USA > Ohio > Sandusky County > Pioneer recollections of the early 30's and 40's in Sandusky County, Ohio > Part 2
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Thickets of Hazel and Spice Brush grew in the woods to the north and west of the Fort.
MONEY.
The first sprinkling of money that I remember was in 1837, when the Ohio railroad from Sandusky city to Toledo was being built. It came to us in the shape of paper money issued by the Railroad company and paid out to their workmen. It went by the name of "Wild- cat" money. It was all right at first and circulated free- ly, but in less than a year the bank failed and the money was worthless. My father lost $400 due him for labor on the railroad. The next stray shining dollars came in 1840, when Granny Harrison, or Tippecanoe, as he was called, ran for president. When his log cabin, built of slim poles, on two pair of wagon trucks, drawn by six- teen yoke of oxen, with sixteen pioneer drivers, reached Lower Sandusky, going west, we had a big time. It was the nicest cabin I ever saw. It was about 20 feet long and 8 feet wide, with openings at the sides, and was cov-
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ered with coon skins in such a way that the tails of the coons hung like tassels or fringes along the eaves of the roof. Inside this cabin as it passed along the road were a lot of mechanics at work; a carpenter, a blacksmith, a shoemaker, a tailor, a cooper, and about eight or nine carpet baggers or office seekers, making about thirty in the caravan. In the front end of the cabin stood a cider barrel, and on the top of it lay a gourd hollowed out in the shape of a dipper, which was used by these workmen in taking a drink of cider, or pretending to do so. The antics of these inen caused much merriment in the big crowd that followed in the wake of the procession. The headquarters of this crowd was at the place where the American House now stands, where they lodged two nights.
LIBERTY POLE.
My father, Hugh Bowland, furnished them with a white ash pole about 70 feet in height, for their "liberty pole," for one dollar, and sold them an ox yoke for $1.50 The party left in the village about $60 for food and ox- feed, and perhaps $5 for some of "Ezra's Best."
It was here that I first heard a whig speech, deliv- ered by Preacher Bowlus. After the speech he delivered a prayer which seemed to come from the bottom of his heart, "that God might bless all the white people, and all the Indians and negroes, and the Dutch people, too." His last request, and the tone in which he uttered it, an- gered the Dutch, some of whom were filled with "Ezra's Best" whiskey, and they soon armed themselves with tomahawks and corn cutters and ran around trying to get a chance to kill Bowlus. The friends of Bowlus got him out of sight as soon as possible. They had him dodge
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under a frame building that stood where the Rawson res- idence now stands, that rested on blocks about two feet from the ground, and then hustled him back into the dense brush of the ravine below, near where the "Pelter Welch" tragedy occurred later. Here the Dutch could not find Bowlus and the excitement soon died down.
BOOMS AND MORE MONEY.
The next sprinkling of money was in 1844, when Hitchcock & Colt contracted to macadamize the pike from the Lower Sandusky bridge to Bellevue. They completed four miles of it, east of the river, and then threw up the contract. Work on the pike then rested until 1848, when Thomas Wilks took the contract and completed it in October, 1849. The next sprinkling of money was during Mexican war times, 1846-7.
In 1849-50 Lower Sandusky took its first boom, when Mr. O. L. Nims was the first merchant to pay cash for produce. The'next was in 1852, during the building of the Toledo & Cleveland railroad, now the Lake Shore. The next in 1853, when the building of the L. E. & W. left considerable cash in townl. I might say here that the country roads in the 30's and 40's, in Sandusky coun- ty, were almost impassable three-fourths of the year. I should judge that more than half of the county was cov- ered with water, in some places to a depth of three feet.
COUNTY FAIR.
The first fair held in the county lasted only one day. It was held in the Third ward; no admission was charged, as they exhibited only a few oxen, cows, some vegeta- bles, corn, potatoes, etc. It was not regularly organized.
. STAGE DRIVING.
In 1843 I was engaged eleven days by Thomas
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FORT STEPHENSON.
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Shields as stage driver between Bellevue and Perrysburg when Mr. Shields was sick with fever and ague. The coach was enclosed, and would seat six passengers con- fortably inside. Occasionally as many as four passengers rode with the driver on deck, or on top of the coach. Each passenger was allowed a grip or package of ten or twelve pounds. Half the travel in those days was by persons running away from justice, to hide in the deep woods of Ohio and Indiana and Michigan, and the other half by land speculators. All those who came to settle on government land, to make a home for their families, came in caravans of ten or fifteen wagons in a company, using one and two-horse wagons which carried their fan- ilies and children, their bedding, their provisions, their cooking utensils and their farming tools. Once in a while there would be an ox team, slow but sure. The stage coaches were drawn by four spirited horses(none others were used)averaging in weight about 1, 100 pounds each. The teams were changed usually about every ten or twelve miles, when the roads were bad. Relays of fresh horses were kept at the various stations along the pike. These coaches carried mail. The landlord at the stage stations was also post-master. Those who received the mail or sent it away paid him the postage in money, as there were then no postage stamps. The postage on let- ters was usually five cents, but varied according to dist- ance. No envelopes were used, but the large sheets of foolscap were carefully folded and stuck together, and sealed with red wax wafers or sealing wax. The wafers were a bright red, and about the size of a dime, or the old shilling, then in use, now obsolete. One coach sel- dom carried more than a dozen letters at a time, and oft- ener less. The trip from Bellevue to Perrysburg, 47
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miles, was usually made in ten hours. When a stage got within eighty rods of a station the driver would blow his tin horn to notify the hostler at the hotel barn to have his four-horse team of fresh horses hooked together and ready to be hitched to the stage without delay, so that the driver would not be obliged to get out of his seat or bout. ( Sometimes when there was much travel a team had to make two stations before a change. No one rode for pleasure in those days, as it cost too much, and mon- ey was scarce. The fare from Cleveland to Detroit, about 200 miles, was $15.50, or about 8 cents per mile. In 1853 when the Toledo & Norwalk railway trains began run- ning, the taverns along the pike were abandoned, as very few emigrants then traveled by wagon roads.
INDIAN BURIAL PLACE.
At the northeast corner of Sandusky Ave. and Pine street, near the present residence of Louis Hunter, an old Indian chief who died a natural death had been bur- ied previous to the war of 1812. After the battle of Fort Stephenson, some of the Indians who had been killed were buried near the residence of the late Judge Wilmer, west of the Ochs wagon shops, and others were rafted across the river and buried in the Indian burial place near the chief. The existence of this Indian cemetery was confirmed a few years ago by the many Indian skel- etons that were found and carted away, when workmen were grading down the street on that avenue.
THE GOOSE HOUSE.
The old Patterson house, on the north side of the pike, about forty rods east of the river bridge, was built in 1837, by John Strohl, to be used by him as a tavern stand. David Gould rented and used it for a tavern one
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year, then John Strohl occupied it about two years, and then it was rented to John Upp, in 1844. The way it came to be called the goose house, was this: John Strohl had painted his tavern sign the figure of a swan. Half of the people of this section had never seen a swan, and so called it the goose house, and it went by that name for a long time. This name hurt its reputation as a hotel more than 20 per cent. Nobody wanted the name of stopping at a goose house, although it was well kept. Mrs. Strohl, whose maiden name was Beachler, was an excellent cook and a good landlady, and her husband treated every traveler kindly and courteously; but they never overcame the evil influence of a bad name.
Captain Samuel Thompson had a tavern across the road from the "Goose House." Movers were shy of the "Goose House," and it was known far and wide. A Mr. Staner kept the house in 1851-3, Henry Thompson in 1859, then Wm. Ernsperger, Julius Patterson, McGorm- ley, and others. It is not now used as a tavern stand, but is let out to roomers and tenants by the present own- er, Mr. Lance, of Toledo, Ohio. When the house was built Mr. James Bowland furnished the timber and Wm. McGormley hewed it with a broadaxe.
GEN. R. B. HAYES.
The first time I saw Mr. Hayes was at a country dance, where Mr. James Hallett was fiddler. Hallet was a world known Violinist. (See Edwin and David Van Doren, his pupils. ) This was in 1839-40. A Mr. Cook heard about Hallet, and they had a contest at Toledo, and Hallet took the prize. Hallet was uneducated in book learning, but he and his wife and son and daughter were experts on the fiddle. His wife was left nanded.
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They lived in the woods near the old Brunthaver resi- dence, in Ballville township. Their playing would charm the birds and snakes. The snakes would lie and listen as though they were in distress. Hallet would have made a congressman if he had been educated. Mr. Hayes would always see that the fiddler was paid before they left the dance hall, which very often was only a log cab- in with a puncheon floor. Hayes was a good dancer, and was looked upon as an extra good man. He often lent money to the boys to pay their bills, which I judge he never got back. This dance was in Ballville township, at the house of Mr. Michael Nye. Another time it was at Mr. Eaton's, near by.
AN INDIAN WEDDING.
