USA > Ohio > Fulton County > A standard history of Fulton County, Ohio, an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and county, Vol. I > Part 27
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Joel Brigham was one of the strong personalities among the strong
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men who were early residents of Waueson. He came to Clinton Town- ship in 1853, and to Wauseon in 1859. He was for some years a justice of the peace, was mayor of Wauseon twice, and for two terms was county commissioner. For over thirty years he was a trustee of the Wauseon Cemetery, serving in that capacity almost until his death, in 1908, at the age of ninety years.
WAUSEON CEMETERY.
Joel Brigham was one of the founders of the Wauseon Cemetery. Nathaniel Leggett, one of the proprietors of Wauscon, died on Feb- ruary 24, 1862, and "on the day after his death James Cornell, Anson Huntington, and Joel Brigham started out to locate a suitable place for a cemetery. After looking at several places, they finally decided to locate on the present site. At that time, the land was covered with
CENTRE MOUND, WAUSEON CEMETERY.
heavy timber. Mr. Leggett was buried on February 26, 1862, and thus was the first person buried in this cemetery."
On March 13, 1865, the following named citizens of Wauseon formed themselves into a cemetery association, under the name of the Wauseon Cemetery Association : E. F. Greenough, W. C. Williams, James Cornell, N. W. Jewell, John Newcomer, E. L. Barber, Geo. S. Clement, L. B. Smith, Naaman Merrill, John Spillane, Anson Hunt- ington. J. Q. Riddle, Joel Brigham, D. W. Hollister, Isaac Springer, F. J. Harper, M. D. Munn, Milo Porter, Jas. M. Gillett, R. A. Franks, D. O. Livermore, Jas. K. Newcomer, A. J. Knapp, M. E. Blizzard, Benj. Miller, Joseph Domitio, Geo. Woodward, A. C. Hough, Alanson Pike, Rollin Ford, A. Bridge, H. H. Beach.
A week later, in the office of E. F. Greenough, who presided, a meeting was held to pass by-laws; and at that meeting an assessment of ten dollars was made on each member. On April 6, 1865, Rollin Ford was chosen secretary, pro. tem., and by ballot the following were elected officers of the association: Isaac Springer, A. J. Knapp and
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James M. Gillett, trustees ; E. L. Barber, treasurer; Naaman Merrill, clerk. A year later, Joel Brigham became trustee, vice James M. Gillett.
On April 26, 1866, by unanimous consent, it was agreed that the original members of the association, "those who had borne the burden and heat of the day," should each be entitled to a lot in the cemetery at its appraised value, and that they should be entitled to make the first selection, the order of choice to be determined by the drawing of lots. Lots were drawn in the office of Mr. Greenough, and the first choice fell upon George S. Clement. On that day, the appraisement of lots was reduced, so that their value stood at $5.00, $8.00, $12.00, $15.00, $20.00 and $25.00, and the original members made selections, in the order in which their names were drawn.
A sale of lots by auction was held on April 30, 1866, but, the record states: "The attendance was very small. The people, who should be interested in fitting up and preparing their final resting place, seem to be so taken up with the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things, that they can pay no attention to things of greater moment."
On May 4, 1866, James K. Newcomer filed receipt of E. L. Bar- ber, No. 1, amounting to $24.00, for payment in full of lots 10 and 11, in block K, the $10.00 advanced being refunded.
On May 8, 1866, the trustees bought from Alanson Pike, the lot of land lying south of the cemetery, between the cemetery and the rail- road, two acres in extent, for $225, payable, partly, by nine months note. And evidently this purchase had some connection with the note executed on September 5, 1866, by the trustees, for $220, in favor of Abraham Hogeboom, who loaned that sum of money "to replenish the treasury" of the association. The association was however still in finan- cial difficulties on April 5, 1867, when a meeting was held in the office of E. F. Greenough "for the purpose of taking into considera- tion ways and means for improving the cemetery grounds, and liqui- dating the debt accruing in the purchase of land." Joel Brigham and M. D. Munn were appointed a committee "to advise with the town- ship trustees and village council, as to taking control of the cemetery." On April 12, 1867, it was resolved: "That the trustees of the Wau- seon Cemetery Association transfer the control of the Association. . . to the trustees of Clinton Township, and the incorporated village of Wauseon, conjointly."
