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 57
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John Price, farmer, P. O. Farmer Center, Ohio, was born in Dauphin County, Penn., July 27, 1814, and is a brother of William Price, whose sketch ap- pears above. In 1850. he purchased eighty acres of land where he now resides, to which he has added by purchase, and at present owns 410 acres of well-im- proved land. He was married, in 1837, to Rachel, daughter of Caleb Beals, of Wayne County, Ohio, who has borne him eight children, six of whom are
living, viz .. Amanda, Sarah, Mary E., Margaret, Eliza J. and Annabel M .; Solomon and Oliver, the second and fourth children, deceased. Mrs. Price departed this life August 27, 1882. Mr. P. has filled the offices of Assessor and Trustee, and is a member of the Farmer Township Detective Association. He is one of the successful and intelligent farmers of the county, and has been the architect of his own fort- nne.
Emanuel Wolford, deceased, was born in Colum- biana County, Ohio, September 12, 1827, and was a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Fox) Wolford, of Penn- sylvania. He was married, Nov. 26, 1857, to Fanny, daughter of Thomas J. Sweet. To them were born four children, two of whom are living, viz., Frank W. and Carrie E .; Ida O. and Effie D., deceased. Mr. W. died October 10, 1872. His father, Samuel, served in an Ohio regiment during the late war.
Harry Sweet, son of Thomas J. Sweet, was a member of the One Hundred and Eleventh Ohio Vol- unteer Infantry during the entire late war, and was wounded twice.
Hiram Sweet, another son, belonged to the One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and saw active service throughout the war.
Levi W. Wilder, so well known throughout this and adjoining counties as farmer, drover and violinist, was born at Three Rivers, Canada, December 27, 1830. Shortly after his birth, his parents moved to New Hampshire. In 1839, they again removed to Mantua, Portage Co., Ohio, where, at the age of thirteen, Levi worked for William Skinner for $6 a month, going to school winters, and doing chores for his board. When sixteen, he came to this county, and when twenty he had paid for his present farin $295, including interest. When twenty three, he married Olive A. Stone, and two children-Lillie Clarina and Otis Lee-have added to their married happiness. Mrs. Wilder is familiar with farm life from childhood, and is eminently qualified to adapt herself to every circumstance. Her practical good sense and sound judgment have contributed, in no small degree, to their financial prospects, while her social and intellectual attainments have made their home an attractive center of a large circle of friends, who are always welcome to their hospitable board. Mr. Wilder never took time to hunt, except for a couple of times, when he was highly successful, on the first day shooting the only deer of the party, who were old hunters. On the second time he hunted, his bearship treed the valiant captain of the hunt, and after allowing the bear to escape the party were marched home. Mr. Wilder tells a good story of his hunting experience. In 1880, he wrote out an address to the citizens of Hicksville, the manuscript of which
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we have. He begins by referring to thirty-five years' residence in the county, and to the great changes that have taken place in that time, from a dense forest to smiling villages and farms. He describes carly scenes. How farmers, in some cases, had to dig up seod potatoes to save thomselves from starvation. Imagino, says he, a spring-polo, a pestle, a string, a hollowed out stump, a few grains of corn, and a woman pounding up that corn to get dinner for the Hon. A. P. Edgerton! Young men roamed the woods barefooted, hunting, until the soles of their feet were imponotrable by thorns or briers. He goes on humor- onsly to relate how, owing to the refusal of his horse to carry two, he had to walk while the girl (after- ward Mrs. Wilder) rode, and when crossing the stream noar Mr. Farmer's, the high-spirited steed leaped across, throwing off the young lady, who hung. by the stirrup. Wonderful to relate, the horse, usu- ally a kicker, stood still until Levi came up and re- leased the