Vacation in August

 

We are taking a hiatus in August, resting up and gathering ideas for next year.  

Blog postings, Time Travel Tuesday on Facebook, and all DCGS meetings are on break for the month of August. 

Our next meeting will be Monday, September 23 at 7 p.m. at the St. John United Church of Christ, Defiance.  The speaker will be Frank Kuron, author of Who Killed Tecumseh? A copy of his book will be the door prize that evening.

We are in the process of filling our schedule of speakers for 2025.  If you have any suggestions, we would love to hear from you.  

Thank you so much for all the comments on Facebook and on the blog, itself, and for sharing our posts. It is greatly appreciated and it keeps us motivated to continue sharing our local history. 

Email your ideas or suggestions to
defiancegenealogy2002@yahoo.com

See you in September!

Fire Hits Sherwood in July, 1887

"DESTRUCTIVE FIRE

SHERWOOD A VICTIM OF THE ANGRY FLAMES

ALMOST THE ENTIRE BUSINESS PORTION OF THE TOWN LAYED WASTE IN TWO SHORT HOURS

Word reached Defiance Sunday afternoon that Sherwood, a village west of us twelve miles in this county has been almost consumed by fire.

On Monday morning, a representative of the Express (Defiance Express) went to the scene of the conflagration and gleaned full particulars of the fire.

It originated in a barn at the rear of G.F. Brenner's dry goods store and is supposed to have caught from a stub of a cigar that some careless person had thrown down. When first discovered, the flames were well under headway. The town turned out en masse with buckets to save the building, but were unable to do so. 

A brisk breeze was blowing from the northwest, the barn stood on a street running east and west and on the side of the block from the direction of the wind. The flames spread to a ware room* east of the barn and from that to a dwelling, both owned by John C. Miller. The dwelling was valued at $800, and insured for $500 in Glens Falls. The ware room was not insured. A renter lived in the house and succeeded saving his goods.

G. F Brenner's dry goods store stood next on the west and was fired by the burning barn, and from the storeroom, his residence caught fire. The storeroom contained a stock of dry goods and groceries, all of which, together with his household goods, were saved, or nearly all. The buildings were valued at $1,600, insured for $1,000.  Goods in the store were insured for $4,500.  The loss above what goods were saved, and including the building, is estimated to at $2,000, all of which will be fully satisfied by the insurance company.

Next to Brenner's residence were the buildings of Sam. Miller, a saloon and a residence. On the back of the lot, and adjacent to the barn of Brenner in which the fire originated, was the barn of Miller's. They were all an easy prey to the flames. The stock of goods in the saloon and the household goods were all saved, but considerably damaged.

Two barrels of whiskey were stored away and went up in flames. Sixty bushels of wheat and some stoves and machinery that were in the barn were destroyed. There were six hogs in a pen in one corner of the barn, four of which were let out. Two were burned to death. On the residence and saloon building there was an insurance of $1,850 each, in the Royal.*   There was no insurance on the goods. The barn was insured for $150.

Adjacent to Miller's was a residence building, a storeroom, a wood shed, ice house, and barn, belonging to C. J. Chenevert, of Defiance. The storeroom was empty but was soon to have been occupied by a stock of groceries. All of these buildings, valued by Mr. Chenevert, at $2000, were consumed. Insurance for $1200.

Sherwood after the fire - 1887

Next to these buildings was the store room of Orlando Coffin, occupied by E. Miller with a stock of groceries, valued at $2,500. They were all removed and entailed a loss of $500. Insured for $1800. The $500 loss will be paid in full. The buildings including a millinery store room, occupied by Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Kyle with a stock of millinery goods which they saved, were insured.  They were valued at $1500.

There were fifteen buildings in all burned, valued at $25,000.  It is altogether the largest fire in proportion to the size of the town that has been in thse parts for many a day.  There was only one dry goods store left in the town and no grocery store.  It was with the most strenuous efforts thata the fire was kept from spreading to adjacent dwellings.

The dry goods store of Jacob Staadecker was barely kept from burning.  The following buildings across the street were more or less damaged:

The hotel, two dwellings, post office, drug store, with Odd Fellows hall above and hardware store.

The fire broke out about 1 o'clock, and in less than two hours, the buildings were in ashes.

W. E. Doud, of Defiance, and his father-in-law, Mr. Haveland, had purchased the stock of groceries of E. Miller ad would have taken possession of them the 1st of August. They will at once put in a general stock of boots and shoes and groceries.

