History of Ashtabula County, Ohio, Part 75

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

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Mr. Joseph Mills has given a description of the erection of the building. He says the raising of the building commeneed Monday morning, and continued throughout the week until late Saturday afternoon. It was raised with taekles and guy-poles, with block and pulleys attached. The services of an " old salt" were procured to ereet the affair, by the name of Ebenezer Church. When the last timber was laid in its place, Church elitubed to the top of the spire, taking rope with him, and when at the top, one hundred and five feet from the ground, he drew up a bottle of whisky, which, with three cheers for the new church, he threw as far as he could. Betsey Cowles, however, says that at the time of the raising the leaders resolved that there should be no whisky drank, as was the eus- tom in those days. Accordingly, they prepared an abundance of provisions and good eoffee for the occasion.

Mr. Mills says, " The frame church was raised in September, and barely in- elosed ; and there, without stoves to warm us, without wrappers or drawers, cloaks or overcoats, we used to go to church and continue through two services each Sab- bath. The house was not seated, but ordinary benches without backs were used for a long time. The church was furnished in neat and appropriate style in 1824, and dedicated to God with solemn exercises, and our pastor, Rev. Giles H. Cowles, preached the dedieation sermon, in which he said this church, properly cared for, will stand long down into the millennium period. I was myself leader of the choir. We sang on the occasion, ' old Denmark' :

"' Before Jehovah's awful throne Ye nations bow with sacred joy ; Know that the Lord is God alone, He can create and he destroy.'"

The new and elegant edifice was built during 1877. It is a fine structure, fronted by a large tower at the northeast corner, which is surmounted by a belfry and steeple, also with a tower at the northwest corner, and with two entrances near the back end. It is furnished with gothie stained windows and pilasters, or false pillars, on the side, and stone eaps surmounting. The interior contains a commodious audience-room, a large gallery in front and an orchestra in the rear of the pulpit. The audience-room is finely frescoed, and memorial tablets are inserted into the sills of the windows. There is a small basement-room below. The house is an imposing one, very commodious, attraetive, and is an ornament to the place. Its cost was seventeen thousand dollars.

Schools .- The first school in Austinburg was taught by Miss Betsey Austin, afterwards the wife of Dr. Orestes K. Hawley. It was in a log barn, which stood west of the old homestead of Judge Austin, now belonging to the institution, and known in 1850 as the King house. The teacher received nothing for these serviecs, which were rendered in 1801. The first school-house was built in the autumn of 1802; was located ou the little rise of ground west of the dwelling- house of Mrs. Sally B. Austin, in or near the orchard, which is west of the small stream. It was made of plank notehed together at the end, with a mud-and-

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stick chimney. The second school-house was built of logs, and was situated on the east side of the turnpike, a little south of the orchard, on the farm of James Selleck, and nearly opposite his residenee. This was built in 1806. The third was also a log house, and was situated near the present residence of Seth Walk- ley, a little west of it.

The first frame sehool-house was built and situated on or near the place now occupied by the red school-house, north of Mills creek.

First teachers .- Miss Betsey Austin was the first teacher in the town. Among the early teachers at the north part of the town were Clarissa Cowles, Fanny Forbes, Dr. Hawley, Chauncey Hawley, Joel Austin, Florilla Austin. At the south part of the town were, first, Naney Wright, now Mrs. Harry Loomis, of Eagleville, Lucinda Atkins, Diana Atkins, Noah Smith, David Wright, and Josiah Brown.

GRAND RIVER INSTITUTE.

The history of Austinburg illustrates one truth, that the sustaining of religious sentiments seeures educational and social advantages. As in Connectieut the school-house is identical with the church building, so here edueation has attended the church. The home, the church, and the school were the trinity in which society here believed.

At the very outset, while homes were all new and when families had beeome scarcely settled, a little house had been erected for a school. The teacher taught without pay, but she found satisfaction in the good accomplished. The school- house was built of plank, and was located on the ground where the Grand River institute now stands.

In the year 1831 began that movement which eulminated in the establishment of the institution which has been a source of pride to the place. Perhaps the eredit of having started it should be given to Lucius M. Austin, a nephew of Judge Eliphalet Austin. He commenced a school at the village in an old eooper- shop. This was in 1830. The school began with only one or two seholars. Rev. Henry Cowles states, however, that it was mainly owing to the revival of religion in 1831 that the institution was established.

