USA > Ohio > Wyandot County > Past and present of Wyandot County, Ohio; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievemen, Vol. I > Part 15
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
Turn where we may, wherever the foot of civilization was trod, there will we find this wheat plant, which like a monu- ment, has perpetuated the memory of the event; but nowhere do we find the plant wild. It is the result of cultivation in bygone ages, and has been produced by "progressive develop- ment."
It is beyond the limit and province of these pages to dis- cuss the composition of this important cereal only his his- toric properties can be noticed. With the advent of the white men in America, wheat, like corn, came to be one of the staple products of life. It followed the pioneer over the mountains westward, where, in the rich Mississippi and Illi- nois bottoms, it has been cultivated by the French since 1690. When the hardy New Englanders came to the alluvial lands adjoining the Ohio, Muskingum or Miami rivers, they brought with them this "staff of life" and forthwith began its culti-
153
PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
vation. Who sowed the first wheat in Ohio, is a question Mr. A. S. Guthrie, answers in a letter published in the Agri- cultural Report of 1857 as follows:
My father, Thomas Guthrie, emigrated to the North- west Territory in the year 1788, and arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum in July, about three months after General Putnam had arrived with the pioneers of Ohio. My father brought a bushel of wheat with him from one of the frontier counties of Pennsylvania, which he sowed on a lot of land in Marietta, which he cleared for that purpose on the second bottom or plane, in the neighborhood of where the courthouse now stands.
Mr. Guthrie's opinion is corroborated by Dr. Sam'l P. Hildreth in his "Pioneer Settlers of Ohio," and is no doubt correct. From that date down on through the years of Ohio's growth, the crops of wheat have kept pace with the advance and growth with the civilization. The soil is admirably adapted to the growth of this cereal, a large number of va- rieties being grown, and an excellent quality being produced. It is firm in body, and in many cases, is a successful rival of wheat produced in the great wheat producing regions of the United States-Minnesota, and farther northwest.
Oats, rye, barley, and other grains were also brought into Ohio, from the Atlantic coast, though some of them had been cultivated by the French in Illinois and about Detroit. They were first used only for home consumption and until the river and canal navigation were brought about, but very little was ever sent to the market.
Of all the root crops known to man, the potato is prob- ably the most valuable. Next to wheat, it is claimed by many as the staff of life. In some localities this assumption is un- doubtedly true. What would Ireland have done in her fam- ines but for this one simple vegetable ? The potato is a native of the mountainous districts of tropical and sub-tropical America, probably from Chili to Mexico; but there is considerable difficulty in deciding where it was really found and where it has spread after being introduced by man. Hum- boldt, the learned savant, doubted if it had ever been found wild, but scholars no less famous and of late date, have ex- pressed an opposite opinion. In the wild plant, as in others, the tubers are smaller than in the cultivated. The potato had been cultivated in America and as tubers had been used
154
PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
as food, long before the advent of the Europeans. It seems to have been first brought to Europe by the Spaniards from the natives from Quito in the beginning of the sixteenth cen- tury, and spread through Spain, the Netherlands, Burgundy, and Italy, cultivated in gardens as an ornament only and not as an article of food. It long received through European countries the same name batatas-the sweet potato, which is the plant meant by all the English writers down to the sixteenth century.
It appears that the potato was brought from Virginia to Ireland by Hawkins, the slave trader, in 1565, and to Eng- land by Sir Francis Drake, twenty years later. It did not at first attract much notice, and not until it was a third time imported from America in 1623, by Sir Walter Raleigh, did the Europeans ever make a practical use of it. Even then it was a long time before it was extensively cultivated. It is noticed in agricultural countries as a food for cattle, only, as late as 1719. Poor people began using it however, and finding it highly nutritious, the Royal Geographical Society in 1633 adopted measures for its propagation.
About this time it began to be used in Ireland as food and from the beginning of the eighteenth century its use has never declined. It is now known in every quarter of the world, and has by cultivation, been greatly improved.
The inhabitants of America have learned its use from the Indians, who cultivated it and other food crops-and rutabagas, radishes, etc., and taught the whites their real value. When the pioneers of Ohio, came to its fertile val- leys, they brought improved species with them, which by culti- vation and soil are now greatly increased, and are among the standard crops of the state.
The cucurbitaceous plants such as squashes, etc., were like the potato and a similar root crop indigenous to America -others, like the melons, to Asia-and were among the staple foods of the original inhabitants.
The early French missionaries of the West speak of the root crops and the cucurbitaceous plants as in use among the aboriginal inhabitants. They were very sweet and wholesome, wrote Marquette. Others speak in the same terms, though some of the plants in this order had found their way to these valleys through the Spaniards and others through early Atlantic coast and Mexican inhabitants. Their
155
PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
use by the settlers of the West, especially Ohio, is traced to New England, as the first settlers came, from that portion of the Union. They grow well in all parts of the state, and by cultivation have been greatly improved in quality and variety. All cucurbitaceous plants require a rich, porous soil, and by proper attention to their cultivation, excellent results can be attained.
Probably the earliest and most important implement of husbandry known is the plow. Grain, plants and roots will not grow well unless the soil in which they are planted be properly stirred, hence the first requirement was an instru- ment that would fulfill such conditions.
The first implements were rude indeed; generally, stout wooden sticks, drawn through the earth by thongs attached to rude ox-yokes, or fastened to the animal's horns. Such plows were in use among the early Egyptians, and may yet be found among uncivilized nations. The Old Testament furnishes numerous instances of the use of the plow, while, on the ruins of ancient cities and among the pyramids of Egypt, and on the buried walls of Babylon, and other ex- tinct cities, are rude drawings of this useful implement. As the use of iron became apparent and general, it was utilized for plow points, where the wood alone would not penetrate the earth. They got their plow-shares sharpened in Old Testament days, also coulters, which shows, beyond a doubt that iron pointed plows were then in use. From times men- tioned in the Bible, on heathen tombs, and like catacombs, the improvement of the plow, like other farming tools, went on, as the race of man grew intelligent. Extensive manors in the old country required increased means of turning the soil, and to meet these demands, ingenious mechanics, from time to time, invented improved plows. Strange to say, however, no improvement was ever made by the farmer him- self. This is accounted for in his habits of life, and, too often, the disposition to "take things as they are." When Amer- ica was settled, the plow had become an implement capable of turning two or three acres per day. Still, and for many years, and even until lately, the mold-board was entirely wooden, the point only iron. Later developments changed the wood for steel, which now alone is used. Still later espe- cially in prairie states, riding plows are used. Like all other improvements they were obliged to combat an obtruse pub-
156
PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
lic mind among the ruralists, who surely combat almost every move made to better their conditions. In many cases in America wooden plows, straight ax handles, and a stone in one end of the bag to balance the grist in the other, are the rule, and for no other reason in the world are they maintained than the laconic answer:
My father did so and why should not I? Am I better than he ?
After the plow comes the harrow, but little changed save in lightness and beauty. Formerly a log of wood or a brush harrow, supplied its place, but in the State of Ohio the toothed instrument has nearly always been used.
The hoe is made lighter than formerly, and is now made of steel. At first, the common iron hoe, sharpened by the blacksmith, was in constant use. Now, it is rarely seen out- side of the southern states, where it has long been the chief implement in agriculture.
The various small plows for cultivation of corn and such other crops as necessitated their use are all the result of mod- ern civilization. Now, their number is so large, and, in many places, there are two or more attached to one carriage, whose operator rides. These kind are much used in the western states, whose rootless and stoneless soil is admirably adapted to such machinery.
When the grain became ripe, implements to cut it were in demand. In ancient times, the sickle was the only instru- ment used. It was a short, curved iron, whose inner edge was sharpened and serrated. In its ancient form, it is doubt- ful if the edge was ever, if any, serrated. It is mentioned in all ancient works, and in the Bible is frequently referred to.