I was at an Indian wedding once to which the In- dians had invited me. My father had also been invited, but didn't go. It was in the month of May and the dog- wood blows were out. There were only about twenty of the Wyandotte Indians living here then. When I got there they were throwing their tomahawks into a tree so as to make them stick with the handle down. They stood about 50 feet from the tree and very seldom missed their mark, if they did they were hooted at. The women were mixing clay mortar which they placed around two pickerel fish that weighed about 16 pounds apiece. They didn't wash, scale or gut the fish, but rolled them in the clay, about 11/2 inches thick. They had been burning brush and chunks which made coal, and they dug a hole in the hot cinders and put the fish in, after they were rolled in the clay. Then they mixed up some corn meal for cakes, about the size of a cocoa nut, and baked them in the same manner: "Then they put potatoes into an
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THE OLD FASHIONED STAGE COACH.
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old kettle that hield six or seven gallons, and some onions with the skins on. The kettle looked as though it had been in Noah's ark, very old. Well now when they took the fish out of the fire and broke open the clay with their tomahawks they found them very nicely done. The head of the fish came right off, and the fish looked clean and nice. The entrails of the fish had formed into a ball like the yolk of an egg, and looked clean and was easily re- moved. They had no dishes, and for a table they had hacked off level the top of a log. They used a forked stick with prongs on, to lift the potatoes and onions out of the kettle. They laid all their food on top of the log. They cut the meat with their scalping knives, and ate with their fingers.
The wedding came afterwards. The bride and groom did not stand up side by side, but facing each other. The father of the girl or squaw performed the ceremony. The bride was decorated with the blossoms of dogwood. The groom was attired in gay turkey feathers. After the ceremony they had music and dancing. One of the mu- sicians had a dried hide of some animal stretched on a forked stick which he struck with a little drum stick. The rest all jumped around like a goose with its head cut off; this they called dancing. The men and women danced promiscuously, but they did not have partners as we do. They walked with a wabbling motion, one be- hind another, never two abreast. The Indian squaws looked alike, just like so many cocoanuts. The , squaws wore no finger rings but ear-rings, No $10,000 beau- ties, like Forepaugh's, were among them. One squaw however wore a genuine gold ring. They could play on the jews-harp in a warbling tone which reminded one dreamily of the past and the future, but there was no
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tune to it. It sounded nice, and was entertaining. I never knew a white man that could beat them on the jews-harp. Their marriages last usually only from one moon to another, and if they find that they are not prop- erly mated, they separate. They have a ceremony which some one performs to separate them as man and wife. They re-marry, if ill-mated, at every moon. It is done with only a few words. This wedding took place near the old Indian orchard, about a mile north of Green Spring, in day time, and where they had whisky to make merry with. They recognize no relation nearer than first cousin, but they trace back their ancestry as far as they can, by tradition, or memory.
GREAT WINDFALL.
When we came to Sandusky county we saw evidences of a great storm that caused a wind-fall among the forest trees in the vicinity of where Mt. Lebanon church, Ball- ville township, now stands. Early settlers told us that the storm or hurricane swept down the trees in 1822. We saw many old trunks of trees still lying in the direc- tion of the storm; among them was a mighty oak about four and a half feet in diameter, and hollow from the butt upward about 13 feet. It lay alone in a thick patch of hazel brush, with the trunk about six inches above ground.
BEE HUNTING.
In the year 1839, being then a boy of fifteen, I prac- ticed hunting bees by the David Crocket method. This I will now explain. I made a bait or trap for the bees, as follows: I took one pound of honey to one pint of rain water, boiled slowly, and removed the scum as long as it kept rising. I then put in three drops of essence of sweet
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anise, and put all into a bottle when hot, and corked up, ready for use. I then took a wooden box, 4x4 inches and four inches deep, with bottom, and a top 5x5 inches that had a hole in the center covered with glass, to let in light. Then I fitted a dry honey comb into the bottom of the box, into which I poured a little of my mixture, and closed the box, keeping it right side up. I then took my trap to the woods or where I wished to hunt bees, and on finding a wild bee on a flower I knocked it off with the cover into my box and quickly closed the lid. The bee went for the light and hung on the glass inside. I then carried the box to a stump or log and set it down, and put a handkerchief over the lid to darken the box. The bee then went down to fill itself with honey. After a while I took off the handkerchief, removed the lid and allowed the bee to fly away. I carefully noted the direc- tion it took, and stuck stakes or notched trees in the line of its' course. I tried several bees in this way. I then moved my trap some distance to one side of this line and caught some more bees and watched their course and set stakes. I then followed the last line of the bees until it cut across or intersected the first line, and just where they crossed I usually found the bee tree. One day our neighbors, the Glazes, the Brunthavers and others de- clared that the rule wouldn't work, as the lines crossed for them where there was no tree at all. There was noth- ing but a large patch of hazel brush. When I heard of this I got my father's bee box to try my luck, as I had never failed. My lines crossed in the hazel bushes, the same as theirs. So I went into the dense thicket of haz- el bushes where that monstrous oak tree had been lying for about 17 years, and to my great surprise found an aw- ful big swarm of bees, streaming in and out of a large
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knot hole under the tree, as large as a stove pipe. The opening was only about six inches from the ground. ran home like a deer and told my father. We went out and got about four or five wash tubs full of honey. There must have been about three barrels of bees. The fact that the bees would not vary more than a few inches in going a mile to their hive, shows that they have a very delicate sense of smell and direction.
