At an early day two boys, sons of John H. Semer, aged 15 and 10 years, went out hunting in the winter, when there was a deep snow. They became lost in the woods and wandered around until dark when they crawled into a hollow tree, remaining there until the moon came up so that they would know the direction home. When they started for home, they were so badly frozen that they could not travel; so they crawled into a hollow log where they were found the next day. Their feet were so badly frozen that they had to be amputated above the ankles. The neighbors had followed the boys' tracks in the snow all night with torches but did not come up with them until the next day. The oldest boy had taken off his coat to wrap around his little brother. (from “History of Van Wert County Ohio”)
The Semers, John, Keziah and their five children, first arrived in Van Wert County, Ohio, in May of 1852. They were joined by other Pennsylvania Geman families, including the Israel Adam family, spelled Addams prior to 1850. Israel’s wife was Catharine Matz, a sister to Keziah. The Semers and Adams had been friends and neighbors back in Berks County. Israel Adam moved his family to Fairfield County in southeast Ohio in 1850, and John H. Semer followed a year later. But the Semers left Fairfield County for Van Wert County in 1852, and this time, the Adam family followed them to that place a year later.
Access to the wilderness of western Ohio became much easier in 1845 with the completion of the Miami and Erie Canal, which connected the Ohio River in Cincinnati to Lake Erie in Toledo. For two decades, hard-working German, Irish, and French immigrants dug the canal without any equipment other than picks, shovels, and wheelbarrows, earning 31 cents and a jigger of whiskey for each day’s work. Henceforth, a canal boat pulled by mules along an adjacent towpath could travel from one end of the state to the other in just three days. Towns along the canal route, like Delphos, founded in 1844, boomed for several decades, in spite of the constant threat of malaria in the densely forested swamplands. These towns became hubs for farmers buying supplies or selling crops, and businesses near the locks bustled with canal passengers eager to spend money while awaiting their turn to pass through. But soon, the railroads made transportation through the region even more plausible, and the canals eventually became obsolete.
At the time of the Semers’ arrival in Van Wert County, there were just two other families living in the area, the George Payne and Jacob Thatcher families. It had not yet been organized as a township, but John H. Semer became a leader among his neighbors and used his influence for the advancement of the new settlement. In 1855, Jackson Township was officially formed from sections of Washington and Hoaglin Townships, and it was at Semer’s suggestion that the new township, the last one formed in the county, was named in honor of Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States. John was elected the first treasurer of the township.
Life was not easy for these pioneers. This area of Ohio was known as the Great Black Swamp, and the land had to be deforested and drained before anything could be cultivated. Mosquitoes and malaria presented an annual threat until the first hard freeze each autumn. Travel was challenging to say the least, as there were few passable trails. The region of the Black Swamp was truly Ohio’s final frontier.
John and Keziah settled on what later became Section 28 in Jackson Township, the original land entry listing 120 acres to “John H. Seamer” in 1852. They cleared their land and built their home from the timber they had cut, with improvements being made using lumber hauled from the canal. The family quickly grew from five children to ten before 1860, with the addition of Edward, twins Lydia and Polly, Allen, and Cassie. In 1858, the first term of school was taught, but not until 1873 was the first church constructed. There were still just eight voters in the township in an October, 1859 election.
William Semer, as the oldest of ten children, likely took on a great many responsibilities. Hunting and farming were requirements, as there were no corner stores during those early years in the Ohio wilderness. William and his brother John made frequent visits to the nearest grist mill, eight miles away in Delphos, so the family could have corn meal for cooking. John Semer, Jr. was later quoted in “The History of Van Wert County:”
"We had no horses. My brother and I had trained our oxen so we could ride them. We would take a sack of corn each on the back of our oxen and go to Delphos to mill."
William married Emaline Keirns on March 28, 1869. She was born in Delphos, Ohio in 1848, the first-born child of Lampson Keirns (1821-1885) and Jane Robinson (1827-1869). The Keirns family was of Irish descent.
“The first Keirns of whom we have records is Johnathon Keirns, who was born in Ireland in 1761, came to America as a British soldier and served in the Revolutionary War on the side of the British. Later, he settled in Pennsylvania and in 1781 at Bloody Run, Pennsylvania (currently Everett, Bedford County, Pennsylvania) he married Catherine Kenter. He was engaged in the iron and ore industry there but later went to West Virginia (still western Virginia at that time), sent for his wife and family, who came to him overland. He died and was buried at Big Sandy Creek (Bruceton Mills), West Virginia. Following his death his wife came to Athens County (in Southeastern Ohio) where she died in 1853 at 92 years of age. They were the parents of John, William, George and Sarah.” (from “Athens County Family History – 1987” page 110)
Many descendants of Jonathan and Catherine Keirns have remained in the Athens, Ohio area. But their oldest son John W. Keirns (1791-1870) settled in Putnam County in northwest Ohio, the only of their four children to leave the Athens area. John was the father of Lampson Keirns and the grandfather of Emaline.
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| Lampson Keirns (1821-1885) |
Lampson (or Lamson) is a family name that was passed down for several generations as a middle or first name and dates back to the earliest pioneers of Massachusetts. Lampson Keirns was the great grandson of Joseph Ellenwood and Abigail Bryant Lamson. The Lamson ancestry is traceable all the way to the early 1600’s. William Lamson was born in England in 1620 and arrived in America in 1634, in Ipswich, Massachusetts. He married Sarah Ayers, and they were parents to eight children.
”There is a hill in Ipswich named Lamson's Hill (since 1678, and perhaps earlier). His farm is still owned by his descendants. Thus we see that William Lamson was early a man of property and from the extracts from the town records we find him to have been a man of considerable standing in the community and interested in town affairs.” (from Descendants of William Lamson of Ipswich, Mass. 16-34-1917)
William and Emaline Semer settled in Jackson Township on the Semer homestead, the land referred to by family members and neighbors as Semerville. They operated a successful farm despite William having lost his toes to frostbite as a teen. They were parents to five children, Jane, Susannah, twins Mina and Charles, and my great grandfather, William Lampson Semer.
In 1845, Henry Semer was born in Pennsylvania to John and Keziah, their second child, joining young William. He is believed to be the younger brother who had his feet amputated after a frostbite incident in the early years. He lived with his mother and then his sister Catherine Osenga and her family. Henry died in 1909.
A third child, John Semer, Jr. was born in Pennsylvania in 1847. He married Margaret Simpson on July 31, 1869, and they raised six children on a fine 40-acre farm in Section 33 of Jackson Township, near the original Semer homestead. John Semer, Jr. served as trustee and clerk of the township, served on the School Board, and for more than a quarter of a century was justice of the peace. Margaret died in 1886, and John later married Mrs. Frances Ruth, a widow. John died in 1918.
Catherine Semer was born in Pennsylvania in 1849, the first daughter born to John and Keziah Semer. In 1868, she married Joseph Osenga, who along with his parents and siblings had immigrated to Putnam County, Ohio, from Holland. The Osengas lived a few miles northwest of the village of Ottoville, and this is where Joseph and Catherine raised their family. Catharine Semer Osenga was widowed in 1877, left to raise seven children on her own. She also raised her sister Lydia’s child, Allen Huysman; Lydia died just days after Allen’s birth. Catharine’s brother Henry Semer also lived with them. She lived to age 97, the oldest person in Putnam County at the time of her death in 1946.
Another daughter, Emeline (Emma), was born to John and Keziah in 1851, a year before the family migrated to Van Wert County. She married George Hetrick and they lived in Michigan.
Edward was the first of the Semer offspring born in Van Wert County in 1852, and he lived all his years at home with his mother. Henry and Edward were still living with their mother Keziah at the time of the 1880 Federal Census. Edward died in 1890 at age 37. Then, after Keziah passed away in 1895, Henry was taken in by his sister Catharine Osenga. Henry died in 1909 at the age of 64. The two brothers are buried in West Side Cemetery in Delphos, along with their mother, and their brother John and John’s wife Margaret.
Lydia Semer was born in 1853. She married Cornelius Huysman, of Putnam County, who had immigrated to the area from Holland with his parents. They had a large family, but Lydia died in 1889 shortly after the birth of their son, Allen Huysman.
Polly Semer was born in 1853, the twin sister of Lydia. She married Vincent Ladd, and they raised their children in Paulding County. Vincent died in 1928, and Polly died in 1950.
Allen Semer was born in 1857, the ninth child of the Semer family. He and Millie Good married in 1881, and they raised three children in Van Wert County before moving to Williams County near the Michigan border. Allen died in 1916.
Cassie was the tenth and youngest child of John H. and Keziah Semer. She was born in 1859. She married William Henry Dunlap, and they raised their family in Putnam County. Cassie died in 1925.
Sometime around the year 1860, John H. Semer found it necessary to travel back to Pennsylvania to collect on a property debt–such is the story passed along to some descendants. He was never heard from again, and to this day, his disappearance remains a mystery. Keziah and her children operated the farm henceforth. Sons William and John raised their families on or near the original Semer homestead.
Farming continued to be the most common occupation; however employment opportunities became more plentiful in the area with the production of tiles for draining swampland, the expansion of the railroad, and the addition of numerous saw mills to support the needs of the growing towns nearby. At one point late in the century, there was even a general store and post office operated by W.H. Straley in the Semerville community.
Over time, heirs sold off the land, and families moved to nearby and distant communities. Many descendants of John H. and Keziah Semer still make their homes in Van Wert and Putnam Counties, and many others are scattered throughout Northwest Ohio, Northern Indiana, and Southern Michigan. But all that remains of Semerville is wide open farmland at an intersection off U.S. Highway 224 about 4 miles west of Ottoville.
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