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 30
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Michael Handy lived until March, 1886, death coming then quickly, in an apoplectic seizure. He was then seventy-three years old, and had lived a useful public-spirited life. In the last year or two of his life he was nearly blind, yet his cheeriness of disposition remained to the end. He was "a genial kindly man, and an estimable citizen." William C. Kelley died of cancer of the throat, and was buried in Wauseon Cemetery. He came to Wauseon in 1864, and held no public office excepting that of mayor, but he had an extensive law practice. He served as a commissioned officer through part of the Civil War.
James S. Brailey died of apoplexy in 1916, in Toledo. "For over a quarter of a century Mr. Brailey had been active in state and district politics." He was the son of General James S. Brailey. He, James S., Jr., had a splendid Civil War record, and, after he returned to civil life, came to Wauseon, and interested himself in real estate and town planning. He was postmaster of Wauseon at one time, and was three times elected mayor.
Linne M. Murphy was an attorney, and took up residence in Wau- seon in 1880. He saw some service during the Civil War, although at its termination he was not yet sixteen years old. On his mother's side he came from a famous family of Indian fighters, one of whom once, to
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escape from pursuing Indians, is supposed to have leaped on horseback from the summit of a cliff, 150 feet high, on the eastern side of the Ohio River, into the stream below, escaping unharmed.
Eugene Stephenson Blake, who died in 1910, served many terms as mayor, and was one of the leading merchants of the place, partner in the firm of Brigham, Springer and Company, gaining that position by faithful work as a clerk. His was a meritorious life, lived "on a high moral plane."
Fred J. Bollinger was barely twenty-one years old when he was elected mayor of Wauseon. He was very popular, and was the son of the editor-owner of the Democratic Expositor, of Wauseon. He died in Toledo when about thirty-eight years old.
John C. Rorick is another of the capable members of a prominent Fulton county family. He was prominent in state administration ; was senator, and for many years member of the State Board of Equal- ization. At one time he owned the Sherman House of Wauseon, and was a successful inventor.
A SHADY SPOT.
John C. Palmer was the second Democrat to succeed in becoming mayor of Wauscon. He was in business with his father, Myron T. Palmer, a successful contractor, in Wauseon. The latter died in 1903, aged sixty-two years. He was esteemed as a veteran of the Civil War, Myron T. Palmer's war service record covering a longer period than that of any other member of the Losure Post of G. A. R. He held several offices of public trust, and at one time was Chief Deputy for Fulton county of the Deputy State Supervisiors of Elections of Ohio.
Eugene HI. Harrison was a most enterprising merchant of Wauscon. He was born in a log house near Wauseon in 1853, and died in 1913. In addition to one term as mayor, he served for two terms as township treasurer, and three terms as president and secretary of the Board of Public Affairs, and he worked earnestly for the advancement of Wauseon.
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Hon. A. P. Biddle died in 1911. He was an able attorney, and for some years a justice of the peace.
George B. Heise was originally a school teacher, later being admitted to the Fulton county legal bar, and still later entering into mercantile trading in Wauseon.
Before closing the chapter reference must be made to some other prominent and now deceased residents of Wauseon.
Colonel J. H. Brigham, who rose to the distinction of the assistant secretaryship of the United States Department of Agriculture, under President Mckinley, was one of the ablest of Fulton county's sons. He was with the President on the day previous to that upon which Mckinley was assassinated, and both before and after the latter's death, Colonel Brigham was prominent in federal circles. Wauseon shared with Delta the right to claim him as a resident, and he was necessarily much in evidence in Wauseon, the county seat. He served through the Civil War; was sheriff of Fulton county in 1868, and served the county in that office for three terms. He became state senator in 1881. Always at heart a farmer, Colonel Brigham actively entered into the develop- ment of the Grange movement, and for ten years was master of the state grange. In 1888, he was elected master of the national grange, and that position he held until appointed Assistant Secretary of Agriculture by President Mckinley. He died in 1904. In physique, he was a giant, being 6 feet 6 inches in height. His mental calibre was in pro- portion, and his broad shoulders typified his broadness of vision, and stability of purpose.
John Q. Riddle was one of the prominent early merchants, but he went to Cleveland to live in 1884, and there acquired much wealth in business. He died in Cleveland in 1912.
