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 40
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been given up entirely to matters of public service, in many cases honorary. During the years of the Civil War, his office at the court house, at Ottokee, was open day and night; and after nightfall any of his fellow-townsmen who wished might wend their way to the pro- bate office to hear Judge Verity read, to those who gathered, the war news from the New York "Tribune," it being "the only daily in the town, and that cost $11 per year, paid for by contribution and read by O. B. Verity," a genuine service, for there were probably some who were not able to read. But after the reading, the war news was re- peated in the homes, and thus Ottokee was probably one of the best informed of country communities during those anxious times.
THE PASSING OF THE INDIANS
The passing of the Indians from the territory has been referred to comprehensively in earlier chapters of this volume. Dover Plains were treasured "openings" for the Indians. The stretch of open country was known as Djue-naw-ba Plains (or Twa-naw-ba's Plains) or possibly Neshe-naw-ba Plain, the latter being the full Pottawatomie, Indian, word, the other being partly of a French derivative. Djue-naw-ba, or Neshe-naw-ba, was, according to Col. Dresden W. H. Howard, the name applied "more particularly to the Ridge and Springs at Etna, at the old crossing of Bad Creek." Several Indian experiences of early settlers in Dover Township have been recorded. Michael Handy who settled in what was then York Township, and eventually became Pike Township, just beyond the line of Dover, stated that:
"At the time (1840) we had no worked roads here, all about as nature made them, as evidenced by Indian trails over the face of the country ; and as I settled on the openings I knew more about them than the timber, hence have more to say of them. The Indians would set the prairies on fire in the fall and everything that would burn was out of the way, and in the early spring the prairie grass would look so green and nice, and cattle would make for it; and the deer from the woods would seem to cover the prairies. No trouble to see flocks of them at most any time. You could get nice venison hams at any time from the Indians, for a small price."
Mrs. William Tedrow states that she "went to school in Tedrow, in the first schoolhouse of that place, located on the high lot just east of the W. C. T. U. hall, and west of the residence of the late Dr. Shaffer." She remembers "several Indians stopped in front of the schoolhouse one day." That schoolhouse was not opened until December 19, 1840, and the incident was memorable probably because it was thought that all the Indians had left the vicinity. Mrs. Hibbard wrote in her diary, under date June 9, 1840: "Visited at Mr. Ferguson's today. We saw seven squaws, four papooses, three loaded ponies, four dogs, and a pig on the way to a new camping ground." On November 29th she wrote : "The Indians who formerly lived in this place have been compelled this fall to leave it, and go to the far west." On December 4, 1840, Mrs. Hibbard referred to the firing of the plains, but whether by Indians, or by white settlers is not clear, although one would infer by the former, for on same date she comments on the fact that although she was alone, with her children, on the night of the 3rd, she was not afraid. Of the fire she wrote:
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"There is a fire on the plains east of us this evening. It is a beau- tiful sight, unlike anything I ever saw in a hilly country. The country here is so level, the timber so scattering, without underwood or brush, that when a fire spreads in the dry leaves and grass we can see it in the evening, extending in a long straight unbroken line to a great dis- tance, uninterrupted to the view, except by the trunks of intervening trees."
There is reason to believe that the very last of the Indians who once inhabited Fulton county left in the early forties. Col. D. W. H. Howard, writing, in 1887, to Mrs. S. D. Snow, sister of Marie A. Hib- bard, of Spring Hill, stated that "the Pottawatomies .... . . were re- moved, or notified by the Genl. Govt. to remove, in 1839 and also in 1840; when the remnant went."
Many Indian relics have been unearthed from the soil, in the process of tillage, in the vicinity of Spring Hill.
MANY INDIAN RELICS HAVE BEEN UNEARTHED AT SPRING HILL.
FIRST ELECTION
At a commissioner's session at Maumee City on June 5, (or August 1) 1843, Dover Township, Lucas county, was organized. An order was published notifying residents and voters that an election would be held on August 7. 1843, the house of Mortimer D. Hibbard, at Spring Hill, being designated as the place of voting. The house at that time was
1 probably the most palatial in the township. The Hibbards had moved into it in the previous year, from their little log cabin. Mrs. Hibbard recorded in her diary under April 8, 1842, date: "Left the old cabin and moved into the new house." The new house, Miss Hibbard des- cribes as having been :
"A double log house, with two large rooms, and a smaller room at each end. There were stairs up to two large low rooms above. It had long covered porches at the front and back. There was a double fireplace in the center, giving an opening into each of the two large rooms. This house stood about sixty rods east of the present village
-
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and on the north side of the Maumee Road, which then curved well to the north, skirting a great pond south and a little to the east of the house. The road then continued west, on the north side of the old schoolhouse hill, and then ran diagonally aeross to the south- west corner of the present village."
