150 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY In about the year 1846, William H. Billings opened a small store on his farm in Northwest township, where the unpretentious little village, called Billingstown, afterwards sprung up. He slowly increased his stock and continued in business some fifteen years. Charles Hall and Orin Fenton succeeded Mr. Billings in the mercantile trade, but they retired after a few months and were followed by Jacob Kintigh, who, for many years, kept a well-patronized country store. S. Wesley Houtz opened a store on "Gravel Hill," near Nettle Lake, about 1877, and, in 1880, Welch Brothers obtained it in a trade and conducted it for several years. Jacob Kintigh, mentioned above, built an ashery at "Kintightown," southeast of the lake, in about the year 1854, and at the same time began selling from a small stock of goods which he placed in his dwelling. For the first few years his goods were weighed with steelyards but, after about 1856, when he erected a small store building, he had a much larger stock of goods and much better means for weighing the same. He did a thriving business, as citizens without money could take their ashes to him and get goods from his store in exchange. This was a great accommodation to the neighborhood. His son, George, succeeded him in the mercantile trade, in about 1866, and at the latter's death, another son, Cyrus, secured the store and conducted it for several years. "Kintightown" at one time was a small industrial center. A dam across Nettle creek afforded excellent water power and a saw mill there did an extensive business. Dr. James Steward, of considerable local fame, practiced medicine there for a time, and a blacksmith shop was established and conducted by Aaron Shinn. In about 185o, George Porter opened a small store about half a mile east of the present site of Columbia, and about three years later moved into the village, which at that time was called Porter's Corners. Since his advent there, Columbia has been an important trading point for the surrounding country. In about the year 1855, Augustus Moore opened a small store at Kunkle's Corners, in Madison township, the stock consisting largely of groceries. A fair trade was obtained, but after continuing some three years, the stock was closed out and the building sold to Levi Hendricks, who sold goods therein for a short time. In 1854, Joseph Rogers brought the first stock of goods to Pioneer, which consisted of a general assortment of articles that were in demand at country stores at the time. Philetus W. Norris soon went in with him, but after a few years sold out and Rogers continued on alone until about 1860, when he closed out his business. David Worth was the second merchant, a Mr. Colmer, third, and a Mr. Roberts, fourth. George R. Joy was the fifth, having taken Worth's place. After him came Bolds, the sixth, and then Canfield, the seventh. The freight wagons that were driven in early days and gave Williams county merchants transportation facilities to the canal at Defiance, thence reaching the East and South, have become obsolete, their places being taken by the railroads. Of these the Lake Shore RESOURCES AND EARLY ENTERPRISES -151 & Michigan Southern has 24 miles of main track and 31 miles of second track and sidings in the county ; the Wabash system 45 miles of main and 22 miles of side track and the Cincinnati Northern 22 miles of main and 4 miles of side track. The total for the county is 91 miles of main track and 57 miles of second track and sidings. These roads pay over $40,000 taxes annually upon their property in the county. CHAPTER X EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT THE first schools in Williams county were supported by subscription or by assessment upon the patrons according to the number of children they sent to school. True, the law requiring the establishment of public schools in Ohio went into effect in 1825, but it was a good while after that before anything closely resembling the common school system of today had been evolved. But it should not be hastily concluded from this that education was entirely neglected. Parents who could afford it gave their children the advantage of good schools, as good as could be maintained, and among those who were very poor there was much self-sacrifice that the children might be educated and prepared for better success than their fathers and mothers had attained in the struggle of life. Some very poor boys in Ohio, in that period when there were no common schools, supplemented the little schooling they could obtain by fire-light reading, and so beginning, became in later years the great men of the State, and a few of them the greatest men of the nation. The difference, comparing the present with the early days in Williams county, is that now the schools are open without cost to boys and girls, without regard to their family importance or family wealth, and it is no disgrace to attend a free school. Then it was, and free schools were sometimes called "pauper" schools. So, it may be observed, we are more truly democratic today, in this, than the fathers were who considered themselves the special champions of human equality. This clearly illustrates a point which is too often overlooked by those who pretend to think upon economic or social questions. The righteousness of the principle of human equality (not in mental or physical endowment, but as heirs to the blessings of Providence) is recognized inherently by all mankind. And we might say with considerable historical accuracy that there has never been a time when this principle was not advocated, more or less, and oftimes by those who in practice encouraged the enslavement of their fellow men. The individual is the creature of social conditions, and so long as conditions were such that only the poorest of the poor rejoiced over the introduction of the common school system, the more opulent ones, with a heartlessness which is too often a companion of wealth, sought to render the movement unpopular by stigmatizing those feeble institutions of learning. How great has been the change and how much we have improved in three-quarters of a century! With 152 - EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT the record of the past before him, it would be a reckless man, it seems, who would attempt to limit the possibilities of the future. Socialism is, or should be, a growth, or advancement toward better social conditions; and those who meet the arguments of the overzealous advocates of Universal Brotherhood with the time-worn expression: "It is impossible, Sir !" base their reasoning and conclusion (unconsciously, however,) upon premises that cannot be denied—their own unfitness for such an Utopian state. Altruism will not displace egoism as the result of a statutory enactment—the change must be evolutionary in its nature. And the common school system of America is a powerful factor in the onward and upward movement. Probably the first school house built in Williams county was in St. Joseph township, in the old village of Denmark. It was built of logs and stood north of the public square. It has long since disappeared, as has also the village in which it was situated. Near it stood a large apple tree, which was said to have been planted by the Indians. The first term of school taught in it, and perhaps in the county, was by Rev. Israel Stoddard. This was as early as 1837 or 1838. Immediately after him John Cornell taught a term or two in the same house, and there were several, other terms taught there before it was abandoned. The next school house built in St. Joseph township was about a mile north of Edgerton. This house remained standing for over a quarter of a century and was formerly used for election purposes. Shortly after this, or about the same time, school houses were built in the Carr neighborhood, in the east part of the township on the Bellefontaine road, and also one in the northwestern district of the township, on the same thoroughfare, the latter structure being for years known as the Wilson school house. In that neighborhood, however, several terms of school had been taught in rooms temporarily fitted up. In addition to Mr. Stoddard, Rev. Chambers, Mrs. P. E. Wilson, Mary Dillman and Marian Preston were among the first teachers in the township. A Mr. Southworth also taught there in the early days. He was eminent in scholarship, but unbalanced in mind, and is remembered by some as an old man, tall, spare, and with long gray hair and beard, traveling. about continually, leaning on two staffs, carrying his budget upon his, shoulders. He was a harmless old man, stopping at whatever house or place night overtook him. He would read or expound the Scriptures and pray with those who kept him, in apparent payment for his entertainment. The first school houses were built of course in most instances of logs, and considering the abundance of timber, they could well have been constructed much larger and more commodious. A description of one of them would doubtless answer for all. The desks were placed around the wall and the seats were mostly made of basswood logs, split into halves. Upon these rude and uncomfortable seats, pupils of all ages and conditions were compelled to sit the six hours per day of school. These pioneer school houses were in strong contrast with the light, airy and commodious school buildings in every district in 153 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY the county today ; and yet it is a fact that as much solid work was done by pupils in those early school buildings as in the more elegant ones of the present. Wood was furnished by the patrons in proportion to the number of children sent. Often, it was drawn to the school house by the parents, in the log, and cut up by the pupils. Most of the pupils found their way through the woods to the school houses, roads being comparatively unknown. Along these school trails they went to school, and at night to spelling schools, lighting their way, in the night time, with torches made from the bark of hickory trees. The old-fashioned spelling school is seldom now heard of, but it is doubtful if any modern entertainment can equal it in interest or in lasting benefit to the participants. The young people would go miles to attend one of these events. It was district against district, and it was wonderful how each would back their champions. The method was different at times in spelling down. Sometimes they would stand up and spell around and the last one up was the winner. Another method, and by some thought to be a more thorough test, was to stand up two and two, and the one who was able to spell the whole crowd down in that way would carry off the championship. Those friendly mental contests were often very exciting and continued until late into the night. Webster's Elementary spelling book was used for many years, and finally gave way to McGuffey's. That the pupils in our common schools then were much better spellers than now is beyond all question. There was a general uniformity of school books throughout the county. McGuffey's readers, the old edition, were introduced into the schools at an early period. Previous to that, other books were used as readers, the New Testament being prominent among them. No uniformity in regard to arithmetics was practiced until the adoption of Ray's series, and these have been in quite general use since. His Third Part, or Practical, was the standard for many years, and there are many who think it has never been excelled for the purpose for which it was designed. No particular system of penmanship was ever taught, being as various and ever changing as were the teachers. Davies' algebra was at first used by the advanced pupils, but it was supplanted by Ray, who has ever since apparently held the ground. The first school house in Bryan was a small log structure, situated on the south side of the square on lots near the corner of Butler and Lynn streets, and this was where A. J. Tressler taught the first public school. Previous to this, however, Miss Harriet Powell had taught in the same building a private school for the instruction of juvenile pupils. Subsequently, and in about 1845, a one-story frame school house was built on the lots at the northwest corner of Butler and Beech streets, near where now stands one of the public school buildings. In the contract made by Mr. Tressler to teach the Bryan school, he was allowed forty-five dollars for a three-months' term, the rate being fifteen dollars per month. The average attend- 154 -EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ance at his school was from twenty-five to thirty-five pupils. As late as 1862 there was but one public school building in Bryan, that one being near the Methodist church. It was without a bell or any school apparatus, and there was but three departments—High, Secondary and Primary. The number of enrolled pupils in that year, 1862, was 224. The Bryan Normal School was opened January I, 1864, with an enrollment of forty pupils, and soon numbered 100; and its annual catalogue exhibited an enrollment of about two hundred, in which were instructed a large per cent of the leading educators and professional men for years, in this and adjoining counties. In 1874, C. W. Mykrantz, the principal of the Normal, was chosen superintendent of the public schools of Bryan, and continued to hold that position for years, thus uniting the two institutions. The old high school building was used for a brief time for an experiment in establishing a commercial college, but it failed for want of adequate support. When the village of Stryker was laid out, there was an old log school house near by that was used for school purposes until the town, with the aid of the township, built a two-story frame house in 1856-57. School districts, however, were first organized in Springfield township in 1836, and as the township became better settled the districts were reorganized, and at present there are eight districts permanently established, exclusive of the Stryker district. The first school house was built in district No. 1, as the township was most thickly settled in that locality. The following named persons were among the early teachers of Springfield township : Jonathan B. Taylor, Orin G. Greely, Jane Washburn, Elizabeth Miller, Sarah C. Jones and L. W. Prettyman. In 1857, when the two-story frame school house was built in Stryker, the town seemed to be growing at a rapid rate and in a few years there was a demand for a larger building, which was constructed, and the village has since kept abreast of the times in the matter of public schools. The first school house in Brady township was built near the site of West Unity, and the first school therein was taught by William L. Smith. A Dr. Veers taught the first school in the village, the sessions being held in a small log cabin. The first frame school house in West Unity was built on the south side of Jackson street, and the town has never been behind any of its competitors in the way of schools, the present school building being universally conceded to be among the finest in the county. The style of the architecture is modern, and it is a magnificent specimen of architectural skill. It is situated on a fine eminence in the southern part of the town and has two spacious front entrances, the principal materials used in the composition of the building being brick and stone. Brady township is divided into nine school districts, exclusive of West Unity. The first school taught in district No. I was in the year 1852. Julia M. Linsley was the first teacher and the term was thirteen weeks in length. In 1854, S. S. McPherson taught the first term in district No. 2, and the first school taught in No. 3 was 155 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY in 1848, by Ann Shorthill. There are no records of districts Nos. 4, 5 and 7, but district No. 6 was organized and a school house erected in 1875, the first teacher being Abraham Crabb. The first school building in No. 8 was built in 1839, and the first teacher therein was Mary Shipman. The first school taught in district No. 9 was in 1851 or 1852, by L. M. Boothman, father of the late ex-Congressman Boothman. The first school house in the vicinity of Melbern was built about the year 1837. It was a small log cabin, with a huge fire place in one end, which fed a tall chimney built on the outside. The desks were rough boards placed on wooden pins driven in the wall, and the seats were clapboards, with legs made of wooden poles: Old man Barney was the first teacher in this primitive school house, receiving his pay by subscription. Mr. Barney was an odd old fellow, with peculiar habits, but he was a good teacher, though his education at this day would be designated mediocre. This house was used about two years, when another log structure was built half a mile south of Melbern. Barney taught there also, as (lid Thomas Hill. This was used five or six years, when the third one for the neighborhood was erected at the geographical center of the township. This was also a log building, but about 1860 it was replaced by a neat frame house, which was used for many years and afterwards converted into a town hall. William Neavill, Edgar Hubbard, Sarah Washburn and J. B. Kimmell were early teachers in that neighborhood. It is said that Mr. Kimmell used to punish by tying boys and girls together and then standing them on the top of seats. The Pool school house, in the southwestern part of Center township, was built about 1844. It has been replaced by several others. Others were built in the northern part as early as 1840, and possibly as early as 1837 or 1838. The Yockey district had its first house about 1840. A log school cabin was built at Williams Center, on the hill south of the creek, about the year 1838, old man Barney, the Yankee, being one of the first teachers. The house was used until about 1844, when a small brick structure was erected. This building was used until