lady. The address goes on cleverly to contrast the warm manners of the past with the for- mality of tho present, "cold as the wiggle of a dead dog's nose." Bnt in the last forty years a mighty change has taken place; carding and spinning by hand have gone, and the girls are to-day pleading at the bar, preaching in the pulpit, or editing newspa- pers. The schoolhouse in which Mr. Boyington taught was about sixteen feet square, with holes bored in the logs and pins driven in, and boards nailed on for a desk; basswood logs split for benches, and puncheon floor. One day, Spencer Hopkins came to the school, and wished Levi to help him catch a wounded deer, and after going two miles, Hopkins directed him to catch it by the horns while he cut its throat. Levi did so, but let go without being told. The deer, as Levi expresses it, was a careless cuss, and put both hind feet on his shoulders, and Levi thought for a minute or two that he had a dozen feet. The deer ent his pants on the bias, and put some beautiful stripes on them. This was the last deer he evor caught. He never forgave Hopkins until he got a chance to stumble with him on his back (accident- ally ?) while carrying him across a mud-hole. Hop- kins was dressed for church, but when he came out of that mud-hole he was hardly presentable. When Mr. Wilder came to Farmer, there were living there then Grandfather Rice and wife, Edward Lacost and wife, John Rice and wife, Joseph Barney and wife, William Reynolds and wife, Josiah and James and Isaac Tharp and wife, Amarilla Lord, Jacob Conkey, Dr. O. Rice and Spencer Hopkins; none of whom are here now. Mr. Wilder here pays a eulogy to Mr. Hopkins, with whom he had spent many happy days. " In the meridian of life he departed. Peace be to thy ashes, thou sharer of my boyhood pastime.
May the flowers bloom sweetly over all the old set- tlers' graves. May the journeying wind sigh sweetly, as year after year they pass o'er their grassy beds. May the solitary rain-clouds weep in darkness over the remains that lie in that Farmer's Cemetery. But when shall human tears cease to be shed ? * * * What is death? Or what is life? Of what does it consist, that we put such a value upon it? Is it that frail breath that makes us weak, and suffer so much ? Why do we fear to lose it, more than anything in this world ? What is reserved for us after it, that the thought of death makes us tremble? Man has been talking about it for century after century. We all link about it, but no one can tell; it is a mystery, all. How little we realize that we are so interwoven into the fabric of society, that not one fiber can be influenced for good or for evil without such influence extending to all in contact. When brother Went- worth sang his song here last year, it had its influ- ence with me, and in a few weeks' time I had a song all cut and dried, ready for the touch of the old set- tler's match. If my time is not out, I will sing that song to-day; if it is, I will sing it in some future time, providing that old invader, Death, does not travel me over that road from which no traveler was ever yet known to return. It speaks of the residences, occupations, names and nicknames of quite a number of the first settlers. For the benefit of late set- tlers and the young, I will explain the nicknames: Edge is the Hon. A. P. Edgerton; Nat, Rev. N. Crary; Boots, Mr. Elias Crary; Mullen, Mr. Spencer Hopkins; K, Mr. Seneca Sanford; The Miller of Lost Creek, Mr. Miller Arrowsmith; Buckskin, the name of a creek where Mr. Lyman Langdon resides.
PIONEER SONG.
(As sung by L. W. Wilder at the old settlers' meeting in Hicksville, Ohio, A. D. 1880. Tune, "O, carry me back to Old Virginia.")
There were Conkeys in Farmer and Dilman in Center And Thomas that lived in Newville,
Doctor Rakestraw in Hicksville, and Nobles in Clarksville, And our miller of Lost Creek Mills.
T'was Edge, it was Nat, it was Boots, it was Mullen, and an- other we used to call K.
O, carry me back to the days of my childhood, I'm willing to go any day.
There was the spring-pole and pestle and hollowed out stump Where Mrs. Osborn ground corn for to bake.
Her cakes were so graud for she bolted by hand;
No toll but her own did she take.
T'was Edge, it was Nat, it was Boots, it was Mullen, and an- other we used to call K.
