USA > Ohio > Auglaize County > History of western Ohio and Auglaize County, with illustrations and biographical sketches of pioneers and prominent public men > Part 57
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(From Portrait and Biographical Record.)
ROBERT B. GORDON, for more than fifty years an active and leading citizen of St. Mary's, was born near Winchester, Virginia, November 20th, 1815. When he was fourteen years of age he came with the family to Piqua, where his father entered upon a mercantile career, which was continued until 1861.
Mr. Gordon obtained his early education in an old log school house in his native place. After the family settled in Piqua he
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attended a public school in that place, and later finished his educa- tion in an academy. At the age of twenty-one he became clerk. in his father's store at Piqua. In 1839 he came to St. Mary's and established himself in business as a general merchant at this- point in company with David Bates, who was chief engineer of the canal that was then in course of construction. At the end of three years he withdrew from the partnership, and was elected treasurer of Mercer county, which office he held four years. Upon his retirement from office he purchased a half interest in a flouring mill on the canal, which he retained three years. Later he engaged in farming and stock raising, having eleven hundred acres of land at that time. In 1855 he purchased a large and well-equipped flouring mill in St. Mary's, which he operated until his death, which occurred December 25th, 1896.
Mr. Gordon was elected Representative to the State Legis- lature in 1864, and was re-elected in 1866. He was prominent in local politics, and was a stanch Democrat. His first vote was- cast for Martin Van Buren.
Mr. Gordon was married, September 18, 1838, to Catharine Barington, daughter of William R. and Jane Barington. Of this union eight children were born, of whom Robert B., Jr., is the only survivor. The latter is a well-known public man, who has served as county auditor for two terms, and has represented his. district in Congress for four years.
COLONEL SAMUEL R. MOTT was born in Knox county, Ohio, January 26, 1818, and was the fifth of a family of six children. The Motts were French Huguenots, and came to America near the commencement of the American Revolution. Major John Mott, grandfather of Colonel Mott, was an officer in the Conti- nental army, and served during the war. He received a severe wound in the left shoulder which disabled him for active service. He was put on detached service, after that serving as a recruiting officer. At the close of the war he entered the Baptist ministry, and came to Knox county, Ohio, where he died at the age of ninety-two years.
Gideon Mott, the father of Colonel Mott, was born in Hart- ford, Connecticut. He was a graduate of Yale College, and came to Ohio in 1806, and settled in Knox county, where he remained until 1837, when he came to Auglaize county. In 1837
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he returned to Knox county on business, and died at the home of his brother John, at the age of sixty years. He served in the War of 1812, and was taken prisoner at Detroit when General Hull surrendered, and was held by the enemy until after peace was declared.
Colonel Mott's educational opportunities were limited to about three months' attendance at a primitive pioneer log school house that was furnished with slab seats, and heated by means of an old-fashioned fireplace, and lighted by means of greased paper windows. He was, however, carefully trained at home by wise and good parents, with whom he came to Auglaize county when he was fifteen years old. At that age he began life for himself by learning the trades of bricklayer and plasterer. In May, 1836, he enlisted in Captain Charles Colerick's company and' went to Texas, where he took part in the campaigns of that State when it decided to secede from Mexico. He took part in a number of skirmishes, but the decisive battle had been fought before he reached there. In 1838 he returned and resumed his. trade at Dayton. In the fall of the same year he purchased a farm in Dublin township, Mercer county, and taught school the following year.
In 1840 he began the study of law in the office of his brother Gordon N., at Piqua, and in March, 1842, was admitted to the bar in Cincinnati. In 1846 he was elected prosecuting attorney for Mercer county .. In 1848, when Auglaize county was organ- ized as a separate county, he was elected its first prosecuting attorney. He resigned in the fall of the same year, as the Demo- cratic party had elected him to represent the district in the State Legislature. After serving two terms in that body he was again elected prosecuting attorney of the county.
Colonel Mott was busily engaged in the practice of law when the Civil War commenced. In April, 1861, he was elected lieu- tenant of a company recruited at St. Mary's. Upon reaching Columbus he received a captain's commission, and was attached to the Twentieth Ohio Regiment. The company was enlisted for three months, and was mustered out of service the following September. Upon his return he recruited another company in October, and was assigned to the Thirty-first Ohio as captain. In the same month he was appointed colonel of the One Hundred
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and Eighteenth Ohio Regiment. His bravery and ability as a disciplinarian won the promotion. The following is a list of the battles in which the Colonel participated: Corinth (Miss.), Mill Springs, Kingston, Mossy Creek, Rocky-faced Ridge, Kene- saw Mountain, Atlanta, Resaca, and Dallas. He was honorably discharged from the army in March, 1864.
Upon retiring from the army he returned to St. Mary's and resumed the practice of law.
Colonel Mott was a genial, jovial man, possessed of a rare degree of wit and humor, which he was fond of exercising. He was one of the most highly respected men of the county.
Colonel Mott was married in 1843, to Mrs. Caroline Kepner, of St. Mary's township. Of this union twelve children were born, of whom six are living.
Colonel Mott died January 15, 1896.
FRANK KOEHL, one of the most widely known business men in Auglaize county, was born January 30, 1830, in the province of Alsace, Germany. He attended the schools of his native country until he was fourteen years of age, when he was apprenticed for two years to a boot and shoemaker. At the expiration of his apprenticeship he left home and sailed for the United States. After a voyage of nearly two months, he landed at New Orleans. Here he pursued his trade for four months, when he went to Cincinnati, where he worked as a journeyman until 1851.
He left his home in Alsace in limited circumstances, but by dint of industry and economy he had, at the end of four years, accumulated six hundred dollars. In 1851 he moved to St. Mary's, and two years later established himself in the grocery business, in which he was more than ordinarily prosperous for a period of fifty years. He always gave a cordial support to measures tending to the advancement of the town and county.
In 1882 he was appointed county treasurer to fill the unex- pired term of defaulting Treasurer Meyers, but declined to serve. He was elected Mayor of St. Mary's for two years, and served as member of the City Council for six years. He also served as township trustee for six years.
During the fifty years that he was engaged in business, he accumulated a large amount of property, and was identified with nearly all the public enterprises of St. Mary's.
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In 1851 Mr. Koehl was married to Catharine Smith, who died in 1862. In 1863 he was married to Louisa Schroeder. Of these marriages nine children were born: Frank, Emma, Cathar- ine, Louis, Maggie, George (deceased). Louisa (deceased), Carl. and Pearl.
Mr. Koehl died June 7, 1901.
AUGUST WILLICH. St. Mary's will long be memorable as the last home and final resting place of that old hero. On his monument is this extraordinary record : "Born Nov. 19, 1810, in Braunsberg, Prussia ; died Jan. 22, 1878, at St. Mary's Ohio. Commanding army of the Revolution in Germany, 1849; private 9th Regt. O. V. I .; Colonel 32d Regt. Ind. Vol. Inf .; Brigadier Gen. U. S. Vol. July, 1862; Brevet Maj. Gen. U. S. Vol. Oct. 21, 1865."
A friend in St. Mary's who loved him as a brother thus out- lines for these pages the story of his heroic and noble life.
General August Willich was born in Braunsberg, Prussia, November 19, 1810. When twelve years of age he was appointed a cadet at the military school in Potsdam, and three years later he entered the military academy in Berlin, whence in 1828 he was commissioned a lieutenant and assigned to the artillery.
Democratic sentiments were prevalent amongst the officers of this corps, and many were transferred to other commands Willich, then a captain, was sent to Fort Kalberg in 1846; he resigned his commission, which a year later was accepted. There- after he became a conspicuous leader of the revolutionary and working classes, assuming the trade and garb of a carpenter.
In March, 1848, he commanded the popular assault and cap- ture of the Town Hall in Cologne; a month later the Republic was declared in Baden, and Willich was tendered the command of all the revolutionary forces ; on April 20, 1848, this force was attacked by an overwhelming force of the government troops, defeating and scattering them. Willich, with over a thousand of his followers, sought and found refuge in France.
The next year, 1849, Willich again crossed the boundary and besieged the Fortress of Landau, until it was relieved by an army under the Prince of Prussia, now Emperor of Germany. After several other exploits, all revolutionary forces were de-
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feated, and on July IIth the last column under Willich crossed the border to Switzerland.
Crossing France on his way to England, Willich was arrested in Lyons by order of the then president, Louis Napoleon, to be surrendered to Prussia, but released in consequence of public demonstrations in his favor.
In 1853 he came to the United States, and found employment on the coast survey from Hilton Head to South Carolina, under Captain Moffitt, later commander of the rebel cruiser "Florida." In 1858 he was called to Cincinnati to assume the editorial chair of the German Republican, the organ of the workingmen.
On the breaking out of the war he joined the Ninth Regi- ment, O. V. I., and as private, adjutant and major organized and drilled it. After the battle of Rich Mountain he was commis- sioned a colonel by Governor Morton, of Indiana, and organized the Thirty-second Regiment Indiana V. I., with which he entered the field and participated in the battle at Mumfordsville, Ky., December 16, 1861. A few days later occurred the brilliant fight of the regiment with the Texas Rangers at Green River, under Colonel Terry, who was killed, and totally routed.
General Willich's history thereafter is part of the history of the Army of the Cumberland. His memorable exploit at Shiloh was followed by a commission as brigadier-general. At Stone River, by the unfortunate fall of his horse, he was taken prisoner. At the battle of Chickamauga he held the right of Thomas' line, and with his brigade covered the rear of our forces on its retreat to Rossville. At Missionary Ridge his brigade was among the first to storm the rebel works, resulting in the rout of the enemy. His career in the Atlanta campaign was cut short by a serious wound in the shoulder, received at Resaca, Ga.
He was then placed in command of the post at Cincinnati until March, 1865, when he assumed command of his brigade and accompanied it to Texas, until its return and muster out, as brevet major-general.
In 1867 he was elected auditor of Hamilton county ; after the expiration of his term in 1869 he revisited Germany, and again took up the studies of his youth, philosophy, at the Uni- versity of Berlin. His request to enter the army in the French- ·German war of 1870 was not granted, and he returned to his
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adopted country, making his home in St. Mary's, Ohio, with his old friend, Major Charles Hipp, and many other pleasant and congenial friends.
In those few years he was a prominent figure in all social circles, hailed by every child in town, and died January 23, 1878, from paralysis of the heart, followed to his grave in the beautiful Elmwood Cemetery by three companies of State militia, delegations from the Ninth Ohio and Thirty-second Indiana Volunteers, the children of the schools, and a vast concourse of sorrowing friends.
In his "Ohio in the War," Whitelaw Reid gives Willich extraordinary commendation. He says: "In the opening of Rosecrans' campaign against Bragg in 1863, General Willich took Liberty Gap with his brigade, supported by two regiments from another command. Rosecrans characterizes this as the finest fighting he witnessed in the war. The manœuvering of the brigade was by bugle signals, and the precision of the movements was equal to a parade.
"His brilliant execution of his order to take the enemy's works at the foot of Mission Ridge was one of the greatest feats of the war. His services at Chickamauga, also, under the direc- tion of Thomas, were gallant in the extreme. He was finally left to cover the retreat and maintained his position until the whole army arrived safely at Chattanooga."
(From Howe's History of Ohio.)
HERMAN HENRY FLEDDERJOHANN was born in Lathergen, Prussia, January 16th, 1816, and died at his home near New Knoxville, July 25th, 1904. He came to America in 1835 and settled with his parents in the western part of Washington town- ship, Auglaize county. At this time the State of Ohio was build- ing the Miami and Erie canal, on which Mr. Fledderjohann se- cured a position as a common laborer. Displaying unusual ability in this line of work, he was raised to the position of foreman, in which capacity he superintended the construction and reconstruc- tion of a number of locks along this water way. Following the completion of the canal, he constructed a sawmill at lock six, which he operated for nearly forty years. Mr. Fledderjohann was a successful business man, being interested in a number of
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business enterprises. He was also one of the largest land owners in the county. He was twice married, his first marriage being blessed with six children, of whom only two are now living. Twelve children were the result of his second union, of whom eight still survive him. The children now living are William, contractor and sawmiller; Frederick, a farmer; Dr. Henry, a practitioner in New Knoxville; Herman, a contractor and boat- builder, living in southern Illinois; George, a farmer ; Dr. Fred- erick, a practitioner in New Bremen ; Hon. B. A. Fledderjohann. Representative of Auglaize county in the Ohio General Assem- bly. The three daughters are married to F. Schroer, a farmer ; William Henschen, a farmer, and H. Dietjen, a farmer and grain dealer. The entire family consists of seven sons, three daugh- ters, thirty-seven grandchildren and twenty great-grandchildren.
