USA > Ohio > Seneca County > History of Seneca County, Ohio; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Vo. I > Part 11
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FELITHI
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shell squashes, from which they made bowls and dippers. Salt had to be brought from the East until a road was opened to the lake, and the supply often became exhausted, and its scarcity was a great privation to the first settlers.
It would be difficult to picture to the mind of anyone, thie vexations and troubles inflicted upon the frontier by the then great scarcity of money. There was very little to be had for any pur- pose. Barter and trade was the order of the day, and while this exchange was all right in some respects, it would not answer for others. Taxes could not be paid in that way, and the merchant, after waiting a long time, had to have cash with which to meet his bills in New York or Philadelphia. When some pioneer merchant brought on articles that were indispensable for the household, or for farming purposes, there was no money to buy them with. Often, long eredits furnished no relief. When a man had any- thing to sell, it found no market for money. He could trade it away for something he wanted from his neighbor. If a man wanted an article from another, and had nothing to exchange for it, he paid in work by the day, or agreed to clear so many acres of land for the article. Men bought their cows, their horses or hogs in that way. Corn and wheat were hauled by ox teams, generally to Mansfield, or Portland. now Sandusky City, to be sold for money. Wheat raised under the difficulties described in a former chapter, hauled to a market, from forty to sixty miles away, where it could be sold for only thirty cents a bushel in cash, or for three shillings in trade, was not an article on which farmers became rich very fast. Portland was the principal market for wheat. and many a load of wheat was exchanged there, at three shillings a bushel, for salt at five dollars a barrel, when it took about one week to make the trip.
Getting grinding done at the few mills there were in the coun- try, was attended with equally great hardship. After the City Mill, now in the First ward of Tiffin, was put up, farmers from Crawford, Hancock and Marion counties came here to get their grists ground, and at times, fifteen, twenty, or more teams waited . their turn and camped out a whole week, with the family at home on small allowance, or probably with no bread at all.
To relate all the troubles and inconveniences that pioneer life in Seneca county was subject to, would require volumes, and some of them, only, are here alluded to. The rest must be left to in- ference, which to most any mind should be easy.
The hardest of all the hardships that the frontier settler had to contend with, was the malarial diseases everybody was subject to. The ground was covered with water and decaying vegetable matter; the river and the ereeks were clogged with drift-wood and fallen timbers; beaver dams set the water back, thereby covering
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large tracts of land, while cat-swamps (as they were then called) were very numerous. There were terrible thickets and jungles of brush-bushes of various kinds growing on rich, boggy soil.
It was in these trying times that men were compelled, not by avarice, but by absolute, stern necessity, to find employment on the canals, the only public works then in the state, and the only places where money could be had for labor. It was a sad parting, when the father left his little ones in the care and charge of the pioneer mother, to go sixty miles or more from home and be gone for months at a time, to work on the canal and himself become a subject to these malarious diseases. They were even more prev- alent along the canals than elsewhere, because they were con- structed through dense forests, along the most sluggish streams and on the most level ground, in order to avoid the expenditure which locks would require and the delay they would naturally cause in the moving traffic.
Log huts were built on the highest ground near the line of the survey, which were occupied as a headquarters for lodging, cooking, etc. They were as rough as they were temporary and the con- tractor or the sub-contractor would spend no more money for the comfort of his men.
The work on the canals commenced as early in the spring as the weather would permit and the frost was out of the ground, and was prosecuted with a will until along in July, when the laborers broke down with bilious diseases, and the work had to be aban- doned in consequence until after the few first early frosts in the fall, when it was again resumed and pushed forward into the winter.
During the time the father was at work on the canal the mother with her little ones was alone in the cabin, miles away from neighbors, no doctor to call to assistance in case of sickness, no one to counsel or help in time of need. The trials and incidents of such a life lead the contemplative mind to sad and serious meditation. Seneca county commenced paying taxes in 1826, and among her first assessments was a canal tax, which was continued and increased for many years.
