History of Paulding County, Ohio (Historical Hand-Atlas, 1882)
History of Paulding County, by Prof. Everett A. Budd, as printed in the Historical Hand-Atlas: History of Northwestern Ohio and History of Paulding County, Ohio. H. H. Hardesty & Co., Publishers, Chicago and Toledo, 1882.
Statistics (from 1882)
The population of the county in 1830 was 161; in 1840, 1,034; in 1850, 1,766; in 1860, 4,945; in 1870, 8,544; in 1880, 13,489. Number of acres of arable or plow land as returned in 1880, 47,199. Number of acres meadow or pasture land, 7,230. Number of acres timber land, 205,970. Total number of acres in county, 260,399.
Geographic Position
Of the seven physical regions of Ohio, the Maumee Valley is one. It is situated in the northwest part of the State and embraces eighteen counties; of these Paulding county holds a position in the western part, and is bounded by Defiance, Putnam and Van Wert counties, Ohio; and Allen county, Indiana. It’s south line is the forty-first parallel of north latitude and the meridian of eighty-four degrees and thirty minutes crosses the county near its eastern boundary.
Introductory History
The following scraps of general history will be of great aid and interest to the reader, in showing him the channels of civilization and the paths of immigration that were trodden ere the county was wrested from the dominion of the red men, and its dark forests entered by the hardy and fearless pioneer.
The discovery of San Salvador, in 1492, by Christopher Columbus, was an event which may be said to mark the starting point of him who attempts to write a history of America or any potion of it. When that great and good man made his triumphant entry into Madrid, surrounded with the trophies and curiosities of the New World, he fired the European heart with a spirit of nautical adventure, and soon the ships of every maritime nation were turning their prows westward; and from that time to the present, “westward the star of empire has taken its way.”
When the period of voyage and discovery ceased, it was found that the French had planted permanent colonies around the shores of the gulf, and along the banks of the river St. Lawrence; the English had gained strong footholds farther down the Atlantic coast, and the flag of Spain waved over the settlements of that nation in Florida.
The right to the soil upon which these various colonies were founded, was based upon the right of discovery, and their possessions were held by charters granted them by the sovereigns of their mother countries. The boundaries of these possessions were often irregular and indefinite, and gave rise to disputed territory. The French settlers, ascending the St. Lawrence, laid claim to the great lake region and all north and west of the Ohio river. Their Jesuit Priests entered the pathless wilds of the Indian country, and established a line of missionary posts from the lakes westward across what are now the States of Indiana and Illinois. Some of these posts were established as early as 1680, and it is not improbable, but highly presumable, that about this time one of these daring priests, wandering up the romantic banks of the beautiful Maumee, to some post on the Wabash, was the first white man to set foot upon that portion of earth, which, “in the course of human events,” became the northern part of Paulding county. But his name and the spot where his adventuresome bones moldered back to their native clay, must alike remain unknown to the present or future historian. Yet, this we do know, that long years afterward, in the foot-prints of this wanderer came the hardy pioneers who made permanent settlements and battled with the dark forests which once covered the now broad and fertile fields of Crane and Carryall townships.
The English, extending their possessions westward, also laid claim to the Ohio country. This led to cruel and bloody wars, in which the echoing whoop of the savage oft resounded; but, at last, on the fall of Quebec and the treaty of Paris, in 1763, the French possessions east of the Mississippi fell into the hands of the English.
Immediately following this treaty, the King of England issued a proclamation, forbidding his governors in America to grant any warrants of survey, or patents for any lands beyond the source of any of the rivers that fall into the Atlantic ocean from the west or northwest; or upon any lands not ceded by the Indians. The effect of this proclamation was to prevent all attempts to settle any part of what is now the State of Ohio. In this manner its soil remained wholly untouched by Europeans until the Revolution; and during that struggle it was preserved from settlement by the contest which arose among the different States; with reference to the vacant lands.
Thus it seems that the great State, of which Paulding county forms a part, was reserved until all was ripe to try within its limits the experiment of a Republican form of government; and the men who had fought the battles of the Revolution — had stood side by side with the immortal Washington — were the first to tread her soil as citizens.
In 1787, the “North-West Territory” was formed, and along its eastern and southern borders came the heroes we have mentioned. On the pleasant banks of the Ohio they settled, and lured by the rich bottoms of the Muskingum, Scioto and Miami, they extended their settlements along these streams, even to their headwaters, and at every advance neared the “Black Swamp” region.
Owing to encroachments of the Northwest Indians upon the Ohio settlers, which at times would break out in murderous warfare, and after the armies of General Harmar and St. Clair had sustained disastrous defeats, in 1794, an army, commanded by “Mad Anthony Wayne,” left the headwaters of the Miami with the determined purpose of subduing these aboriginal raiders.
