USA > Ohio > Erie County > History of Erie County Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 6
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Treasurers-Abijah Comstock, David Abbott, Ichabod Marshall, Cyrus Butler, Ichabod Marshall, Henry Buckingham, George Sheffield, John V. Vre- denburg, William H. Caswell.
Clerks of the Courts-David Abbott, James Williams, David Gibbs.
Recorders-Almon Ruggles, Nathan Strong, Ichabod Marshall, Paul G. Smith, Woodward Todd.
Sheriffs-Lyman Farwell, D. W. Hinman, Enos Gilbert, H. G. Morse, Enos Gilbert, Philo Adams, John Miller, William Karkhuff.
County Commissioners-1815, Nathan Cummins, Frederick Falley, Bildad Adams ;. 1816, Falley, Adams and Ebenzer Merry; 1817, Adams, Joseph Reed and Joseph Strong; 1818, Adams, Reed and Strong ; 1819, Adams, 8
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
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Strong and Lyman Farwell; 1820, Adams, Strong and Eli S. Barnum ; 1821, Barnum, Robert S. Southgate and Amos Woodward; 1822-23, Barnum, Southgate and Woodward; 1824, Barnum, Woodward and Schuyler Van Rensselaer; 1825, Barnum, Van Rensselaer and George W. Choate; 1826, . Van Rensselaer. Choate and Frederick Forsythe; 1827-28, Choate, Forsythe and Bradford Sturtevant; 1829-30, Choate, Sturtevant and M. McKelvey; 1831, Sturtevant, McKelvey and George Hollister; 1832, Sturtevant, Hollister and George W. Choate; 1833, Hollister, Choate and Samuel B. Carpenter ; 1834, Choate, Carpenter and W. C. Spaulding; 1835, Carpenter, Spaulding and John Dounce; 1836, Spaulding, Dounce and Benjamin Cogswell ; 1837, Spaulding, Cogswell and John Miller.
ERECTION AND ORGANIZATION OF ERIE COUNTY.
Without question the most important event in connection with the history of Erie county was the action of the State Legislature that gave the county an existence-the action that separated it from Huron and Sandusky counties- that enabled it to elect its own officers and administer its own affairs.
The preliminary discussion that led to this separate organization was not of spontaneous origin ; it was not the result of a pet scheme on the part of a few persons ; it was not undertaken through any feeling of jealous rivalry between the leading towns of Huron county, Norwalk, and Sandusky city. To be sure there was a rivalry, a growing friendly competition between these municipalities, each striving to outstrip the other in point of population, of in- dustry, of internal welfare, of thrift and all the essential requisites of a well- appointed and well-ordered city ; a commendable and unselfish interest shown or the part of the people representing the northern and southern sections of. Huron county.
Again, about this time, there seemed a general tendency throughout the. State to new and additional county organizations, by a reduction of the territory of the larger counties. This was not the only reason why the residents of Northern Huron county asked to be set off. Such action had become, at that time, a positive necessity. Sandusky city had become the natural center of extensive and rapidly increasing business interests-manufacturing, shipping and mercantile. She had, moreover, become tributary to a large area of agri- cultural country, so that by every necessary consideration she was justly en- titled to become the county seat of a new county.
As might naturally be expected, the proposition for the new county erec- tion was not accepted by the whole people without strong opposition, and while the measure was very generally supported by the inhabitants in the northern part of the county, a strong opposition developed in the southern townships, and in others that were liable to be affected by the change.
The petition for the new county was met by a strong remonstrance, and
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for a time it seemed doubtful whether the measure would be carried. Nor- walk, the county seat of Huron county, might well object for her interests more than any other locality would suffer in losing the trade of so prosperous a locality as was comprised by the townships proposed to be taken.
At length, after the matter had been thoroughly agitated and discussed, for and against, the Legislature of the State, on the 15th day of March, 1838, passed an act entitled, " An act to erect the county of Erie," as follows :
" SEC. I. Be it enacted, etc., That such parts of the counties of Huron and Sandusky, as are embraced by the boundaries hereinafter described, be, and the same are hereby erected into a separate and distinct county, which shall be known by the name of the county of Erie, and the seat of justice in and for said county, shall be, and is hereby fixed and established at Sandusky City, to-wit : Beginning at a point on the east line of Oxford township, in the county of Huron, one mile north of the southeast corner thereof, thence northerly on the said east line and in the same direction, to the Canada line; thence west- erly along said Canada line to a point therein directly opposite the west line of the township, in Sandusky county; thence southerly, parallel with the east line of said Sandusky county, to the northwest corner of the township of Townsend, in Sandusky county ; thence east to the west boundary of Huron county ; thence south on said west boundary of Huron county to a point one mile north of the south line of the township of Groton, in said county of Huron ; and from thence to the place of beginning : provided, and it is hereby declared, that if the east line of said county of Erie, as above described, will not include the whole of Cunningham's Island in Lake Erie, then, and in that case, said line shall be so far varied from the south shore of the said lake to the said Canada line that it will embrace the whole of said Cunningham's Island.
