The "Child Corrected" Trial - The Killing of Arthur Bullocks

 

The Killing of Arthur Bullocks

A Child Corrected

Exhibit A - The "Tug" from a horse's harness

Joshua Botkins, a native of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, then of the Spencerville community, moved to Defiance County to take up farming. He was a fifty-year-old bachelor.

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He hired Mrs. Ida May Bullocks, a widow with three young boys, as his housekeeper. Her husband had died, having been struck by a train. She had been offered a farm by her grandfather, if she would stay and care for him until his death. However, she became infatuated with Joshua Botkins and left her grandfather's home for him. On July 8th, Botkins beat her youngest child, Arthur Gerald Bullocks, to his death at only three years old. He claimed he was just correcting the child.

The community was in an uproar over his defense, and the Grand Jury indicted him for murder. Ida, who did not intervene, also saw charges, and both were jailed. The children were sent to the Defiance County Children's Home.

Here's the story, as told by The Crescent-News, Defiance, on September 2 -3, 1920:

On September 2, 1920, the twelve jury men were chosen for the Botkins murder trial. They were: Allen Countryman, Fred Sudholz, H. A. Bell, L. R. Forsythe, H. E. McCord, J. D. Hall, Henry Schubert, S.E. Greek, Wm. Engle, C. J. Devore, Peter Walter and Phillp Kisabeth. They were to go first to the Botkins farm to view the scene of the crime.

It was expected that the oldest brother, Earl Bullock, 7, would testify as he was an eyewitness. Earl told Mr. Kintner, a neighbor, of his brother's serious condition. The physicians were called from Kintner's home, and Kintner was with Botkins when he was picked up by authorities on the Clinton Street bridge.

September 3, page 1 (summarized):

"'CORRECTED CHILD' SAYS DEFENSE FOR BOTKINS; TESTIMONY BEING HEARD"

Earl Warren Bullock, aged 7, eyewitness of the alleged murder of Arthur Gerald Bullock by Joshua Botkins will hardly be called to the witness stand this week. It is thought that his testimony will go far toward determining the prisoner's fate.

At 3 today, only the second witness had been called. The first two were Drs. G. W. Huffman and Fred W. Watkins.  Coroner E.E.K. Chapman was also expected to take the stand along with the neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Kintner, Erva Kintner and Ethel Farquahson.

This morning..."members of the jury saw a word picture of sturdy men, working on the road in front of the Botkins home in Noble township, the storm that interfered with their manual labor, consequently the substitution of another possible task. Joshua Botkins was one of those working, along with others.  That was the day of the fatal beating, July 8, 1920."

 The courtroom was packed and the walls were lined with spectators. John W. Winn, attorney, presented the State's case, entering a first degree murder indictment against Joshua Botkins. Attorney Thomas B. Hamilton stated for the Defense that Botkins had no intent to kill but was just administering a corrective punishment.

Hamilton stated, 'He did whip the child, ... but in the capacity of a father in an effort to correct as any mother does with children of that age.' He continued that the degree of punishment was unrealized ... Whatever he did, carried with it at no time the purpose to kill...  Botkins was fond of the child, good to it, took it to shows and picnics, took it with him wherever he went.

After the beating, he took the child to the pantry with the care of a father, washed it and bathed it...  Evidence will show that the child talked after Botkins left on errands the housekeeper had asked him to perform in the city."

The Defense stated that the punishment was given about noon and the child was still alive at 5:00. 

The witnesses then began to appear, beginning with the physicians.

The first witness was Dr. G.W. Huffman:

"The child was dead when I first saw it between 4 and 5. The death was a result of abnormal fluids around the heart and spinal cords. 

By the measurement of the wounds, marks of stitches, shape of bruises, compared to those of the three ply, vicious heavy weapon, displayed as Exhibit A by the prosecution"... it was this heavier strap used instead of the lighter strap Botkins claimed to have used."

The doctor added that the weapon was sufficient to kill. "I doubt the child's ability to talk after receiving such wounds."

In the meantime, Mrs. Bullocks was bailed out of jail by three former neighbors of hers from Lima. They paid the $1000 due and she returned to the Botkins farm.

The State presented its case first by reading the murder indictment, and then going over the facts of the case as he saw them.

He stated that the 50 year old bachelor, Joshua Botkins, had moved to Defiance County from Auglaize County in March of 1920, buying what was known as the Overly farm in Noble Twp. Botkins had already asked Mrs. Bullock to come along as his housekeeper with her three boys, Earl - 7, Jesse - 5, and Arthur Gerald - 3

He described the house and farm layout in detail; Botkins neighbor across the road was Peter Kintner. Both men were working on the public road until a shower interrupted them at noon. The two men decided to go to a neighboring farm to get some buckwheat seed. Botkins called for Earl to get the horses ready for the trip.

At some point, Botkins learned that Arthur had accidentally answered a call of nature. (He had dirtied his pants.) Mrs. Bullock was hanging out clothes in the back. Earl, looking for Botkins, saw him through the pantry window holding up a young, naked Arthur by the feet and beating him with a tug in a brutal way.

"He not only beat him with the tug, but doused him in the tub which was then full with water" said Winn. "If the child was not dead when Earl saw the beating through the window, he was no doubt unconscious from the beating. This tug...was brought from the barn by the defendant to be used for the purpose of beating this child and his brothers. 

Joshua Botkins'photo in The Crescent-News on February 4, 1921

Earl ran for help to Kintners and brought back Ethel Farquahson (Mrs. Kintner's daughter) and Mrs. Kintner. Botkins had left on his errand for buckwheat. The Defiance-Crescent, September 3, 1920.

"Ethel raised the lids of his eyes and found them glassy in death. Then she took the child in her arms, carried it to the rear porch and there made further examination but found that life was gone."

She called two neighbors who were still at the barn and sent them for a doctor, using their automobile. Dr. Huffman verified the child's death. Authorities were notified and Botkins and Mr.Kintner were located on the Clinton Street bridge, returning from their buckwheat seed errand. Botkins was taken into custody.

The prosecutor stated: "When taken into custody by the Sheriff, the defendant admitted that he had punished the child but claimed to have used a lighter strap and that the punishment was not severe. But the punishment WAS severe. It was so severe that it blotted out the life of Arthur Gerald Bullock. It was so severe that the tender, quivering flesh of this baby boy was cut, bruised and torn and mangled...  he (Botkins) passed through the city of Defiance with every opportunity to call medical assistance, but none was called...."

The Prosecutor closed by claiming the premediated intentions of Botkins, who purposely had the tug ready for beatings, who was known for his terrible temper, and who assaulted a helpless child, calling it discipline. It was Murder, he concluded.

Ida Bullocks, Arthur's mother, was subpoenaed by the Prosecution, but was not called to the stand. She had defended Botkins for some days, but as the shock wore off from her child's death, she became less and less supportive.

NOW THE JURY WAS OUT.

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE VERDICT WAS?  

Comment below.

Dianne Kline, Researcher

Spanish - American Soldiers - Frank B. Gorman, Wilson Sylvester Motter, and Charles Tiller

 

#15 Corp. Frank B. Gorman, #16 Pvt. Wilson Motter, # 17 Charles Tiller

Corporal Francis Bernard Gorman

The son of Martin B. and Catherine Agnes (Zook) Gorman, Frank, as he was known, was born on September 1, 1877, in Defiance.  He lived with his parents and a host of siblings until he enlisted in Company M, 6th Ohio for the Spanish-American War at the age of 23.  He began as a Sergeant, but a reduction in rank took place on November 3, 1878, and then he was appointed Corporal on April 1, 1899, mustering out with his regiment.

He married Daisy Catherine Carpenter, the daughter of William and Harriet (Chase) Carpenter on December 24, 1900.  The Defiance Weekly Express of December 27 reported:

"On Monday evening Frank B. Gorman and Miss D. Catherine Carpenter, both of this city, were married at *Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, the pastor, Rev. Doherty, officiating.

The groom is a son of M.B. Gorman, the well-known grocer of Perry Street, and the bride a daughter of Mrs. William Carpenter. Both of the young people are well known in this city and have a large circle of friends to wish them a long and happy married life."

(St. Mary's Catholic Church)

That, sadly, was not to be. The newlyweds moved into the residence of Daisy's mother, the widow, Mrs. William Carpenter. Mrs. Carpenter was planning to go to another daughter's house in New York to stay for a few weeks, giving the newlyweds a brief time alone.

Frank opened an agency of the Holmes Hand Steamer Laundry of Toledo to serve as a livelihood for the family in 1902. He was a salesman for the company.

Their only child, a daughter named Frances Harriet Gorman, was born on January 6, 1905, in Defiance.  But sometime after that, the couple divorced.

In January 1909, Daisy and Frances returned from a three-month visit to Boston, Massachusetts, home of her deceased father's family.

In the Federal Census of 1910, Frank lived in a hotel in Detroit as a boarder. Working as an assembler at an automobile company, he described himself as 34 and single.  At the same time, Daisy was enumerated in Defiance at her mother's home on Jackson St. The records read that Daisy was 30 years old and divorced. Her mother, Harriet Carpenter, was 61, and with them were Daisy's sister, Bessie, 19, and little Frances, age 5.  Daisy had her own millinery shop, and Bessie was also working to support the family. 

Frank filled out his World War I draft registration at age 42 on September 12, 1918. He was marked as physically disabled at that time, with his mother, Catherine Gorman, as his nearest relative and the home on Jackson Avenue as his residence. 

Death followed shortly after on August 28, 1919. The death certificate listed the cause of death as a lung disease that could have been pneumonia. He was single and a retired machinist.

An obituary appeared in the Defiance Crescent-News on August 28, 1919:

"Frank B. Gorman died Thursday night at Mercy Hospital at Toledo. The remains will be brought to Defiance this evening and taken to the home of his mother, Mrs. M. B. Gorman on Jackson Avenue. The funeral will be held from St. Mary's Catholic Church Monday morning at 9 o'clock. 

Deceased was a Spanish-American War veteran, having served in Company M which was organized in Defiance."

Frank was buried in Riverside Cemetery on August 30, 1919.

Daisy went on to remarry John C. Price in Wayne County, Michigan, when she was 33.  John, 31, was a musician, and Daisy was still a milliner. Together they had a son, Hayden J.  They moved to Riverside, California where they lived at least thirty years or more. 

John died in 1963, while Daisy lived to be 100 years old, passing away in 1980. They are buried together in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Orange County, California.

Private Wilson Sylvester Motter

Private Wilson Sylvester Motter was a private in the 6th Regiment OVI, Company M and was mustered out with his company. A Defiance resident, he was the son of E

Aftmanuel and Elizabeth (Wirock/ Weirauch) Motter of Adams Township.

er coming home from his service in Cuba, he married Lizzie Ramos/ Ramus, the daughter of Elias and Elizabeth (Myers) Ramus. Wilson, 22, was a farmer in Adams Township, and Lizzie, 21, was also from Adams Township. The wedding on March 22, 1900, was performed by Squire C. H. Hunter. 

On February 3, 1903, a daughter, Lavina Ann Motter, was born in Henry County.

In 1904, the Defiance Daily Crescent-News reported that

"Wilson Motter of Jewell, a farmer and member of Company M, has been granted a pension of $6 a month and back money to the amount of $357. George Killey secured the pension for him." 

Killey was a local attorney.

The next evidence of the family's whereabouts was found in 1918 when Wilson filled out his World War I draft card in Toledo on September 12. At that time, his residence was at 237 Pinewood Avenue. He was 40 years old and he was co-owner of a secondhand furniture store on Monroe Street called Ward & Motter.

In the 1920 Federal Census, Wilson named himself as an Interior Decorator, owning his own business. The family had moved to Woodlawn Avenue by this time. Lavina, at 16, worked as a bookkeeper at a glove factory. Perhaps it was there that she met Edward A. Becket, her future husband. They were married on July 18, 1925, in Adrian, Michigan.

Wilson dubbed himself a house painter by the 1930 census. At 52, he and Elizabeth owned their own home. Lavina was gone, but they had taken in a boarder, Charles Jackson, 46, from Norway. Something was brewing with Wilson, however, and on April 4, 1931, he went missing. 

In mid-April 1931, it was discovered that he had drowned in the Maumee River. The story appeared in the Henry County Signal, Napoleon, Ohio on April 23, 1931, on the front page:

"FORMER RESIDENT DROWNS IN TOLEDO

Funeral services for Wilson S. Motter, 53, of 1527 Woodland avenue, Toledo, whose body was found in the Maumee River near the Ash-Consaul street bridge in that city Saturday, were held in the home Tuesday morning at 8:30 and at St. Teresa's church at 9.

Motter was formerly a resident of Napoleon. He had been missing from his home since April 4 and officers had been asked to aid in a search for the missing man.  Members of his family were of the belief that he had come to Napoleon to visit his brother, William. He also had relatives in Defiance and Ft. Wayne, but the missing man failed to visit their homes.

Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Motter; a daughter, Mrs. Edward A.  Beckett; a sister, Mrs. Suzanne Tubbs, Defiance; and brothers, Charles of Fort Wayne, Ind., and William of this city."

A coroner's inquest was made and the conclusion was "Drowned." One paper said the result was accidental, but the rest of the story is lost.

Elizabeth Motter lived on until August, 1972, in Toledo. She never remarried and lived until the age of 93. She and Wilson were buried together in Calvary Cemetery, Toledo.

"ELIZABETH MOTTER

Mrs. Elizabeth M. Motter, 93, of 2740 120th Street, died Sunday in her home. She was the widow of Wilson S. Motter. Surviving are her daughter, Mrs. Lavina Beckett, and sisters, Mrs. Rose Ellff and Mrs. Frances Bales.

The body will be in the Jasin Mortuary tonight after seven. Services will be Wednesday at 1:30 in St. John's Catholic Church.

Private Charles Tiller

Charles Tiller's parents, George Henry and Jane (Beale) Tiller were from Dorset, England; however, Charles was born in Albion, Indiana, on November 21, 1877.  He had a slow start in Company M, 6th Regiment after he enlisted at age 20. He was on sick leave in the division hospital from September 16 - October 14th, 1898, and again from October 15 - November 14, and then extended to December 14. After he mustered out, he was the lamp man of the P.G.& E. Co. Later, he worked in Defiance as a lineman for the telephone company.

Charles married Gertrude Agnes Zeigler, the daughter of Michael Sr. and Philomena "Phoebe" (Hahn) Zeigler on December 18, 1900, in Defiance.

The Crescent News printed on December 19, 1900:

"BRIDE AND GROOM HONORED.

Mr. and Mrs. James Ellsworth entertained a number of friends last evening at their cozy home on Kintner street, in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Tiller, who were married last evening. Those who enjoyed their hospitality were Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Watts and daughter, Mildred, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Schmunk and son, Paul, Mr. and Mrs. Jake Garber and son, Francis, Misses Alice Sapp, Mary Wickman, Kate Myers, Annie Clemons, Tillie Kalk, Anna Balske and Myrtle Baker.  Messrs. John Hohenberger, Charley Barnhart, Reinhart Franzdorf and Thomas Dohoney.

Delicious refreshments were served during the evening. Cards and games were played, while Charley Barnhart entertained the company with music on the phonograph.

 The couple had eight children: Raymond, Edwin "Ted', Margaret (Zuelke), Francis Michael, Cpl. George Washington, Imelda (Bohland), Helen (McNutt) and little Mildred who was born and died in 1913.

"DEATH OF LITTLE MILDRED TILLER

Mildred, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Tiller, died yesterday noon, about 12:30, aged 6 months and 21 days. The child at the time was at the home of her grandmother, Mrs. Michael Zeigler, on Kintner Street, where the family had been staying while their furniture was being moved from one house to another.

The funeral wlll occur Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock from the English Catholic Church, Rev. Father Doherty officiating. The remains will be interred in Riverside Cemetery."

Crescent-News, March 15, 1902

The family had a financial tragedy in the spring of 1907.

"An alarm of fire was sent in about 9:15 Saturday night and the department responded promptly, making a two mile run in good time. The fire was in the barn of Charles Tiller, on Squires Avenue, just over the corporation line, and was used as a hen house by Mr. Tiller.

Employees of the Diamond Glass Works had a stream on the blaze when the department arrived, and the latter added two sections of hose to that of the Glass Co 

The fire had obtained such headway that the building was totally destroyed and about 250 chickens burned. The loss is estimated at $300."

Defiance Weekly Express, May 17, 1907

In 1918, the family moved to Toledo City. Charles took a job as an electrician for the Champion Spark Plug company, perhaps this was a war job for World War I.  He spent twenty-five years working there, and before that, he worked at the Northwestern Telephone Company in Defiance 18 -20 years.

The Tillers celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in December 1950 with a family dinner, followed by an open house. Charles died on November 1, 1964, of arteriosclerosis, according to his death certificate.

His obituary was available from the Toledo Blade, Sunday, November 1, 1964:

"CHARLES TILLER

Charles E. Tiller, a Spanish-American War veteran, died today in St. Vincent Hospital after a three-week illness. He was 86 and lived at 1735 Eileen Rd.

Born in Albion, Ind., Mr. Tiller came to Toledo 46 years ago.  He served with Company M, 6th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was a member of Egbert Camp, United Spanish War veterans.

Mr. Tiller was employed 25 years as an electrician at the Champion Spark Plug Co., retiring in 1943. He also was a member of Little Flower Church and its Holy Name Society.

Surviving are his wife, Gertrude; sons, Raymond, Edwin, Francis, and George; daughters, Mrs. Margaret Zuelke, Mrs. Imelda Bohland, and Mrs. Helen McNutt, all of Toledo; 24 grandchildren, and 39 great-grandchildren.

Services will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday in Little Flower Church with burial in Calvary Cemetery. The Rosary will be recited. Monday at 8:30 p.m. by the Little Flower Holy Name Society in the Neville Mortuary."

Gertrude Tiller lived on until the age of 94, passing away on June 22, 1976.  Her obituary appeared in the Toledo Blade of Wednesday, June 23, 1976.