He cut a road and passed down the west side of the Auglaize river to where now stands the flourishing city of Defiance; thence, after totally defeating the Indians at the battle of “Fallen Timber,” near the present site of Maumee City, he retraced his steps up the river to Fort Wayne, laying waste to everything before him, and making desolate the whole Maumee country.
The bright rays of civilization pierced the smoke of this desolation, and served as beacon lights to attract the attention and guide the daring frontiersman into the country, and the military roads of this conquering army became the routes and highways over which came the early settlers.
Soil and Timber
The county is wholly situated in the “Black Swamp,” and the soil is characteristic of that well-known region. It is in the most part clayey, if not clay.
Large boulders and stones are not common on the surface, but are found in the river beds. A finely laminated clay is shown along the banks of the Maumee, which at some points in the county reaches the depth of ten feet. This forms the top of the drift, and gives character to the soil. At other points in the county this laminated structure is wanting, and the usual amount of gravel stones, and even boulders, are embraced in the soil. In some parts of the county, particularly in the eastern part, there are ridges of sand, which have an excellent black soil, and is very easily tilled. In fact, there is scarcely an acre of ground in the county but what is susceptible of cultivation, and wherever the forests have been cleared away, and the “stubborn glebe” broken by the plow, it has yielded a rich harvest to the worthy husbandman.
The county in its natural state was very heavily timbered; and, as yet, contains extensive tracts of timber land. Among the various species that it embraces may be mentioned the white, red, shingle, chestnut, pin and burr oak; the black, white, blue and prickly ash; the beech, and the water beech; the elm, and the slippery elm; cottonwood; soft, and sugar maple; black walnut, hickory, sycamore, basswood, aspen, black cherry, mulberry, ironwood, flowering dogwood, buckeye, wild plum, great-toothed poplar, thorn, honey locust, pawpaw, wahoo, hackberry, judas tree, apple and June berry.
In the early settlements of the county much valuable timber was destroyed in the clearing of farms, owing to the want of market. Large and valuable oaks and poplars were wantonly cut down by hunters in quest of raccoon. It seems now like a pity that such should have been the case, but at that time, a “coon-skin” was worth more than a dozen poplars, however proudly they might wave their branches in the forest breeze. Large quantities of oak staves have been made in the county, and ship timber to the value of thousands of dollars are annually taken from its forests. The black walnut and poplar have become almost extinct, but cottonwood and elm yet remain in apparently inexhaustible quantities.
The Press
Realizing the importance of a history of the county press, and the interest with which it would be read, the writer has sought to give it. The data, however, for writing the same, has been obtained with much difficulty, by reason of the files of first papers having been destroyed in the Auditor’s office, at the burning of the Court House in 1868.
The first newspaper in the county was started in 1853. It was called the age of Progress, and was published by Hon. P. W. Hardesty, in the village of Paulding. In it was published the first forfeited list and land sale of the county. It lived but for a few months, when its materials was sold to Hon. A. S. Latty and its name changed to the Democrat. This paper was published for a year or two, and was sold to J. D. Baker, who changed it to the Republican, published it about a year in the county, then moved it to Defiance.
In the Summer of 1856, John W. Ayres and Ezra J. Smith bought the material for a printing office and started the Paulding Eagle, with Fielding S. Cable as editor. It was afterward sold to J. O. Shannon, who conducted the paper until the Fall of 1859, when the Eagle folded its pinions and sank down to rest upon its laurels. With its stock, and in the same office, on the corner of Perry and Water streets, in Paulding, S. R. Brown commenced the publication of the Paulding Independent, the first copy of which was issued on the tenth day of November, 1859. The Independent continued to be published by Mr. Brown until October 10, 1863, when its valedictory number was issued.
The material of the office was sold to Dr. Daniel W. Hixson and Fielding S. Cable, who issued the first copy of the Paulding Press the next week after the demise of the Independent. The Press was published for a time, when the office passed into the hands of Thomas Melia, who changed its name to the Rural Ohioan. It was again sold to Fielding S. Cable, who continued its publication under the same name until his death in 1870.
Its material was then purchased by Thomas Emery and Wesley A. Savage. These gentlemen established the Plain Dealer, and continued with the paper until July 10, 1873, when Mr. Emery issued his valedictory.
Mr. Savage remained with the paper one week longer, then sold to J. D. Baker, who, without changing its name, continued to issue it until March 26, 1874, when he removed it to some point in Wood county, Ohio.
All of the above mentioned papers were published in the village of Paulding, and were sustained in a great measure by the county printing.
In the year of 1869, the Review was started in Antwerp by Hon. Joseph Cable. He afterwards removed it to Paulding, and in 1872 sold its material to Messrs. Hammond and DeWitt who were the founders of the Paulding Journal. Mr. Hammond soon quit the firm, and the paper was controlled by Mr. DeWitt until purchased by George W. Potter, who commenced publishing the Paulding Democrat, April 9, 1874.
