USA > Ohio > Williams County > County of Williams, Ohio, Historical and Biographical > Part 22
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EARLY SOCIAL CONDITIONS.
It is not necessary to inform the historical student that France held dominion over the immense region west of the Alleghany Mountains, as against all Europeans of other nationalities, and that Frenchmen estab- lished military, missionary and trading posts on the Maumee and Aug- laize Rivers more than two centuries ago. It would seem probable, there- fore, that they also may have had similar posts on the St. Joseph and Bean Creek streams, but no authentic evidence exists to establish such theory. It has, however, been historically demonstrated that at the head and near the foot of the Maumee River French settlements were made, and it was not until after the close of the French war by which the right of eminent
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domain was transferred from the French to the English monarchy, and not even then, and until after the close of the American Revolution, that the Anglo-Saxon race undertook colonization projects in the region of the Mau- mee Valley. Looking at the geographical position of Williams County, the inference is a reasonable and almost irresistible one, that, while under the do- minion of France, and during many years subsequent to the American Revo- lution, the French had trails leading through the territory embraced with- in the present limits of the county, as their often traveled route between the Wabash, Maumee, Detroit and St. Lawrence Rivers would place this county upon their direct line of travel.
The usual homes of all families were in rude log cabins. When the emigrant would reach the wild land he had previously entered (and before he had moved moved upon it) the parents and children would camp near the place selected for the site of their cabin-build fires over which their simple food would be cooked, and the constantly burning fires would also secure them from night attacks by wolves and other forest beasts, as wild animals instinctively dread night fires. At night they lodged in the wagon beds that had been their inn during their journey, and under the canvas tents that had covered and protected them against storms, heat and cold during their wearisome travels. In this way they lived until timber was cut down and logs of proper size and length made with which to erect a a cabin. Then the husband and father would sally forth in search of white neighbors to assist him in raising the rough walls and placing the roof upon his cabin ; and after this first wilderness trial, the family would soon be happily quartered in their new Western home. On many plan- tations thus commenced, are now reared as expensive and elegant man- sions as may be found in cities.
THEN AND NOW.
The contrast between the furniture of the cabins and farm dwellings of the present day is no less marked. Upon leaving his Eastern home, the emigrant discovered that, after he had found places in his wagons for such members of his family as were unable to travel on foot, and for necessary bedding, a few cooking utensils and light farm implements, the family Bible and a few testaments and hymn books, only very small space remained. And so the furniture of the cabin consisted of improvised tables, seats, shelving, etc., made of puncheons, and the library was limited very closely to the books above enumerated. Even the coffins that inclosed the bodies of dead persons were made of punch- eons, as there was no sawed lumber in the country. Newspapers and other current literature were scarcely attainable, because, generally, there were no post roads and no post offices, except such as were located
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at remote distances, and the demands for labor, immediately about the home, were so imperative, and the journey to the post office so tedious, and not infrequently dangerous, that it was not often undertaken.
And now mark the change wrought in a comparatively brief space of time in the social and material condition of the people ! On the same acres, so recently covered by a wilderness, where the Indian and wild animal met with scarcely any interference from civilized man, are pros- perous commercial towns, and commodious church edifices and school- houses. The log dwelling is no longer used; but stately mansions, equal in style of outside and inside architecture, and possessing all home con- veniences to the average which the larger cities of the State are enabled to point to.
The religious, literary, educational and benevolent organizations of the county are of a high order. Nearly every town and farm house is well supplied with standard books and current periodical and newspaper literature. In the households of the farmers may be discovered people whose education and refined behavior will favorably compare with those who dwell in cities; while their moral views are probably more elevated. Twenty-four post offices in the county afford mail facilities within the reach of every farmhouse, much more ample than those enjoyed forty-five years ago by the inhabitants of even the chief cities and towns in North- western Ohio. Then, and for many years later, not a daily mail route traversed any part of Williams County. The few mails were weekly and semi-weekly, and the most frequent semi-weekly, and all carried on horseback or on foot. There were no bridges over the rivers or crecks. The mail carrier, when he encountered a stream that he was unable to ford, would either plunge his horse into the flood and swim it, or, if a pirogue could be obtained, secure the services of a man, woman or boy to manage it, and placing himself, mail-bag and saddle in this water craft, would swim his horse beside it, aiding the animal to elevate his nose above the water by use of the bridle reins. The contents of the bags would often reach the post office so saturated with water accumulated in crossing streams, as above explained, and often in exposure to rain-storms, that the conglomerated mass would be reduced to a condition nearly resembling pulp. Letters and printed matter often employed the work of tedious hours to separate and dry out, so that the superscriptions could be read; but by exercise of the most patient and judicious care, portions of the matter did not escape utter ruin. These were among the disappointments and privations endured by the pioneers in mail receipts and transmissions. Even after the county became considerably settled, and bridges spanned some of the streams, the stage-coach, familiar in the older settlements of the State, was unknown in Williams County.
