Henry County Genealogical Society Newsletter
Volume 20, Number 2, March – April 2006
MEETINGS
March 20, 2006, Monday, 7:00 p.m.
Research and business meeting.
April 17 , 2006, Monday, 7:00 p.m.
Linda Wenrick will speak. She fashions clothing and accessories patterned after “the good ol’ days,” makes pillowcase dolls, and crochets pin money purses. From bonnets to tatting, this is sure to be interesting.
May 15, 2006
Research and business meeting.
June 19, 2006
Richard Powell, instructor at Northwest State Community College, will speak on “Tying Genealogy into History.”
SPEAKERS NEEDED
If you have suggestions for speaker topics, please send them to Jim Rebar using the contact form on this web site. We’re always looking for speakers to talk on genealogy or Henry County history as it relates to our ancestors. Thanks!
WE ARE PUBLISHING …
Northwest Signal Obituaries 2005 is now available. The price is $16.00 plus $2.00 shipping.
The 1900 Henry County Census Vol. IV is now available. It includes Pleasant, Marion and Flatrock Townships, Florida Village, Hamler Village and Holgate Village. The price is $18.00 plus $2.00 postage and handling. If you click on the PDF icon to the left, you will see two pages from this publication. The information appears exactly as it does on the original census form
Also, the 1890 Veterans Census will cost $14.00 plus $2.00 postage and handling. It includes information on where the veteran lived in 1890 and any disability he incurred while serving. In some cases widows are listed.
ACCESSIONS TO THE LIBRARY
Wendell E. Watson’s Letters from WWI 1918-1919. Donated by his daughter, Beryl WATSON KNOTT.
Holtermann and Bostelmann Family History and Stories 2nd edition, by Deanna THOMAS CLARK, pub. 2005.
FIRST FAMILIES APPLICATIONS …
First Families applications may be made to Kathy Bishop, 10-292 Co. Rd. E., Hamler, OH 43524. Her e-mail address is: firstfamilies@henrycountyohiogenealogy.org. Gold certificates are awarded if your ancestor was in Henry Co. before December 31,1870. Silver includes those before December 31, 1885. Requirements and an application form are available on our website.
QUERY
Researching PITTMAN, GIDLEY . Seeking information on Susanna (GIDLEY) b. 1838 d. 1928 m. 1856 Levi PITTMAN b. 1830 d. 1886 both buried Hockman Cemetery and Children: Charles, Althea Elizabeth, Alfred, George, Lucia May, Nora, and Sarah. My great-grandfather was George. (Frank Pittman, Southlake, TX 76092)
Researching OBERLITNER and MYRICE. Trying to find a death certificate or obituary for my gr-grandfather; Charles V. OBERLITNER, b. in Deshler 1873, m. (Deshler) April 1891 to Maggie MYRICE. Charles d. (Deshler) 1892. My grandfather, Iveous, b. Deshler 1892. (Cheryl Carlson, Langley, WA 98260)
We accept any queries relating to Henry County. There is no charge and you do not have to be a member. to submit your query.
SUGGESTIONS ALWAYS WELCOME
If anyone has suggestions for articles or information you would like to see in the newsletter, please contact the editor. If you have program suggestions, please contact Jim Rebar. If you know of Henry County materials, either printed or on microfilm, that you would like to see in our library contact either one of us. thank you.
Donations to our collection which relate to Henry Co. or surrounding counties are also welcome. ···If you have newspapers, letters, documents or other materials in German, we have translators available.
The Signal
Dec. 19, 1894 the Henry County Signal published biographical sketches of local businessmen by Guy C. DITTENHAVER. These sketches will be reprinted in this issue and future issues. Many were accompanied by drawings or photographs of the businessmen or of the businesses, churches, or other buildings mentioned.
Pioneers of the town are given as Mr. ANDREWS (built the first house) and Hazel STRONG, George STOUT, Henry LEONARD, John GLASS, John MANN, Alex CRAIG, John POWELL, Jas. MAGILL, James B. STEEDMAN, Fred LORD and Wm. D. PARRY. The first officials elected were Pierce EVANS, Reuben WAITE and David J. CORY, judges; Newton EVANS, clerk of courts; Zanephon MEAD, Amos COLE and Allen BROUGHER, commissioners; John POWELL, auditor; Israel WAITE, treasurer; Samuel BOWERS, sheriff; Fred LORD, prosecuting attorney, and Wm. BOWEN, coroner. “Most of the officers had headquarters in their houses and stores and transacted business over a store-box desk.”
