Sandusky County, Ohio - Chapter 7: Pioneer Days and Settlements: the Makers of Sandusky County, 1909 (part 1 of 3)

Chapter 7: Pioneer Days and Settlements: the Makers of Sandusky County

The First Settlers and Their Struggles With N ature - Subduing the Wailderness - Trials and Discouragements - Pioneer Sketches - Experiences, as Related by the Pioneers - Indtans of Seneca Reserve - Judge Welch's Narratwe - Wyandots' Farewell.

First Settlers

The first settlers of Sandusky County, outside of the old military reservation of Lower 'Sandusky, and excepting the French and captive settlers on the Sandusky prairies, penetrated the forest near the eastern border, and were mostly eastern people, who had temporarily located in the fire lands. Land east of the reserve line was selling at prices ranging from two to four dollars per acre. Preferable land on this side was surveyed and platted in 1819 and 1820 preliminary to being placed on the market at one dollar and a quarter an acre. 'Emigrants, when on the ground, with their goods packed in large covered wagons, sought out a dry spot in the trackless wilderness, cut out roads just wide enough to pass through and erected temporary cabins. Two or three families usually came together, and gave each other such assistance as was needed in raising a house, which was made of small logs. Notches were cut in on each side at the ends. so that the hastily built structure might stand more firmly. Mud, plentifully mixed with leaves, was used to fill the cracks, and a chimney of sticks was built outside. These cabins were little better than Indian huts, but the lone pioneer was unable to erect a hewed-log house such as he heard his eastern parents talk about. He was almost a solitary adventurer in an inhospitable forest. Having provided a shelter for His family, this advance guard of the pioneer army next set to work to prepare a spot of ground for corn, which in new settlements then was the staff of life. He did not cut down all the trees, as is done in modern clearing, but only the underbrush and saplings, the larger trees were girdled to prevent them from leafing. These advance settlers often planted considerable corn, without even clearing away the water-soaked logs, which covered more than half the surface.

. year also the incipient village of Lower Sandusky extended up, the river, as far as the second rapids, and a few openings were made in the forest adjoining the bottoms below town.

Sandusky County did not present the true picture of pioneer life until after the public lands were platted and placed upon the market. Huron County was by that time well advanced in settlement and general improvement under rapid way. The fame of the exhaustless fertility of Sandusky's fertile vegetable soil had reached New York, and a stream of emigration turned westward. Some came in large covered wagons all the way, but by far a larger proportion utilized lake transportation from Buffalo to Huron, and thence in wagons. Many Huron settlers abandoned unfinished improvements, and began anew in the adjoining forest of Sandusky. York, Townsend and Green Creek Townships received their immigration mostly from New York.

river hills were entered early, and a French colony gathered about the head of the bay, where some of their descendants are yet living. The Black Swamp west of the river was for many years viewed with an eye of despair, and abandoned to wolves, frogs and mud hens. This dismal region was first penetrated for purposes of settlement in 1826. Its rapid development did not begin until near the close of 1830. The Black Swamp was a subject of conversation in nearly every country house in Perry County, Ohio. The settlers, there then nearly all of sturdy Pennsylvania stock, inured to rugged work, looked with favor upon this ezion which concealed its fertility beneath vegetation and water. Men with their families abandoned the homes they had made to seek fortune in the new country here.

Farther west, in Scott and Madison Townships, the pioneers came from the "Seven Ranges," many of them from Columbiana County, Ohio. They trace their genealogies back to New England. The people of Pennsylvania German descent, who came to this county from Central Ohio - Perry, Guernsey, Columbiana, and Wayne Counties - have contributed more to the settlement of the Black Swamp than to_any other part of the country.

Pioneer life, particularly in such a wilderness as primitive Sandusky County, is almost the thorough test of strength of character, the test from which only the fittest survive. Sandusky County's forest taxed not only the spirit but the bodies of the pioneers. It is believed that less than two-thirds of all who joined the advanced settlers endured the conflict. Some who had purchased land sickened at the sight, and, if they were able, either turned back to the homes of their childhood, or pushed westward to fairer lands.

A crop almost ready for the harvest became the plunder of animals and birds. Reserved capital was soon exhausted, and nothing ie mained to supply the necessities of life. Disease and distressing sickness completed the desolation of the spirit. All the past was lost, and nothing in the future seemed attainable. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that many of the early emigrants deserted improvements commenced and lands partly paid for.

Only those excelling in bravery, sturdiness and determination, continued the battle of the wilderness to a successful issue. The survivors of that trying period have a right to recite the story of their hardships, and younger generations would be ungrateful to refuse to listen. Their lives were those of stern reality and work - disinterested work - having for its affectionate inspiration a desire to leave their children the heritage of an estate.

The most distinguishing characteristic of the pioneers was their generous, social disposition to give each other assistance in every time of need. Sincere, welcoming generosity shone from every fire-place, and a new comer into a community was received with his family into a cabin, and entertained with the best its scanty accommodations could furnish. The site of a house being selected, neighbors for miles around welcomed their new neighbor by building a cabin for him.

_ Such a company was always in the best of humor, for a raising was one of those holiday occasions which break in on the dull monotony of life, dispelling doubt and gloom, and leaving only jollity. After a general handshaking with their new neighbor the company organized for work, by appointing a captain whose business it was to direct the work of the day. The trees about the chosen site of the cabin were cut down, the large straight-grained trunks being split into puncheons for the floor and door. The ground once cleared, the raising commenced. A skilled axman stood at each corner, and when, with many a "heave, oh, heave!' a log tumbled into position, it was notched near the ends so that the next, crossing at right-angles, would rest more firmly. Thus log by log the cabin was raised, while another party of men, better skilled in woodcraft, was dressing puncheons and splitting shakes or clapboards for the roof. The first houses were rarely more than one low story high, so that by means of skids logs were easily placed in position. The logs which built up the gable were smaller and were secured by heavy poles running the whole length of the building, at intervals of about three feet. On these clapboards were laid in such a way as to make a tight roof. The roof was weighed

100 HISTORY (OF down by weight poles over the rafter poles, and held in position by blocks at the ends, running from one to the other called knees. A puncheon floor vindicates the axmanship of our pioneer forefathers. Many of them were nearly as smooth as plane-dressed floors, yet no other tool was used than an ax. One side was hewn smooth, and the others notched so that the sleepers brought them to exactly the same level. A chimney, a window, and a door completed the structure.

he chimney was built of small poles imbedded in mud mortar, on a foundation of stone and was usually placed outside of the house against one end; a large opening was cut out to form a fire-place, a fire chamber was formed of stone to keep the poles of the chimney from burning.

An opening about five and one-half feet high and four feet wide was cut into the side for a doorway. The door was made of puncheons pinned to cleats at each end, and was hung on wooden hinges. A window was made by cutting out a piece of one or two logs, pinning logs at right angles across the center, and pasting over the opening greased paper. Glass in the west was then a rare luxury, and sold at a price far beyond the reach of the early settlers.

Cabin furniture corresponded with the simplicity of the building. A bedstead was made by joining two poles, one into the end, the other into the side of the cabin near one corner. The two other ends were tied together with bark, and supported by a post resting upon the floor. Pins were driven into a log of the side of the cabin, and into the pole opposite, to which was formed strips of bark in such a way as to form a matting. Under the bed was a convenient piace for packing articles not in every day use. A white linen curtain concealed from view this useful, though suspicious-looking, corner.

Few cabins afforded more than two split bottom chairs. These, however, were generally easy and comfortable, elegance being a secondary consideration. Benches were in common use. They were made by driving into wide puncheons long pins, for legs. The table was generally the product of a cabinet shop,

One or two kettles and a spider constituted the cooking furniture. The table fare consisted of corn bread, pork and wild meats. Articles of dress were largely of home manufacture, and were made either of flax or wool. Every pioneer in the more favored and earlier settled part of the country had a few sheep and a flax patch. The flax was pulled, bleached and dressed. The wool was cleanly carded with a hand card. The spinning-wheel prepared it for the shuttle. Spinning was at one time the national employment for American women. There is real beauty in that picture representing: virtue, which figures a devoted wife and mother busily spinning with both hands; one foot is on the treadle which moves the whirling wheel, while the other is rocking, in a cradle, her tender offspring, quieted' by the rhythmic hum to sweet, innocent sleep.

The women of the pioneer days had many experiences which ought to be recorded; but unfortunately not many of these experiences have been preserved in shape for publication. While the husband with stalwart arm felled the trees and reduced the wilderness of swamp and forest to productive fields, the faithful wife had no small task. No one felt the hardships and privations of pioneer life more than she, who, in coming to the frontier, had exchanged, in many instances, a comfortable dwellinghouse for the rude log cabin. In place of the society which she once enjoyed she was now almost entirely isolated from all intercourse with the world. Ofttimes the husband must be absent from home for days at a time, while the women were left entirely all alone, miles from any neighbors in the heart of the vast wilderness. She is therefore deserving of equal praise and veneration with the husband for the part she bore in the work of making the county what it now is.

