USA > Ohio > Ashtabula County > History of Ashtabula County, Ohio > Part 59
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The year 1807 is a noteworthy one in the history of the Jefferson settlement. It opens with the marriage of Jonathan Warner, Esq., to Miss Nancy, daughter of Edward Friethy, Esq., and as it was the second marriage in the township and the first one in the village of Jeffersou, deserves prominent mention. Noah Cowles, of Austinburg, was the officiating justice. All the residents of the township were
in attendance, and some from neighboring townships. United in matrimony, a pig was roasted over the fireplace, the supper prepared, after which the happy couple. mounted on horseback, a single horse for both bride and groom, rode to their future home through the forest, about threefourths of a mile west of the village, with as happy and loving hearts, no doubt, as the married pair of to-day whose bridal tour takes them across the ocean, they visiting, perhaps, all lands beneath the sun before they are content to settle down to the stern realities of life.
GENERAL GRANGER'S TOBACCO COLONY.
In the spring of this year (1807) General Granger induced eight families, then residing in Maryland, on the borders of the Chesapeake, where they had been successful tobacco-growers, to emigrate to Jefferson, for the purpose of establishing here a tobaceo colony for the cultivation of the weed. The names of these fam- ilies were Lisle Asque, Christopher Randall, James Legg, James Mace, Gilbert Nowell, James Ireland, Thomas Johnson, and George Fowler. They were accom- panied by John Hankart, a skillful manufacturer of tobacco, formerly a resident of the capital city. All were doomed to bitter disappointment. Like poor Wil- son, they fully expected to see a busy, prosperous eity. Arrived on their journey as far as Warren, some of them ridiculed that feeble, struggling town, consisting of a few log cabins, and boasted of the beautiful city of Jefferson, whither they were destined, and which was to be their future happy abode. And when they came to Mills ercek, west of Jefferson village, having the misfortune, in erossing the stream, to break some of their crockery, they threw all the pieces away, remarking that they would not carry broken crockery into town. When their entrance into the city had been effected, and they saw how they had been deceived, or deceived themselves, and realized the hardships before them, and foresaw the certain failure of all their cherished hopes, a more distressed and dejected looking company of mortals never, perhaps, appeared in the village of Jefferson. They did not long remain. Mr. Lisle Asque, who, with Randall, preceded the others, and was made of " sterner stuff" than the rest, alone became a permanent settler, making his home in what now is Lenox township. It would seem on its very face to be a visionary scheme for these planters to quit their Chesapeake farms, which were admirably adapted to the growth of tobacco, and withdraw from a market that eagerly purchased all of the article they could produce, and removing to a dense wilderness, five hundred miles distant, undertake the cultivation of the weed in the midst of a forest whose soil was in no manner favorable to the plant, and where there could be no one to buy it even if it could be produced. The project, however, seems to have been undertaken in good faith by Mr. Granger, who hoped to have the article grown and manufactured hundreds of miles nearer the locality of those tribes of Indians to whom the government in supplying them with tobacco had to carry it, and thus he expected, by saving the exorbitant cost of transportation, to make the culture aud manufacture of tobacco in Jefferson a profitable business. The following extract from a letter written many years ago by Ralph Granger, Esq., of Painesville, Ohio, son of Gideon Granger, Esq., to O. H. Fitch, Esq., of Ashtabula, sets forth very clearly Mr. Granger's views in rela- tion to this undertaking : " The Indian traders and trading companies, as well as the United States agents and factors, found extreme difficulty in procuring the tobacco necessary for the Indian trade and for customary use, as well as to fulfill solemn stipulations. The cost of transportation exceeded by many hundred per cent. the cost of production. It was highly desirable that tobacco should be pro- duced and manufactured near Lake Erie. This being known, and propositions having been made by a gentleman well acquainted with the business in Maryland, a large number of tobacco-growers formed a company and purchased shares in the town of Jefferson to carry on that particular branch of industry. The expenses for their journey and letters of credit having been furnished, they forecd their way to Jefferson, encountering difficulties not necessary to recount, and bringing with them John Hankart, a manufacturer of tobacco of high repute.
" As the origin of the Maryland settlemeut in Jefferson has been told, it is proper to add that the failure of the tobacco business was uot through the default of the proprietors, or cultivators of the town, but through those who were to have pur- chased the tobacco."
