USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III > Part 13
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EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND INCIDENTS.
RAVENNA was originally settled by Benjamin Tappan, Jr., in 1799. He was the afterwards eminent Benjamin Tappan, Senator from Ohio, who later removed to Steubenville. In making the settlement at Ravenna he acted as the agent of his father, Benjamin Tappan, Sr., who was the principal proprietor. At this time
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W M. FOLGERI
Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.
CENTRAL VIEW IN RAVENNA.
From Photograph in 1887. .
CENTRAL VIEW IN RAVENNA.
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there was but one white person, a Mr. Honey, residing in the county. A solitary log-cabin in each place marked the sites of the flourishing cities of Buffalo and Cleveland. On his journey out from New England, Mr. Tappan fell in with the late David Hudson, the founder of Hudson, Summit county, at Geroudaquet, N. Y., and "assisted him on the journey for the sake of his company. After some days of tedious navigation up the Cuyahoga river, he landed at a prairie, where is now the town of Boston, in the county of Summit. There he left all his goods under a tent with one K- and his family to take care of them, and with another hired man proceeded to make out a road to Ravenna. There they built a dray, and with a yoke of oxen which had been driven from the Connectient river, and were found on his arrival, he conveyed a load of farming utensils to his settlement. Returning for a second load, the tent was found abandoned and partly plundered by the Indians. He soon after learned that Hudson had per- suaded K- to join his own settlement."
On Mr. Tappan " removing his second load of goods, one of his oxen was overheated and died, leaving him in a vast forest, distant from any habitation, without a team, and what was still worse, with but a single dollar in money. He was not depressed for an instant by these untoward cireumstanees. He sent one of his men through the woods with a compass to Erie, Pa., a distance of about 100 miles, requesting from Capt. Lyman, the commandant at the fort, a loan of money. At the same time he followed himself the township lines to ' Youngstown,' where he became acquainted with Col. James Hillman, who did not hesitate to sell him an ox on eredit at a fair price-an act of generosity which proved of great value, as the want of a team must have broken up his settlement. The un- expected delays upon the journey, and other hindranees, prevented them from raising a crop at this season, and they had, after the provisions brought with him were exhausted, to depend for meat upon their skill in hunting and purchases from the Indians, and for meal upon the seanty supplies procured from Western Penn- sylvania. Having set out with the determination to spend the winter, he erected a log-cabin, into which himself and one Bixby, to whom he had agreed to give 100 acres of land on condition of settlement, moved on the 1st day of January, 1800, before which they had lived under a bark eamp and their tent."
About the time of Mr. Tappan's settlement at Ravenna, others were commenced in several of the townships of the county. The sketches of Deerfield and Pal- myra we annex from the Barr manuscripts.
Deerfield received its name from Deerfield, . of Lewis), John Campbell and Joel Thrall, Mass., the native place of the mother of all arrived in company. In April George and Robert Taylor and James Laughlin, from Pennsylvania, with their families, made per- manent settlements. Mr. Laughlin built a grist-mill, which, in the succeeding year, was a great convenience to the settlers. On the 29th of June Lewis Day returned from Con- necticut, accompanied by his family and his brother-in-law, Major Rogers, who the next year also brought out his family. Lewis Day, Esq. Early in May, 1799, Lewis Day and his son Horatio, of Granby, Con., and Moses Tibbals and Green Frost, of Gran- ville, Mass., left their homes in a one-horse wagon, and arrived in Deerfield on the 29th of the same month. This was the first wagon that had ever penetrated farther westward in this region than Canfield. The country west of that place had been an unbroken wilder- ness until within a few days. Capt. Caleb Atwater, of Wallingford, Con., had hired some men to open a road to township No. 1, in the seventh range, of which he was the owner. This road passed through Deerfield, and was completed to that place when the party arrived at the point of their destina- tion. These emigrants selected sites for their future dwellings, and commenced clearing np the land. In July Lewis Ely and family ar- rived from Granville, and wintered here, while the first named, having spent the sum- mer in making improvements, returned cast. On the 4th of March, 1800, Alva Day (son
Much suffering was experienced on account of the scarcity of provisions. They were supplied from settlements on the opposite side of the Ohio, the nearest of which was Georgetown, forty miles distant. These were conveved on paek-horses through the wilder- ness. On the 22d of August Mrs. Alva Day gave birth to the first child-a female-born in the township, and on the 7th of November the first wedding took place. John Camp- bell and Sarah Ely-daughter of Lewis-were joined in wedlock by Calvin Austin, Esq .. of Warren. He was accompanied from Warren, a distance of twenty-seven miles, by the late
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Judge Pease, then a young lawyer of that place. They came on foot (there not being any road), and as they threaded their way through the woods young Pease taught the justice the marriage ceremony by oft repe- fition.
