Sandusky Township (part 5 of 57)

"I know very little about the pioneer life in this part of the state, but history tells us that over here on the Maumee pike they had _ thirty-two hotels in thirty-one miles. That leads me to believe they did not travel as we do. A man who was traveling to Michigan with one hundred dollars, got stuck in this road very often and was charged a dollar every time he got helped out of a mud hole, and by the time he got to Michigan his money was all gone. He, however, made up his mind he would look for his money where he lost it, so he started in the business for himself, after he returned.

"There were remarks made this morning about Thomas L. Hawkins. He built the dam down there at the old June mill and shortly after it was completed, the flood came and washed it out, and when he saw the dam starting down the river, he made this remark: "The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh; blessed be the name of the Lord, but the devil take my precious soul if I don't build it up again."

"He had something to do with the building of the first court house, being then the county auditor. The contract for everything concerning it was let to him for $2450, July 21, 1823, and by him the same day assigned to one Cyrus Hulburd. It was started to be built by Hulburd on the hill where the Methodist church now stands, but after it was started, they made up their minds it was not the proper place and got some oxen and took it where it now stands as the residence of Rev. W. A. Bowman on the high ground north opposite the City Hall at the east terminus of Court street. (Meek's History of Sandusky county, pp. 155, 156, 157.) As we glance back and learn the conditions we had in early days, we ask what has brought this all about? I say it was the toil and labor and good management of our pioneers that have brought this county where ites:

"This afternoon we ought to be thankful to the pioneers who made this county what it is today. I feel that the rising generation is not learning to, and does not, appreciate what our forefathers, did for us. I claim that the father who hands down a farm to his boy, that boy ought to make another farm with that. We ought to try to live that we may leave things better than we found them."

"Now, I am not going to take up much time, I am going at the rate of 2-40 if I may have your undivided attention that long. Sometimes we forget to quit when we are through. I will try not to forget.

"My little sister, after trudging through the woods, said that it looked as if they were getting where some one was living as she saw a pig pen. It happened to be the structure which my father had built. She wanted to know what it was for and father answered that he had built that to put her in! That was just beyond the Portage river in Wood county.

"One day my sister was roaming about, and as she came to a well, a bear jumped out near her; she told father that she had seen a calf with its ears frozen off!

"In 1841 my father moved to Scott township in this county, in Section 19, where I came (at my birth) to this county in 1842. My father was a kind of stone mason by trade and also a farmer, but the best crop he ever raised was in 1842 - a pair of boys. I am one! We certainly had to work hard, but I am still living on the farm where I was born. I never moved off of the place.

"T almost lost conceit of myself, but a little thing occurred once which upset it. There was a blacksmith who had moved there and who played the violin. They were arranging for a dance. One person, taking me to be the blacksmith, came and asked me to play. I said I had never tried before, but was willing to make an effort and strange to say they left me off without a trial!

"Once at a farmer's institute, they had me on the program and assigned me a subject: 'Farming by Proxy' to speak from. I got to looking for farmers' books and instead of telling how to cultivate the soil, they said something about 'early rising.'

"T was always awkward. I was going to hear a minister give a talk and I forgot to roll down my trousers. Seven thousand women were there and saw me, and like a lady once said, 'I wondered where, under the - heavens, they all came from.' A certain man who always used to clean his teeth and polish his shoes saw me with my trousers rolled up and he thought that was the worst break to make, and one day when we had company he referred to my break and said that if he were to make a speech he would at least put his trousers down, and I answered: 'If you would put them down I would like to be there to see what the ladies would say.' "

"TI guess my address will be a good deal like the man who was called upon to follow some eminent speakers who had consumed most all the time allotted. My address will be "Milburry, Ohio.' While I have had invitations to attend these pioneer meetings for a good many years by my brother-in-law, Joseph Waggoner, who never forgot me, but I had the mistaken idea of it. I thought it was exclusively for the old pioneers, and that I myself, being only a kid of 74 years, I thought I would be a kid among these old people, but I was going to state that I did not live in Sandusky county directly for 45 years. I lived in Wood county, but I annually attend the fair in Sandusky county. I always think it my home, and feel at home when with you. When but a boy, I was raised in Hessville; I knew a great many people in Sandusky county, but the war carried off a great many of my old acquaintances, and living out of the county as I have, I have forgotten a great many people, and still there are some in the audience whom I knew when a little boy, and since learning the object of this organization, I am sorry I have not attended it for the last 20 years, and I think that it behooves us to encourage young people to attend these meetings and to become members.

"When we stop to think that those here today will average better than 60 years of age, where will most of this entire audience be twenty years hence? Unless we instill young blood into this association, it will die a natural death.

"What I know of Sandusky county? In March, 1848, my father moved here. His principal possession was a family of small children, and among them was a little red-headed boy called Ed. I can remember the same as yesterday the first years we lived in Ohio. Everything was flood, and every man we knew from here to Woodville along the pike was down with the fever and ague, and my father said 'Had I only not invested here, I would move right back to the blue mountains of Pennsylvania.' And to think of the privations, the sickness, the hard work and everything else that our forefathers had to encounter, and go through, to make this Black Swamp the garden of the United States. We never can thank them enough, and I see men here who are about my age, and some older. They are entitled to a little bit of credit for drudging from Monday morning to Saturday night, all for the next generation. They did it for us to enjoy, and we are glad they have done it. I am glad it was done. Look at the good roads we have, the fine ditches, no more fever and ague, fine schoolhouses, churches, everything. All brought about in the last 65 years and while I have taken up considerable of your time, and am no public speaker, I thank you for your attention; I hope to see you another year, and that you will bring all the young people with you."

"T just wish to make one remark. One man who was a blacksmith and kind of a farmer too said the best crop his father raised was the speaker himself. My father was a farmer also and I stand before you with a proud and upright heart and say he was a good farmer and the poorest crop he raised was when he raised me. I gave him the most trouble.

"J thank you for your courteous treatment to me as treasurer of this association. I will try to keep it that you are not broke. Brothers Burgoon, Bowman and Meek will stand at my side. My only hope is there will be twice as many, yes, three times as many, here next year."

Since I've quit teaching I'm not much accustomed to public speaking, but I must say I'm exceedingly glad to be with you today, although I miss the warm greetings and familiar faces, of those happy days when life was all sunshine. It does not seem so very long ago, since father and mother attended the pioneer meetings and brought their family with them. How much I then enjoyed listening to their adventures, and enjoyments as they would give them to us in word pictures. God bless the memory of our _ pioneers! How changed are times and things. Here am I among you as one of the aged, and the army of the young coming on soon to take our places, may they fill them better than we have done!

I don't like to talk about myself, yet I suppose this is the place to do so. As the record shows, I made my advent into the home of Elisha and Phebe C. Moore in Scott township, Sandusky county, on the 4th day of November, 1836, just in time for presidential election.

I came neither by steam car, elec: tric line, automobile, nor aeroplane, neither was my coming heralded by telephone, yet I have lived to enjoy all these, except the aeroplane, and if opportunity presents, I'll certainly venture on that. My earliest recollection of our home, is, log cabins, within a small radius cleared and under cultivation, fenced with brush, surrounded by a dense and beautiful forest, inhabited by throngs of all sorts of small game, with large flocks of wild turkeys, plenty of deer, lots of big black snakes and an army built his fence with the brush so as to make jagged side out to keep the deer and turkeys off. There were a few Indians here, only one of whom I have any distinct recollection. A large muscular, tall, swarthy fellow, we called Indian Jo, who came to our home often.

We attended school in a round log cabin, with hewed plank for writing desks and split logs for seats with no backs to either seats or desks. A puncheon floor and rough' stone hearth, big fireplace and undressed big limestone chimney, where were rolled in big logs for fire, plank doors with wooden latch and hinges. I attended this place until I was thirteen, when we had a nice frame house built in which I taught afterward.

At fourteen I began teaching in our district schools, and if our teachers today had to teach under the diffi. culties, we who pioneered in this work, it would cause them to stop and think, at least. I've waded snow to my waist, water above my shoes, many a cold weary day, walk a mile or more sometimes, build my own fire and have the house comfortable for the little ones when they came; enjoyed it.

