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 80

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 80

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GRENVILLE THORP, one of Bath's brave soldier boys, who lost an arm in the service, was elected recorder of Summit county, October, 1870, for three years, but died before the expiration of his term, in February, 1872.

HIRAM H. MACK, of Bath, ably represented his county in the State Legislature from 1873 to 1875, and again from 1877 to 1879.

J. PARK ALEXANDER, born, reared and educated in Bath town- ship, besides long service as member and president of the city

C47

BATH'S ROLL OF HONOR.

council of Akron, ably served the people of Summit county as their representative in the State Legislature from January 1, 1882, to January 1, 1884, and as State senator from the Summit-Portage- Geauga-Ashtabula district, from 1887 to 1891.

SUMNER NASH, of Bath, besides his honorable war record, faithfully and efficiently served the people as clerk of courts six years, from 1879 to 1885, while

OTHELLO W. HALE, another Bath boy, "held the fort" in the clerk's office, not only as Clerk Nash's deputy for six years, but also as principal from February, 1885 to February, 1891, six years.

CHARLES OVIATT HALE, as this chapter goes to press (October, 1891), is the regular Republican nominee for representative to the State Legislature, to which position he will undoubtedly be elected.

CHARLES OVIATT HALE, - son

C of Andrew and Jane (Mather) Hale; was born in Bath, March 14, 1850, on the farm upon which his grandfather, Jonathan Hale, the first bona-fide inhabitant of that town- ship, settled in 1810, of which farm, consisting of 200 finely kept and cul- tivated acres, he is now, by inherit- ance and purchase from other heirs, the sole owner, and entirely free from debt; besides attendance upon the schools of the neighborhood, Mr. Hale attended the preparatory school in Oberlin, commercial college, etc .. two or three winters, and two winters at Hudson ; an extensive reader, and thoroughly posted in public affairs, as well as an earnest Republican, Mr. Hale has never missed voting at a State or National election since attaining his majority, though living four miles from polling place, and very rarely, if ever, absent from party caucuses, and has probably repre- sented his township in more county conventions than any other man of his age in the county ; has officiated three years as township trustee and several years as school director, and is now (October 1891) the duly nominated candidate of his

BENEDICT

of CACHI

CHARLES OVIATT HALE.

party for Representative to the State Legislature for Summit county. May 20, 1875, Mr. Hale was married to Miss Pauline Cranz, of Bath, previously, for five years, a teacher in Akron public schools. They have no chil- dren.

BATH'S MILITARY RECORD.

Besides doing her full duty in defense of the frontier, in the War of 1812, in proportion to the meagerness of her population, Bath is said to have furnished quite a number of soldiers for the Mexican War of 1846-48, but whose names and records are not now ascertainable, though the quite general sentiment of this section of Ohio against the justice of that war was not conducive to patri- otic ardor nor military enlistments.

In the War of the Rebellion, also, Bath was fully abreast with her sister townships of the county, in her allegiance to the old flag, as the following substantially accurate roster, compiled from the assessors' returns of 1863, '64, '65, and the recollection of Messrs. P. H. Alexander, Sumner and Thomas W. Nash and others, abun- dantly demonstrates:

648

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

Perry H. Alexander, Nathaniel Averill, Benjamin Allman, Byron Albro, Edward Baird, Jacob Buck, Lester Bruno, Edward Bishop, John M. Bissell, Ebenezer Baird, Ebenezer Bissell, Rich- mond Bissell (died in service), George A. Bisbee, Henry Bruno, R. N. Brinsley, Thomas Barney, John Cox (died in Anderson- ville prison), David Castetter, John Carver (died in service), Orlen Capron, Alfred Capron, Henry Cover, Ira Capron, Theo- dore Craig, David Conrad, John Davis, Thomas Davis (killed in battle), William Davis, Jr., Willard Dennison (died in service), George D. Damon, Cassius Evans, James L. Ferguson, Arthurton H. Farnam, Reuben Farnam, Darwin Farnam, Orrin C. Fields, Edward Foley, Everett Foster, Lewis Harris (killed in battle), John S. Harris, Lyman Hale, Merchant S. Hurd, Harvey Hopkins, George Harris (lost on Sultana), Reuben Hickox, Smith Hancock, Othello W. Hale, Samuel Hale, George Hines, Henry Ingraham, Wesley Johnson (died in service), Chipman Johnson, Philetus Johnson, Andrew Johnson, William Johnson, David B. Kittinger, Charles H. King, Calvin Kent, William Lutz, Noah Lenhart, Will- iam Long, William H. Liggett (died in service), Benjamin F. Lee (killed in battle), Charles Loomis (died in service), Henry Mack, Isaac Miller, Luther A. Miller, Henry Morrill, Roswell More, John R. More, Perry S. Moore, Samuel Marshall, Lester Moore, Thomas W. Nash, Sumner Nash, Dr. E. K. Nash, Joseph Pierson (died in service), Silas Payne, Lorin L. Porter, Harmon Prior, Russell Phil- lips, James Pierson (died in Andersonville prison), Elisha Pursell, Galen Richmond, James Randall, Charles Robinson (killed in battle), Charles Richmond, Norman Salisbury (died in service), Franklin J. Smith. James Stanbridge, Joseph Scanlin, Adam Stoner, Philenus Smith, William Stoton, William H. Spears, Ephraim Sutton, William Sherman, Richmond Shaw, John Spears, Thomas G. Trembath, Edward Tewksbury (see also Copley), Gren- ville Thorp, H. Thompson, James Turner, Robert Volentine, Peter White, George W. Worden (died in service), W. W. Williamson, S. 4 A. Waite, George H. Youells, Adam Zealy, Jacob Zimmerman.

