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 54
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squaw, Mo big Injun, me heap good Injun, Me no hurt white squaw," she drew from its resting placo over the " jice, " the family rod, and at onco bestowed " on big Injun, " good Injun's naked shoulders, with no light hand, good, sturdy blows, which made him howl with pain, and jump up in great surprise. Giving the characteristic whoop of defiance, he sprang for his deadly weapons of war, but as he did so, the other braves caught and forced him out of doors, where they in one accord declared that he should not hurt white squaw who was " heap much brave, whip Injun." They finally succeeded in pac- ifying him, and after securing his accouterments they departed in good humor.
If they had not been under the influence of whis ky it is hard to tell how the rash act of grandmother would have endod, probably in a bloody tragedy.
I was born in 1835, five years previous to the re- moval of the Indians from this part of the country by the Government in 1840. My father's Indian namo was " Tobochimo," from the fact that he never in his dealings with them took any advantage of them in his trading. I recollect seeing our door yard filled with them, bartering coon and deer skins with iny father for corn. In 1849, my father, Hon. Wilson H. Snooks, was elected as Representative to the Ohio Legislature. During the late rebellion, my family took an active part in it. My uncle, John S. Snook, being Captain of Company G, Fourteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and I, Quartermaster Ser- geant in same company, during the first three months' service or first 75,000 troops called out by President Lincoln. At the organization of the Fourteenth Regi- ment for three years' service, my brother, J. S. Snook, Jr., enlisted as a private in August, 1861, and served in that command until the close of the rebell- ion with only the loss of two day's duty by sickness, being in every engagement that the regiment took part in and was the only one left of the color bearers on guard at the battle of Jonesboro, Ga., and the first one to scale the rebel works and carry our flag in tri- nmph over the breastworks amidst the enemy. At the organization of the Sixty-eighth Regiment, my uncle, John S. Snook, became its Major, and I a pri- vate in the roar rank of Company C. The Major was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and at the battle of Champion Hill, Miss., during the Vicksburg cam- paign under Gen. U. S. Grant, was instantly killed, being shot through the heart near the close of the battle when the victory was ours. He now rests in a gallant soldier's grave on the field he so bravely and gallantly helped to win, having the love and re- spect of all the " boys " who yet survive of his gal- lant Sixty-eighth. From Revolutionary days down to present time, whenever our country needed defend-
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ers with musket in hand, our name was ever found doing battle for the preservation and perpetuation of our noble and glorious Republic.
Elias Miller was born in Harrison County, Ohio, July 19, 1817, and grew up and attended the district schools of that county, and married Miss Rebecca Foose, June 10, 1841, and removed to Crawford County, where he remained about two years, and then removed to Delaware Township, Defiauce County, in 1855, and commenced improving his present farm on Section 19. His family is Johnson, born April 9, 1842; Emanuel, born December 4, 1813; Vincent N., born December 18, 1845; Zeno H., born October 7, 1848; Stewart W., born February 25, 1851. All living and grown. Johnson served in the war of 1861-65, and was wounded twice. The village of Sherwood which took its name from Secretary Sherwood, was laid out by William Taylor and William Rock in 1875. The number of lots north of the railroad is about seventy-five. Mr. Elias Miller laid out all south of the railroad, seventy-two lots, in 1879. The Miller brothers built the first store house in Sherwood. The Methodist Episcopal Church was built about 1868. It was organized by Elias Miller, Jacob Cone, Aaron Mitchell and wife, Uriah Smith and wife, John Rannel and wife. At first, preaching was by a local preacher, Rev. Archibald Robertson. The Methodist Episcopal and United Brethren unite in Sabbath schools. Mr. Miller had to go to Bruners- burg to mill, and did his trading at Defiance. Mr. M. remembers one schoolhouse here and one near the old farm of Peter Blair, now owned and occupied by N. I .. Blair which was probably the first in this lo- cality. There is one schoolhouse at Sherwood.
