The township of German was organized in 1840, and belonged, at that time, to Lucas County. Fulton County was organized in 1850, from territory belonging previously to Lucas County, Henry and Williams Counties. The first settlers of German township arrived and began the first settlement in the township August 23, 1834, at what is now called Lauber's hill, two miles east of Burlington. The manner of the settlement, and by whom made, will appear in the course of the following sketch of the life of Mr. Binder, a member of one of the families making the said first settlement.

 Jacob Binder, the fifth child, and only son of Jacob and Mary (Stuckey) Binder, was born near Mulhausen, in Alsace,--then a part of France, now of Germany-May 11, 1826. The eldest child of the family was Catherine, afterwards the wife of Aaron Mead. The next, Anna, who became the wife of Jacob G. Wildin. The third, Barbara, married Jacob Lantz. Mary, the fourth child, first married Samuel Burkholder, and after his death, John Leininger, Sr.. Sophronia, the daughter, next younger than Jacob, became the wife of Michael Figy. Regina, the youngest daughter, married Jacob, the brother of Michael Figy.

 On the 8th day of March 1834, Mr. Binder and family, together with Christian Lauber and Christian Rupp, and their respective families, all of Alsace, in the vicinity of Mulhausen, a city about eighteen miles from the Northwest boundary line of Switzerland, started for America. Mr. Lauber's family consisted of himself and wife, Magdalena, (Zimmerman) and four children--Magdalene, later the wife of John Rupp; Elizabeth, afterwards the wife of Nickolas Roth; Barbara who married Peter Short, and Christian Jr., who married Catharine Wyse, sister of John F. and Peter Wyse. Mr. Rupp's family was composed of himself and wife, Christina, (Stuckey) and four children Christian Jr., who married Magdalene Roth; Anna, who married John Wyse, brother of Christian Wyse, Christina, who became the wife of Jacob King, and Magdalena, who married Moses Burkholder. These three families, numbering twenty-one in all, started together, as we have stated, for America March 8, l834. They employed three teams and wagons and drove through to Havré, France, in seventeen days. Here they were detained some two weeks, waiting for a vessel. About the 8th day of April they took ship and sailed for New York, consuming about seven weeks in the voyage. The trip was long and tedious. Sometimes the ocean was perfectly smooth, no wind whatever being in motion, at which times the ship stood motionless. They reached New York the latter part of June, without special accident or loss. Great was their joy upon first beholding the New World and especially were they impressed and delighted with the sight of the metropolis of America, as viewed from the approaching ship. The city with its great buildings, lofty spires and long ranges of evergreen trees presented a spectacle beautiful and magnificent to behold. On their way across the ocean they were passed by a large vessel, containing many emigrants from Schaffhausen, Switzerland, bound also for America. Our three families remained but a short time in New York. From that city they came to Buffalo by way of Albany. From Buffalo they came on the lake to Cleveland; thence they went on the canal to the little town of Fulton on Stark County where they were met by one Peter Schrock, and a number of other generous Amish brethren, who conveyed them to their comfortable homes in the vicinity of what is now called Marshallville, Wayne County, Ohio. Here they remained and visited with their well-to-do friends for six weeks. Their entertainers were blessed with fine farms and handsome buildings. These or similar ones, our newly arrived immigrants, were unable to purchase, having but a limited supply of means. During the six weeks the Mulhausen families remained in Wayne County they met there a number of the emigrants from Schaffhausen, Switzerland, who had passed them on the ocean in the large ship. Though they had resided some fifty miles apart in their native land and were not previously personally acquainted, they were all Amish. Of these families from Switzerland were the following: 1st, Jacob Kibler and wife (Susan Meister) and seven children--Jacob, George, Heronimus, Elizabeth, Mary, Susan, and Melchior. Jacob married Elizabeth Yost, Heronimus married Barbara Schiarrer, Elizabeth married Jacob Lehman, Mary married Daniel Zimmerman, Susan married John Bernath, Meichior died young.

