History of Columbiana County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 78

Author: D. W. Ensign & Co.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 541

USA > Ohio > Columbiana County > History of Columbiana County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 78

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The Lutherans are at present few in numbers, and the Presbyterians control the organization. Rev. Mr. Lumpy is supplying the pulpit. The society has at present (1879) about 40 members. The present church-edifice was built in 1866.

DISCIPLE CHURCH.

A log church was built many years ago at the corner of section 21, east of where the Disciple church now stands,

which was used by Methodists, Lutherans, and people of other denominations.

In 1841 a society was organized called " Disciples," and among its principal members were George Pow, John Flick, and Lewis Templin. Rev. Charles E. Van Voorhis was the first pastor, who was succeeded by Revs. Allerton, Baker, Miller, and Teegarden.

The church contains about 70 members, and has a Sun- day-school of 40 pupils, of which Wesley Coy is superin- tendent.

The present church was erected in 1841. Near it is a cemetery, while another occupies the lot where stood the old log church. Both cemeteries are in use.

EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION CHURCH.

In June, 1864, preaching was begun on the Sabbath in the school-house at Loveland Station, in the northeast part of the township, Rev. J. H. Hollinger officiating. In October following a class was formed, consisting of fourteen persons,-Jonas Paulin and wife, A. M. Miller, Lydia and Sarah Miller, Jeremiah Paulin, Royal Collar and wife, Martha and Emma Collar, Lavina Rupert, Lydia Fox, Caroline Cook, and Sarah Hendricks. Services were con- tinued in the school-house until 1872, when the present church-edifice was erected.

The pastors who have succeeded Rev. Mr. Hollinger are Andrew Lanier, A. W. Teats, .J. J. Barnhart, H. B. Summers, I. A. Rohland, J. Q. A. Weller, Jacob Weikle, J. King, I. A. Rohland, D. M. Baumgardner, J. D. Dooner, M. L. Weaver, and J. J. Carmany, who is still serving. The society has 32 members, and a Sunday-school with 52 members, of which Mark B. Templin is superintendent.

COAL-SHAFT.

On section 35, in the summer of 1878, a coal-shaft was opened, 40 feet deep, with galleries extending therefrom towards the northeast and southwest. The vein is from two to three feet in thickness, and is called " No. 3." It yields an average of 65 tons of coal a day. Coke is manu- factured from an upper vein, called " No. 4," ten ovens, each about 12 feet in diameter, having been provided for the purpose. These mines are owned by Henry Walter & Co., and are situated in a valley about half a mile north from Washingtonville. The coal is elevated by steam- power.

ROADS.

The road running north and south, nearly through the centre of the township, was laid out many years ago, and was known as the " New Lisbon Road." The roads follow in part the lines between the sections, but in most cases puss irrregularly through the sections. The " Ellsworth road" coincides with the west line of the township.

NILES AND NEW LISBON RAILROAD.

This road traverses the township in a general north-and- south course, passing through the second tier of sections from the east. The stations are Loveland, Green Village, and Washingtonville. The road was finished in 1865, and furnishes the inhabitants of the township good facilities for travel and transportation.

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SMITH.

SITUATION AND NATURAL FEATURES.

THE township of Smith is situated in the northwest cor- ner of the territory embraced in this work, and is of range No. 5, township 18, north from the Ohio River. It is bounded north by Deerfield, in Portage County, and Berlin township, in Mahoning Co .; east by Goshen, in Mahoning County ; south by Knox township, Columbiana Co .; and west by Lexington, in Stark County. The general surface of the land is undulating, and in the northeastern part hilly, where the greatest elevation is attained. The centre, within a radius of two miles from the town-house, is the most de- pressed portion of the township, the land gradually rising as the township lines are approached. The township is drained by the Mahoning River and its tributaries. The Mahoning proper passes northwesterly across the southwest corner of the township, which it again enters on section 6, at the northwest corner, crossing it in a northeasterly direction.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

