1800 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY case in Weston township. On March 7, 1859, the trustees sold Spencer Parley, a pauper, to Wesley Ebert, who agreed to pal the trustees two dollars per week for one year. au Weston Village was early known as Taylortown and was surveyed in 1853. The town was incorporated February 10, 1873, The first mayor was Sanford Baldwin ; clerk, Frank M. Young; treasurer, Isaac W. Clayton; marshal, William Strope. The first schoolhouse on Weston's site was a log hut, built about 1835. The location was on Main Street near where the Oswald offices now stand (1929). Jesse Osborn was the early teacher. CHAPTER LXXXII SENECA COUNTY—ITS SETTLEMENT AND EARLY HISTORY INDIAN RESERVATIONS-E A R L Y SETTLERS -ORGANIZATION OF COUNTY- JOSIAH HEDGES AND TIFFIN-FIRST RAILROADS-CHOLERA EPIDEMIC-INCORPORATION OF FORT BALL AND TIFFIN-FIRST NEWSPAPERS- EARLY TOWNSHIPS AND VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS. By Doctor Francis W. Kennedy The name of Seneca County sounds classical. The student lacking in historical perspective might hastily conclude that this name had been borrowed from the early philosopher by this name. But the occupancy of a considerable portion of this county's territory by the Seneca Indians and the existence of the large Seneca Reservation unquestionably led to the selection of this name by the original organizers of this county. How the Senecas came by this apparently classical name is unknown. Perhaps it is a mere coincidence. These Indians were the fifth nation of the Iroquois Confederacy—that group of native Americans who formed their unique organization in this old home in northern New York and Southeastern Canada probably in the 15th century. The Dutch along the Hudson called them Sinnekaas which the English later on spelled Senecas. They occupied the most western section of the territory dominated by the Iroquois and were, accordingly, called the "Western Door of the Long House." This tribe living in the Niagara region joined in the conspiracy of Pontiac in 1763 being the only one of the Six Nations to do so and during the American Revolution sided with the British, and their country was devastated by General Sullivan in 1779. After the Revolution their land passed into the possession of white people by sale and cession, excepting certain reservations. In the next war with England they sympathized with the Americans. Removing to the West they settled at several different points, but more particularly along the lower Sandusky. A remnant removed to the Indian Territory in 1831 and settled on the Neosho. Thus is briefly sketched the history of this important and interesting - 1801 - 1802 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY group of Red Men which gave the name to this important division of Northwestern Ohio, and, later on, to one of its fifteen townships. Having thus referred to one of the Indian tribes that figured in the early history, the writer must explain that it is not in his mind to go into the details of the struggles at various times with the Indians on the soil of this county. These incidents in Ohio constitute one of the major features of the main body of this work and need not be repeated here. We shall pass to mention that at the conclusion of this long and bloody struggle, Generals Cass and McArthur, on the 29th of September, 1817 met representatives of the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees, Pottawatomies, Ottawas, Chippewas and Senecas—all of the Indian tribes then in the northwest and made a treaty known as the Treaty of the Maumee. At that time no white man had settled in Seneca County. And in this treaty the Senecas were granted a reservation known thereafter as the Seneca Reservation lying on the east side of the Sandusky River. The greater part of this original tract lay within the boundaries of what is now Seneca County. The following year ten thousand more acres were added to this reservation, adjoining the other tract on the south. The whole reserve, therefore, constituted forty thousand acres and comprised some of the most valuable sections of the county. By this same treaty the Wyandots were given a tract twelve miles square, most of which lay in what is now Wyandot County, but about twelve square miles of the southwest corner of Big Spring township, Seneca County were included. So, we see, that at the end of the Indian struggles, this county still contained these two Indian tribes in considerable numbers and continued to have them until their later removal to the far West. INDIAN RESERVATIONS Having made reference to the Seneca and Big Spring Indian reservations, perhaps it will be advisable to go on at this point to the completion of that story. The Big Spring Reservation has given us the name of one of our townships lying in the southwest corner. The Wyandots continued to hold undisputed possession until they sold their claim to the United States, January 19, 1832. The basis of their claim is expressed as follows in the Wyandot treaty of September 17, 1818; "That there shall be reserved for the use of the Wyandots residing at Solomon's Town and on Blanchard's Fork, in addition to the reservation before made, 1804 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY sixteen thousand acres of land, to be laid off in a square form on the head of Blanchard's Fork, the center of which shall be at the Big Spring, on the trace leading from Upper Sandusky to Fort Findlay." According to the terms of the treaty of 1832, the Wyandots were to receive one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre when the land was sold by the United States. During the negotiations of this treaty, according to the historian, Lang, a change of attitude toward the acceptance of lands beyond the Mississippi took place and the sixth article of the treaty reads as follows: "It is expressly understood between the present contracting parties, that the said band of Wyandots may, as they think proper, remove to Canada, or to the River Huron, in Michigan, where they own a reservation of land, or to any place they may obtain a right or privilege from other Indians to go." The ,1 explanation for this change of front, Lang claims, was that the "Indians got drunk and it was dangerous to remain any longer among them." The negotiations were, accordingly terminated as favorably as possible by the special Commissioner J. B. Gardiner. Notwithstanding this incident the Wyandots as compared with the other tribes ranked very high. They were regarded as very brave and several of the chiefs of this Big Spring group were men of high moral and religious character. The Catholics successfully carried on mission work among this tribe in the early days and the Methodists under the leadership of Rev. James B. Finley established a mission and erected a large and substantial stone structure a short distance northeast of Upper Sandusky. Important as was the Big Spring Reservation, even more interesting and significant to the historian was the occupancy of that large territory in the northwest corner by the Senecas. Rev. James Montgomery was appointed by the government as the first agent of the Seneca Indians and lived in the old block-house at Fort Seneca (near the present village of Old Fort). His daughter Mrs. Sally Ingham writes : "The Senecas were an exceedingly superstitious people and notwithstanding all the influence brought to bear upon them to love and embrace the Christian religion, they were very stubborn, and seemed to prefer their untutored notions about the Deity to the beauties of divine revelation. The belief in witches was a part of their faith and whenever anything occurred that troubled them, they were sure that some witch was at the bottom of the mischief. Their vengeance then generally fell upon some poor old squaw, who was then almost certain of being killed." TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1805 She refers also to their "annual green-corn-dance" which was a sort of "thanksgiving frolic." This was greatly in contrast with their "dog-dance" which took place about the time of our Christmas and lasted nine days. In this grand ceremony, they danced fully armed with all sorts of noise-making. "They danced up and down, and the old chiefs in a guttural sound which approximated a roaring, indicated the time with their Yah-Ho-Wah. The squaws never danced with the men, but formed a ring by themselves. The squaws danced to their own music, which was a sort of whine on a high note, and seemed to come from a great distance." At the climax of this ceremony the dogs' bodies were sacrificed. They held them up by the legs and said a long ceremony over them, then placed them on the burning log-heap. All the Indians remained silent, almost motionless, as Good Hunter officiated as priest. Dried herbs were placed on the dogs' bodies by the priest and by every member of the tribe and the ceremony was concluded by some Indian running in and scattering fire and ashes all around the council house and over the people. When they buried their dead, "a hole was left in the box, near the head to let the spirit come through, and the corpse was supplied with cakes of sugar and bread. After the box was let down into the grave, the Indians marched around it, and each dropped some green sprig upon it, very much like the burial ceremony of a member of some secret society in this respect, in these days. When the grave was filled up, the squaws pulled their blankets forward over their heads and as far out as their elbows would reach, and cried with a sort of howling voice. While the men stood motionless, and looked on without shedding a tear." The Senecas on this reservation showed their superstitious beliefs particularly with reference to witchcraft. The death of the famous chief, Seneca John, at the hands of his brothers illustrates this. This occurred in the year 1825. Coonstick, Steel, and Cracked Hoof had gone away to find a new home and fresh hunting grounds for their people. Cornstock and John were left behind as leaders of the tribe. Coonstick and Steel were brothers of Cornstock and Seneca John. On their return they found the older brother Cornstock had died and immediately accused Seneca John of causing his death by witchcraft. He protested his innocence but to no avail. Realizing that his older brothers could not be changed in their resolve to put him to death, he asked most pathetically to live one more day to see the sun rise again. They acceded to this. He spent the night in slumber 1806 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY in the tent of Hard Hickory. They awakened him next morning, led him out to look upon the sun which was just coming up and cut him down with a blow from a tomahawk. General Brish says : "Three years thereafter, when I was preparing to remove them to the West, I saw Coonstick and Steel remove the fence and level the ground so that no vestige of the grave (of Seneca John) remained. John chose the place of his execution near Hard Hickory's lodge because he did not wish to be killed in the presence of his wife, and because, also, he wanted Hard Hickory to witness that he died 'like a man!' " Such incidents as these, no doubt, frequently occurred on this historic soil while these Indians held possession of this large tract in old Seneca. And they continued to hold this for nearly nine years after Seneca County had been organized and officially recognized by the State of Ohio. EARLY SETTLERS The historian W. Lang writing in 1880 says that "nearly opposite and west of the mouth of Rocky Creek, on the left bank of the river * is a large spring of excellent, cold water. This spring attracted the attention of Col. Jas. V. Ball, when in 1813 he was about to build a stockade near the army road on the bank of the river, under instructions from General Harrison. A detachment of men, under the command of the Colonel, built the stockade and called it 'Fort Ball.' This camp was built as a temporary place of security, and as a magazine for supplies. It consisted of stakes a foot in thickness fixed in the ground, with old bayonets driven through them horizontally, near the tops. Against these, logs were piled upon the outside, and over the logs dirt was thrown from a ditch, which surrounded the whole. There was room in the interior for five hundred men." This fort was used occasionally until General Harrison left the country. Four years after this fort was erected, on the 18th of November, 1817, Mr. Erastus Bowe arrived at Camp Ball and became the first "settler" in Seneca County. He had erected for himself: a double log house within the limits of the old camp. Here Mr. Bowe kept the first tavern in Seneca. This was the only house on the left bank of the river when the town of Oakley was surveyed and platted. This town of Oakley which was the first post office in the county was surveyed in 1819 by Joseph Vance for one Robert Armstrong. Oakley, was the first town surveyed and platted in the county and Bowe's tavern was in this survey, TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1807 David Risdon was the first postmaster. Mail came by only one route from Columbus to Lower Sandusky (Fremont), along the army road. In 1819 Abner Pike settled in Oakley and in 1824 David Risdon surveyed the town of Fort Ball which took in the whole of the former town of Oakley. This plat was on the west bank of the Sandusky on ground belonging to the said Robert Armstrong. "Armstrong Reservation" consisted of a section .of ground given to him at the treaty of the Miami of Lake Erie. This was done because Armstrong acted as interpreter, was married to a half-blood and had been raised by the Wyandots, who had carried him off from his home in Pennsylvania when a child three years of age. These towns of Oakley and Fort Ball were earlier than the town of Tiffin that arose subsequently on the east side of the Sandusky. It was in 1821 that Josiah Hedges entered the land upon which the old town of Tiffin was located. This was done at the Delaware land office. The town was surveyed and platted by his brother Gen. James Hedges of