History of Putnam County, Ohio : its peoples, industries, and institutions, Part 9

Author: Kinder, George D., 1836-
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1744

USA > Ohio > Putnam County > History of Putnam County, Ohio : its peoples, industries, and institutions > Part 9

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A REMINDER OF PIONEER DAYS.

PUTNAM COUNTY, OHIO.

log cabin and the only one of the kind found here in 1833-4, when the first settlers came. This cabin was then in such a decayed condition that it was not fit for occupancy. The roof had tumbled in and weeds had grown up inside and outside of it. This cabin was located on the lot now owned and occupied by Mrs. James Ford. William Galbreath later took the logs to his farm along the river. The Indians called it the "Light House," possibly from the fact that the fur traders kept a light burning in the cabin throughout the night. The cabin was also used by the early missionaries, who made it their home while here on their labors among the Indians. There is a tradition connected with this cabin to the effect that it was built by the traders prior to the year 1812, and that when Tawa village was burned the cabin was not disturbed, from the fact that evidence existed that it was used by the missionaries as a place of worship. However there is no reliable informa- tion to substantiate this tradition. The only thing confirmatory is the dilapi- dated condition of the cabin at the time when the first settlers came as it was then in ruins, the ravages of time and the elements having produced the de- cay. It may have been built as tradition states. However, when the first settlers came here there was a large cabin still standing. It was sided with slabs cut from logs, and was occupied by a fur trader named Fredee, who was a Frenchman. A man named Deardoff, also a Frenchman, occupied the cabin after Fredee. This cabin was the most pretentious in the village at that time.

THE SUGAR CAMPS OF THE INDIANS.

About the only industry, outside of hunting and fishing, indulged in by the Indians of this reservation, was that of making sugar from the sap of the sugar maple tree. That this industry was carried on by the Ottawa Indians at a very early date, there is much evidence available. The principal sugar camps in the reservation were located but a short distance east and west of Tawa village. The one at the east was the most extensive and was located in the bend of the river east of the county fair grounds, while that on the west was located south of the Defiance road on what is known as the Galbreath farm, where yet remain quite a number of very old sugar trees. The trees constituting the larger camp, that east of the village, were tapped for sap as late as the year 1870 by the owners of the land. . In that year the ground was cleared of the trees by David Cox, who owned the land at that time. In converting the trees into firewood the Indian process of tapping was plainly to be seen, although the trees had grown to much greater dimensions during nearly the half century which had passed since the Indians had utilized them.

CHAPTER IV.

EARLY SETTLERS OF PUTNAM COUNTY, 1824-1834.

The first white family in Putnam county was that of Henry Leaf, who built a cabin on the south side of the Blanchard river, on section 10, Greens- burg township, where he remained some time. He removed from that point and built another cabin on the Auglaize river, at the junction of the Blanch- ard with the Auglaize, where he was living in 1824. This man could hardly be considered a resident of the county, as he lived with the Indians, moved when they did, and when they were removed to the West, he went with them, and ended his days there.

In 1824, David Murphy, with his family, came down the Blanchard river in a canoe from Fort Findlay, landed at the mouth of the Blanchard, built a cabin of poles, and became the first permanent white settler in the county. His wife was the first person buried in the cemetery at Kalida, and at her side the remains of her husband were deposited. During the year 1824, Silas McClish, Thomas McClish and Jack McClish settled a mile be- low Murphy on the west side of the Auglaize. William Bowen settled three miles south, and William Patton fourteen miles south.

1825-Henry Wing, Daniel Sullivan, William Craig, Daniel Pelke, Se- bastian Sroufe and Thaddeus Harris.

1826-John Ridenour and his sons, Michael, Daniel and Jacob; Dem- mitt Mackerel, Frederick and William Stevens, William H. Harris and Samuel Washburne.

1827-Josiah Clawson, Joel Wilcox, William Bishop, William Cochran, Cephas Cary, John Cary, Philip Comer and William Scott.

1828-William Frasee, David Sroufe, Henry Comer, A. E. Martin, Robert Martin and Solomon Sprague.

. 1829-S. L. Norris, Ellison Ladd and Jonathan Wiland.

1830-William Clevenger, Nutter and Joshua Powell, Isaac Owens, Joseph, Samuel, Jacob and George Clevenger.

1831-Peter Rhodes, Abraham Sarber, O. W. Crawfis, Samuel Hall and John Guffy.

