- THE SPALDING RESEARCH PROJECT -
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William W. Williams History of Ashtabula Co., Ohio Philadelphia, Williams Bros., 1878 |
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See also: "The Conneaut Witnesses" | Ashtabula Spalding Sources
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(Pages 45-85 not yet transcribed) REV. JOSEPH BADGER. No name is more prominent in connection with the early history of Ashtabula County than that of Rev. Joseph Badger. He was one of the earliest missionaries on the Western Reserve. He was the founder of the first church in what was called New Connecticut, namely, that at Austinburg. He was the first minister sustained by the Connecticut missionary society west of the Alleghenies. He was identified with the history of the churches of northern Ohio, and in fact with the history of this country for the first twenty-five years of its settlement. He was a resident of this county, and, though his biography does not belong to any local history, but rather to the whole country, yet we are happy to give a sketch of his life in this connection. It is fortunate that so much material has been preserved, notwithstanding the fact that his extensive diary was for the most part burned by his order just before his death. We have drawn for our information in reference to him from some unpublished portions of his journal, from the memoir which was published in 1851, but is now out of print, and from various other sources.Mr. Badger was the descendant of Giles Badger, who settled in Newburyport, Massachusetts, in the year 1635. He was of the Puritan stock, and his ancestor was identified with the early history of the New England colony. His father also was one of the first settlers of the new, uncultivated region in Berkshire county, Massachusetts. He was born in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. The line of descent was Giles Badger, Newburyport, Massachusetts. John Badger, son of Giles; Nathaniel, John, Daniel, Edmond, Samuel, Mehitable, Henry, children of John. Henry Badger married Mary Langdon, and removed in 1766 to Partridge Field, Berkshire county, Massachusetts. Joseph was the son of Henry Badger, Mr. Badger spent his early days without schools or advantages, except as they were gained at the fireside. His parents were, however, professing Christians, and his mind was stored with much religious instruction. The spring after he was eighteen, which was February 28, 1175, he entered the Revolutionary army. This was about three weeks after the contest at Lexington. He was in the battle of Bunker Hill. He was enrolled in Captain Nathan Watkins' company, Colonel John Patterson's regiment, and at the time of the battle was posted on Cobble hill, in a line with the front of the battery, about half a mile distant. He says, "We could see the fire from the whole line, and the British break their ranks and run down the hill. On the third return to the charge they carried the works at the point of the bayonet." He was afterwards with his regiment at Litchmore's Point, where the British landed and endeavored to take off some fat cattle. "Here," he says," I had an opportunity to try my piece nine or ten times in pretty close order. The contest was sharp and fatal to some." After the British evacuated Boston, Patterson's regiment was ordered to New York, where they remained about three weeks, and then were ordered to Canada, and in time encamped on the banks of the St. Lawrence, in sight of Montreal.
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HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. 87 son, Henry L., was born in Waterbury, and his other children, Julia Anna, Lucius, Sarah, who died young. Lucia, Sarah, and Joseph were born in Blanford. Mr. Badger was dismissed from this church in 1800. He received an appointment from the Connecticut missionary society during the same year to visit the churches in the State of New York; but his appointment was afterwards changed, and he was requested to go to the Connecticut Western Reserve. He began his journey November 15, 1800. He took the southern route, crossed the Hudson at Newburg, and stayed with the Rev. Mr. Carr, of Goshen, New York. He arrived at Sussex Court-House, New Jersey, and here spent the Sabbath. He was recognized as a clergyman in the congregation by Rev. Mr. Brown, and was invited to preach. From this place he passed down the Delaware, stopped with the elder of Mount Pleasant church in Pennsylvania, and here remained eight days for the sake of having the company of four young men who were going the same journey. He started with the young men on Wednesday, crossed the Allegheny mountains, where it was very cold, and on the 14th of December crossed the Monongahela about twenty miles above Pittsburgh. Here he parted with his company, and spent several days with the Rev. Mr. Ralston, forming acquaintances with several ministers of the region. He reached the Reserve late in December. This journey of six hundred miles was taken at a difficult season of the year. There was at the time but one road leading from Beaver to the Reserve, and that almost impassable. Mr. Badger took a blazed path which led to the Mahoning river; was obliged to ford the stream where the water came over the tops of his boots while he was on his horse; but reached the shore, crossed the State line, and arrived at the cabin of Rev. Mr. Wick about dark, and was received by the family