Valentine Stork History Of Defiance County Ohio 1976 Page 578 By Melvin R Stork

    Valentine Stork, son of Adam Stork and Katharina Schmetzspahm, was born December 26 1793, in Arheilgen, Hesse-Darmstadt. He married Katharina Bach in 1818. Born to this union were six children.
    Valentine and Katharine had a courtship of seven years which was interrupted when Valentine
joined the Hessian Army, that was hired out to Napoleon, by the Grand Duke of Hesse, Louis X.
    Valentine became a personal bodyguard to Napoleon and was one of the few survivors of those who marched on Moscow, that severe winter of 1812.
    After the retreat from Russia, Napoleon awarded Valentine with a bronze for his loyalty and bravery, and he was given an honorable discharge from the Hessian Army. Because he dearly treasured this medal, his children pinned it to his clothing before retiring his body to its final place.
    In 1848, when the popular will of the Hessians sought revolutionary changes under the reign of Louis III, four of the Valentine Stork's grown children migrated to Toledo, Ohio. There they waited nearly  year for the arrival of Valentine, his wife and his other two children. Both groups made their entire journey by water way Atlantic Ocean, Hudson River, canal to Buffalo, New York and Lake Erie to Toledo. From Toledo the reunited then traveled the Maumee River to Defiance, Ohio, landing June 2,1849.
    Valentine Stork helped form a church for the German Lutherans (St John) in the Defiance area. He was later elected one of the first elders of the  German Evangelical Lutheran Church.

    Valentine died on January 4, 1854 in Defiance and is interred in Riverside Cemetery; his wife Katharine died May 4, 1864                                                  

Hunter Outwitted A Bear The Rural Rambler Defiance Crescent News 7-25-1932

    In the days of the first settlers of Noble Township, Defiance County, a mighty hunter by the name of Sullivan lived over in the section known as the "marsh", on the Williams and Defiance county line.
    A friend in New York City, wrote to Sullivan and offered him $5.00 each for two live bear cubs. It so happened that Sullivan knew of an old she bear who had den with two cubs, in a huge sycamore snag. Money was scarce and Sullivan was fearless, so he decided to get the cubs.
    There was no opening at the bottom of the snag, so Sullivan climbed a sapling that leaned over against the opening at the top of the sycamore tree. Now the tree was just right width at the top for him to lower himself by extending his arms and gradually working down to the base and the cubs.

    The trunk widened abruptly some feet from the top and Sullivan unable to save himself, fell on the cubs, the little bears immediately complained of such treatment and the old bear feeding in a nearby thicket, heard their cries and decided to come to their aid.

    The old bear had to climb the sapling and come down backwards. In the meantime Sullivan had tucked each cub into a great pocket of his hunting coat and waited the descent of the mother bear.
    Down she came with a great scrambling and scattering of rotten wood. Sullivan seized her by the long hair on her haunches and loudly cried

    "Hoosh, Hoosh, hey old bear get out of here"! Terrified by the sound of a human voice and the grasping of her haunches. The great beast scrambled up the inside of the hollow snag, dragging with her Sullivan. Who grasping the top of the snag, waited until the old bear disappeared in the forest, then departed for home, with the cuds for which in due time, he received the promised $10.00

Pioneer Defiance Pastor's Diary Defiance Crescent News 26 May 1926

    Portraits of prominent citizens of Defiance years ago and illuminating glimpses of how they lived were revealed in a the address by Rev. Fred Detzer of Niles Center, Ill., at St. John's Lutheran church. his historical sketch of Defiance was taken from the diary of Rev. Detzer's father who established the first Lutheran church in Defiance and founded a score of churches in the Northwest Territory.
    The primitive mode of living of the pioneer the terrible scourge of cholera that depopulated Defiance in 1854, and the hardships that pastor and people endured together were graphically told by Rev. Detzer.
    Scattered through the pages of his father's diary are the names of old settlers. The list is by no means complete, Rev. Detzer explained but it represents the men with whom his father had dealings. Prominent citizens mentioned were Holgate, Tuttle, Buffington, Gleason, Judge Green, Judge Latty, Dr. Thacker, Dr. Colby and Wilhelm, the miller.


