ALLEN COUNTY OHIO - HISTORY: Part 1 (published 1898) *********************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Gina M. Reasoner AUPQ38A@prodigy.com March 14, 1999 *********************************************************************** HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF OHIO, By Henry Howe, LL.D., 1898 ALLEN 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 country, 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 1840 1850 Amanda 282 1,456 Auglaize, 1,344 1,749 Bath, 1,512 1,532 German, 856 1,589 Jackson 1,176 1,893 Marion 672 4,488 Monroe 2,182 Ottawa 7,669 Perry 923 1,465 Richland 3,372 Shawnee 756 1,241 Spencer 1,646 Sugar Creek 1,032 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 the Frenchman, Francis Deuchoquette. He was interpreter to the Indians. It was said he was present at the burning of Crawford, and interfered to save that 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 that 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, and 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 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 that 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 is 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." ==== OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List ====