“In 1844 the first frame court house was erected which, by an incendiary fire, was burned down in 1847, entirely destroying all official records. A new building was constructed in 1850 which was doomed nearly 30 years later to suffer the same fate .. and in i 880 the present structure of brick: … was built,” according to the introductory section.
From The Signal December 19, 1894
Manufacturers located between the Maumee River and the Miami and Erie canal are: Charles F. BEARD’S foundry and machine works; the Napoleon brewery, owned by H. H. VOCKE and William TIETJEN; Napoleon Woolen Mills, owned by AUGENSTEIN Bros. & Co.; THIESEN & HILDRED’S planning mills; MEYERHOLTZ’S tile and brick yard; John MILLER’S carriage and wagon manufactory; J. KOLLER & Co.’s and H.H. & J. VOCKE’S large flouring mills. These mills have capacities of fifty barrels each and use patent roller processes. Both firms have elevators at the railroad; and the Messrs. VOCKE ship considerable grain also by boat.
On the South Side is located Messrs. KORMAN & Co.’s potash works; LEONHART Bros.’ saw and planning mills; FELLERS’ brick and tile yards. In North Napoleon, HEILER, ALLER & Co.’s windmill factory and A. BRUNER & Son’s hoop factory do a very large business. (BRUNERS) buy millions of feet of logs every year, the amount of ready cash that is then widely distributed among farmers being money brought into the county. It will thus be seen how prominent a figure is the hoop factory when it comes to increasing our wealth.
Capt. WM. SAMSE – Capt. Samse was born at Gallipolis, Ohio, in 1849, came to Toledo in 1860 and soon engaged in the canal business at which he has made a very fair competency. His father died when he was quite young in Andersonville prison, leaving him the sole support of his widowed mother, which duty he has always discharged with credit. As captain of the “Thomas Morgan” he established a prominent position among boatmen. He is now proprietor of a system of boats that carry grain and merchandise between Defiance and Toledo; is also proprietor of the Napoleon wood and coal yard. He is serving on his third term as councilman and has been a hard fighter for the water works and electric light projects.
George HAHN – Probably the greatest advertiser in Napoleon, among the clothiers, is George Hahn, proprietor of the One Price Eagle Clothing House. He is another business man who has made life a success and did it through his own energy, thrift and management.
He is a native of Hessian Darmstadt German(y) and the date of his birth 1838. When 26 years old he migrated to U.S. and located in Tiffin, 0., where he worked 3 years at his trade and then came to Napoleon. He still continued working at his trade for two years and then formed a business of his own with A. J. V ANDENBROEK as partner, Their business was }ocated in the block opposite the court house on Washington street and was burned in’69. They dissolved partnership in. September 1870, Mr. Hahn going into partnership with Henry MEYER.
In 1890 they bought the site and erected the beautiful Eagle Block which is (pictured) … The partnership continued until ’86 when Mr. Hahn retired, the terms of dissolution giving him among other consideration the building .. For nearly a year he remained out of business then opened a large stock in the Ludeman block. He continued in this location until the lease expired when heenteredhis own building. Substantial, stylish and expensiveimprovements were made and now we may safely say thathis store room and stock is aplace of beauty. There isno.grade of goods both in custom and ready made that Mr.Hahn has not the enterprise to handle. He handles all styles and aims to be first in what is mown as extreme styles. As an example of this take the “Retzel” hats which are generally acknowledged to be at least one season ahead of all others. Mr. Hahn sells on a small margin, which enables him to claim the title of the one price clothier. His tailoring department employs a large force of good workmen arid is kept constantly busy. The storeroom is operated by himselfand two sons, Frank and Anthony, who are polite and courteous, and above all, thoroughly understand their business.
Mr. Hahn is a unique advertiser and this is one factor that figured largely in his success. He believes that when he has a good thing tooffer the people should knowit and printers’ ink is his medium. ‘Asa citizen he is public spirited-and has contributed largely topublic institutions.
