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 58
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
Portage Township and died in 1841, leaving a widow and nine children. One of his sons, Samuel, is a resident of Findlay. Jacob Feller and wife are yet residing on the farm where they settled in October, 1831. He was born in Pennsylvania, in 1806, and the next year his parents removed to Fairfield County, Ohio, where Jacob grew to maturity. In November, 1829, he entered the northwest quarter of Section 26, Findlay Township. In 1830 he was married to Miss Mary Powell, of Fairfield County, and the following year settled on his land. Seven sons and five daughters were born of this union, nine of whom are living and three sons residents of the county. Mr. Feller and wife are one of the oldest pioneer couples in the county, where they have resided a continuous period of fifty-five years.
John Byal was perhaps one of the best known pioneers of the county. He was born in Baltimore County, Md., July 25, 1791, and was the second son of William Byal, a subsequent pioneer of the township. The family removed from Maryland to Pennsylvania, and in 1809 to Stark County, Ohio. Here, in 1816, John was married to Miss Elizabeth Newstutter, and resided in that county till March, 1832, when he located in Section 11, Findlay Township, on the south bank of the Blanchard, about two miles northwest of Findlay, where some of his descendants still reside. Soon after coming he built a saw-mill, close to his home, which he moved a short distance westward in 1833. In 1834 he erected the frame grist-mill yet standing and in operation near the old homestead. This mill was a great convenience to the early settlers, and Mr. Byal's enterprise deserves the highest praise. He was the father of nine children, five of whom are living, viz .: Henry, in Findlay; William, in Iowa; Catherine, in Kalida, Ohio; Nancy and Rachel, in Kansas. Mr. Byal was elected justice of the peace in April, 1833. In October, 1833, he was elected county commissioner, and re-elected in 1836, and filled the office to the entire satisfaction of the people. He died July 13, 1859, and his widow January 22, 1859. Both are still well remembered by a large circle of the younger pioneer generation.
Other settlers of 1832 were Thomas G. Whitlock, Alvin Schoonover, Peter Deamer, and Samuel Spangler. Whitlock bought John Bishop's farm on Section 25, and subsequently opened the "Green Tree " tavern, which became a resort of the "fast " youth of the surrounding country. A Cana- dian herb doctor named Wolverton lived at Whitlock's back in the "thirties," and practiced medicine a year or two, when he suddenly disappeared and was never again heard of. Considerable suspicion was aroused against the Whitlocks, who appropriated his horse and buggy and collected some of his back accounts. They claimed he went to Wood County to gather herbs, which was the last they ever saw of him. This story was not credited by the neighbors, to some of whom Wolverton had expressed a suspicious fear of the Whitlocks; but the officers of the law took no cognizance of the doc- tor's disappearance, and the matter soon blew over. After a few years the Whitlock family sold out and left for parts unknown. Alvin Schoonover was a brother of Abraham, and with his wife and mother came from Frank- lin County in 1832, and settled north of Findlay on Section 12, whence, in 1851, he removed to Iowa. Peter Deamer and Samuel Spangler settled northeast of Findlay. The latter is now living on the bounty of the people at the Infirmary.
In the spring of 1833 Anthony Strother, of Muskingum County, Ohio, set- tled northeast of Findlay, where he was joined by his father, Benjamin, the
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FINDLAY TOWNSHIP.
next year. Some eight years afterward the latter removed to Van Wert County. In 1840 Anthony married Mary J. McRill, who reared a family of six children, all of whom are residents of this county. Mr. Strother died in 1868 and his widow in 1884.
Frederick Duduit was born in Scioto County, Ohio, in 1807, and came to Findlay Township in the fall of 1833. His parents were natives of Paris, France, who came to the United States in 1790 with the colony of French Catholic emigrants who located on the "French Grant," one of the most stupendous swindles ever perpetrated on a confiding people. Mr. Duduit married Miss Helen H. Gilruth, a daughter of Rev. James Gilruth, a pioneer preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of this union were born ten children, four of whom are dead. Mr. Duduit came here after marriage and settled on a tract entered by his father-in-law immediately west of Findlay, his late residence being now within the corporation. Here his wife died January 12, 1886, and he on the 28th of March following, both dying on a part of the farm where they had spent more than half a century.
In September, 1833, William Byal, with his wife and four youngest chil- dren, came from Stark County, Ohio, and finally settled within the present limits of Findlay, though at that time outside the village. One son was born after coming here, and two older sons by a former marriage, John and Peter, settled in the township in 1832 and 1833, respectively. The latter is still a resident of the village of Findlay where further menti n of him will be found. The father died on his farm in April, 1840, and his eldest son by second marriage, Absalom P., is the present representative in the General Assembly from Hancock County.
