County of Williams, Ohio, Historical and Biographical, Part 49

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 49

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWNSHIP.

The following is quoted from the records of the County Commission- ers of March, 1839: "Upon application made by W. H. B. Smith and others, the board order that there be a new township created and organ- ized, to be known and designated by the name of Bridgewater Township, to be composed of the following territory : All the original surveyed townships of Ranges 3 and 4 west, Townships 9 and 10 south, and the west tier of sections in Townships 9 and 10 south, Range 2 west, of the Michigan Meridian. Election to be held at the house of Daniel Smith on the first Monday in April, 1839." All the men then living in the township except, perhaps, some two or three, met to effect the organiza- tion of the township. It will be noticed that, at this time, Northwest was attached to Bridgewater. From the township record of this election, which is yet in existence, it seems that this first election was held on the 1st day of April. The Judges of Election were Daniel Smith, Miles Putnam and Robert Follett ; and the Clerks, Nathaniel S. Dewey and Curtis Cogswell. The following officers were elected : Trustees, Hiram Covell, Asa Church and Chandler Holt; Clerk, Anson Smith ; Over- seers of the Poor, Robert Follett and Miles Putnam ; Superintendent of Roads, Asa Smith ; Fence Viewers, N. S. Dewey, Erastus G. Back and Asa Smith ; Constables, Erastus G. Back and Asa Smith ; School In- spectors, N. S. Dewey, Curtis Cogswell and Robert Follett. On the 16th of April, the same year, the Trustees appointed Asa Smith, Treas- urer. All these officers-elect qualified except Erastus G. Back, as Con- stable. In October, 1839, Asa Church ran off with a woman living in the neighborhood, and Curtis Cogswell was appointed Trustee to fill his

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unexpired term. On the 28th of September, 1839, Daniel Smith and Chandler Holt were elected Justices of the Peace. It will be noticed that, at this election, no officer was elected from the attached township of Northwest. On the 2d of March, 1840, the township was laid off into the following school districts : 1-To commence at the southeast corner of the township, thence north to the quarter-post of Section 30, thence west to the quarter-post on the west side of Section 26, thence south to the old State line, thence east to the place of beginning. 2-To com- mence at the quarter-post on the east side of Section 30, thence north to the State line, thence west on said line to the west side of Section 7, Township 9, Range 3, thence south until directly west of the quarter-post of Section 30, thence east to the place of beginning. 3-To commence at the southeast corner of Section 10, Township 10 south, thence north to the quarter-post on the east side of Section 27, thence west on the quarter-line to the west side of Section 30, thence south to the southwest corner of Section 7, thence east to the place of beginning. 4-To com- commence at the southeast corner of Section 12, Township 10 south, Range 4 west, thence north to the State line, thence west on the Michi- gan line to the Indiana line, thence south on this line to the southwest corner of Section 8, Township 10 south, Range 4 west, thence east to the place of beginning. At the same time, three road districts were es- tablished : No. 1, coinciding with School District No. 1; No. 2, with School District No. 2, and No. 3 including the remainder of the present Bridgewater Township, and all of the present Northwest Township.

THE SECOND GENERAL ELECTION.

This was held on the 6th of April, 1840. Chandler Holt, Hiram Covell and Curtis Cogswell were Judges of Election, and Anson Smith and Ozias M. Billings, of Northwest, Clerks. The following officers were elected : Trustees, Hiram Covell, Owen McCarty and Robert Follett; Clerk, Chandler Holt; Treasurer, Miles Putnam ; Overseers of the Poor, Erastus Back and David P. Wilcox ; Constables, D. P. Wilcox and William P. Back ; Supervisor of Road District, No. 1, Chandler Holt ; No. 2, Miles Putnam ; No. 3, Hiram Covell; Fence Viewers, E. G. Back, Miles Putnam and D. P. Wilcox; Trustees of School Land, Robert Follett, Hiram Covell and E. G. Back ; Treasurer of School Land, Curtis Cogswell; Inspectors of Schools, Robert Follett, Chandler Holt and Curtis Cogswell. On the 16th of April, 1840, David P. Wil- cox was elected Justice of the Peace. About this time, nearly all the old settlers began to record their ear marks. That of Erastus Back was a square crop off the end of the right ear, and a haping under the same. That of Chandler Holt, a haping under both ears. On the 1st of March,

