Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 76

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006

USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I > Part 76

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Bucyrus, sixty miles north of Columbus, on the Sandusky river and O. C. R. R., and P. Ft. W. & C. R. R., located in the centre of a thickly settled and prosperous farming community. County officers 1888 : Probate Judge, Frederick Hipp ; Clerk of Court, Lewis C. Donnenwirth ; Sheriff, Peter Faeth ; Prosecuting Attorney, Isaac Caehill ; Auditor, Adam J. High; Treasurer, Christian H. Schonert ; Recorder, William F. Crowe; Surveyor, Harry L. Weber ; Coroner, John A. Chesney ; Commissioners, Henry Dapper, Peter Bauer. Newspapers : Crawford County Forum, Democratic, Holbrook & Co., publishers ; Journal, Republican, J. Hapley & Son ; Critic, Independent, Holbrook & Co. ; Crawford County News, Prohibition and Temperance, T. E. Hopley, editor ; Courier, Ger- man Democratic, A. Broemel. Churches : 1 English Lutheran, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Baptist, 1 German Evangelical, 1 German Reformed, 1 German Methodist, 1 Catholic, and 1 Disciple. Banks: First National, J. B. Gormly, president, G. C. Gormly, cashier; Second National, M. J. Monnett, president, J. C. F. Hull, cashier ; Monnett & Co., E. B. Monnett, president, J. H. Robinson, cashier.

Manufactures and Employees .- C. Roehr, planing mill, 40 hands ; Eagle Ma- chine Works, machinery, 30; C. Roehr, planing mill, etc., 55; G. Donnenworth & Bro., lager beer, 8; Bucyrus Foundry and Manufacturing Company, steam excavators, etc., 102; Bucyrus Creamery, 8 ; T. & O. C. R. R. Shops, 102; P. Saeger, wagons, buggies, etc., 6 ; Vollrath Bros., planing mill, 16; Franze & Pope Knitting Machine Company, 40 ; A. Shunk, Sr., plows, etc., 10; T. A. Vollrath, flour, etc., 6; Bucyrus Woollen Mill; Geiger & Bush, copper kettles, 9; Nuss- baum & Bowers, flour, etc. ; G. K. Ziegler, flour, etc. ; D. Picking & Co., copper kettles, 10 .- State Report 1887. Population in 1880, 3,835. School census in 1886, 1,504; F. M. Hamilton, superintendent.

While excavating for a mill-race in Bucyrus, August 13, 1838, Mr. Abraham Hahn discovered the perfect skeleton of a mastodon. The spot was near the dividing ridge of the northern and southern waters of the State, in a wet, spongy soil. Mr. Hahn at first exhibited the bones, but finally sold them for $1,800, and they fell into the hands of Barnum, and were destroyed in the burning of his museum. Within the last thirty years, in making excavations for sewers and cellars in Bucyrus, the bones of mastodons have frequently been found.

485

CRAWFORD COUNTY.

Col. James Kilbourne, the surveyor who laid out Bucyrus, gave it its name ; and it being so unusual much conjecture has arisen as to its origin. The daugh- ters of Samuel Norton asserted that one of Kilbourne's favorite historical charac- ters was Cyrus the Persian General, and the town was named in his memory. The syllable "bn," the sound of the first syllable in the word beautiful, was given because the country around at an early day was very beautiful, and the old sur- veyor said that the name should always mean " beautiful Cyrus." An old citizen, F. Adams, says that Mr. Kilbourne named it from " Busiris" in ancient Egypt, and changed so that in its name it should be a nonsuch. The colonel wrote a poem of eighty lines in its praises called "The Song of Bucyrus."

He was a great favorite with the early settlers ; in his frequent visits from his home in Worthington, Franklin county, he was wont to assemble with his old cronies at the village tavern and sometimes make "a night of it," singing songs and telling stories, all under the inspiring influences of the landlord's choicest liquors ; on these occasions the colonel was wont to give them his "Song of Bucyrns."

The song is descriptive of the riches and beauty of the country. We annex its opening and closing verses :

THE SONG OF BUCYRUS.

Ye men of spirit, ardent souls, Whose hearts are firm and hands are strong,

Whom generous enterprise controls, Attend ! and truth shall guide my song. I'll tell you how Bucyrus, now Just rising like the star of morn,

Surrounded stands by fertile lands, On clear Sandusky's rural bourne.

