History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 100

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Edward Kern was born in Pennsylvania in 1825. He came to Ohio in 1833, and settled in Seneca county, where he married Sarah Stetler in 1846. In 1871 he removed to York township. His family consists of six children, viz: A. J. and Jacob H., Seneca county; Samuel E., York township; Mary F., wife of John Swartz, Michigan; Laura E. (Stewart), York township, and Abbie E. (Ebbersol), Missouri. Mr. Kern's parents were George Jacob and Elizabeth (Shuck) Kern, both natives of Pennsylvania. After coming to Ohio they lived and died in Seneca county. They brought up a family of five sons and five daughters. All, excepting three daughters, are still living. The sons are: Yost, St. Joseph county, Michigan; George, Bellevue; Isaac, Seneca county; Edward, York township; Bennel, in Iowa. The daughters: Sophia, deceased; Sarah, deceased, was the wife of John Romick, Seneca county; Hannah, wife of George Heater, Bellevue; Mary married Jacob

Miller, and died at Coldwater, Michigan; Rachel, the widow of Jacob Sieber, resides in Seneca county.

Jacob Hilbish, a native of Pennsylvania, came to York township in 1871, and settled on the farm which he now occupies. He married Susannah Paulin, also a native of Pennsylvania. They have had six sons and three daughters, viz: Harriet, wife of Nathan Knauer, Pennsylvania; Agnes, wife of Daniel Cleckner, Seneca county; Ammon, Pennsylvania; Aaron, in the West; Matilda, wife of George Hassenplug, York township; Charles, Kansas; Wilson, at home; James, Indiana; David, Illinois. Mr. Hilbish has a good farm of one hundred and thirty-seven acres, situated near town, and does a good farming business.

A WEDDING EPISODE.

A wedding in a new country is a particularly interesting event. Our pioneer fathers and mothers had no newspapers to interest them with the events of the world at large, nor did many of them have books to occupy an occasional hour stolen from the clearing or farm. Similar surroundings and pursuits effected a kind of homogeneity in the community. These two circumstances conduced to a social feeling and interest which it is impossible to appreciate at the present day. Marriage is the second great event in the life of an individual, and the one in which people generally are more interested than any other. It is but natural, therefore, that in a community bound together by personal friendship and social unity, the prospect of a wedding became the family talk of every cabin.

The story of an early wedding in York, as told by a gay and favorite beau among the red- cheeked lasses of the time, furnishes a pleasing episode to the naturally dry chronicle of prosy facts.

Miss Abigail Bardman, a gay, vivacious, and handsome girl just past her teens,

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tired of the changeless succession of events at her home in New York, and captivated by the romance of border life as pictured in the letters of her sister, Mrs. Knickerbocker, from York, resolved upon a visit to the new Sandusky country. Having packed the plainest articles of her wardrobe she started upon the long journey, and in a few weeks was the guest of her sister's cabin home. She at once conquered the rural beaux, while on the other hand the strong and manly knights of the forest found favor in her sight. Mr. Platt, from Huron county, pushed his suit most ardently and won the pearl. The pain of jealousy was part of the price, for he suspected Norton Russel of being a rival and feared the issue. The load bore heavily upon Mr. Platt's heart. One day he and Mr. Russel were teaming together. Determined to know whether his companion was a stumbling- block in the way of his most cherished ambition, he asked in the most confidential manner possible the exact status of affairs. On being informed by Mr. Russel that there was no cause for anxiety, deep melancholy took rapid wings and the pathway of the lovers was straight and clear until the eventful wedding day. That consummation is best told in the following lines, written by another :*

When York was wild, when in her woods The clearings' timbers nightly blazed; When deer grazed in those solitudes, And but few hardy men had raised Their cabin roofs; it chanced a pair Of lovers from an Eastern State

Here met, and here agreed to share Their lives, and leave the rest to fate.

The records say not whether it Was when the woods leaf, or when the wheat

Was ripe, or when the wild geese quit This clime, or 'mid the snow and sleet The day was set; but we judge it Was in the season for bare feet

The sequel shows. Enough to tell, One smiling morn, a smiling set Of settlers, friends from hill and dell, Had, in invited concourse, met

* W. G. Zeigler.

To witness the solemnities

Of marriage in New England style.

