YORK.
THE most striking feature of the topography of York is the three parallel ridges or sand bars extending in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction. The township itself embracing an area of six miles square, lies in the southeast corner of the county and is bounded on the north by Townsend township, on the east by Erie and Huron counties, on the south by Seneca county, and on the west by Green Creek township. No streams of sufficient size to furnish waterpower for mills flow through this territory. The sand ridges give the surface an undulating appearance, and the porous character of the drift formation overlying a heavy stratum of limestone contributes to the dryness of the fertile soil. It is unnecessary to elaborate on geological theories concerning the origin of the sand bars. They are merely accumulations of fragments and disintegrated particles of rock, washed together by powerful waves and currents during the last period of geological history when the water of the lake basin covered all this region of country. Such bars of gravel and sand are yet forming near the shores of the great lakes. At the present time events of real and traditional history in York are located by these sand bars, and it will therefore be necessary to know their location.
The crest of North ridge trends through Green Creek in a northeasterly direction, and extends across the northwest corner of York and southeast corner of Townsend into Erie county. South ridge takes a parallel course, and its crest is about two miles southeast from the crest of North ridge. About the same distance toward the southeast trends Butternut ridge, beginning near the southeast corner of Green Creek and losing its identity near the pike in York. The name Butternut ridge was, very naturally, applied in consequence of the number and size of the white walnut, or butternut trees, which shaded its surface before the day of railroads and lumber markets.
Nowhere in the county did the primitive forest appear more hospitable than in York. West of the Sandusky River was, seemingly, an endless reach of dismal swamp, steaming with vapors poisoned by decaying vegetation. But here, trees grew to graceful size, and shaded soft grasses. The perfume of wild flowers wakened birds to song, and the fleet-footed deer gave gayety to the scene. Propitious nature welcomed with open arms all who came to build homes for themselves and an heritage for their children.
The soil of York is a sandy loam inter-mixed with small particles of limestone, and is unexceptionable for agricultural purposes. The upper rock stratum is limestone of superior quality and more than ordinary thickness. An outcrop occurs near Bellevue which supplies large quantities of stone, both for building and for making lime. Land commands a higher price per acre in York than anywhere else in the county. Nowhere in Ohio can be found better improved farms.
THE SETTLEMENT.
The circumstances leading to the settle-
654 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
ment of York were somewhat peculiar. The improvement of the Fireland district had commenced before the War of 1812, and was well progressed while Indian camp fires were yet burning on the other side of the line. After the restoration of peace with Great Britain real estate took a rise in the Firelands which induced emigrants to camp over on the Congress lands until they should be surveyed and offered for sale. Many, too, who had cleared farms and built houses in Huron, were induced to sell and begin again the trials of pioneer life. The ridges of York were favorite places for squatters, who put up temporary buildings, and made small clearings with the expectation of buying the land when in market, thus saving the value of their improvements. But men were selfish then as now, and it frequently happened that the most cherished hope of an industrious squatter who had cleared and cultivated, cheered on by the anticipation of being the rightful and legal owner, was blasted by one who had risen earlier, and secured a front place at the land office when the book of entries was opened. The scene is said to have been highly exciting when the turnpike lands were placed upon the market. Horses were rode at full speed to the office, where a lively contest for turns ensued. Each man had his lot picked out, but each suspected his neighbor of having envious eyes, a suspicion which, in many cases, proved well founded. The feeling of hatred caused by what was considered a transgression of rights was in a few instances lasting, and the cause of neighborly feuds in later years. The scramble for land was conducted with as much ardor and self-interested feeling then, as the scramble for office at the present time, although the assertion may appear to a casual observer of affairs extravagant.
We know of no more accurate way ofintroducing the topic under discussion than by giving a list of the original proprietors, taken from the book of land entries.
It will be necessary, in order to understand the dates here given, to know the method of making entries on the books in the recorder's office. The United States land office gave each purchaser a certificate of entry and receipt of payment. These certificates entitled the holder to a patent from the United States. They were also filed in the auditor's office, and tinder the law, five years from their date, the property, of which they stood as a receipt of payment, was listed on the tax duplicate, and recorded in the book of entries. It will appear, therefore, that the date of record given in the following table of Congress lands, is five years later than the real purchase at the land office.
But the turnpike lands embracing a strip one mile wide on each side of the pike, were ceded by the United States to the State of Ohio for the purpose of constructing a pike road from the Western Reserve through the Black Bwamp. These lands were offered for sale at the land office at Perrysburg in 1826, and were taxable from the date of entry. They were at once listed on the duplicate, and the date of record is also the date of purchase.
The following entries are recorded in 1826:
...................................................SECTION..............ACRES.
James Birdseye........................17, 20 and 25................542
Joseph George, jr.......................................21................135
J. C. and Isaac Hinds..................................21..................30
D. Scearls and M. McCoy..............21 and 22.................222
Jeremiah Smith...........................................22.................124
William T. Tuttle........................................19...................79
Entries are recorded in 1827 as follows:
....................................................SECTION...................ACRES.
Augustus Barber............................................1 ....................85
Winthrop Ballard.........................................31...................160
Abram Marks..............................................17....................160
James Birdseye............................................21....................211
HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 655
......................................................SECTION...................ACRES.
Perry Easton ......................................20 and22....................230
L. G. Harkness....................................18 and21....................142
Reuben Pixley.....................................22 and27....................196
L. G. Raymond..............................................22.....................116
Samuel Sparrow..................................24 and26.....................268
Jeremiah Smith..............................................22......................124
Samuel Sparrow.............................................24........................70
The following entries are recorded in 1828:
..........................................................SECTION....................ACRES.
Joseph M. Jenkins............................................11........................80
Henry Miller.....................................................29........................80
John Mugg........................................................10......................400
Seth W. Merry ........................................7 and 18......................160
Frederick Persing..............................................17.........................80
Norton Russell....................................................7.......................160
Jeremiah Smith ......................................9 and 15........................160
Smith Barber ......................................................2.........................80
Roderick Bishop..................................................5.........................80
H. Baker...................................................2 and 11.......................640
James Birdseye....................................................5........................160
Lyman Babcock...................................................7........................160
Oliver Comstock..................................................7..........................80
William Christie.................................................18........................160
Joseph P. Dean.....................................................3........................180
John Dunse.........................................................13..........................80
John Davenport..................................................19...........................80
Elkana Daniels ...................................................17..........................80
Edmond Fuller............................................7 and 8.........................160
Stillman George..................................................33...........................80
Esther F. Green...................................................10...........................80
Martin Hart..........................................................36...........................80
Joseph Hill...........................................................34...........................80
Entries were recorded in 1829 as follows:
...............................................................SECTION........................ACRES.
David Acklar.........................................................25..........................80
William Cookson....................................................4.........................160
Elizabeth Cady......................................................25...........................80
Thomas W. Canada.................................................9...........................80
John Davenport.....................................................20...........................80
Joseph T. Doan......................................................31...........................80
Edmond Huldeah...................................................30.........................160
Richard Freeman1....................................................7...........................80
Stillman George.....................................................28...........................80
Truman Gilbert......................................................30..........................160
Elnathan George....................................................33............................80
Jared Hadley..........................................................34............................80
Samuel Hackett......................................................28............................80
Lyman Jones.............................................................5............................80
John Knickerbocker..................................................4..........................340
Robert Longwell........................................................8...........................80
Ransom and Major Purdy..........................................2...........................80
Simeon Root ...........................................................29...........................80
James Strong............................................................25.........................147
Samuel Sparrow...........................................23 and 24.........................160
Entries are recorded in 183o as follows:
.......................................................................SECTION....................ACRES.
N. P. Birdseye.............................................................19..........................79
Elisha Avery ...............................................................12..........................80
James Chapman.............................................................5..........................80
George Colvin ...............................................................9..........................80
John Dunse ..................................................................13..........................80
Eli Knickerbocker...........................................................3..........................80
S. W. Murray...................................................................7..........................80
Charles Sherwood..........................................................12..........................80
Lansford Wood...............................................................12.........................80
L. C. Watkins..................................................................10.........................80
The entries recorded in 1831 were as follows:
............................................................................SECTION....................ACRES.
Gideon Brayton................................................................31.........................80
Nathaniel Chapman..........................................................36.........................75
Jesse Gilbert ....................................................................30.........................80
Philip Glick .....................................................................30.......................160
Samuel Grover.................................................................34.........................80
John Glick .......................................................................30.........................80
James M. Jenkins..............................................................11........................80
James Munger...................................................................29........................80
Return Burlingston............................................................25..........................2
Nathaniel Chapman...........................................................25........................40
Chapman and Amsden.......................................................25........................27
Zadock Story......................................................................25........................78
A. D. Follett ......................................................................27.........................78
Stillman George.................................................................28.........................79
John Lemmon ....................................................................18.........................33
Henry McMillen.................................................................18..........................14
John West ..........................................................................17..........................80
George W. Franklin............................................................19..........................79
R. C. Brayton......................................................................28..........................76
Roswell George..............................................................................................146
R. Burlingson......................................................................24..........................67
N. P. Birdseye.....................................................................20..........................79
Jacob May.......................................................................................................121
The only entry in 1832 was:
................................................................................SECTION.....................ACRES.
Lyman Amsden....................................................................35...........................80
In 1833 the following lands were entered :
.................................................................................SECTION......................ACRES.
William Drum .....................................................................11............................160
William P. White.................................................................14...............................80
Eli Knickerbocker..................................................................3...............................80
R. Burlingson.......................................................................23...............................80
R. Burlingson.......................................................................24...............................80
Crowell and McNutt............................................................20..............................125
Dyer Carver .........................................................................27..............................316
E. T. Gardner ......................................................................26...............................116
John Lemmon......................................................................19.................................80
Lemuel Morse......................................................................24.................................79
John Riddle..........................................................................28.................................78
E. W. Rice............................................................................22.................................76
656 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
....................................................................................SECTION............................ACRES.
Ephraim Simmons..................................................................26..................................143
Reuben McWilthey ................................................................26..................................131
T. Alexander ...........................................................................35.................................160
Crowell and McNutt................................................................24.................................124
R. Burlingson...........................................................................24...................................79
Lemuel Morse .........................................................................24...................................79
John Lemmon...........................................................................19...................................80
Ephraim Simmons....................................................................26.................................143
John Riddle...............................................................................28...................................78
Dyer Carver...............................................................................27.................................313
R. W. Willy...............................................................................26.................................130
E. W. Rice.................................................................................22...................................76
E. T. Gardner ............................................................................26.................................116
The entries recorded in 1834 were as follows :
......................................................................................SECTION..............................ACRES.
Theophilus Alexander...............................................................35....................................160
Nathaniel Chapman...................................................................36......................................80
Chapman and Amsden...............................................................30......................................75
Philip Crapo ..............................................................................30......................................78
Samuel Foster, jr........................................................................24......................................80
H. and Hiram Palmer.................................................................29......................................80
Phebe Sharp...............................................................................36......................................80
Tim Sunderland.........................................................................26.....................................101
R. Burlingson.............................................................................23......................................79
Martha Baker..............................................................................23......................................79
Wesley Anderson........................................................................18....................................160
John W. Hone..............................................................................18......................................78
Entries were made in 1835 as follows:
.........................................................................................SECTION.............................ACRES.
William Bates ...............................................................................6.......................................80
John Brush.....................................................................................5.......................................80
William Brumb..............................................................................1.......................................80
Truman Gilbert............................................................................29.....................................240
Kiah Gould..................................................................................36.......................................80
In 1837 were recorded the entries of :
.........................................................................................SECTION..............................ACRES.
Gilbert Bohls..................................................................................8.......................................80
Joseph Chapman.............................................................................3.......................................80
In 1837 entries are recorded as follows:
..........................................................................................SECTION..............................ACRES.
Fred Chapman...................................................................35 and 36......................................158
Samuel Clark.................................................................................33.......................................80
James Armstrong...........................................................................14.......................................80
E. Hiland........................................................................................31.......................................80
Wooster McMillen.........................................................................33.......................................80
M. P. Sprague.................................................................................29.......................................80
The entries of 1838 were:
..........................................................................................SECTION..............................ACRES.
Thomas G. Amsden........................................................................34.......................................80
John E. Armstrong..........................................................................14.......................................80
James Armstrong............................................................................14.......................................40
George Pettyome............................................................................35........................................80
Augustus Barker.................................................................12 and 13......................................146
John Barber.....................................................................................13.......................................40
Daniel Clouse..................................................................................35.......................................80
M. M. Coe..........................................................................................1......................................80
Almon Gray........................................................................................3......................................38
James Haynes....................................................................................33...................................160
Joseph Hoover...................................................................................13...................................126
Robert Irwin.......................................................................................31..................................120
E. G. Kearney....................................................................................33....................................80
David Smith.........................................................................................1...................................80
Henry Stetler......................................................................................34.................................240
S. L. Simpson.....................................................................................14.................................160
The entries of the year 1839 are recorded as follows :
...............................................................................................SECTION..........................ACRES.
James Armstrong....................................................................14 and 15...............................120
Elisha Avery ......................................................................................13.................................40
William Bailey.....................................................................................3..................................43
H. H. Brown.......................................................................................33..................................40
William Burcan....................................................................................6................................240
Edmond Brace......................................................................................2..................................42
Smith Barber ........................................................................................3.................................40
Lester Beach..........................................................................................9.................................40
John Colvin ..........................................................................................9.................................40
George Colvin.......................................................................................9.................................40
J. G. Coons ...........................................................................................2.................................85
Matthew M. Coe.................................................................................12..................................80
O. F. Clark...............................................................................32 and 33..................................80
H. S. Cooper........................................................................................32..................................40
James S. Connell...................................................................................6..................................80
Jacob Decker........................................................................................21.................................40
William Degs.......................................................................................15.................................80
William Dalzell......................................................................................9.................................80
D. Q. Ellsworth.......................................................................................8................................40
Henry Friligh...........................................................................................1..............................198
George Stillman....................................................................................32................................40
Hezekiah Grover...................................................................................28................................52
W. F. Gormen..........................................................................................8................................40
Ephraim Hastings.....................................................................................3.............................120
R. Harding................................................................................................9...............................80
Silas Howell...........................................................................................13...............................40
William Henrick.....................................................................................12.............................113
Robert Irwin................................................................................31 and 32.............................220
Robert Irwin, jr.......................................................................................32...............................80
A. C. Jackson ...........................................................................................3...............................42
John Knuttle..............................................................................................9...............................40
James Lemmon, jr.....................................................................................3...............................84
U. B. Lemmon............................................................................................3..............................42
James Meacham......................................................................................14..............................80
Richard Nickerson...................................................................................14.............................40
George Parker............................................................................................2.............................42
Daniel Rife ......................................................................................5 and 8...........................122
F. R. Smith ................................................................................................5.............................40
Dean Squire..................................................................................10 and 13...........................279
William Stevenson......................................................................................6..........................328
Asa Stanley..................................................................................................3............................43
Joel Siezer...................................................................................................4............................80
Storey Wills...............................................................................................15..........................200
HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 657
1840 closed out the balance of Congress lands as follows:
............................................SECTION...................ACRES.
Martin Dart.......................................5.............................85
A. D. Follett....................................32.............................40
Ephraim Hastings.............................9..............................40
Dennis Hamlin..................................8..............................80
W. J. Whittaker.......................8 and 9............................200
The settlement of York proper began in 1822. The squatters whose shabby cabins for three years had broken the monotony of continuous forest, cannot be called settlers, nor would it be prudent to attempt to chronicle their comings and goings. A squatter community, such as York was from 1819 to 1822, would be a fruitful field for the study of character. Here were the class of people who may be termed the overflow of civilization—families driven from time to time from the public domain by legal owners. They push a little further along, crowding the savage before them. Their improvements are never of much value. A cabin, eight by ten feet in the clear, built of round logs, with a rough puncheon door and two holes over which white paper was pasted, the only windows. A mixture of mud and leaves filled the cracks, and the earth shorn of grass and smoothed down by bare feet, made a floor unnecessary. Squatters of this class farmed very little. In an Indian clearing, if one chanced to be in the neighborhood, or in a field prepared by cutting out the underbush and deadening the larger trees, they planted corn. Corn was the complement of game in their table-fare. Hunting and story-telling was the only occupation of this class of semi-civilized vagabonds. The women, rather from necessity than choice, were more industrious than the men. However much the children might be neglected in other particulars, and, indeed, were neglected, they had to be fed, and the mothers had to do it. They hoed the corn, harvested it, and cracked it on a block, while the men, rather as a pleasure than a duty, shot game and brought what could not be traded for whiskey, or some other luxury, to the cabin, where hands already overworked, prepared it for the table. It is often asked, "How did these people live?" When life loses every motive except existence, man becomes a very simple sort of animal. Culture and ambition are the creators of wants, to supply which toil, even hardship, is cheerfully endured. These people never aspired to the ownership of property, to the enjoyment of travel nor to the refinement of education. Good clothes would have made them uncomfortable and good houses miserable. The woods was their chosen paradise, and cabins preferable to a "house of many mansions." We cannot, of course, fathom the life of people and understand what circumstances have been their guides along the highway of existence. Crime, laziness, and disease are possible causes of their degradation.
But a respectable class of people also were known as squatters. Brave, industrious men and women left pleasant abodes and planted in the forest the germs of that civilization which is already bearing golden fruit. They bore with patience, not only the hardships which nature imposed, but also the depredations of the vagrants who hid gone before. The progress of material development is like the march of an invading army. Retreating barbarism is followed by a horde of half-breed camp-followers pressed closely by the skirmishers of the pursuing forces.
Legal barriers, for a while, prevented the rank and file of the pioneer army from occupying the fertile country beyond the limit of the Firelands. But when these barriers had been removed, the way was already opened by squatters in name, but settlers in reality.
Jeremiah Smith, one of the earliest set-
658 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
tiers of this township, removed from Fultonville, New York, in the fall of 1822, arriving at Bellevue, October 15th. He entered land near the central part of the township.
A. D. Follett, a son of Eliphalet Follett, of Huron county, settled in this township soon after the settlement of Mr. Smith. His family is of Norman origin, and came into England with William the Conqueror. One of the descendants was attorney general to Queen Victoria and member of Parliament for the city of Exeter. His monument in Westminster Abbey bears the inscription, "Sir William Webb Follett, Kt." The grandfather of Abel D. Follett was murdered at Wyoming during the Revolution. That day of dreadful butchery is one of the most barbarous episodes of American history. It was more than an Indian massacre. It was inspired, planned, and conducted by Tories, which name has become synonymous with treason. Among four hundred brave patriots who marched to the defence of their wives and children was Eliphalet Follett. The murderous horde of allied savages and Tories surrounded this brave company, of whom only twenty succeeded in cutting their way through the lines. One of these was Follett; but a bullet cut him down before reaching the opposite side of the Susquehanna. Mrs. Follett escaped the massacre of the women and children which followed, and with an old horse started toward the east, taking her six children, the oldest of whom was thirteen, and the youngest two. Before she had progressed far her arm was broken by an accident, but by heroic perseverance she succeeded in rescuing the family, which has become well known in the annals of Huron and Sandusky counties. Abel D. Follett, who settled in York, was a grandson of Eliphalet Follett, and son of Eliphalet Follett, jr., who settled in Huron county about
1820. Abel D. and Laura Follett removed to California.
The school section number sixteen was settled mostly by poor people, who may be classed as "good, bad, and indifferent." Some lived by begging, some by stealing, and a few by working. After the lines of ownership began to become marked many of the old squatters took to the school section, feeling sure that their days would be spent before the uncharitable hand of industrious landlords would defile, with axes and plows, this last haven of wandering humanity.
Sid Perry was a character in his day. He was an industrious visitor, especially about butchering time. Jeremiah Smith used to make a custom of saving the hogs' heads and bony meat, knowing that Sid's complaints of poverty and ingratitude of the world would be forced into his ears soon after the last squeal of the dying swine had ceased. Sid was a zealous Baptist, and always wanted to lead the singing. He had a nasal, high-keyed voice, and stretched out his syllables to a distressing length. He seemed to think of his wicked neighbors when he sang:
I long to see the season come
When sinners shall come marching hum.
