GEOLOGY—SOIL AND TIMBER - 225 Pleasant, the northern half of Hopewell, and a small part of Loudon, present the peculiar features of the lacustrine region. The Niagara limestone rises, in wide undulations, above the surface of the drift, and is as frequently supplied with sandy accumulations and bowlders as in counties further north. The surface of these town-ships, otherwise, is very flat. The .remainder of the county, west of the Sandusky river, as well as the townships .of Clinton and Eden on the east, is entirely without such limestone exposures', and the surface, when not broken by drainage valleys, is gently undulating. The eastern part of the county is considerably more elevated than the middle and western, and the surface is characterized at once by longer and more considerable undulations, which have the form, very often, of ridges, evenly covered by drift, running about n:ortheast and southwest. This greater elevation is due to the greater resistance of the Corniferous limestone to the forces of the glacial epoch, not to upheaval, as many fancy; while the original inequalities in the drift surface have been increased by the erosion of streams. There are Still, even in the eastern portion of the county, flat tracts where the drainage is so slow, that the washings from the hill sides have leveled up the lower grounds with alruvial and marshy accumulations. In such cases the elevated drift-knolls are gravelly, ancrshow occasional boulders; but in the level tract which has been filled, no boulders, or even stones of any kind, can be seen. The streams are bounded by a flood plain and a single terrace. The latter, in case of the smaller streams, is not well defined, especially where the general surface is not flat. The following heights of this terrace, above the summer stage of the river, were ascertained by Locke's level:- Sugar creek, N. W. ¼ Sec. 27, Pleasant township, 42 ft. 2 in. Honey creek, Sec. 20, Eden township, 58 ft. Sandusky river, Sec. 24, Seneca township, 63 ft. 3 in. SOIL AND TIMBER. The soil, consisting principally of the old drift surface, is what may be termed a gravelly clay, with various local modifications. The principal exceptions are the alluvial flats, bordering the streams, where the soil consists largely of sandy marl, with varying proportions of vegetable matter, the depressions in the old drift surface, which have been slowly filled by peaty soil, and the sandy a,nd stony ridges, in the townships of Jackson, Liberty and Hopewell. With the exception of the marsh known as Big Spring Prairie, in the southwestern part of - 15 - 226 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. Big Spring township, the whole country is in a tillable condition. Hence, it is settled with a class of intelligent and prosperous farmers, who keep the land generally under constant cultivation. The original forest, which is now to a great extent removed, embraced the usual variety of oak, hickory, beech, maple, elm, ash, poplar and walnut. GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. The rocks that underlie the county have a general dip towards the east. Hence, the Niagara limestone, in the western portion of the county, is succeeded by the higher formations in regular order in traveling east. They are the water limestone, the Oriskany sandstone', the Lower Corniferous, the Upper Corniferous, the Hamilton shale, and the Huron shale, or black slade. The eastern boundary of the Niagara enters the county a little east of Green Spring, in a south-westerly direction, and crossing the Sandusky river at Tiffin, it turns westward nea,rly to the center of Hopewell township, where it again turns southwest, and leaves the county at Adrian. All west of this line is underlain by the Niagara, which is not divided into two belts, as in Sandusky and Ottawa counties. The strip of the waterlime which separates it in those counties, probably just indents the northern line of the county in Pleasant township. The .out-cropping edge of the Upper Corniferous is the only other geological boundary that can be definitely located; Those on either side are so obscured by the drift, that their located positions on the map must be regarded as conjectured. In general, however, the waterlime underlies a strip along the eastern side of the Niagara area, about five miles in width on the north, but widening to nine miles on the south. . The Lower Corniferous underlies the western part of Bloom and Scipio, townships, and the eastern part of A.dams. The Upper Corniferous occupies the most of Thompson and Reed townships, the western portion of Venice, and the eastern portion of Bloom and Scipio. The Hamilton and the Black shale have not been seen in out-crop in the county, but are believed to underlie a small area in the southeastern portion of the county. The Black shale may be seen in the valley of Slate Run, Norwich township, in Huron county. The Niagara shows the following exposures: IN JACKSON TOWNSHIP, S. W. 1/4. of section 36, in a little creek. No dip discoverable. In section 22, a prominent ridge is crossed, and slightly excavated by the railroad.. The ascent is so gentle the grade rises over it. N. W. 1/4. of section GEOLOGICAL FORMATION - 227 31, of the Guelph aspect, shows numerous fossils, used for making roads, and for lime. IN LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, S. W. ¼ of section 4, in west branch of Wolf creek; dip 6 or 8 degrees west of the S. E. ¼ of section 5. Section 3, half a mile west of Bettsville; frequent exposures along the west branch of Wolf creek. When observable, the dip is to the west. Section. 10—Along the cast line of the section, in the form of ridges. N. E. ¼ of section 28, N. W. ¼ of section 2, horizontal; in the west branch of Wolf creek, setting back the water nearly a mile. N. W. ¼. of section 24, considerably quarried for foundations and abutments of bridges. S. W. ¼ of section 30, by the roadside. N. E. ¼ of section 36, in Wolf creek. S. W. ¼ of section 34, S. W. ¼ of section 31, in thick beds, used by Mr. George King in the construction of his house; dip 5̊. N. E. N. W. ¼ section 29. IN PLEASANT TOWNSHIP, Northwest quarter of section 10, in the bed of Wolf creek, dip north-east, glacial scratches, south 56̊ west, northwest quarter of section 20. In the bed of the river at Fort Seneca, just below the dam, a fine grained, bluish limestone has been a little quarried for use on roads. I3ut owing to its hardness and the unfavorable location, it was not regarded suitable. It probably belongs to the Niagara, although the opportunities for examination were too meager to determine exactly. Center and southeast quarter of section 28, in thick beds, in Spicer creek. IN HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP, Northeast quarter of section 22. Has the aspect of the Guelph on the land of Henry W. Creeger; surface exposure, section 16, where the road crosses Wolf creek. In these surface exposures very little opportunity is offered for ascertaining the lithological characters, or the mineralogical and fossil contents of the formation. The chief exposure of the Niagara within the county is in the Sandusky river, between Tiffin and Fort Seneca. From Tiffin, descending the Sandusky river, rocks show constantly to. within half a mile of the line between Clinton and Pleasant townships. Throughout the most of this distance, the dip of the formation (Niagara) is from five to ten degrees toward the southwest, but with various flexures and undulations in all directions. The thickness of bedding exposed is between fifty and sixty feet. The following minutes 228 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. on