Edwin Phelps came to Defiance 20th of August 1834. The time of his arrival was perhaps the gloomiest period the Maumee valley has ever known. About a month or perhaps a little more previous to his arrival there had been a great flood in the Maumee, Auglaize Rivers and Blanchard fork of the Auglaize, which had swept every thing in shape of crops on the Maumee from Fort Wayne to Maumee City, and the Auglaize from St. Marys to Defiance, and from Findlay to the Auglaize on Blanchard Fork. At that time there were no farm except along the streams and these few and far between; and a loss of crops at that time meant suffering if not starvation. As an evidence of the almost compete destructions of crops Edwin Phelps only mention one item, that of potatoes, which in the spring of 1835 at Fort Wayne, the only place where any to be had, sold at 37 and half cents per dozen, and small ones at that; and it was two or three years before the farmers obtained enough seed to be able to plant what they deemed necessary for domestic use.
The crop of corn was in about the same condition, with this advantage, that there was great difficulty in procuring seeds the following spring. Of the wheat there was very little if any raised, as the ground was then considered too rich to produce wheat, and there were no mills in the in the country to grind it, the principal food was being literally hogs and hominy. The corn was mostly pounded in mortars made by burning holes in the top of a hardwood stumps.
In this connection Edwin Phelps related a small incident personal to himself. "In June 1835, William A Brown came from St. Lawence County, New York, to Defiance, and an aunt of mine and has put five potatoes in his trunk for me. He arrived here just as I was recovering from an attack of billious fever. I cut the eye from the potatoes and planted them in the garden and ate the balance. By careful attention I raised about half a bushel of nice potatoes everyone of which was kept for seed the following spring."
But worse than the loss of corps the high water had covered the banks of the streams with a shimy mud, and followed by the hot sun of July and August nearly every family in the whole region of the Maumee and Auglaize valley was prostrate by sickness, either billious fever or fevers and ague, and to make matter still worse nearly all the doctors were also sick and unable to attend to their patients.
Defiance at that time was comprised of 150 lots. The town was laid out by Horatio Philips and Benjanin Levell.
Defiance was surveyed in November 1822, but not acknowledge until the 18th day of April 1823, and recorded in the records of Wood County 23 day of April 1823. Then Williams,, together with Putnam, Paulding, Henry, and the territory comprising the counties of Fulton and Lucas were attached to Wood County for judicial purposes.
In laying out Defiance the square bounded by Wayne, Clinton. First and Second streets, was marked A on the map, and was reserved by Philips and Levell to be divided into lots and sold unless Defiance should become a county seat, to become a public common, location of public buildings and never to be sold, "B" on the map was the old fort grounds to be a common use as a fenced in for a pasture until Defiance is incorporated. Lot 126 a small triangular piece of land between Front and First street and west of Perry street, was donated for a school lot, and Phelps first saw it, an old log school house was there (corner of Perry and First streets).
A good general idea of the appearance of Defiance in 1834,was that Defiance was covered with a thick undergrowth of bushes south of Second Street and west of the canal.
The canal was not then built, but the ground occupied by a ravine or a small run covered with a dense growth of thorn apple and crab apple tree and sumac.
The only person living south of Second Street and west of this side of the present canal was Robert Wassen, who lived in a log house on First street near Jackson street and Amos Evans, living at the corner of Second and Clinton Street, Alfred Purcell at the corner of Third and Clinton, Jacob Kniss on Jefferson Street. On the end of Jefferson and Third street, Peter Bridenbaugh, who lived near Walter Davis and had a log house and cooper shop near the corner of Third and Washington street.
There was also a log cabin just south of where the Methodist church now stands was occupied as a parsonage and church by the Methodist church when they were so fortunate as to have a minister, and I think was occupied by Harry O Shelden. When there were too many for their accommodation at the parsonage service were held in the old court house was occupied as a residence of Henry Hardy (where the Post Office now is).
The streets in the town were not even chopped out, with the exception of Front and First streets from Jefferson to Clinton. Jefferson street was underbrushed wide enough for a road from the Maumee to the Auglaize river, where there was a ford across the river, which settlers used who came to Defiance from the south side of the Auglaize on horse back. There was a road also underbrushed out leading from Jefferson street, commencing at its intersection with First, running diagonally across Defiance, passing near where the soldier's Monument now stands to near the present B&O depot, where it forked the left branch going to Piqua, Miami Co., and the other to Fort Wayne. Neither of these roads was in condition to travel by wagons, but were trails upon which the mail were carried on horse-back, one route being from Maumee City to Fort Wayne, and the other from Defiance to Fort Wayne, which was carried weekly, the distance being about ninety-five miles each.
The crop of corn was in about the same condition, with this advantage, that there was great difficulty in procuring seeds the following spring. Of the wheat there was very little if any raised, as the ground was then considered too rich to produce wheat, and there were no mills in the in the country to grind it, the principal food was being literally hogs and hominy. The corn was mostly pounded in mortars made by burning holes in the top of a hardwood stumps.
In this connection Edwin Phelps related a small incident personal to himself. "In June 1835, William A Brown came from St. Lawence County, New York, to Defiance, and an aunt of mine and has put five potatoes in his trunk for me. He arrived here just as I was recovering from an attack of billious fever. I cut the eye from the potatoes and planted them in the garden and ate the balance. By careful attention I raised about half a bushel of nice potatoes everyone of which was kept for seed the following spring."
But worse than the loss of corps the high water had covered the banks of the streams with a shimy mud, and followed by the hot sun of July and August nearly every family in the whole region of the Maumee and Auglaize valley was prostrate by sickness, either billious fever or fevers and ague, and to make matter still worse nearly all the doctors were also sick and unable to attend to their patients.
Defiance at that time was comprised of 150 lots. The town was laid out by Horatio Philips and Benjanin Levell.
Defiance was surveyed in November 1822, but not acknowledge until the 18th day of April 1823, and recorded in the records of Wood County 23 day of April 1823. Then Williams,, together with Putnam, Paulding, Henry, and the territory comprising the counties of Fulton and Lucas were attached to Wood County for judicial purposes.
In laying out Defiance the square bounded by Wayne, Clinton. First and Second streets, was marked A on the map, and was reserved by Philips and Levell to be divided into lots and sold unless Defiance should become a county seat, to become a public common, location of public buildings and never to be sold, "B" on the map was the old fort grounds to be a common use as a fenced in for a pasture until Defiance is incorporated. Lot 126 a small triangular piece of land between Front and First street and west of Perry street, was donated for a school lot, and Phelps first saw it, an old log school house was there (corner of Perry and First streets).
A good general idea of the appearance of Defiance in 1834,was that Defiance was covered with a thick undergrowth of bushes south of Second Street and west of the canal.
The canal was not then built, but the ground occupied by a ravine or a small run covered with a dense growth of thorn apple and crab apple tree and sumac.
The only person living south of Second Street and west of this side of the present canal was Robert Wassen, who lived in a log house on First street near Jackson street and Amos Evans, living at the corner of Second and Clinton Street, Alfred Purcell at the corner of Third and Clinton, Jacob Kniss on Jefferson Street. On the end of Jefferson and Third street, Peter Bridenbaugh, who lived near Walter Davis and had a log house and cooper shop near the corner of Third and Washington street.
There was also a log cabin just south of where the Methodist church now stands was occupied as a parsonage and church by the Methodist church when they were so fortunate as to have a minister, and I think was occupied by Harry O Shelden. When there were too many for their accommodation at the parsonage service were held in the old court house was occupied as a residence of Henry Hardy (where the Post Office now is).
The streets in the town were not even chopped out, with the exception of Front and First streets from Jefferson to Clinton. Jefferson street was underbrushed wide enough for a road from the Maumee to the Auglaize river, where there was a ford across the river, which settlers used who came to Defiance from the south side of the Auglaize on horse back. There was a road also underbrushed out leading from Jefferson street, commencing at its intersection with First, running diagonally across Defiance, passing near where the soldier's Monument now stands to near the present B&O depot, where it forked the left branch going to Piqua, Miami Co., and the other to Fort Wayne. Neither of these roads was in condition to travel by wagons, but were trails upon which the mail were carried on horse-back, one route being from Maumee City to Fort Wayne, and the other from Defiance to Fort Wayne, which was carried weekly, the distance being about ninety-five miles each.
No comments:
Post a Comment