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 58
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 58
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Official Roll .- This township has sent from its residents since its organiza- tion, 1839, to represent it in the county as follows: Jonathan Barnes, as com- missioner of the county, and who was the first man from German. He died in office ; his successor was William Mccutcheon, of the same township; John W. Roseborough, prosecutor three times, in all six years; Truman H. Brown, clerk of courts, served three years; Levi W. Brown, probate judge, three terms; John B. Schnetzler, county treasurer, two terms; A. D. Newell, probate judge, term commences the second Monday in February, 1888; Doctor Schnetzler, one term of two years; A. J. Murbach, two terms, - Hartman, two terms as coroners of the county. In all the official roll of the township in county offi- ces shows nearly twenty-eight years of service, with two as yet incomplete.
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
CHAPTER XLIX.
HISTORY OF GORHAM TOWNSHIP.
G ORHAM township was named for Elisha Gorham, one of the first settlers of this locality, and a prominent petitioner for the township organization, before the board of county commissioners of Lucas county. It is bounded on the north by the State of Michigan ; on the east by Chesterfield ; on the south by the township of Franklin, and on the west by the township of Mill Creek, in the county of Williams, and is situated in the extreme northwest corner of Fulton county. It has, upon its northern boundary, the counties of Hillsdale and Lenawee, and contiguous thereto, the township of Wright, of Hillsdale county, and the townships of Medina and Seneca, of Lenawee county.
Pre-historic .- Long years before the white man had trod the soil of Gor- ham township, it was inhabited by the Pottawattamies, and a small fragment of the Ottawas, whose last home, in Ohio, was on the banks of the Maumee. This township, like all the other territory of Fulton county, lies wholly within the Maumee valley. It is generally believed, by most historians, that no white man trod the soil prior to 1800, either the trader or missionary ; at least we find no account of such fact, and none for settlement, until early in 1833. This date, without any doubt, was the beginning of settlement in the county. At the date of the first white settlement upon this territory it was included in the territory of Michigan, and, with all the territory north of the Fulton line, contiguous to Lenawee county, south, was organized into Lenawee county in 1826, and was called the township of Logan, with the county seat at Tecum- seh. In the winter of 1834 the legislative council of the territory of Michigan subdivided the township of Logan into three townships, and called the western part Medina, the middle part Seneca, and the east Fairfield, and exercised jurisdiction in said political divisions south, to the "Fulton line " excepting a strip, one mile wide, off the west side of town 9 south, range I east, and two tiers of sections off the east end of town 9 south, range I west, which was taken from Lenawee county and organized into Hillsdale county, in 1831, and there- upon the territory became a part of Mill Creek, and the county seat was at Hillsdale, where all local and legal matters had to be disposed of, respectively, by the inhabitants thereof.
In December, 1836, this entire strip of land, north of the Fulton line and south of the Harris line, by an act of the Congress of the United States, was set off to Ohio, and, on the 28th day of February, 1837, the Legislature of Ohio extended her jurisdiction over it, and attaching it to the counties of Lu- cas and Williams, respectively, with all the territory adjacent, north to the Harris line, which had been fixed as the southern boundary of Michigan. This
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survey was made in 1819, by Joseph Fletcher, and by proclamation of the president of the United States, dated March 15, 1820, was brought into mar- ket by a public offering on the first Monday of July following. The land of- fice of this survey was at the city of Monroe, near the mouth of the River Raisin, in the present State of Michigan, where all the records of said survey and the entry of lands may be found, which were made prior to December, 1836, when it became a part of Ohio. Whoever, on this strip, in 1826, and for a number of years thereafter, desired to get to a grist-mill, had to carry their grain to Tecumseh, where, without doubt, was built the first mill north of the Maumee River, unless near Detroit.
Prior to the transfer of this territory to Ohio, all settlers thereon were resi- dents of Logan township, Lenawee county, and territory of Michigan, until 1831, when the county of Hillsdale was organized from the western part of Lenawee. Then all west of the meridian line became residents of Hillsdale county and of the township of Mill Creek; and, after 1834, those living east of the meridian line, by the subdividing of Logan township, became residents of the township of Medina, and so remained until 1836.
