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 68
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heavily timbered. His father was the second settler in the township, Mr. Slater being the first. Thomas Green, Sr., helped raise Mr. Slater's cabin, in Au- gust, 1834, when there to select his land. The cabin of Mr. Green was next put up, in October, 1834. Thomas Green's children were Diadema, Hester, Jacob, Mary, Mahulda, Rosalinda, Ira, David, Jeremiah and Thomas. Mr. Green and his father killed great num- bers of deer, and Mr. Green, Sr., killed as high as sixty deer, for five or six years, each autumn, and became somewhat noted for his skill and success in taking bruin. The Pottawatomies, and some Miamis, often camped along the St. Joseph River and hunted. Mr. Green frequently joined them in shooting deer by candle-light from their canoes. They killed large numbers by such means. The deer, except an oc- casional one, all disappeared about 1850. The bears ceased to appear earlier. Wild cats, of which there were great numbers about the swamps, left about 1870. The remarkable number of wild cats in this region seems to give strength to the old tradition that the tribe that gave name to "Lake Erie," the " Cats," actually existed in this region. Mr. Green and Mr. Pierce say that wild cats existed here in vast numbers and size, and of almost all colors- brown, brindle, spotted and black-and of immense proportion, generally weighing from forty to seventy pounds apiece, and when cornered and incapable of retreat, quite ferocious and sometimes dangerous in self-defense. Mr. Green states that he killed a "cat" that weighed eighty pounds, the largest one ever caught in the township, which was stuffed by Green, and went to Barnum's museum. Milling, in 1835, was done at Edgerton, on Fish Creek, in Ohio, and at a little mill at Clarksville, and occasionally at Brunersburg. The first school remembered was in Williams County, and the teacher was John Sawyer. The first blacksmith was Robert Carr, and a man by the name of Zedicar. The first carpenter was James Weight. The first cabinet- maker was Jeremiah A. Ball. The first shoe-maker was Thomas Olds; the next was John Poper. The first Methodist meeting was at Col. Samuel Lewis', in St. Joseph Township, Williams County, in 1836. The Revs. Brock and Willson were the preachers on the circuit. The Lutherans came in subsequently. Their first preacher was James Carther, about 1843. He had a little church at Clarksville. The road to Hicksville was cut about 1835, and subsequently im- proved as the township became more compactly set- tled. The first Justice of the Peace in the township was Elisha Clark. The present Justice of the Peace is C. W. Barney. Farmer Center and St. Joseph, in Williams County, were joined for the election of a Justice of the Peace prior to the erection of Defiance
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
County. The family of Mr. Green consists of nine children, six boys and three girls, all living. Their names are Thomas Jefferson, George W., Eli, Charles, Levi, Leroy, Caroline, Lucy and Arabelle. Three sons are married, also one daughter.
Ava Gingery states that the Universalist Church at Logan Corners was built about 1872. It is of brick, and cost about $1,400. A schoolhouse at the Corners was built in 1878, in District No. 9. Mr. Gingery was born in Wayne County, Ohio, in 1842, and came to the Corners in 1861. His family con- sists of three children. Mr. G. married Miss Eliza Hopkins January 8, 1872.
John Henry was one of the earliest settlers of the western part of Defiance County, having emigrated from New York in 1836, and located on the St. Jo, then the home of the red man, where he continued to reside, witnessing the gradual change of the wilderness to fertile farms, and increasing his fort- une with the increasing wealth of the country until his death, April 28, 1856, aged fifty-four years. His children were Maria, Dwight, Elizabeth, Francis and Albert.
Jacob D. Serrill was born in Darby, Delaware Co., Penn., August 28, 1811, and came to Milford Township in 1850, directly from Delaware County, Penn. When he arrived, there were William G. Pierce, Sidney Aldeman, Samuel Deihl, Frederick Lane, William Wilcox and others in the township. Mr. S. helped to make the early roads. The first schoolhouse was a cabin, and the first teacher Dr. James, in District No. 7. Preaching took place, generally, in the schoolhouses or private cabins. The preachers were old Mr. Chapman, for the United Brethren, and Nathaniel Crary for the Universalists. The Methodists had an occasional discourse. They have a small church on Section 10, and a few mem- bers. He was not an adept in the hunting business, and consequently did not follow it up. He attended the mills at Clarksville, which was then quite a busi- ness village. The village then contained two tav- erns, two stores, two doctors, Ladd and a student, and perhaps eighteen houses, and a grist mill. It has now about twenty-five inhabitants, and has grad- ually gone to decay. The post office is now at George W. Chapman's and named " Milo," and one at Cicero Corners, called " Cicero," which has been in existence since 1861. J. D. Serrill had the office at his house, and was Postmaster from 1853 to 1861. It was removed to the house of Reuben Hyde and then to Mr. Chapman's, and he appointed Postmaster. Mr. Serrill has been Treasurer of Milford Township, Trustee and Postmaster a number of years. He has in his homestead 120 acres of land, under good cul tivation, with a good brick house and frame barn.
