The flooding of the Blanchard River in August really did a number to
the Putnam County Library in Ottawa. Its future still lies in limbo.
Genealogists and local historians will appreciate knowing that 90% of
the material in the local history room was saved by volunteers and the
records are housed at the Fort Jennings Branch Library.
When the flood waters engulfed the library, some brave volunteers went
in and moved items up from the basement and from the lower shelves of
the local history room. The water went higher than even expected so
some things were lost. Ruth Wilhelm, the curator of the local history
room, had just arrived home from vacation when she learned the news of
the flood devastation. She was taken by boat to help rescue the
records. Space was available at the Fort Jennings Branch so the big
move was made. They saved 90% of the genealogy and local history
records, including most microfilm and two reader printers. The copier
was also saved.
Patrons can visit the library 5 1/2 days a week. It is located in the
former music room of the old high school on Water Street in Fort
Jennings.
Ruth Wilhelm gave two local history presentations at the Fort Jennings
Branch Library Monday afternoon and evening. Many Fort Jennings
residents and visitors attended the very interesting and informative
Power Point Presentation, which included pictures and documentation of
the area going back to the War of 1812. Ruth compiled this history
after extensive research in old newspapers and township records.
The history of Fort Jennings goes back to the War of 1812, when Lt.
Col. William Jennings was ordered to establish a supply fort on the
Auglaize River. This would be an intermediate fort between Ft. Defiance
and Ft. Amanda. The fort was a small stockade enclosing one acre on the
west bank of the river. It was completed in mid-October 1812. It took
11 1/2 days travel from the Fort in Cincinnati to Fort Jennings on foot.
The fort consisted of block houses surrounded by pickets and had an
immense supply of provisions, including flour, salt, coffee, sugar,
candles, soap, whiskey, clothing, kegs of powder, cannon balls, steel,
oats and hospital supplies. These supplies were sent to the fort by
rafts and pirogues (canoes made from hallowed tree trunk). Some
buildings in the fort were used as smokehouses to preserve the meat
from the cattle and hogs that were butchered.
Buildings were built with fresh wood that when dried out left large
openings at every joint in the picket wall. The spacing between the log
uprights grew larger each week until an enemy could easily shove a gun
or toss a tomahawk through. The soldiers had a limited supply of
heavier winter clothing so the heavier clothing was worn by the men
outside and the light clothing was given to men cooking or making
bullets.
In the spring the soldiers made gardens and fished and ate wild grapes,
which they also used to make unsweetened jelly and potent wine. At the
end of the war, the treaty was signed on 24 December 1814 and word
reached the Fort four weeks later. Within seven days the post was
totally deserted.
Some of the very early pioneers arrived in Jennings Township in the
1820’s. Samuel Washburn was the first white settler in the township,
arriving in 1825. His son, Thomas, was the first white child born in
the township. Other very early settlers were Isaiah Closson, William
Cochran and Thaddeus and Henry Harris. Jim Thatcher had also settled
1/2 mile south of the Fort in 1827 but he didn’t own any land. He had
cleared approximately 30 acres of land. An unnamed Revolutionary
soldier settled two miles south of the Fort. He had a son, Aaron, but
their surname is not known. Washburn’s land was approximately four
miles south of the Fort. At that time Jennings Township reached South
to State Road in what is now Allen County. Gomer and the portion of
Section Ten (later named Delphos) east of the canal was part of
Jennings Township. The Putnam County boundaries were changed in 1848
when a large section was given to Allen County, due to the formation of
Auglaize County, which took part of Allen County.
The Christian Raabe and John Discher families were the first German
settlers of Jennings Township, arriving in 1833. Raabe and Discher were
married to sisters. At that time, Edward Ladd, the Harris family, the
Widow Walton and Henry Boda, lived north and east of the Fort. The
Stuck family was said to have lived about one mile south of the Fort.
The Raabe and Discher families were followed by Henry Joseph Boehmer,
Henry Wellman, John Ferdinand Vonderembse and George Calvelage in 1834.
Joseph Rekart arrived in the USA in 1828 and came to Putnam County in
1835. The Rekart family came by horse and wagon, crossing the Alleghany
Mountains via Harrisburg and Pittsburgh to Ohio, crossing Ohio via
Wooster, Mansfield, Bucyrus and Findlay to Ottawa. This trip took six
weeks so they must have been very tired and settled in Ottawa for four
years. Rekart then purchased 50 acres from Boehmer and moved to
Jennings Township, with his family, which included Sigmund Rekart, who
married Mary Discher. John Cowan, who was born in 1861 in Allen County,
was left an orphan. He was taken in by a Fort Jennings family, where he
worked on the farm until he was 21. He attended Normal University at
Lebanon and returned to teach in Fort Jennings for 11 years.
Boehmer bought 1,000 acres of land, which he sold to early settlers.
Boehmer, along with Washburn, Vonderembse and Wellman purchased the 92
acres where the Fort stood for $360.
Ruth Wilhelm showed many pictures and graphs, along with more
interesting history, which will be found in this column in two weeks.
Next week will feature the tornado, which took the Landeck Church down
60 years ago this month.
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