USA > Ohio > Huron County > History of Huron County, Ohio, Its Progress and Development, Volume I > Part 9
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The old courthouse which was built in 1818 was located on the same ground as the present courthouse. It was rebuilt in 1873 and was thoroughly remodeled in 1908. The old jail, which was built in 1819, occupied the same ground on which the Taber block stands. The present building was erected in 1887.
THE NORWALK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. BY C. F. JACKSON, PRESIDENT.
Inspired by the success of organized effort in the upbuilding of communities, the Norwalk Chamber of Commerce was organized in 1908 to strengthen and develop the interest of Norwalk and to bring more business to its commercial and industrial enterprises.
Through its committees, the manufacturers, the retailers and the financial interests are equally represented.
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It is the business of the Chamber of Commerce to develop cooperation. Al- though its individual members may be competitors in certain lines, that does not prevent cooperation along lines of mutual interest, and so far, harmonious united effort of members and committees has prevailed.
It is the purpose of this organization to assist in securing new industries for Norwalk, not by bonuses, but by showing Norwalk's superior advantages, that it is the best location economically for certain lines of manufacture when a su- perior degree of intelligence, sobriety and thrift is required of its laborers.
The Chamber of Commerce believes that it is the duty of influential men of this community to study the signs of the times-to assume the responsibility of the solutions of problems of the day-to devote their energies to the commercial, civic, social and esthetic development of the city-to have as their aim the ideal Norwalk.
NORWALK OF TODAY FROM A MUNICIPAL STANDPOINT.
BY MAYOR C. P. VENUS.
The city of Norwalk with a population of about ten thousand people sur- rounded by a rich agricultural county, with a conservative, intelligent popula- tion. is a surprisingly resourceful municipality and is abundantly able to care for its own under any and all circumstances.
Every municipality is judged somewhat by its municipal officers and their administration of its business.
Our police and fire departments have always been maintained in such a man- ner, that for efficiency and high standard, they are recognized as among the best in any city regardless of size. And the fact that for nearly a score of years back, almost without exception, the city's tax rate has been the lowest of any of the municipal tax levies of the neighboring corporations, speaks for the business methods and judgment of other officers louder than any words here could.
The growth of the city is keeping pace with the demands of the day. Many new dwellings have been completed or are in process of construction, and right now the demand for houses to rent is at flood tide, and all modern dwellings offered for rent are immediately occupied.
During the past year, several new stores have been added, besides large addi- tions to The Glass Block ; a magnificent hotel, The Avalon, being finished to meet Norwalk's increasing commercial demands, and when completed this hostelry will be one of the finest between Cleveland and Toledo, a credit to its proprietors and to the Maple City.
The new Wheeling & Lake Erie shops are today employing more men than ever before. The A. B. Chase Piano Co. and the Gallup-Ruffing Co. have con- structed large additions to their plants.
Norwalk is planning and accomplishing for the future, by keeping pace with this steady increase in our business interests. We take a just pride in our water supply, which is wholesome and sufficient for double the present demands.
Norwalk has well under way a complete and perfect sewerage system, which includes a disposal plant. Forty thousand dollars was expended last year for new sewers, which are a part of the proposed plant.
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City streets are covered with eleven miles of fine brick pavement, and quite a large amount of pavement is under way which will be completed before the end of 1909.
The credit for the wholesome condition of the municipality of Norwalk belongs to our splendid citizenship, in which we all claim a common share.
Our shipping facilities are of the best, having the main lines of the L. S. & M. S. and W. & L. E. Railways, and we are one of the largest traction line centers in the country, over one hundred and twenty-five interurban electric cars in and out of Norwalk every twenty-four hours.
Norwalk is an ideal place in which to make one's home. Its natural beauty and high standard of citizenship of which we boast makes an invitation to come to Norwalk almost irresistible to the business man, commercial traveler, me- chanic or manufacturer, as well as the man who is able to retire and live out his days with most pleasant and agreeable surroundings.
THE INDIANS OF THE FIRELANDS.
The Indians found the prairie and woodlands of the Firelands abounding in game, but many years have elapsed since the last red man hunted within the borders of Huron county.