Speaking of ardent church members calls to mind another early settler whose piety exceeded his education. Adam Brown lived on the ridge, and was in most respects a worthy man. Revivals always conquered his nerves. He had but one speech, which was delivered, seemingly with fear, certainly with trembling. His tearful sincerity drowned laughter even among the sinners, when he began his stereotype speech by saying: "Brethren and sistern, I tell you religion is good, I know it by exknowledge perimental."
There never was enough business along the pike to make taverns a necessity. They were to be found every mile or two.
HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 659
Most of them were poor concerns, while others made comfortable stopping-places.
Henry McMillen had a cooper shop west of the Centre. It was an easy matter to get out staves and make barrels from the fine, straight timber in which the forest abounded. Barrels, too, were in considerable demand in Lower Sandusky, and Portland (now Sandusky), also a great many were used for shipping potash, which was extensively manufactured in the east part of this county.
Rollin Benson sold the first goods in the township. He brought with him from the East a stock of cotton fabrics and notions, also a barrel of whiskey, which was a necessary article of merchandise. When the whiskey, calicoes, muslins, etc., had been disposed of, the frontier merchant shut up store and moved away.
John Davenport was one of the first squatter settlers in the county. He lived on what is now known as the Nathan P. Bridseye farm, and then removed further north, where he entered land and died. His family went west. Davenport was the first postmaster in York, which was also the first post office in the east part of the county.
The Tuttles were early settlers of the southwest part of York and southeast part of Green Creek. They were of a sporting disposition, and often at raisings or log rollings demonstrated considerable combativeness.
The years 1824 and 1825 were sickly in York. Three of the prominent settlers were among the first to die. Mr. and Mrs. Longwell died in 1824, and Seth M. Murray in 1825.
Dr. L. Harkness was the physician for all this part of the country at that time. He found considerable difficulty in obtaining medicine. On one occasion he declared that he would give his horse for a bottle of quinine.
Oliver Comstock was an early settler on the North ridge, probably having come there before the land was in market.
Dr. Avery was the first physician in the township, but gave most of his attention to farming and clearing land.
William Christie settled on the farm on which John Davenport first settled. It next came into possession of his son-in-law, Nathan P. Birdseye.
The Utbey family settled early on the North ridge.
David Acklar, though generally a fair sort of a man, was in the habit of much drinking, and when under the influence of the beverage, so much used by the pioneers, was disposed to be quarrelsome. He had the reputation of being a fighter.
Doctor James Strong and Charles F. Drake purchased in the name of Z. Story a lot now occupied by the west part of the village of Bellevue.
Gideon Brayton was a large, good-natured settler of the north part of the township. His presence at a log-rolling or raising was an assurance that fun would be plentifully intermingled with the work. He came to York about 1825.
Return Burlingson was one of the early settlers of Bellevue. He afterwards moved to California, where he died.
Deacon Raymond was one of the first settlers on the pike. He was a local preacher and farmer.
The first tavern on the pike was opened by Reuben Pixley, who had a family of six sons — Reuben, Elanson, Alvah, George, Theron, and Charles. The Pixley's were a very religious family, and kept the York Centre tavern after the fashion of the times.
Wesley Anderson was the popular land-lord of the pike at a later date. He moved from York to Hamer's Corners, in Green Creek.
Hiram Baker was born at Homer,
660 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
Courtland county, New York, in the year 1798. His father, John Baker, was one of the early settlers of Lyme township. In 1817, while assisting to raise a log-house in York, he received an injury which resulted in his death the following day. Hiram thus found himself at the early age of eighteen, charged with the management of the farm and support of his mother. In the course of a few years he was obliged to sell the farm his father had purchased, getting some advance for the cost of improvements. He purchased a tract on Butternut ridge, in this county, and moved into an unfinished log-house in midwinter. Mechanics of all kinds were scarce, and Mr. Baker finding himself in need of shoes began cobbling with an awl made of a piece of forktine, pegs whittled out with a penknife, and common knives and hammers. He soon became expert in making the fashionable stoga shoes of the day. He could make two pair a day. His neighbors, and everybody within a distance of several miles were neighbors in those days, cheerfully gave a day's work for a pair of shoes and furnish the leather. In this way Mr. Baker soon succeeded in getting his farm under a good state of cultivation. Shoe. making being profitable, he sold his farm and moved to Bellevue, where he employed a journeyman and learned the trade regularly. Eventually his business became quite extensive and brought sufficient accumulation of property to make old age comfortable. He died in 1874. In 1826 Mr. Baker married Mary Ann Forbes, by whom he had three children—Arabella, Henry, and Hiram F., the last named being editor of the Bellevue Local News. Mr. Baker's first wife dying in 1835, he married, in 1836, Catharine Hagaman, daughter of John Hagaman. She was born in 1815. John H., her oldest child, died in 1880 leaving a wife and one child, Grace, David A., the second son, was a member of the Thirteenth Ohio Cavalry and was killed near Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864.
Elder John Mugg settled on the South ridge in 1822. Being a man of more than ordinary piety and a devout member of the Baptist church he at once began to plan for the organization of a religious society. His desire was realized in 1825, as will be seen further along in this chapter. He eventually became a preacher and exhorter. He bore the reputation of being a truly good man. His children were: Thomas, John B., William, Marcus, and Jesse, sons, and two daughters, Mary (Bennett), and Harriet (Colvin). Thomas, Mary, and Jesse died in Indiana; Marcus became a preacher and removed to Michigan, where he died; William farmed on the South ridge until his death; Mrs. Colvin died in this township. John B. Mugg, who was more intimately identified with the affairs of York than any of the other children, was born in New York in 1801. He married, in 1823, Susan Wheeler, and soon after removed to Ohio and settled in this township; but after a residence in the pioneer country of two years, they returned to New York, where they remained till 1836. Returning to York, they settled on the farm on which he died Their family consisted of nine children, only two of whom are living—William A. and George H., the last named of whom was born in 1838, married Adelia Hitt in 186o, and has three children—Elmer E., Luella E., and Susan M. He was in the nursery business in Green Creek township from 1872 to 1874.
In October, 1822, a party of four men, William McPherson, his brother-in-law Norton Russel, Lyman Babcock, and James Birdseye, left their homes in Ontario county, New York, for the purpose of
HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 661
seeking new homes in the West. All, except Mr. Russel, were married, but left their families behind until a location could be selected. At Buffalo they engaged passage on a packet, but fearing robbery and personal violence at the hands of the crew, they concluded at the harbor at Ashtabula that safety was preferable to ease, and started for the Sandusky territory on foot. After two or three weary days walking Mr. Birdseye, who was the oldest member of the party, became exceedingly tired, and throwing himself down by the roadside, insisted that his hips had penetrated his body at least two inches. But the tiresome journey was at last finished, and as a result of it the county gained four good citizens. They each entered a quarter section of land, all in York, except Mr. McPherson, who settled in Green Creek. All except Mr. Russel returned to New York for their wives. A full sketch of the Birdseye family is found at the conclusion of this chapter. Further mention is made of Mr. McPherson in connection with Green Creek. Mr. Babcock was a worthy and respected citizen of York for many years. Mr. Russel married, in 1825, Sibyl McMillen, a daughter of Samuel McMillen, of Green Creek. The wedding ceremony was performed by James McIntyre, the Methodist preacher of this circuit for that year. He had by this time made considerable improvement on his farm on the North ridge, where he lived and raised a family of seven children, viz: John N. and William M., Clyde; Charles P., York; Phoebe S., wife of William Mugg, York; Sarah R. (Bell), Clyde; Mary M. (Taylor), Colorado Springs; and Belle R. (Culver), Cleveland. The children and grandchildren held a reunion at Mr. Russel's residence in Clyde, June 15, 1881, the occasion being the eightieth anniversary of his birth. Twenty-two grandchildren and one great-grandchild are living.
Joseph George, the oldest man now living in Clyde, and also one of the earliest pioneers, was born in Vermont, in 1795. He belonged to the volunteer militia of New York, when the British made the raid through Western New York and burned Buffalo, and at that time he was on the march. The war over, he married Sarah McMillen, and in 1819 came to Ohio, first stopping where Bellevue now is, at the frontier tavern kept by his cousin, Elnathan George. He first settled in Thompson township, but after a few years bought turnpike land, near the centre of York, which he improved after the fashion of the day. The land was not well adapted to agriculture and was therefore sold by Mr. George after a residence of nine years, at an advance barely covering the cost of improvements. This has since become a valuable tract on account of inexhaustible deposits of fine gravel. It is now owned by the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad company. Soon after Mr. George moved to York an incident occurred which shows the friendly disposition of the Indians who roamed through the extensive woodlands, hunting. Mrs. George started on horseback to the cabin on the pike, where Rollin Benson was disposing of a small stock of goods. In sight of the little store her horse frightened and threw her violently to the ground, inflicting a severe stunning and painful bruises. A party of Indians loafing near by seeing what had happened promptly came to her rescue, carried her to Amsden's Corners, and summoned medical aid. Mr. George removed from York to Townsend, where he lived thirty-three years, and then retired in Clyde, where he yet resides in the fullness of his years, being in the eighty-seventh year of his age. Mrs. George died in 1880, hav-
662 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
ing borne a family of fourteen children, thirteen of whom came to maturity. Nine are yet living: Lorenzo D., Allen county, Indiana; Alfred; Bowling Green, Ohio; Rev. Norton R., Hill City, Kansas, Joseph, jr., Clyde; Mrs. Archibald Richards, Clyde; Mrs. Joseph Whitehead, Clyde; Mrs. George McFarland, Bowling Green, Ohio; Mrs. Milton Gaskill, Medina, Michigan; and Mrs. James May, Fairfield, Michigan.
John Riddell, a native of Pennsylvania, removed to New York in 1824, at the age of twenty-four years. He married, in New York, in 1828, Laura Haynes, and three years later removed to Ohio and settled in York township, near York centre. They had one child, William B., who was one year old when his parents came to Ohio. In 1853 he married Barbara Cupp, and has a family of three children: Ida (Angel), Emma, and John C. John Riddell is one of the few old settlers still living. His wife died about nine years ago. He belongs to the Christian church. His son, W. B. Riddell, does a good farming business.
Isaac Slocum was born in Rhode Island, in 1775. He married, in Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Patrick, and they emigrated to Huron county, Ohio, in 1824, settling in Lyme township, where they remained five years, and then, in 1829, removed to York.. Mr. Slocum died in York in 1858. The family consisted of twelve children, five of whom are living, viz : Isaac, in Minnesota; William, in Iowa; Abel, in Wisconsin; Giles, in Minnesota; Elizabeth, the only daughter living, is the widow of Mason Kinney, and lives in York township.
Mason Kinney was born in 1806. In 1833 he married Elizabeth Slocum, by whom he had a family of seven children, six of whom are living: Mary, George, Sarah (Bachman), William, Joseph, and Erastus W. All the children, except Joseph, live in York township.
Prominent among the Pennsylvania German families of this township are the Harpsters. Jacob Harpster was born in Pennsylvania in 1811. He came to Ohio in 1834, and settled in Seneca county, where he lived five years, and then made York his permanent residence. He married, in 1838, Elizabeth Mook, and has a family of four children—Frederick, Jacob D., Benjamin F., who live in Kansas, and Eliza S., wife of Henry Miller, of York township.
Isaac Parker and family emigrated from Pennsylvania to Ohio in 1842, and remained in Huron county one year, then came to York township. Mr. Parker married Elizabeth Mook, also of Pennsylvania. He is still living; his wife died several years ago. They had nine children, seven of whom are living—Levi, in York township; Isaac, in Michigan; Jackson, in Erie county; Solomon, in Michigan; Anna (Rupert), in Michigan; Andrew, in the West; and Henry, in Iowa.
Levi Parker was born in Pennsylvania in 1823. In 1861 he married Caroline Michael, to whom seven children were born—George, Charles, Isaac, Mary, Oren, Emma, and Nettie.
Ephraim Sparks was born in New Jersey in 1790. He settled in Pennsylvania, and there married Sarah Cook in 1813. Four years later they removed to Tuscarawas county, Ohio, where Mrs. Sparks died, in 1828, and her husband in 1871. Your of their seven children are still living, two in this county—Randall and Isaac. The latter resides in Clyde. David died in Carroll county, Ohio, in February, 1881. The daughters now living are: Mrs. Elizabeth Tressel, Tuscarawas county, and Mrs. Mary Neal, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania.
Randall Sparks was born in Pennsylva-
HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 663
nia in 1814. He married Ann Wingate in 1835, and settled in York township, his present residence. Mr. Sparks has served as justice of the peace six years, and has held other local offices. He is the father of eight children, only two of whom are living. Lemuel, the oldest, enlisted in company B, Seventy-second Ohio infantry, November 9, 1861, and participated in the battle of Shiloh. He died in camp before Corinth, May 16, 1862, in the twenty-sixth year of his age. Catharine died January 5, 1858, in her nineteenth year; Albert died May 31, 1861, in his twentieth year. Leslie E. was mustered in as a member of company M, First regiment Ohio Heavy Artillery; he was drowned in the Tennessee River, near Loudon, Tennessee, June 2, 1864, in the twenty-first year of his age. Melissa died November 6. 1869, in her twenty-second year; Elinda Jane died April 25, 1872, in the twenty-second year of her age. The surviving children are Wilbur L., born February 27, 1854, and Ella B., born June 15, 1859; both reside at home.
Samuel Shutts was a native of New Jersey, and was born in 1797. His family moved to New York while he was young. He married in New York, and in 1847, with his wife and five children, removed to Sandusky county, and settled in York township, where his wife died in 1855, leaving five children—Oliver J., Mary, Sarah H., John, and Emma. Mr. Shutts removed to Ballville township in 1861. Oliver J., the oldest child, was born in New York in 1828; he married, in 1859, Margaret Barlow, of York township; their children are all deceased. Mr. Shutts was one of the founders of the Diabetic Cure at Green Springs.
John Mook was born in Pennsylvania in 1765. He was married in Pennsylvania, in 1818, to Mary Baughy, and in 1836 removed to Western New York. In 1844 they came to Ohio, and settled in this township. Seven of their nine children are yet living—Mary, wife of Isaac Parker, York township; Abraham, New York State; Effie, wife of Lewis Burgess, New York State; Solomon, living in Illinois; Sampson, in New York, and Benjamin, in York township. The last named was born in Pennsylvania in. 1820; he came to Ohio with his parents, and in 1848 married Susan Boyer, who was born in Union county, Pennsylvania, in 1827. Their family consists of nine children, viz.:' Simon B., Fidelia, Malcomb, Samuel E., Elmer J., Clara, Emma and Emerson (twins), and William G. Mr. Mook made carpentering a business while living in New York. John Mook, father of the Mooks of this township, died in 1848. His wife survived him ten years.
William, the only living child of William and Mary Mills, was born of Jersey parentage, in 1809. He married Cornelia Berry in 1857, and has a family of two children-Eliza J., Huron county, and Mary E., York township.
William Dymond was born in England, in 1811. He married Elizabeth Greenslade, in 1838. The family consists of eleven children, viz.: James, resides in Kansas; John, Huron county; Anna (Coleman), Clyde; William, jr., Kansas Richard, died in 1872; Samuel; Alice (Clacknor); Alfred, York township; Elizabeth (Stutler), Toledo; Mary, Frank, and Frederick, York township. Mr. Dymond is a mason, and followed that trade thirty years. He has resided in this county since 1848.
James F. Smith was born in New York, in 1809. He removed to Pennsylvania in 1823, where he married, in 1833, Elizabeth Alexander. They settled in Huron county, Ohio, in 1843, and removed to York township five years later. Six of their eleven children are living, viz: Mary
664 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
J., York township; Charles, Kansas; John, Kansas; Alice, York township; Samuel and Clara B., York township. Mr. Smith is a carpenter, and worked at that trade twenty years. He has been extensively engaged in the manufacture of lime for about twenty years.
Joseph P. Roush was born in Pennsylvania, in 1814. In 1839 he married Catharine Kreisher, and with his family moved to York township in 1856. Five children are living and two are dead. Charles F. and James P. reside in York township; John Henry, at Lindsey; Mary E. (Williams), in Huron county; and William A., in York. Alice and George W. are deceased. Mr. Roush attends his farm, but during the winter works at tailoring. He has about two hundred acres of good land. Mr. and Mrs. Roush, and Charles, belong to the Reformed church. Mrs. Williams is a Methodist.
Gideon Billman and family, originally from Berks county, Pennsylvania, moved to Sandusky county in 1848, and settled where the sons now live, in York township. Mr. Billman married Hannah Donner, and to them were born six sons and three daughters. Three of the sons and all of the daughters survive. George resides near Burr Oak, Michigan; John and George, on the home farm; Susan is the wife of John Bauchman, York township; Sarah is the wife of Joseph Smith, Erie county; Mary Jane, the wife of Henry Toogood, resides in Sturgis, Michigan. The father and mother have both died within the past six years.
George Billman was married, in 1876, to Mary Ann Boop, a native of Groton township, Huron county. They have live sons—Joseph, James, George, Cloyd, and Frank. Mr. Billman and his brother are Democrats. They worked at fencemaking several years, and have been carrying on the same business in connection withtheir farming for the last fifteen years.
M. J. Tichenor removed from New York to York township in 1851. He was born in 1821, and, in 1827, married Joanna Torrence, a daughter of William H. and Salome Torrence. Nine children blessed this union—Mary A. (Tea), Clyde; Helen (Kline), York township; Zachariah, Kansas; Salome (Lemmon), Townsend township; George, Ida, Elizabeth (Haff), Jessie, and John, York township. Mr. Tichenor was an active, energetic citizen until his death. Mrs. Tichenor continues a resident of York.
Jacob Kopp was born in Pennsylvania in 1827. In 1851 he removed to Erie county, Ohio, and in 1859 to York township. He married Matilda E. McCauley in 1853. The fruit of this union is six children, as follows: John P., Minnesota; Frances (Hoy), Erie county; Benjamin F., Anna E., Abraham L., and Alice E., York township. Mr. Kopp is a Republican. He and his family belong to the Reformed church. He has five hundred and fifty-four acres, and does an extensive farming business. Commencing with little, he is now in very good circumstances as the reward of his untiring energy.
One of the first of the "Pennsylvania Dutch" settlers in York was Adam Jordan. He was horn in 1803, and in 1829 married, in Pennsylvania, Sophia Orwig. They came directly to York and settled on the farm on which he died in 1861. She died in 1872. Their family consisted of eight children, viz : Sarah (Weaver), Lucas county; Martin, Lucas county; Lucy (McCauley), York township; Joseph, Mary, Hannah M., James, and George W. live
in York township.
William Frederick was born in Pennsylvania in 1796. He married, in 1835, Catharine Kline, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1809. In 1861 they removed to York, where they still live. Their eight
children are: George, York township; Jesse, Maumee, Ohio; William, jr., York township; James, Michigan; Samuel, York township, and Henry, Riley township. Reuben and Robert are dead. Mr. Frederick, though well advanced in years, enjoys good health.
Godfrey Deck, one of the later settlers of this county, was born in Pennsylvania in 1805. He married Christiana Bixler in 1827: settled in York in 1864. He had a family of five children. He died in York in 1871. She is yet living. John, the oldest child, was born in Pennsylvania in 1828. In 1852 he married Sarah Klingman, who bore a family of eight children, five of whom are living: A. H. and Sarah C., York township; Anna M. (Bradley), Canada; John F. and William G., York township. The names of those that are deceased were Christiana, Charley, and Joseph. All died young.
Edward Kern was born in Pennsylvania in 1825. He came to Ohio in 1833, and settled in Seneca county, where he married Sarah Stetler in 1846. In 1871 he removed to York township. His family consists of six children, viz: A. J. and Jacob H., Seneca county; Samuel E., York township; Mary F., wife of John Swartz, Michigan; Laura E. (Stewart), York township, and Abbie E. (Ebbersol), Missouri. Mr. Kern's parents were George Jacob and Elizabeth (Shuck) Kern, both natives of Pennsylvania. After coming to Ohio they lived and died in Seneca county. They brought up a family of five sons and five daughters. All, excepting three daughters, are still living. The sons are: Yost, St. Joseph county, Michigan; George, Bellevue; Isaac, Seneca county; Edward, York township; Bennel, in Iowa. The daughters: Sophia, deceased; Sarah, deceased, was the wife of John Romick, Seneca county; Hannah, wife of George Heater, Bellevue; Mary married Jacob Miller, and died at Coldwater, Michigan; Rachel, the widow of Jacob Sieber, resides in Seneca county.
