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 63
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 63
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Eccles Nay came to what is now Fulton county in 1834. He settled in Swan Creek township. His first stopping place in Ohio was in the extreme eastern part, in Jefferson county. Here he was married to Elizabeth Mills, who came with him to northwestern Ohio. Mr. Nay's birthplace is Bristol, Vt., and he was born in 1811. His parents were New Hampshire people, and of Revolutionary stock. When he located in Swan Creek there probably were not ten families in a radius of ten miles; but in the summer of 1835, some fifteen families moved in. His land was purchased from the government. The first two years all the neighbors, and that term included families several miles away, were kept busy assisting each other in raising log cabins. ut few in- deed of such places of habitation exist now, but it is not uncommon to hear an old settler sighing for the days when he was domiciled in a cabin, and sat dur- ing the gloomy winter evenings by his big blazing fire-place listening to the dissonant requiem sung by the winds and howled by the wolves, and which soon became entirely too common to be terrifying. Some of them have been known to slip out of their fine farm houses, standing as monuments of their ambition to better their condition and their desire for the comfort of their families, and go to the old half-tumbled down cabin on the corner of the place, and build a fire and sit by it until late at night, doubtless calling up memories and trying to charm back the scenes of hardship, not unmingled with many pleasant things belonging to the days that have passed from them forever. Mr. Nay's first experience in Swan Creek was probably unusually trying and severe, for after paying for his land he had no money left, and no personal property of any kind except an ox team. But the few neighbors were kind and accommodating, and subsistence was partially provided from the abun- dance of wild game all around. The grandfather of this pioneer lived in the
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city of Boston, and participated in the tea-spilling which was one of the events that provoked the senseless ire of George III, and in the battle of Bunker Hill. The grandson was in no sense unworthy of his patriotic ancestry.
In 1834, as nearly as can be ascertained, William Fewless, an Englishman by nativity, came from Long Island to Swan Creek, but the malaria and mos- quitoes were so annoying that he became discouraged, and returned to his former home. However he did not remain at Long Island a great while before he returned west and into Swan Creek township once more, remaining for many years, and clearing and improving a farm. Mr. Fewless died in Swan Creek township in 1881.
John Watkins, a native of 'Steubenville, Jefferson county, went into this township about a year later than William Fewless, was a resident there but a few years, for his land on the organization of Fulton township was included therein. Mr. Watkins is still living at the age of seventy-eight years. He was a cousin of Wells Watkins.
Jesse Browning, who died in Swan Creek in 1867, went there from Oswego county, N. Y., his native State, in 1835, and about the same time Alexander and; Africa Spalding became settlers ; also William Meeker and John Viers. Mr. Viers was a native of Portage county, O. In 1836 Ormand Pray settled on land in the neighborhood of the farm now owned by J. D. Lutz, and about this time a man named Crosby, who was a hatter by trade, located about three miles due south of Centerville. Mr. Crosby has been dead many years, and left no descendants. In 1839, Jacob Reighard, a member of that provident class of people known as Pennsylvania Dutch, came from Pennsylvania and settling in section twenty-eight of this township, lived there until his death, which took place in 1866. He was buried in the Raker cemetery. This burial ground was established in 1836. About a year after making his home in Swan Creek, Mr. Reighard was married to Rebecca Crile. All their children, four in number, of whom three are living, were natives of this township. Henry, the eldest, resides at Delta; Robert and George are farmers and yet live near the spot of their birth.
Socrates H. Cately, familiarly known throughout the county of Fulton as Judge Cately, was until quite recently, for about forty-two years, one of Swan Creek's 'most active [and enterprising citizens. He is a native of Cortland county, N. Y., and was born on the 8th day of January, 1815, in the calendar of the Democratic party, known as "St. Jackson's Day," and the date of the battle of New Orleans. When he attained his majority he started west, stop- ping at Maumee City, where he lived for a little less than eight years, and then purchased land in Swan Creek township, and established himself on it. He still owns the farm which then was utterly wild, but now is one of the best farms in the township. He was married in 1839 at " Six Mile Woods," near Delta, to Sarah Williams. He was twice married, his last wife being Juliette
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Nearing. By his second marriage he was the father of ten children, seven of whom are living. Judge Cately now lives at Delta. He was the first probate judge of the county, and was an associate judge of the judicial dis- trict of which Fulton county was a part under the constitution of 1802.
