History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 85

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DAVID DEAL.

The only survivor of the War of 1812, who continues to reside in Fremont is David Deal. He was born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in October, 1793. In his younger years he took considerable interest in hunting and sporting. In 1813 he was drafted and placed in Colonel Stephenson's regiment, under General Harrison's command. He was with the army at Fort Meigs and Upper Sandusky, and was at the former place during the siege. He-was discharged at Fort Seneca shortly after the unsuccessful attack on Fort Meigs. He married, in 1814, Magdaline Overmyer, daughter of Peter Overmyer. In 1829 they came to this county and settled in Jackson township. Mr. Deal is now feeble, but retains correct impressions of military operations in the Northwest during the period of the second war with England.

TOWNSHIPS OF SANDUSKY COUNTY,

SANDUSKY.

T HIS township originally included all that part of the county west of the Sandusky River, together with parts of Seneca and Ottawa counties. Its organization as a township of Huron county in 1815 has already been given in connection with the history of Fremont, which, until recently, was included within its limits. The territory was reduced to its present boundaries in 1878, when Fremont town-ship was established.

The sand ridges along the Sandusky River, and extending through the central part of the township, were the chosen locations of the first settlers, although the soil on these sandbars is inferior to the vegetable mould on Muskellunge or on Little Mud Creek. During the early period of settlement, the western part being a continuous swamp, the first pioneers had no choice in the matter of location. Besides, numerous small Indian clearings along the river prepared the way for white occupation. The narrative of the two first white families-the Whittaker and Williams families-is fully given in connec- tion with the Indian history and discussion of land titles.

Along Muskellunge a road was opened out and clearings commenced about 1827, and the first improvement on Little Mud Creek, so far as can be learned, was made about 1829.

On the dry lands along the east side of the Sandusky is an extensive chain of

earthworks. One of the mounds on the river bank was excavated some years ago and a skeleton found between plates of mica. These sepulchres of the distinguished dead of a civilized and probably aesthetic race, which has perished, not only from the earth, but from history, furnish interesting data for speculation. The chain of enclosures has almost been obliterated by the gradual change of the river channel. Here we have an illustration of the effect of progressive civilization. The Mound Builders, as is shown by the location of these earth-works, and the Indians who followed them, chose the dry sandbars for places of residence. The early white settlers followed the ex-ample of the races which had vacated. But times have changed; axes, plows, and tiles have converted the marshy forest, worthless years ago, into fields far more productive than the sand acres along the river ridges.

Sandusky township is bounded on the north by Rice, on the east by Riley, on the south by Ballville and Fremont, and on the west by Washington.

The principal streams on the west side of the river are Muskellunge and Little Mud Creek, and on the east side, Bark Creek, none of which afford available water-power for. mills. This, however, was no great inconvenience, as the mills on the Sandusky River at Ballville and. Fremont were easily reached. The celebrated

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"Black Swamp" region begins at Muskellunge and takes in that part of the town-ship lying west of this stream.

SETTLEMENT.

The settlement of Sandusky township was not as rapid as its location would lead us to expect. Ballville was improved before Sandusky, and the east part of the county was filling up rapidly before anything more than scattering settlements were made in this township. Why this was the case is an easy problem when the miasmatic, sickly state of the country west of the river is taken into account. Muskellunge was dammed up by fallen timber, and in consequence a wide tract of country was wet and uninviting. No roads were opened up in the western part. On the whole there was little encouragement to settle.

Except the Whittaker and Williams families, Reuben Patterson was the first settler of Sandusky township who remained to make a permanent improvement and home. There were more squatters down along the river than perhaps any other place in the county, but most of them, being unable to enter land, deserted their squatter openings and pushed on farther west. Mr. Patterson's family consisted of a wife and six children-Alvord, Eveline, Danforth, Julius, Harriet, and Caroline. The family left New York in a wagon in the fall of 1816, and came to Huron, then the stopping-place of so many Western emigrants. At the opening of the following spring they removed to the peninsula, but sickness so afflicted them that the new home with its improvements was deserted. Mr. Patterson made a trip to the Maumee in search of a home and there made the acquaintance of Captain Rumery, who persuaded him to come to Lower Sandusky. When the family arrived from the peninsula no room in which to put their goods could be found, except

