356 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. CHAPTER XL. PERRYSBURG TOWNSHIP. ESTABLISHMENT OE THE TOWNSHIP-ITS EARLY HISTORY-JUSTICES OE WAYNESFIELD-PERRYSBURG TOWNSHIP-OFFICIALS-PIONEER REMINISCENCES-MRS. AMELIA W. PERRIN'S STORY -MRS. HESTER GREEN'S STORY-REMINISCENCES OF MRS. PHILO THE CLARK-SOME ACCOUNT OE A FRENCH COLONY FROM THE MAUMEE-MEN OE 1839-THE OLD AND NEW HAMLETS -SCHOOLS-OLD REMINDERS PERRYSBURG VILLAGE- ITS DAYS OF INFANCY, SURVEY, NAMING, ETC.-PIONEERS OF THE VILLAGE-PRICES OF GOODS, AND LABOR-THE SETTLEMENT IN 1827-POST OFFICE-EXCHANGE HOTEL-THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD-FIRST EXECUTION-GERMAN PIONEERS-TRADERS OE 1840-MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS-MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS-FIRE DEPARTMENT AND FIRES CEMETERIES-CHOLERA VICTIMS-COMMON SCHOOLS-THE WAY LIBRARY-CHURCHESSOCIETIES-CONCLUSION. THIS township was established May 8, 1823, when the commissioners set apart all of the original territory of Waynesfield, within the organized county of Wood, under the new name, and ordered the election to be held at the house of Samuel Spafford, on June 19, 1823. The Congressional description of the western and northern boundaries is as follows: " Lying south of the channel of the Maumee river, from the west line of the county to the line between the original surveyed townships, Nos. 1 and 4, in the United States Reserve, and thence along the north channel to the State line." That part of the original township, extending from the head to the foot of the Rapids of the Maumee, was then, as it was for years afterward, the only strip of territory in the county where civilized man would dare to make a home. The pioneers of Wood county settled on the south bank of the Maumee, under the shadow of the same heights which Harrison in later years fortified and named Fort Meigs. Some years after the war of 1812 the settlement was re-established, and from it the pioneers made WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 357 Clearings in the forest, established their villages and commenced all those industrial enterprises which marked the progress of the county down to 1884-85, when the gas and oil-well driller appeared here. The names of the ante-bellum pioneers are given in the history of Perrysburg, for that village was a part of the township down to 1833. The records of the township are in a fair state of preservation as far back as 1848. All anterior to' that date cannot be found. More fortunate among the county records, the writer is able to give the names of justices of the peace from the beginning of the township, in 1823, to the present time, together with the names of justices for the older township of Waynesfield, from 1820 to 1832. The justices of Waynesfield were Almon Gibbs, who served from July 22, 1820, to his death, August 18, 1822; John Pray, who served until June 19, 1823; Charles Gunn, from July 22, 1820, to April, 1823, and reappointed; Samuel Spafford, from May 1, 1820, to September 8, 1821, when he resigned; John Jay Lovett, from 1821 to May, 1823; Horatio Conant, from November 11, 1822, and reappointed in 1825, 1829, 1832 and in 1835; John Pray, 1823-26; and Jonathan H. Jerome, .1829-1832. The Perrysburg township justices are named as follows: Paris M. Plumb, from July 7, 1823, to his removal from the township in May, 1824; Thomas W. Powell, September 16, 1823-1830; Thomas R. McKnight, June 30, 1824, and 1826; Elijah Huntington, 1827 to 1856; John C. Spink, 1831; William Fowler, 1834, resigned same year; Henry Bennett, 1834; Willard V. Way, 1837; Henry Darling, 1837; Elijah N. Knight, 1840; Joshua Chappel, 1840 to 1869; D. H. Wheeler, 1847; Rudolph S. Frederick, 1849; Peter Laney, 1849-52; Stephen Williams, 1852; Marshall Key, Jr., 1854; David Ross, 1854 to 1863; Reuben Sawyer, 1857; John H. Reid, 1858; Nelson Darling, 1858 to 1866; Abraham L. Fowler,. 1861 to 1879; Valentine Schwind, 1869 to 1875; James J. Parks, 1869; Stephen Merry, 1875 to 1897; George McMonagle, 1875; Sylvester Curtis, 1878 to 1893; James M. Brown, 1879 to 1897; Isaac P. Thompson, 1890; Timothy Hayes, 1892 to 1898; and George Boetsch, 1893, re-elected in 1896. Hezekiah L. Hosmer administered justice in this township at one time, of course, prior to his appointment as chief justice of Montana Territory. The clerks of the township, from 1848 to 1895, are named as follows: William H. Hopkins, 1848; James W. Ross, 1849; George Brown, 1850; James Murray, 1851; William Furrey, 1852; James Hood, 1853; Henry H. Dodge, 1853 and 1854; George S. McKnight, 1855; I. P. Thompson,1855 and 1862-63; F. R. Miller, 1856-57 and 1859; George Strain, 1858; John B. Spayford, 1860-61; J. W. Ross, 1864; John Powers 1865; Earl W. Merry, 1866; C. Finkbeiner, 1867-68; A. L. Fowler, 1869, and 1871 to 1877; Fred Yeager, 1870; Stephen Merry, 1877; Hiram R. Charles, 1878; Sylvester Curtis, 1879-82; Philip Wetzel, 1882; George Strain, 1883-84; S. D. Westcott, 1885-86; Philip Wetzel, 188796, with exception of a short term filled by George Strain, in 1888; in 1896, Philip Wetzel was re-elected. Among documents found in the auditor's offices are some early "tax levies," showing that Addison Smith was clerk in 1839; H. H. Hall, in 1841, and W. Russell, in 1842. The treasurers from 1839 to the present time, are named as follows: Elijah Huntington, 1839; Henry Darling, 1840; Nathaniel Dustin, 1843; R. Sawyer, 1846; J. P. Thompson, 1848; Stems phen T. Hosmer, 1849; James J. Parks, 1850; Jairus Curtis, 1851; Addison Smith, 1852-53; Geo. W. Clark, 1853; L. M. Hunt, 1854-58; Seth Bruce, 1858-61; Henry Thornton, 1861-63; S. D. Wescott, 1863, and 1865-66, and 1868 to 1877; E. N. Blue, 1864; John G. Knoll, 1867; Fred Yeager, 1877-81; John H. Rheinfrank , 1881-84; George Wittman, 1884--88, and 188993; Jacob Davis, 1888; E. L. Kingsbury, 1893; and H. R. Roether, 1895. The names of treasurers, prior to 1849, were found in documents in the county auditor's office in June, 1895. The assessors, other than the district assessors named in the Transactions of the Commissioners, were: James Birdsall, 1842; Hiram Davis, 1844; Elijah Huntington, 1844; E. N. Knight, 1847; J. J. Parks, 1848; John Chollette, 1849; Thomas L. Webb, 185o; Joseph Brownsberger, 1851; John Webb, 1852; James J. Smith, 1853; Eber Wilson, 1854; Stephen Merry, 1855; David Ross, 1856, and 1859; John Bates, 1857; Michael Hayes, 1858; N. D. Blinn, 186o; John Powers, 1861 and 1869; George Mills, 1862; George Eddleman, 1863-64; A. L. Fowler, 1865; J. J. Webb, 1866; David D. Bates, 1867-68, and 1874; George Boetsch, 1870 to 1873; Shibnah Spink, 1873; A. L. Scott, 1875; Fred Miller, 1876, and 1881-82; George W. Newton, 1877-78, and 1880; John Hufford, 1879; Fred Hillabrand, 1883 and 1886; William Lininger, 188485; Fred Schwind, 1887; Godfried Schwind, 1888; Joe E. Baird, 1889 and 1892; Daniel Klingler, 1890-91; John Pfisterer and Daniel Klingler, 1893; Charles Zingg and John Pfisterer, 358 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. 1894; Jos. Rossbach (resigned, and George Boetsch appointed), John C. Pfisterer, Levi S. Warner, and Wm. Underhill were elected. The names of assessors prior to 1848 were found in the county auditor's documents. From documents in the auditor's office, it is learned that Samuel Spafford and Leander Sackett were trustees in 1827; Ambrose Rice, Silas Lee and Samuel Spafford, in 1828; James Wilkinson and John Hollister, in 1829; John Hollister and Eber Wilson, and John C. Spink, in 1831; J. W. Scott and G. Crane, 1834; E. Huntington, 1835; James Jones and Rufus D. Keener, 1836; Gilbert Beach and Loomis Brigham, 1838; Hiram Davis, Loomis Brigham and Josiah Miller, 1840; J. Birdsall, 1843; N. D. Blinn and Jairus Curtis, 1844; Gilbert Beach and Hiram Davis, 1845; Samuel Hubbell, 1846; David Ladd, Hiram Davis and Aurora Spafford, trustees in 1847. The trustees of the township from 1848 to 1896, being the period covered by the clerk's records, are named as follows: 1848-John Ziegler, Jairus Curtis, John Webb. 1849-Elijah Huntington, Erasmus D. Peck, S. N. Beach. 1850-Benjamin Brown, James J. Smith, John Bates. 1851-52-James I. Smith, Jarvis Spafford, W. V. Way. 1853-Jarvis Spafford, W. V. Way, William Furry. 1854-john Bates, Marshall Key, Henry Thornton. 1855 Eber Wilson (vice Key). 1856-George W. Brown, E. Wilson, H. Thornton. 1857-W. V. Way (vice Brown). 1858-59-Eber Wilson, Henry Thornton, John Bates. 1860-John Yeager (vice Thornton). 1861-Eber Wilson, John Bates, John Yeager. 1862--S. D. Westcott, John A. Robertson, John Yeager. 1863-John Bates, J. G. Knoll, William Crook, Sr. 1864-F. J. Siebert (vice Crook). 1865-John Schwind (vice Siebert). 1866-Michael Hayes, A. M. Thompson, J. G. Knoll. 1867-John Yeager, J. Schwind, A. M. Thompson. 1868-72-Michael Hayes, Frank Rohda, H. M. Morse. 1872-Henry Thornton, H. M. Morse, F. Rohda. 1873-J. W. Ross, J. A. Robertson, James Eddleman. 1874-77-Henry Thornton, Timothy Hayes, George Limmer. 1877--Henry Wygant, Isaac Whitson, John Burdo. 1878-79-Casper Horn, John Burdo, C. Snyder. 1880--John Loesch (vice Burdo). 1881-John Ault (vice Snyder). 1882-John Loesch, John Ault, Conrad Sieling. 1883-Frederick Miller (vice Loesch). 1884-L. Reitzel, F. H. Thompson, F. Miller. 1885--F. Miller, E. Sawyer, F. H. Thompson. 1886-E. Sawyer, John Ault, John Loesch. Since 1887 one trustee has been elected annually, to serve three years. 1887-John Loesch. 1888-Ed. A. Underhill. 1889-Joseph Armbruster. 1890 and 1893-A. E. Leydorf. 1891-Fred Miller. 1892-John Schwind, Henry Buckhouse. 1893-James H. Pierce, Edwin H. Simmons. 1894-Conrad Sieling. 1895-William Diebert. 1896-Edwin Simmons. PIONEER REMINISCENCES. Mrs. Amelia W. Perrin's Story. Mrs. Amelia W. Perrin, a daughter of Capt. Jacob Wilkinson, settled with her parents just above Perrysburg prior to 1812, and shared in the flight from the Maumee after the news of Hull's surrender reached the settlement. The family remained at Cleveland until peace was declared. While there, her father built a schooner, evidently using the same amount of dispatch as did Commodore Perry in creating the fleet with which he did such signal service at Put-in-Bay, in 1813. The schooner was of twenty-five tons, and christened the "Black Snake." " In the latter part of May, 1815," says Mrs. Perrin, '"father set sail with a load of immigrants, landing part of them at the River Raisin, and the balance at Fort Meigs. He had with him at this time his nephew, David Wilkinson, whom he afterward took to raise (on the death of his father), and who became one of the most distinguished captains on the lakes. Young David was at this time fifteen years of age, having been born in the year 1800. On his return from this trip my father carried a cargo of ordnance and military stores from Fort Meigs to Detroit, whence all the equipments were taken, Fort Meigs having been dismantled soon after the war. He continued to run this schooner, making occasional trips to the Maumee, until September, 1816, when he took his family back to Fort Meigs. My father's hatred of the British was so intense, and he expressed his sentiments so freely in the presence of his family, that the names British and Indian were synonymous in my young mind. How well I recollect my utter amazement on learning, when about ten years of age, that an agreeable playmate, whose acquaintance I had recently formed, was the daughter of a British officer; I had previously supposed that the British, like the Indians, were entirely uncivilized. "My first clear recollection of the Maumee dates from the time I landed from my father's vessel at the foot of Fort Meigs, in the fall of 1816. The old home had been destroyed, and father went immediately to work to erect another, farther up the river, and we occupied it in the fall of that year. The late Eber Wilson has told me that a portion of the foundation of this old home is still to be seen at the northwest corner of the Mosier farm. The Indians, at this time peaceable, were living in the vicinity in great numbers. I can remember seeing large troops of Indian children playing in the water at WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 359 the foot of Buttonwood Island, opposite our house, that island being their favorite camping ground for many years. In the spring of 1817 father made preparations to build a substantial house, having fully made up his mind to locate permanently upon the Maumee. Employing help, he went into the forest and hewed logs, after the manner of John Alden. When completed, the new house was commodious and comfortable, being quite a pretentious residence for the times. "The battle of Fort Meigs had been fought while we were at Cleveland, and when we returned the stronghold had been dismantled, and the equipments sent to Detroit. Although thus abandoned, the fort presented an entirely different appearance from what it does now. The little log building which had been occupied by Gen. Harrison, as his headquarters, still stood where he had left it, and it remained there for many years afterward. The block-houses and the greater portion of the stockade also still remained. There was no green verdure covering the embankments, which were gray and bare. The ditches, where the earth had been excavated, were filled with water, and afforded us children a famous sliding place in the winter. "The school house, where we received our education, stood about half way up the hill, and the fort was our old playground. We never used to hear the word 'recess' at school. The teacher used to say, 'The boys may go out;' at the proper time they would be 'rapped in' by the rat-tat of the ruler on the window sash; then the girls would be allowed to go out, but the boys and girls were never permitted to mingle on the fort together. The boys took great comfort with a large copper camp kettle which the soldiers had left behind them; it was about the size of an ordinary barrel. After filling it with stones, they would roll it down hill, enjoying the noise as only boys can. One day they persuaded a little fellow to get into the kettle in place of the stones, assuring him that it would be capital fun. The little chap could not see it as the others did, after reaching the bottom of the hill, bruised, bewildered and a little out of temper. I notice that the school-boy of to-day is very much as he was seventy years ago, and history thus seems to repeat itself. The best male teachers attainable were always employed by those having charge of the schools. Among those who taught here, who were then highly appreciated and now affectionately remembered, are the following: Rev. H. P. Barlow, Seneca Allen, Thomas W. Powell, Mr. Gage (afterward the husband of Frances D. Gage, the authoress), Mr. Robinson (a lawyer on his way west), Mr. Adams and Galen B. Abel. There were others, but their names have faded from my mind. In my earlier years we were taught by lady teachers in the old Fort Meigs school house. One of these -Miss Mary Keeler, daughter of Major Keelerwho taught for two successive summers, has left the impress of her sweet face and gentle, patient manners indelibly upon my heart. After recitations were over she would give lessons in embroidery and other kinds of needle work. Miss Gilbert, of. Cleveland, and Miss Brown, of Perrysburg, also instructed us. We were taught one summer by Mrs. McElrath, a Presbyterian of the Old School. On one occasion, during the reading of the Testament, I inadvertently laughed at some trifling thing, and she so strongly impressed upon my mind the heinousness of the offense of making light of the Word of God, that I have felt its influence through the sixty years that followed. "Among the incidents which I have heard my mother often relate is the following: One morning, in the summer of 1811, a man came riding down the river, warning the settlers that a large body of Indians, hideously painted, was forming above, and their appearance and actions indicated that they were upon the war-path. The rumor created terrible alarm in the vicinity, and the thoughts of each were immediately directed to finding a place of safety for themselves and their children. Father took his family to the woods, some distance away, and there left them (mother and her four children) concealed in a brush heap, with the promise to return as soon as he was assured of their safety, and enjoining them to keep quiet and closely concealed. All that long day they remained there, scarcely daring to move for fear of attracting the attention of some lurking savage. In his haste father had forgotten to bring anything to eat, but fear of the Indians kept the little ones quiet and caused them to forget their hunger, except