OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 31 ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgenwebarchives.org ************************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 05 : Issue 31 Today's Topics: #1 Fw: Tid Bits - Part 19. ["Ohio Archives EV1" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <080a01c5364a$be88e6d0$0300a8c0@margaret> Subject: Fw: Tid Bits - Part 19. Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darlene & Kathi kelley" To: Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 5:05 PM Subject: Tid Bits - Part 19. Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley March 15, 2005. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West Know Your Ohio by Darlene E. Kelley Tid Bits -- Part 19. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Part 19. >From the Upper Sandusky "Democratic Pioneer. " May. 1846. Mr. Editor -- " Please let the people know that the ladies and gentlemn of our town went fishing yesterday, and , just to " stop the rush, " tell them the fish are all bespoken. Upper Sandusky is in its infancy, but if there is a town in Ohio of not more than three times its age and size. which owns a greater number of sweet, charming and beautiful girls, we think we always went through it in the night time. All these charmers went out, and with them a slight sprinkling of the rougher sex. Armed with bean-poles, pin hooks and twine, and loaded with bounteous provisions of cake and pie, sallied forth, and disregarding wells, springs, and puddles, struck boldly for the Sandusky. The fishing being only ostensible, was soon finished. We rendezvoused at the Big Sycamore,** around which the varied and fleeting groups, the diversified pursuits, and strange commingling of sounds, afforded excellent opportunities for the study of Nature's works, both natural and artificial. The greensward was our table, and never was festive board, surrounded with lighter hearts than ours. The grass afforded pleasant seats; and the attitudes, as we reclined around the daintily ordered feast, were purely classical. Of course there were coquetting, ogling, honied words, and tender glances, and those who were hooked, will, perchance, learn in future to beware of the " fishers of men." But don't stop the press any longer than just to say that we relieved the anxieties of ou careful mammas by returning before dark, and the fish stories to the contrary notwithstanding, didn't catch a single fish, cat, bass, minnow, pike, or Sucker." ** " The big Sycamore in 1846, measured fifty-one feet in circumference. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Town of Upper Sandusky Upper Sandusky is a town which has an altitude of 287 feet above the surface of Lake Erie, and for many a year was known as the seat of justice of Wyandot County, and was pleasantly located on the west or left bank of the historic Sandusky. Its wide, well shaded avenues, laid out in the true direction of the cardinal points of the compass, are graced by many handsome public buildings, churches, and private residences, and are apparently today in the full enjoyment of a enviable degree of confort and prosperity. But it wasn't always so -- The lands where it was built was in possession of the Wyandot Indians, and in later years it was the grand rallying point of the hostile Northwestern tribes during their wars against the Americans; and its site was visited by Col Crewford's command of Pennslvanians in June, 1782; that during the war of 1812-15 it again became prominent in National affairs and history, by reason of the assemblage of large bodies of American troops under Gen. Harrison and Gov. Meigs, and as the site of Fort Ferree; that in 1817 it was made the central point of the chief Wyandot Reserve, and thus continued as the seat of their council house, church, store, Jail, etc., until 1843, when they the Wyandots, removed, in accordance with treaty stipulations, to a region lying west of the Missouri River. Therefore, this sketch of the town of Upper Sandusky will begin with the year 1843 -- the date its site was surveyed and platted under the provisions of an act of Congress. This act of Congress is dated March 3, 1843, " for the sale of certain lands in the State of Ohio and Michigan, ceded by the Wyandot tribe of Indians, and for other purposes." From this act we learn that the original survey of this town was made by Lewis Clason, D.S., sometime during the year of 1843; that " the inlots fronting on Wyandot avenue are eighty-three and one-third links front by 300 links in depth. All the other inlots are 100 liks front by 250 inks in depth, and contain one-fourth of an acre. The dimensions and contents of the outlots were different. All alleys were 25 links in width. This plan goes into quite detail of the naming of the streets and their widths and etc; was filed as " The Township of Upper Sandusky, Township No. 2 south of Range No.14 east, First Meridian Ohio. Approved and examined at The Surveyor General's Office, Cincinnati, Janueary 8, 1844. This plan also indicated the exact locations of various points of interest in old Upper Sandusky, which, with the exception of the graveyard and William Walker house, which stood on the southwest corner of Walker and Fourth Streets. Thus on outlot No. 49 which was bounded on the north by Walker street, east by Third street, south by Wyandot avenue, and west by an alley, stood the ruins of Fort Ferree. Upon the same lot, and directly northeast from the fort, stood the Indian jail, wich was constructed of hewn timbers, and standing upon the point of the bluff. The council house stood upon Inlot No. 90. Directly north of it, is shown the graveyard. The Indians had departed in July, 1843, and their old haunts were soon occupied by a number of those who became permanent settlers, though by reason of the fact that these lands, or lots were not placed upon the market until two years later, they were for a brief period only " squatters. " In October, 1843, the United States Land Office was removed from Lima, Ohio, to Upper Sandusky, and when at the same time, Col Moses H. Kirby was Receiver and Abner Root was Register, and established their offices in the old council house. Early residents were Andrew McElvain, his brother Purdy McElvain, and Joseph Chaffee. Andrew McElvain was the proprietor of a log tavern. Col Purdy McElvain had been there a number of years, employed as United States Indian Agent, while Col Chaffee was engaged in farming and land speculations. He had a considerable portion of the original town plat sown in wheat in the fall of 1843. At the same time, George Garret, whose wife was one-quarter Wyandot, and who was the father of Joel Garret, who kept the Garret tavern. At that time, William Brown was engaged in surveying the reservation, which had been vacated by the Indians during the preceding summer. Jude Hall, Esq., was Upper Sandusky;s first lawyer and was numbered among the residents in 1844, also Chester R. Mott, Esq., Wyandot's first Prosecuting Attorney. During that year too, Oct 12, Col Andrew McElvain was commissioned as the first postmaster of the town. Wyandot County was erected in February.1845, and soon after Upper Sandusky was chosen as the County seat. Then began a lively boom for the new town. In their anxiety to secure good locations, lawyers, merchants, doctors, artisians, hotel-keepers, shop-keepers, speculators, etc, etc, hastened there by the score, and ere the close of that year, hndreds of town lots had been sold. The town could boast of two newspapers, numerous stores and shops, and made a population of three to four hundred. The Upper Sandusky did make rapid progress during the first eighteen months succeeding the county's organization, as fully attested by the following extract from a letter which was written by Col. Joseph McCutchen to his friend Hon. William Crosby, United States Consul at Talcahuano, Chili, on Christmas Day, 1846. " In the first place, in relation to Upper Sandusky. It has improved beyond the most extravagant calculations. It is but a little over a year ago since the General Government sold the town lots and land, and now some 800 inhabitants reside here. There are six dry good stores-- three too many-- about the same number of groceries, four hotels, mechanical shops of various kinds, and the town is still improving. The county is also settling with an excellant class of farmers. The public buildings are in rapid progress. The jail is almost completed; it is by far the best looking jail I ave seen; it is made of stone and brick. The brick is the best specimen I have seen in Ohio. The stone for the doors and windows are beautiful white limetone, brought from Marion County. The builder is Judge McCurdy, from Findlay, Hancock County. Although he will in a few days have seen seventy-four winters, he is one of the most enterprising men of his age I ever saw. If he is spared a few weeks longer, the job will be finished in a masterly style. He gets by $500 too little for the building. The court house has been contracted for about $7.000, by a Mr. Young, from Logan County. It is a magnificient building. The donation from the General Governmemt, if judiciously managed, will pay every dollar of expense of the public buildings, or nearly so, without taxing the people a dollar. I hope it may do it, as you are well aware I have labored three years with Congress, to have the donation matter accomplished. Your old friend in Congress, Hon. Henry St.John, managed that matter well.................." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Some Reminiscenses The following entertaining reminiscences " of peculiar people and events in the early days of Upper Sandusky." appeared in the columns of the Wyandot Union, during the year 1882. They were written by Robert D. Dumm, the senior editor of that journal, and has many times been reproduced. Old Storm. In 1845 and 1846, perhaps extending into 1647, there lived in Upper Sandusky , a man by the name of Storm, He was a Frenchman--- a Frenchman patriot. Every fiber of his nature was French; every feeling and impulse an irrepressible desire to once more look upon the beauties and grandeur of Paris. He would talk glibly of the Boulevards and the Palais Royal " on zee Rue Richelieu;" and give you plainly to understand, that more than " zee hundred time," had he joined in the uproar of " Vive 1' Emperour!" He was one of Napoleon's old guards. He saw, as wellas felt, the carnage and destruction of Waterloo, and was one of the survivors of that terrific struggle. In his way, he was quite a character, and knew just enough of English to make his broken French a jingle of quaintness and humor. A single man was Storm through an eventful life, because the old guard " never surrendered;" and moreover, no thought nor care had he taken of the morrow. How he happened to drift into Upper Sandusky was never fully explained, for old Storm was only communicative when in liquor, and the topic then uppermost in his mind was Napoleon and the French Army. He could think and talk of nothing else, and when referring to the Emperor's exile, would weep like a child. His worship of Bonaparte had all the feeling and fullness of adoration, and the music of his pronounciation in uttering the name of " Na-po-le-on," had that sweet and peculiar ripple which forever lingers in the recollection. But