Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 8

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1040

USA > Ohio > Sandusky County > Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 8
USA > Ohio > Ottawa County > Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 8

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

improvement of his model farm of 200 acres, lying two miles east of Fremont, and to the raising of choice farm products. He was for several years president of the Sandusky County Farmers' Club, and has since that time kept in touch with the best methods of agriculture by the read- ing of select farming literature. He has also taken an active interest in educa- tional matters in his neighborhood. From his many tales of pioneer adventure we give the following as a sample: Once upon a time a man came after the Doctor from the present site of Pemberville to secure his services for a sick friend, and returned homeward on foot through a dense forest, walking some distance in advance of the Doctor, who followed on horseback. Thinking to play a joke on the Doctor, he turned aside and stood behind a tree, and howled in imitation of a wolf. The Doctor, not suspecting deceit in his fellow traveler, yelled and shouted to scare away the supposed wolf, but kept briskly on his way. In a few minutes he heard the howl of a real wolf in an opposite direction. In a short time the man who had raised the first howl was alarmed by the howling of a pack of wolves, and had to run like a deer to escape being attacked by them. He afterward told the Doctor that he came near losing his life by trying to play this unkind trick on him at the wrong time.

Dr. A. R. Ferguson was married in 1843 to Miss Marietta Hart, a native of New York, who died at Woodville, Ohio, in 1850. They had two children: (I) Archibald, who resides at Tiffin, Ohio, was a soldier in the Civil war, served as bugle boy in the One Hundred and Eleventh O. V. I., and now receives a pension; has two children, Lillie and Clarence. (2) Mary, who died at Tiffin, Ohio, at the age of thirty-one, and was buried in Mt. Lebanon Cemetery, Ball- ville township.

After the death of his first wife Dr. Ferguson married, in 1855, Sevilla E.

Cook, who was born January 5, 1835, in New York State, a daughter of John G., and Lucy (Martin) Cook. Her father was born in 1776, in Massachusetts, and her mother in New York. Her father was wont to say: "I lived six weeks under the King of England, and then rebelled." He died in 1861, praying for the success of the Union army. His parents were English, and came to America -- a part of the " Pilgrim Fathers." The children of Dr. Ferguson by his second marriage were : William, who grew up on his father's farm, married Miss Georgia Van- demark, of Green Creek township, and their children are-Mabel, Charles, Fred and Edward Glenn; Edward, who mar- ried Miss Nattie Young, and whose chil- dren are-Hazel, Rupert and Clifton; Lillie B., wife of Kelly N. Myers, drug- gist, Fremont, Ohio, whose children are- Hazel and Cecile; Nellie, wife of George Harris, whose children are-Hallie, Archie, George J., and Ruth; Lulu, wife of Hiram Smith, of Fort Wayne, Ind., who has one child-Veta; Sevilla E., living at home; Frank R., a citizen of the State of Washington, who married Clara Whitmore, and has two children-Wan- eta and Wan; and Fannie G., Alice and John Albert, living with their parents.

R EV. MICHAEL LONG. Any pio- neer record of the Black Swamp, in northern Ohio, which does not give an account of the old-time traveling preachers or circuit riders, who did so much to cheer the homes of the early settlers, must be incomplete, and any list of such itinerants which does not include the familiar name of Rev. Michael Long is untrue to history. For more than fifty years he traversed this region in every direction, and thousands loved to listen to the voice of his unstudied elo- quence.

Rev. Michael Long was born May 3, 1814, in Guernsey county, Ohio, son of

.54

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Daniel and Margaret (Brill) Long, natives of Pennsylvania. He was reared to farm work, and was educated in the common schools. At an early age he joined the United Brethren Church, and at the age of twenty-one years was licensed to preach the Gospel. In 1834 he migrated from Guernsey to Sandusky county, Ohio, where he married, on April 20, 1837, Miss Sarah Gear, of the same county, and they lived at various places most conven- ient to his fields of labor. On April 26, 1836, he joined the Sandusky Conference, and was assigned to a circuit of twenty- eight appointments, at which he preached regularly every four weeks, requiring for each round a travel of four hundred miles, for the most part through the forests, either on foot or on horseback. For his services the first year of his ministry he received a salary of forty dollars. His circuit the second year, and indeed for quite a number of subsequent years, was much like the first, with salary ranging from one hundred to one hundred and seventy-five dollars.

