Century history of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio, and representative citizens, 20th, Part 15

Author: Sanderson, Thomas W., comp
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1074

USA > Ohio > Mahoning County > Youngstown > Century history of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio, and representative citizens, 20th > Part 15

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FIRST MARRIAGE ON THE RESERVE.

The records of Trumbull county contain the following certificate :

"This may certify that, after publication, according to law. of the Territory, Stephen Baldwin and Rebecca Rush were joined in mar- riage on the third day of November, 1800.

BY WILLIAM WICK, V. D. M.

."On the IIth of February prior, accord- ! ing to a record kept at Canfield, Alfred Wol- cott, the surveyor who came out with Mr. Young, and then resided at Youngstown, was married to Mercy Gilson, of Canfiekl. They were married in Pennsylvania, for the reason that no person in this vicinity was authorized to solemnize marriages: Hence. we infer that the first marriage in Youngstown was that of Stephen Baldwin and Rebecca Rush; and this was probably the first marriage on the Reserve.

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HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY

FIRST MALE CHILD BORN.

"The first male child born in the township was Isaac Swager, son of John Swager. The first female child was a daughter of Robert and Hannah Stevens," both of whom were born prior to 1800. One of the earliest births was that of John Young Shehy, son of Daniel and Jane Shehy, and tradition says that John Young deeded him a town lot for his name. There is certainly a record of a deed from John Young to John Y. Shehy, dated March 24, 1807, of town lots 83 and 84, which are located on the east side of North Market street and south of the graveyard lot. "The con- sideration expressed is $100, received of Daniel Shehy." Tradition also says that Mr. Young gave lots to two other children.

THE FIRST FUNERAL.

The first funeral in Youngstown was that of Samuel McFarland, who was buried in the northwest corner of the west lot of the old graveyard. It is said that all the population, including Mr. Young, were at the funeral. The gravestone bore on the top the figures "18II," probably the date of its erection; then underneath, "In memory of Samuel Mc- Farland, teacher of vocal music, late from Worcester, Massachusetts, who departed this life September 20, 1799, aged twenty-eight years." This stone was subsequently removed to the west part of the Mahoning cemetery.

DISCOVERY OF COAL.

"At an early day mineral or stone coal was discovered in different localities in the township and vicinity. It was ascertained to be good for blacksmith fuel, and was used to some extent by smiths in this section of coun- try. It was not to any extent used as fuel for domestic purposes, as wood was plenty and cheaper. The early citizens little thought that this black stone, which would burn, cropping out here and there in the ravines, was destined to become a source of great wealth to their successors, and, while some of them were still

living, to develop this valley into one of the most wealthy manufacturing regions of our country." After the opening of the Pennsyl- vania & Ohio canal in 1840 Governor David Tod sent from his Brier Hill mines a few boat loads of coal to Cleveland as an experiment. The coal was tested for steamboat and other purposes, and approved. It soon became a reg- ular traffic, and its transportation, subsequent- ly by railroad, increased until the practical ex- haustion of the mines not many years ago.

JUDGE KIRTLAND'S REMINISCENCES.

A letter from Jared Potter Kirtland, son of Turhand Kirtland, the pioneer, to John M. Edwards, Esq., and dated East Rockport, O., August 29, 1874, contains some interesting reminiscences from the diary of his father, which will not be out of place here, though first published many years ago. We quote in part as follows :

Judge Kirtland, in the ful-

fillment of

«* * his duty as agent (of the Connecticut Land Company), laid out and opened a road through the wilder- ness, from the Grand river, near Lake Erie, to Youngstown, in 1798. He arrived at the last-named place with chain-men, sur- veyors, etc., on the 3d of August, and with Judge Young engaged in running out the town. At the same time he surveyed the town- ships of Burton and of Poland. In the latter he then located the seat of the mill, in the vil- lage, during the summer. His stopping-place seems to have been, while in Youngstown, with a Mr. Stevens, while Judge Young had a residence in Warren.

"August 30th he sold two lots and a mill seat, near the mouth of Yellow creek, to Esq. John Struthers, the locality in Poland now known as Struthers.

"In 1799, May 18, he was again in Youngstown, stopping with Mr. Robert Ste- vens. His brother-in-law, Jonathan Fowler, and family, arrived there in a canoe from Pittsburg, by way of the Ohio, Big Beaver and Mahoning rivers. At evening Judge Kirtland carried them to Poland in his wagon,

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where they all lodged for the night by the side of a fire, with no shelter save a big oak and the canopy of heaven. The exact location was on the home lot of the late Dr. Truesdale, a few rods west of Yellow creek.