"SEC. 2. That the said county of Erie be, and remain attached to the counties from which it is taken, until the same be organized by the Legislature."
But the people of the newly erected county had not long to wait for the complete organization thereof, as, on the day next succeeding that on which the above act was passed, the Legislature adopted another measure, entitled, " An act to organize the county of Erie." It was as follows :
"SEC. I. Be it enacted, etc., That the county of Erie is hereby organized into a separate and distinct county.
"SEC. 2. That all justices of the peace and constables residing within the territory taken from the counties of Huron and Sandusky, and embraced within the limits of the county of Erie, shall continue to discharge the duties of their repective offices until their commissions or terms of office shall expire, and their successors are chosen and qualified; and suits commenced before the taking effect of this act shall proceed and be prosecuted as though this act had not been passed, notwithstanding the parties, or either of them, may reside
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
without the limits of the said county of Erie, except that writs and process issuing after the first of April next shall be styled of Erie county, instead of Huron or Sandusky county.
"SEC. 3. That on the first Monday of May next, the legal voters residing within the limits of the county of Erie shall assemble in their respective town- ships, at the usual places of holding elections, and proceed to elect their dif- ferent county officers in the manner pointed out in the act to regulate elections, who shall hold their offices until the next annual election, and until their suc- cessors are chosen and qualified.
"SEC. 4. That the county of Erie, for judicial purposes, is hereby attached to the second judicial circuit, and the first court of common pleas held in said county shall commence its session in the city of Sandusky on the second Monday of December next."
In this manner, then, and by these proceedings, was Erie county brought into existence, and thus was provision made for civil, internal government and control. But, two years later, 1840, by a further act of the State Legislature, certain territory was added or attached to Erie county, and other lands at the same time were taken from it. This change was made by the erection of the county of Ottawa, March 6, 1840, the leading clause of which was as follows :
"That a new county, to be called Ottawa, be, and the same is hereby formed out of the north part of Sandusky and Erie, and the eastern part of Lucas county, commencing at a point two miles north of the southeast corner of the surveyed township number sixteen, called Bay township, Sandusky county, running thence west on section lines to the western boundary line of said county ; thence north to the Lucas county line; thence east six miles; thence north till it intersects the Michigan line; thence with said line until it intersects the line between the British and American governments in Lake Erie; thence down the lake with said line, so that a line to the mouth of San- dusky Bay will include Cunningham's Island; thence up Sandusky Bay to the place of beginning."
This act, it will be seen, took from Erie county the township of Danbury on the peninsula, between the bay and the lake; also the islands, the principal of which was Cunningham's, afterwards known as Kelley's Island, both of which were set off to the county of Ottawa.
But in order to give Erie county an equivalent for the territory so taken, a further section of the act provided, "That all the territory now in the county of Huron north of the north line of the townships of Wakeman, Townsend, Norwalk, Ridgefield and Lyme, which includes the townships of Vermillion, Florence, Berlin, Milan and Huron, and also a strip from off the south side of the townships of Oxford and Groton, one mile in width, be, and the same is hereby attached to the county of Erie."
Cunningham's Island, or, as it became known on its organization as a
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township of Ottawa county, January 21, 1840, " Kelley's Island," remained a part of and was under the civil control and jurisdiction of the officers of Ot- tawa county until the year 1845, when, upon the petition of its inhabitants, setting forth their reasons, chiefest among which was the great incoveniente occasioned by their being compelled to transact their legal and county business at Port Clinton, the county seat of Ottawa county, while all their other busi- ness and social relations were associated with Erie county, the Legislature in February of that year passed an act to "set off" that tract and territory of land known as the township of Kelley's Island into the county of Erie. Thenceforth Kelley's Island became one of the townships of Erie county. These several acts, recited in detail, established the territory and boundaries of Erie county as it now exists. It parted company with Danbury township in 1840, upon the organization of Ottawa county, and that was the only con- siderable section of her territory, a part of the original Firelands, of which she has been deprived. And inasmuch as Danbury now forms a part of an- other county, and its history has been for nearly a half century associated with such other county, no chapter of this work will be devoted thereto, but rather to the things and events of the territory that now comprises the county of Erie.
