County of Williams, Ohio, Historical and Biographical, Part 35

Author: Weston A. Goodspeed, Charles Blanchard
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 885

USA > Ohio > Williams County > County of Williams, Ohio, Historical and Biographical > Part 35

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had charge of the office. John L. Terpening, the present efficient Post- master, has held that position for a number of years.

SECRET SOCIETIES.

The fraternal organizations have long been a fixture in Edgerton. The Masons have a strong society. They were the first to organize. The Odd Fellows, Royal Arcanum and Knights of Honor organized later, each society being in a flourishing condition. Their halls are well and taste- fully furnished. The Good Templars once had a strong society in the village, but it was suffered to go down, and has unfortunately passed out of existence. The many places in the village where liquors are sold show the necessity of a revival of this organization.

PHYSICIANS.

J. S. Stough lived just north of the village, and practiced medicine for a number of years; he afterward removed to Waterloo, Ind. Dr. Barkdol was one of the first physicians ; he had a fine practice ; his pros- pects were the most flattering ; he became intemperate, lost prestige and his practice, and is now living in Stryker. Dr. Andrews once prac- ticed in Edgerton. He was a good physician and remarkable for his height, being about six and a half feet in length. He died of consump- tion, though he was particularly skillful in the treatment of lung diseases. Dr. Miner came there after 1860; he went into the army and died there. His son attempted to fill his father's place for awhile, but never became as eminent. Dr. Schmidt practiced there about the same time. Subse- quently he removed to Indiana. Dr. Samuel Wood located there about the beginning of the war; he was a Canadian, and a brother-in-law of the Drs. Stough. He entered the army near the close of the war, and was commissioned a Lieutenant ; he removed to Chicago, and entered into the stock business. During this time the Drs. Long, George E. and John W., did a large practice in and around Edgerton. Drs. Hathaway, Scribner, Taylor and the Drs. Mortland, have located there at subse- quent times, and enjoyed lucrative practices. Dr. Schoettly practices some, and also holds the office of Justice of the Peace. He is eminent in the law.

LAWYERS.

The lawyers have not abounded in this village. E. L. Knight, who came there as a merchant after the war broke out, was an attorney at law. He was elected to the office of Justice of the Peace, which office he was filling with much satisfaction when he died very suddenly A. D. Aus- tin, Esq., has been in the practice for a number of years ;' he held the office of Justice of the Peace for a considerable length of time, and is

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especially skilled in that class of practice. James Marshall did a good deal of legal business ; he was drowned mysteriously. A suspicion that he was foully murdered still lurks in the minds of the people. C. P. Winbigler has lately set up in the practice, and is reported to be doing a comfortable business.

EDGERTON'S PUBLIC AND BUSINESS MEN, SCHOOLS, ETO.

Edgerton has been incorporated a number of years. It has numbered among its Mayors such esteemed citizens as George Helwig, O. H. Fussel- man, William F. Roop, James Marshall, John L. Terpening, and the pres- ent incumbent, Samual Fritz, and others. Additions have been made to the original plat from time to time. Within the last year this has been done on a large scale. The excellent public schools of the village have caused much of the surrounding territory to be attached for school pur- poses. The following-named have superintended these public schools : Rev. Harris, C. H. Kiracofe, F. V. Irish, Charles A. Bowersox, J. F. Starr, James G. Bowersox, Joseph A. Weitz, and the present incumbent, Mr. Newberry. The school building is a commodious brick of four rooms well arranged. The business men have been singularly fortunate. Few business failures have occurred in this village. During the dark days of and succeeding the panic, her business men came safely through. Situated in a region of unsurpassed fertility, her business men of all classes have always enjoyed a substantial trade.

PUBLIC HALLS.

No town hall has ever been built in this town. This want has more than been met by the elegant opera hall, on the third floor of the brick block of Daniel Farnham. This large and commodious hall, with stage and scenery, and well seated, has met every want.

DISTRICT SCHOOLS, SCHOOLHOUSES AND TEACHERS.