Jacob Hilbish, a native of Pennsylvania, came to York township in 1871, and settled on the farm which he now occupies. He married Susannah Paulin, also a native of Pennsylvania. They have had six sons and three daughters, viz: Harriet, wife of Nathan Knauer, Pennsylvania; Agnes, wife of Daniel Cleckner, Seneca county; Ammon, Pennsylvania; Aaron, in the West; Matilda, wife of George Hassenplug, York township; Charles, Kansas; Wilson, at home; James, Indiana; David, Illinois. Mr. Hilbish has a good farm of one hundred and thirty-seven acres, situated near town, and does a good farming business.
A WEDDING EPISODE.
A wedding in a new country is a particularly interesting event. Our pioneer fathers and mothers had no newspapers to interest them with the events of the world at large, nor did many of them have books to occupy an occasional hour stolen from the clearing or farm. Similar surroundings and pursuits effected a kind of homogeneity in the community. These two circumstances conduced to a social feeling and interest which it is impossible to appreciate at the present day. Marriage is the second great event in the life of an individual, and the one in which people generally are more interested than any other. It is but natural, therefore, that in a community bound together by personal friendship and social unity, the prospect of a wedding became the family talk of every cabin.
The story of an early wedding in York, as told by a gay and favorite beau among the red-cheeked lasses of the time, furnishes a pleasing episode to the naturally dry chronicle of prosy facts.
Miss Abigail Bardman, a gay, vivacious, and handsome girl just past her teens,
666 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
tired of the changeless succession of events at her home in New York, and captivated by the romance of border life as pictured in the letters of her sister, Mrs. Knickerbocker, from York, resolved upon a visit to the new Sandusky country. Having packed the plainest articles of her wardrobe she started upon the long journey, and in a few weeks was the guest of her sister's cabin home. She at once conquered the rural beaux, while on the other hand the strong and manly knights of the forest found favor in her sight. Mr. Platt, from Huron county, pushed his suit most ardently and won the pearl. The pain of jealousy was part of the price, for he suspected Norton Russel of being a rival and feared the issue. The load bore heavily upon Mr. Platt's heart. One day he and Mr. Russel were teaming together. Determined to know whether his companion was a stumbling-block in the way of his most cherished ambition, he asked in the most confidential manner possible the exact status of affairs. On being informed by Mr. Russel that there was no cause for anxiety, deep melancholy took rapid wings and the pathway of the lovers was straight and clear until the eventful wedding day. That consummation is best told in the following lines, written by another :*
When York was wild, when in her woods
The clearings' timbers nightly blazed;
When deer grazed in those solitudes,
And but few hardy men had raised
Their cabin roofs; it chanced a pair
Of lovers from an Eastern State
Here met, and here agreed to share
Their lives, and leave the rest to fate.
The records say not whether it
Was when the woods leaf, or when the wheat
Was ripe, or when the wild geese quit
This clime, or 'mid the snow and sleet
The day was set; but we judge it
Was in the season for bare feet—
The sequel shows. Enough to tell,
One smiling mom, a smiling set
Of settlers, friends from hill and dell,
Had, in invited concourse, met
* W. G. Zeigler.
To witness the solemnities
Of marriage in New England style.
The bride in white, all blushes, sighs,
Was like all brides, most sweet; her smile.
Soft sunshine; and the groom was dressed
In black, as were his Eastern kin,—
A gay assemblage for the West.
All things were ready, and loud in
Its " Varmount" casings struck the clock
Twelve sounding strokes, still was not heard
The parson's long-expected knock.
What could the good man have deterred ?
Most gloomy grew the good groom's face;
The bride felt his anxiety,
And, sighing, sat and gazed in space;
The housewife lost her piety,
And maledictions poured apace
Upon the tardy parson's head,
As fast the steaming feast grew cold,—
That marriage feast already spread
To be devoured, the service told.
Right here arose a settler old,
And with some hesitation said:
"I swow thish 'ere's a powerful shame!
These woods ‘ll get no population,
Ef parsons be so slack. Why blame
My soul, it's manner all creatton!
But I hev got a good idee
Thet soon'll make these two relation.
I know thet you'uns chu'ch-folk be,
An' a chu'ch-weddin' you desire,
But law without an ordained man
Can bind. Let's call Ballard, the squire."
Objections to this wise man's plan
Were scattered like the wind-blown straws.
And word dispatched unto the squire
To seize his hat, to seize his laws,
And come forthwith as to a fire.
Time passed; at length was heard the slap
Of bare, flat number tens before
The house, and then, without a rap,
Wide swung the creaking puncheon door.
A general snicker rose, then died
As one would snuff a candle's flame.
What wonder, when they all descried
The figure of the man who came!
A tattered hat of straw revealed
Red hairs through every gaping tear;
A matted, sandy beard concealed
The staring face beneath the hair.
A woollen shirt, no coat, no vest;
The baggy breeches home-spun blue,—
Thus stood the last-invited guest,
And gruffly stammered, "How dye do?"
As 'gainst the casement rude he leaned.
"Are you the Justice?" some one cried;
And, in the quiet that intervened,
"I guess I be," the man replied;
"You're one, I 'spect, (the groom he eyed,)
HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY - 667
An' you, I reckon, am the tother,"
And nodded toward the happy bride,
Who vainly tried a smile to smother.
"Right? Guess I be ! Stan' over there."
The wond'ring pair rose side by side;
The housewife breathed a silent prayer;
The squire stepped in with one long stride,
He cast his straw hat on the floor,—
That straw hat minus top and band,-
Then turned his Treatise' pages o'er
Most slowly with his trembling hand,
To where Ohio's laws provide
How weddings shall be sanctified;
What forms the Justice sage shall guide;
What questions ask the groom, the bride:
What costs assess when they are tied.
One foot he rested on his knee,
Then on the knee thus raised he put
The opened book, and thus stood he
As asleep a goose with one web-foot
Hid in her wing, while high o'er head
Hot beats the sun. Then tracing slow,
With finger brown, he spelt and read
In drawling tones, pitched deep and low,
And closed by saying, "Yous be wed."
The squire's bare foot fell to the floor;
He stooped and seized his tattered hat,
Then looked towards the puncheon door,
And wished that he was out of that.
"You'll stay to dinner?" "No," he said.
"Salute the bride?" His face grew red,
Then all the color from it fled;
Unnerved he stood and shook his head;
But still remained as in suspense,
Until the groom placed in his hand
The usual fee, with fifty cents
Additional, which made expand
The squire's blue eyes and mouth immense.
Slow backed he from the cabin trim;
Slow climbed he o'er the clearing's fence;
Deep were the woods that swallowed him !
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
The pioneer church of York township was the Free-will Baptist. The first page of the church book reads:
Be it remembered that on the twenty-third day of June, 1825, a number of Christian brethren of the order of Free-will Baptist, met in the town of York, county of Sandusky, for the express purpose of being organized into a church composed of the following brethren, to wit: Elder John Mugg, Jered H. Miner, Jeremiah P. Brown, Moses George, Abner Walker, James Benton, Thomas Mugg, John B. Mugg, Elisha B. Mugg, Polly Brown, and Lydia Miner. These brethren, agreeably to the rules of the New Testament, were organized into a church, and received by the right hand of Christian fellowship from Elder Bradford.
The society thus formed was known as the Free-will Baptist church of York township. Meetings were held at the houses of Jeremiah Brown and John Mugg until the log-school house (the first one on the south ridge) was built. In 1855 the meeting-house on the south ridge was built, but the organization has been losing its membership gradually, until but one remains—Mrs. Jeremiah Smith. Sunday-school continues to be held in the meeting-house during the summer months. The cemetery, which is one of the oldest in the north part of the township, was donated by John Calvin. Tryphena C. Smith was the first person buried in this cemetery. This church, in its early history, being the only religious society, collected, into its membership nearly everybody in the neighborhood.
The next religious society organized in York, was the Christian church, the first members of which were James Haynes and wife, Moses George and wife, and John Riddell and wife. Elder Mallery was the first preacher. He was succeeded by Elder Vail, who removed from New York to Huron county in 1839, and took charge of the churches in this part of the State. He had been a Methodist during the first years of his clerical life, but became a zealous preacher of the denomination which he afterwards joined. Under Elder Vail's ministry the Free chapel was built in 1842. In 1849 he removed to York, where he died in 1878. Elder Manville succeeded to the pastorate. The meeting-house is the oldest in the township. Services are held regularly.
Emanuel Evangelical church is composed mostly of Pennsylvanians. Isaac Parker was a member of the church in Pennsylvania, and after settling in York, collected the families of Michael Waltz, Jacob Harpster, David Harpster and John Orwig and formed a class, which
668 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY
met in private houses. Rev. Mr. Nevil was the first preacher. This was about 1850. In 1860 the frame church on the pike was built. The organization of a class at Bellevue divided the membership, but each year has brought new accessions, so that there are about eighty members at present. The first class leader was John Orwig. Succeeding leaders have been Reuben Parker, Daniel Loudenschlager, John Null, Daniel Mook, Henry Mook, Michael Finsinger and Jere Filhering.
The United Brethren began holding meetings in the southwest part of York. As the Pennsylvania element of the population grew the membership increased until in 1863 the class had acquired sufficient strength to build a meeting-house. The house and class took the name "Mount Carmel" and is supplied by the pastor of Clyde circuit.
BELLEVUE.
ITS LOCATION.
About one-half of the village lies in Huron, and the other half in Sandusky county. The county line road, or that part of it lying within the corporate limits of the village, being called West street, divides the town into nearly equal divisions. The centre of this road is the western limit of the Firelands and of the Western Reserve. The eastern half of Bellevue is situated in the extreme northwestern part of Lyme township, and the western half in the southwestern part of York township, Sandusky county. The southwestern corner of Erie county, and the northeast corner of Seneca county, lie adjoining the extreme northeast and southwest limits of the village. The town is situated on the southern branch of the Toledo and Cleveland division of the Lake Shore railroad, the New York, Chicago & St. Louis railroad, and the Wheeling & Lake Erie railroad.
ITS NAME.
The post office was first known as York X Roads, and the village was called Amsden's Corners, in honor of T. G. Amsden, its first merchant. It continued to be so known until the year 1839, when, upon the completion of the Mad River & Lake Erie railroad to this point, it was changed to Bellevue. The prevailing opinion among the old settlers is that it was so named in honor of James H. Bell, the civil engineer who surveyed the route through this place for the Mad River road. Some, however, claim that the proprietors of the road, and the chief residents of the town agreed upon the name of Bellevue because the signification of the word made it an appropriate name for the village, which, by reason of its location and surroundings, well merited a name which means "a beautiful view." At all events the name has a musical ring, and no resident of the place can regret that it was so called.
ITS FIRST SETTLERS.
The year 1815 marks the date when Mr. Mark Hopkins, the first settler within the corporate limits of Bellevue as now established, came to this locality. He came hither with his family and accompanied by a bachelor brother, from Genessee county, New York, and built a log house on land now owned and occupied by Peter Bates.
Elnathan George, from the same place, was the next settler. He purchased one acre of land embracing, with other contiguous ground, the lot whereon now stands the Tremont House. He gave a cow in exchange for his purchase. Here was built, by Mr. George, the second building of the town, in the year 1816. In the following year he built an addition to his dwelling and opened his house as a tavern.
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The third newcomer was Return Burlingson, who selected land on the Sandusky county side, and in the year 1817 built him a log dwelling, and started a blacksmith shop. His purchase comprised what is now known as the Herl property. Mr. Burlingson was a resident of Bellevue for many years, but finally left for California.
In the year 1819 Mr. John C. Kinney completed a log house near the present site of the Bellevue bank building.
This year, 1819, marks the date of the arrival of two very important newcomers, men who were identified with the history of the village, and to whom, more than any other two men, was it indebted for its prosperity. These men were Thomas G. Amsden and Frederick A. Chapman. The Chapmans came first to Ohio in 1814, soon followed by Mr. Amsden, and, establishing their headquarters at the mouth of the Huron River, carried on a very successful traffic with the Indians, exchanging with them goods and articles of which the red men stood in need, for pelts and furs. Besides trading with the Indians, they were engaged in hunting and trapping. They were daring and intrepid, full of push and energy, with excellent business abilities, and though they were young men, they accumulated considerable means for those days. Mr. Chapman's father and brother followed him to Ohio in a year or two after his own arrival and settled at or near the present town of Huron, in Erie county. In 1819 Mr. Amsden and Mr. Chapman came to this locality and began the purchase of property at this point, and did all in their power to attract settlers hither.
However, they continued their traffic with the Indians and French, and for two years Mr. Amsden made his headquarters at Carrion River, now Port Clinton. In 1821 he established himself at Detroit, and during the latter part of 1822 he carried on a mercantile business at Green Bay for Daniel Whitney. In 1823 he returned to this locality. He brought from Boston a stock of goods, and, in partnership with Mr. Chapman, opened the first store at this point in November, 1823. This was Bellevue's pioneer store, and the business was carried on in the building erected by Mr. Burlingson, which stood on ground now occupied by the town hall. They opened a store at the same time at Castalia, Mr. Chapman taking charge of the business at that point, and Mr. Amsden of the business at this point. It was at this time that the village received its name of "Amsden's Corners."
In the meantime Charles F. Drake had settled here, and in the year 1822 purchased of the Government the east one-half of the southeast quarter of section twenty-five of what now is York township, embracing the greater part of the present village on the Sandusky county side, and in 1823 Captain Zadoc Strong entered for Dr. James Strong the eight acres next west. Mr. Nathaniel Chapman was among the first citizens of the place. Like his brother, he had traded with the Indians, and when he arrived here for the purpose of making this his home, he had some means.
He purchased a large tract of land, a part of it lying within the present limits of the village. He was a man of strong, native ability, and was always recognized as one of the leading men of the town. He possessed the ability to accumulate property, and died worth a good many thousands of dollars. He dealt largely in real estate, and in the purchase and sale of sheep, horses, and cattle. He and Mr. Bourdette Wood together purchased large tracts of land in the West. He was universally esteemed for his sound business integrity, and for his liberality in the support of benevolent enterprises. He do-
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nated the lands upon which the old Baptist church stands, and, in many ways, proved himself a staunch friend of all institutions whose object is the enlightenment and elevation of man.
His daughter Angeline, in 1846, married the Rev. James M. Morrow, a prominent minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was a chaplain in the late war for about two years, and was connected with the Ninety-ninth Ohio infantry. While in the service he came home several times on various benevolent errands for the soldiers of his regiment—the last time, in December, 1863. Returning January 4, he was fatally injured in a railroad collision near Dayton, Ohio, to which place he was taken, and died there February 12, 1864. His widow resides in Bellevue.
THE GROWTH OF BELLEVUE.
From 1825 to 1840 the growth of the village was slow, and it was not until about the time of the building of the Mad River railroad to this place, in 1839, that the advancement of the town received any considerable impetus. This was an event of no little importance to the prospects of the place, and in 1835, in view of the approaching completion of the road, the land of the village on the Huron county side was purchased of Gurdon Williams by F. A. Chapman, T. G. Amsden, L. G. Harkness, and others, who lent their best efforts to the advancement of the place. The decade from 183o to 1840 witnessed a number of important arrivals in Bellevue —men who became permanently identified with the town, and to whom its rapid prosperity was in no small measure due. Dr. L. G. Harkness, who had been a practicing physician in the western part of York township, came in 1833. Abram Leiter came the same year. J. B. Higbee and Benjamin and David Moore came in 1835. William Byrnes came in 1835. H. H. Brown was at this time the hotel keeper, and was very active in his efforts to assist the growth of the place. In 1835 the population of the village could not have exceeded a hundred people, while in 1840, a year after the completion of the Mad River railroad, it numbered not less than five hundred, and at the date of its incorporation, 1831, about eight hundred.
Cuyler Green came here from New York State at the age of twenty-two, where he was born March in, 1811. Upon his arrival he was engaged as salesman for Chapman & Harkness, and afterwards superintended for Chapman & Amsden the old stone tavern, since called the Exchange hotel. He built the old stone blacksmith shop that for so many years stood where the Bellevue bank building now is. In later years he became the landlord of the Exchange hotel, and then of the Bellevue House, and then purchased the farm on the pike, two miles east of town, now known as the Richards farm.
In 1852, the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland railroad was located through Bellevue, and in the following year completed, and the cars came whistling through here from the four points of the compass—north, south, east and west. New impetus to the life of the village was given by this event, and the town rapidly increased in population. The country had also been rapidly settled, and Bellevue, situated in the midst of a fine wheat growing country, came to be an important market for the shipment of grain. The Higbee flouring mill was erected in 1850, and other manufacturing enterprises were soon established. The Mad River road was lost to the place in 1855, but the detriment to business on this account was not serious. The town continued to enlarge and populate, while the surrounding country in every direction became thickly settled with an industrious farming population.
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INCORPORATION.
The town was incorporated by act of Legislature January 25, 1851, its charter limits embracing an area of about one mile from east to west, by about one-half mile from north to south, the centre of the area being the central point of intersection of Main street with the county line. In the month of February, 1851, the following were chosen the village officers: Abraham Leiter, mayor; S. L. Culver, recorder; Thomas G. Amsden, Eliphalet Follett; Benjamin F. McKim, David Armstrong and Joseph M. Lawrence, trustees. The corporate limits were enlarged in 1869, so as to be about one mile and a half from east to west and from north to south.
DISTINCT CLASSES OF POPULATION.
The village has a population of about twenty-five hundred inhabitants. This population embraces not less than four distinct classes of people, each of which is represented by about the same number of individuals. First there are those of American birth, whose parents came to this region at an early day, from New England or New York State, and who were the real pioneers. Representative families of this class are the Chapmans, the Woodwards, the Harknesses, the Woods (the Bourdette branch), the Sheffields, the Greenes, the Bakers, etc. Second, there are the Pennsylvania people; many of whom came, at an early day—a thrifty, sober, industrious class. They are represented by the Moores, the Hilbishes, the Sherchs, the Leiters, the Boyers, the Kerns, etc. Third, came the English, England born, of whom may be mentioned the Greenslades, the Wills, the Heals, the Fords, the Maynes, the Joints, the Radfords, etc.; and the Germans, who perhaps outnumber any other one class. Of these may be mentioned the Egles, Ruffings, the Biebrichers, the Liebers, the Webers, the Ailers, the Setzlers, etc. The Yankees were the first to arrive, then the Pennsylvania Dutch people, then the Germans, and lastly the English.
CHURCHES.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
This church was first organized on September 20, 1836, by a committee from the Presbytery of Huron, and was started as a Presbyterian church on what was known as the accommodation plan,—that is, a church under the care of a Presbytery, but which received and dismissed its members, and transacted other business, not by a vote of the elders, but by a vote of the whole church.
The number of male members at the organization was nine; five of these brought letters from the church at Lyme, Ohio; three from churches in the State of New York, and one from Norwalk.
Among many important resolutions adopted on the day of the organization, was one declaring that the manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors was an immorality which, if practiced by any member of this church, made him liable to discipline the same as if guilty of any other immorality.
The church continued under care of the Presbytery ten years, and then, so far as we are able to learn from the records, with much unanimity, decided to separate itself from its Presbyterial connection, and become a regular Congregational church. This action was taken March 7, 1846.
The first pastor called by the church after the reorganization was Rev. A. D. Barber, who was installed by a council October 19, 1853. Mr. Barber's salary was four hundred dollars, and parsonage, which shows that the society had a parsonage at that time. This pastorate continued five years. In the following year after Mr. Barber's departure. the church
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called the Rev. James W. Cowles, and offered him a salary of seven hundred dollars. Mr. Cowles served the church about three years, and was succeeded on October 30, 1863, by Rev. John Safford.
During this pastorate the house of worship was removed, enlarged and repaired. The work was completed in the fall of 1865, and immediately afterwards the church invited Mr. Safford to become its installed pastor with an increase of three hundred dollars in salary. Mr. Safford accepted the call, but seems to have continued in the pastoral relation only about a year.