Christ Domitio, for almost fifty years a tailor and clothier in Wau- seon, died in 1912, in Toledo, in which city he had taken up residence four years earlier. He lost heavily when the Bank of Wauseon failed.
Myron Whitehorne was, with his brother J. C., in business in Wau- seon from 1865 almost until his death in 1901. He was an honored Civil War soldier.
George Haumesser was for twenty-five years in business, as a hay and corn and fodder dealer, in Wauseon; was postmaster of the village under President Cleveland, and "became one of the best-liked men of the town." He died in 1916.
Henry Dolf, who died in 1919, lived in Wauseon for more than fifty years, and for thirty years was one of the town's successful busi- ness men. He was in partnership with Frank Haumesser for many years.
Joseph Mattison, for fifty-two years a resident and business man in Wauseon, died in September, 1919. He held a commission in E. L. Hayes' regiment, and after the war came to Wauseon.
Hiram L. Moseley and his wife were separated by death for only eighteen days, both dying in April, 1919, after fifty-one years of resi- dence in Wauseon. Hiram L. Moseley was in business for many years, and took part in administrative affairs of the county also. For twelve years he was a county school examiner; served two terms as county treasurer; and for a while was probate judge. He was an ardent Baptist.
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Daniel Ritzenthaler, who died in 1917, was perhaps one of the best known business men of Wauscon for very many years. For fifty-four years he conducted a shoe store in the village, and for some years was councilman.
Henry Holmes Williams was for fifty years part of the business life of Wauseon. He and his associates gave Wauseon its first electric light system. He was a Civil War veteran, and was an octogenarian in the year of his death, 1918.
Captain William F. Williams, son of Elisha, died in 1914, respected and mourned by many of the older residents of Wauseon, cspecially by his Civil War comrades.
William H. Sohn lived in Wauseon from 1877 until he died in 1916, and during that time was in business. He was a man of ver- satility ; learned the trade of sculptor and monumental mason, in which business he engaged for some years, then entering storc business as a furniture dealer, later he was an undertaker. A useful hobby made of him quite a creditable architect, knowledge of which brought him into leading place in many projected public improvements in Wauseon. His wife, Harriet Brigham Sohn, was also prominent in social and com- munity work in Wauseon, in connection with the many societies to which she belonged.
Clarence E. Brigham, son of Joel, and senior member of the firm of Brigham, Guilford and Company, was city treasurer for some years, and until his death was prominent in fraternal societies. For more than thirty years he was identified with leading business in the county seat.
Albert Deyo had much to do with, and in, Wauseon during his public life; he was clerk of Fulton county from 1872 until 1878; was representative for two terms; and in 1900 came to live in Wauseon. He died in 1912.
Albert S. Bloomer resided in Wauseon for forty-nine years; and after a meritorious war service took much part in civil affairs. He was county recorder for seven years; for sixteen years was a justice of the peace; and for a number of years was village clerk. He died in 1913.
C. E. Guilford, who died in 1906, aged forty-eight years, was active in public as well as in business affairs. He was township clerk for some years; was a member of the Wauseon Board of Education; was postmaster in Wauseon at one time; and lastly, but not least, was elected county treasurer. He "was a man of strong convictions."
J. S. Newcomer, of the pioneer Wauseon family, was for nearly forty years in business in Wauseon, for the greater part of the time as a druggist.
This brief review by no means exhausts the list of worthy residents of Wauseon. Many will have extensive reference in the second volume of this work, while some will be referred to in other chapters. Taken as a whole, the people of Wauseon are of a prosperous, capable, clean- living class; steady and consistent in their general life, and, mostly, earnest church members. Wauseon's future should be bright.
CLINTON TOWNSHIP OFFICIALS
And now, to close the Clinton Township chapter, It is regrettable that the most important of the township official records are not avail-
.
