USA > Ohio > Ashtabula County > History of Ashtabula County, Ohio > Part 73
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The Warren and Ashtabula turnpike crossed the cast linc of Saybrook at Bunker Hill. This was nearly on the line previously occupied by the old Salt road.
The North Ridge road was surveyed and established in 1815. Peleg Sweet was one of the committee. The first record of the establishment of a road we find to have been in June, 1819. This was " from north of a road in the east part of Morgan and Austinburg to the south ridge, near S. Wright's." The subsequent December another road was laid out, also running south " from the south ridge, near B. Sweet's, to the road running through the centre of Austinburg."
TOWN HALL.
This fine building was completed in December, 1871, at an expense of two thousand dollars. It is located on lot No. 43. The elections and other township business had been done, prior to the erection of this building, in a school-house, which stood near the original location of "Sweet's tavern."
ORGANIZATION.
Wrightsburg township was detached from Austinburg and organized as a separate township in the year 1816. An election was held at the house of Benjamin Sweet on the first Monday of April of that year, of which we find the following record: Nathan Williams was chosen chairman of the meeting. Levi Amsden and Benjamin Sweet were the judges, and Jessie Blackington clerk of the election. The officers elected on this occasion were Joel Owen, Samuel Wright, and Thomas Benham, trustees; Benjamin Sweet and Eli Roode, overseers of the poor; George Webster and Hubbard Tyler, fence-viewers ; Zadoc Brown, lister; and Levi Amsden, appraiser of property; Angell Whipple, Abraham Amsden, Samuel Benham, Levi Beckwith, Jason Norton, and Phineas Pierce, supervisors ; Thomas Stephens, constable; and Joel Owens, treasurer. The first justice of the peace was Benjamin Sweet, who was appointed March 1, 1819. On the same record we find that Phineas Pierce and Levi Amsden were grand jurors, and Nathan Williams petit juror for 1819.
The officers for 1877 were Orrin Johnson, Riley Beckwith, and Collins An- drews, trustees ; O. K. Latimer, clerk; L. B. Brockett, treasurer; Ira G. Scoville, assessor; O. L. Harvey and Alanson Gary, constables; Charles E. Williams and William T. Simonds, justices of the peace,-the latter of whom has served suc- cessively for twenty-four years.
Prior to organization tbe name Mathertown was given the township, but was organized as Wrightsburg. The last date on which we find the name of Wrights- burg applied to tbe township was on the third day of April, 1827. The next entry was on the third of the subsequent May, when the designation is Wrights- burg alias Saybrook. To explain, in detail, the causes leading to this change of the name would require more space than is at our disposal, and would not perhaps be of interest to any considerable number of the patrons of this work.
During the War of the Rebellion this township furnished her full share of men.
It was in this township, in the year 1872, that Sylvester Brown took the life of his wife, and although justly entitled to the highest penalty for such an infamous crime, yet he was, by an Asbtabula County jury, acquitted.
BEAR STORY.
In the autumn of 1817, a little fellow of some twelve years of age, named Oliver Steward, Jr., who lived on the south ridge, came to the house of Charlie Pratts, early in the morning, from a coon-hunting excursion, and told Mr. Pratt his little dog had treed a bear almost as big as a cow. He wanted to borrow a gun. Mr. Pratt thought be had better let the bear alone. No! he wanted the bear, and must have the gun. Accordingly he took down the old musket, poured in an enormous quantity of powder and two balls, and handed it to the boy. He took an axe and went with him, all the way admonishing him of bis danger. On arriving at the spot, there sat the bear, perched on a limb some twenty-five or thirty feet from the ground, while the little dog was dancing and barking at the foot of the tree. Restraining tbe boy until he could cut a stout cudgel, Mr. Pratt told him to make sure work, as a wounded bear was a dangerous plaything. " No danger," said the boy, as he rested his musket across the limb of a tree; "I shall kill him the first shot." Pulling the trigger, a tremendous report followed. The bear was killed by the shot, and the boy no doubt considerably astonisbed by the commotion at his end of the gun.
STATISTICS FOR 1877.
Wheat
565 acres.
6,511 bushels.
Oats ..
848
29,113
Corn ...
730
54,240
Potatoes
144
7.854
Orcharding
369
33,970
Meadow ...
2335
3,153 tons.
Maple-sugar
9,912 pounds.