So, it happened that the Wauseon Cemetery passed into the con- trol, conjointly, of Clinton Township, and the village of Wauseon, on April 27, 1865, the council and trustees agreeing to assume the debts against the association, "not to exceed $780." The lands conveyed were nine and one-half acres, "being the same land conveyed by E. L. Barber, trustee, and Sophia H. Barber, by deed, 19th December, 1865, to Isaac Springer, A. J. Knapp, and Joel Brigham, trustees of the Wauseon Cemetery Association; and also the land conveyed by Alanson Pike, by deed dated May 8, 1866, to the said and named trustees."
The care of the cemetery by the council and township officials since that year has been praiseworthy and thorough. Wauscon now has as well-kept a burial ground as there is, probably, in northwestern
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Ohio. And its financial status is sound. Clinton Township trustees also have guardianship of the Bayes Cemetery.
THE SCHOOLS
Rufus Briggs writing in 1903 to the "Fulton County Tribune," stated that a school was in operation in Clinton Township, as early as 1838. He wrote: "The first school was taught by Erastus Briggs (his father) in the winter of 1838, in the log house previously oeeupied by Elisha Williams. The house was occupied about two or three weeks, when it burned down, and destroyed all the books, which was a great loss."
The same writer, in another artiele, stated that the log schoolhouse was situated on the north line, southeast quarter of section 25, and that nineteen children attended the first brief session, namely : John H., J. M., L. B., T. R., and Laura Williams; Cyrus, Calvin, and Hannah Coy; William, Rufus, and Lueia Huntington; Cornelia, Luther, and Waitman Lamb; Chester, Catherine, Rufus, Marie, and Roena Briggs. The burning of the schoolhouse ended the schooling for that year.
The next school was taught by Miss Cornelia Ives, in 1839. For the purpose a room in the log house of Erastus Briggs was used. Miss Ives taught for a session of two months, for one dollar a week.
In the winter of 1839-40, a school was conducted by Mr. West, at West Barre. Regarding this school, Charles W. Cornell, of Wau- seon, recently wrote: "The first school I attended was in 1839, over on the ridge, at West Barre, then in Henry county, as the line between Lucas and Henry counties was there at that time. ..... My first school teacher was J. C. West, a Baptist preacher from Defiance. He re- ceived $15 a month, and his board, for his services. We wanted the county to aid us in meeting the expense of condueting our school, so the next year we moved the schoolhouse across the road into York Township, and hired Mr. West again ...... Again our application for financial relief was filed, . .... and again we met disappointment, the land agents refusing to give aid, as there were only three families in York Township."
In 1839, according to Rufus Briggs, "a log schoolhouse was built on the southeast quarter of section 15, known as the Losure, or Ted- row distriet." Lorenzo Bennett was the first teacher in that school, and he was paid a salary of $10, a month. The pupils were C. H. Losure, and five children of the Tedrow family, Rachel, Catherine, Jeremiah, Isaiah and William. That school "was not used long" stated Thomas Mikesell.
In the winter of 1840, sehool was held in a log cabin erected on February 21st of that year on the east line of the Elisha Williams Farm. Joseph Jewell was the teacher for the winter term, 1840-41, and was paid a monthly salary of fourteen dollars. In 1844-45, Gil- bert Clark taught school in the Williams District for sixteen dollars a month, and boarded himself out of that stipend. In 1846, G. S. Barnes was the teacher. He was paid thirteen dollars a month, and was boarded by patrons of the school. Thomas W. Williams succeeded him as teacher, receiving eleven dollars a month. Miss Taft, and Michael Handy were the teachers during the next four years, the former receiving $1.50 a week, and Michael Handy $13.00 a month.
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Thomas Mikesell's "History of Fulton County" (1905) refers to a schoolhouse built, in 1840, in the centre of section 14, stating that it had a chimney of brick, made by John Tigert, and in a later news- paper article, the same authority affirmed that "Long Bill" Jones taught in that school in 1840, adding that other later teachers thereat were Ben Bulger, William Fraker, Gamaliel Barnes, Betty Fleming, Elizabeth Cole, and Mrs. Amanda Pease.
"Charley" Cornell, writing regarding early schools some years ago, gave out the information that: "In 1841 ...... the first schoolhouse was built in Clinton Township. It was erected on the east side of section 26. It was built of logs, cut out of the wood which surrounded the building. The windows were covered with paper, to let in the light, and keep out the cold, as we had no glass. The seats were puncheon, with legs driven in, while the desks were rough boards fas- tened to the wall. . . It was a rough crude affair, but it was the best that those pioneers could do. It was in that building and district that the public system was started in Clinton Township. A school organization was perfected, and the distriet received aid from the gov- ernment."
