Crawford County, Ohio - Chapter 5: Organization of the County, 1912 (part 1 of 2)

Chapter 5: Organization of the County

First Elections - Boundaries - First Taxes - Early Roads - Location of County Seat - Col. Kilhourne's Proposition - Settlement of Bucyrus - Crawford County Organized - The Fight on Commissioners - Their First Proceedings - Readjustment of Township Lines, i8^i- 1825 - Indian Purchase, i8s5 - The Leiths - Justice Garrett - Formation in 1845 of Craivford County as it Now Exists - Later Township Changes - New Roads - The Courts - Contest for County Seat - Donations of Leading Citizens - Erection of Court House - Visit of General Harrison - The County Jail - Population of Crawford County in 1830 and 1850 - Construction of Railroads - New Court House - Improvements - The Court House of i8j6 - The New Jail - Care of the Poor - Abuses of the Old System - The County Iniirmary - More Roads - DiMculties of Travel in Early Days - The Mails - Turnpikes and Stage Routes - Early Stores - Population by Townships - List of Residents in 1826.

On Feb. 20, 1820, the Legislature passed an act creating fourteen counties out of the territory purchased from the Indians in 1817 - Crawford, Allen, Hardin, Hancock, Henry, Marion, Mercer, Paulding, Putnam, Sandusky, Seneca, Van Wert, Williams and Wood. Later, from these counties, were erected Auglaize, Defiance, Fulton, Lucas, Ottawa and Wyandot, the latter being formed almost exclusively from Crawford in 1845, taking 288 square miles from this county, 47 from Marion, 45 from Hancock and 24 from Hardin. The new county of Crawford as erected in 1820 was 18 miles from north to south and thirty-three from east to west, or 594 square miles. Its northern boundary was the same as today; its southern boundary two miles north of the present county line. On the east it commenced on the present eastern boundary of Cranberry and Sandusky townships, and extended west to seven miles beyond Upper Sandusky, the present western boundaries of Crawford, Salem and Mifflin townships in Wyandot county. As surveyed the territory was townships i, 2 and 3 in ranges 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 east, and the western half of townships 16, 17 and 18, in range 21 west. The new county of Crawford, not having sufficient population, and not having sufficient taxable property to bear the expense of a county government, was placed temporarily, with its sister county of Marion, under the jurisdiction of Delaware county.

The first act of the commissioners of Delaware relating to Crawford county was on March 9, 1820, when they passed a resolution creating that part of Crawford county lying west of what is the western boundary of Bucyrus township into a township to be known as "Big Rock, and an order issued for the election of township officers."

On June 5, 1820, another resolution was passed creating the township of Harmony, which was that part of Crawford county, extending from the present western boundary of Bucyrus township to the Richland county line, which was then the present western boundary of Auburn and Vernon townships. Crawford county was now two townships. Harmony township (all of Crawford east of the western boundary of Bucyrus township) is never again mentioned in connection with Crawford county, but later in the Delaware records this territory is referred to as Sandusky township, so it is probable that when the action of the commissioners was referred to the court for approval the name of the township was changed to Sandusky. This is indicated from the fact that the Delaware commissioners on Dec. 23, 1822, passed the following:

"Ordered, that all that part of Sandusky township which lies west of the middle of the seventeenth range of lands be and the same is hereby erected into a separate township by the name of Bucyrus."

Prior to this the Delaware commissioners had erected the township of Crawford, which was six by eighteen miles in size, and embraced what is now Texas township, Crawford county, and Sycamore, Tymochtee and Crawford townships in Wyandot county. Here an election was called, the first in the new county of Crawford. It was held on April i, 1821, at the home of Henry Lish, who ran a ferry across the Tymochtee on the road leading from Upper Sandusky to Little Sandusky (Fremont). There were just thirteen voters present, and fourteen offices to fill, and Elijah Brayton was the man elected to two offices.

One of the last acts of the Delaware commissioners relating to Crawford County was on March 2, 1824, when they created the township of Whetstone, as it exists today, except that in the rearrangement of Crawford county in 1845, two miles were added to Whetstone on the south from Marion county.

On June 6, 1821, the first taxes were levied in Crawford county, and the commissioners decided to levy the taxes "to the full extent allowed by law, to wit: horses, 30 cents each; cattle, 10 cents each; houses, &c., the one-half of one per cent."

The p,rincipal business of the Delaware comrnissioners relating to Crawford county was the matter of roads. On Dec. 5, 182 1, they granted the position for a road commencing in Marion county and joining the State road from Columbus to Portland (Sandusky) at a point near Sharrock's mills. On this road Conrad Roth was one of the viewers, and James Kilbourne the surveyor. On March 5, 1822, a road was petitioned for through what is now Wyandot county, on which William

Holmes was one of the viewers. On June 3, 1822, John B. French presented a petition for about the present road from Bucyrus to De- Kalb, running east, south of the Sandusky river, and crossing that stream at the old Luke tavern. Michael Beadle, Joseph S. Young and Daniel Palmer were appointed the viewers and John Marshall, the surveyor.

In May and June of 1822, Col. James Kilbourne surveyed the present Sandusky pike. His surveyor's notes show that nearly a mile north of where the road crossed the Brokensword it passed through a pondy swale half a mile wide, and a half a mile further they cut through the "southwest bend of the great marsh."

On Jan. 20, 1823, the commissioners granted the petition for a road from the "Upper Sandusky fort to the Richland county line." It passed Crawford on the present boundary line between Bucyrus and Dallas township, and on to Gabon. On Dec. 3, 1822, James Kilbourne presented a petition for a road starting in Marion county, passing through Whetstone and Sandusky, and "crossing the Sandusky river below the mouth of Lost Creek, arid then anglirig northwest to strike the Columbus to Portland road. This road is probably the one that joins the Portland road at West Liberty. Amos Earl and John B. French were two of the viewers.

Dec. I, 1823, Zalmon Rowse petitioned for a road commencing at Sandusky avenue, Bucyrus, and running east along the south line of Norton's property, the present Middletown road. Thomas McClure, Auer Umberfield and John Maxfield were the viewers. There had been some irregularity in the papers for the road from Leesville to Bucyrus, by Westell Ridgely, so on Dec. 2, 1823, it was petitioned for again by Asa Howard, and three of the viewers were John B. French, Amos Earl and Amos Utey, and this time the road was laid out.

In 1 82 1 James Kilbourne had gone through where Bucyrus now is, looking for a location for a road from Columbus to the Lake, a road having already been built from Columbus to Norton, in the northern part of Delaware county. During that year he entered into a contract with Samuel Norton to lay out a town on Norton's land on the south bank of the Sandusky, and the plat of the new town, called Bucyrus, was filed in the office of the recorder of Delaware county on Feb. ii, 1822, the first recorded entry of the name Bucyrus.

On Dec. 15, 1823, the Legislature passed an act authorizing Marion county to elect officers, and become an organized county, at the same time transferring Crawford county to the jurisdiction of Marion county, and Feb. 17, 1824, placing the northwestern part of the county under the jurisdiction of Seneca county. The act went into effect on May i, 1824, and on May 3, 1824, the first election took place for the new county officials of Marion. The officers elected were Sheriff, Auditor, Coroner and three County Commissioners. There were no candidates from Crawford, except one County Commissioner, and it must have been understood that Crawford was to haye one of the Commissioners, as Crawford's candidate headed the list. The vote on Commissioner was Enoch B. Merriman (Crawford county) 247; Matthew Merritt 209, Amos C. Wilson 157, William Cochran 122, John Page 102, Alexander Berry, Jr. 69, Eber Baker 53, David Tipton 47, William Wyatt 26. Merriman, Merritt and Wilson were elected. At the regular election following, on Oct. 12, Merriman again led the poll, the vote for commissioner being Enoch B. Merriman -297, Amos C. Wilson 256, Jolm Page 226, Matthew Merritt 109; Richard Hopkins 130. Merriman, Wilson and Page elected. At this election C. Roth was a candidate for Auditor. He was the only other candidate besides Merriman from Crawford county, but he was defeated, receiving only 33 votes. His opponent, Hezekiah Gorton, receiving 334.

At this election Crawford cast its first vote for Governor, and the vote of Marion and Crawford combined was 380, the Federalist candidate, Allen Trimble, receiving 275, and the Democratic candidate, Jeremiah Morrow, receiving 105. The returns show that at that time there were but two voting townships in Crawford county. The eastern three miles (present width of Sandusky township), was Sandusky township, then three miles wide and 18 deep, and cast 7 votes for Morrow and 5 for Trimble; then came Bucyrus township, twelve miles-wide and 18 deep, extending from the present eastern boundary of Whetstone and Liberty to th6 western boundary of Bucyrus, Holmes and Lykens. This township cast 49 for Trimble and i for Morrow. What is now Texas, Tod and western Dallas voted as a part of Grand Prairie, Marion county, while all of Wyandot belonging then to Crawford, voted with Seneca county.

