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 32

Author: Reighard, Frank H., 1867-
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 546


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 32


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Miss Roos' record shows that the brick schoolhouse built in 1871 was the sixth schoolhouse erected for Distriet No. 3, and that:


James Onweler and Philin Roos furnished the material and super- intended the construction. The land was purchased from Holloway


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Beatty. The following were early teachers in the brick schoolhouse: Libbie Beatty Gorham; Rutter Haley; John Cuff; Ida Fish; Edison Waffle and wife; Jessie Wilson Tallman; John and Olive Clark; and Harvey Dunlap. After thirty years, the building was condemned, and ultimately passed into the possession of Rutter and Haley, who de- molished it and carried away the bricks. In, about, the year 1900, the seventh schoolhouse for the Maple Grove district was built by Mr. Guthrie. This was placed on the same lot, only a little to the north of where the old brick building stood. The new schoolhouse, however, was of frame construction; and the teachers in this house were Bessie Smith Phelps, Olive and Gertrude Clark.


Since the establishment of the large centralized school, in 1916, however, all district schools of Chesterfield Township have been aban- doned; and the people of the township are proud now to be able to send their children to one of the best centralized schools in Northwest Ohio. The school history had been gradually veering toward centraliza- tion for many years, and in the first decade of the twentieth century, the "Fulton County Tribune" had forcefully and convincingly advocated the change of school system. The people of Chesterfield Township were progressive and receptive, so that when the public schools of the county came under the direct control of the Fulton County Board of Education, under the new school law of 1914, they enthusiastically furthered, as regards the schools of their own township, the plan of the county board, which plan was to give earliest possible attention to the centralization, or consolidation, of rural schools, establishing good schools at the natural community centers, irrespective of town- ship lines, and thereby place within the reach of the rising genera- tion of Fulton County people better educational facilities, and in brighter and healthier surroundings. Fulton Township had already centralized, and the winter term of Chesterfield schools in 1916 began in a new brick building, which had cost more than $30,000 to erect. On October 5, 1916, nearly 200 people assembled at the school, which was situated seven miles north of Wauseon, and a mile west of Oak Shade; and thirty-five teams made short work of the grading of the school grounds, preparatory to the opening ceremony. The Chester- field Centralized School is a high school of the first grade; has four rooms for high school purposes and an equal number for elementary grades. In 1919 thirty-seven students were enrolled in the high school, and in the elementary grades there were 224 pupils. The elementary curriculum includes elementary school agriculture, arithmetic, draw- ing, geography, grammar, orthography, physiology, reading, U. S. history, and writing; the high school course includes agriculture, algebra, commercial subjects, English, including rhetoric, general his- tory, geometry, literature, U. S. history. The school library com- prises more than four hundred volumes. The school is under the able direction of Kenneth M. Whaley, principal, and under the super- vision of Earl F. Chase, who is district superintendent. The members of the Chesterfield Centralized School Board, 1920, are: E. B. Beatty, Wauseon, president; A. H. Philips, Morenci, Mich., clerk; D. B. Simp- son, Earl Valentine, Clem Smith, and F. A. Bates, all of Morenci postal address, directors. The people of Chesterfield Township might well be satisfied with the school facilities now available in the township.


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CEMETERIES


There have been three important cemeteries in the township; the first upon seetion 9; one on seetion 28; and the other on section 24. Rose Hill Cemetery, situated on the east line of Chesterfield Town- ship, on Maple Grove Farm, was established on April 1, 1854, when a meeting was held in Maple Grove School House, to form a ecmetery association. Citizens of Chesterfield and Royalton townships attend- ing the meeting elected trustees as follows: James Welch, Clark Standish, Holloway H. Beatty, Silas Lusk, Henry J. Clark, and John B. Roos, with Mr. Fordes as chairman, and F. Curtis, secretary. The trustees purchased the land from Philip Roos for ten dollars, the deed being written by Samuel Gillis, probate judge, on February 9, 1855. The burial ground was feneed at a cost of $37.75, and was completed on May 15, 1854. The first burial was on August 8, 1854, when the body of Nehemiah Cone was interred. On April 10, 1886, J. Rutter Haley, Theodore Sebring, and Charles Stutesman, trustees of Chester- field Township, purchased the ground, which since has been in the possession of the township.