The earlier schools therefore must have been maintained by family subscription, although there is evidence that at least one other school district, the Tedrow District, received a money grant, for school pur- poses, out of Lucas county funds in that year. Cornell further stated : "The first teacher to hold school in that schoolhouse ...... was Michael Handy, then a young man who had come from Detroit, and was form- erly of New York. The first lady teacher ...... was Mary Clough. Jo- seph Jewell taught in the school in its second year, and children came from a distance of six or seven miles to attend the school. Winter terms were all we had in those days, as everyone who was large enough to work had to help clear the forests and care for the crops. Arith- metic, reading, writing, geography, and a little grammar, was all that was taught. The contrast in the methods of teaching, and the text books used in those days, is no greater than between the log school- house, with its puncheon seats, rough board desks, the open fireplace, and the teacher with his water beech birch and ...... published rules, any refraction of which meant the use of the birch, and the modern schoolhouse, with all the latest improvements,. . . Out of those pio- neer schools grew strong fearless men, with a big vision. . . who laid the foundation of our present development and prosperity."
Charles W. Cornell, who in the early '50s was himself a teacher in Fulton county, and later became a Civil war veteran, was a worthy product of the pioneer school of Clinton Township. For almost four years he served his country, and his colonel wrote of him: "He was always conspicuous for his splendid courage, and great gallantry, on every field." And many others of the hundreds of sturdy young pa- triots who rallied to the Union, from Fulton county in 1861-65, passed their school years in the spartan environment of the pioneer school.
A creditable review of the history of Wauseon schools was written in 1910, by H. B. Sohn, and much of what follows is taken from that review. It appears that: "there was no school in Wauseon until the fall of 1854, when a temporary school was held in the carpenter shop of George Beal, on South Fulton street, now occupied by the Tribune Office, and then known as lot No. 3 of the newly incorporated village.
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Miss Lidea Gorsuch, who later became Mrs. James Hogeboom, taught the winter term of this school, and Mrs. Zerada Leggett Waldron, taught the summer term. Provision for a public school was made im- inediately following the incorporation of the village, and one of the incorporators, Epaphras L. Barber, set aside ground on the northeast corner of Clinton and Elm streets, to be used exclusively for school pur- poses. The first schoolhouse was erected on the site in 1856, and was the plain two-story frame building, with its lower and upper room, so popularly known as the Old White School ( Little White Schoolhouse). This first schoolhouse was built by Ben Hogeboom, father of James and Abe Hogeboom."
It will be interesting here to give an extract from a reminiscent article written about fifteen years ago by James Hogeboom. The ex- tract begins: "It was in the spring of 1855 when father moved his family to Wauseon; and what a wilderness it was then ...... After being here a few months, I became disgusted with the whole country, and I told father that if he wanted to stay in this mudhole, to be eaten alive by the mosquitoes, or die of ague, he should stay, but that I was going out of the place. Father was a carpenter, and I had always worked with him at his trade. It was along about this time that he was awarded the contract for building the 'Little White School House,' where for half a century, or more, the babes of this little city first learned to read and write. Father wanted me to stay and help him with the building, which I did.
"The logs from which the lumber for this little schoolhouse was sawed were ent from the school lot, or from the streets of the village. Thomas Bayes had built a sawmill, and was ready to install the ma- chinery when he sold it to William Meeks and Thomas Frazier. We hired Dora Swan to haul the logs to this mill, where they were sawed for the building. it being the first sawing done in Wauseon. On April 5, 1856, everything was ready and the 'Little White School- Honse' was raised. It was completed and ready for school that fall, father receiving $1,100 for it. having furnished everything, includ- ing seats. In the winter of 1856-57. John Deming and Miss Com- stock taught school in this new building, being the first teachers."
Quoting again from Sohn's "Souvenir History of the Wauseon Public Schools," it appears that:
"Wauseon grew very rapidly during the first few years of its settle- ment, and it was only a little while after the erection of the Whitc School that more school room was needed. Accordingly, a small one- story brick schoolhouse was built on the north side of West Chest- nut street, the property still standing as a residence. Children from the south end of the village attended this school, which was used for the primary grades, but this second schoolhouse was not long used, for in 1868, a special school district having been created, of which Wanseon was the larger part, there was erected on the northwest corner of Elm and Monroe streets the plain three-story brick building that, a few years ago, was remodeled for use as a county hospital. The con- tract for the building was given to J. Q. Riddle for $15,000, and he employed to build it a man by the name of J. N. Cutshaw. The build- ing had to be condemned twenty-six years later, and for several years before that time was in a deplorable condition.
