USA > Ohio > Hardin County > A twentieth century history of Hardin County, Ohio : a narrative account of its historical progress its people and principal interests, Vol. I > Part 2
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Scarcity of Money in County, 53. Schindewolf, Theodore, 718.
School Lands, 17.
School of Music, 280.
Schools, Subscription, 59.
Schoonover, Fayette, 695.
Scioto Marsh, 359.
Scott, Henry W., 773.
Scott, John S., 875.
Scullin, HI. J., 774.
Selders, John R., 475.
Sells, L. D., 616.
Seventh Adventist Church, Dun- kirk, 174. Seymour, John B., 666.
Shanks, R. S., 617. Shark, Jesse, 871. Shaw, Andrew L., 504. Sheller, John C., 679.
Sheriffs, 438. Shields, HI. Dale, 693.
Shuster, Charles, 680.
Siebenfoercher, Rev. A. S., 273, 307 Sieg, Darius M., 856.
Sieg, Jacob, 463.
Silver Creek Methodist Episcopal Church, 428.
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INDEX
Silver Creek, Village of, 194; Schools, 194; Churches, 194.
Simpson, Sarah, 867. Singing Schools, 63. Sloan, Eliza. 630. Sloan. John S., 613.
Smick, John H., 665.
Smith, Albert E., 398, 549.
Smith, Charles W., 704.
Smith, Ephraim E., 645.
Smith, William D., 581.
Snodgrass, Jesse, 235, 558.
Snyder, Martin L., 590.
Social Life of Pioneers, 62.
Social, Religious and Educational Status. 412. Societies, Dunkirk, 174.
Souder, Robert L., 581.
Southard, Chester F., 767.
Spanish American War, 157.
Spelling Schools, 62. Spencer, Marsena S., 815. Spencer, Thomas J., 687.
Spencer, Watson, 687.
Sponsler, Horace E .. 865.
Sponsler, Alfred T., 545.
St. Anthony's Institute. 273.
St. Cecelia Society. 345. St. John's Evangelical Church. Blocktown, 195.
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Kenton, 296. St. John's Lutheran Church, Gosh- en, 419. St. Mary's Cemetery, 323. St. Paul's Methodist Church, 21.
St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church, 428. Stambaugh. George F., 683.
Stanley, William E., 394. State Senators, 432. Stevenson, Charles Augustus, 738.
Stevenson. Charles A., 761. Stevenson, Mary Ann, 805. Stewart, Marshall, 852.
Stillings, James R., 574. Stillings, John, 574. Stock Breeders, 78. . Stoll. George, 772. Stoll. William, 591. Stout, Charley, 812. Strong, John II., 716. Strong, Luther M., 396.
Subscription Schools, 59. Successors to the Pioneers, 161. Sugar Grove Methodist Episcopal Church, 424. Superintendents. Infirmary, 440. Swimley, F. F., 698.
Taylor, Charles W .. 765. Taylor, General James, 20. Taylor, Malichi, 844.
Taylor Creek Township, 20; First School of, 20; First Churches, 21; Pioneers of, 21; Industries, 358 ; Schools, 428 ; Churches, 428. Temperance League, 325. The Devil's Back Bone. 20.
The Citizens Bank. Ada. 253.
The Hardin County Bank, 251.
The Hardin County Democrat. 376 The Hardin County Republican. 383. The Kenton Bank, 247.
The Kenton Democrat. 381.
The Kenton Republican, 372.
The Mt. Victory Bank, 251. The Pioneer Railroad, 73.
Thew. John W., 457.
The Weekly News and Hardin County Republican, 371.
The Wochenblatt, 284. Thomson, David. 865. Thompson, Judge Alexander, 261.
Thompson, Eddie G .. 770.
Thompson, Howard E., 518.
Thompson, Madison M .. 652. Three Pioneer Physicians. 235.
Tidd. Alexander G., 537. Tidd, Albert M., 661. Tippecanoe Club, 313.