Recurring to the settlers of this township to whom vantage ground was given by its first dwellers and workers, this class being mainly the comers from about 1845 to 1860, among the more prominent are to be found the Templetons, Braileys, Bassetts, Blakes, Reighards and Lewises. These fam- ilies all were people of push, energy and resolute intellectual fibre. The mem- bers of some of these have risen to local prominence as business and profes- sional men and teachers.
John Templeton, the progenitor of the Templeton family in Swan Creek township, was born in the southwestern part of Pennsylvania in 1807. Early in life he came to Ohio with his parents and settled in the thriving county of Wayne. Here he was married to Susan Watkins. She was a native of Ohio, and born near the western bank of that river in Jefferson county, and was two years older than her husband. They came with their children to Fulton county in 1853 and located in Swan Creek township. The Templetons, as the name would indicate, are of Scotch-Irish origin. They all are men of very large frame and most robust physique. Old John Templeton weighed nearly four hundred and fifty pounds, and it is no extravagant simile to say he was stout as an ox. He was known to lift a dead weight of a thousand pounds, but his splendid gifts of nerve and muscle were never expended in the phys- ical opposition of any one. He had that kind of courage, stopping with the assertion of his own plain rights, asking nothing more and content with nothing less, which is the index of the highest type of manhood. His grand- father participated in much of that long struggle which raged between the Indians and the whites during the closing ten years of the last century for the mastery of the territory west of Ohio. He was with Colonel Crawford and lost his life in the battle of Sandusky Plains. John Templeton died at his home on section ten in Swan Creek township on the - day of 18 -. His wife preceded him to the grave about - years.
John S., the third son of John and Susan Templeton, was a native of Wayne county, O. He was born on the 22d day of March, 1833, and died in Swan Creek township on the - day of - 1886. He inherited largely the physique and strength of his father, but was one of the most genial and kind- of men. A considerable portion of his life was spent as a railway conductor, but he always made his home on the old Swan Creek farm. During the war of the Rebellion until January 4, 1864, he was a member of the company that carried the colors of the heroic Thirty-eighth Ohio Infantry, participating in a number of the great battles of the southwest, including the bloody fields of Chickamauga and Stone River, and winning his way by meritorious conduct
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
to the first lieutenancy of his company. Because of deafness he was discharged before the war ended. It is no unearned praise of John S. Templeton to say that he was a good man and a valuable citizen. The war was to him all of what it was in small or great degree to every man that participated in it. It was an educator in many ways, but one of its principal personal lessons was to teach men who had been without advantages and possibly without education, the great and true value of mental training as acquired at school. Lieutenant Templeton felt and appreciated this through his army experience, and on his return home he made every sacrifice to educate his family of boys that they might become useful men, and his efforts were not misspent. Frank, James and John W. were sent to college and acquired education fitting them for ex- cellent school teachers. Mrs. Templeton, whose maiden name was Lydia A. Fesler, survives her husband, and resides on the old Templeton farm in sec- tion ten.
In 1857 Moses R. Brailey, being then in the prime of a vigorous manhood, came from Huron county, O., and settled in section twenty-two in Swan Creek. Some years previous Mr. Brailey had acquired considerable landed interests there. Although an attorney, and a successful one, Mr. Brailey could not entirely divert his mind from a love of ownership of the soil. He desired what man always has and always will want, a spot of mother earth to call his own. Though practicing law and engaged in the varied duties of different responsi- ble positions of which mention has been made elsewhere, Mr. Brailey made his home upon the land, which under his direction was cleared and developed into a broad and productive farm, and upon it most of his children grew up to manhood and womanhood. In 1869 he built a fine brick residence thereon, 'but has resided in Wauseon since 1880, where Mrs. Brailey, his faithful wife, died a few years ago. She was a member of the Mason family of Erie county, N. Y. M. R. Brailey is of Irish descent, and though the blood of other line- ages commingles considerably with the main current of his Celtic origin, yet its distinguishing characteristics of quickness of mental power and generosity of heart were not extinguished in him.