Samuel K. Radebaugh, of Fairfield County, settled southwest of town, where he yet resides, in the spring of 1834. Emanuel Phifer, also of Fair- field County, located on his present homestead southwest of Findlay the same year; and about that time Eli Thompson settled in the Radebaugh neighborhood but did not remain long. Henry Baker and Samuel Snyder, both from Fairfield County, came about 1834, both locating north of the river. The latter settled on Section 8, and several of his children reside in the county. George Hollenbeck, Samuel Switzer, Henry Bear and Aaron Alban came in along about 1835-36, and many others soon afterward set- tling in different parts of the township. By this time the country around Findlay was quite thickly settled, and though later comers also suffered many of the hardships and trials inseparable from pioneer life, yet they had not to undergo that feeling of loneliness and isolation which the earlier pio- neers felt and suffered.
First Elections and Township Officers, and List of Justices .- In the erec- tion of Findlay Township the commissioners of Wood County ordered an election of township officers to be held on the 1st of July, 1823. We also find in the journal of the court of common pleas of Wood County, under the date of May 28, 1823, the following minute: "Ordered that there be al- lowed to the township of Findlay two justices of the peace, and that the election for said justices take place in said township on the 1st day of July. next, at the house of Wilson Vance." This was the first election held in Findlay Township, which then embraced the whole county. The original poll book reads as follows: "No. 1, Township of Findlay, County of Wood, July 1, 1823, Job Chamberlin, Sr., William Moreland and Benjamin Chan-
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
dler, judges; Wilson Vance and Matthew Reighly, clerks. Judges and clerks being duly sworn, entered upon their respective offices. Number of electors, thirteen. It is certified that Robert McKinnis has thirteen votes for justice of the peace, and Wilson Vance has twelve votes for justice of the peace." There is nothing on record in Wood County showing who were elected to the other township offices, though it is certain they were all filled at that time. The second election took place April 5, 1824, with Job Chamberlin, Sr , William Moreland and Jacob Poe, judges; Wilson Vance and Matthew Reighly, clerks. Eighteen votes were cast, and Job Chamberlin, Sr., Wilson Vance and Jacob Poe elected trustees; Job Cham- berlin, Sr., treasurer; Matthew Reighly, clerk; Wilson Vance, lister; Philip McKinnis, constable; John Gardner and John Hunter, fence viewers; and William Moreland and Robert McKinnis, overseers of the poor. At the election held in April, 1826, Joshua Hedges and William Hackney were chosen justices of the peace to succeed Wilson Vance and Robert McKin- nis. At the first county election, April 7, 1828, Findlay Township also elected officers, viz. : Job Chamberlin, Sr., Wilson Vance and Edwin S. Jones, trustees; John C. Wickham, clerk; Jacob Moreland, treasurer; Isaac Johnson and William Wade, overseers of the poor; Robert McKinnis, Asa Lake, Sampson Dildine and Joseph DeWitt, supervisors; John P. Hamilton and Asher Wickham, fence viewers; and John Jones and Jesse Hewitt, con- stables. "All of the foregoing are well remembered pioneers who then lived in different parts of the county.
The following roster of justices of Findlay Township since its organization in 1823, together with the dates of their respective elections, have been com- piled from the official returns: Wilson Vance and Robert McKinnis, 1823; William Hackney, 1826; Joshua Hedges, 1826 and 1829; William L. Hender- son, 1831 and 1834; Elias L. Bryan, 1832; John Byal, 1833; John Camp- bell. 1836; Price Blackford, 1837, 1840, 1843, 1846 and 1849; Abraham Daughenbaugh, 1839; Hugh Newell, 1840; John Patterson, 1843; Paul Sours, 1846 and 1851; George W. Galloway, 1849; Jesse Wheeler, 1852 and 1855; Henry Byal, 1854, 1857 and 1860; Daniel B. Beardsley, 1858, 1861, 1864, 1867, 1870, 1873, 1876, 1879 and 1882; John H. Burket, 1863; Eli- jah T. Dunn, 1866; Ezra Brown, 1869; Absalom P. Byal, 1872; Oren A. Ballard, 1874, 1877 and 1880; G. C. Barnd, 1883 and 1886; Ezra Brown, 1885.
