USA > Ohio > Hancock County > History of Hancock County, Ohio : containing a history of the county, its townships, towns portraits of early settlers and prominent men, biographies, history of the Northwest Territory, history of Ohio, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc > Part 24
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ferent color from that which composed the garment. The bosom of the hunting-shirt answered as a pouch, in which could be carried the various articles that the hunter or woodsman would need. It was always worn belted and made out of coarse linen or linsey, or of dressed deer skin, according to the fancy of the wearer. Breeches were made of heavy cloth or of deer-skin, and were often worn with leggings of the same material, or of some kind of leather, while the feet were most usually encased in moccasins, which were easily and quickly made, though they needed fre- quent mending. The deer-skin breeches or drawers were very comfortable when dry, but when they became wet were very cold to the limbs, and the next time they were put on were almost as stiff as if made of wood. Hats or caps were made of the various native furs. The women were clothed in linsey petticoats, coarse shoes and stockings, and wore buckskin gloves or mittens when any protection was required for the hands. All of the wear- ing apparel, like that of the men, was made with a view to being serviceable and comfortable, and all was of home manufacture. Other articles and finer ones were sometimes worn, but they had been brought from former homes, and were usually relics handed down from parents to children. Jewelry was not common, but occasionally some ornament was displayed. In the cabins of the more cultivated pioneers were usually a few books, and the long winter evenings were spent in poring over these well-thumbed vol- umes by the light of the great log-fire, in knitting, mending, curing furs, or some similar occupation.
Hospitality was simple, unaffected, hearty, unbounded. Whisky was in common use, and was furnished on all occasions of sociality. Nearly every settler had his jug stored away. It was the universal drink at merry-mak- ings, bees, house-warmings, weddings, and was always set before the traveler who chanced to spend the night or take a meal in the log-cabin. It was the good old-fashioned whisky,. "clear as amber, sweet as musk, smooth as oil," that the few octogenarians and nonagenarians of to-day recall to memory with an unctuous gusto and a suggestive smack of the lips. The whisky came from the older settlement, and was boated up the streams or hauled in wagons across the country. A few years later stills began to make their appearance in adjoining counties, and an article of peach brandy and rye whisky manufactured; the latter was not held in such high esteem as the peach brandy, though used in greater quantities.
As the settlement increased, the sense of loneliness and isolation was dis- pelled, the asperities of life were softened and its amenities multiplied; social gatherings became more numerous and more enjoyable. The log- rollings, harvestings and husking bees for the men, and the apple-butter making and the quilting parties for the women, furnished frequent occa- sions for social intercourse. The early settlers took much pleasure and pride in rifle shooting, and as they were accustomed to the use of the gun, frequently as a means of obtaining a subsistence, and relied upon it as a weapon of defense, they exhibited considerable skill.
A wedding was the event of most importance in the sparsely settled new country. The young people had every inducement to marry, and generally did so as soon as able to provide for themselves. When a marriage was to be celebrated all the neighborhood turned out. It was customary to have the ceremony performed before dinner, and in order to be in time the groom and his attendants usually started from his father's house in the morning, for
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that of the bride. All went on horseback, riding in single file along the narrow trail. Arriving at the cabin of the bride's parents the ceremony would be performed, and after that, dinner served. This would be a sub- stantial backwoods feast of beef, pork, fowls, and bear or deer meat, with such vegetables as could be procured. The greatest hilarity prevailed dur- ing the meal. After it was over the dancing began, and was usually kept up till the next morning, though the newly made husband and wife were as a general thing put to bed in the most approved fashion, and with con- siderable formality, in the middle of the evening's hilarity. The tall young men, when they went upon the floor to dance, had to take their places with care between the logs that supported the loft floor, or they were in danger of bumping their heads. The figures of the dances were three and four hand reels, or square sets and jigs. The commencement was always a square four, which was followed by "jigging it off," or what is sometimes called a "cut-out jig." The "settlement"' of a young couple was thought to be thoroughly and generously made when the neighbors assembled and raised a cabin for them.
