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 53
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Mary Anne Smith, who married Nathan Morton, was a school teacher in the early '40s. She had five daughters who also taught school.
Asa Haines Sr. moved to Vernon from Connecticut in 1818. IIe died there in 1849. Asa Haines Jr., who always spelled his name "Haynes," was born in Connecticut. He was one of the last of the associate justices of this district. He was a saddler by trade. He was the father of Sylvia Haines above mentioned.
Two men who achieved national reputation resided in Ver- non. One was P. P. Bliss, who moved there with his parents in 1844 and lived there some little time. His mother possessed a beantiful voice, and was one of the early singers who could "read notes." Calvin Kingsley, who attended Allegheny Col- lege, taught school in Vernon, and resided there for some little time. He afterwards became the well known Bishop Kingsley.
CHAPTER LE-VIENNA.
FIRST EVENTS .- BETHSHEBA BURR .- HUTCHINS .- WOODFORD .- WHEELER .- BARTHOLOMEW .- BETTS .- HUMISON .- BALDWIN .- MACKEY .- THE SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.
The group of townships in the eastern part of the county were separated in 1806, number 4, running through the first and second range. In 1810 the ranges were separated, and number 4. range 2. was created, and later known as Vienna. When or why this name was given is not known.
The first marriage was that of Samuel Hutchins and Freelove Flower, and the second, of Levi Foote (Beth- sheba Burr Foote's son) and Millie Allen.
Lavinia Flower, born in 1801, living eighty years, was the first child born in Vienna township.
The first death was that of Abiel Bartholomew. He was killed by the falling of a tree in 1805.
The first frame barn was built by Joel Humison, and the second by Simeon Wheeler. Both were still standing a few years since.
The first sawmill was built by Samnel Lowrey and was on Sqnaw creek.
The first frame house was Isaac Humison's, and Isaac Powers was the first merchant.
The first orchard was planted by Simeon Wheeler on the I. B. Paine farm. Some of these trees were seen by the anthor a few years since.
Squire Clinton was the first justice of the peace, and the first lawsuit in the township was tried before him. A man who drank too much and abused his wife was com- plained of. by her, and a hearing on the matter was held.
Among the names of the early families we find Flower. Foote, Palmer, Paine, Woodford, Humison, Wheeler, Bartholo- mew, Lowrey, Truesdell, Stewart, Andrews, and Hutchins.
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The original owners of Vienna were Uriel Holmes, Eph- raim Root, and Timothy Burr. Mr. Holmes, it is said, came out with a surveying party in 1798. As was the usual way, they went east in the fall, and returned the following spring.
The dates of these first comers are confused, and no writ- ten documents could be obtained. So whether Mr. Flower and Palmer came in 1799 or 1800 is not positive, but that they were the first settlers, is sure.
Very little is known of Mr. Palmer. He was one of the sur- veyors employed by Holmes. That his cabin was burned in 1800, is recorded.
Possibly this is the place to speak at length of one of the most remarkable women Trumbull County has ever had. She was Bethsheba Burr, a relative of Aaron, and apparently she had some of his initiative and energetic spirit. She was born in 1755, in Granby, Connecticut, and married a Mr. Foote. Some records say his name was Joseph, others Asa. Undoubtedly it was her energetic spirit which brought the family to New York. While living here, her husband, like most of the men of that time took up arms in the Revolutionary war. He was killed, and she was left in her western home so desperately poor that it is a wonder some of her children did not die of starvation. Once she carried a sack of corn twenty miles to get it ground into meal, leaving her children alone during her absence. It was that or starve. The nearby neighbors looked after her some- what, one of them giving her a piece of meat and some meal. upon which she subsisted for a little time. Finally, binding out her oldest son, she started for Connecticut on foot, and begged her food as she went. She carried her baby in her arms. led one little child, while the other walked by her side. Could there be a more desolate, desperate picture than this? Two things brightened her way, one, the kindness of the people to whom she applied, and the other, that she was going home. After such an experience, one would expect to find her a broken-down, pessi- mistie person. However, she was not. What she did for a little time, we do not know, but when Isaac Flower and his party started for the Western Reserve, she, as his wife, accompanied them. When they arrived at Youngstown, the 'wagons were more or less dilapidated, and the roads impassable, and her daughter Bethisheba with Freelove Flower (undoubtedly her step-daughter) walked the eighteen miles to Vienna, and were therefore the pioneer women in that town. With her energetic
