Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc., Part 125

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228

USA > Ohio > Summit County > Akron > Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc. > Part 125

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).

BENEDICT

FCACHI.

Here, an impromptu dual cele- bration-the National Independence and the safe arrival of the party at their destination - was held, con- JOSHUA STOW. sisting of a national salute, with such fire-arms as they possessed, martial and vocal music, toasts, speeches, poetry, etc., which was undoubtedly the first celebration of that character upon the Western Reserve.

A PIONEER MIRACLE .- Of this party Mr. Stow was Commissary General, it being his duty to provide boats and proper equipments, arms and ammunition, necessary tools and implements, blankets, provisions and other supplies. For the proper keeping of these supplies, a block-house was built near the landing at Conneaut. This house, in honor of the commissary, was, by common consent, named "Stow Castle."

1004

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

Among the supposed to be indispensable items of supply, in those early days, in any enterprise-from church-building to boat- ing-was whisky, a goodly quantity of which, of course, had been provided for the expedition in question, by Commissary Stow. So long a time had been spent upon the journey, and the difficulties of transportation being so great, Commissary Stow, fearing that this prime " necessary of life " would run short before a fresh supply could be obtained, had adopted the plan of surreptitiously increas- ing the volume, by decreasing the strength, realizing which, the poet of the party, General Moses Cleveland, one of the directors of the company, and the founder of the present magnificent city bearing his name, improvised the following couplet as appropriate to the situation:

"Christ, the divine, turned water into wine; Joshua, the boater, turned whisky into water."

ULYSSES MARVIN, - born in Lynn, Connecticut, April 11, 1801; common school education; at 17 commenced to learn chair-making, at Middletown, but afterwards learned the fulling and cloth-dressing trade ; May 1, 1822, was married to Miss Elizabeth Bradley, of Middletown, establishing a woolen mill in Lynn ; in 1829, moved to Ohio, settling on an uncultivated farm in Stow, which he largely cleared and cultivated with his own hands, also doing consider- able work in the neighborhood at painting, an inkling of which busi- ness he obtained while working at the chair business in Connecticut. Mr. and Mrs. Marvin had six children -Arba Bradley, now in Dane county, Wisconsin ; Jane Elizabeth, married to S. C. Weeks, of Stow, died in March, 1854; Sophronia, married to H. C. Wilcox, now living in Granger ; Asahel M., died in 1850, aged 17; Chloe B., wife of Milton C. Danforth, of Hudson ; Ulysses Leslie, ex-judge of Summit county, now practicing law in Akron, whose portrait and biography appear elsewhere. Mr. Marvin was for over thirty-five years an overseer in the Stow Disciple

ENEDICT fcaCHI

ULYSSES MARVIN.

Church, and often served as township trustee, assessor, etc. Mr. and Mrs. Marvin lived together over sixty-two years, Mrs. Marvin dying, June 28, 1884, aged 84 years, and Mr. Marvin, May 11, 1887, aged 86 years and one month.

STARVATION IN THE WILDERNESS .- Shortly after the arrival of this party at Conneaut, came Judge James Kingsbury, from the State of New York. While, in pursuance of his work, General Cleveland during the Summer removed his supplies to the site of his contemplated city, at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, Judge Kingsbury remained with his family at Conneaut. Business requir- ing him to return to New York, in the early Autumn, he left his family in their comfortable log cabin, with ample subsistence to last until his anticipated speedy return. Unfortunately, however, he was taken sick and detained until the setting in of Winter. As soon as able to travel, he started on horseback, hiring an Indian guide at Buffalo, and purchasing a 25 pound sack of flour at Presque Isle (Erie, Pa.) which, on the giving out of his horse, at

1005

STOW'S PIONEER SETTLERS.

Elk Creek, he strapped upon his own back, and, with gloomy fore- boding as to the fate of his loved ones, pushed forward on foot. On reaching his cabin, he found his wife and elder children in the last stages of starvation, and the infant, born in his absence, lving dead for want of proper nourishment- literally starved to death. Judge Kingsbury afterwards settled in Newburg, and was for many years an influential citizen of Cuyahoga county.