Titsworth, Archie W., 470.
Tobey. Dr. Henry A., 410.
Tough, David S., 882.
Town of Roundhead, 19.
Towns, Histories of, 165.
Townships, Organization, 17.
Transition Period. 73.
Travers, Patrick E., 845.
Treaties and Purchases, Indian, 10. Tressel, J. G., 623. Trials of Early School Teachers. 59 Tribe of Ben Hur, 176. Tuesday Club, Kenton, 344. Turner, E. M., 678.
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INDEX
Tymochtee School Association, 340.
Typical Hardin County Farm Hlouse, 441.
United Ancient Order of Druids, 336.
United Brethren Church, 61; Al- ger, 183 ; Dunkirk, 172; Hepburn 192; Marion Township, 425; Ot- terbein, 418.
United Presbyterian Church, 61; Kenton, 297; Silver Creek, 194. United Spanish War Veterans, 324. University Herald, 200, 385.
University Extension, 344.
Van Fleet, Joshua, 846.
Van Fleet, Miles W., 846.
Van Houten, Joseph II., 700.
Vassar, Jacob, 829.
Vassar, James E .. 829.
Vermillion, Charles, 870.
Virden, Joshua D., 609.
Virginia Military Lands, 17.
Waddle, Benjamin, 621. Waddle, Lizzie, 622.
Wagner, Daniel H., 546.
Wagner, J. Harry, 752.
Walker, Moses B., 585.
Wallace, Andrew J., 818.
Wallace, Cadwallader, 782.
Wallace, William B., 486.
Walnut Grove U. B. Church, 426. War of 1812, 80.
Washington Township, 46; Hog Creek Marsh, 46; Early Settlers, 46; Pioneers, 47; Industries, 359; Schools, 429 ; Churches, 430. Watt, Dr. Samuel, 235.
WV. C. T. U., 325.
Weddings, 64. Weir, John, 696. Weir, W. O., 579. Wells, George B., 849.
Welsh, Agnew, 200, 627. Wendt, William, 664. Wesleyan Methodist Church, Dun- kirk, 174; Kenton, 312. Western Courier, 374. Wessling, Alfred G., 655.
Wetherill, James S., 531.
Wheeler, Frank, 501.
Wheeler Tavern, 25.
Wheeler, Enos, 602.
Whitmore, John, 691.
Wickwire, James B., 673.
WVillaner, Albert G., 869.
Williams, Ira, 512.
Williams, John, 462.
Williams, Oren L., 819.
Williamson, Nathaniel, 530.
Willis, Frank B., 863.
Willson, Harley N., 524.
Wilson, Charles R .. 484.
Wilson, Chase L., 557.
Wilson, Isaac E., 756.
Wilson, Willis H., 758.
Winder, William C., 874.
Windle, Nancy A., 635.
Witcraft, William I., 494.
Wolf, William, 848.
Wolf Creek M. E. Church. 414.
Women's Relief Corps, 175, 185. 219.
Wood, Aubrey H., 601.
Wood, C. W., 607.
Wood, James M., 643.
Woodruff National Bank, 252.
Wright, Charles B., 568. Wynn, Irvin A., 668.
Yauger, William, 764.
Yearsley, Joseph, 478.
Yearsley, Thomas, 789. Yelverton, Village of, 195. Young, P. W., 619.
Zehner, W. K., 608. Zimmerman, John W., 798. Zuck, Alvin L., 710.
PART I.
THE FORMATIVE PERIOD.
Chapter 1-Hardin County before Organization.
Chapter 2-First Feeble Settlements.
Chapter 3-Organization of County.
Chapter 4-Pioneers and their Troubles.
Chapter 5-Dawn of Prosperity and Primitive Commerce.
Chapter 6-Social Life of Pioneers.
Chapter 7-Notable Pioneers.
CHAPTER I. HARDIN COUNTY BEFORE ORGANIZATION
MOUND BUILDERS-INDIANS-EARLY ADVENTURES-HARDIN COUNTY IN WAR OF 1812-FT. MCARTHUR.
