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Settlement of Defiance, Ohio after the War of 1812
The items that followed were gathered to include in our Preston family history. Posting the clips here, only slightly annotated, as the references may be of interest to others.
History of Defiance County, Ohio (Chicago: Warner, Beers, 1883), pp. 85 and 187; from p. 87, pertaining to the organization of Williams County, and reporting about the first elections:
"William Preston, who was a soldier at Fort Winchester in 1812 is regarded as the first white permanent settler at Fort Defiance. He married a Miss Butler, whose brothers lived about eight miles below, on the Maumee. He was a farmer by occupation, intelligent, sober and industrious. He removed to St. Joseph Township, Williams Co, where he died, about 1828"; p. 187, “In 1819, William Travis, a pioneer of Noble Twp, visited Fort Defiance, and found here seven cabins, occupied by French traders. A few Americans were also here. In old Fort Winchester, John and William Preston were living. The former had married a daughter of Judge Ewing, of Troy, Miami Co, Ohio, and died soon after Mr. Travis came. ..."
Simon D. Fess, Ohio: A Four Volume Reference Library on the History of a Great State (1937), v. 3, pg. 478, entry William Preston for in "First Settlements" (in the Northwest Ohio Counties)
First settlements:
"The earliest occupants of the land, under British auspices, were properly squatters, and that term might also be applied to the veterans of Harrison’s army who, after the war, returned to occupy the buildings of Fort Winchester. Two of these soldier-settlers, William Preston and John Perkins, were elected to office when Williams County was organized with Defiance as the county seat. By 1820, Defiance had about a hundred inhabitants and three trading places. One of the last families to occupy a building in the old fort was that of Robert Shirley, who came from Ross County in 1821. A few Canadian French were among the pioneers, but otherwise these first comers bore such typical American names as Hollister, Driver, Plummer, Travis, Hilton, Kepler, Wasson, Evans, Hull, Smith, Craig, Watson, etc."
Nevin O. Winter, History of Northwest Ohio, Vol. 1 (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1917), pgs. 404-414, chapter 32, Defiance County, pg. 405, in part:
"Among the first, if not the very first, real settlers, who established themselves in the neighborhood of Fort Defiance were two brothers, by the name of John and William Preston, who had seen service in the War of 1812. William Preston became the first sheriff in this part of Ohio and finally removed to Williams County, where he died[,] about the year 1828. His brother had passed away several years earlier. His surname is perpetuated at Defiance in the name of an island and also of a small creek.”
Valley of the upper Maumee River : with historical account of Allen County and the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, vol. 1 (1889), about the arrival of the Shirley family at Fort Defiance
Valley of the upper Maumee River (1889), p. 1_389
"In the spring of 1822, Robert Shirley, sr., and family moved from near Chillicothe, Ohio, to Fort Defiance. The family included the mother, Mrs. Rachel Shirley, and the children, James, Elias, Robert, Ruth, Mary, Nancy, and John G. From Fort Jennings to Fort Defiance they saw no white people, and followed the Indian trail along the river Auglaize. The fort at Defiance, built by Gen. Winchester, was then standing, in a good state of preservation, in charge of William Preston, the only other inhabitant of Defiance. Four French families lived in cabins on the Maumee above the point, and three American families on the Auglaize near by. Six miles below lived the families of John Perkins, Montgomery Evans and Mr. Hively. Two trading houses were kept on either side of the Maumee. Here the Ottawa, commonly called Tawah Indians, brought their skins of the otter, beaver, raccoon, bear, muskrat, mink, fox, wild-cat, and deer, and beeswax, ginseng, cranberries and gooseberries. No person lived between Forts Wayne and Defiance, but all the travel from Detroit to Fort Wayne and Chicago passed along the Maumee. Mail was carried by Forts Wayne and Defiance from Piqua to Fort Meigs (Maumee City). When the Shirleys settled at Defiance, Capt. James Riley had not begun the survey of land. Shane, the famous pioneer, was then about fifty years old, and living at Shane's prairie, on the St. Mary's river. Flour and salt were obtained from Swan Creek (Toledo), hauled to the Rapids and brought thence on piroques. In 1827, through the influence of Nathan Shirley, Elias Pattee, of a family familiar in church history in the Maumee valley, organized the first church at Defiance. ..."
History of Defiance County, Ohio (Chicago: Warner, Beers, 1883), pp. 85 and 187; from p. 87, pertaining to the organization of Williams County, and reporting about the first elections:
"William Preston, who was a soldier at Fort Winchester in 1812 is regarded as the first white permanent settler at Fort Defiance. He married a Miss Butler, whose brothers lived about eight miles below, on the Maumee. He was a farmer by occupation, intelligent, sober and industrious. He removed to St. Joseph Township, Williams Co, where he died, about 1828"; p. 187, “In 1819, William Travis, a pioneer of Noble Twp, visited Fort Defiance, and found here seven cabins, occupied by French traders. A few Americans were also here. In old Fort Winchester, John and William Preston were living. The former had married a daughter of Judge Ewing, of Troy, Miami Co, Ohio, and died soon after Mr. Travis came. ..."
Simon D. Fess, Ohio: A Four Volume Reference Library on the History of a Great State (1937), v. 3, pg. 478, entry William Preston for in "First Settlements" (in the Northwest Ohio Counties)
First settlements:
"The earliest occupants of the land, under British auspices, were properly squatters, and that term might also be applied to the veterans of Harrison’s army who, after the war, returned to occupy the buildings of Fort Winchester. Two of these soldier-settlers, William Preston and John Perkins, were elected to office when Williams County was organized with Defiance as the county seat. By 1820, Defiance had about a hundred inhabitants and three trading places. One of the last families to occupy a building in the old fort was that of Robert Shirley, who came from Ross County in 1821. A few Canadian French were among the pioneers, but otherwise these first comers bore such typical American names as Hollister, Driver, Plummer, Travis, Hilton, Kepler, Wasson, Evans, Hull, Smith, Craig, Watson, etc."
Nevin O. Winter, History of Northwest Ohio, Vol. 1 (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1917), pgs. 404-414, chapter 32, Defiance County, pg. 405, in part:
"Among the first, if not the very first, real settlers, who established themselves in the neighborhood of Fort Defiance were two brothers, by the name of John and William Preston, who had seen service in the War of 1812. William Preston became the first sheriff in this part of Ohio and finally removed to Williams County, where he died[,] about the year 1828. His brother had passed away several years earlier. His surname is perpetuated at Defiance in the name of an island and also of a small creek.”
Valley of the upper Maumee River : with historical account of Allen County and the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, vol. 1 (1889), about the arrival of the Shirley family at Fort Defiance
Valley of the upper Maumee River (1889), p. 1_389
"In the spring of 1822, Robert Shirley, sr., and family moved from near Chillicothe, Ohio, to Fort Defiance. The family included the mother, Mrs. Rachel Shirley, and the children, James, Elias, Robert, Ruth, Mary, Nancy, and John G. From Fort Jennings to Fort Defiance they saw no white people, and followed the Indian trail along the river Auglaize. The fort at Defiance, built by Gen. Winchester, was then standing, in a good state of preservation, in charge of William Preston, the only other inhabitant of Defiance. Four French families lived in cabins on the Maumee above the point, and three American families on the Auglaize near by. Six miles below lived the families of John Perkins, Montgomery Evans and Mr. Hively. Two trading houses were kept on either side of the Maumee. Here the Ottawa, commonly called Tawah Indians, brought their skins of the otter, beaver, raccoon, bear, muskrat, mink, fox, wild-cat, and deer, and beeswax, ginseng, cranberries and gooseberries. No person lived between Forts Wayne and Defiance, but all the travel from Detroit to Fort Wayne and Chicago passed along the Maumee. Mail was carried by Forts Wayne and Defiance from Piqua to Fort Meigs (Maumee City). When the Shirleys settled at Defiance, Capt. James Riley had not begun the survey of land. Shane, the famous pioneer, was then about fifty years old, and living at Shane's prairie, on the St. Mary's river. Flour and salt were obtained from Swan Creek (Toledo), hauled to the Rapids and brought thence on piroques. In 1827, through the influence of Nathan Shirley, Elias Pattee, of a family familiar in church history in the Maumee valley, organized the first church at Defiance. ..."
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