History of Crawford County and Ohio, Part 98

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 98

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the Western territory to shoot deer on the Whetstone. For several years, it was not an uncommon sight to behold a band of Indians, in the late fall and early winter, stretched upon the ground with their heads toward the fire, trusting to the moon to warm their feet. Very frequently the squaws would stop to make the " white folks " a neighborly call. The papooses, bound to boards, were set up against the sunny side of the house to amuse themselves as their natures dictated. The old Indian chief's visits were usually made with an eye to business, and, when all other topics were exhausted, he gener- ally drifted upon the subject of "whisk," or " fire-water," as one suitable to make him feel as though he had been courteously received by his white host.

Mr. Johnston, having become sick of the im- pure water they were obliged to use, started in search of a more agreeable location. He was favorably impressed with the land and water surrounding Fort Findlay. There he purchased a quarter-section a short distance from the vil- lage. This was soon improved and sold at a profit. He bought again in the town and made a second profitable sale. He then returned to Crawford and found the new-comers were rapidly filling up the unoccupied sections, making the neighborhood present a very differ- ent appearance. He bought a forty-acre lot half-mile east of his last homestead, of Samuel Lyon ; to this he rapidly added land on every side. He again moved, this time to Bucyrus, leaving his farm in the hands of his oldest boys and tenants. He returned to the farm, and, in 1857-58, he erected the handsome Gothic residence that is now owned by Benton Herd. Previous to 1880, no residence of Dallas could be said to have excelled it in finish and quality of work. The lumber was hauled over- land from Sandusky City with teams, the shingles coming from York State. Mr. Cullis- ton, the architect, was a man of fine taste, and constructed an edifice that has long been a

Martha Johnston

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standing compliment to his skill in this depart- ment. Thomas F. Johnston was a prominent Freemason, an active participant in all public improvements and political movements, and a man of fine education for his day. He died December 20, 1862, very unexpectedly, from an attack of heart disease, an ailment that had threatened him for several years.

Benjamin Warner, who has been mentioned, was one of the prominent early settlers. His first residence was upon the present Matthew Carmean farm. Mr. Warner soon had the repu- tation of possessing one of the best improved farms of eighty acres in that part of Marion County. He was a man who loved adventure and sport. In pursuit of deer and foxes, he was the leader of many a venatorial party. Some eight or ten years after his settlement, he sold out his land, provided a comfortable place for Mrs. Warner in one of his dwellings, and took an extended trip through Pennsylvania, his native State, and a part of New York. After his return in 1836. he bought and moved to the present home of Thomas Mckinstry, on the pike. The improvement upon this farm con- sisted of a stoutly built double log cabin that was widely known by the traveling public as a tavern of well-regulated table. For many years this was one of the principal stopping- places of the wheat-haulers of the Sandusky and Columbus Turnpike. Mr. Warner went to the West in the fall of 1872 to visit his daugh- ter, during which time he was taken with gan- grene in one of his limbs, from which he died in the following year. Mrs. Warner survived him five years, dying in the spring of 1878, at the residence of her son, R. K. Warner, of Bu- eyrns Township.

One of the oldest men still living in this township is Samuel Coulter, who, although a man of seventy-nine years of age, is still act- ive, and recalls many incidents of early days with great accuracy. Mr. Coulter came from Huntingdon County, Penn., in 1832, and leased

a strip of land of Mr. Van Horne. This land he afterward bought, and it is now cultivated by his youngest son, George. The elder Coul- ter built one of the first large barns of old Pennsylvania style. This well -constructed building was put up by Anthony Houser, and is still standing, a souvenir of early enterprise. Mr. Coulter was a grain farmer, and bought out his neighbors, John and Daniel Reecer, and other lots of forty and eighty acres, until he is ranked as one of the prominent landlords of Dallas. His maiden sister, Miss Sarah Coulter, is the oldest person now living in Dal- las, being in her eighty-fifth year. Maj. Car- mean is another of the heavy land-owners and stock-dealers, and is among the old settlers of Dallas. He, in company with his brother "Jimmy," emigrated from Ross County, in the fall of 1827, and entered a piece of land now included in the old Shank farm, in the western part of the township. After spending five years here, he bought of Benjamin Warner 400 acres and moved to his present homestead. He has accumulated wealth in his day by stock raising and dealing until he has no small pittance to enjoy in his ripening years. When a young man, he took a full course in veterinary surgery at Chillicothe, Ohio, in which profession he has for many years had more than a local reputation and name. Per- haps there is no present resident of Dallas so widely known in Crawford and adjoining coun- ties as Mr. Carmean. Even at his advanced age, he is not infrequently called great dis- tances to give the diagnosis in critical cases of valuable horses, and is the local referee in all diseases in dispute among the younger veterin- arians. His practical knowledge and skill in anatomy gained him, while yet a young man, a position in the Ohio Canal Company, where he practiced human surgery and medicine for the company several years. He was never an ex- cessive sporter with his gun, and yet, in his younger days, few could equal him as a marks-

