USA > Ohio > Wood County > Commemorative historical and biographical record of Wood County, Ohio : its past and present : early settlement and development biographies and portraits of early settlers and representative citizens, etc. V. 1 > Part 46
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The Act of April 26, 1872, authorized a one- inill tax, for township purposes, where the valu- ation does not exceed $200,000, eight-tenths of a mill, where not in excess of $300,000. one-half a mill, where the valuation does not exceed $500,000, and one-fourth of a mill, where the assessed value is above the half-million mark.
In 1872, the valuation of 1870 was almost doubled, when the total assessment reached $8, - 444,061, of which lands were valued at $5.675. - 274, and personal property at $2,253.740. In 1877, there were 391, 585 acres of land valued at $5,774.520, town lots valued at $891,010, chat- tel property at $3. 112, 640, or a total of $0. 778, - 170, on which a State tax of $28, 356 60 was levied, and a local tax for all purposes amounting to $162, 198.05. or a total tax of $190,554.74. including $49.711.40 for school purposes.
The assessed valuation, in 1800, was $16 .-
339,950, on which a tax of $351.766.22 ( exclus- ive of the one-dollar tax on 2,893 dogs ) was levied, the total of county and local tax being $271,705.39. The assessed value of real and personal property, in 1893, was $19, 266,790, the State tax, $52,983.67, and the total tax . ( except the one-dollar tax on 3, 124 dogs, and two-dollar tax on 114 female dogs,, $555.906.44. The actual tax levy for county purposes was $385, - 775.89, being county, bridge-building, indigent soldiers' fund, road debts, township school --- $115,057.42: special. $34.732: city and village, $53, 147.07: but neither poor nor miscellaneous taxes.
. According to the State reports, there were 385,970 acres of land assessed in 1893, at $9,- 486, 130, with real estate in towns and villages assessed at $2,655,250, and personal property in townships and towns at $7, 125. 410, or a total of $19.266,790, being about the ninety-first part of the assessed value of the State, $1. 752,990,930. The true total for Wood connty, on a marketable basis, might be ascertained by multiplying the given assessed value by four. The total State tax levied in 1893, on a basis of 2i mills, amounted to $52,983.67; the county and local taxes amounted to $385.775.89: the dog tax to $3,388; and delinquent taxes of 1893 and former years. $117,146.88, bringing the total up to $559,- 294.44.
The assessment, which is the only official or legal document upon which to base the value of property, may be said to be only 25 per centum of the true value, so that, in times of ordinary prosperity, Wood county is valued for about sev- enty-seven million dollars.
Agricultural Products. - The production of grain, etc .. in Wood county, from 1888 to 1892, is shown as follows:
1888
1889
1890
1891
1592
Wheat
618,529
610,601
417,585
202.827
Rve ..
67,033
92.463
36.03>
41.244
24,176
Buckwheat
2.566
8,860
6,727
2.764
2.971
Oats ..
815,896
829.41
171.724
635,603
614.925
Barley
27,264
62.972
47-73
18.449
Corn.
2.779,229 1.908214 1,607,987 2075381 1515.235
Has (ons)
17.937
26,314
22.221
29,403
Clov'r hayit'nsh
5.383
14,702
13.833
14,375
10,878
Clover seed.
15,080
19,092
S. 479
5,149
Flax fiber dbs.
Til
1,500
61
281
125
Potatoes
161,3-6
169.389
¥9.651
175 748
82.111
Vont.
161,145
123,150
120006 120,991
In 1804. there were 30,752 sheep, while, in 1895, the anditor of State credits the county with
1
3
-
Flax seed ibu.
Tobacco tbs ...
21]
WOOD COUNTY, OHIO.
only 24,816 sheep of the 3,005,403 credited to the State.
