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 114
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 114
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122
Among the many tracts he has written, the mest notable nre, perhaps, "Revivals, their Cause and Cure," and "Origin of the Cross and Steeple."
To all this literary lahor must be added his editorial duties and continuous contributions to the press, both reform and secular. For years he has written, on an average, one review each week. He has never entered the field as an itinerant lecturer, yet calls from the various societies fully occupy his leisure time. All this literary work has been accomplished outside of the ordinary routine of business.
He has a productive farm of between two nnd three hundred acres, with orchards and vineyards, which receives his personal supervision. Few men in this country raise better creps, er have a better knowledge of svils, and the best methods of culture. The farm, of course, must receive his attention during the day, and liis literary labor is mostly performed at night.
In 1857 he was united in marriage to Miss Emma D. Rood, a lady of rare poetic and artistic talent. They are bound together by the ties of a common
belief, and, in the highest and best sense of the word, are helpmeets to each other. Their home is a centre of reformatory influence in Northern Ohio. Their generous and cordial hospitality seems unbounded.
Mr. Tuttle is yet a young man, comparatively, and only the initial chapter of his biography can be written. His has been a strange education, and ouo of special significance te those who accept Spiritualism.
The writer of this biography has quoted largely frem a sketch of the life of Mr. Tuttle in the " World's Sages, Infidels, and Thinkers," and he regrets that the space allotted in this histery will not justify a more extended ene.
MRS. EMMA TUTTLE, the subject of this skotch, was the daughter of John Rood, Jr., and Jane A. Miller. She was born in Braceville, Trumbull Co., Ohio, in 1839, on the farm where her mother passed her childhood.
Her father was a native of East Canaan, Conn., and came to Ohio in 1836. Her mother was a nstive of Obio. She was educated at the Western Reserve Seminary, at Farmington, Ohio,-a Methodist institution. She was reared in that religious faith, and was a member of the church in her native town until just previous te her marriage, when she withdrew her connection with that bedy, having embraced the doctrines of Spiritualism.
The public literary labors of Mrs. Tuttle commenced in the cause of her new faith, but in later years have widened and become more general, as the versatility of her powers developed, and her dramatic work has been entirely of a literary character.
She is the auther of two volumes of peems, " Blossoms of our Spring," an early production, as the title implies, and "Gazelle," a story of the Rebellion, published anonymously. "The Lyceum Guide," & book for the use of Sunday- schools organized after the plan of Andrew Jackson Davis, was edited by her, and she was the principal contributer. It was a work of great merit, and has been universally praised by critics who comprehended the system tanght. It had a wide sale. The plates of this work were destroyed in the " Boston fire," but the demand for the book is such that it will soon be republished. The demand for a work of this kind, for the use of lyceums, is, we are informed, sbent as staple as the machinery fer an ordinary Sunday-schoel.
Mrs. Tuttle is deeply interested in children's progressive lyceums, and says that a working organization of this kind is one of the most charming places for instruction for both old and young. With its orchestra, banners, marching, calisthenics, recitations, discussions, and lectures, it is never monotonous, and cannet fail to interest and instruct. She has been a faithful and zealous worker in this field of labor, and says she has received great benefit personally.
Mrs. Tuttle is, perhaps, better known to the general public in Ohio through her songs and her dramatic readings. Her lyric compositions have been set to music by eminent composers, among whom are James G. Clark, of New York; Prof. Bailey, of Michigan; Felix Schilling, of Philadelphia; II. M. Higgins, E. T. Blackmer, Miss Emily B. Talmage, of Chicago; and Dr. E. L. Perry, of Milan, Ohio. Among the more popular of these compositions are "My Lost Darling," " The Unsean City," and "Beautiful Clarihell."
She has rare poetic genius, and is a constant contributor to all the leading reformatory journals, and frequently to the secular press. She has had a therongh education as an actress and dramatic reader, having finished her course under the renowned Prof. T. F. Leonard, in Besten. Critics say of her: "She hss no superior io her rendition of 'The Maniac,' by Lewis; ner in the heroic compositions of Macsulay, 88 ' Horatius at the Bridge,' and the tragic story of 'Virginia,' which she gives in Roman dress. Comic and serio-comic she rendera with equal credit, but she does not fully relish them.
Her intensely, morbidly, sympathetic nature is, undoubtedly, the secret of her versatility and complete adaptability to the characters she represents. With the necessary study for presentation, she so completely enters into the subject as to hecome in spirit the person she represents.
Desirable as is this quality, it is not without its tortures,-in her case, at least, for she informs ns that it attends her in every-day life as well as on the stage. The suffering er abuse of either human beings or animals is often the cause of serious illness, because of her sympathy, which she cannot quiet or put away. She is s zealous advocate of kindness to animals, as all who have ever shared the hospitality of this family well know, and she says she will never submit to any abuse of them on the Tuttle farm. No servant can remain with them who will ignore their needs and righte. It is a part of her religion to regard the wants and needs of animals, and, aside from the real pleasure it gives, she says "it pays well." With her own hands she often cares for the needs of her dumb friends, and takes solid pleasure in their grateful friendship.
Her life is one of continuous activity and usefulness. Her charities, like her sympathies, are on & generous scale, and her hospitalities are messured only by her physical strength. It would be our pleasure to write a mere extended biography of this cultivated aod gifted lady if our space would justify.
Threo bright and promising children crown the union of Mr. and Mrs. Tut- tle,-Rose, Carl, and little Clare; and the more sacred duties of mother are net neglected by Mrs. Tuttle, amid all her literary and domestic cares.
487
HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
So far as testing communism was concerned, the attempt was an utter failure. The drifting to this section of so many individuals, who, to use their own phrase, were "intensely individualized," and who re- mained after the complete failure of their schemes, has had an influence on the character of the town. They engaged in fruit growing, have multiplied the small farms, and added to the prosperity and intel- lectual life of the people. From the beginning their honesty never was questioned, however mistaken their ideas.
Johnson's Cyclopedia makes a strange blunder, when it says that a flourishing community of Spiritu- alists is located at Berlin Heights. It refers, of course to the socialistic society, which was not spirit- ualistic in any sense of the word. Spiritualism does not teach communism in any form, and some of the most zealous opposers of the socialists were among the spiritualists. It is true that some of the social- ists claimed to be spiritualists, and others claimed to believe in various church doctrines, and some were atheists.
The Berlin people are noted for tolerance, but it may be presumed that the socialists, with their strange ideas, did not always find their paths strewn with roses, and the citizens still retain fresh in their memories, how, when Francis Barry attempted to mail a number of the obnoxious Age of Freedom, twenty Berlin women siezed the mail-sack in which he had brought it on his shoulder to the office, and made a bonfire in the street. The following jour- nals were successively started by the socialists and ran brief careers: Social Revolutionist, conducted by J. S. Patterson, 1857; Age of Freedom, commenced in 1858, Frank and Cordelia Barry and C. M. Over- ton, editors; Good Time Coming, 1859, edited by J. P. Lesley and C. M. Overton; the New Republic, 1862, edited by Francis Barry; The Optimist, and Kingdom of Heaven, 1869, Thomas Cook, editor; The Principia, or Personality, 1868, N. A. Brown, editor; the New Campaign, 1871, C. M. Overton, editor; The Toledo Sun, moved from Toledo to Ber- lin Heights in 1875, by John A. Laut.
Besides these, two local newspapers were published for some time: The Bulletin, by W. B. Harrison, commenced in 1820; and the Index, by F. J. Miles, commenced in 1815.
In 1851, the Ark of Temperance was established in Berlin, and perhaps nothing excited a greater and more permanent influence over the morals and intel- lectual culture of the people. The Sons of Temper- ance excluded women, and hence failed. Mr. S. O. Kellogg conceived the happy idea of establishing an order wherein the sexes should be equal. The result of his thinking was the "Ark," of which the Good Templars is a faint imitation. The movement was a great success. The organization at one time num- bered over eight hundred members. The grand ark began establishing subordinate arks, and had the mat- ter been pushed there was no reason why it had not
become as wide as the country. For many years the ark at the Heights was maintained, and to the attrac- tions of the impressive ritual was added not only social, but a high order of intellectual life.
SOLDIERS OF BERLIN.
The following is a complete list of the soldiers who are dead, furnished by Berlin in the defence of the country, and from it something may be learned of the sacrifice of life and money made in the holy cause of liberty by this township:
Revolution-Orley Benschoter, Hieronomus Min- gus, Aaron Van Benschoter.
War of 1812-Russell Ransom, Nathaniel Griffin, Ephraim Hardy, Prosper Carey, George Whitney, Joshua Phillips, P. T. Barber, Jacob Mingus, Na- thaniel Burdue, H. Dunbar, T. Miller.
War of the Rebellion-Wm. Lowry, Sam. McGur- kin, Richard Mulleneaux, Curtis Mullenaux, Myron Rice, George Burgess, L. L. Hardy, D. D. Stage, W. A. Keith, Spafford Penny, J. Woodward, Osro J. Lowell, J. Hall, J. Daniels, Elisha Jenkins, W. Swartz, Diodot Ransom, George Johnson, S. Seeley, C. A. Graves, E. Huffman, E. Hardy, Fred Huntley, James Smith, P. K. Loomis, Geo. L. Fowler, Horace Hill, John Laughlin, J. Smith, H. Smith, Darius Smith, Charles Elwood, Henry Elwood, Aaron Hall, Lucius Smith, Dan'l Weatherslow, Oliver Benschoter, Frank Bemis, William Bellamy.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
HON. ALMON RUGGLES.
Few, if any, of the early pioneers of this country, are more deserving a place in history, and none filled more prominent and important positions, or had more varied and interesting experiences, than did the subject of this sketch. He came to this country from Dan- bnry, Connecticut, to survey the "Sufferer's Lands," so-called, in 1805. His first surveys were made under orders of his principal, and proved unsatisfactory to the committee, and he was then chosen by the com- mittee as chief, and the survey was made the second time, to the satisfaction of all concerned. In this survey he called to his aid Judge Wright, of New York, who had charge of one branch of the work. In addition to his salary, he was permitted to select one mile square any where on the lake shore, within the limits of the Fire-lands, at one dollar per acre. He selected the land, -a portion of which is now owned by his only surviving son. Richard Ruggles, on the lake shore, in the township of Berlin. The beautiful grove, known as " Ruggles' Grove, " was spared by his order, and is now a fit monument to his memory, and in sight of which his ashes repose.
488
HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
He was an expert swimmer. When it became necessary to cross a stream he could not ford, he would tie his wardrobe into as small a bundle as pos- sible, cross the stream with them, and return for his compass.
His father was Ashbel Ruggles, a descendant of one of three brothers who came from Scotland, but just
what year is not known. His mother was a Bostwick. Almon was a twin, His brother Alfred died in infancy.
His father was in indigent circumstances when he was a boy, and he went to live with an uncle, who was a Presbyterian deacon, and very parsimonious. He refused to give young Ruggles an education, or to even give him an opportunity to acquire one. He obtained his first book by catching wood chucks, tanning the skins, and braiding them into whip-lashes for the market. As Providence helps the man who helps himself, so this young man was prospered. Six months was the sum of his school days, yet by appli- cation, he fitted himself for teaching, and taught in an academy for some time. The very obstacles to be overcome, gave him that energy and strength of character which ever after characterized his public and private life. He was a self-made man in the best sense of the word. His own early struggles with poverty, gave him active sympathies with the poor pioneers of this country. All regarded him as a friend, and many of them depended on him for sup- port in all emergencies. He had a store of general merchandise, and trusted all those who could not pay. It is said of him that he might have been very rich,
had he been disposed to grind the face of poverty. He preferred to live more unselfishly, and merit the confidence and respect of his fellows. He not only encouraged the early settlers with material aid, but with cheerful looks and kind words. He was always jolly, and enjoyed fun, and all enjoyed his society. He represented this senatorial district in the State legislature in 1816-17-19, when the district consisted of the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga, Portage, Cuyahoga and Huron, and in 1820, when it consisted of Cuyahoga and Huron. He was associate judge for several years, under the old constitution. His ability, his integrity, his knowledge of the country and people, eminently qualified him for the places he filled, and it is said of him, that in all bis public life, no official misconduct stained his record, or cast a shadow on his character. He was an earnest worker in the whig party, and a personal friend of General Harrison.
He was twice married. His second wife was a wid- ow, Mrs. Rhoda Buck nee Sprague. He has two living children: Mrs. Dr. Phillips, of Berlin Heights, and Richard, who married Miss Eleanor E. Post, of Berlin. He lives on the homestead. Charles married Miss Mary Douglass for his first wife, and Miss Julia Mallory for his second. He was a member of no church, but was equally liberal with all, opening his dwelling for meetings and for the entertainment of the ministers. He was too large a man for wrong- doing, and too liberal and kind to treat any with incivility. Such a life never ends, so long as grate- ful children and grandchildren walk in its echoes. Such men can walk fearlessly and confidingly down into the great future to meet whatever awaits them there. He passed in to the "Beyond," July 17, 1840, in the sixty-ninth year of his age.
REV. PHINEAS BARKER BARBER .
was born in Greenwich, Washington county, New York, June 22, 1793. At the age of nineteen, he en- listed as a soldier in the war of 1812 with Captain Cook, in the New York militia, and was honorably discharged. The command of Captain Cook did effi- cient service, and suffered much. At the time of his decease he was drawing a pension for service rendered during that war.
In 1815, at the age of twenty-two, he purchased his first farm in Lock, Cayuga county, New York. June 3, 1819, he was united in marriage with Orpha Morse, daughter of Judge Morse, of the same county, by whom he had seven children, five of whom are living.
In 1830, he came to Ohio with his family, and set- tled in Berlin, where he lived until his decease. June 26, 1836, his wife died, and, on the 20th of June, 1837, he married Roxana S. Heath, who survives him. He was converted to christianity at the age of twenty- three, and entered the ministry of the Methodist
P. B. BARBER .
MRS. P. B.BARBER.
489
HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
Episcopal Church, at the age of twenty-six, and from that time until his death was a zealous worker in the vineyard of the church.
His ministry commenced in Ohio, at a time when he could stand in his own door and shoot deer and other game, which he frequently did. In those days, he traveled through the woods on foot to fill his ap- pointments, and preached in churches, school houses and private dwellings. He preached in nearly every township in Erie and Huron counties, and had two or more preaching places in each township.
To the fulfillment of his duties as a minister, he brought a cultured and cheerful mind, rare energy of character, industry, economy and hospitality. His liberality knew no bounds but an empty purse. These traits of character were crowned with love for God and humanity. His piety and courage, as well as his faith and hope, are conspicuous at every stage of his history. During the fifty-eight years of his ministry, he never received a dollar for preaching, and he supported his family by hard labor on his farm. He was unflagging in his energies and untiring in his labor of love. No embassador of Jesus Christ ever sounded forth his messages with more faithful- ness or fervor.
His endurance was wonderful. He preached every Sunday, and his appointments were from five to twenty miles apart. He also attended, on an average, three funerals each week, and uniformly suffered with the sick headache after preaching. He pressed for- ward, sowing the seed for future harvest, in obedi- ence to what he conceived to be his duty. He planted in the morning, and in the evening withheld not his hand-exerting a wide influence.
It is said of him, that he married more couples and administered spiritual consolation to more of the sick, and preached more funeral sermons than any other man who ever lived in his field of labor. He lived in the affection and contidence of his people and neigh- bors. He held various offices of trust, and, at one time, lacked but ten votes of being elected representa- tive of his county in the State legislature; and, on one occasion, was nominated for State senator. He improved and beautified his home with his own hands, built his own house and barns, and assisted in build- ing the old Berlin Chapel, in 1835, and various other churches.
He was a Christian gentleman, never trifling, yet always cheerful, and fond of relating pleasant anec- dotes. He was a great reader, and had few equals as such in the general literature of his time. His doc- trinal habits and modes of thought followed him to the end. The character of this war-worn pioneer was one of the purest and brightest history records. In short, his life presents an instance of self-sacrificing devotion to his conviction of right and duty, of which history has but few parallels. His long and useful life was full of labor and adorned with love.
On the 2d day of May, 1877, at the age of eighty- four, he. escaped the thraldom of his earthly body, and entered upon the spiritual inheritance provided for all the redeemed.
ROXANA S. BARBER
was born in March, 1810, in Kingwood, New Jersey, on the Atlantic coast .. Her father was Richard Heath, light horseman. In those days of military ambition, the New Jersey militia powdered their wigs and presented a gay appearance. She came to Gene- seo, New York, in 1827, and to Florence, Ohio, in 1835. The family landed at Huron in November of that year. There being no mode of conveyance in the country at that time, they walked from Huron to Florence, where they purchased a farm. June 27, 1837, she was united in marriage to Rev. Phineas B. Barber, with whom she lived until his decease, a period of forty years, enduring the hardships of a pioneer life, and doing double duty, while her hus- band was from home, in the work of the ministry. The wives and mothers who suffered the hardships of pioneer life, who faced danger, want and suffering with such unfaltering trust and christian fortitude, will never, can never, be appreciated, not even by grateful children, until they put on the glorious robe of immortality, and their reward will not come until they enter the glories of the upper sanctuary. Two children were the fruit of this union. Carrie C. mar- ried Newton Andress in 1863; lives at Berlin Heights. Phineas B. deceased in 1869. Mrs. Barber resides with her daughter, Mrs. Andress.
