History of Ashtabula County, Ohio, Part 58

Author: Williams, W. W. (William W.)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 458

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On the 15th day of September, 1833, he was united in marriage to Julia Francis, daughter of Err W. and Sarah Slawson Mcad, who were living at the time in Ashtabula. No children have blest this union. He is a member of the Episco- pal church. Mr. Willard served as a member of the vestry and treasurer several years, and as senior warden some twenty years. Thus have we briefly sketched the life of one of Ashtabula's representative business men. The pioneer in trade, he has grown gray in its prosecution. As a business man, he has been longer iu service than any other citizen of Ashtabula. He has ever proven hiruself a use- ful and publie-spirited citizen. The best interests of his village and of his county and of his church he has always zcalously striven to promote. Quiet and unas- suming, he is nevertheless an influential citizen, and universally esteemed for his many sterling qualities. The name of George Willard will not be forgotten when in coming years other generations shall be the denizens of this beautiful village.

CAPTAIN JOHN B. WATROUS,

second son of John and Roxanna Watrous, was born at Saybrook, Connecticut, January 15, 1790. When seventeen years of age, he made the journey to Ashtabula, Ohio, on horseback, and bought the farm ou which he afterwards resided, now known as " Maple Grove." He returned to Connecticut, and re- mained there until 1810, when, with his parents and family, he removed perma- nently to his wilderness home. The journey was performed by uicans of ox-teaus, -two yoke of oxen to each wagon. A log dwelling was soon erected, which quickly became a centre of graceful hospitalities to a large cirele of genial friends. John B. was a soldier in the War of 1812, as were also two of his brothers. He was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, one of the first workers for the establishment of an Episcopal church in Ashtabula, and a director in the " Warren and Ashtabula Turnpike Company," theu considered a road of great importance to the country. His tastes were literary, aud to a polished exterior he added the graces of a Christian character. His was a nature dispensing sunshine wherever he moved. Married at thirty-three years of age to a beautiful woman

RES. OF GEO. WILLARD, ASHTABULA, ASHTABULA CO., 0

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GEORGE WILLARD.

MRS. GEORGE WILLARD.

PHOTOS. BY BLAKESLEE & MOORE, ASHTABULA ]

INTERIOR VIEW OF GEO. WILLARD'S DRUG STORE , ASHTABULA. ASHTABULA CO.,O.

ICARLISLE &TYLER,

***:** 14

. - 11

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PRICES

GALLERY

25 CTS

ADMISSION

35 CIS

KES SEATS

50 CTS

WILLARD BLOCK, GEO. WILLARD, PROPRIETOR ASHTABULA, 0.

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HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.

mueh his junior, he was a tender husband and judicious parent. He died in ripe old age, February 24, 1869. His wife, Julia Montgomery, was born in Conneaut, December 14, 1806. She was the youngest daughter of James Montgomery (who was the son of Robert Montgomery), and was born in Seho- harie, New York. Robert Montgomery had emigrated from the north of Ireland, had been a soldier of the Revolution, and was a cousin-german of the Robert Montgomery who fell at Quebee.

James Montgomery had married Mary Baldwin, of Catskill, New York. The pair became pioneers of Conneaut, Ashtabula County, having removed there three years after the first settlement of Harpersfield. The journey from Buffalo was made in open boats, the intervening country being but a trackless forest. The parents and their four children disembarked at night, sleeping on the beach beneath their sheltering boats. Arrived at Conneaut, a dwelling was hastily construeted from the barks of trees, until a more substantial one of logs could be made; and this speedily became " a tavern," for the accommodation of people emigrating still farther towards the setting sun.

The husband followed the business of boating between Conneaut and Erie, thus supplying the infant colony with provisions and other necessaries of life. He served for a time in the War of 1812, and later served for two sueeessive terms in the legislature at Chillicothe, then the seat of government for the State.

Four more children were born to them in Conneaut, and when Julia was four years of age the Watrous family, then on their way to Ashtabula, stayed overnight at this inn, and then and there began the acquaintance which culminated in the marriage of John B. Watrous and Julia Montgomery on the 23d of June, 1823.

James Montgomery removed to Austinburg in 1813, and here soon after was born his son, Colonel James Montgomery, of Kansas celebrity,-the famed " guerrilla chieftain," the " fighting preacher." Colonel Montgomery also com- manded the Union army in Florida during the " late unpleasantness." IIe died at Mound City, Kansas, in 1872.

