250 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. In 1837, a man by the name of Louis Bredoon, a hotel keeper in McCutchenville, had a short cannon cast at this foundry to be used at the coming Fourth of July celebration. He Came after it with a wagon on the 24th day of June, and all hands concluded to try it first. They put the piece on the running gear of a Wagon and loaded it very strong. It exploded, and played havoc all around. A piece of the iron struck Mr. Burdoon on the forehead and crushed in the skull from his left eye brow up to the hair. He was picked up unconscious, and carried to Goodin's hotel, then kept by Michael Hendel, where he soon after died. Dildine had several ribs broken; one Watson had a leg broken; other men were injured more or less. The wagon and the front door of the foundry were demolished, and pieces of the cannon were found great distances away. There has been no cannon foundry in Tiffin since. We buy all our guns of Krupp. William H. Kessler carried on the tailoring trade in Fort Ball, and Moses D. Cadwallader and Jefferson Freese were rivals in Tiffin. Mr. Freese married a young lady that Dr. Fisher raised and brought with him here from Maryland. She was very pretty, and highly esteemed. Dr. Boyer lived in a stone house that stood where Emick's boot store is. This and the mill house were the only stone houses in Tiffin. Both are gone. One of Dr. Boyer's daughters married Lloyd Norris, who became the owner of the Van Meter section, and lived there. He had means they said, but very little polish. He was the father of the detective, John T. Norris. Another daughter of Dr. Boyer, Elizabeth, married Dr. James Fisher, one of Tiffin's early practitioners. Both were very polite and accomplished people. The Doctor is still living somewhere in Missouri. Our Richard Boyer, the broker, is the youngest of the sons, and Frances Hannah was the youngest daughter. She became the wife of John J. Steiner, one of the early lawyers of Tiffin. Both are now dead. It is impossible to remember all the old settlers here, and the names of those that occur are only jotted down. Many of those on the Fort Ball side have already been named. There, also, lived Gen. H. C. Brish, Valentine and George Knupp, Andrew. Love, William Johnson, George Ragan, Curtis Sisty, Levi Davis and Nicholas Leibe. Mr. Sting, the father of C. H. Sting, also built and carried on a little brewery, on Sandusky street. Leibe, Coonrad and Baugher married three sisters. Of these six, Mrs. Coonrad, alone, is living. They were the daughters of a widow lady, Mrs. Staub, and sisters of the once popular John Staub and Dr. Staub. Among the early settlers of Tiffin were a few families from Germany, EARLY GERMAN SETTLERS - 251 and being so few, are easily described. The first one of these the writer can call to mind is that of Mr. Andrew Albrecht, from Baden. He was a stone mason and bricklayer by trade; had a wife and several children when he came here. His father-in-law, Christopher Zeis, lived with him. Mr. Zeis was with Napoleon the First in the Spanish campaign, and was fond of telling his exploits. With, this family, also, came John Snyder and Christopher Snyder, shoemakers by trade, and who were nephews by a sister of the old soldier. John married Barbara Albert, step-daughter of a Mr. Hohmann, and carried on a shoe-shop in Tiffin until he died. He was decidedly the best boot maker Tiffin then had. These people came here in the fall of 1832. In August, of 1833, the Lang and Seewald families arrived here; also, the Vollmers, Julius Fellnagel, Joseph Ranker, Valentine and Louis Taumpler, Jacob Ernst, Henry Brass, the Blasius family, Francis Gilbert, Andrew Bloom, and a family by the name of Meyers, who lived in a two-story frame house where Ulrich's drug store now stands, and where Meyers tried the experiment of a brewery on a small scale. These institutions then required but small capital. Two brothers from Marion, by the name of Kolb, built another brewery, up on the hill, near the crossing of Sandusky and Market. John and Francis Souder, Jacob Ernst, Adam Schickel, the musician, Frederick Hoffman, the Faulhaver family, and many others, then, also, made Tiffin their home. Henry Lang, (whose baptismal name was George Ludwig Henry,) was the, oldest son of Wilhelm, and Louisa Christina, daughter of a rope manufacturer by the name of Matzenburg, in Kochendorf, a small village near the city of Heilbroun, in North Wurtemburg. His father was an officer in the Forest Department, and was transferred to a station west of the Rhine in, the, Palatinate, the western province of Bavaria. Grandfather was born, in 1739, and died at his new station in 1789, when but fifty years old. This was at Neu-Hemsbach, in the Canton of Winweiler. At the. death of his father, Henry was but 19 years old, and the only help his widowed mother had; but young as he was, the forest authorities took 'notice of .him, and appointed him the successor of his father in office. His deportment towards the people and 'the government, changeable as both were during the turmoil following the. French Revolution, and scenes incident to the war, was such that he was retained in his place. Faithful and diligent in the discharge of every duty, he became beloved by all except wood thieves and poachers. His small salary supported him, his widowed mother, and an invalid step-brother on his father's side— Uncle Christian. 