Probably the first white man in Smith township, by whom any material improvements were made, was James Carter, from Pennsylvania, in the year 1803. His advent was en- tirely an accident. Carter having purchased lands on what is known as the Western Reserve (of which the north line of Smith township forms part of the southern boundary), entered and cleared a portion, and built a log house on what he supposed to be his own lands. In the same year, Wil- liam Smith purchased from the government section 3, con- taining 640 acres, and came with his family to occupy the same in 1804. On his arrival he found that Carter had by mistake built his house on his (Smith's) land. Smith paid Carter for the house and improvements he had made, who soon after left to occupy the lands he had in fact pur- chased. Although the first improvements were made by Carter in 1803, and the first house built by him at that time, yet the distinction of first permanent settlement prop- erly belongs to William Smith and his family.

William Smith was a native of Ireland, but came to Ohio from Pittsburgh, Pa., and brought to the township a family consisting of his wife Jane ( Wilson) and seven children, viz. : Sally, who married Abram Hartzell, and died in 1875; James, who died in Oregon many years ago ; Nancy, who died at the age of eightcen ; Rachel, who married Amos McElroy, of Portage County, and died 1852; Mary (or Polly), who married Isaac Hartzell, and now lives at Alli- ance, Stark County ; Marjan, who died when a child ; and Jane, who married Simeon Card, and lives at North Benton.

William Smith died in 1841, aged seventy-three years ; his wife died in 1845, aged seventy-two years. Both were interred in the family burying-ground on the hill, near the present village of North Benton.

James C. Stanley, of Hanover County, Va., was one of the pioneers of Smith township, and probably the second settler. He came in the year 1805, and located on section 24, which he had purchased from the government, and which lies about four miles southeast of William Smith's section, in what was afterwards called the " Stanley neigh- borhood." He brought with him a wife and eight children, -Garland, James, Elizabeth, Nathaniel J., Littlebury, Lemuel, Jonathan, and Mary, who died soon after the family came to the township. Of this family all are now dead except Nathaniel J., who emigrated to Michigan in 1856, and is now-1879-eighty-five years of age.

Jesse Stanley, the second son of James Stanley, and grandson of the old pioneer, still lives where he was born in 1818, on a portion of the tract originally purchased from the government, this having been in the family nearly seventy-five years. The house built by the pioneer James C. was the second in the township, and the first south of the centre line.

These were the pioneers and first settlers who had to undergo the hardships and adventures incident to pioneer life. No authentic information of any other early settlers .prior to 1811 is obtainable, although there may have been some settlements by transient families or persons long since dead.

In the year 1811, Edmund. oldest son of Thomas Stan- ley, of Hanover Co., Va., in company with John White (a colored family servant), came to Smith and built a log house in the eastern part of the township, preparatory to the coming of the family. Thomas Stanley arrived with his family in the spring of 1812. His children were John, who died in 1877; Elijah, who died in 1836; Frances, who married Isaac Votaw, and died about 1818; Edmund (who, with the servant, preceded the family several months), and who died in 1842; Millie, who married Joshua Crew, and who came with the Stanley family or a few weeks later. Joshua Crew died about the year 1845, after which his wife went to Iowa, where she died about 1868. These were the children of Thomas Stanley by his first wife. His second wife was Priscilla Ladd, and their children were Isaac, Thomas Binford, Sarah, who married Thomas Woolman, and Micajah. Micujah Stanley married Unity Coppack, by whom he had eight children.

John Detchon, son of Oswell and Annie (Carr) Detchon, pioneers of Trumbull Co., Ohio, came to Smith in 1822. In 1824 he married Maria Hoadley, seventh child of Gideon Hoadley, by whom he had five children,-Hiram, Stow Sylvester, Sarah Ann, who married John Courtney ; Elizabeth, who married Brinton Hair; and Mary, who became the wife of Addison Long. Hiram lives in Smith. His children are Wilmer H., Philip J., Annie M., and Henry M.

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ENOS HEACOCK

MRS. ENOSHEACOCK.

