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WOOD COUNTY, OHIO - 175 CHAPTER XXI. PIONEERS OF WOOD COUNTY-MAUMEE VALLEY PIONEERS ASSOCIATION-MAUMEE VALLEY MONUMENTAL. ASSOCIATION-LICENSED TRADERS-SUGAR MAKERS-WOLF SCALPS. ON May 7, 1864, was organized, at Toledo, the Maumee Valley Pioneers Association, WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 176 Brigham, with Francis L. Nichols, trustees; Henry Bennett, recorder; Willard V. Way, correspondent, and James M. Comstock, treasurer. In 1867, John E. Hunt, Willard V. Way and W. C. Holgate were elected vice-presidents; Charles T. Wales, recorder, and John J. Minor, correspondent, who, with Trustees Whitney, Brigham and Bennett, were the officers of the society until 1874, when John E. Hunt was elected president, vice Peter Navarre (deceased); Dr. E. D. Peck, Willard Trowbridge and Henry Bennett, vice-presidents; Mayor Brigham, Chauncy D. Woodruff and Willard V. Way, trustees, and Charles T. Wales, secretary and treasurer. In 1877, Asher Cook was chosen a vice-president, and Thomas Dunlap, secretary, and in 1878 Thomas H. Learning succeeded John E. Hunt (deceased) as president. In 1887 William B. Gunn was president and Ruel Alden, secretary of the association. Among its members were the following named residents of Wood county, the date being that of settlement: Mrs. H. B. Andrews, 1823; Henry Bennett, 1833; Nathaniel D. Blinn, 1825; Calvin K. Bennett, 1835; John Bates, 1832; Andrew Bloomfield, 1833; Gilbert Beach, 1835; William H. Bennett, 1833; Richard Bumford, 1838; R. Bloomfield, 1842; Mrs. Henry Bennett, 1833; Bradford Barlow, 1824; Asher Cook, 1835; Jeremiah C. Crane, 1827; Joshua Chappell, 1823; David Creps, 1833; Mistress Roxanna Crane, 1818; William L. Cook, 1835; G. W. Creps, 1833; Dr. Horatio Conant, 1816; James Dennison, 1834; Joseph W. McNeal, 1834; Robert A. Forsythe, 1816; John Fay, 1833; Robert Fenton, 1834; Isaac Hull, 1814; John E. Hunt, born at Fort Wayne, 1798; Robert A. Howard, Mt. Gilead, 1823; Francis Hollenbeck, 1842; Hezekiah L. Hosmer, 1837; Charles V. Jennison, 1818; William O. Keeler, born 1833; L. C. Locke, 1835; George S. McKnight, 1820; Albert Moore, 1832; Guido Marx, 1849; D. Newton, 1840; Eveline Newton, 1850; George Powers, 1835; Dr. E. D. Peck, 1834; Mrs. E. D. Peck, 1844; S. Perrin, 1838; George N. Parsons, 1837; James W. Ross, 1834; J. Austin Scott, 1835; Jessup W. Scott, 1832, Shibnah Spink, 1833; H. T. Smith, 1838; Mrs. Aurora Spafford, first white woman married in the Valley; E. Tuller, 1839; Thomas Tiernan, 1839; Perry Thomas, 1835; Wesley S. Thurstin, 1836; I. Van Tassel, 1829; H. Warner, 1835; George Weddell, 1837; John Webb, 1822; Chauncey D. Woodruff, 1835; Willard V. Way, 1834; Eber Wilson, 1823; Martin Warner, 1836; David Wilkison, 1818; Thomas J. Webb, 1828. The Wood County Pioneer Society claims as its members many of the old settlers named above. The Pioneer and Historical Association was in the zenith of its usefulness in August, 1884, when Capt. L. Black was secretary, with Robert Fenton, C. W. Evers, Daniel Barton, Joel Foote and Asher Cook, members of the executive committee, and Dr. A. J. Manville, treasurer. The oldest citizen of this county, W. H. Ewing, of Plain township, was president. The Maumee Valley Monumental Association was incorporated July 28, 1885, and organized August 7, that year, with D. W. H. Howard, president; Asher Cook, vice-president; Gen. John C. Lee, secretary, and Foster R. Warren, treasurer. Changes were made in the constitution, and August 25, 1885, M. R. Waite, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, was elected president; D. W. H. Howard, Richard Mott, and Asher Cook, vice-presidents; while the secretary and treasurer of the first organization were re-elected. In 1887 the president and secretary were re-elected; R. B. Mitchell was chosen treasurer, and R. C. Lemmon, D. W. H. Howard and S. H. Cately, vice-presidents. Among the residents of Wood county who were members of this association, may be named: Asher Cook, Joel Foote (1829), D. W. H. Day (1851), L. Black, George C. Phelps, R. W. McMahon, J. B. Newton, E. W. Poe, A. W. Adams, J. H. Whitehead, R. M. Donnelly, W. A. Benschoter, T. C. Beard, M. F. Miles, R. W. Huffman, S. Henderson, G. W. Hill, J. F. Stubbs, F. J. Oblinger, John