The city of Fremont is at the head of navigation of Sandusky river, has the advantage of two
railway lines—the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, and the Lake Erie and Louisville—and,
also, of the Western Reserve and Maumee McAdamized road.
The city contains nine churches,—one Presbyterian, one Episcopal, one Methodist, two Catholic,
one Evangelical, one German Reformed, one German Lutheran, and one colored church.
The county affords substantial support to four newspapers—the Fremont Messenger, by J. S. Van
Valkenburg; the Fremont Jour-
Ottawa County—Early History - 581
nal, by A. H. Balsley ; the Fremont Courier (German), by Willmer & Knerr, and the Clyde
Independent, by E. E. White.
In the city of Fremont, there are, also, two carriage and wagon, and five wagon shops; one
foundry and machine shop, and one foundry; four flouring mills; one furniture factory; one hub
and spoke do; three lime kilns, and one manufactory of lime and Freer stone ; one do of steam
boilers; three planing mills, manufacturing sash, doors, etc. ; four saw mills ; one cotton and
woollen factory; two tanneries; one ashery ; two breweries ; one extensive pork packing house;
three cooper shops; three cigar manufacturing establishments; one carding mill; three pump
factories; eight boot and shoe, six blacksmith, and four tailor shops, and four bakeries.
Among the business houses are two banks—the First National, and a private bank; seven hotels,
one of which is a new and expensive structure; eight dry goods, thirty grocery and provision,
three clothing, three furniture, four harness and saddlery, one butter and game, four jewelry, four
boot and shoe, two crockery, four drug, three hardware, and one wholesale wine and liquor store;
six meat markets; four photograph galleries; twelve millinery and dress-making establishments,
and four livery stables.
OTTAWA COUNTY
Was erected at the legislative session of 1839-40, being formed of territory taken from the
counties of Sandusky and Erie.
Homer Everett, of Fremont, in his reminiscences, has the following touching the tribe which
suggested the name for the county :
"‘ Ottawa' is an Indian word signifying trader, and was the name of a tribe of natives who had
their home on the banks of the Maumee river, and whose hunting ground embraced this county,
and other adjacent territory. The language of the Ottawas was worthy of notice. When a young
man, I was clerk in the mercantile house of the late Judge Jesse S. Olmstead, at Lower Sandusky,
now Fremont. The business of the house consisted, in a large degree, of Indian trade. This trade
was principally with the Wyandots, of Upper Sandusky, the Senecas, who resided on a
reservation, partly in Seneca and partly in Sandusky counties, and the Ottawas of Maumee."
Historical matter, referring to pioneers and early events, is given elsewhere.
The first session of the commissioners was held at Port Clinton 13th April, 1840. Present,
Ezekiel Rice, and William Gill—James gingham, clerk. Bonds were filed by the following
county officers: James Kin gham, auditor; Cyrus Moore, treasurer; William B. Craighill,
appraiser; Eli Foglesong, assessor; Henry J. Miller, sheriff.
532 -Lucas County—Early History.
The first term of court commenced at Port Clinton April 5, 1840, by Associate Judges Samuels
Hollinshead, Roger Kirke, and Samuel and Gilbreath Stewart ; and clerk, Stanton H, Brown. The
principal business transacted at this term, was the naturalization of foreigners. The early lawyers
in attendance, during several of the first terms, were John L. Green, R. P. Buckland, W. F Sloan,
Spink Hosmer, Charles L. Boalt, Joseph M. Root, George Reber, William W. Airier, Parish &
Saddler, J. H. Magruder, Lucas S. Beecher, Pitt Cooke, and Homer Everett.
Among the pioneers of Ottawa county, were the following :
Harvey J. Miller, who removed from his native ;town, Putnam, Ohio, when a boy, to Huron
county, and in 1832 purchased land in. Sandusky (now Ottawa) county. He was engaged, during
several seasons of navigation, in the marine service on Lake Erie. He continues his residence in
Ottawa county.
Portage township, in 1828, when Mr. Miller first visited it, included in its organization the
present townships of Bas, Erie, Salem, and Carroll. In Salem township, there were a few
inhabitants established in the neighborhood of Hartford.
Joseph Momeny (whose name has heretofore been mentioned as one of the early settlers of
Lower Sandusky,) was at Winchester's defeat, on the river Raisin, and, after that disaster, brought
the two families of Beaugrand on the ice to the mouth of Huron river—passing the mouths of the
Maumee, and Portage rivers, and Portland (now known as Sandusky City). There were then block
houses at Port Clinton, aad Sandusky City. Mr: Momeny rendered valuable service as a scout
during the war—was bearer of dispatches from General Harrison, during the siege of Fort Meigs,
to Gallipolis, and was active at the defense of Fort Stephenson ; and after peace was concluded,
settled at Lower Sandusky, where he died in January, 1843, at the age of 62 years.
Judge A. Kraemer, who settled in Toledo in 1835, and after Manhattan was platted, erected the
first frame house in that town, was also one of the first settlers at Oak Harbor, where he yet
resides.
The county has three newspapers : The Ottawa County News, R. Stanberry, editor : Elmore
Weekly Courier, J. E. Crofoot, editress, and the Exponent, Oak Harbor, W. E. Freer, editor.
In population, the county had, in 1840, 2,248 ; in 1850, 3,308; in 1860, 7,016; in 1870, 13,364;
and the town of Elmore had, in 1870, a population of 1131 ; Genoa, 558, and Port Clinton, 543..
LUCAS COUNTY.
The organization of this county was made amid the storms of the disputed jurisdiction between
the Federal Government and the State of Ohio—the former holding in trust the interests of the
territory of Michigan. The stirring events attending its introduction into the
Lucas County--Early History - 533
family of Ohio counties, are sketched in the chapter relating to the boundary controversy. It was
named after the champion of Ohio's interest in that conflict, the then Governor, Robert Lucas.
Excepting only Fort Wayne, there is no present organized county in the Maumee Valley invested
with points surpassing in historical prominence than those embraced within the limits of Lucas
county.