He resides in an old style log cabin, which he is loath to give up. He possesses many relics of other days, that are both curious and interesting. Among these is a family Bible published in 1628, in London, containing the old family record at that time! He also has an almanac printed by the celebrated Dr. Ben Franklin in 1748, at Philadelphia; a Bible pub- lished in 1773, and the family record of his aunt Pearson; an almanac of 1811; a prayer-book of his mother, bearing date 1800; a silver ladle and punch-bowl of his grandfather. used before the American Revolution; a silver set, used at the same time, before 1775, by his grandmother; an old silver tea pot, and pot, a sugar bowl, etc., used by the same parties before 1775. Mr. Serrill, for reasons best known to himself, has remained single. He is a gen -. tleman of fair abilities, and a man of some culture. The right lady has not been found to make an im- pression on his heart and render his declining years happy. He is in the enjoyment of good health, and possesses good social qualities.
Nathaniel Crary was born July 27, 1823, in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., and came to Milford Town- ship with his parents in the spring of 1837, where he remained until his marriage, in 1848, to Miss Mercy Wartenbee, with whom he lived twelve years, when she died, leaving three children -- Doraliski, Celestia and Anstin B. Mr. C. married, for his second wife, Mrs. Arilla Kemble, on the 8th of April, 1855. She had two girls, Alice and Arilla, whom Mr. Crary adopted, and changed their names to Crary. His children by his second wife are five -- Mercy, Madison N., Demerest H., Gracie and Laura Genevra. The farm Mr. C. now owns is in Milford, in Section 35, and earned by him, in chopping acre for acre, in 1849. The first settlers were Dennis Boyles, J. Hulbert, Daniel Coy, Peter Beerbower, Isaac Wartenbee and Miller Arrowsmith. In March, 1876, said Crary removed to Hicksville, where he now resides. During the last twenty-seven years, he has, in connection with farming, been engaged in preaching the doctrines of Universalism, as taught by Winchester, Mowery, Ballon, Whittemore and others. He has engaged in many oral discussions with the opponents to a world's salvation, and is yet alive. He met in discussion with Elder Holmes, of the United Brethren, and Elder Chubb, of the Methodists; John Sweeny, of the Disciple Church, from Chicago; John Mayham, a Methodist preacher from Logansport; W. M. Lord, of La Porte, Ind., and others. Mr. Crary marked the line through the forest with a hatchet, known in his neighbor- hood as the "Crary road," to Hicksville, and his mother and two other women who had socks to trade, in exchange for groceries, followed the trail
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of the footmen, by the blazed trees made by Mr. Crary, to the village. Hicksville was a place of resort for several years for those who wished to meet to amnse themselves at playing base ball. Among those who were experts were A. P. Ed- gerton, Elias Crary, A. Crary and others, who used to meet every few weeks for the purpose of playing ball. Mr. Crarv, in an early day, ran an old-styled threshing machine. The horse-power and cylinder were all one mac ine, and conveyed on one wagon. For three years he threshed every job from Farmer Center to the State line on the Fort Wayne road. He would drive into the field where the wheat was stacked or unstacked, and drive down some stakes, and put up some boards to keep the wheat from scat- 'tering all over the field, and after the grain was threshed off the straw he left the man who owned it to clean up and report the quantity. We give, in Mr. Crary's own words, the following:
" When my father removed to this county from Canada, in 1839, we landed at Defiance, and there, for the first time, I saw some of the Ohio dent corn, and it being such a novelty, and as my father had bought a piece of land in Milford Township, at the northwest quarter of Section 36, I thought we would need some of the new but strong corn to plant the next spring, so we took the liberty of lodging two of the large ears in our coat pocket, and carried them through the wilderness ont to Farmer Center, driv- ing a number of cows through the mnd and swamps, and when we stopped over night at Farmer Center, with one Jacob Conkey, and behold! we found our host had a large crib full of the same kind of corn which we had brought in our pockets, and we have admired that kind of corn ever since.
