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 42
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When the first settlers built their cabins along the Blanchard a heavy forest covered the land. But the clearing up process, as a matter of stern necessity, went on so ruthlessly that very little of the most valuable woods, such as walnut and poplar, now remain. What was not cut down and burned, or converted into rails and lumber, has nearly all been sold long ago to dealers and manufacturers. But the fertility of the lands has largely repaid their owners for the mistake made in the destruction of the valuable timber which grew thereon, as those gigantic trees were evidences of the strength of the virgin soil. Along each side of the Blanchard we find a deep sandy vegetable loam that cannot be excelled in the production of corn. South of the river, except on Ottawa Creek, where the lands are somewhat diversified, the country is generally very level and requires considerable ditching, but the soil is also a vegetable loam with here and there a mixture of clay and sand, which properly drained is very rich and productive. Upon reaching the rolling uplands north of the Blanchard a strong clay soil predominates, though mixed in places with sandy deposits, the soil on the flatter lands being locally termed a muck. A sand ridge crosses the southeast corner of the township, along which the lands are highly prized. Benton lies upon this ridge. West of Benton to the county line the country is exceedingly level, and much of it was originally very wet. Prudent ditching and tiling, however, soon render these lands among the most valu- able in the county.
There is perhaps no enterprise in the township that has done so much toward its prosperity as the tile factory established some twelve or fifteen years ago by Lewis Dukes, Sr., on his farm in Section 10. He subsequently sold the ground and buildings, and this factory has ever since supplied the whole surrounding country with draining tile. The greater portion of the flat lands has been brought under a high state of cultivation by a plentiful use of the tile made in this factory, and thus the wealth of the township has been annually increased and multiplied. No portion of Hancock County can compare in improvements with the Dukes, Davis and Moffitt settlement, and we very much doubt that it is excelled by any country neighborhood in Ohio. The productiveness of the lands here is largely due to the judic- ious use of tiles, and this factory has therefore been of inestimable value to the farmers of Blanchard Township.
Pioneers. - The first settlers of Blanchard came principally from the older counties of Ohio, though most of the heads of families were natives of other States or countries. In the spring of 1823 John Hunter and Benja- min Chandler came from Fairfield County, Ohio, and built their cabins in the southwest quarter of Section 15. Hunter's stood on the south bank of
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the Blanchard, and Chandler's immediately north of the former and on the same side of the river. They were brothers-in-law, and about 60 acres of land were here entered by Hunter in September, 1825. At the first election held in Findlay Township, July 1, 1823, Chandler was one of the judges of election; and at the second election, April 5, 1824, Hunter was elected one of the two fence viewers of Findlay Township. On the first tax levy, taken by Wilson Vance in 1824, Hunter is assessed with one horse and eight head of cattle. In April, 1831, they sold out to George Shaw and Selden Blodget, and removed to Michigan. They were the first settlers to locate in this township, but left the county at such an early day that few remem- ber them only by tradition, though their names are frequently met with in the early records.
George Shaw was the next settler of Blanchard, locating in Section 16, south of the river, in the spring of 1827. The following autumn he re- turned to Stark County, Ohio, and brought out his wife, Dorcas, and eight children. He could not then enter or buy the site of his settlement, as that section was school land, but he lived there till April, 1831, when he pur- chased John Hunter's improvement of about 42 acres in Section 15. When the school lands were sold, in 1837, he bought 200 acres on Section 16, and thus became the owner of his first settlement. Two of his children died, one in 1828 and the other in 1829, which were the first deaths in the town- ship. Mr. Shaw voted at the first county election in April, 1828. In 1839 he was elected commissioner, and re-elected to the same office. He died February 1, 1861, in his seventy-eighth year, his widow surviving him till August 16, 1875, and dying at McComb, in the eighty-fourth year of her age. Mrs. William Shafer, of this township, is the only one of their four surviving children residing in the county.
