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 42
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
Among the things most needed and most wanted by the pioneers of Old Trumbull County was salt. We have seen how the brackish water in the Salt Springs district made that land valuable. Salt was sometimes made by leeching ashes, which were in abundance because of burning so much timber. This lye was boiled down, and made a brown salt, which was ordi- narily called black salt. A good deal of this was made at one time in Greene. The question of transportation of anything in the early days was the question. The residents of Greene hewed out logs. making one end pointed, filled this with salt, hitched oxen to it, and dragged it through the woods to New Lyme, or across the swamps to Bloomfield. They received three dollars per hundred pounds for this product. Sometimes these rude boats were used to carry the women and children to church in, to carry grain to mill, and so forth. Anyone who has ever ridden on a stoneboat, or on the kind of sleds which farmers construct with flat board runners, knows how easy it is to draw these over all sorts of bad roads.
Mr. R. C. Rice, the son of Jacob, came to Greene when a
464
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
mere child and lived there until he was elected county recorder, when he bought a home on Washington avenue, Warren, where he now resides. He is a little over seventy years old, but from childhood has been interested in pioneer affairs and really has more information in regard to Greene than people who are much older. He says when he was a child there were about forty log cabins in the vicinity of his home which were more or less dilapidated and unocenpied. He used to try hard to learn who had occupied them, but without success. He says M. M. Cooley, who lives at the Middle Corners, is authority for the story that in the very early history of Greene a boat was lost on Lake Erie. One man at least was saved. As he started to swim from the wreck a box hit him, and he grabbed at it and it really assisted him in his swim to shore. When he reached the shore, and was rested enough to proceed on his journey, he said to himself that instead of leaving the box he would carry it with him. Wandering a little bit farther, he came upon a cabin, obtained food, and after he was dried and rested determined to push on into the country. It happened that a number of the early settlers of Greene had either been sailors themselves, or belonged to sea-faring families. It is supposed for this reason he went to Greene. Either at the cabin where he first stopped, or in Greene, he opened his box, and found it contained twelve hundred pounds, English money. He decided to buy a home for his father and mother and was so pleased with a grove of maple trees which stood on the present Joe Hubbard farm that he bought it and his parents came there to live. His name was Wilbur. Some of these maples, or the remnants of them, are still standing.
There were a great many maple trees in the township of Greene and from these the Indians made sugar. They had no kettles, and had not been thoughtful enough to steal some from the Salt Springs tract, as Indians in the lower part of the county did, so they made their sugar in an unusual and primi- tive way. They gathered the sap, putting it into huge hollowed- ont logs, and into this they dropped red-hot stones previously heated in a fire of logs. The stones of that vicinity were smooth pieces of granite rubbed round by ages, and held heat a long time. Mr. Riee, in plowing on his place, at one time turned up a lot of these stones which showed that they had been burned, and later examined the maple trees near by, which showed the scars of having been tapped many years before.
465
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
The Indians were quite numerous at one time in the town- ship of Greene, and people living there today occasionally find pipes, arrow-heads, etc., and Mr. Charles Dennison, who spent his early life in Greene, found a most perfect Indian ax.
Two brothers of Ralsa Clark, one marrying Fanny Fell, the other Emiline Chapman, lived in one cabin, while a second eabin was being constructed. They were busy during the day and often away from home. The two young women were thus left in the lonesome spot by themselves. They were both fear- less, but one day about noon they saw standing in the road opposite their house an Indian who was considered a dangerous fellow. They could not conceal the fact that the men were away, and they did not know what might happen. Finally, one of the women attempted a strategy. She opened the front door. drew out a table, set it for four, and when the noon hour ar- rived, went to the door and blew the horn. The result was not what she expected. The Indian seemed to know that no men were near. The other woman said to her sister-in-law, "Since this has not worked, I'll try something else." She therefore loaded the gun. stood in the doorway, pointed it at the red man, let him know she was going to shoot. and he broke for the woods. It took a good deal of courage to face an ngly Indian in a spot which was isolated and alone.