O, carry me back to the days of my childhood, no stealing or tolling for pay.
There was Nobles, au old fur-buyer. he has been Paulding Judge, And another we used to call Chett Blynn.
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
With four weeks' excursion all over this wild wood, Would corner them up with coon skins.
T'was Edge, it was Nat, it was Boots, it was Mullen, and an- other we used to call K.
Pins, needles and whisky they scarcely did deal in, but al- ways had money to pay.
The wolf and the bear that roved over this wildwood, The Mortimers chased them away.
The beaver and otter was in Lost Creek water, And the opossum have all gone astray.
T'was Edge, it was Nat, it was Boots, it was Mullen, and an- other we used to call K.
O, carry me back to the place of my childhood, when hunt- ing was nothing but play.
There was Langdon on Buckskin, and Haller on Lost Creek, And Allen and Rices them days.
Randall Lord, our shoemaker, at the Junction Brubaker, And Hinkle was honest they say.
T'was Edge, it was Nat, it was Boots, it was Mullen, and an- other we used to call K.
O, carry me back to the days of my childhood, they were hon- est if not quite so gay.
There were the Wentworths and Travis, the Evans and Cur- tis, Oh, Sid Sprague don't forget "by the way;"
For in building he was a giant, he built up Defiance Without any money to pay.
T'was Edge, it was Nat, it was Boots, it was Mullen, and an- other we used to call K.
O, carry me back to the days of my childhood, when cities were built without pay.
The Farmer road to Hicksville, the crooks are there still, Surveyed by a man in our town.
His pants leg it was froze, and the story now goes, That his dry leg kept running around.
T'was Elge, it was Nat, it was Boots, it was Mullen, and an- other we used to call K.
O, carry me back to the days of my childhood, when dry legs kept running away.
It has been truly said, you might go and see Edge, Without money, could buy you a farm;
You build you a cabin, and then move your wife in, And work and he would do you no harm. Now 'tis the honorable A. P. for in Congress was he, but I don't know what they call K.
O, carry me back to the days of my boyhood, when farms could 1x bought without pay.
A brave man in Hicksville went out past the mill, A deer lick to watch one day;
He heard an owl hoot and for Hicksville did scoot, And seven-up on his coat tail you could play.
It was the honorable A. P. running for Congress you see, but his vote was all O K.
O, carry me back, that coat tail to see, seven up aint the game it used to be.
A farmer, a thresher, a fiddler and a hunter, On horseback rode out one day.
He hugged a school teacher, and turned out a preacher, And nothing can beat him they say.
Now 'tis the Hon. A. P. and the Rev. N. C., but his doctor- ing ain't all O K.
O, carry me back to the days of my boyhood, when fiddlers made preachers that way.
On the banks of St. Joe, the old settlers know, Lived a man they called Tommy Green.
When the country was new, of one gun he made two. Before any game he had seen.
" Two pieces are handier than one," cried Tommy, " I've now the best gun in the land."
By the eternal, he swore, "I wish I'd broke it before, for I can now carry a piece in each hand."
My sisters took music lessons once, On mother's little wheel.
The scale they slid up and down on a tow thread, And the notes they used to feel.
They made their own dresses of home-spun wool, my pants were made of tow.
O, let me go back to my youthful days, o'er forty years ago. Soon after I first landed on this earth, A buckeye hat I wore.
Tow shirt and tow breeches my mother she made me,
And she paddled me when I swore.
My suit was made of daddy's tow frock, brass buttons on my vest.
O, let me go back to my youthful days, it would tickle me half to death.
I've had my ups and downs in this world, Barefooted I've been to school;
I have jumped out of bed with snow on my head, You bet 'twas confounded cool.
But the future I don't know nothing about, the wicked they say have no rest;
If Rev. Crary's doctrine, it would prove trne, it would tickle us all to death.
There has been a great change, in people and names, Some worse and some for the best.