James Montgomery, Sr., died at Ashtabula in 1834, and Mrs. Julia Mont- gomery Watrous is now the sole survivor of her father's family.

DAVID EDWARD KELLEY, D.D. B.

This gentleman, who is a citizen of Ashtabula, and who is regarded as a rising young man in the field of dentistry, is a native of this county, the son of David H. Kelley, Esq., of Saybrook township. May 8, 1853, is the date of his birth. His education was obtained at the distriet schools of his native township and at Grand River institute, Austinburg. His professional education was obtained at the Philadelphia Dental college, Philadelphia, receiving from that institution his graduating diploma, February 27, 1875. In 1875, November 11, he was united in marriage with Nellie Roy Moore, daughter of M. M. and Helen Moore, Erie, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Kelley are the parents of one child, Edward Ray- mond Kelley, born September 1, 1876. Mr. Kelley is a gentleman of unblem- ished character, is attentive to his business, skillful in dentistry, studious of his profession, ambitious to attain the highest standard, and is highly esteemed by his professional brethren.

HALL SMITH.

The subject of this sketeh was born in New Marlborough, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, in the summer of 1775. At this time his father, John Smith, was absent, a soldier of the Revolutionary army. His mother died when he was but seven days old, and he fell under the eare of his maternal grandparents, Eben- ezer and Anna Hall, by whom he was nurtured and raised, along with a son of their own, but a few days older than himself. At the age of thirteen he was ap- prentieed to an uncle, Moses Hall, to learn the elothier's trade. At the elose of his apprenticeship, he found himself disqualified for book-keeping in consequence of an accident. He studied under the Rev. Jacob Catlin with that intense ap- plieation which was his constitutional propensity. Early in the present century he, by assistance, procured blankets and other goods, and came to the wilds of northern Ohio. These were exchanged with the Indians of Sandusky and the white settlers in the wilderness of New Connecticut for furs. This traffie he continued for several years, and about the year 1806 opened a store at Austin- burg, the first store in Ashtabula County. About 1807 he married Julia Anna, eldest daughter of the Rev. Jas. Badger, a very excellent woman, by whom he had one son, who died in infaney. In 1809 his wife also died. The year after her death he purchased lands and opened a store in Ashtabula, and here entered into business quite extensively, supplying the settlers with what was necessary to the clearing up and improving of a new country. He was liberal in con- tributing towards all publie benefits in the county. The poor always found in him a benefactor. In 1811 he was again married, to Aehsah, daughter of Roger Net- tleton, of Kingsville, by whom he had three daughters and one son. In 1812, Mr. Smithi entered into partnership with Nathan 'Strong, and built the grist- and saw-mills which so many years oeeupied the site of the stone mills now owned by Messrs. Fisk and Sillman. In 1815, Mr. Smith, together with those other public benefactors of that day, Matthew Hubbard, Amos Fisk, and Philo Booth, erected a building for religious and other publie meetings, which, though not formally, yet in fact was donated to the publie. The upper part of this building was for many years used for a Masonie hall. This was afterwards removed and fitted up for an academy, and was afterwards again removed and occupied for a fire- man's hall. Mr. Smith, having been educated a Congregationalist, although not a member of that body, was their first and for many years their principal sup- porter in Ashtabula. The village of Ashtabula is indebted to the liberality of Mr. Smith for the North publie square and the cemetery adjoining it, and for many other publie benefits. About the year 1813 he became a Mason, remained in good standing in that order while his reason lasted, and his body was attended to the place of burial January 15, 1857, by the members of Rising Sun lodge, No. 22, and was interred with the impressive ceremonies of the brotherhood. For many of the later years of his life the onee brilliant mind of Mr. Smith was under a mental eloud, which continued until his death.

LEWIS W. SMITH.