This territory now embraced in Gorham township is peculiar for having been in four township organizations, to wit : Logan, Medina and Chesterfield, of the east part, and Mill Creek, of the western part, and fifthly and lastly, Gorham. Gorham was under the jurisdiction, in 1826, of Lenawee county, and in the winter of 1831, the western part was under the jurisdiction of Hills- dale, which so retained jurisdiction until 1836, when Lucas county exercised jurisdiction over about one-half, and Williams county the other half, until April 1, 1850, when Fulton county was erected, and which has had uninter- rupted jurisdiction to the present date.
Township Organization .- At a commissioners' session held at the city of Toledo, March 6, 1838, upon petition, the township of Gorham was organized, by taking all of towns 9 and 10 south, range one east, south of the Harris line, the boundary line between Ohio and the State of Michigan all having been under the organization of Chesterfield township since June 4, 1837 ; further, by taking two tiers of sections from the east side of Mill Creek township, in Williams county, west of the meridian, being in town 9 south, range I west. At some period of time since the organization of this township, and by the commissioners of Fulton county, the west half of sections 7 and 18, town 9 south, range 2 east, was detached from Chesterfield township and attached to Gorham. At present Gorham contains nearly forty-four full sections of land, or an area of 27,559 acres, embracing the west half of section 7, fractional, along the Harris line, and section 8, town 9 south, range 2 east ; also fractional sections (along State line), 7, 8, 9. 10, 11 and 12, and 7, 18, 19, 30 and 31, full sections along the meridian, east side ; and 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36, full and perfect congressional
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
sections. Town 9 south, range I east, and fractional sections II and 12, along the Harris line ; 13, 14, 23, 24, 25, 26, 35 and 36, town 9 south, range I west, of meridian.
Population .- In 1834, at the beginning of settlement was Hiram Farwell, wife and one child ; total 3. In 1880, the last Federal census, 2,029, and at this date, 1887, the population is estimated at not less than 2,500, according to assessors' annual report; being an annual increase of about fifty persons since the fall of 1834. The agricultural power of this township is not yet fully developed, and with a populous commercial center upon the Canada Southern Railroad, is likely to be the second township in the county in population and power of agricultural and mechanical industry.
Productive Industry and Valuations .- The chief productive industry of this township is wholly confined to agriculture, of which the prime factor is the raising of wheat, corn, and oats; and of grasses, clover and timothy are here raised to perfection. Sheep, hogs and cattle raising is another quite important industry of the farmers, which taken all together may, with propriety, be classed as one of the best agricultural townships in the county. The fine buildings, houses and barns, and well fenced fields declare to the traveler the fact of the industry of its population in accumulating wealth by the varied agricultural pursuits which this township alone possesses.
Timber and Supply .- The township is very heavily timbered. It has a fine growth of beech and maple in the northern and western part, interspersed with white and red oak, giving the township a fine supply of rail timber. All this is intermingled with whitewood and black walnut and hickory ; also white ash which is prevalent upon the highlands, and black ash quite plenty on more swampy tracts. In the south part the beech and maple disappear as we near the Bean Creek Valley, where the prevailing timber is the more sturdy elm, burr oak, white and black ash, whitewood and black walnut. The whole was formerly filled with a dense undergrowth of ironwood and dogwood.
Streams .- The course of the streams through the township is generally southeast towards Bean Creek, which runs upon its eastern boundary, crossing the southeast corner, and thence southwest across Franklin on its southern boundary. Springs abound in many places west of Bean Creek.
The water supply for stock and domestic uses is abundant since it has been demonstrated by the auger that there is a large supply basin below the lacus- trine deposit. It is often obtained by flowing fountains, of which there are many at the present day.
Early Settlers .- There is no account that any Indian or white man lived within the present limits of Gorham township prior to 1833. They, the Indians, had no camping grounds, as no indications of such appear upon its soil, the surest record, if there had been, before the advent of the real settler. Yet the soil was for ages trodden by the warrior and hunter of the dusky tribes of the forest for game alone.
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FULTON COUNTY.
The first real settlers in Gorham township were Hiram Farwell and wife, who came early in the fall of 1834 and settled on the east side of section IO, town nine south, range one east, now called Ritter's Station, on the Canada Southern Railroad. He came from the State of New York with his wife, and raised a family of three girls and one boy. He was a man much esteemed by the early settlers for his candor and peace-making peculiarities in the whole range of his social circle. He sometimes preached and was often called to minister comfort and consolation to mourners at funerals and helping to lay at rest their dead.
He has long since passed to that bourne from whence no traveller returns.
