Weston Township (part 4 of 15)

The experience of John T. Baldwin, father of Marquis Baldwin, of Toledo, given in the history of Lucas county, from which we quote, was doubtless similar to that of many others who came there: "He and his sons sailed a little schooner, called the ' Leopard.' Mr. Baldwin and family came to Orleans, April i, 1 8 1 8, and rented a small house and staid until July, when they left. In November they returned and lived in a part of Seneca Allen's house. In the following spring (1819), Marquis dropped corn for Gen. Vance, on his farm, just above Orleans. The family, as on their previous stay, suffered so much from fever and ague, that at times there were not well persons enough to take care of the sick. In June, 1819, Mr. Baldwin again became discouraged, and left for his old home, at Palmyra, Portage county, but made two or three trips, with the ' Leopard, ' between Cleveland, Detroit and Orleans, during the season, on one of which he took a cargo of corn for Jonathan Gibbs from the Maumee to Detroit. In 1823, Mr. Baldwin and family, a third time, came to the Maumee, stopping at what is now Toledo, then Port Lawrence, where they made their home. Among the residents at the Rapids, in 1818, John Baldwin remembers the following at Orleans: - William Ewing, Elisha Martindale, James Wilkinson, Samuel and Aurora Spafford, the Vances, Hollisters, Amos Pratt and others previously mentioned in these pages. At Maumee: - Robert A. Forsyth, John E. Hunt, Almon Gibbs, Dr. Horatio Conant, James Carlin, and a Frenchman, named Peltier; down toward Miami: - Daniel Hubbell and William Herrick; while up the river were John Pray, Gilbert and Artemus Underwood, James Adams and others. In the woods, at Perrysburg, was John and Frank Hollister, John Webb, David M. Hawley and William Wilson.

" Marquis Baldwin gives some of the current prices, for labor and goods, taken from the books kept by his father, which are of interest. The price for half-soling a pair of boots was $3 ; Mrs. Baldwin, making fine shirt, $1; making woolen pantaloons, $1.50; linen, 50 cents; common laborers got $25 a month and board; sailors the same; cider brought $8. 50 per barrel; tobacco, 50 cents a pound; chickens, 25 cents apiece; whiskey, 50 cents a pint; tar, $1.50 per gallon; tin plates, 31 cents; salt, $8 per barrel; nails, 25 cents a pound; flour, $4 per 100 pounds; bacon, 20 cents; beefsteak, 10 cents; pork, 18J cents; butter, 31 cents; castor hats, $7; shoes, $2.50 per pair."

The year 1817 was eventful to the settlers on the Maumee, in another thing. Some years before the war of 1812, this territory, we remember, was attached to Champaign county, with the county seat at Urbana, about one hundred miles distant. The Greenville Treaty line, just north of that county, had stood as a wall to stop further settlement in that direction. That barrier was now removed, and March 1, 1817, a new county, north of Champaign, and extending to Michigan, called Logan, with the county seat at Belleville (now Bellefontaine), was organized. This part of the Maumee Country was now a part of Logan, with the county seat still on Hull's Trace, but eighteen miles nearer than before the change. Soon after, the township of Waynesfield, which took in the Maumee settlement, was established, which proved a further convenience to the people in selecting local peace officers, and better regulating their home affairs in various ways.

The years 1818 and 1819 were characterized by a steady, but uneventful, growth on the Maumee. The settlers were, as a class, energetic and ambitious. Their hopes were in the building of a city there, and making it the center of a great population, as well as of a great trade. Their hopes were apparently well founded. It was only unforeseen natural, but insurmountable, obstacles that prevented their realization.

By the close of the year 1819 the Maumee villages, jnd adjacent settlements, numbered over six hundred people, exclusive of Indians. The increasing population and business of the settlement made it burdensome to the citizens to have to travel seventy-five or eighty miles, across the swamp, with scarcely any road facilities, to get to the seat of justice, and they petitioned for a new county.

On February 12, 1820, the Legislature, by boundaries and names, carved fourteen new counties out of the 'territory lately purchased of the Indian tribes. Of the fourteen counties thus formed, provision was made in the Act for the organization of only two - Wood and Sandusky. Maumee was named in the law as the temporary county seat of Wood, and the first day of April following was designated as the time when the voters should meet, at their usual place of holding election, to choose county officers. The law also provided that justices and constables, previously elected under the jurisdiction of Logan county, should fill out their unexpired terms of office. It was further provided that the unorganized counties of Hancock, Henry, Putnam, Paulding, and Williams, should be attached to Wood, for civil purposes, until further provision was made by law.

Thus Wood had jurisdiction over territory which now comprises nine counties. The original six counties have since, at different times, been divided and the counties of Lucas, Fulton and Defiance formed, additional.

On April 12, the commissioners, chosen April i, Daniel Hubbell, of Miami, Samuel H. Ewing, of Orleans, and John Pray, of Waterville, met in the second story of Almon Gibbs' store, in Maumee, and organized by electing Daniel Hubbell clerk of the board. That was the beginning of Wood county's corporate existence. The first act of the commissioners, after electing their clerk, was to appoint William Pratt county treasurer. The next was to buy a record book, which they got on credit, price $4. 50, which shows that the grand old county, rich to-day, was poor at the start; she had not so much as a nickel; this suggests the inquiry as to why they needed a treasurer then. Wood county was organized; she had boundary lines and a name; a board of commissioners; a treasurer and a record book. That book, yet in existence at the auditor's office, in a fair state of preservation, is a medium sized, rawhide-covered volume, of about 300 pages. It was the first property owned by Wood county, and should be treasured as a relic. The county was named in honor of Col. Eleazer D. Wood, a gallant young engineer officer, and graduate of West Point, on Gen. Harrison's staff in the war of 1812. Under his commander's coders, he planned and helped to construct and defend Fort Meigs. Afterward, at the battle of the Thames, he had command of the artillery, and was in the front, with the Kentuckians, in the pursuit of the Hying Proctor. After that battle, a part of Harrison's army was sent to the Niagara frontier, and Wood went with it. In a desperate sortie of the Americans, from Fort Erie, the following year ( 1814), the intrepid Wood, then holding the rank of brevet lieut. -colonel, lost his life. His commander, Major-Gen. Brown, after the war, and at his own expense, erected a monument in memory of Col. Wood, in the Post cemetery, at West Point, on the Hudson. The county was honored with the name of this gallant officer, as was Perrysburg by the name of the hero of Lake Erie.

The county boundary lines were the same as now, except on the north Wood extended to I Michigan. In the year 1835. Wood was dis- 1 membered, and Lucas county formed, when the 1 Maumee river became the northern line of Wood, ' except a short space on the northeast corner. Before the commissioners adjourned their first meeting, they contracted with Gibbs for the use of his room, for one year, for a court house, for which they agreed to pay him $40. When they adjourned, the clerk took the record book under his arm, and carried it home for safe keeping. The county, though now organized and in running order, was lacking in many of the essentials of the present day. It had no safes, no fire-proof vaults, no tax duplicate, no money, no jail, no county roads, no ditches, no bridges - hardly anything, except the bright anticipations of her projectors. In this humble plight Wood took her place in the sisterhood of counties - not a very promising one, to be sure, but destined to take an honorable place with them, after overcoming more discouragements than any other county in the State. It is difficult, indeed, for people of to-day to realize the homeliness and poverty of that beginning in the county's history; and yet, the contrast, so much in favor of the present, affords us just cause of pride in those people, our predecessors, and their successors, down to the present, who have worked this wonderful change amid so many disheartening obstacles. But while the hopeful settlers at the seat of justice of the newly-fledged county are waiting for the next event, which completed their county government - namely, the court - it will be interesting to look back, through the mist of years, and catch a glimpse of the landscape surroundings at the Foot of the Rapids. It was not like it is now. Instead of smooth, grassy slopes and cultivated fields, with unobstructed views of the gentle curves and broad sweeps of the river for miles, as seen now, we would see it clothed in rugged forest trees and thick bush. Instead of the fine iron bridge, connecting two pretty towns, with fine business blocks, residences and public buildings, there was a sluggish ferryboat and numerous canoes and skiffs to cross from shore to shore. The battle-scarred ruins of Fort Meigs, on the south side, and of Fort Miami, further down, on the north side of the river, told the stranger that this point had lain in the track of war. Three straggling river settlements, on the river bluffs among the timber, or on the flats, strove for city honors. Maumee, the most pretentious, lay on the north bank, scattered along nearly two miles. Orleans, on the south side, was on the slope and flats below the old fort. There were a few cultivated areas at intervals, mostly of wheat and corn. Perrysburg had a few cabins, along a wood's trail, cut out where Front street is now. Her claims to city honors, other than her name and fine location, were seriously obscured by the heavy growth of timber. There were no streets or roads, except the old army trails. Indians were, at times, more numerous than whites, though usually peaceable and quiet, unless under the influence of whiskey. There were not, at that time, to exceed 650 whites,, men, women and children, in all three settlements and vicinity. The census of 1820 makes the population 733; but taking the list of names of voters at the elections up to 1825, it is difficult to figure out that many whites, on the usual ratio of five persons to every voter. But it is not improbable that in their efforts to get a county government, the settlers made the largest showing possible. At any rate, in ten years to 1830, the increase, as shown by the census report, only carried the population up to 1,102. The point, however, is not material, except as a basis from which to note the after-growth of population.

