USA > Ohio > Sandusky County > Fremont > A guide to the local history of Fremont, Ohio, prior to 1860 > Part 1
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02279 8380
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"THE WALK-IN-THE-WATER." Sketched from the Canadian Shore, Opposite Detroit, 1820.
A GUIDE TO THE LOCAL HISTORY of FREMONT, OHIO
PRIOR TO 1860
54409
. A
A GUIDE
TO THE
LOCAL HISTORY OF
FREMONT, OHIO
PRIOR TO 1860
LUCY ELLIOT KEELER
COLUMBUS, OHIO: Press of Fred J Heer 1905.
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1645459
A GUIDE TO THE LOCAL HISTORY OF FREMONT, OHIO.
A. Geology and Topography.
What are the native rocks of Fremont?
Limestone.
How and when were they formed?
Their stratification proves that they were formed under water, and their fossils indicate that the water was salt --- a sea. Geolo- ale the date of this formation approximately twenty mil- lion years ago.
Where can these rocks be seen to best advantage?
In the outcrop at Moore's Mills, Ballville. There the water lime rocks are separated by a layer of shale from the Niagara limestone below.
What made the cut through the rocks at Ballville ?
The Sandusky river, just as it is to-day cutting through the softer clay at the Blue Banks.
Has the Sandusky river always occupied its present channel ? No. Flowing as it does over so level a region, it is called a meandering stream, that is, one which is continually changing its bed. Such a stream is characterized by many sharp curves. Thus it is forty-two miles from Fremont to Sandusky by water. and only twenty-two miles by rail.
Locate some of the old river beds.
You must go to see. First examine the sudden turn the river makes at the Blue Banks. Proceed south along this bluff and note the old bed beyond Sharp's Island, only partially used at present, and a second which is dry except at high water. All three are full during spring freshets. Long, long ago, the San- dusky river passed through the ravine that lies between the Cath- olic cemetery and Ballville. At that time the river crossed its present channel at a sharp angle and flowed along the northern side of Reynold's Wood Hill.
What covered this country during the Ice Age?
A vast sheet of ice.
Since the ice in Ohio melted sooner than that in the eastern out- lets of the Great Lakes, how did the water escape ?
Southward, through the Wabash, Maumee and Sandusky riv- ers.
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What marked the shrinking of this vast lake?
The receding water deposited four distinct sand beaches, nearly parallel with the southern shore of Lake Erie. These sand beaches became our Ridge Roads.
What became of the bulk of the sediment deposited in this vast prehistoric lake?
It formed a mass of sand and clay, of varying thickness, which deposit is the subsoil of the level country about Fremont.
Where can a good cut through this deposit be found?
At the Blue Banks. Here on its east bank the river is cutting so rapidly that an almost vertical bluff of hard yellow clay is maintained.
What deposits of the glacier can be found?
Underneath the yellow clay at the Blue Banks, is a dense layer of blue clay. or "hard-pan," which was deposited by the glacier. It may be studied best at low water, and where a mass of yellow clay has recently been removed some glaciated or scratched rocks may be found in the blue clay below.
What is the surface soil about Fremont ?
Deposits of vegetable matter. In the famous Black Swamp, extending from Fremont to Toledo, this vegetable deposit was of extraordinary depth and richness.
What are the rocks so numerous at Stony Prairie?
Granite boulders of many kinds, brought here on the back of the ancient glacier thousands of years ago.
Whence did these boulders come ?
From Canada. They are wholly unlike our native limestones, and correspond accurately with rocks along Lakes Huron and St perior and those of the Laurentian Range.
For this period consult The Ice Age, by Prof. G. F. Wright ; and the Geological Surveys of Ohio.
What is the elevation of Fremont?
The bench mark at the Court House is sixty-two feet above Lake Erie, and six hundred and thirty-seven feet above sea level.
Note some of the physical changes in Fremont within the past fifty years.
Many changes are due to the grading for streets. The old Justice house on State street. and the old Brainard house on Croghan street, now many feet below the streets, were formerly level with the roadways. The site of the Taylor ,house, cor- ner Arch and Birchard Avenue, was a high knoll. Froni C. R. McCulloch's property on Birchard avenue, southward, extended a large pond. its overflow emptying into the Market street ( Birch- ard Ave. ) ditch. and flowing east to the river. A deep ravine ran from the river southwestward to the Central school yard. Be- fore building his house, Dr. James Wilson hauled large trees to
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help fill that part of the ravine extending through his place. The two deep ravines crossing State street have been almost entirely filled. .
B. Aboriginal Occupancy.
What was the old name of Fremont ?