the baby, which nursed until it drew blood. As the dread hours of that long, weary, terrible day passed slowly, one by one, and father failed to come, mother's anguish grew almost unendurable, for she imagined he had fallen at the hands of Indians. When he finally appeared, just as the darkness of night was closing around us, there was a most joyful reunion. It seems that the uncertainty of the purpose of the Indians had prevented him from returning to us sooner. The savages were merely out upon ' a lark,' and had gobbled up a number of white men, father among WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 360 the number, and pestered them, just by way of amusement. "Very early (probably in 1817) a Presbyterian Church Society was organized by Rev. Burgess and another minister from Columbus, and after the mission was established, nine miles up the river, the clergy often came to Orleans and Maumee to administer the ordinance of baptism. About the year 1820, the Genessee Conference sent Rev. John P. Kent to look over the ground, and to form Societies where the people desired. From that time Orleans was embraced in a circuit, and there were regular appointments. My father's house was the most pretentious in the village-built square, with two stories, two rooms above and two below. Connecting the two lower rooms was a wide folding door, and between them the staircase was located. When there was an unusual gathering, religious services were always held at our house, as the accommodations were ample. The audience would occupy both rooms, and the minister used the staircase for a pulpit. Religious meetings were also held at other private houses, in the school house, and sometimes in a room over the store of John Hollister, until the society was transferred to Perrysburg. Orleans was never able to boast of a church building. A union Sabbath-school was organized by Seneca Allen, which was kept for many years. The pupils were required to commit the Sermon on the Mount as the first lesson, and after that were allowed to select any portion of the Scriptures they chose. "Orleans was surveyed soon after the war of 1812, by Seneca Allen; and for a period of fifteen years it was the resting place for those who were seeking new homes either in Wood county or farther west. Among those who made their home here were the following: Jacob Wilkinson, Seneca Allen, Major Amos Spafford, Samuel Spafford, Aurora Spafford, T. W. Powell, J. Chappel, Robert and Richard Howard, James Patterson, M. Abbott, Elisha Martindale, Thomas R. McKnight, Judge William Pratt, John and B. F. Hollister, John Jay Lovett, David Hull and Francis Charter. On the hill-side and commons a number of houses were built and occupied by our neighbors. Among them the following are well remembered: Conrad House, James M. Thomas, Thomas Mcllrath, S. H. Ewing, Luther Whitmore, Mr. Wilson and Elijah Huntington. Dr. Colton was the resident physician, but only for a short time. The merchants were Samuel Vance and John Hollister. The greatest drawback to the prosperity of the country was the sickly season. Everybody expected an attack of fever and ague periodically, and were always prepared for it, and the loss of time and the doctors' long bills conduced to keep the people poor. Notwithstanding their many discouragements, however, the early settlers were economical and industrious, and the principal business was farming. The fisheries were a source of wealth to some, and a help to all. Many Eastern people came, and after going through a short season of sickness, returned in disgust, declaring that they were not constitutionally adapted to the profession of a pioneer in a new country. After a few years, those who remained became acclimated so that they were able to resist the baneful influence of miasma in a great degree. At times, however, during the sickly season, there would not be one left in the family able to care for those helpless from disease. I well recollect being sent by mother on an errand to the house of Mrs. Mack, a neighbor, and I came upon a distressing scene. The husband was absent on a short journey; Mrs. Mack was helplessly sick in bed, and her little children were sitting around the fire waiting and wondering why mamma did not get up and give them something to eat. I informed my mother, and they were soon cared for. "Those who witnessed the flood of the spring of 1818 in the Maumee never forgot it. The floating ice gorged at the Big Island at night, and water soon covered the flats a number of feet deep. The inhabitants of Orleans were awakened by the rushing and surging of the flood and crushing of the ice cakes, and, hastening to look out, found themselves surrounded by an angry sea. The neighbors came in a boat, and I was handed out of the window. While everyone was busy, the cradle, which had been floating about with the baby in it, started out of the door, and would have soon gone sailing down the river, had it not been quickly caught. We, with others who had been rescued in a similar manner, found shelter in the house of Mr. McIlrath, on the hill-side. Sixty or seventy years ago the few inhabitants of this section of the Valley were very social in their intercourse with each other, and no great formality was used in becoming acquainted. Where similarity of tastes were found between families, the strongest friendships were formed, which (although they afterward became widely scattered) have lasted throughout a lifetime. Charming evening gatherings were held around the glowing fire, of which those early settlers retained the fondest memories, throughout succeeding years fraught with wonderful changes and startling events. Young people did WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 361 not hesitate to marry in those days because they had not yet secured a competence: it was to be a helpmeet in making their united future one of prosperity and happiness. From 1818 to 1826, the young men, or the ' big boys,' as the little folks called them, of the Fort Hill school, left home and friends to seek their fortunes. Some wandered south, while others entered the lake service, many of whom subsequently became experienced sailors, and noted as the commanders and owners of some of the finest lake craft. My eldest brother, Freeman, at the age of eighteen, went to Portland (now Sandusky City), apprenticed himself to a ship builder, and became a master builder. One time when I was visiting at Port Lawrence (Toledo) my attention was called by Mr. Baldwin to a beautiful ship lying at anchor in the river, named the ' Eclipse. This was the first large vessel which my brother had built, and the family were naturally proud of his success. He soon afterward went on a voyage to Europe, visiting the shipyards of Amsterdam and Liverpool. At this time it was a great distinction to go abroad on business or pleasure. Afterward he drifted southward, establishing shipyards on the Mississippi, and died at the early age of thirty-five. Two other schoolmates, John and Richard Craw, found early graves in the South. Among the boys of the Fort Hill school, who left Orleans in their early manhood to battle with the world and carve out their fame and fortune, are the following: John and Richard Craw, nephews of the Spafford brothers; Edward Wilkinson, brother of Capt. David Wilkinson, who had already become an experienced sailor; James Thomas; Anson and Truman Reed, brothers; Freeman and Harvey Wilkinson, brothers. "It did not take many years to demonstrate that Orleans was never going to be the ' Queen City' of the North, as was fondly anticipated by those who established it. Other points down the river were more accessible as a landing for the large boats which were beginning to ply between the Maumee river and lake cities, and it was found that the town was liable to be flooded at every spring freshet. One by one, the Orleanists pulled up stakes and located at the rival town of Perrysburg, or elsewhere. By the winter of 1825-26, I think they were all gone but two families; from that time until 1830, my father and Aurora Spafford, with their families, were the only permanent residents, although people continued to move to and fro, stopping at Orleans for the purpose of taking a rest, a long breath and a new start. "For a period of about four years (1826 to 1830), the late Mrs. Miranda Crane (a stepdaughter of judge Spafford), and the writer were the only young ladies in Orleans. The girls of that time were taught to help their mothers, from the days of early childhood being employed at anything useful that their little hands could do. As years rolled on they were taught to knit, spin, sew and do all manner of housework; .at fifteen they were usually capable of taking entire charge of household affairs, when required. A large portion of the cloth used for wearing apparel was spun at home, especially men's clothing. After cotton goods came into the market farmers ceased raising flax for their wives and daughters to manufacture into cloth. As a matter of course, all were rejoiced when their daily lives were relieved of this drudgery, and the old spinning-wheel was set aside, consigned to future generations as an interesting relic of the past. When calico was first introduced into the Orleans market, it ranged in price from 40 cents to 75 cents a yard." Mrs. Hester Green's Story.-Mrs. Hester (Purdy) Green, who was here as early as the year 1810, makes the following references to the persons and incidents of the time and place: " I moved to the Maumee Rapids, in 1810, with my father, Daniel Purdy, from the State of New York. There came with us, from the same place, with their families, Wm. Carter, Andrew Race (son-in-law of Carter), Mr. Hopkins, Stephen Hoit and Mr. Porter. David Hull (a nephew of Gen. Hull) kept a store and tavern. Being a bachelor, his sister kept house for him, and I lived with them part of the time. Hull had a clerk by the name of Antoine LaPoint, a pretty shrewd fellow who could speak English, French and Indian. Among the names of the French who were there, when we came, were M. Beaugrand, Minor, Lorengy, M. Emell, Baptiste Momeny, M. Guilliam, and Peter Williams (half French). Among the others remembered were Spafford, a man of very fine appearance, who was port collector, receiving four hundred dollars a year salary for collecting tax on goods brought on boats; his son Aurora; Amos Hecock (son-in-law of Spafford); Mr., Blalock, who lived about a mile south of us, a gunsmith, and who was said to make counterfeit money; John Woods; Jesse Skinner; Mr. Carlin, a blacksmith; Mr. Scribner; John Kelly, who taught our school; James Ruling, silversmith; Peter Momeny; John Carter; and two or three families south of Blalocks. "Our town was at the Foot of the Rapids, and my father lived about eight rods from the WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 362 river, opposite an island. Fish were very plenty. Large ones could be caught in abundance with the hook and line. We would throw them on the bank as we caught them, and then selecting the finest for the table we left the remainder for the hogs to eat. Among the fish caught were sturgeon, muskalonge, pickerel and bass. We gathered huckleberries about two miles from home. It was amusing to see the squaws gathering; they would hold a kettle or pan under the bushes, and beat the berries off with a stick. I have seen forty or fifty lodges of Indians encamped here; they were on their way to Malden to get their presents. We got our milling done at the River Raisin, about thirty miles away. Game was abundant, live stock was easily raised on the prairies, and we enjoyed a free and easy life until the mutterings of war began to fill us with alarm; then the arrival of Gen. Hull, and his splendid army, reassured us. He left a small command here who built a fort, or block-house, for our protection. Thus we lived in security until a messenger arrived informing us that Gen. Hull had sold his army, and that we would have to leave. Then all was fright and confusion. We, and most of the others, excepting the soldiers, gathered what we could handily, and left. We stopped at Blalock's a short time, and an Indian messenger arrived telling us to come back as they would not kill us, but only wanted some of our property; looking around until he found Blalock's gun, he took it, went out and got a horse my mother had ridden to this point, and departed. We went back and remained three days, in which time the Indians were pretty busy in driving off our live stock (we lost sixteen head), and plundering the houses of such as had not come back. Mr. Guilliam was one who fled, leaving everything behind, and had not the presence of danger filled us with alarm, we would have been amused to see the Indians plundering his house. The feather beds were brought out, ripped open and the feathers scattered to the winds, the ticks alone being deemed valuable. But our stay was short, only three days, when the commandant of the fort informed us that he would burn the fort and stores and leave, inviting us to take such of the provisions as we might need. Consternation again seized upon us, and we hastily reloaded our wagons and left. We stayed the first night at a house eight or ten miles south of the Rapids. In the black swamp, the load became too heavy, and they rolled out a barrel of flour and a barrel of meat, which they had obtained at the fort. Mr. Hopkins, John Carter, Mr. Scribner and William Race went back the next fall to gather their crops, and they were all killed by the Indians. John Carter was attacked while in a boat on the river, and they had quite a hard fight before they got his scalp. After many years the government gave the Purdys four hundred dollars for the crops and stock left behind them in their flight." Reminiscences of Mrs. Philothe Clark. In the reminiscences of Mrs. Philothe (Case) Clark, she speaks of her coming with her father, two young men named Scribner and Lapeer, and a number of others, who arrived at the Maumee settlement May 1, 1811, and raised some crops that season. Continuing, she says : "Several heads of families died before the next winter. My father's sister died on the 10th of August, and his mother died on the 12th. There were no boards to be had, so he -took his broad-axe, and with two other men .went into the woods and felled a basswood tree, from which they split out puncheons. These he hewed and planed, and with his own hands made the coffin, and helped to bury their dead, where Fort Meigs was afterward built. My father's own family suffered very much. He was sick with fever and ague, and many days, and for hours at a time, there was not a member of the family able to help himself. All the water that we could have for twenty-four hours was two pails of river water, brought in every morning by a kind neighbor. His little child, two years old, died soon afterward. In the spring of 1812 my father planted potatoes and corn on the island in the river. The army made use of it, and he got his pay for it from the government. There was a company of soldiers stationed near us; but they left immediately after we heard of Hull's surrender. A British officer, with a few soldiers and a band of Indian warriors, came to take possession of what public stores there were at that place. The Indians plundered a few houses, took all the horses and mules they could find, and left. The inhabitants had to leave,-some of them in open boats. Our family, in company with twelve other families, left by land. We took the road to Urbana, cut through by Gen. Hull's army. After a toilsome journey of two weeks through the mud of the Black Swamp, nearly devoured by mosquitoes, sometimes with no water except what stood in the cattle tracks, we arrived safely at Urbana, where we drew government rations until we separated for our several destinations." The late Hezekiah L. Hosmer, who knew Peter Minor, an actor in the early settlement, WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 363 and wrote down the pioneer's recollections of Perrysburg, speaks of Sac-a-manc, an Indian warrior, giving Peter Minor notice of British intentions, of the flight of the Spafford family, and of the advance of the British and Indians under the notorious Col. Elliott. The story varies but little from the relations already given. In the history of Rice township, Sandusky county, written by Hon. Homer Everett, is an account of a French colony from the Maumee, which located near bower Sandusky in 1812-13, as follows: '' After peace had been restored in 1815, this township became the home of many of the French families of the colony, which left the Maumee and came to Lower Sandusky three years earlier. The original settlement of these people, after coming to America, was at Monroe, Mich. They afterward established themselves on the Maumee, where they settled down to habits of industry. But the opening of the British and Indian hostilities, in 1812, compelled another removal, and doomed them to four years of migration and unsettled life. In January, 1813, by direction of the government, about twenty families packed their possessions and started for Lower Sandusky. It was a fortunate circumstance that heavy ice, well covered -with snow, gave them an easy course of travel, and at the same time made it possible to avoid the savage enemies of the forest. All being in readiness, a French train was formed. This consisted of a procession of one-horse sleighs, the runners of which were made of boards. The train was placed under direction of a Frenchman named Peter Maltosh, who had been an Indian trader. The journey to Locust Point, over the ice, was made in one day. On the following day, Portage (Port Clinton, as it was then called) was reached, and, the third day, Lower Sandusky. The colony was given quarters in the government barracks until spring, when cabins were built for them. In August, 1813, they were, by order of the government, removed to Upper Sandusky until the conclusion of the war, when they were moved back in government wagons. They had been wards of the government during the war, and the able-bodied among them bore their parts bravely in the lines of soldiery." The names of these refugees, some of whom returned to the Maumee at the close of the war, so far as can be learned, were Joseph Cavalier and wife, who died at Fort Stephenson; Albert Cavalier, their son, Mrs. Jacob Gabriel O'Dett de La Point, Thomas DeMars, Bisnette, Joseph, John and Peter Momeny, Peter Minor's family, Charles Fountaine, Christopher Columbo, and the Devoir family, consisting of five brothers, and Maltosh, the guide. This concludes the broken threads of the story of the destroyed settlement on the Maumee. Men of 1839.