Edon, Ohio

Mr. Singer was quite a bee hunter and his cabin table was often graced with a fine dish of strained and candied honey. One day, the Indians, who were encamped on the creek about thirty rods east of the second David Singer's former residence, wounded a bear which crawled into a hollow log and could not be dislodged. One of their number who had come from Canada, and whom they did not like, was told that he was too cowardly to enter the log by crawling and pull the wounded bear out by the leg. It was thought to be alive and full of fight, but after a little time he entered the log*, head first, and soon emerged, pulling the animal, which was dead, out by the leg. One day, one of the Indians got drunk and declared that lie would kill his squaw, attempting to put his threat into execution. Several Indians came to Mr. Singer and begged him to interfere, which he accordingly did, and, with their help, bound the desperate savage hand and foot. The mosquitoes were very bad and pestered the savage to such an extent that he soon came to his senses and demanded that his bands be taken off ; but this was refused until his complete sobriety was assured and his promises were given that lie would behave himself. Every year Mrs. Singer smoked many venison hams on shares for the Indians. John Singer and David Singer, Jr., wounded a deer one day, and while trying to cut its throat were knocked back by the animal, which sprang to its feet and ran off through the woods. It was afterwards caught with the assistance of the dogs. For years the Singer family had a pet deer with a bell around its neck, which was used as a decoy in hunting. It would meet other deer in the woods and bring them close to the cabin, where they could easily be shot from some place of concealment.

Passage source: The County of Williams : a History of Williams County, Ohio, from the Earliest Days, with Special Chapters on Various Subjects, Including Each of the Different Townships ; Also a Biographical Department, published 1905.

Samuel Cain came from Richland county, Ohio, and located in Florence township in 1838, thus becoming one of the pioneers of Williams county. He was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1810. He moved to Harrison county, Ohio, in 1829, and there resided for two years ; thence he moved to Stark county, where he remained for six years; thence to Richland, where he passed one year. He then started for DeKalb county, Indiana, but an accident detained him at Napoleon, Ohio, and he remained there until 1838, when he came to Florence township, as stated above, and entered ninety-three acres of land on Section No. 1. He was about the second permanent settler in the present limits of Florence township, and all around him was a wilderness. Pie disposed of his property in 1844, and bought eighty acres nearby, on which he resided until 1866. when he moved to Northwest township and ended his days there. Mr. Cain used to tell many interesting hunting incidents. One day he broke an ox-yoke and went to William Van Fossen's to get another. While on the way, his dog discovered a cub and chased it, growling, into the top of a tree. The mother bear appeared upon the scene at this juncture and charged furiously upon the dog, which nimbly got out of her way. She passed close to Mr. Cain and he swung his hat at her, causing her to veer around him and run into a swamp, disappearing from his view. Mr. Cain had no gun with him, hut he went some distance and called to Nelson Clark's boys, who lived in Superior township, and they came up and shot the cub. On still another occasion, Mr. Cain, John Anspaugh and Jacob Anspaugh were walking in the fresh snow, near the tamarack swamp in the northeast corner of the township, when they discovered a fresh bear track They immediately called their dogs, which followed the hear into the swamp and soon treed it there. John Anspaugh was the first to reach the tree, and, at the first shot brought the animal to the ground. It proved to be a young bear and its flesh was very tender and sweet. Many stories, similar to those given, might be narrated concerning the pioneers of every

Passage source: The County of Williams : a History of Williams County, Ohio, from the Earliest Days, with Special Chapters on Various Subjects, Including Each of the Different Townships ; Also a Biographical Department, published 1905.

township was the Singer family. David Singer, the first, was a farmer; married Margaret Kragore, came to Ohio and located in Florence township in 1837, and entered cne-half section of government land. His soil, David Singer, the second, was the first white child born in Florence township. This event happened in 1839. The senior David Singer deserves more credit than perhaps any other man for the hardships himself and family endured, to create a home in the dense forests of Florence. Mr. Singer came to this part of the state in 1836, locating his farm on Section 9, and during the winter of 1 836-37, erected a log cabin about forty rods north of where the family residence was in later years. In the meantime, his family lived a short time at Denmark, and later with Robert McDaniel, who then lived on Section 30, Superior township. In February, 1837, the family took up their residence in their new home, on Section 9. They were very poor, as almost everybody was then, but they had good health and did not hesitate to face a reasonable amount of privation and toil. At that time there was not a neighbor residing any nearer to them than five miles, and their little home was surrounded, on all sides, by an almost impassable wilderness, filled with wild and savage beasts and with scarcely less savage Indians. It was all the family could do at first to live. At one time, for four weeks, they lived without anv bread whatever, their only food consisting of rice soup and wild meat. These extreme privations did not last long, fortunately, for if they had the family would have gone back to their old home farther east. They soon were enabled to feed and clothe themselves, and were then about as well situated as most of the earliest settlers. There was no such thing as caste in early times ; the settlers were like brothers, for all were poor. Mr. Singer became belated in returning home one night from Denmark, and a heavy storm coming on, he became bewildered and lost. In vain he endeavored to trace his wav, as the thick darkness and heavy rain descended. The more he tried, the more uncertain he became that he was moving in the right direction. At last he saw that the wisest course was to sit down on a log and wait, either until he was certain of his steps or until morning had dawned. There he sat all night long, with the cold rain beating upon him and the dreary winds sweeping by him in chilling gusts and eddies. When morning dawned, he was soon beside a roaring fire, something which every settler had with no cost save labor. After a few years, the Singers were in better circumstances. They, on one occasion, owned a fine sow, which had a large family of pigs, and these animals were permitted to sleep against the side of the cabin (on the outside) that they might be protected from wolves and bears. One dark night, when Mr. Singer was away and no one was at home save Mrs. Singer and her little children, the wolves, rendered desperate by hunger, came up to the cabin to attack the sow and pigs. Mrs. Singer resolutely sallied forth with a large fire brand and drove them away, and then the settler's wife saw that if she saved her animals she must guard them with fire all night. A fire was kindled near

Passage source: The County of Williams : a History of Williams County, Ohio, from the Earliest Days, with Special Chapters on Various Subjects, Including Each of the Different Townships ; Also a Biographical Department, published 1905.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Florence Township - it names this place 3 more 3 times.