USA > Ohio > Allen County > A standard history of Allen county, Ohio : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development > Part 24
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The glaciers have exercised the greatest influence in determining the flow of the water and the direction of the streams. Although the entire basin at one time may have drained into Lake Erie, with the onward movement of the glaciers the outlet in this direction was obstructed. It then became necessary for the water to seek an outlet in another direction and so the streams which flow to the southwest were formed. At one time a great lake covered the central portion of this region. It is known to geologists as Maumee Glacial Lake, which was crescent in shape, and lay between the Defiance Moraine and the St. Joseph- St. Marys Moraine. It drained through the Tymochtee gap into the Scioto River, and through the Wabash. Another of these glacial lakes known as Whittlesey was found between Defiance Moraine and Lake Erie, and was really a later stage of the water. The numerous sand ridges which are found running across Northwestern Ohio in differ- ent directions were the successive shores of Lake Erie as it gradu- ally receded to its present dimensions. Near Fort Wayne there is a broad channel, easily distinguished, which formerly connected the Wabash River and the Maumee, through which the pent-up waters found its outlet to the Gulf of Mexico. As the lake level declined the waters of the rivers St. Joseph and St. Marys followed the receding lake, thus organizing and forming the Maumee River. The Defiance Moraine became for a long time the shore of the glacial lake. "Much of the shore line can now be seen with more or less distinctness at or near the following places: Beginning at Ayersville, five miles south- west of Defiance, and extending northward along the convex west side of the Defiance Moraine to Archbold, the most northerly point; thence irregularly in a general southwesterly course along the slope east of Bryan and of Hicksville to Antwerp, whence it turns southeast to Scott and near Delphos, thence again in a curving and northeasterly course."
The initial appearance of man upon the stage of life in Ohio has been a matter of much speculation. There have been many speculations and theories advanced regarding the length of time that man has existed. Many evidences of prehistoric man are found in Ohio. The oldest of these have been discovered in Southern Ohio, for during a long period it was impossible for the human race to live north of the upper lake ridge, which passes through Bellevue, Tiffin, Fostoria, and Van Wert, where the former shore is marked by a sand ridge. At that time the whole region between that ridge and the lake was covered with a body of water estimated to be from 50 to 100 feet in depth. At a later period, as the water level fell, it is quite likely that the races then
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existing followed up the retreating waters and established their tem- porary habitations.
There are remains of a prehistoric population which are evidenced by enclosures and mounds found along the Maumee River. Most of the outlines have now been obliterated, and there is nothing whatever to establish their antiquity. Some rudely shaped knives and other crude tools, together with stone axes, flint arrow heads and rude pottery, have been found, which have evidence of great age, because they have been discovered near the fossil remains of animals known to exist shortly following the glacial period. Although the Maumee Valley was prob- ably never the headquarters of so great a number of early peoples as Southern Ohio, yet it was no doubt a thoroughfare of travel for pre- historic people, and they erected low conical mounds above the bodies of certain of their dead.
The late Dr. Charles E. Slocum, who made an extensive study of the subject, states in his "History of the Maumee River Basin" that there are more than fifty mounds and earthworks in this basin that can probably be classed as the work of prehistoric men. Their situation is on high ground in small groups and widely scattered. Some twenty of these mounds have been located in the Indiana counties of De Kalb and Steuben. The remains of the mastodon have been found there, one of them to a depth of 4 feet in blue clay. In Auglaize County parts of these prehistoric monsters have been discovered, but the most perfect one of all was unearthed a few miles southeast of Wauseon. Several of the mounds have been identified on the south bank of the Maumee, near Antwerp, and one not far from Defiance. This last mentioned mound was about 4 feet above the surrounding land, and about 30 feet in diameter. It was covered with oak trees about 20 inches in diameter. Upon opening the mound, a small quantity of bony frag- ments were found, which readily crumpled between the fingers on being handled. Human teeth of large size were also unearthed. There are two mounds along the Maumee River, just above the City of Toledo. In one of these a pick-shaped amulet was unearthed, which was 18 inches in length. Several have been identified along the Auglaize River, near Defiance. In one mound the decaying bones of eight or ten per- sons in sitting posture were discovered. On the headwaters of Bad Creek, Pike Township, in Fulton County, about ten miles northeast of Wauseon, eleven mounds of small size, arranged in somewhat circular form, have been discovered. Most of these mounds were opened by curiosity seekers. A few human bones, some charcoal and a few indif- ferent articles of flint and slate were unearthed.
