Weston Township (part 8 of 15)

The regiment was actively engaged in all of Kilpatrick's movements during Sherman's Atlanta campaign, and several times made raids around Atlanta. On the march to the sea much of the fighting that occurred was performed by the cavalry. The 10th was frequently engaged, encountering the enemy first at Jonesville, Ga., and from that place to Savannah, Ga., scarcely a day passed without encounters with the Rebel Gen. Wheeler's and other cavalry and infantry.

The victory at Lovejoy's Station was mainly attributable to a general charge by the entire division (nine regiments) of cavalry. At Bear Creek Station the 10th engaged the enemy singly behind formidable barricades, using the saber, and put him to ignoble flight. Lieut. James Morgan, of Company F, was killed while gallantly leading his men in the charge. The cavalry command moved on the Clinton and Macon road, intending to demonstrate toward the latter place, as if to attack it. Gen. Kilpatrick brought his men to within a mile of the city, and, under the fire of thirteen pieces of artillery, the 10th Ohio, led by Capt. Hofford, charged the works with drawn sabers, and never halted until the fort was entered and' two pieces of artillery were captured; but not without heavy loss in killed, wounded and prisoners. Among the prisoners was Capt. J. Hofford. The enemy was also encountered at Griswoldville, Gordon and Milledgeville.

The 10th bore an honorable part in the encounter with the Rebel cavalry about Louisville, Ga., Waynesboro, and Augusta, in the latter part of November and first part of December, 1864. At Waynesboro the advance squadron of the 10th was led by Capt. Samuel Norton, of D, who was killed at the head of the column while encouraging his men to deeds of daring. The loss on both sides in this engagement was severe. The 10th was actively engaged in the campaign through the Carolinas, meeting the enemy frequently. Gen. Kilpatrick on many occasions expressed his opinion that the 10th Ohio was the best charging regiment he had under his command.

The One Hundred and Eighty-second Infantry (one year). - Five companies of it W'ere recruited in the vicinity of Toledo, and organized at Camp Toledo by Lieut. -Col. J. A. Chase. While at Camp Chase five other companies were added, and the organization was completed October 28, 1864, Col. Lewis "Butler being placed in command. Some few men from Wood county served in the regiment, mainly in companies A and B. The regiment moved south on November i, and five days later was attached to Sherman's army at Nashville. There the men were drilled, so that, on December 4, 1864, when Hood circumvallated the city, this command took an important part in the battle which ensued. There it remained on guard and provost duty until July 7, 1865, when it was mustered out. Returning to Ohio, it was discharged at Camp Chase, July 13, 1865.

The First Light Artillery (three years) was organized under the militia law of i860, and formed a part of the Ohio militia. It consisted of six companies, having one gtm each. The Colonel was James Barnett. The organization was drilled and disciplined, and at the breaking | out of the war took the field, reporting at Columbus April 22, 1861. It went into camp at Mari- j etta, Ohio. On May 28 a part of the organization was sent to Col. Steedman of the 14th Ohio, then stationed at Parkersburg, and the rest went on the following day to Ben wood, thence to Grafton, reporting to Gen. T. A. Mor- j ,ris. The two guns sent under Lt.-Col. Sturgis to Col. Steedman participated at Philippi. This was the first artillery fired by the Federal forces in the war of the Rebellion. Later the main command was joined by the detachment under Lt.-Col. Sturgis, and moved with Gen. Morris' forces to Laurel Hill, and joined in the attack made on the Rebels at that place; the Rebels were again attacked at Carrick's I'ord, which terminated the three-months' term of the command's service (about July 26, 1861).

The regiment with its twelve light batteries was mustered into the U. S. service for three years, dating from September 3, 1861. The command was organized by batteries at Camp Dennison, and as each battery was filled and equipped it was sent to the field. Each battery had a separate and distinct history. Nearly all the men who went from Wood county served in battery G, and were mainly from Washington, Freedom and Liberty townships. The battery was mustered in at Camp Dennison December 17, 1861. On February 15 it went to Cincinnati, thence into camp at Jeffersonville, Ind., j where it remained until the 27th, when it went | to Nashville. On March 1 1 the command was [ ordered, with Capt. Mendenhall's regular bat- ; tery, to report to Gen. Crittenden, commanding the 5th Division. It moved with the column, and on Sunday morning, April 6, fifteen miles from 1 Savannah, on the Tennessee river, the troops heard the heavy firing at Pittsburg Landing. The command reached Savannah by 8 p. M. and thence by steamer proceeded to Pittsburg Landing, reaching there at one o'clock in the morning of Monday. April 7, disembarked and took position in line of battle at 6 a. m., supported bv Gen. Boyle's brigade of Crittenden's division, and was engaged the entire day. This battery was the only volunteer battery of Buell's army 1 engaged in the battle.

took part in the engagement at Stone River. The battery was engaged at Chickamauga September 19 and 20, 1863, taking position on the Rossville road, where it was continually under fire until after the battle of Mission Ridge. On October 9, upon the re-organization of the army, it was ordered to report to Col. Barnett, the commanding officer of the Reserve Artillery. On December 2, it marched for Nashville, and was mustered in as a veteran battery January 4, 1864. In August it moved with the cavalry under Gen. Croxton, in pursuit of Wheeler's forces, which after three or four sharp engagements were driven across the Tennessee river at Florence, Ala. The battery moved to Chattanooga in October; but, in the same month, reported to chief of artillery of the 4th Army Corps at Pulaski. On November 23, it broke camp at Pulaski, and while falling' back toward Nashville disputed the ground with Hood day by day. On the 20th it checked Hood's advance into Franklin, and covered the rear of the Federal column moving out, and reached Nashville on the night of December 1 . The loss of the battery in killed and wounded at the battle of Franklin was twenty-three. It was highly complimented by Gen. Stanley for gallant services in the field.

On December 14, the battery was in the general engagement between Gens. Thomas and Hood, at Nashville, also it sharply engaged the enemy at Rutherford's creek, being in the advance column of the Federal forces in Hood's retreat to the Tennessee river. In March, 1865, it moved with the 4th Corps into East Tennessee and North Carolina, and in April returned to Nashville. In June it moved to New Orleans; returned in August for Ohio, and was mustered out at Camp Chase, September 1, 1865.

The Second Heavy Artillery (three years) was organized at Camp Dennison between the middle of June and the close of September, 1863, and mustered in between August 1 and October 5, that year, with Horatio G. Gibson, Colonel. Company A was mustered July 20; B, August 5; C, August 26; D, September 7; E, September 9; F, September 23; G, September 19; H, I, K and L, September 7, and M, September 9, 1863. Wood county furnished some men for this command, who served in battery L. This battery, on October 8, was moved to Fort Boone, P'rankfort, Ky. ; thence was transferred, in December of the same year, to Battery Simons, at Munfordville, Ky. ; from there, in May, 1864, marched by land to Camp Sedgwick, at Cleveland, Tenn. , as guard to the regimental wagon-train. On August 3, 1864, it moved to Charleston, Tenn. There it participated in the engagement with the Rebel cavalry under Wheeler, and in the subsequent movements until it reached Strawberry Plains, where it remained up to August, 1865. It was mustered out of service at Nashville, Tenn., August 23, 1865.

Fifty-fifth Infantry (three years) was organized at Norwalk, Ohio, between the middle of September and the beginning of December, 1 86 1 . The command was mustered September 13, 1861, with John C. Lee, Colonel. There were a few men in the regiment from Wood county serving mainly in Company B, from which Henry J. Pelton rose from the ranks to Second Lieutenant, and Quartermaster of the regiment.

On January 25, 1862, it left for Grafton, Western Virginia, and from there soon moved to New Creek. Its first skirmish was at Moorefield. The next spring it advanced to Romney, where it joined Gen. Schenck s brigade, which moved to Moorefield, and went into camp at a ferry on the Potomac, three or four miles north of the town. In the battle of McDowell, or Blue Pasture Mountain, the 55th constituted the reserve, and served as support to a battery. After the battle, the troops fell back to Franklin in order to avoid being cut off by a flank movement. On this march, and during the stay in Franklin, the regiment suffered severely on account of the scarcity of rations. The regiment was present at the battle of Cross Keys; but was not engaged. The army of Virginia was organized at Middletown, near Winchester, whither, about June 20, the regiment arrived, and stopped for a short rest. The 55th was brigaded with the 25th, 73d and 75th Ohio, and was attached to Gen. Schenck's division. The regiment was at Slaughter Mountain, arriving on the battlefield at 3 A. M., August 9, 1862.

Shortly before sunset, August 28, the regiment was pushed forward from the north of Warrenton, partly deployed as skirmishers, to discover Jackson's position. This was on the old Bull-Run battle ground. On the 29th the two armies were engaged the greater portion of the day, neither party gaining any very decided success. The 55th was under severe artillery fire, but was not engaged with the enemy's battle line. During the 30th the regiment lay in close column, by division, behind a swell of ground, upon which was posted a battery of six steel guns. About an hour before sunset the enemy appeared suddenly on the flank- The regiment deployed , under fire, but after giving a few volleys it returned to the main line, which was about one hundred yards in the rear. Here the regiment was reformed, and it continued to engage the enemy until near dark, when with the brigade it gradually moved to the rear, and after dark it fell back to Centerville. The regiment at the battle of Chancellorsville formed part of the nth Corps, and in going into position, on May 1, it was in the 2d Brigade from the right. In this engagement, which opened about 5 p. m., on the 2d, the 55th lost 153 men killed, wounded and missing.

About May 15, the regiment became a part of the 2nd Division, and remained in that brigade until the end of its term of service. The regiment was present at the battle of Gettysburg. The division was posted first on Cemetery Hill, but was moved subsequently to the left of the Baltimore pike. The battle line of the regiment was not engaged, but the skirmish line was subject, most of the time, to a severe fire. The 55th lost about fifty men in the battle. At Lookout Mountain, the regiment being on picket, it was not in the early part of the engagement, and sustained no loss. In the battle of Mission Ridge the corps formed line to the left and front of Fort Hood, and, moving forward rapidly, drove the Rebel skirmish line beyond the East Tennessee railroad. On the afternoon of the 25th of November, 1863, the 55th was posted on the extreme left, and guarded the flank during the remainder of the battle.