Some kept plodding along, whether right or for wrong, And some gone away out West.
But our fathers, our mothers, our sisters and brothers have gone and left us alone;
They have left us the word, we must come that road no trav- eler yet known to return.
Old settlers, see here, to me you're so dear, Your race is nearly run.
Then will there be rejoicing to see
A mother meet her son.
Your ambitious life's been a tedious one, its led some to re- nown,
But your bodies soon they must decay, and fade and totter down.
Kind people assist, some name I have missed, No malice or intention of mine.
If I've caused any pain, its a lack in my brain, But I'll try and do better next time.
But time goes marching swiftly on, and we are growing old, We can't go back to our youthful days, we can't for love or gold.
Oney Rice Hopkins, merchant, Farmer Center, was born in Potsdam, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y , March 1, 1818, son of Truman and Laura Hopkins, natives of Vermont. When he was about sixteen years of age, his father died, leaving a family of six children- Spencer, Oney Rice, Laura Elvira, Marinda, Uretta Cordelia and Hannah Sabrina-who, with their mother, removed to Ohio in the fall of 1835, and set-
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
tled in what was then Williams County. O. R. Hop- kins was one of the four men who built the first log house in the town. The names of the other three were John Rico (his uncle). Spencer Hopkins (his brother) and Edward Lacost, they having to walk from Defiance, a distance of twenty milos, carrying their axes and provisions to last while they cut fivo niles of road and 'built a shanty to serve them while building the first log house. The subject of this sketch is the only survivor at this time (Fobrnary, 1883), the other three having died several years ago. On the 23d of July. 1840, Mr. Hopkins married Artemisia Sawyer, who was born March 8, 1823, in Rushville, Yates Co., N. Y., daughter of Prescott and Zernia Sawyor. In 1843, he engagod in the mercan- tilo business, keeping the first storo in Farmer Town- ship. In July, 1845, he settled in Green County, Wis., where ho remained till the fall of 1847, then to Muck- wonago, Waukesha County; in April, 1851, went to Madison, Dane Co., Wis., and in November, 1853, moved to Milwaukee and took charge of the wood- work department of the Milwaukee Threshing Machine Company, where he remained about fourteen years in the same business. In 1865, he removed to Chicago, Ill., and went into the manufacture of zinc wash- boards, in company with his sons, A. R. and S. R. Hopkins (firm named O. R. Hopkins & Sons). In the spring of 1866, he bought a farm in the town of Vernon, Waukesha Co., Wis., where he followed farming four years. 1866, joined the order of I. O. O. F., to which society he still belongs, as a zealous worker. In the spring of 1870, he rented his farm and returned to Chicago, where he again went into manufacturing, and continued in that until the great Chicago fire, in October, 1871, when he lost his house and shop by fire, losing about $8,000. After the fire, he re-built his shop and continued the same business, with the addition of sash, doors and blinds. In August, 1872, he moved to Rossville, Shawnee Co., Kan., but only remained there till fall, when he returned to, Chicago, and, the spring following, built a residence in Jefferson, one of the suburbs of Chica- go, and occupied it one year, then sold it and broke np housekeeping and spent some time in Ohio. In May, 1875, he removed with his family to Den -
ver, Colo., but remained only three months, then re- turned to Chicago for the fourth time, stayed about three months, then went to Edgerton, Williams Co., Ohio, and ongaged in selling agricultural implements in company with M. C. Farnham. In May, 1876, he sold his interest in the business to his partner and . removed to Wanpun, Wis., where he was engaged in the manufacture of windmills five years. In June, 1880, he was representative to the Grand Lodge, I. O. O. F., of the State of Wisconsin, held at Madison June 1 to 1; through the summer of the same year, kept the Western Hotel, in the city of Wanynu, Wis. His wife died February 17, 1881; soon after, he broke up housekeeping, and on his way to New York, while stopping in Ohio to visit friends, he married, for his second wife, Ellen M. Thrall, widow of Mar- tin Thrall, M. D., who resided at Farmer Center, Defiance Co., Ohio. After spending the summer in New York City, returned to Wisconsin in the fall. He engaged again in the manufacture of zinc wash- boards: the February following was again burned out, losing some $1,500. In the spring of 1882, he went again to Waupun, Wis., and the following fall removed to Beaver Dam, Wis .; engaged in the res- taurant and confectionery business; then to Farmer, Defiance County, where he has rented a store; is put- ting in a stock of goods.
