USA > Ohio > Seneca County > History of Seneca County, from the close of the revolutionary war to July, 1880 > Part 19
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I "N A former chapter it was said that the Indian reservations were not surveyed into sections until after the Senecas had left the country ; but this statement should be qualified so as to except the Armstrong, the McCulloch and VanMeter sections.
Robert Armstrong and the heirs of McCulloch had full power to dis- pose of their respective reservations in any manner they saw fit, after the patent from the United States had been issued to them. The trans- fer required only the approval of the President of the United States endorsed thereon.
The patent from the United States to Robert Armstrong was issued under the treaty aleady mentioned, and bears date of October 12, 1823.
On the 29th day of the same month Armstrong sold and deeded four hundred and four acres of his reservation to Jesse Spencer, for three thousand dollars. The deed from Armstrong to Spencer was approved by President Monroe, and signed by him in his own hand writing. The part of the Armstrong reserve sold to Spencer extended from the San- dusky river westwardly. Mr. Spencer laid out and platted the village of Oakley, including the old stockade, (Fort Ball,) and extending down the river to the railroad bridges, and west to somewhere near the B. & O. depot. It was not much of a town, even on paper. No trace of it can anywhere be found, and Mr. Spencer never caused any record to be made of this, his first town in Seneca county. The only buildings the town of Oakley ever contained were the log cabin hotel of Mr. Bowe and the cabin of Mr. David Smith, near where the stove works now are. The cabin of Mr. Agreen Ingraham was up on the hill where the aristocracy afterwards settled, around about McNeal's store, after Mr. Spencer laid out Fort Ball.
Mr. Gilford Bowe says his father's hotel stood near the bank of the
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JESSE SPENCER.
river, and right in Washington street, close by the north end of the iron bridge. The old army road passed close by it. The hotel was pulled down when Spencer opened a street that way in his Fort Ball.
In less than two years from the time Mr. Spencer bought the part of the Armstrong section, as above stated, he laid out Oakley, then Fort Ball, built the brush dam and the saw mill, became involved in about two dozen law suits, had a half dozen knock-downs, sold his town. brush dam and saw mill to Mr. Hedges, and quit. The deed from Spencer to Hedges for Fort Ball is dated June 16, 1825. In this deed Spencer reserved to himself some in-lots and out-lots of his town of Fort Ball.
Mr. Spencer came here from Perry county, Ohio, where he formerly lived. It seems that the locality and the people here failed to meet the approbation of Mr. Spencer, and he withdrew his company and his interest from the county soon after his sale to Mr. Hedges.
The viewers appointed on the county road petitioned for leading from the public square of Fort Ball to the public square in Tiffin, and those on another petition for a county road leading from the public square in Tiffin to the public square in Fort Ball-two distinct sets of viewers, and two distinct lines of roads-reported unfavorably on both. Mr. Neal McGaffey thereupon, on the 8th day of June, 1825, gave notice of his intention to appeal the case to the Court of Common Pleas. There is no record to show the fate of the roads in the court. The streets of Fort Ball, as laid out by Spencer, seem to have supplied the great want of a county road running from McNeal's store to the court house square in Tiffin, and the appeal was never prosecuted.
On the 19th day of March, 1827, the commissioners passed a reso- lution authorizing the auditor to draw an order on the treasurer for the sum of two dollars extra, and in addition to the sum of four dollars paid by the state, for the scalp of every wolf killed in Seneca county. These beasts were very numerous here at that time, and a very great annoyance to the pioneers. It was almost impossible to keep any poultry, hogs or sheep. They would even attack and kill young calves.
One would naturally suppose that the wolves would flee from the approach of the settlers, but wild and shy as they naturally are, and however hard as it may be to get a shot at one in day-time, yet they made themselves sociable about the cabins at night. Their howling at night, hideous as it sounds by itself, seemed to echo through the forest in long vibrations, especially in a dark, cold night of winter.
When the cold lasted any length of time, it was dangerous to be out
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after night without a torch, and domestic animals, unprotected, were . sure to be killed. Wolves are afraid of fire.
They seemed to be more numerous in Seneca than in any. adjoining county, and were found most plenty along the Sandusky river, and along the several branches of Wolf creek, which was very appropriately named after them.
