Paulding County, Ohio - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 2 of those read), 1892

Chapter with an unread heading (no. 2 of those read)

_] N 1784, the state of Virginia ceded to the United States the great Northwest Territory, which she claimed by her charter, and by the conquest of Gen. George Rogers Clarke. This great territory embraced the present states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and that

'main; and two years later caine the ordinance of 1787, authorizing the board of treasury to contract with would-be purchasers of such terri- the first county formed in the northwest territory. It included all the eastern part of the state as far west as the Scioto river, with Marietta as its seat of justice. Hamilton county was the next to be organized, with Cincinnati as its county seat. It included that region between the two Miamis, up as far from the Ohio as an east and west line drawn through the Standing Stone fork of the Big Miami. Wayne county was the fifth to be formed in the northwest territorial region. Its boundaries are given as follows: " Beginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, upon lake Erie, and with the said river to the portage between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; then down the said branch to the forks at the carrying place above Fort Laurens, thence by a line west to the eastern boundary of Hamilton county; thence by a line west and northerly to the southern part of the portage between the Miamis of the Ohio and the St. Mary's river; thence by a line, also west and northerly, to the portage between the Wabash and the Miamis of lake Erie, where Fort Wayne now stands; thence by a line west and northerly to the southern part of lake Michigan; thence along the western shores of the same to the northwest part thereof; thence by a due north line to the territorial boundary in lake Superior, and, with the said boundary through lakes Huron, St. Clair and Erie, to the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, the place of beginning." This county was organized in 1796, under the first form of our territorial government, and included within its limits about twenty-six of the present counties of northwestern Ohio, of which Paulding county is one. The old town of Detroit was the seat of justice. The few whites in this region were, like those of Detroit, Canadian French, Indian traders, or renegade tories. For more than a hundred years Detroit had been the center and headquarters of all military and commercial affairs about the head of lake Erie and the foot of lake Huron. The Maumee river country was merely an out-post or province of Detroit. Communication with the civilized world was by way of Detroit and Canada. A majority of the whites in the lake region were French, of Canadian origin, and still holding Canadian prejudices, and retaining their Canadian connections in all matters of religion, politics, friendship and commerce. Between the Detroit settlements and the settlements on the Ohio river, there existed no bond of sympathy; in fact, until 1796, they had always been the bitterest enemies, and both retained much of the old prejudices engendered by the French and revolutionary wars. Between the Maumee and the Ohio lay an almost trackless wilderness, over the whole vast extent of which there stretched a mighty and unbroken forest yet ignorant of the woodman's ax.

Ohio was the first state to be carved out of the great northwest territory. It was admitted into the union in 1802. The northwestern part was the last to be organized and settled. The Indians having ceded their lands to the whites, the legislature of the state, by an act of February 12, 1820, proceeded to divide the newly acquired territory into counties. Of these counties Paulding county is one, and it dates its creation to the year above mentioned. It was named in honor of John Paulding, a native of Peekskill, N. Y., and one of the captors of that brave and accomplished, but unfortunate officer, Maj. Andre. Regarding this capture and the execution of Andre, the writer remembers portions of an old pioneer's song, which he heard when a youth of eight or ten summers, as follows:

"Come all ye young Americans, and unto me give ear, While I rehearse a small ditty which will your spirits cheer, Concerning a young gentleman whose age was twenty-two. He fought for North America, his heart was just and true.

Then up stepped John Paulding, for that was our hero's name, 'Sir, tell us where you're going, and also whence you came;' 'I bear the British flag, sir, a pass to go this way,

'We want not your gold and silver that you've laid up in store, And when you reach New York you need not send us more, But you may take your sword in hand to gain your liberty, And if you do conquer us, Oh then you shall be free.'

'The time it is improper our valor for to try, For if we take our swords in hand, then one of us must die; But should we ever meet on the bloody battle-field, My sword should be dyed in red before I'd ever yield.'

