Sandusky Township (part 7 of 57)

the word Sandusky was one always heard with pleasure. Early recollections are more lasting with me than later ones, and the name Sandusky is associated with my earliest recolnoah ge lections. It is now 70 years, last April, I think the 18th day, since my father landed with me on the farm of old Mrs. Whittaker. It is now fifty-five years since I left Sandusky. The word Fremont is rather an interloper, I can not recognize it as I can that splendid name which I used to be proud of, "Sandusky," and I shall refer, always, in what little I say, to the word Sandusky; for in Lower Sandusky was formed my character. I have met some here today who were living here in 1815. Perhaps I have met them for the last time. One is Homer Everett. He was here before I left. When I came here Mr. Everett's father was what we called in those days, a mail carrier; and to show you a little of the progress you have made I will describe some of the duties of the mail carriers who passed through the country. The Black Swamp was then the dread of everybody that had occasion to pass through it, on account of the deep mud, wild beasts, and stealthy Indians. Mr. Everett carried the mail on his back from Lower Sandusky to Perrysburg, then called Fort Meigs. The next year a little Frenchman by the name of took the contract to carry the mail through the Black Swamp. That was in 1816, the coldest year in my experience for seventy years. No corn got ripe that year, but that little fellow carried the mail all the same. He used to come to my mother's on his return from Fort Meigs to get what he called his "soup." She asked him one day, "What makes you love soup so well?" Says he, "Mrs. Rexford, if I have ever so plenty of meat, so plenty of duck, so plenty of everything else - no soup no dinner."

Now in looking over your county, recently, I have discovered wonderful improvements. I left it many years ago hoping to better my condition and it turned out to be so. But in associating the condition of the county as it was in 1815 with its present condition, no language that I possess can describe the great difference. Then it was universal woods, and the water stood from ankle to knee deep all the way from here to Fort Meigs. The passage of wagons and horses through the winding roads made one continuous mud hole. Now you have no such mud. You ride over the country at a mile per minute, behind an engine that will exhaust its steam cylinder 1208 times every mile. The idea that a power can be got up so tremendous as that of steam and so rapid in its action is a wonder, even now to scientific men,

The condition of the people of that day was severe indeed. The Indian was a dread. Another difficulty was to get a spot dry enough to live on and raise something in the way of grain and vegetables. It was also difficult to get a flock of sheep and to keep them long enough to get their wool. That flax hatchel seems as familiar to me as my own flesh and blood. At that time there was scarcely a single woolen factory in the United States and if woolen goods were made and worn at all the wool was first picked and carded by hand and then spun on a foot wheel and woven on hand looms by the thrifty housewives. In this toilsome way the early settlers made all their linen and woolen clothes. ;

Whatever they could get out of the soil for food, by cultivating small patches of ground or out of bee trees by cutting them down, was regarded as a great luxury. Today you have not only the necessities but the luxuries which your farms and gardens can produce, and you lay on your tables daily the luxuries of other countries. Then your roads were one continuous mud hole, through which your poor horses went mired at every step, winding among the forest trees where you had to be constantly on the watch so as not to get on the wrong road; today you dash along on a straight and level steel track after an iron horse that never tires. Then the wolves prowled boldly about to devour your sheep and pigs, and the raccoons, squirrels and blackbirds made raids upon your corn and wheat fields. You had a sorry time of it in those early days, and what these robbers left of your crops was often scant indeed. ; years after I left here I came to view it again, and in places where I had formerly waded knee deep in mud I found as beautiful wheat ground as could be. The change made a deep impression on my mind. I passed through here a few years afterwards and found out the secret of it. A law had been passed in Ohio that the citizens must ditch the country and drain their lands. Said I, "Now the Black Swamp will really become a paradise." I have traveled over a considerable portion of the United States and I think that most of you have no idea of the beauty and value of the soil of this region as compared with many others. In traveling from Springfield here I was led to think that it exceeds every other part of the United States I have seen for general fruitfulness and productiveness. The variety of soil, the generally level surface which secures it from washing and wasting away, have caused it to remain almost in its virgin state, even until now. It will not be washed away like the soil in hilly countries. I have stood in the woods of the Black Swamp, many times, when I had lost my way, and watched to see which way the water ran by dropping a twig or a leaf upon it; and I sometimes had to, wait quite a while before I could discover the direction of its motion so as to decide which way to travel.

This morning I went below here io see if I could discover anything that was really natural to my sight, something that-I could recollect as having been exactly so when I was here. Only two things appeared as formerly, the water down the river and the grass and weeds growing along the banks; all else had changed. I went down to Rawson's spring, where my father and mother lived, to see that. The spring was there and it looked natural, even' with its present surroundings. The road had formerly gone. just below.

The impression used to be when I lived here that this was a wonderfully: sickly country. My father was never much unwell, hardly ever had the ague, but all the rest of the family had it more or less. I never had it that I recollect, but I was not as strong and robust as some. I have frequently been the only one to carry water to the rest when they were all down with the ague. The ague was often a universal thing, every family was down with it, so that but little work could be done. As a consequence there was universal poverty and often much distress and suffering. Now you have universal health and plenty.

But there is one thing that I am sorry to say is amongst you and that is the saloon. I am sorry to see so many in old Lower Sandusky. They bring no good to mankind. If you, pioneers, would all and each of you do as much as one lady did in Washington City - take all intoxicating drinks off your tables - you would be happier men and women. I can not praise the men of my country for permitting these saloons, and I will say, today, that the best and most lasting impression I ever got in this direction I got from my mother here at Lower Sandusky. Her injunction to me was "Never take hold of a bad habit, never be in bad company." 1 have tried to follow her counsels. I] have never smoked a cigar. I have never chewed tobacco. I have never drank a glass of rum since I was a boy, nor anything else intoxicating, and you see me here today, preserved, probably on account of following those injunctions of my mother. I have never been sick enough to keep me down five hours in my life. I have preserved steady habits all my life and have never wanted for anything. I have enjoyed life, and I lay it all to following my mother's advice. If mothers would be a little more careful they could regenerate this nation most wonderfully. A new nation comes on the stage about every twenty-one years and that seems but~ a short period in a long lifetime. I tell you intemperance wipes out mankind most rapidly. When I returned here, as I stated, after a lapse of twenty-three years, I found but few comparatively of the pioneers remaining. Nearly all had been taken away: Only a few are left here today and I hunted considerably to find them. I wish you would remember this one thing: Do to your children as the

Jew does to his - be careful to make good impressions upon their tender minds and follow it up faithfully with a consistent course of conduct on your part. It will richly repay you in all your after life even to old age. In that way you may get rid of the curse of intoxicating drinks. I look to the ladies for aid in this direction. :

I can not endorse all the notions of the men of our age on the subject of women's rights. They have not dealt well in my opinion, with the women of this nation. I notice one thing. In the Declaration of Independence they profess what they do not carry out. Practically men alone are the sovereigns. Women are excluded though they are certainly a part of mankind who are declared to be created free and equal. A sover-. eign governs, and women are not allowed to help in governing this country. The Declaration says, "all mankind are born free and equal,' and then we turn around and say the better half are not included. No man, however ignorant or degraded, if past twenty-one, is denied the right of suffrage or of taking a part in our government; but no woman, however intelligent and worthy, must have anything to do with politics or have any hand in the affairs of government. Men alone are the sovereigns and they say to the women, stand back.

Now I ask, is that fair? Is it fair for the male portion of humanity to delegate to themselves all the power, after they have said, "all mankind are born free and equal?" Is it right for them to go on and pass laws for themselves without recognizing the voice of our noble women in any way, shape or manner? I never could reconcile that in my mind with consistency any more than I could the idea that this or that man should be a slave on account of his color. That is all the argument there was in slavery.

Gen. Hayes: Some time ago I got into a little friendly controversy on the question whether the climate of this country is changing. It is a very common notion that thirty, forty or fifty years ago, our winters were less severe than now, our springs were earlier, peaches could be raised where they can not be raised now, and that there has been a change in our climate in many respects for the worse. Now, if I were to put that question to many of the gray heads here how do you think it would stand? Would there not be many to say that the trying than now? Let us examine our friend Rexford on this question and see what he thinks of it. If he could settle that for us, though it might not be of any special value, it would be interesting.