F R. Gillespie was born August 9, 1852, at Sul- phur Springs, Crawford County, Ohio, and remained there until 1860, when his parents removed to Pauld- ing County, where he remained until 1874, and mar- rying Miss Mary Richner, September 2, 1873. He re- moved to Sherwood in 1874, and engaged in business, keeping a boarding house and grocery. His family consists of Bertha, Walter and Charles B. Mrs. Gil- lespie died June 2, 1881.
George W. Hill was born August 31, 1804, in Washington County. Penn. His mother was of Irish descent; his father, James Hill, was born in Washington County, Penn. In 1813, they immi- grated to this State and settled at Lebanon, Warren County. In 1822. Mr. Hill came to Defiance Coun- ty and purchased the farm in Delaware Township where George W. now lives. After making the pur- chase, he returned to Warren County, where he died January 15. 1823, aged about forty-nine years. In Delaware Township, his wife, Jemima, died Feb- ruary 28, 1841, aged about sixty-six years. The Hill
family were Thomas J., John, George W., Clarinda, Daniel F., James M. and Mary E. Of these, but George W. survives. Mr. Hill married Miss Sarah A. Mulli- gan, of Defiance, March 16, 1834. His family are Josiah J., born March 17, 1835; Joseph E., born Au- gust 18, 1837; Henry H., born November 29, 1840; Mary Anne, born December 10, 1842; Benjamin F., born February 8, 1844. Of these, Mary and Frank- lin are dead. Mrs. Hill was born March 16, 1811. The family of Mr. H. was the eighth in the town- ship. The families who were here or came about the same time, according to the recollection of Mr. Hill, are as follows: Benjamin Mulligan, Barnabas Blue, Samuel and Henry Hughes, Montgomery Evans, James Shirley, Thomas Warren and James Hill.
Mr. Hill thinks this township was organized in 1824. The number of voters present at the first election was twelve or fifteen. Montgomery Evans was elected Justice of the Peace, John E. Hill was elected Constable. The Trustees were Benjamin Mulligan, Thomas Hill and James Shirley. Mr. H. first located on Section 27, where the ancient village was, and the Delawares had large fields of corn. Wayne came there to cut down their corn and did them much damage by destroying their food, which caused their village to be abandoned. The first school was in Section 25; teacher, Uriah McInally. The Methodist Episcopal Church preaching was in the cabins of the settlers and in schoolhouses. They have now a church at Sherwood. Mr. Hill spent a year or two in the ancient mission in Michigan on Grand River, and had to grind corn on a hand mill for food to feed some thirty persons. The homestead of Mr. Hill contains some 280 acres on the banks of the Maumee. The old Indian orchard at " Delaware Bend " is probably from seventy-five to one hundred years old. Mrs. George W. Hill (Miss Sarah Mulli- gan) was born in Jackson County, Va., in 1811. Her parents immigrated to Ohio and settled in Ross County in 1814. From there they moved to this county in 1821, where Mrs. Hill has ever since resided. Their first settlement was made at what was then known as Delaware Town, a place on the Maumee River in Delaware Township. The place was so called from the Indians having once had a settlement there. Her parents located at that point with the intention of making large purchases of land when the sales would open, the lands belonging to the Indians hav- ing been put into market. Soon after Mrs. Hill's parents came, another family named McGinnis ar- rived and settled just opposite them, on what is now known as the Speaker farm. Mrs. Hill says McGin- nis brought with him a barrel of whisky with which he intended opening negotiations with the Indians. During his absence the Indians found the whisky
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HISTORY OFY DEFIANCE COUNTY.