The bride in white, all blushes, sighs, Was like all brides, most sweet; her smile,

Soft sunshine; and the groom was dressed

In black, as were his Eastern kin,

A gay assemblage for the West. All things were ready, and loud in

Its "Varmount" casings struck the clock Twelve sounding strokes, still was not heard

The parson's long-expected knock. What could the good man have deterred?

Most gloomy grew the good groom's face; The bride felt his anxiety, And, sighing, sat and gazed in space; The house-wife lost her piety,

And maledictions poured apace Upon the tardy parson's head,

As fast the steaming feast grew cold, That marriage feast already spread

To be devoured, the service told. Right here arose a settler old,

And with some hesitation said: "I swow thish 'ere's a powerful shame!

These woods '11 get no population, Ef parsons be so slack.

Why blame My soul, it's meaner 'n all creation! But I hev got a good idee

Thet soon'll make these two relation. I know thet you'uns chu'ch-folk be,

An' a chu'ch-weddin' you desire, But law without an ordained man

Can bind. Let's call Ballard, the squire." Objections to this wise man's plan

Were scattered like the wind-blown straws, And word dispatched unto the squire

To seize his hat, to seize his laws, And come forthwith as to a fire.

Time passed; at length was heard the slap Of bare, flat number tens before

The house, and then, without a rap, Wide swung the creaking puncheon door.

A general snicker rose, then died As one would snuff a candle's flame.

What wonder, when they all descried The figure of the man who came! A tattered hat of straw revealed Red hairs through every gaping tear;

A matted, sandy beard concealed The staring face beneath the hair.

A woollen shirt, no coat, no vest; The baggy breeches home-spun blue,

Thus stood the last-invited guest, And gruffly stammered, "How dye do?"

As 'gainst the casement rude he leaned. "Are you the Justice?" some one cried; And, in the quiet that intervened, "I guess I be, " the man replied;

"You're one, I 'spect, (the groom he eyed,)

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An' you, I reckon, am the tother," And nodded toward the happy bride,

Who vainly tried a smile to smother. "Right? Guess I be! Stan' over there."

The wond'ring pair rose side by side;

The house-wife breathed a silent prayer; The squire stepped in with one long stride, He cast his straw hat on the floor, That straw hat minus top and band, Then turned his Treatise' pages o'er Most slowly with his trembling hand, To where Ohio's laws provide How weddings shall be sanctified; What forms the Justice sage shall guide; What questions ask the groom, the bride;

What costs assess when they are tied. One foot he rested on his knee, Then on the knee thus raised he put The opened book, and thus stood he

As asleep a goose with one web-foot Hid in her wing, while high o'er head Hot beats the sun. Then tracing slow, With finger brown, he spelt and read In drawling tones, pitched deep and low, And closed by saying, "Yous be wed." The squire's bare foot fell to the floor; He stooped and seized his tattered hat, Then looked towards the puncheon door, And wished that he was out of that. "You'll stay to dinner?" "No," he said. "Salute the bride?" His face grew red Then all the color from it fled; Unnerved he stood and shook his head; But still remained as in suspense, Until the groom placed in his hand The usual fee, with fifty cents Additional, which made expand

The squire's blue eyes and mouth immense. Slow backed he from the cabin trim; Slow climbed he o'er the clearing's fence; Deep were the woods that swallowed him!

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.

The pioneer church of York township was the Free-will Baptist. The first page of the church book reads:

Be it remembered that on the twenty-third day of June, 1825, a number of Christian brethren of the order of Free-will Baptist, met in the town of York, county of Sandusky, for the express purpose of being organized into a church composed of the following brethren, to wit: Elder John Mugg, Jered H. Miner, Jeremiah P. Brown, Moses George, Abner Walker, James Benton, Thomas Mugg, John B. Mugg, Elisha B. Mugg, Polly Brown, and Lydia Miner. These brethren, agreeably to the rules of the New Testament, were organized into a church, and received by the right hand of Christian fellowship from Elder Bradford.

