History of Van Wert and Mercer counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 69

Author: Sutton, R., & Co., Wapakoneta, Ohio, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Wapakoneta, Ohio : R. Sutton
Number of Pages: 878


USA > Ohio > Mercer County > History of Van Wert and Mercer counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 69
USA > Ohio > Van Wert County > History of Van Wert and Mercer counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 69


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The second settler in Willshire was Mr. Roswell Riley, from Mobile- town. Conteetient. with his wife and three children. He was my father's brother, a ship-builder and carpenter. and many for the purpose of built- ing boats suitable for navigating the river, leke, and Brie Canal. He built the first house in Wiltshire, a two-story howed log. towards the northeast. side of the square. on high ground. He came in 1822. atud also his wife's brother. Mr. Reese Chiamaant (single mani, millwright; both worked upon the mill. John O'Donnell, wife, and children ; John Reves ant wife, Canada ; Peter Keller and wife, Que'we; Jonathan Lewis, Sr., and Jonathan Lewi-, Jr. ; Dr. Edmiston and wife, Chillicothe, Ohio. first doctor: David Trottier, wife and sons Joseph and Philip. Pennsylvania; James Walcott. wife and two children. Connections. He came to run the mill. claiming to be a miller. He built the first frame or plank house on the Must, south side of the plat. His wife was the daughter of Capt. Woods, who was stolen when a child and raised by the Indians, and married a chief's daughter. He fought for the Ameri- cans in the war of Fale under Gen. Harrison, and rendered great service, and received large grants of land near Fort Wayne and Fort Moins. He had four daughters, who were educated at Lexington, Ky. One married Capt. Hackley : another Capt Turuer, and lived on their reser- vation. across the St. Marys, opposite Fort Wayne. The youngest, about sixteen in 1820, lived with Mrs. Walcott, at Wilshire. an educated young lady. All the families lived in cabins on the toun plat, except Troutner and Keller, squatters on lands near by.


Of settlers on farms besides Capt. Raley's, Mr. Stephen Louis and son commeneed a clearing on the east bank of the St. Marys, abont half a mile north, and built a small plank house, where they raised several crops of corn and potatoes in 1-22-23. Then a Mr. Hoover settled on the road to Share's Crossing, about a mile south of Willshire. He came from Pennsylvania, had a wife and several children, and brought with him a tim-plate stove, the first one ever seen in the country-a great curiosity. Next came And Blossom, from Maine. He had a wife named Meres and a large family. He had worked for father at a silver Spanish milled dollar a day and board until there was due him one hundred dollars, with which father entered a trace of sit geres for him and- joining his on the east. He erected a for cabin, and moved in the fall, and commented clearing. Having nothing on which to live, he drew on father's provisions. He was so exact that every tree had to be ent sont the cleaning exactis square; and not having gut the square quite eleste he would not plus it in the spring. He mole a little garden and de. pended for the year's provisions upon father. He had bought school in Maine, and imagined intaself a second Benjamin Franklin, and imitated himeson to the stocking his thumb in his waistcoat aranha sand on na account would go faster than a walk, even to escape a sudden thunder shower, as it was undignified to run. And to make sure that his duchien


