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HISTO
SANDUSKY CO
OHIO
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS ৳
1812.
00
HISTORY
OF
SANDUSKY COUNTY
OHIO,
WITH PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES
OF
PROMINENT CITIZENS AND PIONEERS.
THE world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto and every man a word. Its strains have been pealing along down the centuries, and, though there have been mingled the discords of warring cannon and dying men, yet to the Christian philosopher and historian-the humble listener-there has been a divine melody running through the song which speaks of hope and halcyon days to come .- JAMES A. GARFIELD.
CLEVELAND, OHIO: H. Z. WILLIAMS & BRO.
1882.
PREFACE.
T HE publishers place this volume before the public believing that they have fulfilled every promise made at the beginning of the enterprise and every reasonable expectation. That there are faults of omission they are aware, but this has arisen from inability to obtain the required information. That a volume of upwards of eight hundred quarto pages, containing ten thousand names, should be free from error, no one will expect.
A large part of the writing has been done by a citizen of the county, Homer Everett, Esq., whose personal knowledge of leading events reaches back almost to the first white settlement. This important service could have been entrusted to no better hands. The first five chapters and those relating to the Moral and Material Development of the county, and Civil History, have been prepared by a writer in the employ of
the publishers. With these exceptions all of the general history is from the pen of Mr. Everett. The same gentleman also prepared the church history of Fremont and several biographical sketches. One biography and the commercial history of Fremont are the contributions of Wilbur G. Zeigler.
It is impossible to make special ac- knowledgments to all to whom we are in- debted for assistance. The people of the county have received the writers and collectors of information with uniform courtesy, and given them every facility for the prosecution of their work.
Instead of being bound in cloth with leather backs, as were the samples shown to subscribers, the volume is bound in full leather, while the form of the book renders it much more convenient for use, and better adapted to the shelves of a library.
CONTENTS.
HISTORICAL.
GENERAL HISTORY.
CHAPTER.
PAGE.
I .- Aboriginal Occupation 9
II .- Ownership of the Northwest. 19
III .- Advent of the White Man 24
IV .- Lower Sandusky before Fort Stephenson
27
V .- Early Ohio 53
VI .- Pre-historic Races 66
VII .- The Indians 72
VIII .- County Organization 94
VIII(a) .- Fort Stephenson
98
IX .- Civil History 121
X .- Development, Material, Moral, Social
125
XI .- Improvements
139
XII .- The Ohio Railroad
154
XIII .- Plank Road
1.59
XIV .- Railroad
164
XV .- The Fremont and Indiana Rail- road 172
XVI .- County Roads 177
XVII .- County Buildings and Institutions 181
XVIII .- Topography and Geology 194
XIX .- Iron Bridges and Drainage. 200
XX .- Sandusky County Agricultural
Society
208
CHAPTER. PAGE.
XXI .- The Press 228
XXII .- Military History
241
XXIII .- Court and Bar of Sandusky
County 368
XXIV .- Fremont 397
XXV .- Fremont Continued 413
XXVI .- "
Business Progress 419
XXVII .-
"
Medical
440
XXVIII .-
"
Improvements
463
XXIX .-
11
Public Schools
473
XXX .- Religious History
485
XXXI .- Social Societies 507
TOWNSHIPS.
Sandusky 559
Rice
568
Ballville
578
Green Creek 604
York 6.53
Townsend 703
Riley 726
Jackson
741
Washington 761
Woodville
780
Madison 793
807
Appendix
833
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
Map of Sandusky county
facing 9
Fort Stephenson facing 101
Portrait of Colonel Croghan facing 105
McPherson Monument facing 241
Portrait of General C. G. Eaton
facing 348
"
" Major General James B.