1832-Jacob Rimer, Abraham Hardin, J. R. Rimer, John Myers, Sr., Abraham and James Crow, Obed Martin, Samuel Hall and H. M. Crawfis.

PUTNAM COUNTY, OHIO.

1833-J. Y. Sackett, John Sigafoos, Stansbury Sutton, Hiram Sarber, Frederick Brower, John B. Bogart, Adam Sarber, William Guffy, James Nicholas, Thomas Watkins, Henry Wellman and C. Raabe.

1834-William Galbreath, Enoch Wicks, John Crawfis, Moses Lee, Hugh Crawford, Robert and Isaac McCracken, Sheldon Guthrie and many others.

THE GERMAN-SWISS SETTLEMENT.

By U. S. Steiner.

It is now nearly eighty-two years since the Germans, or rather Swiss and French, commenced what has become well known as the "German set- tlement" and a short history of it, and a few incidents of pioneer life may not be uninteresting. In the spring of 1838, Michael Neuenschwander (a native of Alsace, who came to this country in 1823 and settled in Wayne county ) and liis eldest son, John B., a young man of twenty-three, came west to seek a new home. Their object was to find an unoccupied place, that could be developed into a rich country, where land could be bought cheap. Having heard of such a place in Putnam county (Richland town- ship was then a part of Putnam county), they came directly here and, being pleased with it, picked out two quarter sections. They then went down to Piqua, where the government land office was located, and entered the land. One of these pieces was cleared up and occupied by Daniel Neuenschwander until his death, which occurred on August 2, 1893. They then went back home to Wayne county, this state, and made preparation to leave for the west-the new home in the wilderness. They started on the last Friday in August, 1833, and arrived at their destination in eleven days, which was doing well, as it took some who came after them fourteen days. The fam- ily was composed of the parents and three sons, John B., aged twenty-three, Daniel, twenty-one, and Michael, ten years. They came in a covered wagon, with a team of horses and a yoke of oxen before it. It was very dry when they arrived and, as there was no water on their land, they sought another quarter section where water was plentiful and found one. This was after- ward occupied by the family and the youngest son, Michael, until their deaths, that of the mother occurring on February 13, 1846, in her sixty- seventh year ; that of the father on March 10, 1854, aged seventy-four years and one day, and that of the son, Michael, on July 22, 1893. Again the fa- ther and eldest son went to Piqua to secure that land, and while they were gone the mother and the other two boys camped on an island in Riley creek,

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PUTNAM COUNTY, OHIO.

near Abraham Basinger's, during which time Daniel watched the horses and cattle, and also made a pair of shoes. When the father and son returned, they moved on the last-entered land, on which they had a spring and creek, and commenced putting up a cabin and preparing for winter. That winter was so mild that the ground never froze hard enough to bear up a loaded wagon. Their neighbors were Thomas Gray, on the farm now occupied by Abraham Bixel; John Sigafoose, on the one now occupied by Jacob Lugi- bill; Christopher Miller, west of Rockport, and John Stout, near Pandora, then called Pendleton.

They were here a year before others followed, but in the fall of 1834 there came an addition of four families, that of Christian Suter, afterward minister and bishop of the congregation; Dorse Amstutz; Christian Bucher, who died at the advanced age of one hundred years, seven months and twenty-two days, and John Moser, who subsequently moved to Lucas county. A good many came here that year to secure land and moved on it later. In 1853, and later on, people flocked in from Switzerland, Alsace, and Wayne and Holmes counties, Ohio, Virginia, etc., among whom were the Steiners, Schumachers, Basingers, Lugibills, Geigers and others.

HARDSHIPS OF THE PIONEERS.

The hardships of the pioneers can be better imagined than expressed. Think of going to Piqua without more of a road than a cow path, or hardly that. The land office was afterward moved to Wapakoneta. The first flour that Mr. Neuenschwander bought was at Sidney, but they soon commenced to keep it at Lima, and then it was considered so handy to get that Mr. Neuenschwander thought he would lay in a supply. He needed a good deal, as all who came to look at land stayed with him, so he bought eleven barrels at one time, at eleven dollars per barrel. His son Daniel packed it all home on one horse. He said there was no hour in the night that he was not on his way between here and Lima. He had a big horse, would throw a sack or two on his back, get on himself and start for home, it made no difference whether it was day or night, as the horse would keep the path. One evening he started from Lima after dark, in company with two other men. Alter- nately one rode and the other two walked behind; when about two miles from home the hat of the rider was caught by a limb and dropped, and they had to search about half an hour before they found it, as it was very dark and they had no means of making a light. Once or twice they went to Maumee City to mill, and when good mills were put up at Delphos and the