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man. He usually chose to ride on horseback in his deer hunts, which, from his frequent suc- cessful shots, was a great saving of his strength in bearing home the game. He re- ceived the title of Major from the position he held in one of the local military organizations of Marion County.

Among the other early settlers who should at least have a passing notice, was Robert Grif- fith, better remembered as "Bob" Griffith. He came from Ross County in 1832, and at first took care of some land owned by Linus Ross, who was then living in Ross County. Mr. Griffith afterward bought this land of Ross, to which he added 200 acres. He was a remarkably successful stock-dealer, and, ac- cording to the statements of his cotempora- ries. "everything he touched turned into money." Finding his farm too small to grat- ify his increasing wants, he sold out to Mr. Ross in about the year 1842, and moved to Iowa. He is now one of the heavy shippers from that State to the Chicago markets. John Roberts was also one of the early settlers of this section. A short history of this gentle- man is given in another part of the work. In fact, there is no citizen of a new country that has lived fifty years amid such varied scenes and rapid improvements as have the citizens of this section for the last half-century, but that can relate to the present generation many in- teresting reminiscences. To talk to these ven- erable old men, one can but feel the sentiment expressed by the poet,

" The peasant at his cottage door May teach you more than Plato knew. See that thou scorn him not : Adore God in him and thy nature too."

It is not uninteresting in these days, when we hear so much discussion concerning capital and labor and the social problems, to listen to the pioneer's story of early privations and hardships. While we would not wish to re- turn to the "good old days," as they are wont

to call them, yet a rehearsal of their story and experience can but enlarge our charity for their criticisms of the "heir apparent " who goes dashing by with his fiery " coursers " and glittering " side-bar." In their day, it was not a "ten-hours law," but units of labor per- formed. that constituted a day's work. With the wooden mold-board plow that turned a six to eight inch furrow, one and one-half acres was considered a day's work. In the wheat- fields of 1830, the proprietor, instead of sitting at one side of the field or riding about on his hack horse after a self-binder, was the leader of a band of robust reapers with sickles in hand. The man that could gather and bind the most sheaves was the hero in the eyes of his fellow-laborers, and the "beau ideal" of the " Maud Mullers at the spring." A day's work in the harvest-fields then was to cut and bind from twenty-five to thirty dozen. Occasionally there were "giants in those days," even at labor. As an instance, Jacob Monnett cut and bound and shocked in one day forty-four doz- en of rye for Abraham Monnett. For the en- couragement of the few (?) remaining posterity of Rev. Jeremiah Monnett, it is recorded that, at an advanced period of his life, he bound one hundred and five dozen of oats, and in the evening walked four miles to a neighboring camp-meeting. Another authenticated case is that of Samuel Morris, who, to win a wager, mowed in one day four acres of grass for Mad- ison Welsh, who then owned the present Eph. Monnett farm. The laborer that had the health and did not perform what was mutually agreed to be a day's work-and the standard was by no means short of measure-was so- cially ostracised by his comrades and shunned by the fair sex, whose penal criticism is always " too grievous to bear." Not infrequently did the feminine progenitors of some of the mod- ern bloods make the harvest-field a " summer resort," and put in sheaf the endless " golden swaths " that their not more enduring mates

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were ever dropping from their swinging cra- dles.

