ALLEN
Reprinted from Henry Howe's History
of Ohio (1889).
ALLEN COUNTY was formed April 1, 1820, from Indian
Territory, and named in honor of a Col. Allen, of the war of 1812; it was temporarily
attached to Mercer county for judicial purposes. The southern part has many
Germans. A large part of the original settlers were of Pennsylvania origin. The western half of the
county is flat, and presents the common features of the Black Swamp.
The eastern part is gently rolling, and in the southeastern part are gravelly
ridges and knolls. The "Dividing Ridge" is occupied by handsome,
well-drained farms, which is in marked contrast with much of the surrounding
county, which is still in the primeval forest condition. Its area is 440 square
miles. In 1885 the acres cultivated were 119,175; in pasture, 29,598; in
woodland, 53,395; produced in wheat, 460,669 bushels; in corn, 1,157,149; wool,
103,654 pounds. School census, 1886, 11,823; teachers, 178; and 118 miles of
railroad.
Townships and Census
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1840
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1880
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Townships
and Census
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1840
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1880
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Amanda,
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282
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1,456
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Ottawa,
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7,669
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Auglaize,
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1,344
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1,749
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Perry,
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923
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1,465
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Bath,
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1,512
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1,532
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Richland,
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3,372
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German,
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856
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1,589
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Shawnee,
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756
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1,241
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Jackson,
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1,176
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1,893
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Spencer,
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1,646
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Marion,
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672
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4,488
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Sugar Creek,
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1,032
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Monroe,
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2,182
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The population in 1830 was 578; 1850, 12,116;
1860, 19,185; 1880, 31,314, of whom 25,625 were Ohio born, 3 were Chinese, and 4 Indians.
The initial point in the
occupancy of the county by the whites was the building of a fort on the west
bank of the Auglaize in September, 1812, by Col. Poague, of Gen. Harrison's
army, which he named in honor of his wife Fort Amanda.
A ship-yard was founded there the next year, and a number of scows built by the
soldiers for navigation on the Lower Miami, as well as for the navigation of
the Auglaize, which last may be termed one of the historical streams of Ohio,
as it was early visited by the French, and in its neighborhood were the
villages of the most noted Indian chiefs; it was also on the route of Harmer's,
Wayne's, and Harrison's armies. To-day it is but a somewhat diminutive river,
owing to the drainage of the country by canals and ditches, and the clearing
off of the forests; in the past it was a navigable stream, capable of floating
heavily laden flat-boats and scows.
The fort was a quadrangle, with
pickets eleven feet high, and a block-house at each of the four corners. The
storehouse was in the centre. A national cemetery was established here, where
are seventy-five mounds, the graves of soldiers of the war of 1812.
Among the first white men who
lived at this point was a Frenchman, Francis Deuchoquette. He was interpreter
to the Indians. It was said he was present at the burning of Crawford, and
interfered to save the unfortunate man. He was greatly esteemed by the early
settlers for his kindly disposition. In 1817 came Andrew Russell, Peter Diltz,
and William Van Ausdall; and in 1820 numerous others.
Russell opened on the Auglaize
the first farm probably in the county, and there was born the first white
child, a girl, who became Mrs. Charles C. Marshall, of Delphos. She was
familiarly called the "Daughter of Allen county." She died in 1871.
From an address by T. E.
Cunningham, delivered before the Pioneer Association, at Lima, September 22, 1871, we derive the
following additional items upon the early settlers of the county:
"Samuel McClure, now
living, at the age of seventy-eight years, settled on Hog creek, five miles
northeast of where Lima
now stands, in the month of November, 1825, forty-six years ago. He has
remained on the farm where he then built a cabin ever since. The nearest white
neighbors he knew of were two families named Leeper and Kidd, living one mile
below where Roundhead now is, about twenty miles to the nearest known neighbor.
On that farm, in the year 1826, was born Moses McClure, the first white child
born on the waters of Hog creek. Mr. McClure's first neighbor was Joseph Ward,
a brother of Gen. John Ward. He helped cut the road when McClure came, and
afterwards brought his family, and put them into McClure's cabin, while he
built one for himself on the tract where he afterwards erected what was known
as Ward's mill. The next family was that of Joseph Walton. They came in March,
1826.
Shawneetown, an Indian village,
was situated eight miles below the McClure settlement, at the mouth of Hog
creek. A portion of the village was on the old Ezekiel Hoover farm and a
portion on the Breese farm. Mr. McClure and his little neighborhood soon became
acquainted, and upon good terms with their red neighbors. He says Hai-Aitch-Tah,
the war-chief, had he been civilized, would have been a man of mark in any
community. Quilna was the great business man of the tribe here. Soon after the
McClure settlement was made they heard from the Indians at Shawneetown that the
United States
government had erected a mill at Wapakoneta. The settlers had no road to the
mill, but Quilna assisted them to open one. He surveyed the line of their road
without compass, designating it by his own knowledge of the different points
and the Indian method of reaching them.
There are many of the children
of the early settlers to whom the name of Quilna is a household word. To his
business qualities were added great kindness of heart, and a thorough regard
for the white people. No sacrifice of his personal ease was too much if by any
effort he could benefit his new neighbors.
In the month of June, 1826,
Morgan Lippincott, Joseph Wood, and Benjamin Dolph, while out hunting, found
the McClure settlement. To his great surprise, Mr. McClure learned that he had
been for months living within a few miles of another white settlement located
on Sugar creek. He learned from the hunters there were five families:
Christopher Wood, Morgan Lippincott, Samuel Jacobs, Joseph Wood, and Samuel
Purdy. It is his belief that Christopher Wood settled on Sugar creek as early
as 1824, on what is known as the Miller farm. In the spring of 1831, John
Ridenour, now living, at the age of eighty-nine, with his family--Jacob
Ridenour, then a young married man, and David Ridenour, bachelor--removed from
Perry county, and settled one mile south of Lima, on the lands the families of
that name have occupied ever since."
LIMA was surveyed in 1831 by Capt. James W.
Riley. Christopher Wood was one of the commissioners appointed to locate the
county-seat, and was on the board to plat the village and superintend the sale
of lots. Both of these were remarkable men. Wood was born in Kentucky in 1769, was an Indian scout, and
engaged in all the border campaigns, inclusive of the war of 1812. Riley was
the first settler in Van Wert county. He was a native of Middletown, Connecticut.
Early in life, while in command of a vessel, he was shipwrecked on the coast of
Africa, an fell into the hands of the Arabs;
his history of his adventures reads like a romance. For a fuller account of him
see [Howe's History of] VAN WERT county.
Lima was named by Hon. Patrick G. Goode. In
August, 1831, a public sale of the lots took place. A few months later came
John P. Mitchell, Absalom Brown, John P. Cole, Dr. William Cunningham, John
Brewster, David Tracy, John Mark, and John Bashore, all with families, except
Brewster, who was a bachelor. Absalom Brown was the first white citizen, and
his daughter, Marion Mitchell Brown, the first white child born here.
Three years later, the picture
of Lima
presented is thus given in the cheery reminiscences of Robert Bowers:
My father brought me to Lima
in the fall of 1834. I was then a boy of twelve years of age, and as green as
the forest leaves in June--a rare specimen to transplant on new and untried
soil, where there was nothing to develop the mind but the study of forest
leaves, the music of the bull-frog and the howl of the wolf. The boys and
girls were their own instructors, and the spelling schools that were held by
appointment and imposed upon our fathers by turns, were our highest
academical accomplishments, and unfortunately for myself I never even
graduated at them. Lima
was then a town of very few souls. I knew every man, woman and child in the
settlement, and could count them all without much figuring. No newspaper
office, no outlet or inlet either by rail for earth. In the spring we
travelled below, in the summer we travelled on top. Our roads were trails and
section lines. Emigrants were constantly changing the trails seeking better
and dryer land for their footing and wheeling. Yet under all our
disadvantages we were happy, and always ready to lend a helping hand and
render assistance wherever it was needed. The latchstring was always out and
often the last pint of meal was divided, regardless where the next would come
from. The nearest mills were at settlements in adjoining counties, and the
labor of going thither through the wilderness and the delays on their arrival
in getting their grain ground, so great that they had recourse to hand-mills,
hominy blocks and corn-crackers; so the labor was largely performed within
the family circle. [A very pleasing picture of this is given in the reminiscences
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of Mr. Bowers; he says:] The horse and hand miller, the tin grater
were always reliable and in constant use as a means of preparing our
breadstuff. I was my father's miller, just the age to perform the task. My
daily labor was to gather corn and dry it in a kiln, after which I took it on
a grater made from an old copper kettle or tin bucket, and after supper made
meal for the johnny-cake for breakfast; after breakfast I made meal for the
pone for dinner; after dinner I made meal for mush for supper. And now let me
paint you a picture of our domestic life and an interior view of my father's
house. The names I give below; a great many will recognize the picture only
too well drawn, and think of the days of over forty years ago. Our house was
a cabin containing a parlor, kitchen and dining-room. Connected was a shoe
shop, also a broom and repair shop. To save fuel and light and have
everything handy, we had the whole thing in one room, which brought us all
together so we could oversee each other better. After supper each one knew
his place. In our house there were four mechanics. I was a shoemaker and
corn-grater. My father could make a sledge, and the other two boys could
strip broom corn. My sisters spun yarn and mother knit and made garments.
Imagine you see us all at work; sister Margaret sings a song, father makes
chips and mother pokes up the fire; Isaac spins a yarn, John laughs at him,
and thus our evenings are spent in our wild home, for we were all simple,
honest people, and feared no harm from our neighbors.
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The want of mills is everywhere a great deprivation in a
new country; varied have been the devices for overcoming it. The engraving
annexed shows a substitute for a mill that was used in the early settling of
Western New York, and probably to some extent in Ohio. It consists of a stump hollowed out by
fire as a mortar, with a log attached to the end of a young sapling bent over
to act as a pestle. The process was slow and tedious, it being a day's work to
convert a bushel of corn into samp.
The early settlers in Western New York when they owned a few slaves, which some
of them did, employed them in this drudgery, hence the process was vulgarly
termed "niggering corn." People of humanity in our time would not be
guilty of using such an expression as this. No one thing shows the general
moral advance of the American people more strongly than their treatment of, and
increased consideration for, the humbler classes among them.
Lima, the county-seat, is on the Ottawa
river, 203 feet above Lake Erie, 95 miles west-northwest of Columbus, and on
five railways: the P. Ft. W. & C.; D. & M.; L. E. & W.; C. A., and
C. L. & N. W. County officers in 1888: Probate Judge, John F. Lindemann;
Clerk of the Court, Eugene C. McKenzie; Sheriff, Moses P. Hoagland; Prosecuting
Attorney, Isaac S. Motter; Auditors, William D. Poling, Cyrus D. Crites;
Treasurer, Jacob B. Sunderland; Recorder, George Monroe; Surveyor, James
Pillars; Coroner, John C. Convery; Commissioners, John Akerman, Abraham Crider,
Alexander Shenk. Newspapers: Gazette, Republican, C. Parmenter, editor; Democrat, Democratic, Mr. Timmonds, editor; Republican, Republican, daily and weekly, Long, Winder & Porter,
publishers; Times,
daily and weekly, O. B. Selfridge, Jr.; Courier, German, Democratic. Churches: two Methodist Episcopal,
one Colored Methodist Episcopal, one Presbyterian, one Old School Presbyterian,
one Mission Presbyterian, one Baptist, one Colored Baptist, one German
Catholic, one Evangelical Lutheran, two Lutheran, one German Reformed Lutheran,
one Episcopalian, one United Brethren, one Christian, one Reformed English.
Banks: City, T. T. Mitchell, president, E. B. Mitchell, cashier; First
National, S. A. Baxter, president, C. M. Hughes, Jr., cashier; Lima National,
B. C. Faurot, president, F. L. Langdon, cashier; Merchants' R. Mehaffey,
president, R. W. Thrift, Jr., cashier.
Manufactures
and Employees.--The Lima Engine
Manufacturing Company, 6 hands; Sinclair & Morrison, well-drilling tools,
10; W. Schultheis, leather, 23; E. F. Dunan, builders' wood-work, 8; C. H.
& D. R. R. shops, railroad repairs, 154; Lima Machine Works, locomotives,
150; the Cass Manufacturing Company, handles, sucker-rods, etc., 10; E. W.
Cook, job machinery, 37; the Lima Paper-Mills, straw-board and egg-cases, 128;
Enterprise Cracker Company, crackers, 10; Woolsey & Co., bent wood-work,
etc., 78; Castle & Muller, drilling and fishing tools, 8; Lafayette
Car-Works, railroad cars and repairs, 300; L. E. and W. R. R. Company, locomotive
repairs, 103; Dr. S. A. Baxter, boxes and staves, 8.--State
Report 1887. Population in 1860, 2,354; in
1880, 7,567; school census 1886, 3,345. Estimated population in 1888, 18,000.
Lima has several fine business blocks. The
court-house is one of the most imposing in Ohio;
it covers half an acre, and was erected, with the stone jail adjacent, at a
cost of $350,000; it is constructed of Berea
stone, ornamented with red granite columns. It is 160 feet in height, and has a
tower and clock. Its interior finished in granite, and with encaustic tiled
floors, is furnished in the finest cherry, and is adorned with statuary. It is
the large structure with a tower shown in the street view.
The Faurot Opera Block, finished
in 1882, contains not only an opera-house (which is said to have only one equal
to it in the State) and a fine music-hall, but also eight large business rooms,
numerous offices, a dining-hall, and the Lima National bank, facing upon Main and High streets, and remarked for its beauty.
Annexed is a view of Lima, drawn by us in
1846, when the place was but a small village. It was taken near the then
residence of Col. James Cunningham, on the Wapakoneta road. The stream show in
the view is the Ottawa river, often called Hog
river--a name derived from the
following circumstance: McKee, the British Indian
agent, who resided at the Machachac towns, on Mad river, during the incursion
of Gen. Logan in 1786, was obliged to flee with his effects. He had his swine
driven on to the borders of this stream; the Indians thereafter called
it Koshko sepe, which signifies Hog river. The eccentric Count
Coffenbury, in his poem, "The Forest Rangers," terms it Swinonia. A sketch of the count is given elsewhere in this work,
with extracts from his amusing poetry.
Although a substantial and
growing manufacturing city, it was not until May, 1885, that it was discovered
that Lima was
in the largest oil-field known on the globe, not even excepting the famous
Russian oil-fields. Its discovery was a matter of accident, the history of
which, and the position of Lima
a year later consequent upon it, has thus been given.
"It was while boring for gas at
his paper-mill that Mr. B. C. Faurot found oil at a depth of 1,251 feet, and
though Eastern speculators pronounced the product worthless, they soon leased
land. In the following August (1885) a citizens' company was formed and a well
was put down, which yielded about sixty barrels per diem. When the
manufactories began to use the oil for fuel it brought the low price of forty
cents a barrel. The work began in earnest in February, 1886, when the
Mandeville company, from Olean,
N. Y., leased land known as the Shade farm, at the suburbs of the city, and
opened wells which made 200 barrels a day. When refined, the oil proved to be
an article of excellent quality. Other wells were soon sunk, and some of them
were found to yield some 600 barrels daily. A refinery was built; the work
moved on rapidly, and in less than one year there was an increase of at least
1,500 more inhabitants. There are now about 116 oil-wells, with a flow of about
5,000 barrels a day from 125 or more wells. A firm has for some time been
manufacturing rigs. Drilling is going on, and another refinery is about to be erected,
with a capacity of 2,500 barrels per day. An average of thirty-five wells is
developed each month. The Standard Oil Company is now erecting a
refinery."
By May, 1887, there were
seventy wells in the city of Lima, and in the
entire Lima
field over 300. What is termed the Lima
oil-field extends southwest about twenty-five miles, through Wapakoneta and St.