Another view of Sherwood, after the fire

The businesses left on the north side of the railroad is the drug store of E. J. Potter, hardware store of H.E. Huffman, harness shop of Geo. W. Renz, barber shop of Harry Rock, agricultural store of John Core, and dry goods store of Jacob Staadecker.  The post office is located in the drug store of Mr. Potter.  It is believed that buildings will be erected on the ruins and business to some extent resumed.  It may be some time, though, as much business will center in one block. The citizens are talking of organizing a hook and ladder company for protection in the future.

A telephone message was sent to the Defiance fire department to take an engine up and for the hook and ladders. A B & O train was held in readiness at Sherwood to come after them, but on account of no water supply there for an engine, it was not deemed advisable to go.  Chief Rourke held everything in readiness for the train, and if it had been sent, would have taken a full force to have downed the fire.  Had they sent the engine for the hooks, even, the fire could have been checked before doing so much damage."

Defiance Express, July 14, 1887

Photos courtesy of Dan Hasch

Defiance County Pioneer - Isaac M. Boon

 "Isaac M. Boon

Isaac M. Boon was born in Holmes County, Ohio, near Fredericksburg, July 21, 1842, and died at the home residence, Hicksville, Ohio, Sunday morning, Nov. 2, 1913, aged 71 years 3 months and 12 days.  

In 1861, he came to Hicksville and shortly after this, was employed as a salesman in the general store of J. M. Ainsworth, which was located on the corner of High and Main Streets, Hicksville.  This old, historic store building in later years was moved to its present location and is now occupied by Mr. English as a blacksmith shop.

Boon proved to be a very successful salesman and was employed in the general store of D. Stull. On the 1st day of April, 1872, the partnership of Boon & Bevington was formed.  About eighteen months after this date, the partnership of Ainsworth, Boon & Bevington was entered into. This partnership continued until March 1894, a period of about 21 years, when Mr. Ainsworth retired and the business was again in the control of Boon & Bevington.

Mr. Boon's life was one of activity, energy and vim.  Few men were more extensively or favorably known than 'Ike,' as he was familiarly called. By temperament, he was quick and impulsive, always ready to take a decided stand on all public questions; quick to reprimand and quick to forgive.

He was of sturdy business honor and always made his word as good as a bond.  He was particularly loyal in his friendships and to his business associates.  His hand and purse were always ready to help the needy and deserving.

He was so happy as to retain his youthful spirits to the end.  His smile and laugh was ready for all; steps alert, eyes bright and a warm sympathy for the young people and their doings.  When in their presence, he was one of them. In his person, he linked the pioneer past of Hicksville with its present and future a though age crept upon him, as a business man and citizen, he kept in hearty touch with each step forward.

As a Mason, he was a charter member of Hicksville Lodge No 478, Free and Accepted Masons. Was a charter member of Hicksville Chapter No. 188 of Royal Masons."

Forest Hill Cemetery, old section, Hicksville, Ohio

"I.M. BOON DIES SUDDENLY - HICKSVILLE BUSINESSMAN SUFFERS APOPLECTIC STROKE

I. M. Boon, one of Hicksville's pioneer businessmen, suffered an apoplectic stroke early Sunday morning, which resulted in his death.

Mr. Boon arose in the morning, and not feeling well, a doctor was called. After the doctor's visit, he said he felt better and returned to bed. Shortly afterward, Mrs. Boon noticed that her husband was breathing heavily, and when she tried to arouse him, discovered that he was dying. He passed away without regaining consciousness.

Mr. Boon was about seventy years of age and has been active in the business affairs of Hicksville for nearly half a century. In connection with J. L. Bevington he was a part owner in the Boon-Bevington store as upon its reorganization as a stock company, he retained interests as a stockholder.

Later he started a dry goods store of his own and has been active in connection with this until a week ago when he sold the store. At the time of his death, he was president of the Hicksville National Bank of which his former partner, Mr. Bevington, is cashier.

Mr. Boon is a member of the Masonic orders in Hicksville and of the Knights Templar Commandery in Defiance. He is survived by a wife, one son, a brother and a grandson.

The funeral will be held at Hicksville, Wednesday at one o'clock under the direction of the Blue Lodge of the Masonic Fraternity. A number of the order are planning to attend, going on Nov 11 and returning on No. 8."

Prosser David McMillen - Bishop Post, G.A.R.

Prosser D. McMillen was a dedicated soldier, who reenlisted three times, despite heart issues and being given a certificate of disability from a doctor after his first service.  

