USA > Ohio > Seneca County > History of Seneca County, Ohio, containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, school, churches, industries, etc., portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of the Northwest territory; history of Ohio; statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc > Part 25
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The Barneys, Rices, McNutts, and others, reference to whom is made in the history of Pleasant Township, were contemporary settlers.
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.
Nehemiah Hadley was the first white settler in Bloom Township, having come here from Fairfield County, Ohio, with J. C. Hampton, who brought his goods to this point in 1821. Hampton returned the following year with the Seitzes, Kagys and others. About this time the Hadleys left the township, sailing to Cairo, Ill., by the water courses, and thence by steamer up the Mississippi, to their new hunting grounds in Iowa. Hadley was a most successful hunter and trapper, being accustomed to take down a half dozen of deer, in the Honey Creek country, between sundown and sunrise. The first permanent settlement is credited, however, to Noah Seitz, April 5, 1822.
William Anway, who settled in Scipio Township in 1821, erected the first cabin in the township. His granddaughter, Mary (Anway) Wilcox, was the first white child born there, and her father, John Anway, the first man mar- ried in the township.
Michael Arbogast, it is claimed, was the first settler of what is now Seneca Township. Owing to the condition of the old records, and the general char- acter of the history contained in them, it is difficult to credit the township with its first white pioneer. Arbogast settled there in 1820; William Arnold settled south of the base line in 1823; the Aikens, Andersons and Crockers located there about that time.
Joseph Parmenter, at whose house the first township election was held, in May, 1820, and his contemporary settlers, were the first permanent residents of Thompson Township-Trapper Snow, however, must be considered the first white resident.
Cornelius Gilmore, a blacksmith, settled on Honey Creek, where now is the village of Attica, in 1827. His was the first cabin erected in Venice Township; Johnson Ford, Ezra Gilbert and Samuel Halsted cut the first road in this town- ship in 1828.
John Chaney and Williard Sprague may be named as the first settlers of Hopewell Township in 1822 or 1823, having made some improvements on the school section. Robert and Nathan Shippey were contemporary settlers.
Neal McGaffey, one of the earliest settlers of Tiffin, was also one of the first to set foot in Loudon Township. Owing to the fact that the first actual settlement of Loudon was effected simultaneously by several families, there is no first settler to be named in connection with this division of the county. Henry Hoffman, who settled in Jackson Township in 1827, came thither from Perry County, Ohio, and entered lands on the southeast quarter of Section 36. His death is noticed in the local history.
George Puffenberger entered land on Section 28, Liberty Township, and settled there in August, 1825, as the pioneer of the township.
The Jenkins brothers, old traders at Big Spring, and Arch Johnson, may be named as the first settlers of Big Spring Township.
Seth Read and George Raymond were contemporary settlers of Reed Town- ship. They came from Steuben County, N. Y., and entered their lands on Section 24 (near Omar), in January, 1825. The township was named Read, but is now known as Reed Township, and Cook's Gate, on Section 12, is known as Reedtown. Hunter Snow was a contemporary settler, after his first settle- ment in Thompson Township.
Early Town Builders .- In the foregoing pages brief references are made to the men who first entered each division of the county, and opened the way, as it were, to future settlers. No sooner were the first clearings made in each of the townships, than a continuous stream of immigrants poured in, spreading out from Fort Ball in every direction until almost every section contained a family. Among the new-comers were such men as Josiah Hedges, who founded
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a beautiful city; the Crockers and Fosters, founders of Rome; J. Gorsuch, founder of Risdon; the Robertses, Butlers, Welches, Benjamin and John Jenkins, Erastus H. Cook, D. C. Henderson, Anthony Schindler, Philip J. Price, Julius and Thomas T. Treat, Case Brown, John Miller, Samuel Waggoner. Isaiah Hollopeter, John Betts, Abraham Ash, Erastus Bowe, Vincent Bell, John Terry, Isaac Catlin, Sidney Smith (Sea), Henry F. Kaestner, William Brinker- hoff, John Campbell, Frederick Harpster, Jacob Korner, George Schock, Will- iam Miller, Samuel Miller, Hector Kilbourne, Myron Kilbourne and Cornelius Gilmore-all founders of cities or villages. Then came the Gibsons, Seneys, Nobles and hundreds of others, who settled throughout the county, and be- queathed, so to speak, to their adopted home a number of men who do honor to-day to the professions and trades. It is deemed proper to deal with the pioneers of 1819-40, in the history of the townships wherein they settled; be- cause their lives, as a rule, have been identified with the beginnings and prog- ress of such townships, and, further, for the reason that the part they have taken in building up the county, as a whole, is precisely treated on in the several chapters of the general history of the county-notably the organic, political and military chapters, the courts and bar, physicians and other chapters.
