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 47
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 47
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The author desires here to digress long enough to give a brief sketch of one of the men who founded the village which is the subject of this sketch. Reference is made to Mr. Sargent. He was a native of western New York, but of New England parentage. When quite young he came with his parents to Cleveland, O. He received his training for his profession, that of civil en- gineering, at an excellent private academy in the State of New Hampshire, and about the first of his professional employment was in the surveying and construction of the Sandusky, Mansfield and Newark Railroad, now the Lake Erie Division of the Baltimore and Ohio system. He was one of the most reliable and trusted employees of the corporation that built the Air Line Rail- way. In 1856 he was married to Mrs. Julia Hull. He is still living at Cleve- land, of which for many years he was city engineer, and is both affluent in circumstances and very highly regarded.
The first house built on the site of Wauseon after it was laid out, was erected
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
at the corner of Birch and Fulton streets by E. L. Hayes. It occupied the place where now stands the spacious three-story brick block owned by the Masonic fraternity of Wauseon, and by the firm of Prichard & Smallman and Isaiah Bogart. The upper story of the new building contains a beautiful and elegant Masonic Hall, the second is used for offices, and the third is occupied by the hardware store of Benjamin Biddle, and the grocery, produce and grain establishment of Prichard & Smallman. The old structure was a two-story frame house. Its first floor was utilized for a general or country store kept by Mr. Hayes, and his family lived up-stairs. In 18-, for the purpose of making room for the new brick building, it was removed to the farm just at the south- east edge of the village now owned by Mrs. W. C. Kelley, and remodeled into a very comfortable and roomy farm dwelling.
Sometime in the first year of the War of the Rebellion, Mr. Hayes entered the Union Army as a captain in the Forty-fourth Illinois Infantry. In 1862 he was transferred to the One Hundredth Ohio Infantry Volunteers. He saw arduous and dangerous service, was successively promoted for soldiery conduct through the different grades, and at the close of the war was mustered out as a brevet brigadier-general. He now resides in Bloomville, N. J.
Wauseon got its name from that of a Pottawotomie chief, the same as did the old seat of justice of Fulton county. Ottokee and Wauseon were brothers, Wauseon being, according to tradition, the younger. The first plat, however, of the village of Wauseon was called Litchfield, it being the intention to name all the stations along the line of the new railroad each for some one of its direc- tors. There were two Litchfields residing in New York City, who were direc- tors, one of them was Edwin C., and the other one Elisha C., and this name was given for them. They were engaged in the wholesale grocery business in that city. H. L. Hosmer, of Toledo, was applied to when the projectors of the new town came to reconsider the name by which it should be known, and, among other names, he suggested that of Wauseon, which was adopted more because of its Indian origin than anything else. Its spelling is said to be in- correct, and the pronunciation is slightly different from what it was in its abor- iginal purity, but it is said to be more musical in sound since changed from a savage to a civilized appellation.
Some carelessness has existed as to the preservation of the municipal rec- ords of Wauseon since its incorporation, and there are no official sources from which to ascertain the names of its different officers, except for a few years back. It was incorporated in 1859; but the county record, embodying the history of its municipal organization, was burned in the conflagration of the first court-house at Ottokee, in 1864. The first mayor of Wauseon was Na- thaniel Leggett. The names of most of the remainder of its former or present citizens, who at different times have been at the head of its municipal govern- ment, are E. L. Barber, N. W. Jewell, Anson Huntington, Andrew J. Knapp,
John C Rouich.
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FULTON COUNTY.