Ebberly (1848), T. J. Sterling (1830), James O. Troup, M. P. Brewer, George Knaus, George N1. Brown, B. L. Abbott, J. V. Culver, J. H. Mitchell, Paul J. Brown, F. H. Thompson, Frank M. Young, H. C. Uhlman, H. G. Strausser, Edwin Tuller and J. Austin Scott. The object of this association was to urge the United States Congress to authorize the building of monuments on the battlefields of the Maumee. and to set off the site of Fort Meigs as a National Park. Licensed Traders. -Lists of the early traders or merchants, peddlers and tavern-keepers, of Wood county, to whom licenses were granted by the court of common pleas, is here given. Many illicit dealers in liquor and merchandise were their contemporaries, but of them the record does not speak, except when they were presented to the grand jury as criminals, or to the warden of the penitentiary as convicts. The old tavern-keepers, licensed by the county, were: Daniel Hubbel, at Port Miami, from May 4, 1820, to May, 1834; Peter G. Oli- WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 177 ver, at Maumee, from May 4, 1820, to May, 1822; Samuel Spafford, in Waynesfield township, in 1820 and 1821, and from 1821 to 1832; Francis Charter, at Orleans of the North, from October, 1820, to May, 1825; Almon Gibbs, at Maumee, from November, 1820, to May, 1822; Moses Rice, in Auglaize township, from 1820 to 1824; Charles Gunn, in same township, from October 1821, to 1827; William Vance, at Fort Findlay, from 1822 to 1826; Horatio Conant, at Maumee, from June, 1822, to 1826; Isaac Richardson, in Waynesfield township, from December, 1822, to 1827; Samuel T. Loyd, at Maumee, from May, 1828, to the summer of 1829; Thomas Leaming, at Perrysburg, in 1828-1829; William Houser, at Maumee, 1829-30; Antoine LePoint, at Waterville, from April, 1829, to 1832; James Wilkison, at Maumee, from November, 1830, to 1836; John Pray, at Waterville, 1831-33; Guy Nearing, near Miltonville, 1832-33, and in 1839-40; Alexander McCollough, 1832-33; Edward Howard, at Grand Rapids, 1832-33; Jarvis Spafford, Perrysburg, from April, 1832, to 1854; Ephraim Morse, from April, 1834, to 1838; Frederick Stoneburm, 1834-35; Orrin Cook, 1834-35; Joseph Creps, from October, 1834, to 1845; Henry Marker, 1834-35", William H. Sloan, 1835-36; Peter Minor, 1835-36; Robert W. Mackey, 1835-36, and 1841-44; Epaphroditus Foote, 1835-1845; Lyman Dudley, 1835-36; Isaac Russell, 1835-40; Caleb Adams, 1835-36; Sylvester Hill, 1835-36; Adam Hemperly, 1836-38; John Sheplar, 1836-47; Leonard Blinn, 1836-38; Jacob Kline, 1836-39; Moses P. Morgan, 1836-38; H. H. Hall, 1836-43; Robert Cowen, 1836-37; David Ross, 1836-46; Joseph Logan, 1837-38; Eli Manville, 1837-38; Samuel D. Towner, 1837-38; Daniel Cole, 1837-38; Henry Elder, 1837-41; William H. Morse, 183846: Jeptha Nearing, 1838-39; David Stahler, 1839-40; John M. Hannon, 1839-41; Orange Howard, 1839-42; Adam Ross, 1839-43; Charles Russell, 1839-40; George W. Baird, 1839-41; Chester Blinn, 1839-42; Christian Musser, 184041; Joseph Ralston, 1840-42; M. Hanline, 1840-42; Ephraim Simmons, 1840-45; David A. Craft, 1840-41; Charles McCune, 1840, 1842; Loomis Brigham, 1840-41; Samuel McCrory, 1841-45; William Kelly, 1841-46; Bela M. Burnett, 1841-42; Richmond Shaw, 1841-44; Robert Avery, 1843-44; S. G. Baker, 1843-44; S. H. Stedman, 1843-44; Simeon Eaton, 1844-47; V. Wood, 1845-46; M. Myers, 1846-47, and E. Kellogg, 1846-47. This list embraces seventy four names of people, among whom are a few men who watched the destinies of the young county. Almon Gibbs, who died in 1822, was an Abolitionist in his quiet way, and his death may be credited to the troubles bred by his defence of the negro, Patrick, whom he rescued from neighbors, who wished to carry him South. The old merchants who were granted licenses were Hunt & Forsyth, at Fort Defiance, licensed in December, 1820 and 1821; William Hollister, Jr., & Co., at Maumee, licensed December 27, 1820, and 1821 ; Antoine LePoint, in Waynesfield township, 1821 to 1827; John and George Knaggs, in Waynesfield township, from March 26, 1821, to May, 1823; Daniel Hubbell, at Port Miami, from May 4, 1823, to 1826; James Wyman, at Fort Defiance, 1822-23; Timothy S. Smith, at