"GERTRUDE TILLER

Mrs. Gertrude A. Tiller, 94, formerly of the 1700 block of Eileen Road, died Tuesday in the Royal Crest Rest Home, Ottawa, Ohio, where she had been living three years.

Mrs. Tiller was the widow of Charles Tiller. Surviving are her sons, Raymond, Edwin, Francis, and George; daughters, Mrs. Imelda Bohland and Mrs. Helen McNutt; sister Mrs. Margaret Serrick and brother, Ray Zeigler.

Services will be in the Little Flower Church.  The Rosary will be recited at 8 p.m. Friday in the Neville Mortuary, Dorr Street, where the body will be after 3 p.m. Thursday."

Dianne Kline, Researcher

F

Hometown Hero and WW II Pilot Succumbed to Polio - Major Charles Rex Langdon

 

Born in Sherwood, Ohio to John Jackson and Eleanor M. (Bayliss) Langdon, in 1921, Rex Langdon must have held the dream of becoming a pilot. Right after his high school graduation at Sherwood High School in 1939, he signed up to serve in the Army Air Corps.

Major Langdon was one of the ace pilots chosen to fly the P-38 Lightning, a twin engine fighter with a single seat, used as a bomber escort and a tactical bomber, with a powerful engine to climb quickly. It was filled with armaments -  four machine guns and a small cannon.  

Although developed in 1939, it was not used extensively until November 1942 in the North African campaign. It also could fly at a low altitude to protect ground troops. For his expertise, Rex Langdon received the

Distinguished Flying Cross as a First Lieutenant. 

The award read: 

"...for extraordinary achievement while participating in actual flight in the North African Theater of Operations as pilot of a P-38 aircraft. On 2nd February 1943, Lt. Langdon's squadron escorted six B-25 (bombers) in an assault on an enemy convoy in the Sicilian Straits. Enemy fighters made repeated attacks on the formation. In the face of intense aircraft fire from the enemy ships, Lt. Langdon shot down one enemy aircraft and aided in the destruction of six others, thereby protecting the bombers. Three ships of the convoy were left sinking or in flames.

The skill and devotion to duty displayed by Lt. Langdon in many combat missions reflected great credit on himself and the armed forces of the United States."

Distinguished Flying Cross

The Sherwood Chronicle reported on November 8, 1945, on page 1:

"The Army could not make up its mind where it wanted to send the town's Major Rex Langdon for discharge, and as a result, he was delayed about a month in getting home, but it is good to see him around, vital and fit, the best kind of hero there is - 

an extremely modest one."

After arriving home, he married Miss Hazel Diehl at the Sherwood Methodist Church in January 1947. In 1949, the couple were vacationing in Michigan with their small son and an unborn baby, when Rex was stricken with polio. 

His obituary telling his story appeared in the local Sherwood paper:

CHARLES REX LANGDON  1921 - 1949

"Friends numbering in the hundreds paid their final respects to Charles Rex Langdon, one of the heroes of World War II, over the weekend. They came from all sections of the county and district with more than 600 of them passing through the Moats Funeral Home on Saturday evening alone.

Mr. Langdon died at 2 o'clock last Thursday morning in St. Luke's Hospital, Marquette, Michigan, of polio of the bulbar type. The news of his sudden passing came as a great shock to his family and to his legion of friends, for he had left Sherwood only the previous Saturday in apparent perfect health, bound for a two weeks' vacation in Hessel, Michigan, in the company of his wife, Hazel, and his brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Wesche of Greenville, Ohio. The party arrived in Hessel, where Mr. Langdon had spent vacations since boyhood, Sunday morning, and in the afternoon, they went out on Lake Huron, trolling and hunting for a likely spot to fish the next day for bullheads. When they returned to their cabin that evening, Mr. Langdon was not hungry enough to want any supper, and he reported a mild sore throat.

The following morning (Monday), his condition had not improved, so he rode to Pickford, Mich., with Mr. Wesche and visited a doctor, who gave him medicine for what he termed a light case of intestinal influenza. Later that day, a doctor visiting at Hessel looked at Mr. Langdon, but found no evidence of a serious ailment.

Tuesday morning, however, his throat had become very sore and Dr. Richard Dietrick, son-in-law of Mr. and Mrs. Elwood Saunders of Defiance, just arrived at Hessel from Pasadena, California, recommended that Mr. Langdon be removed to the hospital at Sault Ste. Marie. That evening, doctors diagnosed the illness as polio, and Mr. Langdon was taken in an ambulance to St. Luke's, in Marquette, the center for treating polio in upper Michigan.

