History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 13

Author: Everett, Homer, 1813-1887
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : H.Z. Williams
Number of Pages: 1040

USA > Ohio > Sandusky County > History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers > Part 13

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

work. But in giving a history of our land titles in Sandusky county, which shall be satisfactory to the conscience of the present enlightened occupants of the land, it seems proper here to state the fol- lowing further facts in the chain of title. About seventeen years after the treaty of Greenville above mentioned, the war commonly called the War of 1812, between the United States and Great Britain, was declared.

In this struggle for "free trade and sailors' rights," as Henry Clay denom- inated it in his great speech, the British hired and enlisted all the Indian tribes of the Northwest they could induce to join them. Under the lead of Tecumseh and the Prophet, his brother, a powerful force of Indians joined the British in that war, and made it, on the frontier settlements, most bloody and cruel. At the battle of Fort Stephenson, August 2, 1813, there were, according to history, five hundred British and eight hundred Indians. The Indians formed a large part of the forces encountered at Fort Meigs, at Tippecanoe, and at the battle of the Thames, in Can- ada, where Tecumseh fell and General Har- rison obtained a decisive victory, October 5, 1813. These two victories, with Perry's victory on Lake Erie, September 10, 1813, virtually settled the War of 1812, which was closed by General Jackson's victory at New Orleans, January 8, 1815, although virtually settled before the last named bat- tle. After the close of the War of 1812, which brought a cessation of Indian hos- tilities, the white settlers began to push for new homes in the West, and it was diffi- cult to keep the peace between the white pioneers and the Indians, as the former often encroached upon the lands of the latter. The necessity for extinguishing the title of the Indians to Western lands became daily more urgent and apparent to the United States Government.

To accomplish this a commission was appointed on behalf of the United States, consisting of Lewis Cass and Duncan McArthur, who met the chiefs and sachems of the tribes occupying the Northwestern Territory, at Maumee, and, after due de- liberation, a treaty was there signed on the 29th day of September, 1817. By the agreement there made the United States purchased from the Indians all Northwest- ern Ohio, except a few parcels reserved by some of the tribes. Among these reserva- tions was one of the Seneca tribe, of forty thousand acres, located east of the San- dusky River, and on the south part of Sandusky and north part of Seneca coun- ties, as since surveyed and named.

The Senecas sold this reservation and moved West about the year 1832. This reservation was soon after surveyed and sold by the United States, and is now a wealthy portion of the counties in which the lands were situated.

The other lands were surveyed and put in market about 1820, and all have since been sold to individuals, who directly or indirectly derive their titles from the United States, with the exception of two parcels.

THE WHITTAKER AND THE WILLIAMS RES- ERVATIONS.

These two reservations were located nearly three miles north of Fremont, the Whittaker on the west and the Williams on the east side of and both bounded by the Sandusky River. The persons who held these reserves in fee simple were not to sell the land unless consent of the Presi- dent of the United States should be first obtained.

The Whittaker Reserve, originally con- taining twelve hundred and eighty acres, long since passed to purchasers, and is now owned by several persons in distinct and separate parcels.

The Williams Reserve, of one hundred

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

and sixty acres, is still occupied by de- scendants of the original owner.

There is an interesting narrative con- nected with the last two reservations, which will be found in a sketch of the Whittaker family in another part of this history.

Thus we have traced the general title to the lands in Sandusky county from the aborigines to the United States, and from the United States the present owners have derived their title, excepting the Williams Reserve, and Maumee and Western Re- serve Road, and the lands given for its construction, which latter will form the subject of another chapter.

SURVEYS.

The first surveying in this then wilder- ness was done by William Ewing, Deputy Surveyor, in 1807, who surveyed the reser- vation, or rather grant, by the Indians at Greenville to the United States. The two' miles square was then by him divided into sections, as other lands were surveyed, but afterwards, in 1816, the reservation was divided into tracts, running from the river each way to the line of the two miles square. This method of sub-division did not, however, include the whole square. The northeast part was then surveyed into in-lots and out-lots for city purposes, and as such put on sale by the United States. This survey was called the town of Croghansville, (pronounced Crawnsville,) and now forms a part of the city of Fre- mont.