as a familiar friend. Mr. Wick had been settled a few weeks before in charge of three small congregations in Hopeful, Neshannoc, and Youngstown. Mr. Badger spent his first Sunday on the Reserve at Youngstown. This was the last Sunday of the year 1800. The year was spent in visiting various localities on the Reserve. His report of his journeys, until his arrival at Austinburg, is given in the history of that township. He underwent many adventures during this journey, but did much to encourage the people. He speaks of meeting George Blue Jacket, a Shawnese Indian; also of fording the Cuyahoga after dark, and spent the night in a small cabin, lying on the floor in his wet clothes. At Cleveland he lodged at Benoni Carter's. He swam his horse across the Cuyahoga, followed an Indian path up the lake and forded the Rocky river, encamping on its hanks that night. He pursued the Indian path to Huron river, and spent Sunday among the Delawares. He stayed in an Indian cabin, and was presented with a knot bowl of string beans boiled in fresh water and buttered with bear's oil. On his departure from this place he was also presented with a bread cake, baked in the embers, filled with beans, like a plum cake. He then passed, in company with an Indian boy for guide, to the Shawnee village on the Maumee. Here an Indian woman presented him with a bowl of boiled corn buttered with bear's grease, saying, "Friends, eat; it is good; it is such as God gives Indians." He went from thence to the French town on the river Raisin; stayed with Captain Blue Jacket in a comfortable cabin, which was well furnished with mattress, blankets, furniture for the table, crockery, and silver spoons. He spent Sunday at Maiden, Canada, and on Monday was in Detroit. Here he visited Rev. David Bacon, but says, "There was not one Christian to be found in all this region, excepting a black man who appeared pious." From this place he returned by way of the Maumee village, and arrived at Hudson the 13th of September, having been two days without anything to eat, except a few chestnuts. He organized a church at Austinburg the 24th of October, 1801, and started, with Judge Eliphalet Austin, to return to his home in Massachusetts. The account of the removal of his family to Austinburg is given in the history of that township. Mr. Badger's situation at Austinburg was attended with some hardships, but were borne cheerfully by himself and family. He was engaged in visiting nearly all the communities on the Reserve, as he was about the only missionary in the region for two or three years. His journal at this time reveals something of the state of the different settlements. At Euclid he stopped with Mr. Burke, who had come to this place three years before, and whose wife, he says, was obliged to spin and weave cattle's hair to make covering for her children's bed. He speaks also of Ravenna, in his unpublished manuscript, as follows: "In this place were twenty families, probably not a praying person among them. A considerable number attended meeting, but their conversation disclosed their state of heart. Reproaching one another, whisky-drinking, and fighting, with deistical sentiments, formed the prominent features of this place." He speaks of Newburg -- "Infidelity, and profaning the Sabbath, are general in this place. They bid fair to grow into a hardened and corrupt society." Mr. Badger's adventures were numerous. At one time he was followed several miles by a wolf. He spent a whole night in a tree watched by a bear. Tying himself to a limb with his large bandanna handkerchief, he remained until the morning. A heavy thunder-storm passed over him while in this position, but the heavy peals of thunder did not avail to drive off the animal. His horse was standing at the foot of the tree, in no way frightened by the bear. As he shook himself in the rain he scared the brute away, so that Mr. Badger, a little after daylight, was able to go on. He had no weapon but a horseshoe in his hand at first, and throwing this produced no alarm, and so his only resort was to climb into the tree and wait until morning. He often forded streams even when the ice was running. At one time he found himself entangled among some trees, with the water swimming depth, and was obliged to throw his portmanteau to the shore and jump on to a log, and then make his horse jump out of the water over the log. At another time, in crossing Mosquito creek, he found a place where he could cross the flood-wood and swim his horse through. And at still another was obliged to lie on the sand of the lake and dry himself in the sun. The settlements were very scattered, the rivers without bridges, the roads mere blazed paths for miles through the forests. The missionary was frequently wet with rain, covered with snow, drenched in fording streams, and was at times obliged to camp at night in the forests alone and without shelter. He bore his hardships, however, cheerfully, and was full of the self-sacrificing spirit. His family were left alone frequently for weeks and even months at a time. They were obliged to live in a small log house, which for the first summer had a floor only half-way across its room. The poverty which he experienced was great, and even amid his most arduous labors he speaks of the anxiety which he felt for his family. The little farm which he had was conducted by his boys at home, and he spent the intervals of his sojourn at home in assisting them to make sugar, to repair the house, and