252 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. We Americans understand a "forester" to be a man that lives in the woods. The word is understood otherwise in Europe. There it means an officer of the "forest department;" one who superintends and takes care of the king's forest, and prosecutes offenders against the forest laws, etc,. On the 25th de of January, 1801, father was married to Catharine, the daughter of the school teacher Schuetz, in Vorder-Weidenthal, an old Alsacian family. This union was blessed with nine children—seven daughters and two sons. Two of the girls died in childhood. Louisa, the oldest daughter, married Philip Seewald, the jeweler, in September, 1828. Elizabeth, the second daughter, married John Gross, a cabinet-maker, in March, 1831; the other girls were all married here. Philipina was married to Valentine Seewald, in Tiffin, September, 1833, soon after we arrived here. Henrietta married Mr. J. M. Zahm, late county treasurer, May 2, 1836, and Hannah married Michael Schoch, who died here within a few months after their marriage. Hannah some time after married Mr. Edward Swander, well known in Seneca county as an intelligent and successful farmer. Mrs. Zahm is the only living daughter. Both sons, the Rev. Henry Lang in Fremont, and the writer, yet remain. The very fact that father held his office from his nineteenth to his sixty-fourth year, when he resigned it to come to the United States, proves how much he was appreciated as a man and an officer, being in the possession Of his office some forty-three years. We came by wagon across France. There were no steamboats on the Rhine, and no railroads on the Continent. We left Havre de Grace, at the mouth of the Seine, on the 24th day of April, 1833, and after combatting many a storm on the ocean, landed at Baltimore on the 27th day of the following June. The family was on the way, from April 3d to August 18th, when we reached Tiffin, after making a journey, by water and by land, of over 4000 miles. The name of the old three-masted sailing vessel which brought us over was "Jefferson," and she belonged to Boston. The few of the early settlers yet living remember father Lang in his dark-green, broadcloth dress, bearing the style and color of his former office, and a cloth cap of the same color on his head. He was five feet ten inches high, very straight, with soldier-like bearing, had large blue eyes, an aquiline nose, a mild countenance, and was calm and self-possessed. He was never known to swear, or express a word in anger. He had a masterly control of his passions and appetites. He was not only moral, but a devoted christian. He never left his home in the FATHER AND MOTHER - 253 morning without saying his prayer, and his evening prayers were full of a warmth, and rich in poetic thought. He never used tobacco in any way; was never seen under the influence of wine; never played at any games; never used an unkind word towards mother or any of us children; and when he whipped us sometimes, we thought it could not be possible, for he was not angry at all. Mother was the very embodiment of christian graces and tender love. It was she who caused our emigration to America, being influenced to that end largely on my account, for I was then just about old enough to be drafted into the army in time of need, and she wanted to secure me against the draft. Even when we did go, I was compelled to remain behind, because I was then seventeen years old. They bound me out 'to a relative of father's by the name of Wittich, who was a chair and spinning wheel manufacturer, as an apprentice, where I was to stay until the draft of my class. This satisfied the authorities. The contract was written on stamped paper, with a crown in the seal, I have liked crowns and stamped paper ever since—but to no great extent.) The rest of the family started, and I went to my boss, where I was soon initiated into the arts and mysteries of splitting At sticks for the turning lathe. On the morning of the tenth day I was found missing; about one week afterwards I waited at the city of Metz for our folks to come. Let me add this: I walked from home to Havre de Grace, and from Baltimore to Tiffin. Father died here in August, 1838, in his sixty-ninth year, and mother died in June, 1849, in her seventieth year. Reader, will you be kind enough to excuse this reference to my own family? It is hard to resist speaking of things and events that lie so near to one's heart. Let us proceed. Mr. Fellnagel kept a tavern in the frame building where Mr. Jacob Boyer now lives, corner of Sandusky and Market streets. Andrew Bloom was a traveling tailor. He came here and got married, and is in the tailoring business still. He is familiarly known as Esq. Bloom. Joseph Gibson was a shoemaker by trade. He was born in Frederick county, Maryland, in November, 1811, and married there Elizabeth Ott, on the 13th day of September, 1831; he located here in 1832, where his family have lived ever since. He died in July, 1857, two years after his return from California. My old, esteemed friend, the Hon. Henry Cronise, was also a native of Frederick county, Maryland, a county that contributed more largely to the settlement of Seneca county, and supplied it with more means, muscle, and brains, than any other county in the world. He was born there on the 15th day of May 1789. His youthful days were spent in 254 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. Norfolk, Virginia. Upon his return to Maryland he engaged in the mercantile business, which occupation he pursued as long as he was in active life. In 1816 he was married at Fredericktown, Maryland, to. Susanna Fundenburg, a young lady well known for her beauty and sweetness of disposition, which made her attractive and lovable through the whole of her life, and especially in her latter days, binding to her, with the closest ties of affection, children, grand-children and a host of friends. With all her personal attractions and her warm nature, mother Cronise preferred her home above all the allurements of society, where she would have been a queen in any circle. In 1826 Mr. Cronise came to Ohio in company with several other gentlemen, and being very much pleased with Seneca, county, located several sections in different parts of it, and purchased a house for his home, which remained such for nearly thirty years, during which time it was a sort of open house for neighbors and friends at home, and distinguished strangers from abroad. After