PAULDING COUNTY
PAULDING COUNTY was formed from old Indian Territory, April 1, 1820. It was named from John PAULDING, a native of Peekskill, N. Y., and one of the three militia men who captured Major ANDRE in the war of the Revolution; he died in 1818. The surface is level and the county covered by the Black Swamp.
Area about 420 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were 61,555: in pasture, 6,167; woodland, 56,362; lying waste, 1,469; produced in wheat, 154,723 bushels; rye, 5,379; buckwheat, 1,056; oats, 205,373; barley, 593; corn, 478,972; broom corn, 300 lbs. brush; meadow hay, 9,872 tons; clover hay, 2,103; potatoes, 30,922 bushels; tobacco, 5,050 lbs.; butter, 261,187; sorghum, 5,181 gallons; maple sugar, 430 lbs.; honey, 5,703; eggs, 335,593 dozen; grapes, 1,400 lbs.; sweet potatoes, 207 bushels; apples, 10,684; pears, 112; wool, 23,587 lbs.; milch cows owned, 3,809. School census, 1888, 8,063; teachers, 186. Miles of railroad track, 75.
Township And Census |
1840 |
1880 |
|
Township And Census |
1840 |
1880 |
Auglaize, |
298 |
1,069 |
|
Emerald, |
|
996 |
Benton, |
|
798 |
|
Harrison, |
|
770 |
Blue Creek, |
|
616 |
|
Jackson, |
|
974 |
Brown, |
181 |
1,458 |
|
Latty, |
|
609 |
Carryall, |
345 |
2,582 |
|
Paulding, |
|
1,065 |
Crane, |
211 |
1,202 |
|
Washington, |
|
1,346 |
Population of Paulding in 1840, 1,035; 1860, 4,945; 1880, 13,485, of whom 10,842 were born in Ohio; 570, Indiana; 421, Pennsylvania; 258, New York; 142, Kentucky; 141, Virginia; 267, German Empire; 165, British America; 96, Ireland; 77, France; 63, England and Wales; 7, Scotland; and 4, Norway and Sweden. Census, 1890, 25,932.
This county is all within the Black Swamp tract and is almost everywhere to the eye a dead level. The country roads having no obstacles to surmount are laid out through the woods with which the county is mostly covered, straight as an arrow, and the traveller over them can see immense distances on almost any road over which he may be passing. This with the wilderness aspect of the country strikes one with peculiar emotions.
As an illustration of the general water-like flatness of the Black Swamp region, one on a clear night can stand near the depot in Defiance and see the head-light of the locomotive just after it emerges from the curve and is coming East at the west end of the straight line which is the water tank, two and-a-half miles west of Antwerp and twenty-three miles away. Other places in the country have longer stretches of railroad line; but inequalities of grade prevent such a long vision.
The county has no basins; every acre is drainable. There is no boggy or swampy land. Where drained it is solid and every acre can be drained and cultivated. They are beginning to tile extensively and many tile factories are scattered over the county; the tiles varying from two-and-a-half to ten inches.
The county is being ditched extensively under the State statutes. An engineer appointed by the County Commissioners lays out the ditches and dictates the dimensions. They vary from to three to six feet deep and from seven to even sometimes twenty feet in width, and from six to nine feet width at bottom. These ditches are in the swales or the lowest places, often not discernible to the eye and which the engineer’s level alone can detect. Thousands of acres are now drained
Page 374
and in time the entire county will be so, when it will be one of the most level fertile tracts anywhere, producing enormous crops, especially grass.
Two great streams run through the county, the Maumee and the Auglaize, which unite at Defiance and form what is termed on ancient maps “The Miami of the Lakes.” The Maumee runs very crooked, northeast through the northwest corner townships, Carryall and Crane.
In the narrow strip north of the Maumee, south of the Defiance county line, the streams empty into the Maumee. In this tract are Fountain Wells or Natural Springs, which by piping rise two or three feet above the surface. South of the river are no fountains anywhere.
