USA > Ohio > Ohio early state and local history > Part 6
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There was a traveling barber by the name of Rheese, who went from house to house with his tonsorial tools.
William Montgomery, a son of Rev. James Montgomery, of Ft. Seneca, a missionary to the Indians, settled in Fort Ball as a merchant. There were five children: James, Usher, Elvira, Theodore, and Laura.
They were a very much liked family. Mrs. Sallie Ingham Frary and Mrs. Betsey Snook, were two sisters of William Montgomery.
Jacob Flaugher, a Pennsylvanian, had a black-smith shop and made carriages, in Fort Ball. One of his sons, John, at one time was editor of The Advertiser. The father was the only mayor of Fort Ball, as it was an incorporation for only a few months. A Mr. Kisinger was marshal at the same time.
The Baltzels, a family of some size, lived in the country. One of the daughters was the first wife of Judge Lugenbeel, who removed up the river where he had a flour mill.
Harry Cromwell, from Maryland, was another boarder at the Singer boarding house. He had money, which the rest
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did not possess, but as he seldom worked, he spent several fortunes, ending his life as a pauper. He was an exquisite gentleman, even to the last, wearing his silk hat with the board brim, and circular broad-cloth cape. By trade, he was an excellent locksmith, of which he made little use. He had traveled extensively and lived much at hotels, dying finally at the home kept by the county.
William Johnson, a mill-wright, came here from Frederick, Maryland, in 1835. They lived where the Miami street school building now stands. Judge William Johnson became the most prominent of the five children. Mother Lagora of the Ursuline Convent, is his daughter.
William H. Kessler was another Fort Ball resident. He was obliged to use crutches. Dr. Julia Rumsey was the first woman doctor. She was very much liked and was a bright woman. She was drowned in Lake Superior while on a vaca- tion.
Dr. Jeremiah Chamberlin, who administered herbs, was another early practitioner.
Mrs. Mary Cunningham, another of our pioneer women, a daughter of Levi Keller, passed away within the last two years. She had hosts of friends because of her cheery disposi- tion and daintiness. Her husband, George W. Cunningham, who passed away some years ago, for many years owned and operated the flour mill at the north end of the Washington street bridge, which has been a land-mark for so many years. They had four children: Arthur A., Courtney, and Ella, the wife of Bruce Myers, now residing in this city, and Frank.
Ephriam Holt kept the Holt House on Sandusky street, The family moved away, but his brother William remained. William was one of the valiant workers among the sick during the cholera scourge during the fifties.
Just a word in regard to my grand-parents. They were not strictly pioneers, although my grand-mother spent a year here in her girlhood. She was raised in Sandusky City. Dr. and Mrs. A. B. Hovey came to Tiffin in 1851. He was a Vermonter. He soon acquired an extensive practice and became well known throughout the county where, for several years, he was the
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only surgeon. While he could be a dignified gentleman if he wished, the amusing stories we are constantly hearing, tell of Dr. Hovey's rougher side. We kept Grandma Hovey with us until two years ago, and the longer she remained with us only increased our love for her. She died in the only house built on the site of Old Fort Ball, which Grandfather erected in 1867.
It is difficult to secure the names of all the noble pioneers, and no doubt some have been omitted who should have a place here, especially those who settled in other parts of the county.
Our Historic Sites and Buildings
BY MYRTLE HARTMAN (MRS. FRANK ALBRITAIN).
Development of the County.
OOK, if you will, into the mirror of the past. "The mighty forest stretches in an unbroken chain of wilder- ness-entirely covered with sturdy oaks and thrifty hickories, intermingled with beeches, maples, poplars, black walnuts and sycamores. Upon the bosom of the Sandusky, the wild fowl reposes in safety, and the deer sports in his native haunts. Along the river, the hungry wolf prowls in search of food, and his hiding place is in the thickets of the upland. Here and there the smoke ascends from the Indian's wigwam, curling majestically amidst the branches of the towering oak, while the wily red man pursues his game along the margin of the creeks or reposes on his matted couch by blazing faggots of the wilderness." " (Butterfield.)
Such was Seneca county one hundred years ago. History is a record of past events. There was no history of Seneca county a century ago, for there was no one to record it. True, some pieces of exhumed pottery, products of aborigines, show what might have been. The beautiful land and water were here, and these uncovered relics prove that inhabitants ex- isted; but the third requisite, intelligence brightened by learn- ing, was wanting. So the whole previous time is a hazy conjecture into which the imaginative mind can wander at will.
