History of Crawford County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 57

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 57

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

369

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

18-Samuel Norton to Byron Kil-

bourne, 1830 nominal 19-Samuel Norton to J. S. Hughes, 1825 50.00

20-Samuel Norton to Andrew Failor, 1826

40.00

21-Samuel Norton to Henry Miller, 1824 40.00

22-Samuel Norton to Samuel Myers, 1827

60.00

23-Samuel Norton to Joseph Mc- Comb, 1829 50.00 24-Samuel Norton to Holm & Crone- baugh, 1830 nominal 25-Samuel Norton to John Forbes, 1830 80.00

26-Samuel Norton to Calvin Squire, 1823 25.00 27-Samuel Norton to James Hous- ton, 1834 30.00

28-Samuel Norton to

James P. Heath, 1823 40.00 29-Samuel Norton to John Yost, 1828 120.00 30-Samuel Norton to Johann G. Shultz, 1823 50.00 31-Samuel Norton to Samuel W. Smith, 1822

32-Samuel Norton to Ebenezer Dowd, 1822

60.00

33-Samuel. Norton to Edward Bill- ups, 1823 34-Samuel Norton to Horace Pratt, 1826

35-Samuel Norton

Henry

St.

John, 1826 36-Samuel Norton to Lewis Stephen- son, 1827

100.00

37-John Miller to Jacob Culler, 1828 38-Samuel Norton to Abraham Hahn, I828 100.00

39-Norton & Kilbourne to George Sweney, 1831

170.00

40-Samuel Norton to James Mar- shall, 1829 . 40.00

41-Nicholas Cronebaugh to Martha Hetich, 1833 250.00

42-Norton & Kilbourne to Jesse George, 1835

160.00

43-Samuel Norton to Jacob Drake, 1833 40.00

44-Samuel Norton to John McClure, Pennsylvania, 1824 40.00

45-Samuel Norton to Joseph Mc- Cutchen, 1827 46-Byron Kilbourne to Samuel Jones, 1837

80.00

250.00 47-Byron Kilbourne to James Kelly, north half, 1833. 80.00 47-Byron Kilbourne to Wm. Early, south half, 1833 80.00

48-Byron Kilbourne to Joseph H. Larwill, half, 1834 50.00

Abraham 48-Byron Kilbourne to Hahn, half, 1837 150.00 49-Byron Kilbourne to Madison

Welsh, 1836 225.00 50-Samuel Norton to Josiah Boyce, half, 1833 100.00

50-Samuel Norton to Joseph H. Lar- will, half, 1834 150.00 51-Byron Kilbourne to 'Zalmon Rowse, 1835 180.00 52-Samuel Norton to Harris Garton, son-in-law, 1830 1.00

53-Samuel Norton to Russell Peck, 1827 54-Samuel Norton to John Miller, 1827

25.00

40.00

30.00 55-Daniel McMichael to Abel Cary, 1824

30.00 56-Daniel McMichael to Abel Cary, 1824

30.00

40.00 57-Daniel McMichael to Valentine Shultz, 1829 29.00

48.00 58-Daniel McMichael to Abel Cary, 30.00 1824 45.00 59-Daniel McMichael to Valentine Shultz, 1824 42.00 10.00 60-Daniel McMichael to Valentine Shultz, 1824 30.00 61-Daniel McMichael to Abel Cary, 1824 30.00

62-Daniel McMichael

Robert

Moore, 1825 30.00 63-Admr. Daniel McMichael to An- drew Failor, 1826 60.00 64-Samuel Norton to John Miller, 1828 120.00

65-Samuel Norton to John Miller, 1828 I20.00 66-Samuel Norton to John Moder- well, 1827 40.00 67-Samuel Norton to Zilisha Buck- lin, 1837 100.00

370

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY

68-Samuel Norton to Byron Kil-

bourne, 1830 nominal 69-Samuel Norton to Harris Garton, son-in-law, 1830 1.00

70-Samuel Norton to Adam Kronen- berger, 1851 . 200.00 71-A. C. Gilmore to John Mills, north half, 1834 115.00

71-Abraham Yost to Edith Smith, south half, 1835 78.00 72-Samuel Norton to George Shaffer, 1829 60.00 73-Samuel Norton to George Shaffer, 1829 60.00