Born in Shelby, Ohio, Richland County, to Charles and Mary A. Osborne McMillen on February 7, 1844, he was the oldest son with three younger sisters and a much younger brother.  In the Federal Census of 1860, he was 16 years old.

But on September 2, 1861, he enlisted in Company I of the 3rd Ohio Cavalry giving his age as 18. 

The 3rd regiment of the calvary was organized in Huron County, and by January 14, 1862, they left for Camp Dennison in Cincinnati, then Jeffersonville, Indiana, across from Louisville and finally, in March to Nashville, Tennessee. On April 4, 1862, the group had their first skirmish at Laurenceburg, Tennessee. The unit spent time in Corinth, Mississippi and Alabama and engaged the Confederates in many skirmishes.

However, on November 4, 1862, Prosser McMillen was discharged from the cavalry on a surgeon's certificate of disability after serving one year, two months, and four days.  The cause was Heart Trouble, according to the 1890 Veteran's Census. It is assumed he went home, and during that time, he married Elvira Seibert on June 30, 1863, in Defiance County. (On the censuses, she is referred to as Elizabeth or Ellen, possibly a middle name.)

The 1890 census showed two further enlistments for Prosser.  First on January 19, 1864, he entered the 2nd Ohio Light Artillery where he served for two months and twenty-four days, mustering out on April 13, 1864.  Then from that date until May 5, 1865, he served as a fireman, perhaps in the Navy..

Prosser David McMillen was often called just "David." In both the 1870 and 1880 censuses, he and Ellen were settled in Paulding County. In 1870, the location was Antwerp and by 1880, they were near Cecil and a little, 5 year old daughter was present, Mary E.  David took up the occupation of painter and was also mentioned as a timber sawyer earlier.

By 1900, he and Ellen were back in Defiance, living at 205 Seneca Street with their daughter, Mary, and her husband, John Binney, an English immigrant who was a saloon keeper.

Eventually Mary and John followed their fortune to Toledo and Prosser and Ellen rented the residence on Seneca Street.  Finally, as they aged, it probably seemed best that they live with their daughter. So at the ages of 75 and 76, Prosser and Ellen E. were located with them on Broadway Street in Toledo.  John was the proprietor of a novelty company.

Ellen McMillen passed away in 1920, and Prosser followed on June 3, 1925. Only one death notice could be found for Prosser, and that appeared in the Defiance Crescent-News on June 4, 1925:

"Word has been received of the death of David McMillen at the home of his daughter, Mrs. J. Binney in Toledo Wednesday afternoon.  He was a former resident of Defiance, leaving here about fifteen years ago.  Funeral services will be held in Toledo Saturday."

The McMillens were buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Toledo, with Mary and John Binney joining them later.

(This is part of a series on Civil War veterans of Defiance County who were part of the G.A.R., Bishop Post, that headquartered in the city.  Formed in 1879, the post was named after a local man, Captain William Bishop, Company D, 100th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Army who died as a result of wounds received in battle.  The veterans' photos are part of a composite photo of members that has survived.  If you have other information or corrections to add to the soldiers' stories, please add to the comments!)

Residents of Delaware Bend - Defiance County Directory 1892-1893

One of the complications in tracing a family back in history is the lack of the 1890 census. A fire in the basement of the U.S. Commerce Department in 1921 destroyed more than 75% of the most extensive census taken up to that time. Fire, smoke and water destroyed the documents. Good substitutes for finding an ancestor during that time period are city and county directories.

Delaware Township

Clerk - Glen Gray

The Bend - Defiance County Directory, 1892 - 1893

Ackerman, Emanuel

Anderson, James

Bercaw, John

Banes, William

Banes, John G.

Breno, Fred

Crosser, Mathias

Denman, J.K.

Davis, Joseph

DeVore, Elizabeth

English, Riley

Frolich, Joseph

Fahy, James

Gray, Glen

Gier, Arch

Hoy, Henry

Haase, John

Huitt, M. S.

Hammill, Russel

Hughes, Henry

Hughes, A. J.

Helland, L.

Highlen, William

Jacobs, Peter

Limbaugh, John

Limbaugh, F. W.

Lesh, William

Lipp, Henry

Limbaugh, John P.

Myers, Michael

Myers, David

Marsh, Nicholas

Mays, Frank

Miller, V. V.

Partee, James

Porath, John

Porath, Charles

Parent, E. A.

Roland, Simeon

Rollins, Alf

Russeliett, Henry

Shirgen, N. G.