Ft. Defiance, 1822-25; Titus B. Palmer, at Orleans, 1821-23; John E. Hunt, at Maumee, 1822--26; John Hollister & Co., at Fort Defiance, October, 1823; at Maumee May, 1822, to 1825, when they established a house at Orleans; Robert A. Forsyth, at residence, 1822 to 1827; Almon Reed, at Perrysburg, 1824 to 1826; Daniel Lakin, at Waterville, May, 1827, to 1829; Benjamin H. Kirk, merchant and peddler, 1829-30; Philander Brown, the first grocer, May, 1830; and William H. Sloan, April, 1834, to 1835, when he established a tavern. Sixteen merchants, big and little, held the field of Wood county down to 1835. A few peddlers appeared here from time to time, in the face of the prohibitive license of $50 annually, to share with the merchants in the profits of trade. The first peddlers were William C. Waite, who was here in 1824; Norman Sackett, 1825; John N. Sloan, 1825; Griffith Jones, 1832; Washington Tracey, 1835; John L. Smith, 1835; Smith & Co., 1836, and Almon Case, 1836. When the license was increased from $20 to $50 annually, the peddlers ceased to come here, with rare exceptions, yet the mercantile interests made little or no progress; while the liquor interests made rapid advances. Sugar Makers.-The Indians were the purveyors of sugar and honey in the early days, and important customers of the early traders. In the summer of 1862, James L. Gage, writing on Defiance in olden times, made some general references to Wood county of 1824-26. He says: "There were on the Lower Maumee quite a number of mongrel French and Indians, and in the fourteen counties there were more Indians than whites. These savages were mostly a degenerate, drunken remnant of Ottawas and Pottawatamies. There were, however, a few Wyandots and Miamis, who were splendid specimens of physical 'man. The sugar consumed in Williams and Wood counties at that time was mostly 178 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. made by these savages, but it was a most filthy article, in as much as they would boil their game with it, and that, too, I was told, in an undressed condition. They brought this sugar in bark vessels, called '' mococks," holding from thirty to fifty pounds each. They were shaped so as to be carried like a knapsack. They used small brass kettles for evaporation. These Indians also brought in most of the honey that was used. It was always strained, but it was strained through their blankets, which were never washed after straining the honey. " Wolf Scalps.-At the close of 1835 the wolf scalp business was considered deserving of a separate journal, and from November 2, that year, to December 13, 1858, a number of scalps were returned for bounty. Ke Corngosh, Missaukee, Aausk, Waseon, Pakee, Johnson Quson, Osauge, hunted here in 1835-37, earning $29.75, the bounty being $4.25 a scalp. That they were the ordinary, lazy, semi-civilized species of red men may be conceived, for they permitted many of the old settlers to excell them in the chase. Such pioneers as Daniel Phenicia, James Jones, John McMahon, Jonathan Hay, James Pember and George W. Robinson, discounted the savages as hunters, as seen in the disbursement of $161.25 for scalps from November 2, 1832, to the close of October, 1837. In 1838 only $29.75 was paid as bounty; but in 1839, the sum of $68.25 was paid; in 1840, $36.50; in 1841, $10.25; in 1842, $49.25; in 1843, $73.50; in 1844, $95.75; in 1845, $98.50; in 1846, $80.75; in 1847,$27.75; in 1848, $50.00; in 1849, $59.00, and in 1850, $33.75. From 1851 to 1858, wolves were scarce-only forty-seven scalps being presented to the commissioners, on which a sum of $4.25 was paid for each. The only Indians named in the latter record are James Thomas and Packenon, each of whom presented only one scalp. Michael Myers, who should have been named in 1835, proved a successful wolf hunter in after years. William King received $15.00 for six young wolves; Tobias Wood, $20.00 for eight scalps; while Casper Wyckoff, Dave Burget, John Carter, Orange Howard, Alexander Brown, David Whitney, John Ellsworth, William Sweeney, Samuel Shriner, William Noel, Pierce Mercer and Peter F. Ferciot brought in many scalps as testimonials to their battles with the wolves. RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE |