USA > Ohio > Defiance County > History of Defiance County, Ohio. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, etc.; military record; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; farm views, personal reminiscences, etc > Part 53
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PERSONAL. REMINISCENCES.
Aaron Diehl was born April 9, 1814, in Mont- gomery County, Ohio, ten miles west of Dayton, and remained there until 1843, at which time he came to Adams Township. He is of German descent, his great-grandfather having come from that country. An uncle, John Diehl, was one of " Marion's men " in the war of the American Revolution, in North Carolina. His father was a substitute in the war of 1812, and deserved a pension. He then lived in Montgomery County, Ohio, where he died August, 1875, aged eighty-six years. His wife, Susannah Miller, was born in Virginia, in 1791, died April 5, 1878, aged eighty-six years ten months and two days. Their family were Aaron, Jacob, Samuel, Elizabeth, Hannah, Abraham, John, Eli and Noah, all living but Elizabeth and Hannah. Mr. D. was married, April 5, 1838, to Miss Catharine Russell, of Mont- gomery County, and formerly from Washington County, Md. She died in the spring of 1881. Their family consisted of David, Susannah, Marga- ret, John H., Mary C., Russell A. and Nancy. Of these, Susannah, Margaret and Nancy are dead. The rest are living. Mr. Diehl began his homestead on Section 21. He has 160 acres, which he purchased in 1835. The pioneers were Darius Jones, Charles Tubbs, J. Swartzel, John Shrimplin, who is Town- ship Clerk, John Hornish and Ephraim Markel. Mr. D. has held the office of Trustee two or three years, and has been Treasurer three terms. He has never been an office-seeker.
Ephraim Markel was born February 4, 1819, in Delaware County, and came to Adams Township in 1835 with Eli Markel, an uncle, in September, and was seven days making the trip. Eli Markel died about 1860, his wife about 1869. Mr. Markel mar-
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ried Miss Barbara Layman, April 19, 1840. His children are Mary A., Aaron, Daniel, Eli and Nancy, all living but Nancy and all grown and married. His homestead contains eighty acres. The township was very wot at an early day, the lands being overflowed from the "big swamp" or marsh, which is now drainod and mostly cultivated. At an early day, Markel spent much time as a hunter for bear and deer. He generally killed three or four bears and about forty or fifty deor. Ho was quite successful in trapping wolves, which were thon plenty. He also used a trap for bears and caught a good many.
John Shrimplin was born November 10, 1840, in Knox County, Ohio, and came to Adams Township, Defiance County, Ohio, with his parents, Abraham Shrimplin and his mother, Susannalı. His mother died April 16, 1875. Mr. Shrimplin yet resides in this township and is its present Clerk.
John Hornish was born December 30, 1823, in Montgomery County, Ohio, and came with his father, John Hornish, Sr., to Adams Township, Henry Coun- ty, Ohio, but now of Defiance, in 1836. When his father landed, there had been four families who pre- ceded him, viz. : Eli Markel, Mr. Grubb, Mr. Rod- man and Jacob Shock. The three former had been here some time. Markel and Grubb were the oldest in the township. Grubb had preceded Markel some time. John Hornish, Sr., born January 12, 1788, died August 2, 1866, aged seventy eight years six months and twenty days. His mother, Catharine Ely Hornish, died about August 2, 1854, aged fifty-nine years. John Hornish, Sr., was born in Rockingham County, Va., and Mrs. Hornish in Washington County, Penn., and came to Montgomery County, Ohio, in 1819. His family consisted of Henry, Nancy, Elizabeth, Sarah, John, Catharine and Eli. Of these, Nancy, Henry, Catherine and Eli are dead. The rest are liv- ing and married. John Hornish, Jr., married Miss Eve Frese December 27, 1846. Their family are Catharine, Eli, Henry, Elizabeth, Samuel, John W., Peter, Mary A., George, Nancy E., Emma and Ida. Of those, three are dead -- Eli, Henry and Ida. Mr. Hornish has been a great hunter since he came to this county. When he was about thirteen years old, he had quito an adventure with a large buck. He wounded it quite severely and it was brought to bay by the dog; the buck at once stood for fight with glaring eyes, within a few feet of Mr. H., who stood his ground and snapped his gun several times; finally the gun went off, shooting it in the breast, when it at once made a dash at Mr. H., but in doing so caught one antler under a root, which checked it long enough for Mr. H. to dispatch it with his knife. Some years after this occurrence, Mr. H. and J. K. Potter were hunting along the banks of a small creek
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in Adams Township, near where Mr. Potter now lives. Mr. H. was on one side of the stream and Mr. Potter on the other side, when they came upon an old bear and her cubs, and after firing several shots they brought her to the ground. Appearing dead, Mr. H. stepped up, picked up a club and struck the bear across the head, when he found that she had been playing " possum," for she sprang to her feet and struck a terrible blow at Mr. H., barely missing him, making it necessary to call Mr. Potter to shoot her. Mr. H. has 650 acres of land and about 200 acres cleared and well improved. It makes a valuable homestead.