On the score of antiquity, the fact may be recalled, that, near the present site of Maumee City, the
French, in 1680 (twenty-one years before the founding of Detroit by De Cadillac), erected a
stockade, and this settlement by the white race, places Lucas county next, or equal, in interest to
Allen county, Indiana. The British Fort Miami, near Maumee City, which General Wayne, in his
brilliant expedition in August, 1794, discovered, had, as he states, in his correspondence with the
British commandant, Major Campbell [pp. 92 and 93], been then only recently erected, under
orders from the Canadian Governor, Simcoe. It was one of the important seats of the British
power in the northwest, at an early period, and the headquarters, often, of the renegade Girty, and
the residence, also, of those notorious enemies of the Americans, during the Indian wars in the
northwest, Colonel McKee, and Captain Elliott.
Soon after the victory of General Wayne, and. the evacuation of Fort Miami by the British, many
French and Americans settled at the foot of the rapids. In October, 1807, James Carlin
(government blacksmith,) and family, removed from the river Raisin to Maumee City; and his
son, Squire Carlin, now a resident of Hancock county, states, that when his father's family
reached the place, now known as Maumee City, the following were residents of the
neighborhood: Three families of Ewing (the Christian names of two heing William, but the first
name of the third not by him recollected) ; William and Andrew Race, and a Mr. Carter—making
a total of six American families. David Hull, a single man, and a nephew of the General who
surrendered the American army at Detroit, also resided at Maumee as a trader and
tavern-keeper—his sister keeping house for him.
In addition to the American families above named, Mr. Carlin says there was a settlement of
French, among whom were J. B. Beaugrand, Mr. LaPoint, Mr. Momeny, and Mr. Peltier. All
these were traders, and employed a considerable force of young men to visit the Indian camps,
and barter for furs and skins. In numbers, the French population were in excess of the American.
Near the mouth of the river, opposite Manhattan, about 1806 or 808, a French settlement, near
the village of the Ottawa Indians, was established. Conspicuous among these French adventurers,
was Peter Navarre, a grandson of Robert de Navarre, an officer in the military service of France,
who came to the country in 1745. The Ottawa village, Navarre asserts, had been in existence
since the days of the Pontiac conspiracy ; and the head chief of the nation was a descendant of
Pontiac. At this time, also, the widow of Pontiac,
534 - Lucas County—Navarre, Manor, Etc.
Kan-tuck-ee-gun, and his son, Otussa, dwelt at the mouth of the river. The old woman was held
in high reverence—always the first one applied to by the nations for advice, and the first to sign
all treaties. Otussa was a man of excellent sense, free from the vices of his tribe; and, with none
of the ferocity, inherited all the bravery of his father. Mesh-ke-ma, a cousin of Otussa, was a
chief on the opposite side of the river, and was the finest orator of the nation, and the foremost
speaker at all treaties. Ka-ne-wa-ba was another noted chief. A-be-e-wa, another chief, was quite
young at the time of his death, which was produced by poison, in 810. Navarre's recollections of
him (says H. L. Hosmer, now of Montana, who communicates these notes,) seem to indicate that
he was the most talented man in the nation. There were 8,000 of the Ottawas, at this time, living
upon the lower Maumee, and subsisting principally by hunting and fishing.
The last hundred of these eight thousand, who left their old homes in 1837, to go west of the
Mississippi, were nothing but vagrants and drunkards—made so by contact with the whites.
The intelligence that war was declared in 1812, was first communicated to the white settlers at
the foot of the rapids, and at Monclova (these places then being the only white settlements
between
Lower Sandusky and Frenchtown, or Monroe), by Peter Manor, of Providence.
Peter Navarre, hitherto mentioned, joined Hull's army on the Maumee, went to Detroit, and then
returned to Raisin, where he enlisted in Colonel Anderson's regiment. He was at Raisin when the
British Captain' Elliott, accompanied by a Frenchman and a Wyandot, came with a flag to inform
Colonel Brush, and the troops, at Raisin, that they were included in the terms of surrender of
Hull. Navarre and his four brothers, acknowledged thomselves as prisoners, and were permitted
to depart on parole.
"Peter Manor says," (we quote from H. L. Hosmer,) " that the first intimation of Hull's surrender
was given to the French settlers at the foot of the rapids, by a party of 60 or 70 Delawares, who
arrived there in advance of the main body of the army, on their march to Fort Wayne. Manor says
that he, with some of his neighbors, was standing in front of Beaugrand's store, at Maumee, when
the Indians came out of the woods—that they drew him up in line, and each put his gun to his
shoulder and aimed, as if to fire at the little group of settlers. Beaugrand came out and waved a
white handkerchief. They dropped their muskets, and approached the . store on a run, and
remained a few minutes. An hour after their departure, about 100 British soldiers, and as many
Pottawotomies and Wyandots, came up. Their first inquiry was for guides. Manor, from
prudential motives, was seized with sudden and severe lameness; but it would not do. The officer
in command pressed him into service as a guide, and lame as he seemed, he was compelled to
conduct this company to the head of the rapids. Here his lame-
Lucas County—Peter Navarre - 535
ness so increased, that his persecutors dismissed him, and he set out on his return home. At the
foot of Presque Isle Hill, he met Colonel Elliott, the officer in command of the detachment, and
the remainder of the troops and Indians composing it. Elliott examined him closely, and on
learning that he had been employed as a guide, permitted him to go on his way. He proceeded to
Beaugrand's. Finding that the country was getting too hot for him, and sympathising with the
American cause, he left the rapids to join his family, which had previously removed to the
dwelling of Robert Navarre, at the mouth of the river. At Swan Creek, he came suddenly upon
two British vessels. The officer in command, not satisfied with his account of himself, took him
prisoner, and confined him under hatches. He remained there until Beaugrand could be informed
of his condition; and upon his representation that Manor was a tory, he was released."
Peter Navarre and his four brothers, and Peter Manor, and Joseph Bordeau, rendered valuable aid
to the United States, as scouts during the war of 1812 ; and had General Winchester listened to
their sagacious and timely suggestions, the disaster at the river Raisin would not, probably, have
occurred.