In this first vote probably 115 were cast in Craw^ford county and 265 in Marion county, and of this 115 the present Crawford had 64 of the votes and the present Wyandot 51. The Crawford vote being the 50 in Bucyrus, 12 in Sandusky, and 2 in what is now Texas township, but it is a singular fact that in this first election, Bucyrus township, which included in that election, all of the present townships of Bucyrus, Holmes, Lykins, Chatfield, Liberty. Whetstone, and the western mile of Cranberry gave Trimble 49, and Morrow democrat i . In the more than four-score years that have passed since this first political vote, the democratic vote has very largely increased, but unfortunately there is no way at this late date to discover who it was that cast that first democratic vote in Bucyrus, from whom so numerous a progeny has descended. At the Presidential election in 1908, the territory that was then Bucyrus township gave the following vote: Democratic 1859, Republican 1151, scattering 97. Any one interested can figure for himself the per cent of increase in the democratic vote in the last 84 years.

Mr. Merriman resigned as commissioner and was succeeded by Zachariah Welsh, whose farm was near where the village of Wyandot now is, the Wyandot part of Crawford county. At the election in October 1825, Zalmon Rowse was elected as the commissioner from Crawford county, taking the place of Welsh.

On Oct. 4, 1 82 1, the first agreement between Samuel Norton and James Kilbourne was signed to lay out a town on Norton's land. Various changes were made, and an amended agreement was signed on Dec. 15, 1822, and in this agreement it is stated the town is "now named Bucyrus."

village. But the projectors of the new town recognized the fact that it was in the southeastern part of the county, nine miles being east of them and twenty-four west; six miles south of it and twelve north, so Col. Kilbourne brought pressure to bear on the Legislature for the organization of a new county to be called Bucyrus, so arranging this territory that Bucyrus would be in the centre, and have no opposition as the county seat. To facilitate this movement, Samuel Norton issued the follow agreement :

"Know ye that I, Samuel Norton, of Bucyrus, in Crawford county and State of Ohio, have agreed, and do agree, as this instrument witnesseth, that in case the county of Bucyrus should be established by law at the approaching session of the Legislature, for which petitions will be presented, and the seat of justice permanently established in the town of Bucyrus, then, and in that case, I will give, and, by a warranty deed free and clear of all incumbrance, convey unto such agent or agents as may be appointed to the trust, for the use of said new county in defraying the expenses of erecting a court house and offices in said town of Bucyrus, one equal third part in number and value of all the numbered lands and outlots of said town, or that may be numbered within the present year, which remain to me as original proprietor thereof; that is to say, one-third of all the lots numbered on the recorded plat of said town, or that may be numbered as aforesaid, excepting those which have been bargained and sold, or that may be sold to individuals, by deeds or title bonds prior to the acceptance of this offer and excepting also the fractional parts of said town, originally belonging to Abel Carey and Daniel McMichael. On a plat of said town accompanying this obligation are distinctly marked the lots by their numbers and situations composing the said third part intended to be given for the public uses aforesaid, and the foregoing agreement and the just fulfillment thereof I bind myself, my heirs, executors and administrators, firmly by these presents. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal at said Bucyrus, this 20th day of November, 1823.

Samuel Norton

Notwithstanding the influence of Col. Kilbourne in the State, and the petitions presented by the few but enterprising citizens of Bucyrus, the Legislature declined to erect the new county of Bucyrus. In 1823 an enumeration of the voters of the State had been taken, and this count showed that Crawford county had 244 electors and Marion 517, so the Legislature, instead of erecting a new county, passed an act authorizing Marion county to elect officers and organize, placing Crawford county temporarily a part of Marion.

The first road laid out by the Marion commissioners was what is now the Marion road, on June 8, 1824, "commencing at David Tipton's farm, thence on nearest and best road to Bucyrus, making Benjamin Salmon's peach orchard, Benjamin Fickle's farm, and David Bryant's points." Tipton's farm was tvi^o miles this side of Marion where the road from Upper Sandusky forms a point by joining the Marion road. The same day a road was established "beginning at the east line of Crawford county, at the crossing of the road leading from Wooster to Upper Sandusky, thence on the nearest and best ground to Bucyrus, making Daniel Michael's mill a point on said road." This road passed through Liberty, north of the Sandusky, crossing the river at McMichael's mill, which was on the south bank of the river but across the road from the present water works reservoir. The road then joined the Mansfield road and entered Bucyrus. A part of the road has long since been abandoned, and the balance straightened.

On Dec. 7, 1824, Heman Rowse, Nathaniel Plummer, Benjamin Parcher and John Mc- Clure were appointed viewers for the road from Norton to Portland, first established by the Delaware Commissioners. (Two years later made a state road, the Sandusky Pike.)

Dec. 17, 1824, what is now the Mt. Vernon road was laid out. A part of it was to go west on a road that runs from the Plains to James Nail's mills "until it crosses the bridge through the long swamp, thence running northwestwardly so as to cross the Whetstone about ten or fifteen rods north of dinger's fields," thence to intersect the Bucyrus road running to Gallon, dinger's fields were about the northwest quarter of section 33, Whetstone, two miles northwest of New Winchester.

The last road the Marion commissioners ordered was the Little Sandusky road, "commencing at or near the Little Sandusky bridge, thence by nearest and best ground to Bucyrus, passing Selick Longwell and Thomas Terry." This road and the Leeville road are the two most meandering roads in the county; in the years that have passed they have been straightened in many places.

From 1820 to 1826 there was a constant and steady stream of settlers taking up land along the few roads, and on the best farming lands of the county. The establishing of a town by

Norton and Kilbourne had brought many to the new village, and the settlement in and around Bucyrus, had brought business to the village so that it boasted of two taverns, a mill, three stores, two tanneries, and several small shops. It was the only village in the eastern section of Crawford, but in the Wyandot portion was McCufchenville, also a village of perhaps three hundred people, a few larger than Bucyrus. Prior to 1822, the only outlet for a market from Bucyrus was over the crude road constructed by the settlers themselves, through the present Liberty, Sandusky and Auburn townships to New Haven, but roads had soon followed to Mansfield, Sandusky, Mt. Vernon and Delaware, the Sandusky road in 1822, being a better outlet for the lake than the one to New Haven. Having failed in the erection of a new county to be called Bucyrus, the citizens of the village and of the county had constantly brought pressure to bear on the Legislature to organize the county, and make the county seat Bucyrus. Finally, on Jan. 31, 1826, the act was passed, but instead of establishing the county seat at Bucyrus, the act referred the matter back to the voters, the location of Bucyrus being too far from the centre of the county to warrant their making it the county seat. Instead they ordered an election of officers in the new county, with the proviso that the commissioners elected should select temporarily the county seat. At that time the population of the county was about as follows, the table being given in a way to show those in the present Crawford part and in the Wyandot part :

Section III. - That the qualified electors residing in the county of Crawford shall meet in their re- . spective townships on the first Monday of April next, and elect their several county officers who shall hold their respective offices until the next annual election and until others are chosen and qualified according to law.

Section IV. - That all suits and actions, whether of a civil or criminal nature, which shall have been commenced, shall be prosecuted to final judgment and execution, and all taxes, fines and penalties which shall have become due shall be collected in the same manner as if this act had not been passed.

Section V. - That Zalmon Rowse is hereby appointed assessor for said county of Crawford, who shall, on or before the first day of April next, give bond as is provided in the fourth section of the "act establishing an equitable mode of taxation," to the acceptance of Enoch B. Merryman, who is hereby "authorized to receive said bond, and deposit the same with the county auditor of said county forthwith after such Auditor has been elected and qualified; and the assessor herein appointed shall be required to perform the same duties, hold the office for the same time and in the same manner as if he had been appointed by a Court of Common Pleas for said County of Crawford; and the Auditor of State is hereby required to transmit to said Assessor a schedule of all lands subject to taxation within said county, which schedule said Assessor shall return with his other returns to the County Auditor.

Section VI. - ^That the commissioners elected according to the provisions contained in the third section of this act, shall meet on the first Monday of May next, at the town of Bucyrus, and then and there determine at what place in said county of Crawford the judicial courts shall be held till the permanent seat of justice shall be established in said county.

Section VII. - That those townships and fractional townships in Crawford county which have heretofore been attached to and formed a part of any township in Marion or Seneca county respectively, are hereby attached to, and declared to be a part of, Crawford township in said Crawford county, till the same shall be otherwise provided for by the Commissioner of said county.

By this act the question of the place of the county seat would be decided by the first county commissioners elected. As early as 1 82 1 the settlers near Bucyrus had made a road through the woods to Sandusky. Almost following the route laid out by them Col. Kilbourne, in 1822, had surveyed a road to Sandusky, and along this road much land was being entered. In 1825 Joseph Newell entered land on section 9, Holmes township; it was about a mile west of the Tiffin road, and was on the south bank of the Brokensword, just below where the Brandywine empties into that stream, and adjoining the eastern boundary of the Indian reservation. It was a hand- some site for a town, and being very much nearer the centre of the county, Mr. Newell laid out a town on his land which he called Crawford, in the hope that the county seat might be located there.