Butter
59,267
Cheese
201,926
F. M. G. DEL .
RESIDENCE OF D. H. KELLEY, SAYBROOK TP., ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.
185
HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.
Number school-houses, 12; valuation, $10,000 ; amount paid teachers, $1733.85; number scholars, 465.
Presidential vote for 1876: R. B. Hayes, 220; S. J. Tilden, 138. Population, 1870, 1421.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
WILLIAM T. SIMONDS
was born at Westminster, Windham county, Vermont, on November 29, 1809. He is the eldest son of Moses and Priscilla C. Simonds, who removed to Ash- tabula County, Ohio, in the fall of 1821, and located in Harpersfield township, where they remained for perhaps one year, and then removed to the township of Saybrook, and made a permanent location. The father died in that township in April, 1828, and the mother in November, 1873.
The subject of this biography was educated in the common schools, and has all his lifetime pursued the occupation of a farmer. He has been a justice of the peace for twenty-seven years, and in the able discharge of duties has gained the respect and confidence of all who know him. In the fall of 1857 Mr. Simonds was elected to the office of county commissioner, and served succes- sively three terms,-W. B. Quirk succeeded him for one term,-was then elected again, served one term, and was succeeded by H. L. Morrison. At the expi- ration of three years was again elected, and is at present an incumbent of that office. Politically Mr. Simonds was an old-line Whig, and is now, of course, a Republican. Although not a member of the army in the War of the Rebellion, yet he served his country well in the adjusting of quotas, and attending to the cause of the soldier. On December 23, 1852, Mr. Simonds was united in mar- riage to Susan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Phineas Pierce, of Saybrook. By this marriage two children were born to them. The elder is Charles W., born October 17, 1853; and the younger, Mary P., whose birth occurred September 4, 1857. They are unmarried, and reside at their father's home.
AUSTINBURG TOWNSHIP .*
THE PURCHASE.
IN the year 1795 the Connecticut land company was organized, composed of fifty-six individuals, residents of Connecticut.
On the 5th of September, of the same year, the company received a deed for about three million acres of land lying in the northeastern part of Ohio, and called the Western Reserve.
It appears from the records of the Connecticut land company that when the division of the land was made among the members of the company, ninety-thirce townships, cast of the Cuyahoga, were drawn in a lottery, and the township of Austinburg, then known as number eleven of the fourth range, fell to Messrs. Austin, Rockwell, Battell, and others, and these parties, in connection with other gentlemen in Connecticut who had drawn adjoining lands, formed themselves into a company, called the Torringford land company.
After the purchase and this singular allotment of the land, it was resolved by this last-named company to immediately attempt the colonization of their pur- chase. This first resolution, however, fell short of its purpose. The enterprise was committed to Colonel Blakeslee as leader, and preparations were made to set out at once for the region. It is said that Colonel Blakeslee went so far as to deed his property, and received a title to land in Austinburg in exchange, to- gether with a grant of seventy acres on Grand river, including a mill-site. It will be discovered from the records of the surveying-party that the township now called Austinburg was designated in the field-notes by the name of " Blakeslee." The undertaking was abandoned, however, as the prospect of a war with the French, and some fear of Indian disturbances, discouraged the party and broke down the enterprise. Colonel Blakeslee therefore abandoned the property, and afterwards took a commission in the army, which had been called by the order of President Adams, and served until the adjustment of difficulties, in 1801. He afterwards removed to the west, and settled in Genesee county, in the State of New York.
About the same time a singular accident befell one of the company, which resulted in a way least expected, but which proved almost providential, at least a blessing in disguise.
This accident was nothing more nor less than the biting by a mad dog of Judge Austin, who seemed to be the leading spirit in the new company. The symptoms of the terrible disease of hydrophobia succeeded, nearly baffling the skill of the best physicians. It was, however, while in this state of anxiety and fear that it was advised by physicians and friends, as a relief, that the judge should, for a time, leave his home, and divert his thoughts from his dreadful disease by travel in foreign lands. To this he consented, but instead of going abroad he resolved to himself to make a tour to the wild lands in the west, and to open a way for a colony in that region.
THE FIRST JOURNEY.