The last clause in the above extract would seem to convey the idea that the tobacco colony scheme would not have proven a failure if there had been a market for the tobacco, whereas the truth really is that the clay soil of the Jefferson woodlands was ill adapted to the culture of the tobacco-plant. Moreover, if this obstacle had not existed there was still a gigantic forest to be removed before the colony of tobacco-growers could undertake the preparation of the soil, and for this task these Marylanders, wholly unaccustomed to toil of this sort, were as unfitted as so many children. Howbeit, the enterprise, so far as it related to the produc- tion of tobacco as an article of commerce, was a total failure ; and the only results, in addition to being a disastrous financial speculation to all concerned, were the erection of a few cabins ou Jefferson town site, and the building of a tobacco
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HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.
wareroom, which actually became the storehouse of a hogshead of leaf tobacco which tobacco, however. was raised in Maryland, and sent hither by General Granger for the encouragement of the colony ), the removal of brush and trees frou a few acres of ground, and the planting thereon some garden stuffs. with a small amount of tobacco, and the acquisition to the settlement in what then was Jefferson township of Mr. Lisle Asque and his family. Daniel and Luman Webster, from the State of New York. came hither in the summer of 1807. As the year 180S opens there were probably not less than twenty families residing within the territorial limits of Jefferson township. In this year there was a fur- tber immigration in the persons of Michael Webster, Sr., and his son-in-law, Daniel Squires, who became a renowned hunter in this locality. There came also in the summer of 1808, Wareham Grant, from East Windsor, Connecticut, who built a log house on the present site of the Jefferson House. Timothy Caldwell likewise arrived this year, sent hither by Mr. Granger to superintend the crection of the first court-house and jail. He was accompanied by John Birth, a brick-mason. Ashtabula County had now been formed, and it became necessary to have a court- house. Austinburg competed with Jeffersou for the prize. Mr. Granger's iufluence was such in the formation of the county that Jefferson became a central township, and this fact, connected with his offer to build the court-house at his own expense, obtained for Jefferson an easy victory.
Thus far we have followed the fortuues of the village and township insepara- bly. At this point we will disunite them for the purposes of this history and consider first the succession of events, whose narration will furnish us with the history of the city of Jefferson.
In 1808 Asbtabula's county-seat scarcely deserved tbe name of village. A few log cabins. not a dozen all numbered, scattered here and there over the town site, under the shadows of massive trees whose branches almost formed an impenetrable barrier against the skies above, so dense was the forest. The public square. a rise of ground in the midst of the woods, distinguished from the surrounding lands by being a spot from which the forest had been re- moved. Tbe Wilson cabin occupied the lot on the southwest corner of Jeffer- son and Chestnut streets. now the site of the American hotel. At the northeast corner of Market and Walnut stood the dwelling and store, one building, of Edward Friethy, Esq., now the residence of N. E. French. Here also was the settlers' post-office, Mr. Friethy serving as postmaster. Where Mr. Woodbury's fine residence now stands stood the log hut of Mr. Blood. On the first lot west of Mr. Howland's residence was the hut of Mr. Macc, the tobacco-grower ; on the lot just east of Mr. Talcott's residence lived Mr. Fowler ; at 39 Eric street was another tobacco-colonist's cabin. dwelt in by Mr. Legg. The tobacco ware- house stood on the northeast corner of Erie and Market. These were all the dwellings on Jefferson town site in the summer of the year 1808. The only way of egress from our little village was along the line of uotched trees to Austinburg, thence along the course of the old Salt road to the mouth of Ashtabula creek, or westward to Harperstown. from which settlement there were forest-roads leading northward to the lake and southward to Morgan, Windsor, Mesopotamia. and so on to Warren. Provisions were scarce, and the main dependence for food was the meat of wild animals.
