William D. Hagar

Source:  History of Henry & Fulton Counties - edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich - Syracuse NY - Publ. D. Mason & Co. 1888 – Page 601
Portrait found in History of Henry & Fulton Counties - edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich - Syracuse NY - Publ. D. Mason & Co. 1888 - Page 600a

Wm. H. Handy
p. 396a 

D. W. Hollister
pg. 404a

My mind goes back to twenty-one (1821:)
     The Maumee pioneer appears;
And I, a boy of but four summers then,
     Have lived to count my seventy years.

I've seen the seasons come and go,
     With plenty and tranquillity;
And thank my God for each and all
     The seventy years he's given to me.

     These verses are taken from a poem written upon the occasion of the seventieth birthday of Colonel Howard, and they recall to the biographer the words of a famous writer:  "Dear are the days of youth!  Age dwells on their remembrance through the mist of time.  In the twilight he recalls the sunny hours of morn."
     The events of the life of this man have been so many, and are so well known to the people of Northwestern Ohio, especially among the older residents, that, in narrating those events we shall confine all statements strictly to facts, and indulge in no comment and draw no conclusions.  But, before entering upon this narrative, we must say, that in the past history of this region there stands out clear and distinct the name and life of this man, and his ancestors.  As the narrative will show, it has not been the lot of Colonel Howard to possess an education through the school or college, but his intelligence and judgment have so matured by observation and reflection and experience, that he has been able to do much good, and set an example in life worthy of praise and imitation.  His naturally well balanced mind has never for a moment yielded to the novel vagaries of the day, either in theory or practice, but have led him safely through the windings and turnings of life's path; but misfortunes unforeseen and insurmountable have come, and through them he has been a sufferer, as have all men.  But it is as a citizen, neighbor and friend that Colonel Howard is known and remembered most fondly.  His genial and kindly presence, his uprightness and purity of life, his truthfulness and singleness of ind, his liberal hand and free heart, his thorough contempt for all knavery and sham, his unhesitating assertion and support of his honest convictions, in short,  his Christian faith, and the Christian morals and Christian life by which that faith is evinced, these form the memories of him which will longest endure in the hearts of his friends.
     Dresden Winfield Huston Howard was born in the village of Dresden, on the east bank of Seneca Lake, Yates county, N. Y., on the 3d day of November, in the year 1817.  In 1821, then being but four years old, with his parents, Edward and Nancy (Haight) Howard, his grandfather, Thomas Howard, his two uncles Richard M. W. and Robert A. Howard, and his aunt, Sidney Nelson Howard, he came to Maumee country.  They came by wagons to Buffalo, where the party divided, a portion taking passage on the thirty ton schooner Eagle, while the balance continued the wagon journey overland.  After an unpleasant voyage of eight days, the schooner arrived under the picketed walls of Fort Meigs, on the evening of June 17th.  The land party where some weeks on the road before they reached their destination - the Maumee.
     The scene that was presented to this little party of emigrants upon reaching the mouth of the river was for from inviting or encouraging; the dark and dreary forest stretched unbroken in every direction; the habitation of the white man was nowhere seen, save the Indian agency building; but the wigwams of the savages were in every opening, and the smoke from their campfires curled upward in blue columns above the dark green forest.  Even the stoutest heart might fail at such an outlook for the future.  Their neighbors were to be the bear and the wolf, and the hardly less savage red man.
     It was the intention of these families to go to the then new settlement at Ann Arbor (properly written An-aw-ba, the Pottawatomie word for "boy"), but the fatigue of the long journey and the dread on the part of the women to enter the dark and seemingly interminable forests, changed their plan, and they were easily persuaded by the few white settlers to remain on the murky waters of the "Miami of the Lakes," and they were soon provided with small log cabins and a few acres of cleared land on the river flats, on which they planted corn, potatoes, and other necessary earth products.  To this work the attention of our pioneers was given, but in its performance, however slight that labor was, they were much delayed and their work retarded by the ever present and every read ague, but with the approach of cold weather the severity of these attacks was much relaxed.  During the next summer lands were purchased on the right bank of the river, at the head of the Rapids, or at Grand Rapids, as it is more commonly known.  Here three log cabins were built for the accommodation of the families, and to which they moved to March, 1823.  To reach their hoe with wagons new roads were required to be cut through the woods.  On the opposite side of the river was the Ottawa Indian village of between one and two thousand people, and these, save one, were the only neighbors of our pioneers.  The exception just noted was the kind hearted and ever willing Frenchman, "Uncle" Peter Manor and his good wife.
     The young Indians of the village were soon the companions and playmates of Dresden Howard, and he soon learned to speak their simple language.  His association with them became so friendly and intimate that he as often slept in their wigwams, on their beds of blankets and skins, as in the comfortable cabin of his parents.  His good mother was in a state of almost constant anxiety for the safety of her son in the camp of the dreaded Indian - but the free, wild life in the woods, under no restraint - how soon the boy learned to love it!
     The Presbyterian of Massachusetts had established an Indian mission (church and school) at a point eight miles down the river from Edward Howard's cabin, and here Dresden attended school from the age of six to nine years, and, other than this, the days of youth and boyhood gave him but little chance for an education at school.
     However, before he was ten years old, young Howard was taken from school and put at work far too important for a child of his years; but necessity is a hard master.  According to his father's idea, the life of an Indian fur trader seemed to be the best for his son; therefore he was hired out to a merchant in the Indian trade with the limited knowledge of the business that he acquired in his father's little store of Indian goods.  The boy soon became expert.  He knew the value of all the articles of trade, and could accurately judge the quality and value of skins and furs brought into market by the Indians and a few white hunters of the region.  These accomplishments, for such were they then considered, together with his understanding of the Indian languages, made him an exceedingly valuable employee, so that, at the age of fifteen, he had a safe passport into any of the fur trading establishments of the country.
     In the early summer of 1827 or 1828, young Howard accompanied Benjamin F. Hollister with a pack train of horses loaded with goods for the Indian trade, on a journey to the "treaty grounds," on the shores of Lake Michigan, near the mouth of the Chicago River (now the site of the great western metropolis), where were gathered the various tribes - the Pottawatomies, the Sacs, the Foxes, and the Winnebagoes - who were met in council with agents of the government for the purpose of treating upon various subjects.
     At the time this journey was made, young Howard remembers not of seeing a dingle settler's cabin in all that long distance, but there was an occasional trading post.  There was maintained, on the site of the treaty ground, or near it, Fort Dearborn, with its little garrison of soldiers, held here, ostensibly, for the purpose of checking any depredations of the Indians, and the protection of the western frontier.  The business of trading in furs and peltries was carried on during the fall and winter months; therefore, during the heated term our subject had but little to occupy his time.  His father sent him, during the summer of 1831, on an expedition down the Wabash River, thence through to the Mississippi, for the purpose of locating bounty lands, to which the father was entitled as a veteran of the war of 1812-15.  For this purpose our young hero, for such he was, being but fourteen years old at that time, was fully equipped, and fully authorized to act.  On this journey his route lay up the Maumee by boat with some French "freighters," thence down the Wabash, on the back of an Indian pony purchased at Fort Wayne, to the old trading post at Terre Haute; thence across the prairie to the Mississippi.  His trip, he says, was a most enjoyable one; he was accompanied by the Young Indians most of the time, and the rifle easily procured an abundance of venison, turkey, and other wild game.  He camped wherever night found him.  Upon the details of this journey and the successful accomplishment of the duty assigned him, we cannot dwell.  The scenes of wild sport and adventure through the unsettled country with companies as wild as the scenes around them, would fill a volume.
     In the summer and fall of 1832 was commenced the removal of the Indians from this section, and in this work our subject bore an important part; it was a work of many weeks and many hardships.  It was done under the direction of  Benjamin F. Hollister, assisted by Dresden Howard (our subject), Duncan Forsythe, and Samuel (Curt) Roby  The Indians were taken in small numbers at each time, a few hundred, as they were very unwilling to leave their old homes and hunting grounds, and depart on a long journey to the Indian Territory, southwest of the Missouri River; but they must retire before the steady approach of the white man, and their country in all its wild beauty and grandeur soon yielded to the attacks of the ax of the woodman and the plow of the husbandman; the powerful Shawnees from Wapokoneta, and the Ottawas from the Au Glaize, alike, must leave and make their homes in the far-off west.
     It will be remembered, too, that this year witnessed the first visitation of cholera in this country, and on the journey several of the Indians were attacked and died of that terrible disease.
     The last of the Indians were removed from the valley in 1838, and with their departure likewise went the occupation of our subject.  He, however, prepared to follow them in 1840, taking  large stock of goods for the fur trade, and acting as agent for W. G. & G. W. Ewing.  Mr. Howard ascended the Missouri as far as Fort Leavenworth, where, in consequence of the shallowness of the river, he disembarked, procured freight wagons (San Taffee), with eighty mules and Spanish drivers, and then followed the land trail up the Missouri.  The white settlements at that time extended only to the little trading post at St. Joseph, which was laid out by and named for Joseph Rebidue, the old French fur trader for the American Fur Company.  Mr. Howard's trade among the Sioux, Blackfeet, Crows, Grosventres and other tribes of Indians, proved quite lucrative.  Of the numerous incidents of this visit we will mention but one, and that is of some historic interest.  In occurred on the day of the presidential election of that year, 1840.  There was gathered under a large cottonwood tree a party of ten or twelve traders, trappers, and hunters of the region, among them our subject, for the purpose of holding an election for president.  General William Henry Harrison seems to have been the unanimous choice of this small but patriotic assemblage.  The oldest trapper was chosen chairman and the youngest trader secretary of the meeting; this latter choice called into requisition the services of Mr. Howard, who kept the poll list on a piece of paper torn from a memorandum book.  The votes were cast for the candidate direct, and not for electors; and, after all had voted, the "poll book" was directed and sent to the "President of the Senate of the United States."  This was the first vote of our subject for a presidential candidate; and it may be remarked, parenthetically, that the meeting was held near the ruins of old Fort Calhoun, beyond the jurisdiction of State of territorial government; nevertheless, the hero of Tippecanoe received the undivided support of the whole party.  Of these persons all, save Mr. Howard, were past the middle age of life, so it is safe to assume that he alone, of the entire number, is now living.  But to return to the scenes of life on the Maumee.
     Edward Howard, the father of our subject, died in 1841, after which, as soon as it could be done, Dresden closed his business at the various trading posts, and became a permanent resident of the Maumee country.  In the subsequent development of this region he has been an active participant, and his progressive nature and public-spiritedness have, in a measure, been rewarded by his being chosen to some of the most responsible public offices in the gift of his fellow people.
     In 1842, soon after closing the affairs of his former business, Dresden W. H. Howard was married to Mary Blackwood Copeland.  Of this marriage two children have been born:  O. E. M. Howard, now a civil engineer and prominent citizen residing at San Diego, Cal., and Miss Mary Agnes Howard, now living with her parents.
     The first public station to which our subject has been called, was in his appointment by the State Legislature, as commissioner with Elisha Huntington, of Perrysburg, and Orlando Evans, of Defiance, as co-commissioners for the purpose of locating and constructing a turnpike from Fort Meigs to Fort Wayne, or to the Indiana State Line.  This was about the year 1843.  In 1870 he was elected a member of the State Board of Equalization for the real estate of Ohio.  Again, in 1871, he was elected to represent his district as senator in the Legislature of the State.  In April, 1887, Mr. Howard was appointed by his Excellency, Governor Foraker to the board of trustees of the Asylum for Insane persons at Toledo.
     These are the leading position to which our subject has been called; but he has been identified as strongly with the growth and development of Fulton county, and northwestern Ohio as any resident within its borders; he is not a man that inclines naturally to political station or to special prominence in any relation, but would rather retire to the quiet of his own home.  Mr. Howard loves to dwell upon the memories of the past, and to recall the days and companions of his youth; his farm home at Winameg, at the Springs, and on the site of the village of the old chief, Winameg, is exactly suited to his tastes, for on it are still discernible traces of old Indian mounds, though much disturbed by the plowshare; and on the trees are still visible bullet holes and Indian marks of various kinds.  But, notwithstanding his inclinations and tastes, our subject has been identified with some very prominent measures, among which was that of originating and building the Toledo and Grand Rapids Railroad, in which enterprise his son was also extensively engaged.  This road is now a part of the Toledo, St. Louis and Kansas City Railway (standard gauge), and extends to the city of St. Louis, Missouri.
† Source: History of Henry & Fulton Counties edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich - Syracuse NY - Publ. D. Mason & Co. 1888 - Page 581