Henry County Genealogical Society Newsletter
Volume 19, Number 6, November – December 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
November 21, 2005, Monday, 6:30 p.m.
Carry-in dinner. Drinks provided. Bill Grimes will dress as Johnny Appleseed and bring us a program about how that historic figure changed NW Ohio. Bring your children and/or grandchildren. Program begins at 7:15 of you can’t make it for the dinner.
WE ARE PUBLISHING…
The 1900 Henry County Census Vol. lV 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.
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.
SURNAMES
Each year in the Jan.-Feb. newsletter we list our members and the surnames they are researching. If you have not sent your list you can mail it to our address (above) or e-mail it to the editor at the site noted in column one. Please limit your list to 16 names. It is confusing if you include names of relatives who lived in Kansas, for example, so try to stick with Henry County connections. Thanks!
WRITE IT DOWN
I recently read some research tips in Genealogy.com. A couple hit home: Write it down. Do not trust your memory. Write clearly. Do not write on scraps of paper thai are easily lost. File the record or document immediately to save time searching for it later (my emphasis) Include the name of the file folder in your notes.
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.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
We arc very grateful to have received a notebook from Beryl WATSON KNOTT containing the letters her father, Wendell E. WATSON wrote home during 1918-1919 while serving in WWI. We will be publishing excerpts from these letters which contain the observations of this soldier, comments on family and acquaintances back home, and news of “local” men serving with him. Please feel free to comment via our website or my e-mail on the value of continuing this from issue to issue.
OTHER DONATIONS TO OUR COLLECTION
Mary Dehnbostel MEESE has donated two books to our collection at Edwin WoodMemorial Library in Deshler. They are: Johann Herm, F. D. ARPS and Louise Elisabeth ROSEBROOK/ROSEBROCK m. 7 Nov. 1887and History of MAASSEL Family by Louis Maassel.
Carole Ann WERLING has donated RIPKE Family of Visselhovede.
Michael WAHL has donated WAHL Reunion 1911 in Pleasant Twp. Ohio
William HARTZ has donated John HARTZ 1801-1882 and Catherine HERSHEY 1807-1874. We appreciate receiving family histories that pertain to Henry County. Thank you.
GENEALOGICAL WEBSITES
www.ancestry.com- a giant commercial site where you must pay for census, old newspaper pages, and more. Family tree software is free as are the message board and pedigree files, which are merged with Rootsweb’s. Basic U.S. Records Collection ($79.95 a year) includes more man 3,000 resources.
LETTERS from WWI 1918-1919 by PVT. WENDELL E. WATSON
Wendell E. Watson graduated from Grelton High School in 1910. His classmates were:Mary BALLARD, Lura EMERY, Atlee JACKSON and Walter SLOAN.
Wendell married Oleta Cloe BOCKEY, daughter of Wesley and lona (WEST) BOCKEY and their children were: Beryl b. 1923, Leonard b. 1925, James b. 1927, Harold b. 1934, and Jane b. 1940.
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 during the war. There will generally be no reference to which family member receives a given letter. His brother Bill (or Willy, as his mother calls him) was also serving during WWI, mostly in Italy. Excerpts of Wendell’s letters and sometimes complete letters will be printed in chronological order.
April 5,1918 – Camp Sherman, OH. “… saw Pat BARTON.”
April 30,1918 – Camp Shennan, Chillicothe, OH “… saw Bill AUSTIN and Walter SMITH.”
May 6, 1918 – Camp Sherman “Last night I had a mighty close call of getting in too late. Fred SHOWMAN was along and we had to run about a quarter of a mile.”
May 1918 -Camp Sherman “Fay JAMES read his mail before I got mine and told me about Gale [who was evidently seriously ill]. My tent mate is Robert McMILLEN of Richfield Township.” He then notes that they sleep on the ground with three inches of straw. They also have one quart of water per day for drinking and washing.
May 4,1918 – Camp Sherman “The Henry County bunch is sticking pretty well together yet. Ralph EATON, myself, Rob. McMILLEN, Fay JAMES, Uriel CONN and Charles ROMAKER have bunks right on a row.”
“We moved again today making the fourth time. Every time you are required to carry everything you own, consisting of three blankets, bed tick, overcoat, raincoat, two uniforms, three suits of underwear, five pair socks, two shirts, mess kit, gun, and your suitcase full of towels, soap, comfort kit and stationery. You carry this junk in one load.”
“I saw [brother] Bill last night…. I saw Geo. STOUT and Bill AUSTIN today. George does [not?] do any work or any drills. He has not done anything for a couple months.”
May 14,1918 – Camp Sherman “The Henry County bunch was split up today. We are nearly all in the same company yet, but we were assigned to different platoons. They told us to get acquainted with the members of our squad as they were to be our comrades when we go over. There are 263 men in our company.”
May 14, 1918 -Camp Sherman [to Norma] “I got a box of goodies from aunt (sic) Irene today. The ‘Old Maids’ of Grelton sent a box of goodies down to their bunch today. Our grub is better since we have been assigned to a regular company. … I heard that Charley STORCH was going to motor down with a load next Sunday.”