From the time of his arrival at man's estate to the day of his death, Mr. Fledderjohann affiliated and voted with the Demo- cratic party. Being intensely loyal to the land of his adoption, he believed it to be the duty of every American citizen to vote, and emphasized this conviction on numerous occasions during the early days by walking from his home to Lima, the nearest voting place at that time.
Mr. Fledderjohann possessed talents above mediocrity, a. sound judgment in public affairs, and was an active and influential man in the early settlement of the county.
LOGAN TOWNSHIP.
This township was organized in 1848, and was named in honor of the noted Indian scout, Captain Logan. (See sketch of, elsewhere in this volume.) Prior to the organization of Auglaize county, the territory comprehended in this township formed a part of Amanda township, Allen county. At the time of organization, three tiers of sections were taken from the south side of Amanda, and one and a half from the north side of Moul- ton township, which sections were erected into the present town- ship. It is thus four and a half miles from north to south, and six miles in length from east to west, and contains twenty-seven square miles.
Logan township is bounded on the north by Allen county, on the east by Allen county and Duchouquet township, on the
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.
south by Moulton township, and on the west by Noble and Salem townships. The surface of the township is undulating, and is unsurpassed in its fertility. The tortuous course of the Auglaize River presents a greater acreage of first and second bottom lands than is to be found in any other township in the county, except St. Mary's.
Entries of lands were made as early as 1821.
PORT AMANDA.
This township was one of the first divisions of the North- west occupied by United States troops. From about the first of September, 1812, until late in the fall of that year, General Harri- son had his headquarters at St. Mary's. Colonel Thomas Poague, in September of that year. was ordered to clear and construct a wagon road through the wilderness from St. Mary's to Defiance, which road was completed some time in October, when the regi- ment returned to a point on the west bank of the Auglaize River, and erected a fort, which, in honor of his wife, was named Fort Amanda. The fort consisted of a stockade inclosing a rectangu- lar area of about an açre and a half. The pickets were eleven feet high, and set four feet in the ground. A two-story block- 44 HA C
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house in each corner of the quadrangle projected four feet over the pickets. The block-house in the southeast corner was the largest, and was used for officers' quarters. In the center of the quadrangle there was also a large two-story building, of which the upper story was used for a hospital, and the lower story for a storage room. A well, ten feet in diameter, near the central building, furnished an abundance of good water. Mr. Charles Marshall, of Delphos, informed the writer a few years ago that he visited the fort before any of the buildings were destroyed, and that there was stable room enough within the inclosure to accommodate twelve hundred horses.
Whilst the fort was under course of construction, Captain Enoch Dawson placed his company, temporarily, in command of Lieutenant Nungester, whilst he went down the river a short distance to gather wild grapes, which grew there in great abun- dance at that time. He was gone but a few minutes before the report of a rifle was heard. When found, by a detachment from the fort, he was dead, and had been scalped. He was brought back and buried beside the fort, next to the ravine.
After the erection of the fort, it became a base of supplies for the armies of the Maumee Valley. Many of Harrison's general orders were dispatched from here, and the office of the paymaster of the armies was located here during the war.
The hospital within the stokade was erected in the spring of 1813, and was soon filled with sick and wounded soldiers, brought here by boat from the battlefields along the Maumee River. Many of them had served in the Revolutionary War, and the border wars of western Pennsylvania. Rev. Samuel Shannon. Rev. James Suggette, John Smith, paymaster, and Dr. Jacob Lewis had charge of the hospital.
Rev. Shannon was chaplain of Colonel Scott's regiment, and was detailed to wait upon the sick. This venerable divine, in the early part of the Revolutionary War, left Princeton College, where he was then a student, to enter as a lieutenant in the Revo- lutionary army, in which he served to the end of the war. He was a plain old gentleman, of fascinating manners, beloved by all who knew him.
Rev. James Suggette was chaplain of Colonel Adams' regi-
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ment, and was prevailed upon to accept the office of adjutant for a time, but was afterwards detailed to assist Rev. Shannon. John Smith, of Lexington, Kentucky, was appointed pay- master in September, 1812, and served during the war.
