Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II, Part 28

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 916

USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II > Part 28

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).

I was struck by the number of barbers' shops and groceries, or grog-shops ; it should seem that no man here shaves himself, and that temperance has not yet fulfilled its com- mission. I believe there are not less than two hundred grog-stores in Cincinnati.

198

MARION COUNTY.

CALEDONIA is nine miles northeast of Marion, on the C. C. C. & I. and N. Y. P. & O. Railroads. Newspaper : Argus, Independent, A. D. Fulton, editor and publisher. Churches : 1 Universalist, 1 Methodist Episcopal and 1 Presby- terian. Bank : Caledonia Deposit, William Rowse, president, C. H. Rowse, cashier. Population, 1880, 627. School census, 1888, 250.

LA RUE is fourteen miles west of Marion, on the Scioto river and C. C. C. & I. R. R. Newspaper : News, Independent, S. C. Koons, editor and publisher. Population, 1880, 614. School census, 1888, 242.

PROSPECT is ten miles south of Marion, on the C. H. V. & T. R. R. and Scioto river. Newspapers : Advance, Independent, Clowes & Pettit, editors and publishers ; Monitor, Independent, S. W. Van Winkle, editor and publisher. Churches : 1 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Baptist, 1 German Reformed and 1 Lutheran. Banks : Citizens', F. C. Freeman, president, Joseph Cratty, cashier ; Prospect, B. K. Herbster, president, George W. Cook, cashier. Popula- tion, 1880, 600. School census, 1888, 262. Capital invested in manufacturing establishments, $10,000. Value of annual product, $9,500 .- Ohio Labor Statistics, 1888.

NEW BLOOMINGTON, in the western part of the county. Population, 1880, 271. School census, 1888, 150.

WALDO, seven miles southeast of Marion, on the west branch of the Olen- tangy river. Population, 1880, 248. School census, 1888, 51.

GREEN CAMP is six miles southwest of Marion, on the Scioto river and N. Y. P. & O. R. R. Population, 1880, 312. School census, 1888, 117.

THREE LOCUSTS is a post-office and village at the junction of the C. C. C. & I., P. & O. and O. C. in the northeast part of the county. The village was platted in 1881. Mr. John M. Baker, who owned the first house built here, applied to the Department at Washington to have a post-office here and named " Baker." On their refusal to give this name, some of the citizens assembled under the friendly shade of a beautiful group of three locusts that were standing there, for it was a hot summer's day, and, while discussing the matter, one of them looking up was seized with an inspiring thought and said, "Why not call it 'Three Locusts?'" The suggestion was acted upon and Mr. Baker became the first post- master of the only Three Locusts on the globe.

Big Island township got its name from a big grove in the midst of prairie land

199

MEDINA COUNTY.

MEDINA.

MEDINA COUNTY was formed February 18, 1812, " from that part of the Reserve west of the 11th range, south of the numbers 5, and east of the 20th range, and attached to Portage county until organized." It was organized in April, 1818. The county was settled principally from Connecticut, though within the last few years there has been a considerable accession of Germans. The sur- face is generally rolling, with much bottom land of easy tillage; the soil is princi- pally elay and gravelly loam-the clayey portion scantily watered, the gravelly abundantly. The soil is better adapted to grass than grain.

Area about 400 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were, 103,232; in pasture, 80,523; woodland, 34,475 ; lying waste, 427 ; produced in wheat, 391,559 bushels; rye, 641 ; buckwheat, 54; oats, 647,262 ; barley, 414 ; corn, 447,268; broom-corn, 3,240 lbs. brush; meadow hay, 26,527 tons ; clover hay, 14,785; flax, 362,664 lbs. fibre; potatoes, 68,019 bushels; tobacco, 87,311 lbs .; bntter, 847,995; cheese, 860,715; maple sugar, 92,162; honey, 17,140; eggs, 472,338 dozen ; grapes, 5,200 pounds ; wine, 5 gallons ; sweet potatoes, 20 bushels ; apples, 71,504 ; peaches, 4,807 ; pears, 1,160 ; wool, 241,748 pounds ; milch cows owned, 8,826. Ohio mining statistics, 1888 : Coal mined, 198,452 tons ; employing 370 miners and 43 out- side employees. School census, 1888, 6,572; teachers, 273. Miles of railroad track, 48.

TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.

1840.

1880.

TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.

1840.

. 1880.