Now let us go to Maumee and attend court, in fancy, at least. It is Wood county's first Common Pleas court; May 3, 1820. How different from now. [The writer is indebted for an account of the first court, to the late Collister Haskins, one of the grand jurors on that occasion.] These is no bell ringing in the lofty tower to call the jurors, attorneys, and witnesses together. The clerk and his deputies are not hurrying to the court room with arms full of heavy court records. There is no clerk, and there are no record books. The attorneys are not edging up quietly to the sheriff's desk to learn if important witnesses have been notified, and are likely to be present. Curious as it may seem to those conversant with later judicial history, lawyers were scarce at that first court. The event had not got noised about very far; but they soon began to come. Before court had been in session long, three arrived, showed their credentials, and asked leave to practice. Where lawyers were found, there are certain to be clients. But if lawyers were a little scarce, the court was "numerous." As courts were then organized, the Common Pleas had four judges - a president judge, and .three associates, all appointed by the Legislature.

George Tod* was president judge at this first court, and his associates were Samuel Vance, Horatio Conant, and Peter G. Oliver. Four judges are considered, even now, as quite an imposing "bench;" and no doubt the proud dwellers in the new county seat felt, and justly, too, that quite an added dignity and prestige attached to their ambitious little city because of its court honors. David Hull was the name of the first sheriff who rapped on the table and opened the Common Pleas court. The first official act was to appoint Thomas R. McKnight, clerk. While McKnight was hunting up suitable stationary and a record book, C. J. McCurdy was appointed prosecutor for the State. This completed the organization of the court, and they were now ready for business.

Many duties attached to the Common Pleas court then that do not belong to it now. All probate work belonged to it; such as the apointment of guardians, granting administration, recording wills, taking bonds, etc. Besides this, the court granted all licenses. Every business paid license then: Taverns, stores, ferries, bridges, ware-houses, all had to pay rates fixed by the court. Thus it will be seen that the Common Pleas court embraced, in its scope of work, some of the most important functions of government in this new settlement - even the vital one of creating revenue, and the records, happily yet in a good state of preservation, afford us an insight into many interesting facts not elsewhere to be found. One thing is particularly striking in the testamentary records of that time - the frequent number of deaths noted. Before the end of the year 1822, the death list, in this sparse population, enrolls the names of several of the leading citizens. The United States collector and his wife; Gibbs, the postmaster and merchant; one of the county commissioners, and one of the justices of the peace, are included, and the names of many other property owners appear on these tell-tale pages. There were doubtless as many more, of these hardy men and women, who fell victims to the prevalent malarial fever, whose names do not appear in the books. These are some of the things shown by the old court records. They tell us, in sorrowful lines, that the pioneers, who laid the corner-stone of this civilization, had. a hard struggle. Privations, disease and death met them at every turn. [Subsequent proceedings of Wood county courts are told in the chapter on Bench and Bar.]

Now that the Maumee Rapids people had a county of their own, and a seat of justice right in their midst, it might reasonably be presumed that they would, after the great inconvenience they had endured, be happy to a man. No so. Human nature is not shaped thus. It was the same then as it is to-day; never satisfied. Maumee had the county seat temporarily, but not by general approval. Orleans and Perrysburg were not pleased. The settlers were pretty evenly divided on each side of the river. But in the new counties then forirting, the seats of justice were fixed temporarily by the Legislature until the de- velopments of population should indicate where | the proper place for the county seat would be, when three disinterested commissioners were appointed, whose duty it was to carefully investigate the situation and fix upon the location of the county seat. Had the location of the seat of justice been made by a vote of the settlers, no doubt Maumee would have held it at that time. Orleans and Perrysburg, both on the south side of the river, were envious of each other, and would not act in unity, and, in a triangular battle, Maumee could out vote either of them. The question has often been raised in later years as to how Perrysburg got the county seat away from her stronger neighbor, Maumee, and we believe this is the first time an explanation has appeared in print. At the session of the Legislature, in the winter of 1821-22, Charles R. Sherman (father of Gen. Sherman), Edward Paine, Jr., and Nehemiah King were appointed commissioners to fix the permanent location of the county seat of Wood county. At the May term of court in Maumee, 1822, the report of these commissioners. a copy of which had been placed on file with the clerk, was read in open court, and from which report (following the language of the Journal) "it appears that the town of Perrysburg, in said county of Wood, was selected as the most proper place as a seat of justice for said county of Wood, the said town of Perrysburg being as near the center of said county of Wood as, paying a due regard to the situation, extent of population, quality of land and convenience and interest of the inhabitants of said county of Wood, as was possible, the commissioners aforesaid designate In-lot No. 387, as the most proper site for the court house of said county of Wood." It must not for a moment be supposed that Maumee surrendered up this coveted prize without a protest, or that Orleans looked on with an approving smile. Both opposed it with every possible influence, but Perrysburg had a powerful ally. Just at this critical juncture, the United States gave some friendly aid to her protdgd. In May, 1822, Congress enacted a law vesting the title to all unsold lots and out-lots in Perrysburg, in the Commissioners of Wood county, on condition that the county seat should be permanently located there.

I The net proceeds of the sale of the lots were to be used in erecting public buildings, etc. There was a considerable number of these lots unsold, and the gift proved of great benefit to the county in its early poverty, in getting a jail and court house without much expense to the tax-payers. Regardless of this help to the county, the decision of the commissioners, who located the seat of justice, was a wise and also a just one, either in the light of the views set forth in their report, or of what subsequently occurred, the dismemberment of Wood county to form Lucas.

There was, too, at this time a complicating question of jurisdiction between Ohio and the Territory of Michigan which well nigh provoked a war fifteen years later. According to the claims of Michigan most of the territory north of the Maumee belonged to her. The final decision of the question rested with Congress, as Michigan was not yet a State. This uncertainty of jurisdiction may also have had its influence with the commission which fixed the permanent county seat at Perrysburg. It was known to the friends of the latter place, and the Hollisters, Spaffords and others, who had at that time invested in property in Perrysburg, were tacticians enough to work the point for all it was worth.

Although the decision of the commission in favor of Perrysburg was made in May, 1822, there does not appear to have been any haste in the removal. The first meeting of the county commissioners in Perrysburg, as shown by their Journal, was held on the third of March following, nearly ten months after the decision had been made. The minutes of their proceedings in Maumee, during almost three years, show a light amount of routine work. They had constructed a log jail, and taken some steps looking to the establishment of roads. Their record for the entire time covers only about twenty pages, and the auditor, Ambrose Rice, received $29.75 f°r his services in the year ending March 4, 1822. Thomas W. Powell, then prosecuting attorney, was appointed auditor for the year 1823, and filled both offices, getting an allowance of thirty j dollars for his services as auditor, which w!as tw:enty-five cents more than Rice got.

Chapter Xii

Transactions ok the Commissioners - Change of Officers - Entries in the Pioneer Record Book - Tax Levies - Establishment of new Townships - Early Court Houses - The "Ten-years' War" - Question of Removing the County Seat from Perrysburg to Bowling Green - Sundry Indictments, Etc.

IT was the intention of the writer to group, in one chapter, the doings of the commissioners, from 1820 to 1895; but this intention was cast aside in favor of distributing the transactions throughout the local chapters with which they were specially associated, and, for this reason, what promised to be one of the most exhaustive chapters of this volume now embraces only incidents, which were not apportioned to the histories of the bench and bar, the soldiers and the townships. No apoiogy is offered for these concise and dry relations; for, with the foregoing chapters (from the pen of Mr. Evers), dealing with the most interesting years in Ohio's history, the reader must be prepared to meet the matter-of-fact details of the history of Wood county.

In December, 1 820, John E. Hunt took the place of W. H. Ewing on the Commissioners' board, and in the new organization was made clerk. Beyond a short meeting, held in June, 1821, to inquire into the treasurer's accounts, and one in December of that year, to order a payment of $12.50 for the use of court house, nothing of importance was considered, until March 4, 1822, when they appointed Thomas W. Powell auditor, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Ambrose Rice, taking his bond for $2,000. On that occasion, they declared the township of Waynesfield within the jurisdiction of Wood county, to be co-extensive with the counties of Wood and Hancock, and the township of Auglaize with the counties of Williams, Henry, Putnam and Paulding. At this term, the proposal of Almon Gibbs to give the use of the upper part of his store for court purposes, on condition that his county, tavern and ferry tax be paid by the county, was accepted. In June, 1822, Samuel Spafford, appointed by the court in May previous, took his place as commissioner, vice Hubbell, resigned. Walter Colton was appointed treasurer, and his bond for $2,000 was accepted; while David Hull qualified as collector of State and county taxes. On September 2, 1822, the death of Almon Gibbs, one of the State road commissioners, is noticed in the record, and the appointment of Francis Charters the same day as his successor, is recorded, while Daniel Hubbell was also appointed to take up the unfinished work of the pioneer, on the State road, from the town of Maumee to Fort Defiance, and thence westward.

The last session of the commissioners, held at Maumee, was that of September 2, 1822, while the first held at Perrysburg was that of March 3, 1823, when Hirain P. Barlow, Samuel Spafford and John Pray, were present. On that occasion the offer of Guy Nearing and Daniel Hubbell to erect county buildings for the sum of $895.00 was accepted, and, after some routine business, Aurora Spafford was appointed treasurer to succeed Colton, the bond being made at $3,000. Sixteen days later, the board assembled to view the jail building, which had been moved from Maumee to Perrysburg, where it was rebuilt by Daniel Hubbell, who received only $48 for the whole work of razing, moving and reconstructing. A sum of $25 was ordered to be expended on repairing it. These transactions, with the order to sell 105 lots at Perrysburg, by auction, on May 26, 1823, for the use of the county, at a minimum price of $20 a lot - one-fourth of which was to be paid in cash - and the cancellation of a contract with Thomas R. McKnight, to furnish a court room to the county for ten years, completed the first work of the commissioners at the new county seat.

