1935 Lima News Article About Ottoville

10-15-1935 Lima News

Grizzled Canal Boat Skipper Relives Days Along Tow-Path

Ottoville's 87-Year-Old Resident Recalls Exciting

Period When Packets Dotted Miami And Erie

Waterway From River To Lake

By TEX DE WEESE

OTTOVILLE. Oct. 15— Fourth of July in 1843 was a history maker in Ottoville, for it was on that date 90 years ago that the first boat passed thru here on the Miami and Erie canal.

Ottoville was known then as "Lock Sixteen" and was nothing more than a stopping and transfer point on the canal system. Lock Sixteen became known as Dog Creek in 1858 when the Monterey-twp post office by that name was moved the farm now occupied by John Plescher, to this Putnam County center of activity along the canal.

The name Ottoville was not given to the community until 1880 and the town was not incorporated for ten years after that. The village of today has a population of approximately 500 persons.

Ran Canal Boat

            The canal gave Ottoville its start. When here I talked for a long time with Oliver Sellet, 87, the oldest man in the town, who worked on the canal when a boy, and who later operated a state packet boat between Defiance and the state dam and between Delphos and St. Mary’s.

            The first boat that passed through here on Independence Day in ’45 was the Marshall, laden with furs and pelts enroute from Piqua to Toledo. But it was not until 17 years later that Sellet was to play his first roll on the canal.

            He was born in Alsace Loraine in 1849 and came to America with his parents when he was five years of age. The family first settled in Seneca County and moved here from Fostoria in 1861 at the outset of the Civil War. When he was only 13, Sellet got a job working on the cabal as a laborer. His work was to help make repairs and to do general work in keeping the canal in good shape through this district.

            Sellet recalls a day in 1862 when there was a break in the lock here that held up canal traffic for a day. Just to give a rough idea how busy the canal was, Sellet says that in just a few hours upwards of 50 boats were docked up in Ottoville awaiting their turn to ship through the lock.

            In later years Sellet was Captain of a state boat that patrolled the canal to keep it in repair. Boats, he said, were towed by horses or mules, using two animals to tow a boat. At feeding time the animals were led across a drawbridge into the boat where they were fed in quarters in the middle of the barges. The canal was from 60 to 70 feet wide and from six to eight feet deep.

Limit On Loading

            Sellet said that there was a law which permitted boats to load only to a depth of three feet and any excess loading was punishable by a fine. Lock lifts varied from six to 16 feet. In the days of horse power it required from two to three days to make the trip from Ottoville to Piqua, a distance of about 60 miles. However the time was reduced in the last days of the canal when steam packets plied the route.

            An idea of the extensive canal operations in the early days is gained from from the fact that in the early pioneer settlement of Delphos alone, various interests owned 14 canal boats and then smaller packets. Much grain and lumber were chipped via the canal to lake ports and all manufacturers along the route used canal water power to operate their plants.

Record Book Stolen

            Sellet told me that for many years he had a priceless record of canal activities, which he had kept, but said that in recent years it was stolen from him.

            I would like to make another appeal to the fellow that took that book to bring it back to me,” Sellet said.

            Every industry needed to supply pioneer demands could be found along the banks of the canal in its balmiest days. Among them were stave factories, Saw mills, heading mills, cooperages, shipyards and dry docks, packaging houses, shingle factories, distilleries, shoe peg factories, asheries, planning mills and lumber yards.

            According to Sellet, the canal proved to be the main artery of commercial existence for the pioneer industrialists. Even after the railroads came to supplant the canal, the route still was used many years by pleasure packets. The last of these to operate through Ottoville was the Marguerite, after it went out of service, was owned for many years by a Delphos stock company an lay moored in the canal there between First-st and the Pennsylvania railroad bridge.

The Pirougues

            The canal business must have been pretty interesting. In digging through some old records I have found that in addition to the regular canal boats there also were operated by many individuals smaller craft known as pirougues. A pirougue was something on the order of a narrow ferry boat – perhaps three to four feet wide and from 35 to 40 feet long.

