History of Crawford County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 28

Author: Hopley, John E. (John Edward), 1850-
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago,Ill., Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1302

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profitable business both to the firm and to the farmers.

The township being largely settled by peo- ple from New England they were a Sunday observing class and as early as 1818 services were held in the larger cabins, when some traveling minister came among the pioneers. The pioneers were all strict observers of the Sabbath, and generally knew when the day came around, although watches and clocks were hardly known in the township and alma- nacs were scarce. One Sunday morning Ro- dolphus Morse had had his usual family wor- ship, and was doing the necessary feeding, when he heard the voice of Seth Hawks, his nearest neighbor, shouting to his oxen. The noise continued and Mr. Morse thought it best to go across and see what was the cause of this unseemly disturbance on the Sabbath day, Mr. Hawks being one of the strictest Presbyterians in the neighborhood. Reaching the barn of Hawks he found his neighbor very busily en- gaged in driving a yoke of oxen around the puncheon floor on which was a heavy spread of grain, and in this way was threshing his wheat. Mr. Morse asked him what he meant by working on the Sabbath day, and Hawks discovered he had mistaken the day, thinking it was Saturday. He promptly unhitched his oxen, retired to the house, and finished the day in fasting and prayer.

By 1821 it was found necessary to erect churches and both the Methodists and Baptists that year built small log churches, organized their societies, and preaching was more regu- lar. The Presbyterians, Winebrennarians (Church of God) and English Lutherans or- ganized societies and held services at irregular intervals. In 1830, when Rev. Thomas Mil- lard settled on section 19 he donated two acres of land for church purposes. He was an earn- est and indefatigable worker in the vineyard of the Lord. Erecting his saw mill, one of the first uses was the sawing of the lumber for the new church, and much of the work of the . building was done by him, and when completed he was chosen as the first minister of "Good Will church." The church was built in 1835, and the congregation thrived and multiplied, and in 1868 this building became too small, and a new and larger structure was erected on the same site in 1868. In the southeastern

CITY BUILDING, GALION, O.

PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL, GALION, O.

PUBLIC LIBRARY, GALION, O.

EAST MAIN STREET, GALION, O.

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part of the township is the Pleasant Grove M. E. church, organized in 1850. It is on the old Portland road, one mile north of the town- ship line. About 1835 an M. E. church was built in the northern part of this township, a mile west of Waynesburg on the road leading to Plymouth. It was sold to the Winebren- narians and by them was later moved to the northeastern part of the township, but the at- tendance gradually became less and less, and although still standing it is only used for funerals and occasional services.

The Baptists held services as early as the Methodists but they progressed more slowly, until about 1830 it had an unexpected increase of membership, and in 1840, a frame church was erected on section 16, on the farm of Deacon Howe who was one of the prominent Baptists and an earnest worker, and did much to build up the church. This building was sufficient. for the congregation until in 1879 a new and larger one was erected at a cost of $2,500.

The first Presbyterian services were held as early as 1825. They were conducted by Rev. Mr. Wolf, who for years previous had been a missionary among the Indians and traveled all over Northern Ohio, establishing churches, and it was through his work and efforts Presbyterian congregation was formed, and later a church erected.

The United Brethren held services long be- fore they were strong enough to erect a church. They finally built one near Tiro, and their present large building was erected in 1878.

St. Mary's Catholic Church, at North Au- burn, had its origin in the spring of 1879, when the Catholics living in the neighborhood of Waynesburg met together to devise some plan whereby Sunday services could be held and a Sunday school started nearer than New Washington. It was decided to erect a frame structure on a corner of the old Faeth farm, which was accordingly done, Father Am- adeus Dambach being the first pastor. He was called away in the summer of 1881 and the church then became a mission of the New Washington church, Rev. Laurence Heiland ministering to the two congregations from 1881 to 1888. The Rev. George Vogt was then assigned as pastor and during his termn

of service the church was frescoed and stained glass windows were substituted for the old plain glass panes, Father Vogt donating one window and Father Horstman another. In 1899 Rev. John Kunnert took charge of the church at New Washington and the mission of St. Mary's. During his term as pastor a basement was dug and the building equipped with a furnace; and the somewhat high church tower was lowered for considerations of safety. In July, 1906 Rev. G. M. Schmidz was appointed as resident priest of St. Marys, and under him various church organizations were established. These are the Christian Mother Society, which has a membership of thirty-seven; the St. Agnes Sodality and St. Aloysius Sodality, in which the young women and young men of the parish are respectively enrolled. The parish now numbers about 60 families. In connection with the parish there is a successful parochial school. Father Schmidz was ordained at Baltimore, Md. in 1904 by Cardinal Gibbons. Besides acting as pastor of St. Mary's he supplies St. An- thony's church, which he organized three years ago.

