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 44

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son
Number of Pages: 1200

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 44

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after covering his parent, under a log, with his blanket, he had wandered until he saw Spicer's light.

James Brown, or, as he was commonly called, "Jim Brown," was one of the early settlers in the north part of the county. Hle was known throughout the country as the head of a notorious band of counterfeiters. Few men have pursued the business so long without being convicted. Aside from this he was to a certain extent respected, for he had the externals of a gentleman in his conversa- tion and address, and had many friends. He was a fine-looking man, over six feet in height, with a keen penetrating eye. Ile even held the office of justice of the peace when last arrested. He had often been tried before, and as often escaped. Once he was sentenced to the penitentiary from Medina, and the sheriff had nearly reached Columbus, when he was overtaken with a writ of error and set at liberty. It is said that large num- bers of young men have been drawn into his schemes from time to time, and thereby found their way to the penitentiary. Many anecdotes are related of him.

He and a brother and one Taylor once sup- plied themselves with counterfeit paper and proceeded to New Orleans, where they pur- chased a ship with it and set sail for China, intending to make large purchases there with counterfeit notes on the United States bank. A discovery, however, was made, and they were apprehended before they had got out of the river, and brought back for trial, but he escaped by turning State's evidence. He es- caped so often that it was said he could not be convicted. However, in 1846. he was taken the last time, tried at Columbus, and sentenced to the penitentiary for ten years. When first arrested, he said, "Well. boys, now the United States have taken hold of me, I may get floored ; but I could have wor- ried out a county.'

AKRON, county-seat of Summit, about one hundred and ten miles northeast of Columbus, about thirty miles south of Cleveland, is an important manufacturing city, sewer pipe and stoneware being noted interests. It is the seat of BUCHTEL COLLEGE. Its railroads are : N. Y., P. & O. ; C. A. & C. ; Valley ; and P. & W. It is also on the Ohio canal.

County Officers, 1888 : Auditor, Charles W. F. Dick ; Clerk, Othello W. Hale ; Commissioners, King J. Ellet, Washington G. Johnston, Charles C. Hine; Cor- oner, Albert H. Sargent ; Infirmary Directors, Stephen D. Miller, Joseph Moore, Eli Smith ; Probate Judge, Charles R. Grant ; Prosecuting Attorney, George W. Sieber ; Recorder, Henry C. Scarles ; Sheriff, David R. Bunn ; Surveyor, Charles E. Perkins; Treasurer, James II. Seymour. City Officers, 1888 : Louis D). Seward, Mayor ; Dayton A. Doyle, Solicitor ; Newton Ford, Clerk ; Arthur M. Cole, Treasurer ; Simon M. Stane, Marshal ; W. D. Chapman, Civil Engineer, Henry Acker, Street Commissioner ; B. F. Manderbach, Chief Fire Department. Newspapers : Beacon, Republican, Beacon Publishing Co., editors and publishers ; Telegram, Independent, F. S. Pixley, editor ; Germania, German Independent, Germania Publishing Company, editors and publishers ; City Times, Democratic, F. S. Pixley, editor ; Freie Presse, German, Freie Presse Publishing Company ; American Farm News, Aultman, Miller & Co., publishers; Ohio Educational

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

AKRON, FROM THE MEDINA ROAD.

AKRON, FROM NEAR THE MEDINA ROAD, 1890.

315-316

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SUMMIT COUNTY.

Monthly and National Teacher, educational, Samuel Findlay, editor. Churches : 1 Baptist, 1 Congregational, 2 Christian, 1 Hebrew, 1 Evangelical, 2 Methodist, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Universalist, 1 German Lutheran, 1 German Reformed, 1 Re- formed, 2 Catholic, 1 Episcopal, 1 Lutheran, 1 United Brethren, 1 African Metho- dist Episcopal. Banks : Bank of Akron, George W. Crouse, president, George T. Perkins, cashier ; Citizens' Savings and Loan Association, E. Steinbacher, president, W. B. Raymond, cashier ; City National, J. B. Woods, president, F. W. Butler, cashier ; First National, T. W. Cornell, president, W. McFarlin, cashier ; Second National, George D. Bates, president, A. N. Sanford, cashier.

