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 51
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Official township records are not available, and nothing is on record as to the pioneer elections of Franklin. The township is essentially an
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agricultural one, well-drained, and rich, with excellent roads, and fine farms. No such conditions as were stated to have existed in the '60's and '70's could now be imagined by a person passing through Franklin Township. Regarding the old times, James Grisier, before quoted, wrote :
"My experience in travelling over the country in those days of long ago sound to the present generation like fairy tales. I did all my travel- ling then on horseback, and many and many.a time has my horse be- come exhausted before night, from wading through the mud, and I was compelled to leave him and make the rest of the journey on foot through the woods. No horse could travel twenty miles a day over those roads and keep it up day after day. There were few ditches then, and ofttimes I have gone for miles over bluff and through swale during the spring. On many occasions have I left my horse at some farmer's barn, and walked ten or twelve miles that I might enjoy Sunday at home with my family, my horse being unable to make the journey. You talk about bad roads these days, but you do not know what they are."
There are no incorporated, or even moderate-sized communities within the borders of Franklin Township. The nearest it has been to owning a city was when, in the very early days, an unscrupulous speculator, named Heffenstine, entered some land on Bean Creek, at the Fulton line, platted it, and gave it the name of the City of New Amsterdam, marking steamboat landing, public square, public park, and other fictitious but attractive civic improvements. He went to Cincinnati, representing New Amsterdam to be "almost the garden of the world," and he apparently made some money by his schemings in real estate. Not one of the persons he sold lots to, however, ever settled in the township, and the tax title to the whole city eventually passed to Samuel B. Darby, the land being sold for the taxes due upon it. Later, Darby offered to sell the property for the tax money he had paid, the land was then under from one to ten feet of water.
However, those days passed, and owners of Franklin Township land in these days are fortunate in possessing it.
SCHOOLS
There was a private school in Franklin Township in 1836. It was taught by Samantha Crandall, in the log cabin of Joseph Bates, on section 2, and it was with difficulty that she got to and from school, having to cross Bean Creek on a felled log that straddled it. In addi- tion, she "had to wade through swales and water." Her mother con- ducted the school in the next year, Jane Brundridge succeeding her.
At about that time a log schoolhouse was erected by Samuel B. Darby, on the east bank of Bean Creek, near Darby's land. He was the first teacher, conducting the school for the winter term of 1839-40, when twelve pupils were enrolled. In 1842, a frame house displaced the log cabin.
Another school district, known as the Ascher Ely District, was organized in 1845, a log cabin having been raised for the purpose. Augustus Porter was the first teacher. As the population increased, other school districts were organized; in 1888 there were seven school
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distriets under the administration of the Franklin Township School Board, and one fractional district serving pupils of German and Franklin Townships.
One of the most prominent and capable of the pioneer teachers of Franklin Township was Jonathan Long; he will be remembered, respectfully. by those people in Fulton County, who in their young days were guided into an intelligent understanding of academic subjects by him.
There has not been much change in the schools of Franklin Town- ship during the last twenty-five years, excepting in the expansion of curricula, and the extension of the school term, which now is thirty- two weeks yearly. There are still only seven school districts, although there are eight schoolhouses, one lying idle. The school property is valued at $8,850; and during 1919, they enrolled one hundred 'and ninety scholars. The present Board of Education of Franklin Township is constituted as follows: Jay J. Funk, president; Geo. K. Russell, clerk; Harry Stowell, Chas. F. Shaffner, George M. Ziegler, and W. G. Russell, directors.
CHURCHES
The United Brethren denomination was, probably, the first to organize a strong church society in Franklin Township, although the death of John Bowser in 1844, deprived them of one of their most capable workers and preachers.
The first church building ereeted in the township seems to have been that built for the Methodist Episcopal Society. It was erected in 1849, near Master's Corners. Prior to that Methodists, and other denominations used the schoolhouse in the Ascher Ely Distriet for devotional purposes.
Many churches were built near Master's Corners, the Presby- terians building a church there in 1852, that being the second Presbyterian Church ereeted in Fulton County, the first having been built in Etna, Pike Township, and in 1852, or 1853, the Baptists also built near the Corners, where the church remained for some years, eventually however being removed to seetion 2, town 10 south, range 1 east.