The appointment of Francis Charter, as collector, was made June 2, 1823, his compensation being fixed at the rate of six per cent, of the sum collected. Aurora Spafford was reappointed treasurer, who reported that he redeemed orders issued by the commissioners to the amount of $408.35. The terms of sale of lots at Perrysburg were made more popular, but the Act providing for placing the transfer of town lots on

Let us look back three-quarters of a century to the first financial doings of the commissioners, and measure, if we can, how far the compensation offered by the new county was in accord with the work performed for her. In FF. 30-31-32 and 33 of Wood county's pioneer record book, the story of her first servants and of the moneys paid to them is told in cold figures. Let the form of the entries of orders be observed:

The orders represent the pay for work which would, to-day, cost ten times as much. The record is valuable not only as a souvenir of the first public servants of the Black Swamp, but also for purposes of comparison.

In December, 1823, the commissioners asked John Shelby, representative in the State Legislature, and Joseph Vance, Congressman, to obtain for the county a complete title to the forfeited lots and to the common at Perrysburg. The acceptance of the court house on March 15, 1824, and the tender of any unsold lots, at the county seat, for $15 each, to the contractors in lieu of cash, for the balance due them, formed the work of the board. In June of that )rear, Aurora Spafford was re-appointed treasurer, and Daniel Hubbell, collector. The former reported $333. 55^ as paid into the treasury, while a balance of $553.42 was due to the court-house builders, who were again offered ten lots for $12 each to pay part of that indebtedness. In the closing month of the year, repairs on the jail were authorized. In June, 1825, Jonathan H. Jerome was appointed collector, and the old treasurer was reappointed. A special tax, equal to one-fourth of all the county levies, was ordered, to pay off the court-house debt, as the revenue of the treasurer's office was only $488.66 for the year. In December, the financial question was so pressing that the sale of lots at $12 each was ordered, and the trustees of the town of Perrysburg - T. R. Mc- Knight, Walter Colton and Samuel Spafford - were authorized to sell at any time, prior to June 1, 1826, Inlots 1 5 1, 162 and 175 for $30 in all, said lots to be devoted to burial purposes. In June, 1826, a radical advance in taxation was made,

| being one per cent, on the grand levy, one-half of one per cent, for road purposes, and one-half of a mill on the dollar for school purposes. At that time, the treasurer reported the receipt of 1 $498.86 3-10 for the fiscal year. Ambrose Rice was appointed collector, and the receipt of $309. 12 of the "Three Per Cent. Fund," acknowledged. In August, 1826, the question of finishing and re-paving the court house was debated, and the work of lathing and plastering and general furnishing was awarded to John McKnight, whose bid of $225 was the lowest. Jacob Wilkison ultimately was given another part of the work on a bid of $294.00. Ambrose Rice was appointed county assessor in March, 1827. In June following. Inlots 10 to 14 - 31 to 42 - 55 to 66 - 79 to 90 - 103 to 1 14 - 127 to 138 - 1 52 to 161 and 176 to 185, - inclusive, - in all 84 lots - were appropriated for a poor-house building and garden. Elijah Hunting was appointed treasurer, the tax levy was placed at eight mills for general purposes, three mills for roads and one-half of one mill for schools. In August, 1827, the contract for furnishing the jail was awarded, the bid being $486. In June, 1828, the court house was finished, and about the same time Elisha Martindale, the assignee of Lakin, offered the jail for acceptance. There was no school tax levied in 1829. In this year the commissioners ordered that the Act of Legislature, providing for improving the breed of sheep, be adopted by the county. In December, 1830, the name of the township of Ottawa, established on June 14, of that year, was changed to "Weston," and the first election ordered to be held at Edward Howard's house. At this session Waterville township was established, the resignation of Auditor and Clerk Powell was accepted, and James W. Robinson was appointed in his place.

In January, 1831, the new auditor resigned to accept the office of clerk of court, when John C. Spink was appointed, John Webb and Daniel H. Wheeler being his bondsmen. Another appointment was also made necessary at that time by the death of Recorder Thomas R. McKnight. James W. Robinson succeeded him, thus having filled the offices of auditor, clerk of commissioners, clerk of court and recorder successfully within a brief period. In March, 1832, it was resolved to build a stockade around the jail, and this was done. A few months after the general tax was placed at five mills, the road tax at three mills, and the school tax at one mill, the last being one-fourth of a mill more than the school law demanded. The first sidewalk was mentioned at the June session, when the pathway in front of the court house was ordered to be paved or flagged. Many new roads were authorized that year, and, in December, Middleton township was established. Townships 3 and 4 in Range 12, and Township 3, in Range 1 1, were set off under the name of Perry, and some territory was detached from Middleton and attached to Portage, in June, 1833. At this time, the general tax was placed at four mills, and the road tax at three mills, while nothing is recorded of a school tax. On December 16, 1833, the sale of 201 inlots at Perrysburg to Ambrose Rice for $1,025, was negotiated.

In March, 1834, Joshua Chappel succeeded Rice as county assessor, and, in November, 1834, Guy Nearing, Joshua Chappel and John C. Spink were named as members of a board of equalization. The establishment of Montgomery, Freedom and; Troy townships dates back to December 1, 1834. Congressional Township 4, R. 12, was called Montgomery, and the election ordered to be held, at Guy Morgan's house; Congressional Township. 5, R. 12, was called Freedom, and the house of Michael N. Myers made the place of meeting, while Township 6, R. 12, was named Troy, and the polling place fixed at Thomas Learning's house.

In February, 1835, the proposal to erect a building, to include the old jail, was recorded, and on March 2 the contract was awarded to Levi Tilton for $650. The contract does not appear to have been carried out, for in May, 1836, the question was revived. Liberty township was established on the latter day to embrace Congressional Townships 3 and 4 of R. 10, and the place of meeting fixed at Henry Grove's house. At the same time Township 5, R. n, was named Center, with the polling place at Adam Phillips' house; Township 3, R. n, was named Bloom, with place of meeting at the house of Frederick Frankfather; Wing township, with its irregular lines, was to hold its first meeting at C. L. Wing's house, and Plain township at Henry Walker's house, in what is now Bowling Green. In June, 1835, Sections 25 to 30, inclusive, were taken from the south end of- Wing and attached to Waterville township. That day Willard V. Way was appointed auditor, to succeed J. C. Spink. Ten days later a bell belonging to Perrysburg was offered to the county on condition that it should be hung on the court house. Townships 3 and 4, in R. 9, were set off to form Milton township, on June 11, and the place of meeting fixed at Morrison McWilliam's house. On June 13, Horatio Conant was appointed to appraise School Section 16, in Township 3. of the Twelve Mile Reservation, this being the first reference to such lands in the records of the commissioners. On the same day the general tax was placed at three mills, the road tax at two mills and the school tax at one- quarter mill, plus the three-quarter-mill tax demanded by the school law. In December, 1835, County-Surveyor Hiram Davis was ordered to procure the United States field notes for Townships 3 and 4, Range 1 1 ; of 4 and 5, R. 12, and of 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the U. S. Reserve at the Foot of the Rapids, and also of the additional survey of Perrysburg and of the Maumee and Western Reserve road in Wood county. In that month, also, the auditor, W. V. Way, was allowed $315.07 as salary, while the first claim for damages for running a road through Eben Wilson's farm was considered, and the first keeper of Wood county's standard measure was appointed in the person of Addison Smith.

In March, 1836, Montgomery township was authorized to elect school trustees. E. B. Eagle was auditor at that time, but his death and the appointment of W. H. Sloane as his successor are noticed in the minutes under date of May 6. The new auditor and the new commissioners cast aside the old rawhide-covered volume, venerable as the first record-book of Wood county, bearing all the earmarks of official life for her first fifteen years, aud telling much about the work of the pioneers in laying the foundations of her prosperity.

In September, 1836, the commissioners gave notice that on October 1 they would consider proposals for building a court house. On December 5 the petition for the establishment of a new township was discussed, and Congressional Township No. 3, R. 10, was set off under the name of Henry township. In February, 1837, the auditor was instructed to advertise in The Miami of the Lake for bids for building a court house. Washington township was established June 5, 1837. Two days later, the county tax was placed at seven and one-half mills, the road tax at four mills, and the school tax at one and one-half mills on each dollar of assessed value.

On June 5, 1838, the board ordered a deed to be given to the town of Perrysburg for lots 1 5 1, 162 and 175, formerly granted for burial purposes, and on the following day that all other lots owned by the county, with the exception of the two lots on which the new court house was building, should be offered for sale on September 1. The establishment of Troy township, and the rejection of a petition from Middleton, asking the annexation of that township to Washington, are recorded under date of December 3, 1838. On April 23, 1839, the Act authorizing Wood county to subscribe $100,000 to the capital stock of the Perrysburg & Bellefontaine Railroad Company was observed by the commissioners, who signed the books at Perrysburg for one thousand $100 shares. They appointed David Ladd, of Perrysburg, agent to borrow that sum at six per cent. At the same time David C. Doane was appointed agent to borrow $5,000 for court-house-building purposes under the special Act of the Legislature. At the June session of 1839, a tax levy of seven mills for county purposes, three for road purposes, one for bridge purposes and two for school purposes was authorized. Twelve sections were attached to Perrysburg, and Hiram Davis was paid $30 for a map of the county. In December, Morrison McMillan succeeded Doane as agent in the matter of borrowing the $5,000 alluded to above. Notice was given to the electors of Fractional Township No. 6, original survey, to meet at the school house on Section 32, on April 28, 1840, to organize that township (Middleton).

