USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II > Part 108
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"Our county was not free from eccentric people, but their eccentricity took on the character of religious fanaticism. These were the Farnhamites (also called 'The Creepers'), followers of Douglas Farnham ; and later there were Millerites, who were always expecting the second coming. I could tell you many anecdotes of the Farnhamites, if we had the leisure and it were profitable. One will do as illustrating this phase of the times. The leaders tanght the birth to sin, and sal- vation only through public confession and walking humbly and contritely before the world. The fanaticism consisted in the absurd acts which were inspired and performed. Sackcloth and ashes and creeping in the dirt were not the most ob- jectionable. An estimable young lady was converted, and told that it was neces- sary to display the corrupt nature of her heart. She conceived this novel plan. One night she rode several miles to the farm of a well-known citizen, visited his corn-crib, filled a bag with corn, which she carried home. The next day, in the light of the sun, this bag of corn was placed upon the back of a horse, and upon that the young lady rode to the farmer's, to whom she confessed the theft in con- trite words and with many tears. This fanaticism soon disappeared and left no evil effects, as it touched only a handful in the community.
" The controlling politics was National Republican and then Whig. But oppo- sition to slavery found early supporters amongst us, and a branch of Levi Coffin's ' Underground Railroad' passed through the southern part of Union county, the adjoining part of Champaign county, and thence to Canada. The residences of Dr. Davenport and Anson Howard, in Rush township, Champaign county, were places of concealment for the poor fugitives, and from them was conducted an active missionary campaign which made sad inroads in the ranks of the Whigs. There were hot debates at our house. My father was a conservative Whig, a de- voted follower of Henry Clay and Thomas Corwin ; and when the Abolitionists defeated the former for President, in 1844, he was heart-broken. But the Piatt slave case, in which William Lawrence, a brilliant lawyer of Marysville, volun- teered to defend the slave, who had been captured after an exciting chase in the vicinity of Milford Centre, did more to create an anti-slavery sentiment in that part of the country than all other influences."
717
UNION COUNTY.
TRAVELLING NOTES.
On visiting Marysville the second time I was warmly welcomed by an old friend in the person of John H. Shearer, editor of the Tribune. When I saw him in the olden time he was conducting a newspaper in Somerset, and Phil. Sheridan was a keen, nimble boy in a store hard by. Across the street was the Perry County Court-House, where over the door stood, and I believe yet stands, a proc- lamation earved in stone, from which the reader is led to infer that the dispensa- tion of justice in Perry county was conditioned upon the heavens falling. (See Perry County.)
After I had left, Mr. Shearer supplied me by mail with a list of the first settlers of the county, "as far as recollected," ending with "John Lashley," and quite a number of dittos. Whether the Dittos were but a continuation of the Lashleys, I was undecided; but on reflecting that a wrong omission was safer than a wrong commission, I then ent off those people of repeating names, but now restore them in this edition. (See Perry County.)
Mr. Shearer, at the date of my writing out these notes, Dec. 20, 1890, is ten days beyond his seventy-fourth year of life. He was born in the then wilderness of Perry county, Dec. 10, 1816, and is of that solid stock that early crossed the Pennsylvania border, and by their numbers and strength of character largely formed the backbone of Ohio.
In the spring of 1836 Mr. Shearer was apprenticed to the printing business, and is now probably the oldest in service of any Ohio-born editor. He is the oldest representative in the Ohio Legislature, and may well be called the "Father of the House." In the winding up of his interesting autobiography in the "County History," he gives some melancholy words. "It may be," he says, " well enough to make an open acknowledgment as life is at best but a struggle to those who start out without assistance or even friendly advice. It matters little, however, in the end what the struggle may have been so it has been made honestly. The question after all that concerns ns most is the one that has been asked tens of thousands of times along the earthly journey-' If a man die, shall he live again ?'"
The question of Job, which Father Shearer quotes, comes with pressing force upon those of advanced years, for "the young may die and the old must." Reason alone may thus answer.