Jacob Swartz was born November 2, 1802, in Warren County, Ohio, and came to Adams Town- ship in 1836, and was at its organization. Mr. Swartz has been dead many years. He found the country wild, with bear, deer and wolves and plenty of Indians. The forests were very heavy and water found in abundance everywhere. The neigh- bors of Mr. S. were one or two miles away. The prin- cipal settlers were Adams, Bishop and Phineas, Eli Markel, John Hornish, Darius Jones, John Scott, Jonathan Davison, John and Jacob Hively, Mr. Grubb, Jacob Shock, Mr. Swartz, etc. Mr. Swartz married Miss Sarah Becktell, of Montgomery County, Ohio, in November, 1828. His family consists of Sarah, Elizabeth, Philip, Catharine (dead), Rachel S. These are all married. Mrs. Swartz died about 1866, aged about sixty-eight years.
Charles Tubbs was born January 21, 1810, in Os- wego County, N. Y., and came to Adams Township in 1836, and settled on Section 11, where he now re- sides. He married Miss Lucy Howe, of Mexico, Os -. wego County, N. Y. She died August 16, 1870. Her children were William B., Alfred S., Charles D. and Arba F. He married the second time, Miss Charlotte Robinson, February 25, 1871. Her family is Alice E., a girl six years old. When he first settled in the township, John Scott, Darius Jones, John and Jacob Hively, James Davison, John Hornish, William Mozier, Jacob Swartzel. George Grubb and Eli Markel were in it. The voters were then all present and named. The first school was taught by Mrs. Tubbs in the summer of 1837. It was a subscription school. There were about nine scholars. It was a hard township to clear and make roads in. Mr. Tubbs did not spend much time in hunting for game, but has been an industrious and successful farmer and is a friend to the common school system of Ohio.
Henry Lehman was born September 12, 1820, in Germany, and came to Adams Township in 1837, and located on Section 21. He married Miss Mary Jane Williams February 1, 1846. She died August 5,
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
1870. The children were Adelia, John W. and Caroline, twins, Walter, Francis E., Mary Jane and Henry. Of these, Adelia is dead. Mr. L. married for his second wife Mrs. Annie Davis, a widow of Joseph Freed, who had five children-Eliza J., Will- iam D., Catharine, Elezan and Cora V., all living. She had no. family by Mr. Lehman. The Dunkard Church, located on Section 31, was built in 1878. Its speakers are Henry Lehman, Aaron Diehl, Charles Williams, Joshua Domer, Zadoc Clear, Isaac Flory, Oliver Westrick, Ephraim Markel, Leonard Hire, John W. Lehman, John Flory, Jacob Lehman, Henry Flory, Richard Beheybible, John Hornish and William Hire.