Sydenham Shaffer, Naaman Merrill, Michael Handy, William C. Kelley, Joel Brigham, James S. Brailey, and I. M. Murphy. Eugene S. Blake is the pres- ent incumbent of the mayor's office. Michael Handy served but one month, his election being successfully contested by William C. Kelley, who became mayor in the month of May, 1874. Mr. Handy's career, therefore, as mayor, was the briefest in the history of Wauseon. L. M. Murphy served the longest, his time in that office comprising a portion of a term as the appointee of the council to fill a vacancy, and he was twice elected. During the administration of Mayor Joel Brigham, from 1878 to 1881, the most important municipal im- provements were made. It was during this time that an excellent and exten- sive system of sewerage was put in, giving the village as good a system of drainage as that of any town or city in northwestern Ohio. The cost of the material and construction was about six thousand dollars, the greater part of which was paid by special tax, and the remainder by a general tax. The city hall was erected during the same administration. It stands at the eastern cor- ner of Depot and Clinton streets, and, excepting the court-house, is the finest building in the village. Its cost was a little in excess of twelve thousand dol- lars. It contains a large and elegantly finished hall devoted to the public use, comfortable rooms for the business and social meetings of the members of the Wauseon Fire Department, the council chamber, village prison, Clinton town- ship hall, used for election and all general official purposes of the township, and a large fire engine, hose, hook and ladder, and truck room. Clinton township hall was sold by the village to that township for the sum of fifteen hundred dollars.
The Bank of Wauseon is the only institution of that kind Wauseon has ever had. It was started by E. L. Barber, the present senior partner of the banking firm on the Ist day of February, 1863. It is not now and never was incorporated. Its business was first begun in the small frame building on the east side of Fulton street, south of the railroad, now owned and occupied by James Robinson as a grocery and dwelling house. From this place, in a short time, it was moved directly across the street and into a small building which stood where the office of the Fulton County Tribune now is, whence again, in about a year, it was placed in the frame business block which once stood on the eastern corner of Commercial and Fulton streets, and on the site of the Eager House. From this location it was again removed, and became an up-stairs business place, occupying the rooms above the dry-goods store of Springer & Co., on the west side of Fulton street, north of the railroad. Pre- vious to this Naaman Merrill, who had been clerk of the county courts, became a partner, and the firm was Barber & Merrill, and so continued until the year 1879, when E. S. Callendar, of Champaign county, O., became a partner, when it was changed to Barber, Merrill & Co. Late in the fall of 1879 Mr. Merrill died, and then the firm became and since has continued to be Barber & Callen-
54
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
dar. In 1871 the commodious and fine bank building on the east side of Ful- ton street, north of the railroad, was built, since which time the bank has been located therein.
Wauseon's first hotel, or "tarvern," as many of its Yankee inhabitants called it, was built in the year 1854, by John Williams. It was a frame dwell- ing, and the settlers from miles around gathered to attend the "raising bee." It stood on the corner of Beech and Fulton streets, and was first called the Estelle House. Its first landlords and proprietors were W. E. and D. O. Liver- more, who came to Wauseon from Utica, N. Y., their native city and State. They long since went farther west, and the former now lives in California, while the latter is a resident of Washington Territory. In the course of a few years the nanie of the house was changed, and it became for a while the Clinton House, and then was called and remained the Sherman House, until it burned .down in 1872. For a number of years it was conducted by the Cornell Bros., I. C. and Thomas, and was the leading hostelry of the county. The next hotel in point of chronology was the one, yet standing, on Depot street, just east of the new city hall. The date of its erection cannot be stated with exactness, for it is a kind of mosaic of old houses moved together, on a vacant spot. Its most popular days were when it was kept by George M. Hawes, who, for many years previous to his becoming a landlord and caterer to the traveling
public, had been a commercial traveler. He made the old Wauseon House, so long as he kept it, a decided favorite with the modern traveler. The Eager House, a commodious three-story brick building, stands at the corner of Ful- ton and Commercial streets. It was built by its present proprietor and host in 1875. Its site was first occupied by a large, rambling frame building, the sec- ond story of which was devoted to offices and the first to mercantile business. The Clinton House, on the corner of Clinton and Depot streets, was built in ¡ 868. It is a frame structure. There is a tradition among the first inhabitants, not very old, it is true, and not very hoary, and which they seem determined not to let die, that the site of this pleasant hotel was a tamarack swamp, and fishing for bullheads therein has become a many-times-told tale. In this con- nection, let it be stated, that there are no living streams of water in the region of Wauseon, but it is undoubtedly true that the entire site of the village was .quite swampy. In making a foundation for many of the buildings, trenches conforming to the size and shape thereof, would be dug and heavy planks laid ·down in the water, which would rapidly soak in, to get a commencement for a foundation. On this square timbers would be laid and the superstructure placed thereon. Oftentimes blocks of wood were used to set a frame on, for there was no stone, and it was difficult to find clay suitable for the manufacture of brick, in the immediate vicinity. At least, for a long time, such was the prevailing idea ; but nowadays as fine brick as can be found are weekly turned .out by the thousands, at the two large brick and tile factories in the village.