"When the Rev. Solomon Metzler, and his associates asked the
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assistance of the municipality in the erection and maintenance of a normal school building, certain local residents protested . ..... Rev. Mr. Metzler insisted ...... (and) ...... the people of the town voted a bond issue for the erection of a normal school building, and house for boarding of out-of-town students. Local residents furnished money for the sites. A modern three-story brick and stone building was built for the school, between East Elm and Beech streets, costing two-thirds as much as our present high school building. From the opening of the normal school in 1888, until shortly before its discontinuance, the high school students attended classes there, the old brick school being used entirely for pupils of the grammar and intermediate grades. When the Normal was discontinued ...... the lease was to revert to the muni- cipality. However. some of the teachers, claiming they had lost money
THE OLD NORMAL SCHOOL BUILDING, WAUSEON, NOW USED FOR PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
in the enterprise, tried to prevent the village authorities from taking possession of the building ...... In the meantime, the high school was accommodated in the city hall. Matters were brought to a crisis in the winter of 1893-94 by the cracking of the walls of the old brick schoolhouse, due to the action of the quicksand beneath its founda- tion ...... The village immediately took possession of the normal school building for the use of the intermediate and grammar grades, the high school students waiting until the following fall, to permit part of the building to be altered. This building was the home of all the grades, with the exception of the primary, until the spring of 1908, when the new high school building was completed. The latter structure, a modern, two-story building, of red pressed brick and stone, was erected at a cost of $35,000, in 1907-08, and today is regarded by school authorities throughout Ohio, as one of the best of its size to be
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found anywhere. Besides providing an assembly hall, class and lab- oratory rooms ample for a high school of 250 students, it houses the first two primary grades, and in the basement has a gymnasium for the use of the students.
Linked inseparably with the history of Wauseon sehools are the teachers ...... Among the very earliest were Mrs. Hannah Comstock Tubbs, the first teacher in the White School, in the fall of 1856, John Spillane, a strict disciplinarian, Mrs. Mary Huntington Hunt, Mrs. Ella Jewell Tubbs, Miss Deming, Mrs. Libbie Lyon, and Mrs. Nellie Bick- ford. The latter taught in the schools of the county for twenty-six years (Mrs. Libbie Durgin Lyon taught also for many years, and for many years was a member of the Board of Education) .. Mrs. Augustus Wood was another pioneer teacher ...... Mrs. Wood organized the town's first kindergarten class. Another 'seleet' sehool of early days was for students of higher branches, conducted by
1
THE "LITTLE WHITE SCHOOL HOUSE," WHEREIN MRS. ADDIE DEMERRIT "REIGNED AS MOTHER-QUEEN AND TEACHER" FOR THIRTY-TWO YEARS.
J. O. Allen, who in 1860, or 1861, had taught the upper room in the old White Sehool. Mr. Allen's select school was situated in the old Mikesell Building, a three-story briek structure that occupied the site of the Cochrane Building, on Elm and Fulton streets. Others of the earliest teachers of the grades below the high school were Mrs. W. C. Kelley, Martha Jordan Moore, Mrs. Clay, Sarah A. John- son, Hattie Herbert, Miss Allen, Mrs. Ellen Spring Anderson, Mrs. Minnie Waid Darby, Mrs. Anna Fleet Miller, Mrs. Anna Butler Brinkman, Miss E. R. Lyon, Lottie Abbott, Mrs. Alice Powers Smith and her sister Mrs. Buell, Mrs. Amanda Jones Clark, Mrs. Clara Wil- liams Browning, and Mrs. Emma Brigham Taft ...... The record for long service is held by Mrs. Addie DeMeritt, who, when she retired in 1909, had taught thirty-three years. Almost as remarkable is the record of Mrs. Phoebe Riddle, long teacher of the sixth grade, who taught practically a quarter of a century."
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY 237
Regarding the almost life-long service of Mrs. DeMeritt, as school teacher, the following was written shortly after she died in 1919:
"It has fallen to the lot of few people to exert a greater influence upon the lives of the children of Wauseon and vicinity than that of Mrs. DeMerritt. For thirty-two years she taught the second-grade pu- pils of our public schools. It was in the 'Little White School House' where she reigned as the mother queen and teacher of those American jewels ...... As the message of her death passed from one to another, frequent was the expression heard: 'She was one of my first teachers, and I will ever remember her for the kindness and patience shown me, and for the inspiration of the nobler and better things in life I gained from her.' No finer tribute could be paid to the worth of any life than this."