In June, 1840, the petition for the establishment of Congressional Township No. 3, R. 9, under the name of Jackson, was granted, and the place of meeting fixed at John Dubb's house. The tax levy, of five mills for county purposes, three for road purposes, one for school, two for bridge and two for interest, or thirteen mills on the dollar, was ordered. In December, 1840, David Ladd surrendered his commission as agent to borrow $100,000, and his bill of $108 was paid. In June, 1841, River Tracts 56, 57, 58, 59, and fractional part of Section 16, lying on the southwest side of the Maumee in Township 1, U. S. Reserve, twelve miles square, M. R. L. E., were attached to Perrysburg township (though the territory was attached to Middleton in the former year). At the June session of 1841, county tax of five mills; school, two; road, three; bridge, two; special for finishing court house, three; interest, two, and State, five, or a total of twenty-two mills, were authorized. On December 8, 1842, the court house was completed and occupied. In December, 1 844, the s. ^ of Section 36, Township 6, R. 10, and the s. ^ of Section 31, Township 6, R. 1 1, were set off to Plain and Center. The attachment of Sections 3 and 10, in Township 5, N. R. 10 E. of Washington township to Plain township was ordered March 3, 1845. On June 3, 1845, the commissioners ordered Township 5, R. 9, to be set off and organized as a separate township, the meeting to be held at John Crew's house. The business of the year 1845 was principally given up to petitions for new roads, alterations of roads and settlements with the contractors on the Perrysburg & Findlay, and on the Kenton turnpike.

ing under the Act of March 2, that year, divided Wood county into four Assessors' Districts, as follows: Perrysburg and Lake townships. No. i

- Jairus Curtis, assessor; Perry, Montgomery, Freedom, Troy and Center, No. 2 - Thomas Eisenhaur, assessor; Portage, Bloom, Liberty, Henry and Jackson, No. 3 - Francis Carrothers, assessor; and Milton, Weston, Washington, Middleton and Plain, No. 4 - Michael Sypher, assessor. Special taxes for roads were common in 1844-45 and 1846-47, such part of the public business requiring the earnest study of the board. In June, 1846, the board purchased In-lot 210 at Perrysburg for the purpose of building a jail thereon. On July 7, John W. Woodbury was awarded the masonry work for $800, and the whole cost was estimated at $2, 1 50, including Henry Thornton and Daniel Lindsay's contract, for all work outside the mason's contract, $1,022, and O. H. Carpenter's contract for iron work, amounting to $150. W. Huston and George Powers purchased each a half of the old courthouse lot.

On June 17, 1847, the extraordinary levy for county, school, bridge and road purposes was ordered, and a detailed record made in the Journal, showing specifically the. application of the moneys to be levied. In December, 1847, the masonry work on the new jail was accepted, but on June 7, 1849, Woodbury petitioned for relief against losses sustained in carrying out his contract, owing to the manner in which the commissioners hurried forward his work. This petition won for him an additional $100, to which his partner, S. N. Beach, waived all claims. The Act of January 13, 1829, "To Improve the Breed of Sheep," was ratified and adopted by the commissioners, March 5, 1850. In December of that year they remitted a fine of $100, imposed by Common Pleas upon Nelson H. Emmons for bigamy, provided that the guilty one would pay into the treasury the costs incurred by the county and interest thereon, within a year. In 1852, David Ross, Lewis F. Dubbs, Henry L. Wood and John Russell were appointed assessors of the districts in the order given. In December, 1853, several citizens were paid for their services in surveying and appraising swamp lands and laying out ditches on the same.

On March 18, 1854, the board summarily declared vacant the office of sheriff, because Thomas L. Webb, the sheriff-elect, would not give $5,000 bail in addition to his official bonds. The coroner was notified to assume the office, discharge its duties and to furnish additional bonds for $7,000. Under this order, John Elder, the coroner, qualified on March 29, 1854. Congressional Township 3, N. R. 12 E. (Perry), was ordered to be organized April 7, 1854, for the purpose of taking charge of school lands. On September 7, ditches 27 to 36, were authorized as well as the clearing out of a natural water course. William Noel succeeded to the office of sheriff on December, 1854.

A petition from the residents of Gilead was considered in December, 1855, and subsequently granted. About the same time, Township 3, N. R. 12 E. (Perry), was ordered to elect school trustees and treasurer to take charge of Section 16. In March, 1856, James W. Ross qualified as treasurer. In June, notices were given that holders of protested county orders would be paid with interest at 20 per cent. The appointment of Nathan W. Minton to re-survey the Wood-Sandusky line was made in September, 1858, and with this the commissioners appear to have ceased to consider everything save roads, ditches, bridges and finances. In i860 Addison Smith qualified as auditor. In June of that year the portion of the Toledo and Woodville plank road, in Wood county, was surrendered to this county, and accepted by the commissioners. At the same time, Congressional Township 4, N., R. 11 E., was established, and an election for school trustees and treasurer ordered to be held at the Johnson school house, under the authority of the law of March 14, 1831. In September, i860, E. Graham qualified as treasurer, his bonds being $7 5 , - 000. Not until June 7, 1862, is there a reference made to the Civil war. On that date, the commissioners dealt with the Military Relief Fund, giving orders for $2,057 to 158 soldiers' families. On June 10, the contract for building an addition to the jail was awarded to Henry Thornton, while the carpenter's work was awarded to Josiah Miller. On June 1, 1863, there were 388 soldiers' families in the county, to whom relief orders were issued for $2,716. In 1864 the commissioners dealt with the Military Bounty Fund, and in March paid out $2,737 of the Relief Fund, and in June, $1,823. In June, 1865, a sum of $4,134 was ordered to be distributed among the families of soldiers.

The transactions cf 1865 were confined to the establishment of an infirmary; to the building of court house, jail and offices at Bowling Green ; to ordinances for ditches and roads; and to the financial affairs of the county - military, bounty and relief matters requiring much attention. In the pages devoted to county buildings the acts of the board in relation to county-se&t matters are reviewed; while, in the military chapter, refer-

The removal of the county seat entailed much work upon the commissioners. In the winter of 1865-66 a petition was presented to the Legislature for authority to vote on the question of removing the seat of justice from Perrysburg to Bowling Green. Though Mayor H. L. Wood, of Troy township, then representative, opposed the petition, a bill was passed, and duly signed, authorizing a vote on the subject. Then began that bitter, but bloodless, struggle known as the "Ten Years' War."

On Octcber 1, 1866, there was filed in the auditor's office a bond for $15,000, given by the following named citizens: A. Ordway, G. J. Rogers, Norton Reed, S. L. Boughton, Jeremiah Kitchen, D. L. Hixon, Franklin Sears, David Cargo, Alfred Thurstin, G. Z. Avery, M. Fuller, A. Fay, William Hood, James Hood, A. Selkirk, L. H. Burns, William Wakefield, Hugh Cargo, A. A. Thurstin, G. W. Smith, J. V. Owens, Darius Skinner, William Gorrill, Jacob Hartman, J. Hall, J. W. Tooker, Clinton Fay, L. Moore, S. G. Foot, R. A. Dunbar, Henry Lundy, Henry Hoff, Peter Klopfenstein, J. Howells and A. D. Pernot. This bond provided for a donation of ground and buildings for county purposes as good as the buildings at Perrysburg, should the people vote for the transfer of the county seat to Bowling Green.

The question of removing the county seat from Perrysburg to Bowling Green was submitted to a vote October 9, 1866. Joshua Chappel and A. L. Fowler, justices of the peace, canvassed the vote, and declared that 2, 176 citizens voted against the project, 2,454 for it, and 17 for removal to any point. The vote by townships is given as follows, the first figures representing the opponents, and the second, the friends of Bowling Green: Perrysburg, 817 against and for a new trial, and taxed the contestor $1,086. 16 costs; but notice of appeal to the district court was entered by the contestor. On August 30, 1869, William White, judge of the supreme court, Alexander S. Latty, James Pillars and James McKenzie, judges of common pleas, assembled and entered the following judgment: " The court being fully advised in the premises, * * it is considered, and ordered that the petition in error be dismissed, and the same is hereby dismissed, and that the said John Powers pay the costs herein taxed at $35. 70. And it is further ordered that a special mandate be sent to said Court of Common Pleas of Wood county to carry this judgment into execution. You are therefore commanded, that without delay, you cause the aforesaid judgment of our said District Court, to be carried into complete execution." On July

I, 1869, John Powers sought to hold an injunction against the commissioners in the matter of removal, but Judge Pillars vacated the injunction. On October 7, 1870, the injunction suit by Powers against the commissioners was dismissed by Judge Pillars, and the costs taxed against the county.

The county-seat meetings held at Bowling Green, March 21 and 23, 1868, considered the petition presented by Perrysburg to the Legislature, and a statement of the claims of Bowling Green was ordered to be prepared and signed by the subscribers to the court-house-building fund, to be presented to the Legislature by Joseph Hollington and R. A. Dunbar. An organization of the Bowling Green interests was made with vice-president; E. H. Hull, secretary; S. L. Boughton, treasurer; N. Reed, G. J. Rogers, S. L. Boughton, Joseph Hollington and A. A. Thurstin, executive committee. These officials were given charge of the Bowling Green interests in toto, so far as obtaining the county seat wras concerned, and at once considered the location, donations of land being offered as follows: A.

Ordway, an acre on the west side of Main street; N. Reed, an acre on Wooster street, and A. Thurstin, an acre on Summit and Thurstin streets.