B GHICAGO

CHICAGO

BAGGAGE

P. F.W.& C.RY.

RESIDENCE OF ENDS AND ANN HEACOCK, SMITH TP., MAHONING CO., OHIO.

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TOWNSHIP OF SMITH.

Gideon Hoadley, with his wife and children, settled in Smith in 1823. Their children were Harvey, Maria, Ebenezer, and Hiram. The family of Henry Hartzell set- tled in 1824, and resided in the township until 1844, at which time he removed to Pennsylvania, where he lived until 1853. He then returned to his present home near North Benton. The children by his first wife, Anna (Sheets) Hartzell, were Simon, Mary, who married Chris- topher Bedell, and John. By his second wife, Jane (Smart) Hartzell, his children were Eli, James, Anna, who married Rev. David Waugh ; Lucy, who married John Ikard ; George; and Sarah Jane, who died in infancy.

In the year 1812, Levi Rakestraw and Rebecca ( Bryan), his wife emigrated from Burlington Co., N. J., to Goshen township, Columbiana County (now Mahoning), where they lived until Nov. 10, 1825. They then moved to Smith township, and occupied the farm upon which they now reside. They were the parents of eight children, four sons and four daughters. Isaac, the oldest son, married Lydia Upton, and still lives in Smith ; Hannah married Isaac Vail, and died March 20, 1878 ; Sarah, who married Absalom Berringer, and is the mother of twelve children ; Benjamin, who lives in Defiance County ; Harold B., who lives in Seneca Co., Ohio ; Jane M., who married Sylvanus T. Young, and lives in Seneca County ; Elisha, who married Amy Cobb, and lives in Mahoning County ; Rebecca, who married Emor Lupton, and lives in Mahoning County. Levi Rakestraw is in his ninety-fourth year, and is the oldest person in Smith township.

Joseph Snode, with a wife and three children, came to Smith from their native State, New Jersey, in the year 1824. The children were Benjamin, who died in 1876, in Lexington, Stark Co. ; Mary, who married Richard Haines, and died in Smith township about 1873; and William, who now lives in Smith. He married Sarah Ann Haines, daughter of Joseph Haines, by whom he had eight chil- dren, viz .: Joseph, who died in 1865; George, now living at Beliot; Emily, who married Jacob Phillips; Jehial, Esther, Elizabeth, Charles, and Warner, all of whom live at home.

Another of the early settlers, and one who has been closely identified with the civil and political growth of the township, is Benjamin Votaw, now in the seventy-fourth year of his age. Mr. Votaw has had five sons, of whom Alfred C., the oldest, lives in Montana Territory ; Lewis T. lives in Logan Co., Ohio; William died in service during the late war; David lives in Kansas; Andrew J. lives in Grand Rapids, Mich. Benjamin Votaw settled in Smith township in 1829, and operated the first saw-mill in the township, situated in section 2, on Island Creek, and built about 1823 by James Smith, son of Judge William Smith, the pioneer. Mr. Votaw operated this mill during the years 1825-27, before he permanently settled in the township.

Samuel Oyster, one of the pioneers of the central part of Columbiana County, was the first settler in the western portion of Smith, located on section 31, in 1826. In his family were fourteen children, viz., John; Barbara, who married James Hoiles; Mary (or Polly), who married John Cobbs; Samuel and Jacob, both of whom live in Stark County; Moses, still living in Smith ; Henry, Silas, Solo-

mon, Eli, who died in 1876 ; William, who died in infancy ; Joseph, Andrew, and Michael.

The children of Moses are twelve,-Amos, Mary Ann, Hezekiah, Sarah Ellen, Emeline, Jacob, Melissa Jane, Ed- ward P., George Cyrus, Ida Florence, Manuel, and Eli, who died at the age of two years.