            These boats were used for lighter cargoes and were employed mostly by farmers as a means of conveying surplus grain, pork, butter, eggs, etc., to market at Defiance.

            They became a source of annoyance to the skippers of the canal boats when they first came into use, there were numerous collisions between packets an pirougues on the canal. Many times some interesting free for alls were conducted along the tow-path – probably much after the modern fashion of two autoists hopping out with blood in their eyes to settle the blame for a “tie” at a crowded street intersection.

            However, the individual owner of the smaller craft soon became expert mariners and the canal collisions were fewer.

            At times, tho, they had their ups and downs. A clipping from the Defiance Democrat, of April 1852, records one such instance of a court victory for the purougue pilots. It says:

            “J. P. Simon, of Putnam County, recovered a judgment of $10 and costs against the canal boat, Gold Digger, before Squire Bouton, Wednesday, for damage done to his pirougue, through carelessness or inattention of the hands on the Gold Digger. This settles the question that the pirougue drivers at our docks are entitled to some protection and that canal boatmen must be more cautious.”

Hauled War Supplies

            The Miami and Erie probably saw greatest activity when 14-year-old Oliver Sellet was employed on it during the exciting days of the Civil War. Boats could be seen on the canal almost any day or night going to and from Toledo and Cincinnati and other points, carrying war supplies.

            Today Sellet looks back into that dim long ago and recalls his experiences – and it doesn’t seem so long to him, either. Time just gets away from you, that’s all.

            To get at the background of this great canal, now in disuse, which extended 247 miles from Cincinnati to Toledo – joining the Ohio River and Lake Erie – one finds that the preliminary surveys and period of actual construction consumed the years from 1817 to 1829 before the first canal boat moved from Cincinnati to Dayton. And it was not until 1845 that the entire system from top to bottom of the state was completed.

            The Mercer County reservoir, Lake St. Mary’s, was the canal feeder in this district. An army of nearly 2,000 men worked day and night on the construction.

Small Wages

            Wages were small – about 30 cents a day – and the contractor who could supply his men with the largest jiggers of whisky was considered the most successful employer. Dirt was taken from the canal bed by shovels and wheeled to the banks. Oxen were used when practical, and according to Paul W. Cochrun, the Spencerville editor, there was little law among the workers. It seemed to be a case of survival of the fittest. Difficulties were settled with fists and sometimes with weapons. After completion of the canal, relatives of the men who were unaccounted for searched for months for those who were lost.

            Probably one of the biggest jobs of the entire project was the one which confronted the builders in the Lima district – that of cutting the canal through the elevation at Deep Cut, two miles southwest of Spencerville. It took hundreds of men two years to remove the dirt from one of the highest points of land in Ohio.

            Anybody could get a job working on the canal. even women disguised themselves as men and went to work in the diggings.

            The first steam locomotive ever shipped into Allen County passed through Ottoville in 1854. It was shipped from Toledo to Delphos on the canal to be used for construction work on the first railroad built through the county – now the Pennsylvania.

            Time moves backward in its flight for Oliver Sellet, Ottoville’s 87-year-old canal boat Captain, when you start talking the “language of the locks”.

            It makes his forget all about 1935 and borrowed time. As we sat in the kitchen of Sellet’s home here and talked of those early days on the canal – there came over this aged man a great change. A smile spread across his face, and once again he was a youthful captain of that state of Ohio packet, shouting orders to member of his crew along the banks of the Miami and Erie.

10-16-1935 Lima News

Devout Pioneers Crossed Sea To Build New World Ottoville

Monterey-tp Village In Putnam-co Basks In Sunlight Of Religious Life And Peaceful Pursuits Established By Early Settlers

By TEX DEWEESE

OTTOVILLE, Oct. 16—The original site of this village was platted in 1845 for the Rev. John Otto Bredeick, the German Catholic priest who had come to America

several years prior to this date and had established the town of Delphos, seven miles south of here.

In Tuesday's article I wrote of Ottoville's growth with the old Miami and Erie Canal. For it was at the time the village was laid out that the first canal boat passed thru on the way from Dayton to Toledo. That was a red letter day in the pioneer life of the community.

            The first permanent settlers in Monterey township, in which this village is situated, were the families of Henry Schroeder and Henry Upland, who came in 1845 – three years before the township was organized. They were followed in 1846 by Joseph Gruber and in 1847 by John Livingston, Jonas Dash, Conrad Henry and Bernard Esch. Mathias Schroeder came in 1849.

            Monterey township held its first election on January 19, 1850. Henry Schroeder, Esch and Gruber were named trustees, and Dash was elected clerk. Sparsity of the population is attested at that time is attested by the fact that only 11 votes were cast. In March of that year the trustees organized the township into two road and two school districts.

            Present township trustees are Gerhard Utrup, Frank Ruen and Charles Weber. George Altenburger has been justice of the peace for many years. A. F. Wannemacher is the Ottoville postmaster.

            Growth of what now is the town of Ottoville was slow in the pioneer days. The fact that it was a canal shipping point was about the only claim the community could hold as a center of township activity.

            Father Otto Bredeick, after whom the town is named, stood out as the beacon light in the toiling group of pioneers. He had come to the New World with a band of his followers from Osnabrueck, Hanover, Germany and his devotion to his flock enabled them to fulfill their mission in America.

            It was a dismal swampland into which they had come, they were industrious, god-fearing people and spurred on by the counsel of their church leader they succeeded in hewing from the wilderness and creating from the Black Swamp country an agricultural spot which today is one of the best in Ohio.

            There lives here today a man who came in 1875 from the hometown of Father Bredeick in Germany to the community now known as Ottoville. Even at that time there was little here that could be called a town – not much more than a general store and a few farm homes. This man is Ferdinand F. Vincke, now 84 years of age. When he was 24 he landed in America with a letter of introduction to Gerhard H. Otte, this villages second storekeeper, who had opened his mercantile establishment in 1860. W. H. Beckman was the first storekeeper in the village.

            Vincke proceeded to Ottoville with his letter and was given a job, working in the store and on the farm of Otte. Four years later Vincke bought a half interest in the store and a year later, in 1880, Otte sold his half and Vincke took over the business to run it

until his retirement from active business life in 1916.

Vincke was proprietor of the Ottoville general store for 41 years. Today he occupies himself between a devotion to his church and to working around his home here and in the garden.

In the back yard of the Vincke residence there stands today what probably was the first public building erected in the village. It is the two-story frame structure that served as the community's first church. It was built in 1850 thru the generosity of Father Bredeick. In 1863 the structure, 36 feet by 20 feet, was sold for $225. After passing thru various hands, according to Mayor L. W. Heckman, it came into the possession of

Vincke and stands today as a mute reminder of an accomplishment of the community's pioneer church workers.

Today Ottoville has one of the finest churches in the Northwestern Ohio district—the church of the Immaculate Conception which is inseparably linked with the growth of the village and Monterey- tp.

At the death of Father Bredeick in 1858, construction of the second Ottoville church was started by Father Westerholt When the latter was transferred to Cleveland,

the work was completed by Father Goebbels and a parsonage was erected. This move resulted in Ottoville church being changed from a mission to a parish. The Rev. A. J. Abel was the first resident pastor. There were several changes in pastors until 1868 when

the Rev. Michael Mueller assumed he pastorate and held it until his death in 1900.

So great was the parish growth under Father Mueller that a new church was built in 1885 at a cost of nearly $60,000. The building, of pure Gothic design, is considered

a masterpiece—and is said to be one of the two finest examples of Gothic architecture in the United States.

The lofty double spires rear their heads in the midst of the Ottoville community today as a reverent reminder of the memory of father Mueller. The Rev. J. B. Mertes became pastor in 1900 and served the parish for 20 years. The present parsonage was completed in 1903 at a cost of $10,000 and it was in this year that Father Mertes engaged the Sisters of the Precious Blood to teach in the Ottoville grade schools. During his

pastorate a sisters' residence was built, a new pipe organ was installed, a community hall constructed, clocks installed in the steeples and many other improvements were made. Father Mertes resigned in 1920 because of illness and the Rev. J, S. Arnoldi, the present pastor, succeeded him.

Since his coming the various parish sodalities were canonically established, the Association of Holy Children was formed, and a Council of the Knights of Columbus was organized.

His crowning work resulted in the movement, which consolidated the many school units in the Ottoville school district, which now are housed in a new and modern school building here. The Rev. Fr. Arnoldi is assisted in the pastorate duties by the Rev. Ralph Mueller, and the parish consists of approximately 500 families.

Ottoville is proud of its schools. F. J. Uhrich has been superintendent since 1909, and L. W. Heckman has been principal of the high school since 1911. Frederick Kaiser and Miss Helen Coyle are the other high school teachers, and the grade pupils are taught by the parish Sisters. More than 500 pupils are enrolled in the village schools, which are under the supervision of the Monterey township public school board comprised of George Rieger, Joseph Hoersten, Walter Wannemacher, Anton Koester and William Dickman, Felix Hoersten is clerk of the board.

In addition to being principal of the high school, Heckman is the village mayor. Other village officers are, Gerald Kromer, treasurer; J. L. Wannemacher, clerk, and Henry Perrin, marshal. Councilmen are Louis F. Weber, Frank King, J. P. Wurst, Joseph Schwerter, Adolph Miller and George Rieger.

Among the business and professional establishments in town are Miller Bros. clay works, Odenweller Milling Co., Ottoville Produce Clement C. Metz, manager; Dixon-Peterson Lumber Co., August Eickholt, manager; J. J. Miler, general store; L. F. Weber,

general store; Nick Bedink, cobler; George Vincke, cobbler; W. Remlinger, drugstore; George Rieger, tinner; George Smith, cream station; Miss Alvira Otte, cream station; Klima Bros., saddelry; King and Sons, groceries and meats; Gilbert Bendele, hardware;

George Wannemacher, farm implements.

Restaurants are operated by G. H. Otte, Frank Miller, Ralph Siler, Millie Neidecken, John Thines, and H. J. Thidof. The town has three garages run by Sanders and company, John Pittner, and Hoehn and Allmeier.

Alex Miller is president of the Ottoville Bank Co., and Rudolph Maag is cashier. Ralph Kramer the town's barber and undertaker. C. B. Wannemacher has a jewelry store, and a photo studio is conducted by H. J. Niedecken, Dr. O. J. Fatum is the village physician.

Among older residents of the town are Oliver Sellet, 87; Frank Thessing, 83; Henry Kemper, 80; Mrs. Margaret Perrin, 80; Frank Brokamp, 80; Mrs. Catherine Hazelman, 79; Ferdinand F. Vincke, 84, and Andrew Kehres, 81.

Mr. and Mrs. John A. Sanders, living three miles west of town: will celebrate their 63rd wedding anniversary Oct. 29. He is 88, and she is 86. Mrs. Mary Eberle, who resides a mile and a half northwest of the village, is 88 years of age.

Three state highways meet in Ottoville—224, 66 and 329—making the town an active rural trading community with live-wire merchants whose civic spirit generates the village commercial life.

Ottoville is a comparative youngster as far as incorporated towns go. It did not enter that class until 1890. Joseph Wannemacher was the first mayor. Today the village boasts fine streets with towering shade trees, a modern fire department, good light and power services and a system of schools second to none.

Even the farm community surrounding the village bespeaks the industrious trend of the rural residents of Monterey. As I drove out of town onto the highway in the autumal splendor of an Indian summer afternoon, there rolled away from me on either side the splendid well-kept farms of Old-World descendants whose ancestors came her to pioneer with the good Father Bredeick.

His heavenly spirit must approve of what it surveys here below – he must feel a deep sense of gratification at that manner in which the children of his flock have nurtured the seeds of a new civilization, scattered by him nearly a century ago.