T. J. Tittle was born in Richland Township. Ohio, October 21, 1825. His father, Jacob Tittle, first came to Defiance County in 1824, and settled in Rich- land Township, where he lived until 1839. He then removed to Adams Township, where he died in 1840 or 1841, aged fifty-five years. He was born in Penn- sylvania in 1785. The children, T. J. and James, with their families reside on the old homestead in Adams Township. Rachel lives in Williams Coun- ty, Ohio. Mr. T. states that the United Brethren Church in Adams Township was organized in 1845. They held their first meeting in a log schoolhouse near where Mr. Tubbs now lives. They have now a new church edifice, built in 1870 at a cost of about $1,000, and have a membership of seventy-five. Abraham Battenbury organized the class in Adams Township and was their first preacher. The present preacher is George W. Dinius.
Emanuel Hull, son of Andrew and Catharine . (Thompson) Hull, who were Pennsylvanians by birth, was born in Berlin Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, March 14, 1830, and settled in this county in Adams Township in October, 1849, where he died February 7, 1882, aged fifty-two years ten months and twenty-four days. He was married February 19, 1851, to Miss Jane Osborn, of this county, who was also born in Berlin Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, August 29, 1833. They had a family of nine children, seven boys and two girls, as follows: Syl- vester A., born July 3, 1854; Zachariah F., born Feb- ruary 23, 1858, died May 30, 1882; Mary E., born April 5, 1859, and deceased when about three years of age; George W. was born April 3, 1862, and died in infancy; David W., born May 15, 1863; Levi W., born June 16, 1866; Ida J., born July 7, 1869; James E., born July 27, 1872; and Andrew V., born September 5, 1876.
Of this number (who are living) all are living at home on the farm in Adams with Mrs. Hull, except the eldest, Sylvester A., who is head clerk in Levi & Ginsburg's wholesale tobacco and liquor store in De-
fiance. He was married December 14, 1876, to Miss Barbara M. Peter, of Richland Township. To them was born one child, Philip Emanuel, November 26, 1879, and deceased at its birth. His wife, Barbara M., soon followed after. Her spirit departed from its tenement of clay, December 14, 1879, after which Mr. Hull lived a single life until August the 10th, 1882, when he married Sarah E. Peter, sister of his first wife. His mother, when a girl of fourteen years, came to this county with her father, Elijah Osborn, in February, 1846, her mother, Nancy, having died about a year previous to their departure from Mahon- ing County, this State. February, 21, 1846, Mr. Os- born loaded three teams with his family and household goods and traveled across the State for a future home in Richland Township, this county, occupying six days in making the trip, Mahoning County be- ing on the east line of the State and Defiance on the west. After pursuing their journey as far as Gilboa, Mr. Osborn concluded to make two loads of his effects and let one team return. By this arrangement it be- came necessary for the children, six in number, to pursue their journey on foot, which came very near costing all of them their lives, 'as they were soon broken out with measles and were obliged to wade through the mud and water of the Black Swamp, a distance of several miles, arriving at Independence on Saturday night the 25th, weary and sick. Here they put up and were kindly cared for, and in a few days were able to go to their new home, distant about three and a half miles, moving into an old schoolhouse until Mr. Osborn could get up his log- cabin. Mr. Osborn died August 8, 1868.
John Wisda, son of John and Mary (Slagel) Wisda, was born in Klatan, Bohemia, March 23, 1844; im- migrated with his parents in August, 1854, arriving first at Baltimore, Md., thence to Sandusky County, Ohio. His father's family consists of four sons and and two daughters- John, 'Joseph, Albert, James, Mary and Anna. Albert is engineer on a Texas rail- way; James is a blacksmith residing in Fremont, Neb. ; the rest are residents of Defiance County. The father was killed by a tree he was felling about eight years after he came to Sandusky, in August, 1861. Mr. Wisda, our subject was married August 29, 1871, to Gertrude Lutz, daughter of Michael aud Catharine (Hasset) Lutz. Their children are John G., born June 12, 1872; Anna C., born February 24, 1874; Michael A., born July 20, 1875; Joseph A., born August 9, 1877; Frank J., born November 14, 1879; Richard T., born October 21, 1881.