MOSES D. CALL,-born in Merri- mac county, New Hampshire, . July 12, 1815; raised on farm with common school education; in 1835, went to Boston, Massachusetts, and engaged in baking; in 1838, started for Peoria, Illinois, but stopping to visit friends in what is now Summit county, finally concluded to settle here; followed coopering fifteen years, teaching, Winters, the first five years. November 17, 1842, Mr. Call was married to Miss Harriet M. Starr, daughter of Josiah Starr, who settled in Stow, in 1804. In 1859, Mr. Call pur- chased the 188 acre farm, which he successfully cultivated until his death, March 24, 1891, at the age of 75 years, 8 months and 12 days, having also, for nearly twenty-five years, been the principal owner and mana- ger of the Hudson cheese factory. He held the office of justice of the peace forty-seven consecutive years, and the responsible office of county commissioner two full terms-1877 to 1883. An earnest Republican, Mr. Call warmly espoused the cause of the Union during the slave-holders' rebellion, and was, through life, a liberal supporter of the educational and benevolent enterprises of the day. Mrs. Call died June 26, 1886,

BÉNÉDICT CaCHI.

MOSES. D. CALL.

aged 67 years, 9 months and one day. Their children are-Mary L., now Mrs. George H. O'Brien, of Akron ; Emma A., Mrs. Edward A. Seasons, of Stow; Ella J., Mrs. Lafayette Dar- row, of Stow; and Charles A., 110w living on and working the home farm.

FIRST ACTUAL SETTLERS .- Although Mr. Stow made thirteen trips from Connecticut to Ohio, and back, on horseback, in looking after the interests of the township bearing his name, he never became a resident of the township, as erroneously stated by pre- vious local historians. In 1804, Mr. William Wetmore, (father of Henry Wetmore, Esq., still living (1891) hale and hearty at the age of 90, in Cuyahoga Falls), also from Middletown, as the agent of Mr. Stow, made a permanent settlement in the township, building his house at the exact geographical center, which is half a mile north of what, since the earliest settlement, has been known as "Stow Corners ;" and being the second house erected in the town- ship, the first having been built in July, 1802, by Mr. William Walker, from Virginia, who had squatted on lot 89 in the north- eastern portion of the township, where, afterwards purchasing the same, he resided until his death, and where his descendants still live, his brother Robert, and a sister, afterwards married to Joshua Stewart, coming at the same time.

Mr. Wetmore, on his arrival (1804) employed Joseph Darrow, who came to Ohio with David Hudson, in 1799, to survey the town- ship into lots, which was successfully accomplished during that

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

year. Captain Gregory Powers, father of the late Senator Gregory Powers, Jr., of Middlebury, and the maternal grandfather of Akron's second mayor, John C. Singletary, Esq., now (1891) still living in Streetsboro, Portage county, and Mr. John Campbell, both also from Middletown, with their respective families, came in this year (1804), the former building his cabin on lot 85, near what is designated as Powers' Brook; the latter at first settling near the Corners and afterwards upon Fish Creek; these parties coming, via the Susquehanna and Allegheny rivers to Pittsburg, and from thence to Warren, by the zig-zag path cut by General Simon Per- kins, and thence, through the unbroken wilderness to their destin- . ation.

TION. FRANK M. GREEN, -born in Norton, September 28, 1836 ; reared to occupation of farmer ; edu- cated in district schools, and Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, at Hiram; teacher from 1855 to 1863, since mainly devoting himself to preaching as a minister among the Disciples of Christ, filling, at different times, the responsible · positions of general missionary, secretary, editor and author, Bethany College, in 1884, con- ferring upon him the honorary" degree of Master of Letters. An ardent Republican, Mr. Green ably represented Summit county in the 67th General Assembly-1886, '87. For the past sixteen years, Mr. Green has resided in Stow, his venerable father, Rev. Philander Green (who, with his father, Samuel Green, emigrated from Connecticut to Ohio, in 1810), now in his 81st year, also residing there. March 11, 1862, Mr. Green was married to Miss Ellen E. Stow, whose father, Albert C. Stow, was born in Stow township, July 5, 1810. Five children have been born to them-Lurie, now Mrs. E. S. Wetmore, of Stow, born December 26, 1862 ; Fannie, now .Mrs. W. J. Cox, of Cuyahoga Falls, Deceni-

HON. FRANK M. GREEN.

ber 10, 1864; Mary Tarissa, January 26, 1867, died February 14, 1881 ; Frank Albert, now student in Hiram Col- lege, December 7, 1868; and Daisy Almira, September 30, 1871, now Mrs. William R. Hillyard, of Cleveland.

SUBSEQUENT COMERS .- Our limited space will only permit the barest mention of those, nearly all from Middletown, who followed the foregoing, in rapid succession, as permanent settlers in Stow township, and in this we are unable to mention all, or to give the order of their arrival, or their several domiciliary locations.