It is appropriate in this connection to furnish a civil list of those who at various times have been identified with the administrative affairs of the county.
CIVIL LIST OF COUNTY OFFICERS.
Auditors .- 1838 to 1840, H. W. Conklin ; 1840 to 1841, William Neill ; 1841 to 1846, Orlando McKnight ; 1846 to 1850, George W. Smith ; 1850 to 1852, F. M. Follett ; 1852 to 1856, Charles H. Botsford ; 1856 to 1860, F. M. Follett ; 1860 to 1867, George W. Smith; 1867 to 1881 Ebenezer Merry ; 1881 to 1884, Thomas McFall; 1884 to 1888, William J. Bonn, the present incumbent.
Treasurers .- 1838 to 1841, William B. Smith; 1841 to 1843, Horace Al- pin ; 1843 to 1845, Samuel Johnson ; 1845 to 1849, Earl Bill ; 1849 to 1851, John B. Wilbur; 1851 to 1853, John W. Sprague ; 1853 to 1855, Thomas S. Fuller ; 1855 to 1857, Holly Skinner; 1857 to 1861, Thomas S. Fernald ; 1861 to 1865, W. H. McFall ; 1865 to 1871, James D. Chamberlain ; 1871 to 1873, James S. Chandler ; 1873 to 1877, James D. Chamberlain ; 1877 to 1881' Reuben Turner ; 1881 to 1883, James Alder ; 1883 to 1887, William Zimmer- man ; 1887 to 1889, James Alder, the present incumbent.
Probate Judges .- This became an elective office under the new constitution of 1852. 1852 to 1855, Ebenezer Andres ; 1855 to 1858, A. H. Striker; 1858 to January, 1861, Rush R. Sloane ; January, 1861 to November. 1861, F. D. Parish ; November, 1861, to November, 1863, George Morton ; November, 1863, to February, 1870, A. W. Hendry ; February, 1870, to February, 1879, E. M. Colver ; February, 1879, to 1888, A. E. Merrill
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
Recorders .- 1838 to 1840, Horace Alpin ; 1840 to 1844, C. B. Squire; 1844 to 1850, Ebenezer Merry ; 1850 to 1854, Charles Wilbur; 1854 to 1862, James W. Cook; 1862 to 1868, John W. Reid ; 1868 to 1880, William A. Till; 1880 to 1887, James Flynn ; 1887 to 1889, John Strickland, the present incumbent.
Sheriffs .- 1838-40, Harvey Long; 1840-42, Zalmuna Phillips ; 1842-46, Ebenezer Warner ; 1846-48, Isaac Fowler; 1848-50, Henry D. Ward ; 1850- 54, George W. Smith ; 1854-58, G. B. Gerrard ; 1858-60, Frederick F. Smith ; 1860-64, David S. Worthington ; 1864-66, Jesse S. Davis ; 1866-70, David S. Worthington ; 1870-72, Charles H. Botsford; 1872-76, David S. Worthing- ton ; 1876-80, M. L. Starr; 1880-84, John Strickland ; 1884-88, Thomas A. Hughes, the present incumbent.
Clerks of the Courts .- 1838-39, Zenas W. Barker ; 1839-55, Rice Harper ; 1855-61, Horace N. Bill ; 1861-62, John J. Penfield ; 1862-64, George W. Penfield ; 1864-70, George O. Selkirk ; 1870-75, O. C. McLouth; 1875-78, F. W. Alvord; 1878-85, W. J. Affieck ; 1885-89, Silas E. Bauder, the latter being the present incumbent.
Prosecuting Attorneys .- 1838-40, John S. Campbell ; 1840-42, Francis D. Parish ; 1842-44, Morris Homan ; 1844-48, S. F. Taylor; 1848-52, A. W. Hendry ; 1852-56, John Mackey ; 1856-60, O. C. McLouth ; 1860-72, F. W. Cogswell; 1872-77, Benjamin F. Lee ; 1877-79, Walter W. Bowen; 1879-80, Herman Ohly; July, 1880, to January, 1881, Walter W. Bowen; 1881-83, Grayson Mills; 1883-88, Cyrus B. Winters, the present incumbent.