Whatever history was made during the years before Ohio was divided into counties, is merely a matter of tradition in most instances, though a few of the more important events in this fertile wilderness that was destined to become one of the greatest states of the Union, have been preserved. The Mound Builders wrote their few pages in the heaps of earth and rude pottery and implements. and then disappeared forever. The Indians who followed told their traditions and history to the white settlers, and while some of the statements made by them have been pre- served, the greater portion of the unwritten history has passed from memory. Therefore the events to be recorded concerning Hardin eounty have almost exclusively to do with the work of the white race. Prior to 1833 about the only facts to be obtained are those dealing with the feeble settlements of the woods, though with these tales is a sprink- ling of savage deeds. It is a matter of great satisfaction to know that the new eounty was not founded after the bloody struggles of some of the other Ohio localities, for when the white man came upon the scene the Indians had been mostly exterminated or had been christianized.
The most important evidences that the Mound Builders once occu- pied this region are the mounds that they left here and there throughout the county. One of the most important of these lies in Hale township between Mt. Vietory and Ridgeway, and from which hundreds of loads of gravel have been taken to build pikes. This mound covered an area of about one and one-half aeres, and the first settlers of that part of the county said it was covered with a very heavy growth of timber when
they came. At first it was thought the Indians had it for a burying ground, but the Indians knew nothing of the bodies there buried. In 1856 when a railroad was built through the southern part of the county connecting Cleveland with Cineinnati. this mound was ruthlessly torn to pieces for the purpose of furnishing ballast for the track. While the excavation was going on more than three hundred skeletons were dug up, most of which were dumped with the gravel on the railroad track.
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
A few of the bones were saved, some of them being of gigantie size. Many of the bodies had been buried in sitting posture, and all about them were evidences of fire and the remains of various articles. Beads, axes, ornaments and pottery were found, but few of them were perma- nently preserved. Many of the bones were in a good state of preserva- tion though trees growing over them were unmistakably from one hundred and fifty to two hundred years old. As the Indians knew nothing of the race buried there, it is safe to say the bodies must have been placed there many years before the white man knew anything about the country. All about this mound on adjoining farms relies
of the dead and gone people have been picked up. It is evident that the copper came from Lake Superior that made the plates found with some of the skeletons, while shells and ocean products also abound. As there are no silver mines near this mound there must have been some means by which products of different parts of the country were ex- changed, as the mounds all over the state abound in articles that must have been brought from far away parts of this continent.
There is so little known certainly about the Mound Builders that it is hard to give any definite account of them. Their share in the history of Hardin county consists only of the mounds and their contents, and the latter have been scattered far and wide. Through the instru- mentality of General J. S. Robinson some of the ornaments and pottery were sent to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, but the greater part were scattered about and are lost forever. Nothing in the form of writing has ever been found in the mounds, though scientists infer from the shape of the skulls that the Mound Builders were a degree or two above the Indians.
Another important mound was located in what is now Lynn town- ship of this county. Although only forty by fifty feet and five or six feet high this mound contained many important relics of the vanished race. In 1882 Professor Palmer of the Smithsonian Institution eame to Kenton, and examined the mound with care. He obtained several copper and silver ornaments from it, and, together with some of the best preserved bones, took them to Washington where they are now earefully kept. In other parts of the county may be found gravel pits or mounds which some authorities declare to be constructed by human hands and others say are natural formations. These pits in many instances eon- tain remains of bodies, whether of Indians or the more ancient race is a matter for speculation. It is to be greatly regretted that at least a few of these burying grounds have not been kept intaet, as all evidences that any race but the white one ever lived here will soon be gone.