But among the names now accessible to the writer, may be mentioned the following: Titus Wetmore, Thomas Rice, Josiah Starr, John Gaylord, Adam Steele, George Darrow, John Sadler, John Arbuckle, William Leach, Joseph Harmon, William Lappin, Elkanah Richardson, Jacob Cochran, Samuel Burnett, Samuel Baker, Frederick Victor, Caleb Wetmore, Isaac Wilcox, Ira Kelso, Francis Kelsey, Constance Rogers, Samuel Cheney, Stephen But- ler, Jonathan Gaylord, David Ruggles, Erastus Southmayd, Bemus Hamilton, William McClelland, James Dailey, Thomas and Isaac Steele, and a few years later, Thomas Gaylord, John Sawyer, John Blackman, Henry Kenyon, Doctor Spalding, Andrew Rich, Jacob

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ORGANIZATION, TOPOGRAPHICAL, ETC.

Richmond, Ezra Wyatt, Ward, Hubbard and John Pendleton, John Graham, Timothy Brainard, Virgil M. Thompson, David Strong, William Galloway, Ira Barnes, William Hibbard, Ethe Wetmore, Arthur Sadler, James Smith, Noel Beckley, George Hartle, Chaun- cey Lowery, John Kemp, Mr. McAvoy, Jesse Pratt, David Sanger, William Stow, Frederick Sanford, Orrin Gilbert, Henry O'Brien, Frederick Wolcott, Rowland Clapp, Palmer Williamson, etc.

ORGANIZATION, ETC .- Stow was at first attached to Hudson, in township organization, both being then under the jurisdiction of of Trumbull county, Mr. William Wetmore being elected and offi- ciating as justice of the peace for the Stow portion of the combina- tion. On the passage, in 1807, of the act erecting the county of Portage, William Wetmore Esq., of Stow, was named as one of the associate judges of the new county, taking his seat upon the bench at the first term of the court, at Ravenna, August 23, 1808, Judge Calvin Pease being the presiding judge, and Aaron Norton and Amzi Atwater the two other associate judges. Judge Wet- more seems to have possessed great versality of talent, as well as what in modern times would be called "push," for it appears in the records in his own writing, that in addition to his duties as judge, in the absence of a regularly appointed clerk (clerks then being appointed by the courts), the functions of that office were performed, ex officio, by Judge Wetmore, until and including the December term, 1809, near the close of which he was regularly appointed clerk by the other members of the bench, being suc- ceeded as judge, at the ensuing term, by Samuel Forward, Esq.

The first recorder for Portage county was Mr. Titus Wetmore, brother of the judge, but the records of deeds, mortgages, etc., during his brother's incumbency, commencing July 2, 1808, and ending August 23, 1810, are in the neat and uniform handwriting of the judge, who, at the latter date, succeeded to the recordership himself, which official position, together with that of clerk, he seems to have filled until February 25, 1813, at about which date Judge Wetmore was appointed commissary in the army, under General Elijah Wadsworth, with headquarters at Old Portage, serving in that capacity until the close of the War. On receiving this appointment, Mr. Wetmore moved back to Stow, after the close of the War, about 1815, building the commodious house now standing, immediately east of Silver Lake.

The township of Stow was organized the same year as Port- age county was (1808), but there is no record now extant, as to who its early officers were, though Judge Wetmore, except while living in Ravenna, continued to exercise the functions of justice of the peace for many years, the judge, by his intelligence, uprightness and enterprise, very largely promoting the settlement, and the material, educational and moral interests of the township, his death occurring October 27, 1827, at the age of 56 years.

TOPOGRAPHICAL, HYDRAULIC, ETC .- In point of topographic and hydrographic advantages, fertility of soil, etc., Stow may be regarded as one of the very best townships of Summit county. With a rolling, but in no wise hilly, surface; with the Cuyahoga river traversing its entire southern border; Silver Lake (formerly Stow Pond), with a circumference of nearly three miles, a little southwest of the Center; Crystal Lake (formerly Cochran's Pond), a short distance to the northwest; Turtle Lake (originally Mud

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

Pond), in the northwest part of the township; Walnut creek at Stow Corners (forming at that place a romantic gorge in its descent to the river); Kelsey creek, or Wilcox run, entering the river from the south, below Munroe Falls; Fish creek, entering the river from the north, in the east part of the township; Powers brook and Mud brook in the north, finding their way through Northampton to the river, near Old Portage, a great abundance of water for agricultural and mechanical purposes is furnished, without any appreciable amount of contiguous waste land, as in some of the other largely watered localities of the county.