Storm, away from the shimmer and shock of battle-fields, had to make a living, and he existed in Upper Sandusky, by taking care of the horses and stables of Dr. Mason, one of our early physicians. Storm also taught French to many young lads who needed help with the French language. However, Doctor Mason, from the exhaustion of a large practice in this counrty, rough as it was then, was worn out and feeble in health and sometimes irritable, and old Storm used to try his patience terribly. A little incident we have in mind will show the craftiness of the old guard. Besides grooming the horses, a share of his business was to pail the cow, but as Storm never looked on milking as a fine art, he failed to preform this part of his task with any degree of satisfaction. Time and again the Doctor and old Storm would dispute over the proclivities and disposition of the cow. To apologize for the scanty supply of milk, Storm would insist that " zee dam short-tail would not let zee milk down." One day the Doctor met Storm coming from the stable with a vessel of milk. The quantity did not suit the Doctor, so he took the bucke out of Storm's hand, proceeded to the stable and re-milked the cow with very satisfactory results. This chagrined and puzzled the old guard, but he did not surrender. The next time when Storm went to milk, he took two buckets with him. After milking half from the old cowin the first bucket, he hid it in the straw, and then finished milking in the other. He carried his scanty supply of milk to the doctor, d---ming " zee short-tail," with many emphatic embellishments, for holding up her milk. Here, the Doctor, in a fit of passion, grabbed the bucket and broke for the cow to show Storm thet he was " a liar and a villian." After tagging away at the cow for about ten minutes without any show of milk, he felt like, and did apologize to Storm for his rashness. But Storm was all smiles and good humor. He had convinced the Doctor that the cow held her milk. The old guard was himself again and on top. A few minutes after, Storm came from the stable with another bucket of milk, telling the Doctor that he had just yanked it from the cow. Here, the Doctor transformed his eye-brows into a fine pair of exclaimmation points and forgave Storm for all former delinquencies blaming the frequent short crops of milk upon " zee dam cow." This is one of the many little incidents that occurred, bringing forth the character of the old guard, which a life in the French Army had cultivated. Frequently have we seen old Storm, in a transport of imagination, living over again the scenes of his army life, going through the drill with a pitchfork, and keeping time and step to the low chant of some patriotic air. But a time came for old Storm to pass in his checks, and as the fever racked his brain, he marched with Death through the broken ranks of a shattered army --- on --- on -- into eternity; exclaiming with his last breath, " Na-po-le-on-----Waterloo! Zee old guard dies, but never surrenders." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid Bits to be continued in part 20 ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 18:40:33 -0500 From: "Ohio Archives EV1" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <081001c5364b$07f43860$0300a8c0@margaret> Subject: Fw: Tid Bits --Part 20 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darlene & Kathi kelley" To: Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 4:59 PM Subject: Tid Bits --Part 20 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley March 16, 2005 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West Know Your Ohio by Darlene E. Kelley Tid Bits - part 20 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid Bits - part 20 Coal in Ohio Coal has long been an important fossil fuel in Ohio. Its existance was first noted as early as 1748, by frontiersman who told of a coal mine which had been on fire at the mouth of Lamanshikola Creek, ( present-day Sandy Creek.) Also mentioned in 1755 along the Hocking River and in Tuscarawas Valley in 1772. Although the date when coal in Ohio was first mined, is to me unknown, we do know that the first reported production of coal was in 1800, three years prior to Ohio's entrance as the 17th state of the Union. This was mined from Jefferson County with a reported production of 100 tons. >From its modest beginning, Ohio's coal production grew steadily but very slowly, until the mid 1800's. Early coal miners, primarily of English, Scottish, and Welsh descent, cut and loaded coal entirely by hand and moved the coal to local markets by means of wagons, carts, flatboats, and then later by canal boats. Completion of Ohio's canal system during 1830's and 1840's, allowed the development of distant markets for coal mined from the interior of the state. Gradually coal replaced wood as a fuel for home heating and cooking, boilers in salt production, blast furnaces, steam mills, saw mills, some oil and gas drilling rigs, and steaboats on the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. The first coal-fired steamboat was the " Bazaleel Wells, " built in 1820 at Steubenville, Ohio. In addition, coal was distilled to produce coal oil for home lighting or gas for street lighting. During the mid- 1800's, Ohio experienced a transformation from an agricultural to an industrial economy. This transformation provided a great boast to the development of Ohio's coal industry, making Ohio one of the largest coal-producing and coal consuming states in the nation. Coal became recognized as an abundant, assessible, and inexpensive fuel, especially for the generation of steam power. In the late 1800's, steam power was adapted