, in fact he never spoke of it unless pressed to do so, or when he heard Indians or whites boasting of things they had heard or seen. Blanchard died about the year 1802. The place of his death is unknown, though it is said to be at or near the site of Findlay."

Fort Findlay was built in the summer of 1812, on the south bank of the Blanchard, immediately west of Main Street, Findlay, by a detachment of Gen. Hull's army under the command of Col. James Findlay, of Cincinnati. A small force was kept on duty at this fort until the spring of 1815, when the presence of soldiers being no longer necessary in this portion of the State, it was evacuated.

Soon after the completion of Fort Findlay a man named Thorp came here from Dayton, Ohio, and with the assistance of the garrison erected a story and a half hewed-log house immediately east of the fort. He acted as baker and sutler for the garrison, and upon the close of the war removed to the Maumee. "In the spring' of 1814," says Squire Carlin, "I accompanied my father from Urbana to the Maumee. We stayed over night at Fort Findlay, and I well remember that a man named Thorp kept a small bakery and sutler shop in a hewed-log house which stood a little east of the fort. During the evening I visited Thorp's store, where he was living alone and selling goods to the soldiers. In the spring of 1815 we again passed Fort Findlay, but found both the fort and Thorp's house deserted. Thorp had removed to the Maumee, where I afterward knew him. He settled on an island in the bay about six miles northeast of Toledo, and I think he died there. Thorp was a man of considerable culture, but very eccentric, and seemed to avoid the associations of his fellow men as much as possible."

* Narrative of Col. John Johnston.

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Benjamin J: Cox was the first permanent white settler of Hancock County. In 1815 he left Logan County, Ohio, and traveling northward on the military road cut out by Gen. Hull three years before, located with his family in the hewed-log house erected by Thorp on the site of Findlay. One year afterward a daughter, Lydia, was born in this cabin, which stood on the south bank of the Blanchard, where the two-story brick erected by Wilson Vance now stands, and to her belongs whatever honor is attached to being the first white child born in the territory embraced in Hancock County. The Cox family were for about six years the only white inhabitants of this portion of the State. They cultivated a small patch of ground near their cabin, and also kept a sort of frontier tavern for the accommodation of traders, drovers and land prospectors who sometimes visited this region. But early in the spring of 1821 Robert Shirley, William Moreland and a Mr. Beaver, of Ross County, Ohio, who the previous fall had visited the country along the Blanchard, sent out their sons, in all a party of six men, with three teams, to make a settlement in the vicinity of Fort Findlay. On arriving they began the work of underbrushing, and soon had planted small crops of corn and potatoes above Fort Findlay. Three of the party then went back to Ross County, leaving the others to gather the crops and fatten and butcher some hogs they had brought out with them. When this was accomplished they left all in care of Mr. Cox and returned to their homes. Of these families, only one, that of Mr. Moreland, settled permanently; the latter, with his sons William and Jacob, locating on the Blanchard near the old fort, Jacob erecting his cabin in the spring of 1821 on the farm now owned by Aaron Baker, and his father on the site of North Findlay, in the fall of the same year.

Wilson Vance was the next settler, coming in November, 1821, and taking possession of the house previously occupied by Mr. Cog. The latter removed to an old Indian cabin which stood a little southeast of his former residence. John Simpson and son, John, located on "Chamberlin's Hill" the same autumn. Other settlers soon came, and prior to 1830 the following pioneers, most of whom had families, located in what is now Findlay Township: Job Chamberlin, John P. and Bleuford Hamilton, Matthew Reighly, Thomas and Joseph Slight and John Gardner, Sr., in 1822; Joshua Hedges, in 1824; David Gitchel, in 1825; Squire Carlin and Joseph White, in 1826; Joseph DeWitt, Thomas Simpson, George W. Simpson, Reuben Hale, John Boyd, John C. Wickham, Minor T. Wickham, Isaac Johnson, Joseph Johnson, John Jones, Thomas Chester, John Taylor and Edwin S. Jones all came in 1827; Parlee Carlin, William Taylor, Joshua Powell, James Pettier, James B. Moore, David Foster and Jacob Foster in 1828; and William L. Henderson, Robert L. Strother, Thomas F. Johnton, Henry and Peter Shaw, John Bashore and John George Flenner, in 1829.

There were, perhaps, a few others who came in during this period, but if so their names are "lost 'mid the rubbish of forgotten things." Some of those given as pioneers of Findlay Township afterward removed into other parts of the county.