and the result was they all got so beastly drunk and made things generally so lively for the white settlers that during the night at about 8 o'clock, they started down the river to Defiance. The attempt to go away in the night was a very difficult one. The whole country was a swamp and the horses were fre- quently knee-deep in mud and water. A part of the way her father was obliged to go ahead of the team on his hands and knees in order to keep the path. The family following as best they could in the dark, guided by his voice. They reached Fort Defiance about 2 o'clock in the morning, and the next day her father with others returned to Delaware and brought their household goods. They then settled on the bottom land just opposite the Bouton farm on the Auglaize River, where they remained three years. Mrs Hill says she can yet well remember the many privations they underwent the first year, which were such as few of to-day ever think of. Corn bread was the staple product for food. Flour could only be ob- tained at Perrysburg or Fort Wayne. After the first year, however, traders opened up here at Defiance, and the family frequently indulged in such Inxnries as apple pie made with wild crab apples and pump- kins. Salt was very scarce and cost $11 and upward a barrel. Like all old settlers, they had their corn mills, made of two circular stones having parallel bases, about three feet in diameter, the lower one be- ing stationary, with a bevel projecting over the upper surface into which the upper stone fits. This upper stone had an orifice into which they dropped the corn five or six grains at a time with one hand and with the other turned the stone. On one side was an out- let and from this the corn came forth in the shape of pretty coarse meal. This meal was then sifted and the finest used for bread, while the remainder was boiled and made into what they called samp. Dur- ing the year 1821-22, Mrs. Hill lived with the Prestons, who at that time occupied the old fort, using the block-housea for storing grain. Preston kept tavern in a log house near the tort. His only guests were those who came as prospectors and those who were looking for future homes. The block-houses were in excellent condition at that time. They were built of logs, the lower story being carried up about eight feet. Then the logs for the second story were allowed to project over about two feet. The floor of the pro- jection was pierced with numerous holes for the pur- pose of allowing those inside to shoot down upon the enemy as they came up or down the river. In fact, the fort and its surrounding houses were then just as Gen. Wayne had left them. Many of our citizens remember the bodies that were found at or near the site of the present residence of Mr. Myers, on Front street, and also the skull now in the posses-
sion of Dr. Downs, the latter remarkable for its won- derful preservation of hair. Mrs. Hill says the ground just there was long used as a French burial place, and she remembers distinctly of persons being buried there and that at the head of some of the graves were large wooden crosses. While she was at the fort, the graves were very distinct. In this place her par- ents buried their first dead. She also remembers the burial of a little girl of Jolin Driver's. Mrs. Hill says in 1821 Timothy L. Smith was elected the first Justice of the Peace, and she thinks Arthur Burras was the first Constable of Defiance Township. When they came here in that year, 1821, there were but twelve families living between Perrysburg and Fort Wayne. The first above Perrysburg was the family of Moses Rice. Next, John Perkins and Montgomery Evans; still farther up, John Hively lived on the Kepler farm. Near the famous old apple tree on Mr. South- worth's place, lived T. S. Smith; just above Smith Burras located and started the first blacksmith shop in Defiance. William Presten lived at the fort and kept tavern. Robert Shirley lived still further up above the fort, while on the Auglaize, lived Mrs. Hill's family, John and Thomas Driver and James Hinton.
Mrs. Elizabeth Speaker was born May 9, 1817, in Lewis County, Ky., and came to Defiance County; Ohio, and settled in Delaware Township, with fam- ily of James Shirley, in 1839, in what was known as the " Bend," on the Maumee River. The persons ar- riving previous were Tobias Mulligan and father, Montgomery Evans and sons. Mr. Shirley improved his farm in the "bend." Elizabeth, married James Shirley, in June, 1839. He lived thirteen years and died in 1852. She then married Charles Speaker June 10, 1853. He died December 16, 1872. His estate caused much litigation. The chil- dren were-William, Robert, Eliza, Alexander, Louisa, Sylvester, Elizabeth, Emma and Frank, by her last husband. Four children are living, one by the first husband and three by the last husband. The family records are lost. The first settlers were George W. Hill, James Shirley, G. Lumbard, G. Blair and others.