Palmer R. Lewis was born in Seneca county, N. Y., on the 27th day of November, 1821. In 1848 he settled on the farm now owned by him in this township and upon which he still lives. Previous to removing to Fulton county he lived during several years in Erie county, O., where he was mar- ried to Sophronia Blake. They have five children, one of whom, C. F. Lewis, esq., is an attorney of Wood county, O. Mr. Lewis has been identified with the official affairs of this township as justice of the peace or trustee for the last twenty years.
Orra Blake, who was born in 1821, in Allegany county, N. Y., became, with his family, a resident of Swan Creek township in 1852. His wife was Catherine E. Osterhout. Besides clearing and improving the excellent farm
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on which he now resides, Mr. Blake has built many farm buildings throughout the township, and has been a prominent and very useful citizen. The same year that Orra Blake settled on his present farm, Wesley Knight, of Middle- bury, Vt., bought and took charge of the old tavern at Centerville. Mr. Knight was born in the Green Mountain State in 1808. For nineteen years he kept the public house of Centerville, but never sold any intoxicating liquors of any kind, taking a wide departure from the example of those who preceded him there.
Of the others of the Swan Creek pioneers whose names have been given there are no authentic records. Their personal history is not to be found re- liably existing in the memory of any one, but it may fairly and justly be summed up by saying that they all did their part in redeeming an inhospitable and unpromising wild section from wilderness and swamp, and in preparing the way for a good living chance for those who came after them.
We believe we cannot more appropriately close this narrative by which we have briefly sought to embody in a permanent form an outline of the history of Swan Creek township, than to make some reference to the patriotism of its citizens when that noble element of character was in most stern demand. Full one-third of the men of this township capable of bearing arms were gallant and faithful Union soldiers ; and enlistment to most of them, especially those who had families, was peculiarly trying ; for in the years of the Rebellion but few parts of Ohio could be found inhabited by poorer people. The Swan Creek volunteer went from a poor and often uninviting home, except for the loved ones left there, and from neighbors as poor as himself, and scarcely able except by sore privation to themselves, to provide aid of any kind to those whom they would most gladly have helped and whom they often did assist, but out of no store of abundance. The volunteers of this township participated in many of the bloodiest battles of the war. In the Army of the Potomac they fought through the Wilderness campaign, and were participants in that long list of battles, numbering among others, the dreadful conflicts of Antietam, Spottsylvania, and Chancellorsville. Many of them were in the southwest, and the sanguinary and trying campaigns that finally culminated in Sherman's march to the sea, are a part of their personal experience. Sixty of her vet- erans belong to the Posts of the Grand Army of the Republic at Swanton, and other contiguous villages, and among them are the usual proportion of the scarred, maimed and broken bodied, the victims of hardships, of prison, pestilence and of battle.
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
CHAPTER LIII.
HISTORY OF YORK TOWNSHIP.
T HIS township was originally a part of Wood and Henry counties. These were organized from old Indian territory, by the Legislature of Ohio, in 1820, and named respectively, the first after the brave and chivalrous Colonel Wood, a distinguished officer of engineers in the War of 1812, and the latter after Patrick Henry, the celebrated Virginia orator in the Revolutionary period.