TANNERY AND SHOE MAKING.
In the early twenties there was a tannery on the west bank of Green Creek, on high ground, about 11/2 miles north of the pike. It was run by Mr. McElroy and the remains of it were still seen as late as 1900.
One of the pioneer shoemakers of Sandusky county was Mr. Chas. H. Burdick, who lived on the ridge about 1 1/2 miles southwest of Clyde. He usually worked on a farm during the summer seasons and worked at his trade in winter. He made heavy cowhide boots, some of which are said to have weighed 7 pounds a pair, and he and his son, the late Chas. Burdick, of Fremont, used to carry them to market at Lower Sandusky, where they bartered for sugar and coffee, powder and lead. Their route was along the old Indian trail, past the cabin of Hugh Bowl- and, where they often stopped to rest and get a drink of water.
EARLY BUSINESS MEN OF LOWER SANDUSKY.
Merchants-Jesse Olmstead, Dickinson & Grant, Ben & Foris Meeker, Ed Whyler, John M. Smith, J. K. Glenn John & Morris Tyler, Magee & Caples, Eddy & Wilkes, Gen. John Bell, A. B. Taylor, and Boren & Hershey who were manufacturers of the Boren plow.
Tanners-Isaac VanDoren, James Justice.
Flour Mill-R. Bidwell.
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THE "GOOSE HOUSE," AS IT APPEARED IN 1903.
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Woolen Mill-Charles Choate, of Ballville.
Factories-There were no factories in 1835.
Blacksmiths-Lysander C. Ball, Robert Caldwell, Wm. Leary, Jacob Giesen and Mr. Camfield.
Cabinet Makers-Thomas Hawkins, John Christian, John Strohl, Wm. C. Otis.
Doctors-L. Q. Rawson, J. W. Wilson, Dr. Anderson, Thomas Stilwell, Dr. Brown, Daniel Brainard, Peter Beaugrand, L. Gessner, Sr. I might say that the doctors had the best graft, as they were always kept busy.
Lawyers-R. P. Buckland, Bish Eddy, W. W. Ainger, John Brush, Mr. Pettibone, Mr. Yeats, J. R. Bartlett, J. L. Greene, Sr., Homer Everett and H. Remsburg.
Will state that the bar had the poorest graft, as the people were all honest in those days.
Hotels-Chauncey Roberts, D. W. Gould, D. Corbin, John Macklin, John Strohl, Capt. Samuel Thompson, David Deal, James Vallette, Jacob Millius and Mr. Ogle.
Tinners-J. R. Pease, department store.
Hatter-Samuel Shout.
Jeweler-L. Leppelman, who also conducted a pottery. His wares were good for that time but would stand a poor show now.
Carpenters-Casper & Carlisle Smith, James McManus. Surveyors-Mr. Reeves, Mr. Camp, Horace E. Clark.
Names omitted above-Judge Knapp, Judge Howland, C. Doncyson, Ezekiel Dunning, Jos. Stuber, Fred Van- dercook, David Betts, Mr. Bayseer, O. Fusselman, David Swank, F. I. Norton, Judge Strawn.
Philip Spohn, grandfather of Jonathan Spohn, Fre- mont, O., was a body guard of Gen. Washington during the Revolutionary war.
James Kridler & Bro., were manufacturers of harness
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and riding saddles for men and women, in early days.
Win. Sherwood had the first and best orchard in the country, as early as 1835, on the bank of Green Creek, on the pike, east of town. The trees were planted by Wm. Sherwood, Sr. and his son, in 1827. One of the trees blew down in 1902, which measured 7 ft. 8 inches in circumference and bore apples after it fell.
Mr. McIntyre was sheriff of Sandusky Co., in 1835. N. B. Eddy was justice of the peace in 1835.