When the house of worship was originally built, it seems that the pews were sold with the understanding that the buyers became permanent owners. This arrangement was a source, afterwards, of much inconvenience to the society. The owners were not all induced to give their pews up again to the society until some time in 1868.
After the departure of Pastor Safford, in 1867, the Rev. S. B. Sherrill was called and was acting pastor from December, 1867, until some time in 1873, a period of nearly six years. The successor of Mr. Sherrill was the Rev. J. W. White, whose letter accepting the call of the church is dated February 28, 1874. Mr. White's labors did not begin until some time after this acceptance, and closed near the end of 1878, continuing with the church a little more than four years. Within two months after Mr. White's resignation, the church called Rev. S. W. Meek, who was installed in the pastoral office by the council on February 11, 1879, having begun his labors with the church on the 1st of January, previous.
The church has been blessed at various times in its history by revivals. In the year 1854, during the pastorate of A. D. Barber, thirty-seven were received intomembership of the church. In 1859 twenty-two were added to the church. Again, in 1861, the church was visited by a revival which resulted in the addition of twenty to the membership. In the year 1865, during the labors of Mr. Safford, seventeen were received into membership; and in 1870, under Mr. Sherrill's labors, twenty-three connected themselves with the church. In 1873, the year that Mr. Sherrill closed his labors, forty-five names were added to the roll.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH,
of Bellevue, was formed in the year 1839. The first class was composed of James Anderson, his wife, Betsy, and daughter, Melissa; Alvin Anderson, his wife, Harriet, and daughter, Adaline ; and Mann and daughter. Meetings were held at this time in the stone school-house, standing on the site at present occupied by the school-building near the Episcopal church. In about 1835 this church erected a substantial brick edifice, at a cost of some five thousand dollars. This building is at present owned by the German Lutheran society. After organization, however, the church fitted up a room in the second story of the warehouse, standing where the Richards and Egle block now stands, and this was occupied until the building of the church as before stated.
The present elegant church edifice was completed during the summer of 1868, and was dedicated by Bishop Simpson on August 17, of that year, and cost, including real estate and parsonage, some thirty thousand dollars. Among the largest contributors to the erection of the church are: Messrs. Anderson, Higbee, Williams, Dole, Adams, and Huffman. The first resident minister was Rev. Oliver Burgess, who remained two years. Father Anderson gives from memory, the following names of ministers who have preached
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to this church in Bellevue: Wilson, Camp, Pierce, Hill, Cooper, Fast, Start, Fant, Pounds, Breakfield, Thompson, Worden, Spafford, Morrow, and Cables.
In 1852, when the minister's "historical record" begins, the church reported a membership of two hundred and twelve, and three hundred scholars in attendance at Sabbath-school, Rev. Samuel Beatty, pastor. September 18, 1852, it was formally organized as a station, with the following board of stewards: H. R. Adams, Alvin Anderson, Jesse Haskell, W. W. Stilson, J. B. Higbee, Orrin Dole, and Barney Campbell. Its leaders were Jesse Haskell, Campbell, O. Dole, David Williams, and W. Curtiss. Superintendent of Sabbath-school, W. W. Stilton. 1853—William M. Spafford, pastor. He was succeeded in 1854 by Rev. Wesley J. Wells. The following are the pastors from that time to the present (1881): 1855—John Mudge; 1857—William Richards; 1859 —Asbury B. Castle; 1861—Daniel Stratton; 1862—Simon P. Jacobs; 1863-E. Y. Warner; 1865-Garretson A. Hughes; 1868—E. Y. Warner; 1871—Elvero Persons. He was succeeded by Rev. Searls. T. Warner succeeded him, remained three years, and was succeeded by Rev. G. W. Pepper, who was appointed at the Wellington conference, in 1879. The prosperity of the church seems to have declined under Mr. Pepper's charge, and during the latter part of his pastorate the pulpit was filled by a stated supply, Mr. Pepper making a trip to Europe. In September last the conference appointed Rev. 0. Badgely pastor, who is now officiating.
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Before there was any parish organization in Bellevue, the Rev. Ephraim Punderson officiated from the year 1842 to that of 1847; but not until April, 1851, was the parish duly organized by Rev. Dr. Bronson. Messrs. T. G. Amsden and John Grimes were chosen wardens; Messrs. F. A. Chapman, G. Woodward, and G. W. Sheffield, vestrymen; and, on September 10, 1851, this parish was received into connection with the Protestant Episcopal church.
In the spring of 1852 Rev. R. K. Nash was chosen rector, and the church building was begun and enclosed. Mr. Nash having resigned in 1854, the building remained unfinished. In the spring of 1857 an effort was made to open the church, and a rector was called. Rev. M. Hamilton took charge of the church on the first Sunday in July, 1857.
Improvements were made in the old church building, and the old debt paid off, and the church was consecrated by Bishop Bedell, in January, 1861.
The lot and buildings cost about three thousand five hundred dollars. In July, 1869, the parish became self-supporting, and the following year repairs and improvements were made, at a cost of one thousand four hundred dollars.
The first Sunday-school was organized by the Rev. M. Hamilton in 1857. In 1881 George A. Holbrook succeeded to the rectorate of the parish.
ST. PAUL'S REFORMED CHURCH.
The members of St. Paul's Reformed church originally worshiped at the Free Chapel, a few miles west of Bellevue. Some, a goodly number, were also members of the Zion's church, in Thompson township, Seneca county. In February, 1862, Rev. Eli Keller commenced to preach in Bellevue. Services were held in the old school building, owned by Mr. George Weikert, afterwards in the old Methodist Episcopal church, then again in the old schoolhouse. At this time, a weekly prayer-meeting was well sustained, and a Sunday-school organized. August 16, 1862, at a meeting held at the chapel, it was resolved that a church should be
674 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
built in, or near, Bellevue, and measures taken to select a site and procure building funds. The cornerstone of the church was laid on the 19th of June, 1864. On the 19th of June, 1865, the church was dedicated; sermons by Rev. M. Kieffer, D. D., and Rev. H. Rust, D. D. The ceremonies of laying the cornerstone were performed by Rev. E. Keller, the pastor.
Some time in the fall of 1865, the St. Paul's Reformed congregation was organized by the election of a consistory of elders and deacons. Since 1865 the following persons served respectively as elders, deacons, and trustees, viz: Jacob Bunn, Levi Korner, D. S. Arnold, John Hilbish, H. Kimmel, Isaac Kern, elders, John Bunn, David Hoch, Moses Miller, Joseph Zieber, John Bowman, Aaron Walters, William Knauss, John Deck, Benjamin Bunn, W. C. Smith, William Aigler, and J. Ferdinand Smith, deacons; David Hoch, Harrison Wilt, Elias Schmidt, Henry Stetler, John Deck, Aaron Walters, Jacob Aigler, and Frederick Smith, trustees. The Sunday-school was organized in the old Weiker school-house; superintendent, a Mr. Albert. Since 1865 Mr. John Hilbish has been the superintendent, with the exception of one year, when Rev. J. H. Derr officiated as head of the school.
In the year 1872, July 1, Rev. Eli Keller resigned the pastorate, having served the people for a period of eleven years. He was succeeded by Rev. Joshua H. Derr, on the 1st of December, 1872. His pastorate continued for four and a half years, closing his services June 3, 1877. During this pastorate the congregation suffered serious damage to their church edifice by a severe storm, which took off about one-third of the roof and also broke down the gable end to the square. This much injured the ceiling and the interior in general. A cost of about one thousanddollars restored and much improved the now beautiful and commodious church.
The congregation owns the cemetery adjoining the church, and a large and comfortable parsonage. The present pastor, Rev. N. H. Loose, took charge of the congregation August 1, 1877. The interests of the church are prosperous and encouraging.
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran church was organized January 7, 1866, under the laws of the State of Ohio. The directors were Adam Zehner, Christian Engel, and Philip Biebricher. The trustees were Jacob Beiler, Charles Beiler, and John Weis. Rev. Jacob Dornberer was instrumental in its organization, and remained its pastor three years, when he was succeeded by Rev. C. Buechler, who has remained as pastor twelve years. At its organization there were thirty-nine members. The present membership is about forty-five. They also have a prosperous Sunday-school of some seventy members, under the superintendence of David Meyers. Soon after the organization of the church, the present building was purchased from the Methodist society for two thousand dollars. Since that time some six or seven hundred dollars have been expended in refitting and repairing it.
SALEM EVANGELICAL CHURCH.
This church was organized in Bellevue under the ministration of Rev. L. W. Hankey, in the summer of 1875. The congregation purchased the building formerly occupied by the Baptists, for three thousand dollars. They then expended six or eight hundred dollars in repairing and refitting it. At first, and until the spring of 1879, the church was a mission. At that time it was cut loose from missionary aid, and is now self-supporting. The present membership is about seventy-
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five. Thirty-one accessions were made during the year 1878. The church has had five pastors: Revs. L. W. Hankey; S. B. Spreng, who remained eight months; G. W. Meisee, who remained one year; Rev. D. C. Eckerman, was in charge a little more than two years, and W. F. McMillen, who is the present pastor. There is connected with the church a Sunday-school of seventy-three members, of which the pastor is superintendent. Regular services of the church are held twice each Sunday. The church government is very similar to that of the Methodist Episcopal, but there are some differences on minor points.
CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
—ROMAN CATHOLIC.
About 1852 Rev. James Vincent Conlin, stationed at Sandusky, established a mission at Bellevue, and held services some three or four years, when Rev. Punshell, of Norwalk, came, and then for a short time Father Hoff officiated. Father Tighe, of Sandusky, came, and bought from J. B. Higbee the building they now occupy as a church, and perfected an organization. The first resident priest was Rev. James Monaghan, who remained some seven or eight years. While in charge he bought a house of Rev. Mr. Hagler for the use of the priest. Father Mahony came next, and remained some five years. He purchased ground for burial purposes, and built a school-house. Father Mears next came; he bought a house and lot on the corner of Centre and Broad streets, with the Intention of building a church. He remained about three years, and was succeeded by Father Bowles, who also remained three years. The church was then attended by Father Rudolph, of Clyde, for about three months, when Father Molloy came, and officiated for three years. Father Cahill succeeded and officiated three years, to the entire satisfaction of the parish. The congregation comprises about one hundred and ten families. The church still owns the lot bought by Father Mears, and at one time it owned the lot on which stands the present union school building.
BELLEVUE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.*
It is greatly to be regretted that the records of the early history of the Bellevue schools have been lost. The data for the following article have been furnished by some of the older citizens, and are as correct as can be ascertained outside of the school records. The first building that was used for school purposes was a little log-house that stood on the Herl property, just west of Mr. John Baker's residence. Here a school was opened in the fall of 1827, by a gentleman named Harris, from Milan. In the following year (1828), Miss Clemence A. Follett (now Mrs. Frederick Chapman) taught school in the same building. In those days the village was known as Amsden's Corners, and consisted of the Exchange hotel, a frame building just east of it, a double log-house, where Mr. Greenslade's store stands, the houses now occupied by Dr. Harris and Mr. John Reis, and a few scattering log-huts. The scholars came to Miss Follett's school from the country for miles around, walking to school along the trails of the woods, and bringing their dinners with them. In this school the girls spent half an hour each day in learning to sew. It was a pleasant little school, and Mrs. Chapman still recalls with delight the days she passed as teacher in the log schoolhouse. In the following year, 1829, Miss Julia Follett taught in the same log schoolhouse.
The next school of which we can find any record was taught in the old stone schoolhouse that stood on West Main street, where the brick schoolhouse now
* By T M. Greenslade. superintendent.
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stands. The land was donated by Chapman & Amsden, and the building was probably built by the Chapmans—Nathaniel and Frederick—Dr. L. G. Harkness and Mr. Thomas G. Amsden, as we find these names are closely associated with the early educational interests of the town as well as with its business and social interests. The stone school-house was built about 1832. In the fall of 1835. Mr. J. B. Higbee commenced to teach in this building, and taught two years. Mr. Higbee seems to have been a successful teacher; at least he was not carried out by the boys, which misfortune did happen to the gentleman who preceded him. We are unable to learn who succeeded Mr. Higbee, but the building still continued to be used for school purposes until the old brick schoolhouse was built, after which the stone schoolhouse was unoccupied for several years. For some years before the old brick was built, the increasing number of pupils compelled the directors to rent rooms in different parts of the town to be used for schoolrooms.
At one time a school was taught in a frame building that was built for a warehouse by James Bell. It was afterwards moved, and the upper rooms used for schoolrooms during the weekdays, and by the Methodist society for services on Sunday. About the same time Miss Town, now Mrs. Kent, of Toledo, taught a very successful private school for girls, on Monroe street, in the house now occupied by Mr. James Purcell.
In 1845 the number of scholars had increased to such an extent that the school directors saw the necessity of providing better accommodations than those afforded by the stone schoolhouse and rented rooms, so they purchased of Chapman, Amsden, and Harkness the lot on which, the same year, they built the old brick schoolhouse. The contract for erectingthe building was let to Mr. A. Leiter. It was at first intended to build only a one-story building, but while in process of erection Mr. J. M. Lawrence offered to raise it to a two-story building, provided the upper rooms could be used for the Baptist society. His proposition was accented, the directors, at the same time, reserving the privilege of buying the upper part when the growth of the school required it. The building was used as a district school until 1851, when the present system of union schools was organized in accordance with the law of 1849.
The first superintendent of the union schools was Rev. Mr. Waldo, an eccentric old gentlemen. He wore a wig which, of course, furnished endless sport to his pupils. He was also in the habit of lecturing his scholars every morning before beginning the day's work.
During Waldo's administration, in the year 1851-52, Miss Gardner was assistant superintendent, and the two lower grades were taught by two sisters, Mrs. Covil and Miss Wilkinson. Mr. Waldo was succeeded in the fall of 1852, by Mr. Harvey Holton, who is well and favorably remembered by many of our citizens. Mr. Holton was superintendent several years and was a successful teacher. His assistant in the high school was Miss Celestia Gould, now Mrs. Spencer Boise. Mr. Holton was succeeded by Mr. Jerome Drury who taught two years, from the fall of 1855 to the spring of 1857. He was succeeded by Mr. Edward Bradley, who was superintendent for one year in 1857-58. In the fall of 1858, the Hubbard brothers came to Bellevue, and secured positions in our schools, Dwight Hubbard as superintendent, and E. B. Hubbard as teacher in the stone school house. Mr. Dwight Hubbard held his position one year and one term from the fall of 1858, to December, 1859. His
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place was supplied during the remainder of the school year by Mr. Henry Bramwell for the second term, and Dr. Cornell for the third term. The last superintendent in the old brick schoolhouse was Mr. Ellis, who held the position from the fall of 186o to the spring of 1862. After the high school building was built, the old brick schoolhouse was sold, and has since been used as a tenement-house.
In 1850 the "old stone" schoolhouse, which had been unoccupied for several years, was refitted, and continued to be used for school purposes until replaced by the present brick building. During these years several teachers were employed; among others was Mrs. Eliza Cook, who taught in the stone schoolhouse two years, in 1856 and 1857, until her marriage with Mr. David Williams in the fall of 1857.
In the same building, Mr. E. B. Hubbard, who is now a prominent druggist of Tiffin, taught three years, from the fall of 1858 to the spring of 1861. Mr. Hubbard is remembered as a very successful teacher, and still keeps up his interest in educational matters, being at present president of the board of education of Tiffin, Ohio.
The German school was first started as a private enterprise in 1860, and was held in the house now used as a residence by Mr. John Warren. The first German teacher that taught here was Mr. Ludwick, who is considered as the best German teacher that we have ever had. The German school was partially united with the union schools in 1860, but received for a year or two only fifty dollars from the public funds. Mr. Ludwick was followed by Mr. Cobelli, who taught the German school after it was moved to the "old stone" schoolhouse. Mr. Menges succeeded Mr. Cobelli, and taught for several years, and was a successful teacher. Mr. Menges was followed by Mr. Rabe, and
Mr. Rabe by Mr. Beck, who resigned in October, 1875. Mrs. Beck was employed as assistant in the German department at the same time. Her place is filled by Miss Bessie Radford, who has had charge of the English branches in the German department since October, 1875.
Mr. Jacob Frenz succeeded Mr. Beck in November, 1875, and retained his position nearly three years. His successor, Mr. Henry Ebertshauser, is the present principal of the German department. The German schools occupy the two lower rooms of the school building on West Main street. The classes recite alternately in English and German branches during the day.
The high school building was erected in 1861, although it was not ready for use until the fall of 1862. The contract was so poorly filled that the contractor was obliged to put on the second roof within a year, and before the board of education would accept the building. Mr. Edward Bradley was the superintendent at the opening of the high school building in the fall of 1862. Mrs. Bradley taught at the same time in a lower grade, and also during the following year. Mr. Bradley was superintendent one year in the high school building. After him came Mr. Highland, from September, 1863, to June, 1864; Mr. J. B. Loveland, from September, 1864, to June, 1867; Mr. Avery, from September, 1867, to June, 1868; Mr. Loveland, from September, 1868, to June, 1869; Mr. L. C. Laylin, from September, 1869, to June, 1875; Mr. E. E. Phillips, from September, 1875, to June, r877; Mr. J. M. Greenslade, from September, 1877, to the present time. The Bellevue schools now occupy two buildings—the high school building and the brick school building on West Main street, which was built in 1871, and enlarged in 1875. These buildings are not large enough to accommodate the
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number of pupils, so that the board of education will enlarge the high school building, which will even then afford only temporary relief. The schools which started with four departments in 1852, now have nine, and most of these having two grades.
For several years previous to 1877 the course of study which had been prepared for the schools had been disregarded altogether, as not being suited to the wants of the schools. The result was that the teachers and scholars worked at a disadvantage; and their efforts' were ill-directed, or entirely wasted. The evil effects of this lack of system was especially noticeable in the high school, where the scholars pursued such studies as were agreeable, without any regard to previous training, or the relation of the different studies to each other. The board of education, recognizing the value and necessity of systematic work in our schools, at a meeting held on the 29th of July, 1877, adopted the present course of study, and rules and regulations of the Bellevue public schools, and ordered them to be published. The schools are at present in excellent condition. In the lower grades the aim is to give thorough instruction in the common branches. In the high school all of the studies are pursued that are commonly found in a good high school course. Especial attention is paid to the languages and the natural sciences. Through the liberality of the board of education, the superintendent has been able to accumulate considerable apparatus and supplies for the illustration of the natural sciences.
PHYSICIANS.
Among the oldest practitioners of medicine in the township were Doctors Stevens, Otis, Boise, and Charles Smith, of Lyme. Contemporary with them, and earlier, were Doctors Kittredge, Sanders,and Tilden, who visited the township occasionally.
Dr. L. G. Harkness was the first physician prominently identified with the history of Bellevue. He was born in Salem, Washington county, New York, April 1, 1801, educated for his profession in the State of his nativity, and came West in 1823. He located upon the ridge, in Lyme township, and became associated, professionally, with Dr. Stevens. He removed, afterward, to the village of Bellevue, and not long after abandoned his practice. He continued to reside here.
In 1835 Dr. Daniel A. Lathrop came to Bellevue from his birthplace, Montrose, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, and almost immediately became a very successful practitioner, taking up Dr. Harkness' ride, and having all of the business which that physician formerly attended to upon his hands. He not only took Dr. Harkness' place, but filled it, and enjoyed as extensive a practice, perhaps, as any physician who ever located in the village. It extended over a long term of years, too, and really did not terminate until a short time before the doctor's departure from town, in 186r, though he was not actively engaged in the pursuit of his profession for two or three years previous to this date. The doctor returned to Montrose, Pennsylvania, where he is now located. He is a graduate of a Philadelphia college.
The physicians who followed him were numerous. We shall only speak of those most prominently identified with the history of the town. Dr. Gray came in and remained a short time. Dr. W. W. Stilson was in practice for a number of years, and removed to Clyde, where he is at present in practice. Dr. Amos Woodward, a native of Lyme, began practice in 1846, and after six or seven years retired, though he continued to reside in the village, and has long been one of its leading
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citizens. Dr. Charles Richards, now of Binghamton, New York, came in soon after Dr. Woodward began practice, and read medicine with Dr. Lathrop, afterwards entering into practice.
