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 26
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Hancock County originally was about twenty-four miles square, and covered an area of 585 square miles of territory. No change occurred in its boundary lines until the erection of Wyandot County, February 3, 1845, when forty-five square miles were taken off the southeast corner in the formation of the new county, leaving Hancock with its present area of 540 square miles, or 345,600 acres. It is one of the central counties of North- western Ohio, and is bounded on the north by Wood County, on the east by Seneca and Wyandot, on the south by Wyandot and Hardin, and on the west by Allen and Putnam.
The county is divided into eighteen townships, erected in the following order: Findlay, May 28, 1823; Amanda and Delaware, in April, 1828; Jackson, December 7, 1829; Liberty and Marion, December 6, 1830; Big Lick, Blanchard and Van Buren, March 7, 1831; Washington, March 5, 1832; Union, June 4, 1832; Eagle, December 3, 1832; Cass and Portage, March 4, 1833; Pleasant, March 2, 1835; Orange, December 5, 1836; Madison, June 1, 1840, and Allen, in June, 1850.
The first official census of Hancock County was taken in 1830, when it contained a population of 813. The growth of the county by decades since that time has been as follows: 1840, 9,986; 1850, 16,751; 1860, 22,886; 1870, 23,847, and 1880, 27,784.
The following table presents in detail the population of the several town- ships and towns by decades since 1840, so far as the same is given in the United States census reports:
232
HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
1840
1850
1860
1870
1880
Allen Township (including Van Buren)
869
1,009
969
1,025
Van Buren Village. ..
490
1,162
1,470
1,469
1,474
Vanlue Village .. .
431
1,008
1,256
1,179
1,261
Blanchard Township (including Benton).
629
1,051
1,161
1,304
1,286
Benton Ridge Village.
588
621
860
759
829
Delaware Township (including Mount Blanchard)
532
1,035
1,231
1,280
1,455
Mount Blanchard Village.
524
950
1,371
1,330
1,284
Findlay Township (including Findlay).
1,024
2,032
3,346
4,073
5,553
City of Findlay.
560
1,256
2,467
3,315
4,633
Jackson Township (including Houcktown)
631
830
1,272
1,209
1,338
Houcktown Village.
592
874
1,050
1,011
1,101
Madison Township (including Williamstown and Arlington)
667
844
967
1,232
Arlington Village.
707
904
1,064
990
987
Orange Township ..
314
704
987
1,167
1,451
Pleasant Township (including McComb).
252
522
1,151
1,336
1,866
McComb Village.
675
614
835
899
914
Union Township (including Cannonsburg, Rawson and Cory)
637
1,150
1,604
1,546
1,876
Cannonsburg Village.
75
Rawson Village.
199
Van Buren Township.
432
536
713
780
907
Washington Township (including Arcadia and West Fostoria)
830
1,222
1,662
1,579
1,945
Arcadia Village
288
396
West Fostoria.
157
130
Amanda Township (including Vanlue).
364
Big Lick Township.
179
Cass Township
285
Eagle Township ..
112
Liberty Township.
128
Williamstown Village
136
Marion Township.
319
417
Portage Township.
227
Cory Village.
371
Comparing the present condition of Hancock County with what it was 100 years ago, the wonderful transformation that has taken place is truly amazing. Civilization had not yet come to disturb the equanimity of the red man as he smoked the pipe of peace at the council fire. Where now are towns and hamlets filled with busy populations intent upon the accumu- lation of wealth, the mastery of knowledge and the pursuits of pleasure, the wolf, bear and panther roamed in search of prey, the deer browsed and the pheasant drummed his monotonous note. Where now stands the glowing furnace from which tongues of flame are bursting, and where the busy water-wheel once furnished power for numerous mills, half-naked, dusky warriors fashioned their spears with rude implements of stone, and made themselves hooks out of the bones of animals for alluring the finny tribe. Where now are fertile fields, upon which the thrifty farmer turns the fur- row, which his neighbor takes up and runs on till it reaches from one end of this broad State to the other, and where are flocks and herds rejoicing in rich meadows, gladdened by abundant streams and springs, or reposing at the heated noon-tide beneath ample shade, not a blow had been struck against the giants of the forest, the soil rested in virgin purity, the streams glided on in majesty, unvexed by wheel and unobstructed by device of man.
Where now the long train rushes on with the speed of the wind over
A.H. HYATT.