It is too appalling for belief that such a being as man, with so much of the spiritual in his nature, so well adapted for immortality, should but endure for this brief flash-like life, then be annihilated in eternal nothingness- to become as though he never had been.
If so, the yearnings of the pure, the good and the true; the prayers and tears of the forsaken and the helpless ; the nobility and in- tellectuality of man ; and the loveliness and devotion of woman ; the innocence and trust- fulness of childhood ; the sweet strains of music ; the glory of the day and the sublimity of the night ; indeed, all moral and all mate- rial beauty have been and are as a fleeting phantasmagoria of deceit, so monstrous that one shudders in view of its atrocity. And bad as man may be, if he had the power he would not create but to destroy ; would not present such hopes ; unfold such beauty ; elevate by such strains ; lift such a delicious cup to the lips, then dash it in fragments forever !
JUSTICE is eternal ! Justice can but demand immortality. Therefore MAN is immortal, and LOVE is over all.
It is pleasant to know that the greatest of intellects of antiquity, as Plato, Socrates, Cicero, etc., had the assurance of immortality from their inner consciousness alone. Cicero, who was born a hundred years before Christ, said : "When I consider the faculties with which the human mind is endowed, I have a conscious conviction that the active, compre- hensive principle cannot be of a mortal nature. . I am so well convinced that my dear, departed friends are so far from having ceased to live, that the state they now enjoy can alone with propriety be called life. . . . I am far from regretting that this life was bestowed upon me, and I have the satisfac- tion of thinking I have employed it in such a manner as not to have lived in vain. . . . In short, I consider this world as a place which nature never intended for my permanent abode ; and I look upon my departure from it, not as being driven from my habitation, but as simply leaving an inn."
718
UNION COUNTY.
HEspake, whenlight from darkness flashed ; Mountains from oceans skyward sprang ; While star sang unto star,
As each in glory on its course began.
And that power man can trust, and as his last day nears its setting sun, feel that "while the earth grows chill the shadows point to the morning."
MAGNETIC SPRINGS is a small village eleven miles northeast of Marysville, on Bokes' creek. In 1879, in sinking an artesian well, the waters which gushed forth unexpectedly proved highly medicinal. As a result, the place has become quite a favorite resort for invalids. It has a large bath-house and several hotels for their accommodation. The water possesses high magnetic properties, and it is said that a knife blade, held in it for a few moments, becomes so highly charged that a nail may be lifted by it. Several other medicinal springs have been dis- covered having distinct mineral ingredients, one a sulphur spring, about a mile distant from the village.
RICHWOOD is fifteen miles northeast of Marysville, on the N. Y. P. & O. R. R. It is situated in the centre of a rich agricultural region, made up of thrifty small landowners as in New England. Newspapers : Gazette, Independent, W. H. Stontt, editor and publisher ; Leader, Democratic, Young & Woodruff, editors and publishers ; Octographic Review, Disciples, W. B. F. Treat and L. F. Bittle, editors ; Educational Sun, educational, H. V. Spicer, editor. Churches : 1 Methodist Episcopal ; 1 Presbyterian ; 1 Methodist Protestant ; 1 Baptist ; 2 Disciples ; 1 Adventist, and 1 African Baptist. Bank of Richwood : James Cutler, president ; B. L. Talmage, cashier. Richwood Deposit : W. H. Conk- right, president; H. E. Conkright, cashier. Population in 1880, 1,317. School census, 1888, 469 ; S. L. Boyers, Jr., superintendent.
MILFORD CENTRE is five miles southwest of Marysville, at the crossing of the C. C. C. & I. and C. St. L. & P. Railroads. It has 4 churches. Newspapers : Ohioan, Republican, W. L. McCampbell, editor and publisher. Bank (Fulling- ton & Phellis), F. G. Reynolds, cashier.