Every frontier colony has its many unre- corded hardships. None was more unfortu- nately situated in this respect than was Dallas Township. Far from all commercial outlets and thoroughfares, her citizens were obliged to drive to Frederick, Knox County, or Mount Vernon, to a grist-mill. Each customer had to fall in line and abide his time, making the bus- iness of going to mill very often one of a week's job. Lumber, salt, groceries, dress- goods, when purchased, and all other commer- cial necessities, had to be bought at Sandusky City (then called Portland), and conveyed over- land by wagons. These disadvantages, com- bined with a lack of capital, awakened the inventive genius of the American mind, as may be evinced if we glance for a moment at the domestic life of some of these inland pio- neers. To make the flour and meal obtained at such labor and expense hold out, home- made hominy was manufactured. A hickory log was usually chosen and sawed in a con- venient length and stood on end. The artificer of the family would use his experimental knowledge by manufacturing from it a very durable mortar. Into this mortar would be placed a few quarts of corn with a cup of warm water, the pounding of which furnished the boys with old-time sport. With the pecu- liar shape of this mortar, all that was neces- sary was to strike with the pestle in the center, where the largest particles would fall.

Another of the customs in providing sup- plies, that has now become obsolete, and one that may be interesting to the future Dallasian when he wishes to celebrate the centennial of this dominion, was the home manufacture of wearing material of fifty years ago. Those made of " hempen goods " passed through many stages. First, the flax was pulled up from the root by hand, bound in small bundles, gathered in stacks, and each bundle was divested of its

seed by means of an oaken paddle and a tem- porary stanchion-usually a rail-over which the heads were held. Great care had to be taken to keep the straw from entangling. After this first step, it was bound in parcels of conven- ient size, to facilitate its removal to the meadow or stubble field, where it was spread in swaths, to be exposed to the sun and rain from four to six weeks, to " rot," as it was termed. The col- lecting of the fiber thus exposed to the weather, when the grass had grown up among the straw, has made a professional man out of many a one of our ancestors. For, if the pioneers " agree as touching one thing, it is in expressing their distaste for this stage of manufacturing hempen goods, and fully accounts for the rapid strides that the inventive genius has made in this line of manufacture. The breaking of the flax was usually reserved for fall and winter evening ex- ercises. Each boy had his task of so many bundles for the evening. One of the ". tricks of the trade " may be found in the following state- ment : " It was always necessary to have a fire. Around and above this fire would hang the un- broken flax to dry. The old people, being more expert, frequently would complete their evening task in advance of the rising genera- tion, who, being left alone, would suddenly raise the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere by adding to the flames a fuel whose intrinsic value was not always taken into consideration, nor made a topic of family discussion the re- mainder of the evening." In the next process, the flax was " scutched," when it passed into the hands of the girls, who would hackle it, which left it ready for the spinning wheel and the shuttle. The long and laborious process of threshing and winnowing the wheat for mar- ket and mill; their home-made cheese ; their dip candles ; their out-ovens ; almost a whole vocabulary of domestic terms, that will become practically obsolete to coming generations- could each be dwelt upon with interest, did space allow.

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The fine stock of these fertile valleys-which have since gained a reputation and name be- yond the State for this branch of profitable trade-in 1824, consisted of thirty-one horses and fifty-five cattle, the former appraised at $40 per head, and the latter from $4 to $8. Sheep and hogs were not enumerated in the tax list, even as late as 1830. The former were usually of the hardy varieties, like the long-legged, coarse-wooled that are now called the " In- diana." For their protection, it was necessary to keep constant watch over them, and, in the evening, they were driven into high-built pens to protect them from the ravages of the wolves. The pork trade, in 1824-30, was as equally an uncertain business. Not that the cloven-footed animal could not protect himself from the hos- tile attacks of those of his own rank in cre- ation, but his roaming nature often made his ownership a subject of litigation. The man who was fortunate enough to own a piece of timber yielding mast, frequently became the possessor of a marketable drove of hogs in the fall of the year. These hogs were hard to capt- ure, and, as one of the old purchasers stated it, " In the early days, it was an important mat- ter, when you bought hogs, to have it under- stood they were to be delivered." The most noted men in the sheep and hog trade were Da- vid and Simeon Bryant, who moved to the pres- ent Ephraim Monnett farm in the fall of 1829. They would bring in sheep and hogs from the East, and fatten the latter on the mast, when they would either drive them to the Eastern market, or butcher and pack them on the place. Madison Welsh was one of the first pork- packers in this part of the county. He estab- lished a packing-house on the land that George Welsh now owns, on the Marion road. This gave an increased value to the forbidden meat.