-In 1839, an enumeration of all male citizens over twenty-one years of age, in the township was made by County Assessor Samuel Matthews. In February, 1877, the Sentinel copied the lists and published them, and from that paper the following names are taken: Seneca Sterling, Edward Hotchkis, Allen Hills, Isaac Stetson, Addison Smith, Henry Mandell, R. L. McKnight, Willard V. Way, Henry Bennett, Joseph Cornell, James F. Stubbs, Gilbert Beach, Aaron B. Banks, Horace Hall, John Hall, Horatio Hall, James Mecham, D. Wilkinson, Wm. Irwin, David Allen, R. B. Nichols, Charles Russell, Phillip Hahn, Barnet Kenedy, James Bellville, Peter Cranker, Thomas Child, Loomis Brigham, Thomas L. Webb, Henry Ross, Reuben Sawyer, John Fay, Daniel Lindsey, John C. Kellogg, A. Coffinberry, John Bates, Henry Cook, Jarvis Spafford, Jeremiah C. Crane, James M. Spafford, Amos Spafford, Otis Wheelock, W. W. Wheelock, Abraham L. Fowler, Samuel B. Campbell, Walter W. Slason, John Kridler, Edward Bissel, Edward Freeman, E. D. Peck, W. P. Griswould, Abner Brown, John Webb, Jacob Regle, C. G. Minkler, W. W. Covey, H. L. Hosmer, J. B. Lewis, Andrew Burns, L. R. Austin, D. C. Doan, William Nettle, Jonathan Perrin, Phillip Loup, Cyrus Darling, Peter Laney, William Crook, S. M. Beach, James Birdsall, Pearl Simons, Christian Houtz, John Birdsall, Worling Bradford, George Hopper, Joseph Creps, Joseph A. Creps, George Creps, David Creps, Shibnah Spink, C. C. Roby, William Houston, Eber Wilson, Charles Wilson, Harry Ewing, Samuel Burke, Samuel Wilson, Jacob Mark, Hiram Pratt, Benjamin Thornton, Isaac Bloomfield, J. W. Turner, William Ziegler, John Hollister, B. F. Hollister, John W. Smith, Josiah Miller, George Chollette, S. P. Johnson, Christian, William Earl, James Brown, Abraham Carter, J. T. Purvis, Robinson, David Johnson, J. L. Crane, James Coffinberry, Charles Donnelley, Thomas Bloomfield, Abram Gray, Thomas Pheatt, David Perrin, Elijah Huntington, Joshua Chappel, Hiram Davis, William P. Reman, William Russell, Levi C. Lock, Benjamin Russell, William Kelley, Harvey T. Smith, E. M. Knight, C. T. Woodruff,. Theodore Clark, John Smith, Wieck, Adam Mitts, Jonas Bishop, Samuel Bishop, James T. Rey, Benjamin Rathbone, John Elliott, Edward Bonnell, Laban Radway, Solomon Thompson, Fletcher Joy, Elial Bacon, Simon Teeple, Benj, 364 - WOOD COUNTY,. OHIO. Minor, John R. Kelley, Joseph Clary, H. H. Courser, John C. Smith, Joseph Winters, C. W. Norton, Asahel Paine, Daniel H. Wheeler, William Crook, William L. Cook, James Blinn, Nelson Talmage, Adam Bates, Robert Davidson, Charles Bowsprit, Charles Lambert, Christopher Hetching, Robert Shaw, Luther Jackson, William Findlay, John Shepler, William B. Tillotson, William Weddle, Baty, Robert Reed, William Mack, Benjamin Gill, T. Rudsill, David Ross, C. D. Woodruff, Westcott Smith, Robert Miller, William Deyo, Charles Shepard, Henry Thornton, John Ziegler, Seth Bruce, Wright, T. Freeman, Joshua Chappel, Elijah Herrick, Perry Curtis, Jairus Curtis, Uriah Piersons, Walter Buel, Alonzo Rogers, Darius Harris, William L. Cook, Joshua Rolf, Jedediah Loup, Christopher Perrin, J. W. Ferrell, Nathaniel Dustin, Henry Darling, John C. Spink, George Drewry, Alexander Decker, Victor Jennison, George Firdig, John Bishop, Ralph Ogle, John Van Heller, Henry Van Hellen, Henry Waggoner, Barnabas Allen, Abel Leach, Mark Havens, William Loup, James Conaway, David Staler, Jacob Kline, William Kline, McMichael, Abraham Beaver, Ora Abbey, Charles Abbey, J. H. Thurstin, J. McGrain, J. Hoover, Ruda Lusher, Thomas Kinsley, Jonathan Jenkins, Patrick Carl, Thomas Farlin, John McGee, Patrick Cauington, John Hollis, Silas Burk, Edward Burk, H. Ladroist, George Fox, Felix Casper, Francis Powers, Augustus Cook, H. Turrel, J. S. Sabin, J. A. Hancock, George House, Peter Rible, Norman Zimerer, George Price, W. S. Haskins, W. O'Brien, John Brownsberger, Jacob Lusher, A. F. Striker, David Johnson, Benjamin McIntire, John Riley, S. Belongy, Lazy Sutton, Frank Bushel, Henry Roberts, John Beninger, James Barber, James Kelley, John McCoy, John Perrin, George Longel, Darius Budges, Stephen Phillips, Michael Rhom, John Hetsinger, Henry Lusher, Daniel Klinger, Phillip Croove, Phillip Croove, Jr., Conrad Seymour, F. B. Rowley, Aaron Higgins, Nathan Russell, George Coleman, John . Shaver, John McKey, James Hollington, Moses Higgins, A. M. Thompson, Gideon Hord, John Harvey, Chester Blinn, George Powers, J. M. ,Hall, and Geo. Flack. The following are names of those employed on steamers " Wayne " and " Perry " : N. Gardner, J. Matthews, S. Pierce, W. Watkins, Sandy, Archy, Thomas, Wilbour, Stewart, Rogers, Mallory, Hathaway, Joles, Williams, Russell, Dimick, Westcott, Smith, Printis, John McKee, W. Watts, J. F. Stubbs, C. Harrison, P. Allen, J. Green, W. Nukols, O. Whitmore, R. Louney, and T. Watts. This list shows the names of 331 adult males, against 1,153 souls enumerated in the whole county, so that Perrysburg township of 1839 represented the great majority of the bread- winping population of the county. Within the ensuing ten years, many immigrants located in the township. The tyranny of class government in Ireland and Germany, and the political troubles of Europe in 1846, 1847 and 1848, drove large numbers of the people to the shores of the United States, whence they spread out westward. Such families as the Hayeses, who came in 1848, and own Fort Meigs, and the Germans, named in the history of Perrysburg village, who came from Hesse Darmstadt and Rhenish provinces, have taken a most important part in the development of the township, and the building of the village. The Old and New Hamlets.-The town of Orleans on Tracts 65 and 66, in the United States Reserve of twelve miles square, was founded in 1817, shortly after the return of the refugees to the Maumee, and surveyed by J. J. Lovett. It was re-surveyed in December, 1825, by Seneca Allen, for Frederick A. Stuart, and Lots 138 and 139 set apart for public buildings, on condition that the seat of justice should be fixed there. The effort was a useless one, for, with the exception of part of the Wilkinson family, Mrs. Ornans, and, perhaps, one other family, the residents moved down to Perrysburg, in 1823. To-day, the site of this first settlement of English-speaking people in Wood county, is clothed in grass, like Fort Meigs. The Hayes family located there in 1847 or 1848, while yet the old Hollister building was standing, and, for the succeeding forty-eight years, Michael Hayes and his brothers have seen to it that the site of the old town, and of the fort above it, have not been subjected to the plow, or exposed to the vandals. In 1816, David Hull opened the first tavern in the new town, and a year later, Joseph Vance established a store under the fort. Both houses were open on April 17, 1817, when Joshua Chappel arrived at that point. Down to 1830 a few of the first settlers made the place their home. The history of the rise and fall of that village is told elsewhere. Lime City, on Road Tract 13, T. 4, of the U. S. Reserve, was surveyed by C. H. Judson in October, 1887, for C. H. Sawyer. It received its name in July, 1885, when a post office was established, which, at the request of the petitioners, was named Lime City, and L. S. Warner appointed master. In January, 1895, Anna Pelton resigned the office, and a sister of the first post- WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 365 master was appointed. A reference to the chapter on Roads, and also to the chapter on Troy township, will inform the reader on the building and history of the Western Reserve road. Down to 1852, Stoneburner's tavern, where Lime City now stands, was a well-known hostelry. In the forties," particularly, '' Stoneburner's " was a famous hotel, approaching the "Exchange," at Perrysburg. The lime works were established in 1883 or 1884 by C. H. Sawyer, near the two old McMonigle lime-kilns. Mr. Sawyer operated the quarry until 1888, when the first kilns were built. In 1891 the Lime City Company was organized, with C. H. Sawyer, president; W. B. Scott, vice-president; John B. Bronson, secretary and treasurer; and George Breed, superintendent. This company added four kilns to the two established in 1888, the capacity of which is about 100,000 barrels annually. The company quarry a fine building stone, and also operate a stone-crusher, with a capacity of about 1,500 car-loads annually. The works employ from thirty to eighty men. James J. Smith, with Hitchcock and Fink, were the principal farmers of the place before the town was surveyed. Shover & Warner opened the first store, and within a short time a few more business houses were started. The Methodist Episcopal Church, of Lime City, may be said to be contemporary with the establishment of the village, when a frame meeting-house was erected. Among the members at that time, and in 1890, were: John, Thos. H. and Jane Tinney, J. M. Deams, Albert Brownsberger, Mary S. and Jos. Perkins, Mellie Warner, Maggie, Mary and Emma Creps, John and Annie Greiner, Julia Bench, Mrs. D. Simmons, Anna and Sarah Trowbridge, Maud and Ida Hamilton, George L. and May Meek, Frank Schumaker, Cordelia Pelton, Annie Pelton, Orlando Edelman, Alma Warner and Louis Laney. John Bench and John Greiner have been classleaders in recent years. In January, 1895, John Bench was elected superintendent of the Sundayschool; E. E. Kerns, assistant superintendent; E. A. Cox, treasurer; G. L. Wheeler, secretary and librarian; and Frances Lusher, organist. Linson was surveyed for Elliott Warner, A. D. Stewart, R. V. Chamberlain and George Kimberlin, by David Donaldson, in July, 1875. Like Marengo, Manhattan and Orleans of the North, Linson is only a memory. Hobart was the name borne by a post office in the extreme northeastern corner of the township. It was discontinued in November, 1895. Schools.-The township school record dates back to May 21, 1853, when Eber Wilson, Jerome Smith, Lorenzo Blackman, John Shaner, W. W. Morse and Horace Hollister, with James Hood, secretary, were present. The sum of $400 was appropriated for a school building in District 9, on Road Tract No. 24; small sums for repairs on school houses in Districts 5, 7, 8 and 10, and $400 for a new house in District 5. In April, 1854, the sum of $400 was appropriated for a house in District 10. Nathaniel Strickland was one of the trustees or directors in 1854, while the names of W. A. Lanigan and Henry M. Morse, with J. P. Thompson, clerk, appear in 1855. School buildings were authorized for Districts 6 and 3, and repairs on the other houses ordered. In 1858, there were 321 children enumerated; in 1879, there were 377 male and 318 female children enumerated; in 188o, 697; and in 1881, 719. The State apportionment was $541.50, and the local, $445.63-a total of $987.13. Old Reminders.-In 1848, during the construction of the hydraulic canal, a well was discovered at the upper end of Perrysburg. It was walled up with brick of superior quality, in sectoral lines, and no one, then living in the village, or Maumee, knew anything of its construction, or of the place where the brick were made. So common report said, and the newspapers echoed the saying. Mrs. Perrin, one of the few pioneers surviving, stated in June, 1895, that David W. Hawley excavated the well prior to 1822. On the Eber Wilson farm, two miles from Perrysburg, are the remains of a fortification, of which nothing is known. In 1823, when the Wilsons settled there, the lines of the works were distinct, and, in plowing, blacksmith's cinders were found within the inclosure. The fortification can have no connection with the building of Fort Meigs, for it is a work which Harrison's men did not dream of constructing. PERRYSBURG VILLAGE. This good old town, dating back to the times when the echoes of Perry's guns, on Lake Erie, and Jackson's, on the field of Chalmette, reverberated throughout the world, is the stage on which the drama of Wood county's settlement was enacted, and the conquest of the northwestern Indians effected. Surveyed for the United States in 1816, when British and Indian power was crippled in these parts, it is now in its eightieth year, and yet only in the infancy of its 366 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. progress. The reader of the general history of the country is already acquainted with its military transactions of 1812-13, 1835, and 1861-65, as well as with its early hunters and traders; its commerce and navigation; its stage coaches, ferries and taverns; its newspaper men, lawyers, physicians, politicians and merchants; and with the thousand stirring incidents of its pioneer days. In this article, an earnest effort has been made to gather the history of its inhabitants and their particular local institutions, so that a readable record may exist, when the village casts off its swaddling clothes, to assume the dress and airs of a great city, to which enterprise will attach it in the future. In beginning the story of the township, the reminiscences of a few of the earliest immigrants, and the relations of other pioneers, are considered worthy, and to them first place is given. The survey of the village was made in 1816, as related in the chapter on Land Titles. Josiah Meigs, formerly governor of Ohio, but then filling the office of U. S. Land Commissioner, taking cognizance of this National enterprise, addressed the following letter to Major Spafford, under date April 12, 1816: DEAR FRIEND:-As you will have a town on Miami of Erie, it will be well to think of the name it is to bear. The act does not give a name. Who is to christen it? I wish you would think on the subject, and let me have your wishes. For my part, I will barely suggest to you that, if it would be named Perryville, or Perrytown-or in some other form, which may always remind us of the victory of Erie-it would be good policy. We ought to make the best profit we can of the blood of our countrymen, which has been shed for the confirmation of our independence. If it were left to me to name the town at Lower Sandusky, I should name it in honor of the gallant youth, Col. Croghan, and would say it should be Croghanville. I believe it is in your power to give the names. The idea was adopted, but the Major, in attempting to be original, made the name Perrysburg; while Governor Meig's "Croghanville" was cast aside, even though it would be a memorial of one of the most brilliant soldiers of the war of 1812. Pioneers of the Village.