Churches and Schools. - There are only two churches in the township outside of Findlay, viz. : the Methodist Episcopal or "Heck Church," on Section 11, and Zion Evangelical or "Feller Church," on the Lima road, in Section 26. The history of the former society is given in the chapter on Liberty Township, where it had its inception, the present building having been erected in 1851, twenty years after the society was organized. The first members of the Evangelical society worshiped at the Powell Church, in Eagle Creek Township, but in 1857, Samuel, Henry and Peter Powell, Ja- cob Feller, Jacob Wagner, Rev. C. M. Rinehart and a few other families, organized a separate society and built the present brick church, southwest of Findlay. The building cost about $1,000, and was dedicated in 1858.
It was many years after the organization of the township in 1823, before there were any schoolhouses outside of the town, where the first school was opened in the winter of 1826-27. Most of the pupils attended school in Findlay, though a good many living along the line of Liberty Township
529
FINDLAY TOWNSHIP.
patronized the first schools opened in that subdivision. It is therefore im- possible to tell at what date the first school was taught outside the village, but it was prior to 1840; and with the steady growth in population school- houses made their appearance in every part of the township, which now con- tains seven buildings with a large attendance.
Roads and Population .- This is the only township in the county that can be said to possess macadamized roads, which were built under a special act of the Legislature, passed on petition of the citizens, allowing a tax to be levied for that purpose. Several of the main roads have been macadam- ized to the township line and the good work is still going on. The stone was obtained from the quarries south of the river, and the solid roads con- structed from this material in this township have been of great advan- tage to the whole county. It would be an act of wisdom for the people of Hancock County to build similar highways throughout every township. Such roads would enhance the value of real estate and render travel easy, even in the wettest seasons. Bad roads two-thirds of the year are a great drawback to the growing wealth of the county, and if Hardin County could afford to macadamize her roads there is no good excuse for Hancock to re- main long behind her neighbor in such necessary internal improvements.
Outside of Findlay the township has about doubled its population since 1840, though the village has so greatly extended its corporate limits since that date that the township does not cover near the amount of territory it then did. Its population in 1840 was 464; 1850, 776; 1860, 879; 1870, 758, and 1880, 920. Including the village it has been as follows: 1840, 1,024; 1850, 2,032; 1860, 3,346; 1870, 4,073, and 1880, 5,553.
Factories. - In 1861 F. J. Kevis bought a piece of land, on the hill south of Findlay, of Job Chamberlin, and erected a brewery thereon. He car- ried on the manufacture of beer at this point in connection with his Find- lay brewery till 1875, when the building was burned down and never re- built.
In the spring of 1870 John B. Karst began the manufacture of tiles a short distance west of town. He has ever since continued the business, which, under his efficient management, has grown to large proportions. Mr. Karst employs from five to six hands throughout the year, and annually turns out about 250,000 tiles. This branch of trade has become one of the most important as well as one of the most valuable industries in the county, and thousands of acres have been brought under cultivation and rendered highly productive by the judicious use of tiles. Without tiling the great majority of the low flat lands in northwestern Ohio would be almost worth- less for agricultural purposes, and millions of dollars would thus be lost to the annually increasing wealth of the State.
530
HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
VILLAGE OF FINDLAY.
BEGINNING OF THE TOWN-SITE OF THE ORIGINAL PLAT ENTERED, AND COM- ING OF WILSON VANCE-SURVEY OF THE TOWN PLAT-SELECTION OF FINDLAY AS THE SEAT OF JUSTICE OF HANCOCK COUNTY-DERIVATION OF ITS NAME, AND CORRECT ORTHOGRAPHIY OF THE WORD-BRIEF SKETCH OF COL. JAMES FINDLAY-THIE PLAT AS ACKNOWLEDGED AND RECORDED- AMBIGUITY IN THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT REGARDING THE PUBLIC SQUARE CLEARED UP-LOTS DONATED BY THE PROPRIETORS TO ERECT COUNTY BUILDINGS, AND FIRST PUBLIC SALE OF THE SAME-BUSINESS MEN OF FINDLAY IN 1829-30, AND APPEARANCE OF THE VILLAGE AT THAT PERIOD- NAMES OF THOSE WHO HAVE LAID OUT ADDITIONS TO THE ORIGINAL PLAT, AND DATES OF SURVEYS-THE PRESENT STREETS OF THE TOWN-SKETCIIES OF ITS PIONEER BUSINESS MEN-FIRST WHITE MALE CHILD BORN ON TIIE SITE OF FINDLAY-EARLY PHYSICIANS OF THE VILLAGE, AND THE DIFFI- CULTIES OF MEDICAL PRACTICE DURING PIONEER DAYS.