South of the Maumee all the streams run into the Auglaize. The first of these is “Six-Mile creek,” which runs the entire width of the county and is so-called because it empties into the Auglaize six miles from its mouth. On it is the “Six Miles Reservoir,” containing four and one-third square miles for the Maumee and Wabash canal, but it is now abandoned. Six Mile runs from one to three miles from the Maumee and parallel to it. The next considerable stream is “Crooked Creek,” called by the Indians Flat Rock, because the bed is a flat limestone for nearly a mile from its mouth. The streams show the county to be a plain, sloping towards the northeast, the highest parts being in the southwest.
SKETCH OF JOHN PAULDING.
This county, as stated, was named from one of the three militia men, JOHN PAULDING, David WILLIAMS and Isaac Van WERT, who took Major ANDRE prisoner, September 23, 1780. PAULDING was born in New York in 1758, and died at Staatsburg, Dutchess co., New York, in 1818. All three were Dutch and neither could speak English well. PAULDING served through the war and was three times taken prisoner. The oldest of the three was WILLIAMS, who had but passed his twenty-third birthday. The circumstances of the capture were these:
They were seated among some bushes by the road-side amusing themselves by playing cards when they were aroused by the sound of the galloping of a horse, and on going to the road saw a man approaching on a large brown horse which they afterwards observed was branded near the shoulder U. S. A. The rider was a light, trim-built man, about five feet seven inches in height, with a bold, military countenance and dark eyes and was dressed in a round hat, blue surtout, crimson coat, with pantaloons and vest of nankeen. As he neared them the three cocked their muskets and aimed at the rider, who immediately checked his horse, when the following conversation ensued:
ANDRE.–“Gentlemen, I hope you are of our party.”
PAULDING.–“What party?”
ANDRE.–“The lower party.”
PAULDING.–“We are.”
ANDRE.–“I am a British officer; I have been up the country on particular business and do not wish to be detained a single moment.”
PAULDING.–“We are Americans.”
ANDRE.–“God bless my soul, a man must do anything to get along. I am a Continental officer going down to Dobb’s Ferry to get information from below.”
ANDRE drew out and presented a pass from General ARNOLD, in which was the assumed name of John ANDERSON; but it was of no avail. ANDRE exclaimed, “You will get yourselves into trouble.” “We care not for that,” was the reply. They then compelled him to dismount, searched him and as a last thing ordered him to take off his boots. At this he changed color. WILLIAMS drew off the left boot first, and PAULDING seizing it exclaimed, “My God, here it is!” In it three half sheets of written paper were found enveloped by a half sheet, marked “Contents, West Point.” PAULDING again exclaimed, “My God, he’s a spy.” A similar package was found in the other boot.
Page 375
ANDRE was now allowed to dress. The young men now winked to each other to make further discoveries and inquired from whom he got the papers. “Of a man at Pines Bridge, a stranger to me,” replied ANDRE. He then offered for his liberty his horse and equipage, watch and one hundred guineas. This they refused unless he informed them where he obtained his manuscript. He refused to comply, but again offered his horse, equipage and one thousand guineas. They were firm in their denial and ANDRE increased his offer to ten thousand guineas and as many dry goods as they wished, which should be deposited in any place desired; that they might keep him and send any one to New York with his order, so that they could obtain them unmolested. To this they replied that it did not signify to make any offer, for he should not go. They delivered him to the nearest military station, Newcastle, twelve miles distant.
WILLIAMS, PAULDING and Van WERT stood within the ring when ANDRE was hung. When an officer informed him that his time was nearly expired and inquired if he had anything to say, he answered, “Nothing for them but to witness to the world that he died like a brave man.” The hangman, who was painted black, offered to put on the noose. “Take off your black hands,” said ANDRE; then, putting on the noose himself, took out his handkerchief, tied it on, drew it up, bowed with a smile to his acquaintances and died.
Congress gave each of ANDRE’s captors a farm in West Chester county, valued at $2,500, a life pension of $200, together with an elegant silver medal, on one side of which was the inscription, “Fidelity,” and on the reverse the motto, “Amo patrice vincit”–“The love of country conquers.”
The preceding account is from the Historical Collection of New York, by John W. BARBER and Henry HOWE (myself), to which it was original:
On the night previous to the
execution my
great-uncle, Major Nathan BEERS, of New Haven, was officer of the guard
and in
the morning he stood beside him. He
said
that ANDRE was perfectly calm. The
only
sign of nervousness he exhibited was the rolling of a pebble to and
from under
his shoe as he was standing awaiting the order for his execution. As a last thing, although
he was a stranger
to Mr. BEERS, but probably attracted by the kindness of his
countenance, he
took from his coat pocket a pen and ink sketch and handed it to him,
saying in
effect, “This is my portrait which I drew last night by
looking in a
mirror. I have no
further use for it and
I should like you to take it.”