In June, 1868, ground was broken for foundations; on July 4 the corner stone was placed, and by October 23 the walls were completed under the superintendence of Norton Reed. In February, 1869, the bill against removal was dismissed in the State Supreme Court, but opposition was thoroughly quieted even then. On March 3, 1868, the commissioners ordered of building a court house at Bowling Green. On the same day a levy of $8,000 for the erection of necessary county offices was authorized, and a third levy of $5,000 for the construction of a jail. On March 5, the orders for levying the $8,000 and $5,000 taxes were rescinded. Work on the court house was carried on in December, 1869, when $441 was paid to A. Ordway on account, and on January 25, 1870, the commissioners notified the county officers that the court house and jail were ready for occupancy, specified the rooms assigned to each department, and ordered all books, etc., to be packed and moved to their new home. Judge G. C. Phelps, of the probate court, observed the order of the commissioners, and located at Bowling Green at that time. Not until April was the transfer wholly effected. On April 12, 1870, the commissioners met at Bowling Green, but, owing to the work of removal of books, adjourned to the 19th, when the first business was transacted here. In June, 1870, lot 151, north of the jail lot, was purchased for $175, and made a part of the public grounds. In August, 1871, a well was drilled in the courthouse grounds, and the contract for vaults was ! awarded to A. Ordway for $1,340. ;

In 1872, after John Norris, of Perry town- j ship, took his place in the Legislature, a bill pro- j viding for reopening the county-seat question was introduced. He opposed the measure, and it was defeated. In the session of 1873-4 Nathan Hatfield, the successor of Norris, introduced a simi- j lar bill, which passed its several stages, and again called the voters of the county into this troublous question'. The law providing for a vote for the removal of the county seat from Bowling Green to Perrysburg was approved March 17, 1875, and in October following 4,826 votes were cast for removal, and 4, 555 against removal. The vote of Perrysburg town and township was cast out, and Bowling Green held its place as the capital of the county. A new bill for removal passed the State Senate on March 31, 1876, by a vote of 19 to 12, but the subject may be said to have rested there.

The commissioners in session March 7, 1871, adopted the following resolution against the attempt made by Lucas county to annex a part of 1 Wood county: "Whereas, a bill is pending in having in view the annexation of a portion of Wood county to Lucas; therefore, Resolved: That the territojy of our county should be maintained intact, and that we regard the efforts of any and all persons outside of our county to sever any portion thereof from the same as uncalled for, and in our opinion cannot be carried by a vote of the county; and that we hereby protest against and oppose any and every act and effort having in view such severance. "

To follow up their work in the matter of ditches, roads, etc. , is beyond the limits of this chapter - it would not be necessary - it would be extravagant. Millions of dollars have been levied by general and special taxation, and it may be said that ninety-six per centum of the great sum has been expended judiciously under the direction of the commissioners whose names are given in other pages.

It is unnecessary to go into the details of the indictments, entered in 1895, against one ex-commissioner, the three men in office, and in May of that year others connected with the court-house construction. The records of the auditor show how far the members of the board were vindicated; while the action of Prosecuting-Attorney Murphy in December, 1895, tells the balance of the story. Prior to December 6, 1895, a nolle prosequi was entered on each of the following indictments: No. 1331, against Knight, Gibson and Gundy, for letting the heating contract without advertising for bids. No. 1333, against Stahl, Knight and Gibson, for levying a tax for the new court flouse without first submitting the same to the voters. No. 1334, against the same, for letting the contract for the treasurer's vault, without first advertising for bids. No. 1333, against Knight, Gibson and Gundy, two counts; first for allowing Auditor Wilson $600 as compensation for keeping the new court-house journal; second, for falsely stating on their journal that the prosecuting attorney had instructed them that they had a right to do so. No. 1 337, against Contractor Townsend, for fraudulently changing the stone used in the court house. No. 1338, against Yost & Packard, for permitting such change of stone. How much farther the people and courts may go toward undoing any wrong, which political zeal may have inflicted, is foreign to this work.

Chapter Xiii

County Buildings - First Court House and Jail at Perrysburg - Second Court House at Perrysburg - Third Court House, erected at Bowling Green - The Present Court House at Bowling Green - Jails - Infirmary.

IN the chapters devoted to the Transactions of the Commissioners and the Common Pleas Court, the question of county buildings is incidentally noticed. It is an important subject, for, from 1820 to Centennial Year, the ambitions of three or more towns kept the county in a condition of turmoil, of which, happily, there are but few examples this side of Kansas. The first move was from ancient Maumee to the precocious town of Orleans of the North, and thence, by force of circumstances, to Perrysburg.

At the first meeting in Perrysburg, March 3, 1823, H. P. Barlow, Samuel Spafford and John Pray composed the board. Their first official act was to award a contract to Daniel Hubbell and Guy Nearing for a court house to cost $895. In the same month, at a special session, they allowed Daniel Hubbell $48 for moving the log jail over from Maumee, and ordered the auditor to expend a sum not to exceed $25 more in repairs on the building. At the same meeting the board made an order for the auditor to advertise and sell 105 lots to pay for the court house. After lots enough to pay for the court house were sold, buyers had the privilege of exchanging county orders for lots if they so desired. The minimum price of lots was $20 each, one-fourth to be paid at time of purchase, the residue in six-months' installments. For some cause the county commissioners did not follow the recommendation of the State commission in locating their court house and jail on Lot 387 as the best site; probably that lot had been sold before the county made its selection. The buildings were put on Front street, just west of where that street corners with Louisiana avenue. The trees and brush had to be cut off to make room, even for the teams to haul material on the lots. Most of the lumber came from Learning's sawmill at Monclova; the shingles were split out of whiteoak trees. First, the tree was sawed in sections, split into bolts, and these were split into thin slats or boards with a tool called a "fro," smoothed up with a drawing-knife on a "shinglehorse," and nailed on the roof; they were called "lap shingles." Few carpenters now, if called upon, would know how to make an oak shingle, or properly put it on a roof after it was made. The brick for the chimneys were made at Hubbell's, at Miami.

The second court house at Perrysburg was a Roman-Doric structure, built in the basilica style, under authority of the Act of the commissioners, recorded in 1837. The building, as then designed, was to be 50x70 feet, and thirty feet in height above the foundation. The specification provided that " the foundation be stone, and the roof be similar to that of the Universalist church building, with the * cupaloe ' on the end of the house. The lower story be divided on one side into four rooms of equal size, and these be fire-proof, and two rooms on the other side of the hall be twelve feet wide, and at the end of the hall, the upper story, or court room, to be made to the draft, the front of the building is to have a projection of five feet to extend over the columns. There are to be four of these columns in front." In March following, the sum of $10,000 of the surplus revenue was appropriated for building purposes; on April 17, Jairus Curtis and Loomis Brigham signed the building contract. When this brick building was completed in 1843, it was found to have cost the county $20,000. Subjected to repairs periodically, and used down to April, 1870, it was burned in 1873, and the city hall of Perrysburg erected on its site.

The third court house was erected at Bowling Green by the people, in accordance with promises made prior to the removal of the county seat. It was used down to 1894, when the records were moved to the city hall, which was used for courthouse purposes until the new building was completed in 1896.

In 1894, on the occasion of placing the corner stone of the present court house, Benjamin F. James made the following reference to the old house whioh was torn down in December, 1893:

" Six and twenty years ago, Wood county experienced slightly similar strife and dissension within; for seven years the war waged, and the contestants, each striving for supremacy over this temple of justice, watched one another as fiercely as the Caledonians watched Agricola during those seven years of the Roman Conquest in Britain. All honor to our Caledonian neighbors of the North, and their valor for seeking to save what they deemed theirs by right of discovery; then it was, however, that this vicinity appreciated the sterling strength, the unselfish loyalty, the sublime sacrifices of Norton Reed, A. J. Manville, S. L. Boughton, John H. Reed, A. A. Thurstin, Joseph Hollington, and, later, Earl W. Merry, the Mercers, the Rogers, C. W. Evers, Judge Phelps, Johft W. Canary, the McMahans, Mr. Lehmann, and an hundred others. July 4, 1868, was only a day, and a day seems of small moment in the history of any county; but the events of a day ofttimes ' change the current of a nation's life blood, strip an empire of supremacy, and clothe the weakest kingdom with wonderful power.'"

The corner stone of the new court house was placed July 4, 1894, with great ceremony, by Commander J. C. Whitaker, of the Patriarchs Militant, I. O. O. F. On this stone is the inscription: Erected A. D. 1894.. Samuel Knight. James Gibson, Chris. C. Gundy, Com. John B. Wilson, auditor. Within it was placed a copper box, containing remains of the contents of the corner stone of the old court house, built in 1868, and dismantled December 21, 1893, with copies of Bowling Green Daily and Weekly Sentinel, Tribune, Democrat; North Baltimore Beacon, Times ; Perrysburg Journal; Bloomdale Derrick; Weston Herald ; Pemberville Leader ; Bradner News ; Grand Rapids Triumph; Toledo Commercial, Blade ; picture of Gen. H. Gibson, orator of the day; copy of law granting commissioners power to build new court house; names of the judiciary and bar of Wood county, from its organization to the present; copper plate containing names of all present county officers; copper plate containing names of all officers of Bowling Green ; copper plate containing names of all business men of Bowling Green ; copper plate containing names of C. T. Campbell, Grand Sire of Sov. Grand Lodge I. O. O. F. ; Gen. J. C. Whitaker, Commanding Dept. O. P. M., I. O. O. F. ; Grover Cleveland, President of the United States; and Wm. McKinley, Governor of Ohio. Addresses were delivered by A. B. Murphy, prosecuting attorney; Benjamin F. James, representative in the Legislature, and the late W. H. Gibson.

The following description of the building is in part taken from an article prepared by Frank A. Baldwin, of Bowling Green. The building, which is entirely of stone, is located on the site of the old court house, and has a frontage of 1 50 feet on each of Court, Prospect and Summit streets..