Shirgen, J. B.

Shoemaker, Lewis

Swartz, Louis

Sharp, D. G.

Sanders, Joseph M.

Sanders, Alvin

Sanders, Frank

Speaker, Ross

Sharp, Austin

Simmons, Lewis

Sisco, Mary

Seguin, Joseph

Traxl, H. G.

Thomas, John

Thomas, Joseph

Trefey, Jacob

Venoah, Charles

Delaware Bend - Its Path Through History - Part 2

 Delaware Bend - Part 2 - by Ethelyn Sexton, Defiance Crescent-News, 1927

"Johnny Appleseed - Familiar Figure

Dr. E. R. Snook, born in 1835, five years before the government removed the Indians from this part of Ohio, whose father, Honorable William H. Snook, was a member of the Ohio legislature, has written of the Indians which filled the dooryard of the little homes in the wilderness, waiting to trade coon and deerskin for corn, with his father, whose Indian name, 'Tohochimo' signified his fairness and kindness toward those first natives of the land.

Other outstanding names in the early history of the settlement are Montgomery Evans, Sam Hughes, James Shirley, Lewis and George Platter, Johnny Appleseed, remembered as the lavish planter of apple trees in the vicinity of the Bend, and among later settlers, the Speaker family.

Jacob Kintner, grandfather of Dan Kintner, Defiance, came to the community in the early forties, living on the farm later owned by Henry Slough, grandfather of Emmett Slough, Defiance. Mr. Kintner, in speaking of his boyhood experiences, said, 

'Delaware Bend was indeed a lively place then. Every store had a saloon in connection with it. And they had some great fights. When the railroad went through, it was livelier than ever for the railroad workers located there.'

Delaware Township was probably organized in 1824; the village was laid out by W. D. Hill & Co. in 1874 - a little group of 50 houses in the woods. A stave mill did a thriving business - barrel hoops were made in fourteen private families - two hotels, three grocery stores, two ?

'I remember the shoemaker,' said Mr. Kintner, 'And I remember Kate Breeno's hotel. There was a blacksmith's shop. And Abe Smith, father of Charles Smith of Defiance, was the township treasurer.  He kept a hotel, too.'

 

Mr. Kintner told stories of going to Delaware Bend from his home down the old grade which was laid out by the Cincinnati Northern, but which never felt the weight of rails.

'They considered Delaware Bend a coming industrial center then,' he said, ' for they planned to run a railroad down there from Bryan. But the road finally went around by Sherwood.'

It was Mr. Kintner's uncle, George Frederick, who build a church in Delaware Bend, later taken over by the Methodists. Though now deserted, it still stands a monument to the work and ideals of those early pioneers who, even before the Bend took on the name of a village, had determined that a place of worship should not be lacking in the little settlement.

St. Stephen Catholic Church c 1890 (photo from the St. Isadore website)

First Churches Are Built

The history of the Kintner family is closely associated with the religious life of the Bend.  The records of the community relative to the Dunkard denomination quaintly state taht Jacob Kintner, Jr, father of Dan Kintner, who later became a bishop in Northwest Ohio, 'was chosen in 1861 to the office of deacon and on the 17th day of October, 1864he was chosen to the ministry while Samuel Kentner became a deacon.'

Again we read that later, Jacob Kintner, Jr. was 'ordained to solemnize marriages and baptisms.' And in 1873, for the sum of $1,000, the church 'gave Jacob Kintner and David Shong the job of erecting a building 34 x 56 feet in size and 16.5 feet high.' This church was located in the Maumee district about one-half miles from the Bend.

Joe Sanders, now living at Delaware Bend, recollect the days when a little log church built by the Catholics stood across the river near the old cemetery, later to be replaced by the frame one now in use. 'All the houses were big ones,' he said, 'and my grandmother on y mother's side never cooked a meal on the stove. The school teacher got $16 a month and did her own janitor work.'

A big dance hall furnished amusement on many a winter's night in those days, and for miles around, the sturdy young folk of the time drove in over the poorly broken roads to step the tune of 'Turkey in the Straw' and 'The Arkansas Traveler' until the late stars vanished in the track of the sun.

Landmarks Fast Disappeared

Today but few landmarks suggest the village which once throbbed with industrial activity.  A few decaying shingles mark the site of the stave mill run by David Sharp. The old church and Kate Breeno's hotel still stand with gaping windows, like eyes that are blind, a few houses, a general store with a gasoline station - this is all that remains.

