History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 90

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 90

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The first settler of the farm now owned by L. B. Fry was Benjamin Decker. Thuman Holmes and Dennis Duran lived east of the Seager farms already spoken of, on which the council house of the Senecas stood. The Willis family, repre- sentatives of which are yet living, settled at an early period. Samuel Treat was the first settler on section twenty-nine. John Myers made an early improvement on the same section. Mr. Ensminger, David Halter, Peter Doell, and Henry Fry made improvements along down the river, on the east side, from 1830 to 1835. Joseph Edwards made an improvement on the farm in the interior of the township, which was afterwards purchased by Jonas Smith, and is yet in part owned by him.

One of the earliest settlers in the centre of the township was Samuel Smith, third son of Adam Smith, who was an early settler in Green creek township. He was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1817,

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

and came to the county with his parents. After his marriage, in 1844, to Elizabeth Frary, he settled on section ten, and made the first improvements. Mr. and Mrs. Smith had four children, two of whom are living-Dora and Clara. Hattie, wife of Samuel Zontman, died, leaving a family of four children. Charles is also dead.

. The Strawn family were highly respected people, who settled near the mouth of Wolf Creek.

The Bixler family settled in the north- west corner of the township. They were people who took a prominent part in af- fairs.

John Nyce and family, consisting of three sons-Philip, Isaac, and Michael- and three daughters-Theny, Sarah, and Nancy-came from Pennsylvania at an early day, and settled on the east side of the river.

We have now sketched in a general way the settlement of the township previous to the later period, when all the lands were taken up and most of them cleared. It yet remains to speak more particularly of those families who have taken ,a leading part in public affairs, and contributed to the growth of society, since the period of first settlement.

Among the earliest settlers of the cen- tral part of this township, and one of the oldest pioneers now living, is Jonas Smith. He was born in New York in 1807. In 1829 he married Mary Gilmore, who is two years his senior. In 1833 they came to this township, and made a settlement near the centre. Their family consisted of two boys and four girls-James N., resident of Michigan; Martha J. (Frary), Michigan; S. S., Michigan; Ann (Maurer), Fremont; Hannah (Brunthaver), Ballville ; and Emma (Hampshire), Ballville, Mr. Smith has been crowded with official trusts, having served his county as commissioner six years, and sheriff four years. He has

also served as magistrate in Ballville for nineteen years. Providence has dealt with this family most generously. Mr. and Mrs. Smith celebrated the fiftieth an- niversary of their wedding, February 19, 1879. During this period of more than fifty-two years of married life, death has never visited their family.

From 1833 to 1840 the improvement of the township was pushed vigorously. All the land at the end of that period had been entered, and clearings commenced at least on every lot. Along the river and through the centre and eastern line of sec- tions, well improved farms were already richly rewarding the husbandman's indus- try. From the list of worthy families who carried on this work of improvement and consequent production of wealth, the plan of our work will permit brief sketches of but a few families.

John Hutchins, a native of Vermont, settled in this township in 1834. He had a large family (ten children) by his first wife, whose maiden name was Russel, and six by his second wife, whose maiden name was Hannah Collins. Mr. Hutchins died in 1845, aged seventy-seven years. Matthew Hutchins, the fourth child of John and Hannah Hutchins, was born in Oswego, New York, in 1822. In 1843 he married Elizabeth Young, and con- tributed his labors to the improvement of the eastern part of the township. The family consists of four children-William L., Adrian A., Marion M., and Lewis D., living, and Emery M., and Milo J. A., dead.

The Frys are representative Germans of this township. They came from Prussia and settled here in 1834 and 1835. George Fry was born in Prussia in. 1809. He came to this county in 1835. In 1842 he married Mary Guss, by whom he had nine children, seven of whom are living. He has been a resident of Jackson town-

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: HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

ship since 1846. Henry N. Fry, oldest son of George Fry, was born in this town- ship in 1844. In 1874 he married Ella M. Burgoon, and has two children-Ros- coe A., and Virginia.

John Fry was born in Prussia in 1810. He is a carpenter and millwright by trade, and was employed in the construction of the frame mill, the predecessor of the stone mill, and other buildings along the river. He also improved a farm a short distance above the village. He came, also, in the year 1835. In 1850 he married Julia A. Miller, of Seneca county.

Henry Fry was born at the paternal residence in the Province of Westphalia, in 1813. He came to America in 1834, one year before his brother, John, and his cousin George. In 1841 he married Abbie Rhidout, daughter of John G. Rhid- out, who came from Ross county and settled in this township in 1825. Mr. Fry's family consists of two children living -Cynthia J., the wife of Dr. Robert H. Rice, and Amelia S., the wife of E. B. Moore. The oldest child, John L. Fry, is dead. Mr. Fry followed his trade, car- penter and mill-wright, several years after coming to this township.

Isaac Maurer was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1808. He mar- ried in Wayne county, Ohio, in 1831, Mary Ernsberger, who was born in Mary- land in 1812, and died in this township in 1879. They settled in Ballville township in 1834, and raised a a family of six chil- dren living, viz : Martin, Emanuel, William J., Eli B., Martha J., and Owen.

William, the third son, was born in this township in 1840. He married in 1865, Eliza J. Worst, and has a family of three children : Tillie L., Delphin B., and Or- pheus C. Mr. Maurer was wounded at the battle of Franklin. He was in the One Hundredth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

Owen L., the youngest son of Isaac

Maurer, was born in this township in 1853. He married in 1873, Martha J. Brunthaver, and has two children, Ger- trude and Maggie.

One of the first among the settlers of 1835 was John Halter. He was born in New York in 1803. He married in 1825, Elizabeth Bastic, by whom one child was born-Catharine, wife, first, of James Jackson, who was killed in the army; second of Isaac N. Halter, of Fremont. Mr. and Mrs. Halter are now enjoying the fruits of their early industry.

David Halter was born in New York in 1816. He married Margaret Plants, and had a family of four children, viz: John, resident of Seneca county ; David, de- ceased ; Leander, Ballville township, and Jacob, who continues his residence in this county. Jacob was born in 1849, married in 1872, Mary J. Cochran, and has four children: Nellie M., David F., Edith and Earlie (twins). Both David Halter and his wife died in August, 1881.

Joseph Hershey, one of the Ballville settlers of 1836, was born at Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1796. In 1808 his father removed to Canada, where he remained until the opening of the War of 1812. He then removed to Erie county, New York. In 1836 Joseph came to this town- ship, where he died in 1851, leaving a family of four children living-Eliza (My- ers), Frances (Wire), Peter, and Martha (Willard). Mrs. Hershey, whose maiden name was Magdalene Frick, died in 1871. Peter, the only son, born in Erie county, New York, in 1819, in 1855 mar- ried Elizabeth Bruner, by whom he has a family of seven children-David, Anna, Willard P. Elmer E., Grant U., Daisy M., and Bessie S.

Peter Doell was born in Germany in 1819. In 1838 he emigrated to America and came to Ballville township. Some six years later he settled upon a farm on

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

the east side of the river. In 1841 he married Margaret Resch( also a native of Germany. Twelve children blessed this union, four of whom are living, viz : Mary (Rearick), Sandusky township; George, Riley- township; Catharine (Kraft) and Joseph, Ballville township.

Roswell Osborn, a native of New York, was born in 1800. He married for his first wife, Phebe Card, who died in New York in 1830, leaving eight children. He married for his second wife Mida Lansing, by whom he had three children. The family came to Ohio about 1835 and settled in Huron county. He was a Baptist min- ister, and about five years were occupied in preaching. About 1840 Mr. Osborn settled in Ballville township and remained about nine years. He then moved to Wis- consin, where he died in 1860. Enos, the sixth child, was born in New York in 1820. He came to Ballville with the family in 1840 and has continued his resi- dence here since that time. In 1847 he married Margaret Strohl, who died in 1863, aged thirty-four years, leaving six children, viz : James, editor Fremont Messenger; George, resides in Logan county, Ohio; William, Roswell P., Anna, and Idella (Hufford), Ballville township. Mr. Osborn married for his second wife Leah Brunthaver, by whom he has had one child - Frank. Mr. Osborn was a soldier in the Mexican war.

George Reynolds was born in New York in 1817. He immigrated to Ohio in 1841, and settled in Ballville township, where, in 1844, he married Maria Prior, a daugh- ter of John Prior. A family of five chil- dren blessed this union, four of whom are living, viz .: Chauncy, Cynthia (Parker), Della (Mitchner), and Rant. Orrin died in 1880, aged twenty-four. He was a practicing lawyer.

