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 50

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 50


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The Tiffin River, or Bean Creek, follows a southwesterly course across the township, which in the extreme east and in the southeast corner has a sandy, or gravelly soil, being really a continuation of what were known as the "Oak Openings", i. e., spots which were covered by oak trees of smaller growth and underbrush in the days anterior to, and in those of, the first settlement. The greater part of Franklin however was heavily wooded; in fact, it appears that the township "in its early days was covered with an almost impenetrable forest of giant growth." In these days the black walnut, oak, cherry, and other timbers would have made the landowners rich in the immediate profits that would accrue from the clearing of the land, but in the 'thirties and 'forties, when the greater part of the clearing was accomplished the timber was valueless, save as fertilizer; and the great part of that immense tract of, now valuable, timber was reduced to ashes. Even in the 'fifties, and much later, it hardly paid the settler to convert his standing timber into lumber, except such as could be used locally. The "Wauseon Sentinel" of September 18, 1857, gave some market


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quotations, among them : black walnut timber, at $16.00 per 1,000 feet, oak and ash, $8.50, and white wood, $9.00. However, the ash from the burned logs had its agricultural value, helping to enrich the already rich virgin soil of the greater part of the township, and to add the necessary properties to bring fertility to the bare spots.


Regarding these "Oak Openings," James Grisier of Fayette, who traveled the county extensively and continuously, as an insurance agent, fifty years ago, wrote:


"The country that has surprised me most is that along the Angola Road in Franklin Township, the land around Spring Hill, and the 'openings' north of Wauseon, along the Fair Ground road. Forty-five years ago I would not have taken this land as a gift and paid the taxes on it. It was then counted as the Bean Creek Swamp, or the sand land where the crow carried a haversack to keep from starving to death, as it made its trips across that forsaken country. But what a happy change has taken place. These 'openings' are becoming the choice dairy farms of the county, and the despised Bean Creek marsh is recognized as one of the garden spots of the county. I have watched this gradual change and have been surprised that land which was once so worthless could be made the best in the county.


"Some of the best and prettiest homes in the county are found today in these sections which were counted worthless fifty years ago."


Franklin Township, however, was in most parts swampy, or at the best very wet, and until drainage was properly undertaken was diffi- cult ground to cultivate. However, all difficulties eventually were conquered by the indomitable will and the indefatigable labor of the stalwart pioneers.


EARLY SETTLERS


The pioneer in Franklin Township was, undoubtedly, Joseph Bates, who was either the first, or the second, white man to take up residence, with intent to settle, in territory now embraced in Fulton county. The year of his coming cannot be authentically determined, but it un- doubtedly was before 1835, and while there is reason to believe that he was a comparatively old settler in 1834 (for at that time he was widely known among settlers up and down the Maumee Valley, and had created a reputation as a hunter in Franklin Township and the hinter- land), he was generally accredited as having settled in February of 1833. His daughter, as has been noted in the Settlement and Organ- ization Chapter of this work, asserted that he settled in 1832. How- ever, settlement in 1833 would make him the first of legitimate settlers in Fulton county, and for that distinctive place of honor his name has been bracketed with that of Eli Phillips who came to Royalton Township also in that year.


Joseph Bates is entitled to be so bracketed, for although it is true that he settled in what was then Williams county, Eli Phillips settled in what he recognized as part of Michigan territory, going even so far as to take up arms for Michigan when the boundary dispute between Michigan and Ohio got to such a heated state that both administrations mobilized its militia. Verity writes that during the period from first settlement to the creation of Fulton county (from 1833 to 1850) "Joseph Bates is by all acknowledged to be the first settler in the present


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area of Franklin Township" adding that "for quite a period of time he alone endured the hardship of early pioneer life, which never will be sufficientlv elucidated to the succeeding generations; the severe labor and toil to make for a growing family a home ...... living on hominy made from corn pounded in wooden mortars, and such wild meats as might be obtained by the rifle from the woods, caught in the intervals of labor, and often without milk or butter, or any of the articles of luxury."