May 16, 1918 – Camp Sherman “It looks very much right now as if Julian WHEELER and myself would be transferred to the Machine Gun company of this Regiment. We were ordered to report to the captain of the Machine Gun company, we were asked a lot of questions, and among them was this one. Would you object to trying the machine gun? We both said ‘no’ and confessed our ignorance of the different jobs in the army. So we are expecting to [be] called in again. There don’t seem to be a lot of hankering for the machine gun. The reason is that they have to carry part of a gun in addition to what the infantry man has to carry. I think though that the men in the Machine gun will do little bayonet work. You have a mighty creepy feeling when you see one of those bayonets.”
May 20, 1918 — Camp Sherman “I saw a number of Grelton people here today. Grant CONNN’s, Mert JONES, and Inez CREAGER. I gave my suitcase to Inez CREAGER to take home. We will not be able to take a suitcase with us handy as they are. … I was transferred to the Machine Gun company today and I had to turn in my rifle. Julian WHEELER was transferred with me.”
“I went down to see Bill last night…. If I transfer out of the Machine Gun I will go to his Company if we can work it. One of the SULLIVAN boys is a lieutenant in his company. Last time I saw Bill he was going to talk to him about it. Tell Gale I saw Hank MERMAN last night for the first time. Hank has been here all this time and has never got a coat. … Jake CREAGER said today that the corn was up.”
Camp Merritt (Jerry City, NJ) arrived May 28, 1918 by train.
May 30,1918 – Camp Merritt “I saw Fred SHOWMAN last night and talked with him an hour or more.”
June 5,1918 -Camp Merritt “We have a regular schedule for doing things here now the same as at Camp Sherman. It seems to take a few days to settle after a move. Our drilling is not what it was as we have no drill ground to speak of. We do squads right and left on the side of a hill full of stumps, stones and trees.
“I guess they have got our outfits now about the way they want them…. We have enough machine guns for the entire company and 9600 rounds of ammunition. Every soldier in camp has ammunition in his belt. … “Tell Gale I see Fred pretty near every day. He has been in the kitchen the last three days. He says he don’t know what it is for unless it is because he didn’t get up for reveille. He is fat and lazy but the HUEBNER don’t show up on him any more. I saw Jake BEARD today for the first time since we’ve been in this camp. I saw Earl LOWRY tonight out under some trees.” … “Pat BARTON is still at Camp Sherman.”
“They are busy getting naturalization papers for lots of these foreigners in the army. I had a little talk with a Russian tonight who refused to support this government after he has been here for eleven years. It will be all wrong if they turn those fellows loose on equal footing with the rest of us when the war is over.
“I wish you would send me Harley HOY’S address.”
From Camp Merritt, Wendell Watson was sent overseas.
PIONEER SKETCHES (from Henry County Signal 30 Sept 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.]The question has often been asked me by the early settlers of the Maumee Valley why some one has not given to the public something of the early history of Old Prairie D’Masque, a point eight miles below Napoleon, now known as the SHOWMAN and LUTZ farms, called in the early days the head of the Rapids. This point in the early days was a stop-over point or resting place for the Perougue traveler, fur dealers and others on their way to and from Fort Wayne and Detroit. Two large creeks empty into the river nearly opposite each other and gives it the appearance of a turkey’s foot. hence the name of Turkeyfoot Creeks, &c.
Gen. WAYNE camped here on his way to fallen timber battlefield in 1794. Col. DUDLY refreshed his men here on the morning of the massacre in the year of 1813. It was then a large village of bark cabins deserted by the Indians. There was a half mile race track running through the village. Lewis WETZEL, noted Indian fighter, visited the place in 1785, and witnessed from a tree top on the opposite side of the river the horse racing of the Indians. They had, says WETZEL, nearly a hundred of the best horses stolen from Virginia and Kentucky; that they had one large sorrel horse that it was impossible to beat; that after running this horse time and again, he coming out victor each time, the Indians put four Indians on his back being determined to have him beaten. The horse was seen to fall, two Indians limped away, but the horse rose no more. This was also a great place for the Indians to bum their prisoners taken from the frontier of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky. The rites of the terrible man-eating society were also enacted here.
There was a French trading post here in 1776. It was here that Simon GIRTY held his drunken revels. It is said that this renegade possessed but one redeeming quality, and that was courage–that he would not turn on his heel to save his life. In a quarrel with a Shawnee chief of great prowess, the Indian called him a squaw and that he had no sand. GIRTY deliberately walked into the trader’s store, picked up a keg of powder with one hand, a brand of fire with the other and told the chief to sit down on a log opposite him and see who was the bravest man! The Indian beat a hasty retreat and the courage of GIRTY was never afterwards questioned. It was believed by those who witnessed this performance that GIRTY would have blown the Indian and himself skyward sooner than have his courage questioned.
This was also a great point to fit out war-parties to ravage the frontier of the border States, and many an Indian has struck the war post, danced his last war dance, sung his last war song as he started for the frontier to steal horses and take scalps, and left his own bones to manure the white man’s com field when he came in contact with the white warriors who were ever on the watch for the “red devils” of the west.