THE OTHER GOVERNMENT LANDS

in the county were all surveyed in 1820, as appears by the recorded surveys and plats, as follows:

The lands composing the townships of Ballville, Sandusky, Rice, Riley, and Green Creek by Sylvanus Bourne ; York and Townsend townships by P. F. Kel- logg ; Woodville by Charles Roberts;

Washington and Jackson by James Worth- ington, and Madison and Scott townships by J. Glasgow.

The reservation of the Seneca Indians -forty thousand acres-was surveyed into sections by C. W. Christmas, in 1832. All these surveyors were employed by the United States, and are official surveys. The lands, excepting villages and the two miles square at the lower rapids of the Sandusky River, were surveyed by ranges ; townships of six miles square and sections of one mile square divided into quarters. Trees were used to designate the corners of these surveys, and the kind of timber, size of tree, and the distance and course of them from the corner, accurately measured and recorded with the plat. Perhaps no better plan for the convenient description of land has ever been devised. Each township contained thirty-six sec- tions, and each section contained six hun- dred and forty acres, which can readily be sub divided into any smaller quantities. Sections on lakes and rivers were some- times not complete ; such are denominated fractional sections.

SCHOOL LANDS.

Let the fact be ever remembered with gratitude, that the wise men of the Repub- lic foresaw that our form of government rested on the intelligence of the people. The desire to advance the intelligence of the common people, and thereby better fit them for the maintenance of liberty by perpetuation of a republican form of gov- ernment, induced our statesmen of an early day to promote the education of the peo- ple. To this end, in surveying this part of the State they set apart every sixteenth section of land for the support of common schools. These school lands were en- trusted to the State for the purpose of ed- ucation. The State in an early day pro- vided by law for the leasing of these lands

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

at an interest of six per cent. on the ap- praisment value, the leases running ninety- nine years, renewable forever, with a provision for a re-appraisment every thirty- three years. The sub-division and leasing of these school lands (section sixteen in each surveyed township of thirty-six sec- tions) was given by the State to the county commissioners of counties respectively in which the lands were situated. It is now a matter of interest, and will be still more interesting in the future, to place in this history a brief notice of the renting and final disposition of these school lands. Such a record will serve to show the in- crease in the value of lands in the county, and thus furnish evidence of the general advancement in wealth since the early settlements.

EARLY LEASING OF SCHOOL LANDS, PRICES, ETC.

In the book containing a record of the leasing of school lands in the county, on the first page, appears the following entry :

SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE, COLUMBUS, OHIO, March 1, 1821. 5

I certify that Jaques Hulburd, esq., was, on the 3d day of February last, duly appointed by a reso- lution of the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, Auditor of the county of Sandusky, to continue in office according to law.

JEREMIAH MCLANE, Secretary of State.

Under this authority Auditor Hulburd proceeded in the performance of his du- ties.

On the next leaf of the same book appears the record of a lease of great length, made and concluded on the 14th day of April, 1821, between Jaques Hul- burd, Auditor of Sandusky county, Ohio, and his successors in office, of the first part, and Joel Chaffin, of the same place, of the second part, etc.

This lease demised and let to the said Chaffin fifty-three acres of section sixteen in township No. I, north of range fif-

teen east, for the term of ninety-nine years- renewable forever, and subject to be re- appraised every thirty-three years there, after, and a stipulation to pay as rent six per cent. annually on the amount of such re-appraisement. The said Chaffin agreed to pay as rent for the land yearly and every year to the treasurer of the county and his successors in office "the sum of four dollars." This land, if there is no mistake in the description, was lo- cated about twenty miles south of Fre- mont, and is now in Seneca county, which was organized April 1, 1824.

A tract of one hundred and sixty acres, being the southeast quarter of section sixteen in township four, range seventeen, now York township, was in like manner leased by Jaques Hulburd as Auditor, to Jacob Dagget, for the yearly rent of seven dollars and twenty cents for the whole tract. This lease bears date July 14, 1821, and the land is in one of the richest townships in Sandusky county, and is worth now-A. D. 1881-not less than one hundred dollars per acre, and each acre of the one hundred and sixty would rent for almost as much as the whole one hundred and sixty acres rented for then.

On the 21st day of July, 1821, a like lease was made by Auditor Hulburd to Morris A. Newman, for a part of section sixteen, in Riley township, being a parcel of prairie land and a wood-lot of twenty acres, together containing one hundred and ten acres, for the annual rent of six dollars and eighteen and three-fourth cents for the whole tract.

AN OUT-LOT IN CROGHANSVILLE LEASED.

When the reservation of two miles square at the lower rapids of the Sandusky River was last surveyed by authority of the United States, as mentioned in a for- mer chapter, the town of Croghansville was laid out and surveyed into in-lots and

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

out-lots. Certain of these lots were set apart as school lands. Among them were a number of in-lots and out-lots. Out-lot No. II, containing four acres, was one of them. On the 2 1st day of July, 1821, Au- ditor Hulburd leased this out-lot, eleven, to Josiah Rumery, by a lease similar to those above mentioned, for ninety-nine years, for the yearly rent of one dollar and ninety-two cents.

This lot eleven, by the re-numbering of lots in Fremont, is now designated as lot No. 52 on the map of the city, and con- stitutes a part of the estate of the late James Park, and is known as the Park tannery property; and the lot, exclusive of improvements, is worth at least two thou- sand dollars, the simple interest on which sum would under the lease make one hundred and twenty dollars rental value of the lot at this time, against one dollar and ninety two cents in 1821, and for thirty- three years thereafter.

We give the above facts about the leas- ing of the school lands in the county, to set before our readers the rental value of lands in 1821.

Although Congress had set apart and reserved these lands for the purpose of sup- porting common schools, the General Gov- ernment conferred the trust of managing and disposing of them on the State.

LEGISLATION ABOUT SCHOOL LANDS AND THE SALES OF THEM.

After the law providing for leasing the school lands was passed, various other laws were enacted, and, amongst other things, it was provided that when the lands were appraised those not leased might be sold by the auditors of the respective counties at not less than the appraised value, and that the lessees had the option to either pay six per cent. on the valuation, or pay the appraised value in thirteen an- nual instalments with annual interest, and receive an absolute title from the State on

final payment on or before the expiration of the thirteen years.

As the different townships came to be inhabited by people who appreciated the benefits of education, they desired the aid of the fund to be derived from these lands to support their respective schools. The law, be it remembered, provided that the fund arising from the sale of sections six- teen should be applicable only to the sup- port of schools in that particular surveyed township of thirty-six sections, or the fractional township in which it chanced to be located.

SALES OF SCHOOL LAND - PRICES AND DATES OF SALES.

We do not propose to give a full and detailed account of all the sales of school lands in the county, but sufficient speci- mens to enable the reader to judge fairly of the whole, may prove interesting and perhaps valuable information.

SALE OF BALLVILLE, SECTION SIXTEEN.

The first sale of section sixteen was made in 1831, and disposed in fee simple of part of section sixteen in surveyed town- ship No. 4, range 15, in what is now Ballville township.

Lot fifty of that section, containing one hundred and seven acres, was sold to Isaac Prior, June 6, 1831, for one hundred and seven dollars.

Lot fifty-two, containing one hundred and one acres, to Joel Strawn, for one hundred and twenty-six dollars, September 4, 1833.

Lot fifty-one, containing one hundred and thirty acres, to R. Dickinson and Sardis Birchard, for one hundred and sixty-three dollars, October 3, 1833.

SANDUSKY.

Section sixteen, township five, range fifteen, Sandusky township, was sold in 1846 for five dollars per acre, excepting

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

one lot of eighty acres which sold for six dollars.

TOWNSEND.

The school land, section sixteen, town- ship four, range seventeen, Townsend township, was sold, chiefly in 1847, for five dollars per acre. One lot was sold to Nelson Taylor in January, 1849. The lot contained eighty acres, and was sold for three dollars and fifty cents per acre.

MADISON.

Section sixteen, township five, range thirteen, Madison township, was sold, chiefly in 1847, for prices ranging from five dollars and thirty-seven cents to eight dollars and twenty-five cents per acre.

SCOTT.

The section sixteen in township four, range thirteen, Scott township, was sold in 1854 for prices per lot ranging from five dollars and fifty cents to seven dollars and forty-five cents per acre.

RILEY.