The Rev. Jacob Binder, one of the pioneer settlers in German Township, stated his pioneer experiences to John W. Roseborough in 1896. He stated that when he and three others returned to Defiance in 1834, from Fort Wayne, Indiana, whither they had journeyed on foot, in an unsuccessful search for suitable land upon which to settle, "they heard of one Joseph Bates, eighteen miles north, a noted hunter, and a man of broad and accurate knowledge of the country." He further explained that "Mr. Bates then lived on what is now (1896) known as the John Shilling farm, in the southwestern part of Franklin Town- ship." To him they went, and Joseph Bates took them six miles east of his own land to what is now known as Lauber's Hill. There they settled, and there, with the aid of Joseph Bates "and his hired man," they raised a log cabin, 20x24 feet. Another version of this pioneer log-raising in German Township states that Joseph "and three men, two of whom were Abner and William Ayers, who were boarders with Bates" helped to see the newcomers comfortably housed. It would therefore seem that in 1834 Joseph Bates had at least three companions, or neighbors, in Franklin Township, although most records assert that he was alone in that township for two years. Verity says that "in the summer and winter of 1830 and 1831, Joseph Bates, with his gun, dogs, bear and wolf traps, came from the East to Hardin County, O., where he hunted and trapped until the coming spring, and during the time lived on muskrats and other game caught in traps, or shot. He sold his furs and skins, the product of his fall and winter labor, and came to then Williams County, and purchased the southeast quarter of section two, town seven north, range four east, now Franklin Town- ship, and had of that winter's labor $130 left. He went back to his home, and in the winter of 1833, started with his family for his new purchase in Williams County, cutting his own road through an un- broken forest from Ottawa to Defiance. When arriving at his new home, he lived for three days in a wagon, until he could erect a log cabin, with simply his own and his family's help. There was no neighbor nearer than twelve miles. He then cleared some land, and raised that year the first grain in Franklin Township, or the western part of Fulton County. A large part of his life here was spent in hunt- ing and trapping, of which he was ever fond."


It appears that Joseph Bates was born in Vermont in 1787, and went into Canada in early manhood, there marrying Harrict Dodge, by whom he had eight children, four being sons, Truman, Thomas, Joseph, and James, who were stated to have all come with their parents, when the family settled in Fulton, or rather Williams, county. Not one of the sons, however, lived long in Ohio. The daughters were: Harriet, who married Theron Landon; Belinda, who married Warren Hancock; Mary, who married Cyrus Barrett; and Elizabeth, who mar- ried Hiram Alvord. From Canada, the Bates family came originally


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to Richland county, Ohio. In 1845, Mrs. Bates died, and in the follow- ing year Joseph Bates married the widow of Joseph Borton.


Joseph Bates "at an early day" was an inn-keeper in Franklin Township, his hotel being known as "J. Bates's Inn". This he sold, in 1861, to William Ayers, soon afterwards moving to Iowa, where he died five years later, aged seventy-nine years.


Jolın Shilling, who purchased the farm owned by Joseph Bates, is supposed to have paid, in 1864, $6,000 for the 160 acres.


Members of the Ayers family were evidently in Franklin Town- ship in 1834, or earlier, but probably neither Abner nor William Ayers in that early day had entered any land, and are therefore not considered, by Verity and other historians, as having been the second and third settlers, respectively, of Franklin Township. Samuel Ayers came into the township in 1835, and took land in section two, town seven north, range four east; and the members of his family came, apparently, in the winter of 1837. They were originally from Perry county, Pennsylvania, although their home, prior to their coming to Franklin Township, was in Richland county, Ohio.