By the law of the state, four dollars were paid for wolf-scalps, and every county was authorized to add such additional sum to the four dollars as the commissioners would order. The counties adjoining Seneca refused to add any further sum to the state premium on scalps, and the two dollars added in Seneca became a great inducement to kill wolves in Seneca county. Money was exceedingly scarce in those days, and hard to get. The idea of raising six dollars in money for one wolf's-scalp, excited the skill and avarice of many a pioneer. Men would work on farms, at trades, at anything, a whole month for that much money and board-yes, and then very often take their pay in store goods, or other barter, at that.
The greater number of wolves that were killed were caught in traps made expressly for wolves. Those that were shot were comparatively few. The ingenious trapper was the most successful man to get the premiums on scalps. Some of these trappers in Hancock, Wood, Sandusky, Huron and Crawford, living near the county line-yes, and some of those that lived a considerable distance away-when they found a wolf in the trap, in making the morning rounds, would strike the wolf over the head with a club and thus stun and disable, but not kill him. Then they would hitch a horse or an ox to a sled, and haul wolf and trap into Seneca county, and there finish killing the wolf; so that the trapper could make an affidavit that the wolf was killed in Seneca. This county paid for many a scalp of a wolf that was caught in some other county. There was money in it. The result was, that in the course of a few years the wolves became very scarce. Along towards the year 1840, scarcely any scalps were presented for premium.
After the organization of Seneca, and before Crawford county was organized, the commissioners of Seneca county, upon petition for that purpose, organized three townships in Crawford, as follows, viz:
On the 7th day of December, 1824, upon the petition of Joseph Chaeffee, Crawford township was ordered to organize, and to hold an election on the 25th day of December, 1824, at the house of said Chaeffee, then and there to elect three trustees and a treasurer, to take charge and dispose of the school lands belonging to said township.
On the 7th day of March, 1825, the said commissioners ordered that
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FIRST BRIDGE-FIRST KILN OF BRICK.
the original surveyed townships: No. 1 in the 15th range, No. 1 in the 16th range and No. 1 in the 17th range, south of the base line, be set off and organized into one township, and to be known by the name of Sycamore township, and that a similar election be held therein on the 25th day of March next ensuing.
On the same day, said commissioners also ordered that the inhab- itants and qualified electors in the original surveyed township one, south, range thirteen, be notified to meet at the house of Jesse Gale, on the last Saturday of March, 1825, and elect trustees, etc. This township is now in Wyandot county.
On the 7th day of March, 1826, said commissioners also ordered that the original surveyed township one, south, range fourteen, be set off from the township of Crawford and organized into a legal township, to be known by the name of Tymochtee, and that the qualified electors therein meet on the first Monday in April next, at the house of Joseph Chaeffee, in Crawford township, and those in Tymochtee to meet at the house of Jesse Gale, and then and there to elect trustees, etc.
The first effort to build a bridge in Seneca county by the public authorities, was made by the commissioners on the 2d day of August, 1827, when they met for the purpose of taking into consideration the propriety of building a bridge across Rocky creek, at the east end of Market street, in Tiffin. That was the end of this effort, and no other step was taken to build this bridge until the 6th March, 1834, when the board appropriated $50, and appointed Marquis Y. Graff to superintend the work. Reuben Williams did the work. It was made of very heavy oak timber, and lasted until it became dangerous to cross it, when the trustees of Clinton township erected the present stone bridge in its place.
On the 5th day of June, 1827, Mr. Agreen Ingraham, having been elected treasurer of the county, was required by the board to give bond in the sum of $3,000.
At the December session of the same year, the commissioners allowed Wm. Toll, who was deputy sheriff and jailor, $3.46 for boarding prisoners.
Thomas Chadwick burnt the first kiln of brick during the summer of this year, and furnished brick to build a chimney in the jail, for which he was allowed the sum of $22.50.
Joseph Pool was paid $14.00 for laying the floor, and William Toll was paid $23.50 for building the chimney.
The votes cast in Seneca county for state senator were ordered to be returned to Delaware county, which was then a part of this senatorial district, and the county that cast the largest number of votes in the district.
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.
At the same session, Benjamin Pettinger was paid $9.00 for nails used in building the jail. Nails were then a rarity, and just coming into use. There were no nails used in building cabins, as we shall see hereafter. If a man were to be compelled to build a house now-a-days without nails, he would scarcely know how it could be done. It was no trick, at all, for a pioneer.
David Bishop, who had come to Tiffin about one year before this time, was appointed keeper of weights and measures, by the board at this session.
Bishop was a sort of character by himself. He was a carpenter by trade, and a rival of Reuben Williams in that line. He was a large. powerful, muscular man. Francis Bernard was a stone and brick mason. He and Bishop had a great many fights, and when Bernard was sober, he would almost invariably whip Bishop; and Bernard's friends charged Bishop with cowardice, because he would never whip Bernard except when he (Bernard) was drunk. Bishop was the auc- tioneer for a long time, and a wonderful man to talk and boast. He was friendly to everybody-kind and hospitable-and was afterwards elected sheriff of the county. He was a good officer, and faithful to duty.
On the ist day of June, 1829, Reed township was organized to its present limits.
Dr. Williams, a sketch of whose life will be found elsewhere herein. insists that the township was named for Seth Read, and by him. Read was an early settler there, and a singular, original sort of a character. The doctor says: "The name of the township ought to be spelled as it was first intended-R-e-a-d".
In the early records of the court of common pleas, and in the plead- ings of the lawyers, the name of Eden township was spelled E-a-t-o-n.
Pleasant township was organized with its present boundaries, June 6, 1831; Loudon township was organized with its present boundaries, but no election was ordered until upon the application of Charles W. Foster, who says in his petition, that there were twenty electors in Loudon, and asks for an order to hold the first election, to have the school lands taken care of. So ordered on the 4th of March, 1834. At the March term, 1833, the auditor of the county for the first time became ex-officio clerk of the board of commissioners. At this session, the bond of the county treasurer, having theretofore been fixed at $15,000, was reduced to $8,000.
Thompson was organized within its present limits, March 5, 1833.
At the December session, 1833, on the 3d day of said month, the following other townships were organized as now known, viz: Scipio. Adams, Clinton, Pleasant, Loudon, Big Spring.
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ORGANIZATION OF TOWNSHIPS.
Liberty township was organized on the 5th day of June 1832, within its present limits, upon the petition of John I .. Fleck, and an election ordered.
Jackson township was organized within its present limits on the 4th day of December, 1832, and an election ordered.
Thus every township in the county was organized, the election of township officers ordered, and the government of the county completed.
In organizing Clinton township as originally surveyed, adding to it the portion lying west of the river, which, for the sake of convenience, and for want of a bridge across the Sandusky river, had for a time been attached to Hopewell, the proposition met with a strong opposition. Nearly everybody on the west side of the river signed a remonstrance. The spirit of opposition to Tiffin had spread from Fort Ball clear to and all along the east line of Hopewell, and it seemed to be a sort of luxury when an 'opportunity offered itself to fight Tiffin and the east side. But the board fixed the boundary as it now is, and the feeling of resentment gradually abated.
For want of a court house, the several county officers furnished their own rooms and presented their accounts for the rent to the board of commissioners for allowance. Mr. Rawson, the county recorder, was allowed office rent for the year ending December 6, 1832, ten dollars. The other officers-clerk, auditor, sheriff, etc., received about the same amount.
. When the old frame building above described, in which the courts were held for awhile, became too small-for it was very inconvenient -the county commissioners made arrangements with the officers of the M. E. church to have the courts held in their church, for which they paid $9 to $12 a session, as rent. The grand jury and the petit juries were furnished rooms in the hotels.
This Methodist church was the largest public building in town. It stood on the lot now occupied by Joseph Harter as a marble shop, with the gable end to the street, one story high, built of brick. The supreme court and the circuit courts were held there up to the time when the new court house was finished, and after the old frame building was abandoned. .
For several years the question as to the propriety of building a court house was agitated by the people and by the board of commissioners, and finally, on the 4th day of March, 1828, the board resolved to meet again on the 24th day of the same month, at the present place of hold- ing the court.
