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 44
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
Settlers during the next five or six years included: 1835, Abram Cole, and family ; 1835, or 1836, Peter Wise, Gilman Cheedle, William Fowler, David Childs, Bethuel Gould, Jefferson Van Fleet, Martin Butler, Charles Gray, Thomas Wardley; 1836, Robert McClarren, Gardner Tremain, and his wife Elizabeth; 1837, James Trowbridge and family; 1838, Moyer family; Henry Fluhart, H. Whitney, James McQuilling, and G. B. Lewis were also early settlers, but the year of their coming is not known.
During the '40s, the settlers included: John Batdorf, Samuel and Elizabeth Biddle, Alfred B. Gunn, Elijah Smith, S. R. Stebbins, George Wright, William Markle, Calvin Biddle, Mark Berry; Abner P. Brainard, John Harrison, S. B. Skeels, McLasky family, Adam Zedaker, Geoge Wood, and many others.
William King, with his wife, three sons and one daughter, and also his father and mother, were truly emigrants, for they came direct from Londonderry, Ireland. They intended going on to Defiance, but were persuaded by Peter Manor, a hotelkeeper at Providence, with whom they stayed for a night while en route in their wagon, to first go twelve miles north, to what was then known as Six Mile Woods. Accompanied by Manor they went. On the edge of Six Mile Woods they came to the cabin of William Meeker, who had settled in what is now Swan Creek Township, in the previous year, 1833. They hired him to guide them over the land, which the U. S. Government was prepared to sell for $1.50 an acre. They went due west to where Delta now stands; thence to York Center where they turned and went one mile south, thence east to the "oak openings," finally selecting land on section twenty-four. Then they returned to Providence, and King made a journey, on foot, to the land office at Waupakonetta. The road was so slushy that it took him three days, the route being along a "blazed" trail. Upon his return, he took his family onto the land he had entered, and erected his cabin, the family meanwhile living in the wagon. Within a month, they experieneed one of the terrifying tornadoes which periodically leave a trail of devastation in Fulton county. That visitation left a track "two miles wide and thirty miles long" through the dense forest. "Its duration was about twenty minutes, and almost destroyed the forest; everything was a wreck in its path," and "everything" could have meant only the standing timber, for there was nothing else in its way, there being no habitations, save the "shanty" of Mr. King, which seems to have been almost miraculously "saved, amid the falling and crashing of timber," but "it required of the settlers eight days of steady work to cut their way out of this windfall."
John S. Trowbridge settled nearly a mile west of the present village of Delta, and eventually became a merehant in Delta. The Trowbridge family has good place in the records of York Township and Delta, and were good members of the Presbyterian Church of Delta. They were formerly from Saratoga, New York. He and his wife, Hannah Compton, became the parents of nine ehildren, all of whom were born in Ohio. His wife's father, came into Fulton county at the same time, and purchased from William King an entry of eighty acres the latter had made in that year. James Trowbridge, who came with his wife and two children from Saratoga, landed at Perrysburgh
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
on July 17, 1837, having made the trip from Albany, New York State to Toledo, and perhaps on to Perrysburgh, wholly by water, taking the canal route from Albany to Buffalo, then on Lake Erie to Toledo. At the time of their arrival at Maumee, the Trowbridge family found a great gathering of Indians had eentered there, preparatory to being removed further west. On July 20, 1837, the Trowbridge family had reached the section in York Township upon which they were destined to live for very many years. James Trowbridge is stated to have been the first settler to conduct a store within what became the limits of the village of Delta. It appears, however, that Eli Kitts, of Maumee City, was the first storekeeper, James Trowbridge being second.
A TOWNSHIP OFFICE IN PIONEER DAYS WAS THAT OF FENCE VIEWER.
The Fowlers were from Pennsylvania, and later from Fairfield County, Ohio. It is believed that they came into the county of Lucas in August, 1835, settling in York. There were three sons, William, Thomas, and Robert, in the family at that time, and they all lived to establish worthy branches and to take good part in the development of Fulton county. William E. Fowler, son of Thomas, became a leading resident of Delta. He was twiee mayor of Delta, being re-elected in 1902.
Gilman Cheadle and his wife, Susanna Rockafellow, came from Morgan County, Ohio, in 1836. The family lived in York Township
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
until 1870, when Mr. Cheadle retired to Wauseon. Ten children were born to them, and as a family they were much respeeted. Gilman Cheadle was postmaster for fourteen years, having been appointed by President Jackson.
Martin H. Butler was in the township certainly in 1836, and probably in 1835. He was the first township clerk of York and was one of the first school examiners. Also he was one of the pioneer teachers.