The first schoolhouse built in the township was at Denmark. It was built of logs, and stood north of the public square. It has long since disappeared. Near it stood a large apple-tree, said to have been planted by the Indians. The first term of school taught in it, and in the town- ship, was taught by Rev. Stoddard. This was early as 1837 or 1838. Immediately after him a Mr. John Cornell taught a term or two in the same house. There were several other terms taught in this schoolhouse before it was abandoned. The next schoolhouse built in the township was over a mile north of Edgerton. ' It stood on the east side of the road, on the hill, and very near the barn on the farm of Joseph Hemling, now deceased. This house remained standing for over a quarter of a century,

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and was once used for election purposes. Shortly after this, and at about the same time, schoolhouses were built in the Carr neighborhood, in the east part of the township, on the Bellefontaine road ; and also one in the northwestern district of the township, on the Bellefontaine road, which was for years known as the Wilson Schoolhouse. In this latter neighborhood, however, several terms of school had been taught in rooms temporarily fitted up. Rev. Chambers, Mrs. P. E. Wilson, now dead, Mary Dillman, daughter of Jacob Dillman, now deceased, and Marion Preston, now the wife of Daniel Strickland, were among the first teachers in that district, and in the township. A Mr. Southworth also taught in that early time. He was eminent in scholarship, but unbalanced in mind. Of later years he will be remembered as an old man, tall, spare, and with long gray hair and beard, traveling about continually, leaning on two staffs, carrying his budget upon his shoulders. He was a harm- less old man, stopping at whatever house or place night overtook him. He would read or expound the Scriptures and pray with those who kept him, in apparent payment for his entertainment. He died within a few years. He had at least one daughter. Her name was Charity. She was a mild, intelligent lady and married an excellent gentleman in a county south. There are few of the older citizens of the township, who do not remember patient Charity Southworth.

The first schoolhouses built in each of the districts were log. They could well have been built much larger and more commodious considering the abundance of timber. The desks were placed around the wall. The seats were mostly made of basswood logs split into halves. Upon these rude and uncomfortable seats, pupils of all ages and conditions were compelled to sit the six hours per day of school. These pioneer school- houses were in strange contrast with the present light, airy and com- modious school buildings in every district in the township. And yet it is a fact that as much solid work was done by pupils in those early school buildings as in the more elegant ones of the present. Wood was fur- nished by the patrons in proportion to the number of pupils sent. Often, it was drawn to the schoolhouse, by the parents, in the log, and cut up by the pupils. Most of the pupils found their way through the woods to the schoolhouses, roads being comparatively unknown. Along these school trails the scholars went to school, and at night to spelling-schools, lighting their way, in the night-time, with torches made from the bark of the hickory tree.

SPELLING-SCHOOLS.

Nothing modern can equal the spelling-schools of those early times. The young people would go miles to a spelling-school. . It was district against district, and it was wonderful how each would back their cham-

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pions. The order was different at times in spelling down. Sometimes they would stand up and spell around and the last one up was the winner, A more thorough test, however, was to stand up two and two; and the one who was able to spell the whole crowd down in that way was the winner indeed. These friendly contests were often very exciting, and continued until late into the night. Webster's Elementary Spelling-book was used for many years, and finally gave way to McGuffey's. And it is not very clear even yet that the exchange was a wise one. That the pupils in our common schools then were much better spellers than now is beyond all question.

SCHOOL BOOKS.

McGuffey's Readers, the old edition, were introduced into the schools of the township at an early period. Previous to that, other books were used as readers, the New Testament being prominent among the rest. There was no uniformity in this matter, until the adoption of McGuffey's series. Adam's arithmetic was used by some, Pike's by others, and the old Western Calculator had its friends. No uniformity was arrived at in this regard, until the adoption of Ray's series. He has held the ground ever since. His Third Part, or Practical, has been the standard for many years. There are many, with very good cause, who think it has never been excelled for the purpose for which it was designed. No particular system of writing was ever taught, save perhaps, in the village of Edger- ton. The systems were as various as the teachers were-ever changing. Davie's algebra was first used by those who had advanced that far. It was supplanted by Ray, who has held the ground ever since, save in Edgerton, where, of late years, Schuyler's complete algebra was used for a time. This township early took a front rank in matters of educa- tion, and has always held its place. It has furnished many teachers, and some of the most eminent the county has ever had. In this respect, one district, number three, particularly excelled. In that district there was scarcely a family that did not furnish a teacher, and several as high as three. A number attended the acadamies of the country, while four from that district graduated from college, and largely by their own efforts. Rev. James G. Bowersox, from Otterbein University and Oberlin Theo- logical School ; Charles A. Bowersox, from Otterbein University ; Joseph A. Weitz and Luthera Wilson, now Mills, from Hillsdale College, Michi- gan. Allen Klippart taught for many years in the district right east of this, or number two. He was a brother of the Klippart who was once prominent in the Agricultural Departments of the State. He was, like his brother, an excellent scholar. Strong drink got the better of him. He was killed by a railroad train while going to Bryan, and just as the train was starting from Edgerton. It was scarcely regarded accidental.