He was an active itinerant, and for fifty years was continuously employed by the Conference as missionary, pastor or presiding elder, which, with one year's subsequent service as supply, made fifty- one years of active itinerant life. He was a member of the Conference and present at every session for fifty-six years, never missing the opening prayer. For many years he was almost constantly engaged in revival work, for which he was natur- ally fitted. His voice was wonderfully strong, clear and voluminous, his nature genial and his deportment dignified. He was directly instrumental in the conver- sion and addition to the Church of about five thousand persons. He solemnized more marriages and preached more fu- neral sermons than any other minister within the bounds of his acquaintance, and he no doubt traveled longer and suffered more privations than any other minister in his Conference. His unwritten stories

of daring adventure and hair-breadth escapes would fill a volume. When trav- eling in the Maumee Valley he sometimes passed trains of Indians half a mile long. He was endowed with remarkable phys- ical powers, and could endure hunger and fatigue with little apparent discomfort. He was a friend to the so-called higher education, and encouraged it in his family, the fruits of this being manifest in the honorable standing of his three sons in the active ministry. He and his noble wife were examples of economy after which it would be well for many of our young people to pattern. Starting in life with scarcely anything of this world's goods, they lived within their small in- come, and so managed that a small per cent. was saved year after year until they were able to provide a comfortable home for themselves and family, near Fremont, and render aid in the education of their children at college. Mrs. Long died at the family residence on January 15, 1889, and his death occurred at the home of his nephew, Rev. James Long, at Weston, Ohio, November 17, 1891. Their chil- dren were: Martha Jane, deceased wife of John Ernsberger; Desire Angeline, wife of Martin Maurer; Rev. N. S. Long, of the U. B. Church; Rev. B. M. Long, of the Presbyterian Church; Calista, wife of J. W. Worst; and Rev. Milon De Witt Long, of the Presbyterian Church.

F RANK HEIM. That a review of the life of such an energetic and enterprising individual as is the subject of this memoir should have prominent place in the pages of a work of this kind is peculiarly proper; because a knowledge of men, whose substantial record rests npon their attainments and success, must at all times exert a whole- some influence on the rising generation of the American people, and can not fail to be more or less interesting to those of maturer years.

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Mr. Heim was born February 26, 1852, in the State of New York, a son of Albert and Margaret (Malkamus) Heim, natives of Hessia, Germany, the father born August 28, 1826, the mother in 1831. They were married in the Father- land, soon afterward emigrating to the United S ates, for a time sojourning in New York State, whence, in 1853, they came to Fremont, where the father fol- lowed his trade, that of carpenter, and was also in the retail liquor trade. He died November 25, 1867; the mother passed away in 1871. Children as follows were born to them: Frank, subject of sketch; Joseph, now living in Indian Territory; William, conducting a dry-goods busi- ness in Fremont, and Clara, Henry and Charles, all three at home. The maternal grandmother of this family died in Germany at the age of ninety years.

The subject proper of these lines was about a year old when his parents brought him to Fremont, and at the public schools of that city he received a liberal education, at the age of eigh- teen commencing business for his own account in the retail liquor trade. In 1877 he purchased an interest in the Fremont Brewery Co., of which he is now the president, and since he has been associated with the concern its output has been increased, whilst many im- provements have been made. He is also president of the Electric Light and Power Co. of Fremont, and of the Opera House Co. As a public-spirited and liberal citizen, he is more or less identified with most enterprises tending to the welfare of the city and the com- munity at large.

On March 27, 1890, Mr. Heim was united in marriage with Miss Delilah Soward, who was born in Seneca county, Ohio, daughter of Thomas Soward. In politics our subject is a Republican, and in religious faith a member of the Roman Catholic Church. 4

S ARDIS BIRCHARD, merchant, banker and philanthropist, Fre- mont, Sandusky county, was born at Wilmington, Windham Co., Vt., January 15, 1801. Both of his par- ents died when he was yet a child, the father, Roger Birchard, in 1805, the mother, Drusilla (Austin) Birchard, in 1813. Both of his grandfathers were Revolutionary soldiers. His grandfather, Elias Birchard, died of disease contracted in the service toward the close of the war. His grandfather, Capt. Daniel Austin, served as an officer under Washington throughout the war, and survived many years. The Birchards were among the first settlers of Norwich, Connecticut.

