USA > Ohio > Trumbull County > A twentieth century history of Trumbull County, Ohio; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 12
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In the following explanations, which correspond with the numbers on the map, the streets are called by names, familiar to ns now, although they were originally numbered-Main street being No. 1, High street No. 2, Market street No. 3, South street No. 4, Liberty street (Park avenue) No. 5. Mahoning avenue was considered to be only a continuation of No. 1. But neither numbers nor names were often used for many years. As is the case in smaller places today, in familiar conversation, local- ities were known by the names of the persons living in the neighborhood.
1. Mill and dam, but by Lane and Dally in 1802, owned in 1816 by Mr. James L. VanGorder.
2. The Henry Lane house, now owned and ocenpied by Win. H. Baldwin.
3. The house of Mrs. Rowe.
4. House of Mr. Jacob Harsh.
5. Honse in which, at one time, lived a Mr. MeFarland.
MAPOF
Warren in 1816. DRAWN AND COMPILED By LOUIS M. IDDINGS.
APPROXIMATE SI ATY NINE CHAINS TO THE INCH.
N
14
Cemetery.
fuiaship Hier
12
10
4
No. 2
1X217
2
47
No 3
In
31
.
No, 1
-
.
44
Vo. 4
REFERENCES.
a. Location of first house
b. Corn-erib in which first Court way held.
c. Location of first school-house.
-.
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HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
6. Honse of Gen. Simon Perkins (the home of Eliza B. Perkins now is here).
7. House built by George Phelps.
8. House and blacksmith-shop of Mr. Reeves.
9. Log honse built by Mr. James Scott, and torn down a short time since. For many years it was covered up in the Graeter Honse.
10. House of Dr. John B. Harmon, now ocenpied by Dr. Julian Harmon.
11. Honse of Mr. George Parsons ; a new house in 1816, or built so soon thereafter that it is with propriety placed on the map.
12. The jail.
13. House of Mr. James Scott.
14. House of Mr. David Bell.
15. ('abin of "John Jerrodell."
16. House and office of Judge Pease ; house still stands.
17. House of Mr. Richard Iddings.
18. Ilonse of George Mull ( ?).
19. Ilouse of Mark Wescott.
20. Foundations of the old Western Reserve Bank building.
21. House and store of Asael Adams, where the Franklin Block now is.
22. The "Shook" honse.
23. House of Mrs. M'Williams.
24. A shop kept by -- , occupied by Mr. Uhl.
25. Honse of Capt. Oliver Brooks; still stands.
26. House of Mr. Thomas D. Webb; in good repair ; ocen . pied by Elizabeth, Wm. and Frank Iddings. This house was built in 1807 by Mr. John S. Edwards. and is probably the oldest building in Warren, unless 46 is older.
27. House of Mr. Hake: still stands.
28. Honse of Jonathan Rankin.
29. House and tannery (in the rear) of Mr. James Quigley.
30. House of Elilm Spencer.
31. House of Mr. Zebina Weatherbee.
32. House of Mr. Samuel Chesney.
33. A store occupied at one time by Mr. Wm. Bell and Mr. James Quigley.
34. "Castle William." or the Cotgreave house.
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HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
35. For many years the site of the first hotel in the place.
36. In 1816 probably a hatter's shop; afterward a store kept by Judge King.
37. Four stores in which Wheeler Lewis, the Quinbys and the Austins were in business.
38. House of Judge Calvin Austin.
39. House of Tony Carter.
40. House of Mr. Jeduthen Rawdon.
41. The Western Reserve Bank. (Union National Bank now.)
42 Little log house, in which Geo. Loveless probably opened the first store in Warren.
43. The Leavitt House, for many years a hotel and later known as the Walter King place.
44. Building, probably erected by Mr. Adamson Bentley, and in which he engaged in mercantile business. From this building the first number of the Trump of Fame, now the Western Reserve Chronicle, was issued in 1812.
45. House in which, in 1816, lived Mr. Jeremiah Brooks (great-uncle of Mr. James Brooks). It was built by Mr. Ephraim Quinby during the first summer he was here, in 1799. Attached to it was the first jail in Trumbull County. In front of it (b) were the corneribs between which the first court was held.
46. House of Judge Francis Freeman, now the eastern end of the Austin House.
47. Mill and carding machine. This last had just been erected by Levi Hadley, and was sold in this year to Mr. Benj. Stevens.
48. House of one Morrow.
49. House of James Ellis.
50. House of Mr. Burnett.
51. House of Mr. Quinby.
52. The "old court-house," then in an unfinished state.
a, b and e are explained on the map.
CHAPTER XIV.
EARLY LETTERS .- FIRST MAIL ROUTE .- FIRST POSTMASTER .- GEN. PERKINS AND MAIL ROUTES .- ELEAZER GILSON .- ASAEL ADAMS AS MAIL CARRIER .- CARRYING BULLETS TO GEN. PERKINS .- ADVERTISED LIST .- LIST OF WARREN POSTMASTERS. PRESI- DENTIAL OFFICE.
After the Connecticut surveyors were really hard at work in 1796 the general tone of their diaries and notes is that of indifference or seriousness. They show the greatest joy at the appearance of a prospector or at the return of some member of their party from Buffalo bringing them letters.
These early letters, folded without stamp or envelope, are dark with age and fairly worn out from the handling in re-read- ing at that time. The very first settlers for months at a time had no way of knowing whether their family and friends loft back home were dead or alive.
As soon as a village or hamlet appeared the thing most wanted, despite the fact that they had to send away for most of their luxuries, was the establishment of mail service.
In April, 1801, Elijah Wadsworth of Canfield applied to Gideon Granger, postmaster-general, for the establishment of a mail route between Pittsburg and Warren. The reply was sent to "Captain Elijah Wadsworth, Warren, in the Connectient Reserve, near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. If Captain Wadsworth should not be in Pittsburg. Doet. Scott is requested to forward this by private hand." Although this request of Captain Wads- worth's was granted. the first delivery of mail in Warren was October 30th, that same year. General Simon Perkins was ap- pointed postmaster in 1801. Ile held the place twenty-eight years, when he was succeeded by Mathew Birchard. In 1807 Mr. Perkins, at the request of Postmaster-General Granger, explored the mail route between Detroit and Cleveland. In a letter to
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HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, he says, "On the tour I was obliged to go out of the way to find a mail carrier, and I do not now recollect how long I was in getting to Cleveland ; but from there to Detroit it was six days, all good weather and no delay. There were no roads or bridges or ferry boats. I do not recollect how I crossed the Cuyahoga, but at Black River, Huron, Sandusky and Mau- mee, in any time of high water, the horse swam alongside of a canoe. In the Black Swamp the water must have been from two to six inches deep for many miles. The settlements were a house at Black River, perhaps two at Huron, two at Sandusky, ten or fifteen at Warren, and a very good settlement at River Raisin." Mr. Perkins had a consultation with the Indians, in which he asked permission to make a road, repair it, sell land for that purpose, and wanted the land a mile wide on each side of it for the government. The Indians granted his request. General Perkins was a very busy man. and could not attend personally to the detail of postoffice work. Among the men who served as his deputies were John Leavitt, who kept a boarding house at the corner of Main and Market streets; George Phelps, who lived where the Henry Smith homestead now is ; George Parsons, Sam- uel Quinby and Samuel Chesney. Samuel Chesney probably held the position the longest of any of the men. The mail ronte when first established ran from Pittsburg to Beaver, Georgetown, Can- field, Youngstown and Warren. The distance was eighty-six miles. Calvin Pease was postmaster at Youngstown and Elijah Wadsworth at Canfield.
Eleazor Gilson was awarded the first contract to carry the mail. He was paid three dollars and fifty cents a mile, by the year, conting the distance one way. His son Samnel was, how- ever, the real mail carrier, and walked the entire route often. The mail was not then heavy, and was sometimes carried in a bit of cotton cloth. Warren was for two years the terminus of this mail route. It was then extended to Cleveland. Joseph Burke of Euclid had the contract and his two sons did most of the work, alternately. Their route was Cleveland, Hudson, Ra- venna. Deerfield, Warren, Mesopotamia, Windsor, Jefferson, Austinburg. Harpersfield, Painesville, Cleveland. They often walked, sometimes rode, crossed small streams on logs when pos- sible. but sometimes swam their horses or plunged into the streams themselves.
Up to the time of the stage coach the experiences of the letter carrier differed little. To be sure, towards the end the roads
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were better, the houses nearer together, there was less danger from wild animals and from Indians, but, on the other hand. the mails were heavier, the stops offener, and the time consumed. consequently, as long.
Mr. Whittlesey Adams, the son of Asael Adams Jr., who is conversant with the early history of Trumbull County, has pre- pared the following at the request of the editor in regard to his father's mail-carrying days.
Asael Adams Jr. of Warren, who taught school in Cleve- land in 1805. carried the United States mail on horseback during the war of 1812 and 1813, two years, from Cleveland to Pittsburg. He left Pittsburg every Friday at 6:00 a. m., arrived at Greersburg, Pennsylvania, by 5:00 p. m., left at 5:30 p. m., arrived at Canfield on Saturday by 6:00 p. m., and arrived at Cleveland on Monday by 10:00 a. m. Then, re- turning. he left Cleveland every Monday at 2:00 p. m., arrived at Canfield on Wednesday by 6:00 a. m., left at 7:00 a. m., arrived at Greersburg the same day by 6:00 p. m., left at 7 :00 p. m .: arrived at Pittsburg on Thursday by 6:00 p. m.
On his loop route from Pittsburg to Cleveland, he stopped at the only postoffices at that time on the route. which were, first. Beaver Town, New Lisbon, Canfield. Deer- field. Hartland, Ravenna, Hudson and Gallatin to Cleve- land. and then returning by a loop route to Pittsburg by the way of Aurora, Mantua, Palmyra, Canfield, New Lisbon, Greersburg, and Beaver Town to Pittsburg, once a week. lle received a salary of $186 per quarter of a year during the continuance of his contract, to be paid in drafts on post- masters on the ronte, as above mentioned. or in money, at the option of the postmaster-general. Gideon Granger. Ile was also authorized to carry newspapers, other than those conveyed in the mail, for his own emoliment.
Asael Adams Jr. of Warren had another mail contract from Gideon Granger, postmaster-general, dated October 18. 1811, to carry the mail from Greersburg, Pennsylvania, by the way of Poland and Youngstown to Warren, Ohio, and return with the mail by the same route once a week, at the rate of $50 for every quarter of a year for the term of three years and three months. He was to leave Greersburg every Saturday at 4:00 o'clock a. m., stopping at Poland and Youngstown, and arriving at Warren at 6:00 o'clock p. m.
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HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
The only postoffices on the route between Greersburg and Warren were Poland and Youngstown. The said Asael Adams Jr. was allowed for his own emolument to carry newspapers out of the mail if a printing press should be established on the route. The mail route between Greers- burg and Warren was run in connection with the above men- tioned route from Pittsburg to Cleveland. The postmaster at Warren at that time was General Simon Perkins, and the postmaster at Canfield was Comfort S. Mygatt.
Asael Adams Jr., the mail carrier, often while riding one horse with the mail would lead another, loaded with merchandise and articles from Pittsburg for the pioneers in Ohio. Dense woods skirted both sides of the bad roads al- most the whole of the way from Pittsburg to Cleveland. Wolves, bears and other wild animals roamed through these great forests, and often in the dark nights made the lone- some journey of the belated mail carrier exceedingly nn- pleasant. There were no bridges over rivers and streams, which were often very high. He would fasten the mail bag about his shoulders and swim his horse over the swollen rivers, often wet to the skin, and not a house within several miles distance. The pioneers at Warren and Youngstown and other places along the route would often order Asael Adams to purchase goods and merchandise for them in Pittsburg, which he would do, charging them for the money expended and for bringing the goods to the pioneers.
Asael Adams Jr., while mail carrier, has in his account book No. 2 the following items charged, to-wit :
Thomas D. Webb (Editor of the Trump of Fame), Dr.
To buying at Pittsburg a keg of printer 's ink and bringing it to War- ren, $2.75.
To putting up newspapers one night, 3712 cents.
To one loaf sugar, $2.25.
To paid J. W. Snowden for printer's ink, $12.00. Leonard Case.
To leading horse from Pittsburg, $1.50.
To carriage of saddle from Pittsburg, .50.
To balance for saddle, $4.75.
To 2 boxes of wafers, 12 cents.
To I circingle, $1.00.
George Tod. To Duane's Dictionary, $6.75. To carriage of boots, 50 cents. To map of Canada, $1.00.
Camden Cleaveland.
To one large grammar, $1.00.
One lb. tobacco and one almanac, 3716 cents.
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HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
Tobacco and powder, 37 cents.
James Scott, July 18, 1812. To leading horse from Pittsburg, $1.50. To three oz. indigo, 75 cents. To martingale hooks and buckle, $1.25. To 2 lbs. tea, $2.00. Comfort Mygatt, July 18, 1812. To one sword, $13.00. To one watch key, $1.00. To powder and shot, $1.50.
The foregoing are only a few of the entries made in account book No. 2 of Asael Adams, the mail carrier.
During September, 1812, war was being waged with the British and Indians on the frontier, and most of our able- bodied men were away from home in the brigade under the command of General Simon Perkins in the defense of the Mamnee valley. General Perkins sent word to Warren that his soldiers were withont bullets and to send a supply of bnl- lets immediately. The ladies of Warren promptly moukled the lead into bullets, and Asael Adams JJr., who had just re- turned from an all day's ride from Pittsburg carrying the mail, but who was capable and willing to undertake the jour- ney, started at once, without waiting for sleep, to carry on horseback a bushel of leaden bullets through the dense for- ests to the aid of General Perkins' brigade.
Asael Adams Jr. was born in Canterbury, Connecticut, in July, 1786, and came with his father, Asael Adams Sr., to Liberty township, Trumbull County, Ohio, in 1800, with his brother-in-law, Camden Cleaveland, a brother of Moses Cleaveland.
Numerous descendants and relatives of the persons named in the foregoing article now reside in Warren, Cleve- land and Youngstown. We mention a few only of the names, as follows :
Mrs. Mary Perkins Lawton. Mrs. Thomas H. Brierly. Mrs. Wm. B. Kirkpatrick. Mrs. Sarah H. VanGorder. George VanGorder. Miss Olive Smith.
Miss Eliza S. Smith. Norman W. Adams. Mathew B. Tayler.
Miss Lucy Hoyt.
Miss Annie Hoyt.
Mrs. Polly W. Reid.
Miss Harriet Stevens.
Henry Q. Stiles. I ney S. Cobb.
Miss Elizabeth L. Iddings.
Wm. T. Iddings. Frank Iddings.
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HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
As the population grew and new roads were opened np. new postoffices were established throughout the county. In 1828 Alexander Sutherland was postmaster at Newton.
Erastus Lane, of Braceville, a letter carrier between War- ren and Cleveland, brought the news of Hull's surrender.
Just before the coming of the stage coach, in some places in the county, mail was carried by oxen.
With the mail facilities of today, it is astonishing to see the list of advertised letters appearing in the early newspapers. Letters for the most prominent people in the county were ad- vertised over and over again. It is still more astonishing that the reason for this was that each letter cost twenty-five cents, and the owner of the letters sometimes had not money with which to pay postage.
Then, as now, there was dissatisfaction with postal service : then there was reason. Under the date of March 16th, the editor of the Western Reserve Chronicle complains of the wretched condition of the mails, saying. "Papers mailed in Washington on the 4th of March were not received here until the 13th." On January 2, 1844, this same paper decided to establish a post ronte for distribution of the Chronicle in Vienna. Brookfield, Hartford. Vernon, Kinsman, Gustavus, Green, Mesopotamia, Farmington, and Bristol.
Among the people who have served as postmasters in War- ren are Simon Perkins, Mathew Birchard. John W. Collins. Comfort Patch. Henry Townsend, Jefferson Palm, David Tod. E. R. Wise, B. F. Hoffman, William Hapgood, Frank M. Ritezel. S. B. Palm, John W. Campbell. George Braden.
The Warren postoffice became first class in 1908; the salary of the postmaster is $3,000, the assistant's $1,500. Rural free delivery is established out of Warren, Niles. Newton Falls, Cort- land. Once the mail carrier brought the mail weekly to the capital of Trumbull County, and now, each day. the rural car- riers deliver letters at the farmer's door.
CHAPTER AV.
INDIAN PATHS .- FIRST ROADS .- COACHES .- FERRIES .-- LOTTERY. CANALS .- RAILROADS.
When the Western Reserve Land Company sent its sur- veyors to northern Ohio, there was not a roadway in that whole region. There were numbers of Indian paths which led from one Indian village to another, or from river to river, and one or two general paths from Pittsburg to Cuyahoga or Sandusky. A path on the lake shore had been used by traders, missionaries and soldiers, and along this ronte the first road in greater Trumbull County was built. When it entered the timber, trees were girdled thirty-three feet each side, and for this reason old letters and papers always refer to it as "the girdled road."
The Indians used the ereeks and streams when it was prac- tical. but the most of their travel was done on foot. From a map drawn by Heckewelder in 1796 we find numerous Indian paths. The one running from Pittsburg to the Salt Spring dis- triet is the same as given in all early letters and doenments which mention roads and paths. This path lies at an angle of abont forty-five degrees: north of Salt Springs it turns directly west, and assumes a northwestern direction until it reaches the Moravian village which in 1780 stood on the east side of the Cuyahoga, not far from the mouth.
This Heckewelder map in many ways is inaccurate, but, since the Moravians were vitally interested in and devoted to the Indians, and knew so much of their lives and habits, we believe that these Indian paths are correctly depicted.
So far as we know, the second road of any distance in old Trumbull County was laid out by Turhand Kirtland. It started in Poland, followed rather closely the Indian path to Salt Springs, thence into Warren, and north on what is now Ma- honing avenue. In Champion it turned off to the west above the Poor Farm. led through Southington, Nelson, Parkman, Grand River. Over this road the Indians walked, the early settlers
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HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
went on horseback, and the first stage coaches sometimes rattled and sometimes plowed the mind. It was at different times known as the plank road, the turnpike, the state road. Today part of it is covered with macadam, and automobiles fly over it in races between Pittsburg and Cleveland.
Every mile of this road surveyed by Kirtland is not posi- tively known. For instance, on Mahoning avenue it lay further to the west than it does now, and this deviation might have been true in many other places. Of course changes were necessary as land was sold, fenced and lines straightened. However. in all the early diaries, mention is made of going by road to Young's, then to Salt Springs, stopping at Quinby's in number 4, and very often at Mills', which was in Nelson.
As the common highways in Trumbull County have become "good roads" because of the agitation of the bievele rider and automobile owner, so did the old Indian paths, because of the settlers, because of the mail carrier, and because of the neces- sity of commerce, grow better and better, although even until very recently at certain seasons they were at times almost im- passable. The ox-cart was after a time replaced by a stout wagon. In the beginning these wagons had boards laid aeross for seats, and canvas tops for covers, and people rode between Pittsburg and Cleveland in these nncomfortable conveyances.
A little later the coaches, rather small and uncomfortable, put on between points where travel was heaviest, were drawn by two horses. In pleasant weather they appeared on time, but in a greater part of the year they were irregular. An early advertisement in the old papers is to the effect that "four horses will be used on coaches to insure punetuality." A little later the big stage coach, with the swinging springs and upholstered interior, with place for the baggage on the back, came into use. These conveyances were very comfortable in pleasant weather. and many a pleasant hour has been passed among friends, and many good acquaintances made during stage-coach trips. When the weather was bad the circumstances were different. The men passengers (lady passengers were few) were often obliged not only to get ont and walk but to assist in prying the wheels from out the half-frozen mnd.
All through old Trumbull County may be seen at this day old weatherbeaten buildings, sometimes deserted, which show by the wide porch, the tall pillars, that they were taverns where the stage coach stopped either for change of horses, for pas-
HoTH
(Loaned by the Tribune. )
OLD STAGE COACH.
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HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
sengers. or for meals. The coming of the stage coach, announced by the blowing of a horn, was an event in many communities. The drivers were often men of strong and peculiar characters about many of whom strange and humorous tales are told. A mile before a town was reached they would begin the tooting of the horn, and men would leave their business, children their play or study, and sometimes the women their homes, to gather around the coach when it drove to the tavern, that they might see who had arrived, who was to depart, and to learn the news from the outside world.
In the beginning the coach lines were short, but grew in length as the territory settled. The route was often circuitous, to take in the villages of importance. People going from Pitts- burg to Cleveland came to Warren, then Ravenna, etc. To go five miles or more out of the direct line was not noticed. It was passengers they were after, and they must be gotten from hamlet and town. Under the most favorable circumstances the coach between Warren and Ravenna could be run in three hours. There are, however, people living in Warren today who have left Ravenna at eight or nine o'clock in the morning and not reached Warren till after the darkness had settled down.
As the coach lines became more numerous, people traveled by horseback or wagon from one line to another, or from their town to a line many miles distant, if they wanted to take an unusual trip.
The following people petitioned the legislature in 1815 to incorporate a company to make a turnpike road from Warren to points along the fourth range of townships to Lake Erie: Benj. Lane. Seymour Austin, James Quigley, Isaac Heaton, John Hayes, Jeremiah Brooks, Mark Wescott, John Dennison, E. Quinby, Wm. Anderson, Geo. Parsons, Francis Freeman, Barber King, A. Mckinney, Calvin Pease, Elihu Spenser, Heze- kiah Knapp, E. B. Clark, Daniel Bell, Samuel Qninby, Linus Tracy, Mark Leavitt, Elihu Whitney, Leonard Case, Simon Perkins, Zalmon Fitch, Adamson Bentley, John Leavitt and Thomas Webh.
This request was granted, and the action of this company is on record. Francis Freeman was the treasurer. Those hav- ing it in charge were exceedingly painstaking in their work, held meetings often, sometimes in Warren, sometimes at the home of Ephraim Brown in North Bloomfield, and sometimes farther up the line. This long, almost straight road from Lake Erie sonth
Vol. 1-9
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HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
through Bloomfield, Bristol, Champion, Warren, was one of the best roads Old Trinbull County had. Later this was planked at least part of the way. Between Warren and Bloomfield (fif- teen miles) there was ten miles of plank road. Toll gates were established ; one of them was just north of Warren, in the neigh- borhood of the present "Poor Farm"; another one was in Bristol. The writer remembers to have ridden by the gate in Champion when a child in the late sixties, but whether they were exacting toll at that time or not she can not remember. In 1818 the legislature was asked to allow a road to be made from Kins- man to Cleveland via Bloomfield.
The first supervisor of highways in old Trumbull County was Thomas Packard, a brother of William Packard and an unele of Ellen Packard Campbell, now living in Warren. It seems strange that William D. and J. W. Packard, who were among those responsible, because of their antomobile factory. for the good roads of Trumbull County, should be the great- nephews of this first supervisor.
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