Mr. Wesche talked with Mr. Langdon Wednesday afternoon and found him in excellent spirits. Several muscles in his throat had been paralyzed, but he was able to talk without impediment and there seemed every reason to believe that two weeks would find him well on the road to recovery. Therefore, at Mr. Langdon's insistence, Mr. Wesche started home with his wife and Mrs. Langdon that afternoon. They did not learn of Mr. Langdon's death until they arrived in Mark Center Friday evening.

Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock from the Sherwood Methodist Church, with the pastor, Rev. Anthony Drake, and the former pastor, Rev. E.E. Roberts, officiating. Burial was made in the Moats Cemetery, with graveside services by the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. On Saturday evening, Masonic rites were performed at the Moats Funeral Home by officers and members of Sherwood Lodge 620.

Surviving beside the wife are a son, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Langdon, and two brothers, Jack of Muskegon, Mich. and Ned, of Corpus Christ, Tex.

Mr. Langdon was associated with his father in the gasoline distributing business, and he lived with his family in Defiance.

Rex Langdon was born and reared in Sherwood and graduated from the high school here in 1939. He had an early premonition, or belief, in the inevitability of war, and on the night of his commencement, he told a classmate, 'There is going to be a war and the sooner we get in it, the better it will be for the world.'  In October of that year, he enlisted in the Army, and in November, he was called to active duty.

Rex Langdon went from buck private to major the hard way - on ability and intestinal fortitude. As an enlisted man, he was trained to fly the P-38, then in experimental stages, and with a squadron of other enlistees, he received his first wings. He was not commissioned until just before he sailed with his squadron for Ireland on September 28, 1942. And from Ireland, he went to North Africa in January of 1943, and thereafter participated in the African campaign, the invasion of Sicily, several invasions of Italy, the attack on Naples and helped give fighter protection when Rome was bombed.

He finished the war front assignments in Burma, and was discharged in October 1945, with the rank of major after 150 missions.

Of his original squadron, he was one of a pitiful handful of survivors of the North African campaign, where the experienced German Luftwaffe tested the green Americans in the hot fires of battle. He had many brushes with death and once had to slam his plane into a suicide dive at the water to escape three Nazi airman who had been forcing him to fly in tight circles. Only a few hundred feet from the water, a  current of air caught his plane and leveled it out so that he could escape. 'It was then,' he said later, 'that I understood about God.'

Rex was a Sherwood boy to the core; he and his wife talked many times of buying to building a house in this community, and he was happiest when with his friends of long standing. Proud of his family and growing in stature daily as a businessman, he had a warm, pleasant future ahead of him, but it now seems that Rex Langdon was predestined to give the major portion of his adult years to the defense of his country, and in this high calling, he never failed -not even one second"

Moats Cemetery

Dianne Kline, Researcher

See You in September!

Time for a blogger vacation!

We will not be posting in the month of August.

Watch for a new blog post during the first 

week of September.

In the meantime, we ask/beg for some feedback to help us determine future content.

Please comment!

*Do you have a genealogical or local history topic that you would like to see addressed on the blog?

*What topics have interested you most, readers?

(Settlers, Soldiers, Past local events, photos, etc.?)

Have you ever read about one of your ancestors on this blog? Has it been of any help to you in your family research?

Please let us know your responses by commenting on this post or emailing us at 

defiancegenealogy2002@yahoo.com

 

The Pioneer Recollections of J. B. Heatley - Fire and Shootings

 

More Heatley Memories on Sharing the Land With the Indians

Excerpts from the Defiance Democrat, December 19, 1878, p. 3

J.B. Heatley explained that when he lived in a cabin on the Hudson farm,(about 1827) Elias Shirley built a cabin on forty acres in the wilderness near where Heatley lived. It was a thick woods above Three Mile Creek with mostly sugar maples. Elias had been married about a year and they had their first child. The cabin was also built alongside an Indian trail.

"One day Mr. Robert Shirley had called on the whole country around to get hands to help him on a certain day to raise a cabin on the bluff on the south side of the river (Auglaize) from H.C. Bouton's farm. All the help he could find in the neighborhood was James Hudson, John Hudson, Mr. Hudson, James Shirley, Nathan Shirley, Robert Shirley and Elias and Moses Heatley. Of course, I had to stay home that day because mother would not stay alone.

About eleven or twelve o'clock, we heard someone hollowing on the other side of the river, Mother told me to run down to the foot of the island and see what was wanted. I ran down and saw it was a woman standing in the tall grass at the mouth of the creek, close to the water's edge. I asked if she wanted over.

'No, run down and tell Elias to come quick; the Indians are burning our house.'

My, how I did run; the distance is about one and a half miles. When I got there, I told Elias the Indians were burning his house, enough said, they all jumped off the house and every man got his gun and ran to the burning house. Mrs. Shirley still remained in the tall grass at the mouth of the creek until they came.