In the Spring of 1876, Mr. Potter disposed of the office to the firm of Hardy & Becker. In four weeks after the purchase, Mr. Becker sold his interest to Robert Temple who continued a partner only two months, when the entire control of the paper went to Mr. Hardy.
In the Spring of 1877, it was re-bought by Mr. Potter, and in the following Autumn was sold again by him to Stalter and Hardy.
Shortly after this it fell into the hands of the Main’s Brothers, who sold it to the present proprietor, R. D. Webster, in January, 1879.
The publication of the Paulding Register commenced at Paulding in the early part of 1876, Messrs. Fisher & Keller being the editors and proprietors. Mr. Fisher soon retired from the paper, and Mr. Keller assumed control. It was a sprightly little paper, but survived only one short year, when in 1877 its material was sold to George P. Hardy and submerged into the Democrat Office.
The Antwerp Banner was started in that village in the early part of 1879, by R. S. Murphy, who owned the office but employed H. W. Sprague to conduct the paper as editor and proprietor.
It suspended publication about the 1st of September, 1881, by reason of its material being sold to Will J. Conant, and moved to Dickson, Tennessee, to be used in starting the Dickson County Press.
The Antwerp Gazette was established in Antwerp, April 25, 1866, by Will E. Osborn. Its publication was continued in that village until it was removed to Paulding, where Mr. Osborn changed it to the Paulding County Gazette, issued the first copy November 25, 1878, and continues to publish it up to the present time.
Manufacturing Industries
The heavy growth of timber in the county has invited several kinds of manufacturing establishments into it. Among these may be noticed the two furnaces for the smelting of iron ores. One of these is known as the Antwerp Furnace, and is located on the Maumee river at Antwerp; the other is known as the Paulding Furnace, and is located near Cecil, on section 23, Crane township. The ore is obtained from Lake Superior region and is transported by the lakes to Toledo; from there is was formerly brought by canal to the furnaces, but is now shipped over the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific R. R.
The Antwerp Furnace is owned by Bradley, Cobb, Kimball & Company; it is operated by Thomas Fitzsimons. It was built in 1865; the height of stack is 42 feet; height of boshes, 7 feet; height of hearth, 6 feet; height of tuyeres, 40 inches; diameter of throat, 3 feet 6 inches; diameter in boshes, 8 feet 10 inches; of tuyeres, 3 1/4 inches; number of tuyeres, 3; temperature and pressure of blast not known.
The cost of ores at the furnace is $10. Charcoal is used for fuel and is obtained at the furnace kilns at a cost of 7 1/2 cents per bushel.
The flux is corniferous limestone, and is obtained from the Maumee river near the furnace at a cost of $8 per cord. A charge is composed of 600 pounds of ore, 30 pounds of flux, and 30 bushels of charcoal. The number of charges in twenty-four hours is 50; the production in twenty-four hours is 13 tons.
Two-thirds of all the iron produced is gray, one-twelfth is white, and one-fourth is mottled.
The kind of engine used in blast is upright; diameter of steam cylinder, 26 inches; size of blast cylinder, 50 inches in diameter and 26 feet long; stroke of piston per minute, about 30; pressure of steam, from 40 to 50 pounds; the blast ovens used are Pollocks. The average length of campaign is eight months.
The proprietors of the Paulding Furnace are Graff, Bennett & Company. It is operated by the Paulding Iron Company, limited; S. Frank Eagle is the present superintendent.
The furnace was built in the year 1864-5. It was burnt down in the Fall of 1875, and rebuilt the following winter. The dimensions of the furnace are as follows: height of stack, 40 feet; height of boshes, 8 feet; height of hearth, 6 feet; height of tuyeres, 32 inches; diameter of tuyeres, 3 1/2 inches; diameter at throat, 38 inches; diameter at boshes, 9 1/2 feet; number of tuyeres, 3; diameter at nozzle of tuyeres, 3 1/2 inches. The temperature of the blast is 900 degrees; pressure of blast, 1 1/2 pounds per square inch. The Lake Superior ore is used. It is obtained from a mine near Marquette, Michigan, at a cost of $10 per ton. Its percentage of iron is about 66.
The fuel used is charcoal, and is obtained at the furnace at a cost of about 7 1/2 cents per bushel.
Limestone (upper corniferous), is used for flux. It was formerly obtained from section 17, Defiance township, Defiance county, Ohio, at a cost of $1.50 per perch at the furnace. The amount of charge is 500 pounds of ore, 22 bushels of coal, and 50 pounds of limestone; the number of charges in twenty-four hours is about 80.
The amount of iron produced in twenty-four hours is about eleven tons.
All kinds of iron is made, and about five-sixths of all is gray.
A horizontal blast engine is used. The size of steam cylinder is eighteen inches; the pressure of steam is about sixty pounds.