BATH AS A RAILROAD CENTER. -

In 1853, the Clinton Line Extension Railroad, from Hudson to Tiffin, was organized, with Prof. Henry N. Day, of Hudson presi- dent, and Hon. Van R. Humphrey as one of the directors. From Hudson the line extended southwesterly through Northampton and Bath, crossing the Cuyahoga Valley near the residence of the late James R. Brown, in Northampton, and running up the Yellow Creek valley, through the township of Bath.

About $70,000 were expended in grading the road between Husdon and Ghent, a large quantity of stone for bridging the creek flowing into Yellow Creek from the north, were hauled upon the ground. Quite a business boom, in fact, was created in and about Ghent; manufactures were stimulated, stores multiplied, hotels flourished, etc .; the northernmost of the two hotels, then existing there, near where the road was laid, being rechristened the " Railroad House."

But alack! and alas! for the metropolitan hopes of the confid- ing Ghentites, and the local subscribers to the capital stock. In 1856, the bottom fell out of the Clinton Line Extension, and the various other "lines" that were to form the Great Through Line

649

BATH'S MORAL STATUS.

between Philadelphia and Council Bluffs, and the work was never completed. But amid the multiplicity of surveys now being made (1891), and new roads now being projected, it is not improbable that the early hopes of the good people of Bath, as a railroad center, may yet, ere long, be realized.

EARLY CROOKEDNESS-WILLIAM LATTA, ETC.

In its early history, the fair reputation of Bath was somewhat smirehed by the depredations of the gang of "crooks," whose princi- pal theater of operations was in the valley of the Cuyahoga, upon its eastern border. The labyrinthine and heavily timbered hills and gullies of the eastern portion of the township were admirably adapted to clandestine mintage and banking, and the concealment of horses, sheep, and such other animals or property, as it might be deemed advisable to place in hiding.

In the southern central part of the township, also, Latta's Tav- ern was one of the chief resorts and marts of the fraternity, its proprietor, William Latta, being one of the principal lieutenants of the "great captain," whose biography will be found in full in another chapter of this history. This man, Latta, was a fine.speci- men of physical manhood, tall, well-proportioned, pleasant featured and, though of quite a limited education, was singularly urbane and persuasive in his manners and conversation, always su- perbly dressed, with ruffle-shirt front, gold watch, elaborate fob- chain, seals, etc. Beside the regular traveling custom of the time, this house was well "patronized" by the most influential members of the fraternity, always well dressed and with plenty of money which was liberally dispensed in the way of "treats" to the local frequenters of the hotel. It is, perhaps, scarcely to be wondered at, that many of the really honest, and hard-working, but illy remu- nerated, yeomanry of the neighborhood, should have yielded to the blandishments of these seeming gentlemen, or to have been drawn into their nefarious schemes and practices. Hence, when a united effort was made, by the authorities of Portage, Medina and Cuyahoga counties, in the middle and later thirties, to break up the gang, it is not at all singular, that quite a large nuni- ber of the citizens of Bath should have been seriously implicated. It is but justice to the township, however, to say, that in consider- ation of their having been the victims of malign and adverse influences, rather than inherently dishonest, and of the valuable information imparted to the officers in regard to the leaders of the gang, the most of those who had been taken into custody, or placed under surveillance, were not proceeded against, and thenceforth led honorable lives in the several communities where they resided.

A MIDNIGHT ADVENTURE.