Manufactures and Employees .- C. Michaels, drain tile, 5 hands ; A. J. Rig- dom, lumber, 4; Elliott & Moore, flour, etc., 3; C. Erb. & Bro., carriages and buggies, 6 .- State Report, 1888.
Population in 1880, 490. Capital invested in manufacturing establishments, $18,000. Value of annual product, $49,000 .- Ohio Labor Statistics, 1888.
BROADWAY is nine miles northwest of Marysville, on the N. Y. P. & O. R. R. Newspapers : Enterprise, Independent, C. F. Monroe, editor and publisher. Population, 300.
UNIONVILLE is eight miles southeast of Marysville, on the C. St. L. & P. R. R. Population in 1880, 200.
YORK is on Bokes creek, in the northwest part of the county. By the census of 1890 it had 1498 inhabitants ; Richwood, 1415; Marysville, 2832 ; Milford Centre, 718.
719
VAN WERT COUNTY.
VAN WERT.
VAN WERT COUNTY was formed April 1, 1820, from old Indian territory. The surface is level, and the top soil loam, and the sub-soil blue marl and very deep, and, what is remarkable, of such tenacity that water will not sink through it. Hence, in wet seasons, the crops are poor from the water standing on the soil. When the country is cleared and drained, this difficulty will be obviated. The soil is very rich, and the surface covered with a great variety of timber. The principal product is Indian corn.
Area abont 400 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were 113,011; in pasture, 15,839 ; woodland, 63,566 ; lying waste, 1,202; produced in wheat, 222,667 bushels; rye, 13,763; buckwheat, 692; oats, 396,763; barley, 502; corn, 1,201,750 ; broom corn, 1,000 lbs. brush ; meadow hay, 17,055 tons ; clover hay, 4,928 ; flax, 8,000 lbs. fibre ; potatoes, 54,454 bushels ; butter, 446,769 lbs .; cheese, 150; sorghum, 5,222 gallons; maple syrup, 326; honey, 8,551 lbs .; eggs, 571,773 dozen ; grapes, 3,878 lbs .; wine, 36 gallons ; sweet potatoes, 354 bushels ; apples, 16,506 ; peaches, 29 ; pears, 177 ; wool, 49,388 lbs. ; milch cows owned, 6,141. School census, 1888, 9,545; teachers, 254. Miles of railroad track, 102.
TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.
1840.
1880.
TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.
1840,
1880.
Harrison,
168
1,481
Ridge,
211
1,587
Hoagland,
40
1,180,
Tully,
99
1,610
Jackson,
800
Union,
1,026
Jennings,
88
1,236
Washington,
47
3,815
Liberty,
117
1,553
Willshire,
434
1,963
Pleasant,
192
5,413
York,
181
1,364
Population of Van Wert in 1830, 39; 1840, 1,577; 1860, 10,238; 1880, 23,028 : of whom 19,072 were born in Ohio; 888, Pennsylvania; 606, Indiana ; 241, New York ; 215, Virginia; 73, Kentucky; 768, German Empire; 329, England and Wales ; 109, Ireland ; 57, France ; 45, British America ; 9, Scotland; and 3, Norway and Sweden. Census, 1890, 29,671.
Three of the northwestern counties of the State, Williams, Paulding and Van Wert, were named from the three captors of Major Andre. The details of the capture will be found under the head of Paulding county. ISAAC VAN WERT, who gave name to this county, was a farmer in West Chester county, N. Y., and was born in Greenburg in 1760, and died May 23, 1828, aged 68. For many years he was an active member of the Greenburg church, and served as chorister until his death. The three captors for their service received the thanks of Congress and an annual pension of $200 and a silver medal bearing on one side the word " Fidelity," and on the other the legend "Vincit Amor Patria." He spelt his name Van Wart. A monument was erected to his memory by the people of Greenburg.
Below is the entire description of the county as it appeared in our original edition. It was written for it by Mr. James Watson Riley, who laid out Van Wert, and of whom a notice is given under the head of Celina, Mercer county.
SKETCH OF VAN WERT COUNTY IN 1846. [From the Old Edition.]
