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 36
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 36
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October 2, 1879, I saw that rare phenomenon, a lunar rainbow ; the only one I have ever seen.
The night of the 4-5th of March, 1880, a terrific thunder storm, accompa- nied by high wind, passed over here It blew down considerable timber. During the last thirteen days of May, 1880, 5.56 inches of rain fell, 3. 18 inches of which fell in the last two and a half days.
On the 18th of February, 1881, 10.2 inches of snow fell till noon.
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
June, 1881, was a very wet month, there having been 8.43 inches of rain. On the 8th there were over 2 inches of rain in about an hour and a half ; and about three and one-half miles northwest of here this storm was far heavier. About seven inches of water fell in an hour and a half. It flooded a tract of land about half a mile wide by nearly a mile long, to the depth of eighteen inches to two feet.
September 5, 1881, the temperature ran up to 100.3 degrees ; on the 6th, to 100 degrees ; 7th, to 98 degrees. The mean temperature of the three days was 84 .degrees.
October, 1881, was the wettest month in my record,-8.92 inches of rain, an average of .29 inch each day.
November 17 and 19, 1882, there were the most brilliant auroras that have been seen in many years.
March 18, 1883, was very warm till 2:20 P. M. The temperature rose to 69.1 degrees, but by 4 P. M. it was freezing, and at 9 P. M., eight hours after the highest was reached, the temperature had fallen 55.2 degrees ; and thirty- two hours later it had fallen to 17.4 degrees below zero; a change of 86.5 de- grees in forty hours. On the 18th and 19th 12.1 inches of snow fell. May 21, 1883, sleet and snow fell to the depth of 6.5 inches. The summer of 1883 was very cold, so much so that crops were held back. Wheat harvest did not begin till July 12. On the 23d of July .63 inch of rain fell in thirteen min- utes, and on the 25th .70 inch in fourteen minutes. During the fall of 1883 there were the most brilliant sunsets and sunrises that it has been the privilege of this generation to see.
There were great changes in the barometer on the 19th to 2Ist of Febru- ary, 1884. It raised 1.070 inches in the fourteen hours ending at 10 A. M., of the 20th ; in the next twenty-two hours it fell . 582 inch, and then in thir- teen hours it raised .616 inch. July 29, 1884, there was a heavy hail storm a few miles west of here. Hail fell to the depth of about four inches. Much damage was done to crops over a small tract. The evening of the 30th 2.34 inches of rain fell in two hours and a half.
The morning of December 19, 1884, was the coldest recorded here, 32.4 degrees below zero.
April 6, 1886, 15.7 inches of snow fell. It was one of the stormiest days I have ever seen. In the afternoon of the 24th of June, 1886, there was a heavy rain and hail storm in the north part of the county. It was in connec- tion with the tornado of that date. The hail fell to the depth of several inches some places, and cut crops badly. Corn was stripped of the blades, and much fruit knocked off the trees. The storm extended over an area about five by fifteen miles. In July, 1886, we had only .31 inch of rain. October 14, 1886, was a very windy day. The wind blew from thirty to forty-five miles per hour, and took the roof off W. R. McManus's barn, and part of the roof from the
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county jail, grist-mill, and some other buildings in Wauseon. Large trees were blown down in the forests. As this storm passed away the barometer raised 1.264 inches, in forty-four hours.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Early Settlement North of the Fulton Line- - Recollections of Pioneer Life.
T' HE pioneer settlement of Fulton county was commenced more than a quar- ter of a century before the county, as such, had a separate existence; even long before the proprietors of the enterprise of creating a new county of this name had an idea of such an event. It began while the territory now em- braced by it was known as Wayne county, and several years prior to the erec- tion of Lucas county, from which it was, in the main, directly taken.