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spirit she entered into her new duties, and died in that town- ship, the oldest woman to have ever lived there. However there were eventful years between the time she first set her foot on Vienna soil to the time she was laid away, peacefully to sleep in the cemetery. Her daughter, Lavinia Flower, was the first white child born in the township. She married a Mr. Steele, and died in 1881. During Mrs. Flower's early life in Vienna. she and her daughters, possibly the girls who had walked to Connecticut with her, were in their cabin, when an Indian was seen to come ont of the thicket, followed by five or six others, two or three squaws, carrying papooses. They came directly to her door. Laying their bundles on the grass, they had a con- sultation in which there was a good deal of merriment. Of conrse Mrs. Flower was alarmed. But her natural courage served her well, for she walked out, greeted them cheerfully. shook hands with them, invited them in, and gave them food. Presently they asked for "fire-water." She explained to them that there was none in the house. This they did not believe since they saw the whiskey barrel in the corner. She ex- plained to them that the contents that morning had been taken to a raising, and there was nothing in the barrel but the odor. At length they were convinced, and withdrew. In 1813 Isaac Flower died. Levi Foote, Mrs. Flower's son, had moved to Fowler, and his child was the first white child born in that township ( Fowler). One of the foremost citizens of Hartford was Captain Thomas Thompson. The woman he brought with him was his second wife, and she died about the time that Isaac Flower passed away. Captain Thompson was a strong char- acter and certainly Bethsheba Burr Foote Flower was also. It was natural therefore that these people, of this character, both "twice bereft," should marry. The new Mrs. Thompson dis- played the same courage during her third venture in her new home as she had in early life. She killed at least one wolf, prob- ably two. A recorder of the history of one township says she shot a wolf, and another that she caught one with a trap, and received the ten dollar bounty offered for it. We are sorry to record that the man who loaned her the trap claimed half the money. and as far as we know this was the only time Beth- sheba got the worst of the bargain. She spent her last days in Vienna as recorded above.
Samuel Intchins, a lad brought up by Holmes, had helped Palmer survey the township, and for his services, was given
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one hundred acres of land. He chose what is now known as "Payne's Corners," and this farm was probably the first to which any man had a deed, in Vienna. His marriage to Free. love Flower was in January, 1803. Their children were: Hi- ram, who married Eliza Lane; Amoretta (Mrs. Richard Treat) ; Mary (Mrs. Augustus Fuller) ; John married Rhoda Andrews; Serena (Mrs. Augustus Reid) ; Lucia, who was first Mrs. Cot- ton and then Mrs. Andrews; and Betsey, Mrs. L. B. Lane. The latter was a missionary to Siam. These children, most of them. were identified with the early history of Trumbull County. Hiram's daughter, Lovisa, married S. W. Strain, and he has been a route agent for fifty years. He is greatly re- speeted. His youngest son, Charles, is the leading dressmaker of Trumbull County. Urial, undoubtedly named for Urial Holmes, who had been a father to Samnel Hutchins, married Emily Bennett, of the Bennett family of Hartford. One of her sisters was the second wife to Samnel Quinby, the other was Mrs. Calvin Sutliff. John early moved to Warren, was a law- ver, became interested in polities, local and state, and was a member of the national house of representatives from 1859-63. He had a number of children, Mary, the oldest being a leader, socially, in her girlhood days; Horace, who became associated with Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company when a young man, and is now exceedingly wealthy; John C., who was first a lawyer in Warren, then moved to Cleveland, where he prac- ticed law, became judge of the court, postmaster of the city. and now is an attorney in good practice.
The third family to settle in Vienna was Isaac Wood- ford's. He came in the usual way, by ox-cart, and suffered the usual privation, entting a roadway, and all that. The Woodford family dates back to the Puritan stock more direct- ly than many of the early settlers of Vienna. He was ordi- narily called "Deacon," and having joined the church at twenty-four, it is recorded that he adhered to the motto "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." This puts the author in the right frame of mind to preach a sermon. Was it not strange that custom interpreted religion and men them- selves believed that a man was absolutely religions, that he was saved from hell fires, when he said that "He and his house would serve the Lord." It has only just begun to dawn upon people that a man can speak for himself; that the wife may have her own religion, that the children under guidance may
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develop themselves. No man has a right to say what others shall do, but he has not only a right, but a bounden duty to say what he himself shall do. Well, Deacon Isaac was a pretty good man. He led prayer meetings, taught Sabbath school, did his share of civic work, and his wife, Statira, literally, "kept to her knitting." She not only kuit, but she spun and wove. made cheese which she sold at five cents a pound. She not only sold her products, but she packed the same on her horse, and trotted off to Warren, ten miles away, when she exchanged them for necessaries and luxuries, which her family ate or used. It is said she had an indomitable will, was exceedingly robust and healthy ; at any rate, the deacon died before she did. She then married Henry Lane, and was the second time a widow. She had six daughters.
