History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 60

Author: Williams Brothers
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 443

USA > Ohio > Lake County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 60
USA > Ohio > Geauga County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 60

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).

Some years later, Dow, in some of his journeyings, came to Parkman, and preached from a large stump which then stood on land now covered by the mill- pond. He left an appointment to preach again seven years from that day, which for some reason he did not fill.

August 1, 1805, was made memorable by the establishment of a post-office, with Mr. Parkman as postmaster. His commission is signed by Gideon Granger, then postmaster-general.

The letter from Mr. Granger announcing this appointment contains this clause : ' Inclosed I transmit to you a blank contract to be executed with bond and surety, according to law, by such a man as may contract to carry the mail from Warren

to Parkman for the emoluments to be derived from the post-office at Parkman." It is not known what person closed with this magnificent offer.

These emoluments consisted mainly in the enjoyment by the postmaster of the franking privilege. Ten years later the income of the office had reached the sum of ten dollars and seventy-five cents !

In 1805, Robert Wallace purchased a farm lying directly east of the village, now owned by N. B. Blair, and built a log house, in which he lived ten years. He then removed to Portage county. This farm was known for many years as " the Wallace farm."

In the mean time preparations for building a grist-mill were made, and the mill was soon completed. This was situated near the saw-mill, but a little farther up the stream. Millwrights and mechanics for this work were procured mainly from Pennsylvania, which necessitated frequent journeys through the forest on the part of Mr. Parkman. How much the building of this mill contributed to the comfort of the settlers can readily be imagined, as at that time there was no mill nearer than Painesville or Warren.

In 1806, Frederick Kirtland, from Bridgeport, Connecticut, a hatter by trade, came into the township, and brought with him the implements and materials nceessary for carrying on his business. He purchased a small farm lying on the left bank of Grand river, nearly opposite the site of the mills, and built a log house, which for some years served for both shop and dwelling. In September, 1808, he married Miss Sophia Parkman, a younger sister of Mr. Parkman. This was the first marriage celebrated in the township. The ceremony was performed by Eleazar Hickox, Esq., of Burton.

Mr. Kirtland was in religious opinions an Episcopalian, and was active in helping to keep up religious worship at a time when the visit of a clergyman of any denomination was an event of very rare occurrence. He was in after-years appointed a " lay reader" in that church, and kept up the Episcopal form of worship for many years. He was the second justice of the peace in the town- ship. He died while on a visit to his daughter at Maumee, in 1854.

Mrs. Kirtland died in 1857, having been a resident of Parkman for more than fifty years. They had a family of eight children.

With Mr. Kirtland there came from Bridgeport Joseph Noyes and wife, who remained but a few years. His stay is noticeable only from the fact that he taught the first school ever taught in Parkman, and the only record of his resi- dence is his signature, with that of Mr. Parkman, as a witness to the land given by Edward Paine, Jr., when he assumed the duties of the first clerk of the Su- preme Court of the county of Geauga, which is dated on the fourth day of June, 1806.

The third house in the town was built by Russell Scovill, and was situated in what is now the southeast part of the public square. This was built of scantling laid up in the form of a log house, and became the first hotel ever kept in the place. It was taken down in 1808, to give place to the building in which the first store, that of Parkman & Paine, was kept.

In the spring of 1806, Daniel Evans and family, consisting of his wife and four children, were added to the population. They were from Washington county, Pennsylvania. Mr. Evans was a blacksmith, and was the first to work at that business in the town. The shop in which he worked was on the south side of the public square. This, for nearly forty years, under the hands of different sons of Vulcan, held the honorable post of " The Village Blacksmith-Shop," and more than one generation of

"Children coming home from school Looked in at the open door, And watched to see the flaming forge And hear the bellows roar."

In 1845 it took fire from a burning building near it and was consumed.

In 1808, Mr. Evans purchased a farm east of the centre, built a log house, and moved into it with his family. This, after some years, gave place to a frame one, which became the home, as years passed, of ten sons and three daughters, all of whom lived to adult age.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans lived on this farm thirty-one years. Theirs was the first farm settled in the town, and, except the small clearing made near them by Mr. Bateman, and the three or four families near the mills, no break in the forest, nor any habitation of man was near them for miles, while the wolves made night hideous with their howlings, and bears and other wild animals were their terror by day.

In 1839, Mr. and Mrs. Evans removed to Michigan, and both died within a week of each other, in 1840. The Evans farm is now owned by Gilbert Tracy. Silas, the second son of Mr. Evans, who was four years old at the time of his father's emigration to Ohio, is still living, and has always lived in Parkman.

In 1835 he bought of General Perkins the farm known as " the white-thorn bottom," which he still owns, and upon which he now resides (1878), aged seventy-six. For some years he has been the only remaining member of the pioneer band.

Another settler of 1806 was Thomas Ainslie, an Englishman, but later from Syracuse, New York. He was a miller, and found employment in the flour-mill just then completed. In 1816 he purchased a farm in the northeastern part of the township, near the State road, upon which he lived till his death, in 1844. His eldest son, Thomas, who, in 1810, with his sister, made with their father the journey from Syracuse on foot, succeeded to this farm on the death of his father, to which, from time to time, he made large additions, and retained posses- sion of it till his own death, in 1875. Shortly before his death he divided his land among his children by deeding to each a portion, and thus the original farm is in possession of the third generation.

Another settler in 1806 was Elijah Risley, who was the first person who held the office of justice of the peace. Himself and family remained in Parkman till 1816, when they removed to Fredonia, New York, where his sons became the

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proprietors of the once famous Risley seed establishment. He was the ancestor of Olive Risley, the adopted daughter of Wm. H. Seward.

In 1807, Mr. Parkman built a large log house in the north part of the first cleared one hundred acres, in which he lived till 1818. While living in this house, in 1813, his infant son, John Walworth, died. This was the first death which had occurred in the town,-a remarkable circumstance when we consider how seldom new settlements are exempt from fatal sickness.

In January, 1807, Henry Seymour, Mr. Parkman's second son, was born, who was the first white male child born in the town, and can, therefore, rightly be ranked among its pioneers, having grown up with its growth, and taken his part as child and man in the labors and enjoyments of that early period.

At the age of eighteen, having qualified himself for the profession of civil engineer, he began his career in that capacity on the Ohio canal, then in process of construction ; but his health not being sufficient to endure the exposure inci- dent to the work, he was obliged to relinquish it. In 1829 he went south for the purpose of regaining his health, and remained there for the most part till 1844, at which time he returned to his native place, and made it thereafter his place of residence.

During the fifteen years which he spent in the south, in the pursuit of his profession as a crayon artist, he made the tour of all the southern States and long visits in all the principal cities.

While still remaining at the south, about the year 1831 he purchased the farm known as the Doty farm, which lies directly north of that settled by James Wood.

This farm was first settled in 1815, by Captain Asa Doty, of Cayuga county, New York, who retained possession of it for some years. It is now owned by Eugene Brewster.

Mr. Parkman also, in 1850, bought the farm lying east of the village, which was first settled by James Wood, upon which he lived till 1866; at which time, having bought and refitted the house owned in his lifetime by Dr. Scott, he transferred his residence to it, and died there in December, 1867, having nearly completed his sixty-first year.

He was much esteemed for his many noble and generous qualities, both of mind and heart, and in his death many felt that they had lost a friend.

In 1847 he married Miss Mary Morgan, of Newburg, Cuyahoga county, who survives him, and is the only person in the town who bears the Parkman name.

Not far from 1808 the first frame building was erected. This building stood on the western part of the public square, near the road leading to the river. It was built by Mr. Parkman for use as a store, and was so occupied by him for several years. Charles E. Paine, who had been for some time a member of his family, was one of the first clerks in the new establishment, and a few years later a partner with him, under the firm of Parkman & Paine.

This was at that time the only store within the present limits of Geauga County, unless we except that of Mr. Hickox, of Burton. At this time, in order to obviate the scarcity of money, the firm issued bills of credit of various denomi- nations, some of which are still in existence. The enterprise was not very suc- cessful. The population was sparse, and the war of 1812, which arrested the tide of westward emigration, and also increased the price of all commodities, operated against them, and in 1816 the firm of Parkman & Paine was dissolved.

