Some Early Postmasters in the Small Towns of Defiance County

In the early days before rural free delivery, mail could be picked up at a designated local store or a home in a particular village.  The postmasters were appointed, and in this list below, surprisingly, one will find quite a few women listed. 
Many of the small villages no longer exist, but may be found on the old plat maps.

Postmasters and Date of Appointment from the original book of the Appointments of U. S. Postmasters:

Adams Ridge
John Conn - Sept. 24, 1869
John Curtland - June 6, 1881
John Davison - Oct. 31, 1881
John L. Davison - Nov. 28, 1881
Albert Rowe - June 23, 1884
Philip Schwartzel - Aug. 4, 1885

Ayersville
Eneas F. Palmer - Nov. 20, 1871
Jonathan M. Viets - Aug. 2, 1876
Nathan A. Boutell - Oct. 7. 1879
Mrs. Rachel Boutell - (date unreadable)
Alfred C. Henry - Aug. 23, 1889

Brunersburgh
Charles F. Clemmons - Oct. 9, 1869 
Wm. W. Warren - Mar. 31, 1874
Chas. F. Clemmons - Mar 24, 1875
Daniel Bruner - Dec. 15, 1879

Cicero
John F. Culler - Sept. 22, 1870
George W. Dickerhoof - May 22, 1885
Rudolph J. Battershell - May 14, 1886
Miss Rosa Miller - Nov. 11, 1886
John F. Haller - Nov. 30, 1889
William Battershell - July 3, 1890

Evansport
John Cameron - Oct. 30, 1865
Robt. B. Cameron - Sept. 6, 1875
Alvara Cameron - June 1881
Henry F. Toberon - June 1885
Asa Toberon Jan. 7, 1886
Thomas E. Snider - Jan. 23, 1888
Frederick Speiser - Apr. 4, 1888
Enoch B. Mapes - Aug. 23, 1889 

Farmer 
John Norway - Apr. 10, 1866
Emory E. Martin - Aug. 21, 1885
Mrs. Belle Bowker - May 21, 1889

Hicksville
Mrs. Julia C. Donafin - Feb. 16, 1870, reappointed in 1883
Jacob Wesner - July 3, 1886
John Berger - Aug. 7, 1890

Milo
George W. Chapman - Feb. 23, 1866
John D. Pearson - Aug 23, 1880
Post office closed on Feb. 5, 1884.  Mail to Farmer.

Ney
David E. Welker - Mar 8, 1870

Philip Crago  - Dec. 11, 1877
Philip M. Crago - Dec. 31, 1877
Jacob Warner - Apr. 28, 1885
John Paxton - July 22, 1889

Wilseyville
William McCaller - Feb. 20, 1869
Bella B. Beebee - Aug 12, 1874
Mrs. Elizabeth Osmun - Sept. 30, 1875
Wm. M. Haller - June 6, 1876
Closed Apr. 16, 1883.  Mail to Cicero.

Sherwood
Johnson Miller - Oct. 24, 1874
Geo. Rock - Feb. 4, 1876
M. H. Robertson - Jan. 15, 1884
William W. Heuff - Dec. 8, 1885
John Rock - June 17, 1889
T. Maud Boor - May 15, 1891

White City
Saul D. Snyder - July 6, 1875
Jos. Howard - Feb. 24, 1876
Closed July 5, 1876.

Mark Center
Mrs. Marietta Kyle - July 6, 1875
Saul D. Snyder - Feb. 24, 1871
Josiah Kyle - Sept. 1876
Reinhart F. Hecht - Nov. 15, 1878
Miss Matilda Knight - Apr. 9, 1885
Mrs. Matilda Clapper - Apr. 14, 1886
Julia S. Long - Dec. 14, 1887
Ida Rice - June 3, 1890

Jewell
Simon P. Seiple - Jan. 26, 1876
Welcome G. Mason - Oct. 13, 1879
Joseph Otte - Apr 1, 1881
Edward H. Trowbridge - Nov. 20, 1882
Andrew M. Haight - Jan. 15, 1884
Conrad Moore - June 18, 1885
Charles G. Shasteen - Aug. 23, 1889

Delaware Bend
Daniel Haynes - May 21, 1877
Wallace D. Haynes - Aug. 28, 1877
Mail to The Bend - Oct. 8, 1878

The Bend
Wallace D. Haynes - Oct. 8, 1872
James Haynes - Jan 17, 1881
John Breno - Apr. 27, 1881
James Anderson - July 18, 1889
John Breno - Mar. 4, 1891

Ashwood
Frederick Harmening - Apr. 7, 1879

Moats
Wm. F. Moats - Oct. 11, 1889

Nebo
Geo. W. Speakman - Mar. 3, 1890                         

 

Harriet Deamer, Wife of Solomon, Recalled Pioneer Days and the Squirrel Hunters

"DAUGHTER OF PIONEER INN KEEPER HERE RECALLS 

REAL HARD TIMES OF EARLY DAY

 "Mrs. Harriet Deamer, who resides at 717 Perry street, is a daughter of the pioneer, Andrew Jackson St. John, who established the tavern out along the Ayersville road about the year 1850.