Doctor Slocum further states that there are three prehistoric circles and four semi-circles in the Maumee River Basin. One of these, with a diameter of about 200 feet, is in De Kalb County, Indiana, and another near Hamilton, Indiana. This latter is known as the mystic circle, with a diameter of 68 yards, and averages between 3 and 4 feet in height. A third is in a bend of the River St. Joseph, in Allen County, Indiana. Three semi-circles were found along the Lower Maumee River. The first of these was observed between the years 1837 and 1846, and is mentioned in a book published in 1848, which was the first volume of the Smithsonian contributions. This account reads as fol- lows: "This work is situated on the right bank of the Maumee River, two miles above Toledo, in Wood County, Ohio. The water of the river is here deep and still, and of the lake level; the bank is about 35 feet high. Since the work was built, the current has undermined a portion, and parts of the embankment are to be seen on the slips.
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The country for miles in all directions is flat and wet, and is heavily timbered, as is the space in and around this enclosure. The walls, measuring from the bottom of the ditches, are from 3 to 4 feet high. They are not of uniform dimensions throughout their extent; and as there is no ditch elsewhere, it is presumable that the work was aban- doned before it was finished. Nothing can be more plain than that most of the remains in Northern Ohio are military works. There have not yet been found any remnants of the timber in the walls; yet it is very safe to presume that palisades were planted on them, and that wood posts and gates were erected at the passages left in the embankments and ditches. All the positions are contiguous to water; and there is no higher land in their vicinity from which they might in any degree be commanded. Of the works bordering on the shore of Lake Erie, through the State of Ohio, there are none but may have been intended for defense, although in some of them the design is not perfectly mani- fest. They form a line from Conneaut to Toledo, at a distance of from three to five miles from the lake, and all stand upon or near the prin-
* cipal rivers. * * The most natural inference with respect to the northern cordon of work is that they formed a well-occupied line, con- structed either to protect the advance of a nation landing from the lake and moving southward for conquest; or a line of resistance for people inhabiting these shores and pressed upon by their southern neighbors." None of the discoveries yet made convey to us any definite information concerning the early dwellers in the Maumee country. Practically every- thing is left to conjecture. It is barely possible that discoveries will yet be made that will shed light upon this subject which is still so obscure.
CHAPTER XIV IN THE LAP OF A CENTURY
Swift as a weaver's shuttle, time hastens into eternity. Father Time turns the hour-glass once again and the world looks backward over the pages of history.
Facts are not to be juggled with, although one may imagine vain things. It is an easy matter to be longer on prophesy than history. On February 13. 1920. Old Father Time opened up a fresh, clean page in his Allen County Book of Remembrance on which local citizenry may write its history. It was the dawn of a new century in the annals of the community-the birth of a new civilization.
The people of Allen County are today standing in the doorway of their second century in local history. In the story of creation the higher critics of the Bible have discovered evidence that more than one writer detailed the history. At this point the discerning reader will note a change in the style of the narrative, since it is impossible for one writer to so cloak his identity as to allow the unbroken chain of thought, and in the outset it seems necessary to repeat something already written by another. The story of the occupation of Allen County hinges definitely upon Governor Arthur St. Clair, Gen. Anthony Wayne and James W. Riley, all of whom have been introduced in earlier chapters.
While it is only a coincidence, this centennial year in Allen County history marks the tercentenary of the coming of the Pilgrim Fathers to Plymouth Rock, which was the real beginning of civilization in the New World. The real aggressive American spirit was brought to these shores December 21, 1620, by the passengers abroad the Mayflower. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge was the orator of the day at the Tercen- tenary, while Daniel Webster had performed similar service there 100 years earlier.