The assessed value of live stock is given as follows: In 1893, there were 12, 349 horses val- ued at $486,270; 15, 328 cattle, valued at $198, - 220; 196 mules, at $6, 380; 31.917 sheep, at $66, - ISO, and 17,005 hogs, at $63, 18o. The figures for 1894 and 1895 will not vary very much from these just given. While the county has not really felt the effects of the financial depression of 1893-95, so prevalent outside the oil fields, the shadow of that depression was visible, darken- ing enterprise, and postponing, to a certain ex- tent, private and public improvements.
The tax levy authorized by the commissioners in June, 1894, shows 2 mills for current expenses of the county, 2.05 mills for county bridge pur- poses, 2 mills for building court house, and . 10 of a mill for relief of indigent soldiers. The finances for the year ending September 3, 1894, so far as the funds which the commissioners con- trol are concerned, are given as follows: Cur- rent expense fund, $47,365.73; county bridge fund, $20,080; county building fund, $1, 840; recorder's fee fund, $689. 20; new court house fund, $101,290.67; special dog fund, $4, 183. 15; county infirmary fund, $18,245.20; and soldiers' relief fund, $4,019.20. Of the total sum, the expendi- tures amounted to $140, 145.44. The township, ditch and school taxes are not considered in the commissioners' report, but it may be said that they exceed the total of the general taxes. The county has a good deal to show for its annual expenditures-good roads, great drainage canals, a magnificent new court house, valuable infirmary property, and well-kept records.
Statistics of . Population .- In 1860, there were only 1,411 males and 1,031 females of foreign birth of the total population of 17.886. The native population, in 1870, was 21,445; in 1880, 30, 170, and in 1890, 40,066. The foreign population, in 1870, was 3, 151; in 1880, 3.852; and in 1890, 4.326. The figures given for the natives include 43 Africans in IS70; 132 in 1880; and 187 in 1890, as well as four natives of China. Of the native-born residents, in 1890, 21,171 were males, and 18,895, females; while, of the foreign-born residents, 2,528 were males, and 1,798, females. In 1890, there were 9,344 dwellings and 9,604 families in the county, giv- ing 4.75 souls to a dwelling and 4.62 to each family. Bowling Green had 786 dwellings for 797 families, and North Baltimore, 546 dwellings for 608 families. The number of males in the
county, between the ages of five and twenty years, was 7, 851, of females, 7, 359; and of males, twenty-one years and over, 10, 528, or very nearly one-fourth of the total population. The distribution of population is 74.2 to the square mile, or one inhabitant for every 8.62 acres. The capacity of the county for sustaining a popula- tion bears about the same relation as its assessed value does to its true value. With four persons to 8.62 acres, or 296.8 to every square mile, the country would not be overtaxed, though, in the light of latter-day wants, many of the inhabitants would have to forget luxuries, which they now enjoy, and all would have to give more labor and more attention to agriculture. With manufact- uring industries in number, the farming commu- nity of Wood county, increased to the maximum given, would become the wealthiest in Ohio.
Decennial Census .- The population of the original county, in 1820, was 733, but as the ter- ritory embraced a large part of northwestern Ohio, not more than one-third that number of white persons resided within its present limits. In 1830, before Lucas was detached, the popula- tion was 1, 102; in 1840, within the present lim- its, 5,357; in 1850, 9, 157; in 1860, 17,886; in 1870, 24,596; in 1880, 34,022; and in 1890, 44,392.
TOWNSHIPS AND VILLAGES.
1840
1856: 1800
1970
1850
1830
Bloom township, in. villages
43.
1,196
1.334
2.022
3.354
Bloomdale village.
131
519
Cygnet village
Bairdstown village.
31"
Jerry City, in Bloom
124
Jerry City. in Portage
357
8.12
1.331
2 023
3.370
Freedom township, in. villages Pemberville village
233
454
1.1
701
1.028
2.151
Millbury village ..
215
635
1.2.1
2 1.5
1.48 2.1~1'
Montgomery township, in. villages Bradnerville.
Risingsun village
Freeport. in. in township number.
