USA > Ohio > Williams County > County of Williams, Ohio, Historical and Biographical > Part 24
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The Sheriff having returned the venire for the grand jury, the follow - ing persons answered to their names, to wit: Horace Hilton, John Bow- dle, James Partee, Jacob Kniss, Zachariah Hart, William Travis, Francis Loughhead, Daniel Wyatt, George W. Durbin and Jacob Dillman. Isaiah Ackley, Amos Stoddard, Seth Stinson, Frederick Miser and Jacob G. Wilden were summoned from among the by-standers as talesmen, and thereupon the court appointed Jacob Dillman foreman of the jury, who were duly impaneled, sworn and charged. At this term, twelve bills of indictment were found by the grand jury-four for selling liquor, three for assault and battery, three for gaming, one for assault on Constable and one for affray. Upon the civil docket appear 148 cases, in addition to a grant of the petitioners of the proprietors to vacate the towns of
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Freedom and Denmark, and the naturalization of four men of foreign birth.
" The court authorize the Clerk to grant permits to such persons as shall apply during vacation, to ferry footmen across small streams where a regular ferry is not necessary, and allow them to receive 6 cents for each footman."
The journal, on the 21st of April, 1841, closed with the following entry : " All matters, causes and proceedings, pending in this court, not otherwise disposed of, are continued, and thereupon the court adjourn without day. Emery D. Potter, President Judge."
At the September term, 1842, appeared the same President Judge and Associates-Reuben B. James, William D. Haymaker and Jonathan B. Taylor ; Clerk, Edwin Phelps ; Sheriff, John Drake.
September term, 1843, same Presiding Judge and Associates-Thomas Kent, Jonathan B. Taylor and William D. Haymaker ; Clerk and Sher- iff, same.
April term, 1844-President Judge, Myron H. Tilden; Associate Judges and Clerk, same as in 1843 ; Sheriff, James M. Gillespie.
June term, 1845-President Judge, Patrick G. Goode; Associate Judges, Jonathan B. Taylor, Thomas Kent and Payne C. Parker; Clerk, Levi Colby ; Prosecuting Attorney, E. H. Leland; Sheriff, James M. Gillespie.
[At this term, part of the judiciary became involved in trouble-E. H. Leland, Prosecuting Attorney, having been indicted for gaming, and Judge Thomas Kent for assault and battery. Both were acquitted.]
June term, 1846-President and Associate Judges, same as in 1845 : Clerk, John Paul; Prosecuting Attorney, Joshua Dobbs; President Judge, same; Associate Judges, Thomas Kent, Payne C. Parker and Abner Ayres ; Clerk, Prosecuting Attorney and Sheriff, same.
May term, 1847-No change in any of the judicial officers.
April term, 1848-President Judge did not appear at this term, and court was held by the Associates; Clerk and Sheriff, same as at former term.
May term, 1849-President Judge, George B. Way; Associates and Clerk, same ; Sheriff, Daniel Langel.
October term, 1850-President Judge, same; Associates, Payne C. Parker, Abner Ayres and William M. Stubbs; Clerk and Sheriff, same.
September term, 1851-All the court officers continued ; and this was the last term of a court in Williams County held under the judicial sys- tem established by the constitution of 1802, which had been the supreme law of Ohio during a period of half a century.
Under the present constitution, the first term commenced on the 6th
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day of April, 1852, and Williams County was embraced in the Second Subdivision of the Third Judicial District. John M. Palmer, who had been chosen, at the annual election held in October, 1851, as Judge of the Subdivision, produced his credentials, signed by Reuben Wood, Gov- ernor, with the great seal of the State of Ohio thereto attached, and dated the 16th of January, 1852, with and bearing the official signature of William Trevitt (one of the fathers of Bryan), Secretary of State.
The officers of the new court were : John M. Palmer, District Judge ; Walter Caldwell, Clerk ; Thomas Shorthill, Sheriff.
