CHAPTER VIII

PLEASANT TOWNSHIP

Organization—The First Residents—Some of the Original Land Entries—Marks and Brands for Stock—Enumeration of Youths—Early Elections and Oficials--Early Township Finances—The Kear Family.

Pleasant township was organized as a civil township June 5, 1837, by the commissioners of the county upon a petition of citizens, who requested its formation, its limits as Pleasant township to embrace township 2 south, range 2 east ; and the petitioners also requested that township I south, range 1 and 2 east and the north half of township 2 south, range 1 east, be attached thereto for township purposes, which was granted. An election for township officers was ordered to be held at the house of James Maddox on June 20, 1837 (the Maddox house was where is now the E. R. Wells farm). The number. of votes polled was to. The next election was for justice of the peace and was held in the log Court House, at which Joseph Gleason was elected. He held the office for 15 years.

THE FIRST RESIDENTS.

The first families in Pleasant township, outside of Van Wert town, were : Henry Myers, Asa Hipshire and Daniel Hipshire, living south of town ; and James and Samuel Maddox on sections 8 and 9, William Miller on section 5, Augustus Bronson on section 6 and Levi Sawyer on section 7. ID the summerof 1837 Stephen and Joseph Gleason, Elisha and Williams Wells settled in the southwest corner of Pleasant township; also, in the fall, William, Thomas, Jacob and Benjamin Thorn. The nearest place that corn could be ground was at East's Mill, three miles west of Lima. It was a tramp-mill run by oxen, working a large wheel set at an angle of about 30 degrees.

SOME OF THE ORIGINAL LAND ENTRIES.

MARKS AND BRANDS FOR STOCK.

Early in the history of Pleasant township, each settler adopted some distinguishing markfor his cattle, sheep and hogs, and these marks and brands were recorded as follows: Asa Cook,—a crop off the right ear; A. Brubaker,—two slits in the right ear ; Joseph Brodnix,—a square crop off each ear and the end of the tail cut off; Aaron A. Bronson,—a crop off the left ear and a slit on the under side of the right ear; Jonathan Balyeat,—a slit in the right ear and on the under side of the left ear; Daniel Cook, —a crop off the right ear and a slit in the same; Samuel M. Clark, a slit in the left ear; John W. Clark,—a slit in the left ear; William A. Clark, a slit on the under side of the left ear; Joseph Clark,—a crop and half crop off the right ear; George S. Crafts,—a crop off the right ear and a slit in each ear; Joseph Collins,—a slit in each ear; William Davis,—a swallow fork in the right ear and a half crop off the under side of the left ear; Peres M. Dix,—a crop off the left ear and a hole in the right ear; Samuel Farnam,—a slit in the right ear; Solomon Farnam,—a slit in the right ear; Samuel Engleright,—a swallow fork in the left ear and a hole in the same ; Enoch S. Edson,-two under bits out of the left ear; Benjamin Gleason,—a standing crop off the under side of the left ear; William Johns,—a square crop off the right ear; William Miller,—a crop off the right ear and a slit in the left ear; Smith Miller,-a crop off the right ear and a slit in the left ear; Thomas S, McKim,—a crop off and a slit in the right ear and a hole in the left ear; William Parent,—a slit in the left ear; Lyman J. Webber,—a swallow fork in the end of each eary E. R. Wells, a square crop off the left ear and a swallow fork in the right ear; J. C. Parkinson,—two slits in the left ear: William Thorn, —a crop and slit in the right ear and a hole in the left ear.

ENUMERATION OF YOUTHS.

Between the 1st and 20th of October, 1840, all the youths in the township, between the ages

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of 4 and 20, unmarried, were enumerated. The results of such enumeration appear below, and indicate that the girls outnumbered the boys by seven, there being 36 of the former and 29 of the latter.

District No. 1.

EARLY ELECTIONS AND OFFICIALS.

The first election held in Pleasant township for county officers was in October, 1837. The judges appointed were Daniel Cook, Levi Sawyer and Elisha Wells. Mr. Wells declined to serve and Stephen Gleason, who had only been a resident of the county 'three days, was appointed in his place. John F. Dodds and Asa Hipshire acted as clerks. A hat was used as a ballot-box. About the middle of the day, a fight occurred and the judges and clerks ran out to see the fight, carrying the hat with them. The election resulted that fall in the election of Robert Gilliland as county commissioner, James Gordon Gilliland as treasurer, and John F. Dodds as auditor.

