- THE SPALDING RESEARCH PROJECT -
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William W. Williams History of Astabula Co., Ohio Philadelphia, Williams Bros., 1878 |
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See also: "The Conneaut Witnesses" | Ashtabula Spalding Sources
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Return to: page 23
CHAPTER VIII.
As early as 1630 the valley of the Connecticut had become an object of desire. It soon became the object of dispute. The Dutch were the first to explore fhe river and to occupy the country; but the people of Massachusetts and New Plymouth, having informed themselves of the advantages the region offered to new settlements, were eager to transplant thither themselves and their estates. A company of sixty, in the last days of October, 1635, carried their desire into execution. Settlements were begun at Hartford and Windsor and Weathersfield. Early in the following year a body of about one hundred persons, led by Thomas Hoover, "the light of the western churches," began a pilgrimage to "the delightful banks of the Connecticut. The emigrants were from among the most valued citizens, the earliest settlers, and the oldest churches of the Bay. Many of them had been accustomed to affluence and the ease of European life. Among them was Rodger Ludlow, unsurpassed in his knowledge of law and the rights of mankind, and John Haynes, who had been for one year governor of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Thomas Hooker, famed as "a son of thunder," and had no rival in force of character, liberality of spirit, and soundness of judgment. The "Dutch intruders," as they were called, no longer indulging the hope of dispossessing their more powerful neighbors, gradually retired to more congenial habitations. The vigor and courage which the infant colony displayed in the war with the Pequods -- the first Indian war in New England -- struck terror to the savages and secured a long period of peace. The constitution which they adopted in January, 1639, was of unexampled liberality and wisely adapted to the governmental needs of the colony. The people chose their own magistrates, installed them, and obeyed them. "The foundation of authority," said the admirable Hooker, "is laid in the free consent of fhe people, to whom the choice of the public magistrates belongs by God's own allowance. They who have power to appoint officers and magistrates, it is their power, also, to set the bounds and limitations of the power and place into which they call them. Let the judge do according to the sentence of the law. Seek the law at his mouth." "In matters of greater consequence, which concern the good, a general council, chosen by all, to transact businesses which concern all, I conceive, under favor, most suitable to rule and most safe for relief of the whole. This was the practice of the Jewish church, and the approved experience of the best-ordered states." From this seed sprang the constitution of Connecticut, the first of written American constitutions framed by the people for the people. The people were sovereign. All power was to proceed from them. From the beginning Connecticut was constituted a republic. We quote the following eloquent sentences fpom the pen of the historian Bancroft, to whom we are indebted for the facts herein given: "More than two centuries have elapsed; the world has been made wiser by the most varied experience; political institutions have become the theme on which the most powerful and cultivated minds have been employed, and so many constitutions framed or reformed, stifled or subverted, that memory may despair of a complete catalogue; but the people of Connecticut have found no reason to deviate essentially from the frame of government established by their fathers. Equal laws were the basis of their commonwealth, and therefore its foundations were lasting. These unpretending emigrants invented an admirable system, for they were near to nature, listened willingly to her voice, and easily copied her forms. No ancient usages, no hereditary differences of rank, no established interests impeded the application of the principles of justice. Freedom sprins spontaneously into life; the artificial distinctions of society require centuries to ripen. History has ever celebrated the heroes who have won laurels in scenes of carnage. Has it no place for the founders of states, the wise legisiators who struck the rock in the wilderness, so that the waters of liberty gushed forth in copious and perennial fountains?" The government was exercised by men who sought not their own gain or advancement, but considered with care the rights of the people. While the magistrates were often men of liberal endowments, and gifts of learning and genius were valued, the commonwealth was content with virtue and uprightness of intenfion. Education was cherished, and there were common schools from the first. Religious knowledge was carried to the highest degree of refinement and applied to moral duties. They were interested in questions concerning the nature of God and of the soul. Their existence was one of unsurpassed tranquillity. There was mutual trust and a universal sense of security. "The best house required no fastening but a latch, lifted by a string." The widest latitude was given to forms of belief, and "that heavenly man, John Haynes," would say to Roger Williams, "I think, Mr. Williams, I must now confess to you that the most wise God hath provided and cut out this part of the world as a refuge and receptacle for all sorts of consciences." Connecticut from the first possessed unmixed popular liberty,and the minds of her yeomanry were kept active by the constant exercise of the elective franchise. "There was nothing morose in the Connecticut character." Life was not sombre. Mirth mingled with innocence. Religion itself sometimes wore the garb of gayety. Happiness was enjoyed unconsciously. Inequalities of condition were not numerous. All were thrifty and all were prosperous. The people multiplied along the alluvium of the streams, and subdued the more rocky and less inviting fields. The population for a century doubled once in twenty years. "The soil had originally been justly divided, or held as common property in trust for the republic and for new-comers." Disputations were infrequent, and for a long time there was hardly a lawyer in the land. "When Connecticut emerged into scenes where a new political world was to be created, the rectitude that had ordered the officers of a neighborhood showed itself in the field and in council" For a century its history was the picture of colonial happiness. Such was the character of the people whose progeny have spread themselves over the soil of Ashtabula, Both in population and wealth they outrank the parent State at the time of the proposed union of the colonies. In 1678 the population of Connecticut was probably not far from fourteen thousand. In 1877 the population of this small fraction of New Connecticut is two and one-half times as large.
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The explorations of the surveyors in 1796 served to dispel many erroneous notions with which the region was unjustly regarded, and in face, the opposite extreme of believing New Connecticut a veritable garden of Eden, whose natural advantages and beauties were unsurpassed; whose soil was of marvelous fertility; whose forests were magnificent in their beauty, with trees of gigantic growth, among which roamed the deer, the elk, and other animals affording food to man; whose streams of clear water abounded in fish and afforded excellent sites for mills, and whose lake was the most beautiful the eyes of man had ever beheld. In short, it was an enchanted region, to remain away from which evinced the greatest folly. Such were the representations of the land company. In 1798 the settlers began to arrive. The year 1791 most probably marks the date when the first white man was introduced to the forests of this region, at which time two young men were made prisoners at the defeat of General St. Clair, on the Miami, and were brought by a band of Seneca Indians to the banks of the Conneaut. A full account of their captivity, of the release of one of them from death by burning by the intercession of an Indian maid, and their final escape from the clutches of the red men, is given in the history of Conneaut township. The reader is referred to that history also for a narrative of the Conneaut hermit, -- an individual found HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. 25 residing here in 1796, when the surveyors arrived, and who had probably lived here some three or four years prior to their coming. Mr. Kingsbury's temporary residence at the mouth of the Conneaut, during the winter of 1796-97, is also mentioned in the Conneaut history. FIRST PERMANENT SETTLERS. The year 1798 signalizes the arrival of the first permanent colonists within the limits of Ashtabula County. The eastern half of the Reserve had been surveyed, and partition thereof had been made among the members of the Connecticut land company. This latter event took place January 29, 1798. In the preceding year a land company was organized in Harpersfield, Delaware county, New York, and called the Old Harpersfield land company. The-object of its formation was the purchase of lands in the Connecticut Western Reserve. Its members originally were Alexander Harper, William McFarland, Joseph Harper, Aaron Wheeler, and Roswald Hotchkiss. Others were subsequently included in it.In June of the same year they entered into a contract with Messrs. Oliver Phelps and Gideon Granger, of the Connecticut land company, whereby they became possessed of six townships of land in New Connecticut, three of which townships were to lie east and three west of the Cuyahoga river. In September following a committee of exploration were sent out, who selected the lands. Number eleven of the fifth range was one of the townships chosen, and here it was decided to begin a settlement. The township was afterwards christened Harpersfield. On the 7th day of March, 1798, Alexander Harper, Wm. McFarland, and Ezra Gregory, with their families; started from Harpersfield, New York, for what was to be Harpersfield, Ohio. The entire number of these emigrants was twenty-five, as follows: Colonel Alexander Harper and wife; their children, James A. and Wm. A. Harper, Elizabeth and Mary Harper, Alexander Harper, Jr., and Robert Harper; J. Gleason, a hired man; Wm. McFarland and wife; Ephraim Clark; Parthena Mingus, her son William Mingus, and Benjamin Hartwell, an adopted child; Mr. Ezra Gregory and wife, and their children, Eli, Jonathan, Anna, Eleanor, Daniel, Thatcher, Betsey, and Ezra. This company embarked in sleighs and came as far as Rome, New York, where they remained until the first of May, and then proceeded in boats to Oswego, and thence to Queenstown, and Fort Erie. Here they found a small vessel which was employed by the government to transport military stores for troops stationed at the west, and being about to sail up the lake the company took passage. Reaching the peninsula on the Canada side, opposite to Presque Isle, or Erie, they were obliged to remain at that point an entire week before they could procure boats to take them forward on their journey. Their landing at the mouth of Cunningham's creek was effected on the 28th day of June. That night they encamped on the shore of the lake, and the next day Mr. Harper, accompanied by the women and children, started on foot, following the township line from the lake, and arrived at the place of his future home about three o'clock in the afternoon, a distance from the shore of the lake of about four and one-half miles. The rest of the company having remained behind, to make sleds whereon to transport their goods, and to cut a road for their passage, arrived later in the evening. A rude lodge was constructed by driving forked poles into the earth and placing upon them other poles, which latter received the bark and branches of trees, and in this wilderness home the whole company dwelt together for about three weeks. At the end of this time they had built for themselves log cabins, and the families separated. POPULATION OF THE RESERVE IN 1798. At the time of the arrival of these first permanent settlers on Ashtabula soil there were only fifteen other families on the Reserve, -- ten of these were at Youngstown, three at Cleveland, and two at Mentor. Three other families came this same season, and settled in what is now Burton township, Geauga county, and two or three others in Hudson township, Summit county. Perhaps the number one hundred and twenty-five would include all that were settlers upon the Reserve during the summer and fall of 1798 and the succeeding winter, a little more than one-fifth of which number were located upon the soil of this county.WHERE THEY LOCATED. The Harpers and Mr. McFarland settled in the extreme northwestern part of the township, not far from the present site of Unionville, Harper on lot No. 16, and McFarland near the site of the present Episcopal church; while Mr. Gregory, with his family, settled farther to the southeast, on Grand river, lot No. 90. In August following their arrival, J. Gleason, the hired man, died and shortly after Colonel Harper himself was taken sick, and died on the 10th day of September.SOME HARDSHIPS THESE FIRST PIONEERS ENCOUNTERED. In the fall of the year, their stock of provisions growing scarce, the colonists sent two of their number to Canada to procure a new supply. They placed four barrels of flour on board one vessel, and had previously contracted with the captain of another vessel to transport pork and other provisions up the lake for them. This latter vessel was wrecked before reaching the port where the supplies were in waiting, and the two men were obliged to return without their greatly needed stock of provisions. The vessel containing the flour, just before reaching Erie, was driven into shallow water by a storm, and frozen in, and the hour could not be obtained until the ice should become sufficiently strong to admit of going with sleds to the boat and bringing it to land.The delay which these untoward event;s occasioned was so great that when the two agents of the settlers arrived with the flour, the latter had been without any kind of breadstuff for six weeks, and had subsisted for this time on salt beef arid turnips alone. The flour was used up before the winter had passed, and something had to be done to obviate the approaching danger of starvation. We copy the following from Mrs. Sherwood's narrative, furnished to the Historical Society, which describes vividly the perilous situation of these first settlers during this first winter: "It was with feeling akin to horror that our little party saw our provisions dwindle away. Some plan must needs be adopted. What should it be? In the midst of this dense darkness there appeared a single ray of hope. If was ascertained that a man living on Elk creek, Pennsylvania, had raised some corn the year before. Thither the two brothers, James and William Harper, hastened. They arrived and told their story. The stranger listened attentively, and then inquired their names. Learning these, with some emotion he inquired their father's name. Their father was dead, but his name was Alexander Harper. 