When the mother of our subject died, five children survived her, Sardis being the youngest. He was placed in charge of his sister, Sophia, wife of Rutherford Hayes (father of Gen. R. B. Hayes), be- came one of their family, and lived with them at Dummerston, Vt., until 1817, when he accompanied them in their emi- gration to Ohio. In Vermont young Birchard had acquired the rudiments of an English education, by an irregular at- tendance at such schools as were in ex- istence at that day in the country towns of that State. He had also become an expert hunter and horseman, for a boy of his age, and gained some knowledge of business in the store of his brother-in-law, Mr. Hayes. In Ohio he worked with the latter in building, farming, driving and taking care of stock, and employing all his spare time in hunting. He was able with his rifle to supply his own and other families with turkeys and venison. In 1822 his brother-in-law, Mr. Hayes, died, leaving a widow and three young children and a large unsettled business. Of these children of his sister, the eldest, Lorenzo, was drowned at the age of ten years; Fanny became the wife of William A. Platt, of Columbus, Ohio; and the young- est, Rutherford Birchard Hayes, born the year of his father's death, 1822, became

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

the nineteenth President of the United States. Mr. Birchard, who was barely twenty-one years of age, at once assumed the duties of the head of the family, and applied himself diligently to the manage- ment of the unsettled affairs of the es- tate, and the care of the household. In- heriting from his father what was con- sidered a handsome start for a young man, possessing a genial and friendly disposi- tion and being fond of wild sports and wild company, with no one to look up to as entitled to control or advise him, his fu- ture might well have been regarded with apprehension. He was then a slender, delicate, handsome youth, with engaging and popular manners, and was a favorite among the young people in the new coun- try. Warmly attached to his sister and her children, he devoted himself to their in- terests and was the mainstay of the family.

While yet a boy he was hired to help drive some hogs to Fort Ball (now Tiffin), Ohio, to feed the first settlers, in 1817. This was his first visit to the Sandusky region. His first visit to Lower San- dusky was made in 1824, in company with Benjaming Powers, a merchant of Dela- ware, Ohio. They stopped at Leason's tavern, a log house on the east side of Front street, where Shomo's Block now stands. The pickets were still standing around Fort Stephenson, and the ditch was quite perfect. The village then con- tained about two hundred inhabitants. After a trip to Portland (now Sandusky City), they returned home, and the same fall Mr. Birchard, with Stephen R. Ben- nett as partner, bought and drove to Bal- timore, in the first cold weather of the winter, a drove of fat hogs. Mr. Birchard has narrated two incidents of the trip: The young men had to swim their hogs across the Ohio river at Wheeling, and came near losing all of them by the swift current of the river. By great exertion, and at considerable risk to themselves, they got all but four or five across. In the meantime they were overtaken on the

road by a tall fine looking gentleman on horseback, who had also a carriage drawn by four horses, and two saddle horses with attendants. The gentleman helped Mr. Birchard get the hogs out of the way, chatted with him about the state of the markets, and the prospects of the weath - er, and advised him as to the best way to dispose of his hogs at Baltimore. This gentleman turned out to be Gen. Jackson, on his way to Washington after the Pres- idential election of 1824, in which he re- ceived the highest vote, but was not finally the successful candidate.

In the summer of 1825, while mowing in the hay field, Mr. Birchard was seriously injured in health by over-exer- tion, his ambition not allowing him to fall behind the stronger men. From the ef- fects of this he never fully recovered. In the winter of 1825-26 he was confined to his bed by an attack called " consump- tion, " and it was supposed that he would not live until spring; but his cheerful dispo- sition and the elasticity of his constitution carried him through. In the month of May he set out on horseback eastward, making short daily journeys as his strength would perniit, and in due time reached Vermont, where he remained until the ap- proach of winter, when he traveled south to Georgia and remained until the spring of 1827. This year he made his first purchase of goods as a retail dry-goods merchant. He went to New York with- out money and without acquaintances, but soon found a friend in William P. Dixon, who sold him a stock of goods in his line, and recommended him to others. His stock of goods was made up and shipped to Cleveland, himself accompany- ing it, intending to sell to laborers on the Ohio canal, which was then being built from Cleveland southward. On passing down into the Tuscarawas valley he be- camned dissatisfied with that trade, sold part of his goods to another trader, and took the rest to Fort Ball (now Tiffin), on the west side of the Sandusky river. Here

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

he remained, trading successfully with the new settlers, until December, 1827, when he removed to Lower Sandusky, having decided to go with Dr. L. Q. Rawson, who preceded him a few days. He at first went into business alone in a store, on the corner of Front and Croghan streets, where the Dryfoos clothing house now stands, which was erected and owned by Richard Sears, who had made a for- tune, trading with the Indians, and had left for Buffalo, N. Y. in the spring of 1827.

