Henry County Genealogical Society Newsletter
Volume 19, Number 3, May– June 2005
A PUBLICATION OF:
The Henry County Genealogical Society
P. O. BOX 231
DESHLER, OHIO 43516
www.henrycountyohiogenealogy.org
The Henry County Genealogical Society Newsletter is now published bi-monthly. The editor reserves the right to accept or reject any material submitted. The Newsletter is copyright protected, but the Society gives permission for material to be copied for personal research and to other chapter newsletters for their use. Any other use of this material should carry written permission from the Henry County Genealogical Society and acknowledge the source. Annual membership is $10.00 for 1-2 people at the same address.
Meetings will be held quarterly or as announced in the newsletter. Publications for sale are listed on the last page with the newest ones appearing on the first page.
We print all queries that are related to Henry County – membership is not required. Send queries to Henry Co. Genealogical Society, P. O. Box 231, Deshler, OH 43516 or to the editor as “Query” at wendypen@wcnet.org. After May 2016, queries may be directed to our website and will appear there.
Officers:
President – Jim Rebar
Vice President – Maurice Weaks
Treasurer/Membership Chmn. – Lucille Van Scoyoc
Corresponding Secretary – Phyllis LaRue
Recording Secretary and First Families Chmn. – Kathy Bishop
News Reporter – Clara Ellen Courtney
Newsletter Editor – Karen Sunderman
Webmaster – Jim Rebar
MEETINGS
May 16 , 2005, Monday, 7:00 p.m.
Work night and business meeting.
June 20 , 2005, Monday, 7:00 p.m.
Rhonda Casler will speak on Local County Court Records.
WE ARE PUBLISHING …
Northwest Signal Obituaries 2004 Vol. XVIII (2004). The cost is $14.00 plus $2.00 postage and handling.
Henry County Death Records Vol. I (1867-1877). The cost is $10.00 plus $2.00 postage and handling.
Henry County Census 1900 Vol. III (includes Damascus, Harrison, Liberty, and Washington Twps., Liberty Center, McClure, Napoleon Village). The cost is $18.00 plus $2.00 postage and handling.
Henry County Census 1900 Vol. II (includes Bartlow, Monroe, Richfield, Deshler and Malinta. The cost is $18.00 plus $2.00 for postage and handling). (See sample page.)
Henry County Census 1900 Vol. I includes Napoleon Village, Napoleon Twp., Freedom twp., Ridgeville Twp. The cost is $18.00 plus $2.00 postage and handling.
NOW ONLINE…
Henry County Marriage Records 1847-1898 are now online. Go to our web site and click on marriages. Search by surname.
There will soon be an index to the Estate Records in the Henry County courthouse.
We want to thank Steve Badenhop and Jim Rebar for all their work on this site.
SEND APPLICATIONS FOR FIRST FAMILIES to Kathy Bishop, P.O. Box 231 Deshler, OH 43516 by May 31.
QUERIES
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.
ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY
Two family histories compiled by Carole Werling have been donated to the Edwin Wood Library: ANDREW Family Additions and WERLING Family Book. Thank you.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
The first West Central Ohio Genealogical Workshop will be held October 22, 2005 at St. Marys Theater in St. Marys, OH. Dr. George K. Schweitzer will conduct three seminars: Rivers to Trails to Roads to Canals to Trains (migration); Researching in Burned-Out Counties; and Civil War Genealogy.
Registration begins at 8 a.m. with opening remarks at 9:00. The seminar concludes at 3 p.m. There is free parking. Pre-registration (due by Oct. 15) is $30. Registration that day is $35. Lunch is included. Send registration to: West Central Ohio Genealogical Workshop, P.O. Box 298, St. Marys, OH 45885.
REAL QUOTES FROM CORRESPONDENCE WITH LDS CHURCH
“Our 2nd great grandfather was found dead crossing the plains in the library. He was married 3 times in the endowment house and has 21 children.”
“He and his daughter are listed as not being born.”
“I would like to find out if I have any living relatives or dead relatives or ancestors in my family.”
“Will you send me a list of all the Dripps in your library?”
“My grandfather died at the age of 3.”
“We are sending you 5 children in a separate envelope.”
Funny, we get some queries that are as clearly confusing as these! –Ed.
68th OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY
From The Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion 1861-1866 Vol. V.
The 68th was organized in Nov. and Dec. 1861 at Camp Latty, Napoleon, OH and mustered out July 10, 1865 at Louisville, KY. Due to the huge amount of information, only the soldier’s name, his company, rank, age and pertinent information such as being wounded or killed is included here. Note that being detached to a colored regiment does not mean that a soldier was black. Colored regiments had white officers.
COMPANY D
| NAME | RANK | AGE | COMMENT |
| CROCKETT, Arthur C. | Capt. | 24 | |
| WILLIAMS, William F. | Capt. | 32 | |
| RANDALL, Leverette G. | 1st Lt. | 30 | |
| COFFMAN, Levi | 1st Lt | 39 | |
| GILSON, William | 1st Lt. | 27 | wounded 31 Aug 1864 in battle of Jonesboro, GA |
| OTTINGER, Elias R. | 2nd Lt. | 29 | |
| NEFF, Michael | 1st Sgt. | 36 | discharged 27 Aug 1862 at Columbus, OH on Surgeon’s certificate of disability |
| EMERY, Angelo | 1st Sgt. | 23 | |
| MOORE, Rezen | Sgt. | 31 | |
| PONTIOUS, Wesley | Sgt. | 22 | |
| De LONG, Henry | Sgt. | 26 | |
| HOY, Levi | Sgt. | 25 | |
| PARKER, Benjamin | Sgt. | 18 | discharged by civil authority (no date) |
| HOLLINSHEAD, Jerry | Sgt. | 26 | wounded 16 May 1863 in battle of Champion Hills, MS |
| KELLEY, John W. | Cpl. | 22 | |
| SMITH, Frank W. | Cpl. | 28 | |
| GETZ, John | Cpl. | 20 | |
| BOOHER, William | Cpl. | 21 | |
| HARTZER, Stephen S. | CpI. | 23 | |
| RUGG, Eugene M. | Cpl | 18 | |
| CONN, Samuel M. | Cpl. | 29 | died 5 May, 1862 in General Hospital at Keokuk, IA |
| GILSON, Thomas | Cpl. | 26 | discharged 15 Apr 1862 at Columbus, OH on Surgeon’s certificate of disability |
| MOREY, Charles | Cpl. | 45 | died 23 Aug 1863 in McPherson Hospital, Vicksburg, MS, of wounds received 22 May 1863 in action near Vicksburg. |
| COMPANY D PRIVATES | |||
| ANDREWS, John | 18 | ||
| ALTMAN, George | 35 | absent, sick since 30 May 1865 at Washington, D.C. | |
| ALTMAN, Andrew | 19 | ||
| ADAMS, Samuel L. | 45 | ||
| ADAMS, Noah T. | 20 | promoted to 1st Lt. 135th U. S. Colored Infantry 27 Mar 1865 | |
| BLOOMFIELD, John | 20 | ||
| BEAMAN, Samuel | 18 | ||
| BUNTING, Levi | 18 | ||
| BANGHNA, Jacob | 18 | wounded 17 Aug 1864 in action near Atlanta, GA | |
| BOWMAN, Frederick | |||
| BOOHER, George W. | 28 | died 21 Apr 1862 in hospital at Cairo, IL | |
| BERRY, Henry | 35 | died 1 Apr 1862 at Covington, KY | |
| BROWN, William H. | 45 | discharged 13 Dec 1862 on Surgeon’s certificate of disability | |
| BABCOCK, James H. | 45 | discharged 31 Mar 1862 at Crump’s Landing, TN on Surgeon’s certificate of disability | |
| BOWKER, Harman | 21 | ||
| BURGES, Owen | 37 | ||
| CROSSMAN, Hiram | 35 | ||
| CROCKETT, John | 18 | wounded 25 May 1863 in action near Vicksburg, MS | |
| CROCKETT, Jonathan | 45 | discharged 23 Oct 1862 at Bolivar, TN on Surgeon’s certificate of disability | |
| CROCKETT, Eber | 18 | died 22 Sept 1862 at Bolivar, TN | |
| CHURCHILL, James M. | 18 | ||
| DEWELL, Clark W. | 24 | ||
| DOBBS, Judson | 18 | ||
| CURBIN, William | 42 | ||
| EVANS, Amos E. | 29 | ||
| EMERY, Nathaniel | 37 | died 28 June 1862 at Milliken’s Bend, LA | |
| EASTMAN, G. C. | 42 | discharged 9 Apr 1862 at St. Louis, MO on Surgeon’s certificate of disability | |
| EDWARDS, Squire C. | 23 | discharged 24 Nov 1862 at LaGrange, TN on Surgeon’s certificate of disability | |
| ELLIS, William F | 18 | wounded 25 May 1863 in action near Vicksburg, MS | |
| FISHER, Jacob | 36 | ||
| FREEMAN, Albert | 26 | discharged 8 July 1862 at Columbus, OH re-enlisted 1 Dec 1863, wounded 31 Aug 1864 in battle of Jonesboro, GA | |
| FRANCIS, William H. H. | 23 | discharged 2 May 1865 at Columbus, OH for wounds received 22 July 1864 in battle of Atlanta, GA. | |
| FREDRICK, John L. | 17 | ||
| FINIGAN, John | 18 | discharged 1 Jan 1862 at Camp Latty, OH | |
| GETZ, Michael | 22 | wounded 23 May 1863 in action near Vicksburg, MS | |
| GILLETTE, Theodore | 29 | ||
| GILSON, David | 24 | discharged 18 June 1862 at Columbus, OH on Surgeon’s certificate of disability | |
| GOAKY, Joseph | 44 | discharged 14 July 1862 on Surgeon’s certificate of disability | |
| GOON, Moses | 33 | ||
| HILL, David | 25 | ||
| HAYNES, William I. | 20 | ||
| HUFFMAN, Sebastian W. | 33 | ||
| HUGHES, Evans M. | 24 | died 23 Apr 1864 | |
| HUDSON, Horace | 42 | discharged 1861 on Surgeon’s certificate of disability | |
| HALL, James | 45 | on muster-in roll; no further record found | |
| HAINES, Orelious | 26 | wounded 16 May 1863 in battle of Champion Hills, MS | |
| HARMAN, Jacob | 42 | died 1 Apr 1862 at Covington, KY | |
| HARMAN, John | 29 | ||
| HARTMAN, Joseph | 25 | ||
| HOY, Daniel | 18 | discharged 26 Aug 1863 at Columbus, OH on Surgeon’s certificate of disability | |
| HIGH, Johnson N. | 18 | discharged 11 July 1862 at Columbus, OH on Surgeon’s certificate of disability | |
| JOHNSON, Joseph D. | 45 | ||
| JONES, William | 30 | discharged 1861 on Surgeon’s certificate of disability | |
From The Henry County Signal, 2 November 1882
FLORIDA MENTION – As the Signal correspondent from this place is either immured in business or else has taken a trip West for the benefit of his health, I will collect a few items for your paper that it may not be thought the election returns have entirely crushed our little burg. Republicans philosophically accept the situation. Republicans that stay at home on election day are the ones that are found wanting in time of our country’s greatest need. It is hoped ere another election rolls around they will have resolved to be no longer a nonentity but come out and vote for somebody. If you feel you cannot affiliate with Republicans, vote with some other party, but be no longer a drone.
Weddings seem to be the order of the day at present and young groomsmen can be seen at any time upon our streets.
At the residence of Jas. E. SCOFIELD, Sunday Oct. 22nd by J. E. SCOFIELD, J. P., Mr. Martin LOSE and Miss Jennie SCOFIELD were united in the holy bonds of matrimony. The happy couple who are now just setting sail out upon the Sea of Life are among the most popular and esteemed of our young people and many and sincere are the wishes from hosts of warm friends for their future happiness and prosperity. The bride is one of the most lovable of Florida’s fair daughters and may she prove truly an helpmeet for her husband.
Thursday, Oct. 12th, at the residence of the brides parents near Texas, OH, occurred the marriage of our esteemed young townsman J. W. LONG and Miss Hattie S. DURBIN. A large number of guests were bidden and numerous tokens of affection and esteem were bestowed upon them, a sumptuous dinner was partaken of and midst the congratulations and good wishes of many friends the happy couple started on a trip to Virginia to visit friends and spend the honeymoon. Let us hope the honeymoon may last a life time. The bride has long been a teacher in our school and is highly esteemed by our entire community. For truly the interests of Florida and Texas are firmly united: may sedition never arise. Appropose (sic) speaking of weddings reminds us of a very enjoyable one that occurred at the residence of Mr. Isaac KARSNER, Sunday, Sept. 24th, of which I have seen no mention. Mr. Charles GUNN and Miss Clara S. KARSNER, were united in marriage by Rev. J. T. POPE. The marriage ceremony was beautiful and impressive: about 86 guests were in attendance. The attendants of the young couple were Mr. Henry RICHOLT and Miss Alice BORDNER, Mr. Martin LOSE and Miss Jennie SCOFIELD. A dinner was prepared for the guests the gods might have envied and after all had partaken, yea, more than twelve baskets of fragments might have been gathered up. Many choice and appropriate presents were made them of which the following names will show: Upholstered rocking chair, Martin LOSE, Frank LOWRY, Wil EMERY, Henry RICHOLT, George LENHART; Family Bible, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. GUNN, parents of the groom; Silver Castor, Misses Alice BORDNER, Mary BORDNER, and Sarah RICHOLT; Silver butter dish, Miss Flora GUNN; Silver pickle castor, Wash. LOWERY; Silver table spoons, Mr. and Mrs. Otto RASMUS; Silver tea spoons, Miss Minnie RHORS; Large stand lamp, Mr. and Mrs. J. H. LOWERY; Hanging lamp, Mr. and Mrs. Wil ANDREW, Mr. and Mrs. Frank ANDREW and Miss LUDWIG, Large glass water pitcher and goblets, Mr. Frank BACK; Large glass fruit dish, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace LOWERY; Glass butter dish, Mrs. Mary BARR, grandmother of groom; Large glass fruit dish, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac HERSHBERGER; Blue glass tea set, Willie BOLBY; Glass sauce dish, Sadie CHAMPION; Glass cake stand, Miss Edie SIMMONS; Wine glasses, Miss Jennie BACK; Knives and forks, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. BARR; Majolica apple server, Miss Jennie LOWERY; Linen table cloth extra fine, Miss May WEAVER; Pair linen table cloths, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. KIMMER; Linen table cloth, Mr. and Mrs. G. V. SCOTT; Bed-spread, Mr. and Mrs. and Miss Mary LENHART; Bed-spread, Miss Jennie SCOFIELD; Pair of towels, Mrs. RIFFLE; Memorial towel, Mrs. E. A. JONES; Tidy, Miss Sarah RICHOLT; Tidy, Miss Myrtie SCOTT; Set of linen napkins, Misses Augusta and Mary SPANGLER; Set of Linen napkins, Miss Jennie LOSE; Pair of linen towels, Mrs. Leah BRUBAKER; Mirror, Mrs. Nellie CHAMPION. Mr. and Mrs. Wm. GUNN entertained the guests on Monday, Sept. 25th. It was a time long to be remembered by all those present. The mother of the groom presents them a bed complete. May long life and happiness be theirs and may they be enabled to see the silvery lining to every cloud that overshadows their lives.
Miss Kitty KROTZNER having spent a fortnight or so with her sister Mrs. G. D. LONG, of Napoleon, returned home Saturday evening.
Mr. Shelton WILSON, a former resident of this county now of Michigan, visited relatives and friends here the past week.
Martin BRUBAKER talks of emigrating to Nebraska in a few weeks hoping thereby to benefit the health of Mrs. Brubaker which is very delicate indeed.
Two nieces of Mrs. Fred LENHART, Sr., of Plymouth, IN, are spending some days with her.
Dr. J. M. STOUT moved his family and effects to Holgate last week.
Wil DANCER has moved into the house occupied by Dr. STOUT.
Our popular shoe maker, V. KIMMICK, has also moved to Holgate. Wonder if there is any danger of Florida moving to Holgate.
Seymour HOPKINS and family have returned from their pleasure trip to Kansas. Came back last week and have been staying with the familys (sic) of Capt. G. K. SMITH and Dr. PARRY. Have purchased property in Holgate and removed there today. Defiance congratulates Holgate upon her acquisition and Napoleon sends greeting.
Miss Mollie REYNOLDS of Toledo is visiting her uncle Dr. PARRY.
Jack CARPENTER and wife, nee Miss Nellie BARR, visited at grandpa Barr’s part of Friday and Saturday. This week they intend removing to Pleasant Lake, IN.
At last Florida possesses a barber. Christ BRUBAKER is now ready to accommodate all that call upon him.
The BRUBAKER Bros. have another kiln of tile ready to burn.
Jasper SMITH and family spent Sabbath in town.
Mrs. Harry LEMON of Fulton county and Mrs. Charles BELKNAP visited friends in town last Friday.