Manufactures and Employees .- Aultman, Miller & Co., harvesting machinery, 605 hands ; J. F. Seiberling & Co., harvesting machinery, 256 ; The J. C. McNeil Co., steam boilers, etc., 32; Akron Twine and Cordage Co., twine and cordage, 60 ; Taplin, Rice & Co., stoves and general machine work, 16; F. Schumacher Milling Co., flour, etc., 276 ; Citizens' Electric Light Co., 6; D. W. Thomas, planing mill, 24; The Hower Co., oat products, 20; Allen & Co., flour and feed, 17; J. Park Alexander, fire-brick, 20; W. B. Doyle & Co., planing mill, 10; Baker, McMillen & Co., wood-turning, etc., 98 ; A. A. Bartlett, planing mill, 13; Dempsey Machine Co., general machine work, 12; D. E. H. Merrill & Co., stone- ware, 49 ; Enterprise Manufacturing Co., hardware specialties, 35 ; The Hardware Manufacturing Co., hardware specialties, 17; The Thomas Phillips Co., flour sacks, 50; Christian Voght, carriages and wagons, 10; The B. F. Goodrich Co., mechanical and hard rubber, 260; The Akron Cracker Co., crackers and cakes, 14; Weary, Snyder, Wilcox Manufacturing Co., planing mill and box factory, 25; Webster, Camp & Lane Machinery Co., hoisting machinery, etc., 135; The Akron Belting Co., leather belting, 25; Werner Printing and Manufacturing Co., lithographing, printing, etc., 140; The Beacon Publishing Co., printing and book- binding, 36; Akron Contracting and Cabinet Co., builders' supplies, etc., 25 ; Smith Brothers, druggists' supplies, etc., 24; The Akron Iron Co., bar iron, etc., 412; C. A. Hankey, planing mill, 15; The Diamond Match Co., matches, 664; Whitman & Barns Manufacturing Co., knives and sickles, 286 ; Miller Match and Chain Co., matches and chains, 138; J. C. Ewart & Co., roofing tile, etc., 70; The Selle Gear Co., spring wagons and truck gears, 46 ; The Buckeye Sewer-pipe Co., sewer-pipe, 40; The U. S. Stoneware Co., stoneware, 40; The Akron Sewer- pipe Co., sewer-pipe, 90; The Hill Sewer-pipe Co., sewer-pipe, 45; Whitmore, Robinson & Co., stoneware, etc., 129 ; The Seiberling Milling Co., flour and feed, 23; The Akron Fire-brick Co., fire-brick, 8; T. C. Budd, machine and foundry work, 7; Akron Steam Forge Co., iron and steel forging, 23; F. Horix, lager beer, 12; Robinson Brothers & Co., sewer-pipe, 70; Weeks Brothers, stoneware, 31; Viall & Markell, stoneware, 25 ; Cook, Fairbanks & Co., stoneware, 23; Akron Stoneware Co., stoneware, 43 ; F. W. Rockwell & Co., stoneware, 20; The Ohio Stoneware Co., stoneware, 32 .- State Report, 1888.

Population in 1880, 16,512. School census, 1888, 7,707 ; Elias Fraunfelter, school superintendent. Capital invested in industrial establishments, $7,202,000. Valne of annual product, $7,487,369 .- Ohio Labor Statistics, 1887.

Census, 1890, 27,702.

Akron' s Sewer-pipe Industry is famed throughout the whole country. The sewer-pipe has been in use in many cities for years and only gains added reputa- tion by the test of time. It is manufactured in large quantities by skilled labor and powerful machinery. It is thoroughly vitrified and impervious to acids, gases or steam. The glaze being formed from the action of the vapors of salt upon the clay at a high temperature is not liable to scale or cut off by sewer gas, as is sometimes the case when a slip glaze of foreign substances is applied to the clay.

Of the clay beds which supply the material for Akron's sewer-pipe Dr. Orton says : "The potters' clays of Springfield township, Summit county, are among the best natural beds of stoneware clay in the State. The clay deposits are from six

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to ten feet thick, overlain by shales and a hard sand-rock, and underlain by shales and occasionally by an inch or two of coal. The clays are of several grades of excellence ; the poorest, or 'chuck' clay, which is commonly rejected, is found on the top of the bed. The beds are found close to the surface in the largest part of the territory. They are mined by long pits or trenches by which the whole area worked is taken clean and the refuse is piled back. In one or two instances the clays are mined by drifting, which gives a much cleaner product than the cus- tomary way. The district in which these clays are found is small, all the work- ings being at one place, viz., North Springfield, Summit county, where there are twelve or fifteen banks. They supply all the Mogadore, Tallmadge, Cuyahoga Falls and Akron stoneware potteries, which make at least twice as much stone- ware as any other district in Ohio."

Akron has another industry-the MATCH INDUSTRY-which is almost as widely known as its famous sewer-pipe. One-fifth of the entire match product of the United States is made by one concern in Akron. The Barber Match Com- pany was established in 1847 by George Barber, and became by consolidation a branch of the Diamond Match Company in 1881.

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846. MIDDLEBURY FROM THE TALLMADGE ROAD.

The Akron branch of this concern use annually in the manufacture of matches 3,000,000 feet of white pine lumber, 70 tons of brimstone, 17,000 lbs. of phos- phorus, 33,600 lbs. chlorate of potash, 30,000 lbs. of glue and 50,000 lbs. of para- fine wax. The work is largely done by improved machinery.

On the location of the canal at Akron the town of Middlebury began to lose its prestige, and its citizens decided that it must get increased water-power to hold its own against the young rival.

The MIDDLEBURY HYDRAULIC COMPANY was organized and authorized by the Legislature "to raise the natural surface of Springfield lake, in which the Little Cuyahoga had its rise, six feet, and lower it four feet below the natural sur- face. This gave to the water-power of the village a permanency and sufficiency that could be relied on at all times." In 1872 Middlebury was annexed to Akron as the sixth ward of that city.

MIDDLEBURY is now a part of Akron. In our old edition it was thus de- seribed as in the township of Tallmadge : "Two miles east of Akron and on both sides of the Little Cuyahoga is the village of Middlebury. As early as 1807 a grist mill was built on the site of the town by Amos Norton and Joseph Hart.

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SUMMIT COUNTY.

The town was laid out in 1818 by them, and soon became the most thriving vil- lage in this whole region until the canal was cut through to Cleveland, when Akron took away most of its trade. It has two churches and about 1,000 people." -Old Edition.

Within Akron's beautiful and well-kept Glendale cemetery stands the AKRON SOLDIERS' MEMORIAL CHAPEL, dedicated Decoration Day, 1876. At the time of its erection it was the only building of the kind in the country. Its erection is due to the Buckley Post of the G. A. R., aided by outside subscriptions. The chapel is a handsome stone structure, its cost $25,000. Built into its interior walls are fourteen marble slabs, engraved with the names of the fallen brave of Akron and Portage township.

A striking feature of the chapel are three beautiful memorial windows-one by the surviving members of the 29th O. V. I., in honor of the regiment and the late Col. Lewis P. Buckley, from whom the Post is named; a second, repre- senting woman's work in the war ; and the third, commemorative of three epochs in national history-Washing- ton, Perry and Lincoln.

There are also eight small memorial windows, individual contributions.

The admirable AKRON SCHOOL SYS- TEM (see Vol. I., page 143) is the result of the efforts of Rev. I. Jennings, a young man, pastor of the Congrega- tional church at Akron, who, in 1846, set himself to work to reorganize the common schools of Akron. Previous .to this the schools of Akron were poor affairs, giving only the most rudimen- tary education, and even that was ac- corded to only about two-thirds of the children of school age.

In May, 1846, Mr. Jennings called a publie meeting to secure better educa- tion, at which he was appointed chair- MEMORIAL CHAPEL. man of a committee to submit a plan for improvement. At an adjourned meeting of citizens, held Nov. 21, 1846, the following plan received the unani- mous approval and adoption of those assembled :

1. Let the whole village be incorporated into one school district.

2. Let there be established six primary schools in different parts of the village, so as best to accommodate the whole.

3. Let there be one grammar-school, cen- trally located, where instructions may be given in the various studies and parts of studies not provided for in the primary schools, and yet requisite to a respectable English education.

4. Let there be gratuitous admission to each school in the system for the children of residents, with the following restrictions, viz. : No pupil shall be admitted to the gram- mar-school who fails to sustain a thorough examination in the studies of the primary school, and the teacher shall have power, with the advice and direction of the superin-

tendent, to exclude for misconduct in ex- treme cases, and to classify the pupils as the best good of the schools may seem to require.

5. The expense of establishing and sus- taining this system of schools shall be thus provided for : First, by appropriating what public school money the inhabitants of the village are entitled to, and what other funds or property may be at the disposal of the board for this purpose ; and secondly, a tax be levied by the Common Couneil upon the taxable property of this village for the bal- ance.

6. Let six superintendents be chosen by the Common Council, who shall be charged with perfecting the system thus generally defined, the bringing of it into operation, and the control of it when brought into oper- ation. Let the six superintendents be so

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SUMMIT COUNTY.

This plan was embodied in an act passed

chosen that the term of office of two of them by the Legislature, Feb. 8, 1847, excepting shall expire each year. that the name of officers and mode of elec- tion of the sixth paragraph were changed.

From a historical sketch of the schools of Akron, by Judge C. Bryan, we quote the following : " The interval between the meetings, in May and November, 1846, was improved by Mr. Jennings in collecting information, maturing the plan and elaborating the report. The idea originated with Mr. Jennings, and the labor of' visiting every home in the village, to ascertain what children went to school and who did not go, and who went to public schools and who went to private, and how much was paid for school instruction, was performed by him. He went to Cleveland and Sandusky city in the same interest, to see the operation of graded schools there. He procured estimates by competent mechanics of the cost of erecting a grammar-school building to accommodate 500 pupils, and omitted no detail of the plan that was necessary to show it in organic completeness ; and whatever credit and distinction Akron may have enjoyed for the principle of free graded schools in Ohio is due to Mr. Jennings."

BUCHTEL COLLEGE stands on a beautiful and commanding eminence over- looking the city. It was founded in 1870 through the action of the State Con- vention of Universalists, and named in honor of John R. Buchtel, of Akron, who contributed $25,000 for the building and $6,000 for the endowment fund.

After the completion of the Ohio and Erie Canal, it was determined to make water connection between Cleveland and Pittsburg, and in 1841 the PENNSYL- VANIA AND OHIO CANAL was completed from Akron to Beaver, Pa. For a time the canal flourished, but the competition of and later the control acquired by the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad Company, led to its gradual disuse and dilapidation, until it became a menace to the health of those residing in its neigh- borhood. One night, in the spring of 1868, the banks were ent in three places, at and near Cuyahoga Falls, and its waters flowed out until the bottom appeared. The State threatened prosecution, but none was ever commenced and the breaks never repaired. Again, in the spring of 1874, the canal was cut by night in Akron by disguised men, but no one was punished, although the supposed guilty parties were arrested.

In 1838 a party of capitalists, largely Eastern men, undertook to build a great manufacturing city at a point between Cuyahoga Falls and Akron, to be called SUMMIT CITY. A joint stock company, with a capital of $500,000, was organ- ized. The city was to be supplied with inexhaustible water-power, by means of a dam and canal diverting the waters of the Cuyahoga river. Work was begun and in 1839 water turned into the canal, but at this point the money gave out, and matters were at a standstill until in 1843 Horace Greeley, while on a visit to Akron, was so impressed by the scheme that, on his return to New York, he pub- lished in the Tribune an enthusiastic article, predicting that "Summit City " would become the " Lowell of the West." Nevertheless, no more money could be raised for the future " Lowell," and it "died a'bornin'." The lands of the company, called the "Chuckery," are now in the suburbs of Akron.

TALLMADGE, THE CHRISTIAN COLONY.

The history of the settlement of the township of Tallmadge is peculiar. At a drawing among the members of the Connectiont Land Company, at Hartford, Connecticut, Jan. 30, 1798, this township was drawn by the " Brace Company " and others. In 1803 the proprietors made a division. The Brace Company took all west of the meridian, one-half mile west of the centre line. The remainder of the township was taken by Ephraim Starr and Col. Benjamin Tallmadge, of Litchfield, from whom the township was named.

No settlement was made in Tallmadge until the summer of 1807, when Rev. David Bacon, a missionary in the Western settlements, built a log-house on the

ЛИК ИТЕЛО

HERE THE FIRST CHURCH IN TALLMADGE WAS CATHEREDIN THE DOUSE OF TEMADAVID BACON JAN 22, 1809.

JUNE 2, 15 81

PORTRAIT AND MONUMENT OF

REV. DAVID BACON, MISSIONARY AND COLONIZER.

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SUMMIT COUNTY.

south line of the township, half a mile west of the centre, and moved in with his family, the only one in the township.

Mr. Bacon had conceived the idea of a religious colony, and made a contract with the owners for nearly the entire township ; in all about 12,000 acres at $1.50 per acre. Payments were to be made upon time, but when payments were made for any part in full a deed was to be given.

In the preceding year he had a new survey made of the township upon his own plan. He divided it into sixteen squares of 1,000 acres cach, called Great Lots, a mile and a quarter on each side. A road or highway was established sixty-six feet wide on each line of the Great Lots, except the exterior or township line. "These roads all run north and south or east and west. A public square of seven and a half aeres was laid out as a common centre for churches, schools, stores, etc. From this square roads ran to each of the four corners of the township. The plan is shown in the annexed diagram, as given in 1842, by Col. Charles Whittle- sey (see page 521), in his sketch of Tallmadge. Here he passed his youthful days and from his sketch these facts are derived.

" At the common intersection of roads on the public square stands (1842) a guide-post, having eight fingers or hands, pointing in as many directions, with the names of two to four adjacent places painted upon cach. On each of these avennes there are now planted double rows of elms from the adjoining forests. The northwest diagonal inter- sects the town line about half a mile east of the corner, in order to avoid the Cuyahoga river, and the southwest di- agonal has a deviation in a straight course in the village of Middlebury ; otherwise all these roads, amounting to forty-five miles in length, are now trav- elled in right lines through the town as laid out by Mr. Bacon.

It was the intention of the contrac- tor, Mr. Bacon, to introduce a commu- nity of property to some extent, and among other things to have a large tract appropriated as a common pasture for all the sheep of the settlement, the proceeds to be drawn in proportion to the stock put in.

No immigrants were to receive land who were not professors of the Congrega- tional or Presbyterian Church, and two dollars for each 100 acres was to be paid for the support of the gospel. The latter provision was inserted in some of the early contracts and deeds, but, in faet, never went into effect.

During the spring and summer of the year following Mr. Bacon's establishing here, families came in rapidly, nearly all originally from Connecticut, especially from Litchfield county ; many came direct from other settlements in Ohio, as those from Ravenna who " were driven out," writes Whittlesey, "by the system- atie oppression of a large proprietor and agent, Benjamin Tappan."