The design was to establish a school for educating young men for the ministry. It was even proposed by some to establish a college, but the Western Reserve eol- lege had just been started at Hudson, and this idea was abandoned. Rev. Henry Cowles says, " It may have been due somewhat to my influence that it eom- meneed with the more modest idea of an institute,-a preparatory department and the early stages of a college course. I insisted that a second college in this small northeastern section of Ohio was premature and unwise."

A charter was seeured by the aet of legislature February 22, 1831. The original incorporators were Rev. Giles H. Cowles, Moses Wilcox, Judge Eliphalet Austin, Dr. Orestes K. Hawley, Joab Austin. Joseph MI. Case, Jarius Guild, Ward Childs, Gains W. St. John, and Rev. Eliphalet Austin.

The institution was first started as a manual labor school, and the act of incor- poration specified the objeet. It was called the " Ashtabula County Institute of Science and Industry," and was located at Mechanicsville. Dr. Orestes K. Haw- ley and Joab Austin were the prime movers in this enterprise. These gentlemeu owned a large amount of property at Mechanicsville, consisting of a grist-mill, a saw-mill, an oil-mill, and some other works. These the owners proposed to do- nate to the institution, and no one at the time doubted that with these as the basis the plan of manual labor would prove successful. The students, who at first were few, soon began to floek in. In the year 1836 about thirty young men came in a body from Oberlin. That institution had been established on the same plan, but was overrun with students. Suitable accommodations could not be secured for the numbers. The citizens of Austinburg made every effort to accommodate. Mechanicsville became populous with students. The mills werc run by them. Every facility was afforded for the success of the plan, but it failed. The mills ran down, although the school flourished.

At this time Mr. Joab Austin, who was a successful merchant at the north end, proposed to the trustees that he would give twenty-five thousand dollars if they would move it up to that end of town. The proposition was accepted. By consent of the legislature the name was changed to that of Graud River institute. The land was deeded and the building was moved. In effecting this change some difficulty was experienced in moving the building. A hundred yoke of oxen were at first employed, but no chain could hold them. After moving it about three hundred yards it was abandoned. It was afterwards moved by a slower process, and is now the South ball. From the time of the location at this spot the school has continued to flourish.

The first teacher of the academy who led to the organization of the institution was Mr. Lueius M. Austin. After the incorporation the first principal was Ralph MI. Walker, a graduate of Western Reserve college. The second principal was Rev. Thomas Tenny, a graduate of Dartmouth. With him was associated

Miss Betsey M. Cowles, the first lady principal. The third principal was Seth Waldo. Following him were Mr. A. A. Smith, Rev. S. J. Davis, Messrs. Lucius M. Austin, George McMillan, Joseph Barnum, George Walker, and Myrton L. Pinney.

In 1840 a ladies' department was established, and since that time both sexes have been educated together. The average attendance has been nearly two hun- dred, at times reaching nearly three hundred. The scholarship in the institute has been of a high grade. The full course is designed to be equivalent to the scientific department of many of the universities. Many students, however, take a partial course, and fit themselves for college. A few have left the institute in the senior year, and joined the senior class of certain colleges in this State.

The present principal, Professor J. Tuckerman, has been engaged in school- teaching for his lifetime. His first school was at Orwell. Afterwards he was a professor in Farmers' college for eleven years. From that institute he came to Austinburg, and has taught now ten years.

The course of study embraces two departments, the normal and academic. The academic course embraces algebra, geometry, caleulus, and mechanical philosophy, Latin and Greek, consisting of Cæsar, Cicero, Virgil, Tacitus, and Horace, Xen- ophon and Homer, beside the usual English studies.

The endowment of the school is mainly that which was made at the beginning by Dr. O. K. Hawley and Joab Austin. After its removal from Mechanicsville, the mills and property at that place were sold, and the money put into Lake Shore railroad stock. This, with the addition of some land given by Mr. Brewster, is all the endowment.

The school has suffered from fire, the main building having been twice burned, once completely, and the second time mueh injured.

The school is at present in a flourishing condition. Its religious character is one marked peculiarity. At the time of the removal and new organization it was stipulated " that no regular professor or teacher should be employed who was not of the orthodox Trinitarian school." This was in compliance with a condition of a gift of land made by Mr. Brewster at the time, and has been conscientiously complied with by the trustees.