On January 1, 1864, 319 men of the regiment re-enlisted; and after a furlough returned to Lookout Valley. The 1 ith and 12th corps were consolidated about this time, and became the 20th, and the 55th formed a part of the 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Division. On May 2, the regiment started on the Atlanta campaign, and participated in all the battles in which the 20th corps was engaged. It suffered severely at the battle of Resaca May 15, losing upward of 90 men. It was engaged at Cassville, Dallas, New Hope Church, Marietta, and Kenesaw; was also engaged at the battle of Peach Tree Creek July 20. During the siege of Atlanta, the 55th occupied a place in the line. The regiment from Atlanta, November 15, moved toward the sea coast, and entered Savannah on the 2ist. In January, 1865, it started on the campaign of the Carolinas. At the battle of Smith's farm, March 16, it lost thirty-six men killed and wounded. It was at Goldsboro and at Raleigh, and participated in the grand review. The regiment was mustered out at Louisville, Ky., July it, 1865,

The One Hundred and Seventeenth In fantry and First Heavy Artillery (three years). The regiment was organized as the 1 17th Infantry at Camp Portsmouth, September 15, 1862,- with eight companies, and came under the colonelcy of Chancey G. Hawley. It served in various* parts of Kentucky in the fall of 1862, and spring : of 1863. In May, 1863, the regiment was changed into the First Heavy Artillery Ohio Volunteers, and recruited to the maximum strength of that organization. A number of men from Jackson and Perry townships, of Wood county, served in Company L of this organization, among whom was John Foreman, who became 1st Lieu- ! tenant, and was promoted Quarter-master of the regiment.

The regiment constructed the fine and extensive fortifications for eight miles around Covington and Newport, making Cincinnati one of the strongest fortified cities in the Union. During the fall and winter of 1863-64 the regiment, in battalion detachments, was engaged in guard duty at various points in Kentucky. On February 19, 1864, it started under orders through heavy snow and extreme cold over the mountains to Knoxville, Tenn., arriving there March 9. Through that summer, and until in September, the regiment was engaged in guarding the railroads through Tennessee. It subsequently participated in foraging and fighting guerrillas I throughout East Tennessee and North Carolina.

It formed a part of the 1st Brigade, 4th Division, Army of the Cumberland, and was engaged in guarding mountain passes, and guarding cap- ; tured points in Virginia and North Carolina. After the surrender of Lee and Jackson, the regiment saw service in the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee. It was mustered out at Knoxville, Tenn., July 25, 1865. i

The One Hundred and Eighty-ninth (one j year) was organized at Camp Chase, Ohio, March 5, 1865, with Henry D. Kingsbury, Colonel. Wood county had a good representation in Com- | pany G, of which Thomas A. Gorrill, of the county, was 2d Lieutenant.

The regiment immediately left for Huntsville, j Ala. Several companies were placed along the j Memphis & Charleston railroad between Stevenson and Decatur, and were engaged in guarding bridges and building stockades. One company was posted at Whitesburg, one at Claysviile, and Guntersville, on the Tennessee river, and one remained at Huntsville. On June 20. the regiment was concentrated at Huntsville, and per- ,

One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth (three years) was organized at Columbus, Johnson's Island, and Camp Cleveland, Ohio, from December 7, 1861, to January 8, 1864, to serve three years. Four companies - A, B, C and D - of the organization, were originally known as the "Hoffman Battalion," raised at different times in 1862, which, before the time of forming the regiment, was under the command of a lieutenant-colonel and major. Six new companies were mustered in at Camp Taylor between the 8th and 15th of January, 1 864. The four old companies had been on duty at Johnson's Island nearly all the time since their muster-in; but had frequently furnished detachments for service elsewhere, including a short and very active campaign in pursuit of Rebel troops in West Virginia in 1862. Wood county was represented in the 128th in Companies B, C and D, a few men serving from various parts of the county. Lieut. George W. Hollenbeck, of Companies C and A, respectively, was from Perrysburg. The regiment was chiefly occupied at the frontier posts of Johnson's Island and Sandusky, and its service necessarily involves much of the military history of those posts. It was mustered out at Camp Chase July 10, 1865.

In addition to Wood's representation in the regiments \yhose history is outlined in the above sketches, her gallant and patriotic sons were scattered through various other Ohio commands, and, as set forth in the introductory remarks, they were found in a number of the organizations of other States. A glance at the roster will reveal that among the other Ohio commands men from Wood were enrolled in the 84th, 179th, 193d, 195th, 197th, 99th, 123d, 66th, 81st, 1 1 th, 101st and 126th.

It will be observed that the following rosters of Wood county's soldiers in the war of the Rebellion have, in main, been prepared by veterans of the county. They have furnished the names of the soldiers, and the records, so far as they could be found, have been added from the Roster of Ohio Soldiers. It has been the purpose to place the names of soldiers in tin? respective townships in which they lived and were identified at the time of enlistment. Where men lived close to township lines, and questions arose as to the ' townships in which they belonged, the men themselves were seen, when living, or were written to, members of the immediate family or near neighbors consulted, and the men placed as it became evident that they should be from such sources of [ information. Aside from the men whose names are given in the different townships as having been identified with the preparation of each roster, many others have been seen, and still others written to, : and all possible efforts made at completeness.

The names in the following list were furnished ! by a committee of veterans of Bloomdale, who had the benefit of a record of the soldiers of the township, which were prepared in j866, by W. S. Richard, a resident of Bloomdale. then a school teacher of the township. Mr. Richard prepared [ the list of soldiers by school districts, and there- ! fore quite accurately; to the committee's list of names the record of each soldier was added, then all was submitted in typescript, for additions and corrections, to Messrs. Richard, Solether, Shannabarger, Whitacre and others.

Isaac F. Baker, G. 21, en. Feb., '(52, died Feb. (5, '(53. in hospital at Nashville, Tenn., front a severe cold taken at battle of Stone River.

were five oF the Maker brothers in the l'. S. service. In addition to the three whose names appear above. Elisha M Maker served in Company 1). ."ith Regiment. Missouri Cavalry, and John C Maker in Coin- | tiany F. 47th Regiment. O. V. I , enlisting fiom Hancock count), Scptem- her iti, !$04; in. o. June, lSGa.

lished in the Daily Sentinel of January 30, 1895. A few names were added to the list, and then the Adjutant-General's report searched for the record

The foundation of this roster and record was made at Petnberville in September, 1895, when the commander and several comrades of the Grand Army Post, such as Messrs. Canfield, Fair, Fish, Hathaway, Davidson and others, reviewed the names of families residing within the

I township boundaries before the war, and by the ! aid of memory ordered the majority of the folj lowing names to be recorded. Since that time ! the Adjutant-General's reports have been care- 1 fully searched, the records of soldiers added to 1 the roster, and this roster and record form the result.

John Vanetten, F, 144, en. May, '64. m. o. Aug., '64. j Solomon Van Gilder, soldier of 1812, buried in Scotch Ridge Cemetery. (See history of cemetery in chapter on Webster township.)

The list of soldiers, on which the following roster and record are placed, was written by Capt. John McLain and others, while the record was ; compiled from the Adjutant-General's reports, and I from statements made by soldiers of Grand Rapids, Weston and Milton townships, and submit- I ted to Dr. Hill, K. F. Kerr, John McLain and i other veterans.

The cemeteries of the township contain the remains of veterans of former wars, namely: J. N. Morrison (a soldier of the Revolution), Rev. Henry Kimberlin, Abiram Bassett, James Ross, Sr., John Rowland, Sr., Benjamin Atkinson, and Daniel Rice (one of Rogers' men), soldiers of 1812-13; Capt. D. M. McKinley, J. J. Vorhes, Edward Boggs and Daniel Heath, of the Mexican war.

This roster of soldiers is based on the memory of veterans now residing within the boundaries of Henry township, and on the reports of the Adjutant-General of Ohio. The list was submitted to Messrs. B. L. Peters and Hugh Campbell, of North Baltimore. Many soldiers who came into the township after the war are referred to in the sketch of the Grand Army Posts of North Baltimore and Hoytville, and in the Biographies.

The soldiers sent out from Jackson township, from April, 1861, to the close of the war of the Rebellion, are named in the following roster and record, suggested by Allen Ferguson and brother, Messrs. Apger, Dunn and other soldiers, now residents of the township.

The following names were obtained from Messrs. Bailey, Grover, Phiels, Beery, and other veterans at Millbury, Walbridge, Moline and Latchie. The records were added from the Ohio Military Reports, and all submitted in typescript, for correction and revision. The rosters were again compared with Troy and Perrysburg lists, and are now declared as nearly correct as they can be made.

William F urry, Corp., E, 72. en. Nov. 10. '61, wounded May 19, '63, at siege of Vicksburg, Miss., cap. June 11, '64, near Ripley, Miss,, was a prisoner of war for nine months, confined at Andersonville. Ga., Florence, S. and at Lawton; m. o. March, '65.

The soldiers who went out from Liberty township between April 18, 1861, and the close of the war, are named in the following roster and record. The names are based on the memories of veterans residing to-day in the township, and on the list of soldiers by J. H. McMahan, Capt. J. W. Knaggs, ct at., while the record is taken from the Adjutant-General's report.

Lewis W. McCrory, A, 100, en. June 9, '62, cap. Sept. 8. '63, in action at Limestone Sta., Tenn., was confined in Libby prison, in Belle Isle, Castle Thunder, and in Andersonville, par., in. o. May, '65.

Julius Thomas, B, 21 (3 mos.), April to Aug., '61. onathan Wheaton, Andrew Welton, Selden Welton, Hiram and John Woodworth, served during the war.

The records are added from the Adjutant- General's reports; while many names, not given in the original list, were supplied by soldiers, now residing in the township. The lists were submitted to Robert Pargellis, Fred Peinert, Val. Schwind, and other veterans for correction.

the following roster and record, compiled principally from Dr. Hill's general muster of the township. The list was submitted for revision and correction in Weston and Grand Rapids, as well as in Milton township.

The work of compiling the following list of the soldiers sent from this township into the Union regiments, from 1 86 1 to the close of the war of the Rebellion, was rendered easy by the action of the people in erecting a monument to them at Freeport, on which are inscribed their names, as well as by the co-operation of veterans throughout the township. The names of John Ruble, Levi Shroyer and John Shoup, with a record of each, whose records are given on the monument as they were enlisted in Montgomery, will appear in the roster of Portage township, where they resided at time of enlistment.

Isaac A. Ensminger, - , 72, buried in Chestnut Ridge. Brantwell Ensminger, K, 144, en. May, '64, near Berryville, Va., died in Salisbury prison, Nov. 12, '64.

Wiley Peterson, 81 Regt., buried in Chestnut Ridge. Truman Peterson, 81 Regt., buried in Chestnut Ridge. Franklin Plantz, I, 72, en. Nov., '61, w'd Dec. 6, '64, m. o. May, '65.

Fred M. Smith, C, 72, en. Nov., '61. cap. near Ripley. Miss., June 11, '64, wounded at Vicksburg, m. o. Feb., '65, was in prison at Mobile, Andersonville and Milan, Ga. Conrad Smith, A, 100, en. Aug., '62, cap. Sept. 8, '63, in action at Limestone Station, Tenn., died May 18, '64, in Rebel prison at Andersonville.

