WHEN the revolutionary war ended the general government and the colonies were badly in debt; the former was compelled to repudiate and those of the colonies that were lucky enough to have to have surplus lands under their old charters, were enabled to pay a large part of their debts by land scrips.  Virginia and Connecticut, owning the entire northwestern territory, paid nearly all their colonial debts by these scrips, which secured the first titles to land northwest of the Ohio river.  The general government struggled along with an empty treasury for many years, until finally the duties on imports and the proceeds from the sale of the public lands made her exchequer flush, and the statesmen of those days were troubled with the surplus revenue.  There was no national debt, and the money accumulated in the United States treasury until it became a burden.  The recommendation of General Jackson, to distribute it among the states, was approved by some and opposed by others.  Some of the eastern states had no particular use for their shares, but it was a God-send to some of the states in the west where the people suffered greatly for want of money, which was especially true of Ohio.  The gross amount to be distributed was $20,000,000.  The portion to Ohio was $1,423,000; and and the amount that came to Seneca county was $31,745.73.03.  The act passed congress and was approved by the President on the 26th day of March, 1837.
     By an act of the general assembly of the state of Ohio, the county commissioners of each county were made fund commissioners of this surplus revenue for their respective counties.  On the 2d day of May, 1837, these commissioners distributed the sum of $15,877.62.5, being the remainder of the amount coming to this county, to one hundred

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and fifty-eight persons, in sums of $100.00 each, secured by bond and mortgage on unencumbered real estate.
     This was a great relief to Seneca county, as well as to Ohio generally.  Mr. Read, the editor of the Tiffin Gazette, in concluding an editorial on this subject, May 13, 1837, said:
     The amount thus loaned we hope may relieve, to some extent, the pressure felt in our community, and enable many to meet their little responsibilities under which they have been laboring.  The loan has had a salutary influence in establishing confidence in our institutions and relieving the pressure, which, though perhaps not as bad as it might be, is sufficiently disastrous.
     This testimony is here added to show the great want of money spoken of heretofore, when writing on the Ohio canals.
     This testimony is here added to show the great want of money spoken of heretofore, when writing on the Ohio canals.
     The general government is not troubled with a surplus of revenues in her treasury now.  The interest on the national debt runs high up into the millions.  Generations unborn will come and pass away, and this humble little book will be lost and forgotten, before the treasurer of the United States shall again be put to the inconvenience of distribution, among the states, moneys that have accumulated, and for which the general government has no use.

POLITICS.

    A historian has no right to be partial, either in religion or in politics.  When he has stated facts and events truthfully and honestly, as they occurred, he is done, and should leave others to form conclusions for themselves.  Conscious of this rule, men and parties are spoken of, and the histories of churches given without favoritism or prejudice.  Tolerant in all things, it is a very easy matter for a man to concede to another his right to judge for himself what is best for him in both politics and religion.  Men often differ, and very honestly too, on almost every subject.
     Few and scattered as the settlers were in Seneca county in the fall of 1828, and removed far away from the real theatre of action, one would scarcely have supposed that then and here, under the then surroundings, party spirit would run up to fever-heat; but it did.  It took a newspaper two and three weeks to reach Tiffin from the Atlantic coast.  But when they came and developed new steps taken by the parties, they were discussed, and sides taken by our people, with as much vehemence as anywhere, and the Adams men, the Clay men, the Jackson men and the Crawford men, in 1828, were no more decided in their respective choice of Candidates and their attachment to party, in .New York or Baltimore, than they were in Seneca county.  Jackson was elected

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president, and the fight on the United States bank culminated in the removal of deposits, the vetoes of the re-charters, which agitated the whole country.  Party spirit ran high in 1832, when Jackson was the Democratic candidate for re-election.  Clay was the candidate and the embodiment of the Whig party.  Clay and Jackson were both Masons.  Great prejudices were entertained against both, and the Morgan affair was in everybody's mouth.  The Masons were very much abused, and a new party was called into existence, called "anti-Mason," under the leadership of William Wirt, of Maryland, who was the candidate for president, and Amos Ellmaker, of Pennsylvania, for vice-president.  The ides of November came on and Jackson was re-elected.  Now the Democrats had to have a jubilee, and the first political jollification in Seneca county came off at the house of Colonel John Goodin, in Tiffin, on Thursday, the 6th day of December, 1832.  Hon. David E. Owen was appointed president, and Andrew Lugenbeel vice president.
     In writing up the proceedings of this meeting, Mr. E. Brown, the editor of the Patriot, the pioneer newspaper of the county, and whose columns were open to the three parties alike (for he published "Clay politics," "Jackson politics," and "Wirt politics,") said:

     Although many of our friends were unavoidably absent, viewing the lands in the "Seneca Reservation," previous to the sale of them, which commences on Monday next, yet the concourse was unusually large.
     Thirteen regular toasts (one for each of the original states.) were offered, besides a number of volunteer toasts - some witty, some less so.  Amongst those who participated were Henry Cronise, Goerge Flack, Nathan L. Wright, Joseph Graff, Colonel R. Jaqua, Uriah P. Coonrad, Gabriel J. Keen, E. Brown, Jacob Kroh, Colonel John Goodin, A. Eaton, Samuel S. Martin, J. H. Brown, E. Locke, Frederick Kishler, P. J. Price, William Anderson, John Campbell, William H. Kessler, Joshua Seney, Andrew Mainz.
     The Seneca Patriot will be noticed in the chapter on the "Press."
     The following will show how Seneca county voted for fourteen years of its early history:
     In 1828 - Adams, (Whig,) received one hundred and eleven majority.
     In 1830 - Lucas, (Democrat,) received three majority.
     In 1832 - Clay, (Whig.) received twenty-nine majority.
     In 1834 - Lucas, (Democrat,) received five majority.
     In 1836 - Van Buren, (Democrat.) received one hundred and eighty-one majority.
     In 1838 - Shannon, (Democrat.) received one hundred and thirteen majority.
     In 1840 - Shannon, (Democrat.) received one hundred and sixty-one majority.

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     In 1842 - Shannon, (Democrat,) received five hundred and sixty-three majority.
     As a general thing the county remained Democratic ever since, with the success of an occasional opposition candidate, except in 1854 and 1855, when the Now-Nothings swept the county in a storm, electing their candidates by majorites over 1,400.
     The following table shows the vote of Ohio, from the years of 1828 to 1842, both inclusive:

TIFFIN AND FORT HALL.

     There is very little about Tiffin that attracted the attention of people and answered as an inducement for new-comers to settle down here.  There was nothing inviting to the immigrant.  Mr. Hedges offered his lots very cheap, indeed; caused the county seat to be located here, secured the removal of the land offices here, invested money to improve the town, built houses and mills and bridges, assisted in securing the post-office in this side, and all that, but the thing dragged and exhibited very little vitality for a long time.  Simeon B. Howard bought inlots, numbers 19, 20 and 21, for $60 on credit.  Lots could be bought on almost any terms.
     After the few first cabins were put up in the woods, and a few trees cut away to let the sun shine down upon them, the principal streets were opened, and thus the little settlement lingered along for many years, struggling against numerous adversities.  The locality was sickly.  Mechanics found no employment.  The few settlers already here ha no money to build with.  Those that brought money with them preferred to invest in land, and there was no chance for speculation with a view of immediate profit.  Fort Ball seemed to have the best of it for a great while.  The elite and the rich gathered there and looked down upon the Tiffinite in contempt.  They had the best store over there and the post-office, and McNeil's corner was the hub of civilization.
     It seemed as if they would never forgive Mr. Hedges and those that acted with him, for the location of the county seat on this side.  They called the commissioners, that located the county seat very hard

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names; charged them with having been bribed, and predicted that all sorts of evils would follows.  Even the purchase of Fort Ball by Mr. Hedges, failed, for a time, to allay this bitter feeling.  It grew into fever-heat when the post-office was removed from Fort Ball to Tiffin, and Jacob Plane was appointed postmaster on this side, in the spring of 1829, under Jackson.  Even Mr. Hoagland, the ferryman, became so incensed against Mr. Hedges that at every session of the court he would come into the court house on the second or third day of the term, take off his big stove-pipe hat at the door, walk up to the judges' desk with measured step, in his long brown overcoat reaching down to his shoes, holding in his hand a large role of manuscript, which he would lay before one of the judges, turn round and walk out again with an air of triumph, snapping one eye at the bystanders.  In this manuscript he complained of Mr. Hedges for refusing to let Hoagland take stone out of the river, and many other things.
     But the little town, thus languishing, did live (as the lawyers say); slowly and gradually increasing in numbers, until about the years 1833 it numbered probably 400 souls.  For fourteen years, from the time of its platting, it was under the government of Clinton township, having no government of its own until the 7th day of March, 1835, the legislature of Ohio passed an act incorporating the town of Tiffin.  The act contained twenty-one long sections.  It provided, amongst other things, for the limit of taxation; for the use by the town of the county jail; for the election and appointment of officers; for building of sidewalks and improving the streets; for providing fire apparatus; for punishing the sale of intoxicating liquors, etc.  The town embraced the first plat and first southern addition.
     There was no election held under the law in April, 1835, nor in April, 1836.  Nobody seemed to care for a town government, but in June, 1836, the following notice was published in the Tiffin Gazette, viz.:

CORPORATION ELECTION.