In that house, therefore, the voters of the new township gathered on August 7, 1843, to vote for the first township officers. John J. Schnall, Elisha Hibbard, and Williard Church were chosen judges; and Joseph Jewell and Jason IIibbard were chosen clerks of the election. Eventu- ally, the judges declared that the following named residents had been legally elected: Moses Ayers, Williard Church, and Alonzo Butler, trustees; Joseph Jewell, clerk; William Jewell, treasurer; Elijah Ben- nett and George Tiffany, constables; Elisha Hibbard and Newell New- ton, overseers of the poor.
OTTOKEE
The greatest event in the history of Dover Township came soon after the erection of Fulton county, in consequence of which Ottokee came into being, and importance, as the county seat. That phase of Dover Township history is dealt with in an earlier chapter, but the hearings before the County Seat Locating Commissioners made it clear that Mortimer D. Hibbard had planned to survey and plat a village at Spring Hill. He laid its claims, as a site for county seat of justice, before the locating commissioners, but the arguments of the "Center" were more convincing and logical; therefore, on May 1, 1850, stakes were driven at the geographical center of the county, and that location designated as the site selected by the locating commis- sioners. At the suggestion of Colonel D. W. H. Howard it was named Ottokee, to commemorate the connection Indians had with the region, in pre-settlement times, and particularly the association of Ot-to-kee, a noble Indian chieftain, brother, or half-brother, of Wa-se-on, with some of the pioneer settlers. A pen picture of Ottokee ean be read in the Clinton Township chapter, the sketch being by Colonel Howard, who was personally acquainted with Ot-to-kee.
The growth and decline of Ottokee is an important part of chapter IV of this current history of Fulton county, and is readily available to the interested reader. Therefore, to avoid tautology, only so much of the vital history of Ottokee as has not yet had place in this work will be written in this chapter.
BUSINESS OTTOKEE
The first merchant in Ottokee was Hosea Day; the next was Ezra Wilcox, and the third was a partnership, George Marks and Ransom Reynolds. Later, the merchants, for more or less short periods, were Oppenheimer, Eliakim Stowe. John Sigsby, Warner Lott Samuel O. Warren, Henry Herreman, Peter Lott, George Goulden, Charles F. Handy, George B. Merrill and David K. Numbers. In 1887, Brown's "Gazetteer" recorded that "Ottokee, the county seat. . has one hotel, three stores, court house, jail, and county offices," also stating that the following made up the entire business personnel of Ottokee at that time: Truman H. Brown, attorney at law, and clerk of the
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court of common pleas; Albert B. Canfield, county treasurer; Osias Merrill, county auditor; Wm. H. Stevens, recorder; Jacob C. Hoff- mire, sheriff; Oliver B. Verity, probate judge; Michael Handy, at- torney-at-law, and notary public; William H. Handy, attorney-at-law ; Amos Hill, attorney-at-law; Jas. L. Verity, notary public and claim agent; Dr. Henry Herreman, groceries and medicines; Chas. F. Handy, groceries and merchandise; George G. Merrill, grocer, etc .; Charles Hilton, hotelkeeper.
At that time a daily line of stages plied between Wauseon and Adrian, passing through Ottokee, Morey's Corners, and Morenci, fare for full distance being $1.50.
Dr. Herreman was the first postmaster in the Ottokee district, that is to say, he was the first Dover Township resident to hold the post-
Stage
Coach
E.C. HALL PHOTO
IN THE SIXTIES, A DAILY LINE OF STAGES PLIED BETWEEN WAUSEON AND ADRIAN, PASSING THROUGH OTTOKEE.
mastership of the office which later was called Ottokee. At that time it was located in Pike Township, 3 miles further east, and was called the Essex postoffice. Hosea Day was the first postmaster, after the name had been changed to Ottokee.
Ottokee, during the years of its county importance, had one or more newspapers. These are referred to in the Press chapter.
