History of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Part 127

Author: Johnson, Crisfield
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott & Co.
Number of Pages: 716

USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > History of Cuyahoga County, Ohio > Part 127

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 METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

This body was organized about 1836, but until 1859 worship was held in school houses and the town- honse. In the latter year the present church-building was erected. The organization was originally located in the southeastern portion of Royalton, and, for a time, the Stewart school-house was used as a house of worship. Revs. Hugh L. Parish and - Fitch, who organized the church, were the first preachers, at which time the charge was included in the Brooklyn circuit. Subsequently the church was attached sue- cessively to the Brunswick, Hinckley and Brecksville circuits, in which latter it still remains. The first class-leader was lliram Sarles, who was one of the most prominent members of the church. The pres- ent class-leader is James Ferris, and the trustees are John Ilall, William Babcock and James Ferris. There are now twenty-six members. The pulpit is without a regular pastor, depending upon occasional supplies.

ST. MARY'S (CATHOLIC) CHURCH.

In 1854 there were nine Catholic families in Royal- ton, and in response to their request Bishop Rappe came out from Cleveland and held services at the house of Thomas Montagne at the center. Afterward Fathers Hannan, John and Halley were sent out to preach occasionally, and during the time of the latter, in 1858, the members of the congregation purchased the building now used as a church. The first trustees or councilmen of the church were Patrick Flynn, William Manny and James Morris. The present trustees are Patrick Manny and Bartholomew Lyons.

About twenty-five families now attend the church, to whom Father Zarenezy, of Berea, preaches onee a month, performing mass, however, every week.

SCHOOLS.

Authorities differ as to who was the first teacher in Royalton. Oren Abbott and Wm. Towsley have both been named as such, but the weight of evidence is in favor of Eunice Stewart. The school-house in which her labors were pursued was located upon the northeast corner of section five; and there, also, John B. Stewart-the second teacher in the town- ship-taught shortly afterwards.

A log school-house was put up in section nineteen at a very early date, in which Wm. Towsley was the first teacher. After him, Abial Cushman was the pedagogne. The teachers of that day were perhaps imperfectly supplied with knowledge, but it is gener- ally agreed by those whose memory extends to that time that they were an energetic, painstaking and industrious class of men and women.

In 1830, when the township was set off into four school districts, there were thirty-five householders in District No. 1, twenty-two in Distriet No. 2, six- teen in District No. 3, and seventeen in Dis- triet No. 4.

The township is now supplied with nine excellent schools, at which the average daily attendance is 244. ont of a school enumeration of 335. The township tax for school purposes in 1879 was $1,378.

INDUSTRIES.

About 1866 James Wyatt introduced the mann- facture of cheese as a regular business into Royalton, and for a few years, did a thriving business. In 1869 Charles Bangs and L. S. Sarles began operations, and carried them forward in company until 1821 when they dissolved, and Bangs removed to his present location, and has since then been engaged in the busi- ness to a considerable extent. After a partnership with A. E. Aikens of three years and continuation on his own account until 1822, Mr. Sarles retired from the business, leaving the field to Mr. Bangs.

Royalton was at one time esteemed a famous dairy town, and produced a great quantity of milk, but latterly this branch of farming has declined in pro- portion to others, although still receiving no small share of the husbandman's attention. Capital is likewise invested in nurseries of which several send to market annually a valuable list of trees, plants, etc.

General farming is, however, the main dependence of the people, and as the country contains a fruitful soil, the agricultural interests are exceedingly pros- perons: the farmers being usually in comfortable, and often in affluent circumstances.

EMPIRE LODGE, I. O. O. F.

Empire Lodge, No. 346, 1. O. O. F., was insti- tuted in July, 1859, with twelve charter members,

515

SOLON.

viz: Charles Bangs, Orville Bangs, Joseph W. Smith, John Marcellus, William Frost, Thomas S. Bark, Wesley Pope. J. T. Akers, Edwin Bangs. George Johnson, Charles Heath and L. S. Sarles.

The lodge owns a large framed cditice at the cen- ter (built in 1864) in the upper portion of which is a well appointed and commodious lodge room; the lower part being used as a store. The membership in Au- gust, 1829, was forty, although in 1828 twenty mem- bers withdrew upon the formation of a lodge in Brecksville. The present officers are Geo. Mathews, N. G .: John Kirkland, V. G .: D. C. Marcellus, T., F. Lesser, R. S. ; Joseph W. Smith, P. S.