"1799, September I, Sunday, he attended public worship at Youngstown. The Rev. Wil- liam Wick, from Washington county, Penn- sylvania, delivered the first sermon ever preached on the New Connecticut Western Reserve.

"October 19, John Struthers and family arrived at Poland." 1800, June 16, he (T. K.) went from Poland to Youngstown to agree on the place where the county-seat should be located.

"June 19, Messrs. Canfield, Young, and King met J. S. Edwards at Fowler's tavern, in Poland, to advise as to the location of the county-seat.

"July I, John Atkins, an old salt, returned to Poland with a mail from Pittsburg, the then nearest postoffice. There he obtained two lemons from another sailor who had turned pack-horse man. T. Kirtland and Atkins im- mediately started, with the lemons in charge, for Burton. These were probably the first lemons on the Western Reserve.

CELEBRATING THE FOURTH.

"July 4, the good people of Burton, and others from Connecticut, assembled on the green, forty-two in number, partook of a good dinner, and drank the usual patriotic toasts. Then the president of the day (T. K.) caused the lemons to be mixed in a milk pan of punch, when he offered and drank as a toast, 'Here's to our wives and sweethearts at home.' The vessel of punch and the toast passed around the table till at length it came to a Mr. B., who, a few weeks before, had fled from a Xanthippe of a wife in New England, to ob- tain a little respite, and had joined the sur- veying party ; he promptly responded thus to the toast : 'Here's to our sweethearts at home, but the d-1 take the wives.'

"August 23 Turhand Kirtland had par- tially recovered from an attack of fever and 7

ague. He went from Poland to Youngstown to get his horse shod; was required to blow and strike for the smith. This threw him into an aggravated relapse of the disorder, which was at length cured by taking teaspoonful doses of the bark every hour. He adds: 'I found that Joseph McMahon and the people of Warren had killed two Indians at Salt Spring on Sunday, 20th, in a hasty and inconsiderate manner; and they had sent after a number of Indians that had gone off, in order to hold a conference and settle the unhappy and un- provoked breach they had made on the In- dians. They had agreed on Wednesday, 30th, to hold a conference at Esq. Young's, and had sent for an interpreter to attend, who ar- rived this day, in company with an Indian chief and his lady on horseback.'

"Wednesday, July 30, went to Youngs- town ( from Poland) to attend the conference with the Indians on account of the murder of two of their principal men at Salt Spring, on Sunday, 20th, by Joseph McMahon and Storer. We assembled about three hundred whites and ten Indians, had a very friendly talk. and agreed to make peace and live as friends.

FIRST MURDER TRIAL.

"Monday, August 25, went to Warren, met the judges and justices of the county, when they all took the oaths of office, and proceeded to open the courts of Quarter Ses- sion and Common Pleas; appointed constables and summoned eighteen grand jurors. Bills of indictment found against Joseph McMahon and Richard Storer for murder.

"Sunday, September 14, Sample, the coun- sel for McMahon, went on to Youngstown. The prisoner is on the way from McIntosh (Beaver) with the sheriff, and an escort of twenty-five troops from the garrison at Pitts- burg, to guard him to Warren, where a court is to be held on Thursday, for his trial for the murder of Captain George and George Tus- carawa (Indians) at Salt Spring.

"Wednesday, "September 17. went to the court at Warren, Meigs and Gilman, the

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judges. Messrs. Edwards, Pease, Tod, Tap- pan, and Abbott admitted as counsellors-at- law by this court.

"Thursday, September 18, prisoner (Mc- Mahon) brought in; a traverse jury sum- moned.

"Friday, September 19, witnesses exam- ined.

"Saturday, September 20, case argued; verdict, acquittal.'

After quoting the above from the diary of his father, Mr. Jared P. Kirtland, in the letter above referred to, goes on to relate a few of his own recollections :

He recalls the night of June 10, 1810, when on his way from Wallingford, Conn., to Poland, Ohio, he spent the night at Adam's tavern, in the town of Liberty. "At noon of the following day," he says, "I dined with Dr. Charles Dutton in Youngstown, a sparsely settled village of one street, the houses mostly log structures, a few humble frame dwellings excepted; of the latter character was the dwelling house and store of the late Colonel Rayen." After dinner the doctor accompanied him to Poland (both on horseback), where he was going to join his father's family, from whom he had been separated since 1803. "No bridges then spanned the Mahoning. We passed over at Power's ford, the water high and muddy from recent rains; but the doctor pointed out a rock in the river, with its top barely above the water, which, he said, was an index that when the top appeared it was safe to ford the stream.