As said elsewhere, the township of Greene was composed of Kinsman, Gustavns and Greene. Some difference of opin- ion on public matters in 1819 caused the separation with the formation of the present Kinsman. Before this, the portion now known as Kinsman had been the place for holding elections. Gustavus then became the place for the transaction of township affairs. In 1820 the same dissatisfaction which had caused the first split caused the second, and Gustavus was made into a township. This act made also Greene a township, and the first election was held at William Harrington's house in 1820. Ebenezer Kee was made elerk, Ephraim Rice, John Harrington and Roswell Bartlett, trustees. David Rice was treasurer; Ephraim Rice and John Wakefield, overseers of the poor.
The early residents of Greene were Calvinists. Most of them believed in fore-ordination, election and saint's perse- verance. In the early days missionaries went through the town- ship and meetings were held in honses. After a time they were sometimes held in groves and when new buildings, especially barns, were put up, there was often preaching there. These
Vol. 1-30
466
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
old sermons were long, Calvinistie in doctrine and were almost all of them preached with a kind of drawl in the voice. kind of a singing tone. The mother of John Wakefield was of exceed- ingly pious disposition. She believed that whatever was sent was for the good of the person afflicted. People living in Greene today say that they have heard her repeat many times :
"My life shall forever be Guided by His firm decree; He that fixed and formed the earth Fixed my first and second birth."
This second birth referred to her experience in religion. People in this community talked about their first and second birth. They would say their first birth occurred in -, mentioning the place where they were born; their second birth occurred in -, mentioning the town where they were baptised.
One of the old preachers was Elder Woodworth, close- communion Baptist. He was bony, tall, had little black eyes set way back in his head. The Methodists went to Greene to start a class and afterwards this became the Methodist church, and Elder Woodworth came there to preach, saying he was going to "squelch" this new society. He preached from the text, "We are all clay in the hands of the Father."
The first church was a log one built in the woods at what was known as "the middle corners." Like buildings were usually put at the center of the town, but since the west half of Greene was not sold until a late day this church was built between the center and the east line and known as above. There was no fire of any kind in this church and the seats were slabs of logs with legs stuck in. They were built high enough for old people, and children's feet could not touch. It is pretty hard for girls and boys to keep their feet still anyway, but when they are swinging in the air it is especially hard. Mr. C. A. Harrington remembers trying to keep his legs from swinging when he sat in this old church and he also remembers how his mother stopped in the woods and broke a stick and switched him because he had not sat still.
The most noted minister this congregation had was the Rev. Crane. As the second generation came on, they rebelled at the Puritanical belief of their fathers and there was a split in the church. Unlike most splits, the older and stricter people went to the spot that is now Kenilworth, built a church, while
462
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
the younger people kept the old log church, and the Rev. Mr. Crane stayed with them. The common term for these two churches were the "old lights" and the "new." The denom- ination was New England Congregational.
At one time, a man named Jenkins came there to preach. He was so beantifully dressed that all the people in town watched him. They wore home-spun, he had broadeloth; he wore a big black silk neckerchief, the ends of which he pulled out in a picturesque way ; he was fat and after he had preached a little while would take off his necktie, lay it on the desk; pretty soon his coat would come off, then his vest; then his collar. When he got a little over half through he would put on his collar, then his vest, then his coat, and then his necktie. The children were perfectly delighted when he began to dress himself. There was one old minister who used to tell such big stories that the people did not believe. lle said that when he was converted the roots of the trees cracked so you conld hear them a mile ( ?).
One of the ministers was a fine singer and he used to sing this hyn :
"I love my Jesus, I know I do, And the brethren say they love Him too.""
This had a number of verses in which were mentioned different things which were loved. When it came to the verse :
"I love my sistern. I know I do. And the brethren say they love them too."
the men in the congregation would sing this with a long, loud, lusty tone. Even if they appeared serious, there was humor in them after all.
The first frame barn raised in Greene belonged to Ephraim Rice, and here preaching was had by Elias Morse. Elias had preached before in Greene and he had not satisfied the people very well, and they had decided that he was not called to preach. However, as he wanted to come again they got up this meeting for him. lle said that he understood that somebody had said he was not "called" to preach and then he gave an exact de- seription of how he was "called," told where he was, and how God said to him "to go and preach the Gospel," and the devil was near and said, "You can't preach." This he repeated sev- eral times, and finally, when he repeated what the devil had
468
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
said, a member of the congregation spoke up loud enough to be heard, "The devil was right."