The year that Isaac Woodford came to the township, Joel and Isaac Humison, Simeon Wheeler, Seth Bartholomew, and Sylvester Woodford came also, and their descendants have always been among the prominent citizens of the township.
Darius Woodford, who came in 1804, possibly 1803, mar- ried Bertha Bass, and together they made the trip from their Connecticut home. They stayed in the log cabin of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Woodford until their own house was erected. Their frame house, which replaced the log one, was built in 1812. One night during the early years of their marriage, when Mr. Woodford had gone to Warren for salt and other provisions, and was overtaken by a panther. he stopped at Mr. Lewis' for the night. His wife, standing outside of her cabin waiting for him to come, saw that the roof was afire. She got a ladder. began carrying water, doing all she possible could to quench the flames, which were getting sadly ahead of her. Then hap- pened the thing which usually happens only in books. In that wild country where houses were far apart, where people sel- dom went out at night, some men who happened to have busi- ness in that direction, appeared upon the scene at the right moment. and helped her to save her home. Her oldest daugh- ter was one of the early school teachers of Hartford. She was a splendid student. She attended school in Warren, and after- wards the school at Hartford, Connecticut, which Catherine Beecher and her famous sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, taught. This daughter, Eliza, married J. J. Humison, and thus were united two of the early families. Eliza lived to be eighty years old, dying in 1890. The second daughter married Nathaniel
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Hayes, the first practicing physician in Vienna. Sophrona married Adam MeClurg. The youngest married Mr. Strain, and lived upon the old homestead.
Isaac Woodford Jr. married Phoebe Merritt. She had a rather unusual education for the girls of her time and was the first person to sign a temperance pledge in the township. Her husband's uncle, Darius, was one of the earliest temperance advocates among men.
Simeon Wheeler was the father of Albert Wheeler, who began life in Warren as a tinner, and through good business methods and integrity acquired a handsome property. For a number of years he was cashier, and then president, of the Western Reserve Bank. He died a few years since at his home on Park avenue, leaving a widow, Sarah, who was a daughter of the Mr. Gaskill who built the Gaskill House, and who is referred to in the early part of this history. From this. union there were three daughters, Lillian, Anna and Marion. The oldest and youngest now reside in Trumbull County, Mrs. Late Abel and Mrs. Howard Ingersol. Simeon Wheeler's old farm, after a time, passed by sale into the hands of Ichabod Payne, and the portion of Vienna in which it stood was named Payne's Corners.
The Bartholomew family were long identified with Vienna. R. Bartholomew, of the second generation, a carpenter and contractor by trade, early moved to Cuyahoga county. and when he was twenty-two returned to Warren, where he lived a great many years. He then went back to Vienna and died re- cently. Two of his daughters, Ida and Mary, married and re- sided in Chicago. Another member of this family, William Bartholomew, for many years lived in Warren, and died in 1908. His oldest daughter married J. M. Gledhill, so long con- nected with the Warren Chronicle. One of the older members of this family, Abial, died after he had been in the new settle- ment but a year. He was killed by a falling tree. Miss Lulie Mackey says "The kind neighbors cleared away a little space of the forest, and in a rough coffin, on a bleak winter day, laid him away,-the first in that silent city, which has grown until today its inhabitants are even more mimerons than the living around them."
Xenaphon Betts and his wife Jane were among the later settlers of Vienna. Betts was a minister and served the Pres- byterian church twenty-eight years. He was not only inter-
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ested in his own township, but in the county's educational and religions affairs. lle had five children, the best known being Dr. Helen Betts, now a successful practicing physician in Bos- ton. She was the first woman physician in Trumbull County. being a student of D. B. Woods. After she had taken her medi- cal course and graduated. practiced for a little time in Warren, she went to Youngstown, and then to Boston. She made a place for herself in the profession, when that profession hardly toler- ated women.