Grand River institute is now the only school of the kind in the county. Other academies have been established, but have at last been given up. First, one at Wayne; second, one at Wayne; and, third, that at Orwell. The public school system has taken their places. For the purpose for which it has been established few schools have been more successful. Many persons of note in the country have received their education here, among whom we may mention Judge Samuel Cowles, of California, and Alfred Cowles, of Chicago.

HARDSHIPS OF EARLY SETTLERS.

Noah Cowles, of Norwalk, Connecticut, arrived in Austinburg in 1801. He had exchanged his farm there for land here. He brought with him mill-irons and nails to build a grist-mill. He brought with him a number of hired men and millwrights. He spent the summer with seven hired men in building the dam and mills on Grand river, at Mechanicsville. In the fall there was a flood that swept away part of the dam, leaving the mill far out in the stream. To repair the damage he got every man able to work within twenty miles, thirty in number, and paid them a dollar per day. To feed them he sent a young man through the woods to Youngstown to bring a barrel of pork, over sixty miles, which cost fifty dollars when they got it home. They used to eat a beef every week. His wife was taken sick in the summer, and it was thought necessary for her to have some wine. There was none to be had short of Pittsburgh, some hundred and twenty miles. Roswell Stevens was hired to go on foot through the woods; it took him eight days. He brought a gallon on his baek, which, with the wages and expenses, eost sixteen dollars. Expenses of sickness lasting more or less for nine or ten years so embarrassed him with debts that he never fully recovered. It is said that he paid one physician two thousand dollars. In the fall of 1809 his wife died, leaving him, with all his other trials and embarrassments, bereaved indeed. She was one of the excellent of the earth.

PICTURES OF EARLY TIMES.

Two pictures have been given of the early times, which are certainly worthy of perusal. They were depicted by those who were familiar with the scenes and who were capable of portraying them in words after fifty years of the passage of time. This retrospective power of memory is wonderful. No imagination can so depict the outlines and give the shading. Therefore we take pleasure in giving the very words of the narrator. They are indeed descriptive of different eras, as the narrators belonged to different times, but are all the more interesting on that account. At the fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of the place, Mr. Q. F. Atkins wrote : " Old scenes and old associations have been brought to remeu-

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HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.

brance, and made to pass, like a living panorama, before my enchanted vision. The countenances of friends, both of the dead and the living, bear the imprint of the ' olden time.' Their speech, their dress, their food, their culinary preparations, and the cheerfulness with which they dealt out their hospitalities ' to all eomers,' from all parts of the country, however remote, to neighbors and strangers alike were the same as formerly, and to complete the picture, their log meeting-houses, school-houses, barns, and out-houses, all formed of the same rough material; their primitive mud-roads, pole-bridges, deep sloughs, bridle-paths, blazed lines through the woods, from dwelling to dwelling; their cleared fields, studded with blackened stumps and inclosed with log fences ; their newly chopped acres, their large ‘ slash- ings,' where the sturdy axeman had felled the timber merely,-all these stood out upon the encircling canvas as most truthful and sober realities. By and by audible sounds fall upon my listening ear: the early gabble of the wild turkey- cock, far off in the woods, bidding his sleepy mistress good-morning; the last sad howł of the hungry, disappointed wolf, retiring to his lair; the faint tinkle of the cow-bell, in a different direction, and farther from home than I expected, as she, the chief supporter of our weaned children, busics herself in cropping the wild herbage for her morning meal. At the hearing of this, with rifle in hand and dog at my feet, I haste away after the old dun cow. Half an hour's travel seems not to have lessened the distance between us much,-the long-legged fas- tidious brute is making off for the rich bottom on Mills creek, and sure I am that I hear another bell in that direction. My usually quict but lone cow has heard the inviting sound, and is bent upon a morning visit to her neighbors, some three miles off. I must follow, whatever the encroachment may be upon the business plans of the day. Pushing on through the tangled forest, the object of my pur- suit is overtaken in time to turn her back, before the gratification of her prone- ness to gossip can be satisfied."