John Musselman was born May 30, 1803, in Shenandoah County, Va., and immigrated to Mont- gomery County, Ohio, where he remained five years and married Miss Eliza Clemmer, in January, 1832, and came to Paulding County, Ohio, in 1834, now Dela- ware Township, Defiance County, on the banks of the Manmee, where he now resides. The township was then covered by a heavy forest and much wet land, so much so that it was settled only along the river. At that time it was known as Williams County. In 1843, Mr. Musselman put up a small tannery,
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
where he tanned all kinds of leather. The yard is now useless, and much like himself. John Cum- mings, who came in Wayne's expedition in 1794, lived with and died at Mr. M.'s. George Plat- ter, George Platter, Sr., George Platter, Jr., and Joseph Miller were early settlers. They settled mostly along the river. It was supposed that the set- lements would be only along the river, and that nothing would grow but grass, where now good wheat is produced. Tile drainage is now much used and is redeeming the land. Mr. M. acted as Justice of the Peace for Delaware Township for about nine years when in Williams County, and was Commis- sioner of Paulding County. Understanding the dis- eases of the country, though not having been a grad- uate, he was often employed to treat the sick among his neighbors, which was done quite successfully. He often met the eccentric "Johnny Appleseed," who frequently passed up the Maumee planting nur- series of apple-seeds. He planted seeds on different farms along the river. Mr. M. has some trees on his farm planted by " Johnny " at that time, grown from seed planted by him, that have fine fruit. His last appearance was about 1845, when he went to Fort Wayne. Mrs. M. died September 18, 1880, aged about sixty-six years. She was the mother of fourteen chil- dren, twelve living; these were named David, Amos, Diana, John, Mary, Cyrus, Eliza, Jane, Minerva, William, Ira and Ida, all married. Amos was in the army in 1861-65. Martha died July 25, 1840, Letitia, died August 17, 1846.
George Kintner was born November 30, 1822, in Columbiana County, Ohio; removed to Crawford County with his parents in 1831, and came to Dela- ware Township in 1851. He married Miss Susannalı Hockert, July 4, 1847, in Crawford County. Their family consists of Rebecca A., Catharine Anne, Jonas, Lovina, Lewis and George A. These all survive but Jonas, George A. and Samuel, who died young. When Mr. K. first arrived, his neighbors were James Gordon, Jonathan Peffly, Peter Blair, Frederick Slough, Peter Krughton, Nicholas Huffborn, C. B. Mulligan and Montgomery Evans. The old orchard, he thinks, was plauted by M. Evans, from seed ob- tained of Johnny Appleseed. There was plenty of game at the time of his arrival.
Mr. E. B. Smith was born May 9, 1837, in Craw- ford County, Ohio, and came to Defiance County in 1850. He married Miss Rebecca A. Shoe, of Cler. mont County, Ohio. His family are Elizabeth, Louella, Charles, Isaac, Oscar, Lucia U. (died when three months old). He purchased and built at Dela- ware Bend in 1847. Mr. S. says his orchard was set out in 1880, by Mr. Snook, on the edge of the bot. tom. The apple trees planted by Montgomery Evans,
and James Shirley were planted about the same time.
Catharine Lewis was born July 19, 1812, in Mus- kingum County, near Zanesville, immigrated to De- fiance County when about nineteen years of age, June 1, 1831, with her husband, James Lewis, and stayed in Defiance one year; then went to Huron County and remained there about two years and returned to Defiance and settled in Delaware Township about 1850, where Mr. Lewis died August 8, 1854. His children were Ellen Maria, James B. and William, who died young. The settlers were few, John Mothers- baugh, William Ronch, George Ronch, Virgil Moats, Henry Funk, John Kinsley and Daniel Swinehart, " The first man that settled on Mud Creek," Elliott Cosgrove, Daniel English and Harry McFeeters. When Mr. L. came to Defiance, there was a log church used by the Methodists. It stood where the Methodist Episcopal Church now stands. The In- dians often got into the old log church to stay, and got out the next morning with bloody noses and much bruised from fighting, the result of bad " fire- water." Two Indians named Cepenash and Segate- hena, fought and pulled rings from their ears and made a bloody time of it in the church. She has often seen the chief, Oquonoxa, who resided where Charloe now stands. Milling was done at Bruners. burg, some four miles away. People came some forty miles to it down the Maumee River in pirognes. She remembers " Johnny Appleseed," Jonathan Ev- ans, Foreman Evans, Pierce Evans, John Evans, the only doctor in the country, David Hull, Mr. Wasson and his nephew William Simmons, M :. Preston, Mr. Gardenshire, Mr. Hateley, John . Oliver and son David. There were then about twenty houses in De- fiance, mostly log.
