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 47
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F ROM the erection of Findlay Township as a subdivision of Wood County, in 1823, up to September 17, 1829, the territory now compos- ing Liberty formed a part of that township; but on the latter date the fol- lowing erection was made by the board of commissioners: "At a special meeting of the commissioners of Hancock County, John Long and John P. Hamilton, present, Charles McKinnis, absent, a petition being presented to said board from sundry citizens of Findlay Township, praying for a division to take place in said township in the following manner, to wit .: Making the section line between the first and second tiers of sections on the east side of Range 10 the division line, which was accordingly agreed to by said board; and ordered that all that part of Findlay Township west of the aforesaid line shall be made a separate township, and shall be designated and known by the name of Old Town." The township was so named in honor of a Wyandot village that once existed on the north bank of the Blanchard, in Section 7, traces of which were plainly visible during the early years of the county's history. Old Town extended from the section line one mile west of the Bellefontaine road to the western boundaries of the county, and from Wood County on the north to Hardin County on the south, thus em- bracing nearly one-half of the county. The act of erection gave offense to
Е.F. Bumming
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many of the inhabitants thus cut off from Findlay, and especially to Charles McKinnis, the absent member of the board, who, regarding the act as sharp practice, and without waiting to investigate the facts, looked up Hamilton, one of the commissioners who had passed the act, and vigorously assaulted him. His brother, Philip McKinnis, hearing of the fight, also sought Ham- ilton and repeated the assault. The latter, not being their equal in physical strength was a very badly whipped man. He afterward sued the McKinnis brothers for damages, and recovered $75 from Charles and $30 from Philip, together with costs. They were also indicted by the grand jury for assault and battery, pleaded guilty before the court and were each fined $1 and costs of prosecution.
In April, 1830, Joshua Hedges and others brought suit against the board of commissioners to have the act of erection set aside because of error in the proceedings, but the case was continued until the next term; and the court ordered an election for a justice of the peace for Old Town Township, to be held at the house of Ebenezer Wilson, on the last Saturday in June, 1830, which was accordingly done. June 7, 1830, John P. Hamilton, Mor- decai Hammond and Charles McKinnis, then commissioners of Hancock County, made the following decision confirmatory of the original erection of Old Town: "It is ordered by the commissioners of this session that a de- cision of the commissioners in the division of Findlay Township which took place in 1829, is confirmed and established." This, however, proved of little avail, as the court of common pleas, at the succeeding November session, reversed and annulled the acts of the commissioners in the erection and organization of Old Town Township, and it thus ceased to exist as a subdivision of Hancock County.
On the 6th of December, 1830, all of the territory lying between the present western boundary of Findlay Township and the Putnam County line, and extending from Wood to Hardin County, was erected as Liberty Township. This was only one row of sections narrower than Old Town, and embraced the present townships of Pleasant, Portage, Blanchard, Lib- erty, Union, Orange, Van Buren and three-fourths of Eagle. The following March the lands now composing Blanchard, Eagle, Van Buren and the west half of Madison were cut off; and on the 21st of June, 1831, the first elec- tion for justice of the peace was held in Liberty. William Wade, George Chase and Moses Predmore were the judges, and Amos Bonham and Joshua
Jones, clerks. The voters were John Fishel, John Magee, John Travis, John J. Hendricks, John Fishel, Jr., William Wade, Meredith Parrish, Moses Predmore, George Chase, Nathan Frakes, Joshua Jones, James Caton, James McCormick, Amos Bonham, Addison Hampton, Zebulon Lee, John Mullen, William Wade, Alfred Hampton, Ebenezer Wilson, Charles Jones, Jacob Poe, James McKinnis, Robert McKinnis, Charles McKinnis and Philip McKinnis, total, 26. Benjamin Cummins received every vote cast and was declared elected. Of these twenty-six voters, Zebulon Lee, of Orange Township, and Alfred Hampton, of Findlay, are the only survivors living in this county.
In 1832 the territory embraced in Union and Orange Townships was taken off of Liberty, in 1833, Portage, and in 1834, Pleasant, leaving the boundaries of Liberty as they are to-day. It contains twenty-four sections of land, all lying in Township 1 north, Range 10, or an area of 15,360 acres. Liberty is bounded on the north by Portage Township, on the east by Findlay, on
23
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
the south by Eagle, and on the west by Blanchard. In 1840 it contained a population of 592; 1850, 874; 1860, 1,050; 1870, 1,011 and 1880, 1,101.