The base line from which the public land surveys were made was established in May, 1819, by Sylvanus Bourne. This line is the southern line of the county and extends from the Indiana and Ohio state line eastward through the counties of Putnam and Hancock, and forms the south line of Seneca county to Huron county, where it connects with lands known as the Western Reserve. The township lines were established, in 1820, by Alexander Holmes, Samuel Holmes and others; and in 1821-22 the townships were divided into sections by James W. Riley and his assistants. The county of Williams was organized February 2, 1824, and Paulding county was attached to it for judicial purposes, until its own organization in 1839. On the 4th of March, 1845, by an act of the legislature, the county of Defiance was organized. Its territory was composed of eight townships taken from Williams county, three from Henry, and a half township from Paulding. The formation of this new county reduced Paulding county to its present limits, which, were it not for the half township taken from its northeastern corner, would be a rectangle, extending east and west, twenty-four miles in length, and eighteen miles in width. It embraces within its territory ten full townships, six miles square, and Emerald township, containing thirty-two sections, and Auglaize township, containing twenty-two - in all an area of 416 square miles. It is bounded on the north by Defiance county, on the east by Putnam county, on the south by Van Wert county, and on the west by Allen county, Indiana. Its south line is the forty-first parallel of north latitude, and the meridian of eighty-four degrees and thirty minutes, west longitude, crosses the county near itseastern boundary. The numbering of townships begins on the south and run north; the ranges on the west and run east. Benton township is number 1, range 1; Harrison, town 2, range 1; Carryall, town 3, range 1; Blue Creek, town 1, range 2; Paulding, town 2, range 2; Crane, town 3, range2; Latty, town 1, range 3; Jackson, town 2, range 3; Emerald, town 3, range 3; Washington, town 1, range 4; B-own, town 2, range 4; and Auglaize, town 3, range 4.

The Early Settlers

HEN the bright rays of civilization began to pierce the smoke of desolation, made so by the Indian wars of the northwest, they served as beacon lights to attract the attention and guide the daring frontiersman into the county, and the Maumee river and the military roads, cut by Wayne's conquering army, became the routes and highways over which came the first settlers. As is the case with the first setments of almost every country, the earliest settlers of Paulding county planted their primitive homes along the banks of its streams. On the rich alluvial bottoms of the Auglaize are yet to be seen the sites where were built the cabins of the Careys, the Hudsons, the Shirleys, the Romines and the Shroufes. Along the Maumee came the Musselmans, and the Banks and the Reynolds families; also the Gordons, the Runyans, the Murphys, the Applegates, and Gen. H. N. Curtis. On the Little Auglaize came the Harrells, the Mellingers and the Curtises; on Blue creek, the Moss brothers, the Reeds, the Barnhills, and the family of Robert Hakes; while on Flat Rock, or Crooked creek, the Woodcocks, the Malotts, and the Wentworths, were the first to tread the forest paths and to swing the "settler's echoing ax."

The first white settlement made in Paulding county was on section 19, Auglaize township, by Shadrach Hudson, in 1819. Isaac Carey came in the autumn of the same year. He came from Miami county, Ohio, by the route which had been opened by Gen. Wayne, to Defiance, thence up the Auglaize to his place of location. The farm upon which he settled is about one-half a mile east of the present village of Junction, and is owned by Reason Johnson. Upon this farm, January 21, 1826, was born Daniel Clark Carey, who has the notoriety of being the first white child known to have been born within the limits of the county. He now resides at the village of Oakwood, eight miles south of his birth-place, and is a very worthy citizen, having held the office of probate judge and other offices of public trust. A few years ago he removed to Hutchinson, Kas., but only remained about two years, when he returned to the scenes of his youth, preferring the majestic forests of Paulding county to the broad prairies of the "far west." Here, no doubt, he will spend the remainder of his days, and at their close be laid to silent rest beside the tombs of his pioneer ancestors. Shadrach Hudson was the father-in-law of Isaac Carey. Upon his farm stands the oldest house in the county. It was built of hewed logs 20x30 feet in length, about fifty years ago, and is yet in a tolerably good state of repair. It was photographed in the summer of 1890, the picture enlarged and distributed throughout the county as a pioneer relic. Nathan Shirley came in 1823, and Thomas Romine in 1825, both settling on farms on the Auglaize. The settlements on the Maumee were begun in 1825. Denison Hughes, William Banks, David Applegate, William Gordon, Reason V. Spurrier, and Gen. H. N. Curtis, came to the county about that year, and may be regarded as the first settlers of its northern part. Of these, the Banks and Gordon families came from Cincinnati; their route lay along the military roads which ran up the Miami river to its headwaters; then crossing over to the headwaters of the St. Mary's river, they loaded their household goods and wagons into pirogues and came down that river to Fort Wayne, thence down the Maumee to their respective places of landing. Their horses were unharnessed and driven across the country along the winding Indian trails that were not sufficiently wide to permit the passage of vehicles.