He
accompanied this gift with a lock of his hair.
I have often seen the portrait, which Mr. BEERS gave to
Yale College.
Mr. BEERS was a man of singular
beauty of
character and lived to nearly the age of one hundred years. Though so deaf he could
not hear a word that
was uttered, he was every Sabbath in his seat at the church of which he
was a
deacon; his face was upturned to the minister with an expression so
calm, so
peaceful, that one could but feel that every feature was under the
celestial
light.
In the war Mr. BEERS was Ensign of
the
Governor’s Guards, the identical company which under the
command of Benedict
ARNOLD marched to Boston at its outbreak.
In his old age the company, at the close of a parade day
would often
march to his residence on Hillhouse
Avenue, draw up
in line and give the aged veteran a salute.
On one of these occasions he said: “Boys, I am
not much of a
speech-maker, but I can thank you.
Although I am too deaf to hear the report of your guns, I
will say your
powder smells good.”
PAULDING, county-seat of Paulding, is about one hundred and twenty miles northwest of Columbus, on the C. J. & M. R. R.
County officers, 1888: Auditor, R. D. WEBSTER; Clerk, Thomas J. CHAMPION; Commissioners, Daniel DAVIDSON, Michael MALOY, Thomas CHESTER; Coroner, Daniel W. HIXON; Informary Directors, Henry DOWNHOUR, Samuel DOTTERER, Daniel H. DUNLAP; Probate Judge, Vance BRODNIX; Prosecuting Attorney, W. H. SNOOK; Recorder, Frank M. BASHORE; Sheriff, Edward C. SWAIN; Surveyor, Oliver MORROW; Treasurer, Michael FINAN. City officers, 1888: H. E. McCLURE, Mayor; Bell SMITH, Clerk; Joseph B. CROMLEY, Treasurer; John BASHORE, Marshal. Newspapers: Democrat, Democratic, N. R. WEBSTER, editor and publisher; Paulding County Republican, Republican, A. DURFEY, editor and publisher. Churches: one Methodist, one United Brethren and one Presbyterian. Banks:
Page 376
Paulding Deposit, C. H. ALLEN, president, W. H. MOHR, cashier; Potter’s, George W. POTTER, cashier.
It has 2 hoop and stave factories, 1 hub and buggy spoke factory–the hubs are made from elm and spokes from hickory–2 saw mills in town, while the country around is full of saw mills; also, two wagon and buggy shops and 1 planing mill.
Population, 1880, 454. School census, 1888, 606. Capital invested in industrial establishments, $93,500. Value of annual product, $218,000.–Ohio Labor Statistics, 1887. Census, 1890, 1,879.
CALVIN L. NOBLE, commonly called “The Judge,” died at Paulding, April 10, 1889, where he had located in 1858. He was born in Trumbull county, October 13, 1813. Learned printing and founded a Democratic newspaper in Cleveland. As the type was too wide for his display head-line he left out one letter and changed the spelling from “Cleaveland” to “Cleveland,” and the public adopted the change. See page 508.
In September, 1833, he located at Fort Defiance, when all the Northwestern Territory was a howling wilderness inhabited by Indians. Mr. NOBLE became agent for the American Fur Company and purchased large amounts of fur, which was then the principal source of revenue in all this region. He was also agent for the American Land Company; superintended the laying out of Bryan; was in the Legislature; held many offices, as Recorder and Commissioner of Williams county; was first Sheriff of Defiance county; Probate Judge of Paulding county and for twelve years collector of the leases of the Miami and Erie canal. He was one of the most widely known and respected of the pioneers of Northwestern Ohio.
TRAVELLING NOTES.
Paulding, Wednesday Evening, December 8, 1886.–I came to this place this morning from Cecil, six miles, by rail and have had a very interesting day. This is about the wildest county in Ohio. It is a new county, but rapidly improving; has doubled in population in the last eight years. The town is emerging from the forest and has a very primitive, woodsy look.
The place is girt around with the grand primitive forest, waiting its turn to sink beneath the labor of man. The single trees that are left and stand scattered around in the town, like sentinels on duty, have the peculiar look of trees grown in the forest of the Black Swamp, where they run up like bare naked poles with their spreading limbs and tufts of foliage on top, to welcome the sunlight and the shower.
The place pleases me beyond measure; carries me back to the aspect of the new places I have travelled through on old Pomp, when much of Ohio was a new country like this. And the people are filled with the same good spirits then so largely seen, which comes to settlers in a new rapidly developing country. They already halloo because they see their way out of the woods and a bright chance for themselves and boys and girls after them. The new-comers are crowding in inquiring for land improved and timbered, and then they buy and go into the interior and erect the old-time log hut, level the forest and drain the land.
How
Hoops and Staves are Made.–The people
of Paulding mainly get their living from the products of the forest. This afternoon I made a
visit to the large
hoop and stave factory of A. B. HOLCOMBE & Co., and obtained
these
interesting facts from their manager, Mr. Charles COOK.
One man makes about 500 round hoops
in a
day; wages, 30 cents per 100. They
are
made from ash, white oak, hickory and maple and are used for flour,
pork, syrup
and liquor barrels.
Coiled or flat hoops are made by
machinery
out of elm and are used for light packing, as eggs, sugar, etc. The ordinary flat hoop is
made largely
hereabouts in the shanties in the woods and from black ash. They are rived
out and delivered straight to the cooper and he puts them on
by
interlocking. His
ordinary charge is
about 12 cents a barrel.
This concern makes the patent hoop;
it is made of
elm. The log is
taken to the saw mill,
sawed into bolts 6 ½ feet long, 4 ½ inches thick. These bolts are steamed,
then are
Page 377
cut with knives similar to the stave
knife, making bars 4
½ inches wide, 3/8 of an inch thick and 6 ½ feet
long. These bars
are then run through a planer that
rounds one side of the hoop and so bevels the inner side, making a hoop
1 ½
inches wide and 3/8 of an inch thick, the required dimensions for a
standard
hoop. These hoops are
taken to a machine called a pointer and lapper–points one end
and thins
the other–then the hoops are boiled in a vat; then, when hot,
are coiled in a
coiling machine and are ready for market–8 hoops are put in a
coil. The capacity
of the machine is 40,000 per
diem. The cooper
puts these on a barrel
for 4 or 5 cents.
A single nail holds together a coil
of
hoops ready for market. Some
millers use
the flat hoop and others the patent hoop.
The patent hoop here finds its market entirely in New York
City.
Staves are made entirely of elm,
because
it is easily worked and the woods abound in elms.
The wood-cutters saw up the trees into
lengths of thirty-two inches in the woods.
These are split into parts from six to ten inches thick. They are then called bolts. These are then put into
vats or boxes, and
steamed, and thus rendered pliable.
In
A. B. HOLCOMBE & Co.’s works the boxes have a
capacity for twenty-five
cords. These bolts
are then sawed or
“equalized” the required length of a barrel, which
for sugar is 30 inches, for
flour 28 ½, and for a half-barrel 24 inches.
The half-barrel has a smaller heading and narrower staves.
These bolts are then put into a
machine
and split into long, thin pieces.
The
machine cuts each of these pieces into the required curves, to adapt
each to
forming part of the curve of a barrel.
The staves are then cut to the
required
width by a knife, which also gives a slight bevel to each, so as to fit
it to
its companion stave and the right bilge for the shape of the barrel. This concern makes about
30,000 staves per
day. Eighteen
staves are required for a
sugar barrel and the diameter of its head is 19 inches.
Charcoal
Furnaces.–On
my way on the railroad
from Cecil to Paulding, about a mile and a half south of the former, my
attention was attracted by a huge brown building, and on the plateau
beside it,
and in contrast with it, lines of structures shaped like beehives,
about
fifteen feet at the base and about as high.
These were on the line of the railroad and Wabash Canal. The beehive-like
structures were twenty-three
in number, and being white as snow (constructed, I believe, of brick
and
plastered with lime), formed a strong contrast to the dingy buildings
and the
dead aspect of the landscape around them.
