New Knoxville, Ohio - The Beginning

The Settlement

It was not until the year 1832, after the removal of the last Indians from their settlement in Wapakoneta that the land now comprising Washington Township in Auglaize County was duly surveyed and offered for sale. The year 1832, therefore, represents the beginning point of any historical account for the New Knoxville area.

With the Indians removed and the safety of the area established, the settlement of the area proceeded in orderly fashion through the purchase of parcels of farm land usually in 80 acre tracts. Shadrach Montgomery was the first white settler in Washington Township, making his land entrant in 1831.

Soon after this date a heavy influx of principally German immigrants took land entrant possession of the newly established land division so that in the course of only a few years’ time most of the desirable farm land had been taken up with the village of New Knoxville, Ohio, the focal point of communication and community enterprise.

The original founder of Knoxville, later to be called New Knoxville, Ohio, was James Knox Lytle. It is his name that is affixed to the document of the Auglaize County records establishing the town of Knoxville. It may seem peculiar that a man of Scotch-Irish descent should found a town so predominantly German. The reason for this is explained in a later paragraph.

The Precarious Life Problems of the Earliest Pioneers

So far in this historical sketch the author has relied on documented and other recorded evidence that may be factually regarded. However, from this point forward, because of the scantiness of early records, he accepts the liberty of drawing deeply upon recollections that he, as an over-curious youth (up to the age of 17), was able to elicit from his great-grandfather, the Reverend F. H. W. Kuckherman in whose home he had the good fortune to live until his death in 1915. Reverend Kuckherman came to the New Knoxville community in 1841.

The precariousness of life for the earliest pioneers may best be visualized by considering that they came to a complete wilderness in which there were no roads or even markers to direct them. They had no shelter; they had few if any neighbors. There were no stores from which to buy provisions and supplies. Their only source of illumination was from candle light. There were no doctors or dentists to attend to their aches. At best their life must have been lonely and filled with many apprehensions for their safety and well-being.

When the first pioneers came to the Knoxville area, which included the greater part of what is now Washington Township of Auglaize County, they found a veritable wilderness. The land itself was slightly rolling and variable with approximately 50 percent high ground, 25 percent low ground and 25 percent swamp land. This swamp land was to create a major problem for the future building of roads.

The land was heavily forested with huge trees, including principally walnut, oak, beech, hickory, maple, and elm on the high ground with sycamore, swamp ash and willows abounding in the swamp areas. All forms of wild life were in abundance with deer and wild turkey providing the choice meats for the early pioneers.

However, the very first requirement of the pioneer was to assure himself of an adequate and satisfactory water supply. A man may live without food for an extended period, but he cannot long exist without water. It is for this reason that the early settlements were always made along rivers and streams. Except in periods of flooding, these streams were clear, for man had not yet contrived to pollute the waters. In this respect it may be noted that the townsite of Knoxville was established at the confluence of the two streams that join just north of the present American Legion Hall.

With a satisfactory water supply assured, and with a bountiful natural supply of game, berries and nuts to provide him food, the next concern of the settler was to select a home site. This selection would usually involve a parcel of high ground comprising an area varying from one-half to one acre of ground to be completely cleared. This would provide enough logs to construct a log house, and the remaining cleared land would then be used as a garden.

This garden, whether on a town lot or a farm homestead, was the principal mainstay for the pioneer. Because of stumps and other obstacles, every piece of the ground had to be spaded. The early pioneer had no use for horses or other livestock until he had cleared sufficient land to grow feed for them. The principal garden crops were potatoes, carrots, squash, pumpkins, cabbage, lettuce, beans, peas, and corn for corn meal.

After a pioneer had thus built the log home and established a garden, the family duties were subject to special assignment. Aside from the task of spading the garden, the balance of the work with the garden - the preparation of the seed bed, the planting of the seeds, their cultivation and harvesting, fell upon the women and children in the family. This permitted the husband to devote his time to clearing additional land.

The matter of clearing the land represented a considerable chore; one man could not very well do it alone, so neighbors shared this task by helping each other. The trees were large and, with the exception of certain oak logs fit for rail splitting, the logs were rolled together and piled up to make a huge bonfire that would burn for weeks. This rolling together of the logs usually was performed by six to a dozen men, depending upon how many were available. After the logs had thus been piled up, these piles would be left to dry for as much as six months or a year before they were fired.

