The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1869-11-12

l.. A. HALL,
BENZ. PITTENGER.
! 10 Dr. II. Kaha, James Boyd, Hm
Lang, L. 4. HoH, Benz. P'he"ger
Committee.
/ Gentlemen Your polite note o.
this morning is received. containing
your request for copy of my late
address before the Pioneer Assoeia-
tion of Seneca county. I had not
intended 1t for the public eye, mol
can l furnish a copy (haVing nc
amanuensis) on account Of my ply
steal infirmities, but / have concluded
to place at the disposal Of your Sec
retary the original, to be used fol
the purpose indicated, presumins II
not improbable that its circulation
may direct the attention of the old
settlers throughout the county to the
importance Of adopting suitable
measures to preserve the incidents
Of pioneer life in it.
] am, respectfully, your obedicnt
servant, A. RAWSoN.
TrrFrx, o., Nov. ). 1869.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, Pho
NEERs OF SENECA COUNTY II meet
you on the present occasion depreSs'
cd by in6rmities which have, like al
incubus, for more than a twelve
month, beset my pathway Of life, and
uecessitsted me to reliuquish all ply
sical cxertiou aud mental effort.
must, therefore, bespeak your indul'
gence for the desultory nature of M
present remarks. These will refer
to and deal with generalities only
| omittiug historical details for work
which I had in progress, but have
been reluctantly compelled to sus-
pend, and the completion of which
is yelled in the unknown future Oi
my condition.
If the gratitude of any Christian
people was ever due to an impartial
Creator, that gratitude is due to Hin
from the pioneers of Seneca county,
for the perseverance and energy, the
patient sufferings and endurance
which enabled them to exchange the
comforts of civilized society and the
holy influences of kindred associa.
tions for the self-denials Of wilder
ness and the task of transforming il
into cultivated fields and plenteoui
homes. Man is a strange being, fond
of novelty and the peril Of romantic
and hazardous enterprise. These
characteristics are powerful, though
perhaps unappfeciated incentives tC
activity; and not unfrequently coop
erative, like landmarks, for his reliet
from urgent want. if not imperiOu'
necessity without, his cons ciousnes:
of it. Therefore, whatever privation'
there may be to be endured and dan
gers to be encountered, such are the
peeuliarities OF his mental constitu-
ton, that many of his sweetest en-
joyments are derived from success
fully combating indescribable hard
ships and difficulties for the purpose
of reaching some unseen or imagina-
ry goal Of his aspirations. Hence
the needy, the young and vigorous
who feel that they must be the archi-
tects of their own fortune, readily lis
ten to an impulsive inclination rath-
or than the voice of wisdom, to seek
the fields ef adventurous enterprise.
The first settlers Of Seneca county
were not an exception to these inAu-
ences intensified by the hope of bet
tcring their temporal position. Most
seductive and fattcring were the
fields presented for their oceupany
and practical development and recla-
nation in the wilds of Ohio immc-
diately after the war of 1912. To
elucidate this a brief retrospect Of
the coudition of the country at that
time; its forbiding aspects aud for
midable obstacles to improvement on
the one hand. and its inducements
for settlement on the other-nOi
wholly omittiug the enduring forti'
tude aud progress of its pioneers seem,
to merit our thoughtful attention on
the present occasion.
At the commencement of the pres
eut century and thence until after the
war of 1872, between Great Britain
and the United States, the northwest
ern part of Ohio, originally subdi-
Yided into fourteen, but now includ-
ing twenty counties, and embracing
an area of greater extent than the
entire State of Connecticut, was
mostly an unbrOken forest, densely
thiekened with cOppiees Of UNDER
brush and studded with lofty trees
overshadowing with their outspread
branches this vast wilderness; and
enshrouding its reeesses with the
pail of sOmbrous shade, excepting
where intercepted by the rays of light
penetrating il al some isolated prai-
rie or small Indian improvement
Among the most majestic OF these
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