Wm. SUTHERLAND, candy kitchen; KETTER & SMITH, variety; E. L. COWDRICK, pork packer and shipper; B. L. CURTIS, novelties; Geo. MERHAB, fruit; J. L. HALTER, marble works; William ROWAN, R. W. SUYDAM, Fred HOFF, F. YACKEE, J. A. LOWRY, F. BRINKMAN, shoe shops; D. HUESON, locksmith and dealer in guns; J. W. WELCHER, creamery; D. SHOEMAKER, ice; L. G. FELLERS and H. A. MEYERHOLTZ & Bro., tile and brick; G. EGGERS, sanitarium; H. H. & J. VOCKE, J. KOLLER & Co., flouring mills; VOCKE & TIETJEN, brewery; Capt. SAMSE, coal and wood, and navigation line; AUGENSTEIN Bros. & Co.,woolen mills; THIESEN, HILDRED & Co., sash factory and planing mills; LEONHART Bros., sash factory and planning mills; A. BRUNER & Son, hoops, HELLER, ALLER & Co. wind mills; George SHOEMAKER and Wm. SHONDEL, cigar manufacturies; W. T. BINZLEY, W. J. PIERREPONT, E. W. TALBOTT, dentists; A. E. H. MAERKER, J. BLOOMFELD. J. HALY, H. B. POWELL, M. J. MARVIN, J. BARNHILL, E. B. HARRISON & Son,physicians; Chas. BEARD, foundry and machine works; T. LINGEL, laundry; Geo. CURDES, bakery, Wm. NEWMAN, D. HESS, John REIDLEBAUGH, F. YACKEE, M. H. FISHER, restaurants; Joe MILLER, JOE SHAFF, John MILLER, A. SWINN, wagon makers; C. E. REYNOLDS, B. J. LONG, H. H. FRENCH, A. S. THIESEN, insurance.
LETTERS from WWI 1918-1919 by PVT. WENDELL E. WATSON
Wendell served in several regiments and companies during the war: 158th Depot Brigade Co. F, 329th Inf., M.G. (Machine Gun) Co. 329th Inf., M.G. Co. 128th Inf., 16th Co. 2nd Provisional Training Reg., and Co. D of the 340th Inf.
In addition to his parents, his letters are addressed to his brother Gale and his sister Norma, both at home. His brother Bill (or Willy, as his mother calls him) was also serving – during WWI, mostly in Italy.
June 25, 1918 – “Somewhere” [from future hints; I conclude he was in England] “We have made the-crossing without mishap … It has not been hard to bump up against an old acquaintance so far …. I may not be able to find anything about [brother] Bill for some time … It is going to be hard to write a letter that will pass the censor for awhile.”
July 1918 — Somewhere in France “We have been on this side long enough to wear the hobnails of my shoes already. A pair of our hobnails would wear Charley WATKINS about two years. I wouldn’t tell him that mine are wearing already, he would think that the soldiers were so wasteful and that the people were being burdened with unnecessary taxes.
“I read in the paper that there was some agitation in the U.S. over reports that the soldiers were not getting enough to eat. So far we have had enough and those reports were either pro-German origin or from soldiers letters, the writer being a little sore because he couldn’t have just what he wanted anytime he took a notion. The Americans being in the habit of getting just what they want anytime it goes tough with them.
“I haven’t saw Fred for about three weeks. Julian WHEELER is about the only old acquaintance there is that I can see and he is in the same company …. We don’t get as good news service as you do in the U.S. I am not like George STOUT, that is, think we get inside stuff.”
July 7, 1918 – Somewhere in France “This is our first Sunday off duty since I’ve been in the U.S. army. They gave us yesterday afternoon to do our washing. A brush, board and a pail is your laundry outfit. We are lucky in that our company has it handy to get water and so far we have had plenty ….
“We are still at the same little village. The people are still good humored with our presence. They have a lot of patience trying to talk to us. They are as crazy to talk English as we are to talk French. It tickles the kids to be able to speak a few English words. It hasn’t taken them long to pick up the American salute. I wish I had some French kid to stay right with me every day until I could carry on ordinary conversation.
“I thought I would see some mighty funny outfits for clothes, but they dress about the same as Americans. Some of them wear wooden shoes. Maybe when we get into the war territory things will look tougher.
“We took a little hike out into the country yesterday. I saw some fellows out plowing. They hitch one horse ahead of the other when they hitch two on anything around here. I don’t know whether that is the common way all over France or not. Saw a man threshing rye by beating the heads over a log. In this way they can save the straw unbroken. Binders and mowers I have not seen though I suppose they use them on large farms. They use lots of those little sickles that we used to think were a curiosity. Saw a little patch of buckwheat that I suppose a family was counting on for winter stores. It would make about three American breakfasts. I would like to treat some of these kids around here to an American feed once. I think a Frenchman must go through his meal and then take some wine to make him forget he is hungry.
“For ourselves we are getting along better on the eats than we did in England. There seems to be more sugar here. Candy is scarce so that if there is no sugar in the eats I feel cheated. I saw some sugar beets here and I hope I see a lot of them. I am the most interested in the spud crop. We are not getting any new ones yet.”
July 12, 1918 – Somewhere in France” Julian WHEELER and I are still together in the same squad … I saw Jake BEARD yesterday, the first time I had seen him since we crossed, but I didn’t get to talk to him.”
July 15, 1918 – Somewhere in France “Is Nelson FOOR still with Billy? Have you heard anything from Harley HOY? I wrote to Pete but have received no answer yet. How does the times suit Charley WATKINS? … Let me know if there are any chunks cut out of my letters. I got kind of a curiosity to know how they are passing [the censors].”
July 21, 1918 – Somewhere in France “Did SPANK do any of the neighborhood threshing this year? How is Ottie CROSSLEY doing with his farming this summer? Has the draft drawn around Charley STORCH yet? Some of KROHNS ought to be in this time? I’ll bet the draft did a lot towards hurrying the expected KROHN-CROCKETT match.
“Has George STOUT ever been discharged? Are you getting any good out of the ice we put up last winter? They don’t know what it is over here.”
August 5, 1918 – Somewhere in France “I heard yesterday that U.[?] D. CONN had the measles. I haven’t seen any of the ‘community’ lads for several weeks …. I wasn’t much surprised to hear that George STOUT was fat. Has Pat BARTON ever been shipped over yet?”
August 15 – Somewhere in France “My bunkmate … is an Italian served twenty six months in the Italian army, when they had their last war. He is from Tiffin and named Rinaldo SCARINCI … How are George and Willie SISTY making it? … I expect Wm. BLISS has been Fording [driving] around a good bit.” [A French 5-Franc note is sewn onto the letter. A rubbing of a coin is on the last page.]
September 5, 1918 – Somewhere in France “It has been quite a while since I have written … The circumstances will not always permit us to be as prompt as we like. I hope that I am not transferred many times. It takes a long time for your mail to follow you up. I wish you would send the Signal … My safety razor is the only thing I got that I had when I left Camp Sherman. I parted with a number of small articles that I was going to keep when I got separated from my pack in a region where battle field sights and sounds made it very uncomfortable. Maybe I can tell you more about it some day.
“I have seen or heard nothing of the home boys except Julian who is still with me. How is Grant KNEPLEY coming with the draft?”
September 15, 1918 – Somewhere in France “I saw some cows that I would like to have milked on the shares. They were not Jerseys. I have not seen anything like a Jersey in France. They have cattle here of some size.”
September 23, 1918 – Somewhere in France “I got [a letter] from Bill telling of arrival in Italy and the review of the King …. I got the letter from Pete HOY. Fay ASH was lucky to get a man with a Ford. It tickles me to think the new draft law is making some of them squeal. I would just like to have Walter W. up around the lines long enough for him to change his mind about it not taking any nerve in this war …. I passed Pat BARTON on a truck the other day. I didn’t get a chance to talk. I yelled but I don’t think he recognized me. I know nothing of the other boys from near home.”
PIONEER SKETCHES (from Henry County Signal 7 Oct. 1886)
by O. Thompson, Esq. Written for the Signal
The pioneers lived in rude log houses covered with pieces of timber about three feet in length and six inches in width called “shakes,” and laid in place of shingles. The houses had neither nails, glass, saws nor bricks and the doors were made out of slabs pinned together with wooden pins, the light came down the chimney or thro’ a hole in the logs which was covered with a greased cloth. A scraggy sapling, the knots lef ta foot long served for a stairway to the upper story. Their furniture consisted of a bedstead made out of saplings pinned to the wall, a few shelves supported on long wooden pins, some times a chair or two but generally a piece split off a tree so trimmed that the branches served for legs. Their utensils were very simple, generally nothing but a skillet which served for baking, boiling, roasting, washing dishes, making mush, scalding turkeys, making sassafras tea and boiling soap. A Johny cake board instead of a dripping pan, hung on a peg in every house.
The corn was cracked into coarse meal by pounding it in a wooden mortar. As soon as the hogs could be kept from the bears, or rather the bears from the hogs, the pioneer indulged in a dish of pork and corn boiled together and known among them as “hog and hominy.” Fried pork they called “Old Ned.” Quite the opposite of the early French settlers who formed themselves into small communities and tended their fields in common, theYankee pioneers went their whole length for individual property, each settler claiming for himself three hundred acres of land, with the privilege of taking 1,000 more contiguous to his clearing, each running out his own lines for himselt in some cases reserving the right to a sheep pasture up above some where.
The first work that claimed the attention of the settler was to fall trees and clear away a place to build his cabin, sleeping meanwhile under a cover made out of bark, or under the trees. A story is related of one of these pioneers that after the completion of his cabin he could not stomach it. The cracks between the logs were unchinked, the door way open, the chimney gaping widely over him. But he claimed that the air was too close and that he was compelled to sleep outside a night or two to get used to it. Such, says tradition and history, were the people and such their mode of living that they began to spread themselves throughout the west between the close of the Pontiac war and the commencement of the Revolution. Then when the struggle came on new difficulties gathered around the scattered settlements.
The reduction of the wilderness was a huge task of itself, even with every encouragement without opposition of any sort. But the Anglo Saxon seemed to have every thing arrayed against him. Not only the forest and the wild beasts and untold privations stood in the way of his progress. The French first tried to crowd him out; then the Indian tried to kill him, and lastly the British turned against their own flesh and blood and bribed the savage to take his life.
While the armies of England were roaming over the whole Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Georgia, the British Governor at Detroit and his agents on the Wabash and Maumee river, including the Forts at Ft. Wayne and the Miami, were busily engaged in inciting the Indians to deeds of rapine and murder on the western frontier. The terrible scenes were often re-enacted. The pioneers, however, were a different class of men from those who had previously suffered in Virginia and Pennsylvania, who frequently precipitately fled from their burning buildings. There was an iron will and temper in these latter settlers that presented a front far different from those who some years before had fled before the combined forces of the Savages and French. Not waiting to be smoked or burnt out, or have their skulls opened with the tomahawk and their throats cut or scalps taken, the Yankee pioneer met their assailants and took a ready hand in the game of fight; and no sooner was it understood that the British were engaged in inciting the Indians against the American settler, it was resolved to push the war into the very forest itself to the very threshold of the enemy.
Patrich HENRY, then Govenor of Virginia, soon snuffed the air of the pioneer settlements. He saw the situation. His soul arose equal to the emergency, and he was among the first to propose a plan of relief for those sufferers of the forest. (The reader is referred to the history of Lt. Col. Geo. Rogers CLARK’s campaign in 1778 in the Illinois country.)
Among the early pioneers, hunting was an important part of their employment. For some years the woods supplied them with the greater part of their subsistence; with regard to some families at certain times, the whole of it; for it was no uncommon thing for families to live for months without a mouthful of bread. It frequently happened that there was no breakfast till it was obtained from the woods.
Fur and peltry were the people’s money. They had nothing else to give in exchange for rifles, salt and iron on the other side of the rnountains. The fall and early part of the Winter was the season for hunting the deer, and the whole of the winter including part ofthe Spring for the bear and fur-skinned animals. It was a common saying that the fur was good during every month that the letter R occurred. As soon as the leaves were pretty well down and the weather became rainy accompanied by light snows the settlers, after having acted the part of husbandmen so far as the state of war permitted them to do so, soon began to feel that they were hunters. They became uneasy at home. Every thing about them grew disagreeable. The house was too warm; the feather bed was too soft; even the good wife wes not thought for the time being a suitable companion. The mind of the hunter was occupied with the camp and the chase.