Charles Gray headed a family of good record. He was of English birth, emigrating as a young man. He married Marilla Donaldson, who died in 1850. Charles Gray was married four times, and lived to a good old age. He cleared 120 acres in York Township. James Gray, his son, by his first wife, enlisted as a drummer-boy in the Union Army, when only fifteen years old, and saw some of the hardest war service with the Thirty-eighth Regiment, O. V. I. He died in 1909. George was a successful builder and contractor in Lyons, and also had a good Civil war record. Edward Gray, who died in 1913, as the result of a fall from a scaffold at his home, near Wauseon, was at that time one of the oldest of the carly residents of York Township. He was eighty-two years old, and he only lived for three days after the fall. He also was a soldier during the years of stress, 1861-65.
Thomas Murray and his wife, Mary Huffteller, settled on section twenty-six in 1836. They were from Pennsylvania.
The McClarren family, originally from Scotland, has been associ- ated with Fulton county since 1836. Robert McClarren, the progenitor, in Fulton county, of the family married Catherine Jones, sister of William Jones, the first settler in York.
William McClarren, a worthy soldier of more than three years of Civil war service, was "well-known to a large circle of friends in Fulton county." He probably was the first born of the children of William and Catherine (Joncs) McClarren. He was born in York Township on December 13, 1837, and died September 16, 1912, in Sandusky. To him, by his wife, Rebecca Alwood, were born seven children, including William B. McClarren, of Winameg, and Judson McClarren, of Wauseon.
Peter and Elizabeth (Monasmith) Zimmerman came from Wayne County, Ohio, in 1845, and located at Delta, where they died. They had nine children, including Martin, who was a drummer boy during the Civil war. Mart Zimmerman will be remembered by many for his activity in organizing, or being one of the principal organizers of the Grand Army Drum Corps, and the Fulton County Martial Band, which eventually took the place of the G. A. R. Drum Corps. For more than a generation he was prominent in such connection, the last occasion being that of the appearance of the band at the Grand Review of the G. A. R., at the Toledo Encampment, in 1908. He died in 1910. For thirty years he was a member of the U. B. Church. Simon Zimmerman, his brother, was throughout his life a prominent resident of Delta. For fifty-seven years he was a carriage and wagon builder in Delta, and was eighty-seven years old in the year of his death, 1911. He was one of the thirty-eight men who voted at the pioneer election of the village of Delta; and he held several official connections with the local administration in later years. For eleven years he was township trustee, and was thrice elected mayor of Delta.
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
Garner Tremain settled on sections 25 and 36. He and his wife, Elizabeth. were formerly of New York State.
John and Elizabeth Batdorf settled on section 21 in 1842, where they raised a large family, including Aley M., "one of the pioneer teacliers of the county," and for many years a deputy surveyor of Fulton county, and Aaron B., who became an active and useful eitizen of Wauseon. He died in December, 1918, and his brother, Aley M., not long afterwards. The latter was a teacher in Fulton county schools for thirty-seven winters.
Henry Fluhart located on section seven, and was one of the most hospitable of the invariably hospitable and openhearted pioneers. His son, James, is referred to in the Press chapter, he being among the pioneer newspaper editors of the county.
The Rev. Uriah Speneer was one of the settlers in 1835, located on section 17. He was at one time auditor of Lucas county, and was one of the pioneer Methodist preachers of the neighborhood, although he came into the region to settle, and not to take clerical eharge, his health having broken down. There are many references to his work elsewhere in this volume. Uriah Spencer married into the Mikesell family, and his son William married Emma Donaldson, who bore her husband eleven children, among them Frank, who still has the homestead in York Township, and is a successful farmer.
James Donaldson, who eame into York Township in 1835, or 1836, was a veteran of the War of 1812; and although there is no record of it, it is believed that he was buried in Fulton county.
Stephen R. Stebbins settled in York Township in 1844, entering land in section seven. His wife, whom he married in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 1840, was Sarah Abbott. Mr. Stebbins was early a justice of the peace in York Township, and also held other minor offiees. He retired to Wauseon in 1883.