The county of Wayne was established by proclamation of Governor St. Clair, on the 15th day of August, in the year 1796, and was the third county formed in the northwestern territory. Its original limits were very extensive, and were thus defined in the act creating it; "Beginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, upon Lake Erie, and with the said river to the Portage, be- tween it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence down the said branch to the forks, at the carrying place above Fort Laurense; thence by a west line to the east boundary of Hamilton county, (which is a due north line from the lower Shawnese town upon the Sciota River); thence by a line west and northerly to the southern part of the Portage, between the Miamis of the Ohio and the Saint Mary's River; thence by a line also west and northerly to the southwestern part of the Portage, between the Wabash and the Miamis of Lake Erie, where Fort Wayne now stands; thence by a line west-northerly to the southern part of Lake Michigan; thence along the western shores of the same to the northwest part thereof (including the land upon the streams emp- tying into the said lake); thence by a due north line to the territorial boundary in Lake Superior, and with the said boundary through Lakes Huron, Sinclair and Erie to the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, the place of beginning."
The lands embraced by these boundaries formed a part of what is now the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and all of Michigan.
When this erection was made there could not, of course, have been any set- tlement within the boundaries of this county, which was included within, but formed a very insignificant portion of the territory named. Such of the pio- neer settlement as was made in this locality, or within the limits of that which is now Fulton county, was accomplished just prior to and about the time of
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the erection of Lucas county. In fact this county was largely taken from Lu- cas county, and the portion thereof that was taken, was embraced in a sin- gle township, called York. The counties of Henry and Williams also con- tributed of their lands to the new formation of Fulton, although in a compara- tively small degree. York township was subsequently subdivided into several smaller townships, and the original name is now represented in one of the southern tier of the county's townships. The subdivisions of York, Amboy, Chesterfield, Clinton, German, Gorham, Royalton, Swan Creek, York, Frank- lin, Dover, Pike and Fulton were all made and completed while this territory was a part of Lucas county, excepting the original York, which antedates Lu- cas county, and the small portions from Williams and Henry counties which were annexed to the townships nearest which they were situate.
This county was not organized until the year 1850, and with its erection it at once acquired a considerable population, Amboy having in 1840, four hun- dred and fifty-two; Chesterfield, three hundred and one; Clinton, three hun- dred and three; German, four hundred and fifty-two; Gorham, three hundred and fifty two; Royalton, four hundred and one; Swan Creek, four hundred and ninety-four and York, four hundred and thirty-five. Each of these town- ships was organized prior to 1840, and each of the others was formed be- tween that date and 1850.
While the pioneer settlement of these townships is necessarily a part of their separate history, a general mention of the names of some of the pioneers will be found of interest and not out of place here.
The question of land titles will be found fully discussed in another chapter in this work, and to speak of the settlers north of the old state line, the mean- ing will be fully understood. It is of these settlers that the principal mention will be here made.
In the early part of the year 1832, Eli Phillips, with his young wife, came to the "disputed land." They were former residents of Michigan, in the vi- cinity of Adrian. Mr. Phillips located on sections ten and eleven, town nine south, range three east, on the 10th day of June in that year. He still lives at an advanced age, enjoying the distinction of having been one of the very first settlers in this then almost unbroken wilderness. The deed for the lands occupied by this pioneer was signed by Andrew Jackson, president of the United States. Upon this land he still lives, aged about eighty-three years. He has lived to see the forest lands almost entirely cleared of their timber, and where once was timber and marsh in nearly endless extent, are now beautiful, well cleared and excellent producing farms. He stands to-day almost the sole living monument of pioneer days. Eli Phillips was followed soon after by other pioneers, among the names of whom are found Samuel Stutesman, But- ler Richardson, Hiram Farwell, John Jacoby, Warren Dodge, Benjamin Davis, Chesterfield W. Clemens, George P. Clark, Daniel Berry and his son, Nicholas
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Berry, D. Barnes, David White, A. H. Jordan, Valentine Winslow and David Severance. These certainly were here prior to 1835, and there may be, pos- sibly, others whose names are now out of memory.
The year 1835 witnessed a considerable settlement by other families, most of whom came from the States east of this. These came to build for themselves homes and farms in the new country which was then, among eastern people, considered to be in the far West, and on the frontier of civilization and settle- ment ; and so it was, at the time, the now known western country being a vast, uninhabited tract, occupied only by the American Indian and an occasional trader, who had ventured so far from the center of settlement, for the purpose of barter among the tribes that swarmed over the region.