* * * * *

Then here, my friend, your search may end, For here's a country to your mind,

And here's a town your hopes may crown, As those who try it soon shall find. Here fountains flow, mild zephyrs blow, While health and pleasure smile each morn,

From all around Bucyrus found On fair Sandusky's rural bourne.

When Bueyrus was laid out the only outlet to the lake for teams was by way of New Haven, and by ox teams the trip was usually from ten days to two weeks. Directly north was an almost unbroken wilderness to the Hnron plains, and very few outlets between this place and Sandusky city. For the first ten years after the settlement of the county the inhabitants were poor, having little to sell and no market for that little, except to supply the wants of newcomers, and what was sold abroad had to walk abroad, as cattle and hogs were driven east and sold at barely living prices.

In 1834 was finished the turnpike road from Columbus to Sandusky ; it had been seven years in the building. It was 106 miles in length, and for some years was the great thoroughfare of the State from the river to the lakes, and the princi- pal road to market for the counties of Delaware, Union and Marion.

Seventy-five wagons loaded with wheat were counted passing through Bucyrus in one day, all of which would return loaded with goods, and this stimulated the development of the entire region. From the first a good market conld always be found for furs, which would bring the cash at the East. Many occasionally hunted and raised funds to meet their taxes in that way. Sometimes they employed the Indians of the Wyandot tribe to hunt for them, which they would do for a trifling compensation. The settlers were always on good terms with these simple child- like pecple.

486

CRAWFORD COUNTY.

In the "County History" are some valuable items in regard to the Nortons, the first settlers of Bucyrus.

Pioneer Privations .- In October, 1819, there was not a single white family in the limits of the county. The following winter they occupied their first cabin. The physical privations of many of the early families is hard to realize. When the Nortons arrived in 1819 the nearest flouring-mills were at Lex- ington, Richland county, and the Herron mills near Fredericksburg. The man or boy who visited the mills walked the entire dis- tance and led a horse loaded with two or three sacks of wheat.

When the Norton family could not visit these mills they secured flour or meal . bv pounding the wheat or corn in a mortar with a wooden pestle. The mortar used was a log, hollowed out by burning a hole with fire until the cavity was large enough to hold a half bushel of grain. The meal was sifted with sieves of three different sizes and three grades of flour were obtained. The finest was baked into bread; the coarsest was boiled, and it sometimes required a whole day over the fire to soften it. When the wheat-flour was all gone the family subsisted on food prepared from corn-meal, but fre- quently there was none of this in the cabin, and the mother of the family, busy with other household duties, was expected to pro- vide a supper without even flour, corn-meal, vegetables or meat. The father is away at work and will shortly appear tired and hun- gry. The pioneer women were full of re- sources ; they had an instrument called a grater made by taking one side of an old tin bucket, punching small holes close together all over it, and nailing it on a board in such a manner that the middle curved upward two or three inches from the board. Meal could be made by industriously rubbing ears of corn along its surface ; and this must be done until sufficient meal is obtained to furnish food for supper and breakfast next morning. The mother, then, having nothing in the house for supper, says to her children : " Here, Louisa, you and Warren take this basket and go out to the corn-patch and bring in enough corn to grate for supper and breakfast." When the children return the grater is taken down, and after considerable hard labor the meal was provided. If the corn-meal was mixed and baked in a Dutch oven it was called "pone," if baked on a board near or over the fire it was called "Johnny cake," and if it was made into round balls and baked in the oven they then called these balls "corn- dodgers." A very common way was to boil the meal into mush and eat it with milk. But sometimes flour and corn-meal could not be either pounded with a pestle or grated with their rude instrument, for the reason that no grains of this description were in the cabin, and the Nortons could not secure of their few neighbors either grain, flour or meal.

Wild Game .- It is reported by Norton's

daughters that they frequently lived for weeks without bread, during which time the family subsisted on honey, pork, potatoes and game from the woods. Wild turkeys were frequently shot ; they were cooked on a hook in the fireplace with a pan underneath to catch the drippings, and these were poured over the suspended carcass with a spoon. The forests were for many years full of smaller game upon which a meal could be made when other expedients failed. One winter Mr. Norton killed five deer near the present site of T. C. Hall's barn. A deer- lick was situated near the river in this vicinity, and when these animals visited this lick they fell victims to the unerring shot of the first pioneer settler. Deer continued plenty in the vicinity of Bucyrus until after 1830. In consequence of the industry of many swarms of bees at Crawford at an early day it was literally a land of honey, if not milk. The Indians, depending on nature to provide food, never wasted what they found in the forest, and, in obtaining honey, never secured at one time more than they wished to supply their temporal wants. Norton found in one day twenty-three bee trees, and the honey secured from the woods was always a rich treat for the children, and more especially when the family larder was not filled with those articles which, at this day, every family considers a necessity. Norton also secured his first swarm of bees from the wild bees found in the woods.

