USA > Ohio > Auglaize County > History of western Ohio and Auglaize County, with illustrations and biographical sketches of pioneers and prominent public men > Part 30
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The important services rendered by this chief have been noted in the sketches of other Shawnee Indians. He was one of the three noted chiefs selected by Colonel Johnston to act as scouts for General Harrison in the war of 1812. He was pres- ent when Logan was mortally wounded in the contest with Winnemac, and was severely wounded in the thigh in the same fight, but recovered. At the close of the war he returned to Wapakoneta. His cabin stood on the north bank of Quaker Run, near the site of the Distlerath slaughter-house. He was a man of large stature and of commanding appearance. His fidelity to General Harrison and the American army was never ques- tioned. He is said to have died at Wapakoneta in 1825 or '26.
BIG CAPTAIN JOHNNY.
Captain Johnny was chief of a tribe of Indians who lived on the west bank of Pusheta Creek at its junction with the Auglaize. Captain Johnny and his tribe were living at that point in 1812, and was employed by General Harrison in the
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capacities of scout and spy. He was with his old comrade Captain Logan at the time he was mortally wounded near the Maumee Rapids, in November, 1812. After the engagement he caught two of the enemy's horses, and after assisting his two wounded companions to mount them, he returned some distance to scalp his fallen enemies. After performing this act, he returned to Fort Winchester, reaching that point the next morn- ing.
Francis Dunlevy, a member of Captain Craig Ritchie's com- pany in "Crawford's Expedition," relates that he had, during the fight, been engaged with an Indian of huge dimensions. The latter, as evening approached, crept cautiously toward Dunlevy, through the top of a fallen tree, which was full of leaves, when getting near enough as he supposed, he threw his tomahawk, but missed his aim, and then escaped. This Indian was after- ward recognized by Dunlevy, as he believed, in "Big Captain Johnny," who, in the war of 1812, was with the friendly Shaw- nees at Wapakoneta. "In a campaign in which I served," writes A. H. Dunlevy, "under General William Henry Harrison, in 1812-13, I frequently saw this Indian. He must have been seven feet in height. He was as frightfully ugly as he was large."
There is a tradition extant, that Captain Johnny died about the year 1819, and was buried in the Indian cemetery, located on the west bank of Pusheta Creek near the St. Mary's pike.
PETER CORNSTALK.
The Indian chieftain, Peter Cornstalk, was born at Old Chillicothe about 1751, and was the son of the celebrated chief of that name who was assassinated at Point Pleasant in 1774. Like his father, Peter Cornstalk was commanding in appearance, and had the lofty bearing of the true savage. He fought in the battles against Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne, hoping to retain his country ; but when finally defeated in 1794, he decided that further resistance was useless, and signed the Treaty of Green- ville in 1795.
"Peter was a man of honor, and a true friend of the settlers in the Auglaize country."
After the expulsion of the Indians from Piqua, by General Clark he and his tribe settled on the east bank of the Auglaize River about two miles below Wapakoneta, where he resided until
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he and his tribe moved to Kansas. Of the dozen or more chiefs of the Shawnees, Peter Cornstalk and John Wolf were the only ones who gave their attention to the cultivation of the soil. The corn, beans, pumpkins, and melons raised on the rich bottom lands of the Auglaize river yielded an abundant subsistence to the tribe during their residence in that locality.
At the age of eighty-two years, Cornstalk accompanied his® tribe to Kansas, and settled on the Kansas river.
When the Wyandot Indians of Ohio sold their reservation to the United States, they demanded that the Shawnees should cede to them a tract of land containing one hundred and fifty square miles, lying at the east end of the Shawnee lands, claim- ing that that amount of land was due to them, for privileges that they had granted to the Shawnees in Ohio. The demand was met by violent opposition from the Shawnees. . A meeting of the chiefs was held to discuss the unjust demand. "Among the most prominent speakers who opposed the measure was Peter Cornstalk, a very old man, and son of the celebrated chief Corn- stalk, a conspicuous character in the Governor Dunmore War. He declared that he was as old a man as the commissioner was, and that he did not believe one word he said about the Wyandots' having done so much for the Shawnees. He thought it very strange that government could remember so much the Wyandots had done for them and he know so little about it.