CEMETERIES.

The first public cemetery in Royalton was laid out at the center, a tract of five acres having been bought from John Watkins for that purpose. Upon that tract the town hall, the Baptist church and the cem- etery are located. The latter is now a neglected. weed-choked and most unsightly spot. The first death in the township was that of Catherine. wife of Charles Coates. She was buried in a family burial place upon the Coates farm. There are several cem- eteries in the township, of which the finest in appear- ance is the one at the center adjoining the Disciple church. It is prettily adorned, and its neatly kept walks, graceful foliage, and beautiful monuments, are well calenlated to relieve the sad thoughts which nat- urally associate themselves with the homes of the dead.

CHAPTER LXXXV.

SOLON.

Two Families on the Way Their Tedious Route Robbins and Bull make the First Settlement Oliver Wells- Arrival of Miss Delia- First Twins The First School Organization of Township Names of the Voter- - Choice of a Name The First Officers Chasing an Elk-First Settlement on North Half On Hampshire Street Increasing Emi. gration R. M. Hanaford Win. Pillsbury at the Center W. W. Higby Bettlers on the Ledge A Disgusted Stranger-First Marriage and Death First Church and Physician Bears, Deer and Rattlesnakes -- Black Salts-Selling Sugar in Cleveland Going Courting in Aurora- A Professor in the Woods The First Store Captain Archibald Rob- bins General Improvement, Mails, etc. Solon in the War Education

Railroads-Business Places at the Center -Congregational Church- Disciples' Church-Methodist Church Principal Township Officers.

Ix the month of August, 1820, two families, well supplied with teams, household goods, and especially with children, might have been seen making their tedi- ous way along the rough road from Newburg through Independence to Hudson in the present county of Summit, and thence northeastward to Aurora, now in Portage county, where they made their temporary stopping-place. From that point the heads of the two families made a thorough examination of the un- occupied land round about, and after due considera- tion determined to locate themselves in the west part of the " Williams and Ellsworth " traet, which com- prised the southern portion of township six, range ten,

then described as the survey-township of Milan, but uow known as the civil township of Solon.

The heads of those two families were Samuel Bull and Captain Jason Robbins, both lately from Wethers- field. Hartford county, Connecticut, and both, when past the meridian of life (Mr. Bull being forty-five years old and Captain Robbins fifty-eight), having determined to try their fortunes in what was then called the far western wilderness of Northern Ohio.

llaving erected their log-houses (those inevitable pioneer palaces), and having made such other pre- parations as circumstances permitted, the two men, in the month of November, 1820, moved their families from Ansom to their new homes: thus becoming the first settlers in the present township of Solon. Al- though these were the only two families in the town- ship, yet they made quite a beginning in the way of settlement. as Mr. Bull had six children and Captain Robbins full as many.

Their places were situated on what had been an important mail and supply route from Pittsburg to Cleveland during the war of 1812, but which in 1820 had been abandoned in favor of the road through the more settled regions of Independence, Hudson, etc., and had become impassable by reason of growing bushes and fallen timber. It is now the direct ronte from Cleveland through Solon Center to Aurora. Their nearest neighbors were two miles to the south- east, in the northwest corner of Aurora. In the direction of Cleveland they could travel without see- ing a single residence to a point within three miles of the village of Newburg, and nine miles from their own homes. To the westward, also, it was nine miles to a neighbor, who resided in the southwesternmost part of Bedford.

Of the four men and women who thus began the settlement of Solon, all remained at their chosen loea- tion throughont their lives. Samuel Bull died in 1838, at the age of sixty-three; Mrs. Eleanor Robbins died in 1850, at the age of seventy-seven; Captain Jason Robbins died in 1852, at the age of ninety; while Mrs. Fanny Huntington Ball, the last and oldest of the venerable quartette, survived to the re- markable age of ninety-four, dying in the year 1872. Of Mr. Bull's family, Pitkin S., Lorenzo S. and Nor- man A. are still living, and it is from the second named that we have derived the facts previously nar- rated. Of Mr. Robbins' family, W. W. Robbins and Mrs. I. N. Blackman still survive.