The first settlers prior to 1812 were: In 1808, Dr. A. C. Wright, Joseph Hart, Adam Norton, Charles Chittenden, Jonathan Sprague, Nathaniel Chapman, Titus, his father, Titus and Porter, and others of his sons, William Niel, Joseph Bradford, Ephraim Clark, Jr., George Kilbourne, Capt. John Wright, Alpha Wright, Eli Hill.

In 1809, Jotham Blakeley, Jotham Blakelee, Conrad Boosinger, Edmund Strong, JJohn Wright, Jr., Stephen Upson, Theron Bradley, Peter Norton.

In 1810, Elizur Wright, Justus Barnes, Shubel H. Lowrey, David, John, 21

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SUMMIT COUNTY.

Sammel, David, Jr., and Lot Preston, Drake Fellows, Samuel M'Coy, Luther Chamberlin, Rial M'AArthur, Justin Bradley.

In 1811, Deacon S., Norman, Harvey, Leander, Cassander, Eleazar and Salmon Sackett, Daniel Beach, John Carruthers, Renben Upson, and Asa Gillett.

On the 21st of January, 1809, Geo. Kilbourne and his wife Almira, Justin E. Frink, Alice Bacon, wife of David Bacon, Hepsibah Chapman, Amos C. Wright, and Lydia, his wife, and Ephraim Clark, Jr., with his wife Alva A. Clark, associated themselves together as a church, named the Church of Christ in Tallmadge. Thus in the second year of its existence were the principles of the Bible adopted as the rule of moral government in this settlement. In 1813 the church had twenty-seven members, mostly heads of families within the township.

The stern purity of those New Englanders relaxed none of its rigor in con- sequence of a removal from the regular administration of the gospel in the East to the depths of a Western wilderness. The usual depreciation of morals in new countries was not experienced here. To this day the good effects of this primitive establishment of religion and order are plainly visible among this people and their posterity, who will no doubt exhibit them through all time.

Individuals not professors of religion considered it a paramount duty to pro- vide for religious services on the Sabbath. Elizur Wright, who became an extensive proprietor in the Brace Company's tract, readily adopted the plan of Mr. Bacon, and inserted it in his first conveyance. But this scheme was con- sidered by most of the inhabitants as an eneroachment upon their personal independence, and was generally resisted. Very early, however, a regular mode of contribution was established for the support of the gospel.

The materials of society which Mr. Bacon had introduced were not of the proper kind to carry out his project. There was too much enterprise and inde- pendence of feeling among the carly settlers to form a community of the character contemplated by him. Differences of a personal nature rose between him and many of the inhabitants, both upon pecuniary and religious matters. His pur- chases being made on time, without means and at high prices, and the sales not being sufficient, payments were not made to the original proprietors ; the ex- penses of survey had been considerable, interest accumulated and the contract was finally abandoned. He left this region in the spring of 1812. The lands not sold came back to the proprietors ; and some that had been sold and the payments not made to them were in the same situation. The large owners at this time were Tallmadge and Starr in the central and eastern part; Elizur Wright and Roger Newberry in the west.

In the summer of 1875 two of the grandsons of Mr. Bacon, both Congregational elergymen, Theodore Woolsey Bacon and David Bacon, came from the East, and selecting a boulder had engraved upon it an historical statement, as a memorial to him and the founding of the church. A picture of it on another page is engraved from a photograph. A large concourse of people attended the memorial services, which consisted of addresses by the grandsons and others, with prayer and songs. The site is about two miles south of the centre and half a mile north of the Cuyahoga, on the spot where stood the Bacon cabin, the ground having been purchased for the purpose.,

HISTORICAL MISCELLANY.

DRIVING AWAY THE EVIL SPIRIT.

On June 17, 1806, an eclipse of the sun occurred. It occasioned much consternation among ignorant whites throughout Ohio, and great terror among the Indians. Those in Sinnmit county were greatly frightened, not- withstanding its having been foretold by some of their squaws, who were not believed and put to death for witchcraft. (The squaws prob- ably got their information from some of the whites.)

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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 44

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son Number of Pages: 1200

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son
Number of Pages: 1200