In 1820 Webster prophesied that in 1920 there would be nationwide communication, and Governor Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts, vice- president-elect of the United States, sat in the rush-bottomed chair of Pilgrim Governor Carver and talked by telephone across the continent with the governor of California-the incident a feature in the Pilgrim Tercentenary celebration. Daniel Webster said that 100 years later the people would honor the memory of the Pilgrims in reviewing the history of the United States. His words on the two-hundredth anniversary were: "On the morning of that day, although it will not disturb us in our repose, the voice of acclamation and gratitude commencing on the Rock of Plymouth shall be transmitted through millions of the songs of the Pilgrims until it loses itself in the murmurs of the Pacific seas," and the quotation from Webster was embodied in the address of Sen- ator Lodge 100 years later.
On the day of the celebration the long distance telephone connec- tion was established at 12:45 o'clock and Senator Lodge paused while Governor Coolidge said to Governor Stephens: "Massachusetts and Plymouth Rock greet California and the Golden Gate that the sons of the Pilgrims, according to prophecy, send to you the voice that is to be lost in the roar of the Pacific," and today the transcontinental journey does not take into the account the element of distance. Mrs. Felicia
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SUPERIOR
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LAKE MICHIGAN
LAKE HURONS
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AKE ERIE
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OR MIA!
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MAP OF NORTHWEST TERRITORY
MISSISSIPPI
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Dorothy Hemans, in her poem "The Landing of the Pilgrims" raises the question :
"What sought they thus afar ? Bright jewels of the mine? The wealth of peace, the spoil of war?"
and she answers it:
"They sought a faith's pure shrine."
The nation thus founded has always maintained its faith when dealing with other nations. While the battles of the world are with ballots rather than with bullets, it was the use of bullets that rendered the ballots a possibility. In 1775 the American Colonists revolted and in 1776 they objected to having their affairs directed longer from a political capital across the seas, and the men who wrote the Declaration of Independence simply anticipated the great Lincoln (who said the United States could not exist half slave and half free) when they broke with England and established a government of the people, for the people and by the people of the United States of America. The Colonists, under the leadership of George Washington, sought both political and industrial independence-created their own living condi- tions.
In almost every community in the Middle West and the whole United States there are families who have manifest pride in their direct lineal descent from some passenger aboard the Mayflower. In this ter- centenary period even gravestones have been tampered with in an ffort to establish Mayflower identity. The two Congregational churches in Allen County-Lima and Gomer-trace their religious ancestry to the compact to which all Mayflower passengers attached their signatures before disembarking at Plymouth Rock that bleak December day. 300 years ago. "They sought a faith's pure shrine," and thus they estab- lished it before their feet had trod the soil of the western hemisphere. The colonization at Plymouth Rock has always been regarded in the light of tradition because of the character of the literature pertaining to it. In "The Courtship of Miles Standish" Henry Wadsworth Long- fellow faithfully delineates the Pilgrim character. In it he reproduces the social atmosphere of 300 years ago in American history.
While another writer has given the setting of the Northwest Ter- ritory, the fact must be emphasized that the states carved out of it have given character to the whole country. The five little republics carved from it-Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin-were highly favored at the beginning of their existence. By an Act of the Ohio Assembly, February 12, 1820-just 100 years ago A. D. 1920-def- inite provision was made for the organization of a group of Ohio counties lying north of the Greenville treaty line and west of the Con- necticut Reserve boundary. The activities of Anthony Wayne made it a possibility and he has been commemorated in the names of Wayne County and of Fort Wayne. While the Wayne County of today is sep- arated by distance, the group of Ohio counties organized under similar conditions 100 years ago was part of the original Wayne County.
With vision both retrospective and prospective, the Ohio Assembly of 100 years ago evidently had in mind a number of Revolutionary patriots-contemporaries of Anthony Wayne and James W. Riley- when selecting names for these newly created counties. If an historian might only kiss the blarney stone before writing about Allen, Crawford, Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Marion, Mercer, Paulding, Putnam, San- dusky, Seneca, Union, Van Wert Williams and Wood-they had their
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beginning in a splendid setting of patriotism and their happy denoue- ment has been in a burst of glory.