PIONEER SCHOOLS.

"In the following week," says Mr. Kirt- land, "I took charge of the district school in the village of Poland, consisting of sixty scholars, which I taught till late in Septem- ber, in a log house on the public square. I soon learned that Joseph Noyes, a former schoolmate of mine, had charge of a school of similar size in Youngstown. It occupied a log building in Main street, next adjoining Mr. Bryson's log store, near where Colonel Caleb Wick formerly resided. Mr. Noyes and

myself soon established the rule to visit each other's school on every alternate Saturday and counsel each other on school teaching. Reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, and geography were the branches required to be taught. I have the vanity to believe that, in the three first named, the progress of our classes was as satisfactory as in the classes of the present day. Those three branches were rather specialties with both of us. Neither found use for the rod. Those bi-weekly visits to that school established an acquaintance with nearly every individual, old and young, in the village. I now know not a surviving one of that number.

FEMININE COSTUMES.

"Mary Tod (the late Mrs. Evans) was a member of Mr. Noyes' school. She then was just entering her teens, and a more lovely face than hers I have never seen. But, what do our fashionable and ambitious mothers of the present day imagine were the texture and style of the dress of that beautiful girl? Her external costume was a home-made mixture of linen and cotton, cut after the female disciples of Mother Ann Lee, with no plaits and few gores, unmodified by either corset or bustle. The lower margin was adorned with a two- inch stripe of madder red, followed next by one of indigo blue, and a third one of hickory bark yellow, very much like the balmorals which, a few years since, our fashionable city ladies were sure to exhibit (accidentally, of course) at every street crossing, much to the admiration of crowds of idle loafers."

HEAVY RAINS OF 1810-12.

The latter part of Mr. Kirtland's letter is devoted to a regimental muster which he wit- nessed in Youngstown, in September, 1810, and which is referred to elsewhere in this vol- ume, and closes with some account of the heavy rainfall that year, and in the two follow- ing seasons. "As a consequence," he says, "the streams frequently overflowed their banks, cornfields were not worked, and the heavy

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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

crop of wheat was generally grown or sprouted, much to the displeasure of the house- wife and joy of the whisky distiller. The lat- ter found his grains half malted by nature, while the former could hardly restrain her loaves from running. Every public road was almost impassable, and some of the recent emi- grants left the West, discouraged and dis- gusted."

OTHER EDUCATIONAL MATTERS.

To those who are interested in the cause of education the following copy of an old school contract may be of interest :

"This article, between the undersigned sub- scribers of the one part, and Jabez P. Manning of the other, witnesseth, That said Manning doth, on his part, engage to teach a school at the schoolhouse near the center of Youngs- town for the term of one quarter, wherein he engages to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, and English grammar; and, furthermore, that the school shall be opened at 9 o'clock A. M., and closed at 4 P. M. on each day of the week (Saturday and Sunday excepted), and on Sat- urday to be opened at 9 and closed at 12 o'clock A. M. And we, the subscribers, on our part, individually engage to pay the said Man- ning one dollar and seventy-five cents for each and every scholar we

sub- scribe, at the end of the term; and we furthermore agree to furnish or to bear the necessary expense of furnishing wood and all other things necessary for the use of the school.

"Furthermore, we do engage that unless, by the 6th day of April of the present year, the number of scholars subscribed amount to thirty-five that the said Manning is in no way obligated by this article.

"Furthermore, we allow the said Manning the privilege of receiving five scholars more than are here specified.

"J. P. MANNING.

"Youngstown, March 31, 1818.

"Subscribers' names and number of scholars: George Tod, 3; John E. Wood- bridge, 4; Homer Hine, 2; Henry Wick, 2;

Philip Stambaugh, 112; Samuel Viall, 2; Rob- ert Kyle, 2: George Hardman, I; James Dav- idson, 2; Polly Chapman, I; Jerry Tibbits, 31/2 ; John F. Townsend, 2; Henry Manning, I; William Bell, I; Jonathan Smith, 1 ; \Vil- liam Potter, 2; William Rayen, 11/2; William Morris, I; Noah Chamberlain, 1; Richard Young, 1/2; James Duncan, I; Mrs. McCul- lough, 1/2 ; Bryan Baldwin, 1/2. Total, 401/2.

"The township was first divided into school districts on May 22, 1826. There were seven districts and two fractional districts. The first or center district, which included the present city and some additional territory, con- tained fifty-four householders. The whole township, as then enumerated, contained 206 householders, of which twelve were women."