Delaware was the second township to receive the impress of civilization, Asa Lake and son, Asa M., locating near the site of Mount Blanchard late in the fall of 1821, or early the following year, as the family were living there in February, 1822, when Job Chamberlin, Sr., settled on the hill south of Findlay. Michael Burke was the second settler of Delaware, coming in

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1823, followed in 1824 by Daniel Hamlin, whose son, Don Alonzo, was the first sheriff of Hancock County. In 1825 the families of William J. Greer, Sr., Reuben W. Hamlin, Godfrey Wolford and Robert Elder joined the Blanchard settlement. Two of Mr. Elder's sons-Ephraim and John were married before coming to the county, and other members of the Greer and Elder families had reached manhood and womanhood. The families of John Wolford, John Rose, Nathan Williams, Warren and Van R. Hancock and Harvey Smith came in 1828, and those of Michael Casner, Chauncy Fuller, William Davis and Ayers Stradley in 1829. None others are believed to have settled in that subdivision prior to 1830.

In the spring of 1822 Robert McKinnis and sons, Charles, Philip, James and John, all well remembered pioneers, settled on the Blanchard about six miles northwest of Findlay, in what is now Liberty Township. His son-in-law, Jacob Poe, came the following December, and John Gardner and Joseph White in 1823. Thomas and Ebenezer Wilson, John Gardner, Jr., and Robert McCullough settled in Liberty in 1826; William Wade, Joshua Jones and John Travis in 1827; John Fishel and sons, John, Michael and Daniel, Jeremiah Pressor and Addison Hampton in 1828, and Alfred Hampton and Johnson Bonham in 1829.

Blanchard Township comes next in the order of settlement, John Hunter and Benjamin Chandler building their cabins south of the river, on Section 15, in the spring of 1823. George Shaw, Lewis Dukes, Sr., and William Powell came into the township in 1827, followed in 1828 by Richard and John Dukes, Thomas Groves and Jeremiah Colclo and son, William; and in 1829 by George Epley and Joseph Bowen.

Amanda and Big Lick each received its first settler in 1823, Thomas Thompson locating on Section 3 of the former sub-division, and Henry McWhorter on Section 34 of the latter township, some time that year. Abraham Huff came into Amanda in 1825; John Huff, John Shoemaker, William Hackney, James Beard, John J. Hendricks and Thomas Huff in 1826; Henry George and several sons, John Beard and six sons, and. Jesse and John Hewitt in 1827; and in 1828 and 1829, Aquilla Gilbert, Thomas Cole, David Hagerman, Joseph Whiteman, Andrew Robb, William Ebright, Henry Keel, Samuel Gordon, David Egbert, Justin Smith and James Gibson, all settled in the township. Samuel Sargent was the second settler of Big Lick, locating on Limestone Ridge in 1827, though John Long and son, Robert, came in from Amanda the same year, having settled in the latter subdivision in 1826. Levi Poulson came into the township in 1828; John Huff moved in from Amanda in 1828, and John Shoemaker in 1829. Thus some of the first settlers of Amanda Township were also pioneers of Big Lick.

The lands lying on Eagle Creek, in Madison Township, were among the earliest settled in the county. Here Simeon Ransbottom built his cabin in 1825, Abel Tanner in the spring of 1826, and Abner Hill and John Tullis in 1826-27. In 1828 Thomas Ransbottom and John Diller settled on the same stream, and the following year Aaron Kinion, Nathaniel Hill and James West joined the "settlement.

East of Findlay, in Marion Township, we find settlements made by Joseph A. Sargent and Asher Wickham in 1827, Othniel Wells in 1828, and Joshua Powell and Willis Ward in 1829.

Mordecai Hammond, who settled on the Blanchard, in the southeast

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corner of Jackson Township, in the fall of 1827, was the only settler of the territory now constituting that subdivision prior to 1830. Several others located on the Blanchard, north of Mr. Hammond, before 1830, but the lands on which they built their cabins, although formerly in Jackson, have been attached to Amanda Township.

The territory embraced in Allen Township received four families prior to 1830, viz.: Nathan Frakes in 1827, Isaac Miller in 1828, and Elias L. Bryan and John Trout in 1829.

Eagle is the only remaining township in which a settlement was made before 1830, John Woodruff and sons, Adam, Elijah and William Y., locating on Eagle Creek in the summer of 1829.

All of the foregoing pioneers, as well as those who came into the county for several years afterward, receive generous mention in the chapters specially devoted to the respective townships in which they settled, and it is therefore unnecessary to repeat what is here related. Most of the early settlers came with all their worldly possessions packed in a two or four-horse wagon, in which only the very aged or very young were allowed to ride; the others trudged uncomplainingly behind or went in advance to clear the path. Some came with ox teams, some on horse-back, while others performed the journey afoot. . Streams had to be forded frequently, roads had often to be cut through the forest as the newer settled country was reached, and occasionally a team would give out or the wagon mire in one of the many intervening marshes or "swales" which then abounded in Northwestern Ohio. Many days, and oftentimes a month or more, were consumed in completing the tedious journey, and it was with deep sighs of relief or exclamations of joy that the weary settlers at last reached their destination. though their labors had then only begun.