EAST CHURCH IN CHRIST


In 1857, brothers L. L. Carpenter and James Hadsell held meetings in the Maple Grove schoolhouse, then situated on the north-eastern corner of Philip Roos farm, section 24. At times, when the oeeasion demanded more commodious quarters, the services were held in the barn of the Roos homestead. In the following year, on April 10, 1858, the church was organized by electing Plyn Harnden, James S. Dean, and George W. Roos, elders, and Philip Roos, Shepherd Davison, and James B. Carpenter, deacons. The church at the outset was a strong one, there being seventy charter members. And after some vcars the members sought to erect a church building. A site was pur- ehased from William Onweller for fifty dollars, the deed being written under the date of Deeember 17, 1864. A meeting was called by the Rev. J. C. Goodrich for the purpose of organizing a society to build the meeting house. Plyn Harnden, James Onweller, and J. P. Roos were appointed as trustees, and George W. Roos treasurer. They contraeted with J. H. Turner and Albert Deyo, who were to furnish a frame structure complete, with the exeeption of the stone foundation, for the sum of $2,125. Joseph Brown raised it, and as it was war . time, when men were scarce, pulley and tackle had to be the main elements in the raising of the timbers; and at that work four lads, George and Jerry Sheffield, G. H. Stutesman, and Chester Welch did splendidly. Within contract time the building was ready, and on December 21, 1865, was dedicated as a house of worship by the Rev. L. L. Carpenter, one of the pioneers of the Christian Church in Fulton county. Since that time the house has been remodeled more than once. It is of interest to note that the lumber for the seats was made from two white oak trees, about four feet in diameter, sold for one dollar to the contraetors by Mr. Grey, who then lived where Frank Denson now resides. An annex was built in 1912, and dedicated on January 5, 1913, by the Rev. Williston, of Genoa. More than five hundred and sixty members have belonged to that ehureh during the last fifty years.


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The East Church in Christ was so named because of other churches in the township, one at Inlet and the other at Oak Shade.


Chesterfield Township is without industries, other than agricul- tural. It is rich dairying territory, and the progressive farmers of the township have a good outlet for their milk product in the large condensing plant just over the line in Michigan. It was at one time an important cheese-making district, one factory alone, in 1887, making in Chesterfield Township, more than one hundred thousand pounds of cheese. Now its milk product chiefly goes in the liquid state.


As will be seen by reference to the map reproduced for this volume, Chesterfield Township is not well served by railroads, but in these days of motor-driven road vehicles the people of the township are not seriously handicapped. Most of the progressive and prosperous farmers have automobiles, and motor trucks.


It would not be inappropriate to place in permanent record, by including in this chapter, some further reminiscent stories of "Uncle John" Butler. The reminiscences were gathered, fragment by frag- ment, by Mr. Frank H. Reighard, in conversations he had with the old pioneer in the last year, or two, of the latter's life. One story begins: "In those early days the pioneers secured their supply of honey from 'bee trees,' which they found in the forest. In the fall of the year, it was not an uncommon occurrence to find a settler going through the woods looking for a bee-tree ...... One fine October morning, a year or so after we had located in Chesterfield Township Mr. Briggs said to me: 'This is a good morning to locate a bee tree, and I guess we had better go to the big timber on Bean Creek, and see what we can find.' The necessary outfit was soon put in readiness for the day's hunt, and an hour later we were tramping westward through the big woods, dodging around marshes, crossing. streams on fallen logs, looking for bee trees. It was along in the middle of the after- noon when we came to an open place in the woods, where some honey bees were working on some wild flowers. Mr. Briggs tried to get a line on the bees, as they left the flowers for the tree, but after going a short distance in the woods the line was lost. In the outfit which we had brought along was some old honeycomb.


He built a small fire and commenced to burn this honeycomb. In a little while the bees were flying around us, having been attracted there by the burn- ing of the comb. By this time Mr. Briggs soon located the bee- line, which he had lost. The bees flew thick, and it was not difficult to follow them. He left me to burn the comb, while he followed the line of the tree, for when a bee is loaded with honey it flies directly to its home, and the same is true when it leaves the tree-it goes in a straight line to the place where it is working. Near the fire where I was burning the comb was another piece of comb for the bees to feed on. It seemed to me as if I had been burning that comb long enough for Mr. Briggs to have gone five or six miles, and I was getting rather tired of my job, as it was not the most pleasant thing to be left alone in the center of a big woods.