The Disciples, or the Church of the Diseiples of Christ, had a strong organization in the southwestern part . of Franklin, and in 1861 built a church on section 2, town 7 north, range 4 east, the Rev. L. L. Carpenter, who at that time was county treasurer and the most ardent and effective worker for the Diseiples Church in Fulton County, is stated to have been the man under whose labors the church was organized, in Franklin. It was dedicated on February 20, 1862. For further information, see Chapter XXV, Church History.
The Lutherans early had a church society in the township, and in course of time adapted a schoolhouse, on section 34, town 8 north, range 5 east, for the purposes of a church; and therein for many years services by that sect were regularly held.
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INDUSTRIES
John Borton, in 1841, distilled oils from peppermint, spearmint, sassafras, and butterweed, and continued in that business for many decades. Asher Ely erected a similar still in 1844. Nathan Borton conducted a similar business for many years from 1846; and in about the same year John Mason built a still on section 1, running it for twenty years.
George Kibbler was the first, and only, man to erect a whisky still in Franklin Township; indeed, in Fulton County. He ran it in connection with a grist-mill, from 1852 to 1864, when he sold the whole business to a man named Gigax. The place was abandoned a couple of years later, after damage done by water when the dam broke. The plant was on Mill Creek.
Another grist mill, on Mill Creek, was that of Asher Bird. It was located on section 8, town 10 south, range 1 east, and was the first to be erected in that part of Fulton County. Bird ran the mill from 1837, until he died in 1842. It was continued in operation by others until 1849 or 1850. Verity says "it was without doubt the first regular grist mill in Fulton County." Albert S. Fleet, in his history of German Township, wrote the following regarding milling conditions in the county in the first decade of settlement: "Mills were far away, with the exception of Mr. Bird's, in the northwest corner of German, and was taken with the territory from German to make Franklin; but the mill was the same, and never have we had a better one for good work than when Mr. Bird was miller himself. But the water failed in dry weather. Mr. Bird built his mill some- time before the organization of the township."
The first cider mill was built by Chockley Harlan, in 1856. Some years later, John Gype and his brother erected a more modern press, which continued in operation for very many years.
In 1850, the first cane mill to be erected in the township was put on section 12, on P. R. Fisher's farm, by Obadiah Borton, who was responsible for the making of the first sorghum syrup manufactured in Franklin, possibly in Fulton county. In 1858, John Mason built a mill for grinding cane, and ran it for fifteen years. Another mill, a large one, was built in 1865 by Joshua Conoway, who ran it for six or seven years.
The first saw-mill was probably that erected by Albert Chatfield, on the banks of Bean Creek, in 1837, or 1838. A grist-mill was built near it in later years, but was only worked for a few years, fire then destroying the plant. The first steam sawmill was erected in 1856, by John Borton, near the south side of section 35, town 7 north, range 4 east, of the Ohio survey. Later, lath and shingle mills were added to the plant, but both were destroyed in 1879, by fire. The brothers Gype entered the saw-milling business later, having a mill in the eastern part of the township. The mill was built "at an early date" by Michael Shaffer.
Jacob Shadle was one of the enterprising men of the township, and at one time had a large brick and tile yard, "near Angola and Toledo Road, west of the creek." There were two other brick manu- facturing plants in the township, but that industry has not been
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followed in Franklin as extensively as has been the case in other parts of Fulton County.
The first shoemaker in Franklin was Benjamin Persing; the next, John Hardin; the next, Joshua Conoway, who later moved into Dover Township. He was a man of many trades, millwright, wheelwright, carpenter, plasterer, painter, mason, blacksmith, wagonmaker, shoe- maker, tailor, and, last but not least, was a good farmer.
The first storekeeper, probably, was a man named Hastings, who, in 1838, opened a store just west of Bean Creek, on the Maumee and Angola Road, and west of Samuel B. Darby's home, upon the south side of section 32, town 8.north, range 5 east. The store was abandoned a few years later. Leonard Whitmore kept a store for five or six years, from 1838, on section 10, town 10 south, range 1 east; and Samuel B. Darby did some trading, either at his home, or in the store originally opened by Hastings, and tradition has it that the early settlers, in the first thaws and heavy rains of Spring, would have to approach the store in boats. Reuben Mason opened a store at his residence in 1850. It was he who laid out the villiage of Trenton, which developed no further than to be the place of the store conducted by himself for nearly ten years, from 1852. He was potsmaster of the Blanc office for eleven years; in fact, until that office was abandoned. The first postmaster was Jabez Jones, the office being located in latter's home, in Franklin Township, in 1850. Of the people of Franklin Town- ship, however, Samuel B. Darby was the first to hold the office 'of postmaster, and that office was stated to have been the first to be established in the county, the mail route being from Defiance to Michigan. The Blanc postoffice of later date was served by the mounted mail carrier, who travelled the greater part of the route from Toledo to Angola. The first mail carrier was John S. Butler, but at the time Jabez Jones had the Blanc office, the mailman was probably Benjamin Skeels, of York. The establishment of the rural free delivery routes rendered most of the rural postoffices unnecessary.