"Thrust in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe," wrote the sacred New Testament, while the old chronicles as early as the time of Moses: "As thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn."
In more modern times, the handle of the sickle was length- ened, then the blade, which in time led to the scythe. Both are yet in use in many parts of the world. The use of the scythe led some thinking persons to add a "finger" or two, and to change the shape of the handle. The old cradle was the result. At first it met considerable opposition from the laborers who brought forward the old-time argument of ignor- rance, that it would cheapen labor.
157
PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
Whether the cradle is a native of America or Europe is not accurately decided; probably of the mother country. It came into common use about 1818, and in a few years had found its way into the wheat-producing regions of the West. Where small crops are raised, the cradle is still much in use. A man can cut from two to four acres per day, hence, it is much cheaper than a reaper, where the crop is small.
The mower and reaper are comparatively modern inven- tions. A rude reaping machine is mentioned by Pliny in the first century. It was pushed by an ox through the standing grain. On its front was a sharp edge, which cut the grain. It was, however, impracticable, as it cut only a portion of the grain, and the peasantry preferred the sickle. Other and later attempts to make reapers do not seem to have been suc- cessful, and not till the present century was a machine made that would do the work required. In 1826, Mr. Bell, of Scot- land, constructed a machine which is yet used in many parts of that country. In America, Mr. Hussey and Mr. McCor- mick took out patents for reaping machines of superior char- acter in 1833 and 1834. At first the cutters of these machines were various contrivances, but both manufacturers soon adapted a serrated knife, triangular shaped, attached to a bar, and driven through "finger guards" attached to it, by a forward and backward motion. These are the common ones now in use, save that all do not use serrated knives. Since these pioneer machines were introduced into the harvest fields they have been greatly improved and changed. Of late years they have been constructed so as to bind the "sheaves," and now a good stout boy, and a team with a "harvester," will do as much as many men could do a few years ago, and with much greater ease.
As was expected by the inventors of reapers they met with a determined resistance from those, who in former times, made their living by harvesting. It was again absurdly argued that they would cheapen labor, and hence were an injury to the laboring man. Indeed, when the first machines were brought into Ohio, many of them were torn to pieces by ignorant hands. Others left fields in a body when the pro- prietor brought a reaper to his farm. Like all such fallacies, these, in time, passed away leaving only their stain.
Following the reaper came the thresher. As the country filled with inhabitants and men increased their possessions,
158
PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
more rapid means than the old flail or roller method were de- manded. At first the grain was trodden out by the horses driven over the bundles, which were laid in a circular en- closure. The old flail, the tramping-out by horses, and the cleaning by the sheet, or throwing the grain up against a current of air, were too slow, and machines were the result of the demand.
In Ohio the manufacture of threshers began in 1846, in the southwestern part. Isaac Tobias, who came to Hamilton from Miamisburg that year, commenced building the thresh- ers then in use. They were without the cleaning attachment, and simply hulled the grain. Two years later he began manu- facturing the combined thresher and cleaner, which were then coming into use. He continued in business until 1851. Four years after, the increased demand for such machines, consequent upon the increased agricultural products, induced the firm of Owens, Lane & Dyer to fit their establishment for the manufacture of threshers. They afterward added the manufacture of steam engines to be used in the place of horse power. Since then the manufacture of these machines, as well as that of all other agricultural machinery, has greatly multiplied and improved until now it seems that little room for improvement remains. One of the largest firms engaged in the manufacture of threshers and their component ma- chinery is located at Mansfield-The Aultman & Taylor Com- pany. Others are at Massillon and at other cities in the West.