The first hotel in Ottokee was conducted by William Jones. These public houses were in. no wise drinking saloons; they were houses of call, rest, and accommodation for travellers, and although spirits were sold, the prime purpose was that of entertaining and lodging visitors. Consequently, hotel keepers were, as a rule, men of standing in the community ; and Fulton county records show that some of the most
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capable and respected of the pioneers were hotel keepers. Michael Handy, who lived in Pike Township, near Ottokee, was a justice of the peace, a pioneer teacher, was county school examiner, and prose- cuting attorney of Fulton county, was a man of distinct capability and high character; yet, for more than a decade he kept a hotel. His son, Judge Wm. H. Handy, a few years ago wrote:
"I can remember when my father kept tavern on the old home farm, and Uncle Bot Howard kept tavern east of him. (It was in Robert A. Howard's house that the first court of Fulton county was held.) And of all the emigrants and teamsters between Maumee and the west who so frequently stopped with us, men who were compelled to travel through that new country on roads that nature built, and did all of their milling and their trading in Lucas county's first capital. I have not forgotten when a three-cent piece would buy a drink of whisky out of the bottle, kept in the always-locked cupboard. And when busi- ness was dull, the landlord would sit in the bar-room, and mend shoes for his neighbors."
Judge Handy referred to his father as a shoemaker, perhaps to describe the simple life of the typical landlord. His father was a very capable educator, and taught school each winter for twenty-one years, twelve of them in Fulton county. Michael Handy himself, in the Wauseon "Republican" of March 29, 1884, stated that he "succeeded well" at hotel-keeping, adding however that "hotel bills were not so high as now." In amplification he wrote:
"Then, we charged a man six cents for a bed, one shilling for a meal; kept a team to hay overnight and the man his supper, breakfast and lodging for four shillings. When we had county conventions, and other large public gatherings on special occasions, bill was two shil- lings for dinner."
Judge W. H. Handy, in one of his reminiscences made reference to two Ottokee hotels, of the fifties, one on the north side, possessing a sign "Hotel by H. Taylor," and Stow's Hotel on the south side. The north side hotel was that opened by William Jones; Henry Taylor suc- ceeded him as landlord. The other hotel was first opened in 1853, by Ezra Wilcox, and according to Verity successive landlords were David Fairchilds, Lewis Breese, and Dr. W. C. Robinson. It was closed in, about, the year 1859.
Regarding Stow's show, which advertised Ottokee in many parts of Ohio, if not in other states in the 'fifties, Wm. H. Handy wrote:
"I spoke of Stow's show a while ago. Oh! There was where we had it on Delta and Wauseon, although Wauseon was not much at that time-just a little burg in the woods. . Stow's show, that great moral and intellectual combination of unparalled genius, costing I don't remem- ber how many thousand dollars for materials. It was indeed a great in- stitution. In the spring, it would start out in all the glory of new painted wagons, and in the fall would come back to winter in old Ottokee. If the season had been prosperous, old Ottokee was prosperous. If the season had been a hard one, Ottokee would be less prosperous. But Stows would work hard all winter to get enough for next spring's start, and they always made it in some way. They had a good show, too. There were the Indians many of you will remember, Kim and Osceola; and then West Stow, the old clown, and Hat Stow, the limber man, and
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John Stow and wife, singers; Minerva, with the famous highland fling, and that famous song of her's 'Roy's wife'; and Like, the boss. They gave us a great show for a small admittance, and they showed all they advertised. And when they wintered in old Ottokee, at Stow's tavern with some of their performers, don't you remember that they all be- haved themeslves like respectable citizens. They also had a magician .. .. And Currier's band ; wasn't it really great?
"Many will recall the time when the Indians were in the tent, giv- ing their part of the performance, and Uncle Dres. Howard sat on one of the back seats, and gave a war whoop, which he could give as well as the Sioux. How it even scared the Indians ...... They had a great war song, those Indians, which we boys all learned. It ran some- thing .like this:
"Unonda! Unonda! Unonda! Unonda! Wa-hoo-yah! Wa-hoo-yah !
Unonda! Unonda!
"When they sang that we kids had all we could do to keep our hair on our heads."
The early physicians of Dover Township, who, when Ottokee be- came the county seat, centered their practice from that place were Drs. Blaker, Hyde, McCann, Gurley, Worden, DeLano, Herriman and Rob- inson. Dr. Blaker was the pioneer physician.