some time in the late 50's, religious services also being held in it, public assemblages gathering there, and withal it was a building of great public utility. In about the year 1852, the Maumee Presbytery began the project of constructing a seminary at Williams Center. The citizens without regard to religious convictions contributed to the enterprise and a frame building in the western part of town was immediately erected. James Anderson, a man of fine character and culture, was given charge of the school and a fair attendance of pupils was secured. Mr. Anderson died in about three years and his brother David was then given charge of the school, but it finally was abandoned, principally because it was sought to teach the rigid orthodox tenets of the Presbyterian ritual, to the exclusion, it was thought by some, of more important subjects. The seminary was succeeded, in 1858, by a fine public graded school, with J. H. Omo as the first 156 - EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT teacher. The sessions were held eight or nine months of the year, and from forty to seventy young ladies and gentlemen were in attendance. The school flourished exceedingly and many profitable sessions were held. In about 1843, a small log school house was built in the northwestern part of Florence township. James Welch, an attorney from Bryan, was one of the first teachers. This house was used about ten years, when it was destroyed by fire and a small frame was built near there to take its place. Among the families that sent children to the old log house were those of George Perkey, S. Martin, Moses Thomas, Solomon Parker, James McClarren, and perhaps others. At New Berlin there was a log school house as early as 1846. Those who were interested in this school were the Arnolds, Edwin Wells, William Van Fossen, George White and others. It is said that the Arnolds had several terms of school before the first school house was built, the sessions being held in their cabins as early as 1843. In the summer of 1842, a term of school was taught in the cabin of Samuel Cain, near Union Corners, by Miss Olive Thompson. Cain had five or six children and Charles Allman sent two, and that probably constituted nearly the entire enrollment. The teacher was paid about one dollar a week and taught for two months. In about the year 1844, a school house was built near B. C. Pickle's, and Abigail Gordon is said to have been one of the first teachers in this house. It was used a few years, when a frame building was erected on land donated by Mr. Pickle, and among those who sent children early, aside from Mr. Pickle, were Samuel Cain and Levi Campbell. David Singer, Sr., had built a log cabin for his father, an old man who had come to the county with him, but the old gentleman did not remain long and the house was used for school and church purposes. The first term of school was taught there in about 1843, and about 1847 a small log school house was erected about half a mile east of the Singer Corners. Enoch Thomas and Theodore Beeso taught in the old Singer cabin and Hannah Miller taught the first school in the school house cast of the corners. In about 185o this large school district—which included about twelve square miles—was divided, and school houses were built a mile west of what is now Edon ; a mile east of Edon ; two miles northwest of Edon ; two miles northeast of Edon ; and school houses were also built in two or three places in the southern part of the township. Previous to the winter of 1874-75, the children of Edon went east and west one mile to the country schools, but, at the latter date, Solomon Metzler was employed to teach in a large room in the Sheline House, which he did to the satisfaction of the citizens. During the following summer Mrs. Hattie Miller taught a select school, and the succeeding winter William Holmes taught. In 1876 a two-story brick school house was erected in the village, and ever since Edon has enjoyed excellent educational facilities.. In the winter of 1839, Joel F. Pool taught the first school in Jefferson township in an old house on the land of Thomas Reid, - 157 - 158 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY now owned by Sylvester Shiffler. This was before the township was organized into school districts. In 1840, George W. Durbin taught the second school in a log school house near where the Center school house now stands. The logs were small and the door was made of clapboards. Some time during the winter, the pupils barred the teacher out and asked him to treat them to something. He procured a rail and with it broke open the door, when the pupils were glad to sue for terms. In 1841, the trustees divided the township into twelve school districts. In 1842, James Welch taught the first school in district No. 5, and in 1843 he taught the second school. In the summer of 1842, M. B. Plummer taught the first school in district No. 6, and in the winter of 1842-43, he taught the second term ; in the winter of 1843-44 he taught the third term. In the winter of 1844-45, John W. Porter taught the fourth term. Seth B. Hyatt taught the first school in district No. 7, in the winter of 1843-44. Jacob Reid taught the first school in district No. 8, in 1845. J. Engle taught the first school in district No. 9, in the winter of 1845. Miss Brundydge taught the first school in district No. 3, Henry Sheets in No. 4, Lewis J. Baldwin in No. 1, and a Miss Powell in No. 2, and Annette Hart in district No. 12. From 1840 to 1846, the population of the township was small and frequently two districts were joined together for school purposes. In the spring of 1841, the first school house in Bridgewater township was built in district No. 1, in the southeastern part of the township, on Anson Smith's farm, and during the summer of the same year Miss Mary McCrillis was employed to teach a term of three months. The house was a small, rude, log structure, with rough clapboard desks and seats, small windows, and a huge fire-place, which, when filled with burning limbs and logs, was the most cheerful feature in the room, excepting, perhaps, the handsome teacher. The summer was cold and wet and it was found necessary to keep a fire a portion of the time. Curtis Cogswell, Chandler Holt. Asa Smith, Anson Smith, Daniel Smith and Simeon Cobb sent children to Miss McCrillis. The young lady was handsome, lively, good company, and quite a flirt. It is told of her that a handsome stalwart young fellow conceived a passion for Miss McCrillis, and with her permission and sanction, "sat up" with her the greater portion of three nights during each week at the beginning of the term. In consequence of this habitual nocturnal wakefulness, the young lady was very drowsy the following days in the school room and would often fall asleep in her chair, only to awake with a start at some unusual noise occasioned by the mischief of her pupils. As a result she was discharged by the directors and a Miss Heritage was employed to teach the remainder of the term. Albert Sumner taught about two weeks in the same house in the winter of 1841-42, and Abigail Gordon the following summer. Joseph Rogers taught during the winter of 1844-45 in a new house in the same district and John Opdycke taught the following winter. Mary Clark was also an early teacher there. The early teachers EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT - 159 in the Waterston district were Lucy Frisbee, Cornelia Squires, Jeremiah Rockwell and Angelica Gay. A log school building was erected in the Sumner neighborhood, in the northern part of the township, in about the year 1843, and Messrs. Sumner, Ayres, Willcox and Lindsay sent children to the school. Messrs. Van Court and Wittington built a frame school house at Bridgewater Center in 1848, and Sirena Lindsay was the first teacher. Bridgewater township has excellent schools. The first school building in Millcreek township was erected on Section 26, but upon the erection of Fulton county that section was made a part of Gorham township, and the first school building in the present limits of Millcreek was upon Section 20, not far from the present village of Alvordton. The first school in the township was taught by Joseph Reasoner. In 1851, a school building was erected in district No. 1, and Miss Sarah McClean taught the first school there. School was commenced in district No. 2, in 1853, and No. 6, the same year, David Black being the first teacher in the latter district. The first school house in Superior township was built of logs, erected in 1841, and located near the east line of the township, on George Wisman's farm. It was familiarly known as the "Bible School House." The second was built in 1845, and was situated near the central part of the township, in the midst of the locality known as the Shaull settlement. During two or three months of the summer of 1849, a young woman taught a school of youths in a shanty which stood within the present limits of Montpelier, and this was the first school undertaking on the ground where that thriving village is located. Not long after this a frame structure about 24x30 feet in size, was erected, and this answered the educational demands for a number of years. The building was afterwards purchased by the village and township, jointly, and was removed to the public square, where it was used as a place for holding township and village elections and other official meetings. In 1874, a new house, about 30x40 feet, was built, having two stories and a school room on each floor. A Mr. Collister, a young lawyer, at that time had management of the school, but only one of the rooms was required to accommodate himself and pupils. In the years of 1875 to 1878, inclusive, George W. Dustin had the management, with one assistant, and both floors were occupied. In 1878-79, Hiram H. Calvin, now a resident of Toledo, was superintendent and graded the schools, and in 1879-8o, Ezra E. Bechtol had superintendence. The population had so increased by 1881, that it became necessary to erect another and larger building, and W. A. Saunders was made superintendent and principal. The rapid development of the town soon caused a pressing need of a more substantial and commodious structure for school purposes, and, in 1888, a magnificent brick building was erected. A short time since it was found necessary to build an addition of equal size, and Montpelier can boast, if she so desires, of having school facilities second 160 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY to none. Mr. Saunders remained in charge of the schools from 1881 to 1886, and a few years later again assumed the management, which he has since retained. A large measure of the success which has attended Montpelier's educational institution is due to his ability as a teacher and superintendent. In the early winter of 1841, a small log school house was erected in the northwest part of Northwest township, on land now owned by Isaac Parsons. Those interested in the construction were William H. Billings, Jonathan Butler, Thomas Whaley, John Whaley, T. F. Whaley, Adolphus Rogers, Hiram Russell, and possibly a few others who resided either in the township or in the adjoining states of Michigan or Indiana. The first teacher in this house, and, so far as known, in the township, was Miss Abigail Hills, who taught two or three months during the winter of 1841-42. She had enrolled about ten pupils, received her pay from the public school fund, and during the term was married to T. F. Whaley, which occurrence, however, did not stop school until the end of the term. This house was used by all the families in that part of Northwest township and by several in the adjoining states, until about 1846-47, when the district was divided and those families along the center of the western side of the township erected another log school building near where the residence of I. Cain now stands. The log house on Parson's farm was used a few years, perhaps until 1849, when a frame building was erected a short distance north of it, Mariah Marquart being the first teacher. The second school house in the Whaley neighborhood was built, about 1848, on the farm of T. F. Whaley, and it was a small frame structure. This house was used for educational purposes until about 186o, when another frame building, called the "Old Red School House," was erected on the old Whaley farm and used until 1878, when it was succeeded by a neat brick building. The first school house at Columbia was built in 1849 or 185o, and among the first teachers there was Rebecca Thomas, who taught during a few months of the summer of 1852. This lady afterwards became Mrs. Joseph W. Back, of Bridgewater township, and now lives with her son, Dr. Albert W. Back, of Montpelier. Mariah Kinney taught the next term at Columbia. Among the early teachers, also at that place, were Robert Carlin (for years superintendent of schools of Steuben county, Indiana), and wife, and Jefferson Friend and wife. The first school house in the northeastern part of the township was built north of Nettle Lake, about four rods west of the Winebrinerian church, not far from the year 1845. It was erected by Daniel Smith, William Stickney, Anson Smith, Thomas Knight, and perhaps two or three others. This house, a frame structure, was soon afterwards burned to the ground by a man, it was thought, who had been put out of the house for disorderly conduct while divine service was being held there. A second house was built about 1854, at "Kintightown," and it was used for school purposes continuously until 1876, when the present building, north of the cemetery, was erected. Other EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT - 161 districts throughout the township were supplied with houses at a comparatively early date, and Northwest has been and is yet in the front rank, as regards her district schools. In 1842, the first school house in Madison township—a rude log structure—was erected one mile east of Kunkle's Corners. The township was first divided into two school districts in April, 1843, but the log house mentioned above was erected before the township was organized, or before districts had been created, and was located where it would do the most good. In May, 1843, the pupils in this district—which became No. I—were as follows: Celinda Angell, Orpha C. Angell, Alpheus Angell, Christina Barrett, Benjamin Barrett, Sally Ann Barrett, John Barrett, Mary Ann Barrett, Elijah Barrett, Charles, Hannah, Ray and Miles Woodworth, Mary Ann Young, Sarah Hunt, John Connelly, William Connelly, Calvin Connelly, Harrison Connelly, Jacob Reasoner and Elizabeth Reasoner. In March, 1844, three additional school districts were created, making then a total of five in the township. District No. 4 enumerated but five pupils, as follows : Jasper A. Best, Abner Johnson, Celestia Johnson, Nancy Johnson and Lucy M. Rogers. This was the first enrollment at what is now Pioneer, and from the above two enumerations it may be observed that, in i844, there was quite a large settlement in the southeastern part of the township, a small one in the vicinity of Pioneer, while the other parts of the township were very meagerly settled. Alanson Smith and a Miss Angell were among the first teachers in the vicinity of Kunkle. District No. 4 (near Pioneer) had school in the cabin of Silander Johnson, as early as 1844, and several terms were taught there, though but few children were in the neighborhood. The first school house in Pioneer—a frame building—was erected in 1847, and was located in the vicinity of the old burying ground. The first teacher was Miss Rachel Baker, of Amboy, Mich., who taught a summer term of three months. A Miss Snow, of Bridgewater township, taught in the same house during the following summer. From this beginning, educational interests advanced at Pioneer until a high school department was created about thirty years ago, since which time many have entered life's battle with diplomas secured in the Pioneer schools. Williams county now has in the township districts 111 school houses for elementary schools ; in the separate districts 12 elementary schools and two high schools, making a grand total of 125 school buildings, with 176 rooms. The value of the school property in the township districts is $111,500; in the separate districts, $198,200, making an aggregate of $309,700. One hundred and seventy-eight teachers are employed, teaching 31 weeks in the township schools and 34 in the others, at salaries ranging from $32 to $82 per month. The enumeration of children of school age (between 6 and 21) is 6,8o8. The actual enrollment of pupils is 79 per cent of the enumeration in the township districts and 88 per cent in the separate districts. There are no high schools in the 11 162 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY township districts, but there are fourteen in the separate districts. The average cost of tuition of the pupils enrolled is $9.53 in the elementary schools of the township districts, and $6.69 in the elementary and $22.81 in the high schools of the separate districts. The county received from the state, mainly from the common school fund, $14,125.06 for the support of education in 1904; from local taxation, $72,757.43 ; from the sale of bonds, $1,211.75; from all other sources, $13,525.01; making the total receipts but a little less than $102,000, to which should be added a balance on hand, September 1, 1903, of $93,682.92, swelling the aggregate funds to $195,- 302.17. Out of this there was paid $44,243.45 to teachers in elementary schools, and $9,123.50 to teachers in high schools; $1,679 for supervision, $57,664.26 on buildings and grounds, $6,628.51 on bonds and interest, and $21,108.91 for all other purposes, making an aggregate expenditure of $140,447.63. On September I, 1904, the close of the fiscal year, the balance on hand was $54,854.54. In the county there are the village and special districts of Alvordton, W. L. Fulton, superintendent, and school property valued at $6,500, annual