History of Marion County, Ohio
CONTAINING
A HISTORY OF THE COUNTY; ITS TOWNSHIPS, TOWNS, CHURCHES,
SCHOOLS, ETC.; GENERAL AND LOCAL STATISTICS; MILITARY
RECORD; PORTRAITS OF EARLY SETTLERS AND PROMINENT MEN;
HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY;
HISTORY OF OHIO; MISCELLANEOUS
MATTERS, ETC. ETC.
~ILLUSTRATED~
CHICAGO:
LEGGETT, CONAWAY & CO.
1883.

PART V.
CHAPTER XV.

WALDO TOWNSHIP
pg. 1004

     This township is the oldest of the divisions of Marion County.  It originally formed a part of Marlborough Township, Delaware County, whose territory extended north to the Greenville treaty line.  That portion of Waldo lying south of the treaty line remained a part of Marlborough until the formation of Morrow County in 1848.  At the March session of the Commissioners of Marion County of that year, the following entry was made:  "On application of the citizens of that part of Marlborough and Radnor Townships which was attached to the county of Marion from the county of Delaware, by the act of the Legislature erecting the county of Morrow, passed Feb. 24, 1848; and appearing to the Commissioners that said territory contains an incorporated town, to with, the town of Waldo, it is Ordered, That so much of said territory (including said town) as is contained in the following metes and bounds, to wit: Beginning on the Greenville treaty line at the northeast corner of that part of Marlborough Township which was attached to said county of Marion from said county of Delaware aforesaid; thence south along the line between the now counties of Marion and Morrow eleven hundred and twenty-one poles (1,121) to the

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county line between the counties of Marion and Delaware; thence west along said line, being the south line of Marion County nineteen hundred and fifty poles and a lot line; thence north along said old line to the Greenville treaty line; thence eastwardly among said Greenville treaty line to the place of beginning; be and the same is erected into a new township to be named and styled 'Waldo.'"  In June following, at a session of the Commissioners, a number of the citizens of Waldo Township presented a petition requesting that certain territory lying north of the treaty line be added to Waldo Township.  Accordingly, the following entry was made: "Ordered, That the whole of Fractional Sections No. 34, 35 and 36, and the east half of Section No. 33, and the south halves of Sections 25, 26 and 27, and the southeast quarter of Section No. 28, in Township No. 6 south of Range No. 15, be and the same is attached to and made a part of the said township of Waldo, and that the boundaries thereof be recorded accordingly."

EARLY SETTLERS.

     Long before the Indians had surrendered their claim to the original county of Marion, and before any whites had settled upon its territory, Nathaniel Wyatt, Sr., and Nathaniel Brundige settled in what is now Waldo Township in the spring of 1806.  Mr. Brundige was born in Ulster County, N. Y., of which county his parents, William and Anna, née Perkins, Brundige removed to Washington County, Va., to which place Nathaniel Waytt had emigrated several years before.  In 1805, Mr. Brundige, with his wife and nine children, and Mr. Wyatt and is wife (Née Anna Brundige), migrated to Ohio in a wagon and settled in Pickaway County.  The same year, they removed to Liberty Township, Delaware, then Franklin County, where they remained a short time.  In February, 1806, they cause and settled in what is now Waldo Township.  Mr. Brundige entered 160 acres.  On his arrival here, he met Col. Kilbourn, who was laying out the town of Norton, Kilbourn told Brundige that he had a piece of land that he would sell for $400.  Brundige paid him the amount, and Kilbourn returned to the land office at Chillicothe, ahd the land entered in Nathaniel Brundige's name, thus clearing $200 on land that he had not located.  This land is a part of the farm owned and occupied b John Brundige.  Subsequently, he purchased 150 acres north of Waldo.  They were the first white settlers in what is now Marion County.  They cut out the first road in the county, as there were then only half-beaten paths of the Indians.  Mr. Brundige erected a log cabin, 18x20 feet in size, which he occupied a few years, then built a hewed-log house, 18x30 feet in dimensions.  This pioneer dwelling was raised by the early settlers, some of whom came from Radnor.  Mr. Brundige was a member of Capt. Drake's militia company, and was connected with the "defeat."  Mr. Brundige died July 11, 1825, and Mrs. B., Aug. 11, 1856, aged eight-five.
     STEPHEN BRUNDIGE moved to Virginia with his parents, married, went to Tennessee, and thence to Illinois, where he died.
     JOHN BRUNDIGE went also to Pickaway County; thence to this place with his parents in 1806.  He rented his father's farm and lived there until his removal to Waldo Village in 1840, where he died and was buried.  He was Justice of the Peace in Marlborough about fifteen years; was Associate Judge, as a successor to Judge Drake; Commissioner of Delaware County two terms.  He was formerly a Whig, and subsequently an Abolitionist, in which faith he died.  He took active part in local politics.  He engaged in