The settlement and mysterious death of Thomas G. Sherrard has already been

chronicled. The Sherrard family of this county is descended from John Sherrard, a native of county Derry, Ireland, who emigrated to America in 1772, and joined the patriot army, in 1775, at Bunker Hill. He settled in Jefferson county, Ohio, where he died in 1809, leaving five sons. Robert Andrew Sherrard, the fourth son, was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1789, and died near Steubenville in 1874; he was a highly-esteemed man, and a prominent member of the Presbyte- rian church; he was twice married -- first, to Mary Kithcart, by whom he had five children, and second, to Jane Hindman, who bore seven children. David A. C. Sherrard, the third child by the first mar- riage, was born in Jefferson county in 1820; in 1843 he married Catharine Weldy, who died in 1847, leaving three children, viz .: Laura, Kizzie W., and Liz- zie C .; in 1848 he married Narcissa Grant, by whom he had seven children, viz .: Hattie (deceased), Robert, John F., Emma, Mary J., Rose P., and Ida M.

William Smith was born in New Jersey in 1789. He married, in 1814, Sarah Trimmer, also a native of New Jersey. In 1836 the family removed to Perry county, Ohio, and thence to this county, in 1847, when they settled in Ballville township. Mrs. Smith died in July, 1858, and Mr. Smith in October, 1865. Four of their children are living-Sarah Ann (Cole), William P., George G., and John C. Henry, the oldest of the family, died in Newark, Ohio, in October, 1858. Jacob, the third child, died young, in New Jer- sey. Anna Maria, the youngest, died in Perry county in 1845, aged about twelve years. William P., the oldest son living, was born February 28, 1824; in 1858 he married Sarah M. Siberal, and had one child, Mina, deceased; Mr. Smith was treasurer of his township twelve years. On account of injuries received in 1844,

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he is unable to perform manual labor. He has brought up two children in his home -Carrie D. Smith, now the wife of Leonard Sliger, of Bradner, Wood county, and Mary E. Harrison, at home.

Daniel Sherer was born in Seneca county, Ohio, in 1828, and in 1846. mar- ried Mary A. Rubenault. He settled in this township in 1848. The family con- sısted of four children, two of whom- Henry and Elizabeth A .- are dead; Al- bert (). and Daniel O. are residents of the township. Mr. Sherer died in 1858.

Albert O. Sherer was born in 1852, and in 1875 he married Jane Siberal. They have two children living-Blanche E. and an infant daughter.

Daniel O. Sherer was born in 1855. He married, in 1875, Martha J. Jackman. Annie E., Minnie D., and Benjamin F. are their children.

Victor Rich was born in Switzerland in 1832. He came to America in 1851, and stopped in New York during the winter, having been employed to chop wood, but was initiated into Yankee ways by being cheated out of his wages. The next spring he came to Fremont, and was for many years a well-known stone-mason. He built the vault in the "Oakwood Cemetery," which is a very fine piece of workmanship. In 1861 he settled in this township, where he owns a farm. In 1859 he married Mrs. Catherine Swilly, and has five children-Joseph, Charles, George, Victor, and Clara. John Swilly is her son by a previous husband.

Cornelius Hufford settled in Ballville township in 1836. He was born in Ken- tucky in 1806. In 1833 he married Mary J. Zook, daughter of Abram Zook, and a native of Bedford county, Pennsylvania. Their family consisted of ten children, five of whom are living- Sarah, Simon, Elizabeth, Catharine, and Martha. In 1869 Mr. Hufford removed

to his present residence in Washington township.

Simon Hufford was born in 1837. He married, in 1861, Sarah Short, and has a family of five children living-Lillie J., Jennie, Frank, Armina, and Hattie. Bur- ton died when less than one year old.

Jacob Kline, with his wife and. family, came to America in 1832, and settled in New York. Mrs. Kline died at Buffalo in 1845. Mr. Kline died in this township in 1859. Jacob Kline, jr., was born in Germany in 1814. He married Lena Zimmerman in 1845, and in 1852 came West and settled in Ballville township. The family consists of eleven children, viz .: Jacob, George, Philip, Martin, Charles A., Lena, Mary M., William H., Edward F., John A., and Adam H. The last seven were born in this township. Martin and Charles have been teachers in the public schools. Charles is preparing for the practice of the law.

James Traill, with his family, removed from Bedford county, Pennsylvania, to Coshocton county, Ohio, and from there to Seneca county, in 1851. Thomas, his son, was born in Bedford county, Penn- sylvania, March 20, 1818. In 1844 he married Mary E. West, of York township. In 1852 he moved from Seneca county to Ballville township, his present home. Four children are living-Darling, Olive E., Lovie, and Perry J. Clara E., the oldest daughter, died at the age of twenty- two.