Mrs. Wisda's father was from Bavaria, Germany, her mother from Ireland. They came to this country in 1841, to Seneca County, and thence to Adams Township in October, 1850. The subject of this
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
sketch came with his mother and family. from San- dusky County to Tiffin Township April, 1871. His mother is living in this (Adams) township. Mr. W. bought eighty acres in Section 8, resided there about two years, then came to the farm of 140 acres, where he now lives on Section 20, in fall of 1876. Defi-
ance is his present post office. Mrs. Wisda was born February 21, 1851, in Adams Township, where her father entered the land in Section 28. His children were Catharine, Mary M., Gertrude, John G., Mi- chael J., Helen, Joseph, Anna B. Of these, Catharine and Michael are dead.
CHAPTER XXII.
DELAWARE TOWNSHIP-VILLAGE OF DELAWARE BEND-DUNKARD CHURCH-UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH AT SHERWOOD-PERSONAL REMINISCENCES.
T THIS township is located in the south-central part of Defiance County. Washington Township bounds it on the north, Noble and Defiance on the East and Mark on the west. Paulding County touches it on the south. The Maumee River flows through the southern part of it, and the B. & O. Railroad crosses the township. Since the completion of this road, the township has improved rapidly. The two prosperous villages of Sherwood and Dela- ware owe their existence and their growth largely to the railroad.
VILLAGE OF DELAWARE BEND.
The most conspicuous structure is the new Catho- lic Church, frame, with its cupola and bell, which was built in 1880, and cost $3,000. It is gothic in structure and quite imposing. There are about thirty members. Its priest is Frederick Ruhen. The mem- bership had a church at first across the river.
The village was laid out by W. D. Hill & Co., in 1874. There are about fifty houses built, and the prospect for a branch railroad from Bryan, in Will- iams County, is considered quite flattering. The lots commanded a fair price at the first sale. They num- ber 170. The village was laid out (almost in the woods. The town has three groceries, two saloons, one blacksmith shop, one saw mill, one dry goods store, two doctors, Wallace Moats and J. K. Denman, who has a drug store in Sherwood.
In October, 1845, the following settlers of Dela- ware Township voted: James D. McAnally, Joseph C. Sprague, John A. Swartz, John Travis, James H. Blue, David Shirley, James M. Kellogg, George B. Woodcox, James Gordon, Robert Evans, William Brown, William K. Blue, James Shirley, James M. Evans, Jonathan Pefly, James Brown, L. H. Sales, James Hays, James Hill, Barnabas D. Blue, Daniel M. F. Hill, George Snook, Alfred M. Woodcox, Josiah Mullican, Montgomery Evans, James Peacock, Ben- jamin Mullican, Peter Blair, William Bercaw, Bar- nabas Blue, Joseph Blair, Andrew Hughes, Hiel
Hughes, Joseph Miller, Josiah Mier, Caleb Ritchhart, George Slough, John C. Hill, William Slough, C. B. Mullican, John Gordon, Jacob Pefly. James Gordon, James Shirley and C. B. Mullican, Judges. Mont. gomery Evans and James D. McAnally, Clerks.
DUNKARD'S CHURCH.