62
MARGARETTA .*
MARGARETTA is the northwest township in the county, and is bounded on the north by Sandusky bay, on the east by Sandusky City, Perkins and Ox- ford townships, on the south by Groton, and on the west by Sandusky county and the bay. Range twenty-four, township six.
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
The surface features of the township, as a whole, may be called level, although some parts of it are high land and some gently rolling. The west half of the first section is rolling and thinly timbered, and is what is generally known as "oak openings," with a clay, sandy, or limestone soil, or some combination of these, and sand, gravel and limestone ridges occasionally. The northeast part was heavily timbered and level having a muck soil with clay subsoil, very rich and pro- ductive. The second section was heavily timbered land, except the south part, which was oak openings with a gradual descent to the north. The third section is mostly prairie with some strips of timber. It used to be called a marsh, but by making a channel for Cold creek, buiding the railroad, and making several large ditches through it, has made it good farming and grazing land. The fourth section is "openings" land, except the northwest corner, which extends on to the prairie. The "openings" were timbered with oak and hickory, with occasionally a walnut, ash, elm and basswood. The timbered land was covered with white, black, yellow, swamp, pin and burr oak, black walnut, hickory, black and white ash, elin, basswood and some chestnut, butternut and maple. Limestone ridges crop out in some places on the openings, so as to make the land difficult to cultivate, but, generally speaking, the soil produces a good quantity and a very superior quality of wheat, oats and potatoes, with average corn, clover and timothy, while the heavily timbered land is superior for grass, corn, wheat, when under-drained, and other heavy crops. There is a fraction of land along Sandusky bay, from one to two miles wide, that is north of Sandusky county, which belongs to Margaretta, and forms the northwest part of the township. The east half is timbered, the west half prairie and marsh; when the lake is high a portion of it is overflowed with water; when not under water, it produces a coarse grass of but little value.
There is a small stream called Pike creek (from the pike fish which are found in it in early spring floods), which enters the township near the southwest corner of section one, and runs in a northeasterly course
through this section and 'into Perkins township. emptying into Sandusky bay, about a mile west of the city, and this is known as Mill's creek. Quite a large area of territory is drained by this stream, which, in time of high water, afforded sufficient power to run a couple of saw mills, in an early day, one of which has been but recently torn down. There are two smaller streams which rise in the northern part of section three and empty into Sandusky bay. Their waters are strongly impregnated with some mineral, generally supposed to be sulphur.
The most important stream in the township is Cold Creek (so called from the fact of its water being cold). having its source a little west of the center of the township, runs about forty rods in a southwesterly course, then turns north, and empties into Sandusky Bay. Its whole length in a straight line would be about three miles. Iu its natural channel it ran through a piece of flat land or prairie heretofore mentioned, converting several hundred acres into a quagmire and muskrat garden. It now runs nearly its whole length through an artificial channel or mill race, and affords sufficient power to run two grist mills of four, and one of six run of stone. Cold creek rises north of the ridge, boiling up from a great depth in a large volume evidently from crevices in the limestone rock. Abont a half mile north of the head of this stream, formerly there was a small, nar- row stream (which one could step over without any effort), that came np in the form of a spring after the erection of the first mills at the head of Cold creek. By raising the water at its fountain head, this small stream was greatly enlarged, and excavated for itself a basin forty feet in diameter, and what, seems most unaccountable, exposed to view large trees in a prostrate position at the bottom of its bed. How these trees came there in that position we leave for savants to answer. As the waters of this stream (which now assumed the name of Little Cold creek) increased those of Cold creek proper, decreased, which led irresistibly to the conclusion, that there was a subterranean connection between the two, so that in order to secure sufficient water for the mill on Cold creek proper, this stream was dammed up to bring their waters to a level. Afterwards it was deemed advisable to connect the two springs by a channel so as to bring the water from this spring to the mill, but when done, the water ran the wrong way, and the larger stream emptied into the smaller instead of the smaller into the larger, as was intended, which necessitated building the mill where it now is at the lower spring, making one stream of the two. The waters of these springs are strongly impregnated
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.