USA > Connecticut > Incidents of pioneer life in the early settlement of the Connecticut Western Reserve > Part 8
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fish or hunt with hope of success. While they still trusted in Providence, they foresaw no token of relief. The dark cloud of utter despair was fast settling down upon them, when two brave young men of their number, James and William Harper, announced themselves ready and willing to hazard their lives in the attempt to secure re- lief.
These heroic young men then equipped then- selves as best they could, penetrated the gloom of the dense forest on foot, in the direction of Elk creek, Pa., where after several days of severe struggle they arrived in safety, and suc- ceeded in obtaining two sacks of corn, which they carried back to Harpersfield on their shoul- ders, reaching there just in time to save the lives of their famishing friends. The joy and gratitude which were expressed by the sufferers on the, timely receipt of this relief may be imag- ined, but cannot be described.
The supply of corn, thus procured, was entire- ly inadequate to sustain twenty persons for any considerable time. Hence these resolute young men repeated their visit to Elk creek, several times during the winter for the purpose of pro. curing additional supplies. On one of these trips a young friend accompanied them, and while re- turning homeward, on the ice of the Like coast, William Harper, with a bag of corn on his
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shoulder, broke through the ice, and was precip- itated with his bag into the water. He saved himself from drowning by scrambling upon a piece of floating ice, while his bag was left to float on the water. " What shall we do about the bag ?" cried William, as he swam amid the ice fragments. Let it go, replied his brother James. "No," said the daring William, "I will recover the bag and myself, too, if you and our friend will go ashore and kindle a fire."
On receiving this assurance, James and his friend, nearly overcome with the cold, were but too glad to retire to the woodland on shore, and kin- dle a fire. In the meantime, William succeeded in recovering the bag and himself from peril, and in safely reaching the shore, where he expected to find a cheerful fire awaiting him, by which he could warm his chilled limbs and dry his wet clothing which had frozen stiffly upon him ; but, to his surprise, found his companions so be- numbed with the cold and so much inclined to fall asleep, that they had not been able to kindle a fire. He instantly seized and shook them both into a wakeful mood, struck with flint and steel a fire, around whose cheering blaze they all gathered and resuscitated themselves. The two who were so benumbed with the cold, on coming to the fire and getting warm, became suddenly ill. Wil- liam, an adept at almost anything, prescribed for
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them prompt remedies which had the desired effect, when the party resumed their journey, and in the course of a few days arrived at the Harpersfield settlement with their bags of corn. It is needless to say that they were received by their friends with a hearty welcome, and that their hazardous adventure on the ice became the gen- eral topic of interest. The story of this heroic adventure has often been repeated as one of the proudest historical events connected with the early settlement of Harpersfield. It proves the fact that the moral hero often excels in courage the military chieftain.
The whole number of souls known to have settled at different points in the Western Re- serve, at this early date, was less than one hun - dred and fifty. In this number are included the three families located at Harpersfield, ten families at Youngstown, three at Cleveland, two at Men- tor, three at Burton, and one at Hudson. It is quite probable that two or three families had settled at Conneaut ..
The town of Hudson derives its name from one of its original proprietors, Deacon Hudson, who was the first white man that settled there with his family, and to whom reference has already been made in these pages. As the town grew, he grew to be the great man, and was clothed, if not "in purple and fine linen," with political,
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judicial and ecclesiastical power, holding the office of Postmaster, Justice of the Peace, Asso- ciate Judge of the Quarter Sessions, and Deacon of the Church. He will long be remembered, not only as a man of ability and the strictest in- tegrity, but as a Christian. of the "strictest sect."