The section sixteen in township five, range sixteen, was sold in May, 1862, at prices per lot ranging from three to twelve dollars per acre. The average price would be near ten dollars. This section had all been under the ninety-nine year leases from 1821, before it was sold to the lessees for the appraised value.

GREEN CREEK.

Section sixteen, township four, range sixteen was sold in 1850 at prices ranging from ten dollars and fifty cents to five dollars per acre-averaging about eight dollars for the section.

YORK.

Section sixteen, township four, range seventeen, was sold in June, 1849, for an average of eight dollars per acre, and had been in part previously under the ninety- nine years lease.

WOODVILLE.

Section sixteen, township six, range thirteen, was sold in 1856 by lots, the prices ranging from five dollars to seven dollars and fifty cents per acre.

JACKSON.

Section sixteen in township four, range fourteen, Jackson township, was sold in September, 1837, for an average price of two dollars and sixty cents per acre.

THE SALE OF SCHOOL LOTS IN CROGHANS- VILLE

took place in 1850, and produced a fund amounting to eleven hundred and twenty- six dollars and seventy-five cents.

HOW PROCEEDS OF SALES ARE DISPOSED OF.

The proceeds of all these sales are paid into the State Treasury and constitute an irreducible debt or fund on which the State pays six per cent. interest annually to the county; the interest is then credited to the county school fund, and by the county auditor the amount arising from each section sixteen sold is credited to the township school fund of each surveyed township, and then distributed to the sub- school districts according to the respective enumerations of the children entitled to the privileges of the common schools re- siding therein.

The total amount of the proceeds aris- ing from the sale of school lands, now in the State Treasury to the credit of San- dusky county, is thirty-three thousand two hundred and fifteen dollars and fifty cents, producing annually one thousand nine hundred and ninety-two dollars and eighty-seven cents to be applied to the sup- port of schools and distributed as above mentioned.

There is yet to be paid over to the State the further sum of three hundred and seventy-five dollars and twenty-two cents, being amounts due from purchasers

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

who are delinquent in payment for their lands. When this delinquency shall be paid over to the State, as doubtless it soon will be, the total amount on which the county can draw interest will be thircy- three thousand five hundred and eighty- nine dollars and twenty-two cents. The annual interest then to be drawn from the State for the support of schools, as long as the State may exist, will be two thou- sand and fifteen dollars and thirty-eight cents. This fund, under the law, is ap- plied to the payment of teachers only, and as the law stands cannot be applied to any other purpose. The cost of build- ing school-houses and all expenses of public or common schools, excepting wages of teachers, are paid out of money raised by taxation on the localities re- spectively. A further mention of this subject will fall properly under the chapter on schools, and may be mentioned there.

If these school lands had remained un- disposed of until the present time, and were sold at present prices they would have brought not less than an average price of twenty dollars per acre, or an ag- gregate of seventy thousand four hun- dred dollars, yielding annually, at six per cent., the sum of four thousand two hun- dred and four dollars.

Whether the early selling of these lands was wise or unwise is a question useless to discuss at this time, but if any-

one should feel inclined to charge impru- dence on the pioneers and early settlers in the disposition of the land, there are some considerations in mitigation of any blame to be charged, if indeed there be not a complete justification.

The early settlers were poor; they de- sired to have their children educated, and needed the help which the interest on these sales afforded, in the support of schools. They were here making the roads, clearing away the forests, and un- dergoing many hardships not experienced by the present inhabitants. These early inhabitants might be compared to a young man in possession of a little sum of money, which, if invested at good inter- est, would make him an ample fortune in old age, but he has no other means, and is hungry; bread he must have even if it costs all he has, and though he give all and save himself, his money is well spent, even if his anticipation as to a future for- tune must be all dissipated. These pio- neers did well to begin as they did, to start the cause of education at an early day, though they sacrificed prospective pecuniary gain in doing so. Another fact should be considered, which is, that with the obligation on the part of the State to pay annual interest at six per cent., there is a time coming when, if summed up, the payments will overtake and far surpass any value the land can ever attain.

CHAPTER VIII. COUNTY ORGANIZATION.

The Name-The County Organized-First Court-House-How Built.

THE NAME.