Mansfield. The first tree was cut upon the town plat in March, 1822 and soon thereafter Henry Welch of Eden township, John Mim and two other men, Wetz and Drennon, had each a lot given to them, upon the condition that each should built a cabin on his lot and move into it with his family, which was done accordingly. James Spink of Wooster and Simeon B. Howard of eastern Ohio were also among the early settlers in Tiffin. A bitter rivalry naturally sprang up between old Fort Ball and the town of Tiffin and when the county seat was to be located, Josiah Hedges, the proprietor of Tiffin, skillfully managed to get the committee named by the legislation to favor Tiffin rather than Fort Ball. This greatly angered the dwellers across the river and this intense feeling continued until finally Mr. Hedges bought out Jesse Spencer, the proprietor of Fort Ball, and became the owner of the New Fort Ball, made up of the former Fort Ball and additions thereto on the west side of the river. This resurvey of Fort Ball and the additional territory was made by Mr. James Durbin. This town continued to be called New Fort Ball until it was merged into the city of Tiffin. Tiffin was selected as the county seat two years before the county was fully organized and 'ranted judicial or municipal powers. This was done in 1824. Meanwhile settlers were coming into the Rocky Creek and Honey Creek sections on the east side of the river, while on the west side they were found only in Fort Ball and near the old 1808 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY Fort Seneca. The greater part of the western section was a part of the great "Black Swamp." Among these very early settlers were Noah Seits, Joseph McClelland and James Boyd who settled in Bloom township about 1822. It was in the Honey Creek section that most of the early settlers located with the exception of those who founded homes in Fort Ball—Tiffin. Soon after squatters also took up their abodes along Silver Creek and in Thompson. ORGANIZATION OF SENECA COUNTY Up to this time the settlers were men squatters. They went when they pleased and placed their little cabins or huts where it suited them. They fished and hunted. Some made small clearings in the dense forest to raise some vegetables, taking their chances for the improvements falling into the hands of somebody else; others that lived near any of the reservations, farmed the lands of some of the Indians on shares. But soon after the treaty of the Miami of the Lake, the government ordered a survey to be made of this "new purchase." This new section in the northwest was to begin on the west line of Ohio—the state line—which was the first meridian. Running eastward from this line on the forty-first parallel the ranges were laid off every sixth mile. At the end of the seventeenth range the surveyor was within fifty-two chains and seven links of the southwest corner of the Western Reserve. A line drawn due north from this point cut the west line of the Western Reserve exactly at the northeast corner of Seneca County. "There is therefore a strip of land lying all along and east of the seventeenth range that is not in any range, 52.07 wide on the south end, running to a point just eighteen miles north. This tract is called the gore.' The ranges in the 'new purchase' are six miles wide making it 102 miles, plus the gore' from the Western Reserve to the Indiana line. Seneca County lies in the southeastern corner of this 'new purchase.' Seneca County has five ranges—from the 13th to the 17th inclusive and then townships north of this 41st meridian, i. e. townships one, two and three north—in all, fifteen townships. Sylvanus Bourne assisted by a Mr. Holmes, employed by the national government, ran the meridian or base line and also marked off the ranges and township lines within the 'new purchase.' Four men appointed by the Commissioner of the general land office surveyed and subdivided Seneca into sections, quarter and half-quarter sections. These men were Sylvanus Bourne, J. Glasgow, Price F. TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1809 Kellogg and James T. Worthington. Bourne surveyed the townships north of range sixteen, viz: Bloom, Scipio, and Adams; Kellogg those north of range seventeen, viz.: Venice, Reed and Thompson; Worthington those north of range fourteen, viz. : Seneca, Hopewell and Liberty; Glasgow those north of range thirteen, viz.: Big Spring, Loudon, and Jackson ; Worthington also those north of range fifteen, viz. : Eden, Clinton, and Pleasant. The surveyors finished their work in 1820. Their original surveys did not include the Sandusky which had been declared a navigable stream, nor the Indian reservations previously mentioned. These were not cut up into sections until after the removal of the Indians to the West in 1832." The eastern portion of this "new purchase" was placed on sale at Delaware, August 3, 1821, at $1.25 per acre, as the minimum price and most of it went at that price. The earliest roads established were military roads on either side of the Sandusky River leading from Upper Sandusky to Lower Sandusky (Fremont). In 1821 Mr. Risdon surveyed a state road between these two places but not following the military roads along the river. In 1820 Israel Harrington surveyed the Morrison State Road leading from Croghansville (Fremont) to Delaware. This was the first road surveyed and opened in Seneca County east of the river. Col. James Kilbourn surveyed a road leading from Portland (now Sandusky City) to Upper Sandusky in 1822. This road still bears his name. On the 12th of February, 1820, the Ohio Legislature divided the new purchase into fourteen counties. Seneca remained, however, still attached to Sandusky until it should be invested later with civil powers. Consequently the Commissioners of Sandusky (not Seneca) County proceeded to organize the electoral or administrative townships, first dividing the entire county outside of the Indian reservations into the two townships of Thompson, (April 25, 1820) and Seneca (May 8, 1820). On the first Monday in June, 1820, Clinton township was organized with its present boundaries, except that part west of the river. It was named after DeWitt Clinton, Governor of New York. Eden was organized with its present boundaries in 1821. This left Seneca township embracing all west of the river to the west line of the county. Officers were chosen in these townships and they selected men for the following positions: Trustees, overseers of the poor, supervisors, listers, appraisers, fence-viewers and constables. The list- 1810 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY ers were to make up lists of those able-bodied white men liable to perform military duty. For this work they received seventy-five cents per day. No justices of the peace were elected until the county was officially invested with judicial powers. Until time Sandusky County exercised judicial power over the whole of Seneca. On the 22nd of January, 1824, the state Legislature passed an act organizing Seneca into a separate and distinct county and authorizing the election of officers on the first Monday of April that year. The first officers chosen were : Sheriff, Agreen Ingraham; Coroner, Leverett Bradley and Commissioners, Wm. Clark, Jesse S. Olmstead, and Benjamin Wetmore. There were approximately two hundred residents who voted at this first election. One of the first acts of the new Board of Commissioners was to organize townships Nos. 1 and 2 in range 16. into a new township which they called Bloom. On the 7th of December, 1824, they also granted a petition to form a new township called Scipio occupying the territory of Scipio and Reed townships of the present, because they had "sixteen legal voters" residing in that territory. At the same meeting Hopewell was organized (including Loudon) and Seneca township was reduced to include only the present Seneca and Big Spring townships. On the 8th of December Clinton township was changed to its present boundaries. The commissioners secured rooms for the county clerk and auditor's office at one dollar per month. It was part of Eli Norris' old tavern. The minutes of these early sessions seem to indicate that the Seneca Commissioners then exercised authority in Crawford County also. The first courthouse was a two-story frame house north of the courthouse square at the east end of the present Commercial National Bank. This building was erected by Mr. Hedges and was continuously used for court purposes until a brick courthouse was erected in 1836. The first court was held in this building by Judge Ebenezer Lane of Norwalk on the 12th day of April, 1824. In those early days the circuit judges of whom Judge Lane was one, were appointed by the Legislature for a term of seven years, but there were appointed also three associate judges in each county—not lawyers—but business men. A majority of the court was necessary for the transaction of business. The first associate judges in Seneca were Wm. Cornell, Jaques Hulburd and Matthew Clark. Their first session lasted only half an hour for lack of business. Rudolphus Dickinson was appointed by this court TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1811 as prosecuting attorney, he being the first and only lawyer who had settled in Seneca. He was a graduate of Williams College, Massachusetts, and had secured his legal education in Columbus before coming to Seneca. He had located in Fort Ball rather than Tiffin and had entered energetically into the controversies between the two rival towns on opposite sides of the Sandusky. Mr. Dickinson later on moved to Lower Sandusky and in 1846 was elected to Congress. The first public building in Seneca was the old jail. This was built at the southeast corner of the courthouse square and cost $450. It was made of hewed logs fitted tightly on the top of each other, with hewed logs for the ceiling and heavy oak plank for the floor. The doors were made of double planks with wagon tires bolted across them for hinges and a large padlock on the door. There were two rooms in this log jail—one on the east side and the other on the west side. The windows were barred with heavy tire iron. To the south end of the jail a sheriff's residence was attached with a narrow stairway to the garret and two small rooms below. Evidently the sheriffs had more sense than the builders, for we are told they never occupied it as a dwelling. The log jail stood until 1840-41, and this frame building was occupied a good part of the time with a cabinet shop kept by John Fiege. The early records of the Commissioners also show that all of Clinton township lying on the west side of the river was detached and added to Hopewell in December, 1828—because there were no bridges and people living on that side could not get over to the elections and other public meetings. On the same day, (December 5th) Reed township was organized with its present boundaries and the "electors ordered to meet at the house of Seth Reed on the first day of January, 1827 to hold their election." The following year the Commissioners took an important action, ordering the auditor "to cut a diamond in the jail door five inches square." Next to Josiah Hedges, perhaps the most interesting character in the early history of what is now Tiffin, was Jesse Spencer. He was the man who laid out the town of Oakley previously mentioned. He purchased 404 acres of the Armstrong Reservation for three thousand dollars (October 29, 1823) . This was in the days of President Monroe. Spencer laid out his town including the old stockade (Fort Ball) along the Sandusky from the present railroad bridges approximately to the B. & O. depot. There has 1812 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY been no record found of the original plat. This first town contained only the log-cabin hotel of Mr. Bowe and the cabin of David Smith. The hotel evidently stood near the bank of the river at the Washington Street bridge and the old army road was near by. The hotel was pulled down when Spencer opened a street that was in his Fort Ball. That must have been the beginning of what is now North Washington Street. Spencer, as previously stated, subsequently laid out the town of Fort Ball which took the place of Oakley on that side of the river. Spencer had violent contentions with the promoters of Tiffin on the other side of the stream and finally after losing out in the struggle, sold out to his chief antagonist Josiah Hedges, reserving only a few lots in his town of Fort Ball. Soon after he left the county for good, apparently somewhat disgusted with his experiences in town-building. Fort Ball came under the ownership of Hedges June 16, 1825. At this time, one of the most pressing problems on both sides of the river was to get some sort of connecting link established. We find, therefore, petitions made to the commissioners to have a county road built between the public squares of these two towns. This was certainly a short distance but the requests seem to have fallen upon deaf ears for we learn that the first bridge actually built in the city was over Rocky Creek on Market Street. The streets of Fort Ball as laid out by Spencer became a substitute for the county road running from McNeal's store on the west side to the courthouse square in Tiffin and the commissioners were apparently of the opinion that these were sufficient. Mention has already been made of the early organization of Reed township. Its present limits date from June 1, 1829. It is claimed by those who ought to know, that Seth Read after whom this township was named spelled his name R-e-a-d not R-e-e-d, which has become the usual way of spelling it. Eden is another township whose name appears in the early records in a different form. The early records called it E-a-t-o-n. The final organization of the rest of the fifteen townships occurred about the time of the removal of the Indians from their reservations. Previous to this removal it was impossible to give some of the townships their natural size or shape because of the existence of these tracts of land that could not be settled or surveyed. Pleasant was given