Among those that made a settlement north of the Fulton line, during the year 1835, are found the names of Charles B. Smith and family ; John S. But- ler and his father, Asa Butler; Garner Willett, Amaziah Turner, Ami Richards, Alexander Vaughan. Alanson Briggs, Joseph Cottrell, Erastus Cottrell, Gorham Cottrell, senior. Sardis Cottrell, James Baker, Freeman Coffin, Clement Coffin, Martin Lloyd. Stephen Chaffee, Phillip Clapper, William Lee and others.
In this year the " Vistula Road," from Toledo west through the disputed lands was laid out and built by the government. This thoroughfare has other- wise been known as the "Old Territorial Road." This construction opened an established route of egress and ingress for the sturdy pioneers of the region, by which they were enabled to convey their products to market, and returning, carry to their homes such commodities as were needed in the new settlement. It opened, furthermore, into the heart of the country, a route which was easy of access and travel for hundreds of new comers, who were seeking homes in the land now being rapidly developed and occupied.
There came to the region in the year 1836 a number of families, among whom are to be found the names of Ansel H. Henderson, Harlow Butler, John P. Roos, John B. Roos, Asher E. Bird, sr., John Mclaughlin, Daniel Donald- son, John Donaldson, and perhaps others. After the coming of these families, and sub-equent to the year 1836. the lands became rapidly taken up and set- tled, so that their settlement becomes lost in the general growth of the com- munity. "These carly pioneers, the advance guard of a new civilization in the wilderness, were the blood and brains of the Eastern States, which formed the main composition of this growing territory ; whose fathers had educated their sons and daughters for the practical work of life, and they have, in turn, left their impre-s upon the country by their determination, energy, perseverance, thrift, and their stern political integrity and loyalty to government."
Of like disposition and character were the pioneer families of the various other localities of the county, but it is a generally conceded truth that the lands in the northern part of the county were first taken and occupied-the land on th : disputed tract, which will be found fully discussed elsewhere in this volume.
42
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
James C. Vaughan, now one of the commissioners of the county, was un- doubtedly the first male white child born on the disputed tract, and Martha Turner, daughter of Amaziah Turner, was the first female white child born thereon.
RECOLLECTIONS OF PIONEER DAYS.
The pioneers are passing away. In fact, so many of them have already gone, that with regret we note their vacant places, and realize that the inevit- able years will soon gather them all. They, in a general way, have written their own history, and have built their lasting monuments on every farm and in every village of this county, but thousands of unwritten incidents and deeds worthy of record have passed from the memory of the living, and can never be recalled. The men and women who built the first homes for the white race in this important part of a great State, were not common people. They wore not broadcloth or silk, and fashion and useless polish were strangers to them. In their plain homes and primitive surroundings, with open hands and open hearts, they met upon one common social level; nevertheless they were an uncommon people. From the refined homes and cultivated fields of the east the bravest and the best went out with a determined purpose to build among diffi- culties for civilization, and to sow for posterity to reap. No ordinary people could do what the pioneers of this county have done. But a few short years ago, compared with the age of the State, they commenced the magnificent task, and by constant toil, seeking not for ease, through trials incessant, bravely fac- ing calamities, after long and weary waiting they saw gardens crowd away the briar and the thistie, and grain and grass wave where once was tangled marsh. All through these long years they were unconsciously weaving webs of a history which spoke the doings of an interesting band, every word of which ought to be cherished by us, and every possible fragment gathered and saved in memory of our fathers and our mothers, and to the honor and for the benefit of ourselves and those who may live after us.
It may be true that no tongue can ever tell, no pen can ever write the words which bring back in realistic form the weary, homesick feeling, the anxieties, trials, hopes and fears of the dark days, or the happiness and sunshine of the bright days of the pioneer's struggle for better homes and a higher civilization ; but it is equally true that the incidents of his career are sacred facts, and that his victories in the great battle of an unselfish life are as worthy of our remem- brance as are the deeds of the men who fought the battle of Sedan, or led the famous march to the sea. The true benefactors are they who penetrating the wilderness drove back all features of barbarism, and built refined homes, and created broad harvests to enrich the world ; and it was a true heroism which enabled them to endure the privations and hardships of the past, which are fast being forgotten midst the comforts and luxuries of the present; for incompre- hensible were the noble motives and splendid purposes of the true heroes who built the primitive cabins.