Friday morning we thought all the ladies of Florida must be leaving as they kept passing by twos, by threes, by fours and occasionally one, and all bent in one direction. We came to the conclusion there must be a mass meeting or woman’s convention out North of town, but we finally learned it was a sewing bee at Martin BRUBAKERS. Judging by their smiling faces as they came home they must have passed a happy day and we hope evidences of good works were left behind them. With uncle Davie BRUBAKER, 24 guests were entertained; have failed to learn how much sewing was done by him; perhaps he may have been one of the knotters.
PIONEER SKETCHES (from Henry County Signal, 18 Feb 1886), by Rev. N. B. C. Love
[Ed. Note: Rev. Love was a Methodist Pastor in Deshler, OH. Later he pastored the Old (Indian) Mission Church in Upper Sandusky, Wyandot Co., OH.]
In presenting this first installment of Pioneer Sketches, I give due credit to such authors as I draw material from, as I claim it is my right to draw the facts of history from any reliable source, Rev. Oliver M. SPENCER I knew when I was a boy. He was presiding elder in the Ohio Annual Conference M. E. Church. His account of his captivity was published as a Sunday School book, and is now out of print.
My next article will be on incidents transpiring from 1800 to 1813, and will introduce many things, never before published, which have been told me by the pioneers in my youth. I have kept a journal for thirty-five years, and collected from newspapers and other sources many interesting fragments of history. If I am asked where I got many facts given I will answer in the language of Longfellow:
From the crests and prairies,
From the great lakes of the fine Northland,
From the land of the Ottawas,
From the land of the Miamis.
It is hard to realize the fertile and cultivated fields of Northwestern Ohio; dotted as they are with flourishing villages and cities, inhabited by a civilized and educated people, were, at the commencement of the present century the property and homes of a rude, barbarous and brave race.
This race felt itself aggrieved by the approach of the American backwoodsmen, and the British government by unfair means fostered this feeling. Large quantities of British gold went into savage purses decorated with the scalps of pioneer women and children.
To be able to comprehend the difficulties of pioneer life, it is important to get a correct view of the character and strength of the foes our fathers and mothers had to meet. It will not be just to look upon every Indian who fought against them as prompted only by a thirst for blood. Many of them were true patriots and fought for their homes and the graves of their fathers. These aboriginals often did the things by nature contained in God’s written law, and even a law unto themselves, their thoughts accusing or excusing them.
They may have been somewhat under the influence of Christian teaching, which had been given their forefathers by French Jesuit priests, but it must have been slight, as it was never great, and more than a hundred years had elapsed since these missionaries visited them. Whatever of good was imported to them by the British traders and soldiers was more than neutralized by selling them rum, of which they were passionately fond.
They received kindly their own friends and treated with respect the missionaries who visited them. Never did they so much as offer an insult to the missionary of horticulture.
JOHNNY APPLESEED
…who time and again, without arms, passed in safety through Northwestern Ohio. The first we know of him, through the old people, was in 1801. For many years he visited many parts of Central Ohio. He lashed two canoes together and from Pennsylvania he passed down the Ohio to Muskingum River, and ascending that stream until he reached the mouth of White Woman Creek and still onward up the Mohican into Black Fork to the head of navigation. Other trips he made as far as Detroit by the way of Ft. Sandusky and up the Maumee to Ft. Defiance. The places he planted his apple seeds were near the residences of the savages and the pioneers.
The dress he wore was very simple often being nothing more than a sack made of coarse material with holes in it for his head and arms. This remarkable man had great love for children and unbounded sympathy for humanity. He was a welcome guest anywhere in the cabins of the settlers and the lodges of the Indians. By the latter he was known as the great medican (sic) man. They looked upon him as having supernatural power, as he could thrust pins into his flesh without evincing any signs of pain. Any wounds or sores he would sear with a red hot iron and then cure the bum. He warned the settlers of danger, passing from settlement to settlement immediately after Hull’s defeat in 1812.
The notion entered his head that the weed known as dog-fennel was anti-material and procuring large quantities he sowed some in Ohio near every house he passed. The last years of his life he spent entirely in Northwestern Ohio and eastern Indiana. He had planted seed over nearly a hundred thousand square miles, and now in 1847 when seventy-four years old, he died in Allen county, Indiana. No one knows the place of his burial. He was a Swedenborgian in faith, and everywhere he talked his doctrines. No opportunity was lost in this direction. He also taught kindness to animals and children. This strange man was never harmed by the Indians.