Accordingly in the spring of 1799, Judge Austin, accompanied by Roswell Stevens and his wife, newly married, and three young men, David Allen, Anson Colt, and Samuel Fobes, all of whom he had hired for the purpose, and George Beckwith, his wife, and two small children in company, set out on his long journey, having taken farming tools and a team for the purpose of making im- provements. All traveled together until they reached Schenectady. Here, how- ever, lie put the men and their wives and children aboard a couple of small boats, and himself proceeded with the team by land. From Buffalo to Austinburg the party were compelled to find their lodging on the bare earth, and to listen to the howling of wolves for their evening serenade. Their only provisions were those which Judge Austin had crowded into his capacious, but amply-stored, saddle- bags. Such were the difficulties of the route and the delay of the journey, how- ever, that the last two or three days the party was put on a short allowance.
THE FIRST ARRIVAL.
Having arrived in the vicinity, Judge Austin proceeded at once to Harpersfield, to the house of Alexander Harper, and thence to the landing, hoping to find the boat. Not mecting the party there, he then procecded to the mouth of the Grand river, and up the river to a point near the present site of the village of Paines- ville. Here he rode his horse into the midst of the old Indian fort, which is situated on the east side of the river, halted, and looked around at the vast wilderness surrounding him. It is said that as he thus halted and took a view of the lonely solitude, thoughts of his old home, of his family and friends, and then of the vast and difficult enterprise which he had undertaken, came upon him, and his emotions were so stirred that he actually wept in his loneliness and disappointment. Returning to the residence of the Harpers', and here having seen that there were no provisions in the house, and knowing that a single pork rind was all that was left of the provisions in his saddle-bags, he went supperless to bed, too hungry and sad to sleep.
The moon shone brightly through the clicckered forests and into the little window of the humble cabin, but the thoughts of the past and the future crowded thick upon that sleepless pillow. "The setting of a great hope," says Long- fellow, " is like the going down of the sun." The stars came out, and the air seemed purer and heaven brighter, and so this scene was emblematic; and yet another day was coming,-a day of hope and great progress in the midst of this wilderness.
During the night the family was aroused by the voice of a messenger who had arrived to tell of the safe landing of the boat and its occupants. Arising from his bed, the judge accompanied the mau to the boat and brought provisions back to the house, on which the company and the family made a hearty breakfast, grateful that they had all arrived at last and were able to partake of so bountiful a repast. With the assistance of his men, the judge afterwards was able to trans- port his goods and provisions on hand-sleds from the landing to Austiuburg.
* Written in most part by Rev. S. D. Peet.
156
HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.
THE FIRST BLOW.
On the 5th day of June, 1799, the first blow struck by a white man's axe in the town of Austinburg was struck by Judge Eliphalet Austin himself, the chief proprietor of the lands and the pioneer settler of all. It shows, however, his in- experience in all matters of wood-craft, to say nothing of the ordinary lot of the farmer's life, that the judge is said to have queried within himself how it was possible to clear the land and remove such a mass of forest when, as he supposed, wood could not be burned when green. The experiment proved his mistake.
The forests in this season of the year presented their loveliest aspect ; all nature was dressed in its freshest, brightest array. The green leaves were crowding every portion of space, covering the soft earth with a canopy of thick foliage. The luxuriant herbage below grew in great masses, in which the few cattle which had been brought with the party fairly wallowed as they rambled and fed upon its abundance.
THE FIRST CABIN.
Log cabins were soon erected by the little party. These were constructed of logs ent from the forest, unhewn and rough. The roof was made of bark, which had also been pulled from the trees, and held to its place by poles lying crosswise from end to end of the cabin. One of these rude cabins, the one occupied by Judge Austin and his company, was situated on a spot of ground which is now occupied by the brick building of Mr. Irving Knapp, in the village of Austinburg. The cabin belonging to Mr. George Beckwith and his family was erected on land near where Grand River institute now stands. Such was the beginning of the settlement of this village which has such historical importance in the annals of the great west. It was indeed a small beginning.
We can imagine the single hut hid away amid the forests, the only one which stood upon the site where the village now stands; and out of sight in the dis- tance, across the stream, almost lost amid the dense foliage, was another cabin, on the ground where now stands the academy, with its large, beautiful, and peopled buildings. It was a scene wild and primitive, such as only pioneer life, a home in the wilderness, could present. At this time the nearest habitation was at Har- persfield, five miles distant.