Of course, there were exceptions to this rule, in which the evil-doers were either brought to merited punishment or driven out of the State, and even at a later date some very serious offenses were perpetrated and the wrong-doers duly punished or forced to leave the neighborhood. But ever, and always, the majority of the early inhabitants of Bath were honest, and ready to co-operate with the authorities in the detection and punishment of crime. Without disparagement to others, among the most active, in this direction, were Mr. Peter Voris (father of Judge A. C.

650

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

Voris) and Mr. John Alexander (father of Hon. J. Park Alexander). Many laughable, as well as perilous, incidents might be men- tioned, did space permit, but this one must suffice. In endeavor- ing to trace a stolen horse, which was supposed to be temporarily concealed in the jungles of Eastern Bath, Marshal Mills procured the assistance of Mr. Alexander, whom he stationed at the ford near Yellow Creek basin, while Mills himself kept guard over the ford at Old Portage. About midnight two men, riding one horse, approached the lower ford, and were requested by Mr. Alexander, · to set him across the river. Refusing to do so, with many oaths and abusive epithets, Mr. Alexander seized the rein of the bridle, whereupon the fellow in the rear slipped off the horse, on the opposite side, and ran into the bushes. The other one started to

JOHN ALEXANDER, JR.,-born in Washington county, Pa., Novem- ber 18, 1799; common school educa- tion ; raised a farmer ; married, Sep- tember 16, 1828, to Miss Mary Scott ; came to Ohio in February, 1831, set- tling on a farm near the southeast corner of Bath township, among the · few permanent residents of the town- ship, at that time, being the Hales, the Hammonds, the Nashes, the Bald- wins, the Millers, and later, Peter Voris, with his large family of boys, including Judge Alvin Voris, now of Akron. Mr. Alexander was a man of great energy and courage, largely aiding the authorities in breaking np the strong and influential gang of counterfeiters and horse thieves then infesting the valley of the Cuyahoga, fully written of elsewhere, and though often warned that if he did not leave the township he would be killed, he lived to see the disreputable gang entirely eliminated from the valley. He was an earnest supporter of the church, the school and all pub- lic improvements. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander were the parents of seven children-David S., born July 7, 1829, died November 17, 1890; Joseph H., born March 11, 1832, now residing in Kansas; John Park, whose portrait and biography are given elsewhere;

BENEDICT &CO.CHI.

JOHN ALEXANDER, JR.

and William G., of Toledo, born November 12, 1839, the other' three dying in infancy. Mr. Alexander died September 25, 1855, at the age of 55 years, 10 months and 7 days ; Mrs. Alexander, born February 14, 1799, dying June 29, 1878, aged 79 years, 4 months and 15 days.

follow, when Alexander, stepping quickly to the other side of the horse, caught him as he struck the ground,. In the tussle which ensued, Alexander finally settled his man by a few vigorous blows upon the head with a solid hickory cane which he carried. Being obliged, in the melee, to release his hold upon the bridle, the horse started back towards the Basin, and Mr. Alexander went in pur- suit of it. Having secured his horse he returned to gather up his prisoner, but found him non est. Alexander then mounted the horse and joined Mills at the upper ford, whereupon the two reconnoitred the river and canal as far north as Johnny Cake Lock, which they reached just at day light. Suspecting that one or both of the men which Mr. Alexander had encountered, might be secreted about the grocery kept at that point, a search of the

651

ROUTING OUT THE "CROOKS."

premises was made, and a fellow was fished out of the loft with a "bunged " eye and a freshly bruised head. Though protesting that he had got hurt by being squeezed between a boat and the lock, the evening before, he was taken into custody and lodged in jail. The captured horse, though not the one they were in pursuit of, proved to have been stolen from a neighboring county, and the man thus curiously arrested proved to. be the thief, and was duly convicted and sent to the penitentiary.

WILLIAM LATTA IN LIMBO.

Though then a resident of Medina county, the grand jury of Portage county, at the January term, 1834, through the efforts of Prosecuting Attorney Lucius V. Bierce, found a bill of indictment against Latta on the charge of counterfeiting, or of having coun- terfeit money in his possession with intent to pass the same. To this indictment Latta entered a plea of not guilty, and gave bail in the sum of $1,000 for his appearance at the March term of court, to answer to said charge.

LATTA FORFEITS HIS BAIL .- At the March term, on his case being called, Latta failed to appear, and his bail was duly declared forfeited. On investigation it was found that Latta had disposed of his interests at the Corners, closed up his business affairs, and skipped to parts unknown. Though as diligent inquiries as the condition of the country, and the'facilities then in vogue, would admit of, were instituted, no trace of him could be found, though in the latter part of 1837, after the arrest of Col. William Ashley, as elsewhere stated, Latta clandestinely visited Boston, and recov- ered that portion of the "assets" of the firm of Latta, Holnies & Ashley, that were not found by the authorities, when the latter was arrested. These "assets" consisted of counterfeit plates as follows: One $50 plate on the Mechanics' Bank of New York; two $10's on the United States Bank, letters H. & G .; one $2, on the Bank of Newport, R. I .; $1, $2, $3, $5, $10, and $50, on the Bank of Toronto, together with some $40,000 of Toronto bills.

