Franklin county at the period of this squirrel-hunt must have been in the course of an army of emigrating squirrels. The exodus of squirrels was an occasional sight in the early part of this century in "the new country," as the West was generally termed. A personal experience is in place here. Early on a November morning of 1844, after a night's rest in the cabin of a mountaineer, while on a pedestrian tour through Western Virginia, passing through an open forest, we suddenly found ourselves in the midst of an immense multitude of squirrels. The woods were fairly alive with them. Thousands must have been under our view without turning our head. Their tameness was surprising-close, thick around us, almost under our feet were the graceful, nimble, little creatures, hopping around and evidently enjoying themselves. They were of various colors, gray, red and black. The gray was the predominant color, and those were the largest and most plump. Only about one in twenty was black, and he was black as ink. Later we were told they had been for a day or two previously swimming the Kanawha, and therein multitudes in the high wind that had prevailed had perished. The theory of their emigration was that in their old homes the "mast," as beech nuts, walnuts, chestnuts, etc., were termed, had given out, and they were moving north to find a more prolific region for their sustenance during the cold of the approaching winter. They were evidently under some leadership and knew where to go; perhaps might have sent out advance couriers on tours of explora tion and, guided by their reports, had gathered as a mighty host with banners and under some chosen Moses among them were moving toward the promised land. HAYDEN FALLS are situated some 12 miles northwest of Columbus, on a small creek which empties into the Scioto river, about 100 rods from the falls. The rock formation thereabouts is of limestone, and the water coming over the rocky ledge has a fall of about sixty feet; the amount of water is not large and, like all western streams, the quantity varies according to the season of the year. Owing to the remoteness of the falls from any of the public highways and railways, it has not been much visited by the people, who have little idea of the wild, picturesque beauty of the spot, which is enhanced by contrast with the general prairie formation of this part of the State. WESTERVILLE, 14 miles north of Columbus, on the C. A. & C. R. R., in the centre of a fine agricultural country, is the seat of Otterbein University. News paper: Public Opinion, A. R. Keller, editor and publisher. Churches: 1 United Brethren, 1 Methodist, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Evangelical, and 1 African Methodist Episcopal. Bank of Westerville, O. H. Kimball, president, Emery J. Smith, cashier. Industries.-People's Mutual Benefit Life Association, Farmers' and StockBreeders' Live Stock Insurance Association. Population in 1880, 1,148. School census in 1886, 393; Thos. M. Foutz, superintendent. CANAL WINCHESTER is 16 miles southeast of Columbus on the C. H. V. & T. R. R. and Ohio canal, and is a substantial and thrifty village. Newspapers: Winchester Times, Independent, B. F. & O. P. Gayman, editors and publishers. Churches : Reformed, Methodist Episcopal, United Brethren and Lutheran. Industries.-C. B. & D. H. Cowan, flour and feed; N. C. Whitehurst, flour and feed; Geo. Barries, doors, sash, etc.; Geo. Powell, drain tile, also manufacturer of force pumps and wood and wire fences. Population in 1880, 850. School census in 1886, 288; W. H. Hartsough, superintendent. Franklin County Indian Story.-An interesting anecdote, illustrating the peculiar characteristics of the Indians as our first settlers of Columbus found them, is related of Keziah, the youngest daughter of John and Mary Hamlin. In 1804 Mr. Hamlin built the first cabin east of the Scioto river, on the spot where Hoster's brewery now stands, and here, Oct. 16, 1804, his daughter Keziah, the first white child in Columbus, was born. At this time a tribe of Wyandot Indians were located near a bend in the river just below the present Harrisburgh bridge. They were very friendly to the Hamlins, and were specially fond of Mrs. Hamlin's freshly baked bread. On bread-baking days they would come to the cabin, and lifting aside the curtain which served for a door, enter and help themselves to the contents of the larder without asking permission or saying a word to the occupants. Upon leaving they would throw a hunk of venison or whatever game they had upon the floor as compensation, and then silently take their departure. One day when Mrs. Hamlin was attending to her household duties with nobody present save her infant daughter, who was calmly sleeping in her crib, several of the Indians entered the cabin, and without saying a word deliberately took up the sleeping infant and carried her away with them to their village, leaving Mrs. Hamlin trembling with fear and anxiety for the safety of her child. As the hours passed by and the child was not returned, she suffered the greatest mental anguish and suspense, until, toward the close of day, her sufferings were relieved by the reappearance of the Indians bringing with them the child, which wore a beautiful pair of beaded moccasins upon her little feet, and which the Indians had been industriously working upon all day, and had felt the necessity of having the child with them so as to insure a perfect fit. This token of the appreciation of a savage race for the kindness and hospitality shown them by early pioneers was preserved until a few years ago, when the scion of a younger generation of the same house unfortunately destroyed them when too young to appreciate their value. Miss Keziah Hamlin, the heroine of this pleasing anecdote, married Dec. 19. 