-The removal of the county seat from Maumee to Perrysburg, in 1823, was a serious set-back to Orleans of the North. David Hull, who opened a tavern on the flats under Fort Hill in 1816; Joseph Vance, who established a store; Jacob Wilkinson, whose boats and tavern were known there as early as 1816; Lovett, who surveyed the town; John Hollister, Joshua Chappel and others, who located there in 1817, a few of whom had moved to Maumee, redirected their steps toward the newer county seat, a mile below the fort, and soon appeared to be more interested in Perrysburg than they ever were in Orleans. Samuel Spafford built the "Exchange Hotel" in 1823; two buildings, or three, were moved from Maumee; store rooms and dwellings sprung up here and there, and the United States town with its name, suggested by Governor Meigs, and its broad streets, suggested by United States surveyors, began to take shape. The first house builder was David W. Hawley, who with his wife and step-daughter made their home in the wilderness from 1817, until Mrs. Hawley's death in 1820. She was buried in the Spafford cemetery. Hawley sent her daughter to her people, and then abandoned the place himself. John Webb, who died August 27, 1885, settled here in 1822, and established himself at once as a hat-maker. With him were his wife, Elizabeth (Charles), his son, John Charles, his brother, Thomas L. Webb, with Thomas R. McKnight, who went to Lower Sandusky to meet them. On arriving here, in 'November or December, 1822, they found shelter in David W. Hawley's abondoned frame cottage (at the head of the bayou, on West Boundary street or Green lane)-the only building on the town site, though Thomas R. McKnight had Lot 144 cleared, and logs piled thereon for his proposed cabin. The Webbs may be said to have been the sole inhabitants of the town until the county officers established themselves here in 1823, when McKnight's log house and Spafford's hotel were erected. During the ensuing decade and a half, great changes were effected. Such pioneers as John and B. F. Hollister, Jacob and David Wilkinson, John C. and Shibnah Spink, John Shepler, who kept the hotel at the end of the Black Swamp road, John W. Smith, Willard V. Way, Thomas W. Powell, Judge Ladd, the real-estate agent, Plumb, the two Sam Skinners, David Hull, the Mcllraths, Frank Parmalee, the Chicago omnibus man, E. D. Peck, Nathaniel Dustin, Elijah Huntington, all the Spaffords, the Reeds, Jessup W. Scott, Charles Dennison, S. C. Sloan, Peter Cranker, Henry Darling, Jonathan Perrin, Gilbert and Schuyler Beach, William Griffith (of Gibbs & Griffith), who died in 1828, Augustus Thompson, the Utleys, Halls, Wilsons, Ewings, McKnights, Wheelocks, Wetmores, Doans, Blinns, Cooks, Deacon Hall, who kept the tavern near John Hollister's house, Kellogg, who lived above the "Exchange Hotel," the Ross family, Dr. Colton, and others whose names occur in the chapters of the general history, were all established here. So precocious was the little town that it supported a newspaper in 1833, had its literary and debating societies, WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 367 its religious and social meetings, its stage coaches and steamboats, and an opinion of itself much -higher, even, than that entertained by the Chicago people of themselves at that time. Prices of Goods and Labor.-The manner of transacting business, from 1820 to 1824, portrayed by an old account-book (now in the clerk of court's office), was crude. The old ledger presents many pioneer names, and recounts the following dealings: Thomas Willson, whose name appears on the first page, bought 7 pairs of men's shoes [written "shows "] for $17.50; 7 pairs of linedand bound shoes for $18.75; 4 pairs of women's shoes, $6; 16 pairs of "pattens, " $16; and 2 1/4, gallons of oil and an oil can, $2.81. Against John T. Baldwin several sums are charged, such as 75 cents for the entrance and clearance of the "Leopard," and 25 cents for a bushel of potatoes. Against Francis Farrand appear, one pair of moccasins, 50 cents; a black silk handkerchief, $1.50; 3, yards of pantaloon cotton, $2.37; 4 3/4 pounds of sugar, 71 cents; and 1/2 pound of tobacco, 25 cents, He was credited with a day's labor, $1.85. George Marsh paid $6 for a barrel of flour; $1.50 for 12 heads of cabbage, and large sums for whiskey, which then sold for 371 cents a quart. Guy Nearing paid $3 for 3 gallons of whiskey, and 75 cents for a gallon of vinegar. Daniel O. Wilkinson was an exclusive customer, buying whiskey in small bottles from May until November, 1820, paying $3 for shoes and 25 cents for meals. Elijah Gunn bought 8 pounds of snuff at 50 cents a pound. Levi Omans mixed his dealings-whiskey, tobacco, flour, salt and shoes being charged against him. Joseph Spencer paid $20 for 20 bushels of corn, and paid on that account 12- pounds of sole leather, $4.78; one side upper leather, $3.50; and one calf skin, $3.50. Ambrose Rice paid 50 cents a day for use of a canoe, and $7 for three weeks' board. James Carlin, who died in 1822, had his account settled by Hiram P. Barlow. George Mayler bought whiskey only. D. W. Hawley, George Patterson, David Hull, Daniel C. Murry, Daniel Hubbell, who paid his bill of $113.02 by a barrel of whiskey (33 gallons at 301 cents), 200 pounds of salt, $7, and other credits; T. F. Smith, who was charged 62 cents for newspaper postage; Asa Sandford, who sold him 27 pairs of cow shoes at $2 a pair; Robert Martin, who paid 12 cents for an almanac; James Wyman, Thomas Leaming, Adam Kiblinger, David Musselman, who sold him 357 pounds of tobacco for $53.55 Moses Everett, Benjamin F. Stickney, Almon Reed, Joseph Prentice, Joseph Martin and others were customers. The account of David Wilkinson, merchant, with the late William Crook, tells of the prices paid for clothing and provisions in 1832 and 1833, and points out the small remuneration for labor. Crook was credited with $56.25 for 112 1/2 days' work; $I.75 for 31 days making ropes, and $10.87 for 14 1/2 nights' fishing, or, in all, $73.73. Against these credits, from October 15, 1832, to April 27, 1833, the following debts were entered: 18l pounds of beef, 74c.; 173 pounds of flour, $6.50; 1 hog, $7; 63 bushels of corn, $3.38; 41, pounds of butter, 53c.; 1 bushel of potatoes, 50C.; 2 pounds of butter, 25C.; 1 quart of oil, 25c. ; 2$ gallons of whiskey, $1.44; 1 narrow axe,$2.25; horse and cart, 38c.; 1 barrel of flour, $6; 1 barrel of flour, $3.60; 14 pounds of tallow, $1.75; 22 pounds of hog lard, $1.76; 1 keg to contain lard, 38c. ; oxen, day, 25c. ; t bushel of potatoes, 50c. ; bushel of turnips, 13c.; 16 pounds of cheese, $1.32; 29 7 gallons of whiskey, 1.44; 1 peck of beans, 31c. ; oxen, 1 day, 50c. ; 2, quarts of molasses, 40c.; 2 days' board, 50c. ; 15 pounds of beef, 75c.; oxen and man, 1 day, $1.50; 1 bushel of potatoes, 50c.; 3 quarts of molasses, 47C.; cash, $15; 4 quarts of molasses, 63c.; 1 bushel of potatoes, 50c. ; 1 pair of boots of O'Neil, $4; 16 1 pounds of hog's lard, $1.32; 3 bushels of potatoes, $1.50; and 1 barrel of flour, $5.50. The Settlement in 1827.-In 1827, according to Jeremiah C. Crane, who located here that year, heavy timber was abundant where the town hall now stands; grass-pike were caught in the creek and swale near the railroad depot; settlers had to go to Monroe, Mich., to mill, until the mill on the Island, near Miltonville, was constructed; immigrants would arrive at intervals, who, in reply to queries where they hailed from, would respond, "In yon," not knowing the county or State in which they lived. When Joseph Creps arrived at Perrysburg, in 1833, there were twenty-three houses and cabins. The first above Perrysburg was that of John T. Key, the second was Miller's, the third, on the flat north of Fort Meigs, which was used for washing fish, was cleaned and converted into a dwelling by the Creps; the fourth was untenanted, but subsequently the Chadwicks took possession of it; the fifth was the red farm house of Aurora Spafford; the sixth, opposite Buttonwood island, was tenanted by a negro named Williams; the seventh was occupied by Samuel Wilson; the eighth, a log cabin, by Decker; and the ninth, another log cabin, by Herrick. Above Miltonville was a small burial ground, beyond it a dwelling, and next the Mission station occupied 368 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. by the Rev. I. Van Tassel and family. Other houses were above the mission, the eighteenth from Perrysburg, one mile below Grand Rapids, being occupied by Joseph Keith. The one-story brick house, which stood on the lot next to what is known as the " Blue Property, " on the river front, was tenanted by James La Farree, who moved into it in 1832, a year before his removal to Road Tracts 33 and 34, out on the Reserve road. Post Office.-The notice of the Maumee, given in a previous chapter, tells of Major Spafford, the port of entry, and other names and incidents of the time. The commission of Amos Spafford as postmaster of Miami, in Erie district, is dated June 9, 1810. In 1814 the office was transferred to Fort Meigs, and in 1815 to Maumee, opposite, where the name " Fort Meigs " post office was obtained, until February, 1824, when it was changed to Maumee post office. The first post office in the village of Perrysburg was established January 28, 1823, with Thomas R. McKnight, master. Mrs. Perrin thinks that John Hollister was master after McKnight; but the record shows that Elisha Ward held the position February 14, 1827. It is said that the Democrats signed a secret paper, binding themselves to drive Hollister from the town. How well they succeeded is best told by Hollister's removal to Buffalo. D. M. Kellogg was appointed in April, 1836. P. Hills was master in 1839, succeeded by David Allen, who was the incumbent in 1840. J. Manning Hall held the office in 1842. David Ross served down to March, 1852, when Elijah Huntington succeeded him. His accounts, from June 30 to September 30, 1852, show $32.76 for postage on unpaid letters from other offices; twenty-three cents for postage undercharged; $23.26 for postage on letters from this office; eighty-one cents for advertising letters; $56.59, amount of postage on papers and periodicals; $63 for stamps received from Department, and twenty-three cents from postage on drop letters. In 1853 there were 176 letter-boxes, all rented, except twenty-three, at sixty-nine cents a quarter. J. H. Reid and John Powers are said to have been postmasters prior to the war; Nelson Darling in 1862; W. T. Pomeroy, C. Finkbeiner and Clemens Leaf in later years. In April, 1869, John G. Knoll retired, and T. J. Webb took his place. In January, 1871, Elbert D. Ross was appointed master. Christopher Finkbeiner, late recorder of the county, held the office down to 1885, when James Hayes was appointed. W. H. Hollenbeck succeeded him in 1889, and John Cranker was commissioned July 20, 1893. In July, 1894, it was raised to a third-class office, but reduced in June, 1895. Exchange Hotel.- Spafford's Exchange," established in 1822-23 by Samuel Spafford, was carried on after his death on January 1, 1825, by his widow, and later by Aurora Spafford, and was the most prominent hotel between Buffalo and St. Louis, and the only frame public house between Buffalo and St. Louis. Mr. Spafford continued as landlord of this hotel to the time of his death, in 1854. C. W. Norton afterward purchased the property. The old register of " Spafford's Exchange " is filled with the names of many prominent people, but that of Gen. William H. Harrison, the candidate for the Presidency in 1840, was not recorded, as he was a guest of John Hollister. On June 11, 1840, no less than 473 guests registered in this house. The hotel register speaks of the Hollisters, Robys, Wilkinsons, Spinks, Coffinberry, Keeler, Way, Hosmer and others of that day, who used to congregate here for a convivial time. In December, 1838, Gen. Scott was here. He sent for Joshua Chappel, who was with him on a British prison-ship during the war of 1812, and witnessed his battle on board that ship for the rights of naturalized citizens. It was here at some public doings that Guy Nearing, a prominent character on the river, and a man of giant frame and herculean strength, in one of his periodical sprees strode upon the whole length of the dining table, kicking all the dishes off as he went. It was here that James Bloom, of Liberty, shortly after his return from South America, and while on his wedding trip, gave a select party, offering bank bills to his guests to light their cigars with. The reputation f the liquors kept at the ' I Exchange" was better than that of most any other house. The building of the electric road from Toledo to Perrysburg has had the effect of making the village a suburb, and of converting the old hotel into a suburban house of entertainment. The Underground Railroad.-The village was always a station on this road, and the dwelling place of many conductors. The basement of the journal office was the hotel for the refugees; but barns throughout the village often sheltered the Africans in their flight from the land of their slavery. Many stories are told of the adventures of " conductors " and their " passengers," one of which is referred to in the chapter on Bench and Bar. On one occasion a Kentuckian arrived here and found his human chattel. Of course, he had to resort to the law to prove his ownership before he could take the "darkey " away. Squire WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 369 Huntington was appealed to; but the slave's lawyer found a flaw in the indictment, or information, and this necessitated the making of new papers. The 'I conductors," seeing a chance to save the slave, soon had a fleet horse at the door of the justice's office, upon which the negro mounted and rode off, Langford, the colored owner of the horse, exclaiming: " Here is a dead horse or a free nigger! " Marshall Key, Jr., is credited with being the suggestor of this adventure. In October, 1820, an indictment was returned against James Thompson, Isaac Richardson and William Griffith for kidnapping a free negro, named Fatrick, with the intent of sending him out of the State. The trio failed to meet the punishment they merited on this charge; but were not so lucky in defeating the prosecution on another charge, which compassed the grievous offence of abusing a justice of the peace, in the person of Almon Gibbs, in the following words: " It is a damned, rascally court," and other terribly abusive terms, all because the squire would protect a negro in his lawful rights. First Execution.-The execution of George Porter, for the murder of Isaac Richardson, took place November 5, 1830, at the foot of Fort Meigs, near the southern end of the PerrysburgMaumee bridge. John Webb, the sheriff, conducted the execution, while Joel Foote, now a very old citizen, who saw the murderer arrested, was present to see the law carried out. German Pioneers.