Joseph Mellinger commenced the little Auglaize settlement in the year of 1828, and was shortly after followed by William Harrell, Benjamin Kniss and Dimitt Mackerel. These settlers reached the county from the southern Ohio counties by crossing the water-shed which extends east and west through the state, and striking the headwaters of the Blanchard river, passed down that stream to its confluence with the Big Auglaize, thence overland to their places of settlement.

In 1834, the Moss brothers, natives of England, commenced improving farms on the banks of Blue Creek, while further up that stream, about the same year, Robert Barnhill and Joseph Reed built log cabins and began battling with the frowning forest. In 1837, Thomas Wentworth began the Flat Rock settlement. His nativity was the state of Maine. In 1835, he, with his family, left the pine-covered hills of that state, to find a home in Paulding county. He embarked upon a coasting vessel and sailed down the Atlantic to New York, and reached Buffalo by way of the Hudson river and New York & Erie canal, thence on lake Erie to Toledo, then up the Maumee to New Rochester, near the present site of Cecil. Here he rested with his family for a year or two, then cut a wagon-track road through the dark forest ten miles to the south and commenced the improvement of a farm near where now stands the interprising village of Payne.

Thus have we shown our readers the routes by which the first settlers reached the county; also their names, date of entry and places of location. We should now pay to them that tribute which is their due; and would that our unskillful pen was equal to such a task. They were men of integrity, hardy and brave, and whether they were clearing away the forests, engaged at the hand-mill in cracking corn for food. or chasing the bounding deer for the same purpose, they showed a fortitude and. determination of spirit which is worthy of imitation. But they have passed away, and they who gaze upon their last resting places may say: here rest the great and good - here they repose after their generous toil. A sacred band they were, and now they take their last sleep together, while every new-born spring that is ushered in comes with its earliest flowers to deck their graves. Theirs is no vulgar sepulchre -- although in many instances the green sgd may be their only monument; yet it tells anobler history than pillared piles or the eternal pyramids. Touch not, then, the ancient elms that bend their branches over the lowly graves of the first settlers of Paulding county, for their shadows fall upon the resting places of those who need no columns pointing upward to tell us that beyond the purple hills they have found a happy home.

The habits of our first settlers were, in the most part, exemplary, their hardships many and their wants few. Their houses were built of logs, with puncheon floors, clapboard roofs, and greased paper for windows. The "new country" song, of which the writer remembers a few stanzas, tells the whole story of pioneer life:

"This wilderness was our abode full fifty years ago, And when we wished good meat to eat, we caught a buck or doe; For fish we used the hook and line, On Johnny-cake our ladies dine - And pounded corn to make it fine, Tn this new country."

The garb of the first settlers was of the simplest homespun. The flax patch furnished the material for the bed ticking and the tow linen for shirts and trowsers. The wool was carded, spun, woven and fashioned into garments by the nimble fingers of the pioneer's wife and daughters. They were the manufacturers of the linsey-woolsey. How often was the tired backwoodsman lulled to sleep by the sweet hum of the spinning wheel as the faithful and toiling wife plied her vocation late in the night. A few of these old dust-covered articles yet remain in the 'county.

Pioneer Associations. - In 1885 a pioneer association was organized in the county, and from that time to the present, annual picnics have been held by the old settlers, sometimes in Riverside park at Antwerp, but mostly on the fair grounds at Paulding. These meetings are generally largely attended and their programs consist of addresses, songs, pioneer papers, remarks by old settlers, a sumptuous repast, general hand-shak- 'ing, etc., etc. Although many of them who meet are old, infirm, and tottering on the verge of the grave, yet their hearts are still young, and the story of their pioneer hardships, struggles and privations is ever new. They meet to forget the cares and infirmities of the present and to renew again the scenes of their youth. They

"The first fall after my father moved from Miami county to the wilds of the Maumee valley, he had to cast about and study how to make a living. He wasn't much of a hunter, nor much of a farmer up to that time, as his occupation had been that of a stone and brick mason. Seed

