The Shirleys settle in at Fort (Defiance) Winchester
"We reached Fort Defiance that afternoon to our joy and the great delight of our brother, Robert, who had been there several days. My parents were pleased to find Mr. William Preston, a gentleman of intelligence and of pleasing manners, in possession of the fort. He had been there most of the time since the war.
There were two good log houses in the fort, built for the officers, one of which Mr. Preston's family occupied; in the other my father's family found narrow but comfortable quarters.
The fort was all standing in good preservation excepting the barracks on the banks of the Auglaize. The bank was very steep and commanded a fine view of the low land on the opposite side of the river.
The block houses, the four large gates with sentinel boxes over them, were good, and the pickets were in good order and strong enough to be a protection even then.
The block house on the northeast corner of the fort had a good cellar that had been used for a magazine* during the war. From the cellar, an underground way led to the river, by which the soldiers could get water without being seen by the enemy. In the blockhouses at the end of the barracks, facing southeast, were two or three iron bound chests, full of written documents of the war, left by the army officers."
*Magazine - a safe, dry place to store ammunition and anything explosive
Ruth Shirley Austin went on to say:
"Only a few white people lived in the vicinity at the time of our arrival. Four French families were living in log cabins on the banks of the Maumee, and three American families on the Auglaize one mile above the fort - two of these by the name of Driver, one a silversmith, the other a shoemaker. Six miles below Fort Defiance, at Camp Number Three, there lived three American families, namely, Mr. John Perkins, Mr. Montgomery Evans and Mr. Hivel. Two of these families had looms and wove flax and tow linen. Every farmer's wife took her spinning wheel to the new country. There were no sheep in that area then. In 1824, my brother, James bought 3 sheep in Urbana and drove them to Defiance...
Much was told of their dealings with the Ottawa Indians with whom all was well nearly all of the time, except for times when drunkenness took over, especially with Chief Okonoksee. One night in a drunken rage, the Chief killed both his son-in-law and grandson. This brought him contempt from all the neighboring chiefs who decided to take away his role as chief, A new chief was named, but the people still listened to the advice of Okonoksee.
Eventually this family moved to the Charloe area where they were well-known in Paulding County.
Further information on the Shirleys was printed in an article by Maryetta Bowyer in the Crescent-News of March 10, 1961 on page 8:
"One of the earliest families to live in Defiance was that of Robert Shirley Sr. who came to this area from Ross County, Ohio in 1821. They found it difficult to build a house with the supplies on hand, and so first living in one of the log houses at Camp Winchester.
The Shirleys had come to Ohio from Culpepper County, Va. in the Shenandoah Valley in the early 1800s. The family had lived in England, where they had been honored for their valor by knighthood.
A short history and a view of the Virginia Shirley plantation.
Robert Shirley, being a younger member of a wealthy Virginia family, inherited money rather than lands, so he came to Ohio where there was plenty of land and opportunities.
In those early days in Defiance, and later when he built on the river south of the village, Robert Shirley was known for his hospitality, generosity, and business ability. His home was the social center of this early community. Friends came from as far away as Brunersburg.
This article goes on to discuss some of descendants who built homes in Charloe.
Dianne Kline, Researcher
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