Ira Smith was the pioneer physician of Franklin Township, but in length of residence and extent of practice, Dr. John Kendall deserves place as the pioneer medical man of Franklin Township. He came from Gorham Township in 1839, or 1841, settling on section 35, town 8 north, range 5 east, and practiced for practically twenty years. His son, Dr. Amos, also practiced in Franklin Township, for some years in the late forties, then, however, returning to Gorham, in which township Dr. Amos Kendall practiced for the remainder of his life. Dr. Ira Smith was only in Franklin for about three years.
A child born to Mrs. Irene Holt, a sister of Isaac and John Reynolds, of Franklin, was, it has been asserted, the first to be born in Franklin Township, or in German Township as it then was. But this child died soon after birth. Also, there is doubt whether the Reynolds family came into German Township before 1837. Whereas, it has been authenticated that Alice Ann Poorman, who is also claimed to have been the first white child born in the township, was born on September 28, 1836. She married Royal Stevens and lived in the county for almost seventy-four years.
Ramsom Reynolds and Perlona (or Pollonia) Crandall were mar- ried by Nathan Borton, a justice of the peace, on July 28, 1838, which
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marriage is claimed to have been the first solemnized in Franklin Township. The second was that of Elizabeth Mclaughlin, before- mentioned, to Adna Reynolds.
POPULATION
The Census statistics for Franklin Township since 1870 are avail- able. Then the population was one short of one thousand persons; in 1880, it had increased to 1,201; in 1890, there were 1,119; in 1900, 1,138; in 1910, only 964; and in the current year, 1920, the "pre- liminary annoucement of population" published by the Bureau of the Census before the final recount had been made, gave the count as 926, thus showing that, in point of population, Franklin Township has been falling back during the last forty years. In general prosperity, how- ever, it has substantially advanced.
CHAPTER XXI HISTORY OF FULTON TOWNSHIP
A portion of the territory now within the bounds of Fulton Town- ship was within the strip of land regarding which Michigan and Ohio were at loggerheads for many years, and almost at war in 1835. It has been extensively written of in other chapters, therefore the reader is probably well conversant with the fact that north of what is called the Fulton Line, meaning the line surveyed by a man named Fulton, the territory now included in Fulton County was, prior to 1835, considered by the Territory of Michigan to be within its juris- diction and boundaries. At that time, Michigan asserted its authority over the territory and the settlers seem to have recognized it, and to have done their legal business in Adrian, Lenawee County. Also, possibly, they recognized Michigan's right to levy taxes, although with dispute between the state authorities in such a pregnant state in the first years of settlement, it is more than probable that few settlers actually paid taxes to either Michigan or Ohio until after 1835, or 1836, when the situation was clearer, as to administrative title.
Nominally, the whole of the territory now included in Fulton Township was, in 1836 included in the bounds of York Township, soon, however, to be transferred to the jurisdiction of Swan Creek Township, and part of it, in 1837, re-transferred to Amboy Township. At the time of the settlement of the Michigan-Ohio dispute, there were, it has been estimated, about twenty-five families resident within that part of the disputed strip now included within the boundaries of Fulton Township, and some of them had unpleasant experiences . during the inter-state strife.
Fulton Township came into existence on March 1, 1841, when the Commissioners of Lucas County met at Maumee City, and formed the township by taking "from Amboy Township fractional township num- ber 10 south, range 4 east, and from Swan Creek Township fractional township 8 north, range 8 east, and the north tier of sections from township 7 north, range 8 east." A further change came on June 2, 1846, when the Commissioners of Lucas County met at Maumee, and "upon the petition of many residents of Fulton Township.
ordercd that the south tier of sections in township 9 south, range 4 east, be taken from Amboy Township, and attached to Fulton Town- ship." So, its boundaries have remained to the present. Fulton was the tenth township of Fulton County to be organized, although its settlement began within a year or two of the opening of settlement in the first of the townships to which the pioneer came.
