Edwin Phelps - Early Defiance County Pioneer

From the Defiance Democrat - September 23, 1897

"OVER THE RIVER.

The Oldest Citizen of Defiance

Passes Peacefully Away.

Edwin Phelps, After a Continuous Residence of More than Sixty-three Years Drops Asleep in that Quiet Repose Which is the End of all Things Earthly.

'His life was gentle and the elements so mixed in him

That nature may stand up and say to all the world,

This was a man.'     Shakespeare.

Mr. Edwin Phelps died suddenly at his home on Jefferson street last night about 11 o'clock.  His age was 81 years, 8 months and 23 days.

A gloom was cast over Defiance and community this beautiful morning in early Autumn when it was known that Edwin Phelps, our oldest citizen, had passed from time to eternity.  His life work was well done.  He left a saddened community, a multitude of friends and a devoted family to mourn the loss of the dear father who fell asleep, Sept 28, 1897.

The following obituary is furnished by Hon. W. D. Hill, the trusted friend and fellow worker of Mr. Edwin Phelps:

"Edwin Phelps was born at Richville, St. Laurence County, New York, Dec. 30th, 1815.  The former name of his birth place is DeKalb.  He was an intimate acquaintance and friend of Silas Wright, the eminent Democratic leader and U. S. Senator from the state of New York.

He emigrated to Defiance county, Ohio in August, 1834, and was admitted to the bar in 1839.  He married Mary A. Woodward in 1840 who survived but one year; in 1843, he married Emily Eaton and of this marriage, three children were born, Adelaide Victoria, Emily J. Phelps, who married Mr. Chas. Seymour of this city, Ida R. Phelps who married Mr. Gensheimer and resides now at Erie, Pa.

 Mr. Phelps was married again Sept. 25th, 1862, to Evaline Richardson of Defiance.  Of this union, there were born Mary Alice (now Ackley) of Granville, Ohio; Helen Dorothy; Julia who died in 1864, and Grace, who died in 1870, Abbie (now Mrs. F. P. Weisenberger) of Defiance, and Edwin J., now a law student in Defiance.  

Mr. Phelps was appointed Clerk of the courts of Williams County in 1837, eight years before the organization of Defiance County.  Afterwards in the organization of Defiance county, in 1845, he was made its first Auditor by appointment and was also a member of the first board of school examiners of Defiance county.  Was elected Clerk of the Courts in 1857 and served in that capacity altogether about seventeen years; he was also at one time Prosecuting Attorney of Paulding county for one term.  

From the date of his coming to Defiance, he was actively engaged in politics, attended the state conventions of his party, nearly all the county and district conventions and also National conventions.  The last National Convention to which he was a delegate was at Chicago in 1864 when George B. McClelland was nominated for President.

From an old memorandum book of his, it is learned that he left New York with $3 in his pocket which he borrowed with which to come west; that when he landed he had a five franc piece and seven cents left.  As ferried across the Maumee river at the foot of Jefferson street by the father of Mrs. Jonas Colby and E. F. Lindenberger on the 20th of August,1834.  He expended his seven cents for crackers to appease his hunger and through the influence of an uncle whom he found here, he obtained employment from the keeper of the hotel at $8 a month and board.  During all the time Mr. Phelps resided in Defiance, he was an earnest and active worker in the interest of the town and the development of the county.

When the county seat of Williams county was removed from Defiance to Bryan, the people immediately began a movement for the organization of Defiance county.  Mr. Phelps, being a Democrat in politics, was requested by his friends to go to Columbus in 1845 to use his influence with the Democratic members to get his bill passed organizing a new county of Defiance out of territory taken from Williams, Paulding and Henry counties.

He spent his time and money in securing the location and construction of the Toledo and Illinois railroad through Defiance, which is now the Wabash railway.  Prior to that he had taken active part in the construction of the Miami & Erie canal and was for a time employed on the canal. When the 'Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. proposed to extend its line to Chicago through this county, Mr. Phelps took an active interest in it and traveled night and day soliciting aid and right of way to make sure of the location of the road through Defiance. A few years ago he went to work as vigorously as a young man of 25 for the Columbus, Lima & Milwaukee railroad, which is now being revived again.    