Revolutionary war, Andrew McBurney, buried east of Bradner. War of 1812, Philip Hathaway, George Lightner, Philip Shoe, C. Sheffler, Emanuel Walters, Jacob Plantz, John Dean, buried in Chestnut Ridge Cemetery; George Kieffir, Daniel Kimble, Nelson Shamblin, buried in the old cemetery; and Charles Smith, buried in the township.

Perry township was represented in thirty-one Federal regiments, from April, 1861, to the close of the war of the Rebellion. In the roster, compiled by Capt. O. P. Norris and comrade veterans, the names of all are given; while an account of each, taken from the Adjutant-General's report, is added.

Perry C. Chilcote, H, 49, en. Aug. ,'61, cap. Sept. 20, '63, at battle of Chickamauga, Ga., and confined in Rebel prisons at Richmond, Danville and Andersonville, ex. Nov. 20, '64, m. o. Jan., '65.

l, '64, com. Lt.-Col., rn. o. as major, July 12, '65. died in 1867 at Fostoria, Ohio, from injuries received in a railroad accident during the war.

The roster and record of Perrysburg soldiers are founded on muster rolls and private documents in possession of Hiram Charles, sundry military notices in the Perrysburg Journal, and memories of several veterans. The lists were submitted to Messrs. Hayes, Kingsbury, ct a/., of Perrysburg; LaFarree, Merry, Evers, Yeager and Finkbeiner, of Bowling Green; J. W. Brownsberger, of Weston, and others; and to the names thus obtained the records of service were added from the Adjutant-General's reports.

H. P. Averill, Edward Mills, Alfred Ratcliff, Peter McMahon, Sr., 2nd U. S. Infantry, and Dennis McConnell, of the Mexican war; Joseph Chappel, Joseph Badger. Thomas Beaver, H. Hall, T. R. McKnight, John Moore, Orlin Randall, and Wm. Soles, of the War of 1812 ; John Hall, of the Revolutionary war.

The following roster of Plain township was compiled by Prof. J. N. Baker, being the only one of the rosters, furnished by township military committees, arranged alphabetically with complete record, and one of the two complete records furnished to the writer. Like other rosters, it was submitted to Mr. C. W. Evers, and resubmitted by him to veterans of Plain.

John A. Wilson, C, 21, en. Aug., '61, awarded Medal of Honor by War Dept., under resolution of Congress, approved July 12, '62, for special services on Mitchell's raid.

Mark Wood, C, 21, en. Aug., '61, app. Cor., pro. 2nd Lieut. Co. F, Feb. 26, '64, awarded Medal of Honor by War Dept., under resolution of Congress, approved July 12, '62, for special services under Mitchell.

The names of the majority of this list were obtained from veterans, now residing in Portage village and Portage township. In searching the records, other names were added, and the roster and record submitted in typescript to Messrs. Clough, Mears, Norris, Dienst and John Johnston for correction and revision.

E. Price Clough, C, 21, cn. Aug., '61, cap. at battle of Stone River, Tenn., confined in prison, par. twenty-two days later and was sent to Annapolis, Md., rejoined the Co. in July, '63, apt'd. Corpl. April 1, '65, m. o. with Company July 25, '65. Veteran.

The roster of the soldiers, who went from Ross township into the service during the Civil war, is based on a list of names obtained from Isaac Rideout and other veterans of the township. At the breaking out of, and during, the war, the narrow strip of territory now comprising the township was only thinly settled, and necessarily furnished but few soldiers.

Ross township lying adjacent to the city of Toledo, a number of the soldiers of that part of Lucas county, who resided close to Ross, were in a manner of the Ross neighborhood. Some of them came into Ross just after the close of the war, among them:

Frank H. Venia (came in '67), 18th Regt., lT. S. regulars, en. Aug. 27, '62, taken prisoner at Jonesboro, Ga., Sept., '64, and confined in Rebel prison at Andersonville, Ga., dis. Aug. 27, '65.

This roster is based on lists made by the writer at Luckey and Stony Ridge. The records were added, and all submitted, in typescript, to the leading veterans of the township, such as Messrs. Furry, Smith, Seaman and Hathaway.

Many soldiers from other townships of Wood county, such as S. P. Hathaway, and from other counties of Ohio and the Eastern States, have settled here since the close of the war, while many of those who went out from Troy in 1861-65 are now absent.

The roster and record are based upon a list of names, compiled by C. C. Gundy, E. B. Beverstock and other soldiers, with additional names discovered by C. W. Evers. To the two lists, the names of the Washington Minute Men, or "Squirrel Hunters," were added, and then a search made for the records of each man in the Adjutant-General's reports. Capts. Thomas ! Mawer and Luther Black were subsequently consulted, and made corrections.

* T. \V. Custer was a brother of Gen. Custer.^ The Custer family resided for a time on a farm in Wood county, and It is stated by Capt. Mawer, of Washington township, that the General, then a single man, was a qualified voter of Washington township. He was home on a furlough during the family's residence here.

April 15, 1861, and the close of the war of the Rebellion, were compiled by Capt. S. S. Canfield, Robert Davidson, R. H. Householder and other veterans of Scotch Ridge. To their work a few additions were made.

The names of Weston township soldiers who enlisted and served in the war of the Rebellion, with their records, are given in the following roster, prepared by Dr. Hill and other veterans, and corrected by Dr. W. W. Hill, J. E. Clark, Carlo Call, J. W. Brownsberger and B. F. Kerr. The line dividing the new township of Grand Rapids has been observed in distributing the names; so that only men who enlisted from within the present township boundaries find mention here.

Joseph Gingery, K, 111, Aug., '62, killed at Franklin, Tenn. Abraham Gingery, H, 21, Sept., '61, killed May 1, '62, in action at Pulaski, Tenn.

Local Military Affairs

District Committees. - The Congressional Military Committee appointed, in October, i86i, the following named citizens a Military Committee for Wood county: Henry H. Dodge and George

Knoll, of Perrysburg; Thomas Gorrill, of Stony Ridge; James Pember, of Wocjdville; James M. Bronson, of Eagleville, and John C. Wooster, of Bowling Green. George Laskey signed the notice as chairman of the Military Committee of this county.

The Washington Minute Men , or "Squirrel Hunters," left Tontogany in September, 1862, \ for the defense of Cincinnati. Among them were Caleb North, in his seventy-sixth year, and Archibald McComb, in his sixty-fifth year, while the others are named in the roster of Washington soldiers.

A n Unlucky Day. - The accident of September 22, 1863, on the Dayton & Michigan railroad, resulted in the instant death of John Scott and William Philo, of Webster township, and serious injury to twenty-four others, named in the rosters of Webster and Freedom. Nearly all were residents of Webster township, en route to the militia encampment at Toledo. The accident was caused by a collision, in which the two locomotives were reduced to debris, and the first car of the military train to splinters.

A cts of the Commissioners. - The Commissioners,on June 7, 1862, having ascertained the number of soldiers' families in each township, appointed an agent for each township, and apportioned the relief fund according to the number requiring aid, as shown in the following statement: Perrysburg

Sargent; Troy, 5 - $65, Thomas Gorrill; and Henry, not credited. This was the first notice taken of the war by the commissioners, so far as records show. On June 1, 1863, there were $2,716 paid to 388 soldiers' families. On January 7, 1 864, the auditor was ordered to pay out of the military bounty fund, created that day, the sum of $100, with interest, to each volunteer, who enlisted in the military service of the United States, under the last call of the President. The payment was made under the belief that the Legislature would give the commissioners authority to levy a special tax to meet the outlay. In March, 1864, orders for $2,737 were issued against the Relief Fund; in June, 1864, $1,823; 'n June, 1865, $4,134; in September, $8,206; in March, 1866, $7,000; and in June, 1866, $7,100. The total is only a fraction of the moneys expended for war purposes, but is enough to show what the corporation or county did.

Conclusion

Ohio furnished twenty three regiments of three-months' troops; 117 infantry regiments of three-years' troops; twenty-seven infantry regiments of one-year troops; two infantry regiments of six-months' troops; three infantry regiments of three-months' troops; forty-three infantry regiments of 100-days' troops; thirteen cavalry regiments of three-years' troops; three artillery regiments of three-years' troops; and twenty -six independent batteries of three-years' troops, or about one-eighth of the 2,688,523 men who enlisted in the Federal service from April, 1861, to August 20, 1866. Of the Ohio troops, 24.591 never returned; 6, 536 were killed in battle; 4,674 died of wounds, 13,354 died of disease in hospitals; while 872 officers were killed, or died of wounds or disease. Wood county's losses were heavy, as shown in the foregoing records, but by immigration since the war, the number of soldiers residing here has been kept near 50 per centum of the number who enlisted from her townships and villages.

From the auditor's documents, based on the assessors' returns for 1895, the number (1,297) of veterans now residing within the county's boundaries, is taken: Liberty township, 56;

Freedom, 37; Troy, 22; Perrysburg- south precinct, 61; Perrysburg- -north precinct, 48; Webster, 27; Jackson, 44; North Baltimore - north, 48; North Baltimore - south, 47; Hammansburg, 9; Bloom. - Cygnet precinct, 10; Bloom - Jerry City precinct, 19; Bloomdale, 28; Bairdstown, 17; Montgomery - Bradner precinct, 39; Freeport, 69;

I north precinct, 36; Perry - south precinct, 17; Portage - east precinct, 1 1 ; Portage - Portage precinct, 19; Ross, 14; Washington, 44; and Weston, 78.

The soldiers who settled here since the close of the war equal, if they do not exceed, the number who enlisted here, and who now reside where they heard the first call to arms.

Chapter Xix

Early Missionaries on the Maumee - Various Missions - Names and Dates ok Ministers ok the Gospel who performed the Marriage Ceremony from 1880 to 1852 - Conclusion.