"As I sat there watching the bees feed on the old comb, until they had all they could carry away, then rise a few feet in the air, and start off through the woods in the direction in which I had seen Mr. Briggs leave, I heard a noise a short distance back of me. I was not startled


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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY


at the sound, for it was not uncommon in those days to have an Indian walk up to you. without your seeing or hearing him until he spoke to you, and so, being busy just then fixing the fire and burning a little more comb, I did not look around. A few minutes later I heard the same sound again. Then I heard a sniffing. I did not turn round, but kept perfectly quiet, thinking it was a deer. The nearer the sound came. the less I thought it was a deer. The sniffing was within a few feet of me, and I thought it was time that I found out what it was making the noise. I raised up, and looked around,


"THE SNIFFING WAS WITHIN A FEW FEET OF ME."


and there, within ten feet of me, sat a big black bear. I uttered a seream, and with a bound I was going down through the woods as fast as my legs would carry me. I called for help, and ran as fast as I could in the direction taken by Mr. Briggs, when he left me burning the comb. At every bound I expected to feel the fangs of that bear sink into my flesh. I did not stop to turn around, but kept on running until I reached Mr. Briggs, who had heard my cries for help, and had hurried back to me. Reaching me he exclaimed: 'What's the matter, John?' All I could say was 'A bear.' He took hold of my


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hand, and assured me that there was no bear in sight. For a while I was afraid to look around, but upon his assurance that there was no bear I turned around, and, sure enough, he was gone. We walked back to where I was burning the honeycomb, but no bear was there; but the comb that I had left on the ground when I made my hurried flight was gone. It seemed that the bear had been satisfied with the comb which I left, and after eating that had gone his way, not wishing to hurt me, or anyone else.


"As we went along our way home that evening; I jumped at every sound that was out of the ordinary, and that night, after I was in bed, I could see that big black bear sitting up on his hind legs looking at me. It was hours before I could go to sleep, and of all the scares that I received those early days none left a more lasting impression on my mind than the one given me by that black bear in the big woods on Bean Creek bottoms, on that October afternoon in the 'thirties.


"Mr. Briggs had just located the bee-tree when he heard my screams. A few days later the tree was cut, and the honey we got out of it was enjoyed upon our corn bread for many a day."


Describing a visit he made to the Indian Reservation late in life, many decades after the last of the Indians had left Ohio, he said :


"I loved the Indian, for he was ever true to him who showed him a kindness. Many a time I have heard the Chiefs Winameg and Otto- kee discuss the white man's coming. I have heard them talk of Winslow and Colonel Howard, and praise their goodness ... A few years ago I was visiting friends in Kansas who were living near the reservation to which the Indians of this county were sent, and while there I went over to see if I could find an Indian whom I had known here. I asked for the Pottawattamies ...... , and as I passed through their village I saw one face that I thought seemed familiar to me. As I started to go toward the Indian .. . I noticed that he was watching me, and as I advanced toward him he approached me. I extended my hand, and said in broken Indian tongue: 'I know your face, but I have forgotten your name.' He said: 'You are John Butler, the white man's boy, with whom I played beyond the Great Water.' It was one of the Indian boys with whom I had played at Briggs' store. We sat down on the ground and talked for hours. He told me that of all the young men of his tribe who had come West he alone was left. As I took his hand to say 'Goodbye,' tears were streaming down his cheeks, and placing his other hand upon my shoulder, he looked into my face and said: 'White man. A long farewell.' And there standing by that lone wigwam on that Kansas reservation, I left the only Indian in the wide world who still remembered John Butler."


"Uncle John" Butler ended his reminiscences thus: "Few are the pioneers remaining, and ere long our feet will have touched the Silver Strand, and our mission will be ended." Yes. The feet of John S. Butler, the last of the pioneers of the first years of Chester- field Township have at last touched the Silver Strand, and he is with his old friends, Indian and white.


