Sandusky County, Ohio - Chapter 25: Fremont Continued, 1882

Chapter 25: Fremont Continued

A. Newman, Peleg Cooley, John Robin- j son, John Cooley, Thomas L. Hawkins, ; Thomas Forgerson, Holsey Forgerson, I Aaron Willis, and John W. Tyler.

of Lower Sandusky. Sandusky township had exercised exclusive jurisdiction over the village. By special act of the Legislature, passed February n, 1830, so much of the reservation as is included in the surveyed township number five, range fifteen, was set apart and granted the powers and privileges of a corporate town, under the statutes of the State. The complement of the two miles square reservation, being a strip about three-quarters of a mile wide off the south side, continued under the jurisdiction of Ballville township exclusively. In 1856 the corporate limits were so extended as to include this strip, making the town of Fremont co-extensive with the ancient and historic reservation. John Bell was elected first mayor.

Civil Roster

Previous to 1843 the records of the town are lost. The mayors of Lower Sandusky, elected in the spring of each year, were: John Bell, 1830; R. P. Buckland, 1843;* John Bell, i8445 Cornelius Letscher, 1845 and 1846; Chester Edgerton, 1847; L. C. Ball, 1848; J. G. B. Downs, 1849. That year the name of the town was changed to Fremont. At the expense of repetition we give the full council for each year :

The number of trustees in 1867 was increased to six, and one of their own number was chosen president. Previous to 1867 it was the duty of the mayor to act as president of the council. We give below the names of members of the council as they appear on the roll, the president always being named first:

One more change of local government remains to be spoken of. Th.e township jurisdiction of Sandusky township extended over the city until 1878, when, by act of the county commissioners, a new township, to be called Fremont, was erected. The boundaries of the township are coextensive with those of the city.

Name Of The City

Sandusky. The postoffice was entered as Lower Sandusky, and by 1830, when the incorporating act was passed, Lower Sandusky had become the commonly accepted name. There was, however, endless confusion in the mail service and among business men, caused by the number of posts along the river beating the same name wiih but slight modifications. There were I Upper Sandusky, Little Sandusky, Middle . Sandusky, Lower Sandusky, and Sandusky City. It was felt, therefore, not only ! expedient, but a business necessity, that | the name should be changed. The town 1 was already giving promise of that rapid j growth which has since been fulfilled.

I What the new name should be was a matter, therefore, of no little interest and discussion. Croghanville was the natural choice of a certain class of citizens who delight to recall the past and memorialize great deeds and heroic characters. This, too, was the name of the original village surveyed under authority of the United States as early as 1816.

But there were practical business men who foresaw the difficulties which would follow the adoption of the historic name. Croghanville was a hard name to spell, and, should it be adopted, was almost certain to be the cause of many orthographical blunders.

Discussion materialized into action in 1849. A name, at that time, in every newspaper, in almost every mouth, was John Charles Fremont. Our interest in events of local history and admiration of heroic conduct compels us to regret that the town did not receive the name of the officer who made the ground over which it has spread, a place of National interest. In the firmament of history, brightened by many lustrous names, Colonel Fremont appears not as a brilliant star, but as a permanent light. His useful explorations i and discoveries in the far W'est, were valua-

John Charles Fremont was born in Georgia, entered Charleston college at the age of fifteen, and was noted for mathematical genius. Before the completion of his course he became infatuated with a West India girl, whose raven locks and soft, black eves interfered sadly with his studies. He was expelled from college. His first employment was as private teacher of mathematics, and in 1833 the situation of instructor in mathematics on a United States sloop of war was given him. He was subsequently given a professorship of mathematics in the navy, and a few years later was employed in the survey of several Southern railroads. In 1838 he was commissioned second lieutenant and placed on the corps of topographical engineers. While compiling a series of reports in Washington, in 1840, he made the acquaintance of Miss Jesse Benton, daughter of Colonel Thomas H. Benton, then a leader of his party in the United States Senate. The lady was only fifteen years old, but youth is no barrier to love. Colonel Benton, taking advantage of his influence, had the young officer peremptorily ordered on an exploring expedition to the Des Moines River. Returning the following year, Fremont claimed his betrothed, whom he secretly married.