The absence of foreign demand for produce during the first twenty years offered no incentive to a production beyond family and neighborhood wants. Aside from the supply of such wants, there was no stimulus to agricultural enterprise. Railroads later multiplied rival markets, gave value to productions of the farm that before had been worthless, and secured a reward to every department of agricultural enterprise and an increase in the value of real estate that was far beyond the most sanguine hopes of those who first settled the country.
For want of churches, religious services took place at the cabin
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of some settler, and it made very little difference what Christian denomination the preacher belonged to, for the people would attend service any way.
While pioneer life had its rough sides, and its deprivations. it must not be supposed, for a moment, that it was a dark and gloomy life, and destitute of joys and pleasures. There is a cer- tain peculiar pleasure attached to it that is almost indescribable.
It should not be forgotten that there were no bridges across the streams in those days, and people found their way out to some open road, or to a neighbor. by following blazed trees; that it was then necessary to wade through swamps, climb over, or walk along on logs.
It was no uncommon occurrence with people who lived near the trails of Indians, to have a number of these red men come into the cabin and lay around the fire all night. They would come in at most any hour of the night, without making any noise, and in the morning. when the inmates of the house awoke, they found the Indians sound asleep on the floor, with their feet towards the fire. The cabin door was scarcely ever locked, and the Indians never learned the custom of knocking at a door to be allowed admittance. Parents would often leave their cabin of evenings in the care of their children, to sit up with a sick neighbor some miles away, when Indians would come in for a night's lodging, stay all night, and go away without molesting or disturbing anything.
Flouring mills were scarce, and often far off. Gradually, some of these useful structures sprung into existence along the river and on Honey creek; but even then, when a man had no team. he continued to experience the trouble of reducing his corn into meal as theretofore. The corn did not get as hard then as it does now. The corn patches were in the woods. in spots here and there around the scattered cabins, and the air was filled with moisture, which kept the corn wet and soft. To prepare it for the hominy block, or the mill, it had to be dried before the fire. for it would not shell without this preparation.
There were neither castes nor classes in society then. Some, it is very true, were in much better circumstances than others, even then; but their work, their deprivations, their hardships. their sufferings and mutual dependence upon each other in the hours of distress and need, together with their social gatherings, brought all down to a common level, or elevated all to a higher plane of neighborly love-as you please to have it-thus forming a society that the outside world. away from the frontier, never knew. There was no night so dark or stormy, no swale so deep, no distance so great, but that a call in case of sickness. distress or death, would be promptly responded to. To feed the hungry, to furnish relief in cases of distress and need, and to help each other was the mission
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of the society. It was only necessary to have one's wants made known ; help came of itself. And even in after years, if, by reason of sickness, accident or mishap of any kind. a neighbor could not take care of his harvest or make his hay, neighbors volunteered their services and did the work, without asking or expecting pay.
Viewing pioneer life from this standpoint, is it to be wondered at that neighbors woald thus share and sympathize with each other ? All this mutual help came spontaneously, without reward or ex- pectation thereof.
Emigrants who crossed the mountains and descended and set- tled in the Ohio valley, usually brought with them their household goods, and their flocks of sheep, their horses and cattle. They crossed the mountains in large wagons, and drove their flocks before them. On reaching the Ohio river they put all on board of flat- boats and descended the river to their places of destination. But
FREIGHT WAGON ON OLD-TIME ROAD.
when emigration began to set in for northwesterr Ohio, the emi- grants had to find their way through a dense forest. as best they could. There were no roads open, and no bridges across any of the numerous creeks and rivers with which this northwestern part of Ohio abounds. There were immense swamps on both sides of the Sandusky, and along all its tributaries. Farther west and north the country was almost one continuous, inimense swamp as far north as the Maumee, and west to Indiana, and far into that state. The soil was very rich, it must be admitted, and the farmer well knew that as soon as the water and the forest were conquered, the soil would eventually reward him for his toil. But to subdue these and become master of the situation required almost super-human power, the most patient fortitude and heroic courage.
When once settled and the cabin erected, it was not only a home and shelter for the pioneer and his family, but for every stranger who passed that way, "without money and without price."
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The latch string was always out, for these pioneers were great hearted people, and no man, be he white, black or red, was turned away empty. Their cabin, often not more than fifteen or twenty feet square, made of rough beech logs, with the bark still adhering to them, were frequently occupied by a dozen or even a score of people for a night, and no complaints made for want of room; genuine hospitality, always finds room enough and never apologizes for lack of more; and when breakfast time came there was no apology for the scarcity of knives, forks and spoons, for "fingers were made before any of these."
The fare was homely, but generally abundant. What to eat. drink and wear were questions not, perhaps, difficult of solution in those days. The first was the easiest to solve. The deer, the bear, the wild turkey, the rabbit. the squirrel, all started up and said, or seemed to say, "eat me." These had been prepared for the red men of the forest, and were equally abundant for the pioneer. The forest was full of game, the streams full of fish, and wild fruits were abundant.
To get bread required both patience and labor; the staff of life was one of the articles that must be earned "by the sweat of the brow;" it could not be gathered from the bushes, fished from the streams, or brought down with the rifle.
Every backwoods-man once a year added to his clearing, at least, a "truck patch." This was the hope and stay of the family ; the receptacle of corn, beans, melons, potatoes, squashes, pumpkins, turnips, ete., each variety more perfectly developed and delicious because it grew in virgin soil. The corn and beans planted in May brought roasting ears and succotash in August. Potatoes came with the corn and the cellar, built in the side of a convenient hill, and filled with the contents of the truck patch, secured the family against want. When the corn grew too hard for roasting ears, and was yet too soft to grind in the mill, it was reduced to meal by a grater, and whether stirred into mush or baked into johnnycake, it made, for people with keen appetites and good stomachs, excellent food.
A person is not a pioneer simply because he or she is aged; for age does not make one a pioneer. A pioneer is defined by Webster, and as understood by the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society, is one who goes before, as into a wilderness, to prepare the way, etc. The pioneer period in Ohio was prior to 1820, and ended with that year.
As Seneca county was not settled at as early a date as some of the eastern counties in the state. the pioneer period should per- haps in this case extend to 1825. It has been said that the pioneers did not write history-they made it-and that even their sons, who kept notes of events, lost them in their removal to the still farther west.
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The collection of material for historical purposes covering what in Ohio is called the pioneer period has been a difficult task. That was not an age of literature but of work; of clearing the forest and of building homes. The pioneers made history, but they had no time to write it. A few of the first settlers may have kept chronicles and annals, but after the county was somewhat improved, the same impulse that brought them to Ohio, impelled some of them to again take their places in the line of the march of civilization to the still farther west, and while enroute their records were lost. And when the historian came to write of the early settle- ments of the country. the information obtained was largely of the traditional kind, and it has been difficult often to discriminate between facts and fiction. There were state and county records. but tne woof of events which the pioneers wove into the warp of time had to be sought in part outside of official records to make the web of history.
COLLECTING PIONEER MATERIAL.
"To state what I consider the best method of collecting mater- ial," continues the author, "I take the liberty to give my own ex- perience, prefaced with some personal history. My grandparents were pioneers of Richland county, Ohio. They settled there in 1808, the year the city of Mansfield was founded. When a boy I heard my parents narrate pioneer tales, as we sat winter evenings around the family hearth. in the warmth and glow of the log fire of our cabin home. Their stories interested me, and that interest grew with my years, and I endeavored to extend my information upon pioneer history as opportunities were afforded. But it takes years to get an adequate knowledge and an accurate history of any locality.