expenditures, $2,455.68; Bryan, J. W. Wyandt, superintendent, property valued at $80,000, annual expenditures, $38,041.49; Edgerton, J. E. Hutchison, superintendent, property valued at $10,000, annual expenditures, $3,339.10; Edon, W. A. Estrich, superintendent, property valued at $1,000, annual expenditures, $5,304.84; Montpelier, W. A. Saunders, superintendent, property valued at $36,000, annual expenditures, $18,154.43 ; Pioneer, A. J. Brown, superintendent, property valued at $10,000, annual expenditures, $2,411.20; Stryker, G. W. Hurless, superintendent, property valued at $30,000, annual expenditures, $23,665.66; and West Unity, W. A. Salter, superintendent, property valued at $20,000, annual expenditures, $5,076.29. The county examiners of teachers are O. E. Ewan, H. E. Umstead and A. J. Brown. The teachers have a county institute annually, and three additional county meetings. CHAPTER XI BENCH AND BAR THE establishment of courts of justice and the installation of the necessary officials was naturally the first work attending the organization of Williams county. Under the old constitution of 1802, which was in vogue at the time of the organization, the Supreme Court had jurisdiction, both original and appellate, and, auxiliary to it, was the court of common pleas. On the adoption of the present constitution, March to, 1851, the district, common pleas and county probate courts assumed jurisdiction. During the period of the old constitution, the plan of having three citizens act as associate judges—theoretically supporting the legal subtleties of the president judge with their native shrewdness and knowledge of human nature—was continuously in operation. The associate judges in the Williams county common pleas court under the old regime were: Pierce Evans, 1824 to 1828; John Perkins, 1824 to 1828 ; Robert Shirley, 1824 to 1836; William Bowen, 1828 to 1829; Elisha Scribner, 1828 to 1829; Benjamin Leavell, 1829 to 1830; William Preston, 1829 to 1830; Foreman Evans, 1830 to 1837; Oliver Crane, 1830 to 1831; Payne C. Parker, 1831 to 1838; James M. Gillespie, 1836 to 1840 ; Charles C. Waterhouse, 1837 to 1839 ; Nathaniel B. Adams, 1838 to 1838 (a few months only) ; Lyman Langdon, 1838 to 1839 ; Jonas Colby, 1839 to 1842 ; Reuben B. James, 1840 to 1843 ; Wiliam D. Haymaker, 1841 to 1845 ; Jonathan B. Taylor, 1842 to 1845; Thomas Kent, 1843 to 1849; Payne C.. Parker, 1845 to 1852 ; Abner Ayres, 1845 to 1852; Wiliam M. Stubbs, 1849 to 1852. Pierce Evans, one of the first associate judges, was of Kentucky birth, and removed to the head of the rapids of the Maumee and resided there during the years 1822 and 1823, and then removed to a farm below Defiance, where he lived the remainder of his life. John Perkins seems to have been a leading spirit among Williams county pioneers, and he was one of the earliest settlers of the Maumee valley, having removed from Ross county to Prairie du Masque, on the Maumee river, in 1816 or 1817, and from there to Brunersburg in 1819. He held the position of associate judge for four years, and, about October 1, 1833, removed from Brunersburg to where the village of Pulaski now stands. Dr. Jonas Colby was a graduate of Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, and removed to Defiance in 1832, where he continued to practice his profession for over forty years. Although he filled the - 163 - 164 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY judicial capacity for some time, his chief renown was as a physican,, and the incidents of his early adventures in swimming over the swollen streams of the country to reach his patients would doubtless form a chapter of courage and peril that physicians of the present day are not under the necessity of encountering. Dr. Thomas Kent was born in Loudoun county, Va., March 30, 18o6, and was reared in Virginia until seventeen years of age, when he migrated to Ohio and engaged in carding and fulling in Columbiana county. In 1835 'he began the study of medicine, in which he graduated in 1838. In 1839 he began practice in Lafayette (Pulaski) and there remained he Bryan was located in 1841, in the midst of the woods, when he located there and with the exception of a few years had his residence there until his death. Abner Ayres was a cooper by trade and followed that occupation in Richland county until the fall of 1835., when he entered 16o acres of land in Brady township, this county, upon which he located and cleared it up, undergoing all the hardships of frontier life. In 1858 he went to West Unity, where he engaged for a time in the' dry goods trade, and later in the boot and shoe business. During the later years of his life he lived in retirement at West Unity. William M. Stubbs was one of the pioneers of Williams county, and was born, June 22, 1810, in Tompkins county, N. Y. He received the benefits of a common school education and assisted on the home farm until he became of age, coming to Williams county in 1836. He purchased 220 acres of unimproved land in Brady township, built a cabin and began the work of making a new home in what was then considered the wilderness of the west. He moved to Stryker in 1873 and spent the remainder of his life there, associated in the drug business with his son. Under the constitution of 1802 the state was divided into three circuits, for each of which the legislature elected a president judge, and the associate judges, sitting with him, constituted the court of common pleas. The districts were changed from year to year and increased in number; and when Williams county was organized, in 1824, it became a part of the second circuit, which at that time included about one-fifth of the territory in Ohio. Having given a list of names of those who served as associate judges for Williams county under the old constitution, it may here be mentioned that the first circuit judge who presided after the organization of counties in Northwestern Ohio, was George Tod, father of the late governor, David Tod, and the second was Ebenezer Lane, who was subsequently elected supreme judge. Judge Tod's term of office had expired, however, before courts were held in Williams county, and therefore Judge Lane was the first president judge to officiate in the Williams county court of common pleas. The difficulties of riding such a large circuit on horseback may be imagined, and this may account for the fact that, although the first term of court was held at Defiance in May, 1824, and the second in October of the same year, Judge Lane did not put in an appearance until the May BENCH AND BAR - 165 term of 1825. The associate justices for the county were Robert Shirley, John Perkins and Pierce Evans, and on May 5, 1824, these gentlemen met, produced their commissions and ordered the opening of the court. John Evans was clerk protempore, and William Preston sheriff. After perfecting its organization the court adjourned for three days, and on May 8, reassembled and proceeded to dispatch business, concerning which we give the following record taken from the old journal, which is still preserved in the clerk of courts' office at Bryan : "The court fixed the rate of Ferriage across the Maumee river and the Auglaize river at the following prices : For a footman, 6 1/4; man and horse, 18 3/4 ; loaded wagon and team, 1.00; a four-wheeled carriage, or empty wagon and team, 75 ; loaded cart and team, 5o; for an empty cart and team, sled or sleigh and team, 37 1/2 ; for every horse, mare, mule or ass, one year old or upwards, 6 1/4 ; for every head of meat cattle, 4; hogs and sheep per head, 2. "The court grant a license to Benjamin Leavel to Keep a ferry across the Maumee and Auglaize at Defiance, upon his paying into the county treasury the sum of one dollar and fifty cents, for the term of one year. "The Court grant Benjamin Leavel a license to vend merchandise at his residence in the town of Defiance for the term of one year upon paying into the county treasury ten dollars. "The Court order that there shall be an election held according to law for two justices of the peace in each of the townships petitioned for, when granted, and that the clerk shall advertise said elections. "The Court order that minutes be made that John Cannon this day declared upon his oath his intention to become a citizen of the United States. "John Cannon came into court and declared upon his oath that it was his intention to become a citizen of the United States. "The Court grant a license to George Lantz to keep a ferry across the Maumee river at the crossing of the State road at Defiance for the term of one year, upon his paying into the county treasury one dollar. "John Evans. having been appointed Recorder for the county of Williams by the court of common pleas for said Williams county, the said John Evans this day gave bond in the sum of one thousand dollars, with Foreman Evans and Pierce Evans his sureties, approved of by the court and took the oath of office and the oath to support the constitution of the State of Ohio aid that of the United States. "And the court then adjourned without day." The next term of court was begun and held "on Monday, the 25th day of October, A. D., 1824, at the court house in the town of Defiance (the temporary seat of Justice) in and for said county." A" portion of the record of that term is here given : HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY - 165 "Charles W. Ewing, Esq., is appointed to prosecute the pleas of the state in behalf of the county. "The sheriff returned the venire heretofore issued by the clerk of this court for a grand jury, who being called answered to their respective names, and thereupon the prosecuting attorney challenged the whole array, which challenge, upon consideration, is sustained by the court, and the whole array was sot aside. And thereupon the court ordered a new venire to issue to the sheriff, commanding him to summon fifteen good and lawful men of the county having the qualifications of electors, forthwith to appear before the court to serve as grand jurors ; which venire being returned by the said sheriff, that he as commanded had summoned the following persons, who being called answered to their names." Thereupon the following gentlemen entered upon their duties as the first grand jury that ever deliberated in Williams county : William Hunter, George Lantz, John Hilton, Foreman Evans, Montgomery Evans, Thomas Driver, Benjamin Mulican, James Shirley, Jonathan Merrithew, Timothy S. Smith, Arthur Burrows, Thomas Warren, Theophilus Hilton, Hugh Evans, Daniel Brainard. Timothy S. Smith was chosen as foreman and they retired to the room assigned them. In due course of time the grand jury returned into court and presented bills of indictment against Enoch Buck, for keeping a ferry on the Maumee river without a license, and Benjamin Leavell for keeping a ferry across the Auglaize without a license. Leavell pleaded guilty and was fined one dollar and costs, but the indictment against Buck was quashed. The first cases of record appear in the proceedings of this October term of court—Timothy S. Smith in certiorari vs. Montgomery Evans ; Hiram P. Barlow, adminstrator of James Carlin, deceased, vs. James Shirley, appeal ; and Timothy S. Smith, county auditor vs. Elias Shirley, lister. The first case was dismissed because the writ was issued without an order from one of the judges ; the second was continued, and the third was discontinued and judgment rendered against plaintiff for costs. At this term of court, Thomas W. Powell, father of Thomas E. Powell—Democratic candidate for governor of Ohio, in 1887— .produced his certificate of admission to the bar and was enrolled as an attorney and counsellor of the court. Charles W. Ewing was remembered by being allowed ten dollars for services as prosecuting attorney. At the May term of court, 1825, Hon. Ebenezer Lane, president judge, made his first appearance on the bench in Williams county, and the first petit jury was also empanelled, composed of the following citizens : James Hunter, Jacob Platter, John Cannon, Arthur Burrows, John Butler, Abraham Landis, Silas McClish, Thomas B. Quick, Batset Bellair, George Lantz, Robert Wasson and Isaac Woodcock. The cause—which was the first one given to a jury for decision in common pleas court of Willams county—was entitled, Hiram P. Barlow, administrator of James Carlin, deceased, BENCH AND BAR - 167 vs. James Shirley ; and the result is given in the record as follows : "Who [the jury] being duly returned, tried, empannelled and sworn well and truly to try the issue joined between `the parties, after hearing the proofs and allegations of the parties on their oaths aforesaid, do say that the said defendant is guilty in the manner and form as the said plaintiff has thereof charged him in his declaration, and assess the damages of the said plaintiff at eighteen dollars." As an index to the salaries paid in those days to the gentlemen who enjoyed the emoluments of office, it is recorded in the court journal that at this May term of court (1825) it was ordered that the prosecuting attorney be paid a yearly salary of fifty dollars, the clerk, twenty dollars for the same length of time, and the sheriff fifteen dollars. The incumbents of those positions were not "gourm-andizers of the pap" to any great extent. From 1824 to 1830 the president judge of the second circuit, including Williams county, as has been stated, was Ebenezer Lane of Huron county. Judge Lane was succeeded by Judge David Higgins, who was one of the noted attorneys of Northwestern Ohio. He presided until 1838, and by the legislature of 1837-38, Ozias Bowen was elected as his successor. At the session of the general assembly, in 1838-39, an act was passed creating the Thirteenth Judicial circuit, and the following counties were embraced therein: Lucas, Wood, Henry, Williams, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert, Allen, Hardin and Hancock. Under the act creating this circuit, Emery D. Potter was elected, in February, 1839, presiding judge, and held the office until the winter of 1844, when he resigned and took the seat in congress, to which he had been elected in October of the preceding year. He was succeeded on the bench by Hon. Myron H. Tilden, who continued in office about eighteen months, when he also resigned. On the 19th of February, 1845, the Sixteenth judicial circuit, embracing the counties of Shelby, Mercer, Allen, Hardin, Hancock, Putnam, Paulding, Van Wert, and Williams, was erected, and Patrick G. Goode, of Sidney, was elected presiding judge. In 1849, George B. Way was elected judge, in which position he served until the adoption of the new constitution in 1851. Patrick G. Goode was of Irish descent and was one of the early settlers in Northwestern Ohio, where he reached prominence as a legislator, lawyer and jurist. He was elected to the Thirty-second general assembly in 1833, to represent the district of which Williams county was a part, and was re-elected to the same position in 1834. In 1836 he was elected to the Twenty-fifth congress from the Third district, embracing, among others, Williams county. In 1838 he was elected to the Twenty-sixth, and in 1840 to the Twenty-seventh congress from the same district. He was a Democrat in politics and an able advocate of the policy of that party, both in and out of congress. He was born in Prince Edward county, Virginia, May 10, 168 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY 1798, took part. in the war of 1812 as a soldier, and died in Sidney, Ohio, October 7, 1862. The Supreme Court had its origin in the constitution of 1802, which provided for three members, with permission to the legislature to add another. This court was required to meet once a. year in each county, a regulation that would be preposterous in 1905 ; but in 1802 with a few widely scattered counties, that was obviously the most convenient way of serving the people and the ends of justice. Until 1851, this custom of an annual session of the supreme court continued, and consequently some great lawyers of Ohio have presided in Williams county. The supreme court had both original and appellate jurisdiction and important criminal cases were usually tried before it. Thus until 1851, the supreme judges were peripatetic, holding court in all the counties. Perhaps the most important session of the supreme court that was ever held in Williams county, was the one incident to the arraignment, trial and conviction of Andrew F. Tyler, for the murder of the little boy, David Schamp, in Jefferson township. Tyler elected to be tried in the Supreme court. Peter Hitchcock presided at the trial, and the prosecuting attorney, Joshua Dobbs, was assisted by Charles Case, the defense being conducted by Schuyler E. Blakeslee. The evidence was conclusive and the jury promptly returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree. Judge Hitchcock sentenced Tyler to death, by hanging, and designated Friday, the twenty-sixth day of January, 1849, as the day upon which. the execution should take place. The sentence of the law was duly carried out at the proper time by Daniel Langel, the sheriff. Heckerthorn, who was also charged with the same crime, was tried at the November term of the common pleas court in 1849, found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, but the Governor of Ohio commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. The constitution adopted in 1851 provided for a supreme court, such as the people are now familiar with, its duties confined to hearing appeals from lower courts. The state was divided into nine common pleas districts, and associate judges were abolished. Each district was subdivided into three parts, in each of which the people should elect a judge of the court of common pleas. Thus there were at least three common pleas judges to each of the nine districts. One or more of the judges held a common pleas court in each county, and the three judges of the district together constituted a district court that succeeded to the functions of the old supreme court in their respective counties and the new common pleas court, except in probate jurisdiction, for which probate judges were provided, to be elected, one in each county. Under this new system Williams county was a part of the second subdivision of the Third circuit, and it has continued in that classification. But the subdivision, at first composed of Mercer, Van Wert, Putnam, Paulding, Defiance, Williams, Henry and Fulton, now includes Defiance, Fulton Paulding, Van Wert and Williams. BENCH AND BAR - 169 The first three judges of the Third district, beginning in February, 1852, were Lawrence Hall, Benjamin F. Metcalf and John M. Palmer. Judge Palmer was succeeded in 1857 by Alexander S. Latty, of Defiance. The latter was re-elected in 1861, and again in 1866 and 1871, the subdivision at this time, under the act of 1868, being composed of the 'counties of Paulding, Defiance, Williams, Fulton and Henry. Judge Latty retired from the bench in 1877, after a career, which in length of service has no equal in Northwestern Ohio. He was succeeded by Selwyn N. Owen, of Bryan. Judge Selwyn N. Owen was the first resident of Williams county to be elevated to the position of common pleas judge and the only one as yet that has been elected a member of the supreme court of the State of Ohio.