History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 86

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 86

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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 chil- dren, three of whom are living-James, residing in Oregon ; John, in this township; and William, in Wood county. Mr. Shan- non lived in a cabin on the Whittaker Re- serve 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, be- lieving 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 ac- count of an old prejudice, Mr. Shannon frequently incurred the wrath of his moth- er-in-law, and the relation between the two families was not always lovely. The Ind-

ians 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 ena- bled 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 evad- ing. Shannon was now facing the Indian, who drew forth a concealed tomahawk, and, with a double oath, said, in good Eng- lish: "Now I going to kill you!" Shan- non 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 fol- lowed, in which the redskin was prostrated. Shannon was now master of the situation. He wrenched the hatchet from his antag- onist'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 or- dered 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 stink- ing 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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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

and was brought to Sandusky, with his parents, after the close of the war. In 1840 he married Eveline Patterson, daugh ter of Alvord and Julia Patterson, who re- moved 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 Muskallonge, 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 ma- turity. 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, Fre- mont; William, a Protestant Methodist preacher, residing in Des Moines, Iowa : Mary Ann, the wife of James Rosen- barger, Sandusky township; Susan, mar- ried 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 Muskallonge and north of the Perrysburg road, was made by three families from Pennsyl- vania, in IS17. They were the families of George Overmyer, Michael Overmyer, and Daniel Hensel.

Daniel Hensel was born in Northum-

berland county, Pennsylvania, in 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 town- ship. 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 (Stine- walt), Alice (Waters), and Emma, all re- siding 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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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

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 Northumber- land county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1806. 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 pre- viously. Three days were occupied in the trip from Fremont to the farm, a dis- tance 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 wilder- ness, and the pike a mud-hole. 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 en- joyed themselves better then than now. They were not so selfish; had their log- rollings, and corn-huskings, and old-fash- ioned country dance, and all hands en- gaged in it."

A description of a corn-husking and quilting winding up with a dance, accord- ing 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 Muskallonge. His

connection with religious organizations at Fremont is fully noticed in that connec- tion. His son, Jacob Bowlus, was for nearly sixty years a staid and honored citi- zen, and a staunch Methodist. He once stated that he never went further than Muskallonge 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 en- tered a farm on the Muskallonge, in this township, and was a school-teacher of prominence and more than ordinary sever- ity. 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, Indi- ana. 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, Wil- liam, Ella, and Ida. The old Crowell improvement was on Muskallonge.

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 sur- vived 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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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

He married, in 1833, Hannah White, whose father, Ebenezer White, came to the county in 1831.

Basil Coe, a native of Maryland, mar- ried Rachel Burgoon, and settled in this county in 1833. He died soon afterwards leaving a family of eight children, the old- est of whom, Jessie Coe, was born in Perry county, Ohio, in 1815. He mar- ried 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-Wil- liam 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 re- moved 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. Mis. Kuns died November 5, 187.4, aged seventy-five years and six months. Samuel, the oldest son, is living on the old home- stead, where his grandfather, John Over- myer, 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 Feb- ruary 4, 1879, to Mrs. Rosanna Bruner, daughter of Christian Auxter, of Washing- ton township. They have one child, Or- phie R. John, brotner 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 liv-

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

ing: Alfred and Albanus in Sandusky township, and Rosanna (Fought), Wash- ington 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 improv- ing 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, Ten- nessee; Harriet A., wife of William Slates, lives in this township; and Joseph N., de- ceased. 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, daugh- ter of William Rhidout, of Ballville town- ship. 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 Engle- man, 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 Muskallonge 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 1.846. 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 en- gaged 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 San- dusky county in 1830. Mary J. and Joseph W. are the children by this mar- riage. Only Mary is living. Mr. Web- ster followed butchering in Fremont dur- ing 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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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

1804. He married Margaret E. Tickel, and emigrated to America in 1852. He died in 1859, on the farm where he set- tled. 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 San- dusky township. Mr. Gilbert is a mason by trade. He has served as township trustee, clerk, assessor, etc.

William D. Stine, the second child of Philip and Sarah Stine, was born in Penn- sylvania in 1827. He married, in Picka- way county, Ohio, in 1852, Rebecca Stout, a native of that county, and re- moved to this county the following year. Three children are living: Sarah C. (Crow- ell), Isaac Franklin, and Lavina E. Mr. Stine followed the carpenter and joiner trade for ten years.

John Shook, a native of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, came to Ohio and settled in Pickaway county about 1812. In 1825 he removed to the present terri- tory of Ottawa county, where he died in 1863. His wife, whose maiden name was Susannah Hum, died in 1856, leaving seven children. Daniel, the sixth child, was born in Pickaway county in 1822. He married, in 1850, Rosanna Bowlus and in 1854 settled in Sandusky township. In 1880 he removed to his present resi- dence in Washington. The family con- sists of three children, two of them living, viz: Franklin P., William D. (deceased), and James D. Mrs. Shook is a daughter of David Bowlus, of Sandusky township.