The first school house was built on the farm of Robert Cook in 1821. It was a small log structure and built by the settlers. A school- house being necessary, a day was fixed and the settlers in that section all turned out, selected the site, cut down the trees, did not stop to hew the logs, but put them in round, and by nightfall the building was up. A roof of clapboards was added and a floor; the crevices between the logs were filled with mud. It was a small cabin, and the fire place occupied al- most one end of the room, while at the other was the teacher's desk, this desk and the benches being made by the pioneers. The pu- pils had no desks. John Talford was the first teacher, during the winter of 1821-2, and he had about fifteen scholars. About 1823 a young lady named Mary Wilcox was the first female teacher in the township, having a school in an old abandoned cabin, in the Ham- mond neighborhood. It had been fitted up with benches, and the following year a school house was erected on the Hammond farm, the settlers in that section turning out to do the work. It was of logs but larger than the first school house. Amos Morse attended this

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school, when a boy of five, passing through the forest daily about two miles from his father's farm to the school building. He states the benches were very uneven, having been split out of wood having a crooked grain. Unfortunately, he was so small his feet could not touch the floor, and here he was compelled to sit hour after hour to learn his letters. The early part of the day it was fairly easy to occupy the seat without slipping off, but the discomfort became torture as tlie day wore on. Among the first teachers in this school house were Erastus Sawyer and Daniel W. Ross. In 1824 Rodolphus Morse was the teacher and from some cause the building caught fire and was burned down, but the bal- ance of the term was completed in an aban- doned cabin near the school house, which was hurriedly fitted up with home-made benches. Everything was destroyed by the fire, most of the books of the pupils, which were generally left in the school room.

In 1824 another school building was erected on what is now the Willford farm, a mile east of Waynesburg, with a young man named John Webber as the teacher. Webber was a very lively young man, and although he was conducting the school successfully the staid old directors had their doubts, and one day William Laugherty. one of the directors, was irritated at his latest boyish prank, and went to the school house and ordered him to leave. Webber saw it was useless to argue with the irate director, so he gathered up his books, and left the school room, demonstrating that he was decidedly full of fun and entitled to his reputation as being a lively boy, by pausing at the door long enough to paralyze the hor- rified director with a parting blast :

"Farewell schoolroom, farewell school,

Farewell Laugherty, you d-d old fool." The school being without a teacher, Mr. Laugherty finished the term himself.

About 1825 a school house was built on the farm of Adam Aumend and another on that of Jesse Ladow, and some years later one in the northwestern part of the township, so that prior to 1830 the entire township was con- veniently supplied with school houses.

The first village laid out in the township was Waynesburg. It is one of the eldest of the now abandoned towns in the county. It was

laid out by John Stewart, the surveyor of Richland county, in the spring of 1833, as the plat was filed in the office of the county re- corder at Mansfield, on May 16, 1833. The new town was on one of the important roads, the nearest town to the east being Plymouth and on the west Attica. It was called Waynesburg after Gen. Anthony Wayne, and was laid out on land belonging to Aaron Cory and Richard Miller. It had twenty-six lots, all facing Main street, that street being the public road from Plymouth to Sycamore and Mccutchenville. The north and south street was called Market, and on both sides of each street was an alley. This constituted the town. There were two or three cabins in the neigh- borhood when the town was started, and sev- eral farmers bought lots, expecting to realize a handsome profit when the village prospered, but their expectations were doomed to disap- pointment, as later in the same year New Washington, three miles west was laid out, and eventually became the town in that sec- tion. The lots at Waynesburg were sold at auction, bringing $8 to $10 each. Enoch Baker bought one of the corner lots for $10, and shrewdly hesitated about paying the cash until the town showed symptoms of making the investment profitable. Later the town looked as if it would be a success, and he of- fered his $10, but the price was refused, the lot being then held at $20, and Baker declined to stand the raise. Very few shops were started in the new village. John M. Robison started a blacksmith shop a few rods west of the town in 1835, and followed the business until his death, after which it was run by his son Robert for many years. Reuben Frisbie opened a general store in 1835. He was a natural business man. He had only $60 cash, but he borrowed $500 of his brother, and with this capital he started his store. He was a careful buyer and shrewd trader, and in eight years had paid off his original debt and had a capital of $5,000. About 1840 Frisbie had opposition when Anderson & Moore opened a store with $2,500 stock, but Frisbie still did the bulk of the business and they sold out to Rufus Page. Later Frisbie discontinued his store, and Page did a good business for eight or ten years when he sold to Baker & Sims, the firm eventually becoming Sims & Son, and