The first settlers of Hancock County came not to enjoy a life of lotus eating and ease. They could, doubtless, admire the pristine beauty of the scenes that unveiled before them, the vernal green of the forest, and the loveliness of all the works of nature; they could look forward with happy anticipation to the lives they were to lead in the midst of all this beauty, and to the rich reward that would be theirs from the cultivation of the mellow, fertile soil; but they had first to work. The dangers they were exposed to were serious ones. The Indians could not be fully trusted, and the many stories of their depredations in the earlier Eastern settlements made the pioneers of Ohio apprehensive of trouble. The larger wild beasts were a cause of much dread, and the smaller ones a source of great annoyance. Added to this was the liability to sickness which always exists in a new country. In the midst of the loveliness of the surroundings, there was a sense of loneliness that could not be dispelled, and this was a far greater trial to the men and women who first dwelt in the Western country than is generally-imagined. The deep-seated, constantly recurring feeling of isolation made many stout hearts turn back to the older settlements and the abodes of comfort, the companionship and sociability they had abandoned in their early homes to take up a new life in the wilderness.

The pioneers, making the tedious journey from the East and South by the rude trails, arrived at their places of destination with but very little with which to begin the battle of life. They had brave hearts and strong arms, however, and they were possessed of invincible determination. Frequently they came on without their families to make a beginning, and this

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having been accomplished, would return to their old homes for their wives and children. The first thing done, after a temporary shelter from the rain had been provided, was to prepare a little spot of ground for some crop, usually corn. This was done by girdling the trees, clearing away the underbrush, if there chanced to be any, and sweeping the surface with fire. Five, ten, or even fifteen acres of land might thus be prepared and planted the first season. In the autumn the crop would be carefully gathered and garnered with the least possible waste, for it was the food supply of the pioneer and his family, and life itself depended, in part, upon its safe preservation. While the first crop was growing the pioneer had busied himself with the building of his cabin, which must answer as a shelter from the storms of the coming winter and a protection from the ravages of wild animals.

If a pioneer was completely isolated from his fellow-men, his position was certainly a hard one; for without assistance he could construct only a poor habitation. In such cases the cabin was generally made of light logs or poles, and was laid up roughly, only to answer the temporary purpose of shelter, until other settlers had come into the vicinity, by whose help a more solid structure could be built. Usually a number of men came into the country together, and located within such distance of each other as enabled them to perform many friendly and neighborly offices. Assistance was always readily given each pioneer by all the scattered residents of the forest within a radius of several miles. The commonly followed plan of erecting a log-cabin was through a union of labor. The site of the cabin home was generally selected with reference to a good water supply, often by a never-failing spring of pure water, or, if such could not be found, it was not uncommon to first dig a well. W hen the cabin was to be built the few neighbors gathered at the site, and first cut down, within as close proximity as possible, a number of trees as nearly of a size as could be found, but ranging from afoot to twenty inches in diameter. Logs were chopped from these and rolled to a common center. This work, and that of preparing the foundation, would consume the greater part of the day, in most cases, and the entire labor would most commonly occupy two or three days-sometimes four. The logs were raised to their places with handspikes and "skid poles," and men standing at the corners with axes notched them as fast as they were laid in position. Soon the cabin would be built several logs high, and the work would become more difficult. The gables were formed by beveling the logs, and making them shorter and shorter, as each additional one was laid in place. These logs in the gables were held in place by poles, which extended across the cabin from end to end, and which served also as rafters upon which to lay the rived "clapboard" roof. The so-called "clapboards" were five or six feet in length, and were split from oak or ash logs, and made as smooth and flat as possible. They were laid side by side, and other pieces of split stuff laid over the cracks so as to effectually keep out the rain. Upon these logs were laid to hold them in place, and the logs were held by blocks of wood placed between them.

The chimney was an important part of the structure, and taxed the builders, with their poor tools, to their utmost. In rare cases it was made of stone, but most commonly of logs and sticks laid up in a manner similar to those which formed the cabin. It was, in nearly all cases, built outside of the cabin, and at its base a huge opening was cut through the wall to

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answer as a fire-place. The sticks in the chimney were kept in place and protected from fire by mortar, formed by kneading and working clay and straw. Flat stones were procured for back and jambs of the fire-place.