The Biddle family has been prominent in Fulton county history, especially in Wauseon. Samuel Biddle and his wife, Elizabeth, settled in York Township in 1842,on seetion seventeen. They allowed their cabin to be used as a school building, in the early '40s, some of the pupils being their own children. One of them, Stillman C., was for twenty-one years a justice of the peace in York Township, and for a period was township clerk. He later took up residence in Wauseon, and was long a member of the Baptist Church of that place. He died in 1916, aged eighty-two years. Many other men of worthy record in Fulton county are of the same patryonymic, but are not of the family of Samuel. George D. Biddle settled in York Township in 1855, coming from Richland County, Ohio; and he also had a son named Stillman, and one named Samuel A. They were both successful farmers in York. Another of his sons was John L., who developed a fine farm in York Township, and later retired to Delta. Another Biddle family was that headed by Jaeob Biddle, who settled in Clinton Township in 1855, buying a farm from Elisha Williams, the pioneer settler of that township.
Mark Berry came from Holmes County, Ohio, in 1842. His son, Mark W. Berry, who died in 1913, aged seventy-seven years, was well- known in Wauseon. For forty years he was a member of the Christian Church.
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
John Harrison is supposed to have come into York Township in 1840, or in about that year, and settled on section seventeen. For many years after locating in the township, he conducted a blacksmith- ing business on his farm. He married Elizabeth Wardley. Their son, Alfred D. Harrison, for the greater part of his life was a successful farmer in York.
Benjamin Skeels was a stalwart pioneer. He and his wife and family came in 1840, and suffered many hardships during the first few years; in fact, Mrs. Skeels died three years after coming to Lucas county. An incident connected with her burial will give an indication of some of the handicaps under which the pioneers labored. It appears that the day of the funeral was a wet one, and owing to the state of the roads only the male members of the family accompanied the body to the graveside. The coffin, a roughly hewn one, was placed into an ox-
OX-YOKE AND TIN LANTERN.
wagon, and as the wagon with attendants passed what is now known as the Segrist farm, the state of the road at that point was so bad that the water almost ran into the wagon box. Upon another occasion, Benjamin Skeels worked for George Wright for twenty-two days, in order to earn sufficient to purchase a barrel of flour (worth at that time about fifty cents a bushel, at the mill). And in order to get the flour he had to go to Maumee, the journey both ways taking five days. Thus he labored for practically four weeks for a barrel of flour. Later, Benjamin Skeels carried the United States mail, from Waterville to Fort Wayne, passing over the old plank road, which went through Delta. His daughter' Sarah Skeels, recollected that her father once stated that at Emerling's Corners, east of Delta, there was a toll gate during the days of the plank road. The mail route passed through West Barre and Ridgeville.
R. C. Skeels, now of Wauseon and in his eighty-fourth year, narrated some of his pioneer experiences in 1918. He is now practically confined to his couch, by paralysis, but his recollection of early days in York Township is vivid. He was, in 1918, somewhat amused at the complaints made at that time by people who felt the "hard times" brought to the country by prosecution of the World War. ' He said :
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
"With all the restrictions that the government is placing upon us that we might win the war, we scarcely know what poverty, or hard times, means. I was born in Seneca county, this state, and when three and a half years old came to this county, April 20, 1840. My parents located on the farm now owned by A. T. Skeels, in York Town- ship. There was not a foot of it cleared, and for miles and miles it was a dense forest.
"Within one weck after our arrival, we were in our own home, a log shanty built without the use of a nail. This new home had a door and two windows.
"We had to go to Waterville for mail and flour, and it took us from two to four days to make the trip. The roads in York Township were trails, which wound over the ridges. Two of these old trails, from Providence and Waterville, met near where the Raker Church now stands in Swan Creek Township. Over these trails we used to drive with our oxen and lumber wagons, and we were just as happy as the boys and girls of today, as they go gliding along over the fine roads in their autos. I am glad they have things better than we had it, though I doubt if they have any more real pleasures than we. The gasless Sunday, and the two pounds of sugar, did not bother us in those days. Gasoline was unknown, and to have had two pounds of sugar would have been a luxury.
"There were only twelve voters in the township when we first located in York. There were no sehoolhouses, but a little later Mrs. Pray taught in a log house.
"When we came here the Indians had gone, but a number of their log, or pole, houses with pole roofs, still stood. There were plenty of wolves here in those days, but they did not molest the people, but bothered the sheep and poultry.
"I was married to Elizabeth Frederick, January 13, 1859, and we started housekeeping in a log house, on what is now Jonah Seymour's farm. We hauled all our household goods in a wagon, in one load. .
"Of that (Skeels) pioneer family, one brother was killed at Atlanta . in the Civil war; another brother, A. T., lives on the old home farm; and two half-sisters, Sarah and Callie Skeels, reside in Wauseon.
"The pioneers who lived in the county (York Township) when we first eame here, and whom I remember, were: John Wise, who lived on the Jas. Schamp farm; Garner and Warren Tremain, who lived where Jud Smith now lives; William Cheadle owned the Jacob Segrist farm; John Miller lived across the road from us, in what was then Henry county ; Nate Wright, father of N. C. Wright, of this city, owned the George Myers farm."