his purchase he returned to Maryland, and in tile following year sent out a number of wagons loaded with dry goods ; himself and family, Then consisting of a wife, and five children, followed in a short time, coming across the country in carriages and on horsebaCk, and being four weeks on the road. On reaching Tiffin, the family moved into the house thus provided; it was located opposite Naylor's hard-ware store. Four other children were born here, making nine in all. In 1840 Mr. Cronise established the Van Burenite, and operated it as its editor against the election of General Harrison, with great force. Mr. Cronise was elected to the legislature twice: once as a metnber of the House, and in 1846 as a member of the Senate. He died on the 14th day of February, 1867. Mother Cronise survived her husband some years, and died in August, 1875. Thus passed away two of Tiffin's most distinguished pioneers, who had made and left their mark on the town. Mr. Cronise was a decided and firm Democrat, and as such, a leader in the county from. the time he came here until he died. He was a shrewd and safe political counselor, and possessed of great political sagacity and influence. He was a stout, muscular man, square shouldered, well built, and of clear German type. He had dark brown hair, dark, hazel eyes, small, clenched-lips, a fine forehead, strong lower jaw, nose ordinary, nervous-bilious temperament, which often causes the possessor trouble when unaccompanied by refinement and an iron will. It is 'apt to lead to impulsiveness. A high strung nature like this generally acts before it thinks, but it troubled father Cronise only at times of high political excitement. In HENRY CRONISE--PHILIP SEEWALD - 255 his private life it was scarcely ever observable. He was much beloved by the Democrats, and hated in the same ratio by the- Whigs. He had no charity for a political enemy; he knew he was right, and that was enough. The Democrats in the county never had such leaders as Cronise, Seney and Goodin, either before or since their day. Firm, sagacious, earnest, active, untiring, unselfish—they sought the success of the party above personal ambition. Aside from politics, Mr. Cronise was very kind, gentlemanly and courteous. He was like a father to the new comer and stranger, and especially to the Germans, whose language he spoke. His intercourse with others was very strongly marked by the peculiar genteel, polite, hospitable, yet dignified demeanor that marked' the Maryland and Virginia gentleman of: that day. Marquis Y Graff, Joseph Graff, Jacob Souder, the Pittengers, Dr. toyer, the Holtz's, Dr. Kuhn, and others came under that rule, if rule it was. These are all dead except Mrs. John Pittenger and Judge Benjamin Pittenger, who are still living. The writer always found in father Cronise a true friend,.and records these lines with mixed feelings of pleasure and sadness, as a token of the high esteem in which his memory is cherished. Of pleasure, because of the opportunity to register my testiniony to a tried friend ; of sadness, because those of us who enjoyed the company and counsel of Henry Cronise are getting less very rapidly, and are already but few in number. PHILIP SEEWALD Was born on the 26th day of September, 1799, in Sippersfeld, in the Ba,varian Palatinate, Germany. He was the oldest son of Ludwig and Sophia Seewald. His father was a man who resembled Henry Clay of Kentucky very much. Both gentlemen happened to, be in Tffiin on a visit at the same time, and it was a common remark how much they resembled each other. The mother of Philip was a Correll, and descended from a long line of school teachers in this village. Louis (Ludwig) Seewald was a wagon maker by trade, and Philip worked in the shop of his father as soon as he was old enough, and learned the trade. He was a natural genius, and when he was drafted into the Bavarian army he applied all his leisure hours to the study of the watch and the natural sciences. When he returned from the army he was a good watch maker, and very handy at any curious workmanship in iron. He married the oldest daughter of Henry Lang, above named, and a few years thereafter emigrated, with his family, to the United 256 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. States and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he opened a jewelry shop. When the Lang family came, in 1833, they stopped at Pittsburgh until Seewald and his family united with them, and then both families came to Tiffin together, where they arrived on the 18th day of August, 1833. The early settlers will remember the jewelry store of Seewald, in the large; hewed log house, on south Washington street, in Tiffin. The front end was devoted to jewelry, and the back part to gunsmithing. Here he lived until about 1843, when he bought from John Goodin the lot where the Rust block now is, and where he lived thee rest of his days. He never made the English language a study, and spoke it very brokenly; but he built up a good trade with his skill and general reputation for honesty. By close application to his books he became well versed in general history and the popular sciences of the day. He was naturally a thinker and investigator; he took nothing for granted, and discarded everything that lacked a cause. He was firm in his judgment, and able to defend any position he took. His mind naturally lead him to the bottom of things. While he never obtruded his conclusions on anybody, he was strong in the defense of them when once formed. His wife died on the 8th day of February, 1843. Three of their children were born in Germany, and the rest of them in this country. They had eight in all, of whom three sons and two daughters are still living. Louis Seewald, the jeweler, is the oldest son; William lives in New Mexico, and Philip, the youngest, in Hudson, Michigan. The boys were all jewelers. The oldest daughter is Mrs. Oster, and the youngest Mrs. Spindler, both residing