"Navarre and his brothers were employed as scouts, by Harrison, as soon as Fort Meigs was
completed. When the Indians first made their appearance, Navarre discovered them crossing the
river at the foot of the island. On reporting this to Harrison, he gave him three letters—one to
Lower Sandusdy, one to Upper Sandusky, and a third to Governor Meigs, at Urbana. Navarre
departed, and at the close of the fifth day, handed the message to Governor Meigs."
Peter Navarre, who is yet living near the Maumee Bay, was born at Detroit in 1786, being now
87 years of age. An editorial in the Toledo Blade, of May, 1872, gives the following, in addition
to what has been hitherto sketched, upon the authority of this venerable patriot:
"At the battle of the Thames, on the 1st of October, Navarre was under Johnson, in the
immediate vicinity of Tecumseh, of whose death he speaks as follows:
"'He was standing behind a large tree that had blown down, encouraging his warriors, and was
killed by a ball that passed diagonally through his chest. After death he was shot several times,
but otherwise his body was not mutilated in the least, being buried in his regimentals, as the old
chief desired, by myself and a companion, at the command of General Harrison. All statements
that he was scalped or skinned are absolutely false.'"
"While at Malden, General Proctor, of the British army, offered the Indians $1,000 for the scalp
of Navarre, and was informed that if he wanted it he must secure it himself, as in times of peace
they had taught him all their knowledge of woodcraft, and now it was almost impossible to
capture him.
536 - Lucas County - Recollections of Major Stickney
“ Mr Navarre receives a pension of $8 per month by a late act of Congress, and resides at Big
Ditch, with his wife and family, about six miles east of Toledo.”
The early history of Toledo is very fully embodied in the recollections of the late Major B. F.
Stickney, and of J. W. Scott, Richard Mott, Willard J. Daniels, and others, which will soon
follow.
Says Major Stickney:
"By act of Congress, in 1816-17, the reservation of twelve miles square, was ordered to be
surveyed and sold in February, 1817. The centre of this reserve was the Big Island, at the foot of
the rapids of the Maumee, and extended down the river far enough to include the mouth of Swan
Creek. A company of Cincinnati men purchased at the sale two tracts, making about 400 acres, at
the mouth of Swan Creek—laid out a few town lots, and called it Port Lawrence. They offered a
part of their lots for sale at auction in September, 1817, at the Indian treaty at Fort Meigs. I was
the purchaser of a greater number of lots than any other person. I then conceived that this
property was to constitute a part of the future commercial city.
"The company had purchased these lands of the United States upon the conditions of paying
one-fourth in hand, and the remainder in three equal annual payments, and had sold on the same
terms. After the first payment, in consequence of the revulsion of money affairs, they found
themselves unable to pay the other instalments, they having agreed to pay for the Port Lawrence
tract seventy-six dollars and six cents per acre. Congress passed a law for their relief, known as
the 'Relief law,' by which they were allowed to relinquish a part to the United States, and to apply
the amount to the quarter payment upon the three instalments upon the part they chose to retain.
Under this provision, the Port Lawrence tract was entirely relinquished. All the lots that had been
sold, were surrendered to the United States. I prosecuted the company on their contract with me,
and obtained a compromise. Before the surrender, I had made brick to build a dwelling on the
lots I had purchased. These I now removed on a large tract adjoining, which I had purchased
some years before, and built a house there, and commenced making a farm, determined to live by
farming until the canal should be made.
"The University of Michigan at this time owned some floating sections granted them by the
United States for University purposes. They had the right to locate on certain lands within the
territory of Michigan, belonging to the United States. The Port Lawrence tract was considered as
being within the territory, but not exactly of the description called for. However, they located
upon these two
tracts, and their title was subsequently confirmed by act of Congress.
Lucas County—Recollections of J. W. Scott - 537
"The Cincinnati company was deemed to be dead. Three of the gentlemen who belonged to
it,—Micajah T. Williams, William Oliver, and Martin Baum,—entered into a negotiation with
the University, by which they became the owners of this important piece of ground.
"In 1832, seeing no prospect that Baum and Oliver would make any advances in improvement on
their grounds, I closed with an offer made to me by Captain Samuel Allen, of Lockport, New
York, by which improvements were to be commenced upon my land.—Allen was a shrewd,
far-seeing man, and had discovered the importance of the location some years before this time. A
contract was entered into between us, by the terms of which Allen was to receive half the ground,
upon the performance of certain covenants. This was in October, 1832, and the contract run until
the following January. Allen failed to perform his part of the contract, but came on in January,
accompanied by Otis Hathaway, whom he desired might be taken into partnership, and a new
contract made. This was done, and a town plat laid out, and called Vistula; but, owing to
pecuniary difficulties, all action under this contract was suspended in a short time. Allen bought
Hathaway's interest, and a new contract between us was entered into, by the terms of which we
were to commence building wharves, warehouses, and dwelling-houses in the town, expend
considerable sums in making roads leading to and from it, and perform other acts, involving, in
all, an expenditure of $30,000. One half of this expenditure was to be made in six months.
"From some cause, Captain Allen failed to comply with the contract, and returned to Lockport;
but after a few months came back, accompanied by Edward Bissell, with whom I entered into a
contract similar to the one I had made with Allen.
"Bissell set about the work of improvement in earnest, and built wharves, and houses, advanced
money for making roads, and, in many respects, did more than his contract required. Vistula
advanced rapidly, and soon acquired considerable reputation.
"In the meantime, Martin Baum died, and William Oliver, and Micajah T. Williams were the
surviving proprietors of the adjoining ground, where a town plat had heen laid out in 1817. In
1833, Port Lawrence and Vistula were united under the name of Toledo."
REMINISCENCES OF JESUP W. SCOTT.
The general reader, as well as those especially interested in Toledo history, will appreciate the
following from the pen of this eminent citizen :
On this first day of January, 1844, I commence to write matters which, I suppose; will be
interesting to be known in the future, rela-
538 - Lucas County—Recollections of J. W Scott.
tive to the commencement of a city on the estuary of the Mauniee river. The reader will get my
views and observations just as they came up in my memory while writing.