The society thus formed was known as the Free-will Baptist church of York town-ship. Meetings were held at the houses of Jeremiah Brown and John Mugg until the log-school house (the first one on the south ridge) was built. In 1855 the meeting-house on the south ridge was built, but the organization has been losing its membership gradually, until but one remains-Mrs. Jeremiah Smith. Sunday-school continues to be held in the meeting-house during the summer months. The cemetery, which is one of the oldest in the north part of the township, was donated by John Calvin. Tryphena C. Smith was the first person buried in this cemetery. This church, in its early history, being the only religious society, collected, into its membership nearly everybody in the neighborhood.

The next religious society organized in York, was the Christian church, the first members of which were James Haynes and wife, Moses George and wife, and John Riddell and wife. Elder Mallery was the first preacher. He was succeeded by Elder Vail, who removed from New York to Huron county in 1839, and took charge of the churches in this part of the State. He had been a Methodist during the first years of his clerical life, but became a zealous preacher of the denomination which he afterwards joined. Under Elder Vail's ministry the Free chapel was built in 1842. In 1849 he removed to York, where he died in 1878. Elder Manville succeeded to the pastorate. The meeting-house is the oldest in the township. Services are held regularly.

Emanuel Evangelical church is composed mostly of Pennsylvanians. Isaac Parker was a member of the church in Pennsylvania, and after settling in York, collected the families of Michael Waltz, Jacob Harpster, David Harpster and John Orwig and formed a class, which

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met in private houses. Rev. Mr. Nevil was the first preacher. This was about 1850. In 1860 the frame church on the pike was built. The organization of a class at Bellevue divided the membership, but each year has brought new accessions, so that there are about eighty members at present. The first class leader was John Orwig. Succeeding leaders have been Reuben Parker, Daniel Loudenschlager, John Null, Daniel Mook, Henry Mook, Michael Finsinger and Jere Filhering.

The United Brethren began holding meetings in the southwest part of York. As the Pennsylvania element of the population grew the membership increased until in 1863 the class had acquired sufficient strength to build a meeting-house. The house and class took the name "Mount Carmel" and is supplied by the pastor of Clyde circuit.

BELLEVUE. ITS LOCATION.

About one-half of the village lies in Huron, and the other half in Sandusky county. The county line road, or that part of it lying within the corporate limits of the village, being called West street, divides the town into nearly equal divisions. The centre of this road is the western limit of the Firelands and of the Western Reserve. The eastern half of Bellevue is situated in the extreme north- western part of Lyme township, and the western half in the southwestern part of York township, Sandusky county. The southwestern corner of Erie county, and the northeast corner of Seneca county, lie adjoining the extreme northeast and south- west limits of the village. The town is situated on the southern branch of the Toledo and Cleveland division of the Lake Shore railroad, the New York, Chi-

cago & St. Louis railroad, and the Wheeling & Lake Erie railroad.

ITS NAME.

The post office was first known as York X Roads, and the village was called Amsden's Corners, in honor of T. G. Amsden, its first merchant. It continued to be so known until the year 1839, when, upon the completion of the Mad River & Lake Erie railroad to this point, it was changed to Bellevue. The prevailing opinion among the old settlers is that it was so named in honor of James H. Bell, the civil engineer who surveyed the route through this place for the Mad River road. Some, however, claim that the proprietors of the road, and the chief residents of the town agreed upon the name of Bellevue because the signification of the word made it an appropriate name for the village, which, by reason of its location and surroundings, well merited a name which means "a beautiful view." At all events the name has a musical ring, and no resident of the place can regret that it was so called.

ITS FIRST SETTLERS.

The year 1815 marks the date when Mr. Mark Hopkins, the first settler within the corporate limits of Bellevue as now es- tablished, came to this locality. He came hither with his family and accompanied by a bachelor brother, from Genessee county, New York, and built a log house on land now owned and occupied by Peter Bates.

Elnathan George, from the same place, was the next settler. He purchased one acre of land embracing, with other contiguous ground, the lot whereon now stands the Tremont House. He gave a cow in exchange for his purchase. Here was built, by Mr. George, the second building of the town, in the year 1816. In the following year he built an addition to his dwelling and opened his house as a tavern.

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The third newcomer was Return Burlingson, who selected land on the Sandusky county side, and in the year 1817 built him a log dwelling, and started a blacksmith shop. His purchase comprised what is now known as the Herl property. Mr. Burlingson was a resident of Bellevue for many years, but finally left for California.

In the year 1819 Mr. John C. Kinney completed a log house near the present site of the Bellevue bank building.

