150 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY his drum and falling in with his company, was wounded in the first assault, being shot in the left leg and left on the field until rescued by a comrade of Company G, to which he specially belonged. The amputation of his left leg followed. Upon his return home, Mr. Kountz attended school for a year and then accepted a position in the county treasurer's office. When but twenty-five years old he was elected to the responsible position of treasurer of Lucas county, and at the expiration of his term was chosen county recorder. After retiring from this position he engaged in the fire insurance business and built up one of the leading agencies in Toledo. He was an active worker in the Grand Army of. the Republic and was the first adjutant of Forsyth Post, serving three terms ; afterward vice-commander and then quartermaster-general of the department, and he was three times unanimously elected post commander. In 1881 he was chosen Department Commander of Ohio, and during his term he established over 16o posts and increased the membership from 1,95o to over 8,00o. In 1884 he was elected Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was succeeded in 1885 by General Fairchild, of Wisconsin. Mr. Kountz died June 14, 1909. Elijah B. Hall was born in Charlton, Worcester county, Massachusetts, July 6, 1820, and upon the home farm in that. place he remained until sixteen years of age. On completing the studies of the common schools, he entered Lester Academy, where he remained for two terms. Later he taught during one winter. He then learned the carpenter's trade, and upon becoming thoroughly competent in tms occupation he entered. the employ of a firm engaged in taking contracts for building railroad bridges. For seven years he remained with that firm and then decided to start in business for himself' Foring a partnership with Dwight Briggs, under the firm name of Briggs he embarked in business, making his headquarters in Rochester, N. Y., until 1853, when he came to Toledo and took the contract for building bridges on the Wabash railroad from this city to the Illinois State line. About the year 1858. he began building business blocks, dwellings, and church edifices, and among the fine structures erected under his personal supervision is the stone edifice in which the Episcopalian congregation worships. In 1868 he embarked in the manufacture of brick, to which he gave his attention during the remainder of his active career. He served as councilman in 1868 and 1869, as street commissioner in 1872 and 1873, and as city and county treasurer in 1878 and 1879. Being an earnest supporter of Lincoln's administration, in 1862 he raised Company B of the One Hundred and Thirtieth Ohio Infantry, and served as major during the active career of that regiment. Joel W. Kelsey was born in the State of Maine, Dec. 17, 1819, and he came to Toledo in July, 1845. He was elected county treasurer in 1881 and served one term. Joseph L. Yost was born in Fulton county, New York, and as a boy learned to farm .and later mastered the trade of machinist in New York city. He came to Toledo in 1888 and immediately engaged in business by purchasing the old Jewel sewing machine plant and LEGISLATORS AND COUNTY OFFICIALS - 151 starting the first bicycle works in the city, under the firm name of Lozier & Yost. In the fall of 1897 he was elected treasurer of Lucas county, was re-elected in 1899, and served until 1902. Aside from his own factory interests, Mr. Yost was the promoter .of the organization of the Snell Cycle Fittings Company and the Maumee Cycle Company, and while with the Lozier & Yost Company he established and built the Shelby steel tube plant, at Shelby, Ohio. As president of the Chamber of Commerce, he did much toward promoting a friendly feeling among business men and toward bringing new industries to Toledo. Recorders.-The following occupants of this office are given in the order of their service, so far as it has been possible to obtain their names, and the list can be relied upon as being approximately correct. Beginning with 1835, the records have been as follows : Frederick Wright, Junius Flagg, Horace Thacher, Thomas Brophy, Jonathan Wynn, Josiah W. White, John S. Kountz, Isaac Head, William W. Alcorn, Charles J. Kirschner, William V. McMaken, August F. Wendt, Thomas H. Barkdull, George E. Hamlin, and Charles E. Myers, the present incumbent. Surveyors-1835, Samuel Divine ; 1837, William Martin ; 1846, Daniel L. Westcott : 1849, Henry J. Vaughn ; 1851, Thomas Clark ; 1854, Don A. Pease ; 1856, William H. Harris ; 1859, Elijah W. Lenderson ; 1868, John B. Marston ; 1871, Jerome L. Stratton ; 1877, Charles Shoemaker ; 188o, Samuel Bement ; 1883, George Meissner ; 1886. Henry W. Wilhelm ; 1892, Joseph Hofman ; 1898. Charles H. Webster ; 1904, Joseph Hofman ; 1908. John B. Marston, present incumbent. Prosecuting Attorneys.-Following is a list of those who have held the office of prosecuting attorney in Lucas county, with the year of their appointment or election, since the creation of the county, in 1835. In a number of cases the occupancy of this office has been the beginning of a distinguished career in the law : 1836, Andrew Coffin-bury : 1836, John Fitch ; 1839. Caleb F. Abbott ; 1843, James M. Coffinbury : 1845, Thomas Dunlap. Jr. ; 1847, William H. Hall ; 1851. John J. Manor ; ,1857. Ira E. Lee: 1859, George P. Este ; 1861, Reuben C. Lemmon ; 1863, George R. Haynes ; 1867, J. Kent Hamilton : 1871, Joseph D. Ford : 1877, Morgan N. Odell ; 1879, Charles L. Kennedy ; 1881. Ezra S. Dodd : 1884, James H. Southard ; 189o, Jason A. Barber ; 1896, Charles E. Sumner ; 1902, William G. Ulery 19o5. L. W. Wackenheimer ; 1908. Holland C. Webster, present incumbent. Coroners.-The following list gives the names of those who have served in this capacity : 1837, D. Cole ; 1839, D. Garlick ; 1841, Eli Kitts : 1843. John Hamilton ; 1845. Edwin Avery ; 1849, George D. Treat ; 1851, John G. Kemme ; 1853, Michael Schoenecker ; 1857, Valentine Braun ; 1858, Alfred Bostwick ; 186o, Symmes H. Bergen : 1863. Marcus Schnetzler ; 1867, Jabez M. Cooke ; 1871, George A. Collamore ; 1875. Samuel- S. Thorn ; 1877, H. D. Chamberlin ; 1879, Charles Hohly ; 1883, George A. Hollister ; 1885, Wilson W. Cullison ; 1887, Charles F. Roulet ; 1 c891. Seth W. Beckwith ; 1895, Charles 152 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY J. Henzler ; 1901, Christian Storz ; 1905, Charles A. Faber ; 19o8, Charles J. Henzler, present incumbent. County Commissioners.-The record of the proceedings of the board of commissioners properly begins with the September term, 1835, when the first meting was held after the organization of the county. The names of the commissioners are here given with the dates of their election : 1835, Cyrus Holloway, John Baldwin. Robert Gower ; 1835, Samuel Bartlett ; 1836, William P. Daniels ; 1837, Eli Hubbard ; 1838, John Van Fleet ; 1839, David Hobart ; 1841, Alfred C. Hough ; 1842, Horace Waite; 1843, Galen B. Abell ; 1844. Lyman Parcher ; 1845, Pliny Lathrop; 1846, Lorenzo L. Morehouse ; 1847, Daniel Knowles ; 1848, Stephen Haughton ; 1849, Samuel Divine ; 185o, Robert A. Forsyth ; 1851, Peter C. Lewis ; 1852, William F. Dewey ; 1853, Alfred J. Eldridge ; 1854, Joel W. Kelsey ; 1855. Daniel F. Cook and Sereno C. Brainard ; 1856, Daniel Segur ; 1857. Edward Bissell ; 1858, William Taylor ; 1859; Galen Norton ; 1860. Samuel A. Raymond ; 1862, Daniel F. Cook ; 1863, Paul Jones : 1865, George W. Reynolds; 1867, Edwin Gordinier ; 1868, Thomas S. Merrell and Jesse S. Norton ; 1873, Lucas Raab ; 1874. Patrick Dowling ; 1876, Henry C. Ely ; 1877, W. C. Cheney and James Coyle : 1878, J. E. Wilcox ; 188o, Justus McDonald ; 1881, Ignace Wernert : 1882, F. R. Warren ; 1883, John Ryan ; 1884, James Coyle and John Bladen ; 1885, Luther C. Gibbs ; 1887, Warren W. Cooke ; 1888, Jacob Engelhardt ; 1889, John L. Pray ; 1893, Philip Hassenzahl, Jr.; 1894. John V. Newton ; 1895, Oscar M. Boyer ; 1897, John B. Wright ; 1899, Henry Conrad ; 1900, John W. Kerr ; 1901, Loren B. Bailey : 1902. Frank Wortsmith ; - 1906, Henry Frank Van Fleet : 1908, Roy E. Davis, John A. Shaw and Charles J. Romees, present incumbents. CHAPTER IX. TOWNSHIP HISTORY. THREE ORIGINAL TOWNSHIPS-PORT LAWRENCE, WATERVILLE, AND WAYNESFIELD-ORGANIZATIONS UNDER MICHIGAN JURISDICTION- CREATION OF PORT LAWRENCE AND SYLVANIA TOWNSHIPS-MANHATTAN CREATED AND FINALLY ABOLISHED-WAYNESFIELD TOWNSHIP AND MAUMEE V1LLAGE-WATERVILLE, SWANTON, PROVIDENCE, SPRINGFIELD, OREGON, SYLVANIA, RICHFIELD, WASHINGTON, SPENCER, MONCLOVA, ADAMS AND JERUSALEM TOWNSHIPS. When Lucas county was established, in 1835, there were but three organized townships—Port Lawrence, Waterville, and Waynesfield within the limits of the new county. Prior to the settlement of the boundary dispute, the territory north of the Fulton line had been divided by the Michigan authorities as follows : West of the line between Ranges 6 and 7 East was made a part of the townships of Whiteford and Blissfielcl, in Monroe and Lenawee counties, and the territory east of that line was organized as a separate township and named Port Lawrence. On Feb. 23, 1835, in pursuance to Ohio's claims to jurisdiction, the legislature passed an act providing that "such part of Ranges 5 and 6 as lies between the line run due east from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan and the line run from the southern extremity to the most northern cape of the Maumee bay, be and the same is hereby erected into a separate and distinct township by the name of Sylvania ; and that all such part of Ranges 7 and 8, together with the territory east of the Maumee river, as lies between the line run from the southerly extremity of Lake Michigan to the most northerly cape of the Maumee