Settlers in Franklin Township in 1835 were: John Shaffer, Adam Poorman, John Mclaughlin, Samuel Ayers; in 1837, Samuel B. Darby, Asher Bird, Joseph Ely, Martin Pike, William Young, James Baxter, Jabez Jones, and Albert Chatfield; in 1838, Jacob Shaffer, Sr., Michael Shaffer, Thomas Walters. John Bowser, Leonard Whitmore, David Meriolett, and George Miller; 1839, Peter Minich, -Peter Andre, Ben- jamin Borton, George McFarlane, Asher Ely, John Sparks; in 1840, John Wooster, Chauncey Loveland; in 1841, Nathan Borton, Isaac Borton, John Borton, John Jones, and P. S. Vanortrick; in 1841, or 1842, John Kendall, and Christian Swartzentruver; in 1843, John Dennis and Orrin G. Greely; in possibly 1839, or not later than 1844, Dorsey Barnes, Ozias Barnes, John J. Clark, Jacob Hanshy, Moses Kirtz, Noah Specht; in 1844, John Jacoby, John Fisher, Bethuel Borton, and Peter Hagerman; in 1845, James S. Riddle, Adam Andre, Nathan Oliver, Phillip R. Fisher, John Mason, Josiah Mason, Reuben Mason, J. C. Mason, John Arch, Ezekiel Masters, Jacob Cox, Benjamin Persh- ing, and Lucius N. Chatfield; in 1846, John McGowen, George Kibler, David Carr, and Daniel Thomas; in 1847, John Gype and William Ely; in 1848, John Hardin, Gideon Long, Joshua Conoway, Obadiah Borton, and Chockley Harlan; in 1849, Richard Rider and Harvey Miller. The majority of these settlers were men of family, so that by 1850 the township had become moderately well peopled; and of those families that are now considered among the old families of Franklin Township, but were of settlement later than 1850, might be mentioned : the Ely, Martzolf, Crumrine, Baum, Shilling, Randall, Kump, Garri- son, Burns, Stevens, Snyder, Shipman, Koon, Doriot, Winzler, Dun- aharger. Sloan, Russell, Hittle, Shank, Prickett, Roth, Shoffner. Leu, Dickson, Wentz, Brahme, Dennis, Roop, Bixton, Seiler, and Gigax families.


John Shaffer and Adam Poorman came together, entering the Bean Creek Valley in March, 1835. At dusk they approached Bean Creek, but had to camp in the snow until morning, when they "felled two trees across the creek, cut poles and split what they could, and made a bridge across the turbid creek, and moved over with their goods and families" their land being on the opposite side. They encamped


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for that niglit on a rising piece of land, but the next morning found that they were surrounded by water, as deep as five feet in places, the melting snow and heavy rain combining to make a flood. Eventually, however, the water subsided, and they were able to put up log cabins. John Shaffer was of hospitable nature, and if he did not keep a hotel, his home received many a traveler. In 1851, he sold his farm to Lyman Morrison, and eventually moved into Michigan. The Shaffer farm in Franklin Township was in section thirty-two, town eight north, range five east; and that of Adam Poorman on section five, town seven north, range five east.


Adam Poorman did not stay many years in Franklin Township. In 1846, he moved into Dover Township, selling his Franklin Town- ship farm to Daniel Thomas. His daughter Alice Ann, who became the wife of Royal C. Stevens, and eventually died in Tedrow, May 2, 1910, is believed to have been the first white child born in Franklin Township. She was born on September 28, 1836.


The MeLaughlin family was represented in Franklin Township in 1835, when John Mclaughlin, presumably brother of Daniel, came with Samuel Ayers into the township from Richland county, Ohio. They passed over the same route as Shaffer and Poorman, finding the bridge over Bean Creek, which they crossed with difficulty, event- ually locating land and then returning to their Richland county homes. On May 11, 1836, Joseph Mclaughlin, who was then but a boy of fifteen years, came with his mother, Isabelle (Drum) widow of Daniel Mclaughlin, from Richland county, and settled on section 1, town 7 north, range 4 east, Ohio survey, that being the same section upon which was the tract John Mclaughlin had entered. John Mclaughlin came at the same time, or earlier. Elizabeth MeLaughlin, sister of John, married Adna Reynolds. She, herself, was evidently imbued with the spirit of the pioneer, for it has been stated that upon the day of her wedding, she "did a washing in the morning, for the family; shelled that morning also one-half bushel of corn, and that afternoon carried it on her shoulder, through the woods, to Bird's mill, located on Mill Creek, north, got it ground, again reshouldered and carried it home; baked the wedding cake; and was married the same evening. She had carried the half bushel for five miles, over a difficult road, but evidently needed the flour for the wedding cake, and with the typical pioneer spirit set resolutely about accomplishing the task, with a light heart. Joseph Mclaughlin became the head of a very large family. He married Mary Beaty in 1845, and they reared ten of their eleven ehildren.


Samuel Ayers settled on section 2, town 7 north, range 4 east. It is not known whether he was related to the family of same name that settled in Dover Township.


Asher Bird, who came in 1837, and settled on section 8, town 10 south, range 1 east, was a man of enterprise, and his coming materially improved the condition of the settlers in the neighboring country, en- abling them to get their corn and other grain ground without the necessity of having to give as much time in. journeying to and from the mill as the flour they returned with was worth. That was the dis- heartening experience of the earliest settlers, who would take five or six days to make the journey to and from the nearest mill. Asher Bird's grist mill was the first to be built in that part of Fulton county.