When father went to Lower Sandusky mother would put up a big pail of lunch and give him his "milJ quilts" to carry with him, as he always had to stay over night, often took two full days to make the trip, when the roads were bad. I was with him once when the wagon broke down in mud and water so water ran into the wagon. While he mended it, he set me on a log out in the water. I dared not move for fear of falling off. Father often let me go to town with him and I remember some of our first merchants in Fremont. Mr. Olmsted, Mr. Tyler, Mr. Pettibone and later O. L. Nims who named his estore Head Quarters, and he certainly stirred up a rivalry which was a bonanza for the farmers. Among the doctors were Brainard, Ryder and Green, the man after whom Greensburg was folks called him Father Hawkins. A very peculiar character and attractive personnel. He never tied up his shoes. He wore cowhide shoes laced with leather strings. The reason he assigned for never tying his shoes was that one morning just as he was dressing the devil came for him and told him he must go with him. Mr. Hawkins requested him to wait until he tied his shoes, to which his Satanic majesty assented, so Hawkins never thereafter tied his shoes.

He used to write poetical advertisements for the business men and I used to commit all the poetry, so I used to commit his ads. I'll give one:

If my memory serves me, along in 1846 or 1847, there spread over the country great excitement over what was termed "Millerism,' and the day Was appointed for the Lord's return for the faithful. Among the fanatical was Father Hawkins who had for his co-worker in the faith, one D. L. Hurlbut, of Madison township, who was a many sided preacher, good talker, rather pleasing personality, could win his way into the churches, but could not make good. The last time I saw him he said he was preaching on his own hook, Jesus Christ being his presiding elder, the world his circuit and Heaven his home. At the time appointed (which I've forgotten) Mr. Hurlbut came to Fremont to be with Mr. Hawkins when the Lord came. They made-a torch and made ready to fire Sandusky river at the right time. They had not long to wait until the summons came, as some young fellows up in Scott Township, in a spirit of fun, also made a torch, and went over to Tawa prairie and fired the tall grass which lighted up the whole heavens for many miles around. The expected ones sallied forth to welcome the expected One only to be disappointed. Hawkins and Hurlbut went to the river and dropped the coals from their torch into the water only to find that it Was not yet ready to burn and the laws of nature remained the same. They are all gone to meet the Lord and Sandusky river rolls on toward its destination. The world moves in its orbit without a jar and Jesus Christ sits upon his mediatorial throne, unmoved by the hallucinations of man's unbalanced brain.

"One speaker said he was here 45 years in Fremont and he had the impudence to say 'Black Swamp.' I have been here 87 years in 'Black Swamp' and it is growing better and better. I am going to stay here in person of my body in Sandusky county, because I think it is about as good a county as in the state of Ohio.

"Well, as perhaps I am the only one left out of the old pioneer stock, that beat our corn with an iron hammer, and I just noticed the other day a new style of treating it. My mother poured water on and the hulls would come to the surface. But this party took a hoop and joined a deer skin over it, stabbed it full of holes and beat it through it.

"T heard Mr. Keefer speak about Sandusky county being so nice. He did not half touch it. It is the garden of Ohio. Go down here in Ottawa county, which is an offspring of Sandusky county. We get the benefit from them now. Ohio is all the better for the territory of Sandusky county being in it, and if you will look over the physiognomy of this county, you will see what intelligence there is there, and I say, go on, elevate it, make it pure and cleaner and more honorable and worthier of a good county." when my father came here 83 years ago and one half of my life was spent in Sandusky township. About twenty years ago we sold and moved to Pittsburg. I can never tell the story how we used to live and assist each other and help eavh other. The sociability was wonderful from what it is now."

Mr. Feasel then related some of his experience when he first came to this county. How the neighbors would come together and raise a barn or a house. Never in his life, however, he said, had he treated. anyone to a drink; neither had he ever smoked a pipe or a cigar. He had made a vow he would not touch a drop and had kept that vow. Mr. Feasel also gave some of his experiences while in the Union Army, also of the extravagance of the people now as compare? with the time he was a young man.

"This is very unexpected to me. I did not come here to make a speech; yet, looking into your friendly faces, I can read something. I can read in your faces that your hearts feel glad, you feel cheerful, you are glad you are here.

"T remember God said to Abraham: 'I will bless thee and thou shalt be a blessing.' Our fathers and forefathers, pioneers of this county, have gone from labor to reward; yet they are in their work present today. Their labors are still going on and on. Our work will go on. It has been referred to that we preserve a history for the rising generation. Now our forefathers, they have made this county what it is. They did not enjoy what we are enjoying today. When we look back and see the hardships they have endured in making this county, bringing up their families, constructing churches, schoolhouses, doing for the rising generation, we can truly say they are a blessing today.

I do not know whether this rising generation will have to endure the hardships that they did. When we look back and see the spinning wheel, when they had to make a living therefrom, and the advantages we have today, there is a wonderful difference. All things are yours, things present and things to come.

"It will be 74 years the first day of next month since I came to Sandusky county, and I have always resided there, except three years I served in the army, and I must say that I remember when the county was quite a wilderness. I remember when I first started to school, I had three miles and all the way through the woods and went to the same school Mr. Burgoon went to, and his brother's wife at the time taught the school and was the first teacher I went to in my time of going to school. I remember very well in those times when people would go five or six tuiles to help raise a building and they were much more sociable and enjoyable then than they are at present. I remember when people would plant crops, for instance, wheat or corn, they would have large crops if they had luck enough to escape coon, black birds, turkey, deer and all such enemies that would destroy the crops if they were not frightened away. Where I lived, down on Mud Creek, coming up to Fremont, it was going from one chuck ,;hole into another and could hardly be passed with a wagon in some places. People took a bag of corn or wheat and had to have a pretty early start to get back that day from the mill."

"Tf there is any place where: I would rather stand before an audience it is before old people and hear their reminiscences. My wife and I went to Toledo last Wednesday to our national Hufford family reunion. I see some faces whom I know were there. It does my heart good to meet the old friends and old pioneers and es- ' pecially when it comes to my own relations. I hear some _ quotation here today that I am going to refute a little. There is a history out that Ohio has been the leading state in the union of furnishing great men to our national legislature. The state: ment is correct.

"Once when there was a national congress about to be organized after a national election, a newly elected member went to Washington to get acquainted with the situation. He asked a gentleman there: 'Who is that man?' He answered: 'That is Beveridge. He is from Indiana, but born in Ohio." 'That other grayhaired fellow, who is he?' 'He hails from Indiana; born in Ohio.' He asked all along down the line and all born. in Ohio. He.-says> 'For God's sake were all great men born in Ohio?' Some of them were born in Sandusky county.

"We furnished one president of the United States from Sandusky county. We are proud of it and of the man. One of the former speakers today said he was from Ballville township and said a great amount of cabbage and potatoes was raised there. He was reared in Sandusky township. We sent him to Ballville township.

"Friends, as I said before, if there is any class of people I would rather stand before and hear, it is the pioneers. It did my very heart good to hear old Father Feasel, 94 years old, stand before this audience, and tell of his life, the hardships, privations and what he had gone through and helped to bring about. Old Father Bowlus, to tell the people what he has done and gone through, and the privations he has endured and stand before an audience born in the '80's and stand in this 1915 and talk to an audience of people that are a great part of them younger than he and say the progress is going on. "Friends, a pioneer is one who goes before. One who prepares the way, lays out the plans, but he is laying the plans and foundation as old King David did in regard to the Temple. He laid the plans for the materials and his son, Solomon, built the structure. The pioneers have built the foyndations of our progress of our houses, churches and school houses. The next generation is to carry into execution what the pioneers laid the foundation for. The man with gray hairs knew nothing about the automobile, nothing about the electric car or telegraphy, nothing about the railroad system. We have only been laying the foundation for the whole process. You were the ones who paved the way and inculcated into the minds of the people the ideas that have brought about the progress we are now enjoying. "Forty-five years ago just about now I came to this city, got the greater part of my education where this school building stands now. At that time the city of Fremont thought she was doing a great educational that got too small. Another was built and now you have this great building today. The forefathers, like old Brothers Feasel and Bowlus, you laid the foundation for the progress we have now.

"There is a movement on foot for still further advancement. God bless Woodrow Wilson for keeping this country out of war. We, as American citizens, if we keep the right side of righteousness, the world will look to us in our progress and we will be the greatest nation in the world and we will be the cable between the old world and the world to be."

The following great people were natives of the Buckeye state: The Indian chieftains, Pontiac and Tecumseh; Generals Sherman, Sheridan, Grant, Custer and McPherson; the eminent statesmen, Edwin M. Stanton, Joshua R. Giddings, Benjamin

Wade, Hayes, Garfield, McKinley, Benjamin Harrison, John Sherman and Hendricks; the sculptors, T. D. Jones and J. Q. R. Ward; the journalists and authors, W. D. Howells, the Cary sisters, Venable, Gallagher, Whitelaw Reid, McGahan, George Kennan; the song writers, Dan Emmett - who wrote "Dixie' and "Old Dan Tucker,' B. R. Handby - who wrote "Darling Nellie Gray,' A. C. Ross - who wrote "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too," and Will L. Thompson - who wrote "Gathering Shells from the Seashore," and "Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling,' the _ scientists, Brush, Hdison and the Wright brothers.

