Side A: To the right is the route taken by the U.S. Legion under Major General Anthony Wayne as it marched across what would become Van Wert County. The army of 2,800 men camped west of this marker near the present cemetery on the night of August 4, 1794. Wayne’s orders were to subdue Native American tribes and his destination was a major village at the junction of the Auglaize and Maumee Rivers (now Defiance). Finding it abandoned, Wayne marched down the Maumee River and was attacked by a force of Indians on August 20. Wayne’s victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers ended the Indian Wars of the 1790s. The Treaty of Greene Ville, signed by Wayne and the representatives of twelve tribes, opened much of Ohio to American settlement. Side one includes a map on the right hand side of the marker showing the route of Wayne’s army through the eastern third of Van Wert County.
Side B: In the fall of 1847, Governor William Bebb and a cousin of the same name traveled to Van Wert County to buy land for a settlement of Welsh immigrants. In April 1848, three immigrant families from North Wales–the Bebbs, the Jervises, and the Morrises–traveled by the Miami-Erie Canal to establish Venedocia. Wolves, panthers and other wild beasts were frequent visitors to the settlement and according to one settler, scratched at doors during the night. The descendants of Venedocia’s settlers have preserved Welsh culture in the area. Until the organization of the Venedocia Presbyterian Church in 1895, all regularly scheduled church services were conducted in Welsh. All annual reports of the Salem Church were printed in Welsh until 1917. The Welsh Gymanfa Ganu (hymn sing) continues to this day and is one of the community’s biggest events. The Salem Presbyterian Church, seen from this location, was built in 1898.
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.