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FULTON COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
SOCIETIES OF THE COUNTY
I
N the county of Fulton there appears to be in existence three established organizations, the interests of which are dependent upon the county for support and maintenance. They are the Fulton County Agricultural Society ; the Fulton County Pioneer and Historical Association, and the Northwestern Ohio Fair Company. The last named, the Fair Company, is a corporation. and while hardly to be classed as a society of the county, it draws support largely from the county by way of attendance at its meetings, but its expenses are met by the stockholders, and who also participate in its profits, and white it may not be strictly termed a county society, it is, nevertheless, sufficiently such in its nature for the purposes of this chapter.
The Fulton County Agricultural Society. This society was organized in the year 1858, and is wholly owned, or controlled, by the county. The object of the society is similar to like institutions throughout the State, having for its chief object a friendly competition among the people, especially in the pro- duction of farm and garden supplies, by offering prizes, or awards for the best of each class. This also extends to all articles, not farm and garden produce, such as works of art, useful and ornamental, and in fact nearly every branch of trade or occupation is, or may be represented at the exhibitions of the so- ciety, and prizes given for superior excellence in each. The result is whole- some and beneficial, as it stimulates the farmer to greater effort in his pursuit that his products may be of the best ; and as it applies to farm production so it does to the results of other pursuits.
The first meeting or exhibition of this society was held in the fall of the year 1858, on a ten acre-tract of land which the society held under a ten year lease. The place of meeting was at a point in Dover township, about a half mile east from Ottokee, then the county seat. Suitable buildings were here erected for keeping the exhibits, and the other purposes of the society. The grounds were laid out with a trotting course for competition in trials of speed of horses.
The result of ten years of existence in this locality, and on this limited tract of land, was beneficial to all the people, and at the expiration of the leave the society purchased a tract of about forty acres of land situate on the " west road," leading from Wauseon to Ottokee. The land was marshy and had no improvement, much of it being covered with timber. The improvements for the first year were made at an expense of about fifteen hundred dollars. This site was procured for the society by D. W. H. Howard, Oliver B. Vority and L. L. Carpenter. The erection of buildings, fences and enclosures, and the con-
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
struction of the track for exhibition of stock and trials of speed, cost the soci- ety several thousand dollars. Of recent years the society has confined its ex- hibitions mainly to the display of farm products, stock and art work, rather than to horse trotting, the latter being now incident to the meetings of the Northwestern Ohio Fair Company.
The present officers of the Fulton County Agricultural Society are as fol- lows ; L. G. Ely, president ; L. W. Brown, secretary ; J. W. Howard, treas- urer ; executive board, A. C. Daniels, Adam Kanauer, H. S. Persing, James Fenton, J. H. Brigham, S. H. Cately, L. W. Brown, George Gasche, A. M. Lee, Peter Schug, D. W. H. Howard, W. A. Blake, William Waffle, E. H. Patterson and L. G. Ely.
To the encouragement and support of the objects of this society the State provides a fund of one cent per capita of the county's population. This fund now reaches something like two hundred and ten dollars. Should there be a surplus of receipts over expenses the same is used in making improvements and premium awards.
Any person may become a member of the Fulton County Agricultural Society by paying annually into the treasury the sum of one dollar. This not only makes them members, but in addition thereto, entitles such person to a voice in the administration of the society, and to four admission tickets to the exhibitions of the same.
The Fulton County Pioneer and Historical Association. For a period of sev- eral years prior to the actual organization of this association its necessity was recognized by the older residents of the county. It was felt that to the pion- eers, who at an early day located in this region, and who, by their lives, privations, toil and industry, succeeded, through a period of almost incredible hardships and sufferings, in laying the foundation upon which the superstruc- ture of the county has since been built and enlarged by new comers and later generations, there should be erected in some suitable manner, a monument to their memory, and the memory of their deeds and lives; a monument, per- manent and imperishable, that the children of all coming generations might know to whom the honor and credit of the early settlements of the county is actually due. It was therefore considered advisable that a society should at once be organized, the object of which should be to gather while possible, the facts and incidents relative to the pioneer days of the county, and to record them in substantial form for future use and reference. It was deemed im- portant, too, that this work should be done, if ever, during the lifetime of the pioneer, while a complete and acurate record could be made.