IOI

PUTNAM COUNTY, OHIO.

canal was built, that place became a good market, which was considered very handy. The first year that Mr. Neuenschwander was here the two eldest boys went to Eagle Creek, Hancock county, for a load of corn. They started home from there one morning after breakfast, and it took them till noon the next day to get home, during which time they had nothing to eat but raw corn. At another time, when they had wheat to sell, the same two started, each with a load of thirty-two bushels and a double team. They went to Findlay, where they were offered fifty cents a bushel for their wheat, but refused to take it, and went on to Sandusky where they got sixty-two cents. It took them thirteen days to make the trip, during which time they had no warm meals and slept in no bed.

Daniel also hauled wheat for neighbors to Tiffin; the wheat was sold for from sixty to seventy cents per bushel, he getting twenty cents a bushel for hauling. Other settlers had the same experiences, but it seems that they were all able to meet the severest hardships of those times without a murmur of discontent and always looked at the brightest side. But few of the first settlers are still living, John F. Steiner and Henry Shank, both over ninety years of age, Mrs. John S. Steiner, Peter Bucher and wife. Peter and Mrs. Chr. Suter, Barbara Basinger, Barbara Schumacher and probably a tew others. B. Lugibill, who was born in 1836, is the oldest voter born in Rich- land township.

PIONEER HONEYMOONS.

A year after Mr. Neuenschwander moved here his two eldest sons, John B. and Daniel, went back to Wayne county and were both married on August II, 1834. They soon returned with their young and happy wives. They had one horse and the women might have ridden him alternately, but Dan- iel's wife was not used to riding horseback and preferred to walk; they made the trip, so they claimed, in three days. A year later, September 15, a daughter was born to John B. and wife, who died several years ago in Kan- sas; and two months later a daughter was also born to Daniel and wife. This one became the wife of the writer of this sketch and never lived over a mile from where she was born. Now in the eightieth year of her age she is still hearty, though she had rather more than her share of the hardships and privations of that pioneer life. Mrs. Peter Bixel (nee Suter) was the first person born here who grew up. These pioneers can truly say that they first beheld the country a wilderness and saw it changed into a garden; and out of a comparatively sickly country (there being malaria at times) made one conducive to health and long life.

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PUTNAM COUNTY, OHIO.

THE MENNONITES.

The Wyandot Indians were still at Upper Sandusky and often passed through here on their way to Defiance and return, but the settlers were never molested by them. The "settlement" has continually widened and its borders almost reach Beaverdam, Rockport, Columbus Grove, and Gilboa. Bluffton and Pandora are about it. The prevailing religion is the Menno- nite, but they are unhappily divided into four denominations; however, the original congregation is keeping the lead and has about nine hundred and fifty members. The preaching is mostly in German language and the schools are still taught in the English and German languages. We said above that the original congregation has nine hundred and fifty members; the American Mennonites have upward of twenty families; the New Mennonites about twenty, and the Egly congregation is quite small, many of its former adher- ents having joined the Alliance and the Dowie faith.

The people, as a rule, are generous, industrious, economical and pious, and the settlement stands second to no other place, probably in the whole United States, in regard to good roads, good buildings and beautiful farms.

Most of the Mennonites are strong adherents of the creed laid down by their founder and subsequent teachers. A few adhere to a peculiar garb and other antique practices, but in the main they are moving along with the stream of time, though guarding diligently against all innovations that might be a serious injury to their good name, their homes and their church. They are greatly opposed to secret societies, and have been very successful so far in keeping their members out of them. The old and the Zion congregation have elected most all their preachers so far by lot and they generally have from two to four ; they have even elected their deacons the same way, all for life, whether they prove to be competent or not, but we venture the predic- tion that this practice will soon die out and that they will choose and treat their ministers the same as other churches do. The New Mennonites and the Egly's choose their ministers from their own members and put them on probation. These different churches have five Sunday schools, four young people's societies and two women's sewing circles.

CHAPTER V.

COUNTY ORGANIZATION.

In Chapter I, on related state history, an account is given of the organ- ization of the Northwest Territory and the creation of the state of Ohio. From the day the state was admitted to the Union, March 1, 1803, down to the present time, comprises a period of one hundred and twelve years. Start- ing out with less than a dozen counties in 1803, the state now has eighty- eight counties, which have been organized from year to year as the territory was bought from the Indians and settled up by the whites.