this exposure will show the undulations in the dip of the beds, and the manner of the occurrence of the fossiliferous beds, which have by some been regarded as a distinct member of the Upper Silurian above the Niagara. They make, here, a sudden appearance within the formation, having horizontal continuity with the more usual hard, gray, and thick-bedded Niagara, which contains fewer fossil remains. Ascending the river from section 29, in Pleasant township, glacial furrows, S. 44̊ W., the dips of the Niagara were observed, together with the water lime formations to some distance southwest of Tiffin, varying from three to eighteen feet in all directions, and resulted thus: Total southwest dip - 87 ft. 10 in. Total northeast dip - 33 ft. Actual southwest dip of the formation - 54 ft. 10 in. From this it appears that the Niagara limestone, especially the uppermost, fifty-five feet, is, in general, a gray crystalline, rather fine-grained, compact, or slightly visicular and unfossiliferous mass; and that the fossiliferous parts are rough and visicular, of a light buff color, apt to crumble under the weather, and not horizontally continuous. The green shale, which in Sandusky county represents the Salina, has nowhere been seen in Seneca. county. The only' placewithin the county where the junction of the Niagara and waterlime has been observed, is in the quarries at Tiffin, within the corporate limits. A few rods above the iron bridge on Washington street, a quarry has been opened in the left bank of the Sandusky which may be designated as quarry No. 1. The Niagara shows in a broad surface exposure, over which the river spreads, except in its lowest stage. The quarry has not penetrated it, but the overlying water lime beds have been stripped off, showing a section of 12 feet in their beds, belonging to phase No. 3. This lies conformably on the Niagara, so far as can be seen, the separating surface presenting no unusual flexures or irregularities. The only trace of the Salina is in the tendency of the color and texture of the Niagara towards those of the water lime, visible through its last three or four inches. It is bluish-drab, porous; crystalline, with some indistinct greenish lines and spots. It contains much calcite, and some galena. From this character it passes immediately into a bluish-gray crystalline rock, in thick, firm beds, with spots of purple, heavy and slightly porous, the cavities being nearly all filled with calcite. The principal exposures of the waterlime are in the quarries at Tiffin. Quarry No. 2 1S located a quarter of a mile above the last, on the GEOLOGICAL FORMATION - 229 right bank of the river, and is known as the city quarry. The dip here is southwest, six or eight degrees. Supposing the dip is uniform between quarries Nos. 1 and 2, there must be an unseen interval of twenty-five or thirty feet of the formation separating them. Total exposed, 17 ft. 9 in. The characteristic fossil, liperditia alta, may be seen in nearly all parts of this section, but it was especially noted in Nos. 3 and 7. This rock is all hard and crystalline, but with a fine grain. No. 3, without careful examination, might be taken for Niagara, if seen alone. When broken into fragments for roads, the color' of the pile, Weathered a few months, is a pleasant bluish gray. Yet on close examination, the blue tints vanish, and the stone shows a drab, a dark or brownish drab, a black and a bluish gray, (the last two only on the lines of the bedding) depending on the fracture or surface examined. The river, just in the southern limits of the city, is flowing east. The rock can be followed along the same bank of the river eighteen or twenty rods from the foregoing' quarry, and has an irregular surface exposure throughout that distance, with a continuous dip southwest. The rock then follows the bluff, which strikes across a path of river bottom, and is not seen again until a mile further up the river. It is here quarried and burnt into lime. The dip is in the opposite direction—that is, towards the north. This is quarry No. 3. Total, 27 ft. 9 in. This rock is quite different in most of its external aspects from that described in the last two sections, and it probably overlies them. It is much more loose-grained and porous, and is almost without bituminous films. The beds are generally six to twelve inches, but sometimes three feet in thickness. It has more constantly the typical drab color of the waterlime, and it shows, besides the liperditia alta, another bivalve like atrypa sulcata, and a handsome species of orthis; •also, a coarse favositoid coral, all of which are often seen in the water lime. In the S. E. ¼ of section 22, Hopewell township, Mr. Henry W. Creeger quarries water-lime in the bed of Wolf creek ; dip south six or eight degrees. The waterlime appears in thin, drab beds at the bridge over the Sandusky in N. E. ¼ of section 23, Seneca township, with undulating dip. In S. E. ¼ of section 29, Clinton township, where the road crosses Rocky creek, the waterlime is exposed, having the feature of No. 8, of quarry No. 3 at Tiffin. [See Vol. I, Geology g. 618.] The Oriskany sandstone is nowhere exposed in this county, but its 230 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY line of outcrop probably passes through Adams, Clinton and Eden townships. The Lower Corniferous has been observed in the following places: S. W. ¼. of section 1, Eden township. Along the bed of a little creek, tributary to Rocky creek, a magnesian, buff, granular limestone is exposed. It has, no fossils, so far as can be seen in the meager out-crops. It is also seen in the banks along the creek, on the farm of Mr. Ferguson. It was formerly quarried, to a limited extent, and used for rough walls. It is rather soft at first, but is said to become harder when the water is dried out. There is no dip discoverable. N. W. ¼ of section 20, Bloom township. In the right bank of Silver creek there is an exposure of higher beds of the Lower Corniferous, as follows, from above : No. 1—In beds of two to six inches; buff and dark buff, magnesian; very slightly fossiliferous; some hard and crystalline, some soft and spongy. These edges do not appear to be slaty. They have been long weathered and lie loose. This is near the junction of the Lower and Upper Corniferous - 10 ft No. 2-Magnesian ; rather hard ; crystalline; non-fossiliferous; buff when dry; fine grained; banded with darker buff, or with brown when in thicker beds. Beds ¼ inch to 2 inches. These edges appear slaty. - 2 ft Total - 12 ft. Lying nearly horizontal five or six rods, at the east end of the bluff the beds dip east and disappear. A little west of this exposure the . magnesian, non-fossiliferous, thick-bedded characters of the Lower Corniferous may be seen in the bed of the creek. Eighteen or twenty rods to the east, the features and fossils of the Upper Corniferous appear in an old quarry by the roadside, where the dip is E. N. E. S. W. ¼ of section 3, Scipio township. Along the channel of Sugar creek, on the land of Enoch Fry, a stone is exposed which appears like Lower Corniferous. It is soft, coarse grained, and without visible fossils. A pond located near this place, which has precipitous banks and sometimes becomes dry, is probably caused by subterranean disturbances and erosion. The quarry of Mr. David Wyatt, N. W. ¼ of section 1, Scipio township, is in a thin-bedded, bluff stone, which has no tendency to blue, without fossils, and included within the Lower Corniferous. GEOLOGICAL FORMATION - 231 The Lower Corniferous is also exposed S. E. ¼ of section 34, Adams township, along the public road. N. E. ¼ of section 26, Eden