McPherson
facing 359
Portrait of Dr. L. Q. Rawson
facing 446
"
" Mrs. Dr. L. Q. Rawson
facing 449
11
" Rutherford B. Hayes
facing 513
" " Mrs. Lucy W. Hayes.
facing 521
"
" General R. P. Buckland facing 522
"
" Mrs. R. P. Buckland facing 524
"
" Sardis Birchard
facing 528
"
" Homer Everett
facing 544
Portrait of J. S. Van Ness, with biog-
raphy facing 553
"
" Mrs. H. Seager
facing 584
"
" Rev. M. Long. facing 601
"
" Mrs. Cynthia McPherson facing 633
"
" Alfred Hutchinson facing 639
"
" Hon. O. McIntyre facing 640
"
" James Cleveland facing 645
"
" Rev. N. Young facing 643
"
" S. Baker
facing 646
"
" S. W. Chapin
facing 647
"
" J. L. Brown
facing 649
Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Clapp
facing 650
Portrait of Nathan Birdseye
between 684 and 685
PAGE.
Scott
6
CONTENTS.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
Portrait of Mrs. Nathan Birdseye
between 684 and 685
" " T. G. Amsden facing 686
Portraits of Frederick Smith and wife facing 688
" " Mr. and Mrs. John Mc-
Cauley
facing 690
Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. John Rife facing 691 11
" Mr. and Mrs. James
Chapman
facing 692
Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Seneca D.
Hitt facing 693
"
" J. L. Brown
facing 649
Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Clapp
facing 650
Portrait of Nathan Birdseye
between 684 and 685
BIOGRAPHICAL.
PAGE.
Aunesly, William
391
Ainger, William W.
391
Amsden, Thomas G
686
Chapman, James 692
Adams, H. R 697
Carver, Amos R
829
Adams, Amy R. 699
Curtis, T. V
830
Buckland, Chester Averill
350
Drake, Benjamin F
378
Buckland, Ralph P
380-522
Baldwin, Marcus D
387
Buckland, Horace S.
393
Bell, Charles F
395
Dickinson, Edward F
392
Bartlett, Joseph R 395
Bartlett, Brice J. 396
Eaton, General Charles Grant
348
Eddy, Nathaniel B
384
Beaugrand, Dr. Peter 451
Eckt, Dr. S. P 462
Brown & Anderson, Drs 451
Everett, Jeremiah and family 540
Everett, Homer 544
Finefrock, Henn R 385
387
Finefrock, Thomas P.
389
Fowler, James H.
390
Bushnell, Ebenezer, D.D.
534
Bauer, Seraphine
536
Fabing, John
528
Fuller, William
717
Graves, Increase
379
Greene, John L., Sr.
382
Garver, John T
390
Glick, George W. and C. S.
391
Garver, Samuel C. 395
Greene, John L., Jr. 396
Gessner, Dr. Louis 452
Gessner, Dr. L. S. J. 458
Groat, John W. 461
547
Creager, Frank
539
Giebel, Francis J. W.
548
Cleveland, James
641
Gardner, John S. and Ann
694
"
Mrs. DeLora Smith between 694 and 695
"
" Mrs. Amanda Birds-
eye
between 696 and 697
Portrait of J. S. Van Ness, with biog-
raphy
facing 553
"
" Mrs. H. Seager
facing 584
"
" Rev. M. Long facing 601
"
" Mrs. Cynthia McPherson facing 633
" Alfred Hutchinson. facing 639
"
" Hon. O. McIntyre facing 640
"
" James Cleveland facing 645
"
" Rev. N. Young facing 643
"
" S. Baker facing 646
11
" S. W. Chapin
facing 647
Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. John S. Gardner
facing 644
Portrait of Jeremiah Smith
between 694 and 695
"
Dickinson, Rodolphus
379
Dewey, Thomas P
388
Dudrow, Byron R.
388
Deal, David 558
Brainard, Dr. Daniel 444
Brinkerhoff, Dr, David H. 461
Baker, Dr. H. F 461
Bemis, Dr. J. D
461
Birchard, Sardis.
528
Bell, General John
532
Burgner, Jacob 555
Buckland, Stephen and family 557
Brown, Dr. J. L.