" When my father commenced on the farm where the Widow Crary now lives, we soon found ourselves in want of provisions, especially ineat. In the month of June, after a hard day's work, hoeing corn among the logs, father proposed that we wonld go down two miles south and watch a deer lick, and try and kill us a venison (as we called killing a deer in those days). We found the lick then in the wilderness (but now on the farm owned by Ray Maxwell, Esq.), and as the lick was an open piece of springy ground, father perched me up in a tree to watch that end of the lick, while he stationed himself at the other end. I had not sat but a short time before I heard the step of something in the dry leaves, and as I turned myself around I saw a deer walking directly toward me. I took a dead aim at him, resting my old shotgun across a limb, which was loaded with one ball and nine buckshot (we al- ways put in odd member of shot for luck), and when I pulled trigger out went the ball and nine buck-
shot, and down went the deer. I screamed at the top of my voice, 'Father! father! I killed-I have killed him!' Father soon came to my relief, cut the deer's throat, and we drew him at little distance, where we dressed him. I remained with the dead deer all night, while father went back and watched the lick, but saw no more deer. My eldest brother, Elias, while once chasing some deer on horseback, found a bear's track, and found, also, that old bruin had been back-track- ing himself; he had heard that the bear, just before burrowing up for the winter, would turn and follow his back track, to avoid detection of his winter quar- ters. So brother came home, and reported what he had seen of the bear's track, and he thought he was in a hollow sycamore, not far from where he left the tracks. The next morning, brother and Uncle Royal Hopkins and myself, with dogs, az and guns, :started for the tree. We followed him but a short distance from where brother left his track the night before, when we found he had gone into a large hol- low sycamore tree. The tree forked about twenty feet from the ground, and right in the fork of the tree was the entrance into the trunk. The bear was in the tree, down next to the ground. After delibera- tion, we decided to fell a small elm tree which stood in the right place to fall into the forked sycamore, thereby closing up the hole that admitted the bear into his retreat. Uncle Royal chopped the little elm, while brother stood with cooked rifle to his face, so if the bear should undertake to come out of the tree he would shoot him. The little elm, instead of fall- ing down into the fork of the sycamore, caught on one of the branches of the sycamore, about six feet above the entrance into the bear's house. We heard a mighty scratching in the tree, and out came the bear. As he looked around, brother fired, and we supposed he had shot him, for he fell to the ground like a puff- ball. The dogs went for him, but the bear com- menced rolling over and over, and finally freed him- self from the dogs, and away he went; he soon got out of our sight, and soon the dogs came back. Whether brother hit him or not we had no means of knowing, and started for home feeling the truthful- ness of the old adage: ' There is many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.'"
John F. Haller, the eldest of the family of William and Sarah (Arrowsmith) Haller, was born in Champaign County, Ohio, March 17, 1826. Mr. Haller realizing, as all ambitious young men should in setting out in life, that it was his duty to make a living in an honorable way, with this purpose in view, concluded to look around the country, and see what the prospects were. Consequently, on the 24th day of December, 1844, he took up his line of march with $2.50 in cash, and after a three days' march
MR. J. F. HALLER.
MRS. J. F. HALLER. [
"LONGWOOD FARM"
RES . OF J. F. HALLER, MILFORD TP. DEFIANCE CO., OHIO.