Such was the condition of the infant village when Mr. Caldwell, the builder of the first house intended as the seat of justice, arrived. Work was imme- diately begun. Jouathan Warner and Michael Webster took and filled the con- tract of furnishing the hewn timber. The structure was made of brick, which were manufactured on the spot by two men, engaged for this purpose by Mr. Granger, by the names of Warren aud Duty. The building was a two-story plain structure, forty feet in length by thirty in breadth, the lower story consti- tuting a single room used for the court-room, with the judge's seat on the north side, the bar in front, aud the jurors' seats to the right and left ; and the upper story four rooms, each of about equal size, with a hall in the centre, used as jurors' an I county officers' rooms. Each room had a fireplace, and in the court- room below there were four of these. Stoves were not then in usc. The second floor was reached by means of a flight of stairs on the outside of the building. Mr. Caldwell did not complete the building until the year 1811. It was difficult to obtain boarding accommodations, and the need for these led to the erection by Mr. Caldwell of a goodly-sized two-story frame hotel building on the lot where now stands the residence of N. L. Chaffee. Here the artisans employed upon the first court-house were boarded and lodged. In 1810. when Mr. Friethy, till then the postmaster, removed to Warren, he was succeeded by Dr. Elijah Coleman, who removed the office into the Caldwell hotel building, where he opened also an apothecary's shop. During the first session of court, in June, 1811, this building, which then was an ornameut to the village of Jefferson, was burned to the ground under circumstances worthy of narration. Solomon Griswold, resident of Windsor township, was one of the associate judges, and at the close of the first day's session, wearied by the sedentary occupation to'which he was unaccustomed,
and feeling a strong yearning for something wherewith to restore tired nature, resorted to Dr. Coleman's drug-store, late in the evening, to obtain a small quantity of the fiery fluid, Mr. Coleman's being the ouly place where it could be had in town. Entering the doctor's office, he made known his desire. The latter replied that he had nothing of the kind except a barrel of high wine which he kept in his cellar for medicinal purposes, and that he did not deem it safe to visit that nether department at that time of night, as the er rand would have to be made with a lighted candle, and there would be great danger of ignition when the whisky should be drawn from the barrel. Mr. Griswold's thirst was great, and his importunity, fortified by the promise to accompany the doctor, carry the can- dle and keep it at a safe distance from the barrel, gained for him the doctor's decisiou to yield assent to the judge's wishes. Together they descended the stair- way, Coleman carrying the pitcher, Griswold the candle. The former approaches the barrel to remove the woodeu faucet ; the judge takes his stand at a distance which he deems free from danger. The spigot is removed, the sparkling liquor pours forth ; the judge forgets the danger, and draws nearer, when lo! the fluid escapes, the barrel explodes, and the cellar being filled with inflammable matter, in another instant the whole building is wrapped in flames. The judge and doctor managed to escape from the building. the former leaving his hat behind him, and, rushing out upon the street, began in the midst of his excitement to vociferate at the top of his voice, " High wines! high wines ! new hat and high wines !"
Soon after the completion of the court-house a jail was built on the ground where the present one now stands,-a two-story block building, twenty feet wide by thirty-six feet long. It coutained several apartments,-one called the " dun- geon," into which the worst criminals were thrown, and another the " debtors' room," it being customary in those days to imprison for debt.
The organization of Ashtabula County was effected on the 22d day of January, 1811, and on the 20th day of June following commeuced the first sitting of the court of common pleas in and for said county, and continued two days. The pre- siding judge was Benjamin Ruggles; associate judges, Aaron Wheeler, Ebenezer Hewins, aud Solomon Griswold. It required four judges at this time to conduct the court. the presiding judge occupying a central position and deciding all points of law. These officers were the appointees of the governor. Ezra Kellogg was first prosecuting attorney, Peter Hitchcock being first prosecuting attorney pro tem. Timothy R. Hawley was appointed clerk pro tem. of this first court. The sheriff at this time was Nathan Strong. having served previous to the organization of the county. and continued in office until 1813, wheu Mr. Quintus F. Atkins was elected sheriff of Ashtabula County. The first grand jurors were Noah Cowles, Peleg Sweet. Stephen Brown, William Perrin, Jesse D. Hawley, Walter Fobes. Ebenezer Lamson. Sterling Mills, Michael Webster, Gideon Leet, John Beckwith, Eliphalet Austin, James Harper, Moses Wright, and David Hendry. The grand jury were sworn into office, and were charged by the court. The only case before them was one in which the State of Ohio was plaintiff, and Orison Cleveland defendant ; the cause of action assault and battery. The defendant was discharged upon the order of the court. There was no petit jury, and only one case before the judges, and that for debt, judgment being rendered for plain- tiff in the sum of seventy dollars. We mention thus minutely the doings of this first term of eourt for Ashtabula County, as the event was one of no mean im- portance to the village of Jefferson. The court-house was now no longer a vision- ary building some day to become a living reality, but there it was, a real edifice, aud was the pride of every inhabitant. And this first gathering of the servants of justice was to all who were interested in the fate of the town an assurance that their village was in very truth a county-seat, and that in the very nature of things it could occupy no insignificant position among the towns that at that time were everywhere, throughout the length and breadth of the eastern half of the Reserve, springing into existence and struggling for a footing. For twenty-five years this plain edifice did service for the people of Ashtabula County, and had more to do than anything else connected with the history of Jefferson in assisting the growth of the village and in determining the character of its inhabitants. This primitive temple of justice attracted hither some of the soundest jurists and ablest lawyers of the State and of the county, many of whom became residents of the place,- men whose influence for their country's good has been effectively exerted in national legislation. But for this rude structure reared in the Jeffersou forest this village would most probably have never become the place of residence of Benjamin F. Wade, and of Joshua R. Giddings, and of Rufus P. Ranuey, and many others who might well be named. Able lawyers from other parts of the State came hither at the sessions of the court to plead for their clients in Mr. Granger's court-house. Among these were Ethan Allen Brown, David Tod, afterwards governor of Ohio, and the former also United States senator, Elisha Whittlesey, and Rufus P. Spalding, who were afterwards members of Congress. The Jefferson bar of to-day numbers among its members men of ripe learning and a high order of legal ability.