Among the old families of Columbiana County was that of Nathan Heacock, from Bucks Co., Pa., who settled near. Salem in 1816. In 1825 he came to Smith, bringing a family of ten children, viz .: Amos, who died in 1841; Edwin, who lives in Smith ; Jane, who married Ezra Bar- ton, and died in 1847; Asenath, who married Nathan Thomas, now living in Iowa; Milton, now residing in Ore- gon ; Barton, of Smith township; Uriah Antrim, who died in 1854; Elias H., who was killed by accident in 1850 ; Enos, still living in Smith; Josiah Wilson, who died in 1852; Tacy W., born in Smi's township, who married Milton Coffee, and now lives in Williams Co., Ohio. The children of Edwin and Hannah ( Barber) Heacock are Lewis, Dennis, Isaac, Nathan, Chalkley, Curtiss, Edgar, and Emerson, who was killed by accident. Enos married Ann Taylor, and had four children,-Jacob Taylor, who died in 1864, Addic, and Nathan Earnest. Barton's chil- dren are Melissa, Clarkson, Oliver, Rebecca, Jane, who died in 1876, Sarah A., who died in 1879, Isaac B., Antrim, Alice, who died, aged six years, Elvira, Leota, who died in infancy, and Edith.

Peter Wise, from Pennsylvania, came to Smith in 1832, with a large family, only two of whom are now living in the township, viz. : Pusey, and Elizabeth, who married George Martin. The children of Pusey are Franklin, Hannah, Charles, and Cora.

In 1810, James Cattell, of New Jersey, settled in Goshen township. In 1833 he removed to Smith, where he died in 1860. His son, Ezra, married Henrietta Stanley, daughter of Thomas Stanley, and lives on section 26.

Solomon Hartzell, whose parents were pioneers of what is known as the " Western Reserve," settled in Smith in 1835.

Jacob Paxson, of Chester Co., Pa., settled in Butler in 1815. His daughter Annie married Hoopes Bailey, and removed to Smith in 1833. Their family consisted of five sons,-Howard H., Edward P., William Penn, Oakley H., and Francis C.

Job Lamborn, of Delaware, settled in Smith in 1834. He had a family of six children,-Thomas E .; Philena, who married Milton Taylor; William ; Elizabeth, who married Parker Morris; Susan; and Edward H.

James M. Dobson, an old settler of Columbiana County, came to Smith in 1833 with a wife and one child, John. The other children, born in the township, are Elizabeth, who married Elisha Smather ; Thomas; Martha, who mar- ried Isaac Grant; Jane, who married William J. Adams ; Henry; Margaret, who married Dennis Charlton ; Cynthia, who married Parker Calvin ; and James K. . The children of John and Mary (Adams) Dobson are Hugh, who died in 1876, and David.

Among the pioneer families of Columbiana County was that of Christian Sheets, a native of Maryland. He settled in Unity township as early as 1804. In 1805 he removed

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TOWNSHIP OF SMITH.

to Butler, where he lived until the time of his death, in 1828. In 1817, Jacob Sheets, his son, married Elizabeth Hartzell, by whom he had eight children. This family came to Smith in 1859, where Jacob still lives, aged eighty-four years.

George Atkinson was a resident of Goshen township in 1816. William Atkinson, one of his sons, became a resi- dent of Smith in about 1854. He died in or near the year 1867, leaving a family, who reside on the old farm, on section 12.

William Johnston, of Pennsylvania, settled in Smith in about the year 1834; died in 1877. His children were Andrew, Elisa, Sophia Ann, Mary, Sally, Morris, William, and Ella.

Hugh Wright, son of Joseph Wright, who settled near Salem in 1802, came to Smith in 1840. He married Rachel T., daughter of Joseph Broomall. They were the parents of five children, Joseph B., Sarah A., Jacob, Rachel E., and James T.

John Thompson, a native of Sweden, and an early settler of Washington township, where he lived many years, came to Smith in 1860. He married Mercy Wilkinson, by whom he had nine children, Martha, Marcy, Samuel, Amos W., Rebecca, Thomas B., Olivia, Louisa, and John J.