Though there were three other stores in the place and two distilleries, Mr. Birchard received the Indian trade to a large extent by refusing to sell them liquor. He was in trade three or four years, and, having accumulated about ten thousand dollars, considered himself rich enough to retire. About the year 1831, however, he formed a partnership with Rodolphus Dickinson and Esben Husted, himself furnishing the capital. The firm name was R. Dickinson & Co., and they soon had in operation one of the largest retail stores north of Columbus and west of Cleveland, their yearly sales amount . ing to fifty thousand dollars, the sales being largely on credit. Mr. Birchard, with Richard Sears, bought the first sailing vessel (each owning an equal interest), a schooner named " John Richards," worth then four thousand dollars, and of about one hundred tons burden. The first ship- ment of wheat out of Lower Sandusky was made on this schooner, and it was prob- ably the first one sent eastward from any port west of Cleveland.

The Indians with whom Mr. Birchard chiefly traded were the Senecas. They drew an annuity from the State of New York, payable at Albany, amounting to $1,700, and among Mr. Birchard's cus- tomers, whom he trusted during the year, were Tall Chief, Hard Hickory, Seneca John, Curley Eye, Good Hunter and others. Before the annuity was paid he would get authority to draw money, signed

by the chiefs, and go to Albany to collect it. This he did three times, with some risk but without loss. Besides the Seneca tribe he also traded with the Wyandots, Ottawas, and a few Delawares. The Senecas owned a reservation of forty thousand acres east of the Sandusky river, on the line of Sandusky and Seneca counties. Their principal settlement was north of Green Spring, where they had a mill near the site of where Stoner's mill stood later. Their Council House was not far from the mill, northwestward. Mr. Birchard attended some of the Indian dances, both in the daytime and at night, and was present at the religious ceremony of burning the white dogs. The Indians danced in the Council House, in the center of which was a fire over which was boiling a pot of corn and meat Their musicians had in their hands some bundles of deer hoofs, which they rattled and pounded on a skin stretched over a hoop. Among the white men who joined in the Indian dance, were Mr. Birchard, Rodolphus Dickinson, Judge Justice, and Mr. Fifield. Mr. Birchard was the guest at night of Hard Hickory, and he was called by the Indians "Ausequago," or the man who owns the most land. Seneca John was in the habit of trading with Mr. Birchard, and called at the store to see the amount of indebtedness the evening before he was killed by Coonstick and Steele for witchcraft. His friend, Tall Chief, settled the account for him later, as he believed that no Indian can enter the happy hunting grounds of the Spirit Land until his debts are paid. This chief was a man of great dignity of manner and character. In their business transactions these In- dians were generally very honest. They would not steal as much as the same num- ber of whites with the same opportunities. Mr. Birchard sometimes had his store room full of Indians, sleeping all night on the floor, with no watch or guard, and he himself sleeping on a cot near them. The Indians paid for goods mostly in deer skins,

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

finely dressed, and in coon, muskrat, and sometimes in mink, otter and bear skins. The Indians dressed these skins much bet- ter than white men could.

In 1835 Mr. Husted died, and his place in Mr. Birchard's firm was taken by George Grant, who had been a clerk in the establishment since its formation. He was a man of great business capacity and energy, of prepossessing appearance, tall, slender, of fine address and full of life and ambition. He died in 1841, at the age of thirty-two, after which the firm was dissolved, and the business settled by Mr. Birchard.

On the first day of January, 1851, Mr. Birchard, in partnership with Lucius B. Otis, established the first banking house in Lower Sandusky, under the name of Birchard & Otis. On the removal of Judge Otis to Chicago, in 1856, Mr. Birchard formed a partnership with Anson H. Miller, and a year later with Dr. James W. Wilson, under the name of Birchard, Miller & Company. In 1863 the First National Bank of Fremont was organized, and the banking house of Birchard, Miller & Co., was merged into it. This was the second National Bank organized in Ohio, and the fifth in the United States. Mr. Birchard was elected president of the bank at its organization, and he held that position by re-election until his death.

When Mr. Birchard came to reside in Lower Sandusky there were only two lawyers in the place: Harvey J. Harmon, was cultivating the island in the river, and Rodolphus Dickinson, a graduate of Williams College, Mass., who had a good knowledge of the law, having studied under Judge Gustavns Swan, in Colum- bus, Ohio. The latter was active in the politics of his time, was thrice elected a member of the Board of Public Works, and twice elected to Congress, and died while a member of the House of Repre- sentatives of the United States, in 1849. For his private virtues and his public

services he is still held in grateful remem- brance by the people not only of San- dusky county but throughout northwest- ern Ohio.