township. A fine-grained, argillacious, gray rock, weathering buff, without visible fossils, appears in the road. It seems apt to break into angular pieces, three or four inches across. It is rather hard. It is probably included within the Lower Corniferous. The opportunities for observing the lower portion of the Corniferous within the county are not sufficient to warrant a general section and description. The Upper Corniferous, owing to its greater hardness and toughness, was not so generally destroyed by the ice and water of the glacial epoch, and now may be more frequently seen, thinly covered with coarse drift, occupying the highest parts of the county and forming the main water shed. The coarseness of the drift on these higher tracts is owing to the washings by rains and freshets since the close of the glacial epoch. It is an unassorted hardpan, and sometimes covers glacial striæ in the rock below. This part of the Corniferous is exposed in the following places within the county. It furnishes a very useful building stone, and is extensively used for all walls, foundations, and some buildings. IN THOMPSON TOWNSHIP, N. W. ¼ of section 20. It closely underlies most of the section. The drift being thin, the soil sometimes shows fragments. A quarry is owned by Mr John W. Paine. S. W. ¼ of section 16. Mr. George Good's quarry; beds horizontal, in the midst of a field in fine cultivation, with a surface gently undulating; drift at the quarry eight inches, but rapidly thickening further away. Same ¼ section. Samuel Royers' quarry exposes about eight feet perpendicular; beds about horizontal. S. W. ¼ of section 14. Reuben Hartman's quarry exposes about eight feet of blue, thin beds, which seem to have been shattered, falling towards the west, the firm beds having a slight dip towards the north-east. Large, handsome flagging is obtained at this quarry. N. E. ¼ of section 2; Benjamin Bunn's quarry. There are here about three feet of drift over the rock. The beds are exposed about six feet perpendicularly ; dip not observed, although there is.a falling away by fracture towards the west. S. W. ¼ of section 1. Charles Smith's quarry faces the west; indeed, the same is true of Hartman's and Bunn's. Mr. Royers' quarry is an 232 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. irregular opening, facing mostly north and west. Mr. Good's face, north and east. S. E. ¼ of section 1. In the edge of Huron county, Mr. George Sheffield has a quarry in horizontal beds; gravelly soil eighteen inches. S. E. ¼ of setion 1. Quarry of William Clemens. N. E., ¼ of section 21. Quarry of Joseph Shirk. This consists of a mass of shattered and dislodged beds, from which, however, good stone is' taken. In one place, a mass showing a perpendicular thickness of ,five feet is twisted away from its original position, the planes of jointing indicating where it ought to be. It is removed two feet from its natural place. The projection beyond the face of the other beds tapers, in the distance of about fifteen feet, to a few inches, and is hid by debris. Northeast quarter of section 15, quarry of John M. Krauss. Northeast quarter of section 29, quarry of Mrs. Joseph Hoover. Northeast quarter of section 10, quarry of Isaac Karn. Northwest quarter of section 11, quarry of Tunis Wygart. Northwest quarter of section 2, quarry of Grimes heirs. Many others also have small openings in the rocks in this township. They are nearly all in the midst of cultivated fields, and there is a remarkable absence of boulders, although the rock is sometimes seen projecting above the surface. There are a few boulders, but they are such as belong to the drift, and have been dug out by the erosion of streams, or by man. They are not thick about rocky outcrops, as in the lacustrine region. IN BLOOM TOWNSHIP. Northwest quarter of section 11. Lewis Fisher has an extensive quarry in the Upper Corniferous, in the valley of a little tributary to Honey creek. About fifteen feet of bedding are exposed, lying nearly horizontal. The lowest beds are about eighteen inches in thickness, and softer, yet of a blue color like the rest. In working Mr. Fisher's quarry, it has become necessary to remove about ten feet of hardpan drift. Northeast quarter of section 10. Jacob Detwiller's quarry is also an extensive opening, and exposes beds a fevv feet lower than Mr. Fisher's. The lowest seems to be of a lighter color, and must be near the bottom of the Upper Corniferous. A stream disappears in this quarry, in time of freshet. Southwest quarter of section 2. Henry Detterman's quarry is located in the valley of Honey creek. GEOLOGICAL FORMATION - 233 Northeast quarter of section zo. Along the banks of Silver creek there is considerable exposure of the Upper Corniferous, and it is extensively wrought by Abraham Kagy. The beds here have a contin-uous dip, E. S. E., affording opportunities for the following sections: No. 1—Fossiliferous beds with chert, which weathers white; thin-bedded, of bluish-gray color. - 7 ft No. 2—Thin, flaggy, lenticular beds ; fossiliferous ; drab-buff color ; hard, brittle, and sometimes with vermicular impressions. - 4 ft [NOTE.—No. 2 would probably be thicker-bedded if freshly exposed.] No. 3—The same as No. 2, but in more even beds. - 28 ft Upper Corniferous exposed - 39 ft Northwest quarter of section 29. Noah Einsel has a handsome quarry, in beds which dip E. N. E. Northwest quarter of section 20, Reed township. The Upper Corniferous is quarried by Mr. Armstrong. THE DRIFT. Throughout this county, this deposit lies as it was left by the glacier. The mass of it is an unassorted hardpan, but it shows locally the glacial stratification incident to streams of water arising from the dis-solution of the ice. Such cases of stratification are most common in the great valleys where the waters necessarily accumulated. They are by no means common, nor uniform in their location in the drift verti-cally. In some cases the stratification arises nearly or quite to the surface, or prevails to the depth of thirty or forty feet ; in others it embraces one or more beds of hardpan, which have irregular outlines. In section 20, Eden township, the banks of Honey creek were particularly noted, and may be described as follows: No. 1—This is imperfectly exposed, but wherever seen is in unassorted hardpan with considerable gravel. It forms the soil of the county, and is of a brownish yellow color. 25 ft. No. 2-Is blue, and composed of alternating beds of compacted hardpan, containing water-worn and scratched pebbles of all kinds and sizes, apparently unassorted and unstratified, and beds of coarse sand, extremely fine sand and coarse gravel. From the sand and gravel layers issue springs of ferriferous water. The sand layers sometimes graduate'into impervious, clay-like beds, and can hardly 234 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. be called sand. The lowest seen in No. 2 is a layer of eighteen inches, at least, of clear sand - 30 ft. No. 3—Talus of round pebbles and stones, mostly limestone, and frequently stained with iron oxide. - 3 ft. The thickness of the drift cannot be stated with certainty. At Attica, in the township of Venice, wells penetrate it to the depth of sixty feet without striking the rock. This is the highest point within the county, and the general surface is rolling. MATERIAL RESOURCES-BUILDING STONE. Next to the products of the soil, the most important resources of Seneca county consist in the products of the quarries. Throughout most of the county there is no difficulty in obtaining good building stone, although the best quarries are situated a little unfavorably for the townships of