Van Wert received its present boundaries and name in the spring of 1820, two years after the lands of the northwestern part of Ohio were purchased from the Indians, by the treaty of St. Mary's. With most of the fourteen counties
720
VAN WERT COUNTY.
formed by the same act it was almost an entire wilderness, the surveyors' marks upon the township lines being, with a few exceptions, the only traces of civiliza- tion in the whole region.
The ridge upon which stand the towns of Van Wert and Section Ten is a sub- ject of curiosity to strangers. It is of great utility to the people of this county, and the others (Putnam, Hancock, Wyandot to Seneca) through which it passes, being at all seasons the best natural road in this part of Ohio. It is composed entirely of sand and gravel, and has an average width of about half a mile. Its highest point is generally near the south side, from which it gradually slopes to the north. The timber is such as is usually found upon the river bottoms, and although upon it are as large trees as elsewhere, yet in their character they form a striking contrast with the forest on either side.
At a depth of about sixteen feet, through sand and gravel, pure cold water is found, while through the clayey soil in the country adjacent it is often necessary to dig from twenty to forty feet. The ridge passes out at the northwest corner of the county and is temporarily lost in the high sandy plain near Fort Wayne. Cross- ing the Maumee, it can be distinctly traced, running in a northeasterly direction ; when, although frequently eccentric and devious in its course, it runs nearly parallel with the river, being distant from it from one to ten miles ; it is again lost in the sandy plains nearly north of Napoleon. Has not this ridge been the boundary of a great bay of Lake Erie! when its waters were, perhaps, 180 feet higher than now ? The sand, gravel, round smooth stones and shells, all bear evidence of having been deposited by water, and the summit of the ridge is everywhere at the same level, or relative altitude.
Van Wert in 1846 .- Van Wert, the county-seat, is 136 miles northwest of Columbus, and was founded in 1837, by James Watson Riley, Esq. It is hand- somely situated on a natural ridge, elevated about twenty feet above the general surface of the country, on a fork of the Little Auglaize. It contains 2 stores, 1 grist and 2 saw mills, and about 200 inhabitants.
The site of the town of Van Wert has evidently been an Indian town, or a place for winter quarters ; the timber standing when first visited by the writer, and probably by white men, in 1825, was all small and evidently of a growth of less than fifty years, and several wooden houses, covered with bark, were in pretty good repair when the town was laid out in 1837 ; numerous graves, ou a com- manding bluff upon the bank of the creek, as well as the deep-worn trails upon the ridge up and down the creek, and in various other directions, bear witness that this deeply sequestered yet pleasant spot, unknown to the whites in all the wars, from St. Clair's defeat to the close of the late war, and, in fact, until after the treaty of St. Mary's, was cherished by the Indians as a peaceful and quiet home, where they could in security leave their women and children when they sallied out upon the warpath, or hunting excursions.
At the time of laying out the town plat an old Indian of the Pottawatomie tribe was encamped near, and told the writer that he had with his family spent forty winters there and had expected there to leave his bones ; but, added he, the game will soon disappear after your chain has passed over the ground ; in a few days I shall take my leave, and, added he, while tears almost choked his utter- ance, I shall never return again to this place, and the haunts of the deer, the bear, and the raccoon, will soon be broken up, and brick houses take the place of my wigwam !! This Indian had been a brave, said "he owned a farm on the river Raisin, in Michigan, which he bought from the government." He had a red-haired French woman, of near his own age, a prisoner taken from Montreal, in infancy, for his wife; but every winter he returned to his native haunts.
Soon after the first settlement of Van Wert a spring of clear pure well-water was found, which had been carefully hidden years before by the Indians with a piece of bark about six feet square. This bark had been peeled from a black walnut, flattened out, the earth scraped away from around the spring for about sixteen
721
VAN WERT COUNTY.
inches in depth, the bark laid flat over all, and then the whole carefully covered with earth so that no trace of the spring could be seen. After removing the bark the spring again overflowed and resumed its old channel to the creek.