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
reached Defiance on the 26th day of the same month with some money left. Mr. Haller makes no preten- sions to being one of the first settlers, but at the same time the country was very new, and compara- tively few people living here, and they had but small improvements. Wild game was plenty, of various kinds common to a new country. But as Mr. Haller was not cut out for a hunter, he paid the business of hunting and shooting wild game very little attention. He chose, rather, to teach the young idea how to "shoot," and taught school the following winter. He also commenced to improve the farm on which he now lives, Mr. Haller followed school teaching a part of the timo for five years, in connection with making improvements on his farm. Wages were low at that time; labor commanding, generally, not more than half the present prices. The first settlers of this country were very poor, as men of means don't choose to expose themselves to the hardships and privations incident to the settlement of a new coun- try. February 13, 1851, Mr. Haller married Miss Ellen Bassett, of Paulding County, Ohio, daughter of Elias and Fanny Bassett, who were born and mar- ried in the county of Kent, England, and emigrated to this country soon after their marriage. Mrs. Bas- sett died at Independence, this county, at an early day. Mr. Bassett died in Iowa in 1872. Their daughter, Ellen, was born in Huron County, Ohio, October 23, 1831, and died September 20, 1874, leaving four children-Sarah A., William E., Clara E. and Jesse R. November 27, 1878, Mr. Haller married, for his second wife, Mrs. Mary A. Hollon, daughter of David and Sophia House, of Oswego County, N. Y., who was born in the same county January 8, 1841. John Haller, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born at Haller's Gap, Penn., on the Schuylkill River. Mr. Haller emi- grated West in 1796, and after exploring a part of Ohio, finally settled in Kentucky. He was of Ger- man parentage, a blacksmith by trade, and a superior workman. He was married in Kentucky, in 1797, to Mary Allen, a native of Virginia. Mrs. Mary Allen Haller died in 1811, leaving seven children, the father of John F. Haller, mentioned above, being the second of the children. In 1812, he moved to Ur- bana, Ohio, and in 1815 was again married, to Mrs. Mary Weaver. By this marriage they had eight chil- dren. About the year 1833, he moved to Bruners- burg, Defiance County, and settled on the farm now owned by his youngest son, H. R. Haller, where he died in 1835, aged sixty five years. Mary (Weaver) Haller, his wife, died in 1849. There are four children yet living. Ezekiel Arrowsmith, grand- father on the mother's side of John F. Haller, the subject of the above sketch, was born near Baltimore,
Md., in 1770, and emigrated to Kentucky when about twenty-three years of age, and soon after married Elizabeth Kenton, daughter of William Kenton, who was a brother of Simon Kenton, the noted Indian fighter. The Kenton family went to Kentucky at an early day, and landed where Louisville now stands. Mr. Arrowsmith moved to Ohio about 1801, and set- tled on Mad River, four miles west of Urbana. Their family consisted of ten children; three only are now living. Mr. Arrowsmith died in 1849, where he first settled in Ohio. His wife, Elizabeth (Kenton) Ar- rowsmith, died in 1866, at the advanced age of ninety years. William Haller, father of John F. Haller, was second son of John Haller, and was born in Kentucky in 1801, and was married in Champaign County, Ohio, in 1825, to Sarah Arrowsmith, dangh- ter of Ezekiel and Elizabeth (Kenton) Arrowsmith, and who was also born in Kentucky in 1801. There were three children by this marriage -- John F., Benja- min L. and Emily J. Mrs. Sarah (Arrowsmith) Haller died in 1835. Mr. William Haller married, for his second wife, Miss Jane Arrowsmith, sister of his first wife. By this marriage there were two chil- dren-Sarah A. and Lavina. In 1852, Mrs. Jane (Arrowsmith) Haller died, and for his third wife Mr. William Haller married in 1856, Myrtilla Bishop. They had but one child, a son, William A. William Haller died in Champaign County, Ohio, December 2, 1880, aged about eighty years. At the time Mr. Haller moved into Defiance County, there lived in the north half of Hicksville Township Joshua Hall, -- Tannehill, Benjamin Kimball, Luther Loveland, B. Ayers, Isaac Wartenbee, D. M. Grier, Thomas Mc- Curdy, Cass Ginter. On the Fort Wayne, Newville and Spencerville roads there were a few, and only a few, settlers, and there were but a few families living in the town of Hicksville at that time. On the south half of Milford Township were living A. W. Wilcox, - Thompson, Harvey Hastings, Daniel Coy, C. M. Hulbert, M. J. Hulbert, William Pierce, E. Crary, D. Boyles, Peter Beerbower, E. C. Crary, Royal Hopkins and Benjamin Forlow. In the south half of Farmer Towwnship were living Jacob Conkey, Dr. Rice, David Allen, William Powell, James Fisher, Martin Johnson, James Durham, Ira Brown, John Mortimore, Nathan Farmer, L. Bronson, M. Arrow- smith, Jesse , Haller, Alexander Tharp, A. Bercaw, Anthony Huber, R. M. Kells, Jared Hulbert. What is now known as Mark Township was attached to Farmer for judicial purposes at the time Mr. Haller came to the county. At that time there was a Mr. Hughes and one or two of his sons living on Sulphur Creek, on Section 13, in that township. Mr. Haller helped to get out the timber to build a house on lands then owned by Edward Bassett, which was
21
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
probably about the third house built in the town- ship.
