History of Crawford County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 53

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

USA > Ohio > Crawford County > History of Crawford County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 53

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY

disposed of his store to the Fox brothers, Cor- nelius Fox was appointed postmaster July 31, 1849. On Sept. 6, 1854 Thomas A. Mitchell was appointed. During the incumbency of Postmaster Fox, DeKalb had a weekly mail; it started at Mt. Gilead, and went to Iberia, Galion, West Liberty, DeKalb, Tiro and Ply- mouth.

In 1851, the contract for carrying the mail, from July 1851 to June 30, 1856, contained the following :

"From Shelby, by DeKalb, to Sulphur Springs, to Brokensword, to Bucyrus, 30 miles and back. Leave Shelby every Friday 6 a. m., reach Bucyrus at 6 p. m .; Leave Bu- cyrus every Saturday at 6 a. m., reach Shelby 6 p. m.

"From Galion, by Leesville Cross Roads and DeKalb to Tyro and back, 16 miles, one time a week. Leave Galion every Tuesday at 6 a. m., arrive Tyro 12 m. Leave same date at 2 p. m., arrive Galion 7 p. m."

In June, 1858, the Dekalbians learned that H. S. Bevington had been appointed post- master on June 10, 1858. The people had not asked for any change and wanted Mitchell, and they refused to accept the new postmaster, who was the choice of Congressman Hall. They raised such a protest that Bevington re- signed, and the Government, to harmonize the matter, appointed Nancy Hanna. The people accepted this, but the leaders at Bucyrus in- sisted on Bevington. In those days a Congress- man was all powerful, and as the people posi- tively refused to accept Bevington, Congress- man Hall had the office discontinued on March 17, 1859, and for two years the entire village was compelled to go nearly three miles to West Liberty for their mail, or five miles to Shelby. In 1861, the administration at Washington changed and post offices passed into the hands of the new party, and on July 3, 1861, George Cummins was appointed, and on Oct. 2, 1865, he was succeeded by Thomas A. Mitchell, the man removed ten years previously. He served this time for seven years, and was succeeded on Nov. 13, 1872, by B. W. McKee, who held the office until the appointment of William Raudabaugh on July 23, 1873. On Dec. 15, 1882, the office was discontinued, being re- moved to Tiro.

About 1850 the population of DeKalb was

in the neighborhood of 250 people. Some- what later the business began to leave the place and go to the larger towns of Shelby and Plymouth, which had become better ship- ping points by reason of the Sandusky, Mans- field and Newark railroad. After 1860 the town's retrogression was very marked, but it hung on, and finally was reduced to only a few houses with one small store and a black- smith shop. Then the Mansfield and Cold- water road was built,' passing less than a mile north and here the railroad established a depot, and in 1874 the village of Tiro was laid out on the land around the station. Stores and shops were started there; it became a centre for the shipment of grain, a mill was erected, a bank started, and DeKalb with its patriotic name was a town of the past. To- day absolutely nothing remains to indicate that it was once an important business centre.

For thirty years prior to the Civil War, several stations on the Underground Railroad were established in Vernon township, and many runaway slaves were thus assisted on their way to Canada and freedom. David and Samuel Anderson were among those who took part in this work. As the laws of the United States made it a crime to thus assist black fugitives to escape from their masters, the work had to carried on with great caution. The negroes traveled only at night, and dur- ing the daytime were kept closely concealed in the so-called "stations," where they were provided with food and other necessaries.

The first speculation in oil was in Vernon township. As early as 1851, James Seanor, living in the northern part of Jefferson town- ship wanted a well, and at a depth of 25 feet struck a stratum of rock; he went through this and found a powerful vein of water which filled the well; a few days later this water was covered with a thick oily substance. A short distance from his house was a spring from which oil flowed in large quantities. No one knew the nature of the oil, or its quali- ties, but a quack doctor from Sandusky City gathered it for several years and retailed it as a specific for burns, bruises, etc. The oil excitement in Pennsylvania started, and in 1861 the Seanor well was recalled, the land was leased and work commenced and in two days without the aid of machinery about 120