- He is a native of Steuben county, New York, his birth occurring, July 5, 1836. He was reared to manhood in Huron and Seneca counties, Ohio, and received a good common school and academic education. For four years he was a student at the Norwalk Institute, paying for his tuition and books by acting as janitor. He finished his literary education by an elective course at Antioch college. The winter of 1856-57, he was principal of a seminary in Clark county, Ky., succeeding which he came to Norwalk and began the study of law with Kennan & Stewart, attorneys of that place. He attended the Cincinnati Law School, beginning in 1861, and graduated in 1862. Mr. Owen began his career as an attorney at Fremont, Ohio, but remained there only until November, 1863, when he came to Bryan and engaged actively in law pursuits. He is a Democrat in politics, and, in 1876, was elected without opposition judge of the Common Pleas Court for the second subdivision of the Third Judicial district. He served his first term of five years, and during that time a rearrangement of the subdivisions was made.. But in 1881, he was re-elected in the new sub-divison, comprising Paulding, Defiance and Williams counties. In 1883 he was nominated by the Democratic state convention for member of the Supreme Court of Ohio, and was chosen by a good majority at the ensuing election. He served a full term of six years on the Supreme Bench, the last year as Chief Justice, ex-officio, but he declined a renomination, and at the end of his term located in Columbus, where he has since pursued the practice of law. Judge Owen was succeeded as judge of the Court of Common Pleas by Charles A. Bowersox, of Bryan, who served from November, 1883, to November, 1884. Judge Bowersox was born in St. Joseph township, Williams county, October 16, 1846, and was graduated at Otterbein University in 1874. He served three years as Probate Judge, by election in 1875, during which time he engaged in the study of law. He was elected to the State Legislature in the fall of 1881, and served one term. Upon Judge Owen's election to the supreme bench he was appointed by Governor Foster to fill the vacancy. At the October election, in 1884, Silas T. Sutphen, of Defiance, was elected for the remainder of Judge Owen's unexpired term, and 170 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY was re-elected for the full term in 1886. In 1891, he was again a candidate for the position, and upon the face of the returns was elected ; but upon a contest tried before the Ohio State Senate, he was deprived of the position and the certificate of election was given to his competitor, Wilson H. Snook, of Paulding. In 1896, Mr. Snook was again a candidate for election, but was defeated by William H. Hubbard, of Defiance, who was re-elected, in 1901, and is the present incumbent. The legislature of 1904 changed the sub-divisions of this judicial district, adding the counties of Fulton and Van Wert to Defiance, Paulding and Williams, and also increased the number of judges to three in this subdivision. At the election of 1904, Edward S. Matthias, of Van Wert, and John M. Killits, of Bryan, were the successful candidates for the newly created judgeships. John Milton Killits, Williams county's representative on the Common Pleas Bench, is the son of Andrew W. Killits, long a prominent citizen of Williams county. Judge Killits was born at Lithopolis, Ohio, October 7, 1858, and was educated in the schools of Bryan and at Williams college, in Massachusetts. After graduating at the Columbia Law School, Washington, D. C., in 1886, he practiced in Bryan until his elevation to the Common Pleas bench in February, 1905. In 1892 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Williams county and served two terms. In 1852, an act of the legislature divided the state into five circuits for the district court, and a judge of the Supreme Court was required to preside, and the District Court was made a Court of Appeals from the Common Pleas Court. This practice continued until the Supreme Judges were relieved of this duty, in 1865, after which the Common Pleas Judges of the district, sitting as a District Court, were authorized to consider appeals from their own judgments. This undesirable condition of things was removed in 1883, by the adoption of an amendment to the constitution, authorizing the creation of a Circuit Court and abolishing the District Court, but leaving the Common Pleas Judges and courts undisturbed. Three Circuit Judges were chosen at the next election in each circuit, and for the Sixth circuit, which includes Williams county, Charles S. Bentley was one of those elected in the fall of 1887. Judge Bentley is a native of Ohio. He was educated in the common schools, Hiram college, and Hillsdale, Mich., college, and in early manhood engaged in the wholesale lumber business at Allegan, Mich. He employed his spare time in the study of law, and then read for a time in the office of Hon. D. Cadwell, of Cleveland. He was admitted to the bar in 1872, came to Bryan in February, 1873, and was elected prosecuting attorney by the Republicans in 1875. He became prominent as a trial lawyer and took an important part in several noted cases. His service as judge of the circuit court extended from February 9, 1888, to February 8, 1895. He is now practicing law in Cleveland. BENCH AND BAR - 171 PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS. Attorneys were appointed by the court to prosecute actions in behalf of the state in the early days, until 1835 ; since then they have been elected. Following is a list of those who have held this office, which is often the beginning of a distinguished career in the law : 1824, Charles W. Ewing; 1825, Rodolphus Dickinson; 1826, James L. Gage; 1828, Henry Cooper and Josiah Robinson ; 1829, Josiah Robin_ son and Henry Cooper ; 183o, Rodolphus Dickinson ; 1831, Amos Evans; 1836, Curtis Bates ; 1837, Amos Evans; 1839, William C. Holgate; 1842, Erastus H. Leland ; 1844, Peter Snook ; 1845, Erastus H. Leland; 1846, Joshua Dobbs ; 1848, Sanders M. Huyck ; 185o, Joshua Dobbs ; 1852, John A. Simon ; 1854, Meredith R. Willett ; 1857, William Letcher ; 1858, Cunningham R. Scott ; 186o, John S. Cannon; 1864, Charles W. Mykrantz ; 1868, William O. Johnston; 1872, Philetus Smith ; 1874, Schuyler E. Blakeslee ; 1876, Charles S. Bentley ; 1878, Robert A. Scott ; 188o, Charles W. Pitcairn ; 1881, George Strayer ; 1885, Robert A. Scott ; 1886, Thomas Emery ; 1892, John M. Killits ; 1898, E. C. Peck (appointed) ; 1899, James D. Hill; 1902, Edward Gaudern. Some of these names have already been mentioned biographically on pages that precede this chapter. Charles W. Ewing was a son of Col. Alexander Ewing, one of the pioneers of the Maumee valley; was born at Big Tree, Monroe county, now in the state of Michigan ; practiced law at Fort Wayne, Indiana, and became president judge of the Eighth judicial circuit of that state. Rodolphus Dickinson was one of the prominent citizens of Northwestern Ohio for many years, and was largely interested in the construction of the canal system of the state and the management of the board of public works. He was born in Massachusetts, in 1789; was elected to the Thirtieth Congress as a Democrat in 1846, from the Sixth Ohio district, and was re-elected in 1848. He died the year following his second election. Johann Adam Simon was born in Kindenheim, Rhein Bavaria, Germany, May 20, 1819. He removed with his parents, in 1835, to Einselthum, a few miles from his birth place, where he resided until April, 1841, when he bade farewell to friends and his home in the beautiful valley of the Rhine and started for America. Landing in New York, he came to Putnam county, Ohio, and remained there until 1843. He then settled in Florence township, Williams county, and engaged in clearing up and tilling a farm in the woods, suffering all the privations and hardships incident to pioneer life, until 1852, when he removed to Bryan. Between the ages of six and fourteen years he received that thorough mental training which the educational system of Germany afforded for all, and being fitted with a retentive memory and an aptness for acquiring knowledge, he was always classed with those older than himself, and at the age of twelve years was selected by his teacher as the pupil most competent to assist in hearing recitations. The study of law was 172 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY pursued with that persistent energy that characterized all his undertakings through life. While the general farm work occupied the hours of the day, those of the evening and far into the night were devoted to the study, until 1849, when he was admitted to the bar at Napoleon, Ohio, and commenced the practice of his profession, which he continued until within a few years of his death. Two years later he was elected prosecuting attorney of Williams county. He died February 22, 1885. Philetus Smith is a native of Cuyahoga county, Ohio, his birth occurring December 25, 1842. His branch of the Smith family is of English descent, and his genealogy is traced back to 1685, when his first American ancestor, with the religious sect known as Quakers, emigrated with William Penn to America. The descendants in this country have been leading citizens, and former United States Senator Oliver H. Smith, of Indiana, was a brother of Philetus Smith's father. Philetus Smith was reared, until thirteen years old, in Cuyahoga county, and then moved to Michigan with his parents. He received a common school education and for six years taught public school. He began the study of law in 1863, but did not make it a specialty until three years later. He came to Williams county in 1868, and in 1869, was admitted to the bar. He was elected prosecuting attorney in 1871, and served one term of two years. He also filled the position of mayor of Bryan for some time. In 1890 he removed to Chicago and has since been engaged in law practice there. Robert A. Scott was born in Fulton county, Ohio, August 7, 1854. When he was about one year old his parents came to Bryan, and about 1857 moved to Center township, where he was reared on a farm and educated. During the winters of 1871-72 and 1872-73, he taught school in this county, and in 1874 began the study of law in the office of Pratt & Bentley ; during the sessions of 1874-75, he also attended the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and received his degree of L.L.D. in the spring of 1876. He remained in the office of Pratt & Bentley that fall, and in November of the same year formed a partnership with Judge Leidigh. In 1877 he was elected by the Democracy to the office of prosecuting attorney, his competitor being Charles S. Bentley, his former preceptor. He served two years to the entire satisfaction of his constituents and was again nominated for the office, but was defeated, although running ahead of his ticket, by a Republican county majority. In 1884, he was again nominated for the same office and was elected by a large majority, but before the expiration of his term he was stricken with illness and died in Bryan, September 7, 1886. Charles W. Pitcairn is a native of New Lisbon, Columbiana county, Ohio, and was born March 23, 1849. He was reared in his native county and received a fair education. When in his sixteenth year he enlisted as a member of Company H, One Hundred and Ninety-fifth Ohio Volunteer infantry, and served one year in the BENCH AND BAR - 173 army in the Shenandoah valley. After his discharge he returned home and engaged in clerking. ,In 1870 he began the study of law and attended the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, the winter of 1872-73, being admitted to the bar on April I, 1874. In December, 1874, he came to Bryan and began practicing his profession, which he followed until August, 1881, when he discontinued practicing and accepted the secretaryship and treasurership of the Morrison & Fay Manufacturing Company, of which he was a stock owner. A Republican in politics, he served two years as mayor of Bryan, by election in 1878. He was elected prosecuting attorney in 1879, but resigned in the fall of 1881, to fill the position mentioned above. In October, 1882, he removed to Iowa and has since resided there. George Strayer was born, February 15, 1853, in Superior township. He was reared there, received a fair education and for five years traveled through Michigan engaged in various pursuits. He taught two terms of public school in the winters of 1877-78 and 1878-79, and began reading law in August, 1878, under Hon. S. E. Blakeslee, of Bryan. In October, 1879, he attended the law school of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and continued there six months. On March 17, 1880, he passed an examination at Columbus, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar, immediately afterward opening an office in Montpelier. In August of the same year, he formed a partnership with William O. Johnston, which continued until September, 1881. In May, 1881, he received the Republican nomination for prosecuting attorney of Williams county, and, in October of the same year, was elected. Owing td the resignation of the man he was to succeed, he received the appointment and immediately entered upon the discharge of the duties of the office, forming a partnership with Philetus Smith. He was not nominated for a second term, and, in the autumn of 1884, he purchased the Montpelier Enterprise, which he conducted until January, 1889. He then managed a stave factory and was connected with other enterprises at Montpelier until 1892, when he removed to Ashley, Indiana, and began the publication of the Ashley Times, which he conducted until his death in the fall of 1903. THE PROBATE COURT. This court was created by the constitution of 1851, with the provision that one judge of the same should be elected in each county. It is an office peculiarly local and intimately associated with the affairs of all the people, and has been filled by some of our best citizens. Joshua Dobbs, the first judge elected, was one of the early settlers of Williams county. He probably came here in 1843-44 and opened a law office, for his name first appeared on the common pleas bar docket in 1844. He was elected prosecuting attorney in 1845 and again in 1849, serving two terms. During his service as such Daniel Heckerthorn and Andrew Tyler were HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY - 174 tried for murder of the lad, David Schamp. Mr. Dobbs was elected probate judge in 185i and re-elected in 1854. In those days he was an active politician and to promote the success of his party he started, in 1852, a Democratic paper at Montpelier, with Van B. Shouf as printer and manager. Its career was a brief one, as was also the life of the Fountain City News, which he started at Bryan January 12, 1855. After the expiration of his second term as probate judge he retired from public life and measurably from politics, and soon afterward engaged in mercantile pursuits, which he continued until about 1865, when he sold his interests in Bryan and removed to Edgerton, and subsequently to Montgomery, Michigan. He died at the latter place in April, 1891. Meredith R. Willett was elected in 1857. His successor, Isaac R. Sherwood, resigned to enlist in the Union Army, where he earned the brevet of brigadier-general. After the resignation of General Sherwood, William A. Hunter filled the vacancy until the fall election of 1862, when William H. Ogden was elected for the unexpired term. At the fall election of 1863, Alexander Bodel was elected, but resigned before the expiration of his term. He was one of the early pioneers of Williams county, having removed here with his father in 1837. At that time the county was almost an unbroken wilderness. The following year his father died, leaving him a mere boy to support his mother and two sisters, younger than himself, with nothing but his own hands and persevering will, in the midst of a dense forest. This task he performed with credit to himself and satisfaction to his family, laboring constantly during the day and studying his books generally until midnight by the light of the fire. By steady perseverence in this way he cleared up his farm and obtained a good education without even the advantages of a common school. This continued labor and exposure brought on disease, and before he reached middle life his constitution was gone. In 1863 he was elected probate judge of Williams county, discharging the duties of that office with honor and ability until his fast declining health compelled him to resign his office in the following year. His health continued to fail