would bear grest names. I will give such of them as I can remember, in the order of their ages I believe, viz. Horatio Gates, Edward Proble. fra Allen. Benjamin Franklin, Sanh Mathias, James Monroe, and John Quincy Adams. Catherine Betbinh and Mary-don't remember the other. Benjamin worked for father, the rest clearing their land and farming. The first wedding was that of Philip Troutuer and Miss Bolowangh, sister of Peter Bolenbaugh, who had a farm at the cross- ing of Duck Crook. About a week before Mr. Blossom (by his own vote) became Justice of the Peace, and was entitled to perform the mar- ringe ceremony. Philip had postponed his nuptials rather than go to St. Marys or Fort Wayne, but one morning the Squire on going to his mill house saw a " Weather-field kitten." i. e., polecat, quietly drink- ing milk from a milispan, when he very deliberately walked into the house and asked Mercy to hand him the fire shovel; to her inquiry: " What do you want it for?" he replied. " you'll be addressed presently:" he found the animal with his head over the pan, and brought the shovel down upon his neck, erammning his head into the milk, intending to drown him, but the animal gave him such a sprinkling as to render him blind for a time, and to pertane his clothes, including his only white cotton shirt. with a high shirt collar, which he wore on great oreasions starcheil. so as to give his bald freud the appearance of being held up by the ears. He instantly called for Merey to help him into the house, and changed his clothes as soon as possible, and to deodorize them by burying them. This cause Poor Phil. as he was called. to put off bis wedding. the whole settlement having heard of the Squire's battle with the oderiferons little animal. After two weeks, thinking that the Squire's garments were in a condition to be worn on such an occasion. Phil presente him- self at the Squire's for the purpose of engaging his services; but, see- ing that he had on his hickory shirt, was about to depart. when he finally mustered courage and said: " Squire Blossom, have you a clean white shirt to put on?" to which, with becoming dignity, he asked why; " wal, if you have, I want you to come out to Peter Bolenbaugh's to-mor- row night and marry me and his sister, I got the license of Riley in my pocket." "Mercy, are my best shirts ironed?" Being answered they would be in time, all were invited to the wedding, and of course, all went, great and small. After the ceremony a sumptuous supper was served under an arbor, ending with a dinner. Thus ended the first wed- ding in Van Wert County, in the fall of Is22.


The first well ever ding. my mother had dag in front of our house, on the east side of the river, opposite Wilshire. It was dug down to the level of the rock in the river, walled up with limestone; was pure, good water, and I suppose is in use to-day. It was dug in the summer of 1822.


This determined Ansel Blossom to dig him a well. But as the stone for walling had to be handed over half a mile, and he had no team, and considered himself a great genius, he concluded to give his well such a start. like a funnel, that it would not need to be walled particularly, as he found a solid mass of blue clay. He commeneed a hole about ten feet in diameter, and expecting to reach water in thirty feet gave it the proper start to have it when done not over two feet at the bottom which be expected to find sold rock like ours. All told him to prepare a wooden carb, and have stone on hand ready to curb and wall it up as soon as he struck water. Mother offered him the oven and cart to haut the stone (father was surveying), bat all to no purpose: he had dur near thirty feet and came to hard jan; when he dreamed that he struck a crow-bar down and struck water. He did so: lost his crow-bar. and sure enough The water gashod np so fast that he had barely time to climb out on the holder he had used for carrying up the dirt, when it began to cave in, and before night water rose to the top and ran over; the well care in, and he was obliged to fill it up again, as it was near his house. He concluded to try again .: There was about six rods east of his house a very large and thesky beech tree, not less than three feet in diameter. He philosophized upon the master, and came to the conclusion that so thrifty a tree must have a large body of water under it, and into which its tap root penetrateit, and alrit he would not have to dig so deep by at. least ten feet. He this time had his Stone handed and a wooden curb to put down to keep on the quicksand, and commenced by cutting down the tree in the usual wav. some two or three feet above the ground, and instead of digging tout the stump and getting it out of the way, be- fore digging his well, he ang all aromil it, outy leaving the " top roots" as he called them. When he had got a large hole, some six feet deep. he cut off the bottom roots without taking any means to prevent the stamp from falling over, which it did. Then he found that with all his bays he could not move the stump, he came to borrow a joke of osen and chin; he hitched the chain to the stamp, but the angle was so great that it was only pulled against the side; he and his boy's worked half a day, and finally the cham broke, and the seattle statte | for home, 18 as hi- dignity (hung Spare) would not let him run a few steps to stop them, they got into a fall run, and, as the chain was broken, the hands at the mill feared that something drafted had happened, and in almut half an hour the Squite very deliberately walked into the saw mill with his thumbs in the gru-holes of his vest, and his fingers meeting over his chest, and made known the difficulty. The men took both yoke of cattle and more log chain, placed some sticks down the side of the stump. val


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HISTORY OF VAN WERT AND MERCER COUNTIES, OHIO.


making one end of the chain fast above ground, passed the other around the stump. takiby what they call a roffing hiteb, and rolled it out in five minutes with care. Then he was ready for a windlass to hand up the dias, and was offered the one used at our well. But he said that it re- quited too much hard work to work the windlass, and he had a plan that would have all that labor, and his two sons, Benjamin Franklin and MI- word Proble. could do it all, so that the other boys could farm and clear land. To accomplish this he ereeted an old fashioned well sweep. Each side of the heavy end of the sweep he erected two poles, some twenty- five feet long, like two ladders, they were fastened together at the top, and holes bored through them both ways, about a foot apart, rounds were put in the side to use as a ladder, and holes through across, about a foot apart, into which a pin could be fitted, so that when Ben wanted to go down, Ed. got astride of the butt of the sweep pulled out the pin that was through the poles above, and Bep being the older and heavier went down as Ed. went up, and when down called to Ed. put in the pin, then when the bucket was full, Ed. pulled out the pin that held up the sweep and let it down, bringing the bucket up. Then he emptied it and lowered it, when Ben held it until he climbed up his ladder inserted the pin underneath the sweep, until the bucket was filled. It was a very slow process, but the boys persevered and had gone about twenty-five feet, which was the height of his ladder, then new ones of thirty feet were erected, after much delay and labor, and the work progressed a few feet, when one morning Benjamin Franklin stepped into the tub to go down withont first seeing that Edward Prebie was astride, and without his counterbalance, he droppet to the bottom, which was sand and broke through into water, not being much hurt, and believing that Edward Preble was astride, thought that he must have been thrown into the air like a stone from an ancient catapult, screamed out Ed! just as he called out Ben ! which soon brought the whole family to the spot ; they found the water coming in very fast. Ed. climbed his ladder, mounted his teeter, and soon brought Ben to the surface. Horatio Gates was dis- patched to the mill for the hands to come and help. They put the wind- lass in the ox-cart and hurried to the well, rigged it and lowered a frame curb into the sand and placed the wall upon its top, finished " before night, and it remains, I presume, to this day, so Ansel Blossom can say with Shakespeare :-


" All's well that ends well."


Ansel Blossom was peculiar even in his having the agne chills or shake- all together, and instead of wrapping up in blankets, he would take off his coat. and shake until the perspiration would stand in beads upon his bald head and smooth-shaven free, so that chillren often went to enjoy the sight when told the squire had pulled off his coat to shake. One night just after he had been elveted justice he spent the evening with my father The subject of great men was his theme. Ile remarked. "Capt. Riley, have you ever noticed that most all great men were bald ? I remember many were. Julius Caesar of ok, our John Quincy Adams, and also Benjamin Epoiklin, two of our decidedly great men, are bald." Raising his hat, which he always wore even in the house. " Did you ever notice that I ain bald ?" Father humored his conceit, and told him that in many respects he reminded him of Franklin, etc. He left for home through the woods. He heard some one call to him, " Who, who, who, . who, who, who are you, ah?" "I am Esquire Ansel Blossom." . Who. who, who, who, who, who. ah," was repeated from a limb, and he heard the cracking of the mandibles of a huge white owl, the emblem of wis- dom. One of father's mill-hands had an impediment in his speech. and the squire may have thought it was him. Philip Troutner's wife died, and he married Catharine Bethiah Blossom, and no doubt the squire performed the ceremony, though I could not state positively.


Father determined to have a Fourth of July celebration on July 4, 1825, in which all joined heartily and patriotically, and unanimously called on him to deliver the oration, which call he accepted, and made preparation. An arbor was erected under some large oak trees on the river bank, just north of the mill, and a very long table made with boards laid upon carpenters horses, with beaches and chairs, such as could be found (not more than one dozen). The table was furnished with plates, cups and saucers, knives, forks, and spoons. The meats were venison, bears, roast pigs and turkeys, with chicken pies beikeit in tin milk basins in old New England style, fish-black bass, pickerel, and salmon-with all kinds of vegetaldes obtainable at that season, wild gooseberries, honey, coffee made in a large sugar kettle, maple sugar and syrup. pump- kin and cranberry pies. The speaker's stand was between two large oaks that stood about six feet apart, and extended from one to the other, fronting the east. A sainte was fired by charging the hole in the anvil, which made a very loud report.


Oration of Capt. Riley, Delivered at Willshire, July 4, 1825.


FRIENDS AND FELLOW.CITIZENS: The practice of celebrating the birth of distinguished individeds with joy and festivity has prevailed in all nations from the remotest antiquity to the present day.