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COURT-HOUSE.
WILLIAMS COUNTY
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The probable reason why that ancient vehicle never fretted the surface of a road within the limits of this county, was that the condition of the roads was such that they could not sustain so great a weight; and even now it is only a small portion of the year that a stage-coach could be drawn over most of the roads.
FIRST RAILROAD ENTERPRISE.
The importance of the opening of a railroad was early impressed upon the minds of the enterprising citizens of the county, and about 1846-47, a project, originating with the late Judge Ebenezer Lane and others, was undertaken to build a road from Cleveland or Norwalk, running westward, and crossing the Maumee River at the foot of the rapids, and from thence making its way on a west line to Chicago. It was known as the Junction Railroad, and a considerable amount of work was performed on it, including massive stone abutments for the bridge which was to cross the river to the northern bank at Maumee City. The corporation, in order to facilitate operations west of this point, solicited aid of stock subscriptions by individuals, towns, townships and counties, and suc- ceeded in gathering an amount which aggregated a considerable sum. Regarding this first railroad enterprise, and in response to the request for stock subscription by Williams County, the Commissioners, at their ses- sion, held March 15, 1852, ordered "That public notice be given the qualified electors of Williams County to meet at their several places of holding elections in their respective townships on Monday, the 5th day of April, next, between the hours of 10 o'clock A. M., and 4 o'clock P. M., of said day, and then and there cast their ballots 'for subscrip- tion' or 'against subscription' of $100,000 stock for the location and com- pletion of the Junction Railroad in said county, conditioned that said road shall pass from Maumee City westward through the said county of Williams to the Indiana State line, within two years from this date, and touching the following points, to wit: West Unity, Montpelier, La Fayette (now Pulaski), Bryan and Centre in said county, and that there shall be a junction of its branches at one of the above named towns in said county of Williams, and that said $100,000 be equally distributed on the several branches on said road in said county of Williams."
THE RIVAL RAILROAD SCHEME.
The Southern Michigan & Northern Indiana Railroad Company, real- izing the damage it would be to their interests if the Junction enterprise should be successful, resolved upon the construction of an air line west- ward from Toledo to connect with their main line at Elkhart, Ind. In 1852, the same year that the Commissioners of Williams County took .
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action above quoted, the S. M. & N. I. (its corporate name now being the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern), appeared quietly in the field with its corps of engineers, surveyed the route, asking no aid of stock subscrip- tions, and only right of way and donation of sufficient ground for passen- ger and freight conveniences. The company were very undemonstrative in their movements, and February 18, 1853, J. H. Sargeant, Acting Chief Engineer and Superintendent of the air-line road, called upon Hon. E. Foster, and passed into his hands a sum of money, with a request that he proceed without delay and receive donations or purchase the necessary right of way and depot grounds for that part of the road that would pass through Williams County. Many of the lands being owned by non-resi- dents, the labor was protracted, and some resident owners acting stub- bornly, Mr. Foster met with embarrassments and dalays in the prosecu- tion of his work. Messrs. Edgerton and Trevitt, however, in addition to the very liberal donation of nearly sixteen acres of ground in the town for passenger and warehouse purposes, also generously donated the right of way through all their Williams County lands, of which they held large tracts. March 5, 1855, Mr. Foster closed his business with the company and their contractors, and on the 25th of the October following received the last payment for his services.