Loudon, Big Spring, Seneca, Eden, Pleasant, Venice and Reed. The quarries at Tiffin furnish stone throughout a radius of many miles, while those in Bloom township supply a great tract of country south and east. The quarries in Thompson township, although located in the Upper Corniferous, are affording one of the best qualities of stone in 'northwestern Ohio; they are favorably exposed for work-ing, but less developed than similar openings in Bloom township. This is doubtless due to the superior advantages of quarries further north, and at Bellevue, in Sandusky county, for reaching market and for ship-ment by railroad., LIME. For lime, the Niagara and waterlime formations are chiefly used. They are more easily quarried and More cheaply burned than the Upper Corniferous. Both are burned at Tiffin, but the kilns are rude and the expense of burning is greater than where the improved kilns are employed. CLAY. Clay for brick and red pottery is found in suitable quantities in all parts of the county. Many establishments for the manufacture of brick employ the surface of the ordinary hardpan, including even the soil; others reject the immediate surface, which contains roots and turf, and burn the hardpan from the depth of a foot or two. This material, although liable to contain pebbles of limestone, which injure the manufactured article, generally has it in such small quantity and in so comminuted a state, as to require no other flux for the silica. The tile, brick ,and pottery made in this way are suitable for all purposes MATERIAL RESOURCES - 235 where no great degree of heat is required. Mr. J. M. Zahm, of Tiffin, after maty careful experiments, has succeeded in making a good quality of hydraulic cement by mixing the finest of the drift clay, in proper parts, with ordinary carbonate of lime or tufa. He has also produced from the drift clay near Tiffin, by making .proper selections, a very fine potterY, some of which cannot be distinguished. from the terra cotta ware used for ornaments and statues. It has a very vitreous fracture, a smooth surface, and a dark red or amber color. From the drift clay near Tiffin, Mr. H. W. Creeger also obtained a fine material for pottery and for glazing with salt. BOG-IRON ORE. Before the development of the la,ke Superior and Missouri iron mines, one of the principal sources of iron in the northwest was the bog ore deposits, which are scattered over much of the country. In northwestern Ohio the numerous furnaces which were employed on these deposits along the south shore of lake Erie, and in counties further south and west, rendered bog ore an important item of mineral wealth. It produces an iron known as "cold short"' owing to the presence of phosphorus, which cannot be used for wire or for sheet iron, but is valuable for castings. On the contrary, iron from the ores which contain sulphur as an impurity, or silicon, is friable or brittle when hot, and is distinguished as " red short." When these two qualities occur in close proximity, or in circumstances favorable for transportation, they may be mixed in the process of smelting, and the resulting iron is greatly improved. The lake Superior ores, which are the only ones smelted in the furnaces of northwestern Ohio, are quite free from sulphur, and hence at the present time the bog ores possess but little commercial value. It will be only in connection with the sulphur ores of the coal measures in the southeastern part of the state, that the bog ores can be made of any mineral value. In Seneca county bog ore occurs in a number of places. It is not in sufficient quantities, usually, to invite expenditure of capital, and in the absence of abundant fuel, it will probably never be of any economical value. It was met with on the farm of W. B. Stanley, about two miles southeast of Tiffin, where it underlies a peat bog, covering irregularly perhaps fifteen or twenty acres. It also occurs on the land of Mr. Foght, southeast quarter of section 27, Seneca township. It has been taken out here in large blocks, roughly cut while wet, and set up for back walls in rude fire 236 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. places. On being exposed to the air, or especially to fire, it,becomes cemented and very hard. There is also a deposit in section 1, in Clinton township, exactly on the south line of the Seneca Indian reservation. CHAPTER XV. LIFE OF JOSIAH HEDGES-CHANGE-FIRST PLAT OF TIFFIN- THE SAW-MILL MIASMA-FIRST F RAM E HOUSES- FIRST STORES-FIRST BRICK HOUSES -TH E FERRY-THE DUG-OUT - FIRST HOTELS - BLACK-STRAP - HENRY GROSS-MR. BREDOON'S DEATH-THE CREEGER FAMILY-HENRY LANG-HENRY CRONISE-DR. BOYER'S FAMILY-PHILIP SEEWALD. JOSIAH HEDGES. AMONG the most remarkable of the leading pioneers of Seneca county, was Josiah Hedges, the founder of Tiffin. He was born April 9, 1778, near West Liberty, Berkley county, Va., and throughout his whole life preserved the characteristics of the true Virginian. He left his father's home at an early age, with a determination to carve out his own fortune. The first enterprise which he undertook on his own account, was a trading excursion to New Orleans on a flatboat, laden with fruit, which he floated down the Ohio river from Wheeling to New Orleans. The voyage lasted six weeks. He finally settled in Ohio in 1801, one year before it was admitted as a state, and located in Belmont county, where, for a number of years, he was one cif the most active and prominent citizens. He was the first sheriff of that county, and for a number of years clerk of the court. He next engaged in the mercantile business at St. Clairsville. His capital was limited, but was slowly and surely increasing by prudence and sagacity—firm traits in his character that never forsook him through life. In those days, merchants in the west were wont to purchase their goods in Philadelphia, journeying across the Alleghany mountains on horseback, and carrying their specie in their saddle bags. In 1819, he opened a branCh store in Mansfield, having as a partner his brother, Gen. James Hedges. Soon thereafter he removed from St. Clairsville to Mansfield. In 182o; he made a journey to Fort Ball, in this county. His natural foresight very soon suggested to him the possibility of a speculation, and he immediately decided to enter the land opposite to Fort Ball, on the right ,bank of the Sandusky river. Here the county seat was located soon thereafter, in the heart of the town that Mr. Hedges caused to be platted immediately after his purchase of the land 238 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. at the Delaware land office. In 1822 the first stick was cut on the plat of Tiffin, at a place near the Commercial bank, in the first ward. In the same year Mr. Hedges built a saw mill on Rocky creek, a short distance east of the court house, and a frame building on the lot north of the court house, which was afterwards used for very many purposes —for a court house, Masonic hall, offices and shops, etc. The same building is still in existence, and stands near the mouth and on the left bank of Rocky creek and also on the bank of the Sandusky river, and is now used as a paper box factory. In the same year he also built the flouring mill on the Sandusky river, which. was afterwards known as the "Hunter mill." By a prudent and liberal course in disposing of his town lots, he saw the place increase steadily, and in 1828 he secured the removal of the land office from Delaware to Tiffin, thus giving the town anew impetus. In 1825, and again in 1830, he was elected a member of the House of Representatives from this district, in which capacity he Served to the satisfaction of the people. In 