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'The first civil organization was effected in 1802, under the name of' Franklin township, embracing all of the present Portage and parts of Trumbull and Summit counties.
About this time the settlement received ac- cessions from New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The Rev. Mr. Badger, the missionary of the Presbyterians, preached here as early as February 16, 1801. In 1803 Dr. Shadrach Bostwick organized an Episcopal Methodist society. The Presbyterian society was organ- ized October 8, 1818, and that of the Disci- ples in 1828.
In 1806 there was an encampment of seven Mohawk Indians in Deerfield, with whom a serious difficulty occurred. John Diver, it is thought, in a horse- trade overreached one of these Indians named John Nicksaw. . There was much dissatisfaction expressed by the Indians at the bargain, and Nicksaw vainly en- deavored to effect a re-exchange of horses.
On stating his grievances to Squire Day, that gentleman advised him to see Diver again and persuade him to do justice. Niek- saw replied, "No ! you speak him ! me no speak hin again!" and immediately left. On this very evening (January 20, 1806) there was a sleighing party at the house of John Diver. Early in the evening while amusing themselves, they were interrupted by the rude entrance of five Indians-John Nicksaw, John Mohawk, Bigson and his two sons, from the encampment.
They were excited with whiskey and endeav- ored to decoy John Diver to their camp on some frivolous pretence. Failing in this stratagem they became more and more bois- terous, but were quieted by the mildness of Daniel Diver. They changed their tone, re- ciprocated his courteousness, and vainly urged him to drink whiskey with them. They now again resumed their impudent manner, and charging Daniel with stealing their guns, de- clared they would not leave until he returned them. With much loss of time and alterca- tion he at last got them out of the house. Shortly after John Diver opened the door, and was on the point of stepping out, when he espied Mohawk standing in front of him, with uplifted tomahawk, in the attitude of striking. Diver shrunk back unobserved by the company and, not wishing to alarm them, said nothing at the time about the circumstance.
About 10 o'clock, the moon shining with
unusual brightness, the night being cold and clear with snow about two feet deep, Daniel observed the Indians standing in a ravine several rods from the house. He ran up and accosted them in a friendly manner. They treacherously returned his salutation, said they had found their guns, and before return- ing to camp wished to apologize for their con- duot and part good friends. Passing along the line he took each and all by the hand until he came to Mohawk, who was the only one that had a gun in his hands. He refused to shake hands, and at the moment Diver turned for the house, he received a ball through his temples destroying both of his eyes. He immediately fell. On the report of the gun John Diver ran to the spot, by which time Daniel had regained his feet and was staggering about. Mohawk was stand- ing a few paces off, looking on in silence, but his companions had fled. John eagerly in- quired of his brother what was the matter ? "I am shot by Mohawk," was the reply. John instantly darted at Mohawk, intending to make him atone in a frightful manner for the injury done his brother. The savage fed toward the camp, and as Diver gained rapidly upon him, Mohawk threw himself from the road into the woods, uttering a horrid yell. Diver, now perceiving the other Indians returning toward him, fled in turn to his brother, and took him into the house. The wound, although dangerous, was not " mortal, and he was living as late as 1847.
The Indians hurried to their encampment, and from thence fled in a northwest direction. The alarm spread through the settlement, and in a few hours there were twenty-five men on the spot, ready for the pursuit. Before daylight this party (among which were Alva Day, Major H. Rogers, James Laughlin, Alex. K. Hubbard and Tra Mansfield) were in hot pursuit upon their trail. The weather being intensely cold and the settlements far apart they suffered exceed- ingly. Twenty of them had their feet frozen, and many of them were compelled to stop; but their number was kept good by additions from the settlements through which they passed.
On the succeeding night the party came up with the fugitives, encamped on the west side of the Cuyahoga, in the present town of Boston. The whites surrounded them ; but Nicksaw and Mohawk escaped. They were overtaken and commanded
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to surrender or be shot. Continuing their flight, Williams, of Hudson, fired, and Nicksaw fell dead ; but Mohawk escaped. The whites returned to Deerfield with Bigson and his two sons. A squaw belonging to them was allowed to escape, and it is said perished in the snow. On arriving at the centre of Deerfield, where the tragedy had been acted, Bigson appeared to be overpowered with grief, and giving vent to a flood of tears, took an affectionate leave of his sons, expecting here to lose his life, according to a custom of the Indians. They were taken before Lewis Day, Esq., who, after examination, committed them to prison at Warren.
