Brady Township

Brady Township

BRADY was set off from Springfield township on March 7, 1836. There is some speculation as to the origin of the name, the most plausible account of which is that through the influence of Gilbert Dunscomb, the township was named in perpetuation of the name and in honor of Captain Samuel Brady, whose exploits are so well known to every one familiar with the pioneer history of this part of the western country. Brady is in the middle of the eastern tier of townships of Williams county, and was originally six miles square; but at the formation of Fulton county, two tiers of sections were taken from the east side, thus reducing the area of the township to twentyfour square miles. The surface of the country is somewhat varied, but the major portion of it is generally level, partaking somewhat of the character of the land in Pulaski and Springfield townships. In the southeastern portion, however, the surface becomes more rolling, and there are some slight swells, exhibiting the gravelly clay of the western portion of the county. The divide that separates the drainage to the St. Joseph and Tiffin rivers passes through the county northwest of the township. There are several streams in the township, but they are all tributaries of Tiffin River, or Bean Creek, as it is more commonly known, and which flows for some distance through the southeast corner of the township. Thus, being well watered as it is, the value of the lands for agricultural and grazing purposes is greatly enhanced. The soil is mostly clay, or clay loam, with occasionally a subsoil of gravel, and in every portion of the township it is very fertile, and in the creek bottoms especially so.

Brady was originally covered with heavy timber, mostly of the hard wood varieties, .as walnut, butternut, hickory, the various kinds of oak, beech, maple, yellow poplar, whitewood, white ash, elm, etc. These were abundant, while the buckeye, sycamore, wild cherry, ironwood and dog-wood were less generally distributed. The shrubs were the hazel, blackberry, huckleberry, Juneberry, hackberrv and spice. Most of the varieties of timber and shrubs are still represented, though the best has long since found its way to the mills and markets, if not to the pioneer "log heaps/'

The township was noted in early times for its abundance of wild animals, and was a favorite hunting ground for the Indians for many years after the cession of the land to the whites. By general consent, they were permitted to make annual visits, which they seemed to greatly enjoy. There were bears, panthers, wolves and wildcats in great numbers, while deer and wild turkeys furnished the principal meat foods to the early settlers. The larger wild animals were of course for many years a source of annoyance and danger.

There are, or were, several mounds of past ages in Brady township, as there are, or were, in other localities in the county. But these are given appropriate notice and description in the chapter on "Williams County Antiquities," and it is not necessary to make a repetition here. We will state, however, that a remarkable group of mounds once stood on the farm of Frederick Charles, but there is little left to perpetuate the recollection of these ancient works. During the disintegration of the mounds, quite a number of them were opened and about two feet from the original surface were found fragments of human remains and numerous stone implements. Another and fair sized solitary mound was located on land formerly owned by James F. Smith, and perhaps there were others, but they all have been leveled by the successive plowings of seventy years.

Brady township was settled nearly as early as any of the townships of Williams county. The first settlers were John Miller, John Rings, Gilbert Dunscomb, Jacob Bohner, Abner Ayres and Warren Hancock. In the month of April, 1835, John Miller entered a piece of land near where West Unity now stands. Gilbert Dunscomb entered land in May, and Abner Ayers in August of same year. Jacob Bohner, Warren Hancock and John Rings also entered land in 1835. William Miller, Samuel Snyder, H. F. Flowers, David Loutzenhizer, William Stubbs and William H. McGrew settled in 1836 and 1837. Here, and bv these people, the first improvements were made and the first crops raised.

John Miller settled in Brady township and entered 160 acres of wild land, which he rescued from the wilderness. He sold, thirty years later, and moved to Pulaski township, where he resided till 1876; then sold out again and moved to Waterloo, Indiana ; residing there till 1881, and then came to Edgerton, this county, where he lived the remainder of his life.

John Rings was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, September 2, 1804, was a farmer, and also a teamster in the days of sixhorse teams. He came to this county in 1835, and settled on land now partially occupied by the town of West Unity, then a dense forest. Some years after, he had a portion of his land surveyed and laid out into town lots, started the village, July 20, 1842, and named it after Pleasant Unity, a town in his native county and state. Mr. Rings was the first justice of the peace elected in Brady township. He was elected county commissioner in 1837. county treasurer in 1851, reelected in 1853. and died in his second term, April 18, 1855. He was part owner of the first sawmill erected in the village, also one of the owners of the first grist mill. At the time of his death he was engaged in mercantile pursuits, and was at all times foremost in enterprises tending to the improvement or development of his town and county.

land county, Pennsylvania, August 2, 1808. In 1831, he emigrated to Richland county, Ohio, and in June, 1835, moved to Brady township, Williams county, settled in the woods, and hewed out of the wilderness a farm. He died April 25, 1881, of dropsy, after an illness of about eleven weeks, at the age of seventy-three. He had been considered the strongest man in the county and had never been ill until he met with his fatal attack.

Samuel Snyder was of English descent. He came to Brady township from Putnam county, Ohio, in 1837, and lived in West Unity the remainder of his life. He was the father of the late Dr. I. M. Snyder of Montpelier.

William Hendricks McGrew was born February 22, 1796, in Adams county, Pennsylvania, where he received a very fair education. He came to Williams county with his wife and children, in 1836, and settled about two miles south of West Unity. Not a stick had been cut by way of clearing the land. He put up a cabin, into which he moved before doors or windows had been put in, and here, surrounded by wolves and other wild animals, he resided until he had cleared up 140 acres. He served nine years as justice of the peace of Brady, and as township trustee fifteen consecutive years, and was always a publicspirited man. In October, 1865, he retired from his farm to West Unity, where he enjoyed for the remainder of his life that repose which comes of well-doing.

The experiences of the early settlers were similar, regardless of locality, and, to some extent, without regard to wealth. Necessaries of life, as we of later generations class them, were not to be procured, by reason of the great distance to be traveled and hazards encountered in reaching the older settlements. The forest supplied the meats, for the most part, as it did, also, the fruits and sugar. Coffee and tea were luxuries seldom used. This is mentioned to show the simple fare which satisfied the demands of the times. A dinner of corn bread alone, or of meat without bread, was a common repast. Often the corn was pounded on a stone, or in a mortar, and thus prepared for cooking before the open fire-place, and no doubt there are those living to-day who remember the relish with which they devoured grandmother's "pone.'' Potatoes were early raised, but had not become a household necessity as now. Maple sugar and syrup were among the old-time luxuries easily obtained. The cabins usually had a "shake" roof, fastened on by weight poles, with a clay or puncheon floor and a door made of boards split from native timber and fastened together with wooden pins, or, in the absence of this, a blanket hung in the opening; if a window was provided, the aperture was covered with greased paper instead of glass. The dimensions of the cabin were usually limited to the smallest size which would accomodate the family, the walls of rough logs, cracks "chinked" with split sticks or stones and plastered with clay, with sometimes a little cut straw mixed in the "mortar" to prevent its falling out. The chimney was usually the most liberal arrangement on the premises, and often filled nearly the entire end of the cabin. It was generally built of split sticks liberally plastered with mud to prevent their taking fire from the heat of the tremendous "log-heap" beneath. In those days, there was no scarcity of fuel, as the timber had to be removed before the land could be cultivated, and the logs which could not be utilized in making rails or constructing, buildings, were rolled together in great heaps and consumed on the ground. With the advent of sawmills and various other appliances for manufacturing lumber, as devised by the ingenious pioneers, the best of the timber was usually worked into lumber.

A "full-dress" suit in those days consisted of buckskins, over a flax shirt, and moccasins for the feet, the latter sometimes "reinforced" by a sole of stiff leather fastened on with buckskin thongs. These were all the product of home industry, even to the raising, heckling, scutching, spinning, weaving and making of the flaxen garments.

The pioneer shoemaker, gunsmith and blacksmith were welcome adjuncts of the early settlements, as were, also, the back-woods schoolmasters and preachers. The first schools were conducted on the subscription plan, and usually embraced only the rudiments of the "three R's." The "master" taught twenty-two days for a month at a salary of about eight dollars per month, and "boarded around." He was oftener selected because of his muscular development than on account of his scholastic attainments, though both were considered essential to complete success. The unruly boys of pioneer days were prone to mischief, and happy indeed was the schoolmaster who escaped "barring out," for a treat, on holidays. Should the master arrive in the morning before a sufficient number of the belligerents reached the scene of hostilities, they would smoke him out by placing boards over the chimney. The school "furniture" was in keeping with that which adorned the homes of the pupils, entirely home made, and of the variety created for utility rather than beauty. The desks were puncheons, or at best planks, resting on wooden pins driven into augur holes in the logs of the wall. These were bored at an angle of about thirty degrees. Fronting the desks were stationary seats made of slabs or puncheons, with flaring legs of wooden pins ; and these were made high enough to accommodate the largest piioils, while the smaller ones sat with their feet dangling in mid-air. Usually there was no floor in the schoolhouse, and globes and outline maps were unknown to the pupils and a mystery to the masters. The "text books" comprised Dabol's arithmetic and Webster's elementary spelling book These covered the curriculum of reading and spelling, mathematics, language and literature, history and science. The ancient "pot hooks," more difficult to form than any letter in the alphabet, comprised the first lessons in writing, but were never heard of afterward. There was no system by which these characters were made, hence each "master" had a "system" of his own. Sundry boxing of ears and other barbarous punishments often followed the pupil's futile efforts at imitating these useless hieroglyphics. And yet we must credit the pioneer schools with producing a class of plain and neat writers, a feature very noticeable and often commented upon in the reading of ancient documents. It is equally true that most of the students of those early days were excellent spellers, according to the rules then in vogue. But the primitive schools of pioneer days have long since been succeeded by the excellent school system so nicely provided for, in part at least, by the reservation of a portion of the public domain for that purpose.

