History of Ashtabula County, Ohio, Part 9

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

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POPULATION OF THE RESERVE IN 1798.

At the time of the arrival of these first permanent settlers on Ashtabula soil there were only fifteen other families on the Reserve,-ten of these were at Youngstown, three at Cleveland, and two at Mentor. Three other families came this same season, and settled in what is now Burton township, Geauga county, and two or three others in Hudson township, Summit county. Perhaps the number one hundred and twenty-five would include all that were settlers upon the Reserve during the summer and fall of 1798 and the succeeding winter, a little more than one-fifth of which number were located upon the soil of this eounty.

WHERE THEY LOCATED.

The Harpers and Mr. McFarland settled in the extreme northwestern part of the township, not far from the present site of Unionville, Harper on lot No. 16, and MeFarland near the site of the present Episcopal church ; while Mr. Gregory, with his family, settled farther to the southeast, on Grand river, lot No. 90. In August following their arrival, J. Gleason, the hired man, died, and shortly after Colonel Harper himself was taken sick, and died on the 10th day of September.

SOME HARDSHIPS THESE FIRST PIONEERS ENCOUNTERED.

In the fall of the year, their stock of provisions growing scarce, the colonists sent two of their number to Canada to procure a new supply. They placed four barrels of flour on board one vessel, and had previously contracted with the captain of another vessel to transport pork and other provisions up the lake for them. This latter vessel was wrecked before reaching the port where the supplies were in waiting, and the two men were obliged to return without their greatly nceded stoek of provisions. The vessel containing the flour, just before reaching Erie, was driven into shallow water by a storm, and frozen in, and the flour could not be obtained until the ice should become sufficiently strong to admit of going with sleds to the boat and bringing it to land.

The delay which these untoward events occasioned was so great that when the two agents of the settlers arrived with the flour, the latter had been without any kind of breadstuff for six weeks, and had subsisted for this time on salt beef and turnips alone. The flour was used up before the winter had passed, and something had to be donc to obviate the approaching danger of starvation. We copy the following from Mrs. Sherwood's narrative, furnished to the Historical Society, which describes vividly the perilous situation of these first settlers during this first winter :

" It was with feclings akin to horror that our little party saw our provisions dwindle away. Some plan must needs be adopted. What should it be ? In the midst of this dense darkness there appeared a single ray of hope. It was ascer- tained that a man living on Elk creek, Pennsylvania, had raised some corn the year before. Thither the two brothers, James and William Harper, hastened. They arrived and told their story. The stranger listened attentively, and then inquired their names. Learning these, with some cmotion he inquired their father's name. Their father was dead, but his name was Alexander Harper. ' Yes,' he exclaimed, 'I will divide with you for your father's sake;' and then went on to relate that he had been a fellow-prisoner with the father of the young men in the war for independence, and became greatly attached to Mr. Harper. When released, the two separated, never to meet again ; but it was the grateful remembrance of other years which was to preserve Colonel Harper's family from perishing in the wilderness.

" The boys were provided with corn, which they packed upon their shoulders, and carried more than fifty miles.

" Now, while our travelers are returning homeward, we will take a pcep into one of the homes of the settlers in the Harpersfield wilderness. Here are the widow and her helpless orphans ; the last morsel of corn had been parched and divided among the colony, sixteen kernels for each individual. Night closed in, accom- panied with all the horrors of winter; the driving sleet beat upon the bark roof, while the raging blast threatened demolition of every dweller's cabin. Day broke drearily upon their troubled vision. The boys had not returned. The mother's heart grew sick with despair : she could not rise from her bed. The daughter strove to soothe and comfort her mother, all the while watching eagerly for the approach of her brothers. Soon the joyful tones of her brother William's voice broke the withcring spell, as entering the eabin he threw the sack of corn upon the floor, and bade his sister throw away her leeks, as he had something better to eat. The mother's strength revived, and all hearts were now made happy."

The corn was ground in a little mill resembling a coffee-mill, and in order to supply all with meal it had to be kept grinding continually. These instances of hardship were not alone the unhappy experience of these first settlers, but serve to show what indeed was the common lot of all who came hither the first few years in the settlement of the county.

The coming of spring was hailed with great delight. A few acres of ground were clearcd and planted to corn, and thus the means of subsisting in the wilder- ness were provided.