in Tiffin. Mr. Seewald was married again to Elizabeth Staib. This union was blessed with but one child, Sophia, who was married in the spring of this year to a Mr. Roll, of Cleveland, where they reside. Philip Seewald was a short, robust, compactly built man, very strong and muscular. He had a very large head, that became bald early; well proportioned; large, fleshy nose; deepset blue eyes; strong, manly features. His head was so large that he could find no hat large enough in the stores, and had to send his measure to Cincinnati. He was about five feet six inches high, and weighed, when in his best days, near zoo pounds. As years began to make him restless, he left his business in the hands of his son Louis, and made up a lot of instruments with which he built tower clocks. The clock in the tower of the court house is one of them. PHILIP SEEWALD -257 Thus he spent the afternoon and evening of his life, ever busy, reading or making something useful or ingenious. He was widely known as the principal watchmaker in Tiffin, and as a man of strict, unflinching integrity, highly esteemed by everybody. He died on the 3oth day of October, 1878, aged seventy-nine years, one month and four days. - 17 - CHAPTER XVII. ADDITIONS TO TIFFIN-THE FERRY-THE BRIDGES-THE TOLL BRIDGE-THE FREE BRIDGE-THE BURNING OF THE FREE BRIDGE-THE CHOLERA-FREDERICK HOFFMAN-LITTLE CHARLOTTE -JOHNNY DALRYMPLE-THE RAILROADS-FIRST TRAIN TO TIFFIN-HEIDELBERG COLLEGE-REV. E. V. GERHART, D. D.-REV. J. H. GOOD, D. D.-REV. GEO. W. WILLARD, D. D. IT WOULD require a book by itself to give a full description of the numerous additions that were made to Tiffin and to Fort Ball, and finally to Tiffin proper as a city of the second class, from time to time. The reader must be content with a mere reference to the same. At the commencement of this work, fear for want of material to write a book was uppermost in the mind of the writer, but now, and as he is about commencing this chapter, he is troubled to know what best to leave out, to prevent the book from becoming too bulky. The desire to write personal sketches of many more of the old pioneers is very strong, and should be indulged would space only permit. Being conscious of the fact, that in the great stream of time 'generations after generations appear upon the stage of action, and are swept away in their order into the vast ocean of the past; and of this other fact, that we are forgotten by the few that ever knew us, to love or to hate us, about as fast as we go—I am strongly reminded of what my dear old friend, Frederick Fieser, Esq., the able and illustrious editor of the Westbote, in Columbus, once said to me, speaking on the subject of ambition, viz: that about all you can say of man is "he was born, took a wife, and died." Yet, as this narrative progresses notices will be taken of a character here and there, that shall be deemed proper in its place. The following are the additions made to Tiffin, from the time of the first platting, viz: New Fort Ball; Hedges' northern and southern additions to Tiffin ; Norris and Gist's addition, June 75, 1832 ; Rawson's addition, May 30, 1833; Sneath and Graff's, January 29, 1834; Keller and Gist's, same date; Jennings', November 13, 1834; Williams', April 22, 1835; Waggoner's, January 13, 1836; Sheldon's, September I r, 1838 ; Hedges' second addition, July 26, 1851 ; Davis', May 16, ADDITIONS TO TIFFIN - 259 1854; Springdale, May, 1854; Deuzer's, November 13, 1855; Allbright's March, 1856; Seney's, December, 1856; Avery, Butler & Cecil's, July 27, 1857; Heilman's, July 14, 1858; Hedges' second southern, February 26, 1859; Sub-division of lots 1 and 2 in block D; Bunn's W. pt; lot 2; block S; Noble's; Noble's second; Frost's; Schouhart's; Hunter's subdivision of out-lots Nos. 6 and 7 ; Jacob Heilman's; Scheiber's; Brewer's; Mrs. Walker's; Mrs. Walker's second; Goodsell's; Mrs. Hunter's; Tomb's; Gross'; Souder's sub-division; Stoner's; Mrs. Allen's; Bunn's second; J. T. Huss' ; Davis Estate's ; Gray's; Lewis'; McCollum & Snyder's; Mechanicsburgh; Weirick's; Blair's; Remmele's; Fishbaugh's; Gibson's; Gwinn's; Shawhan's; Hall's; Cottage Park; Bartell's; Huddle's; Schubert's; Kaull & Glenn's; .Houck's; Myers'; Ph. Wentz's; G. D. Loomis'; J. Bour's; Hayward's; Huber's; Fishbaugh's second; W. C. Hedges'; Zeigler's; Louisa Smith's; Harter & Sloman's; John Heilman's sub-division; Maria P. Kuhn's; J. Heilman's; Sullivan's subdivision ; Noble's re-sub-division. There were some seventy-two in all. The lots were re-numbered in March, 1854. These additions and the several annexations the city council has made from time to time, with very questionable propriety, but under the severe law of the state that gives landed proprietors, in the territory to be annexed, no voice in the measure, have extended the limits of the city to embrace all of section 19, all of section 30 (except about one hundred and forty acres), about one hundred and forty acres in section 29, more than one-half of section 20, and about one hundred and sixty acres of 'section 18, in Clinton township—about 1760 acres in all. In the fall of 1833 Mr. Hedges contracted with Reuben Williams, one of the leading carpenters at that time, to build a wooden bridge across the river on Washington street. Some of the work was done that fall, but during the following spring and summer the work progressed very slowly. It was finally completed far enough to have a few plank laid over it lengthwise, for the accommodation of foot passengers. During the spring and summer of 1834, another foot bridge was constructed a little distance further down the river, by boring holes into slabs and putting long sticks into them to raise the slabs above the water. Both of these conveniences together nearly ruined Mr. Hoagland's ferry. A big freshet, in the fall of 1834, brought immense quantities of drift down the river—whole trees, straw stacks, fence rails, saw logs, etc.,—and made a lodgement at the bents