a log house in the fort, which had been used during the war by the officers. Esquire Morrison occupied one end and Mr. Baker the other; the Patterson family were crowded into the middle room, the floor of which was made of clay. A bedstead was placed in a corner, and on this, during the day, all the clothing was piled, and at night beds were made on the ground. One of the gates thrown down before the fireplace furnished one small piece of floor, which contributed to the comfort of this large family in a small room in wet weather. Mr. Patterson and his sons set to work and cleared a piece of land on the west side of the river, near the forks of the road, and in the spring of 1819 the family moved into an unfinished cabin on this place. The cracks were filled afterwards with mortar made of clay and straw, and a chimney made of logs heavily interlaid with clay mortar was erected on the outside of the house. The location of the cabin was on the Whittaker Reserve, a part of which Mr. Patterson rented. When the Government sale of lands was advertised at Delaware, Mrs. Patterson took her little bag of silver coin, mounted her horse, and in company with Lysander C. Ball and James Whittaker, went to Delaware. She purchased what was for years known as the Patterson farm, on the east side of the river. Here Mr. Patterson lived until his death in 1841, having survived his wife one year. The living representatives of the family are: Eveline, widow of L. C. Ball; Julius, and Harriet, widow of James Moore.

L. C. Ball was a settler in Sandusky township in 1823. He left his home in New York in 1818, with a view to locating in the West, Detroit being his objective point. Being without means, he employed the natural method of travelling. High water intercepted his progress at Lower Sandusky, where he found em-

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ployment at general work. He soon engaged at the then profitable trade of blacksmithing in James Kirk's shop, and afterwards built a shop of his own. In 1823 Mr. Ball married Eveline Patterson, and settled on a farm just below the corporation, where he lived, raised a family, and died. Mrs. Ball remains on the home- stead. The children are: Eveline, Alvita, Thaddeus, Oscar, Lysander C., and Sarah (Emerson).

George Shannon, a son-in-law of James Whittaker, is mentioned in connection with Indian events of the War of 1812, in the general history, but that event gives us an interest in the personal history of the family. Mr. Shannon was a native of Schenectady, Schoharie county, New York, and was born in 1787. He came to Lower Sandusky in 1809, and married Mary, a daughter of James and Elizabeth Whittaker, by whom he had eight children, three of whom are living-James, residing in Oregon; John, in this township; and William, in Wood county. Mr. Shannon lived in a cabin on the Whittaker Reserve when James, the oldest son, was born. In 1812, when the Indian troubles began, he sought safety for his family on the Scioto, having refused to accompany the Whittakers in Fort Stephenson, believing that that post would eventually be captured. His return to harvest the corn crop, and adventure with the savages while thus engaged, is narrated elsewhere. When the war had closed, Mr. Shannon returned from the Scioto, and settled on a piece of land given him by Mrs. Whitta- ker. He built a cabin near the river, in which he moved the entire family, now consisting of several children. Posterity must forgive us for stating that, on account of an old prejudice, Mr. Shannon frequently incurred the wrath of his mother-in-law, and the relation between the two families was not always lovely. The Indians

usually camped on the river bank near the Shannon cabin. Mrs. Shannon's "life in the woods" had familiarized her with their language and habits, and enabled her to detect signs of danger. One day, while her husband was at work, an Indian yell startled the family. She called to Mr. Shannon, who did not hear at first, and, before she could repeat the warning, an angry savage had almost approached the house. There was no time for evading. Shannon was now facing the Indian, who drew forth a concealed tomahawk, and, with a double oath, said, in good English: "Now I going to kill you!" Shannon sprang forward, caught the handle of the drawn tomahawk in one hand and the strong arm of his savage antagonist in the other. A vigorous but brief struggle followed, in which the redskin was prostrated. Shannon was now master of the situation. He wrenched the hatchet from his antagonist's hand, raised the weapon, and was already directing a deadly blow, when the savage cried: "Friendship." By a quick movement, Shannon changed his fatal aim, and the tomahawk, just clearing his enemy's head, was buried in the ground. Again seizing the weapon, Shannon ordered the Indian into the house, and then gave him a chair. Shannon also sat down, laying the tomahawk on the table at his side. He then asked the Indian why he came to kill him.

"Is your name Joe Williams?" asked the conquered savage.

"No; my name is Shannon," was the reply.

"I was told," said the Indian, "Joe Williams lived here. I came to kill Joe Williams. He sold me a barrel of stinking pork."

The Indian took his tomahawk and left the cabin, a warm friend of Shannon.