RESIDENCE OF JNO WATTERS. CONTRACTOR & BUILDER. JEFFERSON STREET JEFFERSON , ASHTABULA CQ.,CH'O.
DAVID DOUGLASS GIST, M.D.,
was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, on the 10th day of November, | and fifty cancers is sufficient evidence of the faithfulness with which he 1810, and is the second of a family of seven, the children of Thomas has pursued his investigations in this specialty. In October, 1865, owing to his large and increasing practice in that portion of the county, he removed to Jefferson, where he still resides. On January 1, 1833,. the doctor was united in marriage to Susan, daughter of Samuel and Polly Newell, of Liberty township, Guernsey county, Ohio. From this . marriage one child was born (Martha Jane, who married Frederick Pangburn, of Harpersfield, and resides there at present). On June, 17, 1836, this lady died, and on August 27, 1845, the doctor mar- ried his present wife. She was the daughter of George and Eliza Pangburn, of Harpersfield. The children of this marriage are Laura, the eldest, who died in infancy ; Mary Eliza, married E. J. Pinney, a member of the legal profession at Jefferson ; and Lunie, the youngest, who yet remains at home. To give the reader an idea of the doctor's extensive practice, we will state that since 1848 he has ridden something over two hundred and fifty thousand miles, has been ever ready to and Elizabeth Gist, of that county, but who removed to Ohio in 1822 and located in Guernsey county. The education of Mr. Gist was ac- quired, as is the case with most American boys living remote from cities or towns, in the district school, finishing in the Wellington (Ohio) college. In the year 1836 he commenced reading medicine with Drs. Hazlop Williams and John C. Anderson, of Jacobsport, Coshocton county, Ohio. Continued alternately reading and teaching for two years. In 1838 he came to Ashtabula County, and locating in Harpersfield, finished his professional reading with Dr. Jonathan Williams, of that township. In 1840 formed a partnership with him, and practiced until the death of Dr. Williams in 1846, since which time he has practiced his profession continuously until the present. In the year 1870 the doctor attended his last course of lectures, aud graduated at the Eclectic medical college of Cincinnati in that year. As early as 1848 he turned his attention to the treating of cancers and scrofula in all its forms, and the simple , attend to the calls of the afflicted, and thousands regard him almost in statement that he has, since that date, successfully removed one hundred the light of a public benefactor.
FEFE
--
RESIDENCE OF E. L. MULLEN, JEFFERSON TP. ASHTABULA CO,0.
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HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.
Other professions are likewise ably represented, and, though the village of Jef- ferson numbers scarcely a thousand sonls, the standing of the people for intelligence and for the possession of sterling virtues is unexampled in any other town in the State of equal population. Notwithstanding the completion of the first court- house, the increase of population advanced tardily. The War of 1812 hindered the growth of all the settlements throughout the county. For several years the only accession to the village was from the removal hither of county officers, who came here to reside as soon as they were elected. When the second court-house was completed the residents of the town numbered not more than two hundred.
From 1810, the year in which Jefferson's first merchant-Mr. Friethy-re- moved to Warren, until 1823 there was no mercantile establishment in the vil- lage. In this year George B. Webster, of Buffalo, came here, and, with Gilbert Webster, opened a general assortment of goods in the frame addition to the jail building.
FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS.
Tuscan Lodge, No. 342, received its charter October 21, A.D. 1862. The fol- lowing are the charter members : Stephen A. Northway, F. P. Piugrey, Edward V. Woodbury, G. B. Miller, C. F. Wood, C. L. Bushnell, N. L. Chaffee, E. C. Cushman, Edward A. Wright, N. Powell, Horace M. Root, and Josiah P. Knowlton. The first officers were H. M. Root, W. M .; C. L. Bushnell, S. W .; Stephen A. Northway, J. W .; E. A. Wright, Treas .; C. F. Wood, Sec .; H. Talcott, S. D .; J. C. Thompson, J. D. ; J. P. Knowlton, Tyler. Present officers : Henry Talcott, W. M .; Wm. H. Crowell, S. W .; John Gill, J. W .; H. L. French, Treas .; W. A. Ferry, Sec .; J. A. Crisp, S. D .; J. P. Knowlton, J. D .; and Lester Loomis, Tyler. Preseut membership, eighty-three. Stated commu- nications, first and third Fridays of each month.