Hon. J. F. Case, at the seventy-fifth anniversary, gives us the following second picture : " We were also peculiar in our habits. It would look a little strange now to see the observances of those years gone by. Suppose to-night, if it were clear enough to see the sun set, that just as it set you should see every man, woman, and child stopping work, for then the Sabbath began with all the people of Austinburg. Down to the time when I was, perhaps, ten years old, every family in Austinburg religiously observed Saturday evening as a part of the Sabbath ; when the sun set next evening, of course, the Sabbath was ended. They counted from sun to sun, and when the Sabbath came there was only one place of worship; and if anything made one fecl sad and gloomy, it was to pass by there yesterday and find not a vestige remaining of that good old meeting- house, --- not ' church,' for we did not eall meeting-houses ' churches' then. The church was the organization, and the building was the meeting-house. You might look into house after house on the Sabbath and find not a living being there, perhaps, except the dog. They tell the story about the dog belonging to my old friend here. He always went to meeting, but one Sabbath missed the time, and finally went and gravely sat down in the pulpit. They used to tell a similar story about my father's old family horse,-how she onee went alone to her hitching-post at the meeting-house when my father could not go. The children all went to school in those days. There was no shirking. The parents were thorough, earnest,-determined that their children should have an education. There was a true genuine democraey in Austinburg in those days. I had no idea then what the word servant meant. We had hired men and hired girls; but they stood on the same footing as the best of us, with the same facilities as the rest of us, and they have made as good men and women as the rest of us. These little incidents show what were the habits of the people. I have noted here how sincere they were, how earnest, and even how rigid. But these men were men of nerve, men of will, men with a progressive spirit. When one reform after another was begun, it always found its most earnest supporters in Austinburg. We once had a distillery in Austinburg; but there was no such intemperanee as there is now. The church had not yet taken a decided stand in the matter, not even the church in Austinburg, though not any church in this western country was ahead of Austinburg in taking ground against intemperanee. You know we had to come up gradually to our present position on the temperance question. The first settlers of Austinburg were not mere religionists, not mere devotees. They were devoted to truth wherever they might find it, and so when they saw the evils of intemperanee they were among the very first to take a stand against it, and fight it to the death. And so it was with slavery. In speaking of this subjeet my mind is erowded full of the history of the past. When I was last here it was to mourn over my father, who was one of the few meu with families who settled in Austinburg township in 1800, just seventy-five years ago to-day. He lived to a good old age, and it seemed to him and to me that he had reached the proper time to die. He lived until he had seen our country in the honor of victory, after all the perils and the struggles of the war. On his death he closed his own eyes for the grave, and folded his own hands aeross his breast."

METHODIST CHURCHI.

The first meetings held by this denomination in the township of Austinburg were at a very early date, in the northwestern portion. A class was formed here of a few members. Father Webb and wife were members of it, and these queet- ings were held in private houses principally. There was also another class at Eagleville prior to 1838. At this date there was a class of seventy members and a flourishing Sabbath-school. Their meetings were held in a school-house standing on the spot now occupied by the cheese-factory, and subsequently in the academy building. In, perhaps, 1855 this church began to decline. Many have removed, until at present there is no class in existence at this point. We are indebted to the Rev. Samuel Collier, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church at Mechanicsville, for the following in relation to that church, which, by the way, is the only class now existing of this denomination in the township: A Meth- odist society had, since the year 1824, worshiped in a school-house in Harpers- field township, about one and one-half miles southwest of the present church edifice, supplied by ministers of the Erie conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1852 a new church was proposed, and a site selected on lot 41 at Mechanicsville, a place at that time busy with manufacturing industries. The society at this time consisted of some sixty metubers. Rev. T. B. Tait was pastor in charge; Jonathan Warden, now of Geneva, was class-leader, and the following individuals trustees : Jonathan Warden, Frederick Webb, Ebenezer Andrews, Henry Winchel, Francis Stevens, Daniel Ballard, and Aaron Hubbard. The church was built by Aaron Hubbard and Ebenezer Hubbard (deceased ), and was dedicated to the worship of God according to the usages of the Methodist Episcopal church by Rev. John C. Ayres, presiding elder of the Cleveland dis- trict. The following conference ministers have since that time served the charge : Revs. H. Kellogg, P. Sullivan, E. Wade, E. C. Latimer, D. Smith, S. Wilkinson, E. R. Knapp, H. D. Cole, S. L. Wilkinson, R. Gray, D. Rowland, J. B. Ham- mond, C. W. Darron, E. C. Latimer, and the present pastor, S. Collier. There is now a membership of seventy. A. N. Parker and W. W. Gorsline, class- leaders ; trustees, H. S. Pangburn, H. J. Chapman, W. Greenslade, I. Wheeler, L. Williams, W. W. Gorsline, and A. N. Parker. The Sabbath-school at this place has a goodly attendance.