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mercantile business in Waldo prior to 1837, with Wesson & Hass, under the firm name of Wesson, Hass & Brundige.  He built a frame house where Gabler & Gumpf's store now stands.  For his first wife, he married Phebe Drake, by whom he had the following children:  Mary, Rebecca, Uriah, Anna, Joseph, Daniel, Nathan, Abba and Lydia.  For his second wife, he married Mrs. Elizabeth Taylor, now deceased.  They were the parents of nine children, viz., Mary, born Aug. 9, 1794, married Reuben Drake and died in Wyandot County; Anna, born Feb. 11, 1796, married James Trindle and died in Westfield, Morrow County; Levinah, born Apr. 5, 1799, married Samuel D. Wyatt, and after his death married Mr. Dudley, she is now a widow and is living at an advanced age; Elizabeth, born Aug. 25, 1800, married David Mitchell and died in Hardin County, Iowa; Rachel, born Jan. 21, 1802, married L. S. Hull, and died in Waldo Township in the winter of 1882; James, born Jul. 22, 1805, and resides in Polk County, Iowa; William, born Dec. 3, 1808, resides i Morrow County; Sarah, born September, 1810, married Evan Norris, and died in Wood County, Ohio; John was born Sept. 10, 1813, the day of Perry's victory.
     The same year (1806) Mr. Brundige's parents came and settled on the land now owned by Philip Bender, where they passed the remainder of their days.  Mr. Brundige died Nov. 12, 1825, aged eight-four years.  Mrs. B. died Oct. 23, 1823, at the age of eighty.  They reared four sons and four daughters, viz, Nathaniel (the foregoing), Thomas, Stephen, John, Anna (married Nathaniel Wyatt).  Mary (married Samuel Drake), Elizabeth (married Mr. Mitchell), and Sarah (married Isaac Bush).  Thomas Brundige married Nancy Johnson, daughter of a Virginia slaveholder, and preceded his parents to Pickaway County, Ohio.  He was a Major of the State militia.
     NATHANIEL WYATT, SR., was born in Albany, New York State.  He removed to Virginia, and subsequently to Pickaway County, Ohio, and remained there only a short time, and removed with his wife and seven children, and settled in what is now Waldo Township, then a part of Franklin County.  He purchased 160 acres, on which Wyatt's tavern and old Fort Morrow were built.  Mr. Wyatt married Anna Brundige, daughter of William Brundige, and had ten children, viz., Daniel, Mary, Sarah, Elizabeth, William, Nathaniel, Samuel, Nancy, Temperance and Ruth.  Mr. Wyatt served in the Revolutionary War, and was in some of the leading battles of that war.  He died on the homestead Aug. 18, 1824.  Mrs. Wyatt died at the home of Hira Wilcox, about a half-mile north of Waldo, Feb. 25, 1858.  Daniel married Betsey Perkins,  and moved to Claridon Township; thence to Williams County, where he died.  Mary married Lieut. John Millikan, who lived in Waldo Township until the war of 1812, when he enlisted in the service and was given the rank of Lieutenant.  He was assigned to the duty of conducting British prisoners to Chillicothe, where he died while on garrison duty. He had five children - William, Jesse, Nathaniel, Anna and John.  His widow married Hira Wilcox, who was a soldier in the war of 1812, and had one daughter - Clarissa, who married Daniel S. Drake.  Sarah married Thomas Van Horn, and had the following children: Walter, Betsey, George, Harriet, Anna and William, a soldier in both the Mexican and civil wars.  After his death, Mrs. Van Horn married Mr. Cummins, and had one son - Wyatt Cummings.  Elizabeth married Jacob Phipps and lied in Waldo Township, where she died.  William married Betsey Hannaman and had five children - Daniel, Nathaniel,

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Hiram, Mary and Solomon.  He moved to Vermillion County, Ind.; thence to Iroquois County, where he and his wife both died.  He was also a soldier in the war of 1812.  Nathaniel, Jr., married Sallie Wyatt and had four children - Charlotte, Leonard, Ezra and Mary Ann.  He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and died at Fort Morrow.  Samuel D. married Lovina Brundige in March, 1818, and had nine children - Editha, Cyrus, David H., John B., Jane A., Eliza, Clara, James B. and Ruth E.  Mr. Wyatt was a Baptist minister for twenty years.  He died Aug. 12, 1842.  Mrs. Wyatt, in 1861, married Rev. David Dudley, who died May 31, 1867.  Mrs. Dudley was born Apr. 5, 1799, and is still living.  Nancy married Col. Nathaniel Hull, and lived and died in Waldo Township.  They had ten children viz., Martha, Lucretia, Mary, Elias, Edward, Elizabeth, Amanda, David, John and Mariah.  Temperance married Timothy Aldrich, and had the following children:  James, Sylvester, Anna, Lucinda, Cynthia and Almira.  She died near Westfield.  Ruth was the first white female child born in Marion County.
     NATHANIEL WYATT, SR., exchanged eighty acres of military land in Pickaway County for a tract of over 200 acres on Section 3, Waldo Township.  On this he built the old Wyatt brick tavern, and it was on this place that Fort Morrow was built.  In his time he was a Justice of the Peace and held other township offices.
     REV. SAMUEL WYATT, referred to above, used to go down to preach in the vicinity of Chillicothe and Newark, and in collections would obtain money equivalent to only 1 chilling a sermon.
     ISAAC BUSH was the next settler after the Brundiges and Wyatts.  He also came from Ulster County, N. Y., and settled on Section 22, where he entered 168 acres of land, lived a number of years and died; but previous to his death he sold that land to Henry Peters.  His wife had died some time before, in Troy Township, Delaware County.
     CAPT. WILLIAM S. DRAKE, from Orange County, N. Y., settled near the Brundiges in Oct., 1807.  His parents, as well as those of his wife.  Rebecca, came from Liverpool, England, in 1768, settling in Orange County. His father, John, wife a Captain through the Revolutionary war, and died near Poughkeepsie, N. Y., at an advanced age.  On his arrival here, Capt. W. S. Drake entered 109 acres, and in 1809 he purchased a whole section, 640 acres, north of Waldo.  He served six months as Captain in the war of 1812, and also, until its close, Indian Agent under Gen. Harrison.  From 1815 to 1838, he was a mail route agent.  He owned a number of routes in Northern Ohio, that from Columbus to Sandusky being one of them; was associated with Judge Hinton and Mr. Neil, of Columbus.  He withdrew before Judge Hinton was detected in his squandering.  He also dealt extensively in cattle, purchasing them near Detroit and driving to Eastern markets.  He was Associate Judge on the bench of his district four years.  He died Sept. 1, 1851, and his wife survived him until Aug. 30, 1856.  They were members of the regular Baptist Church.  Of their fourteen children, only two are now living, namely, Rebecca A., widow of Benjamin Welch, and Harriet, a widow, residing in Clinton, Ill.
     The deceased is Reuben; Rirar, who raised a crop of corn at Lower Sandusky, the site of what is now Fremont, for Maj. Butler, of Delaware, and on his return, near Upper Sandusky, was shot by hostile Wyandots for his money, being instantly killed, at the age of twenty-three; Mary, who married Jud Moses, and died in Delaware, aged forty-five; Phebe, who married Judge Brundige, and also died in Delaware aged forty-five; Clarissa,

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who married Adam Welch, and died in Clinton, Ill., in 1881, aged over eighty; Eliza, who died at the age of eighteen; John, who died in childhood; Abba, wife of James Coldom, and died in Delaware County; Daniel S., who died Dec. 30, 1881, an old resident in this county, and William W., who died in 1850 near Upper Sandusky, aged forty-three.
     While Capt. Drake was in the military service, eight or ten drunken Indians came to his house one day, and demanded that one of his sons, a young boy, should drum for them, which he refused to do, because it was Sunday and it would raise the neighbors.  They seized him and set him in the center of the room and began a war dance.  They hopped and skipped and yelled, flourishing their tomahawks and scalping-knives around his head, and once or twice seized his hair as if they intended to scalp him!  Mr. Drake hurried the other children to the woods, there being snow on the ground, fearing they would all be killed, after which she got a hand-spike, or wooden poker, from the fireplace and ordered the Indians to leave.  They left the house, and she then blew the dinner-horn to alarm the neighborhood, which served to increase the fears of the children, who hastened to the nearest cabin and related what was occurring.  Two men with guns then hastened to the rescue, but on their arrival were happy to learn that the Indians had fled and no one injured.
     DANIEL S. DRAKE, who was born Dec. 12, 1805, in Orange County, N. Y., married, for his first wife, Margaret Tindle, who died in 1833-34, leaving one daughter - Evaline, wife of O. E. Richardson, of Morrow County, Ohio.  For his second wife, he married Clarissa Wilcox, of Waldo Township, in March, 1836.  She was born Sept. 13, 1817.  Their children were Daniel W., Margaret (wife of Robert Douglas), Francis M., William S. (dentist in Marion), John M., Charles H., Annetta, Thomas E., May R. (wife of W. Coonse), Carrie, Iza and Olive.
     HIRA WILCOX settled in the Brundige neighborhood in the fall of 1807.  He was born near Hartford, Conn., in 1785.  On arriving here, he had barely enough to enter 160 acres of land, although, to save expenses, he footed it all the way through Youngstown, Akron and Mansfield, keeping up with the state, forty five miles a day.  He entered his 160 acres in Marlborough Township, about three and a half miles from Waldo, which is about two miles from the Marion County line.  His parents came the next spring, and settled near Delaware, where they died.  His father, Johiah was nearly seven feet high, and died in 1859, aged one hundred and six years.  Hira Wood resided on his farm until 1812, when he sold and removed to Waldo Township, where he entered 120 acres of land, which he sold some years afterward, and bought 400 to 500 acres northwest of Waldo.  Mr. W. was nine months in the war of 1812, as drummer.
     In 1867, he moved to Waldo, and died in June, 1871.  About 1808, he married Miss Cleveland and they had three children - Elmer, who died in 1869; Lucretia,  who died in 1872, and Syla, widow of Miles Payne, deceased, now of Indianapolis, Ind.  Mrs. W. died about 1815, and in 1816 Mr. W. married again.  Miss Mary Wyatt, daughter of Nathaniel Wyatt, and had one child - Clarissa, who married Daniel S. Drake, and died Nov. 16, 1874.  Mrs. Mary Wilcox died in 1844, and Mr. W. married the third time namely - Mrs. Mary Dutton, née Fuller, and she died in 1870.
     JOSEPH CURRAN and family settled in this township in 1809.  David Curran was born here in 1822.
     JOSEPH WESSON bought 110 acres of Judge Drake, on Section 18.  He

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engaged in mercantile business in Waldo for a time; then went to Iowa, where he died.  A man named Hannaman squatted a short time on land now owned by Jacob Schaaf.  After him was named "Hannaman's Ford." on the Whetstone, opposite Mr. Brundige's house, William Wyatt married his daughter.
     There were very few settlers here as late as 1825.  This year came Joseph Curran, Jacob Coldren, John Moses, Peter and Frederick Dunkelbarger, William and John Justus and their father, all settling in the eastern part of Waldo Township.  The western part of the township was swampy, and in 1825 there was not a settler west of the present gravel road.  In 1830, there was only Henry Schaffer, who had come from Germany and been sold in Baltimore for his passage, which he paid for in work.  He first settled east of the river.  The first west of the gravel road were Aaron S. Kenyon and John A. Norton.  In 1830, Benjamin Williams and Christopher Maddox were living east of the river, and west of the gravel road were Samuel Hull, Silas Davis and sons—Dela, Van Rensselaer S., Dr. Ames, James Smith, Ezra M. Conklin, Daniel Sturges and Philip Parks.

THE MILL.

     Henry Schaffer built the first mill, a water saw mill, where Drake's mill now stands, and constructed the present mill-race.  He added a corn-cracker, but sold it, with seven acres of ground, to Nathaniel Wyatt, Sr., who ran the mill till his death.  He put in a pair of French buhrs, which Samuel Wyatt drove to Cincinnati with an ox-team to obtain.  Those stones were placed in a frame mill erected by Nathaniel Wyatt, Sr. who had destroyed the old one.  A half interest fell to Samuel D. Wyatt, the other half to Jacob Phipps, his brother-in-law.  Mr. W. sold his interest to Nathaniel Brundige, at whose death his interest fell to Luff S. Hull, and Phipps & Hull subsequently sold it to Schaffer.  Jacob J. Idleman afterward bought it and destroyed it. and erected the present mill, which contains the same French buhrs which Mr. W. brought from Cincinnati.  He sold it to J. C. Evans, who added steam works and then sold it to Michael Hake, who sold it to William Hake.  F. M Drake is now running the mill.

FIRST EVENTS.

     WILLIAM BRUNDIGE was the first male child born in Marlborough Township.  The first marriage, it is thought, was that of John Millikan and Mary Wyatt.  The first death,, according to one account, was that of Levina Bush, in 1808; some authorities say it was Ellen Reed.  The death of Ruth Wyatt was the first in the territory now included in Marion County.

~FORT MORROW~

     This fort was built some time during the war of 1812.  This structure and Wyatt' s hotel were comprised in one inclosure of pickets made from split slabs.  It contained about one-half or three-fourths of an acre, and was built by Capt, Taylor, of that war.  The pickets were about three inches thick, and from five to six feet in height.  Whenever there was an Indian alarm, the settlers would lodge in this fort.  It stood a good many years.  It contained two block-houses, one at the southwest corner and one at the northeast; one was made of round logs and the other of hewn logs.  On the top log of the latter was painted.  "Fort Morrow.  Built by Capt. Taylor."  These block-houses were built with a full upper story projecting out all around about four feet, over a basement six feet high. It had portholes, and one cannon was kept at the fort.

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     Wyatt's Hotel was a brick house 20x36 feet, two stories high, and was run until about 1830.

~BETHLEHAM~

     This is the name of a section of country or settlement, derived from the following incident: In the spring of 1833, Frederick X. Zachman and John Holler were on their way to the residence of Jacob J. Idleman, three miles distant, each bearing on his shoulder an empty sack; and when they passed the house of Mr. Kraner, father of Christian Kraner, he inquired where they were going.  They replied that they were going to Mr. Idleman's for corn meal, when Mr. Kraner remarked, "Oh, poor Bethlehem!"  probably from the fact that they were "begging."  Ever since then, the community there has been known by that name.  It comprises all the land west of the Marion & Delaware pike as far south as the treaty line, and includes about a mile north and south by two miles east and west, in Pleasant Township.  The first settlers in Bethlehem were Martin Snyder, William Kaufmann, Jacob Klingel and F. X. Zachman, in 1832.  The last named was from Baden, Germany.  Charles Butler and Christian Cross came in 1834.  They were followed by Adam Wells, B. Anselment, John G. Gabler, J. Wolhnger, Mr. Bender (father of Philip), Christian Fox, Jacob F. Moyer, James Johnson, J. Mechtley and Mr. Davids.

GRAVEYARDS.

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