Just before going to press, the preliminary announcement of popu- lation has been issued by the Bureau of the Census, and it is therefore possible to give the 1920 figures for Chesterfield Township. The Census figures are: 1870, 926; 1880, 1,013; 1890, 997; 1900, 1,078; 1910, 1,010; 920, 1,012.


CHAPTER XIII


HISTORY OF GERMAN TOWNSHIP


Unlike the history of any other township of Fulton county, that of German Township began with the simultaneous settlement within it of many people-more than forty. Other townships experienced a gradual ineoming of settlers, but German Township settlement may almost be deseribed as colonization. And to some extent it has main- tained that character throughout its history. In 1834 worthy pioneers, men of strong religious faith, and rigid purpose, and simple habits, came into the territory with their families, as will be narrated later in this chapter, and established a small colony; and they were bound together in sentiment, in general thought, and in rules of life and conduct, by the dictates of a strict church code, that of the Mennonite Church, a branch of which these simple and righteous pioneers, in coming, necessarily established in German Township. And as others of that chureh came into Fulton county they naturally settled as near as they could to their brethren. German Township therefore has remained distinetive, and its stalwart straight-living and hard- working residents have ereated for it an enviable place among the townships of Fulton county.


German Township is the largest, in point of aereage, in the county ; and in population it comes next to Clinton, the latter township having now (1920) 4778 inhabitants, and German Township 3137. But in some phases of its activity it is second to none. Its fine farms have been developed from the wilderness by the resolute purpose of God- fearing, honorable, hardworking tillers of the soil. And its succeeding generations from that of the pioneers have been reared in a wholesome home environment and a simple worship of God, such as have main- tained in the boys commendable characteristics of their fathers, and in the girls the elean-living, kindly, hospitable traits of their mothers. The people of the Mennonite Church are noted for their hospitality and for their integrity of word.


The township of German was organized on March 4, 1839, and from April 1, 1820, when the Legislature of Ohio deereed the organization of counties from Indian territory, until 1850, when Fulton county was established, the territory embraced in German Township eame within the jurisdiction of three counties, Wood, Henry, and Williams. In 1835, Lueas county was organized from Wood county, the new county embracing all the territory west of Lake Erie, south of the Fulton Line, to the northern line of Henry county, and running west to the Williams County line. After this territory became part of Lueas county, June 6, 1836, three ranges of townships were organized into the township of York, and elections were held at what was called "York Center." On March 5, 1838, Clinton Township was organized, embracing ranges five and six west of York, and on Mareh 4, 1839,


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German Township was organized, from towns seven and cight north, range five east. On March 1, 1841, when Franklin Township was organ- ized, German lost to it all of town eight north, range five east, and one tier of sections off the north side of town seven north, range five east. The next and last change came in 1850, when Fulton county was organized. Then, the territory of German Township was increased by the addition of a strip two miles wide off the north side of town six north, range five east, then Ridgeville Township, Henry county. With the reorganization, German Township at the same time received from Brady Township, Williams County, a strip of land two miles wide, embracing two tiers of sections, with the exception of sections one and two, which were included in Franklin Township boundaries. German Township has therefore fifty-two full sections of land, making an area of fifty-two square miles or 33,280 acres. It is bounded on the east by Clinton Township, on the west by Williams county, on the north by Franklin Township, and on the south by Henry county.


German Township is very level, its soil has been brought into good fertility only by much drainage, but it has well repaid the labor ex- pended, and in agricultural product German Township leads. Bean Creek runs through the northwest corner of the township. Brush Creek also passes through it.


The first settlement of the township was effected on August 23, 1834, at what is now called Lauber's Hill, two miles east of Burlington. The narrative of the settlement, as told by the Rev. Jacob Binder, one of the pioneers, to J. W. Roseborough, in 1896, gives perhaps a clearer indication of the rugged simplicity of the people of German Township than could be told in other words. It seems that:


"Jacob Binder and his family, on the 8th day of March, 1834, together with Christian Lauber and Christian Rupp, and their respec- tive families, all of Alsace, in the vicinity of Mulhausen ... .. started for. America. Mr. Lauber's family consisted of his wife, Magdalena Zimmerman, and four children; Mr. Rupp's family was composed of himself and wife, Christina Stuckey, and four childhen. .


