History of Crawford County and Ohio, Part 85

Author: Perrin, William Henry, [from old catalog] comp; Battle, J. H., [from old catalog] comp; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852- [from old catalog] comp; Baskin & Battey, Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Ohio > Crawford County > History of Crawford County and Ohio > Part 85

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Samuel Burnison erected a small building in the northern part in 1841, designing it for a distillery. He owned a small copper still, and operated a small horse-mill at the same time, to furnish him supplies of ground grain, from which an inferior article of whisky was made. The enterprise did not pay, and Burnison en- deavored to change the business to that of cheese making. He purchased a few good cows and made preliminary arrangements to begin the manufacture, but for some reason unknown dropped the enterprise at the beginning, dis- posed of his cows, tubs, vats, etc., and turned his attention to farming. His was the first, last and only distillery ever in Holmes Town- ship, which remark is also true of his cheese-

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factory. David Porter owned an ashery in about the year 1837, and manufactured black and scorched salts from ashes obtained from the surrounding settlers. Ashes could be ob- tained in quantities from the large heaps of logs burned soon after the rollings. They were hauled loose in the wagons or often in sacks to the ashery, where they were made into potash, frequently on shares. The supply of ashes from the surrounding country, failed to such an extent within the next ten years, that the ashery was no longer profitable and was discontinued.

The village of Portersville was not in exist- ence when the German settlement was formed, and it was a number of years before the first cabin was built on its present site. John Brant erected the first building. It was a large frame and is yet standing. Cyrus Fralick built the second, which is also standing, though additions have since been made to it. The third was erected across the line in Lykens Township by Benjamin Fawcett. The town was laid out in 1852 by the County Surveyor, George M. Wiley. Sixteen lots, wholly on the western side of the Bucyrus and Tiffin Road, were laid out from the northeastern corner of the eastern half of the northeastern quarter of Section 4, Township 2, Range 16. David Porter was the founder and owner, and the village was named Porters- ville in his honor. Porter did not enter into business in his village, but turned his attention to his farm near by. William Wingart lived just across the line in Lykens Township, and was a chair and cabinet maker. He made large numbers of very durable chairs from poplar and other kinds of wood, and scores of them can be seen in the dwellings at Portersville, as sound and serviceable as the day they were made. He also, though less extensively, made cupboards and bureaus, besides other useful articles of furniture. About five years after the town was laid out, he was employed by George Quinby, of Bucyrus, to sell goods on commis- sion, and was given about $300 worth to com-

menee with. These were the first goods sold in the town, and the rapidity with which they disappeared from the shelves, proved that quite an extensive business could be profitably car- ried on in the village. Wingart continued to sell two or three years for Quinby, and then went to New York City, where he purchased goods of his own valued at about $800. He followed the mercantile pursuit for about ten years, when he closed out his stock and, retir- ing to his farm, began the peaceful occupation of tilling the soil. Two years before Wingart retired, Brinkerhoff & Wilson, then doing busi- ness in Sycamore with a general assortment of goods, established a branch store in Porters- ville, and offered for sale about $3,000 worth of goods. Daniel Fralick purchased the stock in 1854, which then invoiced at $2,740, and has continued the business from that time until the present, sometimes carrying $6,000 worth of stock, consisting of a general assortment. Occa- sionally, as during the war, considerable money was made ; but at other times the sales have been small and the business unprofitable. Country stores are burdened with the re- quirements of competition, and it is only through large sales that they are rendered profitable. Mr. Fralick has in store at present about $900 worth of goods. Shook & Ditty have also been engaged in mercantile pursuits in the village. In 1846, Seale & Hollingshead opened a saloon in the village. They sold considerable liquor, and, it is said, could perform the miraculous feat of selling a half-dozen different kinds of liquor at the same time from one bottle. One day, several young men, in order to secure a public exhibition of the wonderful performance, posted one of their number behind the door of the saloon unknown to the proprietor, and the others retired, and, after a time, came in singly asking for liquor not called for by the others. The first one called for whisky, and obtained it from the big brown bottle; the second called for ale, and received it from the same brown

