Mercer County was formed from old Indian Territory April 1, 1820. The land is one great flat plain, and while in the forest state wet, when cleared and drained very fertile and well adapted to grass, small grain and Indian corn, which is its great production. Area about 470 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were 140,633; in pasture, 12,023; woodland, 73,384; lying waste, 4,154; produced in wheat, 364,235 bushels; rye, 2,733; buckwheat, 667; oats, 632,537; barley, 12,881; corn, 1,287,610; meadow hay, 15,343 tons; clover hay, 8,334; flaxseed, 726 bushels; potatoes, 51,636; tobacco, 1,000 lbs.; butter, 415,750; cheese, 150; sorghum, 14,110 gallons; maple syrup, 121; honey, 4,806 lbs.; eggs, 634,737 dozen; grapes, 8,300 lbs.; wine, 1,387 gallons; sweet potatoes, 42 bushels; apples, 14,558; peaches, 20; pears, 145; wool, 29,184 lbs.; milch cows owned, 6,931.� Ohio State Report, 1888.
School census, 1888, 9,269; teachers, 183. Miles of railroad track, 86.
Population of Mercer in 1830, 1,737; 1840, 8,277; 1860, 14,104; 1880, 21,808, of whom 17,882 were born in Ohio; 586, Indiana; 451, Pennsylvania; 154, Virginia; 93, Kentucky; 87, New York; 1,773, German Empire; 105, Ireland; 62, France; 42, England and Wales; 27, British America, and 19 in Scotland. Census, 1890, 27,220.
This county was named from General Hugh Mercer, who fell at the battle of Princeton, fought January 3, 1777. He was born in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland, about the year 1720; he was educated there at the University; he held the position of assistant surgeon in the army of Prince Charles Edward in the year 1745; in 1747 settled near what is now Mercersburg, Pa.; was wounded in Braddock's expedition; at the outbreak of the Revolution was practising medicine at Fredericksburg, Va.; in 1776, by request of Washington, was made brigadier-general; led the column of attack at Trenton; while rallying his men at Princeton was felled by a blow from a musket, and, refusing to surrender, was bayonetted five times, and died some days afterwards in great agony. His funeral in the city of Philadelphia was attended by 30,000 people. Congress provided for the education of his youngest son, and the St. Andrew's Society of Philadelphia reared to his memory a monument on Laurel Hill.
ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT
This county has been the theatre of a most important event in the early history of the West � St. Clair's defeat. It took place on the southwest corner of the county, within two or three miles of the Indiana line.
The great object of St. Clair's campaign was to establish a military post at the Miami village, at the junction of the St. Mary and St. Joseph, at what is now Fort Wayne, Ind., with intermediate posts of communication between it and Fort Washington, to awe and curb the Indians in that quarter, as the only preventive of future hostilities.
Acting under his instructions, St. Clair proceeded to organize his army. At the close of April (1791) he was at Pittsburg, to which point troops and munitions of war were being forwarded. On the 10th of May he reached Fort Washington, but owing to various hindrances, among which was the mismanagement of the quartermaster's department, the troops, instead of being in readiness to start upon the expedition by the 1st of August, as was anticipated, were not prepared until many weeks later. From Fort Washington the troops were advancing to Ludlow's station, six miles distant. Here the army continued until September 17th, when, being 2,300 strong, exclusive of militia, they moved forward to a point upon the Great Miami, where they built Fort Hamilton. From thence they moved forty-four miles farther, and built Fort Jefferson, which they left on the 24th of October, and began their toilsome march through the wilderness. We copy below from the notes of Judge Burnet:
During this time a body of the militia, amounting to 300, deserted and returned to their homes. The supplies for the army being still in the rear, and the general entertaining fears that the deserters might meet and seize them for their own use, determined, very reluctantly, to send back the first regiment for the double purpose of bringing up the provisions and, if possible, of overtaking and arresting some of the deserters.
Having made that arrangement, the army resumed its march, and, on the 3d of November, arrived at a creek running to the southwest, which was supposed to be the St. Mary's, one of the principal branches of the Maumee, but was afterwards ascertained to be a branch of the Wabash. It being then late in the afternoon, and the army much fatigued by a laborious march, they were encamped on a commanding piece of ground, having the creek in front.
