USA > Ohio > Henry County > History of Henry and Fulton counties, Ohio : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 22
USA > Ohio > Fulton County > History of Henry and Fulton counties, Ohio : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 22
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There is also a machine shop and foundry. One of the most extensive stave factories in northwestern Ohio is owned and operated by Mr. A. W. Lee. A large saw-mill, owned by Messrs. Ball and Smith, has a capacity of 35,000 feet per day, and turns out annually 2,000,000 feet of sycamore lumber, used almost entirely for tobacco boxes, besides a large amount of ash, oak, and hick- ory for domestic and shipping purposes. Heidelbach Brothers are manufac- turing tobacco boxes, and deal in lumber, sash, doors, etc., on an extensive scale. Mitchell & Widdner are the proprietors of the Desliler brick and tile works, an industry which is assuming large proportions. Through the enter- prise of Mr. Mace Baer, a large brick block has been erected within the last two years. The citizens are energetic and enterprising.
When we glance back and see the wonderful changes and transformations which have taken place within so few years, eastern fable assumes a shade of plausibility, and Aladdin's lamp seems a possibility. William Hubbard, when editor of the Northwest, in appreciation of the wonderful improvement, and partly joking Tontogany, a village in Wood county, wrote the following fable, which is worth preserving :
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
THE OLD TIME AND THE NEW.
BY A FROG AND AN OWL.
There was a great big Frog, and he Sat on a great big log, and he Croaked thus : " I'm old Mahogany, " First settler at Tontogany ! " Boola-ba-lum !- Lum !-- Lum ! " Boola-ba-lum !- Lum !- m !- m !
" I've seen a ' settler ' shiver and shake, Until I thought his liver would break ! Then bitters and barks 'endivver ' to take, And gag, and 'hid-je-ous ' faces make !
" I've known the fog so thick at night You'd get from your candlewick no light ; But stir the air with a stick, you might, And the smell it would make you sick outright.
" The doctor he kept a mercury can, And found the practice hard work for a man ; But feeling your pulse with a jerk, he ran To measure your calomel out in a pan !
" The sick were as ten to one well, you know, And the well one a doctor would tell to . Go !
' For daddy and mamma is awful low, ' And you'll find our house by the cow-bell, O!'
" The doctor behind him fastened a boat, A life-preserver tied round his throat, And with rubber pants and vest and coat, He was ready to ride, or row, or float !
" If an old she-bear didn't cross his way, Or a catamount ' chaw him up ' for prey, He would reach the house by break of day, And on the road home would whistle for pay !"
Thus spoke the old bull-frog, and he Dodged under his slippery log, then he Croaked out : " Good-bye, Tontogany ! "' You'll see no more of Mahogany ! " Boola-ba-lum !- Lum !- Lum! " Ker-chug !"
There was an owl perched on a tree ; She oped her eyes that she might see - She wondered what in the world could be The cause of the croak at Tontogany. "Too-hoot !- To-hoot !- To-hoo ! " To-hoot !- To hoot !- To-hoo-00-00 !
" No ' fevernagur ' now is near, Nor barks nor bitters are wanted here - The fog is gone and the sky is clear, And health has reigned for many a year.
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" The doctor has sold his mercury can, He keeps no more a ealomel pan, Ilis life-preserver was ' bought by a man,' And he made of his boat a bin for bran.
" A thousand channels are digged, you see, Our rich, wild lands from water are free ; And the rivulets ripple and roll in glee To swell the waves of the broad Maumee.
" The she-bear and her cubs are gone - The wolves died howling one by one, To the crack of the settler's deadly gun, When the day was past and the chopping done.
" Let eroakers such as Mahogany, Do just as did that frog, when he Went under the slippery log, and he Said ' Good-bye, old Tontogany ! ' Boola-ba-lum !- Lum !- m !-! ' Ker-chug ! " The old time's past - to-hoot ! - to-hoo oo! We welcome now the new !"
CHAPTER XVIII.
HISTORY OF DAMASCUS TOWNSHIP.