74-Samuel Norton to Holm & Cron- baugh, 1830 . nominal 75-Samuel Norton to Holm & Cron- baugh, 1830 nominal 76-Samuel Norton to Holm & Cron- baugh, 1830 . nominal 77-Samuel Norton to Frederick Myers, south half, 1835 50.00

77-Stephen Brinkman to Ichabod Rogers, north half, 1836 . ... 100.00 78-Samuel Norton to Holm & Cron- baugh, 1830 . nominal 79-Samuel Norton to Holm & Cron- baugh, 1830 . nominal 80-Samuel Norton to Byron Kil- bourne, 1830 nominal 81-Samuel Norton to Christopher Brinkman, 1836 125.00 82-Samuel Norton to Trustees Luth- eran Church, 1833 50.00

83-Samuel Norton to Trustees Lth. and Ger., Ref., 1830 45.00

84-Samuel Norton to Byron Kil- 85-Samuel Norton to Barbara Cron-

bourne, 1830 nominal baugh, 1833 50.00

86-Samuel Norton to School Direc- tors, 1834 . donated 87-Samuel Norton to Holm & Cron- baugh, 1830 nominal 88-Samuel Norton to County Com- missioners, 1828 . donated

89-Lincoln Kilbourne to County Com- missioners, 1854 500.00 90-Samuel Norton to Crawford

County, 1832 donated 91-Norton & Kilbourne to William Sinclair, 1834 200.00

92-Byron Kilbourne to County Com- missioners, 1832 .... . donated 93-Samuel Norton to Rensselaer

Norton, son, 1830 1.00 94-Samuel Norton to Elihu Doud, 1826 36.00

95-Samuel Norton to Trustees M. E. Church, 1831 125.00 96-Samuel Norton to Trustees M. E. Church, 1831 125.00 97-Samuel Norton to Byron Kil- bourne, 1830 nominal

Of the original lots sold in Bucyrus, No. 36, where the Quinby Block now stands, was sold to Lewis Stephenson for $42; the land is now on the tax duplicate at $45,850, and the build- ings were about $30,450 more, giving the total valuation of this $42 lot at about $76,300. It is now owned by several different parties. Commencing at the east No. I is owned by the Hausleib Brothers; No. 2, by Judge Charles F. Schaber ; Nos. 3 and 6, Fred W. Mader; No. 4, the heirs of L. Mantle ; No. 5, Charles Lake; Nos. 7 and 8, by Mrs. Millie Geiger and Mrs. Mary Sarles. The lot has a frontage on the Square of 159 feet, with a depth of 66 feet.

Until 1828 nobody wanted the Rowse Block corner ; it was too far up town. The first busi- ness on the lot was in 1827, when James Mc- Lean, a carpenter, erected a one-story build- ing on the lot where he lived and made shingles. It was sold in 1828 to Jacob Culler for $100. Today the land is on the tax dupli- cate at $46, 166, and the buildings at $25,806, making the total $71,972. It is the largest of the lots on the Square, being 165x67.2. It is now owned by the William Rowse heirs, Sec- ond National Bank, H. F. Miller. G. K. Zeigler, and the George Mader heirs.

Lot No. 35, the Bucyrus City Bank corner. was purchased of Norton by Henry St. John for $45. It has a frontage on the Square of 165 feet, with a depth of 66 feet. The land is now on the tax duplicate at $46,713, with the buildings valued at $21,478, making a total of $68, 191. The land is now owned by the Bucyrus City Bank, Judge J. C. Tobias, Fred W. Mader. the Mader heirs and Lewis Mollenkopf.

Lot No. 38, the Deal House corner was sold to Abraham Hahn in 1828 for $100. It has a frontage on the Square of 159 feet, the same