                                                              Came To Service In Ox Carts


    Rev. Detzer Sr., preached his first sermon in Defiance in the old public school building opposite the present Wabash depot (817 Fifth Street) on 9 Feb. 1851. He then preached at 14 mission posts in Northwest Ohio, traveling on horseback over trails, fording streams and at times was forced to return to his home in Williams county because the rivers and creeks were so swollen he could not force his horse across.

    One church in Delaware township, so the diary states could only be reached in the summer when the river was low and in the winter when the ice was thick enough to bear a horse.
    Because the congregation came long distances, many of them riding in ox carts to the church in Defiance within the memory of  Rev. Detzer, the people insisted on getting their money's worth from the preacher and sermons lasting well over an hour and sometime two hours were the rule.
    Lining the hymns took much of the preacher's time. He was the only one in the church who had a hymnal, so each stanza was read and the congregation sang, each choosing the tune that best suited his fancy and putting all the wind developed by vigorous exercise with the axe and hoe into the production.


                                                            Lists Of  Church  Members

    The first communion service held in Defiance was conducted by Rev. Detzer on Mar. 8 1851. Twenty-nine people took the sacrament. The service on that Sunday lasted from 9 am., till 2 in the afternoon.
    In the later part of April, 1851 the congregation issued an informal call to Rev. Detzer and on May 29 of  the same year they signed their names to the formal call. The new pastor was installed by Rev. Trautman on Aug. 2. Three weeks later the church officials were elected with Stark as the elder; Warnecke, president; Kussmaul, Vieback, Grass, Frank, trustee. Other names on the church rolls as shown by the pastor's diary were; Koinbaum, Dolke, Flickinger, Boderschatz, Dannenberg. Hess, Grull, Biede, Kreideweiss, Konig, Fritcher, Muller, the canal boat captain, schuiz, Maerz, Andrew, Will and Conrad Martin, Kutzli, M. Goshner, Mohoing, Ludwig, Keamer, Groweg, Biederstadt.


                                                         Rode To Fort Wayne For Funds

    The pastor and Vieback set out on Oct. 27 to solicit funds for building a church, services having been held in the meantime in the school, where all other denomination but the Methodists were then meeting. They secured "no cash" but promises to pay for $239.
    A special collection for the church building taken on Mar. 1 1852 added $1.31 to the fund. With $20 in cash, the church purchased the lot on Washington street where the building now owned by the church of The Brethren stands. The purchase price was $65 and the remaining $45 was borrowed at 16 per cent intest.
    Most of the pastor's salary was paid in cord wood, potatoes, hay and other products. The first year he served the Defiance church, Rev. Detzer estimated the value of his salary at $101.81 Though Rev. Detzer preached in Defiance until 187, the highest salary he received from this church was $385.
    He moved to the city in June 1853. In October of that year he rode on horseback to Fort Wayne to raise funds for the new church in what was then and now the headquarters of Lutheranism in Northwestern Ohio. He preached at three mission post on route and came home with $65.57 for the new building.

                                                  Conducts For Funerals Daily

    With no pulpit, pews or other furniture the first service was held in the new church on April 14, 1853. Hewn logs and planks were brought in as seats for the women, the men stood throughout the long sermon. Two weeks later the furniture was in place.
    That month cholera broke out in Defiance. It raged for three months. The epidemic reached its height in Septtember with four funerals a day being held in the church on Washington street. Farmers refused to lend wagons or teams to haul the rough boxes used as coffins to the graveyard. They feared the contagion would spread beyond the city.
    Conrad Martin was the coffinmaker. The grave digger drank whiskey continully to protect himself from the plague and was the only other person beside Mr. Martin and the Lutheran minister to bury many of the bodies

                                                         Diary Ends in 1856  

    With no hearse and no wagons, the coffins were loaded on two-wheeled dray and huled to the cemetery which was located on the present site of the Presbyterian church. Shallow holes were scooped out of the hillside, according to the diary, in which the rough boxes were hastily buried. Later this part of the cemetery was covered with several feet of soil scraped down from land adjoining the cemetery. When the plague waned, Rev. Detzer came down with cholera.
    The diary closes with entries concerning the incorporation of the church in June 1856 and the completion of the parsonage in the same year.
    Rev. Detzer remained at his post here until 1872 when the family moved to Chicago. While he served St. Johns's parish, Rev. Detzer founded the churches on the North and South Ridges and at Florida and preached for a time at Napoleon.