bay, and between Lake Erie and the line run due east from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan to Lake Erie, be and the same is hereby erected into a separate and distinct township, by the name of Port Lawrence." The act further authorized and directed those townships to hold elections for township officers on the first Monday in April, 1835, and provided for their complete organization. In pursuance of this act an election was held in Port Lawrence township on April 6, 1835, in defiance of the Michigan authorities, but it seems that the new township of Sylvania held no election, and no township organization under that name appears until the spring of 1838. Hence, when Lucas county was created, in June, 1835, Port Lawrence township occupied the territory above described, and the remainder of the county was divided between the - 153 - 154 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY townships of Waterville and Waynesfield. Since that time twelve townships have been organized and three have passed out of existence. The township of Manhattan was organized in June, 1840, its limits comprising all of Town 9 north, Range 8 east, with the exception of the southern tier of sections, and Washington township, created at the same time, was made co-extensive with Town 9, Range 7, outside of the Toledo city limits ; and thus the old township of Port Lawrence was restricted, it being further reduced in size by the formation of Adams township in 1856, and it finally lost its identity within the confines of the city of Toledo. Manhattan was maintained until 1874, when its territory was divided between the city of Toledo and Oregon township, and the name Manhattan, as of an existing entity, entirely ceased to be. Waynesfield township heroically withstood encroachments upon its territory by the creation of and additions to other townships, until, in 1897, it was made coextensive with the corporate limits of the village of Maumee, leaving at the present time twelve townships, as follows: Adams, Jerusalem, Monclova, Oregon, Providence, Richfield, Spencer, Springfield, Swanton, Sylvania, Washington, and Waterville. WAYNESFIELD (MAUMEE VILLAGE) The township of Waynesfield was created by an act of the Ohio legislature on Dec. 3o, 1817. and was the first civil township organized in the State of Ohio north of the Maumee river. It was named in honor of Gen. Anthony Wayne, and the name also included the "field" where that illustrious officer so signally defeated the Indians on Aug. 20, 1794, that field being situated within the original boundaries of the township. At the time of its creation it was a part of the county of Logan, but it was included in. Wood county when the latter was erected, in 182o, and when Lucas county, was established, in 1835. it became a part of the new county. Hence, Waynesfield was a civil subdivision of three different counties. Waggoner's History of Toledo and Lucas County says : "Its original territory, lying over against Fort Meigs, embraced Fort Miami ; the British Battery on the point opposite Fort Meigs ; the scene of the Dade massacre ; the land-mark known as Turkey Foot Rock ; and spread over a soil full of historic interest. and saturated with the blood of the early defenders of our nation, shed in warfare against the British and their Indian allies." Several changes were made in the boundaries from the time the township was first created until it ceased to exist as a separate organization, and the original area was greatly reduced by the formation of other townships. It remained the only organized township of -Wood county north of the Maumee until 1831, when the township of Waterville was set off. A portion of • Waynesfield was taken to form the township of Springfield in 1836, and three years later the area was further diminished by five square miles which were added to Springfield. When the township of Monclova was erected, in 1853, Waynesfield contributed a considerable portion of its territory, but in June, 1856, all that part of Monclova and Springfield lying south of the north line of TOWNSHIP HISTORY - 135 sections 25 and 26, Town 2, United States Reservation, was returned to Waynesfield. Later in the same year a part of Waynesfield was taken to form Adams township, and in 1897 it was again reduced in size, and as before stated, became co-extensive with the corporate limits of Maumee village. So it is the history of this municipality that comes properly under the chosen heading. What is now called the village of Maumee, as the reader of the foregoing pages is aware, includes the site of the pioneer village of Miami, the first settlement at which is supposed to have been made before 1807. In fact it is supposed that Col. John Anderson was at Miami, site of the British Fort Miami, from the year 1796, engaged as a trader and farmer, and several American families had located in that vicinity in 1806. It is also supposed that in 1807 there dwelt at the site of Fort Miami. families of or individuals named William Carter. Andrew and William Race, three families named Ewing, and David Hull, who was a trader and kept a tavern with the assistance of his sister. These were joined in that year by James Carlin, a former government blacksmith from Detroit ; and at the opening of the War of 1812 there were sixty-seven families of Caucasian blood at or tributary to the small village of Miami. But all of the American families retired to the protected parts of Ohio soon after the surrender of Detroit to the British by General Hull and the consequent abandonment of the small fort at, Miami. At the close of the war many of the families returned, with friends and former soldiers who desired places of settlement, and once more the little village became the scene of busy life. When first platted the village was given the name of Waynesfield. and for several years after the surveys the region on both sides of the Maumee river at that point was called Fort Meigs by people at a distance. The first record made at the recorder's office of Wood county related to lands in Waynesfield township, and consisted of the plat of Maumee City, prepared by A. I. Wheeler for John E. Hunt. in August. 1818. It contained 109 lots, 75x132 feet each. Of these, three lots at the southwest corner of Conant and Detroit streets were set apart for public ground : and two at the northwest corner of Gibbs and Detroit streets were set apart for church and school purposes. The plat was acknowledged before Seneca Allen, justice of the peace for the county of Logan, who then resided at Orleans, below the site of Fort Meigs. The second transfer of property recorded in Wood county was the deed of Aurora Spafford to David Hull. dated Dec. 14, 1819, of a lot in Maumee, the purchase price being $400. The City of Maumee was incorporated in March, 1838, and the first election was held on the 26th of that month. Robert A. Forsyth was chosen mayor by a vote of 117, to 56 for Gen. John E. Hunt. and the other city officers were as follows : First ward : Councilmen—Robert A. Forsyth, Daniel Cook, William Kingsbury, William St. Clair ; assessor, Robert Gower. Second ward : Council—James Wolcott. Levi Beebe, Daniel R. Stebbins, T. T. Woodruff ; assessor. Ira White. Third ward : Council—J. Austin Scott, George Kirkland, Joseph J. Bingham, George B. Knaggs ; assessor, Amos Pratt. At a meeting of the city 156 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY council, March 29, the following officers were chosen : President of the Council, James Wolcott ; treasurer, Daniel Cook ; recorder, Henry Reed, Jr.; marshal, F. E. Kirtland. Daniel Cook, who was thus identified with the early history of Maumee, was born in Kingston, Mass., in 1785, which town originally was part of Plymouth, and he traced his ancestry directly back to the Pilgrim Fathers. In 1809 he was graduated at Brown University ; studied medicine, and in 1812 was appointed a surgeon in the United States army, serving in Maine. After the war he practiced his profession at Waterville, Me., for a time, and then engaged in mercantile and banking pursuits, continuing the same until failing health made necessary a change, both of business and climate. In 1834 he came west and located at Maumee City, as the point most fully meeting the demands of his case. Of his children, a daughter, Clara Ann Neal. in February, 1835. was married at Waterville, Me., with Wyman B. S. Moor, subsequently United States senator from that State. At that time Maumee City was regarded as the most promising place of all the Maumee valley, and there Mr. Cook passed the remaining years of his life, dying in 1863 at the age of seventy-eight years. His son Charles was long a merchant at Maumee, where he died in 1852. Another son, Daniel F. Cook, was for more than half a century prominently identified with the affairs of Maumee City. He was born in Waterville, Me., Sept. 5, 1814, and graduated in what is now Colby University, in that place, in 1833. The following year he entered Harvard Law School, spending two years there. Returning to Maumee in 1835, he was about a year thereafter admitted to the bar of Ohio and commenced his professional life at that place. In 1845 he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States upon the motion of Judge E. D. Potter, then representative in Congress from this district. The local contemporaries of Mr. Cook in the early years of his practice included Samuel M. Young, Morrison R. Waite, Hez. L. Hosmer, Thomas Dunlap and Horace F. Waite. The vigorous period of his practice continued until the removal of the seat of justice from Maumee to Toledo, in 1852, although he continued in the profession until 1865. Meanwhile, he directed his attention to dealing in real estate, with which and with farming interests he was for many years largely