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| Old Adams Grinder |
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| Rohm Cemetery, Richland Twp, Defiance County, Where Indian Jake is interred |
At last we've had dinner in bachelor's hall with Henry Egler and Fred Egler and his son Robert in North Richland township. We dinned with these folks in the old John Egler brick homestead erected many years ago with bricks which were made of clay from a small knoll on the farm.
This house contains ten good sized rooms a pantry and five closets. The ceilings of the downstairs rooms are nine and one-half feet from the floor while those of the the upper rooms are 9ft in height. There is a full basement under the entire structure. The west cellar room is floored with brick while that of the east room is of a special brand of cement imported from Belgium.
An idea of the commanding location of this handsome house may be gain from the fact that the top of the foundation level is even with the roof of a barn which sits below the house in the Maumee bottoms along route 24 (now county road 424).
Fred Egler formerly resided near Lily Chapel, west of Columbus O. He was a section foreman on the Big Four railroad there at the time his wife died in 1923. He later returned to the old farm with the three children; besides Robert, three are Helen and Florence who attend school at Jewell.
Henry Egler says that his father John Elger, purchased the first 80 of this homestead from the Findley heirs who lived in Pennsylvania and had never seen the farm. In order to do this he went to Pennsylvania with the tax receipts and a satisfactory price was agreed upon. During his lifetime John Egler constantly added to his farm until at his death it consisted of 320 acres. Besides Fred and Henry, other children are John who resides near by and Sarah, Mrs. Charles Overly, who resides at 903 Perry street, Defiance.
This farm site is old; when the brick house was built a pioneer house of three separate parts was removed. These additions had evidently been added as needed and the entire structure was lathed and plastered on the outside as well as the inside walls. It contained five fireplaces, two up and three down stair. The one in the kitchen was so large that a swinging crane was used to handle an iron kettle of about the same size used in butchering today. It is said that lard was usually rendered in this huge fireplace.
While the elder John Egler's brother Henry, assisted by William Shreve, was engaged in tearing away the last of the old house to make place for the new one, he found a brick bearing the date 1825. This old house was erected so long ago that the name of the builder is forgotten, but local court house records that John Plummer in 1826 deeded this land to Peter Durham.
Fred Egler clearly recalls tales told how his grandfather was compelled to pack his grist upon his back to the fill at Brunersburg unless he was lucky enough to borrow an Indian pony; how Indians would flock into the grandparent's house to play with his Uncle Henry when he was a baby; how his grand mother was filled with terror as she feared the playful Indians might steal in sometimes when she was not watching and take her baby as their own; of the time when Uncle Henry, then a chubby lad of eight, was taken for a ride across the canal on Indian Jake's shoulders and in the water became frightened and grasped Jake so tightly around the neck as to nearly strangle him; and of how the brave Indian swam under water to the bank in order to keep the child's head above the surface and collapsed exhausted on the bank; and of how the picturesque doctor suffered from exposure during one of his habitual bouts with firewater and died of pneumonia on the Egler farm.
His remains are interred in the old Rohn cemetery on the Truby farm the burial lot of the grandfather, Jacob Egler.
Interest in the old farm is heightened by the fact that this was the place where the Indian doctor, Jake Konkapot, made his home and where he died. Here he raised his herbs and dug his roots and in the Egler home today reposes the crude old Adams grinder with which Indian Jake ground his roots. In a box in the cupboard is also some of the salve with which Jake gained much fame as a healer of wounds. For years were treasured here the recipes of the Indian doctor's mixtures for liver complaint and cholera, but in the passage of years they have evidently been misplaced and lost.
Contrary to general opinion Indian Jake was not wholly a quack. He was an educated Indian from New York state who came into Ohio because he was disgusted with the actions of his newly married squaw. This squaw was very fond of dancing and was apt to disregard Jake's commands about going too often. Seeing she would not obey him Jake deeded her his forty acre farm and came to the Maumee Valley.
According to recollections of the stories told them by their father and grandfather, Henry and Fred Egler relate that Indian Jake's grandfather was also an Indian doctor of no inconsiderable fame and that Defiance county's Indian doctor had in his possession his grandfather's doctor book them a century old.
After mixing up a generous supply of medicines and strapping them in a pack on his shoulders. Indian Jake would depart on his rounds. Sometimes he would be gone for a month and it is said that his visits extended as far as Findlay. Upon his return he often would have as much as $75 in his possession.
His crude medicines played an interesting part in the acquirement of the old homestead by the Eglers. It seems that an aunt of the Findlay heirs had been in poor health for years. A copy of Indian Jake's recipe for Liver complaint was mail to her. She had it filled at a drug store and in a short time regained her normal health. In her will she specified that when the farm was disposed of that the Eglers be given the first chance.
An idea of the commanding location of this handsome house may be gain from the fact that the top of the foundation level is even with the roof of a barn which sits below the house in the Maumee bottoms along route 24 (now county road 424).
Fred Egler formerly resided near Lily Chapel, west of Columbus O. He was a section foreman on the Big Four railroad there at the time his wife died in 1923. He later returned to the old farm with the three children; besides Robert, three are Helen and Florence who attend school at Jewell.
Henry Egler says that his father John Elger, purchased the first 80 of this homestead from the Findley heirs who lived in Pennsylvania and had never seen the farm. In order to do this he went to Pennsylvania with the tax receipts and a satisfactory price was agreed upon. During his lifetime John Egler constantly added to his farm until at his death it consisted of 320 acres. Besides Fred and Henry, other children are John who resides near by and Sarah, Mrs. Charles Overly, who resides at 903 Perry street, Defiance.
This farm site is old; when the brick house was built a pioneer house of three separate parts was removed. These additions had evidently been added as needed and the entire structure was lathed and plastered on the outside as well as the inside walls. It contained five fireplaces, two up and three down stair. The one in the kitchen was so large that a swinging crane was used to handle an iron kettle of about the same size used in butchering today. It is said that lard was usually rendered in this huge fireplace.
While the elder John Egler's brother Henry, assisted by William Shreve, was engaged in tearing away the last of the old house to make place for the new one, he found a brick bearing the date 1825. This old house was erected so long ago that the name of the builder is forgotten, but local court house records that John Plummer in 1826 deeded this land to Peter Durham.
Fred Egler clearly recalls tales told how his grandfather was compelled to pack his grist upon his back to the fill at Brunersburg unless he was lucky enough to borrow an Indian pony; how Indians would flock into the grandparent's house to play with his Uncle Henry when he was a baby; how his grand mother was filled with terror as she feared the playful Indians might steal in sometimes when she was not watching and take her baby as their own; of the time when Uncle Henry, then a chubby lad of eight, was taken for a ride across the canal on Indian Jake's shoulders and in the water became frightened and grasped Jake so tightly around the neck as to nearly strangle him; and of how the brave Indian swam under water to the bank in order to keep the child's head above the surface and collapsed exhausted on the bank; and of how the picturesque doctor suffered from exposure during one of his habitual bouts with firewater and died of pneumonia on the Egler farm.
His remains are interred in the old Rohn cemetery on the Truby farm the burial lot of the grandfather, Jacob Egler.
Interest in the old farm is heightened by the fact that this was the place where the Indian doctor, Jake Konkapot, made his home and where he died. Here he raised his herbs and dug his roots and in the Egler home today reposes the crude old Adams grinder with which Indian Jake ground his roots. In a box in the cupboard is also some of the salve with which Jake gained much fame as a healer of wounds. For years were treasured here the recipes of the Indian doctor's mixtures for liver complaint and cholera, but in the passage of years they have evidently been misplaced and lost.
Contrary to general opinion Indian Jake was not wholly a quack. He was an educated Indian from New York state who came into Ohio because he was disgusted with the actions of his newly married squaw. This squaw was very fond of dancing and was apt to disregard Jake's commands about going too often. Seeing she would not obey him Jake deeded her his forty acre farm and came to the Maumee Valley.
According to recollections of the stories told them by their father and grandfather, Henry and Fred Egler relate that Indian Jake's grandfather was also an Indian doctor of no inconsiderable fame and that Defiance county's Indian doctor had in his possession his grandfather's doctor book them a century old.
After mixing up a generous supply of medicines and strapping them in a pack on his shoulders. Indian Jake would depart on his rounds. Sometimes he would be gone for a month and it is said that his visits extended as far as Findlay. Upon his return he often would have as much as $75 in his possession.
His crude medicines played an interesting part in the acquirement of the old homestead by the Eglers. It seems that an aunt of the Findlay heirs had been in poor health for years. A copy of Indian Jake's recipe for Liver complaint was mail to her. She had it filled at a drug store and in a short time regained her normal health. In her will she specified that when the farm was disposed of that the Eglers be given the first chance.
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