On the 3Ist day of December, 1834, in the evening, David Severance and his wife; Esther, arrived in the township of Mill Creek (now Gorham) and located for themselves a farm on the north side of section 36, town nine south, range one west of the meridian, which really made them the first settlers of the original township of Mill Creek, Williams county, and the second family in the present limits of Gorham township. David Severance was born in the State of Vermont, and his wife, Esther (Knapp) Severance, was born in Jeffer- son county, N. Y., July 3, 1797. She died February 17, 1887, and David Severance in 1844. Both died upon the farm on which they first settled. They came to. Ohio in 1819, soon after marriage. At the death of Esther Severance she left six living children (having buried four), fifty-one grand- children, eighty-two great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren, and many of this lineage are now living in the township of Gorham.
Among the settlers of 1834 that can be remembered were Abijah Cole- man, town nine south, range one west, with a wife and family.
Waldron and Alfred Severance came at the same time, with their father and mother, David and Esther, and soon became the main support of a large and growing family.
Among those that came in 1835, that can now be called to mind, were William Lee and his wife, who settled in Gorham in March, 1835, upon sec- tion 13, town nine south, range one east of meridian. In 1846, this family moved to Chesterfield. He died in 1854, leaving five children. Lewis and Almon M. Lee are residents of Chesterfield. The very earliest of the settle- ments of this township commenced just south of the Harris line, but north of this line many settlers had located at an earlier date. Very soon settlements commenced in the southwest corner and center of the township; they were John Gillett, Gorham Cottrell, sr., September, 1835 ; Freeman Coffin in June; Clement Coffin in June, and in September, 1835, Sardis, Joseph and Erastus Cottrell. Just north of and contiguous to the Harris line were Henry Meach, Justice Cooley, James McCrillis, sr., Orville Woodworth, Abel Perry, John Gould and Henry Teneyke, whose lands lay principally in Ohio. In the spring of 1835 came James Baker and wife and settled on section 14, town nine south,
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
range one east. They came from Pittstown, Rensselaer county, N. Y. He died many years ago, his wife dying before him. In 1852 he built a saw-mill in Royalton township, just west of the present village of Lyons, and sawed the planks for that and the adjoining townships, for the plank road built in the season of 1853, and which road was laid out upon what is known in history as the Vistula road, leading from Toledo to Morenci, Mich., James Baker was followed the same season by Martin Lloyd, Stephen Chaffee, William Sutton, Asa Butler, and William Griffin.
In the season of 1836 came Levi Crawford, Philip Clapper, John Whaley, John C. Whaley, Aaron Price, Calvin Ackley, Nelson Fellows, John Donald- son, his wife Catherine, and boy, Daniel Donaldson.
Of the later settlers for 1837, 1838, 1839 and 1840, it is found from the best information upon the subject, that they were George McFarland, John Jacoby, Elisha A. Baker, Simeon Baker, Lucius Ford, Nathan Shaw, Hosea Ford, Elijah Snow, wife and family, three boys and three girls; Wendal A. Mace and wife, one boy and two girls ; George W. Sayles and family, Alfred Whitman and wife, Abel Paul and family, Justice L. Hale and family, a mother and her two daughters ; Willard E. Gay, Nathan Salsbury, and Nathan Sals- bury, sr., Joseph Sebring, Josiah Colvin, Benjamin Russell, Almon Rice, Milo Rice, John Kendall, M.D., James Griffin, Amos Kendall, M.D., Hiram Hadley, Alanson Pike, Rensselaer S. Humphrey, and James P. Emerick. Fifteen of the heads of families of the last named have answered the call of the boatman and have been rowed over the river to their final home.
The history of these old pioneers serves as a type of a generation who are fast passing away ; whose many trials and vicissitudes could only overcome by that patience, industry and fortitude which has characterized these early pioneers, and which has left an example in struggles and perseverance to accomplish results for the benefit of the generations to come after them, which is born of a faith founded on the belief of the justness of the Creator; that good deeds shall be rewarded, and though many have not lived to see the promised land, yet in the fullness of time the sunshine of a better Christian civilization will surely have its dawning.