Just what number of the stone axes and implements found imbedded in the gravel were the property of the Mound Builders is hard to say. Dr. J. C. Banning of Roundhead has a most interesting collection of stone ornaments and weapons and implements, and some students of
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
Indian life who have examined it think that the Indians picked up the articles left by the Mound Builders and used them as best they could, while others think the Indians fashioned them themselves. Whoever made them, the work shows patience and skill and ingenuity. From these mounds have come mortars for grinding and mixing corn, vessels for holding food, apparently, stone tools for skinning animals and various other tools. The holes drilled or bored through the stone and flint show skill, as does the shaping and cutting of the stone and the work in copper and silver. Many and varied are the speculations concerning this mysterious race, but they are only speculations.
Next on the scene came the Indians, and while much of the records handed down by them is legendary, yet much is definitely known about this race. Owing to the frequent wars, the roving disposition of the race and the conditions that forced them to often seek new locations, many tribes are connected with the early history of Hardin county. If the game was not plentiful in one locality, the tribe picked up tents and belongings to locate elsewhere, or if another nation more powerful descended they were forced to flee for their lives. Thus it is that nearly every important tribe west of the Alleglienies and east of the Mississippi occupied the state at different times. The great Blackhoof who lived a great part of his life at Wapakoneta was born in Florida, and there are authentic accounts of the Shawnees being found in Maryland, Arkansas and various other states of the Union, though it is generally conceded that they belong to the Lake region, many historians declaring them identical with the Eries.
It must not be supposed that all Indians belong in the same classifi- cation, though the careless student of pioneer history is apt to put them all down as blood thirsty, incapable of noble traits, lazy and worthless. The peaceful Wyandots lived for many years in harmony with the white settlers after the missionaries had done their noble work, and several other tribes were noted for their generosity and noble deeds. Even the war-like Shawnees who were continually stirring up trouble among whites and savages had a high regard for the marriage relation and a keen sense of honor, while the Delawares and other tribes were civilized to a degree.
Fortunately Hardin county has not many bloody pages in her early history with the Indians, but there are enough adventures to preclude the idea that all was peace and serenity from the time the first settlers camped along the streams under the magnificent trees that covered the entire county at that time. Tradition locates the spot where Dr. Knight escaped from his captors at the crossing of the Scioto by the old Shawnee Trail near the present village of Pfeiffer. Dr. Knight had been with the ill fated Colonel Crawford in his expedition and both were taken prisoners. The doctor witnessed the horrible execution of Craw- ford which took place at Upper Sandusky in June, 1782, but it is not
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
definitely known why he did not meet the same fate at that time. The Indians loved to exhibit and torture their captives, so doubtless he and other prisoners were to be executed in other villages, for soon afterward he was sent in charge of an Indian named Tutelu through the forests over the Indian trail. The deceitful Simon Girty had informed him of his intended execution, but the doctor did not despair. Watching his chance when his hands were unbound to allow him to eat, he struck the Indian a blow over the head causing him to fall headlong into the camp fire. The Indian ran howling into the forest with Dr. Knight in hot pursuit trying to shoot Tutelu with the gun he had deserted in his agony, but he broke the spring and could not discharge the weapon. The Indian did not return, so Knight took such of his possessions as he could use and departed through the forest in the direction of his home, arriving there after twenty days of journeying through the trackless woods.
Simon Kenton, for whom the county was named, also had many ad- ventures in the woods of the country soon to be made into a county. Long before Ohio was thought of as a state the Indians in that portion of the country and the inhabitants of Kentucky were at swords' points, and many and bloody were the conflicts between them. One of these expeditions against the savages led by General Rogers Clark has passed into national history. And even when there was comparative peaee between whites and savages, people from both races were skirmishing back and forth ravaging the country, stealing and destroying at all times. In September, 1778, a party of men, Simon Kenton, Alexander Montgomery and George Clark, from Kentucky, started upon a raid into Ohio for Indian horses. They stole the horses and got them to the Ohio river, but the water was so rough that they could not cross. While waiting for better weather the Indians came upon them, as they had trailed them to this point, and captured Kenton. Clark escaped into Kentucky and Montgomery was shot, so the expedition ended disastrous- ly. Of course Kenton was condemned to die for stealing the horses, and the council decreed that he should be taken to what is now Zanesfield in Logan county where there was a thriving Indian village named Wapatomika. On the way he made his escape only to be recaptured and treated to many indignities, and the journey was continued. Luckily for Kenton, Simon Girty was present and persuaded the Shaw- nees to save the life of the eaptive.