1822, David Brooks, of Princeton, Mass., and died Feb. 4, 1875, leaving a family of three sons and two daughters, one of whom, Mr. David W. Brooks, of the banking firm of Brooks, Butler & Co., kindly furnished us with the facts given herein. FULTON. FULTON COUNTY was formed February 28, 1850, from Lucas, Henry, and Williams counties. Its surface is pleasantly undulating, and it is drained by tributaries of the Maumee. Its soil is fertile. Being originally heavily wooded, its early settlement was slow. Its area is 400 square miles. In 1885 the acres cultivated were 124,300; pasture, 25,032; woodland, 53,834; lying waste, 2,632; produced in wheat, 375,532 bushels; oats, 362,327; rye, 12,132; corn, 680,014; butter, 531,773 pounds; cheese, 452,240; wool, 188,294; sheep owned, 40,992. School census 1886, 6,696; teachers, 142. It has 33 miles of railroad. Population in 1850 was 7,780; in 1860, 14,043; 1870, 17,789; 1880, 21,053, of whom 14,907 were Ohio-born; 1,485, New York; 902, Pennsylvania; 185, Indiana; 569, British Empire; 731, German Empire. WAUSEON, named from an Indian chief, is thirty-two miles west of Toledo, on the L. S. & M. S. R. R., in the centre of a fine agricultural region. County officers in 1888: Probate Judge, Levi W. Brown; Clerks of Court, Albert D. Smith, James C. King; Sheriff, Daniel Dowling; Prosecuting Attorney, Mazzini Slusser; Auditor, Abram W. McConnell; Treasurer, John B. Schuetzler; Recorder, Harrison E. Randall; Surveyor, Lucius B. Fraker; Coroner, Levi E. Miley; Commissioners, James C. Vaughn, Daniel T. Biddle, Sylvester W. Baum. Newspapers: Northwestern Republican, Sherwood & Williams, editors; Democratic Expositor, J. C. Bollmeyer, editor; Fulton County Tribune, Republican, Smith & Knoft, editors and publishers. Churches: 1 Methodist, 1 Congregational, 1 Baptist, 1 Disciples, 1 United Brethren, and 1 Catholic. Bank of Wauseon, Barber & Callender, E. S. Callender, cashier. Workshops and Employees.-Philip Schletz, jacks and cider-mill screws; H. H. Williams & Co., butter tubs and lumber, 18 hands; Meeks & Cornell, saw mill; W. J. Harper, Rugg machine; Wauseon Roller Mills, flour and feed, 18.-State Report for 1887. Population in 1880, 1,905. School census 1886, 576; W. S. Kennedy, superintendent. Wauseon was platted in 1854. The first building was erected by E. L. Hayes as a store and dwelling in April of that year. In 1870 it became the county-seat. Col. D. W. Howard, of this county, has given us the following valuable and interesting reminiscences of early experiences among the Indians and pioneers of Fulton and adjoining counties: My grandfather, Thomas Howard, with my father Edward, an uncle Richard Howard, with their wives and a sister, Mrs. Sidney Howard Nelson, left Yates county, N. Y., early in May, 1821, with two emigrant wagons. Arrived at Buffalo, grandfather, my mother and two Hunts, with a girl cousin and myself, the only children, shipped on board a thirty-two ton schooner, commanded by Capt. Anson Reed, for Fort Meigs; the men driving the teams (with three or four cows and a few sheep) along the shore of Lake Erie; a trip of many weeks' duration and of much hardship, as there were scarcely any roads much of the way. The little vessel arrived safely after a very rough voyage of more than a week, entered the dark waters of the Maumee on the morning of June 17, and in the dusk of the same evening anchored in the bay under the walls and frowning pickets of Fort Meigs. The next morning the sight of the Indian six miles above Maumee City, in 1818, by John Pray, Deacon Cross, Whitcomb Haskins and a few others; a few families, Elisha, Elijah, and Richard Gunn, Mr. Bucklin Scribner and Samuel Vance, settled at Prairie Damascus, on the north bank of the river, six miles above the head of the Grand Rapids (twenty-five miles above Fort Meigs), about 1818, and Pierce Evans, the Indian trader, at old Fort Defiance, at the mouth of the Auglaize river. The Indian mission was established ten miles above Fort Meigs on the right (south bank) of the river in 1821, and my father, Edward Howard, with two brothers, built their cabins at the head of the Rapids, during the winter of 1822-23, and were the first settlers above the mission (eight miles) on the south bank, with Uncle Pete Menard (Menor), a French trader, on the Indian reservation, on the south bank. The first settlers within the present limits of Fulton county were Valentine Winslow (whose wife was Celia Howard, a cousin of mine), Col. Eli Phillips and David Hobart, who came in the summer of 1833, all of whom have long since passed to the other shore except Col. Phillips, who is still living, hale and hearty, on the farm on which he built the first cabin. The old pioneer was active at the rearing of our Pioneer Cabin, several years ago, to commemorate the events of the early pioneers. The Old Maumee Mission.-The Presbyterian Mission was established on the south bank of the Maumee, ten miles above Fort Meigs and eight below the head of the Rapids, in the year 1821 or 1822. about the time that my father and his two brothers moved to their lands at the head of the Rapids of the Maumee. At the time of its establishment there was no settlement on the south side of the river above what is now the village of Waterville, and my father and his two brothers with the aid of the mission people cut the first wagon track, from opposite Waterville to the head of the Grand Rapids, winding up and over deep gullies, and across several considerable streams, such as the Tone-tog-a-nee (named from the great chief of the name, whose village was at its mouth), Kettle creek and Beaver creek, which had to be crossed by fording in order to reach their destination. There were several large villages in this vicinity. Tone-tog-a-nee (at the mouth of the creek), Na-wash village on the Indian island immediately opposite the mission, and on the opposite side of the river Awp-a-to-wa-jowin, or Kin-jo-a-no's Town, on the Indian reservation (opposite my father's at the head of the Rapids), San-wa-co-sack, on the Auglaize above Fort Defiance, and a large village at the mouth of the river and along the bay, with numerous smaller towns of less note located on the banks of all the streams in the country. Rev. Isaac Van Tassel was the principal of the mission; Mr. Sackett and Rev. Mr. Coe, assistants, with their wives and several maiden ladies as teachers, and together with a few mechanics and laborers forming the community of white people that established and carried forward the enterprise successfully for many years; in fact sustained it in its work of Christianizing and civilizing the Indians until the tribes were by degrees moved to their far-off homes in the West and Northwest, on the Missouri, the Kansas and the Osage rivers and on the bays and rivers of the Straits of Mackinack. Mission Schools.