The Segrist family is one of long residenee in York Township, although it ean hardly be termed one of the pioneer families, excepting insofar as it has participated in pioneer elearing of wild land. Jacob Segrist bought the William Cheadle farm. The first of the Segrist family to come into York Township was John B., who came in 1853 from Stark County, Ohio. He developed a valuable farm of 240 acres, and built a fine farm home. The Segrist family record is extensively referred to in the second volume of this work, and further referenee is unnecessary here, unless one gives a personal reminiscence of Jacob Segrist, who remembered "pounding stakes for the Lake Shore
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
Railroad" in 1853; and at that time, at Wauseon, "there were two swamps where the railroad park is now situated," he stated; also saying that "a north and south Indian trail traversed what is now Ottokee Strect, Wauseon, from the north, and passed near the alleyway of the present Ham Block, on Depot Street; and from there it went south, near the Omler Building, and on to the southeast near Barber's old residence, on East Leggett Street." Jacob Segrist, in 1915, was eighty-seven years old, and "looked spry and walked more like a man of fifty," commented a local newspaper. Mr. Segrist asserted that he had only been sick "one or two times in his life," and had "only had the doctor once."
Of the early residents in York Township, probably one of the most widely-known in that part was Dr. William Ramsay, who for more than fifty years practiced in the county. He died in October, 1909, aged eighty-two years, fifty-seven of which had been spent in Fulton county. After he had graduated from the Reserve Medical College, at Cleveland, he returned to his home in Bolivar, Ohio, to resume school teaching and to practice medicine, but "the Great West beckoned to him, and he obeyed," states an obituary, which continues: "Taking his horse and pill bags, he started across the country to find a location, and after several days travelling arrived at Napoleon, where he expected to locate. The evening of his arrival he met a contractor, who said: "Young man! This is no place for you. Go to Delta. It's a prosperous settlement, and with the building of a railroad it will be a good location." The next morning "found Dr. Ramsay seated in his two-wheeled gig, with his horse headed for Delta. While crossing the creek, just north of Napoleon, he lost his saddlebags and medicine. He arrived in Delta with his horse, gig, and seven dollars in money. In the forests which spread over Fulton county in 1852, Dr. Ramsay found his gig of very little use to him, as most of his trips were made over cow-paths, or Indian trails. Only the physician of the pioneer days can tell of the hardships which were endured by them, as they were enroute to some settlers' cabin to offer relief, or how they became lost in the woods and were compelled to sleep out-of-doors all night. Dr. Ramsay knew what this meant, as he had endured it all." For many years Dr. Ramsay was the principal owner, latterly sole owner, of a banking business in Delta. The Bank of Delta was founded by him, and by David C. Teeple, in 1868, and it was successfully operated until the death of Dr. Ramsay, in 1909.
Valentine Emerling settled in York Township in the '50s, and lived there until 1911, when he died at the age of ninety-one years. He was a man of strong character, and fine personality, and was widely- known as "Grandpa" Emerling.
A reviewing of the lives of worthy York Township residents could take up many more pages of this chapter, but as many of the prominent families will be given extensive review in the second volume, the remainder of this chapter will be chiefly confined to township and town history, thus avoiding unnecessary double recording.