West Unity is the principal village in Brady township. It is located north and west of the center of the township, and of course is in the eastern part of the county. The town was surveyed and laid out by John Rings, who at that time owned the greater portion of what is now the village. It is pleasantly located on elevated and comparatively level ground. In 1835, there were but one or two small clearings in the forest, but each year after the town was established some settlers were attracted to it. While West Unity had no phenomenal growth, its progress was steady and substantial. The population has been nearly stationary for the last twenty years, increase in that direction being retarded to some extent by the advent of railroads in nearby towns. West Unity was incorporated by act of the state legislature in 1866. The first officers elected under the new regime were: H. H. Peppard, Mayor; Dr. G. W. Finch, Dr. J. N. Runnion, J. M. Webb. George Rings and J. Cline, councilmen ; C. W. Skinner, clerk.

One of the early Justices of the Peace in Williams county was Jabez Jones of Pulaski township, and he solemnized the marriage of George Johnson to Hannah Donutt, the first marriage in Brady township of which there is any record. George Johnson, who is mentioned in this connection, was a native of Lincolnshire, England, who emigrated to this country about 1832. He settled on Tiffin River, in Fulton county, and entering land, built a cabin and began clearing. I11 about 1840, he and his brother, William, secured a mill privilege on Tiffin River (or Bean Creek) from the state, and erected a sawmill. and later, a grist-mill, known for years as the "Johnson Mills". He died at his home in Fulton county, November 28. 1855. Mr. Johnson was the father of Hon. Solomon Johnson, of Springfield township.

The first white child born in West Unity was Susan Rings, but the first birth in Brady township was that of Charles Coleman. The earliest recorded death is that of Maria L. Dunscomb.

In 1836, Walter Coleman built the first grist-mill in the township, but prior to that the Perkins Mill had been established on Beaver Creek at Pulaski, and thither the inhabitants of Bradv brought their grists to be ground. Some years later a mill was erected at West Unity by Rings, Dawson, Calvin 8z Vail. Though inexpensive in construction, these early mills relieved the settlers of a vast amount of labor and perplexity. The "pounding stone" and primitive mortar and pestle were relegated to the back-yard, while the quality of the prepared material was much improved. The Mr. Dawson, mentioned above, became a few years later the manager of the Unity Mills, which were erected in 1865 as a flouring mill and woolen factory, where the best of flour is manufactured and woolen goods of excellent quality and fine texture are woven. This has proved a real blessing to the people.

West Unity lias progressed along social and literary lines, as well as in the affairs of general business. A lodge of Masons was organized in August, 1849; the first newspaper, under the title of ''Equal Rights", was established in April, 1849, by W. A. Hunter. The history of this early newspaper venture is given elsewhere ; but after a lapse of several years, C. F. and J. W. Grisier launched the "Eagle" in 1878. This paper is still in existence, although its name has been changed to "Reporter", and its present editor is Olin Kenyon. The town boasts of an excellent school, in which the patrons take great interest. For many years it was taught by E. P. Ewers, a prominent educator of Williams county.

For many years after the settlement of the township, religious exercises were conducted by the traveling ministers of various denominations, usually at private houses, or in the school houses of the township. The first religious organization in West Unity was that of the Universalist Church, and it had a regular visiting minister as early as 1846. The Presbyterians organized a congregation, consisting of about twenty members, in 1851. In addition to these, there were regularly organized Methodist Episcopal and United Brethren churches, with regular circuit services. The United Brethren was the first church building erected in West Unity, and the bell in the tower the first to call the people to worship. But the Methodist Episcopal Church followed closely in the wake in each and all the enterprises named. The houses of some of the members of these churches were two, three, and even four miles from their places of worship, and it was no uncommon thing in that day for people to walk, or ride behind an "ox-team" to church, while others, more fortunate in being the possessors of horses and lumber wagons, were enabled to drive in a very good style.

Brady is one of the most wealthy and prosperous townships in Williams county. Agriculture being the principal industry, and in fact almost the exclusive occupation of the people, it has received careful and throughtful attention, and the farmers are equipped for the varied branches of agricultural pursuits, including extensive stock raising and fruit-growing. Early attention was given to the introduction of improved strains of domestic animals, and this has proved a source of pleasure and profit. The well tilled farms, with their substantial residences of modern design, or the old and well built mansions of more ancient days, together with an occasional log house or unpretentious cabin, all evince the varying degrees of prosperity attained by their owners and emphasize the fact that "there is no place like home". The inhabitants are a class of intelligent, publicspirited people, who, in several instances, trace their lineage, with just pride, to the founders of the great republic whose perpetuity they are ever ready to defend. The villages of Brady township, notwithstanding that for many years they were isolated from railro