Mary's, in Auglaize county, into Mercer county, just south of Celina. The
entire profitable oil territory
of Northwestern Ohio is
much larger. It covers all of Allen and Hancock counties, the south part of
Wood, and parts of Seneca, Wyandot, Hardin, Putnam, Auglaize, and Mercer
counties. The general position of Lima
at this period (May, 1887) was thus defined by President Baxter, of the Board
of Trade:
"The enterprise and dash
of our people is inherited; it came to us from our fathers who are dead and
gone. We are reaping the benefits of their labors and sacrifices. We have a
magnificent agricultural country, as fine railroad facilities as any city in
the country. For thirty years we have had a substantial, healthy growth, with
scarcely a single backset. We have the general shops of the Cincinnati,
Hamilton and Dayton, and Lake Erie and Western railroads; a machine-works, with
a specialty that brings orders from all parts of the globe; a straw-board and
egg-case concern, with facilities that cannot be excelled on earth; a contract
car-shops, that employ more men than the combined industries of our neighboring
town of Findlay; two wagon and carriage material manufacturers, that manage to
disturb the markets of the country by the cheapness of their products. The town
is filled with little concerns of all kinds in the manufacturing line, and last
night a single bank in the city paid 1,800 checks to skilled labor employed in
the various industries. In addition to what we have had heretofore, the past
year has developed here the largest oil-field in area in the world, and of
which Lima is
the nucleus. Within ten months probably $5,000,000 of capital has been brought
in, and the future of Lima as the head-centre of the oil distribution is fixed
and assured by the action of the Standard Oil Company in building here the
largest and most complete refinery in their entire system. Two other pipe-lines
and a refinery, operated by gritty young fellows, are also in operation, and
more coming. We have 500 oil-wells in operation, with a daily production of
20,000 barrels, and there is already stored, within a radius of a few miles,
probably 1,000,000 barrels of oil, with the oil business as yet only in its
toddling infancy, the developed territory being capable of sustaining
fifty-fold more wells and operated with much greater economy. The possibilities
of the oil business are simply beyond comprehension to the ordinary mind, and
those actively engaged in the production, handling, and purchase seem the most
muddled of all. These are the things that bring the solid wealth to our
coffers. To spend it we have, to begin with, a daisy town. We have a system of
public-schools that are as near perfection as can be made, and, by the way, we
have scrupulously kept the schools out of politics and religion. Every
denomination of church is represented. We go to the handsomest little
opera-house in the West. For a nickel we can ride two miles on a splendidly
equipped electrical street-railroad. For light we can use electricity or gas,
each the very perfection of their kind; and for thirst and cleanliness a system
of water-works has been provided that, although it broke our hearts and
exhausted our purses to build them, more than compensate for all they cost. As
to natural gas, we already have enough to set the ordinary village crazy."
From a circular issued in Lima early in the year
1888 we extract some interesting details relating to the oil refineries:
In the development of the oil industry, the new concerns that
have grown up within the past two years are too numerous to mention. Among
the heaviest producers of crude oil may be mentioned the Ohio Oil Company,
with a capital of one million dollars. They are producing over 4,000 barrels
daily, and when a fair price is obtained for "Lima Crude," have the
territory and facilities for increasing their production fourfold. Schofield,
Shermer & Teagle, oil refiners of Cleveland,
have about fifty producing wells, with fifteen miles of pipe line, and a
tankage capacity of 150,000 barrels. They have employed in this field
somewhere near $200,000. The Buckeye Pipe Line Company have some 250 miles of
pipe line, about 170 large iron tanks of 36,000 barrels capacity each, and
employ in the neighborhood of $3,000,000 in taking care of the product of the
field. The Excelsior Pipe Line has something over thirty miles of pipe, with
a tankage capacity of about 100,000 barrels, and employ $100,000 in taking
care of the crude
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product. The Eagle Consolidated Refinery has a capacity of 1,000
barrels of refined oil daily. They own sixty tank cars, have fourteen acres
of land upon which their works are located, and a capital of $100,000 is
invested. The Solar Refinery has 121 acres of land upon which their works are
located and employ a capital of half a million dollars. Their capacity is
5,000 barrels daily. The Solar is probably the largest refinery in the
country, and additions are being made constantly to the works. During the
past year and a half more than a million dollars has been used in the
erection of new business buildings, manufacturing establishments and
dwelling-houses, and the present year promises still greater investments in
building enterprises. Real estate in Lima
and throughout the county has always been held at very moderate values. The
county is one of the finest agricultural districts in the State, wheat, corn
and oats being the staple products, and there is hardly an acre in the county
that is not capable of cultivation.
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The great enterprise of piping oil
from the Lima fields to Chicago
manufacturing establishments is now, in this the year 1888, being undertaken by
the Standard Oil Company, who practically control all the oil territory around Lima. The total length of
pipe will be about 210 miles, and the entire investment aggregate over
$2,000,000.