235
HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
plain and glen, across brook and river, awakening the echoes of the hills the long day through, and at the midnight hour screaming out its shrill whistle in fiery defiance, the wild native, issuing from his rude hut, trotted on in his forest path, pointed his bark canoe across the deep stream, knowing the progress of time only by the rising and setting sun, troubled by no meridians for its index, starting on his way when his nap was ended, and stopping for rest when a spot was reached that pleased his fancy; and of the wonderful gas resources which, from deep down in the bowels of the earth, furnish fuel and light for numerous stores and factories, and give genial warmth to the poor man's happy home, and to the rich as they chat merrily in the luxurious drawing-room, not the faintest imagination existed. This vast lake of fuel rested unknown or unthought of for a generation after the white man came, beneath the superincumbent strata where it had been fashioned by the Creator's hand.
CHAPTER IV.
ORIGINAL APPEARANCE OF HANCOCK COUNTY-ITS FOREST AND FRUIT-BEAR- ING TREES AND VINES-THE WILD ANIMALS, BIRDS, REPTILES AND FISH FOUND IN THIS PORTION OF THE STATE, AND THEIR GRADUAL EXTERMINA- TION-THE WILD HONEY BEE-GENERAL TOPOGRAPHY OF THE COUNTY- ITS STREAMS AND WATER PRIVILEGES-MARSII AND PRAIRIE LANDS-THE WILD CAT THICKET, SWAMP AND FALLEN TIMBER TRACTS -DIVERSITY OF SOIL-THE SAND AND LIMESTONE RIDGES-AGRICULTURE IN HANCOCK COUNTY-IMPLEMENTS USED BY THE EARLY SETTLERS, AND THE INTRO- DUCTION OF BETTER MACHINERY-PIONEER STOCK COMPARED WITH THAT OF THE PRESENT-NUMBER OF HORSES AND CATTLE ASSESSED IN THE COUNTY IN 1824 AND 1829-STOCK AND CROP STATISTICS-THE HANCOCK COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY-ITS SMALL BEGINNING, STEADY GROWTH AND PRESENT PROSPERITY.
W HEN the pioneers came into the territory now embraced in Hancock County, it was, excepting the marsh lands, one vast, unbroken for- est. The soil was deep and fertile, and bore up an abundant growth of vegetation, while the trees stood close and were of gigantic size. Beauty and variety marked the plants which grew and bloomed beneath the leafy canopy.
"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air."
Hill, dale and streamlet, with all the families of plants, from the lofty forest tree to the creeping ivy, gave to the landscape variety and pictur- esque beauty. From time immemorial an unchanged progression of period- ical decay had been forming a rich vegetable soil in preparation for the era when civilized man should take possession and become its cultivator. Oak, elm, ash and hickory in their several varieties, red and white beech, maple, or sugar tree, walnut, butternut, cottonwood, linden, or basswood, poplar, cherry, sycamore, hackberry, soft maple, buckeye, mulberry, sumach, cucumber, ironwood, locust, dogwood, willow, boxwood and sassafras were the princi- pal kinds of timber found in this county. Nearly all of the more valuable
236
HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
timber has long ago disappeared before the sturdy blows of the woodsman's ax. If the forest that once grew upon many tracts of land in this county now stood thereon, it would be worth much more than the land. But the pioneers little imagined such a day would ever come, yet many of them lived to regret the destruction of the giant walnut and poplar trees once so plentiful in Hancock County. There was also a varying undergrowth of fruit-bearing trees and vines, such as the plum, crab-apple, grape, white, red and black haw, alder, whortleberry, blackberry, raspberry, serviceberry, huckleberry, gooseberry, cranberry and strawberry; also nuts of several va- rieties, and hops, ginseng, snakeroot, bloodroot, chocolate root, and innu- merable species of other roots and herbage having valuable medicinal prop- erties, all the spontaneous growth of Northwestern Ohio.
Wild animals roamed at will throughout the earlier years of the county's history, and some of the pioneers could tell of dangers and hair-breadth es- capes from an enraged or wounded bear, a pack of ravenous wolves or a treacherous wild cat, at that time more numerous in this county than cattle, sheep or hogs. The deer, panther, wolf, bear, wild cat, fox, marten, otter, polecat, beaver, groundhog or woodchuck, opossum, raccoon, hare, rabbit, the black, grey, red or pine, flying and ground or striped squirrel, muskrat, mink, weasel, porcupine, field-mouse, deer-mouse, common rat and mouse, once abounded in this portion of the State. Of these the panther, bear, wolf, wild cat, beaver, marten, deer and porcupine are now extinct in Han- cock County. To rid the country of the more dangerous wild beasts was the self-imposed duty of every pioneer, and the fight was waged with such un- relenting vigor that by 1840 few of them remained. The demand for furs was also an incentive to the hunter, as well as the premiums paid on the scalps of wolves, panthers and bears; so that great quantities of game were slaughtered for the purpose of replenishing the scanty pocketbooks of the struggling settlers, who usually found this an easy mode of earning a few dollars.