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bottle ; the third asked for gin ; the fourth for wine and so on, and all received their potations from the same mysterious brown bottle. The per- formance became noised about and excited no little sport and comment ; but for some reason, after the event narrated above, the different va- rieties of liquors were sold from as many bottles. This partnership continued for a number of years, and, while in the business, also began en- tertaining the public, though they did not pre- tend to keep tavern. John Stinerock, a tailor by trade, was the first genuine tavern-keeper in the village. He kept no bar, and his tavern is spoken of as the best and most orderly ever opened in the town. No bummers nor loafers were permitted to lounge round the premises. He was a tailor and worked some at his trade, cutting and making suits according to the pre- vailing fashions. The building is yet standing, and is still under the management of a tavern- keeper. In 1868, Elias Shirk built another tavern in the town, which is at present owned and managed by his widow. Liquor has been sold in the village since 1846.

In 1834, long before the town was laid out, William Wingart circulated a petition, which was signed by every one, praying for the estab- lishment of a post office in the settlement. The petition was granted by the authorities, and Wingart was appointed Postmaster. The postal route established at the same time lay from Bucyrus to Tiffin, with intermediate offices at Portersville, Benton and Melmore. Daniel Fralick is the Postmaster at present, and has officiated in that capacity for many years. Two years after the village was surveyed and named, an addition was made by Shupp & Company. The addition was on the eastern side of the Bu- cyrus & Tiffiin road, and across the line in Ly- kens Township, and comprised some forty lots. This addition gave great impetus to the growth of the town, and the citizens became impressed with the thought that some railroad company should honor their town with its presence. But

the years have glided by without bringing the desired road, and the citizens are now in despair of ever sceing their hopes realized. The Ohio Central Railroad has just been built across the lower part of the township, but this, instead of increasing the population of the town, has les- sened it, and has turned the attention of the villagers to the more favorable locations along the new road.

Portersville gained national notoriety during and since the last war, by being the celebrated X Cross Roads, where the fictitious personage, Petroleum V. Nasby, first began to chronicle his experiences, and to send communications to the Toledo Blade and other well-known newspapers. Many of the incidents and circumstances nar- rated by him, though given with partisan partial- ity, actually transpired ; and all the principal characters, such as Nasby, Bascom, Bigler, Po- gram and others, were taken from fancied resem- blances to individuals residing in the village at that time. The inquisitorial eyes of the nation became centered upon the little town ; and the characters drawn have become almost as well known to the citizens of the United States as those of Dickens or Shakespeare. They have become permanent characters in standard American literature. It was not long before the renowned Nasby sold out at Portersville (if the figure may be indulged in), and established himself at the "Confedrit X Roads, wich is in the State of Kentucky." Several of the originals from which the principal characters were drawn are yet living in the village, or in other parts of the county. The legend of Nasby's trials in the political world, like that of the fanciful Don Quixote, will ever remain connected with the unpretentious little village, and will afford abundant material for gossip for scores of years to come.

When the village was first laid out and named, William Wingart strenuously objected to its being called Portersville, and suggested Wingart's Corners, as being, in his opinion, a

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much more euphonious title. David Porter, after whom the town was named, positively re- fused to have any other name bestowed upon his protege, except the one selected by himself. But Wingart, determining not to be out- witted, spread abroad the report that the real title of the village was Wingart's Corners, and a few years afterward, when he went to New York for his goods, he had them shipped to Wingart's Corner's, Ohio, via Bucyrus, thus in- troducing the town to the attention of the citi- zens, at the county seat, under his favorite name. He continued this practice and other skillful maneuvers, until the village became quite universally known as Wingart's Corners, a name yet bestowed upon it by the majority of the citizens in the county. Of late years, it has also been known as "The Confedrit X Roads," but this name is not countenanced by the villagers, who much prefer either of the others. Various physicians have lived in the town since its organization, among whom were Foutz, Rousch, Zander and the present one, C. D. Lea. It is not considered a good point for doctors, because the town and surrounding country are quite free from sickness.