"The style of architecture is the modernized Romanesque, and it has been faithfully carried out in every detail, making a structure pleasing to the eye, substantial in appearance and convenient in arrangement.

"The massive walls throughout the entire building rest upon the solid rock, giving assurance of the greatest permanence and stability. The tower, square in front, rises to a height of 185 feet, and within it, near the top, is placed the clock, having four dials facing the points of the compass, and a 2,000-pound bell for striking the hours. From the higher openings is afforded a magnificent view of the surrounding country for many miles. The sub-basement extending under the entire area of the building is subdivided into several rooms. In it is placed the boilers, engine and machinery for supplying heat, light and power, and affords ample space for fuel and general storage.

"The main entrance, with its beautifully carved, massive archway, is unique in design and charming in appearance. The outside stairway, common to buildings generally, is entirely dispensed with, entry being made to the basement or ground floor through a well lighted and richly ornamented vestibule. At the northwest corner on this floor is located the assembly room. It contains 128 opera chairs, speakers' tables, etc., with a committee room opening from the east side. * * * At the northeast corner is located the teachers' examination room. It is well lighted and ventilated, and has individual desks and seats for 66 persons. The offices of the coroner and surveyor are located at either end of the corridor, and the board of elections will occupy a commodious room with openings to the main vestibule and corridor. Well appointed toilet rooms are provided directly opposite the main entrance, the ladies' room being on the right and the gentlemen's on the left, and in the rear of the main staircase.

"The grand stairway, with its polished marble steps and electro-bronzed railings, ascends from the middle of the basement corridor to the main floor. Opposite the landing is the drinking fountain, an elaborately carved piece of marble, which is highly ornamental as well as i useful. The metal railing surrounding the

" From the stair landing, turning to the right and making a circuit of the corridor, we pass in their order the offices of the commissioners, recorder, probate judge, prosecuting attorney, treasurer and auditor. Broad stairways ascend from each end of this corridor to the upper floor. The view presented from this point is one of entrancing beauty. The vaulted ceiling, with its broad panels of colored glass, admits a soft and mellow light to blend with the varied tints of fresco which adorn the walls.

"The common pleas court room occupies the east end of this floor. It is also finished with highvaulted ceilings, paneled, with art glass of rich design. The room is not as large as the old one, but it is ample for all ordinary occasions. It contains 142 opera chairs of spacious and comfortable design. Its acoustic properties are perfect, and all the surroundings and appointments are of a nature calculated to awaken the kindlier instincts of nature, and smooth the troubled waters of litigation. The petit jury is provided with easy revolving chairs placed on a portable rostrum, and has a large cheerful room on the south side in which to deliberate on its verdict. * * * On the opposite side of the corridor is the grand jury room. It is liberal in dimensions, well furnished, convenient to the court room, and the usual grist of indictments will there be ground out with neatness if not with dispatch. The judge's private room occupies the southeast corner of this floor, and the west end is devoted to the offices of the clerk and sheriff. On the north side are witness rooms for separate use of men and women, with toilet rooms adjacent to each. A library and a consultation room on the south side complete the subdivisions of this floor. * * * All the principal offices are in suites of three rooms each, with ample space for records, and supplied with all the modern conveniences for the transaction of business. All the principal corridors and the outer portion of the offices have floors of vitrified tiling laid in ornamental designs, and the corridors are wainscoted to ,a height of six feet with Italian marble."

The net cost of the building was $222,895.94; total cost of completed building, fully furnished with grounds improved, $255,746.84. At this writing (September 1, 1896) the building is practically ready for occupancy, although not fully completed.

Jails. The original jail building was moved from Maumee to Perrysburg in March, 1823, and its reconstruction completed March 19 of that year, the total cost of moving and rebuilding being $48, paid to Daniel Hubbell, and $25 for repairs. This jail was in use down to June, 1828, when Elisha Martindale, the contractor for a new building, offered it to the commissioners. In 1832, a stockade was constructed. In February, 1835, the question of erecting a building around the jail of 1828, was considered, but that for building a new court house was substituted and adopted. The jail question was revived in 1846; in June of that year, Inlot No. 210 was purchased as a site; on July 7, the building contract was awarded to John W. Woodbury, S. N. Beach, Henry Thornton, Daniel Lindsay and O. H. Carpenter; but the house was not completed until the close of 1848. That building may be said to have been used down to 1870, when the seat of justice was removed to Bowling Green. On March 3, 1868, a tax of $5,000 was ordered to be levied; but this order was rescinded two days later. In March, 1869, the order to erect a jail at Bowling Green was entered, and, on May 6, the bid of $9,000 made by S. L. Boughton and A. A. Thurstin, was accepted, the condition being that the contractors could use the stone, iron and other material of the old jail at Perrysburg, in the new building.

Infirmary . The initial movement for providing a home for the poor of this county was made in June, 1827, as related in the chapter on Transactions of the Commissioners. Not until 1S65, however, was the question presented in practical shape. In April of that year a vote was taken on an appropriation for the purpose of purchasing a farm and erecting buildings; but not until March 3, 1868, were the first directors appointed, namely - John Yeager, R. W. Kelly and Henry Lundy. In June of that year, they awarded the building contract to A. K. Vail & Co., on a bid of $4,900, the house to be built on the old Adam Phillips farm, of which the county obtained title. The directors and officers of the Infirmary are named in the list of officials, given in the political chapter.

Chapter Xiv

Bench and Bar - Courts held at Maumee, Pejirysburg and Bowling Green - Early Trials, Judges and Jurors - Court Incidents and Notorious Trials - Changes of Officers - Judicial Districts - Judges of Common Pleas - Probate Judges - Prosecutors - Transactions of Supreme Court - United States District Court - Justices' Courts - Members OF OLD AND NEW BARS.

THE story of the courts and lawyers of this county presents a number of important civil cases, but only a few great criminal ones. From that time, in May, 1820, when the lower Maumee was visited by Judge Tod and his band of intellectual advocates, Wood county has been subjected to great physical and social changes. The Bench and Bar are no longer looked upon as traveling talkers, in search of frolic and of clients - scolding, wrangling and fighting for their friendly clients in court, forgetting their fierce looks and gestures in a moment after adjournment, and meeting as old friends and boon companions in the neighboring tavern. The members of the modern law circle vary from the atoms of the pioneer Bar in methods and manners, making their profession a science and an art at once, and exercising a most beneficent influence on municipal, county and State affairs. The pleasant, genial Bohemianism of the Old Bar has disappeared, and, in its place, a profession - at once business-like, permanent and useful in all its characteristics - has grown up.

The first term of Common Pleas was opened at Maumee, May 3, 1820, as already related in Chapter XI. The first official act of Prosecutor McCurdy was to challenge the whole fifteen men summoned as grand jurors, and the court, sustaining him, ordered the sheriff to summon a full jury from the by-standers. The persons so summoned were William H. Bostwick (foreman), Aaron Granger, John T. Baldwin, Parris M. Plum, Aurora Spafford, Jeremiah Johnston, William Pratt, Richard Gunn, Collister Haskins, Ephraim H. Learning, Josephus Tyler, Daniel Murray, John

Hollister, Norman L. Freeman and John J. Lovett. On the day following, the jurors returned true bills against the following named citizens: George Jones, who assaulted Ezra Crosby, and Thomas Gainor, who assaulted Joseph Willey. These indictments, with the appointment of Horatio Conant to administer the estate of George D. Roberts, deceased, the trial of Thomas Gainor, who was sentenced to pay $5 and costs; that of George Jones, who was ordered to pay $10 and costs, the indictment of Isaac Richardson for resisting the sheriff, and the granting of licenses, completed the day's work.

The petit jurors ready in the Gainor case were saved further trouble by the defendant's plea of "guilty," but were not so fortunate in the Jones case. According to the indictment, this Jones, on April 3, 1820, at Maumee, "did make upon the body of Ezra Crosby and him, the said Crosby, then and there beat, bruise and wound, and his under lip did then and there bite off, and other enormities commit against the peace of God and of the good people of the State of Ohio, and contrary to the statute in such cases made and provided." The jury in the case included Benjamin Farnsworth, Thomas Gainor, Elijah Gunn, Jr., James Wilkinson, William Hunter, Edmund Palmer, Levi Osman, Samuel J. Varney, James C. Adams, Hiram P. Barlow, Darius C. Henderson and James Carlin. The trial of Isaac Richardson, for resisting, beating and abusing Constable George Campbell, was hastily finished, and for this trivial offense he had to pay $10 and costs, or just the same as Jones had to pay for his terrible assault and cannibalistic appetite. The charge of resisting Deputy-Sheriff George Patterson was withdrawn, and thus Isaac escaped with Pelion upon him, rather than Pelion and Parnassus, as full justice would have it.

for Waynesfield township. This township, it will be remembered, had vast territorial jurisdiction at that time, and Wilson Vance (brother of Gov. Vance) was appointed surveyor for the county.

In October, 1820, the same judges present, Thomas W. Powell produced his certificate of admission to the bar, and was appointed prosecuting attorney. Following the example of« McCurdy, he challenged the whole grand jury, and had a jury summoned from the audience, among whom were Seneca Allen, Jacob Wilkinson, David W. Hawley, Artemus Underwood, Wilson Vance, John E. Hunt, Thomas Mcllrath, David Buckland, Samuel Spafford, Dexter C. Gunn, James Hunter, Hiram P. Barlow, Thomas Learning and John J. Lovett. The attorneys formerly admitted were Thomas W. Powell, Eleutherus Cook, Ebenezer Lane and Philip R. Hopkins, all of whom were interested in the trial of Joseph Kinjo for assault and battery, and all of whom were surprised when Judge Tod imposed upon him a fine of one dollar. New indictments were returned against George Jones and Thomas Gainor, old offenders, as well as against Thomas Carr, Isaac Richardson and William Griffith, for assault; against Neil Thompson, who "unlawfully, with force and arms, did sell the quantity of one pint of spirituous liquor of intoxicating quality, for the price of twenty-five cents, to certain Indians, " and against Thomson ct al . , for attempting to abduct a negro, as related in the history of Perrysburg.

In May, 1822, Daniel Hubbell qualified as associate Judge, under his commission of February 4, that year. At this session the report of county-seat commissioners - Messrs. King, Payne and Sherman - was received and entered on the record.

Many indictments for selling spirituous liquors in a less quantity than a quart, and, in some cases, without license, were returned in 1821 and

1822. The report of the coroner, Francis Charter, in May, 1822, on the inquest over the body of Samuel Ewing (who was murdered by one Lewis, at Roche-de-boeuf, March 9, 1822), was ignored on motion of Thomas W. Powell, and an indictment for manslaughter against John Lewis was substituted. Charles L. Lanman was assigned for the defence. French was found guilty of passing counterfeit bank notes, and was sentenced to a three-years' term in the Ohio penitentiary; while Lewis, found guilty of manslaughter, received precisely the same punishment. He escaped from jail, and was never again heard from. Judge Tod was present in September of this year, with Horatio Conant, Daniel Hubbell and William Pratt, associate judges - the last named being commissioned July 30, that year. Moses B. Corwin and Oliver Overton were permitted to practice here; Hiram P. Barlow was appointed administrator of the James Carlin estate, and a good deal of probate as well as county business was transacted, such as the will of Olive Spafford, the appointment of guardians and administrators, and the issue of mercantile, tavern and ferry licenses.

The last session of Common Pleas, held at Maumee, was that of February 12, 1823, when Walter Colton, William Pratt and John Hollister, associate judges, presided, under their commissions dated January 24, 1823. The first session at Perrysburg, was held, March 27, that year, the same associate judges present. In May, Judge Tod came to Perrysburg, but finding no suitable place to hold court, adjourned to John Hollister's house at the town of Orleans, and finished the term there. Mr. Evers, in one of his historical papers, tells the story of this first term of court, as follows:

This term only lasted three days. There were only about thirty cases docketed; the largest judgment taken was for 8*80.50 in favor of James Boyd r«. Peter Lumbar. The grand jury, composed of the following named men. William Hunter, Daniel Hubbell, E. H. Learning, Elijah Gunn, Jr., H. P. Barlow, William Gunn, Arthur Burrows, Thomas Mcllrath, Moses Rice, James Shirley. Anthony La Point, David Hull, Guy Nearing, John Webb and Timothy S. Smith, were sworn and only found one indictment, which finding charged a Frenchman named Rebideau with larceny; the Frenchman's lawyer picked a fatal flaw in the indictment, and Rebideau went free. That ended the State business that term. One civil case only, Thomas Smith r s. Israel Smith and John and William Hollister, was tried to a jury. The jurymen were Jonathan H. Jerome, Olean Dagget, Pierce Evans, Elisha Gunn, Neal Thompson, James H. Slawson, Antoine Peltier, Joseph Woolcut, Pain C. Parker, John Pray, Isaac Richardson and Aurora Spafford. At this term no less than twelve administrators and guardians were appointed, and four others removed for cause. As noticed in a previous chapter, the unusual number of deaths in this way disclosed, in that small community, was something frightful. Among those probate proceedings we note a few: James Carlin, the blacksmith, had died, and J. H. F'orsyth was appointed guardian for Parlee, his sixteen-year-old son, who, in after years with his brother, 'Squire Carlin, became leading citizens of F'indlay, Ohio, and have numerous descendants in Wood and Hancock counties; John Webb was guardian for Olive Ewing, afterward Mrs. Rolla H. Chubb, who has numerous descendants living in Wood. Angelina Ewing had for her guardian Thomas R. McKnight, and Samuel Spafford acted for the other sister, Minerva Ewing. These three sisters, the eldest of whom was thirteen years of age, were the daughters of one of Wixxi county's first commissioners, Samuel H. Ewing, and sisters of William Ewing, in later years a probate judge of the county. Their father and mother had both fallen victims to the Maumee fever. Charley Robey's widow was appointed administratrix on the estate of her husband, who was the father of the boy, Curtis Robey, who became noted as an Indian interpreter, and also Charles, who commanded the ill-fated "Griffith," a steamer, whose destruction by fire on Lake Erie in 1851 was attended by such great loss of life, including Robey himself and his wife. Collister Haskins was appointed guardian for Martha Russ; Isaac Cook was appointed administrator of Horace Cook's estate; H. P. Barlow was appointed guardian for Anthony, also Henry Ewing (later known as Uncle Hank Ewing), then boys of fourteen and twelve years of age, respectively. They were the sons of Samuel Ewing, killed at Roche-de-boeuf, as were Samuel and John, younger children, whose guardian was Pain C. Parker.

These details are given to bring out the names of the heroic band of pioneers who were grouped about the parent settlement of the county at that early day, struggling amidst most disheartening trials and exposure, to gain a foothold and make a beginning. The court at this session supplemented the work just done by the commissioners in forming new townships, by ordering that each township should be allowed two justices of the peace, and that the number of justices in the hitherto colossal township of Waynesfield be reduced to two. The elections for such justices which were the first in each of the three counties were ordered as follows: Perrysburg, June 19, at the house of Samuel Spafford; Findlay, July I, at the house of Wilson Vance; Damascus, June 19, at the house of Neil Thompson. At the same term, Doctor H. Conant, at Maumee, and Daniel Hubbell, at Miami, were each licensed to operate a ferry one year; tax $5 each. The charges for foot passengers were 6 cents each ; teams, 37 W cents. Robert Forsyth and John E. Hunt got a permit to sell merchandise at Maumee, and John Hollister at Orleans, for S15 each, and Anthony La Point at Presque Isle Hill, the same privilege for $10, and Samuel Vance at Prairie Damasque ( Damascus, Henry county), to keep tavern, paid S6. This ended the proceedings of the first regular term of Common Pleas Court in what is now Wood county. The business of the session was doubtless curtailed by the inconvenience experienced in being compelled to hold court at a private house, a thing which has never occurred since.

--With a full complement of county officers and courts, we may consider that Wood county was fully started on her career. To use a figure of speech, the ship was launched safely and her destiny now rested with the crew. The character and make-up of the population centered about the seat of the new county, at that time, was fully up to the average in enterprise and intelligence. They were from New England, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, with a fair sprinkling of French and English traders and halfbreeds from the Detroit country, who left as the county increased its settlements."

At the October term of 1823, Barbara Ewing, a widow, appeared in court to offer herself as bondswoman for Matthias Disman, in the sum of $500. In May, 1824, Robert A. Forsyth succeeded William Pratt as associate judge, and, with his fellow judges, held a Probate Court in the clerk's office at Perrysburg. In May following, the court house was ready, but, as Judge Tod did not appear, the probate and commondebt cases were only considered. In October the associate judges expected to deal with a criminal case without the aid of their president; but Peter Dalson, who was indicted for assaulting

David Emick, pleaded not guilty, and the case against him was continued. In October, 1824, they did, however, dispose of the case by discharging Dalson, the prisoner's counsel showing that one of the grand jurors, who voted for his indictment, was not a resident of the county. Judge Ebenezer Lane was here in May, 1825, being the first president judge who took part in legal transactions here from 1823 to the latter date. Numerous indictments were returned for infractions of the license laws, and a new one against Peter Dalson, who was charged with "maiming." In October, 1825, Judge Lane, with Walter Colton, Robert A. Forsyth and John Hollister, presided. John B. Pennet-shaw was tried for taking 500 muskrat skins, value for $225, and 200 raccoon skins, value for $75, from William and John Hollister. He was found guilty of burglary, and sentenced to a five-years' term in the penitentiary. The same judges were present in 1826, 1827 and 1828.

Among the court incidents of that day, told by Thomas W. Powell, and preserved by Mr. Evers, is that known as "The Huntington Robbery," which is given verbatim ct literatim , as follows:

In the spring of 1826, there transpired at Perrysburg a case of more than ordinary interest and excitement. Elijah Huntington, of Perrysburg, Had about that time been collecting his money with a view to be prepared to purchase some lands on the river that were soon to be resold by the United States, and which had become forfeited for non-payment by the former purchasers. Huntington had in his house some four hundred dollars, which he kept by him, waiting the sale of these lands. Early one morning Mr. H. came to my house greatly excited, with a club in his hands, saying that, in the night previous, some persons had entered his house, broken open his drawers, taken his money, and left in the room that club. Mr. H. thought himself ruined; for at that time four hundred dollars, with a view to the approaching sales, was an important sum of money. But who had committed the crime could not even be guessed at. It for a while baffled all conjecture, and became quite a mystery. A week or two previous a pocket-book and a small amount of money had been missed from the house of Charles O'Neil, of Perrysburg, and suspicions after a while began to be placed upon one Stockwell and his wife, who had not long before settled there. The citizens of Perrysburg became greatly excited upon the subject of this robbery; and for a time it seemed to elude all endeavors to detect the perpetrators. Suspicions having been placed upon Stockwell and his wife in regard to the O'Neil affair (though as yet there was no evidence against them), public attention was directed immediately to Stockwell as a person who might be in some way connected with the robbery of Mr. Huntington. The club that was found in Huntington's house, after the burglary, was for awhile handed around as a curiosity. When tired of its exhibition, Mrs. H. threw it upon the fire for the purpose of making a final disposition of it. Just then, as luck would have it, Judge Ambrose Rice, an old citizen of Maumee, a remarkably shrewd man and close observer, came into the house and immediately snatched the club from the fire, with the observation that it should be preserved, as it might yet be evidence against the perpetrators of the act. The club was a hickory stick, considerably reduced at one end by long chips taken from it with a knife. Judge Rice thought that possibly the chips might be somewhere found and identified with the club, so as to implicate some one with the burglary. Strenuous investigations were made for some days without result. At length a number of the citizens of Perrysburg determined to make a search of Stockwell's house, and take him and his wife, for awhile at least, into custody. For this purpose they went in the night time, when they would be sure to find them at home, took possession of the house, and them into custody, and made diligent search of the house without finding any evidence against them. Stockwell and wife asserted entire ignorance of the whole matter in question. The next morning Judge Rice went to the house with the club, and examined to see if some of the chips taken from the club could not be found there. After some diligent search he found some fresh chips scattered under the floor of the house. These chips upon examination would correspond exactly with the marks of the club so completely that there could be no question of their identity.