March 24, 1828-At this meeting the board ordered that notice be
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given for the reception of proposals to build a court house, and that the commissioners will meet for that purpose on the 14th day of April then next following.
April 14, 1828-Board met, etc., and say in their entry, "not sold."
Nothing further was done towards building a court house until in the session of the commissioners on the 5th day of December, 1833, when they appointed John Baugher and Calvin Bradley a committee to proceed to the county seats of Loraine, Portage and Richland, and take a correct description, together with the cost, etc., of each court house in the said counties, and report the same to the board at their meeting, on Friday, the 27th day of December, 1833.
This was the first step towards building a court house that looked like business.
John Seitz, M. Y. Graff and John Crum were then the commissioners.
December 27, 1833-Board met and adjourned to January 3, 1834, when they again met and received the reports of Baugher and Bradley. The expense of the trip, $93.80, was allowed. Adjourned to Friday, January 17, 1834. At this meeting it was ordered that a court house be built of brick, and that notice be published for proposals, etc., up to February 13; 1834.
February 13, 1834-Board met and adjourned to next day.
February 14, 1834-The board contracted with John Baugher to build the court house for $9,500.00.
March 4, 1834-David Campbell was paid $2.00, printer's account for publishing notice for proposals.
March 5, 1834-Calvin Bradley was paid $15.00 for draft and speci- fications. Brown & Magill's printers' account of $3.25, was also paid. Jacob Stem was appointed as agent to negotiate a loan of $6,000.00 to pay for the court house, and a bond was issued to him for that purpose.
March 15, 1834-Mr. Stem reported that the amount, $6,000.00, was deposited in the Baltimore Savings Institution, Maryland. Thereupon the board loaned this amount to Mr. Stem until the interest should compensate him for his trouble.
June 3, 1834-The board allowed Mr. Stem $8.55 for postage by him expended in procuring the loan.
June 7, 1834-The board advanced to John Baugher $250.00 on his contract to build the court house.
On the first day of August, 1834, the Commissioners caused the following entry to be made in their journal, viz:
The commissioners-John Seitz, John Crum and Nicholas Gotchins, present-paid John Baugher two thousand dollars, and took his receipt on
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his bond theing the first payment towards the court house in Tiffin., Also. received Jacob Stem's note for twenty-five dollars, being the interest on his note (which was given him by his paying the two thousand dollars which John Baugher receipted to the commissioners.) The commissioners fixed the spot and staked out the ground for the court house, and adjourned.
March 8, 1836-The board of commissioners made this further entry on their journal, viz:
Paid John Baugher seven hundred and eighty-two dollars; also, a county order amounting to two hundred and eighteen dollars, the whole amounting to one thousand dollars.
August 19, 1836, the further entry was made on the commissioners' journal, viz:
Settled with John Bangher and accepted the court house, and paid him the balance of three thousand, two hundred and seventy-nine dollars and seventy-six cents in orders on the county treasurer, and an order on Jacob Stem for the balance of said Stem's note of seven hundred and sixty-eight dollars-making the sum of $4.047.76, which, with the moneys heretofore paid, makes the sum of $9,500.00, the full payment.
They then, also, paid Uriah P. Coonrad, for notifying James Gray, $1.50; and James Gray $1.00 for inspecting the court house.
On the same day the board made an agreement with John Baugher to furnish the court house with benches, tables, etc .; with Frederick Kridler to furnish chairs and settees, and with Luther A. Hall to furnish the stoves.
On the same day David E. Owen resigned his office of county auditor, and the commissioners appointed Levi Davis to fill the vacancy, who entered into bond, and took the oath of office.
The history of the building of the first court house in Tiffin is recorded here for the benefit of those who may be interested in, or desire to know, the steps that were taken from time to time, from the begin- ning to its completion, and the names of the persons that figured in the work. Of all the men that were engaged in the work, from the commissioners down to the hod-carriers, there are only three still living, viz: Mr. Adam Wilhelm, now living in Seneca township; Mr. Peter Simonis, now living in Carey, Wyandot county, Ohio; and Mr. Engelman, a carpenter, living in Findlay, Ohio. The others have all gone to their long homes.