-To the German pioneers, who located here between I840 and 1852, some notice must be given; for they were in before the era of improvement was introduced in 1854, and were among the very first to develop the rich lands of this and adjoining townships. Peter and Nicholas Wieck, and a few others, who migrated from Hesse Darmstadt in the " forties, " may be considered the pioneers of the little colonies from Hesse Darmstadt and Bavaria. In 1847, John and Elizabeth Schwind, Michael and Elizabeth Cornelius, with their two children; John Wolford and wife; Anthony Strauss, wife and three children; Daniel and Louisa Klingler, with two children; John Fink, wife and four children, and Valentine Fink, came from Hesse Darmstadt, while John Yeager came from Alsace, then a part of French territory. John Helsley, Geo. Knoll, Henry Bensman, the Kellers, Walters, Neiders, Osbergs, Peter Wetzler, Henry Buckhouse, Mrs. Julius Blinn, Mrs. Jacob Schlate, and Mrs. Lucas, may be named also. In 1852, Valentine Schwind; Casper Horn, wife and two children; Joseph Hillabrand, wife and three children; and Matthias Harbaugh, wife and four children, arrived also from Hesse Darmstadt. The Finkbeiners were here at an early day, with two or three other families. On April 13, 1852, a company of seventy-two persons left Bamberg, near Munich, Bavaria,, and landed at Perrysburg, June 11, 1852. All settled here, Frederick Hoffman and George Shutz buying lots in the town, the others in the vicinity. The names of the immigrants are given as follows: George and Frederick Getz, and their father; Henry and Elizabeth Weil, and five children; George and Barbara Shutz, with four or five children; John Amon, Sr., Joseph Hoffman, Frederick' and Margaret Hoffman, and their seven children-George, John, John G., Barbara, Margaret, Mary and Elizabeth; George and Anna Ault, and their four children; Henry Schmidt; George and Barbara Spoerl, and their three children; George Hertel, wife and two children; John Hertel, wife and child; George Haas, wife and seven children; George and Margaret Sisler, and their four children; George and Elizabeth Munger, and their three children. All belonged to St. Bartholomew's Catholic congregation of Kircherenbach, Bavaria. In coming, they brought the old faith with them, built churches in the wilderness, and became the founders of the parishes of St. Rose of Lima, and of the Mother of Sorrows. In the sketch of the latter Church, given in the history of Middleton township, several names appear, which may be listed with the above names. MISCELLANEOUS. Traders of 1840-The business houses of Perrysburg, in 1840, included the "Exchange Hotel," by Jarvis Spafford; the " Franklin House," by L. Brigham; the "Temperance House," on Front street, by H. H. Hall; the "Farmer's Hotel," on Louisiana avenue, by David Ross; the "Eastern Hotel," on Indiana avenue, by John Shepler; the stores of James M. Hall, E. D. Peck & Co., T. Rudesill, W. P. Reznor, H. H. Hall, Gilbert Beach, William Russell & Co., John Bates, John Chollette and Henry Mandell; the forwarding and produce store of J. W. Smith, on Water street; the organ factory of William M. Tappan; the boot and shoe stores of A. P. Goodrich and William Kelley, on Front street; C. G. Minkler's machine shop; H. T. Smith's job printing office; J. C. Spink's insurance office; A. L. Fowler, William Houston, B. J. Lewis and B. F. Sawyer's tailor shops; A. Brown's cabinet shop; C. W. Skinner's harness shop, and Andrew Bloomfield's paint and win- WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 370 dow glass shop. The lawyers and physicians of that time are named in other chapters. The "Eagle Hotel," by Joseph Creps; E. N. Knight's grocery; William Ziegler's general store; B. R. Nicholl's harness shop; D. W. Christian's cabinet shop; C. Musser's chair factory; Robert Reid's grocery; W. W. Wheelock's paint shop, and George Powers' general store, are named in 1839. Shortly after, as early as 1844, F. Hollenbeck carried on a forwarding and commission house, and a number of smaller traders and tradesmen came in. A Heavy Fur Dealer. -The skins purchased by Julius Blinn, of Perrysburg, during the hunting season, ending in April, 1859, cost $25,839.68. Among them were 36,898 musk rat, 10,861 coon, 4,629 skunk, 1,395 mink, 679 deer, 478 house cat, 2 cross fox, 106 red fox, 181 gray fox, 525 opossum, 22 wild cat, 4 Sampson fox and six otter skins. While this invoice represents the fur trade of the time, it must be considered about 50 per centum of the total, for there were many other fur buyers throughout the county. Manufacturers of Old. -The Perrysburg Steam Mill Association was organized June 26, 1835. Henry Matthews, Jonathan Perrin and D. C. Doan were chosen directors, with the last named, secretary, and John Hollister and Nathaniel Dustin, trustees. In 1836 Elijah Huntington and Horace Hall were elected trustees. There were twenty-eight stockholders, owning one one-hundred-dollar share each, and one stockholder, Horace Hall, who owned two shares. From 1839 to 1851 transfers of stock were recorded; but the old record book does not deal clearly with accounts. The mill irons were supplied by the Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Co., on a cash payment of $311.50, and a note for $228.50, exclusive of $15.32 for freight on these irons; the engine was furnished by P. B. Andrews, of Cleveland, for $450. The manufacturing houses deriving power from the Perrysburg hydraulic canal, in January, 1862, were Crook's cabinet shop, established in 1852; Lindsey's planing-mill and sash factory; Tefft's sawmill (producing 250,000 feet of lumber annually); Peter Witzler's cabinet shop, cider and sorghum-mill and carding-mill; Hirth's tannery; G. W. Brown & Co.'s foundry and machine shop; the Perrysburg flouring-mill, and the new paper-mill. Subsidized Industries.-In April, 1891, B. B. Moore contracted with the village to locate a factory for patent medicines and medical appliances here, the condition being that the council would deed to him the Stevens Stave Factory lots, after a $16, 000 building would be erected thereon by him. In May the Sheridan Wheel Company arranged with Moore to surrender the site to them, and with a $19,000 bonus from the village, that company contracted with Gorman Bros., of Toledo, for a brick wheel-factory, 40x 134 feet, and sundry smaller buildings. On completion of the houses the Sheridan Company introduced machinery and began operations; but, owing to some disagreement with the village, closed down their works. Banks. -The first bank at Perrysburg was that of J. S. Norton, established in the 'I fifties." After several years of successful business, the house went literally to pieces. The Perrysburg Savings & Loan Association was incorporated April 3, 1869, with Asher Cook, F. R. Miller, D. Kidder Hollenbeck, J. W. Ross, William Crook, Jr., John G. Knoll, Alfred G. Williams, Horatio A. Hamilton, James F. Stubbs, Gilbert Beach and Lewis M. Hunt, corporators. It was organized May 1, that year, with E. D. Peck, president; J. G. Knoll, vice-president; F. R. Miller, treasurer; J. W. Ross, secretary; Asher Cook, D. K. Hollenbeck and J. W. Ross, committee on loans; A. G. Williams, A: Roach and S. D. Westcott, committee on claims and accounts. The Exchange Bank was organized in October, 1871, with E. D. Peck, president; H. A. Hamilton, vice-president; F. R. Miller, cashier, and N. L. Hanson, teller. The Citizens' Banking Company, incorporated in 1892, is presided over by Jacob Davis, with J. O. Troup, vice-president, and N. L. Hanson, cashier. The directors are John Perrin, D. K. Hollenbeck, J. G. Hoffman, Jacob Davis, Frank Powell, J. O. Troup, N. L. Hanson, E. L. Kingsbury and F. A. Wetmore. Modern Houses.-In the chapter on County Buildings, much is said of what the commissioners accomplished for Perrysburg in the matter of court houses and jails. In 1868-69, the era of modern building was introduced here. In July, 1869, the contract for building the Masonic Temple was awarded to Alexander Vass at his bid of $2,000. The First National Bank and three brick business houses on Louisiana avenue, with forty dwellings, were erected that year. After the destruction by fire of the old court house, the citizens of Perrysburg, on April 15, 1872, resolved to rebuild, not only one better than the old, but one also better than the new court house at Bowling Green. The signers of WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 371 the resolutions were W. L. Cook, A. G. Williams, Henry E. Peck, James Dunipace, S. Spink, John Eberly, G. B. Kreps, Michael Hayes, L. M. Hunt, A. Roach, G. Beach, John Yeager, J. G. Hoffman, George Getz, D. Lucas, John Schwind, James W. Ross, George Weddell, F. R. Miller, Henry Thornton, J. A. Robertson, J. J. Smith, H. C. Lawrence, J. H. Rheinfrank, A. R. Champney, A. M. Russell, D. K. Hollenbeck, J. H. Pierce, Valentine Schwind, J. F. Raab, George Hoffman, H. M. Morse, et al. In May, 1872, the contract for the new building was awarded to L. B. Stevens on his bid of $13,469, The house was built to emphasize the determination of the town to have the county seat reestablished here. Failing in that object, it was used as a town hall, and, after the destruction of the school house, was dedicated to school purposes in 1894-95, pending the erection of the new school building. The Centennial Block, erected for F. R. Miller, in 1875, by H. & S. Thornton, occupies what was known as " The Old Drug Store Corner." Beach, Westcott & Co's. elevator was constructed about the same time. The Hydraulic Canal, to which references are made in the transactions of the council, was conceived by enterprise solely for the benefit of Perrysburg, and would have proved of incalculable advantage had the plan of construction provided against freshets, and the ownership against clouds in title. This waterway extended from the dam, two miles or more above Buttonwood island, to the foot of Louisiana avenue, or a distance of 5 1/4 miles. The width at the bottom was from 25 to 30 feet, and the depth varied from 4 to 6 feet. For about three miles it had a fall of 12 inches a mile, increasing perceptibly toward its end, and offering sufficient power to the eight manufacturing concerns, which were in operation along its banks forty-three years ago. The citizens were then paying four mills on the dollar to meet the interest on $ 10, 000 worth of bonds subscribed by them toward this improvement, and further granted the use of Water street to the Hydraulic Co. for right of way, During the early days of the Civil war, the town sold its interest in the canal, men's thoughts were directed toward war rather than toward internal improvement, and that waterway, which could have been made the basis for fifty great industries, was permitted to fall into decay. The act incorporating the company was signed April 1, 1837, the articles amended January 21, 1845, and the time for completion extended in the Act of February 15, 1849. From 1846 to 1859 the people of Perrysburg paid, by direct taxation, the sum of $14,177 for that work. The C. H. & D. railroad was completed in 1859. The agents from that time to the present are named as follows: F. H. Thompson, J. Powell, C. B. Shepler, W. C. Norton (six years), James Herbert, W. L. Patchen, T. J. Veitch, F. De Grof, F. J. Sanders and T. M. Franey, who was appointed in 1887. Bridges.-The first bridge across the Maumee, at Perrysburg, was built in 1839. The Ohio Whig, noticing the project January 12, that year, said: " Our neighbors of Maumee, we understand, are getting out timbers for a bridge, which is to be erected somewhere between Perrysburg and Waterville. The structure, when completed, it is supposed, will cost $4,000." The Maumee people may be credited with this bridge, and the abolition of the ferries between Perrysburg and Fort Miami. It was the pioneer bridge, preceding many years the attempt of the junction railroad company to span the river above it, and also the more successful attempts made below in the neighborhood of Fort Industry. The Young toll bridge at Perrysburg was the same thing as the old bridge, with a mediaeval roof. In 1877, the bridge at Waterville was put under construction, and the people determined to make that at Perrysburg free. In October, 1877, Young sold his interests therein for $7, 000, and on October 3, Toll-Collector Goss lost his occupation. Subsequently the timbers of the bridge were sold, hauled to Defiance, and converted into matches. The modern iron bridge, which, after the loss of a span, was raised four feet to its present level, and the electric railroad structure, constructed in 1895 as a part of the Wood-Lucas bridge, have nothing in common with the rough, wooden bridge of 1839. The extension of the electric road from Maumee to Perrysburg was completed May 10, 1895, and motor car No. 8 passed over the track from Perrysburg, via Maumee and Toledo, back to Perrysburg. The ferrymen of the Maumee are named in the general chapters on Roads, Railroads, Navigation, &c. Municipal Affairs.-The town of Perrysburg, as chartered by the Legislature, February 19, 1833, embraced the territory originally platted under the authority of the United States, and the addition made by Ohio, extending from Front street to the Maumee river. The amendatory Act, passed March 3, 1834, empowered the council to levy a tax of seven mills on the dollar, in 372 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. addition to the three mills authorized in the charter. A good deal of special legislation, on the part of the United States and of the State, has been enacted, on petition of the citizens, some of which proved beneficial. The county commissioners, too, seldom wanted for subjects to discuss; for a petition and a remonstrance from Perrysburg were sure to be presented to the board. The affair of 1857 is not an overdrawn example. In March, 1857, the petition asking for the annexation of contiguous territory was tabled, owing to the fact that the commissioners were enjoined from granting such petition. In March, 1859, the State supreme court disallowed the injunction; but other opponents appeared, and a perpetual injunction was taken out, to be in force until three-fourths of the voters of the territory to be annexed would agree to the proposition. The book containing copies of the old ordinances and rules of government, in possession of the clerk, is the only record bearing on the work of the council prior to 1852. From it the following memoranda are made : In December, 1836, the council appropriated $150 for grading Front street, between Pine and West streets, and Mulberry street, between Front and Third streets, and in bridging Ewing creek-the money to be expended under the directions of David Wilkinson and Jonathan Perrin. That ordinance also provided for the improvement of other streets, as a former but undated one did for Louisiana avenue, from the river to Third street, and for Water street. An ordinance passed in 1838 or 1839 provided that, in grading Louisiana and Indiana avenues, there should be alloted for a sidewalk on each side a space of twenty-two feet, and on all the other streets a space of sixteen feet. The ordinance providing for the organization of a fire department was signed December 12, 1838, and, subsequently, a number of ordinances relating to sidewalks, streets and sanitary affairs, were passed, and important ones relating to railroad, road and hydraulic canal improvements. The oldest record-book, or Council journal, in possession of the town, begins January 17, 1852, and closes April 11, 1876. On the first date, J. W. Ross and Elijah Huntington were present as councilmen, and James Murray, subsequently attorney-general of Ohio, recorder. In February following, Jairus Curtis, James Spafford, J. W. Ross, E. Huntington and S. D. Westcott were present, with the mayor, treasurer and recorder, and this rule of full attendance was observed during the year; for the bonds ($50,000) formerly granted to the junction Railroad Co., and the vote of $50,000, to the Dayton & Michigan Railroad Co., recorded October s2, 1852, required the closest attention of the councilmen. In December, the ordinance permitting the State to macadamize a part of Front street as a continuation of the Maumee and Western Reserve road, was adopted, and the business of the year closed with an adverse report from, the committee appointed to consider the petition presented by the temperance societies of the town. In March, 1853, six bonds, given to the Junction Railroad Co., amounting to $3,000, were cancelled by an exchange of sixty shares of stock in the company.. This, following the cancellation of $16, B00 in bonds to that company in October, 1852, was looked upon as very satisfactory. Building sidewalks and planking streets received the authority of the council, and in June, 1853, the following levies were authorized: For interest on $10,000 Canal & Hydraulic Co.'s bonds, four mills; interest on $9,000 Junction R. R. Co.'s bonds, five mills; interest on $50,000 Dayton & Michigan R. R. Co's bonds, twenty-seven mills; and for corporation purposes, three mills. In January, 1854, the town granted to the hydraulic company the right of way over or through Water street, and in June, 1854, Third street was granted to the railroad company. On July 8, 1854, the council empowered the mayor to employ attendants for cholera patients, and to take such measures as appeared necessary to prevent the spread of the disease. In March, 1855, the council donated two lots in the cemetery block platted that year, to the estate of Jarvis Spafford, in recognition of his labors in beautifying the cemetery, and his services as councilman. At that time the contract between the town and E. D. Peck, agent of the Canal & Hydraulic Co., which provided for the transfer of the town's interest in the canal, was missing, and a similar contract was ordered to be drafted and signed; but the actual sale of such interest was not completed until January 10, 1862, when it was assigned to E. D. Peck. In March, 1862, attorneys Kent and Newton were retained to defend the town in the suit of Fosdick vs. Perrysburg, asking the court to compel the council to levy a tax to pay interest on bonds given to the Dayton & Michigan railroad. In December, 1863, the supreme court ordered the council to levy a tax sufficient to pay interest on the bonds, with overdue interest and compound interest-amounting in all to $15,260. In June, 1864, the council ordered a levy of 7. cents on the dollar, to meet this extraordinary charge. In September following, the town subscribed for WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 373 $70, 