An opening was chopped or sawed in the logs on one side of the cabin for a doorway. Pieces of hewed timber, three or four inches thick, were fastened on each side by wooden pins to the end of the logs, and the door (if there was any) was fastened to one of these by wooden hinges. The door itself was a clumsy piece of wood-work. It was made of boards rived from an oak log, and held together by heavy cross-pieces. There was a wooden latch upon the inside, raised by a string which passed through a gimlet-hole, and hung upon the outside. From this mode of construction arose the old and well-known hospitable saying: "You will find the latch-string always out." It was pulled in only at night, and the door was thus fastened. Very many of the cabins of the pioneers had no doors of the kind here described, and the entrance was protected only by a blanket or skin of some wild beast suspended above it.

The window was a small opening, often devoid of anything resembling a sash, and very seldom having glass. Greased paper was sometimes used in lieu of the latter, but more commonly some old garment constituted a curtain, which was the only protection from sun, rain or snow.

The floor of the cabin was made of puncheons-pieces of timber split from trees about eighteen inches in diameter, and hewed smooth with the broad-ax. They were half the length of the floor. Many of the cabins first erected in this part of the country had nothing but the earthen floor. Sometimes the cabins had cellars, which were simply small excavations in the ground for the storage of a few articles of food, or perhaps cooking utensils. Access to the cellar was readily gained by lifting a loose puncheon. There was sometimes a loft used for various purposes, among others as the "guest chamber" of the house. It was reached by a ladder, the sides of which were split pieces of a sapling, put together, like everything else in the house, without nails.

The furniture of the log-cabin was as simple and primitive as the structure itself. A forked stick set in the floor and supporting two poles, the other ends of which were allowed to rest upon the logs at the end and side of the cabin, formed a bedstead. A common form of table was a split slab supported by four rustic legs set in auger holes. Three-legged stools were made in a similar simple manner. Pegs driven in auger holes into the logs of the wall supported shelves, and others displayed the limited wardrobe of the family not in use. A few other pegs, or perhaps a pair of deer horns, formed a rack where hung the rifle and powder horn, which no cabin was without. These, and perhaps a few other simple articles brought from the "old home" formed the furniture and furnishings of the pioneer cabin.

The utensils for cooking and the dishes for table use were few. The best were of pewter, which the careful housewife of the olden time kept shining as brightly as the most pretentious plate of our later-day fine houses. It was by no means uncommon that wooden vessels, either coopered or turned, were used upon the table. Knives and forks were few, crockery very scarce, and tinware not abundant. Food was simply cooked and served, but it was of the best and most wholesome kind. The hunter kept the larder supplied with venison, bear meat, squirrels, fish, wild tur keys, and the many varieties of smaller game. Plain corn bread baked in

212 - HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.

a kettle, in the ashes, or upon a board in front of the great open fireplace, answered the purpose of all kinds of pastry. The corn was, among the earlier pioneers, pounded or grated, there being no mills for grinding it for some time, and then only small ones at a considerable distance away. The wild fruits in their season were made use of, and afforded a pleasant variety. Sometimes especial effort was made to prepare a delicacy, as, for instance, when a woman experimented in mince pies by pounding wheat for the flour to make the crest, and used crab-apples for fruit. In the lofts of the cabins was usually to be found a collection of articles that made up the pioneer's materia medica -the herb medicines and spices, catnip, sage, tansy, fennel, boneset, pennyroyal and wormwood, each gathered in its season; and there were also stores of nuts, and strings of dried pumpkin, with bags of berries and fruit.

The habits of the pioneers were of a simplicity and purity in conformance to their surroundings and belongings. The men were engaged in the herculean labor, day after day, of enlarging the little patch of sunshine about their homes, cutting away the ' forest, burning off the brush and debris, preparing the soil, planting, tending, harvesting, caring for the few animals which they brought with them or soon procured, and in hunting. While they were engaged in the heavy labor of the field and forest, following the deer or seeking other game, their helpmeets were busied with their household duties, providing for the day and for the winter coming on, cooking, making clothes, spinning and weaving. They were fitted by nature and experience to be the consorts of the brave men who first came into the Western wilderness. They were heroic in their endurance of hardship and privation and loneliness. Their industry was well directed and unceasing. Woman's work then, like man's, was performed under disadvantages which have been removed in later years. She had not only the common household duties to perform, but many others. She not only made the clothing, but the fabric for it. That old, old occupation of spinning and of weaving, with which woman's name has been associated in all history, and of which the modern world knows nothing, except through the stories of those who are grandmothers now-that old occupation of spinning and of weaving, which seems surrounded with a glamour of romance as we look back to it through tradition and poetry, and which always conjures up thoughts of the graces and virtues of the dames and damsels of a generation that is gone that old, old occupation of spinning and of weaving, was the chief industry of the pioneer woman. Every cabin sounded with the softly whirring wheel and the rhythmic thud of the loom. The woman of pioneer times was like the woman described by Solomon: "She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands; she layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff."