Brunswick,

1,110

943

Liverpool,

1,502

1,339

Chatham,

555

1,006

Medina,

1,435

1,849

Granger,

954

1,008

Montville,

915

1,304

Guilford,

1,402

1,872

Sharon,

1,314

1,195

Harrisville,

1,256

1,382

Spencer,

551

898

Hinckley,

1,287

962

Wadsworth,

1,481

2,837

Homer,

660

863

Westfield,

1,031

1,045

La Fayette,

938

1,105

York,

782

992

Litchfield,

787

853

Population of Medina in 1820 was 3,090; 1830, 7,560; 1840, 18,360 ; 1860, 22,517 ; 1880, 21,543, of whom 15,111 were born in Ohio; 1,805, Pennsylvania ; 1,379, New York ; 68, Kentucky; 57, Virginia ; 18, Indiana ; 590, England and Wales; 587, German Empire ; 144, British America ; 125, Ireland ; 66, Scotland ; and 39, France. Census, 1890, 21,742.

The first regular settlement in the county was made at Harrisville, on the 14th of February, 1811, by Joseph Harris, Esq., who removed from Randolph, Por- tage county, with his family, consisting of his wife and one child. The nearest white people were at Wooster, seventeen miles distant.

The first trail made through the county north, toward the lake, was from Wooster, a short time after the declaration of war with Great Britain. The party consisted of George Poe (son of Adam, the Indian fighter), Joseph H. Larwill (a famous surveyor of Wayne county), and Roswell M. Mason. They carried their provision in packs, and laid out the first night on their blankets in the open air, on the south side of " the big swamp." It was amusing, as they lay, to listen to the howling of the wolves, and hear the raccoons catch frogs and devour them, making, in their mastication, a peculiar and inimitable noise, which sounded loud in the stillness of the night. In the course of the evening they heard bells of cattle north of them, and in the morning discovered the settlement of Mr. Harris. From thence they proceeded down to the falls of Black river, at what

200

MEDINA COUNTY.

is now Elyria, and at the mouth of the stream found a settler, named Read, whose habitation, excepting that of Mr. Harris, was the only one between there and Wooster.

In the June following Mr. Harris's arrival he was joined by Russell Burr and George Burr and family, direct from Litchfield, Conn. In the summer after, on the breaking out of the war, Messrs. Harris and Burr removed their families for a few months to Portage county, from fear of the Indians, and returned them- selves in October to Harrisville. The following winter provision was carried from the Middlebury mills, by the residence of Judge Harris, to Fort Stephenson, his cabin being the last on the route. The season is adverted to by the old settlers as "the cold winter." Snow lay to the depth of eighteen inches, from the 1st of January to the 27th of February, during which the air was so cold that it did not diminish an inch in depth during the whole time.

An Indian trail from Sandusky to the Tuscarawas passed by the residence of Mr. Harris. It was a narrow, hard-trodden bridle-path. In the fall the Indians came upon it from the west to this region, remained through the winter to hunt and returned in the spring, their horses laden with furs, jerked venison and bear's oil, the last an extensive article of trade. The horses were loose and followed each other in single file. It was not uncommon to see a single hunter returning with as many as twenty horses laden with his winter's work and usually accom- panied by his squaw and papooses, all mounted. The Indians often built their wigwams in this vicinity, near water, frequently a dozen within a few rods. They were usually made of split logs or poles covered with bark. Some of the chiefs had theirs made of flags, which they rolled up and carried with them. The Indians · were generally very friendly with the settlers, and it was rare to find one deficient in mental acuteness.

In the fall of the same year that Mr. Harris settled at Harrisville, William Litey, a native of Ireland, with his family, settled in Bath township, on or near the border of Portage county. In the winter of 1815, after the close of the war, the settlements began to increase. Among the early settlers are recol- lected the names of Esquire Van Heinen, Zenas Hamilton, Rufus Ferris, James Moore, the Ingersolls, Jones, Sibleys, Friezes, Roots, Demings, Warner, Hoyt, Dean and Durham.

Medina in 1846 .- Medina, the county-seat, is on the stage road from Cleveland to Columbus, twenty-eight miles from the first and one hundred and seventeen from the latter. It was originally called Mecca-and is so marked on the early maps of Ohio-from the Arabian city famous as the birth-place of Mahomet. It was afterwards changed to its present name, being the seventh place on the globe of that name. The others are, Medina, a town of Arabia Deserta, celebrated as the burial-place of Mahomet ; Medina, the capital of the kingdom of Woolly, West Africa ; Medina, a town and fort on the island of Bahrein, near the Arabian shore of the Persian gulf ; Medina, a town in Estremadura, Spain ; Medina, Orleans county, N. Y., and Medina, Lenawee county, Michigan.

On the organization of the county in 1818, the first court was held in a barn, now standing half a mile north of the court-house. The village was laid out that year, and the next season a few settlers moved in. The township had been pre- viously partially settled. In 1813 Zenas Hamilton moved into the central part with his family, from Danbury, Conn. His nearest neighbor was some eight or ten miles distant. Shortly after came the families of Rufus Ferris, Timothy Doane, Lathrop Seymour, James Moore, Isaac Barnes, Joseph Northrop, Friend Ives, Abijah Mann, James Palmer, William Painter, Frederick Apple- ton, etc., etc.

Rev. Roger Searle, an Episcopalian, was the first clergyman, and the first church was in the eastern part of the township where was then the most popula- tion. It was a log structure, erected in 1817. One morning all the materials

201

MEDINA COUNTY.

were standing, forming a part of the forest, and in the afternoon Rev. Mr. Searle preached a sermon in the finished church .*

From an early day religious worship in some form was held in the township on the Sabbath. The men brought their families to " meeting " in ox-teams, in which they generally had an axe and an anger to mend their carts in case of accidents, the roads being very bad. The first wedding was in March, 1818, at which the whole settlement were present. When the ceremony and rejoicings were over cach man lighted his flambeau of hickory bark and made his way home through the forest. The early settlers got their meal ground at a log-mill at Middlebury ; although but about twenty miles distant, the journey there and back occupied five days. They had only ox-teams, and the rough roads they cut through the woods, after being passed over a few times, became impassable from mud, compelling them to continually open new ones.

Owing to the want of a market the products of agriculture were very low. Thou- sands of bushels of wheat could at one time be bought for less than twenty-five cents per bushel, and cases occurred where ten bushels were offered for a single pound of tea, and refused. As an example : Mr. Joel Blakeslee, of Medina, about the year 1822, sowed fifty-five acres in wheat, which he could only sell by bartering with his neighbors. He fed out most of it in bundles to his cattle and swine. All that he managed to dispose of for cash was a small quantity sold to a traveller, at 123 cents per bushel, as feed for his horse. Other products were in proportion. One man brought an ox-wagon filled with corn from Granger, eight miles distant, which he gladly exchanged for three yards of satinet for a pair of pantaloons. It was not until the opening of the Erie canal that the settlers had a market. From that time the course of prosperity has been onward. The early settlers, after wearing out their woollen pantaloons, were obliged to have them seated and kneed with buckskin, in which attire they attended church. It was almost in- possible to raise wool, in consequence of the abundance of wolves, who destroyed the sheep.

The view given on the annexed page of the public square in Medina was taken from the steps of the new court-house ; the old court-house and the Baptist church are seen on the right. The village contains 1 Presbyterian, 1 Episcopal, 1 Bap- tist, 1 Free Will Baptist, 1 Methodist and 1 Universalist church, 7 dry goods, 5 grocery, 1 book and 2 apothecary stores, 1 newspaper printing office, 1 woollen and 1 axe factory, 1 flouring mill, 1 furnace, and had, in 1840, 655 inhabitants, since which it has increased .- Old Edition.

MEDINA, county-seat of Medina, twenty-eight miles southwest of Cleveland, about one hundred miles northeast of Columbus, is the centre of a farming region, the principal products of which are grain, butter and cheese. It is on the C. L. & W. R. R.

County Officers, 1888 : Auditor, Alfred L. Corman ; Clerk, Nicholas Van Epp; Commissioners, Richard Freeman, John Pearson, Noah N. Yoder; Coroner, Aaron Sanders ; Infirmary Directors, William F. Nye, Henry Mills, Samuel B. Curtis ; Probate Judge, John T. Graves; Prosecuting Attorney, Jesse W. Sey- mour ; Recorder, Jacob Long ; Sheriff, Norman P. Nichols; Surveyor, Amos D. Sheldon ; Treasurer, Joseph Hebel. City officers, 1888 : F. O. Phillips, Mayor ; Hiram Goodwin, Clerk; Wm. F. Sipher, Treasurer ; Frank Heath, Solicitor ; John Esdate, Street Commissioner ; S. Frazier, Marshal. Newspapers : Medina County Gazette and News, Republican, Green & Neil, editors and publishers ; Sentinel, Democrat, M. L. Dorman, editor and publisher ; Gleanings in Bee Cul- ture, A. I. Root, editor and publisher. Churches : 1 Congregational, 1 Episcopal,

* Father Finley, in his autobiography published hy the Methodist Book Concern in 1853, states, " Mr. Howe, in his History of Ohio, says : 'The first sermon preached in Medina township was by an Episcopal clergyman,' hut it was a fact that Mr. (John C.) Brooke had preached there the year before. and had a regular preaching place."