Before the town had fairly started, the question came before the voters for settlement by the election of the first commissioners. At the time of the first election, April, 1826, twothirds of the population were in the eastern part of the county, and nearly all of these would naturally support Bucyrus; the other third were expected to favor a more central location. The most thickly settled section at that time was in what is now northern Wyandot, the present township of Tymochtee, containing the little settlement of Old Tymochtee and the town of McCutchenville, the latter having a few more inhabitants than Bucyrus. It was in this township the first election in Crawford county was held. Crawford township had been established by the Delaware County Commissioners in 1821, and comprised the territory that is now Crawford, Tymochtee and Sycamore townships, Wyandot county, and Texas township, Crawford county. The electors met at the home of Henry Lish, who ran a ferry across the Tymochtee on the road from Upper Sandusky to Lower Sandusky (Fremont), passing through where Tiffin now is, that city not then having any existence. There were thirteen electors present. They elected a chairman and secretary of the meeting, appointed judges, and elected by ballot the fourteen township officers. At that time there was no settler in what is now Texas township, so there was no vote cast from what is now Crawford county. The nearest this county came to getting an office was by relationship, Ichabod Merriman being elected one of the trustees, Rufus Merriman one of the appraisers, and Myron Merriman one of the fence viewers. They were relatives of the Merrimans who became prominent in Bucyrus.

When the first county election was held on April I, 1826, the principal fight was for the commissioners, as on these officers rested the selection of the county seat. Bucyrus was awake to her interests, as the men she presented were John Magers, of Sandusky, who came to the county in 1823 ; Thomas McClure, of Liberty, who came to the county in 1821, and George Poe of Whetstone, who came in 1823. In these three townships were nearly half the population of the entire county, and these three men won out. The other first officers were Hugh McCracken, of Bucyrus, for Sheriff; James Martin, of Bucyrus, for Auditor, and John McClure for Surveyor. John H. Morrison may have been elected treasurer, but the general custom in those days was for the commissioners to appoint the first treasurer. At any rate, Mr. Morrison was the first treasurer of the county. Of the men elected the commissioners were farmers, Mc- Clure followed his occupation of surveyor, Mc- Cracken was a wheelright, Martin was a school teacher, and Morrison was a lawyer.

The Bucyrus section had two-thirds of the vote, so political wire pulling may not have been necessary. It is a matter of record, however, that in the October election of that year, John Carey, of Crawford township (now Wyandot county) was elected as the first representative from the new county to the State Legislature. This may have been purely accidental, but when two-thirds of the voters present the principal office in their gift to onethird, present day politicians would have their suspicions that the Hon. John had been decidedly friendly to the Bucyrus commissioners in the county seat fight.

The newly elected commissioners held their first meeting at Bucyrus, on the first Monday in May, 1826, and promptly selected Bucyrus as the county seat of the new county.

All the early records of the county commissioners were destroyed by fire in October, 1831, when the jail in Bucyrus was burned. Many other records of the county were lost at the same time. In those days the commissioners held four meetings a year. The first meeting of the county commissioners of which there is any record was as follows :

"Proceedings of the Commissioners of Crawford County, begun and held in the town of Bucyrus, on the 17th and 18th days of October, A. D. 1831: "Be it resolved. That James McCracken, Esq., of Crawford county, be and hereby is appointed a cominissioner (in the room of R. W. Cahill, Esq., resigned) to lay out a certain state road, commencing at the town of Perrysburg, in Wood county; thence to McCutchenville; thence to Bucyrus, in Crawford county.

"Resolved, That Z. Rowse be, and he is hereby authorized to contract for books for the Clerk's and Recorder's offices, to be paid out of the county treasury."

While there are no records of the commissioners prior to the above, from papers in other offices and from township records it is found that among the first acts of the commissioners in 1826 was the dividing of the new territory into townships, and Cranberry was formed as the northeastern township, its territory including what is now Cranberry and the eastern four miles of Chatfield. Texas township was a part of Sycamore township; west of this were Tymochtee and Crawford, these last three townships having been created by the Marion Commissioners. This constituted the northern tier of townships. The central tier commenced on the east with the three mile strip which was the northern half of Sandusky township ; west of this was Liberty, about six miles square ; then Holmes six miles square,, and then Antrim, which included what is now Tod and extended to Pitt township. The southern tier commenced on the east with the southern half of Sandusky, three miles wide ; then Whetstone nearly six miles square ; then Bucyrus, the same territory as now ; northern Dallas was a part of Antrim, which extended to Pitt township. The present two miles of southern Dallas and the two southern miles of \\"hetstone were then a part of Marion county, and the eastern four miles of the county were a part of Richland county. With the exception of the two mile strip which was added to Whetstone on the south in 1845, the townships of Liberty, Whetstone, Holmes and Bucyrus were in 1826 the same territory they are today.

On account of the Pike road from Bucyrus to Sandusky, and the business it created along the line by giving a market outlet to the settlers, the western portion of Cranberry was becoming rapidly settled, and petitions were presented to the commissioners for the division of Cranberry, and about 183 1 Cranberry was established its present size, and Chatfield created six miles deep and four miles wide. About the same time Lykins was erected from Sycamore township, the western half of that township, and it included the present Lykins and the western mile of Chatfield.

No further change was made in the townships until in 1835. Sandusky township was a strip on the east three miles wide and twelve deep, which was so inconvenient that the citizens petitioned for a division of the township, and Sandusky township was erected as at present, the three mile strip, six miles deep, east of Whetstone being formed into a new township named Jackson.

In 1835, the Government purchased of the Indians, seven miles off the eastern part of their reservation, which was all of the present Tod township, a trifle over two miles of western Bucyrus and Holmes and the northern three mile strip of Dallas. This was surveyed and in 1837 opened to settlement. This necessitated a rearrangement of townships. The parts adjoining Bucyrus and Holmes were easily placed by making them a part of those townships, \\'hich they already were by the survey. Antrim was divided, the northern half being named Leith township and the southern half remaining Antrim. Leith township included in its borders the six northern miles of Tod while the three southern miles of Tod and the three northern miles of Dallas were a part of Antrim.

The prominent man in the new township of Leith was George \Y. Leith, whose father was the first white child born in the Sandusky valley, his grandfather, John Leith, having been taken a prisoner by the AA^yandot Indians \^-hen a boy, afterward marrying Sally Lowry, a white girl who had also been taken prisoner by the Indians. John Leith was an Indian trader and Samuel Leith, the father of George AA^., was born in 1775, at the village which was then the headquarters of the. Indians, probably the old Indian town of Upper Sandusky, about three miles further up the Sandusky than the present town of Upper Sandusky. During the Revolutionary war and at the time of Crawford's campaign John Leith, the grandfather, ran a trading store at the AA^yandot village, which was the headquarters of the Indian allies of the British, and when the township was named Leith by the commissioners, the enemies of Leith protested against the name on the ground that his grandfather was on the side of the British. The remonstrance became so universal that the commissioners were compelled to change the name, and wisely avoided any future difficulty by deciding that as the territory was the exact centre of the county they would name it Centre township. Prior to this, when the township was organized as Leith, there was an election to fill the various offices, and George W. Leith was elected justice of the peace. He had already c[ualified and was serving when the indignant storm broke, and when the commissioners discarded the name of Leith, he promptly resigned his office.

The justice elected in Antrim township was George Garrett. When the Indian mill was started for the use of the Wyandots near Upper Sandusky under the treaty of 1817, it was run by Garrett. Later he built the Garrett mill on the Sandusky near Wyandot, and was running this when he was elected justice. He was a life-long friend of Leith, a quarterblood Indian, and was so indignant at the action of the commissioners that he, too, resigned.

There were no other changes or erections of townships, until the present Crawford county was formed in 1845, when 18 miles was taken from the western part of the county to form Wyandot county. As part compensation for this loss of territory four miles on the east was added to Crawford from Richland, and two miles on the south was added from Marion. The Richland addition included the present townships of Auburn and Vernon. South of Vernon was Sandusky township, Richland county, four miles wide and seven deep, and as Crawford had a township named Sandusky the new territory was called Polk, it receiving two miles of the strip taken from Marion county. The balance of the two mile strip from Marion county was attached to Whetstone, and further west the two mile strip was made a part of a new township named Dallas. West of Bucyrus, Holmes and Lykins a strip two miles wide remained a part of Crawford county. The northern six miles of this territory was erected into Texas township, the next nine miles became the present township of Tod and the lower three miles were added to Dallas. In the north, one mile was taken from the eastern side of Lykins and given to Chatfield, making both these townships equal in size, five miles square.

wide and seven deep and Jackson three miles wide and seven deep. A petition was presented to the Commissioners to make a different division of these two townships, and after several hearings, the boundary was changed and instead of being north and south the dividing line was made east and west, the northern part, seven miles wide and four deep being named Jackson and the southern part, seven wide and three deep being called Polk.

