Buchman Traces County Indians

From the Progress of Aug. 4, 1993. By Melinda Krick, Correspondent.

MORE THAN 100 people went on a “time trip” — from 10,000 B.C. to the 1830s — to learn more about the Indians of Paulding County at a special event last week.

Randy Buchman, an associate professor of history at Defiance College, was guest speaker at the annual Old Settlers’ Day at John Paulding Historical Society Museum Friday.

Buchman, who has an interest in Ohio pre-history and the Indians of Ohio, traced the different peoples who were in this area from post-ice age times through the days of the early white settlers, according to Buchman.

He pointed out that the Indians weren’t conscious of the borders that we recognize for counties and states. The region has historical significance for our nation because of the number of river valleys: the Maumee, Auglaize, St. Joe, St. Marys and Tiffin.

The first people in the area were here about 10,000-12,000 years ago, when this was a frozen grassland and the last glacier was slowly retreating nearby. The people were known as “early hunters” and relied on animals to provide all they needed for survival.

The glaciers receded north, changing the climate and ecosystem, and creating woodlands. Buchman said the Indians’ changed their lifestyle, becoming food-gatherers as well as hunters. These “archaic” people created the stone tools, such as hatchets, that are sometimes found along rivers.

About 200-300 A.D., the “early woodland” people started growing food, too, in addition to hunting and gathering. This constant source of food gave them more time for other activities, such as making pottery and different tools, according to Buchman.

Later, deerskin and beaver pelts became valuable to certain tribes that were willing to trade — or take — the skins. This led to the Beaver Wars in the late 1500s in the Great Lakes region. This was a cultural-linguistic conflict among Indians, not simply a tribal war, Buchman explained.

Iroquois of Lake Ontario region would send war parties to attack the Sioux peoples of the Lake Superior region, and vice versa, often traveling through northern Ohio. As a result of this danger, the Indians living here fled from about 1600-1620.

The British and French helped end the war, and a 1701 treaty restored the peace and brought Indians back to Ohio, said Buchman. The Hurons returned, now calling themselves Wyandots, meaning “wanderers.” Also moving in were the Ottawas, Miamis, Mingo, Delawares and Shawnee.

In the early 1700s, when the French were in control, the Miamis would camp in Paulding County to hunt in the summer and winter. The groups also contained some Kickapoo and Mascouten. By the mid-1700s, the Miamis had moved north of the Maumee, and the first Ottawas came here from the Detroit area via the Maumee, which was a major artery for the fur trade. Also, the Delawares visited ever two or three winters to hunt around the Auglaize, said Buchman.

About 1760-1776, the British had defeated the French for control of the frontier, and the French-allied Miamis moved to western Indiana. The Ottawas became more entrenched along the Maumee, and now the Shawnee periodically came near the county’s eastern borders.

The Revolutionary War era saw another exodus from the area as the British traveled up the Maumee and Auglaize on their way to Kentucky to attack American interests.

From about 1796-1819, the county saw Indian activity again with the return of the Ottawas, Delawares, Shawnee and Miamis. The Delawares started the first village on the Auglaize south of the Paulding-Defiance County Line, according to Buchman. The village contained about 15-20 multi-family wigwams. Another Delaware village of eight to 10 wigwams soon appeared on the east back of the Auglaize, near the county line.

Around this time, the government wanted to sell land to white settlers, which the Indians of course opposed. The Indians of this area were major proponents of attacking whites moving north of the Ohio River, Buchman said. The tribes banded together, centered in Fort Wayne.

Efforts to quell the Indians initially failed. They moved east, centering around Defiance to be closer to the British at Detroit. Then after the Indians’ defeat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, the Delawares moved their village south near Oakwood, and became known as Oquanoxa’s village.

Through the early 1800s, the Delawares and Miamis left the area for the last time, setting in Indiana. The Ottawas remained in Ohio until about 1832.

The Indians “were the caretakers of Paulding County before the settlers came here,” Buchman said. “They didn’t destroy and contaminate the rivers, they didn’t kill all the animals … We owe it to them to be good caretakers, too.”