its present boundary June 6, 1831. At the same time Loudon was organized but no election was ordered until March 4, 1834. Liberty was given its present TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1813 boundaries June 5, 1832 and Jackson on December 4th of the same year. At the December session, on the 3d day of that month, 1833, Scipio, Adams, Clinton, and Big Springs were organized in their present form. In the case of Clinton, great resentment was felt on the part of those living on the west side of the river when that portion was detached again from Hopewell and given its proper place. The want of a bridge across the Sandusky had something to do with this, and, too, a spirit of opposition to Tiffin had gone forth from Fort Ball all through the east side of Hopewell. In time, however, this feeling subsided. The first courthouse in Tiffin was built by John Baugher, at a cost of $9,500. The contract was let in February, 1834. Previous to this and after the abandonment of the old frame building previously mentioned, the Supreme and Circuit courts met in the Methodist Church, which was the largest public building in Tiffin. The new courthouse was completed and accepted by the fall of 1836. This building stood only a few years, for on the 24th day of May, 1841, it was completely destroyed by fire. The recorder's records were all saved, and most of the clerk's papers also. Very little injury was done to the auditor's books. The sheriff also saved most of his papers, but the treasurer's records and papers were all destroyed. The historian, Lang, recites a very interesting personal incident in this connection. Cowdery and Wilson had their law offices in the grand jury room. They had everything of value out as they thought when Cowdery happened to remember a case of pigeon holes containing valuable papers. He came to Lang, who was attempting to save the papers in the clerk's office, and said, "William, there is a case of pigeon holes containing valuable papers in our office yet. I wish you would jump in and save them for us; you are single, and if you get killed, there is neither wife nor child to cry after you." Lang says he "thought the proposition a very reasonable one and jumped through the window and saved the papers. The pigeon hole case was just commencing to blaze." On the 28th of July of this same year the commissioners employed the same John Baugher to build a new courthouse, using the walls of the old house. The new building was accepted in January, 1843, and the cost of rebuilding seems to have been less than $4,500. The Methodist Protestant Church seems to have been used as a court room during the time of rebuilding. 1814 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY JOSIAH HEDGES AND TIFFIN Many references have already been made to the early contentions between Josiah Hedges, the founder of the Village of Tiffin and Mr. Spencer, who may be called the founder of Fort Ball. It may now be in place to go into a more particular narration of the early events in Tiffin connected with its founder's name. We shall begin with Spencer's brush-dam. The historian, Lang, gives us many details of this controversy which finally led to the union of Tiffin and Fort Ball. Among these are interesting extracts from the "pleadings" filed in this first lawsuit and jury trial in the court of common pleas in Seneca County. I quote a few sentences that may be of special interest. "That the said Hedges with force and arms, etc., broke and entered a certain close of the said Jesse Spencer, situate, lying and being in the township of Seneca in the County of Seneca, and then and there pulled down, prosecuted and destroyed a great part to wit : forty perches of a certain mill-dam of the said Jesse Spencer, etc., etc." Also, the second count says, that this dam was "abutting towards the west on that part of the Armstrong Reservation so-called, which lies between a place forty poles north of the place called Camp Ball and the south line of the said Armstrong Reservation and abutting towards the eastern bank of the Sandusky River, etc." He claimed he had been damaged to the extent of five hundred dollars—a big sum in those days. This "brush dam" raised the water to run the first sawmill on the Sandusky and was located near the center of the present city of Tiffin, The jury found the defendant guilty, but the damages allowed were only eight dollars. The costs were $26.75. The point upon which Hedges was found guilty was the fact that at the time the dam was erected, the land along the right bank belonged to the National Government, had not been surveyed nor offered for sale and Mr. Hedges was not then the owner of it. This lawsuit and many others in which Spencer became involved, seem to have exhausted his resources and he finally was glad to sell to Hedges and retire from the community. Perhaps the sagacious Hedges had such an outcome in mind in encouraging the numerous disagreements between the two sides. Josiah Hedges, the founder of Tiffin, was born April 9, 1778, near West Liberty, Berkeley County, Virginia. He engaged in, trading on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and later located Ohio about 1804, settling first in Belmont County. He was first sheriff of that county and for a number of years clerk TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1815 court. He then engaged in the mercantile business at St. Clairsville. Later he opened a branch store in Mansfield, having his brother, Gen. James Hedges, as partner. Soon he himself removed to Mansfield. In 1820 he made a journey to Fort Ball in Seneca. With keen foresight he recognized the value of the land immediately across the river from Fort Ball and he decided to enter it at the Delaware land office. The town which he platted later became the county seat and is today the largest city in the county. In 1822 the first opening was cut at a place near the Commercial National Bank. The same year Hedges built a sawmill on Rocky Creek and a frame building on the lot north of the courthouse. Also in the same year, he built the flour mill on the Sandusky afterwards known as the "Hunter Mill." He was a clever business man, gave liberal treatment to prospective purchasers of lots and soon saw his village grow steadily, so that in 1828 the land office was removed from Delaware to Tiffin. This gave additional impetus to the town's development. In 1825 and 1830, Hedges was elected a member of the House of Representatives from this district. From 1837 to the close of his life, he was engaged exclusively in advancing the city's growth, leaving his mercantile interests to his son. Mr. Hedges was the father of fifteen children, six by his first wife, Rebecca Russell, of Belmont County, and nine by his second wife, Eliza Hammerly, of Martinsburgh, Virginia. His second wife died in 1837 and in 1844 he was married to Harriet Snook of Seneca County. Mr. Hedges died July 15, 1858, aged eighty years, three months and six days. He must have been a man of unusual mental and physical power. He was a typical pioneer. Lang says that "up to about his seventy-fifth year. his step was permanent and regular and his carriage wonderfully straight for one of his age. From this time onward the increasing years wrought their mark upon his powerful frame. On a pleasant day he would walk with short steps about town, in his double gown, with a stick in his hand, dragging his shoes, tramped down at the heels; often with his smoking cap on and smoking his familiar short pipe—the very picture of a comfortable sunset after a long summer day." This founder of Tiffin platted his town first between Rocky Creek and the Sandusky on the west. The three streets, Perry, Market and Madison, extended nearly to Rocky Creek, and Jefferson, Washington and Monroe started near to the river and ended at an alley 180 feet south of Madison (now Tiffin Street). This 24-VOL. 2 1816 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY alley formerly led to the old cemetery (now Hedges Park). The town was platted before the county was organized and the plat was recorded in Sandusky County, November 28, 1821. Ten years later Mr. Hedges added a string of lots, one on each side of Washington Street to a point just north of the present St, Joseph's Church. Within that space there is no cross street to this day. Jefferson and Monroe streets were also extended the same distance through out-lots. This was known as Hedges' "southern addition." He made further additions later, but most of the scores of additions that have been made bear the names of other industrious promoters. The original town of Tiffin consisted of the portions mentioned above. The sawmill built by Mr. Hedges was near Rocky Creek, "some thirty rods southeast of the point where Circular Street intersects East Market." A race was constructed from the dam near by, "to the City Mill." This sawmill was built in 1826 and was run night and day to supply the great demand for lumber to build frame houses and for other purposes. It was a truly paying institution, but burned down in 1833 and was never rebuilt. The dam and race remained to supply the City Mill. This dam on Rocky Creek caused a flooding of the lowlands and got Hedges into litigation because of the supposed effects on the health of the community. In those early days there was no bridge across either the river or Rocky Creek. The streets were full of stumps and logs, and after the erection of the sawmills, the pavements in front of the houses were designated by slabs laid lengthwise. The only way to get across the river when it was high was by the ferry boat operated by George Park. Tiffin people had to go to Fort Ball to get their mail and one would bring all the letters and papers for a whole neighborhood to some house or store on the Tiffin side. It is said that as late as 1829, the rival settlements could not see each other because of the dense woods intervening. Finally, in 1833, Hedges began to construct a wooden bridge across the river on Washington Street. A foot-bridge was constructed a little further down the river and these two unusual conveniences nearly ruined the ferry business. But in the fall of 1834, a freshet brought all kinds of debris down stream, culminating in pieces of the Tymochtee bridge carrying away both bridges completely. Next year Hedges built a better bridge, but made it a toll bridge and employed a colored man to collect the toll. This was the only toll bridge Tiffin ever had. Hedges later on rented TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1817 this toll bridge to a man named Hill. But the structure finally came to be regarded a burden rather than a convenience, and a movement was started among the citizens, especially the merchants, to construct a free bridge. This movement was a success and at a cost of $2,200 the new structure was thrown open to the public in 1837. This ended the tolls on Hedges' bridge also. This new free bridge was constructed on Market Street, at what was then the west end of that street. It was a wooden, truss affair, with a roof. The roof made the bridge very dark at night and the women refused to cross it without protection. Peter Vaness established a large carriage shop near this bridge on the present location of the Loomis plant. This factory burned down and burned the bridge also. The old bridge on Washington Street then served the public for ten years, when it, too, was carried away by a freshet. The commissioners of the county then built one that was so poOrly constructed that it broke down of its own weight. In 1853 a wire suspension bridge was erected. The present wonderful concrete bridge on Washington Street is the sixth bridge since the first in 1833. After the burning of the free bridge on Market Street, the commissioners built another one at this place. These two bridges —on Market and Washington streets—were the only ones in Tiffin for many, years. FIRST RAILROADS In September, 1832, the following notice was published in the Seneca Patriot: Railroad Notice The undersigned, Commissioners of Seneca County, for the Mad River and Erie R. R., will open books for subscription of stock for said road in Tiffin, Seneca County on the fourth day of October, 1832, at the residence of Eli Norris. Henry Cronise Josiah Hedges This road was started at Water Street, Sandusky, Ohio, September, 1835. By 1838 the line was completed to Bellevue and the first train run to that place. The train consisted of the locomotive "Sandusky," a small' passenger car, and a still smaller freight car not exceeding twenty feet in length. It is said this locomotive was the first one in America that had a steam whistle. By 1839 the road was completed to Republic and finally in 1841 1818 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY the first train reached Tiffin. Subsequently the route was changed to go through Clyde and the old route was entirely abandoned. This was the beginning of the present Sandusky division of the Big Four system. No other railroad system reached Tiffin for over thirty years, when in 1873 the Tiffin, Toledo & Eastern —forerunner of the present Pennsylvania—ran its first regular passenger train. The B. & O. reached Tiffin the following year. THE CHOLERA EPIDEMIC One of the notable events in the early history of the county was the cholera epidemic which began in the fall of 1834. News had come of deaths due to this disease in Sandusky City. A mysterious death occurred in Tiffin on the 19th of August. The next day a child died very suddenly in Frederick Hoffman's house. Lang says he took the coffin to the house and put the child in it. "Coming down stairs," Lang narrates, "I found Mr. Hoffman at the front door and after talking awhile we parted. He had just recovered from an attack of bilious fever. This was about 4:00 P. M. By three o'clock that night Hoffman was dead. His death was pronounced due to cholera. People stood about the streets in consternation and as several other cases occurred in the next twenty-four hours people began to flee precipitately. Within a week only seven families remained in the place. Stores and all other public