"Dr. Jacob Lewis has a personal history of more than ordi- nary interest. He was born in New Jersey in 1767. His father ·enlisted in the Revolutionary army and died of camp fever, leav- ing a wife and seven children. They had a good farm, and under the management of the mother they made a good living. After peace was declared the eldest daughter married Mr. Joseph Kinnon and moved to Tygart Valley, on the middle branch of the Monongahela, in Virginia. In 1790 Jacob, attracted by the accounts of his brother-in-law of the fertility of the soil and the abundance of game, decided to pay them a visit. The country was an unbroken wilderness, save here and there, by little bands of settlers. They had, for some time, been undisturbed by the Indians, and began to think they were entirely rid of such un- desirable neighbors. Jacob Lewis, accordingly visited the valley in the fall of 1790, and formed the acquaintance of Daniel Conley, who had been held captive by the Indians for ten years. Conley was boarding with the Kinnon family at the time of Lewis' arrival. One morning in the spring of 1791 Jacob, on coming home from watching a deer lick, felt drowsy and tired. He told his sister that he would lie down, and when supper was ready she could call him. But before it was ready three Indians came into the house and shot Kinnon dead. Conley was sitting at the fire dress- ing a powder horn with a drawing knife; he immediately arose, and struck an Indian with his knife, but in doing so, lost his hold on it. He made his escape at a back door and started to alarm the neighbors. Jacob, awakened by the report and the cries of his sister, arose and looked through the partly open door, and saw the Indians and the apparently lifeless bodies of his sister and brother-in-law. Believing that the entire family had been murdered, he made his escape, and fled to a settlement five miles distant. Here he found Conley, who had alarmed the neighborhood. A party was soon formed and on the trail of the Indians ; but soon returned, as the Indians were retreating too rapidly to be overtaken by so small a force. Out of the persons in the house at the time of the attack six made their escape.
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The next day the neighbors collected and went to the home; there they found the bodies of Mr. Kinnon and two children, all scalped. Mrs. Kinnon was nowhere to be found, so they con- cluded that she had been taken prisoner. Two little boys of the Kinnon family made their escape through a back window, and reached the nearest settlement in safety. Jacob was thus left, a young and inexperienced man, with two orphan children in his care. The following spring he returned to New Jersey with the two little boys, where they were cared for by his brothers.
"Upon his return he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. John Randolph, of Somerset county, under whose tutorship he remained until the fall of 1793, when a letter was received from his sister, Mrs. Kinnon, who had been taken by the Indians as before related.
"In the summer of 1793 the Government had sent commis- sioners to the Northwest tribes to treat with them for peace. Mrs. Kinnon heard of them and managed to write a letter to her brothers, and put it in the hands of a Mr. Moore, who carried it to Philadelphia, where he died of yellow fever, and the letter was not delivered until late in the fall. In this letter she wrote that she was still a prisoner and closely watched, but if one of her brothers would go to Detroit and inquire for a Mr. Robert Albert, an Indian trader, he could tell all about her, and direct where she could be found. A meeting of the family was called, and the lot fell to Jacob to attempt the rescue of the sister. Preparations were made in haste, and he left about the first of November. At Genesee he left his horse and traveled on foot to Niagara. He related his business to the officers and received passes to the different agents on the route. Two days afterward he started on his perilous journey of three hundred miles in mid- winter. He reached Detroit on the 3d of February, 1794. Here he dismissed his guides and presented his papers to Colonel Eng- land, the British officer in command at Detroit. These were sus- picious times on the frontier, so he had to undergo a close exami- nation ; but after exhibiting his letters and telling the object of his mission, Colonel England gave him permission to remain. The next day he found Mr. Robert Albert in town, and showed him his sister's letter. He said he knew her well, that he sold goods to her tribe, and that she had often worked for him, when
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he sold goods to the tribe. He appeared to be willing to give Lewis all the assistance in his power, but said he would have to act very cautiously, as, should the Indians suspect that he was concerned in her release, that would be an end to his trade with . them. He also met a Mr. Rulin who knew her, and made an arrangement with him to secure her release by purchase. Rulin made application to the old squaw who owned Mrs. Kinnon, but she could not be induced to part with her. Much disappointed at this failure, he spent some weeks at Detroit in trying to devise other plans for her release. He spent weeks in this way, alter- nating between hope and fear. All the traders he met seemed to sympathize with him, but he could not even induce them to acquaint his hister of his presence in Detroit, as it would only result, they said, in a useless attempt to escape, followed by greater hardships and her removal to a distant camp. About this time a contractor came to Detroit to engage men to cut and clear timber from around Fort Miami, on the Maumee River. This gave him the opportunity he desired. He engaged at once as a chopper, and in a few days was at work at the fort.
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