Mr. Cornelius Feather, in the papers of the Ashtabula Historical Society, says :
It was heart-rending to visit this group of human misery at Warren and hear their lamentations. The poor Indians were not confined, for they could not run away. The narrator has seen this old, frost-crippled chief Bigson, who had been almost frozen to death, sitting with the others on the bank of the Mahoning, and heard him, in the Indian tongue, with deep touching emotions, in the highest strain of his native oratory, addressing his companions in misery-speaking the language of his heart ; pointing toward the rising, then toward the setting sun, to the north, to the south, till sobs choked his utterance and tears followed tears down his sorrow-worn cheeks.
We now return to the Barr manuscript for another incident of early times, ex- hibiting something of Indian gratitude and customs :
John Hendricks, an Indian, for some time lived in a camp on the bank of the Mahon- ing, with his family-a wife and two sons- and was much respected by the settlers. Early in 1802 one of his sons, a child of about 4 years of age, was taken sick, and during his illness was treated with great kind- ness by Mr. James Laughlin and lady, who lived near. He died on the 4th of March, and his father having expressed a desire to have him interred in the place where the whites intended to bury their dead, a spot was selected near the residence of Lewis Day, which is to this time used as a graveyard. A coffin was prepared by Mr. Langhlin and Alva Day, and he was buried according to the custom of the whites. Observing the earth to fall upon the board, and not upon
the body of his deceased' son, Hendricks ex- claimed in a fit of ecstasy, " Body no broken !" Some days after Mr. Day observed these In- dians near the grave, apparently washing some clothing. and then digging at the grave. After they had retired, prompted by curios- ity, Mr. Day examined the grave, and found the child's clothes just washed and carefully deposited with the body. Shortly after he inquired of Hendricks why he had not buried them at the funeral. "Because they were not clean," replied he. These Indiaus soon left the neighborhood, and did not return for one or two years. Meeting with Mr. Laugh- lin, Hendricks ran towards him, and throw- ing himself into his arms, embraced and kissed him with the deepest affection, ex- claiming, "Body no broke ! body no broke !"
The first improvements in Palmyra were made in 1799 by David Daniels, from Salisbury, Conn. The succeeding year he brought ont his family. E., N. and . W. Bacon, E. Cutler, A. Thurber, A. Preston, N. Bois, J. T. Baldwin, T. and C. Gilbert, D., A. and S. Waller, N. Smith, Joseph Fisher, J. Tuttle, and others came not long after.
On the first settlement of the township there were several families of Onondaga and Oneida Indians who carried on a friendly in- tercourse with the people, until the difficulty at Deerfield, in 1806, in the shooting of Diver.
When this region was first settled, there was an Indian trail commencing at Fort McIntosh (where Beaver, Pa., now is) and extending westward to Sandusky and Detroit. This trail followed the highest ground. It passed by the Salt Springs in Howland, Trumbull connty, and running through the northern part of Palmyra, crossed Silver Creek, in Edinburg, one and a half miles north of the centre road. Along this trail parties of
Indians were frequently seen passing for sev- eral years after the white settlers came. In fact, it seemed to be the great thoroughfare from Sandusky to the Ohio river and Du Quesne. There are several large piles of stones by this trail in Palmyra, under which human skeletons have been discovered. These are supposed to be the remains of In- dians slain in war, or murdered by their one- mies ; as tradition says it is an Indian practice for each one to east a stone upon the grave of an enemy whenever he passes by. These stones appear to have been picked up along the trail and cast upon heaps at different times.
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At the point where this trail crosses Silver creek, Frederick Daniels and others, in 1814, discovered painted on several trees various devices, evidently the work of Indians. The bark was carefully shaved off two-thirds of the way around, and figures cut upon the wood. On one of these were delineated seven Indians, equipped in a particular manner,
one of which was without a head. This was supposed to have been made by a party on their return westward, to give intelligence to their friends behind of the loss of one of their party at this place; and on making search a human skeleton was discovered near by.
Ravenna in 1846 .- Ravenna, the county-seat, so named from an Italian city, is thirty-four miles southeast of Cleveland and 140 northeast of Columbus. It is situated on the Cleveland & Pittsburg road, on the crest of land dividing the waters flowing into the lakes from those emptying into the Gulf of Mexico ; the Ohio & Pennsylvania canal runs a short distance south of the town. The en-" graving represents the public buildings in the central part of the village ; in the centre is seen the court-house and jail ; on the right in the distance the Congrega- tional, and on the left the Universalist church. Ravenna contains one Congrega- tional, one Disciples, one Methodist and one Universalist church, ten mercantile stores, an academy, two newspaper printing-offices, and about 1,200 inhabitants. It is a thriving, pleasant village, and is noted for the manufacture of carriages .- Old Edition.