-I had a long acquaintance with these good missionary people and have no words but kindness for them. While they may have accomplished but little in Christianizing the Indians, they did the best they could for them and with the best intentions. Their work was one of great difficulty: white men and half breeds sold whiskey to the Indians, used all efforts against their patronizing the institution, and hired the Indians to keep their children from school. It is easy for any one to appreciate the diffieulty of establishing a school among these wild, fierce people-boys and girls who had never been restrained, or their freedom abridged in the least. To gather together one or two hundred boys and girls of all ages, from six or seven to twenty years, was no easy task; to ask them to come in out of the free woods, to close their Indian sports of fishing and hunting and paddling in their canoes, of riding on horseback, running races and other pastimes, was of course requiring great effort on the part of these young savages, and after a few days' experience in the school-room, with all its attendant restraints, it cannot be wondered that many of them took the trail back to their villages, having had enough of civilization. I appreciate the situation, as I had the same experience and have not forgotten it to this day. After the Indians became acquainted with the mission people, and knew that they were true friends, their children were sent to the school and most of the time they had from eighty to one hundred and fifty in attendance. The society bought a large and valuable tract of land, including an island of about three hundred acres, upon which they opened a farm, built a large mission house, and a commodious school-room; where the teachers held forth to us for six long hours every day except Sunday, when we had two good long old-fashioned Presbyterian sermons. I have said we, and I do so for the reason that I had (what I then thought) a sad experience at the old mission. When I was between seven and eight years old my father placed me in the care of the Rev. Van Tassel, at the mission school. I was taken like the Indian boys from the woods, away from my sports and associates at the Indian village opposite my father's, where I had spent most of my time, as free as the Indian boys and, like them, as wild as a partridge or wild turkey. We spent the time at the village in summer, shooting bow and arrows, fishing or swimming in the river, and in many other plays and sports peculiar to young Indian boys, and you can imagine that it was almost death to shut us away from all these pastimes; and shut up to in a school-room (where the presiding genius was a sanctimonious old maid of the hard-shell, stiff backed Yankee Presbyterian persuasion), where long prayers were said morning and evening, and not a smile or whisper allowed. Many of the Indian boys brought to the school after a few days experience left between two days, and forever after kept at such a distance that they could never be caught or tempted back. I would have gladly followed their example and hid in the Indian villages, among which I had many friends, but Indians were too honest and would not have kept me hid from my father and mother. Every effort was made by these earnest missionaries, and always with the kindest manner, to induce these wild and untutored people to believe in the Bible and its teachings, but with limited success; they took education readily, but religion sparingly and doubtingly. Although the great end originally anticipated was not gained the mission did a good work; it educated many hundreds of the youths of these tribes, of whom many in after years in their new homes west of the Mississippi became good farmers and mechanics and some of them are still living in Kansas and Indian Territory. Sports of Indian Children.-We enjoyed our Saturday half holiday. In the winter season, when the river was frozen over, we skated on the ice, both boys and girls, and when there was snow we enjoyed ourselves sliding down the long hill on the bank of the river. The sled was made of a strip of white elm bark about one foot wide and six or seven feet long, with a bark rope or string fastened to the forward end, in order to raise it above the uneven surface and guide it down the steep and slippery path. This was placed smooth side down, giving us the rough outside bark for a foothold. We would start this Indian shute at the top of the hill with as many boys and girls as could stand upright on the bark and a leader on the front holding the string to guide it down the slippery track. With lightning speed it would fairly fly down the hill and far out on the ice on the river if successfully guided; if not, you might be able to see a load of boys and girls piled up in the snow, or scattered along the hill. It took a brave boy with a steady hand to ride this Indian sled down those steep hills, for after the snow was packed and the path beaten it became as slippery as glass. Another Indian game was to take two pieces of freshly peeled bark, a foot wide and three or four feet long, place the two insides together and then place them on the ground. |