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 54
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Eccles Nay entered government land in 1834, coming from Jeffer- son County, Ohio, and earlier from New England. It is said that after paying for his land, Nay had no personal property of any kind except an ox team, yet with the aid of kind neighbors he struggled through the hard times.
In 1834, William Fewless settled. He came from Long Island, New York, and was so discouraged by his early experiences in the swampy and mosquito-ridden country of Lucas County, that he returned to Long Island. He, however, was soon again in Swan Creek, and hereafter made it his home until he died in 1881. Members of his family have place in pioneer school history.
George Curtis, and two brothers-in-law, left Orleans County, New York, in 1836, and "after several weeks of toil and hardship, over muddy trails and swollen streams, the little wagon train arrived at the Maumee River, near Perrysburg, where they met an old acquaintance named Browning. Browning was also looking for land." The ac- quaintance, Browning, was evidently Jesse Browning, who settled in Swan Creek about that time, and lived there for more than thirty years. The narrative continues :
"They proceeded up the river, expecting to cross by ferry at Damascus. When near Rouche de Bouef, just below Turkey Foot Rock, they met a man who was unfriendly`to the ferryman. He advised them that it was unnecessary to pay a fee to the ferryman, as the river could easily be forded with perfect safety. An attempt to ford the stream nearily cost them their lives.
"Pushing on, they arrived at a settlement of half a-dozen log cabins, called Centreville. The Curtis family, and Browning, decided to locate there, while the two brothers proceeded farther into the wilderness, one locating in what is now Chesterfield Township, and the other in Michigan. For about six weeks, the Curtis family occupied a location near where James Gibbs' residence now stands, until the father could procure some land. He finally entered and bought from the government, three hundred acres, and built a log cabin on the bank of the creek, where the country home of N. B. Cairl later was.
"When the Curtis family had located, their neighbors were three
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hundred Indians, camped on the opposite bank of the creek, on the farm now owned by J. E. Coon. The Indian children were the play- mates of the Curtis boys. The family was on fairly good terms with the redmen, and one day two Indians called at the home and inquired for the father, who had gone to the little trading post of Maumee, to procure provisions. The mother readily guessed the object of their visit, and not wishing to divulge his absence, and made some excuse when they asked for 'Firewater,' which was plentiful with the settlers, and was used for pickling. She told the Indian she would give him all his basket would hold. The Indian left, and soon returned, with a basket coated inside and out with ice, and received the 'firewater'."
The Curtis family has maintained connection with Swanton to this day, and own an up-to-date dry goods store in the growing village. Ormand Pray arrived in 1836, and settled on, or near section thirty-four, which was very swampy.
Wells Watkins, a settler of '38, became one of the leading men of the township, and one of the most popular. He came from Wayne county, Ohio, in August, 1838, with his newly-wedded wife, and nine days later settled on section ten of Swan Creek. It is recorded that he took his first grain, on his back, to Harter's horse mill, three miles distant. And when it was necessary to make a trip to Maumee, the journey would occupy the greater part of a week. So that his family adopted every means possible to make all they could at home. His wife, Sarah Newhouse, made clothing of buckskin, linsey, and coarse linen, "around the cabin hearth" at home, and they reared a large family, many of whom became prominently indentified with township and school and church administration. Also, Wells Watkins, and a son, rallied to the call of the Nation in the 'sixties, and thus have place upon the roll of the country's truest patriots.
The coming of Jacob Reighard, in 1839, began a connection which has been strongly maintained, in useful participation in various phases of the development and life of Fulton county from the pioneer period to the present. The record is elsewhere reviewed, so that not more than passing mention is necessary here. Some of the family still have possession of the land entered by Jacob Reighard, and cleared by him and his sons; while the family record runs through township, county, and state records, and comes into national records in the Civil War service of some of its members. The record of Frank H. Reighard, as school teacher, newspaper editor, county surveyor, and especially as state representative, is perhaps the most prominent, although he would agree that the most vital was the pioneer labor of his stalwart ancestors. And, it is hoped, that this historical work, of which Frank H. Reighard is the capable and interested supervising editor, will constitute one additional and appreciated service he will have rendered his home county.
