Henry County Genealogical Society Newsletter
Volume 4, Number 1, January-February 1990

MEETINGS

January 15, 1990, Monday, 7:00 pm

Work night at Edwin Wood Library, Deshler. Join us for the opportunity to use the library facilities after hours. We will have microfilm, computer, county histories, family histories, newsletters, and many other resources available for your research. Copies made for a small fee.

February 19, 1990, Monday, 7:00 pm

At Edwin Wood Library, Deshler, Ohio. Program to be announced later.

SPECIAL NOTES

THIS ISSUE CONTAINS THE SURNAMES BEING researched by our 1989 members. Also listed are the names, addresses and membership numbers of 1989 members. As usual, for privacy reasons, neither list will be reproduced in this electronic version of the newsletter.

THE SEARCH IS STILL ON FOR SOMEONE TO fill the role of newsletter editor. If you are interested let Connie Petersen know before the end of January.

DID YOU KNOW?

    1-800-222-2494 is the number to call for the location of records kept by the Presbyterian Church.

    We have been running a series on the histories of townships in Henry County. This material has been from the History of Henry and Fulton Counties, Ohio by Lewis Cass Aldrich, Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co., Pub., 1888.

QUERIES

WEAVER
    Looking for information on Nancy Weaver listed as mother living with John Weaver, age 34, running sawmill, in the Henry Co. 1880 census, Bartlow Twp. Nancy was 74 y. and keeping house at that time.
--Leona Borough, Phoenix, OR 97535

MILLER, PRICE, RANDELS
    Looking for information on the John or Christian John Miller family. John m. Anna Price in Seneca Co. and moved to Henry Co. in the 1850's. Owned land in Sec. 32 and Sec. 5. John d. ca. 1858 leaving Anna and children John Lewis b. 1845; Amelia b. 1848 m. Conrad Randels; Thomas Jefferson b. 1850; Elizabeth b. 1852; and Jacob P. b. 1854. Anna and children owned this land until 1869. Some children may have stayed in Henry Co.
--Kay Miller, Republic, OH 44867

YACKEE, YACKY, FELL, FOELL
    Searching for information on Yackee/Yacky. Have located my grandfather Albert Edward Yackee b. 1892, Cincinatti, OH and gr-grandfather Frederic Yacky/Jaki b. 1857 Lieschback, France (Alsace). Frederic married to Ella Marie Fell b. 1863, Spring Mills, OH. Also looking for info on the Fell/Foell family from Gomerigen, Germany.
--Robert E. Page, APO New York 09712

HIVELY, GLASS
    Would appreciate any information about Jacob Hively, d. 15 Nov 1859, 64 y 11 m 28 d; wife Catharine d. 7 Jan 1865 89y; Nancy Hively Glass b. 19 May 1921, d. 2 Aug 1906; Elias Hively d. 23. Apr 1875. These people lived in the Ridgeville, Henry Co.,OH area. Note: Should anyone require information from the Pittsburgh area, I would be glad to assist.
--Henry Hively, Pittsburgh, PA
Cor. Sec note--Sent info from Locust Grove Cem. at Ridgeville, 5 gen. chart containing name Hively, and articles from 1972 Henry Co. history.

PRICE, NEWTON, TILLIA
    Need information on the children of Isaac J. Price and Susan Marie (Newton) Price. Isaac and Susan owned land in Sec. 20, Henry Co. until ca. 1890, when it was sold and they moved to Fulton Co. Their children were Sarah A. b. 1860; John b. 1863, d. 1896; Joseph M. b. 1867, m. Ada Tillia in 1888, d. 1947; Mary E. b. 1870; Rachel A. b. 1872; Ester b. 1873; Julia b. 1878. Who did daughters marry? Where did they live?
--Kay Miller, Republic, OH 44867

HISTORY OF DAMASCUS TOWNSHIP, 1888

    Damascus township was organized as a voting precinct in 1823, included the whole of what was then Henry county, with the voting place at Independence, now in Defiance county. As time advanced improvements multiplied and population increased, new civil townships were formed, until Damascus is at present limited to the original government-surveyed township No. Five, north of range eight, east, minus so much as lies north of the Maumee River, and forms part of Washington township, being sections 1 and 6, the most of 5 and 7, and parts of three and 4. It is, of course, bounded on the north by the Maumee, on the east by Wood county, on the south by Richfield, and on the west by Harrison township. In 1840, when its territory, divided with Richfield and Flat Rock, embraced all of the county south of the river, it had a population of only 489. In 1860, reduced to its present dimensions, it contained 761 souls, which in 1870 had increased to 1,179, this grew to 1,415 in 1880, and at present, estimating from the voting population and including the village of McClure, which has spring up since, must number less than 2,000 persons.
    In 1837 there were but three hundred and eighty-five acres of land in what is now Damascus township, on the duplicate for taxation, and it was a number of years after that date before settlement commenced. John Savage was perhaps one of the
very first actual settlers; Abraham Snyder came from Virginia in 1840, but first settled in Washington, at that time called Myo township; James Reid came in 1843; James Fiser, also from Virginia, came the same year; Samuel Domer in 1849, and Solomon Domer the year following; Milton Jennings came in 1851; Jacob Beaver was one of the early settlers; William Bell, Philip W. Counselman, the Shepard family, John M. McClure, John Foltz, John C. McClain, may be mentions among the pioneers to whom is due the credit of converting the forests of Damascus into a garden.
    The township, in common with the county, is very level, or rather flat. It is, however, easily drained into the several natural water courses which run through the township, emptying in to the Maumee.
    The south branch of Turkey Foot, the main creek south of the Maumee, enters the township in the southwest quarter of section nineteen, running north easterly through sections nineteen, eighteen and seventeen and emptying into the river in the west half of section eight. Lick Creek starts in the southwest corner of section twenty-nine, also running in a northeasterly direction until it reaches the river in the northwest corner of section three, a fragment of which lies south of the river. The east branch of this creek commences in the south west corner of section sixteen, uniting with the main creek in the southeast corner of section nine. Big Creek starts in the southwest quarter of section thirty-four, running south, tending slightly to the east, through section twenty-seven, twenty-two, fifteen and eleven, reaching the river in the southwest quarter of the latter section. The channels of these creeks have been greatly improved by widening and deepening, and with the system of artificial drainage, both surface and under-ground tiling, completely drain the township, which is now one of the best improved and most productive in the county, the soil being mainly black alluvium and its fertility seemingly inexhaustible.
    The Coldwater, Mansfield and Lake Michigan Railroad is located through the township, its road commencing at the east side of the southwest quarter of section twenty-five and running in a southwestern direction through sections twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty and nineteen. The "Narrow Gauge" now converted into a standard, and known as the "Clover Leaf" route, also runs through the township, entering on the east line at the northeast corner of section thirteen and running diagonally through the township, southwesterly to the southwest corner of section thirty-one. It crosses the road bed of the C. M.& L. M. Railroad, in the northeast quarter of section twenty-eight. The location of the railroads, and especially the construction of the narrow gauge, gave birth to the (End of sentence never printed in book--Ed.)
    Not less than three-fourths of the lands of this township were under a high state of cultivation, worth from $25 to $85 per acre. The township is well ditched, has good roads on almost every section line; its residences and farm buildings are surpassed by few localities, and it has more churches and school-houses than any other township in the county, or in fact in most any other county. Its population is very moral, sober and industrious, in fact a more desirable community or better county in which to live, will be hard to find.