It was not a locality in which settlers could expect to find comfort without unusual effort: "it was said that the land was too low, or the water to high, and there was no way for drainage." The level land was heavily timbered, and required much labor to fit a small piece
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for cultivation, stated the same writer, adding that "when the crops commenced to appear, wild animals and birds were early to gather their share." Again, the roads through the woods "seemed to have no bottom, and long pieces had to be covered with logs, rails and brush, in order to make them passable." The streams had of course to be forded, and "they went to mill, to church, and to visit each other, with' ox teams and lumber wagons, and some of them of the rudest kind." Many wild animals were in the forest, and probably a gun was oftener than not, carried by the pioneer.
The soil, as one would expect in that swampy district, is in most parts of the township heavy clay, or with a clay subsoil very near the surface. Under-drainage, however, has brought very satisfactory results, and the yield from Fulton Township land compares satis- factorily with that from agricultural land of other townships in Fulton County. Swanton lies partly in Fulton Township, and Ai, which once was of greater importance than now, is also in Fulton Township.
EARLY SETTLERS
The place of honor, as the pioneer settler of Fulton Township must be given to John W. Harter, who, with his wife and three children, came into the forest in May, 1834, and settled on the west half of the northeast quarter of section 35, town 8 north, range 8 east. They came from Huron County, Ohio, travelling in a canvas-covered wagon, drawn by oxen. He reached to within two miles of his land in the Six Mile Woods by what was termed a road, but from that point had to clear the standing timber from his path before he could proceed. Four weeks elapsed before he could build a log cabin, and during that time his family lived, as well as they could, in their covered wagon, having as near neighbor a tribe of Indians, an Indian villiage, or camp, being at that time on the west bank of Swan Creek. The Harters were probably not disturbed, or perturbed, by the proximity of the red men, who, from most accounts, were peaceably inclined; yet, with the knowledge that they were comparatively defenseless, being far from neighbors, and that the Indians occasionally became uncontrollable, and in that state of frenzy brought torture and death to white people, John W. Harter and his brave wife must have had moments of uneasiness. Still, they would not have been pioneers if they were not possessed of stout hearts, inured to peril, and strong enough to endure all the hardships encountered. The pioneer settlers, as a rule, manifested an intrepidity as notworthy as that of great soldiers of history. They literally carried their lives in their hands, went alone into hostile territory, for all Indian territory was hostile, and "burned their bridges behind them." Few of their descendants realize the extent of the dangers that were before their forbears in carrying white civilization across this continent. The Indian opposi- tion was an ever-present danger; the wild beasts, and poisonous reptiles, of the wilderness caused them to be ever alert; and the great adventure in risking life, without provender, in the Great Unknown, the wilder- ness, was one that must have taxed the stoutest heart. This generation is not so tested, fortunately. The brunt of the struggle was borne by their resolute pioneer ancestors.
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The Harters were not destined long to be the only white inhabi- tants of Fulton Township; many other settlers came in the same year ; and it is difficult to compile a complete list of all who came during the first decade of settlement. As far as records available go, the settling families were: in 1834, that of J. J. Teachworth, Henry Lake, Alexander Boyd, Isaac Day, John Viers, Charles Welch, Africa Spaulding, Daniel Q. Berry, John Shaw, George Black, Judge Thatcher, Peter Broadsword, Gideon W. Raymond; in 1835, Ezra and Abraham Willcox, Alexander Vaughn, Joseph Dennis, Jacob Hamp, Jacob Haynes and his father, John Nobbs, William II. Harris, John Day, Hiram Clark, Cyrus Clark, Shubal Nixon, Joseph Babcock, William Stair; in 1836, Ami Richards, David Springer, Robert Pennel, Robert Watkins, George W. Thompson; in 1837, Samuel Durgin, Charles V. Merrill; in 1838, Samuel Dowling, Jonathan Wood, Levi Merrill, Clement Canfield, Hartman Canfield, Luther Dodge; Isaac Fauble came in 1842; Martin and Emery Wilson in 1843; Josiah W. Bartlett, in the same year; Elijah Herrick in 1845; Horatio Witt in 1844; and James and John Fenton, in 1847. Also, it is known that the fol- lowing were residents in the territory while it was still part of Swan Creek Township: Charles Gunn, J. Thresher, S. Fox, H. Chamberlin, Flomen Chamberlin, Samuel Cable and Eli J. Reed.