PIONEER ASSOCIATION.
It has ever been a day of rejoicing when pioneers should meet; when the old settlers of the land should come together to renew their memories and cheer up their souls. In the dim past, when, after Babel, the migrations of the people first assumed an extensive form, the idea of periodical reunion was initiated, and soon was rendered practicable. Over 2,000 years ago the spot on which the capital city of the French republic now stands, was hallowed by an assembly of its first settlers, assembled to sacrifice to the gods in thanks- giving for their new and beautiful land. Revert to those olden times, and the conception of those happy gatherings will remind us of their utility. If, then, the barbarians of antiquity observed the custom, and were soothed into peace during the observance of such a festival, how much more is it becoming in the people of this our day to participate with the old settlers in celebrating their coming and their stay; to meet old and tried friends; to share in the joys of such an occasion? Throughout the length and breadth of this great land, the large-souled pioneers, who contributed in the first instance to make it great, assemble periodically to commune with one another, to interchange thoughts of the past, and express their admiration of the busy activities of the present. The pleasures of such meetings are known only to the pioneers. Their children never can conceive the feelings such meetings awaken, or the happy memories which they summon up. For the old settlers alone these meetings have an undying interest; and though the young may possibly share a little in the joys of the old, youth can never summon to its aid the same endearing thoughts of the past, or entertain for the soil they tread that beau- tiful veneration implanted in the hearts of the old settlers. They alone saw the virgin soil, and linked their fortunes with it; their industry tamed the beautiful wild land until it yielded returns a hundred-fold; their hands deco- rated the forest farm with a modest yet comfortable cottage; and now, in declining years, they have that homestead in which to take a pride, and these happy meetings to yield them pleasure.
The meetings of old residents of Seneca County were carried on for years irregularly without organization, and were consequently sectional in character. During the summer of 1868 and the winter of 1868-69, a determined effort was made to organize an old settlers' association. Notices of the meetings
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were published in the newspapers, signed by many representative pioneers, and February 22, 1869, a society was organized-Mrs. Anne E. Seney sign- ing the roll first.
The first officers of the association were Henry Kuhn, president; Philip Seewald, vice-president; William Lang, secretary, and Lyman White, treas- urer. This organization may be said to have continued intact until October, 1878, when the president died; and since that time there is no record of trans- actions.
The pioneer society of Crawford, Seneca and Wyandot Counties, has, in fact, taken the place of an old association of this county, and is presided over by Dr. Isaac Kagy, of Eden Township. The last annual meeting was held in Shock's Grove, near Melmore, September 5, 1885. Dr. Kagy, in an address delivered on this occasion, says: "It was the original purpose of the institution of these picnics to show our respect, and to testify our appreciative regard for the bold- hearted pioneers of this country. The events of their useful lives, collated and recorded, constitute the history of our country. To locate a home in an Amer- ican forest, inhabited by savage beasts and by a still more savage human race, and unbroken for miles around by the sturdy woodsman's blow, was an act of moral heroism that equals the most daring exploits of the battle-field. His dangers, his privations, his arduous labors and his unflagging courage entitle him to be hailed the hero of the forest. But when dangers threatened and enemies environed his glorious country the hero of the forest became, also, the hero of the field. When we follow his line of march and chronicle his succes- sive achievements, we find his labors combined the matters and facts of his- tory; the expansion of communities; the institution of schools and other educa- tional agencies; the planting of churches, developing the arts and resources of peaceful industry; the processes of manufacture, and the means and methods of commerce." Gen. W. H. Gibson, ex-Gov. Foster and others dwelt on the importance of local history, and related many stories of pioneer days.