The parents of this gentleman were James Smith, who was born in Clinton, Oneida county, New York, and Laura Scoville Smith, of Saratoga county, same State. They came to Ohio in 1818, loeating in Ashtabula and ereeting a grist- and saw-mill. These mills being among the first on the Reserve, were widely known, and patronage was drawn from a eireuit of many miles. It was in this grist-mill, in January, 1831, that the father, while freeing the wheel from iee, was so severely injured that he died from its effects within an hour. He left considerable property, the bulk of whieli was, however, absorbed in settle- ment. The mother survived him many years ; died November 14, 1875. Lewis W. Smith was born in Ashtabula on the 23d day of September, 1825, and is the third of a family of children, three sons and two daughters. He was educated at distriet school and Ashtabula academy. Prior to 1851 he was a farmer. At this date he went to Cineinnati, Ohio, and engaged in the retail millinery business for one year; then removed to New York and entered into the importing and jobbing of silks, millinery, and straw goods. Continued there until 1873, when he returned to his native place, and with his son founded the now widely-known Ashtabula store. On January 6, 1849, he was, by the Rev. James Lowe, of the Methodist Episcopal church of Cleveland, Ohio, united in marriage to Mary Ann Gillmore, of that eity, she being the daughter of Rev. James and Clarissa Gill- more. The fruit of the union is James Lewis Smith, who was born March 7, 1850, at Ashtabula, Ohio, and is, as stated above, a partner with his father. Mr. Smith is one of the substantial men of Ashtabula, and is largely identified with the city's interests, being proprietor of several of the best business blocks of the place.

146

HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.

JOHN PORTEOUS ROBERTSON.

This gentleman is the oldest of eleven, the children of John and Margaret Robertson, the former of whom was a native of Jedburgh, Scotland, and the latter of Cambridge, New York, from which point they removed to Ripley, Chau- tauqua county, New York, in 1827. and from there to Ashtabula in 1847. Here they died, the father in 1851, and the mother three years later. The subject of this sketch was born in Cambridge, New York, October 3, 1807. The oppor- tunities afforded him for an education were limited, consisting of from four to six months per year at the district school, until he had arrived at the age of twelve years. His ambition was to acquire au education and fit himself for teaching ; but his father's means being limited, and a large family to support, he was taken into the blacksmith-shop with his father and remained there till of age. With the one purpose still in view, he saved every sixpence. He had hoarded enough to purchase a set of school-books, and every spare hour was from this time on employed in " digging out" the hard problems of old Pike and mastering Murray, which was done without a teacher. Thus, by dint of hard study, he was, on attaining his majority, a fair English scholar.

From 1828 to 1834 his time was occupied principally in teaching. In 1835 he began his mercantile career in Rockville, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, with a capital of less than one thousand dollars; came to Ashtabula in 1838, and has remained there, the greater part of the time engaged in trade, until this time. The crash of 1837 found him in Pittsburgh with a fleet of ten boats or arks loaded with lumber. This was landed two days after the suspension of the banks. He lost two thousand dollars by this venture ; came home, elosed up business, paying every

indebtedness in full, and with the one thousand dollars saved from the wreck came to Ashtabula and entered into a copartnership with J. I. Post & Co. Since 1841, with the exception of three years, he has " sailed his own ship." During his long and busy life, Mr. Robertson has filled many official positions, beginning, in 1836, by an appointment as justice of the peace by the governor of Pennsylvania. Has been mayor of Ashtabula one year ; eight years member of council; six years town- ship trustee ; seven years treasurer of towuship ; five years treasurer of borough ; and six years treasurer and member of board of education. Mr. Robertson was on January 26, 1836, united in marriage to Miss Lovenia, daughter of John and Susannah Seiple, of Rockville, Crawford county, New York. From this union seven children have been born. three of whom are boys and unmarried. The eldest daughter, Mary, married James H. Prentice, and resides in Saginaw, Michi- gan ; Margaret, the next daughter, married G. C. Mygall, of Ashtabula ; Aliee is unmarried ; Caroline married George W. Kepler, who perished in the Ashtabula disaster, December 29, 1876. He was at the time of his death proprietor of the Erie store, a young man of splendid business talent, and highly esteemed by his associates. His remains were never found. His widow still carries on the busi- ness, under the name of Kepler & Co.

Politically, Mr. Robertson began life as an old-line Whig, and is now a Repub- lican, stanch and truc.

Ilis religious belief is Calvinistic. Having been trained in the Scotch Presbyte- rian church, he early embraced its faith, and is now an elder of that church. His life has been a busy one, and he has now the satisfaction of knowing that he has ever met his obligations, has done his share towards supporting church and state, to assist the needy, and to benefit his fellow-man.

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP AND BOROUGH.