They would often be seen to get up early in the morning at ths season of the year, walk out hastily and look anxiously at the clouds and snuff the autumnal breeze with the highest rapture, then walk into the house, cast a quick attentive look at the rifle which was always suspended to the joist by a couple of buckhoms or little wooden forks. His hunting dog, understanding the intentions of his master, would wag his tail and by every blandishment in his power express his readiness to accompany him to the woods. A day was soon appointed for the march of the little cavalcade to the camp. Two or three horses, furninshed with pack saddles, were loaded with flour, Indian meal, blankets and every thing else requisite for the use of the hunter.
A hunting camp, or what is called a half faced cabin was of the following form: The back part of it was sometimes a large log; at a distance from this log say 8 or 10 feet, two stakes were set in the ground a few inches apart; at a distance of 8 or 10 feet, two more to receive the ends of the poles for the sides of the camp. The whole slope of the roof was from the front to the back; the covering was of slabs, skins or blankets; or, if in the spring of the year, the bark of hickory or ash trees. The front was left entirely open; the fire was built directly before this opening; the cracks were filled with moss; dry leaves served for a bed; the whole was finished in a few hours.
A little more pain would have made the hunting camp a complete defence against the Indians; but careless in that respect the hunters were often surprised and killed in their camps. The site of the camp was selected with all the sagacity of the back woodsman so as to have it sheltered by the surrounding hills from every wind, but more especially from the north and west. Hunting was not a mere ramble in the pursuit of game, in which·there was nothing of skill or calculation; on the contrary, when the hunter set out in the morning, he was informed by the weather in what situation he might reasonably expect to find game — whether on the bottom side or top of the hills. In stormy weather the deer always seek the most sheltered places and the leeward side of the hills. In rainy weather, in which there is not much wind, they keep in the open woods on the highest ground. In every situation it was necessary for the hunter to ascertain the course of the wind so as to get to the leeward of the game. This he effected by putting his finger in his mouth and holding it there until it became warm, then raising it above his head. The side which first became cold showed which way the wind blew.
As it was necessary for the hunter to know the cardinal points, he had only to observe the trees to ascertain them. The bark of an aged tree is much thicker and rougher on the north than on the south side. The same may be said of the moss on the trees. The whole business of the hunter consists of a series of intrigues. From morning until night he was on the alert to gain the windward of his game; and approach them without being discovered.
If he succeeded in killing a deer he skinned it and hung it up out of the reach of the wolves and immediately resumed the chase until the close of the evening, when he returned to camp, kindled up his fire and together with his fellow hunter cooked supper. The supper finished, the events of the day furnished the tales for the evening. The spike buck, the two and three pronged buck, the doe, all figured through the anecdotes with great advantage. It would seem that after hunting on the same ground awhile the hunter became acquainted with nearly all the gangs of deer within the range, so as to know each flock when they saw them.
Often some old buck, by means of his superior sagacity and watchfulness, saved his little gang from the hunter’s skill by giving timely notice of his approach. The cunning of the hunter and the old buck were staked against each other, and it frequently happened at the close of the hunting season the old fellow was left the free and uninjured tenant of the forest; but if his rival succeeded in bringing him down, the victory was followed by no small amount of boasting on the part of the conqueror. When the weather was not suitable for hunting, the skins & carcasses of the game were brought in and disposed of. Many of the hunters rested from their labors on the Sabbath day — some from motives of piety; others said when they hunted on Sunday they were sure to have bad luck through the week.
The Henry County Signal ran this item Apr. 20, 1882: “Because eleven hundred and twenty railroad tickets were sold at Holgate during the month of March, the (Toledo) Times remarks that ‘it is a good town to emigrate from.'”
From The Henry County Signal Dec. 1, 1881 – Deshler Items – John B. COLLINS, of Henry County, O., and Miss U. SHAW, of this place [Deshler] were married at the Catholic church in this place, on Tuesday, last, by Father Robert, of Shelby.
Large numbers of raccoon are being killed in the woods about here this fall. They are in better order this fall than last. [ed.-Better pelts?]