371

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZEN'S

as the Quinby Block, and with a depth of 67.2 feet. The land is now on the tax duplicate at $44,846, and the buildings at $10,931. It is now owned by P. J. Carroll, with the excep- tion of the 22 feet owned by W. F. Barth and occupied by him as a barber shop. The Deal House was originally a two-story brick about 45 feet front on the Square and about the same on Sandusky avenue. In 1858 it was extended on the Square as it is at present, and made three stories, the corner remaining as originally built, a third story being added. The Barth barber shop and the Martinitz bakery are as originally built over 70 years ago, no change except a coat of paint occasionally. When McCoy had the Deal House from 1853 to 1858 he owned the entire frontage on the Square from Sandusky avenue around to Mansfield street. Above the Martinitz bakery up to 1860 was the McCoy Hall which you en- tered by the same outside steps that are there to this day, the only change being they are now covered. Here the elite of Bucyrus assembled to listen to lectures, and minstrel shows and theatrical troupe which made a one night stop at Bucyrus. The stage was a platform about a foot high in the north part of the hall. In front were two or three rows of chairs, which were occupied by the more wealthy citizens as reserved seats at some select entertainment, when prices ran as high as 25 cents, or what was called a shilling in those days. Behind these chairs were benches without backs. Benches about 12 feet long on each side of the hall, with the aisle down the centre. Here the price was uniform, a sixpence. The other hall in those days was Denslow Hall. This was the third story of the brick, north of the Bucyrus City Bank. It was a very low room, not easy of access, and was not as popular as the McCoy Hall. C. D. Ward owned the building, and the hall was called after his middle name Denslow.

Of the original lot owners not one is in the hands of any of their descendants. In 1828 Abraham Yost bought lot 29 for $120. John Deardorff had originally bought the lot of Norton and erected a house on it; he died be- fore he had paid for the lot; so the first deed was from Norton to Yost. This lot remained in the possession of the Yosts until 1910, when it was sold to Dobbins and Geiger. The oldest

lot owner in Bucyrus (in the point of time) is C. J. Scroggs, his grandfather, John Scroggs, purchasing lot 104 southeast corner Walnut and Rensselaer, in 1839; from John Scroggs, it descended to his son Jacob, and from him to his only son Charles, who still resides there. The same year 1839, but a month later, John A. Gormly purchased lot 6 in Carothers' ad- dition to Bucyrus southwest corner Poplar and Warren; it passed from John A. Gormly to his son J. B. Gormly, and is still occupied by the latter as a residence.

John E. Kilbourne in his Ohio Gazetteer for 1826, has the following :

"Bucyrus-A lively post town laid out in 1822 on the south bank of Sandusky river, in the eastern part of Crawford county. It is the seat of justice for the county, has two stores and several mechanics."

It is a pleasure to notice that in these early days Bucyrus had a reputation of being a "hustling" town. The fact that the editor's uncle laid out the town, and was financially in- terested in it, may have made it advisable in the interest of peace at home that the young man give the town a good "send off."

The two stores were those of E. B. Merriman and Samuel Bailey. The Merriman store was on the lot just south of the Electric Light Works, and was probably started in 1822. Mr. Merriman was known as "Judge" Merriman and "Bishop" Merriman. Of this store John Moderwell, who came in 1827, wrote in his pioneer reminiscences published in the Bucyrus Journal in 1868: "Judge E. B. Merriman had the monopoly for some time of exchanging goods with the red and white people for deer skins, furs, beeswax, honey, ginseng, cranber- ries and other articles." It was not an elab- orate establishment, and the business was mostly trade, very little cash. Even his goods were purchased mostly by exchanging the skins and farm products he had for the goods he wanted. James Nail, in his pioneer letter in the Forum of 1874, writes : "I now remember that the first goods I bought in a store at Bucyrus were from Bishop Merriman ( 1822 or 1823). As I was getting a few articles a Mr. Peter Clinger took his pencil and paper and commenced writing. Merriman asked him what he was doing. He said he was taking an invoice of his goods, and that the amount of his stock was $37.41. Merriman said he was not far out of the way." The prices current

372

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY

in those days were wheat, 40 to 50 cents per bushel; oats, 12 to 18 cents; corn, 15 to 25 cents ; potatoes, 12 to 25 cents ; cranberries, 50 cents per bushel ; pork 11/2 to 2 cents per pound ; maple sugar, 5 to 6 cents per pound; butter 5 to 6 cents per pound ; eggs, 3 to 4 cents a dozen ; honey, 50 cents per gallon. Coffee was 50 cents per pound ; salt $3 for 50 pounds ; powder, 50 cents a quarter, lead 50 cents a pound, chew- ing tobacco, 50 cents a pound, and whiskey 50 cents a gallon.

The other store was that of Samuel Bailey, the east side of Sandusky and the second lot south of Perry street. Bailey sold about 1824 to French & Bowers and they sold to John Nim- mons in 1827, and the latter built the frame on the northeast corner of Sandusky and Rens- selaer, and moved into it in 1828, the first store south of the Square.