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finally, business constantly decreasing, the store was closed. Bear & Grafmiller also had a store, of which Bear became sole proprietor and later sold to Enoch Baker. In 1858 Jo- seph Kerr started a small grocery. Martin Clark started a tavern. By 1848, the village had become an important enough center to have a postoffice, and on July 13th of that year James K. Davis, who kept the principal store in the village, was appointed as postmaster. He held the office for fifteen years, and May 20, 1863, was succeeded by William D. Sims, who in turn was followed by Martin Clark, May 26, 1865. On January 24, 1876, he was succeeded by Nancy Clark, who held the office a little over a year, when it was discontinued in July 8, 1877. For years the town had been on the decline, what little business there was gradually being abandoned. The Mansfield and Coldwater road had passed to the south of it, and the Pittsburg, Akron & Western, from Carey had come straight east for over thirty miles on a direct line for Waynesburg, and when it reached New Washington, only three miles away, it bore to the north and passed by the little village and established a station a mile away called North Auburn, and here on January 17, 1891, George S. McKee was made postmaster, succeeded May 16, 1896, by Adam P. Miller and he October 27, 1898, by A. M. Cramer. All that today remains of Waynesburg, are a few houses falling into de- cay, and nearly all the original twenty-six town lots are again converted into farming land. And North Auburn, the post office, is only a railroad station.

Half a mile north of the present village of Tiro, between 1845 and 1850 several me- chanics settled at the point where the road running from West Liberty and DeKalb to Waynesburg crosses the angling road from Bucyrus to Plymouth. Samuel Hilborn and Israel H. Irwin had blacksmith shops there and S. B. Raudabaugh was a cabinetmaker and carpenter. A cooper shop was also lo- cated there, and later Jonathan Davis and William Crouse ran a grist mill, and for a time these enterprises were all successful, and a dozen families were located at the crossing, and it had the appearance of a little village, al- though it was never laid out in town lots. It was known to the people as Mechanicsburg.

As the years passed the little shops were dis- continued, and when the town of Tiro was laid out with a railroad the last little shop was discontinued, and what was Mechanicsburg is now a collection of houses on the outskirts of that thriving little village.

When Rodolphus Morse settled two miles north of the present village of Tiro, he be- came an active citizen and Dec. 12, 1825, was appointed the first postmaster, the office being in his cabin. He was succeeded on Jan. 3, 1835, by David C. Morrow, who held the of- fice for twenty-six years, and on July 5, 1861, Ezekiel Dougherty became postmaster, fol- lowed Feb. 14, 1870, by M. D. Morse, and on March 17, 1870, by Amos Morse, who held the office until it was moved to Tiro in 1874. In the early days the post office was called both Tiro and Auburn.

When the Mansfield, Coldwater and Lake Michigan road was built it passed through the southwestern corner of Auburn township, en- tering the township at what is now the village of Tiro. Half a mile south of this point was the small but very old village of De Kalb in Vernon township. Where Tiro now stands the railroad established a station and called it De Kalb. J. D. Brown laid out forty lots on the southeast quarter of section 22, and they were promptly disposed of and buildings erected. In November, 1878, John Hilborn made an addition to the land of eighty lots. The Tiro postoffice was transferred to the new town and Ira Van Tilburg was appointed postmaster on Jan. 22, 1874; he was suc- ceeded by M. L. Callin, Dec. 15, 1884, and he by Willis A. Brown Aug. 6, 1885, and he by John O. Davis Aug. 16, 1889; Willis Brown again Aug. 18, 1893, and J. M. Van Tilburg July 23, 1897, who has held the office ever since and is a nephew of the first postmaster. In 1882 the De Kalb post office, one mile south, was discontinued, being consolidated with Tiro.

J. and B. S. Van Tilburg started the first store in the new village in 1872, the following year erecting a substantial brick for their use. In 1876 a drug store was started by William Flavin. In 1878 J. D. Brown opened a dry goods and general store; and in 1880 Davis & Mitchell started a store with general mer- chandise. Charles McConnell started a notion

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store and Misses Crall & Owens a millinery. and dress making establishment. In 1883, the present large flouring mill was opened for business. In 1893 the little village was thriv- ing and the Tiro American was started, a small weekly, which had a struggling existence for three years, and then died a natural death, and some years later a neighboring printer bought the plant and moved it away. On Aug. 3, 1911, the field was again occupied by W. W. Davis with the Tiro Weekly World.