Surveyors .- 1838-40, S. H. Smith ; 1840-41, W. H. Smith; 1841-45, J. B. Darling ; 1845-47, Alvin Brooks; 1847-50, J. B. Darling; 1850-52, A. B. Foster ; 1852-54, Joel Smith ; 1854-61, J. B. Darling; 1861-63, H. C. Jones, sen .; 1863-76, J, B. Darling ; 1876-79, George Morton ; 1879-85, Albert W. Judson ; 1885-87, Charles S. Ferguson ; 1887-89, Albert W. Judson.
Commissioners .- Samuel B. Carpenter, Nelson Taylor, William B. Craig- hill, John Fuller, William Gill, Isaac Fowler, Philo Adams, Harley Long, Ben- jamin D. Turner, Ezra Sprague, Bourdette Wood, Harvey Fowler, Elihu P. Hill, Harry Sprague, Myron Sexton, Joseph Otis, John P. Dego, John Sum- mers, C. Beardsley, Rice Harper, Isaac Mckesson, Robert Bennett, G. M. Darling, Calvin Caswell, D. G. Taylor, William H. Crane, E. White, William S. Webb, Louis Wells, Stark Adams, W. W. Miller, Gustavis Graham, George W. Cleary, Henry Kelley, James Douglass, C. Victor Turner, John Homegard- ner, John L. Hall, William Zimmerman.
Present County Officers .- Probate judge, Albert E. Merrill ; recorder, John Strickland ; auditor, William J. Brown; treasurer, James Alder ; clerk of the courts, Silas E. Bauder ; sheriff, Thomas A. Hughes ; prosecuting attorney, Cyrus B. Winters ; surveyor, Albert W. Judson ; coroner, Louis Szendery ; commissioners, James Douglass, John L. Hull, William Zimmerman; infirmary directors, John Holahan, Thomas McVeigh, J. W. Lyles ; superintendent of infirmary, Alex Motry.
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TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY.
CHAPTER IX.
A General Topographical and Geographical View of Erie County - Its Situation and Boundaries - Civil Divisions.
T THE county of Erie occupies a central position between the east and west boundary lines of Ohio, and is one of the seven counties of the State that border on Lake Erie; and of these counties Erie holds that portion of the lake front that reaches the farthest south. Sandusky county has a frontage on the bay, but nowhere does her territory touch the lake proper.
Erie county has no specially distinguishing physical features. The surface, generally, is even, but here and there exist evidences of the fact that its whole surface was at one time covered with water; and that these waters, gradually receding, left what is known as a "drift," or sand ridge. These ridges, al- though not numerous, are found in several townships of the county.
The evenness of the surface of the land throughout the county is the rule, and the exceptions are few. The most marked depression exists in the town- ship of Huron, where a large area of the land surface lies below the water level of the lake, and is subject to overflow with a rise of the lake waters or those of the Huron River. Other than this there is but comparatively little swamp land, and where this class has, in the past, been found to exist, it is easily drained into the streams with which the county is well supplied, and thus emptied into the lake.
Erie county is bounded on the north by Lake Erie. But from this state- ment must be excepted Kelley's Island, which now forms one of the county's townships, and which is situate some sixteen miles from Sandusky City, ac- cording to the usual route of boat travel. It lies nearly due north from the city. The county is otherwise bounded, east by Lorain county ; south by Huron county, the bounding townships thereof being Lyme, Ridgefield, Nor- walk, Townsend, and Wakeman, and on the west by Sandusky county.
As originally created the county contained eleven townships, but two years later Danbury was set off to the formation of Ottawa county, as was Kelley's Island, but the latter was erected into a township while attached to Ottawa, and was, at a still later day reannexed to Erie agreeably to the prayer of the petition of its inhabitants; therefore this island now forms a part of Erie county, although situate some sixteen miles distant therefrom.
Portland township, one of the original subdivisions of the county, and one of the most important sections of the same, has lost all existence as a town- ship, having been absorbed by the extension of the city limits of the county seat.
Margaretta township occupies the northeast corner position of the county
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
and is larger in area than any of the others. It represents, in part, Sandusky county's contribution to the formation of Erie county. Its settlement was commenced in 1810. Its position, according to the original survey, is town six, range twenty-four. The township has a front on Sandusky Bay. Its sur- face is inclined to be rolling or undulating, but in no place can it be said to be hilly. Besides the bay, there are several streams that receive the drainage or surface water, the largest of which are Mill's Creek and Cold Creek. This stream crosses the township in a course generally northeast, and discharges its waters into the bay within the corporate limits of Sandusky City.