Dr. John W. Goodson, now in Sterling, Rice county, Kansas, began the study of medicine in Bellevue about 1840, and completed his professional education at Buffalo, there receiving his diploma. He immediately returned to Bellevue and entered into practice. He had a lucrative practice and accumulated a fine property. He was for a time assistant surgeon of the Seventy-second regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was with Grant's army before Vicksburg. The doctor was a native of England, and was born on the 4th of July, 1817. He came to this country when a lad thirteen years of age.
Dr. Ralph A. Severance began practice in Bellevue in 1854. He was a native of Greenfield, Massachusetts, and read medicine there with Dr. Brigham, who was afterwards in charge of one of the great asylums for the insane. He attended lectures in New York city, and graduated from Bowdoin college, Bowdoin, Maine, with the class of 1831. He first went into practice at Rockingham, Vermont, and remained there twenty-three years, coming directly from that place to Bellevue in 1854.
Dr. J. J. Hartz, who came to Bellevue in 1852, was one of the most eminent men of the profession who have practiced in this part of the State. He was born in Versailles, France, in 1798, and received his medical education at the University of Heidelberg. After coming to this country he travelled through the South, was for a short time a resident of Charleston, and a transient resident of Texas. For a number of years before coming to this village he was located in Portage county, and at Upper Sandusky, in both of which neighborhoods he had a very extensive practice. He rendered efficient service at Sandusky during the prevalence of the cholera there, going upon the request of some of the local physicians. During the whole of his long service in the profession in Bellevue, he was regarded by all as a man of marked ability in his profession, and as a gentleman of rare worth in all of the affairs of life. He was a man of liberal culture outside of `medicine, and was a remarkable linguist, speaking with fluency seven languages. He was ever the courteous, polished, dignified gentleman, and won the admiration and esteem of all. He died, in 1865, of consumption, such of his patients as were able coming to see him, whom he treated even up to the hour when he breathed his last—such was their confidence in his skill. He was a surgeon as well as a physician.
Dr. H. L. Harris, born June 30, 1819, in Oxfordshire, England, is a graduate of the Starling Medical College of Columbus, and received his diploma in 1858. Next to Dr. Severance he is the oldest practitioner in the place. He was in practice in South Bend, and in 1849 removed to Flat Rock, where he remained until 1859 when he came to Bellevue.
Quite a number of physicians have practiced in Bellevue for a short term of years and then removed to other points. Among the present physicians who have been in practice in Bellevue for some time are 1)r. Severance, Dr. Harris, Dr. Robinson, Dr. Sandmeister, and Dr. Lanterman.
BELLEVUE CEMETERY.
This cemetery was begun about the time of the first laying out of the village of Bellevue, in 1835, on land given for the purpose by Messrs. Chapman, Harkness and Amsden, who were the first proprietors of the land on which the town is
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now situated. The first burial in this ground was that of Rebecca Christopher, who died March 20, 1836. At the time of giving the land for this purpose, the owners fenced it.
In 1855 the village authorities purchased something more than five acres of land and made an addition to the cemetery, which now contains over seven acres. The old part was laid out in good form as far as practicable, with walks and paths between the lots, but no uniformity had been observed in first laying it out, and it was not possible to arrange it according to the best order, still it was much improved. The addition was laid out in good shape, and lots staked off, which have been disposed of from time to time. When the last purchase was made a board of trustees was elected, consisting of W. H. King, mayor of the village at the time, Barney York, Lowell Chandler, and D. Moore, for terms of one, two, and three years. One trustee is now elected yearly. Most of the religious denominations of the town bury their dead in this cemetery, as it is situated in a better location than any other ground in the vicinity. D. Moore is superintendent of the cemetery, and has acted in that capacity most of the time since its organization.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
In June, 1870, the village council of Bellevue purchased a second-hand hand fire engine, a hose cart and several hundred feet of hose from the authorities of Tiffin, for the sum of about three hundred dollars. A fire company was organized with Dr. J. W. Goodson, foreman; Charles Nicolai, first assistant; B. Benn, second assistant, and J. H. Webber, secretary. In 1874 the council appointed as chief of the fire department A. B. Smith, who served in that capacity one year. In 1875 William R. West succeeded him, he also remaining one year. Charles Nicolai wasappointed in 1876 and served until 1879, when C. C. Cook was appointed. J. L. Painter is present chief. A first-class Silsby rotary steam fire engine was purchased in 1875, with a hose cart and one thousand feet of hose, at a cost of about four thousand seven hundred dollars. In May, 1879, the companies were reorganized and formed into one company, under one set of officers, but one division was assigned to the engine, another to the hose, and another to the hook and ladder. The officers elected were John Eichhorn, foreman; John Toomy, first assistant; William Estnaur, second assistant; John L. Painter, secretary; William Mayne,
engineer and treasurer. The "hooks" were first organized in 1877, more as a sporting company, though active at fires. C. C. Cook was captain ; John M. Enright, foreman; Seth H. Cook, assistant foreman; J. C. Morrell, secretary, and Thomas Rudd, treasurer.
SOCIETIES.
The charter of Bellevue Lodge, No. 123, I. O. O. F., was granted July 21, 1848. The following are names of the charter members: William W. Stilson, A. Leiter, M. H. Seymour, R. C. McElhany and P. G. Sharp. The lodge was instituted November 9, of the same year, by Grand Master McElwin, when the following officers were elected: A. Leiter, N. G.; William W. Stilson, V. G. ; W. H. Seymour, R. S. ; R. C. McElhany, P. S. ; P. G. Sharp, treasurer. The N. G. appointed C. Cone, Con.; T. Baker, warden; F. H. Cone, I. G.; J. Hoover, O. G.; J. L. Hunt, R. S. to N. G.; S. G. Culver, L. S. to N. G.; H. G. Harris, R. S. S.; C. D. Dwight, L. S. S. ; B. F. Taylor, R. S. to V. G.; C. L. Cook, I, S. to V. G. Meetings are held Monday evenings of each week.
A charter was issued by the Grand Lodge at its session in Mansfield, Ohio, October
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26, 1855, for Bellevue Lodge, No. 273, Free and Accepted Masons. The charter members were: W. B. Disbro, L. W. Frary, L. S. Chandler, M. Peters, D. A. Lathrop, James Cady, W. B. Dimick and C. B. Gambies. The first officers were: W. B. Disbro, W. M.; L. W. Frary, S. W.; L. S. Chandler, J. W.
A charter was issued for Bellevue Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, No. 113, at Dayton, Ohio, on the 17th of October, 1868. The charter members were: D. M. Harkness, J. K. Richards, M. A. Severance, W. W. Beymer, W. E. Greene, M. A. Barnes, H. Peck and John Cowles. The following officers were appointed: R. A. Severance, high priest; H. Peck, king; W. E. Greene, scribe.
Bellevue Lodge No. 957, Knights of Honor, was organized March 8, 1878, with the following charter members: H. N. Richards, R. A. Boyer, F. L. Goodson, R. Greenslade, W. H. Kern, G. S. Lanterman, H. F. Baker, G. A. Beckwith, H. B. Acker, E. H. Smith, T. H. Wood, J. W. Close, William Mayne, Joseph Sherck, E. W. Dorsey, T. C. Wood, C. D. Smith, W. H. Dimick, Joseph Bannister, Thomas Thorneloe, C. H. Welch. The first officers were: H. F. Baker, P. D. ; E. H. Smith, D.; H. N. Richards, V. D.; George A. Beckwith, A. D. ; R. Greenslade, chaplain; R. A. Boyer, guard; F. L. Goodson, R.; W. H. Kern, F. R.; Joseph Sherck, treasurer; W. H. Dimick, guardian; William Mayne, sentinel. The lodge was instituted by H. R. Shomo, grand dictator of Ohio. Meetings are held Wednesday evening of each week in Odd Fellows' Hall.
BANKING.
Chapman, Harkness & Company for some years prior to 1852, Harkness & Company from 1852 to 1868, and H. M. Sinclair from 1868 to 1873, carried on a business comprising some of the featuresof banking; but it was not until 1871 that a house was established with the clearly defined object of doing a strictly banking business. On the 22d of May, of 1871, was organized the banking firm of Wood, Woodward & Company, Bourdette Wood, Abishai Woodward and E. J. Sheffield being the partners. The firm opened their bank in the room now occupied by the First National Bank, but in 1875 purchased of Mr. Woodward the site of the present building, and erected the fine brick block wherein the bank is now located. In September, 1876, the bank was incorporated by act of the State Legislature, and commenced business October 2, 1876, as a stock company. The capital stock with which the bank organized was one hundred thousand dollars, Messrs. Wood, Woodward and Sheffield becoming the largest stockholders. The company included many of the leading business men in the place, and several of the ablest farmers in the vicinity. A board of directors was chosen September 23, 1876, consisting of Bourdette Wood, Abishai Woodward, E. J. Sheffield, Andrew Smith, A. C. Beckwith, and the following year two more directors were added, viz.: D. M. Harkness and J. B. Higbee. Bourdette Wood was chosen president; Abishai Woodward, vice-president; and E. J. Sheffield, cashier; and these gentlemen are the present officers, with Thomas Woodward, jr., as teller. The stockholders of this bank in number represent not less than one million three hundred thousand dollars, two of the directors, Mr. Wood and Mr. Harkness representing, together, three-fourths of a million.
The First National Bank was organized September 30, 1875, the capital stock being fifty thousand dollars. The directors are: J. T. Worthington, Dr. Amos Woodward, J. B. Higbee, William McKim, Joseph Egle, and J. K. Richards. J. T.
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Worthington is president, and E. H. Brown cashier.
FLOURING MILLS.
The manufacture of flour has been an industry of considerable importance to Bellevue for many years. There are two large mills owned by Higbee & Company. The old mill was first built in 1849 by J. B. Higbee and a Mr. Lawrence. In 1859 the mill was burned, Mr. Higbee then owning the property alone. The loss involved him to a considerable extent, but he succeeded in effecting a compromise with his creditors and soon rebuilt the mill and resumed business. Since then the mill has been enlarged and improved, and Mr. Higbee associated with him in the business his son, J. A. Higbee.
In 1873 or 1874 the Higbees purchased the mill of H. M. Sinclair & Company and received Mr. T. L. Branan as a partner.
DISTILLERIES.
Soon after the settlement of the county a small distillery was started near Bellevue. The grain used was ground at Clear Creek, and the still was run by hand. This was previous to 1836.
In October, 1849, Chapman, Harkness & Company built the first large distillery, with a capacity of sixty bushels of grain per day. This was run until 1852, when it was sold to D. M. Harkness, who formed a partnership with L. G. Harkness and H. M. Flagler. It was then increased to a capacity of six hundred bushels of grain daily, and was run under this management until 1864, when it was purchased by H. M. Sinclair. Since that time it has not been run continuously, and is now abandoned as a distillery.
In 1853 Chapman, Woodward & Company built another distillery, with a capacity for six hundred bushels daily. This distillery has been run most of the time since built, and is still in operation.
The original cost of these distilleries was not far from thirty thousand dollars each.
THE FARMER'S ELEVATOR.
Early in 1875 the farmers living in the vicinity of Bellevue formed a joint stock company for the purpose of erecting an elevator that should be under their own control, and from which they could ship their grain if they thought best, or could sell on the street if prices offered suited them. The charter members of this company consisted of seventeen persons, and stock was subscribed to the amount of five thousand dollars.
A building about twenty-four by sixty feet was erected, and completed September 11, 1875. An engine house was also built, and an engine provided for hoisting grain and running a cleaner and a mill for grinding feed. The cost was about nine thousand dollars, a part of it being paid from the earnings of the elevator after its completion. The building and attachments were put in charge of John Decker, who, the first season, received and shipped some four hundred thousand bushels of grain.
On the night of April 10, 1878, the elevator was burned. A new one was immediately commenced, and was in running order about August 1, 1875, but the feedmill and cleaner were not replaced. Mr. Decker continued as manager until November, 1878, when Messrs. Wood & Close took charge. The 1st of January, 1879, they leased the elevator, the stock-holders reserving the right to use it for their own grain, on paying the lessees one cent per bushel for elevating and storing.
The stock company is managed by a board of directors, consisting of nine persons, three of whom form an executive committee. It is believed by the members of the company that since the erection of the elevator, prices for grain have ruled
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firmer, and thus the patrons have received benefit from the investment.
There are two elevators in the building, both run by horse power, two horses being used. This is found much more economical than an engine, and answers the purpose equally well.
WATER WORKS.
The village of Bellevue is situated in a comparatively level country, with no hills and no elevated land from which to obtain water by means of springs or natural reservoirs. Underlying it is a limestone formation, full of cracks and seams, by means of which the surface water is effectually drained off, thus forming a fine system of drainage for farms, but giving the town the reputation of a dry place. On the purchase of a hand fire engine, in 1869, cisterns were built in various parts of the town, but the supply of water was not thought adequate. About that time the subject of some system of water works was agitated, and the village authorities caused an experimental well to be bored, but the drill became stuck and it was given up.
In 1872 the village council submitted the question of a reservoir, to be fed by a large ditch on the eastern border of the corporation, to the people for a vote, which resulted almost unanimously in its favor, only two votes being recorded against the question. An ordinance was then passed authorizing the construction of water works, and providing for the issue of bonds for the village, not to exceed the amount of forty thousand dollars, the same to expire in 1880. A special election was held July 5, 1875, for the election of three trustees, for one, two, and three years. J. W. Goodson, A. B. Smith, and B. Moore were elected, and immediately proceeded to work out the plan. A lot of five acres was purchased from McKim and Bates, with the right of way to theditch before mentioned. Two more acres were subsequently added to the first purchase, making the present area seven acres. In digging out the reservoir, the dirt was piled up around the sides, making a substantial embankment. The gravel in the side of the ridge was struck in some places, and when the reservoir is full the water filters through the gravel into the ridge for a great distance, forming an almost inexhaustible supply, for one season at least.
In 1875 water conductors were laid through Main street, but it was found that there was not sufficient pressure to furnish all the water that was needed. In 1877 a tank house of brick was built, thirty-two feet high, and surmounted by a boiler iron tank, twenty-five feet high and eighteen feet in diameter, capable of holding fifty thousand barrels of water. A Knowles engine and pump were purchased for the purpose of forcing the water into the tank.
POWER HOUSE.
In 1871 some of the capitalists of Bellevue conceived the idea of erecting a large building, putting in an engine and suitable machinery, and renting to any persons or companies, who required power for manufacturing purposes, such part of the building as they might need for carrying forward the business in which they were engaged. A subscription paper was started and the names of eighty-seven persons were obtained. It was the intention to start with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, though it was found that this amount would not be required, and but thirty thousand dollars were called in. Some few of the signers of the subscription did not finally take shares, though eight hundred and thirty-six were taken.
A contract was made August 8, 1871, for a building forty by one hundred and fifty feet, two stories in height, and thirty feet to the roof. This was completed in
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the fall of the same year. An engine house was also built, twenty by thirty feet in size, the total cost being about thirty thousand dollars, including the land on which the building was erected.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
NATHAN P. AND MARY A. BIRDSEYE.
Industry, strength, and sagacity build up estates; worth of character is a sure foundation of public esteem; acute business capacity and fine moral sensibilities are the elements of a complete man whose life makes mankind better and by whose living human welfare has been promoted; such a man was Nathan Phelps Birdseye.
The Birdseyes of this country are descended from Rev. Nathan Birdseye, a Presbyterian clergyman, who came to America in the eighteen century and died at Meriden, Connecticut, in his one hundred and fifth year. He preached on the centennial of his birth. This worthy patriarch's family consisted of six sons and six daughters.
James Birdseye, father of Joseph and Nathan P. Birdseye of York township, was born in Connecticut. In early life he removed to Ontario county, New York, where he married Phebe Phelps, by whom was born a family of four sons and one daughter. James Birdseye came to Sandusky county on a prospecting tour in company with William McPherson and Norton Russel in 1822. He entered one eighty-acre lot and returned to New York. Two years after, accompanied by his son, Nathan P., he came to Ohio, and the following year entered upon the discharge of a contract with the State for grading a portion of the Maumee and Western Reserve road. He received in paymenta large tract of State land in York township. Mr. Birdseye was also contractor and builder of the first bridge across the Sandusky River. Having completed his contracts on public works, he returned to New York, leaving his son, Nathan P., on the farm in York. For a period of eight years from 1824, our subject lived alone, all the while enlarging his fields and reducing the cleared land to a better state of cultivation. The first cabin in which he lived was built by a man named Harman. In 1828 he erected a frame house, which was occupied for a short time by Dr. L. G. Harkness. Mr. Birdseye married, April 8, 1832, Mary Ann Christie. This name carries us back to one of the earliest pioneer families in the county.
William Christie, son of Andrew and Abigail (Hopper) Christie, was born in Orange county, New York, where he married Mary Slauson. Their family consisted of three children—Andrew, Abigail and Mary Ann. Soon after marriage Mr. Christie moved to Tompkins county, New York, and in 1817 came to Lower Sandusky, making the entire journey from Black Rock by water. There were only about twenty-five families in the village at that time. Mr. Christie was a carpenter by trade and found ready employment. His first engagement was on a frame store building for Jaques Hulburd. A year or two later the first brick house in Lower Sandusky was built, and Mr. Christie did the carpenter work. This house is yet standing, and has for years been known as the Beaugrand property. In 1822 Mr. Christie entered two eighty-acre lots in York township, and in February of the following year joined the pioneers of that part of the county. The only son, Andrew, died in 1822, and is buried in the old cemetery at Fremont. He was a young man of superior intelligence, and was employed at writing for Auditor Rumery and
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other officials. Mr. Christie himself was not spared long to his family and new farm; he died August 1, 1826, leaving two daughters to support a widow's affliction. The two daughters, Abigail and Mary Ann, have never been separated at any one time for a longer period than three months. Mrs. Christie died at the home of her daughter, Mrs Birdseye, November
2, 1846.
The old Christie farm in York township has never changed ownership, except by inheritance to the daughters. The original patent was issued in 1822, by James Monroe. The family cherish this old homestead, made doubly dear by the reposing ashes of their parents.
Nathan P. Birdseye was born in Hopewell, Ontario county, New York, January 27, 1804. His education was such as the common schools of his native State afforded. He was the only member of the family who desired to come to Ohio, and by inheritance and purchase came into possession of the large tract of land in York township, taken by his father in payment of services on public works. After his marriage he united with his own estate that belonging to his wife, and to further increase his possessions and advance his lands in value by means of improvements, was the constant aim of his industrious life. For twelve years he kept a house of entertainment between Bellevue and Clyde, at the same time superintending extensive farming operations. He was an accumulator of real estate, but speculation of no kind received his attention. Before retiring from his active labors, Mr. Birdseye could look over farms embracing in all more than one thousand fertile acres, with the proud consciousness of honestly earned ownership. His virtues of character are well summed up by his intimate friend and physician, Hon. John B. Rice, in an obituary published after his death,which occurred 13th day of August, 1881:
The demise of such a man as Nathan P. Birdseye calls for something more than the bare mention of the fact that one who had so long lived in our midst, is dead. It is paying but a just tribute to his memory that there be placed on record, by those who knew him well, an acknowledgment that he lived in such a manner as to deserve and win the respect and affection of all good men.
He was of strong frame; industrious, prudent and thrifty; clear-headed, firm, persevering, benevolent and tender-hearted. He possessed, indeed, in a remarkable degree, the traits which distinguish the good old New England stock whence he sprung. He was a farmer, and loved the land which, through years of trial and labor, he saw transformed from forest to orchard and field. Until enfeebled by disease and advancing years he found actual enjoyment in the work of his farm, laboring in the fields with his hired, men whom he treated as equals.
Mr. Birdseye was a man of earnest convictions. He looked upon mankind as a brotherhood, and regarded individuals not from appearances but according to their acts. He was originally an anti-slavery Whig, but joined the ranks of the Republican party at its organization. During the war he was active in the cause of the Union; encouraged enlistments, and contributed freely toward the support of the families of those who were fighting the battles of the country. In religion he was a Universalist. His natural love of his kind made him hope and believe that
Good, at last will fall,
At last, far off, will come to all.
Mr. Birdseye acquired riches; his landed property was large, and includes some of the finest in this county. But he gained by honest industry and thrift, he never wronged or oppressed any man. His word was as good as his bond. He continually performed the uncounted deeds of neighborly kindness.