The annual production of iron was, in 1869, 2,788 tons; in 1879, 2,494 tons; 1871, 2,725 tons. The price of iron in 1869 was about $44; in 1870 about $38; and in 1871, about $40 per ton.
The amount of fuel used in producing a ton of iron is about 140 bushels.
The furnace is situated on the Paulding & Cecil Railroad, and the ore and wood are brought to it by rail.
A mill for the manufacture of elm hoops was erected at Paulding in the Fall of 1880, and is now in successful operation, by the firm of Holcombe & Evans. The machinery is run by two large engines, which are furnished by three boilers.
The machinery consists of a large circular saw for sawing the logs into bolts, one cutter, two planers, two pointers, and four coiling machines.
The number of hands employed is about fifty, and the number of hoops manufactured is about 36,000 per day. Col. W. C. Kewen is the present superintendent.
Extensive stave factories are located at Antwerp, Junction, Paulding, Fort Brown and Timberville. Many sawmills are located in every part of the county, and their lumber products form an important article of export.
County Officers
It will, no doubt, be very interesting to the readers of this work to know the names of those who have held official honors in the county. Believing such, the writer has with some difficulty obtained them.
The first Auditor of the county was Andrew Clemmer; then, in the following order came ——- Palmer, A. S. Latty, B. L. Wentworth, Richard S. Banks, Isaiah Richards, V. V. Pursell, William C. Means, Charles Hakes and Robert S. Murphy.
The first Probate Judge was Ezra J. Smith, followed by Fielding S. Cable, who held the office for ten consecutive years; Lewis S. Gordon, by appointment; David C. Carey, Calvin L. Noble and Benjamin L. Wentworth.
The first Sheriff was Andrew J. Smith, followed by Ephraim Burwell, which two obtained the office by appointment.
Matthew Fleming was the first elected Sheriff of the county, and was succeeded by William K. Daggett, Thomas C. Banks, John Crosson, I. Richards, Freeborn, T. Mellinger; (John Brakefield, Coroner, served four months as Sheriff); Andrew P. Meng, Jesper A. Fergerson, Hiram M. Ayres and Samuel J. Tate.
The first Clerk was Horatio N. Curtis, and his successors have been Andrew J. Taylor, John Lincoln, James M. Russell, Robert Russell, Samuel Means, Orlando Russell, Orsin D. Fuller, and Joseph B. Cromley.
The Treasurers of the county have been William Gordon, Richard S. Banks, James M. Russell, Ezra J. Smith, Isaiah Richards, Lewis Gordon, Peter Hilty, Frederick Young and Samuel G. Robertson.
The first Recorder of the county was General Horatio N. Curtis, and after him came Andrew J. Taylor, H. A. Shaffer, A. P. Seely, William T. French, Lewis S. Gordon, Charles Hakes and Isaiah Richards.
The Prosecuting Attorneys of the county have been John W. Ayres, John S. Snook, D. N. Osborn (by appointment); A. H. Selden, Thomas B. Holland and Medary D. Mann.
The first Board of Commissioners was —— Shoufe, John Kingery and Thomas Banks, and the following are names of men who have since held the office: Thomas Wentworth, John Manson, sen., John Musselman, John Stair, Samuel Forder, Hubert Naveau, Henry Oswalt, John Hardesty, G. W. Morris (by appointment); L. M. Barnes, Alonzo H. Seldon, Theodore G. Merchant, Co Gordon, John D. Carlton, Alexander Brown, Wilson N. Snook, Joseph Bowyer (died in office); Thomas Chester, Francis M. Wade, George W. Sowers and George Gusler.
The above may be said to have been the representative men of the county. Many of them are yet its most honored citizens. Some have died, and their moldering bones are resting beneath its soil; while a few, swept by the tide of emigration, have found homes in the “Far West.”
National Drainage — Names of Streams
The principal stream of the county is the Maumee. It is formed by the uniting of the St. Marys and St. Joseph at the city of Ft. Wayne; and after bursting through Lake Erie’s first beach, takes a northeasterly course and cuts off the northwest corner of the county.
The next stream in size is the Big Auglaize. It enters the county on the east side and takes first a northwesterly and then a northeasterly course, forming a curve which cuts off the northeast corner of the county. The bed of this stream lies a few miles west of Lake Erie’s second beach, and to which the course of the river is attributable.
Crooked Creek finds an entrance into the county near its southwest corner, flows a northeasterly course through the central part, and unites with the Auglaize about one mile south of the village of Junction. A few miles south of Crooked Creek is Blue Creek, also flowing northeasterly and uniting with the Auglaize. The Little Auglaize enters the county near the southeast corner, flows a southerly course and discharges its waters into the Big Auglaize, at Old Fort Brown. Dog Creek and Prairie Creek are small western tributaries of the Little Auglaize, and flow but a short distance in the county.
The streams are all of a sluggish nature, and have a winding course through wooded land, much of which, in the Spring, is covered with surface water and is slowly drained.