The next change of townships was in 1873. Crestline, in Jackson township, had been laid out in 1 85 1, and became a prominent railroad centre, and grew so rapidly in population that the business of the entire township was conducted at that town, which was so inconvenient to those residing in the western portion of the township that a petition was presented to the commissioners to divide the township, and the request was granted the five western miles being formed into a township which was named Jefferson, leaving Jackson the smallest township in the county, only two miles wide and four deep.

The final change of township lines was in 1909, when two southeastern sections of Vernon township petitioned to be attached to Jackson, as it would be more convenient to them. Their request was granted.

Another large branch of the work of the early commissioners was the laying out of new roads and the straightening of old ones. The road mentioned in the first records of the commissioners in 1831, that from Perrysburg to Bucyrus, was what is now known as the Tiffin road.

The county seat had only been selected temporarily, so the people of Bucyrus did not feel disposed to erect a new court house. The county did, however, build a jail. The commissioners made the contract with Zalmon Rowse for its construction. It was of logs, and was built on the lot now occupied by the Park House, at the southeast corner of Walnut street and the Pennsylvania road. This jail was built in 1827. It was the only county building, and in it were kept many of the county records which were destroyed by the burning of the building in October, 1831.

sisted of a lawyer, appointed by the Legislature, who was the presiding judge, and three prominent citizens, also appointed by the Legislature, who sat with him as associate judges. The first court was held in this county in 1826. There was no court house and the most convenient place to hold the court was in Abel Carey's cabin on the south bank of the Sandusky just west of the Sandusky avenue bridge. Ebenezer Lane, of Norwalk, was the presiding judge for this section, and he came across the country on horseback. The Legislature had appointed in February, as the associate judges for the new county, E. B. Merriman and John Carey of Bucyrus, and John B. French of Sandusky township. Later, court was held in the school house, which was a one story log structure in a grove just west of the present site of Holy Trinity Church, the lot now occupied by Mrs. Charles Vollrath. When a jury case was on, the sheriff escorted the jurymen to some private residence or shop where they could hold their deliberations undisturbed. Each year also the Supreme Court met at Bucyrus. In those days the Supreme Court was composed of four members, and court was held not less than once each year in every county in the State, two members of the Supreme Court being necessary to constitute a quorum. Court days were great days for Bucyrus. The best rooms in the tavern were reserved for the judges, and lawyers came from the surrounding towns, notably Mansfield, Norwalk and Delaware, and in the evening the judges laid aside their dignity and with the visiting lawyers sat in the hotel office, which was the bar room, and told their stories and reminiscences to the delight of the villagers who dropped- in. These villagers were not a part of the sacred circle, probably not more than half a dozen of the more prominent men in the town having the temerity to take any part in the conversation.

The town of Bucyrus was growing, the county was becoming more and more thickly settled, and roads were being laid out so they would pass the mill or farm of some prominent citizen, his convenience being of far more importance in those days than an)rthing else; or, probably, as it was the influential citizen who took the active part to secure the road he would naturally see that its location was the most convenient for him. Finally in 1830 the Legislature appointed three commissioners to visit Crawford county and recommend a site for the permanent county seat. The commissioners were Judge Hosea Williams of Delaware, R. S. Dickerson of Lower Sandusky (Fremont), and J. S. Glassgo of Holmes county. The census of 1830 gave Crawford a population of 4,778, and of these about two-thirds were in the eastern part, and the other one-third in the western part, or Wyandot portion. There were but two towns of any consequence in the county, Bucyrus with a population of about 300, and McCutchenville a dozen or more larger. The objection to Bucyrus was that it was in the southeastern part of the county, and in those days when the only means of travel was over the worst of roads this was a serious objection. McCutchenville, however, although a trifle larger than Bucyrus, was not to be considered ; it being in the extreme northwest. The only real danger to Bucyrus was the site of James Newell's town of Crawford on the bank of the Brokensword. Unfortunately for him the town had not developed. It had probably three log houses, with a little clearing around each; the rest was all original forest and only the plat of the town could show where the streets were to be. A graveyard was marked on the plat but even this was covered with trees like the rest, and untenanted. However, in those days the commissioners appointed by the Legislature to locate permanent county seats were governed by a desire to place the site as near the centre of the county as possible. True, the exact centre of the county (within a mile of Osceola) was then an Indian reservation of twelve by seventeen miles in size, of the eighteen by thirty of the county, but the commissioners for the State well knew the time was not far distant when this great central tract would be thrown open for settlement. Already many settlers had squatted on the reservation in defiance of the law, and others were occupying and clearing it, renting from the Indian owners. Four miles northeast of the exact centre of the county was Bucyrus' rival for the county seat.

the site of Crawford, going out what is now the Tiffin road over a road which had been made by the settlers themselves through the woods avoiding as far as possible the swampy ground. Five miles to the north they left this semblance of a road and took a trail through the woods for about a mile, and came to the three or four little cabins. After passing over the swampy ground that then covered southern Holmes this higher ground on the banks of what was then a pretty little river certainly showed up as an attractive site for a town. The commissioners returned to Bucyrus, no doubt tired from a twelve miles ride on horseback through what was then nothing but swamps and forest, and they found a fine supper waiting for them at the tavern. They found also the prominent men of the village there. Col. Kilbourne was up from Columbus to attend the banquet given in their honor; his partner, Samuel Norton, was there; also Zalmon Rowse and a young attorney who had recently located in the town, Josiah Scott; the Careys and the Merrimans, the McCrackens and the Failors were there ; George Lauck and Ichabod Rogers, the latter rapidly becoming one of the wealthy men of the village. It is probable nearly all of Bucyrus' prominent citizens were there or dropped in to meet the commissioners. The matter was talked over under the most enjoyable circumstances. Norton agreed to donate the two lots held in reserve by him for a school house and jail. Kilbourne agreed to donate two of his reserved lots for the court house. And under the excitement and enthusiasm of the moment, and the stimulating and exhilarating effects of the liquid end of the feast, liberal citizens promised various subscriptions toward the erection of public buildings, and to show they meant it they reduced their promises to writing to which they affixed their names.

The lots donated by Kilbourne for the court house, were Nos. 90 and 92, the present site. The lots for a schoolhouse and a jail donated by Norton, were Nos. 86 and 88, now occupied by the Park House and the residence of A. Wickham. With some of the other subscriptions, the county commissioners' records later show that legal measures had to be taken for their collection, which indicates the wisdom of those engineering the movement having a promise made under the enthusiasm of the moment reduced to writing and signed. Human nature does not change much after all, and even in the present day the courts are sometimes resorted to for the enforcement of the payment of subscription to some enterprise which the signer enthusiastically supported atits inception. On the other hand, in 1823 Samuel Norton signed an agreement to give one-third of the proceeds received from the sale of all the lots he owned in Bucyrus toward the erection of public buildings, provided a new county was formed with Bucyrus as the county seat, and in 1826, when the Pike Road from Columbus to Sandusky was being prospected, some of the Bucyrus business men and lot owners, to secure the road subscribed for more stock than their property was appraised at on the tax duplicate. No wonder the Ohio Gazeteer of 1826, in its mention of Bucyrus, described it as "a lively post town laid out in 1822," &c. It was easy enough to select the beautiful site of Bucyrus, but that did not make the town ; it took the enterprise and push, the liberality and work of Norton and Rowse, of Merriman and St. John, of the Careys and the McCrackens to give it the name and the reputation of "a lively post town" when it was only three years old, and to keep it one.

After the selection of Bucyrus as the county seat the commissioners let the contract to Zalmon Rowse for the erection of a court house. Col. Kilbourne was the architect of the new building and the contractors were Nicholas Cronebaugh, Abraham Halm and William Early. The design of the building, as drawn by Kilbourne, was simply a copy of the State House at Columbus, only smaller, having but one window on each side of the door in the front of the buildings, instead of the two windows on each side which the State House had. The site of the building was the present site, except that it was built further forward, even with Mansfield street. The first floor was on a level with the street, certainly not more than one log step being necessary to enter the building. On each side of the door was the window. The second floor was the court room and had three windows in front and two on each side. The first floor also had but two windows on each side of the buildings. The roof sloped from the four sides up to a square tower. On top of this was a smaller round tower surmounted by a weather vane. The building was of brick, the brick being made at Halm's brick yard which was at the southwest corner of Sandusky and Warren. In the course of its erection the building had reached the second story by Dec. 4, 1830, and on that day the scaffolding gave way and Elias Cronebaugh and a man named Seigler were thrown to the ground and killed. On the completion of the building it was painted white, emblematic of the purity of the justice which it was expected would be furnished within the new structure. In 1837 a bell was added, which cost $100, and the day it was placed in position was made the occasion for a jollification. In 1844 a fence was placed around the lot, which cost $56; it was of wooden pickets, about four feet high, resting on the ground. The building was not only used for the courts but for all public meetings, and there were very few Sundays when the court room was not used by some religious denomination for the holding of services.

It was in this old court room that Gen. William Henry Harrison spoke in 1840, when he was campaigning for the presidency. He was accompanied at Bucyrus by Robert C. Schenck, a rising young attorney of Dayton, and a brilliant orator, who later became a General in the Civil War, a member of Congress, and minister to England. During his stay at Bucyrus Gen. Harrison stopped at the hotel kept by Samuel Norton, where the Zeigler Mill now stands on North Sandusky avenue. Richard M. Johnson, the Democratic candidate for Vice President, spoke at Bucyrus during the same campaign. He was accompanied by Senator William Allen and Gov. Wilson Shannon. When they left here for the meeting at Mansfield, they were accompanied by George Sweney, the Congressman from this district. The difficulties of campaigning in those days may be judged from the fact that the Vice Presidential candidate spoke at Bucyrus on Friday, and in company with Allen, Shannon and Sweney drove to the home of William Patterson this side of Mansfield where they rested on Sunday for the Mansfield meeting of Monday. A vice presidential candidate traveling only 26 miles and filling two dates in four days !

Although the court house was commenced in 1830, it was 1834 before it was completed to the satisfaction of the commissioners, and accepted by them. It is certain that the contractors were as slow then as they sometimes are today, as it was during the erection of the jail in 1839 the commissioner's journal contained the following terse entry:

In these days of long drawn out reports, one turns with pure joy to an entry which in three lines expresses the exact state of affairs with a side swipe at the dilatory contractors thrown in.

The old log jail erected in 1827 was destroyed by fire in 1831, burned up by Andrew Hesser, who was being confined there as a lunatic. Its destruction involved also that of the records of the county commissioners, for it was in this building that that body held their meetings. After the fire, in searching among the ruins, bones were found, and the officials being satisfied that the unfortunate Hesser had lost his own life in the burning of the jail, the bones were carefully gathered up and given Christian burial. Some time later the citizens were astonished when an officer arrived from Wooster, bringing with him the identical Andy supposed to have been burned up, and whose remains were known to have been decently buried. It appears Andy had been discovered at Wooster sitting on a store box, and as his talk and actions showed he was of unsound mind, he was taken in charge, and learning from him that he was from Bucyrus they brought him home. Andy was quite amused at the astonishment of the citizens, and told them: "Well, you folks call Andy crazy; but what are you? A set of men who find a lot of old sheep bones, and say they belong to Andy, and all the time Andy is in the grove behind a tree laughing at you." When Andy died and where he was finally buried is not known, but for many years the place in the graveyard over the. river where the sheep bones were mouldering to decay was humorously pointed out as the grave of Andy Hesser.

At the time of the burning of the jail in October, 183 1, the new courthouse was in process of erection, and the county could not afford to erect a permanent structure at that time, so another temporary jail was erected on the adjoining lot a few feet south of the burned building. It was built as cheaply as it was hurriedly, and appears to have had two uses; first as a place in which to confine persons when arrested, and second, as a source of complaint to the various grand juries on account of its insecurity and condition. Its first use was not a success, as its construction was such that it was optional with the prisoner as to how long he remained within its enclosures, and the frequent departure, a few days before the trial, of those criminals who were certain to be convicted kept the court and jury busy with their complaints as to its condition. Finally, in 1838, a proposition was submitted to the people for a new jail, and it carried, and on Feb. 4, 1839, the contract was awarded to Zalmon Rowse. It was built of brick on the lot donated by Norton for that purpose, just north of the present Carnegie Memorial Library, the brick being made at the brick-yard on Mansfield street, just east of the present Kearsley residence. The building was two low stories in height. Below in front were two rooms for the sheriff and his family, and at the rear were two rooms for the imprisonment of debtors. Above in front were two more rooms for the sheriff, and at the rear were two .cells for the prisoners, one in the northeast and the other in the southeast corner of the building. Both were without windows, and they were separated by a corridor, running east and west, and at each end of this corridor was a small window, so the only light the prisoner had was that which came through the little east window, and found its way to his cell through the gratings of the cell door. Later, a solid board fence, eight feet high, was built around the lot at a cost of $58, with a massive gate which was locked at night.

The first log jail was burned when John Miller was sheriff. He was the second sheriff of the county, succeeding Hugh McCracken, who was elected to that office in October, 1826. The pioneer traditions handed down are to the effect that when the commissioners met in May, 1826, they appointed Hugh McCracken as the first sheriff. He had only recently arrived in the town, but was a man of prominence and integrity, and was promptly appointed by them. There was little to do, and he did it satisfactorily, but being sheriff he naturally pined for a jail, as the citizens probably did also. So Samuel Norton, of course, donated the lot, and equally, -of course, Zalmon Rowse was given the contract for its building. When it was burned it was no special financial loss, and in a very short time Zalmon had the second log structure ready for use.

The little brick jail did duty for nearly twenty years. In these good old days when a man was unable to pay his debts all his creditor had to do was to bring suit before a justice of the peace, and unless the bill was paid, or satisfactorily secured, the unfortunate debtor was unceremoniously arrested and locked up until the amount was paid, or until his creditor relented and let him. out. One feature of the law was that if he could give bond in double the amount of the debt that he would not run away, he was allowed "debtor's limits," which was freedom to go anywhere within 400 yards of his prison. This limit was allowed not so much for the debtor, but for the creditor, as the man might then earn enough to pay the debt.

During the building of the little brick jail, James Harper was sheriff, and he occupied as his residence a house that stood on South Sandusky avenue, where now is the residence of Dr. Yeoman, and while awaiting the completion of the new jail, minor prisoners were kept in the court house, and the more serious offenders were lodged in the Marion jail. The principal events of the new brick jail all centered in the northeast cell, up stairs. A man was locked up there, believed to be crazy, and he determined to commit suicide. He was very persevering in his job, for all he had to hang himself to was a bed-post, two and a half feet high, but he succeeded, and when the sheriff opened the cell one morning he found the prisoner dead.

In 1849 James Clements was sheriff. A man had been arrested charged with incendiarism. Several fires had recently occurred in Bucyrus, among others the furniture shop of Peter Howenstein on East Mansfield street.

and a building on the rear of the lot at the northwest corner of Warren and Poplar streets. At the trial one of the strong points of the prosecution was that there were footprints on the soft ground, and the prisoner's shoes just fitted these marks. He was found guilty, the jury probably believing that he ought to be guilty if he wasn't. Judge Bowen, of Marion, who was presiding, mildly censured the jury for their verdict. The judge, however, sentenced him to six years. The prisoner stoutly declared his innocence, and insisted he would never go to the penitentiary. During his confinement in the jail he was a quiet prisoner, giving no trouble, and making friends of the sheriff's children, especially the sheriff's little daughter who used to sit in front of his cell while he interested her with fairy tales.

The sheriff had arranged to take his prisoner to Columbus the following morning, and had selected Jacob Scroggs to accompany him. During the day the prisoner entertained the sheriff's little daughter with more entrancing fairy stories than usual, and succeeded in getting her to give him the keys to his cell. That night, after everything was quiet, he unlocked his cell door, and started down the stairs on his way to freedom. The sheriff was in the room in front of the cell, and hearing the noise, jumped from his bed, and without stopping to dress started after the prisoner. There was no light, but by the sound he followed him to the room below, and although unarmed, he rushed on the prisoner, who, although a much stronger man, he managed to force up stairs, and into his cell. The next morning, when the sheriff came to look after his prisoner, he was dead, having cut his throat from ear to ear. He had found freedom at last. He left a note claiming his innocence, and among other things was the terse statement: "A poor man has no more chance in this world than a flea in a hot boiler."

In 1830 when the court house was built Crawford county had a population of 4,778 people; this had increased in 1850 to 18,177. A new Constitution had been adopted by the State in 1851, and this Constitution had added a new office to the list of county officials, that of probate judge. At the election in October, 1 85 1, Harvey Eaton was elected as the first probate judge, and commenced his first term in February, 1852, but his only duty at the start was to draw his salary, as it was some time before the Legislature had passed the necessary laws relating to probate judges. There were but four rooms in the court house, and these were already occupied, so there was no place for the new official. The commissioners therefore rented a room of Andrew Failor to be used by Judge Eaton as his office. It was the room opposite the court house, now occupi_ed by Mader & Crawford as a saloon. For this room the commissioners paid $36 a year. They started the new judge in business by making an appropriation of $12 to buy the necessary book in which to keep his records, and another appropriation of $10 to buy a seal. They furnished the office by buying a set of chairs of Abe Yost for $5.25, and this appropriation included a set of rulers; they bought a table for $4, a stove of Daniel Picking for $10.97, ^'^d closed with an appropriation of $5 for wood.

In 1850 the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad had been built through the eastern part of the county, and in 1853 the Ohio and Indiana railroad was also in operation through the county. The increase of business and of population made the little court house too small for the transaction of the public business, and a new one became every day more and more of a necessity.

When the county lines were changed in 1845 Auburn, Vernon and Jackson townships, and the eastern part of Polk and Jefferson were transferred from Richland county to Crawford. Isaac Hetrick, the member of the Legislature from Richland county at that time, secured the passage of a resolution exempting the people of that part of Richland county which had been transferred to Crawford from being taxed for the erection of public buildings "for all time." The claim was that Richland county had new and modern public buildings, for which the Richland part of Crawford had already been taxed, while the Crawford public buildings were small and insufficient, and while there was much that was just in the resolution, the exemption "for all time" showed that Legislatures were just as careless and as thoughtless in the passage of laws in those days as they are today.- Many other complications had arisen in the formation of the present Crawford county. An attempt was made to have the Legislature make Galion the county seat of the new county, but this proposition was defeated through the work of Crawford's representative, Samuel S. Caldwell. Another proposition was submitted to the Legislature to exempt that part of Marion county recently attached to Crawford from the payment of any taxes for the erection of public buildings, of course with the beautiful rider, "for all time." Mr. Caldwell promptly killed this by calling attention to the fact that no one from this attached section had asked for the passage of any such act, and until they did present a petition the Legislature had no business to meddle in the matter.

To obviate matters like this subscriptions were made by a number of citizens of the new county to pay off the debt, and start the new county free of all incumbrance. A number subscribed, but it was soon seen that the paying off of the debt would not harmonize the difficulties that had arisen, so George Sweney refused to pay his subscription, and a test case was brought against him by the commissioners. The Common Pleas Court decided he must pay, but when the case reached the Supreme Court the county was beaten. So the commissioners allowed Josiah S. Plants $50 and Cooper K. Watson $25 for conducting the case for the county, and ordered the Treasurer to refund all installments that had been paid by parties subscribing. The money refunded ought to indicate some of the "boosters" in those days, so their names are given: Andrew Brookmiller $1, Joseph S. Morris $2, John Black $2, George Hurr $2, Michael Ruehl $2, George Buehl $2, Dutchman $1, Henry Beck $2, Lewis Heinlen $5, John Boyer $8, John Gibson $2.50, Abraham Shull $2, Abraham Yost $5, John Boeman $2.

The county commissioners also had to balance the finances of the different counties. Wyandot county had no public buildings, but had been taxed for the erection of those in Crawford, and asked a refunding, and on June 24, 1845, the commissioners of Crawford and Wyandot met in joint session and it was found the debt of Crawford county was $2,220.97, exclusive of public buildings; there was cash on hand of $1,886.52, so Crawford owed Wyandot nothing. In the road fund Wyandot was found to be entitled to $145,71, and an order was issued to pay Wyandot the money. Wyandot demanded a refund of the money that had been paid by the Wyandot tax payers in the building of the new jail, but it was refused.

When the rearrangement of the new Crawford county was made Richland county was the second most populous county in the State, being exceeded only by Hamilton county. It had fine public buildings, so Crawford made demands on Richland for any balance that might be due Crawford from Richland. On Aug. 28, 1845, the commissioners of the two counties met, the accounts were gone over, and it was found the debt of Richland county exceeded the cash in the treasury, so Crawford received nothing.

In 1854 the proposition was submitted to the voters of Crawford county for a new court house and the proposition carried. O. S. Kinney was the architect, and the contract was let to Ault & Miller of Mt. Gilead, and the building was completed in 1856 at a cost of $18,- 000. During the erection of the building the county officials occupied rooms in various parts of the village, the court room being the second story of the frame building still standing at the southeast corner of Sandusky and Warren. This court house is easily remembered by many of the present citizens of Bucyrus, as the present structure is the same building with additions. It had two stories and an unused basement. In front were wide steps leading up to the entrance where was a portico supported by large wooden columns. The interior was the same as at present, with a corridor running down the centre and the offices on each side. On the right of the entrance was the auditor, and in the northeast corner the recorder, while cramped between this office and the auditor was a small room for the treasurer. On the left of the entrance was the clerk, with the surveyor in the northwest room and the probabte judge in the centre. The court room occupied the centre of the second floor, the judge's bench was on the north side of the room, and above and back of it was a balcony; underneath the balcony on each side of the bench were the jury rooms. At the south end was another similar balcony, and underneath this on the west was the sheriff's office and the east room was used by the prosecutor, the commissioners, the judge, a waiting room for the witnesses and a consultation room.

The new court house was dedicated on Friday evening, April 24, 1857, and it was a veritable house warming. The town was full of people, every township in the county being represented. The court room and the two galleries "were crowded with citizens to listen to the music furnished by Kronenberger's Sax Horn Band and the Bucyrus Quartette Club. At 10 o'clock supper was served at all three of the hotels, the McCoy, the \\'estern and the American House, and while the people were doing full justice to the supper, the court room was cleared and dancing commenced which continued until early in the morning. A fence was erected around the entire yard; it was of iron pickets, set in stone, the foundation being nearly two feet high. While there was no attempt at ornairientation the fence was attractive, appropriate and expensive. Many years ago this court house became too small for the increased business of the county and the increased force of officials necessary to handle that business.

For half a century this $18,000 structure had filled its mission, and the officials were cramped, the records scattered, in any inconvenient place temporarily that could be found. It was a known fact that any proposition submitted to the voters of the county would fail to carry, so the commissioners took advantage of that provision of the law which allows them to make improvements on public buildings. They improved the court house, and when it was completed the improvement had cost about double that of the original building, and gave an added floor space as large as the original structure. The improvement consisted of the addition built at the rear as it exists today. ^^'hen completed the first floor of the addition on the east was used as the recorder's office with private room and vault. The west room was the probate iudge's office with private room and vault. On the second floor the east room was the clerk's office, with private room and vault and a room for the judge or prosecuting attorney. The west end was occupied by the sheriff and surveyor. The third floor had a room for the examination of teachers, and other meetings, and also rooms for the use of any of the various county boards. The offices and rooms were all large and commodious, and fitted with all modern improvements, and the basement was cemented and walled in a modern way so as to make an available room for the Agricultural Society or the Board of Elections, with several large storage rooms. There were severe criticisms of the commissioners over the extensive nature of the improvements at the time they were made, but as the time passed the wisdom of the commissioners in providing the additional room so greatly needed was generally approved. The new addition left the original building occupied by the auditor and commissioners on the east and the treasurer on the west.

The court house now, with its fairly spacious offices and many vaults had ample room for the transaction of the business of the county and the safe storage of all the records. But another element now made its attack on the half century old court house, and this was time, from whose ravages there is no protection. The wooden pillars supporting the portico were showing signs of weakness and decay; the wooden tower containing the heavy bell became vmsafe, and notwithstanding an intense public feeling against a new court house the commissioners were compelled to submit the matter to the voters for funds to repair the building, and at the election on Nov. 6, 1906, the expected verdict against was rendered by the people. It carried the city of Bucyrus by a majority of 866, lost Gabon by 405 and Crestline by 163. In the country it carried but two townships. Auburn by 5 votes and Lykins 4. It lost the other 14 townships. Liberty heading the country opposition with 170 majority against. The total vote ^^-as Yes - 2,979, Xo - 3,494, majority against 515. This settled the matter as far as the commissioners were concerned, but Father Time declined to abide by the vote, and matters ran on until a part of the ceiling fell in the court room, an area of over 100 square feet, of plastering, caused by the weight of the tower on the weakened roof. A thorough examination was made of the tower and it was reported unsafe.

This being the condition, Judge Babst declined to hold court in the building, so quarters were secured at the Memorial Library. The matter was now taken up by the commissioners in conjunction with the citizens, and a committee of four were appointed to act on a suggestion made that the people be consulted directly on the matter and the responsibility thrown upon them. Following this view the committee reported the names of two prominent citizens in each voting precinct, and these men were requested by the commissioners to meet at Bucyrus to examine the court house and advise as to what should be done. Of the 80 advisers selected nearly every one responded, and they examined the court house from basement to tower, and then met in the office of the probate judge to render their decision. The commissioners, preparing for the emergency, for the past two years had made a small levy for building purposes ; this now amounted to about $40,000, with perhaps $10,000 available from other sources. Harlan F. Jones, a Mansfield architect, had submitted plans by which the old part of the court house could be remodeled for $90,000. It was easily seen that the majority of those present recognized the necessity that something should be done. The first suggestion of a new court house met with overwhelming defeat. The first motion was for a one mill levy for four years, a one mill levy bringing in about $20,- 000. This was very unfavorably received; a one mill levy for three years was defeated by a small majority, and the final vote of one mill for two years, which would raise the building fund to the $90,000 estimated for the improvement was carried almost unanimously. The question then came before the voters again at the election on Nov. 5, 1907, and it was carried by a vote of 3,665 yes and 2,784 no. Bucyrus again led with 1,176 majority for the proposition, while Galion gave 263 majority against and Crestline 134. In the country ten townships favored the proposition, and six returned an adverse majority, leaving the country vote for it by a majority of 102.

Louis Gearhart of Holmes, Frank P. Dick of Dallas, and Hugh M. Dobbins of Bucyrus. Judge Babst appointed as a building commission to act in conjunction with the commissioners, Frank P. Donnenwirth and John Q. Shunk of Bucyrus, W. I. Goshorn of Galion, and Jacob Babst of Crestline. The only important change made in the plans was -the placing of a stone covering over the entire building. A. E. Hancock of Mansfield was the contractor, and the new structure was completed within the estimated cost with enough left over to build and equip the electric light plant of the court house. During the construction of the front of the building the offices were continued in the court house, with the exception of that of the treasurer, who for a time had the office at the Farmers and Citizens Bank, the county treasurer, George W. Miller, being president of that institution, and court was held in the Memorial Library. The foundation stone was laid by the Grand Lodge of Masons assisted by Trinity Lodge, No. 556 of Bucyrus, on Aug. 17, 1908. At the completion of the building there was no house warming or celebration. In the new court room the judge's bench was placed in the east. On the left of the entrance to the building in a niche was placed a life-sized statue of Col. Crawford, ^^-hile in the basement were placed two waiting rooms. After the erection of the court house in 1856 it was deemed advisable to build a new jail. The one built in 1838 was a small structure of soft brick, and as a place of confinement was not a success. It took more care and skill to keep the prisoners after their arrest than it did to capture them. Nothing special had happened to the old jail, except that on Sept. 4, 1850, the building had been struck by lightning, but no damage was done; a number of prisoners had escaped from the building, and orie, preferring death to liberty, had committed suicide. Commissioners, grand juries and sheriffs made frequent complaints as to its condition, and the final blow fell in February, 1858, when a young man named John Mouse made his escape. He had robbed the till at the Oregon House, and was arrested and placed in the jail. Mouse treated his imprisonment as a joke and assured the sheriff that after he had rested up for a few days at the expense of the county he would leave. He kept his word, and a few nights later made his escape, by the use of a false key he had constructed, unlocking the door, and quietly walking out.

John Franz was sheriff at the time, and while the till-robbing was only a minor offense, and the escape of the prisoner was good riddance, yet the contempt with which the prisoner had treated his incarceration, made the sheriff justly indignant, and he determined on his recapture. The sheriff finally found him at Sandusky City, and brought him back. He came quietly, but again assured the sheriff that when he got tired of stopping with him he would again leave. Franz locked him up in the strongest cell on the second floor, and a few nights later Mouse made his word good he dug a hole in the brick wall, just large enough for his body to squeeze through, dropped into the yard, climbed the eight foot fence which surrounded the building, and was gone for good.

As in the "Pied Piper of Hamelin," "the mayor looked blue, and so did the corporation too." It was the final blow, and the commissioners promptly issued a proclamation for an election to vote on a new jail, to cost $6,000, one-half to be levied in 1858 and the other half in 1859. The Mouse escapes were so fresh in the minds of the people that at the April election the proposition carried easily. A contract was entered into with E. Jacobs &. Co., of Cincinnati, for the jail part for $5,500, and with George B. Terwilliger, of Bucyrus, for the balance of the structure $3,076.98. It was bviilt on the site of the old jail, and did duty for a quarter of a century, and is still standing and now occupied as a private residence.

Escape Of Prisoners

While it was building, John Franz was Sheriff, and occupied as his residence the house at the southwest corner of Charles and Lane, now the home of B. F. Lauck. During the erection of the new jail prisoners charged with minor offenses were lodged in the city prison, while the more serious offenders were placed in the Wyandot county jail. The jail proved to be a very safe structure, but there was one notable escape. It was in 1872, in the

James Worden was the sheriff, serving his second term, and he had only two prisoners in the jail, Billy Ring and his partner, charged with theft. On Friday morning, Aug. 30, 1872, the sheriff discovered his two prisoners had made their escape. An examination showed they had drilled about fifty holes through the iron floor of their cell, which was about a third of an inch thick. These holes were bored on three sides of the opening they made, 'and with a crow bar they pried up the iron floor, breaking off the fourth side, leaving a hole about 7^ by 13 inches, through which they escaped; they crawled through several passages, through four different openings in the foundation walls before they reached the cellar, after which their final escape was easy. They left the following letter, written on the back of an engraving torn from the "Ladies' Repository" :

Respected Friend : - Having but a few more moments to stay, we tliought we would devote them to writing to you. Deeming it proper to seek some other place of refuge, and as we did not wish to awake you from your slumbers, therefore we thought we would go without informing you.

In 1877 John A. Schaber was elected sheriff, and during his term he had occasion to take five prisoners to Columbus - four men and one woman. They were all handcuffed, and the men were connected in pairs by a heavy chain. The sheriff took as assistants, Lewis Stremmel, George Myers and W. P. Rowland. They drove to Gallon, and after all were safely on the train, Rowland returned home. When the train reached Delaware it was necessary to transfer from one car to another. Stremmel went first, the four male prisoners following, Myers next, then the woman, the sheriff bringing up the rear. As they reached the platform, the first two men jumped from the steps on the side opposite the station. Stremmel promptly jumped from the car and grabbed them. They raised the heavy chair with which they were manacled and brought it down with such severe force on Stremmel's head as to knock him senseless. Sheriff

Schaber seeing or hearing the disturbance forced his way past the woman, and drew his revolver, but already a crowd had collected, making it dangerous to shoot. In attempting to lower his revolver it went off, the ball striking the Sheriff himself on the hand, inflicting a slight flesh wound. The Rev. Mr. Byers, an ex-chaplain of the Penitentiary happened to be present, and being used to hardened criminals, with the assistance of the sheriff and Myers soon had the prisoners under control. The woman in the car had been left to herself and might have escaped, but the passengers rising in the excitement so blocked the way as to make escape impossible. She was a "high kicker" and contented herself with planting one of her feet under the chin of a six-foot traveling man who barred her way. The injured guard, Stremmel, was carried to the station and restored to consciousness, and although thirty years have passed he still carries the scar from the blow. Additional help was obtained at Delaware and the prisoners were safely landed in the penitentiary by the sheriff, but on his return home the wound and the excitement brought on a severe fever which confined him to his house for several days.

In time, the increasing growth and business of the county made a new jail a necessity, and in 1881, the commissioners had about $10,000 in the building fund, and they submitted the question of a new jail to the people. It was the most bitter non-political election that ever occurred in the county with one exception. The sheriff's proclamation called for the vote on the jail on a separate ballot, the votes to be returned to the auditor for canvassing.

The election took place on Tuesday, Oct. 1 1 , 1881, and the returns from every precinct showed that 2,475 votes were for the new jail and 2,789 against; majority against 314. The proposition carried Bucyrus by 981 to 65, and Crestline by 315 to 66. Gallon and Polk township gave the phenomenal vote of 12 for the proposition and 1221 against an adverse majority of 1,209. I" the country. Auburn, Dallas, Holmes Lykins, Texas Tod and Whetstone were for the proposition, and t^hatfield, Cranberry, Jefferson, Liberty, Sandusky, Vernon against. The vote was cast at a regular election, and in those days election returns were forwarded to the clerk of the court. In the printing of the ballots, Auburn, Dallas, Whetstone, and the Second, Third and Fourth wards of Gallon had placed the jail proposition on the regular ballot, and the vote in these precincts were returned to the clerk, and not to the auditor. A study of the returns showed these precincts erroneously returned had given 337 for the jail and 1,056 against, and the jail being a necessity the returning board, consisting of the auditor and commissioners, met and proceeded to count the jail returns that were before them, which eliminated the six precincts that had been returned to the clerk, and it was found the proposition had carried by a vote of 2,138 to 1,733, or a majority of 405 for the new jail. This official result was declared and the returning board adjourned. In 1826, the Ohio Gazeteer spoke of Bucyrus as "a lively post town in the southeastern part of Crawford county," and now after nearly three score years and ten had passed for about four weeks Bucyrus was again the "liveliest" town not only in Crawford county but in the State of Ohio. Indignant citizens swarmed to the county seat, protests and resolutions were sent to the commissioners, an indignant Gabon council forwarded to the auditor official returns of the three eliminated wards of Gallon, demanding their vote be counted, but the time limit had passed under the law by which a recount could be made, so nothing could be done. Public opinion quieted down, and the matter came to be regarded as a shrewd move, the necessity for the jail was apparent, and the whole affair degenerated into a huge joke on Gabon, and when the humor of the situation became the predominant feature, ridicule killed all opposition, as it generally does. Eventually, the action of the commissioners was practically universally approved.

