History of Putnam County, Ohio

All life and achievement is evolution; present wisdom conies from past experience, and present commercial prosperity has come only from past exertion and suffering. The deeds and motives of the men who have gone before have been instrumental in shaping the destinies of later communities and state. The development of a new country was at nine a task and a privilege. It required great courage, sacrifice and privation. Compare the present conditions of the people of Putnam county, Ohio, with what they were one hundred years ago. From a trackless wilderness and virgin land, it has come to be a center of prosperity and civilization, with millions of wealth, systems of railways, grand educational institutions, splendid industries and immense agricultural and mineral productions. Can any thinking person he insensible to the fascination of the study which discloses the aspirations and efforts of the early pioneers who so strongly laid the foundation upon which has been reared the magnificent prosperity of later days? To perpetuate the story of these people and to trace and record the social, political and industrial progress of the community from its first inception is the function of the local historian. A sincere purpose to preserve facts and personal memoirs that are deserving of perpetuation, and which unite the present to the past, is the motive for the present publication. A specially valuable and interesting department is that one devoted to the sketches of representative citizens of this count v whose records deserve preservation because of their worth, effort and accomplishment. The publishers desire to extend their thanks to the gentlemen who have so faithfully labored to this end. Thanks are also due to the citizens of Putnam county for the uniform kindness with which they have regarded this undertaking, and for their many services rendered in the gaining of necessary information.

 

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I - RELATED STATE HISTORY 33
CHAPTER II - TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY 81
CHAPTER III - INDIANS IN PUTNAM COUNTY 85
CHAPTER IV - EARLY SETTLERS OF PUTNAM COUNTY 98
CHAPTER V - COUNTY ORGANIZATION 103
CHAPTER VI - TOWNSHIP SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 115
CHAPTER VII - HIGHWAYS AND TRANSPORTATION 168
CHAPTER VIII - CHURCHES OF PUTNAM COUNTY 172
CHAPTER IX - NEWSPAPERS OF PUTNAM COUNTY 196
CHAPTER X - BANKS AND BANKING 204
CHAPTER XI - SECRET SOCIETIES FRATERNITIES AND CLUBS 212
CHAPTER XII - THE MEDICAL PROFESSION 224
CHAPTER XIII - COURTS AND LAWYERS 226
CHAPTER XIV - PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF PUTNAM COUNTY 231
CHAPTER XV - MILITARY RECORD OF PUTNAM COUNTY 246
CHAPTER XVI - SIDELIGHTS ON PUTNAM COUNTY HISTORY 262
BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 281

 

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In writing the history of a county, the local historian is confined to a relatively small unit and is not expected to go outside of the limits of the county only in so far as to make explanatory the relation of the county to contiguous counties or to the state at large. The historian is also handicapped I'v all the tradition which is handed down through succeeding generations, traditions with little or no historical background and bordering on the romantic. While tradition is often connected with history, it does not often carry with it the substratum of fact which should characterize real historical narrative. Personal feelings and quixotic whims find expression in the tales of our forbears and are repeated so often that they are finally accepted as the truth. The purpose of the author of this history is to separate fiction from fact; to present in a simple and succinct manner those facts which will show the place of Putnam county among its sister counties in the state; to preserve for future generations the story of the privations and hardships which confronted our good forefathers four score years ago.

The writer, main years ago, had collected a lot of mis-information as to the early events of this part of the state, and especially to that part now comprehended within Putnam county. Tins supposed historical material was submitted to a pioneer I the county, a man who was in every way qualified to pas. on its truthfulness. To my great surprise, lie informed the writer that in most instances the supposed facts were nothing more than romantic tales, interesting, hut with no basis of truth. Thus the author of this history was deprived of what he had considered a large amount of valuable historical data, but he is to be congratulated in discovering the difficulty of getting exact historical information. This history is an attempt to present the real truth about the growth of the county, and every event which would not stand the historical test has been discarded. Thus, many tales of romance are necessarily omitted: many supposed facts have been found to be without the semblance of truth, and hence find no place in this volume.

This history seeks to give such a review of the origin and development of the county as will make it possible for our children and our children's children to appreciate tin lives and labors of those who have made this county what u is today. We are proud of our towns, our broad, cultivated fields, our schools and churches, our beautiful homes, We lake a pardonable pride in living in a county where peace and harmony dwell, where the people enjoy those blessings vouchsafed to them by the laws of an indulgent nation.

In order that the present generation may breathe the same spirit which animated the pioneers of this county, it is necessary to go back to the time when the Indian roamed this part of the state; when the beaver plied his trade, unmolested by the while man; when the uncut forest and undrained swamps presented more terrors than the wild inhabitants thereof. It will be necessary to tell of the time when France had control of this territory and of the time when England drove the French from this country. The Revolutionary War is a part of the history of Putnam county and it comes in for a share of attention; the War of 1812 is still closer allied with the history of the county and it is briefly in noticed.