The branch of this church, now called the Maumee District, located in Defiance County, west of Bruners- burg, between Georgetown and Emerald Station, formerly belonged to the Lick Creek District, Will- iams County, under the care of John Brown and George Stockman up to about 1854, when the above district was organized, Peter Huff and Daniel Shong being its ministers, with a body of members about thirty-five in number, Jacob Kintner, Sr., J. G. Kint- ner, B. Lintz, D. Cover, G. Willhelm, holding the office of Deacon. In 1857. Eli Metz was chosen to the ministry, and in 1858 he was ordained to solem- nize marriages and to baptize. On May 29, 1859, he baptized Jacob Kintner, Jr., for the first one, and his wife the second one. The church now began to increase in number, and in the fall of 1861, Peter Bollinger and Jacob Kintner, Jr., were chosen to the office of Deacon, and on the 17th day of October, 1864, Jacob Kintner, Jr., was chosen to the ministry and Reuben Sponseller and Samnel M. Kintner to the office of Deacon. At this time the care of the church was given to Eli Metz and Daniel Shong, under whose care it was slowly on the increase. On the 13th of Otcober, 1868, Nelson Woodcox, David Shong and David Barrack were elected to the office of Deacon, and Jacob Kintner was ordained to solemnize marriages and baptize, and in 1870, on Christmas Day, Isaac Stockman and David Cover were chosen to the ministry. The church now num- bered about eighty members. In 1873, Messrs. Stock- man and Cover were ordained to the second degree of the ministry, i. e., to solemnize marriages, and as Peter Huff died, and Eli Metz moved away, therefore John Brown, of Williams County, was appointed as Presiding
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
Elder over this congregation until October 8, 1878, at which time John Brown resigned his care of this church, and Jacob Kintner was ordained Bishop or Presiding Elder over this congregation, in which office he still remains. At the same time, Daniel Lorah, a minister, moved here from Missouri, was also ordained to the second degree in his office. In consequence of sev- eral series of meetings held at this time, the church rapidly increased, at the present numbering about 114 members.
Feeling the necessity of a house to worship in, but being in limited circumstances financially, they came to the conclusion to build a cheap house of wor- ship, in which they succeeded in raising the funds, and gave Jacob Kintner and David Shong the job of erecting a building, 34x56 feet in size and sixteen and one-half feet high inside, for the sum of $1,000, which was completed in 1873, being the first church built in this vicinity.
UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH AT SHERWOOD.
About thirty years ago, the United Brethren Con- ference sent a minister by the name of Thomas to preach to the people along the Maumee River, who occasionally preached in the vicinity of the present location of Sherwood. A few years after, Conference appointed a camp meeting, which was held at that time, and another time a year or two later, on the same place where the village of Sherwood stands. In A. D. 1874, under the charge of Rev. Jonas Lower, a society was organized. In A. D. 1879, the class, as- sisted by the liberality of the inhabitants, built a nice, comfortable church house, at a cost of $1,350. The society at present has a membership of thirty-eight, Eli Kaser, Class Leader. The Sabbath school is in a flourishing condition and has a total attendance of 110, superintended by G. N. Barnes. Rev. Longs- worth is the present preacher.
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES.
U. R. Snook, M. D., gives the following in refer- ence to his family :
William Snook entered his land in Delaware Township in the spring of 1824 (where the B. & O. R. R. now crosses the Maumee River), buying on both sides of the river. He moved with his family into the new home in the same fall. He first moved from near Trenton, N. J., to Warren County, Ohio. Dur- ing the Black Hawk war, he was a private in the Ohio militia, who participated in the expedition that defeated and broke up the strength of that celebrated savage chieftain. Some time during the winter of 1827-28, my uncles, George, John and Peter, who were boys from fourteen to eighteen years old, went out on a coon hunt, as was the then prevailing custom
of the country, as coon skins were the main medium of exchange-in fact, were 'legal tender for all com- modities of life purchasable in the then vast wilds of Northwestern Ohio. In fact, they were in this county (Paulding) used to pay taxes with. After killing several coons, and being about three miles from home, they found what appeared to be a "den tree," or a tree in which, as was often the case, several coons made a home during the winter months, and they proceeded to fell the tree. When it fell, my uncle George (being the eldest) with the dog ran in to the top of it, to kill the coons as soon as they should run out of the hole. But instead of being a lot of coons, it proved to be a large black bear, which at once grappled with my uncle, giving him a true bruin em- brace, and'at the same time laid hold of his left arm with its vice-like jaws, biting it through in three places, stripping the flesh from the bone; then biting him in the left cheek or side of his face, laying the bone bare.