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His water mill was located on Mill Creek, and early records of German Township show that settlers in that township also patronized Bird's mill. He was not, however, very successful in the enterprise, states one chronicler.


The Ely family has been prominent in Franklin Township. Joseph Ely came in 1837, and George Ely in 1835, or 1837, with his wife, Elizabeth (Folck) Ely, and their child, La Fayette G. Ely, who was then an infant, having been born in 1834; and Asher Ely, father of George, came in 1839. Asher was a veteran of the War of 1812, and his son, George, became a worthy pioneer of Franklin, while the infant, La Fayette G., was destined to become quite a prominent man in Fulton county affairs, thrice auditor of the county, and twice its representative in the State Legislature, besides. which he held many responsible township offices, and was justice of the peace for many years. David Ely, in 1838, settled on section 2, town 7 north, range 5 east.


The Shaffer family is among the old families of Fulton county, and of prominence in more than one township. One pioneer branch settled in Pike Township, and Franklin Township had many representatives. Jacob Shaffer, Sr., settled on section 12, town 10 south, range 1 east, and Michael on section 35, town 8 north, range 5 east. Another branch settled in Clinton Township, and Dover, and included Alfred F. Shaffer, who became sheriff of Fulton county, and later president of the Board of State Fair Managers, and president of the County Fair. Another was Dr. Henry Shaffer, who was born in Franklin Township March 26, 1851, and practiced the greater part of his professional life in Dover Township, dying at his home in Tedrow in 1914.


Joseph Ely, Martin Pike, William Young, James Baxter, Jabez Jones, and Albert Chatfield settled along the creek, the last-named on the east bank, and the others on the west.


John Bowser, a settler of early 1838, came from Fairfield county, Ohio. He was of German birth, and of characteristically simple and religious life. He settled on section 34, town 8 north, range 5 east, and was a comparatively old man when he came, having six sons, some of whom were full-grown. The family had an extensive acreage in Franklin, the father having purchased 120 acres for each son, the whole tract apparently adjoining. They seem to have combined their efforts, and to have centered their efforts upon the clearing of the homestead farm, before beginning the development of their respective tracts. John Bowser was a local preacher of the United Brethren de- nomination, and was quite active and zealous in religious work among the early settlers, and the early church societies in Fulton county. His youngest son, Noah, was the father of Noah W. Bowser, who died in Wauseon in 1910. The last-named inherited the homestead farm, and cultivated it for some years, later buying eighty acres in section five, of Franklin Township. He was prominent in local affairs, as township trustee and treasurer.


The Rev. John Bowser was much esteemed, and it is supposed that his coming influenced others of his faith to come also from Fairfield county. At all events, within a few years quite a strong society of United Brethren had settled in Franklin Township, among them rela- tives and old neighbors of John Bowser, including Dorsey Barnes, hit son-in-law ; Ozias Barnes, John J. Clark, Jacob Hanshy, Moses Kirtz, Noah Specht. Mr. Bowser, however, died in 1844, although the name


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continued to come into early church annals, through the work of his son, Aaron, who became an able preacher, serving as presiding elder in the district for several terms.


Samuel B. Darby, who settled in Franklin Township in 1837, is referred to in many connections in this work. He was one of the most capable and active of the pioneer administrators of Franklin, and comes into county record. Verity says that he was for "many years the foremost leader in affairs of the county." He was one of the pioneer school teachers-the first of male sex-in Franklin; conducted what was probably the first store in the township; and several other pioneer distinctions are his, as has been noted elsewhere. He died in Franklin Township in 1881, aged seventy-seven years. His widow, Sepharna Guilford, however, lived to be nearly one hundred years old. She was in her ninety-ninth year when she died, in Wauseon, in 1909. She was a quiet, unassuming, and venerable old lady, devoted to her home and home interests, and was known affectionately to a wide circle of friends as "Grandma" Darby. She and her husband were the parents of nine children, and from February 22, 1838, her home was upon the farm they owned on the bank of Bean Creek. From 1884, until her death, she lived in Wauseon, where some of her descendants still live. She was a woman of strong steadfast Christian faith, and was a member of the Baptist Church for seventy-two years, was a charter member of the Mill Creek Baptist Church, and later became a member of the Wauseon Church, of that denomination. F. L. S. Darby, of Wauseon, . Dr. A. B. Darby, of Waterloo, Indiana, are her sons.