The view of the derricks was
taken from a bridge, the successor of the covered bridge over the Ottawa shown in the old view of Lima, and looking easterly. The oil-wells,
with their derricks, are a marked feature of this entire region. Nowhere are
they so plentiful as around the town. Experience soon showed they were often
too close for profit, sometimes not over an acre apart, when the flow proved
too weak one well in ten acres was found near enough. The life of a well on the
Bradford, Pennsylvania, oil-field is usually
about ten years; how long in that of Lima
remains to be tested. A single steam-engine in places answers for the pumping
of several wells, the power being transmitted from well to well by cables and
shafting. The wells are named from the original proprietors of the land. To
illustrate, one is named "Shade well, No. 11," it being the eleventh
well on the land
of Mr. Nelson Shade. The
cost of drilling for wells varies from sixty-five cents to $1.50 a foot. The
oil struck at from 1,250 to 1,500 feet.
Another marked feature of the
oil region is the tanks for the storage of the oil, which vary in capacity from
250 to 3,500 barrels. They resemble huge tubs, are covered on top with boards,
and housed or shedded over. The tanks are sometimes struck by lightning; in a
single storm in October, 1885, several were thus destroyed. Very little else
was destroyed but the tanks. No flames of consequence were seen, but immense
volumes of smoke poured forth, which seemed as a protection, acting as an
impenetrable curtain to outside objects.
The Black Swamp
tract, in which this county partially lies, has been the scene of much
unwritten history in the early settlement of the country. Father Finley--a
sketch of whom is elsewhere given in this work--has preserved a pleasant
anecdote connected with the war of 1812 in his sketch of the life of an eminent
Methodist minister, Rev. William H. Raper. At the time he was a lad of
nineteen, and volunteered in the company of Capt. Stephen Smith, of Clermont
county, which marched to the frontier. From his brightness, notwithstanding his
youth, he was chosen sergeant.
THE BLACK SWAMP
MUTINY
A day or two before the
battle of the Thames, Raper's company was
told to march up the lake some fifteen miles to prevent the landing of the
British from their vessels, and the engagement took place during their
absence. This circumstance rendered it necessary for his company, which was
now the strongest, to be put in charge of the prisoners taken by Commodore
Perry and Gen. Harrison, and march them across the State to the Newport
Station in Kentucky.
His superior officers having
been taken sick, the command devolved upon him. It was a responsible
undertaking for so young an officer. The company consisted of 100 soldiers,
and the prisoners numbered 400. Their route was through the wilderness of the
Black Swamp, which at that season was nearly
covered with water. In their march they became bewildered and lost. For three
days and nights they wandered about in the swamp without food, and became so
scattered, that on the morning of third day he found himself with a guard of
only twelve men, and one hundred prisoners. Seeing their weakness the
prisoners mutinied, and refused to march. No time was to be lost; Raper
called out his men, commanded them to make ready, which they did by fixing
bayonets and cocking their guns. He then gave the prisoners five minutes to
decide whether they would obey him or not. At the expiration of the last
minute the soldiers were ordered to present arms, take aim, and--but before
the word "fire," had escaped his lips, a large Scotch soldier cried
"hold," and stepping aside, asked the privilege of saying a word to
his companions: it was granted, whereupon he addressed them as follows:
"We have been taken in a fair fight, and are prisoners; honorably so,
and this conduct is disgraceful to our king's flag, not becoming true
soldiers. Now," said he, "I have had no hand in raising this
mutiny, and I propose that all who are in favor of behaving themselves as
honorable prisoners of war shall rally around me, and we will take the other
in hand ourselves, and the American guard shall stand by and see fair
play." This speech had the desired effect, the mutiny was brought to an
end without bloodshed, and Raper delivered his prisoners at Newport. They had among the prisoners two
Indians, whom Raper forced at the point of the sword to lead them out of the
swamp. After Raper's arrival in Newport
he was offered a commission in the regular army. Such was his love for his
mother that he would take no important step without consulting her. The
answer was
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characteristic of the noble mothers of that day. "My son, if my
country was still engaged in war I had fifty sons I would freely give them
all to her service, but, as peace is now declared, I think something better
awaits my son than the camp-life of a soldier in time of peace." In 1819
Raper became a minister in the Methodist
Church, and while travelling in Indiana, upon the
first visit to one of his appointments, a fine, large man approached him,
called him brother, and said: "I knew you the moment I saw you, but I
suppose you have forgotten me. I am the Scotch soldier that made the speech
to the prisoners the morning of the mutiny in the Black Swamp.