At an election held April 6, 1840, the following officers were elected : Trustees—Lyman S. Wells, Samuel M. Clark and James T, Maddox ; clerk, Thomas R. Mott ; treasurer, Robert Gilliland; overseers of the poor—S. M. Clark and Daniel Cook; fence viewers—L. R. Wells, J. Q. Graves and Thomas Thorn; supervisors—District No. 1, Robert Gilliland, District No. 2, William Miller, District No. 3, J. H. Eaton, District No. 4, Benjamin Thorn.

At an election held October 13, 1840, for the election of two justices of the peace in Pleasant township, Joseph Gleason received 20 votes ; Thomas Thorn, 21 votes ; Stephen Gleason, II votes; Lyman S. Wells, to votes; and Samuel M. Clark and Samuel Maddox, each I vote. Joseph Gleason and Thomas Thorn were declared duly elected, and were commissioned one week later.

From the poll hook of the election held in Pleasant township for State and county officers,

October 18, 1840, it appears that there were 46 qualified electors, whose names were as follows : A. A. Alderman, Levi Sawyer, Lyman Elliott, George Baney, P. S. Russell, William Myers, Aaron Hipshire, P. Jacob Hines, J. W. Myers, Daniel Hipshire, Alex. York, Robert Gilliland, William Johns, John Smith, S. H. Alderman, William Davis, Mathew Flagg, S. M. Clark, Lyman S. Wells,

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John Clayton, John Myers; T. R. Mott, John Hester, William Lewis, E. R. Wells, W. A. Wells, William Clayton, William Parent, Daniel Cook, Stephen Gleason, William Thorn, Jacob Kyle, Jacob Thorn, Isaac Daugherty, Joseph Gleason, Solomon Farnam, Isaac Shaffer, Enoch Hoaglin, Aaron Hoaglin, Thomas Thorn, George McManima, Henry Foster, L. McManima, Joshua Shaffer, Elisha Wells and Davis Fasnaught.

S. M. Clark, Lyman S. Wells and John Smith were judges, and Thomas R. Mott and Stephen Gleason, clerks.

On May 1, 1841, Elias Evers was commissioned justice of the peace.

At the election held April 4, 1842, the officers elected were : Trustees—Thomas Thorn, George McManima and Robert Miller; clerk, John C. Richey; treasurer, J. Hines; assessor, Isaac Daugherty.

At the election held April 3, 1843, these officers were elected : Trustees—William Johns, Lyman S. Wells and Alpheus Royce; clerk, Eben C. Royce; treasurer, Edward R. Wells; assessor, Isaac Daugherty.

On September 26, 1843, the trustees appointed John C. Richey township clerk, vice Eben C. Royce, removed from the township.

On October 28, 1843, Joseph Gleason was commissioned a justice of the peace.

The officers elected at the election held April 1, 1844, were : Trustees—Robert Gilliland, Lyman S. Wells and William Stripe; clerk, John C. Richey ; treasurer, Walter Buckingham ; assessor, Isaac Dougherty.

On April 7, 1845, these were the officers elected : Trustees—George McManima, Abraham Zimmerman and W. H. Parkinson; clerk, G. E. Burson ; treasurer, William Stripe.

On July 18, 1845, Jacob Thorn was appointed clerk.

The election of April 6, 1846, resulted asfollows : Trustees—Robert Gilliland, George McManima and Abraham Zimmerman; clerk, Jacob Thorn (appointed in default of the clerk-elect to take the oath of office) ; treasurer, William Stripe.

EARLY TOWNSHIP FINANCES.

On March 7, 1842, were reported the receipts and expenditures of the township for the year commencing the first Monday in March, 1841, and ending the first Monday in March, 1842. The amount of taxes collected and drawn from the county treasurer was reported to be $121.15. The following items were represented in

On March 6, 1843, the trustees met and proceeded to settle with the treasurer, who showed a balance of funds in hand, as follows : Town-ship funds, notes and justice of the peace receipts, $38.93 ; road funds, $38.48; school funds, $61.86; a total of $139.27.

THE KEAR FAMILY.

Thomas R. Kear, one of the early settlers of Van Wert County, and one prominently connected with its early history, was born in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, April 27, 1806.

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His father, John Kear, was a shipbuilder and sailor, as was his father before him, and was connected with the Reed family, of Baltimore, Maryland, in the building of ships and managing the same in mercantile business, for many years before and after the Revolutionary War. At Annapolis, Maryland, July 31, 1798, John Kear married Mary Reed, a sister of the two brothers with whom he was associated in business.