1837 he disposed of his interest in the store to a son, and from that time to the close of his life, devoted all his time to the interest of Tiffin and his growing wealth. In his younger days Mr. Hedges was an athletic and vigorous man, and well up to nearly four score years he retained a large portion of his mental and physical vigor, and was always able to attend to his own affairs. He was generous and just in his dealings with his fellow men; benevolent and kind. He assisted all the christian denominations in Tiffin, and, granted lots for the erection of churches, in addition to his liberal subscriptions. He was the originator of many, and the sup-. porter of all, public improvements. He was possessed of that large and unselfish hospitality that characterized all the early settlers. He was generous to the poor, and always willing to lend a helping hand. When a man bought a lot from him on which to build himself a home, and could not pay as he had agreed to do, Mr. Hedges would never trouble him, as long as the purchaser showed a desire and willingness to pay. Yet he looked after his interest, and expected men to come up to their promises. While he had no love for drones and loafers, the man of work and industry always found in him a friend. Those that sought his advice in business, never called on him in vain ; and when he knew the man to be true and faithful, was ready to help, him, if necessary, with material advice. He was as sincere in all his intercourse with his fellow men as he was just and generous; and while he was the good neighbor and citizen, the safe counsellor and faithful friend, he was also an indulgent and affectionate father and devoted husband. JOSIAH HEDGES - 239 His kindred, both old and young, will ever gratefully remember him. To him they could always go with loving confidence; his heart was ever open to them. Although not a member of any church, Mr. Hedges was a good and true man; and upon his dying couch he expressed a willingness to go, and assured his friends around him of his unfaltering trust in that Savior. "who has promised to save all who may turn towards Him in faith and penitence." He sank away quietly, as if but entering upon a sleep. Without a groan or a struggle, the good old man took his departure, and passed away "like one that draws the drapery of his couch around him and lays down to pleasant dreams." Mr. Hedges was first married September 29, 1807, to Rebecca Russell, in Belmont county, Ohio. He had by this union six children, two of whom are still living—Mrs. Clarinda Hunter, widow, of William Hunter, and Mrs. Rebecca Walker, widow of Joseph Walker. His first wife died July 8, 1816, aged thirty-one years. After living a widower, about one year, he was again married on the l0th- day of July, 1817, to Eliza Hammerly, of Martinsburgh, Virginia. This union was blessed with nine children, of whom Cynthia A. wife of Luther A. Hall, Esq., of Tiffin, Ohio, Mary Jane, wife of A. C. Baldwin, of Tiffin, Ohio, Minerva, wife of Harrison Noble, Esq., the present mayor of the city of Tiffin, Elizabeth, wife of John G. Gross, for many years a prominent merchant of Tiffin, and Sarah, wife of the Hon. W. W. Armstrong, late secretary of state, and now of the Cleveland Plaindealer, of Cleveland, Ohio, the faithful and esteemed friend of the writer, are still living. His second wife died on the 10th day of November, 1837. He was married again October 29, 1844, to Harriet, daughter of Henry Snook, of Seneca county, who is still among the living, highly respected. Mr. Hedges died in Tiffin, on the 15th day of July, 1858, aged eighty years, three months and six days. While it is very true, and it might well be said; that Mr. Hedges died greatly beloved by his large family and all his neighbors and friends, yet he was "not without sin;" he was mortal and human. While he was endowed with very many manly traits of character, his social nature, and the allurements of friends, at times led him to excesses that he afterwards openly regretted. While he was governed by strict principles of honor, living faithfully up to his promises, and while he would never voluntarily offer an insult to, or hurt the feelings of, any person, it was exceedingly unsafe for any man to offer an insult to him within three feet of his shoulders. Up to about his seventy-fifth year his step was permanent and regu- 240 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. lar, and his carriage wonderfully straight for one of his age. From that time onward the increasing years wrought their mark upon his powerful frame. On a pleasant day he would walk with short steps about town, in his double gown, with a stick in his hand, dragging his shoes, tramped down at the heels, often with his smoking cap on and smoking his familiar short pipe—the very picture of a comfortable sunset after a long, summer day. In stature Mr. Hedges was a little over six feet high, and well proportioned. His carriage was very straight, his movements and gestures, as well as his conversation, very decided. He had nothing of suavity or "blarney" about him. He was very economical with his words in business transactions, and would say no more than was necessary to accomplish the work in hand. His intercourse with men, while it was pleasant enough in business, and utterly void of offense, yet bore that peculiar, almost indescribable, natural aristocracy 'that so much characterizes the true Virginia gentleman of the olden school: His voice was clear, a little metalic, and on a rather high note for so large a person. He had a fine forehead, a sharp, small, black eye, a prominent nose, not very large, clenched lip's, high cheek bones, heavy lower jaw, and in his tout ensemble was the very image of firmness and decision. CHANGE. "O'er us, we scarce know whence or when A change begins to steal., Which teaches that we ne'er again As once we felt, shall feel. A curtain, slowly drawn aside, Reveals a shadowed scene  Wherein the future differs wide From what the past has been." The law of change is stamped and deeply imprinted upon all earthly things. The bud that opens its leaves into a flower, to greet the first rays of the rising sun, gives up its glory to the gentle zephyr at noon, and is gone. The towering oak, that defied the storms and wintry blasts for centuries, finally yields to the demands of nature and crumbles its substance to the earth from whence it sprung. The rocks and hills submit to the wear and tear of the seasons, and change form, under the law of disintegration. Seneca county no longer wears the beauty of her pristine grandeur. Its noble forest is broken and gone, and with it theme wild aborigines and still wilder beasts. The drift-wood CHANGE - 241 is removed from the river and the creeks, the streams are gradually becoming more nearly straight, and the great swales are nearly all laid dry by judicious ditching. Rich crops reward the labors of the husbandman, and the shouts and songs of happy children have taken the place of the hideous howling of the wolf and the roaring of the ravenous panther. The echo of the woodman's axe has made way for the shrill whistle of the steam-factory and the locomotive, and thousands of happy, prosperous and intelligent people worship God in splendid meeting houses, erected where the blue smoke of the council fires of. the Indians rose in curling clouds over the tree tops. The trail of the Indian is wiped away by public roads that bring market to every door. And so has Tiffin yielded to the law of change. There is no trace left of the few cabins that first marked the place called Tiffin. They have passed away like the stakes the surveyor drove into