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 37
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The first hotel was built in 1816. and kept by Aaron Stowe, who also had charge of the postoffice. He was postmaster until 1850. This building stood where Jolm Barkley's house now stands. When the new building went up, it was moved one-half mile west of the center.
The first mail carrier in Braceville, going from Cleveland to Warren was Erastus Lane. He brought the news of Hull's surrender.
The first school of Braceville at the center was of logs, and built in 1812. Laura A. Thumphrey Taft, the historian for the township of Braceville of the Memorial to Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve, says: "Oliver Humphrey, while hauling a load of goods to Cleveland, broke his wagon, and going to a little log house for assistance, found it was a school-house. The teacher was Mercy Anna Birchard, a sister of Judge Mathew Birchard, who was teaching the first regularly organized school in Windham. He ( Humphrey) was so pleased with the appear- ance of the young teacher that he pursuaded Samnel Oviatt, the director with whom he boarded, to engage her for the winter school. They were married in 1815." One of the early teachers was Miss Lucy Humphrey, who journeyed from Connecticut
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to Farmington to visit her sister, Mrs. Daniel Taft. She mar- ried Norman Stowe. Among the other teachers were Martha Hedges, Mrs. Harriet Marsh, Miss Griswold, Miss Barnes, Miss Lane. The children of Braceville, today, do not have to wade through snow and mud in unbroken forests to schoolhouses. They have the advantage of the schools of Newton Falls, and of course some distriet schools still exist for the children of the lower grades.
The first religions organization in Braceville was called the Bible Christian church. Its services were held at the center log schoolhouse. Father Ross led this body and his followers were known locally as Rossites. In 1812 Rev. William Penn preached in the schoolhouse and organized a Presbyterian society. This church grew and a church edifice was built, finally was disorganized, and the building was used for some time as a town hall. In 1814 Comfort Stowe was clerk and deacon of the organized Congregational church. Meetings were held in the schoolhouse with occasional preaching. In 1835 a house was erected: in 1836 twenty-seven members were added at the time of revival, and the next year Rev. Selden Haines, whose work as teacher and lawyer is mentioned elsewhere, served one year as minister. The Abolition question disrupted the church and in 1876 the property was sold and the fund loaned to the American Missionary Society.
In 1816 a Methodist elass was organized and Hervey Stowe became class leader, and later a new church organization was perfected. His home was the home of the Methodist ministers for sixty years. In his house regular preaching was had for twenty years and he led the congregational singing for twenty- five years. Surely the Methodist body is indebted to this devoted churchman. The first Methodist church was a large house of logs. Hervey Stowe and Hervey Allen made a trip to Pittsburg for the glass and nails for this building. The honse was occupied until 1838, when a new one was built, which was remodeled in 1874.
The United Brethren organized in 1857. Their first meet- ings were held in the old schoolhouse which occupied the same ground as the schoolhouse on Eagle Creek. The present building was dedicated in 1875.
The Christian Church had preaching half the time in 1867- 68. In 1869 Rev. J. N. Smith held a series of meetings at Braceville Center with good result. Converts were baptised
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in the Mahoning river. The question of organizing a church was taken up, and on January 31, 1869, the church was organ- ized. The early ministers gave part time only and had little salary. In 1874 it was decided to build a church. It was erected that summer and is now in a prosperous condition.
The patrons of the Cleveland Division of the Erie Railroad remember the station Phalanx. In 1846 about one hundred and fifty persons formed a colony and settled in the northwest por- tion of the township. They erected a large house in which schools, church, and meetings could be held. They also erected a number of log cabins. They all worked, keeping their time, and dividing the profits equally. Like all such communities it was short lived, lasting only four years. Tradition has it that it was called Phalanx because the houses were close together and reminded one of soldiers. When this community was doing business it was a lively place with its mills, store, etc.
No history of Braceville could be written without mention of two things which every writer has noticed, the tornado, and the battle of the snakes. Howe, the historian, gives an account of the latter in which he says that Mr. Oviatt, an old gentleman, having been informed that a number of rattlesnakes were in a certain traet of the wilderness, after asking a number of ques- tions as to whether there was a ledge and a spring in the vicinity, planned to go to the spot about the last of May and "have some sport." Armed with sticks, forked and straight, they proceeded to the ground. In a few moments they were surrounded by rattlesnakes. The fight began, the snakes beat a retreat, and when they reached the top of the hill, the ledge was fairly covered with them. The same were collected in heaps and they were found to number 486. Some of them were as large as a man's leg below the calf, and five feet in length. They were rattlesnakes and black snakes. After this adventure men from adjoining townships visited these grounds until eventually the snakes were all made away with.
The tornado is usually written up from papers left by Franklin E. Stowe. This destructive wind storm occurred on the 23rd of July, 1860. Two clouds were noticed. one going south and the other east. When they came together, a dark body seemed to fall, which swept over a certain territory as far as Pittsburg. The wind twisted off great trees, lifted barns, destroyed houses, killed people and animals. The railroad sta- tion, and a grocery store of Lucius Wood, the station agent,
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were raised several hundred feet high, revolved together and went all to pieces. The station had freight in it, one being a box of hardware, containing bolts, buckles, etc. One bolt was found stuck in a tree to the depth of an inch a mile and a half from the starting place. A handsaw was carried a mile. A freight ear already loaded, standing on the track, was totally demolished; another car was carried five hundred feet and splintered all to pieces. Seven hundred dollars, which was in the express office, was blown away and never found. In some houses, William Benedict's, for instance, the roof was blown off, rails and boards were fastened into the siding, while the clothing in draws was carried completely away and never found. The line of the storm went down the Mahoning, struck the cor- ner of Lordstown and Warren. When it reached the lower part of Trumbull County it began to rise, and as it rose all sorts of debris were dropped. The number of killed and injured was not known, but for many years thereafter children who went to Braceville on the railroad and saw the grocery which arose on the sight of the old one, were filled with awe and rejoiced when the train was out of the town.
CHAPTER XXX .- BAZETTA.
BAZETTA AND THE COUNTY SEAT .- FIRST SETTLERS .- FIRST ORCHARD .- BACONSBURG OR CORTLAND .- SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.
Bazetta is the central township of Trumbull County. For that reason, in the contention for the county seat, geograph- ically, its claim was good. But, as Warren was very near it, people thought if there was to be a change at all, it should be more of a change.
When the Connecticut Land Company was formed provi- sion was made for the sale of a certain number of acres, and if there should be an excess it was to go to a company formed for the purpose of receiving it. Such a company had existed in the survey of a tract in New York state and the financial result had been satisfactory. However, instead of there being more land in the New Connectient than was supposed, there was less. The survey, as we have seen in the early chapters, was not very acenrate. David Huntington, Nathaniel Shalor, Samuel P. Lord, Sylvester Mather and Richard McCurdy bought the township of Bazetta. The survey showed this land to con- tain 17,247 acres. But, when a re-survey was made it was found there was 275 acres more than the survey showed. This was very gratifying to the proprietors, and in 1802 the land was divided off into lots. The Mosquito Creek runs through this township and one or two other small creeks. It is a fertile and a prosperous township, although it was not settled as early as some others because of the speculative natures of the pro- prietors.
The first settlers were Edward Schofield, John Budd and their families, who had resided in Hubbard. They had to cut their way through the woods. They were soon followed by Henry K. Hulse, Joseph Purden, John Godden, Joshua Oatley, Moses Hampton, and their families. William Davis was from Washington County, Pennsylvania. A Mrs. Dixon, a widow
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with a large family, was also among the early settlers.
When the war of 1812 came on Henry Hulse, Benjamin Rowlee, Constant Rowlee, James Dixon, Walter Dixon, William Davis, and Samuel Tanner went to the defense of their country. Most of these went as far as Sandusky, where they had a skir- mish with the Indians. When William Dixon got to Cleveland he was allowed to turn back because of the needs of his family. Walter Dixon was wounded, but recovered. It just happened that when these men were called their oats were ready to cut. The women, taking their babies into the field, left them in the shade of the wood to be cared for by older children, while they eut and harvested the grain. When their husbands returned they found the work well done.
Bazetta was not unlike the other townships in that the first houses were of logs, with no floors, or at best puncheoned, no doors and no windows. Wolves carried off their sheep, killed their cattle, while bears feasted on their fattened pork. Deer and wild turkey were common. Buckwheat fields had to be watched lest the turkeys carry off the grain. Although in many places we read that clothes were made of buckskin, Aaron Davis, who wrote up this township in 1875 for the Historieal Collec- tion of Mahoning County, in speaking of the deerskin, says: "The material used for dressing the skins was the animals brains, prepared by being mixed in warm water, and being rubbed until it assumed the appearance of thick soapsnds. The hair having been loosened by soaking the hide in water, the hair, grain, and flesh is removed by rubbing with something like a currier's knife. The skin is then allowed to remain in brain water for some time; after which it is taken out and stretched, pulled, and rubbed until it assumes that porous, spongy, and pernliar feeling to the touch found only in buck- skin."
The first orchard planted in Bazetta was that of William Davis, Sr., who came in 1811. His wife was a granddaughter of General Stark of the Revolutionary war, her name being Ann Luee. Mrs. Davis was a woman of strong eharaeter. Her husband was an invalid for some years, dying in 1860, and she not only performed her duty, but part of his, took care of her own children, and inspired them with courage to clear the home- stead. She, like many other of the pioneer women, gave home to other children, in this ease, three. She lived to be nearly a hundred years old.
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In 1816 Samuel Bacon and family came to Bazetta from Warren. It seems strange that few of the early families of this township were from the far east. Mr. Bacon exchanged his Warren property for the mill property of Benton & Brooks, which he or his family operated until 1850. The upper dam on the river was built about 1829; the grist mill was built by Mr. Schofield abont 1812. The Bacons were good business men and before long a hamlet sprung up about their land which has con- tinned to grow. It was known as Baconsburg. In 1829 Enos Bacon, son of Samnel, opened the first store there.
The Erie Railroad, when it was the A. & G. W., named the station Cortland. The anthor of this history has not been able to learn why the township was called Bazetta, nor why the town was called Cortland. It was incorporated in 1824 and Asa Hine was the mayor.
The family of Posts were among the early settlers.
The first schoolhouse in Bazetta stood in Cortland on Wal- nut Creek. It was made of unhewn logs. The windows were of paper oiled with bears' grease; they were a little unusual because they were the leaves taken from copy books, and were an abstraction for the scholars because the different kinds of writing as well as the original copy, usually a proverb. could be plainly seen. The writing desks in this building were made by boring holes in the wall, driving in wooden pegs, and laying boards thereon. In 1814 this building was replaced by a new one built on the same plan. Cortland high school was established by the special act of the legislature and was opened in 1877. Women were elected to the school board of this village almost as soon as the school law was passed. R. D. Leffingwell is the present superintendent.
The first church organized in the township was at East Bazetta. This was abont the year 1820 and the denomination was Baptist. The charter members were James and Dorcas Bowen, William and Anne Davis, Sanmel and Rachel Headley, Sammel and Rachel Bacon. They were originally members of the Concord Baptist church at Warren. Members were soon added to this body, until they had a membership of forty-four. Meetings were held in private houses and sometimes in the schoolhouse. Edward Schofield, the pioneer, was among the leaders of this society and sometimes preached for them. Like the church at Warren this became a Disciple organization. This Christian church was organized by Thomas Campbell in
(Loaned by N. A. Cowdrey. )
CORTLAND CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
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1828. There were twenty-eight charter members. The official board consisted of Elders Samuel Bacon, Samuel Hoadly, and Asher Coburn; Deacons, James Bowen, and A. W. Coburn. The "occasional preachers" for some years after the organiza- tion were Adamson Bentley, Mareus Bosworth, John Apple- gate. A. B. Green, William Hayden, Jonas Hartzell, J. L. Lam- phere, John Henry. The pastors in succession have been Har- vey Brockett, John T. Phillips, Calvin Smith, James Calvin, W. S. Winfield, Clark Braden, W. B. Goodrich, W. S. Hayden, Orrin Gates. E. Wakefield. J. M. Monroe, C. P. Cone. D. C. Hanselman, 1. A. Thayer, R. T. Davis, Peter Vogle, E. A. Bos- worth, D. P. Thayer. (. M. Oliphant, A. Baker, J. Man, G. W. Moore, W. H. Smith, S. C. Pierce, B. M. Derthick and Jas. Egbert, the present pastor. The present official board consists of Elders N. A. Cowdery, E. C. Faunce, M. B. Halstead, II. L. Dray; Deacons, H. G. Bacon, E. E. Barnes, L. E. Post. A. B. Cowdrey, W. B. Galley, J. L. Bucher.
The date of the erection of the first small wooden church in Cortland is not known. It stood on the south side of Main street, where E. A. Sigler's residence now is. It was moved from that spot, used as an academy, later purchased by Mr. John Johnson, and moved back onto Main street. Here the Cortland Herald office was until it burned. In 1850. on the present church lot, a larger but plain building was constructed. In 1874 it was remodeled, at an expense of $4,500, and is the present church building. The parsonage which adjoins it was built in 1898 and cost $1,800. These buildings stand at the cor- ner of Mill and Grove streets. The present membership of the church is about 200.
The first meeting held by the Presbyterians in Bazetta was in 1841. At this meeting the subject of building a house of wor- ship was discussed and decided upon favorably. Nathan Lattin donated the land for the church at the center. This society was incorporated in 1842 under the name of the First Presby- terian and Congregational Church Society.
The Methodist church of Cortland was organized in 1835 with .J. J. Steadman and E. Burkett as the first preachers. The Rev. Mr. Steadman was one of the strongest men intellectually in this vicinity. W. M. Oatley was first class leader. The first church, built in 1840, stood on the hill just beyond where the present creamery stands. It occupied this position for twenty years, then it was removed to the site of the present church.
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In 1880 it took another journey, this time to Park avenue, and is now known as Grange Hall. A new brick church was built at that time, of which Rev. J. E. Cope is the pastor. The parsonage was built in 1867.
CHAPTER XXXI .-- BLOOMFIELD.
FIRST PROPRIETORS .- GRAND RIVER AND BLOOMFIELD SWAMPS .- FERRY FAMILY .- A PIONERR DOG .- MEN AND WOMEN OF NOTE .- BROWN FAMILY .- SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.
Peter Chardon Brooks, of Boston, was the owner of the land now known as Bloomfield. He sokl it to Ephraim Brown of West Moreland. New Hampshire, and Thomas Howe of Williamstown, Vermont, in 1814. Brown and Howe were nephew and uncle. They had been in business together. Event- ually, Howe sold out to Brown, reserving one thousand acres in the southern part of the township for himself. Although Bloomfield was settled by able people, Brown is the best known early citizen because of his ability, his wealth and his public spirit. Bloomfield is a fertile township and its citizens have always been prosperous.
In the early days, in connection with Bloomfield we always heard of the Grand River and the Bloomfield swamps. The Grand River at certain times of year allowed the emigrants to paddle up it as far as Mesopotamia. But, of late years, it is hardly mentioned in Trumbull County except when a few hope- ful fishermen patrol its banks longing for an occasional bite. The word "swamp" drove terror to the hearts of most chil- dren, because there were dreadful tales told of men and ani- mals getting into quicksand and being drawn down to death. In the early days, the Bloomfield swamp, in some places, could not be crossed even by horses, but now these swamps are so drained that in some seasons of the year there is no sugges- tion of swamp. In the early days, huckleberries and whortle- berries were found in great abundance here and here pigeons flocked in great numbers and were killed for food. People in the southern part of the country often saw large flocks going over to the Bloomfield swamps. The disappearance of the
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water, and consequently of the huckleberry, together with the work of the hunter, has made the Bloomfield pigeon a rare bird.
S. E. Ensign of Mesopotamia surveyed the township for Howe and Brown, and divided it into lots. It was called West Moreland, undoubtedly because West Moreland was Mr. Brown's home town in New Hampshire.
The first settler was Lyman Ferry of Brookfield, who came in 1815. He reached the township after six weeks' travel. He came as many other settlers did, by sled as far as possible, finishing up the trip by wagon. He had with him a man helper with wife and three children. There was not a road then in the township, nor a house between Rome and Bristol. The family therefore went into a deserted eabin in Bristol. Mr. Ferry, the man, and Mr. Ferry's son put up a cabin into which the family moved. As related in the other part of this work very often there was no fireplace in these early cabins and cooking was done outside, by the side of a chestnut log. It was too cold at this time of year to cook by a log outside, and so they built their fire next to the green logs inside, their chimney being a hole in the roof. When the logs began to burn they piled up stones to protect that end of the house. Here they lived and worked until the spring came.
Mrs. Ferry was the first white woman to enter the town.
In the spring of 1816 a number of settlers came to Bloom- field to clear their land and put up their cabins, and Mrs. Ferry not only took care of her own family but cooked for twenty others. Her granddaughter says:
"I can remember hearing my grandmother tell how during the first year in Bloomfield she was asked to do the work for twenty, including her own family. The sup- per was corn-meal mush and milk, served hot from the iron kettle, dished out with what she called a pnddin' stick, the only variation of the meal being the dishes in which it was eaten. The boarders were arranged on benches around the room, while basins, tin enps, pans and pails were brought into requisition to angment the limited supply of bowls. Occasionally when they could afford it, thiek Orleans molasses was ponred over the mush as a crowning dessert."
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY 115
The women slept in the lower part of the cabin while the men crawled np the ladder and slept soundly on the floor. Mrs. Ferry lived to be ninety years ofl. They had seven chil- dren who lived in this vieinity.
Mehitable Howe, the sister of Thomas Howe and the aunt of Ephraim Brown, was the first to die in Bloomfiekl. Her daughter, Harriet, was the first white child born in the county. She never married, and lived until 1862. The first marriage was that of John Weed and Jemima Bigelow.
In Thomas Howe's family there was not a death among the children until the youngest was forty-six years old. An old story worth repeating is that of the dog, Argus, who ac- companied the early settlers in 1815. The dog either became tired, dissatisfied or was stolen in New York state. When Mr. Howe was going through that place some months later, he saw the dog and claimed it. The landlord said he had raised him from a pup. Whereupon Mr. Howe ordered Argus into his entter, told him to watch it, and then dared the landlord to take anything from the entter. The dog stood guard and did not allow the landlord to come near him, and proceeded with his master.
In 1815 William Crowell, Israel Proctor, Samnel East- man, David Comstock walked from Vermont to Bloomfieldl. David Comstock was noted as being the best wood-chopper of the township.
The first justice of the peace was Jared Kimball, who lived north of the center.
Aaron Smith, who arrived in 1816, built the first frame building in the township. It was afterwards removed to Bristol.
John Bellows, one of the early settlers, made bricks which were used in the construction of some of the early chimneys.
Mr. Proctor, another early settler, married Betsey Hunt- ington, a sister of Mrs. Ephraim Brown.
In some of the early townships were settlements of Ger- mans, in others, Scotch, but the foreigners who settled in Bloomfield were English.
The township was organized in 1816 and the first officers were elected at the house of Ephraim Brown.
Thomas Howe did not move his family to Bloomfield until 1817, his wife and five children coming with him. She was a woman of very benevolent nature. He was a member of the
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Ohio legislature and he lived to be more than eighty. His chil- dren were identified more or less with Bloomfield, Dr. G. W. being one of the early teachers and later a doctor for forty- four years. He was surgeon for three years in the war of the Rebellion and his services were especially commended. He was twice elected to the Ohio legislature. William Howe did not spend much of his early life in Bloomfield. He was en- gaged in business in Pittsburg and the ore districts of Lake Superior. He was a clerk in the provost office in Warren dur- ing the rebellion. He married Melvina Flowers and had nine children.
Mrs. Howe did not like the new country and if it had not been for the care of her large family she would have suffered greatly from homesickness. She used to make a peculiar kind of cracker of bread dough with butter pounded in which she sent to sick people. She was a fastidions housekeeper, and it is said that whenever they wanted a cobweb for medicinal purposes they never could find one in her house.
Asa Works came to Bloomfield in 1817. He lived but nine years and left four children. He was a hatter. His son, Nel- son Works, was long identified with the township.
Mrs. Works was both father and mother to her children. It was hard for pioneers, when there were men in the family, to do the hardest of the work, but of this family of five, four were women, and still they were able to maintain themselves and the mother and the son, Nelson, who were inseparable. lived and died on the farm which they chose for their home. One daughter, Mary, was a part of this household. She was a school teacher, a tailor, and such a splendid nurse that her services were called for very often among the early settlers. Many of the children born were first dressed by her and many are those that she dressed for the grave. She was very small, retiring, but exceedingly brave. She never feared to go where there were contagious diseases, and lived to be sixty- five years old. Martha Works was left a widow early, like her mother. She too kept her little family together. She had to inenr debt in the beginning, but with the assistance of her children, she paid all her obligations and her children were prosperons, and so was she. It is said that on Sunday she loaded her own children and some of the neighbors' into an open buggy and drove to the center to church, no matter what
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