Ohio was traversed more than any other State between 1840 and 1850, by large num- bers of slaves from the Southern States, espe- cially from the large cotton plantations on the Red River, on their way to Canada. The runa- ways were always welcomed by some one in every county in the State, although, perhaps, the Quaker settlements afforded the surest pro- tection against capture by pursuing owners. After the enactinent of laws making it the duty of public officers in the Northern States to ap- prehend negroes, found under suspicious cir- cumstances, who could not give a satisfactory account of themselves, it became necessary for the escaping slaves, in order to avoid detection and arrest, to travel wholly in the night, and to lie concealed in out-of-the-way places during the day. This procedure gave rise to what is

known as the Underground Railroad, as the runaway slaves were not seen publicly, until they had reached Canada. For a decade before the last war, many of the citizens of Ohio were so bitterly opposed to the efforts made by some of their neighbors to assist the slaves in escap- ing North, that they began a system of espion- age to discover those violating the laws referred to above. This often occasioned extreme bit- terness between neighbors, and even resulted in family estrangements. Although Crawford County was largely populated with citizens who were disposed to prevent the escape of the slave, and to even apprehend him, when it be- came certain that he was running away ; yet, quite a number of the farmers in different parts of the county were engaged quite extensively, at times, in feeding the slaves, and in convey- ing them farther North. A family named Jackson, living in the southern part of Holmes Township, were known to harbor the runaways, and to convey scores of them to some other friend in Seneca County. The slaves were always brought to Jackson's cabin during the night, and usually after 10 o'clock; but who brought them is a mystery not yet solved. The Columbus and Sandusky Pike, one of the finest highways in the State running north and south, was extensively traveled by slaves with- out guides, as the road was so plain that no mistake could be made. But the traveling was usually done between 10 o'clock at night and daylight the next morning. Isaac Jackson and his son Stephen have been seen to carry sled-loads of them north into Seneca County. At one time, about 1853, they were seen to have six or eight negro women and children in a sled, which was driven rapidly north, while five or six negro men, unable to get into the sled, ran at the side or behind. The night was bitterly cold, though the moon shone brightly upon the scene, revealing the runaways to the people along the road, who were willing to jump from their beds in the cold and look from

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the window or door. The Jacksons are the only ones in the township who are remembered to have been connected with the Underground Railroad.

It was the custom, for a decade after Bucyrus was laid out, for the settlers within a radius of three or four miles from that town to refrain from erecting school buildings, and to send their children to the village schools. The larger scholars could walk the distance, even in winter, and the smaller ones, if they were proof against the sticking qualities of the spring and summer mud, could attend during the warmer months. These advantages, such as they were, obviated the necessity of building schoolhouses near Bucyrus until the surrounding country became. so thickly populated as to render such a course advisable. The result was that schoolhouses were built in settlements five or more miles from Bucyrus, a number of years before those nearer the town. Although the southern part of Holmes Township was first settled almost a decade before the northern part, the latter division erected a log schoolhouse several years before the former, and also had several terms taught before the school building was erected. David Moore, one of the early settlers in north- ern Holmes, was an old bachelor, who had come into the wilderness of Ohio to secure a home for his widowed mother and himself. His land was purchased in 1828, and during the follow- ing year his cabin was built, four or five acres cleared, and a small crop of corn and potatoes raised. Everything was then in readiness for his mother, who was to preside over this rude home. During the succeeding winter (1829 and 1830), he returned to Pennsylvania, and, while he was gone, the neighbors converted his cabin into a schoolhouse, and the first term in the township was taught here by John Bretz, a native of the Keystone State, who had come in with the German emigration. The attendance was quite large, owing in a measure, no doubt, to the novelty incident upon attending the first

school. The following winter, Bretz tanght in the southern part of Lykens Township, in a cabin designed for a dwelling, but into which no family had yet moved. He continued to teach for a number of years in the German settlement and its vicinity, always having good, orderly schools ; indeed, he prided himself on being able to govern any school, and from his personal appearance his scholars and all others were willing to admit the statement without cavil. He was over six feet in height, and as wiry as a panther, and could handle any other man in the neighborhood with ease. His com- mands were implicitly obeyed, but he had one serious drawback in teaching, as his knowledge of mathematics, and, indeed, of all the other branches required to be taught, was sadly defi- cient. He therefore resorted to artifice and procrastination when called upon to work "sums " beyond his capacity.

