USA > Ohio > Erie County > History of the Fire lands, comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers > Part 110
USA > Ohio > Huron County > History of the Fire lands, comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers > Part 110
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Mr. William B. Smith, and his mother, kept a public house at that time on the west side of the river. Mr. Smith remembered hearing the report of Perry's guns on the 10th of September, 1813, and, in company with his father, started for Put-in-Bay the next morning, arriving there the following morning, where Perry's fleet, with their prizes, were moored. Mr. Smith was married in Huron in June, 1819, and moved to Sandusky soon afterward, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was always highly esteemed as one of Ohio's best citizens by all who knew him. He was elected treasurer of Erie county in 1840. He died in Sandusky, September 25, 1818. Mrs. Smith, a most estimable lady, survives her husband.
FIRST EVENTS.
It is uncertain when the first post office was estab- lished at Huron. A letter from the venerable Francis Graham, above mentioned, of Ashland, Ohio, says : "I went to Huron in November, '15, (probably 1815) where I spent four years of my life. Uncle Sam gave us a post office early in 1817: office on the east side, and Asa Sandford postmaster," which was probably the first regularly established post office in Huron.
The first public school, it is said, was taught by Calvin Coe, in the winter of 1810-11, and afterward by Miss Tamar Ruggles (later Mrs. Jabez Wright). It is said that Mr. Coe was afterward ordained preacher of the gospel, and as such was the first who served in that capacity in Huron.
About the year 1815, Mr. William Chapman opened a school near his house, on lot twenty-five, section three, and continued for a few years. Mr. Winthrop H. Wright remembers attending as a pupil.
The first public highway in the township was on the east side of the river, surveyed by Jabez Wright, beginning at the lake shore, near the mouth of the river, running southward. The survey was made in 1810.
William Winthrop, former owner of Huron town- ship, built a saw mill on Saw Mill creek, two and a half miles west of the river, in 1819.
In 1819, N. M. Standart and Cyrus Butler opened a store of dry goods and groceries on the west side
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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
of the river. In 1820, they parted. Standart went to Milan, and Butler went to Norwalk.
In 1824, N. M. Standart and Daniel Hamilton built a store in Huron. Charles Standart and Philo Adams served as clerks till 1825. Mr. Adams had moved to Huron in the spring of 1824 to board the men working on the harbor, under the direction of the Huron Harbor company.
In 1825, Philo Adams moved on to his farm, where he remained until his death, except a short residence in Milan, keeping a hotel.
In the fall of 1825, Charles Standart and George H. Gibbs purchased Standart & Hamilton's stock of goods. The firm continued fifteen months, when Gibbs retired. Standart continned the business till 1828, when he discontinued the store, built a ware- house and dock, and commenced storage and com- mission business.
EARLY RESIDENTS.
Judge Standart says that when he first went to Huron, in October, 1824, there was one frame house on the west side of the river, occupied by Philo Adams, who boarded the men working on the harbor, a log building occupied by the Green family, and a small cabin on the bank of the lake occupied by Captain Reed, the first shipbuilder of Huron. There
were on the east side other log buildings, occupied by different individuals; among whom were Benjamin Gould, a catfisherman, and Jeremiah Van Benscho- ter, up the river. There were several other families located in different parts of the township about the time Standart came to Huron, which we have not heretofore mentioned. E. M. Granger lived on the farm afterward owned by Mr. Standart. George Downing lived near Granger; Mr. John Hughes and family near the west line. William Chapman, the Everetts, Woolvertons, Swifts, and some other farm- ers settled in the township about the same time. David Everitt came to the Fire-lands in 1824. He lived in Milan a few years; is now a resident of Huron township, and about eighty years of age.
Mr. Tower Jackson came to the Fire-lands April 14. A. D. 1819, and soon after located in Milan. He was married November 18, 1822, to Miss Sarah Cloek, of Monroeville. On the 4th of July, 1826, he move:l to Huron. He entered into partnership with Henry W. Jenkins, selling dry goods and groceries, continu- ing in business with Jenkins for a few years. About 1830, he went into partnership with Mr. Richard E. Colt. The firm invested considerable money in the encouragement of varions industries; quite extensively in vessel building. They built the steamboat Dela- ware, bringing her ont in 1834. Mr. Jackson re mained in Huron till 1846, when he went to Racine, Wisconsin: and two years later removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where Mrs. Jackson died, in A. D. 1854. He is now a resident of Huron, in the eighty-first year of his age, where, it is to be hoped by his many friends, he will continue his residence. He married a second
wife, Miss Lucy Button, previous to returning from Cleveland. Mr. Jackson built the Huron House, about 1830, on the northwest corner of Main and Wall streets. In 1840, he built the American House, on the corner of Main and Lake streets. The Huron House has been moved, and is now occupied as stores. The American was burned. Henry W. Jenkins came in quite an early day; the precise time is not known. He dealt in dry goods and groceries, invested some in vessel stock; built the Ohio Hotel, and was an active worker in assisting to build up the town. He left Huron sometime after 1840, went to Cincinnati, from thence to the Isthmus of Darien, and commenced the carrying business across the Isthmus, and died there about 1850.
The Ohio Hotel, above mentioned, stood on the southwest corner of Main and Wall streets, and was destroyed by fire on the Fourth of July, 1854.
Buel B. Jones came to Huron about 1835 or '36; sold dry goods and groceries for a few years, after which he rentel the Ohio hotel, which he kept for two or three years, then moved away.
Mr. John W. Wickham (of the firm of Wickham & Company), was born in Philadelphia, October 13, 1806; was reared to manhood in Sodus, at the mouth of Great Sodus Bay, in the State of New York. He came to Huron in the autumn of 1833; commenced the forwarding and commission business, buying and shipping grain and other farm productions. He also opened a store of dry goods and groceries, but after a few years discontinued selling goods. The firm are now carrying on a very extensive fishery; also dealing in lumber and buying grain. They give employment to a great number of Huron laborers. Mr. Wickham is one of the oldest pioneers now engaged in mercan- tile business. Mrs. J. W. Wickham is also a Huron pioneer from infancy, a daughter of Mr. Schuyler Van Rensselaer, deceased, who was one of the early pioneers of Huron county. He came to Huron in the spring of 1833. He assisted Mr. Abiatha Shirley in making the plat of Huron in A. D. 1833.
"PHYSICIANS.
The physicians were not very numerous among the early Huron pioneers. Dr. Ansolem Gutherie was the first Huron physician who attempted to locate in the town. He came in 1813, and remained until 1817, when he removed to Canada. It is not known whether there were any other resident physicians at the mouth of the river for several years after Dr. Gutherie left.
An old gentleman, called Doct McCrea, from New Jersey, located near the west line of the township, near the Stone House (so called), doing some medical business in that vicinity. We think he went back to New Jersey.
Dr. Charles H. Legget came to Huron in 1830; practiced in the village and vicinity till May 29, 1832. He was drowned in Huron river, together with his wife; supposed to have been caused by the accidental
60
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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
upsetting of a small boat, near Wright's river farm- no other person was present when the accident oc- curred. It was not discovered till the following morning, when the citizens, alarmed at their pro- longed absence, discovered the boat, dragged the river, and recovered their remains.
After Dr. Legget's death, there were a great many physicians who came to Huron at different periods with a view of locating, as our Huron marshes and their various surroundings looked inviting to the doc- tors who aspired to professional notoriety; but in time discovered that "all was not gold that glittered," that the marshes were on a level with Lake Erie, and that their pure, glittering waters would not pro- duce miasmata worth a cent; or, in other words, Huron was a very healthy town, and would support only a limited number of physicians. Therefore, as there were so large a number of medical men who attempted a permanent location and failed, I will only mention the few who have weathered the hard- ships of a pioneer life, and those who reside here at the present time.
Dr. George S. Haskin, now practicing medicine in Huron, was born in the town of Rupert, Vermont, August 27, 1805. He came to the Fire-lands in 1831, landing at Sandusky; in June, 1832, he came to Huron and commenced the practice of his profession.
Dr. Joseph Caldwell came to Huron in the spring of 1833. He continued the medical practice till his death, which occurred June 13, 1866, in the seventy- fifth year of his age, much lamented by many friends.
Dr. J. T. Cushing, now a medical practitioner, came to Huron in 1865 and commenced business.
Dr. H. E. MeNutt, now practicing medicine in Huron, commenced in 1874.
CHURCHES.
There are now five church edifices within the village corporation limits, and one on the west line of the township, which was erected by the late Mr. John Graham, assisted by the citizens of West Huron and some others.