The forests and neighboring swamps were eagerly searched for wild hogs. Some of the thrilling adventures connected with their capt-

ure justly entitle not a few of our ancestors to unfading laurels.

Concerning the changes in the social customs of the last half-century, our limited space will allow but a brief notice. The building of dwell- ings, barns, breaking the first sod, all classes of heavy labor, constituted the " sociables " and 'soirces " of two generations ago. The lawn fetes of these primitive times were to assemble by moonlight on the green ; choose leaders ; divide in the center a long pile of corn provided by the host. When the signal was given, each party would strive to accomplish the lawn " feat " of " beating." Not " to the victor be- longed the spoils ;" but the successful captain was rewarded by being elevated upon the shoulders of his comrades, and carried about the premises as the recognized champion of the evening. Their isolation from the commercial world, bound them the closer in the ties of neighborly affection, so that in their sports or in their sorrows they enjoyed or suffered as one.

The first time the people were called together in a meeting of a sadder nature than the one above described, was in the spring of 1827. The death angel passed over the settlement, and a young man was left lying in a cabin chamber of Jacob Snyder, cold in death. Dying in the spring of the year, when the streams were all swollen and impassable, they were compelled to inter the corpse in a coffin rudely made of split-oaken puncheon. From these a square box was made, by putting one in the bottom of the grave, two at the sides, placing the body within, and the fourth served as a lid. This young man was buried near the present resi- dence of Mervin Monnett-a graveyard that has no tombstone to mark its location. In the same year, the first burial was made in the White graveyard, situated in central Dallas, one mile cast of the village of Wyandot. Of Mr. McClary, the first occupant of these grounds, but little is remembered. He resided not far from Wyandot Village, and was inhumed with-

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out religious rites. In the following year, 1829, Charles Parish died on the farm west of Ephraim Monnett's. He was the first silent partner of Mr. McClary in the new necropolis.

An item of more than local historical interest and value is connected with a spring, now owned by James Hufty, commonly called the " Bibler Spring." It is located a few rods cast of the Wyandot County line, on the north side of the Wyandot and Bucyrus road. It was told us by several of the early settlers that this was the traditional spot upon which Col. Crawford camped the night before his ill-fated engage- ment. Upon further inquiry, we learned from Benjamin Welsh, now living in Wyandot, and he is a man eighty years of age, that when he was assisting in putting up one of the first cabins in 1819, an old man rode up to their place of work, and, during the conversation, related an account of the encampment at this very spring, claiming to have been one of Craw- ford's men. He stated that in the early morn- ing (which probably was June 4, 1782), sev- eral of their men saw some Indians, for the first time, coming toward the encampment from the southeast; but, on observing the whites, they immediately disappeared. This little scrap of such direct tradition, may throw some light upon Hechewelder's supposed fictitious collo- quy, which he has recorded as taking place between Chief Wingenund and Col. Crawford, in which Col. Crawford asks the Chief : " Have any Moravian Indians been killed or hurt since we came ?" Wingenund replies, " None ; but you first went to their town, and, finding it empty and deserted, you turned on the path toward us. If you had been in search of war- riors only, you would not have gone thither. Our spies watched you closely ; they saw you while you were embodying yourselves on the other side of the Ohio ; they saw you cross the river ; they saw you where you encamped at night ; they saw you turn off from the path to the deserted Moravian town. Your steps were

constantly watched, and you were suffered to proceed until you reached the spot where you were attacked."

These two accounts, coming from such dif- ferent sources, have a wonderful agreement. If either story be correct, undoubtedly the Indians seen near the Bibler Spring that morning were some of the spies that Wingenund refers to.

Dallas can present a very commendable war record, this being the only township in the county that furnished her full quota of men without having the draft imposed. One of her sons, whose valiant career did her honor, was Lieut. Col. J. W. Shaw, more fully mentioned in another chapter of this work.