Ottokee during the last four decades has been the home of an important county institution, the Fulton County Infirmary, latterly designated the Fulton County Home. It uses the ground formerly occupied by the Court House, the Infirmary being organized soon after the removal of the seat of justice from Ottokee to Wauseon, and the consequent vacating of the Court House buildings at Ottokee. These were used to house the personnel and inmates of the Infirmary. Later, about three hundred acres of contiguous land were purchased, so that by its tillage by the inmates of the Infirmary that institution might be made self-sustaining, or partly so. The history of the Fulton County Home is reviewed in the Institutional chapter of this volume.
Ottokee is essentially one of the historic spots of Fulton county, and in recollection is very dear to many of its older residents. Periodically, the former residents gather in the old place to renew pleasurable mem- ories of long ago. It is the center of a conference of teachers year after year, and latterly each year has brought a reunion of teachers and pupils of Ottokee School. of 1850-70. For one such reunion, that of 1913, Mrs. Roxea (familiarly shortened to "Rock") Handy Rice, a daughter of Michael Handy, wrote some entertaining verse, entitled "Old Times in Ottokee." In part it reads:
"While we are gathered here today, I, in a vision, see
Some things which happened long ago, in good old Ottokee. * * * *
Now, as I look back to those days, when we were young and gay, So many scenes flit through my thoughts, I know not what to say,
* * * *
Protracted meetings, spelling school, and circus had their day, And picnics for the Sunday School, there was a grand array
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Of seeded cakes and pyramids, all made by our mothers-
I doubt if ever, since that time there's been their like in others- And then the dances, where the bunch were pretty sure to go, To try 'the light fantastic' to music made by Stow ;
I now remember well a time when 'Shakers' were in style,
And we all wore them up to church, and marched in single file.
Dame Fashion never beat us out, no matter on what line,
Even when she came in great hoops made from yes, the wild grape vine. Although throughout the summer days, we all with pleasure flirted When revivals opened in the fall we were there to be converted;
The young folks now think we were green, and badly out of date, But our fun was of a cleaner grade than that we read of late- .
The 'Bear Dance' and the 'Turkey Trot,' and all that sort of slime So popular among the young, to us would seem a crime --
Few scandals grew from out our ranks; through some good cause or other,
'White slavery' was an unknown term, and 'dope fiend' was another. Ah, well! those days have long since gone; grim death has claimed his share,
And now the few who may remain are scattered everywhere;
Left from the crowd of gay young hearts, so happy in that day,
Are many bent and withered forms, toothless and bald, and gray,
Who await the final summons, and whenever it shall be,
May the future yield the happiness we enjoyed in Ottokee."
SPRING HILL
The village of Spring Hill had its inception, perhaps, in the meeting, at the house of Mortimer D. Hibbard, on February 1, 1844, "of gentlemen from Maumee and Angola and along the road," to consider "the expediency of putting a line of stages on this road, between the two places." The quoted words are those extracted from the diary of Mrs. Mortimer D. Hibbard, who also recorded the decision of the gentlemen to establish such a line. Spring Hill was presumably to be a stopping place, and apparently the projectors of the stage route sought to interest the people of the western settlement of Dover in the project so that travellers might be sure of accommodation at Spring Hill, while en route west, or east. That the Hibbard family planned to establish a village, or expected that a village would develop at Spring Hill, is clear, from a diary entry of April 20, 1844, when Mrs. Hibbard wrote: "Took a walk to the village of Spring Hill that is to be;" and on July 4th the settlers in the vicinity evidently gathered there for Fourth of July exercises, Mrs. Hibbard recording on July 5th: "Had a pleasant celebration here yesterday. They raised a liberty pole, seventy-five feet high, with stars and stripes."
Nothing further in the matter of town planning, ,or of intention to plan, is on record, regarding Spring Hill, until the organization of Fulton county, in 1850, when the claims of Spring Hill, as a site for the county seat, were considered by the locating commissioners. Ottokee was decided upon, and Mortimer D. Hibbard was elected county auditor. At the next election, however, he was succeeded by Judge A. C. Hough. When the next spring opened, Mr. Hibbard seems to have decided to carry out his original intention, Mrs. Hibbard
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recording on March 18, 1851: "Mortimer had his village of Spring Hill surveyed today." Their daughter, Miss Marie A. Hibbard, who has resided in Spring Hill all her life, is perhaps the person best fitted to tell the history of Spring Hill. She writes.
"The little unincorporated village was surveyed and platted March 25, 1851. It occupies a part of the large tract of land willed by Ambrose Rice to his two grand-nephews, Oscar and Jason Rice Hibbard. ..