Formation, Organization and Extent
The Indians of Northwestern Ohio, having ceded their lands to the United States, the Legislature of that State, by an act of February 12, 1820, proceeded to divided the newly acquired territory into counties, of which Paulding county is one, and dates its formation from the above-mentioned year. The county was named in honor of John Paulding, a native of Peekskill, New York, and one of the captors of the brave but unfortunate Andrew.
The base line from which the surveys of the public lands were made was established in May, 1819, by Sylvanus Bourne.
The township lines were established in 1820, by Alexander Holmes, Samuel Holmes and others; and in 1821-22 the townships were subdivided into sections by James W. Riley and his assistants.
The county of Williams was organized February 2, 1824, and Paulding county was attached to it for judicial purposes, until its own organization in 1839. On March the 4th, 1815, by an act of the Ohio Legislature, the county of Defiance was formed. Its territory was composed of eight townships taken from Williams county, three from Henry, and a half township from Paulding. The formation of this new county reduced Paulding to its present shape, which, were it not for this half township taken from its northeastern corner, would be a rectangle, extending east and west, twenty-four miles in length, and eighteen in width. Its present boundaries embrace ten full townships, six miles square, and Emerald township, containing thirty-two sections, and Auglaize township, containing twenty-two; in all an area of 416 square miles.
First Court and County Seats
Following the organization of the county, the first Associate Judges, Nathan Eaton, Gilman C. Mudgett and John Hudson, met in the Fall of 1839, and appointed H. N. Curtis Clerk, pro tem, and Andrew J. Smith, Sheriff. The first court was held in the Spring of 1840, at the village of New Rochester, with Hon. Emery D. Potter as the Presiding Judge. The writer has no means of giving a synopsis of the business transacted at that court, as the records have not been preserved. The village was situated on the south bank of the Maumee, about a mile north of the present village of Cecil. It was at that time the most flourishing place in the county, containing about thirty or forty families, three hotels, three store-rooms, two blacksmith shops, two tailor shops, and was passed by daily stages that ran on a route from Toledo to Fort Wayne. But now its buildings have rotted away, its once busy streets have become deserted, and the cereals are grown upon its sunny slopes; naught but an old moldering schoolhouse remains to mark the location of Paulding county’s first place of transacting county business.
From New Rochester the county seat was established at Charloe, and the court and county business removed to that place in the year of 1841. The village was laid out by Benjamin F. Hollister, and was pleasantly located on the left bank of the Big Auglaize. A neat, commodious brick court house was erected, with county offices below and court room above. It is yet standing, but in a dilapidated and decaying condition.
Some of the early settlers of Charloe were John W. Ayres, G. H. Philips, John H. Taylor, A. H. Palmer, and the Hankins and Kingery families. Its site was that of an old Indian town, where Oquanoxa, an Indian chief, lived with about six hundred Indians (a portion of the Ottawa tribe), before they were removed beyond the Mississippi. Charloe’s location is a beautiful one, its scenery is picturesque and grand, and at one time it was a busy and enterprising village, but, like New Rochester, when shorn of its county-seat honors, the star of its destiny went down, and decay was imprinted upon its bosom; many of its first buildings have crumbled to dust and only a few families remain to tell the story of its former greatness.
Paulding, the third and present county-seat of the county, was laid out by George March, August 10, 1850; Ezra J. Smith, surveyor. It is located on the left bank of Flat Rock, or Crooked Creek, one and a half miles north of the geographical center of the county. By a special act of legislature the county-seat was located there in 1851, and the county business was removed from Charloe in the Spring of that same year. The site was selected in consequence of its central position. At first it was in the midst of a heavy forest and almost without roads or communication with the “outer world.” Many of its first county officers lived in log cabins. Its courthouse was a hastily constructed two story frame and was burned down January 2, 1868. It was supplanted soon after with a neat one-story frame in which the courts are still held.
The jail was constructed of hewn logs, and was used until 1876, when a large substantial brick one was erected. The county offices are in a brick building erected for that purpose.
Paulding has a population of 800, and is fast taking rank as a manufacturing town; if no withering blights fall upon it as upon the other county-seats its future will be full of hope, bright and promising, even as it is at the present writing.
War Record
The war record which the county sustains for the part taken in the late Rebellion is a bright one, and well may it go down in history, covered with glory, to be cherished in the memory of the citizens and their posterity.
When the first tocsin of that unholy war was sounded and the wires flashed the news over a startled country that Fort Sumter had fallen, it fired the patriotic heart of many a brave backwoodsman of the county; and when the call for the three months’ volunteers came, he said, “My country has been assailed, I will go and help defend her.” And within a few days a company had been raised, officered, equipped, and was on its way to the seat of war; this was Company G of the 14th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
Its officers were John S. Snook, Captain; Alfred M. Russell, 1st Lieutenant; and John Crosson, 2nd Lieutenant. The company served bravely with its regiment in the campaign of Western Virginia, and participated in the engagements of Philippi, and Carrick’s Ford. War-stained and weary it returned home in the early part of July, and when disbanded many of its members soon re-enlisted in other regiments that were forming.