identified in both Lucas and Wood counties. In 1854 he was appointed a commissioner of the county and in 1855 was elected to the same position, serving until 1859. He frequently served his neighbors in local official positions, including those of councilman and the city attorney for several years, and for three terms he was an efficient member of the Board of Education. In 1866 he joined R. B. Mitchell in founding the banking house of Cook & Mitchell, with which he remained until 1872. J. Austin Scott was born at Ridgefield, Fairfield county, Connecticut, where his ancestors had lived for three generations. He was sent to the district school at an early age, after leaving which he went to a school kept by a graduate of Yale, and in that institution he acquired a good knowledge of mathematics. Coming into young manhood, he taught the school of the district in winter and worked on his father's TOWNSHIP HISTORY - 157 farm in summer, and afterward taught the village school in the town of Ridgefield. He next became clerk of a country storekeeper, and had pretty much the entire charge of store, postoffice and the compounding of prescriptions. These several duties were too confining, and in May, 1833, he came west on a visit to Perrysburg, where his brother, Jessup W., had recently settled. The next year he purchased the Miami of the Lake, a newspaper then just started at Perrysburg, and the first one published in the Maumee valley. He soon sold one part of this property to James H. McBride and another part to Henry Reed. Jr., of Maumee City. The paper was published a few months by Scott, McBride & Reed, and was then sold to Mr. McBride. In the summer of the same year the First Presbyterian Church of Perrysburg was formed, of which Mr. Scott was one of the nine original members. In 1835 he shared in the perils of the "Toledo war," by accepting a captain's commission from Governor Lucas. Having been made the agent of the Miami and Higby land companies, he removed to Miami, across the river from Perrysburg, and there the "hard times" of 1837 found him building a steamboat, the Chesapeake, which cost, when completed, $68,000. From this enterprise he was just able to escape without financial failure, and at once set to work, with his brother George, to clear land for a farm on tract 578, Private Grants. Together they cleared 15o acres. Mr. Scott planted one-third of this with trees—apple, peach, pear and quince—and soon had one of the finest orchards in the State and it may be mentioned in this connection that not a year passed thereafter in which he did not plant trees. For twenty years, though owning and conducting. a warehouse business at Miami, he found his delight and finally his chief occupation in the cultivation of fruit. He was a member of the first Maumee City council, and in that official capacity he served for sixteen years, twelve years of which he was president of the body. He was also president of the Maumee City school board for a number of years. In order to give his children the advantages of good schools, he removed to Toledo in 1859. Soon after he settled in that city he was elected a member of the hoard of education, in which position he served for several terms, and with Charles W. Hill, Matthew Shoemaker, H. J. Haves, James Myers, E. D. Potter, J. R. Osborn and others he aided largely in making the public schools the pride of the city. After a life of thirty-four years in the Maumee valley, on account of the ill health of his wife. Mr. Scott removed to Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1868, and there he lived the remainder of a long and useful life. George B. Knaggs was one of the well-known citizens of Maumee in early days. He owned and occupied land adjoining Miami. His father. Whitmore Knaggs, was a noted Indian interpreter and spoke six or seven Indian languages, besides English and French. He resided at Detroit at the time of Hull's surrender. He was known to have great influence with the Indians and to be loyal to the United States ; therefore he was ordered by the British commandant to leave and thereupon joined the first corps of our army that advanced to the frontier. He was guide to General Winchester and was at the massacre of the River Raisin, where he barely escaped death. An Indian 158 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY warrior, whom Knaggs had befriended, interfered for his protection. Captain Knaggs died about 1835, at his farm near Detroit. His widow, Mrs. Josette Knaggs, whose maiden name was Labadie, and who was of French descent, survived him and died at Detroit, Oct. 3o, 1852. Captain Knaggs was at the battle of the Thames and saw Tecumseh when he approached Col. Richard M. Johnson, and he also saw the latter shoot "The King of the Woods," as Tecumseh called himself. A brother of Captain Knaggs, who lived on the River Raisin, and a neighbor named Labadie were also there, and carried Colonel Johnson off the field when wounded. George Knaggs, grandfather of George B. Knaggs, was an officer in the British army and was living in Fort Miama when Whitmore Knaggs was born there. George Brown Knaggs was a man of agreeable, social disposition, and his fine presence and French accent made him a marked figure at all social gatherings. The name of the village was changed in 1871 from Maumee City to South Toledo, but in July, 1887, it resumed the name of Maumee, dropping the word city and retaining the village organization as before. The names of early settlers appear in the records of deeds and mortgages, and many of them were actively engaged in the attempt to make a large city out of Maumee as late as 1840, and for a few years thereafter. Some had been Indian traders, as the Forsyths and the Hunts, and some were of French origin. Of the latter class was old La Point, a man of large stature and strong frame, whose red-flannel shirt, open at the throat, and sleeves rolled up to the elbows, displayed the hairy arms and the breast of a giant. He was the very figure of a French grenadier. He did not know his own age, and seemed to linger on, saving his strength and stalwart bearing against the time he should join the phantom files of his former companions and march again under his old commander. In 1838 there resided at Monroe, Mich., a certain Colonel Anderson, who for some years prior to 1793 was British Indian agent, resident at Fort Miami. It was said that after the battle of Fallen Timbers, Aug. 20, 1794, General Wayne's victorious troops feasted on Indian corn raised by Colonel Anderson on the river bottom lands near the fort. The villages of Perrysburg and Maumee City had to contend with a natural obstacle to navigation in the river called the Rock Bar. This is a bed of rock formed across the river just above the site of the former village of Marengo. Vessels drawing over six feet could not always be sure of passing, and when increasing commerce demanded vessels drawing fourteen feet, the enterprising and hopeful people gave up the contest with the rock bar and moved lower down the river. In due time the port of entry was moved to Toledo, and commerce by lake and river at the foot of the rapids practically ceased. Until 1833 the transportation business of Maumee City and Perrysburg was done principally by two small schooners—the Eagle and the Guerriere—both owned by John Hollister and Capt. David Wilkison of Perrysburg. In that year a small steamboat commenced run- TOWNSHIP HISTORY - 159 ning between these two places and Detroit. In 1834, the steamboat Oliver Newberry, a second-class boat, made a few trips to those villages, as did also the Detroit, a boat of the same class and size. Two small boats, the General Jackson and Major Downing, made their appearance the same season, running to Detroit, and the schooner Merchant was built and commenced making trips to Buffalo. In May, 1835, the steamer Commodore Perry, Captain Wilkison, came out. and several large schooners were built. Between 1835 and 1838, the Monroe and Oliver Newberry were purchased, the General Wayne built, and other steamers secured, so that the steamboat arrivals at these villages in 1837 was about No, and of schooners, 103. At that time lake freights for Fort Wayne, Ind., came entirely via the Maumee river, and chiefly Perrysburg and Maumee City, and it is probable that the first combination for the control of transportation rates was one of which Fort Wayne merchants complained, at a meeting held March 25, 1837, with Francis Comparet in the chair and Joseph Sinclair as secretary. William G. Ewing stated "the object of the meeting to he to consider what course. it was necessary for merchants and others who are transporting goods from the East to adopt, in order to secure themselves from oppression by a combination of the forwarding merchants of Maumee and Perrysburg." The result of this movement is not recorded. The competition between the villages which in 1836 were struggling into existence on the Maumee started a question as to where the "Head of Navigation" of the river for lake craft was to become finally fixed. As a curiosity of the times, a notice in the Maumee Express, published in February, 1838, is given. It appears that at that time a petition was circulated at Maumee City and Perrysburg, asking the legislature to build a canal from Manhattan to the foot of the rapids, to be connected with Perrysburg by an aqueduct. This canal was to be twenty feet deep and 200 feet wide. "The propriety of this measure was urged by the petitioners on the legislature on several grounds, one of which was that they were owners of land at Maumee and Perrysburg, and residents of those towns ; that they had purchased the lands on which they lived at high prices from the State of Ohio, and made costly improvements thereon, in the firm belief that said towns were at the