John Graham was of Irish nationality. He came into the township about the year 1833, and located on the Cummings farm, lot number twenty-seven, section fourth. His religion is said to have been that of a Wesleyan Methodist. His character was that of a strictly honest man. He was highly esteemed by all his neighbors. He died about the year A. D. 1856, in the month of October. Mrs. Graham, a very es- timable lady, seventy-three years of age, survives her husband. She resides on the old homestead.
Since writing the foregoing we have learned that Mr. Graham's ancestors were of Scotch descent, hav- ing emigrated from Scotland to Ireland in the early part of the eighteenth century.
Of the five churches in Huron, the Protestant Episcopal, called "Christ's Church " (a brick edifice), was built in 1838. In 1839, this church edifice, un- der the ministry of Rev. Samuel Marks (the present
rector) was dedicated to the service of Almighty God by Bishop MeIlvaine, .D. D., D. C. L. Wardens: J. W. Wickham and S. P. McDonald.
The Presbyterian Church was built in 1853. The German Lutheran was erected about 1860.
The Methodist in 1871.
The German Evangelical in A. D. 1875.
The Presbyterians have recently engaged Rev. Mr. Snowdon, of West Vill, Ohio.
The Rev. Mr. Hassenpflug has charge of the Ger- man Evangelical Church.
The other churches are not under the care of any regular established clergyman.
THE CHOLERA.
The natural advantages of the Huron harbor and the favorable location for a business town, began to attract attention soon after the close of the war with England, and when the United States made appro- priation for the improvement of the harbor. in 1827, immigration rapidly increased till 1834, when a seri- ous impediment to business occurred by the appear- ance of Asiatic cholera, wholly suspending, for a few months, all varieties of industry, except the care of the sick. That year the emigration from Europe, principally from Germany, was a perfect flood, and at every steamboat landing there were sick and dying in numbers so great as to drive a great portion of the inhabitants from town.
There were then five practicing physicians in the village, one of whom died of the disease; three others left, Dr. George S. Haskin only remaining. Finally, as antumnal frosts made their appearance, the mon- ster disease disappeared, and business increased with redoubled vigor, and in a very short time all was life and animation.
Huron village has a population of about one thou- sand and five hundred; the whole township, includ- ing the village, about four thousand.
The present board of township officers are: Wm. G. Sage, Blake W. Griffin, Geo. W. Harris, trustees; Thomas M. Sprowl, township clerk; John W. Wick- ham, treasurer; Thomas J. Harris and Levi Peck, justices of the peace.
The officers of the village corporation are: A. H. Winchell, mayor; J. L. Brooks, recorder; Jabez Wright, John Aicher, Philo McMillen, Charles Hey- man and Jacob Gunzevhauser, town council.
At the April election for the present year-1879- there has been some change in the township board of officers. The following were elected, riz .: Wm. G. Sage, Blake W. Griffin and Henry Halliday, township trustees; J. L. Brooks, clerk; John W. Wickham, Jr., treasurer; J. L. Brooks elected as the third justice of the peace, in addition to Harris and Peck.
The officers of the village corporation are the same as above.
In reviewing the early history of the Fire-land pioneers, mentioned in the foregoing sketch, we are forced to look with admiration at the stern, manly
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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
character of nearly every early pioneer. Their power of enduring hardship and privation, the cheerful and determined fortitude of their onward struggles, without a thought of looking back, but always looking ahead with unyielding determination, seem to be al- most universal characteristics of the early Fire-lands pioneers.
How hard it would seem to any of our well-to-do neighbors of the present day, to be set back into the . sleep," and affectionately tucking up the covering of rude log cabin with only one room, eighteen by twenty feet, a log fire blazing on the hearth; would - we be as happy as we can imagine the early pioneer to have been when thus sitnated? In our imagina- tion we can see a pioneer family enjoying the rude comforts of such a primitive condition. The family consisting of father, mother and half a dozen, or
more, children. The sturdy head of the family sit- ting at a rough table, after a hard day's work, read- ing from a much-worn old family Bible. The mother with knitting-work in hand, and half a dozen, or more, children respectfully listening: and later in the evening, we can see the boys climbing up the ladder on their way to bed in the chamber overhead. The mother hearing the "now I lay me down to three or four little fellows in their trundle beds. But, oh, how swiftly time flies, and we often feel that it matters but little how swiftly. We may re- call the pleasant memories of the past and of our youth, but seldom find the man who would wish to live the same life over again.