"I am a newspaper man, and my vocation gave me opportuni- ties to visit every part of Richland county and adjoining territory. not only once or twice but dozens of times during a series of years in the capacity of solicitor. reporter and special writer, and upon all such occasions I made more or less effort to become familiar. not only with the people, but with the early history, the geography. the geology, the topography and the pre-historic earthworks of the county. With the information thus gained. I. began the publication of historical and biographical sketches as feature articles in the Mansfield papers, and these in turn were copied by newspapers of other towns, and gave the people opportunities to make correc- tions and additions. These articles also aided in creating an inter- est in historical matters which had never existed before and resulted in the formation of the Richland County Historical Society. From these sketches I prepared a history of the county, which was pub- lished in the centennial year, 1900.
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"To the 'Fourth Estate.' as Edmund Burke termed the press, I give the credit of affording me the opportunities I utilized in col- lecting material and for its presentation to the public in a manner open to criticisms and corrections ere it was put into book form. Therefore, I consider the press the best means by and through which historical material can be collected and presented to the public; the best experiences of former years transformed into lessons that work for good in this commercial age of endless hurry and needless haste. "It is in historical publications and by historical associations that the lesson of pioneer life, with its joys and its sorrows, its trials, its hardships and its achievements, can be preserved and in- scribed, as they should be, on the heart tablet of every child in the land, from generation to generation."
SENECA COUNTY NEARING HER CENTENNIAL.
By Sade E. Baughman.
A retrospective glance at the progress made in Seneca county in the ninety years past, reveals achievements of which the first settlers never dreamed. The county is blessed with natural re- sources and a fertile soil, which combined with the industry and activity of an enterprising people made its success and prosperity go steadily forward. It is a surprising fact that the beautiful city of Tiffin, Seneca's county-seat. with a population of over fif- teen thousand, less than a century ago had neither habitation nor name, and its site was a part of that vast, unexplored territory, whose western boundary was supposed to be lost in the golden twi- light of the setting sun, and whose wild domain seemed destined to remain forever hushed in the silence of its solitude. save when awakened here and there by the dismal howl of the wolf, or the fearful whoop of the savage.
Ere white men orcssed our rivers and came to the forests shade. The red men and their tomahawks all this dominion swayed ; But the tide of emigration fast flowed on the Indian's track. And all the force of tribal race could not turn the current back.
Into the depth of the vast forest came the Seneca county pioneers, and their advent marked a period in American history of absorbing interest alike to old and young. And it is proper that it should be so. Those hardy pioneers coupled courage with virtue, humanity and love of country with the stern duties of frontier life, and the example of their lives not only interests but strengthens our faith and admiration in human courage and unselfish purpose.
The sound of the axe of the woodmen felling the forest trees, Were wafted back in startling echoes upon the passing breeze.
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The pioneers of Seneca county were from different states, but no matter where they came from, they were a superior class of men who first traversed the forests by dimly marked and winding paths. None can now correctly imagine the features of this wild country at the time the first cabins were built. There were dangers to be encountered and difficulties to overcome. The gigantic forest was to be cleared, and the work was so enormous that only the strong- est, the bravest and the most courageous dared attempt to accom- plish it. But the pioneers transformed the dense woodlands into fertile fields, and made the waste places blossom as the rose.
And we bless the noble pioneers whose hands with toil were brown, And sing their praise through all the land for they deserve renown ; They left their homes and scenes of peace for log cabins in the wood. Where dangers lurked at every turn, these men and women good.