RAVENNA, county-seat of Portage, about 125 miles northeast of Columbus, about thirty-five miles southeast of Cleveland, at the junction of the C. & P. and N. Y., P. & O. and P. C. & T. Railroads, is the shipping-point for a fine farming district ; the principal shipments are grain, wool, cheese, etc. It is also a consid- erable manufacturing centre. County officers, 1888 : Auditor, S. R. Freeman ; Clerk, A. E. Seaton ; Commissioners, John L. Thompson, Wanzer Holcomb, Wesley Hubbard ; Coroner, A. M. Erwin ; Infirmary Directors, William Fox, Thomas C. Stewart, F. B. Cannon ; Probate Judge, C. D. Ingall ; Prosecuting Attorney, E. W. Maxon ; Recorder, Sidney J. Post; Sheriff, James Jones ; Sur- veyor, Jedediah Cole ; - Treasurer, Marvin Collins. City officers, 1888 : Mayor, J. W. Holcomb ; Clerk, Arthur Seaton ; Treasurer, W. T. Grundel ; Marshal, William Dietch. Newspapers : Democratic Press, Democratic, S. D. Harris & Son, editors and publishers ; Republican, Republican, John Meharg, editor and publisher. . Churches : one Methodist Episcopal, one Catholic, one Episcopal, one Congregational, one Lutheran, one Disciples, one United Brethren, one Univer- salist. Banks : First National, Newell D. Clark, president, R. B. Carnahan, cashier ; Second National, E. T. Richardson, president, W. H. Beebe, cashier.
Manufactures and Employees .- Merts & Riddle, coaches, etc., 50 hands ; John- ston, Johnston & Co., eigar boxes, 8; Buckeye Foundry, iron castings, 2; E. & R. Knapp, pumps, 3; Ravenna Glass Co., glass bottles, etc., 83 ; Ravenna Mills, flour, etc., 2; D. L. Baldwin & Son, planing-mill, etc., 8; Quaker Mill Co., oat meal, 83; O. A. Bissell, cooperage, 5; Ravenna Woollen Mills, woollen goods, 5; Seymore & Olin, flour, etc. ; Diamond Glass Co., window glass, 58 .- State Report, 1888.
Population, 1880, 3,255. School census, 1888, 1,061; D. D. Pickett, school superintendent. Capital invested in industrial establishments, $443,800. Value of annual product, $604,500 .- Ohio Labor Statistics, 1887.
Census, 1890, 3,417.
The first settler, Benjamin Tappan, built his cabin in 1799 in the southeast part of the township; in 1808 he laid the foundation for the town. He offered a town lot as a prize for the first child born on the site. This prize fell to the son of a David Thompson, born in 1810. Tappan also gave a graveyard, which came into use in 1809. Nathan Chapman, aged 51 years, was its first tenant. The present cemetery was laid out in 1813. A few years later Ravenna had quite a village appearance. Jesse R. Grant, father of General Grant, when a young man of about 23 years of age, carried on a tannery here. It was nearly opposite
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the site of the Presbyterian church, on the northeast corner of the street. 'The shop stood a little back from the street, and in the yard in front were the tan-vats. In 1835 Dr. Isaac Swift lived opposite, and had a little drug-store by his house. A sign which read
JESSE GRANT, TANNER, * -*
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then leaned endways against the old building, which was then used as a tannery, although Grant had left years before. A few years ago the old vats were taken up, and some of the wood made into walking-sticks.
Kent in 1846 .- Franklin Mills [now Kent] is six miles west of Ravenna, on the Cleveland road, Cuyahoga river and Mahoning canal. In the era of specula- tion a large town was laid out here, great prices paid for "city lots," and in the event large quantities of money changed hands. It, however, possesses natural advantages that in time may make it an important manufacturing town, the Cuy- ahoga having here two falls, one of seventeen and the other of twenty-five feet. The village is much scattered. It contains one Congregational, one Baptist, one Episcopal and one Methodist church, four mercantile stores, two flouring mills, two woollen factories and about 400 inhabitants .- Old Edition.