The first company in the county organized for the three year’s service was Company F of the 38th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
It was recruited during the Summer of 1861, and its first officers were John H. Adams, Captain; John Crosson, 1st Lieutenant; and E. W. Gleason, 2nd Lieutenant.
In the latter part of August it rendezvoused with the regiment in camp, at Defiance, and on the 8th of September started for Camp Dennison, and was soon in Kentucky, doing gallant service on the “tented field.” It veteranized in 1863, and served until the close of the war.
In the Fall of 1861 Captain P. H. Mooney recruited Company “C” of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. J. C. Banks was elected 1st Lieutenant, and George Kniss, 2d Lieutenant. It joined the regiment at Camp Latty, near Napoleon, in December, and in a few weeks was sent to the front. It served in the Western Army, veteranized, took part in some of the hardest fought battles of the war, and was mustered out of service in 1865.
When the 14th Regiment was organized for the three years’ service, Company “G” was raised in the county for it. William Eckles was commissioned Captain, W. C. Crawford, 1st Lieutenant, and Henry B. Ferguson, 2d Lieutenant. It veteranized, fought gallantly in the Army of the West, until mustered out at the close of the war.
The fourth company organized in the county for the three years’ service was Company “I,” of the 100th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The company was recruited by Emanuel Kaufman, who was elected Captain, with Dennison S. Hughes, 1st Lieutenant, and Joseph S. Champion, for 2d Lieutenant. This company, also, did noble service until their country needed their services no longer.
In the Spring of 1863, the 42d Battalion Ohio National Guards, consisting of Companies “A,” “B” and “C,” was organized in the county and commanded by Major Andrew P. Meng.
In April, 1864, the battalion was called into active service, and rendezvoused at Antwerp, May 2d, drilled for a day or two, and was sent home with orders to report again for duty on the 10th of that month.
The 10th came, when the battalion reported as ordered, and was soon on its way to serve the General Government for the period of 100 days.
At Toledo it was found that the battalion did not have three maximum companies, and Company “C” was consolidated with companies “A” and “B.”
With these two companies, the battalion proceeded to Columbus, Ohio, and were ordered to Camp Chase, four miles west of that city.
Here it was consolidated with the 32d Battalion, from Logan county, and one company from Montgomery county, Ohio; and became Companies “A” and “H” of the 132d Regiment Ohio National Guards, and was mustered into the United States service. The officers of Company “A” were John Shirley, Captain; F. S. Cable, 1st, and Peter Snook, 2d Lieutenant; of Company “H,” Captain, B. F. H. Hankins, and E. H. Day, 1st and William Good, 2d Lieutenant.
The regiment was sent to the army of the Potomac, was attached to the 2d Brigade, 2d Division, of the 18th Army Corps, and did honorable service in the trenches around Petersburg, until its expiration of term. The regiment was mustered out of service September 10, 1864.
Besides these companies that were organized in the county, many enlisted promiscuously in the companies of other counties, so that at one time during the war scarcely a “corporal’s guard” was left in the county.
Then, let the heart of every ex-soldier who may read this history swell with emotions of pride when he remembers that in the Great Rebellion he represented a county that, according to its population, sent more soldiers than any other county in the State of Ohio. And remembering this, may the tender teardrop fall to the memory of their gallant comrades, who rallying around the flag of liberty, laid down their noble lives on the altar of their country.
The Early Settlers
As is the case with the first settlements of almost every country, the earliest settlers of Paulding county planted their homes along the banks of its streams. On the rich bottom farms that lie along the “dark Auglaize” are yet to be found the sites where were built the cabins of the Careys, the Hudsons, the Shirleys, the Romines and the Shroufes. Along the Maumee came the Banks and Reynolds families; also the Gordons, the Runyans, the Murphys, the Applegates, and General H. N. Curtis. On the Little Auglaize the Harrells, the Mellingers, and the Curtises; on Blue Creek the Moss brothers, the Reeds, the Barnhills, and the family of Robert Hakes; while on Flat Rock or Crooked Creek, the Woodcocks, the Malotts, and the Wentworths, were the first to tread the forest paths, and to swing the “settlers’ echoing ax.”
The first white settlement made in Paulding county was on Section 19, in Auglaize township, by Isaac Carey, in the Autumn of 1819. He came from Miami county, Ohio, by the route which had been opened by General Wayne to Defiance, thence up the Auglaize. The farm upon which he settled is situated on the east side of the river, about a half a mile from the present site of the village of Junction, and is now owned by Jacob Davis. Upon this farm, January 21, 1826, was born David Clark Carey, who was the first white child to open its eyes within the limits of the county. He now resides at the village of Oakwood, a few miles south of his birth-place, and is a very worthy citizen, having held the office of Probate Judge, and other offices of public trust.