In 1828, while residing in Columbia, South Carolina, my thoughts were directed to future seats
of commerce to grow up in the great central plain of North America. My conclusion was, that the
great city of the nation, and, probably, of the world, would grow up in that plain ; and that, on the
harbor at the west end of Lake Erie, would grow up a great mart, possibly the largest, probably
the second largest, and, certainly, not below the third in rank. The period for the consummation
of the superiority of central, over Atlantic cities, was thought to be either the year 1900, or about
100 years from that time—say, 1928—and, for the supremacy of some central city over any other
of the world, by the year 2000 of our era. The largest commercial points in what was then called
"the West,'' were Cincinnati (numbering some 8,000), Pittsburg, Louisville and St. Louis—all
smaller than Cincinnati. The idea of an interior mart becoming larger than New York, or New
Orleans, was deemed, by persons to whom I stated these opinions, nothing short of the most
absurd that could be suggested; and I found no man disposed to give it the least hospitality.
Allowing the rate of progress which our population had made to be continued 100 years, the truth
of my opinion seemed perfectly demonstrable, and I thought I did make a complete
demonstration of it. But I did not satisfy another mind, or make a single convert, for many years.
In the fall of 1830, I removed to Ohio, and, during the year 1832, I published, in a small monthly
sheet printed at Norwalk, at my expense, called "The Ohio and Michigan Register and Emigrants'
Guide," an article in which I undertook to prove that Cincinnati, or some other city of the great
valley, would, in A. D. 1900, be larger than New York, and, by the year A. D. 2000, be larger
than any other city of the world.
About 1838, or 1839, I published in the Hesperian magazine, a monthly published in Columbus
and Cincinnati, by Gallagher & Curry, a series of papers on internal improvements and interior
cities, in which I amplified on my previous article. Previous to this time, to wit : in June, 1832, I
visited the country at the mouth of the Maumee. My residence was then, temporarily, at Florence,
then in Huron, now in Erie county, Ohio. Although I had for years held in high estimation some
indefinite good place for a city on the harbor formed by the entrance of the Maumee into the lake,
I had not taken the trouble to visit it, until I read in the National Intelligencer, an article from the
pen of Major Benjamin F. Stickney, in which it was stated that " the plan of a town—indeed of a
city—had been laid out by some enterprising gentlemen from the State of New York," and setting
forth the advantages of its position. This called up the desire to see the site of a city that might
one day be great; and I accordingly mounted my horse, and, passing through
Lucas County—Recollections of J. W. Scott - 539
Milan, then one of the largest places in Northern Ohio, Lower Sandusky (now Fremont, and then
a place of some promise, and some 300 or 400 people), and thence along the thirty-one miles of
road through the swamp to Perrysburg, thence crossing, by ford, the Maumee, above the old town
of the same name, I, with some difficulty, found my way along the Monroe turnpike, and thence
from Section l6, T. 3, U. S. R.., by a rude path through the openings and woods to the mouth of
Swan Creek, and thence down along the river bank, mostly through the forest, to the new town of
Vistula ; and below to the residence of Major Stickney.
A few board shanties had been put up on Summit street, near Lagrange, and some men were at
work grading down what is npw the foot of Lagrange street, preparing a wharf for the landing of
vessels. At the gate of the brick house now standing—but soon to go the way of all others of the
olden time—I overtook Major Stickney and Samuel Allen (known as Captain Allen), .the Major's
associate in laying out the new town. The Major received my address in his own courteous, grave
manner, and Mr. Allen in that prompt business style, and with an air that might have become one
of the solid men of Boston, accustomed to shake State street by his stately tread. I told them my
errand was to see where the mighty city site of the Maumee should be, and to write about
it—perhaps to make some purchase, if I should be satisfied that this was the right spot. Mr. Allen
kept, as a boarding house, temporarily, the residence of the Major for the accommodation of the
persons coming to settle or purchase in the new plat, or in the neighborhood. There I domiciled
myself for a few days to look about.
Mrs. Allen, a Quaker lady, exhibited remarkable talent and tact in pleasing those of her guests
who might forward the growth of the city in embryo. In appearance and address, she was no less
remarkable than her husband. He was rather short, thick set, straight, and with a quick, firm
movement, like one born to lead. No one could be better fitted to lead a forlorn hope in battle, or
in city building. His benevolence was high, his organ of hope large, and his caution small, with a
back head of sufficient capacity for ample motive power.
Major Stickney, as having had more to do with this city and region, and as a character not less
marked, I design to describe more fully hereafter.
FEBRUARY 18, 1857.—The foregoing, written in Toledo over thirteen years ago, and with the
intention of regular continuation, has just been looked over ; and I now, near Castleton, New
York, resume the narrative.
When these notes were commenced, Toledo was a city, to be sure, on paper, and by act of
incorporation ; but according to an estimate carefully made, the entire population out of the city,
on which its commerce depended, did not exceed 200 families of farmers. There
540 - Lucas County—Recollections of J. W Scott.
Were probably living, within the limits, about2,000 people mail of them holding on with a view
to the business that was expected he to flow in on the completion of the Wabash and Erie, and t
Miami and Erie Canals, then being constructed. Now the popula. tion is not less than 12,000,
with abundance of business for a good support to all who are willing to work. I now resume the
narrative.
On my way to the new "Vistula," I passed through Perrysburg and Maumee--small, but, as it
seemed to me, beautifully situated hamlets, at the head of navigation on the Maumee river, and
each claiming to be the best position for the chief town. The principal men were fur traders, or, as
they were more generally designated, Indian traders; and their expectation of future greatness was
quite limited. The commerce, by lake, of these places, was carried on by two schooners, named
"Eagle" and "Guerriere," of about 60 tons burthen, and commanded by two brothers named
David and James Wilkinson,--hardy, bluff, and strong-minded men, whose position as friends or
enemies no one could long doubt. The principal owner was John Hollister, of Perrysburg, from
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, an Indian trader and man of mark, one of nature's noblemen, whose
influence was felt in the councils of the State, and in the commercial struggle for the supremacy
between the towns at the foot of the rapids, and the new city below.