However, since someone has said: "It is only by courtesy that any man may be called an historian," suffice it to quote the sentiment of an Ohio educator who one time said he enjoyed coming into this military group of counties because of the spirit of patriotism he always encoun- tered in it. While none of the Revolutionary soldiers ever lived in the counties thus commemorating them, in this connection it is of interest to review the life and character of the patriot seemingly honored in the name of Allen County. Ethan Allen, of the Revolutionary period, was born in Litchfield, Connecticut. He was a "wooden nutmeg." The time of his life was from 1737 to the beginning of Washington's first presidential administration-the short span of fifty-two years-and thus he never heard of Allen County. However, he lived through the most eventful time in the world's history.
Ethan Allen witnessed the transition of the thirteen original colonies into the United States of America. The pages of history show that he was sometimes the right man in the right place in making United States history. While he was born in Connecticut, the cyclopedias say his years of greatest business activities were spent in Vermont. He located in the disputed territory known as the New Hampshire Land Grants, claimed by both New Hampshire and New York; he was the active leader in restraining invaders from occupying the country. Gov- ernor Tryon of New York declared Ethan Allen an outlaw and offered $150 for his capture. In stopping the encroachments from New York, Allen rallied the Green Mountain Boys and at the beginning of the American Revolution he immediately placed himself upon the altar of his country.
On May 10, 1775, while in command of the Green Mountain Boys, Ethan Allen captured the British garrison at Fort Ticonderoga, Essex County, New York. He was there a year before General Wayne was in command of the garrison. He had everything in readiness for the occupancy of Wayne. When young Allen demanded the surrender of the garrison the British commander, disposed to ward off the evil day, asked, "In whose name?" The young American immortalized himself that day when he coined the words: "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." Since that far-off time the good people of Allen County have accomplished many things in the name of the same Great Jehovah, notwithstanding the possible attitude of the Con- gress of the United States.
Subsequently Ethan Allen served his country under the military leadership of Gen. Philip John Schuyler, finally poining Montgomery's expedition into Canada. On September 25, 1775, he was captured near Montreal; as a prisoner of war he was sent to England and later he returned to Halifax. Three years later he was exchanged in New New York City. When he returned to the army, Ethan Allen was brevet- ted lieutenant general. He was afterward commissioned a brigadier-gen- eral as special recognition from Washington's army because of his valiant service to his country. In 1787, when General Allen returned to private life, he located in Burlington, Vermont, among his own Green Mountain Boys. His life history ended there with the birth of the new republic- the year Gen. George Washington became president of the United States. The Allen County citizen today does well to revere the name and char- acter of General Allen because of his bravery, chivalry and scholarly attainment. In 1779 he published "The Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen's Captivity, a Vindication of the Opposition of the Inhabitants
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of Vermont to the Governor of New York," and five years later he published "Reason the Only Oracle of Man."
Allen County is not only a monument to the memory of Gen. Ethan Allen of the Revolutionary period, but five of his comrades in arms. Wil- liam Chenowith, Simon Cochran, Samuel Lippincott, Elijah Stites and Peter Sunderland had their rendezvous with death and found rest on the bosom of Mother Earth in Allen County. Their lowly mounds of earth are all shrines of patriotism today. The names of Anthony Wayne and of Ethan Allen will shine in undimmed luster on the pages of history through all the ages. Its setting in patriotism should insure the future of Allen County.
On Lincoln's birthday, A. D. 1820, this entire group of counties started on the race course together 100 years ago, came under the wire abreast at the end of its first century run, and while speed regula- tions seldom please anybody, all will admit that time flies and that Allen County has been 100 times around the sun, with Mother Nature busy shaping its future destiny. While the busy world thinks only in terms of today and tomorrow, it is the duty of the conscientious his- torian to sum up all of the yesterdays. While some Allen County folk have passed many of them, what concerns the world is the time between yesterday and tomorrow-today. Between those inconsequential dates -yesterday and tomorrow-is the momentous period of human activity. While one may not accurately forecast tomorrow, there is a paved high- way leading back to yesterday.