It is probable that the first schoolhouse in the township was built on Section 3, during the summer of 1833. The first term in this build- ing was taught by Edward Porter, who had taught one or two terms in the neighborhood previously. During the winter of 1832-33, he had taught in a log cabin in Lykens Township, about a mile and a half northeast of the pres- ent village of Portersville. In carly years it was customary, and was the supreme delight of the pupils (and they greatly relish it yet), to reach the schoolhouse before the teacher on the first day of the term. and to bolt the door and bar that dignitary out for an hour or two, or for a half-day, just as the scholars were in- clined. Porter, anticipating such a maneuver on the part of his scholars, on the first day of the term taught the winter of 1832-33, deter- mined to outwit them ; so he took Daniel Fra- lick into his confidence, and instructed him to raise the window at the proper moment, into which the teacher would leap with a bound, to the dismay of the scholars. As was antici- pated, upon reaching the schoolhouse the first

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morning, the teacher found the door securely bolted, and, from the suppressed titter within, knew that the scholars were expecting any amount of sport. The teacher began pounding loudly on the door, and, when sure that the at- tention of all the scholars was riveted to the entrance, he darted to the rear of the building ; the window was quickly raised by the watchful Fralick, and, ere the guilty students were aware of his presence, their teacher stood in their midst. The utmost consternation prevailed. The door was thrown open, and the fright- ened scholars poured from the room into the yard, like sheep before a wolf. They scattered in all directions; and many of them, fearing dire chastisement, did not return un- til the next day. The teacher was master of the situation, and the scholars were no little chagrined at being so completely out- flanked. The treacherous Fralick, who was to blame for the rout, was thenceforth tabooed from the confidence of his fellow-students.

After the schoolhouse on "Section 3 had been used about nine years, a much better and larger one was erected, a short distance south, to take its place. This building was a frame, and was almost wholly built of lumber sawed at the mills on Broken Sword Creek. It is yet used for school purposes. A Miss Margaret Cannon taught many of the earlier schools in the north- ern part. She attempted many of the winter schools, which were attended by large, rough boys, but usually succeeded in giving satisfac- tion to the patrons in both government and in- struction. The larger boys in the early schools were required to cut the wood, which was usually done while the school was in session. When one was tired or was called upon to re- cite or get his lesson, another took his place, and this excellent respite from study was nec- essarily continued a greater part of the day, as the fire-places in the old log schoolhouse were noted for the consumption of wood. It was not until 1835, that a school-building was

erected in southern Holmes. It was built on or near the farm of Mr. Black, and was con- structed of hewed logs. A few years later, a frame building was erected on the Lones farm, which, after being used for school purposes for nearly twenty years, was removed, and the present one was built at a cost of about $350. The township was divided into school districts as early as 1836, or thereabouts, and, soon after, each was furnished with a school-building. No schoolhouse has been built in Portersville.

As is usual in a new country, early church societies were established in Holmes Township a number of years before the settlers deemed it advisable to build churches. Local preachers visited the township from the neighboring vil- lages. Itinerant ministers, known as " circuit riders," of all the various orthodox denomina- tions, stopped in the neighborhood periodically, and, as is usual in the history of the human race, wherever there are leaders in the cause of Christ, there are also followers. Meetings be- gan to be held regularly in the cabins of Mi- chael Shupp, Daniel Seats and others, until in about 1834, an Evangelical Church was built in the extreme southern part of Lykens Town- ship. Soon after this, the Lutherans and Ger- man Reformers erected a log church in the northern part of Holmes. Considerable antag- onism was developed from the start, between the two denominations, growing out of certain assumed privileges denied to each sect by the other. Much bitterness was manifested for several years, until the matter culminated by being adjusted in the courts. In 1852, a log meeting-house was erected one mile west of Por- tersville, by the Protestant Methodists. This building became known as the Concord Meet- ing-house. Rev. William Brown was the offici- ating minister during the last war, and, being a strong Abolitionist, he incautiously incorpo- rated his political views in his sermons, in opposition to the protests of many of the mem- bers, who, as might have been expected, posi-

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tively refused to tolerate any such procedure. But the minister persisted in the course begun, until finally, one night, a party of men went to the church and leveled it with the ground. Much the same proceeding was enacted in other localities. One night, a man with blackened face, went to the store of Daniel Fralick, in Portersville, and bought six dozen eggs. That same evening, a minister, conducting a revival in one of the churches near the village, was severely pelted with eggs-evidently the ones purchased at the store. Soon after, a church on the line between Holmes and Liberty Town- ships was burned one night-the result of an

effort to unite political and religious views. It is proper, though unnecessary, to state that the better class of citizens had nothing to do in perpetrating these outrages. The southern part of the township was not without its early church organizations. Meetings were held in the cabins, until, in about 1840, the Quakers erected their church, which is yet standing. It is a large, low building, built originally of logs, and afterward weather-boarded with poplar lumber. It was used continuously until 1879, when the building was deserted, and it yet re- mains unoccupied.