In 1809 the farm lying directly east of the village, and opposite that settled by Robert Wallace, was purchased by James Wood, who erected and partly finished the house now on the place, and lived in it till 1829, at which time he was arrested for counterfeiting, but escaped from those who had him in charge, and was never again seen in the town. This farm was purchased in 1850 by Henry S. Parkman, who owned it at the time of his death. It now belongs to his widow.

In 1810, Ezra Smith, a native of Connecticut, purchased the farm east of the centre, on the south side of the Farmington road (which was laid out in this year), which, from its elevated situation, is known as the Ridge farm. He cleared a portion of it, set out an orchard, and built a log house, but dying in 1813, while on a journey to the southern part of the State, the property passed into the possession of his brother, James Smith, who owned it for some years, but who afterwards settled a farm nearly a mile west of it, on the same road, on which he lived till his death, in 1828. The Ridge farm was owned for some years by Emmons Fuller, who built the house now on the place. The present owner is J. R. Brown.

In the same year (1810) Thomas Moore, a native of Pennsylvania, settled on the farm opposite the Evans place, and lived on it till his death, in 1837. Him- self and wife were members of the Methodist church, and in 1816 they, with a few others, united in forming a church of that denomination. This was the first church organization of any kind in Parkman, and has continued without inter-

ruption till the present time (1878). The meetings were at first held in Mr. Moore's house.

Mrs. Moore lived in Parkman till her death, in 1868. The farm is now owned by their son, Nathaniel Moore, who also owns and lives on a farm on the South Farmington road, about half a mile east of that settled by Silas Evans. Johnson, the eldest son of Thomas Moore, when he attained manhood, settled on a farm east of his father's, on the same road, where he still lives. His son, Edwin P. Moore, was a member of the One Hundred and Fifth Ohio Regiment in the war of the Rebellion, and died of disease contracted in the service. Amer, another son of Thomas Moore, purchased the farm adjoining that of his brother Johnson, on the east, and lived on it till his death, in 1857. It is now owned by his son- in-law, William B. Donaldson.

On this farm, in 1870, a mysterious tragedy occurred. In the autumn of that year, Milo White and John Bowen, friends and army comrades, accompanied by a young man named Dayton, went out gunning together, from which Bowen did not return alive. The account given by White and Dayton was that Bowen after a time separated from them, with the agreement that they should meet at a cer- tain point on the Donaldson farm. When the two others reached the rendezvous at the appointed time, they found Bowen lying dead, with a bullet-wound in his head, and with his loaded gun lying across his body. White was arrested and tried for murder, but no evidence being found against him, he was acquitted. Dayton did not carry a gun. No light has ever been thrown on the affair.

In 1812, Lewis Smith, brother of Ezra Smith, came to Parkman. Shortly after his arrival he enlisted in the army, and served six months. In 1814 he married Mrs. Marilla Stillman, of Farmington. In 1816 his father, Benjamin Smith, joined with him in purchasing a piece of land lying directly west of that of Thomas Moore, upon which they built a frame house, which was thereafter the home of both families. Benjamin Smith died in 1836. His wife survived him but a few days. Lewis Smith continued to live on the place till his death, in 1854. His wife survived him two years. He held for some time the office of justice of the peace.

Also, in 1812, Nathan Hanchett, a clothier by trade, who had lived for some time in Canfield,-then Trumbull county,-set up in the upper part of the grist- mill the first carding-machine ever in the place, and those who came to mill over the rough roads, or through the woods where there were no roads, brought at the same time the family supply of wool to be made into rolls for spinning.

The next year Benjamin Lemoine, from Plainfield, Massachusetts, and Hendrick E. Paine built a small mill for carding and cloth-dressing near the mill, but on the opposite side of the stream. The machinery was obtained at Beaver, Pa. In 1815, Mr. Lemoine sold his interest in the mill to Mr. Paine and returned to Massachusetts, but ultimately settled in Ohio. He is now living near Massillon, and is still an active man, thongh over eighty years of age.

Mr. Paine continued the business till 1818, when he removed from the place. He succeeded Mr. Kirtland as justice of the peace, and was the third person who held that office. He is still living at an advanced age, and resides with his daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth P. Smith, at Monmouth, Ill.