John, the third son of George Shannon, was born in the Scioto Valley in 1813,

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and was brought to Sandusky, with his parents, after the close of the war. In 1840 he married Eveline Patterson, daughter of Alvord and Julia Patterson, who removed from New York to Ohio in 1833. The fruit of this union was nine children, four of whom are living. Mr. Shannon has always had a fondness for the woods, and had a reputation, in early times, as an expert and successful hunter. Even in his old age he mourns the loss of hunting grounds.

Casper Remsburg was a native of Mary- land, who came to the county in 1822, and settled on the Muskellunge, where he lived as a farmer until 1849, when he died in the sixty-third year of his age. He married Mary Bowlus, also of Maryland, who is still living, being now in her eighty-ninth year. She is the mother of ten children, nine of whom arrived at maturity. Four sons and two daughters are yet living. The names of the children in the order of their ages were: Matilda, deceased; Hezekiah, attorney at law, Fremont; William, a Protestant Methodist preacher, residing in Des Moines, Iowa; Mary Ann, the wife of James Rosen- barger, Sandusky township; Susan, married and residing in Rock Island county, Illinois; Rebecca, deceased, was the wife of Adam Crowell, of Sandusky township; Perry F., farmer, Bureau county, Illinois; John, died in Sandusky township, in 1849; Lewis E., farmer, Bureau county, Illinois. Mr. Remsburg was a member of the Protestant Methodist church, to which his widow still belongs.

The first settlement in that part of the township lying west of the Muskellunge -and north of the Perrysburg road, was made by three families from Pennsylvania, in 1817. They were the families of George Overmyer, Michael Overmyer, and Daniel Hensel.

Daniel Hensel was born in Northum

berland county, Pennsylvania, 1797, He married, in Northumberland county, Christina Reed, and in 1819 removed to Perry county, Ohio. In 1827 the fertile farms then being opened in this part of the State attracted his attention, and having made an entry he removed his family to the Black Swamp. It has been said that many of the pioneers have become wealthy as an incidental result of the developing force of progressive civilization. That is true of those who purchased extensive tracts and then depended upon the labor of self sacrificing neighbors to develop the country around their estates. But those whose memory it is our desire to perpetuate, those whose busy hands built homes and reduced the fertile soil to a state of cultivation, have been indeed poorly paid for leaving well organized and cultured communities and submitting to the conditions of life in the woods. Daniel Hensel actually cut his way to the one hundred and sixty acres of swampy forest he had purchased, and by the time of his death, in 1842, had cleared and brought under cultivation fifty acres. He also carried on an extensive carpentering

business. His family consisted of six children, all of whom are living. Adam resides in Sandusky township; Sarah, wife of N. Kessler, in Fremont; Eva, wife of J. Waitman, in Sandusky township; Daniel, in Sandusky township; Christina, wife of J. Binkly; and George, in Sandusky township. Adam, the oldest son, was born in Perry county, Ohio, in 1825. He married in 1847, Mary J. Benner, whose father Matthias Benner, removed to the county, from Union county, Ohio, in 1840. Their family consisted of six children-James D., Ellen (deceased), Sarah, Harriet (Stinewalt), Alice (Waters), and Emma, all residing in this township, except Sarah. James D., the oldest son, was born in 1849, and in 1873 married Villa M. Wolf,

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by whom he has two children-Nora O. and Mabel M .. Daniel, jr., second son and fourth child of Daniel Hensel, was born in 1835. He married, in 1862, Sarah Hetrich, daughter of George and Catharine Hettrich. His family consists of five children, four of whom are living, William W., Charles H., Hattie D., and Emma M.

George Reed was born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, in the year 18o6. In the year 1829 the family, consisting of the mother, three boys and four girls, started for the one hundred acres lying in the northwest part of this township, which George had entered previously. Three days were occupied in the trip from Fremont to the farm, a distance of seven miles. Their slow progress indicates the condition of the road, or rather the trail through the woods, for the State road at that time was no more. Mr. Reed in a memorandum says: "We came out as far as Moses Wilson's. There we staid all night. Next day we came down to where David Engler lived. Daniel Hensel was our nearest neighbor, and John Wagoner lived on Little Mud Creek. The country was then nothing but a wilderness, and the pike a mudhole. It was almost impossible to get along with the empty wagon part of the time." Mr. Reed adds .in the spirit of the good old days gone by: "And it seems people enjoyed themselves better then than now. They were not so selfish; had their log- rollings, and corn-huskings, and old- fashioned country dance, and all hands engaged in it."

A description of a corn-husking and quilting winding up with a dance, according to the fashion of the period, will be found in this volume.