OTHER EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

The territory of Conneaut township was the next place at which settlers located. In the spring of 1799, Aaron Wright, Levi and John Montgomery, Nathan and John King, Robert Montgomery and family, and Samuel Bemus and family, arrived and made their homes along the banks of Conncaut creek, within the township that now bears the same name as the streamn.

A few months later a settlement was begun in what is now Austinburg town- ship, by Eliphalet Austin, George Beekwith and family, Roswell Stephens and family, David Allen, and one or two other young men.

About the same time the soil of Windsor received a settler in the person of George Phelps and family, who settled in the southern part of that township in June of that year.

Monroc township likewise this year became the residence of a pioncer, Mr. Stephen Moulton and family.

An accession was made to the settlement in Harpersfield in the fall of 1799, Mr. Aaron Wheeler and family and Joseph Harper and family arriving.

HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.

The number of settlers within the limits of the present county of Ashtabula during the winter of 1799-1800 was therefore not far from fifty persons. Har- per field ontranked the other townships as to the number of inhabitants; Con- Conneaut eame next, then Austinburg, then Windsor and Monroe.

Fresh additions were made in the spring of 1800. The settlement in Wind- sor was increased by the arrival of Solomon Griswold and family; that of Harpersfield by the coming of Daniel Bartholomew and Mr. Morse, with their families ; that of Conneaut by the arrival of Seth Harrington, James Harper, and James Montgomery, with their families. The population of Austinburg was increased by the following arrivals: those of Joseph Case, J. M. Case, Roger Nettleton, Joseph B. Cowles, Adam Cowles, Josiah Moses, John Wright, Sterling Mills and family, Noah Cowles and his son Solomon, Dr. O. K. Hawley, and Ambrose Humphrey. The most of this numerous company made the journey from Norfolk, Connecticut, to Austinburg on foot. The greater part of them eame without their families, returning for them after they had ereeted eabins wherein they might live. Some of this number finally took up their residenee in other townships.

This was the year when the entire Reserve was ereeted into a county and ealled Trumbull. There were then residing in this large county, at the date of its organization, eleven hundred and forty-four persons.

TIME OF SETTLEMENT OF EACH TOWNSHIP.

The following furnishes a statement of the date of settlement of each township in the county, with the names of the first permanent settler or settlers.

Harpersfield, 1798; Harper, Gregory, and MeFarland, emigrated from New York State.

Conneaut, 1799; Montgomery, Wright, King, and Bemus, from New York State.

Austinburg, 1799; Austin, Beckwith, Stevens, and Allen, from Connectieut. Windsor, 1799; George Phelps, from Connectieut.

Monroe, 1799; Stephen Moulton, from New York.

Morgan, 1801; Nathan Gillett, from Connecticut. Pierpont, 1801; Ewins Wright, from Connectieut.

Genera, 1802; Tobalt Bartholomew, from New York.

· Wayne, 1803; Joshua Fobes, from Connectieut. New Lynn, 1803; Joel Owen, from Connectieut. Williamsfield, 1804; Charles Case, from Connectieut. Ashtabula, 1804; Matthew Hubbard, from Connecticut. Andover, 1805; E. Lyman, from Connectieut. Jefferson, 1805; Michael Webster, from Connectieut. Kingsville, 1805; Walter Fobes, from Connectieut. Plymouth, 1805; William Thompson and Thomas MeGahe. Richmond, 1805; Yateman, Newcomb, and Tead. Rome, 1806; William Crowell, from Connectieut. Lennox, 1807; Lisle Asque, from Maryland. Denmark, 1809; Peter Knapp, from New York. Saybrook, 1810; George Webster, from New York. Orwell, 1815; A. R. Paine, from New York. Sheffield, 1817; Chancey Atwater, from Connectieut. Trumbull, 1818; Daniel Woodruff, from New York. Cherry Valley, 1818; Nathaniel Hubbard, from New York. Colebrook, 1819; Joel Blakeslee, from New York. Dorset, 1821; John Smith, from Massachusetts. Hartsgrove, 1828; Thomas Burband.

EARLY POPULATION OF THE COUNTY.