Lewis Dukes, Sr., came to the township in the fall of 1827. He was born in Franklin County, Ohio, in 1811, and his parents, John and Mary Dukes, were natives of Virginia. His father died when Lewis was quite small, and the widow married William Powell, who, with his wife and two children, Asa and William H., and also Dillard R. Dukes, accompanied Lewis from Franklin County, Ohio, to the Blanchard. Mr. Powell returned on busi- ness to Franklin County the same fall, and there died. In the spring of 1828 the widow and her two younger children went back to Franklin County, and remained there several years before again coming to Hancock; but Lewis Dukes has been a resident of the county since first settling here, more than fifty-eight years ago, and is to-day the oldest settler in the town- ship. In a few years he had saved enough from his daily labor to enter his first piece of land, and from time to time added thereto until he became one of the largest land owners in the township. In 1838 he married Miss Laura W. Bean, who died in 1874. His second wife was Mrs. Harriet Al- ward, daughter of James Caton, a pioneer of Liberty Township, who now watches over his household. Early in life he joined the Methodist Episco- pal Church, and is still a consistent adherent of that faith. In his younger days he was noted for his vigorous, forcible character, economical habits and untiring industry, which enabled him to amass a respectable fortune from agricultural pursuits. Quiet and unassuming in his every-day life, he is passing his declining years on a finely improved farm, surrounded by the many comforts that wealth enables its possessors to enjoy.
In November, 1828, Richard and John Dukes joined the settlement.
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Both were natives of Virginia, and elder brothers of Lewis, Sr. Richard was married in Franklin County, Ohio, to Mary Blue, who had borne him one son, Lewis, ere the family settled north of the Blanchard in Section 15, where thirteen children were afterward born, nine of whom grew to maturity. Mrs. Dukes died on the old homestead. Mr. Dukes was subse- quently married twice, but no children were born to these two unions. He died in Findlay in 1876, whither he removed from the old farm, April 1, 1873. Lewis, Jr., and Eli, of Blanchard Township, and W. R., of McComb, are the only members of his family living in this county. Lewis, Jr., is regarded as the most successful farmer that Hancock County has ever possessed. He was an infant when his parents came to the Blanchard, and, excepting his uncle Lewis, is the oldest resident of the township. John Dukes was a single man when he came here, but the same fall he was married to Hannah Howchings, by Rev. Thomas Thompson, this being the first marriage in the settlement. She died April 15, 1829, which was the first death of a grown person in this part of the county. He was afterward thrice married, his second wife, Jane, dying in 1841, and his third wife, Mary, in 1862. After clearing up a farm in Section 15, north of the river, and spending the greater part of his life in this township, he sold his prop- erty, and in his old age removed, with his fourth wife, to Wood County, where he passed the few remaining years of his earthly existence, leaving no descendants to perpetuate his name and memory.
Thomas and Adaline Groves also settled north of the Blanchard in the fall of 1828. Mr. Groves was a native of Rockingham County, Va., whence he removed to Pickaway County, Ohio, where he married Adaline Choate, a native of Vermont, who was the mother of two children when her husband came from Pickaway County and took up his abode on Section 14, Blanchard Township. Ten children were born after coming, making a family of six sons and six daughters, eight of whom survive, three sons living in Hancock County. Mrs. Groves died upon the old homestead December 21, 1875, in her seventy-fifth year, and here too her venerable husband passed away July 31, 1881, in the eighty-fourth year of his age.
In the fall of 1828 Jeremiah Colclo, with his mother and son, William M., came from the central part of the State and settled north of the Blanch- ard, on Section 17. After building a cabin and commencing an improve- ment, Mr. Colclo went back for his wife and balance of his family, whom he brought out in the spring of 1829. He entered a large tract of land, and was a very hard-working, industrious man. The parents died on the home farm; William M. went to Indiana, and the other children also died or removed from the county. The family are kindly remembered in the neighborhood where they settled and lived.
In the spring of 1829 George Epley and Joseph Bowen, brothers-in- law, came from Ross County, Ohio, and located on land in Section 18, en- tered by Henry Epley in 1827. They were sent out by the latter to make an improvement on his land, and prepare for his coming. Both resided here for many years, Epley dying in the township, but we were unable to learn whether Bowen died here or removed from the county.
