The sun., 1919-09-19
THE OHIO F1REEAEDs.
A BIC Of the western Reserve which
Produced Famous Men,

To THE EDIToa or THE suN-sir: A
recent trip to the Firelands of Ohio has
refreshed my memory as to living and
late celebrities from that region. Huron
and Erie counties comprise practically
all Of the Firelands. which are so called
because they were given to sufferers
| from fires in Connecticut In the Ameri-
can Revolution. Thus they have their
New London, Greenwich, New Haven
| and Norwalk, namesakes Of cities in
| Yanleeland. The Fireiands form the
western end Of the Western Reserve, the
| people OF which. Horace Greeley In
credited with saying. are the most In
telligent In the world
Taylor Sherman, who surveyed, allotted
and partitioned among the owners the
100000 acres OF the Firelands. and
Charles r. Sherman, who was later In
charge Of the tract, were respectively
grandfather and father OF General Will
lam Tecumseh Sherman and the Hon
John Sherman OF Ohio.
At Norwalk Academy eighty years ago
were enrolled Rutherford B. Hayes.
nineteenth President of the United
1
Ohio and President Harrison's Secretary
Of the Treasury. and General James b.
Mcpherson. one OF General Grants ia
vorite commanders. who was killed be-
fore Atlanta in the civil war.
! Henry w. Shaw. better known as
| Josh Billings" lived at Norwalk from
1885 to 1s45. He worked farm near
Rlue Fly, Ave miles away. but lived at
the Mansion House and also IN a home
OF his own with his wife and two little
daughters at Norwalk Shaw exhibited
cattle at the Huron County Fair, once
| winning n prize with a blooded 'crittur."
He had not then become famous except
to a daily audience OF admirers at one
OF the groceries. When / asked William
]. Alley. In his ninety-second year. the
other day II he had known "Josh BIZ
| lings." the old man frightened up and
replied: did 1 know Hank Shaw?
On. yes. He and were chums. had
| a livery stable in those days and Shaw
used to come TO the barn and feed my
horses for me before breakfast. Years
afterward he wrote to me that he
wanted to live and die in Norwalk. He
told me to buy the corner opposite the
Court House for him and not to give
too much for It, but to get II and he
would come back. But the property
didn't go into the market, and one day
Shaw dropped dead. SO that was the
end Of it. Yes, I knew Hank Shaw and
all his folks"
George KEENAN,, Siberian traveller
and author. was a telegraph operator
at Norwalk in 1859. His father is said
to have been the first telegraph operator
in the town. and his mother is num-
bered among the beautiful DANES OF
local history.
incidentally Norwalk Is the home of
several direct descendants of William
Hurry, who rang the Liberty Bell at
Philadelphia July 4. ITS.
The Rev. Enoch Conser, who settled
In Huron county in 1924. gave two sons
to the country's service. Omar d. Con-
ger went from Michigan to the United
States Senate. where he became the Re
publican leader and was unsurpassed
in the use of wit and sarcasm. Lieu
tenant-Colonel Everett J. Conger had
charge Of the raid which ended in the
capture of Lincoln's assassin, John
Wilkes Booth. 1t is related that Conger
received $4,000 for that performance
and that when an acquaintance asked
what he was going to do with the money
Conger replied that he intended to let
It. He did let Il to his Questioner and
lost every dollar of 1t.
David r. Locke the Petroleum vesu-
vius Nasby.- who desired to be post
master at the Corners. established the
Plymouth Advertiser in Huron county
In 1853. He had entered Plymouth
with less than IS. but he married one
of a farmers seven daughters, his
mother-in-law gave the bride a COW
and with produce from the farm the
couple began the honeymoon. The COW
promptly Jumped the fence. however
and went home, which inspired an ar
tiCle in which Locke humorously told
how a mother had presented each of her
seven daughters at marriage with q
cow-the came COW. The Nasty letters
from "Confedrit X Roads," where Bas-
com raised the price to 10 cents a drink
had their origin In the Ffndlay Jerer.
sonidis in 1850. From Findlay Locke
went to the Toledo Blade, which made
him fortune.
John Chapman, nlcknamed Johnny
Appleseed," took W his abode at New
Haven. Huron county. about 1911. This
barefooted cranberry pedler. friend OF
Indians, rattlesnakes and hornets
caused the wilderness OF Ohio and In
diana to blossom with orchards, and he
lives in history as the benefactor oil
hundreds of thousands of Buckeye and
Hoosier pioneers. His name is en-.
shrlned In a book written by the Rev
! Newell Dwight Hills.
At Milan, Erie county, three miles
from Norwalk, stands the birthplace OF
Thomas A Edison. man told me
that when they were boys the youne
inventor one day lured him to the attic
OF the old house where Edison was ex-
perimenting with an electric battery
Edison told him to take hold of the
apparatus, which he did, receiving a
shock which made him howl Without
even raising his eyes from the instru-
ment Edison calmly observed: Well,
} I guess I've got It about where I want
it,"
Jay Cooke. who financed Uncle Sam
during the civil war. was a native OF
SandusIy, Erie county.
Henry NJ. Flagler once lived in Huron
} county.
! To many who have read Uncle Toms
Cabin" or who have enjoyed the play.