Charles Smith was born in York County, Penn., April 24, 1809, and attended school and grew up in that county and married Miss Susannah Crowl, of the same county, September 8, 1833; continued to live there until 1837, and then removed to Licking County, Ohio, Harrison Township, remaining there until 1857, when he came to and settled in Delaware Township, Defiance County. He settled on Section 10, in Delaware Township, where he now lives. Had to foot it some distance on logs along the path to his land, to keep out of the water. The timber was quite large and very heavy, and ponds were plenty and nearly covered the surface of the ground. The land is now well drained and makes good farms, and is easy to cultivate. His children are Lydia A., Will- iam H , Lucinda, and Francis M., all living and grown and married and have families. Both boys, Francis M. and William H., were in the war of 1861-65. Jacob Smith, an uncle, was in the war of 1812. Mr.
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
Crowl (Mrs. Smith's father) was in the war of Inde- pendence, in 1776. Mrs. Smith is dead. She went with her husband to Mattoon, Ill., and was there but sixteen days when she took sick and died April 30, 1880, aged sixty-nine years. Deer were quite plentiful when he arrived in the country. Coons and turkeys are yet numerous. William H. married Rachel MeFeeters February 26, 1865; and has threo children-Clara, Anna and Charles Ray. Francis M. married May E. English November 26, 1868. They have had two children-Alice Notta and Harry E. Alice is not living. Lydia married Mr. H. C. Sinsobangh, of Licking County, Septem- ber, 1856, and is at Mattoon, Northern Illinois. Lucinda married John M. Johnson. Mrs. Mont- gomery Evans was a sister of Thomas Warren, and was born in Huntingdon County, Penn., 1787, and died August 1, 1875, aged eighty eight years and four months. Her father moved to Ross Coun- ty, Ohio, in 1811, and to Delaware County in 1812, where she was married to Mr. Evans in 1815, and in the following year they packed their household goods, loaded them on two horses, one of which Mrs. Evans rode and carried their infant son, and follow- ing an Indian war trail they wonded their way to Defi ance to lill the mission of the pioneers. Their route was through an unbroken forest, and a solitary camp- tire at night, the how! of the wolf, the gloom of the forost were all in striking contrast with the homo the young mother had left. Mr. Evans was at home in the woods, having served as a spy under Gen. Winchester and Harrison. Now they were going to reside amongst the tawny tribes so recently their deadly foes. Wo may well imagine the feelings of a mother, surrounded by hosts of these same Indians, withi but fow whites on the river. Arriving at De- fiance, they first located in one of the block-houses in Wayne's fort, using the magazine for a cellar, where they remained about eighteen months. They then moved to Camp No. 3, on the left bank of the Manmee, about five miles below Defiance. Here Mr. Evans remained until 1823, when he in company with Thomas Warren, moved to Delaware Township on the right bank of the Maumee, some seven miles west of Defiance. The river was frozen over and they moved on the ice. The next spring, James Par- tee and John Plumer made sap tronghs and tapped a few sugar trees, from which Mrs. Evans made 300 pounds of sugar. About the year 1825, an express mail was established from Fort Dearborn (now Chi- cago), by Fort Wayne to Detroit. The mail was car- ried by a Frenchman, who passed over the routo once in two weeks. Mr. Evans' house was a regular station on this route. After locating at Delaware, his pro- visions became exhausted before they could raise a
crop. Mr. Warren went down to Prairie Damasque then the residence of Samuel Vance (brother of ex. Gov. Vance, of Ohio), where he bought two bush- ols of wheat which he wished to sow, but failed to get any corn for bread. On his way home, he thought of the destitution of his sister and her little childron, and made up his mind to get his seed wheat ground at a horse mill just started by Mr. Hively, about three miles below Defiance. He called at the mill and proposed to pay for the grinding, but Mr. Miller, like Mr. Warren, wanted bread. The toll amounted to about one-third of the two bushels. He reached home with his unbolted flour. It was then sifted and divided into three grades. The bran they ate when they were very hungry, the other grades were used as occasion required.