Spinning and Weaving .- The hardships suffered by the Norton family were not only in consequence of a scarcity of food. The Nortons brought from Pennsylvania both looms and spinning-wheels. In those early days every young lady was taught to spin, and many added weaving to their skill as in- dustrious and expert housekeepers. Mothers frequently were expected to cook, wash, scrub, bake, sew, spin and weave for a large family of small children without any assist- ance. Mrs. Norton's elder children were valuable aid in providing clothing for their younger brothers and sisters.

Norton purchased forty sheep from settlers in Marion county, and brought these valuable domestic animals to his pioneer home, but in a few weeks they were all devoured by wolves. For many years the settlers were not able to keep sheep in consequence of these same mutton-loving beasts. The early settlers were not fond of these ravenous animals. Their howling and yelping made many a night hideous, and for this and many other reasons it was soon decided that in order to civilize the county the wolves should be ex- terminated. A bounty was paid by the State for the scalp of each wolf, not that these scalps were valuable, but because each new scalp secured furnished additional proof that the mutton crop of the future looked more promising.

487

CRAWFORD COUNTY.

Fever and Ague .-- Sickness .- The first settlers suffered greatly from fever and ague and a few additional privations in consequence of extreme poverty. One case of privation has been graphically described by Mrs. Lucy Rogers, who says : " My husband took sick on one occasion and was bedfast. He could neither eat nor drink a part of the time. Meanwhile our scanty store of food was con- sumed, until not a particle was left in the house for our subsistence. The last crust was gone. My prayer to God was that all of us, my young babe, my helpless husband, and my starving self might die together be- fore the sun should set. That night was one of sleepless agony. Next morning I went through an Indian trail, unfit as I was to go through the tall, wet grass, which was then as high as a man's head, to William Lang- don's near Young's grist-mill, and between sobs told my pitiful story to him and begged for some flour to keep my little family from starving to death. He did not know me and refused, but his wife, God bless her, spoke up and said : 'You shall not starve if it takes all there is in the house.' Her hus- band relented and weighed me out nineteen pounds of flour, and then, blessing them for their charity, I returned home through the tall grass with 'the bird of hope' again singing in my bosom.

"How sweet the short cake without meat, butter or anything else tasted that day ! In the afternoon Aunt Lois Kent, learning of our destitution, brought us a pan of meal. I got some milk of Mrs. Schultz, and then made some mush. Believe me, the tears of joy and sorrow rained down my cheeks when this meal was eaten. I then told Louisa Norton, who afterward married Harris Gar- ton, how terribly we were distressed by want and hunger. She went home and told her father, Samuel Norton, who said : 'This will not do; these folks have come to a new country and must be helped. They shall not starve in Bucyrus.' So every evening he sent us new milk fresh from the cow, and as we needed it a ham of meat. One day he sent Louisa over to us with a dressed pig. I never had a present that did me so much good. In a few weeks my husband recovered, and then we fared better." But very few of the early citizens were reduced to such ex- tremes, although most families were many times without the necessaries of life.

The Knisely Springs, gas and medicinal, are in the township of Sandusky, on the farm of Mr. Joseph Knisely, about seven miles northeast of Bucyrus. Within an area of four rods are eleven springs and the owner maintains that chemical analysis shows that each one possesses a virtue not found in either of the others. They are located in a small basin on a little rill that flows into the San- dusky river. Scattered along the creek above them are about a dozen others, some of which contain no traces of sulphur, while the Knisely springs are highly impregnated with it. From one of them inflammable gas is continually issuing. Many years ago Mr.

Knisely put a large funnel over the surface of the water, and collecting the gas, led it to his house, about 100 feet distant, through an India rubber tube and burned it steadily over two years. One of the springs is very valu- able and interesting on account of its medi- cinal properties. A stone box four feet deep, with the same length and width, is sunk over it almost to the top of the box, and up through an orifice in the bottom the spring water bubbles as clear as crystal. The water is four feet deep and seemingly possesses a magnifying power, as objects at the bottom can be seen as plainly as in the open air. The bottom of the box is covered with a beautiful purple sediment of a chalybeate character. The water is a mild cathartic and possesses valuable diuretic and diaphoretic properties. It is asserted by the owner that animals live but a few minutes in this water. Its properties are not fully known, but sev- eral very obstinate cases of skin diseases have been cured.