In pioneer times taverns were prominent factors in a com- munity, and they were interspersed here and there along the roads leading to the lake. There the traveler sought rest and refresh- ments for himself and his tired horse. The taverns were also the stopping places for stage coaches and freight wagons, and the ar- rival and departure of these were great events in the life of rural communities. These taverns had large fire places, which in winter were kept well filled with wood, and they were of sufficient capacity to heat and light the house There was no market for timber in those days of clearing the forest. and the only cost of fuel was the cutting of the wood. Around these great fireplaces the travelers gathered when the weather required, and their conversation gave the settlers glimpses of other parts of the country of which they knew little, and at bedtime the weary sojourners would spread their blankets near the blazing fire and retire to rest and sleep. But the tavern with its old-fashioned life has gone with the stage. The Tiffin hotels of today-the Shawhan and the Morcher-with their conveniences and fine equipments are like royal palaces when con- trasted with the log cabin hotels of the long ago.
An affectionate veneration should be manifested for the pioneer women, who shrank from no dangers, shunned no hardships, en- dured great privations, and in their homes cultivated the social and domestic virtues. These strong and brave mothers, who toiled by their husbands' sides in life's hot noon, and went hand and hand with them down the dusky slope of the evening of an eventful, busy life, have like their companions, folded their arms to rest.
The women were brave and hardy. sharing dangers with the men. Oft aided in field labor, and their homes they helped defend ; We turn to the dear mothers as the needle turns to the pole, And in neither verse nor story have their virtues been half told.
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A just meed of praise should be given the pioneer preachers, who amid all difficulties, dangers and hardships, ministered to the early settlers of Seneca county, and materially aided in laying the moral sentiment, which has broadened and deepened with the advancing years. It was a labor of love to them, and they en- dured privations that few of today know anything about. These preachers made many converts, and much could be written favor- ably about them. many of whom were eloquent, scholarly men. They appealed to the holiest and most sacred impulses of the heart, and wove the loveliness of their teachings into the lives of their hearers.
They are in a land of light and promise we have never seen,
Where the streams are golden rivers and the forests ever green ; And dear forever be the graves and bright the flowering sod, Where rest the grand old sires who loved their country and their God.
Life was all real to the people of the backwoods a hundred years ago. The world moved slowly then, and the people were not made world weary by the rush of affairs and the killing pace for supremacy in the race for wealth. But the ring of the woodman's axe in time gave place to the hum of machinery. The log cabins of our forefathers have vanished into the storied years, and stately mansions have risen in their places. The log school houses only remain as a memory, having been replaced by fine temples of learning.
Seneca county has achieved much. accomplished much. In times of peace she has contributed her share of the honored states- men of the country; in times of war her sons have shown their patriotism and valor upon many a hard fought field of battle. In the professions, in the arts and in the sciences, many Seneca county youths have attained distinction and honor.
Thus glancing back thro years agone, We take instruction from the past. And cherish much of good then done, As bread upon the waters cast.
Although Seneca county has had a noted past and has a pros- perous present, its citizens are ever alert for better things and a greater future is yet in store for them ere the close of the century.
With reverence turning from the past, We grasp the present now in hand. And face the future strong and bold. With trust in God and native land.
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TALES OF PIONEER DAYS.
By Jesse E. Bogart.
Jesse E. Bogart, of Tiffin, aged eighty-five years, gives the following interesting sketch of the early history of the county :
"I came with my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Bogart, from Lithopolis. Fairfield county (this state). arriving in Tiffin, Novem- ber 24, 1825. and forded Sandusky river just below where Washington street now stands Daniel Dildine, father of our Squire Dildine, brought us with a four horse wagon, our household goods and family of four. Mr. Dildine rode the near wheel horse, and used only one single line and a black leather whip. He never whipped a horse. His horses understood his words and the crack of his whip, which at times was very loud. He unloaded us one evening four miles east of the village of Tiffin in the woods, beside a small cabin that father had raised and roofed a few months before.
"There was no chimney, windows, floors .or doors, but in a short time it was made comfortable for winter. Like all other first cabins it was finished without a nail or a foot of sawed lumber. Wooden pins were used in place of nails, lumber split and hewed from white oak or white ash timber; split clapboards for roofing, held with weight poles (small logs). This cabin as did many others, did service thirty years or more. No crooked or knotty timber in those cabins.
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