Seneca John was accustomed to hunt in the southern and western parts of Huron county. The early settlers of that region always gave him a cordial wel- come, and some of them have placed on record their appreciation of his character. He could speak but little English, but was always friendly to the settlers, and was brave, honest, and trustworthy.
Ogontz was better known in the region of Sandusky, which was one of his favorite resorts at certain seasons of the year, for the purpose of fishing and hunting, and that locality was for years known, by reason of this fact, as "Ogontz place."
The tragedy which ended the life of each of these hunter and warrior chiefs, illustrates the sanguinary character of their race. Seneca John was accused of witchcraft, and having been condemned by his own tribe, was unhesitatingly slain-his own brother being the executioner. Ogontz, years before his death, had killed, in self defense, a rival chief, and had adopted the latter's son, who. even in his boyhood, cherished a desire to avenge his father's death. The boy grew up, and when the opportunity offered, took the life of Ogontz, who had been a second father to him.
It is a mystery how, in this northern climate, the Indians obtained the means of living through the winter. Even those tribes who did not despise agriculture tilled the soil in a superficial way, and often had short crops. In such a season. their chief dependence was on fish and game, and even these must at times have failed them.
The Indian's daily work was hunting and trapping game, when he was not on the war trail, seeking the scalps of his enemies. According to Seneca John. the hunting grounds were, by agreement, allotted among the tribes, and, doubt- less, encroachments on one another's territory and disputes as to boundaries, were the fruitful causes of quarrels and bloodshed.
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In the autumn of every year the prairies were burned over, that the abundant deer might be more easily tracked and hunted over the bare and blackened soil.
While the young men were engaged in such pursuits, the other members of the tribes remained at home.
The squaws, meanwhile, tied up their little pappooses in bark cradles, which they hung from the limbs of trees, to be rocked by the passing wind while they toiled with sweating faces and aching backs.
THE SETTLEMENT OF HURON COUNTY.
WRITTEN FOR THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE FIRELANDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, JUNE 17, 1896, BY 1. M. GILLETTE, OF NORWALK.
Eighty-seven years ago, there came away from the shores of the Atlantic, in the state of Connecticut, a little party of three men.
This adventurous band left home and civilization, faced the perils of a jour- ney of over six hundred miles, and endured the hardships and toils of making a new home in the wilderness of a strange land.
About eight weeks from their departure, these pioneers arrived at their des- tination, in the wilds of the Firelands, now Huron county. In these vast woods the blows of the settler's ax had never resounded; through their branches the smoke from the settler's cabin had never curled. Here roamed the deer, and the bear; and here the silence of the midnight hour was broken by the howling of the wolf and the whoop of the hostile Indian.
They built their cabin and began the clearing of their lands.
After awhile others came in, consisting of families of men, women and chil- dren. Some of the men were farmers. some were skilled in trades and pro- fessions.
The women were neat and industrious housewives, and diligent workers at the spinning wheel and the loom. These pioneers began the great work of con- verting a forest into a home, by felling trees, building houses and cutting out roads ; and all through the season, there was busy work in this wilderness.
The primeval forest rang from morn till eve, with the blows of the ax.
New clearings opened out, and new log houses rolled up on every hand. And the work has gone happily on to this day.
Rustic bedsteads, chairs, tables, and the ommipresent cradle, made their ap- pearance in every house ; and industry and ingenuity soon transformed every log cabin into a home.
The winters were safely and comfortably passed by the pioneers. Their fires crackled brightly and the festivities of Christmas time were observed as joyously in this Fireland forest, as in the old far-away home.
One great cause of the success of this country was the active help the women rendered their husbands. Every wife was indeed a helpmeet. She not only did the housework, but helped her husband in the clearings, amid the blackened stumps and logs.
And thus Huron county has ever continued to meet the fondest anticipations of its friends. Its career from the beginning to this day, has been one of con-
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stant and unceasing growth, development and progress. It has never taken a step backward.
Those of you who never lived in the backwoods, can have no adequate con- ception of the vast labor and toil undergone in this wilderness, to create the results which you see all around you. A settler's first years in the woods are a continued fight, hand to hand, with savage nature, for existence. It is pleasant for us today, to look out upon the broad fields, green with the growing crops ; but do we know, can we calculate, how many blows of the ax, how many drops of sweat, have been expended in turning each one of these broad acres of land from forest to farm? Huron county's story forms an important chapter in the history of Ohio. That story I would love fully to recount to you step by step on this festal day, when she celebrates her eighty-seventh anniversary.