Lower Sandusky.
Why was it so called?
The whole region, river and valley, was called Sandusky, by the Indians. Lower Sandusky was to distinguish the village at the lower rapids of the river from that at the upper rapids.
What is the derivation of the word?
Three Wyandot terms are at our service: Salı-un-dus-kee, clear water: Sandoostee, at the cold water ; and Sah-undustec. water within water pools. The last is applicable to the extensive marshes intersected by open water.
Who were the earliest known inhabitants of Fremont ?
The Mound Builders, traces of whose occupancy lingered till long after the coming of the white settler, along the east bank of the river, notably on Croghansville hill and the Blue Banks.
Who succeeded the Mound Builders ?
A Neutral Nation, who built here two cities of refuge for all comers, located by tradition at the Blue Banks and on Evergreen Fill.
Who succeeded the Neutral Nation?
The Wyandots, escaping from their rapacious kindred, the Iro- quois ; and with them came many Ottawas from Upper Canada. These tribes settled in the Sandusky and Maumee Valleys and were firmly established here before the coming of the whites.
( At this point the student should look up the physical condi- tion of the country before the days of settlement ; the magnificent forests, the extensive and peculiar Black Swamp ; the marvellous quantity of fish in the river: the wild turkeys and geese and pigeons which darkened the air in flight : the deer, wolves, foxes, beaver, otter. muskrats, etc. Also the Wyandots, their character, tribal organization, number : their devotion to the Sandusky Val- ley. Se> Everett's History of Sandusky County; Howe's His- torical Collections of Ohio, Wyandot County. )
Who were the first white men to visit this place ?
French traders and the Jesuit Fathers.
When did this place first appear on the map?
On Hutchin's map of 1764. the Indian village twenty miles up . the river appears as Junqueindundeh. An appendix to this map notes a route leading through this place to Fort Pitt ( Pittsburg) ; Heckewelder's map of 1796 shows a trail through Sandusky ( Fre-
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mont.) This was the great trail made first by the buffaloes, and used doubtless by the Mound Builders next, then by the later orders of Indians in going through the Sandusky country from the Great Lakes to the Gulf.
Who gave the first detailed description of this place ?
Col. James Smith, in 1757, a prisoner adopted into the Wyandot tribe. (Read his diary.)
Who next mentions the village?
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Bradstreet, in - 1764. co-operating with Bouquet to subdue the western Indians, passed a month about Sandusky Bay and came "up the river as far as navigable to Indian canoes." ( Consult Bouquet's Expedition against the Ohio Indians.) Col. Israel Putnam commanded the Connecticut regiment of Colonel Brad- street's force of 12.000 men.
Who next mentions the place ?
Samuel Brady, the scout, sent out by Washington in 1780. He lay all niglit on Brady's Island below the village, and watched the Indians racing horses along the west bank. (See Miss Keeler's Sandusky River.)
Where was the old Gauntlet track ?
The west bank of the river, extending north and south of the present State street was used by the Indians for Gauntlet track. race course, council meetings, etc. It was the Indian "Common." so to speak.
Who were the first traders here?
The French. with headquarters at Detroit, selling powder, flint. firearms. blankets and trinkets. in exchange for the valuable furs.
What other visitors came here prior to the nineteenth century ?
In 1778 Daniel Boone was led captive through the village : as was his friend Simon Kenton. Zeisberger and Heckewelder. were prisoners here in 1782, and Heckewelder described sceing the gauntlet run here. These two men were the leaders of the Mora- vians, whose three cities on the Muskingum suffered such fright- ful destruction in 1781. The remnants of the Moravians were marched to this place as prisoners, whence they embarked on boats for Detroit. Preceding and following the Revolutionary War, more Indian captives were brought to Lower Sandusky than to any other place in Ohio. Tradition has it that two thousand captives from the Ohio river were brought here. This was the center of Wyandot military operations. The British "Rangers." sent from Detroit, to aid their Indian allies against Col. William Crawford's armed force, came by boat with their arms and cannon to Lower Sandusky. where their horses inet them for the march to Upper Sandusky. (See Crawford's Cam- paign : Miss Keeler's Sandusky River.)
How is Washington's name connected with Lower Sandusky?
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A letter to him from General Irvine, of Fort Pitt, suggests a second campaign against the Sandusky Indian villages : "These Indians are all settled in a line from Lower Sandusky to the heads of the Miami, not over seventy-five miles. If these could all be beat at once, it would nearly put an end to the Indian war in that quarter." .
To what does Irvine refer ?