Some of the finest singers in Trumbull County were in Greene. Ephraim Rice sang bass, E. Cobb and Aaron Merritt, tenor. Ephraim Rice had a long Roman nose, little blue eyes, and when he sang he held his book at nearly arm's length, swing it up and down, and beat time with his feet. The chil- dren of the old residents inherited much of this musical genius, and Mr. Myrtle Rice, when he was over eighty years, sang so well as to be called upon to sing solos at funerals and on other occasions.
We have referred in other parts of this history to the fact that the children of the early settlers of Trumbull County rebelled against the strict teaching and the Calvinistic princi- ples which existed in this locality. It was strange that religious teachers of that time did not see what we now see, namely, that the natural child instinet taught it the Christ principle, and that the parent was the perverted one. Anyhow, all through old Trumbull County we hear over and over again how children lied and begged and grew siek rather than go to church. We also learn, as narrated in several other places, how children behaved while parents were at church.
Mr. R. C. Rice when a small child petted one of the cats in the barn until it became quite tame. One Sunday, having this cat inside the house, he lured a wild barn-eat into the living room and set to work to make a yoke for these two cats, expecting to tame them and break them as he would a pair of calves. His brother, older, remonstrated with him, explaining to him that the cat differed in nature from the calf, but to no purpose. Ile carefully made the yoke, the bows, the pins, and yoked the cats. Of course, they refused to stand, refused to pull, refused to do anything but lie on the floor and scratch and fight. In this fight the yoke broke, and unfortunately the tame cat was free and the wild cat was left with the yoke on its neck. Crazed by this appendage, it jumped into the dish closet, and despite the frantie seat of the boys, did not leave the shelves until most of the dishes were on the floor. The boys gathered up the fragments, put what few were left on the front of the shelves, and sat down sorrowfully, hoping the mother would not notice what had happened. However, dishes were too hard to obtain, money was too searee, for any woman not to notice such destruction the minute her eyes rested on the shelves.
469
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
Since the older boy had protested against the yoking, he imme- diately laid the blame on the younger, and told all the story in such a ridiculous way that the mother could not help but laugh, and in that day as in this, when a child has made the mother see the ridiculous, has replaced a frown with a smile, his battle is won.
Nearly every old pioneer whom the author has seen has told a bear story. Few of these have been repeated. The fol- lowing is a little out of the ordinary. When Mr. Rice was a very small boy some of these children went to school as early as three or four years of age, because they were in the way at home. He attended a school taught by Polly Ann Harvey. The seats were of hewn logs, and the back seats had in some places boards so placed as to make a writing shelf. One day in the early spring, it being cold enough to have had a little fire in the morning, the teacher, looking out of the window, saw a bear coming from the thicket. She immediately called to the children that a bear was coming. The door was locked, the windows were put down, the fire, which was not needed in mid- day, was stirred up, children grabbed their dinner pails, filled the same with water, put them on the coals, the teacher put a poker in the embers and breathlessly they awaited the approach of the bear. Young Rice was too little to know the danger, and climbing upon the writing shelf watched with great interest the approach of the animal. He was thin from his winter sleep, and walked rather slowly. Approaching the house he went to the front where the children usually ate their dinner, excepting to find some food there. Then he began slowly walking around the house. Finally, one of the girls discovered that one of the small panes of glass was broken. She therefore took her small shawl and stuffed it in the crack. Around came the bear, and when he either saw or smelled the shawl, he made a dive for the window, and at the same time uttered a vicious growl that frightened the children almost to death. Grabbing the shawl, he ran with it, tearing it to pieces. At this time he was at the back of the house, and the children inside were getting dread- fully frightened. Then it was that a young man with his dog came walking down the roadway. The teacher called to him that they were besieged by a bear, and he called, "Wait a minute," and disappeared. His dog did not follow him, but, like the bear, knowing of the feeding place of the children, repaired to the front of the schoolhouse. The bear, having fin-
470
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
ished the shawl, started on its walk, and encountered the dog. Before the latter realized it, the former had cuffed his ears, and then a race began. Around the house went the dog, with the bear after him. The latter was the more dangerous, but the former was more fleet of foot. The children in watching this race forgot their own fear. The bear, weak from want of food, kept losing ground, and finally the dog made a dash for home through the woods. The young farmer, upon reaching home, got his gun, and accompanied by his brother, also armed, repaired to the return path of the bear, and shot it near the schoolhouse. Then the children bravely opened the door, and viewed the remains. School, of course, was dismissed, for how could children multiply or spell after such a dangerous adven- ture? In fact, it was several days before the school resumed its normal tone.