to generate electricity. The first coal fired plant in Ohio was the Tiffin Edison Electrical Illuminating Plant, in Seneca County. The electric utility industry eventually consumed 90% of the coal mined in Ohio. The first account of surface mining of coal was from a ravine near Tallmadge, Summit County, Ohio, in 1810. Surface mining consisted of mining coal that was exposed along hillsides, using picks and shovels and in some cases horse-drawn scrapers. The coal and cover material was excavated back into the hillside, perhaps 10 feet or more, until removal of the cover was too impractical or difficult. Then at this point, coal was mined by underground methods. However it was found that near surface coal could be mined more easily, more quickly, more inexpensively, and with fewer people, than coal from underground methods. A a result, there were fewer undergound mines in Ohio, and fewer coal miners in the earlier days. However there continued the call for coal, resulting in 1898 with 1,155 underground mines in Ohio, and employed approximately 50,267 coal miners. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Doctors of Early Settlements To be a doctor in the earliest settlements was attended with many hardships and difficulties. The inhabitants were for the most part, poor and lived in primitive log-cabins, usually at considerable distances apart. The pathes were connected by bad roads, and more frequently by mere trails, usually places where the doctor encountered huge logs and deep swails, with branches of overhanging trees, and nightly travel with the element of danger. The doctor of those times, who was ready to engage his professional duties under such circumstances was a man of pluck and energy, devoted with fortitude and patience. There was much of sickness and suffering amongst the people in early Ohio, and the doctor was ready and willing to attend promptly as he could to the most urgent of call of the sick. He was a popular personage. Until then, perhaps, a neighbor or a dear friend could attend the call for help. Much of the time the roads were extremely muddy. The doctor, for such emerency, always had " leggins." They were frequently composed of three quarters of a card of green baize, rolled around the leg, and reaching from the sole of the boot to four or five inches above the knee. They were usualy tied on by wrapping the leg below the knee three or four times with a kind of elastic woolen tape, sufficient length, and about three quarters of an inch broad, and fastened with a bow-knot. Divers and sundry pins made all secure. These articles of the profession were often saturated with mud and water, while the horse and his rider were also plentifully bespattered from head to foot with the same material. It was important for the physician to have as his steady companion, a speedy and reliable horse. The horse was usually of good breed and sturdy enough to carry, not only his rider, but the saddle bags that carried his medical equipment, and his tonics and medicines. His saddle-bags stuffed with senna, snake root, chamomile flowers, calomel, jalap, rhubarb, and spigelia, for the little ones with worms. His horse being almost his truest friend. The diseases of those times were usually serious. Malarial troubles were always present; sometimes alone, but not sure, also to complicate any other ailment that could effect the fame of humanity. Inflamation, such as pleurisy and pneumonia, which were much more prevalent. In the olden time, when a messenger arrived in hot haste after the physician, it was always possible, before two words were spoken, to know some expectant mother was in trouble. No man could truely discribe the why and wherefore, but the experienced doctor always knew, almost at once, when that difficulty had to be met; so he hurried, in good sooth. The blazing log-fire, the only light in the cabin sometimes, shinning upon the white ash puncheons, with cracks an inch or more apart, and a half a dozen of the nearest female neighbors made up the main features of the scene. And now is all bustle. The jams, jellies, and preserves, carefully laid out by this auspicious moment, by the forethought of the mother, are now displayed in prodigal profusion. And chickens, and ham, and eggs, and all the substancials and luxuries that have been provided by care and prudence, and self-denial, are lavishly set forth. The doctor is the great man of the occasion; no good potentate was ever more devotedly served, or had half so safely the hearts of all around him. At length, suffice to say, a new and trembling life has been added to the innumerable throng which journeys always towards the undiscovered country. Something to live for, something to love, has been added to the household; and the dark clouds of selfishness and hate, which are wont, too often, to cast their shadows upon the human heart, have been put to flight, at least for a time, by the sheer presence of innocence and helplessness. The doctor is the great man of the occasion. He is asked with a display of reckless extravagence, and air suggestive of tons of sugar within easy reach, if he will " take sweet'nin " in his coffee? And after all is over, he goes home a happier, and perhaps a better, if not a rcher man. About the year 1839, a change in the type of prevailing diseases began to take place. This fact was not really recognized at that time, but the light of subsequent medical events leaves no doubt of it. Typhoid symptoms began to appear. It is not true that the typhoid type was suddenly established. Many were still affected with the higher of inflamitory grades of disease, and they were treated accordingly, with success. But more and