THE establishment of a colony and fort at Detroit, July 21, 1701, when Pere Nicholas Bernardine Constantine Delhalle was commissioned chaplain, and Pere Francis Valiant du Gueslis, missionary to the Miamis and other Indians of Michigan, may be reasonably considered the introduction of Christianity along the western shore of Lake Erie. These priests as well as their successors, and, before them, the missionaries of the first Detroit colony, knew the inhabitants of the Miami and Huron countries down to 1 744, when it was written of the Ohio shore of Lake Erie - "All this side of Lake Erie is but little known. " The coming of Englishspeaking traders may be said to have ended the influence of the missionaries over the savages, and to have changed their character in toto. About the year 1791, Rev. Edmund Burke (a cousin of the British statesman of the same name), an Irish priest, who was acting as pro- j lessor in the Seminary of Quebec, saw with regret that no steps had been taken to revive the missions in the western country, which the hostility of the House of Bourbon to the Societ}' of Jesus had annihilated. By the aid of Archbishop Troy, of Dublin, Ireland, he called the attention of the Sacred Congregation to the wretched condition of the country on the Great Lakes. The British authorities had at first made it a positive point that the Jesuit Fathers were not to continue the Indian missions. Father Burke was favorably known, and, with the concurrence of the English Governor, he was selected by Bishop Hubert to proceed to the West, and carry out the views of the Propaganda. Before the close of the jear, he was officiating at Raisin River, which he had been j specially commissioned to attend. There, he j dedicated the church of St. Anthony of Padua.

! Meanwhile, Wayne's victories over the Miamis had caused the Indians to waver in their adherence to England. Father Burke then proceeded to Fort Miami, a post erected by the British on the northwestern bank of the Maumee river, opposite the site of Perrysburg. His house was on the bank of the river, within a few miles of the fort. There he began to fit himself to ! direct the Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottawatamies, by a study of their language - the English Government, which maintained the missionary, giving him the distribution of provisions to these tribes. In 1795 he removed to Detroit, leaving to others the care of the few Christian natives on the Maumee.

Father Gabriel Richard may be called the successor of Father Burke, as pastor of the parish of Detroit. From the close of the Eighteenth century to 1832 he visited throughout the great parish, which was co-extensive with original Wayne county.

The work of the Protestant missionaries on the Maumee may be said to have begun in 1801 or 1802, when Rev. D. Bacon, agent for the Connecticut Missionary Society, arrived, and hired William Dragoo as his interpreter. On coming to Maumee he saw, near the mouth of the river, a number of drunken Indians, among whom was Little Otter, the principal chief. Next day. May 5, accompanied by Dragoo, he proceeded from Fort Miami to Fort Industry, met the semi- drunken head chief, and, obtaining a promise from him to assemble the tribe, returned to the Indian dancing ground; but the tribe was not convened until May 14, when Mr. Bacon addressed them. His logic, however, made little impression, the Indians objecting that his religion was not good for them; that it would bring on them the same tribulations suffered by the Indians who had embraced the Moravianism of Heckewelder, and that it was useless to their nomadic life. The missionary furnished them as much tobacco as they could smoke, with the object of winning their attention, and did succeed in this object, but did not succeed in having them think exactly like he did. On May 15 Little Otter replied to Mr. Bacon in the following style:

"Our white brothers, when they make speeches, are very lengthy, but it is not so with your red brothers. When you were talking you kept looking up, and said a great deal to us about the Great Spirit. We understand that you want us to raise plenty of corn and wheat, horses and cattle, and all other things and creatures that you raise, and that you want us to live like the people that wear hats. Now, brother, if you and your friends wish to make us happy, why don't you stop your people from settling so near us. If you do this we might have game enough, and do very well. We know what you say about the whisky white people make is very true. Indians don't know how to make it, and have nothing to make it of. If your people did not make it and bring it to 11s we would not have it. Brother, since it is so, why do you not stop your people from bringing it among us ? We understand that you were sent out to visit the Indians in order to find out their minds about the Great Spirit. You have seen but few Indians yet. If you were to go and see them all, it would take you two or three years. We think you had better go and talk with them all and see what they think of it, and if they will agree to have such as you among them, we will also agree. This is all the red brothers have to say to you."

Mr. Bacon left the doomed tribe on June 2, 1802, cn route to Mackinaw, where he arrived June 29. His nephew, who came here with him, hired a canoe, and, accompanied by an Indian, set out for Massachusetts via the lakes and the St. Lawrence river, his taste for adventure in the West being fully satisfied.

Rev. Joseph Badger, a missionary, sent to Ohio by the Connecticut Missionary Society, arrived below the Rapids of the Maumee September 11, 1801, and under that date made the following entry in his journal: " Rode through the

Black Swamp to the Shawanee village on the Maumee. George, our Indian boy, took us to the island, just below the rapids, to see his aunt. Soon after we were seated we were presented with a bowl of boiled corn, buttered with bear's grease. As the corn was presented, the old woman said: * Friends, eat - it is good; it is such

This was a pleasing reception to the traveler, more in keeping with the traditions of the Indian before tobacco took the place of kinnikinnick, and whisky that of water. It was an experi- | ence which won for the place the admiration of the missionary at the time, and his citizenship in the neighborhood subsequently. Very different was that accorded Rev. Mr. Bacon, who came on , a similar errand in May, 1802, and left the Indian town forever in June of the same year.

! his wife and son; Rev. Alvin Coe and wife; Isaac | Van Tassel and wife; Leander Sackett (the mis- | sion farmer) and wife; John McPherrin, the car- ! penter; Straight, the blacksmith; Sabina Stevens - and Hannah Riggs. The farm was situated nine j miles above Fort Meigs, being the east ^ of southwest J of the section, at the mouth of the Tontogany. The island opposite the farm, one and one-half miles long, and about a half mile wide, was also the property of the Missionary Society. When the missionaries arrived at their destina- | tion the body of a hewn-log house, 16 x 60 feet.

The few necessaries which the Mission folks : brought with them were almost invaluable to the settlement. For years the only saddle in the settlement was one owned by Mr. Van Tassel. He had also been provided by the Presbytery with a store of medicines, a thumb lance for bleed- I ing, and a turn-key for tooth pulling, and if any ! were sick they got either bleeding or a dose of Moffett's pills, and, if the case were bad, senna and salts. It is not surprising that the Indians did not like all the regulations of civilized life, for they too, when sick, had to be treated at times by white medicine men. The regular work for which the persons named were designed, commenced November 26, 1822; but it was not until later in the winter that Mrs. Sackett opened the school for Indian children, and taught the red urchins for a few weeks, when she retired from that department of the work. Mrs. Lucia B. Van- ; Tassel taught there fora year, and was followed by other teachers who saw a class of half a dozen increased to thirty out of fifty enrolled pupils. D. W. H. Howard, himself a pupil, speaking of the enterprise, in 1879, says: "Rev. Isaac Van- Tassel was the principal of the Mission. Mr. Sackett and Rev. Mr. Coe were assistants, with their wives and several maiden ladies as teachers. These, together with a few mechanics and laborers, formed the community of white people who established and carried forward the enterprise successfully for many years; in fact sustained it in its work of christianizing and civilizing the Indians until the tribes were moved to Missouri and Kansas." Mrs. Van Tassel, writing in 1872, tells us that these children were fed and clothed, and that, as a result of the kindnesses and teachings they received, no less than thirty young savages were led into Christianity and died in the faith. In 1826 the Mission was taken in charge by the American Board of Foreign Missions, and Mr. Van Tassel was appointed superintendent. In 1834 the Mission was abandoned, and Mr. Van- Tassel, his wife and wards (Alvin Coe, an Indian boy; Sophia Tibault, called Teboo, a three-quarter blood, and Clarissa Moulton, a half blood) moved to a point on the prairie, two miles west of Bowling Green. While cn route from Grand Rapids to his home, March 2, 1849, he was thrown from his horse and killed. Mr. Badger, of whom mention is made in other pages, returned to Wood county in 1835, and died here in 1846, aged eighty-nine years

From the records of Wood county the following names and dates are taken, showing the names of ministers of the Gospel, who performed the marriage ceremony here from 1830 to 1852: Rev. Isaac Hill, a preacher, was authorized to perform the marriage ceremony here May 4, 1830; Rev. Jacob Crum, May 26, 1831; Rev. Isaac Van Tassel, 1833: Rev. Elijah H. Pitcher, 1833; Rev. Elnathan C. Gavitt, 1833; Rev. William Sprague, 1833; Elam Day, 1834; Rev. John Crom, 1834; Rev. William T. Tracy, 1834; Jacob Martin, 1834; Rev. Stephen I. Bradstreet, Presbyterian, 1835; Rev. Leonard B. Gurley, Methodist, 1835; Rev. Daniel B. Biddlecone, Universalist, 1835; Rev. Daniel P. Ketchem, Methodist, 1835; Samuel Bomgardner, of the Evangelical Society, 1835; Rev. L. L. Sadler, Universalist, 1837; Rev. Henry Whiteman, 1836; Rev. Peter Sharp, 1836; Rev. Peter Carobaine, of the Catholic Church (of Hamilton county, <*)hio), 1837; Rev. Wesley Brock, Methodist, 1837; Rev. Stephen Lillybridge, of the United Brethren in Christ, 1837; Rev. John Janes, Methodist, 1838; Rev. Benjamin Woodbury (came j year, while a few made their homes here for many years. To-day the townships (except Ross) and many of the villages have their churches, and every form of religious belief has its adherents here, as may be learned from the sketches of churches given in the local chapters.

Chapter Xx

Early Schools and Teachers in Wood County - School Taxes and Laws - School Examiners - Important Meeting at Peruysburg. 1887 - School Improvement Association -

IN the reminiscenses of Mrs. Amelia W. Perrin, given in the history of Perrysburg township, reference is made to first schools and teachers in Wood county. The chapters devoted to township history contain many sketches of early schools and school teachers. The first recognition of schools by the commissioners dates back to June, 1826, when half a mill on the dollar was ordered to be levied for school purposes, under the Act of 1825. In 1827, this levy was continued; but, in 1828, 1829, 1830 and 1831, the commissioners ignored the tax. To compensate for this, a one-mill tax was levied iu 1832, being one-fourth of a mill more than the new Common-School Law demanded, but, during the following few years, nothing whatever was done toward levying a school tax. On June 13, 1835, School Section 16, Tp. 3, Twelve- Mile Reservation, was ordered to be appraised, and a one-fourth-mill tax, in addition to the Statute three-fourth-mill tax, ordered to be levied for schools. In March, 1836, Montgomery township was ordered to elect school trustees. In 1837, the school levy was placed at one and one-fourth mills, and, in 1839, it was increased to two mills, under the revise of School Law of 1838. The product of these levies was small indeed, but sufficient to meet the demands made by the school interests. The value of the school sections was not then thoroughly understood, and in the sale of many of them the people and commissioners made a mistake, which they realized before many years. The Akron School Law was adopted in 1850, and in 1873 all the laws bearing on the public schools were consolidated.

appointed the following named school examiners: Elijah Huntington, Horatio Conant, Isaac Van- Tassel, Galon B. Abel, Moses P. Morgan and David Smith. In October, 1834, Jessup W. Scott, Elijah Huntington, Horatio Conant, Oscar White and Galon B. Abel were appointed; and, in October, 1835, Benjamin Olney and Henry Bennett took the places of Oscar White and Horatio Conant. In 1847 James W. Ross, Elijah Huntington and Hiram Davis were appointed school examiners. In 1851 James W. Ross, whose term expired, was re-appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the removal of Rev. Mr. Jewett. This system of appointment continues in force under the school laws, as amended, which vests the appointing power in the Probate Court.