The Greene citizen best known to the public is Mr. Fenelon Rice, grandson of David Rice. For many years he was at the head of the Conservatory of Music at Oberlin and really built up that branch of the college to its present condition.
Fifty years ago there was a tailor shop, wagon shops, two shoemakers, two tanners, carding mill, and all sorts of like stores at the center of Greene. Now there is a single store.
One year Mr. Harrington and his father went to Kins- man to sell a load of wheat. They got thirty-one cents a bushel. Just as they were driving away, Mr. John Kinsman, the mer- chant, brought out a great roll of something white and told them it was cotton cloth. This was the first they had seen. They asked the price of it and found that it was fifty cents a yard. They bought one yard to take home to show their family. It therefore took a bushel and three-quarters of wheat to buy one yard of cloth.
In the campaign of 1840, when everybody was so excited, the Wakefield boys and the Harrington boys were very anxious to come to town to the Corwin meeting. After much consulta- tion, the fathers decided they could come. They got two ox carts and a driver for them, and the boys in the greatest excite- ment hurried to the woods, made a log cabin, on which they tacked coonskins, and at midnight, before the meeting, they left Greene, with old Ben Lewis driving the oxen, and the boys. with some girls of the family, inside the cabin. Mr. Harring- ton says that the women of the family and neighborhood got so interested in this cabin that they made a nice flag for them
4:1
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
and the boys put np a flag-pole on the cabin. They met with no misfortunes until they started to ford a creek whose bed was rather uncertain, and the cabin came near landing in the water. However, they righted themselves and had no more trouble till they got this side of Baconsburg (Cortland), when the branches of a big tree were so low that they could not get under without breaking the flag-pole. However, there was a way around this, for they let down the fences, drove through the field, and arrived in Warren safely and on time. The boys in this cabin were Frank Rood, Charles Harrington, Edwin and Sidney Wake- field (and two girls). They reached Mecca at daylight. This day was the most wonderful of the boys' lives. They heard Tom Corwin speak and saw all this wonderful procession. It was said that one log cabin was drawn by twenty pairs of oxen. The speaking was in the northeast corner of the park, and there was a picture of Van Buren hanging near, to which Corwin referred now and then.
The first schoolhouse in Greene was, of course of logs, and stood a mile north of the corners, while the second was a frame building. The latter was on the road near the south cemetery. Among the first teachers were Roswell Bartlett, William Har- rington, James Bascom, Rhoda Rice, Mary Evans and Charlotte Bascom.
Each fall the patrons of the schools would get together and plaster np the cracks of the logs of the first schoolhouse with mud or whatever they could get, and then the school wonld begin. The teachers were paid in produce. A Miss Bascomb, who afterwards married William Harrington, received, among other things, a log chain for her services. Her son, C. A. Harrington, who was longer identified with the Greene schools than any one other person, used to receive his pay half in money and half in store scrip. He used to board around. and most of the places were very comfortable. Some places, however, were pretty bad, and when it was his turn to board there he used to walk home every night, six miles and a half, and back in the morning.