Fremont made the first systematic exploration of the Rocky mountains, one of the highest peaks of which bears his name. His reports were of great value, as furnishing information about overland routes to California, and setting forth the mineral resources of that region.

During the troubles with Mexico, Colonel Fremont's services were of great value, in protecting American settlers in California, and ultimately in expelling Mexican authority from the Territory. In 1847 he bought an estate in California, on which he determined to settle. In 1849 the State was admitted to the Union, and as a mark of appreciation of his services as an explorer, and for having secured the annexation of the Territory to the United States, Colonel Fremont was elected by his State to represent her in the United States Senate. A cast of lots gave Fremont the short term of three years. While he occupied a seat in the Senate, California interests received his close attention. He was author of the most important legislation relating to her early interests. He took a decided stand against the extension of slavery, which lost him a reelection to the Senate. His ideas concerning the ''peculiar institution" conformed to the principles upon which the Republican party was established, and he became the party's first Presidential candidate. In a letter to the convention he said :

I heartily concur in all movements having for their object to repair the mischiefs arising from violation of good taith in the repeal of the Missouri compromise. I am opposed to slavery in the abstract and upon principle, sustained and made habitual by long settled convictions. While I feel inflex ble in the belief that it ought not to be interfered with where it exists, under the shield of State sovereignty, I am as inflexibly opposed to its extension on this continent beyond its present limits.

This was the platform on which the spirited campaign of 1856 was fought. Buchanan received one hundred and seventy-four votes from nineteen States, while Fremont received one hundred and fourteen votes from eleven States.

Colonel Fremont, in 1858, removed to California, where he became identified with important measures of public improvement, but suffered financial misfortune. In recognition of the high political station to which he attained, he was appointed to the Governorship of Arizona Territory, in which office he served one term.

We have now sketched briefly the career of the man in honor of whom the county j seat was named - a man who enjoyed immense popularity while in the zenith of his career, and a man, too, who left the impress of his life upon an important section of our country.

About the only opposition to changing the name of the town was made by Judge Howland, who was always odd. While the subject was under discussion he wrote the following poem:

First. Croglianville, laid out and surveyed by Lieutenant Worm lev. United States surveyor, in 1816, and hel l for sale by inand out lots, the title still being in the General Government. Then it was ex ! pected that a city, fort, and ship-yard would !

Second. Sandusky, the first survey on the east side of the river, made, or dedicated and acknowledged, December 6, 1817, by Thomas L. Hawkins, Thomas

F. Atkins, in 1825. This was a survey of the unsold and reverted tracts and lots in two miles square, into in- and out-lots, to be sold for the purpose of constructing the Western Reserve and Maumee Road. At this time the east side of the river, along the turnpike, called East-town ; the lots along the river above and about the warehouses, North-town ; and the lots about the shipyard and around the late residence of Dr. M. E. Rawson, called Middle-town; a number of lots in the vicinity of McArdale's new planing mill and sash factory, called the Triangular Survey, were made.

Fourth. The Brush survey, including that part of town where the court house and the Episcopal Church now stand, dedicated by Platt Brush, Platt Brush, jr., Samuel Brush, and John T. Brush, Apiil 4, 1840.

Fifth. Dickinson and Birchard's addition to the town of Lower Sandusky, including the lots along the turnpike, on the hill, on the west side of the river, dedicated September 6, 1840, by Rodolphus Dickinson, Sardis Birchard, and Richard Sears.

These are the chief surveys made in the town, though a number of others have since been made. To mention them all would be tedious. These several surveys made it expedient to re number the whole city, which has been done, and each added plat has been numbered in the same series. The whole of two miles square is platted and numbered, either in in- or out lots.