The Indian trade, in furs and the fisheries, with corn growing. on the bottom lands, constituted
the business on which these hamlets relied for support; and, with few exceptions, the inhabitants
failed to anticipate any considerable change from that condition. There was one man, however,
then living in Perrysburg, familiarly known as Judge Rice—Ambrose Rice—who, in native
sagacity and foresight, seemed to me, and seems now to me, to have been before any man I have
ever known. I afterwards became intimate with him ; and, though I have had familiar intercourse
with several men who have the position, in public estimation, among the greatest men of our
country, I have not known one with so penetrating a judgment, or so clear an intellect. Nor, in
moral truthfulness, and stern integrity, was he less distinguished. His position was that of County
Surveyor, and agent to select lands for purchasers. His usual habits were secluded, and he spent
very little time in conversation. Except on business, he conversed with very few persons, and the
community looked upon him as very odd, especially as he usually avoided the society of
ladies—being a confirmed bachelor.
The few days at Major Stickney's were spent in looking about and coming to an opinion as to the
relative advantages of a city site of the places eight miles above, and the present position of
Toledo. What is now partially built over, and laid out into streets,—being nearly all in a wild
4tate,—seemed a wide extent of land admitting room for a choice of location for several. towns.
The two tracts, Nos. 1 and 2, of the 12 miles square reservation, which embraced
Lucas County—Recollections of J. W. Scott - 541
the mouth of Swan Creek, had been selected as the best point, and purchased at the sale of the
reserve lands in 1817, by Major William Oliver and associates. But, as the adjoining lands, for
several years after, were still in possession of the Indians, who were then the sole tenants of all
the northwest quarter of Ohio, except a few reservations; and, as the collapse of the credit
currency of the country occurred soon after, this effort to start a city at the west end of Lake Erie,
proved abortive.
After being taken up the river as far as Delaware flats (where she got aground), by the little
steamer "Pioneer," which had been chartered by Stickney and Allen to run between Sandusky
City and their "Vistula;" and turning over in my mind the advantages relatively to each other, of
the up-river and down-river claimants, I decided that the down-river had the preponderance of
advantages, and that the best position for the centre of the down-river town, was just below the
entrance of Swan Creek into the river. At this point, there was then a log warehouse, and rude
wharf, nearly rotten. Believing in the high destiny of the future city, wherever it should be, and
having brought my mind to a satisfactory state as to its precise location, I became anxious to have
an interest in it My means were quite limited, so that it was necessary to make the most of my
opportunity to buy in the right place.
The only possible chance that I found, was a very wild and rude piece of ground, then possessed
by Dr. Sutphen, being the S. W. fr. 1/4 of sec. 36, T. 9 S. B. 7 E., embracing with it a small piece
of sec. 35. Of this, I bargained for seventy acres, at $12 per acre. I also wrote to Major Oliver,
who .resided in Cincinnati, offering to become part owner of his tracts, and to become agent for
their management. When my letter reached the Major, there was an applicant with him, having
the same object in view, Dr. D. 0. Comstock, who bought one-fourth of tracts 1 and 2, and, with
his brother, S. B. Comstock, became agent of what was called the Port Lawrence
Company—owning river tracts 1 and 2.
At the time I bought the seventy acres, I could have bought the whole fractional quarter of
eighty-six acres, by giving $15 per acre for what remained ; but, as I thought t he part hought was
worth more by the acre than what was left, I declined to buy. Having, as I thought, got a fair
chance to participate in the advantages of the future rapid growth of a great city. I embarked with
my horse on the steamer "Pioneer," for Sandusky City, elated with high hopes of future profit
from my purchase. On the steamer I fell in with a man who had just come from the west shore of
Lake Michigan, where he had pre-empted, or rather bought the pre-emption of an 80-acre lot at
the mouth of the Milwaukee river. This was the first, time I had heard the name. I think the land
had cost him $6 per acre; and, as he could hardly spare so much money as it had cost, he offered
to let me in as joint purchaser, I think, but am not certain, at the cost price. I declined, telling
him. that he would do
542 - Lucas County—Recollections of J. W Scott.
better to. make the new town of Vistula the theatre of speculation, as it might, and probably
would, become a considerable city before settlements to any extent would reach as far west as
Milwaukee.
On my return to Florence, I told my wife, and one or two other, persons, that the seventy acres I
had bought would, in twenty years, be worth $20,000.. They laughed at my sanguine calculation ,
and they would have been still more merry, if they had been told the real extent of my hopes. In
1852, the twenty years had passed. Toledo then possessed a population of over five thousand, and
the seventy acres, if I had owned it all, in one piece, would probably have been marketable at
something near, but 'not much over, twenty thousand dollars. I had, however, in 1835, about
three years after the purchase, sold an undivided half of the tract for six thousand dollars, to
Edward Bissell, then the largest owner of property in what was then the united village of
Toledo—Vistula and Port Lawrence having yielded their separate existence, and become one.
In 1835, commenced that memorable speculation in wild lant.i.s, and wild cities, which
culminated in 1836. The whole Maumee valley was filled with eastern fortune-hunters.. Congress
and State lands were raced-for entry, and the shores of the river from Fort Wayne to the Mauinee
Bay, were alive with city-builders. From the foot of the rapids to the bay, land was all considered
necessary for three-story brick blocks; and, after the canal was located on the north side, all the
shore from Waterville to Manhattan was held as city property. Jackson's specie circular soon
brought their airy fabric into ruin, which was completed by the failure of the United States Bank
of Pennsylvania, in 1839.
Under the auspices of Bissell and his associates, Toledo had been pushed forward to be a
considerable place—numbering, at one time, probably, over fifteen hundred inhabitants. Most of
the buildings of any note, had been erected by the speculative owners, and when money ceased to
flow west for investment, and men, from. devoting themselves 'to speculation, turned their
attention to earning their daily bread, Toledo was a young city in the wilderness, with high
expectations, but with nothing, or next to nothing, to live upon. The great body of lands which
surrounded it, had been entered for speculation; so that, up to the time of the canal being
completed to To%do, in 1843, there were not over 200 families out of the city, which resorted to
it as their principal place of trade. These families, too, were but little 'advanced in farming
operations; and many of them too deeply in debt to have much .means to buy even necessaries.