"Strange," said he, "I must have been asleep a long time." "Well," he continued, "the Wyandots have given the United States a great deal of land; the United States have plenty - more, by far, than the Shawnees have - and he would propose that they just give the Wyandots a little, and not beg it of the Shawnees for them." (See Harvey's History of the Shawnee Indians, page 244.)
A tradition has been in circulation for many years in the county that Peter Cornstalk died, and was buried on the east side of the Auglaize river, about two miles below Wapakoneta.
Like many other traditions, it is at variance with well authenticated facts.
Cornstalk lived until about the year 1845. He was buried in the Quaker Mission cemetery near the Kansas river.
21 HAC
WAPAKONETA IN 1831.
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PART II.
HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY. 323
NEW COURT HOUSE. 324
HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY.
CHAPTER XIII.
The county of Auglaize was established by the following act :
AN ACT
To Erect the County of Auglaize.
SECTION I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the. State of Ohio, That such parts of the counties of Allen and Mercer as are included within the boundaries hereinafter described, be and the same are hereby erected into a separate and distinct county, which shall be known by the name of Auglaize, to wit: beginning at the northeast corner of Shelby county ; thence west on the north line of Shelby county to the south-west corner of section thirty, in township number six, south, of range number five, east; thence south on the township line to the south-east corner of section thirty-six, in township number seven, south, of range number four, east; thence west on the township line to the south-east corner of section thirty- one, in said township; thence south on the section line to the Darke county line; thence westerly on said line to the south- west corner of section seven, in township number eight, south, of range number four, east; thence north on the township line to the north-west corner of section nineteen, in township number four, south, of range number four, east; thence east on the section line to the north-east corner of section thirty-four, in township number four, south, of range number five, east; thence south on the township line to the north-east corner of section thirty-six, in said township; thence east on the section line to the north-east corner of section thirty-six, in township number four, south, of range number six, east; thence south to the south-east corner of said section, thence east on the town- ship line to the north-east corner of section one, in township number five, south, of range number eight, east; thence south
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on the Hardin county line to the north line of Logan county ; thence west on the Logan county line to the north-west corner of said Logan county ; thence south on the Logan county line to the place of beginning.
SEC. 2. That townships number two, south of ranges num- ber seven and eight, east; the south half of townships number two south of ranges number four and six east; and sections thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five and thirty-six, in township number one south, of range number eight, east, in Putnam county ; the east half of township number three, south, of range number four, east, in Van Wert county; and the north-east quarter of township number four, south, of range number four east, in Mercer county, be and the same are hereby attached to and made part of the county of Allen.
SEC. 3. That fractional townships number fifteen, ranges number one and two, east; and fractional townships number twelve and thirteen, of ranges number three and four, east, in Darke county, be and the same are hereby attached to and made part of the county of Mercer.
SEC. 4. That the east half of township number one, south, of range number four, east, in Van Wert county, be and the same is hereby attached to and made a part of the county of Putnam: and that the northwest quarter of township number four, south, of range number four, east, in Mercer county, be and the same is hereby attached to and made a part of the county of Van Wert.
. SEC. 5. That all suits and prosecutions, civil or criminal, which shall be pending in those portions of Allen and Mercer counties, so set off and erected into the county of Auglaize, pre- vious to the first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, and all like suits and prosecutions, pending within those parts of Darke, Van Wert, Mercer and Putnam counties, hereby attached to the counties of Mercer, Van Wert, Putnam and Allen, previous to the same time, shall be prose- cuted to final judgment and execution in the counties from which they are taken, in the same manner as if the said county of Auglaize had not been erected; and the sheriffs, coroners, and constables of the said counties respectively, shall serve all such processes as may be necessary to carry into effect such suits, prosecutions, and judgments; and the collectors of taxes for
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the said counties respectively, shall collect all taxes which shall be levied and unpaid, within the aforesaid portions of their respective counties, before and until the first Monday of March, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
SEC. 6. That all justices of the peace, constables, and other township officers within those parts of the counties of Allen and Mercer, which by this act are erected into the county of Auglaize, and also within those parts of the counties of Darke, Putnam, Mercer and Van Wert, which by this act are attached to the counties of Mercer, Van Wert, Putnam and Allen, shall continue to exercise and discharge the duties of their respective offices, until their time of service shall expire, and their suc- cessors are elected and qualified, in the same manner as if this act had not been passed.