O. M. SPENCER
The writer has in his possession a little book published in 1834, now out of print, written by O. M. Spencer, of the Ohio Conference of the M. E. Church, being a narration of life among the Indians of the Maumee Valley in 1790-91. Through it we learn something of the strength and character of the foe the pioneers had to meet and subdue before they could occupy the valleys of the Sandusky and Maumee.
The lad Spencer was captured by two Shawnee warriors near Ft. Washington, Cincinnati, in 1790. They carried him up the Miami on the East side until they came to where Sidney, Ohio, now is and crossed over and struck the Auglaize River near St. Mary’s, and followed it to its confluence with the Maumee. The great Shawnee village was a mile below this point. The site of Ft. Defiance was then a trading post in the possession of the British and there were about half a dozen cabins. One of these was occupied by a brother of the notorious Simon GIRTY. Here the captive boy would have been compelled to run the gauntlet but for the kindly interference of an old priestess who adopted him as a son. She led him to her tent and placing him on two deer skins, covered him with two blankets so that he slept calmly for the first time since his captivity. This woman was prophetess for her tribe and was the widow of a chief who had but recently lost his life in the battle with Gen. St. Clair. Her name was Cooh-Coo-Chee. She would often commune with the great spirit, sitting for hours in the deepest meditation. The great chiefs of the Delawares, Wyandots and Shawnees often worshiped at her shrine. She had the reputation of the strictest virtue and great kindliness of heart.
She removed the remains of her husband to the vicinity of her cabin on the north side of the Maumee, opposite Defiance, and buried them in a sitting posture, facing the west. In the grave were also placed a tomahawk, pipe and rifle. She thought it would be a great satisfaction to the spirit of her husband, as it lingered during its few years of probation near the sleeping remains to watch the plumed and painted warriors as they passed on their way to repel the invaders of their homes. And then she could daily visit his grave and commune with his spirit. After a while she thought his soul would migrate to the happy hunting grounds in the far West, beneath the setting sun, there to find plenty of game and revel in sensual delights. By his grave she planted a post six feet high, painted red and black, and hung on it the sixteen scalps of enemies he had secured.
The family of this Indian woman consisted of a dark Indian girl, 15 years old, and a half Indian boy of 11. These were the grandchildren of Cooh-Coo-Chee by her only daughter, the wife of a Mr. IRONSIDES, Englishman and Indian trader. The boy was reported to be the son of Simon GIRTY. His grandmother called him Simo-nee. The girl she called Qua-say.
This Indian prophetess lived in a bark lodge 14 x 16. The frame was composed of poles set in forks, fastened in the ground. These supported the eave and ridge poles, while others firmly tied with hickory bark formed girders and rafters. This frame was covered with long strips of elm bark seven or eight feet long and one and two feet wide, were fastened to the poles with thongs of leather. At the western end was a narrow doorway six feet high, closed when necessary with a single piece of bark. There were two apartments separated by a bark partition. The inner one was the spare bedroom, the pantry, and at times the sanctuary where she performed her incantations. The outer room on each side had a low framework on which were spread her deer skins, serving for seats and beds.
Of course this was also sitting, cooking and dining room. There was in the center of the roof an aperture left for the smoke to pass out, and underneath this a trammel to hang on the kettles. The north side faced the river. The ground northward gently descended for about 200 yards, and then ascended to the top of the tablelands, bounding the narrow bottom extending two miles up and the same below. Here as fine a view was obtained then as now. The scene no doubt was grand when the Auglaize maddened by a freshet, met, mingling their boiling and turbulent waters. Another equally grand, when in summer time the waters were low and the green corn rustled in vigorous growth in the virgin soil, and far away the graduated greens and neutral tints clotted the primitive groves in living splendor. The scene was only intensified in its beauty when the bark canoes everywhere traced the old river as they, girded by the fringe of willows, moved gently to the lakes.
Mr. Spencer tells us the river abounded in fish–no net men nor dams to hinder their coming up. The Indians gigged and shot them with arrows. For the anglers we suggest that the supply of the finny fellows may be great again if the impediment should be removed.
A cornfield extended fully a mile up the Auglaize to an Indian village. The whole bottom composed this immense corn field. The boys by turns were the guardians of the growing corn.
The household furniture consisted of a large brass kettle for washing and sugar making, a deep, close-covered copper homing kettle, a few knives, tin cups, pewter and horn spoons, sieves, wooden bowls, baskets of various sizes, a hominy block, and four beds and bedding, comprised of a few deer skins and blankets. This lodge was of the aristocratic sort, much better furnished than most Indian homes.