"In addition to the plat of the main village, north of the so-called Maumee and Angola road a row of lots, on the south side, was taken from the farm of T. B. Walters, the farm now occupied by Mr. Everett Spring.
"The original plat gives names of first purchasers of lots, as follows: Justus Wright, J. C. Hoffmire, Dr. N. W. Jewell, Jesse and John Struble, Michael Maloney, R. C. Shepherd, David Ely, and David Davis. The four central lots on which the brick schoolhouse now stands were given by Mr. Hibbard for a public square. He also gave the lot for the frame schoolhouse, now used as a residence, at the southwest corner of the village.
"In the first years of the village a brown frame building on the south side was kept as a tavern by Daniel Struble, Mr. Stevens, Garrett Rittenhouse, James Ronk, and others in succession.
"T. B. Walters, Jason Hibbard, and later Augustus and Edwin Howard were the first merchants. Michael Maloney had his black- smith shop at the southwest corner of the village.
"William Harris, and later James Gillett, had wagon shops on the south side. James Way had a carding and grist mill on the north side of the village. It 'burned, and R. C. Shepard built another, farther to the west. The old tannery, southeast of the village, was run by the Struble brothers, Jacob and Henry. Mr. Wickham had a tailor shop on the north side.
"Dr. Hyde, Dr. Jewell, and later Dr. R. C. Ely cared for the sick .Mr. William Jewell built the house now used as a Methodist parsonage. Rev. Ralph Carter, brother of Mrs. J. C. Aldrich, built the little house used many years as a parsonage, west of the Christian Church. The house south of the school ground was begun by David Ely, and finished by M. D. Hibbard, who occupied it many years. A part of it only remains. The house directly south of it was built by T. B. Walters, and the one to the west by R. C. Shepherd. Of all the first houses, built in the early fifties, but one remains in possession of the man who built it. The large house built by Milton Spring, at the extreme end of the village, is still owned by his daughter, Mrs. Ellen Anderson, the only remaining one of his children. The oldest daughter died in early womanhood. The three sons all served in the Civil War. Mrs. Anderson has the love and gratitude of many of her old pupils and Sunday School scholars ..
"Of the patriotism of the people one need not speak. Dover Town- ship was one of very few where no draft was necessary during the Civil War. Her young men, many of them mere boys, came thronging into the ranks. Good soldiers they were, too; none braver, or better.'
The above-quoted historical narrative was, written by Miss Hibbard in 1916, or 1917, and published in the "Fulton County Tribune." With a desire only to supplement it, data collected from other sources is given. Mrs. Maddox, daughter of C. M. Spring, states that:
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"Mr. Hibbard laid out the town of Spring Hill, with a public square which was intended for the Court House Square. There the schoolhouse is now located, and to that square Mr. Hibbard, by means of a hydraulic ram, forced water from the spring at the foot of the hill just east of the village.
"From these springs and small hills the town received its name. One large spring, which later was made into a fish pond by C. M. Spring, furnished water for the family washings of the carly settlers, who came to the same on washday, and hung a kettle, in which they heated water. On the farm almost one mile east of Spring Hill, where Rev. Elisha Hibbard lived, was the site of an Indian village."
Judge Verity, in his history of Dover Township, states that Morti- nier Hibbard was the first merchant at Spring Hill, he "opened the first store of goods, upon a small scale, at a very early day," adding that "he was followed by Thomas Walters, and afterwards by William Jewell, Robert Shepherd. Francis Lauderdale and Son," whose store was
THE ELISHA HIBBARD FARM JUST EAST OF SPRING HILL WAS THE SITE OF AN INDIAN VILLAGE.
"burned out" in 1860. The only saw mill in the township was built about one mile west of Spring Hill, in 1853, by Burdick Burtch, who a few years later sold to Daniel Kahle. His son, James Kahle, added a cane crusher and evaporator to the plant. The grist mill at Spring Hill was established in 1857 or 1858. and destroyed by fire in 1860. It was rebuilt, but eventually removed.
The Spring family was associated with Spring Hill almost from its establishment. "It was in 1853 that Milton Spring and family drove into Spring Hill. At that time there were in the village three thriving stores and a hotel. The Spring family had visited an uncle in Chesterfield Township, and were on their way west, they knew not wherc. Reaching Spring Hill, the people of the town gathered around the wagons, and urged them to settle in their thriving new town," states a family record, which continues: "Uncle Tommie Walters, who was keeping store in the building standing on the north- east corner of the main corners of the town, offered them two upstairs
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