To November 17, 1837, we must first look for any marked interest in the system of public education. On that day a meeting was held at Perrysburg, over which S. R. Austin presided, with P. H. Crowell, secretary. The object was to consider means for improving the system and elevating the standard of the teachers. John C. Spink, Elijah Huntington and Henry Darling were appointed a committee to nominate officers for this School Improvement Association, and their nominations being accepted. Dr. Horatio Conant (president), John Evans (vice-president), Hazael Strong (of Napoleon), Jessup W. Scott (of Miami), Andrew Coffinberry (of Perrysburg), and Pierre M. Irving (of Toledo) (district vicepresidents), S. R. Austin (secretary) and John Webb (treasurer) were declared to be the officers. The graded or union school of Maumee, taught* by Francis Hollenbeck, was established five years later; then one at Perrysburg; next one at Waterville, and a fourth school at Toledo,

The efforts of this association were directed to the organization of districts, and not without effect; for, by reference to the chapter on the Transactions of the Commissioners, it will be seen that the school question was taken up enthusiastically by the people of the several townships. In the " forties" the teachers' institutes and teachers' associations began to take the place of the old School Improvement Association, and through the influence of their meetings the character of the teachers was changed within a few years, and some measure of progress was observed. Female instructors took the place of male pedagogues; mathematics made way for simple addition, subtraction and division; and " readin', ritin' and 'rithmetick '' were cultivated. Much remained to be done, but the people accomplished the work, and brought the school house within reasonable distance of every home. Early in the "fifties" the State extended a system of aid by the establishment of school libraries throughout the county, and the supply of school apparatus. The Wood County School Library received, from the State, books and school apparatus valued at $447.28 during the year ending December 1, 1855. There were thirteen volumes of valuable and interesting books sent January 12, 1855; with which consignment were sixty-four copies of Barnard's school architecture, and one copy each of several well-known authors; also in May, 1855, came another consignment. The great majority of the books were useful and authentic, the minority otherwise. The statistics for the year ending November 15, 1877, show that the number of children between the ages of six and twentyone years, was 11,217. The State received from this county $9,265.43, and paid it $16,080. In 1878 and 1879, marked advances were made in school government, buildings, furniture, and even in the character and manner of teachers.

The number of school houses in this county' at the close of the school year, 1879-80, was 180, or 164 townships, and sixteen separate district houses, while the value of property was $173, 550. The numberof school rooms was 208, and of teachers, 2 1 2 - the numberof different teachersemployed being no less than 357 - 146 male and 21 1 females. The average pay was $33 for the former and $23 for the latter in the primary schools throughout the townships, $28 and $27 respectively in the separate districts for primary teachers, and $57 and $33 respectively for high-school teachers. The average duration of school in the townships was twenty-seven weeks, and, in the separate districts, thirty-two weeks per annum. Wood county received from the State common-school fund $17,230.50 and contributed $9,912.71 to that fund, while the county's expenditure for school purposes amounted to $83, 1 39.04, of which the sum of $47,792.83 was paid to teachers. The receipts of school moneys from all sources amounted to $127,393.41. In 1880, there were 5,960 male and 5,453 female children between the ages of six and twenty-one years, or a total of 11,413, in Wood county, exclusive of twentyone colored boys and twenty-five colored girls, which, added, bring the total up to 11,459. Of all, there were 2,638 between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one years, while the total was 46 per centum of the population in 1880.

The village and special school districts, in 1890. comprised Bloomdale, $770.62; Bowling Green, $28,860.06; Bradner, $799.34; Grand Rapids. $3,349. 56; Haskins, $2,123.91; Millbury, $927.13; Milton Center, $847.24; North Baltimore, $4,705.25; Pemberville. $3,801.49; Perrysburg, $5,367. 19; Portage, $758.42; Prairie Depot, $1,525.46; Tontogany, $1,048.70; West Millgrove, $863.34; and Weston, $2,362.18. In 1890, there were 180 elementary schools in the township districts, with twenty-one elementary schools and one high school in the separate districts, or 202 school buildings in the whole county, valued at $319,450. In the 202 buildings were 257 rooms, or 188 rooms in the township, and sixty-nine in the separate districts, employing 308 teachers in the township, and eighty one in the separate district schools - or 133 male and 256 female teachers.

The average pay of teachers in the township in 1890, was $38 for males and $26 for females, and in the separate districts, $44 and $30 respectively; while in the high schools the salaries averaged $52 for male, and $46 for female teachers. In the townships the average duration of school was twenty-nine weeks, and in the separate districts, thirty-six weeks. The expenditures for the year amounted to $119. 103. 18, and the revenue (including a balance from 1889, of $79,068.64), $20,354.60, from State tax; $5,049.24 from the irreducible school fund; $82,439.90 from local school and school-house tax, and $987.69 from fines, licenses, etc. - $187,900.07. The sum paid teachers was $67,025.02, of which $6,701 w'as paid high-school teachers. The number of pupils enrolled was 7,242 boys and 6,273 girls, of whom 3,417 were between the ages of 16 and 21 years. The average daily attendance was 7,499.

The statistics for the year ending August 31, 1894, show that Wood county possessed 183 elementary schools in the townships, with 26 elementary schools and one high school in the separate districts, or 2 to schools valued at $410,470. There were 192 rooms in the township buildings, and 93 in the separate district buildings, or a total of 285 rooms in which 287 teachers were employed. The number of different teachers was 335, or 139 males and 196 females. ] Of the whole number, 229 were employed for the whole year. The average salary in the township was $36 for males and $30 for females; while I in the separate districts the respective averages | were $50 and $33, and, in the high school, $60. The average duration cf school in the township was 31 weeks and, in the separate districts, 33 weeks. In 1893-4, the average school tax levy in the township was 4.5 mills, and in 1894-95, 4.6 mills; while in the separate districts, it was 1 1.7 mills in the first, and 12. 1 mills in 1894-5. The school moneys received during the year amounted to $256,870.68, of which the sum of $180,661.90 was expended, including $89, 719. 71 paid to the teachers.

The number of children enrolled in the township was 7, 192, or 3,756 boys and 3,436 girls, while in the separate districts there were 4,479 enrolled, or 1,729 boys and 1,864 girls in the elementary schools, and 415 boys and 471 girls in the high school - the total of all children enrolled being 1 1,671, including 826 re-enrollments. The daily attendance was estimated at 8,236, while the youth entitled to attend school numbered 14,073, or 7,400 boys and 6,673 grirls. of whom 3.406 were between the ages of 16 and 21.

The Teachers' Institute of this county appears to have been a well-organized body as early as May 5, 1851, when the following named "practical teachers " petitioned the commissioners to appropriate moneys for defraying the expenses ; of a meeting to be held at Perrysburg in September of that year: A. I). Wright, George Kimberlin, Edward Olney, Adeliza Olney, Mary E. Olney, A. P. Donaldson, John W. Woodbury, Nathan W. Minton, A. if. Poe, Thomas E. Jackman, John Foster. Henry Chollette, Elijah Elliott, Laurenza Brown, Mary Blinn, Helen Norton, Nancy A. Carothers, Mary A. Drake, D. K. Hollenbeck, Helen Earll, Elsie Birdsal, Romain Bruce, Ann Vass, Ann E. Bruce, Martha J. Drake, Maria Carr, Maria Bamber, Hellen S. Perrin, Julia Irwin, Celia L. Minton, Sarah S. Minton, Eliza Ruder, Louisa Lowell, Etneline Blinn, Celia Keyes, Emily Norton, Mary M. Shutts, Sophia A. Barlow, Caroline Wright and Hamilton Pratt. The petition was endorsed June 1, 1851, by the school examiners, E. Huntington. I. N. Newton and A. W. Jewett, who recommended an appropriation of $40. It may i be said that the commissioners, in granting a small sum, considered such a meeting necessary, as the petitioners with, perhaps, one or two exceptions scarcely understood the first principles of the profession. The meeting was held in September, but a convention of the teachers of northwestern Ohio, held- at Toledo the same month, overshadowed that at Perrysburg, so thoroughly that, even the local papers said but little on the subject of the Wood county meeting. The Institute of 1853, held at Maumee and Perrysburg, was attended by thirty-seven Wood county teachers. The periodical assemblages of teachers, from 1852 to 1857, partook of the social rather than of the educational character, but there can be little doubt of their influence in making many of the crude instructors better teachers.

The records of the Teachers' Institute placed at the disposal of the writer by Prof. Van Tassel, date back to August 2, 1867, when the annual meeting was held at the Presbyterian church. Bowling Green. The officers for that year were Capt. S. S. Canfield, president; William W. Callihan, Nellie Brown and Jane Gorrill, vicepresidents; C. C. Layman, secretary; Helen G. Robins, treasurer; D» A. Avery, John H. Whitehead and Guy C. Nearing, executive committee. Joseph Clarke, Eliza Love, Ruth Haynes, and John Clarke, the secretary, were among the officers chosen in 1868, but C. T. Pope was chosen temporary secretary in April of that year. In 1869 and 1870, Messrs. S. S. Canfield and John Clarke were elected president and secretary, respectively. In November, 1870, D. A. Avery was elected president, and C. W. Munson, secretary. In November, 1871, F. V. Meagley was elected secretary, and Joseph W. Kerr, treasurer. At this time the constitution of the Institute was brought to light and copied by Secretary Meagley. Its preamble and nine articles were signed by the following named members: William R.