Rexford: The winter of 1816 was the severest I ever knew and there followed the coldest July. My mother caught snowfliakes- in her hands, down here in town, on the fourth day of July. There was frost every month in the year, and there was no corn that would make seed. In 1820 we had a very mild winter, not much snow but universal mud. In 1821 it was tremendous cold, 1825 was very cold, but 1830 was very mild. In 1835 the whole country of New Jersey and the state of New York was covered with snow so that the fences were out of sight. The lower end of New York City, about. fifty acres, burned to the ground, because, on the 15th day of December, the fire engines could not pump water through the frozen hose. In 1840 we had a very mild winter, no snow scarcely at all. In 1845-46 there was a tremendous cold time; then again, in 1850, it was mild and warm. In 1855- 56 we had the snowiest winter I ever knew. I had to take three different railroads to go from Elmira to Buffalo, and it took eleven days. Fences were completely covered up and on the central railroad between Syracuse and Buffalo I saw three rows of men shoveling snow off the track. In 1860 it was very warm, and the plum trees that had not borne for years, bore that year. People got*ice to pack only in March. In 1866 we had another cold year with a great deal of snow. The year 1870 was the warmest of all from one end to the other. It had a very mild fall and the season changed so gradually that the leaves dropped off without any frost at all even until the last of February. Then there was a little frost, and a little snow storm and at the end a tremendous rain storm. Across the Hudson river, in Athens, there was no ice until March. In 1877 there was a very cold summer but without any snow. The year 1881 was warm and dry. A drouth continued almost throughout the entire year, and the rivers ran low; but when the weather changed, in less than thirty days, there were 370 miles of flood which covered almost everything in the Mississippi Valley, and the government had to support the people. Now, please tell me, if there is a scientific man here, where in the world that water was held that made such tremendous floods in the United States in thirty days. (Laughter.)

Now you can all remember the warm years, 1860, 1870 and 1881. Last winter, where I was, we had very cold weather, showing that these changes are almost exactly periodical. I think I could take any year since I was five years old and tell where I was, what kind of weather we had, where I went to school, or what business I followed.

Rexford: I should not think that the climate is changing at all for the worse. I should think, if anything, it was only a little colder in July, 1816, than it was in July and August last year, where I was. We came near having a frost in the Mohawk Valley. I think that the seasons are as nearly equal, taking ten years together, now, as they were seventy years ago.

on the southwest and the other on the northeast corner of the fort, and each projected beyond the pickets so as to command the ditches. The one on the northeast corner stood where the

City Hall now stands. The British came up in a deep ravine on the north side. To the northwest, on lower ground, stood a small building owned by Mr. Rummery, the top of which did not rise higher than the banks of the ditch. Away from the fort to the north the ground was much lower. The British came up the west ditch. This is proven from the fact that the slugs, lead and iron, with which the gun was charged were picked out of the ground to the north of the northwest corner. We used to pick many of them out of the bank.

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

Rexford: They did not use it in 1815, but in 1816 they took it under the hill to celebrate the 2d of August. The men in the fort would wave their flags and drink rum, and then those below would fire the gun. Then those above would hurrah again, and every little time they would take a drink on it. They were not so much for prohibition as I am _ today. (Laughter. )

Lang: Well, he told me that he was here soon after the battle, and that an old soldier told him that the cannon was called "Old Betsey" by the soldiers, so Thomas L. Hawkins did not name it. I'd like to have that matter settled. It is a very important one. (Laughter.)

Gen. Buckland: I wish to say a few words in regard to the place from which the gun was fired. When I came here in 1837, some of the stumps of the pickets were still standing, and I learned from Mr. Thomas Hawkins, who claimed to be familiar with the incidents, and who was at Fort Meigs with Gen. Harrison, that there were two block-houses, one on the north side of the fort, at an angle, and one on the west side which swept the ditch on both sides. The one on the north side swept west, and the one on the west swept north. He claimed that the British came up behind the hill, here, to the northwest (where the court house stands) and planted their batteries and fired against the northwest angle of the fort. There was a deep ravine that ran from the river along the north side of the fort and continued up to where Dr. Wilson's house is, and extended diagonally up to about the middle of the school house lot. The firing was mostly against the west line of pickets from the northwest corner southward. The British supposed they had made a breach there and proceeded southeast across the ravine, and when they got down to the corner, turned up the west ditch. That cannon was fixed so that it could be run from one corner to the other. As soon as Croghan discovered that they were going up the west ditch ne ran the cannon to rake that ditch to the north, taking out the materials by which the piece had been concealed. The block-house was about the middle of the west side. The gun was fired from this_ block-house, sweeping the ditch to the north. That is the explanation I always had of it.

Rexford: I did. I saw Thomas Hawkins in 1815. He wore a Quaker dress and a broad-brimmed hat. They called him a very eccentric man. He was an old man then. I remember one story they told about him. One time he wanted very much to cross the Ohio river and he had no boat. He walked along the bank and contrived every way to no purpose until finally he saw a large sturgeon come swimming along near him. He jumped on his back, struck him in the gills and rode across the' river,

The choir sang a song of the pilgrims, after which Gen. Hayes said: Our friend, Mr. Everett, would certainly be here if it were not for his jll health. He insists that as the old pioneers are leaving us, that we turn our meeting into a historical exercise. There are some persons here, whom, even if they would not talk much, the younger persons would be glad to see. Mr. Cooley, will you please stand up and tell what you know.

I was much interested in what Mr. Rexford said. He talked about facts that I was personally acquainted with. I am somewhat absent minded but I was a little surprised to see

When I am reminded of anything that has passed through my mind in early days it becomes as fresh again as at the very moment when it occurred. What he said in regard to the weather, the seasons and everything of that kind I remember perfectly. I remember the cold winter he spoke of. My father came here on the ice. In the spring the ice did not leave here until June. We raised no corn that year. Nearly all the circumstances he related occurred when I was living here. When we came here in the spring of 1815 the soldiers had been disbanded. They were disbanded in January and we came in March following. They were not all here when we came. Some were in Detroit.

I came here in 1812; I was born in 1806. The fort was not finished when we first came here, but there were lots of men working on it. About the block-houses: one was on the northeast corner of the fort and another on the southwest corner and I recollect them well. I never understood rightly from which blockhouse the cannon was fired and I have had lots of arguments with the old pioneers. That was a disputed question in early times. There was a gate on the east side of the fort, and that was the only entrance to my recollection, at that time.

east side, about half way to the southeast corner of the fort. I well recollect the gate. On the south side of the fort there was a row of what they called the barracks, made out of logs. The north side of the upper row of pickets was double. The pickets consisted cf a row of stakes or pointed logs, stuck upright, close together, and another row on the outside, so placed as to close the cracks between the inner logs. From that upper row of pickets there was a very steep embankment down to a lower row along a ravine. It was very steep indeed. Hayes: Is there any one living now that you know was here in 1812? Cavalier: I know of two ladies, Mrs. Druyor, who lives towards Port Clinton, and Mrs. Lucy Jocks. I saw Mrs. Jocks last week below the Mud Creek bridge. I think she is seventythree. Between Mrs. Druyor and myself there are only two years difference in age. Hayes: What is your age now? Cavalier: On the 8th day of October I shall be seventy-nine. We came from the Maumee to Lower Sandusky, or rather to Muskalunge Creek. Government teams brought us to the fort.

Dr. Stilwell: Now, if the blockhouse was on the southwest corner, then what ravine was in front of it? There was no ravine up Garrison street.

Cavalier: The attack was made on the north corner. The British came right across from the northwest, after they got up the hill. They left the vessels down where Lehr's foundry now stands. They came across from the north and didn't know of this other ravine in order to get into the fort. They rolled down, and tumbled down and went in all ways and shapes. I used to have to cling to bushes to get up there.

Gen. Buckland: There was a deep ditch all around the fort, and a deep ditch ran from this ravine right south to the fort. They first commenced firing from the battery northwest of the fort and when they were partly hidden by the smoke they went into the ravine and then into the west ditch.

Mr. Hayes, after thanking Mr. Cavalier, introduced Julius Patterson, who spoke in response to questions. Mr. Patterson said: I came here in 1818, when I was 10 years old. There were twenty or thirty families here then.

Patterson: In the northwest corner and fired west. Two or three soldiers lived with us in the block-house in 1818, and they told us all about it, and where the firing commenced.

here we landed at Huron, then coun: ty seat of Huron county. From there we went to the peninsula. We had to pay $4 per bushel for our corn in 1817, and pound it ourselves, for meal; to sift it we had to take a tin pan, punched full of holes with a nail, for a sieve. We had to pound our corn every morning for bread, before breakfast. We pounded it in a mortar with a pestle attached to a spring pole. The mortar was a black wal nut log into which we had a dishy hole chopped and then burned out.

could get no better. It was pretty coarse. For our meat we had to kill wild game. We could kill ducks without a gun. We could whip them down with a brush. Mr. Cooley remembers that fact.

Mr. Rexford: I wish to speak of the first meal that I ever got here. We first had to pound the corn. We dug a hole in the top of a stump that was solid and then burned it out smooth. This was our first mill. Here we pounded our corn into meal. After we had been here a few years, a man came here by the name of Hoddy; he lived near the Newman house. He afterwards kept a hotel. Mrs. Hoddy was pretty ingenious and she conceived the idea of making a horse grist-mill. This was done and power. The people usually came to the mill on horseback. The old lady would take the toll out herself, and then if it was a boy who brought the grist she would help him on the horse with the bag of meal, and he would start for home. Now you spoke of the mush and said that it was good. It was then a luxury for every one had a good appetite. We didn't know anything about dyspepsia. I first heard the word dyspepsia in 1832, and I asked, what is that? I was a pretty good hand to versteh a Dycher and I soon found out what it was. I tried ever after that to avoid eating too much.

corn meal ground in a mill at Cold Creek. A Mr. Whittaker and George Shannon went to Huron and made the first wheat flour in this country. Some time afterwards we took our wheat to the Milan mill.

Patterson: He never built a mill. That mill you think of was built in 1812, in time of war. Josiah Rummery built a mill on Green Creek, two miles north of Green Spring. That was the first flour mill in this county. There was a mill here, but it had no bolts. I recollect a story about old Hawkins - I don't know that I ought to tell it here. There came a freshet and took his dam. He says,

The song "Jedediah," of which pioneers never tire, was then sung by the choir, after which Mr. Hayes called on Aunt Betsy Rice, one of the pioneers from the Portage river, but Mrs. Rice preferred to hear from others and declined to speak.

Mrs. William Field said she had been here since 1829, had suffered the usual hardships of pioneer life and was here during the cholera epidemic in 1834.

The annual recurrence of this meeting of the pioneers and early settlers of Sandusky county revives in our minds the scenes and events of years long past - the memory of persons whose names and characters should not be forgotten. Of all those who bore the heat and burden of the day, the toils and hardships of the first settlers, but few remain, and every year that number is diminishing. Not being, strictly speaking, a pioneer, having moved from Seneca Falls, N. Y., to Lower Sandusky in the summer of 1841, my name is not upon the roll as a member in pioneer standing of your society; nevertheless I have made a point of meeting with my aged and respected friends as often as I could.

Looking back over the 44 years since I came to live in Lower Sandusky (as this town was. then named), what a change I see. Our entree was made in very humble, primitive style - a plain, substantial farmer's two-horse wagon was engaged in Bellevue in which our entire family - father, mother and _ three children, and light baggage were safely transported to this, then a very small village - I think not more than 1,200 or perhaps 1,400 inhabitants.

It was a pleasant morning in June - the road was in good condition - the pike, as it was called, having recently been completed through the Black Swamp.

And in a short time we were greeted with a sight of our future home, from the brow of the hill on the east side of the river. And what did we see? Not a church spire, not one, no large schoolhouse and not very many painted stores and residences. There were two or three medium sized public houses. The largest one was kept by mine host, Ira Camfield, at that time. The one building most conspicuous as we looked from the hill on the east side, was that old historic court house standing where now is the handsome residence of Rey. H. Lang of the Lutheran church.

There were at least four .churches supplied with regular preaching and moderately well attended. The stone schoolhouse near where now is the new public school building, was the only building used for .educational purposes, exclusively on this west side of the river.

The chief attraction to citizens and strangers then as it is now - was the battle ground of 1813. The thirty years that had intervened had not materially changed the appearance of the ground at the northwest corner of the fort or wall, where then could be plainly seen the ravine or approach to the fort which was filled by the enemy - British and Indians - when the gallant Croghan unmasked upon them his one gun battery and taught them that victory does not always wait upon the strongest, but truth and right will prevail.

If there is one thing more than another of which our city has reason to be proud - it is the handsome monument lately erected to commemorate the brave defense made by this young hero and his little band of soldiers - and also tc the memory of our sol- diers who sacrificed their lives in the defense of our Union in the late war. It is much to be regretted that the daughter of Croghan whom the paper has spoken of, as residing in New York, could not have been present at the late unveiling ceremonies. I have listened with especial interest at these gatherings to the recitals of the difficulties the pioneers encountered while traveling in early times through this region where the soil is so rich and so deep, there really seemed to be no bottom that could be found by penetrating with a ten foot rail! Indeed, I believe, it used to be necessary to be provided with these useful articles, whenever a grist was to be transported to and from the mill; and in my husband's mill, for many years, a room was fitted up with sleeping accommodations for the Black Swamp customers, who required ten or twelve hours of good daylight to pick their way through deep and miry paths back to their homes. Ah, yes, Sandusky county farmers can boast of the only Black Swamp in this region and tell of their trials and their triumphs, and surely there is no reason why they should not rehearse them to their children's children to the latest generations. I wonder that some genius has not ere this made a collection to hand down in book form to the remote descendants of these victims. I imagine it would add greatly to their amusement as well as to their store of information.

The suggestion made at the meeting a year since, by Rev. J. I. Swander, that the timits of this organized society be extended or supplemented somehow, so as to include the children of the pioneers, and thus prevent its decay or extinction, I think was most timely, and perhaps if carried out, would result in a renewed vigor, and a more lively interest in persons and events that seem to fade from memory - and grow unreal, and indistinct as distance and time increases - as the years roll steadily on, full freighted with life's burdens, and life's toils, hopes and joys ever mingling, and changing in quick succession their history, and our part in the drama may and doubtless will be sought after, by those who come after us, with all the interest we feel in those who have preceded us. May we prove ourselves worthy sons and daughters of our noble sires, fulfilling toward each other and toward our Heavenly Father every duty which our increasing opportunities and privileges enjoin upon us.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: Iam happy to meet you here. Many of you I never saw before. I have attended such meetings in Huron county for thirty years, and I like them. It is pleasant to get together and look into each other's faces and tell what little we know of the past. I am reminded by this little log cabin of the large log cabin we built in Bellevue, in 1840, in which we used to meet during the fall of Gen. Harrison's campaign. We had a sign painted on the back of it, "Cider and cold water, do your duty and drink hearty." During that political campaign we came down here to the Black Swamp. We had a procession a mile and a half long from Bellevue toward Clyde when we started, and it increased so that it seemed to reach almost from Bellevue to Clyde. We had a great long canoe on a wagon, with thirty ladies in it, drawn by a yoke of cattle with a team of horses in front.

We went clear to Maumee and Fort Meigs and stayed there about a week. My father was there. The roads were very muddy; the mud was almost knee deep all the way to Maumee, but we had a wonderful good time.

I had the privilege of voting for Andrew Jackson and I have voted at every presidential election since, and thank God, I intend to vote once more. If we can not get the man we want we will get the next best one.

My parents were Connecticut folks. My father was a soldier of the Revolution. They moved to New York state and from there to Ohio. I was born in 1800. We lived at first in

At my last birthday my friends fixed to have a fine time. There were about an acre of people present. We had splendid music by a choir and a band, and the young folks ran around there at a lively rate. We had a good old family meeting.

I used to like hard cider and tobacco, but six years ago I broke away from the habit of using them and God has helped me thus to preserve my life. Let us all go to work in the temperance cause. I hope that we may all strive so to live, that if we never meet again on earth we may meet in that better land. We are all going, and may God prepare us for what He has in store for us.

Mr. N. R. Tucker said: I never refuse to say something when called upon. This is one of the pleasant days of my life, that I enjoy once a year in meeting our old pioneers. We have heard a great deal about the hardships of pioneer life, and those of uS who were pioneers well recollect these things. There is a great deal more for us to live for since this country has been improved. We should live to make our country better for our being here. Mr. Tucker closed with a plea for the greater privileges and rights of the ladies, and for the temperance cause.

Mr. Hayes called on Mrs. John M. Smith, daughter of the late Gen. John Bell, whose face itself was a benediction, always beaming with true friendship. Mrs. Smith declined speaking.

I would like to speak of a pioneer who has done much for the rising generation - I refer to Sardis Birchard. I want to thank him and his heirs for giving us and keeping up that splendid Birchard Library, and I want to see others help it along.

about Fort Stephenson and the grand old cannon, he omitted to speak of the grand results of the victory achieved at Fort Stephenson. Fiftyone years ago, when I came here, the country seemed lower and nearly all under water. The statement was made here that the road between here and Maumee was a general, grand mud hole. I wish to correct that by saying there were three little ridges that saved it from being such. In those days we ministers traveled on horseback. Buggies were unknown to us and would have been of no account. I used to preach in nearly every house from Portage to Maumee. I often saw men going along through miry roads with teams and wagons where the water and mud would rush together after the wagons passed and leave the road as level as a floor. They left no sign in the mud. I always felt sympathy for women and children on these lonely roads and tried to speak words of cheer. I could wish that more ministers of those former days were present who shared with me the experience of pioneer preaching. I could talk better... A methodist minister said to me once that he had just done some fast traveling, that he left Findlay one day and at the same hour of the next day he ate his dinner in Lower Sandusky.

It is certainly pleasant to think of the great change in our mode of traveling. Lower Sandusky has changed to Fremont and the country around it has changed no less. I have often been afraid to mention what occurred fifty years ago for fear folks nowadays would not believe it. What a fine pike from here to Perrysburg and railroads to Toledo. Then there was only a winding road through the woods with mud two or three feet deep. Once in going from here to Bucyrus my horse got mired and so dirty I had to get a broom and water to wash him before I could ride him decently. This is the first time I have ever spoken in the court house. I have been pretty well over the United States from Plymouth Rock to the Pacific several times and I do think candidly that we have just as good a country here as the sun ever shone upon anywhere. A great many get dissatisfied and leave this country but many of them come back again. I have been in the praised up West, but never felt to make it my home. If I should live seventy-one years longer I propose to live here.

An incident or two more of my travels: I remember going to George Stewart's once at Locust Point, when there were fourteen miles between here and Elmore, without a house along the road. I sometimes had to swim my horse across the streams. On the way to Locust Point I came to Turtle» Marsh where there was a French -settlement and inquired the way to-~«-Mr. Stewart's. I could not understand French and so missed my way, and was obliged to come out of a miry place on the same side I had gone in. That was the only time I ever turned back before reaching my destination. One time in going to Maumee a bridge was gone near Rollersville and I had to make my way forty rods through the water. Just as I was getting through I heard a roaring noise. A dreadful storm was coming up which tore down large trees. I kept on my way along a bayou which led out from the main stream and reached my appointment. I had frequent occasion to cross the Maumee River and at one time lodged at Maumee with an Eastern man who took me for a Yankee. I let him think so. They treated me very kindly to corn bread and venison.

I think there are only two of us preachers now living that traveled then. I have often thought I would lay by and work no longer, but at the end of each year I felt that I could not be idle and I again took up the work. I have three sons in the ministry. I wrote to one (B. M.), when I had finished my fiftieth year in the ministry that I intended to close my active labors, but I am still in the field.

here today, and I would say, let us do all we can to make our people better: There is still a better day coming. "All things shall work together for good to those that love the Lord." It is a grand thought that after a while, when we shall leave this Black Swamp, this beautiful country, and quit this world, there is a better, a heavenly country just ahead, beyond the shores of time. Let us see that we go with courage and delight on our journey to that better land.

The choir then sang, "Jerusalem, My Glorious Home," after which Mr. Hayes said: It is now after four o'clock, and it is for the audience to say whether we shall longer continue the meeting. There are two or three other things that we desire to attend to but wish first to hear from all who desire to say anything. I believe it is a fashion on some such occassions as this to do what is proposed that we do here: that we present a bouquet to the oldest gentleman present, and, of course, a bouquet to the oldest lady - and there comes the delicate question, for the age of the lady is sometimes not a thing to be inquired of. I hope they will aid the embarrassed chairman to determine who is entitled to the bouquets.

After some inquiry the bouquet, furnished by Mr. Hayes, was _ presented to Mrs. Wm. Field, she being over 90, and the oldest pioneer lady present. The bouquet, furnished by Rev. Henry Lang, was presented to Mr. Alvin Anderson, the oldest pioneer man.

General Hayes then said: Something has been said today about this society dying out for want of membership. All who are interested in the history of this county are entitled to membership. The pioneer membership is without fees, including all who were in Sandusky county prior to and during 1845. Those who are younger and desire to be members of this society as a historical society, may join upon the payment of one dollar.

The truth is that the early settlement of this valley is as full of interest aS any part of the United States. We have some advantages above others. One advantage is, that prior to the settlement of the whites, the history connected with the Indians, and with the early explorations and discoveries of the North American continent, is connected with events that occurred in the Sandusky Valley. This was the seat of the neutral Indian nation that kept the peace between the warring Indians of the Hast and of the West. According to Indian tradition and facts which we know, no part of the United States has any more reason to preserve and be proud of its history than this county. :

Take our. unveiling exercises. There is no county in the United States that can go beyond us. The man highest in rank, highest in command, most distinguished as an officer and a soldier, of any whoever died under the American flag in any war, was born and brought up in Sandusky county. (Cheers.) Not merely have we a right to be proud of the history and the home of McPherson, but also of others among whom are Gen. Buckland, Major Rawson, Capt. Wegstein and a long list of brave men whose lives we should see carefully sketched and preserved in the history of our county. Let us continue this society, hoping that the pioneer branch may live many years to come and that the historical part will see that our records are gathered up and carefully preserved.

At the suggestion of Mr. Hayes a vote of thanks was tendered the sheriff for favors shown and to the choir for their excellent music. The choir then sang "Auld Lang Syne,"

A Pioneer Jail

A Plan Adopted for Sandusky County Eighty-six Years Ago January 20, 1829, Ezra Williams, Auditor of Sandusky county, advertised for proposals for building a jail

"The jail is to be built of hewed logs, 14 inches square, 36 x 20 feet; and to be one story high of 714 feet in the clear between floors; to be partitioned into three rooms, one of which is designed for the debtors' room to be 20 x 20 feet; another for criminals, to be 16 x 12 feet; and the other a dungeon to be 8 x 16. The corners of the jail are to be halved together, and the partition timbers to be cleated onto the outside walls in same manner as the corners. The floor timbers to be 12 inches thick, and let into the sides with a shoulder of 5 inches. The debtors' room to have two windows and one door; the criminals' room one window and one door; and the dungeon one door (no window). The spaces in the wall for windows in the criminals' room to be 20 x 24 inches, and in the debtors' room 24 x 28, well secured by iron bands and bars. The upper floor timbers to be let into the side walls with a shoulder of three inches, and pinned down to said side walls, the corners to be secured with an iron bar one inch in diameter, passing through the center of the lap, reaching from the top of the upper floor to the sill; the roof to be covered with sheathing boards and pine shingles, the shingles laid not more than 5 inches to the weather; the windows to be cased and the sash hung with hinges. The body of the jail to be covered with whitewood or walnut boards, laid not more than six inches to the weather - two eaves troughs spiked to end of upper floor timbers, finished with bead and crown mouldings - corner and barge boards to roof. The outside door to have two shutters; the walls and partitions to be planked with two 2-inch white oak plank, not more than 18 inches wide, and spiked to wall with not less than 23 iron spikes to a plank, 4 spikes making a pound. The windows and doors to be secured on the sides in the same manner as the corners - floors to be laid with oak or ash inch boards, ploughed and grooved; to be lathed and -plastered over head. The jail to be painted with two coats and completed by the first of July next."

The plan of this building was presented to the county commissioners by Mr. Hinton, and was similar to the jail in Delaware county, Ohio. The advertisement for proposals was published in the Sandusky Clarion, printed at Portland, Huron county, and the contract awarded to Elisha W. Howland for $844. The building was accepted by the commissioners October 12, 1829. It was located on the north side of Court street, between Justice and Arch, near the present residence of Rev. W. A. Bowman. It was in use until the present court house was built in 1844. The plan thus reproduced may not have much value for architectural purposes, but as a specimen of the modes and methods of early days it will ever possess an interest.

The annual reunion and picnic of the Sandusky County Pioneer and Historical Society was held at the Court House in this city, on Saturday last, September 11, 1886. The meeting was among the best ever held. There was a large attendance of the pioneers of the Black Swamp, and the various papers and addresses were of more than usual interest. The weather was clear and cool, and the day a delightful one throughout.

At 11:15 A. M., Hon. Homer Everett, the president of the society, called the meeting to order in a few well chosen remarks, expressing his thankfulness to Divine providence in sparing his life and restoring him to health after the severe illness that kept him from the annual meeting last year. He greeted the pioneers cordially, and then introduced Rev. Henry Lang, who lined the hymn "Hebron" and it was sung by the audience. Rev. Lang then offered a fervent prayer, and read Psalm XC.

J. H. Burgoon, the secretary of the society, read the announcement which was published as the call for this meeting and proceeded as follows, in a pleasant address of welcome:

We turn with cheerful- hearts, pleasant memories and a_ kindly greeting to the many familiar faces before us this bright September morning, and for several years the near anniversary of our social gathering.

They may be termed the rear guard standing like monuments by the wayside, left of those belonging to that historic and heroic generation - of builders, who cleared and sowed in faith and tears, that we of the next generation might live and bask in sunshine and prosperity. We should be grateful heirs and willing to thank our honest ancestors for the privations they underwent, leaving us to reap the bountiful harvest. Fathers and mothers alike toiling and sorrowing bearing precious seed, leaving you and I to gather the golden sheaves.

A few of the veteran representatives who lived and saw the beginning of our history are yet alive and mingle with us today, standing thus we are united to the past and as a link forward to future generations.

Let each one present be welcome today, may we live to meet and enjoy many such gatherings as this, for very soon ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, companions of our earlier days will be in the front ranks and be called pioneers, and the thoughtless, merry, bright-eyed boy and girl of today will come forward and claim our places in society, in the home, the church and in the affairs of life, and when you and I have done with it they will take it up, and the great business of the world will move forward without a ripple on its surface at the point where we left off. With God above and man below, leaving the many civilized and Christian homes which have been reared all over this beautiful land by the pio-

The Death Roll

The list of the names of those who have gone from among us during the year, since our last annual meeting, held September 10, 1886, comprises about thirty, and in the list we find the names of such as Samuel Warner, Jacob Winter, Cyrus Pool, Julius Patterson, Mrs. Christina Hensel, Mrs. Susan Stine, Mrs. Amy R. Adams, Mrs. Mary Remsburg, Wm. B. Sanford, Capt. James Hafford, Lewis Leppleman, Philip Dorr, Mrs. Eliza Fusselman, Mrs. Mary Cunningham, Mrs. Harriet Forgerson, Jacob Kline, Adam Kuhn, Peter Aust, Christian Munch, Moritz Gusdorf, Mrs. Emilie Clark and Mrs. Mary L. Stewart.

The ages of those who died during the year would average 76 years. There were fourteen of them who died between the ages of 70 and 80, six over 80, and two had passed the ninetieth mile stone.

President Everett said it was worth coming here for him to hear the hymn lined by Rev. Lang and sung by the audience, after the style of pioneer days. It was something new. It had gone round the circle and now comes back to us new.

Gen. R. P. Buckland moved that the reading of the minutes of the last meeting which occupied a whole page in the Journal at that time, be dispensed with, and that they stand approved. The motion was carried.

Secretary Burgoon announced that he had received a letter from Judge William Lang, of Tiffin, expressing disappointment that business engagements prevented his attending this meeting.

Rev. Lang announced that he had expected a pioneer minister of this county to be present - Rev. Cronnewett, of Woodville - but he was unable to come. Rev. Cronnewett is one of the tallest men in the county, 6 feet 4 inches. He has been so long in this county that his congregation don't want him any longer, but they do want him as long as he shall live. Rev. Lang introduced Rev. Jacob Dunbeare, whom he said would speak in the afternoon.

President Everett suggested that pioneers register during the recess at noon. We regret that only a small portion of the number present reported their names to the secretary, and we are therefore unable to give a list of those in attendance.

Some of the pioneers went to the homes of friends throughout the city for dinner, but the majority remained and enjoyed a basket picnic in the court room. Tables groaned beneath their burden of good things and a delightful dinner hour ensued. Many amusing incidents of auld lang syne were related by the old people as they sat about the tables.

I came to this country from Switzerland in 1853, and upon my arrival at this place could not speak a word of English. My destination was Rollersville where friends resided and I inquired the way to that place of the ticket agent. He could not understand me, and I then wrote Rollersville on paper and he showed me the direction to take. I started for that place on foot, through the woods. I had heard much about the rattle snakes in this country and the noise made by the wood-peckers kept me in constant fear. I walked on and on, and still Rollersville did not come or I did not come to Rollersville. I became very hungry and finally stopped at a house where I asked for breakfast. The lady did not understand me, but I succeeded in making my wants known and obtained a good meal. Arriving at Rollersville I was not favorably impressed with the country, and having a desire to see Indians, of whom I had heard so much, I went from there to Saginaw, Mich. Concluding that I liked Ohio best I returned to Fremont where I assisted Rev. Lang for two years. I went from here to Thompson township, Seneca county, and afterwards preached in Loudonville. From there

Valuable Old Book

Rev. Lang then presented to the society a very valuable book, a gift from Rev. Jacob Dunbeare, to be placed among the society's relics in Birchard Library. The book is entitled, "The Seventh Volume of all the Works Published by Dr. Martin Luther." It was printed in 1598, is in the German language, and is in perfect state of preservation. It was rebound, in its present binding of hog's leather, in 1617. On the first page is a wood cut of the three Dukes of Saxony, who ruled at that time, which is really creditable to the art of wood engraving at that period. Mr. Everett returned the thanks of the society to the donor for this valuable gift, assuring him that it should have the best possible keeping.

Other Gifts And Relics

Mr. Albert Cavalier presented to the society a piece of a huge elk horn which was found half a mile out in Sandusky bay at the mouth of Touissaint Creek. How this piece of horn got there, and just what influence it has toward: proving that elk once inhabited the forests of this country, is hard to tell. Mr. Cavalier also presented a box of Indian axes, arrow heads, pieces of pottery, etc., to be placed in Birchard Library.

Isaac Shale, of Burgoon, gave to the society a photograph which shows in a graphic manner the improvements in this country since its early settlement. It is a picture of his handsome, new, brick residence, surrounded by a neat door yard. In the rear is his former house, a small story and a half frame structure, and back of that his original pioneer dwelling, a little log cabin.

There are few of the pioneers now living who recollect as much of the early history of this place as Judge Remsburg. His memory is a rich storehouse of incidents of the early days. He said: Occasions of this kind recall to my mind many incidents that transpired sixty-four years ago. In 1822 my grandfather, Jacob Bowlus, with a party numbering twenty-three in all, left Frederick county, Maryland, for Ohio. The party consisted of my grandfather, Jacob Bow'us, and wife, Margaret; my father, Casper Remsburg, his w'fe, Mary (Bowilus) Remsburg and children Matilda, Hezekiah, William, Mary (now Mrs. James Rosenberger), Susanna and Rebecca; my uncle, Jacob Bowlus, who died about a year and a half ago, his wife, Sarah Ann, and son, William H; my uncles and aunts, Margaret, Susanna, David. Flizabeth, Ellen, Sophia, George and Lydia Bowlus; Ann Holladay and Peter Buzzard.

We started from Maryland in February, 1822, in two covered wagons, drawn by four horse teams. The first day we went as far as Haga stown, where we left a portion of our goods as our load was too heavy. We pass2d through Brownsville, Pa., through Washington county, Pa., and crossed the Ohio river at Steubenville. We came through New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas county, and at Wooster, in Wayne county, again left a portion of our goods to lighten the load. We passed south of Norwalk through Monroeville, and stopped the Saturday night before our arrival in Lower Sandusky at Strong's Ridge, east of Bellevue. We pushed on Sunday and arrived in Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), on Monday, March 10 or 11. Our journey of less than four hun- .dred miles occupied some thirty-five days, averaging about ten or eleven miles per day. On our arrival here we stopped at Leason's tavern. There were not many inhabitants here. Some of them I remember and will give their names; most of them were heads of families: Jeremiah Everett, Daniel Brainard, Thomas L. Haw- kins, Israel Harrington, Elisha Howland, Cyrus Hulburd, Samuel Hollingshead, Thomas Holcomb, Isaac Knapp, George Olmsted, Richard Sears, Calvin Leason, Josiah Rumrey, David Gallagher, Joseph Momeny, John W. Tyler, Lysander C. Ball, Moses Wilson, Reuben Patterson, Moses A. Nichols, Joseph Loveland, Morris A. Newman, Nicholas Whitinger, Henry Dollison, Sanford Mayne, William Dew, John Wolcott, and last but not least, Squire Archie, a gentleman .of mixed blood, who lived in a log cabin on a spot now occupied by a part of Arch street, just west of Baumann's meat market. His cabin and a peach tree were enclosed by a rail fence, and the peach tree was near the fence.