The territory now comprised within the limits of Putnam county was originally within two separate Indian cessions, the Ottawa Reserve, of twenty-five miles, and that secured by the treaty of September 29, 1817. This treaty was consumated at the Foot of the Rapids of Lake Erie and was negotiated by Lewis Cass and Duncan McArthur, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the many different chiefs and sachems, repre- senting the Wyandot, Seneca, Delaware, Shawnee, Pottawattamie, Ottawa and Chippewa tribes of Indians.

The state Legislature of Ohio, by the act of February 12, 1820, organ- ized Putnam county with the following limits: "Towns I and 2 south, and I and 2 north of ranges 5, 6, 7 and 8, east of the first meridian of Ohio." Each town (or township, as they are now called) contained thirty-six sec- tions, one mile square, the whole county containing five hundred and seventy- six square miles. The county was cut off from Williams county, but the population was so sparse that it was not until fourteen years later that the county was formally organized and permitted to take its place as an indepen- dent political district. The scarcity of population is shown by the fact that only one hundred and sixty-three votes were cast at the first election in 1834.

It is very unfortunate that the early court records of the county are not complete, due to the burning of the court house at Kalida in the fall of 1864, but the first steps in the definite organization of the county have been well established. In accordance with a legislative act, passed in 1834, the governor of the state appointed William Cochran, Henry Morris and Silas McClish as associate judges of the court of common pleas of the county. These men

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PUTNAM COUNTY, OHIO.

were intrusted with the duty of formally organizing the county and, pursuant to the act providing for their appointment, they met on May 8, 1834, at. the house of Abraham Sarber, in Kalida, and took the first steps in starting the county. After being sworn in as provided by law, they proceeded to complete the organization of the county by appointing Daniel W. Gray as clerk of the court; Amos Evans, prosecuting attorney; Abraham Sarber, town clerk; Thomas Gray, William Priddy and Samuel Myers, county com- missioners; F. C. Fitch, surveyor; John Cochran, A. E. Martin, Isaac Owens, James Nichols and Daniel W. Gray, school examiners. The judges con- cluded their day's work by ordering an election to be held on the thirty-first of the same month for the purpose of electing a sheriff and coroner. Thus was Putnam county ushered in as an independent county and may it be said to the credit of these first county officials that they performed their several duties in such a manner as to earn the commendation of their fellow citizens. Their duties were not onerous, in view of the fact that the county was very thinly settled, but what they did do was done in an efficient and painstaking manner.

LOCATION-OF COUNTY SEAT.

For some reason which has not been ascertained, the county seat was definitely located in 1829, five years before the county was organized. The state Legislature, by the act of February 12, 1829, appointed a commission to locate and name a county seat, and it is presumed that the site the com- mission finally selected was the center of population of the county. Kalida, the site finally chosen, is located in section 5, township I south, range 6 east. This little village was located near the confluence of Plum and Sugar creeks and is now in Union township. After the organization of the county, on May 8, 1834, the county commissioners purchased all of section 5, which had not been previously bought, had it laid off into lots and ordered the town director to sell the lots at the best possible price. The money thus obtained was to be used in the erection of a court house and jail. A frame court house was built and a jail of heavy timbers was hastily erected to accom- modate the few offenders who might need incarceration. In 1839 these frame structures were replaced by substantial brick buildings in Kalida and they remained in use until December 18, 1864, when the court house was burned down. On October 9, 1866, an election removed the county seat to Ottawa, where it has since remained. The vote to change the county seat was carried by a majority of four hundred and eighty-five. The citizens of

أيماديه

V A

مصدره - بيجدي م.

.000 -

PUTNAM COUNTY'S FIRST COURT HOUSE, AT KALIDA.

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PUTNAM COUNTY, OHIO.

Ottawa deposited fifteen thousand dollars with the county commissioners to guarantee the erection of a court house.

CHANGES IN AREA.