to do other work on the place. The variety of employments to which Mr. Badger could give himself was remarkable. He could repair the wagon on which he was moving to his new home; he could help his neighbors build log houses, and turn out with the other citizens to build bridges; could nurse the sick; could prescribe successfully as a physician; could write letters and sermons and reports; could revise confessions of faith, attend synods, preach two or three times on the Sabbath and frequently during the week, and all the time be useful. His visits mere always welcome. He frequently found a pious family who were glad to see a minister of the gospel, and even those who made no profession regarded him with great respect and esteem. The humility of the man was one of his prominent traits. No service was too lowly for him, no sacrifice too great, if he might serve his Master. Doubtless he felt the hardships of his lot, and considered that others were perhaps improving their time and gaining reputation in other respects, while he, a poor missionary, was laboring with but little compensation and amid great privations. His zeal, however, was not without its reward. He preached in most of the places throughout northern Ohio, and was well known as the pioneer missionary of' those days. He mas not settled as a pastor when he came to Ohio, but he spent his life in laying the foundations for others to build upon. As a wise master-builder, he toiled until the Lord called him to his reward. His reward was certainly not in worldly things. He spent a large part of the little fortune he had after he went to Ashtabula to live in the support of his family. His efforts as a minister of the gospel seemed to have been very successful. There was that about his preaching -- the spirit which he manifested, his zeal, his humility, and devotion, or something it was -- which gave him great effect when he was addressing the people. He frequently speaks of the people being moved even to tears, and seemed to have produced by his preaching great solemnity among his hearers. He ascribed these impressions to the spirit of God, but doubtless it was that spirit working through his own humility and devotion, and imparting to others the faith which he had. It was a contagion of an earnest faith and of such self-denying zeal, and the work of God's holiness found no impediment in his pride or self-seeking. He was plain, unassuming, but kindly, and always gained the confidence and affection of the people. We picture him as going about among the settlements, which were scattered through the wilderness, with his portmanteau on his horse and his plain dress. When he arrived at a village he would alight and always find a welcome, and made it his home where he was. He generally visited all the families in the hamlet, talked with them kindly, and would most always have something to say of a religious character. He would gather even the children together and catechize them, and the effect of his influence was very great upon them. Children were frequently impressed by his preaching, and some of the most remarkable conversions mere among the young. At the same time he seemed to carry conviction to older persons. Judges and lawyers were frequently impressed by his words, and many additions to the churches were of adults. Those assemblies in private houses, in which whole neighborhoods were gathered, were quite remarkable. There was a kindly way among the people which made them attractive, and the very sociability of the occasion prepared the attendance for the better feeling which worship might bring. There was the true idea of the church in 88 HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. these gatherings. It was but a family, and God was the father, and the home feeling was the religion of it. Worship was at that time peaceful. The missionary, whether a pastor or not, was a shepherd and had a love for the flock. A few extracts from his journal will show something of the character of his congregations and the nature of their surroundings: "Having spent about five weeks with my family, I set out for my winter's tour. Preached at General Payne's the first Sabbath in December." "Went to Newburg and spent Sunday; from this to Hudson, twenty miles, -- a lonely tour in the cold, snow, and mud. Here I preached twice on the Sabbath and visited all the families. I visited and preached in all the neighboring settlements -- Ravenna, Aurora, Mantua, and Burton -- until some time in February, 1803." "At Palmyra preached a lecture; mostly Methodists. At this time a Methodist preacher had never been on the Reserve." "From this I went on to Canfield. Preached on the Sabbath and visited all the families. I then went through all the settlements in the south and eastern part of the Reserve, preaching twice every Sabbath and one or two lectures weekly; visiting and preaching from house to house until the forepart of April." "Having returned to my family, I continued to help them for several weeks, and visited the settlements in this part of the Reserve, preaching on the Sabbath, with frequent lectures, until the 8th of June, when I again left for another preaching tour. Rode to Vernon. Visited two sick persons and prayed with them." "Rode to Hartford. Conversed with several professing Christians on the subject of forming a church." "Rode to Vienna. Preached on the Sabbath to about sixty." "Rode to Fowler's store in Poland, the only store on the Reserve at this time. Consulted with Brother Weeks in regard to spending two Sabbaths in places where the revival was attended with extraordinary power. The next Sabbath at a place called Salem, in Pennsylvania. Preached to about five hundred people. From candle-lighting till near twelve o'clock it was made a time of extraordinary prayer and singing. I then preached a third discourse, on the doctrine of repentance, and dismissed the people. During the meeting numbers cried aloud, 'Oh, my hard heart! my sinful, rebellious heart!' and soon became powerless for some hours." "Rode to Cross creek. I preached in the afternoon to about three thousand people, -- the largest worshipping assembly I ever saw. In time of preaching there were many who cried out, and fell into a perfectly helpless situation." "From June 18 to July 1 I rode more than two hundred miles. July 10, preached twice in the woods; had a shower of rain. Rode on to Warren, visiting families. Preached on Saturday, and on the Sabbath three times. Had in the afternoon a heavy shower; took a violent cold." "August 1, rode to Nelson, then to Aurora, thirty miles; very unwell with my cold." "Rode to Hudson; visited several families, and on the Lord's day preached twice and administered the sacrament." "Attended the funeral of an infant, and then rode to Aurora, and preached to one family, -- the only one in the place, -- and the next day preached in Mantua; frequently got wet with heavy showers. Rode to Burton; visited one woman on her dying bed. Sabbath, preached twice. Monday, rode to Mesapotamia. Wednesday, rode to Windsor; stopped at Judge Griswold's about two hours during a heavy shower. Rode on through the woods without path or marked trees; came to a deep ravine filled with water running rapidly, and muddy; was met by a large bear." Here follows the record of his spending the night in the tree. "August 21, attended the funeral of Mrs. Hawley; made a prayer at the grave; preached in Mr. Austin's barn and administered the sacrament to twenty-one communicants." "The Connecticut Missionary society sent on at this time as many books as I could carry in a large bag, to accommodate the population with means of instruction. Rode to Grand River after the books. Saturday, rode to Conneaut, twenty-five miles; no marked roads. Sabbath, preached twice. Monday, visited a school of sixteen children; gave primers and books. Tuesday, rode to Erie, twenty-eight miles; then to North East, fifteen miles." The presbytery met here, and Mr. Badger preached the sermon. "Rode five miles to visit a sick man who had been drinking and abusive in his family. The next day rode to Chautauqua to visit a family. The husband and father was drowned in the lake," etc. In the period of one year Mr. Badger visited forty-nine or fifty different places, and preached one or more sermons every Sunday, and frequently several times during the week. During the year he attended five funerals, married one couple, organized two churches, -- the one at Hartford and the one at Warren, -- and administered the sacrament nine times. He also attended two presbyteries, -- one at Slippery Rock and one at North East, -- and the synod at Pittsburgh. He began the year with the revival work at Cross Creek, Pennsylvania, where were such remarkable exercises, and continued through it with the same extraordinary interest attending his labors wherever he went. Mr. Badger was very faithful in his missionary work. The church at Austinburg, where he lived, made great progress, though he seemed to have been absent from it most of the time. On the 10th of June forty-one persons were added to this church, and among them some of the most prominent persons in the place. The church at Harpersfield also prospered. He speaks of having visited Ashtabula and preached to about twenty persons. He occasionally also visited Conneaut, though the path from Austinburg to that place was not even blazed, He says of this place," Notwithstanding there are some here, as in other places, who do all they can to profane the Sabbath and promote infidelity, yet God is carrying on the redemption of souls." Mr. Badger, after laboring five or six years as a missionary in this and other counties, resigned his commission. The reason for this was that the Connecticut Missionary society had reduced the amount of the appropriations to the missionaries on the Reserve. Mr. Badger felt that, with all his labors and hardships, the society did him a great injustice. He says, "I felt myself and family exceedingly injured by their vote to reduce the means of my support. I had encountered indescribable hardships, with my family, in performing missionary labors, and had repeatedly written to them respectfully on the subject. The subject had also been presented to them by gentlemen who were my neighbors, and well knew that my reduced pay to six dollars per week was much below the necessary expenses of my family. But all applications on the subject were unavailing." This action of the society in reducing his salary and the consequent resignation involved a great change in the circumstances of Mr. Badger's life. He afterwards received an appointment from the Massachusetts Missionary society, and commenced labors as a missionary among the Indians at Sandusky. This change involved a removal of his family, and there were many hardships endured again in entering upon a new life. He began building a boat of three tons burden, finished and launched it, loaded it, and passed down to Austin's Mills, where he was obliged to unload and draw the boat over the dam and load again. It often stuck on the rapids, and they were obliged to get into the water and lift hard at the boat to get it down the river. They succeeded, however, and passed up the lake to Cleveland, where they arrived on Saturday night. Here Mr. Badger preached on Sunday. During the week they made out with great hardship to reach Sandusky. He says, "My labors with the Wyandot people from upper Sandusky to a place eight miles below Detroit were very fatiguing, exposed as I was to rains and heavy dews and camping in the woods." In October, 1807, he went with his wife to Pittsburgh, and was taken unwell, and was confined five weeks with sickness. On his return quite a company went with him to Sandusky, all on horseback, camping out four nights on the way. He says in his journal, "Under many discouraging circumstances I continued to labor in the mission, visiting and preaching in their villages, more than one hundred miles apart from each other." In the year 1808 he came to the determination to move his family back to Austinburg. The missionary board thought it was best that he should take a tour to the east to solicit donations. He accordingly started with his wife on the 1st of November, on horseback, to visit friends in New England, and arrived at Blanford on the 15th. During this visit the Connecticut Missionary society became sensible that they had erred and their missionary had suffered by their means. At a meeting of the board recompensation of two hundred and twenty-four dollars was paid to him, and a donation of one hundred dollars was given to him for his mission. His labors among the Indians were very useful. His influence among them was such that intemperance was very much removed. The chief, Blue Jacket, complained bitterly of the traders, and, through Mr. Badger's advice and co-operation, those who were disposed to sell liquor were driven away from the reservation. As a missionary he adapted himself to the people. He helped them build their houses, went into their corn-fields and hoed corn with them, mended their broken plows and utensils, and assisted them in this way. He prescribed for the sick, comforted the dying, and sympathized with them in all of their troubles. He gained a great influence over them. They generally listened to his advice, and were respectful in religious services. Occasionally there is a record of a few rude savages entering into the meetings and shouting the war-whoop, and so trying to make disturbance; but the sentiment of the chief and most of the tribe was friendly to the missionary's labors. He continued here, laboring faithfully, until the year 1809, when he received a letter from his wife that his house was burned, and almost all the clothing and furniture destroyed. This distressing circumstance made it necessary for him to leave the mission. He got home about the middle of November, and found his family without a house, depending on a neighbor for temporary lodgings, and were in great want of clothing as the cold season grew on. By the help of neighbors they soon got up a cabin, moved into it with but one chair, and without bedstead, or table, knife, fork, or spoon, but these and other necessary articles for housekeeping were soon procured. Mr. Badger spent the winter in preaching in a few settlements in Ashtabula County. In April, 1810, he moved to Ashtabula, where he preached half the time and missionated in other settlements. Having made an exchange of land with Nehemiah Hubbard, he commenced making a home. He had a good garden, raised some corn, and was comfortably situated. At this time there was no organized church in Ashtabula village, but Mr. Badger alternated in his preaching between Kingsville and this place. It is said that after the burning of the school- HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. 89 house on the east side a meeting was held one Sabbath on the banks of the Ashtabula river, near where the iron bridge now stands. The preacher took for his pulpit a tree which was leaning over the water, and the people were scattered about on the grass. During Mr. Badger's stay in this place he started a book-store, but was not successful in it, and soon sold out. During the War of 1812, Mr. Badger's services were sought for on account of his acquaintance with the country and his influence over the Indians. General Perkins was then at Huron. Several officers wrote very urgently to Mr. Badger, inviting him to visit them. He went, and found the sick and wounded badly situated; but he soon got help, and made the block-house comfortable, and provided bunks and attendants for the sick. In a few days General Harrison came. Without being consulted on the subject, he was appointed chaplain for the brigade and postmaster for the army. He was very useful even in military service. When the army moved from Huron to Sandusky, he, with a guard of twenty men and several axe-men, marked out the road, and afterwards piloted the army to Sandusky. After the building of Fort Meigs, on the Maumee, the men began to be sick. Major E. Whittlesey, afterwards congressman for this district, was taken very sick, and given up to die. Mr. Badger took him to his own tent, and took care of him day and night. By careful nursing and the skillful practice of the surgeon he was, by the blessing of God, restored to health. Mr. Badger soon resigned his position and returned home. He never quite approved of the war, and said many things against it, and so gained the epithet of "old Tory." After his return home, two of his sons were taken with the epidemic which had prevailed in the army. The youngest one died. Mr. Badger continued to preach in Ashtabula and neighboring settlements until about the last day of July 1818. At this time his wife was taken suddenly ill. She lingered a few days in painful sickness, and died on the 4th of August. Of her Mr. Badger says, "She was a discreet wife and affectionate mother; a consistent Christian, beloved as a friend and neighbor. She bore with Christian patience and fortitude the trials we had to encounter with our young family in this uncultivated land. On her devolved almost exclusively the task of forming their youthful minds, and storing them with principles of piety and virtue, and this she performed with unwearied fidelity." At this date the autobiography ceases. Mr. Badger married again in 1819, and his second wife, Miss Abigail fly, survived him a few months. He removed from Ashtabula to Kirtland in 1822, and preached alternately here and at Cheater. At the age of sixty-five he received a call from the people of Gustavus. He organized a church here of twenty-seven members. This was April 27, 1825. In October following he was regularly installed pastor of the church by the presbytery of Grand River. Rev. Dr. Cowles preached the sermon. During his pastorate he held a protracted meeting, in which many were converted, and the church was much strengthened. He was appointed postmaster at this place. As the mail came in on the Sabbath, he sent in to the government a remonstrance, and declared his purpose to resign unless he was relieved from this secular care on the Sabbath. His remonstrance was so far successful as to secure such a change of the route as to cause the arrival of the mail at Gustavus on another day of the week. Mr. Badger resigned his pastoral relation at the end of ten years, in 1835. He was then seventy-five years old, and the infirmities of age were creeping upon him. The church, when organized, consisted of twenty-seven members. During Mr. Badger's ministry forty-eight were added, of whom twenty-eight were by profession. The veteran missionary removed to the home of his daughter, at Plain, Wood county, who had married a minister. During his residence here, which included ten years more of his life, no particular incidents occurred. It was a season of quiet retirement, though he continued to preach almost every Sunday in destitute places. He organized a church in Milton, and supplied them about a year. His last sermon was preached in Plain, on the day of the fast proclaimed by the President. He enjoyed great peace and serenity of mind. His language was uniformly that of praise, and his constant theme the goodness of God and the glories of the future state. His missionary life precluded study, but he always took an interest in literary advantages. The Social library in Ashtabula was established mainly through his efforts. During his stay in Plain, Wood county, he was able to procure a gift of books from the east, and succeeded in establishing what has since been incorporated by the name of the Badger library. His religious character was his most remarkable trait. It gave him a gentleness and patience and depth of character which are rarely possessed. His words were always full of feeling, but amid all his trials and disappointments no bitterness mingled with them. He had a submissive, quiet, and loving spirit. Few men have undergone more hardships, and yet few have been more useful. His memory is still cherished among the citizens of many communities, and the scenes of his former homes are redolent with his praise. His life was a sweet savor, and, though the blossoms of his hope were often crushed, they emitted a sweet perfume. During the last days of his life he seemed to live in the visions of the future. At one time, when he was apparently unconscious, his granddaughter put her hand upon his head, when he exclaimed, with a groan, "Oh, why did you call me back? I thought I was in heaven!" He died as the righteous die. His path was the path of the righteous, growing brighter to the perfect day. Surely we can say of him, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, and their works do follow them." (pages 89-113 not yet fully transcribed) HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. 113
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His mother, Mary Gillett, a daughter of Captain Zaccheus GilIett, and sister of Rev. Alexander Gillett, the first settled minister in Wolcott (then called Farmingbury), was a woman of superior intelligence and many virtues. Josiah Atkins was the youngest son of Joseph Atkins, one of the early find honored settlers in Wolcott, a man foremost in every good word and work, during a residence of many years. During the years 1798 and 1799, a war with France seeming probable, an army was raised by the United States government, into which the subject of our sketch, at the age of seventeen years, enlisted. The regiment to which he belonged was encamped in or near New Haven, Connecticut. The war-cloud having passed away the forces were disbanded, and our young soldier sought employment in the west. In 1801 and 1802 he worked at road-making on the "Genesee turnpike," in central New York. In October, 1809, he joined a party of emigrants from Connecticut, bound for the then land of promise, "New Connecticut." They arrived in Morgan, Ashtabula County, in November, 1802. Two settlers (with their families) had preceded them by a few months, viz., Timothy R. Hawley, a surveyor, and agent for the proprietors of the town, and Captain John Wright. Mr. Atkins selected a farm in the east part of the town, but during the first year worked chiefly for others, chopping and clearing lands, making roads, etc. On the 22d of February, 1804, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Wright, the youngest daughter of Captain John Wright, above named. During a considerable part of the year 1805 lie was engaged in carrying the United States mail between Cleveland and Detroit, his usual route being from Cleveland to Sandusky. This difficult and dangerous service was performed on foot through the wilderness, carrying the mail, a gun and axe. It required great courage and perseverance; but he was a man who never objected to any necessary service or duty, no matter what its hardships or privations. In the spring of 1806, Rev. Joseph Badger, then a missionary to the northwestern Indians, engaged Mr. and Mrs. Atkins as assistants at the missionary station at Sandusky. Having built a boat on Grand river in Austinburg, and loaded it with supplies for the mission, the party, consisting of Rev. Mr. Badger, Mr. and Mrs. Atkins: and their little daughter, Emily (afterwards Mrs. Colonel George Turner, of Geneva, Ohio), descended the river to its mouth, where they were joined by a party of Indians, who, with their families, in canoes, accompanied the missionary party along the southern shore of Lake Erie to Sandusky. Here they remained about one and a half years, when repeated attacks of ague and fever forced them to abandon the mission and return to Morgan. During 1808 he was again 114 HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO. engaged in carrying the mails on foot, in a more rapid manner than before, called the "express mail." His route was between Cleveland and Vermilion river. In June, 1811, the county of Ashtabula was organized, and Mr. Atkins was appointed its sheriff, serving until July, 1813, when he resigned to enter the United States service, as a lieutenant in the northwestern army under General W. H. Harrison. Previous to this service, however, in the fall of 1812, while sheriff, he, with other prominent citizens exempt from military services by age or official duties, viz., Colonel Eliphalet Austin, Major Levi Gaylord, Captain Roger Nettleton, Matthew Hubbard, Esq., Samuel Hendry, Esq., and many others, spent some time as mounted volunteers in scouting the country about Sandusky bay and Huron river, then threatened with invasion by the British forces and their Indian allies. Their effective service, it was believed, prevented an attack upon Camp Avery, an unfinished and therefore weak stockade upon Huron river. Upon the reduction of the army to a peace establishment, in 1815, Lieutenant Atkins received an honorable discharge from the service, and returned to his farm in Morgan. At the first general election after the close of the war (October, 1815), Mr. Atkins was again elected sheriff, and removed his family to Jefferson, where he continued to reside for the ensuing twenty-three years, save a brief sojourn on the lake-shore, in Geneva, about the year 1830. Having served as sheriff the legal limit of four years, he was appointed, in the winter of 1819-20, to the then new office of county auditor, and served in that capacity until March, 1822. At the next session of the Ohio legislature (1823-24) he was appointed to superintend the building of a turnpike-road through the "Maumee Swamp," so called, and to survey and sell the lands granted by congress to the State of Ohio, for the purpose of building said road. He was engaged in the duties of that appointment until the road was completed, occupying about three years. He next turned his attention to the Ohio canal, then being built from Cleveland to Portsmouth. In company with a young man of some previous experience on the Erie canal, New York, a considerable job was undertaken, which proved a much more expensive and difficult work than had been anticipated by engineers or contractors, involving a very heavy loss. To add to the difficulty, his partner, having possessed himself of all the company funds, suddenly decamped to parts unknown. This misfortune and treachery forced Mr. Atkins into hopeless insolvency. He voluntarily placed in the hands of a trustee, for the payment of his liabilities, all the savings of his previous life, and having a large family, was unable in after-years to do much towards retrieving his ill fortune. In 1835 and 1836 he was in the employ of the "Arcole Furnace Company," in Madison, Ohio, and was a careful and efficient agent in its then large business. In the autumn of 1836 he went to Olean, New York, in the employ of a land company, to take charge of a considerable property, comprising most of East Olean, with grist- and saw-mills, pine lands, etc. The reverses of 1837-38 so crippled the company that it was forced to sell the property, and early in 1839, Mr. Atkins removed to the farm of Edward Wade, in Brooklyn, near Ohio city, now Cleveland. At this place he resided most of the time until 1854. While residing there he was appointed an associate judge of the court of common pleas of Cuyahoga county, and held the office until, by a change in the constitution, that court was abolished. In February, 1853, his amiable and much-respected wife, Mrs. Sarah Wright Atkins, died at their home in Brooklyn, they having lived together in the marital relation forty-nine years. Subsequently he resided for a time with his son, Captain A. R. Atkins, in Chicago and Racine, but usually had a home with his daughters, Mrs. H. R. Gaylord, in Geneva, and Mrs. P. Judson, in Brooklyn. He died at "Barber Cottage," Brooklyn, then the home of Mr. Judson, January 23, 1859, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. During a large part of his life Mr. Atkins was an active and efficient promoter of religious observances, and during all his later years was an earnest and unwearied laborer for the abolition of slavery. At first he held aloof on the ground of its impracticability; but the tendency of pro-slavery opinion to enforce its views with stale eggs and other objectionable arguments soon brought him to the side of the party weak in numbers, but using only reasonable arguments. He was a sturdy believer in free speech, and held mobs in utter abhorrence. Between the years 1841 and 1853, Mr. Atkins devoted much time and means in aid of the anti-slavery movement in northern Ohio and western New York. His earnest and able addresses doubtless assisted in awakening the public mind in the localities he visited to the great wrong and injustice of the institution of slavery then darkening the whole country. In a long service as justice of the peace in Jefferson, and later, as a judge of the courts in Cleveland, when party spirit was often bitter and unreasoning, his sterling love of justice and his dealing was ever apparent. And although his friendships and aversions were strong, he never permitted them to affect his legal administration of justice. Through a long life his bodily and mental powers were vigorous, and whatever he undertook to do, whether chopping and clearing lands, splitting rails (in his younger days he was a famous "chopper and rail-splitter"), making roads, carrying mails on, foot through the wilderness, or arresting desperate criminals as sheriff, all was thoroughly well done. In his later years Mr. Atkins often wrote for the press; his contributions of most general interest probably being "Recollections of Pioneer Life in Northeastern Ohio," "Road-Making in Central New York at the Beginning of the Present Century," "A Trip through Iowa in its Early Days," and "Recollections of Military Service about Huron River and Sandusky Bay in the War of 1811-15." Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Atkins, ten (one son and nine daughters) lived to maturity. The son, Captain Arthur R. Atkins, is married and resides in Chicago. Five of the daughters are still living, in 1878, vie., Mrs. Stella M. Gaylord, in Saginaw, Michigan; Mrs. Ophelia Bostwick, in Oberlin, Ohio; Mrs. Mary Lynch, in Santa Barbara, California; Mrs. Martha Todd, in Tabor, Iowa; and Mrs. Bertha Judson, in Cleveland, Ohio. Helen Atkins died in Brooklyn, Ohio, in 1839; Mrs. Emily Turner, in Geneva, in 1841; Mrs. Flora Wheeler, in Portville, New York, in 1850; and Mrs. Sarah L. Wade, in Brooklyn, Ohio, in 1852. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Atkins are numerous, intelligent, and actively engaged in various pursuits in life. They reside in the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, California, and Texas. They comprise clergymen, lawyers, college professors and teachers, railroad-builders and managers, manufacturers, mill-owners and lumbermen, ship-builders, ship-owners, and ship-captains, who have sailed on all our lakes and on every ocean and nearly every sea on the globe One of the latter, Matthew Turner, a native of Geneva, Ohio, while engaged in commerce between San Francisco and the Amoor river, in Siberia, in the year 1863, was the first to discover and open to the traffic of the world the Pacific cod-fisheries, in the Gulf of Tartary and on the coast of Kamschatka and subsequently about the Aleutian islands.
HON. ELIPHALET AUSTIN.
HIS TITLE OF COLONEL. He was colonel of an independent or uniform regiment, was one of the Torringford land company, and in his own name, and in that of the Connecticut land company, had some twenty thousand acres. He came to Austinburg in 1799, returned in 1800, and in 1801 moved his family to Ohio. The account of his journey and first settling has already been given. Judge Austin's business capacity was remarkable. He had a large amount of lands of his own in Summit and Medina counties, also in Morgan and Austinburg, Ashtabula County, and in Madison and Perry, Lake county. He owned lots in Cleveland and in Euclid, and at one time he had the title to over three hundred acres in the spot where Cleveland now stands; he was also agent for a large amount of land for others. This land he bought at a very small price, as it was on the first apportionment. It was never complained of him that he had taken advantage of any one. His desire was to encourage settlement, and no doubt it was largely owing to his hospitality and his business capacity that Ashtabula County became settled at so early a date. His house served to be the centre of the whole region. It was a block-house, built on the summit of the hill, bullet-proof. Aaron Austin, his son, was early engaged in cutting roads through the forest, and it is said that nearly all the roads of those days centred at his house. Some of these roads still remain. He had much to do with the laying out of the first roads of the country.(pages 115-129 not yet transcribed) |