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1841, the school districts were reduced to three, or rather, they remained the same, for Northwest then had a separate township organization. Another road district was created at this time. As time went on, the road districts and school districts were constantly altered to meet new de- mands and conditions. The first highway was the Angola road. In 1842, the Trustees ordered paid to Simeon Cobb, as relief fund, the sum of $8. Some time later, the following appears upon the record : " Pro- ceeded to examine Owen McCarty's account for milling seven bushels of grain for Simeon Cobb, and ordered him paid $1.75. Proceeded to examine Miles Putnam's account of provisions for Simeon Cobb, and gave him an order of $6 for the same." In April, 1858, there were fifty- eight men in the township liable for military duty.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.

In 1839, Curtis Cogswell planted the first orchard in the township, and several of the trees are yet standing, the top of one measuring fifty feet in diameter. The trunk of another is about seven and a half feet in circumference. George H. Smith, son of Asa Smith, was born in the township March 5, 1838. This was the first birth. The death of Mrs. Adams, in 1842, was the first. The marriage of E. G. Back and Lucy Sumner, in October, 1839, was the first. A post office was established at the house of Chandler Holt April 14, 1846, he being the Postmaster. The name of the office was Bridgewater. Dr. William D. Stout, who came to the township in about the year 1846, was the first resident prac- ticing physician. He was a noted deer hunter and was notoriously lazy, an indispensable constitutional element in the "make up " of a successful hunter. If an early settler sent in the morning, in great haste, for him, for the relief of some member of his family, the good doctor would take his rifle, hunt all day and reach the sick person about night. It is hu- morously stated, that he was so inordinately lazy that when he accident- ally fell down while hunting in the woods, he would remain down until he had killed four or five deer. There is truth as well as humor in this statement. The best way in the world to hunt deer is to find a spot where they are likely to pass, and then sit down and patiently wait for their appearance. The most patient hunter would kill the most deer. The doctor was most patient. In the meantime, his patients suffered by his neglect. Much of the wheat raised in the township very early was conveyed to Adrian, Mich., and not a little was carted to Toledo. Defi- ance was also a market often visited. . Its streets were often lined with wagons loaded with wheat, the teams being one, two and three yoke of oxen. In 1840, there was not a horse in the township and only fifty-one cattle, but in 1842 there were six horses and sixty-two cattle. The total

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value of personal property the latter year was $786, the tax on the same being $14.85. A man named Brown killed a bear in the township many years ago; under what circumstances could not be learned. The severest obstacle for the earliest settlers to contend with was the utter absence of money. This forced all the earliest families to be almost wholly self- supporting. They fed themselves, clothed themselves, paid their taxes with coon skins, worked hard and finally came "out of the woods." Whalon Lindsay says, with the greatest sincerity, in a figurative way, that " silver dollars were as big as wagon wheels." The figure needs no ex- planation. Men dressed largely in buckskin, and, if not in that, in linsey- woolsey, colored with bark or leaves from the woods. Ready-made cloth- ing could not be obtained in those days, even in the older settlements. The wives and mothers did all such work, buying the cloth by the yard and having a "sewing bee" when the winter or summer suits were to be made for the family. Ordinary dress goods for the women was common factory cloth, colored a grayish brown with maple bark. When robed in a clean, new suit of this colored cloth, the pioneer girl or woman looked as handsome as need be, and when her head was surmounted with one of those sun-bonnets whose limits knew no bounds, and whose countless colors surpassed anything ever dreamed of by Dolly Varden or Oscar Wilde, the picture was too intensely supreme for any use. Many of the able-bodied male residents of the township between 1840 and 1850 belonged to the militia company of Capt. Cressey, of Montpelier. As early as 1840, this company met at the very new village of Bryan, where they were introduced to the rudiments of military maneuvering. Train- ing day was an important event in that early time that is unknown to the present generation. In a very early day, Clark Backus and one of the Sumners, while hunting in the southern part of the township, discov- ered, on fractional Section 12, two large mounds, some six or seven feet in height and fifty or sixty feet in diameter. They afterward went back and opened one of the mounds, and took therefrom two skeletons, one very large and the other of ordinary size. Mr. Sumner had some con- scientious scruples in thus invading the sanctuary of the dead, and re- fused to open any others, and insisted on placing the skeletons already taken out back in their resting place. This was accordingly done. The bones belonged to members of the race of Mound-Builders (not the In- dians), which inhabited this country, the majority of authorities say, long before the Indians appeared, and thousands of years ago.