In July, 1835, the Legislature organized the county of Lucas from out of Wood, south of the Fulton line, and named the same after Governor Lucas, then chief executive of Ohio. York township was organized June 6, 1836, after the territory came under the control of Lucas county ; yet no record is found in Lucas county of such organization ; we find that the very early settlers went all the way to vote at what is now known as York Center. Its extent was north to the Fulton line, and south to the north line of Henry county, and west to the county of Williams, embracing all the territory of towns 5, 6, 7 and 8 east, and 7 north, and all of town 8 north, ranges 5, 6, 7 and 8 east. That same year the organization of Swan Creek township gave to York its present eastern boundary. On March 5, 1838, the board of commissioners of Lucas county organized Clinton township from the western territory of York, which subdivision defines the present western boundary of York. On March 1, 1841, Pike township was organized by taking from York all of town 8 north, range 7 east, and one tier of sections from the north side of town 7 north, range 7 east, which defined the present northern boundary. As thus formed it re- mained untouched until the year 1850, when Fulton county was organized by the Legislature of Ohio, which gave to this county a strip two miles wide from Henry county, off of the north side, the length of Henry county. The strip of two sections wide of town 6 north, range 7 east, was attached to and became a part of York township, extending its southern boundary two miles farther south, which has ever since been the southern boundary of this township. All this territory lies wholly within the Maumee Valley. Nothing prominent marks its pre-historic period before the advent of the white race. It is said that the Indian never shed the blood of the white man within the limits of Fulton county. The township first began to settle with people of New England de- scent, and can be made to be one of the most highly cultivated and thickly populated townships of the county. In 1834 began the first white settlement of the township as now defined. The operations of the Indians were principally confined to the Maumee River, where the white man first settled, and gave but little attention to the interior. Perrysburg was the center of location for early immigrants, and from there they distributed themselves throughout the valley.
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It was founded by the government as a point at the head of ship navigation, and began its existence in 1816. It was named in honor of Commodore Perry. At this time there roamed through the valley powerful tribes of Indians known as the Ottawas and Pottawatamies, but their number was much reduced by government removals to the West at different dates. In 1838 the last remnant of the once powerful Ottawas was removed beyond the Mississippi, at which date they numbered some interesting men.
Boundaries. - York township as at present formed, is bounded on the east by Swan Creek, on the north by Pike, on the west by Clinton, and on the south by Liberty township, Henry county. It is composed of sections 7 to 36 inclu- sive, of town 7 north, range 7 east, and sections I to 12 inclusive, of town 6 north, range 7 east, and contains parts of two Congressional surveys with forty- two full sections of land, or an area of forty-two square miles, embracing 26,- 880 acres of land.
Topography .- The township in general is level. Its surface geology is ref- erable exclusively to the drift. It has a beach of sand and gravel extending across it in a northeasterly course, leaving the township just north of Delta, a town situated on the Lake Shore Railroad, in the northeast corner of the town- ship. South of this ridge the land is purely the black swamp deposit, and no spurs of sand leave the ridge upon its southerly front. Upon the north side a few spurs put out and overlap the lacustrine clays for some distance. In the north part of the township heavy spurs of sand reach southward from the " oak openings" of Dover and Pike townships, overlapping the heavy clays. There are no quarries of stone found in the township, and but few boulders. The depth of the drift forbids the hope that any may be discovered. Any amount of material exists here for tile and brick manufacture, which could be made to " pay" if properly developed. The average depth of the drift in this township is about one hundred and forty feet above the rock or water level of Lake Erie.
Timber .- The timber growth of York was dense and very tall, and pre- sented all the varieties common to heavy level soils. Elm is found in abund- ance, together with basswood, and nearly all the varieties of oak; black and white ash exist in some parts ; hickory, butternut and black walnut, some hard maple, and, in a few places, the beech may be found and a sprinkling of white- wood. The timber of this whole township, in its primitive days, was of a dense growth, the branches and foliage making it almost impenetrable to the sun, and its gloomy recesses remained unbroken until discovered and settled by the ever restless immigrants of the east and south.
Water Supply .- The water supply is derived wholly from rain fall, which is insufficient in times of drouth. This rain fall is held in the quicksands under- lying the sand and gravel ridges and sand spurs from the openings, and may be found by shallow diggings, deposited in sand or gravel beds permeating the lacustrine clays, over the blue or Erie clay of the whole valley ; hence, in dry
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
weather the streams go dry and afford no water. The only unfailing supply of water is procured by the auger penetrating to the rock below, where an abundance of water is often found, and this, by the wind-mill, is utilized for farm and household purposes.