of the bridge. Several men ventured to get on the top of the drift pile with their axes, and commenced chopping the long trees into pieces, in order to start them on their way. They made considerable headway; but when they saw large 260 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. pieces of the Tymochtee bridge approaching, they got away just in time to save their lives. When these pieces of the Tymochtee bridge struck the gathered drift the whole mass went together, taking the new bridge along. In the summer following Mr. Hedges built a better bridge at the same place, and when it was done he employed a colored man to collect toll. This was the first and only toll bridge that Tiffin ever had. Early in the spring of 1836, Jaines AV. Hill published a notice to the effect that he had rented the toll bridge from Mr. Hedges for the term of three months, commencing on the ist day of April, 1836, and called upon those who had bargains with Mr. Hedges to cross the bridge, to call on him, in order to renew their contracts, etc. The bridge was a great convenience, but the idea of paying toll became annoying to farmers, as well as to the merchants in Tiffin, and a plan was put on foot to have a free bridge constructed over the river at the west end of Market street. A subscription list was circulattd, and when the requisite amount was subscribed the contract was let. It was a wooden, truss bridge with a roof over it. Guy Stevens, Benjamin Biggs, John Park and Dr. James Fisher were the building committee; Andrew Lugenbeel was treasurer. There was great rejoicing in Tiffin when, on the r8th day of February, 1837, it was announced that the free bridge was opened to the public. It cost $2,200.00. Hedges' toll bridge became a free bridge also, as a matter of course. This covered, free bridge was a fearfully dark place after night, and the women on either side of the river refused to cross it without protection, after dark. Some time after, lanterns were put up at each end during dark nights. Peter Vaness established a large carriage shop where Loomis & Nyman's foundry now is, near the bridge, and when the carriage factory burned down, the bridge caught fire and burned. The old toll bridge lasted for ten years after that, when, on New Year's night of 1847, it was swept away by a freshet. Then the county commissioners put up in its place one of the most wonderful contrivances for a bridge that was ever seen. The plan of it was simple enough, but the great quantity of material used in its construction surprised everybody but the commissioners. The stringers that were laid from one bent to the other, and on which the plank were laid cross-wise, were of such ponderous size and weight that they absolutely broke the whole fabric down, very soon after it was finished. When the people saw the danger of an accident, some one nailed boards across the ends of the bridge to keep teams from going on it, THE BRIDGES - 261 and in less than a week from that time, down it went. Then was con-structed the wire suspension bridge, in 1853, which answered a good purpose for some time, and which also in its order gave way to the present beautiful iron structure, being the fifth bridge built at that place since 1833. The free bridge on Market street burned away in the night following the 26th day .of January, 1854, and was succeeded by the present bridge, which was built by the county commissioners. The fire in Vaness' carriage factory was discovered at two o'clock in the morning, and the roof of the bridge took fire from it within twenty minutes thereafter. The morning of the 24th day of April, 1833, was cool and bracing; the sun shone brightly while the ebb of tbe Atlantic ocean set into the mouth of the Seine at Havre de Grace, France. To take advantage of the tide, several American packets in the harbor were making ready to leave the port. Sailors were running to and fro; some up in the rigging, others hoisting the anchor; some speaking English, some German, some French, some Spanish; some were singing, some swearing, and all were busy. Passengers crowding onto the boats with their goods, had their passes examined and their berths assigned to them. The ebb was up to high water mark, and the time had come to "let go." The few sails that were stretched swelled westward by the gentle breeze; the rudder groaned, and the old "Jefferson" began to move. Two sailors pulled up a bunting at the foot of the rear mast, and when it got high enough to catch the breeze, it unfolded the "Stars and Stripes" of the United States of America for the first time to the eyes of the writer. The emotions that filled my heart at the sight I will not undertake to describe, for fear my kind readers might think me foolish. But think of a boy with a warm, hopeful nature, running away from his native land to escape its oppressions and military tyranny, leaving his .native shore for the land of his hopes and desires, for the first time in his life standing under the "flag of the free," under which his future destiny is to be wrought out—and you can have an idea how the writer felt when leaving Havre de Grace. On board of the Jefferson were one hundred and thirty-seven passen-gers, mostly from Bavaria and Baden. Of these, strange as it may seem, three families came to Tiffin without the least consort of action or understanding. When we landed at Baltimore every family had its own point of destination, and all scattered. The Lang family came here that same year, in August; the Hoffman family in the fall after, and the family of John G. Osteen came in 1840, I think. 