CAPT. JAMES RILEY was the first white man who settled in Van Wert county ; he moved his family into the forest, on the St. Mary's river, in January, 1821, and began clearing up a farm and the erection of mills. In 1822 he laid out a town on the west bank of the river, opposite his mills, and named it Willshire in honor of his benefactor, who redeemed him from African slavery. His suffer- ings during his shipwreck on the coast of Africa, and subsequent captivity among the Arabs, have been detailed in a volume by himself, with which the public are already familiar. In 1823 he was elected as a single representative to the State legislature, from the territory which now comprises the counties of Preble, Miami, Darke, Shelby, Mercer, Allen, Van Wert, Putnam, Paulding, Defiance, Williams, Henry, Wood and Lucas, fourteen counties, which now, with a largely increased ratio of votes, send eight representatives and four senators. During that session, which is justly pointed to as pre-eminent in usefulness to that of any one previous or subsequent, he bore a conspicuous part, and assisted in maturing the four great measures of the session, viz. :
The act for improving the State by navigable canals.
The revenue act, in which the first attempt to establish an ad valorem system of taxation was made.
The act providing a sinking fund, and an act for the encouragement of com- mon schools.
The last named and so much of the first as relates to the Miami canal, were originated by him, and called his measures.
Capt. Riley lived at Willshire seven years, but his health and constitution had been destroyed by his sufferings in Africa, and in the spring of 1828 he was carried to Fort Wayne for medical aid ; after lingering on the verge of death for several months he was taken on a bed to New York, and in 1830 had so far re- covered as to resume his nautical life. In 1831 he made a voyage to Mogadore, to visit his benefactor, Mr. Willshire, established a trade there, and subsequently made nine voyages to that country, during one of which he sent his vessel home in charge of another and travelled through Spain, to Montpelier, in France, for the benefit of surgical aid. The winter of 1839-40 he spent at Mogadore and the city of Morocco, which latter town he visited in company with Mr. Willshire, and in consequence of this visit the emperor granted him a license to trade with the people of his seaports, during life, upon highly favorable conditions, never be- fore granted to any Christian merchant. On the 10th of March, 1840, he left New York in his brig, the Wm. Tell, for St. Thomas, in the West Indies, died when three days out, and was consigned to the ocean. The vessel returned to Mogadore for the cargo provided by him, and was wrecked and lost while at anchor in the harbor ; all on board, save one, perishing.
Willshire, founded in 1822, by Capt. James Riley, is in the southwest corner of the county, on the St. Mary's river, and contains 1 church, 2 stores, 2 grist and 1 saw mill, and about 100 inhabitants. Section Ten is on the Miami Extension canal, and has a good canal water-power, as well as being the best accessible point on the canal from the county towns of Van Wert, Putnam and Allen. It was laid out in 1845 by O. H. Bliss and B. F. Hollister, and has about 300 inhabit- ants .- Old Edition.
VAN WERT, county-seat of Van Wert, about 130 miles northwest of Columbus, at the crossing of the P. Ft. W. & C. and C. J. & M. Railroads.
County officers, 1888: Anditor, Lewis A. Harvey ; Clerk, Charles F. Man- ship; Commissioners, Albert J. Roller, William Freck, John C. Robinson ; Coroner, Alexander S. Kirkpatrick ; Infirmary Directors, Abraham Alspaugh, Andrew J. Stewart, Andrew Lybold; Probate Judge, Barritt J. Brotherton ; Prosecuting Attorney, Jacob Y. Todd ; Recorder, Jesse W. Baird ; Sheriff, Isaac
DRUG STORE
Jas. J. Ream, Photo., 1888.
CENTRAL VIEW IN VAN WERT.
733
VAN WERT COUNTY.