The Indian war, terminating in 1794, when Anthony Wayne brought the tribes into subjection.
What noted Indians frequented Lower Sandusky ?
Tarhe, the Crane, the principal war chief, lived here, and led hence his warriors to fight Wayne. Half King, the great chief, who lived at Upper Sandusky, often came here. Red Jacket stopped on his way from Buffalo to make the funeral monody over Tarhe at Upper Sandusky. Pontiac, the "colossal chief who struggled with destiny," and whose conspiracy exploded in 1763, was frequently here inciting the warriors; the eloquent and mas- terly Mohawk chief, Brant, here formed the confederacy which enabled the Western tribes to defeat two American armies. Here came, also, the chief heads of the Seneca nation, Coonstick, Hard Hickory and Seneca John ; Logan, the great Mingo; and Tecum- sch, who organized the Indian rebellion of 1811 and consummated the British alliance of 1812.
(See article on Tarhe, the Crane, in Ohio Arch. and Hist. Pub- lications, April, 1905. Also manuscript agreement between Tarhe, bearing his mark, and Morris A. Newman, postmaster of Lower Sandusky, making the latter the Indians' agent to sell timber and stones from their lands adjoining Lower Sandusky. This MS. hangs ou the walls of Birchard Library in Fremont.)
When was the first Indian mission started at Lower Sandusky, and by whom ?
In 1805, by the Rev. Joseph Badger. He had been a soldier in the Revolutionary War, fighting at Bunker Hill, and had made the earlier campaign into Canada. During the war of 1812 he served as Chaplain in General Perkins' Brigade, and rendered valuable service in the hospitals, as well as frequently designat- ing the best route for the troops through the wilderness which he knew so well. Chiefly to his influence is due the neutrality of the Wyandots during the War of 1812. Except for the Whit- aker and Williams families, Badger was probably the first white settler in the village. He was certainly the first preacher and school teacher.
C. Settlement of Fremont.
What was the present town of Fremont, at the close of Pon- tiac's war in. 1764 ?.
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An Indian village, on Croghansville hill, named . Junquein- dundeh.
Who were the first traders to make headquarters at Lower San- dusky ?
Arundel and Robbins, Englishmen, prior to 1782.
What was the first white family in Ohio?
That founded by James Whitaker and Elizabeth Fulks. his wife. natives of Pennsylvania, who were captured respectively in 1775 and 1778 from their homes at Fish Creek and Cross Roads. At the time of their capture James Whitaker was eighteen years of age, and Elizabeth Fulks eleven. They were both adopted by the Wyandot Indians, and belonged to Tarhe's band, located at Lower Sandusky. They were married at Detroit about 1785, and had eight children. Whitaker was buried on what was afterward known as the Whitaker Reserve, three miles below Fremont. The tombstone erected over his grave contains the following inscription :
"In memory of James Whiteacre, who died
Dec. 17, 1804, in the 48th year of his age."
Mrs. Whitaker lived for many years after her husband's death, and was noted for her kindness to the early missionaries and to the many white prisoners at Lower Sandusky. Many of their descendants are located in Sandusky County.
What other reservation was given by the Indians to a white settler in this vicinity ?
The Williams reservation, two miles below town, on the east side of the river. Williams was a trader, very popular with the Indians, his wife an Indian captive.
How did other white settlers gain title to their lands ?
By purchase from the Government. By the treaty of Fort McIntosh, 1785. the United States reserved the two mile square tract at Lower Sandusky, for a trading post. Ten years later. at the treaty of Greenville. 1795. following Wayne's victory, the Wyandots and associated tribes ceded this tract forever to the United States. In 1817, the Government surveyed and sold this tract. The same year. the Government purchased all of north -. western Ohio except a few reservations of which the Senecas held 40,000 acres. In 1831, the Senecas sold their reservation for three and eighth-tenths cents per acre and moved to the far west. Thus all the land about Fremont was legally acquired. from its aboriginal holders.
Outline the history of the first French settlers at Lower San- dusky.
They had emigrated from France after the French Revolution, and settled in Michigan and Ohio. In 1812 the Government re- moved these wards of the nation to Lower Sandasky for better
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protection from the turbulent Indians. The winter of 1812-13 they passed in the barracks of Fort Stephenson, but on August first they were removed to Upper Sandusky. On the way they heard Proctor's cannon beginning the battle of Fort Stephenson. ( See Everett, pp. 569-570. )
Where was the old French burying ground?
On Arch street, between Ewing street and Birchard avenue.
When did the first negroes come to Lower Sandusky?