The first marriage in Hancock County was contracted September 2, 1824, Samuel Kepler and Rachel McKinnis being the happy couple. Mr. Kepler settled on the Maumee in 1822, and ere his death in the fall of 1872, gave the following account of his marriage to Miss McKinnis, while on a visit to her father's home, in what is now Liberty Township: "I sent for my license by mail, to Robert Forsyth, clerk of the court of Wood County. Not knowing me he refused to grant it, so that my future father-in-law had to go to Perrysburg to procure it. We were married in Mr. McKinnis' house by Wilson Vance, Esq., being the 'first couple married in Hancock County. After making a canoe, which took five or six days, my wife packed her little outfit of household goods into it, and we literally 'paddled our own canoe' to where I now live."
During all the early years of the settlement, varied with occasional pleasures and excitements, the great work of increasing the tillable ground went slowly on. The implements and tools were few and of the most prim- itive kinds, but the soil that had long held in reserve the accumulated rich- ness of centuries produced splendid harvests, and the husbandman was well rewarded for his labor. The soil was warmer then than now, and the season earlier. The wheat was occasionally pastured in the spring to keep it from growing up so fast as to become lodged. The harvest came early, and the yield was often from twenty to thirty bushels per acre. Corn grew fast, and roasting ears were to be had by the 1st of Angust in most seasons.
When the corn grew too hard for roasting ears, and was yet too soft to grind in the mill, it was reduced to meal by a grater. Next to the grater came the hominy block, an article in common use among the pioneers. It consisted simply of a block of wood- a section of a tree, perhaps-with a hole burned or dug into it a foot deep, in which corn was pulverized with a pestle. Sometimes this block was inside the cabin, where it served as a seat for the bashful young backwoodsman while "sparking" his girl; some- times a convenient stump in front of the cabin door was prepared for and made one of the best of hominy blocks. These blocks did not last long, for mills came quite early and superseded them, yet these mills were so far apart that in stormy weather or for want of transportation the pioneer was often compelled to resort to his hominy block or go without bread.
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
Grist-mills soon made their appearance in every settlement, but they were usually very primitive affairs-mere "corn-crackers"-yet they were a big improvement on the hominy-block. They ground the corn, and the pio- neer had to do his own bolting. The meal was sifted through a wire sieve by hand, and the finest used for bread. Some of these mills were run by horse-power, and, therefore, commonly called "horse-mills." In 1832 Henry Shaw built one of those horse-mills in Findlay, which was a great convenience to the early settlers. Water-mills were erected upon the Blanchard and other streams at quite an early day. In 1824 a small log grist-mill was built by Joseph Vance and Elnathan Cory on the north bank of the river, opposite Fort Findlay, where Carlin's mill now stands. God- frey Wolford built a grist-mill on the Blanchard, in Section 11, Delaware Township, in 1829-30. Some two or three years afterward Felix Miller put up 'a mill in Section 23, in the same township, the Blanchard also furnish- ing the motive power. John D. Bishop erected the fourth water-mill, in 1833, on Eagle Creek, in Section 24, Eagle Township; and in 1834, another was built by John Byall, on the south bank of the Blanchard in Section 10, Liberty Township, which has been in operation ever since. Michael Misa- more built the next mill, in 1835, on the Blanchard, in Section 13, Amanda Township. William Marvin erected a water-mill on the Blanchard in Sec- tion 22, Marion Township, in 1835-36, and subsequently a steam mill far- ther up the river in the same township. A small grist-mill was put up on Portage Creek, in Section 17, Allen Township, about the same time by John Burman. In 1838 Martin Funk built a grist-mill on Eagle Creek, in Section 11, Madison Township; and two years afterward a steam-mill was erected in Section 2, Cass Township, by James Anderson. In 1844 the Eagle Mills in East Findlay were built by Martin Huber, John Engleman and John Julien. They were then and have since continued to be the larg- est flouring-mills in the county, and having always had steam-power, they have undergone none of the difficulties that water-mills had to contend with. Edson Goit, of Findlay, put up a mill on Ottawa Creek, in Section 11, Union Township, in 1845, which was subsequently purchased by James Teatsorth, and widely known as the "Teatsorth Mill." Those mentioned may be called the pioneer mills of Hancock County, and were more or less patronized by the majority of the first settlers.