" How doth the busy bee Improve each shining hour !"

BEE-HIVE FACTORY, MEDINA.

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

PUBLIC SQUARE, MEDINA,

AMERICAN HOUSE

A. G. Erwin, Photo., Medina, 1887.

PUBLIC SQUARE, MEDINA.

303

MEDINA COUNTY

1 Methodist, 1 Disciples, 1 Baptist, 1 Catholic. Bank : Phoenix National, J. H. Albro, president, R. M. McDowell, cashier.

Manufactures and Employees .- B. H. Brown & Co., planing mill, 14 hands ; A. B. Bishop, carriages and wagons, 6; George Weber & Co., stove hollow-ware, 25 ; A. I. Root, bee supplies, 96 ; Medina Carriage Co., carriages and wagons, 4; Hickox Brothers, planing mill, 3; O. C. Shepard, flour and feed, 3 .- State Re- port, 1888. Population in 1880, 1,484. School cousus, 1888, 505; J. R. Kennan, school superintendent. Census, 1890, 2,073.

Medina has an extensive bee culture interest, combining the cultivation of bees with the manufacture of implements connected therewith. Its beginnings and growth are related in the catalogue of A. I. Root, whose immense establishment covers nearly three acres of land. The grounds are beautifully laid out with shrubbery and vines, and contain nearly one thousand hives of bees. Says Mr. Root :

In 1865 a swarm of bees chanced to pass overhead where I was working. A fellow- workman asked what I would give for them. I answered, " A dollar," little dreaming that he would succeed in getting them. To my astonishment, he returned with the swarm. With this as a nucleus of what is now a large business, I began the study of bees in earnest. In spite of the fact that some of my good friends assured me that " bees didn't pay any more," and in spite of the usual blunders of a beginner, my apiary began to increase, and my enthusiasmu developed into the un- mistakable "bee-fever." In 1867 from 20 stocks I took the first thousand pounds of honey ever taken with an extractor, and increased to 35. In 1869 I extracted 6,162

pounds of honey from 48 colonies, and sold the produet at-25 cents per pound. As the hives then in use were ill adapted for the ex. tractor, I saw no other way than to manufac- ture the implements I recommended.

The sale of supplies gradually developed into a very extensive business, until at the present time this establishment's capacity is about 1,000 hives per day, besides a large amount of other work. A newspaper is pub- lished devoted to bee culture interests, and the shipments during the busy season some- times aggregate a car-load and a half by freight and a car-load of express matter per day. It is the largest establishment of the kind in the Union.

We are indebted to Captain Milton P. Peirce for several valuable articles upon early events in the history of this region which here follow. The first is upon the "GREAT HINCKLEY HUNT," which he originally published in the Amer. ican Field, of Chicago, January 4, 1890. It is reproduced, together with the engraving, which, of itself, is an oddity, inasmuch as the artist represents the Western Reserve farmers going hunting in dressing gowns and with such counte- nances as one might have found among the bogs of the Emerald Isle, but then there is compensation in the natural aspect of the bears, wolves, panthers, tur- keys, etc.

Probably the most successful well-managed hunt for wild game ever known in this country occurred December 24, 1818, in the county of Medina, Ohio. Several accounts of the matter were published many years ago, but quite imperfect, particularly in introduc- tory matter.

The first settlement of the Western Re- serve was made at Cleveland, and a large portion of the tract was sold by townships, each five miles square, to numerous wealthy residents of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Many of these parties gave their own names to townships owned by them. Judge Hinckley, of Northampton, Mass .. owned three town- ships, one of which took his name. This is the northeast township of Medina county, and the centre of the township is about fifteen miles due south from the city of Cleveland. It was heavily timbered, and this forest was

full of game, embracing bears, deer, wolves, panthers, turkeys and a great variety of smaller game. It was settled mainly by Massachusetts and Connecticut people, mostly agriculturists. Comparatively few of these people had a penchant for hunting, but those who did were never excelled as hunters. They had the best of arms and knew how to use them.

The writer of this sketch was born in the Green Mountain range, in Western Massa- chusetts, and, being left an orphan at an early age, was brought by relatives to the Western Reserve while a small boy, over fifty years ago. Immense quantities of game were still left, but before I was large enough to manage a rifle the bears and wolves were But I had an opportunity to shoot a few deer and many wild turkeys. I never lost an opportunity to spend an evening with

204

MEDINA COUNTY.

some of the old hunters, many of whom still lived in the region, and I never tired hearing them relate their hunting experiences. The more notable of these is as vividly impressed upon my memory as it was the next day after hearing it. I knew several of those who participated in the celebrated Hinckley hunt, and particularly one man who was one season a "month hand " upon our farm, and a thoroughly reliable man. This man was about twenty years of age at the time of the hunt and remembered the details vividly. In the different accounts of the hunt which I heard from the lips of the participators, as well as those which I have read, there has been but little variation, and that caused by the fact that at the commencement of the "drive " these men were on different lines, five miles apart, and the incidents naturally varied somewhat.