Simon Girty was so notorious a character, and so mixed up with the early history of this part of the country, that he deserves special mention. He was a white man who joined the Indians against the settlers in the War of Independence, and afterward joined in all the horrible deeds of the savages, as they murdered Americans and destroyed their prop- erty. He was with Lord Dunmore in his eampaigns and seems to have enjoyed bloodshed and massacre above everything else. He and Kenton
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
had been friends in the past, but on account of Kenton's changing his name and fleeing from his home when he got into trouble some years before, Girty did not at first recognize him. Then, too, it was the custom of the Indians to blacken the faces of their captives who were doomed to die, so it is not strange that Girty and Kenton conversed about Kentucky and the number of soldiers that state could muster for some time before Girty knew him. Girty, from all accounts, was a repulsive looking man with dark hair, and a low forehead, in whom there were few good traits, though he seems to have befriended Kenton on several occasions. It is very strange that the Mingoes should have chosen this fiend as their chief after having the brave Logan to lead them to battle, but they did, and Girty was able to teach them the eraft of the white man to add to their means of capturing and punishing their vietims. He died in Canada in 1818.
Shortly after this Kenton was again taken prisoner and this time was conducted over the old Shawnee trail to Upper Sandusky. Arriv- ing at Grassy Point, a spot south of the present site of Kenton, and a favorite resort of the Indians, that party in charge of Kenton lodged for the night with the great Mingo Chief, Logan. Kenton was placed in Logan's tent for the time being. In spite of all the wrongs inflicted on this brave red man, he had a tender heart and was anxious to save Kenton's life as he listened to his tale. However he promised him nothing, and after resting there several days the party went on to Upper Sandusky. While Kenton was held at Grassy Point, Logan sent several of his men to Upper Sandusky to intercede for the prisoner, but he did not tell the captive what report the runners had brought back. There is something infinitely pathetic in the sight of Logan, forlorn and un- happy, as he must have been, still befriending a representative of the race that had so cruelly wronged him.
Following the old trail the party continued on their way until they were met by a party of warriors at the edge of the old Indian town and Kenton was compelled to run the gauntlet-a hazardous and painful proceeding. Kenton was in much better hands at Upper Sandusky than elsewhere, for the Wyandot Indians always were more humane and capable of being reasoned with than the other tribes. Though Girty could not save his life on this occasion by his persuasive powers, he craftily managed that his trial should not be held where the Indians would be likely to be too bloodthirsty to listen to anything but death by torture. Logan also seems to have felt that Kenton would not perish at the hands of the Wyandots, and he was correct in his surmise. Through the good offiees of Captain Peter Druyer, a trader and interpreter, a bargain was made whereby Kenton was to have his life saved upon pay- ment of one hundred dollars by Druyer, who promised to safely eonduet the prisoner to Detroit for examination, and probably bring him baek for execution. Just why Druyer proposed paying a forfeit of one hundred
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
dollars in tobacco or rum to the Indians for the life of Kenton is not known, but he did and took him to Detroit where he was treated as a prisoner of war. The following June, Kenton escaped from the prison in Detroit, and after many wanderings and tribulations, reached his Kentucky friends.