houses, except Smith's hotel, were closed." Lang further says that his father "thought it was wrong to run away from each other in time of distress. Wilson and myself had the shop to ourselves, and made the coffins as fast as we could, Very often we made rough boxes answer. One Sunday we made seven. The town was very still and quiet during the day, scarcely a man could be seen except the doctors running hither and thither. Boards were nailed across the doors of many houses. The nights were made hideous by the bawling of cows and the howling of dogs that had lost their owners and masters. We made eighty-six coffins in our shop in five weeks from the time Mr. Hoffman died. One Sunday morning an ox-team came along Market Street from the west, with a water trough made out of a log, on the wagon, and a slat nailed over the top, going to the cemetery. Two men with pick and shovel followed. They buried a man that had died west of Fort Ball." When the first frosts appeared, the disease abated and the people began to return. By the end of October all had returned and taken up their usual occupations. TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1819 This disease returned to Tiffin in 1849, 1852 and 1854. It did not reach the same severity except in 1854, when "on one Sunday, sixteen corpses were counted on the Fort Ball side" where it seems to have been the worst. Doctor Hovey and Doctor McCollum, until he was himself taken down, did heroic service. Doctor Hovey on one day laid out eleven dead at the hospital alone. INCORPORATION OF FORT BALL AND TIFFIN The Village of Tiffin grew very slowly. There was nothing to induce emigrants to come except cheap land. To the west of the river lay the "Black Swamp," the condition of which upon the health of the community was far from good. Ague was very common. The settlers were poor. Mechanics found little employment. Fort Ball for a time seemed to have the advantage of Tiffin. The elite seemed to prefer this location to Tiffin and they looked on the Tiffinites with considerable contempt. They had the best store over on that side and the post office, and McNeil's corner was the hub of civilization. The Fort Ballites felt very bitter against Mr. Hedges and those associated with him in having the courthouse located on the Tiffin side. Even after he had purchased Fort Ball, the feeling was not allayed for some time. This feeling was greatly intensified when in 1829 the post office was removed to the Tiffin side and Jacob Plane appointed postmaster. This was under President Jackson. Lang says the population had increased to about 400 by 1833. Until March 7, 1835, Tiffin had no independent government, but was merely a part of Clinton township. On that day the town of Tiffin was incorporated by the Legislature of Ohio. The part incorporated embraced Hedges' first plat and the first southern addition previously described. Even after its incorporation no great interest was shown in its government, for no election was held for officers until June 29, 1836. At this election Dr. H. Kuhn was chosen as the first mayor. The population of Tiffin proper in 1840 was 728 ; in 1850, 2,718. Tiffin now grew faster than Fort Ball. This village never had a corporate existence until March 13, 1849. It elected Jacob Flaugher, mayor, but its existence was cut short the following year when Tiffin and Fort Ball were merged and with additional territory attached, were incorporated by the Legislature as a city of the second class and named Tiffin. This act of the Legislature was passed March 23, 1850. The first election was held on 1820 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY April 20, when the following officers were chosen : Mayor, William Lang; treasurer, Robert Crum; marshal, Samuel H. Kisinger ; councilmen, First Ward, William H. Gibson, William H. Keilholtz, Andrew Denzer ; councilmen, Second Ward, Jacob Flaugher, W. M. Johnson, George C. Small. The Second Ward apparently consisted of the former Fort Ball. It was in the very year of the incorporation of the city of Tiffin that Heidelberg College was established on the eastern edge of the city. The city had at this time a population of 2,718. This institution had been tentatively located at Tarlton, Ohio, by action of the Ohio Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States. By prompt and energetic action of the Rev. Hiram Shaull, then pastor of the First Reformed Church in Tiffin, subscriptions amounting to $11,030 were obtained from the citizens of Tiffin and vicinity to be donated to the college if it should be removed to Tiffin. The proposition was accepted by the synod held at Navarre, Ohio, in September, 1850, and the Revs. J. H. Good and Reuben Good under the direction of the synod opened the school in "Commercial Row" in November of that year. The college campus, valued at $2,000 and containing five acres, was a donation from Josiah Hedges, the founder of Tiffin. The college was called Heidelberg after the catechism or symbol of faith of the Reformed Church. This catechism had been so named because its writers had been professors in the famous Heidelberg University located in Heidelberg, Germany. The corner stone of the first building was donated by Dr. Elias Heiner of Baltimore, Maryland, and was laid on Thursday, May 13, 1852, by Major Lewis Baltzell, president of the board of trustees. The address on that occasion was delivered by Gen. S. F. Carey of Cincinnati on the subject "The Dignity of Labor." THE NAME OF TIFFIN AND GOVERNOR TIFFIN The county seat of Seneca County was named in honor of Edward Tiffin, first Governor of Ohio. It is said that he was a great friend of Josiah Hedges at the time Hedges laid out his town and for that reason the town was named for him. It may be of interest to my readers to know a few things about this interesting personage whose honored name our city bears. He was born in the City of Carlisle, England, June 19, 1766. He was of parents in moderate circumstances, who fitted him for the study of medicine. Before the completion of his studies in England, his parents emigrated to this country. He accompanied 1822 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY them and landed in New York when only eighteen years of age He completed his training at the University of Pennsylvania and began to practice in Berkeley County, Virginia. He married the sister of Governor Worthington. When Worthington received a military grant in the Northwest Territory, he and his brother-in-law brought their slaves to the free soil of Ohio, where they could manumit them. Tiffin settled at Chillicothe, practicing his profession until public affairs demanded his services. He served in the territorial legislature, where his ability was recognized and he was elected speaker, retaining the position until the admission of the state into the Union. He was chosen a member of the first constitutional convention which drew up the first constitution of the state, and at the conclusion of that convention he was elected governor without opposition, in January, 1803. He was reelected without opposition and served as governor until 1807. During his incumbency the famous Burr-Blennerhasset expedition down the Ohio took place. At the expiration of his last term he was elected United States Senator and took a very active part in the proceedings of that body. His wife's -death in 1808 overwhelmed him, and he resigned in 1809. Later he was appointed commissioner of the General Land Office and still later surveyor-general of the United States. This office was transferred to Chillicothe. He continued in this office until his death. Doctor Tiffin was a man of great capacity and sterling worth and Tiffin may well be proud to bear the name of one so distinguished among tile early heroes. EARLY SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES IN SENECA Among the very early settlers in Tiffin there were not many children, yet a deep interest was shown in education. A request was made of Mr. Hedges for a site and on February 1, 1828, he deeded in lot numbered forty-two (42) to the school directors of Clinton township. This lot was on the north side of Market Street, next west of the northwest corner of Market and Monroe. A little one-story brick house was built by the directors, lengthwise of Market Street. It had room for about sixty scholars. The door was near its southeast corner. There was one window at the east end, back of the teacher's desk, and two windows in each of the other sides. Here the various church denominations held their meetings until they had buildings of their own. The Methodist Protestants frequently held their quarterly meetings here when, it is said, the house was crowded to overflowing. The TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1823 first regular school teacher was Mr. Benjamin Crockett, who was employed after the directors had advertised for a teacher. This was about 1832-33. In 1844 this one-story brick was torn away and a two-story brick erected, with four rooms, on the same lot. Here all the schools of Tiffin were held until the organization of the city of Tiffin. Then a union school system was adopted by popular vote and preparations were immediately made to erect the Monroe Street building, which for a long time served also for the high school of the city. After the favorable vote in September, 1850 (the same year Heidelberg College was founded) a corps of teachers, eight in number, was employed who received from $15 to $24 per month. Reverend Bement superintended the schools for the first winter and was given $12 for his services. In the spring of 1851, Mr. S. S. Rickly of Columbus was employed at a salary of $400 with the privilege of teaching a class at Heidelberg College. He was the first superintendent of the Tiffin union schools. Turning for a moment to the first churches in the county, we may first mention the little brick Catholic chapel on Madison Street. The German and Irish Catholics worshiped together, but finding this somewhat unsatisfactory, they separated. The Irish formed a separate congregation and built a brick church in Fort Ball and the Germans bought about two acres of Mr. Hedges at the south end of Tiffin. It is said that the little brick chapel was the fourth Catholic church erected in Ohio. The Methodist Episcopal congregation had one of the first brick buildings in Tiffin. The first M. E. Church in the county was built in Eden township on Honey Creek. The second was a log building in Reed township—built in 1829. This first M. E. Church was on the corner of Monroe and Market streets. The Baptists did not organize a church in the early days, for it was not until 1857 that the present congregation came into existence. The Presbyterians organized a church in Tiffin in the summer of 1831, which was formed by the withdrawal of members from the Melmore Church who lived nearer Fort Ball than llelmore. They built their first edifice on the west side in 1835 and it was not until 1871 that the present building at the corner of Market and Monroe was erected. The German Evangelical congregation was early in the field, receiving their charter from the General Assembly of Ohio in 1836, under the name "The United German Evangelical Lutheran and German Evangelical Reformed St. John's Congregation of 1824 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY Tiffin, Seneca County." Their first meeting-house was a hewed log building on South Jefferson Street where stands the fine new building recently erected. The Reformed people were early in the field, also, for on the 8th day of June, 1833, the Rev. John L. Sanders of Frederick County, Maryland, entered upon his labors as the first pastor of the First Reformed Church of Tiffin. A lot was secured from Josiah Hedges at a cost of $250, at the corner of Monroe and Madison, where this congregation has since worshiped until its recent union with Grace Reformed Church and its removal to the new building at the corner of Jefferson and Perry. A second Reformed Church was organized in Tiffin in 1850. The first Reformed Church organized in the county was in Thompson township (Zion's) which still flourishes. This was started in 1830. The United Brethren organized a congregation near Melmore as early as 1831. The English Lutherans did not begin their work until 1843 when they organized in the brick schoolhouse on West Market Street. For a short time they used the German Reformed building, but soon erected a building of their own on Jefferson Street where the church is still located. The Methodist Protestants began their work in the county as early as March, 1829, when a group of sixteen people organized at Fort Seneca. That was before the removal of the Seneca Indians from that section. The congregation in Tiffin was organized, some time later and dedicated their first church—a brick structure—on Monroe Street in 1837. FIRST NEWSPAPERS The first newspaper published in Seneca was called the Seneca Patriot and was established by Mr. Elisha Brown. "The little hand press upon which it was printed was procured from Mr. J. P. McArdle, who claimed for it that it was the first printing press brought to Ohio." The first issue of this publication appeared August 4, 1832. Its motto was "Constitutional Rights, Republican Institutions, and Union Forever." This paper was nonpartisan and gave space to the presentation of the various political doctrines of the day. But this did not work well in a day of such intense political feeling as characterized the era of Andrew Jackson, and after much criticism for his partiality, Brown finally was compelled, in self-defense, to declare his principles and come out openly on the side of Jackson. The old press mentioned above certainly had an interesting history. It was brought from TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1825 some place on the Atlantic coast to Washington, Pa., before 1800. It was taken from that place by J. P. McArdle to Wellsburg, Va. He published the Register at Mt. Vernon, Ohio in 1816. The press was removed from that place to Clinton, and in 1827 to Norwalk. The Browns secured it at that