000 stock in the Dayton & Michigan railroad, to cover the amount of old stock, interest and law costs. Subsequent arrangements show a loan of $14,000 from the Railroad Co., and the purchase of $14,000 in bonds from A. Pardee for $8,400, and $4,000 in bonds from Asher Cook for $3,227, with some smaller bonds. By April 1, 1866, several bonds were cancelled, a saving of $7,424 effected, and the debt reduced to $40,000. The history of these transactions is too lengthy, but so much is recorded to tell how Perrysburg rose above the cry for repudiation of its indebtedness on account of railroad bonds, and to show the effort made to pay them. In July, 1866, there were thirty-six citizens selected to serve as jurors in the mayor's court, a custom which appears to have been introduced about that time. In January, 1867, the council adopted a resolution, declaring it their duty to use all fair and legal means to retain the seat of justice, and to contest the law and the vote on the question of removal. The township trustees agreed to pay two-thirds of the expense of such contest. In April, 1869, there is a minute showing a payment to James R. Tyler, law agent of the town, in the contest case. In May, 1870, the council authorized the purchase of the old jail, which was purchased in 1872; in November, 1870, the elaborate report of James R. Tyler, S. D. Westcott, F. R. Miller, A. Roach and Asher Cook, on the status of railroad bonds, given by Perrysburg, was made, and in February, 1871, a bond tax of one per cent. was ordered to be levied annually to be applied toward the payment of the principle of such bonds as were given to the D. & M. railroad. In May, 1882, a Board of Health was established with the following named members: John Leydorf, George Wittman, J. C. Crane, F. Hollenbeck, J. C. Neff and Thomas Veitch. The improvement of the McCutchenville road was considered at this meeting, and the contract for macadamizing was awarded to Frank Hennen, on his bid of 78 cents a cubical yard. In the chapters on internal improvements, transactions of the commissioners, county buildings; gas and petroleum and in others, complete references to acts in which the town was interested is made. The proposition of the Perrysburg Gas & Pipe Line Co., made to the council, May 24, 1888, was simply that the corporation should purchase, at cost, the interests of the company, paying for same out of available funds, and by bonds. The proposition was accepted the same day, and $1,000 appropriated to defray one-half the cost of drilling a new well. On June 12, a further appropriation of $600 toward the expense of drilling well No. 2 was made. These acts of the council were questioned by economists and lawyers so that the gas question was submitted to a vote, July 5, 1888. There were 286 votes cast for the measure, and twenty-six contra, and on this authority the "gas fund" ($14,500) was created, by transferring that sum from the' "Way Library Fund." A board of gas trustees was also created-Alfred G. Williams, Nathaniel L. Hanson, John H. Rheinfrank, John G. Hoffman and John Munger being the members thereof. On August 1, 1888, the sum of $6,556.61 was paid to the Gas & Pipe Line Co., and on the 28th of that month the proposition to purchase the Toledo Natural Gas Co.'s plant, at Perrysburg, was discussed. The refunding ordinance and a series of financial transactions followed, and in March, 1890, the Northwestern Ohio Natural Gas Co. purchased the plant from Perrysburg. The first mayor was John C. Spink, who served until 1835, when John Hollister was elected. Henry Darling, elected in 1837, signed the ordinance for the drainage of the town, May 5, 1839, when Daniel H. Wheeler succeeded him. John C. Spink was mayor in 1846; W. H. Hopkins in 1848-49, and Addison Smith was elected in May, 1849. The ordinance record and old newspapers warrant these names and dates. The journal of the council gives the personnel of local government from 1853 to 1896, the first name being that of the mayor, the following names, in each line, being those of councilmen: 1853-Willard V. Way, Henry P. Averill, S. D. Westcott, J. W. Ross, N. D. Blinn, J. Spafford. 1854-James Murray, Jarvis Spafford*, S. D. Westcott, Asher Cook, E. Graham, John Yeager. 1855-E. D. Peck, E. Graham, J. S. Norton, S. D. Westcott, N. D. Blinn, G. W. Baird. 1856-James Murray, Andrew Bloomfield, John Powers, I. P. Thompson, J. S. Norton, E. Graham. 1857-James Hood, W. V. Way, Andrew Bloomfield, J. S. Norton, J. A. Hall, J. J. Parks. 1858-George W. Brown, Peter Cranker, Addison Smith, A. Bloomfield, J. S. Norton, S. D. Westcott. 1859-Jesse S. Norton, Julius Blinn, J. J. Parks, G. B. Kreps, H. H. Dodge, S. D. Westcott. 1860-James W. Ross, George W. Brown, Julius Blinn, J. S. Norton, G. B. Kreps, S. D. Westcott. 1861-James W. Ross, George W. Brown, L. P. Tefft, J. G. Knoll, J. F. Stubbs, S. D. Westcott. 1862 -E. Graham, G. B. Kreps, George W. Brown, J. W. Ross, L. P. Tefft, J. G. Knoll. 1863-James W. Ross, N. D. Blinn, Peter Cranker, George B. Kreps, J. M. Hirth, G. W. Brown.** 1864-Frederick R. Miller, E. D. Peck, Gilbert Beach, Geo. B. Kreps, W. V. Way, L. F. Claflin. 1865-Frederick R. Miller, E. D. Peck, Asher Cook, George B. Kreps, W. V. Way, A. G. Williams. * Died in 1854. ** Died in July, 1863. 374 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. 1866-7-Frederick R. Miller, E. D. Peck, W. H. Jones, P. S. Slevin, Andrew Roach, A. G. Williams. 1868-Asher Cook, E. D. Peck, A. M. Thompson, Peter Cranker, Andrew Roach, A. G. Williams. 1869-Asher Cook, Henry E. Peck, A. G. Williams, Israel Thornton, John Yeager, Alex. Vass. 1870-James R. Tyler, John Robertson, William Crook, Peter Cranker, P. W. Parkhurst, A. Roach, S. D. Westcott. 1871-James R. Tyler, Peter Cranker, Asher Cook and S. D. Westcott. 1872-John H. Rheinfrank, George Hoffman and John Eberly. 1873-74-John H. Rheinfrank, John G. Hoffman, John Eberly, J. Holliger, A. Cook, A. Roach, A. R. Champney, F. R. Miller. 1875-John H. Rheinfrank, James R. Tyler, John Eberly, J. H. La Farree, J. G. Hoffman, Clemens Leaf, A. Roach. 1876-John H. Rheinfrank, James R. Tyler, M. A. Trowbridge, D. Donaldson, J. H. La Farree, Clemens Leaf, A. Roach. 1877-John H. Rheinfrank, James R. Tyler, M. A. Trowbridge, J. M. Hirth, J. H. La Farree, S. D. Westcott, A. Roach. 1878-E. A. Higgins, George Boetsch, L. C. Wilson, F. A. Wetmore, J. H. La Farree, S. D. Westcott. 1879-E. A. Higgins, A. G. Williams, D. Lucas, A. Vass, J. H. La Farree, (2) Hiram Wiltse, Geo. Boetsch. 1880-J. H. Rheinfrank, A. G, Williams, D. Lucas, A. Vass, J. G. Hoffman, W. Barton, Jairus Curtis. 1881-J. H. Rheinfrank, C. Finkbeiner, E. L. Kingsbury, Cook, J G. Hoffman, W. Barton, Jairus Curtis. 1882-J. H. Pierce, D. Klingler, F. Frenchel, F. Hirth, A. Cook, C. Finkbeiner, E. L. Kingsbury. 1883-J. H. Pierce, John Cranker, C. A. Kreps, Geo. Wittman, D. Klingler, F. Hirth, F. Treichel. 1884-Fred. Yeager, Thomas Mehan, D. K. Hollenbeck, John G. Hoffman, C. A. Kreps, George Wittman, J. Cranker. 1885-Fred. Yeager, George Boetsch, George Munger, Jacob Davis, T. Mehan, J. G. Hoffman, D. K. Hollenbeck. 1886-J. H. Pierce, Nicholas Werdertz, E. L. Kingsbury, G. Boetsch, C. Finkbeiner, G. Munger, J. Cranker. 1887-J. H. Pierce, William Schlect, John Amon, J. Leydorf, E. L. Kingsbury, C. Finkbeiner, J. O. Hoffman. 1888-Isaac S. Bowers, George Munger, B. Trombla, A. G. Williams, J. Amon, J. Leydorf, W. Schlect. 1889-Isaac S. Bowers, Charles F. Chapman, W. Barton, George W. Hoffman, George Munger, B. Trombla, A. Williams. 1890-James R. Tyler, I. S. Bowers, J. H. Rheinfrank, George Munger, C. F. Chapman, W. Barton, G. W. Hoffman. 1891-James R. Tyler, J. Davis, P. C. Ray, J. H. Rheinfrank, Thomas Roether, G. Munger, I. S. Bowers. 1892-Andrew Roach, R. Danz, J. Amon, I. S. Bowers, J. Davis, T. Roether, P. C. Ray. 1893-Andrew Roach, E. L. Blue, R. Danz, I. S. Bowers, J. Amon, D. K. Hollenbeck, C. F. Chapman. 1894-D. K. Hollenbeck, George W. Hoffman, E. L. Blue, W. Barton, N. L. Hanson, Harry Wilds, C. F. Chapman. 1896-F. E. Bowen, N. L. Hanson, J G. Hoffman, William Crook, George Munger, Wm. Schlect, F. S. Bowers. The clerks of the town since incorporation are named as follows: John Webb, 1833; S. C. Sloane, 1837; and Hiram Davis, 1845. (In 1839, David Ladd, D. C. Doan, John Bates, Horace Hall and John Ziegler were trustees, and W. W. Irwin, marshal). The clerk in 1849 was (1) Asher Cook, councilman. 7 Jairus Curtis, vice Wiltse, in 1879. J. W. Ross, and the clerks from 1852 to 1896, as shown by council records, have been: 1852, James Murray; 1854, Henry H. Dodge; 1855-57, Isaac P. Thompson; 1856, F. R. Miller; 1858, Sylvanus Jefferson; i860-6i, F. R. Miller; 1862, A. G. Williams; 1863-66, Geo. Strain; 1868-69, J. M. Hord; 1870, F. J. Oblinger; 1870 (Nov.), D. K. Hollenbeck; 1872, James Hayes; 1872 (June), George Weddell; 1873, D. K. Hollenbeck; 1874, T. J. Webb; 1876, Fred Yeager; 1878, George S. McKnight; 1882, T. B. Oblinger; 1884, S. D. Westcott; 1886, T. B. Oblinger; 1888, W. E. Escott; and in 1892, T. M. Franey, who is now (1896) the corporation clerk. The treasurers for the same time were: 1853, Addison Smith; 1855, Lewis M. Hunt; 1857-60, Shibnah Spink; 1858, George B. Keeps; 1861, A. Bloomfield; 1866, Valentine Schwind; 1867, John Holliger; 1872, Fred Yeager; 1874, W. L. Cook; 1878, C. B. Shepler; 1881, John Cranker;--- , Fred. Eberly; 1887, J. H. Rheinfrank; 1890, C. A. Hampton; and 1896, Godfried Schwind. In 1896, Ben. Zingg was elected marshal. In 1896, N. L. Hanson, E. D. Ross, E. L: Kingsbury, James Hayes, John Thornton and Jacob Davis were members of the school board. Fire Department.-The first fire department was organized in 1838, under authority given in the ordinance of December 12, that year. The sum of $150 was appropriated to purchase fire implements for the use of the Hook and Ladder Company, and steps taken to have the Firemen's Association incorporated. The Legislature granted a charter the following year. On October 23, 1871, the council empowered Marshal Charles to organize a fire patrol, and under this authority W. F. Pomeroy, Ira Knoll, Thomas Carlin, Henry Hillabrand, Al. Charles, James Driscoll, John Buck, D. Van Hellen, Nathan Teffts, John Fisik, L. Simons, Sardis Bellville, Thomas Veach, A. L. Scott, F. Cranker, H. H. Houston, Joseph Bruce, John Chappel, and one or two others were employed as night patrols. The Perrysburg Fire Company, No. 1, was organized May 14, 1872, with the following named members: A. L. Scott, John Otterbacher, George Boetsch, Val. Schwind, Thomas Carlin, Frank Rhody, Charles Fechler, Henry S. Cook, Asher Cook, Frank Thornton, John B. Webb, P. W. Carney, Henry, Andrew and Fred. Hillabrand, George Heckler, John F. Nelis, L. Haywood, Rufus Ney, High Banks, Henry Eichler, William Sweet, Samuel Pence, Ben. Gregory, J. G. Hoffman, Peter Haas, Valentine Schwind, Samuel L. Webb, Aaron Knoll, P. G. Thomas, William Spafford, WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 375 J. M. Charles, W. J. Robeaudeau, Thomas Helsley, Peter Buckhouse, Philip Rapp and Emil Vogt. In June, 1872, the engine and hose companies were uniformed, the " Mohawk," a steam engine, was here, and by July 4, of that year, Chief Engineer James M. Charles commanded two fully-equipped fire companies. The pioneer fire company of 1838 had no serious business to attend to from "December 8, that year, when the Law, Freeman and Stetson buildings were burned, until 1845. Fires.-The fire of April 4, 1845, originated in C. D. Woodruff's tin shop, and destroyed the buildings on the southeast corner of Front street and Louisiana avenue, owned by Capt. David Wilkinson, and the dwelling of Benjamin F. Kirk. The Wilkinson block was occupied by J. A. Hall & Co., George Powers & Co., and S. C. Doan. The fire of April 13, 1872, which destroyed the old court house, valued at $12,000; Mrs. Frederick's house, valued at $1,500; Thompson & Hitchcock's stave works, valued at $6, 500, and other property, suggested the organization of the present fire department. Cemeteries.-- The old cemetery on Maple street and Indiana avenue was opened in the "twenties." The dust of the greater number of tenants was moved to the new cemetery, but in May, 1895, headstones bearing the following names and dates were still to be seen: Richard H. Blinn, 1829; Julian Green, wife of Michael Green, 1830; Eliza A. Bentley, 1834; William S. Smith, 1835; W. B. Wood, 1836; Mary Russell, 1837; Charles Walter, 1838; Leonard Blinn, 1839; Maria Ziegler, 1841; James Shaw, 1844, and Sophia Knox, 1846. The City cemetery, or new burial ground, received its first tenant (after survey) May 5, 1849. From July 3 to August 19, 1854, its ground received the great majority of those who were carried away by the cholera, and every year since that Old Father Time has contributed tenants. From March 24, 1865, to April 1, 1877, according to William Crook's statistics, there were 363 interments. During the year ending March 29, 1878, there were fifty-seven burials, and the succeeding year, fifty-eight. This average has been maintained with strange precision. On July 26, 1887, the township trustees and council of Perrysburg, in joint meeting, adopted rules for the guidance of cemetery trustees. The cemetery board, in April, 1895, comprised A. Roach, president; A. Williams, treasurer; P. Wetzel, the clerk of township and township school-board, secretary, and E. N. Blue, superintendent. The superintendents were Jarvis Spafford, William Crook, W. H. Hollenbeck, Perry Thomas and Charles Sisson. E. N. Blue was appointed in 1890. Only a few of the original forest trees remain; but their place has been, taken by hundreds of ornamental trees. Throughout the cemetery are many fine monuments, such as the Way; the Albert Williams, erected in May, 1895; the Pratt, Schroeder, A. G. Williams, John Cranker, Averill, Hollenbeck, Fink, and Eberly monuments. The burial vaults, erected by Daniel Lucas and Albert Alius, of Maumee, and the city vault, are miniature mausoleums. The Catholic cemetery was established in 1872. Though many of the German pioneers are interred therein, but few of the English-speaking Catholics rest there. Cholera Victims.-The following is a list of the victims of the pestilence, who died in this locality, in 1854. The list is taken from the records of Fort Meigs cemetery, and is given in order of date of death. Two children of Geo. Jones, Stephen Williams, Lucas, Judson Tucker, Peter Laney, Mrs. Stouffer, Cornelia Perkins, two named Lucas, Mrs. Lucas, Lucas, Bellville, Jacob Scheider, Fred Lucas, Lucas, George Shuler, Euphemia Perrin, Henry Basin, Miss Gronewald, Lucy Bellinger, Fred Zanger, Lewis Munday, J. W. Lanz, William Mead, Rebecca McKnight, Celia Simons, Hernia Irwin, Julia Irwin, Phoebe Perrin, Wealthy Gates, George Byrne, Esther Byrne, Mrs. Brown, Wm. H. Courser, Rosanna Ferdig, Margaret Hoffmann, John J. Cook, Elijah Huntington, George Wolfly, Henry Pfleghart, Finley J. Ross, Dr. Jas. Robertson, Cornelia Spink, John J. Spink, John Hoffman, Maria B. Hall, George Clements, Christian Eichholz, Lorenz Heizel, Eliza Brown, Robert Chambers, Samuel Hamilton, Jarvis Spafford, Stanley J. Ross, Mary Shannon, Fred Dortion, Margaret Hirzel, Mrs. L. W. Crane, Edward Lee, Jacob Rufle, Theresa OsKamp, Geo. W. Bloomfield, Jacob Kingfield, A. Carter, Mrs. Naomi D. Kelly, Samuel Webb, Adaline Frederick, Agustus Rhoda, Jane Lee, Henry Rhoda, Thomas Atkinson, K. Zimmerman, Prof. A. D. Wright, John Riser, Mrs. Asher Cook, Richard Atkinson, John Arne, Madison Shaw, Zimmerman, Sarah Godwin, ----Shannon, John Sizely, Sophia Blinn, Catherine Rhoda, Catherine Riser, Christina Rhoda, -----Wolfly, Mr. Kelp, Jane Crook, Kidder, Miss Eichholtz, John Osburg's child, John Riser's child, Mrs. Percis Peck, George Shutz, Margaret Shuckmeal, James Shannon, Martha Shaw, Mrs. Wolfiy, Tom Holzly, Margaret 376 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. Wild, Philip Riley, John Neiderhouse, Mrs. Gerrick, Wm. Gronewald, Peter McColly, John H. Neiderhouse, Henry Breidenwisher, Mrs. Wygant, John Morrison, George S. Clark, Maria Rothringer, George Hoffman, Frederick Hoffman and Elizabeth Hoffman. Judge Dodge, writing in February, 1893, on this subject, says: "Transient persons found dead in the streets and vacant houses, would swell the number above 200. The deaths were startling in their sadness." The physical condition of the inhabitants, reduced by fever and ague and the systems poisoned by well-water, rather than by miasmatic exhalations, left them an easy prey to the ravages of the disease. The first death was recorded on the evening of July 3, and the last, on August 19, 1854. Common Schools.