In physique Mr. Phelps was a giant in strength; he had a wonderful constitution and some of his friends now believe that if he had never been connected with the Erie mills in this city, where he spent a great deal of his time repairing the water power of that mill and inhaling the poisonous odors of the water and mud of the canal, he would have lived to be a hundred years old.

Mr. Phelps was always kind to his family, true to his friends, and universally respected by everybody who knew him.  He received more than his share of political honors and never was defeated but once in a popular election, which was in 1862 when he was a candidate for congress against Gov. Ashley and the late Chief Justice Waite.  In that triangular contest, Gov. Ashley was elected.

When Mr. Phelps was admitted to the bar on the 7th of December 1839, before the Supreme Court of Ohio, the committee who examined him were Peter Hitchcock, Henry Stanberry, P. B. Wilcox, John W. Andrews and Judge George J. Smith, all giants in intellect and man of national fame in the legal profession.  The late Chief Justice White, of the Supreme Court of Ohio, once said after presiding over a term of district court in this county, that 'Mr. Phelps was the best and most accurate clerk of the courts in the State of Ohio.'"

Mr. Phelps was an old Mason, supposed to have been a charter member of the Defiance Commandery.  The members of the Bar held a meeting at the court house yesterday afternoon to commemorate his memory and make arrangements for his funeral.

On Tuesday evening, he retired seemingly in the best of health; a few minutes after he went to his bed, his wife went into the room and found that he had entered upon his last sleep.  The funeral services will take place Friday afternoon from the Presbyterian church at 2 o'clock, Rev. B. W. Slagle officiating."  

Old Riverside Cemetery - www.findagrave.com

Read Edwin Phelps' memoirs on the DCGS website :
http://defiancecountygenealogy.org/ 

Michael Gorman - An Obituary

Almost any genealogist would be overjoyed to find an obituary of an ancestor, especially one filled with details that can enhance his or her family research.  This obituary of Michael Gorman from 1889 is especially generous with the family story of his immigration and settlement in Defiance.  Also, it is notable because it offers a drawing of Mr. Gorman, said to be the only likeness of him, and it names his home village in Ireland. 

 

(This cut is an exact reproduction of the only picture of Mr.Gorman in

existence which is some twenty-five years old.) 

"The familiar face of Michael Gorman will no longer be seen upon our streets.  He has met the grim messenger of Death and followed him beyond the troubles and turmoils of this earth.  Three score years and ten found him quite hale and hearty, and with a step far from feeble.  Two weeks ago, Sunday, April 7th, he was taken ill and rapidly failed, until Friday evening at 8:30 o'clock when, after suffering excruciating pain, he passed away surrounded by his family and many friends.

His funeral took place from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Tuesday at 9 o'clock A.M., Rev. Father Kinkard conducting the solemn service.

Michael Gorman had a life more full of ups and downs than is allotted to most men.  Born September 8th, 1818, in Elphin, Roscommon county, Ireland, he emigrated to America at the age of 28.  He landed at Quebec and made his way to the States of Toronto and Buffalo.  Between the last two cities he traveled by rail, the coaches being drawn by horses. From Buffalo he went to Warren, O., Beaver Falls, Pa., Wheeling, Va and later to Cairo, Ills, when he obtained work on a steamboat as deckhand.  He staid on the river but a short time coming at last to Defiance where he arrived on the 8th of April, 1847, with $7.00 in his pocket.

He began work almost immediately for Edwin Phelps at $1.00 a day.  He was married on the 11th of September, 1851, to Miss Sophia Haverstadt.  From this union ten children have been born, five of whom are living.  

About 1850 he began in the grocery business near the canal west of the Russell House.  He followed this seven years, then purchased a farm but returned to the store in two years.  In 1865 by a speculation in beef and pork, he lost $17,000, which nearly ruined him financially.  But with the pluck and energy of his nation, he began to build up his fortune and succeeded so well as to soon place himself in independent circumstances.  His home on Jefferson street was very pleasant and his other real estate possessions were numerous.