At the April terms of court, 1853, 1854 and 1855, the names of the same court officers appear upon the journal, with the exception that, at the April term held the last-named year, the name of William A. Stevens is recorded as Clerk ; and at the terms held in 1856, there appear to have been no changes, except that John Bell appears to have succeeded Thomas Shorthill as Sheriff.
At the March term, 1857, Alexander S. Latta appeared and pre- sented his credentials as Judge of the Second Subdivision of the Third Judicial District of the Court of Common Pleas of Ohio, after the reading of which, court was duly opened. No change had occurred in the other offices.
March term, 1858-The same officers were at present this as at the last term, with the exception that Jacob Youse succeeded William A. Stevens as Clerk, and at the March term, 1859, the same officers appeared ; and at the March term, 1860, the only change that had occurred was that Hiram Byers had been qualified as Sheriff.
From 1861 to 1863, inclusive, the same judicial officers were in serv- ice ; but in 1864, Milton B. Plummer had been elected Clerk, and Will- iam S. Lewis ; and 1865 and 1866 brought no changes in court officers, but at the March term of 1867, Lewis E. Brewster became Clerk. At the March term of 1868, Edwin J. Evans was sworn in as Sheriff.
[From this forward, only new officers in the judicial force, as they oc- cur, will be noted.]
In the several years of 1869, 1870 and 1871, there had been no change, but in 1872, Henry L. Walker took charge of the Sheriff's of- fice.
In 1873, no change, and the only one in 1874 was that Henry L. Walker was superseded in the Sheriff's office by William W. Darby.
At the first term held in 1876, E. E. Bechtol was qualified as Clerk. At the March term, 1877, Selwyn N. Owen presented his credentials as Judge.
February term, 1878, George C. Kober entered upon his duties as Sheriff.
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At the February term, 1879, William H. Chilcote entered upon bis duties as Clerk.
In 1880 and 1881, no changes had occurred; but in 1882, Ezra E. Bechtol succeeded William H. Chilcote as Clerk, and Jacob A. Dorshimer succeeded George C. Kober as Sheriff.
And now, having concluded the list of judicial officers for the Court of Common Pleas, it may be added that a most important part of the Ohio judicial system is the office of Probate Judge, which was created by the constitution of 1852; and a full list of the several incumbents who have filled the office is here appended : Joshua Dobbs, elected in 1852 and re- elected in 1855; Meredith R. Willett, elected in 1858; Isaac R. Sher- wood, elected in 1861, and resigned to enter the military service. Will- iam A. Hunter was commissioned by the Governor to succeed Sherwood, but he also very soon entered the army, and November 6, 1862, William H. Ogden succeeded Hunter. In 1863, Alexander Bodel was elected, but resigned, and August 26, 1864, the Governor appointed George E. Long to fill the unexpired term of Judge Bodel, and in 1867 Judge Long was elected for the full term. In 1870, John W. Leidigh was elected, and in 1873 was re-elected. In 1876, Charles A. Bowersox was elected, and in 1879 Martin Perky was elected, and in 1882 re-elected, and under circumstances highly flattering to himself and friends.
CONVICTIONS FOR MURDER.
Only two cases of trial and convictions on charge of capital crime appear in the judicial annals of Williams County. The exceptional case was that of the State of Ohio vs. Daniel Heckerthorn and Andrew F. Tyler, who were arraigned at the September term, 1847, on the charge as explained below, in a synopsis of the bill of indictment, found by the grand jury at said term :
STATE OF OHIO,
WILLIAMS COUNTY. 88.