Ohio has furnished the union seven presidents born within or elected from the state and one chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

The two. great' generals received the surrender of the confederate troops at the close of the civil war, were both from Ohio - Grant and Sherman.

"T am certainly pleased to be here for a little while this afternoon. I was just thinking this morning that those of us who are younger, owe a great debt of gratitude to those who are older. It takes a great deal of time, to build anything of great permanence and value. People who die young do not have time to finish the work of a human life.

"It takes God one night to grow a mushroom; it takes Him twenty years to build a man; a mushroom will perish the next day; the man who takes twenty years to grow, lives to be 60, 80 or 100 years. The pumpkin is grown in a single season, but it takes one hundred years to grow an oak tree. The pumpkin will be-rotted in a little time; but the oak in this table will be here one hundred years from now.

owe a great debt of gratitude to the pioneers of Sandusky county. They are to be remembered by all of us as the ones who laid the foundations of civilization. The young people are compelled to build upon the foundation you are building. It is essential for pioneers to be honest. You must have honest men to build the foundation. People build houses, put on fine colors, fine decorations, and think thev have a great building, but unless the foundation is firm, the fancy work will fall to pieces in a I'tile while. You pioneers built well. That is why God made you honest.

"Pioneer work is always accompanied by sacrifice. It can be no other way. Let a man buy a farm for $1.25 an acre and he has bought a sacrifice. You bought it for nearly nothing and you have added until it values $200.00. Your blood has paid well for every dollar added to the acres of Sandusky county.

"The pioneer must lead a life of sacrifice. His land is not cleared, not tiled; he has no fences. He must begin at the beginning, and no man can begin at the beginning without putting sacrifice into the development. It cannot be otherwise. We have entered into the rewards of your hard labor and sacrifice. The pioneers are the people upon whom me must depend for the things that are to come.

"One civilization springs out of its predecessors. I was in New York City a few months ago. They were destroying a ten-story building, and I asked why they were tearing down such a building. The man answered they had to have a thirty-story building to make it pay. They were ruthlessly tearing down a building to make a three times larger building thereon.

"Our fathers labored and built before we entered this life. We will be laid away in the grave and others will take our places. Let us remember that in the Divine program there is also a human offering and we should remember where it ought and can be placed.

ly run the course of life - you have had your chance. It has been an honor for you to bear the sweat upon your brow to build Sandusky county. God did not make a man to be idle. 'He did not make a man to ride in an automobile only. If you have been an idler in building civilization, then shame on you - you go down to your grave with disgrace. If your shoulders are bent with an honest load, then the more bent you are, and the paler you are, and the more deformed you are today, the more glorious will rest upon your brow the crown of your reward.

"It is a comfort to those who are getting old, that they have the banner of life above head and are glad for having lived in Sandusky county.

"Sometimes we younger fellows get the idea that we are the whole business. If it had not been for the pioneers, we would have nothing. Some times the young man thinks he is responsible for the large farm he owns. There would not be any red barns nor painted houses, except for the fathers who laid the basis upon which the young farmers are successful today. Let those who are young remember that we would not have the good things we have, but for the fathers and mothers who have poured out their blood for one hundred years for the civilization we have today.

"One day while I was at my father's farm I climbed to the corn crib loft and saw a rusted sickle - a sickle my grandfather used one hundred years ago. Under it was .a great pile of iron rust, the accumulation of forty years. I looked over into the corner of the'Joft and saw an old grain cradle. When a boy I followed a big soldier who swung that cradle, when all the wheat on the old farm was cut by that strong man. It had been lying there unused for twentyfive years. I saw the remains of the first old self-binder and walked to the barn floor and there saw a new McCormick. They are all proud of that McCormick. I said: 'Would you dare make fun of the old sickle?' I said to myself, there would be no Mc- Cormick on this barn floor but for that old sickle that was almost eaten away by the rust of time. My father is 79 years old today. He has celebrated his 58rd wedding anniversary and is now tottering on the verge of the grave. He has seven children.

"T wish to say to you, my friends, every young man and woman ought to take off his hat and bow his head when meeting an old person. We have what we have today and we are what we are today because of the pioneers of this county who lived and worked and died that we might have these blessings of our modern civilization.

"All hail! to the men and women who started our county on the things which were done. May the remainder of your years be the sweetest and best of all your lives!"

Chorister M. L. Shackelford introduced Master Jack O'Farrell, aged five years, who linked the centuries between age and youth in a well executed rendition of a popular song. Mr. Shackelford said:

"In the year 2000, when the young pioneer whom I have the honor to present to you has reached the ripe old age of ninety years, he will look back proudly through the vista of time and say: 'I am Jack O'Farrell and way back in 1915, before the meeting of the Pioneer and Historical Association in Sandusky county, I had the pleasure, and the distinguished honor of singing for them that old war-stirring Irish ballad,

~«The young musician was accompanied on the piano by his mother, Mrs. Albert O'Farrell, and he respcended to an encore by singing a niece entitled: 'Huldah Hawkin's Ball." He was then decorated with the badge of honor and left the stage with flowers and moist eyes fixed upon him in his pretty sailor suit."

"TI came here to listen to Rev. Roberts' splendid address, and I had hoped that I might escape observation. I appreciate, however, your kindness in calling upon me for a few remarks, and I assure you I will be brief.

"This splendid organization is krown 2 the Sandusky County Pioneer and Historical Society. Under the first part of your title I cannot qualify for membership. I am not a pioneer, nor an early settler, but I have done the best I could - I have lived here all my life, and never expect to live anywhere else permanently. I have had the good fortune to travel from Coast to Coast across this continent, from Atlantic City in the east, to Los Angeles and San Francisco in the west; and from Vancouver to Virginia, and I have yet failed to find the place that I would rather make my permanent home than here in Sandusky county. The speaker, who preceded, praised you for the struggle you made here in redeeming this garden spot from the wilderness, and making it the splendid abiding place that it is, not only for the present generation but for all future generations. There are places in Southern California where, ot course, the conditions are ideal, and where, if you have the means to hire help and irrigate the land, plant palms and tropical trees, and take care of them, you can have a beautiful home. But it has been demonstrated that Ohio is a much better place for a poor man than California, and that by using the same methods and labor and care we can produce with equal success many of the fruits that are raised in Southern California. And it is due to the struggles and labor and earnest efforts of you men and women of silvered brow that this condition in Ohio has been brought about.

"Now, as to the historical part of your title. This organization is not properly considered by a great many of our citizens. By many this occasion is considered simply as a reunion of the pioneers of the county. But it is much more than that, and the object of your organization includes the important feature of collecting the historical data of the county and preserving it in permanent form. Mr. Meek, Major Burgoon and others are doing much work in this respect, and I for one wish to offer my services in collecting the historical anecdotes and data of this county and keep them in permanent form for future generations. This object of your organization is as important as any other.

"There is probably no county in this state that is richer in historical data than Sandusky county. This county has furnished a president of the United States; it furnished the highest ranking officer on the Union side killed in the Civil War; it furnished the first American volunteer killed in the Spanish-American War; and then, a stone's throw from where we now sit, there is a sacred spot where American youth and valor won a noble battle. Every incident of the early life of our people here should be preserved, and in doing this your ing this I am speaking more properly of the younger generation who now offer to do what they can to preserve the record of achievement of those who fought here, and many of whom suffered and died here."

Bouquets Presented

"We have as you know a custom in our association of giving to the oldest man and oldest lady present at our reunions, a bouquet of flowers. The sentiment we all love and express in practice, of strewing flowers at the grave of our beloved dead, is certainly beautiful, as emblems of our love and remembrance, and not to be neglected. This association, however, has adopted what is thought to. be a better thing to do - that is, to present flowers to the liying."

Mr. Feasel, aged 94, was then presented with a beautiful bouquet, he being the oldest man present. Mrs. Elizabeth Stine, aged 89, being the claesc lady present, was also presented with a handsome bouquet. Rev. Bowman received a beautiful token of

J. D. Hensel. A bouquet for Richard Willey, aged 98, the oldest man in the county, who is critically ill at his home in Rice township, was also given to friends, to take to the aged Mr. Willey.

Music

Ralph K. Buckland, musician and musical composer, favored the audience with beautiful selections on the piano, one of which was Mendelsohn's "Consolation," in response to an encore.

Mr. M. L. Shackelford, chorister, sang "Annie Laurie,' and being encored, sang the song entitled, "A Soldier Bold,' to the delight of those present.

Miss Gladys Vermilya, a_ special favorite of the pioneers at their annual reunions, sang a beautiful song entitled, "Sing Me to Sleep,' and as an encore favored the meeting with the song, 'Calm as the Night."

The Pioneer Log Cabin

THE PIONEER LOG CABIN At the close of the pioneer meeting Rev. Bowman made the following remarks and read his poem, "The Pioneer Log Cabin and Relics." respect from Mrs. Jerry Fought. John Roberts and Mr. and Mrs. Meek were also the recipients of beautiful flowers. Those to Mr. and Mrs. Meek were from Miss Mabel Hensel, the dear invalid daughter of Mr. and Mrs.

when he began his sermon he held up before the audience his manuscript, yellow with age, and said: "Here is a sermon I have preached twenty years ago and the oftener I preach it the better it gets!" The same I may say of this poem composed some twenty years ago.

As to pioneer relics, I think the time has come that something should be done to preserve them, and I shall do all in my power and spare time to further the noble cause, if nothing further can be done than to have a log cabin erected on the county fair grounds as a place to deposit such relics. I think it would be both interesting and profitable to the coming generations. I hope this association with others of a similar character will give a helping hand.

See the shining hearth, fire-dogs hot, The iron crane, the steaming pot, The bellows, shovel, poker, tongs, Each to the fireplace quaint belongs. Look at the good old cupboard there See - it was so most everywhere - Dishes, crock'ry, sugar and spice, Vermifuge, razor strop and mice!

Just look and see the trundle bed, Father's, mother's, just overhead; The trough-like cradle on the floor, The flintlock gun above the door! The fiax scuttle and weaver's loom,

Persons Present And Registering

The meeting closed by singing "Nearer My God to Thee," and thus the reunion of 1915 of the Sandusky County Pioneer and Historical Association passed into history.

Special Trustee Meeting

Present: I. H. Burgoon, president; Basil Meek, secretary; J. D. Hensel, treasurer, and J. L. Parks, HE. C. Huss, G. H. Waggoner, B. B. Overmyer, J. L. Loose, G. F. Aldrich and Jacob Rimelspach.

On motion of Mr. Aldrich, duly seconded, the secretary, Basil Meek, was selected editor of the Year Book of the Association for the year 1915, and he and the president, J. H. Burgoon, were authorized to contract for the printing of 500 copies of same to be of the size of that of 1914.

My father, who came to Lower Sandusky in 1832, brought his bride in 1835-and built the house which was directly across Croghan street from the Hulburd home. Father bought the lot from George F. Whitaker and wife, June 4, 1834, the descendant of the first white inhabitant of Lower Sandusky.

The first Mr. Whitaker and his wife were made captives in 1775-1778 in childhood by the Wyandot Indians, who then lived in that region. Their chief was named Tarhe, the Crane.

Our house was a story and a half seven room house and _ remained standing until within a year or two. It was quite a pretentious building for its day and very carefully kept by its New England mistress. Here the little flock of five children were born and tended by the parents with the medical aid of the dignified, distinguished-looking Dr. La Q@. Rawson.

The prevalent agues and _ bilious fevers of those days were accompanied by heroic doses of calomel and "blue mass," which were supposed to .- aid in prolonging the lives of the unhappy victims. But only gratitude and affection remain for the careful, solicitous physician who stood, next to the home people, first in our childish esteem. Our reverence for him calls to mind the query of the little girl about the minister; "Mamma, is that Dod" (God)?

I remember, in a fit of childish pique, throwing two or three of those valuable "blue pills" the Doctor had given me on the floor. The good Doctor jocosely offered to reward me for taking them by promising to send a boyish admirer down to see me, the aforesaid admirer being secretly my aversion, mainly because the family teased me about him so much. I was so annoyed that I slipped the pills through the rungs of the settee on which I was lying instead of taking them. They probably did me just as much good.

recollections of those early days was Fort Stephenson with the Hulburd house on its .crest and its pleasant occupants. Mrs. Hulburd, with her genial manner and smiling face, was noted for her neighborly ways. One of these pleasant ways was the rolling of toothsome cucumbers down the historic trench embankment to my placid mother who received them iu her polite, dignified manner. Very often I was the means of communication between the two ladies, as, tripping across the street to the embankment, I caught them in my childish hands. The Hulburd house was built in 1832, Mr. Jaques Hulburd buying the Fort sometime previously. The house was somewhat in the style of the popular modern bungalow, one story with a half story above, if I remember rightly. The generous porch around it was quite unlike anything in the little village, and I remember well its magnificent size to my young eyes, and how I luxuriated in the life on its veranda with its glimpses into the ample rooms opening onto it. This house was occupied for some years by Mr. Louis Leppelman and his family. He was a leading jeweler.

Nowhere grew such luscious currants as on the Hulburd place. They hung large and ruby-like from their stems, and my first and only lesson in the VIII commandment came from the lips of one of the young men of the family, as I put my little five-yearold hand through the board fence, tempted by the beautiful color of those currants. The memory has lasted for many years, and the voice that made my little heart beat so suffocatingly has been silent in the grave for many, many years. The stalwart form and cheery face of Edwin Hulburd burned to ashes in a railroad wreck. The daughter of the house was the object of my great admiration on account of her beauty.

The old log jail in the rear of my home was never a source of anxiety to the children living so near. Perhaps the law was never violated in those halcyon days! The rooms in the second story of Rev. Lang's home adjacent to the jail, had been the court rooms, but my first school days were passed there, the seats in tiers at the rear being much coveted by the pupils. Rev. Lang, always mild and gentlemanly, was my first instructor in the German language.

Dr. Brainard, a near neighbor, was one of the earliest physicians in Lower Sandusky, coming in 1819. He built one of the first brick houses in the village in 1840. It was a Colonial house with a wide hall through the center and large rooms on either side. A fine stairway led to the upper rooms. It was three or four stories in height and was the residence, during the youth and until their marriage, of the Doctor's pretty daughters, the belles of the village.

number of years by Norton & Sons. It was afterwards used by the Christy Knife Works. F. I. Norton and Cornelius Letcher previously built the foundry on the river bank opposite the Thomas Hawkins residence. I remember Mr. Hawkins as one of the original characters of Lower Sandusky. Mr. Stephen Newcomer was one of the foundry's most faithful and trusted employees. The June Brothers afterward purchased the foundry. F. I. Norton was also a dry goods merchant on Front street in the early days of Lower Sandusky. A cotton dress I wore, the goods imported from France and costing one dollar a yard, came from my father's store.

Historians of "Ye Old Town" fail to mention the heroic efforts of the Episcopal ladies in the early days of the struggling little church. Among them were Mrs. R. P. Buckland, Mrs. J. W. Wilson, Mrs. F. I. Norton, Mrs. J. R. Pease, Mrs. George Grant and a host of other good ladies who kept up the organization of the church. Such devotion and energy I have never seen equalled as in that little band of faithful women." One good wife and mother, Mrs. J. W. Wilson, in speaking of her health said, "Mrs. Norton, we must take care of our health and lives for we are the charter members of the church." My ideals of womankind were stimulated by these loyal, Christian women.

These dear ladies were very hospitable and had frequent afternoon "tea parties." I well remember the excited home atmosphere when my mother was going to have one of these functions. One ceremony I particularly liked, that of cutting the loaf sugar into small bits of equal size and regular shape. This was always done by my mother, and I was always an interested spectator. The sugar was imported and came in great loaves or cones which weighed nine or ten pounds to a cone. This pure white sugar was wrapped closely in a deep purplish blue paper of unusual tint and was, I think, about one and a half feet high, the bottom round, about eight inches in diameter and the top terminating in a point. I have one of the iron sugar cutters shaped like small tongs and having a sharp edge. The rather broad, shallow white china tea-cups were very beautiful, and tea tasted much more delicious than in the ordinary teacups. The tea-cups of both grandmothers were of pink lustre with a landscape in the bottom of the cup.

But these pleasant reminiscences of the dear old town must cease for want of space. When thinking of the past, Lower Sandusky, to me, stands out like a beautiful picture on memory's wall, bathed always in golden sunlight, the Sandooskie, 'Sweet Dark Waters," named by the Indians, running under the old bridge, nearby the old Beaugrand brick house, Dr. Pierre Beaugrand's home, the lilac blooming by the door in the pretty green yard, the forms and faces of the long ago, and, in fancy, I see the Indian trails, the dark, straight figures of the Indians stalking majestically through the forest. And so - old Lower Sandooskie - farewell!

Harrison Rock

Among the many objects of historic interest in Sandusky county, Ohio, is a large boulder of granitic formation thirteen feet in length, ten feet in width with a slightly crowning surface, seven feet thick, containing one thousand cubic feet of rock, and of the estimated weight of eighty tons, lying on the west side of the public road by the farm of Hugh Havens at a point between section 14 and 15 in Jackson township, about six miles southwest from Fremont.

It is known as "Harrison Rock," and was so named by the present writer by permission of Mr. Havens. from the interesting incident established by general and what seems to be undisputed tradition that General William Henry Harrison, while conducting his campaigns in the war of 1812 in the Sandusky and Maumee valleys against the British and their Indian allies, on one occasion, with his military staff, used it as a messtable. His headquarters then were at Fort Seneca on the Sandusky river, nine miles above Lower Sandusky, now Fremont, part of his army occupying Fort Meigs on the Maumee river, forty miles away with a dense wilderness intervening, haunted with roaming hostile savages. By his order a military road was opened connecting his headquarters with Fort Meigs, which road passed directly by this rock; and on the occasion referred to, while passing from his headquarters to Fort Meigs the General and his military staff partook of this repast on the rock. The records of an early survey of the land of the locality verify the proximity of the rocx to the road. The farms on both sides of the rock have been in the Yavens family for over sixty years; and the venerable Hugh Havens well remembers traces of this old military trail or road from the opening made by the removal of the strip of trees in the woods to form a passageway for military vehicles, and that these traces were clearly visible near the spot where the boulder lies.

A memorial tablet has been placed on the face of the rock by Col. George Croghan Chapter D. A. R., Fremont, Ohio, with an inscription commemorative of the interesting incident mentioned.

The natural history of this boulder is interesting. How came it where it is? How did it come, from. whence and when? Geology furnishes us the only reasonable answer to these questions. The boulder is certainly not native to Sandusky county, but it is what may be termed an "immigrant" from some other region. There is no place in Ohio where any out crop of bedrock of similar formation to our boulder is found; no drill has ever penetrated to a depth where such granitic bedrock has been reached. The nearest ledges to our region of out crops of granitic bedrock are found in Northern New York and Canada. From one of these, most likely Canada, which is more directly north from us, this boulder came. It, and other smaller ones of its kind called hard heads, or nigger heads, which lie thickly scattered in portions of the county, from their somewhat rounded and smoothed surfaces would indicate that they have been transported by being rolled (bowled - hence their name boulder or bowlder) along a great distance. Geology informs us that many thousands of years ago there was a great ice period, during which this entire northern region of ours was covered with glacial ice to a very great depth, having its origin in, and moving down from the far north, southward, at the very slow rate of but a few feet each day, but with such resistless force as to change the whole surface of the earth over which it passed, filling natural valleys, piling up ridges, damming and changing water courses, forming lakes, creating water falls, among them that of the stupendous Niagara.

a stranger in a strange land, where it now remains, as monumental evi-° dence of the great glacial period claimed by geologists to have once existed.

Could this rock audibly speak to us of this day what a romantic story it could relate! It might speak of its native home in the far north; of the great glacial stream formed by the interminable snows there ever falling and never melting which forced it therefrom; of its long tedious and dreary journey, and the vicissitude of the same, before reachingits present and final resting place; of

It is reasonable to suppose from geological authority, that this rock was taken from its native ledge in the north, and being clasped in the frozen embrace of this mighty glacial ice stream was transported in its tedious and dreary voyage of hundreds of miles to its present locality, requiring probably a hundred years in the accomplishment of its journey; and that finally, when the springtime to this long glacial winter of thousands of years' duration came, the ice melted, the waters ran off and our large boulder was dumped, and left the long period of the glacial winter remaining here, before summer came; of the final change of the seasons, the coming of spring tinve and summer, and growth of the great forests; of the abounding wild animal life; of the coming of man, first the savage red man, who in his roaming life probably found a resting place on this very rock; of the final coming of the white man, and what is now to be seen in all directions from the spot, the wilderness subdued, the splendid farms, and the beautiful homes of happy and prosperous people.

Mr. Everett then said: I would say to those present that those in control of the court house have kindly united in giving the pioneers and others the use of the court house today. We said we were going to raid there. Ladies will find free access to the sheriff's house and to the hall below. There, if you need hot water to make your tea and coffee, you will be accommodated. It is desirable for as many of us to stay here at lunch time as possible, because it so greatly increases the sociability to take our lunch together, tell stories - and if they are a little exaggerated, they can be allowed on this occasion. Mr. I. H. Burgoon next read extracts from the minutes of the previous meeting, giving merely the substance of a report too lengthy to be read in full, and no objection being made the minutes stood approved as the records of the society.

Mr. Everett then solicited the pioneers to narrate any facts in regard to the early settlements of the country, when they came here, how they lived, what the condition of the schools and churches, the opportunities for learning and refinement, as it would not only be interesting to hear them but it was important to place them on record that they may be preserved. "I believe when I look forward to the future history of this country I shall be accused of writing a work of fiction. The history of the early pioneers becomes more and more like fiction every year. I solicit a statement of facts, letters, relics, specimens of geology, old papers or anything of interest to pioneers."

Mr. J. P. Moore then read a letter written by Ezekiel Rice to Mr. Ira Camfield, March 11, 1840. The letter was written on old fashioned foolscap, folded, sealed, and mailed without an envelope and marked for 25 cents postage. The writer encouraged Mr. Camfield to emigrate to Whitestone, Ohio, and among other things stated that a Mr. Wilson was superintendent of the Ohio Railroad and had _ his office at Lower Sandusky (now Fremont) and would give him ground for a building near the proposed depot, that the bridge across the river was formed but not raised; that there were two spile drivers and two saw mills at work on the route from Sandusky to Manhattan, thirty miles. He quoted prices as follows:

Mr. Moses Boggs then said he would like to say a few words in regard to the Ohio Railroad. He and Mr. Luckey had a job seven miles north of where he lived. They took one mile, it was all woods. They got out the timber and cleared. the ground. The road was built on spiles and had the old square rails. They were very poor and had but little money. Four of them worked together with two yoke of oxen and sleds. They logged up the timber. Ten feet in the middle they cut the stump level with the ground. They finished their work almost before anyone else commenced. Mr. Wilson, the superintendent, came and was_ surprised and pleased to see how well and promptly they had done their work, and offered them another job to get out bridge timber at the rate of six dollars a hundred, running measure, big and little, delivered on the ground, the superintendent paying for the timber. They took the job, hired another man, and by his help and two yoke of oxen they got out timber for the bridge, 80 rods long, trestlework. The big timbers were two feet by one foot in thickness. The work was done with dispatch, and the men made about five dollars a day, which gave them quite a lift in buying farming utensils and ceries. They never saw as hard times since as before, it gave them a "lucky start." Mr. Boggs then had only forty acres on Toussaint Creek, and he has ever since looked back to the old

Ohio R. R. as the commencement of his prosperity. He said, "I commenced in 1834 right in the dense woods which extended clear through to the Maumee. The mosquitoes and blackbirds were there to annoy us, our stock died with murrain, we took sick with the ague, and some of us would have to go round nights to sit up with the sick; sometimes a whole family would be down sick. Newcomers would help in caring for the sick, but it was hard to work all day and sit up all night. Mrs. Rice there (widow of Ezekiel Rice), would often go. She was a mother to any amount of people who were sick. But we got along better every year. When the Maumee road was macadamized it was a great help to us, we could then go to mill or market at Fremont or Perrysburg with satisfaction. Before that the roads were often almost impassable. I think we on the Portage river had it a little harder than some of the rest of you; the country was level and wet, and we could not ditch it. Land along the Sandusky river was mostly dry. But we have persevered and we consider we have a good country now around Elmore. The old pioneers cleared the timber, worked out the stumps around which we used to dig and grub and now our children can get on their sulky plows and ride along without a stump or stone or bush to annoy them. I hope they will improve the opportunities they have and still make the country better. I think we have the richest garden of Ohio. I think I see a good many of the sons and daughters of the old pioneers here and I wish they would remember these old pioneers and make their remaining lives as pleasant as they can."

Mr. Everett then announced that Gen. R. P. Buckland would address the pioneers after dinner on "ye olden time" as lived by the legal profession.

He said Mr. Boggs' talk had reminded him of many things. He had recently been at a soldiers' reunion where they had a glorious time, and while he accorded to the soldiers all the honors due in battling for their country the old folks who are here know that the battles are not on the battlefield of strife, man against man.

There is a great battle of life to be fought and in that men and women who are here have had their conflicts and their victories. They had to overcome want, sickness, wild beasts, dense forests, bad roads and many privations. The heroes of such a war ought to be honored as well as the others. There is not so much difference between the sufferings of soldiers on the tented field and those of the pioneers of civilization in this country.

"Mr. President - I think I ought not to occupy the attention of this large audience of pioneers of Sandusky county; I claim to be a pioneer but not of this part of Ohio. Sixty-one years ago I commenced life near Columbus, Ohio. All the country between here and there was a wilderness, so that while I am not a pioneer of the northern part of Ohio, I am one of Central Ohio; my father came from Massachusetts in 1810; mother from Pennsylvania, the same year, and they soon after united their personal fortunes in the neighborhood of Columbus. I congratulate you that so many of you are here today and enjoy, to all appearance, excellent health. If the pioneer's life was hard to endure, it developed muscle and brains and ingenuity, and the whole man was brought out so that there was something more than muscle - powers of mind as well. I have been accustomed through my life to venerate the pioneers of this country. The office which I hold as a minister has been filled, a large portion of it in the capacity of presiding elder, and in the holding quarterly meetings. I have traveled all over the region between Marion, Ohio, and Portsmouth on the Ohio river. I was married in 1844. I know pioneers who settled at Athens and Gallipolis and many other points. I spent many a pleasant evening with a Frenchman who settled at Gallipolis. I have taken great pleasure in conversing with these men. They were strong in body and mind and will, and all those elements that make complete manhood. I am glad to be here to see you today. I could relate a few incidents perhaps of the early settlers in the part of the state where I belong. They would vary a little from yours. I remember distinctly where my father lived near Bellefontaine, that the Indians used to come there in large squads with some of their chiefs. They said they came from the neighborhood, and from the old mission about Upper Sandusky and Sandusky City. I remember of their coming to our home and of my mother giving them something to eat. Some of my first recollections when I was but 3 or 4 years old were about seeing these Indians. I am always pleased when I have oecasion to drive out into the country on funerals, weddings, etc., to see the wonderful resources you have - the wonderful harvests that have come from the toils of the pioneers; the beautiful homes, houses worthy of any profession or any place in life; and there is nothing that does me more good than to see on one of these farms a_ good, substantial, roomy house, for I know that the occupant has earned the privilege of living in it by hard toil and labor in clearing up the forests. Perhaps during the services of the day there may be something of a more mournful character. I do not know your history, but it is more than probable there are some who have passed away, and others who are not able to be here today. We are sojourners as were all our fathers; we are passing away, but it is a matter of great consolation and rejoicing to know that a very large portion of the pioneers who populated this wilderness were Christian men who believed in a life to come; who lived here preparatory to a life forever where age comes not, where resurrection power makes beauty and

Mr. Everett then said that the sad part of the exercises referred to by Rev. Mathers would be in reading in the afternoon of the secretary's report, concerning the deaths of pioneers during the past year.

tables were set in various parts of the court room, which were soon surrounded by a jolly set of gray-haired Sires and matrons who, with their younger friends, did ample justice tc the good things set before them. It was pleasant to see so many cheerful faces both of those who ministered and those who were ministered unto, and to hear tales of long ago and reference to the light of other days.

.The pioneers promptly assembled in the court room at 1 o'clock. The house was crowded by an eager and attentive throng, who listened with close attention to the afternoon exercises. _

The president requested the names of any persons present from abroad; also, the names of those wishing to become members of the Pioneer Association. The following names were obtained:

Capt. James Hafford, born in 1815; Harriet B. Ingrahm, of Elmore, born in 1813; Jonas Smith, born in Seneca county, N. Y., 1807, settled here in 1833; Mrs. E. Short, Fremont; Enos Grover, born in Genesee county, N. Y., in 1810, settled here in 1835; Mrs. F. I. Norton, came to Fremont in 1835; W. C. Hollingshead, born in 1829; John Reed, born in 1823; George Hyde, born in Genesee county, N. Y., 1815, moved to Sandusky county in 1852; Christian Binkley, born in 1812, settled here in 1843; I. L. Tyndall, born in Ballville in 1836; Mrs. J. L. Tyndall; Mrs. Martha Tyndall; Mrs. Maria G. Fowler, settled here in 1843; A. Campbell, of Oak Harbor; Adam Herrod, born in 1825, settled here in 1827; Mrs. Edward Tyndall, 1835; William Rearic, born in Pennsylvania in 1835; John Bice, of Rice county, Minn., who was here in 1844, was a visiting pioneer.

The president next introduced General R. P. Buckland as a gentleman who had been connected with the early settlements of this country, and who had held offices of honor and trust in the county, state and nation.

would address you today. I am sorry to say in the outset that in consequence of the protracted illness of my wife and other pressing matters I have neglected to prepare myself for such an address as I would be glad to deliver to you today, and I would not appear at all under the circumstances but for fear you might attribute my silence to want of interest in these annual meetings. I assure you that I take the liveliest interest in them, and I am always delighted to hear my old pioneer friends relate their experience in the early settlement of this country. I must content myself today, however, with making a sort of rambling speech, perhaps saying some things about myself that may be considered trifling or foolish; but I have concluded to commence back and give some incidents in my early life and that of some of my friends, relating to occurrences which have taken place since I came to this county. I was born in Massachusetts, January 20, 1812, hence am 71 years of age. My father came to Portage county as a surveyor in 1810, then as a volunteer in Hull's army. He marched through the Black Swamp in 1812. I happened after 1 came here in 1837 to be over at the Portage river over there where E]- more now is and went to see Judge Herrington, but he was not at home. I found only an old lady sitting upon a loom weaving. I inquired of her whether the judge was at home; she said he was away. She looked at me and said, "Are you a son of Ralph P. Buckland, who was in the army of 1812?" I told her I was. Herrington then resided near the river, down the hill. Now I find it is generally sup: posed when a man has arrived at or passed the age of three score years and ten, if he has any natural pride, he will take great pleasure in talking about himself, and his early days, telling what marvelous things happened years ago; perhaps telling how much better people were in early times than they are now, how much better the men and women and boys and girls were then. But I want to say to you now, that in my opinion the rise of nations and the rise of the individual man and the condition of society was never so well understood nor so much respected as at the present day. The attributes of mankind have been the same since the days of Adam and Eve, but humanity through all the revolutions of time has made steady progress from that day to this. Now there were bad people, bad boys and girls in all ages. Of course, I claim to have been one of the good boys (laughter). I never went into a man's watermelon patch, but I know boys who did. Now, if I give you any stories that are extravagant or ridiculous you can account for it, as I am past the age of three score and ten.