Andrew Wolfe was born in York county, Pennsylvania, in 1797. He married Saloma Garber, a native of Switzerland, and came to Ohio, settling first in Knox county, then in Richland. In 1855 he removed to Sandusky county, and settled ·in this township, where he died in 1874. Daniel M., the fifth child, was born in Knox county in 1831. He married, in 1855, Eunice J. Black, and settled where

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

he now lives. The family consists of five children-Charles M., Sarah I., Elbridge G., Inez M., and Daniel M. Mr. Wolfe is a carpenter and followed the trade twenty-five years.

Henry Turner was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1809. He married Susan Spangler in 1829. She died in 1849, ·leaving six children, viz .: William, Eman- uel, Samantha, Daniel, Perry I., and Mary J. Of these only two are living --- Samantha (Neff), Saginaw, Michigan, and Daniel. In 1852 Mr. Turner married for his second wife Elizabeth Delong, and had by this marriage two children-Henry Otis, a resident of Lima, Ohio, and Mar- cella, dead. The family came to Seneca county in 1830; moved to Ballville town- ship in 1853.

John G. Speller, jr., proprietor of the stone mill, was born in Prussia in 1843. In 1857 he came to America and engaged in farming in this township. The follow- ing year his parents, Lambert C. and Mary Speller, came to this country with their family of five children, and remain resi- dents of this township. In 1867 John G. Speller began clerking for Herman & Wil- son, and continued in mercantile business seven years, the last year in partnership with Mr. Herman. In 1875 he purchased the Ballville stone mill, half of which he sold to Simeon Royce. Business has since been conducted under the firm name of Royce & Speller. Mr. Speller, in 1872, married Oriette J. Moore. James and Allie are their children.

George Flumerfelt, the oldest son of D. V. Flumerfelt, settled in this township in 1865. His father, however, was one of the first settlers of the neighboring town- ship of Pleasant, in Seneca county, having come there from New Jersey in 1826, at the age of eighteen. He married Me- linda Littler, and has a family of seven children living. George was born in 1842.

He married Ellen Chancy in 1865. Five children are living-Eva P., Edward P., Laura, William A., and Clarence. Mr. Flumerfelt is a Greenbacker in politics. He owns the old Hiett farm, one of the first that was cleared in this township.

Abel M. Franks, only son of Uriah M. Franks, was born in Wayne county, Ohio, in 1834. He married in-1862 Eliza Mc- Quigg, a native of Ireland. They have five children-Uriah F., John W., Sarah E., James E., and Samuel C. John, second son, graduated at the age of fifteen and is pre- paring for the Bar. Mr. Franks came to the county in 1865, and settled first in Sandusky township, where he remained two years, then settled in Ballville.

J. B. Lott, son of Peter and Mary Lott, was born in Seneca county in 1832. He came to this county in 1858, and settled on his present farm. He married in 1858 Sarah A. Bretts, a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Three of their five children are living-Charles, Wilson, and Jennie-Clara Ann and an infant daugh- ter are dead.

Thomas Wickert, a native of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, was born in 1809. He married in 1832 Lucy Vennor. With their six children they came to this township in 1860. The children are : James E., George Harrison, Thomas J., Mary E., Emma, and Lucy N. Wickert. James E., the second child, was born in Pennsylvania in 1834. In 1859 he married Martha Abbott, who died in 1865, leaving three children - Frank, James, and Chester. In 1866 he removed to this county, and in 1869 he married Christina Lutz, by whom six children have been born - Bert, Fred, Guy, Hattie, Daisy, and Richard.

M. B. Fry emigrated from Virginia to Seneca county in 1833, and died in Pleas- . ant township in 1853, leaving a family of seven children, five of whom are living.

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

Littler B., the oldest son, was born in 1826. He came to Ohio with his father, and in 1865 married Belle Ramsey, a native of Pittsburgh. Mr. Fry has been living in this township since 1871.

A CHARIVARI.