Joseph H. Miller, who owned the greater part of the land upon which Swanton eventually developed, is, strictly, a pioneer of Fulton Township, but as the history of Swanton is shown, in whole, in this chapter, it will not be inappropriate also to make some reference here to Mr. Miller. He came in 1840, and then was a young man of twenty- eight years, the adult age of which had been somewhat adventurously spent. He was undoubtedly well able to care for himself when he came to Lucas county, and settled in Swan Creek. He had been for
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a short while employed on the Miami and Erie Canal, driving tow- boats, and three years after he settled at Swanton he married Lydia Cass, a Canadian. They had four children, among them James W., who for long was a resident of Swanton. They live together in marital helpfulness for more than forty years, Mrs. Miller dying in 1884 in Swanton. Joseph Miller worked at railroad construction, when the Air Line was being built in 1853-54, receiving seventy-five cents a day for his labor. And he did much trading, in farm produce, soon becoming established in a lucrative store business in Swanton. That, added to his farm holdings there, to his salary as station agent at Swan- ton, and the ever-increasing value of his land, eventually made him a man of considerable means. He added to it during the year in which he was also an innkeeper in Swanton; and although it was to his in- terest to encourage, by donations of land, the development of the community, he undoubtedly showed in many of his actions that he was a man of helpful public spirit, even though, with some basis, he may be criticized for his slowness, at the outset, in grasping the possi- bilities that were before him, as land owner, after railway connection had been established.
Socrates H. Cately took up residence in Swan Creek Township in 1844, and soon became prominent in township and county affairs. He was a very active and capable man, and had part in the agitation which resulted in the creation of Fulton county, in 1850. David Williams and S. H. Cately were the representatives of Swan Creek Township at a meeting of township delegates of the democratic party, held at the house of Daniel Knowles, in Pike Township, on March 20, 1850, "to form a democratic ticket." At that meeting they decided to "run" Nathaniel Leggett for treasurer. Leggett, however, had been appointed associate judge of the Commnon Pleas Court by the governor, who under the old constitution had such power, and had to decide whether to accept the judgeship, or the nomination for county treas- urer. Hc decided on the latter, seeing that the whigs had also nomi- nated him for that office, thus assuring him election unopposed; and as he could not hold the judgeship also he declined to accept that appointment, and, stated James S. Riddle in his "Short History of Fulton County," S. H. Cately was appointed in his place. There are some conflicting records, as has been noted in an earlier chapter, but undoubtedly S. H. Cately sat in the first, or second session of the Common Pleas Court of Fulton County. He was assessor of Swan Creek Township in 1852, which is the earliest year for which township records are available, and in all probability he held other township offices prior to that. For forty-two years he was a resident in Swan Creek Township, and latterly lived in Delta. He also served for three years as probate judge, succeeding L. H. Upham, who was unseated because of irregularity in election. Judge Cately took kcen interest in historical matters, and was one of the vice-presidents of the Fulton County Pioneer and Historical Society. He was twice married, and to the second marriage there were ten children.
Palmer Lewis came from New York state to Erie county, Ohio, where he married, and in 1848 settled in Swan Creek. He was justice of the peace, and township trustee for many years.
John Templeton was a man of extraordinary physique, reputed
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to have been almost 450 pounds in weight, and to have had proportion- ate strength. He was a conspicious figure in the township-a man of strong frame, and, by the record, his abnormal weight seems to have been more muscle than flesh. John Templeton came in 1853; and an extensive review of the Templeton family history will be found in volume two of this work. Jane Templeton, presumably of this family,, was one of the early school teachers of Fulton Township. The grand- father of John Templeton was with Colonel Crawford in 1782 at the battle of Sandusky Plains, which ended in the capture, torture and death of Colonel Crawford, in the presence of the notorious and in- human renegade, Simon Girty.
The Brailey family is one of the leading families of Swan Creek, and the name has been conspicious in many public records. Moses R. Brailey settled on section twenty-two, in 1856, or 1857, was an attorney, and while he was active in that profession, his inclination seemed to be to agricultural life, possibly that of a gentleman-farmer.