Cncordia Cemetery. Fort Wayne, Indiana

    He died at the home of his son in Niles Center, Ill., in 1903                                             

Henry County Parks: Underground Railroad On the Trail

Henry County Parks: Underground Railroad On the Trail: Robert and Nancy Cole Newell home Florida, Ohio As you are walking or biking along the Miami Wabash and Erie Canal   Tow Path Trail th...

The Moses Gardner Family History Of Defiance County 1976 Page 395-396

  Copy of a letter from Mary Ann (Gardner) Brannan to her sister. No date legible.

    My father , Moses Gardner, was born in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, February 14, 1811. He being the next oldest of the family of nine children. Joshua Gardner, his father, not having a farm of his own, lived on a hire one, where they must farm hill side so steep they must put in the rye with a hoe. At reaping time it was harvested with a sickle and threshed with a flail. The most of winter being spent cleaning the grain through a windmill to free it of chaff; and teaming over the mountains; leaving very little time to attend school. Father having only three months of school in his life. He was very apt in many things, one being blinding grain, having never met and equal in that. He was a remarkable man in that he had double teeth all around his mouth, above and below, with very strong jaws, could bite a pin into, also a small nail and crack a walnut as well. In the early 1840's he decided to see the west. Came to Defiance County, Ohio spending a winter with a Mr. Biglow doing chopping, also looking over the the land there. Buying his first land of Mr. Biglow. The old home farm, then going back to Pennsylvania. Was married to Jane Taylor, also born in Lycoming County in 1823, March 1st. They with a party of 23 people, Joshua Gardner's family, Mr. Blairs and some others coming all the way in old fashioned moving wagons, the distance being six hundred miles, being three weeks on the way, bringing a few things including cows, that they milked and put the milk in the churn and by night they had butter of there own.
    The Gardner family lived together in a double cabin on the Clem Gardner farm until father cut away the trees to build his log house. It was a nice large house, having two rooms, two doors and three windows, at first just puncheons shelves for the dishes, which were very pretty ones, and white ware of a lovely shape. The sugars and creams were square. There was a great fireplace to burn huge logs, which burned night and day, always a great bed of coals. A crane swung out from the chimney, for hanging kettles on. A bake kettle with long legs and very heavy, and to bake they put heaps of live coals under and on top. We had real boards for the floor. I can remember how white it was. Also had steps to go upstairs instead of a ladder. The house had a clap-board roof, weighted down with poles, all homemade. I was not quite 8 years old when we left the log house and moved into the new one, in 1850, Maggie being born the day we moved in. It was up so high and the dishes made so much noise. I wanted to go back to the old one. The new house was built by the Brittons. Father and sons, doors, sash and all made by hand, was quite a long work compared to the building of a house now.
    The Pennsylvania relatives were afraid we would starve away out here, and Uncle Robert and Aunt Mary dried and prepared all kinds of fruit to bring out. Not being used to travel, they failed to check their baggage at Williamsport. So it did not arrive. How uncle laughed. When he sat at the table  would say, this don't look like starving. As it was, they were without a change of clothing while on their visit. Mother said that from the very first they always found so plenty of everything, blackberries, raspberries, whortle berries, cranberries, and soon they had more peaches than they could use or give away. Anywhere on the place, they could have a sugar bush as they would soon be cut down, they were cut with an ax to put in the spiler (?). Then the sap would run in a stream, sometimes in two places on the same tree. We always had all the sugar and syrup we could use making preserves, peach butter, as we not known of canning fruits at that time. Mother had lived with Aunt Mary Ann in a hotel learning how to make such nice things to eat, we always had as good as she knew how to make. It must have been very gratifying to them to change from such hills to a level rich farm, where things grew so bountifully, and wild game was so plentiful. It was not an easy task to travel those times as the roads were made of logs in many places. They called them Corduroy roads. Some places just a path chopped out, winding around the wet spots, where they would get mired and must have help to get out as movers did in that day. Father never turned people away that wanted to stay over night. The kitchen often being filled with their beds. All they wanted was a fire to cook, and keep them warm. Possibly some butter or cream. Then they would pack up and go on a few more miles that day.