place, took it to Sandusky City and brought it to Tiffin in 1832. Alonzo Rawson, who bought out the Patriot and secured this press, issued the first number of the Independent Chronicle and Seneca Advertiser April 26, 1834. This paper leaned towards the whigs and the democrats took steps to buy Rawson out. In November, 1835, the first number of the Tiffin Gazette and Seneca Advertiser appeared as the organ of the democracy. But in 1838, Luther A. Hall, a leading whig, secured the control of the paper and handed it over to Joseph Howard another strong whig. Howard dropped the Advertiser and retained the name Gazette. The Gazette continued until 1842, when it was discontinued. When the memorable campaign of 1840 came on, the democrats started a paper called the Van Burenite. This was short lived and was discontinued the following year. But in 1842 the Van Burenite concern was purchased by Mr. John G. Breslin and the first number of The Seneca Advertiser appeared on May 6th of that year, which has continued to flourish under several proprietors to this day. The Seneca Adler was the first German newspaper published in Seneca. The second was Unsere Flag ge and the third was Die Tiffin Presse, which continued to the time when there was no longer sufficient demand for such a paper to sustain it. The Whig Standard appeared first in 1845 and continued under that name until 1855, when W. C. Gray became editor and changed the name to the Tiffin Tribune. The paper still flourishes under that name. EARLY TOWNSHIP AND VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS Some of the early settlements have entirely disappeared and their early nature has been forgotten by the local inhabitants of those communities. Frequent mention has been made of the early settlements in the Fort Seneca (Old Fort) section in addition to those near the center (Fort Ball and Tiffin). The reader will recall, too, that among the earliest sections that attracted newcomers, were the upper portions of Rocky and Honey creeks and over in Thompson. In this very early period, let us also bear in mind, that the Senecas had possession of the lands east of the 1826 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY Fort Seneca section and that the Wyandots were in possession of a portion of Big Spring. The land west of the Sandusky was not settled early because it was the eastern edge of the Black Swamp. The entire county was greatly in need of drainage and was a portion of the "ague" district of the State. Eden (Eaton) township was organized in 1821, and in 1824 was the most populous township in the county. The rich land and the fine water advantages of Old Honey Creek made it very attractive to the pioneers. By 1830 it had 819 inhabitants. Where the Kilbourn road crossed Honey Creek the town of Melmore was surveyed and platted in 1824. The Butterfield family, one of whom was the historian, Consul W. Butterfield, used to live here. This town became an important trading post in the early days and the citizens there were regarded as very enterprising. An effort was made to have the railroad line come through that town instead of Tiffin, and when that effort failed, they tried to get a branch line from Republic to Melmore, but that effort also failed. However, the very attempt showed the ambitions of the early settlers in Melmore. In this township of Eden was located that interesting Mohawk reservation known as the. Van Matre. It got its name from a John Van Matre who had been carried away in childhood from Virginia by the Indians. He married an Indian woman belonging to the family of the celebrated Joseph Brandt—the royal house of the Mohawks. Judge Pillars is authority for the claim that the Mohawks and not the Senecas took part in the signing of the treaty of the Miami of Lake Erie in April, 1817. This made a reservation "To John Van Matre, who was taken prisoner by the Wyandots and who has ever since lived amongst them, and has married a Seneca woman, and to his wife and three brothers, Senecas, who now reside on Honey Creek, one thousand acres of land, to begin north 45 degrees west, 140 poles, thence and from the beginning, east for quantity." But Pillars claims they were Mohawks in spite of these terms of that treaty and lived about 21/2 miles south of Tiffin on the "Van Matre reservation." Van Matre Creek empties into Honey Creek in this reserve and a Mr. Norris at one time had a fine grist mill on Van Matre Creek. These Mohawks went west with the others in 1829. The place occupied by them was formerly called "Mohawk" or "Mohawktown." Over in Thompson, no early villages seem to have been established. All seem to have been content to occupy the fertile lands TOLEDO AND THE SANVUSKY REGION - 1827 of that section. Butterfield is authority for the statement that the great natural curiosity, "the cave" was known as early as the year 1815, which was five years before the township was organized. Its discovery is attributed to George and Henry Hasson, the entrance being "near the south end of the east half of the northwest quarter of section one, on land once owned by Mason Kinney, one and one-half miles from Bellevue, and three-quarters of a mile from Flat Rock." Lang says that it "was probably first discovered by Lyman and Asa Strong." Thompsontown was a town platted in 1840 and Lewisville (now Flat Rock) was laid out the following year. The former never prospered and the latter lost out in competition with the neighboring Bellevue. Honey Creek, previously mentioned, also runs through Bloom township and along its banks here also settled some of the very early inhabitants of the county. Silver Creek also claimed attention. A very sturdy and progressive type of settlers left their impress upon that entire region. In 1830 the township had nearly four hundred people in it and by 1840 these had increased to nearly 1,200. Not until 1837 was the town of Bloomville laid out by Philip J. Price, Julius Treat and Thomas T. Treat. Its development was slow, for only a dozen buildings stood there in 1850. But the development of the Mansfield and Coldwater Railroad gave new life to this hamlet that has become a sizeable village in recent days. Elder Lewis Seitz, quoted in Lang's history, speaks of taking wheat to the mill of Josiah Hedges at Tiffin and of selling their wheat at Venice or Portland (Sandusky City) . "This was so," he continues, "until the pioneer railroad in Ohio made us a market at Republic." This pioneer preacher of the old Honey Creek Baptist Church makes this interesting statement about the power mills on the early streams : "In those days our water courses furnished power much more steadily and for a greater part of the year. Through the clearing away of fallen timber and general drainage, our creeks gave short lived spurts of water. In early days, Steele's grist mill could be heard day and night, for more than half the year." Turning to Adams township for a moment, we find that the celebrated spring at the present village of Green Springs was noticed very early, and shortly after the departure of the Senecas the region surrounding this was quickly settled. The present town of Green Springs, part of which lies in Sandusky County, was surveyed by David Reeves and David Risdon in 1839. There was in that section of the county a town named Adamsville. Also 1828 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY Hedgetown or Sulphur Springs, platted as early as 1833. These towns were all failures, as was also Lowell, located on the Portland road. The existence of the springs at Green Springs, together with the coming of the early railroad, doomed the existence of these other early efforts in that vicinity. Big Spring township has received especial attention because of the presence of the Wyandots. The old spring which furnished the striking name, is said to have been at one time a powerful affair, and formed a small lake. The water was very deep, clear and cold. After the country was cleared, this spring lost much of its former fame and now seems to have declined to an ordinary volume. A town called Springville was started here in 1834, but never grew. Ten years later Oregon (now Adrian) was surveyed, located on the Mad River and Lake Erie (now Big Four) Railroad. This town made some development for a few years, but has never reached much size. The early settlers in that section were native born Americans. In fact not a German name is found among the early corners into that region. But between 1833 and 1842 a very large number of German and French families arrived. A man named Anthony Schindler located in section twelve and seems to have induced large numbers of his friends in Germany to emigrate to this locality. He laid out and named New Reigel, after his native town in Germany. Schindler was very enterprising and under his leadership the community enlarged very rapidly and became one of the most prosperous communities in the county, made up almost exclusively of Germans, who are members of the Roman Catholic Church. The descendants of these early Germans now occupy the most of this very fertile township. Hopewell, although located on the west side of the Sandusky, was settled rather early, for by 1830 it had 549 people living in it, and in 1837 the present town of Bascom was laid out by a Mr. John Miller. George W. Gist was the surveyor. The year before, a town called Hopewell was laid out on section sixteen but it never flourished. Jackson township was a part of the old swale and this hindered the progress of Jackson for many years. After its drainage, it became one of the most fertile sections. The town of Rehoboth was laid out in this township in the early forties, but did not prosper. As late as 1832 a large body of Wyandot Indians camped in Jackson and engaged in a great hunt. They killed eleven bears, and one hundred and seven deer. They bought 1830 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY potatoes, corn, etc., from the whites and were well disposed when not fired up with whiskey. But John P. Gordon had a store in Risdon (now Fostoria) and the Indians used to go to this place and get fired up. Then there would be exciting and troublesome times. They were scrupulously honest in all their dealings with the whites. Over in Liberty township we find the village of Bettsville, laid out in 1838 by John Betts, a very enterprising citizen; also the town of Kansas, which started up in 1855. Bettsville had a slow growth previous to the building of the "Toledo, Tiffin and Eastern Railroad"—now the Pennsylvania. Pleasant township, according to tradition, was so named at the suggestion of the pioneer commissioner, James Gordon. Evidently the general aspect of the country led him to think this an appropriate name. Parts of this township bordering on the San. dusky, figured prominently in the Indian struggles of the early days and many references have already been made to the stirring events connected with the Senecas. In fact their name has be. come attached to the village called Fort Seneca, laid out in 1836 by Erastus Bowe and Vincent Bell. The town was also known as McNutt's or Swope's Corners. This village has never made much growth, but in the earlier days was an important station between Fort Ball and Lower Sandusky. Unfortunately its name is quite misleading, since the location of the old fort of the Indian days was nearly three miles away. In recent days a rival town has sprung up on the old historic spot where the Tiffin-Fremont highway crosses the Sandusky. Not being able to recover their rights to the old historic name of Ft. Seneca, they have done the next best they could by calling their enterprising village Old Fort. This little village in Pleasant, certainly stands upon ground made sacred to every historian by the early happenings in Old Seneca. This township was organized in 1831, while the Senecas were still roaming over it. As has been said, Reed township ought to be Read township. The Reads were Scotch. By 1830 this township had only 264 people. One of the early villages of the county was located here in 1838, when West Lodi was laid out by John Terry and Catharine Beard. Its first postmaster was Lyman White, who later removed to Tiffin and grew grapes and peaches on College Hill, on grounds now belonging to Heidelberg College. In this township was found also the hamlet of Reedtown. This was called by various names in the early days—Cook's Gate, because of a toll-gate on the pike; TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1831 Kellytown and Hanford's. Reedtown was laid out by Isaac Catlin at a very early day. Scipio township got its name from Scipio, Cayuga County, New York, whence came the Anways, who came to Scipio in 1821 and dominated the early settlement of that township. In 1834, Sidney Smith caused the present village of Republic to be surveyed. It was at first and for a long time called Scipio Center. When the railroad reached Republic in 1841, after a long and uphill struggle, the town took on new life and became quite ambitious. "Stores and warehouses sprang up as by magic and the town looked like a beehive on a large scale." Reference has already been made to the excitement at Melmore, which wanted to share in the prosperity of Republic by building a branch railway from that place. The ambition of the revivified Republic was also illustrated by their effort to have the county seat removed to that place from Tiffin, when the courthouse was burned in 1841. But the fates were against Republic. The courthouse was rebuilt in Tiffin, and the old Cincinnati, Sandusky & Cleveland road was straightened by running it directly from Sandusky city through Clyde and Greenspring to Tiffin, leaving Bellevue, Lodi and Republic without a line. Republic's hopes went down as fast as they had arisen and her greatness soon departed. Her depressed condition due to her isolation remained until the construction of the B. & 0. many years later. A little east of the center of Republic was at one time located the famous Seneca County Academy. Incorporated 1836 but not organized until 1844, under the direction of Dr. Aaron .Schuyler, it flourished for many