This post was contributed to the Crawford County Chapter of OGS by Kristina Stearley as part of the Florence Siefert Scrapbook in 2010.
The scrapbook is compiled from undated, unidentified newspaper clippings involving events in the lives of Crawford County citizens living in or having connections to New Washington, Tiro, Shelby, Sulphur Springs, Chatfield, Bucyrus, Ashland, Mansfield, and other areas. Only minimal spelling or punctuation corrections were made. Unreadable areas are shown by underlines, dots &/or question marks. This collection has been scanned, “optical character recognized” (OCR’d), proofed, then coded for HTML by volunteers of the Crawford County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society. Since the copies are not of the best quality errors may have been made. Please contact us if you find corrections needing to be made or can verify any missing dates which could be added.
Residing on the banks of the Sandusky, in Liberty township, three and one-half miles east of Bucyrus, lives Daniel Barlitt, who tomorrow, Sunday, June 24, celebrates the one hundredth anniversary of his birth.
On June 24, 1788 on the banks of the Susquehanna, Daniel Barlitt was born at Harrisburg, in Dauphin county, Pa. He is of English and German descent, his grandfather coming from England, long before the Revolutionary war, and during that war, the grandfather, Jacob Barlitt, was a body guard of General Washington, and was wounded in one of the battles; he was six feet in stature, well formed and robust in health, and died at the age of 90 years, at Harrisburg, Penn. Grandmother Barlitt was born in Germany.
On his mother’s side, his grandfather and grandmother were also residents of Harrisburg, and during the Revolutionary war, the grandmother melted bullets for the American patriots. Once, in these early pioneer days, during an Indian raid and battle, she secreted her children under the floor of the cabin. In these early times babes were rocked in sugar troughs for their cradles, and sometimes they were fed from them. These were the days when the pioneer mothers were conquering the wilderness of Pennsylvania which today contains some of the finest and most cultivated lands of the world.
Daniel Barlitt relates to this day an incident of his grandfather’s experienne (sic) when taken prisoner by the Indianc (sic) while yet a young man. He was with them three months and they made him carry their furs and do all the drudgery. He managed to gain their confidence by the willingness with which he did their menial work, and as a result was given more liberty. One day they sent him quite a distance from camp after a deer which they had killed, and ever on the lookout for a chance of escape he siezed this opportunity and took to his heels. He made for the nearest stream, and all that day and most of the night he traveled in the stream to make certain that his tracks were concealed from the sharp sight of the Indians and the quick scent of the dogs. In the morning he left the street and crawled in a hollow log on the banks of the stream, where he secured needed sleep and rest. While concealed there the Indians passed him unnoticed, he seeing the glitter of their guns. He remained in the log all day, eating nothing except a few roots. The next night he took to the stream again for several miles until nearly midnight, when he climbed a high tree for rest and safety from the wild animals. In the morning he heard a cock crow, and following the sound came to a clearing where there was a settlement. He went to the cabin and found friends. Having eaten nothing but roots and wild fruit, and besides the filth of the Indian diet having almost starved him, it required several days to recruit his strength before he left for his home where he arrived safely.
Born at Harrisburg, Penn, he married there; his wife’s maiden name being Pracilla; this union was blessed, with six children, four boys and two girls, none of them living, as far as known. One of the boys started for California in the early days, and the boat he had taken sunk and nothing more was heard of him; and another died of hemorrhage of the nose. In he (sic)(1?)823, moved to Wooster, Ohio, placing his wordly effects in a large wagon, and himself and older children walking almost the entire distance, their principal subsistence being the game they shot on the way.
While at Wooster his first wife died, and he married Betsey Dupes, by whom there were three boys and two girls, the sons yet living at Wooster, and the daughters both dead. The sons are Henry, William and Martin; the daughters Elizaheth and Barbara; Barbara married Christian Amos and died in Olmstead county, Minn., near St. Paul; Elizabeth also married an Amos, a half-brother of Christian Amos, and she, too, died in Minnesota.
During his short stay at Wooster at one time he took a contract to drive a drove of cattle from Wooster through Bucyrus to Upper Sandusky, away back in 1823. He had to take the cattle through a woods that was 40 miles through. Imagine a woods of 40 miles where now fine farming lands are highly cultivated. He traveled alone, with no companions but his dog and gun and not a cabin to stop at, nothing but a complete, unbroken wilderness, and inhabited by Indians. One night while camping in the middle of this forest, a traveler came upon him, and gladly he shared with him his evening meal and the warmth of his camp-fire.
He took a fancy to Upper Sandusky, and moved there, working for a man named Garrett, who kept the first tavern there, and who was married to an indian squaw; he soon removed from there to Bucyrus, where he obtained employment at the hotel kept about where Shonert’s tannery now stands, on the banks of the Sandusky.
In 1834 he removed to his present residence in Liberty township, where he settled on .31 acres of land, and since then he has devoted his attention to farming. Here his second wife died and on March 4, 1848, he married Mrs. Trash; maiden name Speagle; there was only one child of this union, not living. The wife is yet living; she was 80 years old on June 12, and is in poor health, being afflicted with consumption.
The centennarian is quite supple and active for one of his years, and an inveterate tobacco chewer; his mind is still active, but weak and treacherous when it comes to remembering names. He takes a pleasure in doing a few odd, light chores; he feeds two pigs and a cow. He frequently relates Indian stories and the actual happenings of his early days; he is of a cheerful, quiet disposition; has ever been a peaceful neighbor and good citizen; so peaceable is he that during all his pioneer life, his hunting excursions, and his wandering through the wilderness he never had any difficulty with the indians.
In politics he Is a Democrat, and went to the polls last fall and voted as usual. This week he was in the city, and had his pictures taken by the photographer, and he looks 20 years younger than he really is, and his health is such that he has every reason to hope to reach the age of some of his ancestors, who lived to the ripe old age of 110 and 112. His grandfather on his mother’s side died at Harrisburg at the age of 112, and his grandmother at the same place at 105. His father’s father died young, being only 90 years old when he was called away; Of his brothers and sisters one brother died aged 105, and another at 108. A sister was living in Maryland, when last heard from, who is now 102.