"The wolf," says Job Chamberlin in his "Personal Reminiscences," "was the most troublesome of all the wild animals. It was almost impossi- ble to raise sheep on account of them, and we had to put our sheep in high pens at night to save them from these dangerous pests. We could hear the wolves howling nearly every night, and frequently two or three gangs at a time, one gang would howl, and the others would answer them. My father took great pains to destroy them, and killed forty-nine in all. He took the scalps to Perrysburg, which was the county seat of this district at that time, and at first got $1.25 bounty for each scalp, but it was soon raised to $3.25. He had to take them within thirty days after killing, and make oath that he killed them. To save going himself he sometimes would bring the wolves to his house alive, and get Joseph Gordon, the mail car- rier, to kill them and get the bounty. *
" Porcupines were plenty, but we did not find them so remarkable an animal as they were represented. They were said to be able to throw their quills quite a distance, and some people were at first afraid to approach them for fear they would 'shoot' their quills into them; but they had no such power. They were full of quills from the top of the head to the tip of the tail, and if anything touched one on the back in an unfriendly way it would strike upward with its tail with great force, and if it hit an enemy it stuck it full of quills; if it hit a stick, as was often the case, the quills would fly a con-
237
HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
siderable distance, which, perhaps, gave rise to the belief that they could throw them. Our cattle frequently came home with their noses full of quills, which were bearded at the point, and, like a bee-sting, would keep working in. They were found in different parts of hogs, cattle and dogs, and would work through them if the quill did not come in contact with a bone or some substance that they could not penetrate."
Among the birds which are natives .of this county, or visit it annually, either to build or touching it in their migration to a more northerly region, are the bald and gray eagle, rarely if ever seen; the hen hawk, fish hawk, pigeon hawk, raven, crow, shrike or butcher-bird, the cat and screech owl, the swan, wild goose, black duck, mallard, wood duck, shelldrake, teal, butterbolt, loon, dipper, water hen or coot, plover, jacksnipe, sandsnipe, kingfisher, turkey, pheasant, partridge or quail, woodcock, rail, pigeon, dove, whip-poor-will, robin, thrush, catbird, cuckoo, lark, oriole, bluejay, fieldfare or red breasted grossbeak, martin, the barn swallow, bank swallow, oven swallow, bluebird, wren, cow bird, bobolink or reedbird, yellow-bird, redbird, blackbird, redwing, starling, black or large woodpecker, red-headed woodpecker, gray woodpecker, flicker, cedar bird or toppy, crookbill, green- bird, humming bird, and a variety of small birds with whose species the writer is not familiar. "When we came to the hill," says Mr. Chamber- lin, "we found the woods full of birds. Those of a carnivorous disposition gave us much trouble for many years. The hawks, of which there were four or five kinds, were constantly on the alert to pounce upon our chickens; the owl came in for his share, and the raven was also on the lookout for chickens and eggs. I once saw a raven attack a sheep. It was winter time, and a deep snow covered the ground. While I was sitting in the house.I happened to look across an adjoining field and saw a raven busily engaged at something, and soon discovered that it was trying to kill a sheep. It would fly on the sheep's back and work away as hard as it could. The sheep would lie down, but it was then no better off, and could not get rid of its enemy. I ran there as quick as I could, and found that a dog had bitten and crippled the sheep so badly that it could not get away from the raven, which had torn the wool off its back just over the kidney, and was feasting off the savory meat." Some of the birds enumerated in the fore- going list have become very rare or altogether extinct, while others have come into the county. The white-breasted swallow is one of the later in- habitants, as is also the hardy, pugnacious English sparrow, which since his coming has driven many of the most beautiful songsters from the towns now inhabited by those little fellows in great numbers.
Among the snakes found in this locality were the black and yellow rat- tlesnakes, the former known as the massassauga. It was very vicious, and rarely grew more than two and one-half feet in length. The yellow rat- tlesnakes were not so plentiful in this portion of Ohio, existing principally on the limestone ridge. The blue racer, which attained a length of six and one- half feet; the water snake, a large black reptile, often growing four to five feet in length; the small black snake or white ringed viper, the spotted or house snake, the garter snake and the green snake were all very plentiful. But of those mentioned none were poisonous except the rattlesnake and white ringed viper, and these are, fortunately, nearly or altogether extinct in Hancock County.