In early times when there was much sickness in the country, he would, after laboring on his farm all the day, watch with those stricken by disease, through every night in the week. At other times when a whole family were down with contagious illness, he entirely neglected his own work, and gave all his care to nursing the sick. He practiced, too, the ancient hospitality which is so little the fashion now-a-days. To the stranger overtaken by storm or by night, no matter what his condition, he always gave food and shelter, and he never knowingly allowed the hungry to. pass his house unfed.
As has been said, fortune smiled upon him. But he rendered the equivalent by the labor of his own hands, and that honest kind of economy which has been commended by good men in every age. It came to him as praise of his memory will come, as the love and faithfulness of dear wife and child, and
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friends; came when disease attacked him, and his work was being finished—as the promised reward of a well-spent life.
Mrs. Mary Ann Birdseye was born May 17, 1810. She attended school in Lower Sandusky during her father's residence there, and afterwards continued her studies in the seminary at Norwalk. She taught school four terms before her marriage—two terms in Bellevue, during which time she made her home at the residence of Thomas Amsden, and two terms in her home district in York. As a teacher she is very kindly remembered by those who were benefited by her instruction. She possesses a cultured imagination and has written ,some poetry, which, for imagery has real merit.
It is not necessary to say that the home presided over by a woman of Mrs. Birdseye's generous womanly disposition was a model for regularity and concord. During the war her sympathies naturally went out toward the soldiers. She was during all that sad period president of the Clyde Ladies Aid Society, and contributed of. her means and labors to the cause. Mr. Birdseye was careful at the same time that no soldier's home in his community should suffer for support. They had no sons to send to the field of battle, but their benevolent labor at home was no less useful and appreciated.
Mrs. Birdseye is a remarkably well preserved lady. Her face beams with intelligence and good nature, and she holds in memory with exceptional correctness the scenes and events of by-gone years. A visitor is particularly impressed with her cheerfulness of temperament. She remembers and narrates with pleasure amusing incidents, but; unlike many old people, has little to say of the rougher side of pioneer life, a full share of which she experienced.
Mrs. Birdseye enjoys her quiet home inFremont, having with her her constant friend, companion and sister, Miss Abigail Christie, who was born December 7, i806. She has near her, for comfort and support, her only child, Cornelia, wife of Isaac Amsden, who was born December 16, 1832. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Amsden consists of five children.
THOMAS GATES AMSDEN.
The subject of this sketch was a conspicuous character in the history of Bellevue for more than thirty years. Thomas Gates Amsden was born in Ontario county, New York, October 8, 1797. His father, Isaac Amsden, was a Revolutionary soldier. After the war he settled on a farm in Ontario county, on which the son was accustomed to hard work, being given the advantage of a short term of schooling each winter.
During the War of 1812, when the Governor of New York made a call for militia to defend Buffalo, Thomas, then in his seventeenth year, responded bravely to the call in place of an older brother. Bravery and courage, which were predominating characteristics of the man, thus early found expression in the boy.
In early life Mr. Amsden came West, and in company with F. A. Chapman and one or two of his brothers, engaged in the hazardous business of hunting and trapping and trading with the Indians. They finally entered the employ of General Whitney, who at that time was conducting Indian stores at many of the frontier posts of the Northwest. Mr. Amsden was stationed at Green Bay, where he was quite successful, and won the confidence of his employer to the degree that, in 1823, General Whitney gave to himself and Mr. Chapman letters of credit on the great Boston house of
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A. & A. Lawrence, to the amount of a general stock of goods calculated to the wants of pioneer trade. This stock, placed in a log cabin, was the first store in Bellevue. General Whitney, in the same way, had started eight other clerks in business, but his kindness on the whole cost him considerable money, for, as he told Chapman & Amsden afterwards, they were the only two who paid for their stock and made a success in trade.
So popular did the store of Chapman & Amsden become that the place received the name Amsden's Corners, the last named member of the firm being best known to the customers. For several years from 1823 they continued general merchandising. Their goods were at first adapted to trading with the Indians, who were then the principal inhabitants. As the Indians decreased, and the whites multiplied, they continued the business, increasing it as trade demanded. Beginning in a log hut, they finally carried it on in a more pretentious frame building, the first of the kind in this region, a part of it being occupied by Mr. Amsden as a family residence. This building was eventually torn away to make room for the stone block now occupied by the First National Bank.
During this time they built the Exchange Hotel, which they continued to own for twenty years. This was the best hotel building for a long distance around, and had considerable influence upon the growth of the village by attracting emigrants and business men to the place.
The frame building which displaced the first log store, was painted red, and was known as the "Red Store." It was the largest mercantile establishment between Norwalk and Lower Sandusky.
In 1833 Mr. Amsden sold his interest in the store to Dr. L. G. Harkness and purchased of Samuel Miller a farm whichwas only partially improved. This farm included nearly all of that part of the present town of Bellevue in Sandusky county. While he was engaged at farming he was elected and served as justice of the peace. While a merchant he was postmaster. Mr. Amsden afterwards again entered active business in partnership with Mr. Chapman, under the firm name of T. G. Amsden & Co., dealers in general merchandise and farm products, until 1855, under the successive firm names of T. G. Amsden & Co., Amsden, Bramwell & Co., Amsden, Dimmick & Co., and Amsden & Co. He was in mercantile and general business in Bellevue. In 1848 he became interested in a store and distillery in Monroeville. This proved an unfortunate enterprise. It was not only in itself a financial failure, but carried the Bellevue house, in which his son, Isaac E., was interested, with it. Mr Amsden's course was in the line of the strictest business integrity. He refused to adopt any method which prudence might suggest for saving a part of his hardearned estate. He turned over to his creditors all his property, and emerged from the general crash in very straitened circumstances. He retained his home in Bellevue, where he lived for a few years in comparative retirement. Then selling out he purchased a small farm just below Fremont, where he died December 7, 1876.
The maiden name of Mr. Amsden's first wife was Lydia Chapman, a daughter of James Chapman, who served in the Revolutionary army during the whole seven years of the war. This marriage occurred in 1823. They had a family of seven children, five of whom survived infancy—Sarah, Mary, Isaac E., Thomas, and William.
Sarah was married to Hon. J. P. Shoemaker, of Amsden, Michigan, a place so named because Mr. Amsden once owned
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the land upon which it is located. Mary is married to Abishai Woodward, son of the late Gurdon Woodward, of Bellevue. Isaac E. married Cornelia Birdseye, daughter of N. P. Birdseye, and is in business in Fremont. Thomas died some years since in Bellevue. William, at the opening of the Rebellion, enlisted in the army, and was soon made captain in the Third Ohio Cavalry; was prostrated by camp fever in the spring of 1862, and was first brought to the hospital at Cincinnati and then to his home in Fremont, where he died June 19.
Mrs. Amsden died in 1841.
Mr. Amsden subsequently married Harriet Williams, of Monroeville. The family by this marriage consisted of five children—Emily, Edward, Lizzie, Maggie, and Harriet.
Emily is married to Charles Cullen, of Delta, Fulton county, Ohio. Edward resides at Canton, Ohio. Lizzie resides in Fremont. Maggie died at the age of ten years. Harriet resides in Fremont.
Mrs. Amsden occupies the residence to which the family removed from Bellevue.
Mr. Amsden was a man of great physical energy and endurance, as well as of fine intellectual qualities, and in his long partnership with Mr. Chapman took the principal charge of the outdoor business, while Mr. Chapman managed the office work. Mr. Amsden was highly respected for his unswerving integrity, and genial, affable manners. He was so widely known for his sound and reliable judgment that, for many years, his advice was uniformly taken before any new enterprise of importance was started. He was, during his prosperous business life, free in his charities. Nothing seemed to gratify him more than to relieve want or suffering. He was a supporter of the Episcopal church. He was for nearly thirty years a prominent and faithful member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Bellevue, and afterward in Fremont. At the time of his death appropriate resolutions of sympathy and respect were passed by the order, and a large delegation from the encampment at Fremont accompanied his remains to the beautiful cemetery at Bellevue, where they were deposited amid the ashes of his dead.
FREDERICK SMITH AND FAMILY.
In the spring of 1818 George Frederick Schmidt and family, natives of Wurtemburg, Germany, emigrated to America and settled in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania. In his native land Mr. Smith—as the name is now written by his descendants—was united in marriage to Dorothea Maumann. They brought up a large family, there being nine children in all, seven of whom arrived at maturity. Four are still living. Seven of them were born in this country. The names of the. children in the order of their ages were as follows: Maria D., married David Moore, and resided in Bellevue; died December 7, 1879, in her sixty-seventh year. Anna M. married James Chapman, of York township; died November 8, 1879, aged sixty-five years. Frederick, the subject of this sketch; David, a resident of York township; Catharine, widow of William White, Grundy county, Tennessee; Sarah A., wife of Elmer Simpson, Placer county, California; and John F., a resident of York township; and two who died young.
The family resided in Pennsylvania until the year 1836, when they came to York township and settled upon the farm now in possession of one of the sons. At the time of their settlement this entire region bore a very uninviting aspect. After coming here Mr. Smith purchased a piece of land on which a small clearing had
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been made and a cabin erected. They had the usual difficulties and experiences incident to life in the woods, but by the combined efforts of the whole family they succeeded in accomplishing the mission which led them hither and established a home. Mrs. Smith did not live to enjoy many of the subsequent improvements. She died in November, 1842. Her husband survived until the 18th of February, 1858, when he passed away. Both were worthy people, and possessed of that industrious and frugal disposition which enables the German emigrant to succeed in the face of many obstacles.
Frederick Smith was the oldest son. He was horn in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, December to, 1818, and consequently was about eighteen years of age when his parents came to this county. He lived at home and assisted in clearing up the farm and making improvements. In 1845, on the 2d day of October, he was joined in marriage to Mary A. Box, of Washington township. The following year he bought a farm adjoining the old homestead, upon which he passed the remainder of his days. His first purchase was eighty acres, twenty of which were partially cleared. There was also a small cabin upon the farm. Mr. Smith labored diligently, making inroads upon the forest and improving his fields, and as they became fruitful under his skilful hands, thus furnishing the means for enlarging his farm, he made additional purchases, upon which in turn he continued the work of clearing. Before his death he became the owner of six hundred and forty acres of excellent land, as the reward of his steadfast industry and perseverance. His elegant brick residence, the present home of his widow, was erected in 1866.
Mr. Smith was a successful farmer and a lover of his occupation, which he carried on most extensively. He also possessedconsiderable skill and ingenuity in the use of various kinds of tools, and frequently did blacksmithing and carpentry work for himself. He was a man who had many sincere friends, won by his upright character and manly qualities. In politics he was a strong Democrat, and always labored to promote the success of his party. Early in life he became a Christian, and continued to the end a devout member of the Reformed church. Just before his death, while conversing on religious subjects, he referred to his early religious associations with much pleasure and satisfaction. He was elected a trustee of St. Paul's church some three years previous to his death, and faithfully served in that office until prevented by failing health. He was prostrated by illness in December, 1878, and continued gradually declining until the 1st day of April, in the year 1879, when the end came.
Mrs. Frederick Smith was born in Northampton county (now Carbon county), Pennsylvania, August 13, 1826. Her parents were Nicholas and Eve Margaret Box. Her mother's maiden name was Mehrcome. Her father died in Pennsylvania December 2, 1835. Her mother came to this county in 1836, and settled in Washington township, where she died April 22, 1857. Mrs. Smith is the youngest of a family of eleven children. She has three brothers and two sisters living.
To Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born three sons and four daughters, all of whom are living in York township. Their names are: William Frederick, Mary Armena, Samuel David, Henry Franklin, Margaret Anna, Sarah Catharine, and Dora Ella. Two of the sons and one of the daughters are married. William F. married Sarah C. Wilt, and has two children; Henry F. married Hannah E. Richards; Mary Armena is the wife of George Wilt, York township, and has four children.
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THE McCAULEY FAMILY.
Joseph McCauley was born in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, May 23, 1811. His father, John McCauley, of Scotch-Irish blood, came to America from Ireland with his parents when a young man. He married, in Pennsylvania, Mary Stumphff, and had a family of seven sons and four daughters. Of these four sons and two daughters are yet living. Joseph was the sixth child. He was brought up and educated in Pennsylvania. He was a farmer throughout his life. On the 28th of October, 1830, he married Anna Ulsh, daughter of Andrew and Barbara Ulsh. She was born February 17, 1811, and was the second child and oldest daughter. The Ulsh family consisted of nine children, five sons and four daughters. The youngest of these children reached the age of fifty-one years before any were removed by death. Three of the sons and all of the daughters are still living. Andrew Ulsh spent his life in Pennsylvania. He was born September 12, 1785 ; died April 9, 1864. Barbara Ulsh, born September 20, 1788; died October 22, 1828. Mr. Ulsh was married twice, Catharine being the name of his second wife.
After his marriage Mr. McCauley resided one year in Snyder county, thence moved to Mifflin county in 1832, where he lived until the spring of 1845. In the month of April of that year he came to the farm in York township, which he had purchased two years before, and set about making a home. The farm contained seventy-eight acres, but was afterwards increased in size to one hundred and sixty-four acres. There had been slight improvements made, but not enough to make the farm of much utility until a large amount of work had been done. Mr. and Mrs. McCauley labored diligently, saved economically, and in due season had a comfortable home. Three childred were born to them—John A. McCauley, born December 27, 1831; Matilda E. McCauley, born August 30, 1833; Sarah I. McCauley, born January 29, 1839. The daughters are both living, Mrs. Matilda E. Kopp in York township, and Mrs. Sarah I. Ulsh in St. Joseph county, Michigan. Joseph McCauley died April 21, 1853, a worthy and highly respected man. He was a man of industry and perseverance, and during the eight years he lived in Ohio, he made a large number of clearings and improvements, erected a substantial house, barn and out-buildings. He was a self-made man; commenced life with. little, and worked his way upward by strict and careful attention to business. He was a member of the Lutheran church in Pennsylvania, but after coming to Ohio joined the Congregational church. He was a man of a cheerful and obliging disposition, and is gratefully remembered by his old friends and neighbors who had an opportunity to become thoroughly acquainted with him, and to know his worth.
After his death his widow lived upon the old homestead over ten years. November 17, 1863, she was married to John Orwig, and since that time she has resided at Bellevue. Mrs. Orwig belongs to the Congregational church, and is a faithful member.
John A. McCauley, only son of Joseph McCauley, was horn in Snyder county, Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio with his parents. He lived and died upon the old homestead, enjoying the peaceful life of a prosperous farmer. January 13, 1853, he was united in marriage to Lucy A. Jordan, born January 18, 1832, in Union county, Pennsylvania. This union was blessed by three children, two of whom are living —Alice A., born January 26, 1854; married March 16, 1874, to Harry S. Knauss; resides in the house with her mother; has
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three children—Virgie M., born November 22, 1875; Olive Maud, born August 3, 1877; and John W., born February 6, 1880. John Ezra, born May 25, 1857, died September 7, 1858. Joseph Ervin, born June 8, 1859, married Alice C. Drake, and resides in York township, this county.
John A. McCauley died August 28, 1879. He united with the Congregational church when about sixteen, and lived a faithful Christian. He was a man of the highest integrity of character, and was highly esteemed by the community in which he resided. Like his father he supported the Democratic ticket.
Mrs. Lucy A. McCauley is the daughter of one of the pioneers of Ohio. Her father, Adam Jordan, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1803. He was married in his native State to Sophia Orwig, who was born in Schuylkill county, September 16, 1803. These parents had five sons and four daughters —Sarah A., who married Uriah Weaver; Martin married Mary Soyer; Lucy A. (McCauley) ; Joseph married Hannah Gamby; Mary A., George, and Hannah M., single; James married Emma Hubble; John, the only member of the family not living at the time of this writing, died when fourteen years old.
Adam Jordan moved from Union county, Pennsylvania, to Ohio, in 1832; remained one year in Richland county, then settled in Seneca county, whence he moved to York township, Sandusky county, in 1844. Mr. Jordan died September 22, 1860. His widow survived until August 28, 1871.
Mrs. McCauley joined the Congregational church in 1853. Her children also united with the same organization when quite young. She is a lady who enjoys the friendship and esteem of a large circle of neighbors and acquaintances.
THE RIFE FAMILY.
Michael Rife was born in Frederick county, Maryland, February 15, 18r4. His parents were Daniel and Elizabeth (Sumbrun) Rife. They had three sons and seven daughters, with names as follows: Susan, Michael, Daniel, Julia Ann, Elizabeth, Mary and Sarah (twins), Sophia, John, and Frances. The sons and four of the daughters are now living. Michael and John reside in York township, and Daniel in the village of Clyde. They are all farmers. Susan is the widow of Chester Kinney, and resides at Green Spring, In this county; Julia Ann married John Hamlin, her home is in Steuben county, Indiana; Mary married Aaron Bartlett, and lives in Fulton county; Elizabeth is single, and resides in Bellevue; Sarah, Sophia, and Frances are deceased. Frances was the wife of Frank Joint, of Bellevue.
The parents of Mr. Rife came to Sandusky county in 1832 and located where John Rife now lives. The country at that date was but thinly settled, and the father and his sons had before them the difficult task of making a home in the wilderness and earning a living there. That they succeeded well in this undertaking, the neat and pretty farms in possession of the family are sufficient proofs. Daniel Rife died when fifty-five years of age, and his wife when fifty seven. Both were members of the Lutheran church during the greater portion of their lives, and were earnest and sincere Christians.
Michael Rife has always followed the good, old-fashioned employment of tilling the soil. At the age of twenty-five he married and began work for himself. His marriage look place January 1, 1839. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Longwell, was born in Berlin township, Delaware county, Ohio, November 9, 1821. She was the only daughter of Rob-
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ert and Lucinda (Butler) Longwell, who were among the very first settlers in this county. They moved to York township in 1823. Mr. Longwell brought his goods in an ox-wagon, and Mrs. Longwell rode horseback, carrying her child in her arms. They were here but one brief year before they were overtaken by death. Mrs. Longwell died September 17, 1814, aged thirty-two years, and her husband followed on the 22d day of the same month and year, dying at the age of thirty. After the death of her parents, Mary lived with her relatives until her marriage with Mr. Rife, in 1839.
For the first few years after this couple began housekeeping the utmost diligence was required to " make both ends meet." Mrs. Rife raised chickens many seasons to sell, and paid taxes with the proceeds. Produce brought but a small equivalent in money, butter often selling for only five cents per pound, and other articles in proportion. Young people at the present day can form but a vague idea of the difficulties which this stout-hearted pair met and overcame.
Their union has been blessed with four children, three of whom are living. The family record is as follows: Eudora Ann was born March 30, 1841, she married Robert Zuel, and resides in Johnson county, Kansas ; Sarah F. was born September 7, 1842, she is the wife of William L. Richards, and lives near her old home; Robert L., born April 27, 1846, married Maria Dimock; he also resides near his parents ; Charles, born February 20, 1848, died March 24th of the same year.
Mr. and Mrs. Rife, now in their declining years, are the happy possessors of a pleasant, pretty home, a good farm of three hundred acres, well improved, and supplied with a good orchard and plenty of timber. They have always been industrious and economical, and by toilingearly and late have merited the good things they now enjoy.
Mr. Rife is a Republican and has never voted any other ticket, excepting that of the Whig party. He has never aspired to township or other offices.
JAMES CHAPMAN.
James Chapman was born in the northwestern part of the State of Pennsylvania, December 26, 1809. He is the oldest of the children of Jeremiah and Sarah (Wilbur) Chapman. Jeremiah Chapman was a native of Connecticut, but moved to Pennsylvania when quite a young man and was one of the pioneers in the part of the State where he settled. He was the son of James Chapman, a Revolutionary soldier, who lived and died in Connecticut. Sarah Wilbur was born in Rhode Island, but removed to Pennsylvania with her parents when young. Soon after he was married, Jeremiah Chapman removed to Ontario county, New York, where he lived until about 1819, when he came to Ohio. He remained one year in Huron county, then located on Sandusky River in Seneca county, where he resided about four years, moving thence to Sandusky county in 1824. Here he settled in York township on a farm which is still in possession of the family. He was the father of four children, three of whom are still living—Sarah, the second child and oldest daughter, is the wife of George Wood and resides in Erie county; Maria married L. P. Warner, and lives in Hillsdale county, Michigan; and James. The other child, a son, died in infancy.
