|
RICHLAND
TOWNSHIP was organized in 1824, as a part of
Henry County. It is located in the extreme
eastern part of Defiance County, bounded on the
north by Adams Township, on the west by Noble
and Defiance and on the south by Highland.
Henry County bounds it on the east.
THE VILLAGE OF INDEPENDENCE
This
village was laid out about 1838, by Forman
Evans of Defiance. It prospered
greatly for about one year. The west part
was laid on by Edward Hughes. Both
proprietors are now dead. The village
continued to grow during the building of the
dam, making slack water for navigation across
the Maumee River, adn then gradually went to
decay, and is now an open field, and has
probably thirty houses in it. The first
business men were C. J. Freedy who built
the hotel, and a merchant, Mr. Benjamin
Weidenhamer.
The canal - Wabash
& Erie - was excavated, commencing in 1837, and
completed in 1842. The firt boat was rn by
Capt. McMahan, in the fall of 1842. The
dam was built in 1838, 1839, 1840. It is
about one mile below Independence; cost the
State about $130,000. The State
appropriated every alternate section of land to
pay for it, along the route of the
Page 341 -
canal, and sold it at public sale, from $8 as
high as $14 per acre.
VOTERS IN
1845.
The
following is the list of voters in the township
in October, 1845.
Michael Morthlane, Gibbons Perry, James
Liniber, Jacob Handshaw, Charles Rohn, William
Lewis, James Cheney, Pierce Evans, John Wilson,
Thomas Garrett, Horace Morse, Austin Hanser,
William Rohn, Hezekiah Wilson, John Shaw,
Josephus Rose, Ishmael Wilson, John L. Groves,
Noah Groves, Jeptha Groves, Joshua Wilson,
Samuel Rohn, Benjamin B. Abell, Arthur M.
Dunbar, Hiram Scovill, James Moreland, Robert
Boyles, st. ohn Wilson, James McCaine, Lewis
Gilson, Solomon Shaw, Edmond Shasteen, James
Lewis, Jonathan Craig, Daniel A. Craft, Mathias
Albert, Christian Matt, Martin Mitter, David
Halterman, Christian Halterman, Joseph Halterman,
Henry Halterman, Robert Terry, Thomas Elliott,
Jonathan Lee, Jacob Van Wormer, Benjamin
Weidenhamer, Samuel Keplar, Delase Morse, Isaac
Hiveley, Abijah Groves, Jacob Hiveley, Amos
Shirley, Jacob Durham, William Durham,
Christopher Braucher, Anderson Holley, Thomas
Hiveley, Isaac Braucher, Henry Egeller, John
Shull, Adam Hiveley, John Matzel, Henry Wilson.
Pierce Evans, Samuel Rohn and Benjamin B.
Adell, Judges, Hezekiah Wilson and
Isaac Braucher, Clerks.
FORT
DEFIANCE, NO. 267.
This
grange was organized at Independence Dec. 13,
1873, by Deputy State Master W. F. Williams,
with forty members, an equal number of each sex.
Albert Elliott, the first Master, served
over two years, and was followed by W.
Willeman, J. B. Elliott, F. H. Rohn and
O. U. Woodward. G. P. Seiple was the
first Secretary, followed in the office by O.
U. Woodward, A. Elliott, P. Young, E. G.
Woodward and Nettie Elliott,
P. Young, E. G. Woodward and Nettie
Elliott. This grange is the oldest in
the county, meets weekly and has between forty
and fifty members.
PERSONAL
REMINISCENCES.
MRS. MARY BRAUCHER
PIERCE EVANS
SAMUEL ROHN
THOMAS
ELLIOTT
BENJAMIN
WEIDENHAMER
JOHN HILL
SAMUEL
KEPLER
JOHN TAYLOR,
JR.
PHOTOS OF
MRS. SAMUEL ROHN, SAMUEL ROHN, O. U. WOODWARD &
M. J. WOODWARD
HENRY ORT
ORESTUS U.
WOODWARD
J. B.
ELLIOTT
A. ELLIOTT
ISAAC F.
BRAUCHER
SAMUEL ROHN
|