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Daniel Strickland was one of the early teachers, as was his younger brother, Michael. Lewis N. Mills taught in nearly every school in the township several times over. "Lew " Mills, as he was called, was cross- eyed and could spell everybody down. He is in Nebraska now. Eliza- beth Cornell, now the wife of William Poole, of Center Township, taught many terms, as did also her sister, Harriet, now in Nebraska. James G. Bowersox taught the greater part of the time for over a quarter of a century, occasionally stopping off to preach. He died at his post, almost in the schoolroom in Edgerton, at about forty-six years of age. There were other excellent teachers, among whom were J. A. Weitz, D. W. Weitz, Luthera, Maria and Lottie Wilson, and others equally good, whose names do not now occur to the writer. In passing it is very safe to say, that St. Joseph Township has produced an intelligent class of young people, always anxious to avail themselves of every opportunity for im- provement.

NEWSPAPERS OF EDGERTON.

The only newspaper ever published in Edgerton was established in the winter of 1876, by H. A. Granbery and J. R. Fusselman ; it was s small folio, printed on a hand press, and was called the Edgerton Weekly. The following summer Granbery assumed entire control, and ran the journal till 1878, when he sold out to Sardis Williams, of Bryan, who is now publishing a paper in Decatur, Ind. He changed the name to that of the Edgerton Herald, ran the paper nearly a year, and then turned it over to its former owner, Mr. Granbery. This gentleman is a free and graceful writer, and was quite successful in the management of the busi- ness until June last, when he suspended. The journal was independent in politics, and had a circulation of about six hundred copies. The prob- abilities are that its publication will be resumed at an early day, either by Mr. Granbery or other parties.

POLITICS.

Politically, the township is Democratic, and has been for years. The majority has varied from eighty-five to fifteen of late years. The corpo- ration of Edgerton is slightly Republican. This township, one time or another, has filled nearly every county office. H. H. Wilcox in the Recorder's Office; Lewis E. Brewster and William H. Chilcote in the Clerk's Office ; George E. Long and Charles A. Bowersox in the Pro- bate Judge's Office; William S. Lewis and his son-in-law, George C. Kober, in the Sheriff's Office; William McCain in the Auditor's Office and Daniel Farnham in the County Commissioner's Office; while Charles A. Bowersox, formerly of that township, is the present member of the State Legislature. The township has good material with which to fill all these offices round again-indeed, she has the men anxious to do it.

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ELECTIONS.

The first election held in the township was at John Fee's, April 4, 1832; after that for a time at Denmark. At least one election was held at what was called the Parker place, now the farm of Mr. Hol- linger. John W. Bowersox says he attended an election there. After- ward, they held elections in the schoolhouse on the hill, a little more than a mile north of Edgerton. It stood on the hill not far from the barn of Joseph Hemling. Soon after Edgerton was started, they began to hold elections there, and it has been the voting place ever since. One of the first Justices of the Peace, and in fact one of the first officers elected in the township, was a Mr. Preston. Offices were not sought after then as now. A Mr. Tanner and Alexander Kearnes were Assessors for years. An office, now abolished, it was difficult to get any one to fill ; this was the Fence Viewer.

DURING THE REBELLION.

St. Joseph Township did its duty nobly in that dark struggle. It furnished men for the three months' service, and its quota for every sub- sequent call. It gave its best boys to such grand old regiments as the Fourteenth, Thirty-eighth, Sixty-eighth, One Hundred and Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry and other regiments, and to the Third and Ninth Ohio Cavalry. St. Joseph Township has some, and many for its population, as brave and noble boys sleeping in the South as ever dressed in the loyal blue. Some are sleeping in the little cemetery at Edgerton. Annu- ally the good people gather there, strew their graves with sweet spring flowers and bedew them with their tears. They are a part of that noble army of the dead. The citizens of the township gave of their substance to the Sanitary Commissions to make comfortable the sick, the wounded and the dying. Many a poor boy in the service was made comfortable by gifts from people in St. Joseph Township, who were, in fact, too poor to give.

CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS.

Rev. Elijah Stoddard was among the first, if not the first minister, who preached in this township ; this was as early as 1836 or 1837, at Denmark. The services were held in a small log house, not far from the residence of Judge Long, and a little east. Mrs. Farnham, who was there, says that, seats being scarce, she saw the men go out and carry in rails from the fences and fix up temporary seats. Meetings were held, with more or less regularity, at Denmark for a number of years. For awhile they were held in the residence of Judge Parker, and, later along, in his barn. The barn stood very near where the barn of Judge Long, lately built, now stands. Revs. Coleman and Warner, min-

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isters of the M. E. Church, traveled through the township in that early time. Rev. Warner traveled a circuit extending into this township many years afterward. Rev. Coleman traveled a part of the same cir- cuit again in 1869 and 1870; he is now somewhere in the West. The Presbyterians held services in Denmark at about the same time. They were represented by such ministers as the brothers James and David Anderson, Akey and Crabbs. James Anderson died many years ago; he had much to do with the academy established in Williams Centre more than a quarter of a century ago. David Anderson has had a charge in the northwest part of Williams County within the last three or four years. Revs. Akey and Crabbs are dead. A daughter of Rev. Crabbs is married, and resides in Superior Township, in said county. James Anderson was especially beloved by the people as a preacher and teacher. The Presbyterians, later on, occasionally held services in the barn of Henry Cassler, on the farm now owned by Daniel Stevens, three miles north of Edgerton. Rev. Cather, of the Lutheran Church, preached in the township at various places for a number of years after 1840. He preached at Denmark, in the house of John W. Bowersox, and at various other places. He has not been in the active ministry for a number of years, and resides in Indiana. He was something of a wag. He had several daughters ; he named one Coon, another Whale, and another Bear. By these names, especially Coon, they went for years. He had quite a family. They were strangely unfortunate, the larger number having died when comparatively in the prime of life. The Church of the United Brethren was represented by Revs. Hulburt and Jonathan Thomas, commonly known as " Father " Thomas. Rev. Hulburt was an eccentric character, something of the Peter Cartwright style. He preached in various places in the township, amongst others in the log barn of John W. Bowersox. "Father " Thomas is now living in Butler, Ind .; he is about seventy-five years of age, and has been in the ministry over half a century ; he states that he preached in Bryan over forty-four years ago, or in 1838. One of his appointments, over forty years ago, was at what was called Blair's Corners, southwest of Edger- ton ; he preached there in a little old log schoolhouse. He was a man of wonderful natural talent, fearless in defense of what he conceived to be right, terrible in denunciation of the wrong. He had a reputation as a revivalist.

The German Methodists were at one time represented by two min- isters named Baker and Deemer. They held services for awhile in what is called the Weitz neighborhood, in, the northwest portion of the town- ship. It is said that Baker, who was very popular, abandoned the min- istry and fell from the profession altogether.

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The Methodist Episcopal Church has maintained organizations in the township from the earliest time to the present. Appointments have changed somewhat, and some have been abandoned, but the voice of the itinerant minister has always been heard in the township. In the days of Thompson, Allbright, Lindsay and others, they would hold services on week days. Then it was that ministers were traveling the circuit in reality. Farmers and their hands, their wives and children, would leave their harvest fields, and, in the garb of toil, go to the schoolhouses, the then houses of the Lord.

About the first organization of a Congregational Church in the town- ship was at the schoolhouse three miles north of Edgerton. This was as early as 1856. . Rev. Worts, then of Ligonier, Ind., was the first min- ister. At one time, there was quite a flourishing organization there. It has been abandoned for many years, the congregation having been re-or- ganized at Edgerton. Mr. Worts was present at or about the time of the hanging of the famous horse-thief McDougal, by the regulators of Noble and La Grange Counties, Ind. He seems to have held some religious services with the doomed man. In his sermons of that time, he made fre- quent reference to the terrible scene and its lessons.