Perry township. in. villages
West Millerove ..
Perrysburg township. in. Perrysburg Perrysburg city
272
1.400 1.713
Portage township. In. half of village
199
See Villages in Bloom and Liberty Tps Ross township
Troy township .
1. 17
1.4:
4.3.
Webster township
1 1.
Weston township. in. village Weston village din. In Milton 1-
Total
435
1.24.
Grand Rapids township, including
1.021
Grand Rapids village
213
451
144
1.120
43
1,20
119
1×1
2.002
Middleton township. in. villages Haskins village.
193
631
Milton Tp. (Milton and Weston. 1:40) Milton Center. Custar
1,525
1.
1.7:
1.1.2.0
Plain township. In. Bowling Green Bowling Green. In Plain Bowling Green. In Center
152
Lako township. in. village
Liberty township, in. 1-2 Portage village Portage village, part of Portage village, in Portage
2:30
2.1
...
Center Tp .. in. part of Bowling Green Bowling Green, in Center Bowling Green, in Plain
Henry township. in. village. North Baltimore village.
Jackson township ...
Hoytville village.
Washington township. In. village Tantogany village .
CHAPTER XXVII.
BOWLING GREEN.
PREAMBLE-SETTLEMENT AND NOMENCLATURE [ FROM THE PEN OF C. W. EVERS ]-EARLY TRADERS --- REMINISCENCES OF MRS. J. A. SHANNON -BUSINESS CIRCLES, 1866-1876- SCHOOLS - MODERN BUILDINGS-MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS-FIRE DEPARTMENT-GAS COMPANY-AN EXPLOS- ION -BOWLING GREEN'S PIONEER RAILROAD-CHURCHES -- CEMETERIES - MISCELLANEOUS SOCIETIES.
T HE seat of justice of Wood county, near its geographical center, is admirably lo- cated for the purposes of trade and com- merce, as well as for the administration of county affairs. Two railroad lines, with their branches, bring the town within forty minutes' ride of the southern and northern townships, while a stone road, running east, insures to the people of Center and adjoining townships a good thoroughfare at all seasons, and easy access to this central trading place.
Prior to 1870, the present busy town was a quiet hamlet. In that year the Census enumer- ator found 906 inhabitants there. Ten years after there were 1, 539 inhabitants credited to the corporation, while in 1890, no less than 3,467 residents were reported. The population in the fall of 1895 was alleged to exceed 4,000. Basing the number of inhabitants on the number of voters (91 1 votes cast for candidates for commissioner) in November, 1895, the population, at that date, must have been a little above the 4,000 mark. In 1890 there were 786 dwelling houses in the town for the 797 families reported. Within the past six years many modern houses have been built, bringing the total up to 1,000 dwellings, few, if any, of which are tenantless. The con- struction of business houses has been carried on, until now the business center extends from Mt. Ararat northward to a point near the last loca- tion of John M. Hannon's pioneer tavern.
A reference to the chapters on Plain and Cen- ter townships will show the order in which the Martindales, Thurstins, Moores, Hollingtons, Shivelys, Walkers, Statiffers, Richards, Tracys, Hartmans, Booths, Mackies, Manvilles, St. Johns, and other pioneer families settled on or near the site of the present town of Bowling Green. The chapters named will also present to the reader the story of pioneer days in this vicinity, the
names of the men and women who ventured down from Mt. Ararat to clear the wilderness and make it ready for their children; of the men who con- verted it into the most favored land in Ohio, and of the stern, honest fellows who governed the two little republics from which the town of Bowl- ing Green was detached in 1855.
In this chapter it is proposed to deal with the settlement as well as with the social and commer- cial development of the area within the limits of the corporation. Legends and records have been compelled to enter the service of the chron- iclers, and every measure that care could suggest has been taken to insure accuracy; so that this pleasant and prosperous town may be given a chapter complete in historical details and au- thentic in every particular. The introductory to the story of the village, written by C. W. Evers, in September, 1895, and published in the Tribune, tells of settlement and nomenclature.