Henry Slough was born September 16, 1813, near Baltimore, Md., and removed to Pickaway County, Ohio, with his parents, in 1821, where he followed the occupation of farming. He was married to Miss Elizabeth Hayes, of Pickaway County, April 10, 1834. and in 1842 he removed from there to Defiance County, settling in what was known as Newberry, in Delaware Township. He found the country new here, with few settlements except along the Maumee River, and extensive tracts of low, wet timber land extending for miles on either side of the river, with game, such as deer, bear, turkey, wolves, wild cat, etc., plentiful. The roads were new and almost im- passable. He went to Brunersburg to mill the first time on horseback, and to Defiance to do his trading. From here Mr. Slough removed to Paulding County, renting a farm near New Rochester, and after re- maining in said county some six or seven years, he removed back to Defiance County, settling on a tract of 120 acres of land, he had purchased in Section 16, Delaware Township, and erected a cabin honse and commenced clearing up a farm where he now resides. Mr. Slough's family consists of Isaac N., William A., John W., Henry H., Henry J. and Harriet J .; all liv. ing except Henry J. The boys have all been honored by their fellow-citizens with the offices of Justice of the Peace and other township offices. J. W. Slough was Sheriff of the county four years, from 1864 to 1868, and William A. Slough was Auditor five years, from 1876 to 1881.
Nathaniel M. Blair was born March 28, 1843, on the farm on which he now resides in Delaware Town- ship, distant about two miles from the village of Sherwood. Here he has always lived on the old homestead and now owus the same, having bought out the other heirs. He was married Novem ber 9, 1865, to Miss Emily Jane Tharp, who was born in Farmer Township, April 17, 1842, and daughter of Elisha Tharp, one of the first pio-
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
neers of Farmer Township, who is the only per- son now living in that township who voted at its organization for its first officers. The fruit of this marriage has been four children, viz. : Clarence D., born July 5, 1867; Elsie L., born July 17, 1869, died December 9, 1877; Leota E., boru January 6, 1871; Annie S., born February 7, 1876. Mr. Blair's grandfather, Joseph Blair, came from near Detroit to this county in the spring of 1817, and was a squat- ter at Defiance until the land sales, when he entered the farm on which Stephen Harsey now resides, on the banks of the Maumee at which place he died 1824, aged about eighty-five years. He was in the war of 1812. Peter Blair (father of Nathaniel) was born February 13, 1808, near Detroit, and came to this county with his parents when a boy of nine years, and grew up on his father's farm. In November, 1834, he was married to Miss Betsey Hughs, by whom he had four children, three boys and one girl, viz. : Mary A., Joseph, Nathaniel L. and Benjamin F .; of these, two are dead; Joseph died in infancy, Benjamin F. died November 27, 1880. Mary A., mar- ried Thomas Gordon, now deceased, lives in Marks Township. Mr. B. settled on the farm now occupied by his son Nathaniel, in 1845 or 1846. His first pur- chase was ten acres, upon which he built a log-cabin then purchased from time to time in addition thereto, amounting to 243 acres. While living in his cabin on the river bottom in times of a freshet, when the river overflowed its banks and the water came rush- ing around his cabin, the family were obliged to take refuge in the loft until the waters subsided. The sudden rise of the river often caught his hogs nap- ping in their pens or in the field, and on such occas- ions Mr. B. had to get into his log canoe and paddle around and rescue them as best he could. There was then abundance of fish in the river and game of all kinds in the woods, deer in droves, turkeys in large flocks, bears were plenty and sometimes quite trouble- some among the shoats. Mr. B. kept no gun (a rare cir- cumstance for those days) and very often had to go out accompanied by his little dog and with club in hand, club them away. Indians were numerous, but peaceable and friendly. Mr. B. never had any trouble with them except on one occasion, when he caught one of their dogs committing some depredation and Mr. Blair killed him. The Indian threatened the life of Mr. Blair and was armed with a large knife. In the al- tercation, Mr. Blair gave the Indian one kick which ended the controversy in the death of the Indian, for which Mr. Blair was obliged to pay $32. In the year 1847, Mr. Blair married for his second wife, Miss Sarah Gordon, of this county, and to them were born the following children-Thomas J., Peter, George, Nancy, Laura, Harriet, Evaline and Amer-
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