OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 27 *********************************************************************** 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. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 01 : Issue 27 -------------------------------- From: Tina Hursh Subject: Seneca county (Re: "Historical Collections of Ohio", Vol 2, Henry Howe, 1846:) Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2001 09:07:23 -0600 "Historical Collections of Ohio", Vol 2, Henry Howe, 1888: pg 577 Seneca county Tiffin, county seat of Seneca, is eighty miles northwest of Columbus, forty-two miles southeast from Toledo; is on the T.B. & W., B. & O., and N. W. Railroads. It is the seat of Heidelberg College and other educational institutions, is in the midst of a very productive agricultural region and has extensive manufacturing interests. County officers, 1888: Auditor, James A. NORTON; Clerk, Lewis ULRICH; Commissioners, Henry F. HEDDEN, Truman H. BAGBY, Nicholas BURTSCHER; Coroner, Edward LEPPER; Infirmary Directors, Daniel METZGER, John RINEBOLT, William KING; Probate Judge, John ROYER; Prosecuting Attorney, William H. DORE; Recorder, George F. WENTZ; Sheriff, George HOMAN; Surveyor, George MCGORMLEY; Treasurer, Benjamin F. MYERS. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Tina Hursh Subject: Shelby county - part 2 Date: Thu, 01 Mar 2001 14:27:56 -0600 "Historical Collections of Ohio" by Howe pg 594 Sidney in 1846.-Sidney, the county-seat, is sixty-eight miles north of west from Columbia, eighty-eight from Cincinnati, and named from Sir Philip Sidney, "the great light of chivalry." It was laid out as the county-seat in the fall of 1819, on the farm of Charles Starrett, under the direction of the court. The site is beautiful, being on an elevated table-ground on the west bank of the Miami. The only part of the plot then cleared was a cornfield, the first crop having been raised there in 1809 by William Stewart. The court removed to Sidney in April, 1820, and held its meetings in the log cabin of Abraham Cannon, on the south side of the field, on the site of Matthew Gillespie's store. During the same year the first court-house, a frame building, now Judge Walker's store, was built, and also the log jail. The first frame house was built in 1820, by John Blake, now forming the front of the National Hotel. The first post-office in the county was established at Hardin in 1819, Col. James Wells post-master; but was removed the next year to Sidney, where the colonel has continued since to hold the office, except during Tyler's administration. The first brick house was erected on the site of J.F. Frazer's drug store by Dr. William Fielding. The Methodists erected the first church on tthe ground now occupied by them. Mr. T. Truder had a little store when the town was laid out, on the east side of the river, near the lower crossing. The Herald, the first paper in the county, was {pg 565} established in 1836, and published by Thomas Smith. A block house at one time stood near the spring. In the centre of Sidney is a beautiful public square on which stands the courthouse. A short distance in a westerly direction passes the Sidney feeder, a navigable branch of the Miami canal. The town and suburbs contain 1 Methodist, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Associate Reformed, 1 Christian and 1 Catholic church; 1 drug, 2 iron, 5 hardware and 10 dry goods stores; 2 printing offices, 1 oil, 2 carding and fulling, 3 flouring and 4 saw mills, and in 1840 Sidney had 713 inhabitants, since which it has increased.-Old Edition. Van Buren township is a settlement of colored people, numbering about 400. They constitute half the population of the settlement, and are as prosperous as their white neighbors. Neither are they behind them in religion, morals and intelligence, haaving churches and schools of their oown. Their location, however, is not a good one, the land being too flat and wet. An attempt was made in July, 1846, to colonize with them 385 of the emancipated slaves of the celebrated John Randolph, of Virginia, after they were driven from Mercer county; but a considerable party of whites would not willingly permit it, and they were scattered by families among the people of Shelby and Miami, who were willing to take them.