Ebersole, S. G. Ebersole, C. W. St. John, Maggie Dunapace, Elam Norris, David J. Cargo, Thomas N. Barkdull, Mary O. Pope, Isaac N. Van Tassel, S. S. Long, Emma Whitaker, Emma Loomis, Sarah Brown, Thomas Burns, J. D. Anderson, Geoige W. Callin, Ann E. Poe, George F. Canfield, G. A. Gwinner, Mertie Clark, Lewis Edgar, J. F. Huffman, F. E. Palmer, Henry Wise, Ella Fowler, John Vetter, Helen G. Robins, W. Wright, E. T. Hays, F. J. Oblinger, J. S. Benschoter, E. D. Moffett, Mattie Caldwell, Lucinda Caldwell, Mary Lockhart, Clara Lockhart, Ida Gould, Mattie Jackson, Joseph Clark, Rezin Jewell, S. P. Brightley, Rose Call, Maggie M. Vass. Carrie K. Thompson, Carrie S. Fowler, A. R. Knapp, James A. Yates, Emma Frederic, Maggie Muir. Fanny Muir, Anna Forrest, Helen Hitchpock, Libbie D. Hecox, A. D. Newell, George F. Cowden, Lucy E. Powers, Marian Muir, Arcena Cowden, Myron LeGalley, Frank W. Dunn, George F. Wright, Amelia Canfield, Mary Davidson, Alvina E. McQuinn, P. W. Minton, Lucy A. Cass, Albert Brisbin, John A. Shannon, Charles W. Evers, Sophie G. Knoll, Maria Cronker, R. M. Adams, H. M. Canfield, J. H. Callin, W. A. Benschoter, Mattie Patterson, Flora J. Donaldson, Albert D. Loe, W. W. Brim, F. P. Minton, Z. L. Tribble, M. F. Cowdery, C. P. Taylor, Dudley A. Avery, D. C. Albaugh, John W. Brownsberger, William Zimmerman, Carrie E. Cellars, Jennie E. Enos, Hattie M. Noyes, Delia M. Younker, and Nancy J. Parker., All the teachers of the county did not sign the constitution at that time, but at subsequent meetings, prior to the close of 1871, many became members.

elected secretary, and James E. Kerr, president. In 1872, Helen M. Van.Tassel and C. P. Taylor held the respective offices; in 1873, Mrs. E. E. Barton and James E. Kerr; in 1874, Mrs. Barton and Guy C. Nearing; in 1875, Helen M. Van Tassel and S. S. Canfield; in 1876, Kittie M. Smith and S. S. Canfield; in 1877, A. R. Knapp 'and James E. Kerr; in 1878, A. Brisbin and J. E. Kerr; in 1879, C. S. St. John and R. M. Donnelly; in 1880, 1881 and 1882, Kate Brown and R. M. Donnelly, and in 1883, Samuel Given and R. M. Donnelly. The second record book of the Institute closed November 19, 1883, with a list of 133 members (of whom only 54 were male teachers) enrolled by the secretary. A. L, Muir. Among the names are but few of those which appear in a former page, as signers of the constitution. Many old Wood county names, however, are given, showing that the interest in the objects of the Institute grew with its age. George H. Withey was elected president in August, 1884, with A. L. Muir, secretary. J. P. Baker won the first prize for spelling, and A. L. Muir and Lola Shropfer, the second prizes. The same officers were re-elected in 1885, while in 1886 the secretary was re-elected, with E. A. Ballmer, president. The presidents since that year are named as follows: I. N. Van Tassel!. 1887 and 1888; W. H. Richardson, 1889; J. C. Solether, 1890; W. F. Ries, 1891 and 1892; W. M. Waltermire, 1893; E. A. Ballmer. 1894-5, and J. N. Baker, 1 895-96. The secretaries, since the close of Mr. Muir's last term, have been Hattie Gould, 1887; Alice Matthews, 1888 and 1889; Alta De- Riar, 1890 and 1891; Katie Wetzel, 1893 and 1894; Anna Laney, 1894-95, and Eva Peugh, 1895-96.

Chapter Xxi

ON May 7, 1864, was organized, at Toledo, the Maumee \ 'alley Pioneers Association, with Peter Navarre, president; Dr. Horatio Conant, Nathaniel B. Blinn and Dr. Oscar White, vice-presidents; Henry Bennett, recording secretary ; J. Austin Scott, corresponding secretary; James M. Comstock, treasurer; Emery D. Potter, Sr., Samuel B. Scott and

1 Noah A. Whitney, trustees. In 1865 Mavor j Brigham took the place of Trustee Potter, and Brice Hilton that of Dr. White, these being the only official changes. At that time county historians were appointed, Willard V. Way being ; named for Wood county. In i860, John E.

Brigham, with Francis L. Nichols, trustees; Henry Bennett, recorder; Willard V. Way, correspondent, and Janies M. Comstock, treasurer. In 1867, John E. Hunt, Willard V. Way and W. C. Holgate were elected vice-presidents; Charles T. Wales, recorder, and John J. Minor, correspcfndent, who, with Trustees Whitney, Brigham and Bennett, were the officers of the society until 1874, when John E. Hunt was elected president, vice Peter Navarre (deceased); Dr. E. D. Peck, Willard Trowbridge and Henry Bennett, vicepresidents; Mavor Brigham, Chauncy D. Woodruff and Willard V. Way, trustees, and Charles T. Wales, secretary and treasurer. In 1877, Asher Cook was chosen a vice-president, and Thomas Dunlap, secretary, and in 1878 Thomas H. Learning succeeded John E. Hunt (deceased) as president. In 1 887 William B. Gunn was president and Ruel Alden, secretary of the association.

The Pioneer and Historical Association was in the zenith of its usefulness in August, 1884, %vhen Capt. L. Black was secretary, with Robert Fenton, C. W. Evers, Daniel Barton, Joel Foote and Asher Cook, members of the executive committee, and Dr. A. J. Manville, treasurer. The oldest citizen of this county, W. H. Ewing, of Plain township, was president.

The Maumee l 'alley Monumental Association was incorporated July 28, 1885, and organized August 7, that year, w'ith D. W. H. Howard, president; Asher Cook, vice-president; Gen. John C. Lee, secretary, and Foster R. Warren, treasurer. Changes were made in the constitution, and August 25, 1885, M. R. Waite, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, was elected president; D. W. H. Howard, Richard Mott, and Asher Cook, vice-presidents; while the secretary and treasurer of the first organization were re-elected. In 1887 the president and secretary were re-elected; R. B. Mitchell was chosen treasurer, and R. C. Lemmon, D. W. H. Howard and S. H. Cately, vice-presidents. Among the residents of Wood county who were members of this association, may be named: Asher Cook,

Joel Foote (1829), D. W. H. Day (1851), L. Black, George C. Phelps, R. W. McMahon, J. B. Newton, E. W. Poe, A. W. Adams, J. H. Whitehead, R. M. Donnelly. W. A. Benschcfter, T. C. Beard, M. F. Miles, R. W. Huffman, S. Henderson, G. W. Hill, J. F. Stubbs, F. J. Oblinger, John Ebberly (1848), T. J. Sterling (1830), James O. Troup, M. P. Brewer, George Knaus, George M. Brown, B. L. Abbott, J. V. Culver. J. H. Mitchell, Paul J. Brown, F. H. Thompson, Frank M. Young, H. C. Uhlman, H. G. Strausser, Edwin Tuller and J. Austin Scott. The object of this association was to urge the United States Congress to authorize the building of monuments on the battlefields of the Maumee, and to set off the site of Fort Meigs as a National Park.

Licensed Traders. - Lists of the early traders or merchants, peddlers and tavern-keepers, of Wood county, to whom licenses were granted by the court of common pleas, is here given. Many iliicit dealers in liquor and merchandise were their contemporaries, but of them the record does not speak, except when they were presented to the grand jury as criminals, or to the warden of the penitentiary as convicts.

ver, at Maumee, from May 4, 1820, to May, 1822; Samuel Spafford, in Waynesfield township, in 1820 and 1821, and from 1821 to 1832; Francis Charter, at Orleans of the North, from October,

1820, to May, 1825; Almon Gibbs, at Maumee, from November, 1S20, to May, 1822; Moses Rice, in Auglaize township5 from 1820 to 1824; Charles Gunn, in same township, from October

1821, to 1827; William Vance, at Fort Findlay, from 1822 to 1826; Horatio Conant, at Maumee, from June, 1822, to 1826; Isaac Richardson, in Waynesfield township, from December, 1822, to 1827; Samuel T. Loyd, at Maumee, from May, 1828, to the summer of 1829; Thomas Learning, at Perrysburg, in 1828-1829; William Houser, at Maumee, 1829-30; Antoine LePoint, at Waterville, from April, 1829, to 1832; James Wilkison, at Maumee, from November, 1830, to 1836; John Pray, at Waterville, 1831-33; Guy Nearing, near Miltonville, 1832-33, and in county. Almon Gibbs, who died in 1822, was an Abolitionist in his quiet way, and his death may be credited to the troubles bred by his defence of the negro, Patrick, whom he rescued from neighbors, who wished to carry him South.

The old merchants who were granted licenses were Hunt & Forsyth, at Fort Defiance, licensed in December, 1820 and 1821; William Hollister, Jr., & Co., at Maumee, licensed December 27, 1820, and 1821 ; Antoine LePoint, in Waynesfield township, 1821 to 1827; John and George Knaggs, in Waynesfield township, from March 26, 1821, to May, 1823; Daniel Hubbell, at Port Miami, from May 4, 1823, to 1826; James Wyman, at Fort Defiance, 1822-23; Timothy S. Smith, at Ft. Defiance, 1822-25; Titus B. Palmer, at Orleans, 1821-23; John E. Hunt, at Maumee, 1822- 26; John Hollister & Co. , at Fort Defiance, October, 1823; at Maumee May, 1822, to 1825, when they established a house at Orleans; Robert A. Forsyth, at residence, 1822 to 1827; Almon Reed, at Perrysburg, 1824 to 1826; Daniel Lakin, at Waterville, May, 1827, to 1829; Benjamin H. Kirk, merchant and peddler, 1829-30; Philander Brown, the first grocer, May, 1830; and William H. Sloan, April, 1834, to 1835, when he established a tavern. Sixteen merchants, big and little, held the field of Wood county down to 1835. A few peddlers appeared here from time to time, in the face of the prohibitive license of $50 annually, to share with the merchants in the profits of trade. The first peddlers were William C. Waite, who was here in 1824; Norman Sackett, 1825; John N. Sloan, 1825; Griffith Jones, 1832; Washington Tracey, 1835; John L. Smith, 1835; Smith & Co., 1836, and Almon Case, 1836. When the license was increased from $20 to $50 annually, the peddlers ceased to come here, with rare exceptions, yet the mercantile interests made little or no progress;

Sugar Makers. - The Indians were the purveyors of sugar and honey in the early days, and important customers of the early traders. In the summer of 1862, James L. Gage, writing on Defiance in olden times, made some general references to Wood county of 1824-26. He says: " There were on the Lower Maumee quite a number of mongrel French and Indians, and in the fourteen counties there were more Indians than whites. These savages were mostly a degenerate, drunken remnant of Ottawas and Pottawatamies. There were, however, a few Wyandots and Miamis, who were splendid specimens { of physical man. The sugar consumed in Williams and Wood counties at that time was mostly made by these savages, but it was a most filthy article, in as much as they would boil their game with it, and that, too, I was told, in an undressed condition. They brought this sugar in bark vessels, called "mococks, " holding from thirty to fifty pounds each. They were shaped so as to be carried like a knapsack. They used small brass kettles for evaporation. These Indians also brought in most of the honey that was used. It was always strained, but it was strained through their blankets, which were never washed after straining the honey."