THE year that properly begins the history of Ashtabula's capital town, and of the township in which it is situated, is the year 1505. Prior events had indeed oc- curred, and other years had furnished facts relating to the territory now known as the township of Jefferson, an account of which has been preserved, and which we are now able to record with the assurance of accuracy. Yet the real starting point, as we shall see, is in 1805.

The year 1798 is prominent in the history of each township in the county by reason of its being the year in which the Connecticut land company, having sur- veyed a portion of its recently acquired territory into parcels, each of an area five miles square, divided these parcels among its stockholders. Jefferson township being number eleven of the third range of townships, passed to the ownership of Gideon Granger. Jr., and Oliver Phelps. Phelps disposed of his interest to Granger, who thereupon became the sole proprietor. These parties were large share-holders in the Connecticut land company, and became owners of several other townships of land in this county, as Wayne, Harper field, and Lenox. Mr. Granger conceived the idea of making this a central township of a county afterwards to be carved out, and of having it contain within its limits the future county-seat. To give it prominence, he cut off from what now is Lenox five square miles of its northernwest territory, and annexed it to Jefferson, making the latter six miles in length from north to south, its breadth remaining five miles. Ilis plan was in harmony with the result that followed : a county whose bounda- ries should be such as to make his favorite township near the centre, and thus gain for it an advantage in its contest with other townships for the shire town.

In 1800 the Reserve was erected into a county and called Trumbull county. In 1805, Geauga was carved out of this immense tract, and in 1-07 Ashtabula was formed from Trumbull and Geauga in exact accordance with Mr. Granger's wishes, and organized in the year 1811. In the year 1500. Mr. Granger had the township surveyed into lots of three hundred and twenty aeres each. Nothing further occurred until the year 1804. when several events, precursors of others soon to follow, are recorded. Eldrad Smith, as agent for Mr. Granger, was sent hither from Connecticut carly iu the spring of this year. and on lot No. 3, on the south bank of Mills ereek, erected a cabin, and during the summer cleared a tract of about ten acres, and sowed it to wheat in the fall. Le also formed a bridle-path from Austinburg to Jefferson. Mr. Smith's improvement was made on land now the property of Durlin Hickok's heirs. In this year Michael Web- ster, Jr., and his brother. Luman Webster. from Franklin, Delaware county, New

York, visited the Reserve in different localities, and finally purchased of Mr. Granger's agent lot 7 of the old survey, containing three hundred and twenty acres, effected a small clearing, and then returned to New York. Also Jonathan Warner, during the same season, came into the township, and selecting lot No. 17 as the spot whereon to erect his future home, returned to Saybrook, Connec- ticut, at that time his place of residence. One Samuel Mapes also came into the township in 1804, and made a clearing upon what are now lots 7, 9, and 11, on Jefferson street, and built a log house upon lot 9. This improvement was pur- chased by Mr. Warner.

These events prepared the way for others to follow. They were the heralds sent forth to make ready for the coming of a permanent settlement in the town- ship. They opened the volume whose pages were now ready for a history of those facts, which were soon to shape the destinies of a colony, many of whose actors were to take a conspicuous and important part, not only in its own concerns, but in the affairs of the county of which it is a part, and some of them in the affairs of the State whereof the county is a member and the nation to which the State acknowledges her allegiance.

At the time our history opens, the seat of the general government had been removed from Philadelphia to Washington. Thomas Jefferson was President of the United States, and Gideon Granger postmaster-general.

We can readily trace the origin of the name which No. 11 of the third range obtained, from the fact that Granger, its owner, was a member of Mr. Jefferson's cabinet, and no doubt an admirer of that eminent statesman. Ohio had been admitted as a State in the year 1802. One county, by the name of Trumbull, embraced the entire Reserve. Within the limits of what now is Ashtabula county, there were nearly one hundred families.

The chief settlements were in Harpersfield, Conneaut, Austinburg, and Morgan, although Windsor and Wayne, Monroe and New Lyme, contained a few inhabi- tants, some not more than one family. There were a few inoffensive Indians scat. tered along the banks of the principal streams throughout the county, and the township of Jefferson was the heart of a dense forest, the abode of wild animals, some of a ferocious nature. Such, in brief, was the condition of things when the hardy pioneers of Jefferson undertook the conquest of the wilderness. The task before them demanded the possession of sterling qualities of character, and these were not lacking.

Early in the year 1805, General Granger visited his possessions and arranged

MAPLEWOOD STOCK FARM OF H. P. WADE, JEFFERSON, ASHTABULA CO.,O.