under the influence of that slow but sure disease of the lungs until his death, October 18, 1872. Mr. Bodel was succeeded, August 26, 1864, by George E. Long, a native of Donegal county, Ireland, son of William Long, a pioneer of 1849, and brother of Dr. J. W. Long, of Bryan. Judge Long was a graduate of the Eclectic Medical Institute, of Cincinnati, and began the practice of his profession in 1855. He held the office of probate judge until 1870, two terms. The judge of probate in 1870-76 was John W. Leidigh, who was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, in 1840, son of David Leidigh, of German descent. In the Civil war he made a good record and had the rank of second lieutenant. He was elected judge in 1869, and held the office for six years. In the spring of BENCH AND BAR - 175 1893, he removed to Mansfield, where he is now engaged in the legal profession. Charles A. Bowersox, born in St. Joseph township in 1846, served as judge during the next term of three years, 1876-79, and was succeeded by Martin Perky, who was also a native of the Keystone state. He was elected probate judge in 1878, 1881 and 1884. He held the judgeship for three terms, and after him George Rings served two terms, 1888-94. Judge Rings was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1834, son of John Rings, a native of Pennsylvania, who came to Williams county in 1835. Judge Rings was succeeded in office by W. C. Coslet, 1894-97, and he in turn by Charles M. Miller, who served from 1897 to 1900, and the present incumbent, John H. Schrider, entered upon the duties of the office in February, 1900. At the election of 1905, Francis M. Frazier was elected probate judge and will assume the duties of the position in February, 1906. CLERKS OF THE COURTS. John Evans, as noted previously, was the first clerk of the court of common pleas in 1824, and continued in the office until November, 1837, when George T. Hickcox succeeded him, but held office less than one year, when he died, and William C. Holgate was chosen by the common pleas court, and began a term that continued only until April, 1839. William C. Holgate was a very prominent man in the early days of Williams county, but his field was mainly confined to the law. He was born at Burlington, Vermont, November 23, 1814, and when twenty years old came into the Maumee valley, settling at Defiance a couple of years later. The successors of Evans, Hickcox and Holgate, have been the following, all men of ability and prominence: 1839, Edwin Phelps ; 1845, Levi Colby; 1846, John Paul ; 1852, Walter Caldwell ; 1855, William A. Stevens; 1858, Jacob Youse ; 1864, Milton B. Plummer ; 1867, Lewis E. Brewster ; 1876, Ezra E. Bechtol ; 1879, William H. Chilcote ; 1882, Ezra E. Bechtol ; 1885, William W. Darby ; 1891, Hugh G. Monen ; 1894, Justus E. Alvord ; 1897, John Gearhart ; 1900, Abraham L. Brace ; 1906, William E. Stough. SHERIFFS. The first executive officer of the courts of Williams county was William Preston, one of the prominent men of the Maumee valley in the early days. He settled at Defiance, before the organization of Williams county, and after serving as the first sheriff and in other positions of trust, he was elected, in 1829, associate justice of the common pleas court and then was elected sheriff again. He died in 1838. The successors to Preston, with the years of their accession to office, are as follows: 1829, Isaac Hull; 1830, William Preston ; 1836, Alfred Purcell ; 1837, Uriah E. Drake; 1838, Jonathan B. Taylor; 1839, William K. Daggett ; 1839, John Drake; 1844, James M. 176 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY Gillespie; 1849, Daniel Langel; 1852, Thomas Shorthill; 1856, John Bell ; 1860, Hiram Byers; 1864, William S. Lewis ; 1868, Edwin J. Evans ; 1872, Henry L. Walker ; 1874, William W. Darby ; 1878, George C. Kober; 1882, Jacob A. Dorshimer ; 1884, George W. McGrew ; 1888, Miller W. Burgoyne; 1892, John C. Bailey ; 1896, Albro Wirick ; 1900, Bert Youse; 1904, Bert W. Ames, present incumbent. During Langel's term as sheriff he executed the sentence of the law on Andrew Tyler, whose crime is told of elsewhere. Daniel Langel was one of the pioneers, having immigrated to the county in 1841, when it was a vast wilderness, and he encountered the rough toil and trials incident to a new country. He died on April 7, 1865. MEMBERS OF THE BAR. Horace Sessions was the first lawyer who permanently established himself in the practice in Williams county. He located at Defiance, in 1833, and prior to that date the legal business of the county had been attended to by visiting attorneys who "rode the circuit" with the presiding judge. By 1837, however, Mr. Sessions had two associates in the persons of William Seemans and Curtis Bates, and by 1838 Amos Evans had been added to the list. It is useless to attempt a complete roster of those who have at different times "swung their signs to the breezes" as resident attorneys in Williams county, but the following is thought to Contain the names of the more prominent ones, and the years given represent about the dates of their first appearance: 1840, John B. See-mans, Edwin Phelps, W. C. Holgate; 1841, E. H. Leland; 1842, William Carter, George B. Evans, George L. Higgins ; 1844, Schuyler E. Blakeslee, Charles Case, Edward Foster, Joshua Dobbs, S. M. Huyck and James Welsh ; 1846, John Paul, J. A. Simon, G. H. Wilson, John K. Morrow, S. A. Treat, Albert M. Pratt and Daniel McKinley ; 1849, Abijah Miller and Jared C. Parker. The foregoing names represent the larger number of the earlier Williams county lawyers. At a later date, however, there have been Charles S. Bentley, John W. Leidigh, Robert A. Scott, Charles A. Bowersox, Thomas Emery, Melvin M. Boothman, Philetus Smith, George Strayer, James H. Serrels, William O. Johnston, Meredith R. Willett, H. Preusser, B. E. Sheldon, Solomon Johnson, Charles W. Pitcairn, Oscar C. Beechler, A. D. Austin, Peter Friend, George E. Coy, Hiram H. Calvin, John M. Caulkins, C. P. Winbigler and Charles B. Jones. These have not all engaged actively in the practice but the majority of them have. In 1905, the following resident attorneys have their names printed in the bar docket of the court of common pleas: Charles A. Bowersox, Oscar C. Beechler, John M. Calkins, Ed. ward Gaudern, Robert P. Hays, Joseph D. Hill, Solomon Johnson, S. A. Justice, E. H. Lanphere, J. V. Maier, C. L. Newcomer, Isaiah W. Pressler, Elwin C. Peck, George C. Rings, Carleton S. Roe, Reuben L. Starr, Chas. E. Scott. D..A. Webster and John B. White. CHAPTER XII THE MEDICAL PROFESSION DURING the early days in Williams county the settlers suffered considerably from illness. Especially was this true of the year 1838, which is remembered throughout the entire Lake re- gion and the Ohio Valley as "the terribly sickly season ;" and for many years thereafter the people suffered more or less in the summer and autumn of every year. The settlers of the county, and in particular those that made their homes in the rich bottoms of the various water-courses, were terribly afflicted with fevers and racked with chills. The fever was so continuous throughout Ohio in those days, and so frightful were its effects, that it is remarkable that the settlers were heroic enough to remain in the new country. They stayed partly through grim determination, partly through the natural indisposition to move backward, partly through love of the beautiful country, and largely through that hope which is said to spring eter nal, doubtless with accuracy, for it was necessary for it to spring eternally in the breasts of the pioneers to cheer them in their toil and suffering. Rich and productive as the lands were, there was a terrible drawback to their attraction in the shape of chills and fevers. So prevalent was this disease in some localities that not a cabin or a family escaped for a single year ; and it sometimes happened that there would not be a single well member to furnish drink to the others. It is told that in such cases buckets would be filled in the morning by those most able and placed in some accessible place so that when the shakes came on each could help himself or herself. Had there been any seemingly possible way of getting back to the old settlements from which these adventurers had come, most, if not all, would have left the rich Maumee bottoms with their shakes and fevers ; but so it was, there were no railroads or even wagon roads, on which they could convey their disheartened skeletons back to their old homesteads with their pure springs and health restoring associations. At the time of the year when a tedious land or water trip could be made, there were enough of each family sick to prevent any preparatory arrangements for such a return ; while in winter there were more obstacles in the way than the sickness of summer. Thus held not only by the charms of the scenery and the productiveness of the soil, but by the sterner realities of shakes and burn- 12  - 177 - 178 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY ing fever, few came that ever returned, and every year brought new neighbors. These fevers are described at some length by Dr. Daniel Drake, of Cincinnati, in his great work on the Principal Diseases of the Interior Valley of North America, published in 1850. They were called by various names, autumnal, bilious, intermittent, remittent, congestive, miasmatic, malarial, marsh, malignant, chill fever, ague, fever'n'ague, dumb ague, and Dr. Drake himself preferred to call them autumnal fevers. He was disposed to ascribe their origin to what he called a "vegeto-animalcular cause," meaning that the people were infected by organisms that were bred in decaying vegetation, and he pointed out that the disease could not be caused by gases which should have an immediate effect, but must be due to some organism that had a regular period of incubation, because people were not taken with the fevers until some time after the date of supposed infection. This he stated, not in this language, which is more in the line of modern expression, but to the same effect, demonstrating a remarkable insight into the operations of nature. It is believed now that the malarial infection, whatever its original source, is spread by mosquitoes, but this the doctors and sufferers did not suspect, and if they had, it would have done them little good, so numerous were the insect pests, and so expensive would have been any adequate attempt to suppress them. At the time when people were exterminating bears, panthers and vast forests; there was no time to make war on such small and ubiquitous things as mosquitoes. In combatting the fever and the chills the doctors depended on Peruvian bark, quinine and calomel in heroic doses. Generally the unfortunate victim was first bled, then large doses of calomel were given, and the patient was cautioned to abstain from any acid food or he might loose his teeth, and the calomel was followed by quinine. Dr. Drake reported a case in southern practice where a patient was given calomel for malarial fever in increasing doses *until he took several ounces a day, and in a short time an entire pound of the drug was put in him. The fate of the unfortunate creature is not mentioned. Another patient was given six hundred grains of compound of aloes, rhubarb and calomel in equal quantities for six days consecutively. There were other remedies. Dr. Joshua Martin, of Xenia, knew of a case where the chills were permanently cured in a small boy by standing him on his head at the access of the fit. "In many cases;" said Drake, "the recurrence has been arrested by means which acted entirely on the imagination and feelings. Of this kind are very loathsome potions, which the patients have swallowed with disgust and different charms or incantations, which arouse powerful emotions that change the innervation and destroy the habit of recurrence." There were some very remarkable cases of recurrence of the disease in various forms. One man was subject to monthly attacks of vertigo and loss of consciousness. When medicine had checked this, the trouble soon. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION - 179 returned with intervals of twenty-one days, and afterward for five years with periods of sixteen days. The chills and fever, while not so immediately fatal in ordinary years as yellow fever, from which Ohio has fortunately been spared, was worse in its effects. If a man recovered from yellow fever, he was none the worse for it, sometimes better ; but the victim of fever and chills often suffered all the rest of his life with neuralgia, liver or spleen disease, dyspepsia or diarrhoea. At times, however, the malarial fevers assumed a malignant form and it was certain death unless the doctor was near at hand and happened to check the paroxysms. It was this disease, common in every part of Ohio, that the pioneer doctors had to contend with. They battled nobly, some of them falling victims to their antagonist, and it cannot be doubted that they performed a great work in alleviating the sufferings of humanity, and encouraging the pioneers in the work of overcoming the evils of a new country. In time, with drainage and extensive cultivation of the soil, the dangerous conditions passed away and Williams county is now as healthy as any of those older regions to which the settlers longed to return in the, days when they were shaking with ague. Among the early physicians in St. Joseph township were J. S. Stough, who lived just north of the present site of Edgerton and practiced medicine there for a number of years. He afterwards removed to Waterloo, Indiana. Dr. Barkdol was also one of the first physicians and had a fine practice. His prospects- were the most flattering, but he became intemperate and lost prestige and practice. Dr. Andrews once practiced in E,dgerton. He was a good physician and remarkable for his height,_ being about six and one-half feet tall. He died of consumption, though he was particularly skillful in the treatment of pulmonary complaints. Dr. Miner came there about 186o, but he soon afterward went into the army and died in the service. His son attempted to fill his father's place for a while but never became as eminent. Dr. Schmidt practiced in Edgerton about the same time, but subsequently removed to Indiana. Dr. Samuel Wood located there about 1861. He entered the army near the close of the war, was commissioned a lieutenant, and later removed to Chicago, where he engaged in the stock business. About the same time, the Drs. Long—George E. and John W.—did a large practice in and around Edgerton. Among the older physicians in point of practice now, is Dr. -Hathaway, a biographical sketch of whom appears on another page. Among the early physicians who practiced at Stryker, were Dr. Blaker, E. P. Willard and Dr. Hubbard. Later, D. C. Clover, N. B. Stubbs and F. A. Snear. Dr. Clover located there in the early 60's, and Dr. Stubbs and Snear probably ten years afterward. The first physician who located in West Unity was Dr. T. W. Hall. This was sometime prior to 1847, and in the latter year he had two companions, G. W. Finch and J. W. Graves. The latter 180 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY was a pronounced temperance man and a leader in a society known as the Sons of Temperance. In later years Mrs. Dr. G. W. Finch, Dr. J. N. Runnion, Dr. Wm. M. Denman, Dr. A. M. Wilber and Dr. F. O. Hart attended to the needs of the people in that line. Dr. William D. Stout, who came to the township in about the year 1846, was the first resident practicing physician in Bridgewater. He was a noted deer hunter and was notoriously lazy, an indispensable constitutional element, it is said, in the "make up" of a successful hunter. If an early settler sent in the morning, in great haste, for him, for the relief of some member of his family, the good doctor would take his rifle, hunt all day and reach the sick person about night. It is humorously stated that he was so inordinately lazy that when he accidentally fell down while hunting in the woods, he would remain down until he had killed four or five deer. Those who know say there is truth as well as humor in this statement, for the best way in the world to hunt deer is to find a spot where they are likely to pass and then sit down and patiently wait for their appearance. If so, the patient hunter would kill the most deer, and in this instance the doctor was most patient ; but in the meantime his patients suffered by his neglect. Among the other doctors who resided and practiced their profession in Bridgewater in years gone by, were James Stewart, Dr. Munn, William M. Denman, W. T. Clute, J. W. Williams and Richard F. Lamson. The latter, an excellent man and an experienced and well-read physician, has retired from the practice and now lives in Bryan. Two prominent physicians in Millcreek township in former days were Drs. William Knoff and J. A. Flora. It was many years after white settlers appeared before a physician located in Superior township. In cases of emergency, Dr. Jonas Colby of Defiance, or Dr. Thomas Kent or Dr. John Paul, of Lafayette (Pulaski), would be summoned. Dr. A. L Snyder, who now resides in Bryan, commenced medical practice in Montpelier, in June, 1854, and his immediate predecessors in the practice there, at that time, were in the order of their coming: Drs. Levi Colby, Draper, DeWolf, A. P. Meng, and a Dr. Barkdol ; but excepting Dr. Colby, the stay of all of these was brick. Then followed, in July, 1859, Dr. Isaac M. Snyder, when the two physicians of the same name, though not united by kindred ties, formepartnershipihip which continued until the removal of the senior partner to Bryan. The later physicians in the place were S. W. Mercer, Blair Hagerty and J. W. Williams—Dr. Hagerty alone remaining, and he yet attends to a large practice. Dr. George E. Long—or Judge Long, as he was more familiarly known—was born May 1, 1821, in Donegal county, Ireland. He came with his parents to the United States, and with