Wolf Scalps. - At the close of 1835 the wolfscalp business was considered deserving of a separate journal, and from November 2, that year, to December 13, 1858, a number of scalps were returned for bounty. Ke Corngosh, Missaukee, Aausk, Waseon, Pakee, Johnson Quson, Osauge, hunted here in 1835-37, earning $29.75, the bounty being $4.25 a scalp. That they were the ordinary, lazy, semi-civilized species of red men may be conceived, for they permitted many of the old settlers to excell them in the chase. Such pioneers as Daniel Phenicia, James Jones, John McMahon, Jonathan Hay, James Pember and

George W. Robinson, discounted the savages as hunters, as seen in the disbursement of $161.25 for scalps from November 2, 1832, to the close of October, 1837. In 1838 only $29.75 was paid as bounty; but in 1839, the sum of $68.25 was paid; in 1840, $36.50; in 1841, $70.25; in 1842, $49.25; in 1843, $73- 5°; in 1844, $95.75;^ 1845, $98.50; in 1846, $8o.75;in 1847, $27.75; >n >848, $50.00; in 1849, $59.00, and in 1850, $33.75. From 1851 to 1858, wolves were scarce - only forty-seven scalps being presented to the commissioners, on which a sum of $4.25 was paid for each. The only Indians named in the latter record are James Thomas and Packenon, each of whom presented only one scalp. Michael Myers, who should have been named in 1835, proved a successful wolf hunter in after years. William King received $15.00 for six young wolves; Tobias Wood, $20.00 for eight scalps; while Casper Wyckoff, Dave Burget, John Carter, Orange Howard, Alexander Brown, David Whitney, John Ellsworth, William Sweeney, Samuel Shriner, William Noel, Pierce Mercer and Peter F. Ferciot brought in many scalps as testimonials to their battles with the wolves.

Chapter Xxii

AT Bowling Green, June 9, 1851, was organized the Wood County Agricultural Society (under a call issued by the farmers and mechanics of Middleton township on April 26, 1851), when a constitution of twelve articles and by-laws of five articles were adopted. The committees appointed to collect information were as follows: Perrysburg - S. Jefferson" and

James Hood;* Middleton - Henry Hood* and Henry Sarvis;* Washington - Edwin Tuller and John Bamber;* Weston - A. P. Donaldson and G. E. Guyer; Milton - Daniel Barton and Alvin Clark; Jackson- J. B. Dunn and John Dubbs; Henry - W. W. Wiley and Jackson Wallace; Bloom - Edwin Gorton" and John Russell; Liberty - Lewis H. Cass and John C. Wooster;*

Center - A. B. Bradley and Peter Klopfenstein;* Portage - Joseph Clark and Samuel Johnson; Webster - John Fenton, Jr., and George Kellogg; Troy - H. L. Wood and Thomas Gorrill; Lake - John La Farree and Isaac Allen; Montgomery - Wilson Holcomb and William Chapman; Perry - Samuel Chilcote and J. C>. Willard; Plain - J. W. Norton and Elijah Elliott;* Freedom - James Pember and H. A. Harris. John McMahan* was elected president; W. R. Peck,* vice-president; E. Elliott,* recorder; George Powers*, correspondent, and John Bates,* treasurer. Elijah Elliott presided in 1851, Benjamin Olney,* David Ladd,* Edwin Gorton,* Henry Hood* and John Groves being managers. The signers of the constitution, other than those

A meeting was held July 26, 1851, when it was resolved to hold a fair at Bowling Green. The fair was held October 15 and 16 in a grove north of Wooster, on Church street ; prizes were awarded, and the following named officers were elected: Elijah Elliott, president; W. R.

Peck, vice-president; George Powers and William Hood, secretaries; and John Bates, treasurer. In 1852 a show of farm products was made at Perrysburg, and in 1853 at Bowling Green. The fourth annual fair was held at Portageville, in October, 1854; but owing to the season of cholera preceding, and other causes, the meeting was far from being successful. The fifth annual fair was held at Portageville, in October, 1855; but the attendance was small, as the prevalence of chills, fever and ague militated against success, as they did in 1854. S. W. St. John was chosen president; C. Haskins, vice-president; Lee Moore, treasurer; Elijah Elliott, recorder; S. Johnson, correspondent; John Fay, John Groves, Daniel Newton, George E. Olney and Jeremiah Knowles, managers.

In 1856 and 1857 Bowling Green was the site of the fair, and in the latter year a committee was instructed to locate suitable grounds. Their selection was discussed in July, 1858, when there were five directors for Bowling Green and two for Portageville. On this vote the fair of that year was held at Bowling Green, but the location was so unsatisfactory to many that the friends of Portage organized a separate agricultural society, and made an exhibit there in " Sargeant's Grove " in 1859. In i860 Perrysburg was selected, and the year after the war land was purchased at Tontogany. and permanent fair grounds established there.

The presidents of the society from 1851 to the present time, so far as Secretary Avery can give the names, are written as follows: John Mc- Mahan, 1851; Elijah Elliott, 1852; David Ladd,

The office of secretary has been filled by the following citizens: Elijah Elliott, recording, and George Powers, corresponding, 1851; George Powers and William Hood, 1852; Elijah Elliott and S. Johnson, 1855; Elijah Elliott, A. P. Donaldson, and George Powers, 1857; Samuel Johnson and George Powers, 1858; S. Johnson and Martin Warner, 1859; J. W. Ross, 1863: Martin Warner, 1865; J.O. Avery, 1873; George Powers, 1874 (died during term of office); J. O. Avery, 1874; W. H. Wood, 1875; J. O. Avery, 1878; George S. Kuder, 1887, and J. S. Matthews, 1889.

In February, 1885, steps were taken to consolidate the Wood County Fair Company (which had started a fair at Bowling Green in 1881) and the Agricultural Society. By the terms of the agreement, the consolidated societies hold their fair jointly on the Bowling Green Co.'s grounds, though each, by the terms, retains its charter.

Wood County Fair Association. - The incorporators of this association, who signed the articles May 2, 1881, were Earl W. Merry, John R. Hankey, C. H. Lehman. A. E. Royce, A. J. Manville, J. B. Newton, R. W. McMahan, James the association, as set forth, are the promotion and advancement of agriculture, horticulture, stock-growing and the mechanical and fine arts. On May 6, 1881, the Secretary of State signed the act of incorporation and one of the most successful organizations, known in this county, was launched. Onjulyn, 1881, the following named officers were elected: A. J. Manville, president;

M. P. Brewer, secretary; and Earl W. Merry, treasurer, with T. H. Lawhead, R. W. McMahan. R. S. Lease and J. W. Canary, directors. In November, the deed from Charles and R. W. Gorrill, for the W. \ of the N. E. J of Sec. 24, T. 5, R. 10, except the north 20 acres, was accepted, and an order to pay them $1,500 cash, and a note, at two years, for $2, 500, made on the treasurer of the association. In January, 1882, J. R. Hankey took the place of R. S. Lease on the directory. At this time rules for the government of the society were adopted, and, in March following, a series of by-laws. The president, secretary and treasurer were re-elected in 1883; but, in 1884, R. W. McMahan was elected president, F. A. Baldwin, secretary, and J. D. Bolles, treasurer, and they, with A. E. Royce, Harvey Lawhead, W. M. Tuller and John R. j Hankey, formed the board of directors. In 1885, John W. Canary was elected president, the secretary and treasurer re-elected, and they, with J. B. Newton, G. C. Phelps, Chris Lehman, G. W. Hedges and G. W. Gaghan, formed the directory. The presidents of the association for the last decade are named as follows: J. B.

The Wood County Horticultural Society was organized February 14, 1856, with H. P. Averill, president; Gilbert Beach and Eber Wilson, vicepresidents; J. S. Norton, treasurer; A. M. Thompson, corresponding, and George Powers, recording, secretary. The directors chosen were David Wilkison, P. Mclsaac, John Bates, Wm. Houston, John Robertson, Thomas S. Carman, W. V. Way and Martin Warner. At that time there were no such fruit-growers in northwestern Ohio as G. W. Klopfenstein, and, for the want of such men. the society fell to pieces.

The Wool Growers' Association of Lucas and l Wood counties was organized in February, 1866, but few of Wood county's citizens interested themselves in its objects. R. C. Thompson was elected president; A. P. Read, vice-president; H. Kellogg, treasurer; James W. Ross, secretary; Eber Bradley, James J. Smith and F. R. Warren, directors.

The Wood County Sheep Breeders Association was in existence some years prior to 1885. Thomas Knight, A. E. Royce, J. D. Anderson, Amos Stover, George Knauss, George C. Phelps, William Tuller, Robert Miller, and the secretary, J. B. Newton, were among its active members.

| The third annual meeting was held in June, 1885, when Levi Kramer was elected president; J. Bender, treasurer; and J. B. Newton, secretary.

Bassett, Alexander Pugh, Emanuel Arnold, David Pettys, H. R. Pratt, A. Smith, J. N. Mead, Alva Gillett, S. C. McDonald, Simon G. Long, John Walters, Joel Foote, Abram Bassett, Alexander Brown, Asa Wright, George Laskey, Peter Dull, J. McKee, A. P. Donaldson, William Pratt, Benjamin Olney, Samuel Older, Ebenezer Donaldson, George Kimberlin, Samuel Clymer, Jacob Walters, James T. Martin, Thomas Junkins, William Bassett, and George Hospelhorn. Smith Bassett was president, and H. R. Pratt, secretary, in 1854. Almost twenty years before this Society was organized one existed in Liberty township, the members of which are named in the chapter on that township.