In the foregoing early settlement history it has been the endeavor to give a correct record of the pioneer families of Smith township as far as could be obtained. There were families among the early settlers whose history is not re- corded. Of these some are dead, others have left the township, and no authentic record of the date of their settlement, death, or departure can be obtained. On in- formation from the oldest living residents, the names of many have been obtained as follows : Mathias Hollowpeter, Jonathan Hoope, John Cowgill, the Cobbs, Hugh Packer, John Trago, Abram Haines, Leonard Reed, Abram and Samuel Miller, Adam McGowan, William Matthews, John Hillerman, Amos Allerton, John Schaffer. These were probably settled in the township prior to 1830; yet it is possible that some were later, as in 1828 there were but twenty-three voters in the township.

ORGANIZATION.

Smith township was organized at a meeting of the county commissioners in the month of March, 1821, upon the petition of Judge William Smith, one of its pioneers, in honor of whom it was named. The books of the township, containing records of the first meetings and of the election of the first officers, are lost or destroyed. Notice of the organization was found in the old commissioners' journal. James C. Stanley was probably clerk of the first town- meeting. The existing records begin with the year 1863, since which date the following persons have been elected to the offices of clerk, treasurer, and assessor :

OLERKS.

Harper Brosius, 1863; Jesse Stanley, 1864; T. E. Lamborn, 1865- 67; J. L. Brosius, 1868; A. C. Johnson, 1869-72; William C. Whorton, 1873; W. C. Whorton, Jr., 1874; James C. Stanley, 1875; R. C. Young, 1876-77; I. Beight, 1878-79.

TREASURERS.

Stephen Miller, 1863-73; Joshua Cassiday, 1874-75; D. I .. Santee, 1876-79.

A88ESSOR8.

D. K. Hazen, 1863; L. A. Fording, 1864; Calvin Reed, 1865-67; E. H. Lamborn, 1868; Calvin Reed, 1869; Isaac Cattell, 1870- 71 : John Waithman, 1872-74; Lloyd Fording, 1875; A. Green- awalt, 1876-77 ; T. A. Heacock, 1878-79.

VILLAGES. NORTH BENTON.

The village of North Benton was surveyed and laid out on the 27th and 28th days of March, 1834, under the pro- prietorship of William Smith, Dr. John Dellenbaugh, and James Smith. The map or plat was recorded March 31, 1834. Although not until then formally laid out, yet as early as the year 1830 a number of buildings had been erected, and the village was a general gathering-place for the people in that vicinity. North Benton was named in honor of Thomas Benton, a " hard-money" Democrat of the time, who had many friends and admirers in that community. "North" was prefixed in order to distinguish it from another place of that name. The first hotel was built in 1832 by one Fitch, and called the " Benton Exchange." It is now in possession of Zachariah Bertolette.

The village has a population of about 250, comprising about seventy families, and has two churches, a school, several stores, and business interests of various kinds.

WESTVILLE.

In the year 1831 the town or village of Westville was named and partially laid out, under the proprietorship of Aaron Coppack, and then was composed of a portion of sections 35 and 36. The map was recorded September 27th of the same year. ' In 1835 an addition was made, and portions of sections 1 and 2 of Knox township in- cluded within the village limits. This was done under the direction of Aaron Coppack, Samuel Coppack, Joseph Cobbs, and Edward Randolph, proprietors. The plat was recorded Oct. 15, 1835. The village continued to grow until about 1850, and became a convenient trading centre, having a saw-mill on section 35 and a general country store. Since that time there has been no material increase in population.

BELOIT.

This hamlet, although never regularly laid out or incorpo- rated as a village, is indebted for its existence to the building of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, in the years 1848-49. It was originally called "Smithfield Sta- tion," and a post-office established there under that name. In about 1863 the name was changed to Beloit, there being then another Springfield village in the State. Within the limits of what may properly be called Beloit are a church, saw mill, two stores, a wagon-manufactory, and a blacksmith- shop. The village has a population of about 150.

EAST ALLIANCE.

East Alliance, as it is called, is but one of the suburbs of Alliance, Stark Co., resulting from the growth of the latter place. In 1879, East Alliance was made the second election district of Smith township.

ECCLESIASTICAL.