Both Silver Lake, Crystal Lake and Turtle Lake, are beau- tiful bodies of water, the two former entirely fed from springs, neither having any visible feeder, while each has quite a copious outlet, the former flowing into the river below Munroe Falls and the latter being a tributary to Mud Brook. Silver Lake, always a favorite locality for both the Indians. and their pale-faced suc- cessors, has of late years attained a state-wide repute as a Summer resort. Of abundant depth-in some places from seventy-five to

eighty feet-to float the good-sized steamboat which has been plying its waters for several years; with its beautiful grove, upon its western border, tastefully fitted up with conveniences for shel- tering and feeding the multitude, and with a good carriage road, and a railroad station in close proximity, it is now, under its present proprietor, Mr. Ralph H. Lodge, one of the most popular pleasure resorts in Northern Ohio.

INDUSTRIAL STOw .- By referring to the maps, it will be seen that the village of Munroe Falls, and quite a large part of the village and township of Cuyahoga Falls, lie within the original boundaries of Stow township, both affording large manufacturing facilities, that should, perhaps, be credited to Stow, but which being alluded to in connection with those villages, need not be repeated here. In addition to various works at those points, during the pioneer period, there were several early saw-mills in different parts of the township, the earliest in 1808, by Ezra Wyatt, on eighty acres of land donated to him for that purpose, by Judge Wetmore, near the present site of the Cliff house at Stow Corners, but which was dismantled in the early twenties by reason of the failure of the waters of that stream; one upon Mud Brook, built by Joshua Stewart prior to 1820, and for many years operated by Mr. Henry Wilcox; one on Fish Creek and a number of others, which by reason af the clearing up of adjacent timber lands, and the con- sequent diminution of the water in those streams, were long ago dismantled, and the sites of some of them are scarcely known to the present "oldest inhabitant" of the township -portable saw- mills now doing such occasional local work as may be needed in that line. That modern lacteal institution, the cheese factory, however, has for several years been a prominent industrial feature of the neighborhood, several of which, in different localities acces- sible to suitable streams of waters, for cooling and cleansing pur- poses, afford a ready (though perhaps not always very profitable) market for the milk product of the adjacent farms. The soil may be generally called a clayey loam -though in some places approaching to sandy-and adapted to every variety of farm and garden vegetables and grain, but especially favorable to stock growing and fruit.

1009

WHISKY, EDUCATION, RELIGION.

In this connection the fact should not be omitted, that among the very earliest of Stow's supposed to be indepensable industries was the whisky distillery. Army regulations, at that day, requiring that one gill of grog per day should be dealt out to each soldier, and as the whisky used for the purpose of supplying the troops at Old Portage, and contiguous points, had to be trans- ported at heavy expense from Pittsburg, Commissary Wetmore, in 1812 or 1813, erected a distillery upon the east side of Stow Pond (now Silver Lake) in which Mr. John Graham, who had worked at the business in Scotland, was employed as distiller. After the close of the war, to supply the demand caused by increased immi- gration, Mr. Graham built a distillery for himself on the northi bank of the river near the present village of Munroe Falls, two others being built in other portions of the township about the same time. Though these establishments were quite profitable, and at that time universally regarded as a legitimate and honor- able business, the agitation of the temperance question in the latter twenties and early thirties, not only lessened the demand, but brought conviction to the minds of the proprietors of the wrongfulness of the business, and they were all soon afterwards dismantled, though a third of a century later an immense dis- tillery was carried on for several years, within the original limits of Stow, now Cuyahoga Falls.

EDUCATION, MORALITY, RELIGION, ETC. - It has been repre- sented, in certain quarters, that the leading early sentiment of . Stow being atheistic in its character, the township suffers, in com- parison with some of its neighbors, in regard to its intelligence, morality and religious status, which it seems to the writer is grossly unjust to both the early settlers , and the present inhabi- itants of the township. It is very possible that some of her pioneer settlers, as well as some of their descendants and suc- cessors, may have been free thinkers, and it is quite probable that she may not have sent forth as many eminent divines, scientists, and statesmen as some of her sister townships; but that she is in any sense behind her neighbors in general intelligence, morality, piety or patriotism, can scarcely be conceded.

As early, perhaps, as 1806, Deacon Stephen Butler, a rigid Presbyterian, whose cabin was a short distance north of the center organized a small class among his Christian neighbors, who met regularly at his house for lay worship, with such occasional preaching as could be secured from Hudson and other neighboring localities. Later on, the meetings were held in the school house at Stow Corners, and still later in a small house of worship erected a short distance southwest of the Corners, on the Cuyahoga Falls road. Some of the remembered prominent members of this society in addition to Deacon Butler, were William Stow, and John and Thomas Gaylord, with their respective families. The member- ·ship gradually increased until some time during the early forties, when, the Disciples having obtained a strong following in the township, the house was transferred to that denomination, the Presbyterians allying themselves with the church at Cuyahoga Falls. The Disciples, largely in the ascendency in the township at the present time, a few years since erected a more commodious and imposing house of worship at the Corners, on the east side of the Hudson road.