The year 1830 brought into the township Thomas Moffitt, Mordecai, Enoch and Eli Haddox, Henry Epley and William Downing, all of whom settled permanently at that time. Thomas Moffitt and family came from Ross County, Ohio, in the spring of the year, and located in Section 17,
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north of the Blanchard. In 1831 he was elected justice of the peace, being the first citizen of Blanchard Township who filled that office. He was again elected in 1841, and re-elected in 1844. After residing here till about 1850 he sold out to his brothers, William and John, and went to Iowa. The Haddox brothers were natives of Virginia, and first settled in Frank- lin County, Ohio, whence they removed to Section 17, this township. Their mother, Hannah, came with them and died in 1835. Mordecai and Margaret Haddox reared a family of five children. Mrs. Haddox was a native of Ger- many, and died in 1855, Mr. Haddox surviving her till 1879. John, their eldest son, resides in Section 18, on a part of the old farm. Enoch and his wife, Anna M., also died here, the latter in 1856 and the former in 1863. Eli was a single man, and after his marriage moved into Putnam County. Henry Epley was from Ross County, Ohio, and in 1827 entered the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 18, upon which his brother, George, settled in 1829, and he in 1830. Henry resided on the Blanchard till his death in 1846, his widow, Elizabeth, surviving him thirty years and dying in 1876. William Downing was born in Maryland in 1797, his parents re- moving to Pike County, Ohio, where he grew to manhood. He there en- listed and served in the war of 1812, being then but a boy of sixteen. In 1830, with his wife, Elizabeth, he came to this township, and built his cabin in the southwest quarter of Section 12, where his wife died in 1851. He was again married, and in 1863 was laid beside his first wife in the Dukes Cemetery. The old homestead is still occupied by his widow.
Selden Blodget came from the Tymochtee as early as 1827, and voted at the first county election in April, 1828. In April, 1831, he bought of John Hunter about twenty acres of land in Section 15, Blanchard Township, upon which he located with his family of two sons and one daughter. In July, 1832, he gave a power of attorney to Squire Carlin and Charles McKinnis to dispose of his land, and removed to Michigan. His first wife died on the Tymochtee, and he married Mrs. Lydia Davis, of Franklin County, but they separated ere his removal to Hancock. After he went to Michigan, his wife, with the children of her first marriage, settled on the Blanchard, where she resided till her death in 1877.
Solomon Foglesong, William and John Mires, and Richard and John L. Carson all settled in the southeast corner of the township in 1831. Mr. Foglesong entered the southwest quarter of Section 36, April 23, 1831, and with his wife, Catherine, at once settled upon it, erecting his cabin on the east bank of Ottawa Creek. Here he resided for more than half a century. His wife died February 20, 1872, and he survived her till January 9, 1883, leaving no descendants to perpetuate his name. William and John Mires located on the east half of the northwest quarter of Section 35 in the sum- mer of 1831. In November, 1835, William laid out the village of Benton, and in June, 1836, they sold their land to David M. Baldwin, afterward purchasing land southwest of Benton in Union Township, but after some years they again disposed of their property, and went West. The Carsons came from Franklin County, Ohio, in the fall of 1831, and also located on Section 35. In 1834 John L. was elected county commissioner and justice of the peace in 1836. Dick Carson was known as the champion fighter of the township. He was a large muscular man, and, though for the times rather peaceably inclined, was ever ready to resent an insult or accept a challenge to a "rough-and-tumble" encounter. An old settler in speaking
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of him to the writer said, "Dick, when a little full, would fight at the drop of a hat, and never found his match in this county." Fighting was not then frowned upon as it is to-day, in fact such pleasures (?) were rather en- couraged, and thus became a part of the festivities at nearly every public gathering. Many years ago the Carsons removed with their families to the West.
John Downing came here in the spring of 1832, from Pike County, Ohio, cleared a small patch on Section 13, south of the river, and put in a crop. The following autumn he brought out his family, consisting of his wife and eight children; the sons being David, George, William, Isaac and John. One son, Timothy, was born on the Blanchard after settlement. In 1849 George and William went to California, and in 1850 David followed them, but after a few years spent in the gold regions, all returned to this county. About twenty-five years ago William removed to Kansas, whither he was soon afterward followed by his father and brothers, Isaac and Timothy. George subsequently went to Iowa, and David, now a resident of Findlay, is the only one of John Downing's children living in Hancock County.
David Millham and Nimrod Smith both located on Section 14, in 1832. The former was an Englishman, who in the spring of 1832 came from one of the older settled counties of Ohio, made a small clearing, put in a crop and built a cabin north of the Blanchard. The following autumn he brought his family. His house soon became known as the most filthy in the whole settlement, and none of the neighbors cared to visit the Millhams. In 1851 he assisted in laying out Lewisville, and subsequently moved with his family to Indiana. Nimrod and Polly Smith settled south of the river, but in 1835 sold his land to John Spreaker, and moved to a farm near the home of Thomas Moffitt, where he accidentally shot himself some years after.