THE history of Findlay goes back over a period of sixty-five years, for though Benjamin Cox, the first white settler in Hancock County, lo- cated on its site in 1815, the town was not contemplated for six years after- ward. On the 3d of July, 1821, Joseph Vance, William Neill and Elnathan Cory entered the east part of the southeast quarter of Section 13, Township 1 north, Range 10, and on the following day the same gentlemen entered the south half of Section 18, Township 1 north, Range 11. These were the first entries made in the county, and embrace all of the original town plat with which the history of Findlay, as a village, begins, and upon which most of its earliest settlers located. Joseph Vance lived in Urbana, William Neill in Columbus, and Elnathan Cory at New Carlisle, Ohio; but Vance & Cory subsequently purchased Neill's interest in these lands, and were the original proprietors of the town. In November, 1821, Wilson Vance, a younger brother of the Governor, took up his residence in the hewed-log house previously occupied by Benjamin J. Cox, which stood on the south bank of the Blanchard River, immediately east of the old fort. He came from the Maumee, as the agent of his brother Joseph, and soon afterward laid out a town on a part of the land entered the previous summer, which he named Findlay.
Though the plat was not recorded until nearly eight years afterward there is no doubt that the town was laid out in 1821, as Mr. Vance always asserted that was the year the survey was made. Squire Carlin gives the following testimony in support of this tradition: "Prior to my settlement at Findlay, in November, 1826, a survey had been made, the lots numbered and the streets designated; but I do not know what year the plat was made, though 1821 has always been claimed as the date. Mr. Vance had a plat of the town at his tavern, where I boarded for a time after my coming, from which I and other pioneers of the village selected our lots. I built my first log store-room in 1826, on the same corner I have ever since occupied, which I purchased as a corner lot; but I did not pay for the lot or receive a deed
531
VILLAGE OF FINDLAY.
until November 2, 1831." An impression prevails that the town was resur- veyed in 1829, but Mr. Carlin says he does not remember of a survey being made at that time, and claims that the plat of the original town, from which he selected his lot in 1826, is identical with the one recorded by Vance & Cory three years later. Another strong fact in support of Mr. Carlin's recollec- tions on this subject is, that Lot 141, on the northwest corner of Crawford and East Streets, was donated by the proprietors for a school site, upon which a hewed-log schoolhouse was built in 1827. This lot was occupied by a school building from that time up to the completion of the large brick schoolhouse on East Sandusky Street, in the fall of 1868, when it was moved to the west end of Crawford Street, and the lot sold. This at least proves that no material change has ever been made in the original town plat as surveyed by Wilson Vance in 1821; and if it was replatted in 1829, it was done for the purpose of re-establishing a few lines or corners which had be- come indistinct or uncertain through the ravages of time during the eight years that had elapsed since the town was first laid out.
In February, 1824, the General Assembly of Ohio appointed John Owens, of Champaign County, Alexander Long, of Logan County and For- est Meeker, of Delaware County "commissioners to locate and fix the seat of justice in and for the county of Hancock." At the following October term of the court of common pleas of Wood County, these commissioners reported that they had selected " the town of Findlay, in said county of Hancock, as the most suitable site for the seat of justice of said county." This of itself shows that Findlay was then recognized as a town, and being the only one then laid out in the county, and also centrally located, was readily selected as the seat of justice by the State Commissioners.
The town derives its name from a fort erected on its site in 1812, which was commenced by Col. James Findlay and named in honor of that officer. Considerable divergence of opinion has existed since pioneer days as to the correct spelling of the word, "Finley" and "Findley" being the two modes in general use among the early settlers, the name of the postoffice, established in 1823, being first spelled "Finley," then Findley, and in 1870 changed to " Findlay." There was no authority for either of the first two modes of orthography, as the gallant officer after whom the fort was named always spelled his name "Findlay," which the official records in Columbus fully attest. This should be conclusive evidence on the subject, and should satisfy every reason- able person that the old modes of spelling the word were erroneous. Some of the pioneers, however, adopted the correct orthography, among whom was Jacob Rosenberg, founder of the Courier. This paper was established in the fall of 1836, as The Findlay Courier, and the same orthography was followed by his successor, Henry Bishop, up to July, 1845, when the Courier passed into the hands of William Mungen, who changed the title to the Democratic Courier. Feeling that some knowledge of the man whose name is so prominently associated with the history of the county, but more especially with its seat of justice and principal town, will be welcome to a large class of our readers, a brief sketch of him is here appended.