TT would appear that the biography of a middle aged man could be easily written, and the information obtainable from one person. So should the his- tory of a county, young as that of Henry, be accurately and speedily compiled. We are, however, confronted with a mountain of difficulties seemingly insur- mountable. The smoke of the element, to the music of which Nero is said to have kept time with his fiddle, has obscured the early foot-prints ; ignorance has made no record, and when made carelessness has permitted it to be de- stroyed. Unlike an old settled county one generation has not stepped into the tracks of its predecessor, and tradition preserved the record ; but like the Toltecs and the Aztecs, the successor has inherited no history of its predeces- sor, and it is only from a few landmarks and the 'impaired recollection of a very few of the remaining members of the original tribe of Abraham that we are enabled to gather a few recollections worth preserving and embalming in print.
THREE STAGES OF CIVILIZATION.
We find three types of civilization as having existed here. Pioneer is rather a misnomer for the first, as he came not as a settler, removed but few obstruc-
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tions, and cleared a very narrow way for those who were to follow; he was rather an adventurer, restless in civilization and happy only in the solitude of wild nature ; the rifle and the dog were his companions, and the fruit of the hunt and trap his only means of support. Very little improvement was made by this type ; a small corn and truck patch was cleared, and a rude log cabin erected, but the immense forests remained comparatively undisturbed. He was followed by the man with the ax, and in his footsteps came the saw-mill. This was the timbering period, and the giants of the forest fell rapidly before the woodman's ax. The monster oaks were felled, hewed, sleded to the Mau- mee, rafted to Toledo, thence on vessels to Montreal and Quebec, and then to Liverpool, England, where they were converted into vessels. The walnut, ash and poplar were converted into lumber and shipped to Eastern markets. The soft wood has become valuable only in late years and since the advent of the stave factory and hoop maker. With the lumbermen came many who re- mained, and accompanied or followed by others in search of cheap homes. These with their descendants, eastern arrivals and foreign immigration make up the present population and civilization.
CIVIL ORGANIZATION.
Damascus township was organized as a voting precinct in 1823, included the whole of what was then Henry county, with the voting place at Independ- ence, now in Defiance county. As time advanced improvements multiplied and population increased, new civil townships were formed, until Damascus is at present limited to the original government-surveyed township No. Five, north of range eight, east, minus so much as lies north of the Maumee River, and forms part of Washington township, being sections I and 6, the most of 5 and 7, and parts of three and 4. It is, of course, bounded on the north by the Maumee, on the east by Wood county, on the south by Richfield, and on the west by Harrison township. In 1840, when its territory, divided with Rich- field and Flat Rock, embraced all of the county south of the river, it had a pop- ulation of only 489. In 1860, reduced to its present dimensions, it contained 761 souls, which in 1870 had increased to 1, 179, this grew to 1,415 in 1880, and at present, estimating from the voting population and including the village of McClure, which has sprung up since, must number not less than 2,000 persons.
TOPOGRAPHY.
The township, in common with the county, is very level, or rather flat. It is, however, easily drained into the several natural water courses which run through the township, emptying into the Maumee.
The south branch of Turkey Foot, the main creek south of the Maumee, enters the township in the southwest quarter of section nineteen, running north-
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easterly through sections nineteen, eighteen and seventeen and emptying into the river in the west half of section eight. Lick Creek starts in the southwest cor- ner of section twenty-nine, also running in a northeasterly direction until it reaches the river in the northwest corner of section three, a fragment of which lies south of the river. The east branch of this creek commences in the south- west corner of section sixteen, uniting with the main creek in the southeast corner of section nine. Big Creek starts in the southwest quarter of section thirty-four, running south, tending slightly to the east, through sections twen- ty-seven, twenty-two, fifteen and eleven, reaching the river in the southwest quarter of the latter section. The channels of these creeks have been greatly improved by widening and deepening, and with the system of artificial drain- age, both surface and under-ground tiling, completety drain the township, which is now one of the best improved and most productive in the county, the soil being mainly black alluvium and its fertility seemingly inexhaustible.
The Coldwater, Mansfield and Lake Michigan Railroad is located through the township, its road commencing at the east side of the southwest quarter of section twenty-five and running in a southwestern direction through sections twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty and nineteen. The "Narrow Guage," now converted into a standard, and known as the "Clover Leaf" route, also runs through the township, entering on the east line at the northeast corner of section thirteen and running diagonally through the township, southwesterly to the southwest corner of section thirty-one. It crosses the road bed of the C. M. & L. M. Railroad, in the northeast quarter of section twenty-eight. The location of the railroads, and especially the con- struction of the narrow guage, gave birth to the
VILLAGE OF MCCLURE.