'Yes,' he exclaimed, I will divide with you for your father's sake;' and then went on to relate that he had been a fellow-prisoner with the father of the young men in the war for independence, and became greatly attached to Mr. Harper. When released, the two separated, never to meet' again; but if was the grateful remembrance of other years which was to preserve Colonel Harper's family from perishing in the wilderness. "The boys were provided with corn, which they packed upon their shoulders, and carried more than fifty miles. "Now, while our travelers are returning homeward, we will take a peep into one of the homes of the settlers in the Harpersfield wilderness. Here are the widow and her helpless orphans; the last morsel of corn had been parched and divided among the colony, sixteen kernels for each individual. Night closed in, accompanied with all the horrors of winter; the driving sleet beat upon the bark roof, while the raging blast threatened demolition of every dweller's cabin. Day broke drearily upon their troubled vision. The boys had not returned. The mother's heart grew sick with despair: she could not rise from her bed. The daughter strove to soothe and comfort; her mother, all the while watching eagerly for the approach of her brothers. Soon the joyful tones of her brother William's voice broke the withering spell, as entering the cabin he threw the sack of corn upon the floor, and bade his sister throw away her leeks, as he had something better to eat. The mother's strength revived, and all hearts were now made happy." The corn was ground in a little mill resembling a coffee-mill, and in order to supply all with meal it had to be kept grinding continually. These instances of hardship were not alone the unhappy experience of these first settlers, but serve to show what indeed was the common lot of all who came hither the first few years in the settlement of the country. The coming of spring was hailed with great delight. A few acres of ground were cleared and planted to corn; and thus the means of subsisting in the wilderness were provided. OTHER EARLY SETTLEMENTS. The territory of Conneaut township was the next place at which settlers located. In the spring of 1799: Aaron Wright, Levi and John Montgomery, Nathan and John King, Robert Montgomery and family, and Samuel Bemus and family, arrived and made their homes along the banks of Conneaut creek, within the township that now bears the same name as the stream.A few months later a settlement was begun in what is now Austinburg township, by Eliphalet Austin, George Beckwith and family, Roswell Stephens and family, David Allen, and one or two other young men. About the same time the soil of Windsor received a settler in the person of George Phelps and family, who settled in the southern part of that township in June of that year. Monroe township likewise this year became the residence of a pioneer, Mr. Stephen Moulton and family. An accession was made to the settlement in Harpersfield in the fall of 1799, Mr. Aaron Wheeler and family and Joseph Harper and family arriving. 26 HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. The number of settlers within the limits of the present county of Ashtabula during the winter of 1799-1800 was therefore not far from fifty persons. Harpersfield outranked the other townships as to the number of inhabitants; Conneaut came next, then Austinburg, then Windsor and Monroe. Fresh additions were made in the spring of 1800. The settlement in Windsor was increased by the arrival of Solomon Griswold and family; that of Harpersfield by the coming of Daniel Bartholomew and Mr. Morse, with their families; that of Conneaut by the arrival of Seth Harrington, James Harper, and James Montgomery, with their families. The population of Austinburg was increased by the following arrivals: those of Joseph Case, J. M. Case, Roger Nettleton, Joseph B. Cowles, Adam Cowles, Josiah Moses, John Wright, Sterling Mills and family, Noah Cowles and his son Solomon, Dr. O. K. Hawley, and Ambrose Humphrey. The most of this numerous company made the journey from Norfolk, Connecticut, to Austinburg on foot. The greater part of them came without their families, returning for them after they had erected cabins wherein they might live. Some of this number finally took up their residence in other townships. This was the year when the entire Reserve was erected into a county and called Trumbull. There were then residing in this large county, at the date of its organization, eleven hundred and forty-four persons. TIME OF SETTLEMENT OF EACH TOWNSHIP. The following furnishes a statement of the date of settlement of each township in the county, with the names of the first permanent settler or settlers.Conneaut, 1799; Montgomery, Wright, King, and Bemus, from New York State. Austinburg, 1799; Austin, Beckwith, Stevens, and Allen, from Connecticut. Windsor, 1799; George Phelps, from Connecticut. Monroe, 1799; Stephen Moulton, from New York. Morgan, 1801; Nathan Gillett, from Connecticut. Pierpont, 1801; Ewins Wright, from Connecticut. Geneva, 1802; Tobalt Bartholomew, from New York. Wayne, 1803; Joshua Fobes, from Connecticut. New Lynn, 1803; Joel Owen, from Connecticut. Williamsfield, 1804; Charles Case, from Connecticut. Ashtabula, 1804; Matthew Hubbard, from Connecticut. Andover, 1805; E. Lyman, from Connecticut. Jefferson, 1805; Michael Webster, from Connecticut. Kingsville, 1805; Walter Fobes, from Connecticut. Plymouth, 1805; William Thompson and Thomas McGahe. Richmond, 1806; Yateman, Newcomb, and Tead. Rome, 1806; William Crowell, from Connecticut. Lennox, 1807; Lisle Asque, from Maryland. Denmark, 1809; Peter Knapp, from New York. Saybrook, 1810; George Webster, from New York. Orwell, 1815; A. B. Paine, from New York. Shefield, 1817; Chancey Atwater, from Connecticut. Trumbull 1818; Daniel Woodruff, from New York. Cherry Valley, 1818; Nathaniel Hubbard, from New York. Colebrook, 1819; Joel Blakeslee, from New York. Dorset, 1821; John Smith, from Massachusetts. Hartsgrove, 1828; Thomas Burband. EARLY POPULATION OF THE COUNTY. Joshua Fobes, in his narrative of the early history of Wayne, states that about the close of 1804 the Rev. Thomas Robbins, from Connecticut, a missionary on the Reserve, made a thorough census of the population then upon the Reserve, counting two bachelors one family. According to this enumeration there were at that time ninety-three families within the boundaries of this county, -- a total population of perhaps between four and five hundred. The largest number was in Harpersfield, which contained twenty-seven families; the next largest at Conneaut, which contained twenty families; then Austinburg, where there were seventeen families; then Morgan, where there were thirteen families. Each of the others of the settled townships contained less than eight families. In 1812, when the war between the United States and Great Britain took place, the population of the county could not have been far from fifteen hundred souls.FIRST EVENTS. The first house built upon the soil of the county by white people was the one erected at the mouth of Conneaut creek, in 1796, by the party of surveyors. It was first occupied by themselves, then by Judge Kingsbury and his family during the winter of 1796-97, and then by Robert and Thomas Montgomery, in 1799.The first marriage solemnized in the county, according to the rites of civilization, was that which occurred in March of the year 1800, between Aaron Wright and Hannah Montgomery, of the Conneaut settlement. The contracting parties went to Harpersfield, and were married by Justice Wheeler of that township, there being no magistrate in Conneaut with authority to perform the ceremony. The first birth of a white person in the county was the child of Judge Kingsbury, in the winter of 1796. (See Conneaut history.) The next birth was that of the child of Samuel Bemus, of Conneaut, born on the 12th day of March, 1801, and called Amelia. About the same time a little daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. George Phelps, of Windsor township. The first death, with the exception of Judge Kingsbury's child, was that of J. Gleason, Mr. Harper's hired man, which occurred in August of the year 1798. Mr. Harper died in September following. The first school within the county was taught by Miss Elizabeth Harper, afterwards Mrs. Tappen, in the summer of 1802. The first male teacher was Mr. A. Tappen, in the succeeding winter. The fist religious meetings were held in this same year in Harpersfield, Conneaut, and Austinburg. The first saw-mill in the county was that erected in Windsor township by Solomon Griswold, in 1800. The first grist-mill was erected on Grand river, in Austinburg, by Ambrose Humphrey, in 1801. O. K. Hawley was the first physician in the county, arriving in Austinburg in 1800. FIRST DEED. Lands were sold and deeded and the same recorded prior to the organization of Ashtabula County. The first deed recorded at Jefferson is in volume "A," page one, Ashtabula County records, and was given by Eliphalet Austin and Sybel, his wife, to Joab Austin, November 14, 1810. The parcel of land conveyed by this instrument consisted of fifteen (15) acres, in lot No. 15, Austinburg township. The witnesses are Roswell Austin and Smith Platt, and the following is the acknowledgment: " State of Ohio, Geauga county, ss.: Richfield, December 14, A.D. 1810. Personally appeared Eliphalet Austin and Sybel Austin, signers and sealers of the within instrument, and acknowledged the same to be their free act and deed, before me, J. R. Hawley, justice of the peace." Indorsed as follows: "Received the 11th May, A.D. 1811, and recorded the 17th October, 1811, in Ashtabula County records. James A. Harper, recorder."The first town plat recorded was that of Jefferson village. The record may be found in Geauga county records, September 25, A.D. 1806. Transcribed to Ashtabula County records June 8, A.D. 1839. DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING BREAD. The problem which engaged the minds and energies of the first settlers was how to keep from starvation. However thinly clad, it was not difficult to escape suffering from the cold, as fuel was plentiful and near at hand. But how to obtain a sufficient quantity of breadstuffs during the winter months was a question whose practical solution was often resisted by almost insurmountable difficulties. No grain could be raised for the first winter's supply; settlements were so few, and so widely separated, that if they possessed the means of rendering relief to each other, the distance, and the dense forests that intervened, made mutual assistance extremely difficult; but the truth is, that each settlement found that, however liberal in heart, it lacked the ability to render help, and was obliged to consider the law of self-preservation of first importance. When the settlers had passed the first winter, they were able, during the following spring and summer, to prepare a small piece of ground and plant it with corn and vegetables; but after the grain was harvested the obstacle of converting it to flour presented itself. For several years after the settlers began to arrive there were no mills within the limits of the county. The nearest place where grain could be ground was at Elk Creek, Pennsylvania, a distance of sixteen miles from the Conneaut settlement. Thither settlers living nearest to this mill, would often carry corn and wheat on their backs, and carry the flour back again in the same manner. Aaron Wright says, in his narrative of the early settlement of Conneaut township, "I have often carried a bushel and a half of wheat on my back to Elk Creek, Pennsylvania, a distance of sixteen miles, and if, on my return, my provisions had failed. I struck a fire, dipped some water into the mouth of my bag with my hands, and mixed my bread, and then spread it on a basswood bark, obtained for the purpose, and baked it before my fire."Various means were resorted to to reduce the corn and wheat to a condition such that bread could be made from it. GeneralIy the kernels were ground by a process of pounding. The modus operandi is given in some of the township histories, and need not be repeated here. The first grist-mills that were constructed HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. 27 were extremely rude and clumsy affairs, almost always out of repair, and, when in running order, were most toilsome and tedious in producing the needed grist. When they would do service they were in constant requisition, and sometimes, when the claims upon them crowded thick and fast, they did not stop even for Sundays, reminding us of the mill which the poet Browne describes: 'Twixt days for work and holy tides for rest, But always wrought and ground the neighbors' grist." In certain seasons of the year the wild game of the forests and the fish from the streams supplied, in a great measure, the needed means of subsistence; but even these important articles of food could not appease the desire or relish for bread. During the entire period from the time of the earliest settlement up to the close of the war of 1812, and even after this time, the people were suffering from the lack of facilities for converting their grain to flour. The mill erected by Mr. Humphrey on Grand river, in 1801, was at no time able to do what was required of it, and soon became totally unfit for duty. In 1808 a mill was erected in Conneaut township by Aaron Wright, and one in Jefferson township by John Shook, in 1809, which now afforded the inhabitants of the county much better facilities for obtaining flour than they had hitherto enjoyed.