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THE GRANDFATHER OF JOHN TEMPLETON WAS. IN 1872, WITH COL. CRAWFORD, WHO WAS TORTURED AND PUT TO DEATH BY THE INDIANS.
The "Fulton County Tribune" reviewing the life of General Brailey, for he 'attained the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers during the Civil War, stated :
"General Moses Randolph Brailey was one of the county's most popular and prominent men. General Brailey was a native of Canandaigua County, New York, where he was born, November 2, 1817. . ... . He removed to Norwalk, where he engaged in farming and lumber business. Here he was elected a justice of the peace, the beginning of his highly successful public career. He studied law .... and was admitted to practice ...... in 1846, and for eleven years .
practiced in that city (Norwalk). In 1852 he was ...... prosecuting attorney ...... and two years later re-elected. In 1857 he removed to Fulton county, where he continued to pratcice law, and was twice elected prosecuting attorney, in 1858 and 1860. Before the expiration of the second term, the Civil War broke out. Resigning his office, he
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tendered his services to his country, although considerably past the age for military duty. His first enlistment was early in 1861, for a period of three months. He ...... re-enlisted on August 21, ...... as captain of Company I, of the Thirty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Having been wounded in a skirmish, near Spring Mill, Ky., he was discharged in March, 1862. On May following, he again entered the service, as captain of Company G, of the Eighty-fifth Ohio Regiment, and on August 22nd was transferred to the One Hundred and Eleventh Ohio Regiment. Major Brailey participated in the battles of Kentucky and East Tennessee, and in January, 1863, was promoted to brevet-colonel of the regular army, and brigadier-general of volunteers. By reason of impaired health, occasioned principally by his former wounds, he was obliged to leave the service, receiving an honorable discharge during the winter of 1863-64 ...... He ...... at the solicitation of Governor Brough, accepted the office of paymaster ...... until the close of the war. In 1865, he was elected comptroller of the treasury of the State of Ohio, serving until 1871. ... In 1876, he returned to Fulton county."
General Brailey built a magnificent home upon his estate in Brailey, Swan Creek, quite a baronial mansion, it seems, with massive walnut staircase, after the style of the old English country houses. The "Fulton County Tribune," July 5, 1907, featured this fine old mansion, stating :
"It was erected in 1865 (Verity says 1869), and cost $5,500. At the time of erecting this, then palatial, home Colonel Brailey owned six or seven hundred acres of land surrounding this home. The house stands upon a hill, and in a silent language it speaks of the enterprise and the high ideals of its builder, and of his conception of what the future of this county would be. It was erected at the close of the Civil War .... Building such a home at the close of so terrible a conflict .... it speaks for his faith in the stability of the Government.
"The home was erected in the midst of a dense forest. To the west, a few miles, were the Lewis and Adams settlements; to the east, about the same distance, was the settlement of Wm. Perkins; on the south W. J. Lutz and William Phare had built homes; while to the north were the settlements of B. Bixler and Ora Blake. To build a home like this, nearly a half-century ago was a gigantic undertaking. The brick for the building was made in Gates' tile yard, in Delta, some eight miles distant.
"The building was fashioned after the most modern homes of the Eastern states of that time. It has a broad open stairway, in the center of the building, leading to the upper rooms. The front doors, and the inside woodwork were of black walnut, and hand-carved. The building is a large one, and is divided into reception halls, parlors, dining rooms, libraries, art rooms, and chambers.
"The old mansion still stands on the hill south of the Brailey Station, but the hands that laid the walls, that moulded the brick for its con- struction, or shaped the wood to add beauty to its interior, have laid their last wall, have manufactured their last brick, have moulded their last piece of wood, and are now quietly resting in their narrow home. A number of changes in the interior of the building have been made .. but the outside remains unchanged, as designed by Colonel Brailey, and builded by a Mr. Hogel."
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In the eighties, General Brailey and his wife removed to Wauseon, where they spent the remainder of their lives, both event- ually being laid in the Wauseon Cemetery. The Brailey family comes prominently into Wauseon history, as has been noted in the Clinton Township chapter; and have to this day held connection with Swan Creek Township, and Swanton.