This, the only village in the township, was laid out and platted into town lots by John McClure, and entered of record in the office of the recorder of Henry County, April 15, 1880, and is situated "in the northeast part of the northeast quarter of section twenty-eight," on the line of the Delphos and To- ledo (narrow guage) Railroad. The original plat was 71 1 feet square and was divided into twenty-eight lots, including the depot grounds. On the 7th day of February, 1881, Mr. McClure added an addition of thirty-two lots on the south of the town, increasing the number of lots to sixty. April 7, 1881, Da- vid Foltz platted an addition of six lots to the east side of the town, and August 26, 1881, added another addition of four lots on the south of the town. Oc- tober 19, 1881, J. G. Markley's addition of twenty- four lots was added to the north of the town. Sept. 23, 1881, Mr. McClure added his second addition of twenty-six lots on the west of his first addition. Sept. 5, 1882, Ammond Smith platted an addition of five lots to the west of McClure's second addition. April 10, 1885, J. G. Markley added a second addition of sixteen lots on the west of his first addition.
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
The village was incorporated in 1886, and the plat admitted to record on the 10th day of August of that year.
The first substantial building erected in the village was in 1880, on lot fif- teen on the original plat, by Thomas W. Durbin, who for a number of years had been merchandising at Texas, in Washington township. The building is a two-story frame, one hundred and thirty feet deep, and twenty-two feet wide. A general mercantile business is carried on by the "Durbin boys"-Dickin- son, Charles and Clark, sons of the proprietor. The same year Andrew John- son erected a commodious hotel ; the year following the Rowland brothers put up an elevator and also a store-room ; following were the Counselman broth- ers with still another store; then came the stave factory, planing-mill, etc. The town at present contains a population of five hundred, has a post, express and telegraph office, one church, a large two-story school-house, three general stores, one drug store, a hardware store, saw-mill, stave factory, planing-mill, and the various mechanical artisans. Gas and oil have lately been struck, mains and pipes have been laid, and the town is now heated and lighted by the natural vapor.
EARLY SETTLERS.
In 1837 there were but three hundred and eighty-five acres of land in what is now Damascus township, on the duplicate for taxation, and it was a number of years after that date before settlement commenced. John Savage was, per- haps, one of the very first actual settlers; Abraham Snyder came from Vir- ginia in 1840, but first settled in Washington, at that time called Myo town- ship; James Reid came in 1843 ; James Fiser, also from Virginia, came the sanie year ; Samuel Domer in 1849, and Solomon Domer the year following ; Milton Jennings came in 1851; Jacob Beaver was one of the early settlers ; William Bell, Philip W. Counselman, the Shepard family, John M. McClure, John Foltz, John C. McLain, may be mentioned among the pioneers to whom is due the credit of converting the forests of Damascus into a garden.
Present Condition .- Not less than three fourths of the lands of this town- ship were under a high state of cultivation, worth from $25 to $85 per acre. The township is well ditched, has good roads on almost every section line ; its residences and farm buildings are surpassed by few localities, and it has more churches and school-houses than any other township in the county, or, in fact, in most any other county. Its population is very moral, sober and industri- ous, in fact a more desirable community or better county in which to live, will be hard to find.
Damascus township presents several sad examples from which the farmer and agriculturist should profit. Several of her pioneer and best to do farmers who purchased government lands at a low price in the early days of the county, settled in the wilderness, and patiently enduring all hardships and deprivations,
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HENRY COUNTY.
were in their old age induced by their boys, who had become fascinated with town life, or felt too proud to farm, to sell their hard carned homes, now valu- able, and remove to the neighboring town and engage in merchandising, a business of which neither they or their boys knew anything.
In discussing the reasons why so many of the boys born and bred on farms, become dissatisfied with rural life, and why so few follow the occupation at which their fathers had won success, there is one that is too little considered. Most of these young men expect some day to marry, and seeing how hard a time their mothers usually have, are properly unwilling to oblige the girls they love to assume such arduous responsibilities. In fact, they cannot oblige a girl to become a farmer's wife if they would. The time for such obligation has not yet come, and in ninety- nine cases out of one hundred, ambitious girls, who like a man well enough for himself, suppress their feelings and give him the go-by, if this be the prospect in life that he holds out " for better or for worse." It is, unfortunately, not altogether a prejudice that thus influences young wo- men against the farm, or rather it is the natural prejudgment of their own fate from the facts in farmers' wives' experiences with which they are themselves familiar.