Court of Common Pleas of the term of September, in the year A. D. 1847, the Jury of the Grand Jurors of the State of Ohio within and for the body of the county of Will- iams upon their oaths and solemn affirmations, in the name and by the authority of the State of Ohio, do present and find that one Daniel Heckerthorn, late of said county of Williams, heretofore, that is to say on the 20th day of June, A. D. 1847, with force and arms, at Jefferson Township, in said county of Williams, in and upon one David Schamp, in the peace of God and State of Ohio then being, feloniously, willfully and purposely, and of deliberate and premeditated malice, did make an assault, and that said Daniel Heckerthorn, with a certain stick, did then and there, with force of arms, etc., * * * And that one Andrew Tyler, late of the said county of Williams, not having the * fear of God before his eyes, but being seduced by the instigation of the devil, before the felony and murder aforesaid, by the aforesaid Daniel Ileckerthorn, in manner and form aforesaid, done and committed, that is to say, etc. * *
* And the jurors aforesaid, in the name and by the authority aforesaid, on their ouths and affirmations nforemid, do
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further present and find that the said Daniel Heckerthorn, not having the fear of God before his eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, and of his malice aforethought, wickedly contriving and intending the said David Schamp with poi- son, feloniously, willfully, unlawfully, purposely and of deliberate and premeditated malice to kill and murder, * * * to wit : the quantity of two drams of the said white arsenic, did put, mingle, mix and infuse into and with a certain quantity of candy, and then and there gave to him, the said David Schamp, a large quantity of the said white arsenic, so as aforesaid by him, the said Daniel Heckerthorn, mixed, mingled and infused with the said candy to eat and swallow. *
* * And that one Andrew Tyler, late of the county of Williams, not having the fear of God before his eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil by the felony and murder last aforcsaid, by the aforesaid Daniel Heckerthorn, * * did stir up, move, abet, counsel, advise and procure, contrary to the form of statute, etc. [Signed ] JOSHUA DOBBS, Pros. Att y.
On which bill of indictment was the following indorsement, to wit :
Williams County, Common Pleas, State of Ohio vs. Daniel Heckerthorn and Andrew Ty- ler, indictment for murder. A true bill. Addison McNabb, foreman. Found upon the testi- mony of witnesses sworn in open court, by order of the court, on the request of the Prosecut- ing Attorney, sent before the Grand Jury. Filed September 8, 1847. John Paul, Clerk, by F. M. Case, Deputy. J. Dobbs, Prosecuting Attorney.
And afterward, to wit :
On the 10th day of September, 1847, on motion to said Court of Common Pleas, it is ordered that Charles Case be appointed Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in this case. The Court appoint Andrew Coffinberry and William Semans to defend the said Daniel Heckerthorn ;
And afterward, to wit :
On the day and year last aforesaid came the said State of Ohio and the said Daniel Heckerthorn and Andrew Tyler, being each separately arraigned, in their own proper persons, in open court, and the said indictment being read to them, and the said Daniel Heckerthorn and Andrew Tyler, being each separately inquired of what they pleaded to said indictment, do each of them, before pleading to said indictment, elect to be tried in the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio to be holden within and for the county of Will- iams. It is therefore ordered by the Court that the said Daniel Heckerthorn and Andrew Tyler be remanded to jail and there confined to await their said trial in said Supreme Court upon said indictment, which was done accordingly ; and afterward, to wit, on the day and year first aforesaid came the said State of Ohio, and the said Andrew Tyler being arraigned in his own proper person, says he is not guilty as he stands charged in said indictment, and thereupon came a jury, to wit, Joseph Stoy, Bannister Poole, William Sheridan, Volney Crocker, Jonathan Hoge, Harvey Koons, William H. Ozier, John Bow- man, Daniel Aucker, William C. Preston, Benjamin Bowman and John Turner, who being duly tried, empaneled and sworn well and truly to try the issue joined between the State of Ohio and the said Andrew Tyler, upon their oaths aforesaid do say that the said Andrew Tyler is guilty of willfully, deliberately and purposely and of deliberate and pre- meditated malice stirring up, moving, selecting, counseling and procuring the said Daniel Heckerthorn willfully, purposely, and of deliberate and premeditated malice the said David Schamp to kill and murder in manner and form as he stands charged in said indictment, and the said Andrew Tyler being set to the bar of the court, and it being demanded of him to say why the sentence of the law should not be pronounced against him, says that he has nothing to say further than he has already said ; wherefore, it is considered, sentenced and adjudged that the said Andrew Tyler be taken from hence to the jail of the county, and therein be safely kept until Friday, the twenty-sixth day of
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January next, between the hours of twelve o'clock, M., and three o'clock, P. M., the said Andrew Tyler shall be taken to the place of execution, and hanged by the neck until he is dead.