They proceeded to the house, and there they found the two Indians had piled their bedding and bedsteads, and all their dishes and clothing of all description in the center of the floor.. They had taken a new ax and torched fire to the bedding and eloped for Openoxey's Town, which is now called Charloe.

There was ten or twelve white men following them with their guns. Every once in awhile they came to an Indian wigwam; they inquired if they saw the two Indians pass, giving the description of them as well as they could. At last they found then at the head of Six Mile Creek.

Mrs. Elias Shirley came down the next day and pardoned one of them, she called him the friendly Indian, she said he saved her life. His partner was kept in jail for a few days longer. Oppoxkey, their old chief, came down to reprieve him. He offered Shirley

$500 in gold and silver if he would let him go; he concluded he would, so the Indian was discharged. That is what made that large farm above Three Mile Creek."

The other incident Heatley described took place in 1840 when the canal was being dug south of Defiance. An Indian on pony back saw some Irishmen digging in the canal, and he asked them what the best way was to go through the woods to river.

The Irishmen purposely led him astray and soon the Indian found himself in the swamp. The workers could be heard making fun of the drunk and, now angry, Indian. He got off his pony, raised his gun and began shooting at the Irish man who made fun of him the most. The other Irish went after the Indian and captured him without resistance.

He was put into jail, the old log jail which was about 10 x 12. There he sat for several weeks. 

"One day a man named James Laflan, who lived here at that time and who spoke good Indian language, went to see him and talked to him through the window and told him that they were going to hang him. It scared him; he told James they would not, and for several weeks, he ate but little. The jailor always gave him a rough case knife to feed himself with. So one day he thought he would save them the trouble; he took the old case knife strapped it a few times across the stove and then commenced sawing across his throat, squealing each time he did it. "

Finally, someone heard him and by that time, the young man had cut his windpipe. A doctor was called who sewed it up to the best of his ability, leaving a small hole in the throat to feed him. But it was too late. The young Indian lived nine days before dying. Two squaws were allowed to sit with him in his final days.

Dianne Kline, Researcher

The Pioneer Recollections of J. B. Heatley - Points in his Indian Experience

 

An Early Settler - James B. Heatley 

James B. Heatley came to Ohio from Virginia in 1821 with his father, Moses, mother, Mary (Polly) and sister, Elizabeth, settling first in the Dayton area and arriving in Defiance in the fall of 1824. The family spent their first night here with the Robert Shirley family at the blockhouse cabin they inhabited. The choices for a habitat were slim as there were only three houses here at the time, all former blockhouses. The story of their early years here can be found in the Defiance County 1883 history. 

James had little early education just because there was none available. He was the oldest son and helped his father clear the land and do whatever work was necessary. Later, Mr. William A. Brown taught him to read and write, and he served his new community as township treasurer, assessor, recorder, and over thirty years as township constable.

He married Rebecca Garman and the family grew to four children: Lorenzo, born in 1851 who died at the age of 30; George A. born in 1853; Millie, born in 1855, and Rebecca, born in 1857. 

In the Defiance Democrat of December 19, 1878, he was interviewed about his early pioneer experiences for a column called Pioneer Times. Heatley recounted:

"In 1827 we lived on Abraham Hudson's place, which is known by almost everyone in this country. Our residence was in a small cabin on the bank of the Auglaize, on the upper part of the farm, and stood on the southwest corner of the old orchard, east of what is called Hudson's Island. It was a very lonely spot.
Members of the red-face tribe exchanged civilities with us nearly every day, and, at times, four or five times a day would call to see us. They would ask mother for food; though frequently would walk in and silently go to the cupboard and help themselves to what they would find and then pass out. Their wigwams were in sight of our cabin. South and southeast of us were their broad hunting grounds.

Abram Hudson went to their camp one day and told them that they were upon HIS hunting ground, and they must leave within a few days or he would make them. They paid little heed to him.

He took down his old rifle one day: 'I am a sure shot, and I will never forget them. I hunted them in the War of 1812. They massacred my grandfather's whole family, and I will have a bit of revenge now,' and saying this, he went away into the woods. He was not long before we heard several reports of his rifle. When he returned, we asked him, 'Where is your game?" and he said he had left it in the woods.

Father asked him if he was not afraid they would catch him out someday, to which he replied, 'When I hunt, I am hunting Indians; I can see them as quick as they can see me.' The result was that they became afraid of him - there being so many of their tribe missing, and they suspecting what had become of them, they all left the country, and he was never bothered more with red faces."