It is understood that the first church organiza- tion which took place in the Western Reserve, was effected by Rev. Joseph Badger, the mis- sionary, at Austinburgh, in 1801. It consisted at that time of but sixteen persons. In the course of a few years it came to be known as the "mother church" of the Western Reserve. It was a church "without a bishop," but not with- out a history. The town in which it was located took its name from the original proprietor, Eliphalet Austin, who emigrated from Connecti- cut and settled here with his family in 1799. . He was regarded not only as the patriarch of the town, but as the main "pillar of the church." Though possessed of no more than a common school education, he became conspicuous for his shrewdness, tact and good judgment. In conse- quence of this he was selected by the Governor and appointed one of the Judges of the County Court. He took a deep interest in promoting the success of the church, and in extending its influence by gathering within its "pale," as
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many of those whose footsteps had led them astray as possible. In order to do this, a scheme of "revival"' was projected and put into opera- tion. This effort to recruit the church soon created an uncontrollable degree of religious ex- citement, which, like a whirlwind, swept over the land far and near, until it exhausted itself.
The phenomena which attended this religious excitement were generally accepted as miraculous. Its subjects consisted of both men and women, who were seized, in the first instance, by a variety of symptoms, resulting in agonies of spirit and contortions of body, which could not be con- trolled by the will or by imposing physical restraint. Though men and women were affected much in the same way, yet nearly all the women, when seized by these mysterious spasms, sprang to their feet, whirled on their toes with extended arms and disheveled hair, until exhausted, then ยท fell to the floor, and were seemingly lost in a trance; while the men enacted all sorts of strange antics, some of whom were seized with a violent jerking of the head, neck and limbs, and others crept and howled like wolves of the forest, or rather "wolves in sheep's clothing." Some danced like David before the "ark of the cove- nant," while others leaped over chairs and benches in rapid flight, thus endeavoring to escape from the "evil one," who as they fancied
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was following them in "hot pursuit." Some knelt and prayed in a "loud voice," as if they thought God had turned a "deaf ear," while infidels scoffed, and indulged in severity of criti- cism and half-suppressed laughter.
Yet, strange as it may seem, these enthusiastic demonstrations were accepted by the multitude as evidence of genuine conversion, and as the work of the "holy spirit" moving in a "mysterious way." The few who did not sympathize with the movement were denounced as rebels, " fight- ing against God." Whatever may have been the estimate made of the matter at that time, there are but few who would, in this age, accept it as a " Divine work," though some beneficial results may have grown out of it.
It did have the effect, however, to recruit the church by adding to it some thirty or forty new members, who had been gathered from Aus- tinburgh and the neighboring towns of Morgan and Harpersfield. From this time forward, this primitive church continued to grow in numbers as well as in "grace," and finally came to be widely known as the "mother church " of the Western Reserve. Its influence, both in a spiritual and material point of view, was felt and acknowl- edged generally, and hence membership was often sought as a stepping-stone, not only to re- spectability, but to wealth and official distinc-
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tion. Of course, the church became a "power in the land," and candidates for admission nu- merous. When doubts arose, whether pertain- ing to church or state, they were referred to Judge Austin for solution. Nobody presumed to question his "infallibility." On one occa- sion a notorious and degraded shipwreck of a man, applied to the ecclesiastical authorities for admission to fellowship in this church. His profession of faith was unequivocal, and appar- ently sincere, but in the odor of his life there was no "savory smell" of frankincense. His case was referred to Judge Austin for a decision. He called very soon on the Judge to ascertain his decision, when the Judge, with seeming regret, but in a very gracious manner, informed him that there was no "vacancy " in the church at present, and consequently his application must be deferred until a more "convenient season."
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CHAPTER XVI.
Woodmen of Geneva-Morse's Slough-Bread Cast on the Waters -Comic Sequel-A Hunter attacked by Wolves-Attempt of two Women to shoot a Bear-The Deer-hunter of Conneaut drifted in a Canoe across the Lake-His Expe- riences and safe Return.
