Evansport people were a hardy bunch according to new history book author at SAHC annual meeting

     The early living conditions in this area were so formidable that Rachel Booth, a native of Evansport and author of a new book about the community, is surprised at the lengths people would go to settle there. She pointed out that Jacob Coy, one of the founders of Evansport, left Greene County close to Dayton with three other family members in 1831, traveled up through the state by canal to Cleveland, across Lake Erie to Toledo, down the Maumee River and up the Tiffin River in order to found a town at Evansport. And after all her research, she’s still not exactly sure why.
     Booth, shown in the photo on the left, said that the Great Black Swamp area in northwest Ohio was such a miserable place in the early days that even the Native Americans didn’t like to live here. Yet, at one time 21 members of the Coy family lived in a tent in the swamp before they could build the homes they needed. It is hard to conceive people doing that today, she said, but it was the hardy stock of people like the Coy’s who were determined to settle here and form a town to became their home that made it happen.
     Booth’s comments were made to an audience at the annual meeting of the Stryker Area Heritage Council at the Evansport United Methodist Church on Thursday (Nov 9) as she spoke about a history book she wrote about Evansport. She said her new book, “The Little Port in the Corn Fields,” captures details of the heritage of the community from its early settlers to the businesses and merchants, including the mills, the lodges and historical tales involving its residents.
     “Fires were one of the main reasons the town didn’t grow,” Booth said. In the early years they didn’t have a fire department. There was a pump in the downtown to get water, and they would form bucket brigades and use wet blankets to try to put out fires. However, when they needed help, they had to send someone on horseback to Stryker or Defiance. That took too long to get help back, so they often lost buildings to fire and it was too expensive for the owners to rebuild.
     The town has been subject to flooding through the years with Booth reviewing the three main floods that hit the town in 1887, 1913, and 1937.
     Booth said she got interested in writing the book because she had heard that Francis Scott Key had lived in Evansport and had a tobacconist shop. It didn’t turn out to be quite the case. It seemed that at one time Francis Llewellyn Key, a first cousin to the writer of America’s national anthem, lived in Evansport and ran the shop. Booth said she traced the Key family history and included the family tree involving the Evansport side of the family in the book.
     Booth said she particularly remembers the late Floyd Rodgers, who was her next door neighbor when she was growing up in Evansport. Rodgers collected many of the historical stories of the town and she enjoyed listening to him share the stories with her.
     Her research was not an easy task. While she had lived in the village from her 7th grade year until she was a senior, today she lives in northwest New Hampshire, which meant a drive of 820 miles every time she wanted to come to the visit the area to do more research. It proved to be a long and arduous process, but a relief now that it is finished.
     Aside from her own research, she also credited Tanya Brunner, Patty Fruth and Kevin Maynard with information for her manuscript.
     The Stryker Area Heritage Council covered the cost to publish the book. The books are $20 each and are $23 if mailed. People can purchase a copy by contacting the council at info@strykerhistory.org.
     Terry Wieland, Denise Blevins and Anna Marie Sprow were all re-elected as trustees to the council for three-year terms during a short business meeting prior to Booth’s presentation. In the photo on the right seated from left to right are SAHC president Terry Wieland, vice president Judy Keller, and trustee Helen Bell. Standing are trustee Fred Grisier, treasurer Sue Buehrer, secretary Anna Marie Sprow and trustee Bill Priest. Missing from the photo are trustees Denise Blevins and Patsy Mealer.
     A tribute card honoring long-time SAHC member and past president Rose Burkholder who passed away last year was given to each guest at the meeting.
     Council treasurer Sue Buehrer reviewed the activities of the council over the past year. They included a visit to the Sturgis, Michigan, historical society’s recently renovated railroad depot filled with multi-media presentations, accepting a donation of a dry sink from an Evansport family, hosting the Stryker Summerfest parade and putting a display of historic photos in the fire hall, working with village on depot maintenance and giving tours of the depot upon request.
     Aside from printing the new Evansport book in the year ahead, Buehrer said the council would like to use donated bricks to build a patio around the depot if they can find the help to do it and are looking at a marker project at the grave of William Knight in 2018.