In winter the mills were sometimes frozen up, and the water was often so low in the summer season that they could not run. These mills were frequently thronged with pioneers, each with his sack of corn or wheat, some of whom were often compelled to camp out near the mill and wait sev- eral days for their turn. When the grist was ground they started for their cabin home happy. It was not unusual to go from ten to thirty miles to mill through the pathless, unbroken forest, and to be benighted on the journey and followed by wolves. Many of the first settlers went to Bellefontaine, North Liberty, Bucyrus, Tiffin, Fremont, and even as far as Urbana, Sandusky City and the Maumee to do their milling and exchange the produce of their farms for salt and other scarce necessaries, the round trip usually taking a week, and often a much longer time. A road cut through the forest to the mill and a wagon for hauling the grist, were great advantages. The latter es- pecially was often a seven days' wonder to the children of a settlement, and the happy owner of one sometimes did the milling of a whole neighbor- hood. About once a month this useful neighbor, who was in exceptionally
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
good circumstances because able to own a wagon, would go around through the settlement, gather up the grists and take them to mill, often spend- ing several days in the operation, and never thinking of charging for his time and trouble.
Only the commonest goods were brought into the country, and they sold at very high prices, as the freightage of merchandise from the East was high. Most of the people were in moderate circumstances, and were con- tent to live in a very cheap way. A majority had to depend mainly on the produce of their little clearings, which consisted, to a large extent, of pota- toes and corn. Mush, corn bread and potatoes were the principal food, and though wild meat and pork were plentiful, they often had to be eaten without salt, which, during the early years of settlement, was a very scarce commodity. From 1826 to 1830 tea retailed in Findlay at $3 a pound; coffee, 31 cents; chocolate, 25 cents; loaf sugar, 25 cents; plug-twist tobacco, 20 cents; homespun linen, 372 cents per yard; calico, 373 cents, and six yards was the usual dress pattern; a colored cotton handkerchief, 75 cents; shoes, $2.50; boots, $5, and moccasins 25 cents per pair. Wheat sold at 40 cents per bushel; corn, 20 cents; oats, 12} cents; potatoes, 10 cents; flour, $1.50 per 100, and salt $4 per 100 pounds. Wild turkeys sold at 10 cents each, and dressed pork $2.25 per 100, while a ham of venison, weighing from fifteen to twenty pounds, could be purchased for 10 cents. To judge from the daily consumption of whisky, it was pre-eminently the "staff of life." It retailed at 25 cents a gallon, and was drank by most of the whites and all of the Indians who patronized the pioneer stores of Findlay. In 1828 live hogs brought $2 per 100, and cattle $1.75. A good horse could be pur- chased for $40, and a yoke of oxen sold at the same figure. The Indians usually paid their bills in peltry, and many of the whites did likewise. A bear skin brought from $2 to $5; otter, $3. 50; deer, 40 to 75 cents; gray fox, 25 cents; red fox, $1; muskrat, 37} cents; raccoon, 33} cents; wild cat, 25 cents, and mink 25 cents. Wolf skins were not purchased by the dealers, but a bounty was paid by the commissioners for each wolf scalp produced at the auditor's office. Squire Carlin, William Taylor and Vance & Baldwin were the principal dealers in furs, though Mr. Carlin carried on the most extensive business in that line. He traveled all over the country buying from hunters and other dealers, purchasing in one winter 4,600 deer skins and 7,000 rac- coon skins.
Long journeys upon foot were often made by the pioneers to obtain the necessaries of life, or some article, then a luxury, for the sick. Hardships were cheerfully borne, privations stoutly endured; the best was made of what they had by the pioneers and their families, and they toiled patiently on, industrious and frugal, simple in their tastes and pleasures, happy in an in- dependence however hardly gained, and looking forward hopefully to a future of plenty which should reward them for the toils of these earliest years, and a rest from the struggle amidst the benefits gained by it. Without an iron will and indomitable resolution they could never have accomplished what they did. Their heroism deserves the highest tribute of praise that can be awarded.
All the cooking and warming in town as well as the country was done by the aid of a fire kindled on the brick hearth or in the brick ovens. Pine knots or tallow candles furnished the light for the long winter nights, and sanded floors supplied the place of rugs and carpets. The water used for
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
household purposes was drawn from wells by the creaking sweep. No form of pump was used in this county, so far as we can learn, for many years after the first settlements were made. There were no friction matches in those early days, by the aid of which a fire can be easily kindled, and if the fire went out upon the hearth overnight, and the tinder was damp, so that the spark would not catch, the alternative remained of wading through the snow a mile or so to borrow a brand from a neighbor. Only one room in any house was warm, unless some member of the family was ill; in all the rest the temperature was at zero during many nights in winter. The men and women undressed and went to their beds in a temperature colder than our barns and woodsheds, and they never complained.