 2nd, George Meister and wife (Margaret Keller) and twelve children--Susan, later the wife of Peter Keifer; Jacob; George whose first wife was Magdalene Allion, and whose second was Elizabeth Moyer; Anna, who became the wife of Christian Zimmerman; John; Phronoe, afterwards the wife of Christian Gautsche; Margaret, later the wife of Joseph Nauert; Mary, the wife of Harmon Spengler; Christian, who married Pauline Allion; Benedict, who married first Anna Allion, and after her death Susan Ernst; Daniel, who married Sophia Moyer. Besides those we have just named, Mr. and Mrs. Meister had four other children, of these two died in Europe when young, one in Switzerland, the other at Bouen (France) while the parents were on their way to America. Two, Joseph and John were born in America. Joseph never married. John married Elizabeth Zimmerman, sister of Jacob Zimmerman, and daughter of Daniel and Mary (Kibler) Zimmerman.

 3rd, John Van Gundy, a widower, having four children, two boys and two girls. Barbara the eldest child later became the wife of Rudolph Eyer, and died near Bloomington, Ill.. Anna died single in Butler County, Ohio. John who is of the same age as Mr. Jacob Binder, our subject, is now an Amish minister in one of the western states. Joseph, the youngest, died at Providence, on the way out from Wayne County.

 Our immigrants, in view of the large families and limited means, after due consultation, resolved to go further west and select lands for themselves. The following persons were chosen to make the selections: Jacob Kibler, George Meister, Christian Rupp and Peter Wyse. Mr. Wyse, a resident of Wayne County, accompanied them in the capacity of guide and interpreter. In the meantime the rest of the immigrants remained in Wayne Co.. The committee appointed proceeded on foot, to Putnam County, but finding the land there too level and wet and solid timber too scarce, they went into the vicinity of Ft. Wayne, Ind.. There they found the land and timber much the same as in Putnam County. From Ft. Wayne they came back to Defiance, Ohio. There they heard of one Joseph Bates, eighteen miles north a noted hunter, and a man with a broad and accurate knowledge of the country. Mr. Bates then lived on what is now known as the John Shilling farm, in the southwestern part of Franklin Township, Fulton County. To him they gladly came. They found him to be exactly the man they needed; brave, active, generous, and thoroughly posted on the condition of the county and the needs of new settlers. He gave them a cordial reception and took them six miles east of his place to what is now called Lauber's hill, and now one of the richest and most beautiful sections to be found anywhere in our state, but then a wild and dreary wilderness. Here they resolved to locate. They selected eight hundred acres of land, went to the U.S. land office at Wapakoneta, and entered the same, after which they returned to Wayne Co. having spent two weeks in the business and having done all the traveling on foot. The next important practical question that presented itself to the newcomers, was how, with their families and goods, to reach their newly acquired lands in the wild woods, a hundred and sixty or more miles distant. To accomplish this, five wagons and five yoke of oxen were purchased. Each of the five families that went to the new homes, purchasing what is now German Township and made the first settlement therein: 
1st--Jacob Binder and wife and the following of his children:       Anna, Jacob, Sophronia, and Regina. Mr. Binder's other daughters came a little later.
2nd--Christian Lauber, wife and four children.
3rd--Jacob Kibler and the following of his children: Jacob, George Heronimus, Elizabeth and Mary. Mrs.   Kibler, Susan and Melchior remained for a time in Wayne County.
4th--George Meister, and the following of his children:  Jacob, George, John, and Anna. His wife and the other children came later.
5th--John VanGundy and his three children, Joseph, the fourth and youngest of his four children, aged two or three years, died, as stated above, on the way out.

 Accompanying these families were Nickolas King, Samuel Burkholder, Christian Riegsecker, and Nickolas Gehr, otherwise called Nicklos Wenger, because Mrs. Wenger, a widow lady, brought him to this country from Switzerland. Gehr entered for Mrs. Wenger, who remained in Wayne County, the west half of the south east quarter of section ten, town seven north range five east, and underbrushed about an acre of it, then returned to Wayne County with King and Burkholder, who had only come with the settlers to aid them in getting started. Mr. Gohr was a man of education and ability and a find German writer. In the Cleveland "Kirchen Zeitung" of January 14th, 1896, appeared from his pen, in German, a very interesting accurate, and graphical account of the first settlement of German Town~ ship, in 1835. He became an able minister in the Reformed Church, resided in Philadelphia, Pa., and died a short time since, aged about 80.