Modern times and modern enterprise have developed a marvelous variety of agricultural implements-too many to be mentioned in a volume like this. Under special subjects they will occasionally be found. The farmer's life, so cheer- less in pioneer times, and so full of weary labor, is daily be- coming less laborious, until, if they as a class profit by the advances, they can find a life of ease in the farm pursuits, not attainable in any other profession. Now machines do al- most all the work. They sow, cultivate, cut, bind, thresh, winnow and carry the grain. They cut, rake, load and mow the hay. They husk, shell and clean the corn. They cut and split the wood. They do almost all; until it seems as though the day may come when the farmer can sit in the house and simply guide the affairs of the farm.
Any occupation prospers in proportion to the interest taken in it by its members. This interest is always heightened
159
PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
by an exchange of views, hence societies and periodicals ex- ercise an influence at first hardly realized. This feeling among prominent agriculturists led to the formation of the agricultural societies, at first by counties, then districts, then by states, and lastly by association of states. The day may come when a national agricultural fair may be one of the annual attractions of America.
Without noticing the early attempts to found such so- cieties in Europe or America, the narrative will begin with those of Ohio. The first agricultural society organized in the Buckeye State was the Hamilton County Agricultural Society. Its exact date of organization is not now preserved, but to a certainty it is known that the society held public ex- hibitions as a county society prior to 1823. Previous to that date there were, doubtless, small, private exhibitions held in older localities, probably at Marietta, but no regular organ- ization seems to have been maintained. The Hamilton County Society held its fairs annually, with marked success. Its suc- cessor, the present society, is now one of the largest county societies in the Union.
During the legislative session of 1832-1833, the subject of agriculture seems to have agitated the minds of the people through their representatives, for the records of that session shows the first laws passed for their benefit. The acts of that body seem to have been productive of some good for no records of the number of societies organized at that date exist, yet the record shows that "many societies have been organized in conformity to this act," etc. No doubt many societies held fairs from this time, for a greater or less number of years. Agricultural journals were, at this period, rare in the state, and the subject of agricultural improve- ment did not receive that attention from the press that it does at this time; and, for want of public spirit and attention to sustain these fairs, they were gradually discontinued un- til the new act respecting their organization was passed in 1846. However, records of several county societies of the years between 1832 and 1846 yet exist, showing that in some parts of the state, the interest in these fairs was by no means diminished. The Delaware County Society reports for the year 1833-it was organized in June of that year-good prog- ress for a beginning, and that much interest was manifested by the citizens of the county.
160
PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
Ross county held its first exhibition in the fall of that year, and the report of the managers is quite cheerful. Nearly all of the exhibited articles were sold at auction, at greatly advanced prices from the current ones of the day. The en- try seems to have been free, in an open inclosure, and but little revenue was derived. Little was expected, hence no one was disappointed.
Washington county reports an excellent cattle show for that year, and a number of premiums awarded to the success- ful exhibitors. This same year the Ohio Importation Com- pany was organized at the Ross County Fair. The company began the next season the importation of fine cattle from England, and, in a few years, did incalculable good in this respect, as well as make considerable money in the enter- prise.
These societies were re-organized when the law of 1846 went into effect, and, with those that had gone down and the new ones started, gave an impetus to agriculture that to this day is felt. Now every county has a society, while district, state and inter-state societies are annually held, all promotive in their tendency, and all a benefit to every one.
The Ohio State Board of Agriculture was organized by an act of the legislature, passed February 27, 1846. Since then various amendments to the organic law have been passed from time to time as the necessities of the board and of agri- culture in the state demanded. The same day that the act was passed creating the state board, an act was also passed pro- viding for the erection of county and district societies, un- der which law, with subsequent amendments, the present county and district agricultural societies are managed. Dur- ing the years from 1846, down to the present time, great im- provements have been made in the manner of conducting these societies, resulting in exhibitions unsurpassed in any other state.