After we were exchanged as prisoners of war, my enlistment terminated. I had
been brought to see the justice of the American cause and the greatness of
the country, and I resolved to become an American citizen. I came to this
State, rented some land, and opened a farm. I have joined the Methodist Church, and praise God! the best of
all is, I have obtained religion! Not among the least of my blessings is a
fine wife and noble child. So come," said he, "dinner will be ready
by the time we get home." And the two soldiers, now as friends and
Christians, renewed their acquaintance, and were ever after fast friends.
At another time Raper met
with a singular accident while riding to one of his appointments. Swimming
his horse over a swollen creek, the horse became entangled and sank, but with
great effort he managed to catch hold of the limb of a tree overhead, where
he was enabled to rest and hold his head above water. While thus suspended,
the thought rushed upon him. "Mother is praying for me, and I shall be
saved." After resting a moment he made an effort and got to shore,
his horse also safely landing. His mother, ninety miles away, that morning
awoke suddenly in affright with the thought upon her, "William is in
great danger," when she sprang from her bed, and falling on her knees
prayed for his safety, until she received a sweet assurance that all was
well. When they met and related the facts, and compared the time, they
precisely agreed.
This hero of the Black Swamp died in 1852, closing a life of
great usefulness. Father Finley says of him that he was an eloquent preacher,
a sweet, melodious singer, was filled with the spirit of kindness, while his
conversational powers were superior, replete with a fund of useful incidents
gathered from practical life in camp, pulpit and cabin.
|
DELPHOS, on the border line of Van Wert
and Allen counties, and on the T. St. L. and K. C.; P. Ft. W. and C.; D. Ft. W.
and C.; C. and W.; P. and C. railroads, lies within the oil and gas belt of
Northwestern Ohio, seventy-four miles southwest of Toledo, and in a country of
great fertility. The Miami and Erie
canal divides the town into two nearly equal parts. The
post-office is in Van Wert county.
Newspapers: Courant, E. B. Walkup, editor; Herald, Democratic, Tolan & Son, editors and proprietors. Churches:
one Presbyterian, two Methodist, one United Brethren, one Catholic, one
Christian, one Reformed, one Lutheran. Banks: Commercial, R. K. Lytle,
president, W. H. Fuller, cashier; Delphos National, Theo. Wrocklage, president,
Jos. Boehmer, cashier.
Manufacturers
and Employees.--The Ohio Wheel Company, 62
hands; Hartwell Bros., handles, neck-yokes, etc., 14; Delphos Union Stave
Company, 23; Pittsburg Hoop and Stave Company, 50; L. F. Werner, wollen yarns,
flannels, etc., 8; Steinle & Co., lager beer, 60; Toledo, St. Louis and
Kansas City R. R., car repairs, 100; Weyer & Davis, hoops, etc., 17; Shenk
& Lang, Miller & Morton, flour, etc.; Krift & Ricker, D. Moening,
builders' wood-work.--State Report 1887. Also Empire Excelsior Works, Delphos Chemical Works,
pearlash, etc. Population in 1880, 3,814. School census in 1886, 782; E. W.
Greenslade, principal.
Delphos was laid out in 1845,
directly after the opening of the Miami and Erie canal. The different portions of it were originally
known as Section 10, Howard, and East and West Bredeick.
Its general name for many years was Section 10. It is said that Delphos could
not have been settled without the aid of quinine. The air was so poisoned but
also the very dogs of the settlement suffered intensely from fever and ague.
Ferdinand Bredeick built the first cabin; E. N. Morton the first saw- and the
first grist-mills; and Mrs. George Lang (maiden name, Amelia Bredeick) was the
first child born here. The original settlers were German Catholics. In December,
1845, thirty-six male members met in a cabin, and made arrangements to build a
church. It was the first established at Delphos, and "its honored founder,
Rev. John O. Bredeick, was the benevolent guardian of the spiritual and
material interests of the German settlers, who were pioneers in the
inhospitable forests of North America."