"O'er this, we scarce know whence or when,
A change began to steal,
And what was once, was ne'er again, Displayed from turning reel. A curtain, slowly drawn aside, Revealed a shadowed scene,
Wherein the future differed wide,
From what the past had been."
(Changed and adapted from a poem in Lang's History.)
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The first evidence of this change was the making of roads by the white man. An army was to be led through the almost impassible wilderness. Had our mother country been satis- fied with the results of the American Revolution and not re- quired additional proof that the American Colonies were no longer children, and tired of being treated as fondlings, amply able to care for themselves, Seneca county might have been a wilderness fifty years longer. Going back still further, had England respected the wishes of these Colonies of America, and recognized the power embodied in their sturdy develop- ment, this whole country might even now, as her Canadian sister, be receiving welcome advice from the mother land.
Those of us who believe in predestination will say it was the Divine order of things. Be that as it may, the war broke out and the English troops pursued the oft-traveled path up the course of America's great water-way, the Saint Lawrence System, and landed at points along our beloved Lake Erie. These vantage points, by way of the wilderness, were not so easily reached, but American perseverance won the day, as shown when Major Croghan at Fort Stephenson (Fremont) wrote to General Harrison at Camp Seneca (Old Fort), "We have determined to maintain this place and, by Heavens, we can." American perseverance was still further proven, and the climax reached, when Commodore Perry sent word to General Harrison again at Camp Seneca, "We have met the enemy and they are ours." The decisive battle of this Second War with Great Britain has more connection with Seneca county than any other locality in the United States for, from Camp Seneca, orders were sent out and received. From Gen- eral Harrison at Camp Seneca, the news went out to our Gov- ernment and to all the world, "We have met the enemy, and they are ours."
(From a pamphlet by Lucy Elliot Keeler).
A question now arises in our narrative-Why did Indians, British, and Americans alike choose this field of battle and this place of abode?
We have now come to the point where our Historic Sites can be appreciated. The sunny skies, the vast forests filled with all kinds of game, the fertile soil so well adapted to the
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raising of corn, and, above all, the beautiful Sandusky, the natural water-way through the State, for, with the exception of a short portage to the Scioto, these two rivers, the Sandusky and the Scioto, form "the road that runs" from Lake Erie to the Ohio River. The Indian was the first to discover all these resources, for, when the Senecas were driven from their lands in Western New York by other warring tribes, these wandering pilgrims recognized the advantages along the Sandusky River in our own county and established themselves here. (Lucy Elliot Keeler).
Later, some of the peaceable Wyandots, following un- consciously from Michigan, settled in neighboring counties. These tribes, and others coming later, intermingled and also adopted many white captives, so that the tribe of Senecas taken to the west by our sturdy pioneer sub-agent Henry Brish, in 1831, was not made up of full-blooded Senecas (Lang). Their historical prestige here, however, and the thousands of acres they occupied along the west side of the Sandusky River, will always be preserved, for every document, legal, municipal, commercial, or personal issued from this county does and will henceforth, bear the name of Seneca, a lasting tribute to these early warriors.
The name of another Indian tribe, of almost equal prom- inence, has but recently been recognized as worthy of preserva- tion by some of the most progressive citizens of this generation. It has taken decades for residents of this county to discover the natural advantages and beautiful surroundings of a spot which appealed to the Mohawk Indians more than a century ago. These Mohawk club grounds present quite a different aspect from the Mohawk grounds of old. One would scarcely believe it to be the same place. But from the present outlook the name will be preserved, about two and one half miles south of Tiffin, just off the Mohawk road (South Washington street.) We find all these points of interest concerning the Seneca county Red Man situated along the Sandusky River and its branches.
There are several versions as to the origin of the name Sandusky, and as many different spellings. But the most plausible origin is from the Wyandot term "Sandooster,"
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Fort Ball-Built in 1813
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Historic Sites and Buildings
meaning "At the Cold Water." This tribe had settled about the mouth of the river, now Sandusky Bay, and gave it its name. Through our own county the river is rather broad and shallow, but there are slight falls at Upper Sandusky and Fremont. It is a notable coincidence that the large curve made by the river in Seneca county is almost an exact duplicate of the curve made by the serpent in the earth works of Adams county, built by the supposed Mound Builders. On the Culver place (now the Abbott, Smith, and Flummerfelt farms), about six miles north of Tiffin, across the river from High Banks, a large well-shaped skeleton, and pottery, were exhumed in 1850. These were as strange to the Indians as to the white men present. Are these pieces of ancient pottery the work of that same race of Mound Builders? Did they afterward move into Adams county and preserve the memory of the old Sandusky by model- ing their great serpent after the natural bend of the river left behind?
The Indians in their warfare and search for food were com- pelled to do much traveling. Felling the immense forest trees was almost impossible with their crude tools, so naturally their trails led over open spaces and curved around through paths of least resistance. These paths or trails developed into roads as soon as the White man appeared, and the old State thoroughfares are very winding as a result. There were three prominent trails through the county a hundred years ago. The most important developed into Bell's road, surveyed by General Bell in 1812, and was known during the war which followed as the "Army Road" or "Harrison's Trail." It led from Lower (Fremont) to Upper Sandusky, thence to Colum- bus. Over this trail came Colonel Ball in 1813 with a detach- ment of men (under Harrison's orders) to establish a stockade and fort on the west side of the Sandusky River. He made a wise choice, for a spring of clear cool water was inclosed within the stockade; and he surely left "a foot-print on the sands of time," for the place has been called Fort Ball ever since. Fort Meigs and Stephenson had already been established north of us. The Sycamore tree still standing beside the Van Tine residence, near Monument Square, grew within the picket line
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of the fort. Lang, the historian, says, that in 1833 a company muster was held between the river where the fort stood and "The Ohio Stove Works" (S. E. corner of Lafayette and Rail- road streets). There was an open space here where the trees had been cut, but the stumps remained, interfering very much with the evolutions of the army. It was the first display of American military that he had ever seen. As the day was very hot, he and a friend sat down under a small Sycamore tree that grew beside an old log bedded half way into the ground. This log had been part of the old fort. The historic tree, now a hundred years old, has been fittingly marked with a bronze tablet and protected with an iron railing, by The Dolly Todd Madison Chapter, D. A. R., and every effort will be made for its preservation. The following is the inscription on the tablet :
1813 This Tree Marks The site of Old Fort Ball Built in 1813 by order of General Harrison Erected by DOLLY TODD MADISON CHAPTER Daughters of the American Revolution 1906.
Two other Indian trails developed into the Morrison Road from Croghansville to Delaware, surveyed by Israel Harrington in the year 1820; and the Kilbourne Road, from Sandusky City to Upper Sandusky, James Kilbourne, surveyor, in 1822.
The Harrison Trail is of most historic interest; the other two, however, were prominent highways during the settlement of the county, and the ox-team and covered wagon, and later the stage-coach, followed their various windings to reach the alluring fields of old Seneca.
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"About the first of July, 1813, a detachment of men under General Harrison erected a stockade upon the west bank of the Sandusky River, within the present limits of Pleasant township, to which was given the name of Camp Seneca. It was situated upon a bank forty feet above the bed of the river, near the old Army Road, and contained within its inclosure about 1 1-2 acres of ground." (Lang was wrong in this state- ment as it has been proven without a doubt that the fort contained at least six acres). "It was built nearly in the form of a square, surrounded by pickets of oak timber a foot in thickness and 12 feet high. Between this spot and the river are several springs of water, one of which was inside the pickets." (Lang.) At Camp Seneca General Harrison spent a great deal of time, for at that place he could get direct orders from Columbus, keep in touch with what was going on at the various forts, and also do his silent work among the Indians. While no battles were fought at the fort, yet the War of 1812 would certainly be incomplete without the actions at this place and all along the Army Road. It is fitting, then, that this road during and since that time, should perpetuate the name of this shrewd man of war, and be called "The Harrison Trail."
Both Fort Ball and Fort Seneca were used as military posts, magazines for supplies, and places of refuge should the other forts be taken. But the war record of all these points is a glorious one and a retreat was never made. We are proud to say that both forts within our county have now been marked by The Dolly Todd Madison Chapter, D. A. R. The Fort Seneca boulder has been set and the bronze tablet will be placed thereon before the year 1913 draws to a close.
The tablet bears the following inscription:
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Historic Sites and Buildings
FORT SENECA-HARRISON TRAIL 1812-1813.
