First Settlement in Farmer Township

 "FIRST SETTLEMENT IN FARMER TOWNSHIP

Mr. Editor: -To redeem my promise, I send you some facts in relation to the first settlement of this township, which are mostly from recollection.

My first visit to this township was in the fall of 1834.  At this time, Nathan Farmer and John Heckman lived on Section 1, and Keelin Leonard had raised a cabin on Section 2, on lands afterwards owned and occupied by Collin Tharp.  A hunter had lived on the east side of Section 9 and __ Findlay had lived in a hut on Lost Creek, in Section 32, while hunting.  But few entries of land had been made in the township.

The next year a number of emigrants bought and moved on their land, of whom were Oney Rice, sen., Dr. Oney Rice jr., John Rice, Jacob Conkey, Widow Hopkins, W. G. Pierce, Randall Lord and Lyman Langdon.  These were from St. Lawrence county, New York; Levinus Bronson and Wm. Powell, who were from near Cleveland Ohio; Isaac and William Wartenbe, David Comstock, James Crane, Nathan Smith and Wm. Mann, who were from Muskingum county, Ohio; Thos. Dew from Hocking county; Elijah Lord and Darius Allen, whose home in the east are not now recollected. I think that Isaac, Elisha and Collin Tharp came this year from Allen county, Ohio.

About this time, the township was organized and named Lost Creek.  At the first election there was not an officer in the township authorized to administer an oath.  The people met and selected the election board, and one of their number swore a Clerk who in turn qualified the other members of the board.

Many of the citizens had not gained a residence, but they extended by common consent the elective franchise to all the male population over twenty-one years, and from their number elected their officers. Dr. Rice was afterwards elected a Justice of the Peace, and continued to fill this office for many years, administering justice in the mildest form.

A good story is told of his administration in these early times.  The first settlers were not rich; their lands were to be cleared, fenced, and cultivated before they could realize returns from their labors.  The Defiance merchants sold goods and groceries on credit, adding heavy profits.  The settlers made debts from necessity which is most cases became due before their farms were yielding a profit to meet their payments for goods.  The result was that the merchants sent their accounts to the Justice for collection, and one amongst them was upon himself.  He notified the parties, who confessed judgement and entered bail for stay of execution, not forgetting to give bail on docket for the amount claimed from the justice.

The first marriage might have been noticed in a seven by nine newspaper published then at Perrysburg.  'Married, September 10, 1834, by Jesse Haller, Esq., of Defiance township, Keelin Leonard to Elizabeth Ice, all of Lost Creek Township.'

The first death in the township was that of the hunter in Section 9.  The coffin was made by Obadiah Webb, who lived on the east bank of Bean Creek, opposite to the farm now owned by Lyman Langdon.  The coffin was lashed to a pole and carried by Abraham Webb and Wm. Kibble, on their shoulders, to the hunter's camp, a distance of nearly thirteen miles on a direct line, and their route was through the woods without a path to guide them. They crossed Bean Creek at dusk, and with a pocket compass to guide them and a hickory bark torch to light their way, they set out with their burden on their lonely route and reached the hut at 3 o'clock in the morning.  He was buried on the north-west quarter of Section 10.

                  Obadiah Webb, died 26 April 1849, buried in Noble and Tiffin Cemetery

Exceptions were made to the name of the township and it was changed to that of Farmer.  This was changed at the instance of the citizens because they thought it more appropriate, and it was also designed to perpetuate the name of the first settler.

Of the voters of the first election, Elisha Tharp, Esq. is the only one now living in the township.  Some of them have removed to other localities.

Tombstone of Elisha Tharp, Williams Center Cemetery, Williams County, Ohio

Our place of voting was near center of Section _?, where a log cabin had been built for this purpose and was also used for a school house.  Some years ago a grave yard was located at this place, and many of the pioneers have been gathered one by one to this place of burial, where their names are recorded on neat marble monuments.

You will hear from me again when I have more leisure. Farmer."

Defiance Democrat, September 9, 1871, p. 3