-The Fort Hill School, the first in Wood county, is described by Mrs. Perrin in this chapter, while in the chapter on Common Schools, references are made to the efforts of the people of Perrysburg to raise the system above the primitive condition, in which it was as late as 1837. The first Union or graded school in the Valley was instituted at Maumee by Francis Hollenbeck, and the second at Perrysburg. In 1846, James W. Ross established a select school in the old court house, the charge for tuition ranging from $2 to $3.50 for a three-months' term. Other teachers followed him, so that, while the people were promoting the commonschool system, independent teachers revived interest in the subscription school. On June 13, 1849, the district voted $i,600 for a new school house. A reference to the chapters on Education and Perrysburg township will give the names of some of the principal teachers employed here in early days. The Perrysburg Union School of 1851 was presided over by Edward Olney, with C. M. Gates, Ann E. Bruce, Mrs. Celia Keyes and Mrs. Euphernia T. Robertson, assistant teachers. Among the pupils in the primary schools were James Hayes, Chris. Finkbeiner, Thomas and William Hayes, Wesley Cranker, Peter McMahan and Letson Cook; in the secondary school were Hiram Charles, W. D. Perrin, Margaret Hayes, Asenith Bloomfield and Carrie Brownsberger; in the grammar school, Henry and Edward Hollenbeck, J. B. Spafford, Eugenia E. Perrin, Caroline Williams, George H. and David A. Ross, C. A. Norton, William Cranker, James Averill, Ed. L. Baird, Gilbert J. Beach and others; while, in the high school, were sixty-four pupils, from all parts of this and adjoining counties, and three from Michigan. The rates of tuition were $3 for a term of eleven weeks in the lower grades, and $4 for a similar term in the higher grades. The board of education comprised H. P. Averill, George Powers, S. D. Westcott, W. H. Courser, John McCaughey and N. D. Blinn. There were 77 males and 88 females in the primary; 76 males and 58 females in the secondary; 32 males and 54 males in the grammar; and 34 males and 30 females in the high school. The Union school teachers, in September, 1869, were John Barton, superintendent (the successor f J. W. Ewing); Nellie M. Brown, assistant superintendent; Ella M. Baird, Esther Crook, Nellie Cassaday, Carrie Wilkinson, Mary Albert and Sophy Knoll. In 1871, James O. Troup, now a lawyer of Bowling Green, succeeded Barton. C. F. Taylor was superintendent in 1872. Messrs. Boone, Kennedy and Scott followed in the order given. A. G. Smith, the superintendent in 1877, added a Normal department to the high school in August of that year. Thomas W. Hubbard held the position in 1878, Messrs. Dick, Bateman, I. M. Sadler and Ward holding the office in later days, with Prof. Megley in charge of the high school in 1895. The school, building was destroyed by fire May 24, 1894. It was originally a two-story house, but some years ago was restored and a third story added; so that it contained six school rooms, two recitation rooms, a laboratory and superintendent's office. The additions were made at heavy cost to the district. The school board of 1895 comprised E. L. Kingsbury, James Haves, Jacob Davis, J. H. Thornton, F. C. Eberly and I. S. Bowers. To this board has been committed the work of school building. The new house, which occupies the site of the old one, was designed by Baker & Huber, of Toledo, is constructed of brick, and possesses some architectural features, more in keeping with ideas of progress than any shown in the other school buildings of the county, outside Custar and Bloomdale. Bonds for $20,000 were issued by this board in March, 1895, to meet the payment of interest and principal (the latter at the rate of $i,000 annually); a levy of five mills was authorized in June, 1895. That tax, with five mills for tuition and three mills for contingent expenses, bring the levy of the district up to thirteen mills for the year. James Hayes, the efficient secretary of the school board, has held the position for several years. The Catholic schools, in charge of the Sisters, are supported by the congregation of St. Rose of Lima. The school house was originally built by the Universalist Church, as related in the WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 377 pages devoted to religious associations. The number of pupils enrolled is large. Boys are prepared for entrance to the high school, while girls may receive thorough instruction in all the branches of a polite education. The Way Library, named in honor of Willard V. Way, who died August 25, 1875, leaving about $15,000 to the village, the interest on which was to be used solely for the purchase of books, and the balance for library building and equipment, to be expended as the council of Perrysburg might deem best. The first board of managers-elected February 8 and 11,1881-comprised Asher Cook, president; J. H. LaFarree, secretary; Francis Hollenbeck, George Weddell, A. G. Williams, J. H. Rheinfrank (mayor), and J. H. Pierce (president board of education). They appointed Miss Hulburd librarian April 25, 1881, and installed the first collection of books (1,000 volumes) in her home in 1881, where it was continued almost down to 1892, when Mrs. Eliza Frederick was appointed her successor. On November 23, 1892, when the present library building was dedicated, there were no less than 4,000 volumes on the shelves. This house of brick and Killbuck brownstone was built by B. Kokenge, of Wyandot county, after plans by Bacon & Huber, Toledo architects. The resolution of March 25, 1890, authorized the executors of the Way estate to purchase a site for a library building at a cost not exceeding $1,000, and on April 1, Messrs. Cook and Hollenbeck, the resident acting executors, notified the council that they would carry out the resolution. The two lots on which the house stands were purchased for the sum stated, and $10,379.91 expended on building and interior furnishing, apart from $1,100 paid by the village for heating apparatus, furniture, shelving, and grading grounds. The board of managers, at the time of the dedication, comprised: Rev. G. A. Adams, president; N. L. Hanson, secretary; E. L. Kingsbury, D. K. Hollenbeck, Andrew Roach (mayor), and F. C. Eberly, president board of education. Mr. Hollenbeck delivered the address. As one of the executors, it was he who presented the library to the village, and in doing so addressed the members of the council in the following language: < ° By the terms of resolution heretofore referred to, we have now completed the work requested of us, and as by the terms of the will of Mr. Way this building now becomes the property of the village. * * " Over three years have now elapsed since the executors completed their work, and conveyed it to the council. In that time the earnestness of the village authorities, in their guardianship of this trust, has been well exemplified, for they have aimed to make their library the Mecca of readers and students. It is said that N. H. Callard was chosen by the board of education to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of J. H. La Farree, in 1881, and that he was subsequently elected for a full term. On May 9, 1895, Rev. G. A. Adams was appointed vice Hollenbeck, who as mayor vacated his office as manager, to become manager as mayor. The board of education had previously chosen A. R. Champney to represent that body as manager of the library vice Rev. G. A. Adams. CHURCHES. The Catholic Church, dedicated to St. Rose, of Lima, antedates the legal organization of the congregation many years. As early as 1794, Rev. Edmund Burke erected a chapel at Fort Miami. Other missionary priests, such as Father Gabriel Richard, of Detroit, visited the settlements in the early part of this century, and in the " thirties " Father Tschenhens, of Tiffin, visited the scattered Catholics in this territory. Right Rev. Amadeus Rappe, Father Josephus Projectus Macheboeuf, Father Martin Henni, Father Nightingale, the first resident priest of Fremont, and Fathers Corobaine, Welsh, Rose, Mullen and Moos came in later years, and, in 1857, the Jesuit, Rev. Franz Xavier Wenninger, visited Perrysburg and other parts of the county. From 1852 to 1861, the German Catholics from Perrysburg and Hull Prairie were compelled to cross the Maumee to attend church. On January 12, 1861, several members of the congregation of the Church of St. Rose of Lima elected Henry H. Dodge, Valentine Fink, George Getz, Valentine Schwind and Michael Hayes, trustees, and became a corporate body. At that meeting the name was adopted, and judge H. H. Dodge was elected clerk. The brick church, built by the Universalists, was purchased in the fall of 1861 by this congregation, fitted up for Catholic worship, and dedicated by Rt. Rev. Bishop Rappe, October 11, 186 1. On September 8, 1889, the corner-stone of the present building was placed by Rt. Rev. Bishop Gilmour, who paid a tribute to the pastor, Rev. G. H. Ricken, and to the congregation who had undertaken such a great work. On May 28, 1892, the building was dedicated by Rt. Rev. Bishop Horstman, who was justified in his praise of the building which the zeal of priest and people had given to the old village of the Maumee. The church is constructed of Sandusky blue-stone in Gothic form, with central tower, but without clear story. The area is WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 378 134x54 feet, with steeple 170 feet high, surmounted by a cross. Although grand without, its chief beauty is within. The richly grained ceiling is artistically frescoed. The tower contains three bells, weighing respectively 2, 800, 1,400 and B00 pounds. The high altar, with the altars of the Virgin and St. Joseph, are works of art under Gothic forms, and the same may be said of the beautiful windows in the chancel and transepts. The two windows in the chancel were presented by Joseph and Mary Deimling and the heirs of Peter Bower and wife, the latter on the Epistle side. The west transept window is the memorial to John O'Leary, Sr., and the east window, to Anne H. Hayes. The other windows, beginning on the Epistle side, were donated by Timothy Hayes, George Spoerl, Mrs. G. Ziesler, Clara and Louisa Hillabrand, Alice M. Franey, Mrs. M. Handley and daughter, heirs of George Munger, Sr., and wife, Joseph Heilman, Sr., Barbara Heilman, Henry Speck, Mrs. Henry Speck, heirs of George Scheupal, Balthassar Ruppel, John Schwind, Gottfried Schwind, Michael Fitzgerald, John G. Hoffman, John Amon, Mrs. John Amon, Valentine Fink and Frank Haas. The stained-glass transoms and beautiful windows in the choir were purchased by the congregation. The great organ tells the visitor, at once, of the value attached to sacred music by the congregation. Rev. Charles Griss was the pastor of this parish on two occasions. Father G. H. Ricken was appointed in 1885, and Rev. Joh. Ad. Michenfelder, in 1894. Shortly after the first German Catholics located in the vicinity of Perrysburg, Nicholas Reiser donated two lots, east of the new common-school building, to the congregation, and moneys were collected for building. Ten or eleven years passed over, the people meantime attending church at Maumee. In 1861 Valentine Schwind and George Getz visited the pastor of Maumee to enquire about the funds collected in 1850 and 1851, found the exact amount, and returning inaugurated the work of progress described above. The Methodist Episcopal Church was established at Perrysburg, or rather at Orleans, by Rev. John P. Kent, in 1819. Aurora Spafford was appointed class leader, with Sarah Wilkinson, John Knowles, William Kelley, members. Meetings were held in Jacob Wilkinson's house at first, and subsequently in the Hollister store, until the transfer of headquarters to Perrysburg. In 1820, Paul B. Morey, a local preacher, of the Detroit (or Monroe) Circuit, was here, followed, in 1822, by Elias Patten; in 1824, by S. Baker; in 1825, by John Baughman; in 1827, by G. Walker; in 1829, by Jacob Hill; and in 1830, by J. W. Finley. In 1832, Rev. E. C. Gavitt preached here; in 1833, Rev. E. H. Pilcher came, followed, in 1834, by W. Sprague. In 1835, when the Toledo war called into the field the militia of Michigan and Ohio, the Methodists of Perrysburg were addressed weekly by Rev. Cyrus Brooks, from a desk in the pioneer school house. L. B. Gurley, who was then presiding elder, happened to be here when the Ohio soldiers were quartered at Perrysburg, and, knowing Governor Lucas, he suggested that he would place his name at the head of a subscription list for church-building purposes, and that he would ask the militia to follow the example. The plan was successfully carried out, and a house for worship erected-the same which was repaired in 1853, reconstructed in 1866, at a cost of $3, 500, and repaired in 1887. In 1836, Rev. Orrin Mitchell came, and is said to have been the first to preach in the church house. His successors in the office are named as follows: Henry Warner, exhorter, 1837, local preacher, 1838-59; Rev. D. Burns, 1838; R. H. Chubb and J. W. Bowen, 1839; Mr. Cacraft, vice Bowen, 1840; L. Hill and P. Start, 1841; H. S. Bradley, 1842; J. L. Johnson, 1843; J. Jones, 1844; J. R. Jewett, 1845; T. Cooper, 1846; C. H. Owen, 1847; L. Ward, 1848; John Graham, 1849; T. Parker, 1850; T. J. Pope, 1851; D. P. Pelton, 1852-54; J. F. Buckholder., 1854; L. D. Rogers, 1855; George Creps, local preacher, 1856; Ambrose Hollington, 1856 and 1867; W. S. Lunt, 1858; Mr. Legatty, 1859; S. H. Alderman, 1862; L. M. Albright and J. Shannon, 1863; T. N. Barkdull, 1864-67; J. S. Kalb, 1869; J. H. Wilson, 1870; N. B. C. Love, 1872; J. H. Bethards, 1876; L. L. Clark, 1879, died, and T. J. Pope appointed; Mr. Yingling, 1880; J. L. Scott, 1883; W. H. Scoles, 1884; and G. B. Wiltsie, 1886-88. The circuit now embraces a few churches. Peter Cranker was a class leader for almost forty years, and George Creps and Joshua Chappel for many years; while J. S. Ellis filled the offices of trustee, steward and class leader for over a quarter of a century. The Sabbath-school was organized in 1838, with Henry Darling, superintendent, and fiftyfive scholars. In 1853, there were 1 10 scholars; in 1867, there were 140 scholars; and, in 1875, no less than 125. From 1878 forward, William Barton was superintendent, his scholars in 1888 numbering 115. The Presbyterian Church was organized November 13, 1834, by Huron Presbytery, with the following members: Abner Brown, J. W. Smith, WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 379 W. Williams, J. A. Scott, J. A. McBride, Mary Williams, Mary Fowler, Jane Wood, Mary Loper, Elizabeth Smith, Eliza Ann Nye and Catherine Spafford;Mrs.Hannah Dustin and Margaret Sloan had not been connected with other Churches elsewhere. Messrs. Williams and Brown were chosen elders; and J. W. Smith, clerk. In 1835 the little Church received quite an accession from Pennsylvania. The McBeths, now of Springfield, Ohio; John Ziegler and wife, James Kelly, Elizabeth Kelly, Susan Kelly and John H. Kelly, John Bates, Eliza Bates, and Mrs. Eliza Brown, from Seneca Falls, New York. On March 2, 1840, Abner Brown was elected elder for three years, Tobias Rudesil for two years, and George W. Creps for one year. In October, 1843, George W. Creps was elected for three years, and Joseph M. Hall for two years. In November of the same year Mr. Creps sent in his resignation, and Abner Brown, George Powers and David Beach were elected elders. The records of this period are silent on matters which evidently were disturbing the congregation. The names of pastors can only be retraced through memory. Mr. Bradstreet was followed by Rev. M. Eels, of Oberlin, who was drowned in attempting to cross the Maumee on the ice, and was buried in the old cemetery. The Rev. J. H. Francis followed Mr. Eels. Mr. Poor succeeded him, and Mr. Peck followed Mr. Poor. In June, 1849, the clerk, George Powers. recorded the call extended to Rev. J. H. Newton. In 1847, he organized a sewing society, and in 1853 paid $115.78 for the lots on which Henry Hollenbeck's shops stood in 1876. Subsequent to 1853 he exchanged those lots for the site where is now the Way Library, but instead of building, the society rented a hall, which stood where George Boetsch carried on business in later years. In 1856, the Universalist church was rented. On November 1, that year, Rev. G. A. Adams, who has been pastor ever since, took charge, and, in the fall of 1857, assisted in the revival held in the Methodist house of worship. In 1858, a number of members were admitted, and in the fall of that year, the Presbyterian form of government was adopted, and George Powers, Sylvanus Hatch and James W. Ross were