 In their journey to the west our immigrants came through Wooster, Ashland, Lower Sandusky, now Fremont, to Perrysburgh, where they crossed the Maumee River. In crossing the river, there being then no bridge, Mr. Binder with his wagon, struck a large stone, and but for the help of others would have been unable to have extricated himself. Having crossed the river they proceeded westward to Napoleon, which place they reached after a very tedious journey with their ox teams, of about one hundred and sixty miles, having traveled at the rate of about ten miles a day. At this time there was but one house in Napoleon, and that was a log house. This, our subject thinks, was occupied in part at least, by a man named Wolfe, others say by a Mr. Hueston. It is not improbable that at that time, both of these men lived in the house. How, from Napoleon, to reach their point of destination, nearly twenty miles north and west through a dense and trackless forest, was a present, pressing and very perplexing question.

They finally decided to employ a surveyor to locate the most direct route. They estimated that no more than two days would be required to do this. Eight men accompanied the surveyor to "Blaze" trees, and otherwise assist in the work. At the end of the first day the company found they had advanced only eight miles. Here, in the thick woods amid countless myriads of mosquitoes they were compelled to camp for the night. Realizing that their supply of food for the trip was inadequate they dispatched two of their men to Napoleon for additional rations, the remaining men continuing the survey. Instead of at Lauber's hill, the surveyors came out where the village of Burlington now is, two miles west of the point aimed at. When they finally reached the place sought, it was night and they were without food, shelter or bed to sleep on. To still further add to their discomfort a heavy rain and thunder storm came on, and they all became thoroughly wet to the skin. They built a large fire and stood about it with clothes wringing wet, the long night through, the wind blowing, the tops of the trees waving, the thunder roaring and the lightning flashing at a fearful rate most of the night. In the morning, without supper or breakfast, without sleep or rest and still wet they had no alternative but to begin their return trip to Napoleon. Fortunately for them, about noon, they met the two men with the provisions ordered. Scarcely ever perhaps was food devoured with keener relish.

 The next day they reached Napoleon, having spent four days on the trip. Here they found six of their companions down sick with those other plagues of the west, fever and ague. Orders, however, were at once issued for all who had "hands and feet" to lay hold and help open a road on the surveyed line, the wagons and all together advancing as the road was opened. At meal times forks were driven into the ground, on which poles were placed. On these pots for cooking were hung. Water was secured, such as it was, and otherwise, as best they could, and fought mosquitoes with fire and smoke. After eleven long days thus spent in severe toil and slow movement, they finally reached August 22, l834, and the point in the forest where they proposed to make their future homes. Here, in the deep woods, without a house or foot of cleared land, strangers, unacquainted with the laws of the country, and with its general customs and language, more than four thousand miles from their native land, totally ignorant of frontier life, and of its methods and instruments of labor, many of them too, already sick, and thirty miles or more from market or doctor, the situation was gloomy indeed.

 In the face of all these difficulties and discouragements the heroic people resolved bravely to persevere in their effort to make for themselves independent homes. For a time they slept in their wagons and under roofs constructed of brush and leaves. The first house built was a cabin about 20 by 25 feet, on Mr. Christian Lauber's land, about thirty rods north of the site of the brick house in which Samuel Lauber, a grandson, now resides. By reason of sickness only six men of all the settlers were able to help put up the house. Joseph Bates and his hired man kindly came about six miles and greatly assisted in raising the building. It took them two days of hard labor to erect it. There was not a nail in any of the early houses. Other buildings of similar character were soon after erected for the different families on their respective lands, except that for Mr. Binder, because of his disability occasioned by continued illness for six months, a small cabin about twelve by fourteen feet, one half the floor was made of split puncheons. The other half was ground. In this shanty, without chimney the fire being built on the ground, the Binder family spent their first winter in America. The little cabin, our subject tells us, was often so full of smoke that the inmates were often very nearly strangled. In the spring he says, the family and goods in house were about the color of smoked ham. While smoke, by times thus gave the settlers annoyance, it did them at other times, and not infrequently at the same time, almost invaluable service in shielding them from the ravenous assault of the numberless hosts of mosquitoes that pestered them, night and day, much of the time, except winters. Except Mr. Kibler, the settlers were poor, and for a number of years experienced much difficulty in procuring sufficient quantities of provisions for their families, and provender for their cattle. They had to go to Maumee to mill and market, and to reach it, for want of any other road, had to go by way of Napoleon. This made the distance about forty five miles. It generally took about a week's time to drive there and back with their ox teams, over such roads as they then had. The roads especially in wet weather, were often next to impassable. To illustrate their hardships of this kind we will relate one instance.

 On one occasion Mr. Lauber and another of the settlers, took a wagon and two yoke of oxen and went to Maumee for provisions. The creek at that time was wide and deep, the ground beneath soft, and from the long journey with the wagon and load, over bad roads, the oxen were jaded and tired. Still, impelled by a keen sense of their nearness to their homes, and with a knowledge of the necessity of being there with the provisions, they urged the oxen into and half way across the stream. There however, the oxen stopped, being entirely exhausted. All effort to get them to move on were fruitless. It was night, and the men left oxen unyoked and wagon and went to their homes. Returning next morning they found the wagon where they had left them the evening before. It was cold, and during the night, ice had frozen over the creek. The tails of the cattle were actually frozen fast in the ice. The men broke the ice over the water, waded in and drove the oxen out and home, leaving the wagon and provisions. The following night the ice froze so solid that the men came the next day and slid the provisions over the stream on the ice. Sometimes, from waiting too long before starting to mill or from detention on the way, the settlers came near perishing for want of food. Raccoons, woodchucks, the flesh of animals that had starved to death, wild weeds, vegetables not esteemed fit for human food and bran and water mixed, were used for food in order to keep soul and body together. Our subject says he has himself actually fainted for want of food. For the cattle, for sometime after the settlement began, little grass or hay could be secured. To keep their cattle alive winters, they had no horses for years; trees were cut down by the settlers that their animals might eat the tops, which they did with eagerness. Quite a number, however, of their oxen and cows in spite of all their efforts, died from want of feed. Why, it may be asked, did not these people kill game in the woods, where, in large numbers, such game abounded? The answer is those people were not hunters, and had, for quite a time, neither guns or ammunition. Our subject, now over seventy years of age, and for sixty-two years a resident of this vicinity, (Binder was 8 years old when he came to America) says that he never had any relish for hunting. He, in common with the rest of the first settlers, very much preferred chopping, rail-making and clearing to hunting or fishing. He says that through his life, he observed that those who made the most money and prospered best, were those who most faithfully stuck to their work and their farms. But for the faithful services and kindness of his three sisters, Catharine, Anna and Barbara, who obtained from fifty to seventy five cents a week, employment among residents along the Maumee river, Mr. Binder tells us, he believes his father's family would have certainly perished. As small and seemingly insignificant as were their wager, these brave girls not only supported themselves there with, but mainly for several years, their father's family.

 What we wrote some years ago of these heroic pioneer daughters we shall here repeat: "soon after Mr. Binder came into the woods, his three daughters, Catherine, Anna and Barbara, all young women, went out to work, Barbara went to Providence, Anna to Napoleon and Catherine to some point nine miles from the latter place. About the first of January, 1836, Catherine became homesick and resolved to go home. The distance was twenty four miles, all of which had to be traversed on foot. From Napoleon to her home in German twp. was still a dense, unbroken wilderness. She started, called upon and took her sister Anna, at Napoleon with her. They traveled for some distance, but finally lost their way and were compelled to spend the cold dreary night in the dismal forest, liable at any time to fall a prey to the wild beasts with which the woods were then filled. They finally sat down by a large log and remained there until morning. As the night passed they dreamed of being at their father's house, seated by a pleasant fire. In the morning they retraced their steps, until they came to the path from whence, the day before, they had wandered. They were both weary and hungry. The provision they had brought with them had become so hard frozen that they could not eat it. Their feet, the day before, had become wet, and their stockings were now frozen upon their feet. Yet, upon finding the path again, so glad were they, that they almost forgot their sufferings, from the fond hope of soon again seeing their home and dear friends. Soon after they found their way, they distinctly heard the stroke of an ax or tomahawk against a tree, and at once surmised it was done by an Indian. A few moments confirmed their suspicions. Looking forward they saw, not ten rods distant, directly approaching them, on their path, a tall, athletic Indian, armed with knife and tomahawk. They were greatly alarmed, but determined to continue on their path, as no better alternative offered. He proved to be a young and friendly Indian, who after, in his language, asking them how far to next "wigwam", and receiving an answer from the girls in German continued his course. They finally came in sight of their father's cabin and upon nearing it, humble as it was, their hearts beat with joy, Catherine observing to Anna how beautifully the smoke ascended above their little home. After remaining a few days with their people, the two girls started again for Napoleon. Having got several miles into the woods on their way, they saw the tracks of a huge bear in the freshly fallen snow, and were filled with consternation, expecting every moment to meet old bruin himself. They had not proceeded far before they saw, at a considerable distance, in advance of them, an object in motion, resembling a human being, loaded down with clothes, put on in every conceivable shape. It was their sister Barbara, on her way home from Providence. She said she was sick and wanted the gentleman for whom she worked to bring her home. He refused, not wanting to lose her services. She determined to "go home, sick or well", and accordingly bundled up her clothes and started on her journey of thirty miles. She also, lost her way. After wandering around for a long time, she finally came in sight of a house which, upon approaching, she found unoccupied. It was now night, and she concluded to spend the night in the house. But it looked so desolate and lonely she feared to stay in it. Finding, her brother tells us, an old bake oven she crawled into that, but fearing an attack by some wild beast and that she would there be helpless, with no chance of escape, she came out, and sat all night on the house porch. To keep herself from freezing she very prudently put on all the clothing she had, The next day, as above stated, she met her two sisters. They directed her to follow their tracks and assured her she would safely reach home, which she did.

Barbara, now the widow of Jacob Lantz, deceased, still lives, at the age of seventy six years. She resides with her kind daughters in the city of Detroit, Michigan, one of whom, Elizabeth, we are informed, is an efficient popular teacher and educator in that city. Both Catherine and Anna are now dead. Aaron Mead, a son of Catherine, is now a man of fifty years. He is an old and experienced teacher and a man of extensive general information. He justly cherishes with fond and grateful recollection, the memory of his home and generous mother. Another and younger son, Eugene, is superintendent for the General Government of an educational institution for the instruction of Indians in or near the city of Carson, Nevada, his wife being an efficient assistant. He receives fifteen hundred and she seven hundred dollars per year. Of Anna's children, three daughters, Armina, Mary E. and Sarah E. Wildin, some years since, were among the most successful and popular teachers of this county. They almost worshiped their noble and sainted mother. Except Armina, now Mrs. E. Hyde of Goshen, Ind., mother and daughters are all dead. For the incident above narrated, of Catherine, Anna and Barbara, the writer is mainly indebted to Anna, a woman of rare grace and intelligence, who herself at our request, twenty-six years ago, gave them to us. Let the names of these pioneer heroines, and models of industry and economy, of filial affection and duty be long remembered and honored.

After the settlers had been upon their farms for sometime, they began to raise pumpkins, of which they made a kind of "sauce," called by them "pumpkin pap," upon which old and young fed with eager appetites, until they were as "full as ticks , and yet their hunger was not thereby satisfied. On one occasion Gundy went to Maumee to mill, and finding a lot of mushrooms, brought home three bags full of them. Upon these the settlers fed with such voraciousness that half of them were "laid up sick" in consequence.

 Mr. Binder says his mother used to try to make loaf bread out of bran and water, but the loaves would fall to pieces as soon as taken from the kettle. When the settlers first came upon their lands, flour, at Maumee, was $l4 a barrel, and potatoes $1 per bushel. Some years later when they had wheat to sell, after hauling it to market, they could only get fifty cents a bushel for it, and nearly all of that they were compelled to take in trade, scarcely getting cash enough to pay for their vittles and lodging on the way to market and back. Much inconvenience, at times, was experienced from a lack of good water. Wells were dug in low places, into which water would slowly come. Soon, however, it would become filthy and unfit for use, by reason of the presence in it of myriads of insects. To use the water at all, it had to be cleansed and boiled. Finally they dug a well, with much labor and trouble, near the house of Mr. Lauber, thirty-six feet deep, all the way through blue clay, but got no water. In the fall of l834. George Meister lost two of his sons, Jacob and John: Jacob was about twenty-one years of age. He died first, and was buried in a coffin made by his father from a wagon box brought by him from Schaffhausen. John, twelve years of age, died soon after. Both died of fever. Theirs were the first deaths in what is now German township. The circumstances of the death of little Joseph Von Gundy, at Providence, on the way out from Wayne County, were both singular and melancholy. The father and four children, the mother being dead had come with their wagon and oxen with those of the other four families, as far as Providence. Here they all stopped to prepare a meal. Mr. Gundy was hunting sticks and trying to get a fire started. The little boy sitting in the front of his father's wagon near by, kept calling to his father, "father, father," Mr. Gundy, being busily engaged with his fire and work, somewhat impatiently said to his little boy "why do you say father all the time? Why don't you say mother?" Not three minutes elapsed before the little fellow was a corpse. The father, a kind hearted man was almost distracted with the most poignant grief. Neither the father nor any of the company had previously observed any symptoms of illness in the child. The cause of its sad and sudden death was and is a mystery. It will be noticed that Christian Rupp and family were not of the five families that first came out from Wayne Co. They came about a year later. When Lauber, Binder and Rupp came to America they brought with them Henry, Jacob, and Nicholas Roth, three young men. Mr. Rupp brought Henry Binder, Jacob, and  Nicholas Lauber. These, young men came to the settlement soon after it was begun.

It was no uncommon thing for the early settlers to become lost in the thick woods. In l835, Mr. Binder and his wife went to their land about a half mile distant, to work, following a path that led by Mr. Rupp's cabin. They worked late and then attempted to follow the path back to their home, which was east of north from where they worked. They lost their way and spent the night in the woods, Our subject, then a boy of about nine years suspecting what had happened to his parents, took a large old fashioned tin horn and blew vigourously on it until he was exhausted, trying to indicate to the lost the place of their home. But they failed to hear the sound. The next morning found them two miles west of their cabin. Wandering about they finally discovered horse tracks, and rightly concluded were made by Mr. Bates' horse, as Mr. B. made frequent visits to the German settlement. They. followed these tracks until they reached their home at nine o'clock in the morning, when they went to bed for sleep and rest.

A general ignorance of our country, of its productions, of agricultural art, and methods of frontier life, for sometime after their arrival, made it peculiarly hard for our German people to prosper. To illustrate this ignorance we will give an instance or two. Before coming here Mr. Binder had never seen a pumpkin. He got seeds and planted some. They grew nicely. Thinking that the pumpkins would rot if left lying on the ground, he went to work and made a lot of three legged stools, one of which he carefully put under each pumpkin. Hearing that sugar and molasses might be made from the sap of trees, some of the settlers tapped a number of both elm and maples. In boiling down the sap, Mr. Binder refused to permit his wife to boil it to molasses or sugar. He said she was "boiling it all away". He ordered it taken out of the kettle and put into bottles and jugs. The wind having blown down some of his corn, he made stakes and staked it to keep..it erect.

 When the settlers first came here, for light at night, they used lard and wicks, in old fashioned lamps. Their lard failing they had to devise some other method of illumination. For a candlestick,. or holder, they bored a hole in the top of a low stool, and put an upright stick in it about three feet long. In the top of this stick they sawed a notch. For a wick they first made staves out of green bush wood, four feet long, and an inch thick. These one at a time, they would fasten in a work bench, after which three men would take a strong plane, one pushing and two pulling, and plane shavings off the stave four feet long, one inch wide and one eighth of an inch thick. These shavings would be drawn through the notch at the top of the stick. The wick before using would be drawn about half through the notch. It would then be ignited and as it burned, more of the shaving would be drawn through. To make it burn slowly, they would lift the wick up. To make it burn more rapidly they would turn down the wick. After being dried a few days, Mr. Binder tells us, one of these lamps would make a light much more brilliant than that of a common tallow candle. One wick or shaving would last fifteen minutes. Reading or any kind of ordinary work could easily be done by these lights. We have requested Mr. Binder to make a sample of one of those primitive lamps, with a number of wicks, for the pioneer cabin on our County Fair Ground, which he has promised to do. A man by the name of Christian Greiser, who lived on the old David Stutesman farm, used to prepare the staves and furnish the plane for making the shavings.

About six years after the settlement began, David Stutesman brought a number of young apple trees from Wayne Co., to the settlement. Of these Mr. Binder, Sr. purchased four, one of which stands on the old place, though nearly sixty years old. It was once very prolific, but bears less now. It is a rambow. The woods in spring and summer, used to be full of wild garlic. Before the grass would come in the spring, the cows used to eat large quantities of this garlic. It gave them a very offensive smell, so much so that it rendered their milk and butter almost totally unfit for use. In the woods were bears, wolves and a great variety of other animals. Wolves could frequently be heard in the woods howling at night. A bear came one night and ate the ham off Mr. Binders calf, though the calf was kept close by the house. Mr. Binder heard the calf bawling in the night and wondered what ailed it. Strange to say it was alive next morning, standing, our subject says, on three legs.

 At one time, three Indians came to Kibler's cabin in his absence. They all sat down together side by side on a bench, they looked at each other, then laughed heartily and soon left. Once a number of Indians stopped close to Mr. Kibler's house. There they remained as long as they could get liquor. Finally, they were told the liquor was all gone. The refused to believe it until an Indian came into the house, went upstairs, shook and examined the keg. Being then convinced that the liquor was gone, they departed. On still another occasion, a chief followed by quite a number of Indians all marching single file, entered Mr. Lauber's house, and looking about, saw a bottle with liquor in it. Without permission or ceremony the chief took the bottle, filled his mouth with liquor, then gave each of the other Indians a drink out of his mouth. Quickly a number of the men of the settlement assembled. After mutually and silently examining each other awhile, the Indians left.

There being no post office near, no letters were written or received for quite a number of years after the settlers located here. Their money what little they had, for years, was coin, gold and silver. It was mainly foreign coin. They used no medicine for years after coming here. When attacked by fever and ague, or any other disease they fought it out to a finish, without the intervention of a "doctor". They generally got well.
A man, called Martin, was the first school teacher in the settlement. Christian Beck was the first Amish preacher and blacksmith of the settlement. He came from Switzerland and preached in private houses. The Mennonite church was founded by one Menno Simon, who lived about the time of Martin Luther. Of this church there are believed to be at present, about twelve different branches.  The Amish church is one of these branches. It derives its name from Jacob Ammon, a minister.

 About the year 1846, six negroes together, came to Mr. Lauber's. They were very hungry. Mrs. Lauber gave them all the bread she had. She thought them fugitive slaves on their way to Canada--seeking liberty in a monarchy, that a country, calling itself free, refused them. They departed and were never seen here again.

 Mrs. Susan Bernath (still living) wife of John Bernath Esq. and daughter of Jacob Kibler Sr. deceased, says Indian women used to come and grind their axes on her father's grindstone. When our men who with their women, had camped there, were having a gay old time swimming in the Maumee river, while the Indian women, on shore were compelled to chop the wood. This the Indian women seemed to regard as a great hardship. Some of them were crying while chopping.

 Not long after the first settlement in German, one John Rufenacht and wife, very poor people, then residing in Wayne County, Ohio, decided to come to what is now German township. Not having means to buy a horse and harness, they loaded what few things they had on a little one horse wagon, and started for the west, the couple, themselves, drawing the wagon. On their way out some kind person or persons furnished them an old horse and harness. After that the horse drew the wagon and goods to the settlement; soon after which the horse died. Mrs. Rufenacht we learn, is yet alive, and resides with her son near Archbold. She is said to be over ninety years of age.

 Some of our German women were very robust. Mary (Stuckey) Binder the mother of our subject, when they first came west, would put a small tub, holding six or more gallons of sugar sap, on her head, and carry it home, a half mile distant, and frequently without holding or balancing it with her hands. Our subject, is a man weighing now two hundred pounds, five feet and ten inches high, remarkably stout and active for a man of seventy years of age. When a young man, his neighbors assure us, very few of the settlers or citizens were a match for him with ax, spike, or maul and wedge. Yet he tells us, that his sister Sophronia, afterwards the wife of Michael Figy, could do at somethings, nearly as much work as he could in the woods. After her marriage to Mr. Figy she assisted her husband who was a less vigorous man than her brother. When it came to heavy lifting with hand spike, the husband found himself no match in strength for his wife. Accordingly he took the short one.

 Jacob Binder Sr. died in November 1846, of fever. His son remained with him and assisted in chopping and clearing during his father's life. The son says "as soon as I could handle an ax I began chopping and clearing, making rails, rolling and burning logs, building fences, etc. At first we planted some without plowing, simply opening the ground with our hoes. Father and I used to draw the wooden drag over this ground, as had not any team". At the tine of the fathers death, he owned forty acres of land, range South- west fourth of North-east fourth of section fourteen. I  own seven north, range five east. For a short time after the father's death, the son worked the place on shares, he taking one half and giving his Mother and sisters Sophronia and Regina, the other half. Later he bought out the heirs and became the owner of the land, subject to his mothers dower interest. He kept his mother as long as she lived. She was eight-five years old at her death. There was not a gray hair in her head when she died.

 September 10, 1848, Mr. Binder married Miss Catherine Eyer, originally from Alsace near Basel. Rev. Christian Rupp, a minister of the Amish church and Mr. Binder's uncle, married them. A few years later he bought the old homestead, he and Christian Wise bought of a Mr. Strubbs, agent at Stryker, the South-west fourth of section ten down seven North range five east, for eight hundred silver dollars, paid cash in hand. Mr. Strubbs put the money in a sack and accidently on his way home, dropped it, from the horse he rode, into a muc-hole. He soon, however, recovered it. Six hundred dollars of the money was paid by Mr. Wyse, and two hundred by Mr. Binder. To get his choice forty, the South-east fourth of the hundred and sixty which lay immediately north of the first forty, which gave him the entire east half of the above named quarter section. Here on the south part of the eighty acres Mr. Binder now resides, and here he has spent most of his days. It is very rich land. He has good buildings, and a lovely place to live, and like a sensible man that he is, he takes it easy and enjoys himself in his old days. When young Mr. Binder says, in his opinion, he did not spend less than fifty days every year in helping neighbors, raise buildings, log etc., all very hard work. He ways, "If I now had the timber which, years ago, I burned and destroyed, I would be a rich man. I have cleared more than one hundred acres of land, covered with heavy timber, much of which now would be very valuable. One time I sold, for fifty cents, a large and beautiful popular tree, that now, if I had it, I could easily get fifty dollars for. Popular and walnut, when green, were hard to burn, and then I was glad to get anything for them and have them removed."

 In May l885, Mr. Binders first wife died. A year thereafter he married the widow of Rev. Fredrick Bucher. Her maiden name was Maria Geiger. Mr. Binder seems to have been very fortunate in his matrimonial relations. His first wife appeared to be an active, faithful companion, and his present one is esteemed by all who know her as a very devoted Christian lady and true friend. For thirty years Mr. Binder has not mingled with politics. Prior to that he says, "I was a democrat", but would not give a reason why. When about eighteen years of age, he became a member of the Amish church, and for the past eighteen years has been a minister in what is generally called the "New Reform Mennonite Church". Rev. Christian Allion of Fayette, is also a minister of the same denomination. The two do the main part of the preaching in their neat little church at Lauber Hill. Mr. Binder had by his first wife, eleven children, seven boys-Benjamin, Joseph, Jacob, Moses, and three that died when quite young--and four girls--Fanny, Mary, Catherine and Elizabeth. Of these children Joseph, Jacob, and Catherine, died after attaining adult years. Benjamin and wife, with all but one of his family, live in Portland, Oregon. Moses and family live at Whitehouse, Ohio. Fanny, the wife of John Neuschwander, resides with her husband and family near Wauseon. She has quite a genius for poetry. Her pathetic verses on the death of her sister "Katie" nicely published, in leaf form, show this. She should cultivate her poetical talent--Catherine married Wlm. Sanders. She died December 25, l894, leaving a family of five bright children, four boys and one gir1. "Katie was remarkable for her cheery pleasant disposition. "I never knew her" says her father, with whom during her life she always lived, "to be angry or melancholy." Mr. Sanders still lives on the farm with his father-in-law. He is a number one farmer and good mason. Libbie married Julius J. Varnier. They reside in east Toledo, Ohio. By his present wife, Mr. Binder has no children. She raised a family by her first husband. Of the original Binder family all that settled here are now dead, except Barbara, Mary and our subject. Of the Kibler family only Heronimus and Susan survive. Of the Meister family only Mary, Christian, and Daniel are living. Of the Gundy family, all are dead except John who, not long since, at the age of three score and ten, still lives in one of the western states.

 We suggest to these old settlers, and to the others, now living, who came here nearly as early, that, they have a reunion. How pleasant thus to meet on times shore once again. Let old and young unite. It must be soon if ever. What marvelous changes have taken place, in the country and population, since August 22nd, l834. The few that remain of the settlers here of that year, are old, and obedience to the inexorable mandates of natures lae, they must soon depart, to that "undiscovered country whither their former companions and friends have already gone, and whence none have returned to acquaint us with its location or nature. Believing that, if anything, German township would have to be done now, before all the participants were gone; and desiring, at the same time to write a sketch of the life of Rev. Binder, one of those settlers, our old friend and neighbor, and a worthy citizen, we have undertaken the work, and written what we have. We have not written, nor did we intend writing, when we began, a history of all of German township, and of its many early settlers. That if done properly would indeed be a highly interesting, but a most laborious work, requiring months of time, and a very large amount of careful, patient inquiry and investigation. The writer himself has resided more than thirty-seven years in German township, and has both the pleasure and honor of a personal acquaintance with many of the brave men and women who made the first settlement in the township, and with a single exception, (that of Col. Eli Phillips of Royalton) Probably the first in the limits of our present county.