The third family which settled in the township was that of Oliver Mills, who came from the same locality as Messrs. Robbins and Bull in the autumn of 1821, and located on lot number forty of the Williams and Ellsworth tract, being the southwest- ernmost lot in the township. From this time for- ward there were but few arrivals for nearly ten years; the land being held at higher prices by the proprie- tors than most emigrants were willing to pay.

We must not, however, neglect to mention one im- portant arrival which occurred soon after Mr. Wells'

516

THE TOWNSHIPS OF CUYAHOGA COUNTY.

settlement in the township-that of Delia, a daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Wells, and the first white child born in Solon. The same couple were also the parents of the first twins born in the township, who followed in due season after Miss Delia.

The first school in Solon was taught by John Henry about 1822, his only patrons being Messrs. Robbins and Bull, who were the only two who lived near enough to join in the enterprise. Robbins furnished four children and Mr. Bull three. The price was ten dollars a month and board, and, according to Mr. 1. S. Bull; his father paid in shoemaking and Cap- tam Robbins in maple sugar.

Although emigration was slow, yet a few settlers did arrive, and by 1825 there were eight voters m the town- ship: Messrs. Robbins, Bull and Wells, already named, young P. S. Bull, then just come of age, and four new arrivals, John C. Carver, C. M. Leach, Thomas Marshall and lehabod Watrons -- all in the south part of the township. Down to this time the survey- township of Milan had remained a part of the civil township of Orange. but in the year last named the eight gentlemen mentioned, thinking perhaps that it would attract attention and emigration, determined to have an organization of their own. On their petition the county commissioners set off Milan into a separate township, and ordered an election of officers.

By general consent the other settlers accorded to Messrs. Bull and Robbins, as the earliest pioneers. the privilege of naming the new township. They were desirous of commemorating some name connected with one of their families, but as neither Bulltown nor Robbinsburg seemed to sound exactly right. they finally agreed to adopt the second name of Mr. Bull's second son, Lorenzo Solon Bull. now the worthy post- master at Solon Center. The complaisant commis- sioners confirmed the appellation, and thus the name of the great Grecian lawgiver was applied (although at second hand) to one of the pleasant and fertile townships of Cuyahoga county.

At the first election the following officers were chosen: Trustees, Jason Robbins, Samuel Bull. Icha- bod Watrous; clerk, Jason Robbins: treasurer, Pitkin S. Bull: constable. Pitkin S. Bull: overseer of the poor, Pitkin S. Bull; justice of the peace, Oliver Wells. The list is furnished us by the numerously elected Pitkin S. Bull, the only survivor of the official tive to whom the eight offices were allotted.

Solon, when first settled, like all the rest of the Western Reserve, abounded in wild game; not only were wolves, deer, bear, etc., to be found there in great numbers, but occasionally even the lofty elk was to be seen bearing aloft his wide-branching horns adown the forest glade, and starting in sudden dismay at the faintest sound of the woodman's axe. These stately animals, however, very speedily disappeared. In 1821, the year after the first settlement, P. S. Bull and Warren Warner chased a large huck elk for three days through Milan (Solon) and the adjoining town- ships, it being finally killed in Northfield (now in

Summit county) by a third hunter, who struck its track a little ahead of the unlucky Milanese and gained the prize. This was, so far as known, the last elk seen in the township. Bear remained a few years Jonger, and other wild game was abundant till a far later period.

The first settlement in the north half of the town- ship was made about 1827 by John Morse, who located near the old State road before mentioned (running from Cleveland to Aurora, etc. ), not far from the Bedford line. He was followed within two or three years by Joseph G. Patrick, Baxter Clough, - Gerish and others, from the State of New Hampshire; for which reason that road has been called Hampshire street down to the present time. John C. Sill settled in the township in 1831, and Walter Stannard and John Hodge about the same time. Mr. Martle settled in the extreme northwest part of the township.

And now the tide of emigration began to rise rap- idly. In 1832 Reuben M. Hanaford settled in Hamp- shire street. about a mile and a half northwestward from the center. He is still living at the latter place, and we are indebted to his vigorous memory for many facts regarding the history of the township subsequent to his arrival. Not a tree had then been ent within a mile of the center. William Pillsbury, however, purchased the land around the center that same year. No roads were cut out in that part of the township, and no wagons were in use. There were merely paths through the woods, traversed summer and winter by ox-sleds.