In 1818, Mr. Hanchett built a mill for carding and cloth-dressing nearly a mile up the river, and carried on the business at that place for more than thirty years.

In 1817 he purchased a small farm lying contiguous to the river, and which is still known as the " Hanchett place," upon which he built first a log house near the factory and afterwards a frame house near the road, which was opened at that time as far as his mill. In 1815 he married Miss Jerusha Guild, a daughter of one of the early settlers of Mesopotamia.

Mr. and Mrs. Hanchett were residents in Parkman till 1846, at which time they removed to Mesopotamia, where Mr. Hanchett died, in 1855. Mrs. Han- chett's death occurred in 1859. They were both for many years members of the Congregational church.

In 1814, Henry Norton, a native of Virginia, settled on a tract of land lying directly east of the centre or Ridge farm. He first built a house of hewn logs, but afterwards a frame house, in which he lived till he removed to Claridon, in which place he died in 1858. His remains were interred in Parkman, by the side of his first wife, Margaret Donaldson, who died in 1848.

From this time till the close of the war of 1812 no addition was made to the population by immigration. Shortly after that time, in 1815, Nathaniel Moore, brother of Thomas Moore, bought and settled upon the farm lying directly south of the Ridge farm. In 1816 he married Anna, the eldest daughter of Daniel Evans, who was six years old at the time of her father's settlement in Parkman, in 1806. Their marriage was the second solemnized in the town. The ceremony was performed by FreHlin Kirtland. Mr. and Mrs. Moore continued to live on the farm upon which they first settled till the death of the former in 1861, and of the latter in 1870. This farm is now owned by their youngest son, Henry

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Moore. Another son, John L. Moore, has settled on the South Farmington road, on a farm adjoining that of Silas Evans on the west.

Mr. Moore was a soldier in the war of 1812. He held the office of justice of the peace in Parkman fifteen years consecutively.

In this year (1815) Daniel Owen, a native of Connecticut, bought in Parkman a farm lying directly east of the Wallace place. Mr. Owen came to Ohio in 1800, and lived first in Jonestown, then Trumbull county. In 1803 he removed to Nelson, Portage county, and was one of the earliest inhabitants of that town. His first house on his farm in Parkman, a frame one, was destroyed by fire in 1827. He at once erected another, in which he lived till his death, in 1856, at the age of eighty-nine years. Mrs. Owen died in 1848.

His eldest son, Samuel Owen, owns the eastern part of the old Owen farm, and resides near it, on land adjoining, which he owns. His youngest son, Rensselaer, has settled near the north line of the township, on the road leading directly north to Middlefield. His eldest daughter, Mrs. Swift, owns the homestead.

Shortly after the close of the war, Abner H. Fairbanks, a native of Maine, settled on the farm directly south of the Owen place. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was in engagements at Williamsburg, Chippewa, and Bridge- water.

Early in 1818 he built a log house on his land, which, on the very day of its completion, was consumed by fire.

In February of that year he married Miss Nancy McMillen, a ward of Mr. Parkman. The county record of the event reads thus :

" PARKMAN TOWNSHIP, February 17, 1818.

" This may certify that, on the day and year above written, Abner H. Fairbanks and Nancy McMillen set sail in Hymen's bark. The prospect appeared favorable and the voyage pleasant. I stood at the helm until they got under way. " H. E. PAINE, J. P."

In an epidemic dysentery, in 1825, Mrs. Fairbanks and three children died within nine days. One child remained, which was adopted by Mr. Parkman, and the bereaved husband and father, in failing health, returned the next year to his relatives in Maine, where he died of consumption in 1827.

He held the rank of captain in the first company of militia raised in the town, and afterwards that of major of the Second Regiment, Ohio militia.

In 1815, Jacob Gates, from Otsego county, New York, made the first settle- ment in the northeast corner of the town, known as Bundysburg. He pur- chased a farm, and began the clearing of the land, but died in 1816. This was the first death of an adult within the limits of the township. Harvey Bills, Wareham, William, and Avery French, brothers, settled in Bundysburg at about the same time. They remained in the town some years.