years and was a real credit to the community and to the county. It finally failed and passed entirely out of existence and now almost out of memory. Over in Seneca township is found the interesting village of Berwick. This dates from 1845, named after Berwick, Pa., whence came John Campbell, one of its founders. In this township, too, was found one of those interesting special Indian grants. A section of land lying mostly within Seneca township, directly west of the Van Matre section, was secured to Catharine Walker, a Wyandot woman, and to her son John, who was wounded in the service of the United States. This reservation was made in the treaty of 1817. The early villages of Venice township were so close together that they became rivals. Caroline was laid out by the veteran surveyor, Colonel Kilbourne, on February 28, 1828. It was 1832 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY named after the daughter of the first settler, Cornelius Gilmore. He and Hector and Byron Kilbourne were the proprietors also. Attica was established five years later, laid out by two brothers named William and Samuel Miller, from Pennsylvania. David Risdon, who did much of the early surveying in the county, ran the lines. There had been a post office at this point earlier by the same name, given to it by Ezra Gilbert, who had formerly resided in Attica, New York. By 1836 Attica had 100 inhabitants. It soon outstripped and practically absorbed Caroline, especially after the construction of the B. & 0. R. R. In fact this town has prospered above most of the villages of the county and is the center of a very enterprising and substantial community. Venice township, in which Attica is located, was so named at the suggestion of Johnson Ford, who came from Venice township, Cayuga County, New York. LOUDON TOWNSHIP AND FOSTORIA This brief review of Seneca's early history will be concluded by some references to Loudon and especially Fostoria, which has become a city of great prominence not only in the county but also in Northwestern Ohio. Loudon was organized as a legal township, March 5, 1832. The first election was held on the second of the following month. By 1840 the population of Loudon was 763. Of these eighty lived in a little village called Rome, established in the fall of 1832 by Roswell Crocker. As frequently happened in those days, as we have repeatedly observed, a rival movement started and we find the town Risdon, named after the celebrated surveyor, to be surveyed and platted on the 6th of September, 1832. This was caused to be done by J. Gorsuch. Risdon was assisted in the survey of this town, originally named after him, by Wm. L. Henderson of Hancock County. The first settlers were Henry Welch, Jeremiah Mickey and John P. Gordon. The town was platted on the east branch of the Portage River. We are told that this town grew at first very slowly, and by 1850 its population was only 200. These towns of Rome and Risdon continued to exist as rivals until 1854, when they became consolidated and the combined town was named after the enterprising merchant Charles W. Foster, one of the most successful business men of his time in this part of the state. His son, Charles, became very prominent in Republican politics and served in the highest office in the state, TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1833 and in the cabinet of President Harrison, as secretary of the treasury. This founder of Fostoria, Charles W. Foster, came originally from Brookfield, Massachusetts, and was attracted to Seneca by the presence here of Miss Laura Crocker, who later became Mrs. Foster. After farming for a number of years, his father-in-law, John Crocker, sold his land as did also Mr. Foster and the two entered into the mercantile business in Rome. The firm was called Foster and Crocker. Later on, Crocker withdrew from the firm. Mr. Foster was exceedingly successful, and especially after his son Charles grew up, the business expanded until even in that early day, their annual sales amounted to over a million dollars. It is an interesting fact that the county seat and largest city of the county bears the name of the first Governor of Ohio and that the only other city of the county bears the family name of the only governor born on the soil of old Seneca. Note. The writer of this sketch does not claim for himself that anything he has said has been the result of his own original research. He has drawn from the work of other secondary authorities, and especially the monumental "History of Seneca County" by William Lang, published in 1880. CHAPTER LXXXIII DEFIANCE COUNTY By J. A. Deindoerfer, Sr. CEDED BY INDIANS-FIRST STATE CASE IN COURT-COUNTY OFFICERS-EARLY SETTLERS-TOWNS. Defiance County, the westerly boundary line of which is the State of Indiana, and the northerly boundary line but one county remote from the State of Michigan, is part of the territory known as the Black Swamp,, a one-time howling wilderness with almost impenetrable forests and reeking swamps belching forth in the hot seasons miasmatic poisons, but now as fertile as the banks of the Nile and presenting as beautiful and picturesque scenery as meets the human eye anywhere. What scarcely a century ago was a jungle where the beasts of the forests roamed at will and where the Red Man, claiming the soil as his absolute habitat, followed his natural inclination, today is a veritable paradise, a land where milk and honey flow. The sturdy pioneers, assisted by hundreds of a splendid type of cosmopolitan immigrants, by heroic efforts and intrepid endurance, amidst at times almost unbearable privations and sacrifices, have wrought from this erstwhile wilderness the Defiance County of today, with its fertile lands, its wonderful farm buildings, its many imposing church and school edifices, its hundreds of miles of improved roads—the Defiance County noted for the high moral and intellectual standard of its citizenry, the outstanding excellence of its farm and dairy products and of its live stock. The lands embraced by Defiance County were ceded to the United States by the Indians through a treaty made September 29, 1817, between Lewis Cass and Duncan McArthur, commissioners of the United States, and the chiefs and warriors of the various Indian tribes in this territory. On January 12, 1820, an act was passed by the Ohio Legislature providing that all lands thus ceded within Ohio should be erected into fourteen separate and distinct counties. One of these counties, that called Williams, occupied the northwest corner of the state and em- - 1835 - 1836 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY braced most of the territory now included in Defiance County, known as Milford, Farmer, Washington, Tiffin, Hicksville, Mark, Delaware and Noble townships. There being but few settlers in this territory at the time, Williams County was attached to Wood County, with Maumee City, now practically a suburb of Toledo, as the seat of justice. In April, 1824, Williams County was organized, and for civil purposes Henry, Paulding and Putnam counties were attached to it. The Village of Defiance was then the center of population, and it was probably for this reason that Joseph C. Haskins, Forest Meeker and Robert Morrison, instructed by the General Assembly of Ohio to establish the permanent seat of justice for -Williams County, selected this village. This was done after the owners of the original 150 lots in Defiance had, at the suggestion of the three commissioners, deeded to Williams County one-third of all these lots and agreed to build a jail. The first commissioners of Williams County, Benjamin Leavell (who with Horatio G. Phillips was the real founder of the Village of Defiance), Charles Gunn and Cyrus Hunter, held their initial session at the home of Mr. Leavell December 6, 1824, transacting at this time only business relative to county roads. At the June session, 1825, the commissioners ordered a jail to be erected out of hewed logs. According to the plans and specifications, this building was to be "18x26 feet in dimension, 9 feet between floors with a partition of the same dimensions as the walls, two grate windows 10x18 inches, with five iron bars to each window." The first court session in the Town of Defiance was held April 5, 1824, with Ebenezer Lane, presiding judge, and Robert Shirley, John Perkins and Pierce Evans as associate judges. Messrs. Leavell and Phillips had erected a two-story frame building as a storeroom near the fort grounds, and it was in the second story of this building that the court sessions were held for about a year. Then a brick courthouse was erected on a lot which is part of the site of the present government building. Here all the court sessions took place until the county seat was removed to Bryan, and soon thereafter this brick building was sold by the county commissioners. For many years it was occupied as a residence, latterly by the Hon. Henry Hardy and his family, until it, together with the old Presbyterian Church and grounds on the corner of Wayne Avenue and Second Street, was bought in 1912 by the United States Government and utilized as a site for our beautiful post office building. TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1837 The first state case in court in the Village of Defiance of which there is a record was that against Enoch Buck, who was charged with and indicted for establishing and operating a ferry across the rivers without a license. Benjamin Leavell had been granted a license to keep and operate the ferry across the Maumee and Auglaize rivers at Defiance, he paying for this privilege the munificent sum of $1.50 per year as a license fee. For this service the court fixed the following rates of ferriage: For a footman - $ .061/4 For a man and horse - .183/4 For a team and loaded wagon - 1.00 For a team and four-wheeled carriage - .75 For a team and loaded cart - .50 For a team and empty cart - .371/2 For horse, mare or mule - .061/4 For meat cattle, per head - .04 For hogs and sheep, per head - .02 The exact location of the first jail I have never been able to ascertain, neither does the "proverbial oldest resident" know its location or the time of its passing out of existence. Court sessions were so few and far between in those days—in fact they were only of Annual occurrence—that our citizens grew tired of keeping in custody and feeding men incarcerated for minor infractions of the law. William Preston was the first sheriff. It is related that he had in his custody for months an Indian charged with stealing a watch. A bevy of young men held a council of war and decided to relieve the community of this burden and expense. Sheriff Preston was in the habit of hanging the big iron key for the lock on the bastile overnight on a nail near the rear door of his double log cabin in East Defiance. Of this the young men) were aware. One dark night they purloined the key and, going to the jail, placed themselves in line, every man supplied with a stout switch. Then the jail door was unlocked, the prisoner ordered out, unmercifully flogged through the line and told to disappear for good. He never returned for trial. Sheriff Preston found his jail empty the next morning, and probably thereafter selected a less accessible place for the jail door key. On March 13, 1839, the General Assembly of Ohio passed a resolution submitting to the electors of Williams County the question of reviewing the county seat. Pursuant to the wishes 1838 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY of a majority as expressed at this election, Joseph Burns, Joseph McCutchen and James Curtis were appointed a commission to determine and locate the county seat. Bryan was chosen, much to the disappointment of the people of Defiance, who immediately set out to encompass the organization of a county of their own. But it was not until March 4, 1845, that the bill establishing Defiance County passed the General Assembly, by a majority of twelve in the House and of two in the Senate. By this bill, Milford, Hicksville, Farmer, Mark, Washington, Delaware, Tiffin, Noble and (the upper part of) Defiance townships were taken from Williams County; Adams, Richland and Highland townships from Henry County, and the lower part of Defiance township from Paulding County, and organized as Defiance County, with the county seat in the Town of Defiance. These twelve townships have an area of about 414 square miles, or about 256,606 acres. All the townships, with the exception of Defiance, Highland, Noble and Richland, are composed of thirty-six square sections or miles. Defiance township has about 16,965 acres, Noble township about 13,795, Richland about 22,108, and Highland about 22,807 acres of land. Most of this territory is level and much artificial drainage had to be resorted to in order to make it fit for tillage; but there are numerous creeks and four rivers—Maumee, Auglaize, Tiffin and St. Joe—which offer an adequate outlet for all superfluous water. The St. Joe River, through its confluence with the St. Marys River, forms the Maumee, enters Defiance County in Delaware township and, following an easterly course through the county, is finally lost in Lake Erie at Toledo. The St. Joe River only touches a small portion of Milford township in the extreme northwest corner of the county. The Tiffin River, named in honor of Edward Tiffin, the first Governor of Ohio, and originally called Bean River by the Indians—hence the name Bean Creek, even now frequently used—enters Defiance County at the northwest corner of Tiffin township, follows a southerly course through Tiffin 'and Noble townships and empties its waters into the Maumee just above the City of Defiance. The Auglaize River has its source about 100 miles south of the City of Defiance, enters the county near the southwesterly corner of Defiance township and forms a confluence with the Maumee in the heart of the city at a point made historical and of national importance by the Indian warfare under Generals Wayne and Winchester. It may be said in passing that this pristinely sylvan spot known as the old fort TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1839 