It is proper to state here that these New England settlers were thoroughly accustomed to raising sheep while in their native States, and they very naturally desired to engage in the industry at their new homes, but were seriously embarrassed by reason of the super- abundance of wolves. Their pig-pens were also frequently raided by bears. I can my- self remember when over one hundred sheep were killed by wolves in one night, upon a few farms in our immediate neighborhood, our own flock suffering. And I vividly re- member that my thumbs and fingers subse- quently suffered from "pulling the wool" from the same sheep. In the early days of sheep-raising upon the "Reserve," quite a number of hunts were organized, in which quite large tracts of forest were surrounded by the settlers and many bears, wolves and deer were killed. Quite a number of persons were also wounded by careless firing of guns, and one or more killed.

Judge Hinckley made no effort to dispose of the lands in the township bearing his name for some years, and each of the adjoin- ing townships had, by 1818, gained a good many settlers who cleared numerous tracts of land. Hinckley was still an unbroken, virgin forest of the heaviest timber, and became a harbor for large game which devastated the surrounding settlements. It was not unusual for a settler to lose his entire little flock of sheep in a single night, even though . penned within the shadow of his buildings. Finally, late in the fall of 1818, quite a number of meetings were held in the townships sur- rounding Hinckley, to make arrangements for a war of extermination upon the bears and wolves. Committees were appointed, and the various committees met for consultation, and made arrangements for a grand hunt which should embrace the entire township of Hinckley and forest lands adjacent thereto. Four captains were appointed, one of whom had supreme command of the entire battalion. Surveyors blazed a line of trees upon a circle half a mile around the centre of the town- ship. The programme, which was advertised in various ways so that it was fully known for twenty miles in every direction around

Hinckley, was as follows : The drive was to take place on December 24. Able-bodied men and large boys joining in the hunt were to assemble as follows : Those from Cleveland, Newburg and Royalton and adjacent neigh- borhoods, on the north line of the township of Hinckley. Those from Brecksville, Rich- field and adjacent neighborhoods, on the east line. Those from Bath, Granger and adjacent neighborhoods, on the south line. Those from Medina, Brunswick, Liverpool and adjacent neighborhoods, on the west line. All were instructed to be on the ground at sunrise.

As the last war with Great Britain had closed only three years before, there were plenty of officers who understood the hand- ling of such bodies of men. Most families also had serviceable muskets, such as the laws of their respective States had required each able-bodied man between the ages of eighteen and forty-five to own. But still, there were not sufficient firearms to go round. Bayonets were mounted upon poles, butcher-knives and improvised lances were similarly mounted, and some carried axes, while many carried hatchets and butcher-knives in waist belts. It should be understood that the virgin forests of that region were of large timber, few with limbs nearer than thirty feet from the ground, and as there was but little under- brush in the forest, it was practicable to drive a team with sled, wherever there were no streams to interfere. Many of those from a distance came on sleds, and some reached the ground on the evening of December 23. Nearly six hundred men and large boys were on the lines at sunrise, eager for a start, for a few deer and turkeys had been killed before reaching the lines, and many had been driven in.

Soon after sunrise the commanding officer gave the words, "All ready !" The words were loudly repeated around the lines to the right, and came round to the starting point in just forty seconds, showing a good organ- ization. Many of the boys and some of the men were provided with horns and conch- shells, and most of them with sonorous voices. The signal to start was by the horns, shouts, etc. The captains and their assistants along each line kept their lines properly spaced (like skirmishers) and each line made its share of noise. In a few moments deer began to show themselves along all the lines, but were quickly fired upon. Many escaped, but about one hundred had been killed before the half-mile limit had been reached ; also, a few turkeys.

By previous arrangement, a general halt was made at the line of blazed trees, half a mile from the centre of the township. There was occasionally a large fallen tree, the top of which afforded hiding-places for the bears and deer. All such within the circle were subsequently found to be occupied by these animals, too much frightened to show fight. Quite a number of dogs had been led by boys and men who did not have firearms. Dcer were to be seen running in every direction within the circle, and occasionally a bear or

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II, Part 28

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 916

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 916