Cold Creek is the largest of the streams of the township, and lies almost if not quite wholly therein. Its course is exceedingly tortuous, thus affording drainage to a large amount of the township's area. Little Cold Creek is trib- utary to the greater stream, but an attempt to utilize their united waters for milling purposes some years ago, made the larger tributary to the less. This was the result of building a dam across Cold Creek. Margaretta is bounded north by Sandusky Bay; east by Sandusky City (formerly Portland township) and Perkins township; south by Groton township, and west by Sandusky county, and in part by the irregular shore line of the bay. The township, is, perhaps, more irregular in formation than any of the county's subdivisions, having, at the extreme northwest corner a projecting strip of land, running westward, and from one to two miles in width.
Groton township lies south of Margaretta, east of Sandusky county, north of Lyme township, of Huron county, and west of Oxford. In the survey it appears as town number five, range twenty-four. The surface is as level, gen- erally, as any part of the county, having much of a prairie appearance. It is drained almost wholly by Mill's Creek, which stream has its source in Huron county, crosses this township in a course substantially northeast, and passes into Margaretta township on the north.
Portland township, the smallest in area of Erie county, but of as great im- portance as any, is to the county a thing of the past. Its whole area is now included within the limits of Sandusky city. The surface is quite level, but from the lake shore is a gradual ascent as a south course is pursued. Mill's Creek, is the main water course of Portland and near its mouth forms a small bay, from which its waters reach the greater bay. Old Portland, for it may now be so called, is south of Sandusky Bay, west of Huron, north of Perkins and east of Margaretta.
Perkins township lies immediately south of Sandusky City, and in the sur- vey of the Firelands is town number six, range twenty-three. Its surface is quite as level as any of the townships of the county. The land is slightly undulating with a long and steady roll on the summits, if such they may be called, well defined though not extensive sand ridges. The most depressed localities are swale-like but there are no swamp lands unfit for agricultural purposes. Perkins
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TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY.
is watered and drained by the waters of two or three small streams, the largest of which is Mill's Creek, and this in extremely dry weather is barren of water. The boundaries of Perkins township are, north, Portland and Sandusky City; east, Huron ; south, Oxford, and west Margaretta. The township is in a near- ly square form, its former irregular lines having been made straight.
Oxford lies south of Perkins, east of Groton, north of Huron county (Ridge- field township) and west of Milan township. Its surface formation is much like that of Perkins, except that its streams are larger and in the vicinity of them . the land is more uneven. The Huron River crosses the southeast corner and the township is otherwise watered by Crab Apple Creek in the western and Mill's Creek in the northern part. Range twenty-three, township number five is the geographical position of Oxford in the original survey.
Huron township borders upon the lake and in east and west measurement is as great as any of the county. It has the outline form of a trapezoid, the east and west boundaries being parallel. Huron formerly comprised a vast tract of swamp or marsh lands, but ditching and draining have relieved it of much of its swampy characteristics, still there is a large tract of unavailable land within its bounds, especially situate along the bay and lake front and the valley of the Huron River. This stream is the most important of the county. Its source is in Crawford, Richland and Huron counties ; thence it crosses the last named, enters Erie in the southern part of Oxford township, courses east by north into Milan which it intersects, running northeasterly and enters Huron township, which it crosses in a course generally north, though exceedingly de- vious and winding in some localities, and discharges its waters into Lake Erie at the site of the village of Huron. Saw-mill Creek, so named from the utiliza- ation of its waters for saw-mill and other manufacturing purposes, is the only other stream of note within the township. It was formerly fed by drainage water from the lands bordering upon it, but when ditching and draining was re- sorted to as a means of carrying off drain water quickly, much of the utility of Saw-mill Creek was destroyed. Huron township lies north of Milan and Berlin, east of Perkins and Portland, south of the bay and lake, and west of that por- tion of Berlin that extends to the lake. Huron is in range twenty-two and . numbered town six. Milan township occupies a position in the county nearly in its geographical center, and is, moreover, one of the most important of the county's townships. It became prominent when this was a part of Huron county, from the fact of its being the location of the county seat. In the Fire- lands survey it was town number five, range twenty-two. Its surface is uni- form with a gradual roll except in the valley of Huron River and the several rivulets of the township that empty into that river. These afford an excellent natural drainage for the surplus waters of the territory ; therefore but compar- atively little artificial draining and ditching has been found necessary. The Huron enters the township from Huron county near the southwest section, thence
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
flows in a generally northeast direction, intersecting the township, and passes into Huron township near Milan's northeast quarter. The course of the Huron is sufficiently tortuous to drain a large area of the township. The boundaries of Milan township are as follows: North, Huron ; east, Berlin ; south, Huron county, and west, Oxford township of Erie county.
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