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Chatham
Sesquicentennial
2
MEMORIAL MONUMENT. CHATHAM CENTRE, MEDINA CO.OHIO. ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF THE SOLDIERS OF CHATHAM TP. WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES TO THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY, DURING THE REBELLION.
1818 - 1968
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 06797 3237
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Prologue to the Future
#30 10.00
On this 150th anniversary of the birth of our town, we hope to bring you closer to those couragous pioneers who carved their homes from the wilderness.
Our reenactments and reacreations can never truly envision for you the hardships these people endured.
In a world full of stress, war, crime, and poverty, the perserverance of these first settlers in making their dreams of a better home and life a reality, should inspire us in this age, to make the same giant steps forward they did.
Our sesquicentennial committees hope to take you back to those days for a glance in- to a past that has brought us many things we take for granted today.
Alfred C. Taylor
Chairman of Chatham Sesqui.
1968
Sesquicentennial Officers
Chairman ..... Alfred C. Taylor Vice Chairman ..... Alvin Clapp Secretary. Phyllis Siman Treasurer Phyllis Grim
HISTORY OF CHATHAM TOWNSHIP
Chatham township was a pilgrim colony. The de- sire for freedom and civilization, which landed with the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth Rock and spread over New England, passed into the broad and vast domain west of the Alleghany. Many of the first settlers of Chatham Township, trace their ancestry back to families which came over on the Mayflower and like their forefathers, these set- tlers found their lot in many respects, similar to that of their Pilgrim ancestors.
Chatham Township was set apart under the Connecticut Land Survey, and was a part of the Connecticut Western Reserve, formed 1786. The northren part known as the Wadsworth tract and the south half the Hinckley Tract.
The first settlement, on land which now be- longs to Chatham Township, was made by Moses Par- sons in the year 1818. He bought a tract of sev- eral hundred acres of land located about three miles north of Harrisville Center. (Now, 150 years later, the spot is located on the east side of the east branch of Black River on the Leonard Lance farm.)
In the month of February, 1818, Mr. Parsons started with his wife and four children; three sons and one daughter,, from his home near the town of Muddlesex, now Yates, Ontario County- New York. They came with two yoke of oxen and one span of horse bringing their scanty supply of household furniture, necessary provisions and a small lot of farming implements and tools. They came by sled during the winter months when the ground was covered with snow. It took them seven weeks from New York state through northren Penn- sylvania and through northeastern Ohio. They arrived at the Harrisville settlement in the mid- dle of April. Mrs. Parsons (Elizabeth Croft) and two children stayed with the family of Mr. Bisby in Harrisville while Mr. Parsons started with two of his boys, and their belongings, to the tract of land he had bought, to make a clear- ance and erect a place of habitation.
They ascended the bluff on the east side of the east Branch of Black River, and cut their way through the woods, northward to their destination. They selected a spot on which they placed their stake for a new home. A clearing was commenced, trees chopped down, logs rolled together and the building of a little log cabin was under progress. Within four weeks the primitive structure was com- plete. The logs had been put together in a quad- rangular shape and the crevices patched with sticks and mud; Heavy sticks and branches had been put overhead, an opening in one side, over hung by a blanket which served as a door. After this was complete, Mr. Parsons and the boy cut a winding roadway through the woods to the Harrisville set- tlement. He brought his family and all their pocessions to their new home. They cleared small patches of land and by late fall were able to harvest a small crop of grain and potatoes. i For several years they lived here alone, almost en- tirely isolated, in their habitation. Harrisville people were their nearest neighbors and they got their supplies from them. Packs of wolves and bears roamed the woods and were a terror and ann- oyance to the settler.
A great event occurred in the summer of 1820 when a son was born to the Parsons family. He was named Holden by the family and the father named the settlement Holden, after the first child born in the Colony. It was known by that name until the political organization of the township, on December 5, 1833, when it was called Chatham, after the town near London, in England.
Henry K. Joline, from New York state followed the Parsons family to Chatham in July 1820; married Eleanor H. Parsons, the eldest daughter of Moses and Elizabeth Parson. This was the first marriage in the new settlement. Two of her brothers were DeForest, a minister of the Gospel and Eraster. The young couple built a cabin on a tract of land a little to the northwest, which the young husband had bought.