Very few of the pioneers had more than enough money to bring them here. They depended for a start upon their own labor and the resources of the country, about which so much had been said in the old communities. The first season's planting, owing to the difficulty of preparing the soil, was small, but under favor- able conditions would have been sufficient to furnish bread had the destroyer remained away. What must have been the hard-working farmer's disappointment and chagrin to see his crop at ripening time become the feast of all the multitude of animals and birds, which filled the woods. Blackbirds, squirrels, raccoons and turkeys literally devoured the drooping ears of an entire field, upon which the hardpressed family placed sole dependence for their winter's food.

Another and prevalent cause of poverty and want in pioneer Sandusky County was fever and ague, which visited almost every cabin. Scarcely a spring opened but the old, unwelcome visitor returned in its most malignant form. At places clearing-fires died out for want of attention, and weeds smothered the growing corn. The spinning-wheel, perchance, ceased its cheerful whirl, and the dismal prospect, amid desolate surroundings, day by day, became more gloomy. All were not thus unhappily afflicted, but all had generous hearts and were willing to lend assistance in a day of need. As the forest gradually became more broken the years grew brighter and crops increased in fullness. Hewed log and frame houses took the place of the first rude cabins; and when at evening the family gathered around the great brick fire-place, the parents and older children told and retold to the interested little ones, melancholy experiences of sickness, want and hardship.

To increase the acreage of tillable land was a main object of the well-to-do pioneer. He first girdled the trees and cut out the underbrush and logs of a small patch, probably ten acres, for the first season's planting. The next season, if health permitted, he more than doubled the "girdle clearing," and began to cut or burn down dead trees standing on the first opening. Those that were hollow or partially decayed burned readily, but solid timber had to be cut. Straight white oak, walnut, and poplar was split into rails for fencing fields under cultivation. Other trees were cut into logs, and when several acres had thus been reduced, a frolic was made, to which all the neighborhood came.

were made a contest of strength, and the fatigues of the day were drowned by the contents of well-filled jugs. These pleasant gatherings, after the logs had all been piled ready for the torch, often terminated in happy social occasions, in which the wives and sisters figured conspicuously. Dancing was a favorite amusement, encouraged by the mothers, and greatly : enjoyed by all. When the men went to roll their neighbors' logs, their dames and lasses dropped in to help do the cooking, and perchance make a quilt between meals. The men concluded their labor by triumphantly carrying the captain on their backs; the women dedi- ' cated a quilt by enfplding it around their hostess.

Stock was allowed to pasture in the fenceless woods. Every cow was provided with a bell and every flock of sheep with several. Cattle often ate the poisonous grass, which caused that terrible disease, milk sickness, spoken of at greater length elsewhere in this history. Sheep were penned in a high enclosure every night, to protect them from the wolves, that often came to the cabin door. Hogs were marked and turned out to fatten on nuts and acorns. Hogs bred in the woods became wild, and sometimes dangerous. It was unsafe to go far from the clearing, accompanied by a dog, for the sight of that animal arouses all the savage nature of a hog. An old settler assures us that an infuriated boar was a more dangerous enemy than a bear or wolf. Every farmer had his stock marked, which the law required him to have recorded in a book kept for the purpose by the township clerk. No market was accessible to the pioneers of Sandusky County, where farm products could be exchanged for cash, but furs commanded. the ready money. This circumstance made many of the pioneers hunters, particularly those in the north part of the county. Soda-ash found a ready cash market, and several kilns in the east part of the county were constructed for its manufacture. Fish filled the streams emptying into the bay and river. Nature thus afforded the otherwise unfavored early settlers a bountiful supply of nutritious meat. The woods also abounded in deer, squirrels and turkeys.

David Gallagher

This very worthy man and early settler in Lower Sandusky was born at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, November i2, 1790. He came from Chillicothe to Lower Sandusky in the year 1810. He performed picket duty in the army at Fort Meigs at the time of the fight there. He was also commissary at Fort Stephenson 'in the year 1814. In 1818 he was in business with George G. Olmstead in the dry goods trade, most of which was with the Indians. Their store was located a little below the present gas works and was subsequently moved to the corner now on the east end of Front Street, and opposite to Buckland's old block. This store is said to be the second frame structure in the town. In 1830 he was a very large property owner, chiefly in real estate. For 'some years he carried on a woolen mill. In 1823, March 10, he married Miss M. Claghorn, by whom he had four children.

Mr. David Gallagher died on the 21st day of February, 1860, and as a mark of respect, the Court of Common Pleas, then holding a session in Fremont, adjourned upon the day of his funeral. The Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was a member, the order to which he had been attached for nearly half a century, and the citizens, almost unanimously attended and participated in the impressive burial services, thus testifying how much he was respected and beloved as a citizen, a man, a Mason, and a Christian. He was one of the followers and faithful members of the Masonic order in Lower Sandusky, and few there were who better practiced precepts of the order in daily life than did David Gailagher.

Hon. Jeremiah Everett

Jeremiah Everett was the son of John Everett, and was born in the State of Massachusetts in the year 1783. His father moved from that state to the State of New York, and settled at Schenectady, where he reared his family and died. Jeremiah married Elizabeth Emery, and left home soon after attaining his majority, and worked at an early day at the Onondaga salt works. When the War of 1812 broke out he volunteered, and served at Fort Erie for a time. The musket he carried in that service was preserved in the family, and kept after his death by his eldest son Lorenzo, and all traces of it are now lost, Lorenzo's family being long since dispersed in various parts of the country, but the writer (Homer Everett) remembers well using the old musket in boyhood to shoot blackbirds from the oats and corn fields in and about Lower Sandusky.

In the fall of the year 1812, intending to settle on the Connecticut Western Reserve, which was then attracting pioneers in search of land, he settled: on the Huron River, in Huron County, at the old county seat, sometimes called the Abbott Place, where Mr. Abbott, afterwards known as Judge Abbott, then resided. There was a new settlement of several families in the vicinity, and the fear of Indian attacks caused them to construct a block-house of heavy logs, with port-holes,. in which the families lodged at night, or fled to in case of alarm in the day time.

The settlement planted corn and potatoes, and such vegetables as they could, along the river. But the frequent alarms of Indians, arising from the capture of Mrs. Snow and the Putnam family on Pike Creek, not far away, put them in great fear, and during the summer the settlers tended their crops with loaded guns standing near, to fire in defense of an attack,

Through the summer of 1813 the inhabitants tended their crops and managed to live without any serious demonstrations from the lurking savages. On the second of August, 1813, Croghan's victory at Fort Stephenson rather diminished the danger from the savages, and yet the settlers at the old county seat did not slack their vigilance. On the roth of September, 1813, he heard the distant roar of the battle on Lake Erie and afterwards visited the fleet and saw the evidence of the fight in the shattered hulls, broken spars and rigging, and bloody decks of the vessels which had been engaged. '

In the spring of the year 1815, Jeremiah Everett, with the help of one Aden Breed, started for Lower Sandusky. They moved family and goods by team from the old county seat to Ogontz Place, afterwards called Portland and now Sandusky City, on the shore of the Sandusky Bay. The household goods and provisions and the family were there transferred to a pirougue or very large canoe, worked by hand with paddles after the aboriginal fashion. When the wind was fair they hoisted a common blanket on a pole for a sail and thus made the voyage up the Sandusky Bay and the river to Lower Sandusky. Arriving about the middle of April, in the year 1815. He found shelter with some hospitable pioneers until he with the help of generous neighbors and settlers erected a log house on the ground where the house of the late Isaac E. Amsden stands, then in Lower Sandusky. While living in his house, he farmed the land near the residence to the mill-race, and there raised fine crops of corn. A little north of and near this house stood a mortar for pounding corn into Indian meal, which was used by him and his neighbors, before any grist mill had been built in the vicinity. While living in this house Jeremiah was, in the year 1818, engaged by the government to carry the mail from Lower Sandusky to Fort Meigs. This mail was carried both ways once a week, when it was possible to get through, but was often omitted on account of the high streams and impassable swamps. In performing this duty Jeremiah Everett often encountered great difficulties and dangers.

About the year 1825 Jeremiah Everett removed from the log cabin and settled on the farm formerly owned by Timothy H. Bush, within the corporate limits of the present city of Fremont. This tract was then owned by David Harrold, of Philadelphia, a wealthy Quaker. Harrold attended the land sale at Wooster, Ohio, and bought this tract. He was wealthy and invested his money with a view of settling on this land for a home. Harrold, after finishing his house, offered the use of the house and farm for a nominal price, and the judge occupied it for about eight years, and until he moved his family down the river on Tract Number 2 of the original survey of the reservation. Here, on Tract 2, Judge Everett, having purchased it, made a home and kept his family until his wife died in December, 1832. About two years after, he married Mrs. Eunice Wolley, widow of Daniel Wolley, who owned a farm on the Sandusky River about six miles north of Lower Sandusky. He settled there and both husband and wife having ' minor children, devoted their time and care to the farm and the welfare of the children. He lived on this farm until his death, on the 29th day of December, 1842.