grounds is the site of a beautiful Carnegie Library building, that a concrete retaining wall to stay the encroachment of the oftimes turbulent waters of the Maumee and Auglaize has recently been built by the state and a suitable marker erected, and that.a movement is now on foot to perpetuate and emphasize its historical importance by a Gen. Anthony Wayne memorial building or museum through Federal and State aid with local cooperation. After the creation of Defiance County the first term of court was held April 2, 1845, in a small brick schoolhouse on the westerly side of Wayne Avenue, between Fourth and Fifth streets, on a site where we now find the office and residence of Dr. J. J. Reynolds. Soon thereafter a more spacious, pretentious and suitable courthouse was erected out of brick on half a square in the main business district at a cost of about $7,500. Subsequently this structure was found to be not only inadequate but defective as well, so that beginning in 1871 the present courthouse, the interior of which has been since then extensively remodeled, was built at a cost of about $72,000. The corner stone was laid July 4, 1871, with appropriate ceremonies, in the presence of several thousand people. Several years, earlier the brick jail and sheriff's residence was built in the rear of the same plot of ground. Patrick Goode was the first presiding judge of the new Defiance County, with Andrew C. Bigelow, William O. Ensign and James S. Greer as associate judges. Orlando Evans was appointed clerk of the courts, Edwin Phelps auditor, William Preston sheriff, Lyman Langdon and Jonas Colby commissioners. October 14, 1845, the first election was held for county officers, with the following result: Auditor, William A. Brown; recorder, Sanderson M. Huyck; prosecuting attorney, John M. Stilwell; treasurer, John H. Kiser; sheriff, Calvin L. Noble; coroner, Jehu P. Downs; surveyor, Miller Arrowsmith; clerk, Orlando Evans; commissioners, John A. Garber, Robert M. Kells and Ira Freeman. Since that time and up to the present, to the best of my recollection, the following persons have served the citizens of Defiance County in the official capacity named : Judges of the Court of Common Pleas: Alexander S. Latty, Selwyn N. Owen, Charles A. Bowersox (by appointment), Silas T. Sutphen, Wilson H. Snook, William H. Hubbard, John S. Snook (by appointment), John P. Cameron and Fred L. Hay. Representatives in the Ohio General Assembly : Nathan M. Landis, Charles P. Edson, S. S. Sprague, William H. Snook, T. S. C. Morrison, Philetus W. Norris, John W. Ayers, W. D. Hi11,1 1840 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY Levi Colby, Henry Hardy, Asa Toberen, Benjamin Patten, Henry George, John L. Geyer, John W. Winn, William H. McCauley, John M. Ainsworth, William A. Kehnast, A. A. Huber, Dr. R. B. Cameron, B. J. Emery and S. I. Gruner. Auditors: William A. Brown, Miller Arrowsmith, Finlay Strong, George Moss, John C. Arrowsmith, Charles P. Tittle, John M. Sewell, John H. Conkle, William A. Slough, Wyatt T. Hill, John A. Deindoerfer, John M. Coombs, Willis A. Snider, Edwin E. Hall, S. I. Gruner, Roger Daoust, J. T. Miller and Henry Reineke. Recorders: Sanderson M. Huyck, Samuel S. Case, John M. Stilwell, James B. Heatley, Henry Hardy, Samuel W. Wilson, Lewis B. Neil, William E. Carpenter, John C. Woods, George A. Heatley, John Metz, Charles H. Hunter, Samuel A. Maxwell, C. W. Palmer, William Gilson, William Clemens, Roy B. Cameron and John Core. Prosecuting attorneys : John M. Stilwell, S. M. McCord, William P. Bacon, Patrick S. Slevin, David Taylor, Sidney S. Sprague, Thomas McBride, Henry Hardy, Silas T. Sutphen, Charles E. Bronson, B. F. Enos, John W. Winn, James B. Woods, T. T. Ansberry, D. F. Openlander, Richard H. Sutphen, Roger D. Hay, Victor Mansfield and Jay R. Pollock. Treasurers: John H. Kiser, John Tuttle, D. W. Marcellus, S. R. Hudson, Horace Hilton, John A. Garber, John H. Bevington, Abraham B. Krunkleton, Asa Toberen, Harrison Shaw, Adam Minsel, Peter W. Lauster, John F. Dowe, Lafayette Conkle, Wesley Barney, J. E. Hosler, John Wisda, M. A. Costello, Carl Hart, Edward Speiser, J. C. Tuttle, J. W. Shuter and C. K. McCormick. Sheriffs : Calvin L. Noble, William S. Langdon, Byron Bunnell, Virgil H. Moats, John M. Sewell, John W. Slough, Jacob Karst, John B. Hootman, Henry Schmick, John A. Foust, Orlando Ewing, Henry Wonderly, W. I. Rath, Andrew Tuttle, John P. Eiser, John McCarty, William G. Kopp, S. A. Hull, Thomas Buchholz, Albert Stailey, Charles Zeschke, Adrian Miller and Emmett Partee. Surveyors : Miller Arrowsmith, John Wisler, Finlay Strong, John Arrowsmith, John W. Wilson, David Hunter, John C. Phillips, D. H. English, Thomas S. Wight, M. W. Steinberger, Fred S. Stever, Richard Wisda, Frank G. Blue, Carl Smith and Henry Toberen. Clerks: Orlando Evans, William Richards, Edwin Phelps, TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1841 F. W. Draper, John D. Lamb, J. P. Cameron, S. M. Cameron, J. S. Haller, R. H. Gleason, William A. Schmaltz, Charles Goller, Newt Bronson, Claude Maxwell and Miss Emma Richholt. Probate judges: John M. Stilwell, Jacob J. Greene, J. H. Bevington, H. G. Baker, Fred L. Hay, John H. Hockman, T. T. Shaw, George T. Farrell, C. W. Palmer and D. F. Openlander. The list of county commissioners and of minor officers is too voluminous to be embodied in these notes, which must of necessity deal briefly with events, hence this list is omitted. One of the early settlers of this section, Edwin Phelps, whose life is closely interwoven and identified with the history of Defiance County and who passed to the great beyond September 27, 1897, at the age of eighty-two years, and up to that time remarkably well preserved mentally and physically, in his reminiscences described his arrival at Defiance as follows: "I came up the Maumee River on the 2nd day of August, 1834, at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The view of the Town of Defiance was wonderfully beautiful. There was no dam to check the current of the river, no bridge to mar the view, nor anything unpleasant in sight. The town seemed to be set down among groves of trees. The largest trees were the old Indian apple trees which lined both banks of the river. A road crossed the river at the foot of Jefferson Street and a ferry was kept there by David Hull. The ferrying business Was not then very profitable, as the 'water in the river was generally so low that teams and horsemen forded, and only footmen patronized the ferry, which consisted of a canoe and a small flatboat. I have frequently seen both men and women wading across the river, carrying their shoes and stockings in their hands. The time of my arrival was perhaps the gloomiest period the Maumee Valley has ever known. A short time previous there had been a great flood in the Maumee and Auglaize rivers and the Blanchard fork of the Auglaize, which had swept away everything in the shape of crops along the Maumee from Fort Wayne to Maumee City, on the Auglaize from St. Marys to Defiance, and on the Blanchard fork from Findlay to the Auglaize. "The few farms in this section were along these streams, and the loss of crops at that time meant suffering, if not starvation. As an evidence of the almost complete destruction of crops I need mention only one item, that of potatoes, which in the spring" of 1835 at Fort Wayne, the only place where any could be had, sold at 371 cents per dozen, and small ones at that. The crop of corn was in about the same condition, with this advantage, that 1842 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY there was some old corn on hand, but there was great difficulty in procuring seed the following spring. Of wheat there was little, if any, raised, as the ground was then considered too rich to produce wheat, and there were no mills in the country to grind it, the principal food being literally hog and hominy. The corn was mostly pounded fine in mortars made by burning holes in the top of a hardwood stump." The same gentleman from whose reminiscences we quote the above paragraphs, in an oration delivered at Florida, Ohio, eight miles east of Defiance, on the Maumee River, July 4, 1839, closed his remarks with the following prophetic words: "May we not reasonably presume that our nation's course will be onward? That the time will soon come when the now far West will cease to be, when along the wandering course of the Missouri, cities, towns and villages will rise to o'erlook the beautiful scenery? When from the Atlantic to the Pacific there will be presented to the view one vast agricultural field checkered with railroads and dotted with the habitations of men. When the eastern shore of the Pacific shall be lined with harbors entered by vessels bearing to and fro articles of commerce. When a journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the vast extent of our domain will be performed in a week. When the influence of our republican institutions shall spread far and wide and cover the face of the earth. When tyranny and oppression shall cease and peace and virtue sway the mild scepter over every nation of the globe." No doubt many of Edwin Phelps' hearers on that clay shook their heads and imagined him carried away by enthusiasm and extravagant emotion. But he had a vision, and this vision was with him a conviction. He lived to see the day when his vision became a reality, when it required less than a week to make the journey by rail from the Atlantic to the Pacific. When the vast extent of our domain became the habitat of one hundred million happy and contented men and women. And he rejoiced at these accomplishments of his beloved country to his dying day. What, we ask, would he say could he see the aeroplanes of today covering the enormous distance from coast to coast in practically twenty-four hours? When the early settlers began to arrive and to open their clearings along the rivers, they found a large number of fine apple trees. They were the fruit of the labors of an eccentric character by the name of Jonathan Chapman, who has pile down in the history of Northwestern Ohio as "Johnny Appleseed." He hailed TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1843 from Boston, Mass., came to Ohio about 1785, and followed a remarkable passion for raising apple trees from seeds which he secured in the cider mills of Pennsylvania. He lived the life of a hermit, wore the cheapest and scantiest raiment, which sometimes consisted of only a coffee sack, and generally walked about barefooted, even in the wintertime. It was his hobby to clear spots on the banks of a stream and to plant apple seeds in this clearing. About the year 1828 he started a nursery at the mouth of Tiffin River on what is now known as the Latchaw (formerly Charles Krotz) farm, a scant mile above Defiance. This nursery of several thousand trees was later taken up by him and set out again on a tract of land near Florida.• Most of the early orchards in this section had their origin in the nursery established by "Johnny Appleseed." This quaint character, whose peculiar activity resulted in so rich a blessing to this community, died in St. Joseph township, Allen County, Indiana, March 11, 1845, at the age of seventy-two years. For a time it was thought that the famous old apple tree which stood on the northerly bank of the Maumee River directly opposite the fort grounds was also one of Jonathan Chapman's trees, but this idea is erroneous. This tree, believed to have been the largest apple tree in the United States, if not in the world, reared its lofty branches skyward long before "Johnny Apple-seed" found his way into this section. Under its branches Oc-conox-ee, chief of the Ottawas, was, according to his story, born about the year 1757. In 1862, when apparently in its prime, it measured 21 feet and 9 inches in circumference four feet from the ground, and the same year bore twenty-four barrels of fair sized apples. At one time a fence 58 feet in diameter was built around this tree, but the branches extended beyond this fence on all sides. The tree was upwards of 45 feet high. Of so much importance was it considered because of its unusual size, that Harper's Monthly and the New York Tribune at one time contained a long illustrated article about it. The fact that Indian skeletons and many Indian trinkets were found near-by in a spot where the river bank had washed away, justifies the belief that some of the early Indian tribes buried their dead under this giant of apple trees. But even this giant, the mute witness of some of the bloodiest Indian wars and survivor of more than a century, was compelled to pay the inevitable tribute to Father Time. Piece by piece the old relic passed away, and in 1887 it finally succumbed to the ravages of old age and its gnarled and weatheraten remnants tottered to the ground. 