At Conneaut there was also a little settlement, consisting of Thomas Mont- gomery and Aaron Wright, who had settled at the place the previous year (1798). A band of Indians, consisting of three or four hundred, was scattered along the streams fishing and hunting, but the forest wildness reigned supreme over hill and valley, and the bear, wolf, and wild deer lurked undisturbed in many a dark hiding-place, and even disputed with the strangers the right to the fruits of the forest and the products of the soil. At Warren, thirty-five miles south, and at Vernon, forty miles southeast, in what is now Trumbull county, there were also white settlers, seven or eight families having located themselves in the former place at about this time. A single road led through the dense forest,-that, the one which had been cleared by order of the land company. This road had been girdled and cleared the previous year by the surveyors. It ran from the east line of the county, about seven miles south of the lake, across the site of Austinburg, to Little mountain, in Lake county, and from thence to Cleveland. The road passed by the door of Judge Austin's log cabin, and was the only sign of civiliza- tion presented in all the great wilderness. There was in all the settlements of this region a great scarcity of provisions, and in many cases of even the ordinary comforts.
Judge Austin and his little company, as soon as they had settled themselves in their new home, at once began the work of leveling the forests and clearing the land preparatory to sowing the first crop of wheat which should be gathered off from the soil. The summer was spent also in exploring the land belonging to the various land companies, in searching for mill-sites, and in visiting settlers. Late in the autumn he started for his home in the distant east, leaving the little com- pany which he had brought with him as the seeds of the colony wbich was to grow. Taking his son with him, he set out on horseback by the Indian trail which had been his route to the new forest home.
A COLONY ORGANIZED.
Having arrived at home and satisfactorily arranged the business of the land company, he proceeded to carry out the project which was in his mind of raising a colony for settlement in the distant west. In this enterprise Judge Austin was successful. It was fortunate for his own prosperity and for the village which bore his name that one so capable of devising and executing plans of large mo- ment had set himself at this task. The principles which lay at the basis of this undertaking were not mere speculation in wild lands, nor the sordid desire to make money. It was not a band of adventurers, nor selfish, unprincipled money- seekers, which were thus gathered by the commanding character and public spirit of this noble man. Those who were enlisted in the enterprise were men of the
-
like spirit,-men who sought homes for themselves and their families, but who at the same time sought to plant institutions in the new land. It is remarkable that the character of a place as well as of a country through all time partakes of tbe spirit and character of those who first settled it. The foundations of society in the township of Austinburg were laid in such a manner as later generations have had much reason to be grateful, and by men of whom their posterity have no reason to be ashamed.
NAMES OF THE FIRST COLONISTS.
The names of Deacon Noah Cowles, Captain Joseph Case, his son, afterwards Deacon Joseph M. Case, Adna Cowles, Solomon Cowles, Joseph B. Cowles, Roger Nettleton, Dr. Orestes K. Hawley, John Wright, Jr., Jonah Moses, Daniel C. Phelps, Isaac Butterfield, Ephraim Rice, Calvin Stone, David Allen, and Sterling Mills are all worthy of a high place, and should be highly regarded in the tablet of memory ; for they, with Judge Eliphalet Austin and his family, may be regarded as the founders of society in this important community, and as the originators of influences which have extended far to bless the country. These were all the members of the colony which, under the lead aud through the influ- ence of Judge Austin, were to start in the spring of 1800 for a permanent settle- ment in this far-off wilderness. They were all sterling meu,-persons who had been brought under the firm but beneficent influence of the New England society and of the Puritan religion, men who carried with them, locked up in their own hearts, the attachment to their fathers' faith, and at the same time an appreciation of the progress wbicb the growing institutions of our country might introduce.
ARRIVAL OF THE COLONY.
Tbis hardy band of New England pioneers set out in early spring, and after a successful journey, arrived at the spot where still remained in the lonely forests the families who bad established themselves the preceding year. The first effort of the colony after their arrival was to erect houses for themselves. These houses were indeed humble dwellings. They were constructed of the timber of the forest, and for the most part contained but a single room. Riven splints formed the covering of their roof, and split logs or puncheons served for floors ; every- thing about them was very rude. But few families belonged to the colony, as the wives and children were left behind until preparation could be made for their comfort. The colony had, however, laid in a stock of provisions, a good supply of agricultural implements, and Judge Austin had transported about five hundred dollars' worth of goods, consisting of hardware, groceries, clothes, boots and sboes, and the various implements and articles which might be used in a new country.