BERLIN .*
NAME.
The original name of Berlin was Eldridge, from one of its earliest proprietors. He became unpopular, so much so that in 1832 the people petitioned the com- missioners of Huron county to change the name, sta- ting as a reason that they did not desire to perpetuate the name of an unworthy man. It seems the people were mistaken, for those intimately acquainted with Mr. Eldridge remember him as a pleasant gentleman. He purchased the eastern half of the township as a speculation, and the taxes, imposed unequally, rested so heavily on unimproved lands, improvements being exempted, that he was unable to pay his taxes, and was ruined by owning a half of one of the best town- ships on the Fire-lands. Rumors came from Con- nectient that he had been guilty of forgery to redeem his credit, and possibly the innate hatred the settler felt toward the land speculator, was at the root of the popular sentiment. The petitioners suggested Lyme as a desirable name, but as there was already a town by the same name in the county,-it then being a part of Huron county, the commissioners objected. It was at the time of the Milan-Berlin treaty. Noah Hill, who always was deeply interested in politics, suggested that, as the county had Milan, it should have Berlin, too, and thus the town was named.
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
The township, as first surveyed, was five miles square, but received additions of territory extending its boundaries to the shores of Lake Erie. The sur- face is level, except the valleys formed by the streams, from the lake to the ridge, where it rises from fifty to
one hundred feet, and then extends southward nearly as level as before. This ridge was once undoubtedly the ancient shore of the lake. It extends through the township from northeast to southwest, and at the " pinnacle " the base of the bluff is sixty feet above the level of the lake, and its slope presents three distinct terraces, or shore lines, at the respective heights of one hundred, one hundred and fifty and one hundred and ninety-five feet above the level of the lake. These indicate successive periods of subsidence.
There are indications of salt in many places in the township. There is, in fact, a line of so-called "licks" parallel with the ridge. The two most noted among early hunters as the resort of deer, were located on lands occupied by Nathan Tuttle and Ezekiel Sayles. Between these a deep path was worn by the deer. These licks present, during dry seasons, a saline efflorescence crusting the surface. That on the Sayles land was in the valley of the Old Woman creek, and the early settlers dug a pit, into which they sank a section of a hollow tree, and the salt water came in sufficient quantities to allow them to make salt in a small way. Salt then being difficult to obtain, and costly, this was quite advantageous. The belief in the value of this salt spring was so strong in the mind of the early proprietor, Fosdick, that the surrounding land was withheld from sale for many years. At a later day Prof. B. L. Hill, and others, made explorations, but withont results, the site of the old spring being obliterated by floods, and they were unable to find it. However, they obtained salt water.
The surface formation is almost exclusively of the drift, and in places boulders, often of large size, are thickly scattered.
# By Hudson Tuttle.
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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
The soil of the portion south of the ridge is sandy, mixed with fields of loam running almost into clay. The western part, below the ridge, is also sandy, either yellowish or black, and the northeastern portion is clayey, as it is along the shore, which is unequaled for the production of wheat. There is, thus, the greatest variety of soil, and the farmer is enabled to grow whatever crop he pleases. having soil adarted for all.
There are two streams or creeks in the township, the Chapelle, running through the eastern portion, and the Old Woman creek, which has two branches. the east and west, arising in Townsend, and flowing north ward through the central portion, uniting about one and a half miles northwest of the heights, and emptying into the lake. From this union to the lake, the stream is like a canal, with wide and marshy borders. The name of the latter stream is said to have been given because an old squaw was drowned at its month.
There are four small marshes, two of which have been reclaimed, and when land becomes more valuable, no doubt but the others will be also. The surface was heavily timbered, and the forest presented almost an herculean task to the pioneers. Oak was the pre- vailing growth, plentifully mixed with ash, elm, hickory, basswood, walnut, whitewood, and, along the streams, butternut and sycamore.
VILLAGES.