William W. Higby was then working in Solon, where he has ever since been a permanent resident. Elijah Pettibone settled that year (1832) in the south- east part of the township, where he and his sons have since been permanent citizens. William W. Richards, (. R. Fletcher and John Hale all came that year or the next. and settled in the south and northwest parts of the township. These, including Pettibone, were all from Jefferson county, New York.

The first settlers in the north part, on what is known as "The Ledge," were Elisha Wilmott and Albert Pond, who located there about 1833. These were soon followed by Abraham Witter, George II. Mason, Stephen Danwell and Alvin Harrington, most of these in this section being from Maine. Deacon John Barnard settled in the township about 1833.

The ground at the center being low and somewhat wet, that was one of the last points to be settled. An anecdote related by Mr. Hanaford shows the unpleas- ant impression which the township, and especially that portion of it, made upon strangers at the period of which we are speaking. Several roads had been laid out, meeting at the center, but none had been eut out, all being designated only by lines of marked trees. Having occasion to go to Twinsburg, during the first year of his residence in the township, Mr. Hanaford followed the line of marked trees south to that point, and then returned by the same track to

517

SOLON.

the center. As he approached the lesren point toward nightfall, he saw a man on horseback looking anxious- ly at the various indications of highways yet to be.

"See here, stranger." he exclaimed, immediately on observing Mr. Hanaford, "I wish you would tell me which way I ought to go to get out of this in- fernal town."

" Well," replied Mr. Hanaford, "that depends on where you want to go to. This line of marked trees," pointing south. " lead- to Twinsburg; that one runs southwest to Aurora: that one due north will take you to Orange: this one on the west "-

". No matter about that," interrupted the traveler: " I've just came from the west through that cursed swamp, and I'll swear I don't want to go that way. I don't care where these other trails go to either; all I want to know is which is the quickest way out of town."

Mr. Hanaford gave him the distances to the various points mentioned, the stranger selected the nearest one and immediately started toward it at a rapid pace. Scarcely had he got out of sight when the wolves were heard howling in the forest: a circumstance which probably did not diminish his anxiety to get "out of town," and which caused Mr. Hanaford to hasten;his pace materially on his way home.

The first man who built a house at the Center was Freeman MeClintock, who located there in 1832 or '33. He resided there in his log cabin two or three years before any joined him.

The axes of the woodmen now resounded on every -ide, and in three years after Mr. Hanaford's arrival, in 1832, nearly all the land in the township had been purchased from the original proprietors,

It was not until about 1833 that the first marriage took place in Solon, the parties being Baxter Clough and llannah Gerrish, both of " Hampshire street," the officiating magistrate being Capt. John Robbins, the second justice of the peace in Solon.

The first death was that of Mrs. Thomas Marshall, which occurred in 1834, fourteen years after the settlement of the township. There being, naturally, no burying-ground in Solon before there was a death, she was taken to what was called the Seward burying- ground. in Aurora, for interment. Several other of the Solon pioneers also rest there.

By this time both the Presbyterians and the Meth- odists had begun to hold meetings in the township- in fact, Presbyterian meetings were held at Mr. Han- aford's house as early as 1832. In 1834 or '35 a reg- ular church of that denomination was formed, being composed largely of the New Englanders on Hamp- shire street. A year or so later they built the first church edifice in the township, at the Center. It was the second frame building there, and was placed on high posts (" stilts," some called them) on account of the dampness of the soil. A separate sketch will be given of this church with the others.

In 1834 the first physician, Dr. Alphens Morrill, settled in Solon. Ile remained several years.

The same year that the doctors began to come the bears disappeared. Mr. S. S. Bull mentions that the last of those animals was seen in Solon in 1834. In that year four were killed in the township : one by Thomas Marshall, one by S. S. Bull, one by William W. Iligby, and one very large one, weighing about four hundred pounds, by Jason Robbins, 2nd.

The deer still continued quite numerons, and many a jolly hunt was enjoyed by the youth of Solon, William W. Higby stood at the head of the Nimrods of that township, and had hardly a rival in the country round, excepting Hiram Spofford, of Bedford, who hunted largely in Solon. Neither of them cousid- ered it a very remarkable feat to kill from six to eight fat deer in the course of a day, while as to raccoons, turkeys, ete., they numbered their victims by the hundreds every season.