This estimate of the number of families out of Toledo, who could be relied upon to do their
business with its citizens, was made by me in 1844, when I was editor of the Toledo Blade. At
that time, those best informed as to the advantages of the place to be- come a large commercial
town, anticipated a more rapid growth than has been realized. The canal, though a noble channel
for commerce, passes through a country with rich and great agricultural
Lucas County—Recollections of J. W. Scott - 543
capabilities, but out of the tract of the best class of migrating farmers. It has for this and other
reasons, had very partial development.
In 1844, Toledo was little more than the dead carcass of speculation. Its previous existence had
heen abnormal, but its condition was worse than negative. It had acquired a widespread and
almost universally-believed character for insalubrity. It would, in its first settlement, have been
noted, to some extent, for the severity of its malarial fevers, if it had been settled by industrious
and moral people, having the means to provide comfortable habitations, and healthy food. A
large portion of its first inhabitants, though intelligent enough, were not possessed of the means
or habits to preserve health, in a new and rich soil. Much sickness and distress, therefore, were
suffered. When, therefore, after the canal began to give it a business worth naming, its reputation
for sickliness had become such as to divert from it, to other wester cities, most of the enterprising
business men, who flocked thither from the old States and Europe. Its rivals—and almost all the
towns on Lake Erie considered themselves such—were very industrious in giving, and keeping
alive, the bad name which it had, in its speculative existence, to some extent, deserved. Other
causes conspired to turn the tide of population from the wooded region about Toledo to the
prairies beyond Michigan. The most powerful of these was the interest which existed in Buffalo
and Oswego, through which, up to 1853, nearly all the immigration flowed, to carry passengers
and freight as far as possible, in their steamers and other vessels. Concurring in this, was the
interest exerted by speculators in prairie lands, to give to emigrating families in Europe, and
especially in Germany, such information of the advantages of the country west of Lake Michigan,
as turned the tide almost entirely through that channel. This tide and its reaction built up, in a
very short time, the considerable cities of Milwaukee and Chicago. The position of the latter has
always seemed to me one of very great commercial power, second, perhaps, to none other of the
great plain.
TOLEDO, DECEMBER 24, 1861.—A wide interval from the last date for a journal. My
impression, on first studying attentively the merits of the commanding commercial points of the
great North American plain, were in favor of St. Louis and Cincinnati, as the chief rivals for the
great city. Afterwards, I became convinced that the lake borders were to give the great emporium
to the country, and Chicago seemed to promise best. I now believe Toledo better located to
become the central city of the Continent than any other. In giving the preference to Chicago, I did
not sufficiently value the power, for commercial purposes, of the countries lying eastward of
both, and more accessible to Toledo. Balancing the commercial and other industrial power,
domestic and foreign, east and west, north and south, of the two cities, it will be found that
Toledo is more central. Its harbor and site are also much better than those of Chi-
544 - Lucas County - Recollections of Richard Mott.
cago. My views, on this special subject, may be found in the December number of 1861, of
Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, in an article written by me. For a general view Of the causes which
go to build up cities in modern times, I would, also, refer to an article in the same magazine,
published in the November number for 1854,
TOLEDO, APRIL, 1871.—Another interval of ten years has passed, and given abundant proofs
of correctness of my early, and, generally thought, wild calculations of the superior power of the
interior Df our continent for the growth of cities. Having lived beyond the ordinary limit allotted
to man, and witnessed a wonderful advance in all that goes to give power to man, and to
encourage a feeling of the wisdom of unity of thought and action among individuals and nations,
I now look forward with interest and ardent hope that all peoples will see their welfare in the
common effort to maintain peaceful and untrammelled commercial and social relations with each
other, increasing the productiveness of lands, and building up more beautiful houses in country
and city, and, in process of time, making one great central city, which shall be as the heart and
brain )f the united family of man, and a common home for the best of ill nations, with equal
rights protected by equal laws.
REMINISCENCES OF RICHARD MOTT.
The reader is under obligations to Mr. Mott for the charming style employed by him, in
communicating his reminiscences of Toledo. He gives sketches of nearly all the old
citizens,—remembering many friends, and dexterously omitting any reference to his own
manifold good works. His genial, charitable disposition is also manifest in the omission to refer
to the foibles of some, against whom, in their life-time, and even since, the world delighted to
render verdicts, untempered with charity. Could Mr. Mott have his own way, the good that men
do would undoubtedly live after them in perennial bloom ; while the evil, only, " would be
interred with their bones."
With characteristic modesty, as before stated, it will be noted that he scarcely refers to himself,
acrd even such skeleton touches as he affords, were fairly coaxed from him. The following brief
note embodies all that he vouchsafes relating to himself and family :
" PORT WASHINGTON, QUEENS CO., N. Y., 1.
" 8th Mo., 25, 1872.
"MY DEAR FRIEND:
" I am in due receipt of thine of the 21st. I should have replied to it sooner, but was away from
home yesterday.
"In response to the inquiries as to my birth, marriage, etc., I have to say:
Lucas Co.—Recollections of Richard Mott - 545
"I was born at Mamaroneck, Westchester county, New York, July 21, 1804,—removed, in 1815,
with my parents, to the city of New York, and was married November 12, 1828, to Elizabeth M.
Smith, daughter of Captain Elihu Smith, formerly of New Bedford, Massachusetts. She died in
August, 1855. We were both Quakers, and both of Quaker descent. The branch of the Mott
family to which I belong, were among the early converts, in America, of George Fox, and we
have ever since, through each generation, adhered to the faith, and ever expect to,—at least I
hope so.
"Thy friend,
"RICHARD MOTT.
"To H. S. KNAPP."