The first church built in Smith township was the Friends' meeting-house, on section 34, in the year 1829. Religious

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MRS. W.M. JOHNSTONY

RESIDENCE OF W. M. JOHNSTON , SMITH TP, MAHONING CO.,O.

W. M. JOHNSTON

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TOWNSHIP OF SMITH.

exercises were conducted by ministers of different denom- inations at a much earlier period, but at irregular intervals and in various places, in Smith and adjoining townships, the people not being able to maintain separate organizations. General services without regard to religious preference were occasionally held, but until the erection of the Friends' meeting-house no regular church society had been organized in the township.

SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.

Thomas Dixon and Rebecca his wife, in consideration of the sum of $8, conveyed to Charles Armitage, Nathan Heacock, and Edward Courtney, " on behalf of the Society of Friends of West Preparative Meeting, a branch of Salem Monthly Meeting," a parcel of land in the south part of the township, for the purpose of building and occupying a meeting-house and school-house and for a burying-ground. The deed was dated Aug. 23, 1830.

Nearly a year after, the building was erected, the society occupying under an agreement prior to the deed. The Friends never erected a separate school-building, as men- tioned in the deed, but occupied the meeting-house for school ' purposes. The school was taught by Hannah Courtney.

The cemetery in connection with the meeting-house was laid out about 1830, and, although called the " Friends' Burying-Ground," never was used by them exclusively. The first person interred there was Hannah Trago, who died in 1831.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NORTH BENTON.

The church edifice of this society was built in the year 1840. The first trustees were George Smith, John Detchon, James Carter, and Simeon Card. George Smith was the class-leader; Rev. Martin Weakley, a " circuit-rider," was the first minister. He was succeeded by Rev. Gideon Kennier. Revs. John Murray, Hosea McCall, and James Rogers each preached two years on this circuit in the order given.

PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATION.

This church was organized in Deerfield township, Portage Co., as early as 1818, under the name of the " Presbyterian Congregation of Deerfield." The first minister was the Rev. Joshua Beer, of the Hartford, Conn., Presbytery. The first pastor was Rev. William O. Stratton, who was installed in 1843. In 1850, a new church was built in Smith, near North Benton, to which the society moved, holding the first meeting in 1851. Mr. Stratton continued pastor until 1865. In 1866 Rev. William Dixon was in- stalled, and remained nearly ten years, when he was snc- ceeded by Rev. Mr. Shirock. The present pastor is Rev. Dallas B. Mays. In connection with the church is a bury- ing-ground of about three acres, laid out in 1852.

PRESBYTERIAN SOCIETY.

This society is practically a branch of the " Presbyterian Congregation," by whom it is controlled. Their house of worship was erected in 1859, on section 26, as a free church, to be used by all denominations, the land # " the purpose having been donated by Miles Mar. ·mpletion

the property was incumbered with a debt, which the sub- scriptions were not sufficient to liquidate, and was sold in 1870 to the Presbyterian Society. The society was or- ganized by Revs. William Dixon, J. B. Miller, and Elder Solomon Hartzell. Rev. William Miller was pastor until succeeded by Rev. D. B. May, the present minister.

SCHOOLS.

On account of the loss of the records of Smith township, no accurate history of its early school districts can be given. The first school of the township was taught in an old log house, on the site of North Benton. This house was built in 1806, by James Smith, son of the pioncer Wmn. Smith. The name of the first teacher is not known, but Margaret Davis taught the school at a very early day. The second school-house was erected in the Stanley neighborhood, in about 1812. The township was originally divided into four districts; but, as it increased in population, these districts were frequently subdivided to meet the wants of the people. The districts are now ten in number, but the centre dis- trict has not been used for school purposes since 1870. The " schools of Smith are among the best in the county, and are under the charge of the district supervisors. Section 16, reserved to the township for educational purposes, has been Bold, and the proceeds used in permanent improvements on school property. The annual expense for maintenance is nearly $2500 per annum.

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History of Columbiana County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 78

Author: D. W. Ensign & Co. Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Number of Pages: 541

Author: D. W. Ensign & Co.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 541