     Notice is hereby given that an election will be held at the house of Eli Norris, on Wednesday, the 29th inst., for the purpose of electing officers in comformity to the provisions of the act incorporating the town of Tiffin.

     At this election Dr. H. Kuhn was elected the first mayor of the town.

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     The population of Tiffin proper, in 1840, was 728; 1850, 2,718; 1860, 3,992; 1870, 5,648, and in 1880, 7,882.
     Tiffin outstripped Fort Ball in population and improvements. Business clustered around the public square ad along Washington street, where it is yet holding sway with a most wonderful tenacity.  Tiffin is unlike many other towns in the west in this respect, where business extends into various streets; but here it must be confined in a square or two and stick there.
     No reason can be given for this singular freak, because there is no reason nor sense in it.
     Fort Ball had no organization as a municipal corporation until the legislature, on the 13th day of March, 1849, passed an act authorizing an election for town officers to be held, fixing the boundary, giving corporate powers to the new town, etc.
     Jacob Flaugher was elected the first mayor, James P. Pillars, recorder, and J. H. Kisinger was appointed the first marshal.  It was a short-lived affair, and no other election was ever held under the charter, for the organization of Tiffin, as a city of the second class, embraced both towns and allayed the old rival jealousy that had annoyed both sides so many years, and both had a right to say with Shakespeare:

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     Section twenty-five repeals the acts of incorporation of Tiffin and Fort Ball.
     The act contains twenty-six sections; was prepared by the writer at the request of the councils of both towns, and was passed by the legislature without any change.
     The first election was held on the 20th of April, 1850, and the following named persons were elected, viz:
     Mayor - William Lang.
     Treasurer - Robert Crum.
     Marshal - Samuel H. Kisinger.
     Councilmen, First Ward - William H. Gibson, William H. Keilhotz, Andrew Denzer.
     Councilmen, Second Ward - Jacob Flaugher, W. M. Johnson, George C. Small.
     J. W. Patterson, the last mayor of the town of Tiffin, certified the election returns.
     On the 16th day of January, 1871, the city council, by ordinance, divided the city into five wards, as now.  They are as follows:
     First ward is all north of Market street, to the river; extending from Market street east to Circular; thence east along Rebecca to an alley lying east of lot 647; thence south along said alley to Main; thence east to the corporation line.
     Second ward - All north of Miami to corporation line, on the left bank of the river.
     Third ward - All south of Miami to corporation line, on the left bank of the river.
     Fourth ward - All south of Market and west of Washington, and west of Melmore streets to the corporation line.
     Fifth ward - All east of Washington and Melmore, and south of Market and the south and west line of the first ward.
     The valuation of the taxable property in the city proper for 1879 was $2,403,593.  The city tax for the same year was $83,087.83.  For a number of years past the anual tax of the city has averaged three per cent, on the dollar valuation.
     The following is a list of the

OFFICERS OF THE CITY.

at this time (1880):
     Mayor - Harrison Noble.
     President of Council - Dr. J. F. E. Fanning.
     Vice-President of Council - Dr. J. P. Kinnaman.
     Clerk - C. J. M. Sullivan.

Harrison Noble

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The treasurer of Seneca county is the treasurer of the city ex officio.
City Solicitor - Perry M. Adams
Marshall - James F. George.
Street Commissioner - Scudder Chamberlain.

COUNCILMEN.

First ward - James Love, J. P. Kinnaman.
Second ward - John Marsony, Josiah P. Baker.
Third ward - J. F. E. Fanning, Charles Sting.
Fourth ward - John B. Ehrenfried, Ronaldo A. Gray.
Fifth ward - Peter Grammes, Benjamin Shinners.

HARRISON NOBLE.

     The subject of this sketch was born in Salt Creek township, Wayne county, Ohio, where his father's family lived on a farm, on the 28th day of January, 1826.  When the family moved to Seneca county he was about ten years old.  He attended the first school at a log school house that his father and the neighbors put up on the northeast corner of section 19, in Jackson township.  It was a school house of the kind they had in those days; a clap-board roof, pungeon floor, pungeon seats and pungeon desks.  Bass-wood logs were split and hewed as smooth as possible, holes bored into the logs in the sides of the house, sticks driven tightly into the holes and the hewed pungeon, laid on the sticks, made a writing desk.  Holes bored into another piece of pungeon and legs, about eighteen inches long, driven into them, made benches.  An older brother of Harrison, Washington Noble, the oldest son of the family, taught the first school here.  He had forty scholars the first winter.  The house was warmed from a large fire-place put into one end of the school house that took a four foot back log.  The end of the cabin was cut out and a sort of pen built on the outside.  On the inside of this pen, having three sides, stones and clay were put up some five feet high for the back and sides of the fire-place.  Upon this bank the chimney was raised with sticks and clay mortar.  The wet clay was mixed with straw to keep it in its place and hold it together.  Some of the children had to come three miles to school through the woods by paths and trails.  It was a great hardship for some of the smaller ones when the snow was deep and the underbrush full of icicles.  Water under the snow was often knee-deep.  This may well be called getting an education under difficulties.  Children attending the beautiful school houses in Seneca county now, can scarcely appreciate the condition of the first schools here.  The large airy rooms in

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your high schools now-a-days, heated by hot-air furnaces, and supplied, with beautiful and convenient patent desks, were not to be thought of then.
     When Harrison grew up to be large enough to work, he helped his father clear land, and in a few years seventy acres were cleared on the homestead farm.  The boys had their sports also in those days.  It was not always hard work and no play.
     He was a very good coon hunter, and kept a couple of blooded coon dogs with which he would scour the country around for coon; the Crossley boys, the young Bostons, and Hollopeters, often joining him.  One night Harrison got out his Indian pony, took his dogs with him and went to Mud creek, where he caught seven coons.  Boys often got their "spending money" in that way.
     The wolves were still very troublesome then, and people that kept sheep or pigs had to stable them for protection.
     The squirrels. chip-monks and crows were so numerous and troublesome that the people were compelled to make war upon them.  Harrison often collected a lot of boys with guns and ammunition for a squirrel hunt.  They appointed two captains, who picked their men one at a time, "turn about;" then they started in all directions.  They were to meet at a certain place, and the party that had the least number of squirrel-tails, lost the price, which was two bushels of com which the losing party had to furnish.  The plumes of the left wings of crows, hawks or buzzards were also counted for so many squirrel-tails.
     The boys also organized debating societies and spelling schools, which were held often at private houses, and which were a source of pleasure and mutual improvement.
     The winters of 1844-5 young Noble spent at the college in Oberlin, and in 1846 he attended the Seneca county academy in Republic.  In the winter of 1846-7 he taught a school in Tiffin, occupying one of the upper rooms in the two-story brick school house, still standing, on the north side of Market street, near the corner of Monroe and Market.  Mrs. Gibbs, a Mr. Collins, and the writer were all the other teachers then employed in Tiffin.  Collins was a tall, slender man, had a wife and child, was a preacher, and made terrible war on the Masons and Odd Fellows.  He was going to break down their lodges and build the church of God upon their ruins.  He returned to Wooster, where he formerly lived, and did not behave very well after his return.  He left no ruins but his own.
     In the following year Noble entered the office of his brother.  Warren P., to read law.  During his studies he taught a school in Liberty

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township four months, and boarded at the house of Mr. Eden Lease, who was then sheriff of Seneca county.  Mr. Lease very often had more writs to serve than he could well attend to alone, and employed Mr. Noble to assist him.  By these services and taking his wages as school teacher, he succeeded in paying his boarding until 1849, when he was admitted to practice law.  He then immediately became a partner of his brother.  Warren P., in the practice, under the firm name of W. P. and H. Noble.
     This firm continued in business until the 1st of May, 1874, when Harrison Noble formed a new firm with Mr. Nelson B. Lutes, in the practice of law.  This association continued until the 1st of May, 1880, six years, when it was dissolved by mutual consent.
     In 1853 Mr. Noble was elected city solicitor of Tiffin, and served two terms, receiving $50 per year as his salary.  In 1859 he was elected a member of the city council, and served twelve years, his term expiring about the time of the great fire, April 13, 1872.
     In 1863, while the militia of Ohio was being re-organized and regiments formed, Seneca county had two regiments.  Mr. Noble was elected colonel of the Second Regiment.
     In 1864, Mr. George S. Christlip was nominated by the Democratic county convention as their candidate for director of the Seneca county infirmary, and a few days before the election, his health failing him very rapidly, Mr. Christlip informed the Democratic central committee that he would not live to serve, and declined to have his name put upon the ticket.  The committee, without the knowledge of Mr. Noble, had his name printed upon the tickets, in place of Mr. Christlip's.  He was thereupon elected to that office, and served until 1870.  It was customary with the directors of the infirmary to keep their own treasury, receive and pay out money, keeping their own accounts.  Upon the urgent request of Mr. Noble, it was made a rule of the board to pay all the moneys received by the board into the treasury of the county, to be drawn out upon the order of the county auditor, after having been parsed upon by the board.  The rule is in vogue still, and works very well.
     Mr. Noble is the present mayor of Tiffin, to which office he was elected in 1879.  On the 3d day of June, 1858, he was married to Mrs. Minerva, the sixth daughter of Josiah Hedges, and two sons are all the children of this union.  Harry H., the oldest, is now a student at Notre Dame University, at South Bend, Indiana, and Birdie M. is attending the union schools of Tiffin.  Mr. Noble has an extensive practice, and takes a lively interest in the growth, the progress and the development of the material resources of the city and county.

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     Soon after their marriage the young couple commenced housekeeping in their pleasant home on the corner of Jefferson and Market, where they still reside.

PLANK ROADS.

     In this year (1849), on the 22d day of March, the general assembly of Ohio also passed an act incorporating the Lower Sandusky, Tiffin and Fort Ball plank road company.  Ralph P. Buckland, John R. Peas, John L. Green, James Justice, and John Bell, of Sandusky county; Lorenzo Abbott, Calvin Clark, Benjamin Tomb, Cyrus Pool, Vincent Bell, John W. Patterson, Warren P. Noble, and Rezin W. Shawhan, of Seneca county; Chester R. Mott, Joseph McCutchen, Robert McKelley, and Andrew McElvain, of Wyandot county, and all others associated with them, by subscribing stock, were made a body corporate and politic.
     Another company, called the Tiffin and Osceola plank road company, was also chartered, and both roads put in operation.  A branch road from Fostoria to intersect the former, north of the mouth of Wolf creek, was also laid.  Toll-gates were erected and tolls collected.  These answered the purpose for awhile, and were very popular until they began to give way by the rotting of the plank.  The tolls collected proved insufficient to keep up the necessary repairs and other expenses.  Subscribers were assessed to pay a second time, a work that always has a tendency to injure the popularity of any joint stock company.  Meanwhile the roads became worthless and were abandoned; toll-gates broke down, and the supervisors of common highways removed the plank by putting them on piles and burning them up.  The stockholders lost every dollar they invested; never realized anything, and thus ended another wild, impracticable, foolish experiment.
     For many years past, some of our citizens agitated the propriety of building pikes in Seneca county.  the great inexhaustible quantity of stone in the county suitable for that purpose, the bad condition of the roads every winter and spring, together with the landed wealth and general enterprise of our citizens, seemed to warrant such a measure as wise and necessary.  During the past winter (1879-80), meeting were held in several townships, and in Tiffin, in which the subject was discussed, and finally the county commissioners were prevailed upon to publish a notice in the Tiffin papers, calling upon the voters at the election on the first Monday in April, 1880, to vote on the subject, yes or no.  If a majority of the vote cast had been in favor of pikes, the commissioners would have commenced the work under the law.  The subject is still very fresh in the minds of all, and no attempt will be

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made to give the various reasons assigned by those opposed, why the measure should be defeated, and so large a portion of our people voted against pikes.  Suffice it to say, that when the votes were counted, it was found that only 1,578 voted for pikes, while 5,156 votes were cast highly needed in our county, should find so few friends.  Tiffin alone gave a majority in favor, some 500.  All other election precincts in the county gave large majorities against the measure.  In Big Spring, a township that needs good roads as badly as any other locality in the county, in a vote of 521, there was only one vote in favor of pikes.
     The far or the near future must solve this question.  The present generation prefers to stick in the mud.

THE TELEGRAPH.

     About 1849, the first line of telegraph was constructed through Tiffin, along the Mad River and Lake Erie (now C. S. & C.) Railroad.  A joke in connection with this enterprise is almost too good to be lost.  Mr. Christopher Snyder, the merchant, was a good deal of a wag, and whenever he had a chance ot get a "rig" on anyone, would spare neither friend nor foe.
     Mr. Balthasar Ries was a German barber, and lived on East Market street.  For many years he was in the habit of calling upon his customers at their houses, stores or shops, to shave them or cut their hair.  He had a frame with two hooks to hang over the back of a chair, with a perpendicular piece that slid up and down and having a cushion on top to lay the head upon.  He would carry this frame with him on his left arm, on which were also suspended a few clean towels.  He was also supplied with a large tin cup, full of hot water, some soap, a brush, a few razors and a pair of scissors.  Thus fitted out, he started on his beat - a traveling barber shop.
     Mr. Ries was a small man, very active and nervous, with black hair and black eyes, pale face, polite and cleanly in his habits, but very credulous.  Anything Mr. Snyder said was as good as gospel to him.  One time, while he had Snyder down in a chair in his store, with lather all over his face, Ries wanted Snyder to tell him what those high poles along the railroad on the other side of the river were for.  He said he had seen men climb up on them and fasten a wire from one to another, etc.  Snyder was in a hurry to get done, and was not inclined to talk much; but Ries insisted on knowing all about it, and kept on quizzing and asking questions.  Finally Snyder told Ries that that was a new way to go to California.  (The gold fever was then at high tide.)  This

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remark made bad worse with Mr. Ries, and he was bound to have a full description of the thing.  Finally Snyder told him that travel by steamer around Cape Horn was very expensive and dangerous, and to avoid both, this plan had been adopted; that when the work was completed clear to San Francisco an iron saddle would be placed across the wires to hold the traveler and his baggage, and when all was ready the thing would be touched off behind him, and that would send him across the country to San Francisco, where he would be received on a pile of straw, and from whence he could go to the mines when he was ready.
     All this seemed very reasonable to Ries, but he said we lived in a most wonderful age, when improvements were made in all departments of life; and finishing dressing Snyder's hair, he went away.  He was gone an hour, when he returned very much excited, and setting his tin cup on the counter with such violence that the water flew in all directions, and shaking his fist at Snyder, threatened that he would never again believe anything he said:  that people down street had laughed at him when he told them of the new way of going to California, etc.  Snyder aid that Joe Rauker had told him the same story, and he did not know any better himself, etc.; but Ries went away in a very nervous, angry mood.

-------

     Among the early pioneers in Fort Ball was also Andrew Love, who lived on the bluff on the McCutchenville road, where the river comes up close to the road.
     Another pioneer, on the Tiffin side, was Alexander Mason.  He built and opened the "Eagle Hotel," on the corner of Washington and Perry streets.  It was a two story brick building, and received a third story when Mr. R. W. Shawhan became the owner, who fitted up and enlarged the hotel, when it was christened the "Shawhan House," J. W. Patterson, proprietor.  Mason kept there in 1834 and 1835; Patterson opened the Shawhan House in 1850.  The hotel has retained its name ever since, under several proprietors, among whom P. P. Myers, who really build up the reputation of the house and kept it the longest, was the most popular.

THE TIFFIN SCHOOLS.

     There were but few children among the early settlers in Tiffin, and yet to secure a site and build a school house was one of the first public cares and enlisted the support of everybody.  Application was made to Mr. Hedges for a lot to build a school house upon, and on the first day of February, 1828, Mr. Hedges executed a deed to George Don-

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aldson, Jacob Plane, and Richard Sneath, school directors of school district number four, Clinton township, for in-lot numbered forty-two (42).  It is situate on the north side of Market street, next west of the northwest corner of Market and Monroe.  The deed has a whereas to it and commences in these words: "Whereas, heretofore Josiah Hedges has laid out and established a town by the name of the town of Tiffin, situate upon fractional section 19, T. 2 R. 15, and whereas a patent has been issued to said Hedges, etc.  Now, therefore," etc.
     A little one-story brick school house was built by these directors upon this lot close by the pavement, lengthwise with the street.  It had room for about 60 scholars.  The door was near its south east corner.  There was one window at the east end, back of the teacher's desk, and two windows in each of the other sides.  Here the various denominations held their meetings until they had churches of their own.  The Protestant Methodists especially occupied the school house very often on Sunday and held their quarterly meetings there when the little school house was crowded to overflowing.
     After the school house was finished and a new set of directors had been elected a notice was published in the Seneca Patriot for a teacher in the following form:

A TEACHER WANTED.

     A gentleman who is well versed in arithmetic, English grammar and geography, and can give satisfactory reference for good moral conduct and steady habits, is wanted to teach the district school in Tiffin.  It is desirable that application should be made before the first of November next, as the school will be vacant.

  September 28, 1832.
     Under this notice Mr. Benjamin Crockett made application and was employed, and he continued to teach here for several years thereafter.  The writer made his acquaintance in the winter following the fall of 1833.  By my contract to learn the trade of a cabinet maker with Boss Phillips, I was entitled to four months' night school at the boss' expense.  Apprentices were compelled to work every night at the bench until 9 o'clock, except on Saturday night, so that the loss of time and the payment of the teacher were to be taken in consideration.  For want of a teacher of a night school, I traded my four months' night school for 30 days' day school in the fore part of the summer of 1834 and to go to Mr. Crockett.  His school this summer was attended by a few flaxen-headed children and the writer was one of a few larger boys that attended.  All the time Mr. Crockett and the writer could spend together was equally divided between us.  While Mr. C. would  

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take much pains to instruction me in English grammar and pronouncing words correctly in reading the history of the United States, he took the other half of my tie to receive instructions in mathematics and in the geography of Europe.  thus my thirty days passed away and I became a graduate of Mr. Crockett's first school in Tiffin.  This constituted the sum total of my schooling in America, and it was not long after, that the school examiners of Tiffin, Joshua Seney, Oliver Cowdry and Frederick Singer, gave me a certificate of qualification to teach school, when I became one of the first teachers in the two-story brick, still standing on the same lot, now occupied for a shop.
     The little old, one-story school house was torn away in about 1844 and the two story brick put up a little further from the street, with four rooms.
     Here all the schools in Tiffin were accommodated until the young city organized under the union school system and preparations were made to build the beautiful school house on South Monroe street, now known as the high school building.
     Simultaneously with the organization of the city of Tiffin, the question of inaugurating the union school system under the law, agitated the minds of some of our people also.  Opinions as to its propriety differed very widely.  The proud position that Ohio occupies in her educational department, when she taxes her wealth to educate her youth - in other words - when she makes the owners of property pay taxes to educate the children of those who do not pay taxes for want of property - was not appreciated by all our citizens.  The friends of the measure were the taxpapers, the wealthy men of the city, one of the most active of whom was Mr. R. W. Shawan, who had no child to educate and paid the largest amount of taxes of any man in the county.  To his honor be it said - the success of the measure depended largely on the part he took in its favor.  Remarkable as it may seem, the enemies of the proposition were the poorer classes, who generally have the most children to educate.  Nineteen of these, who worked hard, electioneering for votes against the measure all day, were the heads of families averaging five children to each, and whose taxes on the duplicate added together for all purposes did not reach the sum of thirty dollars.
     The vote was taken in September, 1850, and a handsome majority secured in its favor.  In October following were elected, viz.:
     William Lang, William D. Searles, George Knupp, A. C. Baldwin, W. H. Keilholts, W. H. Gibson.

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     At the first meeting of the board, held on the first day of November, 1850, William Lang was elected president, W. H. Gibson, secretary and A. C. Baldwin treasurer.  The board then also appointed Messrs. J. H. Pittenger, R. G. Pennington and R. R. Bement as a board of examiners.  Thus the new system was set on foot, and thousands of children have enjoyed the benefit of these union schools during these thirty years last past.
     The following is a list of the first corps of teachers employed by the board, viz.:
     Miss E. Augspurger - German school - she furnishing her own room, $20 per month; Mrs. Sarah Sands, also furnishing her own room, $20 per month; Miss Elizabeth Cronise and Miss C. Coffin, each $15 per month; William Fitzgeralds, $24 per month; Samuel Nolan, $22 per month; Miss Maria Andrew $25 per month; Thomas J. Cronise, $24 per month.
     The small amount of the school fund was equally divided among the three terms, and for want of sufficient means to pay the teachers, a tax of from one cent to one and one-half cents a day (according to class) was assessed on each scholar in attendance for that term.  This mode of taxation lasted only one year and was dropped.
     Rev. R. R. Bement was employed to superintend the schools during this winter only, for which the board paid him $12, on the 1st of May, 1851.  On the same day the board offered Mr. S. S. Rickley, of Columbus, $400 salary as superintendent of the union schools, with the privilege of allowing him time also to teach a class in Heidelberg College.  The offer was accepted, and Mr. Rickley was the first superintendent of the Tiffin union schools.
     In 1852 the board purchased in-lots numbers 279 and 280, in the (then) second ward, where they erected the first union school house in the city, the same year, at an expense (including $900 paid for the lots) of $6,000.  This is the school house immediately west of St. Mary's church.
     In 1854 the board bought of Mr. Hedges the large lot upon which the present high school building now stands, and on the 28th of March, 1855, they resolved that when they should build a school house there, it should be put away from the street 125 feet.
     On the 11th of April, 1855, a meeting of the voters in the city was held, in compliance with notice, and a resolution was unanimously adopted to build another school house in the city, and the board were authorized to levy a tax of two mills on the dollar of all the taxable property in the city of for the year 1855, and three mills for 1856, 1867, 1858, and 1859, for that purpose.

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     On the 22d day of November, 1855, at a public meeting, the board was authorized to borrow a sum of money not to exceed the sum of $6,000, to be used in the building of the new school house, and interest not to exceed ten per cent.
     On the 10th of June, 1856, the board passed a resolution to lay the corner-stone of the new school house with appropriate ceremonies, and to invite the Rev. L. Andrew to deliver the address.
     On the 20th of January, 1857, another public meeting, held at the mayor's office, resolved to instruct the school board to proceed and finish the new school building, and to levy additional taxes on all the taxable property in Tiffin, for that purpose, as follows:
     For the year 1857, one and one-half mills additional; for the year 1858, one and one-half mills additional; for the year 1859, one and one-half mills additional; for the year 1860, three and seven-tenths mills on the dollar; for the year 1861, three and seven-tenths mills on the dollar for the year 1862, three and six-tenths mills on the dollar; for the year 1863, three and seven-tenths mills on the dollar, and to borrow another sum of money for that purpose, not exceeding $8,000; to issue bonds, etc.
     In 1859 the third story was finished inside, and the first high school organized that fall.
     The building, with the site, cost at least $45,000.
     By a special vote of the citizens, Jan. 30, 1871, the board was authorized to build two additional school houses; one in the first ward (college hill), and one in the second ward (as now).  On the 17th of February, 1871, the board contracted for both of these structures, and had them put up at an expense of $7,500 each, sites included.
     In 1878 the board built the large school house in the (now) third ward, in Fishbaugh's addition, at a cost, including site, of $5,800, making a total of about $72,000 invested in school houses and lots.
     There are at this time abut 2,700 youths in Tiffin entitled to public instruction.  The school fund for the year 1879 was $19,315.34.
     The board employs one superintendent and twenty-nine teachers, of whom the following is a list, including their respective salaries:

W. Lang
Warren P. Noble        C. O. Knepper
Henry Brohl        J. F. Bunn
E. B. Hubbard

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THE SCHOOLS OF TIFFIN - Continued -

     There are three German schools.
     The following named gentlemen constitute the present board of education of Tiffin, viz.:
     President - Dr. E. B. Hubbard
     Secretary - Henry Brohl
     Treasurer - Warren P. Noble
     Prof. C. O. Knepper, Jacob F. Bunn, William Lang.

DR. E. B. HUBBARD

Was born Dec. 28, 1840, at Chester, Hamden county, Massachusetts where his father was a prominent business man.  He graduated at Hinsdale academy, Massachusetts, and prepared to enter Williams college, but his father failing in heavy western land speculations, prevented it.  In 1857 he came west with his brother, Dwight being appointed superintendent of the schools there.  Dr. Hubbard remained here three years, and is mentioned in the history of Huron and Erie counties as having been a very successful teacher.  In 1860 he was called east to become supervisor of the state primary schools at Monson, Massachusetts, where he remained two years and pursued his medical studies in the large hospital connected with that institution; being, however, more interested in the preparation of drugs and medicines than in the medical practice, he chose that branch of the profession.  On severing his connection with this, one of Massachusetts' noblest state institutions, he entered the pharmacy of Dr. Hutchins, in Springfield, Massachusetts.  His partner was a physician widely known, a disciple of the old school, devoting his time to his extensive practice, leaving Dr. Hubbard in the entire control of the store.  With an intention of locating in Chicago, he sold out his business at Amherst, and came as far west as Bellevue, Ohio, where he stopped to visit old friends, and was persuaded to buy an interest in a drug store there.  The firm was known by the name of Goodson and Hubbard.  In January, 1874, he

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came to Tiffin and entered into partnership with Dr. H. K. Hershiser, in the well known corner drug store on Market and Washington.  At the close of the first year he bought his partner's interest, and has remained in successful business there ever since.  Ever since his location here Dr. Hubbard has taken a very lively interest in every measure calculated to promote the growth and welfare of Tiffin, his adopted city, especially in her educational interests.  He has been twice elected a member of the school board; first in 1877, and again in 1880, and has been president of the board since 1878.  He was married to Miss Helen M., daughter of Judge Sawyer, of Nashua, New Hampshire, on the 27th day of August, 1873, and Clara S. and Sheldon B. Hubbard help to make the household lively.

C. O. KNEPPER

C. O. Knepper

was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, on the 200th of October 1836, the oldest son of Jonathan and Margaret Knepper.  He graduated from Heidelberg college in the class of 1862, and from the seminary in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, in 1864.  He was superintendent of the schools of Waterloo, Iowa, and of Waverly, in the same state.  On the 24th day of June, 1868, he was married to S. Grace Dunnell, daughter of David Dunnell of Massachusetts, the bride then living in Waterloo.  This union was blessed with three children, one son and two daughters.  In 1871 he was elected professor of the Alumni of Heidelberg and took charge of his position, in 1872  In the spring of 1879 he was elected a member of the school board of Tiffin.

HENRY BROHL

was born in the city of Bonn, on the Rhine, on the 10th day of November, 1831.  He attended the academy and university at Bonn, and before he had time to graduate he left his native city and country; he came to America and settled in Sandusky City in the spring of 1851.  Mr. Brohl had also applied himself to the mercantile business while he lived in his native city, and when he removed from Sandusky City to Tiffin in 1855 he entered into copartnership with E. T. Abbott in the business of wholesale grocers.  He continued in this firm until in 1857 he entered into partnership with Robert Crum in Tiffin in the sale of groceries and liquors.  The business was conducted by this firm until 1865, when Mr. Brohl opened a saloon, which he has conducted successfully ever since.  In 1856 Mr. Brohl was married to Miss Catharine Krautz, of Sandusky City.  This union was blessed with seven children, who are all living.  He was elected to the school board in 1877.

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     The reader who desires to see short biographical sketches of the other present living members of the school board of Tiffin, will find them in chapter 23, under the heads of Warren P.Noble, Jacob Bunn, and William Lang.