LATTA AGAIN IN THE TOILS .- In 1838, after Ashley's conviction and incarceration in the penitentiary, as elsewhere detailed, and while the great "generalissimo" of the fraternity, "Jim" Brown, was under $10,000 bonds in Medina county, $9,000 in Portage county, and $1,000 in Cuyahoga county ($20,000 in all), on similar charges, the latter (whether in the interest of public justice, or to "curry favor" with the officers, deponent sayeth not), gave Latta away, informing the authorities of his whereabouts, and deposing, before Justice Jacob Brown, to having seen the two $10 United States plates in Latta's possession, and of Latta's telling him, while in Boston, that he also had the other plates and the money above spoken of. On this affidavit, a warrant was issued, and Constable Warren H. Smith (brother of the late L. N. Smith), following the clue given by Brown, went to Indiana, secured Latta's arrest, and, as he was unwilling to come to Ohio without a requisition, lodged him in jail, and returned home to procure one. This, it should be remembered, was before there were any railroads or telegraph facilities here, as now.

LATTA'S EXTRADITION TO OHIO .- Deputy United States Marshal, Ithiel Mills, Esq., immediately, on Smith's return, went by stage to

652

AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

Columbus, and, securing a requisition, proceeded by stage to Indian-, apolis, where he obtained, from the Governor of that State, a warrant for Latta's extradition to Ohio. On his arrival at the place where Constable Smith had left him, however, Mills found that his bird had flown, having been released from jail under a writ of habeas corpus. Anticipating another visit from the Ohio officer, Latta went into concealment, but by a little strategy, Mills succeeded in tracing him to his lair, and bringing him safely to Akron.

Here, on the testimony of " Jim" Brown, Justice Jacob Brown held Latta to bail in the sum of $15,000, in default of which he was committed to jail, at Ravenna. This was the latter part of August, 1838. On the same testimony, the grand jury of Portage county. found a bill of indictment against Latta, but, under one pretext or another, the trial was postponed until the September terni of court, 1839.

LATTA AGAIN AT LIBERTY .-- In the meantime, as will be seen by a perusal of the chapter pertaining to that gentleman, "Jim" Brown, had so succeeded in "working" the witness against him, as to be beyond immediate danger. Latta's case was called, a jury empanelled and the preliminary statements of counsel made in due form. Brown, the principal witness for the State, being called to the stand, to the great surprise of the officers who had so inde- fatigably worked up the case, peremptorily declined to answer any questions touching the accused, on the ground that doing so would tend to criminate himself. This ended the trial and Latta was accordingly set at liberty. The former charge, in which his bail had been forfeited, having meantime been nollied, Latta imme- diately disappeared, and so far as the writer is aware, was never again seen in this vicinity, but was for many years thereafter reputed to be pursuing the same dark and devious ways, so char- acteristic of him here, in the State of Indiana.

EDUCATIONAL, RELIGIOUS, ETC.

Though not maintaining any academical or so-called high schools within her borders, the educational facilities of Bath, with a full complement of snug and well-equipped district school build- ings, have always been exceptionally good. In religious matters, the Presbyterians for many years maintained a house of worship at the center of the town, and the Methodists at Hammond's Cor- ners, her people also having ready access to the United Brethren "Centennial" Church, on the Richfield line' upon the north, the Disciple Church on the Granger line upon the west, and the United Brethren Church at Montrose upon the south, her people at the present time being among the most intelligent and moral on the Western Reserve; maintaining, also, a most flourishing Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, now such a potent factor in promoting the intellectual, social and material interests of the peo- ple of the rural districts of the country.

RETROGRADE IN POPULATION.

During the first twenty-five or thirty years after the first settle- ment in Bath began, its growth in population was steady and comparatively rapid, so that in 1840 its population was 1,425. For

653

POPULATION -- OFFICIAL ROSTER, ETC.

the past twenty-five or thirty years, however, owing to the changed conditions of doing business-merging the small industries of the villages and country places in the larger establishments in the cities, and the introduction of agricultural labor-saving machinery, by which less human muscle is needed to accomplish the same. results as formerly upon the farm-to say nothing about that formerly expended in the clearing of their lands-the population of most of the townships of the Reserve has materially receded; the. decennial enumeration for 1890 giving to Bath a population of 990. souls only, a falling off of 435 in 50 years.