In his reminiscences, while liberally commending others, he would not indicate the monuments
of his own enterprise; the multitude of his unostentatious charities; and also omits mention that
the city of Toledo has often called him into her public councils, and greatly profited by his
services. And, furthermore, this witness, almost in derogation of public opinion, and to the
damage of public wealth,—which consists, in good part, of the honorable record made by those
who have held public trusts,—he omits the sketch which he should have made of his four years'
Congressional service, extending from 1857 to 1861.
With this very brief explanation, rendered necessary by the omissions of Mr. Mott, his
recollections of Toledo are subjoined :
My personal knowledge of the Maumee country dates from the 1st of March, 1836. I arrived
there after a three days' ride by stage from Columbus. The Black Swamp was frozen hard, and we
had an easy ride through that then dreaded region. Willard V. Way, then, as now, a resident of
Perrysburg, was the only other passenger in the stage, our three days' association making us
pretty well acquainted, by the time he got out at Spafford's, where we changed horses, and I came
on alone to Toledo, reaching the " Toledo House" late in the afternoon. The Toledo House was a
double, two story, brick building, standing on the corner of Perry and Summit streets. It was
afterwards added to, and re-named the Indiana House.
The road from Maumee wound along through the woods, near the bank of the river, and not far
from the present river road. The forest extended to the south bank of Swan Creek—no
improvement being on that side, nearer than George Knaggs' farm after leaving Port Miami. At
Swan Creek, a road had been cut, commencing where Henry Brand's brewery now is, and
descending along the side of the bank to about opposite Superior street, where was a
bridge—carried off by a freshet a few weeks later. For some years. afterwards, the creek was
crossed by a scow ferry-boat, large enough
- 34 -
546 Lucas Co.--.Recollections of Richard Mott.
to carry a single team. This ferry was kept by Harrison Crane, father of Charles A. Crane, of East
Toledo.
At Columbus, I had left Stephen B. Comstock, and Andrew Palmer who were successfully
lobbying for a charter for a railroad from Toledo to Sandusky. William Wilson, then of Sylvania,
was also there on some similar business. He had been one of the earlier tiers on on the river,
owning the farm adjoining Major Stickney's, to. wards Manhattan. At Marion we met Joseph R.
Williams, Willard J. Daniels, George McKay, and Cyrus King, from Toledo, on their way to
Columbus, to aid in procuring the railroad charter—all young and active men, and having full
faith in Toledo. Williams and King are not living; Daniels now resides at Lockport, New York.
He was then, and still is, largely interested in 'Toledo real estate. McKay left Toledo during the
following year, and has never
returned.
Adjoining the Toledo House, was the store of W. J. Daniels & Co., in which, at the time. Roswell
Cheney, Jr., and Daniel McBain were clerks. Cheney remained in Toledo, and died in 1845.
Over the store, reached by outside stairs, was a large room occupied by Emery D. Putter (since
Judge), as a lawyer's office. This office was much resorted to by the jiidge's friends, who wished
to write or transact business, all of whom were heartily welcomed by him—pens, ink, and paper,
and a seat at his long table, thrown in. It was, in fact, the most attracting loafing place in town.
Occasionally, in the evenings, a debating society met there. Besides Judge Potter. Peter Palmer
(now living in Lockport), Daniel McBain, Caleb F. Abbott, and Josiah G. Murfee, were
prominent in this organization. Joshua R. Giddings, and Benjamin F. Wade, came in the spring,
and took part in some real estate purchases. Wade did not stay long, but Giddings remained a
long time, and took an active part co amore in the debating society. Later in the spring, Edward
Wade also came, and opened a law office in company with Richard . Cook. The early settlers will
recollect Cook as a lawyer of much promise, cut short by his untimely death, a few years later.
Nearly opposite W. J. Daniels & Co., on part of the lot where Ketcham, Bond & Co. now are,
was another frame store standing alone, over the door of which was the sign of A. Palmer & Co.
This old building remained till 1859, when it was pulled down to make room for the block
belonging to V. H. Ketcham.
Daniels & Goettel (Munson H. Daniels and Henry Goettel,) were doing a large business in a
wooden building, on the corner of Perry and Swan streets. During the year, they put up two
three-story brick stores, on the corner of Monroe and Summit streets, and, in the fall of 1836,
moved into the corner one. These stores were burned October 16, 1860, and are replaced by the
present Link's Block, erected in the spring of 1861. A row of buildings stood on the northwest
side of St. Clair street, built by Colman I. Keeler, Jr., where is now the American House, but
extending further south,
Lucas Co.—Recollections of Richard Mott - 547
and across the alley that runs between the new Police Station and Kelsey, & King's Pork house.
The usually travelled road into the Port Lawrence end of the town was through this alley, and
under the wooden arch-way of Keeler's row. This road continued nearly to the present site of the
African church, then more towards the north, passed over the rear of Austin Scott's property,
corner of Monroe and Michigan streets ; thence crossing Monroe street, it passed over the ground
where J. H. Whitaker's house is—then along in front of Judge Potter's residence, and in the same
direction over the rear of Calvin Barker's and Horace Holcomb's grounds, and just clearing the
corner of Dr. White's house, on Madison street, continued in a direct line to the present road in
front of Judge Fitch's mansion.
On the river, in rear of the store of A. Palmer & Co., was a log warehouse, an old looking
building, said to have been standing when Colman I. Keeler landed there in 1817. Keeler settled
in that year on the farm now occupied by his widow, on the road above mentioned. This log
building was taken down in 1836, by Judge John Baldwin, who put on its site the warehouse
occupied, after his death, in 1837, by Carpenter & Myers, and then by V. H. Ketcham, who now
owns the ground—the building having been taken down to make room for Ketcham's block.
The Oliver warehouse, built by Joseph Prentice, was then standing on the west side of Monroe
street, where Roff.& Co. now are, And occupied by A. Palmer & Co. Further down, under the
bank of the river, on the site of M. I. Wilcox' brick store, was another warehouse, belonging to
William P. and W. J. Daniels. The bank, which was there upwards of thirty feet high, had been
dug away to fill in for the dock foundation for this warehouse, which was only reachable from
the land side, by a road commencing at Jefferson street, and cut sideways down the bank.