262 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. This Hoffman family was from Meisenheim, in the Palatinate, and consisted of Frederick Hoffman, his wife and three children, John, Fritz and Charlotte. Charlotte was a little blue-eyed beauty, with fair skin, cheerful face, and flaxen locks falling upon her shoulders. Her friendly, sweet nature, attracted the attention of the people on board, and she became one of the pets. Charlotte was then about three years old, and had for a playmate another little girl that looked very much like her: She was the youngest daughter of a Mr. Maurer, on board, and afterwards became the wife of the Hon. Charles Bcesel, late senator from the Auglaize district, living in New Bremen. Frederick Hoffman was then about forty years of age. He was a potter by trade; had traveled some; was very social and talkative--- really attractive in conversa,tion. He was a man of striking personal appearance. His carriage was very straight; he was about five feet nine inches high; not fleshy, but muscular. He had very black hair, black eyes, and very long, black eye-lashes; a large nose, and rather large, but well proportioned mouth; and deep, sonorous voice. His manners were easy and gentlemanly. The writer has but faint recollection of Mrs. Hoffman. When the family came here in the fall of 1833, though late, Mr. Hoffman bought the lot now owned by the Henz family, next south to Dr. McFarland, and immediately erected a two-story hewed log house thereon. As soon as the house was done, the family occupied it and opened the first German tavern in Tiffin. The first German dance in Tiffin was held there about Christmas that year, 1833. The oldest son, John, and the writer were comrades on board the Jefferson, and we renevved our friendship with great pleasure after we came together again here. In the spring of 1834 Mr. Hoffman put up a potter's-shop and an oven on his lot, and burnt several kilns of good pottery, the first in the county. In 1832 the Asiatic cholera broke out in Canada, and, sweeping along. the Hudson and the St. Lawrence, visited the large cities along the sea-coast. It raged with greater or less severity from Newfoundland to New Orleans in 1833. In 1834 cases occurred in ,many inland towns and cities. About the fore part of August in this year, news reached Tiffin that several cases had proved fatal in Sandusky City. People in Tiffin began to be apprehensive and expressed much .concern on the subject. A constable, by the name of John Hubble, lived on Monroe street. His wife died on the i9th of August. The doctors refused to say much about the cause of her death, and it was rumored about that she had eaten green cucumbers that had caused her death. On the neit day a small child of a German family that lived in the second story of Mr. ASIATIC CHOLERA - 263 Hoffman's house, died. In the afternoon of that day the writer took the coffin to the house and put the little corpse into it. The father was absent from home, and the mother wished to wait for his return before she would have the child buried. Coming down stairs, I found Mr. Hoffman at the front door, and after talking awhile we parted. He had just recovered from an attaCk of billious fever and looked very pale. His pale face, white shirt and white pants, forming a violent contrast with his very black eyes and,hair, made his appearance more impressive than ever. This was about four o'clock P. M. - The following night about three o'clock his son John called me out of bed and requested that I should come down to the house and said his father was dying. When I reached the house, Dr. Dresbach came out and told me Hoffman had died of cholera. Now consternation and alarm spread like wild-fire over the town and country, and Tiffin changed its appearance very rapidly. Business stopped; people stood about the streets in groups. Some prepared to get away already. Several other cases occurred in the next twenty-four hou'rs, and at the end of one week from the death of Mr. Hoffman there, were only about seven families left in the place. Boss Phillips, and all the shop hands, were among the runaways, except a young man from Maryland, Mr. Wilson and myself.. Mr. Campbell's cabinet shop was also shut up. Stores and all other public houses, except Sneath's hotel, were closed. Some movers, German, Scotch and Irish families, had stopped here on their way west. The Cronise family, the Seewalds, and the Lang families and part of Boyers staid. Father thought it was wrong to run away from each other in time of distress. Wilson and myself had the shop to ourselves, and made the coffins as fast as we could. Very often we made rough boxes answer. One Sunday we made seven. The town was very still and quiet during the day. Scarcely a man could be seen except the doctors running hither and thither. Boards were nailed across the doors of many houses. The nights were made hideous by the bawling of the cows and the howling of the dogs that had lost their masters and owners. When the disease began to abate. Mr. Phillips called to see us once in a while. We made eighty-six coffins in our shop in five weeks from the time Mr. Hoffman died. One Sunday morning an ox-team came along Market street from the west, with a water-trough made out of a log, on the wagon, and a slab nailed over the top, going to the cemetery. Two men with pick and shovel followed. They buried a man that had died west of Fort Ball. In a log house at the southeast corner of Perry and Jefferson, lived a Scotch family by the name of Dalrymple. They had a boy, Johnny, 264 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. about thirteen years old, who, a few days before, was a picture of health as well as a picture of beauty. I loved him for his friendly nature. One day the mother came to the shop and requested me to come to the house and take his measure. He laid on his bed with a sheet over him, but looked as beautiful as ever. I ran to Dr. Dresbach and told him that I did not believe the boy was dead. The Doctor thought otherwise, but gave me a bottle of brandy,,with orders to make it hot and rub it .all over him with a flannel cloth. The mother assisted me, and in less than one half hour the poor fellow began to move and opened his eyes. Dr. Dresbach was called in and was much rejoiced at our success. He took him in charge and in about two weeks the boy was on the street again. The cases were getting less and people began to return. The weather was growing cooler and sligbt frosts were observable some mornings. People began to take courage with a hope that the cholera had left us. One morning Mrs. Dalrymple came to the shop crying and told us that her son was dead. His was the last case in Tiffin. Towards the latter part of October all the stragglers had returned. It is not true, as Mr. Butterfield would have it, that the disease was confined to the German and Irish emigrants exclusively. 