The first conductor on the road after passenger trains commenced run- ning was Edward Moore. Mr. William D. Billings, now resident of Bry- an (and who is part authority for the statements which follow), was the second agent at the station after trains had reached Bryan from the east -his predecessor, Mr. Johnson, who had opened the office, only remain- ing in the employ of the company a few months. Previous to this, Mr. Billings had had charge of the Middlebury (now Vistula) Station, on the old-line road. The first printed through " time table, No. 1," took effect "on Monday, June 8, 1857, at 5 o'clock A. M." The stations named on the table are Toledo, Springfield, Centreville, Delta, Wauseon, Arch- bold, Stryker, Bryan, Edgerton, Butler, Waterloo, Corunna, Kendallville, Rome, Wawaka, Ligonier, Millersburg, Goshen and Elkhart. Going West, the train left Toledo at 9:50 A. M., and reached Elkhart at 7:10 P. M., making the distance between the two points in nine hours, when ho accident would occur. The same train moved from Elkhart on its eastward trip at 9:40 A. M., and would be due at Toledo at 6:40. Trains passed each other at Edgerton, that station being 64.3 miles west of Tole- do, and 68.5 miles east of Elkhart. The trains then ran were decidedly, if not badly, "mixed "-consisting of a locomotive, tender, one passenger and one freight car, and two trains, thus formed, made up the entire rolling stock of the road. Now, one of the least powerful of the many locomo- tives which almost hourly pass over the Air-Line road, would be enabled
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with ease to draw a train consisting of at least three times the tonnage of all the rolling stock in use on the road in 1857. Six passenger trains, each drawing six coaches since the opening of 1882, have passed over the road daily ; and sixteen through and local freights, averaging thirty curs each, and having a capacity of 20,000 to 30,000 tons per car. The transition almost confuses the mind to contemplate, when viewed in all its length and breadth. What marvelous changes in the means of trans- mitting intelligence have been produced in a period of less than half a century ! To-day, at any railroad station in Williams County, connected with which is a telegraph office, one may transmit a message 2,000 miles distant, or even to Europe or the Orient, and receive to it an answer in less space of time than, a half century ago, would be consumed by the speediest mode of travel then known to make the distance from Pioneer to Stryker and return, and, during the January and June floods that then appeared as regularly as the seasons, to communicate with a neighbor ten miles distant. Imagine a pioneer who, about three months after the Presidential election of 1832, had received an Eastern letter or newspaper conveying intelligence that Andrew Jackson had been re-elected President of the United States in the preceding November. If the settler is a Jack- son man, he dons his hunting shirt and coon-skin cap and sallies forth in search of neighbors of his political faith to communicate the glad tidings, and mingle rejoicings. News of the result of a Presidential election would now be known in every considerable city and town in the United States and Europe within twenty-four hours after the close of the polls.
OTHER RAILWAY PROJECTS.
Several north-and-south railway lines, crossing the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern at Bryan, have long been contemplated and discussed They are all embryo projects, and it is no legitimate field of a historian to hazard statements when he has no solid data upon which to base them. In these utilitarian times capitalists are governed altogether by their in- terests, and when they become assured of good investments, they do not hesitate. The most probable route to be completed is the one which, in 1852-53, was known as the Cincinnati & Mackinaw road. This road, from Cincinnati, according to the terms of its original charter, was to pass, after leaving Cincinnati and Hamilton County, through all the county seats of the western range of counties in Ohio, until it struck the Michigan line on the north-the route embracing the several seats of jus- tice of Hamilton, Preble, Butler, Darke, Mercer, Van Wert, Paulding, Defiance and Williams. After the expenditure of a large amount in grad- ing and making the road-bed ready for the ties, thousands of which ties were made and delivered on the line, and rotted upon the ground, the
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panic of 1857 struck the enterprise and placed a rough lock upon its further progress. And in this comatose state the project remained until March 7, 1881, when some energetic men revived it, and filed the neces- sary papers with the Secretary of State for the incorporation of the Cin- cinnati, Van Wert & Michigan Railroad Company ; and since that date a portion of the work has been completed, and it is now operated between Van Wert and Paulding. Should this project fail, and it probably will not, it is possible that the Baltimore & Ohio road might construct a branch of their line from their main trunk, at Delaware Bend, to make connection with the L. S. & M. S. road at Bryan ; but this, and a talked- of cut-off, from Fremont to Bryan, by the Vanderbilt company, and all other schemes which have been discussed, rest upon no better basis, thus far, than conjecture, promises and hope.