All this time the other two boys, John and Peter, were doing all they could to disable the bear with their axes, using them with all the skill and force that boys of their age were capable of, and avoiding striking George with them. After some time spent in this unequal contest, uncle George succeeded in throwing his right hand and arm down the bear's throat so far that it choked him, and they both fell together in the snow, my uncle covered with his own blood, which flowed freely from his wounds. When bear and boy fell together in the snow, John and Peter succeeded in pulling George from the bear, and managed by strenuous exertions to drag him home, as he was so weak from the loss of blood that he could not walk or stand alone without aid. The next day an Indian ran across the spot where the fight occurred, and traced up the bear for a few rods from where it occurred, and found it so prostrated from the wounds received in its struggle with the boys that it could not rise from the place where it lay, and he dispatched it with his tomahawk. At the time my grandfather (William Snook) settled in Delaware Township, there was only one store (trading post as they then were called) in Defiance, and only some five or six families, and the old fort.
Montgomery Evans was my grandfather's nearest neighbor, he having settled about one and a half miles above and on the opposite side of the river from him. " Uncle Sammy Hughes," as he was called, lived some three miles away. There were some three or four more settlers, but I cannot recollect their names, who settled along the Maumee about the time my grandfather did. There were no mills or roads in the country at that time, the river being the only thoroughfare, except Gen. Anthony Wayne's " trail"
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
as it was callod-a road cut through the woods on the south side of the river from Fort Defiance to Fort Wayne, which at this date was impassable ox- cept during the winter months, when well frozen up; thon persons going with a team must carry an ax to cut out any fallon timber which the wind had blown down across the " trail." The river, during spring, stummer and fall, was used as a means of transporta- tion, the early settlers using the canoe, "pirogue," or " slap-together," which they pushed up and down the stream with the "setting polo," and after a time the keol boat came into use. During the winter months, when the river was frozen over, it was used as a road, and heavy loads hauled from various points with ox teams mostly. As I above remarked, there being no mills in the county, my grandfather "hollowed out" a round hole in a birch log with his ax, then after burning this with fire to get out the ax marks and then scraping out all the coal and charred wood, placed the corn in it and with the aid of a spring pole with an iron wedge fastened in the lower end of it, would in this way reduce the corn to meal, so they might have " Johnny-cake " with their hominy, venison and bear steak. Truly we of this modern age, civilization and improvements can hardly roalize the hardships of our old pioneers, who first, ax in hand, began the herculean warfare upon our gigantic forests, and natural obstacles that our fathers had to contend with. In the fall of 1828, my grandfather (Robert Murphey) on my mother's side, settlod with his family in what is now known as Car- ryall Township, Paulding County, about one and one-half miles above where Antworp is now situated. At that time there was only one other family in that settlement, Thomas Runyan, who had settled there in the spring before. They both came from Hamilton County, on the Big Miami River.
Some time during the summer and fall of 1832, Antwayno, a chief of the Pottawatomies, and several of his braves, after having imbibed somewhat freely of the white man's " fire-water," paid my grandfather Murphey's residence a visit, the men folks being all out at work, and only grandmother and aunt being in the house. The Indians, as was their custom when peacoable and not on scalping bent, and bloody slaughter, unbuckled their belts, depositing scalping knivos, tomahawks, guns and bullet pouches in one corner of the log-cabin, distributing themselves around the capacious fire-place where grandmother was cooking the noonday meal. Antwayne squatted directly in the middle of it and in the way of her got- ting at her culinary efforts. This was not to be on- dured, and aftor grandmother had requested him sev- eral times to get out of the way, he replying in his broken English, " Me good Injin, me no hurt white
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