EARLY TAVERNS, STORES, ASHERIES, MILLS, ETC.

Curtis Cogswell kept one of the first public houses in the township, opening his doors to the public not far from the year 1848. He hung

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out a sign with "Traveler's Home" emblazoned thereon. Several pettifogers were suffered to live in the township in early times. A man named Thompson was one of them. Mr. Back's barn, raised on the 4th of July, 1840, was the first frame building in the township. A large crowd of men and boys assembled, and all were served with a splendid picnic dinner. The first attempt in the township to build a saw- mill or a grist-mill, was that made by Tucker, as narrated in the begin-

ning of this chapter. The second attempt-a successful one-was made in 1844, by Riley W. Parker, Benjamin B. Van Court and Richard Wit- tington. A dam was constructed across the Little St. Joseph, at Bridge- water Centre (the remains of which are yet in existence, about a hundred feet west of the bridge), and a rude frame structure was erected, in which was placed the machinery. The mill in its time was an excellent one, and was a blessing to the settlers for miles around. It attracted immi- gration, many locating there almost wholly on account of the mill. When it is recollected that the prime object in a new colony is the rapid settle- ment and improvement of the country by honest, industrious and intelli- gent new-comers, and when it is known that this saw-mill attracted such men, its vast benefit to the township will be partially understood. In a short time, a small set of " niggerhead " buhrs were placed in an apart- ment of the mill, and used for about eight years. How well the settlers appreciated this rude grist-mill will never be thoroughly understood, for it is practically impossible to realize the extent of the hardships and pri- vations to be encountered by the pioneers. The stones were about two feet in diameter, and the bolt was made of muslin. The saw-mill saw its best days from 1845 to 1850. Wittington did not long continue a part- ner, and Parker sold out to Thomas Hodson and Nathaniel Pettinger, and finally David Iler bought the entire mill about 1855. The mill was discontinued many years ago. In about the year 1848, Elias Depew erected a very large, three-storied frame grist-mill in the southeastern part, on the St. Joseph's River. The structure was about 40x60 feet, containing three or more run of stone, and required the united labor of over one hundred men three days to erect the heavy frame work. A saw- mill was built near it, and after both mills had done an excellent work for the township, until about the commencement of the last war, they were destroyed by fire under somewhat suspicious circumstances. Nathaniel Pettinger and Clark Backus erected a saw-mill at the Centre about 1856. Chandler Holt devised a new motor, which he called the " lever power." A horse was to turn a sweep, and then, by means of a mysterious system of levers, a power was to be generated that was to do wonderful things. The owners had considerable faith in the "lever power," but when it came to be tested, it proved a lamentable failure, as it was an utter viola-