It was the intention of the general to occupy that position till the first regiment, with the provisions, should come up. He proposed on the next day to commence a work of defense, agreeably to a plan concerted between himself and Major Ferguson, but he was not permitted to do either; for, on the next morning, November 4th. half an hour before sunrise, the men having been just dismissed from parade, an attack was made on the militia posted in front, who gave way and rushed back into camp, throwing the army into a state of disorder, from which it could not be recovered, as the Indians followed close at their heels. They were, however, checked a short time by the fire of the first line, but immediately a very heavy fire was commenced on that line, and in a few minutes it was extended to the second.
In each case the great weight of the fire was directed to the centre, where the artillery was placed, from which the men were frequently driven with great slaughter. In that emergency resort was had to the bayonet. Colonel Darke was ordered to make the charge with a part of the second line, which order was executed with great spirit. The Indians instantly gave way, and were driven back several hundred yards, but for want of a sufficient number of riflemen to preserve the advantage gained, the enemy soon renewed their attack, and the American troops in turn were forced to give way.
At that instant the Indians entered the American camp on the left, having forced back the troops stationed at that point. Another charge was then ordered and made by the battalions of Majors Butler and Clark with great success. Several other charges were afterwards made, and always with equal effect. These attacks, however, were attended with a heavy loss of men, and particularly of officers. In the charge made by the second regiment Major Butler was dangerously wounded, and every officer of that regiment fell, except three, one o. whom was shot through the body. The artillery being silenced, and all the officers belonging to it killed, but Captain Ford, who was dangerously wounded, and half the army having fallen, it became necessary to gain the road, if possible, and make a retreat.
For that purpose a successful charge was made on the enemy, as if to turn their right flank, but in reality to gain the road, which was effected. The militia then commenced a retreat, followed by the United States troops. Major Clark with his battalion covering the rear. The retreat, as might be expected, soon became a flight. The camp was abandoned, and so was the artillery, for the want of horses to remove it. The men threw away their arms and accoutrements, even after the pursuit had ceased, which was not continued for more than four miles. The road was almost covered with these articles for a great distance.
All the horses of the general were killed and he was mounted on a broken-down pack-horse that could scarcely be forced out of a walk. It was, therefore, impossible for him to get forward in person, to command a halt, till regularity could be restored, and the orders which he dispatched by others for that purpose were wholly unattended to. The rout continued to Fort Jefferson, where they arrived about dark, twenty-seven miles from the battle-ground. The retreat began at half-past nine in the morning, and as the battle commenced half an hour before sunrise, it must have lasted three hours, during which time, with only one exception, the troops behaved with great bravery. This fact accounts for the immense slaughter which took place.
Among the killed were Major-General Butler, Colonel Oldham, Major Ferguson, Major Hart and Major Clark. Among the wounded were Colonel Sargeant, the adjutant-general. Colonel Darke, Colonel Gibson, Major Butler and Viscount Malartie, who served in the character of an aid. In addition to these, the list of officers killed contained the names of Captains Bradford, Phelon, Kirkwood, Price, Van Swearingen, Tipton, Purdy, Smith, Piatt, Gaither, Crebbs and Newman; Lieutenants Spear, Warren, Boyd, McMath, Burgess, Kelso, Read, Little, Hopper and Lickins; also. Ensigns Cobb, Balch, Chase, Turner, Wilson, Brooks, Beatty and Purdy; also. Quartermasters Reynolds and Ward, Adjt. Anderson and Doc. Grasson. And in addition to the wounded officers whose names are mentioned above the official list contains the names of Captains Doyle, Truman, Ford, Buchanan, Darke, and Hough; also of Lieutenants Greaton, Davidson, DeButts, Price, Morgan, McCrea, Lysle and Thompson; also Adjutants Whistler and Crawford, and Ensign Bines.
The only charge alleged by the general against his army was want of discipline, which they could not have acquired during the short time they had been in the service. That defect rendered it impossible, when they were thrown into confusion to restore them again to order, and is the chief reason why the loss fell so heavily on the officers. They were compelled to expose themselves in an unusual degree in their efforts to rally the men and remedy the want of discipline. In that duty the general set the example, though worn down by sickness and suffering under a painful disease. It was alleged by the officers that the Indians far outnumbered the American troops. That conclusion was drawn, in part, from the fact that they outflanked and attacked the American lines with great force, at the same time, on every side.
When the fugitives arrived at Fort Jefferson, they found the first regiment, which was just returning from the service on which it had been sent, without either overtaking the deserters or meeting the convoy of provisions. The absence of that regiment at the time of the battle was believed by some to be the cause of the defeat. They supposed that had it been present the Indians would have been defeated, or would not have ventured an attack at the time they made it; but General St. Clair expressed great doubt on that subject. He seemed to think it uncertain, judging from the superior number of the enemy, whether he ought to consider the absence of that corps from the field of action as fortunate or otherwise. On the whole, he seemed to think it fortunate, as he very much doubted whether, if it had been in the action, the fortune of the day would have been changed; and if it had not, the triumph of the enemy would have been more complete, and the country would have been left destitute of the means of defense.
As soon as the troops reached Fort Jefferson, it became a question whether they ought to continue at that place or return to Fort Washington. For the purpose of determining that question, the general called on the surviving field officers, to wit: Col. Darke, Major Hamtramck, Maj. Zeigler, and Maj. Gaither, and also the Adjutant-General, Col. Sargeant, for their advice, as to what would be the proper course to be pursued under existing circumstances. After discussing the subject they reported it to be their unanimous opinion, that the troops could not be accommodated in the fort; that they could not be supplied with provisions at that place; and as it was known that there were provisions on the road, at the distance of one or two marches, it would be proper, without loss of time, to proceed and meet them. That advice was adopted, and the army put in motion at ten o'clock and marched all night. On the succeeding day they met a quantity of flour, and on the day after a drove of cattle, which having been disposed of as the wants of the troops required, the march was continued to Fort Washing.
In December, 1793, Gen. Wayne, having arrived with his army at Greenville, sent forward a detachment to the spot of St. Clair's defeat. They arrived on the ground on Christmas day and pitched their tents on the battleground. When the men went to lie down in their tents at night they had to scrape the bones together and carry them out to make their beds. The next day holes were dug and the bones remaining above ground were buried, six hundred skulls being found among them. The flesh was entirely off the bones, and in many cases the sinews yet held them together. After this melancholy duty was performed a fortification was built and named Fort Recovery, in commemoration of its being recovered from the Indians, who had possession of tho ground in 1791. On the completion of the fort one company of artillery and one of riflemen were left, while the rest returned to Greenville.
ATTACK ON FORT RECOVERY
The site of St. Clair's battle became the scene of a sanguinary affair in the summer of 1794, while Wayne's army was encamped at Greenville, of which Burnet's Notes give the best description we have seen.
On the 30th of June a very severe and bloody battle was fought under the walls of Fort Recovery between a detachment of American troops, consisting of ninety riflemen and fifty dragoons, commanded by Major McMahon, and a very numerous body of Indians and British, who at the same instant rushed on the detachment, and assailed the fort on every side with great fury. They were repulsed with a heavy loss, but again rallied and renewed the attack, keeping up a heavy and constant fire during the whole day, which was returned with spirit and effect by the garrison.
The succeeding night was foggy and dark and gave the Indians an opportunity of carrying off their dead by torch-light, which occasionally drew a fire from the garrison. They, however, succeeded so well that there were but eight or ten bodies left on the ground, which were too near the garrison to e approached. On the next morning, McMahon' s detachment having entered the fort, the enemy renewed the attack and continued it with great desperation during the day, but were ultimately compelled to retreat from the same field on which they had been proudly victorious on the 4th of November, 1791.
The expectation of the assailants must have been to surprise the post, and carry it by storm, for they could not possibly have received intelligence of the movement of the escort under Major McMahon, which only marched from Greenville on the morning preceding and on the same evening deposited in Fort Recovery the supplies it had convoyed.
From the official return of Major Mills, adjutant-general of the army, it appears that twenty-two officers and non-commissioned officers were killed, and thirty wounded. Among the former were Major McMahon, Capt. Hartshorn and Lieut. Craig : and among the wounded, Capt. Taylor of the dragoons and Lieut. Darke of the legion. Capt. Gibson, who commanded the fort, behaved with great gallantry, and received the thanks of the commander-in-chief as did every officer and soldier of the garrison and the escort who were engaged in that most gallant and successful defense.
Immediately after the enemy had retreated it was ascertained that their loss had been very heavy; but the full extent of it was not known till it was disclosed at the treaty of Greenville. References were made to that battle by several of the oldest in council, from which it was manifest that they had not even then ceased to mourn the distressing losses sustained on that occasion. Having made the attack with a determination to carry the fort or perish in the attempt, they exposed their persons in an unusual degree, and of course a large number of the bravest of their chiefs and warriors perished before they abandoned the enterprise.
The remains of Major McMahon and his companions, who fell at the time of the attack on the fort, were buried within its walls. Some years since their bones were disinterred and reburied with the honors of war, in one coffin, in the village graveyard. McMahon was known from the size of his bones. He was about 6 feet 6 inches in height. A bullet hole was in his skull, the ball having entered his temple and come out at the back of his head. He was originally from near the Mingo bottom, just below Steubenville. He was an Illinois Indian fighter and captain, and classed by the borderers on the upper Ohio with Brady and the Wetzels.
CELINA, county-seat of Mercer, on the Wabash river, 100 miles southwest of Toledo, about 100 miles north of Cincinnati, and about ninety miles northwest of Columbus, is on the L. E. & W., C. J. & M., and T., St. L. & K. C. Railroads; is also on the Grand Reservoir, ten miles long � the largest artificial lake in the United States, covering 17,000 acres with an average depth of ten feet. County officers, 1888: Auditor, Theophilis G. Touvelle; Clerk, Henry Lennartz; Commissioners, John H. Siebert, Peter Haubert, Christian Fanger; Coroner, Theodore G. McDonald; Infirmary Directors, Charles F. Lutz, Philip Heiby, David Overly; Probate Judge, Stafford S. Scranton; Prosecuting Attorney, Byron M. Clendening; Recorder, William C. Snyder; Sheriff, James F. Timmonds; Surveyor, Justin M. DeFord; Treasurer, Samuel A. Nickerson. City officers, 1888: Joseph May, Mayor; Charles Gable, Clerk; H. F. Juneman, Treasurer; George H. Houser, Marshal. Newspapers: Der Mercer County Bote, German, Democratic, William Stelzer, editor and publisher; Mercer County Observer, Republican, Jameson & Ross, editors and publishers; Mercer County Standard, Democratic, A. P. Snyder, editor and publisher. Churches: one Catholic, one Lutheran, one Presbyterian, one United Brethren, one Methodist. Banks: Citizens', Chr. Schunck, president, J. W. DeFord, cashier; Godfrey & Milligan.
Manufactures and Employees. � Krenning Woollen Mills, blankets, etc., 10 hands; Celina Machine Works, machine shop, 7; W. B. Nimmons, barrel heads, 45; W. H. Beery, flour and feed, 4; Timmonds & Estry, doors, sash, etc., 6; Celina City Mills, flour, etc., 3. � Ohio State Report, 1888. Population, 1880, 1,346. School census, 1888, 752; George S. Harter, school superintendent. Capital invested in industrial establishments, $79,525. Value of annual product, $132,500.� Ohio Labor Statistics, 1888. Census, 1890, 2,684.
Celina is steadily prospering; its manufactures are chiefly wood, as are those of northwestern Ohio generally. The centre and south part of the county is a rich gas field, while north of Celina extends the oil territory. Celina is a Democratic stronghold. It has furnished the Ohio Legislature with two Democratic speakers of the House in the persons of ex-Congressman F. C. Le Blond and Hon. A. D. Marsh, while Hon. Thomas Jefferson Godfrey in 1868 was president of the Senate, and in 1869 was on the Democratic ticket for lieutenant-governor, with George H. Pendleton as candidate for governor; he was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1873-1874, and on the judiciary committee. He takes much interest in education, and has for years been a trustee of the State University. The German Catholic element is strong in Celina, and, indeed, in the new northwest of Ohio generally, and it makes a thrifty, upright, industrious body of pioneers, intensely patriotic and well adapted to cope with a wilderness condition. The old county-seat was St. Mary's, described on page 302, where stood the old fort St. Mary's, built by Wayne.
By the formation of Auglaise county in 1848, St. Mary's was embodied in it, although Celina, then as now, was the county-seat. It had but few inhabitants. Celina was surveyed and laid out by James Watson Riley, for himself, Rufus W. Stearnes, Robert Linzer, 2d, and Peter Aughenbaugh, joint proprietors of the land, and the plat recorded September 8, 1834. The name Celina was given after that of Salina, N. Y., because, like that place, it stood at the head of a lake. The name was changed in spelling from "Sa" to "Ce," to prevent confusion of post-offices. The town slowly got a start, and when the Harrison campaign ensued in 1840, the county officers had removed here from St. Mary's, and got domiciled in log lints, and the court-house had received its roof.
After the excitement of the Harrison campaign was over, a chopping frolic or "bee" was held to cut down the timber on the town site, and give the sun a chance to dry up the mud. So, on a beautiful Indian summer day about seventy experienced choppers from all the country round came to Celina with their sharp, glistening axes; women, too, came with them to do their cooking; and, after a great day of work, they partook of a generous supper of substantial, and then ensued a grand dance, kept up by many until daylight did appear.
TRAVELLING NOTES.
This is Thursday evening, December 9, 1886, and I am in Celina, county-seat of Mercer, and the southernmost of the wild counties of Ohio on the Indiana line. I got here by rail from Paulding near sunset, in a freight train with a caboose attached, and through the woods nearly all the way. This entire wild region of woods and swamps of Northwestern Ohio fill one with an indescribable emotion of coming greatness from its great fertility when cleared and drained. In the meanwhile its wood crop yields full reward for manly toil.
Celina, with its effeminate, soft-sounding name, is small and has the aspect of newness as though the place itself was but newly arrived. From its name we should look for a refined and gentle population. Its main street is very broad, and I walked in the beautiful crisp air and in the bright moon to its foot where lies the great artificial lake. Boys and girls were there skating � their glad voices rang on the air.
The Hon. William Sawyer represented this Congressional district from 1845 to 1849, and he got fastened upon him the epithet of "Sausage." And this was the way of it: Wm. E. Robinson, the waggish reporter "Richelieu," of the New York Tribune, had given a comic description of the Hon. Wm. Sawyer's bringing on to the floor of Congress a cold lunch, and spreading it on his desk and partaking of it with a gusto in the presence of his fellow-members while in session.
Cold sausage, as described, was the principle article of the menu. The Democratic majority expelled Mr. Robinson, but he came back some years later and took his seat, not this time in the reporter's gallery, but on the floor of the House, right among the Democrats, as the Democratic member from the Brooklyn, New York, district. Mr. Sawyer was ever after known as "Sausage Sawyer." It was a cruel epithet to apply to a worthy man.
THE MERCER COUNTY RESERVOIR
The largest artificial lake, it is said, on the globe, is formed by the reservoir supplying the St. Mary's feeder of the Miami extension canal, from which it is situated three miles west. The reservoir is about nine miles long and from two to four broad. It is on the summit, between the Ohio and the lakes. About one-half in its natural state was a prairie, and the remainder a forest. It was formed by raising two walls of earth, from ten to twenty-five feet high, called respectively the East and West embankment, the first of which is about two miles and the last near four in length. These walls, with the elevation of the ground to the north and south, form a huge basin to retain the water.
The reservoir was commenced in 1837 and completed in 1845, at an expense of several hundred thousand dollars. The west embankment was completed in 1843. The water filled in at the upper end to the depth of several feet, but as the ground rose gradually to the east it overjoyed for several miles to the depth of a few inches only. This vast body of water thus exposed to the powerful rays of the sun, would, if allowed to have remained, have bred pestilence through the adjacent country. Moreover, whole farms that belonged to individuals, yet unpaid for by the State, were completely submerged. Under these circumstances, about one hundred and fifty residents of the county turned out with spades and shovels and by two days of industry tore a passage for the water through the embankment. It cost several thousand dollars to repair the damage. Among those concerned in this affair were persons high in official station and respectability, some of whom here for the first time blistered their hands at manual labor. They were all liable to the State law making the despoiling of public works a penitentiary offence, but a grand jury could not be found in Mercer to find a bill of indictment. In our original edition we made the following statement in regard to a colony of colored people which amounted to several hundred persons: They live principally by agriculture, and own extensive tracts of land in the townships of Granville, Franklin and Mercer. They bear a good reputation for morality, and manifest a laudable desire for mental improvement. This settlement was founded by the exertions of Mr. Augustus Wattles, a native of Connecticut, who, instead of merely theorizing upon the evils which prevent the moral and mental advancement of the colored race, has acted in their behalf with a philanthropic, Christian-like zeal that evinces he has their real good at heart. The history of this settlement is given in the annexed extract of a letter from him.
My early education, as you well know, would naturally lead me to look upon learning and good morals as of infinite importance in a land of liberty. In the winter of 1833-4 I providentially became acquainted with the colored population of Cincinnati, and found about 4,000 totally ignorant of everything calculated to make good citizens. Most of them had been slaves, shut out from every avenue of moral and mental improvement. I started a school for them and kept it up with two hundred pupils for two years. I then proposed to the colored people to move into the country and purchase land, and remove from these contaminating influences which had so long crushed them in our cities and villages. They promised to do so, provided I would accompany them and teach school. I travelled through Canada, Michigan and Indiana looking for a suitable location, and finally settled here, thinking this place contained more natural advantages than any other unoccupied country within my knowledge. In 1835 I made the first purchase for colored people in this county. In about three years they owned not far from 30,000 acres. I had travelled into almost every neighborhood of colored people in the State and laid before them the benefits of a permanent home for themselves and of education for their children. In my first journey through the State I established, by the assistance and co-operation of abolitionists, twenty-five schools for colored children. I collected of the colored people such money as they had to spare and entered land for them. Many, who had no money, afterwards succeeded in raising some and brought it to me. With this I bought land for them.
I purchased for myself one hundred and ninety acres of land to establish a manual labor school for colored boys. I had sustained a school on it, at my own expense, till the 9th of November, 1842. Being in Philadelphia the winter before I became acquainted with the trustees of the late Samuel Emlen, of New Jersey, a Friend. He left by his will $20,000 for the "support and education in school learning and the mechanic arts and agriculture such colored boys, of African and Indian descent, whose parents would give them up to the institute." We united our means and they purchased my farm and appointed me the superintendent of the establishment, which they call the Emlen Institute.
In 1846 Judge Leigh, of Virginia, purchased 3,200 acres of land in this settlement for the freed slaves of John Randolph, of Roanoke. These arrived in the summer of 1846 to the number of about four hundred, but were forcibly prevented from making a settlement by a portion of the inhabitants of the county. Since then acts of hostility have been commenced against the people of this settlement, and threats of greater held out if they do not abandon their lands and homes. � Old Edition.
From a statement in the county history issued in 1882 we see that a part of the Randolph negroes succeeded in effecting a settlement at Montezuma, Franklin township, just south of the reservoir.
OTHER TOWNS
FORT RECOVERY is on the south bank of the Wabash river, one and a half miles east of the Indiana State line, fifteen miles southwest of Celina, on the L. E. & W. R. R. Newspapers : News, Independent, Charles L. Patchell, editor and publisher; Times, Democratic, A. Sutherland, editor and publisher. Churches: one Catholic, one Methodist, one Congregational, one Christian, one Lutheran. Bank: G. R. McDaniel. School census, 1888, 347; D. W. K. Martin, school superintendent.
Fort Recovery is in the midst of a great gas field. On Wednesday, March 28, 1887, the first well was struck. It was well named " Mad Anthony." It came with a mighty roar at only a depth of five hundred and ten feet. "Hats went up, cheers rang out" and, writes one, "the glad light of happiness, enthusiasm and prosperity shone in the eyes of our people. The test shows two millions of cubic feet daily from this well alone."
SHANE'S CROSSING is eleven miles north of Celina, on the southern division of the T. D. & B. and C. J. & M. Railroads. Newspaper: Free Press, D. C. Kinder, editor and publisher. Bank: Farmers'. Population, 1880, 404. School census, 1888, 308.
Historically this is an interesting spot. It is on the south bank of St. Mary's river. Originally it was on or near the site of the Indian village Old Town. This was an old trading post held and conducted by the Indians prior to the war of 1812, and named from Anthony Shane, a half-breed Indian trader. At this spot Wayne's army crossed going north, and the spot eventually became known as Shane's Crossing. The United States granted a reservation here to Shane and he laid out a town on his land June 23, 1820; it was recorded at Greenville under the name of Shanesville, which it retained until 1866, when it was incorporated and took its original name as Shane's Crossing. When the Shawnese left Ohio for Kansas, Shane, then a very old man, went with them. Shanesville, St. Mary's and "Coil Town" were the early contestants for the seat of justice for the county. Coil Town passed away, became a cultivated field. The first term of court was held at Shanesville, Judge Low presiding; but St. Mary's won the prize, and then it later passed to Celina.
MENDON is eleven miles northeast of Celina, on the 1). Ft. W. & C. H. K. Population, 1880, 242. School census, 1888, 144.
COLDWATER is five miles southwest of Celina, on the L. E. & AV. and C. J. & M. Railroads. School census, 1888, 269.
MERCER is eight miles north of Celina, on the D. Ft. W. & C. R. R. School census, 1888, 129.
ST. HENRY is twelve miles southwest from Celina, on the C. J. & M. R. R. School census, 1888, 218.
Source: Historical Collections of Ohio, Vol. II, Copyright 1888 by Henry Howe, C. J. Krehbiel Company, Printers and Binders, Cincinnati, Ohio
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