This year, 1819, marks the date of the arrival of two very important newcomers, men who were identified with the history of the village, and to whom, more than any other two men, was it indebted for its prosperity. These men were Thomas G. Amsden and Frederick A. Chapman. The Chapmans came first to Ohio in 1814, soon followed by Mr. Amsden, and, establishing their headquarters at the mouth of the Huron River, carried on a very successful traffic with the Indians, exchanging with them goods and articles of which the red men stood in need, for pelts and furs. Besides trading with the Indians, they were engaged in hunting and trapping. They were daring and intrepid, full of push and energy, with excellent business abilities, and though they were young men, they accumulated consider- able means for those days. Mr. Chapman's father and brother followed him to Ohio in a year or two after his own arrival and settled at or near the present town of Huron, in Erie county; In 1819 Mr. Amsden and Mr. Chapman came to this locality and began the purchase of property at this point, and did all in their power to attract settlers hither.

However, they continued their traffic with the Indians and French, and for two years Mr. Amsden made his headquarters at Carrion River, now Port Clinton. In 1821 he established himself at Detroit, and during the latter part of 1822 he car-

ried on a mercantile business at Green Bay for Daniel Whitney. In 1823 he returned to this locality. He brought from Boston a stock of goods, and, in partnership with Mr. Chapman, opened the first store at this point in November, 1823. This was Bellevue's pioneer store, and the business was carried on in the building erected by Mr. Burlingson, which stood on ground now occupied by the town hall. They opened a store at the same time at Castalia, Mr. Chapman taking charge of the business at that point, and Mr. Amsden of the business at this point. It was at this time that the village received its name of "Amsden's Corners."

In the meantime Charles F. Drake had settled here, and in the year 1822 purchased of the Government the east one-half of the southeast quarter of section twenty-five of what now is York township, embracing the greater part of the present village on the Sandusky county side, and in 1823 Captain Zadoc Strong entered for Dr. James Strong the eight acres next west. Mr. Nathaniel Chapman was among the first citizens of the place. Like his brother, he had traded with the Indians, and when he arrived here for the purpose of making this his home, he had some means.

He purchased a large tract of land, a part of it lying within the present limits of the village. He was a man of strong, native ability, and was always recognized as one of the leading men of the town. He possessed the ability to accumulate property, and died worth a good many thousands of dollars. He dealt largely in real estate, and in the purchase and sale of sheep, horses, and cattle. He and Mr. Bourdette Wood together purchased large tracts of land in the West. He was universally esteemed for his sound business integrity, and for his liberality in the support of benevolent enterprises. He do-

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

nated the lands upon which the old Baptist church stands, and, in many ways, proved himself a staunch friend of all institutions whose object is the enlightenment and elevation of man.

His daughter Angeline, in 1846, married the Rev. James M. Morrow, a prominent minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was a chaplain in the late war for about two years, and was connected with the Ninety-ninth Ohio infantry. While in the service he came home several times on various benevolent errands for the soldiers of his regiment-the last time, in December, 1863. Returning January 4, he was fatally injured in a railroad collision near Dayton, Ohio, to which place he was taken, and died there February 12, 1864. His widow resides in Bellevue.

THE GROWTH OF BELLEVUE.

From 1825 to 1840 the growth of the village was slow, and it was not until about the time of the building of the Mad River railroad to this place, in 1839, that the advancement of the town received any considerable impetus. This was an event of no little importance to the prospects of the place, and in 1835, in view of the ap- proaching completion of the road, the land of the village on the Huron county side was purchased of Gurdon Williams by F. A. Chapman, T. G. Amsden, L. G. Harkness, and others, who lent their best efforts to the advancement of the place. The decade from 1830 to 1840 witnessed a number of important arrivals in Bellevue-men who became permanently identified with the town, and to whom its rapid prosperity was in no small measure due. Dr. L. G. Harkness, who had been a practicing physician in the western part of York township, came in 1833. Abram Leiter came the same year. J. B. Higbee and Benjamin and David Moore came in 1835. William Byrnes came in 1835.

H. H. Brown was at this time the hotel keeper, and was very active in his efforts to assist the growth of the place. In 1835 the population of the village could not have exceeded a hundred people, while in 1840, a year after the completion of the Mad River railroad, it numbered not less than five hundred, and at the date of its incorporation, 1831, about eight hundred.