During the Revolutionary War John Kear worked in the shipyards, assisting in the building of some of the ships that did noble service in the war for freedom. During the War of 1812 he served as a private in Captain Holt's company, 8th Regiment of Virginia Militia. After the close of that war, he returned to Maryland and having to a considerable extent lost his health, with his family removed to Zanesville, Ohio, from which town he later removed to Licking County, Ohio, where he died November 31, 1820, leaving a widow and six children. Of the three daughters in the family, Eleanor married Richard Pring on August 26, 1819; Mary Ann married John Pring, a brother to Richard Pring; and Amelia married Frederick Baylor. Of the three sons, Thomas R. Kear is the principal subject of this sketch; John R. Kear died unmarried September 29, 1832; and William R. Kear married Mary Johnson, in Harrison township, Van Wert County, by whom he had several children —after her decease, he married her widowed sister, Mfrs. Ann Foster, in Iowa or Nebraska.

Thomas R. Kear, as a boy and young man, was a sailor and worked as a ship carpenter. Removing to Licking County, Ohio, where his father had taken up his residence, he there with his brothers-in-law, John and Richard Pring, engaged in the work of millwrighting. As their business increased and pushed Westward they moved to Champaign County. Ohio, andmade that their home for some years; Here Thomas R. Kear met and married his wife, Catharine Frisinger, a daughter of Peter Frisinger, who fought in the Revolutionary War, and also in the War of 1812, in which he served as a private in Capt. Christopher Morris company of Light Infantry, 4th Regiment of Virginia Militia, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Huston and Lieutenant Colonel Wooding. Peter Frisinger died in the service January 4, 1815, and was buried at Norfolk, Virginia. Mrs. Kear had five sisters, who married and lived to the time of their death in Champaign County, Ohio, where they left many descendants, who still live in that county. Her brothers, William, Jacob, Noah, Peter and John, moved to Mercer and Van Wert counties, Ohio, between the years 1819 and 1835, John and Peter coming to Van Wert county in 1830. Many descendants of these brothers live in these counties at this time.

In 1829 Thomas R. Kear, with his brother-in-law—the Prings—went to Willshire town-ship, Van Wert County, to build a mill at the village of Willshire, but it was not thought advisable to build it on account of the scarcity of cleared lands, so they went over into the State of Indiana and built a mill at or near Muncie, and later one at Pleasant Mills (Mollica) and then returned to Champaign County for a season. In 1835 Thomas R. Kear moved to Willshire township and took up his residence there, working at the carpenter trade and attending to an undertaking business until he moved to the village of Van Wert, when the county seat was moved to that place. He was the second sheriff of Van Wert County, and held that office at intervals for several years. He was an active State militiaman, and when war broke out between the United States and Mexico he was appointed by Governor Mordecai Bartley, May 1, 1846, aide-de-camp, 2nd

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Brigade, 12th Division of Ohio Militia, for the term of six years. He was with his regiment to the close of the war, but saw no active service, as they were not taken out of the State.

Mr. Kear built the first mill in Van Wert, for James Watson Riley, who had contracted with the Board of County Commissioners to build a mill at Van Wert, as one of the conditions and considerations for moving the county seat to Van Wert. John and Richard Pring helped him to build this mill, and it was purchased, and operated as the first mill in Van Wert, by Samuel Clark, one of the oldest residents of the village. Thomas R. Kear and Joseph Gleason built the first steam mill in Van Wert. Later Mr. Kear purchased the interest of Mr. Gleason, and operated the property as a combined saw and grist-mill until the year. 1856, when it was purchased by Dr. William Smith.

Mr. Kear died in May, 1864, leaving a widow (Catherine Frisinger Kear), who survived him many years. He was also survived by eight children. Of the daughters, Mary Margaret married Jackson Pence, and had seven children ; Lydia Ann first married Emery R. Underwood (who died in the army in 1862 or 1863, leaving. two children) then married Thomas Malloy, by whom she had one child, and finally became the wife of Benjamin Baltzell ; Amanda Ann married William P. Wolcott, late recorder of Van Wert County, by whom she had two sons who arrived at maturity—Harry K. and Edward W. Wolcott, now a prominent law firm of Norfolk, Virginia; Sarah Ellen married George V. Asher, of Licking County, Ohio, and to them were born three children. Of the sons, John J. married Mahala Boles and to them were born eight children ; Benjamin F. (who served three years in the Civil War) married Alice Beagles, by whom he had three children—after her decease married Mrs. Jane Fowler, a war widow with two children, by whom he had five children ; Robert Thomas married Catharine Tope and to them were born five children; Wiley McDonald married Malinda Romig, of Brandon, 'Iowa, and to whom were born seven children, the eldest being Lieut. C. R. Kear, United States Navy.