them moved to Carroll county, Ohio. When about twenty-four years of age, he began the study of medicine, and came to Williams county in 185o, where he began the practice of his profession in Superior township. The winter of 1854-55, he attended the Eclectic Medical Institute of THE MEDICAL PROFESSION - 181 Cincinnati, and, graduating in 1855, came back to Williams county, which was ever after his home. Dr. Festus A. Snear was graduated from the Cincinnati College',. of Medicine and Surgery in the class of 1871-72, previous to which he attended lectures at the Medical College at Ann Arbor, Mich., after studying for two years with Drs. Long and Riggs of Bryan. He then located in Stryker for the practice of his profession, became the proprietor of a drug store, built up an extensive practice, and became one of Stryker's most public spirited citizens. He removed to Bryan, where he died a few years ago. Sixty years ago, Dr. George W. Finch came to West Unity, his worldly possessions consisting of a horse and ten dollars in cash. The cash with the exception of fifty cents he expended for medicines, and immediately began the practice of his profession. He rapidly rose in the confidence and esteem of the people, and ere long had an extensive and lucrative practice. The year following his arrival, he erected an office, and soon after on the same lot constructed what at that time was thought to be a fine residence. Dr. Finch was born in 'Belmont county, Ohio, was educated at Delaware college, and died at West Unity, July 13, 1879. He was twice married, his second wife being Mrs. Lucy E. Eckis (nee Smith) widow of Dr. Samuel Eckis. This lady was born in Ellsworth, Mahoning county, Ohio, April 17, 1823. She was educated at an academy in Atwater, Ohio, and at the age of twenty-three married Samuel Eckis. They then read medicine together, graduated in the same class at Cincinnati, in 1852, and together practiced the profession for several years in Southern Illinois, where •'in 1859, Dr. Eckis died. After his death, Mrs. Eckis taught school for several years in Southern Ohio and Indiana. In 1864 she came to West Unity and was employed as the Principal of the High School for three years—until her marriage with Dr. Finch—after which she became almost the constant companion of the doctor in his office and in his practice. At his death she took up and continued the extensive practice left by him and met with marked and unusual success. She was well skilled in her profession, and was a lady of fine literary attainments. Dr. James N. Runnion was born in, Richland county, Ohio, July 21, 1830; received a good early education, and worked on his father's farm and. taught school until 1853, when he began reading medicine. He graduated at the Western Reserve Medical College, of Cleveland, in 1856, and after a short practice at Lexington, Johnsville and Shelby, came to West Unity in 1863, and practiced his profession there until his death, March 3, 1892. Dr. William Knoff was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, Feb. 11, 1834. He attended school in Richland county and afterward studied medicine for three years. In 1863 and 1864 he attended the Homeopathic College at Cleveland, and in the latter year located at Primrose for the practice of his profession. In 1873 he removed to Montpelier, but after an eight years' stay at the latter place, decided to return to 182 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY Primrose, where he practiced for years and built up a highly successful practice. Isaac M. Snyder was born in Putnam county, Ohio, Sept. 11, 1836, and enjoyed good educational advantages in his youth, spending his time in study and teaching. He attended medical lectures at Ann Arbor, Mich., when eighteen, afterward graduated at Buffalo Medical College in 1859. He began practice at West Unity, but soon after removed to Montpelier, where he spent the remainder of his life, with the exception of one year at Stryker and at Pettisville, in Fulton county. He was associated for one year with Dr. A. L. Snyder—same surname, but not a relative—and after the dissolution of that partnership he remained alone in the practice. He became one of the most successful practitioners of medicine and surgery in Williams county, and was also the most extensive property owner in Montpelier. Dr. Samuel W. Mercer was born in Crawford county, Ind., October 15, 1832, and his early days were spent in his native state and also in Ohio, engaged in acquiring an education and teaching. After the district school, he took an academic course at Newville, Ind., and was in attendance at Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1859-6o. He graduated from Rush Medical College, Chicago, and afterward took a post graduate course at the same place. He began the practice of his profession in DeKalb county, Ind., remaining there two years, and in 1863, located in Montpelier, which place was his residence during a long and useful career. Mention of other Williams county physicians is made in the biographical department of this work and some are also given a place in chapters upon affairs with which they were• prominently identified. The present medical society of Williams county was organized by a meeting of physicians in the court house at Bryan, in January, 19o4. The original members who signed the constitution upon the day of organization were John W. Long, James W. Long, A. E. Snyder, A. L Snyder, F. H. Pugh. C. M. Barstow, J. U. Riggs, of Bryan ; R. R. Al-wood, Albert W. Back, F. M. Frazier, Montpelier; and Albert Hathaway of Edon. The officers elected were : Dr. J. U. Riggs, president; Dr. J. I. Newcomb, vice president; Dr. Joseph A. Weitz, secretary and treasurer. The organization gives promise of being a permanent one, contributing to the promotion of social fellowship, scientific advancement and the high standing of the profession in Williams county. CHAPTER XIII ST. JOSEPH TOWNSHIP TOPOGRAPHICALLY, this township is somewhat diversified. St. Joseph's River drains the territory and flows in a southwesterly direction, entering the township near its northeast corner and dividing it nearly into equal parts. The valley or bottom lands adjacent to the river are especially fertile, highly improved and very valuable. Some other parts are not so rich for agricultural purposes. The St. Joseph's River (from which the .township derives its name), with its tributaries, affords the drainage of the surrounding country. The surface of the township is generally rolling, but no elevations of very great magnitude appear. The principal varieties of timber which abounded in exhaustless supply and excellent quality were hickory, walnut, butternut, ash, poplar, sugar-maple, oak of all kinds, cherry and sycamore. With the advent of the first white settlers, the woods abounded in game of all kinds known to the country. Deer and wild turkeys, exceedingly plentiful, afforded the principal meat supply of the early settlers. Every man and boy and some of the female population were expert hunters, and many are the tales told of hair-breadth escapes from, and single-handed contests with bruin, the arch enemy of the young domestic animals about the settlers' cabins. Wolves, panthers and "wildcats also made night hideous and nocturnal travel precarious with their prowling, stealthy and deceptive methods of attack. The first settlement of St. Joseph township antedates its organization by several years. The township organization was effected on the second day of December, 1832, from territory previously attached to Carryall township. The house of John Fee was designated as the voting place and was so continued for a number of years. Samuel Holton is entitled to the honor of being the first settler, he having emigrated to the St. Joseph valley in the autumn of 1827. He settled on Fish Creek, one mile north of Edgerton, on what is now known as the 'Burkhart farm. It is claimed by some that one John Zediker, who came from Pennsylvania, was in the township as early as 1821-22, but this is merely supposition, and the honor of being the first pioneer of the township is generally accorded to Samuel Holton. It might be added here that he also contests with James Guthrie (who is mentioned in connection with Springfield township) the honor of being the first permanent settler in the county. The reader can decide for himself in the conflict of opinion. Mr. Holton purchased land in the - 183 - 184 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY vicinity mentioned, on Fish Creek, and there built his cabin and established a home. Other families arrived soon afterwards and became near neighbors of Mr. Holton, but it must be remembered that "near neighbors" in those days might be separated by several miles. For some time after this little settlement was located in the wilderness on Fish Creek, Mr. Holton brought all his family supplies from Defiance, and it required four days to make the journey. In August, 1835, the following named persons were residing in this township : The widow Fee and her children were living on section 10; the widow Craig on section 11 ; George Aucker and Robert McCullough on section 15 ; Solomon Lewis, father of William Lewis, once sheriff of Williams county, on section 33 ; Samuel Holton on section 21 ; and a Mr. Haskins on section 27. Turner Jolly was a young man having no abiding place and a Mr. Talbot was in the township then for a short time, but did not remain. David Aucker and family were among the early settlers. He was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in 1805, and at the age of eighteen he came West ; visited several counties in Southern Ohio, farmed on shares in Pickaway county till 1834, and then came to St. Joseph township, Williams county, erected a round log cabin, and two years later brought his family, and thus became one of the first permanent settlers of the township. Money was scarce, the market for his produce—Defiance—was twenty-five miles distant, and the food for the family was procured from the game of the forest and the products of the field ; the clothing was spun at home from flax and wool. However, he succeeded in building up a comfortable home of 200 acres with very fair improvements. He was a Democrat and a man of extended influence. He was present at the organization of the township, and was then elected trustee, and for a number of years thereafter re-elected. He took his farewell of earth in 1876. Daniel Farnham came in 1835. He was born in Windham county, Connecticut, in 1811. He was taken by his parents to Delaware county, N. Y., when but three years old, and there he remained until twenty-four, lumbering on the Susquehanna river, hauling logs in the winter and studying at night to augment the education he had received at a six months' term of school. In 1835, he wandered West and finally located in St. Joseph township. He worked at jobs for four months, and for four months clerked for Payne C. Parker, who was at that time trading quite extensively with the Indians. In 1836, Mr. Farnham returned to Delaware county, N. Y., and in the fall brought back to Williams county, his mother and sister. The following spring he began in the forest to clear up a farm, building a pioneer cabin and cultivating the ground until 1840, when he removed to Edgerton and engaged in the mercantile business, which occupied his attention the remainder of his life. He was justice of the peace for twelve years. His early experiences were interesting and varied, game in the beginning being the chief means of the family's subsistence. His trips to the mill for his first employer were made by ox teams, the distance ST. JOSEPH TOWNSHIP - 185 was about seventy miles. and the time consumed going and coming about eleven days. Judge Parker came in 1836, John Bratton in 1837, and John W. Bowersox in 1838. Mr. Bowersox was a native of Frederick county, Maryland, and was born January 1o, 18o8. He was reared a shoemaker and farmer until eighteen years of age, when he went out to work for two years as a journeyman shoemaker. Returning home, he remained there a year and then moved to near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where he opened a shop. In 1831, he moved to Stark county, Ohio, located in North Industry, and there followed his trade for seven years; then he moved to St. Joseph township and located on section 5, and, in the fall of 1838, erected a round log cabin. Mr. Bowersox filled the position of township trustee for several terms. When he came to the township the forest was full of game and many were the deer and wild turkeys that fell at the crack of his rifle, and his sport was enlivened on one occasion by the slaughter of a bear, and on another by the death of a wildcat. Benjamin Cornell, John Cornell and George Long came in 1838, and Judge Parker, as mentioned above, came two years earlier. The latter moved into the township from Defiance, where he had sold goods for a number of years previous. He first came up the river to trade with the Indians, but bought a large. tract of land, built a house and then removed his family. He laid out at about that time the village of Denmark. It had its public square, storeroom, ashery and school house, and by 1840 was quite a village, being the first one in the township. George Long lived for many years on his farm three miles northwest of Edgerton. He did a mercantile business in part of his dwelling house as early as 185o, and for some years thereafter. He owned and cleared up a large farm on the Bellefontaine road and later removed to Edgerton, where he died in 1880. A Mr. Blair was also an early resident and resided at Blair's Corners, southwest of Edgerton, where he died in 1839 or 1840. He was one of the earliest settlers in that part of the township. John Skelton came into the township from Stark county in 1839 and settled in the northwestern part of the township. He died a number of years ago. The record of the first election in St. Joseph township has been lost or not properly kept, but it is known that it was held at John Fee's, April 4, 1832 ; after that, for a time, elections were held in Denmark. At least one election was held at what was called the Parker place. Afterward they held elections in the school house on the hill, a little more than a mile north of Edgerton. Soon after Edgerton was started, they began to hold elections there, and it was the only voting place until the township was divided into precincts a few years ago. One of the first justices of the peace,and in fact one of the first officers elected in the township, was a Mr. Preston, but offices were not sought then as they are now. A Mr. Tanner and Alexander Kearnes were assessors for years. An office, now abolished, and which it was difficult to get anyone to fill, was that of fence viewer. The first white child born in the township was to Samuel Holton 186 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY and wife, about 1831 or 1832. The first marriage in the township was a social event of considerable importance and was attended by families from considerable distances. The contracting parties were Samuel Holton and his brother John, of the male persuasion, and two daughters of the widow Fee, representing the gentler sex. Later, in 1836, William Bender married another daughter of the widow Fee, and this was also a wedding of considerable consequence. The people gathered in large numbers, coming ,down the St. Joseph river from Denmark in boats. Daniel Farnham, who had lately moved into the township, was one of the invited guests. The first school house erected in the township was located at Denmark, and the first teacher was Rev. Elijah Stoddard. John Cornell was also one of the' first teachers in the township. The first sermon delivered in the township is accredited to Rev. Elijah Stoddard, a local preacher, though another authority, perhaps equally reliable, gives this honor to Revs. Coleman and Warner. The Methodists were the leaders in religious efforts in St. Joseph township, the first meetings being held in the settlers' cabins and were conducted principally by the ministers above named. After continuing the services in the houses of the members for several years, schoolhouses were used, and later houses for worship were erected. Revs. Coleman. and Warner were both ministers of the M. E. church and traveled frequently through the township during those early times. Rev. Warner traveled a circuit extending into the township many years afterward, and Rev. Coleman traveled a part of the same circuit again in 1869 and 1870. The Methodist Episcopal church has maintained organizations in the township from the earliest time to the present ; appointments have changed somewhat and some have been abandoned, but the voice of the itinerant minister has always been heard in the township. In the days of Thompson, Allbright, Lindsay and others, they would hold services on week days, and then it was that ministers were traveling the circuit in reality. Farmers and their hired help, their wives and children, would leave the fields, and in the garb of toil go to the schoolhouses, for the time being houses of the Lord. The United Brethren were also early occupants of the field and held religious services at various places in the township ; among others, the log barn of John W. Bowersox. The church of the United Brethren was represented by Revs. Hulburt and Jonathan Thomas, commonly known as "Father" Thomas. Rev. Hulburt was an eccentric character, something of the Peter Cartwright style. One of "Father" Thomas's appointments, over sixty-five years ago, was at what was called Blair's Corners, southwest of Edgerton, where he preached in a little old log schoolhouse. He was a man of natural talent, fearless in defense of what he conceived to be right and terrible in denunciation of the wrong. The Presbyterians, later on, occasionally held services in the barn of Henry Cassler, on the farm now owned by Michael and John Quinn, three miles north of Edgerton. Rev. Lather, of the