James J. Truesdell reached Vienna in 1805 and lived the remainder of his life there, dying in 1852. He was justice of the peace for eighteen years. His son Harry was also a resi- dent of Vienna, having been born just previous to the coming of the family. In 1834 he married Emmaline, daughter of Deacon Wolcott. Mr. Truesdell was justice of the peace for twenty-one years.
One of the most important families in Vienna is the Iumi- sons, and we are able to get little or no data in regard to them. From the beginning they were good citizens, and Joel Humi- son, who was born in 1839 and married Juliette A. Betts. was in the vigor of his manhood one of the best business men of the town. He was at the head of the rake factory and engaged in other enterprises. The mother of C. H. Andrews of Youngs- town was Julia Humison. His middle name was given for her family and he was born in Vienna.
Jesse Baldwin, with his wife, Phebe Pardee, and ten chil- dren, came to Vernon in 1815 from their home in West Avon, Connecticut. Their journey was like all the rest, and their hardships were the same after they reached their new home. Mrs. Baldwin ( Phebe Pardee ) was a cripple from childhood and as little was known about surgery at that time, or about mechanical apparatus for assisting lame people, she went about all her life with the aid of a chair. Nancy, the oldest daugh- ter, married Allen Sutliff. a brother of Judge Milton Sutliff, late of Warren. Phebe, another daughter, married Alanson Smith of Fowler. Nelson, who was one and one-half years old when his parents came, lived in Vienna. He married Maria Scoville. The old Baldwin homestead in Vienna, located one and one-half miles west of Vienna Center. is now owned and occupied by William Munson.
Mr. Baldwin was a tanner. and Mrs. Baldwin, despite her affliction, made the clothing winter and summer, for the fam-
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ily, and she was a marvelous needlewoman. She lived with her son Nelson, in the old home until she was eighty-one years old. It is said that the old home in the early days of the Bald- wins was a social place, and that they were all exceedingly hon- est and straight-forward in their dealings.
Andrew Mackey, his wife Mary Murray, and three sons Hugh, James, and Andrew Jr., came to Vienna in 1805. An- drew Jr. married Mary Bartholomew, whose son Ira is the father of Miss Lulie Mackey, Mrs. William MeNaughton and Ira Mackey Jr., of Warren. Mrs. Mary Bartholomew Mackey was the daughter of Mrs. Ira Bartholomew, who taught one of the first schools in Vienna.
Ira Mackey Sr. was born in Vienna, October, 1829. Early in life he resolved to have a college education, but this was not accomplished, because of the death of his father. In 1855 he married Elmina Baldwin, who is still living. She "is known to her friends to be ever ready to assist the sick and needy and lend a helping hand in any charitable work; unselfish to the last degree; ever hospitable, loving her home, children, and flowers better than notoriety." Their children are Mellie (Mrs. Wm. McNaughton of Warren) ; Lulie, who is mentioned in the chapter on Beneh & Bar; and Ira B. The last named is a prominent lumber dealer in Warren. He married Mina Bris- bane, and has one daughter, Jean.
One of the substantial citizens of Vienna was Andrew J. Andrews. He married Rosina Hamblin, and after her death, Mary Barnhisel. His occupation was that of a cattle drover. Two children were born, Lncy E. and Lucius, who married Cor- nelia Woodford. The son was a teacher, and his daughter, Mary R., is the wife of E. L. Hauser, and resides in Girard.
We have noticed that in each township there was a woman or two, so skilful in nursing and so acquainted with herbs and poultices, that she took the part of an early physician. These women expected to be at the call of the neighbors. Mrs. Daniel Griffis, who came to Vienna in 1819, occupied that place for that township. Her husband, a wagon-maker by trade, a dea- con in the Presbyterian elmich, died rather early, and left her with six children. She is well remembered by the children and the grandchildren of the early Vienna folks.
Mr. and Mrs. Alderman came to Vienna in 1804. They walked most of the way. Mrs. Alderman carried a young child, three years old. They slept in the wagon which carried their
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goods, and cooked on the ground. Mrs. Alderman and children often started before the teams were ready in the morning, and would be overtaken by noon. Mr. Alderman died when they had been in the town a few years, and she bought seventy acres of land, and she and her daughters paid for it. In 1812 they wove one hundred yards of tow and linen cloth, selling it to the soldiers in Ashtabula county for fifty cents a yard.