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gallons of oil were gathered, but machinery did no more; it was not there in paying quan- tities. The swampy region of southern Ver- non and Northern Jackson all showed symp- toms of oil. Just south of the Vernon line on the farm of Hugh Oldfield, Pittsburg par- ties put in a well 100 feet deep from which they gathered a few buckets of oil a day. They put in pumps, believing the well would yield 15 barrels a day, but the investment was a failure. Other wells were dug but all proved failures. Finally in 1862 J. J. Bauer struck oil on his farm the northwest quarter of section 28, Vernon township, the land being today still in the possession of the Bauers. He had dug a well and discovered a few days later that the surface was covered with oil; as fast as he skimmed off the oil it gathered again, and the supply seemed inexhaustible. The excitement in Pennsylvania was at its height, and the citizens flocked to the farm to see the well, and congratulate the owner. A company was formed with a capital of $10,000 to develop the well, one enthusiast taking $500 in stock. Experts were sent for, and $2,000 of the stock was paid in and also paid out, the highest yield being a barrel and a half a day, and the enterprise was abandoned, but it was the most prolific well ever found in the county, a county too, which in the early days had more surface indications than any other county in the state, indications which later cost the people of this county approximately $100,000 for experimental wells with abso- lutely no returns.

The first school building in Vernon town- ship was erected in 1831 about half a mile south of West Liberty, and stood a short dis- tance back from the Columbus and Sandusky road. It was built of round logs, was 16 feet square, and had a large conspicuous stone chimney. The first teacher was Thomas Gill, who was a very efficient instructor, anticipat- ing many of the modern methods of imparting knowledge, and in connection with his teach- ing ran a cooper shop. Miss Richards, who in 1844, became Mrs. R. W. Cahill, and Mr. Orton, were also early teachers in this school- house. In 1835 a hewed-log schoolhouse was built about a mile north of West Liberty. Maria Swan taught school here for three months during the summer of that year, while

John Farrell taught the following winter. Another cabin was built for educational pur- poses about a mile and a half east of West Liberty in 1838, and by 1845 there were as many as seven or eight school buildings in the northern part of the township. The schools in the southern part were started later, as that part was settled several years after the northern part, but when established they were well taught and well attended, the Ger- man language at first being given preference over the English, owing to the general mass of the settlers being of that nationality. A frame schoolhouse was built in DeKalb in 1841, a Mr. Phillips being the first teacher. This building was afterwards supplanted by a more commodious one.

Vernon township has today six school houses, No. I being in the southwest quarter of section 6, on the farm of Mary and G. W. Johnson; No. 2, southwest quarter of section 17, the farm of F. P. Warner, a quarter of a mile south of West Liberty; No. 3 the south- east quarter of section 30, the farm of Wil- liam G. Fisher; No. 4, the southeast quarter of section 28, the farm of Thomas McMahon; No. 5, the southeast quarter of section 16, the farm of John Richlin; No. 6, the southeast quarter of section 4, the farm of Hollister Doll.

The first religious services among the set- tlers were held in the cabins by those faith- ful missionaries of all denominations who wandered through the sparsely settled regions to preach to the people. Even before settlers were here, a young priest, Rev. J. M. Henni, made occasional trips through this region, making converts among the Indians. About 1824 he was in what is now known as the German settlement, in the eastern part of Ver- non township. Here at this early date he found a few Roman Catholic families, and he organized them into a parish. He or others visited them occasionally, holding services in the cabins, and in 1836 they built a little log church, which was used until 1852, when it was replaced by a brick building on the same site, 40 by 80 feet in size. The church had secured a 40-acre tract on which to build the church and necessary buildings. This church was just east of the Vernon township line, in Richland county. Later in life the first

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priest, Rev. Mr. Henni, rose to high rank in the church and became Archbishop of Mil- waukee. In 1890 to 1898 Rev. F. A. Schreib- er was the priest in charge and under his ad- ministration the present church was built. The corner stone was laid by Right Rev. Bishop Horstman on May 29, 1892, and the building was dedicated by him on Sept. 25, 1895. It is called the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The building is 148 feet in length, with a width of 48 feet, with the handsomest of in- terior furnishings. It is of Berea cut stone, and of Gothic architecture, and when com- pleted was the largest and handsomest church in the Cleveland diocese. Many in eastern Vernon are members of this church.

The Methodists organized a society in the northern part of the township in 1832, but they were not strong enough to build a church at that time. Meetings were held in the cab- ins and later in the schoolhouses, most of the early members belonging to the churches in Auburn township.