Attracted by the oddity of the scene as I gazed upon it
from the cars, I
was told that this was the Paulding furnace, the only one in northwest
Ohio,
and the beehive-like structures were kilns for the burning of the
charcoal. The ores
smelted were from
Lake Superior. I am
informed that
beehive ovens will yield, in four days’ burning, from
forty-five to fifty
bushels of charcoal per cord of wood.
This furnace was established here
in 1864
by Graft, Bennett & Co., of Pittsburg, and because the country
was full of
wood. The ore is
brought from Lake
Superior by lake to Toledo, thence to this point by railroad and canal.
This furnace proved a great
civilizer. In
taking up land there could
be no agriculture until the woods were cleared.
In a short time they were employing 250 hands in clearing
the forest and
in other ways, clearing annually 1,000 acres of woodland. They used about 120 cords
of wood per day,
making forty-five tons of iron. The
company built the first railroad in the county, the line from Cecil to
Paulding. The
furnace is not now
running, and the increased and increasing value of the woodland will
probably
prevent a resumption.
All the furnaces in the United
States
originally used charcoal. Its
place is
now being supplied with anthracite and bituminous coal and coke.
ITEMS OF TALK WITH AN OLD SETTLER.
An old gentleman, Judge A. S. LATTA, of Paulding, has given me some interesting items in conversation. When he first came to the country in 1837 there were but two families in the territory now comprising Emerald, Paulding and Blue Creek townships, in all 108 square miles. They were John MUSSELMAN, now living, and George PLATTER. There were only three families in Jackson, those of John R. and William MOSS, and Mr. FOX. In Latta was only Leonard KIMMEL, none in Harrison, and probably none in Benton. In 1842 there were only four organized townships, viz.: Auglaize; Brown, so named from Fort Brown at the junction of the canals; Crane, so called after Oliver CRANE, one of the first settlers, and Carryall, so called from the resemblance of a rock in the river to a French carryall or sleigh. The county census of 1840 gave a population of 1,025; but these were largely a floating population, including laborers on the canal. Paulding, in 1840, had the smallest population of any county in Ohio. Van Wert, the county south, had 1,577, Ottawa 2,258, Henry 2,492, Williams 4,464, Wood 5,458, Putnam 5,142.
Page 378
Top
Picture
D. C. Winters, Photo., Paulding
THE
PAULDING FURNACE, NEAR CECIL.
The
white beehive-shaped
structures are the kilns for the burning of the charcoal.
Bottom
Picture
D. C. Winters, Photo., Paulding, 1887
A
HOOP-POLE SHANTY.
This
is the home of a family
who had moved inform Richland County to follow the business of making
hoops. The county
is full of such. Woodsmen
here work the forest as fisherman
work the sea.
Page 379
The great obstacle to the settlement of the county has been the immense amount of fallen timber, which clogs up and stops the flow of water. The early settlers were fairly starved and drowned out; the ground was so wet they could not raise anything.
An old surveyor, running a line for a State road from Greenville in Darke county into Williams county, on entering Paulding made a note in his survey-book:
“Water!–water!–water!–tall timber!–deep water!–not a blade of grass growing, nor a bird to be seen.”
A stranger was making some invidious comparisons in regard to the Black Swamp lands, when a resident retorted by saying:
“Why, we do what you cannot; we raise two crops upon them.”
“How is that?” asked the other; “it can’t be possible.”
“Yes,” rejoined he; “one of ice, and the other of frogs!”
As late as 1878 wild timbered lands could be bought within four miles of Paulding from $4 to $6 per acre; now, from $10 to $20; improved lands from $30 to $50 and acre.
The population is mixed, largely foreign–German, some Irish and native English and Scotch. The prevailing religious denominations are Methodists and United Brethren, some Lutherans and a few Catholics.
It is claimed for Paulding that in the war she supplied more soldiers, pro rata, to the population, than any other county in Ohio. During the war the crops, therefore, could only be harvested by importing laborers from the adjoining counties. It may be so, as the population here then consisted largely of floating laborers. Noble county makes the same claim, but in neither case have we seen the data for it.
DESTRUCTION OF THE RESERVOIR.