Joshua Fobes, in his narrative of the early history of Wayne, states that about the elose of 1804 the Rev. Thomas Robbins, from Connecticut, a missionary on the Reserve, made a thorough eensus of the population then upon the Reserve, counting two bachelors one family. According to this enumeration there were at that time ninety-three families within the boundaries of this county,-a total popu- lation of perhaps between four and five hundred. The largest number was in Harpersfield, which contained twenty-seven families; the next largest at Conneaut, which contained twenty families; then Austinburg, where there were seventeen families; then Morgan, where there were thirteen families. Each of the others of the settled townships contained less than eight families. In 1812, when the war between the United States and Great Britian took place, the population of the county could not have been far from fifteen hundred souls.

FIRST EVENTS.

The first house built upon the soil of the county by white people was the one ereeted at the mouth of Conneaut ereek, in 1796, by the party of surveyors. It

was first occupied by themselves, then by Judge Kingsbury and his family during the winter of 1796-97, and then by Robert and Thomas Montgomery, in 1799.

The first marriage solemnized in the county, according to the rites of civiliza- tion, was that which oeeurred in March of the year 1800, between Aaron Wright and Hannah Montgomery, of the Conneaut settlement. The contraeting parties went to Harpersfield, and were married by Justice Wheeler of that township, there being no magistrate in Conneaut with authority to perform the ceremony.

The first birth of a white person in the county was the child of Judge Kings- bury, in the winter of 1796. (See Conneaut history.) The next birth was that of the child of Samuel Bemus, of Conneaut, born on the 12th day of March, 1801, and ealled Amelia. About the same time a little daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. George Phelps, of Windsor township.

The first death, with the exception of Judge Kingsbury's child, was that of J. Gleason, Mr. Harper's hired man, which occurred in August of the year 1798. Mr. Harper died in September following.

The first school within the county was taught by Miss Elizabeth Harper, after- wards Mrs. Tappen, in the summer of 1802. The first male teacher was Mr. A. Tappen, in the succeeding winter. The first religious meetings were held in this same year in Harpersfield, Conneaut, and Austinburg.

The first saw-mill in the county was that ereeted in Windsor township by Solomon Griswold, in 1800.

The first grist-mill was ereeted on Grand river, in Austinburg, by Ambrose Humphrey, in 1801.

O. K. Hawley was the first physician in the county, arriving in Austinburg in 1800.

FIRST DEED.

Lands were sold and deeded and the same recorded prior to the organization of Ashtabula County. The first deed recorded at Jefferson is in volume "A," page one, Ashtabula County records, and was given by Eliphalet Austin and Sybel, his wife, to Joab Austin, November 14, 1810. The parcel of land eon- veyed by this instrument consisted of fifteen (15) aeres, in lot No. 15, Austin- burg township. The witnesses are Roswell Austin and Smith Platt, and the following is the acknowledgment : "State of Ohio, Geauga county, ss. : Richfield, December 14, A.D. 1810. Personally appeared Eliphalet Austin and Sybel Austin, signers and sealers of the within instrument, and acknowledged the same to be their free act and deed, before me, J. R. Hawley, justice of the peace." Indorsed as follows: "Received the 11th May, A.D. 1811, and recorded the 17th October, 1811, in Ashtabula County records. James A. Harper, recorder."

The first town plat recorded was that of Jefferson village. The record may be found in Geauga county records, September 25, A.D. 1806. Transeribed to Ashtabula County records June 8, A.D. 1839.

DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING BREAD.

The problem which engaged the minds and energies of the first settlers was how to keep from starvation. However thinly elad, it was not difficult to escape suffering from the eold, as fuel was plentiful and near at hand. But how to obtain a sufficient quantity of breadstuffs during the winter months was a ques- tion whose practical solution was often resisted by almost insurmountable difficul- ties. No grain could be raised for the first winter's supply ; settlements were so few, and so widely separated, that if they possessed the means of rendering relief to each other, the distance, and the dense forests that intervened, made mutual assistance extremely difficult; but the truth is, that each settlement found that, however liberal in heart, it lacked the ability to render help, and was obliged to consider the law of self-preservation of first importance. When the settlers had passed the first winter, they were able, during the following spring and summer, to prepare a small piece of ground and plant it with corn and vegetables ; but after the grain was harvested the obstaele of converting it to flour presented itself. For several years after the settlers began to arrive there were no mills within the limits of the county. The nearest place where grain could be ground was at Elk Creek. Pennsylvania, a distance of sixteen miles from the Conneaut settlement. Thither settlers, living nearest to this mill, would often earry eorn and wheat on their baeks, and carry the flour baek again in the same manner. Aaron Wright says, in his narrative of the early settlement of Conneaut township, " I have often carried a bushel and a half of wheat on my back to Elk Creek, Pennsylvania, a distance of sixteen miles, and if, on my return, my provisions had failed, I struek a fire, dipped some water into the mouth of my bag with my hands, and mixed my bread, and then spread it on a basswood bark, obtained for the purpose, and baked it before my fire."

Various means were resorted to to reduce the corn and wheat to a condition such that bread could be made from it. Generally the kernels were ground by a process of pounding. The modus operandi is given in some of the township histories, and need not be repeated here. The first grist-mills that were con-

HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.

structed were extremely rude and clumsy affairs, almost always out of repair, and, when in running order, were most toilsome and tedious in producing the needed grist. When they would do service they were in constant requisition, and sometimes, when the claims upon them crowded thick and fast, they did not stop even for Sundays, reminding us of the mill which the poet Browne describes :

"A mill ... that never difference kenned 'Twixt days for work and holy tides for rest, But always wrought and ground the neighbors' grist."

In course of time as settlements began to enlarge and congregate at certain points, as at Erie, Cleveland, Warren, and Painesville, the merchant commenced to arrive with his stock of flour, salt pork, and other necessary articles of food ; and the colonists, who were fortunate enough to have any merchantable article to offer in exchange, were enabled to obtain a supply for winter's use by making long, tedious, and sometimes perilous journeys.

In certain seasons of the year the wild game of the forests and the fish from the streams supplied, in a great measure, the needed means of subsistence ; but even these important articles of food could not appease the desire or relish for bread.

During the entire period from the time of the earliest settlement up to the close of the war of 1812, and even after this time, the people were suffering from the lack of facilities for converting their grain to flour. The mill erected by Mr. Humphrey on Grand river, in 1801, was at no time able to do what was required of it, and soon became totally unfit for duty. In 1808 a mill was erected in Conneaut township by Aaron Wright, and one in Jefferson township by John Shook, in 1809, which now afforded the inhabitants of the county much better facilities for obtaining flour than they had hitherto enjoyed.

CHAPTER X.

MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.

As soon as settlements had been effected in different portions of the county, steps were taken to open through the forests routes of travel, along which the pioneers might pass from one colony to the other. When the surveyors arrived, in 1796, Indian trails, leading from one encampment to the other, were the only pathways to be found. The Connecticut land company opened the first public highway through this section, and it was the first road that was laid out and recorded on the Reserve. This was known as The Old Girdled Road. A com- mittee to select a route was appointed February 23, 1797, and the following is their report :

" TO THE GENTLEMEN, PROPRIETORS OF THE CONNECTICUT LAND COMPANY, IN MEETING AT HARTFORD,-

" Your committee, appointed to inquire into the expediency of laying out and cutting roads on the Western Reserve, report that, in their opinion, it will be expedient to lay out and cut through a road from Pennsylvania to the city of Cleveland, the small stuff to be cut out twenty-five feet wide, and the tim- ber to be girdled thirty-three feet wide, and sufficient bridges thrown over the streams as are not fordable; and the said road to begin in township No. 13 in the first range, at the Pennsylvania line, and to run westerly through township 12 in the second range, No. 12 in the third range, No. 11 in the fourth range to the Indian ford at the bend of Grand river; thence through township No. 11 in the fifth range, No. 10 in the sixth range, No. 10 in the eighth range, and the northwest part of No. 9 in the ninth range, and to the Chagrin river, near where a large creek enters it upon the east; and from crossing of the Chagrin river the most dircet way to the middle highway leading from the city of Cleve- land to the hundred-acre lots. Submitted with respect by

" SETH PEASE, " MOSES WARREN, " WM. SHEPARD, JR.,

" JOSEPH PERKINS, " SAMUEL HINCKLEY, " DAVID WATERMAN,

Committee.

"HARTFORD, January 30, 1798."

The suggestions of the committee were adopted, and the road laid out without delay. The following are the names of the townships in Ashtabula County which this road passed through, as they now stand upon the maps : beginning at the Pennsylvania line, the first town is Conneaut, the second is Sheffield, the third is Plymouth, the fourth Austinburg, and the fifth Harpersfield. It scemed

to deflect to the south, and pass across a corner of Trumbull township; then passing into Geauga, across the township of Thompson ; thence into the town of Leroy, in Lake county. The road across this township is open and traveled at this time. Passing through Concord township, it crossed the road leading from Painesville to Chardon, about a mile south of Wilson's Corners, at a place called, fifty years ago, the "Log Tavern."