The township is thoroughly drained by the Blanchard River and its several small tributaries, the bed of the river forming a valley into which the surface waters descend, from both the north and south. The Blanchard enters the township on the southeast quarter of Section 10, and flowing westward, with many crooks and turns, leaves Liberty near the northwest corner of Section 18. Comer's Run, named after Isaac Comer, one of the pioneers who settled upon its banks, rises in Eagle Township, flows north- westward, and discharges its waters into the Blanchard on the northeast quarter of Section 17. A branch of this run heads in the southwest corner of Section 31, and passing northeastward unites with Comer's in the south- east corner of Section 21. Another small run drains the western central sections of the township, and, passing into Blanchard Township, strikes the river on Section 14, of that subdivision. Four small runs flow into the Blanchard from the north: Watson's, originally called Gardner's, Wilson's, McKinnis' and Grassy. Watson's or Gardner's Run, named after John Gardner and Richard Watson, who successively occupied the same farm, heads in Portage Township, and waters the northeast corner of Liberty, emptying into the Blanchard on Section 10. Wilson's Run also rises in Portage, and flows southward a short distance west of Watson's, striking the river on Section 15. This branch was named after Judge Ebenezer Wilson, a leading pioneer who settled and lived upon it till his death. McKinnis' Run heads on Section 4 and strikes the Blanchard on Section 8. Philip McKinnis took up his residence on this run in 1827: hence the name. Grassy Run is about a mile still farther west, and was so named because of its grass-covered banks. Though Comer's Run once furnished power for a saw-mill, none of these runs are now sufficiently large to be utilized in that manner, and are only important as sources of drainage and for the use of stock, several springs along the larger ones supplying water throughout the year.
Excepting the river bottoms, the surface in the north part of this town- ship may be termed rolling, though an occasional strip of level land is seen at intervals. A narrow sand ridge crosses the township south of the Blanch- ard in a southwest direction, and except along Comer's Run, where it is somewhat broken, and a small branch still farther west, where the surface is rolling, the lands on each side of the ridge are generally level, and fall off to- ward the north and south in a gentle slope. A heavy forest once covered this whole region, but most of the valuable timber has long since disappeared be- fore the merciless "clearing up" mania of past years. There was a small clear- ing, covering about twelve acres, on the north bank of the Blanchard in Sec- tion 7, when the McKinnis family settled in the township, which is believed to have been the site of an Indian village, and this was the only tract not covered by the original forest. The soil in the lower valleys along the Blanchard is a sandy alluvial deposit, made by the overflows of the river. and is regarded as very valuable corn land. Back from the river on the "second bottom" and level lands a sandy loam is found, which on reaching the highlands changes to a clay formation with a sand and gravel mixture, though north of the Blanchard a clay soil predominates. The ridge south of the river is purely a sand formation.
The writer learns from Nelson Poe and William H. Fountain, that when the
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first settlers came into Liberty Township they found a tract of cleared land, covering about twelve acres, on the north bank of the Blanchard in Section 7, some of which had apparently been under cultivation, and was called by the pioneers "Indian Green." An Indian graveyard was located here, and also an orchard of plum trees, which supplied the neighbors with that fruit. Several pioneers have stated it was the general impression among the first settlers that an Indian village once flourished at this point. The Ottawas had two villages still farther down the river, in what is now Putnam County, and it is believed the Wyandots had a settlement at Indian Green, whence they removed, in 1818, to Big Spring Reservation. It is a well attested fact that the Indians occasionally visited the old burying-ground, and guarded the remains of their ancestors buried here with jealous care. Mr. Poe says his father told him that a pioneer named Ellison settled with his family on this tract at an early day, and after building a cabin began the work of opening the graves for the purpose of obtaining the valuables supposed to be buried with the Indian dead. The Indians soon heard of this desecra- tion, and at once visited Ellison, and so thoroughly frightened him by threats of retaliation that he deserted his cabin and "silently stole away." The wagon road along the north bank of the river passes through this old Indian cemetery, no trace of which now remains.