the ground among the trees to show the width of the streets and alleys that were to be. Many reasons may be assigned for the fact that Seneca county settled up more rapidly than any other county in northwestern Ohio; and among these may be enumerated the rich soil and splendid timber; its water-privileges and water supply; its excellent drainage and accessibility to market; its inexhaustible quantity of building stone, its climate, etc., etc. And shall we not give the pioneers of Seneca county great credit for their sagacity, at least, in selecting this spot for their new homes, when, in the lifetime of many of us who are still here, and before our own eyes, this county threw off its mantle of forest wild, and became the first wheat-growing county of the great state of Ohio, both in acreage and number of bushels produced to the acre? What a change! In the preceding chapters, the attention of the interested reader was directed to things of a general nature, affecting nearly all parts of the county alike. Hereafter, local affairs will enlist the services of the old goose quill, and an effort will be made to describe men and things in their individual localities. Let us commence with Tiffin, and starting with her in the woods, on the banks of the turbid Sandusky, trace her to the spring-time of 1880. Then let us take up the further progress of each township, without any particular attempt at order,. locating and naming the old settlers, and describing some of them as their neighbors knew them—thus, if possible, obtaining a bird's-eye view of Seneca county generally, with its happy thousands and its various industries. - 16 - 242 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. The first plat of Tiffin contained 118 lots—each block of 12 lots facing four streets, with a cross alley through the center. It had three streets running east and west, viz: Perry; Market and Madison, starting riear Rocky creek and ending near the river; and three streets running north and south, viz: Jefferson, Washington and Monroe, starting near the river, and ending at an alley 18o feet south of Madison street. The east end of this. alley is now Tiffin street, and leads from Jefferson to the old cemetery. This was Tiffin, with a little opening and a cabin where the gas works now are. Another was built soon thereafter, near where the Commercial bank now is, and another a little south of Naylor's hardware store. This survey was made and the town platted before "Seneca county was organized, as was before stated, and therefore the plat had to be recorded in the recorder's office of Sandusky county, which was done on the 28th day of November, A. D. 182. No change was made in the plat of Tiffin until 1831, on the 27th day of May, when Mr. Hedges had his southern addition to Tiffin surveyed and platted. This contained in-lots from to 146, both inclusive, and out-lots from 1 to 12, both inclusive. The public cemetery was laid jtist north of out-lot No. 7. This addition was a string of lots, one or; each side. of Washington street, running south to the first alley now north of the German Catholic church and the junction of the roads. The lots from both sides run endwise to the street. Not a single cross street intersects them to this day. Jefferson street and Monroe street were also extended south, the same. distance thrpugh these out-lots. The wonderful energy of Mr. Hedges, and his untiring industry, produced a saw mill, near Rocky creek, already mentioned. It stood near the mill race, and some thirty rods southeast of the point where Circular street intersects 'East Market. The dam was close by the saw mill—in fact, the water ran from the dam directly into the mill, without a head-race, and, after passing throttgh the wheel, emptied into the creek again, so that the mill had neither head nor tail-race. A race, however, was constructed from this dam to the City Mill, Still standing. This saw mill was built in 1826, and was. run night and day to supply the great demand that was made upon it for lumber with which to build frame houses, and for other purposes. It became the center of attraction, and looked like a beehive on a large scale while it lasted. Everybody was in need of boards, and had to have them. Mr. Hedges, having so lhany irons in the fire, could give the saw mill no personal attention, and rented it to one Joseph Janey, and THE FIRST SAW MILL - 243 afterwards to my dear old friends, U. P. Coonrad and Christopher Y. Pierson. It was then a paying institution, and these two young carpen-ter partners made the saw mill count. They published a notice in the Seneca Patriot, in 1832, that one of the partners could be found at the hotel of Calvin Bradley. Bradley then kept the Center House, which will be noticed hereafter. The saw mill burned away in the spring of 1833, and this ended the partnership with the mill. Neither was ever rebuilt, but the dam remained to supply the City Mill. The dam set the water back, far up Rocky creek, to the lands of Mrs. Nolan, and in summer time the water was covered with a green scum. The people, suffering so much from malarious diseases, concluded that the dam injured the health of the town, and importuned Mr. Hedges to remove it. He refused, however and finally suit was brought against him to compel him to move the dam. At the trial, all the physicians in the town were witnesses, and testified both for and against the dam. They had some trouble to satisfy the defendant's counsel and the court upon the material qualities of the malarious poison. One of the doctors, (who also did a little preaching with his practice, at times,) seemed to be very positive in his testimony. He said that miasma could be noticed in the air when it was quiet, early in the morning, by sunrise, in the form of a fine, blue streak interwoven with the fog. The writer did not know how it was, but heard both Drs. Dresbach and Kuhn say that they did not believe it. Mr. Hedges then put up a saw mill on the left bank of the river, opposite Hunter's mill. This also was kept in constant operation, and frame houses and shops sprang up in every direction, as by magic, for awhile. Mr. Milton McNeal put up the first frame buildings on the Fort Ball side, which were his store and dwelling house. Mr. Hedges built the Masonic Hall and his frame residence. Mr. Richard Sneath put up his hotel on the ground now covered by the Grumund block. John and Benjamin Pettinger had a small stock of goods in a one and one-half story frame building that stood on the southwest corner of Washington and Market, about twenty feet from Market, and about sixty feet from Washington, with the gable end eastward. Judge Pettinger lived in the west end with his family. Mr. Henry Cronise had a very handsome stock of goods in his two-story frame, hereafter described, on. lot 68, now in the fourth Ward, and where he lived with his family some time after he retired from public life, and when he moved to his beautiful home on south Washington street, where he died. 244 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. Brick yards were now started; one in Fort Ball, and the other, by John Strong, at the south side of Tiffin street, near the east end, and which was kept in operation for many years thereafter. In 1831, Patrick Kinney, Philip Hennessey and another Irishnian whose name has escaped me, entered into a contract with Mr. Strong for the making of brick sufficient to build the first Catholic church in Tiffin, and became personally responsible for the payment. The church was erected in the fall of that year, near the south side and east end of Madison street, opposite the old stone jail, and on the present