This tablet marks the site of FORT SENECA, built in July 1813, by Major General William Henry Harrison during the War of 1812 with Great Britain; and also marks the military road known as the "Harrison Trail," blazed through the forest in 1812 by General Bell by order of General Harrison, over which to transport military supplies and food for the army and the forts along the Sandusky River.
At this fort he maintained his headquarters during the Battle of Fort Stephenson and the naval battle on Lake Erie known as "Perry's Victory," and here received from Commodore Perry his famous message, "We have met the enemy and they are ours."
Here the Chiefs and Warriors of the four friendly tribes of Indians, the Delawares, Shawnees, Wyandots and Senecas, who in council at Franklinton had pledged their loyalty to General Harrison joined his army for the invasion of Canada. In that campaign they rendered val- uable service against the British, which resulted in the defeat of General Procter and the death of Chief Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames.
The following officers served under General Harrison at this fort: Brigadier Generals Cass and McArthur;
Colonels Ball, Bartlett, Owings, Paull, and Wells; and
Majors Croghan, Graham, Holmes, Hukill, Smiley, Todd, Trigg, and Wood.
DAUG
MERICH
F THE . NOILA
CAN REVOLU
This monument is erected as a Centennial Memorial by the DOLLY TODD MADISON CHAPTER Daughters of the American Revolution 1913.
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Historic Sites and Buildings
There are many other points of interest throughout the county connected in no wise with these Indian trails. In Thompson Township, the caves are great natural curiosities. The following description was given by Butterfield in the 1840s:
"The entrance to this cave is 1 1-2 miles from Bellevue and 3-4 miles from Flat Rock. It was known as early as 1815 and was visited frequently by hunters for the purpose of killing rattlesnakes, which were found in great numbers, and gave the name of "Rattlesnake Den" to the cave. The mouth is 3 by 6 feet. Upon examining the ground in the immediate vicinity it appears that about five acres, from some unknown cause, have sunk several feet. There is no doubt but that sometime in the World's history a great convulsion has racked the sub- stratum here, for as you descend the cavity you find rocks on one side in a horizontal position, while on the other side they incline to an angle of 45 degrees. After a descent of about forty feet you enter a large cavern * * * and after a descent of two hundred feet, the passage is interrupted by a stream of pure cold water which is very pleasant to the taste and has a slow current to the northward." (For a de- tailed description, see Lang, page 608, who quotes Butterfield). Since that time several new caves have opened. The largest one, on the farm now owned by the Kuhn Brothers, developed from one of the sink holes so numerous in that locality. This now opens into a cave much larger than the old cave which Butterfield describes. It was first discovered about 1870. Mr. George Horner, of this city, can give a minute description of this cavern, having played in it when a boy. These boys used to fasten a rope at the entrance and follow it back in order not to get lost in the various branches of the cave. In Bellevue and Flat Rock, no sewerage system is necessary. Each prop- erty owner drills or digs a hole from 70 to 100 feet deep and drains all refuse into it, which evidently leads to the cavern and underground stream. There are no wells for drinking purposes, residents being afraid of striking the sewerage below. Drinking water comes from filtered cisterns. Near Castalia is a small pond called "The Blue Hole," where water bubbles from unfathomable depths, supposed to be the outlet of this
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subterranean stream. This "Blue Hole" is not in Seneca county, however. Different people have said that there are two underground streams under our own "terra firma." One runs under the Big Four depot and carries all drainage from this place. Where it comes to the surface, no one seems to know. The other leads from the southern part of the city in a northwesterly direction under the Methodist Episcopal church, under the residence of Mrs. Nettie C. Lutes (N. E. corner of Madison and Monroe streets) and empties into the river near the Monroe street bridge.
Adams township also has a great natural curiosity, made famous by the Water cure and Sanitarium built in 1868. There are a number of springs from which sulphur water flows, and the water from these springs forms a regular stream, never varying in volume, through all seasons. The water has peculiar medicinal qualities and is used not only by residents of the vill- age of Green Spring and visitors at the Sanitarium, but is bottled and sent throughout the country. Some of these springs are located on land originally owned by Josiah Hedges, and called "Hedges Springs." The green springs proper, are in Sandusky county, just across the line. In the early days, Josiah Hedges built a mill on this stream which was very popular from the fact that through floods or drouth it never ceased operating. This mineral water has the peculiar quality of depositing lime sulphur about any object left in its depths. The people there say the object is petrified, but it is not real petrification.