Rev. Jacob Bowlus entered land, and at an early day made an improvement south of the pike on Muskellunge. His

connection with religious organizations at Fremont is fully noticed in that connection. His son, Jacob Bowlus, was for nearly sixty years a staid and honored citizen, and a staunch Methodist. He once stated that he never went further than Muskellunge after his father's settlement in Lower Sandusky.

Samuel Crowell, an early settler of this township and an early school-teacher, was born in Pennsylvania in 1793. In 1815 he married Mary Link, of Virginia, and about 1826 came to this county. He entered a farm on the Muskellunge, in this township, and was a school-teacher of prominence and more than ordinary severity. He was elected sheriff in 1829 and held the office two terms. He had five sons and three daughters. One of the sons is living-Alexander-in Peru, Indiana. Samuel A., who resides in this township, was born in Jefferson county, Virginia, and came to Ohio with his father. He was married three times and had a family of twelve children, viz: George W., Samuel, Mary C., Clarissa, Eugene B., Moses H., Sardis S., Reuben A., Martha L., William E., John W., and Sarah R. Mr. Crowell died October 10, 1881, aged sixty-three years. Eugene Crowell was born in 1851. He married, in 1873, Sarah Stine, daughter of William Stine, and has four children, Clara, William, Ella, and Ida. The old Crowell improvement was on Muskellunge.

Henry Bowlus settled in this township in 1828. He came from Maryland with a family of eight children, four of whom are living. He died in 1832; his wife survived him nine years.

Aaron Forgerson was one of the first settlers of Fremont, having emigrated from New York in 1816. The family consisted of eight children, six boys and two girls. Sidney, the seventh child, was one of the early settlers of this township.

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He married, in 18J3, Hannah White, whose father, Ebenezer White, came to the county in 1831.

Basil Coe, a native of Maryland, married Rachel Burgoon, and settled in this county in 1833. He died soon afterwards leaving a family of eight children, the oldest of whom, Jessie Coe, was born in Perry county, Ohio, in 1815. He married Mary Bazar, a daughter of Henry Bazar, a native of Pennsylvania, in 1832. Mr. Coe died in 1867, leaving ten chil- dren living: Rebecca L., Richard A., Martha J., Francis M., Sarah I., Charles J., Josephine A., James M., Ellen A., and William S. Mrs. Basil Coe died in 1881. Mrs. Jessie Coe is still living. Seven of her children survive. Richard A. Coe was born in 1844, and has always resided in the county. He was married, in 1870, to Harriet B. Shank, born in Cincinnati in 1841. Four children are living-William Edward, Carrie A., John F., and James W. Lloyd N. is dead.

George Michael was born in France in 1816. He came to America, and settled in New York in 1831. In 1834 he removed to Sandusky township, where he has lived ever since. The family consists of eight children, all of whom are living, viz: Caroline (Parker), Sandusky town-ship; Philip, Henry county; George, John H., and Christian, Wood county; Mary (Swartz), Elizabeth Thompson and Charles reside in this county. Mr. Michael followed coopering for forty years. He has also improved an excellent farm.

George Engler, a native of Germany, settled in this township in 1835, and lived here until his death in 1860. The family consisted of twelve children, all of whom are living. Henry, the sixth child, was born in Germany in 1831; he married Christina Will, a native of Germany, by whom he had a family of eight children, seven of whom are living, viz: Caroline,

Frank, John, Elizabeth, Ella, Herman and Edward.

John Kuns (spelled Koons by some representatives of the family), a native of Pennsylvania, came to this county in 1836, from Perry county, Ohio. He married Catharine Overmyer, by whom he had five children: Siloma and Catharine, deceased, and Samuel, John and Elizabeth, living. Mr. Kuns died October 25, 1845, aged fifty-two years. He had been an invalid for many years, and was so afflicted with rheumatism that he was helpless during the last fifteen years of his life. Mrs. Kuns died November 5, 1874, aged seventy-five years and six months. Samuel, the oldest son, is living on the old homestead, where his grandfather, John Overmyer, settled four years before John Kuns, sr., came to the place. Samuel Kuns was born in Perry county in 1823. He married Mary M. Swarm in 1845. They had five children: John, Riley township; Catharine (Shively), Sandusky township; Mary E. (Seibert), Samuel, Sandusky township, and Emma A. (Reed), Ottawa county. Mrs. Kuns died March 16, 1866, aged thirty-nine. Mr. Kuns was again married February 4, 1879, to Mrs. Rosanna Bruner, daughter of Christian Auxter, of Washington township. They have one child, Orphie R. John, brother to Samuel, was born in Perry county in 1827. He married in 1850, Hannah M. Sebring, and has four children living: Maria E., John E., Clara E., and Wilbur C. Mr. Kuns was in the grocery business in Fremont. for several years.