There are now only two houses in Fremont that were here then; the front part of the Kessler House, now the W. & L. E. depot. This building was erected by Mr. Whitinger. My father lived from March until some time in May in a house back of this hotel on the spot now covered by the platform of the W. & L. E. railroad. The first time I met my friend, Homer Everett, I stood at the south end of that house and we approached and gazed at each other for a moment, and then made friends. The other buiiding to which I alluded was the old Dickinson house, now standing at the corner of Arch and State streets. This house was built by Morris Newman on the hill on the opposite side of the river. In 1825 it was moved over the river by yokes of oxen, on the first bridge, an open one, across the Sandusky river. The house got stuck on the bridge, and a hole had to be cut through it to let passengers cross.

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

Reserve and Maumee road was not located. There was no thoroughfare from here to Perrysburg. Travel was on horseback or foot, following the Indian trails. There were two trails in the direction of Perrysburg: one starting north toward the mouth of the Muskalonge, and then running in a northwesterly direction to Perrysburg; the other passing to the Stony Ridge, and when about half across the Stony Ridge near where Mr. Deemer now lives, the trail divided, one branch passing along the line of what is now the Napoleon road, crossing the Muskalonge at the old Naugle farm, now owned by A. J. Wolfe.

The center trail towards Perry:burg was the one over which the mail was carriel from here to Perrysburg. The first year we lived on MusKalonge we cut a road meandering through the hazel brush, crossing the third hill west of here on the pike, and running somewhat in the direction of the pike as afterwards located, until it struck the Stony Ridge, thence to the Muskalonge.

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

During that season we commenced clearing land. I have already intimated that this vast landscape or territory, from here as far as the eye could reach, was a vast wilderness. Perhaps no country would have required as much labor to make it susceptible of good homes. I know of no word in the vocabulary of any language that can convey the truth relative to the settlement of the Black Swamp. In the summer of 1822, after we went to Muskalonge, we found it necessary to fell the forest. My grandfather employed men to clear the land, and among those that were engaged the first season were Consider C. Barney, Thomas Emerson, John Hawk and Thomas Lay. We lived that summer about half a mile below where the turnpike is now located. Some time in January, 1823, we passed up to where my father afterwards lived, one hundred rods above the pike, although the pike was located through the quarter section which he entered. He lived there till his death, which occurred in 1849. My mother remained there till 1857, when she left and went to my brother's home in Illinois. She made her home there and with her children in this county, until her death on the 13th of June last, at Chatsworth, Livingston county, Illinois, at the age

Remsburg said: Gleason's hotel occupied the site of the Shomo block on Front street. It was a low, story and a half frame building, and stood back from the street, having a yard in front.

The building which Loveland oc: cupied was a round-log, double building, with two sets of rooms, and stood near the river bank where June's foundry now is. The building my father lived in here was a round-log cabin.

The first school building between this place and the Maumee was erected on the banks of the Muskalonge in the latter part of the year 1827, shortly after Samuel Crowell, a school teacher, came to this country. The schoolhouse was a log structure 15 x 20 feet, with about seven feet

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

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

In response to an inquiry in regard to the erection of the first court house here, Judge Remsburg said: The first building erected for court house purposes stood back in the hazel brush, south of what is now Birchard avenue. A Cincinnati and a Kentucky company had bought land here, and the Cincinnati company donated the lot. The building was not completed, and in 1829 the frame was moved to a spot on the hill north of Croghan street, where it was finished for court house purposes. The old building as remodeled is now the residence of Rev. H, Lang.

Some time after the states of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois were marked out, according to the ordinance of 1787, the town of Marietta was located and southern Ohio began to be settled. Not many years after that the northwestern part of Ohio seemed to attract the attention, not only of immigrants but of the government, and there was a reservation laid out here of two miles square. Afterwards, in 1816, congress passed an act to divide it, and, after reserving a quarter section on the northwest and a quarter section on the southwest corner, the balance was divided into subdivisions of 80 acres, running from the river back. The government also located Croghansville, on the hill on the east side of the river, the government agent thinking this was an important point; it was finely laid out with wide and spacious streets. The sale of the 80 acre lots in the regervation of two miles square was at auction at Wooster, Ohio, and sales were made on the installment plan. The price ran up as high as $125 per acre in some cases. Many who bought land were unable to pay for it, and congress gave to those who were unable to complete their payments, other lands at the rate of $1.25 per acre in such amounts as the payments they had made called for. David Gallagher thus got a tract in * Bloomingdale, and marsh lands _ below. Individual enterprise brought the town to the west side of the river as the government did not take the interest it should have done in Croghansville.

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

I came with my parents to this county from Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1842. My parents were both born in Columb'ana county. My father,aged 84,and my mother, 82, are still living and enjoy good health. We spent the night of October 30, 1842, in a little log shanty on the east side of the river, and the next day started for the place where we now live, in Scott township, two miles this side of Rollersville. We got there October 31, and I shall never forget that day. We had one span of horses, a yoke of cattle, and drove two cows. It rained just about as hard as 'it could. We made our way through the woods. At Mud creek we got into holes so deep that the mud and water ran into the wagon boxes. I have seen some hard times in mud and water. I used to go to Moore's mill with a four-horse team to take fourteen bushels of wheat, and it would take one day to go and one day to come back. I would sometimes get into mud and water up to my chin, and sometimes I had to take one horse to pull the other out of the mud. I lived in Elmore fourteen years, and have since moved to Helena to take charge of my parents.

My father came to this county September 22, 1835, from Union county, Pa. The trip of about 450 miles occupied twenty-two days. We stayed perhaps two weeks near Bellevue with my uncle, Levi Walters. From there we passed through Lower Sandusky, and at Hessville, my uncle, John Walters, met us and took us to his home on Wengert's ridge. The woods were on fire when we arrived at Hessville in the evening, and I was very much afraid the burning trees would fall on us. We lived five years on Wengert's ridge, when father entered forty acres of land two miles north of Lindsey, and put up a log shanty. The clapboards for the roof were weighted down with round poles as we had no nails. The chimney was made of split sticks, plastered inside with mud, and extended only six inches above the roof. The chimney had to be watched constantly for fear it would take fire. The trees were so close to the house that we scarcely knew how to fell them so that they would not fall upon it. When we burned brush piles we had to watch the fires all night for fear the house would be destroyed. I remember when the first road was cut out from the pike to the Portage river. It progressed at the rate of about two miles per year. This was about 1840-42.

Mr. J. B. Loveland read a sketch of the life of Joseph Loveland, Jr., a man prominent in the early history of Ohio. His paper was as follows: came to Ohio in 1797, in company with Hezekiah Smith, and in the fall of 1799 he and Smith erected a log grist mill at the upper falls of the Hocking river; this was the first grist mill built on that river, and was located seven miles from Lancaster, in Fairfield county.

Lancaster was platted in 1800, and by way of compliment to a number of emigrants from Lancaster county, Pa., was called New Lancaster. It retained its name until 1805.

Mr. Loveland was one of the hardy Pioneers of Lancaster county. He cleared up a large farm there and planted an extensive peach orchard and was regarded as a wealthy and prosperous man. At the breaking out of the war of 1812 he disposed of his property at Lancaster and engaged as commissary to supply the army of the Northwest. His connection with the army was short, as we find him engaged in mercantile business at Detroit when Hull surrendered the Michigan Territory to the British. It is probable, however, that he accompanied the army from Dayton to Detroit in June, 1812. While at Detroit he dealt largely in _ soldiers' claims and was engaged in the Indian Fur Trade, being connected with the Hudson Bay Company. A few days before the storming of Fort Stephenson, at Lower Sandusky, Ohio, he was one of the guests at the fort, happening to pass that way en route from Detroit to Lancaster, where he still had business interests. He made the journey on horseback, unattended, over a hostile country.