Churches and schoolhouses were sparsely scattered, and of the most primitive character. One pastor served a number of congregations, and sal- aries were so low that the preachers had to take part in working their farms to procure support for their families. The people went to religious service on foot or horseback; and the children often walked two or three miles through the woods to school. There were no fires in the churches for a
number of years. The seats in both church and school were of unsmoothed slabs, the ends and centers of which were laid upon blocks, and the pulpits were little better. Worship was held once or twice a month, consisting usu- ally of two services, one in the forenoon and one immediately after noon, the people remaining during the interval and spending the time in social inter- course. It is much to be feared that if religious worship were attended with the same discomforts now as it was fifty to sixty years ago, the excuses for keeping away from the house of God would be many times multiplied. Taken altogether, while they had to endure many privations and hardships, it is doubt- ful whether the pioneers of any part of America were more fortunate in their selection than those of Hancock County. All of the settlers agree in saying that they had no trouble in accommodating themselves to the situation, and were, as a rule, both men and women, healthy, contented and happy.
The pioneers were necessarily exposed to many dangers and privations, yet, as a rule, they had no fears of starvation, for the forest was alive with game, the streams abounded in fish, and the virgin soil yielded bountifully. Upon the organization of the county in 1828, a new motive was given to im- migration, and during the succeeding ten years the country rapidly filled up with settlers. Progress was slowly, surely made; the log houses became more numerous in the clearings; the forest shrank away before the woods-
man's ax; frame houses began to appear. The pioneers, now assured of prosperity, laid better plans for the future, resorted to new industries, en- larged their possessions, and improved the means of cultivation. Stock was brought in from the South and East. Every settler had his horses, oxen, cattle, sheep and hogs. More commodious structures took the place of the old ones; the large double log-cabin of hewed logs, and the still handsomer frame dwelling, took the place of the smaller hut; log and frame barns were built for the protection of stock and the housing of the crops. Then society began to form itself; the schoolhouse and the church appeared in every set- tlement, and the advancement was noticeable in a score of ways. Still there remained a vast work to perform, for as yet only a beginning had been made in the Western woods. The brunt of the struggle, however, was past, and the way made in the wilderness for the army that was to come.
In 1874 the Hancock County Pioneer and Historical Association was
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organized. The principal objects of the association were to gather and pre- serve the history of the county, and at the same time give the surviving early settlers an opportunity of renewing their acquaintance with each other, and to engage in such social intercourse as would recall and transmit to the care of the society the leading incidents, pleasures, hardships and sufferings of pioneer days. The first meeting for the purpose of organizing said asso- ciation was held at the Court House June 20, 1874. A goodly number of the early settlers was present, and the meeting was organized by the elec- tion of Squire Carlin, a pioneer of 1826, as chairman, and Lewis Glessner, of the Courier, secretary. On taking the chair Mr. Carlin briefly stated the objects and need of such an association as contemplated, after which a com- mittee consisting of M. S. Hamlin, Allen Wiseley, James Robinson, George Todd and George Treece were appointed to prepare a constitution and by- laws for the government of the society. When these preliminaries were disposed of, short speeches were made and incidents of pioneer life related by Squire Carlin, Richard Dukes, Allen Wiseley, Dr. William Wilson, Abra- ham Grable, George Treece, M. S. Hamlin, Benjamin Todd, Jonathan Parker, William Swindler, James L. Henry, James Robinson and D. B. Beardsley.
The next meeting was held at the Court House July 4, 1874, with Squire Carlin in the chair, and D. B. Beardsley, secretary. The committee appointed at the previous meeting reported the constitution and by-laws, which were read and adopted, and the following permanent officers elected: Squire Carlin, president; Peter George, James Robinson, Richard Dukes, Allen Wiseley, Jonathan Parker and James Hartman, vice-presidents; D. B. Beardsley, recording and corresponding secretary; Levi Taylor, treas- urer; M. S. Hamlin, George Todd, Aaron Baker, Joseph Johnson, Henry Lamb, William Taylor, George Treece, Sanfred F. Dulin, Charles E. Jor- dan and Adam Cramer, executive committee. The association was now fairly started, and the following September held its first social gathering on the fair grounds, which was largely attended by the pioneers and their descendants. Under the constitution, as first adopted, any person who came to Hancock County on or before July 4, 1840, was admitted to membership by paying the sum of 50 cents, and a resolution was subsequently carried admitting ladies free. Sixty-nine members joined the association during the first year of its existence, and considerable enthusiasm was manifested in its success. This feeling, however, gradually died out, and many of the pioneers neglected to attend the meetings of the society or take any interest therein. The constitution was changed so as to admit any person who came to the county prior to July, 1845, but this had no apparent effect, and after three or four years' existence the association became extinct, and has never been revived.