Jeremiah Chapman was a farmer during his life. He was a man of hearty constitution, strong and vigorous physically, in short, almost a perfect type of the sturdy pioneer. He served a short time in the War of 1812. Both he and his
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wife were members of the Free-will Baptist church. Mr. Chapman died July 1, 1845, aged sixty-four years. Mrs. Chapman survived her husband a few years, and died at the home of her youngest daughter, in Michigan.
From the foregoing it will be seen that Mr. James Chapman came to this county when about fourteen years of age. He had limited opportunities for obtaining an education, except in the wide and varied field known as the school of life. He attended school for a few years during a portion of the winter time in some of the few log schoolhouses then in York township. His boyhood was passed at home on the farm. When about thirty years old he married Anna Smith, daughter of George Smith, of York township. She was one of a family of seven children, and was a native of Germany.
To Mr. and Mrs. Chapman were born seven children, four of whom are still living. Following are their names in the order of their ages: Albert, died December 14, 1873, aged thirty-two years; he was unmarried. Reuben resides near his father's home; he married Nettie Riley, of Riley township. Mary died September 17, 1873, aged twenty-eight; she was the wife of Atwell Forgerson, of York township. Emeline and Adeline (twins); Emeline married Henry Kopp, and resides in York township. Adeline lives at home. The next child was a daughter, who died in infancy. Amelia, the youngest, resides at home. Mrs. Chapman died November 8, 1879, at the age of sixty-five.
Mr. Chapman has been one of the successful farmers of this vicinity. Of recent years he has given up the management of his place to his son, who continues doing a thrifty business. Mr. Chapman has been a sound Republican ever since the party was formed. He was a member of the Free-will Baptist church as long as that organization was in existence in his township. His wife belonged to the Lutheran church.
SENECA D. AND MAHALA E. HITT.
Seneca Dusenberry Hitt was a native of Danby, Rutland county, Vermont, and was born, October 6, 1800. His father Henry D. Hitt, was a native of New York, being of Welsh parentage on his father's. side, and Dutch on his mother's side. The mother of Seneca D. Hitt was Mary Nichols, a native of Vermont. General Greene, of the Revolution, was her uncle.
The boyhood of Mr. Hitt was spent on the shoemaker's bench, in business, and teaching school. He married, June 15, 1837, Mahala E. Stafford, a daughter of Palmer and Betsy (Paddock) Stafford, of Wallingford, Rutland county, Vermont. The ancestry of the Stafford family is traced back to a Rhode Island family of that name.
The newly wedded couple left their home in Vermont on the 27th of June, and after artedious journey of one month and two days, arrived in Bellevue. Mr. Hitt had, the year before, in partnership with his cousin, Henry Nichols, purchased the farm on which he settled, being one hundred and twenty-six acres, twelve of which was cleared. Mr. Hitt, during the earlier years of his residence in this county, made use of his experience at shoemaking to earn a few odd dollars, for ready cash was scarce, and the pioneers were driven to various expedients for earning money. But hard labor and economy triumphed over the rugged opposition of heavy forest and general scarcity. Mr. Hitt purchased, in a few years, Mr. Nichol's interest in the farm, which he continued to improve till death, when, as an heritage to his family, he left an enviable home.
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Mr. Hitt died in January, 1872, in his seventy-second year. He was frequently entrusted with local offices. He was a warm advocate of Whig principles, and after the fall of that party became a Republican. In appearance he was robust and strong, being five feet eight inches tall, and weighing about two hundred pounds.
Mrs. Hitt is still living on the old farm. She is a well preserved woman, both physically and mentally. A naturally happy disposition fills her home with good cheer and hospitality.
The family consists of three children living and one dead.
Mary E. was born April 3, 1840. She was married in 1871 to Silas A. Wood, who died in June, 1872. She is employed as a teacher to the Fremont public schools.
Marion Adelia was born February 3, 1842. She was married September 27, 1860, to George H. Mugg, a resident of Green Creek township. Their family consists of three children—Elmer E., Luella, and Susan M.
Tamson Lavina was born January 17, 1845. She was married October 23, 1867, to Charles H. Welch. Their family consists of four children—Alice R., Mahala, Adelia, and Charles H., jr.
Seneca D. was born January 16, 1849, died October 2, 1849.
JOHN S. AND ANN GARDNER.
John Gardner was a pioneer in York township. With his family, consisting of a wife and six children, he emigrated from Vermont and settled here while nearly the whole township was original forest. John S. Gardner, the oldest son, was born in Vermont, on the 24th of February, 1806, and was consequently seventeen years oldwhen the family settled in this county. Of a robust constitution he was well calculated for the toils and hardships which life in a new country imposed. Mr. Gardner, by working hard on his father's farm and for himself, accumulated some money which he invested in land then held at a very low price, but as improvements were made, gradually increased in value, making him by the time he. had reached maturity, a man of considerable means. Mr. Gardner married, January 3, 1833, Ann Alexander, daughter of Theophilus and Mary Alexander, who came to Ohio in 1825, with a family of eleven children, from the State of New York. Ann was born in New York in 1811.
John S. and Ann Gardner have had a family of seven children, five of whom are living—John A., was born June 25, 1834, was married March 12, 1857, to Emeline J. Bemis; Theophilus E., was born August 6, 1836, married May to, 1866, to Sarah Ann Thompson, she having deceased, he married Justina Alexander in 186g; Mary E. was born December 4, 1838; Charles C. was born June 9, 1842, married Rebecca A. Lemmon; Dyer C. was born July 23, 1845, served in the army, married, in 1870, Sarah R. Rowe; Ann, born April 15, 1847, married, in 1868, William Ritter; Julia, horn January 9, 1850, married to Henry Thomas; Mary E., died July 25, 1867; Charles C., died October 26, 1877.
As will be seen by reference to the civil list of the county, John S. Gardner served as county commissioner for the period of. four years. He was always prominent in the affairs of his township, and a working member of the Democratic party in the east part of the county. He was strong in physique and capable of doing much hard work. He was a persevering farmer and pushed work with a diligence which manifested itself in rapidly increasing
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landed possessions. He died May 23, 1861.
Mrs. Gardner remains on the old farm. She has an excellent memory for a woman of her age, and narrates in an interesting manner the scenes and incidents of years gone by.
JEREMIAH SMITH.
Among the many courageous men and women who penetrated the forests of Ohio while the State was yet the hunting grounds of the Indians, the sons and daughters of New England hold a conspicuous place. Bravery, generosity, unwavering honesty, united to a strong religious faith, were the virtues that characterized them, and the principles that animated them.
In 1822 a worthy couple, both natives of the State of Connecticut, settled on the South ridge, in York township. Their names were Jeremiah and Experience (Mills) Smith. Enough has been written in this volume to portray the condition of Sandusky county at that date. The trials, difficulties, and dangers which beset these bold representatives of the Yankee nation need not be rehearsed here. Here they lived, reared a family, and died. But one of their children survives, although the family consisted of three sons and three daughters. The names were as follows: Jeremiah, Edward, Barzilla, Lucy, Laura, and Triphena. Jeremiah settled in York township and resided here until the close of his days. Edward died in Lagrange county, Indiana. Barzilla died in New York State, where his parents had lived before coming to Ohio. Lucy married Charles Gardenier, of Montgomery county, New York, and died years ago. Laura married Abel D. Follett, of Bellevue, and now resides in Ventura county, California. Triphena died the year after her parents moved here, aged thirteen years.
Jeremiah Smith, sr., died October 7, 1826, aged forty-nine years. His 'wife,' a most estimable lady, survived until. September 6, 1840, when she passed away at the age of sixty-six, universally respected as a woman of Christian benevolence and genuine worth.
Their son, Jeremiah Smith, was among the most worthy and highly honored of the citizens of York township. He was born October 15, 1801. On the loth of June, 1835, he married De Lora Knapp, daughter of Alvin and Lovisa (O'Bryant) Knapp. Mrs. Knapp's father, John O'Bryant, was an officer in the Revolutionary war. Alvin Knapp was born at Lebanon Springs, Columbia county, New York, and his wife in the western part of Massachusetts, about fourteen miles from the place of her husband's nativity. Mr. and Mrs Knapp lived in New York State until 1833. At this date they came to Ohio and settled near the centre of York township. They had thirteen children who arrived at maturity, five of whom are yet living. Their names in the order of their ages were: Arad, Chester, Balsorah, Alanson; Kingsley, De Lora, Mary, Wilson, Sarah F., Henry, Martha, Anna, and Amanda. These were all married and all came to Ohio, but scattered to various parts of the country. Those now living are, Chester, in Cass county, Michigan; Wilson, in Lucas county, Ohio; Henry, in Decatur county, Iowa; Martha (Alexander), Whitewater, Wisconsin; and Mrs. De Lora Smith, York township.
Mr. and Mrs. Jeremiah Smith, jr., had no children. Mr. Smith died August 21, 1874, in his seventy-third year. He was a man of sterling integrity, friendly and courteous in his manners, pure to motive, and honest and fair in all his dealings. He passed through a long life without losing a friend or gaining an enemy by any fault of his own. During the most
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of his years he was a member of the Free-will Baptist church.
JOSEPH AND AMANDA B. BIRDSEYE.
The oldest son of James Birdseye, whose ancestry and operations in this county are mentioned in the foregoing sketch of Nathan P. Birdseye, was Joseph Birdseye. He was born in Ontario county, New York, November 26, 1800. His boyhood was spent at hard work on his father's farm. He had opportunity to attend school only a few months during the winter, affording a very limited education.
Mr. Birdseye married, in 1823, Amanda Beach, daughter of Jonathan and Betsy Beach, who were natives of Connecticut. After his marriage Mr. Birdseye purchased a farm in New York, now the site of Rochester, one of the most flourishing cities of the State. Through the failure of a neighbor to meet an obligation on which Mr. Birdseye was security, this farm was lost. He then looked toward the West as a field for the restoration of his lost fortunes. In 1834 he purchased a farm in York township, on which he settled with his family in 1835. He was a hard worker, and continued making improvements and adding to his possessions. In partnership with his brother, Nathan P., he discharged a contract for macadamizing the pike between Bellevue and Clyde.
Mr. Birdseye, in 1853, sold his farm in York township and moved to Clyde, where he had purchased a tract of land, now embraced in that part of the town lying between the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad track and the turnpike. As the village grew he sold, in town lots, about fifty acres, a part of which was forest at the time of making the purchase. This operation showed Mr. Birdseye's business sagacity, and leads to the conclusion that but for his early misfortune at Rochester, New York, he would have been a very wealthy man
The family of Joseph and Amanda Birdseye consisted of five children—two sons and three daughters. Eliza was born in March, 1824. She died in 1847. Adalaide was born October 16, 1825. She resides in New York City. Emily was born September 27, 1827. She is married to John Bruen and lives in Santa Cruz, California. Her husband is dead. Gould was born November 26, 1829. He resides in Clyde. Nelson H. was born October 6, 1832. He resides in Clyde.
Joseph Birdseye died April 19, 1868, and is buried in McPherson Cemetery in Clyde. Amanda B. Birdseye is still living in Clyde. She is of genial disposition, affable in manners, and possessed of good business qualifications. She manages the estate left by her husband with care and discretion.
Mr. Birdseye, in many of his characteristics, resembling his brother, Nathan P. and at the same time possessing many traits of character differing widely from those of his brother. Both were scrupuously honest in all business transactions, and social intercourse. Both were Whigs, and afterwards Republicans, in politics. They were simple in their manners and determined in their convictions. It was a characterisic of Joseph Birdseye never to withdraw a command, nor .to modify an opinion deliberately formed. He was uniformly kind and charitable to the sick or suffering. In him an iron will was coupled with a tender heart.
No family stood higher in York township than the Birdseyes. They were always alive to the welfare of the community, whether in deeds of public improvement or acts of private charity.
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H. R. ADAMS.
Horatio Rogers Adams was born in Montville, Connecticut, May 8, 1802, He was the oldest of three children, and only son of William Adams and Nancy Rogers, who were also natives of Connecticut. When Horatio was about seven years of age his parents removed from Montville to Albany, New York, where they afterwards lived. William Adams was a sea-captain, was the owner of a number of vessels, and a man of enter prise and thrift. His wife died in the fall of 1820 aged about thirty-seven, and some two years afterward he married Delia Olmsted, an estimable lady of Albany, and sister of Judge Jesse Olmsted, the pioneer merchant of Fremont, Ohio. Of his three children by his first wife (his second marriage being without issue) only one is now living, viz : Sophia Adams, who still resides in Albany. The younger sister,' Mary, died in Albany. Neither of the sisters ever married.
Horatio being the only child, and his father well-to-do, was permitted to follow his inclinations, and grew to young manhood surrounded by the social influences of city life. He attended school but little .and employed a part of his leisure in fishing, his favorite sport, and in, visiting at his uncle, Isaiah Adams's, a farmer living a few miles out of Albany. During these visits he would help in the work on the farm and it was there, doubtless, he formed the desire for the occupation which he subsequently followed. When about eighteen he made his way to Norwalk, Ohio, where a relative of his mother, Frederick Forsythe, was then living. He left home in company with George Olmsted on the 1st day of October, 1820, coming to Sandusky on the Walk-in-the-water, the pioneer steamer of Lake Erie. Shortly afterward he made a visit to his friends, the Olmsteds, in Lower Sandusky, now Fremont, being piloted thither through the wilderness by William Chapman, the mail-carrier. There was then no laid-out road west of where Bellevue now stands, which then consisted, according to Mr. Adams' recollection, of but one log-house. We next find him in Columbus, whither he journeyed on foot. He was now thrown upon his own own resources and among strangers, and he found it necessary to do something to earn a living. The first job he found to do was to take a horse for a man a distance of thirty miles, for which service he received one-dollar. Of course he had to walk back, but he was well satisfied with his bargain. It was the first money he had ever earned. A short time afterward he went to Worthington, a little village nine miles north of Columbus, where he found employment for a time in a printing office. In Worthington he first met his future wife, Amy R. Bedell. They were married on the 4th day of May, 1823, and a few years afterward settled on Darby Creek, in Madison county. The farm on which they located had been partly cleared by a former occupant, who had abandoned it, and the cleared part had grown over with a heavy undergrowth and practically required a second clearing. The first season he raised a small crop of corn and a few bushels of beans, which found a market in Columbus, twenty miles distant, at fifty cents per bushel. Cotton goods were fifty cents per yard, and other necessaries in proportion. It required a good deal of fortitude and hard toil to keep the wolf from the door during their stay there. While fighting under countless difficulties for a livelihood, Mr. Adams was much distressed by doubts as to the validity of his land title, his farm being embraced in what is known as the Virginia Military District. This tract comprised a large extent of territory lying
698 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
between the Little Miami and Scioto Rivers, and was reserved by act of Congress for compensation of the Virginia soldiers who had served in the Revolutionary war. Any soldier, or his representative, who held a warrant was at liberty to select his lands wherever he chose within the military tract ; and in consequence of the irregularity with which many locations were made, some locations encroaching upon others, considerable litigation ensued. This circumstance decided Mr. Adams upon disposing of his farm at any sacrifice, and consequently, after living there a couple of years, during which he and his always patient and helpful wife experienced every hardship incident to the lot of pioneers, they removed, in the summer of 1830, to Huron county, and located upon a farm rented of Jeremiah Sheffield, near Amsden's Corners, now Bellevue. He contracted with Mr. Sheffield to build a log-house on the farm, eighteen by twenty feet, in consideration of fifty bushels of wheat, and moved into this house on Christmas Day of the above year.
The following season being very wet, his crops were scanty, and he decided upon making another change. He was offered the farm on which he afterwards lived till his death, in York township, Sandusky county, Ohio, for one dollar and fifty cents per acre, but he hesitated about making the purchase, the "oak openings," as they were called, being regarded as almost worthless for farming purposes. Against the advice of some of his friends, he decided to make the investment. That his decision was a wise one, one of the finest farms in the county is a sufficient proof.
To this farm on NewYear's Day, 1832, he brought his wife and two children, and all his worldly goods, in an ox-cart, and moved into a log house eighteen feet square, with puncheon floor, clapboardroof and stick chimney. The farm was then an almost unbroken wilderness, and the prospect anything but bright. But attacking his task with his accustomed energy, he soon had a portion of his land in a condition to be cultivated, from which he managed to support an increasing family, while he continued to enlarge the boundary of his clearing. The next ten years were years of hard work, attended by trials and frequent failures, but instead of tending to discouragement it was an experience which only developed the force and determination of a man by nature determined and forcible. In 1842 he erected the house which was afterwards his permanent home, and which is still occupied by his widow. They took possession of this home on Christmas of that year, and it is a somewhat singular circumstance that on each removal they began the occupancy of their new home on one of the winter holidays.
On the 8th of May, 1874, Mr. and Mrs. Adams celebrated their golden wedding. They had been married fifty years the 4th of May the previous year, but as sickness in the family prevented them from assembling that year, the reunion was postponed until the next year, and held on the 8th of May, which was Mr. Adams' seventy-second birthday. It was a happy occasion to all, and to the aged pair in whose honor it was held, an event second in interest only to their nuptial day. They had lived to see a large farm brought from a wild condition to a high state of cultivation, having increased in value a hundred fold, and to raise a family of children esteemed for their intelligence and moral worth.
Mr. Adams united with the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1829, and ever afterward was an active member and devoted Christian. His family was brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,
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and he recognized no higher duties on earth than those of husband and father.
He contributed with liberality to the support not only of the church to whit he belonged, but to that of others as well, and there is hardly a church in the region where he lived so long that has not be. n the recipient of his benefactions. His business record was unimpeachable. It was characterized by energy, perseverance, and the strictest integrity, which was an integral part of his nature.
He stood the embodiment of all that was upright, honest and honorable. A conspicuous quality of his mind was the faculty of humor. He had a keen sense of the comic and the ridiculous, and 1 c enjoyed nothing more than a visit with friends, for whose entertainment he would relate, in his droll way, some humorous incident, usually in connection with his pioneer experiences. In manner he was to some extent eccentric and blunt, but he was always courteous, and to those who knew him best he had a nature as tender and sympathetic as a child's. Mr. Adams, from force of habit, continued his labor more or less, on the farm long after reaching an age when most men are compelled to rest. In June, 1879, while at work in the field, he was overcome with the heat, which resulted in an affection of the bran, and after suffering intensely, mentally and physically, many months, he died March 22, 1880, aged nearly seventy-eight.
AMY R. ADAMS.
Amy Rosalia Bedell, daughter of Benjamin L. Bedell and Sally Burr, was born in Manchester, Vermont, January 31, 1804. When Amy was quite small her mother married for her second husband Smith Bull, and about the year 1810 the family removed from Vermont to the vicinity of Plattsburgh, New York. Therethey lived until the fall of 1815, when they removed to Worthington, Ohio. Mrs. Bull had by her first husband two children, a son and daughter, Burr and Amy. Burr Bedell was born September 1, 1802, and at the time of his death, a few years since, was residing at Clayton, Michigan. By her second marriage she was the mother of twelve children, viz : Huldah, Mason, Rosetta, Thomas, Smith, Sally, Squire, Alfred, Orrin, Henry, Anna, and Alonzo. Mrs. Bull died in Urbana, Illinois, in October, 1852, . surviving her husband some twelve years. She was born in Adams, Massachusetts, August 2, 1782.