    Father's farm was so heavily timbered it was a great task to clear it ready to farm. I well remember the great windrow that came right up to the house. And what a fire it made when it burned. All they got out of it all was the ashes which was sold to the Wms, Center Ashery. They used ox teams to plow and do the logging with. Being some time before they had horses. I well remember the first team. A dapple grey, and a bay named Flagg and Charlie. They were no means te last, for we had a plenty afterwards. Father was a great hunter, killing deer in the clearing at first, wild turkeys were plentiful as were the grey and black squirrels, of which we had a plenty. We never out of dried venison in season. If we had all other kinds of meat, father would get hungry for the wild meat, go out and kill it. Perhaps roast on the coals, his favorite way. When we old enough to go to school, we went at first just west a quarter mile, for a short time. Then we went over to the Bellefountain Road, nearly two miles. But father blazed a way through the woods and put a hand rail by a big log so we might cross the stream, then it was not so cold or so far. We would go in the day time and often at night to spelling schools we used to have. When we were small we had a spelling school at the little log school house. A lady teacher we had did some extra work with her pupils reserving the right to skip about in the book. When the evening came the house was brim full of all the best spellers, from north and south. The teacher always giving her scholars easy words. Finally after Sally had spelled her word the teacher pronounced aj. They spelled adge and every other way. When it came to Sallie she said aj and stood alone.
    Father had the first buggy in the neighborhood and it was in great demand among the young men when a party was in view. Coming to a engage it sometime before hand to make sure of it. They very often came to our house to have a dance bring their music. Father and mother doing all they could to give them a good time, Father being a dancing master. He must always do something do some fancy steps for them, such as dancing Jim Crow, and C as they  said then. Their latch string was always out. For sleighing parties would come evening to visit and tell yarns and sing songs, of which father knew a bunch, while mother got up a nice supper, baking cake, biscuits, and C. At one time the seasons were so wet the wheat all grew so much in the shock it would not make bread. So the corn was used most of the time. Curtis was about three years old and could not like it, biscuits being all the kind of the wheat bread he knew of. Father got a bit of wheat . Sent the man to  mill it. Curtis watching all day for him, finally catching sight of him coming, ran as fast as his little legs could care him, saying "Oswald is coming with our biscuits." That being the only time we did not have wheat for bread and to spare.
    During the civil war we had bountiful harvests. Men were so scarce that Sally and I were father's Boys, helping in with the hay, grain and corn, getting them all taken care of in season. Besides we helped to milk, churn and spin. Mother making blankets, cover lids, flannels for dresses, and fur filled cloth for men's wear. Afterwards making it all up by hand, Mother spinning her own thread from the flax, and dying it when needed,to make it all up with. During the war cotton goods were higher priced than we have known, calico 50 cts, muslin as high as 90 cts, so that our woolen clothes were desirable indeed.
    Although there seemed always so much to do, with them (Father and Mother) it did not seen such a burden, as each though the other could do their part so well.
    Should father be away and come home and not see her, the first one he met he would ask "Where's your mother?" He said she was selected because she never kept him waiting when he would take her places. Then was always her work was done on time. They were good workers, ever ready for the work in season. Never seeming a hard task to get their work done, always welcoming all comers, so that they always wished to come again.Not neglecting us at any time. To my mind few families of children were raised so carefree as our own and so happy.
    Mother always wished to keep her health and to care for her family until the time they could care for themselves. Then she had no wish to live out her usefulness and be a burden to anyone. Her own mother living to be over 97 years of age and said people would think her lazy if she would have a rocking chair, and when her oldest son was a week old, a bear came down out of the mountains was carrying off their only pig. she went out and made him drop the pig and run away.
    So may we all be as brave and strong as our ancestors is my wish, as it surely is a great heritage.