Tiro was incorporated as a village in 1890, and the first election was held on Dec. 12th of that year when Charles McConnell was elected mayor, C. M. Smith, clerk, and J. M. Van Til- burg, treasurer. The first councilmen were J. H. Stevens, John O. Davis, D. C. Robinson, James Hanna, J. W. Burget and A. J. Mauk.

The first meeting of the Council was held on Dec. 29th, and the first resolution passed was to borrow $300 "to defray incidental ex- penses that have accrued and may accrue, un- til such time as funds can be raised by munici- pal taxes." J. H. Stevens, John O. Davis and D. C. Robinson were appointed a committee to borrow the money.

The next meeting on Jan. 5th showed the credit of Tiro was good, and that the ladies were interested in the little village, as the com- mittee reported they had borrowed the money of Miss Viola Chapman, for fourteen months at six per cent. The note was signed not only by the committee but by every councilman. The first ordinance was introduced by John O. Davis. "Ordinance No. I, An ordinance· to prohibit ale, beer and porter houses, and other places where intoxicating liquors are sold at retail." Tiro is the only village in the county where saloons never existed. The puritanic views of the early settlers are largely inherited by their descendants, and it is a very law abid- ing community. Some years ago, some of the wags of the village during the night put up posters, announcing a game of foot ball was to be played in Tiro, the following Sunday be- tween teams of two neighboring towns. Ev- ery citizen left his home and was on the streets, crowds gathered everywhere, men and women in indignant protest against such an unheard of sacrilege of the sanctity of the Sabbath. "The mayor looked blue and so did

the corporation, too." Backed by a practically unanimous public opinion the corporation of- ficers stood firm; if necessary, the National Guard at Bucyrus and Galion would be ap- pealed to; the sheriff of the county must pre- serve the law, and many of the citizens passed a sleepless night prior to the sacred day, when a foot ball game was to be played. The marshal was early abroad and on the watch; the citizens waited with anxious eye the com- ing of the degenerate teams, but the day passed as quietly as usual and it leaked out the bills were a pure "fake" put up as a joke. How- ever, it demonstrated that the fourth com- mandment must be kept sacred in Tiro, and it is. They have three churches-the Presby- terian, Baptist and United Brethren, and all have good congregations and are in a flourish- ing condition.

Charles McConnell was elected as mayor until the year 1907 when he was defeated by James Cahill, but in 1909, he was again elected, and died a few months afterward, be- ing succeeded by the President of the Council, G. O. Blair, who was elected to the office in November, 191I.

C. M. Smith was succeeded as clerk by J. E. Clark, F. W. Carmichael, J. E. Brown, J. E. Jones, E. A. Burroughs, Frank F. Rouda- baugh, W. H. Guiss, Charles McConnell, 1907 to 1909, and C. D. Schilling, the present in- cumbent was elected in 1909 and 191I.

In August, 1879, Tiro Lodge No. 688 In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows was insti- tuted with seven charter members, Daniel Howe, Cornelius Fox, E. E. Ashley, S. W. Jeffrey, J. R. Hall, Lewis Williams and Mat- thew Irwin. The first officers were S. W. Jef- frey, N. G .; J. R. Hall, V. G .; Cornelius Fox, Sec'y ; E. E. Ashley, Treas. The present mem- bership of the lodge is about fifty.

On May 24, 1893, Tiro Lodge No. 592 was instituted by Demas Lodge of Bucyrus, with twenty-eight charter members: W. A. Brown, W. H. Guiss, W. F. McConnell, B C. Ramsey, J. C. Davis, I. M. Vantilburg, I. E. Jones, A. E. Fox, J. M. Dickson, A. C. Robinson, A. F. Cline, J. M. Michener, F. F. Shilling, H. L. Raudabaugh, Charles McConnell, E. T. Hil- born, T. S. Melchior, S. A. Stock, A. E. Gaff, Paul Galehr, I. E. Brown, James Hart, W. M.

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Ovens, E. B. Rex, F. W. May, E. A. Yarnell, F. W. Carmichel, R. E. Sawyer. The lodge now has a membership of 102.