649
Birdseye, Nathan P. and Mary A
684
Birdseve, Joseph and Amanda B
696
Beaugrand, Captain John B. 828
Canfield, Lieutenant Colonel Herman 354
Cummings, J. W. 384
Corey, Dr. John M. 459
Caldwell, Dr. W.
462
Caldwell, William
537
Gallagher, David
PAGE.
PAGE.
Chapin Family 647
Clapp, Charles and family 650
Fronizer, F. R
Failing, Dr. J. W.
459
"
7
CONTENTS.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Griswold, Stephen
830
Pettibone, Hiram P.
380
Goodin, Dr
443
Putnam, Alpheus P. 392
Harmon, Harvey J.
378
Rawson, Major Eugene Allen 354
Heffner, D. A.
390
Rhodes, John H. 385
Haynes, George R
391
Richards, S. S. 390
Hord, John K.
392
Remsburg, Hezekiah
394
Hastings, Dr.
444
Holloway, Dr.
444
Rice, Dr. Robert S.
450
Hammer, Dr. A. J.
462
Rice, Dr. John B 458
Hayes, Rutherford B.
513
Rice, Dr. Robert H.
459
Hayes, Lucy Webb
521
Rife family
691
Howland, Elisha W
551
Richards, Franklin
722
Hutchinson, Alfred
639
Rozell, Charles, and family
759
Hitt, Seneca D. and Mahala E.
693
Rice, Alfred H.
825
Hirt, Casper
740
Johnson, John A.
383
Stilwell, Dr. Thomas
454
Justice, James and family
552
Smith, Dr. George E
460
Johnson, J. C.
831
Sharp, Isaac B.
528
Kessler and Belding
358
Smith, Frederick, and family
688
Keeler, Isaac M.
526
Smith, Jeremiah
695
Kridler, W. B
529
Sanford, Carmi G.and Lydia
715
Lemon, M. B
386
Schultz, Christian
737
Loveland, John B
388
Skinner, Samuel
776
Lemon, John M.
392
Tyler, Morris E
393
Lee, Dr. George 461
Taylor, Dr. Sardis B
460
Long, Rev. Michael 601
535
Levisee family
719
McPherson, Major General James B.
359
Thorp, Alonzo
724
Meek, Basil
389
Moore, John P
547
Watson, Cooper K.
383
Millious, Jacob
552
Williams, Ernest B.
391
McIntyre, Hon. O.
640
Winslow, Hiram W
392
McCauley family
690
Williams, Dr. B. F.
451
McCulloch, C. R
827
Wilson, Dr. James W.
452
Norton, Faulkner I 535
White, Dr. C. B 462
Newman, John 538
Woodward, Gurdon 701
Nyce, Jacob
825
Wood, Bourdett, and family between 702 and 703
Otis, Lucius B
381
Young, Noah 643
O'Farrell, P
387
Zeigler, Wilbur G. 386
739
Olmsted, Jesse S
549
Zeigler, John
535
Tyler, John S. Taylor, Austin B
Wegstein, Michael.
353
Snyder, Merritt L.
394
Rawson, Dr. L. Q. 446
HISTORY
OF
SANDUSKY COUNTY, OHIO
CHAPTER I.
ABORIGINAL OCCUPATION.
The Sandusky Valley in Aboriginal History-The Ancient Eries-General Indian War-The Wyandots Driven from, their Ancient Seats-The Eries Perish-Extent of the Conquest of the Six Nations-The Neutral Nation-Two Forts at Lower Sandusky-Origin and Destruction of the Neutral Nation-Ohio Indians-Return of the Wyandots-Character of the Wyandots-Brant Visits Lower Sandusky, and Forms a Confederacy-Upper Sandusky Becomes their Seat of Government-The Wyandots are Given a Reservation in 1817-Their Final Removal from Ohio in 1842-Other Tribes and Reservations.