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able. As to the township trustees, it is not possible to give a complete list. Two of the trustees in 1838 were Thomas Bayes and Jonathan Barnes. From that year until 1867 the record is missing, but the trustees in 1867 were Abram Falconer, James Cornell, and Reason Campbell. Another gap of thirteen years must be recorded, but from 1880 until the present the record is complete. Joel Brigham was trustee from 1880 to 1883; Jesse Pocock for the same years; Ebenezer Bradley, in 1880 and 1881; W. W. Pike, in 1882; Allen Shadle, 1884-86; Thomas Miley, 1884-86; Tilden Williams, 1884 to 1890; Eugene S. Blake, 1885 to 1891, also in 1893 and 1896; R. W. Scott, in 1887; S. L. Foncannon, in 1888 to 1892; William H. Campbell, 1891 to 1896; W. C. Barnes, 1892; Isaac Springer, 1894 and 1895; S: B. McLain, 1893 to 1898, and again from 1902 to 1905; G. D. New- comer, 1897 to 1901; M. A. Emmons, 1897 to 1900; Cal Williams, 1899 to 1901; R. H. Dunham, 1901 to 1904; J. F. Campbell, 1902 to 1907; O. L. Smith, 1905 to 1911; R. W. Scott, 1906 to 1911; C. B. Hine, 1908 to 1911. The trustees in the years 1912-13-14 and 15 were F. M. Newcomer, J. C. Miley, and P. Garmon; those for 1916 to 1919 were R. S. Blair, J. D. Snyder, and Val Snyder: while the present trustees are N. W. McConkey, R. E. Bonar, and Clarence Rychener. Township clerk for many years has been J. F. Dimke.
POPULATION
The early statistics cannot be given, but the Federal Census Bureau figures for Clinton Township from 1870 are: 1870, 3,235; 1880, 3,719; 1890, 3,898: 1900, 3,934; 1910, 4,383; and 1920, 4,778. These fig- ures are inclusive of Wauseon population, and the 1920 figures are subject to correction, the final announcement not yet having been made by the Bureau of the Census.
CHAPTER XII HISTORY OF CHESTERFIELD TOWNSHIP
Chesterfield Township was one of the northern townships organized on June 4, 1837, after the settlement of the territorial dispute which almost plunged the states of Michigan and Ohio into war, as has been elsewhere described in this volume. It is bounded on the north by the State of Michigan; on the east by Royalton Township; on the south by Dover Township; and on the west by Gorham. Oak Shade, Denson and Inlet are what might be termed communities within its borders, but not one of these places is dignified by separate classification, as a village, in official statistics, and the total population of the town- ship in 1910 was 1,010. While the dispute between the states of Ohio and Michigan proceeded, the lands were, in the winter of 1834, placed under the township jurisdiction of Seneca, Michigan, and so remained until the last month of 1836, when by the Harris line it became a part of Ohio, and lost the name of Seneca, and was unorganized territory until 1837, when it was given the name of Chesterfield, in honor of Chesterfield Clemons, the first white man to settle within its borders. He settled on the west part of section 14 on October 6, 1834, and until he had built a log cabin he and his family lived in the emigrant wagon, in which they had come from Paynesville, Ohio. His daughter, who later became the wife of John Butler, remembered "well the day that she and her parents in an emigrant wagon stopped in the woods where her father said that he had bought a farm. ... There was not a stick of timber cut on the place, neither was there any kind of a building .... The family lived in this wagon until a log house could be built." And more than a year passed before they again saw a white face not of their own household. They might have been isolated for much longer had not an Indian made a chance remark at a nearby trading post. Alanson Briggs, an Indian trader, came into Chesterfield Township in the fall of 1834, and bought a large tract of land from the govern- ment. He built a house on what was later known as the J. H. Turner farm in Chesterfield Township. It was in section 12. Having built his house Alanson Briggs returned to Cleveland. In the early spring of 1835, he started from Cleveland with his family and belong- ings. What might almost be called with his belongings was a bound boy, eleven years old, by name John Butler, son of Asa H. Butler, who had bound the boy to Alanson Briggs a year or so earlier. The boy was alert and active, and ultimately became one of the most re- spected pioneers of Fulton County. Describing his coming to, and early life in, Chesterfield Township, John Butler, "Uncle John," as he was familiarly known in the county later in life, said :
"The trip was made overland, and it gave me my first experience of pioncer life. Mr. Briggs was very wealthy and his object in com- ing here was to establish an Indian trading post. He brought with
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him a large stock of merchandise, and so it was for those days, al- though it would make a small showing by the side of the stock car- ried by some of the stores of the county today. I do not know exactly how long we were making that trip, only that it took weeks. In crossing the black swamp we did not travel more than four or five miles in a day. Our teams would frequently get stalled, and we would have to find a settler to pull us out. In addition to bringing a large stock of merchandise, Mr. Briggs brought a lot of cattle with him and many and many a night have I roamed through the woods look-
"UNTIL HE HAD BUILT A LOG CABIN, HE AND HIS FAMILY LIVED IN AN EMIGRANT WAGON."
ing for the cows. I was then 'John, the chore boy', and as you can well imagine, there was plenty for a boy of my age to do.