About 1830 a society of United Presby- terians was organized, with a membership of about 30, and after holding services for a few years in the cabins and schoolhouses, a church was erected near DeKalb. Rev. Mr. Thomp- son, a very zealous and highly educated man, was the first pastor. He it was who started the DeKalb seminary.

It was in the early thirties that there were a number of Germans settled in the southern part of Vernon, and by 1833 they were strong enough to build a church, the first church built in the township. The Germans were of two denominations, the German Lutherans and the German Reformers. The two congregations united in building a little log structure, a mile south of West Liberty; this was replaced later by a frame building, but for forty years the two sects jointly worshipped in the same building, when both organizations became strong enough to have a church of their own.

The German Lutheran church was built on the east side of the Portland road about two miles south of West Liberty, and the German Re- formed is half a mile south of this, a short distance east of the road.

In 1850 Rev. William Adams organized a society called the Church of God in the north- eastern part of the township. For ten years the meetings were held in the cabins and the schoolhouses, and then a little church was built at a cost of about $800. Long before the church was built, a Sunday school was started with Samuel Deam as superintendent.

All the other churches established Sunday schools soon after the churches were or- ganized.

Until Vernon was organized as a township it was under the care of Auburn township, and in 1823, when Adam Aumend of Auburn made the first tax returns, he found but three persons in Vernon township to assess for tax- ation, and in 1826 there were only ten votes cast in the township. In its earlier years the justices of Auburn had jurisdiction over Ver- non, and as in Auburn, Jacob Coykendall was the first justice, commissioned in 1821; Isaac Hitchcock and George Dickson were the first justices in Vernon in 1825; Dennis Orton was elected in 1826, and again in 1828, with James Richards; William Cummins in 1830. Since Vernon has been a part of Crawford county the following men have held the office:

Emanuel Warner-1845. George Cummins-1845-48-49-52.

Mathias Tustison-1848.

John Kaler-1851-54-57.

James Dixon-1855.

James Dixon, Jr .- 1858-61.

George Parsons-1859. John Warner-1862-65-68-71-74-77-80-83-86-89. Andrew Dickson-1864-68. George Koch-1871-74.

Jacob J. Bauer-1875.

John W. Humphrey-1879-80-83-86-89-92-96-99. J. J. Weaver-1892-96-99-02-05.

Bert Fix-1905.

A. A. Dapper-19II.

David Weaver-19II.

CHAPTER XXIII

WHETSTONE TOWNSHIP

Topography-Survey of the Township-Its Erection-First Election-The Soil-Early Prevalence of Malaria-First Settlers-Coming of Zalmon Rowse-Enterprise of James Armstrong-First Mills-Robbery of the Albrights-Crawford's March Through the Township-An Indian Village-The "Green Sea"-Early Roads -- A Peculiar Marriage-The First Post Office-Founding of New Winchester, Olentangy and North Robinson-The Underground Railroad-Postmasters-Early Mills-Jus- tices of the Peace-Schools and Churches-Graveyards.

Nor heed the skeptic's puny hands, While near the church the schoolhouse stands: Nor fear the stubborn bigot's rule. While near the church-spire stands the school. -JOHN G. WHITTIER.

This township is the largest in the county, containing 40 full sections and eight fractional sections, or nearly 44 square miles, and a little east of the centre of the township is where the forest ended and the famous Sandusky Plains began, the latter extending west for nearly 40 miles, with only an occasional clump of trees, called an "island," to break the monotony of the landscape. The clearing away of the for- est has long since obliterated all trace of where this line of demarkation between for- est and plain once existed. The township was surveyed by Sylvanus Bourne in 1819, it being a part of the land obtained by treaty from the Indians in 1817, and known as the "New Pur- chase." Originally the township was but six miles deep, but the addition of two miles from Marion county in 1845 gave it its present depth of eight miles. The fractional tier of sections on the east was a part of Whetstone township when it was first erected in 1824; in 1835 the three-mile strip east of it was the southern half of Sandusky township, and this southern half of Sandusky was erected into a new township called Jackson, and the fractional sections were given to Jackson. In 1845 on the re-or- ganization of the townships, and the erection 20

of the present Crawford, the fractional tier of sections was again given to Whetstone, where they have since remained.