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FULTON COUNTY.
In 1881, the Fountain City Hotel, on the west of Fulton street, near the court- house, was started by its present proprietor, Eli Snelbaker; and there stands on the east side of Fulton, at its intersection with Oak street, an old building formerly known as the Farmer's Hotel. It has not, for some years, been kept as a hotel, and is now a private dwelling house.
The first church building in the village was the Methodist Episcopal. It was a wooden house, and stood at the northeast corner of Fulton and Oak streets on the spot where now is the brick block belonging to Charles Gray, the upper floor of which is occupied by the printing office of the Vorthwestern Republican. In 1872 the Catholic society, or church, of Wauseon, purchased the old Methodist house of worship and moved it to the northwest corner of Clinton street, and repaired it, making it tasteful and comfortable, and it is now known as St. Caspar's church. In 1871 the Methodist Episcopal people of WVauseon erected the finest house of worship in the county. It is of brick, of modern architecture, and stands but a short distance north and on the same side of the street as did the old one. The expense of building was great, but cheerfully borne by the members, and this society, both during the days of the old frame meeting-house and those of their new, costly and elegant edifice, has done great good and wielded a grand influence in behalf of good morals and religious culture, in Wauseon and the surrounding neighborhood. Conspicu- ous among the Methodist clergymen stationed at Wauseon, at different periods during the last thirty years, who labored with zeal and efficiency for the faith of their espousal, were the Revs. Herbert, Charles G. Ferris, John R. Colgin, A. E. Berry, N. B. C. Love, John H. Wilson, Greenberry Priddy, E. S. Dun- ham, J. H. Simms. J. H. Fitzwater is the present officiating minister. It would be invidious to mention any names of laymen, and it is sufficient to say that many of the pioneer families, as well as those who came to Wauseon or its vicinity too late to lay claims to the distinctive merits of pioneers, received the precepts of the gospel, and were constrained to the practice of religion through the ministration of this church.
Rev. Father J. G. Vogt came to Wauseon in 1865. It then was but a Catholic mission field. Through his labors and those who followed him, and among them Fathers Franche and Delbære, a house of worship was procured, and there are now some twenty families at Wauseon, communicants of the Catholic Church.
The Disciples, or Christian Church, was organized in 1862, but no house of worship was erected until 1864. The house then built still stands. It is on the north side of Elm street, east of Fulton. This church has been an influ- ential body of worshiping Christians since its organization. Its first pastor was the Rev. Elberry Smith. He was succeeded by the Rev. L. L. Carpen- . ter, who was an active, enterprising citizen of Fulton county for many years, as well as an earnest and able clergyman. He was treasurer of the county two
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
terms, and his honesty and ability in that office have passed into a local prov- erb. Elder Carpenter was succeeded in the pastorate of this church by Elder Parker, and its successive pastors thereafter were Elders Baker, Gibbs, Terry, White, Atwater, Nesslage, Newton and Moore. Probably one of the most learned and powerful preachers that ever resided at Wauseon was John M. At- water. He possessed rare intellectual gifts, supplemented by powers of intense and discriminating application given to but few men.
The United Brethren Church in Wauseon is largely the result of the efforts of an aged, retired preacher of that faith named John Miller, who, desiring a place of worship for the people living in Newcomer's Addition, built, in 1874, a small house of worship out of his own means, near the center of that addition on land belonging to himself, and which by common consent was called Mill- er's Chapel. This was the nucleus for the people of that faith, and they grew in numbers and resources, until in 1879 they began, and in 1880 completed, a good brick meeting-house on the east side of Fulton Avenue, its dedication taking place in August, 1880. Bishop Weaver, of Westerville, O., conducted the dedicatory services.