Thus we see that Old Prairie D’Masque lively Indian town at least 130 years ago, and an important point in Indian movements. what was true of that village was also true of the entire Maumee Valley. — Could the trees and stones of this Valley talk, they would reveal a history of savage live unsurpassed by that of any other similar territory in the United States.
That our adopted citizens of the fatherland and the Emerald Isle may have a realizing view of the class of men who composed the early settlers west of the Allegheny mountains upon the close of the old French wars and the close of the revolutionary struggle, I will try and give a birds-eye view of the impressions made upon my mind by reading the history of the pioneer days and from listening to the stories as they fell from the lips of old people fifty years ago.
At the close of the great treaty of Sir William Johnson with the different Indian tribes of the Northwest in the Spring of 1766, at which Pontiac himself appeared and concluded a final reconciliation of all the tribes formerly under his leadership, it was generally thought by the colonists and those settlements along the Alleghenies and other points westward, that further damage from the tribes at war was at an end. The English flag was now waving over all the Posts from Niagara to the Mississippi; and while the settlements along the border and beyond were yet sparse and scattering, there arose a strong desire for more room among the settlers, and hundreds of resolute men were soon on the march seeking new homes in the wilderness of the west. After so much warfare, the peaceful quietude of the border and the more easterly settlements was more than they could stand. The wild scenes of the distant forest offered a fair exchange for the former excitements and vicissitudes of war. Starting out in small parties, the adventurous settlers would move westward far interior-ward, then separating they would traverse large extents of country and at length each selecting a site for himself would settle down in the primeval forest far from any scenes of civilization, and living much like the Indians they soon became as reckless as the most savage of the red men around them. It is related of those early times that one of those settlers left his clearing and started for the forests of the west for the reason that another had settled so near him that he could hear the report of his rifle; while yet another, seeing from his valley home the smoke curling in the distance, is said to have gone fifteen miles to discover its cause and finding newcomers there, left the country in disgust. “More elbow room” was wanted. Such were at least some of the expressions of the times.
The English colonists were a hardy, daring, self-reliant set of men, unlike former periods in the old world when their nation was often suddenly over run both in their military and migratory movements. They pushed gradually forward, and while many were destroyed they yet succeeded in reducing the Indians to a state of submission through fear of extermination, while on the other hand the pioneer, relying entirely on his own bravery and prowess with what aid each could render the other in times of attack upon the settlements, &c., long held possession of a large region of country, and thus aided in laying the structure of future greatness. Long accustomed to exposure and the vicissitudes of a life on the frontier and in the wilderness, it is not surprising that these hardy men became daring and implacable, often restless for the achievement of some momentary victory or revenge. Adventurers now soon began to crowd upon the Indians; their lands were being over run by the colonists, and while the Indians were inclined to be friendly they still cut down the settlers. Born and bred amid scenes of hardship, these early pioneers were naturally hardy and active, caring but little for the common comforts of life or the roughest weather. Wild as untamed nature, they could scream with the panther, howl with the wolf, whoop with the Indian and fight all creation. It is related of one of these strangely rough adventurers in the history of the west. that having been tomahawked and his scalp started, stated that he might be killed sometime, for lightning had tried him on once and would have done the business up for him if he hadn’t dodged. Constantly associating with the Indians, many of them’ not only became demi-savage but frequently assumed the whole savage character.
A little description of their appearance, ordinary costume, habits of life, houses, &c. will be of interest to the present generation: A coon skin cap with the tail dangling at the back of the neck and the snout dropping upon the forehead; long buck skin leggings, sewed with a wide fringed welt down the outside of the legs; a long narrow strip of coarse cloth passing round the hips and between the thighs, which was brought up before and behind under the belt and hung down flapping as they walked; a loose deer skin frock open in front and lapping once and a half around the body was belted at the middle, forming convenient pockets on each side for chunks of hoe cake, tow, jerked venison, screw driver, and other fixings, and a pair of Indian moccasins completed the hunter’s most unique apparel. Over the whole was slung a bullet pouch and powder horn. From behind the left hip dangled a scalping knife, from the right protruded the handle of a hatchet, both weapons stuck in leather cases. Every hunter carried an awl, a roll of buck skin and strings of hide called [changa? -illegible] for thread. In the winter loose deer hair was stuffed into the moccasins to keep the feet warm.
From The Henry County Signal, 26 January 1882
“Wafts From Florida” – It’s Arvine REID that steps the quickest, holds his head the highest and looks the happiest of all the men in the town all because of the advent of a fine young son at his house. We all join in congratulating him and hope he will not be so brimful of happiness that he will forget his friends.
The jolly podnegogue [shoe salesman?] MYERS says … “the finest boy you ever saw is mine. Though it might be necessary to get RICKOL’s largest scales to weigh it on and I feel so mighty big there are no scales in town that will draw me.” Hope these happy fathers will get along well.
To all lovers of good biscuits, Miss Ada BRUBAKER says call on her as she can make superb ones, and her brother Link can fully testify to their excellence and efficacy.
F. M. BRUBAKER goes courting again this week. Wonder if he finds courting as fascinating as of yore. If Henry does not soon take possession of that fine farm that has been offered him Jack STOUT will become a formidable rival.