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CHAPTER III.
THE CLAIMS OF VIRGINIA, CONNECTICUT, MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW YORK TO THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY-PURCHASE OF THE LANDS FROM THE INDIAN TRIBES-INDIAN RESERVATIONS AND THEIR FINAL PURCHASE BY THE UNITED STATES-CIVIL GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED BY THE ORDI- NANCE OF 1787-SUCCESSIVE ERECTIONS OF WAYNE. GREENE, CHAMPAIGN AND LOGAN COUNTIES-SURVEY OF NORTHWESTERN OHIO AND ITS DIVIS- ION INTO COUNTIES-ORGANIZATION AND FIRST ELECTION IN WOOD COUNTY-WAYNESFIELD TOWNSHIP-ERECTION AND FIRST ELECTIONS IN FINDLAY TOWNSHIP-SELECTION OF FINDLAY AS THE SEAT OF JUSTICE -ORGANIZATION OF HANCOCK COUNTY-COUNTY ELECTIONS OF 1828 AND LISTS OF ELECTORS-OFFICERS CHOSEN IN APRIL AND OCTOBER, 1828- DERIVATION OF NAME-BRIEF SKETCH OF JOHN HANCOCK-ORIGINAL AND PRESENT AREAS AND BOUNDARIES OF TIIE COUNTY-DATES OF TOWNSHIP ERECTIONS-POPULATION OF COUNTY, TOWNSHIPS AND TOWNS -PRESENT CONDITION OF THIE COUNTY COMPARED WITH WHAT IT WAS ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
ITHE first authentic record we find of the white man's claim to this por- L tion of the red man's domain is the Virginia title to the great Northwest Territory, acquired through its several charters granted by James I in 1606, 1609 and 1611, without any recognition of the original owners and occu- pants of the soil. That colony first attempted to exercise authority over its extensive dominions lying northwest of the Ohio River, when, in 1769, the House of Burgesses passed the following act:
WHEREAS, The people situated on the Mississippi, in the said county of Botetourt, will be very remote from the court house and must necessarily become a separate county as soon as their numbers are sufficient, which probably will happen in a short time, be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the inhabitants of that part of the said county of Botetourt which lies on the said water shall be exempted from the payment of any levies to be laid by the said county court for the purpose of building a court house and prison for said county.
Civil government between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers existed only in name until 1778, when, after the conquest of the country by Gen. George Rogers Clark, the Virginia Legislature organized the county of Illinois, embracing within its limits all of the lands lying northwest of the Ohio River to which Virginia had any claim. Col. John Todd received appoint- ment from the governor of Virginia as civil commandant and lieutenant of the county. He served until his death at the battle of Blue Licks in 1782, and Timothy de Montbrun was his successor. In 1783 the General Assem- bly of Virginia passed an act authorizing her delegates in Congress to con- vey to the United States all the rights of Virginia to the territory northwest of the Ohio River. Pursuant to this act, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee and James Monroe, the Virginia delegates, ceded to the General Government, on the 1st of March, 1784, all right, title and claim of soil and jurisdiction to said territory previously held by Virginia. The deed of cession was accepted by Congress on the same day, and the United States thus secured the title of that State to the soil of Ohio.
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Another claim, however, still remained to be satisfied, which was more closely connected with northern Ohio than the preceding one. This claim reaches back to the founding of Connecticut, the original charter of which was granted by Charles II in 1662. It defined the limits of the grant to be "from the south line of Massachusetts on the north to Long Island Sound on the south, and from the Narragansett River on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west," which embraced all the country lying between the 41st and 42d degrees north latitude. These boundaries included not only what is now Connecticut, but also portions of New York and New Jersey, nearly half of Pennsylvania, the northern parts of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and a strip off the southern part of Michigan, besides portions of Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. The north half of Han- cock County was embraced in the territory claimed by Connecticut under its charter, which is the principal reason for mentioning it in this connection.
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