The railway station was discontinued a few years ago, and now the B & O trains stop only on 'flag.' Mail comes to the village by two routes, half the community being located on a Sherwood route, and the other half receiving their half from Defiance.

Delaware Bend of old will never again exist.  But to one who knows the history of the place and to him who has personal recollections of the roistering logging days, it has an interest which time cannot dispel, and it almost seems that on a windy December night when the moon rides restlessly on banks of clouds, that a phantom crowd is gathered about the old wagon shop and that blanket covered horses are hitched before Abe Smith's place..."

Delaware Bend - Its Path Through History - Part 1

 

From the 1890 Defiance County Plat Map

This informative article appeared in the Defiance Crescent-News on December 2, 1927.  Written by Ethelyn Sexton, an insructor at Defiance College in Journalism, Sexton takes the story of Delaware Bend from the time of the Native Americans who camped on the shores of the Maumee at the curve in the river until the present day.

"Bend, Once Flourishing Lumber Town, Recalls Indians, Wayne, and Pioneers

The community of Delaware Bend, ten miles west of Defiance, one mile off the Hicksville Pike, has perhaps more forcefully than any village in Northwest Ohio been marked by the merciless tread of the great, black oxen.

From an Indian settlement in the days when this section of Ohio claimed only the Redman as inhabitants, to an important logging center with all the attendant high life of those early days, then again the march of years, leaving in their wake, a deserted village with but an occasional landmark to suggest the days of prosperity  - this, in brief, is the history of Delaware Bend.

The little group of houses which comprise the place today is located on a slight bluff at the foot of which flows the Maumee River. The well-cultivated fields of wheat and corn, the orchards that line its banks, give no hint of the fact that once these fertile spaces were a wilderness, that the road from the Bend to Defiance was a poorly broken trail made by Anthony Wayne, almost impassable in winter. Nor is it easy to imagine in these days of advanced transportation, facilities that the white settlers of the spot pushed canoes up and down the Maumee with a 'setting pole' before the keel boat came into use.

First Whites Come in 1822

According to records, it was in the early twenties that the white man first came to Delaware Bend, eight families arriving within the space of a few years.  The records, as stated by George W. Hill, coming to the Bend from Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1822 and locating in Section 27, include a reference to the old Indian orchard planted by the Delaware Indians, and the great fields of corn which they had grown.  Memories of the Hill family in the History of Defiance County, published in 1883 read:

'The old Indian orchard at Delaware Bend is probably from seventy five to one hundred years old.'

The Hill homestead comprised some 280 acres on the banks of the Maumee where the river turns, giving the community its name. It was on the site of the former Indian village which flourished before the advent of Anthony Wayne who, descending upon the Delaware, put down their corn and forcing them to abandon their dwelling homes, offered this land for sale.

Whiskey Bargaining too Effective

The recollection of Mrs. Hill, whose father, Benjamin Mulligan, was a pioneer of the Bend, tells in this early history of the arrival of the McGinnis family, who settling near her home on what is still called the Speaker farm, attempted to open negotiations with the Indians with a barrel of whiskey.

Not wisely, but too well, did his bargaining have effect, for on one occasion, when McGinnis was out of town, the Indians imbibed so freely of the new trading commodity that the Mulligans, one and all, in order to escape the drunken orgies of the Indians set out late in the evening for Defiance.

Along the swamp road by the Maumee, the horses were often knee deep in muck and water and aftertimes, wrote Mrs. Hill, 'my father was forced to go on hands and knees ahead of the teams to keep the path and thus by toilsome stages, we reached Defiance by 2 o'clock the next morning,'

Coon Skins Legal Tender

Fully as interesting are the pioneer experiences of the Snook family. William Snook, coming from Trenton, New Jersey, located at the Bend in 1824, buying land on both sides of the river at the point where today the B & O Railroad crosses the Maumee.

This was in the days when in all Northwest Ohio, coon skins were legal tender for taxes and for commodities of life, and descendants of William Snook tell of a thrilling coon hunt in the vicinity of the Bend that nearly cost the lives of adventurous young Snooks.

After killing three coons, George, John and Peter, nephews of the pioneer, succeeded in felling a large tree, which they believed to be a 'don' tree, a sort of coon rendezvous.  To their surprise and dismay, however, the chief inhabitant of the treed was a great, black bear who attacked George, wounding him.  The other boys, with their axes, succeeded in disabling the bear, which was found later by an Indian, almost dead from the wounds.

Next: Part 2