An attempt had been made towards street making on Monroe street, but it was not used, the
travel continuing on the old track out Perry street, and through the alley, under the arch of
Keeler's
row.
A brick store of two stories, belonging to John Baldwin, fronted Summit street adjoining W. J.
Daniels. This stood till within a few years since.
The ground in front of the Toledo House was about at the present grade of Summit street, at that
corner. It was some four or five feet at the lower intersection of Monroe street. Ilere was a
run.way for the water from the low ground, along Mud creek. This run way was crossed on
Summit street by a little log bridge,—the logs well covered with earth. Beyond this, at the east,
was a bluff, some twenty feet above the present grade, and a road-way had been cut partly
sidewalks to reach the top of the bluff. Here was a frame building, then occupied, but afterwards
fitted up, and known as the National Hotel, and where Lyman T. Thayer began his successful
career at hotel-keeping. The present Deuel block (Fred. Eaton
548 - Lucas Co.- Recollections of Richard Mott.
& Co.'s upper store), is on the same spot. It was then a command. ing position having a full view
of the river,—there being nothing to obstruct in either direction up or down. From this the road
wound along near the edge of the bank, among stumps and bushes, and without regard to map
lines of streets, to the post office, a two,story brick building, about 150 feet east of .Adams street.
This had been put up by Edward Bissell, for the purpose it was then used, to be about midway
between the settled portions of the previously rival villages of Port Lawrence and Vistula, when
they concluded to bury the hatchet of strife, and unite under the name of Toledo.
This post office building was an isolated and somewhat desolate looking affair, standing entirely
alone. The nearest dwelling was a log house, directly in the present line of Summit street, at the
corner of Oak, surrounded by a worm rail fence, enclosing about half an acre for a garden spot.
This log house was occupied by William Andrews and family, consisting of his wife, several
sons and daughters. Among the former was Samuel Andrews, of the Blade,—then a boy perhaps
a dozen years old. The road passed between the enclosure and the river, over the lot where the
Toledo mill stands, towads the corner of Cherry and Summit streets. From this to Elm street, the
line of Summit street was clearly defined. The stumps had been mostly grubbed out, and several
buildings were erected on both sides.
A frame building, occupied as two dwellings, stood on the west corner of Cherry street, where
Wittstein's drug store is. What is now Dr. Bergen's dwelling, adjoining, was nearly finished. The
frame on the corner was afterwards moved on the lot where B. Meilink and Co.'s furniture store
stands, and was long occupied by the Toledo Blade, till it was removed to its present location.
Cherry street was then the southwesterly border of the Vistula division. The entire space to the
tavern building, above Jefferson street, was open and wild, except the post office building, and
Mr. Andrews' log house.
On the south side of Summit street, on the corner of Vine street, was a frame building, occupied
by William Tillman as a paint shop below, and dwelling above. This was the next year fitted up,
by Edward Bissell, for a dwelling, and where he resided for several years. It still stands, in the
same place. Nearly opposite, Richard Greenwood had a small frame dwelling—still standing.
The three old stores, on the northwest side of Summit street, fronting the head of Vine street,
were in course of erection. A brick outside was put on them in 7852, in which they still stand.
When Toledo was made a city, in 1837, one of the offices in the second story of this block, was
used for the City Council room, till changed to the present location. Scott & Richardson (Samuel
B. Scott and Worden N. Richardson, both deceased), had a store a little below, towards Walnut
street.
Lucas Co--Recollections of Richard Mott. 549
A row of stores, belonging to Edward Bissell, stood on the corner of Locust street, where George
Webber's block is. In the second story of this row, Hezekiah D. Mason had his office. Judge
Mason was regarded as an old resident, having come in 1834.
This row was burned in the fall of 1838, the most sickly season ever known in Toledo. The city
had two fire engines, built at Waterford, New York ; and, as the weather had been very dry, one
of the engines (No. 1,) had to be run down the bank of the river for a supply of water, forcing it
up to the other (No. 2), that was thus enabled to throw one little stream. The few men who
worked the machine, at the river, were soon tired out, and the stream stopped. They sent for fresh
hands to help work at the brakes, but it was next to impossible to find any men who were well
enough ; the almost invariable excuse of every bystander applied to, being, that he was just out
from a fit of the ague, and was not able to work. The well men being fagged out, the stores were
destroyed. All that could be done, was to save the near buildings.
About half way between Locust and Lagrange sts., was the Mansion House; Wm. Wilmington's
residence occupies the spot. It was a story and a half frame, having a long front, and in the rear a
barn-like addition, used for a dining-room below, with a double row of lodging rooms above. It
was then kept by James Bourne, but soon after was taken by Daniel Segur, who continued in it
till the following autumn, when the " American Hotel," on the corner of Elm st., built by Joseph
R. Williams, being completed, Segur moved into the latter, which was then considered as
something notable in the tavern line—and so it was, and kept well, too.
On the southeast corner of Summit and Lagrange streets, was a two-story frame store, belonging
to and occupied by Dr. Jacob Clark, the sign over the door being Clark & Bennett. This corner
was then regarded as about the centre of business, and perhaps the best stand in the place, till
1843, when, by the opening of the canal, business was mainly drawn towards the Port Lawrence
end of the town. This old store was afterwards occupied by Ketcham & Snell, and it was here that
Joseph K. Secor commenced business life as a store boy. It was subsequently taken by Elijah S.
Hanks, who remained till it was burned, in 1844, or 1815.
Lagrange street was graded from Summit street (pretty steeply), so that teams could pass to the
dock. Here, on the west side of the street, was the worehouse of Peckham & Co., still standing,
now owned by P. H. Birckhead. Peckham & Co. did the largest forwarding business of the place,
most of the steamboats coming in the river stopping at their wharf. The members of the firm
were Bunnell H. Peckham, and John Berdan (Judge). Mr. Berdan was the first mayor of Toledo,
elected in the spring of 1837, by one vote over Andrew Palmer, and re-elected in 1838, without
organized opposition. He died in 1841. His sons, Peter and John, of the well-known firm of
Secor, Berdan & Co., were then round-jacketed
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