A Democrat all his life, he was elected to the Council when Defiance was but a small town, and in 1882 became County Commissioner which office he held for two terms, serving with honor to himself and his county."

Defiance County Republican Express, Friday, April 19, 1889, p. 4.  
(This was typed because the newspaper print was too light to reproduce here.) 

Early Schools in Defiance, Ohio - Part 2

From the Defiance Democrat - January 10, 1895
Continued from Part 1, here.

When the settlement increased in numbers and the old, log school house became too small, a district school was organized and taught in the court house for many years. During Court, which was six or eight days of each year, the school would take a vacation.  One E. C. Betts taught in the court house.  His certificate authorized him to teach reading, writing , spelling and arithmetic as far as the rule of three.  Wm. A. Brown also taught in the court house. His assistant was Miss Stowe, afterward Mr. Brown's wife, and who now resides in this city with her daughter, Mrs. Dr. Scott.  Mr. Edwin Phelps also taught in this building.

The second school in what is now the City was on the bank of Coe Run near where the canal is now.  It was built of logs by the settlers along both the rivers. This school was first taught by Brice Hilton.

In 1840, after the county seat of Williams county was moved to Bryan, the old court house was sold and fitted for a dwelling as a new school house had to be provided.  In 1841 the third school house was built in Defiance on the west side of Wayne street, between Fourth and Fifth streets.  It was a two story brick and was built by Timothy Dame, who had succeeded Seamans and Wason in the brick yard. At first the lower room only was finished.  Part of the time there were two teachers and usually over one hundred pupils.  
In 1849 the district was divided, that part East of the Canal being No. 1 and that West, No. 5. A lot was purchased in January 1850 on the North side of Fifth street, just East of where the railroad now is, and a school house was built there.

In 1851, the Union school was organized and the districts consolidated, then the upper room in the brick building was completed, another school house procured and Francis Holenbeck employed at Superintendent, and teacher for the high school.
The present school was kept in a building owned by E. L. May  on the west side of Wayne street near the river, and a few years afterward was moved to the building at the corner of Court and Wayne streets that had been built and used by Dave Marcellus as a carpenter shop and which was rented and used for years as a primary school.

About this time, the Baptist church and a large unfinished frame building where the Carter homestead now stands were used as school houses.  The secondary school, as it was called, was kept in the school house of District No. 5. This building is now used as a dwelling. There was also an overflow school taught in a small building just north of the one last named, Lot fronting on Fourth street.  These were all school houses between the rivers until the Central building, which was commenced in 1866 and completed in 1868.  This building has since been greatly enlarged by adding wings and another story.

In the 4th Ward, a district school house was built about 1858 on the Ottawa Pike just south of the B & O R.R. track, called the Kahlo school house.  It was a frame building, and Miss Southworth, E. H. Gleason, Abijah Miller and others taught there.  In 1875, a brick building was built, which was lately replaced by the splendid Fourth ward building.  In 1875, the present Second ward building was built.

On the north side of the Maumee river was school district No. 2.  The first school house was built in 1851 on Water street, just east of the Wabash railway.  It was a little, frame school house.  Samuel Stacy was the first teacher.

Afterward, E. H. Gleason, John H. Crowell, B. F. Southworth, Mary Bridenbaugh, now Mrs. Kiser, and others taught here.  Before the war, Mr. Southworth was reputed as a normal teacher of great ability, and his school was so popular for young teachers that the directors built an addition to the house and secured an assistant to teach the lower grades.  When Capt. Southworth went into the army, no less than nine of his old pupils went with him and many more followed. On his return from the army, Colonel Southworth again taught here.  In 1866, this district was made part of the Union schools of the town, and in 1874, the ole brick building was built and is now replaced by this beautiful, modern building.

The people of Defiance have never parted from the faith and example of the early settlers.  They have always been liberal in the support of schools; and now our city is guarded at every point on the compass by magnificent school buildings.  They are a wise investment.  They are the city's best defense..."