'Squire Plane, David Bretz, Andrew Fruitchy, Mr. Brookover, and many others that died, were citizens here and natives. The cholera returned again to Tiffin in 1849, in 1852, and again in 1854, with less severity, however, except for a short time in 1854, when on one Sunday, sixteen corpses were counted on the Fort Ball side, where it raged with the greatest fury. On that day Dr. Hovey, with the assistance of Joe Smith, George W. Zigler, William Holt, Thomas W. Boyce, Mrs. Flahaff, Miss Julia Gear, laid out eleven dead at the hospital alone. It took some moral courage to stare death in the face in times like these, and the names of these heroes and heroines are recorded here as worthy ,to be remembered. All the doctors did their duty, no doubt, but Dr. Hovey was, perhaps, the most active and industrious. For five weeks he was amongst his patients day and night without changing his clothes. The Rev. Mr. Sullivan, of St. Mary's Church, was amongst the fearless, and Dr. McCollum, until he himself was taken down. " There were giants in those days." Strange as it may seem, the greatest mortality was on that side of the river, which may be partially accounted for from the fact that the pest-house was built there; but with all that there were fewer cases on the Tiffin side. One thing more on this subject should be mentioned here. Mrs. THE RAILROADS - 265 Hoffman died within one week after her husband, leaving the children strangers in a strange land. The boys were more able to help themselves. Little Charlotte found a good home in the family of Judge Ebert, who had no children. The good and kind Mrs. Ebert adopted Charlotte and raised and educated her with the love and tender care of a good mother. A. young lawyer in Tiffin succeeded in winning her heart after she had grown up into womanhood, and little Charlotte is the happy wife of Governor Lee, of Toledo. THE RAILROADS. It is said that great events sometimes throw their shadows before. The subject of a railroad to Tiffin from some place was talked about nearly ten years before a locomotive was seen in town. When the sub-ject of the Mad River and Lake Erie railroad began to be agitated, meetings were held in Tiffin from time to time, committees appointed to raise subscriptions, etc. In August, 1832, the Sandusky Clarion published an editorial in which it was said that the prospects of a road were good, and that $5o,000 had already been subscribed. In September, 1832, the following notice was published in the Seneca Patriot: RAILROAD NOTICE. The undersigned, Commissioners of Seneca county, for the Mad River and Erie R. R., will open books for subscription of stock for said road in Tiffin, Seneca county, on the fourth day of October, 1832, at the residence of Eli Norris. HENRY CRONISE. JOSIAH HEDGES. The first sod for this road was cut at the end of Water street, Sandusky, Ohio, on the 7th day of September, A. D., 1835, by General Harrison, of Cincinnati, assisted by Governor Vance. The occasion was one of rejoicing; banners were hoisted to the breeze, while music and song filled the air. The track was laid along Water street to the west end of the city. James Bell was the civil engineer for its construction, and W. Durlein his assistant. The first locomotive, called the " Sandusky," arrived there in 1838, and was used in the construction of the road. In the fall of 1838,-the line was completed to Bellevue, fifteen miles, and the first train run there. Thomas Hogg, who afterwards moved to the island, was the engineer; John Paull, now dead, was fireman, and Charles Higgins, also dead, was conductor. The train consisted of the locomotive "Sandusky," a small passenger car, and a still smaller freight car, not exceeding twenty feet in length, which latter car remained for some time the only accommodation for carrying merchandise. It is said this locomotive was the first one in America that had a 266 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. steam whistle. In 1839 work was done from Bellevue to Republic. The first locomotive reached Tiffin in 1841. Conrad Poppenburg was the engineer when the first passenger train ran to Tiffin; Earnest Kirrian was the fireman—both still living. Paul Klauer died in Urbana of cholera. He was also a hand on the train. Since then, another route had been opened through Clyde and the old route entirely abandoned and taken up. The old charter bears date January 5, 1832. The company is now known by the name of Cincinnati, Sandusky and Cleveland railroad, and runs over one hundred and ninety miles of rails. Its main line is from Sandusky to Springfield, a distance of one hundred and thirty miles. The Columbus division extends from Columbus to Springfield, forty-five miles, and the Findlay branch extends from Carey to Findlay, a distance of sixteen miles. This line of road is proverbial for its steady and safe traveling facilities, and is one of the best conducted roads in the country. The Tiffin, Toledo and Eastern railroad.