First Settlers .- This township was one of the earliest settled portions of Hancock County. Sixty-four years ago Robert McKinnis, with his wife, Betsy, and seven children, viz .: Charles, James, Philip, John, Sarah, Rachel and Eliza, settled on the Blanchard in Section 7. Mr. McKinnis was a native of Butler County, Penn., whither his parents had emigrated from Ireland. He grew to manhood and married in his native county, thence removed to Ross County, Ohio, coming to Hancock in the spring of 1822. He built his cabin on the south bank of the Blanchard in Section 7, the farm now owned by Oliver P. Shaw. Here he began to make for himself a home in the wilderness. Charles, his only son then married, settling across the river on the same section. At the first election held in Findlay Township (then embracing the whole county), July 1, 1823, when thirteen votes were cast, he was elected justice of the peace, Wilson Vance being the other justice chosen at that election. On the 5th of April, 1824, he was elected overseer of the poor, this being the second election in what is now Hancock County. In March, 1828, Mr. McKinnis was chosen by the General Assembly one of the associate judges of Hancock County, and served in that capacity seven years. Judge McKinnis possessed a fair education and good executive abil- ity, and was well qualified for such official positions as he filled in this county. On the 2d of September, 1824, his daughter, Rachel, was married, by Wilson Vance, justice of the peace, to Samuel Kepler, who lived on the Maumee, this being the first marriage in the county. His daughters Sarah and Eliza were afterward married to John Fishel and John Magee, respect- ively, and about 1851 removed with their husbands to Iowa. Judge Mc- Kinnis was frank, genial and generous, possessing that friendly nature so characteristic of the Irish race. His wife died in this township in 1845, and about 1851 he removed to Iowa, where he spent the remainder of his days, dying August 22, 1863, aged over eighty-six years.
Charles McKinnis was born in Pennsylvania, and married Miss Mary Vail, a native of Virginia, in Ross County, Ohio. In December, 1821, he and his father entered land on Section 7, Liberty Township, and in the
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
spring of 1822 settled permanently. Charles built his cabin on the west half of the northwest quarter of Section 7, across the river from his father, where his son, Róbert, was born in the summer of 1825-one of the earliest births in the county. On the first tax levy of Findlay Township, taken in 1824, Charles McKinnis is assessed for two horses and four head of cattle, so that he must have been in better circumstances than the average pioneer of that date. In October, 1828, Mr. McKinnis was elected county commis- sioner, and re-elected in 1830. His children were Robert, Thomas, John, Philip, Elizabeth and Mary, all of whom were born in the township, and here grew to maturity. Mr. McKinnis, who was known as one of the "best men " of his day, died November 21, 1864, upon the old homestead in this township, where the widow of his son, Philip, now resides. His widow survived him till September 11, 1869. Thomas and John live across the township line in Blanchard Township on a portion of their father's estate, while Robert died in 1858.
Philip McKinnis, also a native of Pennsylvania, was in his twenty-second year when the family settled on the Blanchard. In April, 1824, he was elected constable of Findlay Township; and on the first tax duplicate, made that year, he is assessed for one horse and six head of cattle, a fair evi- dence of his prosperous condition. He lived with his parents until his mar- riage with Miss Susannah Dukes, sister of Lewis Dukes, Sr., by Joshua Hedges, justice of the peace, December 20, 1827, when he and his wife took possession of a cabin, which he had previously erected on the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 8. He did not enter this tract, however, till April 7, 1831. To this union were born eleven children, nine of whom sur- vive, but none are residents of this county. In 1855 Mr. McKinnis removed to Putnam County, Ohio, where he died August 18, 1866, and his widow August 3, 1868. He was a plain, uneducated pioneer, possessing a good deal of strong common sense, which carried him successfully through the many trials and hardships of forest life, but "would fight at the drop of a hat," and seldom met his match. Industry, honesty and punctuality were three of the most striking traits of his character, never turning aside from the faithful performance of what he regarded as his duty.
James and John McKinnis were also single men when the family came from Ross County. The former married Lucy Wickham, daughter of John C. Wickham, a pioneer. of Findlay, and settled immediately east of his father, on the farm now owned by Solomon B. Swartz. He resided here until his removal to Iowa about 1851. John married Miss Sarah Hartley, of Findlay Township, and located on a part of his father's farm, but he, too, went West, locating first in Indiana, thence removing to Kansas.