John C. Wickham and family came from Ross County, Ohio, to Findlay, in 1827, and he taught the second school in that town. He was clerk of the first county election held in April, 1828 (at which he and his son Minor T. voted), and also the second postmaster of Findlay. In October, 1828, he was elected sheriff of Hancock County and served one term. In 1832 his son William removed from Findlay to Section 13, Blanchard Township, and in 1833 the parents and son, Minor T., also settled on the same section. Mr. Wickham taught the second school in the township and, in 1835, was elected as its second justice of the peace. He died soon afterward while on a business trip to Wayne County, Ohio, but some of his decendants yet reside in the county.
In October, 1829, Philip Powell, a native of Pennsylvania, and a pre- vious settler of Fairfield County, Ohio, came to Hancock County, and en- tered two quarters of land on Ottawa Creek, lying in Section 35, Blanchard Township, and Section 2, Union. The following year, with his sons, Will- iam and Jacob, he again visited this county and began an improvement on his land, immediately east of the site of Benton. For the succeeding three years the Powells continued to visit and clear up their lands preparatory to settling permanently thereon, and in 1830-31-32 and 33 the father entered 560 acres more in this township in Sections 25, 26, and 35. In 1834 William, with his young wife, took up his residence in Section 35, where he has ever since resided. Jacob afterward married, and settled in Section 25, where he died April 20, 1870. John and Daniel did not settle here for several years after William and Jacob, and both still reside upon their farms
Samuel Reel
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southeast of Benton, Daniel's home being across the line in Union Town- ship. All of the sons were born and reared in Fairfield County, Ohio, and the parents resided there till death.
Michael Fishel, John Knepper and Owen Hughes all settled near the site of Benton in 1833-34 and 35. The Fishel family located in Liberty Township in March, 1828, whence Michael removed in 1833, to the south- east quarter of Section 34, Blanchard Township. In 1876 he took up his residence in McComb, where he is now living. John Knepper was a brother- in-law of Solomon Foglesong, and, August 16, 1831, entered the east half of the northwest quarter and the west half of the northeast quarter of Section 36, upon which he settled three years after. He spent the balance of his life on this farm. Two sons and one daughter of Mr. Knepper are resi- dents of Blanchard. Owen Hughes and wife, Elizabeth, and family, came here from Fairfield County, Ohio, and located on the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 35, which he entered in 1831 and settled upon in 1834 or 1835. Mr. Hughes was twice married and reared quite a large family, most of whom are residents of Hancock. His first wife died in 1856, and his second, whose name was also Elizabeth, in 1868. Mr. Hughes died upon his farm, where he had lived nearly half a century, January 11, 1879, in his eighty-fourth year.
In 1834 Mrs. Lydia Davis nee Dukes (sister of Lewis Dukes, Sr.), with her sons John, Alfred, James and Newton, settled on the Blanchard. Her first husband's name was Ishmael Davis, who died in Franklin County, Ohio, and the widow afterward married Selden Blodget, but they soon parted, and Blodget came to this county in 1827, where he resided till 1832, leaving before the coming of the Davis family. Alfred has been the most prosperous of any of the sons, and is to-day one of the largest land owners and wealthiest farmers in Hancock County. Newton is also a resident of the township, and the mother died here January 16, 1877, in the eighty- eighth year of her age.
Samuel Edwards settled north of the river in the Moffitt neighborhood, in January, 1834. He was a native of Pennsylvania, but was married in Picka- way County, Ohio, whence he removed to Hancock County. Edwards was known far and wide as the most expert hunter in northwestern Ohio, and in 1850 sold out and moved to Henry County, where game was more plentiful. In 1880 he published in book form the history of his life. He claimed that Robert Bonner of the New York Ledger offered him $1,000 for his sketch, but Edwards regarded the amount as too small, believing he had a fortune within his grasp. Like many other authors poor Sam's high hopes were des- tined to be blasted. His little book "fell flat" upon the reading public, had a very limited sale, and his expected "mountain of gold" dwindled away to nothingness. Edwards sold a few copies of his book to his old neighbors on the Blanchard, who took it "for the sake of auld lang syne."