Shadrack Hudson improved his farm on the same section in the same year. Nathan Shirley came in 1823, and Thomas Romine in 1825.
The settlements along the Maumee were begun in the year of 1825. Denison Hughes, William Banks, David Applegate, William Gordon, Reason V. Spurrier, and General H. N. Curtis came to the county about that year, and may be regarded as the first settlers of its northern part. Of these, the Banks and Gordon families came from Cincinnati; their route lay along the military roads that ran up the Miami to its head waters; then crossing over to the head waters of the St. Mary’s river, they loaded their household goods and wagons into pirogues and came down that river to Ft. Wayne, thence down the Maumee to their respective places of landing, which will be fully described in the township histories of this work. Their horses were unharnessed and driven across the country along the winding Indian trails that were not sufficiently wide to permit the passage of vehicles.
Joseph Mellinger commenced the Little Auglaize settlement in the year of 1828, and was shortly after followed by William Harrell, Benjamin Kniss and Dimmit Mackrill. These settlers reached the county from the southern Ohio settlements by crossing the water-shed which extends east and west through the State, and striking the head-waters of the Blanchard, thence down that stream to its confluence with the Big Auglaize.
In 1835, the Moss Brothers, natives of England, commenced improving farms on the banks of Blue Creek, while farther up that stream, about the same year, Robert Barnhill and Joseph Reed built their log cabins and commenced battling with the forest.
In 1835 Thomas Wentworth began the Flat Rock settlement. His nativity was the State of Maine, and with his family he left the pine-covered hills of that State to find a home in Paulding county. He embarked upon a coasting vessel and sailed down the Atlantic to New York, and reached Buffalo by way of Hudson river and the New York and Erie canal, thence on lake to Toledo, and up the Maumee to New Rochester, near the present site of Cecil. Here he rested with his family for a year, then cut a road through the dark forest ten miles to the south and commenced the improvement of a farm near where stands the village of Malottville.
Thus we have shown our readers the route by which the first settlers reached the county; also their names, date of entry, and place of location. It now only remains for us to pay to them that tribute which is their due; and would that our unskillful pen was equal to such a task. They were men of integrity, hardy and brave, and whether they were clearing away the forest, engaged in the hand-mill in procuring food for their families, or chasing the bounding deer for the same purpose, they showed a fortitude and determination of spirit which is worthy of imitation. But they have passed away, and they who look upon their last resting places may say, here rest the great and good; here they repose after their generous toil.
A sacred band they were, and now they take their sleep together, while every new-born Spring that is ushered in, comes with its early flowers to deck their graves. Theirs is no vulgar sepulchre — although in some instances the green sod is their only monument; yet it tells a nobler history than pillared piles, or the eternal pyramids.
Their descendants belong to the first families of the county, and with sadness they tread the hallowed ground that holds the consecrated bones of their ancestors. Touch not, then, the ancient elms that bend their shade over the lowly graves of the pioneers of Paulding county, for their shadows fall upon the resting places of those who need no columns pointing upward to tell us that heaven is their home.
Canals and Railroads
See also this archive’s Paulding County Canals entry, a parallel account from the 1892 Historical Atlas that continues further into the canal packet boat and mail lines.
As early as 1816 the necessity of connecting the waters of Lake Erie with those of the Ohio River, by means of a navigable canal, was assented to, and a correspondence upon that subject was had between Hon. Ethan Allen Brown of Cincinnati, and DeWitt Clinton, then Canal Commissioner of the State of New York.
An act of the Ohio Legislature was passed in February, 1820, authorizing the appointment of three Commissioners to locate such a canal. The act also proposed to ask of the General Government a grant of one or two millions of land. By some reason the Commissioners were not appointed and no survey was made.
In 1821-22 the subject of canal was again revived in the Ohio Legislature, and on the 31st of January a bill was passed which authorized an examination into the practicality of constructing a canal from Lake Erie to the Ohio river.
Seven Commissioners were chosen for that purpose, and competent engineers were appointed to make surveys, examinations and estimates.
Four routes were taken into consideration. The first from the Ohio river at Cincinnati to the Maumee river, and thence to the lake; the second from Sandusky Bay to some point on the Ohio; third to traverse up the Cuyahoga river, and then cross to the navigable waters of the Muskingum, thence down that stream to the Ohio; the fourth route was by way of the sources of the Grand and Mahoning rivers. The Cuyahoga and Muskingum river route won the prize, and the Ohio & Erie Canal was constructed thereon.
In 1824, however, a survey was made of the Miami and Maumee river route, and an estimate of the probable cost of constructing a canal upon it was reported to the Ohio Legislature at its session of 1824-25.