The Reformed Church also had an appointment at the same school- house for a number of years. Indeed, it appears that for awhile every religious denomination known to the Christian world held services in that schoolhouse. Rev. Weaver held services for the Baptists in a log school- house standing on the same site. This was as early as 1854. It was about the time the Air Line Railroad was being built. He was holding services there one Sabbath afternoon. Something like a dozen or more of the employes on the road came to the meeting, and began to disturb the minister. He remonstrated with them, but to no purpose. Having come for a row, they proposed to have one. They continued their dis- orderly behavior beyond the endurance of the citizens then present. The meeting stopped, and the fight began-Alexander and Tobias Wright, John Gnagy, John W. and David Bowersox, John Skelton and Benjamin F. Cornell and others on the part of the preacher, the railroad hands on their own behalf. The struggle was terrific. Finally, the friends of good order and the Gospel prevailed. The railroad men were completely routed, and most of them fearfully battered. They threatened to return in great force, but never put in an appearance.

The Catholics first organized in Edgerton. They have a good church building and parsonage there. They have their priests, and are in a flourishing condition.

The Disciples were once stronger in Edgerton than they are now. At

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one time they built a very neat little church, wherein they still hold serv- ices, as they are able to employ a minister.

The German Lutherans have a church building and organization in Edgerton. Their numbers are not great, but they are in a growing con- dition under the ministration of their popular pastor, Rev. Staehling.

Within the last fifteen years, the Evangelical Association has done a good work near the central part of the township. Services were formerly held in a schoolhouse, about a mile and a quarter north of Edgerton. The membership has grown rapidly. Recently they have completed an excel- lent church building near the site of the schoolhouse. They have among their members many of the substantial citizens of the township.

The Universalists occasionally held services in Edgerton. They have had no distinct organizations at any time.

There have been services held from time to time in the township by ministers of other denominations than those named, but no distinct organ- izations have been effected. Probably the first church building erected in the township was on the Bryan road, near the east line of the township. It was built of hewed logs, and, as nearly as can be ascertained, was con- trolled by the Lutherans. It is torn away now, and was abandoned for many years theretofore. A little graveyard, heretofore referred to, was in connection with it. It stood there, almost in the woods, for many years, and had a sort of ghostly appearance. A better selection for a spectral story could not have been found. There is now scarcely a trace of it left.

The next was the Methodist Church in Edgerton. This was built in the early days of the war, and by the contributions of all the people. It is still in a good state of preservation. A parsonage has been added lately. The other churches were built in or about the order named here : Disciple, Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Evangelical. The Pres- byterians have recently built a very neat little church in Edgerton. The organization is formed in part of former members of the Congregational Church. It is in a flourishing condition, and increasing in membership. They were helped by the church erection fund of the Presbyterian Church.

SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

Sunday schools had much of the same history as the churches. They began at Denmark, and extended over the township as the population in- creased. Held first in private houses, then schoolhouses, and then in church houses in the communities where such houses are. Among the earliest was one organized in the old log schoolhouse, commonly known as the Wilson Schoolhouse, in the north western part of the township. It was managed largely by Mr. Wilson, who now resides in Bryan. There

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were no lesson leaves nor Bible teachers as now. He carried the whole library, testaments, question books, and Sunday school books, in a small hand basket. Even in that poorly equipped school impressions were made in childhood, that have not been forgotten in maturer years. Bare- foot, with nothing on but chip hat, shirt and denim pants, men, now well known in the county, in childhood attended that Sabbath school, in the old log schoolhouse by the wayside. Sunday schools were less sectarian then than now. They were generally called and managed as Union Sunday Schools. Revival meetings were conducted with much zeal in that early time. Night meetings were attended mostly on foot. At least one member of each fami- ly would come bearing a torch unlit, made from the bark of the hickory tree, and even a rifle was no uncommon thing to be seen in meeting. When dismissed, they would light their torches, and start for home. A number of families living in the same direction would form quite a procession. As they move along, there is something wild and weird in the scene. The glare of their torches light up the dense forest, and the fitful shadows dance and quiver on either side like spectral creatures. Ever and anon the wild woods ring with hymns of rejoicing or songs of awful warning, exhorting sinners to repentance. There is nothing like these pioneer meetings in modern times.

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County of Williams, Ohio, Historical and Biographical, Part 35

Author: Weston A. Goodspeed, Charles Blanchard Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Number of Pages: 885

Author: Weston A. Goodspeed, Charles Blanchard
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 885