Great national festivals have also from time immemorial been estab-


lished connuemorative of some great epoch in the history of each por ermacht ever since man has existed in a social state upon this globe.


In conformity with this venerable usage, and in order to exhibit oni thankfulness to the Great Author of our being for the signal benefits conferred upon us as a nation, we assemble this day to celebrate the 19th anniversary of the Declaration of our National Lulependence by the Congress of the thirteen United States.


I approach this subject with extreme diffidente, being fully aware of its magnitude, the ardnous duties assigned me, and conscious of my incompetency to fulfill the task in a manner worthy of the occasion, I rely and crave your indulgence while I attempt to sketch a rapid out. line of the early history of our country, of the memorable event we celebrate, and the present condition of the New World.


A little more than three centuries have rolled around since Christopher Columbus, a native of Genoa, endowed with an uncomminon mind, with great knowledge and experience, under the protection of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, of Spain, discovered the American continent. Ad- venturers from Spain, fired with avarice and a thirst for blood amt military conquest, soon overran and subjugated the large i-lands embo- somed by the Caribbean Sea, and extended their dominions over the flourishing kingdoms of Mexico in North, and over Peru in South America.


The old kingdom of Mexico was large and powerful, that of Peru populous and rich, and its court magnificent. Both nations were con- sidered heathen by the Cathoffe Spaniards who contrived to overcome, rob, murder, and destroy them, and rear upon their ruins appendages to the Spanish Empire.


In the mean time adventurers and emigrants from England, France, Holland, and the Germanie States, persecuted at home for their religious opinions (bring dissenters from the churches established by their re- spective governments), sought an asylum from tyranny in the country now termed the United States, then a howling wilderness inhabited by ferocious tribes of savages and the haunts of beasts of prey. England, France, and Holland, each in their turn, claimed supremacy over their several colonies as they became important in a commercial or political point of view. They added to the number of the emigrants by sending out malcontents exiled and expatriated by the laws of their countries.


After various struggles with the European powers, England obtained supremacy over all the countries along the seaboard, north of the St. Marys River, in Georgia, and to the frozen ocean, and exercised her au- thority by appointing governors over the several colonies, and sending out military forces in order to preserve the integrity of their power, and to aid in repelling the attacks of savages in their neighborhoods.


By grants of immense territories to individuals and companies and governmental charters, their system of government was established every- where so soon as our forefathers had driven out the savages who inher- ited the country, and kept up for nearly three centuries a predatory warfare both cruel and sanguinary on the then frontier settlements. During the early period of our history our fathers became anxious for the welfare of their posterity. They built churches and estah- lished common schools and colleges, and the hardships, fatigues, and privations they were forced to undergo fitted and prepared them to cu- dure still greater evils in order to establish their independence of the mother country .


Colonial Assemblies, consisting of members chosen by the freemen or landholders of the colony, met every year at the capital of each to enact laws for the good of the whole. The force of these laws was, however, subject to be destroyed by the vetoes of the English king by his governor, who preside over their deliberative assemblies Thus our forefathers attended strictly to the morals of their children: and, struggling con- tinnally against the crown of England for every privilege, prepared them- selves to shake of the yoke that pressed them already to the earth, ani whose galling influence was daily increasing.


Great Britain assumed the right of taxing. without their consent. and to an indefinite amount, the Colonies of New Hampshire, Massa- chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- vania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina. South Carolina, and Georgia. These colonies resisted for a long time the encroachments of the mother country by petition, remonstrances, agents, and every argu- ment. They were met with scorn, derision, and contempt. Becoming at length determined to force her system upon her colonies, England supported agents in every colony to collect her anties on stamps. atel sent a ship loaded with tea to Boston in de tiance of public opinion. The citizens met masked, entered the ship in a mob, and threw the tex into the ocean.


Great Britain, feeling her pride wounded, sent out a heavy military force to Boston, in order to force the colonists into individual uncon ... tional subjection. But several of the colonies had assembled in congr .. in order to devise measures whereby to resist these encroachments.


They began to form depots of military stores, and the British troop. marched to Concord, and destroyed a small quantity which were there deposited, a distance of about twenty miles The free citizens of th. adjacent country arose in mass, and, without commanders, annoyed the British troops in their retreat from behind the fences and trees. They


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HISTORY OF VAN WERT AND MERCER COUNTIES, OHIO.


killed about fifty British soldiers and officers, and lost on their part five mon killed and several wounded.