Ora (or Orra) Blake, who came from Allegany county, New York, in 1852, with his wife, Catherine E. Osterhout, and was a compara- tively near neighbor of General Brailey for many years, lived the greater part of his life in Swan Creek, and was a useful settler. He built many of the farm buildings of the neighborhood. For the last four years of his life, which ended in 1911, at the venerable age of ninety, he lived with his son at Emmenlaw, State of Washington, where he was buried.
Wesley Knight was one of the helpful settlers. He had courageous enterprise and worthy principle when he ventured into a country in which whiskey and alcoholic liquors were freely sold, and extensively consumed, and out of the dregs of a reeking saloon made a temperance tavern at Centreville, such as did credit to that community and the county. His coming is referred to in the narrative of his son, Theodore, which story has been specially written for this chapter.
Thomas Elton will be remembered as a worthy pioneer, a home builder, one of those who worked hard through poverty to a worthy independence. He contributed to the wealth of the county by his inde- fatigable labors. He was born in England, and married there, and his son William H., who died in 1906 and is classed with the pioneers, was six years old when the family emigrated, taking up residence in Medina county, Ohio, and in 1861, or 1862, moving to Swan Creek. The son, William H., lived in Swan Creek from his twelfth year, and at his death an obituary stated that "in the development of the town- ship ...... Mr. Elton contributed his full share. Beginning in poverty, by industry, economy and close application to business, he acquired con- siderable wealth, which he used for the betterment of mankind, and the industrial improvement of his community. He was a kind, genial, and benevolent citizen." He was buried in the Raker Cemetery, which was established in 1836, and where lie many of the Reighard and Elton families. Elizabeth Elton, who married George Reighard, father of Frank H., was a daughter of Thomas Elton, the pioneer.
Another of the grand old settlers is William Jefferson Lutz, who was born in 1833, and is still alive, and comparatively vigorous- particularly so, mentally-and latterly has lived in Swanton. He reached Swanton, then known as Centreville, on a memorable day in American history -- that upon which Abraham Lincoln was assas- sinated, in 1865. At that time, there were only three houses in the place : that of "Joe" Miller, who owned practically all the land of present Swanton; a little shoe shop; and another small shanty. At that time, or rather in that year, and for many years afterwards, where now the town stands one would only see waving wheat. "Jeff" Lutz remembers that on the Fourth of July, 1870, binder contests were held on Miller's' land where Main street now is. Mr. Lutz was a man of remarkable energy, and his public work has been notable. He bought four hundred acres of land, for which he paid $2,000, and at that time much of it was actually under water, and there was only
-
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a log cabin upon the land. One of his neighbors was General Brailey, who, he states, bought six hundred acres at only one dollar an acre. Lutz built a frame house in 1875, and lived on his farm until 1918, when he sold the 320 acres he then owned, and retired to Swanton. At one time he owned a thousand acres in the swamp,
and he labored indefatigably to drain and ditch it. He is now probably the oldest resident in Swan Creek Township, and is the oldest Mason of the Swanton lodge, and also, probably, of the local lodge of Oddfellows. Mr. Lutz's public record includes forty years as member and president of the Swan Creek Township School Board, during which period twelve township schools were organized, .a school being built for every four sections. One of his early associ- ates was Mr. George Reighard, and Frank H. Reighard received his first appointment, as a school teacher, from Mr. Lutz. "Jeff" Lutz set to work with a will to remedy the natural disadvantages of his own land, and other land in Swan Creek Township. He did much ditching himself, and he probably was one of the petitioners, and prime movers, for every ditch and road project undertaken in the eastern part of that township. It is asserted that he built the first section of gravel road laid in the township, and throughout his con- nection with Swan Creek, he, and his wife, were earnest, unselfish and effective public workers. His wife was a woman of fine character- istics. She was known affectionately as "Aunt Jane," and in old days when ague and fever prostrated whole neighborhoods, she would go from house to house ministering to the sick, giving them not only medicinal treatment, but actually setting herself to the urgent domes- tic tasks of the stricken household, all of which she did out of the kindness of her heart. She manifested neighborly interest of the highest degree, and it is little wonder that she came to be known as the "Angel of Swan Creek." In the early years of their residence, she was a school teacher, and capable as such. Mr. and Mrs. Lutz had only one child. She, Mary Lucinda, died in early womanhood. Six of the brothers of "Jeff" Lutz were soldiers of the Union during the Civil War, and five of them marched with Sherman to the sea.