The first time white men cameto disturb the forest solitudes where Bowling Green now stands, was in June, 1812. when Hull's army passed bere, marching from Dayton to De- troit. That column of troops, preceded by guides, scouts and axemen, followed in turn by the cavalry battalion, with its gaudy pennons, escorting the commanding general, with his gaily uniformned staff retinue; then the infantry, field bands, artillery and trains formed a pageant which even to- day would attract all Bowling Green to the east side of town, about where the T. & O. C. railway track lies. That is about on the line the troops held, until near Ridge street, when they turned a little to the west, coming out on the Maumee nearly opposite Waterville. That was the first wagon trail through the interior of Wood county, and the only one for the two succeeding decades. The land was then owned by the Indians. After the war, in 1817, at a treaty at the Foot of the Maumee Rapids, described elsewhere in these pages, the United States bought the land, at a price slightly less than four cents an acre, and in 1819 sent surveyors here, which was the second appearance of white men on official business. In 1821 the final surveys were completed, and the plats made. when the lands were ready for market.
Unfortunately the Black-Swamp country, after the wall of 1812, had a worse reputation, if possible, than ever; the soldiers and others who had been here told horrible stories about it. Few buyers of land came none to the interior of the county. Those who stopped invariably located on of near
1
WOOD COUNTY, OHIO.
213
the river; so that, aside from roving parties of Indian hunters and occasional white fur-traders, or the weekly trips of the old Bellefontaine mail carrier, the interior of the county was practically unknown, and shunned by settlers for more than a decade after its survey Prior to the year 1828. Collister Haskins, at Portage, was the only settler between Findlay and the Maumee settlement. Some few entries , the rapid influx of settlers from 188 to 1836 or Bt. That were made in Plain and Center in 1831. as noticed in the was an era of speculation. Everyone had a mania to buy land; but the money panic and business crash of IK brought it to a sudden end. That was a paralytic stroke from which the western country did not entirely recover unt !! the California gold discovery, more than a decade later. Wood county was especially prostrated. There was nothing here that the people could sell. not even their homes, but there was most everything in the way of necessities. even. to buy. There was in those gloomy years little to inspire hope: there was much to thwart and discourage effort. histories of those townships, but the pioneer entry in the present corporation was made October 23, 1832, by Elisha Martindale: the tract, forty acres. in the northwest part of the town, described as the S. E. 44 of N. W. 4. Sec. 24. Plain. lying on both sides of Haskins road or street, is known now as the Clinton Fay place. Martindale later bought 120 acres more; he built his cabin, where the present " Fay House" stands, near the great willow tree, just west of the road, the following spring, 13. Careful inquiry has failed to discover evidence of any cabin here prior to that date; Lee Moore, Henry Walker, Jacob Stauffer and others came and built in the summer and fall of 1833. Alfred Thurstin began his cabin in November, 1833, as did Joseph Holling- ton, Sr .; but so far as known the Martindale cabin was the first, and stood on the first land entry, in what is now Bow- ting Green.
Dropping now the order of dates of entry, we will begin in the south part of town, west side, and note the names of early Main street owners. Next north of what is called the Joseph Bender road, S. E. of Sec. 39, a quarter section was entered by Joseph Hollington, Sr., August 5,1833; later called the Tooker farm. The N. E. corner of this tract is on Main street, opposite the Napoleon road, which latter is on half section line instead of section line, as believed by many. The next entry was by Benjamin Reed, the N. E. 4 of Sec. 30. Blain, extending north to Pearl street. Thistract was after- ward sold to Samuel and J. M. Lamb. Still north, between Pearl and Wooster streets, the half of S. E. 4. Sec. 24, Plain, cornering at Gaghan's block, was purchased in the name of Stephen Ward, April fr. 1833 and afterward sold to Thomas Tracy; it is the second oktest entry in the corporation. North of Main street, still in Sec. 24. Plain, Henry Walker entered forty acres, November 25, 1833, and in June following all the balance of the Main-street frontage. to the Poc road, which is the section line. Thos. Tracy after a time became owner of the south part of this purchase of Walker's. Just north of the Poe road Andrew Race entered the corner forty in Sec. 13, Plain, now in name of Culver and Cart.