In 1820 all of the present Crawford county was two townships called Sandusky, the east- ern four miles being Sandusky township Rich- land county, and the balance being Sandusky township, Crawford county, and from the western part Bucyrus township was erected in 1822. The second township to be erected in this county was Whetstone, by the follow- ing resolution passed by the county commis- sioners of Delaware county on March 2, 1824 : "On petition of sundry inhabitants of town- ship 3 south, range 17, in the county of Craw- ford, said township was ordered by the board to be and the same is hereby declared to be erected into a separate township, by the name of Whetstone. Election ordered."

In May, 1824, Crawford county was trans- ferred from the care of Delaware county to that of Marion county, and at the elections that fall Whetstone voted with Bucyrus town- ship. The Marion commissioners at a meet- ing held on Dec. 7, 1824 authorized the new township to organize. The first election was held in April, 1825, when George Poe and He- man Rowse were elected justices, their com- missions bearing date of June 18, 1825. The township was named after the Whetstone creek. This creek and the Mud Run give

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ample drainage to the southern part of the township, while the north is drained by sev- eral nameless streams which had their rise in the swampy ground and found their way north to the Sandusky river.

The soil mainly is very rich, deep and well adapted for modern diversified farming. The forests in the eastern and northern parts of the township were largely of dark walnut and oak, beech and hickory, and were almost im- penetrable at the coming of the early settlers, and the choice of land of the first pioneers was the heavily timbered tracts and not the fertile prairie which was ready for cultivation, but was too wet, swampy and unhealthy. The de- ciding factor seemed to be the superior supply of spring water obtainable in the woods; the health of the pioneer and his family being a first consideration in that age when medical men were few and far distant, and the roads were merely trails. Fortunate indeed was the family that escaped the malaria and chills that were so prevalent for many years ; and few did, notwithstanding the abundant supply of calomel and quinine which was kept on hand at all times and used most extravagantly, to- gether with the universal antidote for every ill-whisky.

In the early days, little was done in the way of raising grain, owing to the absence of a market, just enough for family use. Horses, cattle and sheep were brought in from the East, and their sustenance was obtained from the prairie, where they were pastured and from which they obtained hay for the winter. The meat supply was largely wild, there being an abundance of ducks, prairie chickens, squir- rels and deer. Honey was found in plenty. Hogs were brought in and permitted to run at large, and soon they were in a wild state and were a dangerous animal when brought to bay, the males in particular as they developed long tusks. They were long legged and lank and bore little resemblance to the well fed hog of later days. The rapid disappearance of game led to a remarkable change in hog life; from a roaming life in quest of food, they were brought home to receive careful consider- ation and live in fatted opulence. The stock industry developed into one of great import- ance, and with it the greater production of grain.

In 1816 Robert Reid came with his family from Ireland to America, and settled near Newburg, N. Y., but soon afterward removed to Washington county, Pa., and was living there when the New Purchase was secured by treaty from the Indians. Fabled reports of the richness of this new land affected him as it did others, and leaving his family at Wash- ington county he started on foot to investigate for himself. He came to Whetstone township and made his selection, before the land was open for settlement. In this trip the most ex- treme western pioneer was around where Ga- lion now is, and from the last pioneer home he followed the Indian trail across the north- ern part of the plains and made his choice about two miles southwest of Bucyrus. He returned home, entered the land, and in 1824 came with his family to the site selected. He was not the first settler, but he was probably the first pioneer to enter the new purchase and select a home. This pioneer was born in 1771, and died on the morning of July 4, 1850, and the morning prior to his death, with others, he had assisted in laying out the grounds for a new church near the Stewart schoolhouse on the Mansfield road.

The first settler to locate in the township was probably John Kent in 1819, as he had an acre or more of land cleared in 1820. In 1819 Seth Holmes came with the Nortons and spent the winter in Bucyrus, assisting Norton and Bucklin in the earlier work of making a home; but in 1820, he removed to Whetstone township, where he had a cabin on Kent's place, did a little farming for himself and as- sisted Kent and others as they arrived in build- ing their cabins and clearing their land, for all the early settlers selected their land in the for- est, with the plains in easy reach to the south of them. Holmes sent for his parents, and after their arrival they made their home with him, he being an old batchelor. The faithful son died in 1825, and he was buried in the Cary graveyard just south of the present Catholic cemetery. In 1820 Martin Bacon arrived and entered land in both Liberty and Whetstone townships, but his home was in Liberty. Noble Mckinstry, John Willoughby and Joseph Young also settled in Whetstone in 1820, the latter on April 15, 1821, being appointed by the Delaware commissioners as one of the two

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justices of Sandusky township, the entire coun- ty being then but one township. Coming with Bacon in 1820, was Auer Umberfield, and after assisting Bacon to erect a cabin the next year he entered land for himself in Whetstone township.