The Blanchard and smaller streams swarmed with fish of many varieties,
238
HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
and some of the stories we have heard of their abundance and size would almost paralyze the less fortunate modern angler. Mr. Chamberlin speak- ing on this subject says: "Fish were very plentiful in the streams. White and black suckers, 'red horse,' sturgeon, white and black bass, pike, pick- erel, catheads, gars and catfish were caught in great numbers. The smaller kinds were easily caught with seine, dip-net, hook and line or fish rack, while the large fish were generally gigged. My father once undertook to secure a sturgeon which he found in the ripple just below the mill-dam, in Findlay. He struck his gig into it and attempted to press it to the bottom, but the fish instantly darted from under the gig, which precipitated my father full length into the river. He hastily got up, and seeing the fish struggling in shallow water and trying to escape, he ran and overtook it, and again gigged and secured it. The fish weighed forty-nine pounds. Another of the same kind, caught afterward, weighed seventy pounds."
The wild honey bee was the advance courier of civilization, and the well filled bee-tree was found in every part of the forest simultaneous with the pioneer log-cabin. Indeed there were few of the pioneers who had not discov- ered and cut down his bee-tree, and the larder was often well stocked with the delicious product of these indefatigable workers.
The first settlers of Hancock found a slightly rolling, well watered country. The summit of the Blanchard in this county is 489 feet above Lake Erie, or 1,064 feet above ocean level. There is a general sameness in the topography of the county, with a marked dip northward, noticeable in the course of the streams, most of which flow in that direction. Blanchard River, according to Col. John Johnston, who spent the greater portion of his life as a government Indian agent, was called by the Wyandots Quegh-tu-wa, or "claws in the water," while the Shawnees named it Sha-po-qua-te-sepe, meaning "one who sewed garments" or"Tailor's River." His story was that one Blanchard, a French tailor, settled among the Shawnees, married a squaw, reared a family of seven children, and lived and died upon this stream long prior to the cession of the territory, which it drains, to the United States. The early surveyors of Ohio named the stream Blanchard's Fork of the Auglaize, and thus perpetuated the memory of Blanchard. In Chapter II is told all that is positively known of this wandering Frenchman, and the reader is referred to that chapter for further information on the subject. The Blanchard rises near Kenton, the county seat of Hardin County, on the north slope of the dividing ridge between the Ohio River and Lake Erie. Flowing northward it enters Hancock County, and passing onward through the townships of Delaware, Jackson and Amanda to the northeast corner of Section 23, Marion Township, turns abruptly westward, and with a slight northerly bearing reaches Findlay; thence meandering in the same general direction across Findlay, Liberty and Blanchard Town- ships into Putnam County, forms a junction with the Auglaize River in the western part of that county. The banks of the Blanchard, though in places somewhat hilly and broken, generally stretch away into level bottoms, which are subject to overflows during the spring freshets. The stream has fur- nished in the past water-power for seven grist-mills and numerous saw-mills in this county, and has been of incalculable benefit to the country through which it flows. Its principal tributaries are from the south, Eagle, Ottawa, Riley and Lye Creeks, all of which are fully spoken of in the histories of the townships watered by them, being the most important. The north part
239
HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
of the county is drained northward by several branches of Portage River and Beaver Creek, and taken altogether the water privileges and natural drainage facilities of the county are ample and sufficient. Though many small springs are found along the streams and runs, Big Spring, in the northeast corner of Amanda Township, is the only one of any particular note in this county, having furnished power many years ago for a small carding machine and grist-mill. Good drinking water is, however, readily found at various depths in any part of the county, but it is generally im- pregnated with lime, and sometimes possesses a strong sulphuric taste and smell, the latter being the result of the great natural gas deposits in this portion of the State, which from time immemorial has been forcing itself through the rock fissures to the surface.
From the east part of Marion Township a flat marsh extends southeast- ward across Big Lick Township into Seneca County. It covers from 1,500 to 2,000 acres, and from the fact that it bore up no forest it became known as "the prairie." Cranberry Marsh is a narrow strip of land originally low and wet, lying principally in the southwest part of Union Township, and extending across the line into Orange. A small portion of this tract was prairie, but nearly all the balance was once so thickly covered with the swamp willow as to render it almost impenetrable. Another small wet prairie con- taining about 400 acres, covered a portion of Sections 23 and 24, Union Township. But nearly all of these marsh and prairie lands have been brought under cultivation by judicious drainage, and are among the most valuable farming lands in the county. With the exception of the foregoing named tracts, the territory embraced in Hancock County originally bore up one of the grandest forests of Northwestern Ohio.