Some further reminiscences of the early inhabitants of Youngstown may be found in a letter from Roswell M. Grant, uncle of Gen- eral U. S. Grant, which is published, in part, in the chapter on the Settlement and Organi- zation of Mahoning County.

EARLY AMUSEMENTS.

Though our forefathers were without the theater, the moving picture show, the trolley car and the automobile, they were by no means destitute of amusements, and most of them of a healthy and beneficial kind. Debating so- cieties were frequently held, at which such sub- jects as the following were debated. "Whether, is the intrinsic value of an article or the prob- ability of obtaining the price to be made the rule in selling?" "Is slave-holding proper or improper?" "Ought the Mahoning to be a public highway or not?" Then there were the huskings and logging-bees, the athletic sports and dances, "Sister Phoebe." and kick- ing the blanket. The bill of fare at a logging in 1817, in which the Hon. Shelden Newton (then a young man) participated, was bread, raw pork, raw onions, and whisky. We have since improved on that diet. In relating the circumstance, he said that in those days "all men raised what they ate and made what they wore, all business transactions were conducted by simple barter, that money was only used

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HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY

in the payment of taxes, and that 160 cents for a long time paid the taxes on 160 acres of land. Occasionally the paper of neighboring banks was circulated, redeemable only at the place of issue, and sometimes not even there.

PIONEER HOUSES.

Alexander McKinney, who settled with his parents in Youngstown in 1804, and who came from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to attend the pio- neer reunion in this city in 1875, said in re- gard to the houses: "After the logs were piled up for one side of the house, the man would go out with a broad-axe and scratch them down a little, so that they would be a little smoother on the inside. Some places where there was good timber that would split well, they would split the log in two and that was considered a good deal better. There were not many nails used in building in those days; every man had the charge of the erection of his own temple. I suppose in the majority of the houses there wasn't a pound of nails used in the whole building. No nails were made then except by the blacksmith. The furniture was very crude. If the people were fortunate enough to bring furniture with them they had it; otherwise they had to do the best they could. * *

* The house was a factory in one sense, for whatever we had to wear we manufactured for ourselves as a general thing. The men raised the flax and the women spun it and wove it. The wool was shorn from the sheep and picked and carded by hand. We had hand-mills and carded the wool and made the cloth. If there was a fulling-mill in the neigh- borhood it was taken there, and made into winter wear. We wore flannel in the winter and linen in the summer. The doors were hung on wooden hinges, generally with the latch-string out. Some houses had chairs and some benches. In many cases they used, as there was generally a baby in the house, a sugar-trough to rock the baby in. * *

* If we wanted to go any place we had to go on foot or on horse-back. If a young gentleman wanted to take his lady to singing-school he took her on the horse with him."

Most of the facts and incidents contained in this chapter up to the present page were related at one or the other of the two reunions of old settlers which took place in Youngs- town in May, 1874, and on September 10, 1875, respectively, by some of the very men whose early years had been passed amid pio- neer surroundings, and whose parents were, in most cases, among the earliest settlers in Youngstown and the vicinity. John M. Ed- wards, Esq., in addressing the first of these meetings, made use of these words: "Those pioneer men and women have mostly passed away. To cherish their memory ; to recall the history of those early days; to renew ancient friendship; to greet, as of old, companions and acquaintances from whom we have been long parted, we, their successors and early set- tlers of this, one of the earliest settled town- ships of the Reserve, have assembled here to- day. To all those present, to those who were residents of this township thirty-five or more years ago, to our invited guests and visitors, and to those, as well, who have become resi- dents at a more recent period and are here as spectators, we extend a cordial welcome."

ELECTIONS.

Elections were held in Youngstown at the dwelling-house or inn of William Rayen up to 1813, after which they were held at dif- ferent public-houses until the town-hall was built, about 1850. They were afterwards held there until the city was divided into wards in 1870, since which time each ward has been its own election precinct for those residing in the ward. The town hall is still the place of voting for the inhabitants of the township out- side of the city.

INCORPORATION.

In 1848 upon application of the citizens, an act was passed by the legislature incorporating so much of the town of Youngstown as was included in the recorded town plat. In June, notice given, extended the limits of the town, 1850, the county commissioners, upon due

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and on the 15th an election was held "at the Union House, kept by W. H. Ross, in said Youngstown, for the purpose of electing by ballot one mayor, one recorder, and five trus- tees, to serve for one year, according to the act of Assembly in such cases made and pro- vided." The notice for this election was signed by W. Edson, James Fowler, James Calvin, George Murray, J. R. Holcomb, T. Garlick, John Heiner, Cyrus Brenneman, B. F. Heiner, A. McKinnie, R. W. Tayler, G. G. Murray, George W. Seaton, William S. Par- mele, and Benjamin H. Lake. John Heiner was elected mayor, with 91 votes, and Robert W. Tayler, recorder; John Loughbridge, Abraham D. Jacobs, Francis Barclay, Stephen F. Bur- nett, Manuel Hamilton, trustees.