It is the mission of this Centennial History of Allen County to tab- ulate and record the events in the first 100 years of local history. The records show that one full century has cycled into eternity since Allen County was placed on the map of the world. However, it was not until April 1, 1820, that formal organization was effected and for judi- cial purposes for eleven years Allen remained attached to Mercer County. In turn, Mercer was attached to Darke County, thus showing the dependent relation existing among the newly organized counties. Since Mercer was the mother, Darke was the grandmother of Allen County. Allen is now separated from Mercer by an arm of Van Wert -a small area that would attach equally advantageously to Allen, Auglaize or Mercer County, and yet it is not lost because Van Wert knows about it. However, were this area confiscated by an adjoining county, its taxpayers are equally distant from Lima, Wapakoneta or Celina.
Only by "the skin of its teeth" is Allen separated from its mother- Mercer County-and yet since June 6, 1831, it has relied entirely upon itself in governmental matters. In eleven more years it will pass its centennial as an organized county. While there has always been some sentiment toward making Allen County, Ohio, and the United States of America two good places for citizenship, the riparian rights along the Ohio constituting the southern boundary or along Lake Erie on the north present no more irregularities than does the boundary of Allen County today. Its area in 1820, when James W. Riley reported the result of his survey, was 543 square miles, but through the juggling of boundaries-playing politics in 1848-the exact measurement was reduced to 405 sections of land amounting to 259,200 acres, but fortunately there is very little waste land in Allen County.
Through the juggling process Defiance, Auglaize and Fulton Coun- ties obtained sufficient area for organization-Defiance in 1845 and Fulton in 1850 but, under the new Constitution of Ohio, there was no more juggling with county boundaries. In 1848 Allen lost Logan,
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Deuchoquette, Union and Wayne townships to Auglaize County. It was a rude fate that removed Fort Amanda with its historic traditions from the bounds of Allen County. However, it is used as an Allen County asset today because the military post located there was in Allen County. The Bible says "Prove all things and hold fast that which is good," and in its traditions Fort Amanda belongs to Allen County. When Auglaize County was formed Allen lost on the south and gained on the west and north, annexing something from Mercer, Van Wert and Putnam counties. Through the juggling process it lost 138 square miles of ter- ritory. When Allen County was organized in 1831, its four townships were Amanda, Bath, Jackson and Scioto; in 1832 there was a German but no Scioto and no explanation is offered about it. In the course of time other townships were organized in Allen County.
While there are only five adjoining counties, Allen is bounded north by Van Wert and Putnam; east by Hancock and Hardin; south by Auglaize and west by Auglaize, Van Wert and Putnam. The greatest length of Allen County is twenty-seven miles; its greatest width is nine- teen miles; in traversing its boundary the pedestrian would travel ninety- two miles; the distance around it is the same as if the country were an exact parallelogram having the regulation four corners; there are four- teen corners, and the pedestrian would grow dizzy turning all of them ; the extreme western three-mile strip is nine miles wide, with a slight ir- regularity ; the second strip of six miles is twelve miles wide; the third strip of six miles is fourteen miles wide; the fourth strip of six miles is eighteen miles wide ; the extreme eastern six-mile strip is nineteen miles wide; there are five varying widths-nine, twelve, fourteen, eighteen and nineteen miles; there are four jogs on the north and three on the south, although only two of them are in conformity. Through the process of juggling there are many irregularities on the boundary of Allen County.
Allen County is so constructed as to split the west wind, and it seems to have weathered the storms of a century with perfect equanimity. "Confusion worse confused," however, describes the mental state of one who studies the many-sided Allen County, and the many-sided people living in it 100 years from the time it was placed on the map of the world. On its different boundaries are families who have always occu- pied one homestead, and yet from the force of circumstances they have found themselves living in an adjoining county. However, Allen County has been enabled to maintain its place in the sun, and its thirteen town- ships are Amanda, American (prior to August 16, 1918, American was German), Auglaize, Bath, Jackson, Marion, Monroe, Ottawa, Perry, Richland, Shawnee, Spencer and Sugar Creek. However Ottawa is coextensive with Lima and its identity is submerged today. Auglaize, Bath, Jackson, Monroe and Perry are congressional, while Marion and Richland have surplus territory. The other six townships all fall short of the thirty-six square miles requirement.
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