Cranberry-picking and Rattlesnakes .- Cranberry is the name of a township in this county which derives its name from an extensive cranberry marsh within it, contain- ing about 2,000 acres. It was known far and near by the hunters and trappers in early years, who came when the water was covered with ice to trap wolves, foxes, minx and othor fur-bearing animals. Prior to 1820 a large variety of animals abounded, and the enter- prising hunter, if he had the necessary skill, could penetrate the marsh and kill a panther or a bear whenever he wished. About the year 1830 a large emigration arrived from Germany and located in different parts of the township. The county history gives some interesting items in regard to these people, their cranberry-picking and annoyances while so engaged from rattlesnakes.

As far as possible they chose the higher lands, but many of them built their cabins on the ridges that rose almost like islands from the swamp. They seemed to have a reckless disregard for ague and the various types of malarial diseases. With no hope of seeing the land drained for twenty or thirty years, they went to work to let in the sun- light and to let out the stagnant water. After many years this course brought the desired result, but not without all the accompanying hardships and self-denials. The settlers were quite unobtrusive and industrious. The cranberry marsh furnished an abundant har- vest of berries, and it also furnished to those of sufficient skill valuable returns in the way of furs. The cranberries grew on short stems on the under side of the long, wiry vines that crept over the mosses and sedges growing in profusion in the marsh. The vines did not grow on the dry ridges, but sought the wet grounds, often growing out of the mud, which was covered with several inches of water.

Cranberry-picking was extensively engaged in by all the neighboring settlers, many of whom made no little money in the business. In 1824 the berries sold for twenty and

488

CRAWFORD COUNTY.

twenty-five cents a bushel. They steadily increased in value, the market for them be- ing always active. In 1835 they were worth seventy-five cents per bushel, and in 1850 had arisen to about two dollars. Those gath- ering the berries-men and women-wore long-legged boots to keep out the water, and as a precaution against snake bites. A sec- tion of plank, from a foot and a half to two feet long, and about a foot wide, was taken, and around one end was bound a tough band of hickory bark, forming a sort of box. The other end of the plank was serrated, the teeth being about eight inches long. Two handles were attached, and the rude imple- ment thus completed was used in gathering cranberries. The teeth were placed over one of the long slender vines, and the implement was held so that when it was pushed along the berries were scooped into the box at the other end. Fifteen or twenty bushels were often gathered in one day with this imple- ment. The cranberry season began the latter part of September and lasted nearly two months; or rather it lasted all winter and the next spring. But few were gathered in the winter, however, owing to their being frozen in the ice. As soon as the ice had thawed in the spring, the gathering began again, and the berries obtained at this season were considered better than those gathered in the fall, as less sugar was required to prepare them for the table.

Whole families turned out during the cran- berry season, and the marsh swarmed with settlers, some of whom came many miles and remained several days, camping in their wagons. When a sufficient quantity of ber- ries was gathered to fill the wagon-bed, they were taken to Sandusky, or some other city, aud sold. Some families desiring to make the most of the marsh, picked day and night while the season lasted. The berries were heaped on some dry mound near by, and a

member of the family was detailed to guard and clean them, while the remaining mem- bers picked as fast as they could. Although hundreds of bushels grew in the marsh, they usually were all gathered long before the sea- son had closed.

Snake Bites .- Several incidents are related where the gatherers were severely bitten by rattlesnakes, though no cases are recollected where death resulted from the bite, except perhaps the death of the snake, an inevi- table result of the reptile's indiscretion. Jo- seph Smith and Robert Hilburn were one day picking in the marsh, when they were startled by a piercing scream near them. and, glancing quickly around, saw a woman, dis- tant about twenty rods, throw her arms wildly in the air and sink fainting to the ground. They ran to her assistance, and as there happened to be no water near, Robert plunged his arm down into the mud, forming a well after a small pattern, which was quickly filled with muddy water. This was dashed copiously in the face of the unconscious woman, who soon revived. She said she had been bitten by a rattlesnake, and showed a small wound just above the ankle. The flesh had already begun to swell, and Smith took from his pocket quite a quantity of "dog-leg" tobacco, and having moistened a moderately large quid, applied it to the wound. After a few minutes this was re- moved and another portion applied, and the operation was repeated until all the tobacco was used. The woman recovered from her nervous shock and arose to her feet. She had had enough cranberry-picking that day and started for home. Her name has been forgotten. After she left, a large rattlesnake was killed about a rod from where she had fallen. It was evidently the same one that had bitten her. In 1855 the marsh had grown so dry that cranberries no longer grew there in paying quantities.