Temporary roads were constructed by the first settlers coming into the county, who generally landed at the mouth of some creek, and then cut a passage-way through the forest, leading to their destined place of settlement. Thus the Harpersfield colonists landed at the mouth of Cunningham creek, and in June of 1798 cleared a way for a few miles into the interior, along which their teams passed, transporting their goods. In 1800, Aaron Wright, Nathan King, and Seth Harrington, residents of what now is Conneaut township, opened the present South Ridge road from Conncaut creek westwardly to a point a short distance west of the present city of Ashtabula, where they met the Harpersfield inhabitants, who had opened the road from their settlement eastwardly to the point named. In the same year a north and south road was made from the Harpersfield settle- ment to Windsor. This was done at the time Solomon Griswold and family penetrated the forests of the county as far south as to the northeastern part of Windsor, where he located in the early spring of 1800. The old stage-route from Erie to Cleveland was laid out through the county in 1802, by Aaron Wheeler, of Harpersfield, Eliphalet Austin, of Austinburg, and Solomon Gris- wold, of Windsor, who were the commissioners at this time. A great deal of labor was expended by the early settlers upon this important thoroughfare. In after-years it became the leading east and west route of travel through northern Ohio. In 1801-2, what was known as the old Salt road was formed, leading from the mouth of Ashtabula creek southwestwardly to Austinburg, where it crossed the old Girdled road, and passed southwardly through Morgan, thence southeastwardly through New Lyme into Wayne, and thence into Gustavus and Kinsman, to Vernon. There seem to have been several roads that were styled " old Salt roads." One leading from the mouth of Conneaut creek southwardly through the first range of townships was laid out in 1804, and bore this appella- tion. The road leading from Austinburg to Jefferson was formed as a blazed route, or bridle-path, in 1804, and opened for teams in the following year. The above named were the most important roads in the early settlement of the county.

MAIL-ROUTES.

The earliest pioneers of the county felt severely the lack of mail facilities for the first few years, having no way of communicating with their friends, except to intrust their letters with some one of their number who, being obliged to return to the east, became mail-carrier for all the colonists of the different settle- ments. When any one of the inhabitants contemplated a trip to the cast, knowledge of this fact was generally circulated among the settlers weeks and even months before the time of departure, so that all who had letters to write might get them in readiness. This tedious and uncertain mode of communica- tion was felt to be no slight hardship, and the establishing of a mail-route was looked for with eager expectancy.

The first mail route that entered the limits of this county was established in 1803, and extended from Warren, Trumbull county, northwardly through Meso- potamia, Windsor, Morgan, Austinburg, thence westwardly to Harpersfield, thence to Painesville and to Cleveland; thence back southeastwardly to Warren. In Windsor, Solomon Griswold was postmaster; in Morgan, Roswell Stevens; in Austinburg, Eliphalet Austin ; and in Harpersfield, Ezra Gregory. A man by the name of McElvaine was the first mail-carrier, and accomplished his trips on foot about once every week, the distance being not far from one hundred and fifty miles. The route was soon afterwards extended west to Detroit, and a boy or young man, mounted upon a sure-footed horse, superseded the plodding foot- man. In 1806 the route was extended so as to include Jefferson, where Edward Friethy was postmaster. In 1808 a mail-route from Erie to Cleveland was established, and a man by the name of John Metcalf was the first carrier over this route. He made his journeys likewise on foot, and continued to do so until the year 1811. This man's fidelity to his duties deserves laudable mention. The settlements along the route were widely scattered; the road often in a wretched condition, at some seasons of the year almost impassable; oftentimes he was obliged to swim the streams, with the mail-bag poised upon his head to keep it from the water; yet neither muddy roads nor unbridged and swollen rivers, neither cold nor heat, nor storms and tempests, prevented this persevering man from delivering the mail at the different stations with surprising punctuality. Gideon Leet was then the postmaster at Ashtabula. In 1811, when Asher Bigelow was employed to carry the mail on horseback from Ashtabula to Buffalo, he was allowed, when the traveling was good, twelve days to go and return, and fourteen days when the waters were high and the mud deep.

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History of Ashtabula County, Ohio, Part 9

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