SEC. 7. That all writs and other legal process, in the terri- tory hereby erected into the new county of Auglaize, shall be styled of Auglaize county, after the first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; and all writs and other legal process, within the territory hereby attached to the counties of Mercer, Allen, Putnam and Van Wert, shall be styled of the county of Mercer, Allen, Putnam and Van Wert, respectively.
SEC. 8. That the said county of Auglaize shall be attached to and form part of the sixteenth judicial circuit.
SEC. 9. That the legal voters residing within the limits of the county of Auglaize, shall, on the first Monday in April, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, assemble in their respective townships, at the usual places of holding elections, and proceed to elect the different county officers, in the manner prescribed in the act to regulate elections, who shall hold their offices until the next annual election and until their successors are chosen and qualified; and at such election the electors of those parts of townships in the county of Auglaize which have not the legal number of square miles for a township shall vote in the township immediately south of such parts, respectively.
SEC. IO. That the county commissioners of each of the counties affected by the passage of this act, shall have power, immediately upon the passage thereof, to attach such townships or parts of townships as shall, by reason of the passage of this act, fall below the legal number of square miles, to any adja- cent township in their respective counties, or to organize said
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parts of townships into separate townships and add any adjacent territory to the same that they may deem expedient.
SEC. II. That the seat of justice for said county of Au- glaize shall be and hereby is permanently established at Wapau- konnetta : Provided, the citizens thereof, or any number of them shall, within sixty days after the election of county officers for said county, to be held on the first Monday of April next, enter into bond to the commissioners of said county, with good and sufficient security to be approved by said commissioners, for the payment of five thousand dollars to said commissioners, in such payments as they shall require, to be applied to the erection of public buildings for said county, or the purchase of proper sites therefor, or for both said purposes; and if the said five thou- sand dollars be not paid in accordance with the conditions of said bond, then this section to be null and void: Provided also, that the right of appeal on behalf of the obligors in the bond from the decision of the board of county commissioners upon the sufficiency of such bond shall exist, to the court of common pleas as in other cases when appeals are allowed to said court from the action of the board of commissioners.
SEC. 12. That the commissioners of the counties of 'Allen and Putnam shall meet on or before the first Monday of April next, or within sixty days thereafter, and ascertain and deter- mine the amount of the public debt of Putnam county, exclusive of that for the surplus revenue loaned to said county, and the proportion which the value of the taxable lands set off by this act to the county of Allen from the county of Putnam bears to the value of the taxable lands by this act remaining in Put- nam county; and hereafter, each year, until the public debt aforesaid shall be paid off and discharged, there shall be paid out of the treasury of Allen county, upon the order of the audi- tor thereof, to the treasurer of Putnam county, a sum which shall bear the same proportion to the amount raised in that year by Putnam county for the payment of the debt aforesaid, as the value of the taxable lands so set off as aforesaid bears to that of those so as aforesaid remaining in Putnam county ; and the same shall be applied to extinguishment of said debt and to no other purpose : and it shall be the duty of the commission- ers of Allen county to levy a sufficient tax to raise said sum.
SEC. 13. Should the provisions of the eleventh section of
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this act be not complied with, it shall be the duty of the county commissioners of Auglaize county to notify the qualified electors of said county, by publication in some newspaper published in said county, and if there be no newspaper published in said county, then in some newspaper of general circulation in said county, to establish the county seat in the manner prescribed in the following sections.