To this end, and for the accomplishment of the purpose expressed, a call was made upon the older residents of the county, inviting them to meet at the court-house, at Wauseon, on the 22d day of February, in the year 1883, that there might be a full and free interchange of views on the subject, and complete organization effected.
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In obedience to the invitation there was a large attendance upon the occa- sion, February 22, 1883, and for the purpose of temporary organization, Michael Handy, esq., was made chairman and L. G. Ely, secretary. The ob- ject of the meeting was then fully and carefully outlined by Hon. D. W. H. Howard, substantially as set forth in the early part of this sketch, after which a committee on constitution and by-laws was appointed as follows: D. W. H. Howard, Albert Deyo, Joseph Shadle, L. G. Ely and James S. Dean. Upon the report of the committee the constitution and by-laws were adopted, and the society to be known as the " Fulton County Pioneer and Historical Asso- ciation," was brought into existence. It was provided that the president should be the person who had resided the greatest number of years in the county, and that the vice-presidents should be the persons who had the longest residence in the townships from which they were respectively chosen, it being provided that there should be one vice-president from each township in the county.
Hon. Dresden W. H. Howard being the oldest resident of the county was made president of the association, an office he has filled most acceptably and capably to the present time. The vice-presidents were as follows: John Jones, York; J. M. Williams, Clinton; John S. Butler, Chesterfield ; Heman A. Can- field, Gorham ; J. S. Riddle, Franklin ; David Ayers, Dover ; John McQuil- len, Pike ; James Fenton, Fulton ; Socrates H. Cately, Swan Creek; George R. Betts, German ; Dallas Brown, Royalton; John Clendening, Amboy. The other officers were L. G. Ely, secretary ; Socrates H. Cately, treasurer ; Levi W. Brown, S. C. Biddle, Michael Handy, Ozias Merrill and J. P. Roos consti- tuted the executive committee, and Hon. Oliver B. Verity was chosen as the historian of the association. Meetings were appointed to be held on the 22d day in the months of February and August of each year.
The object of the association being so worthy, has met with marked success during its brief existence, and from the first has steadily increased in member- ship, until it now numbers nearly all the old substantial pioneer element of the county. Its present officers are as follows : President, Hon. Dresden W. H. Howard; secretary, Thomas Mikesell ; treasurer, Socrates H Cately; ex- ecutive committee, S. C. Biddle, Rufus Briggs, Ozias Merrill, J. P. Roos and O. A. Cobb; historian, Hon. Oliver B. Verity. The vice presidents remain, one from each township, as stated and given heretofore.
The Northwestern Ohio Fair Company. This association was organized in response to a feeling that existed widely that Fulton county ought to have a place for annual meetings and exhibitions, at which premiums and purses were to be awarded, and which was situate within a convenient distance of the county seat and a railroad station. The fact that the grounds of the Fulton County Agricultural Society were distant some miles from the railroad, and could only be reached by carriage conveyance ; that the grounds of that
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
society had no ample accommodation for stabling horses, and that there was no hotel, or public house within several miles of the place; and from the fact that there was a general demand on the part of many persons who were in the habit of attending exhibitions of this character, both residents and non-resi- dents, a number of the substantial citizens of Wauseon and vicinity caused to be incorporated, in the year 1883, the Northwestern Ohio Fair Company, having for its object the same, substantially, as it set forth concerning the Fulton County Agricultural Society. W. C. Kelly was elected president ; J. S. Newcomer, secretary, and E. S. Callender, treasurer. The grounds of the company are situate just north of Wauseon, easy of access and within a con- venient walking distance. The lands comprise something like fifty acres and are arranged with reference to convenience and good order. Substantial buildings and enclosures are erected for the display of exhibits of all kinds, while the trotting course (half mile) is one of the best in northwestern Ohio. The society is in good standing in the region and well supported. Its present officers are Frank E. Blair, president ; A. S. Bloomer, secretary ; E. S. Cal- lender, treasurer. The meetings of the company are held annually.
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