In December, 1822, Jacob Poe and his wife, Nancy, and four children, Elizabeth, John, Robert and Nelson, came from Ross County, Ohio, and settled on the west part of the southwest quarter of Section 8, on the north bank of the Blanchard, which land he had entered the previous May. Jacob Poe was of German extraction, and a distant relative of those historic char- acters famed in frontier story, Adam and Andrew Poe. He married Nancy, eldest daughter of Robert McKinnis, in Ross County, Ohio, and followed his father-in-law to Hancock County. Six children were born to him, after settling in this township, viz .: George L., Rachel, James, Margaret, Nancy and Jacob, and of the ten, six survive. George L., now a resident of Findlay, is believed to have been the first white child born in the township
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and the second male in the county, his birth occurring in November, 1824. In April, 1824, Mr. Poe was elected one of the three trustees of Findlay Township, and was also one of the judges at that election-the second held in what is now Hancock County. He was assessed in 1824 for one horse and five head of cattle. His son, Nelson, born in Ross County, September 4, 1822, occupies the old homestead, where he has lived more than sixty- three years, being only three months old when his parents settled on the Blanchard. He is thus the oldest surviving resident of the township, and there is but one other living citizen, viz., Job Chamberlin, of Find- lay, who has resided longer in Hancock County, the latter having come with his parents to Findlay Township in February, 1822. Jacob Poe was one of those sturdy backwoodsmen whose industry, courage and perseverance have done so much toward converting the wild forest-covered lands of north- western Ohio into fruitful fields studded with homes, the abodes of intelli- gence, comfort and plenty. He died on the old homestead May 28, 1856, his widow surviving him till November 27, 1862, leaving behind numerous descendants to perpetuate the memory of their plain but worthy lives.
John Gardner, known to the pioneers as "Big John " Gardner, settled on the north bank of the Blanchard in Section 10, in 1823. He was a cousin of John Gardner, Sr., of Findlay Township, and also his son-in-law, and came to the county about the same time. In the fall of 1828 he sold out to Addison Hampton, and soon afterward went to Indiana or Michigan. Joseph White came to the township the same year as Gardner, but in 1826 moved to Findlay. In 1824 he was assessed for two head of cattle, probably a yoke of oxen. He taught the first school in Findlay, in the winter of 1826-27, and left the county some time in the latter year.
Thomas and Rachel Wilson are believed to have settled on the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 9 in the spring of 1826, which he entered September 5, 1825. He was a native of Pennsylvania, but came here from Champaign County, Ohio, and died on his farm in 1828 (doubtless the first death in the township), leaving two children, Rebecca and Jane. The former married John Reed and the latter George L. Poe. The widow became the wife of John Travis, who came to the township a single man, about 1827. The family subsequently moved into Portage Township, where she died in 1852, and Mr. Travis in 1884.
Ebenezer Wilson, a brother of Thomas, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1799, and married Sally Davis, in Champaign County, Ohio. In January, 1826, with his wife and two children, he came to Findlay, and purchased and settled on the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 10, Liberty Township, entered by John Gardner in 1822. In March, 1828, he was ap- pointed one of the associate judges of Hancock County, and in 1835 re-ap- pointed for a second term, serving fourteen consecutive years in that capac- ity. Judge Wilson reared a family of nine children, seven of whom are liv- ing, and two-Joseph and Mrs. Rachel Cusac-are residents of the township. The parents died upon the old farm, the Judge July 4, 1866, and his widow June 20, 1877. Both were life-long Presbyterians. Judge Wilson was one of those solid, intelligent men who leave their stamp upon the sur- rounding community, and are kindly remembered when they pass from the busy scenes of life.
John Gardner, Jr., came to Findlay with his father in 1822. The latter entered the land in Section 10 upon which William C. Watson now lives,
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May 9, 1822, and here John, Jr., subsequently settled. In 1824 he was as- sessed for one horse and three head of cattle; but it is not known whether he located on his land in this township prior to his marriage with Miss Susan Moreland, daughter of William Moreland, Sr., November 1, 1827, the cere- mony being performed by William Hackney, justice of the peace. Mr. Moreland lived for a time with Gardner on this farm, and it is by some believed that the latter resided here prior to his marriage, or had at least built a cabin and made a clearing thereon. In 1829 Gardner went to Mich- igan, and two years afterward his land was sold by Joshua Hedges to Rich- ard Watson.
