Afterward: Douglass’s Legacy
Since the 1870s, local historians have found Douglass’s work helpful. Has their view of history changed?
In the early 1900s, local history spread to other counties in Ohio. Publishing companies such as B.F. Bowen and Company often oversaw the publishing of these books. In 1910, B.F. Bowen published a second, multi-volume History of Wayne County Ohio. Dedicated to John P. Jeffries and “the pioneers,” this book repeated and expanded upon many of the ideas from Benjamin Douglass’s work, including its reverence for the pioneers and its regarding most Indigenous people as “savages.” Explore the book using the window below:
During the period between World War One and World War Two, people became more interested in national identity, and less interested in local history. However, local history regained popularity in the late twentieth century, especially after WWII and during the 1976 Bicentennial.1 Kammen, On Doing Local History, 36. In the 1930s, snippets of local history began to appear in America’s newspapers.2 Kammen, On Doing Local History, 31-32. In Wayne County, there are many examples of newer local historical books, news articles, pamphlets, and websites that use Douglass as a source. However, many of America’s local historical works remain similar to those published in the 1800s.3 Kammen, On Doing Local History, 32-33.
Douglass’s book also has not gone out of fashion. Tracing the ISBN number of History of Wayne County, Ohio shows that it was last reprinted in 2011 by the British Library. It was also locally reprinted in the 1990s, as reported by the Dalton Gazette in 1993.
Benjamin Douglass recorded a period of Wayne County’s history that lacks many primary accounts. Local historians today do note that Benjamin Douglass’s work is biased towards Wayne County’s most prominent citizens, and away from the lower classes and religious minorities such as the Mennonites4Douglass, History of Wayne County, Ohio 849. and Indigenous people.
“it must be said Douglass has his own particular and obvious set of foibles, that in some cases resulted in an oddly skewed view of the county’s history.”
Paul Locher for the Wooster Daily Record, September 23rd, 2012
Benjamin Douglass…had a profound hatred for the Indians…”
Paul Locher, When Wooster Was a Whippersnapper (2008), 2.
Additionally, the Wayne County Community History Wiki has a helpful note to researchers that points out the usage of stereotypes and racist language in Benjamin Douglass’s History of Wayne County, Ohio.
However, looking at newer sources that use Douglass, work still needs to be done in representing Indigenous people who lived in Wayne County.
First image: “Early Ancestor Diorama, Wayne County Public Library, Wooster, OH.” Glenna Van Dyke (2021). Third image: Rittman Citizens pose next to historical markers of “early settlers” for the 1976 Bicentennial. Rittman Press, June 30th, 1976, page 1. Accessed from the Wayne County Public Library Community History Archive.
For example, some local historians still insist that white settlers were the first settlers, discounting the importance of the Indigenous people who lived, hunted and traded in Wayne County before the arrival of white people:
“One such tribe was still living in Beaver Hat Town in the area that is now Wooster Cemetery when the first settlers began arriving”
Locher, When Wooster was a Whippersnapper (2008) page 1.
“The true ‘father’ of Wooster was Joseph H. Larwill, a hustling 24-year-old wilderness surveyor ably supported by his remarkable family and friends”
Lindsey Wilger Williams, Old Paths in the New Purchase (1983), 11.
While today, it may seem like these local historians are simply calling white settlers the “first” because they were the first to call this area Wayne County, this label has historic roots in discounting Indigenous people and their claims to land. While white settlers may have been the first to call this area Wayne County and set up the towns we know today, they were not the first to use this land for food or shelter. Although the Indigenous inhabitants may not have been as permanent as white settlers, this was because white settlement was actively forcing them westward.
Meanwhile, despite the presence of Indigenous people, local historians still use the motif of the empty wilderness, which is complicated by the presence, both in and outside of Wayne County, of Indigenous people:
“[The early settlers] arrived with almost nothing in what was a hostile and unbroken virgin wilderness…”
Paul Locher, When Wooster was a Whippersnapper (2008), 7.
The idea that the Indigenous people of Wayne County “disappeared,” without any specific details about removal or where Indigenous people can be found today, are also present in local historical accounts:
“About 1812 — soon after the war of that date — the Indians disappeared from Wayne County and went on westward.”
Anne Gasbarre, “The Story of Wooster’s Early Years,” Wooster Daily Record, Wooster, OH, January 10, 2020
Meanwhile, some other works are more specific about where Indigenous people went, an improvement from Douglass:
“Pappellond’s few remaining people fled with the other Indians of Wayne County, ’seemingly overnight’ to reservations in Indiana and Kansas”
Lindsey Wilger Williams, Old Paths in the New Purchase (1983), 11.
“The Delaware had been pushed westward across the Allegheny Mountains in 1768, making their principal settlements in Ohio. Although the government took possession of their lands on the Muskingum River in 1795 and removed them to the Wabash Country in Indiana, some individual tribal groups remained behind.”
Paul Locher, When Wooster was a Whippersnapper (2008), 1. It is important to note that notes about where the Shawnee and Wyandotte went after their removal from Ohio cannot be found in this book.
However, these accounts, while more specific than Douglass, don’t give readers an idea that these Indigenous groups still exist today in Oklahoma.
Many of today’s local historical accounts still have a slant toward the white settlers. While they surely did deal with a lack of resources, these accounts do not discuss the hardships faced by Indigenous people who were removed from Ohio or why historians like Douglass would have an interest in framing the pioneers as the “good guys” to minimize Indigenous history:
“Those first few families who came here in 1808 worked diligently and with a determined courage that is reflected in the city today.”
Anne Gasbarre, “The Story of Wooster’s Early Years,” Wooster Daily Record, Wooster, OH, January 10, 2020
“It is said Indians in the Wayne County area had a dread of the white man”
Historic Heritage of Wayne County (1976), page 9.
Discussions of conflicts and violence between Indigenous people and white people also still largely rely on Douglass, without considering the broader context of white settlement. Authors like Paul Locher and Lindsey Wilger Williams tell the story of incidents like Fulkes Massacre, but it is also important to understand the broader context of Indigenous and white violence during this time period, which ultimately led to the forced removal of tribes like the Wyandot, Shawnee, and Delaware.5 Hixson, American Settler Colonialism, viii.
The Future of Local History
Each of the historical accounts listed here is well worth the read.
Especially because resources about Indigenous people in this area are rare, each of these resources provides important knowledge. However, some pieces of the puzzle are still missing. Resources that are more regional or tribal in focus can also help you avoid falling into stereotypes originated by early white settlers themselves. While more obvious stereotypes are easy to detect, others are more subtle.
If you are interested in researching Indigenous history, find out more about how you can avoid stereotypes, or learn more about Indigenous history in Wayne County.