There is no Evangelical Church building in Wauseon, although there are quite a number of professors of the tenets of that church in the village and neighborhood. For several years past they have rented a room on Elm street in the Cheadle block, and conducted religious services there. Some of their pastors have been noted for their humble piety and devotion to the cause of practical religion, and have accomplished much permanent good.
The First Baptist Church of Wauseon took organized form in the year 1864, but its house of worship was not built until 1868. It is a well designed and large brick edifice on the west side of Fulton street, south of the railroad, and in the near neighborhood of the Congregational Church. Prominent among those who established the Baptist Church in Wauseon may be men- tioned Deacon Abraham Falconer, a good and faithful servant of his divine Master, and Deacon Hiram L. Moseley, one of the former treasurers of the county. Deacon Falconer passed to his final reward in the early spring of 1886. The successive pastors of this church since the building and dedica- tion of its place of worship, were Revs. George Leonard, Homer Eddy, J. J. Davis and Stephen F. Massett.
The distinctive faith of New England Congregationalism has been promi- nent in the religious culture of the citizens of Wauseon. A number of its leading families are from the land of Puritanism. This name is not by any means here given in derision, for, used as it was, more than two centuries ago, as an obnoxious and derisive epithet, it soon became England's glory, and will live in immortal splendor by the side of the illustrious names of Somers, Hampden and Henry Vane. None of the history either of England or this country was more fruitful of true freedom, or fuller of the promise of the splen-
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FULTON COUNTY.
did things that have made England and the United States the freest of gov- ernments, and the most powerful and influential of all the world's countries, than during the time of the dominant prevalence in both lands of Puritanism.
The Congregational society of Wauseon dates back to 1856. Their plain, but commodious place of worship was built and dedicated in 1862. It stands on the east side of South Fulton street. Its pulpit nearly always has been filled by thoughtful and scholarly men, than whom none were more able and influential in the community than Dr. Waugh, and Rev. R. R. Davies.
Journalism now is represented in Wauseon by three newspapers, the North- western Republican, the Democratic Expositor, and the Fulton county Tribune. The first named is the oldest paper. It was established in 1855 under the name of the Sentinel, by H. D. Bayes and John D. Hunter. Not long after this A. E. Ball bought it, and after a brief period he sold out to E. W. Fuller. Mr. Fuller associated with himself in the ownership and management of the paper, John D. Devor, of Elkhart, Ind. These gentlemen then enlarged the journal and changed the name and called it the Northwestern Republican. In 1859 J. C. French was for a short time a part owner with Fuller, then General Isaac R. Sherwood bought both Fuller and French out in 1860, running the entire paper himself. General Sherwood was a member of Congress from the Toledo district, and secretary of state of Ohio for two terms. His military title was won in the late was as a Union volunteer. He now resides in Toledo.
For a number of years, until about 1878, James H. Sherwood, one of the present proprietors of the Republican, and Colonel Albert B. Smith, owned and conducted the paper. On his election as clerk of courts in 1878, Colonel Smith retired, and in 1882 W. C. Williams became and now is part proprie- tor and one of the editors of the Republican.
As its name indicates, this journal is Republican in politics, but is conserv- ative and careful. The moral tone of the paper is excellent.
The Democratic Expositor was started in 1874 by Hon. William H. Ilandy, now judge of the Court of Common Pleas in the judicial subdivision of which Fulton county is a part, and Peter Sullivan. Mr. Sullivan, a very intelligent and promising young man, afterward went to Washington, where he became connected with the Washington Post. He died in that city in 1881. In 1877 John C. Bollmeyer. formerly of Port Clinton, O., bought the Expositor, and has, since his control of it, conducted it as a Democratic paper of the "strictest sect." It is the organ of the Democratic party of the county, and has fearless- ly fought the battles of the party whose principles it represents.
The Tribune began its existence in 1882. Colonel A. B. Smith and James Fluhart were its first publishers. It is now owned by Smith & Knapp. It is a Republican paper, firm in the faith and ardent in the advocacy of Repub- lican doctrines. It makes a specialty of the local news of the county, and is an interesting and instructive newspaper.