` wheat was very scarce. He had a little mixed with cockle and chess, which was left after moving out, and proceeded to clear off a patch of ground and sowed the mixture of seed as above stated, and he told me that the following harvest he had as good and as clean a crop of wheat as he ever saw or ever afterward raised. The chess and cockle failed that year, and that was how my father got his start in wheat." * * * "In _the early times log rollings and hcuse and barn raisings were quite com- ` mon. I remember one occasion of being invited to help roll logs down on Uncle Abram Hudson's farm, four miles south of Defiance. A good many had been invited, the logs had been cut and 'niggered,' and made ready; two captains, so called, were chosen; the hands equally divided, a yoke of oxen for each division. Now, the men start with a will | and the logs began to tumble up. The heavier ones were hauled by the oxen, and the lighter ones carried by the men. The two parties seemed to race all day, and the oxen seemed to catch the same spirit, for as soon as they were hitched to a log they started for the heap, sometimes on the run, and generally stopped at the right place. Well-trained oxen were fine teams for the woods.

"There were some excellent sugar orchards along the Auglaize, Maumee and their tributaries. One fine morning in sugar-making time I started to go to the camp about one half a mile from our house, and as I passed through the woods, I saw a large wolf a few rods ahead of me, with the water still dripping off him as he had just emerged from the Auglaize river. It was a surprise to both of us; the wolf stopped suddenly and so did I, and I raised a fire shovel which I was carrying, to show fight, I suppose. The wolf, after taking a good look at me, started on and so did I, right willing to let him alone if he would me. Wolves were plentiful those days, although I seldom saw but could hear them howling almost every night. One wolf, it is said. can make or imitate the voice of half a dozen others.

_ "One lovely morning in autumn, that beautiful season of the year when 'all nature is clothed in the variegated hues of crimson and gold, my uncle, Samuel W. Hudson, who, by the way, was a good hunter, concluded to take a bear hunt. He came to our house and borrowed my older brother's rifle, which was named 'Old Pick.' He went up the Big Auglaize river to the mouth of Flat Rock, then up that stream two or three miles. Meat was plenty that year, and game, such as deer, squirrel, pheasants, wild turkeys, etc., was abundant, but as my uncle had started after bear, such 'small fry' failed to attract his attention. He traveled for some time and was beginning to get weary, when lo! and behold, up started a fine specimen of the object of his search. Quick as thought, 'Old Pick' was brought to my uncle's shoulder. He took aim but a second and fired. Bruin dropped, pierced through the heart. 'Old Pick' had done its deadly work. The bear proved to be a very large black one and was quite fat. My uncle came home after a team and wagon. and that evening, he and several others, among the number myself, went and brought it in. That is as near as I ever came to killing a bear - helping to load it, and riding home between its hind legs. Of course, we all had bear meat for some time in that neighborhood, and plenty of genuine 'bear's ile' for the hair and whiskers." * * * The above extracts are given to show the reader the nature of subjects touched upon by the settlers at their annual meetings. These and many other bygone scenes, such as early births, deaths, marriages, etc., are recalled to memory and talked over. Each has his story of toil, privation and hardship, or incident of romance or tragedy to relate. All are highly interesting and are listened to with intense eagerness. Think of it, ye men and women of to-day. Think of the stories they tell. Forty or fifty years ago our fathers were out in the mighty forests which covered our land, with no tools, save an ax and maul, without nails, glass, plaster (excepting mud mortar), lumber, brick, or anything with which to build a shelter for their wives and children, save forest trees and the few tools mentione 1. Out there in a covered wagon, upon which fell the driving rain, the biting frosts of autumn, or the piercing blasts of winter. Out there alone- - two, three, perhaps five miles from any human habitation. Would not that have tried your muscles and your souls? Yes, indeed. And these are the incidents told by our pioneer fathers at their annual gatherings. Last of all at these picnics the mortuary roll is called by the secretary of the society, and at each succeeding meeting grows larger and larger. Year by year the old settlers diminish in numbers, Year by year many of them are called away from the scenes of their early strugges and triumphs. May strength and comfort be given to those who are left, that their declining years may be their happiest ones. Sweetly rest those who are gone. Softly fall the dews of heaven upon the hallowed spots where sleep our county's pioneers.

" When the spring-time touch is lightest, When the summer eyes are brightest, Or the autumn sings most drear; When the winter's hair is whitest