head of navigation of the Maumee river, and thereby a contract was implied between the petitioners and the State of Ohio, that the said river would be navigable for lake vessels to said towns. They therefore asked that 'the said towns be made the head of navigation, according to the terms of the contract before set forth' ; and this they did 'the more boldly, because they were aware that the people of the towns of Toledo and Manhattan made their settlements at those places under the belief that the Maumee river was not navigable to any point above ; and that in consideration of such belief and the implied contract depending thereon, the servants of the people have solemnly declared that the said towns of Toledo and Manhattan are at the head of navigation aforesaid ; and that every act of your petitioners tending to prove to the contrary is a sin against them and an insult to the sovereign State of Ohio in 160 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY the persons of her faithful and disinterested officers.' On such grounds, the petitioners asked the State to build the ship canal to keep the towns of Perrysburg and Maumee at the head of navigation. according to the terms of the implied contract, aforesaid.' The editor of the Express appears to have had little hope of the success of this movement. The names of the authors and promoters of this petition are not mentioned. This relic of the past testifies to the local feeling formerly prevailing among rival settlements on the river." In June, 1837, appeared the announcement that the steamboat General Wayne, Capt. H. C. Williams, would "leave the head of the rapids every day at 1 p. m. for the foot of Flat Rock, where there would be coaches and teams to convey passengers and freight to Defiance." Passengers leaving Maumee City and Perrysburg in the morning arrived at Defiance the same day. Returning, they left Defiance at 6 a. m. and reached the head of the rapids at 12 m., and there coaches were ready for Maumee and Perrysburg. During high water the steamboat ran between the head of the rapids and Fort Wayne. The agents of the line were 0. H. Harris, Providence ; G. C. Mudgett & Company. Brunersburg ; and White & Kirtland and S. A. & J. H. Sargent, Maumee City. Besides this steamboat route there was a daily through stage-line between Maumee City and Defiance, the mail passing twice a. week. The first postoffice north of the Maumee was located at Maumee City in 1817. The names of the earliest postmasters now remembered are those of Charles C. P. Hunt and George W. Woodward. The. former was postmaster in 1833. Among the early settlers of Maumee, in addition to those already named, were Jeremiah Johnson, Almon Gibbs, James Wolcott ( who married the daughter of Captain Wells. the lady being the granddaughter of the famous chief, Little Turtle), Gen. John E. Hunt, Robert A. Forsyth, James Gilbert, Benjamin Farnsworth, William Kingsbury, Samuel Couch, Huntington Larabee, W. M. Hickox, William Beals, James Wilkinson, Norman C. Baldwin, Horatio Conant, Isaac Hull, and many others. Isaac Hull was one of the pioneers of the Maumee valley. He came west from Massachusetts. about 1804, with his father, who was a brother of Governor Hull of Michigan. Daniel Hull, a brother of Isaac, was the first sheriff of Wood county. In 1827 Isaac Hull was married to Chloe Spafford, daughter of Maj. Samuel Spafford, who was prominent in the War of 1812. His powers of physical endurance were extraordinary, he having walked "between suns" from Maumee to Defiance, a distance of fifty miles. He died at Maumee City in December, 1864, leaving his widow and two sons—S. S. and W. R. Hull. Robert A. Forsyth died at Maumee City, Nov. 25, 1864, aged sixty-nine years. He was a native of Michigan and came to Maumee at an early date, having commenced business there as a merchant in 1816. He was a man of unusual ability and integrity, and his religious character was well established by a long and consistent life. John Church Allen was born in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., Jan. TOWNSHIP HISTORY - 161 27, 1809. His father established at that place the first nail factory in the United States. During the war of 1812-15, being unable to obtain stock or sell his nails, the father was forced to suspend operations, and in 1815, with his father and their families, he came to Ohio and settled at Zanesville, arriving there after a tedious passage of six weeks. On March to, 1835, John C. Allen arrived at Maumee, where, the following year, he opened a provision store, and soon thereafter he opened a hotel. He continued in mercantile trade until 1872—a period of thirty-six years. He was a member of the first city council of Maumee, was the fourth mayor of the village, and for twenty years the city treasurer. He was assistant county treasurer under Frederick E. Kirtland. who was in office when the Maumee court-house was first occupied. For many years he was an active and useful member of the school board of Maumee. Augustus Davenport Williams was born in Tolland county, Connecticut, Nov. 24, 1806, and he came from that State to Ohio in the fall of 1831, returning on horseback in the winter of 1832. In April, 1834. with his father's family, he came back and landed on the banks of the Maumee, where a very few Frenchmen and Indians constituted most of the settlers. He began farming on Big Island (between Maumee and Perrysburg), and not long thereafter he built at Maumee a hotel, which he named the Washington House. His first boarders were Dr. Daniel Cook and family. Northern Light Lodge, No. 40, Free and Accepted Masons, at Maumee. was chartered Dec. 12, 1818, the charter being signed by Chester Griswold, Grand Master. The charter members were Eber Ward, Almon Gibbs, William Griffith, S. H. Thurston, Charles Gunn, Sheldon Johnston, David Johnston, William Preston, and J. C. Adams. The first record of officers now extant is dated June 12, 1822, and is as follows : Horatio Conant, worshipful master ; John T. Baldwin, senior warden : R. McKnight, junior warden ; Ambrose Rice, secretary ; David M. Hawley. tyler. Maumee Lodge, No. 682, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was instituted July 17, 1879, with the following officers : J. F. Fleming, N. G.: Robert Alvius, V. G. ; Louis Wolfinger, secretary ; Andrew Nuhfer, treasurer. The village of Maumee is the second place in importance and population in the county. and it contains a number of handsome and expensiye residences and public buildings, while the average homes evince the air of thrift and prosperity in their surroundings, in keeping with the industry and frugality of the occupants. The Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City and the Wabash railways pass through the place, and besides these two important thoroughfares, an electric line puts Maumee on another very important route with interurban service. The manufacturing interests of the village are important and prosperous. A large amount of farm products are handled and shipped from that station, and all. in all, Maumee is a commercial center of much importance. The village is supplied with a good system of water-works, which affords adequate fire protection as well as a supply for manufacturing and domestic purposes, and a good electric light system is in 162 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY active operation. The village is well supplied with churches, and the public school system will compare with any place of similar size in the State of Ohio. WATERVILLE TOWNSHIP. The township of Waterville was set off from Waynesfield early in the year 1831, while the territory now comprising Lucas county was a part of the county of Wood. At present it has an area of about twenty-four square miles ; is bounded on the north by Swanton and Monclova townships ; on the east and southeast by Monclova township and the Maumee river ; on the south by the Maumee river and Providence township ; and on the west by the townships of Providence and Swanton. The first officers were elected on April 4, 1831, and were as follows : William Meeker, James C. Adams and Jonas Cleveland, trustees ; Ralph Farnsworth, clerk ; George W. Evans, treasurer ; David Robbins. constable ; Jeremiah Johnson and Willard Gunn, overseers of the poor ; Richard Gunn and Jacob Eberly, fence viewers ; Whitcomb Haskins and John Vanfleet, supervisors of highways. At a second election. June 21. 1831, John Vanfleet and Daniel Lakins were chosen justices of the peace. For many years before actual settlements were undertaken in the Maumee valley, the region in the vicinity of the rapids was a favorite resort of the natives for hunting and fishing. Here they were met by wandering traders and fur-buyers, who established a temporary residence among them, but the first permanent settler in what is now Waterville township was Isaac Richardson, who, in 1814, located on what later became known at the "Roche de Boeuf farm," about a mile above the village of Waterville. Two years later he opened the first tavern or hotel—a large double log house—in this part of the county, and conducted it until July 22, 1830, when he was shot and instantly killed by George Porter. a somewhat notorious character, who had for some time held a grudge against the proprietor of the hotel. On the date mentioned, while Mr. Richardson was sitting on the porch in front of his hotel, talking to a guest, the assassin, armed with a shotgun, appeared around the corner of the house and fired the fatal shot. His aim was true, most of the charge lodging in the head of Mr. Richardson, though a few of the shot struck the guest in the breast and shoulders, but without inflicting serious injury. Porter was arrested the next day, when he acknowledged the shooting and expressed his satisfaction over the result. He was tried and hanged at Perrysburg the following spring, this being the first legal execution in Northwestern Ohio. Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio recites the following Indian legend of Roche de Boeuf, as told by Peter Manor, who was one of the first white men to locate in the Maumee valley : "At the time when the plum, thorn-apple and wild grape were the only products, and long prior to the advent of the pale-faces, the Ottawas were camped here, engaged in their games and pastimes, as was usual when not clad in war-paint and on the lookout for an enemy. One of the young tribe, engaged in f laying on the Roche de Boeuf TOWNSHIP HISTORY - 163 (Rock in the River), fell over the precipice and was instantly killed. The dusky husband, on his return from the council fires. on being informed of the fate of his prospectiye successor, at once sent the mother in search of her papoose by pushing. her over the rocky sides into the shallow waters of the Maumee. Her next of kin, according, to Indian law, executed the murdering husband, and was in turn executed in the same manner, until the frantic passions were checked by the arrival of the principal chiefs of the tithe. This sudden outburst cost the tribe nearly two-thirds of its members, whose bodies were taken from the river and buried with full Indian honors the next day." The mound in which the victims of this revengeful slaughter were interred was on the Roche de Boeuf farm, where Mr. Richardson settled. It was first opened in 1833, and during the next few years a large number of skeletons and relics were taken from it by scientists and indiscriminate relic hunters. The mound has finally disappeared, having been reduced to the level of the surrounding plain by the plow of the husbandman. It was near Roche de Boeuf that Gen. Anthony Wayne encamped his army on Aug. 18. 1794, two days before the battle of Fallen Timbers. One of the most prominent of the early settlers of Waterville township was John Pray, who was born in the State of Rhode Island. Oct. 6, 1783. Upon reaching his majority he became associated with his brother James in the manufacture of potash at Saratoga. N. Y. In the spring of 1817 the two brothers, in company with five others, started for the West, and after visiting several localities, including the Maumee yalley, all returned to New York. John Pray was impressed. however, by the promising advantages offered by the water-power along the Maumee, and in the spring of 1818 brought his wife and four children and settled where the village of Waterville now stands. At that time the great need of the settlers was a gristmill, the nearest one being, at Monroe, a distance of forty mile's, and Mr. Pray determined to supply this need. Accordingly, in 1821, he built a mill on Granger island. which he purchased from the government, and which took its name from a squatter named Granger, whom Mr. Pray was compelled to eject from the premises before taking possession. An attempt had been made in 1818. by Adams, Hunt & Company, to establish a mill about a mile and a half north of the village site. It was a rude, clapboard affair. painted red and with oxen as the motive power, from which facts it became known as the "Red Ox Mill." For some years it was used for grinding coarse. feed, but Pray's mill on the island was the first real gristmill on the Lower Maumee. It continued in successful operation for many years and drew customers for a distance of forty-five miles. Within a few years after the erection of this mill, Mr. Pray introduced machinery for carding wool and dressing hemp, and also added a distillery. In 1830 he laid out the village of Wateryille and soon afterward remoyed his mills to that place. He became one of the largest land owners in the yalley built the Columbian House at Wateryille. the best hotel in that section of the state in its day : was one of the first county commissioners of Wood county : seryed for nine years as justice of the peace and held other local 164 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY offices, and was in short one of the foremost and most progressive men of the community. He died at Waterville, Oct. 18, 1872, aged eighty-nine years. A number of his descendants still live in Lucas county. His son, Paris H. Pray, born May 8, 1819, was one of the first white children born in what is now Waterville township. Orson Ballou came to the township in 1818, the same year as John Pray, and played an important part in the development of the country. In 1833 he was elected to the office of constable, and during the "Boundary War," in 1835, he held the rank of major in the Ohio forces. Two of his sons—Oscar W. and Orson G.—served in the Union army in the Civil war, the former in Company I, Fourteenth Ohio infantry, and the latter, a lieutenant in the One Hundredth Ohio infantry, was captured and died in Libby prison. After the war Oscar W. Ballou became actively identified with the Democratic party and held several local offices, including that of councilman in the village of Waterville and president of the board of education. The first successful natural gas well in the township was sunk by him in the summer of 1887. Another prominent pioneer was Hiram G. Barlow. who first came to the Maumee valley in 1816 and located at Orleans, where he taught school the winter after his arrival. Later he engaged in agricultural pursuits near the Turkey Foot rock ; built the old "Red Ox Mill," the gristmill and distillery of John Pray at Waterville, and taught the first school in Waterville township. John Van Fleet, who was elected one of the first justices of the peace, was also an active participant in public affairs in that early day. In 1834 he was elected one of the township trustees ; was appointed one of the road-viewers by the board of county commissioners of Lucas county ; and in 1838 was elected county commissioner. He also served as grand juror, overseer of the poor, was a delegate to the Democratic State convention in 1842, and was otherwise actively connected with the political and industrial life of the township. Although agriculture is the principal occupation of the inhabitants, other lines of industry are represented in the township. In 1838 a stone quarry was opened on the Roche de Boeuf farm, the products being used chiefly for lime, macadamizing roads, ballast for railroads, etc. The second quarry was opened at Stony Ridge, about two miles west of the village of Waterville. Here the stone is underlaid with a rich deposit of glass sand, which is probably the most valuable part of the output, especially since the establishment of glass factories at Toledo, Maumee and other convenient points. The quarries opened at Whitehouse in 186o have developed into the largest in the township, large quantities of the stone having been used for ballast by the Wabash Railroad Company. East of Whitehouse are other quarries in which is a good quality of building stone, the foundation of the insane asylum near Toledo, as well as of some of the principal buildings of that city, coming from Waterville township. As early as 1865 a well was sunk a short distance northwest of Waterville village in the hope of discovering oil, the prospector being a Mr. Hall from Portland, Me. Gas was struck at the depth of 400 TOWNSHIP HISTORY - 165 feet, and was used as fuel to drive the well some 300 feet deeper. when the project was abandoned. The same year a number of men from Detroit, headed by Robert Dunlap, drilled for oil on the Roche de Boeuf farm, but after going down to a depth of over i,000 feet gave up the effort. Late in the year 1886 Oscar W. Ballou visited the gas fields about Findlay, Ohio, and soon afterward made arrangements with companies in Toledo and Cincinnati to bore for gas. On May 24. 1887, he began operations on River Tract -No. 35, not far from where Hall's oil well had been drilled twenty-two years before, and by June 18 a depth of 1,164 feet was reached. On the latter date the well was ''shot" and a fine flow of gas was obtained. This well (Ballou No. I ) was followed by others, nearly all of which proved to be profitable producers. and in more recent years a number of paying oil wells have been developed in the township. The yillage of Waterville was laid out by John Pray in February, 1830. the original plat embracing fifty lots, each containing about one-fourth of an acre. In August, 1836, an addition to the village was made by D. B. Bruin, D. M. Wilson, James and Gabriel 0. Kinney, and in April, 1837, Mr. Pray filed a plat for another addition containing 214 lots. The Columbian House had been opened by Mr. Pray about two years before the village was laid out. In 1830 Capt. John Pettinger started a blacksmith shop opposite the hotel, the first shop of the kind in the township. Among the early merchants in the village were John Pray, Philip Cripliver, Leander Sackett, H. S. Carey & Co.. Jonathan Hungerford and J. E. & N. C. Hall. The first physicians there were Paris and Welcome Pray, who began practising in 1830. A Methodist Episcopal church was organized about 1834, with Rev. Elam Day as the first minister, and a Presbyterian church was founded in 1837 under the charge of Rev. Benjamin Woodbury. Since then churches of several other denominations have been instituted in the village. Shortly after Waterville was laid out a postoffice was established there with John Pray as the first postmaster, the office being on the line of the weekly mail route from Toledo to Defiance. The temperance sentiment has always found advocates in Waterville. A lodge of Good Templars was organized as early as 1867, and on March 22, 1871, Waterville Division, No. 136, Sons of Temperance. was organized with the following officers : John Batt, worthy patriarch ; Mary E. Singer, worthy associate ; C. W. Shoemaker, recording scribe ; J. L. Pray, financial scribe ; Kate Pray, treasurer, and J. E. Hall, chaplain. In 1875 the Murphy movement struck Waterville, a large number of persons signing the pledge and donning the blue ribbon. On July 8, 1884, White Lodge, No. 52, Independent Order of Good Templars, was organized with thirty charter members, the principal offices being filled as follows : L. H. Lindsley, chief templar : Fanny J. Dodd, vice templar ; W. S. Haskins, secretary ; W. G. Farnsworth, treasurer ; Toory Isham, marshal ; Mrs. Lucina Haskins, chaplain. Upon the petition of fourteen Master Masons in good standing, Wakeman Lodge. No. 522, Free and Accepted Masons, was instituted on Nov. 1, 1879, with the following officers : Warren B: Gunn, wor- 166 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY shipful master ; Oscar W. Ballou, senior warden ; John L. Pray, junior warden ; Samuel Downs, senior deacon ; Elijah Dodd, junior deacon ; T. B. Pinkerton, secretary ; James Marston, treasurer ; Lewis W. Pray and Clarence Dodd, stewards ; George S. Latcham, tyler. The village of Waterville is located in the eastern part of the township, on the Maumee river and the Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City railroad, and in 1900 reported a population of 703, an increase of 117 since the census of 1890. It is the largest village in the township. Next in importance to Waterville comes the village of Whitehouse, located in the northwestern part of the township on the line of the Wabash railroad. It was laid out in the summer of 1864 and was named for Edward Whitehouse, at that time a stockholder in the Wabash Railroad Company and the owner of the land upon which the village stands. A sort of neighborhood settlement had grown up there before the official plat of the place was recorded. A Methodist Protestant church was organized there in 1846 ; a postoffice was established in 1858, with Alexander Walp as postmaster ; the same year A. J. Eldridge opened a general store and Michael Goodman started a blacksmith shop. The growth of the village has been steady from the time it was laid out. It has several good mercantile .establishments, good public school buildings, is a shipping point of some importance, and in 1900 showed a population of 621. a gain of 114 during the preceding decade. The population of the entire township in 1900 was 2,176, an increase of 139 during the preceding ten years. These figures show that the increase of population has been in the villages of Waterville and Whitehouse rather than in the surrounding rural districts. From 1825 to 1828 Hiram P. Barlow taught school each season in the old "Red Ox Mill." This is believed to have been the first school taught in what is now Waterville township. Miss Olive Gunn was another pioneer teacher who engaged in the work as early as 1832. The first school house in Waterville village was erected in 1834. though this has long since been replaced by a more modern and commodious structure. During the great Civil war Waterville township furnished 102 men to the Union army. Of these William C. Hutchinson, while serving in the artillery, and the following members of Ohio infantry regiments died in service : William Gaunt and James P. Hine of the Fourteenth ; John Rocherty, of the Thirty-seventh ; Milo Black, of the Sixtieth ; David C. Cheney, Alfred D. Isham, William Stebbins and William M. Turk of the SixtRanatush ; Orson G. Ballou. RanaCuv lercas, Benjamin Rathbun, Cuvier Stebbins and Samuel Spade of the One Hundredth ; and Robert McCabe of the One Hundred and Eleventh. SWANTON TOWNSHIP. This township was created early in the year 1836, when the boundaries were laid down by the county commissioners as follows : On the south by the east and west line between sections 19 and 3o in TOWNSHIP HISTORY - 167 Town 7 north, Ranges 9 and to east ; on the east by the west line of the Twelve Mile Reserve and the line between Ranges 5 and 6 east ; on the north by the State (Harris) line ; on the west by the line between Ranges 4 and 5 east, north of the Fulton line, and the line between Ranges 8 and 9 east, south of the Fulton line. The township bore the name of "Wing" until 1851, when it was changed to Swanton. The first officers of Wing township, elected on April 4, 1836, were : Willard Barnes, James Lindsley and Huntington Larabee, trustees ; Thomas S. Sabin, clerk ; David Mills, treasurer ; William Houser and William J. Ketcham, supervisors of highways ; David Mills and Russell Tavernor, constables ; Edward Flint and William Houser. overseers of the poor and the same two gentlemen, with David S. Harriott, fence viewers. The soil of the township is generally sandy, that in the northwestern part being mixed with clay and somewhat more fertile than the other portions. The township is drained by Swan creek and a number of smaller streams. In early times water stood in the creek bottoms and some other places until well along in summer, and was a potent cause of fever and ague, which were prevalent among the settlers. But with improved drainage, opening the channels of the creeks. etc., the health of the people has been greatly improved. Agriculture is the chief occupation of the inhabitants, the crops raised being similar to those of the surrounding townships. In the spring of 1834 Chandler L. Wing built a log house on the west bank of Swan creek, on the southeast quarter of section 7, which was the first dwelling in the township. Mr. Wing was one of the early road viewers of Lucas county, receiving his appointment as such from the county commissioners on Dec. 7, 1835, and he was one of the first justices of the peace of Wing township after its organization. Within a year after he settled on Swan creek, he was followed by Huntington Larabee, William D. Herrick, David Mills, Philo B. Scott, William J. Ketcham, David Clute, Edward and Harvey S. Flint and a few others, who began the work of reclaiming the land from the wilderness. Huntington Larabee was one of the early settlers in Waynesfield township, but in the spring of 1834 removed to what is now Swanton township and built a log house, in which he opened the first tavern or public house in that part of the county. He was one of the first trustees, but in the spring of 1836 left the township, being succeeded in the hotel business by David Mills. William D. Herrick came to the township in 1834 and settled on the west half of the southeast quarter of section 6, and later removed to the north half of the southwest quarter of section 7, where he kept a public house for many years. He also worked at the blacksmith's trade and manufactured barrels. About 186o he opened a country store. He served for eleven years as trustee of the township, being elected to that office first in 1838, and the last time in 1865. In the fall of 1864 he was one of the members of the committee to solicit aid for the families of soldiers. Prior to the dissolution of the Whig party lie was one of its active members, and in 1851 was its candidate for 168 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY county coroner, but was defeated by John G. Kemme. In 1856 he was the candidate of the American party for infirmary director, but was again defeated. He took an active interest in the Toledo & Indiana plank road, and at the meeting held at West Unity, Feb. 26, 1.848, when several counties were represented, he was one of the committee on resolutions. He . died in February, 1869, and his wife died in March, 1888. David Mills settled on the east half of the southwest quarter of section 7 in 1834, having been for several years prior to that time on the river at Waterville and Maumee. In the spring of 1836 he purchased the tavern established by Huntington Larabee in 1834. and for several years was engaged in that business. He was the first treasurer of Swanton township and later served several terms as trustee. He married Asena Barnes, who bore him twelve children. Six of his sons served in the Civil war—one in the Thirty-eighth, four in the One Hundredth, and one in the One Hundred and Thirtieth Ohio infantry. He died in April, 1883, his wife haying died in March of the preceding year. Philo B. Scott was born in the State of New York, and came with his parents to Painesville, Ohio, in 1807. He married Emelia Brown, a stepdaughter of Gen. Edward Paine, for whom Painesville was named, and lived in Huron and Seneca counties until April, 1835, when he came to Swanton township and settled on the southeast quarter of section 5, his father and an older brother coming with him. He took an active interest in political affairs ; was an enthusiastic supporter of General Harrison for the Presidency in 1840, and was a delegate to the Whig county convention of that year ; served several terms as trustee and justice of the peace, and was superintendent of the county infirmary from 1845 to 1848. After the Whig party ceased to exist, he affiliated with the Republicans until his death, in April. 