SEC. 14. The seat of justice within and for said county of Auglaize, shall be fixed and permanently established at the town of Wapaukonnetta, or at the town of St. Marys, as the qualified electors of said county prefer; and said electors are authorized to express that preference by indorsing on their tickets at the next annual October election after said noncom- pliance, the words "seat of justice at Wapaukonnetta," or "seat of justice at St. Marys," as their choice may be: it shall be the duty of the trustees or judges of the election in the several town- ships of said county, to make return of votes in regard to the seat of justice, within three days thereafter, to the clerk of the court of common pleas of said county, at the town of Wapau- konnetta in said county, and on the fourth day after said elec- tion, it shall be the duty of said clerk, in the presence of the associate judges or a majority of them, or, in the absence of the associate judges, then in the presence of two justices of the peace of said county, to canvass said votes, in the same manner that by law is required to canvass votes for State and county officers : and the town receiving a majority of the votes given, shall, thereafter, be the permanent seat of justice for said county of Auglaize.
SEC. 15. It shall be the duty of said clerk to return to the court of common pleas of said county, next to be held after the said election, an abstract of said votes duly certified, that the same may be entered upon the journal of said court.
JOSEPH S. HAWKINS, Speaker of the House of Representatives. CHARLES B. GODDARD, Speaker of the Senate.
February 14, 1848.
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HISTORY OF WESTERN OHIO
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY.
Auglaize county contains three hundred and ninety-four square miles, comprised in fourteen townships, as follows : Wayne, Moulton, and Logan twenty-seven, Union and St. Marys thirty-six; Goshen and German eighteen; Pusheta, Noble, Washington, and Clay thirty; Jackson twenty; Duchou- quet forty-two; and Salem twenty-four square miles. The gen- eral outline of the county is somewhat irregular. Its greatest length from east to west is about thirty-nine miles, and its width varies from seven and a half to twenty-three miles.
It lies at the southern extremity of the region commonly known as the "Black Swamp." It is only the north-western por- tion of the county, however, that possesses the characteristics. peculiar to that noted region. It is situated on the watershed sloping toward Lake Erie, except a small portion in the eastern and south-eastern sections, drained by the Scioto river. The situation of the county being near the summit of the great divide in Ohio, it necessarily contains no large streams. The. Auglaize river rises in the north-eastern portion of the county, and flows in a south-western direction through Union and Du- chouquet townships to Wapakoneta, and from thence in a nor- therly direction, through the townships of Moulton and Logan. The St. Mary's river rises in Washington township, and flows north through the townships of St. Mary's and Noble to section thirty-five in Salem township, from which point it flows west until it joins the St. Joseph river. Springs flowing from the gravelly deposits in the ridges, afford a sufficient amount of water for stock, and the irrigation of the low lands along the streams. With the disappearance of the forests, the volume of the streams has diminished so much that there is not sufficient water power for mill purposes.
There are three main ridges extending through portions of the county, each having its lateral gravelly moraines and knolls. The older one crosses German township, the north-west corner of Shelby county, Pusheta, Clay and Union townships. The villages of New Bremen and St. Johns are situated upon it. Owing to its remarkable development at St. Johns, it has been named St. John's ridge. Black Hoof Mound, in the southern part
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of the village, is a huge pile of well washed gravel. The second ridge, called the Wabash Ridge, enters the county west of the village of St. Marys, passing through St. Marys, Moulton and Duchouquet townships. The Auglaize river cuts through this ridge at Wapakoneta. The third passes through the northern part of Salem township. This is simply a broad undulation, or thickening of the Drift, and is composed of a coarse heavy clay.
The details of the geology of Auglaize county have become better known since the discovery of petroleum. The rock expo- sures are confined to the bed and banks of the Auglaize river, in sections twenty-two, twenty-seven and thirty-five, in Logan township. With these exceptions, the rock underlying the county is covered by heavy beds of drift, varying in thickness from a few feet on the sections noted, to a hundred and fifty feet in other localities. The waterlime formation underlies nearly the whole county. If the drift deposits were removed the rock would exhibit ridges, hills, gorges, glacial scratches, boul- ders and other glacial debris scattered over its surface.
