History of Auglaize County, Ohio

Ctbrarg Intermit* of ^tttsburgli Darlington Mew ial Library ~~F43X. Itook Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from University of Pittsburgh Library System http://www.archive.org/details/historyofauglaizOOsutt HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY, OHIO. iK+ton c f "Robert? HISTORY WILLIAM « MARV DAKUNSl^' MEMORIAL U3RAR Y PITTS3URG^ OP UNIVERSITY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY, OHIO. WITH THE INDIAN HISTORY OF WAPAKONETA, AND THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY. WAPAKONETA: ROBERT SUTTON, Publisher. 1880. PHILADELPHIA I COLLINS, PKINTEK. PREFACE. This unpretending book is a record of but narrow interest and of purely local events. Its preparation was undertaken for the County Atlas, and at the request of friends, and those who take an interest in the work, I have put it into this volume. To better preserve some account of the lives and labors of the early settlers who bore so honorable a part in convert- ing a wilderness into a great commonwealth, and to rescue from total oblivion some matters that seem worthy of narrat- ing, is the modest object of this sketch concerning the history of Auglaize County. The writer is well aware that there will be found errors both of omission and commission in the book, but it cannot be avoided in a work of this kind. It has been prepared hur- riedly, amid the constant pressure of other duties, which are well known; and it will be discovered that some prominent early settlers, or leading men among recent citizens, have not been mentioned, while comparatively too great prominence will be thought to have been given to others; but the best has been done that could be under the circumstances, and it is hoped such inequalities and defects will be overlooked. There is also a feeling among men that a record of a well- spent and useful life, if ever so humble, deserves to be remem- bered. They derive a pardonable pleasure from the thought that posterity will not wholly ignore or forget them, and it (v) VI PREFACE. is to be regretted that much valuable information touching the early settlement of the county has passed out of existence and is lost forever. The thanks of the publisher are hereby extended to all who have in any manner assisted in the preparation of this work; but especially are thanks due to Col. George W. Andrews, Dr. G. W. Holbrook, J. L. McFarland, County Auditor, and C. P. Davis, Editor of the Democrat, of Wapakoneta, and Judge E. M. Phelps, of St. Marys. No pains have been spared in an earnest effort to attain accuracy and completeness. The material has been gathered from every available source, and compiled with a view of presenting reliable dates in an attrac- tive manner. Without daring to indulge in the belief that this aim has been realized in every instance, it is hoped the effort will meet the approval of those readers who, knowing the fallibility of all endeavors, do not demand absolute per- fection. To such readers, the volume is submitted without comment and without apology. R. S. / CONTENTS. PAttE Introduction 13 History of Ohio 15 The War of 1812 19 Indian Territory 20 The Shawnees 43 Blackhoof 48 Way-wel-ea-py 52 John Perry 53 Little Turtle 53 Tecurnseh 54 Logan 62 Captain Johnny 64 Bright Horn 64 John Wolf 65 Peter Cornstalk 65 Blue Jacket 65 The Friends at Wapakoneta 67 Auglaize County 80 Bodies of water 80 Railroads 81 Wagon Roads 81 Villages 83 Material Wealth 83 County Seat 85 Geology 86 Mastodon 92 Archaeology * 95 Official Record 99 Duchouquet Township . 101 Wapakoneta 101 Business Interests 108 Schools Ill Churches 113 Biographical 124 (vii) Vlll CONTENTS. St. Marys Township St. Marys . Business Interests Churches Official Record Biographical German Township New Bremen Biographical Churches Jackson Township Minster Biographical Washington Township New Knoxville Biographical Pusheta Township Freyhurg . Biographical Clay Township St. Johns . Biographical Goshen Township New Hampshire Biographical Wayne Township Waynesfield Biographical Union Township Uniopolis . Biographical Logan Township Buchland . Biographical Salem Township Kossuth . Biographical Noble Township Biographical Moulton Township Glynwood Biographical Military Record Roll of Honor HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY, OHIO. INTRODUCTION. One hundred years ago the whole territory from the Alle- ghany to the Rocky Mountains was a wilderness, inhabited only by wild beasts and Indians. The Jesuit and Moravian missionaries were the only white men who had penetrated the wilderness, or beheld its mighty lakes and rivers. While the thirteen old colonies were declaring their independence, the thirteen new States, which now lie in the western interior, had no existence, and gave no sign of the future. The solitude of nature was unbroken by the steps of civilization. The