Pioneer Reminiscences .- The story of early settlement is filled with stir- ring reminiscences of olden days, some ranging away up in the sublime, others lying away down in the regions of the ridiculous, all forming a part in that drama of real life out of which has risen one of the wealthiest counties of rich Ohio. Some of such stories have found a place already in the Indian history, a great number find mention in the histories of the townships; in one or two instances they creep into church history, and even the very dryness of the political chapter could not keep them out. Here, however, a few sketches are introduced in portrayal of pioneer days, so that the younger reader may hear of the manners and customs of the past; the primitive, humble ways in which the county was raised in its infancy, and, reading, learn to appreciate the advan- tages which the present offers.
Among the first events which mark the beginning of progress in this county, are those referred to in the following memoranda. It could be extended to great length, but, in the history of the townships, the history of those enter- prises is fully given.
The first block-houses erected in the county, other than Indian cabins, were at Fort Ball.
The first road was cut from Upper to Lower Sandusky in 1812.
Erastus Bowe was the first American settler, in 1817.
Paul D. Butler erected the first saw-mill, in 1819.
Ezra and Case Brown erected the first grist-mill, above Melmore, in 1821. Oakley or Vance's Town was the first surveyed village.
The first postoffice was established at Oakley in 1820, with David Risdon, postmaster.
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The first high water in the Sandusky, within the historic period, was in 1821.
The first township election, that of Thompson Township, was held May 20, 1820.
The first county elections were held in April, 1824, but not till October of that year were the annual elections held.
James Montgomery was the first Indian agent, and took a part also in proselyting the Indians, 1819.
The first United States survey of the county was made in 1820.
Capt. Rice and J. Chapin made the first coffin, in 1820.
The first patent for lands was issued to John Anway for the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 23, Township 2, Range 15.
The first frame house was erected for Josiah Hedges, in 1822.
Dr. Eli Dresbach, was the first resident physician, in 1823.
The first orchard was set out by John Keller, in 1824, in Clinton Township.
Rudolphus Dickenson was the first lawyer, in 1824.
The first citizen naturalized in the county was William Doyle, in 1824.
The first court of justice was opened April 12, 1824.
The first person lost in the county was a son of Elijah Brayton, in 1825.
The first jail was completed in March, 1826.
The second United States survey of the county was made in 1832.
The first newspaper, The Seneca Patriot, was published in 1832.
Political parties were first regularly organized in the county in 1832.
The first case of cholera in the county resulted in the death of John Hub- ble, in August, 1834. Sixty-three persons died of this dreadful disease at that time.
The first call for the Seneca County Militia, to take part in the Toledo war, was made April 22, 1835.
The town of Tiffin was incorporated March 7, 1835.
The first village election held in the county was that of Tiffin, in June, 1836.
Dr. Henry Kuhn was elected the first mayor of Tiffin, in June, 1836.
The first agricultural society was organized in 1839.
The first railroad entered the county in 1839, being constructed to Republic that year, and to Tiffin in 1841.
The Seneca County Bank opened November 13, 1847.
The first telegraph line was built in 1849.
The first plank and toll roads were begun in 1849.
Jacksonian Days and Manners .- The people, their manners, their customs in their homes and outside their homes, differed materially from the citizens of to-day, in the fact that they were better than the times in which they lived and acted, and, perhaps, superior in many respects to the remarkable cosmopolitan race who came after them to take up their enterprises and complete the first half-century's work.
Looking back over the last half-century a contemporary writer gives the fol- lowing word-painting of early times, manners and customs: "The United States of to-day is quite another nation from the seven by nine United States of Jackson's time. Then California was almost a myth. Indiana was the 'far West.' People traveled by stage coach. Thousands lived and died without ever going beyond the bounds of their native counties. The steamboat paddle- wheels had just begun churning our river water. Washington was a dismal country village. More than suspicion of insanity would have attached to the man who would have announced that his children would 'cable' a message from New York to London, or that the people miles apart would talk to each
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other vira roce. Sails alone bore the traveler across the Atlantic. Fortunate was the ship that made the passage in three weeks. Cultured travelers from Europe were shocked at the rawness and provincialism everywhere prevalent. Opera all but unknown. The danseuse was an immoral spectacle. Negro min- strelsy had just commenced its career in the shape of a single burnt cork per- former at the circus. His popular melody was 'Jump Jim Crow.' Popular sentiment still handed down from the war of 1812 was bitter against England. City landlords sat at the head of their own tables and carved the beef-steak. In religion 'liberalism' was heretical. In no pulpit was any compromise allowed in the matter of eternal punishment. The locality for lost souls was then a clearly defined fire and brimstone reality. Preachers of different sects waged bitter war against each other. Presbyterianism frowned on Methodism. In country towns Catholicism meant the dreaded dominion of the Pope, and the burning of all Protestants at the stake, if possible. 'Stocks' and high shirt collars were then the fashion for gentlemen's neck wear. Beards and . mustaches were not respectable. Gentlemen did their own shaving. Panta- loons were strapped under the boots. All boots were 'Wellingtons' and had legs. The general school system meant the 'district school,' and the acad- emy, a consumptive and irritable Connecticut teacher, a 'box stove' filled with wood, and a Pike's Arithmetic. Party feeling was far more bitter than to-day. The old Federal and colonial families who had held office since Wash- ington's time, and deemed office theirs by a sort of divine right. had just been ousted. and they never forgave Jackson, the ouster. The militia were armed with flint-lock muskets. A militia-general was then a man of mark. Every- body chewed Mrs. Anderson's or Miller's fine-cut tobacco. The spittoon found its place even in the family pew at church. A visit to New York by the vil- lager resident 200 miles distant was an event to be talked over for months. A man who had seen Europe was a marked man for the remainder of his days. Doctors dosed with 'blue mass,' black draughts and the lancet, yet people occa- sionally recovered in spite of them. Good butter was a shilling a pound, and eggs dear at 18 pence a dozen. Few men took over one daily paper, and this often served more than one household. Democrats were known as .Locofo- eos,' to whom were opposed the' Whigs.' All the elders stood bolt-upright in church during prayer. Deacons with red noses were more common than to-day. The minister was not averse to a glass of toddy during a parochial call. Pillars of the church and of society sometimes walked home from their business offices rather unsteadily about 5 or 6 o'clock. Such habits were more overlooked than at present. The yearly expenses of the Federal Government was not much over that per annum of the city of New York to-day. Rum was the popular drink; brandy next." To-day the survivors of pioneer times are the most abstemious inhabitants, and all round the country the thinking citizen has abolished the use of alcoholic drinks within his home.
Land-hunting and Cabin Building .- When the lands of Seneca County were declared open for entry, the land-hunters came in great numbers, so that by the year 1832 there were very few sections in the county but belonged to the actual settler or speculator. Some buyers were guided to the lands, while others relied solely on the United States land map of the district. After many troubles and difficulties in finding the location, they generally succeeded, built the log-house, and actually made a small clearing. This primitive dwelling was constructed of small logs, with a roof of split wood, each rail having a channel or gutter hewed on the flat side. Over the under tier of those rails was another tier, arranged with the semicircular surface exposed. and the edges resting on the verge of gutters cut in the center of the flat side of the un-
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der tier. The floor was planked with puncheon staves; the door and instruments for dealing with intruding Indians were also made of the same. The fire-place was constructed of clay, which one of the builders pounded into mortar by the use of his bare feet. This was mixed with small twigs, and placed in shape. The chimney, springing from such a foundation, was formed of small sticks and a mortar similar to that just referred to, was generally built outside the log walls, but in some instances, as in Bloom Township, within the cabin. There are a few of the original cabins still standing; while many modern log-cabins, with shingled roofs, plastered and papered interior, and well furnished, are found throughout the county. Even in Tiffin and Fostoria the modern log- cabin is still to be seen, but there is little of the romance of the old home in the forest attached to them.
