This and That

Putnam County celebrates 175 years

By Helen Kaverman, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Monday, September 14, 2009 (6 months ago)
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Our neighbors to the north are celebrating the 175th anniversary of their founding.
Putnam County was officially organized in 1834, along with the towns of Glandorf, Kalida and Ottawa. At that time, Putnam County was much larger than it is today.
At its formation, the county was a perfect square. It was formed in 1820 with an area of 576 square miles. It was comprised of 16 townships. Each township encompassed 36 sections of land.
The east half of Delphos (the portion east of the Miami-Erie Canal) was all part of Putnam County. The Putnam County line ran south roughly to State Road.
When Auglaize County was formed in 1848, Putnam County lost 96 productive acres in the process. The east half of Delphos was originally part of Jennings Township.
The entire southeastern township of Richland was detached from Putnam, along with one tier of sections off the south side of Riley Township plus the entire township of Monroe that once abutted the south side of Pleasant Township. In addition, three tiers of sections off the south side of Sugar Creek and Jennings Townships were detached and became Allen County’s north side.
At the same time, Monterey Township was created from four sections of Jackson Township, two sections of Jennings Township and the addition on the west of 18 sections from eastern Van Wert County.
This re-arrangement was done to create Auglaize County, making it of constitutional size. The acreage was taken from Putnam County was paid 3,848.76 for their loss of land.
According to Kinder’s 1915 Putnam County History, the first white men to step foot into the Northwest Territory were French traders and missionaries under the leadership of the famous explorer, Robert LaSalle. This was in about the year 1670. With these explorations, this territory was claimed by and added to Allen to keep Allen County at constitutional size. Putnam County went from 576 square miles and four corners to 480 square miles, with 12 corners.
The English wanted their cut of the territory, also so in 1754, the French and Indian War began. The war closed in 1763, when the treaty of peace in Paris, France, ceded to England all of her American possessions east of the Mississippi.
For the next 20 years, the Northwest Territory was under the control of England. In the year 1774, the British Parliament passed an act making the Ohio River the southern boundary of Canada and the Mississippi River the western boundary, thus attaching the Northwest Territory to the Province of Quebec. Then came the Revolutionary War. The treaty which ended the war in 1783 made the Northwest Territory part of the United States of America.
Still, not too many people wanted to enter this desolate country. Marguerite Calvin in People & Places, wrote that a white man named Brule was in Ohio as early as 1615 to visit the Indians. Marguerite also wrote that by 1541 New France had been established to the north of what is now the Ohio River.
As far back as 1493, the area which became Ohio was actually part of the Spanish Empire. Marguerite stated that “By Papal decree in May 1493, the Western Hemisphere not already possessed by a ‘Christian’ country was given to Spain. The Indians of North America, not being Christian were considered ‘nobody’.”
The next big event to have an effect on the Northwest Territory and Putnam County was the War of 1812.  Lt. Col. Jennings had already served with General William H. Harrison in Indiana at the Battle of Tippecanoe. Following the battle he returned home to Kentucky.
In 1812, the Kentucky Militia under Col. William Jennings was called into service. Jennings was ordered to build a supply fort between Fort St. Marys and Fort Defiance. They traveled through the wild forest and in September 1812, they stopped on the banks of the Auglaize and began building the stockade at Fort Jennings. This was quickly built. As Gen. Harrison was marching north on his way to Fort Jennings in November, he sent a letter back to the War Department regarding the conditions of Northwest Ohio. He said: “The country beyond that (40th degree of latitude) is almost continued swamp of lakes — the greater part of the way at this season is covered with water.”
After serving at Fort Jennings for six months, Col. Jennings and his troops returned to Kentucky, because their tour of duty was completed. After that troops remained at Fort Jennings under other leaders.  When the war ended in December of 1814,  Fort Jennings was abandoned as a military post. This fort was not involved in any battles but 10 or 12 soldiers were buried in the cemetery. They died of disease or illnesses, exposure or wounds received in other battles.
Some of the soldiers who served at Fort Jennings, later returned to the area. Maybe they could see the possibility of this wild country or maybe they wanted the lands, given to them for serving in the war.  Slowly, others began to arrive.
Edward Tiffin, surveyor general, gave a government contract for surveying to Captain James Riley. When they surveyed the Ohio-Michigan state line they found an error in the boundary line and the Ohio-Michigan War began. Captain Riley was an impressive former sailing ship master and his interesting story will be carried later. Riley and his family lived in Van Wert County. Among his survey gang at various times were his son, James Watson Riley, deputy surveyor, a Major Low and Henry Wing. James Watson Riley is the more familiar name in the history books of the area. The surveyors commented that the swamp was nearly impassable in some spots, particularly Perry, Palmer and Greensburg townships. While Riley was surveying the southeastern portion of the county, he fell into Riley Creek.  He lived to tell about it but lost his tripod. The tripod still lies in the muddy creek bottom. The creek had originally been called Deer Creek but the name was changed in honor of James Watson Riley.
This area of northwest Ohio was set up in 1820, when the Legislature of Ohio proceeded to divide these former Indian lands into 14 separate counties. The first was Van Wert, the second was Mercer and the third to include townships one and two, south and one and two north, in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth ranges, and be known by the name of Putnam and the counties of Hancock, Henry, Putnam, Paulding and Williams shall be attached to the county of Wood. On 2 February 1824, the county of Williams was organized, with Henry, Putnam and Paulding counties attached to Williams.  Putnam County was cut off from Williams county but remained part of that county for judicial or political purposes, for some time, because of the scarcity of population.
The first white family in the county was that of Henry Leaf, who built a cabin on the south side of the Blanchard in Greensburg Township. He later moved and built another cabin on the Auglaize, at it’s junction with the Blanchard.  He was hardly considered a resident of the county as he lived with the Indians, moved when they did and went West with them, where he ended his days.
David Murphy has been given credit of being the first settler of the county. He and his family came down the Blanchard River from Fort Findlay in a canoe. They stopped for a short time where Franconia was later laid off and from there went up the Auglaize River 3 miles to settle on what was known as the bayou. Murphy’s wife died in 1836 and was the first person buried in the Kalida cemetery.
Jean Jacques Blanchard, a Frenchman who traveled north in about 1771, came in the county early. He lived with the Shawnees and married an Indian woman. He fathered 12 children. He traveled the Blanchard and Auglaize, dealing with the Indians. He was a tailor and wood carver. The Blanchard was first known as the North Fork of the Auglaize. The Indians used the name Sho-Po-Quo-tokepe, which meant tailor’s river. One of Blanchard’s sons became a chief and went west with the Indians. Blanchard died in 1802 and is buried near the site of Fort Findlay.
Another white man, an Englishman by the name of John Race, came to the Ottawa Reservation. He was not considered a “settler.” He was a mean man, who married a “half-breed” Indian squaw. He was so mean he even killed his own 11 year old daughter in the 1830’s and tried to blame it on another settler, whom he had differences with.
Marguerite Calvin reported that three persons are listed from various sources as “first” settler. There was a Frederick F. Stevens, who stopped in Putnam County very briefly in 1825 and moved to Defiance shortly after in 1835.  Andrew Craig was at the junction of the Auglaize and the Blanchard, claiming he was first in the area. The third was David Murphy, as mentioned earlier.
According to Marguerite, Henry Wing was probably the first. Wing came to Ohio territory during the War of 1812. He was also a member of Captain Riley’s survey crew. In 1825 the Wings left their cabin and went to Defiance to await the birth of their first child, because there was no woman to act as midwife in the area. After the birth of their son, Jarvis on March 21st they returned to their clearing 4 miles down river from Tawa Town. Henry Wing was killed by a falling tree, during the opening of the Ottawa-Defiance Road in 1843.  During the year 1824, Silas McClish, Thomas McClish and Jack McClish settled a mile below Murphy on the west side of the Auglaize. William Bowen settled three miles south and William Patton settled 14 miles south. Several settlers arrived each year for the next several years.  Several pioneers arrived very early in the Gomer area. Gomer was originally part of Putnam County, as were Bluffton and Rockport.
There will be more about Kalida, Glandorf and Ottawa in future stories.  Glandorf celebrated last week-end, Kalida has Pioneer Days this week-end and Ottawa will be celebrating later this month. Their celebration has been going on all summer.

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