Later on there were skirmishes between the Indians and the soldiers of the War of 1812 near Ft. MeArthur, as well as isolated cases, where Indians made trouble for the pioneers, but for the most part the blood- shed belonged to the period when white settlers were few and far be- tween in the unorganized territory, and only a few daring spirits like Kenton and Girty roamed the forests. The great campaigns with which are connected the names of Mad Anthony Wayne, General Har- mar, St. Clair, Harrison, George Rogers Clark, Benjamin Logan, Colonel Crawford, Major Lewis and other valiant white leaders on the one side and Tecumseh, Blue Jacket, Black Hoof, Logan, Little Turtle and other braves on the other, had done much to make the new county compara- tively peaceful and safe by the time the first permanent colonists pushed their way over the rude roads from the East with their few possessions. The pioneers had enough troubles to conquer without the hostile savage lurking near the rude cabin, and while Hardin county knew nothing of the general raids and massacres that mark the beginnings of other counties of Ohio, nevertheless it was peopled by brave and sturdy men and women. If the occasion had come they would have defended their homes from the Indians as they did from wild animals and from the graver perils of disease and starvation.
HARDIN COUNTY IN THE WAR OF 1812. Although Hardin county sent no men to this conflict, the yet unorganized territory played an important part in its history. One of the most important forts in the chain that connected the more civilized portions of Ohio with Detroit was located on the bank of the Scioto about three miles west of the present city of Kenton, and was named for the gallant man who con- structed it-General Duncan McArthur-afterward governor of the commonwealth. This fort might excite the merriment of those famil- iar with the great works of defense in the Old World, and scarcely be worth mentioning by the trained soldiers of our own army of the present, but it was a welcome sight to the pioneers who fled to it for safety, when rumors of conflicts between the British and their savage allies ran through the forest, and also to the footsore soldiers struggling over the almost impassable roads. Hardin county has ever been noted for its rich soil, but the armies that passed over the hastily constructed road through the soggy forest must have wished for their native stony hills long before they dragged their weary limbs to higher and less swampy ground.
The fort was constructed of huge logs and was a sort of stockade
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
or open pen with rude huts and a more substantial block house for the protection of the soldiers. The stockade covered an acre and a half or two acres, and the block houses are said to have been each twenty by twenty-four feet in size. The ground was low and the whole place a hot bed of malaria, while the mosquitoes and other insects that infested the place must have made life a burden to the sick soldiers who were left there while the able bodied moved as rapidly as possible to the front. As McArthur was sent from Urbana on the 11th of June to open the road and construct the fort, and on the 19th of the same month, General Hull and his command occupied the post, it will readily be seen that everything must have been done in great haste. To have cut down the trees, forded streams, dragged the wagons and supplies over the soft roads, and to have any sort of shelter constructed in just eight days, argues much for the bravery and energy of Duncan McArthur and from all accounts the rude fort stood many years to testify to the solidity of its walls in spite of the haste with which they were erected. There were corn cribs within the enclosure for holding the necessary supples, and other cabins were later erected to make room for the set- tlers who took refuge within the walls and the soldiers. Until the land was cleared McArthur's road which afterward became known as Hull's trail could be seen through the forest, and farmers in plowing their fields often turned over remains of his corduroy timbers used to keep the wagons and men from sinking into the rich black loam. Stumps, mud, streams and rainy weather combined to make the expedition any- thing but a pleasure trip, but Hull finally arrived in Detroit where he surrendered the army without firing a single shot.
The surrender of Hull disheartened the patriots and encouraged the British, but the Americans were by no means conquered. The McKees, the Girtys, the Elliotts and other free booters who had joined their fortunes with the Indians and British long before, continued to inflame the passions of the red men, and the Government knew that settlements could never prosper in the then Far West until England could be made to respect her treaty made after the Revolution. Accord- ingly preparations were made for a more active campaign, and in 1813 Governor Shelby of Kentucky, marched up the McArthur road, until he reached the Hardin county line at the head of four thousand mounted volunteers. There he took the old Shawnee trail past Grassy Point and down to the Wheeler Ford and by way of Upper Sandusky and San- dusky reached Lake Erie. All this time the war was being actively car- ried on on the seas, on the lakes and at various points on the frontier, and while Ft. McArthur was the scene of no battle, it played an im- portant part in the strife. For years after the war, soldiers were sta- tioned at the fort, but in time the old log structure rotted away and nothing but a tilled field now remains on the site.
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