Well, in 1835 I was a law student with Caleb Bidwell and James Hitchcock. Bidwell died in this place; Hitchcock is still living in New York. A little incident occurred there which I will relate to show that boys are always boys. Hitchcock was in the habit of smoking a pipe in the office. Bidwell and I didn't smoke. Judge Newton was very much opposed to smoking. Hitchcock didn't smoke while the judge was in the office and we talked so much about his being a coward that he finally declared that when the judge came in again he would smoke his pipe. So just before the usual time he got his pipe ready and prepared himself to carry out his threat, but just as Judge Newton was coming in and about to take his seat Hitchcock's pipe exploded. Hitchcock and I left the office suddenly and didn't go back there that day. This was in 1835. During the fall Caleb Bidwell went to Toledo, speculating in real estate, and he came back about the first of January and told such marvelous stories about the great fortunes to be made in Toledo and the large amount of money he had made there that he set everybody crazy. and as I was boarding with an uncle of mine, Canfield, he among the rest also got crazy to go to Toledo to make investments. Accordingly in January, 1836, I went to Toledo. I remember very well after riding all night in the stage we stopped at the corner hotel, afterwards the Kessler House, and took breakfast. It was then kept by the father of O. A. Roberts, of this city. I went to Toledo and remained there until July. While I was there I boarded at the Old Indian House. Judge Potter was then living in Toledo. Richard Mott was there and we boarded at the same house. While there, a friend of mine owned a tract of land back of Oak Harbor. I got across the Maumee river and rode out to where Elmore now is, and then went down the river to the site of Oak Harbor and there I found Mr. Kreamer. I think there was but one house between Toledo and Portage river; there was simply a trail through. That was my first entrance into what was then Sandusky county. While in Toledo I had for a time charge of the Toledo Blade. It was then published by George B. Way, a lawyer, who had a good library. He went away and left' me in charge. And while there in charge of the Blade the man who afterwards became a supreme judge of the state was then a journeyman printer, Richard Mott. He and Judge Potter are the only ones who were then liying that are now living in Toledo. I returned to Canfield, then in Trumbull county, in July, 1837, and during the next winter married Miss Charlotte Boughton, of Canfield, and moved to Lower Sandusky. I was admitted to the bar in 1837, and about the 15th of June, 1837, arrived in Lower Sandusky on my way west. But between the time I left home and came here most of the banks in the country failed, and I had not one dollar in my pocket that was good for a night's lodging; consequently I stopped right here where I didn't intend to stop, and I boarded that summer with Bidwell and his wife in the house recently occupied by Mrs. Gurney. It was torn away this summer. I had to stop to earn a little money to accomplish my purpose of going further west, and I have not done it yet (laughter). At any rate I got money enough by borrowing and one way or another to go back to Canfield and get married, which I did in January, 1838. I brought my wife here in the spring, and boarded with the lady who sits there, Mrs. F. I. Norton, in that little house now occupied by Dr. Hammer. I boarded with them during the summer. I think in the fall we com- menced keeping house where Mrs. Judge Green now lives. We kept strict account of our expenses the first year. We paid $75 rent and bought some furniture. Our whole expenses for the year amounted to $300, and Ihad pretty hard scratching to get that. Being a lawyer myself I feel more interest in telling about the lawyers than anybody else. The lawyers then in Sandusky county were Peter Yates, W. W. Culver, Bishop Eddy, H. R. Pettibone and Asa Calkins, who soon went off and joined the Mormons. Mr. Pettibone, Mr. Yates and Mr. Eddy moved to Wisconsin. Mr. Pettibone is still living in Fond du Lac. Mr. Culver is still living in the state of New York. A little occurrence took place between Yates and myself which I will take the liberty of relating by way of variety. When I came here I think the only persons who had buggies were Rodolphus Dickinson & Co., D. Brainerd and Peter Yates. Yates was a singular sort of character, very proud but poor, and sometimes he put on a good deal of style. On one occasion he invited me to ride to Tiffin with him in his buggy. It was in the month of May and the weather was quite warm. When we got into his carriage I found him dressed in the neatest style I ever saw. He had on white pants, vest and socks, and low shoes, and also an open white bosom that was done up in the neatest style imaginable, making quite a conspicuous display. I was dressed in the best clothes 1 had with boots on. As luck would have it a chunk of mud struck him square in the breast. He scraped it off carefully but it left a bad spot on his bosom and he swore about it. We passed on to Tiffin and he went around among the lawyers as best he could, but on coming back and going through the same mudhole a piece of rail caught the buggy wheel and tipped us both out. Again as luck would have it I struck with my boots on dry ground, but Yates with his fine clothes, struck into the mud. Of course I won't attempt to describe what occurred immediately afterwards. When we got down town where there was a big trough and pump he washed the dirt off as best he could, and I kept out of his way when I wanted to snort. I refrained . from it as long as I could but I burst out at last and he stopped the buggy and said "Get out." He swore he would never go another step until I would get out. He sat there about an hour. Every once in a while he demanded with all the oaths imaginable for me to get out of the buggy, but I didn't get out, and finally the horse started along and he let it go on to Fremont without speaking a word (laughter). Yates afterwards went to Milwaukee, where he lived many years. He had a son who was captain of a battery in the war, and after the war invented a breech loading cannon. He wrote to me about it while I was in congress. In those days many lawyers used to come to Fremont, sometimes they would come from Columbus, and other towns outside of this county. Among these visiting or traveling I might mention C. L.- Boalt, S. -T: Worcester, J. M. Root and E. M. Stone, all of Norwalk; John M. May, from Mansfield; Major Hopkins, of Milan; James Coffinbury and John C. Spink, of Perrysburg; F. D. Parish and BH. B. Saddler, of Sandusky. Now I believe that of all those lawyers who were in the habit of coming here at that time only Parish and Saddler are now living. I \say they are all dead so far as I know; some died recently. They are all gone except Parish and Saddler. Parish has not practiced law for many years. These lawyers would come here and stop at the hotel with Judge Knapp, who used to keep where Wagner's store now is. I remember the first evening I spent with the lawyers from abroad. Major Hopkins and Coffinbury and Mr. May were always running rigs on each other, but on this evening they got up a sort of a mock court for amusement. It was for the trial of Count Coffinbury. Major Hopkins had laid out a town on the Portage river called Oleron, above where Oak Harbor now is. He charged Count Coffinbury with going down there on his town plat and getting down on all fours and browsing down all the leeks that grew there, and the allegation was that the town property was good for nothing but to raise leeks, and he had browsed them all out. They had a court organized with judge and jury and brought an indictment against Coffinbury for browsing down the leeks of Oleron. They brought in witnesses to testify that they were acquainted with the town, and that the land was worthless only for raising leeks and that they had seen Coffinbury down there on all fours eating it up. The judge charged the jury after the witnesses had testified. The only witnesses on the defense were several that never saw him do it. This evidence was ruled out, same as in the axe case where two witnesses swore that a man stole an axe and six that he didn't. The jury went out and brought in a verdict of guilty, and the court ordered Coffinbury to stand up and receive sentence. The judge expatiated on the enormity of the crime and how sorry he was to find such a distinguished member of the bar guilty of so great a crime before his peers, and he wound up by sentencing the defendant to be punished for the benefit of the court and jury and the officers by being required to furnish the largest bowls of egg-nog he could produce. The egg-nog:.was speedily 'produced (laughter). That was a kind of recreation they got up while attending court. Those' days have passed by. We had a great many pleasant times notwithstanding the hardships of this country. The old pioneers made the best of it, including the lawyers. Well, I established an office here in Lower Sandusky and commenced the practice of law, although I had never been at a court house as often as three times before I came here. Judge Higgins was then on the bench from Norwalk, the onelegged man. He lost his leg I do not know how; I think he was thrown out of a buggy. He remained on the bench two or three years and then retired and went to Washington and took a clerkship and held it until he died. He was a clerk in the treasury department. I saw him there in Washington when I was in congress. I might relate a good many other things that occurred here. My friend Everett was a pretty eminent man, I think he was postmaster. But when

Harrison was elected he was turned out (laughter). But he was more distinguished then as a musician than as anything else. He used to fiddle, and among other things he used to do was to get into a sort of a spree. One time they got Homer to head a democratic procession with a fiddle, and they then marched around town 10 each house and routed men out of bed and marched them in single file down to the hotel to treat to drinks, Homer going ahead with his fiddle and the rest marching on behind (laughter). I was a newcomer here and didn't get much into it, but I enjoyed looking on. Judge Olmstead at one time got very much offended at me. We had a very bad road between here and the warehouse. They used to come with wheat from Hancock county and they would get stuck below town. I was a member of council and we passed a resolution to haul gravel on it. I met Judge Olmstead, who was a warm friend of mine, next morning. He was very mad, we were a good deal alike, pretty spunky and willful in our way. He said, "I understand that you are going to spend the people's money in fixing the road! You newcomers come down here to spend the people's money. You are worse than the Indians to take our money and put it on other people's roads." I said, "Judge, we must improve our roads them make them." Says I, "Judge, it is a great pity you were not removed west of the Mississippi the same time the Indians were." He was a very mad man for some minutes and I got away from him, but he was always a good friend to me notwithstanding. When we look back to those old times and then look around to where all those men are we find but very few of them left.

Judge Olmstead, Judge Justice, David Gallagher, Thomas Gallagher, Daniel Brainerd, Dr. Chamberlain and a great many of those men are gone. Dr. Chamberlain was a widower. Mrs. Husted used to live on Front street in a house with 'a porch in front. She used to come out to sweep the porch when the doctor went by and he fell in love with her. On one occasion as she was sweeping he came up and stopped before her, squared himself and commenced - he was quite a hand to recite poetry - says he, "Madam, from the first time I saw you I loved you, I wish you to be mine, I will take you by the hand and lead you up into life and make you one of the most splendid women around my country." Widow Husted about that time threw a dish of water in his face. He changed his tune, but I won't tell what he said. We had a Dr. Anderson here who was very fond of telling stories and getting rigs on other people, and among other yarns was one in relation to Mr. Everett's playing the fiddle for a dance at Woodville. He said Everett went out _to deliver a Fourth of July oration and the young people were to have a dance in the evening, but as the fiddler they had engaged got drunk they got up a negotiation with Everett to play for them, but for some time they could not agree on the terms; finally Everett agreed to play for two shillings a couple and throw in a speech (laughter). As I told you in the start I would deliver a rambling speech and tell you all the ridiculous things I knew of, you are realizing it now.