Although Mr. Harrington was a successful school teacher, he never was tanght either grammar or arithmetic in a school. His father being lame, was not able to do hard farm work, and he made ox yokes and ax helves for the community. Winter eve- nings he would have his bench at the side of the fireplace. The bits of wood which fell from his knife Charles would pile into
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
the fire, and thus, lying on the hearth by the blaze of this wood, he taught himself algebra. After a time he went to school one term at Farmington and another term at Austin- burg. Finally he saved enough money to go to Oberlin. There he took Latin and Greek and the higher studies. He had laid by a sufficient sum for his books and tuition, and earned his board by selling wood in Oberlin. As he was about to graduate he learned that he would have to take Hebrew. He knew nothing about this. He made up his mind that since he was not going to be a preacher, it was foolish to spend the time on this study, and so he went home expecting to return and graduate the next year, when it was proposed to make Hebrew optional. Upon his return to Greene, someone suggested that he teach school. He therefore had some handbills printed, giving the time and place of opening. When the morning arrived he was surprised to find twenty-nine scholars waiting, and by the end of the term he had fifty. He taught for several years. His school grew until it numbered two hundred. The scholars were in different houses and he was the superintendent, board of education, and everything else connected with school manage- ment. This experience served him well in after years when he was a member of the Warren school board. His early school in Greene was so well known throughout the county that both M. D. Leggett and J. D. Cox, superintendents of the Warren schools, visited it for their own instruction. Among those early teachers were Lauren Coleman, Lewis Harrington, Dwight Kee, and Elder Bates. This school ran until the war broke out, when the young men went into the service, and the schools generally were more or less disorganized.
In most townships there were academies, but Mr. Harring- ton's school took the place of such institution. His scholars are scattered in many parts of the United States, and in his travels and those of his friends they are very often run upon. Some years ago Mr. Harrington was visiting relatives in Min- nesota, and in driving he became very thirsty. Getting out of the carriage to procure a drink, he discovered a large patch of melons. His thirsty condition made this fruit particularly at- tractive. Going to the house, he asked if he could buy some of the melons. The housewife replied, "No," but she would give him all he wanted. As he was leaving she watched him pretty closely, and then asked, "Aren't you Charles Harring-
Re. Ches. A. Harrington.
Vidare. C.
(Loaned by the Tribune. )
413
HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY
ton?" And when she found she had guessed right, she told him she was one of his okl pupils.
Captain Beeman, who taught school in West Farmington at one time, was a West Pointer. He brought up his scholars after West Point training. Every boy who entered the school- room had to salute when he came in. Every girl had to eurtsey. When they stood up in the class the teacher would say, "Atten- tion. Manners," when the boys must fold their arms and the girls piously crossed their hands. When school was dismissed the command, "Attention, Manners, March," was given.
During the present century the schools of Greene have been centralized, following the example of Gustavus after that town- ship had adopted the plan a year before. The residents voted to bond the township for $8,000, and the district schoolhouses and their lots were sold for $2,000. The new brick central schoolhouse cost, furnished, $8,200, and is a modern two-story building, equal in all respects to the average city schoolhouse.
CHAPTER XXXVHL-GUSTAVUS.
PELTON FAMILY .- THE GILDERS .- CALVIN CONE .- OTHER EARLY FAMILIES .- JOHN BROWN JR .- A GREAT INVENTOR -PHYSICIANS .- SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS. -RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS.
Township 7. range 2, was named for Gustavus Storrs, whose father. Col. Lemuel Storrs, surveyed and numbered the lots of the township in 1800. The first settler was a ship car- penter and a farmer, Josiah Pelton, of Killingworth, Connecti- «ut. He purchased the land in the east and came ont to look at it in 1800. He stayed all summer, and, not needing his horse, turned it out to pasture. Never did any horse have a better summer vacation. He grew fat and sleek and wild. He pre- ferred his new home to his old one, and when his master sought him for the home-going trip, it was necessary to lasso him in order to catch him. He made the journey carrying part of the time his master and part of the time a missionary who was returning home. Upon reaching Connectient Mr. Pelton offered one hundred acres of land to the first woman who would promise to make Gustavus her home. His son Jesse had a sweetheart in Granby, Connecticut. Her name was Rnhamah De Wolf. She came with her father's family to Vernon and stayed there until January, 1803. In June (1802) a cabin was erected by Mr. Pelton, Indians as well as white men helping to construct it. and they were married in September, her husband, before this, having lived alone in the cabin. Mrs. Pelton, by virtue of com- plying with this agreement, owned the one hundred acres of land in Gnstavns. However, the deed was made ont to her husband, as were most deeds of like nature of that day. In fact, at that time women did not own their own clothes, and although they wore skirts, these skirts belonged to their hus- bands. If they met with an accident, such as breaking a leg. their husbands brought suit, and any money recovered belonged to the husband. Today women in Gustavus, in Trumbull
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.