Undoubtedly the greatest improvement in farming life now needed con- sists in greater comforts and conveniences for farmers' wives. The farmer him- self has all sorts of labor-saving machinery. The wife often has to do with only the same conveniences provided for her mother and grandmother before her. As social duties become more exacting her time and leisure are less than formerly. Children on the farm do not "rough it" as much as they used to. Just all the difference in their appearance marks so much the greater care thrown upon the mother. It is more difficult than formerly to get good help in the house in the country. Girls who work in private families prefer city life. They, too, had rather find a beau among the young men in some city avoca- tion than on a farm. Now, as far as possible, a farmer should make his wife's work proportionately as easy as his own, or he should quit the business if sat- isfied that this cannot be done. Usually the hardest jobs in the house may be saved by a little timely thoughtfulness on the part of the husband and men folks. Having a good supply of wood or other fuel in a convenient place ought to be a requirement from every housewife. So, too, should good hard and soft water convenient for use. Many steps may be saved by constructing sewage drains to convey slops from the house. This drain should terminate in some receptacle at a distance from the house, which, kept disinfected, will more than pay its way in providing fertilizers for the farm.
It is presumed that most farmers' wives have sewing machines. They are as great help in the house as mowers and harvesters are on the farm, and may be used many more days in the year. The ice-house and creamery should be maintained wherever a cow is kept. They make a great saving in the labor of
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caring for milk, and are besides well worth their cost in making more and better butter than by the old laborious methods. The ice-cold milk from the creamer is an excellent drink for hard working men. With every particle of cream re- moved it is as nutritious as it ever was, and its coolness, combined with nutri- tion, makes it valuable for a drink to men in the hay and harvest fields. Then, too, with plenty of ice it is easy to have ice cream easily, made cheaply and better than nine-tenths of what is sold in cities. With beautiful home-grown flowers in the dooryard, and perhaps a green-house for them in winter, the farmer's wife need ask no odds of her city sisters with equal wealth in the pleasures and refinements of life which each may enjoy.
The trouble with most farmers is that they do not make the most of little things where they can easily and cheaply increase the comforts and luxuries of life. Lacking these they look with greater envy on the supposed advantages of city residents, and of course become discontented and unhappy. If farmers asked the advice of their wives more than they do about household arrange- ments, and gave them their way in these, they would find the comforts of their homes greatly increased thereby. Perhaps then their sons, whom they hope to leave as prosperous farmers, would not be deterred from their father's busi- ness by their inability to find lovable and intelligent young women willing to share such a life with them.
CHAPTER XIX.
HISTORY OF FLAT ROCK TOWNSHIP.1
IN the year 1833, about September, my parents (Jared and Susanna Scofield) 1 left Delaware county, N. Y., for the Maumee Valley. We boarded a canal boat at Utica, N. Y., on the Erie Canal, which took us to Buffalo; thence by sail up Lake Erie. After a tedious journey of several days we arrived at a place called Portland (now Sandusky City) east of the mouth of Sandusky River ; thence by wagon to Lower Sandusky (now Fremont); thence across to Perrys- burg, through what was then called the Black Swamp, which, indeed, was prop- erly named. The road is now macadamized, but then was black swamp the entire distance. I recollect one day our progress was so slow that we did not get far enough to find a place to stay over night without camping in the mud and water, and we were without horse feed. We left the wagons, went back and stayed at the place we had stayed the night before. After this tedious
1 Written and contributed for this volume by James E. Scofield, a pioneer of the Maumee Valley, from personal recollections, records, and information derived from other early settlers.
James & Scofield
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journey of several days (thirty-one miles) we arrived at Perrysburg, there forded the Maumee River, and went up the north bank to Providence. There we camped in a log cabin, without floor or windows, and allowed the teams to return to their homes in Portland.