Col. James Findlay was born in Franklin County, Penn., in 1770. His parents were Samuel and Jane (Smith) Findlay, who reared a family of six sons, viz .: John, William, James, Jonathan, Thomas and Nathan, all of whom became prominent and distinguished men. In politics they were Democrats, and held offices of distinction under that party, but in after
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
years James became a Whig. John was a member of Congress from Penn- sylvania. William was in Congress from 1803 to 1817; Governor of Penn- sylvania from 1817 to 1820, and United States senator from 1821 to 1827. James married Miss Jane Irwin, and about 1795 removed to Ohio, traveling on horseback by way of Virginia and Kentucky, and settling in Cincinnati. then a small village. Here for a number of years he filled the position of receiver of public moneys in the land office. In 1805-06 he served as mayor of Cincinnati, and again in 1810-11. When the war of 1812 broke out he was commissioned as colonel of a regiment, which was the advanced guard of Gen. William Hull's army on its march from the Scioto River to the Manmee. On this march he began the erection of Fort Findlay, named in his honor, and from which the city of Findlay derives its name, For meritorious conduct in the war of 1812, Col. Findlay was afterward promot- ed to the rank of brigadier-general of the State militia, in which capacity he served for a considerable period. Col. Findlay was the member of Con- gress from Hamilton County from 1825 to 1833. In 1834 he was the Whig and anti-Masonic candidate for Governor of Ohio, but was defeated by Rob- ert Lucas, and died the following year. Naturally reserved in his manner, he presented to strangers an air of austerity; but to those who knew him he was the soul of kindness and geniality. Col. Findlay possessed great decis- ion of character, was just in all his dealings, and maintained through life an unsullied reputation.
September 26, 1829, the original plat of Findlay, containing 156 lots, was acknowledged before Robert McKinnis, one of the associate judges, by Joseph Vance and Elnathan Cory, and recorded October 12, following. It embraces that portion of the town bounded by Front Street on the north, Sandusky (then called Back Street) .on the south, and by East and West Streets on the east and west, respectively. In the center of the plat a small square was reserved upon which to erect public buildings, and certain lots donated to the county for that purpose. No changes have since occurred in the names of the streets as designated on the original plat except Back Street (now called Sandusky), West Crawford (then called Putnam), and Broadway, which has been converted into a park, wherein a handsome mon- ument has been erected to perpetuate the memory of the patriots who fell in the great Rebellion. Main Street was laid out 100 feet wide, Broadway, 1153 feet; Main Cross, 823 feet, and Front, Crawford, Sandusky, East and West Streets, each 66 feet wide.
In the acknowledgment of the plat the following language occurs: "And that the lots, public ground, streets and alleys are to the best of their knowledge correctly designated by the notes attached, and are to be appro- priated as public ways for the benefit of said town and to no other use what- ever." A certain ambiguity in the wording of the foregoing quotation has led a few persons to assert that the public square was donated for the use of the town. But applying a similar construction to the whole quotation, which is here given verbatim, would also give the lots to the town, and ap- propriate both square and lots as "public ways for the benefit of said town and to no other use whatever." The words "public ways" are italicized to draw the reader's attention to the fact that the construction of the acknowl- edgement which gives the public square to the town also gives every lot in the original plat to the same corporation, and makes the lots, square, streets and alleys "public ways," which every one will readily admit the two first
Leve Showetter
535
VILLAGE OF FINDLAY.
mentioned were not intended for. From the fact, too, that the proprietors gave to the county thirty-nine lots "for the purpose of erecting public buildings in said town," and that the square was designated as "public ground," together with the fact that the latter has never been used for any other purpose than county buildings, and the evidence of Judge D. J. Cory who says his father told him they gave it for a court house site, is unanswer- able proof that the proprietors intended the public square for that purpose only, and for which it has been used continuously during a period of fifty- six years.
As already stated, thirty-nine lots of the 156 embraced in the original plat were given by Vance & Cory, "in trust to the commissioners of said county of Hancock, for the purpose of erecting public buildings in said town." These lots were as follows: 2, 8, 9, 13, 17, 20, 26, 29, 32, 39, 43, 46, 51, 56, 61, 64, 69, 72, 73, 79, 86, 89, 92, 95, 98, 100, 104, 105, 108, 111, 116, 123, 127, 135, 137, 142, 146, 148 and 156. On the 10th of Octo- ber, 1829, the following action was taken in regard to these lots: "The commissioners of Hancock County met for the purpose of taking into their care the proportion of the town lots of Findlay which were deeded to said com- missioners by Joseph Vance and Elnathan Cory, and said Charles McKin- nis and John P. Hamilton, present, ordered that the aforesaid lots be offered at public sale on the 9th of November next. It is further ordered that the county auditor advertise said sale." The sale took place on the date designated, and twenty-seven of the thirty-nine lots were sold to the following purchasers, some of whom, however, did not pay up, and the lots reverted to the county, and were again sold.
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