KENT, formerly Franklin Mills, is six miles west of Ravenna, on the Cuya- hoga river and N. Y., P. & O., C. & C. and P. Y. & C. Railroads. The Cuy- ahoga river furnishes inexhaustible water-power. City officers, 1888 : Mayor, James Wark ; Clerk, Frank Arighi ; Marshal, James Logan ; Treasurer, M. G. Garrison ; Street Commissioner, E. Minnick. Newspapers : Courier, Indepen- dent, Charles H. Scott, editor and publisher ; News, Democratic, H. E. Gridley, editor ; Saturday Bulletin, Republican, N. J. H. Minich, editor and publisher. Churches : one Universalist, one Catholic, one Methodist, one Congregational, one Disciples, one Baptist, and one Lutheran. Banks : City, D. L. Rockwell, presi- dent, M. G. Garrison, cashier ; Kent National, Marvin Kent, president, Charles K. Clapp, cashier.
Manufactures and Employees .- J. Turner & Sons' Manufacturing Co., worsted goods, 175 hands ; H. A. & M. Kent, flour, etc., 2; N. Y., P. & O. Railroad Shops, repair shops, 320; T. G. Parsons, planing mill, 10; Williams Bros., flour, 30; Railway Speed Recorder Co., 88 ; Grohe Bros., planing mill, 5; John F. Byers, machine work, 5; C. T. Goeppinger, tannery, 4 .- State Report, 1887.
Population, 1880, 3,309. School census, 1888, 369; A. B. Stutzman, school superintendent. Capital invested in manufacturing establishments, $484,500. Value of annual product, $956,250 .- Ohio Labor Statistics, 1888.
Census, 1890, 3,481.
Franklin, the township in which Kent now is, comprising 16,000 acres in 1798, was bought for twelve and a. half cents an acre, or $2,000, by Aaron Olm- stead, of Hartford, Conn. As early as 1803 Benjamin Tappan and others built a bridge over the river about four yards from the spot where Brady made his leap. The first settlers were the Haymaker family, German Pennsylvanians, who temporarily occupied a hut built by Olmstead's surveyors.
One day, while they were in this hut, a party of Indians gave them a call, when a squaw among them leaned a board, to which she had, in Indian fashion, tied her pappoose, against the hut. After the mother had gone in a wild hog came through the brush, and grasping the Indian baby, ran off with it. The mother, hearing the noise, ran to its rescue ; but the infuriated hog would not give up its prize until he was badly beaten.
A son of one of the family, Frederick Haymaker, a bright, educated man, became the private secretary of Aaron Burr, and it is said knew the secret plans of Burr ;
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but to his dying day he never divulged them. He died in 1851. The Haymakers, in 1807, put up a mill, and eventually bought 600 acres on the site of Kent. In 1815, when the township was organized, the entire voting population was twelve.
In 1827, on the site were an upper and a lower village, the first called Car- thage and the last Franklin Mills. In 1863 the name of the combined villages was changed to Kent, in honor of Marvin Kent, the proprietor of the N. Y., P. & O. Railroad, and its then president. On the 7th of March of that year its first passenger train entered the place. Kent became the geographical centre of the road, and the location of the principal shops of its two divisions ; so the place, which had been languishing, got a fresh impetus through the indomitable energy of one of its citizens.
John Brown, of Harper's Ferry, about the year 1835, with his father, was for a short time a resident. He was then about 35 years of age.
The noted Indian fighter, Brady, made his celebrated leap across the Cuyahoga about 200 yards above the bridge at Kent. The appearance of the locality has been materially altered by blasting rocks for the canal.
The picture shown is from the drawing made for this work by Mr. F. E. Poister, of Kent, who drew it as it was about 1809, from the recollection of early settlers. The stand-point for the view was on the north and left bank of the Cuyahoga.
BRADY'S POND, so called from being the place where he secreted himself after the leap (related below from a published source), is about two and a half miles from the village, and a few hundred yards north of the road to Ravenna. It is a small but beautiful sheet of water, the shores of which are composed of a white sand, finely adapted to the manufacture of glass.
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Capt. Samuel Brady seems to have been as much the Daniel Boone of the northeast part of the valley of the Ohio, as the other was of the southwest, and the country is equally full of traditionary legends of his hardy adventures and hair-breadth escapes. From undoubted authority, it seems the fol- lowing incident actually transpired in this vicinity. Brady's residence was on Chartier's creek, on the south side of the Ohio, and being a man of herculean strength, activity and courage, he was generally selected as the leader of the hardy borderers in all their incur- sions into the Indian territory north of the river. On this occasion, which was about the year 1780, a large party of warriors from the falls of the Cuyahoga and the adjacent country had made an inroad on the south side of the Ohio river, in the lower part of what is now Washington county, on what was then known as the settlement of "Cat- fish Camp," after an old Indian of that name who lived there when the whites first came into the country on the Monongahela river.
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