C. M. Hulbert was born January 14, 1820, in Summit County. Ohio, and remained there until six teen years of age, and then came to Farmer Town- ship, Defiance County in 1840. His father, Jared Hulbert, subsequently moved to Mark Township, where he died in February, 1876, aged about seventy-seven years. His mother died the same year, five days be- fore, in the same township, aged about seventy eight years. The family of Mr. Hulbert consists of Clement M., Harvey R. Sauford P., Malissa, Warren S., Minerva (dead), Pheba (dead), Celesta and Timothy. The rest are all grown and married. Clement M. married Miss Ellen Farnsworth January 20, 1851. His family, Wesley N., Rilie L., Ida M., Edna C. and Frank E., are all living. The first school was on "Lost Creek," in Farmer Township, and taught by Fletcher Hueler. In this township, Milford Schoolhouse was on Jared Hulbert's farm, Section 25, southeast corner, and taught by Caroline Powell. Church services were in private houses and in the schoolhouse. The first settlers were Ezra Crary, G. W. Chapman, Dennis Boyles, James Fisher, Isaac Fisher and William Wartenbee.
Rudolph J. Battershell was born September 9, 1844, at Berlin, in the county of Holmes, Ohio, and came to Milford Township in September, 1850, with his parents, William and Elizabeth Battershell. Mr. B. married Miss Libbie A. Clarke. His family con- sists of Charles C., Allen P., Arthur C. The parents of Mr. B. are yet living in the township, Mr. B. is a merchant, and resides in Cicer.,, which is a sort of village, and has two blacksmith shops and one shoe store, in a fine farming country.
John Jackson Hootman was born June 23, 1815, in Washington County, Penn. He removed with his father, John Hootman, to Wayne County, Ohio, Mohican Township, now in Ashland County, in Octo- ber, 1826. John J. learned the blacksmith trade from his father, with whom he worked until he was twenty-four years of age. He married Miss Mary Eichelbarger, of Wayne County, May 9, 1839. Their children are John B., Charles (deceased), George B. and Mary E. John B. was elected and served as Sheriff of Defiance County. Mr. Hootman was a member of the Ohio Constitutional Convention of 1850, from the district composed of Wayne and Ash- land Counties. In 1852, he went to California, and was absent nearly three years, and from 1856 to 1860 was Sheriff of Ashland County. He settled in Mil- ford Township, Defiance County, January, 1860. He has a homestead of 120 acres, with fair improve- ments. Upon his arrival, he started a shop in which he worked at his trade, making edge tools, axes, etc.
He was nominated for Representative for Williams, Paulding and Defiance Counties in 1862, but was de- feated because Republican excitement ran very high on the war. Mr. H. has been very industrious all his life, and is a man of unflinching industry and honesty.
John Hootman, father of John J., survived to a remarkable age, and during his long residence in Mohican Township, Ashland County, was an indus- trious citizen, whose moral and business integrity was never questioned by his neighbors or the com- munity. He was noted as a mechanic, and made hundreds of axes, at which he was thought to be hard to excel. He was born in Brooke County, Va., March 3, 1786, the third son of Christian Hootman, who was one of the Hessians captured at Trenton, and who served the remainder of the war in the American army. In early life he worked his father's distillery. Leaving home, he learned the trade of blacksmith- ing, serving three years, in that time becoming one of the best workmen in that section. In 1811, he married Jane Childers, an aunt of Mrs. President Polk. About the year 1826, he moved to Wayne (now Ashland) County, Ohio, where he lived until 1856, when he moved to Defiance County, having bought 520 acres of land. His children soon gathered around him, and that which was covered with an un- broken forest is now seen as beautiful farms. He was a man of iron will and indomitable energy, never swerving from what he believed to be right, Physic- ally, he was one of the strongest of men; his heart was as tender as a child's, and ever responded to the wants of the poor and needy. Religious excitement running high in 1819 and 1820, and never having learned to read and write, he concluded that he would then commence, that he might read the Old and New Testaments. With the aid of the country school- master he soon accomplished both, and memorized a great portion of the New Testament. He was baptized by John Secrest, going sixteen miles to have the rite performed, uniting with the Church of Christ (or Disciples), and remained a faithful member until his death, a period of fifty-two years. He filled the place of Elder for many years. His hospitality was unbounded. Conferences always found a home for their ministers, for the time, irrespective of denomi- nation. In politics, he was a Democrat of the strictest kind, and took great interest in the same, never mis- sing an election. He cast his first vote for Thomas Jef- ferson for President, and voted for every Democratic nominee since for President, except Horace Greeley. Mr. Hootman became blind about five years before his death, but there was always a silver lining in the dark clouds that surrounded him. He lived and died, an ardent patriot and a faithful Christian, be-
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HISTORY OF DEFIANCE COUNTY.
loved and respected by all. He was the father of eleven children, fifty-eight grandchildren and seventy- three great-grandchildren, 130 of whom are now liv- ing. Surviving the death of his wife thirty-two. years, he died the 23d day of February, 1880.
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