And as to the said Daniel Heckerthorn this case is continued.
P. HITCHCOCK, Chief Judge.
At the Williams County Supreme Court term, held in Bryan in 1849, Heckerthorn was tried and sentenced to be hanged, but the Governor of Ohio commuted the sentence to imprisonment for life in the Ohio Peni- tentiary. And thus began and closed the only murder trials adjudicated in Williams County.
THE WILLIAMS COUNTY BAR.
Following is the roster of the members of the Williams County bar at different periods :
1837-At this time, there was a law in force imposing a capitation tax on lawyers of one dollar. In Williams County three were listed, namely-Curtis Bates, Horace Sessions and William Semans. William C. Holgate, afterward successful as a lawyer, and Prosecuting Attorney of Williams County, though more eminent as a sagacious business man, was at this time a law student in the office of the late Horace Sessions, at Defiance.
1844-The names of the following Williams County lawyers, and then all residents of Bryan, appear at the terms held this year upon the bar docket: Leland & Blakeslee, Case & Foster, Joshua Dobbs, S. M. Huyck and James Welsh.
1846-The following names are docketed for the terms of this year : John Paul, J. Dobbs, Coffinberry & Semans, Carter & Case, Leland & Blakeslee, William Carter, S. E. Blakeslee, Carter & Case, H. Sessions, C. Case, E. H. Leland, Case & Coffinberry, Peter Snook, Case & Case, Saunders M. Huyck, J. A. Simon, G. II. Wilson, John K. Morrow, S. A. Treat, Foster & Pratt and Mckinley & 'I'reat.
1882-Pratt & Bentley, Leidigh & Scott, Foster & Bowersox, Emery & Boothman, Smith & Strayer, Serrels & Johnston, M. R. Willett, J. A. Simon, J. W. Nelson, M. H. Bond, S. E. Blakeslee, H. Preusser, B. E. Sheldon, Solomon Johnson, C. W. Pitcairn, O. C. Beechler, A. D. Austin, Peter Friend, George E. Coy, Hiram H. Calvin, John M. Caulk- ins, C. P. Winbigler and Charles B. Jones.
DESTRUCTION OF LANDMARKS.
The erection of Defiance County under the act passed March 4, 1845 (the same day Mr. Polk was inaugurated President of the United States), was, for the time, disastrous to the interests of the county as originally formed, in several respects, not only by mutilating its symmetrical lines, but by transferring to the new county a large portion of its most valuable
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taxable property ; while it also opened up a vexatious war for the removal of the county seat from Bryan to West Unity, and in this conflict many old friendships were for the time severed. At the time of the erection of Defiance, Williams was composed of seventeen townships, namely: Defiance, Tiffin, Springfield, Brady, Mill Creek, Jefferson, Pulaski, Wash- ington, Delaware, Farmer Centre, Superior, Bridgewater, Florence, St. Joseph, Milford and Hicksville. Some of these townships ex- ceeded the established limits of the United States surveys, owing to the clashing of the Harris and Fulton lines, which finally resulted in the boundary conflict between Ohio and Michigan; but yet it left Williams a territory considerably in excess of the minimum area pre- scribed by the constitution ; and the General Assembly, in 1849, erected Fulton, which further despoiled the old county by clipping off three of the eastern sections of Mill Creek and two from Brady Township. But this last legislative act was comforting to Bryan local interests, because it placed the eastern boundary of Brady so near the "ragged edge," that it blasted all hope of West Unity for capturing the county seat, and made perpetual peace between the two places by consigning the vexed contro- versy to " the tomb of the Capulets." With these two clippings, we find, according to that eminent and experienced surveyor, Miller Arrowsmith, that the present superficial area of the county is about equal to eleven and two-thirds townships, or 420 square miles-being then, according to this good authority, only about twenty square miles above the constitutional limits ; but the lines as now drawn may be regarded as perpetual, except that the fundamental law be changed establishing the minimum limits of counties-an event not probable to happen, as it has remained a policy that has existed unchanged since Ohio became a member of the Union.