Other settlers of this period were Robert Mccullough, John and Michael Fishel, William Wade, Joshua Jones, John Travis and Addison and Alfred Hampton. McCullough was a native of Ireland, and a brother-in-law of Robert McKinnis. In the spring of 1826 he came from Ross County, Ohio, and "squatted" across the river from the latter. He was a large, muscular man, of great vitality and endurance, and, like the McKinnis boys, was regarded as one of the "best men" in the county. He never owned any land lere, and in a few years removed to the Maumee, settling in what is now Defiance County.
John and Michael Fishel and two sisters settled on the east half of the southwest quarter of Section 9, in March, 1828, where they were joined by their father, John, and brother, Daniel, the following autumn. The same year John, Jr., married Sarah, daughter of Judge McKinnis, and about 1851 removed to Iowa. The father and Daniel both died in the township in 1849, the former being eighty-four years old at the time of his decease. In 1832 Michael got married, and in 1833 settled on Section 34, Blanchard Town- ship, where he resided till 1876, when he removed to McComb, of which village he is still a resident.
William Wade and Joshua Jones, his son-in-law, settled on Section 9, in 1827, and after living here eight or ten years, sold out and removed into Union Township, where Wenman Wade resided, and afterward went to Indiana.
John Travis was a single man, and subsequently married Rachel, the widow of Thomas Wilson, for whom he had worked prior to his mar- riage. Her farm was the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 9, whence the family removed into Portage Township, where he died in 1884.
About this time Jeremiah Pressor, a free negro from Hardy County, Va., settled on the Blanchard. Jerry was a shiftless, good-natured old fellow, who did odd jobs of clearing for his white neighbors, but never owned any land. He finally removed with his family into Portage Township, where he passed the latter years of his simple, uneventful life.
Addison and Alfred Hampton were born in Virginia, whence they re- moved to Ross County, Ohio, where they respectively married Mary and Eleanor McCahan (sisters), also natives of the "old Dominion." In the fall of 1828 Addison and family came to this township, and located north of the river on Section 10. Alfred came out somewhat later, finally settling on Section 4. After a residence here of about five years, Addison removed to Fayette County, thence to Wood County, where some of his children yet reside. Alfred remained in Liberty until his removal to Findlay many years ago, where he and his wife are now spending the remaining years of their lives. They were married April 18, 1825, and in 1885 reached the
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sixtieth anniversary of that event. Mr. and Mrs. Hampton are doubtless the oldest pioneer couple in Hancock County.
Johnson Bonham was a native of Virginia, born August 30, 1796. In August, 1828, he entered 160 acres north of the river on Section 10, and the following year began improving his land. He voted at the October election of 1829, and was doubtless living in the county a short time prior to that event. He came here with Robert L. Strother from Licking County, Ohio, into which he had removed from Muskingum County, and in 1834 was elected a justice of Liberty Township, and again in 1843. Mr. Bonhan died upon the old homestead, November 15, 1845. Five of his children are resid- ents of the county-two sons and two daughters in Findlay Township, and one son in Portage.
The year 1830 brought into the township a large number of settlers. Nathan Frakes, John J. Hendricks, Amos Bonham, Zebulon B., Jonathan, Solomon, James and Stephen Lee, John Magee, Meredith Parrish, John Hubbs, Moses Predmore and James Caton, all came that year, but some of them had previously lived in other parts of the county.
Nathan Frakes settled in Allen Township in 1827, and in 1830 removed to Section 10, Liberty Township, now the site of the County Infirmary. His wife, Susannah, bore him a large family, some of whom are well remem- bered. In early life Frakes was a hard drinker and also a "bruiser," while his wife was a very ardent Methodist, and known as "an intelligent, earn- est, praying woman." Nathan finally joined a temperance society and subse- quently the church, and became a very worthy citizen. He died on his farm in this township early in 1835, and his widow married James Harkness. She and all the children went to Michigan many years ago. An account of Frakes' first settlement, near Van Buren, will be found in the sketch of Allen Town- ship.
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