Jefferson Chapter, No. 141, R. A. M., was organized November 18, A.D. 1875, A.I. 2405. The charter bears date August 31, 1876. The following are the names of the charter members, who were also the first officers elected : George W. Dickinson, E. J. Betts, H. S. Loomis, C. H. Simonds, S. T. Fuller, George Hunter, B. C. Linzce, T. S. Young, and J. C. Howard. The following officers were elected for 1877 : G. W. Dickinson, H. P .; E. J. Betts, K .; H. S. Loomis, S. C .; C. H. Simonds, C. H .; S. T. Fuller, P. S .; Geo. Hunter, R. A. C .; B. C. Linzee, G. M. 3d V .; A. H. Pillett, G. M. 2d V .; J. C. Howard, G. M. 1st V .; Henry Talcott, Treas. ; R. M. Norton, Sec .; J. A. Crisp, G. The present membership is twenty-four. Time of mecting, second and fourth Thursdays of each month. Both the foregoing bodies convene in Masonic hall, Talcott's block. The following officers were elected for 1878: E. J. Betts, M. E. H. P .; R. M. Norton, E. K .; S. A. Northway, E. S .; C. H. Simonds, C. H .; S. T. Fuller, P. S. ; George Hunter, R. A. C .; Henry Talcott, G. M. 3d V .; John Gill, G. M. 2d V .; J. A. Crisp, G. M. 1st V. ; H. S. Loomis, Trcas. ; W. H. Crowell, Sec. ; Lester Loomis, Guard.
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD-FELLOWS.
The charter of Ensign Lodge, No. 400, was granted November 13, 1867. The following names appcar thereon : W. II. Crowell, T. K. Lyman, M. P. Atkin, Luke P. Smith, D. B. Ayer, S. J. Coon, E. E. Cushman, M. J. Foote, L. Cush- man, R. S. Ensign, W. J. Gibson, P. B. Rogers, and Henry Herron. The first officers were E. E. Cushiuan, N. G. ; R. S. Ensign, V. G .; W. H. Crowell, Sec. ; T. K. Simonds, P. Sec. ; D. B. Ayer, Treas. Present officers : Wm. Grant, N. G .; C. S. Ryder, V. G .; Thomas Rogers, Sec .; H. D. Jones, P. Scc .; H. N. Smallcy, Treas .; C. C. Woodruff, W .; Walter Fortune, C .; Geo. Stearns, I. S .; G. M. Brown, O. S. Present membership, seventy. Meets Tuesday of each week.
Jefferson Encampment of Patriarchs, No. 146, received its charter June 29, 1871. Below are given the names of charter members : Abijah Markham, Wesley B. Young, W. H. Ruggles, Henry Warren, E. E. Cushman, D. B. Ayer, M. P. Atkins, and John M. Walker. Present officers: C. H. Dady, C. P .; H. D. Jones, H. P .; G. M. Brown, S. W .; D. D. Holmes, J. W .; E. H. Brooks, Scribe ; H. N. Smalley, Treas. Present membership, thirty-five. Stated meet- ings, second and fourth Thursdays, in Odd-Fellows' hall, Holmes' block.
INDEPENDENT ORDER GOOD TEMPLARS .- Jefferson Lodge, No. 471, was organized on the evening of January 13, 1868, by District Deputy Nelson, with the following charter members, viz. : Jennie Loomis, M. E. Gibbs, Ida Allen, HI. Gill, Lester Loomis, I. H. Welch, W. F. Beede, G. M. Loomis, C. W. Ballard, E. A. Clark, J. B. Knapp, C. W. Knapp, Fortis Morse, H. J. Covell, A. M. Williams, J. A. Norris, E. Cushman, Minnie Knapp, Wetcha A. Beede, H. B. Farley, Christian Gill, O. H. Loomis, H. H. Stanford, and Harrison Loomis. First officers : H. J. Covill, W. C .; Jennie Looms, W. V. ; C. H. Ballard, W. R. S .; C. W. Knapp, W. F. S .; and Lester Loomis, W. T. From its organization this society has never failed to hold regular meetings. Has initiated about five hun- dred applicants, receiving and expending in the glorious work of temperance over
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