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
At the western limits of the village, comprising ten acres of mound-shaped land, is the beautiful cemetery of Wauseon. The native growth of the timber, with the exception of scattered large and shapely trees, was cut away when it began to be used for a burial ground in 1862, but evergreen trees and many va- rieties of ornamental shrubbery have been set out and properly cared for until now, in the summer time, the whole mound seems embowered in flowers and leafy foliage. With the birds caroling and twittering among the fluttering leaves, and the white monuments glistening in the sunshine, were there no sad and somber thoughts connected with its sacred use, it would present a lovely view ; yet it is well situated and designed for the place of final rest to which it was dedicated. The circumstances of its beginning were about as follows : In February, 1862, Nathaniel Leggett died. At this time the village had no cem- etry. On the morning following Mr. Leggett's death, Joel Brigham, James Cornell, and Anson Huntington took mattocks and started out to find a suit- able spot for his grave. They went first to the farm of Mr. Cornell about a mile south of the village, but finding no ground there adapted to their pur- pose, they then went to the hill where now stands the large residence of Colo- nel Howard, and then to the sand mound where the union school house is now situated. Being unsuited at either of these places, they selected the site where the cemetery is located, and therein Mr. Leggett was buried. The land, comprising at first thirteen acres, was bought of William Mikesell at a cost of one hundred dollars per acre; but the three acres of low-lying ground on the east were sold off to Joel Bingham. Thirteen citizens first purchased this land, and for about three years were the sole owners of the cemetery, but the lots were disposed of for just enough to reimburse the proprietors for the original cost of the land and the necessary outlay for its improvement in a proper manner. On the 13th of March, 1865, the Wauseon Cemetery Asso- ciation, composed of thirty-two persons, was formed. Its organization was under and pursuant to the laws of the State. The first trustees elected were Isaac Springer, Andrew J. Knapp, and James M. Gillett. The treasurer and clerk were respectively E. I .. Barber and Naaman Merrill.
On the 29th day of April, 1867, under and by virtue of a legislative en- actment of the State, passed in 1865, a meeting of the association was held, and by a vote of a majority of the members thereof, a transfer of the cemetery was made to the trustees of Clinton township and the council of the incorpo- rated village of Wauseon, since which time it has been jointly controlled by a board of trustees, a part of whom are elected by the qualified votes of the in- corporation, and the remainder by the votes of Clinton township. At the date of the transfer the indebtedness of the association was assumed by the joint proprietors, and the deed stipulates that the transfer is for the benefit of all the citizens of the township, both within and outside of the corporate limits of the village.
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FULTON COUNTY.
The first brick dwelling house in Wauseon was built by William W. Hunt, who came from Massachusetts. He is a typical Yankee in appearance and in manner and form of speech. His house stands near the southern extremity and on the east side of Fulton street. He and his family have resided in it since its completion in 1859. Mr. Hunt has lived in Wauseon since 1857. His brothers, Fred. and James Hunt, built the first brick business block in Wau- seon. Its location was on North Fulton street, on the east side, not far from the corner of that street and Depot street. For a number of years they carried on a general mercantile business in the building. Fred. Hunt now lives in Aspen, Colo., and James Hunt died in the early autumn of 1886, at Elkhart, Ind., where, previously, for several years, he had resided. He was brought to Wauseon and interred in its cemetery. The store building, erected by the Hunt boys, was, in 1883, partially rebuilt and considerably enlarged by the business firm of Lyon & Mercer, and is now used by them for a dry goods and carpet empo- rium. The other leading business and principal business blocks are the Riddle and Hull block, on the west side of Fulton, between Elm and Depot streets, the Cheadle block at the southwest corner of Fulton and Elm streets, the Hol- lister, three-story brick, on the east side of Fulton between Elm and Depot streets, the Woolson and Madison blocks near thereto, the Haumesser and Ham blocks on Depot street, between Fulton and Clinton streets, and the fine and substantial business buildings of Read & Son, Eager & Green, and B. Miller. In 1873, in the month of December, the Cheadle block burned down, but was immediately rebuilt. It was first erected in 1862. The Riddle and Hull block was built in 1870. Prichard & Smallman, and J. Q. Riddle were
its first owners. It is now owned by Mr. Riddle and George W. and Henry
S. Hull. The Hollister building was erected in 1864.
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