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tion of the simplest mechanical principles. An engine took the place of the "lever power," and the mill is yet in existence, doing excellent work under the ownership and management of Stedman & Fisher. A steam saw-mill was built some eighteen years ago, on the site of the old Depew grist-mill, by Poynter & Davis .. It was mysteriously destroyed by fire. Some twelve years ago a steam saw-mill was built in the western part at " Fuddletown." Mr. Brown owns the mill at present. Another water mill was built in the southwestern part, on Nettle Creek, some years ago, and is yet in operation. Many portable saw-mills have been operated in the township. B. B. Van Court and Francis Lindsay erected frame dwellings in 1850, the first in the township. Wittington conducted an ashery and a small store on Section 36, beginning about 1848. After about a year and a half, Alexander Parker bought the business. Riley Parker also owned an interest there. Two tons of potash were manufact- ured per week. Goods were given from the small stock for ashes. Clark Backus, Whalon Lindsay and many others, conducted asheries in early times. Asheries were very profitable when properly managed. Hill & Marshall conducted a store during the last war, on Section 36, and did an excellent business from a stock worth probably 84,000. John Wisman has a store at present in the western part ; he is Postmaster, the name of the office being Ainger. Men named Babcock and Strong turned wooden bowls many years ago. An excellent brick and tile yard is in full opera- tion in the southeastern part at present. The Grangers and Good Tem- plars have had organizations in the township for short periods. A horse- thief society flourished for a short time. The first blacksmith was J. M. Face ; the first shoemaker, Daniel Smith, and the first carpenter, E. G. Back.

VILLAGE OF BRIDGEWATER CENTRE.

On the 6th of March, 1871, Joseph Diebely, owner and proprietor, employed A. T. Bennett, County Surveyor, and laid out twelve lots on the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 27, Township 9 south, Range 3 west, and named the village as above. The lots were all west of State street, three being south of School street, and nine north. The town, however, had started long before this. In about the year 1850, Edington Sterner opened a country store about a mile north of Centre; but, three years later, moved his store to the latter place. At the end of some two years, he sold out to Robert Scannel. Clark Backus and Henry Bennett were in with goods soon after this. They were followed by Putnam & Corbett, Horace P. Moore, James Beatty, Waldo Corbett, T. C. Whitney (who has continued in business there until the present) and John Hagerman (also in business at present). Among the doctors who have resided at the village are W. D. Stout,

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Weldon, James Stewart, Munn, William Denman, W. T. Clute, J. W. Williams, and the present physician, Richard F. Lamson, an excellent man and an experienced and well-read doctor, who located in the village some sixteen years ago. Nathaniel Pettinger was the first blacksmith there, and Isaac Davis the second. Russell & Co. manufactured tables, stands, bedsteads, etc., a number of years ago. The census of 1880 gives to the township 7,520 acres of plowland; 4,658.41 acres of meadow and pasture land; 9,321.94 acres of uncultivated and woodland ; value of lands exclusive of buildings, $317,097; value of houses, $22,- 523 ; value of mills, $2,400; value of other buildings, $19,065; average value of land per acre, $14.75; three churches valued at $5,200; four cemeteries, each covering an acre of land, and all valued at $170; and ten schoolhouses, with four and three-fourths acres of land, all valued at $3,600.

ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

In 1840, the township was divided into school districts, as stated in this chapter a few pages back. District No. 1 was in the southeast- ern part; District No. 2 was in the northeastern part; District No. 3 was in the southwestern part; and District No. 4 was the present Northwest Township. There does not seem to have been made any disposition of the northwest part of the township, doubtless from the fact that such section of country contained no settlers ; but, finally, when Northwest Township was detached from Bridgewater, and had a separate organization, all the northern half of the latter became School District No. 2. In February, 1841, William A. Brown, County Auditor, made the following apportionment of school funds for Bridgewater Town- ship : For District No. 1, 87.86; for District No. 2, 85.548; for District No. 3, 80.924; for District No. 4, $2.311. In the spring of 1841, the first schoolhouse in the township was built in District No. 1, on Anson Smith's farm; and during the summer of the same year Miss Mary McCrillis was employed to teach a term of three months. The house was a small, rude, log structure, with rough clapboard desks and seats, small windows, and a huge fire-place, which, when filled with burning limbs and logs, was the most cheerful feature in the room, except, perhaps, the handsome teacher. The summer was cold and wet, and it was found necessary to keep a fire a portion of the time. Curtis Cogswell, Chandler Holt, Asa Smith, Anson Smith, Daniel Smith and Simeon Cobb sent children to Miss McCrillis. This young lady was handsome, lively, good company, and quite a flirt. One of the oldest men now living in the township, then a handsome, stalwart young fellow, conceived a passion for Miss McCrillis, and, with her permission and sanction, "sat up " with her the greater portion of three nights during