                         Lovingly your sister,
                         Mary A. Brannan
       And where we love is home.
       Home that our feet may leave but not
       our hearts.


Foot Note

    Moses Gardner came to Williams County, in 1842 they went to house keeping on the north side of the present Defiance-Williams County line, just two miles west of Williams Center.

Propelled By Poles 6 Jan 1887 The Defiance County Express

Dugout Canoe

    The Snook's boys were George, Wilson, John and William and they did a great deal of piroguing on the Maumee River from the head rapids on the river call Providence to  Fort Wayne. All the goods received at Fort Wayne and Defiance in those days, by river trade. Goods of white settler were transported on keel boat and pirogues, prior to that of pack horses.
    The keel boat were built like a canal boat, but narrower, with a runway on the outside of the deck and were generally manned by five men, two on each side to push and one  to steer. They had long poles with a socket on the hewn end and pushed the boat by placing the end of the pole against the shoulder, starting at the bow and walking to the stern.

    These boats could only be used where there was a pretty good stage of water. Sometime they would go down from Fort Wayne when the water was high and work their way along up by the bushes. If there were no bushes, the men would go along the bank with a long line and tow  it.
    Occasionally a trip would be made at the June flood, but generally pirogues had to be used in the summer, and it would require three men at least to manage them, two in the bow to push and one to steer and when they came to a rapids, they would have to get out with spikes, though the bow and stern and almost carry them over. A keel boat generally carried about twenty tons, more but that size was deemed the best. 300 Bu. on a dugout boat.
    Pirogues were make to carry from eight to ten tons of goods or from 250 to 300 bushels of grain. It had been seen 300 bushels loaded and brought to Defiance on a pirogue made from a burr oak tree. The Snook boys probably did as much piroguing as any other fmily on the  Maumee River.

Lathrop House in Sylvania Ohio (Underground Railroad) - Metroparks of the Toledo Area

Lathrop House in Sylvania Ohio (Underground Railroad) - Metroparks of the Toledo Area

Defiance As It Was By J.B. Healley Defiance Democrat 21 Oct 1875

    Perhaps a short sketch from the oldest resident of Defiance may not prove uninteresting to your readers. I say the oldest; and having lived in Defiance since 1824, I think my claim will not be disputed.
    When I was two years old, in 1821, my father emigrated from Union county, Virginia, to the banks of the Miami River in Ohio, where father worked at his trade in a tannery until 1824, when hearing about the country in the neighborhood of Defiance, he packed up his ox team followed the army trail until he reached Blodget's Island, two miles up the Auglaize River. He contracted with the owner, Dr. Blodget, to clear the island and raise what he could. In the fall of 1824 we arrived in Defiance and stopped over night with Robert Shirley who lived in a double log cabin made from a blockhouse of Fort Winchester. This cabin was located. I think on the lot now owned by A.M. Shead. (south side Third bet Jefferson and Washington). At the time the old fort (Winchester) was in a good state of preservation. The pickets were standing as also were two of the blockhouses.

    A Frenchman named Lumbar was here at that time trading with the Indians. His shop was near the present location of the Wabash tracks, on the south bank of the Maumee River.He bought furs and skins of the Indians, paying in exchange whiskey which he bought in Toledo for ten cents per gallon. Coon skins were then worth one dollar each and deer skins twenty cents a pound. In 1824 Defiance was very thick woods,except a strip running up the Auglaize, from the mouth to a short distance above the Lutheran  church now stands (Washington Street), and extending west to the present route of Clinton Street. A tannery was located on the deep ravine near the present outlet of the canal. I have seen splendid crop of wheat raised on the present site of the courthouse.
    At the time I came here there were just three houses in Defiance. We had difficulty in raising our log cabins owning to the scarcity of men. Frequently it would take us two or three days to obtain sufficient help. In a residence in Defiance of fifty-one years, I have seen the grow to be a second-class city and have witnessed the erection of every house in Defiance.
    If these little sketches of what Defiance was years ago will prove of interest you may hear from me again during the coming winter.

                                                  J.B. Healley