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"TO THE GENTLEMEN, PROPRIETORS OF THE CONNECTICUT LAND COMPANY, IN MEETINGS AT HARTFORD, -- "Your committee, appointed to inquire into the expediency of laying out and cutting roads on the Western Reserve, report that, in their opinion, if will be expedient to lay out and cut through a road from Pennsylvania to the city of Cleveland, the small stuff to be cut out twenty-five feet wide, and the timber to be girdled thirty-three feet wide, and sufficient bridges thrown over the streams as are not fordable; and the said road to begin in township No. 13 in the first range, at the Pennsylvania line, and to run westerly through township 12 in the second range, No. 12 in the third range, No. 11 in the fourth range to the Indian ford at the bend of Grand river; thence through township No. 11 in the fifth range, No. 10 in the sixth range, No. 10 in the eighth range, and the northwest part of No. 9 in the ninth range, and to the Chagrin river, near where a large creek enters it upon the east; and from crossing of the Chagrin river the most direct way to the middle highway leading from the city of Cleveland to the hundred-acre lots. Submitted with respect by"SETH PEASE, "MOSES WARREN, "WM. SHEPARD, JR., "JOSEPH PERKINS, "SAMUEL HINCKLEY, "DAVID WATERMAN, The suggestions of the committee were adopted, and the road laid out without delay. The following are the names of the townships in Ashtabula County which this road passed through, as they now stand upon the maps: beginning at the Pennsylvania line, the first town is Conneaut, the second is Sheffield, the third is Plymouth, the fourth Austinburg, and the fifth Harpersfield. It seemed to deflect to the south, and pass across a corner of Trumbull township; then passing into Geauga, across the township of Thompson; thence into the town of Leroy, in Lake county. The road across this township is open and traveled at this time. Passing through Concord township, it crossed the road leading from Painesville to Chardon, about a mile south of Wilson's Corners, at a place called, fifty years ago, the "Log Tavern." Temporary roads were constructed by the first settlers coming into the county, who generally landed at the mouth of some creek, and then cut a passage-way through the forest, leading to their destined place of settlement. Thus the Harpersfield colonists landed at the mouth of Cunningham creek, and in June of 1798 cleared a way for a few miles into the interior, along which their teams passed, transporting their goods. In 1800, Aaron Wright, Nathan King, and Seth Harrington, residents of what now is Conneaut township, opened the present South Ridge road from Conneaut creek westwardly to a point a short distance west if the present city of Ashtabula, where they met the Harpersfield inhabitants, who had opened the road from their settlement eastwardly to the point named. In the same year a north and south road was made from Harpersfield settlement to Windsor. This was done at the time Solomon Griswold and family penetrated the forests of the country as far south as to the northeastern part of Windsor, where he located in the early spring of 1800. The old stage-route from Erie to Cleveland was laid out through the country in 1802, by Aaron Wheeler, of Harpersfield, Eliphalet Austin of Austinburg, and Solomon Griswold, of Windsor, who were the commissioners at this time. A great deal of labor was expended by the early settlers upon this important thoroughfare. In after-years it became the leading east and west route of travel through northern Ohio. In 1801-2, what was known as the old Salt road was formed, leading from the mouth of Ashtabula creek southwestwardly to Austinburg, where it crossed the old Girdled road, and passed southwardly through Morgan, thence northeastwardly through New Lyme into Wayne, and thence into Gustavus and Kinsman, to Vernon. There seem to have been several roads that were styled "old Salt roads." One leading from the mouth of Conneaut creek southwardly through the first range of townships was laid out in 1804, and bore this appellation. The road leading from Austinburg to Jefferson was formed as a blazed route, or bridle path, in 1804, and opened for teams in the following year. The above named were the most important roads in the early settlement of the country. MAIL-ROUTES The earliest pioneers of the county felt severely the lack of mail facilities for the first few years, having no way of communicating with their friends, except to intrust their letters with some one of their number who, being obliged to return to the east, became mail-carrier for all the colonists of the different settlements. When any one of the inhabitants contemplated a trip to the east, knowledge of this fact was generally circulated among the settlers weeks and even months before the time of departure, so that all who had letters to write might get them in readiness. This tedious and uncertain mode of communication was felt to be no slight hardship, and the establishing of a mail-route was looked for with eager expectancy.The first mail-route that entered the limits of this county was established in 1803, and extended from Warren, Trumbull county, northwardly through Mesopotamia, Windsor, Morgan, Austinburg, thence westwardly to Harpersfield, thence to Painesville and to Cleveland; thence back southeastwardly to Warren. In Windsor, Solomon Griswold was postmaster; in Morgan, Roswell Stevens; in Austinburg, Eliphalet Austin; and in Harpersfield, Ezra Gregory. A man by the name of McElvaine was the first mail-carrier, and accomplished his trips on foot about once every week, the distance being not far from one hundred and fifty miles. The route was soon afterwards extended west to Detroit, and a boy or young man, mounted upon a sure-footed horse, superseded the plodding foot-man. In 1806 the route was extended so as to include Jefferson, where Edward Friethy was postmaster. In 1808 a mail-route from Erie to Cleveland was established, and a man by the name of John Metcalf was the first carrier over this route. He made his journeys likewise on foot, and continued to do so until the year 1811. This man's fidelity to his duties deserves laudable mention. The settlements along the route were widely scattered; the road often in a wretched condition, at some seasons of the year almost impassable; oftentimes he was obliged to swim the streams, with the mail-bag poised upon his head to keep it from the water; yet neither muddy roads nor unbridged and swollen rivers, neither cold, nor heat, nor storms and tempests, prevented this persevering man from delivering the mail at the different stations with surprising punctuality. Gideon Leet was then the postmaster at Ashtabula. In 1811, when Asher Bigelow was employed to carry the mail on horseback from Ashtabula to Buffalo, he was allowed, when the traveling was good, twelve days to go and return, and fourteen days when the waters were high and the mud deep. 28 HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. In 1812, John Metcalf is again found carrying the mail over his old route from Cleveland to Erie. At this time he is provided with a heavy lumber-wagon and a span of spirited horses. In 1815 the wagon was superseded by a neat little stage-coach, with two seats for passengers, and the driver's box. Metcalf still retained his position, and did not relinquish it until 1818, when a regular line of mail-stages was established by Wm. Whitman, of Ashtabula, and Calvin Cole, of Painesville, and the stage-route was then extended as far west as Detroit. In 1819 the Trumbull and Ashtabula turnpike-road was established, an enterprise of great importance to this county at the time of its construction. A line of stage-coaches from Ashtabula to and from Warren, and eventually to and from Wellsville, continued to operate this route for more than thirty years. About the year 1820, Edwin Harmon succeeded Whitman & Cole as proprietor of the stage-route from Erie to Cleveland, and larger coaches, drawn by four horses, were placed upon the route, delivering a daily eastern and western mail to the inhabitants of the different towns along the route. Mr. Harman occupied the route for about seven years, and was succeeded by Colonel Henry J. Rees, of Ashtabula, who, in a few years, was followed by Rees & Converse; after the latter came Hubbard & Rees; then, in 1838, Neil, Moore & Co., who continued to operate the route until 1852, when it was abandoned, and the track of iron, with the swift-flying engine, came in its stead. RAILROADS. The minds of leading men of the county were at an early day awakened to the importance of connecting the Ohio river and the lake by a railroad. The fact that the shortest distance between these two points was on a line running south from the lake through this county was a feature very favorable to the project. The first railroad projected was incorporated under act of legislature by a company called the Erie and Ohio railroad company, the road "to commence at some point on Lake Erie between the west line of the county of Geauga, now Lake, and the east line of Ashtabula, to extend through Trumbull county, and terminating at some point on the Ohio river, in Columbiana county." The capital stock was one million dollars, but was not subscribed, and the project failed."In February, 1836, the Ashtabula, Warren and East Liverpool railroad company was chartered, with a capital of one million five hundred thousand dollars. A company was duly organized under this charter, surveys made, and some work done; but, owing to the commercial crisis which commenced soon after, the work was abandoned." The names of Matthew Hubbard, Horace Wilder, Roger W. Griswoid, Joab Austin, and G. W. St. John, of Ashtabula County, headed the list of incorporators. THE ASHTABULA AND NEW LISBON RAILROAD. was the enterprise destined to secure the object so long desired. It was chartered February 23, 1853, with a capital of one million dollars. Books were opened and sufficient subscriptions secured, so that on the 4th of July following directors were elected. They were as follows: Henry Hubbard and Frederick Carlisle, of Ashtabula; Joshua R. Gidding, of Jefferson; Lewis B. Austin, of Austinburg; Henry L. Springer and A. L. Brewer, of New Lisbon. Mr. Brewer was chosen president, G. I. Young, of New Lisbon, was appointed secretary, and O. N. Filch, of Ashtabula, treasurer.As subscriptions were to determine whether the road should be located through the third or fourth ranges of townships, between Ashtabula and Warren, the people of the towns on these ranges engaged in earnest competition to secure the road. The people of the fourth range were the successful competition. The road was divided into two divisions, -- the northern from Ashtabula harbor to Niles, and the southern from Niles to New Lisbon. The amount of subscriptions obtained on the northern division was two hundred and seventy-four thousand six hundred dollars, including about sixty-three thousand dollars in real estate; on the southern division, one hundred and twenty-one thousand one hundred and seventy-five dollars. Lemuel Clark, of Morgan, deeded his farm of twelve hundred and forty-nine acres to the company for twenty-five thousand dollars; but the directors induced him to take other lands, valued at six thousand dollars, reducing his subscription to nineteen thousand dollars. He subsequently donated his stock to the American Bible Society. July 4, 1854, Roger W. Griswold was chosen president and Henry Fassett secretary. Mr. Griswold served two years, when Eben Newton, of Canfield, was elected, who served three years, when Henry Hubbard was elected, and still holds that position. Henry Fassett has held the position of secretary from 1854 to this date. Prominent among the directors who rendered valuable service to this company, for many years, were Aaron E. Austin, of Austinburg, and James Stone, of Morgan. July 14, 1864, that portion of the road lying south of the Mahoning river, at Niles; was leased for ninety-nine years to the New Lisbon railway company, and soon after completed and put in operation. September 20, 1870, the Ashtabula and New Lisbon railroad company sold all of their road between Ashtabula Harbor and Niles to the Ashtabula, Youngstown and Pittsburgh railway company. In 1872-73, forty years from their first efforts to secure a railroad from Ashtabula harbor to the Ohio river (the same length of time it took the children of Israel to get out of the wilderness), the citizens of Ashtabula County had the satisfaction of seeing two roads: completed from this place, one passing through the central and eastern part of the county to the oil and coal regions of Pennsylvania, with a branch from Andover to Youngstown, and the other through the thriving villages and towns in the western part of the county, connecting us by rail with Warren, Niles, Youngstown, and Pittsburgh, thus making our harbor one of the most prominent shipping ports on Lake Erie, especially for the iron and coal trade. February 11, 1848, the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula railroad company was chartered, and its road soon after completed, which now forms a line in the greatest railroad thoroughfare in the world, connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific. The value of railroad property within the county is one million eight hundred and sixty-two thousand and seven dollars, and, in 1816, the taxes paid were twenty-six thousand eight hundred and ninety dollars and seventeen cents. For the above facts in relation to railroads we are indebted to Henry Fassett, Esq., of Ashtabula.
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In 1788 the county of Washington was organized by proclamation of the governor and judges. It included that part of the Western Reserve east of the Cuyahoga river, the old Portage path, and the Tuscarawas river. In the year 1796 the county of Wayne was established, including, with other territory of vast extent, the remainder of the Reserve not embraced in Washington county. In 1797 Jefferson county was organized, and its boundaries were such as to include ail of the Western Reserve east of the Cuyahoga. The county-seat of this county was at Steubenville. Notwithstanding the inclusion of the soil of the Reserve, by act of the Territorial government, within the limits of these several counties, civil government was not organized in New Connecticut, so as to have been recognized as of binding force by its inhabitants, until the year 1800. Prior to this date, Connecticut and the Connecticut land company denied to the United States the right of jurisdiction within the limits of New Connecticut, and refused to yield to congress or to the Territorial government the right to make laws for the settlers upon the Reserve. (The reasons for this are given in Chapter III of this volume.) Thus it happened that from 1796-97, the time when the first settlers arrived, until May 30, 1800, the pioneers of this region were without municipal laws. Their conduct was regulated and restrained, and their duties were prescribed, solely by their New England sense of justice and right. There was no law governing the descent and conveyance of real property, or of the transfer of personal goods; there were no regulations for the redress of wrongs, or for the protection of private rights. They were literally a law unto themselves. But few cases of misdemeanor arose, but if a settler were guilty of theft, or if he misused his wife, his neighbors constituted a court of justice, and decided among themselves that punishment should be indicted. The offender's back generally furnished the only record of these judicial proceedings. On the 10th day of July, 1800, the legislature of Connecticut having authorized its governor to return to the general government all right of jurisdiction within the limits of New Connecticut, the Western Reserve was erected into a county, and called Trumbull, in honor of Jonathan Trumbull, the governor of Connecticut. This was done by proclamation of the governor and judges of the Northwestern Territory. The county-seat was at Warren. HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. 29 The first court in Trumbull county convened in Warren on Monday, August 25, 1800. The following were the first officers of this large county: John Young, Turhand Kirtland, Camden Cleveland, James Kingsbury, and Eliphalet Austin, Esquires, justices of the peace and quorum. John Leavitt, judge of probate and justice of the peace; Solomon Griswold, Martin Smith, John Struthers, Caleb Baldwin, Calvin Austin, Edward Brockway, John Kinsman, Benjamin Davison, Ephraim Quinby, Ebenezer Sheldon, David Hudson, Aaron Wheeler, Amos Spafford, Moses Park, and John Minor, justices of the peace. Calvin Pease, Esq., clerk; David Abbott, Esq., sheriff; John Hart Adgate, coroner; Eliphalet Austin, treasurer; John Stark Edwards, Esq., recorder. The following extract from the diary of Judge Turhand Kirtland, of Poland township, will be of interest: "Monday, 25th. -- Went to Warren, took dinner at Adgate's, and went to Quinby's. Met the judge and justices of the county, when they all took the oath of office, and proceeded to open the court of quarter sessions and court of common pleas, agreeably to the order of the governor. They proceeded to divide the county into eight townships, and appointed constables in each. A venire was issued to summon eighteen persons as grand jurors." The following is an abstract from the records of Trumbull county : "August term, 1800. ss. "The court appointed Amos Spafford, Esq., David Hudson, Esq., Simon Perkins, John Minor, Aaron Wheeler, Edward Payne, and Benjamin Davison a committee to divide the county of Trumbull into townships, to describe the limits and boundaries of each township, and to make a report to the court thereof." The committee above named executed their instructions by dividing the reserve into eight townships for the better government of the few settlers then living within the county. These township were Richfield, Painesville, Cleveland, Middlefield, Vernon, Youngstown, Warren, and Hudson. Richfield embraced the whole of the present county of Ashtabula, with the exception of the present townships of Williamsfield, Andover, Wayne, Cherry Valley, Colebrook, New Lyme, Orwell, Rome, Windsor, and Hartsgrove. The first six of these outlying townships were included in Vernon township, and the others in Middlefield. Richfield embraced also the present townships of Madison and Thompson, in Lake county. At the May term of court, 1801, these eight townships were divided into election districts, called respectively the "northern district" and the "southern district." The towns of Middlefield, Richfield, Painesville, and Cleveland constituted the former, the place of holding elections being at the house of Mr. Simon Perkins, at the intersection of Young's road and Lake road, now Concord, Lake county. The towns of Youngstown, Warren, Hudson, and Vernon constituted the latter district, the place of balloting being at the house of Ephraim Quinby, in Warren. Of the township of Richfield the following were the first officers, as nearly as can be ascertained: Noah Cowles and Nathan King, trustees; Aaron Wheeler, justice of the peace; and John A. Harper and Mills Case, constables. The names of the other officers cannot now be ascertained. In 1804 Geauga county was formed from Trumbull county, and included the greater portion of the present limits of Ashtabula County. In 1807 the present limits of Ashtabula County were defined, and January 22, 1811, the county was organized. Starting with this township of Richfield, embracing the entire territory of what is now Ashtabula County, with the exception of the two southern tiers of townships, we will trace the steps which were taken whereby the county came to have its present number of organized townships. The township of Salem, now Conneaut, was the first to be carved out of this immense district. Richfield remained intact from 1800 till 1804, when numbers twelve, thirteen, and the gore, numbered fourteen, of the first range, were separated from it, and incorporated into a distinct township, and called Salem. No other change was made until the year 1807, when Harpersfield, embracing what now is Geneva, Harpersfield, Trumbull, and Hartsgrove, was organized into a separate township. In 1808 Ashtabula township, embracing what now is Kingsville, Sheffield, Ashtabula, and Plymouth, was carved out. About the same time Jefferson township began an existence, including the present townships of Jefferson, Denmark, Pierpont, Lenox, Dorset, and Richmond. In 1810 Kingsville, embracing besides its present territory that of Sheffield, was detached from Ashtabula and organized. At the time of the organization of Ashtabula County, January 22, 1811, there were six organized townships within the limits of the county, as follows: Salem, including numbers twelve, thirteen, and fourteen, of the first range; Harpersfield, including numbers nine, ten, eleven, and twelve, of the fifth range; Ashtabula, including numbers twelve and thirteen, of the third range; Kingsville, including numbers twelve and thirteen, of the second range; Jefferson, including numbers ten and eleven, of the first, second, and third ranges; and Richfield, which included the remaining territory of the county, except numbers eight and nine, of the above ranges. The settlers in the county south of the tenth tier of townships voted, for the most part, with the people of the original townships of Vernon and Middlefield. In 1806 the three number eights, now constituting Williamsfield, Wayne, and Colebrook, belonged to a township called Green, which included considerable other territory in Trumbull county. In April 11, Wayne township was organized, embracing the present townships of Williamsfield, Wayne, Colebrook, Andover, Cherry Valley, and New Lyme. In July of the same year Windsor township was organized, and included Leffingwell (now Orwell) in addition to its own territory. The organization of the remaining townships was effected as follows: Austinburg, including besides its present territory that of Saybrook, in 1812; Lebanon, including the present townships of New Lyme and Colebrook, in 1813 (in 1825 the name was changed from Lebanon to New Lyme); in 1813 Denmark was detached from Jefferson, and embraced the present townships of Denmark, Pierpont, Richmond, and Dorset; in 1816 Wrightsburg, changed in 1827 to Saybrook, was detached from Austinburg; in 1816 Geneva was taken from Harpersfield; in 1818 Pierpont was detached from Denmark, and included Richmond with its own territory; in 1818 Monroe was formed from Salem; in 1819 Andover, embracing in addition to its own territory that of Cherry Valley, was taken from Wayne; in the same year Morgan was taken from Richfield, and organized; in the same year Lenox was detached from Jefferson; in 1820 Sheffield was taken from Kingsville; in 1823 Leffingwell (afterwards Orwell) was attached to Richfield, and the two townships were known as Richfield until 1826, when Orwell was organized into a separate township. In 1825 Trumbull was detached from Harpersfield and made to embrace the present townships of Trumbull and Hartsgrove. In 1827 Cherry Valley was severed from Andover, and Richmond from Pierpont in 1828. The last vestige of the name of Richfield disappeared in 1828, when, upon the petition of Christopher Champlin and other inhabitants, the name was changed to Rome. Hartsgrove became a separate organized township in 1830, and on the 4th day of July, 1838, the last township organization of the county was perfected, the greater part of number twelve, of the third range, being severed from Ashtabula on the 7th day of January preceding, and erected into a township at the date first named above, and called Plymouth. Thus did the single township of Richfield, together with the two southern tiers numbered eight and nine, yield the twenty-eight independent sovereignties into which the county is to-day divided. The first and present officers of these townships will be found in the separate town histories. FIRST OFFICERS OF ASHTABULA COUNTY. The county of Ashtabula began a separate and distinct existence on the 22d day of January, 1811, the following-named persons serving as first officers: Presiding Judge, Benjamin Ruggles; Associate Judges, Aaron Wheeler, Ebenezer Hewins, and Solomon Griswold; Treasurer, David Hendry; Recorder, James A. Harper; County Clerk, Timothy R. Hawley; Sheriff, Nathan Strong. The first official act was the organization of the June term of the court of common pleas. The following were the first grand jurors: Noah Cowles, Peleg Sweet, Stephen Brown, Jesse D. Hawley, William Perrin, Walter Fobes, Ebenezer K. Lamson, Sterling Mills, Michael Webster, Gideon Leet, Joshua Rockwell, Eliphalet Austin, James A. Harper, Moses Wright, and David Hendry. The court appointed Eliphalet Austin foreman. The jury were duly empaneled and sworn, and were charged by the court. The first suit was the State of Ohio vs. Orison Cleveland, assault and battery. The defendant was discharged by order of the court. There was no petit jury. There was a case that came before the judges, and was for debt, the plaintiff receiving a judgment for seventy dollars. The late Peter Hitchcock was the first prosecuting attorney pro tem., and Ezra Kellogg the first regular prosecuting attorney.THE COURTS OF RECORD. The first court established on the reserve, and whose jurisdiction first extended over the settlers upon the soil of Ashtabula, was organized at Warren in August, 1800, and was known as the court of quarter sessions, -- a tribunal which ceased to exist upon the admission of Ohio into the Union, in 1802. Since that date30 HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. and up to the time of the adoption of the new constitution, March 10, 1851, the court of common pleas and the supreme court have held jurisdiction. Since 1851 the courts of record known to the citizens of the county have been the district court, the court of common pleas, and the probate court. The following are the names of the presiding judges, who were the appointees of the governor of the State up to the year 1855, when the office became elective: 1811, Hon. Benjamin Ruggles; 1815, George Todd; 1830, Reuben Wood; 1833, Matthew Burchard; 1837, Van R. Humphrey; 1844, Eben Newton; 1847, B. E. Wade; 1851, Reuben Hitchcock; 1854, Eli T. Wilder; 1855, Horace Wilder; 1861, N. L. Chaffee; 1871, M. C. Canfield. Mr. Canfield died while in office, and E. Lee was appointed to fill the vacancy until the first succeeding election, when D. W. Canfield was chosen to the office, and served until 1876, when L. S. Sherman, the present incumbent, was elected. By special statute H. B. Woodbury was elected at special election spring of 1875, and in the succeeding fall was re-elected, to serve for a term of five years. The following are the names of associate judges: 1811, Aaron Wheeler, Ebenezer Hewins, and Solomon Griswold. Nehemiah King succeeded Aaron Wheeler in 1817; Eliphalet Austin succeeded E. Hewins in 1818; Amos Kellogg succeeded N. King in 1824; Titus Hayes and Thomas Smith succeeded E. Austin and S. Griswold in 1825; Jonathan Gregory succeeded Thomas Smith in 1826; Lemuel Moffitt succeeded Amos Kellogg in 1830; Luther Spellman succeeded Titus Hayes in 1832; Ashbel Dart succeeded Jonathan Gregory in 1838 ; James M. Bloss succeeded L. Moffitt in 1838; Jonathan Warner succeeded Luther Spellman in 1839; Matthew Hubbard succeeded Ashbel Dart in 1840; John Sherman succeeded M. Hubbard in 1843; Lathorp Rawdon succeeded J. M. Bloss in 1845; Lynds Jones succeeded J, Warner in 1846; Chester Stowe was appointed to fill vacancy caused by death of Mr. Sherman in 1846; was elected to the office in 1847; Wm. S. Deming succeeded Lathorp Rawdon in 1851; Stephen D. Dann succeeded Lynds Jones in 1851. In 1857 the office of associated judgeship was abolished. The first jury trial occurred in the March term of court, 1812, in which George B. Merwin was plaintiff and Gideon Leet was defendant, in which a judgment was rendered for Merwin in the sum of thirty-two dollars and fifty cents. THE PROBATE COURT. The first judge of probate for Ashtabula County was J. Addison Giddings, in 1852, who served until 1857, and was succeeded by Hiram A. Plumb, who died in office, August 25, 1859. Henry Fassett was appointed to fill vacancy, and in October following was elected to the office. He held the position one year, and, resigning, was succeeded by D. S. Wade, appointed to fill the vacancy. Mr. Wade was elected to the office in October, 1860, and continued to serve until 1866, when B. T. Cushing became his successor. Mr. Cushing resigned the office in 1872, and E. J. Betts, the present worthy incumbent, was appointed to fill the vacancy. In 1875, Mr. Betts was elected to the office.THE OFFICIAL ROSTER. United States Senators. --- Hon. Benjamin F. Wade was elected to the United States Senate in 1851, and served for three senatorial terms, or until 1869, when he was succeeded by Allen G. Thurman. No county of the State has furnished a citizen who has served the people with greater honor as senator of the United States than did this son of Ashtabula.Members of Congress. -- Ohio, before its admission as a State, in 1802, was a part of the Northwestern Territory, and its representative in the Seventh congress from 1801 to 1803 was Paul Fearing. He was born in May, 1762, and died in Ohio in 1822. Upon the State's admission into the Union, in 1802, its entire territory constituted one congressional district, and no change was made until 1813. During this time it was represented by Jeremiah Morrow in the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth congresses. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1770. Died in Ohio in 1852. After the expiration of his term of office as representative he became United States senator. He was twice elected governor of the State, in 1822 and 1824. The Ashtabula district was represented in congress from 1813 to 1814 by Reson Bell, and from 1814 to 1817 by David Clendening. From 1811 to 1819, Peter Hitchcock, of Geauga, was the delegate. He was born in Connecticut, October 19, 1780, and died at Painesville, Ohio, May 11, 1853. He was one of the foremost men of his day. His name appears below as member of the house and senate of Ohio. He was one of the supreme judges of the State for twenty-eight years, -- part of the time chief justice, -- and was one of the ablest and most useful judges the State ever had. John Sloan represented the congressional district of which this county was a part in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth congresses, or from 1819 to 1823. He was born at York, Pennsylvania, 1779, and died at Wooster, Ohio, in 1856. Hon, Elisha Whittlesey, from 1823 to 1838, represented the Ashtabula district in Congress. He was one of the ablest men in congress at that time. He was born in Connecticut in 1783, and died in Washington, District of Columbia, 1863. Whittlesey was succeeded by the Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, in 1838, who served until 1859, and was succeeded by John Hutchins. Mr. Hutchins' term of office was from 1859 to 1863, when Hon. James A. Garfield, the present able representative, was elected. Mr. Garfield has represented this district continuously since 1863. He is the acknowledged Republican leader in the house of representatives. At the present time he is a resident of Mentor, Lake county. State Senators. -- Peter Hitchcock, 1812-15; Aaron Wheeler and Almond Ruggles, 1816; Aaron Wheeler and John Campbell, 1818; Almond Ruggles and John Campbell, 1819; Aaron Wheeler, 1820; Samuei W. Phelps, 1821-22; Samuel Wheeler, 1823-28; Eliphalet Austin, 1859-30; Uri Seeley, 1831-32; Peter Hitchcock, Sr., 1833-34 Ralph Granger, 1835-36; Benjamin P. Wade, 18~7-38; Benjamin Bissell, 1839-40; Benjamin F. Wade, 1841-42; William L. Perkins, 1843-46; Brewster Randall, 1847-50; Laban S. Sherman, 1852-54; Lester Taylor, 1856; Darius Cadwell, 1858; John F. Morse, 1860; Peter Hitchcock, 1862; William C. Howells, 1864; Abner Kellogg, 1866; J. B. Burrows, 1868: Decius S. Wade, 1870; John S. Casement, 1872; I. N. Hathaway, 1874; S. S. Burrows, 1876 ; W. P. Howland, 1878. State Representatives -- Samuel Huntington, 1811; Samuel S. Baldwin, 1812; John H. Strong and William A. Harper, 1813; William A. Harper and Alfred Kelley, 1814-15; William Kerr and Alfred Kelley, 1816; Lewis Dille and Levi Gaylord, 1817; Lewis Dille and Ebenezer Merry, 1818; Alfred Kelley and Ebenezer Merry, 1819; Levi Gaylord, 1820; Robert Harper, 1821-22; Nehemiah King, 1823; Robert Harper, 1824-25; Joshua R. Giddings, 1826; Lemuel Lee, 1827-28; Jonathan Higley and Amos Fisk, 1829; Amos Fisk, 1830; Jonathan Warner and D. M. Spencer, 1831; Amos Fisk, 1832; Gains W. St. John and Ira Benton, 1833; Horace Wilder, 1834; Ora H. Knapp and Christopher Champlin, 1535-36; Marvin Leonard and O. H. Fitch, 1837; Erastus Chester and O. H. Fitch, 1838; Zaphna Lake and John S. Rogers, 1839; Roger W. Griswold, 1840; Sebastian P. Taylor, 1841; Jonathan Tuttle, 1842; Abner Kellogg, 1843; Brewster Randall, 1844-45; Nathaniel Owen, 1846; Stephen H. Farrington, 1841; N. L. Chaffee, 1848; C. W. Ensign and Henry Krum, 1849; John P. Morse and Samuel Plumb, 1850; Samuel Plumb, 1852; John J. Elwell, 1854; Darius Cadwell and Uriah Hawkins, 1856; William S. Deming and D. C. Alien, 1858; Abel Krum, 1860-62; Abner Kellogg, 1864; Stephen A. Northway, 1866; William M. Eames, 1868; Samuel Hayward and Edward H. Fitch, 1870; W. P. Howland, 1872-76; Freeman Thorp, 1878. Sheriffs. -- Nathan Strong had been elected sheriff of Geauga county before the organization of Ashtabula, and continued to hold the office after the organization until 1813, in which year he was succeeded by Quintus F. Atkins, who was sheriff from 1813-20; Lynds Jones, 1820-24; Samuel Whelpley, 1824-28; Benjamin Hebard, 1828-30; Zaphna Lake, 1830-34; James M. Bloss, 1834-36; Uriah Loomis, 1836-40; Charles Stearns, 1844; John A. Prentis, 1844-48; Edward Chapman, 1848; died in spring of 1849, and was succeeded by R. L. Bartholomew, 1849-53; Marshall W. Wright, 1853-57, William Hendry, 1857-61; Edward A. Wright, 1861-65; H. J. Covell, 1865-69; A. W. Stiles, 1869-73; D. L. Hart, 1873-74; died in 1874, and was succeeded by E. A. Thompson until the fall of 1874, when Thaddeus S. Young, the present incumbent, was elected. Prosecuting Attorneys. -- Ezra Kellogg was the first officer under this head, being appointed in 1811. He was succeeded by Robert Harper, in 1818. The records do not furnish the names of Mr. Harper's immediate successors. Just prior to the office becoming elective Edward Wade was the incumbent. Office became elective in 1835, at which time B. F. Wade obtained the position. Since then the following have been the prosecuting attorneys: S. F. Taylor, 1837-39; L. S. Sherman, 1839-41; O. H. Fitch, 1841.-43; N. L. Chaffee, 1843-47; C. S. Simonds, 1847-49; L. S. Sherman, 1849-51; S. Y. Jones, 1851-53; Mason King, 1853-57; A. S. Hall, 1857-59; J. Q. Farmer, 1859-61; Stephen A. Northway, 1861; resigned in 1865, and J. D. Ensign appointed to fill vacancy; in the fall of 1865 Edward H. Fitch was elected, and was succeeded, in 1867, by W. P. Howland; in 1871 Howland surrendered the office to E. C. Wade: who yielded it to his successor, the present incumbent, E. B. Leonard, in 1875. County Clerks. -- Timothy R. Hawley, 1811-25; Samuel Hendry, 1825-41; Amos C. Hubbard, 1841-49; Abner Kellogg, 1849-58; J. D. Ensign, 1858-64; A. B. Watkins, 1861-67; D. C. Lindsley, 1867-73; Asa Lamb, 1873: and is the present incumbent. Recorders. -- James A. Harper, 1811-15; Jonathan Warner, deputy recorder, 1815-22; Lynds Jones, 1822-29; Harvey K. Gaylord, 1829-38; Benjamin B. Gaylord, 1838-44; James Whitmore, 1844-62; Marshall P. Atkin, 1862-68; HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. 31 Truman Reeves, 1868-74; Erwin F. Mason was elected to the office in 1874, and still retains the position. Treasurers. -- David Hendry, 1811-14 Levi Gaylord, 1814-15; Orestes K. Hawley, 1815-18: Levi Gaylord, 1818-20; Solomon Fitch, 1820-24 Jonathan Warner, 1824-26; from August, 1826, to June, 1827, both Warner and Gilbert Webster claimed the office; Gilbert Webster, 1827-30; James E. Dunn, 1830-34; Church Smith, 1834-36; Lucius M. Austin, 1836-38; Platt R. Spencer, 1838-40; E. C. Root, 1840-42; Platt R. Spencer, 1842-52; Caleb Spencer, 1852-53; A. N. Wright, 1853-58; C. L. Bushnell was appointed to fill vacancy caused by Wright's resignation, served a few months, and in the fall of 1858 N. E. Brench was elected, who held the office from 1858-61; C. L. Bushnell, 1861-63; Walter Burgess, 1863-65; M. J. Foote, 1865-69; Sylvester T. Fuller, 1869-73; Dwight L. Crosby, 1873-77; Sidney H. Cook was elected in 1877 to succeed Mr. Crosby in 1878. Auditors. -- Quintus F. Atkins, 1820-22; Levi Gaylord, 1822-29; Samuel Whelpley, 1829-31; Apollos D. Bates, 1831-33; George Morton, 1833-35; Elnathan G. Luce, 1835-45; T. H. C. Kingsbury, 1845-49; J. C. A. Bushnell, 1849-54 ; W. C. St. John, 1854-56; J. C. A. Bushnell, 1856-66 ; William H. Crowell, the present officer, was elected in 1866, and has served continuously to the present time. County Commissioners. -- There are three county commissioners, each holding office for three years, an election for one commissioner occurring each year. The following is an abstract of the proceedings of the first meeting held by these officers: "State of Ohio, ,Ashtabula County, Commissioners' office, June 3, 1811. Be it remembered that the commissioners met on this day for the first time. Present, Messrs. Nathan Strong, James Harper, and Titus Hayes, Esquires. appointed Nehemiah King, Esq., clerk of the board, and David Hendry, county treasurer; received listers' and appraisers' returns from Harpersfield, Richfield, Ashtabula, and Wayne." The following are the names of the succeeding commissioners: Levi Gaylord and Orestes K. Hawley were sworn into office November 23, 1812; James Montgomery, November 16, 1813; Rufus Houghton, 1817; Eben Hewins, 1818; Jonathan Tuttle, 1824; John Bean, 1827; Christopher Champlin, 1828; Henry Tuttle, 1829; George Webster, 1830; Samuel Higley, 1831; Selah Whiting, 1832; John Henderson, 1833; Samuel Higley, 1834; Asaph Turner, 1835; G. W. St. John, 1836; Jonathan Tuttle, 1837; George G.. Gillett, 1838; William Hooper, 1839; William Morgan, 1841; John Ransom, 1842; Zebediah Denison, 1843; Morris Kellogg, 1844; John Ransom, 1845; Morris Kellogg, 1847; Sidney Bushnell, 1850; John J. Elwell, 1851; Henry Krum, 1852; Josiah D. Freer, 1853; Charles S. Wade, 1864; John H. Kilburn, 1856; William T. Simonds, 1857; Gains W. St. John, 1858; John H. Kilburn, 1859; William T. Simonds, 1860; William Barnard, 1861; Joseph D. Hulbert, 1862; William T. Simonds, 1863; Joshua Fobes, 1864; Joseph D. Hulbert, 1865; William B. Quirk, 1866; Joshua Fobes, 1867; M. W. Wright, 1868; William T. Simonds, 1869; Duren Way, 1870; Edward G. Hurlburt, 1871; Henry L. Morrison, 1872; Edwin O. Peck, 1873; Edward G. Hurlburt, 1874; William T. Simonds, 1875; Edwin O. Peck, 1876; Calvin Dodge, 1877. Coroners. -- Gilbert Webster, 1824-30; Jesse N. Blockington, 1830-32; Elemuel Webster, 1832-33; Uriah Loomis, 1833-36; Thatcher Gregory, 1836-37; Milo Webster, 1837-39; Jonathan Warner, Jr., 1839-41; John A. Prentice, 1841-45; John C. Woodworth, 1845-47; Elihu B. Ford, 1847-49; Noah Bartholomew, 1849-50; R. L. Bartholomew, 1850-56; D. . Clifford, 1856-58; Noah Hoskins, 1858-60; John J. Hoyt, 1860-62; B. Veits, 1862- 65; E. Hewitt, 1865-67; Jonathan Warden, 1867-69; L. W. Peck, 1869-73; N. Kingsley, 1873-74; E. J. Thompson, 1874; Richard P. Walcott, 1874-76. Dr. Flowers was elected in 1876; refused to qualify, and A. W. Stiles was appointed for one year; he was re-elected in 1877, and is the present coroner. Surveyors. -- Harvey Taggart, 1827-29; Josiah Atkins, 1829-36,; George Morton and John Pickett, Jr., 1836-44; William Hunter, 1844-46; Benj. B. Hunter, 1846-51; N. B. Sherwood and W. W. Hopkins, 1851-63; Abner D. Strong, 1863-66; W. W. Hopkins, 1866-69; A. B. Watkins, 1869-71; W. W. Hopkins, 1871-74; James A. Fickinger, 1874. Mr. Fickinger is the present county surveyor. The following lawyers are now or have been residents of the county: Jefferson. -- J. R. Giddings, S. S. Osborn, Alvin Bagley, Cyrus T. Smith, Appollus P. Bates, Edward Wade, B. F. Wade, R. P. Ranney, Flavel Sutliff, N. L. Chaffee. Abner Kellogg, A. B. Watkins, Wm. H. Ruggles, C. S. Simonds, H. B. Woodbury, C. P. Giddings, J. A. Giddings, W. P. Howland, E. B. Woodbury, D. S. Wade, A. S. Hall, B. F. Wade, Jr., E. J. Betts, L. H. Means, Samuel Hendry, Joseph Ruggles, Darius Cadwell, C. T. Chaffee, E. B. Leonard, J. D. Ensign, Stifes P. Jones, S. A. Northway, Hiram Plumb, James L. Oliver, E. C. Wade, D. C. Sperry, Theodore Hawley. Ashtabula. -- R. W. Griswold, O. H. Fitch, M. M. Sawtell, L. S. Sherman, Charles Booth, Mason King, Edward H. Fitch, Hiram Boom, Edward Wheeler, Eusebius Lee, Ezra Kellogg, Theodore Hall, Edgar Hall, W. H. Hubbard, B. A. Pettibone, T. E. Hoyt, John Strong, ____ Russell. Conneaut. -- O. H. Knapp, Horace Wilder, Brewster Randall, Wm. B. Chapman, S. E. Taylor, M. C. Leland, Benson Owen, J. Q. Farmer, Alien M. Cox, C. B. Godard, A. R. Chase, Benjamin Carpenter. Geneva. -- J. B. Burrows, Burt Beett, N. Bennen, M. B. Gary, O. C. Pinney, J. E. Pinney. Harpersfield. -- Samuel Wheeler, Robert Harper, and A. W. Edmunds. Monroe. --ĘS. B. McClung. Andover. -- J. N. Wight and C. D. Ainger. Richmond. -- S. D. Ashley, L. D. Marsh. Windsor. -- F. R. Smith. Saybrook. -- J. Robinson. Pierpont. -- M. A. Leonard. New Lyme. -- Nelson Hyde. Morgan. -- Halsey Moses, Charles Meigs, Erastus Divan.
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This people left homes of comfort and refinement in New England, and undertook life anew in a wild forest whose soil had never felt the touch of the husbandman. Their character was tested by the new surroundings, but with a firm, strong hand they controlled circumstances, and in a large measure prevented their characters from being dwarfed by a material environment. We who live at the present time can hardly appreciate the difficulties under which they labored. But they laid well the foundations for society here. We can trace the present prevalent social condition of the people to the influence which sprang from the exemplary lives of the first settlers. We may say of these worthy men and women that "they builded better than they knew." If is remarkable, however, that successive generations have been called upon to do this same work of laying foundations. Their ancestors contended with the difficulties of a new country in the early settlement of New England; many of their children have gone out from these scenes and laid the foundations in other regions farther west. Thus each successive generation has been a generation of founders. This progress of settlement, this advance of civilization, this march of empire and conquest of soil has gone on until now the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific coast are the limits to its power. There was a conquering spirit in the hearts of the New England fathers. It worked through peace, freighted with blessings. Civilization followed in its wake, and society is to-day the result of what it accomplished. Two hundred years ago New England was what Ohio was when the first settlers came to this region. Bancroft says, in speaking of Connecticut in 1676, "there was venison from the hills, salmon in their season, and sugar from the trees of the forest; for foreign market little was produced beside cattle, and in return for them but few foreign luxuries stowed in. The soil had originally been justly divided or held as common property in trust for 32 HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. the people. Happiness was enjoyed unconsciously; beneath the rugged exterior humanity wore its sweetest smile. There was for a long time hardly a lawyer in the land. The husbandman who held his own plow and fed his own cattle was the great man of the age. No one was superior to the matron who, with her busy daughters, kept the hum of the wheel incessantly alive spinning and weaving every article of their dress. Fashion was confined within narrow limits, and pride aimed at no grander equipage than a pillion, and could exult only in the common splendor of the blue-white linen gown with short sleeves, and in the snow-white flaxen apron, which, primly starched and ironed, was worn on public days by every woman in the land. There was no revolution except from the time of sowing to the time of reaping; from the plain dress of the week-day to the more trim attire of Sunday. Every family was taught to look upward to God as the fountain of all good; yet life was not sombre. The spirit of frolic mingled with innocence, and religion itself wore the garb of gayety, and the annual thanksgiving was joyous as it was sincere." Such is the picture of the people in their homes before they set out for the forest region in this vicinity. We shall see how much the early condition of society in this county became the repetition of it. The old character daguerreotyped itself upon the new circumstances; the same traits appeared under new conditions. In the early years of the settlement of the county the country was indeed new; everything was rude and wild, the forest still covered the land, the few openings in its depths only revealed how dense were the shadows. The roadways which had been cut through the wilderness were still lined by tangled brush and hemmed in by overhanging branches, while a single path wove in and out among the great stumps, but abounding with many a mud-hole and deep rut, which made traveling exceedingly slow and irksome. Little clearings had been made along the roads so that the sunlight might easily penetrate them, warming and mellowing the damp and long-darkened soil. The fields were full of piles of brush, while the great trunks of trees were hiding beneath them. Heaps of logs were blazing day and night, filling the air with smoke, far and near. An army of stumps lifted up their heads, as if in very mockery at the attempt of the husbandman. In tile midst of this mingled scene, where the wildness of the primitive forest still triumphed over the improvements which had been made, the people had their homes. These homes were also rude, in keeping with the wild surroundings. They were constructed of the trees which they had felled; the rough logs presented their rugged bark and notched ends at their sides and corners, while smaller poles rested on the roofs, and kept in place the long stakes or split pieces of wood. The chimneys were constructed of sticks and mud, and sometimes took up a good portion of the room within. In some cases there was an entire absence of glass, oil-paper taking its place; the doors were of rude construction, often with wooden hinges and latches. Near at hand was the well-used axe, and the beetle and wedges were not far away. A few frame houses here and there contrasted strangely with the log buildings that were scattered in every direction. It was a mingled scene of wildness and rude cultivation. Civilization was struggling with nature. The wild Indian had disappeared; the native forests had been invaded; nature's spell had been broken; but the face of culture was scarcely discernible. It was under a coarse garb and in deep disguise that the refinement of the people appeared. Yet it was present. Within the rude cottages there were many cultivated minds. The refinements of society had not been lost, the privileges of their former life had not been forgotten. Piety and a zeal for improvement conspired to destroy the effect of their surroundings. They could not become rough or uncouth and barbarous with the possession of these sterling characteristics and the memory of gentler influences. "If barbarism was their first danger, piety was their safeguard." Those homes in the wilderness! what a gentle air pervades everything about them! The home-spun clothing, the home-made furniture, the plain appearance of everything does not obscure the gentility of the people. The family gather around the blazing fireplace, sit down to the evening meal, happy in their home, and contented with their lot. To enter one of these domiciles at night-time was to encounter hospitality and to find a scene of happiness. The blazing fire cast its radiance across the interior, filling the little cottage with lights and shadows, which served to disclose the faces of the inmates. Parents resting from their toil; young men and maidens with books in hands surround the blazing hearth; children at their play or gone to their rest. All, cheerful, happy, amid their rude surroundings. A homelike feeling and a gentle character are predominant. We wonder, when we consider the disadvantages they experienced, that so much intelligence and refinement survived; but, when we remember that within them there was something superior to all their circumstances, we find an explanation. Even at this early date they had secured many advantages. The school-house and the church attended the primitive settlements. Even before the fields were cleared or the forests subdued the place for schooling and the house for worship made its appearance. The first tide of immigration was not an army which had sheltered itself to leave desolation, but it was a people which had settled to bring civilization. There was scarcely a community in the county where the former privileges were not soon prevalent. We picture to ourselves that primitive log church at Austinburg, isolated from any community, standing alone in the forest half-way between the south and north part of the town where the settlements were. Its very loneliness peopled the woods, for here the people gathered regularly on the Sabbath. It also proved a welcome shelter to many new-comers. If the furniture was stowed away to make room for the congregation on the Sabbath, the hospitality of the house of God showed itself by this certain sign. This house was erected as early as 1803, and continued down to 1816, when the first frame church building made its appearance. Another house was built about this time in Wayne. It was used for many years by the people of two townships, -- Williamsfield and Wayne. It was a large double log building, built with two lengths of logs, and a wide gable-end with a single door for entrance. It was a rude-looking structure, the crevices between the logs filled with chinkings of mud; the ceiling disclosed the rafters and shingles; the seats were slabs; a simple desk occupied one end, but there was no stove and no other furniture. Here in this primitive structure the people assembled from Sabbath to Sabbath for many years. The school-houses of the county at this time were of this same character. Among the first erected in the county was one at Austinburg. It was built of thick plank, and was located near the spot where Grand River institute now stands. Other school-houses built of logs, were located in different parts of the county, and were used for meetings, elections, and all other public gatherings. The influence of education and religion was very great. It overcame the rough life of the frontier, and brought in refinement and culture. There was a refining influence, too, in the forests, -- the lofty arches and the whispering leaves filled the inhabitants with a reverent spirit. The silence of solitude, broken only by the deep bass of the forest hymn, filled the soul with a sense of solemnity. There was a melancholy interest surrounding the primitive homes. The shadowy forests gathered closely their dark depths, and furnished a contrast to the little clearings, and a sense of awe mingled with the home feeling. Then again the silence of the forest was broken by the sharp ring of the axe and the crashing blow or the heavy thud of the falling tree. Occasionally the deep bay of the hound echoed through the forests, while the sharp crack of the rifle could be heard in the distance. Nor was there lacking a sense of beauty in these scenes. There was beauty in the wildwood, there was beauty in the cottages, and the very location of the houses as they nestled among the trees unconsciously had its educating power. A description may have been seen of a little school-house on the banks of Lake Erie, which must have presented a picture of beauty hardly surpassed. It was located beneath the overshadowing branches of a great hemlock, and on the very beach of the lake, and close beside the water. So near, indeed, was it that the waves would sometimes wash up to the very door. The clean pebbles of the beach were a pavement for it; a trickling stream served for a fountain, and the lake itself was a picture of beauty and an inspiration to each beholder, filling the mind with a sense of grandeur. The sound of the waves made incessant music, while the sighing of the branches made a rich refrain in the melody. A few pictures of social life at an early day from the pen of Miss Betsy Cowles were made shortly before her death, who wrote a series of articles for the Ashtabula News, wherein she says, "A new country, free from conventionalities, seems about the only place in which the social element can be fully enjoyed. These people came together as neighbors, in the full meaning of that term. First, the Sunday meetings gave ample scope for visiting, coming together in the morning at ten o'clock, separating at three in the afternoon. Who could help spending that hour in social intercourse? They talked of what pertained to local interest, -- of the news from old Connecticut, the political upheavals from old Europe, Bonaparte and the allied powers, or the Indian wars. Men found ample time for gossip; the young folks walked into the woods and picked winter-greens, and the women gathered in circles and groups. The social gatherings during the week were of a very friendly character. The women would gather at some house, usually going on horseback, two on a horse. Their dress was a checked apron, on the head a plain white cap, with a black ribbon over the frill; their gown was a chintz, brought from old Connecticut. Each one carried a work-bag, and no time was lost from work. Whatever was to be done in the family could be done while visiting, -- darning stockings, mending trousers, and making shirts. The horses lazily dozed at the hitching-post and gave an occasional stamp, caused by a vicious fly, while the women visit through the long afternoon. At four o'clock the tea-kettle is- suspended over the blazing fire in the fireplace, and the short-cake is baked in a spider. The cross-legged table is drawn out from the wall, a brown cloth is HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. 33 spread over it, a small plate of butter is placed in the middle of the table, and a dish of sauce by the side of it, composed of wild plums or cranberries, sweetened with maple-sugar. There is put at each place a spoon and knife. Supper ready, the guests stand reverently while the host asks a blessing; then seated, each one is handed a cup of tea, sweetened with maple-sugar, and the smoking hot short-cake is broken and handed around, and each one helps herself to butter with her own knife, and to sauce with her own spoon out of a common dish. Such a thing as a plate for each one was unusual. Even for breakfast the meat and potatoes were cut in morsels and fried together, then served in a dish set in the middle of the table, and all, supplied with a fork, would proceed to stab the morsels from the platter and to help themselves from a common dish. "In the winter the visiting was generally during the long evenings. One man would take his oxen and sled and call for each neighbor between his home and the place of rendezvous. Here a pile of logs aglow, thoroughly warming the one room of the house, and lighting it more brilliantly than half a dozen gas-jets could do, awaited their arrival. "A social evening is spent, with refreshments, consisting of nuts, pop-corn, and maybe doughnuts. The clock hanging against the wall strikes the hour of nine, the orthodox hour of retiring, and the company disperse. Every family in the country was clothed in home-made cloth. The wool has been carded during the summer, the mother has taken if to the mill herself, the huge sack which contains it being strapped to the rear of the saddle, and in some cases rises as high as the head of the rider. With a baby in her arms and five or six colts following or capering ahead, with two or three dogs lolling with their open mouths, she, amid a cloud of dust, would make her way to the mill. Every house was a place where she was welcome to stop and take tea with the family, and rest herself and little one. Having arrived at home, the garments for the household were made of the same material which her hands had prepared from the time the wool came off from the sheep's back. In some cases the clothing of men was still more primitive than this." Mr. Joel Blakeslee describes the buckskin pants which the men sometimes wore, and says that they became so tight after getting them wet, it was almost impossible to get them off. When they had dried they became so stiff that one felt as though he was clad in cast-iron. It was not an uncommon sight to see men with pants of buckskin and vests of fawnskin, with the hair left on. Boys were frequently clothed in buckskin, and wore squirrel-skin caps, with the tails dangling. This mode of dress was more common in the more retired towns, such as Pierpont, Richmond, and others. In the history of Wayne it is told that the men were accustomed to go to church barefoot, and the women carried their shoes with them, and put them on before entering the house of worship. The amusements of these days have also been described. The young people would gather and find pleasure in "twirling the platter" or "holding the button." In some places there was an interdict against tripping the " light fantastic toe." The story is told that the young folks of Austinburg were actually interrupted in a social gathering where the fiddle was to be employed, and the parental authority of Judge Austin suddenly put a stop to the prospective dance. These scruples were not maintained in every place. It is said that in Harpersfield old and young would frequently gather, and enter into the dance with a freedom which was not to be restrained. We can imagine the grace displayed by the cow-hide boots of the young gentlemen and calf-skin shoes of the young ladies. But these were in keeping with the puncheon floors and rude furniture of the log dwellings of that day. Sometimes the young people would go several miles to attend an evening party. They went two on a horse, each young gentleman with a lady behind. If the rain overtook them it did not dampen their ardor; though at times the chintz dresses were soiled by the ride, yet a little soap and water would restore them. At barn-- and house-raisings, all the people within many miles congregated, and the favorite amusements were wrestling and foot-racing. One practice -- that of drinking whisky -- was almost universal. Nearly every settler kept on hand a plentiful supply. Yet drunkenness was not common. The crime of habitual intemperance, a crime by means of which a man debases his better nature, failed to fasten itself upon the lives of the mass of the people. Instances of excess there were. Even good people, who loved sobriety, would sometimes become intoxicated when mingling with their fellows at raisings and other social gatherings. Local temperance societies were organized at an early day, which served to check the tide of intemperance, and, in the language of Platt R. Spencer, to lead the people That dance along in silvery sands, And springs that hide in rocks and woods, Whence come the brave spirits of our lands. There drink, when living friendships burn, Rich, pure waters from Nature's urn."
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"The precious spark of liberty had been kindled, and was preserved by the Puritans alone; and it was to this sect, whose principles appear so frivolous and habits so ridiculous, that the English owe the whole freedom of their constitution. Nothing but a pious zeal which disregards all motives of human prudence could have made them entertain hopes of preserving any longer these privileges." In speaking of King James I. he says, "The more he knew the Puritanical clergy the less favor he bore to them." "He had remarked in their Scottish brethren a violent turn towards republicanism and a zealous attachment to civil liberty, -- principles nearly allied to that religious enthusiasm with which they were actuated." This radical character their descendants have inherited. After their settlement in New England the colonies prayed "for the continuance of civil and religious liberties." During the times of Cromwell the sympathies of the Puritans were with the struggle against oppression. After the restoration of Charles II., Connecticut was especially successful in securing chartered liberties. There never was any betrayal of the cause on the part of that commonwealth. The descendants of the Connecticut colony brought the same love of liberty to their new homes in the wilderness of Ohio. Bancroft says of the Independents in England, "They gradually became the advocates of religious liberty and the power of the people. This tendency cropped out at last when oppression in a new form came to be apprehended in all its evils. The Puritans of New England and of the west were the first to abhor the atrocities of American slavery. They were ready to put themselves as a bulwark of defense for the rights of the oppressed, as before they were willing to make sacrifices for their own rights of conscience. Human liberty was as dear to them as religious liberty." We have already spoken of two vessels -- the "Griffin" and the "Mayflower" -- as representing different civilizations. Protestantism and liberty landed from the "Mayflower" upon the New England coast; popery and monarchy were represented by the French explorers. In the same year of the landing of the "Mayflower" a Dutch vessel entered Jamestown harbor. That vessel contained a cargo of slaves. Thus three different systems were introduced by three different nationalities. America inherited the institutions of Europe, and partook of its different forms of civilization. All along through the ages it became a question which should prevail upon this continent, -- Puritan liberty, papal despotism, African slavery. It is singular that the tides which began to beat all along the sea-shore should meet here upon the borders of this lake. Fortunately, the contest between the French and the English was decided before the settlement of this county. The influences which came in through the mouth of the St. Lawrence never reached the south shore of Lake Erie. They expended themselves upon the northern coasts. Not so with those which found lodgment at the south. They spread themselves over the whole southern territory, and at last sent up their tide to meet the Puritan influences which had landed upon the New England shores. This was the place where these two great forms of civilization met. Here Puritanism and slavery contended. "There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will." It was inevitable; the two systems could not exist together. When fugitives came panting from the house of bondage to this asylum, those who had in the person of their fathers escaped from the oppression of the Old World were in readiness to receive them. The citizens of Ashtabula County were worthy sons of the New England fathers. When the fugitive slaves came to their doors they found shelter and protection. They seemed to remember that their fathers had also been fugitives from oppression, and that America had become their asylum. Their offspring could take no backward steps. The same language which had been used by the colony of Massachusetts after 34 HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. the return of Charles II was the language of their hearts. "The civil liberties of New England are part of the inheritance of their fathers; and shall we give that inheritance away? Is it objected that we shall be exposed to great suffering? Better suffer than sin. It is better to trust the God of our fathers than to put confidence in princes. If we suffer because we dare not comply with the wills of men against the will of God, we suffer in a good cause, and shall be accounted martyrs in the next generation and at the great day." They felt that the fugitive slave law was the violation of the rights of humanity. Long before it was accepted in the halls of congress the citizens of this county adopted the doctrine of the higher law. They felt that it was better to obey God than man. They were early called upon to put into practice the very principles which they had unconsciously adopted. For some reason this county became the resort of fugitive slaves. As early as 1834 they began to escape from their oppressors and to seek a refuge in this vicinity. The proximity of the Ohio river to the lake made this route the nearest. It was lamentable that nowhere within the bounds of the United States the poor black man was safe from his oppressors. England had declared an emancipation. The spirit of Wilberforce stood upon the banks of Lake Erie inviting the refugees to escape to its shores, but liberty was beyond the waters. Only by the aid of the friends of humanity could the oppressed escape the clutches of their masters. Fortunately, there were true, brave hearts who were willing to meet the vengeance of the law and the wrath of the oppressors if they might save some of these trembling captives who came to their doors. Narratives have been told of the scenes of those days which carry us back to the dark times of the struggle of American freedom. We almost breathe again the stifled air, feel the oppressor's lash, hear the opprobrious epithets and the bitter words which in those days so stirred our sensibilities and caused our bitter feelings to arise within us. It is well for us to remember from what a nightmare dream we have awakened. Thank God, we are free! The various cases of fugitive slaves which made their resort in this region awakened the attention in their behalf. There were many friends in different parts of the county who made it a point to harbor them. There was a regular line, or "underground railroad," extending from Wheeling, on the Ohio river, to the harbor at Ashtabula. There were regular depots at which fugitives stopped and were carried on their way by the friends of the slaves. Whenever it was known any of them had arrived, it was expected as a matter of course that the citizens would feed them. No one knew who fed them, but they were cared for and sent on their way. A certain vessel, too, was relied upon to take them. If slaves reached Ashtabula County, they always escaped. The Anti-Slavery society of Ashtabula County was formed June, 1832: Amos Fisk, president; O. K. Hawley, vice-president; A. E. Austin, recording secretary. There were also local anti-slavery societies established in various parts of the county. One was formed in Ashtabula in January, 1837. These different societies continued through the whole period of the anti-slavery contest. The Colonization society was the more conservative, but was itself strongly opposed to the system. The subject must have engrossed public attention, for in the year 1837 the Fourth of July was celebrated by meetings of the two anti-slavery societies, one in Kingsville, and the other in Ashtabula. Ashtabula County had a noble record during the whole anti-slavery conflict. She chose one of her own sons, a man who had endured the hardships of pioneer life, who had been trained up under the influences and become imbued with the spirit which prevailed here; one who, if not born in the county, was from the stock which constituted her true citizens, and who had received his entire education and promotion here, and put him forward to fill one of the highest and most responsible positions in the gift of the nation. The choice of Joshua R. Giddings as a representative to congress at this trying time reflected great honor upon the judgment and sentiment of the people. But the sustaining of the man through all the trying emergencies of his eventful career was one of the grandest things in the history of the nation. Never will it be forgotten that old Ashtabula was so true to the right when the right was unpopular and the wrong was in the ascendancy. No storm of faction, no rage of his enemies, no imprecations which were hurled at his defenseless head disturbed the confidence which they had placed in the man of their choice. While the tide of unpopularity rolled over him threatening to engulf him, while the storm of passion and prejudice was aroused from every aide, they stood true, and like a rock presented themselves a bulwark to liberty. There is no doubt but that the strength of Mr. Giddings was in his constituency. He knew on whom he relied. His heart beat in sympathy with their hearts, and he expressed sentiments which he knew to be dear to them as their own life. We do not wonder that the man was bold and daring in the fierce conflict, for he knew the hearts of the people whom he was representing. There were three parties in Ashtabula County during the. latter part of the anti-slavery struggle. They were the old Democratic, the Whig, and the Free Soil party. These divided the sentiment of the people somewhat, but it may be said that the Free-Soil party at last gave tone to the sentiments of the people. There may have been some extreme measures proposed and the. expressions were oftentimes decidedly radical, but it was this very determined spirit which gained the victory. There was a conviction lying back of these expressions which could not fail to have force. If the advocates of anti-slavery lost all patience, it was because they realized the evils of the system as few others did. The very fact that fugitive slaves made this their asylum awakened minds to the subject and stirred the sensibilities of the people. In order to show the intense feeling that prevailed in some localities, we take the following extracts from the Ashtabula Sentinel, published in Ashtabula, December 21, 1850. This was in the height of the anti-slavery excitement under the administration of President Fillmore. A public meeting of the citizens of Hartsgrove was held for the purpose of taking action relative to the fugitive slave law. Out of fifteen resolutions passed we quote the four following. We doubt whether any public meeting of the present time could frame such resolutions, for their language is the result of the intensity of the thought and feeling which prevailed only then. They are as follows: "Resolved, That we hold the fugitive slave law in utter contempt, as being no law, and pledge ourselves to despise the conduct of the makers of it for their utter destitution of principle, as well as for their reckless violation of the constitution of these States; which they were sworn to support; "Resolved, That sooner than submit to such odious laws we will see the Union dissolved; sooner than see slavery perpetual we would see war; and sooner than be slaves we will fight! "Resolved, That Herod made a law in regard to male children; King Darius made a law in regard to Daniel; Duke George made a law in reference to Luther; John Bull made a law in reference to the American colonies; and, meanest of all, congress made a law in reference to fugitive slaves; a law to strip us of our humanity, to divest us of all claim to Christianity and self-respect, and herd us with blood-hounds and men-stealers, upon penalty of reducing our children to starvation and nakedness. Cursed be said law! "Resolved, That we will not aid in catching the fugitive, but will feed and protect him with all the means within our power; and that we pledge our sympathy and property for the relief of any person in our midst who may suffer any penalties for an honorable opposition or a failure to comply with the requirements of this law." An editorial in the same paper says, "The underground railroad through this section of the State is doing a fair business nowadays. Two fine-looking 'chattels,' fresh from 'Old Virginia,' passed up the fourth range of this township, last week, en route for Canada. We learn that they met with no difficulty in finding food, shelter, and necessary assistance in their course.... The voice of our people is, 'Constitution or no constitution, law or no law, no fugitive slave can be taken from the soil of Ashtabula County back to slavery.' If any one doubts that this is the real sentiment, they can easily test it." There is an account also in the same paper of the escape of a mulatto, a slave. Being straight-haired and light-complexioned, he represented himself successfully as a white man. There is no doubt but that the sympathy for the fugitives and the abhorrence of the evils of slavery made these sentiments palatable. There was a great deal of prejudice against Ashtabula County during those days, but it was a prejudice which was founded in wrong and sprang from the passions which would sustain that wrong. If there were those who were extreme in their views, yet the diversities of party held the balance well poised. The radical element had some force, but there was conservatism mingled with it. When Abby Kelley and Foster and Parker Pillsbury came into the county, they were listened to with respect, but their sentiments did not obtain. There were those who sympathized with them, but, unlike other counties, there was no actual disruption and division made by them. In many places churches were divided, friends were torn asunder, and society was disturbed. When they said the constitution was a covenant with death and a league with hell; when they denounced the church and the clergy for their position; when they sowed broadcast the seeds of discord and infidelity, the religious sentiment of the people here revolted. There is no doubt the people were anchored by their faith, so that the storm of passion did not drive them to sea or leave them wrecked amid the breakers. They were anchored to a rock. If there were those who made a wreck of faith in their devotion to freedom, the majority of the people were held firm. It was this very conviction, so deep, so abiding, and so true, that prevailed. It was fastened to the eternal principle of right, and anchored to God himself. Commonly and steadily this conviction made its way. It entered deeper into the hearts of the people; it had force with the nation; it ruled the councils; it controlled the parties; and at last was triumphant. HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. 35 When the madness of the oppressors became so unbounded that they would submit to no constitutional vote and yield no authority, but resolved to make slavery a corner-stone for a new confederacy, the people realized what spirit had ruled them. In this connection we publish the following, written by a member of the Blackstring band, a resident now of Andover. It is an interesting - CHAPTER OF HISTORY. Among the many instances showing the devotion of the citizens of Ashtabula County to the cause of the slave, I venture to narrate some of the events preceding and following the memorable attack on Harper's Ferry by John Brown and his handful of followers, as illustrative of the fact that no part of the United States was more devoted to human liberty. And I do so for another reason, -- to perpetuate a scrap of unwritten history.It will be remembered that a secret convention was called by Brown at Chatham, Canada West, May 8, 1858, at which convention a provisional constitution and ordinances for the people of the United States were adopted. During the following winter Brown crossed the border from Kansas into Missouri, liberated seven slaves, and deliberately accompanied them through Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan to Canada. Between March 20 and 30 Brown was in Cleveland, where he advertised and sold the horses he took with the slaves in Missouri, giving everybody notice that the title to the horses might be defective. Early in April, Brown Kagi, who was Brown's secretary of war, Captain Stevens, and others arrived in West Andover. Brown's Sharp's rifles and other warlike material were shipped to this place, and stored at King & Brother's cabinet-manufactory, on the Creek road, in Cherry Valley. Thence from about the 1st of April, 1859, West Andover became, so to speak, for a time the headquarters for the immortal undertaking of revolutionizing this government by means so out of proportion to the magnitude of the enterprise that most men not acquainted with John Brown believed him to be insane; but to those who knew him, -- who knew the depth and fervor of his religious sentiments; his unwavering trust in the Infinite; his strong conviction that he had been selected by God as an instrument in His hands to hasten the overthrow of American slavery, -- to such he seemed inspired rather than insane. In a conversation I had with him the day he started for Harper's Ferry, I tried to convince him that his enterprise was hopeless, and that he would only rashly throw away his life. Among other things, he said, "I believe I have been raised up to work for the liberation of the slave, and while the cause will be best advanced by my life I shall be preserved; but when that cause will be beet served by my death I shall then be removed." The result proved that his sublime faith and trust in God enabled him to see what others could not see. He had so lived that, though dead, "his soul went marching on." I do not purpose writing a history of the attack on Harper's Ferry, but something seemed necessary as an introduction to the action of our citizens in relation to the immediate results of that historic enterprise. The forces with which Brown made his attack constituted of seventeen white and five colored men. In addition to these a few were stationed outside of the town, and two I believe were left at the Kenneda farm. A few of these escaped, Owen Brown being one of the number. Merriam, a young man from Boston, one of the fugitives, made his way to West Andover, and was received and cared for by the writer. a few more were in the vicinity; and Owen Brown, after resting for a short time in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, came to West Andover, and went to his brother's, John Brown, Jr., who had moved from his residence on the Creek road, in Cherry Valley, to Dorset, with whom he remained for some time. The narration of these events after eighteen years have elapsed seems tame and spiritless. The young can have no conception of the terrible excitement that was produced all over the country. But a large portion of the readers of this will well remember, and remembering will know that no words of mine could depict the reality. The United States senate ordered John Brown, Jr., to appear before a committee of their body and give evidence. He refused to obey, and their sergeant-of-arms was instructed to take him to Washington. Grave apprehensions were felt by the citizens that an armed force was to be sent not only to arrest john Brown, Jr., but to take Merriam, Owen Brown, and other fugitives who were in the vicinity. If taken it was believed their speedy trial, conviction, and execution would follow as a matter of course. Under these circumstances a number of the citizens of West Andover met for consultation, and resolved that they would attempt to defend these men with their lives if need be. Signals, signs, pass-words, and a badge were agreed upon, by means of which members of the association could know each other. A place of rendezvous was agreed upon and arms procured, and all solemnly pledged themselves to be in readiness at the slightest warning. Persons from surrounding townships came forward to join this association, and as knowledge of its existence extended new associations or lodges were organized; and as this went on, to insure uniformity of work and harmony of action, an affiliated secret society was formed. A State lodge was organized, and finally a United States lodge. This order increased with great rapidity. Its object was the overthrow of slavery, and designed to act politically and in a revolutionary manner, if necessary, for the attainment of that object. In the initiatory ceremonies of our lodge at West Andover a pistol was used that was presented by the Marquis de Lafayette to Washington. This pistol was brought by one of Brown's men, who escaped from Harper's Ferry. It will be remembered that Brown sent a squad of men who arrested Colonel Washington, and took his arms, the night of the assault on Harper's Ferry. This pistol was afterwards sent to the owner. It is difficult to say what the result would have been if the War of the Rebellion had not put an end to slavery, and with it all necessity for the longer continuance of the order of the Independent Sons of Liberty. Members of this order were called "Blackstrings," from the badge which they wore, which was a black string or ribbon tied into the button-hole of the shirt- collar. The records of the war are known, but from the time that the agitation began, and in fact thirty and even fifty years before the outbreak of civil war, the county was loyal; but it was a loyalty to humanity, to principles, and to God, rather than to any party or partisan leader. The constitution was upheld so long as it was properly interpreted, and its spirit was carried out. But when the spirit of slavery undertook to make it an instrument of oppression and a rod for the oppressed, the sentiment of the people revolted against it. It was never held by the majority of the people of this county that the constitution should be overthrown, the Union dissolved, or even the slaves by force set free. All through the Mexican war, the discussions in reference to the annexation of Texas, the admission of Oregon, the forming of new States, the sympathies of this people were with the north. During the Kansas struggles also, and the discussions of the squatter-sovereignty doctrine and the Dred Scott decision, and in all the cases that came up in the anti-slavery conflict, the county was consistent with itself. Joshua R. Giddings and John Quincy Adams stood aide by side, and so, we may say, old Massachusetts and old Ashtabula were together in this conflict. There mere no extreme measures advocated, or at least indorsed. There was no fanaticism cherished, but the people were true to their convictions. It was known in congress that the county and the district would sustain their representative, no matter what storm of faction should be raised against him or obloquy thrust upon him. Even Ben Wade, the old war-horse of anti-slavery, was sure of defense at home. And through the conflict, while Joshua R. Giddings was battling for freedom in the house, he stood up manfully for its defense in the senate. Few counties ever had such a record. Two heroes from the same county -- yes, from the same place -- in the two halls of congress, both contending for the same cause, and both conscious that they were sustained by the people at home! It was more like the days of Grecian daring, when Ajax and Achilles were contending before the walls of Troy. No blandishments of Priam, no corruption of gold, no fear of suffering, no dread of conflict, shook the heroes in the strife. They were sustained by an army of voters, who, with weapons more deadly than steel, and with shields more enduring than brass, were ready to stand up and meet danger and death, It was the banner of duty that led them in the conflict. It was the shield of integrity, it was the armor of right, that defended them. No bulwark could resist them. The citadel of slavery was bound to be destroyed, and her walls do lie prostrate, never again, we trust, to be rebuilt.
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36 HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. was in various parts of the State of New York and in the Wyoming valley. In all of these places New England institutions were at once established. The tide of religious influence, as well as of population, swept in waves across the land, leaving successive marks on the different localities in the churches and the schools and other institutions which were established in the States farther east. When the wave struck this region the country had become established. Its independence was declared. The purchase of the land by the Connecticut company direct |