wisest statesman had not contemplated the probability of the coming States, and the boldest patriot did not dream that this interior wilderness should soon contain a greater population than the thirteen old States with all the added growth of one hundred years. Ten years after that the old States had ceded their western lands to the General Government, and the Congress of the United States had passed the ordinance of 1 785 for the survey of the public territory, and in 1787 the celebrated ordinance which organized the Northwestern Territory, and dedicated it to freedom and intelligence. Fifteen years after that, and more than a quarter of a century after the Declaration of Independence, the State of Ohio was admitted into the Union, being the seventeenth which accepted the Constitution of the United States. It has since grown up to be great, populous, and prosperous under the influence of those ordinances. At her admission in 1802 the tide of migration had begun to flow over the Alle- ghanies into the valley of the Mississippi, and although no steamboat or railroad then existed, not even a stage coach helped the immigration, yet the wooden " ark" on the Ohio, and the heavy wagon slowly winding over the mountains, bore these tens of thousands to the wilds of Kentucky and the plains of Ohio. In the spring of 1788—the first year of settlement—4500 persons passed the mouth of the Muskingum in three months, and the tide continued to pour on for half a century in a widening stream, mingled with all the races of Europe and America, until now the five States of the North- western Territory, in the wilderness of 1776, contain over 2 14 HISTORY OF AUGLAIZE COUNTY, OHIO. twelve millions of people, enjoying all the blessings which peace and prosperity, freedom and Christianity, can confer upon any people. Of these five States, born under the ordinance of 1787, Ohio is the first, oldest, and, in many things, the greatest State in the American Union. Ohio is just one- sixth part of the Northwestern Territory — 40,000 square miles. It lies between Lake Erie and the Ohio River, having two hundred miles of navigable waters, on one side flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, and on the other into the Gulf of Mexico. Through the lakes its vessels touch on six thousand miles of interior ccast, and through the Mississippi on thirty- six thousand miles of river coast; so that a citizen of Ohio may pursue his navigation through forty-two thousand miles, all in his own country, and all within navigable reach of his own State. He who has circumnavigated the globe has gone but little more than half the distance which the citizen of Ohio finds within his natural reach in this vast interior. Looking upon the surface of this State, we find no mountains, no barren sands, no marshy wastes, no lava-covered plains ; but one broad, compact body of arable land, intersected with rivers, and streams, and running waters, while the beauti- ful Ohio flows tranquilly by its side. From this great arable surface, where upon the very hills the grass and the forest trees grow exuberant and abundant, we find that underneath this surface, and easily accessible, lie ten thousand square miles of coal and four thousand square miles of iron — coal and iron enough to supply the basis of manufacture for a world! All this vast deposit does not interrupt or take from that arable surface at all. There you may find in one place the same machine bringing up coal and salt water from below, while the •wheat and corn grow upon the surface above. The immense masses of coal, iron, salt, and freestone deposited below have not in any way diminished the fertility and production of the soil. The first settlement of Ohio was made by a colony from New England at the mouth of the Muskingum. It was literally a remnant of the officers and soldiers of the Revolution. Of this colony no praise of the historian can be as competent or as strong as the language of Washington. He says, in answer to inquiries addressed to him: "No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has just commenced at the Muskingum. Information, property, and strength will be its characteristics. I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community;" and he adds, "that if he were a young man, he knows no country in which he would sooner settle than in this western region." This — HISTORY OP AUGLAIZE COUNTY, OHIO. 15 colony, left alone for a time, made its own government, and nailed its laws to a tree in the village; an early indication of that law-abiding and peaceful spirit which has since made Ohio a just and well ordered community. The subsequent settle- ments on the Miami and Scioto were made by citizens of New Jersey and Virginia, and it is certainly remarkable that among the early immigration there were no ignorant people.

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