I have not told you what happened to me, or that I ever got killed and eaten up by a bear or wolf, but I will tell you what was a fact in regard to myself. When I lived on the Cuyahoga, south of Akron, I was in the water one day with a lot of boys up to my knees and just as I stepped out on the ground a rattle snake bit me on the bare foot. It didn't kill me, but it killed the snake. I yelled out to the boys to come and kill the snake, but as they did not care to do it, I took up a club and killed it. Pass. ing through a field homeward I saw some weeds that I had been told would cure rattle snake bites and I took them with me: My mother boiled them in sweet milk and made a poultice which I put on my foot. After being laid up several weeks with a swelled leg I finally got well. I do not remember of ever seeing a rattle snake in this country. The very first money or speculation I ever made in my life was by raking up a live rattle snake and selling it in town to a traveling museum. In those days Akron did not exist, I have hunted many a day where Akron now stands. It seems very strange to look back and see the many changes that have been made during my remembrance. I recollect when I was in that country, wheat was hard to be disposed of at 25 cents a bushel and everything else in proportion.

When I came here very little traveling was done except on horseback. I think the first trip I made to the west part of this county was to Rollersville. On returning it was late in the afternoon when I started to go across from Rollersville to the Turnpike. It was in the fall of the year. I got belated in the woods. The leaves had commenced falling. There was nothing but a trail through there. I had to get off my horse and scrape the leaves to find the trail. I got to what I thought was Sugar Creek, about twelve o'clock at night and came to a house with a dim light inside. I aroused the inmates and found that it was Jerry Plum's residence. They were sitting by a log fire at midnight. The daughter of Jerry Plum is here today. That was my first acquaintance with him, I think. Mrs. Plum is still living at Toledo. I used to travel all over this country on horseback, no other way, in attending courts at Perrysburg, Defiance, Mansfield, Norwalk, Sandusky, or wherever I had occason to go. In my garret I have a saddle bag that I carried my books in. I remember going to Perrysburg with the first letting of the Maumee road in the month of May, 1838. There had been a heavy rain, and the road was very muddy; there was deep mud. The bottoms of 'Tourssaint Creek were overflowed. I had boasted considerably about my superior skill in navigating the Black Swamp, going and coming, but in crossing this creek where the water for many rods camé up midway of the horse's side I was ducked. The horses stopped to drink and all but mine went on. Mine lay down and it took me all over. I relate these instances to show the difference between the condition of the country, the people and their modes of traveling then and now. There was scarcely a road in this country where you could drive a buggy even in mid-summer, Judge Greene was then keeping a _ sort of store at Greensburg. It was. the firm of Greene & Ryder. He afterwards came here and was admitted to the bar and practiced law until he died.

I do not know as I ought to detain you any longer. I have not had time nor am I in a condition to write down my recollections about everything I knew in the early settlements, and to relate the circumstances that occurred after I came here in 1837. I got acquainted with many in this county and in Ottawa which was then Sandusky, extended to the lake.

Old Judge MHollinshead lived on the Portage river and was at one time a member of the legislature. Judge Knapp was a member at the same time. I remember visiting at Columbus one winter, Judge Chapman, of Bellevue, and myself. We went to see Hollinshead and Knapp at _ their rooms and after talking with them awhile and when we were about to start out, they said, "Gentlemen, don't go yet,' and then reaching under the bed they got out a jug of whisky with a corn cob stopper in it-and treated us. They were then members of the legislature of Ohio.

Now, Mr. President, I will give way to someone else for their experience. I thank you for your patience in listening to my rambling speech and I now bid you farewell.

Mr. I. H. Burgoon, secretary, then previous to reading his report of the names of pioneers who died during the past year, said that he feared a number of names had been missed, and he suggested that the friends and relatives of deceased pioneers, hereafter, send in the names promptly to the secretary of the pioneers at Fremont, Ohio.

For the year ending August 31, 1883, there have been fifty-two deaths reported. Of this number twentyseven were men and _ twenty-five women,

The aggregate ages of those reported amounted to 3,740 years and average 72 years, which is about the usual average as shown by former reports. Among the list of the dead appear the names of Paul Tew, Mrs. Martha Luckey, Joseph Ream, Mrs. Elizabeth Reed, Wm. McMillen, Jno. T. Simpkins, Mrs. Elizabeth Stern, Mrs. Sarah Coonrod, Henry Garvin, Adam Miller, Mrs. M. J. Loveland, Mrs. Elizabeth Tindall, Jacob Moses, Mrs. Sara Maria Buher, Henry Turner, Jonathan Stine, Levi Gilson, Jacob Stahl, Adam Lutz, Joseph Joseph, Mrs. Stull, Thomas Howell, Mrs. Johanna Moore, Mrs. Martha Cooper, Mrs. Rosebough, Mrs. Almira B. Johnson, John Bowersox, Thos. Wilson, Mrs. H. G. Mudge, Mrs. Elizabeth Lawton, L. D. Miller, Mrs. Jane Foy, Mrs. Barkheimer, Mrs. Meralda Thomas, John Short, E. Turner, B. F. Hanville, Mrs. M. A. Hocke, Mrs. Mary June, Joseph George, Mrs. W. A. Miller, Mrs. Cynthia McPherson, Mrs. Emily Cully, Danl. L. June, Hiram Haff, Joseph Hueston, Jacob Lesher, Mrs. J. C. McDaniels, Nathaniel B. Tucker, Mrs. Mary Smith, Chas. Clapp, Mrs. Cochrane.

The most of these names are familiar throughout the county and quite a number of them have been familiar to me from the days of youth and I remember them as a class of men and women who were held in esteem by their neighbors and associates. They lived and died doing good in their day. Let us cherish their many virtues and pay to their memories that respect due to all our pioneers. May we cherish their words, acts and deeds for from them we received many of our early impressions which neither time nor place can deface. How short the time since those impressions were made on our childish but retentive minds. It seems but yesterday when you, whose hair is now tinged with gray and whose footprints are beginning to lose their foring, romping boys and girls, and Ia prattling boy at my mother's knee. We are taking the place of the former overseers, the boys and girls of the coming generations are already with us and are pushing us to the front. They will soon be the men and women of the day and you and I be shoved forward to the front ranks and finally over the edge of the stage of life; and they moving to the front will take our places as we have taken the places of those going and gone before. And I want to say to those boys and girls that it doesn't make much difference to you what kind of men and women your grandfather and grandmothers -were, but the question for you to decide is what kind of a man or what kind of a woman will you be or what kind your children, who come after you, will be? This is the question for you to answer. It is of greater importance to you what your progeny will be than what your ancestors were. And yet boys, lots of good men and good women came from the now almost obsolete and obliterated old log cabin with its stick chimney built upon the outside and its puncheon floor within. It makes but little difference whether you were born in the log cabin or in modern house of the present day - you can only work your way honorably through this world by courage, toil and integrity. It may not be necessary for you to be born in a log cabin to become good or great or rich, but if you ever reach i+ boys, you will have to dig for it, or you may depend upon it you will get left out in the cold. This is the age of progress. The good old times of hard cider, log cabins and slow coaches have passed forever away. This is the age of the telegraph, telephone and of steam. Think of the present mode of farming with the improved machinery of today and then return with me to the days of grass hook and wheat sickle. How many of us remember the old way of shelling corn or making hominy by beating it with a pestle within a block of wood shaped for the purpose. How many of you remember of shelling corn with your hands, sitting by the hickory log fire burning in the old fireplace - with the old-fashioned home full of boys and girls around you - and you with a case knife driven in the end a board sitting astride sawing away until your allotment was shelled which was a peck, half bushel or tin pan full. You may now step in almost any elevator along the line of any railroad and see a corn sheller with capacity for shelling from one to four hundred bushels of corn per hour, four to five thousand bushels per day, shell as fast as five or six able bodied men can shovelin. Think of it, and then look back forty years and see our fathers sitting astride of a board projecting over a wash tub and sawing away at the back of a case knife,

But time flies and scenes change. It is astonishing with what rapidity time passes, days, months, years roll away, carrying with them all the living, the beauty and the hopes of this world to the unknown future. It seems but a short few days since we enjoyed the delights of the home circle with father, mother, brothers and sisters. The influence of their society and the counsel of those who now lie mouldering in the grave, yet we are left able-bodied and grown to manhood.

The men of the present generation are springing up around us while we have been following in the footprints left by our fathers and the boys, the men of tomorrow are following closely in our rear.