Miss Lulie Mackey says: "In the spring of 1805, the worthy fathers and mothers of Vienna recognized the neces- sity of educational privileges for their rapidly increasing chil- dren, and glancing about them for an eligible site, they de- vided upon an unoccupied hog-pen about a mile south of the center. This was immediately swept, garnished, and supplied with greased paper windows, for the children were more preci- ous than pigs, and when properly dedicated by the insertion of two pins for the support of whips into this temple of learn- ing, came the youth of the neighborhood, and were presided over by Mrs. Ira Bartholomew. The following winter the 'schoolhouse' was restored to its original use, and Mrs. Bar- tholomew taught in a cabin. The next summer a frame school- house was built at the center. From that time forward, Vienna has made a fair school record, sustaining for many years an academy and graded school at the center."
In one of the early Warren papers we find the following:
The subscriber expects to commence an English school at the center of Vienna on the first Monday of De- cember next, for the instruction of young gentlemen and ladies in arithmetic, English grammar, geography. as- tronomy, etc. The term will be four months and the price of tuition $3 per term. No scholars will be received for less than half a term. The Sacred Scriptures will be daily read in school and the strictest attention paid to the morals and manners, by
NATHAN B. DARROW.
The first schoolhouse built in the township in 1806 was a frame building. The next year Andrew Bushnell of Hartford was the teacher.
The Presbyterian church existed early in Vienna. It was organized in 1805 by Thomas Robbins, under the "plan of union." Isaae Flower, Rosannah Williams, Samuel Clinton,
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Anne Wheeler, Joseph and Sylvia Bartholomew, John and Lois Clark, Robert and Montgomery Hughes, James and Jane Mont- gomery, and Isaac Woodford were the original members. At first services were held largely in private residences, and some- times in schoolhouses. In 1810 they had a regular minister, the Rev. Nathan Darrow. He stayed four years, and entered the missionary field. Later he returned to Vienna, where he taught school and preached until 1828. Rev. John Core was made pastor over the church at Youngstown, Vienna and Brookfield. In 1830 Rev. Bierge had charge and stayed five years, when Rev. E. B. Chamberlain succeeded him. Zenaphon Betts above referred to was installed as pastor in 1843, and continued in that capacity until his death, twenty-eight years. The church was for some little time without a minister, and in 1873 Rev. J. R. Stockton was given charge of the congregations of Vienna and Brookfield. In 1835 Isaac Woodford was deacon; in 1837, Samuel Hutchins; in 1838, Dexter Clinton. In 1853 the church building was burned and everything destroyed. The next year the new church was dedicated. Just before the death of the Rev. Mr. Betts, the form was changed from Congrega- tional to Presbyterian.
The Methodist church of Vienna is no exception to the Methodist church of other townships, in that few, if any, rec- ords are kept. A class was early formed and meetings held in the southwest part of the township. Sometimes this locality was called "Methodist Corners." Here a church was built. Timothy B. Clark was a class-leader, and, besides himself, Ira Bartholomew, Elisha Booth, Maria Fuller, and Andrew Mac- key were early members. In 1820 the circuit riders began visiting Vienna, and a meeting-house at the center was erected in 1850.
At one time the Catholics held services at the center of Vienna, but after the coal was exhausted in that township, their services were discontinued.
In the early '60s the coal of Vienna, which had been seen in small quantities, was first mined. By 1869 these coal fields were largely developed, and a branch railroad was run into the township. Ira B. Mackey was the contractor who sank the first shaft and the men who were largely interested in it financially were C. H. Andrews and William J. Hitchcock.
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CHAPTER LIE .- WEATHERSFIELD.
HARMON FAMILY .- OHLTOWN .- MINERAL RIDGE .- NILES .- IRON MANUFACTURE .- THE EATON FAMILY .- FOUNDING AND GROWTH OF NILES .- WILLIAM MCKINLEY .- SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.
No. 3 range 3, was named Weathersfield from a town in Connecticut, but probably that township had in the beginning, and has continued to have, the least of the spirit of New Eng- land of any of the townships in Trumbull County. The fam- ous Salt Springs tract referred to so often by all historians lay largely in this township.
Reuben Harmon, of Vermont, bonght this traet of land and was early on the ground. The MeMahon tragedy delayed the settlement of that district, but finally Mr. Harmon, in 1801, bronght Ruth R. Harmon, his wife, and family to Weathers- field. She was the pioneer woman. Mr. Harmon died early, and Mrs. Harmon and her sons, Heman R. and John B., man- aged this property for a number of years. They finally moved to Warren and were identified with the history of that town- ship. The family. however, continued to own this tract for many years.
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