Pomology and horticulture are branches of industry so closely allied with agriculture that a brief resume of their operations in Ohio will be eminently adapted to these pages. The early planting and caring for fruit in Ohio has already been noticed. Among the earliest pioneers were men of fine tastes, who not only desired to benefit themselves and their country, but who were possessed with the laudable ambition to produce the best fruits and vegetables the state could
10
NORTH EIGHTH STREET, UPPER SANDUSKY
-
SOUTH SANDUSKY AVENUE, LOOKING NORTH, UPPER SANDUSKY
161
PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
raise. For this end they studied carefully the topography of the country, its soil, climate, and various influences upon such culture and by careful experiments with fruit and vege- tables, produced the excellent varieties now in use.
As the state filled with settlers, and means of communi- cation became better, a desire for an interchange of views be- came apparent, resulting in the establishment of periodicals devoted to these subjects, and societies where different ones could meet and discuss these things.
A Horticultural and Pomological Society was organized in Ohio, in 1866. Before the organization of state societies, however, several district or independent societies existed; in fact, out of these grew the state society, which in turn pro- duced good by stimulating the creation of county societies. All these societies, aids to agriculture, have progressed as the state developed, and have done much in advancing fine fruit, and a taste for aesthetic culture. In all parts of the West, their influence is seen in better and improved fruits; its culture and its demand.
Today, Ohio stands in the van of the western states in agriculture and all its kindred associations. It only needs the active energy of her citizens to keep her in this place, advancing as time advances, until the goal of her ambition is reached.
The order of the Patrons of Husbandry originated in the mind of O. H. Kelley, a man of New England birth, who went to Minnesota in his early manhood and became a farmer in that section of the country. In 1864, he was appointed a clerk in the department of agriculture at Washington. Two years later in January, 1866, Mr. Kelley was commissioned by Hon. Isaac Newton, commissioner of agriculture, to visit the south- ern states, lately in hostility to the government, for the pur- pose of obtaining statistical and other information in regard to the condition of the South, and report the same to the de- partment at Washington. It was while traveling in the South, in obedience to these instructions that the thought of a secret society of agriculturists, for the protection and advancement of their interests and as an element to restore kindly feeling among the people, first occurred to Mr. Kelley.
The idea of giving women membership in the proposed order originated with Carrie A. Hall, of Boston, Massachu- Vol. I-11
162
PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
setts, a niece of Mr. Kelley, to whom he had imparted his views of the new association after his return from the South.
In the full formation of the order, six other men were di- rectly associated with Mr. Kelley, namely William Saunders, of the department of agriculture, who, next to Mr. Kelley, did most in originating the order; Rev. A. B. Grosh, of the same department; William M. Ireland, of the postoffice depart- ment ; Rev. John Trimble and J. R. Thompson, of the treasury department, and F. M. McDowell, a pomologist of Wayne, New York, all of whom, with one exception, were born on the farm.
These seven men were the founders of the order, and for nearly two years they labored with great energy, and with a faith and zeal amounting almost to inspiration, until, with the assistance of friends who became interested in the plan, they completed a well-devised scheme of organization, based upon a ritual of four degrees for men and four for women, which is unsurpassed in the English language for originality of thought, purity of sentiment and beauty of diction.
Having formed a constitution to govern the order to which this ritual was adapted, these men met on the 4th day of De- cember, 1867, and constituted themselves the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, with William Saunders as mas- ter, J. R. Thompson, lecturer, William M. Ireland, treasurer, and O. H. Kelley, secretary. The remaining offices for obvious reasons were left vacant.
The little brown building in which the organization was effected was at the time the office of Mr. Saunders, and stood embowered with the trees in the gardens of the agricultural department on the corner of Four-and-a-half street and Mis- souri avenue. Later the late Colonel Aiken, of South Caro- lina, and other interested members of the order made vigorous efforts to have the Government preserve this historic build- ing, but they were unsuccessful in their efforts.
The first subordinate grange was organized in Washing- ton, D. C., the 8th day of January, 1868, as a school of instruc- tion, with William. M. Ireland, as master.
The first dispensation for a grange was granted at Harris- burg, Pennsylvania, the 4th day of April, 1868, but the first regular subordinate range to which a charter was issued was organized at Fredonia, New York, the 16th day of April, 1868.
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.