The several mechanics were probably Russell Peck with his blacksmith shop, northwest cor- ner Sandusky and Warren; Lewis Stephenson, hatter, on Quinby Block lot; Joseph Umpstead, cabinet maker, whose shop was in his residence ; Aaron Cary, who had a saddlery on his lot just west of the bridge; Adam Bair had a car- penter shop, and John Billups was a shoemaker. Besides this, Cary had a mill, Moore and Rogers each had a hotel and there were two physicians, Drs. McComb and Hobbs.

The following shows the early settlers in Bucyrus :

1819-Samuel Norton; founded the town in 1821; kept a hotel in 1835. Albigence Buck- lin; ran a farm and made mill-stones. Seth Holmes, came with Norton; had a log cabin southeast corner Galen and Sandusky, where he died about 1825.

1820-A man named Sears, who settled near Oakwood Cemetery, but left soon afterward. David Beadle entered land west of the Nor- ton tract; built his cabin near the corner of Spring and Charles; his son David lived with him until he married two years later Mishael Beadle son of David, built a cabin on the Bow- ers lot on West Mansfield. Amos Clark, a farmer, who bought the land south of Norton, and had his residence near the W. H. Miller property 435 South Sandusky.

1821-Abel Cary, who built the first mill a few rods below the Sandusky avenue bridge.

1822-Russell Peck, blacksmith, shop, north-

west corner Sandusky and Warren. Conrad Roth, blacksmith. Lewis Stephenson, hatter; first shop, centre lot, east side Sandusky be- tween Perry and Mary; in 1826 moved to Quinby Block lot. Joseph Umpstead cabinet maker, north Sandusky; E. B. Merriman, mer- chant; first store was between the present G. K. Zeigler residence and the river; in 1824 moved to southeast corner Sandusky aud Perry; with him came his brother Charles as clerk. Zal- mon Rowse, who came to Whetstone township the year before; Ichabod Rogers, who started a tavern the next year; Aaron Cary who started a tannery and saddlery shop on the Shonert lot. Conrad Rhodes, who the next year ran a tavern on the Shonert lot. George P. Schultz, who kept a boarding house on north Walnut; Joseph McComb, a physician; Lewis Cary, who ran the first tavern on the Shonert lot; Robert Moore and Joseph Pearce, who later ran the tavern. Harry Burns, a friend of the Nor- tons, who was a hunter. John Deardorff, who built a cabin, on the southwest corner of San- dusky and Galen and was a farmer; Harris Garton and John Kent were also farmers. Others that year were Samuel Carl, John Kel- logg and Samuel Roth.

1823-Adam Bair, carpenter; John Billups, shoemaker ; Matthew McMichael, teamster ; he came to the county in 1819, and in 1820 helped his father on the farm east of Bucyrus, and then came to Bucyrus. Moses Arden, William Blowers and James Martin taught early schools, the latter was the first auditor of the county in 1826. William Early, the first real estate dealer and an early justice of the peace, and Patrick Height and William Reeves.

1824-Samuel Bailey, merchant ; John Funk, tavern keeper; Henry Miller, cabinet maker; John Marshall, surveyor; John T. Hobbs, physician; Thomas Alsop and John Blowers, who taught early schools, and John Huhr and Daniel Seal.

1825-John Bowen and James Marshall, blacksmiths; Hugh McCracken, John Bowman, and Andrew Failor, merchants; Adam Bair, carpenter, John H. Morrison, lawyer; Jonas Scott, teacher; George Hawk, shoemaker; Nicholas Failor, tailor ; Daniel Miller, farmer, and James Houston, John Kanzleiter, and Hugh Long.

1826-Edward Billups, carpenter; William

373

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

Bratton, hatter; James McLain, miller; Jacob Bowers, John B. French, Henry St. John, Mar- tin Barr and Henry Babcock, merchants; Isaac H. Allen, Michael Flick and Charles Stanberg, lawyers; Abraham Myers, teacher; Henry Minich, tanner; John Caldwell, contractor; Ebenezer Dowd and Samuel Myers, tailors; George Lauck and Capt. John Miller, tavern keepers ; Thomas Johnston and James C. Steen, farmers, and Elihu Dowd, Jacob Drake, Wil- liam Hughey and son William, William Marsh, Jacob Sigler and Joy Sperry.