Almost every article of clothing, all of the cloth in use in the old log-cabins, was the product of the patient woman-weaver's toil. She spun the fax and wove the cloth for shirts, pantaloons, flocks, sheets and blankets. The linen and wool, the "linsey-woolsey" woven by the housewife, formed all of the material for the clothing of both men and women, except such articles as were made of skins. The men commonly wore the hunting shirt, a kind of loose frock reaching half way down the figure, open before, and so wide as to lap over a foot or more upon the chest. This generally had a cape, which was often fringed with a raveled piece of cloth of a dif-

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ferent color from that which composed the garment. The bosom of the hunting-shirt answered as a pouch, in which could be carried the various articles that the hunter or woodsman would need. It was always worn belted and made out of coarse linen or linsey, or of dressed deer skin, according to the fancy of the wearer. Breeches were made of heavy cloth or of deer-skin, and were often worn with leggings of the same material, or of some kind of leather, while the feet were most usually encased in moccasins, which were easily and quickly made, though they needed frequent mending. The deer-skin breeches or drawers were very comfortable when dry, but when they became wet were very cold to the limbs, and the next time they were put on were almost as stiff as if made of wood. Hats or caps were made of the various native furs. The women were clothed in linsey petticoats, coarse shoes and stockings, and wore buckskin gloves or mittens when any protection was required for the hands. All of the wearing apparel, like that of the men, was made with a view to being serviceable and comfortable, and all was of home manufacture. Other articles and finer ones were sometimes worn, but they had been brought from former homes, and were usually relics handed down from parents to children. Jewelry was not common, but occasionally some ornament was displayed. In the cabins of the more cultivated pioneers were usually a few books, and the long winter evenings were spent in poring over these well-thumbed volumes by the light of the great log-fire, in knitting, mending, curing furs, or some similar occupation.

Hospitality was simple, unaffected, hearty, unbounded. Whisky was in common use, and was furnished on all occasions of sociality. Nearly every settler had his jug stored away. It was the universal drink at merry-makings, bees, housewarmings, weddings, and was always set before the traveler who chanced to spend the night or take a meal in the log-cabin. It was the good old-fashioned whisky, "clear as amber, sweet as musk, smooth as oil," that the few octogenarians and nonagenarians of to-day recall to memory with an unctuous gusto and a suggestive smack of the lips. The whisky came from the older settlement, and was boated up the streams or hauled in wagons across the country. A few years later stills began to make their appearance in adjoining counties, and an article of peach brandy and rye whisky manufactured; the latter was not held in such high esteem as the peach brandy, though used in greater quantities.

As the settlement increased, the sense of loneliness and isolation was dispelled, the asperities of life were softened and its amenities multiplied; social gatherings became more numerous and more enjoyable. The log-rollings, harvestings and husking bees for the men, and the apple-butter making and the quilting parties for the women, furnished frequent occasions for social intercourse. The early settlers took much pleasure and pride in rifle shooting, and as they were accustomed to the use of the gun, frequently as a means of obtaining a subsistence, and relied upon it as a weapon of defense, they exhibited considerable skill.

A wedding was the event of most importance in the sparsely settled new country. The young people had every inducement to marry, and generally did so as soon as able to provide for themselves. When a marriage was to be celebrated all the neighborhood turned out. It was customary to have the ceremony performed before dinner, and in order to be in time the groom and his attendants usually started from his father's house in the morning, for

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that of the bride. All went on horseback, riding in single file along the narrow trail. Arriving at the cabin of the bride's parents the ceremony would be performed, and after that, dinner served. This would be a substantial backwoods feast of beef, pork, fowls, and bear or deer meat, with such vegetables as could be procured. The greatest hilarity prevailed during the meal. After it was over the dancing began, and was usually kept up till the next morning, though the newly made husband and wife were as a general thing put to bed in the most approved fashion, and with considerable formality, in the middle of the evening's hilarity. The tall young men, when they went upon the floor to dance, had to take their places with care between the logs that supported the loft floor, or they were in danger of bumping their heads. The figures of the dances were three and four hand reels, or square sets and jigs. The commencement was always a square four, which was followed by "jigging it off," or what is sometimes called a "cut-out jig." The "settlement" of a young couple was thought to be thoroughly and generously made when the neighbors assembled and raised a cabin for them.