THE township of Geneva remained an un- broken wilderness until the year 1809. It is located on the Lake Shore, in the county of Ash- tabula. The first axemen, who were employed to fell the trees and clear off a portion of its terri- tory, commenced their labors in the northeast corner of the township, through which runs a sluggish creek, still known as "Morse's Slough." They gave it this name because one of their num- ber, whose name was Morse, while attempting to cross the stream in winter with a bag of bread, strapped to his shoulders, broke through the ice and sank in the mud so deep as to be unable to extricate himself. Two or three of his com- panions, who happened to be following his
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track at a little distance, discovered the mishap, and, hastening to his relief, soon rescued him from his perilous situation. They were but too glad to rescue him, and especially the bread. It was on this bread and the wild game they could shoot, that the party depended for their daily allowance of food, while encamped in the lone forest. Morse, when lifted from the mire, was not only a pitiful, but a comical figure to behold. He was so chilled and suffocated with mud as to require prompt efforts, on the part of his companions, to save him from a distressing death. His companions, however, soon detached the bag from his shoulders, scraped the mud from his person, kindled a fire, placed him be- fore it, administered from a pocket flask a liberal potation of whisky, and thus succeeded in re- storing him to a comfortable condition of body and a much happier frame of mind.
They then passed around the pocket flask, and began to rally Morse by administering gratuitous advice and jocose remarks. "Morse," said one of his companions, "I hope you will never attempt to cross that creek again when you are strapped, if you would avoid being drowned." Morse replied, "I supposed I could walk over safely with the staff of life to sustain me;" pointing to his bag of bread. "But you see," said another, "that in casting your bread
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upon the waters, you found it the same day, instead of waiting many days." "Yes," re- torted Morse, "but I find that man cannot live by bread alone," putting the pocket flask to his lips and exhausting its remaining contents.
Here these facetious theologians of the solitary wilderness closed their colloquy. Morse re- turned to his home in the settlement, to repair his dilapidated condition and recruit himself, while his companions proceeded to the scene of their labors in the forest. The treacherous creek in which Morse was so unceremoniously bap- tized with his bag of bread, will long continue, doubtless, to be known as "Morse's Slough."
Not long after this accident happened at the creek, a young man by the name of Elijah Thompson, while hunting game in the forests of Geneva township, armed with a rifle and accom- panied by his favorite dog, encountered near nightfall a pack of seven hungry wolves. The wolves were evidently in a famishing condition, and disposed to satiate their ravenous appetites. The dog first saw them as they were approaching his master and attacked them in a resolute man- ner, but was soon sadly bitten and compelled to retreat, when his master fired into the pack, wounding several, while the others rushed on him in the most threatening manner. He then commenced beating them right and left with his
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rifle, and, after a severe conflict of some minutes, succeeded in dispersing his assailants, who re- treated howling with broken legs and cracked skulls, leaving him "alone in his glory," with nothing left as the "spoils of victory" but the shattered remains of his rifle and his faithful dog bleeding and crouching at his feet. He con- gratulated himself, however, on his escape, and clasping his disabled dog under one arm, and bearing the remains of his rifle on the other, he reached home late in the night, feeling thankful for his timely deliverance; and doubtless the wolves felt equally thankful that they had escaped without losing their scalps.
Geneva became famous in early times for her heroic men and women. The wives of Morgan and Murrain, who occupied the same cabin, of a dark night, during the absence of their husbands from home, heard an unusual disturbance among the inmates of a pig-sty, located near the cabin, and, springing out of bed to make an explora- tion, discovered a huge bear helping himself to a young pig in an unceremonious way. They first attempted to frighten away his bearship by loud screams and hurling fire-brands at him, but soon found that this mode of warfare made no impres- sion on the insolence of the merciless and blood - thirsty brute. They then resolved to try what virtue there might be in the use of firearms, and
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hastening to the cabin seized an old unloaded musket, which belonged to one of their husbands, and which took a heavy charge in order to load it, as they had heard their husbands say. One of the women poured into the tube a quantity of powder, and adding a bullet thrust it down with the ramrod, primed the gun, and then both sal- lied. out into the midnight darkness, one with the gun, and the other with a torchlight, to shoot the bear, who in the meantime had made rapid progress in slaughtering the helpless litter of inoffensive pigs. The woman who held the gun, on arriving at the pig-sty, leveled the deadly weapon at the enemy and fired. The report was fearful. The gun by its recoil prostrated the woman instead of the bear, who deliberately betook himself to the woodlands, keeping "step to the music" of a pig in his mouth, still alive and squealing in hopeless agonies.
In the fall of the year 1817, a celebrated deer hunter by the name of Sweetland, who resided at Conneant, while engaged one bright sunny morning in his favorite sport, startled a fine buck from his retreat in the woodlands, and pursued him with his hounds in such "hot haste" that his buckship was compelled, when he reached the mouth of the creek and found himself cor- nered, to plunge into the Lake and swim from shore with all his agility, in order to escape from the hounds.
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When Sweetland arrived at the bank of the Lake, he saw the deer swimming in the distance away from shore, and in the excitement of the moment threw off his hat and coat on the beach, and leaped into a log canoe, with but a single pad- dle, and rowed with all his might in pursuit of the fugitive. The wind was blowing strongly from the south, favoring the speed of both the pursuer and pursued, in a northerly direction across the Lake.
The chase became more and more exciting as the canoe gained on the deer, and when it reached him, Sweetland lifted his paddle to strike the heroic swimmer on the head, but the canoe being under swift sail, passed the game before he could deal the intended blow. His buckship, as the canoe shot ahead of him, con- cluded not to follow in the wake of a companion- ship that had made such a threatening demonstration, and suddenly reversed his direc- tion, and swam directly back to shore. Sweet- land attempted to change his tactics, but, in despite of all his efforts, the adverse winds drifted his frail bark still further into the broad- ening expanse of the Lake. In looking back he saw the crafty old buck reach the shore in safety and disappear in his native forest home. He also beheld on the distant bluff, near where the buck landed, his own dear home, a log-cabin, in which
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he knew his wife and children were anxiously awaiting his return ; and still gazing, saw it fade out of sight in the dim distance. He now felt that he : was, indeed, a "child of destiny," abandoned to the mercy of the winds and waves, and drifting onward and away from all that was dearest to him on earth, whether to an unknown shore or a watery grave, he knew not; and, as he thought of his wife and children, whom he could hardly expect to see again, a tear suffused his eye.
Yet Sweetland was a brave man. He compre- hended his perilous situation, dashed the tear from his eye, headed his canoe in the direction of the wind and indulged in the " forlorn hope " that he might safely cross the Lake and reach the Canada shore. Forlorn as his hope seemed, he still had faith in himself and in a merciful Prov- idence. In the meantime several of his friends, whom he had left behind him at the mouth of the creek, and who had been watching him in his wild adventure, saw that he had disappeared amid the mountain billows in the perilous dis- tance, and, becoming alarmed, manned a boat and sailed in search of him ; but, after cruising about for several hours in the region of the Lake where he disappeared from view, the darkness of night overtook them and compelled them to re- turn, despairing of ever seeing him again.
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And still the brave hunter went drifting before the wind into the darkness of midnight, with in- creasing speed, standing erect in his canoe, hat- less, and with his hair streaming behind him, like a spirit walking the troubled deep. He was obliged to take a central posture in order to preserve an equilibrium, as he sped on in his craft, which was fearfully dancing like a cork over the crest of the maddened billows. In this way and with intense anxiety, he sped on and on, for thirty-six hours, when he reached Long Point, and landed safely on the Canadian shore. Here he found himself alone on a desolate coast, inany miles away from any human habitation, famishing with hunger and nearly exhausted with fatigue. He felt an irresistible inclination
to fall asleep. He hauled his canoe on shore, ad- justed himself in his "cradle of the deep " and was soon lost in a profound slumber. When he awoke the cravings of hunger reminded him of his need of food. He made diligent search in the vicinity, but could find nothing edible. The sun was now fast declining in the west, when he resolved to traverse the beach of the Lake in further search of food, hoping to find clams or a stranded fish ; but it so happened that he found what was still better, several boxes of stranded goods, which had evidently been swept overboard from some vessel caught in a severe storm. On
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opening one of the smaller boxes, he was de- lighted to discover amid its contents a quantity of smoked ham and sea biscuit-a feast ready spread, of which he partook with a zest and a lib- erality which surprised himself.
Feeling replenished and reassured in his faith, he now continued his wanderings, as night ap- proached, with the hope of finding some human habitation where he could procure lodging and assistance in securing the means of a speedy return to his own dear home on the other side of the Lake. He had not traveled far, when he discovered a light in the distance, and pursuing its direction, soon reached a fisherman's hut, where he was received with a hearty welcome and the kindest treatment. In the course of a few days he recovered his usual health and spirits, and resolved himself into a "committee of one" to devise the "ways and means" of returning home. In company with his new friend, the fisherman, he secured the stranded boxes of goods which he had found on the shore, and on opening them discovered that, though somewhat damaged, they were still valuable, and consisted mainly of broadcloths. No clue or mark remained by which the true owner could be traced. They were in fact "waifs of the deep,"' and as he was advised, they legally belonged to him by "right of discovery." He
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managed to have them shipped to Buffalo together with himself, where he sold them and pocketed the proceeds.
He now felt that his "pocket" had been as marvelously replenished as his "inner man" on a former occasion. He then clad his "outer man" in a new suit of clothes, assumed the style of a gentleman, as he was, stepped on board the "Salem packet"' bound for Conneaut, and when the packet arrived in sight of Sweetland's log cabin home on the bluff, the commander, Capt. Ward, ordered a salute of three guns to be fired from the deck, which was followed by three loud cheers from the crew. The "region roundabout"' awoke, and re-echoed expressions of congratulation. The joy was great. The "lost hunter" was found.
No sooner had Sweetland landed than he sought his cabin home. When he entered, his wife was overcome with astonishment, and be- lieved him an apparition, but soon became convinced that he was a reality. Both wife and children clung to his neck with expressions of joy and affection, which are indescribable. A. thousand questions were asked and answered in the shortest possible time. "Everybody as well as myself," said his wife, addressing her hus- band, " thought you had been lost on the Lake, never more to return. Believing this, I clad
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myself in the habiliments of woe, and at church, no longer ago than last Sunday, heard your funeral sermon preached." "What did the preacher say of me," asked her inquisitive husband. "He gave you an excellent charac- ter," she replied, "and assured me that my
loss was your gain." "There is no truth in the loss," rejoined he, "but there is truth in the gain, as you see ; I have gained an excellent character, a new suit of clothes, a replenished pocket, and the dear I pursued in my younger days." The osculation which followed this last allusion must be left to the imagination, and accepted as the closing scene of the "drama."
CHAPTER XVII.
Chardon-Burton-First Settlers -- Their Trials and Hardships -- Acting as their own Doctors and Mechanics-The Hurri- cane-John Miner and his Children-Early Judicial Pro- ceedings in Geauga County-Judge Pease pronounces sentence on Robert Meeker.
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THE birth of Geauga county occurred in 1805. She is the oldest daughter of Trumbull county, and is indebted for her name to the Indian lan- guage, in which the word "Geauga " signifies "raccoon "-an animal which abounded within her domains in primitive times, when coon-skins, deer-skins and bear-skins, constituted the princi- pal articles of traffic.
Chardon was selected as the county seat. It is a pleasant rural town, " set upon a hill," and so far as regards health of locality and character of population, is not excelled. The first settle- ment which was made in the county, however, was made at Burton, in 1798, and consisted of
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three families, who emigrated from Connecticut. It is difficult to account for the fact, that these families selected a home so far away from any other settlement, as the locality of Burton then was, unless tempted by its swelling hills and the intervening steamlets of living water. In the course of the next year or two, several other families followed these first adventurers, and set- tled at the same place. Burton, though regarded as the "lone star, " soon became the center of attraction in that region of the forest land. It was sown with "good seed," and has pro- duced a goodly number of distinguished men. In fact, there is hardly anything which Geauga county cannot produce. The Indians said it produced "coons." The early pioneers said its high lands produced "tornadoes." Modern geologists say it produces not only mangenese, iron ore, limestone and yellow ochre, but has produced "elephants." This last fact has been proved by the bones of a native elephant, which were recently excavated from an ancient marsh at Montville.
Soon after the Western Reserve lands had been surveyed and put in market, more or less of the purchasers commenced to locate towns and cities at such points as seemed most desirable, and in accordance with their own prospective in- terests. Hence small settlements were com-
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