old Catholic cemetery. It stood with the gable end towards the street, with a cupola at the north end of the roof. Its little bell was the first church bell in the county, and while its note was on a high key, it was pleasant to hear its cheerful echo through the woods. The remainder of the brick from this kiln Mr. Strong sold to.Mr. John Goodin, who built with them the first brick hotel in town, on lot No. 86, now owned by Mr. John Loesser, in the fifth ward. This hotel was then considered a grand affair. The large fireplace in the bar roona is there yet, but closed up. The porch of the second story, which extended clear over the pavement, and had a heavy roof over it, has passed away. The town council had it removed because it obstructed the view of the street; but it was the most conspicuous part of the hotel. The M. E. Church on Market street; the store buildings of Henry Ebert (who is now lying a corpse at this writing, and will be buried to-day, Apri1 2, 1880); John Park's store; a, small, one-story brick immediately south of Sneath's hotel, where Mr. Andrew Glenn kept store, and the one-story, small brick school house, nearly opposite the old M. E. Church, were about all the brick buildings in Tiffin and Fort Ball, excepting the dwelling house of Dr. Kuhn, and the little 12x14 yellow brick on Sandusky street, which was Mr. Rawson's law office, and afterwards became the office of Drs. Dresbach and Carey. There were no fractional lots in the first platting of Tiffin, and the spaces left between the lots and the river and Rocky creek, were laid off afterwards in numerous additions, named and numbered. There was no bridge across the river, and none across Rocky creek. The streets were full of stumps and logs, and after the erection of the saw mills, the pavements in front of the houses were designated' by slabs laid lengthwise. These answered a good purpose enough in the mlid, but when the weather was dry, the slabs curled up and became great nuisances to fast walkers. Then would have been very appropriate are adoption of a rule that was introduced and put in force at an early THE FERRY-BREWERY-TANNERY - 245 day in the town of Lancaster, in Fairfield county. The town was troubled with much drunkenness, and every effort to arrest the evil seemed to be of no avail. Finally, an ordinance was adopted to make every man who was found drunk in town dig a stump out of the street in lieu, of a fine. This plan worked well. It removed both stumps and drunkenness. Why not meet this evil of habitual drunkenness in a similar manner now, and make the vice a crime and punish it as such, instead of sympathizing with the drunkard, and keep firing away all the time at the retail dealer in liquors? Had Tiffin, adopted the Lancaster rule, her streets would soon have made.a better appearance. The only way to get across the river at high tide, was to go down to the river bank, where, near the place now occupied by the barn of Dr. McFarland, there was a landing place for the ferry boat of Mr. George Park. The boat was an original dug-out, and the fare was two cents a trip. The Tiffin people had to go to Fort Ball to get their mail matter, and one man would fetch all the letters and papers for a whole neighborhood to somestore on this side. As late as 1829, a thick woods back of the old fort, and extending up towards McNeil's store, prevented the view of the rival settlements from one to the other. Mr. Park sold his ferry and the dug-out to, Samuel Hoagland, who opened a little quarry on the left bank of the river, near the spring, to burn lime, and while he was thus engaged, he watched his chances for passengers. The sale of the lime, and the ferry, furnished him a comfortable livelihood. Down by the river bank, on the ground now covered by the foundry buildings of Messrs. Loomis & Nyman, a Mr. Allen started a brewery, the first enterprise of this kind in the county, and produced a very palatable, light beverage. His beautiful wife officiated as clerk at the bar table. By some mishap or other, Mr. Allen and the breweiy both vanished. A Mr. Andrew Fruitchey had a tannery on the lot where the city hall now stands; and Messrs. John and I3enjamin Pittinger had another where the gas works now are. Mr. Fruitchey died of cholera in 1834, one among the first cases in town. Mr. Jacob Stem had a small store of goods in a small frame building near Mr. Ebert's, and soon thereafter formed a co-partnership with Mr. A. Lugenbeel, and the new firm opened up in a one-story frame building on the northwest corner of Washington and Market, where Simon Strycker's clothing store now is. sMr. R. W. ShaVvhan opened his first store in Tiffin on the south side of Market street, opposite the court house. The Commercial 'Row was built in the summer of 1835, and 246 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. the Walkers and Masons opened up in it on a large scale. John Staub and Eli Norris were rival hotel keepers with Richard Sneath. George Park had a round-log-cabin hotel on Perry street, the first tavern in Tiffin. He afterwards put a two-story frame hotel on the lot now covered by the National Hall Block. Sometimes it was kept by Staub, and sometimes by Norris. Later on, Dr. James Fisher built the frame house on the northwest corner of Market and Monroe, where Staub kept tavern awhile. The building is now owned and occupied by Mr. Upton Flenner, who is also an old pioneer here. Mr. Calvin Bradley built the .Central House, in which he kept tavern himself, opposite the west part of the court house. Of all the older hotels in Tiffin, this is the only one remaining, and is now, and for a long time passed, has been, known as Remele's butcher shop. This man Bradley was a wonderful man for energy and enterprise. He engaged in very many speculations, and while he kept hotel he also carried on the,butchering business, selling meat twice a. week. In 1832 he changed the name of his hotel to that of the Washington House. It had a high post in front, with a swinging sign on which was a golden lamb. Edar and Bowe had a butcher shop in Fort Ball. They advertised fresh Meat for sale every Tuesday and Saturday. w The market opened at the sound, of the trumpet. Where the Commercial House now stands, there was a two-story frame building occupied by Mr. James Mercer with his family, and in which he, in company with Mr. Henry Ebert, carried on the hatting business, manufacturing and selling hats. My brother Henry, the beloved pastor of the German Evangelical Lutheran .Church of Fremont, learned the trade of hatter there, as the apprentice of Mr. Mercer. Mr. Cronise's store contained a large stock of goods for that time, and like all other stores, was composed of all varieties of goods, such as dry goods, hardware, queensware and groceries. One druggist advertised. for sale at his stand, medicines, paints, oils, patent medicines, cross-cut saws, mill irons and tooth-ache drops. In 1832, Mr. Cronise advertised that he would pay sixty-eight cents for flax-seed, in goods. It was then, and for some time afterwards, very customary in Tiffin to keep molasses and whisky for sale at the stores. These articles were generally kept in the cellars. When farmers came in to trade, they were taken by the proprietor, or some clerk, into the cellar and treated to a glass of black-strap. This compound consisted of molasses and HENRY GROSS - 247 whisky—"'alf'-an'-'alf," as a Yorkshire man would say. Trading then went on as if nothing had happened. Sometimes a glassful was brought up with which to treat the ladies. When, about 1836, Mr. Bradley put up the Western Exchange in the southern addition to Tiffin, on Washington