Thus the fire of the Resolution and civil war was kindled. The yeamen of the country flod to arms, Blood, the blood of freemen had been spilt (the country was electrified) by their ustural protectors. special congress was called at Philadelphia : articles of confederation were agreed upon ; an army was to be raised for the general defence, and the command of it was given to General George Washington, a veteran . bero, whose valor, prudence, and ardor proved, unter Providence, finally triumphant over foreign and domestic enemies; aided, indeed, by the blood and sinews of an intelligent and devoted people.


Early in June. 1775, was fought on Bunker Hill the first battle be- tweeu the English and American Armies. The British troops, the pride of their country, veterans in war, and counoanded by the most experi- enced generals, were overpowered by the raw American militia. Three times they were repulsed by a handful of yearsn. More than one thon- sand veterans were slain. While our undisciplined countrymen, after expending all their ammunition, retired and joined with little loss the main body of the army


Citizens flocked to the standard of their country in all directions, badly clothed, without even shoes to cover their naked and larerated feet. Nearly destitute of fireaims they rushed to the fiehl, and, amilst all the perils and sufferings incident to such a state, they conquered. The names of Washington, Warren, Putnam. Montgomery, Green, Giates. Arnold, Mercer, Lce, Hamilton, Wayne, the Marquis De La Fayette, and a host of worthies, are still fresh in the recollection of every citizen. The memorable battles of Lexington, Bunker's hill, Ticonderoga, Long Island, White Plains, Fort Washington. Brandywine. Saratoga. Trenton, the Cowpens, Monmouth, and Yorktown, are known by every child sixteen years of age who has read the history of his country.


These battles, through which our fathers waded in blood, cemented the Union of American Confederacy, now the happy and prosperous United States.


The pride of Britain being humbled, although she called her aid all the savages of our vast Northwest frontier, who broke in upon us with the tomahawk and the scalping-knife, making indiscriminate slangh- ter of helpless men, women, and children, she was foreed, in 17-3. after the most sanguinary conflict, to acknowledge that the United States were free, sovereign, and independent.


The Declaration of Independence was signed and promulgated through the Union on the fourth of July. 1776; after which the war continued six years, waged in the most cruel and unfeeling manner by the British. Those amongst our citizens who adhered to the British Ling were styled Tories. These men, destitute alike of every feeling and principle, at- tacked, in a sudden manner. the citizens of their own towns, wreaking their bloodthirsty vengeance alike on their parents, brothers, and sia- ters; burning towns, villages, and the dwellings of their nearest rela- tives with relentless fury, and plunging the dagger to the hearts of their countrymen. Oh, shame, where is thy blush !


But let us turn from these disgusting pictures. Peace was proclaimed, the soldier of the revolution returned to his home after his severe trials, pennyless; bis ardent patriotism did not forsake him, he mingled again with his fellow-citizens, and though neglected by the Government, which way poor and without means, he uttered not a murmur, but strove to gain a subsisterce by his daily labor.


He saw ever, where around him the fruits of his toils and sacrifices. Towne. villages, and cities reared their majestic temples where the forests had covered the country, and the beasts of the field, as well as the original inhabitants, fled before civilization and the arts; every house was opened and every hand greeted the war-worn veteran. After a lapse of years he is made to partake of the bounty of a grateful government.


Another war, rendered memorable by many battles and by the sacri- fices of a brave and generous people, has tested the strength and stabil- ity of our political institutions.


It was waged by our old enemy. Our navy, though compared to hers it was but a pigmy to a giant, rode triumphant on the ocean. Our militia and raw troops again beat the proudest veterans the worbl could pro- duce, with less than equal numbers, and the boasting conquerors of en- sanguined Europe were themselves conquered.


The genius of the free goverment of our country is daily developing its powers; it's flag waves over every sea. Its commerce extends over the whole globe, and equals that of the proudest nations of earth. While the inventive faculties of the American mind in our immortal Fulton furnished to the astonished world the novel spectacle of ships propelled by fire, traversing every sep, att approximating the extremi- ties of the longest river to a span. Our free and happy population has increased beyond any former example. In less than half a century two millions of people have become twelve millions.




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