1644 - STORY OF MAUMEE VALLEY The story of the early settlers in Defiance County is the same as that of all early settlers in new territory. The work of preparing the soil for crops was doubtless more arduous here in this wooded and swampy region than on the great plains of the West, but our early settlers had the advantage of easy access to the requisite material for their places of abode and for housing their live stock. Yet despite the most strenuous toil and the at times almost overwhelming hardships confronting them, hundreds of new settlers came on - to this country, which gave great promise of becoming a land of plenty. And they remained, prospered and lived to see their fondest hopes and expectations fulfilled. True, it required generations to convert all swamps and forests into fertile acres, to have the little log cabin supplanted by a comfortable and modern farm residence, trails and mud roads give way to the fine roads of today, the oxcart to the wagon, this in turn to the buggy and the phaeton, and this finally to the almost perfect and comparatively luxurious sedan. But during all this time of transition and development people were contented and happy, though ever striving upward and onward; happier and more contented perhaps than the generation of today whose labors are light and whose burdens are not onerous as viewed through the perspective of the pioneer ; whose ease and comfort are too often their own undoing, for "from labor health, from health contentment springs." In 1840 the population of Defiance County was 2,818; in 1850, 6,966; in 1860, 11,983; in 1870, 15,719; in 1880, 22,515, and at the beginning of the present century, 25,000 in round numbers, without any material increase since that time. DEFIANCE The Town of Defiance was officially laid out in November, 1822, and was the scene of the activities of the first settlers in this particular section. It had become known as far as Detroit and even Canada as a place for Indian consultations and pay. ments and was frequently visited by traders from far and near. William. Preston, a soldier at Fort Winchester in 1812, is generally regarded as the first white settler. Robert Shirley, with his family, came on in the spring of 1821. Dr. John Evans came in 1823, and in the following year opened the first store worthy of the name. One year later we find at Defiance this store, a tavern and some six families. One Isaac Hull a year or so later conducted a store on the north side of the Maumee River and TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1845 carried on an extensive trade with the Indians. Jacob Kniss, who lived to a ripe old age and whom many of us still remember, was the first shoemaker in Defiance, Walter David the first cooper, and the firm of Jolly & Craig operated the first tannery, on the present site of the Harley & Whitaker store, opposite the Masonic Temple. In 1840 the Town of Defiance had a population of less than 400, and what with the removal of the county seat to Bryan the future of the little burg at the confluence of the Maumee and Auglaize was anything but encouraging. Brunersburg, situated about two miles north on the Tiffin River, threatened to outstrip the town in growth, having several industries and a number of tores. In fact, the Village of Brunersburg was a formidable contender for the county seat when Defiance County was organized. However, with the selection of Defiance as the permanent seat of justice, with the building of the Miami and Erie Canal in 1842 and 1843, with the completion of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway in 1856, and the Baltimore Si Ohio Railway to Chicago in 1874, the town took on new life and grew by leaps and bounds. Various industries sprang up, industries which converted the enormous quantities of timber available into products in great demand employing labor and paying the farmer good money for timber which hitherto for lack of a market had been heaped up in pyres and burned, a total loss. The greatest growth was perhaps experienced in the latter '70s after the advent of e Turnbull wagon plant. Incorporated as a village in January, 1836, Defiance advanced to a city of the second class by popular vote in 1881. Now the erstwhile village consisting of a few straggling cheap frame dwelling houses and store buildings, without sidewalks or sewers, without adequate means of worship and education, with almost impassable mud roads and malodorous outbuildings, has grown into a city of approximately 10,000 inhabitants, with beautiful churches of practically all denominations, unsurpassed educational facilities in both public and parochial schools, as well as in a college of recognized excellence; every commercial line well represented in blocks of modern store buildings, conveniently and modernly equipped residences, miles of paved streets, seven financial institutions, a beautiful community cemetery with a chapel and an unsurpassed mausoleum, a daily newspaper with Associated Press service, a State Armory and a Howitzer Company, a fine Government building, two golf courses and clubhouses, an 1846 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY $85,000 Masonic Temple, a $75,000 Elks' Home, a state fish hatchery, a score or more of diversified industries, absolutely pure filtered water in unlimited quantity, electrical current for all purposes in abundance, a motorized fire department, a complete drainage system—in brief, every advantage and facility that goes to make life in Defiance not only endurable, but absolutely pleasurable. Of course, as "Rome was not built in a day," so the Defiance of today did not happen overnight. Many setbacks were experienced, great obstacles had to be overcome, fires and floods exacted their customary toll. But that spirit which prompted General Wayne to name his historic creation of August 9, 1794, "Fort Defiance" prevailed during all these vicissitudes and, still prevailing, augurs well for the future development of this community. Of the pioneers and earlier residents in Defiance we might mention, in addition to those already referred to: Dr. John Evans, Thomas Warren, William Travis, Payne E. Parker, John W. Moore, John C. Downs, Lyman Langdon, David W. Marcellus, Samuel Rohn, Jonas Colby, John Miller, I. N. Thacker, L. E. Beardsley, J. P. Buffington, E. P. Hooker, Horace Sessions, William Semans, James B. Heatley, Samuel Greenlee, John Semans, J. P. Ottley, H. P. Bouton, William Carter, Daniel H. Killey, William Lewis, John Lewis (first mayor of Defiance), Joseph Ralston (whose widow, at the age of 100 years, attended the presidential election in 1920) , Hon. W. D. Hill, Alexander S. Latty, John S. Greenler, William C. Holgate, S. H. Carey, Edward F. Lindenberger, Jacob J. Greene, J. F. Deatrick, C. W. Biede, W. A. Kehnast, J. M. Preisendoerfer, Christian Harley, G. M. Weisenburger, J. B. Weisenburger, Michael Gorman, Jacob Karst, Joseph and Albin Bauer, B. F. Southworth, James A. Orcutt, Virgil Squire, L. J. Shead, Peter Schlosser, William Hoffman, Christian Geiger, the Martin brothers and Adam Wilhelm, If any have been overlooked, it is a matter of inadvertence. W. D. Hill served in the General Assembly, was a member of Congress from this district for three terms and died on the way to Kalispell, Mont., on the train near Peru, Ind., December 26, 1906. The Indians, who were still here in large numbers during the earlier years, gradually disappeared entirely, and the white man became undisputed master of this domain. Indicative of the numerical strength of the German-American population in this community are the facts that in 1872 in four of the eight local churches services were held exclusively in the German language, and that from 1881 to 1920 an American newspaper was pub- TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1847 fished in the German language in the City of Defiance by the writer of this article. Adams township, in the northeast corner of the county, was organized April 6, 1836, as a part of Henry County and named after Judge Bishop Adams, the first settler in the township. Among the earliest settlers were Eli Marckel, Jacob Shock, John Hornish, Jacob Tittle, A. Battenberg, Henry Lehman, Joseph Frantz, Jacob Schwartzel, Darius Jones, John Scott, Ephraim Marckel, John Hively and Emanuel Hall. Section 9 and part of section 16 were formerly a great prairie and marsh, probably created by beavers. When this marsh was finally drained it brought to light elk horns and many skeletons of animals. Though the soil is of exceptional fertility, Adams township was rather slow in developing. Gradually, however, emigrants, mostly from the Province of Hanover, Germany, began to arrive and in a short time the township became one of the most populous and prosperous in this section. Of the present population not less than 75 per cent are of German descent, as the following names indicate : Amok Meineke, Moser, Geiger, Nagel, Pessefall, Lenhart, Leithaeuser, Clemens, Brandt, Hoeffel, Arps, Westrick, Ramus, Coressel, Bruns, Mekus, Schweinhagen, Knape, Behrens, Bostelmann, Prigge, Dickmann, Schwake, Meyer, Roehrs, Dannenberg, Schultz, Michaelis, Schroeder, Behnfeldt, Lindau, Aschemeier, Freytag, Otte, Gerken, Buntz, Eitzmann, Cordes, etc. Several Bohemian farmers, the Fronks, Steffels, Hoshaks, Wisdas, and others, also located in the township and became closely identified with the development of the community. One of the sturdy pioneers of Adams township, Franz Mekus, whose cradle stood in Westphalia, lived over a century, and as a nonagenarian was frequently seen at work in his fields. The present generation in Adams township is practically all American born, the pioneers from abroad having nearly all gone to their reward. In years gone by Adams Ridge and Domerville, both unincorporated, were to some extent trade centers with post offices, but with the inauguration of free rural mail delivery the post offices were abandoned and good roads and the automobiles made inland trade centers unnecessary. There is still a small store and, of course, a filling station at what was once Domerville. There is a Dunkard Church in the township, a beautiful Catholic Church edifice with a fine parochial school building, 25-VOL. 2 1848 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY a parish house and a home for the school Sisters, and there are also three Lutheran churches. Delaware township was organized some time in 1824 as a part of Williams County and most likely named after the Delaware Indians. William H. Snook, who entered land in this section in 1824, tells of the country being infested with bears and other wild beasts, and with numerous Indians, who, however, were in the main quite friendly and inoffensive. The Maumee River offered the only avenue of transportation, in summer by means of pirogues and in winter by oxcarts. When the early settlers began the herculean task of wresting an existence from the then wilderness, there were no mills in the country. A large birch stump was hollowed out with an ax and the hole burned out and cleaned. Into this hole the corn was poured and reduced to a coarse meal with the aid of a spring pole with an iron wedge fastened in its lower end. Thus the sturdy pioneers secured corn meal for "Johnny-cake" with their hominy, venison and bear steak. Of a peculiar encounter with an intoxicated Indian, U. R. Snook in his personal reminiscences gives the following graphic account : "Some time during 1832, Antwayne, a chief of the Pottawatomies, and several of his braves, after having partaken too freely of 'firewater,' paid my grandfather Murphy's residence a visit, the men folks at the time being all out at work and only grandmother and aunt alone in the house. The Indians, as was their custom when peaceable, unbuckled their belts, depositing all their weapons in one corner of the log cabin and distributing themselves around the capacious fireplace where grandmother was cooking the noonday meal. Antwayne squatted directly in the way of her getting at her culinary efforts. This was not to be endured, and after grandmother had requested him several times to get out of the way, he replying in his broken English, 'Me good Injun, me no hurt white squaw; me big Injun, me heap good Injun, me no hurt white squaw,' she drew from its resting place the family rod and at once bestowed on 'good big Injun's' naked shoulders with no light hand, good sturdy blows, which made him howl with pain and jump up in great surprise. Giving the characteristic whoop of defiance, he sprang for his deadly weapons of war, but the other braves caught him and forced him out of the house, where they with one accord declared that he should not hurt the white squaw who was 'Heap much brave, whip Injun.' They finally succeeded in pacifying TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 1849 him, and after securing their accoutrements departed in good humor." Of the early settlers we might mention George W. Hill, who purchased a farm in Delaware as early as 1822; Elizabeth Speaker, Jacob Platter, Wilson S. Snook, John Musselman, Henry Slough, Nathaniel M. Blair, James M. Smith, Henry Funk, Conrad Slough, Montgomery Evans, William Travis, John, Daniel and Thomas Hill, Thomas Warren, James Shirley, Samuel Hughes, Lewis Platter, Guy Hamilton, Moses M. Haver, Orlando Coffin and George C. Armstrong. At the first election in 1824 there were about fifteen votes cast; in October, 1845, the number of votes had increased to only forty-four. The Maumee River flows through the south part of the township, the Baltimore & Ohio Railway crosses it in a direct line from east to west, and the Cincinnati Northern Railway, now a part of the New York Central system, from the north to the south. There were formerly three trade centers, all on the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, White's Mills, Delaware Bend and Sherwood, the latter alone being incorporated. Not a trace remains of White's Mills. Delaware Bend, laid out by W. D. Hill and associates at the time of the building of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, and located on a "bend" or curve of the river, was for years a busy place with a large hoop and stave mill, several stores, a sawmill, a blacksmith shop and two resident physicians. The timber supply exhausted, Delaware Bend went into rapid decline and today is practically off the map as a trade center. There is a Catholic Church of quite large proportions with a good parsonage, a small store and a house cr two still there. It was at Delaware Bend the so-called "Indian orchard" flourished, most likely the result of seeds planted by Jonathan Chapman during his peregrinations. Many orchards thereabout originated from this nursery, kept in condition and replanted by Montgomery Evans and a Frenchman by the name of Lombard. Sherwood came into existence before the construction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, although it was to the best of my knowledge not incorporated until 1876. Perhaps no men deserve more credit for the development of this village than the three brothers, Zeno, Johnson and Stewart Miller. Zeno Miller was the first mayor of the incorporated village. When a strife arose over the selection of a name for the village, it was Johnson Miller who suggested the name Sherwood, in honor of Gen. Isaac R. Sherwood, under whom he had fought in the Civil war. This