1874. The first frame building in the township was erected by Luther Dodge, in the spring of 1837. It was located on the east hank of Swan creek, on the northeast quarter of section 5, and was designed for a dwelling and store room combined. Mr. Dodge took a commendable interest in public affairs ; was the candidate of the Union party (an organization composed of Democrats and Tyler Whigs) for recorder in 1841, but was defeated by Junius Flagg, and in 1844 he was elected justice of the peace for Swanton township. His store was located near the place where Au-to-kee, chief of the Ottawa .Indians, and part of his tribe, settled, early in 1837, and doubtless the presence of the red men had something to do with his selection of site. Au-tokee lived in a house like a civilized white man, and his people were generally honest ; hence their trade was something to be desired. Au-to-kee, however, had a great love for "fire-water," and while drunk was frozen to death. When the first settlers came into the township they found an interesting relic in the shape of an old stockade, near the line between sections 5 and 8, on the west bank of Swan creek. It was circular in form, something over 100 feet in diameter, and was constructed in the customary fashion of planting upright timbers in a trench and then TOWNSHIP HISTORY - 169 filling in the dirt around the foot. No record as to when, by whom, or for what purpose it was erected has ever been found, but it is believed that it was built by a detachment of General Wayne's forces in 1794, or by troops during the War of 1812. The first school in the township was taught by Daniel S. Westcott, in the winter of 1835-36, in a log school house erected the previous autumn on the southwest quarter of section 4. This house differed but slightly from other pioneer school houses, but it possessed the advantage of having a wide board arranged along each of the side walls for a writing desk. The first term lasted but a few weeks, owing to the scanty funds in that day for educational purposes. Mr. Westcott afterward held the office of surveyor of Lucas. county. The same winter a Mrs. Chamberlain taught a short term of school in a log house built by Willard Barnes on the northwest quarter of section 7. The following winter Mrs. Chamberlain taught near Scott's Corners, where the second school house had been built. Other pioneer teachers were Frederick Curtis, Samuel Durgin. Persis Scott (a sister of Philo B. Scott), Cyrus H. Coy, Peter Holloway, Moses Sargent, Mary S. Crosby, Lemuel Johnson, and Morris Curtis. In 1835 a road was opened from Maumee to the State line, running through the township of Swanton, and this was the first public highway in the township. The first bridge was built on this road ( afterward known as the State Road) over Swan creek in the winter of 1836-37. Swanton township was not a laggard in answering the call for yolunteers for the Civil war. Eighty-one of her citizens left their homes and firesides to take up arms in defense of the Union. The Roll of Honor—those who died in service—bears sixteen names, all in the infantry service, except Edmund Miller of the Third Ohio cavalry. The others were : Andrew Weigel, of the Fourteenth Ohio infantry ; John Weigel and Joseph W. Scott. of the Thirty-eighth Ohio infantry : Franklin Brace, Thomas Beach, David Cheney, Joseph Fullerton and John Kaley of the Sixty-seventh Ohio infantry ; Ab. Hartzell, Robert Mills and George E. Wilcox of the One Hundredth Ohio infantry Joseph Combo, H. E. Redding and Isaac Skinner of the One Hundred and Eleventh Ohio infantry. In 1836 James H. Forsyth and James Jackson of Maumee laid off a town on the northwest quarter of section 8, including what was later known as Scott's Corners. but the town never became a reality. The population of Swanton in 1900 was 837, an increase of 238 during the preceding decade. PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP. Providence township is the most southwestern political subdivision in Lucas county. It is bounded on the north by the townships of Swanton and Waterville ; on the east by Waterville and the Maumee river ; on the south by the Maumee river, which separates it from Wood county, and on the west by the counties of Fulton and Henry. It has an area of about twenty-eight squares miles, and was established 170 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY by order of the board of county commissioners on June 6, 1836. The first election was held on July 30, 1836, at the house of Peter Manor, at which time the following officers were elected : Benjamin Atkinson, Xenophon Mead and Drake Taylor, trustees ; William Ewing, clerk ; Norman Mead, treasurer ; George Hale and J. Diefendieffer, fence viewers ; Hiram Tuboo and John Feagles, poormasters ; Joseph Hartwell and Peter Manor, constables. William Ewing and Norman Mead failed to qualify as clerk and treasurer, and the trustees appointed Xenophon Mead and Drake Taylor to discharge the duties of the respective offices until the next election. The highest number of votes received by any candidate at this election was fifteen, but at the presidential election in November twenty-eight votes were cast, the following names appearing on the poll books as having voted : Hugh Arbuckle, William L. Bellinger, John Berlin, David Blanchard, Samuel Cable, Oral Colyer, Andrew Elsey, William Ewing, John Feagles, Henry Galloway, John Galloway, Lovett Gibson, John Goss, George Hales John Hartwell, Elam Locke, Francis Manor, Peter Manor. Peter Manor, Jr., Aaron B. Mead, Xenophon Mead, Samuel Miner, Philip C. Mosher, William Pettinger, John Stout, Francis Yager, John J. Yager and Peter Yager. At an election held on Dec. 17, 1836, William Ewing was elected the first justice of the peace in the township. Prior to 1885 the voters at each annual township election would express their choice of a place where the next election should be held, generally the residence of some citizen, but since that time the elections have been held at some central point designated by the authorities. The territory included in Providence township was occupied by the Ottawa Indians when the white men first came to the Maumee valley, the Indian village of Tondagamie (or the Dog) being located near Wolf Rapids, and at the beginning of the War of 1812 there were nearly ',coo Indians living in the vicinity. The first white man to settle in what is now Providence township was Peter Manor, of whom further mention will be found in Chapter V. In 1816 he located in a log cabin on the bank of the river and was for several seasons the only permanent white settler in that locality. He managed to secure the friendship and good-will of the Indians, by whom he was surrounded. and was adopted as a son by Tondagamie, who gave him the name of Sawendibans (Yellow Hair). Through this friendship of the Indians he subsequently obtained a grant of 96o acres of land, and on this tract he laid out the village of Providence in 1835. In the meantime several settlers had located near Mr. Manor. Among them were William Ewing, James Hartwell, John Galloway, Xenophon Mead, John Berlin, Charles McKarn, Philip C. Mosher and Aaron B. Mead. Prior to the laying out of Providence these pioneers received their mail through the postoffice at Maumee, the postmaster there appointing carriers to deliver it—probably the first rural mail delivery in the United States. One of these carriers was John Omen, who for several years made his weekly trips on foot through a country inhabited by Indians, but was never once molested in the performance of his duties. In 1835 a postoffice was established at Providence with John Berlin as postmaster. TOWNSHIP HISTORY - 171 The original plat of Providence village showed eighty lots, the five streets being named Main, Center, West, Spring and Ford. Among the early purchasers of lots were John E. Hunt, Robert J. Forsyth, Aaron B. Mead and George Gale. The first merchant in the village was Aaron B. Mead, who erected a store building soon after the purchase of his lots, in 1835. He was actiye in the early affairs of the township, though the only office he ever held was that of township trustee, to which he was elected in 1841. He was an enthusiastic Whig while that party was in existence, and in 1840 was a delegate to the Congressional convention. After the dissolution of the Whig party, Mr. Mead became a Republican, and in 186o he was a delegate to the Congressional convention that renominated James M. Ashley. In the fall of 1864 he was one of the Providence township committee to solicit aid for soldiers' families pursuant to the appeal of Governor Brough. Mr. Mead was soon followed by Neptune Nearing and J. B. Abele, both of whom opened mercantile establishments at Providence a man named Phillips opened a hotel in 1836, and before the close of that year the village was regarded as one of the promising settlements in Lucas county. As it lay directly in the path of western emigration. it became the stopping, place for many of these travelers, as well as the Indian traders, and by 1840 four more hotels had been established there to accommodate the guests. One of these hotels was conducted by Philip C. Mosher, who was granted a license for that purpose by the county commissioners in April, 1837. Mr. Mosher was a Democrat in his political views, and took an active part in local affairs. For fiye years he held the office of trustee was a delegate to the Democratic State convention in 1841, and served several terms as justice of the peace. The tax duplicate of 1838 showed him to be one of the largest taxpayers in the township, when he returned $168 worth of personal property. The building of the Miami and the Wabash & Erie canals aided materially in promoting the prosperity of the village, and the timber and fur trade assumed considerable proportions, but as this trade decreased some of the settlers at Providence began to remove elsewhere. A fire in 1846 destroyed a number of the principal buildings, and after the cholera epidemic of 1852 the village practically disappeared from the map. Francis Manor. a son of the founder, continued to reside there for many years after the village ceased to exist as such. He was horn at Maumee on May 18, 1812. and was taken by his parents to Lower Sandusky later in the year, when the war broke out. Later they went to Upper Sandusky for greater safety, and remained there until peace was restored, when they returned to Providence. Francis Manor was a Democrat and took an active interest in the welfare of his party. In 1845 he was elected clerk of the township, and in 1854 he was a delegate to the Democratic Congressional convention. His