The children of Judge Jeremiah Everett were Lorenzo, Joel, Homer, Adelaid, Lodoiska, Zachariah, and Charles by his first wife; by the second, Elizabeth, Helen, Cyrus and two others, who died young and were buried on the Wolley farm.

Few men were ever endowed with better intellectual and conversational powers than those possessed by Judge Jeremiah Everett. Few men possessed the faculty of keeping the respect and confidence and even the love of all his acquaintances in so high a degree. He was fond of social converse and philosophic thought. Sardis Birchard used to say that he never met a man whom he took as much pleasure in conversing with and listening to as he did with Judge Everett. Jeremiah Everett was appreciated by the early citizens of the county. He early held the office of justice of the peace, and kept the office so long as he could afford to do so, and until he positively declined to serve longer at the dictates of his own necessities.

He was elected representative to the General Assembly in 1825, and was the first resident of Sandusky County chosen for that place. He was again elected in 1835 and served to the satisfaction of the people, but declired to accept the position again. During his first term of service in the Assembly he was largely influential in passing measures favorable to the construction of the Maumee and Western Re-- serve Turnpike. His remains are buried in the old cemetery in a lot surrounded by a hedge of arbor-vitae, and a plain marble slab marks the resting-place of an honest and honorable man who died a Christian.

Samuel Hollinshead

comb, from Newark, Ohio, and settled in Lower Sandusky. Here he found plenty of work as gunsmith, and most of his work was done for the Indians. His shop stood near the present site of Di. Price's sash factory, in Fremont. In 1824 he moved to the mouth of the Portage River, west of Port Clinton. His 'farm lies on the south side of the river, and his house and shop stood on the banks of the river near the water. The buildings are now all gone and the foundations on which they stood have been partly washed away by the encroachments of the river. Here Mr. Hoilinshead and family lived many years, and many social and historical events occurred. During the first few years the Hollinsheads had Tawa 'or Ottawa Indians for neighbors. These were 'called "Nitches" by the whites. They had no cabins, but lived in tents, which they moved from place to place. When not under the influence of whiskey, they were friendly, honest and truthful, as a rule. When told of some wrong done by an Indian, they would say, "Bad Indian did that - good Indian all right." Money was not so plentiful then as now, and much of the dealings with the Indians was by barter or exchange. Among the articles sold to the Indians were flour, salt, potatoes, cornmeal, beads, powder and whiskey; and articles bought from them were venison, willow and splint baskets, nicely colored, moccasins trimmed with bead-work, wampum, or small sea shells used as beads and worn on belts and other articles as ornaments. These beads were also used as money by the Indians.

On one occasion Mr. Hollinshead came in from the field and found five drunken Indians at his cabin. His wife was cooking at the fire outside the cabin by a log. The Indians had been threatening to steal her babe which she held in her arms. Mr. Hollinshead ordered them away, whereupon one of them drew a butcher knife and advanced to meet him, flourishing the knife and making threats. Mr. Holinshead quickly seized a pair of fire tongs and struck the Indian a glancing blow on the head, which almost completely scalped him, the scalp hanging down over the left ear. The Indian immediately retired from the engagement, but his comrades pounced upon Mr. Hollinshead, and a rough and tumble fight ensued, in which the Indians came out second best. During the fight Mrs. Hollinshead had come to the rescue of her husband, and the red-skins were driven away with a rifle brought from the cabin.

While working at his trade as gunsmith, Mr. Hollinshead found time to clear away the forest for the raising of farm crops and garden vegetables. As there was an abundance of wild grass on the prairie near by, he, by wise foresight bought calves of his neighbors, pastured them, and sold them later at a profit. One night his dwelling house and shop burned down with their contents. This seemed a serious loss for his tools alone were worth about four hundred dollars. He decided not to replace them, but instead to give up gunsmithing and follow farming exclusively, which under the circumstances was the wiser course, as the Indians were about. going away and civilization was advancing.

During the first few years the blackbirds were a great pest. They came from the swamps in flocks so thick that they darkened the sky and lit on the grain fields. They had to be frightened away with the noise of tin pans and fire arms, or the crops would have been speedily destroyed. Squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons and woodchucks also needed watching. After a good crop of wheat, rye or corn had been raised, the next thing was to have it ground in a mill. The lack of grist mills was a serious inconvenience to the early settlers. Our people and their neighbors about the mouth of the Portage River were obliged to go many miles to Lower Sandusky or to Cold Creek, now Castalia, to the mill. Mr. J. L. Lucky, of Elmore, at one time spent three weeks in going to and returning from the mill at Lower Sandusky, a distance of thirty-two miles. During his absence, his wife Anna, fearing that he was drowned, walked up and down Portage (then known as the Carrying River) looking for his body. He at length returned with a cargo of musty corn meal, in lumps, and a half bushel of salt. He had reached Lower Sandusky by way of Port Clinton, hauled his canoe and corn across the peninsula in a wagon to Sandusky Bay, then reloaded his corn into the canoe and paddled his way up the Sandusky River; and after waiting his turn for grinding, returned, in a similar manner, making' two transfers or portages of his precious baggage. Many other pioneers of sith region who lived along' the shores of the ferred their canoes and grain to a wagon, crossed he peninsula to the bay, transferred grain to canoe and worked their way up to Lower Sandusky as bést they could, and rertuned in like manner. In fair weather this was not so difficult to do but during rain storms it was hard to keep their baggage dry. The Hollinshead team was kept pretty busy at times in making these portages. !

The canoes used for transporting grain in this manner were mostly dug-outs, or canoes cut out of logs of yellow poplar, three feet or more in diameter, and sometimes twenty feet in length, and capable, of carrying twenty bushels of wheat, or three-fourths of aton. For ordinary use in hunting, fishing, trapping or pleasure seeking, a lighter canoe was dug out of a smaller tree and neatly shaped for beauty and utility.

In the summer of 1834 the cholera broke out in Lower Sandusky, and nearly all the citizens who could do so left the village. Among those who-came for refuge to the Hollinshead home at Port Clinton, were: Mrs. Rodolphus Dickinson and family, Miss Julia Beaugrand accompanied by her mother and younger sister, Helen, and brother, James; Mrs. Statira Grant, and others. A Mrs. Mommeny who came with them and went to stay at Port Clinton, died there of cholera, the only case that proved fatal of that company. These' ladies were brought down the river in a wagon and remained about three weeks, their mail and groceries and medicines meanwhuz being brought to them from Lower Sandusky by Mr. Hollinshead, who made regular trips for that purpose. Dr. L. Q. Rawson and his assistant,

Dr. P. Beaugrand, then his student, served as family doctors for the company. One time as Mr. Hollinshead: was leaving Lower Sandusky with a load of these. supplies for his home hospital, he was asked by a man who lived along the road to-stop in the yard of the house and take a smoke. He thanked the man, but declined accepting the hospitality, as he was in a hurry to return to Port Clinton. He learned later that this same man died of cholera that same night. Such were some of the pertis af the early pioneers. 'GENERAL W. 'H. GIBSON.

"I was- born in Jefferson County, Ohio. I was born in May, and just as-quick as I could make arrangements I emigrated to Sandusky County and settled at Honey Creek. Seneca County was made from a part of Sandusky. Your county is not as~big as it used to be. I lived in Sandusky County three years, commencing on the 5th of October, 1821. Seneca County was set off from Sandusky in, 1824. From that time to this I have been a resident of Seneca County; two years longer than any other person in that jurisdiction. How many of you were here in 1821? There may be some, but I am one of them, sure. Therefore I have a right to appear here as a pioneer. I was a young pioneer, and I am glad of it, for if I had been old I would have had-a worse time of it. I was quite a curiosity among the Indian squaws as a white baby. They presented me with pets of cats and dogs, and I have been fond of them ever 'since. That is the way I started in life. At that time this whole northwestern Ohio was an unbroken solitude.

occasional pathways along which the sly Indian crept in pursuit of his game, and pioneers were guided by spots on trees made with an ax. I look out today, and what do I see? A great tumultous nation 63,000,000 strong. I hold my ear to earth and I hear the. thunder of 52,000 locomotives, drawing over 175,000 miles of railway, uncounted thousands of cars traveling from sea to sea. and hamlet to hamlet. I look out-and I see, beyond, the schoolhouses rearing their beautiful forms, and 12,000,000 children rolicking and playing in the yards; and I see the churches rising skyward. I look at this country, grander and vaster than any other in the world; as glorious as Lebanon, beautiful as Carmel and Sharon - and how comes it? You and I have come into a goodly inheritance, but the Samuels and Joshuas that led us through the wilderness and brought into it the wake of Christian civilization and laid broad and deep the foundation of this country had to go through much tribulation. There was not a cloud by day nor a pillar of fire by night to guide their footsteps, but they went out like heroes' bearing the ark and planted it in their cabins. Talk about heroes! Who are the heroes of this earth? Go where you will and you can see monumental shafts to their honor. You have one in your city. It is a beautiful memorial of the soldier in his intrepidity and valor. He hears the bugle notes, the roll of drums, the shriek of fife, the thunder of guns. He touches elbows with his fellows, and they rush forward regardless: of life. There is a thrill in him. But what is that compared with a man like my father, with ten children, who cut his way through the woods and came and settled where there was not one acre of cleared land? He was obliged to clear away the trees and brush so that he could raise grain and get vegetables to fill the bodies of his children and inspire them with enthusiasm. I say here today, and I say it with pride, that they were the bravest men, the most heroic characters in American history. And when I want a monument built I am going to have a piece of granite, and I will have represented on it an old pioneer father equipped with an ax, and his spouse sitting on the other side spinning flax and singing "Old Hundred." And that will be a heroic thing to do.

"How things have changed within my memory! Talk about going to school. I walked two and a half miles to school with the late Anson Burlingame of Massachusetts, who later became noted in our history. That was the first school house erected in Seneca County, and soon we built a church, and the logs were hewed. We used to meet in log school houses, but they are gone; then in log churches, and they are gone; and then we built a frame, and that is gone, and now we have a brick church, and it has domes and minarets and is stuck all full of points. We have got through going to heaven from log churches and frame churches, but our new ones are not a bit better than those our fathers had to go to heaven from.

"We used to go to meeting in homespun clothes, but now we all wear store clothes. A young fellow would cut a pretty figure now to go to see his girl in homespun. I present myself as a young man who did that very thing - and the girl was mighty glad to see me, at that. Now it was not all graveyard business in the pioneer time. I recollect the raising of the log cabin. I was there, and I seldom failed to be on hand. The fellow that could carry up a corner the quickest and best was considered the bully. Every girl in the neighborhood wanted to kind 'o side up to him. That was a great thing then. My father was a carpenter and built the first frame barn in Seneca County. We went fifteen miles to get hands to raise it, and requested them to bring knife and fork. We had plenty to eat but not enough to eat with. We had Christmas every week in the year. We had it oftener than that, even, because we could get turkey any time, in the woods. The men came their fifteen miles - every fellow had his knife and fork and would haul them out and pitch in, at dinner time, and when he got through would put them in his pocket again. Now those were pretty good times. There was often a great deal of fun. Then when log rollings were had the people were very clever. The whole neighborhood would come to help a man roll logs. If he lost a horse or a cow the neighbors would chip in and get him another. Everything has changed. There is not a single thing in your house or on your farm like that of the old pioneers. Where is your little spinning wheel on which you spun the flax, or the big wheel six feet in diameter on which the girls spun seventeen knots an hour? I knew one who spun eighteen once, and she was married in less than ninety days from that event. Where are thev? I can see them yet, my mother and sister, spinning in the evening as we men sat around and told our stories and talked on politics and religion. O how my good old mother sat and worked to get something out for the boys! It had to be done. And then do you recollect the tow linen which was hatcheled from the best part of the flax. I have always been a protectionist from that time. We would sow a patch of flax and when it had grown up the girls would get together and pull it. I suspect that some of these younger ladies who have gray hair have also been in the scrape. And then the boys were invited to come in the evening. We would come after supper in time to beau the girls home, and if there was a fiddler in the neighborhood we would have a shindig! The people were all good-hearted, honest, conscientious people. This is shown by the fact that they live so long. I do not know why I have lived so long except for the same reason.

"Well then, the weaving: I can hear the shuttle and the loom yet, out in the little outhouse where my sister was weaving. I never had a single yard of store clothes until I was nineteen years old, and yet I thought I was well dressed. I strutted around like a dude. We thought that we were well off, and so we were. Genius and invention have come in, and we now make everything by steam. We spin and weave and do other work by steam. Steam is the mistress of every sea and the queen of every river. It is the new creation.

"Can you recollect how you did the cooking? How did you bake what you called pone - a corn loaf about eight inches thick, baked in that dutch oven? The dough was fixed up in the evening when we went to bed and the coals were hauled around it, or it was hung in a kettle ona crane. It was done by morning and then we shavers pitched into it, and it stuck well to our ribs. Now do you remember that crane - a piece of iron rod bent and hung on one side of the fire place? And can you remember how the pots hung on hooks, and were filled with cabbage, pork, mutton and potatoes, which made the whole cabin fragrant? How is it now? Why you do not bake at all. You buy your bread at five cents a loaf, and you have no corn bread. The cooking stove was unknown when I was a boy. And then lool at your silver dishes, knives and forks! You can not say that you are sticking to the old track. The omnipotent and omnipresent movement of

"Well, then, go out on the farm. What kind of a plow have you got? Have you a wooden mold board with strips of iron on the land side of it? Do you plow with oxen? I - have plowed with oxen and gone to Sunday school at the same time. That takes a pretty . heroic fellow, not to violate any of the commandments. Knock and rip goes the plow through the roots, and then they strike back and hit your shins. If you do not violate some of the commandments you are pretty well imbued with the religious element. I recollect the first iron plow, the Peacock plow, made in New York State. We have gone on now until we are not satisfied without a polished steel mold-board and cutters."

Philander Rexford

"My parents, with my grandfather, on my mother's side, two sons-in-law of my grandfather, and a family named Martin, left Sackett's Harbor, New York, in a ten-ton boat, in April, 1811. We made our way up Lake Ontario to Lewistown, where our boat was loaded upon a four-wheeled truck and drawn by three yoke of oxen to Black Rock, below Buffalo. Buffalo then was a place of very few inhabitants. We then went on Lake Erie to Detroit, where we arrived the latter part of August, 1811, and remained there through the winter. Upon the breaking out of the War of 1812 we left Detroit and came this way into Licking County. In the spring of 1812 we moved to Huron County, the better to keep away from the Indians, and remained there during the war.

"While we were there my grandfather and grandmother moved to Cold Creek, where Castalia is now located. There in May, 1813, while the men were out plowing and the women and children had gathered at a Mr. Snow's house, the Indians made a descent upon the place. They captured and carried off fourteen persons, and all the goods of any value. Mrs. Snow was unable to travel and the Indians killed her and three small children. The Indians wanted to kill Mrs. Snow's son Willard, four and a half years old; but a boy named

Henry Grass, who was already loaded down with all the goods he could bear, offered to carry the boy and did take him on his back for fifteen miles. At Sandusky the prisoners were put into canoes. These were so heavily loaded that the prisoners had to sit very still, and there Henry Grass took a cold from the effects of which he died. The Indians carried their prisoners 'to Detroit, where they were turned over to the British and held until after Perry's victory on Lake Erie and his triumphal entry into Detroit, when they were released. I can remember what rejoicing there was when my grandmother returned. | remember seeing my mother shed tears when she was captured, and I remember how she acted when grandmother returned. I heard the firing during the battle on Lake Erie and remember well hearing my father say 'there goes another broadside.'

"Father moved to White Creek (near Castalia) in 1814. In the spring of 1815 we went to Sandusky City; then there were only two houses there, one occupied by a family named Perry, who were building a little schooner on the beach. The next day we started in a boat and came up the Sandusky Bay and River, stopping the first night at Mrs. Whitaker's, three miles below here. We located in Lower Sandusky in April, 1815. The soldiers were still in Fort Stephenson, and I remember exactly how it looked. Mr. Everett's brother Joel, and myself took a stroll one day and went into the fort; sentries were passing back and forth and a large black bear was chained in the center of the fort. I have a distinct remembrance of everything of interest that transpired in my life since that period. JI can recollect what kind of a year it was and what kind of weather we had every year since 1815, and I think that in 1886 we have had more dreadful cyclones and earthquakes than in all the other seventy-two years [ can remember." oe eee a ee ek) ek ke southwest and the other on the northeast corner of the fort, and each projected beyond the pickets so as to command the ditches. The one on the northeast corner stood where the City Hall now stands. The British came up in a deep ravine on the north side. To the northwest, on lower ground, stood a small building owned by Mr. Rummery, the top of which did not rise higher than the banks of the ditch. Away from the fort to the north the ground was much lower. The British came up the west ditch. This is proven from the fact that the slugs, lead and iron, with which the gun was charged were picked out of the ground to the north of the northwest corner. We used to pick many of them out of the bank.

RexForp: About a year and a half afterwards. They first cut down the inside pickets for fuel and then the outside ones and lastly the middle row. I often saw the middle ones, some of them were quite large.

Rexrorp: They did not use it in 1815, but in 1816 they took it under the hill to celebrate the 2d of August. The men in the fort would wave their flags and drink rum, -and then those below would fire the gun. Then those above would hurrah again, and every little time they would take a drink on it.

Jonas Smith

Among the earliest settlers of the central part of Ballville Township was Jonas Smith. He was born in Seneca County, New York, November 27, 1807, a son of Mr. Stephen Smith. He married February 19, 1829, Miss Mary Gilmore, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Bailey) Gilmore in Pennsylvania.

And Representative Citizens

the 22nd of June he entered a tract of government land, since known as the Slope place. On this he built a log cabin and moved into it on the oth of July. Here the family lived and shared the usual hardships of pioneer life for fifteen years. In the fall of 1847 they moved upon the southeast quarter of Section 10, Ballville Township, where they established a permanent home. Among their first neighbors were the families of John Dawson, Peter Strohl, and Henry Robinson. A plank road passed their home a few years later.

Mr. Jonas Smith was a public spirited citizen. He helped build the first Duesler schoolhouse. There were only five householders in the district when they met to elect directors, and the majority of them got office.

The first religious services held in the townships were conducted by a Methodist minister, Rev. Pietzel. Mr. Smith became a member of his little pioneer society, and served several years as class leader. Meetings were held in private houses, schoolhouses, and in the summer time in the woods in the shade of forest trees.

A new Lutheran minister, named Livinggood, had his home with the family of Mr. Smith, held meetings, and formed a society which prospered for a few years, but disbanded after he went away.

Jonas Smith was county commissioner when they built the first court house at Lower Sandusky, and he helped select the site. Mr. Smith had previously been elected justice of the peace in Ballville Township in 1835, and held the office nineteen years. He served as commissioner six years and as sheriff four years.

couples. As most of the settlers were poor, his business consisted chiefly in the settlement of disputes and the collection of debts. The Yankee clock and fanning mill peddlers gave him lots of business. They sold their wares on time and took notes of the farmers. When pay day came and there was a default in payment the peddlers would sue, take judgment, and the farmer would of course take as long a stay of execution as they could, and some-

When Mr. Smith first began to serve as justice, it was lawful to put a man to prison for non-payment of a debt. He issued some executions which read, "If no property is found, take the body of defendant." But the defend-, ant usually planned some compromise to keep; out of jail. During the first ten or twelve. years there were no jury trials held before a justice of the peace. He thinks people were. more honest in pioneer days than later. He never had a collection of a forged note.

While sheriff he took about twenty persons to the penitentiary, usually in lots of three or four at a time. Among these was a man named Rose, who killed a man (in Washington Township). Another time he took down some, thieves and counterfeiters. He never had serious trouble with them. One culprit was the man who robbed the jewelry store of L. Leppelman, which some of you remember. He with an accomplice, had unlocked the store and had carried the show-case from the counter, bodily, up towards the court house, where they took what they wanted. They were speedily apprehended, tried, convicted, sentenced and landed in the pen.

During the first years of his pioneer life, Mr. Smith said he never rode a horse to mill, for the reason that he hadn't any. He drove oxen. He sometimes went to mill at Venice, taking two or three days to make the trip. The roads were so bad at times that he had to let his oxen stop to rest every ten rods.

The dense forests shaded the ground so that water did not run off or evaporate, and there were miry swales where the water stood all the year round, where now, since the country 'is ditched and undrained, there is solid ground, and one would not suppose a swale ever existed. Sometimes the water of a swale was dammed back by a large log two or three feet thick, the removal of which would almost drain the swale. Mr. Smith sometimes cut down trees in the woods in a line with the path on which the children went to school so that they could walk the logs and keep out of water.

Mr. Smith remembered the building of Stems' and Hedges' mills, near Green Spring, and he sometimes patronized the Parmeter mill two miles north of the Springs.

He was here when there was but one brick house in Lower Sandusky. That was the old Beaugrand house, where later Jacob Strohl had a "tinker shop," for the repair of guns; and stood near where the Wheeling & Lake Erie -depot now stands.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith celebrated their golden wedding, February 19, 1879, and during this period of their married life, 52 years, death had never visited their family. Their children all became heads of families.

Miss Harriet A, Hulburd

"IT was born in Lower Sandusky, January, 1825. As I left there before I was 10 years old my recollections of people and places is somewhat dim, but have always warmly cherished a remembrance of my old home.

"My father, Cyrus Hulburd, had erected a shouse on the site at present occupied by the old 'Ralph Buckland Block, with the intention of opening a public house or tavern, as they were 'then called, which was unfinished at the time of his death, October, 1828.

"He also had contracted for the building of the first court house, which was situated on a lot adjoining that of Harvey J. Harmon, fronting on Arch Street.

"Among my earliest recollections is that of the presence of the Indians, who in the early days were quite friendly. So accustomed was I to their presence that I never entertained any fear of them.

"One Indian named Peter Shins, I remember used to come to the house for cold victuals; used to take me on his lap and was very kind to me. His apparent fondness was probably intended to curry favor with the mother.

ponies, selling their wares, such as baskets, maple sugar and berries and fruits in their seasons, having their goods packed in hampers one on each side of the pony.

"Also I remember being taken to a show, menagerie and circus combined; tent pitched on Main Street near the bridge, said to have been the first exhibition of the kind in this country.

"A neighbor, Mrs. Hull, had a little girl near my age and size; we were between 4 and 3 years old; we were dressed alike - turkeyred calico dresses, open turcan bonnets and red morocco shoes. Ami Hull took us in charge. On arriving at the tent the doorkeeper asked of him, "Twins?' 'Yes,' he replied. "Then you can go in for nothing,' said he, and we did. I remember but little of the show, only the elephant and the monkeys. Neither can I recall the look of my twin.

"About this time I began to go to school in the old log schoolhouse on the hill. Ami Hull used to take me to school in winter, sometimes on a handsled and as often on his back.

"The teacher at that time was Edson Goit, whose home I think was in Findlay. He afterward taught in Tiffin, subsequently removed to Bowling Green, Wood County, where he resided until his decease.

"In 1828 or '29 I recollect that one room of our house was occupied as a printing-office. The paper published there had a long high sounding title, which I fail to recall.

"At that time there were three physicians in Lower Sandusky, Dr. Daniel Brainard, Dr. Anderson and Dr. L. Q. Rawson. There were several stores in the village; Richard Sears occupied the building opposite us on Main Street. All the stores were general supply stores. Mr. Sears was succeeded by a Mr. Gibbs, who remained but a short time, then removed to Norwalk.

"The place was next occupied by Jaques Hulburd, a brother of my father's, who later removed to another location; later still Mr. Pierce was in partnership with him. Jaques Hulburd died in 1835.

"If I mistake not his first partner was Rodolphus Dickinson. Later the business was continued under the firm name of Birchard & Husted, still later, Birchard, Dickinson & Grant. The latter, George Grant, was a member of the firm at the time of his decease in 1841. They dealt quite largely in skins and furs , brought mostly by the Frenchmen from the bay shore.

"Jesse Olmstead had a store on State Street, continued in the business in the same location until his death; also as I remember was postmaster.

"Somewhat later the Tyler Bros., Captain Morris and John Tyler engaged in the same business; also F. I. Norton, James Magee and Dr. Augustus Brown were in the ranks.

"There were no meat markets in those days, but the woods abounded in game, which was easily procured; also every family owned a pork barrel and depended upon filling it for their winter supply.

"There were four taverns, one kept by Mr. Roberts, father of O. A. Roberts of this city; one by Mr. Hinton, who was afterwards agent for the Ohio Stage Company; the third by Elisha Smith, my stepfather, who removed from Fort Ball, since included in the city of Tiffin, finished and kept the house afterwards known as the Western House. Later sold out to Mr. Jas. Valette. Died in 1834.

"The first ordained minister in the county was Rev. James Montgomery. I remember attending meeting at his home in the country, but where situated I cannot tell.

"I do not recollect the first Methodist minister who preached to the people of Lower Sandusky, but the first Presbyterian minister to hold stated services was the Rev. Flavel Conger, who in 1834 and 1835 came once in two weeks from Norwalk, was entertained at the home of my uncle, Jacques Hulburd. As I remember, the services were held in an upper room of a house on the east side of the river.

Reuben Rice

Reuben Rice was born in Otsego County, state of New York, May 4, 1799. Deceased was eleven years old when his father, with his family, removed from the state of New York for the "Far West'' - as it was then called - his destination being near Springfield, Clark County, Ohio. His mother, being consumptive, died before they reached Buffalo. The furniture, wagons and family, except the father and three sons, were shipped aboard a vessel at Buffalo for Sandusky. The father and three sons came around the lake in a light wagon and reached Sandusky a week in advance of the vessel. At that time there were but two houses in Sandusky. There were no docks and the vessel anchored near Bull's Island (now Johnson's). An open boat was hired and goods, wagons and all, ascended the Sandusky Bay and River and landed two miles below Fremont, at the place where Widow Whittaker lived. After putting the wagons together they took up their line of march for the interior of the state. They passed through Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), where a few whites lived, entered the "wilderness" and for nearly eighty miles they did not see a white settler. They stopped a short time in Delaware County, and then pushed on to their destination in Clark County.

Not long after the old man Rice died, and Reuben was left an orphan without even a common school education. He then went with his elder brother Ezekiel to live in Columbus, Ohio. At that time Columbus was in its infancy. The state buildings were under construction and stumps were being burnt out of the streets. Being now thrown upon his own resources he began to look around for some occupation. He finally concluded to learn the "printer's trade," and went as an apprentice to one P. H. Olmsted, who printed the "Columbus Gazette," I think, perhaps, the first newspaper printed in Columbus. By close attention he soon became a good printer. He learned the trade thoroughly, as then taught, both press work and composition. He worked one year in the office after his apprenticeship had expired. The sedentary life of a printer not agreeing with him he resolved to change his occupation to that of a farmer.

Hearing of the rich lands in the northwestern part of the state, he with his brother Ezekiel and Bennett Havens, started from Columbus in the summer of 1823 in search of their future homes. They penetrated the wilderness to the banks of the Portage, near where Elmore now stands. At that time there were but two white families on Portage River - Rawsor and John Fletcher. The land suited them and each selected a piece and then returned to Columbus. In November of the same year Reuben Rice married Roxana Havens, sister of his brother Ezekiel's wife. three families, Reuben and Ezekiel Rice and Bennett Havens, with their effects stowed away in two wagons, an ox and a horse team, started from Columbus for the "Black Swamp." They reached Lower Sandusky without serious difficulty. At that point they found that the ice on the swales was so slippery that their oxen, which were not shod, could go no further. For some time they remained in Lower Sandusky waiting for snow. At last rain commenced falling and fearing a "break-up," they started for Portage River. The first day they got as far as Muscallonge. The next day they pushed on as far as Mud Creek. The rains had swollen the creek so much that they could not cross it. They felled trees, making a kind of foot bridge, and carried their goods across; then making a rope of basswood bark they pulled their wagons over, and after swimming their teams across, loaded up and started on. They arrived on the banks of the Portage on the fifth day after leaving Lower Sandusky. They commenced at once to build their cabins, and in short time each family was living in its own home. For a while they saw hard times; were obliged to go to Lower Sandusky for provisions, which often took them a week to make a trip. Though their privations were great, still they were contented and happy; and "How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!" But Reuben was soon to experience the severest stroke of his life. His wife, to whom he had been married scarcely two years, died leaving an infant daughter twelve days old. There being no sawmill on the river, puncheon were hewn out for the top and bottom of the coffin and Mr. Boggs, who had just moved on the river, took his wagon box for the sides, and a rude, though substantial, coffin was made. The infant child was taken care of as well as possible under the circumstances, though it was with great difficulty it lived, as there was scarcely any milk to be had.

The next two succeeding winters after the death of his wife he worked at his trade on the public printing at Columbus. March 28, 1828, he married Lydia Early. In 1829 he worked for a time in Lower Sandusky, for a man by the name of Smith, who had started a newspaper at that place. He had lived on his farm near Elmore till within the last four or five years. Being too old to carry on the farm he sold it and has since lived with his son-inlaw, William Moore, who has made for the old folks a good home. Reuben Rice has since his youth been a devoted Christian. He anda few others started the fst church (United Brethren) on Portage River. He was instrumental in starting the first Sunday school in Ottawa County, which was nearly half a century ago. He was a benevolent man and a good pattern for others to imitate.

Judge William Caldwell

the government surveyors first run the lines for the townships. When the land was surveyed we found our cabin was on another man's ground and we had to move it. We lived there about ten years before coming here. We encountered what the people nowadays would call hardships. All the people then lived in log cabins. All the nails we used in building our house were for the doors, which my father made himself, being a blacksmith. There was a loft in our house and the children slept up there. The sweetest music I ever heard was the patter of the rain upon the roof. In the winter the snow drifted in, and in the morning we had to shake it from our bed covers. We all used to turn out to help a new neighbor build his house, and we had many logging, raising and husking bees. Often when the men had a log-rolling the ladies had a quilting, which usually ended in a dance on the puncheon floor in the evening. At these gatherings I enjoyed some of the happiest moments of my life." In response to an inquiry Judge Caldwell stated that they had fiddlers and whisky in those days. The whisky, sweetened with maple sugar, was drunk from atin cup. He related an incident of how at one time a number of families met at his father's house to go to a logging, quilting and dance at a neighbor's. Much against his will his mother made him take on the horse with him a girl named Polly, who worked for them. Polly weighed about 225 pounds and towered a full head above him, then a small boy of fourteen. The party went in single file and would have made a laughable picture could it have been photographed. They danced all night and came home in the morning. When they reached a creek that had to be forded. on their return, Polly exchanged places and rode on the horse with the young man that took the judge's sister. When Polly threw her arms around the young man she exclaimed, "This is something like,' and said she would never go to another dance if she had to go with Uncle William's little boy. This expression became quite a by-word and he had to take this joke for many a day.

in this section were laid out. I remember when the Ohio and Erie canal was built. I have seen many changes in this country; I have seen it rude and wild; I have seen its rise and prog- | ress; and have witnessed more changes, perhaps, than the next generation will witness. Lower Sandusky always had a bright place in | my memory, and always seemed like home to me. Very few of those who were here when I came are alive today.

"It has been my privilege to witness the rise and progress of Sandusky County and the adjacent counties of Seneca, Crawford and Marion, for a period of fifty-nine years. There are doubtless some here today who will remefnber when Mayor Bush, a faithful servant of Uncle Sam who carried the mails on horseback once a week from Columbus to Lower Sandusky, when the contents of the mail bag could be carried in a half bushel basket and room to spare."

And there are others here today that well remember with vivid recollection when fifty years ago he took possession of his new home in the Black Swamp and built his rude log house, the roof of which was covered with elm bark or clapboards. The floor of his house was of the halves of split log, the door of split plank. His scanty windows were of oiled paper, glass was a luxury that had not reached the settlement, his household goods consisted of a bed, two chairs, a pot and kettle and a few other indispensable articles for housekeeping - these constitute the bulk of his worldly goods. And when dreary winter comes and no sound disturbs the echoes of the dreary woods save when some tree cracks sharply with the frost, then merrily rings his ax, and tree on tree crashes to the earth. And when the long keen night mantles the wilderness in solemn gloom he sits beside his ruddy hearth and hears the © fierce wolf snarling at his cabin door. The task before him is a formidable one, but he has a strong arm and a stout heart; he has determined to conquer all obstacles, and the rugged spot will vet blossom like the rose. Now let us drop the curtain for forty years.

has put up a comfortable house, but has had too much reverence for his primitive dwelling to remove it. He has erected a neat frame barn, a garden surrounded with a picket fence. His stock has increased. The improvements of his neighbors have reached him, and he can _ now look out without looking up. <A school district has been organized, and a comfortable log schoolhouse has been erected. And she, the better part of his household, must not be lost sight of, and she need not be. She is busy with her domestic affairs. There is quiet and even loneliness about her, but depend upon it, there are in yonder schoolhouse, some half dozen that she cares for and hopes for.

Paul Tew

Paul Tew, of Townsend, who died there Sunday night, January 20, was born April 20, 1806, in the township of Hartford, Washington County, New York. Twelve years later, in 1816, his father, William Tew, removed with his family to Ohio, arriving at Pipe Creek on the 13th of August, whence they came to Townsend November 30. The territory of the four townships of Townsend, Riley, York and Green Creek was at that time included in Townsend. Paul's eldest sister, Rebecca Tew, was married to A. B. Townsend, who built the first house in the then large township, on the farm now owned by Z. Brush. It is not certainly known whether this elder sister preceded the other members of the family to Ohio, but the presumption is that she did, coming on from the east as the wife of Townsend, whose family name was given to the place. The fourth house built in the region was by Paul's father, for his own occupancy.

In 1824 Paul Tew, now eighteen years old, returned to New York, went thence to Massachusetts, and then to sea, sailing before the mast for more than four years. At this time a mate's berth was offered him, and he went ashore to study the science of navigation and fit himself for the place. His Massachusetts friends, however, persuaded him to abandon the sea, and in 1830 he came back to Ohio, purchased the farm now owned by William T. Fuller, and lived on it from 1835 until 1870, when he sold it to the present owner. December, 1832, he married Miss Lois Mclntyre, daughter of Judge E. B. McIntyre, of Townsend. She died 1837, leaving one son and daughter. He was married a second time in September, 1837, Miss Anna M. Gaskill becoming his wife. They lived together nearly twenty-one years, or until May, 1858, when his wife died, leaving a son and five daughters. In June, 1871, he was married to Mrs. Emily L. Stone.

The children of the first wife were Alpheus M. and Lois A. Tew; the first died in California in 1867, the latter at home in 1858. Children of the second wife are: Mrs. Elizabeth B. Miller, of West Cairo, Ohio; Mrs. Amelia T. Bush, of Rocky Ridge, Ohio; Mrs. Mary T. Dalton, of Lemars, lowa; W. A. Tew, of Freeport, Ohio; Mrs. Luella S. Harnden, of Elliston, Ohio, and Mrs. Effie A. Collins, of Freeport, Ohio.

Paul Tew was elected justice of the peace in Townsend in 1834, and served one term of three years, when in 1837 the people of the county chose him for county commissioner. To this office, then as now one of great importance to the people, Mr. Tew was twice re-elected, serving nine years in all. In this fact is found evidence of the confidence felt integrity and reliability, by the voters of the county. These two were the only public offices he ever held, neither of them a source of much emolument, but both responsible and honorable to the holder.

Up to the date of his death. Paul Tew was the oldest living resident of Townsend Township. He was widely known, and respected by every person who knew him. Politically, Mr. Tew was a strong Democrat, and was tenacious in his allegiance to that party while life lasted. Many anecdotes are told of him as a politician. by old residents who recall his activity in the many close political contests of which Townsend was wont to be the scene. in days when political excitement ran high. Yet some of his warmest friends were among those who differed from him in politics.

When the "Fremont Messenger'' office was sacked during the Civil War, Mr. Tew was one of the few reliable Democrats who stood by its editor, furnishing funds to replace the type which had been thrown into the river. Of course he was censured at the time, but in later years, when the heat and passion of those troubles had passed away, even those who most strongly differed with Mr. Tew joined in honoring him for the conscientious fidelity, which they then saw to have been his motive, that prompted him to give of his own hardearned means for the maintenance of a political principle in which he honestly believed. WEALTHY M. MORRISON.

"My stepfather, Judge Everett, arrived in Fremont the third day after the battle of Fort Stephenson and then found the blood ankle deep in the ditch. He said the cause of it was the peculiar way in which the battle was fought. The British on the opposite brow of the hill, came up in solid file. Those in the garrison saw at once that the number was so great that there seemed no chance for the few Americans. One man suggested the idea ot crowding the blockhouse out about four feet on the northeast corner and so allow their one cannon to have full sweep of the ditch. Getting out of ammunition, they used log-chains and whatever else could be obtained, and when the British tried to scale the walls of the fort they were mowed down like grain.

"Tn the winter of 1832 and 1833, my father, being.in the legislature, obtained an appropriation of $20,000 to build a macadamized road through the 'Black Swamp.'

"My own father, Daniel L. Woolley, moving his family to Sandusky County in 1825, was three weeks getting up Lake Erie from Buffalo and nine days on the river, landing on a farm five miles from Fremont. At that time no steamboat had ever floated upon the waters of Lake Erie. Five years later, having moved into town, he boarded the men who built the Ohio steamboat. The captain was Morris Tyler of Fremont and the master-builder, Hubbel of Maumee.

"The first lieutenant of the 'Light Horse Company' was my father, who was later with Birchard & Husted in mercantile business. He died in 1831.

Washington to see President Jackson upon important business. A few months later, my mother taught school in the log schoolhouse which was built near where Dr. Wilson's house ' now stands. I well remember borrowing a knife from one of the boys and digging bullets out of the pickets on the old fort, a portion of which was then standing. ,

"That same summer mother organized the first Sabbath school in the town, and was instrumental in getting a Presbyterian minister to preach in Fremont. This was accomplished : by her going to Lime, Huron County, and: talking with the Rev. Dr. Conger about the' needs of the little town, and after a year or so he managed to furnish a minister.

"T was invited to spend the day with old lady Whittaker (as I was a favorite of hers). During the afternoon she drew from under the bed a box which contained a large number of silver ornaments. She had three or four silver bands, about six inches deep, for men's hats and half a bushel of all sorts of trinkets, but I was sworn to secrecy and did not dare tell of what I saw.

"During the fall of 1831 my mother went through to Monroe, in those perilous times of Indians and wolves, and got a span of horses, saddle, and harness that my father, before his death, had loaned to a friend. This friend refused to let them go with anyone except herself. She was obliged to ride one and lead the other back through those miles of swamp."

Mrs. Sarah Lance

"T was born in Bedford County, Virginia, February 1, 1812. When a mere child my parents moved to Kanawha County, West Virginia, where we resided until I was 18. I was married September 1, 1829, and in November started for the west, in company with my husband. We started on horseback and after a tedious ride of several weeks we arrived at the home of father Lance, in Fairfield County, Ohio. We remained with friends until February 1st, when we resumed our journey and arrived at our destination six days later. and settled on the farm where we now reside, six miles northeast of Lower Sandusky, now Fremont.

housekeeping in the cold dreary winter in a little log cabin, which would scarcely afford us protection from storms to say nothing of the cold, which at times seemed intense compared with the winters in Virginia. Our house was built of logs just as they grew, not even the bark taken off. The floor was laid with boards split from large logs and smoothed by use. One door and two small windows and a fireplace were all the conveniences and comforts it afforded. Our furniture consisted of three stools, a table and two bedsteads, all homemade. My counterpanes were two Indian blankets and a woolen coverlet. My comfortables were made of feathers, as they could be bought for 25 cents per pound, while cotton batting could scarcely be bought at any price. I bought a calico dress once for $1.00 a yard, and often paid 50 and 75 cents a yard for prints. Every thing we had to buy was very dear and farm products were scarcely salable at all. When we had anything for the market we would start off early in the morning with an ox team and an ax, and find the best road we could and blaze the trees so we would be sure to find the same way back. if we had a load the team could-rest often as we had to cut fallen trees out of our way. Light marketing we did on horseback, those of us who were not afraid of losing our way, as it was not very agreeable to be lost in the forest with the wolves howling around and even coming right out in the clearing after their prey. Nor was it very easy to carry a basket or two and care for a small child and watch and guide your horse through miles of unbroken forest as we were forced to do in those early days. "Then when we reached the village we would get from 4 to 6 cents for butter and about the same for eggs, and pay 40 and 50 cents a pound for coffee, and other necessaries accordingly. My husband bought a wagon for $80 and paid for it with pork at $1.76 per cwt. I made all of our heavy clothing myself spinning the wool, weaving it into cloth, and making it into such garments as we needed. We raised flax and prepared it for the wheel and I made all the thread I used. We had few neighbors, and if we wished to see any one we would saddle a horse, take the youngest child in our arms, mount and gallop away. We enjoyed ourselves, I think, fully as well as the ladies of today do riding out in their fine carriages.

"There was but one house between our own home and Fremont, that was on the Infirmary farm, and was occupied by a colored family. A Mr. Lathrop lived east of us, and a family by the name of Camp in Rice Township were about all the settlers who lived near enough to make our acquaintance shortly after our arrival. This remoteness however was of short duration, as people were attracted here by the cheapness of land, as there was more government land here at that time than in other parts of the country. Riley Township was perhaps the last, but by no means the least, of the townships to be settled, and today she can boast of as fine farms and as good crop reports as any of her older sisters, and in some respects even exceeds those boasting of greater age and wealth."

James Snyder

Mr. James Snyder was born in Berkely County, Virginia, December 15, 1800, and died at his residence in Washington Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, July 20, 1876. Thus

County has gone from among us to his final resting place. He was in his early life one of the hardy and exemplary young men who sought early a home in the wilds of the western country which was then principally inhabited by wild animals, savage beasts and venomous reptiles. Huis father was a millwright and was the owner of a large grist mill, and his vigorous and reliable son James was the miller. This was his principal occupation until he arrived at the age of 23 years. Having never attended school but about two months in all his life he had at that time a very limited knowledge of books, and nearly everything else save what his father as a millwright had taught him. The thrilling stories of western hunters and adventures which he had frequently heard, had inspired within him a desire to emigrate westward, and to obtain for himself a satisfactory knowledge as to these statements. The necessary arrangements were soon made and in the spring of 1825 he bid adieu to the home of his childhood with all its endearments and came in company with his brother-in-law, Andrew Miller, in a two horse wagon to the central part of Ohio where he spent about two years in different parts of the state working at times for a shilling a day. He then concluded to return home and visit his father's family and friends. With but a few dollars jingling in his pockets and with no friend to accompany him but his rifle, he set out on foot for his father's home in Virginia. There was a long and dreary road stretching out before him, but his determination supported by his _ physical strength was more than equal to the task. He accomplished his journey in safety subsisting principally upon what game he killed along the way. He remained at home a few months and again set out on foot and came to Perry County, Ohio, where he soon after married Elizabeth, a daughter of Michael Fought, with whom he lived peaceably and happy from that time until his death during which time he was never known to leave his home for two hours at a time without first informing some member of the family where he was going and when he expected to return. He came to this county in 1830 and entered, in Washington Township, eighty acres of Government land upon which he built what he called a snug little log cabin. He was now surrounded on all sides by large forests extending for many miles in every direction. It was not long however until he had cleared away a spot of ground upon which to raise some corn, which was the only grain that he could raise for a number of years. Thus he obtained for himself and family a scant living for a few years, subsisting chiefly upon corn-bread and wild game. His neighbors were few and far away and as poor as he and could therefore give him little or no assistance. He would frequently carry a bushel of corn to mill all the way to Lower Sandusky (now Fremont) through the mud and water and return the same day a distance of about eight miles and then take mush and milk for his supper. He was firm and determined in every thing he undertook. Patience, perseverance and hard labor procured for him and his companion a comfortable and pleasant horne which has been their enjoyment for a number of years. He was the father of eleven children, nine of whom are still living, and were all present ready to administer to his wants during | his sickness and death. By his death the family have lost a kind and affectionate husband and an indulgent parent, and the community in which he lived have lost an excellent neighbor, one who was noted for his honesty and for his kindness to the poor. HEZEKIAH REMSBURG.