Another instance of petrification, apparently, has taken place in our own vicinity. When bodies were exhumed from the old cemetery, now Hedges Park, some were as solid as stone. When Mr. Clouser was sexton of Greenlawn cemetery, such a body was brought from Sycamore and re-interred at Green- lawn. In course of time it was necessary to again exhume this same body in placing a monument. It was then found to be a handful of dust. Professor Kleckner, of Heidelberg, explains that in some bodies are certain elements which react and form a substance resembling soap-stone. If the body be placed under different conditions, this returns to dust.
First Tavern-Built in 1817
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Along the car line on West Perry street, just outside the city limits, there stands a most wonderful tree. It is located on the old Noble farm (now owned by Mrs. Groff). It looks like two trees grown together for several feet. This connection is a few feet above the ground, the bases of the trees being about two feet apart. Above this union, each tree branches out again, forming a perfect top. Scientists have tried to explain in various ways how the trees grew together. A picture of this natural curosity may be seen in the Columbian High School. It has also been published in different magazines.
About six miles north of Tiffin on the east side of the San- dusky River is a point called "High Banks." Almost perpen- dicular cliffs of a sand and clay mixture, more than forty feet high, lead down to the river. The west bank of the river is but a few feet above the river bed, while in the distance it rises gradually until it reaches the height of the opposite cliffs. At the foot of the cliff may be found excellent specimens of glacial drift, boulders with deep markings. It is conceded that this place was at one time a glacial beach, or the melting point of the ice, which caused this immense bed of sand, stones and clay. Afterward the stream worked its way through the lowest path and gradually the west bank has been hollowed out while the east bank has fallen into the stream, the result of centuries of erosion. Greenlawn cemetery is situated on such a glacial beach, and the road from Tiffin to Fostoria was laid out on top of a glacial drift.
On the east side of the river south of the Park bridge, and on the west side of the river north of this same bridge, is a peculiar natural formation, or rather upheaval of rock, called anticlinal. Both are very noticeable from the bridge.
Development of Fort Ball.
In November, 1817, Erastus Bowe, the first white settler in the county, built the first cabin within the present limits of Tiffin. It was built near the picket line of Fort Ball, many of the stakes standing at the time. It was a double log house which, were it standing now, would grace the center of Wash- ington street, on the north river bank. Here he kept the first
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tavern in the county. The tavern was torn down when Spencer put the present Water street through to Fort Ball. In 1819 the first town in the county was platted by Josiah Vance and called Oakley. Here, in 1820, the first post office in the county was established. Before the first Indian Reservations in the county were surveyed into sections, three grants of one section each, had been made by the Government to persons who had assisted as interpreters or in other ways. The Armstrong and McCulloch grants were located on the present sites of Fort Ball and northwestern Tiffin. Robert Armstrong received his grant from the United States, October 12, 1823, and on the the 29th of the same month, sold 404 acres to Jesse Spencer for $3,000.00. Mr. Spencer then replatted the town of Oakley, including the old stockade (Fort Ball), and extending down the river to the present Washington street bridge, and west to somewhere near the present B. & O. depot. The only cabins in the town were the log tavern of Mr. Bowe, the cabin of David Smith (where the building at the corner (S. E.) of Railroad and Lafayette streets stands), and the cabin of Agreen Ingraham upon the hill, about where Mr. McNeal's store (N. W. corner of Miami and Sandusky streets) now stands. The first post office had been established here in 1820. There was also a saw mill between Washington and Monroe street bridges, built by Robert Armstrong on the river bank in 1820. Long before Spencer bought Oakley, he operated this mill and seemed to have charged of things generally. He must have been working in Armstrong's employ or have been a squatter himself, await- ing development. However, the early history of Fort Ball seems to be a history of Jesse Spencer. He built a brush dam from the mill across to the other side of the river, meeting the bank at the triangular space midway between Washington and Monroe street bridges on the south side of the river. This brush dam caused much trouble between Mr. Spencer, propri- etor of Oakley, and Mr. Hedges, owner of Tiffin, and finally resulted in the arrest of Mr. Hedges, who was imprisoned for a short time in his own court house. The first law suit and jury trial in the county followed. It seems that the brush dam caused the water to overflow Mr. Hedges' property. One night he and some men whom he had hired, dug a trench
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