PRESENT OFFICIAL ROSTER (1891) .- Trustees, John Hershey, A .. W. Shade, Robert Y. Robinson; Clerk, George Youells; Treasurer,. William H. Spears; Justices of the Peace, Henry Pardee, William Davis; Postmasters, Bath (at Hammond's Corners), Siegel B .. Whitcraft; Ghent, Otis R. Hershey; Montrose, Samuel Briggs.

* .

CHAPTER XXVIII. .

BOSTON TOWNSHIP-EARLY SETTLEMENT-ORGANIZATION, NAME, ETC .- PIO- NEER INCIDENT AND EXPERIENCE-THE INDIAN'S PARADISE-MANUFAC- TURING RESOURCES-MILITARY PROWESS-BOSTON IN COUNTY AND STATE AFFAIRS-COUNTERFEITING HEADQUARTERS -THE GANG BROKEN UP - "COL." WILLIAM ASHLEY'S ARREST, CONVICTION, IMPRISONMENT AND DEATH-FULL HISTORY OF THE NOTORIOUS "JIM" BROWN-SUBSEQUENT EXCITING CRIMES, MURDERS, BURGLARIES, ETC .- MODERN BOSTON, MORAL INTELLIGENT, ENTERPRISING.

BOSTON'S TOPOGRAPHY.

The township of Boston, like most of the towns along the line of the Cuyahoga river through Summit county, is largely broken up into precipitous hills and deep gullies, though beyond these bluffs, on either side, there are some fine farming lands, and occa- sional fertile and tillable areas along the river bottoms.

The river is exceedingly tortuous through the entire town- ship, and, a little north and west of the geographical center, it makes an abrupt turn to the eastward, and circling around to the north and west, enclosing some 18 or 20 acres of rich bottom land, comes back to within about 50 or 60 feet of the point of divergence, whence it again resumes its general northwesterly course to Lake Erie.

THE VILLAGE OF PENINSULA .- In making this peninsular cir- cuit, there is a fall in the river of nearly eight feet, so that by the erection of a low dam on the upper side, and tunneling through the narrow neck of land indicated, a fine water power is secured, which has been utilized for milling purposes for nearly three- quarters of a century. This eccentricity of the river has furnished . its very appropriate name for the flourishing village of Peninsula, the principal business center of the township; a dam a short dis- tance higher up the river furnishing a large volume of additional water-power for manufacturing purposes, upon both sides of the river.

. In the construction of the Valley Railway, the entire volume of the water of the river has been let through the narrow neck of the peninsula, east of the mill. The water power of the mill is considerably improved thereby, while the bottom lands of the peninsula are less liable to overflow in case of freshet. This arrangement also greatly facilitates the operations of the railway, and the making, harvesting and shipping of ice from the old bed of the river, which is amply supplied for that purpose, through a small creek formed by several large springs in the ledges to the eastward.

THE ANCIENT VILLAGE OF BOSTON .-- A mile and a-half further north is the original business point of the township, the village of Boston. Here, too, by means of a substantial dam thrown across the river, its waters have been used for milling purposes since

655

BOSTON'S BEGINNING.

1821; at first upon the west side of the river, but after the con- struction of the Ohio Canal, transferred to the east side; the original improvement of this character in the township being made here, in the year named, by Capt. Watrous Mather, who afterward, in the early thirties, removed to Akron, erecting a story and a-half frame house on Brown street, which is still standing, and in which he died May 18, 1844, aged 66 years.

G EORGE STANFORD, - born in Beaver county, Pa., October 9, 1800; came with parents to Warren, O., in 1802, and to Boston in 1806, which township his father, James Stanford, assisted Alfred Wolcott, Sr., in surveying the year previous, . and being the second family to set- tle in the township, the 196 acre farm on the east bank of the Cuyahoga river being now occupied by the grandson of the original proprietor, George C. Stanford, Esq. George Stanford was married to Catharine Carter, of Boston township, January 17, 1828, who died December 20, 1872, aged 68 years, having borne hin eight children, one of whom only, George C., now survives. Mr. George Stanford was a model farmer, ster- ling citizen and a consistent men- ber of the Methodist church, being appointed by the people of the town- ship to many positions of trust and for six years officiating as justice of the peace. Mr. Stanford died March 7. 1883, aged 82 years, 4 months and 8 days. George C. Stanford, born April 18, 1839, was married to Miss Lida Wetmore, daughter of William Wetmore, Esq., one of Stow's pioneer 1

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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