The purpose of this structure erected in the wilderness by a carpenter named Henry Stites was that of a farmhouse.  And it became a tavern through necessity because so many folks stopped at the lonely dwelling along the muddy wilderness road and asked for lodgings.

Early Hospitality

'Jack' St. John who was a raw-boned man measuring six feet two in his socks, was a hospitable man and it is a matter of legend in the community that he never turned a weary or hungry man from his door.

A. J. St. John engaged his services to a tanner at Lebanon, Ohio, at the age of 17, receiving for his services the sum of $30 per year.  After a thorough apprenticeship with different tanners, he came to this county and established himself as a tanner and agriculturist.

Tanning the Hides

Not only was he a tanner of leather, but from the hides from the vats, he made shoes for the neighborhood.  Many a pioneer was shod in long-wearing leather boots made by this skillful man whose good workmanship brought trade from a large radius.

As his tanning trade gained in volume, he added two more 40s to the original forty acre homesite.  Bark of the best oaks was ground in a one-horse power mill and the ingredients of the tanning solution so skillfully blended that the green hides that went into the vats came out as choice harness leather that commanded a splendid market.

Seeking new territory, as was the custom with many of the first settlers, Mr. St. John, after residing for 14 years in Defiance county, went to Camden, Mich. where he erected a tannery.

Back to Defiance

His daughter, Miss Harriet, accompanied him there, but returned in the fall to become the bride of Solomon Deamer, a brick mason by trade whose name is familiar to many residents of Defiance.

The original home of Solomon Deamer was on the site now occupied by the office of the Defiance Screw Machine Products Co.  Mr. Deamer passed from life about 35 years ago.  Mrs. Deamer, at the age of 87, an eighty year resident of Defiance county, is living with his niece, Mrs. Louis Rector, at the Perry street home.

Real Hard Times

In looking back to the hard times of her girlhood spent during the tragic years of the Civil War, Mrs. Deamer, who was actively engaged in making a 'dutch girl' quilt, said that one reason we consider conditions difficult today is because there are so many different ways in which money may be expended.

In the days when the old plank road to Ayersville had lost its planking and resembled a mortar box, wagons were a common necessity and a buggy was regarded as somewhat a luxury. Shirts were made of flour sacks with the sleeves from the legs of old stockings.  Almost all of the white flour available was either musty or wormy and corn meal was the standard bread staple.

The Squirrel Hunters

Mrs. Solomon Deamer, the widow of a Civil War veteran, recalls the stirring days of the great conflict of the 60s when General Kirby Smith, with his band of Confederate raiders, threatened to invade Ohio and a company of local men of whom her father, A. J. St. John, was a member, was organized almost in a day and on Sept. 10, 1862, enlisted with the famous Squirrel Hunters and departed to defend Cincinnati from the threatened invasion.

That famous company contains many familiar names: John Crowe, captain; C. B. Mix, first lieutenant; David Butler, second lieutenant; J. B. Mellin, John Paul Jr., Louis Gobdell, D. W. Marcellus, John Linebrink, George R. Hooker, James Brown, Elias Zellars, John Stitsel, William Woods, Jerome Murray.

A. A. Ayers, Robert King, R. Girard, James Richards, C. C. Graper, D. W. Nye, J. B. Heatley, Dave Buckmaster, George Dudley, Henry Miller, Sam Hutchinson, Abe Davis, Peter M. Dodd, William B. Watts, J. E. Willeman, John Andrews, John Moon, Ed. Beall.   

Charles E. Williams, William Douty, John Carpenter, J. B. Allen, Frank Nolan, John Spangler, Ambrose Maston, Isaac Collar, Dave Jackson, George Rogers, C. C. Strong, J. A. Meyers, John Davidson, T. D. Harris, M. Houtz.

T. C. Breese, S. S. Hopkins, M. Carey, John Glen, B. B. Kniss, John Lewis, C. C. Case, A. Elliott, D.M. Corwin, F. H. Ferguson, John Bogg, Hugh Donnelly, Nelson Kibble, James Figley, Silas Figley.

Frank A. Masterson, Ed. Hatfield. Fred Moninger, John Hatfield, Louis Daudt, James Kochel, George Miller, Ohio Miller, Andy Tuttle, Mathias Elliott."

Defiance Crescent-News, August 5, 1932