street, it was considered a very hazardous enterprise. But he finished it, and kept hotel there. It is now occupied by Gray and Stevenson, as a tin-shop. Mr. Bradley kept the stage-office there, also. Standing at the crossing of Washington and Madison, you had to look through the woods to see the hotel. There was were difficulty to get to it from the north by team, when the roads were muddy. It was south of the deep hollow, so called, washed out by the ravine that crosses Washington and enters the fourth ward sewer. Many a time the stage driver, with four horses, was compelled to stop two or three times on his way up the hill before he reached the Exchange. Henry Gross put up a two-story hewed log house on the north side of Perry street, where he lived with his family and carried on the gunsmith business, together with the repairing of clocks and watches, the first enterprise of the kind in town. Mr. Gross was the first man the writer saw in Tiffin. Coming along Perry street from the east, on the 18th day of August, 1833, in the afternoon, ahead of the wagon, I saw a man standing in front of a log house, dressed in a long, homespun, brown cloth overcoat, buttoned up to his chin, a cloth cap, with a ring of fur around it, on his head, and both hands in his pockets. His hair was already turning gray. He had a prominent nose, regular, manly features, large, blue eyes, and an expressive, but pale countenance. The afternoon was very hot, and this man, attired in that way, so riveted the attention of the writer that it was hard to turn his eyes from him. Approaching, and saluting him, (he spoke German) the writer enjoyed the first conversation he had in Tiffin. This was Mr. Henry Gross, the father of Samuel Gross, of Bloomville, and Bovard and Henry Gross, of Tiffin—the latter one of the most celebrated mechanical geniuses in the United States, and of whom some notice will be taken hereafter. The old gentleman was shaking with the ague While we talked—the first case I ever saw. The following year, however, sad experience taught me more about ague and fever. Mr. Gross was from Juniata county, Pennsylvania, where .he was married to Miss Jane Hunter, on the 7th day of February, 1809. From there he moved to Tiffin, and arrived here in 1831. He was born July 21, 1783, and died here in 1834. Mrs. Gross survived him a long, time. She was born in February, 1781, and died here, January 16, 1866, aged eighty-four years and ten months. 248 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. Jacob Plane was justice of the peace and postmaster on the Tiffin side, and lived in a two-story frame house that stood immediately south of where Marquart's drug store now stands. Mr. Rawson had moved his law office to this side of the river. It was a small frame building that stood close by or about the place where Mr. H. Brohl now lives. Dr. Dresbach's office was a small, low brick building that stood on the alley immediately north of Fiege's cabinet warehouse. The public square was full of logs and stumps. After Mr. Plane, Mr. Cronise had the post office in his building. Levi Keller had a blacksmith shop a little north of Goodin's hotel, where Loomis' stone front now stands. Valentine and Philip Seewald put up a double hewed log 'house, away out of town, near the southern extremity of the southern addition to Tiffin. There Valentine carried on the gunsmithing and lockmaking business, and Philip the watch repairing and jewelry trade. They lived there for a long time, and until they bought the lot where the Rust block now is, and moved upon that, where they both lived until they died. Mr. Andrew Lugenbul lived in a small brick house now embraced in the house of Mt. John Remele, on Madison street. Joseph Howard lived in a large frame house on the northwest corner of Washington and Madison. Esq. Keen lived, in 1833, where he does now. David E. Owen, the auditor, lived in a part of the house with Esq. Plane. Mr. Joshua Seney lived near neighbor to, and east of, Mr. Hedges, on the south side of Perry, where Mr. and Mrs. Seney both died. Dr. Kuhn lived on the lot where the new jail now stands. His old office is still in existence, and stands close by, unoccupied. Immediately north of Mr. Rawson's old law office, in the brick house still standing, lived widow Creeger, who had one son and quite a number of beautiful, intelligent daughters. They were from Maryland. Theresa, the oldest daughter, was married to Judge Benjamin Pittinger, in Maryland, and they, moved to Tiffin for a wedding tour. All the other girls were married here. Eleanor to Frederick Kridler, the chair-maker. They lived on the southwest corner of Jefferson and Market. Anna Margaret married J. W. Miller, the tailor. Uriah was next. The next in age was Louisa, who married Gen. John G. Breslin, the founder of the Seneca Advertiser. Josephine married Mr. B. Pennington, the photograph artist, and Martha, the youngest, is the wife of Gen. Wm. H. Gibson. Mrs. Pennington and Mrs. Gibson are all that are now living of the Creeger family. William Campbell had a cabinet shop on Madison street, some where THE AUTHOR'S APPRENTICESHIP - 249 near Esq. Bloom's residence. He married a Mrs. Staley, a widowed sister of Dr. Kuhn, who had several children, of whom the late Mrs. McFarland, formerly the wife of my venerable and distinguished friend, Dr. McFarland, was the oldest. She was a beautiful woman, highly accomplished, and much esteemed. It is a most remarkable fact that Tiffin, in former days—yes, and all along until quite recently— had more beautiful women to the number of population, than any other town in Ohio, and the fact was generally conceded all over the country. The town became famous on that account. Mrs. Thomas Ourand is also .a daughter of Mr. Campbell. The family first lived in a log house on the lot where Mr. Charles Leiner, the hatter, now lives, on Market street. There was only one more cabinet shop in town, and that was built by Daniel H. Phillips, a brother of Mrs. H. Ebert. They were from Uniontown, Pennsylvania. The shop stood at the northwest corner of Jefferson and Market, where the Episcopal church now stands. On the 21st day of August, 1833, three days after my arrival in Tiffin, I entered that shop as an apprentice to Mr. Phillips, and there I found and made the acquaintance of my .old friend, Col. J. M. Stevens; of Melmore, a former apprentice. Mr. Phillips lived in a log house east of the shop on the lot now owned by the Adams family: They had a young lady living in the family by the name of Mary Hendel, a daughter of Michael Hendel, who lived on Perry street. The family were Pennsylvania Germans, but Mary talked good English, also. In my great anxiety to learn English, I sometimes troubled people with numerous questions. Hearing the word "fact" used very often, and not being able to comprehend it, I asked Mary once at the dinner table what the word meant. She looked at me for a little while very sternly, thinking for an explanation, and then said: "Why! a fact is a fact, du esel!" Mary is now, and for a long time has been, the happy wife of Mr. Jonas Neikirk, of Republic. Next west of Mr, Kridler, lived Jacob Huss, the saddler, and next west to him, David Bishop. William D. Searles bought out Bishop, and started a tin-shop at that place. Guy Stevens carried on the mercantile business close by, and south of Ebert's. He afterwards took, as a partner, Daniel Dildine, Esq., the present venerable justice of the peace, of Tiffin. They also started the first foundry in the county. It Was located at the end of Monroe street, close by the river, and occupied the, north end of the lot where Esq. Dildine now resides.