There are three small villages in the township. Berlinville, on the old State road, in the old times of stage coaches, was a busy little centre, with good tavern, store, and the only post office in the township. Berlin Heights is the largest, and is the natural centre, towards which the people gravitate. It has three . stores, an hotel, saloon, several manufactories, a saw and grist mill, three churches and a fine graded school. It is noted for its intelligence and enterprise. Directly north of the Heights, on the L. S. & M. S. R. R., is Ceylon, a place that started up and grew rapidly for a time. It has two stores, two saloons, an hotel, saw mill and post office.
MAIL FACILITIES.
The mail is carried by hack from Ceylon, on the northern divison, via Berlin Heights, Berlinville, East Norwalk, to Norwalk, on the southern Division, giving all these places the advantage of morning and evening mails. The L. S. & M. S. R. R. passes through the northern part of the township, and sends a spur south to the quarries and gravel bed. The advantages of extending this spur to the Heights are so apparent, that it certainly will be done at no distant day.
CEMETERIES.
There are six burial grounds in the limits of the township-two at the Heights, under the control of the township; one at Berlinville; one in the southeast
part, known as the Chapel ground; one east of Ha"- per's corners, known as the Peak ground; and one at the month of the Chapelle creek, directly on the lake shore, which is being rapidly washed away.
ABORIGINAL RACES.
The Indians were not the aboriginal race. They were preceded by that mysterious people, the mound builders. Interesting fortifications, referable to this pre-historic race, are found on the farm originally owned by Curtis Benschooter, on the summit of the high bank of the creek, and this earthwork has great interest as having evidently been built to protect against incursions of an enemy, who would come by water from the lake, and traces of works lower down show that at that time the water stood at a much higher level, and the wide marsh was then a bay, opening with a wide mouth into the lake. There were mounds on the farm of Jasen Thompson, with graves, and the present site of the residence of Mr. Henry Hoak seems to have been an ancient sepulcher. He has, in making excavations, brought to light ser- eral fragmentary skeletons, one of which has especial interest from its remarkable state of preservation and rare peculiarities. It was buried deeper than the others. so that it was enveloped in the clayey subsoil, and hence had been better protected than those enveloped in the loose sand. The skull of this speci- men measures but nineteen inches in circumference, which would almost indicate it was idiotic, and is remarkably low. The arms are of unusual length, the under jaw extremely massive, and the height less than four feet. Yet the individual evidently was not idiotic, as she had attained an extreme old age, which the idiot savage cannot do.
In 1852, Mr. H. L. Hill, in cutting an oak, discor- ered three hacks, made by a small ax, and found that there were two hundred and eighteen annual rings on the outside of it. This would carry the age of the markings back to the earliest French voyageurs, in fact, much earlier than has been supposed those hardy adventurers penetrated this remote region. Now, the farmer, turning with his iron plowshare the mellow fields, often finds the flint arrow head, the stone ax, the spear point, alike of red man and mound builder, and if of reflective mind may moralize over the decay of races in that dim past, of which these mute weapons only remain.
THE EARLIEST PIONEERS.
A party of adventurers built and launched a rude boat at the month of Walnut creek, Pennsylvania, in 1808. They were John Hoak. John Mclaughlin, George Miller, Nathaniel Burdue, Benjamin Pratt, Mr. Richie, and Howard. They sailed np the lake in the spring, bringing provisions, farming tools and thirty barrels of whisky. They encountered severe weather and had to cast overboard their whisky, but when the storm subsided, they cruised about and gathered it up again. When they reached the mouth
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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
of the Huron river, the sand-bar shut them out, so they had to dig a canal to get their boat in. They selected a field on the Kline and Minus farm, and planted eighteen acres of corn; after hoeing it, they hired an Indian to guard it, while they went after their families. They returned in the fall in their boat, but their families came by land, under the es- cort of Henry Hoak, father to John Hoak. He was, without doubt, the oldest of all the pioneers, having been born in 1745. He remained until his death, in 1832, at the age of eighty-seven, with his son, and was a most exemplary and pious man. The majority of this venturesome party settled finally in Berlin, in 1810-11, leaving the Huron bottom lands on account of overflows.
John Hoak, who settled on the Kline farm for two years, moved to the farm now owned by his son Henry; built one of the first houses, in 1810. Only four whites were present at the raising of the great logs of which it was constructed, but Silas David, an Indian chief, with his tribe, assisted. They were forbidden, by him, to taste of liquor until the work was done, then they drank and held a pow-wow to their heart's content. One was so riotous they built a pen of rails around him, covered it over and left him till morning.
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