W. L. Greene was among the later set-

tlers of this township. He was born in Pennsylvania, in 1832, and came to this county in 1855. In 1859 he married Ab- igail Ramsel, daughter of Jacob Ramsel, of Ottawa county. They had two chil dren, one of whom is living, James L .; Cora J. is dead. Mrs. Greene died in 1873. In 1876 he married for his second wife Malinda Bowlus. He was in mercan- tile business eight years. By her first husband Mrs. Greene had four children : Orville, Rolla, Ada, and Charles. Mr. Greene's father resided in this county until the time of his death in 1875. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. John Stayer, Mrs. Greene's father, was also a soldier in the War of 1812, and is yet living (1881).

Jacob J. Seibert was born in Pennsyl- vania in 1820. He married Mary A. Walborn in 1843, and in 1856 they came to this county. Four of their six children are living : Monroe, Fremont, Emma (Loose), Michigan; Henry, and William. Mr. Seibert has been an elder in the Re- formed church about fifteen years.

Eben Root was born in Erie county, in 1843. In 1868 he married Jemima Fell, and settled in this county. Three children are living-Isabella, Carrie, and Walter. The youngest child, David P., died at the age of thirteen months. Mr. Root has a fine farm of two hundred and thirty acres.

SHOOTING ON BARK CREEK.

The small stream which winds through Ballville and Sandusky townships, almost parallel with the river, derives its name from the methods employed by the early hunters for shooting deer along its course. The stream flows through a flat country, and at places spreads out into little ponds of considerable area and depth. In these deer were accustomed to gather in large groups or herds, to avoid flies and other

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

annoyances. The professional hunters of the day had canoes in which they em- barked for game. In one end they placed a candle or torch, surrounded, except in front, by a piece of bark stripped from an elm tree. Behind this dark lantern he could sit in entire obscurity, while in front the water and shores were well lighted. Deer seem to be charmed with a torch in the night. They would stand up to their bodies in the water and watch the approach of the destroyer with evident pleasure, little suspecting that a charge of buckshot was being aimed at them by a man con- cealed in the dark end of the boat. When the boat had reached a sure shooting dis- tance the hunter fired, bringing down sometimes two victims at one shot. An old hunter informs the writer that he has brought in as many as twelve deer as the fruit of one night's hunting.

RELIGIOUS.

The religious history of Sandusky town- ship is so intimately connected with the church history of Fremont that little re- mains to be said here. Within this terri- tory Rev. Joseph Badger, with his assist- ants, established their missionary post while laboring among the Wyandot Indians. There are in the township at present two churches.

METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH.

The only congregation of this denom- ination in the county, worship in a com- modious frame house on the Rollersville road, near Muskallonge Creek. The Methodist Protestants established their form of worship in this county in 1840. Dr. William Reeves, accompanied by his wife, Hannah Reeves, held a meeting in

Fremont in 1840, which resulted in gath- ering together a small class, which a split in the United Brethren class, a couple of months later, strengthened. The meeting conducted by Hannah Reeves was very satisfactory in its good results, but the church never prospered in town. A class was organized the following summer in the country, composed of Alexander Paden and wife, William Rice and wife, William Rems- burg and wife, Sophia Flick, Mary Rems- berg, and Polly Remsberg.

Two years after the class was formed, a meeting house was built on Henry Bowlus' farm, where services were held until 1873 when the present house was built. The present membership of this class is about fifty. Ministers worthy of special men- tion have been William Turner, William Ross, Robert Andrews, Alexander Brown, and Robert Rice. William Hastings is the present pastor in charge.

OTHER CHURCHES.

Lutheran service has been held in the township since 1843, very closely connect- ed, however, with the church at Fremont. The meeting-house at the four-mile stone on the pike was built in 1845, or about that time. The congregation is composed largely of Germans or people of German descent.

The Methodist Episcopal church or- ganized a class during the early settlement of the township, and about 1845 built a house of worship on the pike at Muskal- longe. The maintenance of service at this point was, however, entirely unneces- sary, and when the building yielded to the dilapidations of time, it was abandoned and most of the members transferred their connection to the church at Fremont.

RICE.

R ICE is territorially the smallest town- Sh ip in the county, and its boundaries the most irregular. The fertile farms of the eastern end are cut by numerous dead water courses ; the central part is marshy ; the western sections will compare favorably for agricultural purposes with any part of the county. In going the length of this territory from east to west, along the Ot- tawa county line, the traveller is given a glimpse of pioneer times. Although few of the outward appendages of the historic log cabin days are there to be seen, enough points are visible to enable the imagination to fill up the picture. Here are the cordu- roy roads passing through a forest of mas- sive elms, growing from a marshy surface made invisible by decaying trees and thick underbrush. Flies, mosquitoes, and other tortursome enemies of human happiness give the mischance traveller painful con- sciousness of their half-starved condition. Occasionally we come to a log cabin, re- sembling in most respects the ideal resi- dence of the olden time.

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History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 86

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