I would fain tell of its organization, and that of the townships; and of the rise and progress of its churches ; the building of its houses of worship; of its schools, and the thorough work they have accomplished; of the establishment of mills and factories ; how year after year the forest had been felled, and the chopping of blackened stumps have been transformed into smooth fields of wav- ing grain; how the log cabins have been replaced by substantial and fine resi- dences, large barns, fruitful orchards and bountiful crops. All this I have and much more I would be glad to recite in detail to you, but the sun of this long summer day would set before half could be told, so I will conclude by saying of our pioneer fathers and mothers who sleep in yonder graveyard, that their noble deeds will not be forgotten so long as the history of the Firelands is rehearsed among men.
INDIAN HABITS AND CUSTOMS.
The Indians were always the allies of the British as against Americans, and as to their treachery and deceit all the white settlers could have attested. They professed to be friendly to the pioneers until about the breaking out of the war with Great Britain, when they joined with the English to destroy the whites.
Some of the customs, manners, etc, of the Indians may be of interest here.
The manners, customs, feats, war parties and daily life of these sons of the forest form interesting chapters in aboriginal history. The character of the In- dians was largely the result of their lives. They judged and lived by what the senses dictated. They had names and words for what they could hear, see, feel, taste and smell. They had no conceptions of abstract ideas until they learned such from the whites. Hence their language was very symbolical. They could see the sun in its brightness, they could feel his heat ; hence they compared the actions of a good man to the glory of the sun, and his fervent energy to the heat of that body. The moon in her brightness, the wind in its fury, the clouds in their majesty, or in their slow, graceful motion through a lazy atmosphere ; the grace and flight of the deer; the strength and fury of the bear; the rush or ripple of water as it coursed along the bed of a river, all gave them words whose expressiveness are a wonder and marvel to this day. They looked on the beauti- ful river that borders the southern shores of our state. Their cabins or wigwams were of two kinds-circular and parallelogram. The former, the true wigwam,
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was in use when the whites came to this country. It was made of a number of straight poles driven firmly into the ground, their upper ends being drawn closely together ; this formed a kind of a skeleton tent. The squaws plaited mats of thongs, bark or grass, in such a manner as to render them impervious to water. These were spread on the poles, beginning at the bottom, and extending upward. A small hole was left for the egress of smoke from the fire kindled in the center of the wigwam. Around this fire, mats or skins were spread, on which the In- dians slept at night, and on which they sat during the day. For a door they lifted one end of the mat, and crept in, letting it fall down behind them. These tents were warm and dry, and generally quite free from smoke. Their fuel was nearly always split by the squaws in the fall of the year, and sometimes kept dry by placing it under an inverted birch-bark canoe. These wigwams were easily moved about from place to place, the labor of their destruction and construction being always performed by the squaws-the beasts of burden among all savage nations. The wigwam was very light, and easily carried about. It resembled the tents of today in shape, and was often superior in point of comfort and protection.
The cabins were more substantial affairs, and were built of poles, about the thickness of a small sized telegraph pole, but were of various sizes, and com- monly, about twelve or fifteen feet in length.
The skin of a fat bear was a great prize to an Indian. It made him an ex- cellent couch on which to sleep, or a cloak to wear. His flesh was supposed to impart bravery to those who ate it, hence when dipped in sweetened bear's fat, it was considered an excellent dish, and one often offered to friends. Venison, prepared the same way, was also considered a dish fit for the most royal visitors ; a hospitality always extended to all who came to the camp, and if not accepted the donor was sure to be offended.