M. T. Williams, a member of the State Board of Canal Commissioners, directed this survey. Samuel Forrer was the Chief Engineer, assisted by J. L. Williams, Francis Cleveland and Richard Howe.
A great portion of this survey was through an unbroken wilderness. From where the town of St. Marys now stands to the Auglaize river, a distance of about forty miles, no signs of civilization were visible.
On the banks of the Auglaize a squatter named Elias McClish had made a small improvement. Here the party had an encampment, and also at Oquanoxa’s town, an Indian village, which stood upon the present site of Charloe.
The surveying of the Wabash & Erie Canal was commenced in 1826, but not finally completed until the Autumn of 1828.
In 1827 Congress made a land grant to the State of Indiana, of one-half of the public lands on each side of a proposed canal, that would connect Lake Erie with the waters of the Wabash river. The Indiana terminus of the Canal, and also of the grant, was at the mouth of the Tippecanoe river, 213 miles from the lake.
In May, 1828, Congress made a similar grant to Ohio, to aid in the construction of the Miami Canal from Dayton to the lake; and also in the same act authorized the State of Indiana to convey to Ohio the rights to all public lands lying within the limits of that State, upon such terms as might be agreed upon by these States. Accordingly, commissioners were chosen from both States, one from each, who met at Zanesville, Ohio in October, 1829, where Indiana, through her commissioner, agreed to surrender all the lands within the limits of Ohio to the latter named State on condition that she would construct the canal from the State line to Toledo, and give to the citizens of Indiana all the rights and privileges that were granted to the citizens of Ohio.
Although the Miami canal was the first to be surveyed, yet Indiana people were the first to begin their portion of the work.
The first ground on the Wabash & Erie Canal was broken at Ft. Wayne, in the Spring of 1832.
The work progressed slowly, and by the middle of 1835 only thirty-two miles had been completed.
In 1840 the canal was open between Lafayette and the east line of Indiana. Ohio was slower than Indiana to appreciate this needed channel of navigation, and Indiana, disappointed at this tardiness, in 1840 sent their Chief Engineer to Columbus to urge upon the Legislature of Ohio the speedy fulfillment of their portion of the canal contract.
The Ohio people commenced work immediately, and in 1843 the final completion of the Wabash & Erie Canal took place; the event was celebrated at Ft. Wayne on the 4th of July of that year, and was participated in by citizens from both States, who listened to an able oration delivered upon the occasion, by General Lewis Cass.
The Miami Canal was not completed until 1845.
These two canals, of which a brief history has been given, pass through Paulding county; the Wabash & Erie enters the county on the west side and passes through the northern tier of townships; the Miami on the south, and has a course through the eastern tier of townships.
They unite at the village of Junction in the northeastern part of the county.
The beneficial results which arose from the construction of these canals, is acknowledged by almost every citizen in the county, yet, for several years they have been suffered to remain in a miserable condition. The Indiana portion has been totally abandoned, and unless something is speedily done for the repair of the Ohio portion, the great project of its construction, which was attended with so much labor and expense, will be irrecoverably and forever lost.
In justice to H. S. Knapp it may be said that many of the dates and facts pertaining to the early surveys and construction of these canals, were gleaned from his History of the Maumee Valley.
The first railroad in the county was the Toledo, Wabash & Western, now called the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific.
This road runs through the northern part of the county for a distance of eighteen miles, and was completed in 1855. The distance that it extends through Emerald township is 31,015 feet, and its value in that township, as placed upon the tax duplicate of the county is $81,510; its distance through Crane township is 34,124 feet, and its value $89,680; its distance through Carryall township is 22,267 feet, value $58,519; its distance through the village of Antwerp is 5,613 feet, valued at $14,752; and its distance through Harrison township is 8,410 feet, valued at $22,102.
Its total distance in the county is 101,429 feet; its total value $255,563, and it pays into the county treasury a tax of about $6,000 a year.
The Paulding & Cecil Railroad extends from Cecil to Paulding, a distance of about seven miles.
S. Frank Eagle, of the Paulding Furnace, is the President of the road. The first train was run over the road September 1, 1880.
The New York, Chicago & St. Louis road was completed through the county in September, 1881. It extends through it from east to west, a few miles south of its center.
The Cincinnati, Van Wert & Michigan Railroad has been put in operation to a point on the south line of the county and its early completion from north to south through its center is anticipated.
With these roads all in successful operation, the railroad facilities in Paulding county will be almost equal to any in Ohio.
This transcription is a work in progress — the original essay continues beyond this excerpt. If you have access to later sections (township histories, notable residents and institutions), they can be appended here or added as separate document entries. A 1992 compilation reprinting pages 179-239 of the same atlas, including township and personal histories, is noted at History of Northwestern Ohio, History of Paulding County (Budd, compiled by Workman, 1992) — a strong candidate source for that missing continuation.