A few have lived to see the forest displaced by the golden grain and fruits of the husbandman ; the fine painted dwelling taking the place of the first log cabin ; cities, towns, churches and school-houses, standing all over where once they saw the native wilderness. And where once was the Indian trail they now see roads, bridges, canals and railroads. Within the first ten years a very large immigration set towards this township, mostly from central New York, and as Hiram Farwell first opened up the forest to the sunlight, it was left for these to put the finishing touch to all that was primeval; they were Michael Martzolf, Ansel Ford, sen., Asa Cottrell, Daniel Hoffman, Benedict Zimmerman, Cornelius Jones, Henry Emerick, John Saltzgaber, Oliver B. Verity, Day Otis
Hol anfield
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FULTON COUNTY.
Verity, James Henry Verity, Jacob Woodward, Abram Van Valkenburg, Na- than Salsbury, jr., Ephraim Sergeant, Truman L. Scofield, Jacob Cox, Martin Bielhartz, William Conrad, Amos Ford, Philander Crane, Israel Mattern, Ja- cob Mattern, A. P. Boyd, Joseph O. Allen, Jacob Demerrit, John Gamber, Henry Gamber, George Acker, sen., George Acker, jr., Charles Hoffman, Sam- uel Hoffman, Isaac Hoffman, Daniel Hoffman, John Paul, Obadiah Griffin, John Woodward, Stilly Huffman, William Davis, Daniel Bear, William C. Ely, Jo- seph Ely, Benjamin Dee, Stephen Hicker, Franklin Ford, Amos Belden, Bain- bridge Belden, John Mallory, Peter Holben, George W. Kellogg, Truman Whit- man, John B. Kimmel, John D. Brink, Jared Parker, Peter F. Chambard, Wil- liam F. Ward, Junius Chase, J. P. Ritter, Jacob Hipput, Thomas C. Lester, J. L. Wise, George Lewis, Ebenezer Lloyd, Lyman Ellsworth, George F. Dubois, George Graves, David F. Spencer, Edward Gamble, A. Amsbaugh, Rial Sweat- land, Henry T. Caulkins, Daniel Rhodes, Oliver Town, Uriah S. Town, Hosea Harmdon, Isaac Town, John W. Lilley, George Gamber, Henry Punches, Sam- uel Farst, Hon. A. W. Flickinger, William Plopper, W. P. Garrison, William Thompson, John Wiley and Josiah Woodworth, the latter being killed by light- ning about 1846. He, when killed, was living in the part taken from Mill Creek township.
Since 1850 a generation of young men and women, sons and daughters of these old pioneers, have been clothed with the mantle of their fathers. Many who have not been named before, with their fathers and mothers, have come through all the vicissitudes of a pioneer life. As far as can be obtained, the names of such are ; Gabriel D. Snow, Spencer T. Snow and Dolly Farwell Snow, his wife; Benjamin L. Sayles, Columbus Sayles and Ellen (Scofield) Sayles, his wife; Wendel A. Mace and Amanda (Bush) Mace, his wife; James Mc- Crillis and his wife, Jane (Sutton) McCrillis ; A. A. Gay, H. S. Conrad, Charles Conrad, Charles H. Van Ostrand, Thomas T. Baker, Byron M. Hoag, Asher E. Bird, Gorham Cottrell, jr., Ezekiel T. Griffin, George W. Coffin and his wife, Cyrus Ford and wife, James Brink, John Cox and Edwin Farwell. Many of the children of the first pioneers have gone to the far west, again renewing their frontier life, while their places are occupied by later immigrations, some of whom will be named, as far as can be ascertained, to wit : Miles L. Wolcott, R. Todd, Harvey Baker, William Kinkaid, J. Reynolds, Abram Schneider, E. Jones, Anson M. Aldrich, S. Youngs, B. F. Robinson, Calvin W. Thomas, John Smith, S. A. Allen, C. Hettinger, John Bielhartz, J. Walkup, A. Kanaur, Thomas Ellis, Solomon Gotshall, S. Oswald, W. W. Oswald, J. Toosley, He- man A. Canfield, William Woollace, Jacob Gorsuch, Solomon C. Wynn and many others, who also have aided in the physical and intelligent advance of the township, which is appreciated and worthy of note in the history of to-day. It has been said that the wealth of historical reminiscence forms the root from which springs the spirit of a people, and from which they secure the most no- 66
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
ble nourishment. A hasty glance at these old pioneers and their works must suffice to represent to the future the times in which they lived, and whose im- age those of the present now bear.