Some eight or nine years ago the Mansfield & Coldwater Railway Company surveyed a route across the northeast corner of the county, and called upon the citizens interested to subscribe stock, and assist in con- structing the road. The right of way was freely given, and the citizens contracted to grade the road. Not less than $100,000 in money and labor was thus expended ; but, owing to the financial failure of the pro- jectors, the road, after being graded, was abandoned, greatly to the regret and loss of those citizens who had so zealously espoused its con- struction and equipment. This road will, no doubt, be completed some day, unless a wealthier and more fortunate company, on some other route, captures the traffic and trade for which the Mansfield and Coldwater en- terprise was undertaken. The citizens yet live in sorrowful hope.
POST OFFICES IN THE COUNTY.
The following is the list of post offices that have been established within the present geographical limits of Williams County, with name of first Postmaster, and date of establishment and appointment: Pulaski, John Perkins, May 1, 1837; Williams Centre, John B. Kimmell, Janu- ary 5, 1839 ; Bryan, Thomas Shorthill, February 22, 1841; West Unity, John Rings, September 28, 1842; Spring Lake, Martin Perkey, August 30, 1843; Northwest, William HI. Billings, August 30, 1843; Eagle Creck, Robert Ogle, August 30, 1843; Nettle Lake, Augustus Porter, March 6, 1846; Bridgewater, Chandler Holt, April 14, 1846; Montpelier, Conroy W. Mallory, December 28, 1846; Deer Lick, Elias Barrett, April 1, 1847 ; Durbin's Corners, George W. Durbin, August 13, 1850; Pioneer, Philetus W. Norris, April 16, 1851; Luke's Corners, John Luke, April 29, 1854; Edgerton, Jackson M. Wood, June 3, 1854; Primrose, Lewis Keith, July 29, 1854; Stryker, William Sheridan, Jr., June 15, 1855; Melbern, John Kendall, March 16, 1866; Edon, Charles
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Eichelberger, December 26, 1867; Kunkle, Philip Weidner, March 31, 1880; Blakeslee, John N. Chilcote, May 4, 1880; Ainger, John W. Wisman, August 25, 1880; Alvordton, Henry D. Alvord, April 27, 1881 ; Cooney, Almeda L. Fox, June 24, 1881; Karle, Frederick White, March 11, 1882; Howe, George Hart, April, 1882. Of these, Eagle Creek and Luke's Corners have been discontinued.
Few counties in Ohio, outside those in which are large cities, are more highly favored, as regards postal facilities, than Williams.
FORMATION OF WILLIAMS COUNTY.
In April, 1820, the General Assembly of the State of Ohio formed fourteen counties north of the Greenville treaty line, and the major number of those thus formed had their western boundaries on the Indiana line, only the three counties, Williams, Henry and Wood, having their northern boundaries on Michigan. In these legislative arrangements Williams was then, as now, the northwestern county of the State-having its northern border on Michigan and its western on Indiana. Prior to its formation, it had been under several jurisdictions-in the ante-terri- torial era, the same that now embraces Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Toledo, and some of the most populous cities, that now rank among those of the interior States; and, at length, by a provision of the act of 1820, it was attached for civil purposes, with several other counties then formed, to Wood County, then holding at Maumee City the seat of justice for all the vast region of Northwestern Ohio; but Maumee City held the capital only about three years, and then crossed the river to Perrysburg. At a session of the Board of Commissioners, of Wood County, held March 19, 1823, it was ordered " that so much of the Township of Waynesfield as is included in the organized county of Wood, and lying and being on the south of the south channel of Maumee River, from the west line of the county to the line between the original surveyed township, in Nos. 1 and 4 in the United States reserve; thence, the north channel to the State line, he set off and organized into a township, by the name of Perrysburg." And by this action of the Wood County Commissioners, it will be discovered, that the large territory comprehended in the limits described, embraced the present counties of Williams, Henry and Paulding, and also of the later erected counties of Lucas, Defiance and Fulton. But so far as this ar- rangement was concerned, it only continued a few months, when Williams, in turn, became organized as an independent county, co-equal with all others in Ohio, and having civil jurisdiction over a surface that now em- braces portions of six well settled and prosperous counties.
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THE FIRST WHITE SETTLER.