The Gingery family, father and sons, reclaimed more than three hundred acres of the swampy land of Swan Creek, and took part in public work.
William Geyser, who is known as "The Father of Swanton," died in Swanton in 1907. He was born in Germany, in 1840, and came with his mother to Lucas County, Ohio, in 1850. In 1862 he enlisted, and marched with Sherman to the sea. Later campaigning developed a hernia from which he suffered during the remainder of his life, although it did not prevent him from taking consequential part in industrial and public life. He was pensioned, and invalided, and "after his return from the war, he engaged in the grocery business in Swanton." It has been claimed that he "was the first merchant of Swanton, and shipped the first grain from this station." The first merchant, probably, was Joseph A. Miller, whom "Jeff" Lutz found, upon his arrival in 1865, to be the only merchant of Swanton, Miller's house then being, really, a store and boarding house. Undoubtedly, however, William Geyser was one of the pioneer and most successful and progressive merchants of Swanton. Later, he lost much money in a cold storage venture in Wauseon, but he had much part in the
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building of Swanton. In 1887, he was, without solicitation, chosen to act as delegate at the senatorial convention, at Toledo, and there he was nominated for election to senatorial office, to represent the counties of Lucas, Wood, Hancock, Henry, and Fulton, in the republican interest. He and his colleague, William Carlin, of Findlay, were duly elected. He was mayor of the incorporated village of Swanton for a couple of terms, and was ever interested in the advancement of the village, it is therefore somewhat surprising to note that his name does not appear on the petition for incorporation of that place in 1882. He was thrice married, his third wife, Amy Haubell Geyser, dying in a New York City hospital in March, 1916. She was a school teacher at Delta prior to her marriage.
C. J. Brindley, A. Q. Price, the Pilliod brothers, and several other prominent residents of Swan Creek Township will have somewhat extensive biographical mention in the second volume of this work, and much more space cannot here be given to personal review, deserving though the pioneer records may be, and interesting and noteworthy as they undoubtedly are.
Martin Raker, Sr., must, however, have place among the pioneers whose lives will not be reviewed elsewhere. He was one of the settlers of 1835, or 1836, and the coming of the Rakers, husband, wife, and nine of their eleven children effected an appreciable addition to the Swan Creek settlement. The nine children were John, William, Jacob, George, Abram, Solomon, Catherine, Sarah and Christena. Martin, Jr., stayed in their former home in Fairfield County, Ohio, until 1846, but the descendants of Martin Raker, the pioneer, have had much part in Swan Creek Township affairs.
A. Holmes Smith, of Delta, who knew the Raker family well, and boarded with the pioneer, Martin Raker, Sr., when he taught the Raker school in 1851-1852, has given further data regarding that family. He states that Martin Raker, Sr., considered a tract of one hundred and sixty acres, on section 30, as his homestead farm. He owned in all several hundred acres, but lived on the 160 acre tract. Eventually, he gave his son, John 160 acres, Martin 120 acres, and Jacob 80 acres. Abraham lived at home until he married, then buying from William Meeker 30 or 40 acres that had originally been part of the Raker estate. Jacob eventually sold the eighty acre farm his father had given him, and bought 160 acres in York Township, on section 19. Martin Raker, Sr., as early as 1836 built a saw mill on the homestead farm, and it was operated almost until the year of his death, which occurred in, about 1865. And in 1853 he and William Meeker built a stone feed mill, which was operated until the year of the former's death. After William Meeker had sold his small tract to Martin Raker, Jr., he moved to where the Union Church now stands; and a little to the rear of the church William Meeker built a residence and also a cane mill, for making sorghum. He operated the mill for about a year, or so, his tragic death, in 1866 or 1867, bringing about its abandonment. William Meeker one day was caught by the sweep of his mill, and scalped, death being instantaneous.
The burial ground known as the Raker Cemetery was established in 1836, and stood upon the only rising ground in the neighborhood and for many miles west and south. It was the burial place of all the families of that part of Swan Creek, and by many of the families
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