1827-John Moderwell, cabinet maker; Eli Slagle, miller; Robert W. Musgrave, James Ranney, John Nimmons, merchants; Richard W. Cahill, clerk; Willis Merriman, physician ; Horace Pratt, teacher; Emanuel Deardorff, tanner; Jacob G. Gilmore, tavern keeper; and William Farley and William Magers.

1828-Daniel Holm, brickmaker; Adam Moderwell and Isaac Ritter, cabinet makers; James and John McCracken, millwrights ; John Yost, gunsmith; Rev. David Shuh; Abraham Hahn, jr., teacher; David and Abraham Holm, tanners; Henry Couts and John Heinlen, team- sters; William R. Magill, printer; Abraham Hahn, tavern keeper; Peter Klinger, well dig- ger; Lewis Heinlen, farmer, and William F. Ayres, Thomas Barnett, Jacob Forney, Daniel and John Holm, Christopher Noacre.

1829-Matthew Feree, blacksmith; Samuel Jones, cabinet maker; Benjamin Meeker, mer- chant; Jonathan Reeder, printer; Nicholas Cronebaugh and John Shull, carpenters ; Josiah Scott, lawyer, Jacob Bash.

1830-Joseph Albright, brickmaker; John N. Rexroth, blacksmith; Jacob Hinnan, team- ster; David McLane, weaver; Eli Cronebaugh, carpenter ; John Forbes, saddler; George Sweney, lawyer ; Dr. Sinclair ; and Dr. Samuel Horton; John and Jacob Staley.

1831-David H. Henthorn, carpenter; John Colerick, merchant; John Moore, shoemaker; William Crosby, printer; Samuel Ludwig, farmer; William Knous and James Tate.

1832-Israel Jones, saddler; Thomas Shawke, blacksmith ; J. H. Douglass, J. H. and Jabez B. Larwill, merchants ; John Smith, law- yer; Rev. F. I. Ruth, Samuel Peterman, team- ster : Lorenzo Andrews.

1833-George Walter, clerk; Jesse Quaint-

ance, miller; Daniel and Owen Williams, mer- chants; David R. Lightner, printer.

1834-Thomas Gillespie, registrar land office; Josiah S. Plants, lawyer; William Wise, cabinet maker; Christian Sexauer, shoemaker; Charles P. West, printer; Rufus Benson and Jonathan Timberline.

1835-George McNeal, carpenter; Charles Kelly, miller; Peter and W. W. Miller, mer- chants; Ludwig Assenheimer, weaver; James W. Armstrong, lawyer; Drs. Andrew and George A. Hetich and Dr. A. M. Jones; Rev. Frederick Maschop; William White, teacher ; Samuel Caldwell, farmer.

1836-John A. Gormly, and James P. Bow- man, merchants.

1837-Charles and Paul I. Hetich, saw mill; Franklin Adams, lawyer; Rev. John Pettitt.

1838-F. G. Hesche, merchant; Dr. William Geller, and Revs. William Hutchinson, and Seeley Bloomer.

1839-John Scroggs, hatter and Henry Flock, farmer.

Other early business men were John Davis, hatter; Christian Howenstein cabinet maker; Chris Brinkman, millwright; John Anderson, James Quinby, J. W. Bener, S. A. Magers, M. Nigh and J. Coleman, merchants; Frederick Schuler, shoemaker; Peter Howenstein and Lewis Kuhn, tailors; Samuel Picking, tavern keeper; Jesse George, wagon maker; and James Goodel, James Gilson, Jacob Howen- stein and John Moody.

In the early part of the summer of 1824, James Nail had finished his grist-mill near Galion, and in his letters in the Forum he says : "At this time went to Bucyrus and engaged mill stones of a Mr. Bucklin, who was making them there out of a kind of nigger-head stones. After he finished them he gave me notice, and I went there for them with a wagon and two yoke of cattle. Remained one night at Bucy- rus with Mr. B., and as I could get no en- closure or stable I let the oxen graze on the plains. In the morning when I went for them they had started home. and it was about IO when I found them and brought them back to town. In the street I met a man, Mr. Henry Smith. He asked me if I had had breakfast that day. I said no. He then said: 'Nearly everybody in this town has the ague; go with

374

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY

ine and take your breakfast.' He further said : 'I am the only man in the town that has any pork. You may fill your stomach with pork, then keep your mouth shut, and breathe through your nose, or you will have a shake of ague before you leave town.' After break- fast my mill-stones were loaded. I hauled them home and had the mill started the same fall. I had been partially acquainted with some men around here before this time, for instance, two families by the name of Cary, Mr. Rogers, I think two families by the name of Merriman, Col. Rowse, Mr. Miller, Dr. McComb and others. East of Bucyrus I knew several fam- ilies by the name of Kent, Holmes, Bear, Scott, Judge Stewart, the Parchers, and others, then settled along the edge of the Plains. Another settlement had commenced along the Plains near the Whetstone. Among them I knew Messrs. Hancock, Eyeman, King, Armstrong, Van Voorhis, Hamilton, Campbell, Poe, Mears, Clark and others."