Just east of Antwerp, in this county, was the reservoir of the Wabash & Erie Canal, which connected with the Miami & Erie Canal at Junction City. When, some years ago, the State of Indiana abandoned the Wabash & Erie, this section became practically useless, and the reservoir of some 2,000 acres was a constant source of ill-health in the region about it. It was originally the valley of a small stream, and was dammed and diked to make a reservoir. An effort has been made to have the State abandon it, but the bill failed to pass the Legislature. On the night of April 25, 1888, a band of some 200 men, residents of the county, proceeded to the lower end of the reservoir, captured the guards, who had been there since an attempt at destruction a few weeks previous, and proceeded systematically to destroy it. Two locks were blown up with dynamite, and the bulk-head at the lower end of the reservoir. The building occupied by the gatekeeper was burned. The band worked all night cutting the dikes with pick and spade. The volume of water was thus largely reduced, though the reservoir was not entirely drained.
Immediately on learning of these lawless acts, Gov. FORAKER issued a proclamation to the rioters to disperse, and ordered to the scene of action Gen. AXLINE with several companies of militia to protect the State’s property and to preserve peace. When the militia arrived, however, the rioters had dispersed, and owing to the sympathy with their acts on the part of the residents of the county, it was found impossible to discover the perpetrators of the damage. The unnecessary injury to the health of the residents of this region, and the waste of a vast area of fine farming land, justified the destruction of the reservoir, but the means adopted to encompass this are deserving of severe condemnation. Later the reservoir and canal were abandoned by the State. In 1843 the Mercer county reservoir was in like manner subjected to the hostility of the inhabitants. (See Vol. II, 503.)
Page 380
Thursday Morning, December 9.–Left Paulding in the cars for Van Wert half-an-hour ago and they have stopped at a clearing in the woods called Latty, three miles below. This railroad, the “Cincinnati, Jackson and Mackinaw,” runs through the wildest part of the State parallel with and a few miles only from the Indiana line. It has in this region no through travel. I am on a freight train with a caboose attached. It goes only about six miles an hour, making many stops.
The Timber Business and People.–The railroad is supported mainly by the transportation of timber, there being but little agriculture in Paulding county. The greater part of the population live with their families in hoop shanties or log cabins in the woods and engage in the getting out of staves and hoops. There are fifteen or sixteen stave factories in the county. The barrel heads are made of basswood and sycamore.
Latty is composed of a collection of huts in the woods for laborers who are at work cutting down timber for hoops and staves that are made here. The soft timber is cut down by cross-cut saws; the hardest trees are chopped. The principal timber of the country is oak, cottonwood, hickory, basswood and sycamore in immense quantities. The sycamore, they tell me, is of great value for the inside of houses; regarded as preferable to black walnut, ash or cherry, color resembling mahogany and beautifully grained.
Around Latty the trees had mostly been cut down by cross-cut saws. There are establishments here for making hoops and staves. Latty is a wild spot and very interesting to look upon. What piles of logs! what almost acres of staves!–some under sheds and some in the open. Around stand the woods in the deadness of winter, their trunks largely white and hoary.
The
cutting down the forests is mere
child’s play compared to the labor of the pioneers with the
axe. Now there are
firms of men who travel even
into the heart of Ohio, where yet remain scattered large bodies of
woodland,
with their portable saw-mills and make contracts to clear the land. They saw down the trees
with cross-cut saws
and convert them into lumber on the spot, living in the woods at the
time in
shanties and often with their families.
By the use of the cross-cut saw a few men will clear one
hundred acres
in a few months and with a portable saw-mill of twenty-horse-power
convert such
a hard timber as oak into lumber at the rate of six thousand feet per
day. I met, in travelling,
one of a firm, Strack
& Angell,
of these modern clearers of the woods. He
told me they had just cleared off in less
than a year three hundred acres, yielding 900,000 feet of lumber.
Directing
the Fall of Trees.–Such is the skill of
these modern woodsmen that they will make a tree
fall in any desired direction. If
the
top should lean as much as even ten feet over, say a gulch, and they
wish it to
lie in an opposite direction, they will work as follows: First, chip
with an
axe part way through the tree in the desired direction for its fall
near its
base, then on the opposite side begin with their cross-cut saw, driving
in
thicker and thicker wedges in the fissure made by the saw, which after
a while
changes the centre of gravity to the opposite side.