THE FIRST STOCK OF GOODS.
This stock of goods was one of the first that had ever been brought into this wilderness; the ouly stock which had ever reached this deep interior before having been. in the year 1798, transported by way of Pittsburgh, and carried on pack-borses to the mouth of the Cuyahoga, and there stored in a log house, and afterwards transported by water to Detroit, Dennison & Wilson being the enter- prising partners who introduced them to the country. In the year 1802, Mr. Foster established the first regular store in the Western Reserve, in the town of Poland.
A NIGHT IN THE WOODS.
One incident of the immigration into this town has been narrated which is worthy of a place in history. Early in February of the year 1800 Deacon Ster- ling Mills, with his wife and four children,-two sons and two daughters,-the youngest a babe in its mother's arms, started for this distant point in the wilder- ness. Taking an ox-team and sled, they arrived at Bloomfield, in the western part of New York, near the Genesee river, where they remained until the opening of spring. At that time they started again, and arriving at Buffalo, tbe family were put aboard a small boat, which, in company with a number of others, was starting across the lake for the settlement on the Reserve. The boat made slow progress, but at length arrived at the dock at Madison or Harper's landing. The family, accompanied by Joseph M. Case, then sought to make their way by a trail to the Harper's settlement and to Austinsburg. Arriving at the settlement at Harpers- field, horses with saddles were procured for Mrs. Mills and the children, and the little party set out through the forest for " Austin's Camp," as it was called. It was late in the afternoon, and night was falling as they started. While in tbe midst of the forest night overtook them. A rain-storm commenced, accompanied with sharp lightning and thunder. The little company knew not bow far distant they were from the settlement, but the darkness surrounded them, and it seemed impracticable for them to go farther. They had no means of making a fire, no provisions with them, and seemed helpless amid the dangers of the wilderness. There were wild animals in the forests, and now the flashes revealed only the wildness and darkness of the scene, while the echoes of the tbunder rolled through
187
HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.
recesses, bringing fear to the heart of the helpless mother and the little children. The party was obliged to stop; and there, with nothing but the furnishings of the saddle to keep them from the damp carth, and nothing but a single umbrella to protect them from the rain which was falling, the little party, huddled together, spent the long and lonely hours of the night until the morning. The kind-hearted neighbor and friend, however, took turns with the husband in holding the um- brella over the little babe. As soon as the daylight appeared the party started, and soon arrived at the settlement, their night encampment being but about three- quarters of a mile from the hospitable door of Judge Austin's cabin.
THE FIRST BOAT ON GRAND RIVER.
The boat which contained the houschold goods was propelled along the lake- shore to the mouth of Grand river, and up that river to Mills creck, where they were landed. At this point a hut was erccted by the men, and the household goods were stored, while the log cabin, a few rods away, was soon in process of erection, and the preparations were made for the permanent residence of the family.
A WOMAN LOST.
There are many incidents connected with the arrival and early experiences of this little colony. It is said that Mr. Mills' family moved into the log house prepared for them before there was in it either floor, door, window, or chimney. During this time it is also narrated that Mrs. Mills, one morning whilst the men were away chopping, having need of the tea-kettle, which had been left at the shanty sixty or seventy rods distant, started alone through the woods to bring it, leaving the children in the house awaiting her return. The day was cloudy, and the path was a dim one. She lost her way. When the men returned at noon they found that the mother was absent; she in fact was lost,-lost, too, in a perfect wilderness. Very naturally their fears were excited. There was at the time scarcely a single trail or mark of human presence from Buffalo to Detroit, or from Lake Erie to Pittsburgh, by which one who was lost could find direction. They at once set about to find her, running here and there, shouting, and firing guns as they could. In the mean time the mother herself, ahnost frantic with fear and excitement, knew not which way to go, and yet could not bear to stop. She fled in different directions, fearing even lest every movement should carry her farther away into the forests. She heard the guns, but could not tell their dircc- tion. At length a conch-shell, which the family had brought with them from the Atlantic coast, and which had previously sounded from hill to hill in the New England home, was brought into use, and now seut out a blast long and loud, which echocd through the surrounding forests. The sound was familiar. As the wife and mother heard the familiar note, it scemed like sweetest music ; it spoke to her of children, of loved ones, and at once she was guided by it to her home, and was soon welcomed by family and friends after a bewildering and painful absence of several hours.
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