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each week at the beginning of the term. In consequence of this habitual nocturnal wakefulness, the young lady was very drowsy the following days in the school room, and would often fall asleep in her chair, only to awake with a start at some unusual noise occasioned by the mischief of her scholars. It is even asserted that she would sometimes stretch her- self at full length upon a seat and slumber sweetly, while the scholars, on tip-toe, with constant warnings to each other to make no noise, would convert the school room into a curiosity shop; or, perhaps, desert it altogether. Finally, she was discharged by the Directors, and on the 12th of July, 1841, Asa Smith, Treasurer, paid her $7.50, her wages in full for the time she had taught. Miss Heritage was employed to teach the remainder of the term. In March, 1842, the following apportion- ments of township school funds was made by the County Auditors : For District No. 1, 89.115; for District No. 2, 86.438; for District No. 3, 81.074; and for District No. 4, 82.681. Total, $19 .- 308. Changes and additions were slowly made to the school districts, until, in 1846, they numbered seven, and were located as follows: No. 1, in the southeastern part; No. 2, in the northeastern part; No. 3, in the southwestern part; No. 7, in the northwestern part; No. 4, between Nos. 2 and 7; No. 5, between Nos. 1 and 3; and No. 6 between Nos. 3 and 7. The following will further illustrate the position of each district :

In 1848, No. 1 enumerated thirty-eight scholars; No. 2, forty-nine schol- ars; No. 3, twenty-six scholars ; No. 4, twenty-two scholars ; No. 5, thirty scholars ; No. 6, nine scholars, and No. 7, five scholars. The first school- house in District No. 1 was referred to above. Albert Sumner taught about two weeks in this house the winter of 1841-42, and Abigail Gordon the fol- lowing summer. The house was used about three years, when a hewed-log schoolhouse was erected half a mile south of the present building. Joseph Rogers, who taught the winter of 1844-45, was the first teacher in this house, and John Updike taught the following winter. Abigail Gordon and Mary Clark were also early teachers. About the time this house was built, an- other was erected near the present residence of Joseph Back. In about 1852, the Leonardson District, a mile and a half south of Back's, was pro- vided with a frame schoolhouse. In about 1850, the frame yet standing near

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Cogswell's was built. A log schoolhouse was built in the south western part as early as 1843, and was located on James Allman's farm. This house was used some twelve or -fifteen years, when the district was divided, and the Waterston house, a frame, was built in the western part, and a frame was also built near the site of the old log house. School had then been taught in District No. 5 and in District No. 6 as early as 1845; but no houses had been constructed, so far as recollected, until this divis- ion was made, at which time frame buildings were built in the three dis- tricts, 3, 5 and 6. This was not far from 1857. In 1866, the Waters- ton Schoolhouse was destroyed by fire. The early teachers in this house had been Lucy Frisbee, Cornelia Squires and Jeremiah Rockwell. In the fall of 1866, a log schoolhouse was built a short distance north of the one that was burned, Angelica Gay being the first teacher. Nine years ago the present frame house was built, Libbie Waterston being the first teacher. The second Brandeburg Schoolhouse was built about 1857, and, at about the same time, one was also built about a mile south of it. The present house, in the former district, was erected a few years ago. A log school building was built in the Sumner neighborhood, in the north- ern part, in about the year 1843, and was used until about 1850, when it was succeeded by a frame structure. Sumner, Ayres, Willcox and Lind- say sent children to the old log house: Not far from 1845, a log school- house was erected in the McCarty District, in the northeastern part. It was succeeded by the "Round Schoolhouse," built near Mr. Shapley's in about the year 1853. Five years ago the school districts in the northern part were re-arranged, and new houses built. A log schoolhouse once stood in the northwest part in the Osborn District, but a frame house suc- ceeded it about twenty-five years ago. Van Court and Wittington built a frame schoolhouse at the Centre thirty-four years ago (1848), the house be- ing. located just north of the present church, and Sirena Lindsay being the first teacher. This is said to have been the first frame school building in the township. It was used until 1870, when the present frame was erected at a cost of $600. Bridgewater has good schools.

RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS.

But little could be learned concerning the early church history of the township. It is certain that services were held at a very early day at the residences of the settlers, and that a small class of Methodists" assembled in the old log schoolhouse near Mr. Cogswell's. Circuit riders visited this little band of worshipers once every two to four weeks. In almost every school district, religious classes have met some time in the history of the township, and almost every denomination has been thus represented. The first church structure was erected in the southern past, in 1870, by mom.

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bers of that denomination known as Church of God. The building is said to have cost nearly $3,000, and was dedicated January 1, 1871. The class had been organized a few years before, though, when they came to build the church, they were not financially strong enough, and were materially assisted by members of other denominations and outsiders. The class grew stronger when the church was built, and founded a well- attended Sunday school, which has continued, with intervals, to meet until the present. The old Sumner frame schoolhouse, when disused for edu- cational purposes, was purchased for $78.75, and, after passing a critical period of its existence, was transformed into a church, and formally dedi- cated to God. The house is open to any and all religious denominations. The United Brethren, the Church of God and the Free Methodists have had classes there. These classes were organized from ten to fifteen years ago. Rev. David Green founded the Methodist class; Rev. Joseph Neal started the Church of God, and Rev. Aaron Lilly instituted the United Brethren Society. The last two classes are yet in existence. The Disci- ples and Universalists and Spiritualists have used the house. The Meth- odist Episcopal Church at Centre was constructed in 1875, and cost $2,600. At that time Rev. L. E. Prentice was the pastor in charge. He was succeeded by Rev. L. T. Clark, and then by Rev. J. L. Rus- bridge, and then by Rev. Alderman, the present pastor, who resides at Pioneer. This class was organized many years ago, and, until their church was built, met in schoolhouses. The class now numbers about twenty-five, and are out of debt and in good financial condition. They received much help from other denominations and outsiders in the con- struction of their frame church, with the understanding that the house was to be used by other orthodox denominations when not used by the Methodists. A fine Sunday school has been in session nearly all the time since the house was built. Joseph W. Back, one of the best citizens of the township, is class leader. The United Brethren Church, in the western part, erected their church (Liberty Chapel) eleven years ago. The class had been organized by Rev. David Holmes many years before, in the Brandeberry Schoolhouse. The first class consisted of Conrad Brandeberry, Jane Brandeburg, Lucina Covell, Catharine Rainey, Will- aim Rainey, Sarah Rainey, John W. Rainey and a few others. The pas- tors, in succession, have been Revs. David Holmes, Crossland and Cross, Crossland, George Stewart, J. Lower, Joseph Brown, G. Bowersox, D. Holmes, Miller and Bundy, Miller (the pastor when church was built), Waldorff, Tuttle, Redman, Allwood, Bechtel, Holmes, Clay and Martin. The church cost about $1,700. William Rainey gave of this $275; John Gardner, $200; John Miller, $100; Alexander Waterston, $75; Simon Waterston, $50; James Waterston, $50; Thomas Waterston, 835;

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County of Williams, Ohio, Historical and Biographical, Part 49

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