In April, 1896, Willis A. Brown organ- ized the Farmers and Citizens Bank. Among those interested in the bank with Mr. Brown were J. D. Brown, A. C. Robinson and John E. Brown; A. C. Robinson was the president, and W. A. Brown, the cashier. The capital stock was $10,000. While the bank was a great convenience to the people of that section the growing business of the village made it a profitable investment, and the capital stock was increased to $25,000. Of the original founders of the bank, W. A. Brown is the only one now connected with the institution, and he has remained its cashier since its organiza- tion. Mr. Robinson was succeeded as presi- dent by J. M. Dickson, and on his death, Sher- man Daugherty became president, a position he still holds.

In 1900 Tiro had a population of 293, which was increased to 321 in 1910. It has several good stores, a number of shops, a hotel, and the principal street has a fine stone pave- ment extending almost its entire length, on both sides. Two physicians are located in Tiro, Dr. G. O. Blair and R. M. Guiss and the village is remarkably healthy, the principal cause of death being old age. It is well lighted and has an abundance of good water. Its town hall is conveniently located, and its peo- ple are contented, prosperous and happy. Nearly all own their own homes and many of them are men, who have worked hard in their younger days, and now in the pretty vil- lage they are passing their declining years en- joying that freedom from care and worry they have so well earned.

John Hilborn lived with his father on the road that passed north of Tiro, the road from Bucyrus to Plymouth, part of the way near his father's it crossed a swamp half a mile in width ; this had a corduroy road bed, and even with these it was sometimes almost impass- able, and many a time he took his father's team to assist in extricating some wagon loaded with wheat on its way to the market at Milan.

About a mile northeast of Waynesburg was the Baker farm, and just east of Waynes- burg Honey creek makes a sudden turn to the

east; in the earlier day it continued in a north- easterly direction and meandered through the Baker farm, and for half the year his land was under water, and during the wet spring his house, which was on a mound, was completely surrounded by water. At his own expense Mr. Baker cut a channel for the creek straight north so that it passed half a mile east of his house, and Honey creek today from the Waynesburg road north is almost as straight as a section line. The cost was over $1,000, exclusive of the time and labor of Mr. Baker, but the wisdom of the investment was demon- strated by the fact that the cost was paid for in a very few years by the increased crops.

In the earlier days, the entire northern part of the township was a vast marsh filled with cranberries, and the earlier settlers found it a profitable business to gather these cran- berries for the market. The reclaiming of the marsh land by ditching has made much of it farming land, but still cranberries can be found and the past year Lafayette Akers gathered about three bushel in one day. In the extreme northern section is the lower part of the great Pittsburg farm, where vegetable gardening is conducted in a wholesale way. The Pittsburg company thoroughly drained the entire section. A dam was erected on the Coykendall creek, and a mud scow containing the machinery was used, and the accumula- tions of years taken from the bottom of the creek, sometimes at a depth of six to eight feet coming across fallen trees with trunks over a foot in diameter. This entire swamp land in the centuries had been filled up a little each season by the decaying grass and trees which made it when drained such a wealth- producing soil. In the preparation of roads, in . later years, through the forests and swamps, traps were frequently unearthed sev- eral feet underground which had been origin- ally placed by Pettigon, Morehead or one of the early settlers.

The Baker house in the northwestern part of the township was on a small mound, and this was once a large Indian burying-ground. Indian remains were first discovered by Mr. Baker in 1833 when he dug a well on the mound, and at a depth of about eighteen inches came upon four skeletons lying side by side, two with their heads to the east and two to

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the west. No hunting implements or articles of clothing were found, and on being exposed to the air the more fragile portions crumbled into dust. One of the Indians was very large, as his jaw bone was large enough to pass over the jaw of an ordinary man, and the upper bone of the arm was four inches longer than that of the average man, and had a corre- sponding thickness. Later in digging around the yard fifteen other skeletons have at differ- ent times been found, and in no case was any war instrument found with them as is custom- ary in the burial of an Indian warrior. These were all buried near the surface. In 1866 when digging a cellar nine more were unearthed, these, too, having some with their heads to the east and others to the west. Since the first discovery in 1833, as many as thirty skeletons have been unearthed on the mound on which the residence stands and those last discovered show no greater signs of decomposition than the earlier ones, indicating they had lain there for several centuries.

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History of Crawford County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 28

Author: Hopley, John E. (John Edward), 1850- Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago,Ill., Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1302

Author: Hopley, John E. (John Edward), 1850-
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago,Ill., Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1302