T HE Sandusky country, in aboriginal history, possesses a peculiar charm and fascinating interest. During that period of years which fills western annals with the story of intrigue and bloody conflict, the plains and prairies of the lower Sandusky valley were the home of the most powerful and most generous of the savage nations. The border country of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky, and the first settlements of Ohio, saw the Indian at war, and too often his character has been estimated by his conduct when inspired to cruelty by a natural desire for revenge. Here we see him at home, far removed from his enemy, and perceive the softer side of his untamed nature. The field brings us to a nation's capital, acquaints us with the manners and customs of primitive life, and by affording a more accurate knowledge of the treatment of white prisoners, softens harsh prejudices. Less than a century ago these plains, now covered by a thriving city, presented all that interesting variety of scenes of Indian life, primitive agriculture, rude cabins, canoe-building, amusements, and the coun-
cil fire, around which painted warriors planned campaigns and expeditions having for their ultimate object the preservation of the vast, beautiful forest, and the beloved hunting grounds, the return and welcome of war parties and the terrifying and not always harmless treatment of prisoners.
Tradition goes back a century farther, and makes the locality of this city the seat of a still more interesting people, a people who for a time preserved existence by neutrality, while war, which raged with shocking ferocity, effected the extinction of the neighboring tribes.
It will be necessary in these preliminary chapters, in which are traced the occupation and ownership of the territory included in Sandusky county, in order to an understanding of historical events common to a wide range of country, to frequently go beyond the small field of which this volume, by its title, professes to treat. At the risk of being tedious, we begin with the primitive events of Western history.
Nothing is known of the aboriginal oc- cupation of Ohio previous to 1650, and
9
10
HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
many statements of events during the succeeding century rest upon traditional authority. At the opening of the historical era, the territory now constituting the State was a forest wilderness, inhabited mainly by the powerful but doomed Eries. Most of their villages were located along the south shore of the Lake which bears their name. Good Indian authority supports the theory that one of the strongholds of the tribe was the archipelago lying north of Sandusky Bay .* Brant, the distinguished Mohawk chief, speaks of them as a powerful nation. But the doors of extermination awaited them.
The Indians of Northeastern North America have been classed in two generic divisions, the Iroquois and the Algonquin. The Iroquois family, consisting of the Wyandots, Eries, Andastes and the five Confederate tribes, were confined to the region south of Lakes Erie and Ontario and the peninsula east of Lake Huron. They formed as it were an island in the vast expanse of Algonquin population extending from Hudson's Bay on the north to the Carolinas on the south ; from the Atlantic on the east to the Mississippi on the west. The Delawares were the leading tribe, and, according to tradition, the parent stem of the Algonquins The Wyandots lived on the eastern shore of Lake Huron and were in consequence named by the early French explorers, "Hurons." The western tribes of the Iroquois family were more powerful than the eastern until the great Confederacy of Five Nations, afterwards Six by the addition of the Tuscarawas, was formed early in the seventeenth century. The Six Nations had the rude elements of a confederated republic, and were the only power in this part of the continent, deserving the
name of Government .* About the middle of the seventeenth century began a war which desolated the western forest of its inhabitants and changed the whole face of aboriginal geography. The confederated tribes, grown arrogant by fifty years of power, made war upon their western neighbors. The country of the Wyandots was first invaded. This war had already commenced where Champlain entered the St. Lawrence, and that enterprising officer accompanied one of the hostile parties against their enemies. The Wyandots suffered disastrously in that war. Driven from their ancient home, they were pursued by the victorious Iroquois to the northern shores of Lake Huron. Distance was no security against the relentless fury of their foes, who were encouraged by victory and maddened by resistance. Famine and disease assisted war's devastation. The account of the suffering, told by missionaries, who witnessed and shared their fate, excites our pity. Driven from their hiding places, they fled farther westward until at last a feeble remnant found protection in the dominion of the Sioux. This helpless remnant of the most proud and haughty of the Indian tribes in little more than a century, again became the most powerful of the Indian nations.