Mr. Hopkins had eight sons by his first wife. The eldest, Arba Ransom, is living in Waupun, Wis. The second son, Selden Rich, enlisted in Company K, Twenty-fourth Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, served but a few months, when he was taken sick and placed in the hospital at Nashville, Tenn. His father went to Nashville, got his discharge, and returned home to Milwaukee. In a short time he recovered his health so as to engage as Military Telegraph Operator, stationed in Tennessee, which position he held until about the close of the war. He is now editor and publisher of the Bookkeeper, in the city of New York. The seventh son, Dr. Truman Pres- cott, is living in Milwaukee. Is engaged as Master Mechanic by the C., M. & St. P. R. R. Co. His other five sons died quite young, their ages being from eight days to three years.
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXIV.
HICKSVILLE TOWNSHIP-ROADS- SALES OF LAND-MILLS-VOTERS IN 1845-HICKSVILLE- VILLAGE OF HICKSVILLE-SCHOOLS-CHURCHES-SECRET SOCIETIES-PHYSICIANS-
ATTORNEYS-PRESS-BUSINESS INDUSTRIES-PERSONAL REMINISCENCES.
This township occupies the southwest corner of Defiance County. It is a full Congressional town- ship, being Township 4 north, Range 1 east. About one-third of the territory-the southeast portion-is still uncleared, the land here being low and wet. The soil of this low land is a sandy loam, very pro- ductive. The more undulating portions of the land have a clay soil. Elm, hickory and swamp oak were the most common types of timber in the low lands, while much walnut, oak and beech and some sugar, ash and other varieties prevailed on the higher lands. It was organized in June, 1839, and the first election of officers held June 22.
The settlement of the township was developed principally through the Hicks Land Company and the American Land Company. Of the 23,040 acres in the township, 14,000 were owned by the former and over 4,000 by the latter company. The greater part of these lands were entered in the years 1835-36 and 1837.
The Hicks Land Company (so called) the Ameri- can Land Company, Columbus and other Ohio par- ties, and smaller Eastern speculators were large pur. chasers of the public lands in Ohio during the years mentioned. All these purchases were made for a speculation through an expected sale before the lands became taxable, which was five years from the time of entry. It was believed that the country would so rapidly settle up, that sales could be made of large quantities at large profits within the five years.
All of the lands of the Hicks Land Company, so called, were entered in 1835-36 in the names of Henry W. Hicks and Isaac S. Smith, Mr. Hicks being of the firm of Samuel Hicks & Sons, shipping merchants. 80 South street, New York, and Mr. Smith being of the firm of Smith & Macy, Isaac S. Smith and John B. Macy, steamboat owners and large forwarding and commission merchants, of Buffalo, N. Y. Smith after- ward conveyed all his interest to Henry W. Hicks, and from him direct, or through A. P. Edgerton as a purchaser from him, all the titles of purchasers of the Hicks lands have been derived.
Having entered a large body of land, the owner's determined to make such improvements upon them as would secure, in their opinion, a rapid sale at remn- nerative or profitable prices.