S YANDUSKY is derived from the lan- guage of the Wyandot tribe of In- dians, who for a long time possessed the country along the Sandusky River to its source, and along Tymochtee Creek, one of its principal tributaries. The Wyandot pronunciation of the word was Sa-un-dus- tee; as spoken by the English interpreters, it was compressed and pronounced San- dusky, and thus the word was changed from a word of four syllables to one of three.

The signification of the word has been a matter of some question and dispute. It is, according to the best authority : "water within water pools." In the discus- sions about the name, it seems to have been claimed that it was derived from "Sowdousky," the name of an early In- dian trader among the Wyandots. But the correctness of this claim is put in great doubt, if not entirely overcome, by the explanation of William Walker, the head chief of the Wyandots, and a man of learning and great intelli- gence, and fully competent to give a cor- rect definition of the word in both lan- guages. In 1835 Mr. Walker was at Co- lumbus, Ohio, and in that year had a con- versation with Mr. John H. James on the precise question. In this conversation Mr. James asked Mr. Walker the meaning of the word Sandusky. Mr. Walker re-

plied that it meant "at the cold water, and should be sounded Sandoos-tee; that it carried with it the force of a preposi- tion." The Upper Coldwater (Upper Sandusky) and Lower Coldwater (Lower Sandusky) then were descriptive Indian names, given long before the presence of the trader Sowdousky.

The word, then, taking these statements together, seems to mean a river or water- course, where cold water stands in pools. The name having this peculiar significa- tion, in early times was used to designate the whole country along the Sandusky River and Bay. Hence, in order to give a more specific designation to different lo- calities along the river and bay, we had in the earlier days of the white settlements of the region, Sandusky, now Sandusky City on the bay; Lower Sandusky at the lower rapids of the Sandusky River, now Fremont; Upper Sandusky, Little San- dusky and Big Sandusky, located nearer the sources of the river, and on different branches of it. The county derives its name from the Sandusky River, which runs through it nearly from north to south, but inclining to the east as it approaches the Sandusky Bay, into which it empties its waters.

ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.

The county was for a number of years within the boundaries of Cuyahoga county,

HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

which for some time extended over nearly all the north part of the State, and Cleve- land was the seat of justice. Afterwards Huron county was organized, and Nor- walk was for a time the seat of justice for all the territory west of it. The sale of the lands in the reservation of two miles square at the lower rapids of the Sandusky River, which took place in 1817, induced emigrants to settle at the place, and soon sufficient settlements were made to require a county organization. Accordingly, the county was formed by an act of the Gen- eral Assembly, dated April 1, 1820, and then included in its boundaries not only the present county of Sandusky, but also the territory which now forms the counties of Seneca and Ottawa.

At this time (1820) a number of men associated for the purpose, called the Kentucky Company, had purchased that portion of the Reserve, or nearly all of it, west of the river, and had laid out a large part into city lots. The plat denominates this survey as "the town of Sandusky." The United States had before laid out the land upon the hill east of the river into city lots, and called it Croghansville, in honor of Colonel George Croghan, the hero of Fort Stephenson.

In the county auditor's office of this county is an old, rather small record book, faded and worn but quaint and interest- ing in appearance as well as in the matter it contains. In a few years it may be lost amongst the rubbish of the office, or con- sumed by fire, and all it contains pass be- yond the historian's reach, and all the facts recorded in it be forgotten. This old record is interesting, because it con- tains the names of men who were pioneers indeed, and who were active in organiz- ing the county; it also gives some idea of the poverty of the early settlers, and their method of transacting public business, and at the same time is so pertinent to the

subject of this chapter that we incorporate in this collection the following extracts from it:

The title of the book is in large, coarse hand-writing, entirely covering the first page, and reads as follows:

COMMISSIONERS' BOOK.

The following documents of the Commissioners Record are transcribed from the organization of San- dusky county up to January the 5th, in the year 1822, by Josiah Rumery, auditor of Sandusky county by order of the commissioners.

Test by JOSIAH RUMERY, Auditor.

Such is the title of this record, from the first two pages of which we take the fol- lowing entries :

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History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 13

Author: Everett, Homer, 1813-1887 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : H.Z. Williams Number of Pages: 1040

Author: Everett, Homer, 1813-1887
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : H.Z. Williams
Number of Pages: 1040