"ADAMS TOWNSHIP PIONEERS WERE
ALL STRONG AND HARDY PEOPLE
(By U. G. Figley)
Adams township was organized April 6, 1836, and was a part of Henry county, and was annexed to Defiance county when it was formed in 1845, so it seems in a way not so much a part of the county as the other townships originally a part of Defiance. It was named after Judge Bishop Adams, who was the first settler locating in Section 18.
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| A portion of Adams township, showing Section 16 and 18, from the 1866 plat map of Defiance County |
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Among the earliest settlers were A. Battenberg, Joseph Frantz, John Hornish, John Hively, Darius Jones, Eli Markel, Jacob Shock, John Scott, Jacob Schwartzel, Jacob Tittle and Tollman Voorhes
The old 'great prairie' is in Section 16, and the county ditch through there finished its being a marsh for beavers and such, bordering on the Black Swamp, so familiar to all the early settlers as a land of mud and water and brush and other stuff, through which they as a rule had to move, in coming from the east.
Relics Are Found.
In the process of draining, a large collection of skeletons, elk-horns, and numerous relics were found. What is known as the Ridge Road was evidently once along the shore of Lake Erie, extending from the river at Independence to Detroit, Mich. Being a nice, sandy road, naturally it was the Indian highway to Detroit.
Aaron Diehl came from Montgomery County in 1843. His father served in the war of 1812 and an uncle was one of 'Marion's Men' during the Revolution. Mr. Diehl purchased his home in Section 21 in 1835.
Ephraim Markel came from Delaware county in 1835 with his uncle, Eli Markel, and married Barbara Lehman in 1840. He was a great hunter, dispatching three or four bears or forty or fifty deer on a hunt. He also trapped wolves for the fun of it. Bears also were killed.
Fought Buck Deer.
Abraham Schrimplin came with his family from Knox county about 1841, and was one of the solid old pioneers. John Hornish, Sr., came with his family from Montgomery county in 1836. A son, John, Jr., when only 13 years old, had a terrific fight with a buck deer, wounding it in the great (?) with a gun-shot and when the buck jumped for him, he took advantage of its catching a foot on a root and stumbling. The lad jumped on it, grabbed it by the antlers with one hand and killed it with his hunting knife.
Another time, he was hunting with J. K. Potter, when they found a she-bear and her cubs. Thinking they had finished the old bear, he gave her a final blow, as he thought, on the head with a club. She came to her feet with a rush and grabbled with him, necessitating Mr. Potter's putting his gun against her head and shooting her dead for sure. Mr. Hornish accumulated 650 acres of land in Adams township.
Jacob Swartz came to the township in 1836, helping to organize it. Among the early settlers in those days, George Grubb appears to have been the second to locate. Charles Tubbs came from Oswego county, New York in 1836, and settled in Section 11. Nearby were Jacob Hively, William Mozier, James Davison, Mrs. Tubbs (formerly Lucy Howe) who taught the first school in 1837, with nine pupils. Expenses of the school were paid by subscription.
Built Meeting House.
Henry Lehman was born in Germany and located in Adams township in Section 21, in 1837, and he was influential in the building of the meeting house of the Church of the Brethren (Dunkard), in 1878, and he was one of its local ministers. Others were Aaron Diehl, John Hornish, Ephraim Markel and John W. Lehman.
Jacob Tittle moved from Richland township (to which
he had moved in 1824) to Adams township in 1839.
There are numerous descendants.
Sylvester A. Hull, a prominent Defiance man, was a son of Emanuel and Jane Osborn Hull, who came to Adams township from Trumbull county in 1849. Elijah Osborn, her father, came from Mahoning county in February, 1846, moved with three teams across the state in six days. At Gilboa, he concluded to have the six children walk and have the two teams haul the goods. The children broke out with the measles, and wading through the mud and water of the famous Black Swamp for several miles, they were both tired and sick when they reached Independence. There they were cared for, all fortunately recovering.
Michael Lutz was born in Bavaria, Gemany, and he came to Seneca county in 1841. He married Catherine Hassett, who was born in Ireland and he came to Adams township in 1850. A daughter, Gertrude, married the late John Wisda, in 1871, who was born in Klatan, Bohemia in 1844, and he came to America with his father's family in 1854, locating in Sandusky county. A brother, Joseph, lives in Tiffin township. The family name appears to have originally been spelled Hwezda. Mr. Wisda accumulated a great deal of land, and was a prominent citizen of the county, serving two terms, most acceptably, as County Treasurer, in the 90's. A son, John G., being deputy."
Defiance Democrat - February 22, 1917