—On the first day of May, 1873, the first regular passenger train was run on this road. It traverses the county in a northwesterly direction. This road is now consolidated with the Mansfield, Coldwater and Lake Michigan, and is completed from Mansfield. to Toledo, now under the control of the Pennsylvania company. Its depot in Tiffin is near the " tunnel," where the road crosses 'Washington street. The road is doing a large business. The Baltimore, Pittsburg and Chicago railroad was completed to Tiffin in the early part of 1874. It is under the general management of the Baltimore and Ohio company, and crosses Seneca county nearly east and west. The bridge of this company across the Sandusky river is of iron, and decidedly the best railroad bridge in the county. The company is doing a very extensive business, but their present depot in Tiffin is a little board shanty, unworthy alike of the road and of Tiffin. The Lake Erie and Louisville railroad runs through the northwestern \ part of the county to Fostoria, and the Columbus and Toledo railroad, running through Big Spring and Loudon townships; also touching at Fostoria, are in full operation. The Pomeroy road (so-called), and hereafter to be known as the Atlantic and Lake Erie road, has been graded for some time, and is to be put into operation during the coming summer. It runs through Seneca and Loudon townships; also touching at Fostoria. Thus Seneca county is cut by five railroads, in constant operation, with another in immediate prospect, and still another east and west road in embryo. HEIDELBERG COLLEGE - 267 The Tiffin and Fort Wayne road was surveyed and graded about twenty-five years ago. It is almost forgotten, together with its' own sad history. The Clinton Line Extension, that was to run from Tiffin eastward, and towards the construction of which Tiffin and the people along the line contributed so largely, was another of the many gigantic frauds and robberies that have contributed so largely to make people, who are not in the railroad ring, and belong not to the laige fish, so ,extremely cautious and reluctant when they are now asked to subscribe towards the building of another railroad. The num,erous subscribers of the Mansfield, Coldwater and Lake Michigan, who have been sued to pay their subscription the second time, have some experience in the premises. HISTORY OF HEIDELBERG COLLEGE AT TIFFIN. The establishment of this college grew out of the desire of the " Reformed Church of Ohio " to found institutions (namely, a college and a theological seminary) where its candidates for the ministry might obtain a full and complete classical and scientific education ; and where also all others fitting for the different professions, might have the benefit of that educational training so necessary for success in other ways. In the year 1850, Rev. Hiram Shaull, the pastor of the First Reformed Church in Tiffin, by prompt and energetic action, succeeded in obtaining subscriptions to the amount of $11,030 from the citizens of Tiffin and vicinity, to be donated to the proposed college, on the condition that it be located at Tiffin. The proposition. was accepted by the synod, at Navarre, Ohio, in September, 1850, and two professors were at once elected to open the school. These two professors have been in connection With these institutions from the start, a period now of thirty years. They were Rev. J. H. Good, A. M., of Columbus, Ohio, elected as professor of mathematics, and Rev. Reuben Good, A. M., of Darke county, Ohio, elected as rector of the preparatory department. These gentlemen promptly removed to Tiffin, and by November dfghe same year, opened the school, in the third story of a business block called " Commercial Row." Joel W. Wilson, Esq., and one of the professors, canvassed the city for scholars, and on the 18th of November, the college was opened with seven pupils. By the 15th of December the number had increased to eighty-two. During the first year one hundred and forty-nine (of whom twenty-five were in the classical department) were enrolled. The college campus, valued at $2,000, and 268 - HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY. containing five acres, was a donation from Josiah Hedges, Esq., the founder of Tiffin. The college was named "Heidelberg College," after the celebrated University of that name in Germany, and in honor of the only symbolical book of the Reformed church, namely, the " Heidelberg Catechism." The basement story of the college building was put up in the autumn of 1851. The corner stone (donated by Dr.. Elias Heiner, of Baltimore, Maryland?) was laid on Thursday, the 13th of May, 1852, by Major Lewis Baltzell, President of the Board of Trustees; on which occasion an address on the " Dignity of Labor " was delivered by General S. F. Carey, of Cincinnati, Ohio, in the presence of a large audience. The campus was subsequently enlarged by the purchase of four acres from Hon. W. W. Armstrong, of Cleveland, Ohio. The college building was completed in the year 1852, at an expense of $15,000, and occupied for the first time in the autumn of that year. In 1871 a large house for the residence of the President was erected, at an expense of about. $4,000. In 1873 a large three-story boarding hall was erected at an expense of about $8,000. The following is a list of the professors and teachers who have been connected with the college since its establishment: Rev. R. Good, A. M. Rev. E. V. Gerhart, D. D., Pres. Rev. M. Kieffer, D. D., Pres. Rev. E. E. Higbee, D. D. Rev. G. W. Aughinbaugh, D. D., Pres Rev. Joseph A. Keiller, A. M. Rev: P. Greding, D. D. Rev. H. Zimmerman. Rev. A. S. Zerbee, A. M. Ph. D. Mrs. A: M. Lee. Mrs. Elizabeth Gerhart. Miss. M. A. Moritz. N. L. Brewer, Esq. Rev. J. B. Kniest. Rev. J. V. Lerch, A. M. Rev,. Edwin R Willard, A. M. Rev. J. P. Moore, A M. Rev Eph. Epstein, M. D. Rev. J. H. Good, D. D. Rev. H. Rust, A. M. Rev. J. H. Rutenick, D. D. J. B. Kieffer, A. M. Rev. G. W. Willard, D. D.; Pres. Charles Hornung, A. M. Rev. C. H. G. Von Lutenan. C. S. A. Hursh, A. M. Rev. C. C. Klepper, A. M. Miss Sarah J. Thayer. Miss O. U. Rutenick. Miss Jane Hartsock. Rev. J. J. Esher. Rev. W. H. Fumeman. Frederick Mayer, A. B. Rev. Louis Grosenbaugh, A. M. Wm. P. Cope, A. M. 269 - HEIDELBERG COLLEGE The following table will give a list of the students that have been in attendance :