Mrs. Lucy Rogers tells of her sad experience with the ague in 1822. She says: "My hus- band took sick on one occasion and was bed- fast. He could neither eat or drink a part of the time. Meanwhile our scanty store of food was consumed 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 all die together before 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 Langdon'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 husband relented and weighed me out nineteen pounds of, flour, and then, blessing them for their charity, I re- turned home through the tall grass with the 'bird of hope' again singing in my bosom. How sweet the short cake, without meat, but- ter 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. Shultz and then made some mush. Believe me, the tears of joy and sor- row rained down my cheeks when this meal was eaten. I then told Louisa Norton, who afterward married Harris Garton, how ter- ribly 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 they must be helped; they shall not starve in Bucy- rus.' 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 very few weeks my husband recovered and then we fared better."

There were very few cases like this, and it is to the credit of the pioneers, that in every case, a person really in need, found help and assistance, and Langdon, himself had reason to be suspicious when a woman in need deliber- ately walked a mile and a half to seek assist- ance.

When Norton first came he started a little tannery on the banks of the Sandusky to tan enough leather for the family shoes; it was on land which later he discovered belonged to Abel and Lewis Cary, Abel Cary came in 1821, and on the south bank of the river just below Sandusky avenue he built a small dam, and erected a grist-mill in 1822, and the long jour- ney of the pioneers through the forest was a thing of the past. His brother, Lewis Cary, came in 1822. The latter had learned the tanning business in New Jersey, and came west to Jefferson county, where he went into the tanning business. Here he married Rachel Kirk, and in 1822, came to Bucyrus, driving through in a "schooner wagon" with his wife and nine children. Arriving here, they oc- cupied an old log cabin, until a cabin of his own was erected by him and the early settlers on the banks of the Sandusky, where Norton had first resided. This cabin was the first one erected in Bucyrus of hewed logs with a shingle roof and grooved floor. The others were simply the logs as cut from the trees, and puncheon floors or the bare ground. His brother's mill. just west of him was not yet completed, and he was compelled to go through the woods the forty miles to Fredericktown

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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

for flour, and stated later, that sometimes the supply at home was so small that the entire family were put on an allowance. Cary made a real tannery out of Norton s first yard, and for years he conducted the business, in 1839 disposing of it to his son Aaron, who ran it until 1855 when he sold it to Richard Plum- mer. Chris Shonert had learned the trade of tanner under Aaron Cary, and a year after Plummer bought the yard, it was purchased by Chris Shonert; it later became the firm of Shonert and Haller, and a quarter of a century ago was abandoned. Cary made his vats by sinking large troughs in the ground, and pre- pared his bark by pounding, having no facili- ties for grinding. Later regular vats were dug, and the bark was ground.

Lewis Cary only ran his mill a short time, the little dam being a crude affair was washed away at the first freshet, so it was moved to a better site up the river, at the north end of Walnut street, and was run by Eli Slagle. La- ter it passed into the hands of James Kelly, and a hurricane came and took away the roof; this was replaced and in 1843 it was destroyed by fire. A company was formed and it was re- built, a very large frame mill. A strong, serv- iceable dam was erected by John Gilmore, near the north end of Lane street, with a mill-race running to the mill which furnished the power at all seasons of the year. Kelly and James McLean became the proprietors, and later James McLean, who ran it until it was de- stroyed by fire on Saturday night, April 9. 1870. It was never rebuilt, and nothing now remains to show where this large mill once stood; even the old mill race has long since been filled up. The Cary mill, west of San- dusky avenue, was the second business enter- prise in Bucyrus; the Cary tannery the first. In 1823 Daniel McMichael and Ichabod Rogers started a small distillery on the land now oc- cupied by the Electric Light Works, but after running a year or two it was abandoned.

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History of Crawford County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 57

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