CHAPTER XXI.

VERNON TOWNSHIP-GEOLOGICAL-FIRST SETTLEMENT-PIONEER INDUSTRIES-GROWTH OF VIL- LAGES-CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS-SEMINARY.

T THIS is one of the most attractive and beautiful portions of Crawford County. It is found within the broad area stretching north and south across Ohio, where the Waverly group of rocks lies next underneath the drift deposits. In almost all cases where wells or other excavations have reached a depth of from ten to fifty feet, passing through the surface deposits, the Berea grit of the Waverly group has been reached. In the northwestern corner, on Bear Marsh Run, where the channel of the stream is worn through the surface deposits, is found a slate, or shale, which has a bluish cast when exposed to the air, but which, under water, is dark brown, or almost black. It evi- dently belongs to the Huron shale, and lies on the eastern edge of that formation, which passes in a broad belt across the county, a little east of north. West of De Kalb, on the land of James Caruthers, the Berea grit outcrops ; but, on account of deep beds of overlying drift, has never been quarried in any paying quantity. It is also exposed on the land of

James Campbell and Jacob Myers, and may be seen on a small creek in Section 19, and in sev- eral other localities. The working of these quarries has proved unprofitable in the past, yet the future will develop rich beds of valua- ble stone.

The township lies on the northern slope of the Ohio water-shed, and is, therefore, drained by streams which flow into Lake Erie. The principal one is Loss Creek, the name being a corruption of "Lost Creek," which, tradition says, was thus named because its source, like that of the Nile, cannot be found, or, as other reports say, because the mind becomes bewil- dered and lost in trying to discover the head. Which report is correct will be left to the reader to determine. This stream is a tributary of Sandusky River, and has its source in the extensive flat lands found in the southern part of the township. It takes a winding northwesterly course until it reaches the center of the town- ship, and then turns toward the southwest and flows into Sandusky River. The slopes along

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its course are beautiful and rolling. Broken Sword Creek, one of the principal streams in the county, drains the northwestern corner, and Honey Creek, one of the head branches of the Huron River, drains the northeastern corner. The township is bounded on the north by Auburn, on the west by Sandusky, on the south by Jefferson and Jackson, and on the east by Richland County. The southern and east- ern portions are flat, and, in early times, were covered with water during the entire year ; but, as the sun's heat became unobstructed by the clearing of the land, and extensive drainage was resorted to, the marshy land became suita- ble for unlimited production. The soil in the southern part is rich, deep and black, and, in the western and northern parts, is a light, sandy loam with some clay. This clay is yellow and tenacious, and is suitable for brick, tile and common red pottery. The western part is bil- lowy, being quite precipitous in some localities. The township is six miles long by four wide, and was created March 9, 1825. Prior to Feb- ruary 3, 1845, it was six miles square, and formed part of Richland County ; but, at that date, four tiers of sections on the west were annexed to Crawford County, and now form the present Vernon Township. It was situated in the western part of the Old Purchase-a strip of land called the "Three Mile Strip," lying be- tween it and the New Purchase. The territory composing the township was surveyed, in 1807, by Maxfield Ludlow, and was then an almost impassable forest, covered with swales and marshes, and crossed by numerous Indian trails. The almost impenetrable swamps in the south- eastern third of the township were the retreat of many species of wild animals, which fled there for safety when pursued by bands of In- dian hunters, or by the more skillful pioneer.

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History of Crawford County and Ohio, Part 85

Author: Perrin, William Henry, [from old catalog] comp; Battle, J. H., [from old catalog] comp; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852- [from old catalog] comp; Baskin & Battey, Chicago, pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Perrin, William Henry, [from old catalog] comp; Battle, J. H., [from old catalog] comp; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852- [from old catalog] comp; Baskin & Battey, Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1034