This was a crushing answer to Stockwell's assertion of his innocence in the matter. But as yet no further evidence was discovered against them. But becoming alarmed in consequence of the identity of the chips found at his house with the club, and finding that his associates had played a trick upon him in keeping him ignorant of the amount of money that had been taken, and applying the whole of it to their own use, he became indignant toward them, and determined to disclose the whole. For this purpose he sent for me as the prosecuting attorney, and disclosed to me the whole transaction as far as he knew it. He told me that he and his wife had the O'Neil money, and informed me where I could find it; but as to the Huntington money, he knew nothing beyond eight or ten dollars of it. He said that a night or two before Huntington's, house was robbed, two men by the name of Reiser, old cronies of his in crime, came to his house and inquired of them if there were not some plunder to be had in Perrysburg. Stockwell informed them that his wife had discovered that Mr. Huntington had a quantity of money on hand in .his house. This they soon formed a resolution to take. They kept secreted at his house a day or two making observations and planning how to take the money. On the night thfkt the money was taken, they all three sallied forth and went to Huntington's house, found them all asleep, and one of the Reisers made his way into the house and soon returned, saying he had got Huntington's ocket-book, but he feared it was a "water-haul." The club e had taken into the house with him, he had accidentally left there, which gave them some concern, and some time debated upon the subject of returning for it. They did not, however, and proceeded to Stockwell's house to examine the pocketbook and divide the spoils. Reiser presented the pocketbook as all that he had taken. Upon examination it was found that it contained only fifteen or twenty dollars, and the Reisers gave Stockwell eight or ten dollars as his share of it. Stockwell was dissatisfied, and suspected fraud; and so questioned Reiser about it. Reiser declared upon his honor " that that was all he had taken - it was, he said, only a water-haul; and proposed to Stockwell that he might him. Stockwell was silenced by the brass and impudence of the Reisers, who immediately left Perrysburg; and no one except Stockwell and wife knew anything of their having been there, or within a hundred miles.

Now, if the club had not been saved by Judge Rice, and identified with the chips found in Stockwell's house, and was likely to throw upon him the guilt of the whole transaction, and the conviction on his part that the Reisers had perpetrated upon him what he considered to be a dishonorable and knavish trick, in secreting from him almost the whole of the spoils they had taken, it is not probable that this most wicked transaction could have been ferreted out. But the ways of Providence are mysterious, and the ways of the wicked are hard, and in the best-laid schemes of the criminal is found the train of circumstances that leads to his inevitable detection. Stockwell, smarting under the conviction that an infamous trick had been played off on him, finding by sad experience that there was no "honor among thieves," and finding that the evidence against him was likely to make him a victim of the knaves who had appropriated, by means of a dishonorable trick, the whole spoils to their own use, was now ready to make a frank and open disclosure of the whole transactions as far as he knew them. He informed us that the Reisers were to be found in a strip of woods on the north cape of Maumee Bav. A committee of the citizens was immediately dispatched for them, and within a few days the Reisers were in custody of the committee in Perrysburg. They held out for some time before they could be induced to disclose where the money was. But after being put through a pretty severe course of discipline, they, in the course of about a week, revealed where the money was to be found. It was buried at the foot of a tree on the north cape of the bay. Two women, the mother of the Reisers, and the wife of one of them, who were then at Perrysburg, were to show where the money was to be found. These women, Mr. Huntington, myself, and a few men to man a boat, went down there to receive the money. When we arrived at the cape, we found a most desolate place - a mere sand-bar with a few trees and shrubbery, where we found a miserable log-house - the home of the Reisers. The women took us to the tree where the money was buried. After a little search, it was found; and, being principally in paper money, which had lain there some ten days, it had become so very damp that it was very near being worthless. Through the means of these various proceedings, Mr. Huntington recovered nearly all of his lost money. Stockwell and the Reisers remained in jail several months after that, waiting their trial. But just before court, they broke jail and made their escape to Canada.

In 1828 Ambrose Rice took Colton's place, and in 1829 James Colton qualified. In November, 1829, Ambrose Rice was appointedc ounty surveyor. On January 19, 1830, James W.

Robinson was appointed clerk vice Thomas R. McKnight, deceased, by Aurora Spafford, James Wolcott and Robert A. Forsyth, the associate judges. In May, 1831, William Bigger took the place of Judge Forsyth, and, with his two associates and Judge David Higgns, was present during the term. John Webb resigned the office of sheriff and was appointed clerk. In 1835, the same judges were on the Bench, while Jonas Pratt was sheriff and John Webb, clerk; but, in October of that year, William Fowler, William Bigger and Aurora Spafford, were the associate judges - Judge Bigger holding office since April, 1831 - and all beingassociate judges when Journal No. 3 closed, April 6, 1837. In 1835, a number of indictments for assault, etc., growing out of the Toledo war, were presented. In 1834, Jonathan Wood was appointed an auctioneer; in April, 1835, Daniel H. Wheeler;, in October, 1835, Joshua Chappel, and in April, 1837, W. W. Irwin, all having been professional auction men. At this last term, the court appointed James Matthew, inspector of pork, flour and liquors. Thomas W. Powell resigned the office of prosecuting attorney in May, 1831, when J. C. Spink was appointed. Jessup W. Scott was the prosecutor in 1834, with Sidney Smith assistant, in the case against Joseph I. Applegate. In April, Hiram K. Steele was appointed surveyor. Willard V. Way succeeded Scott as prosecutor, in October, ^ 1834; while Isaac Stetson was ap- pointed in July, 1835. In 1837, Andrew Coffinberry was his assistant. In April, 1835, Addison Smith resigned the office of county surveyor. In July, 1837, Prosecutor Henry Reed resigned and James Purdy was appointed. From November, 1828, to April, 1837, there were sixty-three distinct estates settled by the court, and 179 cases, in which the Commonwealth was plaintiff, were tried. From October, 1825, to the close of the May term of 1831, there were 131 cases tried.

In April, 1838, Ozias Bowen, with William Fowler, Aurora Spafford and David Ladd, associate judges, presided. Isaac Stetson was granted $135, salary as prosecuting attorney for the ensuing year. After his death, in September, 1839, J. C. Spink succeeded Stetson. In March of that year, Emery D. Potter, with the associates named as serving in 1838, was present.

John Knowles, an old citizen of Perrysburg, died from poison in 1839, under circumstances creating strong suspicions that he had been murdered by his wife. Knowles was considerably advanced in years, and the possessor of a comfortable estate - the fruit of hard labor and economical habits. A year or two prior to his death he married a young, buxom-looking girl, who had been for some time a housemaid in several families in the town. Very soon after their union, his life was rendered miserable by her violent temper and extravagant habits. Anxious to sever the tie which caused his misery, he, on several occasions, came to our office for legal advice; but divorces were not so easily obtained then as now, and we could offer him no better consolation than to advise kindness and indulgence. His health was failing, and he was frequently attacked with severe spasms. On one occasion he intimated that he believed he had been poisoned. In one of these attacks he died, and a post mortem examination confirmed his suspicions. Arsenic, in considerable quantity, was found in the stomach. The wife was arrested, indicted and tried for murder, upon evidence which would have been ample to convict a man. Her sex saved her. The trial was very interesting - the Count and Spink conducting the prosecution, against Willis Silliman and Stowell. I thought, at the time, that the argument of the Count to the jury was irresistible, and fastened the guilt so strongly upon the defendant that escape would be impossible. Silliman, who enjoyed a good reputation as an advocate, was adroit and eloquent, and received credit for a successful defense; but, really, nothing but the fact that Mrs. Knowles was a young and rather good-looking woman saved her.

Myron H. Tilden presided over the court in the spring term of 1844. John Webb was then sheriff, and Joseph Utley, clerk. The work of the court was characterized by a number of naturalization papers issued to natives of Ireland and Germany. In March, Hiram Davis was appointed county surveyor to succeed Morris Brown. In 1845, Benjamin Olney took the place of Judge Ladd - the only change made in the court officers. In 1847, Ebenezer B. Sadler appeared as president judge, with Judges Spafford and Olney, Nathaniel D. Blinn (chosen as the successor of Francis Carothers, deceased ) not being present. In April, 1850, Aurora Spafford was succeeded by Jairus Curtis, who, with N. D. Blinn and Benjamin Olney, was present during the session with Judge Sadler. In March,

In March, 1852, Lawrence W. Hall presided in Common Pleas. On April 23, that year, Asher Cook, judge of probate, established his court at Perrysburg, inaugurating the business by ordering the release of the old surveyor, Sylvanus Jefferson, who was arrested under "a warrant to keep the peace." L. O. Simmons was clerk, and Coroner Thomas L. Webb was acting sheriff, with Jairus F. Curtis, deputy, in September,