The streams of York township, excepting Bad Creek, have their source in the township on its northern and western border. Those with Bad Creek in the east run in a southerly direction across the township, while the balance run nearly a southeasterly course, and find their way to Maumee River. The course of the streams is marked with a gentle inclination of about three to four feet to the mile. The land of the northwest part is more elevated than in any other section of the township. Bad Creek has its principal source from Chesterfield, Dover and Pike, and affords an extensive drainage for the wet prairie lands lying in the openings and sand areas surrounding them.
Soil and Productions .- The black swamp clay predominates to a large extent south of the sand and gravel ridge of this township. It is, with a proper rainfall, very productive for all the general crops of this latitude. North of the ridge spurs put out and overlap the lacustrine deposits in many places, giving a very rich and productive soil, sufficiently mixed with the sand, gravel, and clay to make husbandry easy and profitable. The largest area of the township is of the lacustrine deposit, and gives to the farm lands but one spe- cific soil. When properly managed it is capable of as heavy production as the majority of the soils of the county. These clay soils are homogeneous, with sand and gravel enough to render it arable and permeable. A few patches of unmixed clay may be found, some quite friable, but more commonly very adhesive and difficult of management.
Early Settlers .- The first settlement made in York township, as gathered from the recollections of those still living, was made by William Jones and family, in May, 1834. He settled on the northeast quarter of section eighteen. However, we leave the honor of being the first pioneer to be settled by the future historian. It appears that William, John, and James King came to this territory early in May, 1834, and they say, in a little historical sketch of their own, that when they came the only persons known to be in the woods (for then the woods extended north to the Fulton line, and west to Williams county), were Elisha Trowbridge and his brother, Willard, and a Swiss family named Schlappi. As the region was an unbroken and densely wooded forest, and with no roads, it was quite impossible to know the whereabouts and time of all new arrivals until a better acquaintance with the woods and territory was had. Mr. King settled on section twenty-four.
John S. Trowbridge settled in Fulton county, in this township, in 1834. He was from Saratoga, N. Y., and was born November 18, 1816. After com- ing to the valley he married Hannah Hampton. They have nine children. He is now a merchant of Delta. Cornelius Trowbridge came from Saratoga
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in 1834. Alanson Trowbridge also came in 1834. A Mr. Hampton was, in that year, here looking for land. He took an entry of eighty acres made by William King, and moved upon it in 1834, cleared it and made a fine farm. William King and family settled in York township in May, 1834. He had a family-wife, three sons, one daughter, and his aged father and mother. They came from Londonderry, Ireland. On arriving at Manhattan they hired a team which took them to Providence, where they "put up" at the hotel kept by Manor, a Frenchman, with the expectations of going to Defiance, but, through the entreaties of Manor, King was induced to go some twelve miles north, to what was then called the Six Mile Woods, Manor accompanying him. Here they found William Meeker, who had settled in the edge of this woods in 1833, or the year before, now in Swan Creek, where they hired Meeker to show them some of the "bush " which Uncle Sam was selling for $1.50 per acre. They then started from Meeker's cabin, and went on that line due west, to where the village of Delta now stands; thence they continued as far west as the center of York township. They then turned and went south one mile ; thence east to the " oak openings," and located lands on section twenty-four. They then immediately returned to Providence. From there King went to the land office, then at Waupakonetta, on foot, which journey required three days travel. He says: " The roads were so bad that a horse could hardly make any headway. Mud and slush was nearly to the top of boots." The way to the land office was through a dense, unbroken forest, and in many places not cut out. The trees were blazed to mark the route. On his return he forthwith made the transfer of his family to his purchase on section twenty- four, and erected his cabin which became their home, rude as it was. The Doolittles settled near the center of York township, as also did Uriah Spencer, in 1835.
The only mail these early settlers had was at the river, which passed once a week to Fort Wayne, in the State of Indiana, and was carried on horseback. All the settlers, even in the Six Mile Woods, had to go from twelve to twenty miles to the river for their mail.
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