Ohio Counties
Adams
Historical Collections of Ohio
By Henry Howe
Vol. I.
©1888
CRAWFORD COUNTY
Page 482
CRAWFORD COUNTY
was formed April 1, 1820, from old Indian Territory. It formed a part of the “New
Purchase.” This included the
last part of the State under Indian domination, and was ceded to the United
States in accordance with a treaty made at the foot of the Maumee Rapids,
September 29, 1817. The New
Purchase was divided into seventeen counties. The surface of the county is generally
level and in parts slightly rolling.
The south and west part is
beautiful prairie land, comprising a part of the great Sandusky Plains, and
covered with a rich vegetable loam of from six to fifteen inches deep; the
subsoil in most parts is clay mixed with lime, in some others a mixture of
marl. Save on the plains, the land
originally was covered with a dense growth of heavy timber. The original settlers were largely of
New England origin; later, about 1832, a heavy immigration set in direct from
Germany. In 1848 the political
troubles of Germany brought a great addition to the Teutonic element, so that
it obtained the ascendancy. The
area is 400 square miles. In 1885
the acres cultivated were 135,300; in pasture, 32,056; woodland, 41,324; lying
waste, 857; produced in wheat, 512,287 bushels; oats, 448,783; corn, 927,107;
wood, 245,572 pounds. School census
in 1886, 10,019: teachers, 171. It
has 72 miles of railroad.
|
Township And census |
1840 |
1880 |
|
Township And Census |
1840 |
1880 |
|
Auburn |
|
1,176 |
|
Liberty |
1,469 |
1,679 |
|
Bucyrus |
1,654 |
5,073 |
|
Lykins |
742 |
1,225 |
|
Chatfield |
878 |
1,266 |
|
Polk |
|
6,518 |
|
Cranberry |
680 |
1,824 |
|
Sandusky |
679 |
658 |
|
Dallas |
|
500 |
|
Texas |
|
587 |
|
Holmes |
744 |
1,660 |
|
Tod |
|
1,099 |
|
Jackson |
636 |
3,216 |
|
Vernon |
|
1,038 |
|
Jefferson |
|
1,224 |
|
Whetstone |
1,124 |
1,840 |
Population in
1830 was 4,788; in 1840, 18,167; 1860, 23,881; 1880, 26,862; of whom 22.634
were Ohio-born, and 2,531 natives of Germany.
Page 483
This county
derived its name form Col. William Crawford, who was born in Virginia in 1732,
the same year with Washington. In 1758 he was a captain in Forbes’
expedition, which took possession of Fort Duquesne, on the site of
Pittsburg. Washington was the
friend of Crawford, and often in his visits to the then West was an inmate of
his humble dwelling in Fayette county. He was a brave and energetic man, and,
at the commencement of the Revolution, raised a regiment by his own exertions,
and received the commission of colonel of Continentals. He often led parties against the Indians
across the Ohio. In 1782 he reluctantly accepted the command of an expedition
against the Ohio Indians. On this occasion he was taken prisoner, and burnt to
death amid the most excruciating tortures, on the Tyemochtee,
in the former limits of this, but now within the new county of Wyandot.
Drawn by
Henry Howe, 1846
CENTRAL PART OF BUCYRUS.
[BUCYRUS IN 1846.—Bucyrus, the county-seat, is
on the Sandusky river—here a small stream—sixty-two miles north of
Columbus, and forty-six from Sandusky city.]
Jones
Dougherty, Photo., Bucyrus, 1887
CENTRAL PART OF BYCYRUS.
[The new view shows on the right the same frame
building seen in the old view; also, the new opera house. On the left appears
the court-house and the Methodist church.]
The view shows
on the right the Lutheran church, and on the left the
county buildings and the academy.
It contains 1 Presbyterian, 1 Lutheran, 1 Baptist, 1
Page 484
Methodist,
and 1 Protestant Methodist church; 14 stores, 1 grist, 1 saw, and 2 fulling mills, 1 newspaper printing office, and a
population of about 1,000; in 1840 it had 704 inhabitants. On the land of R. W. MUSGRAVE, in the
southeastern part of the town, a gas well has recently been dug. On first
reaching the water—a distance of eighteen feet—it flew up about six
feet, with a load, roaring noise; a pump has been placed over it, and the gas
is conducted to the surface by a pipe, which, when a torch is applied, burns
with a brilliant flame. Bucyrus was
laid out February 11, 1822, by Samuel NORTON and James KILBOURNE, proprietors
of the soil. The first settler on
the site of the town was Samuel NORTON, who moved in from Pennsylvania in
1819. He wintered in a small cabin
made of poles, which stood just north of his present residence on the bank of
the Sandusky. This region of
country was not thrown into market until August, 1820, at which time it
abounded in bears, wolves, catamounts, foxes, and other wild animals. When he came there were but a few
settlers in the county, principally squatters on the Whetstone, the nearest of
whom was on that stream eight miles distant. North and west of Mr. N. there was not a
single settler in the county.
Others of the early settlers in the town whose names are recollected
were David and Michael BEEDLE, Daniel M’MICHAEL, John KENT, William
YOUNG, Jacob SCHAEFER, Thomas and James SCOTT, James STEWARD, David STEIN,
George BLACK, John BLOWERS, and Nehemiah SQUIRES. The first frame house was built by
Samuel BAILEY, and is the small frame building standing next to and north of F.
MARGRAF’s residence. The first brick dwelling is the one now
owned by William TIMANUS, on the public square. The Methodists built the first
church.—Old Edition.
Bucyrus,
sixty miles north of Columbus, on the Sandusky river and O. C. R. R., and the
P. Ft. W. & C. R. R., located in the centre of a thickly settled and
prosperous farming community.
County officers 1888: Probate Judge, Frederick HIPP; Clerk of Court,
Lewis C. DONNENWIRTH; Sheriff, Peter FAETH; Prosecuting Attorney, Isaac
CAEHILL; Auditor, Adam J. HIGH; Treasurer, Christian H. SCHONERT; Recorder,
William F. CROWE; Surveyor, Harry L. WEBER; Coroner, John A. CHESNEY;
Commissioners, Henry DAPPER, Peter
BAUER. Newspapers: Crawford County Forum, Democratic,
Holbrook & Co., publishers; Journal,
Republican, J. Hapley and Son; Critic, Independent, Holbrook & Co.; Crawford County News, Prohibition and Temperance, T. E. HOPLEY,
editor; Courier, German Democratic, A
BROEMEL. Churches: 1 English
Lutheran, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Baptist, 1 German
Evangelical, 1 German Reformed, 1 German Methodist, 1 Catholic, and 1 Disciple. Banks: First National, J. B. GORMLY,
president, G. C. GORMLY, cashier; Second National, M. J. MONNETT, president, J.
C. F. HULL, cashier; Monnett & Co., E. B.
MONNETT, president, J. H ROBINSON, cashier.
Manufactures and Employees.—C.
ROEHR, planing mill, 40 hands; Eagle Machine Works,
machinery, 30; C. ROEHR, planing mill, etc., 55; G
DONNENWORTH & Bro., lager beer, 8; Bucyrus Foundry and Manufacturing
Company, steam excavators, etc., 102; Bucyrus Creamery, 8; T. & O. C. R. R.
Shops, 102; P. SAEGER, wagons, buggies, etc., 6; VOLLRATH Bros., planing mill, 16; FRANZE & POPE Knitting Machine
Company, 40; A. SHUNK, SR., plows, etc., 10; T. A. VOLLRATH, flour, etc., 6;
Bucyrus Woollen Mill; GEIGER & BUSH, copper
kettles, 9; NUSSBAUM & BOWERS, flour, etc., ; G. K. ZIEGLER, flour, etc.;
D. PICKING & Co., copper kettles, 10.—State Report 1887. Population in 1880, 3,835. School census in 1886,
1,504; F. M. HAMILTON, superintendent.
While
excavating for a mill-race in Bucyrus, August 13, 1838, Mr. Abraham HAHN
discovered the perfect skeleton of a mastodon. The spot was near the dividing ridge of
the northern and southern waters of the State, in a wet, spongy soil. Mr. HAHN at first exhibited the bones,
but finally sold them for $1,800, and they fell into the hands of BARNUM, and
were destroyed in the burning of his museum. Within the last thirty years, in making
excavations for sewers and cellars in Bucyrus, the bones of mastodons have
frequently been found.
Page 485
Col. James
KILBOURNE, the surveyor who laid out Bucyrus, gave it its name; and it being so
unusual much conjecture has arisen as to its origin. The daughters of Samuel
NORTON asserted that one of KILBOURNE’s
favorite historical characters was Cyrus the Persian General, and the town was
named in his memory. The syllable
“bu,” the sound of the first syllable in
the word beautiful, was given because the country around at an early day was
very beautiful, and the old surveyor said that the name should always mean
“beautiful Cyrus.” An
old citizen, F. ADAMS, says that Mr. KILBOURNE named it from “Busirus” in ancient Egypt, and changed it so that in
its name it should be a nonsuch. The colonel wrote a poem of eighty lines
in it praises called “The Song of Bucyrus.”
He was a great
favorite with the early settlers; in his frequent visits from his home in
Worthington, Franklin county, he was wont to assemble with his old cronies at
the village tavern and sometimes make “a night of it,” singing
songs and telling stories, all under the inspiring influences of the
landlord’s choicest liquors; on those occasions the colonel was wont to
give them his “Song of Bucyrus.”
The song is
descriptive of the riches and beauty of the country. We annex its opening and closing verses:
THE
SONG OF BUCYRUS
Ye
men of spirit, ardent souls,
Whose
hearts are firm and hands are strong,
Whose
generous enterprise controls,
Attend! and truth shall
guide my song.
I’ll
tell you how Bucyrus, now
Just
rising like the star of morn,
Surrounded
stands by fertile lands,
On clear Sandusky’s ru