"Mr. Briggs was a very busy man, and sometimes would be away from home for weeks at a time, and during his absence the care of the store fell upon me. Our only customers were the Indians, and in a short time I could talk the Indian language as readily as I could the English. The only playmates I had for nearly a year were the little Indian boys, and our chief pastime was shooting at a mark. As I grew older, I acted as Indian interpreter on many occasions, and when the government transferred the Indians to the West, I helped the government agents in closing up their contracts with the Indians. and getting them together for transportation.
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"When I came here we knew of no white person living in the eoun- try; nor did I see a white person until in the fall of the same year. . .. Onc October day, some Indians came into the store and told Mr. Briggs that they had seen a white man. Owning a large amount of land, Mr. Briggs was anxious to sell to any speculator, or settler who was looking for an investment or home, and so he had me find out from the Indians what the white man was doing. But I was un- able to make them understand ...... A few days later Chief Wina- meg accompanied by one or two of the Indians who had told us of the white man came to the store. The Chief had visited the store inany times and had learned a few English words, but when I asked him if the white man was a trader, or not, he shook his head, and said: 'White man build wigwam'. I knew then that it was a settler, and that he was building himself a home. I asked the chief to tell me where I eould find him. To answer this question seemed to bother him. He walked away and sat on a stump, and seemed to be lost in thought. In a little while he came up to me, and taking me by the arm led me to a section corner stone, which the government sur- veyors had planted a few years before. Pointing at the stone, and then in a eertain direction, he made a certain number of motions with his arm, then stopped, and pointing in another direetion, he again pointed at the stone, made two motions with his arm and said: "There, white man'. We knew that each motion of the chief's arm meant a mile, and the next day Mr. Briggs and I started out to find our neigh- bors. We followed the courses given us by the Indian, and as we eame to the end of the last mile, as marked by the Indian, we looked off to our right, and saw a settlement. We received a hearty weleome into this home, for we were the first white people that they had seen in over a year."
That was how it happened that Chesterfield Clemons and his family saw a "paleface", after a year spent in the territory of the Indians, who at the best were uncertain neighbors. As to how it happened that settlers eould be in almost adjoining sections, and for a year be un- aware of each other's proximity, was explained by John Butler. He said :
"You may think it strange that living so near as that, we should not have known of the Clemons' settlement long before we did, or they of our Indian trading post, until we found their settlement that pleasant October day ...... When you stop to think that, with the exception of the Old Plank Road, there was not another road in the north part of the county, and that the travellers going through the country followed only the well-known Indian trails, it is not in the least surprising. When Chesterfield Clemons came to this county, he came in over the Rice Trail, which led from the Maumee, over the river to Hillsdale, Michigan, whilst Mr. Briggs came in over the Terri- torial Road from Toledo. His store was on what is now (1907) the J. H. Turner Farm, east of Morenci, on the old Territorial Road, and as he brought his goods from the East he had no occasion to leave this well-known route. Mr. Clemons came here to make a home out of the wilderness. He brought a large number of cattle with him, and in a few years had quite a respectable farm."
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Chesterfield Clemons was born in New York state in 1797; and died in Chesterfield Township, Fulton county, in 1842. In the eight years of his residence there he had wrought a wonderful change in the section upon which he had settled, and at his death left his wife, Fannie Downing, and their six daughters, comparatively well cir- cumstanced. The widow subsequently married Samuel Gillis, a vet- eran of the War of 1812, and an early settler in Chesterfield Town- ship. He was the first probate judge of Fulton county, and filled other county and township offices.
It appears to have been generally acknowledged by the early set- tlers of that township that Chesterfield Clemons was the first to come into it. Alanson Briggs was in the township probably earlier in 1834, for he built a house and returned to Cleveland again in the fall. But his year of settling must be put as 1835, for it was in the spring of that year that he brought his family and belongings from Cleve- land, and took up permanent residence on section 12. (Micksell's "History of Fulton County" gives it as section 5.) Still, at least two other pioneers had settled in Chesterfield Township in the fall of 1834, Daniel Parsons, and George P. Clark.