A number of years ago, Mr. Patterson, of the Democrat, then an offi- cer of the County Agricultural Society, effected an arrangement that all old settlers who had been in the county a definite number of years, should be given a free pass to the county fair. This brought to Mr. Patterson's knowledge many interesting facts concerning the past of Williams County; and among other things was the undoubted truth that James Guthrie had settled in Springfield Township in the year 1827. Mr. Guthrie, though a farmer, was compelled by the fiat of events to depend largely for sub- sistence upon his skill as a hunter. His daughter, now Mrs. David Kent, of Mount Pleasant, Mich., whose birth occurred in 1828, was the first white child born in the present Williams County. Soon after Mr. Guth- rie located in Springfield, a man named Zediker came to the county (the present Williams County), and a little later John Perkins arrived, and a few years later, many others. The statement has been made that a Mr. Lantz located in what is now Williams County as early as 1823 ; but this is known to be a mistake by a half dozen old settlers, who assert that Mr. Lantz (by the way, Mr. Lantz lies buried in Pulaski Township) did not settle in the county until about the year 1833, or, perhaps, 1834, and that, for several years prior to that period, he had resided in Defiance County. It is possible, and is regarded as highly probable by many, that " squatters" lived in the county before 1827; but so far as known, none located permanently until that year, when Mr. Guthrie settled in Spring- field.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.
The first session of the Commissioners of Williams County (according to the well-preserved record of their proceedings), convened at the house of Capt. Benjamin Leavell, in the town of Defiance, December 6, 1824- the Commissioners being Benjamin Leavell, Cyrus Hunter and Charles Gunn, and Clerk, T. L. Smith. The business transacted at this session related only to the establishment of county roads ; and projects for new roads chiefly engrossed the time of the sessions held during many years following. IIenry, Paulding and Putnam Counties were then attached to Williams for civil purposes. At the June session, 1825, it was ordered that a jail for the County of Williams be erected, the dimensions of the building " to be twenty-six by eighteen feet, nine feet between floors, with a partition of the same dimensions as the walls, and two grate windows, eighteen by ten inches, with five iron bars to each window," etc. ; $29 was ordered paid the County Auditor for his annual allowance, and the listers (or assessors, as now known), of the several townships were severally allowed from $12 to $1.873. At a session held October 15, 1825, it ap- peared that Isaiah Hughes had been appointed by the Court of Common Pleas
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Commissioner in place of Benjamin Leavell, resigned. Mr. George Lantz was appointed County Auditor in place of Thomas Philbrick. December 6, 1825, the board ordered that Clark Philbrick be allowed for his serv - ices in making a half-bushel measure and brand for said county, the sum of $2. The proprietors of the town of Defiance having donated forty town lots to the county, the Commissioners ordered them offered for sale at auc- tion, on the first day of February, 1826. Seven only of the forty lots were sold, in pursuance of said order, viz. : Lot No. 4 to William Preston for $80 ; Lot No. 12 to Samuel Vance, for $41 ; Lot No. 58 to John Per- kins, for $40 ; Lot No. 64 to Samuel Vance, for $85 ; Lot No. 101 to John Perkins, $71 ; Lot No. 107 to John Oliver, for $36 ; Lot No. 61 to Robert and Nathan Shisley, for $77. From this date forward, and until 1840, when the seat of justice of Williams County was removed from Defiance (which had held it during sixteen years), to Bryan, no proceedings were had which affected, generally, the present County of Williams, because the county north of the Maumee to the State line had meager white pop- ulation, and small influence with the boards of commissioners, who were elected by the settlers on the Maumee and its affluents. Hence necessary authority for opening county roads, which would reach the sparsely popu- lated regions of the northern and western sections, were difficult to obtain at the hands of the County Commissioners ; and so it was that only par- simonious dolings out of legislative benefactions were grudgingly made. It would appear that the settlers on the margins of the Maumee, Auglaize, Lower Bean Creek, Blanchard's Fork and other bottom lands in Williams and the annexed counties of Henry, Putnam and Paulding, conscious of their numerical power, were not so regardful of the interests of the people struggling to obtain foothold in localities situated so distant from them that they could scarcely be regarded as neighbors. As an example of the general policy which controlled the action of the Commissioners at that time, it may be stated that of the three per cent fund, which was a revenue de- rived from the proceeds of the gross amount of sales of United States lands, and devoted by the Fund Commissioners of the several counties en - titled to it, to road and bridge purposes, which fund, in 1826, amounted, in the four counties, to about $1,500, not one dollar was appropriated for the erection of a bridge or the improvement of a road within the present limits of Williams County-the white population of the area now consti- tuting the county being too feeble in number to enforce demands upon the Commissioners, even if, in those rude times, they had any to prefer.
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