On the 11th day of January, 1836, the following entry was made on the journal of the commissioners, viz:
The board proceeded to fill a vacancy occasioned by the expiration of the term for which Abel Rawson was appointed recorder for Seneca county, to-wit: On the 10th day of Jannary, 1829, by the court of common pleas, for 12
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seven years thence next following, which time having expired, the board appoints the said Abel Rawson recorder, as aforesaid, and until the next annual October election. JOHN SEITZ.
LORENZO ABBOTT,
Commissioners.
The county recorder was first elected by the people in October, A. D., 1836.
A very curious entry was made on the journal of the commissioners on the 6th day of December, 1838, in the following words and figures, to-wit.
Josiah Hedges presented a petition from sundry inhabitants of Adams and Pleasant townships, praying for a new township to be made out of the above named townships, to be called "Sulphur Springs." After taking said petition into consideration, they protest the same, and petitioners go hence from whence they came.
The first step taken for the purchase of a farm, and the erection of a county infirmary for Seneca county, was the entry on the journal of the county commissioners, on the 7th day of June, 1841, upon the petition presented by Jacob W. Miller and others, on the 3d day of March, 1841. The petition was read at this session, and postponed for further consideration.
While writing on the subject of this court house, it may be well to state here, in connection with the subject, the circumstances of the burning of the court house, and the rebuilding of the same.
The reader must not look for any chronological arrangement in this work, as there is no effort made towards order in time in the relation of subjects. This is not intended as a reference book. Its object is to preserve descriptions of early times and scenes; the memories of men and women who first built homes in this forest, then called Seneca county; recollections of their manner of living; their trials and hard- ships; their pleasures and their griefs; their virtues and their vices; to please, and, if possible, to instruct. The data were so carefully collected that they may be relied upon with confidence.
The spring term of the court of common pleas was appointed to commence its session on the morning of Tuesday, the 24th day of May, 1841. The sheriff, on the Saturday previous, the 22d, cleaned out the court room, and, dusting off the seats, left the windows open to let the dust escape. . They were found in that condition when the people came together after the alarm of fire. The window in the little room of the northeast corner, up stairs, however, was shut. The men who bursted in the door to this room were repulsed by the fire and
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BURNING OF THE COURT HOUSE.
smoke, and could save nothing of its contents. The Tiffin Gazette, of May 29, 1841, says in its editorial.on that subject:
Our village, which has hitherto been exempt from calamity by fire, has at last been robbed of its most splendid ornament by this destructive agent.
Our late beautiful court house is now a heap of ruins. It was discovered to be on fire between two and three o'clock, Sunday morning last, by which time the flames had made such progress that it was impossible to arrest then by any means the citizens had at command. The result was the total 'destruction of the building. Total. we say, for, although a large portion of the walls are yet standing, it will not, we think, be found expedient to allow them to remain as part of the new edifice. The court house contained the offices of the recorder, treasurer, auditor, sheriff, clerk of court, and grand jury room, which was occupied by Messrs. Cowdery and Wilson.
The recorder's office was then in the southwest corner, and the records were easily secured, being the farthest away from the fire. The greater part of, and all the important records in, the clerk's office, were saved. Very little injury was done to the books in the auditor's office. The sheriff, also, saved most of his important papers; but all the papers in the treasurer's office were destroyed. A strong current of wind carried the flames in that direction, and drove the people away. Richard Williams had his law office in the treasurer's room, and lost his entire library.
Cowdery and Wilson got out of their office everything of value, as they thought; but when the back stair-case and wooden partition wall attached thereto, took fire and threw a brilliant light into their room, which was also on the ground floor, Mr. Cowdery came to the writer, while I was helping to save the records in the clerk's office, and said: "William, there is a case of pigeon holes containing valuable papers in our office, yet. I wish you would jump in and save them for us; you are single, and if you get killed, there is neither wife nor child to cry after you." I thought the proposition a very reasonable one, and jumped through the window and saved the papers. The pigeon hole case was just commencing to blaze.
The court house was considered fire-proof. Oak logs, hewed one foot square, were laid close together over the whole lower story. These were covered with sand eighteen inches deep. The idea was this: That if the upper story should ever burn, the sand on these logs would arrest the further progress of the fire, and save the records and papers below.
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