elected elders. On September 5, 1859, the corner stone of the old church house was placed, and the building was finished September 1, 1860. On April 1, 1862, a mortgage for $1,000 was given on the property, to Elder James W. Ross, which, with other debts, was paid off in 1865. In 1870, other improvements were made, and the worshipers met there until it was burned in 1875. Services were held in Centennial Hall, until 1892, when the present building on Second and Third streets was completed. The incorporation of the society took place July 17, 1876, when N. L. Hanson, M. A. Trowbridge and Gilbert Beach were trustees. Of the first elders, Abner Brown moved to Illinois in 1868; George Powers died in 1872; Sylvanus Hatch is deceased; James W. Ross moiled to Kansas; J. W. Ewing is also removed; James Dunipace, now of Walnut Street Church; Stephen Merry is now deceased; S. P. Tollman, 1877, now of Walnut Street Church; F. J. Oblinger, 1891, removed to Toledo, and H. C. Hoover, now an elder. The membership in April, 1895, was 45, and of the Sabbath-school, 55. Of the members present in 1856, Mrs. Dustin resides at Birmingham, Mich.; Mrs. Euphemia Peck, at Detroit; Mrs. Ann Robertson, Stephen Merry, Mrs. Gilbert Beach, Mrs. H. A. Hamilton, Mrs. Almira Baird, Mrs. L. M. Hunt and Sophia A. Cook, at Perrysburg. The sun contributed by the members of this Church, from 1871 to 1895, amounts to about $19,500. The troubles of 1877-78 led to a division of the society, and the organization of the Walnut Street Church. The German Lutheran Church was organized March 15, 1850, by Rev, Cronewett, who was pastor until 1860, and the organizer of several Lutheran societies ' throughout the county. Among the first members were C. and G. Hertzing, W. Lininger, T. Walter, M. Vogel, H. Niederhaus, L. L. Leiser and C. Sieling. Rev. A. Kleinigees came in 1860, and remained until Rev. C. F. Kaeding, the present pastor, arrived in 1864. In 1854, the first house of worship was erected, and in September, 1872, the present house was dedicated. St. Paul's church at Maumee has been in Mr. Kaeding's charge since 1864. In 1866, he organized the society at Custar, in 1867, one at Waterville, and, in 1868, one at Haskins. The membership of his Perrysburg charge is 426, and the number of voting members, 136. The Walnut Street Presbyterian Church was organized May 2, 1879, with twenty-seven members, namely: Mary Hatch, M. A., Lovina and Alta M. Trowbridge, Elbert D. and Emily C. Ross, Perry and Adeline Thomas, Mary Taylor, N. L. and Lida M. Hanson, John L. and Clean the Wiltsie, Marshall K., Henry A., James W. and Catherine Ross, S. P., Elizabeth and Josephine E. Tolman, James Dunipace, Ann Peck, J. K. Deering, Mary E. Hadley, Jane Hood, Ellen 380 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. Tracy, Maggie Caldas. The elders chosen were James W. Ross, S. P. Tollman and James Dunipace. In the same year M. A. Trowbridge was elected, and, in 1889, Ashton Taylor, who, with Mr. Tollman, is now in office. On completing organization, the society rented the old Baptist church, which has been their place of worship down to the present time. Rev. A. B. Robinson was pastor down to April, 1882, Rev. W. W. Mix, from 1882 to 1885; from which time to the coming of Rev. A. P. Johnson, in 1890, the pulpit was supplied. The membership, in April, 1895, was twenty-four. The total money contributed for church purposes from 1880 to April, 1895, was $7,187. The first trustees were M. A. Trowbridge, N. L. Hanson, D. K. Hollenbeck, with E. D. Ross, treasurer, and N. L. Hanson, secretary. The Getman Evangelical Reform Church was incorporated December 30, 1878, with F. Leydorf and T. Zarfluch, trustees; B. Schaller and J. Meyer, deacons; and F. Hendrich, elder. On August 15, 1880, their house of worship was dedicated. The Universalist Society, was at one time very strong here, but went to pieces prior to the war. The brick building, purchased by the Catholic congregation in 1861, and now used for Catholic school purposes, was erected by the Universalists about 1843 or 1844, and used by them as a place of worship for some years. The Hollisters, who are buried there were the founders with the Ladds, Robeys, Blinns and a few others, and Rev. Sadler, preacher. The German Methodist Episcopal Church was dedicated October 6, 1861, by the apostle of the denomination-Mr. Nast. Mark Curtis built the house for $I,800. The Spiritualists organized a society some years ago, which embraced several members of the Methodest, Presbyterian and Baptist Churches, with others who had not hitherto formed any religious ideas. The organization may be said to exist to-day, but the local membership is very limited. In December, 1855, Rev. Warren Chase organized the first class. The Baptist Church was organized late in the "thirties," or early in the "forties." In 1844, when Edward N. Blue and his wife became members, there were twenty-five members, among them being James M. Charles, Mrs. Bradford and daughter, and Horace and Mrs. Hall, James F. Stubbs and the Africans, Joseph Langford and wife. The place of worship was the old school house, west of the '' Exchange Hotel." Early in the " fifties," however, the church on Walnut street, near the railroad depot, was erected. After the war (1866), the society disbanded, transferred the property to the Baptist Conference, who in 1879 rented it to the Walnut Street Presbyterian Society. The English Lutheran Church is a new organization which already (August, claims a working membership. SECRET AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. Masonic Societies may be said to have originated in the county, in 1813, when Army Lodge No. 24, unfolded its charter at Fort Meigs, and held regular meetings there from 1813 to the date when the fort was abandoned. Northern Light Lodge was organized under dispensation March 5, 1817, and worked without a charter until December 14, 1818, when one was issued to Almon Gibbs, W. M.; William Griffith, S. W.; and Charles Gunn, J. W. Seneca Allen was first initiated in this lodge, while Almon Gibbs was the master from 1817 to 1819, when Allen succeeded him. John Hollister was elected in 1824; Horatio Conant, in 1826; James Wilkinson, elected in December, 1827, appears to have served until 1845, when the mastership passed away from Wood county men. Phoenix Lodge, No. 123, F. &A. M., was chartered May 4, 1844, with Daniel H. Wheeler, John Hollister (master), Josiah Miller, David Wilkinson, J. Manning Hall, Hez. L. Hosmer, Thomas Learning and Richard Shaw, members. The signers of the constitution, as adopted March 7, 1844, included the above named, with many others. The past masters have been as follows: John Hollister, 1844*; A. Young, 1845; D. H. Wheeler, 1846* and 1848; Hezekiah L. Hosmer, 1847*; Jairus Curtis, 1849*; L. O. Simmons, 1851*; James Murray, 1856*; Asher Cook, 1860* and 1881, and 1886; J. S. Norton, 1857 and 1861*; A. Bloomfield, 1862; W. F. Pomeroy, 1863*; William Crook, 1866 to 1879; Perry .Thomas, 1879*; M. A. Trowbridge, 1884; A. M. Russell, 1886; John H. Thornton, 1887; E. L. Kingsbury, 1889; Ed. L. Blue, 1891; J. H. Thornton, 1893; and C. C. Hum, 1896. The secretaries from 1844 to the present time have been as in the following list: J. M. Hall, 1844 and 1848; Israel George, 1846; L. O. Simmons, 1846; George W. Clark, 1850; A. D. Wright, 1851; L. M. Hunt, 1856; L. C. Lock, 1857; J. F. Price, 1860; S. D. Westcott, 1861; F. J. Oblinger, 1867: S. J. Powell, 1871; A. M. Russell, 1872; F. E. Hollenbeck, 1874; F. J. Those marked thus* are deceased. WOOD COUNTY, OHIO - 381 Oblinger, 1875; David Donaldson, 1876; John W. Callard, 1877; M. A. Trowbridge, 1878; Owen Blackmore, 1880; James H. La Farree, 1881; C. C. Taylor and S. D. Westcott, 1884; Andrew Roach, 1893; John H. Thornton, 1892; C. A. Hampton, 1888; F. E. Hollenbeck, 1890; and A. R. Williams, 1896. The records from 1852 to the close of 1859 are not among the other records f the lodge. On January 27, 1845, the Masons of Toledo petitioned Phoenix Lodge to recommend them to the Grand Lodge as worthy of a charter. This petition was granted without hesitation, and it is said that the organization of Toledo Lodge, No. 144, was the result. In 1869, the question of building an upper story on Asher Cook's block was discussed, but not until 1872 was the present building erected and the hall established. Fort Meigs Chapter, No. 29, R. A. M., was instituted U. D. June 26, 1846, with Daniel H. Wheeler, H. P. The charter was issued October 24, 1846, to Hez. L. Hosmer, H. P.; John Bates, king; and Daniel Knowles, scribe, with Thomas Clark, Andrew Young, Alex. Anderson, Levi S. Lownsbury, Daniel Hawes and Ephraim Wood, unofficial members. In 1849, the officers petitioned to have the chapter moved to Toledo, which petition was granted. H. L. Hosmer was a most active agent in the establishment of Masonic societies at Toledo. Even after being commissioned chief justice of Montana Territory, in 1862 or 1863, he was instrumental in organizing the scattered Masons, and subsequently, while past master at Virginia City, organized a council and commandery there. Ft. Meigs Lodge, No. 86, I. O. O. F., was organized May 20, 1847, with the following named members: H. H. Forsyth, C. C. Robey, Thomas Clark, Addison Smith, Amos Spafford, B. W. Lewis, Daniel Titcomb, Isaac P. Thompson, Smith Gilbert, Andrew Bloomfield, William Houston, W. W. Wilkinson, Thomas Bloomfield, W. H. Courser, C. D. Woodruff and Alfred Taylor. During the ensuing decade A. D. Wright, Peter M. Smith, Sandford Baldwin, W. H. Hopkins, J. S. Norton, G. W. Howe, William Crook, S. C. Doan, S. D. Westcott, John Yeager, A. L. Fowler, Shibnah Spink, S. S. Curtis, C. K. Bennett, L. Brigham, M. G. Wetmore, John Shepler, George S. McKnight, George W. Newton, and others became members between 1847 and November, 1858, when the treasurer's acoount closes. In 1857, William Crook was elected treasurer, a position he held until the organization ceased. He is the only member of the old lodge, now living, who was permitted to enter the new lodge, M. G. Wetmore, who was killed at Haskins a few years ago, being the other. The Masonic lodge won away many members, and this, with general inattention to work, caused its downfall in 1862. Fort Meigs Lodge, No 774, I. O. O. F., was instituted July 4, 1889, with Robert Escott, N. G., and the following named officers, in lodge rank: John Kohl (V. G.), L. E. Webb (Sec.), John Chappel (Per. Sec.), C. H. Greiner (treasurer), Ed. Underhill, Conrad Kohl and G. H. Caldwell (trustees). The noble grands since December, 1889, are named as follows: John Kohl, 1889; W. E. Escott and Joe E. Baird, 1890; J. P. Thompson, 1891; E. A. Underhill and Philip Wetzel, 1892; E. A. Cox and I. S. Bowers, 1893; S. Pelton and B. H. Getz, 1894; and Isaac Whitson, May, 1895. Secretaries: Joe E. Baird, 1889; Dr. J. E. Brainard and A. R. Williams, 1890; W. A. Finkbeiner, in May, and Walter E. Escott, in August, 1891; Philip Wetzel and J. E. Brainard, 1892; D. Van Hellen, May, 1892, and J. M. Browne, in May, 1893; B. H. Getz and Philip Wetzel, 1894. The lodge had in May, 1895, no less than 115 members. Articles of incorporation were recorded January 14, 1891. Wolford Post, No. 51, G. A. R., was chartered March 31, 1881, with the following named members: James Timmons, John Croft, Nathan Tefft, Fred. Schwind, Charles Chappel, Christopher Finkbeiner, B. Trombla, George Button, Thomas Hartshorn, H. M. Hoover, Fred. Yeager, James F. Fleming, James Hayes, A. E. Wilson, Henry Broka, J. L. Wilson, Joseph Bruce, Charles Gross, Phillip Witz, William Heckler, John Yeager, Chris. Kner, William Walters, Fred. Treichel, Jacob Davis, H. R. Charles, D. Simmons, N. Wedertz, and A. C. P. Boyce. On the same date the Post was instituted, the name being conferred in honor of John Wolford, a fourteen-year-old soldier of Co. B, 55th O. V. I., who was killed at Bull Run, August 30, 1862. James Hayes was the first commander, and Jacob Davis, the first adjutant; James Hayes was re-elected in 1882; Frederick Yeager, in 1883; James P. Averill, 1884; James Timmons, 1885; Christopher Finkbeiner, 1886; James Hayes, 1887; Isaac Whitson, 1888; W. H. Hollenbeck, 1889-90; George R. Scott, 1891 (resigned); Jacob Metzger, 1892-93; George Button, 1894 and 1895. The following served as adjutants: James P. Averill succeeded adjutant Davis in 1882; W. H. Hollenbeck, 1883, 1885; Frederick Yeager, 1886, 1889 and 1890; W. H. Hollenbeck, 1887-88; Jas. Hayes, 1891 to 1896. 382 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. The membership was at one time eighty, but is now reduced to twenty-four. The total number enrolled was 134. The old Grand Army Post, known as No. 38, was organized after the war. In September, 1869, J. B. Newton was adjutant. In common with the contemporary subordinate posts of Ohio and other States, No. 38 surrendered its charter. Perrysburg Lodge, No. 524, K. of P. organized in November, 1891, was instituted December 2, that year, by C. D. Yonker, of Bowling Green, with I. M. Sadler, P. C.; E. L. Blue, C. C.; J. Davis, V. C.; William Schlect, P.; James Fruescher, M. of F.; P. C. Ray, M. at A.; R. Danz, M. of E.; Charles Tyler, K. of R. & S.; C. F. Rider, I. G.; C. C. Baird, Jr., O. G.; and the following named unofficial membersH. C. Lawrence, B. F. Gonder, R. S. Clegg, D. C. Whitehead, John Cranker, C. A. Powers, J. C. Thompson, G. W. Hoffman, N. L. Hanson, A. Hufford, F. Zanger, J. H. Rheinfrank, I. S. Powers, Joe E. Baird, J. H. Marshall, T. J. Chilcote, B. Trombla, G. H. Caldwell, A. Williams, Thomas Roether, and J. P. Thompson. The chancellors of the lodge, since organization, have been as follows: E. L. Blue, I. S. Bowers, William Schlect, D. K. Hollenbeck, C. A. Hoffman, E. L. Kingsbury, R. Danz and George Roether. The keepers of records and seals have been: C. V. Tyler, D. K. Hollenbeck, N. L. Hanson, Joe E. Baird and A. W. Degner. The membership in June, 1895, was about one hundred. Eldorado Lodge, No. 322, Daughters of Rebekah, was chartered May 23, 1890, on petition of J. C. Hoyt, Decatur Van Hellen, Aaron Hufford, G. H. Caldwell, J. P. Thompson, Edward Conrad, Fred Jezzard, Julia Ann Hoyt, Rose E. Caldwell, Alice Van Hellen and A. R. Williams. In May, 1895, there were thirty-five members in good standing. Tippecanoe Council, No. 77, National Union, was chartered August 27, 1889, with Jacob Davis, C. J. Hartsing, R. H. Chubb, C. B. FruFru T. B. Oblinger, Fred Yeager, J. H. Marshall, R. Danz, N. L. Hanson, Joseph Lindsay, F. Jezzard, E. L. Blue, H. M. Hoover, C. A. Powers, I. S. Bowers, William Schlect, N. Tefft, Christopher Finkbeiner and G. Schwind. Perry Lodge, Knights of the Golden Rule, No. 159, was chartered February 28, 1885, with twenty-nine members, among whom were W. H. Hollenbeck, F. E. Hollenbeck, I. S. Bowers, H. M. Hoover, D. K. Hollenbeck, Madams Ella Averill, Belle Mix and M. Finkbeiner, and N. S. Hanson. Temperance Societies.-Fort Meigs Division, Sons of Temperance, was organized in 1848, with the following named officers in Division rank: James W. Ross, Addison Smith, George W. Clark, W. H. Courser, John Webb, John Bates, Jesse S. Norton, John Croft, Ozem Galpin and George Albert. Perrysburg Lodge, No. 179, I. O. G. T., was organized May 25, 1866, with thirty-two members, and disbanded February 9, 1875, when Fred. Yeager and James Timmons were the only representatives of the charter members present. The newer temperance societies, such as the Woman's Temperance League of 1874, decided upon another line of work, and in this particular opposed the I. O. G. T., won the members away, and left it to disband. In July, 1874, the AntiLicense Convention assembled, and in April, 1876, the crusade against saloons was commenced at Perrysburg and other towns. Perrysburg Temperance Union adopted articles of association, September 2, 1877, with 762 members. This union originated in a meeting held June 26, when a Murphy Temperance Society was formed. The Perrysburg Saengerbund was organized July 21, 1868, with John H. Rheinfrank, president, and John Bader, Jr., secretary. F. R. Miller, George Hoffman, Jr., John Haller, John Hirth and Clemens Leaf were chosen trustees, and John Eberly, treasurer. CONCLUSION. The writer, on closing these articles on Perrysburg, must acknowledge the value of aid rendered by Mrs. Perrin, D. K. Hollenbeck, William Crook, Mr. McKnight, James Hayes, the Hoffmans, Mr. Callard, Mr. Hayes, of Fort Meigs, Rev. Mr. Adams, Mrs. Frederick, Mrs. Samuel Smith, J. H. La Farree, Christopher Finkbeiner, and the younger old settlers, such as Joe E. Baird, Thomas M. Franey, and the editor of the old Perrysburg journal. RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE