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 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
417
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
the weather was. This was a ride of four miles. She lived until 1886.
Joseph K. Wing was born in Wilmington, Vermont, and came to Bloomfield in 1831. He married Mary, the eldest dangliter of Ephraim and Mary Brown. He was a merchant, was a captain in the rebellion, assistant quartermaster of United States Volunteers, brevetted major and lientenant colonel. He was elected to the legislature in 1869 and again in 1871. One of his danghters was named for Julia King, who married Charles Brown.
Eliza Knapp Haskell was one of the early temperance women. We find one or two of these in almost every town- ship. It is said that she made the first stand against having alcohol at raisings in the township.
Delana Cornell, who came to Bloomfield in 1833, was not exactly a pioneer, but she was so staunch a citizen that she is mentioned here. Before 1843 she was left a widow with four children, and with splendid management and good cheer she supported and educated her family, preserving at the same time her keen sense of humor which made her society sought for as long as she lived.
In 1818 Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel Goodhue moved to Bloomfield from Putney, Vermont. He was a lawyer, and Bloomfield was not much of a place for lawyers, so within a few years he moved to Warren. His wife, Sarah Sargent, be- longed to a well established family of the east and was an unusual woman. Her daughter, Sarah S., married Joseph Scott, a brother of James Scott of Warren. George Washing- ton attended the wedding of Nathaniel Goodhue and Sarah Sargent, and William MeAdoo, now living in North Bloom- field, has the dress of the bride and of the groom, to- gether with many other interesting articles belonging to this rather famous conple. Nancy C. Goodhne married James Mc- Adoo, July 1, 1840, and settled in Michigan. William MeAdoo, of Bloomfield, is their son, is a banker, a prosperons property holder of Bloomfield, and lives on the old road running to Warren. just sonth of the center. He married Miss Wing for a first wife, a niece of Miss Anne Brown, and Miss Marjory Leach of Warren, for a second wife.
In 1822 John Smith came to Bloomfield and seven years later married Julia Anne Wright. May Wright Sewell. who had a classical school in Indianapolis and was identified for
Vol. I-27
418
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
many years with the National Suffrage Association, was her niece.
When Ephraim Brown and Thomas Howe decided to come into New Connecticut, they expected to take up land near Cleveland, but the Cuyahoga river and the lake shore seemed so dreary that they decided on Bloomfield. The family came in a chaise to Buffalo, then to Grand river in boats and by horseback to North Bloomfield. Mrs. Brown felt very badly about leaving the eastern country because of her home asso- ciates and because her children would not have the advant- ages of school. Her granddaughter, Elizabeth B. Wing, says of her:
"She showed great judgment in her preparation for it [western life] by bringing stores of useful articles not obtainable in a new country, even to a well selected va- riety of medicines and simples, which in the absence of a physician in the settlement she used with skill and gen- erosity. Her family was large and irregular. Seekers for land came frequently to the place and as there was no public house of entertainment, many strangers were made welcome in her home."
She was so homesick that when she had been here two years she went back to New England. It was the intention to go from Fairport by boat but when they found the boat had gone, rather than turn back, she went all the way by horse- back.
The old log house which was built for Ephraim Brown in 1815 was five years later made into a handsome home, and it now stands as it was then. The bricks used in it were brought from Warren. The window frames are in good condition and hold the glass, with few exceptions which was put in them in the beginning. The stone steps, somewhat worn, are still in use. At one time it was thought to change them, but Mr. Fayette Brown said too many good friends had come and gone over those steps to make any change now. The house is beautifully kept. The walls of the guest chamber are covered with blue and white paper which looks as if it might have been put on a year or two ago. In reality it has been on the walls eighty- two years. The color is a delft blue and white. It was made before paper was manufactured in rolls and it was put on in
419
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
squares. The hangings are the same color and equally clean, although they are not quite so old as the paper. The muslin curtains and bed canopy have been replaced but they are exactly the same in style, shape and material as the original. In this room are some engravings of Leicester and Mrs. King (Charles Brown married Julia King) and some Japanese etchings. In one of the other chambers is a stove, one of the first brought into the county. It has been used since 1840 and shows no signs of giving out.
Of the nine children of Ephraim and Mrs. Brown but two are now living. Fayette Brown, of Cleveland, and Anne F. Brown, who lives in the homestead. Miss Brown is a charming woman. She was educated largely by her mother, went to school very little at the early schools. The education of her children was Mrs. Brown's greatest worry, and as soon as it was possible many of them were sent away to school. Mary, the oldest daughter, went east before Anne was born, and the younger girl did not see the older until she was two years old. When Mary came back she wanted Anne to go to school, and the child agreed, the older sister seating her on top of her desk with her back to the teacher. The little girl said she was willing to do this because she loved to look into the face of her beautiful sister. Miss Brown says she never remembers getting tired of having her mother read to her, and that she and her brothers and sisters often got up at four o'clock in the morning in order to have her mother read until breakfast time.
The Brown children had an advantage of a peculiar kind of education, since most of the cultivated visitors to this part of the country stayed with them when passing through. Joshua R. Giddings was often in their home and stopped there on his return to Washington after his resignation. Mr. Brown was a member of the Ohio house of representatives and the senate. This house was one of the stations on the underground railway, and abolition and politics were talked here. Meetings of many kinds were held in this house.
As the young ladies grew up they traveled in the east, and for this reason, and because they were of a large family con- nection, Miss Brown acquired the habit of staying at home and there are many people now living in Bloomfield who are not acquainted with her. She. as a child, visited the family of Leicester King. It used to be a great pleasure for her to fill Mrs. King's footstove, which she carried across the street to
420
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
church. She remembers the trundle bed in which she slept in the King home, the cabinet shop of White & Spear across the way, and that one time when she was a young lady at the sea shore, she was surprised to find a sign hanging out from a shop "White & Spear." The writer was astonished to find, on her library table, a copy of the Woman's Journal. She has taken this from its beginning. She kept all the numbers, but as maga- zines and periodicals multiplied, she found she was not able to save everything, and so offered these to Oberlin College, where Lucy Stone finished her education, although she was not allowed to read her graduating essay because she was a woman. The authorities were delighted to possess them and they are now in the library.
The dining-room in the Brown homestead is spacious, with old silver, glass and artistic crayon pictures of Miss Brown and her older sister, Elizabeth. These children were taught music in the early day and their piano was the second one brought into Trumbull County. It is still in the possession of the family, being in the home formerly belonging to Mrs. Wing (Mary Brown). For years Miss Elizabeth and Miss Anne, devoted to each other, lived in this homestead. and it was a great blow to the latter when the older sister died. Few women are so beautifully cared for as is Miss Brown, in these, her later years. She has a care-taker, who is a nurse, a friend who makes her home with her and reads to her, two house servants, and men about the place. Although she is right in the heart of the country, from her library window she can see Mesopotamia, and Middlefield beyond. Directly east of her house is the divide from which on the north the water flows into Lake Erie, and on the south into the Ohio. When she was a child she never grew tired of having her mother read to her, and now, no one reads to her no matter how many hours at a time when she wishes them to stop. She used to drive to Warren; although there is a macadam road running in a straight line from the court house to her home, she has not driven it in many years. She goes to Cleveland to visit her brother, her nieces and grand- nieces and nephews, but she says she is always glad to be home and feels so thankful that her father did not decide on Cleveland instead of Bloomfield. She thinks that under present conditions all the organizations of the present are necessary, but she has never allied herself with any of them except the Forestry Asso- ciation. She regrets the wanton destruction of the splendid
421
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
forests of northern Ohio. In 1820 her father brought a young maple tree from Bristol and planted it in the door yard. This has been one of the most beautiful trees in the vicinity. A few years ago, when the leaves were heavy with rain, nearly one- half of the tree was blown off. This scar has been lately seraped and filled with cement.
Mrs. Ephraim Brown had a sister, Polly, who married David Penniman. Her daughter, Mary, married Abisha Cross and now resides with her daughter, Mrs. B. F. Pond, on Wash- ington avenue, Warren. Mrs. Cross is now ninety-three years old but retains her mental faculties. She has always been a student and interested in progressive things. She was the leading spirit in the organization of the Woman Suffrage Society which existed in Warren in the late '70s. This society did not live long because of ridienle, but its child is the Political Equality Club, the largest and most influential woman's chib in Trumbull County.
The first schoolhouse in Bloomfield was made of logs and stood on the farm of Leman Ferry. Here Chester Howard taught in the winter of 1817-18. (Mr. Howard was a brother of Mrs. Thomas Howe; taught forty-two winter and twenty-six summer terms.) There was a schoolhouse built early at the center, but the first school hell there was in Lewis Clisby's log cabin, and Noah M. Green was the teacher. Elizabeth Huntington, the sister of Mrs. Ephraim Brown, taught in this same cabin. When Elizabeth Brown was a little girl, two or three years old, ber sister Mary and her brothers took her to school. One day, as she sat there, she became greatly frightened by seeing a pair of yellow eyes, looking through the cracks of the flooring on the platform. These eyes turned out to belong to an inoffensive sheep.
Elizabeth Huntington was long remembered by her pupils with great love and respect. She was very thorough with her classes in spelling, and other primary studies, and brought ont a number of exceptionally good spellers. When, in 1823, she married Mr. Proctor, she went to Baltimore and New York City to live, but finally returned to Bloomfield. where she died in 1882.
Among the early teachers were Mr. John Smith of Bloom- field, who was a very strict disciplinarian; later, Clarissa Howe, Sophronia Otis, Miss Goodhue (the annt of J. S. MeAdoo), Samantha Converse (afterwards Mrs. Dr. Hanna of
422
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
Cleveland and the mother of Mark Hanna), Caroline Converse, Miss Atkins, Julia Ann Wright, who afterwards married John Smith, Alenia Saunders, Adeline Warner, Charlotte Kendell (sister-in-law of John Smith), and Miss Ellen Gates from Con- nectient, an excellent teacher of Latin. This list was followed by some others until the late '50s, when the Rev. D. L. Hickox and his wife opened a school. In 1860 George W. Andrews and his wife, Oberlin graduates, taught five or six years. Their school was most excellent, many pupils coming from neighboring townships, some even from Pittsburg. Cleveland and Massillon, to attend. Mr. Hickox gave up teaching to study for the minis- try, and for the last thirty-five or forty years has been at the head of the theological department of Talladega College in Alabama, and for nine years was acting president of that insti- tution. His school was a private one and since his day the schools in Bloomfield have not kept up to his standard. In the past few years the schools have had excellent teachers but there are fewer pupils attending than formerly. The Bloomfield schools are now centralized. There are no district schools. and there are no scholars going to other schools. Mr. C. C. Pierce is superintendent of schools.
Three women have been members of the school board of Bloomfield: Mrs. Hitchcock, Mrs. Works, and Mrs. Mary Mat- son, who is now clerk.
In 1815 the Rev. Mr. Cole, a Congregational preacher, and the Rev. Mr. Badger preached sermons in Bloomfield. Rev. Ira Eddy preached in Mr. Thayer's house in 1817. The next year Mr. Eddy organized a class of the Methodist church in Bloomfield. Charles Thayer was leader and there were seven- teen members. Interest after a while died out, though there was occasional preaching in the first log schoolhouse in the southern part of the township. In 1830 interest revived and Willard Tyrrill became class leader. In 1835 a house was built by the Methodists and Congregationalists. This was burned in 1852. Five years later these two associations joined again and built a church which is now standing.
The Congregational church was organized as a Presby- terian by Rev. Giles Il. Cole in 1821. There were four or five charter members. Up to 1830 there were about twenty-eight members. In 1826 Calvin Clark and Asa Smith were deacons. Elijah Ballard was chosen deacon in 1832. During the early years there were a number of missionaries preaching here and
423
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
in 1827 Rev. Edson Hart was ordained pastor. In 1859 the church became Congregational in form. About this time there was a good deal of change such as this in the Presbyterian and Congregational churches. Slavery was the cause of this change. The Congregational society, in conjunction with the Methodists, built a church, as above stated, and sold their share to the Methodists. Recently the Disciples and Congregationalists have shared their church building, having purchased a part of the Methodist church.
About 1829, at a public meeting held in Bloomfield to raise money for a preacher, it was agreed to hold services in the center schoolhouse. Under this agreement the Presbyterians were to have the use of the house one-half the time, the Baptists and Methodists one-fourth, the Unitarians one-fourth. Tivo years before this, Benjamin Alton, of New York state, had settled in the township and Ephraim Brown hired him for the one-fourth time allowed the Unitarians. Alton fell under the spell of Thomas Campbell and became converted. This con- version broke up the union of the four parties, although Alton continued to preach. In 1832 he was preaching half the time and made converts. The ministers of the denomination then known as "Campbellites" visited Bloomfield and added other people to the congregation. Mr. Alton moved to Illinois and the same year Rev. Marens Bosworth effected an organiza- tion. A large number of names were added to the membership. In 1848, under the preaching of Rev. Isaac Errett, the number was doubled. Three years later they built the church at the center, Mr. Errett being the first pastor. In 1854 Edwin Wake- field was ordained as an evangelist. Cyrus Bosworth, M. S. Clapp, Isaac Errett and B. F. Perky officiated. In 1879 a half interest in the church which was erected in 1849 and cost $1,600 was disposed of to the Congregationalists, who now hold regular meetings.
CHAPTER XXXII .- BROOKFIELD.
"THE GREEN. " -- FIRST PERSONS AND EVENTS .- MILLS AND BLAST FURNACE .- SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS .- CHURCHES.
Brookfield is probably the township in which the survey- ors record that the land was high enough for them to see into Pennsylvania. Before they reached this, they had had a strug- gle with swamps, and were delighted at the outlook. When surveyed it was known as number 4, range 1. It was original- ly owned by Samuel Hinckley, of North Hampton, Massachu- setts, and was probably named for Brookfield, Massachusetts. He donated land at the center, which was called "the green." He also gave the ground for the cemetery, one acre. Jacob Humason, who first settled near the center cleared the "green" and burying ground. These grounds were improved by people of the township and became the public burying place. The first person buried in this cemetery was the Rev. Mr. Johnson.
It is recorded by several historians that James McMullin came to this township in 1796. This surely must be a mistake of date, because the first surveyors did not come until that summer and he could not very well have received a deed for his land then. This error probably occurred by some early recorder saying he came about that time. If, however, the date should be right, he would not only have been the first set- tler within the present limits of Trumbull County, but of the Reserve as well. He built a log house in the eastern part of the township not far from the state line, after the plan of all the first log houses, and here he lived for some time. He had seven sons, his grandson, James the son of William. being the first white child born in. the township.
The first wedding was that of his son, Samuel, to Eliza- beth Chatfield. Rev. Thomas G. Jones, who preached for the
424
425
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
early Baptists in Warren, but who lived in Brookfield, per- formed this ceremony.
Rev. Thomas G. Jones, who was a neighbor of MeMullin, together with his brother, Benjamin, was the first merchant in Brookfield. In 1802 he built a log cabin of two rooms. In one his family lived; in the other he kept his goods. The family room was in front and there was no outside door to the store room. The shelves were made of puncheon set on pegs driven into the logs. Customers walked through the family rooms to buy goods. Mr. JJones preached most of his sermons over the edge of Pennsylvania and he was the first preacher in Brookfield. The first tavern was kept by Constant Lake, one mile north of the center.
Among the early settlers following Mr. McMullin were Mr. Chatfield, Judge Hughes, Constant Lake, Ethan New- comb, John Briggs, and Benjamin Bentley. The latter built the first frame barn of which there is any account. All records in regard to Brookfield mention this barn, but some note that it took three days to raise it, that two hundred men were pres- ent to assist, and that two barrels of whiskey were consmed. This seems a rather large story.
The township was organized in 1810 and the first election took place at the house of Constant Lake for the purpose of electing township officers. William Cunningham, Anthony Patrick, and John D. Smith were chosen trustees. The names of Bartholomew, Humason, Fowler, etc., are still familiar in the township.
The first death was that of Mrs. Henry Gandy. Her body was not interred in the cemetery, but at the edge of the woods.
The first justice of the peace was JJudge Hughes, who was the land agent for JJudge Samuel Hinckley till about 1820.
The early roads were made of logs and rails. The first saw mill and grist mill, Judge Hughes built about the year 1808. Many of the settlers, before 1830, came from Hubbard and other townships below Brookfield. A little later, a numm- ber of the Brookfield settlers, and many of the sons of the settlers moved to Youngstown and were identified with its history.
Brookfield was one of the townships in which coal was found, and one blast furnace was erected there for the mak- ing of iron in 1836. It was erected near the center. There was a foundry connected with it. The ore was obtained in Hub-
426
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
bard, and charcoal was used for smelting. It was never finan- cially a snecess although it had many different owners.
The Indians encamped often along Big Yankee Run as they did along the streams in many parts of the connty. The Indian boys and the white boys used to play together, and al- though the white boys conld throw the Indian boys in wrestl- ing the Indians could distance them in running. The only time the settlers had trouble with them was when they went into Pennsylvania and returned with plenty of whiskey.
Between the '60s and the '80s farming communities paid a good deal of attention to agricultural fairs, and Brookfield had one of the very best of the associations in the county.
The first schoolhouse. of course, was of logs and stood on Big Yankee Run. The first teacher was Lois Sanford, of Con- neetient. David Shepard was one of the early school teachers, teaching southeast of the center. Jacob Humason's school was on the west side of the "green." Humason had been a merchant before coming to Vienna and was a very good teach- er. These schools, of course, soon gave way to district schools.
In the beginning the townships of Vienna and Brookfield had elections in common. The Presbyterian church, which was early organized, was situated at the center of Vienna. In 1816 the people of Brookfield organized a church under the direction of Rev. James Satterfield, of Mercer. He aeted un- der authority of the Hartford presbytry. The call for the or- ganization of this church was signed by Robert Inghes, Jacob Ulp. Mathew Thompson, James Montgomery, James Kerney, Robert Montgomery and John Laferty. Martha, the wife of James Montgomery. Martha. the wife of Robert Hughes, Sarah, the wife of Mathew Thompson. Jane Montgomery, James Kerney, Elizabeth, the wife of Jacob Ulp, Abigail Laff- erty, Mary Lafferty, and her daughter, May, Anne Lafferty and her daughter, Anne, and Nancy Lafferty were the mem-' bers forming this church. In 1817 a frame building was erected, Isaae Flower making the nails by hand. This stood near the present cemetery. In 1818 Rev. John Core was or- dained at Youngstown and became the minister of Vienna and Brookfield. In 1818 the three men who first signed the eall. IInghes, Ulp and Thompson, were elected elders. Rev. James Anderson was the pastor in 1833, and built up the church by his activity. This church, in 1837, had the same disturb- ance which many churches of the same denomination had at
427
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
about the same time. Younger and newer people wished to adopt new methods and older people disapproved. In Greene this division was known as "old lights" and "new lights," in Brookfield as "old school" and "new school." The majority of the Brookfield church remained with the "old school." In 1843 Rev. Joseph Smith officiated and admitted sixteen mem- bers. In 1845 Rev. Ward became the pastor. His adminis- tration was popular to the congregation. After five years' service he was succeeded by Rev. Jacob Coon. Rev. II. Weber followed him in 1853. In 1854 the congregation had sixty-two members. Rev. N. B. Lyons was the pastor in 1860, Rev. C. S. Rice in 1866, Rev. W. C. Falconer, 1868. The church soon after that began to decline and regular preaching was discon- tinued until 1871, when a revival in the Methodist church awakened the people of Vienna. Meetings were hell in the houses of the members and the church was repaired. In 1873 the congregation only numbered twenty. Rev. J. R. Stockton became the pastor.
The Christian church of Brookfield was organized in 1874, The charter members were Jesse Hoagland, Henry Patterson, A. Tayler, R. S. Hart, H. Hamilton, J. W. Groves. S. C. Ham- ilton, Susan Groves, Mary and Flora Tayler. Lney Struble, Caroline Seaburn, Mary Groves, Mary A. Toward, Catherine, Hannah and Carrie Jones. E. A. Clark, Mary Christie, Emily, Kate and O. Hart, Elsie Mason, G. W. and Sarah Burton, .J. and Mary McMullin, O. J. and Hester Burnett, Mystilla Jones, L. and Mary Randell, A. and Esther MeCollum, Emily Patter- son, Lorain Hatch, Elmora Day, James Haney. and Lavinia Montgomery. In 1876 the present church was erected. Before that. meetings were held in the town hall.
CHAPTER XXXIII .- BRISTOL.
GERMAN SETTLERS .- BAUGHMAN, SAGER AND BARBE .- SCHOOLS. MENNONITE AND OTHER RELIGIOUS ORGAN- IZATIONS .- TEMPERANCE.
Alfred Wolcott. for the Connecticut Land Company, sur- veyed No. 6, range 4, which was called Bristol for his home town. For the services of surveying he was given three hun- dred and fifty acres of land and he erected thereon a log cabin at the center of the township. He, however, did not remain very long, and the first actual settler was Abraham Baughman. who brought his family in 1804, settled on a creek which was afterwards named for him. His cabin stood about a mile east of the center and three-fourths of a mile from the north line of the township. He was elected one of the first trustees of the township and erected a saw mill and grist mill in 1806 near his home. He ran these mills as long as he lived in the town- ship.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.