Costly
Trees.–Sometimes
trees of rare value
are found in the woods. I
am told an
enormous black walnut, some years ago, found in Williams county,
brought $1,000, and a bird’s-eye oak, very rare, discovered
in Indiana, sold
for $1,700. These
were exorbitant sums,
reached by furniture men in rivalry to each other.
Wild
Game.–At
a stopping-place in front of
a cabin we saw some foxes chained and one of our passengers got out and
played
with them. The
woods are full of foxes
and wild game generally, as partridge, duck, quail, wild turkey,
plover,
jack-snipe, woodcock, etc.
Speech
of the
Twentieth Century.–In front of the
cabins at Latty, the
ground seemed alive with
midgets, children playing in the warm, golden sunlight of a perfect
December
day. The air was
pure and bracing;
nature calm and peaceful and it seemed as though the very spirit of
liberty
dwelt here in this wilderness for the growth and nurture of these
little ones,
and then I thought, in a twinkling the Twentieth Century, in the
freshness of
youth and hope, will be here and he will call out to them,
“Come, I want you. That
old fellow, the Nineteenth Century, is
dead; yes, dead as a hammer. You
know,
for you were at his funeral and nobody wept.
We respect his memory, but will not put on mourning. He thought, as Old Father
Time was notching
out his last years, he had done great things in his day and generation. And so he had; but oh, law
me! it’s not a
circumstance to what I shall do with my one
Page 381
hundred years; that is, starting with your
help.” And
they will help him, even if they were
born in the woods of Paulding, and the nightly hooting of owls
resounded from
its dark, lonely recesses.
The original county-seat was CHARLOE, on the Auglaize river and Miami extension canal, twelve miles south of Defiance. It was laid out about 1840 and was never but little more than a mere hamlet. Ockenoxy’s town stood on the site of Charloe, named from a chief who resided there, and who was reported an obstinate, cruel man. The village derived its name later from Charloe, an Ottawa chief, distinguished for his eloquence and sprightliness in debate.
ANTWERP is ten miles northwest of Paulding, twenty-one west of Defiance, on the M. W. St. L. & P. R. R. and Wabash canal.
City officers, 1888: W. F. FLECK, Mayor; A. E. LANE, Clerk; O. S. APPLEGATE, Treasurer; Joel DRESSER, Marshal. Newspaper: Argus, Republican, W. E. & N. H. OSBORN, editors. Churches: 1 Presbyterian, 1 Catholic and 1 Christian. Population, 1880, 1,275. School census, 1888, 471; A. K. GRUBB, school superintendent.
Antwerp has 2 large stave factories, one of which combines with it the manufacture of dressed and rough lumber; 2 factories for tobacco, candy and jelly pails and cannicans–small, wooden cans–axle grease boxes, 1 patent hoop manufactory, flouring mill, etc. It is an excellent market for grain and live stock, and it exports largely poultry and wild game, as wild turkeys, ducks, quail, partridges, etc.
PAYNE is eight miles southwest of Paulding, on the N. Y. C. & St. L. R. R. Newspaper: Review, Republican, W. J. JOHNSON, editor and publisher.
Manufactures and Employees.–N. E. PRENTICE, flour, etc., 9 hands; P. H. HYMAN, lumber and staves, 18; Payne, Hoop & Co., hoops, 41; H. F. SCHNELDER & Co., staves, 24; Payne Review, printing, 2; Jacob REAM, lumber and flooring, 10; MILLER & ZIND, wagons, etc., 3.–State Reports, 1887.
School census, 1888, 354. Capital invested in manufacturing establishments, $60,000. Value of annual product, $65,000.–Ohio Labor Statistics, 1888.
CECIL is six miles north of Paulding, on the W. St. L. & P. and C. J. & M. Railroads.
Manufacutures and Employees.–J. B. BUGENOT, Bros. & Co., staves and heading, 50 hands; M. SIMPSON, lumber and tile, 6.–State Report, 1888.
School census, 1888, 115.
DAGUE is six miles south of Paulding, on the C. J. & M. R. R. School census, 1888, 130.
LATTY is three miles south of Paulding, on the C. J. & M. and N. Y. C. & St. L. Railroads. School census, 1888, 169.
OAKWOOD is eleven miles southeast of Paulding, on the Auglaize river and N. Y. C. & St. L. R. R. School census, 1888, 136.