TOWNSHIP RECORDS
Unfortunately, the township records of the first thirty years have been lost, and with the exception of the fact that Martin H. Butler
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
was the township clerk elected at the first election in 1836, there is nothing on record until the year 1866, when the township officers were: Simon Zimmerman, William Struble, and J. H. Williams, trustees; Matthew Sutton, clerk; A. H. Smith, treasurer; Emanuel Batdorf, assessor; E. W. Cleveland, and Isaac Pontius, constables; Samuel Gertgey, John McQuilling, S. B. Brown, Charles Wright, Calvin Biddle, B. B. Biddle, Daniel Saulpaugh, John Gee, Andrew Biddle, A. H. Smith, S. G. Aumend, Samuel Pontius, R. C. Skeels, William Struble, John Elton, E. Batdorf, J. B. Segrist, and Eli Timbers, supervisors. From that time forward the record of trustees is complete. The succession is as follows:
"1867, same as 1866; 1868, Simon Zimmerman, Silas B. Skeels, and Thomas Wardley; 1868, 1870-71, Samuel O. Ayers, S. B. Skeels, and Thomas Wardley; 1872-73, S. O. Ayers, S. G. Aumend, T. Wardley ; 1874, the same; 1875, S. O. Ayers, Reuben Bond, J. B. Fashibaugh; 1876, S. O. Ayers, E. R. Bowerman, J. B. Fashbaugh; 1877, S. O. Ayers, E. R. Bowerman, George D. Biddle; 1878, Simon Zimmerman, George D. Biddle, E. R. Bowerman ; 1879, S. Zimmerman, E. R. Bower- man, J. Botsford; 1880, same; 1881, S. Zimmerman, E. R. Bowerman, John S. Wise; 1882, S. Zimmerman, E. R. Bowerman, and J. Batdorf; 1883, S. Zimmerman, E. R. Bowerman, Reuben Bond; 1884, Andrew J. Fraker, E. R. Bowerman, Reuben Ford; 1885, Andrew Fraker, Fayette S. Wolcott, and Reuben Ford; 1886, A. J. Fraker, E. R. Bowerman, Charles Harrison; 1887, the same; 1888, A. J. Fraker, W. P. Miller, Charles Harrison ; 1889, A. S. Trowbridge, W. T. Miller, Chas. Harrison ; 1890, A. S. Trowbridge, W. T. Miller, A. Waldeck; 1891, A. S. Trowbridge, S. G. Aumend, A. Waldeck; 1892-93, the same; 1894-95, A. S. Trowbridge, Jacob Shinaberger, A. Waldeck; 1896, A. S. Trowbridge, J. Shinaberger, and George Koos; 1897, C. F. Trowbridge, George Koos, Charles C. Wilson ; 1898-1900, C. F. Trow- bridge, Alfred Rex, Charles C. Wilson ; 1901-04, J. G. Stiriz, Alfred Rex, C. C. Wilson; 1905, Jerry Williams, A. Rex, C. C. Wilson; 1906-07, J. Williams, J. W. Miller, C. C. Wilson; 1908-09, J. Williams, J. W. Miller, T. E. Goodwin; 1910-11, H. B. Geringer, N. J. Snyder, T. E. Goodwin : 1912-13, H. B. Geringer, N. J. Snyder, F. E. Terwilli- ger; 1914, II. B. Geringer, A. D. Mann, F. E. Terwilliger ; 1915, K. H. Trowbridge, A. D. Mann, F. E. Terwilliger; 1916-17, K. H. Trow- bridge, A. D. Mann, J. W. Leist; 1918-19, K. H. Trowbridge, C. D. Eberly, J. W. Leist; 1920, M. A. Batdorf, C. D. Eberly, J. Segrist."
The present township clerk is C. F. Bower, who is also clerk of the Board of Education, and of the Delta Council. He succeeded ' Addison B. Thompson, as township clerk, in 1920, the latter having held the office for very many years.
Addison Thompson for a generation was one of the successful business men of Delta. He was the head of a large cheese manufactur- ing plant established by his father in 1869. A. S. Thompson was one of the founders of the Farmers National Bank of Delta, in 1900. He was at one time county commissioner.
Allen S. Trowbridge, who was a township trustee for eight years, died in 1911, aged eighty-six years. He was a Presbyterian, and was well-known throughout the county.
Edward R. Bowerman, trustee for more than a decade, was "one"
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of the county's most prosperous and progressive farmers ...... a man of strict integrity, of high moral principle and of a sunny, genial disposition." He owned a large farm in York and Swan Creek town- ships, until he retired to Delta, where he died.
Andrew J. Fraker, trustee for five years, is known to most of the agriculturalists of Fulton county, in his capacity of president of the Fulton County Agricultural Society. He is a successful retired business man, and banker. For some years he was township treasurer.
At the outset, the settlers in York Township had to go from twelve to twenty miles to the river for their mail, the delivery passing up the river weekly. Later, Benjamin Skeels carried the mail between the river and Fort Wayne, over the Plank Road, and then probably there were two deliveries weekly. to the postoffices along the road ...... It is understood that the first post route established was from Toledo, via
ATLAS PRINTING CO.
POST OFFICE
LAUNDRY.
POST OFFICE, DELTA.
Delta, west to West Unity, in 1838, running upon the state road, which was opened in September, 1834, after a survey carried through in that year by Judge Ambrose Rice, who some years later settled in Dover Township, but only for a few years, as he died of consumption in the early '40s.
York Center was the first postoffice established in York Township, that office being two and a half miles west and one mile south of Delta. There was a postoffice named Delta established by William Meeker, on the farm of S. H. Cately, in Swan Creek Township in 1838, and it became the postoffice for York Township residents. In 1842, how- ever, the postoffice was removed 'to Delta. Thus, the village which
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