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 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

Civil War Pensioners in Defiance County - 1884 - Outlying Towns and Villages

                Pensioners - Farmer, Mark Center, Ney, Sherwood, The Bend, 

Wilseyville, Jewell, Evansport, Cicero

            "PENSIONERS

A List of Wounded and Disabled Soldiers in Defiance County

Below is a list of persons in Defiance County who were on the pension list of the United States, January 1, 1884, together with their injuries and the amounts they received."

The Defiance County Express, January 17, 1884, pg. 16

FARMER

Brown, Mary, widow, $8.00

Martin, Reuben, survivor, 1812, $8.00

Hosack, Uriah W., wounded in right shoulder, $4.00

Sweet, Harry, wounded in left shoulder, $8.00

Cory, Edwin, wounded in left humerus, $18.00

Houck, Benjamin F., wound in left arm, $18.00

Mavis, Abraham J., wounded in left side, $3.00

Rice, Hiram F., wounded in buttocks, $4.00

McConkey, Andrew P., varicose veins, $8.00

Kimmel, Rinaldo, hypertrophy, $6.00  (enlargement of organ, such as the heart)

MARK CENTER

Rohn Charlotte O., widow, $8.00

Wolf, Mary, widow 1812, $8.00

Horn, James W., loss part of finger, $2.00

Hagen, Paul, wound in left arm, ?

Horn, Thomas A., wound in right forearm, $4.00

Critchfield, Lyman, R., varicose veins, $8.00

Wineland, David, varicose veins, $6.00

Fitzgerald, Eleanor, widow, $8.00

NEY

Stinger, John, widow, $10.00

Bostater, Abram, amputed left leg, $6.00

Lichty, Joseph, disease of the eyes, $6.00

SHERWOOD

Reyff, Eusebuis, wound in left shoulder, $6.00

Rock, Henry Sr., wound in left arm, $6.00

Bloom, Samuel L. , chronic rheumatism, $6.00

THE BEND

Wagner, John, wound in face, loss of eye, $8.00

Anderson, James, disease of the liver, $6.30

WILSEYVILLE

Hatter, William M., wound in right arm, $18.00

JEWELL

Palmer, William H., wound in head and chronic diarrhea, $8.00

EVANSPORT

Allen, Louisa, widow, $8.00

Sullinger, Sarah, widow 1812, $8.00

Holopeter, Gideon W., wound in right shoulder, $5.00

Nagel, Christopher, wound in left shoulder, $6.00

Cameron, John S, wound in right thigh, $1.00

CICERO

Cornell, Charles, injury to abdomen, $2.00

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