Jesse Emerson was an early settler. David Berger was sheriff in 1847. Merritt Harmon lived here in 1835. Phil- ip Dorr was keeping a shoe store here in 1841. Frank Bell, brother of Gen. Bell, was an intimate friend of Mr. Harmon. Dunham Ellis, an early settler, was town marshal.
I would try to describe the dark and gloomy appear- ance of the country when we came here, but I can not find letters in the alphabet to do so. But I wish to say that having seen the growth of the country for the last 67 years, I think I am safe in making a prophecy for the future. I prophesy that the Lake Shore Electric R. R. will have double tracks to Bellevue, and run cars every 5 or 7 minutes, to accommodate the traveling public, and that the people will live along the line in stately man- sions; the ballast of the road will then be all of brick or stone, the streets all paved so as to make them a grand thoroughfare for automobiles and carriages of every kind, and that those holding real estate along the road had better hold on to it.
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A Pioneer Sailor -- G. W. Orr.
By special permission of Capt. G. W. Orr, written from Put- in-Bay, September 23, 1903, the following is added as a compan- ion sketch. It was sent by him to the Secretary of the Sandusky County Pioneer and Historical Society, to be read at the reunion and picnic in 1903.
MOUNT CLEMENS, MICH. August 16, 1903. 5
DEAR SIR :- Yours of the 9th was duly received, and in reply I will tell you what I know about Lower San- dusky and the boating business in pioneer days. I was master of the steamer Islander. She was built and owned by Datus Kelley, of Kelley's Island, to run between Kelley's Island and other points. I think she was put on the route in 1846. The business was very light until Mr. Heywood commenced buying wheat. The water in the river was very low, so we built two lighters that would carry 2,000 bushels each. As the country im- proved the wheat came in more freely, and we had a fair- ly good business; and when Kendall & Nims started their store Lower Sandusky began to boom. They had as en- terprising and honorable a set of business men as I ever did business with. I left there with many friends that I never have forgotten. I was on the Islander until 1855, and then went on the brigg Castalia. I sailed her one year and then went back on the Islander until she was sold, and then we went to work and built the Island Queen and run her on the Lower Sandusky and Island route until the railroads crowded us out.
Kendall & Nims and Chas. Foster used to bring on large stocks of goods. I remember that I brought at one
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shipment 50 hogsheads of sugar and tons of coffee. Some of the names of the old firms were: Pease & Roberts, Jes- se Olmsted, Christian Doncyson. I suppose they have long ago gone over the river. I have not been in Fremont for 30 years.
Lockwood & Smith built a boat to run to Fremont, but she did not run regularly. The boat you referred to of which you did not know the name was the Reindeer. She was the largest boat that was ever up the river. We used to run her to Buffalo or anywhere on the lakes. It would not pay to run her on the river. She was a very fast boat and would carry 700 passengers.
We finally built a new hull for her machinery and called her the Chief Justice Waite. She was the last steamer I sailed. I began in 1828 and quit in the fall of 1875. Now I will tell of the early history of the Sandusky river in regard to navigation. - The first boat propelled by power on board was moved by horse power; two horses being used as motive power, by a Mr. Caldwell. The first steamer on the river was the Water Witch. I saw her in Oswego, N. Y. She was - owned by a man named Mallory, and had been built for a packet boat on the Erie canal; but she was not allowed to run on account of her washing the canal banks. The steamer Commerce was built for that route, but she did not run regularly. Captain Wells put the steamer Vance on the route.
The docks on the route as I remember them were as follows: first the Hartshorn, back of Johnson's Island; next the Bushen's dock, which was quite a shipping place for farm produce; next the Plaster Bed, which was used for shipping plaster and other produce; next the Haines' dock above which I never knew to be
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used for anything. There was no Moore's dock on the route to Fremont. There was a Moore's dock about 8 miles from Port Clinton on the Lake Shore. I can imag- ine a fine trip up the river with its fine scenery as seen from the upper deck of one of these steamers: First we come to Slates' Point. Mr. Slates used to be at the mouth of the river and they used to come in times of high water with boats and take him ashore; the next is Mud creek where the Hunter's Club House is; and the next is Eagle Island, which is fast disappearing in the bay. Then you go up the river about seven miles through the wild rice and rushes and come to LaPoint's farm, on terra firma, then to Cooleys' and then to Muskalonge, and then a- round Nigger Point in the bend of the river, where I used to land excursion parties to eat their dinners. They always went away well satisfied with the scenery and the trip. My health is poor, and I will not tire your pa- tience longer. Give my regards to all the Fremont people.
Yours respectfully, G. W. ORR.
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