Lutheran ST. JOSEPH TOWNSHIP - 187 church, preached in the township at various places for a number of years after 1840. He preached at Denmark, in the house of John W. Bowersox, and at various other places. He was something of a wag, and his daughters, of which he had several, were named Coon, Whale and Bear. By these names, especially Coon, they were known for years. He had quite a large family, but they were strangely unfortunate and the larger number of them died when comparatively in the prime of life. The German Methodists were at one time 'represented by two ministers, named Baker and Deemer. They held services awhile in what was called the Weitz neighborhood, in the northwest portion of the township. It is said that Baker, who was very popular, abandoned the ministry and fell from the profession altogether. About the first organization of a Congregational church in the township was at the school house, three miles north of Edgerton. This was as early as 1856. Rev. Worts, then of Ligonier, Indiana, was the first minister, and there was quite a flourishing organization there. It was abandoned in a few years and the congregation was re-organized at Edgerton. Mr. Worts was present at the time of the hanging of the noted horse-thief, McDougal, by the regulators of La Grange and Noble counties, Indiana, and it is said that he held some religious services with the doomed man. In his sermons of that time he made frequent reference to the terrible scene and its lessons. The Reformed church also held services at the same schoolhouse for a number of years, and indeed it appears that for a while every religious denomination known to the Christian world held services there. Rev. Weaver held services for the Baptists in a log schoolhouse standing on the same site, as early as 1854. It was about the time the Air Line railroad was being built. He was holding services there one Sabbath afternoon, when something like a dozen or more of the employees on the road came to the meeting and began to disturb the minister. He remonstrated with them, but to no purpose, for, having come for a row they proposed to have one. They continued their disorderly behavior beyond the endurance of the citizens present. The meeting stopped and the fight began—Alexander and Tobias Wright, John Gnagy. John W. and David Bowersox, John Skelton, Benjamin F. Cornell and others on the part Of the preacher, and the railroad hands in their own behalf. The struggle was terrific, but finally the friends of good order and the Gospel prevailed. The railroad men were completely routed and most of them were fearfully battered. They threatened to return in great force, hut never put in an appearance. The Catholics first organized in Edgerton, where they have a good church building and parsonage. They have a resident priest and are in a flourishing condition. The Disciples were once stronger in Edgerton than they are now, but they still maintain an organization. The German Lutherans have a church building and organization in Edgerton, and while their numbers are not great they are in a growing condition. The Evangelical Association has' done a good Work near the central part of the township. Services were formerly held in a schoolhouse, about a mile and a quarter north of Edgerton, and the mem- 188 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY bership grew rapidly. They completed an excellent church building on the site of the schoolhouse, and have among their members many of the substantial citizens of the township. The Universalists have occasionally held services in Edgerton, but have had no distinct organization at any time. Probably the first church building erected in the township was on the Bryan road, near the east line of the township. It was built of hewed logs, and as nearly as can be ascertained was controlled by the Lutherans. It was long since torn away, and had been abandoned for many years theretofore. It stood there, almost in the woods, for many years, and had sort of a ghostly appearance, but there is no trace of it left now. The first burying ground in the township was located on the Parker farm, and Rev. Elijah Stoddard was one of the first persons buried there. After some years the ground was abandoned, the bodies were exhumed and removed to the cemetery at Edgerton. George Aucker was buried in the old cemetery during the 30's. Nearly all the churches provided a place for the interment of their dead ; but these were generally abandoned when the churches declined, and the cemetery at Edgerton contains the remains of many of the early pioneers. The first tavern in St. Joseph was opened by Judge Parker at his private residence in Denmark. The first resident physicians were Drs. Barkdol and J. S. Stough, who located in the township about the same time. These have been succeeded by many others during the seventy-three years that have elapsed since the organization of the township. Edgerton was incorporated and assumed the position accorded by that legal proceeding by the election of a mayor and establishing a municipal government. It has numbered among its mayors such esteemed citizens as George Helwig, O. H. Fusselman, William F. Roop, James Marshall, John L. Terpening, Samuel Fritz and L. A. Knight, the present incumbent. John L. Terpening was a native of Cayuga county, N. Y., and was born March 7, 1835. He was brought to Lena-wee county, Michigan, when but a child, and there reared on a farm until sixteen years of age, when he began an' apprenticeship as jeweler at Hudson, that state. He afterward conducted a jewelry store there for a year or more, and in the spring of 1858 removed to Edgerton, where he established a jewelry store in the town, which he managed for a great many years. He received the appointment as postmaster of the place in 187o, and held it continuously until the change of administration in 1885. During the civil war he was employed as enrolling officer for the drafts and performed his duty impartially, fearlessly, and to the satisfaction of the people. He also served as township clerk for five years, besides officiating in the capacity of mayor. Edgerton is located in a beautiful agricultural district and is surrounded by the most fertile and highly prolific lands. The Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Grand Army of the Republic, Women's Relief Corps, Daughters of Rebekah, and Free and Accepted Masons are the secret societies represented in the town. ST. JOSEPH TOWNSHIP - 189 These different orders are prosperous and number among their members many of the best people in the town and adjacent country. The town of Edgerton, according to the census of 'goo, contains a population of one thousand and forty-three. This is an increase of seventy-six during the last decade, a percentage that is small, but it represents a substantial growth. It is a busy trading point, sustained by a large scope of good farming country, and its support is assured in the character and reputation of the business men. Some of the stores would do credit to a much larger place. Considerable manufacturing is also done, and an excellent graded school in the village affords ample opportunities to the children in the acquirement of a good practical education. CHAPTER XIV PULASKI TOWNSHIP PREVIOUS to March 3, 1834, the territory of Pulaski township was attached to Tiffin township for the convenience of the people in the adjustment of legal affairs. On the date above written, the board of county commissioners had the following placed in their record of proceedings : "Upon application, the Board orders that a new township be erected, composed of original surveyed townships, six, seven and eight, north of range three east, to be denominated 'Beaver Township ;' and the Board further order that the inhabitants assemble at the house of John Perkins, in said township, on the seventh day of April next, and proceed to elect, according to law, the necessary officers for the purpose of organizing said township, and that the auditor advertise accordingly." It is thought by some that Pulaski is the oldest township in Williams county, but this idea is erroneous, as St. Joseph township was organized nearly two years prior to the date mentioned above. However, it has the distinction of being the second one organized, and, although its name was changed, the functions of local government continued uninterruptedly from the time of its organization. Beaver township originally included in its domain what are now Jefferson township in Williams county, and Washington township, in Defiance county ; but on August 7, 1837, some territory was taken from town 7 ( Jefferson) and added to town 6 (Pulaski) and the name of the latter was changed. The commissioners' record of that day reads as follows : "It is ordered by the Board that the south half of range 3 east, be taken from said town and be added to town 6 in said range ; and upon petition the name of said town is changed from Beaver to Pulaski, and the said township of Pulaski is hereby organized ; and the auditor is ordered to give notice for an election at the house of Alonzo Rawson, on the 26th inst., for the purpose of electing the necessary officers for the government of said township." This election was necessary to fill vacancies caused by the organization of Jefferson, some of the officials of old Beaver being residents of the territory included in the newly erected township. December 4, 1837, the last change in boundary, which reduced Pulaski to its present size, was made under the provisions of the following: "The Board took into consideration the petition of sundry citizens of town 7, in the county of Williams, praying that the boundary lines of said township might be so altered as to include the same territory included in the original survey of said township, and the - 190 - PULASKI TOWNSHIP - 191 board order that the prayer of said petitioners be granted." This action of the Board necessitated another election, and the next day the following entry was made on the record : "In addition to the order of the Board of yesterday, the Board further orders that the auditor give notice to the electors of Pulaski township to meet on the 16th day of December, 1837, at Thomas Shorthill's, in said township, for the purpose of electing such township officers, whose places have become vacant in consequence of the alteration in said Pulaski township; at the present session of the Board." The adjoining townships to Pulaski are Springfield on the east, Jefferson on the north, Center on the west and Washington township, in Defiance county, on the south. The topographical features of the township are not very striking, if to be so comprehends a great variety of natural scenery. The broad and fertile fields, rich and productive, are the principal sources of agricultural wealth. The first settlers of the township were of the class of the heroic pioneers who accompanied the Perkins party and were later identified with the settlement of Bryan. Some remained in the village for a time and subsequently sought homes on the rich lands adjacent, and others came a few years later, so that the lands of Pulaski township were very generally occupied by actual settlers at an early date in the history of the present limits of the county. "In October, 1833, Judge John Perkins removed from Brunersburg with his sons, Isaac and Garrett; and son-in-law, John Plummer, and, these, accompanied by John Moss, George Lantz, Henry Jones and a Mr. Hood, established themselves on Beaver Creek and named their colony Lafayette. Judge Perkins built a grist and saw-mill on the creek, which, it is believed, was the first mill for grinding grain erected within what now are the limits of Williams county. Alonzo Rawson came some time afterward. He belonged to one of the most eminent pioneer families of Northern Ohio. his three brothers being the late Abel Rawson, a distinguished lawyer who settled in Tiffin, in 1826, and Dr. L. Q. Rawson, who settled in Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), in 1827, and Dr. Bass Rawson of Findlay, one of the early pioneers of Hancock county. Alonzo Rawson opened the first stock of goods at Lafayette (since changed to Pulaski), in a house built by himself, and afterward sold to A. W. Boynton, when Mr. Rawson removed from the county. At this time there was no white settlement in the township, except at what is now Pulaski, and its inhabitants, like those at Williams Center, then anticipated that when the seat of justice would finally leave Defiance for a point near the geographical center, it would settle permanently in their midst. No dreamer then expected the erection of Defiance and Fulton counties and the destruction of the original county lines. The poll book for an election for justice of the peace, held in Pulaski township, April 6, 1840, gives the following names of voters, and they probably fairly represent early established families in the township : Daniel Davidson, David Pickett, Reuben H. Gilson, Robert Thompson, Isaac Swager, Daniel Wyatt, Sr., William Kilpatrick, Isaac Perkins, James McKinley, Philetus S. Gleason, Jabez Jones, Ezra 192 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY Wilson, George B. Jones, Alonzo Rawson, John Kaufman, David Landaman, Alfred Shepard, John Oakes, Henry Johnson, George Shook, John Beavers, Seymour Montgomery, Aquilla Caszet, Peter Deck, John Harris, Benjamin Smith, Barnabas Peddycoast, William Johnson, John Flannahs, J. R. Capsil, Daniel Wyatt, Jr., Samuel A. Baker, Benjamin Kent, George Everett, John Perkins and Everett Perkins. Among the pioneers of Pulaski township was Philetus S. Gleason, who was born June 24, 1814, in Tompkins county, New York. He was reared to manhood in his native county and at an early age was apprenticed to learn the cabinet-makers' trade. In October, 1835, he migrated to Williams county and located in Springfield township. At that time, Williams county was in a state of nature, but Mr. Gleason took up a piece of land, which he began clearing, at the same time working at his trade when opportunity afforded. From Springfield he removed to Pulaski township, some time prior to 1840. Benjamin Kent came to Columbiana county, Ohio, from Virginia, in 1824. He was a plasterer and worked at his trade there until 1840, when he came to Pulaski township and died there, December 27, 186o. He was the father of Dr. Thomas Kent, who is given a biographical notice in the chapter on the "Bench and Bar." Pulaski township does not differ materially from the other townships of the county in regard to early industries. The pioneer mills, distilleries, churches and schools had their existence, and with the exception of the latter, have mostly passed away with the increasing prominence of Bryan as a marketing and trading point, coupled with the superior advantages of the village in a religious and educational way. The principal grain crop is wheat and corn, for the production of which the soil is admirably adapted. Corn is the staple product and this is largely fed to cattle and hogs, these being the source of a large income. Horses and sheep are also raised with profit on the rich grazing fields afforded on the fountain-watered farms, and which are not used at the time for the cultivation of crops. There are nine school districts in Pulaski township, exclusive of the Bryan public schools. With a carefully graded course of study, these give the persisting students the advantages of a good common school education and fit them for the ordinary business of life. With an honorable record of sixty-five years of existence, Bryan well sustains her long established reputation for solidity and the merited compliment of being a good town. The men who established the little hamlet in the wilderness, in 1840, founded that reputation, and their descendants and successors have well maintained it. The religious and educational affairs of the village also received early attention, and liberal support. Merchants were aggressive and public-spirited, their stocks oftimes rivaling in value those exhibited by present day dealers. The early banking institutions were flourishing and impregnable and general prosperity crowned the efforts of the people. But if the reader will but reflect he will observe that all the business of the earlier days, as well as at present, was closely related PULASKI TOWNSHIP - 193 to agricultural supremacy. Williams county was then, as now, the center of one of the richest agricultural, districts in the United States, a distinction which the locality has retained with creditable success. All business was directed toward handling the products of the farms and in supplying the farmers' needs. The early settlers and business men of Pulaski township were generally people with agricultural tendencies and traditions. They were sons of farmers, and parental traditions and customs are strong within the human breast. These men purchased land, cultivated and improved it, erected houses and lived out their allotted days in the peace and harmony of the quiet community their industry had established. Bryan has a population of three thousand one hundred and thirty-one, according to the census of 1900. It contains a number of handsome and expensive residences and public buildings, while the average homes evince the air of thrift and prosperity in their surroundings, in keeping with the industry and frugality of the occupants. The village contains fewer poor and squalid residences, indicative of poverty -and misery, than most villages of its size. The sanitary conditions are excellent and the drainage system as good as can be had. The board of health and sanitary officers are vigilant in the discharge of their official duties, and the streets and alleys are kept in the most perfect sanitary condition. A well organized and trained volunteer fire department is equipped with the latest and best apparatus for the purpose designed. The efficiency of the department has been demonstrated on many occasions. A police force, the guardians of the public peace and property, although few in number, are noted for their efficiency in the line of official duties, and the village marshal, August Heidley, has received high commendation for successful detective work. He and his deputies are courteous and obliging men, to whose vigilance and alertness is due the small percentage of burglaries and unlawful acts, of which the village boasts. The municipal government of Bryan for the present year (1905) is as follows : Mayor, John B. White ; street commissioner, William Garlow ; chief of the fire department, Frederick Yunck ; clerk, John W. Hoke ; treasurer, John A. Niel ; marshal, August Heidley. The council is organized as follows : Edward Leake, president, Frank E. Adams, William R. Ames, Philip Christman, Edward Farber and Frederick E. Mader. The board of health is organized with Nicholas Vineyard as health officer. The nucleus of the present city library originated in 1882, when the cultured ladies of Bryan took hold of the matter in earnest and organized the Bryan Library Association. The books were kept at various places in the town until about 1892, when a room in the basement of the court house was secured, and that was the home of the library until December. 