Reminiscences .- It is said that Hiram Farwell erected the first cabin where- in whites dwelt, which was located on the east side of section 10, town 9 south, range I east, and he lived therein for a good many years. He sold this farm of his pioneer days to John Paul, and then went to Morenci to live, where he died many years ago. His wife is yet living, a hale and hearty woman of ad- vanced years. She is living with her daughter, Dolly, wife of Spencer T. Snow, at Morenci. Farwell built and run an ashery for many years. He manufac- tured potash to some considerable extent. The ashes from burnt log heaps was here used by the other pioneers over quite an extensive territory and it is thought he was the first in the township to engage in that industry.
In later years Elijah Snow built and run an ashery located on the east side of section 17, town 9 south, range I east. He run this industry very exten- sively until his age forbid, when the farm and ashery passed into the hands of his son, Gabriel D. Snow, and was successfully run by him until about 1860. He also had a store in connection with the ashery and this was the first store in the township. Both father and son have gone to their long home; the father at a good old age, but the son in the prime of life.
Philander Crane built and operated an ashery south of Handy, as early as 184I, and worked it for two or three years and stopped. These were all the regular asheries in the township, and all suspended, except Snow's, at a very early day. This industry is not now carried on in the township.
Rensselaer S. Humphrey was the first man to clear up the land upon which a part of Fayette is located. He built the first log cabin within the present limits of the village, and cut away the brush for a highway, now the main street. He, as carpenter, built the first frame house for George W. Sayles, and the second for Justice L. Hale ; the first on section eight and the second on section nine. He also built the first frame school-house in the township, on the north- east corner of section seventeen. He built and owned the first steam saw-mill in the township, located on section nineteen, near the western limits of Fayette. In 1850 he built a store and blacksmith shop which laid the foundation for Fay- ette. In 1857 he built a steam grist-mill and operated the same for a few years in partnership with Dr. Joseph O. Allen. It was the first grist-mill in the township and the only one at this day located at Fayette.
Cemeteries .- The first cemetery in the township was located on the north- east corner of section 17, town 9 south, range I east, at what is called the "" Snow school-house," in the year 1848. The next, on the lands now owned by George W. Coffin, was built some years later. In still later years, after the village of Fayette came into existence, there was laid out, for burial purposes, .a cemetery, on a beautiful spot, for the purpose, now within the corporate lim-
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FULTON COUNTY.
its of the village. These are all the public cemeteries in Gorham township at this date. Quite a large number of the township people bury at Morenci, Mich. ; those upon the northeast border and the west and southwest part use the " Masters Cemetery," in Franklin township.
Schools and Teachers .- The first organized school district in the township was in the Cottrell settlement, in 1836, and a log school-house was built upon the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of section 21, town 9 south, range I east.
In 1842 another district was organized in the "Snow Settlement," and a frame school-house was built by R. S. Humphrey, it being the first frame school- house in the township. At about this period another school district was organized in the east part, and a log school-house built. Oliver B. Verity taught the winter school of 1844 and '45, at fourteen dollars per month, and board around, which all teachers of that age did; a practice that never went out of date until the adoption of the free school system in 1854. Thus began school education in Gorham township. The demand for other districts has since kept apace with the improvement and population. The township now has eight school districts, and one joint sub-school district in the southeast corner, besides a special school district for Fayette. Lucinda Rogers taught the first school in Gorham township, commencing in May, 1836, in the Cott- rell district. She commenced her school under the jurisdiction of the territory of Michigan, and ended it under the jurisdiction of Ohio. As the teacher got her wages by a " rate bill," the transfer did not interfere, as the bill was col- lected of the parents of those attending the school. This school-house was used for about fifteen years as a school-house and for church purposes, com- bined. The log building was standing as late as 1862.
The first school in the southwest part of the township was taught in a log building, and was, in an early day, known as the Severance school-house. It was situate in the southeast corner of section 26, town 9 south, range I west. This school had no legal organization, and was supported by subscription. Elizabeth Freeman, now the wife of Waldron Severance, taught here in the summer of 1842. In 1845 a frame school-house was built on the northwest corner of section 35, town 9 south, range I west, and was painted red, as is well known to many of the inhabitants living at the present time. Miss Mi- nerva Cottrell, the daughter of Asa Cottrell, and the wife of George Acker, of Morenci, Mich., was the first teacher in the red school. house. It has since been changed, and the district centre located on the south side of section 26, same township and range. There are no small districts in the township, and it can boast of as good schools as any in the county, excepting, perhaps, the schools at Fayette and, Wauseon.
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