Peter, Anthony and John Minich, sons of Henry Minich, of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, were early settlers in Fulton county. Peter . came into Franklin Township, with his wife Catherine, in 1839, taking land in section 1 of town 7 north, range 5 east. He became a successful farmer, and died in 1881. John Minich first came in 1844, and 1854 returned and purchased a farm of eighty acres in Franklin, for which he then had to pay $3.100. .


Peter Andre came in 1839, settling on section 2 of town 7 north, range 5 east, but he only stayed a few years. His brother, Adam, settled in Franklin Township in 1845, paying $450 for eighty acres. He lived in the township for the remainder of his life, taking good part in township affairs, having at some time been elected to almost all of the township offices. He was justice of the peace for some years also.


The Borton family first settled in German Township. Nathan Borton died in New Jersey in 1831, leaving a widow and nine children. Nathan W., with his mother and four of the children, settled in German Township, Fulton county, Ohio, five years later. Nathan W. Borton was the first treasurer of German Township; Adam Borton was one of the first overseers; and Joseph Borton was one of the first constables of German Township; and, it has been stated, that Nathan was the first justice of the peace of German Township. He married in 1839 Mary T. Ayers, and in 1841, or 1845 (probably the latter, for he was a trustee of German Township as late as 1843) he bought a farm of 100 acres in Franklin Township, paying $300 therefor; and upon that homestead he lived for the remainder of his life. The Borton family were Quakers, and Nathan seems to have been gifted with good ora- torical powers. Benjamin Borton is recorded as of Franklin Township


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residence in 1839, John Borton in 1841; Isaac Borton at about that time, Asa Borton in 1848.


Many of the pioneers of Franklin Township come, and rightly, into the early records of German Township; some into those of Gorham; it would therefore be advisable for interested readers to read those chap- ters of this work also, in undertaking research regarding early settlers in Franklin.


James S. Riddle, who settled in Franklin in 1845, upon a tract of eighty acres, for which he paid $2.50 an acre, was a man of strong pur- pose and succeeded well in life. It is stated that when lie first came into the township, he had a family of five children, and only a York shilling in his pocket, his other wealth being eighty acres of wild land, for which it is possible he had not at that time paid the whole of the pur- chase price. Yet, he lived to be comparatively well circumstanced, financially, and to enjoy much esteem as an able public worker and servant. He was prominent in. the early administrative affairs of Fulton county ; was justice of the peace. for many years, and closely identified with the direction of the County Infirmary for many years. He compiled many statistics of value regarding the early administra- tion of Fulton county, and it is to such men as he that thanks should be given for making it possible to preserve local history for posterity with a reasonable assurance of accuracy.


Mention should be made of one worthy Franklin Township family -a family of noteworthy Civil War record. William W. and Armenia (Morrison) Stevens came into Franklin Township, from Richland county, Ohio, in 1850. They had six sons and one daughter; and when the test came in the '60's, every one of the six sons went into the Union Army. The sons were Royal C., Charles L., Daniel L., Sylvanius M., William H., and John S. Three enlisted in the Sixty-Seventh Ohio, and three in the Forty-Fourth Illinois. Royal C., Charles L. and William H. were wounded, the last-named losing an arm; and Daniel L. gave his life to the nation, dying in service in 1863. Charles L. rose to the grade of captain, and later, in civil life, proved himself to be an efficient public servant, holding by election many responsible offices. He died in 1912. Royal C., who was discharged because of wounds, in June, 1865, also served later as township trustee, and became a useful resident in Franklin. William H. ("Billy") Stevens comes into county record, having for three terms been county recorder. He died in 1901. Sylvanius M. reached the age of eighty years, his death not occurring until December 27, 1919. He was a prisoner-of-war in Andersonville for ten months, and after being released and discharged, settled in Dover Township, where he held township office for many years. He was treasurer for fourteen years. Truly William H. and Armenia Stevens had good cause to be proud of their sons.


Levi W. Brown, who was born in Franklin Township in 1841, eventually became probate judge of Fulton county, and was twice re- elected and afterwards appointed United States Consul, at Glasgow, Scotland, by President Benjamin Harrison. Samuel Avers became treasurer. Ezekial Masters, who settled in 1845, became a county com- missioner, serving for twelve years; he was also state representative for two terms. Sylvester Baum has also been commissioner.




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