The Patrons of Husbandry organized in 1874, and their second annual reunion was held in August, 1875, when Thomas Mawer, of Washington township, delivered the address, and the Harvest Home Festival was celebrated by 4,000 persons. In August, 1874, the first annual meeting of the Patrons was held at the Bowling Green fair grounds, when less than half that number of people attended. There were then only thirteen Granges in the county, with a membership of 600; while at the second meeting nineteen granges, claiming 1,100 members were represented. The names of several associations are given as follows, beginning with the "Pioneer" of Weston township, which was organized September 18, 1873: Pioneer, of Weston; Custar, of Milton; Enterprise, of Washington; Pleasant Ridge, of Plain and Liberty; North Plain, of Washington and Plain; Sugar Ridge, of Center; Hull's Prairie, of Middleton; Live Oak, of Liberty and Milton; Glenn, of Center and Webster; Bloom, of Bloom; Hammansburg, of Bloom and Henry; Hoytville, of Jackson and Henry; West Creek, of Jackson: Prairie, of Weston; Liberty, of Liberty; Prospect, of Montgomery; Bellville Ridge, of Perrysburg; and Webster, of Webster; all formed the County Grange, of which S. j R. Junkins was then master. The records of a ! few of the granges have been brought to light,

Wood Couxty, Ohio

The County Council Patrons of Husbandry was organized at Pleasant Ridge, March 14, 1 874, with seven granges. E. Brisbin, of Prairie Grange, was elected president, with A. Brisbin, secretary. Guy C. Nearing, C. P. Fox, A. Hampshire, A. B. Abbott, S. R. Junkins, A. Ferguson, A. Rowland, M. Lane and J. Champion were also council officers. This society of agriculturalists is in existence; but the few subordinate councils or granges may be said to be supreme in their lodges.

and even a printing office, were all gathered on I the Fair grounds. The first daily paper of Wood county was printed and sold on the grounds. Its four pages, each 1 3^x io£ inches, were filled with j interesting fair and local news, nearly a column being devoted to the preparations making by ! Sheriff Reid for the execution of Carl Bach.

The Farmers' Institute , organized in 1889, holds an annual meeting for the discussion of subjects relating to the garden and farm. The Fifth Institute was held in December, 1894. In January, 1896, Joseph Gray was elected president; William Hannah, vice-president; Mrs. J. L. Kramer, secretary; J. D. Halsey, treasurer; W. H. Tracy, G. W. Callin, H. C. Strow, J. J. Hopper and Robert Place, executive committee.

Chapter Xxiii

Indian and Pioneer Trails - Early Roads, Bridges, Etc. - The "Mud Pike" - Turn-Pikes - Perrysburg and Findlay Plank Road Company - Ferrymen - Perrysburg Marine - Incidents - Wrecks - Comparisons - Railroads.

THERE are no evidences, such as mounds, extensive burying grounds, or old worn trails, in Wood county, to indicate that there was .ever anything more than a temporary occupation for war, hunting, and, at a later date, for sugar making in some of the maple ridges on or near streams. There was a trail from Tontogany creek through the chain of sand ridges to the Portage river, above the Infirmary building, and another from the waters of Beaver creek to the Portage. These trails were used mostly by the Ottawas, and their adherent bands of other tribes with them at their village on the north side of the Maumee, below Providence, in their journeys to and from the Sandusky river country and the lake about the mouth of Portage creek. A creek or river afforded the Indian an easy way of transporting by canoe his furs and such baggage as he and his squaws possessed, while he could at the same time fish, hunt and trap as he traveled. It may be that it was in this way that the Portage came by its name. On the early maps it is called Portage, or "Carrying" river. Portage, or Portazh, as the French voyagers have it, meaning a carry between two streams or lakes or around an obstruction to navigation in a stream - that is, a place where the boat must be unloaded and the cargo carried across, apd often the boat, if not too heavy, is dragged across. The birch canoe ; of the northern Indians, because of its lightness, was especially adapted to water where carrying places were frequent. There was another trail used on the journey between Detroit and the Ohio river, which crossed at the lower end of the Maumee Rapids and passed through northeastern Wood county, as close to the lake as the marshy land would permit, in the direction of Sandusky Bay, beyond which it branched - one trail leading to the upper Ohio, the other to Chillicothe : and points lower down. These latter trails were, j during subsequent years, much used in war expeditions by both French and English, and by traders and explorers making land journeys south, but { this end of the trail was never popular with the Indians, at least that part of it across the wet lands of Wood.

Hull's Trace and Harrison's Trace are fully described in the chapter on the War of 1812, and references made to the army trails and first roads in the chapters on the Townships.

The early roads, considered by the commissioners of Wood county, included one from the foot of the Maumee Rapids to Bellefontaine - a section of which forms to-day the main street of

Bowling Green. On June 30. 1820, James Carlin, Ephraim L. Learning and Norman L. Freeman were appointed viewers. The cost of laying out and surveying that road is given as follows: Wilson Vance, for two days surveying - $3.50; Norman L. Freeman, two days viewing and one surveying - $3.75; Ephraim H. Learning, three days viewing - $3.00; Samuel H. Ewing, two days carrying chain - $1.50; James Carlin, three days viewing - $3.00; Ezra Kelly, one day marking on the road - 75 cents: Thomas Learning, one day carrying chain - 75 cents; Thomas Mcllrath, one day carrying chain - 75 cents; James H. Slawson, one day carrying chain - 75 cents; Jacob Wilkinson, a day and onehalf chaining - $1 . 1 2\ ; or a total of $18.87.^.

Bonds given by Peter G. Oliver for $2,000 to open the State road from the foot of the Rapids to Fort Findlay, and by Jacob Wilkinson for $50, for viewing a road from Perrysburg to a, point opposite Francis Charter's house, were accepted by the commissioners in 1820. Norman L. Free- , man surveyed that road, and reported fully on his work July 11, when the commissioners declared it to be a public highway. The contractors - Thomas Mcllrath, Francis Charter and Isaac Richardson - did not open lots 1, 2 and 3, of this road according to contract, and, in December, were decidedly at loggerheads with the exacting commissioners;*ior did Peter G. Oliver and A. Spafford escape their vigilance. In February, 1821, the commissioners, themselves, viewed the State and other roads, considered the contracts completed, and settled amicably with the persons named.

The Act of February 2, 1821, providing for a State road from Fort Meigs to " Wapakoneta, " was observed prior to November 21, that year, when John Johnson, of Miami county, and Samuel Marshall, of Shelby, submitted the plat and field notes. Such documents are copied in the back of the pioneer record book of Wood county. The plat and field notes, reported by Almon Gibbs and John Perkins, of the road from the town of Maumee to Fort Defiance, must also be interesting to surveyors and topographers, while the old record book presents several reports on other State and county roads. That old volume is deserving of the best care which lovers of old books, in this old county, can bestow.

A road from the Foot of the Rapids to Learning & Stewart's sawmill, on Swan creek, was authorized in June, 1823, and Francis Charter, David Hull and Horatio Conant were appointed to view and survey it; but their report was not considered until June, 1824, when a road, sixty feet wide, was ordered. At this time a road from Perrysburg to Grand Rapids was considered, and Ambrose Rice, Victory Jennison and Thomas R. McKnight were appointed viewers, while a year after the road from the Foot of the Rapids, in the direction of Tecumseh, Mich., was ordered. Of the $309. 1 2 received from the three per cent, fund in 1826, the sum of $200 was set aside to be expended on the road from David Hull's cabin to Fort Findlay, and the residue to be expended in constructing bridges on that and on the road between Roche de Boeuf and Minard's, on the county line - all to be expended under the direction of Guy Nearing. In March, 1829, a road from Perrysburg to the Michigan line was ordered to be viewed, and in June a road from Carlin's "stone shop," crossing the Maumee at the ford, to the Perrysburg road, was authorized. Activity in road opening may be said to be first manifested in June, 1830, when petitions for new roads and changing the lines of old roads began to pour in. The Legislature in February, 1830, appointed James M. Workman and Thomas F. Jotin to locate a State road from Bellefontaine to Perrysburg, the line from Findlay to be between Ranges 10 and 11 to the Foot of the Rapids. This item, with several petitions for public roads, was considered in June, 1831, while in 1832 the Act for opening a road from Perrysburg to Bu- J cyrus, described in the history of Freedom town- | ship as the McCutchenville road, was discussed and the road declared a public highway.

| The beginnings of the Maumee and Western i Reserve road are told in the chapter on Public Lands. The construction of the "mud pike" wras begun in 1825. and the road from Lower Sandusky to Perrysburg was lifted, so to speak, out of the swamp. That mud-road, the subject of all this legislation, was a veritable quagmire at certain seasons. Along the course were thirtytwo taverns, where belated passengers might obtain refreshment and shelter, while the teamsters were engaged in lifting coach or wragon out of the mud holes. During the winter of 1837-38 its condition was so intolerable that the State granted a sum of $40,000 to be expended in filling the holes and macadamizing the road. In the report of the committee it was shown that a single stage coach in December, 1837, carried seventeen sacks of mail from Sandusky, and another, forty sacks, which had accumulated at Sandusky, owing to the fear of the drivers to undertake the trip to Perrysburg. At the same time, it was proved that during the winter months of 1837 38, no less than 5.500 travelers passed over the road;

2,300 sleighs and sleds and 300 wagons, averag- j turnpike road enterprises, of 1857-58 and later ing for each day 180 footmen and 86 sleighs and j years, is entirely beyond the scope of this wagons. In the summer of 1838 the work of chapter.

river, commenced, under the superintendence of j for, not only did they carry on important work Gen. John Patterson, and the whole line to the here before the days of bridges, but also paid Western Reserve was completed in 1842. license for the privilege of serving the people.

One of the first turnpikes suggested by the ' On October 6, 1820, George Patterson was lipeople of Perrysburg, was that built in 1845. On censed to run a. ferry across the Maumee river, March 7, that year, the commissioners talked which license was renewed in 1 82 1 ; Almon Gibbs with the directors of the Perrysburg, Findlay 1 was permitted to place a ferry at Miami, October and Kenton Turnpike Road Co., on the subject ! 6, 1820, which he carried on until his death, in of the purchase of that road, within the county. 1822; Moses Rice, at Fort Defiance; Horatio On March 10, a sale was negotiated by Willard ! Conant, on the Maumee, March, 1823, to 1827; V. Way, president, John McMahan and Schuyler 1 Daniel Hubbell, on the Maumee, from 1823 to N. Beach, directors of the road company of the j 1834; Timothy F. Upton, on the Maumee, 1828 first part, and the commissioners of the second \ to 1831; and Eunice Upton. 1831-33; Jonathan part, on condition that all contracts on the road Wood, from 1833 to 1838; Ezra Sawyer, 183 5 - would be completed or declared abandoned on or 36; Johnson White, at Miltonville, 1836-43; before May 10, 1845. The county agreed to Hemperly & Brown, 1 837-38; Marmaduke Buntpay the amount of all contracts as well as $252 ing, 1838-39; S. H. Stedman, 1844-45; and for engineering expenses and the claim of W. P. D. W. H. Howard, 1844-45, at Grand Rapids. The Rezner. This was a mud road of a very poor ; old record book closes in 1 844. Though deficdescription. In the course of a few years, enter- i ient in giving locations of ferries, it is complete prising men secured it as a right of way for a in the record of names and amounts paid for perplank road, and in a few more years that part of mits, and to it must be credited the writer's opit north of Bowling Green was planked. portunity to deal even thus briefly with the early

The Perrysburg and Findlay Plank Road Co., ferrymen, was chartered by the Legislature February 3, Perrysburg Marine, - The first craft on the