It has been stated that the county of Putnam was organized with an area of five hundred and seventy-six square miles and it retained this area until 1848, when Auglaize county was organized by the state Legislature. At this time. Richland township, the southeastern township of the county, was detached and made a part of Allen county. The following separate tracts were also taken from Putnam county at that time and added to Allen county : the southern tier of sections of Riley township; the entire township of Monroe (township 2 south, range 7 east) ; three tiers of sections from the south side of Sugar Creek township; three tiers of sections from the south side of Jennings township. These deductions from the original area of Putnam county were partially offset by the addition of the eastern half of township I south, range 4 east, now a part of Monterey township, which had been a part of VanWert county. By these various changes the county was reduced to an area of four hundred and eighty square miles and this has remained the area of the county down to the present time. However, it should be noted that the territory detached meant a great loss to the county. It included much of the best improved land of the county and contained the thriving villages and towns of Bluffton, Beaver Dam, West Cairo and that part of Delphos situated east of the Miami and Erie .extension canal. In May, 1853, the county commissioners of Allen and Putnam counties met and agreed upon the sum of three thousand, eight hundred and forty-eight dollars and seventy-six cents, due Putnam county from Allen county, as compensa- tion for territory taken from Putnam and added to Allen county.

TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.

There were some townships organized within the present limits of Put- nam county before it was formally organized in 1834. With the many changes in county limits and the increase in population from year to year, new townships were created and the limits of old townships were changed. The following table exhibits the organization of the various townships of the county, and the history of the townships will be taken up in the order of their creation :

The following is a list, as nearly as can be ascertained, of the officials

COUNTY OFFICIALS.

been ascertained owing to the absence of the early commissioners' and trustees' records, but it is believed that the dates as stated above are correct. They were given by the late George Skinner in his history of the county in 1880 and he was as good an authority on the history of the county as any man then living. Mention has been made of the decrease in the original area of the county with the detachment of a strip of varying width which was taken from the county in 1848 and added to Allen county. Two whole townships were detached at that time- Richland and Monroe, being south of Riley and Pleas- ant townships, respectively. One tier of townships was taken from Riley township and added to Richland and after the latter was joined to Allen county it still retained its old name as a part of Allen county. Sugar Creek township was halved by the act of 1848 and both halves retain the old name. Jennings township was also cut in two, but the part added to Allen became a part of Marion township in the latter county. Monterey township, three by six miles, was organized from territory which was taken from VanWert county by the Legislature. Many of these townships have had some changes in their limits at

Organized.

1828

1832

1833

1834

1835

1837

1843

1850

1852 1854

30 30

24 36 36

Square Miles.

Townships.

Perry

Union

Sugar Creek

Jackson

Jennings

Blanchard

Pleasant

Riley

Greensburg

Ottawa

Liberty

Van Buren

Monterey

Monroe Palmer

PUTNAM COUNTY, OHIO.

106

of Putnam county since its organization in 1834:

various times.

The exact dates of the organization of these various townships has not

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PUTNAM COUNTY, OHIO.

CLERK OF COURTS.

Daniel W. Gray, 1834-37; James Taylor, 1837-44 ; Moses Lee, 1844-51; R. W. Thrift, 1851-52; David I. Brown, 1852-58; John Buchanan, 1858-64; R. J. Spelman, 1864-70; Samuel B. Rice, 1870-76; John T. Thrift, 1876-79; Jacob J. Zeller, 1879-85; R. J. Spelman, 1885-87; H. W. Schmitschulte, 1887-95; Christ Beutler, 1895-1901; A. P Sandles, 1901-07; Joseph H. Gosling, 1907-1911 ; W. M. George, 1911 to the present time.

All of these officials have been elected by the Democratic party with the exception of John T. Thrift.

AUDITOR.

The county records do not show who the auditor was at the time the county was organized in 1834. For many years the auditor was elected every two years, but since the change in the constitution he holds for four years. One of the odd things disclosed by the old records was the name of "Sam Weaver," when his name should have been Samuel P. or S. P. Weaver. Reed and Jones are the only Republicans ever elected to the office, although it is thought that Creighton, because he served only one term, was a Whig. The list as taken from the records is as follows: W. Risley, 1838-44; J. E. Creighton, 1844-46; Neham Smith, 1846-50; William Bell, 1850-54; John Monroe, 1854-58; J. H. Smith, 1858-62; F. H. Rothman, 1862-66; Sam Weaver, 1866-70; John Deffenbaugh, 1870-74; Bernard Lehmkuhle, 1874-78; Louis Lehmkuhle, 1878-84; William Place, 1884-90; W. F. Reed, 1890-93; Aaron Overbeck, 1893-96; J. C. Jones, 1896-99; L. N. Welde, 1899-1905; Joseph Kersting, 1905-11; J. E. Roose, 1911 to the present time.

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History of Putnam County, Ohio : its peoples, industries, and institutions, Part 9

Author: Kinder, George D., 1836- Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1744

Author: Kinder, George D., 1836-
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1744