They used vessels made of elm bark to carry water in. They would strip the bark in the winter season when it would strip or run, by cutting down the tree, and, with a crooked stick, sharp and broad at one end, peel the bark in wide strips, from which they would construct vessels holding two or three gallons each. They would often make over a hundred of these. They cut a sloping notch in the side of a sugar-tree, stuck a tomahawk into the wood at the end of the notch, and, in the dent thus made, drove a long chip or spile, which conveyed the water to the bark vessels. They generally selected the larger trees for tap- ping, as they considered the sap from such stronger and productive of more sugar. Their vessels for carrying the sap would hold from three to five gallons each, and sometimes, where a large camp was located and a number of squaws at work, using a half-dozen kettles, great quantities of sugar would be made. When the sugar-water would collect faster than they could boil it, they would make three or four large troughs, holding more than a hundred gallons each, in which they kept the sap until ready to boil. When the sugar was made, it was generally mixed with bear's oil or fat, forming a sweet mixture into which they dipped their roasted venison. As cleanliness was not a reigning virtue among the Indians, the cultivated taste of a civilized person would not always fancy the mixture, unless driven to it by hunger. The compound, when made, was gen- erally kept in large bags made of coon skins, or vessels made of bark. The
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former were made by stripping the skin over the body toward the head, tying the holes made by the legs with buckskin cords, and sewing securely the holes of the eyes, ears and mouth. The hair was all removed, and then the bag blown full of air, from a hole in the upper end, and allowed to dry. Bags made in this way would hold whiskey, and were often used for such purposes. When they became saturated they were blown full of air again, the hole plugged, and they were left to dry. Sometimes the head was cut off without stripping the skin from it, and the skin of the neck gathered in folds like a purse, below which a string was tied and fastened with a pin. Skin vessels are not indigenous to the natives of America. Corn was their principal crop, and was raised entirely by the squaws. When the season for planting drew near, the women cleared a spot of rich alluvial soil, and dug over the ground in a rude manner with their hoes. In planting the corn they followed lines, to a certain extent, thus forming rows each way across the field. When the corn began to grow, they cultivated it with wonderful industry, until it had matured sufficiently for use.
PIONEER GATHERINGS.
ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE FIRELANDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY AT NORWALK, 0110, JUNE 27, 1900, BY A. J. BAUGH1MAN, OF MANSFIELD.
It may be interesting to the younger as well as to the older class of people to recall some of the industrial, social and religious gatherings of the pioneers of Ohio.
In the early settlement of the country there were cabin and barn raisings, log-rollings, wood-choppings, corn-huskings, and sewing and quilting parties. and at such gatherings, utility and amusements were usually blended.
Rich and poor then met upon lines of social equality, and the old and the young mingled together in those old-time gatherings.
The pioneers were helpful to each other, not only in "raisings" and "rollings," requiring a force of men, but also in other ways. If a settler was incapaci- tated from work by sickness or other cause, his neighbors set a day and gathered in force and plowed his corn, harvested his grain, or cut his wood for the winter. as the season or occasion required. And when a pig or a calf or a sheep was killed, a piece of the same was sent to the several families in the neighborhood. each of whom reciprocated in kind, and in this neighborly way all had fresh meats the greater part of the summer.
Corn-huskings were great occasions. Sometimes the corn ears were stripped from the stalks and hauled to a favorable place and put in parallel or semi- circular windrows, convenient for the huskers. Moonlight nights were usually chosen for husking-bees, and sometimes bonfire lights were improvised. After the company gathered, captains were selected who chose the men off into two squads or platoons which competed in the work, each trying to finish its row first. The captain of the winning squad would then be carried around on the shoulders of his men, amid their triumphal cheers, and then the bottle would be passed.
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WEST MAIN STREET, NEW LONDON
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Women also attended these pioneer gatherings and sometimes assisted at the husking, but more frequently were engaged in the early evening in quilting or sewing, or in helping to prepare the great supper-feast that was served after the work was done.
There was a rule that a young man could kiss a girl for each red ear of corn found at a husking, and it goes without the saying that all the girls were kissed, some of them several times, for it was surprising how many red ears were found- so many, that the number was prima facie evidence that some of the boys went to the huskings with their pockets full of red corn ears.
Nearly all the pioneer gatherings wound up after supper with dancing, in which the old joined as well as the young, and when a fiddler could not be ob- tained, music for the occasion was furnished by some one blowing on a leaf, or by whistling "dancing tunes." The dancing then was more vigorous than artistic, perhaps, for the people were robust in those days, effeminacy not be- coming fashionable until later years.