DISCIPLE CHURCH.

It was not until about the year 1846 that a permanent organization of this society was effected. This was under the pastorate of Rev. J. B. Bartholomew. The first officers were Michael Webster, E. A. Mills, and Asel Case, overseers; Alfred Mills, A. I. Hall, and Bradford Tuttle, deacons. The membership in- creased the first three years to one hundred and forty. Their neat church edifice at Eagleville was erected in 1850, at a cost of some two thousand dollars. The society here is small at present. Rev. J. B. Bartholomew is overseer, and Alfred Mills, H. P. Tuttle, and J. K. McNutt, deacons.

CHEESE-FACTORIES.

The first of these industries to begin operations in Austinburg township was at Eagleville, in the spring of 1868. The following are the original stockholders, viz. : A. W. Howard, S. Hill, R. W. Payne, O. S. Payne, James Selleek, Joseph Mills, H. H. Austin, S. Stanley, W. J. Gibson, and John Fairchilds. The cost of the building and machinery was nearly five thousand dollars. This being the only factory in the vicinity, there was for the first three years an extensive patron- age, they working the milk from one thousand cows. Sinee which time the average make has been about seventy tons per year. There are now but eight stockholders ; J. A. Chapell, one of the number, is superintendent.

AUSTINBURG CHEESE-FACTORY.

In the spring of 1869 the following citizens of Austinburg township formed themselves into a company, and under the name of the " Austinburg Dairymen's Association" began the manufacture of cheese, viz. : L. B. Austin, A. E. Austin. O. B. Henderson, H. Bissell, A. H. Pearce, Dan Fobes, E. L. Whiting, D. C. Quinby, J. G. Dudley, Erwin Bulen, H. M. Dewey, N. H. Henderson, Augustus Rose, and E. B. Whiting. They erected that season the commodious factory build- ing now occupied by them, which is without doubt the largest of its class in the county. The total cost originally was over seven thousand dollars. The first two years it was conducted for the benefit of the company. The third year, how- ever, a general patronage was solicited, and from then until the present have man- ufactured the milk of from three hundred to six hundred cows per year. Mr. T. B. McDowell has been superintendent for the past two years, and is at present in charge. The manufacture for 1877 was something over one hundred tons.

There are two other small factories in the township, one styled the Cold Spring factory, owned by Geo. M. and Jno. B. Pierce, built in 1872, and cost two thou- sand dollars ; average number of eows, one hundred and seventy ; and another

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at Mechanicsville, owned by L. B. Woolever. opened iu the spring of 1878. Mrs. Chas. Spencer has an interest in this factory and makes the cheese.

MANUFACTURES.

At Mechanicsville there was at one time an extensive woolen-factory, grist- mill, oil-mill, etc .. under the management of the late W. D. Palmer. This prop- erty was purchased by L. B. Woolever, and in December, 1874, was destroyed by fire. Mr. L. has since rebuilt the flouring-mill. This is a fine building, and is furnished with all the modern appliances, and does a large business. He has also a saw-will near by. propelled by water. There is a steam saw-mill at this point. This is owned by Orlando Hubbard.

At Eagleville there is a grist- and saw-will owned by A. W. Howard. There is also a general store owned by J. W. Fisher ; grocery, by J. B. Bartholomew ; shoe-shop. L. Cushman ; blacksmiths, A. I. Buck, A. Olmsted. and W. Munger. J. K. MeNutt represents the dental profession ; also, postmaster.

AUSTINBURG VILLAGE.

BUSINESS HOUSES.

F. A. Barnes, drugs, dry goods, and groceries ; George A. Pulis, dry goods and groceries; E. C. Miller, drugs aud notions ; J. H. McClure, hardware ; W. S. Orcutt, boots and shoes ; F. Shepard, planing-mill ; D. S. Alvord, wagon-man- ufactory ; H. G. Shipman and M1. E. Scoville, blacksmiths; J. C. Shepard, livery. The hotel at this point is at present under the able management of H. G. Ship- man. F. B. Pierce has a saw- and grist-will in the northeast part of the town- ship, located on a small stream which flows into Grand river. ' Simon Reed operates an extensive brick-kiln at the village. F. A. Barnes is postmaster at this poiut, the office being located at his store.

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History of Ashtabula County, Ohio, Part 75

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