John Hofford lived on the lot in Ball- ille now occupied by the cooper shop of J. D. & George Moore. About 1841, while John Moore was building his mill- race, on which twenty Irishmen were em- ployed, Almira Hofford was married to John Johnson, an attorney, who lived on the farm now owned by Dr. Wilson, west of Fremont. The Irishmen determined upon making it an eventful occasion by giving the newly wedded couple a serenade after the wild fashion of the day. They collected all the guns, dinner-horns and cow-bells in the neighborhood, and taking these, together with rosined boxes, horse- fiddles and a pail of powder stolen from the supply used for blasting, they proceeded to the house. At this time the excite- ment caused by the "patriot war" was at its highest, and a general raid was feared. When the confusion of guns, horse-fiddles, horns, etc., which was intended only to. disturb the honeymoon of the lately united couple, began, the whole community was aroused. One Irishman, who knew nothing of the proceedings, expressed the thoughts of many people, when, leaping from his bed, he exclaimed : "I thought the Bred ish were a cumin, and I lepped out of bed to put." The man who carried the powder pail met a serious accident. Be- coming excited, he rushed with Irish ardor into the crowd of musketmen. A spark dropped into the bucket, and the ex- plosion sent him speechless to the rear. He finally, however, recovered. This is only one of the many amusing tricks carried out by this party of witty Irishmen whose residence in Ballville is well re- membered.

AN IMPORTANT LITIGATION.

Here arose a controversy, which en- endered bitter personal feeling between neighbors and led to a decision by the supreme court of the State on an important legal question. David Moore, David Cham] bers and Asa B. Gavit owned the lands adjoining the river in the order named, be- ginning at the village of Ballville and ex- tending up for considerable distance. The controversy at first, seems to have been grounded in the natural desire of both Moore and Chambers to have the ex- clusive use of the water-power. Chambers built a dam and erected a mill, but Moore cut off his water-power by building a dam below, thus throwing the back water on Chambers' wheel. Chambers sued Moore for trespass, but as the conclusion of the whole matter shows, was himself a tres- passer, for the back-water from his dam covered the hitherto exposed limestone ledges in the bottom of the river opposite Gavit's land, to the depth of four feet.

Gavit brought suit for trespass and the case came to trial in the court of com- mon pleas of the county. He proved at the trial that he owned certain lands bounded by the river and situated on its western bank. He also proved that by the erection of Chambers' dam the water was flowed back in the bed of the river oppo- site his land, so as to stand four feet deep on a stone quarry between his lands and the middle of the stream. In the original surveys the river was intersected by lines, but the area occupied by the stream when at high water mark was deducted from the whole area, so that the purchaser paid the United States for lands only to high water mark. It was, therefore, claimed by Chambers that the bed and banks of the river was public property.

The court of common pleas charged the jury that the plaintiff could set no right, in consequence of owning the lands .

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on the shore, to the bed of the river adja- cent to such lands. The jury on this charge gave a verdict in favor of the de- fendant (Chambers).

The case was taken to the supreme court on a writ of error, where it was ar- gued, on part of the defendant, that as the Sandusky River was declared a navigable stream no individual could acquire exclu- sive property in its bed. The long course of litigation was watched eagerly, not only by those having a personal interest in the parties to the suit, but by owners of river lands throughout the State, for upon its decision depended many rights and privi- leges liable at any time to cause difficulty. The decision of the supreme court will be of interest in this connection.

The question presented for decision in this case is, Has the proprietor of land bounded by a navigable stream a separate and individual interest or property in any portion of the bed of the river?

The cession of the United States of lands within the territory of which Ohio is now a part, was made subject to no condition with respect to navigable streams. But in the first frame of government, com- monly called the Ordinance, which is fundamental in its character, it is stipulated that "navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence shall be forever free" to all people of the United States. The legislation of Congress for disposition of lands has strictly conformed to this stipulation. The lands within the beds of navigable rivers have not been sold as lands to be paid for, and whether the lands have or have not been made boundaries of surveys, the land usually covered by water has been deducted from that upon which purchase money was charged. This, it is argued, is a fact conclusive to establish the position that the individual purchaser acquires no lights to the bed of the river adjoining his lands. But we do not think it properly attended with such consequence.

It is, we conceive, virtually essential to the public peace and to individual security that there should be distinct and acknowledged legal owners for both the land and water of the country. This seems to have been the principle upon which the law doctrine was originally settled, that when a stream was not subject to the ebb and flow of the tide it should be deemed the property of the owners of the soil bound- ing on its banks. The reason upon which this rule is founded applies as strongly in this country as in any other, and no maxim of jurisprudence is of more

universal application than that where the reason is the same the law should be the same.

If, in the case before us, the owners of the lands bounded on the banks of the Sandusky River do not own the fee simple in that stream, subject only to the use of the public, who does own it, and what is its condition? The "Ordinance" reserves nothing but the use. No act of Congress makes any reservation in relation to the beds of rivers. We find no provis- ions but those of the act of 1796 which are confined to reserving the use of navigable streams, and declar- ing the existence of the common law doctrine in re- spect to streams not navigable.

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History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 90

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