The next step was a change of location, the people and the commissioners being of the opinion the proper place for the jail was at the rear of the court house instead of across the street. A point was raised by the opponents ol the jail that Norton had donated the jail lot, and if it was abandoned for jail purposes it would revert to the Norton heirs. In answer to this E. R. Kearsley produced a paper covering this contingency. When he was auditor in

1854 he had foreseen that this question might arise some day, and had secured a signed agreement from Mr. Norton allowing the county at any time to sell the old jail site, providing the money received from the sale was used for the purchase of a new site. Another difficulty was that the site needed - in lot 126, adjoining the court house on the north - had been occupied by Martin Deal as a residence for many years ; it was his homestead, and the associations that clung around it made him object to disposing of it. The property was condemned, and bought by the county for $4,500, and that time probably the highest price paid for a similar lot in Bucyrus. The architect of the new jail was J. C. Johnson of Fremont, his plans estimating the cost at $23,- 000. The lowest bid on the contract was a Ft. Wayne firm, who neglected to give bond, and the contract was awarded to the second lowest bidder, Peter Faeth of New Washington, for $22,293. The old jail was sold to Dr. C. Fulton, in 1883, for $3,900, and the old buildings on the Deal lot were sold for $445.10. The Deal residence was purchased by Peter Faeth, who moved it to the northeast corner of the Court House lot and occupied it during the erection of the new jail. In 1909 the commissioners secured an option on the lot between the jail and the railroad, the building of the new court house making it inadvisable to purchase at that time. Unfortunately the option was allowed to lapse, as it is property which should be owned by the county.

In the early history of the county, the poor were cared for by the respective townships, one of the most important offices prior to the constitution of 185 1 was that of overseer of the poor. To this thankless office the best men in each township took turns in serving, filling the position from a sense of duty alone. If at any time any one came to the county who might eventually become a charge upon the county, the county had the right to demand that the newcomer gave bond that he would never become a public charge. There is one record where this right was used. About 1828, a man died in Roanoke county, Virginia, and on his death liberated his slaves with sufficient money to transport them to some point in the north. A number of them came to Crawford county, settling two miles south of

Bucyrus, which gave the name of the "Nigger Woods" to the grove where they located. It was the farm for so many years known as the Gormly farm and later as the Beal farm. The Overseers of the Poor demanded a bond of $500 each that they would not become a public charge. This they could not give, so they were compelled to leave. One family remained, the man being known as "Old Solomon." The bulk of the negroes having left, no objection was made to the old man remaining, and in a very few years he died, and his widow married again, Zalmon Rowse, as justice of the peace, going down to perform the ceremony. He was accompanied by Josiah Scott and Madison Welsh, three cronies in those days, who got all the rough sport they could out of the first colored wedding in Crawford county. It has been traditionary history that these slaves were a part of the family of the celebrated statesmen, John Randolph of Roanoke, who released all his slaves by will at the time of his death. Randolph died in 1833, and these negroes were certainly here in 1830, probably as early as 1828, so they were not the Randolph slaves.

W^hile each township cared for its own poor, they were let to the lowest "responsible" bidder. It was probably the only way in those early days that they could be cared for, but it was not the most humane way, as bidders sometimes bid very low for the keeping of the pauper, and as a result he was kept in a way that the bidder could make money on his investment. There were occasions when the pauper was very poorly fed and worse clad, and as for housing, kept in the same shed with the cattle or the dog, the same scraps being fed to him and the dog at the same time, with a division of food in favor of the dog. On the least provocation he was chained, and the children found amusement in hitting him with sticks and stones to make him frantic. Sometimes the inhumanity of keepers brought complaints from the neighbors, and the overseers promptly took charge of the unfortunate and relet him to some new bidder.

After the adoption of the new constitution in 185 1 Crawford county had at the time a population of nearly 20,000 people (1850 census, 18,177), and at the October election of 1856 a proposition was submitted for the se- curing of a site and the building of an infirmary, but it was defeated by a vote of 2,168 to 1,017, more than two to one. It carried Bucyrus by 457 to 26 and Cranberry by 94 to 92, and lost every other township in the county.

Under the new constitution the township trustees had charge of the poor, and they were still let to some party for their keeping. It was very unsatisfactory, as the most careful watchfulness could not prevent cruelties occurring, and a county infirmary became an absolute necessity. A compromise was made with the eastern part of the county by which the infirmary would be located between Bucyrus and Galion, and in 1864 it was again submitted to a vote, and carried by 2,246 to 1,654, a majority of 592. It carried the townships of Bucyrus, Jackson, Polk and Tod, was a tie in Chatfield, and lost the other ten townships. Its heavy favorable vote in Bucyrus, Galion and Crestline, on account of the compromise as to location, enabled it to carry. The site selected was 240 acre of fine farming land in sections 16, 17 and 21 Whetstone township along the Galion road three miles southeast of Bucyrus. On this a large three-story building was erected by David Shanks at a cost of about $30,000, a plain, commodious brick structure, but with no attempt at ornamentation. As time passed the various necessary outbuildings were erected, and also a very modern structure for the care of the insane. The farm of the infirmary not only supplies its own provisions, but' a surplus is sold every year. Much of the work of the farm is done by the inmates, who for the past few years average about 70. From the sale of the surplus products, and the funds received annually from the liquor tax the institution is practically self-sustaining

When the county was organized in 1826 the principal difficulty with which the early pioneers had to contend were the roads. Most came in the summer, when the low, marshy ground was passable, and those who failed to come in the summer or early fall waited until the ground was frozen, and even built their cabins in the depths of the' forest with the snow covering the trees and ground. The first settlers followed the old military road, and after reaching the county branched off to the north or south of this road, which accounts for the fact that after the early settlers had drifted over into the northeastern part of the county from the Connecticut lands, nearly all the early settlers are found to have taken up land in what is now Jackson, Jefferson, Polk, northern Whetstone and Bucyrus, and southern Liberty and Sandusky, a strip of territory within four miles to the north or south of the present Pennsylvania road, which is the strongest of circumstantial evidence that the old army road was somewhere near the centre of this tract, and at no point through the county very far from the Pennsylvania road. Those settling in the eastern part entered their land at Wooster, while those around Bucyrus, coming from the east, selected their site, built their cabin, and then made their trip of forty miles on foot or on horseback, across the plains and through the forest to Delaware, where their land was entered. Gen. Harrison, in 181 2, had constructed a road through Delaware to Upper Sandusky, passing through where Marion now is. This road the pioneers reached at the nearest point ana followed it to Delaware, but later they made a trail for themselves, wandering in and out over the highest and best ground straight south from Bucyrus. As early as 1819 the settlers in the eastern part of the county (then Richland county) had made a road for themselves from where Galion now is through Jefferson, Auburn and Vernon, and on to Paris (Plymouth), where a road existed through New Haven to Huron on Lake Erie, thus giving them an outlet to points where they could get their supplies. On account of the difficulties of land transportation, it was necessary to reach some point where there was water navigation. At Huron, where goods had arrived from the east by water, necessaries could be purchased 25 per cent cheaper than at Mansfield, and prices paid for the products the hunter and settler had to sell were 25 per cent higher. The necessity of taking grain to the mill at Fredericktown, made a trail southeast from Bucyrus througb Whetstorte township; this later became a traveled road, and when the county was organized developed into the Mt. Vernon road. The settlement at Leveridge's or Hos ford's (Galion) was connected with Bucyrus by an Indian trail, later became a pioneer road, and still later a mail route to Mansfield, now the Bucyrus and Galion road.

The first real road was the Columbus and Portland (Sandusky) road. It was surveyed by Col. Kilbourne about 1820, and a charter granted by the Legislature for a State road. The road was from Columbus to Delaware, then to Mt. Gilead (then in Marion county), then north through the western part of Galion, through the present villages of Middletown, Leesville and West Liberty, and northeast to Paris (Plymouth) and on to Portland (Sandusky). From Hosford's settlement (Gallon) north it was practically following the original road cut through the woods by the early settlers. In the building of roads high ground was looked after more than direct route, and when the road reached Leveridge's Kilbourne proposed to have it pass on the high ground where the Gallon public square now is ; here it was to cross an east and west road from Mansfield to Bucyrus". Kilbourne proposed to Leveridge to cross at this point, lay out a town and divide the profits, but Leveridge decided he had too fine a farm to spoil it by cutting it up into town lots, so the road was, run through the Hosford settlement, on the east side of the Whetstone, half a mile west of Leveridge's, over low ground, which was frequently overflowed and during the west season often impassable. A town was not laid out here, but the crossing of the two roads soon brought a few shops and a tavern, and the settlement became known as "The Corners."