The pre-glacial drainage of the county is represented by a deep gorge, commencing on the county line in section thirty- four, Duchouquet township, and extends in a south-westerly direction, through Wapakoneta to section twelve in Washington township. From that point it extends near a forty-five degree line to section thirty-four in St. Mary's township; from thence it takes a more southerly direction to section twenty-eight in Jackson township. From that point the gorge has been traced through Mercer county and for a considerable distance into the State of Indiana.
The direction of the glacial striæ, direction of pre-glacial drainage and arrangement of drift deposits are so striking in Auglaize county as to add weight to the glacial theory advanced by the State geologists, namely :
That at some period in geologic time, the northern half of North America was subjected to an elevation of many hundred feet above its present level. The elevation is believed to have been followed by an arctic climate reaching as far south as the fortieth parallel of latitude. During the prevalence of the long arctic winter, vast deposits of ice and snow accumulated on the long inclined plane, extending southward from the arctic circle. When the accumulation became sufficiently great a movement
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down the plane commenced, and extended as far south as the Ohio river.
The history of the movements and effects of modern gla- ciers go far toward establishing the theory of an ancient glacial period.
The ice period, or coldest epoch, was followed by a period of higher temperature and a subsidence of the rocky floor south of the Great Lakes. During this period of warmth, the glacier retreated to the northern line of the Great Lakes, and was replaced by an inland sea of fresh water. As the glacier melted, the boulders imbedded in it sank to the rock floor. The waters, discharged at the base of the glacial wall, carried with them a fine material, composed principally of pulverized shales and lime- stone, that settled, and covered the bottom of the inland sea. This deposit, called boulder clay, or blue clay, varies in thickness, from five to forty feet in different sections of the county. The blue clay encountered in digging wells belongs to this deposit. The flour ground by the glacier was held longer in suspension, but in time settled in laminated layers on the boulder clay. This upper strata is called the Erie clay. This division con- tains no boulders.
At some time in this long period of warmth, portions of the submerged floor were elevated above water. The surface expo- sures in the course of time were overgrown with forests, which continued long enough to form a carbonaceous soil, and in many places beds of peat many feet in thickness. The mammoth, mastodon, and great beaver came in from the south and east and fed on the exuberant vegetation of the forests and grassy plains. Nine specimens of the mastodon, and two of Castoroides Ohio- ensis have been found in the county. The varieties of timber found in the forest bed of Muchinippe flats are willow, aspen, elm, red cedar, and sycamore.
After a period of perhaps thousands of years. a subsidence of the area south of the Great Lakes took place, submerging the forest beds and destroying the animal and vegetable life of the era.
During this period of submergence the forest beds were covered with clay, sand and gravel, carried and distributed by icebergs, from the retreating glacier on the north. The great moraines and their laterals exhibited in the county mark the
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direction of the ocean currents of that period. The well washed condition of the gravel in the Auglaize ridges may be attributed to the strength of the currents carrying the icebergs. The finely ground materials floated away, and were discharged into waters having less motion, and deposited as beds of clay, whereas the gravel and larger fragments of detritus sank rapidly to the bot- tom of the current line.
Along the summit of the watershed extending through the county, accumulations of drift material occur, which are peculiar in character and position. The deposits consist of sand, gravel. and boulders, with a little admixture of clay.
During the period of greatest submergence the larger part. of the summit of the watershed was under water, and was swept by breakers and shore waves, by which some of the beds of sand and gravel were formed. Along this line of shallows numerous icebergs stranded, and as they melted away, deposited their cargoes of debris, in the form of mounds, banks and circular inclosures, or "kettles." Currents cut through the watershed at St. Marys, and near the south-eastern corner of the county. All the lines of drainage leading to the south from these passes are marked by deeply excavated channels, now more or less per- fectly filled by accumulations of rolled and transported material. The surface indications at the source of the Scioto river exhibit the magnitude of the strait or channel, connecting the glacial waters of the North with the warmer waters of the South.
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