During this fearful war the Eries remained neutral, or, rather, were at the head of a confederation of neutral tribes, whose dominion extended into Canada, and was crossed by the Iroquois confederacy in their campaign against the Wyandots. $ The proud Iroquois next began that cruel war which resulted in the extinction of the whole Neutral Nation. The Canada tribe fell first, and then the Eries of Ohio became victims of savage butchery. Using their canoes as scaling ladders,
*Schoolcraft.
+Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac.
*James Albach's Annals. +North American Review, 1827. $Schoolcraft.
11
HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
the warriors of the eastern confederacy stormed the Erie strongholds, leaped down like tigers upon the defenders, and murdered them without mercy. This general massacre was carried to the entire extinction of the powerful nation which once held dominion over the whole southern shore of Lake Erie. The Andastes next perished. The date of this event is placed, upon good authority, at 1672. About the same time the Shawnees were driven from their ancient home far into the South. The proud Iroquois now pretentiously claimed to be the conquerors of the whole country from sea to sea, and indeed they may have been masters of the vast expanse between the lakes and the Ohio as far west as the Mississippi. The Miamis, however, have no tradition of ever having suffered defeat. Well accredited Indian writers think, therefore, that the Miami River was the western boundary of the Iroquois Conquest.
The territory now embraced in the State of Ohio, in consequence of this fatal war, became a land sparsely inhabited. The upper Ohio Valley was without human habitation when explored by the early French navigators. The western post of the Six Nations on the lake was a Seneca village on the Sandusky River, at the location of the present village bearing the same name.
But in the general narrative an item of local interest has been passed over. General Lewis Cass has preserved the tradition of the Wyandots that, during the long and bloody wars between the eastern and western tribes, there lived upon the Sandusky a neutral tribe of Wyandots called the Neutral Nation. They occupied two villages which were cities of refuge, where those who sought safety never failed to find it. These villages stood near the lower rapids. "During the long and dis- astrous contests which preceded and
followed the arrival of the Europeans, in which the Iroquois contended for victory, and their enemies for existence," says General Cass, "this little band preserved the integrity of their tribe and the sacred character of peacemakers. All who met upon their threshold met as friends, for the ground on which they stood was holy. It was a beautiful institution, a calm and peaceful island, looking out upon the world of waves and tempests." Father Segard says this Neutral Nation was in existence when the French missionaries first reached the Upper Lakes. The details of their history and of their character and privileges are meager and unsatisfactory. "And this," continues General Cass, "is the more to be regretted, as such a sanctuary among the barbarous tribes is not only a singular institution, but altogether at variance with the reckless spirit of cruelty with which their wars are usually prosecuted. The Wyandot tradition represents them as having separated from the parent stock during the bloody wars with their own tribe and the Iroquois, and having fled to the Sandusky River for safety." The tradition runs, that at the lower rapids two forts were erected, one for the Iroquois or Six Nations, the other for their enemies. In these, war parties might find security and hospitality when they entered the country. Tradition does not tell why so unusual a proposition should be made or acceded to. General Cass thinks it probable that superstition lent its aid to the institution, and that it may have been indebted for its origin to the feasts and charms and juggling ceremonies which constituted the religion of the natives. "No other motive was sufficient to restrain the hand of violence and to counteract the threat of vengeance."
Major B. F. Stickney, for many years an Indian Agent in this part of Ohio, said in a lecture delivered in Toledo in 1845:
12
HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
The remains of extensive works of defence are now to be seen near Lower Sandusky. The Wyandots have given me this account of them: At a period of two centuries and a-half ago* all the Indians west of this point were at war with those east. Two walled towns were built near each other and each were inhabited by those of Wyandot origin. They assumed a neutral character and all the Indians at war recognized that character. They might be called two neutral cities. All of the west might enter the western city and all of the east the eastern. The inhabitants of one city might inform those of the other that war parties were there or had been there; but who they were, or whence they came, or anything more must not be mentioned. The war parties might remain there in security, taking their own time for departure. At the western town they suffered warriors to burn their prisoners near it, but the eastern would not. (An old Wyandot informed me that he recollected seeing, when a boy, the remains of a cedar post or stake at which they used to burn prisoners). The French historians tell us that when they first came here these neutral cities were inhabited and their neutral character preserved. At length a quarrel arose between these two cities and one destroyed the inhabitants of the other. This put an end to neutrality.