Temperance Raisings .- The construction of a log-cabin in the wilderness generally brought together two parties of men, each party differently consti- tuted. The first were men accustomed to the use of the ax-shanty-men who selected a tree at a glance and as soon had it cut down. Those were the log- rollers. The second party ranked as raisers, were ruled by the corner-man, and labored with a will and earnestness which money could not purchase. The chief of the raising-bee was the owner of the proposed cabin, and from him was expected all that pioneer hospitality suggested or his means would allow. Plenty of whisky was the first actual necessity of such an occasion, and for years the primitive cabins were, so to speak, raised and dedicated in whisky. The evil was too manifest to be tolerated many years, and from each corner of the county came whisperings that Hezekiah and Jonas, and Elijah would have their cabins raised on the temperance plan. When such resolutions were made, they were, as a rule, carried out; but in some instances whisky had to be procured before the log-rollers would proceed into the forest, or the corner- man lay the first ground-log. In later years, however, men learned to respect the opinions of others, and hundreds of cabins were raised without the presence of alcohol.
Old-Time Grist-Mills .- In the earlier years of the county, and even for two decades after its organization, the corn-grinder and wheat-pounder were grum- bling members of the pioneer's family. The difference between the mills now used for the manufacture of flour and those of half a century ago are as marked as those between the modern woolen-mill and the old-fashioned loom in which homespun cloth was manufactured for the purpose of providing stout and serv- iceable garments to clothe the hard-working farmer and his sons. During the first days of settlement corn was ground in a hollow stump with a huge pounder inserted in it worked by manual labor, and sometimes so arranged as to warrant the application of horse-power. In this county however, the use of this primitive mill was very limited. In ancient times wheaten bread was the exception; the daily bread of the rural household was made of rye and Indian corn. Two or three bushels of wheat were regarded as a sufficient allowance for a moderate family, and that ground into flour was kept for such state occasions as quiltings, weddings, Thanksgiving and other holidays, when the good wife was wont to exercise her culinary skill in compounding short- cake to grace the bountifully-spread table. It was also considered the proper thing to have a loaf or two of wheat bread on hand in the house should the cler- gyman or other respected visitor come to take tea. The grinding of the wheat was usually a matter of considerable solicitude on the part of the owner of the grist. A bushel or two was measured up in a bag and thrown across the back of a gentle and trusty farm-horse, and the owner would wend his way to the mill, where, while waiting for it to be ground, he would have an opportunity
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to gossip with the dusty-coated miller, if that gruff individual would only con- descend to chat with his customer, The miller, however, would satisfy the farmer that the run of stone was perfectly clean, and free from rye flour and corn meal, and this point settled, the wheat was dumped into the hopper and ground. The farmer then wended his way homeward, knowing that the good wife would test the flour, and reward him for his supervision of the mill and miller by short-cake and golden butter.
There are several instances of record where the early settlers had to subsist on a soup made of flour and milk or flour and water, so that the small supply of flour could be extended, so to speak, until the hungry consumers could labor under the delusion that they had a meal. During such times the hunters of the settlements were not idle; so that while the pioneers were denied many, if not all, those various tempting morsels which the house-wife could prepare from flour, they were treated to rich meals of venison and copious draughts of whisky, two staple articles of domestic life in pioneer times.
Wolves .- Wolves were rather troublesome neighbors in early days. They made frequent visits to the early settlers, and would make the very earth tremble with their howlings and complaints to the intruders of their time- honored homes. Some parts of the county were unenviable settlements on this account. One occupation of the boys and larger girls of the day used to be to fire the old stumps about the place in the evening, to scare away the wolves. On the east side of the river these animals were particularly vicious, and for years after the organization of the county, hunters and trappers earned large sums of money as bounty for wolf-scalps. There was, however, one old wolf, a wanderer, which made periodical trips along the river bank. The dogs would not molest her, and she seemed to care for neither man nor beast. She had been caught once in a steel trap, and all efforts to entrap her again were, for a long time, unsuccessful. Even the children, in time, seèmed to distinguish her voice from other wolves, and were in the habit of listening for her on certain nights. She seldom disappointed them, and made night hideous with her howls. She, however, went the way of all such game, and may be said to be the last of her tribe which made the county a home.
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