Forest Sporting

"Mr. Hudson was a good hunter - always a dead shot and scarcely ever missed a deer. He would go out in the morning before breakfast and kill from two to four before returning. Uncle Abram was an industrious man. When engaged in cleaning his land, he could not spend time to hunt in daylight hours; so he made a bark canoe that would hold two men, and father or myself would accompany him. That was what we called 'fire hunting.' The mosquitoes were very numerous - the whole country being wilderness and swamp. When we started on a fire hunt, we always went early in the evening, and in the dark of the moon."

The man who sat in the back would do the steering, while the one in front would handle the blind they built. They used a beeswax candle that would last all night.

 "This blind keeps the persons in the canoe all in the dark. One can hunt but not as well as two. There should be a steersman and he should hold the paddle in the water all the time and skull his boat and not let it touch a rock, keep his thumbs between the paddle and canoe...If your light should strike a deer and you should touch your paddle on the bottom of the canoe, it's gone without a shot.

It is the most fun I've ever had; two of us have killed as high as four or five in a night. It was no trouble to kill a deer. That time is past and gone forever in this country now."

(To be continued...)

Dianne Kline, Researxher

Spanish - American War Soldiers - Private Frank G. Korn

 

#14 Private Frank George Korn

Private Korn was a resident of Defiance when he enlisted in Company M, 6th Regiment O.V.I. at the age of 29. He served in Cuba and mustered out with the rest of the company in May 1899, in Augusta, Georgia. According to his death certificate, he was born on June 20, 1869, the son of Johann Adam (Adam) and Margaret (Wolsifer) Korn.

On December 28, 1899, he married Hattie Mae Wahl in Defiance. The family moved around, mostly in Indiana and Illinois, with their children: 

Elizabeth May (Bessie), born in 1900; Franklin J. 1903, Everett W, 1909; Virginia Marie, 1916, and Vernon Howard,1917. The last three children were born in South Bend, Indiana, which was their residence in the 1910 Federal Census. Frank worked as a harness maker.

The family was still in South Bend for the 1920 Census, but now Frank had a job as a "metal man" in an auto factory. Hattie was a homemaker, and two children, Bessie, 19, and Franklin, 17, had jobs outside the home. Bessie was a bookkeeper at a laundry and Frank was a clerk at an auto body shop. The rest were in school.

Their next move , according to the 1930 Census, was to a rented house on Maypole Street in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Frank, 60, was back to leather work again as a harness maker, and Hattie, 50, was minding the house. Most of the children were still living at home: Bettie (Bessie), 29, was a bookkeeper; Everett, worked as an electrician; Virginia, 14, and Vernon, 12 were in school.  This last move might have been due to Frank's health.

In September 1931, Frank was admitted to the U.S. Home for Disabled Veterans located in Danville, Illinois; he was 62 years old at admission.

His disabilities included dental cavities, defective vision, hemorrhoids, and a heart condition, myocarditis. His pension of $50 a month may have been used to cover his care. Unexplainably, he gave his next of kin, Hattie, as living at Route 1, Elkhart, Indiana. In 1936, their son, Franklin, passed away.

The family could not be located in the 1940 census, but in 1950, Frank G., 80, and Hattie, 70 were enumerated in Elkhart, Indiana, now retired. Frank died that same year on May 2, 1950. His obituary appeared in the Defiance Crescent-News on the same day:

Hattie ordered a military bronze marker for Frank, which was the only kind permitted in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Chicago, his burial place. It took until October, 1951, to have it approved.

Hattie lived on until 1969, remarried and moved back to South Bend. Her obituary appeared in The South Bend Tribune on April 18, 1969:

MRS. HATTIE M. HODGES

Mrs. Hattie M. (Korn) Hodges, 98, of 619 Park Ave., South Bend, died at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday in Memorial Hospital after an extended illness.

She was born Nov. 1, 1870, in Defiance, Ohio, and came here 13 years ago from Elkhart. On Dec. 28, 1899, in Defiance, she was married to Frank G. Korn, who died in 1950.  In 1958, she was married to Elmer Hodges, who died in 1959.

Surviving are two sons, Vernon H. Korn of South Bend and Everett W. Korn of New York City; one daughter, Mrs. Virginia Thompson of Elkhart; three grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Mrs. Mabel Gallagher and Mrs. Ethyl Bullard, both of South Bend...

Burial will be in Highland Cemetery. She was a member of the church (First United Methodist), Naomi Rebekah Lodge of Elkhart; The Royal Embroidery Club of Elkhart; and the Jones-Darling Auxillary 44 of the United States War Veterans."

Highland Cemetery, South Bend, Indiana

Dianne Kline, Researcher