GALION is eighty miles southwest of Cleveland and fifty-eight miles north of Columbus, on the C. C. C. & I., N. Y. P. & O., and Bee Line railroads. It is an enterprising and growing town. Its newspapers are : Inquirer, Democratic, H. S. Matthias, editor, George L. Matthias, publisher ; Sun-Review, Republican, A. D. Rowe and F. E. Coonrad, editors and publishers. Churches : 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 English Lutheran, 1 United Brethren, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Baptist, 1 Episcopalian, 1 German Methodist, 1 German Lutheran, 1 German Reformed, and 2 Catholic. Banks : Citizens' National, J. H. Green, president, A. F. Lowe, cashier ; First National, C. S. Crim, president, A. W. Monroe, assistant-cashier ; Galion National, George Snyder, president, O. L. Hays, cashier.

Factories and Employees .- N. Y. P. & O. R. R. Shops, railroad repairs, 230 hands ; C. C. C. & I. R. R. Shop, railroad repairs, 50; Central Lounge Manu- facturing Company, lounges, 18; Squier & Homer, machine work, 15; Central Ohio Wheel Company, vehicle wheels, 136; Armstrong, Daily & Co., planing mill, etc., 39 ; Plank, Gray & Co., flour, etc., 15 .- State Report 1887. Also, Cen- tral Oil Company Works; A. Howard, buggy works; I. K. Kunkel, buggy works; H. Altstater's brewery and bottling works; Reisinger's bottling works ; J. Kesselmeir, jewelers' lathes ; O. R. Cox & Co., carriage hardware, etc. Popu- lation in 1880, 5,635. School census in 1886, 1,873; Marcellus Manley, super- intendent.

48g

CRAWFORD COUNTY.

Galion was laid out in 1831 by Michael and Jacob Ruhl, being then in San- dusky township, Richland county. In 1824 a post-office was established here, in accordance with a petition from the inhabitants, who, however, had requested its name to be Goshen, but as there were several Goshens in the country the Post- master-General to prevent confusion gave the name Galeon ; it was later changed in the spelling to Galion. The name can be found nowhere else in the world; it is unknown why this particular name should have been adopted. John Ruhl, the father of Michael and Jacob, came from York county, Pa., and entered several sections of land here. The Ruhls were German Lutherans, and were active in building the first churel, erected the first saw-mill, kept a tavern and a store, and were enterprising in developing the settlement. In 1849 it had less than 400

DRUSS & MEDICINES

TIZEN

MANUFACTURLA

FLUSS ENC CONTA

L. M. Reck, Photo., Galion, 1887.

CENTRAL VIEW IN GALION.

[This view was taken on the public square looking down South Market street. The church spires shown are the German Lutheran, the Presbyterian, and the German Methodist.]

population. Its prosperity is due to the building of railroads, which, with their immense shops, constitute the life of Galion ; two-thirds of the population consist of railroad men and their families.

The following sketches of character and ineident are from the "History of Crawford County," an unusually fine work of its elass :

The Tailor Justice .- "Squire Peter Worst, one of the early justices, was a tailor by trade, and generally heard the cases while sitting cross-legged on his office bench, seldom paus- ing in the work on which he was occupied. It is reported that one day a case was brought before him, and he continued sewing while the plaintiff's side was being argued, after which he quit work for a moment, grabbed his docket, made several entries upon it and continued his task. The counsel for the de- fendant was anxious to make a plea, and growing impatient, asked, "Doesn't the Court wish to hear any evidence on the other side ?" "Oh, yes," replied the squire, " you can talk just as long as you please, but I have decided the case in favor of the plaintiff."

It is unnecessary to write of the details of this case, but the remark was characteristic of Mr. Worst, who was one of the early set- tlers of Bucyrus township. Mr. Worst was a resident of the county for nearly forty-five years, and held various township and corpo- ration offices during this period. He was a citizen of strongly marked character, peculiar and quaint, fond of harmless fun and ever ready with an original remark or an innocent jest, but never with any unkindness or sting in his cheerful mirth.

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 76

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 1006

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006