147

HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.

for a new survey of the township, which was consummated in the same year, and of the town site, which was carried into execution the following year. The township was surveyed into lots of eighty acres each, except a narrow strip lying adjoining the village of Jefferson on the north, south, and east, which was subdivided into eight acre tracts. The town site was surveyed into lots containing two aeres each, and its dimensions were one and one-half miles east and west by one mile north and south.

Mr. Granger prepared a draft of his town site and designated streets, which as yet had an existence only on paper. Nine large avenues running cast and west and crossing at right angles seven others running north and south, with several squares at the crossings of the streets, one of these in the centre of the plat being thirty- eight rods from east to west by twenty-two rods from north to south, each street appropriately named, with " Jefferson" as the central east and west street, and " Market" as the central north and south street, was a sight " upon paper" very pleasant to behold. It required only a vivid imagination, and lo! here was a magnificent city of palatial residences and churches whose spires pointed heaven- ward; but the sober fact is, that the town plat was recorded when only a solitary cabin occupied the town site, and stalwart trees of a dense forest pointed in the direction where church-steeples might have lifted their spires had they been created things instead of products of men's fancy. It is a truth that Mr. Granger's beautiful plat, exhibited to the gaze of Washington city residents, inspired them with the belief that there really was a beautiful, rapidly-growing city in the centre of the Granger tract, destined to be a western eurporium of marvelous size and importance. Mr. Granger, ambitious that his lands should be purchased and his city populated, made but little effort to dispel the illusion.

Iu 1805, Jonathan Warner and the Websters having returned to their purchases and begun their improvements, there came a man from the capital city on the banks of the beautiful Potomae, by the name of Samuel Wilson, to take up his residence in the city of Jefferson. Before leaving Washington he had beheld with delight the fair city of the west, whose wide streets and ample public squares were to him so pleasing and so admirable that he purchased with avidity a por- tion of the city of the west, and with alaerity removed himself and family hither. His hopes and cherished plans were now transferred to the city of Jefferson, amidst whose busy activities he thought to rapidly amass a fortune and attain a position aulong its people of prominence and renown. Like the Spaniard, Coronado, bent upon the conquest of the seven cities of Cibola, whose streets he vainly imagined were paved with silver and gold, our hero's expectations were boundless. Unmindful of perils, he pressed forward with throbbing pulse and glowing counte- nance. The wilderness overcome, the beautiful city would appear. On a Friday in the cheerless month of November our chivalrous adventurer reached his desti- nation. But where is the city ? Where are the wide avenues and the renowned public square ? This Jefferson ! A solid forest with blazed lines for streets, with- out inhabitants, the magnificent city of the west ! Impossible ! Our hero would follow one blazed line and exclaim, " Is it possible that this is Jefferson street !" Then another line and exclaim, " Is it possible ! Is it possible ! that this is Market street ? Can it be that this piece of woods is Market square ?" The disappointed man's heart sank within him. He was soon taken ill and died. There seemed to be a strange fatality counected with the day on which five events of importance to him occurred. He arrived in Jefferson on a Friday. The following Friday

he raised his log cabin on the south side of Court square; on the succeeding Friday he moved his family into the cabin ; on the next Friday butchered a beef; and on the next Friday died. His was the first death in the township. He was buried on lot No. 3, the Hickok farm. Wilson's was the first house erected ou the town site, and was situated on the southwest corner of Jefferson and Chestnut streets, where the American House now stands. The year 1806 marks the arrival in the village of Jeffersou of Edward Friethy, from Washington city, who was the first postmaster and first merchaut of Jefferson. It also cele- brates the first marriage in the township, the contracting parties being Calvin Stone, of Morgan, and Sally Webster, of Jefferson. In this year the survey of the town site was completed, and the public square was denuded of its forest. On July 5, 1806, was born the first child in Jefferson, Polly Maria Webster, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Webster, Jr. In the autumn following, Mr. Blood and his family arrived from Washington city, and settled on the lot next east of the Episcopal church. The settlement was further augmented this year by the arrival of four families from the State of New Jersey,-Robertson, Gandy, Ogden, and Hoffman. They did not become permanent settlers, none remaining longer than two years.

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History of Ashtabula County, Ohio, Part 58

Author: Williams, W. W. (William W.) Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : Williams brothers Number of Pages: 458

Author: Williams, W. W. (William W.)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 458