Two other settlers of 1834 were Seymour Hastings and John Mathews. The former located in Section 14, south of the Blanchard; in June, 1836, he sold his farm to William Smeltzer, and moved to Section 19, where he re- sided till death. Mathews came from Pike County, Ohio, and settled north of the river. It is said that he never owned any land here, and died in the township.
In the fall of 1835 Charles, William and John Moffitt, Joel Pendleton, John Spreaker and Thomas Downing came into the township. The Moffitt
21
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
brothers, with their mother, Sarah, located south of the Blanchard on a part of their brother Thomas' land, who had preceded them several years. Charles married a sister of Alfred Davis and died in Union Township. William and John also married here, bought out Thomas and became quite wealthy. The former died June 30, 1884, but John is still one of the' active farmers of Blanchard. Three of William's sons reside in the township. Joel Pen- dleton settled in Section 23, but after living here nearly four years sold out and moved into Findlay Township, were he is yet living. Mr. Pendleton was surveyor of Hancock County for nearly thirty-five years, and is a very in- telligent man. John Spreaker was a Pennsylvanian, who bought the farm of Nimrod Smith in Section 14, south of the river. After living here about twenty years he went to Illinois. Thomas Downing was a brother of Will- iam, who came in 1830. He, too, removed to Illinois.
A large number of settlers came to the township in 1835-36 among whom were Alpheus Edwards, Joseph Horner, David Braucht, David M. Baldwin, William Smeltzer, Phineas Mapes, Stephen Smith and James McClish. Mr. Edwards was born in Connecticut in 1808, immigrated to Fairfield County, Ohio, in 1819, there married Leah Shriner, and in March, 1835, with his wife and four children, settled on the east half of the north- west quarter of Section 32, where he has ever since resided. He reared nine children, eight of whom are living. His wife died in 1879, and per haps before this meets the reader's eye he, too, shall have passed away, as he is now quite old and feeble. Joseph Horner and family came the same time as Mr. Edwards and settled in Section 31, where he lived until his removal to Indiana a few years ago. David Braucht and family were from Stark County, Ohio. He entered a large tract of land south of the Blanchard, May 17, 1834, and, doubtless, settled in Section 13, the following year. Both he and his wife died on the old homestead, and Mrs. L. C. Groves is the only one of their children now living in the county. David M. Baldwin, of Fairfield County, Ohio, purchased the farm of John and William Mires, in Section 35, June 13, 1836, and, with his wife, Sarah, and family, at once took possession. Mr. Baldwin afterward opened a tavern, which he carried on for many years. He died on his farm near Benton, February 20, 1875, and his widow still occupies the old home, while five sons and three daugh- ters reside in the neighborhood. William Smeltzer was a Pennsylvanian, who had lived in the county previous to his purchase, in June, 1836, of Seymour Hastings' farm, in Section 14, where he resided until his death. Phineas Mapes located in Section 19, and here both he and his wife died. Stephen Smith settled in the southeast quarter of section 28, whence he moved into Union Township, and there spent the balance of his life.
James McClish, a native of Maryland, married Patience Bishop, of New Jersey. She bore him eleven children, ten of whom grew to maturity. He settled on the farm now owned by his son N. B., where he died a few days after reaching his destination. While the headstone over his grave says he died October 6, 1835, the family now claim that his death occurred in 1836, and that the date on the stone is incorrect. Seven children came with the parents to this township, but N. B. is the only one now living here, the mother having died January 21, 1867, in her eighty-first year.
Of other settlers, Peter Foltz and Jacob Engle are kindly remembered. Mr. Foltz and his wife, Elizabeth, came from Fairfield County, Ohio, in 1836, and settled on Ottawa Creek in Section 25, where both died. Mrs. Foltz
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died August 9, 1850, and he was again married, and reared a large family by his second wife. On the 11th of March, 1874, he, too, passed away and was laid beside his first wife in a little private cemetery southeast of Ben- ton, on the west bank of Ottawa Creek. Several of his children are resi- dents of the county. Jacob Engle was a German, who came here from Somerset County, Penn., about 1837, and settled near the site of Benton, where he died in 1859, his family afterward removing to Iowa. Others might be mentioned who came into Blanchard Township about this period, among whom were John M. Radebaugh, Charles Frost and Samuel Rudesill; but the names of the real pioneers have been given, the only object in view.
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