These traditions, handed down along the generations for nearly two centuries, are probably inaccurate in detail, but the general fact of the existence of two such cities, located near the headwaters of navigation on the Sandusky River, is entitled to as much consideration as any other fact of early Indian history. In view of the general historical events of the period the tradition is reasonable. A fierce and relentless attack was made upon the Wyandot Nation by the Confederated Iroquois. In the bloody contest which followed, the Wyandots were defeated and driven from their native soil. While the body of the defeated nation sought refuge in the high latitudes above Lake Huron, it is not improbable that a tribe or company crossed Lake Erie towards the south, found their way into Sandusky Bay and thence ascended the river to where rapids and shallow water prevented further progress. Here, at the head of navigation,
would be a natural place to settle, and ex- perience would dictate the propriety of building works of defence. Experience, too, would dictate the propriety of neutrality, when the Eries, among whom they had settled, were compelled, at a later period, to take up the weapons of war in defence of their country. These refugee Wyandots, if we suppose the tradition to be true, had seen the Neutral Nation of the northern side of the lake escape the cruel invaders, on account of neutrality. A similar policy of neutrality shielded them during the equally savage contest which resulted in the extinction of the Eries. History and tradition authorize the belief that a neutral tribe once dwelt near the present city of Fremont, and also that they were destroyed; either in an internal dissension or by the hand of the invading warriors of the Iroquois Confederacy. Gist found, in 1750, on White-woman creek, a Wyandot village containing about one hundred families, named "Muskingum." This is supposed to have been an isolated govern- ment. There can be no doubt but that the Wyandot Nation was greatly scattered by the general war of 1655.
We have now given the most trustworthy information, so far as our knowledge of aboriginal history goes, of the Indian occupation of the region in which Sandusky county is included, prior to the period which historians have termed the second Indian occupation of Ohio. Previous to 1650, nothing is known. The succeeding century may be called the first period of Indian history. At the opening of this period the Eries were un- doubtedly masters of the Sandusky River region. Accepting tradition as authority, a detached band of refugee Wyandots established themselves at the lower rapids, and probably became masters of the soil. Then followed the conquest of the Six Nations, and a half century of quiet, per-
*This tradition places the time too early by more than half a century.
13
HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.
haps undisturbed, preceded the second Wyandot occupation.
The first authentic and accurate knowl- edge of Ohio Indians may be said to have had its beginning about 1750. About that time French and English traders sought out the denizens of the Ohio forests, and from their accounts some knowledge of the strength and character of the Indian tribes and their location, can be gleaned. The most trustworthy and valuable accounts are to be found in the narrative of the captivity of Colonel James Smith, who, as a prisoner, tramped the forest from the lakes to the river, having been a captive from 1755 to 1759, and in the reports made in 1764 by Colonel Boquet, as the result of his observations while making a military expedition west of the Ohio.
According to Boquet's report, the prin- cipal Indian tribes in Ohio about the middle of the last century were the Wyandots, the Delawares, the Shawnees, the Mingos, the Chippewas and the Tawas (or Ottawas). The Delawares occupied the valleys of the Muskingum and Tuscarawas; the Shawnees, the Scioto Valley; the Miamis, the valleys of the two rivers which bear their name; the Wyandots occupied the country about the Sandusky River; the Ottawas were located on the valleys of the Sandusky and Maumee, or Miami of the Lake; the Chippewas in- habited the south shore of Lake Erie; and the Mingos, an offshoot of the six Nations, were in greatest strength on the Ohio, below the present city of Steubenville. All the tribes, however, frequented the country outside their ascribed limits of territory, and at different periods, from the time when the first definite knowledge concerning them was obtained, down to the era of white settlement, occupied different locations. Thus the Delawares, whom Boquet found in 1764 in greatest numbers
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