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

Episcopalianism also, as early as 1818, obtained quite a footing among the pioneer settlers of Stow, the present St. John's Church and society of Cuyahoga Falls, having been organized there ill 1830. Among the early promoter's of this form of faith, were Mr. and Mrs. Josiah Wetmore (the latter being especially zealous and active), at whose house, at Stow Corners, the meetings were first hield; Orrin Gilbert, Frederick Sanford, Henry O'Brien, Arthur Sadler, Frederick Wolcott, William Wetmore, Rowland Clapp, sev- eral of the Gaylords and others whose names are not now recalled. Lay services, with occasional preaching, were held in different places, in private houses, in school houses, at the tavern, etc., until 1835, when the society permanently located at Cuyahoga Falls, erecting the present St. John's Church structure, corner of Portage and Second streets, which, being completed in the Spring of that year, was consecrated as a house of worship by Bishop McIlvaine, July 16, 1836, Stow still maintaining a respectable mem- bership in the society. In the early twenties, also, a Universalist society was organized, and for several years vigorously maintained, among its promoters being Mr. and Mrs. Caleb Wetmore, Isaac Wilcox, Francis Kelsey and others, services being held in the school house by the resident preacher, Rev. Bigelow, a very fluent speaker, and a most excellent citizen.

In addition to the foregoing, there has also existed, for many years, in the northwestern portion of the township, at the point so long designated as "Little Ireland," but whose postoffice desig- nation is now " Metz" a United Presbyterian Church and society, with a snug little house of worship, and quite a large membership, while religious meetings have been of frequent occurrence in the commodious school house at Darrow Street, now officially called Darrowville, and perhaps in other localities, during the past half century, so that it may be safely stated, that whoever asseverates that Stow is " without God and without hope, in the world," lies- under a very grave misapprehension.

In the matter of education, while it is true that Stow offers no academic or collegiate advantages to her youth, like some of her neighbors, it is also emphatically true that her common schools are as highly cherished, and as well conducted, as those of the very best of her contemporaries, with a general corresponding intelligence among all classes of her people.

TERRIBLE AND FATAL TORNADO .- On the night of October 20, 1837, or rather on the morning of the 21st, there occurred one of the most violent and fatal hurricanes that ever visited Summit county, or perhaps the State. On the east and west center road, and a few rods directly north of what is now known as Silver Lake, stood the residence of Mr. Frederick Sanford, a small story-and-a- half frame house, with a frame barn standing some 12 or 15 rods northeasterly therefrom. The family consisted of Mrs. Sanford, his wife, Clarissa, their two sons, Charles, aged 22, and Norman, 19, their daughter, Mary C., 14, and Mrs. Mary Col- lins, the mother of Mrs. Sanford. On the evening of October 20, the entire family had been absent from home, attending a wed- ding, for which purpose, in addition to their own, they had bor- rowed a buggy from the widow Butler, living a short distance northeasterly, on the north and south center road. Returning at a late hour, leaving the buggies standing in the yard, between the

1011

THE FATAL TORNADO OF 1837.

house and the barn, the family retired to bed, all but Mr. and Mrs. Sanford sleeping up stairs. Between three and four o'clock, while .all were sound asleep, the cyclone struck the house, every portion of which above the cellar walls, was entirely demolished, and all the family excepting Mrs. Sanford, and her daughter Mary, almost instantly killed. The bodies were all found between the house . and barn, Mary being the farthest from the house. Mrs. Sanford's · collar bone was broken, and she was otherwise considerably cut and bruised; but Mary, found in an unconscious condition, lying upon a gate which had been carried from in front of the house, sustained no further injury than a slight cut upon one of her ankles and a few inconsiderable bruises, though the shock to 'her system made it necessary for her to keep her bed for several days. The tick of the bed on which Mary was sleeping being found in the top of quite a large tree, between the house and the barn, it was supposed that she had been carried through the top of the tree, also. In her hand was tightly clutched her every-day dress, which, on retiring, she had laid upon the bed ready for use in the morning. Mr. Sanford was still alive when found, and removed to the house of Mr. Maxwell Graham, but expired in a short time without regaining consciousness, his thigh being broken, besides the internal injuries which caused his death. The two sons and Mrs. Collins were all dead when found, though it is not remem- bered that any of them were seriously disfigured.

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Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905 Publication date: 1892 Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department Number of Pages: 1228

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228