Daniel and Esperance Parsons, with their daughter Harriet, who later married David Willets, came from Maine.
George P. Clark and his wife Elizabeth were both natives of Rhode Island; they settled upon section 23, but some years later went into Michigan to live.
Alanson Briggs had originally intended to conduct a trading post, expecting that his only customers would be the Indians of the neighborhood. But, as the white settlers came in increasing num- bers during the next few years, Briggs found that he could do quite a respectable store business with the immigrants. So that his Indian trading post may be considered to have been the first store in Chester- field Township. It might also be considered to have been the first hotel also, for Alanson Briggs afforded accommodation to passing im- migrants. The settlers had not only to guard against the dangers of the forest, with its wolves and other wild animals and poisonous snakes, they had always to be on the alert because of the unreliable temperament of the Indians, who, while generally peaceable were apt to get beyond control, in which event they would recognize no law or order, save their primitive understanding of justice, and their nat- ural rights. The encroachment of white men in their hunting grounds was a constant irritant to the Indians, and it would not have been surprising had the history of Fulton county recorded much more fric- tion between the settlers and the Indians than did actually occur. "Uncle John" Butler, in 1907, put into print his remembrance of one thrilling experience he went through, in the store of Mr. Briggs, in 1836. His narrative began :
"We had been there for a year or two when two of the wildest In- dians of the tribe came to the store and wanted to buy some whisky. Every storekeeper in those days had a barrel or two of liquor, but Mr. Briggs, who was very good to the Indians, was very careful how much he let them have at a time. On this occasion it happened that he was at home when they came for their liquor. The Indians stayed at the store nearly all afternoon, smoking and chewing tobacco, telling of
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their hunting experiences, and now and then buying a drink of whisky ; so that at supper time they were feeling pretty good, as we would express it today, and were getting pretty boisterous. As Mr. Briggs started to go into the kitchen for his supper they de- manded more liquor, which he refused to give them. He told me to lock the door to the room where the whisky was kept, and went on to his supper. The two Indians left the store, and in a few min- utes they returned and came into the kitchen, where we were eating supper. Each Indian took Mr. Briggs by an arm and led him into the store, and commanded him to give them more liquor. As they were leading him toward the room where the liquor was kept, he broke loose from them, and grabbing them by the throats hurled them across the room with terrific force. Briggs was a powerful man, standing six feet and seven inehes in his stocking feet, and when they were onee in his grasp there was no getting away. I expected he would break their necks before he let go of them. The two In- dians were glad to leave the store, when Briggs got through with them, and they went limping down the trail through the woods.
"But this was not the end of our trouble. The next day the two Indians whom Briggs had thrown from the store accompanied by six warriors, returned and demanded to see Mr. Briggs. They had their war paint on, and carried their tomahawks and sealping knives. I knew it meant trouble and that likely it would be the last day for us, and of the little Indian trading post. As Mr. Briggs eame into the store one of them, who seemed to take the place of the chief, raised his tomahawk, and pointed to the two Indians who had been thrown out the night before. It seemed as if my heart would stop beat- ing, as I waited for him to strike the expected blow. Briggs stood un- moved, and not even his voiee faltered, as he told the Indian how the two had tried to overpower him the night before. As Briggs could not talk the Indian language, and as the big Indian could not understand English very well, he asked me to tell them all about it. As I began to speak the Indian tongue the other warriors drew around me and listened to the story. I told them every detail of the fight, just as I had seen it, realizing that our lives depended upon the truthfulness of my story, and knowing that the Indians are the quickest people in the world to deteet a falsehood, and the surest people to mete out punishment for false swearing. They heard my story all through without interrupting me, and when I had finished, the warriors walked over to the Indians, whose neeks were black and blue from the grip Briggs had given them, and asked them if my story was true. When they said it was, the warriors left the store, without saving another word. I knew that we had eseaped a terrible punish- ment and that the Indians had a sense of justice. Mr. Briggs had always been very good and kind to the Indians, and it was this kindness that had brought the warriors to see him, before burning his store and killing him and his family."
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