The strongest influence in the shaping of the character of our subject was that of her mother, who was a woman of much strength and excellence of character, capacity, and directness of purpose. Her early years were spent in a country home, where her time was divided between a brief attendance at the rude district school and the exacting duties of home life on a farm. After the removal of the family to Ohio, through the perseverance of her mother she was sent out where she could work for her board and go to school. Possessing a naturally bright mind and an insatiable desire, for knowledge, the opportunity thus afforded for its gratification was improved to the utmost, and although her education at this time was very limited, she made rapid progress in her studies, and at the age of sixteen she began to teach school. Looking back to this time she says those were halcyon days and remembers them only with tender and grateful emotions. Mrs. Adams taught altogether, though not continuously, for a period of seven years, continuing to teach for a time after her marriage. For a time after she began to teach she continued at intervals to attend school and had recitations to different instructors; so that finally she attained a considerable proficiency
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in the branches of study in use at that day. From the time she began to teach she supported herself entirely by her own exertions. She had a laudable ambition to better her condition in the world, physical and intellectual, and she possessed in equal measure the necessary determination and perseverance to accomplish it. An incident in the beginning of her career as teacher will illustrate this. She went to Columbus for the purpose of securing a school. A friend endeavored for some time to find one for her, but failing to do so suggested as an alternative that she accept a vacant position as chambermaid in a hotel. This suggestion she emphatically refused to entertain, and said she knew she was capable of something better. Considerably discouraged, but no less determined in the attainment of her object, she was about to return to Worthington when another friend interested himself in her behalf and soon brought her the welcome announcement that he had secured for her a room in which to teach and two scholars, and that she could begin the next day. The room was in a small building not far from where the Neil House now stands, and the scholars were his own children. Beginning in this small way the number of her pupils speedily increased and before her first term closed she had a school of sixty scholars, and required an assistant.
At the age of nineteen she was married to Horatio R. Adams, and in the hopefulness of youth they entered upon that journey of mutual cares and joys, which at its termination by the death of her husband, spanned by nearly seven years more than half a century.
In all the vicissitudes of the early years of their married life, when struggling against poverty and adversity, Mrs. Adams was the true helpmeet of her husband, sharing the hardships and privations as well as the simple pleasures of frontier life. Mr. Adams in later years often referred to the heroic conduct of his young wife during that trying period, whose Christian fortitude had smoothed the rugged path by which a virtuous independence had eventually been gained.
Mrs. Adams is endowed with more than ordinary intellectual gifts. She is a woman of ideas and originality of thought and possesses a happy faculty of expression, both by speech and pen. She has written much in both prose and verse, and her productions evince a high degree of literary talent. The religious element in her character is predominant. For more than sixty years the Divine Word, the entrance of which irradiated her soul when a girl of fourteen, and dispelled the darkness of doubt and sinfulness, has been a lamp to her feet and a light to her pathway. From her loyalty to her Master she has never swerved. She early connected herself with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has always remained a firm adherent of its faith and practices, and been a useful member. A good and useful woman, with remarkable endowments of mind and character, improved by high Christian culture, producing those graces which adorn society, the church, and the world, such is the subject of this sketch to those who know her best. We who thus know her feel the power of her single, earnest faith, the beauty and reward of a life "hid with Christ in God." Since the death of her husband Mrs. Adams has had the oversight of the farm, and although seventy-eight years of age, carries it on with admirable success.
Mr. and Mrs. Adams were the parents of nine children, two of whom died in infancy. The others are as follows: Lucia, born in Rochester, New York, April 22, 1828, is now the wife of Dr. William Mc-
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Cormick, and resides in Grass Valley, California; they have, two children living, Horatio and Jessie, and one (Willie) deceased. William, born in Lyme, Huron county, Ohio, in 1831, married Martha T. Pennell, and resides near Grand Rapids, Michigan; they have two children—Charles and Julia. Delia, born August 31, 1833, now widow of Upton F. Vore, and resides in Chicago; she has four children—Delia, Horatio, Upton, and Milton. Sophia, born in May, 1837, now widow of John S. Berger, and resides in Bellevue, Ohio; she has one child, Binnie, at present attending school at Oberlin, Ohio. Julia, born' July 11, 1841, now the wife of H. H. Queen, and resides in Toledo, Ohio; they have two children—Florence and Waldemar. Frank, born June 27, 1846, died September 8, 1866. Florence, born November 29, 1848, now the wife of H. Z. Williams, to whom she was married September r, 187o. They have two children, Julia and Amy, born respectively May 16, 1872, and November 14, 1874. All the children except the two oldest were born at the old homestead in York township.
GURDON WOODWARD
was of English ancestry and New England birth. His parents were Abishai and Mary Spicer Woodward. The Woodwards settled in New London, Connecticut, at an early day in the history of that State, and Abishai Woodward, the father of Gurdon, was a leading citizen of the town of New London during and following the revolutionary period. Though not of the number whose losses from fire by British soldiery were compensated by a donation of western lands made by the State, yet he became the owner, by purchase, of a large amount of these claims, and, upon the partition of the Firelands, he acquired proprietorship of more than four thousand acres, all lying in sections one and four of what now is Lyme township. The father of eleven children, he gave to each an equal, undivided interest in these lands. To the ownership, by his father, of western territory, is due the fact of Gurdon's coming to this locality. Mr. Woodward, Sr., came into the possession of his lands November 9, 1808, the date when partition was effected, and died the following year.
Gurdon Woodward was born February 21, 1795, in New London, Connecticut, and at the age of fourteen, immediately after the death of his parents, went to reside at Whitestown, New York. There he learned the trade of millwright. His educational advantages were not the best, yet he made wise improvement of such as were afforded, and acquired a thorough knowledge of the practical branches then taught, and, for his day, was more than an average scholar.
Upon the outbreak of the last war with England he volunteered his services in behalf of his country, served her with fidelity, and, at the close of the war, received an honorable discharge at Sackett's Harbor, New York. This was in 1815. He had at this time reached the age of twenty years. His mind now turned with eager thoughts toward the distant West. At Whitestown, New York, lived at this time a young lady to whom he had become attached, Miss Mary Shepard Savage, youngest daughter of John and Rachel Shepard Savage. She became his betrothed. Amos, the oldest brother of Gurdon, who was the youngest son, had married Rachel, the oldest sister of Mary, who was the youngest daughter.
In 1816 Gurdon Woodward started for the lands of his inheritance, and after a temporary stay in Huron, where his sister
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Betsey and her husband, Mr. George Sheffield, located in the same year, he came on to Lyme in the spring of 1817, and made a selection of his lands. His first night in Lyme township, then Wheatsborough, was spent by the remains of an Indian camp fire-his dog and gun his only companions—upon the very ground which was afterwards to be his home during many years of his life. His dreams that first night must have been filled with thoughts of far-away
Whitestown, and of the loved one who awaited there his return.
Two years of heroic toil were now spent in fitting his chosen heritage for the advent of her who, at the expiration of that times was to be his bride. A log house was erected and portions of the land cleared and fenced. The day finally came when he retraced his steps to his former home, Oneida county, New York, and there, at the village of Whitestown, on the 14th day of April, 1819, he united his fortunes in holy matrimony with those of Miss Mary Shepard Savage. Westward the star of love, as of empire, took its way. Waiting only to receive the congratulations of their friends, the happy pair started for their Western Ohio home, the husband, however, coining some weeks in advance of his wife, who came accompanied by Amos Woodward, Gurdon's oldest brother. Their journey hither, thus taken separately, was their only wedding tour, and the first days of their wedded life-in their wilderness home — their honeymoon. Those first summer days which the young bride, then only eighteen, passed in the rude but comfortable home which her lover had, with dauntless perseverance, prepared for her, must have been in striking contrast to the life she had spent in her father's home in Whitestown. Yet who can doubt that they were happy days ?
With energy and determination, enduring many severe privations, and denied innumerable comforts to which both had been accustomed, they strove together to better their worldly fortunes, to improve the condition of their farm and its surroundings, to beautify their home, and to make life attractive. Heaven smiled benignantly upon their constant love and patient labor. Seven children blessed the former, and as a result of the latter, the rude log cabin, in which their wedded life began, gave place, in time, to a large, substantial and comfortable dwelling—at the time of its erection, perhaps, the best in the township. Their beautiful home they christened "Woodlawn." Here they dwelt together for forty years, and here were born to them all their children: Lucy, Abishai, Amos, William, Mary, Rachel, and Julia M.
In 1859 Mr. and Mrs. Woodward removed to Bellevue, and, purchasing the Dr. Lathrop property, on West Main street, spent there the remainder of their days, receiving kind attentions from relatives and friends. Each lived to a ripe old age, the former dying December 8, 1874, in the eightieth year of his life, and the latter February 25, 1879, nearly seventy-eight years of age.
On the fiftieth anniversary day of their marriage, April 14, 1869, their relatives and numerous friends assembled at their pleasant home to celebrate their golden wedding. It was a time of joyous greetings and hearty congratulations. The aged pair could look back upon a happy, well-spent life, and regard with pleasure their present condition, blessed with every comfort that heart could wish. Death had robbed them of three of their children, Lucy, William, and Julia, and hence their happiness was tempered with sad recollections, but their surviving sons and daughters were all happily situated in life—a fact that must have been of great gratifi-
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cation to them. In their declining years, their four children and their grandchildren ministered to them with devoted attentions; and rarely in this life is seen so marked an exhibition of filial affection as was shown Mrs. Woodward by her sons and daughters during the four years of her widowhood.
Of the children, Lucy became the wife of George Sheffield; Abishai married Mary Amsden, the second daughter of Mr. Thomas G. Amsden, and is vice president of the Bellevue bank, and universally esteemed by his fellow-townsmen ; Amos married Arabella, eldest daughter of Mr. Frederick A. Chapman ; is vice president of the First National bank, and a man of wealth and influence ; William died at about the age of fifteen ; Mary became the wife of Rev. Mr. Hamilton ; Rachel married Mr. Boardman, who died some years ago; a man of culture and intelligence, and a resident of Lincoln, Illinois, at the time of his death; Julia M. died in early womanhood.
Gurdon Woodward was a man of marked and clearly defined characteristics. Of commanding person, he was possessed of sound judgment, a strong will and an inflexible purpose. In politics, he was a staunch adherent to the Democratic faith, and never swerved from fidelity to party and Jacksonian principles. In religion, though not a communicant, he was active in church affairs, and liberal in sustaining its service. He was ever a kind and devoted husband and an affectionate father. Of Mrs. Woodward's religious and domestic life the biographer can say nothing more to the purpose than to quote the following just words taken from an obituary notice published in the Standard of the Cross, at the time of her decease, and written by one who knew her intimately : "Amidst the trials and deprivations of pioneer life, she ever retained the graceand culture of her early life. She loved the church, and as soon as opportunity offered, received the apostolic rite of confirmation by Bishop Mcllvaine. There was nothing ostentatious in her piety, yet she did not hide it under a bushel, but let her light shine before others. She took a deep interest in all that related to the prosperity of the church. She loved with a pure and earnest affection. In every relation of life she was admired and loved, but it was as a Christian woman that they who loved her best, love now to think of her. In her decease the community in which she lived has lost a generous benefactor, the church a devout and exemplary member, and her domestic and social circle a most kind and warm-hearted relative and friend. ` Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence-forth, yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors.' "
BOURDETT WOOD,
the eldest son of Jasper and Elizabeth (Boylston) Wood, was born at Manlius Square, New York, on the 19th day of February, 1803. The Woods are of English origin. Four brothers came to this country about two centuries ago, three of them settling in Massachusetts, and one in Virginia. Aaron, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, with three brothers, had emigrated to the State of New York a short time preceding the Revolutionary struggle, and had settled on the German' flats just above Schenectady. All four of the brothers were soldiers in the Revolutionary war, and took part in the memorable battle of Monmouth. Aaron Wood was the father of seven children, as follows: Thaddeus, Benjamin, Jasper, Rebecca, Dorothea, Aaron, and Homer. Thaddeus was a lawyer of distinction and ability. He was, in his time, not only the
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recognized leader of the bar in Onondaga county, where he resided, but was esteemed as one of the best lawyers of the State. He was an active participant in the war of 1812, and, by reason of meritorious service, was elevated to the rank of brigadier general in 1818, and to the rank of major general in 1820. Jasper Wood, the father of Bourdett, was born in the year in which the war for Independence was declared, 1776, at Lenox, Massachusetts, where he lived until fourteen years of age, when he went to New York State in the service of a Mr. White, the founder of Whitestown, near Utica, that State. Here he continued to reside for eight or ten years, and then removed to Manlius Square, where he remained until 1815, the date of his removal to the Far West. After a temporary stay at Erie, Pennsylvania, of one year's duration, he came on with his family to Huron county, and settled at Bloomingville. Here he purchased a large tract of land, consisting of about one thousand eight hundred acres, for which he paid about two thousand dollars. Soon after this, the Government lands in the adjoining county of Sandusky came into market, and were sold to purchasers at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. This reduced the value of Mr. Wood's lands so as to render them comparatively worthless. He died in 1821. He was a man of rather superior education and abilities; was a good surveyor, and could speak the Iroquois language with considerable fluency. His wife's name was Elizabeth Boylston, whom he married May 3, 1802. The Boylstons were also English people, and were among the first settlers of Boston. They gave their name to many places connected with the early history of that metropolis, such as Boylston Common, Boylston Square, etc., Boylston Bank, Boylston street—places that are still thus designated. The Boylstons were a very intelligent and well-to-do class of people, and many representatives of the family are now living in Massachusetts, all occupying honorable stations in life.
Mr. and Mrs. Jasper Wood were the parents of six children : Bourdett, Adaline, Julianne, Juliette, Worthington, and Aramenta. Mrs. Wood died in 1834.
Bourdett received his given name from the Bourdett family, of Fort Lee, New Jersey.
At the age of sixteen he was bound for a term of four years to Judge Timothy Baker, of Norwalk, Ohio. After an expiration of two years, his father having died, through the kindly efforts in his behalf, made by Mrs. Baker, he was released from this service. The maintenance of his father's family chiefly devolved upon him, and he was brought in close contact with the utmost severity of labor.
Mr. Wood has been a successful man. To trace his career and bring to light the discovery of how he accomplished so much in the direction of getting on in the world, is an interesting undertaking. His father died when Bourdett was a young man of eighteen years of age, and not only left him no inheritance, but placed him in a position where he must, by the labor of his own hands or the employment of his own wits, provide, not for himself alone, but for others dependent upon him for the necessaries of life. Could the young man, the day after his father's death, have had his future career in life disclosed to him; could he have seen himself standing on the verge of that career, penniless and seemingly powerless, and then have followed his course through a term of fifty or nearly sixty years, to behold himself the possessor of hundreds of thousands of dollars of this world's goods, he would undoubtedly have disbelieved the revelation. Yet this is what he has accomplished. The acquisition of great wealth furnishes
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in itself no marvel, for many men become possessors of it. Some inherit it; some have it thrust upon them by kind fortune or good luck; and some obtain it by a systematic course of robbery, in which knavery, extortion, and theft, in its various forms, have their part to play.
After leaving the service of Mr. Baker, Mr. Wood's first employment was in working for Charles F. Drake, of Bloomingville, for two months, for a barrel of salt and a side of sole leather, each of which was equivalent to about three dollars and fifty cents, and would buy a good two year old steer. The following summer he raised five or six acres of corn. This he was persuaded to apply in the payment of a colt, which Mr. Caldwell had obtained at a cost of eleven dollars, and for which Mr. Wood was influenced to give twenty-five dollars. About one-half this money he got together by putting up four tons of hay for Mr. Caldwell, at one dollar and fifty cents per ton, and by chopping twenty-five cords of wood at twenty-five cents per cord. In piling this wood he showed himself to be a novice, for he made but about fifteen cords of it, the wood being put up very closely. Eben Dennis, who was present when it was measured, and who took a friendly interest in the boy, said to Bourdett, slyly : " You are a little fool to pile wood in that way; now you go ahead and chop more, and by and by, when the old man Caldwell is not around, I'll come and show you how to cord wood." He did so, readily extending the pile so as to include the requisite twenty-five cords. In process of time he got his colt paid for, and was by and by enabled to buy an old horse, and then exchanged his colt and horse for a yoke of oxen, thus providing himself with a team. In 1823, at the age of twenty, he raised a fair crop of corn, and then went sailing. He sailed to Sault St. Marie, and acted in the capacity of cook. The mate had laid in a barrel of whisky to supply the soldiers in garrison at St. Mary's, and Bourdett was promised half they could make if he would draw the whisky for those who purchased it.
He had the good fortune to obtain quite a nice little sum of money in his sailing operations. This money he invested in calves. In 1825 he worked in the Bloomingville brickyard for Dr. Strong. In 1826 he returned to Manlius, New York, and was employed in making water lines for the Oswego Canal, the building of which had at that time just been commenced. In 1827 he bought fifty-seven acres of land for two hundred and fifty dollars, a part of the old Wood homestead in Oxford, now owned by his son Thomas. On this purchase he was enabled to pay sixty dollars. In 1829; he carried the mail from Sandusky to Bucyrus, receiving four dollars and fifty cents per trip.
On the 1st day of January, 1829, he was married to Miss Rhoda, daughter of Mr. Seth Harrington. Industrious and frugal, Mrs. Wood furnished valuable assistance to her husband in his efforts to get a start in life. He soon found himself the possessor of surplus funds, which he generously loaned to his neighbors upon application. Finally, old man Coggswell said to him: "Charge for the use of your money. It is no use to keep a cow unless you milk her." Adopting this sage advice, he began to loan money in small sums, and the accruing interest soon began to tell in his favor. About the year 1840 he began to buy and sell stock. He and Uncle Nat. Chapman associated themselves together in the business of buying horses and sheep, for cash, in Holmes and Tuscarawas counties, bringing them to Huron and Erie counties, and selling them on credit to responsible farmers. And in 1844 he and Mr. Chapman began the purchase of Western lands. About this time
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they secured fifteen hundred acres of the Wyandot reservation, and in 1853 they bought twenty-three hundred acres in Iowa, mostly in Tama county. He began the purchase of lands also in Erie county, buying and selling, and always reaping a gain.
In 1846 he removed to Bellevue with his family, and from this time forward made money-lending the leading specialty of his business. In 1871 he associated himself with Abishai Woodward and E. J. Sheffield in the banking business, under the firm name of Wood, Woodward & Co., and when the bank was reorganized as a stock company, Mr. Wood was made president of the institution—a position he still retains.
Mr. and Mrs. Wood are the parents of the following children: Jr. Jasper, born November 15, 1829. He is a resident of Bureau county, Illinois, and a very successful farmer and stock raiser. 2. Emeline Adelia, born May 6, 1831. She is the wife of Peter G. Sharp, and resides near Stockton, California. 3. Richard Boylston, born December 2, 1832, was killed at the battle of Tunnel Hill, Georgia, February 25, 1864. He was captain of a company of cavalry soldiers, and a gallant soldier, a brave and efficient officer. 4. Henry Bourdett, born July 25, 1834, died April, 1873. 5. Elizabeth Malvina, born March 19, 1836. She is the wife of Adam Burgett, a wholesale boot and shoe merchant of Toledo, Ohio. 6. Benjamin Lester, born June 21, 1838. 7. Florella Sophia, born September 7, 1840, died May 14, 1866, of consumption. She was a young lady of much attractiveness and superior mental qualities. 8. Thomas Corwin, born April 27, 1842. He resides in Bellevue. 9. Susan C., born August 7, 1844. She became the wife of W. W. Williams April 9, 1868, and died of consumption November 5, 1872. In the Western homein which she lived during her wedded life, she won many friends, by whom her memory is cherished with pleasing recollections. 10. Julia Louisa, born February 28, 1847. She is the wife of James B. Wood, of Bellevue, Ohio, whose home she renders blessed.
On the 1st day of January, 1879, the relatives and friends of Mr. and Mrs. Wood assembled at their residence in Bellevue, and celebrated with them their golden wedding. The occasion was one of the pleasantest, to all participants, that ever took place within that quiet village.
Mr. Wood is now in his seventy-ninth year, but possesses as much vitality as the average man of fifty. He has hardly ever known a sick day, and the prospect that a dozen years or more may yet be added to his days is not discouraging. Physically so sound and well-preserved, he is no less so mentally. He attends to all the details of his extensive business, and, though his memory is becoming treacherous, his judgment is as unerring, his discernment as acute, his reasoning faculties as sound, as they ever have been.
Mr. Wood is a man of clearly defined traits of character and mental characteristics. In manner often abrupt and blunt, he nevertheless possesses a kindliness of heart that is rarely found beneath so rough an exterior. No man in need, whom he believes to be deserving, has ever appealed to him in vain. Schooled in the methods of money-lending, and having become naturally cautious and careful as to his securities, he has loaned money to hundreds of people who had no security to offer him, and toward whom he has stood wholly in the light of their benefactor.
He is not a member of any church, but Mrs. Wood has been for many years a faithful and consistent member of the Protestant Episcopal church, and is active in her zeal for its prosperity.