After the pile was burned, the voluminous pile of ashes was gathered up and stored. This was done for two reasons: first, they had experienced that a large accumulation of ashes in their gardens had so alkalized the soil that plants would not grow and, secondly, they had discovered in Germany how to make soap by using lye from wood ashes.

This process of making soap was a simple one. They simply made a rack about two feet from the ground on which they would place wooden barrels with a number of holes bored in the bottom. They would fill each barrel to within two inches of the top with these wood ashes and then place an iron kettle below the barrel. Then every other day they would pour a bucketful of water on top of the ashes. As this water slowly leached through the ashes, the filtrate would be collected in the kettle below. When the kettle was approximately two-thirds filled with this filtrate, there would be added to it a certain amount of fatty materials such as fat, tallow and lard which they had especially saved from the carcasses of animals which they had trapped for furs or had otherwise deliberately hunted. This kettle of material was then put on a hot fire until it was boiled down to about one-half.

The kettle was then cooled, and when completely cold, the precious soap had solidified at the top of the remaining liquid to a thickness varying from two to three inches. This cake was then removed from the kettle and cut up into pieces about three inches square. After the soap had completely dried, it was packaged in wooden boxes and shipped to Cincinnati where it found a ready market until the early 1850's when the production capacity and the superior soap made by Proctor and Gamble began to dominate the soap market.

Thus furs and soaps became the first saleable products from the new community, thereby providing some cash for the early efforts of the pioneers for clearing the land. The rate of clearing the land, when based on exchange of labor conditions, was slow and tedious. The clearing of as much as three acres of dense growth woodland in a year by a farmer would be considered a big achievement.

Thus the clearing of the land proceeded slowly, and when a farmer had cleared as much as five or six acres for crop production he became entitled to own a one-horse wagon (ein-spenner) and a horse to pull it. He would also buy a jumper plow and a spike-tooth harrow to prepare his land. At this point he would usually grow an acre of wheat, an acre of rye, two acres of corn and one acre of timothy hay. He would also have acquired by this time a bred gilt and would have acquired from two to five dozen hatching eggs which would supply him with both meat and eggs for his table. The reason he did not grow more wheat and rye was that of the labor involved with harvesting it. Both the wheat and rye were harvested by hand cradling (about one-third acre per day), and it had to be threshed by hand with a flail.

However, when the pioneer farmer had succeeded in clearing ten acres for crop production, he had really arrived. Now he commanded a two-horse team, owned several cows and more hogs and chickens. Now he was producing a surplus over his personal needs, and he had pork, cheese and eggs to sell. This was for him the day of promise, and he envisioned even greater benefits when the additional sixty to seventy acres he owned were likewise cleared for production.

Preparing the Knoxville Townsite in 1836

After the townsite of Knoxville had been plotted and laid out in 1835, the streets had merely been marked off and had not yet been cleared of the trees and the underbrush that was growing on them. Thus Main Street, running from north to south, was the first to be cleared to the designated width of four rods (66 ft.) for an approximate length of 1200 feet, and Bremen Street, running cast and west, was to be similarly cleared for an approximate length of 1350 feet.

This task fell at first to four men who as so-called "buddies" came to the Knoxville community in the latter part of 1836. These men, all immigrants from Ladbergen, Germany, were William H. Kuck (who changed his name from Kuckherman to Kuck upon his arrival in the United States), H. H. Fledderjohann, H. Lutterbeck and Herman Meckstroth and his wife. These men had the distinct advantage of being employed at first by the Lytles, James and Edmund, in clearing the streets for a compensation of 50 cents per day, which served as an allowance toward the purchase of any lots or land they sought to purchase.

Because of the interests held by Edmund Lytle in the development of Sidney and with his financial interest, along with his brother James, in the Knoxville area, the southern end of Main Street was soon to become the point of entry for an angling road connecting Knoxville with Sidney. Similarly, the northern end of Main Street became the terminal point for an angling road to St. Marys, Ohio. In the same manner, the west terminus of Bremen Street became the link with New Bremen (also by angling road), while the east end remained for the later development of a road to connect with the county seat of Wapakoneta.

Thus we note that by the end of 1836 the Knoxville townsite, as well as the adjacent farm land, was ready for settlement. Glowing letters reporting wonderful opportunities sent to their homeland by the four immigrant settlers who came to the new community in 1836 were becoming the topic of interest and conversation in the Ladbergen community.

Ladbergen to Cincinnati and Knoxville

During the 1830's, 1840's and early 1850's Cincinnati, Ohio, was the fastest growing city in the world. Its population of 2,300 in 1810 had expanded to 115,000 by the year 1840. The reason for this growth was that this city had made immigration its business. Because of its fast growth, a strong labor market was developed for the building of new streets, new homes, business establishments, factories and more than two dozen breweries. The building of the Cincinnati-Lake Erie Canal also provided employment opportunities.

With such ever-increasing demand for labor, the enterprising business men of Cincinnati formed a round robin syndicate whereby all would benefit from this influx of new immigrants. These men, being of German descent, specialized in inviting only Germans. Through their organized effort they sent recruiting agents to all parts of Germany. The fare from Hanover or Bremerhaven to Cincinnati was $48.00 for an adult and half that fee for children under fourteen years. If the would-be immigrant had no money, he could have his fare advanced by simply signing a work bond or some other type of repayment guarantee.

The route of journey was from either Bremerhaven and Hanover in Germany to New York or Baltimore in the United States. From either of those two cities they traveled by stage coach to Pittsburgh and from there by river boat to Cincinnati. All along the route were special agents to help the travelers with their problems of lodging and meals, which services were included in their fare.

Upon arriving in Cincinnati they were taken in the immigration office for official registration and then were assigned to a boarding place for their lodging and meals. The following day they would arrange for their employment.

The wages were the highest in the nation - $1.00 per day or $6.00 per week for ordinary labor. Skilled labor such as masons and carpenters could earn $8.00 per week. The workday was from sun up to sun down.

Wages were paid weekly. Those working under work-bond or other financial obligations had $2.00 per week deducted from their wages, which was paid to the immigration office until their travel bill was paid. The usual cost of lodging and meals was $2.00 per week, so that $2.00 was left over as spending money or to save for moving on to the settlements.

This repayment plan usually required the immigrant to spend about one year in Cincinnati before he could acquire the necessary supplies and extra money to move to his final destination. It has been conjectured that of the 115,000 people credited to Cincinnati in the 1840 census, more than 50,000 were such itinerant immigrants.

After the immigrant had fully discharged the financial obligations of his work bond, he would save what money he could for equipment and supplies to take to the new settlement. For this the merchants were prepared to offer him the following:

1. A pioneer kit, consisting of I cross-cut saw, axe, sledge, shovels, garden hoe, complete carpenter's kit, candle lanterns with 2 dozen candles, and other miscellaneous items. Price of kit - $10.00.
2. A muzzle-loading gun, complete with powder horn, flints, and 10 lbs. black powder. Priced from $6.00 to $12.00.
3. Table ware for the home, comprising china and silverware. The cost of this was variable, according to personal pride and preference.
4. Household furniture, bedding, and clothes were selected on the basis of need and what they could afford.
5. The final arrangement was for the teamster who could deliver them and their goods to the settlement. This cost $5.00 per day, and the trip to Knoxville took from 3 to 4 days. Usually two or three families would join together to save on this cost.
6. After having satisfied all of the foregoing requirements, the wise settler would fortify himself with surplus savings ranging from $50.00 to $100.00. To buy an 80-acre farm would cost about $80.00, and there were not yet employment opportunities in the new settlements, except for possible work on the Cincinnati-Erie Canal where the wages were only 50 cents per day.

The interests of the immigration syndicate did not cease with the arrival of the immigrant in Cincinnati. Their interest in the immigrant's welfare continued until he was securely settled in any one of the many settlements they had helped to establish. In each of these settlements they had their special representatives who would greet the newcomer and help him with the selection and purchase of the land he would own. This represented the world's largest and most successful real estate operation.

Thus the would-be settlers were given a wide range of selection regarding the area they would choose for settlement. In this regard it is interesting to note how the settlements at Fort Loramie and Minster were settled by Germans of the Catholic faith, New Bremen settled by Germans from the Bremen section of Germany, and New Knoxville settled entirely by Germans from the Ladbergen community.

In closing this phase of the immigration story, it may be of interest to note that the syndicate's representative in the Knoxville Community was Charles Route, highly respected and revered citizen among the early settlers. The earliest tax records reveal that 101 of the 102 lots in the Knoxville area were taxed at the rate of $5.00 per year, but that lot 88 in the name of Charles Route was taxed at the rate of $78.00, thus indicating that a building had been built as his headquarters of operation.

Ladbergen and Germany During the 1830's to 1850's

During this stage of history, the German Empire had not yet been established. It remained for the great Bismark to achieve the federation of the many German provinces into a unified Germany in 1871. Prior to this unification, the German speaking areas of the country were referred to under the all-inclusive name "Germania.

At this time the land was divided into many provinces, each of which was ruled over by a prince or king. The living conditions represented a refined version of the ancient feudal system. Wars between various provinces were many and were usually prompted by a shortage of food supply caused principally by an over-population of the territory. The over-lords of the provinces would collect heavy taxes to support their castles and to maintain large armies to defend their small kingdoms.

Under such condition, the community of Ladbergen was subject to the laws and edicts of the rulers of the province of Oberbeck, of which it was an integral part. The heavy taxation and the constant threat of forced military service bore heavily upon the people, so that when the opportunity of migrating to a new land with new opportunities came, the challenge was quickly accepted.

The community of Ladbergen is comparatively small. The village itself is hardly as large as the present village of New Knoxville. The vast majority of its citizens live on small farms, varying in size from 10 to 40 acres. One exception to this condition was the "Kolon" Kuck farm which in those days supported seven tenant houses. The word Kolon means large farmer, and upon the author's last visit in 1953, the seven tenant farms had been reduced to two.

The size of the community was governed largely by the distance that the families could walk to attend school and church services. This was usually confined to four or, at most, five mile radius surrounding the village in all directions. Even in 1953 the churchgoing was principally by foot.

For more than five centuries the community life, both religious and social, was centered around the protestant Ladbergen church. After the services, the people who congregate at the various inns to enjoy "schnaaps" and to learn the latest news of the community and the world at large. This custom is still in vogue.

The soils of the Ladbergen area are very sandy and have a low level of fertility. The farm houses are built of stone and the barn is built in connection with the house - the kitchen door usually representing the entrance to the barn. Most of the homes are hundreds of years old. In many cases of over-population on a farm, parts of the barn would be utilized for living space.

In the Ladbergen area, one will not find two farms by the same name. There in only one Kuck farm, one Wierwille farm, one Schroer farm, one Kattman farm, one Katterheinrich farm, one Kuckherman farm, etc. This is because of their peculiar laws concerning the descent of property, which I shall attempt to explain as follows:

1. The eldest son in the family inherits all property and becomes the head of the household when his father dies. He is encouraged to marry at an early age and have children within three years.
2. The second son assumes the position of a standby. He is referred to as "Der Onkel an Die Muhre" the "Uncle at the Wall". He may not marry except in the event of the oldest son's death when he must marry the widow and thus assume the position of the head of the household.
3. All other sons and daughters born thereafter were tolerated as extra baggage. The extra sons had little to look forward to, except that it was the duty of the head of the family to provide them with the necessities of life in lieu of which they performed services on the farm. The daughters were given some special consideration in the hope that they could be married. The failure to marry, however, did not release the head of the family from providing them the necessities of a home and a livelihood throughout their lifetime.

Exceptions to the Rule

While such were the established procedures for the perpetuation of the family name and the property involved, nature did not always cooperate. For this major sin of nature, they had a remedial plan that was universally accepted. If after three years of marriage the oldest son had no children or prospects of the same, he was considered to be sexually impotent. At this point the second son would accept the husbandly duties with his oldest brother's wife. If children were thus born, he became the head of the family in place of the older son, who was then relegated to the position of servant. However, if the second son would not produce a child within three years, then the wife was considered impotent and would become an ordinary servant in the home. Under such conditions, the eldest son would again be free to remarry, and start the routine over again.

In families where only daughters were born, the situation was reversed. The first daughter in such a family to marry would require her fiancé to change his name to her family name, and he would thus become the future head of the household with all its inheritance. This offered a golden opportunity to those sons in large families who would otherwise not succeed to authority or property, making such courtship highly competitive.

Such were the laws, customs, and practices in the family lives of the people in the Ladbergen community. Imagine the interest and the high hopes instilled in the minds of those "extra baggage" individuals when the first glowing letters from the first four settlers of the Knoxville settlement arrived in Ladbergen. The effects were immediate and immigration started with stampede proportions.

To best illustrate this momentous situation, the author can recite with authority what happened in the Kuckherman home in Ladbergen about the year 1834. Gerard Heinrich Kuckherman, the third son in the Kuckherman household, married Katherine Elizabeth Kuck, a daughter of "Kolon" Kuck, whose farm holdings included seven tenant houses. While "Kolon" Kuck could offer them the opportunity of living in one of the tenant houses, there would be no inheritance privileges involved. Those rights belonged to the eldest and second sons of "Kolon" Kuck.

In this tenant house lived, in 1834, the father and mother Kuckherman, three sons and three daughters - all unmarried. In 1834, the eldest son - William H. - migrated to Cincinnati and eventually came to the Knoxville settlement in 1836. His glowing account of the opportunities in Knoxville so electrified the other two brothers and three sisters that all five had reached Cincinnati prior to 1842.

This recital of what happened in the Kuckherman household is but an example of what happened in virtually every other household. So electrifying was the news of the opportunities in the new world, and so immediate was the acceptance, that virtually every household in the Ladbergen community was emptied of its "extra baggage" fold by the end of 1848, ending the mass migration from Ladbergen.

And so they came, virtually in droves - the unmarried "extra baggage" folk - both men and women - headed for Knoxville via Cincinnati. The mode, route, and conditions of their travel have been previously described. Upon arriving in Cincinnati they first reported to the Immigration Syndicate's office and then were to meet their relatives and friends who had preceded them at the First Evangelical Reformed Church of Cincinnati. All members of the Ladbergen Church had been instructed to make this their new church home while in Cincinnati.

Imagine the hopes and aspirations of these people as they anticipated opportunities for marriage, for homes and families of their own. Many courtships started even during the ocean voyage, which took from six to seven weeks. Many resulted in marriage in Cincinnati during their enforced stay there while working out their work bonds or while accumulating surplus earnings so that they could enter the settlement.

However, in spite of all of their good intentions to settle at Knoxville, less than one-third of the migrants came to the Knoxville community. Their forced stay in Cincinnati, usually for a year, caused them to enjoy the employment opportunities available there and to become entranced with the more lively aspects of city life. Those who came to Knoxville were those who preferred rural life and possessed the ambition to own their own farms.

The Early Religious and Social Life of the Community

From 1836 to 1850 the population of the Knoxville community was made up entirely of families from Ladbergen, Germany. There were four principal reasons for this:

1. The people of one province in Germany were suspicious of the German people from another province because of the continuous warfare that had been waged between the various provinces. Furthermore, the Low Dutch dialect of the people from Ladbergen differed greatly from the dialect of the German people, as for example, the Low German dialect of the people who settled New Bremen differed from the Low German dialect of the settlers of Minster, who came principally from the town and province of Munster. The Ladbergen's dialect was heavily flavored with Dutch because of Ladbergen's proximity to the Netherlands.
2. The people who came to New Knoxville came principally on the invitation and recommendation of friends or relatives who had already settled in the new community.
3. The immigration syndicate's representative in Knoxville had asked that only people from Ladbergen be advised to come to the Knoxville community.
4. Knoxville lay off the beaten path of travel. From every direction it could be reached only by angling roads.

By 1850 the mass migration from Ladbergen had ended and those who would come to the Knoxville community had already arrived. After 1850, other Germans, principally from the province of Osnabruck, settled in Knoxville, along with some occasional arrivals from Ladbergen. The people of Osnabruck had approximately the same German-Dutch dialect as those from Ladbergen because of the proximity of these provinces in Germany. Actually, the entire population of Knoxville in 1850 represented a partial transplantation of the Ladbergen community. In all respects, these people shared the same social background and religious experience. All had been members. of the same Protestant Reformed Church in Ladbergen, and all had attended the same Evangelical Reformed Church in Cincinnati.