John A. Bryan, of Columbus, Ohio, then Auditor of State, had been agent in selecting these lands, and to him was assigned the duty of commencing opera- tions at Hicksville, a town to be laid out, and thus called after the Hickses. He engaged Ephraim Bur- well, of Columbus, May 20, 1836, who came shortly thereafter " to start the business." The selection of Mr. Burwell was not fortunate, as a large loss was sustained through his management. The liberality of the company and their honorable purposes were unquestioned. They made an effort deserving suc- cess financially, and one which was greatly to the benefit of every interest in the surrounding country. The first thing to be done by the agent sent here (Burwell) was to start a town, and to make a road into the township. There was not a road running north from the Maumee River between Bull Rapids and Defiance, thirty miles. Isaac Hall underbrushed a road from the river up to the State line, over which he moved that year to where he now lives, on the Fort Wayne road.
Burwell was directed " to be cautious in the se- lection of a town site." It was to be " fixed in the most profitable place to the owners, and in the midst of the most valuable timber." Hicksville was se- lected and laid out, and a road to it became a neces- sity.
FIRST ROAD.
Accordingly a survey was made by Amzi D. Meese, of a road from the Maumee River to the In- diana line, in the direction of Newville. This road is now called the " Old Clemner road" and the " New- ville road." It was a part of a State road from Fort Brown, on the Auglaize River, to the Indiana line. The road was at once chopped out the whole width of sixty feet for about a mile and a half from the river, and partially chopped the remainder of the way to Hicksville. The cost was $488.93, and paid by the company. After Burwell had spent $12,- 439.45 in making the Clemmer road, and making some attempts at clearing, putting up three log cabins, and getting a saw mill in running condition, without any sale of lands or lots, the proprietors concluded to re organize their adventure. Accordingly in April, 1837, A. P. Edgerton came out from the city of New York, where he had been employed in a counting-
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
house in which the Hickses were interested, to take charge of the property, not only for the Hicks Land Company but for the American Land Company. He received a salary of $1,000 per annum from the Hicks Company and a commission from the other company.
OTHER ROADS.
During the year 1838, more roads were necessary, and our friend Arrowsmith was found equal to any emergency, and in that year surveyed a road from New Harrison, on the Manmee River, at the State line. The road ran north on the Indiana line to the cor- nors of Allon and DeKalb Counties, in Indiana, and from thence northeasterly through Hicksville to Lost Creek, Farmer and Evansport. This is now our Fort Wayne aud Bryan road, running through High street in Hicksville.
The two roads crossed each other at. Main and High streets, being the Clemmer and Newville and the Fort Wayne and Bryan roads, and were the only romus surveyed in the township until 1840.
The necessity for additional roads through the county was more and more apparent. The road from Maumee City to Detiance and to the Indiana line on the south side of the river was the most important and the most used. Then the roads of the Auglaize, and np Bean Creek through Evansport to the Michi- gan line, and the Bellefontaine road through Bru- nersburg, Williams Center and Denmark on the St. Joseph, were important. In 1840, a road was sur- voyed from Clarksville on the St. Joseph River south to Hicksville, and from thence to the " Basin " on the Wabash & Erie Canal, where Antwerp now is. This is now the " Edgerton road " north and the Antwerp Turnpike south. No work was done that year on this road north of Hicksville, but sonth to the Mamnee River it was cut out thirty feet wide by contract; Abram Jackson, now a wealthy and re- spected farmer of Scipio, being one of the contractors.
SALES OF LAND.
The first piece of land sold in the township was sold April 23, 1837, to Buenos Ayres, being the 100 aeros in Section 15 where John Clemmer now lives. The next piece was in Section 7, to Luther Loveland, June 27, 1837, and is the farm on which he lived for nearly forty years, and which he sold in 1877. Then July 1, Edward Wood bonght the forty acres where Hattery lives, in the northeast quarter Section 21, and pni. upon it, in 1839, the first cabin in the township off the town plat. It was raised on Sunday, because all the men in the township were working by the day . the Newville road, and the next Lewis Michalls, in 1840; or month and couldn't afford the time to raise it on any other day. August 14, 1837, James Thomas bought the 100 acres in Section 18 where Harrison
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