About 1780, when the Indians brought a group of negroes captured on the Ohio river, and placed them on the little penin- sula.on the cast side of the river, two miles below Lower San- dusky. It has ever since been known as Negro Point, or more commonly "Nigger Bend."
When did Fremont first come under the American flag ?
Theoretically in 1776, but actually in 1795, in which year the British evacuated Ft. Miami, following Wayne's victory over the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. The British had withheld the lake region on the pretext that certain obliga- tions on the American side had not been fulfilled. The county of Wayne was established, embracing Michigan and all northwestern Ohio.
How many white families lived here in 1815?
Twenty.
How many houses were appraised in 1816?
Eight.
When was the township of Sandusky organized ?
August, 1815.
Where was the first town platted in this locality ?
Croghansville, on the hill east of the river. It was surveyed by a government engineer. Wormley, in 1816, and lots reserved for schools and a government navy yard.
When was the west side platted ?
In 1817 by the Kentucky Company, who bought of the gov- ernment the land between the Western Reserve and Maumee Road and the present L. S. & M. S. Railway tracks; surveyed and platted it. and named it Sandusky.
Who composed the Kentucky Company ?
Fifteen citizens, including Israel Harrington, Thos. L. Haw- kins, Morris A. Newman and David Gallagher. (For full list see Everett, pp. 399-400. )
When was the name officially changed to Lower Sandusky ?
At the incorporation of the village in 1829, when Croghans- ville was included within the limits of Lower Sandusky.
Of what county is Fremont the county seat, when was it organ- ized, and what territory did it comprise ?
Sandusky County, organized February 12, 1820, comprised in
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addition to its present territory, all of Ottawa county, and parts of Seneca, Lucas and Eric counties. Its population was less than 1,000 souls.
Sketch the history of the seat of political government of Lower Sandusky, before the formation of Sandusky county.
This place was within the boundaries of Huron county, with first Milan, then Norwalk as county seat. It was to Norwalk that the proprietors went to file their plat of this village. Earlier. this place was within the limits of Delaware county, with Delaware as the county seat ; Franklin county, with Franklinton as county seat ; and Hamilton county with Cincinnati as county seat. Still earlier Lower Sandusky was a tiny part of Wayne county, which included Michigan, Indiana, the site of Chicago and northwestern Ohio, with the seat of justice at Detroit. Still earlier, as part of the Northwest Territory, headquarters were at Marietta. on the Ohio river. Before the organization of the Northwest Ter- ritory, our seat of Government was wherever the migratory Con- gress happened to be - either at Princeton or Annapolis. Still carlier, we were claimed by four .States: Massachusetts, Connec- ticut, New York and Virginia, with respective headquarters at Boston, Hartford, New York City and Jamestown. Virginia's claim to our land resulted in her organizing in 1778, the Illinois county. with seat of justice in Kentucky. Earlier yet, before the Declaration of Independence, the English government had established the province of Quebec, extending from Hudson Bay to the Ohio river, and a criminal in Fremont would have had to go to Quebec for legal trial. Before the Quebec Act, the king of England reserved "under his sovereign protection for the use of the Indian, all lands of America beyond the sources of the rivers falling into the sea," and the county seat was the palm of King George. Prior to that date we were claimed by the French, who pretty nearly made good their claim by exploration and fortifica- tion, and our seat of government crossed the channel to Paris itself. Nor should it be forgotten that Spain's claim extended indefinitely north from the Mexican and Gulf acquisitions, and, according to her dictum, Fremont's county seat was at the court in Madrid!
In 1830, how did Lower Sandusky rank among Ohio villages?
As the leading village of northwestern Ohio, both in popula- tion and amount of trade.
When was the first village election, and how many votes were polled ?
October 10, 1815; with 28 votes.
The second?
October, 1816, with 33 votes.
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How many votes were cast in 1831 ?
One hundred and forty-six.
Who was the first postmaster ?
Morris A. Newman, appointed in 1813.
Who was the first justice of the peace ?
Israel Harrington, 1815.
Who was the first village treasurer ?
David Gallagher. 1815. Mr. Gallagher had acted as assistant commissary of Fort Stephenson after the war.
Who was the first judge of Common Pleas Court?
George Tod, the father of David Tod, one of the "War Gov- ernors" of Ohio, opened court in a small log house on Croghans- ville hill, May 8. 1820. His judicial district covered almost a third of the State of Ohio. He was a Yale graduate; had been State Senator, and supreme judge from 1806 until he resigned to enter the army in 1812. (See First Court House, E.)
Who was the second Common Pleas Judge?
Ebenezer Lane, elected justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio in 1830.