1904. The first librarian after the association was organized was Miss Olive Wilber, who was assisted by Miss E. M. Willett. Later, Miss Alice Walt was given charge and she has continued to serve as librarian for many years. In 1903, negotiations 13 194 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY were opened with Andrew Carnegie, looking to a donation by him to Bryan for library purposes. The effort was successful, the steel magnate agreeing to give ten thousand dollars upon condition that the citizens of Bryan would furnish an annuity of one thousand to support the enterprise. The Board of Education of the Bryan School District invoked the power which is given them by statute and levied a tax of one mill upon the property valuation of the district, and thus guaranteed the satisfaction of Mr. Carnegie's proposal. The cornerstone of the Carnegie library building, on High street—just off the public square—was laid on Oct. 23, 1903, and the same was completed and made ready for occupancy by December 20, 19o4. The library is open on certain days of the week and is a popular resort, much appreciated by the studious citizens of all ages, who often fill the convenient sittings provided in the reading room. Bryan may well be proud of her public library, where three thousand, five hundred choice volumes await the call of its patrons. Bryan is represented in journalism by two weekly newspapers, but as these have been given appropriate mention in another chapter, a repetition is not necessary. Nothing like an extended notice of the various religious organizations which have existed in the village of Bryan can be attempted in this volume. The little leaven planted in the wilderness so many years ago has grown to mammoth proportions, and no town of like size in the state of Ohio possesses greater evidence of spiritual growth, or more devout and conscientious leaders in the great cause of Christian life. Several churches have been organized from time to time, in which the zeal of their promoters exceeded the demand for their services, hence they had but an ephemeral existence. But of the persisting organizations which have grown to prominence and influence, there are several, and their present day status is the best evidence of their high standing and liberal support. The first church of the Presbyterian faith was organized by the early pioneers and services were conducted in the cabins, or at any accessible point, until a church building was erected. The first churches were attended by the worshipping pioneers, regardless of their individual preferences as to creed ; and it was not until 1854 that the Presbyterian church began to maintain a separate organization, in 'Bryan. The first minister and organizing pastor was Rev. J. M. Crabb ; the organization was effected in compliance with the wishes of a few devoted settlers of the early day, and on the 9th of September, 1856, the church society legally incorporated as the "Presbyterian Church and Society Old School," a designation which it retained until 1872, when it became the First Presbyterian Church and Society of Bryan. As the congregation grew in numbers and interest, services were held regularly and a commodious meeting place was provided for by the erection of a frame structure on North Lynn Street. A number of eloquent and zealous pastors occupied the pulpit of this church during its years of use, and it served until 1903, when the building of the present handsome church was completed. Rev. Thomas H. Kohr is the present pastor. PULASKI TOWNSHIP - 195 The history of early Methodism in Bryan dates from the first years of the town's existence and is centered around the old log court house and the first schoolhouse in the village. In the fall of 184o meetings of this sect were held at the hotel of Thomas Shorthill. Soon afterward the congregation moved its place of preaching to the old log court house and continued to hold meetings there until the schoolhouse was built, and then occupied it until the members could build a structure of their own. Among the first supporters of this church were Thomas Shorthill, James Shorthill and William Yates. In the year 1853, a church was built on the corner of Beech and Butler streets—where the present structure stands—and the trustees at that time were D. M. Crall, David Fairfield, A. R. Patterson, M. B. Plummer, Jacob Over, Levi Cunningham and William Yates. The present church was erected in 1895. and is an imposing structure. Many familiar names have been associated with this congregation and many distinguished divines have been connected with the organization. Rev. John I. Wean is the present pastor. There are in Bryan devout and pious Catholics ; but their numbers are small, and a missionary priest, at stated periods, holds service. They have a church edifice, and few as are the numbers of these/ worshippers, they command a high degree of respect from co-religionists on account of the firmness they manifest in holding fast to their faith. The first Baptist church of Bryan was organized, October 8, 1841. The first regular pastor was Rev. G. B. Lewis. The congregation has a neat church building on the south side of West High street. Rev. Clarke L. Randall is the pastor in charge, and the present success of the organization is. largely due to his untiring efforts. The Church of Christ, in charge of Rev. Malo M. Amonson, is located on the south side of East High street, where regular services are conducted. The United Brethren in Christ have an organization in Bryan, the church being located at the corner of Main and Wilson streets. Rev. C. E. Weidner is pastor in charge and conducts two services every other Sunday. The German Evangelical Lutheran St. Paul's congregation commenced its existence December 21, 1861, having at that date no house of worship, though commencing with a membership of eighteen persons, and the pastor being Rev. Herman Schmidt, of the Ohio Synod ; and February 4, 1869, a movement was made to build a church edifice. Accordingly the house was erected on Beech street adjacent to the planing mills. Rev. Fr. Henkleman is the present pastor. The English Lutheran church of Bryan was founded in February, 1875. Rev. F. B. Heibert is the present pastor, and by his faithful efforts the church is prospering. The First Universalist church of Bryan was organized July 1o, 187o, with a membership of twenty-one. Rev. Rice preached for it during the first nine years of its existence, and it is to his untiring industry and unwavering zeal that the church owes its foundation and 196 - HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY early success. Services were held for several years in Long's Hall, north side of court square, but in 1875-76, a commodious church edifice was erected on the southeast corner of Main and Maple streets. Rev. G. H. Ashworth is the resident minister, and by his logical discourses and clear reasoning, together with a singleness of purpose which characterizes his work, he is making the church and himself deservedly popular. The Protestant Episcopal church is the youngest of the religious organizations in the village. Public services are held at Trinity Mission Chapel, alternate Sunday evenings. The public burial place of Bryan is Fountain Grove cemetery, located one mile south of the public square, just beyond the corporation limits. Previous to the establishment of Fountain Grove cemetery, and beginning with 1841, there was a public burying-place near the present site of Gustave Christman's flour mills and Jacob Halm's brewery. But the development of the town in every direction deprived this place of the quiet and seclusion which one always associates with a burial place for the dead; hence the selection of the present site, which has been enlarged and beautified as the years passed until it is now an ideal spot. It contains the mortal remains of several of Williams county's most distinguished citizens, whose final resting places are rendered conspicuous by the erection of worthy monuments. The private citizen and the soldier are equally honored by the reverence and sacrifice of surviving friends, to the end that this sacred spot is rendered. beautiful in keeping with the sadly reverential purpose which made its existence a necessity. The business interests of Bryan are varied and extensive. The mercantile houses compare favorably in extent, variety and quality of goods with any town of equal size in the state. The volume of business is very large when the close proximity of rival towns is considered. The mercantile houses are generally backed with resources commensurate to their demands, and the element of losses from bad accounts is reduced to the minimum by reason of the stable character of the buyers. Perhaps no town in the state, of equal size, has a smaller percentage of losses from bad debts. This is due, in part, to the fact that buyers are permanent residents, usually owning their own homes, though the element of honesty and business integrity among them is a dominant feature. The early history of merchandising in Bryan is interesting, in that it covers the period of early settlement and development in every line of human endeavor, beyond the memory of the large majority of the inhabitants of today. Few can fully realize the fact, except through the continual "promptings" of history and the press, that for many years following the first settlement all goods displayed for sale were brought across the country from Defiance, to which place they had been shipped in canal boats. The telegraph and telephone were then unknown and the flat boat and keel boat had but recently supplemented a part of the labors of the horse. If merchants were obliged to procure their goods through that slow process in this PULASKI TOWNSHIP - 197 day they would think the distance to New York an unsurmountable barrier to a successful mercantile career. One of the earliest merchants was William Yates, who brought the first stock of goods, drawn by ox team, across the country from Defiance. D. M. Crall and Jacob Boyer were among the first general merchants, and Charles Case began business in Bryan at about the same time. The social spirit of Bryan is revealed in the following list of secret and benevolent societies: Masonic: Bryan Lodge, No. 215, F. and A. M.; Northwest Chapter, No. 45, R. A. M. Independent Order of Odd Fellows: Fountain City Lodge, No. 314; Williams Encampment, No. 102. The Grand Army of the Republic has an organization—Evans Post, No. i49. Auxiliary to this is the Woman's Relief Corps. The Sons of Veterans have an organization known as Fountain City Camp No. 192. There are lodges of the Knights of Honor, Knights of Pythias (No. 2221), Royal Arcanum, and the National Union. It would be interesting to have the history of these various organizations, particularly the more important ones, but lack of space forbids the attempt. CHAPTER XV SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP HIS iS the only full-sized one, territorially, of the eastern tier of townships in Williams county. It occupies the southeast corner and to touches adjacent territory in both Defiance and Fulton counties. The surface is generally level, with just sufficient undulation to afford good drainage. Like all the surrounding country, it is well watered and admirably adapted to all classes of diversified agriculture. The principal stream is Bean Creek, an affluent of the Maumee, which flows through it from north to south. Numerous smaller streams traverse the land as tributaries and contribute to the facilities for grazing, an industry which is well represented in connection with general farming and fruit growing. The township, of course, is an exact quadrangle in shape—six miles square—bounded on the north by Brady township and on the west by Pulaski. Defiance county forms the entire southern- boundary, while Fulton county joins it on the east and provides a boundary for two sections on the north. Like all the other territory which was not surveyed until after the adoption of the admirable Congressional plan, the system of surveys is regular, descriptions being sections, quarter sections, etc. The territory was originally covered with an abundant growth of excellent timber, and these desirable features early attracted crowds of immigrants who had followed the first settlers into the new country. Springfield was organized as a separate township on March 30, 1835, the territory having prior to that date been attached to or a part of Tiffin township (now in Defiance county). The boundaries then provided by order of the county commissioners carried jurisdiction to the Michigan line, but these were subsequently reduced and the present congressional limits established. The first election for township officers was held at the house of Sarah Luther, on the 16th -day of May, 1835, and resulted in the selection of the following named persons: Jonathan B. Taylor, clerk; Bruce Packard, John Stubbs and Harmon Doolittle, trustees; Joseph Stubbs, John Fields and Joseph Bates, fence viewers; John Lindenberger and Joseph Bates, supervisors; John H. Stubbs and Calvin Gleason, constables; Daniel Colgan and Abram Worts, overseers of the poor; Thomas J. Prettyman, treasurer. By reason of the death of Thomas J. Prettyman, July 28, 1835, a vacancy was created in the treasurer's office, and the trustees, on September 5, appointed Daniel Colgan to that position. Upon the same day, Jonathan B. Taylor and Harmon Doolittle were elected - 198 - SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP- 199 justices of the peace. All the above persons qualified, and those of whom it was required gave the necessary bonds. The township clerk's book containing the above facts is said to be still in existence, and among the records in the county clerk's office at Bryan is the poll-book of the election, held on September 5, 1835, when the justices named above were chosen. This record contains the name of every voter who cast his ba11ot at the election, and it is fair to infer that it represents nearly the entire voting population of the township at that time. The names recorded are as follows: John Stubbs, Joseph Stubbs, Daniel Colgan, John H. Stubbs, Calvin Gleason, John Hollinshead, Jonathan B. Taylor, Harmon Doolittle, John Lindenberger, Abraham Worts. Of the early settlers of the township, no one is more worthy of the post of honor than John Stubbs, not only because of his early residence, but because of his prominence and usefulness in the young community. He was a man of marked intelligence and strong humanitarian principles, one of the few who willingly yielded personal interest and made financial sacrifices for the sake of principle. He was born in Orange county, New York, August 12, 1784. His father, William Stubbs, who was of Welsh descent, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and assisted in the capture of the desperate and infamous tory, Claudius Smith, near Goshen, Orange county, New York, where he was afterwards hanged. In early life, John Stubbs removed to Tompkins county, New York. He was captain of a company of state militia during the war of 1812. In 1832 he sold his farm in Tompkins county and entered nearly 1,000 acres of land in what afterwards became Springfield township, Williams county, Ohio, and came with his family, together with his sons-in-law, Jonathan B. Taylor and Harmon Doolittle, and their families, all settling in Springfield township, the following spring. Mr. Stubbs located on Tiffin: River (Bean Creek), about three miles south of the present site of Stryker, built a cabin and commenced clearing. Here he remained but a year, when he removed to another tract of land in the same township, two and a half miles west of Stryker, and built another cabin. This farm of 130 acres he soon afterwards sold to Dr. Kibbey, who contemplated building a saw-mill and surveyed a portion of the land for town lots, calling the new place Williamsport; but becoming badly involved and unable to execute his intentions, the land reverted to Mr. Stubbs, who, in the meantime, had returned to his former place where he had begun a home, and where himself and family resided until 1861, when Mr. and Mrs. Stubbs went to live with their son, John H. Stubbs, with whom they remained until death called them. Mr. Stubbs died, January 26, 1864, and was followed by Mrs. Stubbs in 1871. Mr. Stubbs was for eighteen years justice of the peace in Tompkins county, New York, and after coming to Ohio filled continuously for many years some of the township offices, being also at one time one of the commissioners of Williams county. He was a member of no church, but was for more than half a century a prominent and leading member of the Masonic fraternity, having advanced as far in the order as was then