OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List ----------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 132 Today's Topics: #1 EARLY SETTLERS IN ALLEN COUNTY (2) [Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman <73777.25] #2 COMPEAU family in Ohio. ["Dave Cooper" ] ----------------------------- X-Message: #1 Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 17:01:11 -0500 From: Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman Subject: EARLY SETTLERS IN ALLEN COUNTY (2) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline From: "Dietz, Linda" ldjdd@wcoil.com EARLY SETTLERS IN ALLEN COUNTY [Part 2] The first of these was Christian Culp (1815 - 1883) who was born in Rockingham County, Virginia. Sometime after his marriage to Elizabeth Good they united with the Mennonites. In 1846 he was or-dained in Fairfield County. Though uneducated and a blacksmith by trade he applied himself diligently and surprised people by becoming a fluent speaker. He favored an intensely conservative program of church life and discipline. However, tradition says that if ever a man was without an enemy it was Preacher Culp. He moved to Allen County in 1852. The following March George Brenneman (1821 -1889) also decided to leave the hills and poor farming land of Fairfield County for the level stretches of the Black Swamp. Settling in Putnam County, about a mile west of the later village of Rimer and several miles northwest of Sugar Creek Township (Allen County), he purchased two heavily wooded tracts. Before he could farm he needed to burn large quanti-ties of walnut logs and other hardwoods. A son of Henry Brenneman, he was born in Rush Creek Town-ship in Fairfield County and married Anna Burkholder of Knox County, Ohio and earlier of Rocking-ham County, Virginia. He was chosen be lot and ordained minister by Henry Stemen in 1849 at Rush Creek. Bishop Stemen may have invited both Culp and Brenneman to Allen County because he was looking for a successor. Stemen was already 78. Brenneman was scarcely settled when he and Culp were nominated to go through the lot for bishop. George was selected and ordained near his 33rd birthday in the spring of 1854. Brenneman proved to be an able minister and bishop but he was overshadowed by his oldest brother John M. Brenneman who came shortly thereafter. George Brenneman is described as a strict disciplinarian, an earnest Christian, a man of deep conviction and indomitable will, who may not always have exercised the greatest of tact. He and his wife loved company and had many warm friends. Their fireside often rang with hearty laughter. For reasons no longer clear Bishop Stemen was not at ease in committing the future of the young congregation to Bishop Brenneman, so it is thought that he also induced John M. Brenneman to move to Allen County in 1855. Soon after John's arrival and purchase of 176 acres of land one and a half miles east of the little Dutch Hollow Church, Stemen delivered his bishopric to John M. Brenneman. On the occasion the venerable old biship, nearly blind and feeble with age, delivered a powerful and eloquent sermon on Revelation 12:1. Thus, with proper solemnity and seriousness, John M was installed as official head of the congre-gation. Only a few months later on August 19, 1855, Bishop Henry Stemen died from malaria fever. By that time the little log church had an impressive "bench" of ordained men. Bishop Henry's older brother Peter survived him less than a year, passing away May 5, 1856. The following year the other aged deacon John Sherrick died (1857). The 1855 influx of settlers brought another ordained man, Deacon Christian D. Beery, uncle of the Brenneman brothers and supporter of their views. At age 19 Beery had married Elizabeth (Blosser), the 16 year old daughter of Isaac Blosser in Fairfield County. In 1838 they moved to Hocking County, Ohio, and 14 years later to Franklin County where he was ordained deacon. From thence they came to the Elida, Ohio (Allen County) area in 1855 where he served for ten years. In 1865 he sold his Putnam County property at a sacrifice and moved to Branch County, Michigan, where he later became minister and bishop. Migration into the community continued in the 1840's, 1850's and later. The Joseph Lehman family came from Columbiana County, Ohio, in 1848. Son Christian married Susanna, daughter of Christian and Elizabeth Lehman who also came that year from Richland County, Ohio. After both aged deacons had passed away, young Christian Lehman (1828 - 1901) was ordained deacon in 1857. The year 1855 marks the end of an era - that of the remarkable frontier minister Henry Stemen. He lived to see a strong Mennonite community established. Fourteen years experience in Allen County had proven it a more suitable location for the agriculturally minded Mennonites than central Ohio. Spiritual and nu-merical strength flourished. Every minister and deacon who emigrated to Allen County brought family and friends. As a matter of fact the little log church was crowded during the biweekly services. Two bishops and several ministers and deacons provided quite a bench full of capable men. By this time the dense forests had felt the blow of an ax long enough that the improved tracts of land were beginning to yield. Some of the swampy land had been drained. An occasional log cabin dotted the land-scape. A few more roads had been hewn out of the woods. Although very primitive and sometimes bol-stered by logs laid side by side, at least it was possible to pick one's way around the stumps and through the mud of dust. Some of the expected canals had not materialized but the Miami and Erie Canal passed eight miles west of the Dutch Hollow Church on the line between Allen and Van Wert counties and was open from end to end by 1847. Some of the families had located closer to the canal in Marion Township: a few had even gone to the other side into Van Wery County. Some had also spread southward beyond the village of Elida. Serious risks and hazards still threatened though. Malaria was a major concern in the Great Black Swamp. Doctors were scarce and not quickly obtained. Clearing forests was rugged physical work. Lack of fences allowed livestock to roam. On one occasion George Brenneman tied a bell on a cow before turning the herd loose. For several weeks they failed to return. Finally, in response to a newspaper ad-vertisement, a letter arrived from Bellefontaine, Ohio, nearly halfway back to Fairfield County, stating that they were in the vicinity. Apparently, they had become homesick for their old home at Fairfield! END -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V99 Issue #132 *******************************************