There were no church buildings in Lower Sandusky in 1827. Religious meetings were held in a log school house that stood nearly where the high school building is on Croghan street. Court was held in the same building, until the frame court house was finished, in which Rev. H. Lang afterward lived. The preachers were Rev. Mr. Harrington, a Presbyterian, and Rev. Mr. Montgomery, a Methodist missionary, who lived with the Seneca Indians, near Fort Seneca.

During the years that intervened between his arriving at manhood and his death, Mr. Birchard was ever conspicu- ous in, and the ardent promoter of, every good work designed to advance the wel- fare of the town of his residence. As has been stated, he was connected with the first enterprise that opened river and lake commerce between Fremont and Buffalo. Appropriations by the State, for the con- struction of the Western Reserve and Maumee road, had in him an early, un- tiring, and efficient advocate; and through his efforts in circulating petitions through the State to influence public opinion, and thus secure favorable legislation, that work was doubtless completed many years earlier than it otherwise would have been.

He next became enlisted in the enter- prise of constructing the Toledo, Nor- walk & Cleveland railroad. The chances then were that the northern and rival route, now known as the Northern Divi- sion, would be constructed first, and a long struggle ensued between the sup- porters of each route. In connection with C. L. Boalt, of Norwalk, Mr. Birchard was so effective in advancing the success of the southern route, by the pledge of every dollar of their private fortunes, and thus raising the funds to prosecute the work, that the issue turned in their favor, and the work went on to

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

completion that, but for their extraordin- ary efforts, would probably not have been finished for many years afterward. Mr. Boalt was made the first president of the road, upon the organization of the com- pany, and heartily co-operating with him, Mr. Birchard, through his influence with leading capitalists of New York, was successful in obtaining the necessary means to push forward the work.

Mr. Birchard was a Whig while that party existed, and subsequently an earn- est supporter of the Republican party, the administration of Abraham Lincoln, and the prosecution of the war for the Union. Hospitable, warm-hearted and friendly, in addition to his contributions to religious and benevolent objects, he cheerfully aided all really charitable ob- jects. He had a deep sympathy for the poor, and could not bear to know suffer- ing without offering relief. During the last years of his life, when poor health required confinement at home, he left with Mr. Miller, cashier of the bank, standing instructions to contribute liber- ally to worthy charities. His tenderness and solicitude for the unfortunate is illus- trated by a letter which Mr. Miller still preserves. It was written on a cold, stormy day in early winter, and reads as follows: "Mr. Miller: What a storm! I fear many poor people are suffering. If you hear of any such, give liberally for me. S. Birchard."

In 1871, Mr. Birchard presented to the city of Fremont the large park be- tween Birchard avenue and Croghan street, and the small triangular park at the junction of Birchard and Buckland avenues. In 1873 he set apart property amounting to fifty thousand dollars for the purpose of establishing a free public library in Fremont, appointed trustees to take charge of the fund, and provided for their perpetuity. The first collection of books was placed in Birchard Hall, on the corner of Front and State streets. In order to obtain a location suitable

for putting up a library building, the trustees united with the city council to purchase the Fort Stephenson property at a total cost of $18,000, the trustees paying $6,000, and thus was secured the famous historic locality to the people of Fremont forever. From the address of Rev. Dr. Bushnell, delivered at the laying of the corner-stone of the Birchard Library Building, July 18, 1878, we take the fol- lowing: " It was not in his thought, at first, that this bequest of his should be coupled with the commemoration of the defense of Fort Stephenson, but the proposal to join with the city council in this movement received his hearty consent. And thus the building itself with its uses, and the site on which it stands, combine, like strands of gold, to forin a cord of hallowed recollections ever attaching our thoughts alike to the deed of heroic defense, and to the be- quest of kindly esteem. For, I wish personally to take this occasion to say that the bequest for this library was born in Mr. Birchard's heart, of the most kindly consideration for the people of Fremont and of Sandusky county. I know whereof I speak, for this is not a mere inference. He first determined to devote a liberal sum of money to some public benefit which all might have opportunity to enjoy; as to the especial form of it he took council, and what he said to others I do not particularly know, but he repeatedly expressed to me in this connection, his kindly feeling toward all in the community."

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Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 8

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1040

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1040