R. Tudor ; Surveyor, Marion P. McCoy ; Treasurer, John F. Sidle. City officers, 1888 : J. O. Browder, Mayor ; Henry Robinson, Clerk ; Jacob Fox, Treasurer ; Geo. W. Clippinger, Marshal ; A. N. Grandstaff, Street Commis- sioner ; Geo. E. Wells, Solicitor. Newspapers : Bulletin, Republican, Summersett & Arnold, editors and publishers; Republican, Republican, E. L. & T. C. Wilkinson, editors and publishers ; Gazette, Prohibition, C. E. Detter, editor and publisher ; Times, Democratic, Geo. W. Kohn & W. H. Troup, editors. Churches : 1 Methodist, 1 Baptist, 1 Catholic, 1 Presbyterian, 2 Lutheran, 1 Evangelistic, 1 German Reformed, 1 Friends.
Manufactures and Employees .- Eagle Stave Co., staves and heading, 78 ; H. Butler & Co., staves and heading, 28 ; Oil Well Supply Co., sucker rods, etc., 20 ; J. A. Gleason & Brother, wagon wood-work, etc., 8; A. & F. Gleason, building material, 14; People's Milling Association, flour, etc., 6 ; D. Spangler, building material, 5 ; Rupright Brothers, drain tile, 6 ; Van Wert Foundry and Machine Works, foundry work, etc., 16 ; L. F. Ross, drain tile, 5; Union Mills Flouring Co., flour, etc., 5; W. A. Clark, flour, etc., 4 .- State Report, 1888.
Population in 1850, 268 ; in 1860, 1,015; in 1870, 2,625 ; in 1890, 5,548. School census, 1888, 1,614; D. E. Cowgill, school superintendent. Capital in- vested in industrial establishments, $215,000. Value' of annual product, $735,000 .- Ohio Labor Statistics, 1887.
The town and county at this time are highly prosperous. The industries of the city are largely of wood.
HISTORICAL MISCELLANY.
The reminiscences of W. Willshire Riley (whose father made the first settlement in Van Wert county) are very interesting and instructive in the graphic pictures they give of the journey into the Ohio wilderness, and the manners and customs of the first settlers. They have been published in the " County History," from which we make the following extracts :
OUTRAGES ON TRAVELLERS.
My father removed his family from Upper Middletown, Middlesex county, Conn., in May, 1820, to the town of Chillicothe, O., in two-horse covered wagons via. New York city ; thence through New Jersey and Penn- sylvania to Cumberland, Md., and thence fol- lowed the line of the Cumberland or National Road (which was being built in different sec- tions, and large gangs of Irish laborers with some negroes were at work). These men often committed outrages on travellers by felling trees across the road, and demanding pay for their removal. They tried the game on father, but as he was a large and powerful man, well armed and resolute, he soon taught them better manners, and we were suffered to pass, where others had been forced to pay these highwaymen. There were very few houses (cabins) along the road, and our jour- ney was very slow. We usually encamped at night, sleeping in our wagons, building camp fires and setting a watch to guard against horse thieves, then numerous in the moun- tains. Near the top of Laurel Hill we passed a new grave, surrounded with new pickets made out of oak, said to be the grave of a traveller murdered for his horse and money but a few days before.
A FAMILY DISGRACE.
We crossed the Scioto river, and went,
via Springfield and Troy, to Piqua, on the Great Miami river. Here were a few log- cabins strung along the west bank. A hewed two-story log-house was TOMPKIN'S TAV- ERN, where we took lodging, one stone house, the old Council House, occupied by Dr. Shappie as a residence, John Johnston, Esq. (Indian agent), Samuel Young, Stephen Widney, an Irish gentlemen, and some few others. While we were at supper, in rushed Mrs. Widney, wringing her hands, crying out : "Oh, gentlemen, my poor son John is lost in the woods; och hone! och hone! What shall I do? The opossums will kill him, and the deer will eat him ; och hone ! och hone ! It will be such a disgrace to the family !" All turned out, fired guns, made a bonfire, and in about half an hour John Widney made his appearance, a strapping fellow of sixteen years of age.
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