The pioneers were industrious people. The situation required that the men must chop and grub and clear the land ere they could plow and sow and reap. And the women had to card and spin and knit and weave and make garments for their families, in addition to their household work. A pioneer minister's wife in telling about her work upon a certain occasion, said: "I've made a pair of pants and a bed-tick, and washed and ironed, and baked six pies today."
Wool had to be carded into rolls by hand, and after the rolls had been spun into yarn and the yarn woven into flannel, the product of the loom had to be "fulled" into thicker cloth for men's wear. As this was a hand or rather a foot process, it necessitated "fulling" or "kicking" parties. Upon such occasions the web was stretched out loosely on the puncheon floor and held at each end. while men with bared feet sat in rows at the sides and kicked the cloth, while the women poured on warm soapsuds, and the white foam of the suds would often be thrown over both kickers and attendants.
Carding and woolen mills and spinning and weaving factories came later, served their purpose and time, but are no more, and now people go to stores and get "hand-me-down" suits without either asking or caring where or how they were made.
While there were social amusements in pioneer times religious services were not neglected. As there were but few church buildings then camp meetings were frequently held during the summer season. Camp meeting trips were en- joyable outings. The roads to the camp grounds often ran by sequestered farm homes and through shady woodlands, where the rays of the sun shimmered charmingly through leafy tree-tops, and the fragrance of the wayside flowers deliciously perfumed the summer air.
At the camp, white tents in a semi-circle partly surrounded an amphitheater of seats in front of a pulpit canopied by trees. The Creator of heaven and earth reared the columns of those camp cathedrals, along whose bough-spanned dome, soft winds whispered and in whose leafy fretwork birds sang. From the mossy floor flowers sent up their perfume like altar incense, and in accord with place and surroundings, the congregation was wont to sing :
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"There seems a voice in every gale, A tongue in every flower, Which tells, O Lord, the wondrous tale Of thy Almighty power !"
At the camp, visitors were received with cordial greetings, for the campers had the warmth of friendship in their hearts and of Christian zeal in their souls. and their frank manner and winsome ways were favorable preludes to the ser- vices that followed.
At these camp meetings some of the worshippers would become quite demon- strative at times, for the personal manifestations of joy or devotion differ as much as our natures differ. No two persons give expression in the same way to any human emotion. Religion can come to you only in accordance with your nature, and you can respond to it only in the same way.
Singing was a prominent feature of camp services. It was the old-fashioned singing, without instrumental accompaniment. Singing, such as our dear old mothers sang, and although faulty, perhaps, in note, came from the heart and went to the heart. The singing of today may be more artistically rendered. but it is the old-time songs that comfort us in our sorrow and sustain us in our trials as they come back to us in hallowed remembrance from the years that are past.
PROGRESS AND CHANGES OF THE TIMES.
The pioneers found the country of which Huron is now a part without church. school, market, roads, merchant. mechanic or cultivated acre-if we except a few spots that may have been marked by the rude efforts at tillage by the Indian. Savage beasts and uncivilized men were in deadly conflict throughout the domain of the wilderness. Except when winter withdrew them to their caverns, the earth teemed with venomous and loathsome reptiles. The country was utterly destitute of any of the moral or material resources that bear rela- tion to civilized life. Such, in brief. was its condition when that band of moral heroes, the pioneers, entered the country and grappled with privations and dangers altogether unknown to the generation who now occupy this country. and even to the experience of those who have of late years undertaken the subjugation of the forests west of this. There exists no analogy between the habits and modes of life of those who were backwoodsmen at the commence- ment of the present century, and those who have peopled the new states and territories of the west. Here, until the opening of an Atlantic market by the completion of the New York and Erie canal. in 1825. there had been no sale of produce except for neighborhood consumption : while westward of this, dur- ing the iast ten or fifteen years particularly, artificial communications, by means of canals, turnpikes, or railroads, have advanced. almost with the van of the immigrating column, and agriculture. commerce and manufactures. with all the happiness they bestow, have been enjoyed, with the exception of brief delays, by the first populations of the new states and territories. Steam. as an agent of transit alone, has wrought a wonderful revolution in accelerating the dis-
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