The first marriage in Hancock County was contracted September 2, 1824, Samuel Kepler and Rachel McKinnis being the happy couple. Mr. Kepler settled on the Maumee in 1822, and ere his death in the fall of 1872, gave the following account of his marriage to Miss McKinnis, while on a visit to her father's home, in what is now Liberty Township: "I sent for my license by mail, to Robert Forsyth, clerk of the court of Wood County. Not knowing me he refused to grant it, so that my future father-in-law had to go to Perrysburg to procure it. We were married in Mr. McKinnis' house by Wilson Vance, Esq., being the first couple married in Hancock County. After making a canoe, which took five or six days, my wife packed her little outfit of household goods into it, and we literally `paddled our own canoe' to where I now live."

During all the early years of the settlement, varied with occasional pleasures and excitements, the great work of increasing the tillable ground went slowly on. The implements and tools were few and of the most primitive kinds, but the soil that had long held in reserve the accumulated rich ness of centuries produced splendid harvests, and the husbandman was well rewarded for his labor. The soil was warmer then than now, and the season earlier. The wheat was occasionally pastured in the spring to keep it from growing up so fast as to become lodged. The harvest came early, and the yield was often from twenty to thirty bushels per acre. Corn grew fast, and roasting ears were to be had by the 1st of August in most seasons.

When the corn grew too hard for roasting ears, and was yet too soft to grind in the mill, it was reduced to meal by a grater. Next to the grater came the hominy block, an article in common use among the pioneers. It consisted simply of a block of wood-a section of a tree, perhaps-with a hole burned or dug into it a foot deep, in which corn was pulverized with a pestle. Sometimes this block was inside the cabin, where it served as a seat for the bashful young backwoodsman while "sparking" his girl; sometimes a convenient stump in front of the cabin door was prepared for and made one of the best of hominy blocks. These blocks did not last long, for mills came quite early and superseded them, yet these mills were so far apart that in stormy weather or for want of transportation the pioneer was often compelled to resort to his hominy block or go without bread.

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Grist-mills soon made their appearance in every settlement, but they were usually very primitive affairs-mere "corn-crackers"-yet they were a big improvement on the hominy-block. They ground the corn, and the pioneer had to do his own bolting. The meal was sifted through a wire sieve by hand, and the finest used for bread. Some of these mills were run by horse-power, and, therefore, commonly called "horse-mills." In 1832 Henry Shaw built one of those horse-mills in Findlay, which was a great convenience to the early settlers. Water-mills were erected upon the Blanchard and other streams at quite an early day. In 1824 a small log grist-mill was built by Joseph Vance and Elnathan Cory on the north bank of the river, opposite Fort Findlay, where Carlin's mill now stands. Godfrey Wolford built a grist-mill on the Blanchard, in Section 11, Delaware Township, in 1829-30. Some two or three years afterward Felix Miller put up a mill in Section 23, in the same township, the Blanchard also furnishing the motive power. John D. Bishop erected the fourth water-mill, in 1833, on Eagle Creek, in Section 24, Eagle Township; and in 1834, another was built by John Byall, on the south bank of the Blanchard in Section 10, Liberty Township, which has been in operation ever since. Michael Misamore built the next mill, in 1835, on the Blanchard, in Section 13, Amanda Township. William Marvin erected a water-mill on the Blanchard in Section 22, Marion Township, in 1835-36, and subsequently a steam mill farther up the river in the same township. A small grist-mill was put up on Portage Creek, in Section 1%, Allen Township, about the same time by John Burman. In 1838 Martin Funk built a grist-mill on Eagle Creek, in Section 11, Madison Township; and two years afterward a steam-mill was erected in Section 2, Cass Township, by James Anderson. In 1844 the Eagle Mills in East Findlay were built by Martin Huber, John Engleman and John Julien. They were then and have since continued to be the largest flouring-mills in the county, and having always had steam-power, they have undergone none of the difficulties that water-mills had to contend with. Edson Goit, of Findlay, put up a mill on Ottawa Creek, in Section 11, Union Township, in 1845, which was subsequently purchased by James Teatsorth, and widely known as the "Teatsorth MiIl." Those mentioned may be called the pioneer mills of Hancock County, and were more or less patronized by the majority of the first settlers.