Our emigrant train consisted of father, mother and seven children, four boys and three girls, and grandmother ; also Uncle and Aunt Lucinda Morse (mother's sister), with two children, a boy and a girl. My father went pro- specting (being some acquainted with the country from a visit here the year before) with his neice and her husband, Joseph Heath, who also located here in the spring of the same year, on the north bank of the river, opposite Girty's Island. The remainder of the family remained in camp in regular Indian style, hunting and fishing. Game and fish were plenty. Upon my father's return, after an absence of a week, we broke camp and embarked on a double pirogue, which consisted of two huge trees being dug out in proper shape, with reason- ably thin sides and bottom to make them light as possible, and yet substantial enough to endure some hardships, then laid side by side matched together and caulked in the seam to prevent leaking. Then "wales " were added around the top of the sides for poling, or propelling purposes. I believe they had a name for the craft to designate it from a pirogue, which is one huge tree dug out like a canoe.
Thus equipped, and under command of Captain Carver, we weighed anchor and glided up the placid Maumee, using poles for power, and arrived late in the evening of the same day at Girty's Island, and the residence of Joseph Heath, before mentioned. All the parties were mutually acquainted in the State of New York. In this neighborhood I have resided since. On coming up the river a fine buck was seen swimming across at some distance above us. Uncle Orrin being anxious to have the first deer made a shot, at a long distance, but failed to hit him. Shortly after when nearer, father made a better shot, killing the deer. Upon arriving at the spot, the water being shallow and full of grass, the deer did not sink but was easily pulled into the boat. This was our first venison captured in Ohio, or perhaps any other place. It is my first recollec- tion of venison.
At this time (about October, 1833) Napoleon was not known. Not a tree was cut. The branches of trees hung over the banks of the river on either side all the way up, and indeed, all the way to Defiance, and also Fort Wayne, Ind. Now and then were observed small clearings, one of which was that of John Patrick, (a pioneer of 1824) three miles east of Napoleon. Another owned by widow Bucklin, near the mouth of Turkey Foot Creek; Mr. Gunn's, at Prairie du Masque; Samuel Bowers's about one mile west, and Elisha Scrib- ner's, off the river farther north. The next clearing west of John Patrick was that of Elijah Gunn, a pioneer of 1826, at Girty's Point, opposite of the east end of Girty's Island, in (now) Flat Rock township; then Joseph Heath's, op-
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
posite the west end of the island, on the north bank of the river. On the south bank were Reuben Wait and Amos Cole. The three last named families were pioneers of 1833. Then came John Lowry's plan, up near Snake Town, formerly an Indian town on the south bank, opposite the (now) town of Florida ; then John Carver, at Snake Town. William Hunter's inn, or hotel, was a double log cabin on the north bank (now Florida); Thomas Brown lived a half mile east ; William Bowen, who afterward laid out the town of Florida, lived on his land. He had a small clearing, as also had Mr. Hunter and Mr. Brown. The next clearing, west of Florida, was that of Richard Grimes, on the north side of the river and a little back (now the residence of Dr. Gibbons Parry). The next on the river bank, in succession, now in Richland township, Defiance county, were Mr. Tuttle, Samuel Rohn, Dr. Jonathan Evans, - Hively, Isaac Brancher and Pierce Evans (near Defiance). On the south bank were Dr. J. L. Watkins (in now Flat Rock), - Graves (now Richland) and Samuel Kep- ler. Then Fort Defiance, at the junction of the Au Glaize and Maumee Rivers.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION-ELECTION RECORDS.
Flat Rock township was organized on the 23d day of May, 1835. The records show the election of its first officers of that date. William Bowen and Samuel Rohn were judges, and Jared Scofield and Amos Cole, clerks of elec- tion. The book shows ten votes polled. Amos Cole was elected justice of the peace; John L. Watkins, Richard Grimes and Jared Scofield, trustees; Joseph Heath, clerk and constable; William Bowen and George Lowry, overseers of the poor; John Lowry and Jesse King, fence viewers; John L. Watkins and Elijah Gunn, road supervisors.
June 22, 1835. Trustees met and divided the township into school dis- tricts. Number three included Pleasant township and Marion and Monroe, if they had any inhabitants. The records do not show when these townships were detached, neither do they show how Richland and Flat Rock were to- gether, but from memory (as a boy fifteen years old), the election was held on the bank of the river, on the territory now of Richland, using a hat for the ballot box. Some of the voters lived there then, and since to time of their decease.
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