John J. Teachworth and his family came in the fall of 1834, as did Henry Lake and his family, wife and five children.
Alexander Boyd, a settler of '34, died, in 1837, and his was the first body interred in the Ai Cemetery. He was survived by widow and three children.
Charles Welch was the head of a large family, one well fitted for such pioneer work as was before them. His many sons cleared a large acreage, and Charles Welch in old age was well-circumstanced, because of his and their labor. He eventually moved into Amboy Township, where he died in 1878.
Daniel Q. Berry was one of the physically strong men of early Fulton. He came with his wife and their seven sons in 1834, the family settling in town 10 south, range 4 east, where he died in 1844, and his widow in 1860. His sons were also men of abnormal strength. They constructed a horse mill for Mr. Harter in 1835, Thomas C., Nicholas Q. and William Berry doing the greater part of the work, and it was said that Nicholas and William sawed all the lumber for the mill with a whip-saw, rolling a log on to a skidway, high enough for one man to stand under the log to manage the lower end of the saw. The other man stood on the top of the log, to guide the upper end of the saw. It "required great muscular power to run this kind of a saw-mill," but the Berry boys were expert sawyers. Soon afterwards Nicholas Q. Berry built a saw-mill for himself, and possibly his brothers, on Swan Creek, which ran through the Berry tract. It was the first saw-mill erected in Fulton Township.
The Rev. John Shaw settled on the eastern half of the northeast quarter of section 10, town 10 south, range 4 east, in 1834, but within a year left the neighborhood.
George Black came in 1834, and had part in the building of the pioneer schoolhouse in the Hiram Clark District, being one of the
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original directors. He moved away ten years later, in 1844, and later in life lived in Whitehouse, Lucas County.
Judge Thatcher, who came in 1834, lived in the township for more than thirty years, and took part in township affairs, as trustee, and in other capacities. He removed to Conencticut in 1866, shortly before he died.
Peter Broadsword was a settler of '34, entering land on section 10, town 10 south, range 4 east. He was subjected to singular treat- ment by the Ohio authorities during the time of heated contention with Michigan, regarding the boundary. It appears that "Peter Broad- sword went from this disputed territory to Waterville, south on the Maumee River, to mill, and on his return was taken prisoner-of-war, near old Swanton, on the Ohio side, and was detained with his grist of corn meal until his captors became convinced that he was not in any manner aiding the 'Wolverines;' and upon fair promises made by Peter, he was permitted to return to his family with the provisions, for which they had become very much in want."
Isaac Day came alone, in 1834, having lost by death his wife and infant son, in Utica, New York State. He settled on section fifteen of Swan Creek Township, and built a log cabin. In the following year, he was joined by his only child, a daughter, whom he had left with the Nobbs family, when leaving New York State in the previous year. John Day, with wife and four children, three of whom were sons, also came in 1835, accompanying John Nobbs and family. They all settled upon section 33, town 9 south, range 4 east, Isaac Day having decided to abandon his first holding and cabin. They set to work, as one family, and built a log cabin for John Day and his family, after which one was built for the Nobbs family, Isaac Day and his daughter moving into that house with them on January 25, 1836. John Day died in 1837, and Isaac became, morally, the head of the family; and with his assistance, or moral support, the widow, with her three young boys, was able to tackle and to conquer the poverty in which they were thus placed, and eventually to develop a property which yielded them sufficient sustenance. Isaac Day had one unpleasant experience in 1835, while returning to his farm, or tract of wild land which it then was, from the Land Office, whither he had gone probably to enter the land in section thirty-three, upon which they afterwards settled. It appears that he followed "the road or trail, as best he could by the aid of blazed trees" but that darkness overtook him when he had reached a desolate spot near Delta, in York Township. The report states that "darkness overtook him in the old windfall south of that place," the effects of the tornado experienced by William King and his family in June, 1834, when the storm left a track "two miles wide and thirty miles long," through the dense forest. Isaac Day might well have had difficulty in passing over this maize of torn and distorted fallen timber, and to have been delayed in consequence. The narrative goes on to state that "the howling of the wolves soon admonished him to seek a place of safety. This he did by climbing the nearest tree, where, standing with one foot at a time on a limb of a tree, all that night, with the howling of the disappointed wolves, he waited patiently for daylight." He reached his cabin in safety next day.
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