After the village was incorporated in 1829, who was the first mayor ?
Tohn Bell.
Who were the first doctors?
Dr. Hastings, 1816; and Dr. Daniel Brainard, 1819.
What was the first newspaper printed in Lower Sandusky?
The Lower Sandusky Gazette. July, 1829. The shicet measured 17 x 21 inches. Thomas Smith was editor, publisher, type-setter and press-man. The paper lived about 18 months.
When and what was the first play given in Lower Sandusky ?
In 1819 the young men of the village played Goldsmith's "She Stoops to Conquer." Thomas L. Hawkins painted the scenery, wrote the prologue, and performed the important parts. The play was given in the upper story of the historic old tavern, on the site of the present Wheeling and Lake Erie station. (For the Prologue, see Everett's Hist. of Sandusky County., p. 406.) Why was the name of the village changed to Fremont ?
Because of the confusion attending the repetition of the name Sandusky, there being Upper and Lower, Big and Little San- dusky and Sandusky City along the river. The name was changed in 1849.
Who presented the matter before the local courts?
Rutherford B. Hayes, at that time a law partner of Ralph P. Buckland, at Lower Sandusky.
Why was the name Fremont selected ?
The name generally preferred was Croghan, pronounced
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Crawn: but there were many ways of spelling it, so the name Fremont was chosen in honor of the famous explorer and the discoverer of Pike's Peak.
D. The Revolutionary and Pre-Revolutionary Forts of This Locality.
What was the first British fort in Ohio?
Fort Sandusky, erected by British traders from Virginia and Pennsylvania, on the west bank of the Sandusky Bay and River (the Marblehead peninsula ), in 1745, but later "usurped by the French." It was reoccupied by the British after the sur- render of Canada by the French, in November. 1760. Major Robert Roger, with two hundred rangers, arrived from Mon- treal. to take possession of the French forts on Lake Erie. Podiaes Conspiracy burst carly in May, 1763. "Nine British forts yielded instantly, Detroit and Fort Pitt alone escaped cap- ture. and the savages drank, scooped up in the hollow of joined hands, the blood of many a Briton. Sandusky was the first of the forts to fall, May 15." Ensign Paully was seized, car- ried to Detroit, and married to a squaw, who had lost her hus- band. The remainder of the garrison was massacred, and the fort burned. (See Pontiac's Conspiracy. ) Ensign Paully finally escaped to the fort at Detroit, and reported the disaster. Fort Sandusky was never rebuilt. Col. John Bradstreet's expedition. in 1765, arrived at Fort' Sandusky, and after relieving Detroit returned to Sandusky, where he remained several months.
When was the fort at the Lower Falls of the Sandusky River first mentioned ?
The first mention of the fort at Lower Sandusky; and the first mention of the place by that name. is in a letter from Brig .- Gen. Wm. Irvine to Major Isaac Craig, during the Revolutionary War, as follows: "Fort Pitt, Nov. II. 1783. Sir: I have received intelligence through various channels that the British have established a post at Lower Sandusky."
( Note the distinction between the pre-Revolutionary Fort San- dusky, on the peninsula near the mouth of the Sandusky River. and the Revolutionary post at Lower Sandusky, twenty miles inland, to which General Irvine refers. This post was also doubt- less known as Fort Sandusky, the original Fort Sandusky having been destroyed twenty years earlier. The second Fort Sandusky. i. e., the post at Lower Sandusky, was rebuilt during the War of 1812, and has ever since been known as Fort Stephenson. . The gold medal awarded by Congress to Croghan, in 1834, for the Defense of Fort Stephenson in 1813. bears on the reverse, besides the motto and date, the word "Sandusky.")
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What further reference was made to Lower Sandusky during the Revolutionary War?
In 178 General Washington sent Captain Brady to learn of the intentions of the Indians in the Sandusky country, with refer- ence to renewing the war as allies of the British. Brady spent several days on Brady Island, in Sandusky River, watching the Indians on the banks, and became satisfied from their actions that they were not contemplating a fresh campaign, and so reported to Washington. (See page 6.) Subsequently, Brady was sent out again from Fort Pitt on a similar errand, but was captured In the Indians and carried to Sandusky to run the gaunt- let and be burned at the stake. He escaped, however, was hotly pursued by the Indians, and made his famous leap over the Cuyahoga River.
E. War of 1812.
What was the attitude of the Wyandots of Lower Sandusky in the War of 1812?
Neutrality.
What chief led the surrounding Indians to side with the British ? Tecumseh.
Why were fortifications rebuilt at Lower Sandusky, July, 1812?
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