In winter the mills were sometimes Frozen up, 'and the water was often so low in the summer season that they could not run. These mills were frequently thronged with pioneers, each with his sack of corn or wheat, some of whom were often compelled to camp out near the mill and wait several days for their turn. When the grist was ground they started for their cabin home happy. It was not unusual to go from ten to thirty miles to mill through the pathless, unbroken forest, and to be benighted on the journey and followed by wolves. Many of the first settlers went to Bellefontaine, North Liberty, Bucyrus, Tiffin, Fremont, and even as far as Urbana, Sandusky City and the Maumee to do their milling and exchange the produce of their farms for salt and other scarce necessaries, the round trip usually taking a week, and often a much longer time. A road cut through the forest to the mill and a wagon for hauling the grist, were great advantages. The latter especially was often a seven days' wonder to the children of a settlement, and the happy owner of one sometimes did the .milling of a whole neighbor hood. About once a month this useful neighbor, who was in exceptionally

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good circumstances because able to own a wagon, would go around through the settlement, gather up the grists and take them to mill, often spending several days in the operation, and never thinking of charging for his time and trouble.

Only the commonest goods were brought into the country, and they sold at very high prices, as the freightage of merchandise from the East was high. Most of the people were in moderate circumstances, and were content to live in a very cheap way. A majority had to depend mainly on the produce of their little clearings, which consisted, to a large extent, of potatoes and corn. Mush, corn bread and potatoes were the principal food, and though wild meat and pork were plentiful, they often had to be eaten without salt, which, during the early years of settlement, was a very scarce commodity. From 1826 to 1830 tea retailed in Findlay at $3 a pound; coffee, 31 cents; chocolate, 25 cents; loaf sugar, 25 cents; plug-twist tobacco, 20 cents; homespun linen, 37 1/2 cents per yard; calico, 37 1/2 cents, and six yards was the usual dress pattern; a colored cotton handkerchief, 75 cents; shoes, $2.50; boots, $5, and moccasins 25 cents per pair. Wheat sold at 40 cents per bushel; corn, 20 cents; oats, 12 1/2 cents; potatoes, 10 cents; flour, $1.50 per 100, and salt $4 per 100 pounds. Wild turkeys sold at 10 cents each, and dressed pork $2. 25 per 100, while a ham of venison, weighing from fifteen to twenty pounds, could be purchased for 10 cents. To judge from the daily consumption of whisky, it was pre-eminently the "staff of life." It retailed at 25 cents a gallon, and was drank by most of the whites and all of the Indians who patronized the pioneer stores of Findlay. In 1828 live hogs brought $2 per 100, and cattle $1.75.

A good horse could be purchased for $40, and a yoke of oxen sold at the same figure. The Indians , usually paid their bills in peltry, and many of the whites did likewise. A bear skin brought from $2 to $5; otter, $3.50; deer, 40 to 75 cents; gray fog, 25 cents; red fog, $1; muskrat, 37 1/2 cents; raccoon, 333 cents; wild cat, 25 cents, and mink 25 cents. Wolf skins were not purchased by the dealers, but a bounty was paid by the commissioners for each wolf scalp produced at the auditor's office. Squire Carlin, William Taylor and Vance & Baldwin were the principal dealers in furs, though Mr. Carlin carried on the most extensive business in that line. He traveled all over the country buying from hunters and other dealers, purchasing in one winter 4,600 deer skins and 1,000 raccoon skins.

Long journeys upon foot were often made by the pioneers to obtain the necessaries of life, or some article, then a luxury, for the sick. Hardships were cheerfully borne, privations stoutly endured; the best was made of what they had by the pioneers and their families, and they toiled patiently on, industrious and frugal, simple in their tastes and pleasures, happy in an independence however hardly gained, and looking forward hopefully to a future of plenty which should reward them for the toils of these earliest years, and a rest from the struggle amidst the benefits gained by it. Without an iron will and indomitable resolution they could never have accomplished what they did. Their heroism deserves the highest tribute of praise that can be awarded.

All the cooking and warming in town as well as the country was done by the aid of a fire kindled on the brick hearth or in the brick ovens. Pine knots or tallow candles furnished the light for the long winter nights, and sanded floors supplied the place of rugs and carpets. The water used for

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household purposes was drawn from wells by the creaking sweep. No form of pump was used in this county, so far as we can learn, for many years after the first settlements were made. There were no friction matches in those early days, by the aid of which a fire can be easily kindled, and if the fire went out upon the hearth overnight, and the tinder was damp, so that the spark would not catch, the alternative remained of wading through the snow a mile or so to borrow a brand from a neighbor. Only one room in any house was warm, unless some member of the family was ill; in all the rest the temperature was at zero during many nights in winter. The men and women undressed and went to their beds in a temperature colder than our barns and woodsheds, and they never complained.

Churches and schoolhouses were sparsely scattered, and of the most primitive character. One pastor served a number of congregations, and salaries were so low that the preachers had to take part in working their farms to procure support for their families. The people went to religious service on foot or horseback; and the children often walked two or three miles through the woods to school. There were no fires in the churches for a number of years. The seats in both church and school were of unsmoothed slabs, the ends and centers of which were laid upon blocks, and the pulpits were little better. Worship was held once or twice a month, consisting usually of two services, one in the forenoon and one immediately after noon, the people remaining during the interval and spending the time in social inter course. It is much to be feared .that if religious worship were attended with the same discomforts now as it was fifty to sixty years ago, the excuses for keeping away from the house-of God would be many times multiplied. Taken altogether, while they had to endure many privations and hardships, it is doubtful whether the pioneers of any part of America were more fortunate in their selection than those of Hancock County. All of the settlers agree in saying that they had no trouble in accommodating themselves to the situation, and were, as a rule, both men and women, healthy, contented and happy.

The pioneers were necessarily exposed to many dangers and privations, yet, as a rule, they had no fears of starvation, for the forest was alive with game, the streams abounded in fish, and the virgin soil yielded bountifully. Upon the organization of the county in 1828, a new motive was given to immigration, and during the succeeding ten years the country rapidly filled up with settlers. Progress was slowly, surely made; the log houses became more numerous in the clearings; the forest shrank away before the woods man's ax; frame houses began to appear. The pioneers, now assured of prosperity, laid better plans for the future, resorted to new industries, enlarged their possessions, and improved the means of cultivation. Stock was brought in from the South and East. Every settler had his horses, oxen, cattle, sheep and hogs. More commodious structures took the place of the old ones; the large double log-cabin of hewed logs, and the still handsomer frame dwelling, took the place of the smaller hut; log and frame barns were built for the protection of stock and the housing of the crops. Then society began to form itself; the schoolhouse and the church appeared in every settlement, and the advancement was noticeable in a score of ways. Still there remained a vast work to perform, for as yet only a beginning had been made in the Western woods. The brunt of the struggle, however, was past, and the way made in the wilderness for the army that was to come.

In 1874 the Hancock County Pioneer and Historical Association was

220 - HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.

organized. The principal objects of the association were to gather and preserve the history of the county, and at the same time give the surviving early settlers an opportunity of renewing their acquaintance with each other, and to engage in such social intercourse as would recall and transmit to the care of the society the leading incidents, pleasures, hardships and sufferings of pioneer days. The first meeting for the purpose of organizing said association was held at the Court House June 20, 1874. A goodly number of the early settlers was present, and the meeting was organized by the election of Squire Carlin, a pioneer of 1826, as chairman, and Lewis Glessner, of the Courier, secretary. On taking the chair Mr. Carlin briefly stated the objects and need of such an association as contemplated, after which-a committee consisting of M. S. Hamlin, Allen W iseley, James Robinson, George Todd and George Treece were appointed to prepare a constitution and by laws for the government of the society. When these preliminaries were disposed of, short speeches were made and incidents of pioneer life related by Squire Carlin, Richard Dukes, Allen Wiseley, Dr. William Wilson, Abraham Grable, George Treece, M. S. Hamlin, Benjamin Todd, Jonathan Parker, William Swindler, James L. Henry, James Robinson and D. B. Beardsley.

The next meeting was held at the Court House July 4, 1874, with Squire Carlin in the chair, and D. B. Beardsley, secretary. The committee appointed at the previous meeting reported the constitution and by-laws, which were read and adopted, and the following permanent officers elected: Squire Carlin, president; Peter George, James Robinson, Richard Dukes, Allen Wiseley, Jonathan Parker and James Hartman, vice-presidents; D. B. Beardsley, recording and corresponding secretary; Levi Taylor, treasurer; M. S. Hamlin, George Todd, Aaron Baker, Joseph Johnson, Henry Lamb, William Taylor, George Treece. Sanfred F. Dulin, Charles E. Jordan and Adam Cramer, executive committee. The association was now fairly started, and the following September held its first social gathering on the fair grounds, which was largely attended by the pioneers and their descendants. Under the constitution, as first adopted, any person who came to Hancock County on or before July 4, 1840, was admitted to membership by paying the sum of 50 cents and a resolution was subsequently carried admitting ladies free. Sixty-nine members joined the association during the first year of its existence, and considerable enthusiasm was manifested in its success. This feeling, however, gradually died out, and many of the pioneers neglected to attend the meetings of the society or take any interest therein. The constitution was changed so as to admit any person who came to the county prior to July, 1845, but this had no apparent effect, and after three or four years' existence the association became extinct, and has never been revived.