WILLIAMS COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.
At one time there existed a strong medical association in the county, but from some cause the organization was abandoned, and the society be- came extinct by reason of a discontinuance of the annual meetings. The profession have material for a medical society which might occupy the highest rank.
WILLIAMS COUNTY INFIRMARY.
This farm, buildings and improvements, reflect credit upon the County Commissioners who undertook the enterprise; upon the boards of In- firmary Directors who succeeded them ; and upon the superintendents and matrons, who have had management of its affairs since the opening of the house for the reception of inmates. Work upon the main build- ing was begun in 1873, and so far completed in the following year that, on its opening day, six unfortunates were received, and before the close
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of that month, fifteen additional ones. The first directors of the institu- tion were elected October, 1874, and they were Hiram Hoatley, Jr., Robert L. Burns and Joseph Reasoner. On November 25, 1874, An- drew Scott was appointed superintendent. The first semi-annual report of the directors was made September 1, 1875. Mr. Reasoner, who had been elected for the full term of three years, resigned after a brief serv- ice, and his place was filled through the County Commissioners by the appointment of D. M. Webb, to serve until the next regular election. November 25, 1876, M. L. Mason was appointed superintendent, and yet retains the place. The number of monthly inmates of the institution, since its opening, has been about thirty, and highest number during any month, forty-nine, although the buildings would afford accommodation for about sixty, aside from the superintendent's family and employes. The Infirmary farm, consisting of 280 acres, cost $14,000, and was bought of John Hester. The original contract price for the building, exclusive of brick, which the county furnished, was $12,000. Since then, an ad- ministration department has been built at a cost of $2,000; a horse-barn, costing $700, and a laundry, twenty by forty feet, two stories, at an ex- pense of $600, in addition to other necessary improvements. The situation of the ground could not have been one more favorably selected, had the county been searched over-the ground falling in every direc- tion, and affording the best drainage facilities. The rooms are heated, when required, by furnace, and arrangements are most judiciously made for the escape of the inmates of the building in case of fire. The In- firmary board for 1882 consists of John T. Markel, A. Collie, and George Bible.
GEOLOGY, POLITICS AND THE COUNTY PRESS.
TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES.
The soil of Williams County is generally clay, strongly impregnated with lime, but a portion of it is a sandy loam. The surface is suffi- ciently undulating for drainage, and by ditching and tiling it becomes as productive as the best lands in Ohio. There are no swamp lands in the county that may not be reclaimed at small expense, and when prepared for tillage are among the most productive acres in the State. All the cereals, large and small fruits of this latitude and garden vegetables afford ample reward to the intelligent and industrious husbandman. "In common with the adjacent counties north of the Maumee River, its surface has a general slope to the southeast, and the highest land in this portion of the State is in the township of Northwest, where the general surface lies from 400 to 450 feet above the level of Lake Erie, where a
a
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few hills rise fifty feet higher." On the Air-Line of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, Stryker has an altitude of 146 feet ; Bean Creek, 125 feet ; Bryan, 198 feet ; Melbern, 270 feet; Summit, 304 feet ; Edgerton, 270 feet ; and Butler, Ind., 297 feet above the level of Lake Erie. [For these altitudes the public is indebted to Hon. Jesse L. Williams, of Fort Wayne, one of the most accurate, as well as most eminent, civil engineers in the Union.] The southeast corner of the county is 300 feet lower, the descent being gentle, and, with oue notable exception, uniform throughout. This exception is occasioned by a ridge which crosses in a northeast and southwest direction just east of the St. Joseph River. Topographically, it is a mere swell on the surface of the plain, six or eight miles broad at the base, with a maximum height of fifty feet, and not differing in superficial characters from the adjacent country. All of the country west of this ridge is drained by the St. Joseph River, which flows southwestward and, by a junction with the St. Mary's at Fort Wayne, Ind., forms the Maumee. East of the ridge the water is collected by Bean Creek, which crosses the southeast corner of the county and flows southward to the Maumee at Defiance. The small streams rise in the main from perennial springs, and are lively and clear, and the beds of all the streams rest upon rock.
GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE.
For matter gathered for this department, the writer is indebted to Prof. G. K. Gilbert, of the Ohio Geological Corps. The indurated rocks, being everywhere covered by a heavy bed of drift, have been reached in this county only by boring, and this only at one place. A well drilled for oil at Stryker, on land of IIon. John Sheridan, Jr., after traversing 129 feet of drift, met the Huron shale, with a thickness of sixty-eight feet, and underlaid by limestone. Combining this record with the railroad levels, the base of the Huron shale is shown to be here fifty feet below the level of Lake Erie. Comparing this, again, with the altitude of the same horizon at various points along the Maumee River, it appears that its dip is to the north, or northwest, at the rate of seven or eight feet to the mile. In adjacent portions of Michigan, the dip, so far as known, is in the same direction ; and it is hence presumed to be continuous through the unexplored interval. There is reason to believe, too, that the gradual rise of the country toward the northwest is accom- panied by a corresponding and equal activity of the rock surface. It follows as probable that the higher land is underlaid by 500 feet of strata superior to the base of the Huron shale, and that the upper portion of this base belongs to the next succeeding base-the Waverly. The lower margin of the Huron shale is in every direction beyond the limits of
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Williams County. The stratagraphical data are so unsatisfactory that the map of the county has been made to represent, instead, the features of the surface geology, which in their relation to the distribution of soils are of more interest and importance.
The geology of the soils is independent of the underlying rocks, and referable exclusively to the drift ; they are divided into two somewhat marked provinces by the upper beach ridge. This enters Defiance County at Williams Center, and, passing with a nearly straight course just west of Bryan and Pulaski and through West Unity, crosses into Fulton County a half mile north of the Fulton line. Its soil is sandy, and in some places objectionably light on the summit of the ridge, but the eastern slope affords everywhere a rich and highly prized sandy loam, which shades gradually into the clay loam of the plain. Easy drainage, easy tillage, and the advantage of building sites at once pleasant and salubrious, led to the early occupation of this land, and it now bears prominently the visible marks of prosperity. A second ridge, lying a little east of the other and running from the south line to Bryan, presents similar characters, and some sand ridges lying east of West Unity may be included in the same category. West of the upper beach the surface consists of unmodified Erie clay, and the soils present all the variety of that heterogeneous deposit. The major part is a yellow or buff clay, with enough sand and gravel to render it arable and perme- able. Patches of unmixed clay are frequent, but small ; and, though sometimes friable, are more commonly very adhesive and difficult of management. Except in swales, the accumulation of mold is inconsid- erable, but the soil is retentive of vegetable manures, and gives a good return for their application. Carbonate of lime was originally very abundant, and remains on the more level portions, but appears to have been washed from the slopes. Sand is rarely predominant, but in Northwest a tract of two or three miles area is covered by a clean, yellow sand. It has for the most part a subsoil of clay so near the surface as to render the land valuable, but near Nettle Lake is deep and light. The country generally is rolling or undulating, and abounds with deep marshes, in which are extensive deposits of marl, and peat or muck. Along the St. Joseph River, and appearing alternately on the opposite banks, is a strip of flat, sandy land, nearly identical in character with the bottom land that forms the immediate bank of the river. It is in fact an ancient bottom or flood-plain of the St. Joseph, formed when its current was checked by lake water standing at the height of the upper beach. At Edgerton this deposit has a depth of forty feet, and its extreme width is about one mile. It can be traced northward as far as Pioneer, but above there is not distinguishable from the present bottom.
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