The borders of Dallas Township have been thrice visited with prevailing epidemics. The first was the milk sickness. The Wood family was the first fatally affected. Elizabeth and Henry Wood died a few days apart, from this scourge, in the fall of 1833. James Wood, of the same household, died a few days later. Others, whose names are now forgotten, in this, the neighborhood along the Sandusky River, died about the same time. In the same year, several cases of Asiatic cholera developed among the citizens in the southern part of the township. So little is told definitely concern- ing this, that we omit any of the statements. The second attack of cholera occurred late in the summer of 1854. The epidemic was intro- duced into Dallas by John Norris. He was a man addicted to strong drink, and endured abstinence as long as he thought possible. Contrary to the pleadings of his wife, he started for Marion at a time when that town was severely scourged by this disease. Although its streets had been fenced across, and every precaution and warning given "to stay out," Mr. Norris went, and in some way obtained his fill of liquor. About forty-eight hours after- ward, Dr. John Milot, of Bucyrus, was sum- moned to his bedside, and found the malady just finishing its work. On the morning of

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August 29, he died from a clear case of Asiatic cholera, and his wife, with the two adopted children, deserted the house for the barn. About 2 o'clock of the morning of September 1, Mrs. Norris awoke in great pain. Doctor Fulton was summoned, but too late. She was sick but twenty hours. It was from this case that the Doctor himself received his attack, mentioned elsewhere. So great was the con- sternation in the community, that it was a diffi- cult matter to find two persons beside the son to help in the burial. The two children that so faithfully obeyed their mother's command fled to the woods, in which place they remained several days. They were cared for by the neighbors, who carried food and bed-clothing, and left them upon a stump, where these "babes of the woods" could come and get them. The two orphans, thus a second time bereft of parents, escaped the plague, and are still living.

Among the houses of " public note " the Ra- mey Tavern was perhaps most widely known by the traveling public. The Half-Way House, or Ramey Tavern, was situated on the east side of the Marion and Bucyrus road, about mid- way between the two towns. This first public boarding-house was a double log building re- constructed and enlarged by Mr. Ramey, in the fall of 1824. The principal patronage came from the passengers and employes that traveled upon the stage line, run on this road, as early as 1823. In connection with the tavern, was also a feed stable where the stage horses were exchanged and fed. After the death of Mr. Ramey, in 1835, Mr. Knapp, of Marion, acted as landlord for several years. The stage line was broken up in 1840, and the Ramey tavern was converted into a private dwelling by Mrs. Meissinger. This public inn is remembered as one of a clean record, al- ways being a stronghold of temperance and passable sobriety-a statement that cannot al- ways be truthfully made of these rural hostel-

ries. A public building of less notoriety was opened upon the opposite side of the road. where Oliver Monnett's homestead stands. This place was owned by James Carmean, who sold it to a Mr. Fay Muhlinger, about 1836. The latter " kept tavern " on a small scale for sev- eral years ; the exact time is not known. The third and last hotel was the " Bibler House," that has already been incidentally mentioned. It had a patronage from the stage and mail route, similar to that of the Ramey inn, with a reputation for temperance and order not so en- viable as the former.

The first saw-mill in Dallas Township was a water-mill, built upon the Sandusky, about 100 rods from the Wyandot County line, by Mr. Bibler. It was a mill run by members of the family when work on the farm was not crowding. Bibler operated this mill as early as 1827, but some ten years later it was sold to Mr. Longacre. Mr. Rumble afterward pur- chased it and changed it into a grist-mill, running two sets of buhrs. In later years, it was again repaired by Mr. Vail, who put in a steam en- gine. Having failed, the engine and machinery were attached, and returned to Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Rex purchased the building, and replaced the water-works. The mill is now owned by Rex, but the dam is out of repair, leaving the mill idle.

One of the most prominent Indian trails that crossed the present territory of Crawford was the one leading from Captain Pipe's town, in Wyandot County, cast toward the present site of Leesville. In the memory of the citizens of this section of the township, the Wyandot In- dians made this their main highway in travel- ing to and from Bucyrus. They crossed the Sandusky at an old-time ford, now upon N. Eckert's farm.

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History of Crawford County and Ohio, Part 98

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