Rattlesnakes, too, were extremely frequent through- out the pioneer period, especially on "the ledge " in the northern part of the township. One night when Albert Pond got up to attend to his sick child he was somewhat startled to find a large, yellow rattlesnake stretched out comfortably in front of the embers of the fire. Similar unpleasant en- counters with these reptiles were not uncommon, but we do not hear of any fatal results-except to the snakes,

The early exports of Solon consisted of maple sugar, " black salts," and deer skins. The " black salts," as is known by all the older citizens, were the results of boiling down the ley made from the ashes which could be produced in abundance by every energetic settler in clearing his own land. These were gen- erally sold at Newburg. As they could speedily be transformed into pot- and pearl-ashes, which might be shipped east at slight expense, they would bring cash, when grain was almost unsaleable from the fact that the transportation cost nearly or quite as much as it was worth in the Eastern markets,

As for sugar and molasses. each man who had a surplus when the maple-sugar season was on, put it in a wagon and started with an ox-team for (leve- land, occupying two days in the trip. There he would take a pail and a pair of steelyards and drive from house to house, selling from ten to fifty pounds in a place. If even a merchant took a whole barrel, he was thought to be doing a wholesale business.

While many young married men, with their fami- lies, came into Solon at this period, a large propor- tion of the settlers were bachelors. Nearly every one of these, as soon as he had made a little clearing and built a log cabin, would start for the nearest settle- ment, hunt up a good-looking girl and go to courting her with a straightforward energy which sellom failed of success. As Aurora (Portage county) was the oldest settled township in the vicinity, and the most convenient of access, and was also blessed with an ample supply of handsome, agreeable and indus- trions young ladies, the solitary Solonites hetook themselves thither in large numbers, and with emi-

518

THE TOWNSHIPS OF CUYAHOGA COUNTY.

nent good fortune, a larger proportion of the pioneer mothers of Solon coming from Aurora than from any other township on the Reserve.

Even after the building of the Presbyterian Church at the Center, it was sometimes difficult for the min- isters who were to preach in it to find their way to the house of the Lord through the thinly-settled woods of Solon. Professor Reuben Nutting, of Western Reserve College at Hudson, who occasionally preached there, got belated one cool Saturday night in autumn, when on his way thither on horseback, lost his way when within a mile of the meeting-house, and, after wandering around for a long time, finally became sat- isfied that he could not find his way out. The pro- fessor had evidently been deeply impressed by the sanitary precept, " Keep your feet warm and your head cool." Having hitched his horse and taken off the saddle, with the invariable saddle-bags, which formed a part of every minister's equipment in those days, he took the "comforter " from his neck, cut it in two, wrapped the pieces around his feet, and then bestowed his pedal extremities, one in each of the saddle-bags. Thus protected, he lay down on the dry- est place he could find, and it is to be presumed that, whatever may have been his sufferings in other re- sprets, he didn't catch cold in his feet. The next morning he found his way to the waiting congrega- tion, but was too much exhausted to speak until after- noon.

It was not until about 1840 that Solon was far enough advanced to support a store. The first one was then established at the center by Captain Archi- bald Robbins, son of Captain Jason Robbins, the early settler before mentioned, who had become a resident of the township many years after his father. The younger Captain Robbins had had a very roman- tie and thrilling experience. He had been the mate of Captain Riley, whose " Narrative" was once read with delighted interest by thousands of youth throughout the country. Riley and Robbins, with their erew, had been cast ashore on the western coast of Africa: had been captured by Arabs, and had only escaped after a long and painful captivity.

Captain Robbins also published a narrative of his adventures, but it was not as widely known as that of Captain Riley, perhaps because the former, being a very plain, straightforward man, did not embellish his account with the productions of his imagination sufficiently to suit the popular taste. After having subsequently been in chief command of various ves- sels for a number of years, and after keeping a store a few years at Griffithsburg, now in the township of Chagrin Falls, Captain Robbins had finally estab- lished himself in Solon, where he died in 1859 at the age of sixty-seven. Besides his store at the center he had an ashery, where he made black salts and pearl- ash, which for a long time were almost legal tender among the settlers.

We have now given a brief sketch of the pioneer times in Solon. After 1840 the township rapidly

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Part 127

Author: Johnson, Crisfield Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott & Co. Number of Pages: 716

Author: Johnson, Crisfield
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott & Co.
Number of Pages: 716