The Sebring family came from Butler county, Ohio, and settled in this county in 1836.

Charles Lay and his parents, John and Sarah Lay, came to Sandusky township about 1840. Charles Lay married in this county, Anna Unsbauch, a native of Perry county. Three of their children are living:

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

Alfred and Albanus in Sandusky township, and Rosanna (Fought), Washington township.

Jacob Hufford, a native of Frederick county, Maryland, was born in 1773. He married Catharine Creager, and emigrated first to Kentucky, and from there to Greene county, Ohio. In 1836 they came to this county and settled on the farm where she died in 1842 and he in 1851. Mr. Hufford was a blacksmith by trade, but after coming to this county gave his exclusive attention to farming and improving his land. James, the third child of Jacob Hufford, was born in Greene county, in 1812. He married, in 1838, Susan Arnold, who died in 1847, leaving three children, viz: George W., died of disease contracted in the army, at Memphis, Tennessee; Harriet A., wife of William Slates, lives in this township; and Joseph N., deceased. Mr. Hufford married, in 1849, for his second wife, Elizabeth Fisher, by whom one child was born, William T., a resident of this township. He was born in 1851, and married, in 1873, Sarah, daughter of William Rhidout, of Ballville township. They have two children, Eugene L. and James F. Mr. Hufford has been a teacher in the public schools.

Michael Wolfe crossed the mountains in 1837, for the first time, coming and going on foot. He had been married at the age of twenty-two to Margaret Engleman, and, in 1841, with his family, he came to Ohio and settled in this township, where he lived until his death, in 1879. He was one of the first settlers in the Muskellunge bottom, where he lived until 1865, when he removed to the pike. It is said of Mr. Wolfe that he never had an enemy. Of a family of twelve children seven are still living, viz: Levi, Sandusky township; Solomon, Seneca county; Josiah and A. J., Sandusky township; Ella J. (Hook), Tiffin; Anna C. (Baker), Fre-

mont; and Savilla (Hensel), Sandusky township. Levi, the oldest son, was born in Union county, Pennsylvania, in 1836. In 1857 he married Christina Lantz. Nine children are living-Robert A., Dilla C., Emma R., Ellen H., James H., Chester E., Michael J., Margaret E., and Addie C. A. J., the fourth child of Michael Wolfe, was born in 1842, and married, in 1865, Jemima Stultz. They have two children-William E. and Nannie A. Mr. Wolfe purchased the Alexander Paden farm, which was one of the first improved in the township.

Jacob Faller emigrated from Germany and afterwards settled in this township in 1846. He married, in 1850, Christina Wegstein, also a native of Germany. Her parents came to America in 1840. Four children blessed this union, viz: Sarah E., William, Emma, and George. Mr. Faller served in the Mexican war. He has engaged in the manufacture of chairs, and also in the grocery business, but for nine years he has been farming.

William Webster, son of Joseph and Sarah Webster, was born in Derbyshire, England, in 1820, and came to America and settled in Sandusky township in 1851. He lived in this township nine years, and then moved to Washington township, his present residence. He married, first, in 1847, Salina Wood, who died in 1858, having borne two children, George, and John Joseph, both deceased. He married again in 1859, Mary A. Newcomer, whose father, Jacob Newcomer, settled in Sandusky county in 1830. Mary J. and Joseph W. are the children by this marriage. Only Mary is living. Mr. Webster followed butchering in Fremont during his residence there.

Peter Gilbert was another of the indus- trious Germans who settled in this town- ship, and have contributed so much to its wealth. He was born in Germany in

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1804. He married Margaret E. Tickel, and emigrated to America in 1852. He died in 1859, on the farm where he settled. Mrs. Gilbert survived him three years. The family consisted of three boys and three girls: Henry, Louis, Adam, Julia, Catharine and Mary. Henry, the oldest child, was born in 1823, and came to this country with his father in 1852. The following year he married Catharine Graft, daughter of George Tickel, who came to America in 1844. Two of their four children are living-Louisa, the wife of William H. Greene, and Ellen H., wife of Lewis Conicom, both residents of Sandusky township. Mr. Gilbert is a mason by trade. He has served as township trustee, clerk, assessor, etc.

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History of Sandusky County Ohio with Illustrations 1882, Part 85

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