more that kind of treatment was found to fail, and in fact to prove imjurious, until, in a few years, the universal tendency to a typhoid state of the constitution was clearly perceived. Blood-letting, especially, went entirely out of practice; and the waiting and sustaining plan of treatment was adopted. In the year of 1843 a general malady disseminated in Ohio. It was an influenza, called the French La Grippe or "Tyler grip." Its most prominents symptoms were sore and tearful eyes, copiously discharging nostrils, pain in the forehead and over the eyes, sneezing and soreness of the lungs and throat, and cough. Sometimes diarrhoea prevailed to a large extent. There was remarkable depression of strength, and this symptom was sometimes so pronounced as to cause death of aged or weakly persons. Patients with weak lungs wuld often recover very slowly, or would eventually die by the super added weight of the influenza. Ordinarily the worst symptoms would abate in three or four days, but the full recovery of the strength was a work of considerable time. In the year of 1851 the cholera broke out in Bellefontaine. It made some slight appearence before that time, as well as afterwards. But that was the only time of great mortality and danger from the scourge. The disease had been prevailing in Sandusky City, and a young man had come thence to his home in Bellefontaine. He had come on a certain day, and, although apparently well, he was dead the next day. He had died of cholera. His brother, at whose house he was, also died in a day or two; also another relative, who was making a box to receive the remains of a cholera patient died, and was encased in the box made by himself. ' Altogether, there were a dozen or fourteen deaths within a brief space of time. A poor woman, who washed some of the clothing soiled by these patients, died, together with her husband, from the same disease. It was curious to see how great a solicitude spang at once among the inhabitants of the town for the welfare of their relations who lived at a distance. Fearful that sickness and dsiaster might reach them in their distant homes many of the sympathetic citizens straightway betook themselves thither to help them, and nurse them should they perchance, become sick. Even some of the physicians had such conscientious calls, and obeyed them. Not of one would entertain the proposition for a moment that he was scared and ran away from the cholera. We owe the following facts to the kindness of Dr. S.W. Fuller, of Logan County, to recognize the history of the disease and reported it as it was. Marsh malerial fevers were endemic almost every year. Some serious, however, they prevailed more severly then gophers, prostrating almost whole neighborhoods. Now, happily, owing to the cleaning up of the country, dainage of surface waters ad drying up of stagnant ponds, they have abated, and no longer appear in an endemic form. Quinine has lost its relative importance in the family, being at one time as much as a staple as our measles amd whooping-cough were epidemic in this period, and during a portion of their stay they assumed a severe type, and were attended with considerable fatality. Scarlet fever also prevailed to a considerble extent, but scarcely attained to the proportions of an epidemic. Perhaps the most remarkale of these prevailing diseases which raged in Ohio was that of small pox. It broke out May 8, 1842, and continued to prevail until late in July following. The population of the village of West Liberty would not exceed 500, and the number of cases, including all varieties, from the measle like rash of the mildest form of varioloid to the malignant confluent form, was nearly 150. the greater number of which were in town. Some idea may thus be formed of the seriousness of the outbreak and the distress that prevailed. This was caused by a man who came from the State of Delaware, by the name of Vickass. He had been visiting in the town of Seaford, in that State, and upon invetigation, it was afterwards learned that Small pox was rife there duing his visit. In twelve to fourteen days after his return home, some three miles north of the village, small pox appeared in his family. Dr. Marquis Wood attended on the family, and the disease being of a mild type, he was in doubt as to its nature. One of the oldest practitioners of the county was called in, and he decided that it was chicken pox. It so happened that a young lady whose mother resided in town was visiting the Vickass family. She returned home and immediately entered the village school, in which there were twenty or more children who were not protected by vaccination. She became ill in school of variolous fever. She then abandoned the school, but her illness was so slight and the eruption so triffling that no physician was called to see her, consequently, two weeks of precious time was lost in which to prepare for the enemy's onslaught. The onslaught went on to other cities of Ohio and and further. As the migration of people came about from other states, other maladys came with them. The country doctor was counted on more than ever. He had to broaden his knowledge by learning and experience. Other knowledeable doctors tuitored the other doctors of the smaller communities. Vacinations and new medicines were introduced and hospitals and people were educated on cleanliness; so started a new era in medicine and treatments. And it all came about from our dedicated country doctors and their trusty steeds. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid Bits to be continued in part 21 -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V05 Issue #31 ******************************************