In the fall of 1820, Nathan Hall, afterward's known as Deacon Hall, moved his family from Conn- ecticut, and settled one and one half miles west
of the Parsons settlement.
By persistant hard work, Mr. Parson and his sons soon had a large share of his farm under cultivation. He had planted an acre or so of ground with young apple trees, which in the course of six or eight years, began to bear fruit. His grain fields grew in size and in a few years he had a considerable patch of growing meadow and fields.
In 182] Amos Ulter, with his family settled on a tract of land about a mile west of Mr. Parsons farm.
A few years later, in the Northwest corner of Chatham township a group of colonists from Virginia settled in an area that was known as "New Columbus". Among them were Phenias and Truman Davis, Isaac Van- eviates, William Nolt and Orrin Parmeter. They formed a colony among themselves on the low lands near Black River and had little or no communication with their neighbors, four miles southeast. Their culture was a "boppy-go-easy" style of the South, very different from the "straight laced" New Englanders. They erected shanties and made no great progress clearing the land. Phenias Davis put up a little "pocket" grist mill, to which he shortly added a small distillery. Most of those people soon left this section and migrated elsewhere leaving no trace today of "New Columbus".
In the meantime another group of people settled in the southwest part of the township. Several families had come from Massachusetts and settled in the neighborhood of the Parsons settlement. Among them were Nebidiat Cass, William Goodwin and Pleasant Qeazle.
By 1826, ten families were permanantly located on the Hinckley tract, which comprised the southern half of the Township. The northern half was under control of the Wadsworth Brothers, of Massachusetts, and was known as the Wadsworth Tract.
In November, 1832, Ebenezer Shaw, with his wife and family of three children, arrived and took poss ession of several hundred acres of land on the
Hinckley Tract, for which he had traded his farm near Cummington, Mass. Mr. Shaw was a class-mate of William Cullen Bryant in the public school of their native Cummington, Mass. Young Shaw was also, like his chum, Willie Bryant, quite a hand at "verse- making", and always fostered a love for poetry. In their early school years, he had become even more distinquisted among his friends for his talent than his friend Bryant. However, Bryant went to Williams College, from there to New York and into the temple of fame; his friend, Ebenezer Shaw, married and settled and cultivated a farm, and joined the pioneer band that transformed the unbroken forest of the West, into bright and glowing fields. In company with Shaw and his family, came Barney Daniel, with his wife and five children and Joll Lynn and his wife and their children, all who came from the town of Plainfield, a short distance from Cummington, in the county of Hampshire, Mass. The three families traveled together by wagon to Iraz, New York and from there took passage on a canal-boat on the Erie Canal to Buffalo, and thence sailed on a little lake craft to Cleveland. Two days later they arrived in Medina having made the journey by wagons from Cleveland. They stayed overnight at a little tavern then serving the public; the next morning they pro- ceeded toward the Harrisville settlement by way of Chippewa Lake and Morse's Corners, reaching Lodi the following afternoon. The next morning they moved into the new settlement. The first thing they did was make a shelter for man and beast. In many instances, the settlers erected a "bush hut", erecting four corner-posts, and with cut poles and and brush covering the top. They would usually serve until a more substantial structure, with enclosed sides and a fireplace, could be erected. Winter was close at hand when these three Mass- achusetts families arrived in the Chatham settle- ment. They experienced severe discomfort in lo- cating on account of the blustery storms of the season.
Ebenezer Shaw located with his family in a log cabin that had been previously erected by Moses Parsons, but, the other two families were not as fortunate.
The following spring, more families from Mass. arrived. John Shaw and wife, with two grown-up daughters came. Also, Randall Dyer, with a family of five children arrived in the settlement. Others who came were Iram, Amonso, William Francis; Josiak, Jonathon and Phillip Packard with their families. Lemual Alli, Gideon Gardner and Daniel Richard were also among the newcomers. They had all come from the Bay States by way of Troy, New York; the Erie Canal to Buffalo, by boat to Cleveland and then by slow stage and wagon into the interior settlement. Every new colonizer was greeted with joy by the older settlers. The new arrival told of news from home and adventure along the way. In turn the settlers gave well-meant advise and substantial aid to the new arrival .
One of the difficulties that beset the pioneers in the new land was that of roadways. Several years after Moses Parsons had settled in the town- ship, by an act of the Legislature, a road was built from north to south, running from Elyria in Lorain County, to Wooster, in Wayne County. The construct- ion of township roads did not begin until the year 1834 by order of the County Commissioners. The first one was West River Road going west from the Elyria-Wooster road, one and one-half miles north of Lodi and leading into the low lands along Black River, which by this time was well settled. Sev- eral years later, there was a center road, passing through the township from east to west.
Another perplexing problem at that time was a medium of exchange, "These were terribly tough times with us," one settler expressed; "we could not get money of any kind. -- could not sell any- thing above our own needs, we took to Elyria, and there sold it for half in trade and half in money, and none of us would scarcely ever return with more than $5.00 or $6.00 in coins. This would sometimes have to do us for a year or more. Ten Bushels of wheat were offered for a single pound of tea.
The early settlers, after wearing out their woolen pantaloons, were obliged to have them
seated and kneed with buckskin, in which they att- ended church. It was almost impossible to raise wool, because of the abundance of wolves, who des- troyed the sheep.
In 1845, another frost had also occured. Crops exposed were completely destroyed, and a severe drought that followed completed the sum of misery. To this was added a swarm of grasshoppers. They attached to buildings, fences and tools with such vigor as to cause considerable damage. Farmers, who usually mowed fifty ton of hay scarcely got one, and the tools used in the fields had to be hid to keep the woodwork from being made too rough to use by this swarm of insects.
Records tell of a later frost that did great damage to many crops. In 1859 a killing frost occured on a Saturday night in June. In the morn- ing the frost left hardly a crop alive. Corn was about eight to ten inches high. Potatoes and all the grain was ruined and people found themselves face to face with near starvation. This situation caused statewide alarm.
In regard to postal arrangements a settler said, "Our letters arrived at the Harrisville Post Office, and were directed 'Township 2, Range 16'. Every letter we received cost us 2 cents, and it went quite hard with us many times to draw our letters for want or need of sufficient funds. Many letters remained in the post office for months, because the owners did not have money enough to pay delivery.
On the fffth of December, 1833, a separate political organization of Chatham Township was effected, forming Township 18, in the succession of organization in Medina County. The first board of Township Trustees elected at the first town election consisted of Nebediah Cass, Iram Packard and Joel Lyon. In the spring of 1835, Orin Shaw was elected the first Justice of the Peace in the township. Orin Shaw and Thomas N. Palmer were opposing candidates. Mr. Shaw had one vote maja- rity. Moses Parsons and Thomas N. Palmer contest- ed that election. A trial of strength of influence
was had a second time, which being illegal was set aside. A new election was ordered. Arin Shaw and Amasa Packard Jr., were the opposing candidates, and Shaw was elected by a majority of two votes.
With the separation into a civil organization, the inhabitants of the colony became inspired with a new life. They were dependent now; the Harris- ville people who had a civil organizaion for more than fifteen years, were apt to look upon their Chatham neighbors in a patronizing way, and consid- ered them merely as a political appendage. During the succeeding years, Chatham has served a prominent place in political history of Medina County.
During the Abolition movement before the Civil War, some of the citizens of this township became noted for their active and decisive support of this cause. The predominate sentiments of the people of Chatham was strongly anti-slavery. Out of an average of about two hundred and fifty votes-one hundred and seventy-five took side with the party that abolished slavery and suppressed rebellion. In this year of 1968 two hundred and forty-three voted at the May Primary.
A few yers after the formation of the township, the families of Luther and Levi Clapp and Alain Thayer moved from the East, settling on the Wads- worth tract, in the northern half of the township. This half, which had not been so early colonized as the southern part. was now rapidly becoming set- tled. It was about the year 1838, after the east and west road had been located and cut through, that several houses, of somewhat more imposing shape than most of the little farm cabins that were scattered over the township, were erected at the center.
Lemual Allis built the first frame house in Chatham in 1834. It was the house north of the cem- etery and was nearly destroyed by fire a few years ago. During the Civil War there was an underground railroad located there. A tunnel was built from the basement to a barn some distance away. Escaped slaves hid there until it was safe to proceed toward Canada. The remains of the tunnel can still be seen in the nearly demolished basement of the house. Clayton
Hartman, Hubert Allis and Ira and Charles Grim are great-grandsons of Lemual and Lydia Beals Allis. Many other descendents are residents of Chatham.
The general interest of the township gradually drifted toward the center. Elections and "town" meetings were held in a log school house that had been put up at the village, it also served the pur- pose of a union meeting-house for the different denominations.
A great event that marked an epoch in the history of the township was the establishment of a country store. This occurred in the fall of 1839. The arrival of goods in Chatham caused great re- joicing among its' inhabitants who had previously done their business at Lodi. Mr. Josiah Packard invested his capital and energy in the enterprise. He started in the summer with two ox teams, for the city of Pittsburg, taking with him a cargo of grain and produce. He returned after several months with a full supply of "store" goods. His neighbors an- xiously awaited his return. A frame structure had been erected at the corner of the Lafayette road, one mile south of the center, and here Mr. Packard opened a regular "country" store. Eli Goode11 also had a small store at the center, and a short time later, an ashery and small grocery was also established there by the firm of Webster and Pack- ard. In 1843 Randall Dyer & Son located a general store at the village. A postoffice was established in 1844. Mr. William Jordan was the first app- ointed Postmaster. The mail route extended from Lodi to the village, Coleb Edson carrying the mail on foot, once a week, between the two points. Later Chatham formed a station on the Wooster and Elyria mail line and had two daily mails.
Jonathan Packard erected the first saw mill in the western part of the township. Haratio Lyons, in 1845, brought in a saw mill from Seville and erected it a short distance southeast of the center on Branch River.
In 1868 Mr. Dan P. Nellows erected a cheese- factory, the largest of it's kind in Medina County. This was located east of Chatham on what is now the
the Ira Grim farm. In 1873 Chatham produced 401,615 pounds of cheese. It used the milk from twelve to fifteen hundred cows.
Located in the village was a harness shop, tin shop and two shoe repairing places. Miss Permelia Ripley conducted a millenery shop and Kiegan's tailor shop provided the gentlemen with made-to-order suits. There was a blacksmith shop and a hotel once occupied the southwest corner of the square. This was dest- royed by fire sometime later; however, a wing of the building is now a dwelling house on the Arters farm, north of Chatham. Francis Packard kept a stock of drugs in the building that once housed the Chatham Telephone Co. and is now used for storage. The house occupied by the Kenneth Welsh family, east of the gas station was at one time a church and later Wales Dyer carried on a dry goods and general store there. Later it was taken over by Joe Bricker, who specialized in hardware, farm supplies and groceries, and many years later a barber shop. The Packard store was sold to Wales Dyer who continued there until his death when it was carried on by his grandson, Blake Morrell, until 1930 when Frank Swartz bought the business. Five years later he sold it to Stanley Long who now has Chatham's only general store.
The people of Chatham Township have stood out prominently among their neighbors for their patriotic zeal and interest in national affairs. Many of its sons joined the ranks of the Union Army, and bled and died for their country. A grand recognition by the people of the township stands as the "Soldier's Monument", that was erected in the public square of Chatham Village. The Chatham Monumental Association was formed in the fall of 1865 at the Congregational Church in the village. Luther Clapp was chosen Pres- ident; Edward Talbott, Treasurer; A.W. Richards, Sec- retary. The Board of Directors were Jonathan Packard, J.C. Vance, J.M. Black, Thomas S. Shaw, S.C. Ripley, N.R. Mantz, D. Palmer, Luther Clapp and S.H. McConnell. Subscription books were opened and voluntary aid solicited. The people gave with open hands and free hearts. Before winter had passed away, nearly $1,600. had been accumulated. A committee consisting of Luther Clapp, Jonathan Packard, S.C. Ripley, Edward
Talbott and A.W. Richards was elected to purchase a monument and select a site on which it should be erected. A contract was entered with a Cleveland firm, and by June 20, it stood completed on its present site in the center of the village. Dedicatory services were held the fourth of July, 1866. People came from all directions to attend the celebration. The ser - vices opened with an invocation by the Rev. William Moody. The martial band played and the Chatham Glee Club same. The following is a song written for the dedication by Caroline Clapp Beach, a poet of renown, grandmother of Lillian Beach Williams and aunt of Dorothy Arters.
"FAREWELL TO WAR !!
To wars and camps we bid farewell And hope with you at home to dwell, Since we have made the rebels run And fairly now the victory won.
Rebellion long did hold its sway But now we hope it crushed will stay, At least we hope 'twill keep away From our beloved U.S.A.
For when we came from war and stripe To lead with you a peaciful life, You gave us welcome with good wills Instead of a small box of pills.
And then prompt action you did take For us a monument to make, And so of you our praise shall sound, Wherever monuments are found.
Col. Allan W. Richards read the "Declaration of Independence and Rev. G.S. Davis delivered an oration. A grand "Month of July" dinner was eaten by all. The dedication proper, of the monument, then com- menced. Dedicatory prayer by Rev. DeForrest Parsons was given. Rev. Parsons was son of Moses Parsons, the first settler family in Chatham. The Honerable Har- rison G. Blake, Ohio Senator whose home was in Medina, gave the oration. It was a special day, and will cling to the memory of the people of Chatham as long as the shapely mass of stone that commemorates the
noble deed of her sons stands in its midst. The monument stands upon an octagon-shaped mound; its foundation is solid Berea stone, the sub-base is a marble block four feet square and three feet high. Upon this stand the marble shaft, which is surmounted by the American eagle, cut out of Parian marble. On the four sides of the shaft the names of the soldiers who enlisted in Chatham Township are engraved, with the date of enlistment and their commands. A. Main Jr, one of the soldiers who enlisted, planted a lilac bush by his home. It was to be a living memorial to his memory in case he never came back. Sad to relate, he was one of those who never returned. He died at Johnson's Island, April 4, 1865. The lilac bush still grows where he planted it at the Charles Herr residence on County Road 50.
The church history of Chatham Township be- gins with records of its first settlement. The Parsons family were devout Methodists. In 1832 the Methodist Church was organized. First circuit riders were secured and services were held in cabins or barns until a regular church building was constructed, in the village, in 1850. The first Congregational Church was organized in 1835 and the Dunkard Society of the Brethren in 1845. In the 1930's the Four Square Gospel Church, north of the village, was or- ganized. In 1966 the United Church of Christ Con- gregational and the Methodist Church united in one common parish with a shared minister. This is a part of an ecumunical movement that may someday join all denominations.
The Chatham township Sunday School Association was organized September 10, 1897. A canvas was made of the township by school districts and an associ - ation was formed with representatives from the Bre- thren, Congregational and Methodist Churches. This group has continued to meet each fall at a religious festival at one of the three churches.
A township bible school we started about 1933, meeting first at the school house and then later ro- tating between the churches. The average attendance over the years has been around one hundred.
The history of Chatham Schools begin with the
founding of the Western Reserve in 1786, when it was stipulated that certain land was to be set aside for educational purposes. By an act of Congress in 1803 it was established that 1/36 of the land should be used for schools. It was from the sale of these lands that the early schools were financed. True to the tradition of those settling the West- . ern Reserve, their first thought was to establish churches and schools.
The first schools were in cabin homes. Mrs. George Cook, of Litchfield Township, in 1827, had a private school. Several years later Vesta Rich- ards conducted a school of 14 pupils. It was a labor of love with little or no pay. Mrs. Lucinda Clapp in 1836 had a subscription school held in her home. She furnished room, fuel and labor and re- ceived $2.00 a week, for 26 pupils. She was E.T. Clapp's grandmother.
The first school house was built about 1833 at Geisinger's Corners. Text books were very scarce. They used the bible, old spelling books and old English readers. They had no paper, only bark shingles and slate. About 1838 a cluster of houses formed the village of Chatham. A log school house was built, which served for school and church. The first school in the center stood where the Pitz home now is. It burned and after that the school was located at the town hall. The original benches are still in the building.
Early names of students were Shaw, Packard, Allis, Clapp, and Dyer, In 1843 the township was divided into eight sub-districts. Ecach district had a frame school house erected and furnished as best they could. It is interesting to note that all eight of these school houses are still in existance. The school at Risley, a little railroad village on Smith Road (County Road 4) is now being used as a barn on the Dyke farm there. The school house in the Garver District (the old Parkhill School) is now part of the the house of the Douglas Gottron's., on Co. Road 67. The old Sears School or Elmwood School as it was called by some, which was west of Chatham on State Route 162 was moved to Chatham and' became the Methodist Dining Hall. The little
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