-Old Edition. The first white family who settled in this couny was that of James Thatcher, in 1804, who settled in the west part on Painter's run; Samuel Marshall, John Wilson and John Kennard-the last now living-came soon after. The first court was held in a cabin at Hardin, May 13 and 14, 1819. Hon. Joseph H. Crane, of Dayton, was the presiding judge; Samuel Marshall, Robert Houston and Willim Cecil, associates; Harvey B. Foot, clerk; Daniel V. Dingman, sheriff, and Harvey Brown, of Dayton, prosecutor. The first mill was a saw mill, erected in 1808 by Daniel McMullen and Bilderbach, on the site of Walker's mill.-Old Edition. SIDNEY, county-seat of Shelby, is on the Miami river, about sixty-five miles northwest of Columbus, forty miles north of Dayton, at the crossing of the C.C.C. & I. and D & M. Railroads. County officers, 1888: Auditor, J.K. Cummins; Clerk, John C. Hussey; Commissioners, Jacob Paul, Thomas Hickey, Jeremiah Miller; Coroner, Park Beeman; Infirmary Directors, James Caldwell, C. Ed. Bush, Samuel M. Wagoner; Probate Judge, Adolphus J. Rebstock; Prosecuting Attorney, James E. Way; Recorder, Lewis Pfaadt; Sheriff, G.E. Allinger; Surveyor, Charles Counts; Treasurer, William M. Kingseed. City officers, 1888: Mayor, M.C. Hale; Clerk, John W. Knox; Treasurer, Samuel McCullough; Solicitor, James E. Way; Surveyor, W.A. Ginn; Marshal, W.H. Fristo. Newspapers: Journal, Republican, Trego & Binkley, editors and publishers; Shelby County Democrat, James O. Amos (adjutant-general of Ohio 1874-6), editor and publisher. Churches: 1 Baptist, 1 Colored Baptist, 1 Presbyterian, 1 German Lutheran, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Colored Methodist Episcopal, 1 Catholic, 1 United Presbyterian, 1 Christian, 1 German Methodist. Banks: Citizens', J.A. Lamb, president, W.A. Graham, cashier; German-American, Hugh Thompson, president, John H. Wagner, cashier. Manufactures and Employees.-J. Dann, wheels, spokes, etc., 3 hands; John Loughlin, school furniture, 147; Slusser & McLean Scraper Co., road scrapers, 18; Sidney Manufacturing Co., stoves, etc., 36; Philip Smith, corn shellers, etc., 31; Wyman Spoke Co., spokes and bent wood, 20; J.M. Blue & Nutt, lumber, 6; R. Given & Son, leather, 10; B.W. Maxwell & Son, flour, etc., 4; Anderson, Frazier & Co., carriage wheels, 80; James O. Amos, weekly paper, 10; Valley City Milling Co., corn meal, 6; J.S. Crozier & Son, carriages, 7; J.M. Seitter & W.H.C. Monroe, builders' wood work, 32; Goode & Kilborn, road scrapers, 23; Sidney Steel Scraper Co., road scrapers, 22; J.F. Black, builders' wood work, 10; McKinnie & Richardson, brooms, 10.-State Report, 1887. Population, 1880, 3,823. School census, 1888, 1,497; P.W. Search, school {pg 596} {courthouse pictures} {pg 597} superintendent. Capital invested in industrial establishments, $616,150. Value of annual product, $1,216,100.-Ohio Labor Statistics, 1887. Census, 1890, 4,850. The engraving given shows on the right the court-house, and in the distance the MONUMENTAL BUILDING, a very beautiful memorial to the fallen soldiers of the civil war. The corner-stone was laid June 24, 1875. On the second floor is the Library Hall, containing the public library, and where are preserved military relics, and on marble tablets inscribed the names of the departed heroes. On the third floor is the opera hall and town hall. The entire building is dedicated to public uses, and is a credit to the public spirit of the citizens, who, in the very starting of their pleasant little city, began to mark time in the name of hero. The early Indian History of this region makes it an especially interesting point. About a mile south of the Shelby county line as early as 1749 was a trading house, called by the English PICKAWILLANY, which was attacked and destroyed by the French and Indians in June of 1752. This trading post has been regarded as the first point of English occupation in what is now Ohio, inasmuch as it was a great place of gathering of English traders. Its exact location was "on the northwest side of the Great Miami, just below the mouth of what is now Loramie creek, in Johnston prairie," or as at present named, in Washington township, Miami county, and about nine miles southwest of Sidney. "There was," writes Butterfield, "a tribe of Miamis known to the French as 'Picqualinees,' which word was changed by the English to Pickawillanies, and as these (many of them) had settled here, it was called as above 'Pickawillany,' or simply 'Picks-town,' sometimes 'Pictstown;' the inhabitants as well as thetribe being known as 'Picts.' These 'Pickqualines' were the Miami proper." ----more to come -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V01 Issue #27 ******************************************