FIRST COUNCIL MEETING.

On the evening of the same day the first meeting of the council was held, and Youngs- town commenced its existence as a municipal corporation, no organization having been formed under the act of 1848. At first a bor- ough, it became, under the subsequent state laws governing municipal corporations, the "Incorporated Village of Youngstown."

CITY OF THE SECOND CLASS.

"In June, 1867, a census of the village was taken, and the number of inhabitants found to exceed five thousand. This fact was certi- fied by resolutions of the council to the Secre- tary of State, in order to secure the advance- ment of the village to a city of the second class," which it was soon after accordingly declared.

FURTHER EXTENSIONS OF LIMITS.

On March 2, 1868, the council passed an ordinance to extend the city's boundaries, and at the same time a vote of the people was or- dered to ratify or reject the proposed exten- sion. A proclamation was also issued to elect at the same time officers of a city of the second class. The vote on the extension was yeas 593, nays 10, George McKee was elected

mayor; Owen Evans, marshal; Thomas W. Sanderson, solicitor; Robert McCurdy, treas- urer; Joseph G. Butler, Chauncey H. An- drews, Homer Hamilton, Richard Brown, and William Barclay, councilmen.

In September, 1870, the population having increased to 8,100, the council divided the city into five wards. In 1880, on a further increase of population, the First and Second Wards were subdivided, making seven in all.

In January, 1880, the city having again widely outgrown its boundaries, a petition signed by 469 citizens, most of them promi- nent business men, was presented to the coun- cil asking for a further extension of the city limits, and an ordinance was passed by the council extending the city according to the report. When presented to the county com- missioners for approval their decision, con- tained in their journal, November 18, 1880, was as follows: "The board met at 10 A. M. On motion the prayer of the petition for the extension of the city limits is ordered not granted, and the petitioners pay the cost."

This summary dismissal of the petition caused widespread dissatisfaction, as there were hundreds more who would have signed it had they known that the influence of their names was needed. April 8, 1889, however, an ordinance was passed which extended the limits, making them very nearly the same as they are today, there having been but two sub- sequent modifications, namely, by an ordin- ance passed in 1892 some land was detached in the neighborhood of the Austintown road, and in 1903 another slight change was made at Crab creek whereby two or three acres were added on.

MAYORS OF YOUNGSTOWN.

The following is a list of the mayors of Youngstown from its incorporation as a vil- lage and first election, held June 15, 1850, with dates of election. The mayors of the village were elected for one year.

John Heiner. .June 15, 1850

Robert W. Tayler April 7, 1851

Stephen F. Burnet . April 5, 1852

William G. Moore April 4. 1853

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HISTORY OF MAHONING COUNTY

William G. Moore (re-elected) . April 3, 1854

William Rice. April 2, 1855

Thomas W. Sanderson. April 7, 1856

Reuben Carroll . April 6, 1857 Reuben Carroll, elected in April, 1858, 59, 60 and. 1861

Peter W. Keller April 7, 1862

John Manning .April 6, 1863

Thos. H. Wells. . Oct. 16, 1863, to fill un-

expired term of John Manning, resigned

Brainard S. Higley . April 4, 1864 Brainard S. Higley. . re-elected April 3, 1865 George McKee. . April 2, 1866

George McKee .. . . re-elected April 1, 1867

The following were elected mayors of the city for two years :

George McKee.

April 6, 1868; re-elected April 4, 1870 John D. Raney . April 1, 1872

William M. Osborne. April 6, 1874 Matthew Logan.

April 3, 1876; re-elected April 1, 1878 William J. Lawthers.

April 5, 1880; re-elected April 3, 1882 William J. Lawthers 1882-1884

Walter L. Campbell 1884-1886 Samuel Steele. . 1886-1888 Randall Montgomery 1888-1892

I. B. Miller. 1892-1896

E. H. Moore. 1896-1900

Frank L. Brown . 1900-1903

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Century history of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio, and representative citizens, 20th, Part 15

Author: Sanderson, Thomas W., comp Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1074

Author: Sanderson, Thomas W., comp
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1074