Wild Cat Thicket was one of the noted forest scenes of pioneer days. It was from one to two miles in width, and beginning in the west part of Portage Township, extended across Portage, Allen and Cass, and terminated near the center of Washington Township. From its appearance the first settlers concluded the forest had been blown down years before by a hurri- cane coming from the west, as all the tree tops pointed eastward. Over- grown with small timber and forest vegetation, it formed a dense thicket where wild game found a safe retreat from the vigilant hunter. Hundreds of wildcats inhabited this locality, whence they sallied forth to forage upon the surrounding farms, and the place finally became known as "Wildcat Thicket."
Two tracts in Amanda Township-"the swamp" and "the fallen tim- ber"-were once covered by forest, but the timber was thinned out or under- mined by the surface peat taking fire and burning the roots of the trees, thus bringing them to the ground. These lands in their wild state were generally quite wet, partly caused no doubt by the fallen timber blocking the surface drainage, but since cleared up and drained they are highly prized by the agriculturist.
The great majority of the lands in this county are composed of a black loam, mixed with sand, gravel or clay, according to location, and underlaid with limestone. In the more elevated sections there are patches of clay and gravel, and sometimes we find a combination of several kinds of soil. Much of the soil in the flat or wet lands is known as "muck," and is very suscep- tible to drought.
A narrow sand ridge, upon which the Benton road is located, runs south-
240
HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
west from Findlay through the village of Benton Ridge to the Putnam County line. Two sand and gravel ridges enter the northeast corner of the county, and passing westward unite as one ridge on Section 5, Washington Township; thence runs in a southwest direction across Cass, Allen, Portage and Pleasant Townships, where it is known as "Sugar Ridge," because of the large number of sugar trees that once grew upon it. Fostoria, Van Buren and McComb are located on this ridge. Another of these narrow belts enters the northeast corner of Portage Township from Wood County, and runs southwest parallel with and about two miles north of Sugar Ridge. In the geological reports of the State these ridges are called the "ancient beaches" of Lake Erie. Limestone Ridge is an elevated belt of sand and clay, underlaid with limestone, lying south of the prairie in Big Lick Township. It was so named on account of the numerous flakes of lime- stone found scattered over its surface, probably the result of a great natural upheaval during the first stages of the earth's formation. Good limestone is quarried in abundance along the streams, and in several other parts of the county away from the water courses. It is used principally in the manu- facture of lime, foundations of buildings and the construction of macadamized streets and roads. Taking them as a whole, Hancock may be justly proud of her lands, for they are not only rich, inexhaustible and highly productive, but there is scarcely a foot of her large area which is not susceptible of cul- tivation.
Every sort of crop indigenous to this portion of Ohio is successfully cul- tivated in Hancock County. Wheat is perhaps the greatest crop raised here, Hancock standing near the head of Ohio counties in the production of this cereal; Indian corn and oats are raised in large quantities, while barley, rye, buckwheat, flax, hay and clover are also cultivated to a considerable extent; Irish potatoes yield large crops, and nearly every other kind of vegetable grown in this latitude produces abundantly. In the horticultural statistics of the State the apple product of Hancock compares favorably with her sister counties of Northwestern Ohio. Peaches are not a success in this county, and though the smaller fruits often yield bountifully they are now regarded as a very uncertain crop. The fruit exhibited at the Fair of 1885 was indeed very creditable to the county, and is an indication of what its orchards are capable of under proper care and with judicious cultivation. Horticulture is generally neglected, and looked upon by many farmers as an almost useless expenditure of time and money. Hence scores of orchards throughout the county bear a general appearance of decay.
The agricultural implements used by the early settlers were very simple and rude. The plow was made entirely of wood except the share, clevis and draft-rods, which were of iron, and for many years had to be transported from Buffalo, New York or Cleveland, as there were no iron works in the county where the plow shares could be forged. The wooden plow was a very awkward implement, difficult to hold and hard for the team to draw. It was, however, very generally used until about 1830, when the cast iron plow, patented by Jethro Wood, was first brought into the county, though it did not gain popular favor very rapidly. The farmer looked at it and was sure it would break the first time it struck a stone or root, and then how should he replace it? The wooden mold-board would not break, and when it wore out he could take his ax and hew another out of a piece of a tree. In no one agricultural implement has there been more marked improvement than
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