It was a huge, ungainly structure. It was succeeded in 1880 by an elegant
church, erected at an expense of over $100,000; it has a chime of bells, and
its appointments are all in keeping--stained glass windows, paintings,
statuary, altars, frescos, organ, etc.
Samuel Ferrer, the civil-engineer, is
regarded as the pioneer of this region, as he ultimately settled here in
Delphos. He was connected with the Ohio canal
surveys from July, 1825, to 1831, and located the Miami
and Erie canal; in 1871, when he was
seventy-eight years of age, he still held the position of consulting engineer
of this work. Earlier he had been canal commissioner and member of the board of
public works.
Knapp's "History of the Maumee Valley,"
published in 1872, has these interesting items:
"The great forests, once
so hated because they formed a stumbling-block in the tedious struggles to
reduce the soil to a condition for tillage, have been converted into a source
of wealth. Within a radius of five miles of Delphos, thirty-five saw-mills (now
perhaps doubled) are constantly employed in the manufacture of lumber, and a
value nearly equalling the product of these mills is annually exported in the form
of lumber. Excepting in the manufacture of maple sugar, and for local building
and fencing purposes, no use until recent years had been made of the timber,
and its destruction from the face of the earth was the especial object of the
pioneer farmers, and in this at that time supposed good work they had the
sympathies of all others who were interested in the development of the country.
The gathering of the ginseng crop once afforded employment to the families of
the early settlers, but the supply was scanty and it soon became exhausted.
Some eighteen years ago, when the business of the town was suffering from
stagnation, Dr. J. W. Hunt, an enterprising druggist, and now a citizen of
Delphos, bethought himself that he might aid the pioneers of the wilderness,
and add to his own trade, by offering to purchase the bark from the slippery
elm trees, which were abundant in the adjacent swamps. For this new article of
commerce he offered remunerative prices, and the supply soon appeared in
quantities reaching hundreds of cords of the cured bark; and he has since
controlled the trade in Northwestern Ohio and
adjacent regions. The resources found in the lumber and timber and in this bark
trade, trifling as the latter may appear, have contributed, and are yet
contributing, almost as much to the prosperity of the town and country as the
average of the cultivated acres, including the products of the orchard."
BLUFFTON, on the L. E. and W.
and C. and W. railroads, is seventy-five miles southwest of Sandusky, in the northeast corner of the
country. It was laid out in 1837, under the name of Shannon,
which it retained many years. Newspaper: News, Independent, N. W. Cunningham, editor. Churches: one
Lutheran, one Methodist, one Catholic, one Reformed, one Presbyterian, and one
Dissenters. Bank: People's, Daniel Russell, proprietor and cashier.
Manufacturers
and Employees.--Althaus & Bro.,
builders' wood-work, 10 hands; A. J. St. John, handles, lumber, etc., 10; A.
Klay, machinery, 5; J. M. Townsend & Son, lumber, etc., 5; W. B. Richards,
flour and feed, 3.--State Report 1886. Population in 1880, 1,290. School census 1886, 464; S. C.
Patterson, superintendent. West of the town is a large Mennonite settlement.
Large stone quarries are in its vicinity.
SPENCERVILLE, laid out in
1844-45, at the intersection of C. A. and D. Ft. W. C. railroads, and on the Miami and Erie canal, is fourteen miles from Lima. Newspaper: Journal, Independent, S. L. Ashton, editor. Bank: Citizens', Post
& Wasson; I. B. Post, cashier. Churches: one Methodist, one German
Methodist, two Baptist, one Catholic, one German Reformed, and one Christian.
Manufacturers
and Employees.--J. S. Fogle, Sr., lumber, 5
hands; Richard Hanse, churns, 10; George Kephart, clothes-racks, etc., 10;
Kolter & Kraft, flour and feed, 6; R. H. Harbison, builders' wood-work, and
also staves and heading, 31; W. A. Reynolds, lumber and feed, 5.--State
Report 1886. Census 1880, 532. School
census 1886, 468; C. R. Carlo, principal.
Small villages, with census in
1880; Elida, 302; Lafayette, 333; Westminster, 225; Cairo,
316; Beaver Dam, 353.
Reprinted
from Henry Howe's History of Ohio (1889).