In his mercantile career he was unsuccessful. Through the rascality of his partner he suffered heavy losses, but he settled honorably all claims against him. In 1820, gathering together the remnants of his fortune, he came to Lower Sandusky, now Fremont, Ohio, and engaged in the double business of fishing and farming. He was quite successful, and soon acquired a large estate in land.

He was married at New Lancaster, May 20, 1800, to Miss Nancy Schellenbarger, of Lancaster, Pa. She was a woman small in stature, and blackeyed. She died in Lower Sandusky,

Mr. Loveland was a man about five feet ten inches in height, having a gaunt, lean and muscular frame, and prominent nose; he had an overhanging forehead, indicating (and which to a remarkable degree he possessed), strong perceptive faculties; he had black hair, grayish-brown eyes, and was as tough as a knot; he was a person totally devoid of fear, had great powers of endurance, and drove his work and business with a relentless hand. He was regarded as one of the best farmers of the county. The writer of this sketch was told by an old neighbor of his "that he raised the best corn in the county." On asking him how he did it, he replied, "that he planted it early and tended it."

Mr. Loveland resided on Front street near the present business center of the city. A business block now occupies the site. He owned a farm on the east side of the river, within the present corporate limits of the city.

He was a very intelligent talker, and was very fond of reading and discussing the leading religious and political topics of the day. In religious belief he was a Universalist; in politics, a Whig. He was a man of good native understanding and cut out for business. There was not a more diligent, energetic, and business man in the town than he. Take it all in all, he was a remarkable gentleman of his time, and under more favorable circumstances would have left a distinguished mark in the commercial world. When completely broken in fortune at a somewhat advanced age, he arose phoenix-like from the ashes with renewed energy and was crowned with success.

He died at his son Aaron's house, a small brick edifice, yet standing (1886) on the hill, on the east side of the river, and on the north side of the Maumee Turnpike. He fell a victim to the typhoid fever, August 30, 1834. The prevalence of the cholera in the town at that time, pre-* vented his burial by the side of his wife. His remains were deposited in a private burying ground north of the city limits and on the east side of the river. In 1885 these grounds were thrown open to the plow, and it became necessary for those who had friends buried there, either to remove the remains or forever to have the place of their burial obliterated from their sight. The remains of Mr. Loveland were exhumed on the 11th day of August, 1885, and reinterred in the city cemetery in the family lot. Mr. Loveland had three sons and one daughter: Aaron was a prominent citizen of Fremont, raised a large family here, and is buried in the city cemetery. Henry went to California at the breaking out of the gold fever and died there in 1873. He left a family. Aeneas died in 1827, unmarried. Mary married James K. Glenn, a prominent and prosperous merchant of the town. She is living (1886) and has a family.

Secretary Burgoon presented a sketch of the Hensel family, written by Mr. Adam Hensel, to be incorporated in the minutes of the meeting. We defer its publication until next week.

Judge William Caldwell, a pioneer of Lower Sandusky, now the judge of probate court of Ottawa county, was called upon and responded as _ follows: My advent to Lower Sandusky was in the year 1828. Previous to this, in 1818, my father settled in 'Marion county. I remember when the government surveyors first ran the lines for the townships. When the land was surveyed we found our cabin was on another man's ground and we had to move-it. We lived there about ten years before coming here. We encountered what the people nowadays would call hardships. All the people then lived in log cabins. All the nails we used in building our house were for the doors, which my father made himself, being a blacksmith. There was a loft in our house and the children slept up there. The sweetest music I ever heard was the patter of the rain upon the roof. In the winter the snow drifted in, and in the morning we had to shake it from our bed covers. We all used to turn out to help a new neighbor build his house, and we had many logging, raising and husking bees. Often when the men had a log rolling the ladies had a _ quilting, which usually ended in a dance on the puncheon floor in the evening. At these gatherings I enjoyed some of the happiest moments of my life. In response to an inquiry Judge Caldwell stated that they had fiddlers and whisky in those days. The whisky, sweetened with maple sugar, was drank from a tin cup. He related an incident of how at one time a number of families met at his father's house to go to a logging, quilting and dance at a neighbor's. Much against his will, his mother made him take on the horse with him, a girl named Polly, who worked for them. Polly weighed about 225 pounds and towered a full head above him, then a small boy of fourteen. The party went in single file and would have made a laughable picture could it have been photographed. They danced all night and came home in the morning. When they reached a creek that had to be forded, on their return, Polly exchanged places and rode on the horse with the young man that took the judge's sister. When Polly threw her arms around the young man she exclaimed, "This is something like,' and said she would never go to another dance if she had to go with uncle William's little hoy. This expression became quite a by-word and he had to take this joke for many a day.

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

'tavern between this place and Clyde, and one day when he (Mr. Lang) came to his house wet, cold and muddy, his horse having mired as he was on his way to attend a funeral in Thompson township, Seneca county. Judge Caldwell said he did not recollect this particular occurrence but remembered many similar ones. He spoke of a young man who started in a wagon with a team of mules for Michigan, with one hundred dollars to buy land. He got stuck and had to pay one dollar so often to people who lived near the mud holes to help pull his wagon out, that long before he completed his journey his money was exhausted. The young man was not discouraged, however, and said, "the place to find what you have lost is where you lost it." He accordingly located himself beside a mud hole and stayed till he had earned his hundred dollars back. He then moved to Georgia, and if he never went to congress it was not because he didn't deserve it.

My father, Mr. Jared Plumb, came to the state of Ohio from Volney, Oswego county, New York, in the year 1834. He purchased land in Woodville township the autumn before, and moved here in June, just after the June freshet. We stayed all night, the first night, at Mr. Currier's tavern, where Mr. Damschroeder now lives. The land did not look dry and nice then as it did the fall before and he did not like it, and we started the next morning to go back, came as far as Fremont and Mr. Sardis Birchard persuaded him to return (though not immediately).

We went about a mile east of this town, stayed about one week, while my father went to Michigan to see if he could not find some location that would suit him better, some place where he could have better advantages for school for his children (there were four of us girls). But he saw no place that he liked better, so at the end of the week he concluded he would take Mr. Birchard's advice and return to jhis farm on Sugar creek, in Woodville township, Sandusky county, which was then all woods. I think we did not see the inside of a schoolhouse for two or three years. We had always been used to going to school in New York state, and regretted very much that we could not go. I think great credit is due our parents for the help they gave us at that time, and we tried to make use of all the advantages we could for getting an education, and all became school teachers. and had the credit, I believe, of being called good teachers in the common branches, which was all they wanted taught at that time. I was at the time we eame here little more than six years old. Before I was fifteen I taught the first school that was taught in my father's district. My next school was at Gibsonburg, when the schoolhouse was the only building there. The house was a log house with puncheon fioor and fireplaces in each end, and windows at the sides that we could shove sideways; and it was also used for a meeting house for circuit preachers. The winter previous to teaching my first school I attended a school taught by Geo. Scoville, the lawyer who defended Guiteau, the man that killed President Garfield. I also taught school at Elmore before there was any Elmore, and Mr. Alexander Hamilton, the gentleman who came to hire me to teach, was the first hired man my father had.

I was at the time he worked for my father little more than seven years old, so he must have thought we had the right kind of teachers at home.

The next September after teaching my first school at Elmore, I went back to Gowanda, Cattaraugus county, New York, where my father's relatives lived, and attended a Normal school there considerably over a year. I then taught at Elmore and elsewhere until I was twenty-five, when I married Mr. Harley Rice Dean, and still continue to live in the home he took me to March 25, 1853, on Portage river, one mile and a half east of Elmore. My mother, Mrs. EH. Plumb, I believe, was the first milliner in our part of the county, and my sister, Mrs. Foster, I believe taught the first school in the district adjoining my father's district, the same in which George Scoville afterwards taught, and I attended. 1 would like to join your society as a -pioneer school teacher if I may be permitted to do so.