Continuing, from Mr. Sohn's article :
"The very first of these teachers (high school), who presided over the upper room of the 'Old White School,' teaching grammar as well as high school branches, was John Deming, who taught here in the late '50s. About 1860, or 1861, J. O. Allen was the teacher, and in 1861 a man by the name of Delano, from Cleveland, took charge . During war times, there were the two Watterson brothers, one succeeding the other ...... In 1865 D. L. Hinckley was principal, and was succeeded that year by the most distinguished of all our high school teachers, at least in name-Marquis de Lafayette Buell -- who held the position for two years. Miss Emma Springer was prin- cipal in 1870, another woman principal, Mary A. Curtiss. .. .. suc- ceeding her. . .... The real launching of the high school, on a farm basis probably came in 1875. On July 4th of that year, the board of education, meeting in the office of President Albert Deyo, took under contract, as superintendent, a youth fresh from Marietta Col- lege ...... This ...... teacher was J. E. Sater, now United States dis- trict judge at Columbus. Remaining here until the early '80s, Mr. Sa- ter put the school on a higher grade than it had ever been before .. .... Hc also organized the high school Alumni Association ....
But Mr. Sater was ambitious to become a lawyer, and studied for the profession while yet in Wauseon. Soon after Mr. Sater, came a super- intendent by the name of Job H. Scott ...... Then came A. G. Crouse, one of the most popular teachers Wauseon has ever had. But he was too able to remain long in Wauseon, leaving in 1885. His successor was W. S. Kennedy."
Professor C. J. Biery was superintendent for more than a decade, and a very capable onc. In 1914, when, under the new school laws, all the schools of the county passed under the direct control of the county board of education, he was appointed county school superin- tendent, resigning that office a year later, to accept a professorship at the State Normal College, Bowling Green, Ohio. As principal of Wauseon High School, he was succeeded by M. L. Altstetter, who in 1919 asked for an extended leave of absence, his place being taken by P. S. Johnson, the present principal.
Extensive review cannot here be given to the history of the town- ship schools. In 1888, there were twelve school districts in Clinton Township, in addition to the Wauseon district, and a special joint district at Pettisville, that schoolhouse being located in Clinton Town- ship, but many of its pupils being from German Township. And
,
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at that time all districts were provided with substantial well-built structures.
The Clinton Township schools of the present (1920) consist of nine one-room elementary distriet schools, the aggregate value of which is $8,700. In 1919 the enrollment was 307. In addition there are the Wauseon schools, elementary and high, valued at $78,100, and serving 442 pupils in elementary grades, and 218 in high. Pettis- ville is a separate rural district, the two-room schoolhouse there being of second grade consolidated elass. It is valued at $3,530, and 63 seholars were enrolled for the 1919 sessions.
The boards of education of the three Clinton Township sehool dis- triets are: Wauseon district; Dr. E. G. Cole, president; G. Seott Roos, elerk, P. M. Clingaman, A. M. Barber, and Carl F. Orth; Pettisville Special distriet : W. J. Weber, president; Geo. McGuffin, elerk; A. J. Lantz, F. D. Lehman, and Adam Britseh; Clinton Township distriet: C. R. Shadle, president; J. F. Dimke, elerk ; O. E. Meller, J. E. Crew, J. C. Barckert, and John Gorsuch.
WAUSEON CHURCHES
The founding of Wauseon churches was prefaced, of course, by religious activities in Clinton Township many years before Wauseon came into existence, its members being, in great measure, drawn from those pioneer church societies of the township. The Rev. Uriel Spen- cer, an ordained Methodist minister was probably the first to hold religious services in Clinton Township. He preached in the log cabin of Elisha Huntington in October, 1836, and later in other eabins in the settlement. And a class of the Disciples, or Campbellite, church was organized early, and meetings held in Elisha Williams' cabin, or in the eabin used for school purposes in the Williams district. Other denominations formed societies in the settlement soon after the pioneers eame in sufficient numbers. In 1840, or 1841, the Rev. J. C. West, a Baptist minister from Defiance, taught school at West Barre, and held what might be termed a religious revival at that place, using the school house for his meetings. "Quite a number of persons were converted and baptized in Turkey Foot Creek, near the home of a Mr. Wise." It is somewhat difficult to determine which denomination was the first to actually build a house set apart exclusively for church purposes. One authority states that "the first church of any denomi- nation was erected at Pettisville, by the Baptist Society; another af- firms that "the first church, or house of publie worship, built in Clin- ton Township was erected by the Campbellites, or Disciples of Christ, on the east side of a public highway, in seetion. 17, near the present residence of A. R. Loveland. It was a frame building, and was erected about 1852."
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