Other of the early pioneers in Whetstone were Zalmon Rowse, Asa Howard, Elias, Phi- lander and Jacob Odell; George Hancock, Sam- uel Parcher, Daniel Jones, Samuel VanVoor- his, Martin Shaffner and John King in 1821; Heman and Abner Rowse, James Armstrong, Archibald and George Clark, John Beckwith, Benjamin Camp, William Hamilton, Chris- topher Bear, Henry Harriger, Ralph and Adam Klinger, Hugh Stewart and five sons, all young men, William, Joseph, James, John and Hugh; and Simeon, Benjamin, George, Lyman and John Parcher in 1822; John and Edward Campbell, Hugh and John Trimble, James Henderson, Cornwallis Reese Daniel Jones, George Poe, John Stein, in 1823; John Boyer, John Lininger, Charles Chambers, Robert Reid, Casper and Isaac Fichelberger, and James Falloon in 1824; J. A. Kiefer and Ben- jamin Warner in 1825. These pioneers, with hardly an exception, settled north of the cen- tral portion of the township. Thomas F. Johnson, Andrew Kerr, Henry Remsen, Abra- ham Steen, Valentine and Samuel Shook, An- drew Kerr, John Staley, and Robert Walker in 1826; David Savage, Frederick Wise, and Samuel Winters in 1827; John Brehman, Oliver Jones, Isaac Boyer, John G. Diebler, Jacob Kester, Benjamin Hull, Samuel and John Roberts, John L. Heinlen and William Stuck in 1828; John Albright in 1829; George Deam, Samuel and John Sherer, Geo. Gibson, Samuel Ludwig, and Nicholas Myers, in 1830; Jacob Sherer in 1831; William Kerr in 1832; Tobias Kile and Martin Kehrer in 1833. Still others from 1826 to 1836 were Nathaniel Plummer, Edward Norton, Frederick Garver, Moses Dale, John Cone, Charles Gifford, John Harland, Wm. Cooper, Isaiah Scott and three sons, John and Peter Weidner, Christian Null, Ketchum, Jacob Tupps, Samuel Crow, Wm. Moderwell, Henry S. Sheldon, Jacob Hauck, John Kaun, Adam Bear, John Kehrer, and John N. Rexroth, the latter settlers mostly entering land in the southern portions of the township.

The northern portion of the township first claimed the attention of the settlers, it being a number of years later before settlement be- gan in the southern half. The present south- ern two miles of the township was a part of Marion county, until the division of 1845 placed those two miles in Crawford county, which was more convenient to the people, as their trading points were Bucyrus and Galion. There have been numerous descendants of many of those early pioneers of Whetstone whose names have been interwoven with the growth and development of the township and the county. Sons have succeeded their fath- ers in the discharge of the duties of citizen- ship, and these in turn have passed away to be succeeded by grandsons. Robert Reid was followed by his son George, who became a minister, preached in many churches, and fre- quently in the old Mission church at Upper Sandusky delivered the message of God to the Indians, sometimes making the journey on foot; several sons followed him, one, William M. Reid, being prominent in the business and moral development of Bucyrus, mayor of the village, and for over a quarter of a century superintendent of the Presbyterian Sunday School. He, too has passed to his reward, and still descendants are following in the foot- step of their ancestors. The Rowse family, with Zalmon Rowse identified with every progressive movement in Bucyrus, and sons following and taking an active hand in the business enterprises of the city. The Stewarts, with Hugh the father coming into the county with five stalwart sons, to leave their impress for good on the generations that follow. The Parchers and the Trimbles and the Camp- bells. And men of the type of the Odells and Peter Wert, who conscientiously believed that the institution of slavery was a violation of the law of God, and no human law protecting it should be obeyed, and became important cogs in that "underground" road through which many a slave found freedom only when he reached the protecting folds of the British flag.

Hugh Stewart, born in Ireland in 1757, came to Whetstone in 1822, from Cumberland county, Pa. With his family he left the latter place in 1821, making the trip to Mansfield, O., in a wagon drawn by four horses. The

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History of Crawford County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 53

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