.
Across the street in Sec. 18. Center, Jonathan Fay. Octo- ber 3, 1833, entered eighty acres cornering on Main street and Poe road. Starting south from that road, Henry Walker, on August 5, 1833, entered the whole Main street front to Ridge street, being W. Pt. of N. W. 4. Sec. 19, Center. In 1835, Walker sold this tract, about 109 acres, to Robert Barr, who afterward deeded the north twenty acres to his daugh- ter, who was the wife of John M. Hannon. From Ridge street south to the section line at Pearl is the Main street frontage of Alfred Thurstin's entry, 109 acres and over, made November 2, 18H, being W. Pt. S. W. 4 of Sec. 19. Center. Joining Thurstin on the south. Lee Moore, September 1. 1833, entered the whole Main-street frontage of Sec. 80, Con- ter, south to the Bender road, except that of the forty-acre . tract lying south of the Napoleon road, which was booked to George Wickham. This latter tract has since been in the name of Charles Petford, James South and others.
These few notes from the land entry books, though not including all entries embraced in the present corporation of Bowling Green, neither the names of all purchasers, are set sufficient to afford the reader some idea of the pioneer real- estate men of the town, and when they first came Some. perhaps only one or two, of all those named, bought merely for speculation. Most came in quest of homes. Some trual life here, got tired of it and left. Of those Inthfut ones who remained to buffet with adversity and tight De beste that was eventually to make a town here, of which they never even dreamed, perhaps, most, alas', have passed from this stage of action; their foils and trial have ceased. They did their part bravely and well; their work of subdung the wil- derness, more than haft a century ago, and its results, ate
before us to-day .. Their descendants and successors surely have just cause to remember them with respect and pride. If the story of their humble start in the race, and their faiti .- fnt stewardship to the end. shatl inspire us with the ambition to do our part as well. then this story will not have been told in vain. A glance at the land entry books shows
By the middle of the year 1884 the melges and higher spots. within a radius of three miles of this place. were mostly patented from the government, and in many instances the owner had built and occupied his cabin on his new purchase This brought the population largely to the west and north. where the most ridges lay. The mail carrier between Per- rysburg and Bellefontaine passed on the old army trail once each week. at first every two weeks, and this group of set- thers petitioned for a post office in their midst: they were a little distrustful, however, that Collister Haskins. of Portage. might not approve of the move, and went about it a little cautiously. The story of this enterprise incidentally reveals how the village was given its name.