brother. John J.. Manor. was elected prosecuting attorney of Lucas county in 1851, and served for six years. Other early settlers who seryed in official capacities or were otherwise prominent in township affairs were : Drake Taylor, one of the 172 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY first trustees and the first township treasurer ; Benjamin Atkinson, also one of the first trustees, later a justice of the peace, and one of the largest taxpayers ; William Ewing, the first justice of the peace ; Isaac Barkheimer, who was elected treasurer in 1840 ; John Higby, Amos Hawley, Patrick Shields, George Hill, D. W. Baker and Ira Freeman, all of whose names appear on the tax dupilcate of 1838, when the total assessed value of personal property in the township was $2,826. Up to 1840 the settlements were located in the southern part, within a mile of the Maumee river, but after that date the settlements began to extend back into the interior of the township. In 1840 Van Rensselaer Crosby located on section 16 and continued to reside there until his death, in 1872. He had five sons—Lewis, Darwin, David, Alonzo and Carlton—all of whom located in the township Upon attaining to their majority. Mr. Crosby was quickly followed by Amos Perry, John Place, Leonard Kuntz, Samuel S. Roach and James White. The last-named was a Methodist minister, who was instrumental in the organization of a church of that denomination at Providence, of which he served as pastor for some time. He was one of the promoters of the scheme to lay a plank road from Toledo to the Indiana State line, in 1848, and was one of the signers of the bond for $20,000 to secure the removal of the county seat from Maumee to Toledo, in 1852. In 1828 a log school house, the first in the township, was built by the settlers on the Peter Manor reserve, and Martha Karns was installed as teacher. This old log school house stood for many years after it had been replaced by a more modern structure. Prior to its erection teachers went from house to house giving instruction to the children of the settlers. The first church in the township was St. Patrick's Catholic Church, which was erected in 1845, upon land deeded for that purpose by Peter Manor to Bishop Purcell of the Ohio diocese, and the first pastor was Rev. John Maloney, who remained in that capacity until 1863. The number of soldiers furnished to the union army in the Civil war by Providence township was seventy-six, of whom eighteen died in service, namely : John J. Clark of the Fourteenth Ohio infantry ; Cyrus E. Riley of the Fifty-fifth Ohio infantry ; Clayton Shelby and John Martin of the Sixtieth Ohio infantry ; Jacob Bugh and Daniel Ricker of the Sixty-seventh Ohio infantry ; John A. Brown, Thomas Brown, Benjamin F. Cole, William Condon, John Dowyer, John Ferre, Samuel Keeler, John Mouldner, John North and William H. Young of the Sixty-eighth Ohio infantry ; Andrew J. Clutter of the One Hundredth Ohio infantry, and Samuel Hutchinson of the One Hundred and Second Ohio infantry. In 1872 William A. Barnett, Jackson Jordan and J. O. Arnold of Dayton, Ohio, laid out the village of Neapolis, on a tract of land they had previously purchased. Neapolis is located in the northwestern part of the township, on the line of the Wabash railroad, and is the only postoffice in the township. In 1900 it reported a population of TOWNSHIP HISTORY - 173 eighty-nine, the population of the entire township in the same census being 1,270. SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP. On June 20. 1836, the board of county commissioners of Lucas county adopted the following resolution : "Resolved, by the board, that a new civil township be erected, to be comprehended within the following boundaries, to-wit : Commencing on the south line of Township No. 2, in the Twelve Mile Square Reserve, between sections 32 and 33 ; thence north, on the section line, to the north line of said sections ; thence east, on said section line, to the west line of section 27 ; then north, on said west line to the north line of said section 27 ; thence east, on said north line to the west line of section 23 ; thence north to the north line of said section 23 ; thence east on the said north line to the west line of section 13: thence north to the Fulton line ; thence east on said Fulton line to Port Lawrence township; thence bounded on the cast by Port Lawrence township, on the north by the north line of said Township No. 2, and west by the west line • of said Township No. 2 until it strikes the Fulton line from the , north : thence by the east line of Townships Nos. 7 and 8, in Range 9, until it strikes the south line of township No. 2: thence on the south by the south line of Township No. 2 to the place of beginning; and the said township shall be known under and by the name of Springfield." Several changes have been made in the original boundaries as thus established. On June 5, 1839. five sections were taken from Waynesfield and added to Springfield ; in March. 1853, that portion of Waynesfield township included in the north half of river tracts Nos. 575, 578, 579. 580 and 581 was added to Springfield, and at the same time the southern part of Springfield was taken to aid in the formation of the township of Monclova ; and when Adams township was created, Dec. 3. 1856. the north half of the river tracts above mentioned, with some other territory, was taken from Springfield and added to Adams. Generally speaking. the Springfield township of the present day is bounded as follows : On the north by the townships of Spencer, Sylvania and Adams ; on the east by Adams and Monclova on the south by Monclova. and on the west by Monclova and Spencer. The north line, where it touches the township of Sylvania, is only about three and a half miles long. About two miles south of this, Springfield projects for one mile into Adams township. which forms the northern boundary of this projection. A mile farther south the western part projects about a mile and a quarter into Spencer township. The first election was held pursuant to an order of the county commissioners at the house of William Ford on Oct. 8. 1836, at which time officers for the new township were elected as follows : Thomas Wood, John Birchfield and James Egnew, trustees ; Peter Holloway, clerk : John Wiltse, treasurer ; William Ford, constable ; John Birch-field and John Spencer. justices of the peace. Settlements Were made within the limits of the township some years before it was organized. Among the earliest settlers were Den- nis Sage, Peter Holloway, Ellison DeMott, John Cummings, David 174 - MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY Trumbull, John Birchfield, James Egnew, Thomas Wood, John Wiltse, Willard Barnes, Patrick Flynn, James Dean, the four Divines—John, Joseph, Samuel and Selah—and a widow named Chloe Lees with two small sons, Edmund and Simeon P. Dennis Sage settled in what is now Springfield township in 1829, being the first or at least one of the first to establish a domicile in that part of the county. He served several terms as trustee of the township after its organization, and was an influential citizen in. many ways. He married Mrs. Sarah Holloway, widow of Herbert Holloway. and they had four children. A daughter, Ida, became the wife of A. P. Mann, and a son, Thomas W., became a merchant in the village of Holland. Dennis Sage died in 1887, at the age of ninety-three years, and at the time of his death was the oldest citizen of the township. Peter Holloway, the founder of the family of that name in Lucas county, was a descendant of one of three brothers who came from England and settled in Boston, Mass., in 1666. He was born at Dighton. Mass., May 21, 1778 ; went with his father to Taunton, Mass., in 1782 ; and in 1798 to Canandaigua. N. Y., where he followed the trade of blacksmith. He married Sophia Seymour and removed to West Bloomfield, Ontario county, New York, where he was engaged in farming, blacksmithing and running a hotel until the War of 1812. During that war he served in the volunteer cavalry, after which he lived in Livingston county, New York, until 1833, when he came to what is now the township of Springfield, of which he was the first clerk. He died in September, 1861. He had five sons and three daughters. One son, Charles B., served as lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth Ohio militia, and in 1879 was elected to represent Lucas county in the legislature. David Trumbull came to the township in 1833 and entered the west half of the southwest quarter of section 17. town 2, United States Reserve. At the April election in 1838 he was chosen one of the overseers of the poor, and his son James served as treasurer, trustee and justice of the peace. Two of his grandsons, Rufus H. and William O. Trumbull, were members of Company I, Fourteenth Ohio infantry, in the Civil war, and the former was wounded at Chickamauga. Part of the farm he entered afterward became noted for the production of cranberries. Thomas Wood came with his family from New York State in 1835. and when the township was organized the succeeding year he was elected one of the first trustees. On Jan. 4. 1837, he was appointed one of the viewers for certain roads, and in June, 1839. he was granted a license by the county commissioners to keep a tayern in Springfield. He was active as a Whig and in 1843 was a delegate to the county convention of that party. His son Harrison served in Company A, Fourteenth Ohio infantry, and was wounded at Tullahoma, Tenn. After the war he engaged in merchandising in the village of Holland. Another son, Perry Wood, served several terms as justice of the peace and trustee. John Wiltse, in 1831, entered eighty acres in the southwest quarter of section 15, town 2, United States range, and was therefore one