Cuyler Green came here from New York State at the age of twenty-two, where he was born March 10, 1811. Upon his arrival he was engaged as salesman for Chapman & Harkness, and afterwards superintended for Chapman & Amsden the old stone tavern, since called the Exchange hotel. He built the old stone blacksmith shop that for so many years stood where the Bellevue bank, building now is. In later years he became the landlord of the Exchange hotel, and then of the Bellevue House, and then purchased the farm on the pike, two miles east of town, now known as the Richards farm.

In 1852, the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland railroad was located through Bellevue, and in the following year completed, and the cars came whistling through here from the four points of the compass-north, south, east and west. New impetus to the life of the village was given by this event, and the town rapidly increased in population. The country had also been rapidly settled, and Bellevue, situated in the midst of a fine wheat growing country, came to be an important market for the shipment of grain. The Higbee flouring mill was erected in 1850, and other manu- facturing enterprises were soon established. The Mad River road was lost to the place in 1855, but the detriment to business on this account was not serious. The town continued to enlarge and populate, while the surrounding country in every direction became thickly settled with an industrious farming population.

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY

INCORPORATION.

The town was incorporated by act of Legislature January 25, 1851, its charter limits embracing an area of about one mile from east to west, by about one-half mile from north to south, the centre of the area being the central point of intersection of Main street with the county line. In the month of February, 1851, the following were chosen the village officers: Abraham Leiter, mayor; S. L. Culver, recorder; Thomas G. Amsden, Eliphalet Follett, Benjamin F. McKim, David Armstrong and Joseph M. Lawrence, trustees. The corporate limits were enlarged in 1869, so as to be about one mile and a half from east to west and from north to south.

DISTINCT CLASSES OF POPULATION.

The village has a population of about twenty-five hundred inhabitants. This population embraces not less than four distinct classes of people, each of which is represented by about the same number of individuals. First there are those of Ameri- can birth, whose parents came to this region at an early day, from New England or New York State, and who were the real pioneers. Representative families of this class are the Chapmans, the Woodwards, the Harknesses, the Woods (the Bourdette branch), the Sheffields, the Greenes, the Bakers, etc. Second, there are the Pennsylvania people; many of whom came, at an early day a thrifty, sober, industrious class. They are represented by the Moores, the Hilbishes, the Sherchs, the Leiters, the Boyers, the Kerns, etc. Third, came the English, England born, of whom may be mentioned the Greenslades, the Wills, the Heals, the Fords, the Maynes, the Joints, the Radfords, etc .; and the Germans, who perhaps outnumber any other one class. Of these may be mentioned the Egles, Ruffings, the Biebrichers, the Liebers, the

Webers, the Ailers, the Setzlers, etc. The Yankees were the first to arrive, then the Pennsylvania Dutch people, then the Ger- mans, and lastly the English.

CHURCHES.

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

This church was first organized on September 20, 1836, by a committee from the Presbytery of Huron, and was started as a Presbyterian church on what was known as the accommodation plan, that is, a church under the care of a Presbytery, but which received and dismissed its members, and transacted other business, not by a vote of the elders, but by a vote of the whole church.

The number of male members at the organization was nine; five of these brought letters from the church at Lyme, Ohio; three from churches in the State of New York, and one from Norwalk.

Among many important resolutions adopted on the day of the organization, was one declaring that the manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors was an immorality which, if practiced by any member of this church, made him liable to discipline the same as if guilty of any other immorality.

The church continued under care of the Presbytery ten years, and then, so far as we are able to learn from the records, with much unanimity, decided to separate itself from its Presbyterial connection, and become a regular Congregational church. This action was taken March 7, 1846.

The first pastor called by the church after the reorganization was Rev. A. D. Barber, who was installed by a council October 19, 1853. Mr. Barber's salary was four hundred dollars, and parsonage, which shows that the society had a parsonage at that time. This pastorate continued five years. In the following year after Mr. Barber's departure, the church

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called the Rev. James W. Cowles, and of- fered him a salary of seven hundred dollars. Mr. Cowles served the church about three years, and was succeeded on October 30, 1863, by Rev. John Safford.

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History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 100

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