These three families, numbering twenty-one in all, started together. ... They employed three teams and wagons, and drove through to Havre, France, in 17 days. ..... About the 8th of April, they took ship, and sailed for New York, consuming about seven weeks in the voyage ...... They reached New York the latter part of June, without special accident or loss ...... On their way across the ocean they were passed by a larger vessel, containing many immigrants from Schaff- hausen, Switzerland ...... Our three families remained only a short time in New York. From that city they came to Buffalo ...... From Buffalo, they came on the lake to Cleveland; thence they went on the canal to the little town of Fulton, in Stark county, where they were met by one Peter Schrock, and a number of other generous Amish brethren, who conveyed them to their comfortable homes in the vicinity of what is now called Marshallville, Wayne County, Ohio. Here they remained ...... for six weeks. There entertainers werc blessed with fine farms and handsome buildings. These, or similar ones, our newly-arrived immigrants were unable to purchase, having but a limited supply of means. During the six weeks the Mulhausen families remained in Wayne county, they met there a number of


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the immigrants from Schaffhausen, Switzerland, who had passed them on the ocean ...... they were all Amish. Of these families from Switzerland were the following: 1st, Jacob Kibler and wife, Susan Meister, and seven children; 2nd, John George Meister and wife, Margaret Keller, and 12 children; 3rd, John Van Gundy, a widower, having four children.


"Our immigrants, in view of their large families and limited means, after due consultation resolved to go further west, and select lands for themselves. The following persons were chosen to make selections : Jacob Kibler, J. George Meister, Christian Rupp, and Peter Wyse. Mr. Wyse, a resident of Wayne county, accompanied them in the capacity of guide and interpreter. In the meantime, the rest of the immigrants remained in Wayne county. The committee appointed proceeded on foot to Putman county, but finding there the land too wet and level, and solid timber too scarce, they went into the vicinity of Fort Wayne, Indiana. There they found the land and timber much the same as in Putman county. From Fort Wayne they came back to Defiance, Ohio. There they heard of one Joseph Bates, eighteen miles north, a noted hunter, and a man with a broad and accurate knowledge of the country. Mr. Bates then lived on what is now known as the John Shilling Farm, in the southwestern part of Franklin Township, Fulton county. To him they gladly came. They found him to be the man they exactly needed ...... He gave them a cordial reception, and took them six miles east of his place, to what is now called Lauber's Hill ...... then a wild and dreary wilderness. Here they resolved to locate. They selected eight hundred acres of land, went to the U. S. Land Office, at Wapakoneta, and entered the same, after which they returned to Wayne county, having spent two weeks in the business, and having done all the travelling on foot. The next important prac- tical question ...... was how, with their families and goods, to reach their newly-acquired lands in the wild woods, a hundred and sixty, or more, miles distant. To accomplish this five wagons and five yoke of oxen were purchased. Each of the five families that went to the new homes purchased a wagon and yoke of oxen. The following are the families and persons who first came to what is now German Township, and made the first settlement therein: 1st, Jacob Binder and wife and the following of his children: Anna, Jacob, Sophronia, and Regina. Mr. Binder's other daughters came a little later: 2nd, Christian Lauber, wife and four children; 3rd, Jacob Kilber and the following of his children : Jacob, George, Heronimus, Elizabeth and Mary. Mrs. Kilber, Susan and Melchoir remained for a time in Wayne county: 4th, J. George Meister, and the following of his children: Jacob, George, John, and Anna. His wife and other children came later; 5th, John Van Gundy, and his three children, Joseph, the fourth and youngest, dying at Providence, on the way out from Wayne county.


"Accompanying these families were Nicholas King, Samuel Burk- holder, Christian Reigseker and Nicholas Gchr, otherwise called Nicholas Wenger, because Mrs. Wenger, a widow lady, brought him to this country from Switzerland ...... Gehr ...... returned to Wayne county (eventually) with King and Burkholder, who had only come with the settlers to aid them in getting started ...... In their journey to the west, our immigrants came through Wooster, Ashland, Lower Sanduky, now Fremont, to Perrysburgh, where they crossed the Maumee River.




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