"In 1822 my parents, with a party number- - ing twenty-three in all, left Frederick County, Maryland, for Ohio. The party consisted of my grandfather, Jacob Bowlus, and wife, Margaret; my father, Casper Remsburg, his wife, Mary (Bowlus) Remsburg, and children, Matilda, Hezekiah, William, Mary (now Mrs. James Rosenberger), Susanna and Rebecca; my uncle Jacob Bowlus, his wife, Sarah Ann | and son William H.; my uncles and aunts, Margaret, Susanna, David, Elizabeth, Ellen, Sophia, George and Lydia Bowlus; Ann Holladay and Peter Buzzard.

"We started from Maryland in February, 1822, in two covered wagons, drawn by four horse teams, and arrived in Lower Sandusky (now Fremont) on Monday, March roth or 11th. Our journey of less than four hundred miles occupied some thirty-lve days averaging about ten or eleven miles per day. On our arrival here we stopped at Leason's tavern. There were not many inhabitants here. Some of them I remember and will give their names; most of them were heads of families: Jeremiah Everett, Daniel Brainard, Thomas L. Hawkins, Israel Harrington, Elisha Howland, Cyrus Hulburd, Samuel Hollinshead, Thomas Holcomb, Isaac Knapp, George Olmsted, Richard Sears, Calvin Leason, Josiah Rumrey, David Gallagher, Joseph Momeny, John W. Tyler, Lysander C. Ball, Moses Wilson, Reuben Patterson, Moses A. Nichols, Joseph Loveland, Morris A. Newman, Nicholas Whitinger, Henry Dollison, Sanford Mayne, William Dew, John Wolcott, and last but not least Squire Archie, a gentleman of mixed blood, who lived in a log cabin on a spot now occupied by a part of Arch Street, just west of Baumann's meat market. His cabin and a

"My father lived from March until some time in May in a house back of this hotel on the spot now covered by the platform of the W. & L. E. Railroad. The first time I met my friend, Homer Fverett, I stood at the south end of that house and we approached and gazed at each other for a moment, and then made friends. The other building to which I alluded was the old Dickinson house, now standing at the corner of Arch and State Streets. This house was built by Morris Newman on the hill on the opposite side of the river. In 1825 it was moved over the river by yokes of oxen, on the first bridge, an open one, across the Sandusky River. The house got stuck on the bridge, and a hole had to be cut through it to let passengers cross.

- "Outside of town I remember a few families: the Cooleys, Bristols, Courtrites, Whitakers and Gibsons, north of town; on the south, up the river, were David Chambers' family, the Prior family and the family of Elizabeth Tindall, a widow. There were other persons here whose names I do not recollect. .

- "In May of the same year (1822) my father moved to Muskallonge, about two miles northwest of Lower Sandusky. At that time the Western Reserve and Maumee Road was not located. There was no thoroughfare from here to Perrysburg. Travel was on horseback or foot, following the Indian trails. There were two trails in the direction of Perrvsburg: one starting north toward the mouth of the Muskallonge, and then running in a northwesterly direction to Perrysburg the other passing to the Stony Ridge, and when about half across the Stony Ridge near where Mr. Deemer now lives, the trail divided, one branch passing along the line of what is now the Napoleon Road, crossing the Muskallonge at the old Naugle farm now owned by A. J. Wolfe. The center trail towards Perrysburg was the one over which the mail was carried from here to Perrysburg. The first year we lived on Muskallonge we cut a road meandering through the hazlebrush, crossing the third hill west of here on the pike, and running somewhat in the direction of the pike as afterwards

"My grandfather lived in town that season and undertook to farm the bottoms just south of the present Fair Grounds, but to no purpose. That season three of his children died: Margaret, Sophia and George.

"During that season we commenced clearing land. I have already intimated that this vast landscape or territory, from here as far as the eye could reach, was a vast wilderness. Perhaps no country would have required as much labor to make it susceptible of good homes. I know of no word in the vocabulary of any language that can convey the truth relative to the settlement of the Black Swamp. In the summer of 1822, after we went to Muskallonge, we found it necessary to fell the forest. My grandfather employed men to clear the land, and among those that were engaged the first season were Consider C. Barney, Thomas Emerson, John Hawk and Thomas Lay. We lived that summer about half a mile below where the turnpike is now located. Sometime in January, 1823, we passed up to where my father afterwards lived, 100 rods above the pike, although the pike was located through the quarter section which he entered. He lived there till his death, which occurred in when she left and went to my brother's home in Illinois. She made her home there and with her children in this county, until her death at Chatsworth, Livingston County, Illinois, at the age of 94 vears. Her remains were brought here for burial.

"The first school building between this place and the Maumee was erected on the banks of the Muskallonge in the latter part of the year 1827, shortly after Samuel Crowell, a school teacher, came to this country. The schoolhouse was a log structure 15x20 feet, with about seven feet between floor and joists. In that building, after comparatively a few months' schooling, your humble servant graduated to the ax and handspike.

"Shortly after we came here David Moore, father of James and John Moore, settled up the river. The next that I remember was David Grant who lived on what was afteraa wards known as the Sherrard place. Grant moved from there to Mud Creek in the spring of 1823, and was the first man to go west of the Muskallonge. The next beyond was Gilbfaith Steward, who located ten miles west of here on Mud Creek. The Topping family located on Little Mud Creek, on the place now owned by the Waggoners. The old man Waggoner with his son-in-law, John Macklin, located on Big Mud Creek in 1829, between where Grant and Steward lived. circumstance that we boys then had a curiosity to see Mud Creek prairie and went to see it one Sunday through the woods, as there was no road, and we sharpened our knives well to cut through the mosquitoes. John Macklin afterwards came to this place and built the American House. Among others I might mention were the Overmyers, Rhodes and Wolcotts. The Stults family were about two miles above us on Muskallonge.

"Israel Harrington went from Lower Sandusky, and was the first to locate on the Portage River, where Elmore now is. He occupied a house built by a man named Harris who had died before moving into it. Harris was a former husband of Mrs. Isaac Knapp. The Luckey, Rice and Bogg families settled there soon after. They used to spend the night at our house very frequently.

"T should have mentioned some ladies in this sketch. There was a young lady named Claighorn, who was the belle of the town, and afterwards married David Gallagher. George Olmsted married a Miss Whitinger. Mr. Hollingshead married a Miss Whitinger and moved to Port Clinton, Ottawa County, then in Sandusky County."

John Linebaugh

"My grandfather on my father's side came from Amsterdam, Holland, where he was born and raised and where he was married. He emigrated to America, and settled in Fairfield County, Ohio, where he bought two farms of 160 acres each. My father was only 6 years old when he landed in New York. His youth and early manhood were spent in Fairfield County, Ohio. After he was married he heard that this country about Lower Sandusky was a great place for fish, so he sold out and came to

Sandusky County, and entered the eighty-acre lot, known later as the Huss Komestead in Green Creek Township. He sold out later to Mr. Clark, and Clark sold to Huss. My father's family came here about the year 1818. It was then a howling wilderness, for a fact. Soon after coming here the old man said he was going to have a flock of sheep. The neighbors laughed at him. They said he could not keep sheep on account of the wolves. He thought he could, and brought a flock of twenty-five sheep from his former home. He built a large pen of poles, 15 feet high; the poles were notched and nicely fitted together at the corners, log cabin style. The neighbors said the wolves would dig under the logs and get in, but father said he would risk it. The very first night the wolves dug in under the poles and killed all the sheep; and they did it so quietly that the family knew nothing of it until morning. My father did not try to keep sheep for a long time after.

"We lived in the old-style log cabin; round logs, clapboard roof, chimney built up of sticks and plastered with mortar made of clay. The chimneys were plunked up, and the back wall of the fireplace was made of clay. The first winter our chimney was built up only seven feet, not finished, when wild animals were troublesome. We had wooden pins driven into the logs to hang up things. We had brought some smoked meat, hams and shoulders of pork from Fairfield County, which we hung in this fireplace. A wildcat came one night and got a tram and tried to get out of the chimney with it. When my father woke up the animal was dragging the ham towards the chimney. He threw a stool at the thief and knocked him over, but he escaped before my father could get his gun.

"To catch wolves the pioneers used to build large log pens in the woods. They would place down flat on the ground, close together, a row of poles about six inches thick and about twenty feet long, for a floor; then some goodsized logs across the ends, then build up with logs, slanting inward, like a cabin roof, with gable ends, till it was about 8 feet high, leaving an opening at the top about 4 feet across. Over that opening there was placed a plank

"We arrived in Lower Sandusky, in November, 1827. In the train were father and mother, Daniel and Christine Hensel, George Overmyer and family, and a traveler by the name of George Stump.