The civil history of a town is but the biography of its founders and their successors, in which every incident, some- times the most trivial, has an interest to the dwellers therein Not only the name of a town, but what or who suggested that name, often becomes of interest. Since Bowling Green has become the thriving seat of justice of one of the most pro -- perous counties in Ohio, inquiry is often made how it hap- pened that it was so named. For the first time in history the story is here related. with the incidents that led to the naming, as told to the writer by two of the pioneers who had a part in it at the time, and several others who knew all the circumstances. Bowling Green was christened after or for the capital town of Warren county, Ky., by Joseph Gordon. a veteran mail carrier of pioneer days. Of one who per- formed so important a part in our infantile state. we hat- urally ask, who was he? In his paper, the Findlay Courier. January, 1847, William Mungen wrote editorially of Gordon as follows:
"Joseph (Chauncey) Gordon was born in Allegheny county, Penn., January 29, 1984. In the year 1801 he con !- menced carrying the mail on horseback, from Russellville. Ky., cin Bowling Green, to Glasgow, a distance of rights -five miles, once in two weeks, for which he received twelve der- lars a month. In 1802 he took the contract to carry the ma.i from Shelbyville, Ky., to Nashville, Tenn. In consequence of the route being changed, he carried the mail only two months. From that time till October, 1-04. he carried it frogs Shelbyville to Russellville, Ky. In October. 104. He con !- menced carrying the mail on horseback from Wheeling. V ... to George Bevers, in Ohio, a distance of titty miles, with . led horse and a heavy mail on each. In Its file carried the mail from Wheeling, through St. Clairsville. Zanestale. and New Lancaster, to Chillicothe. In February, Nere commenced on the route between Bellefontaine and Ferry- burg. a distance of eighty-one miles, through a wilderness. there being but one family residing in Hardem com is. and but one post office on the route, at Emils. Mr. Gibion w .:- the only contractor on this route from February 2. 12. i December 31, 1989. Since isa he has carried the mail sem. weekly from Bellefontaine to the place, fifty five miles
Jacob Stauffer's calan here was the centre better! ! Stauffer will be left " ters occupied the same saint; it stood on the mig rel cui east of Main street, bet far north of Merry avenue care to where Dr. E. P. Thomas pres istedi. Gordon, more his northward trips han stoppol. Stutter's, washes illa.
214
WOOD COUNTY, OHIO.
custom, in passing; the petition for the new office was ready, except that the movers, two or three of whom were present, had not yet agreed upon a naine. The old mail carrier, who stood on the cabin steps listening to the discussion, said to Stauffer, half jestingly: "If you will give me a tumbler of cider I'll give you just the name." Stauffer, who had brought out a key of cider from Columbiana county, filled a glass and handed it to Gordon; the latter, briefly explaining how appropriate the name he would suggest was to the landscape about them, said, with a sweep of his arm, "Here's to the new post office of Bowling Green," swallowed the cider and was in the act of mounting his horse when those present de- tained him a moment while they could write a name in the petition, which was the one he had suggested. The papers were soon folded, and on their way to Perrysburg for some additional endorsements, after which they were sent to Washington. The office was established March 12, 1834. in 1835, when Walker sold his place, he and the Stauffers moved over to the west side of Main street, where the office was kept for a time, since when it has had many different locations and masters. Afterward, in 1855, when the village was incorporated, there seemed no good reason why it should not take the same name as the postoffice.
Aside from school and church work Bowling Green had but little history prior to the time she was incorporated that does not properly come within the purview of the histories of Plain and Center townships. Robert Mackie's store enterprise at the Napoleon road, in the south part of town, intended as the nucleus of the village of Mt. Ararat, never, under its various proprietors, met expectations. John Han- non in the north end, with his tavern and blacksmith shop, did not attract village neighbors about him. When, in 1846 or 1847, Dr. E. D. Peck sent L. C. Locke out here to start a mercantile enterprise, most of the settlers were sure it would be a failure; the proprietors did not feel sanguine: for the stock was opened on a very small scale in a little room in one corner of a tavern, called " White Hall," on the west side of Main street, just north of where a hotel called the " Amer- ican House" has since stood. A man named Gossett kept the hotel then. Locke soon felt encouraged to call on his partner for larger quarters. Then was Mt. Ararat's chance for resurrection. Locke tried to buy out Simeon Eaton & Co., who were sort of successors to Mackie, though in a bet- ler building and on the east side of Main street. The own- ers declined to sell, and the star of Mt. Ararat sank to rise no more. Locke bought an acre of Alfred Thurstin, includ- ing that part of the east side of Main street from the First National Bank, south, and taking in the opera house, and there built a store and residence under one roof; his trade was prosperous, and not long after he was appointed post- master, and a little later built and operated an ashery, the first manufacturing enterprise begun in the village, if we except Caleb Lord's cabinet shop. "Locke, by his enterprise, had practically determined where the center of the village would be. Any one who came in after that, and wanted to go into business, located as near Locke's store as he could get.
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