Mr. Everett then introduced Philander Rexford, of Syracuse, N. Y., as one of the playmates of his youth in Lower Sandusky. Mr. Rexford said: This to me is a happy hour. My parents, with my grandfather, on my mother's side, two sons-in-law of my grandfather, and a family named Martin, left Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., in a ten-ton boat, in April, 1811. We made our way up Lake Ontario to Lewistown, where our boat was loaded upon a four-wheeled truck and drawn by three yoke of oxen, to Black Rock, below Buffalo. Buffalo then was a place of very few inhabitants. We then went on Lake Erie to Detroit, where we arrived the latter part of August, 1811, and remained there through the winter. Upon the breaking out of the war of 1812 we left Detroit and came this way into Licking county. In the spring of 1812 we moved to Huron county, the better to keep away from the Indians, and remained there during the war.

While we were there my grandfather and grandmother moved to Cold creek, where Castalia is now located. There in May, 1813, while the men were out plowing and the women and children had gathered at a Mr. Snow's house, the Indians made a descent upon the place. They captured and carried off fourteen persons, and all the goods of any value. Mrs. Snow was unable to travel and the Indians killed her and three small children. The Indians wanted to kill Mrs. Snow's son Willard, four and a half years old, but a boy named Henry Grass, who was already loaded down with all the goods he could well bear, offered to carry the boy and did take him on his back for fifteen miles. At Sandusky the prisoners were put into canoes. These were so heavily loaded that the prisoners had to sit very still, and there Henry Grass took a cold from the effects of which he died. The Indians carried their prisoners to Detroit, where they were turned over to the British and held until after Perry's victory on Lake Erie and his triumphal entry into Detroit, when they were released. I can remember what rejoicing there was when my grandmother returned. I remember seeing my mother shed tears when she was captured, and I remember how she acted when grandmother returned. I heard the firing during the battle on Lake Hrie and remember well hearing my father say there goes another broad-side. Father moved to White Creek (near Castalia), in 1814. In the spring of 1815 we went to Sandusky City; then there were only two houses there, one occupied by a family named Perry, who were building a little schooner on the beach. The next day we started in a boat and came up the Sandusky bay and river, stopping the first night at Mrs. Whitaker's, three miles below here. We located in Lower Sandusky in April, 1815. The soldiers were still in Fort Stephenson, and I remember exactly how it looked. Mr. Everett's brother, Joel, and myself took a stroll one day and went into the fort; sentries were passing back and forth and a large black bear was chained in the center of the fort. I have a distinct remembrance of everything of interest that transpired in my life since that period. I can recollect what kind of a year it was and what kind of weather we had every year since 1815, and I think that in 1886 we have had more dreadful cyclones and earthquakes than in all the other seventy-two years I can remember.

I came to Ohio in 1843, from Connecticut. We settled on the peninsula in Ottawa county where I now live. The country was entirely new and there were no roads. We had to come to Fremont to mill and to do our trading, and the roads were so bad the trip took a whole day one way. On the 4th of July after our coming here I attended my first party in Ohio, at Mr. Clemens', at Marblehead. We started for the party at 8 o'clock in the morning and arrived there at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, danced all night and got home at noon the next day. I wrote back to friends in Connecticut my first experience in going to a party in Ohio. I can say that the last years of my life have been the happiest.

The Oldest Lady Pioneer

During the afternoon a collection, amounting to $12.32, was taken for the purpose of defraying some of the necessary expenses of the Society.

President Everett was authorized to appoint one person in each township to report the death of all pioneers to the secretary of the society, together with a sketch of their lives.

About half-past four the doxology was sung and the pioneers dispersed, all agreeing that this had been one of the most pleasant reunions ever held.

Pioneer Lawyers And Physicians

In connection with our report of the pioneer reunion, the following item may be of interest. In the County Treasurer's office are preserved the tax duplicates of Sandusky county since the year 1837. In looking over the duplicate of 1845 this week, we noticed that lawyers and physicians were charged with an income tax amounting to 42 cents on every $100 of their annual income. The lawyers' names on the duplicate were as follows: J. L. Greene, B. J. Bartlett, Cooper K. Watson, J. A. Johnson, R. P. Buckland, L. B. Otis, Homer Everett, R. B. Hayes and Wm. W. Culver. Their income as returned for taxation was from $50 up to $509 per year.

L. Q. Rawson, Samuel Ryder, Lewis Gessner, Franklin Williams, J. D. G. Stevenson, Edwin Lathan, A. R. Ferguson, Isaac S. Ross, Richard L. Seeley, P. Beaugrand, Stephen Finch, Wm. G. Harkness, Joseph Kelly, John M. Fletcher, John C. Thomson. The doctor's incomes ran from $50 up to $600 per year.

When asked' by our secretary to contribute a part of our life's history to this association, I feel as if an old farmer cannot make a "bookmaker," no more than a bookmaker can make an old farmer.

I doubt not there are many of us who reflect with pride on our past records, as law-abiding citizens, marching along with the progress of the age, with the progress of the county (dubbed Black Swamp), with the progress of the schools and churches, and recall with tender memories the genuine fellowship, the sincere friendships, that existed then in the hearts of the people, not being able, however, to make out if the change is in ourselves or in the people. I give you all the benefit of the doubt, and take you back with me to the cradles, rocked in the boughs of our dear old forest homes, unrecognized by our children and cherished by our dying pioneers.

I was two and a half years old when my parents moved from Perry county, Ohio, to Lower Sandusky (now Fremont). My life dream was to come to the great Sandusky to fish and shoot deer,

The emigrant train, on which we were to come, was too crowded to bring along with us my favorite kitten, which I killed to keep from starving; also my favorite calf that had to be butchered, and with a broken heart father equipped me for the journey. He made me a wooden gun,

Fremont then consisted of one frame and six or seven log houses, three stores in all comprised the commercial part of town. One was owned by Mr. Jesse S. Olmsted, situated where Mr. Buchman's grocery now is, and to him belongs so much credit to the prosperity of Lower Sandusky. All first settlers will fremember him as a man with fine business tact, a man with great integrity in dealing honestly with men. He was a noble soul and a hero of many a trying situation. His daughter is now the wife of ex-Governor Charles Foster.

It is needless to say the principal traders were Indians, the. number of white people in our train outnumbered the population of Fremont then.

We camped on what is known as the old Samuel Crowell place, west of the Muskalonge and south of the pike, where we stayed two weeks, when our train, drawn by oxen, followed a trail through the dense forest, deep with mud and water, to a spot known now as the "Dr. Wilson farm," north of the Four Mile House.

This possession was taken by George Overmyer, where, with the help of all the women folks, a clearing was soon cut down, large enough to put a house on, which was of the old log cabin kind, just 18 x 20 feet. It was no small feat then to raise a house! There were but four men and the women were mustered "to the logging' and the first "heo-hee"' that rang through the mighty forest reechoed, the moan of the dying Indian's farewell.

One incident that proves the tender nature of the now almost extinct savage race occurred one day, when all the big folks had gone to father's reservation, just east of the "Wilson farm," to raise a log cabin. We young ones (for there were eleven of us), all played on the trunk of a broken down tree, we saw the leaves move aside and there stood a big Indian chief, "Inching Chief" grinning at us and touching his scalp knife, all the little imps vanished into the house like mice, and left me hanging to the boughs of the ,tree, the old chief smiled and caressed me, stroked my legs, looked into my face and tenderly lifted and set me down and disappeared in the woods.

Father's cabin was built much on the same plan, the women being called upon again to help roll up ths logs, and it was a mean spirit that did not take new courage from the brave women of our early days.

Six weeks from the time of the "logging" the house was occupied, there were no window frames nor doors, -the nearest saw-mill stood where Ballville now is. Father was the carpenter of the train and did the hewing of the "puncheon" while the women placed it on the beams for flooring. Quilts and blankets were used for doors and windows, and soon we were lulled to sleep by the loud barking of wild animals.

My early dream of deer hunting was appeased, on any moonlight night we could lift away the quilts and see the deer stamping and_e snorting around the house. We lived an ideal Indian life, much poorer in fact, all the worldly possessions father had then, were a robust young wife, a boy and girl, now Mrs. Eva Waitman, and myself, a set of carpenter tools, a cow and two dollars and a half in money.

Shawnees stayed around our cabins for years. On one occasion when mother was tending the garden I was left in charge of the baby (Mrs. Waitman), an old squaw came in and took her in her arms and fondled her, and - well, her own pappoose had died but a few days before that, and the nickname "old Inching" given her ever after was a stronger "dubbing" than the wild "milk and honey" were palatable.