In January, 1816, Ephraim and Moses Bundy emigrated from Southampton, Massachusetts, traveling the whole way with ox-teams. From Buffalo they pro- ceeded mainly on the ice along the shore of Lake Erie. They crossed Grand river at Harpersfield in canoes, swimming their oxen across by means of ropes. In visiting the settlement which, a short time before, had been begun by the Gates and French families, they found their brother, Elisha Bundy, from Otsego county, New York, who, a short time before, had reached the place in company with Jacob Gates. This meeting was entirely unexpected, as neither of the parties knew that the other was in Ohio till they met thus in the wilderness. Moses Bundy brought his family, consisting of his wife, four sons, and one daughter. The three brothers each bought farms in the vicinity, and gave the name of Bundysburg to the settlement, where they passed the remainder of their lives. The Gates and Bundy families intermarried, and their descendants are many of them still inhabitants of the town. Elisha Bundy was a soldier in the war of 1812. In 1820, Moses Bundy and Wareham French built the saw-mill first built in Bundysburg. About the year 1823, William Porter built a flour- mill at Bundysburg, on Swine creek, a branch of Grand river. A few years after it was carried away by a freshet. It was rebuilt, and is still standing, though not in full operation.

The Painesville and Youngstown railroad passes through this portion of the town.

About the year 1816, James and Samuel Donaldson, and Bazaleel Inman, brothers-in-law of Thomas Moore, and Benjamin Moore, his brother, settled on farms near him. The brothers Donaldson were both residents on these farms for the remainder of their lives. Samuel died in 1848, and James in 1863. They were both soldiers in the war of 1812.

The farm of Benjamin Moore, which lay directly south of that of Nathaniel Moore, was owned for some years by Mrs. Maria Bailey, sister of Sherburn and Russell Williams, who bought it of him in 1833. Mrs. Bailey died in 1871, at the residence of her son-in-law, Horace J. Ford.

In this year Charles C. Paine built the house now occupied as a residence by 39

R. L. Blackman, and resided in it for a time. It was afterwards occupied for a short time as a hotel. In 1818, Mr. Parkman moved into it, and remained till 1821. It was the first frame dwelling-house in the village. In 1819, Mr. Paine built a part of the house on the west side of the village, which was for a long time known as " the Parkman house," which is now in use as a hotel, in which he lived till his removal to Chardon, in 1821, when it passed into Mr. Parkman's hands, and in which he resided till his death, in 1832.

Also in 1816, Oliver Gavitt, a native of Rhode Island, built the house on the rising ground north of the Parkman house, now owned by Edwin McCall. The house was finished with more care than many houses of that period. The ground was laid out in terraces from the street to the house, and the whole surrounded by an ornamental fence. Mr. Gavitt manufactured the first fanning-mills ever in the town. Beyond this his residence was no gain to it, but quite the contrary. In 1825 he left the town to escape prosecution for forgery, and went to Canada, where he married. After some years he returned to the United States under the name of Green, and at length settled in Chicago as a banker. In 1857 he mur- dered his wife by poison, and committed suicide in jail to avoid a public execu- tion. At the time he left Parkman his place was bought by William A. Hop- kins, who owned and resided in it till his death, in 1862. Mr. Hopkins was a millwright, and made that, for the most part, his business. He aided in the construction of most of the mills built on this part of the Grand river. He was possessed of more than ordinary mechanical skill, was a man of intelligence, and an upright citizen. His widow and several members of his family still reside in Parkman.

In 1816, Isaiah Davis, of Aurelius, New York, bought a tract of four hundred acres, known on the map as lots Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, in great lot 22, which included all the land between the Garrettsville road and the road leading south to the centre of Nelson. He settled upon this tract and built a small frame house, which is still standing. His death, in 1822, was instantaneous, from apoplexy. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, and was buried with Masonic rites.

This was the first interment of the kind in the town. Mr. Davis had a large family of sons and daughters, among whom the land was divided after his death. Very few of his descendants remain at present in the town.

In this year Barton F. Avery, of Cayuga county, New York, came to Park- man. He was by trude a chair-maker and painter, and for some years had a monopoly in his vocation. He built a house and shop in the western part of the village, neither of which is now standing. In 1817 he married Miss Betsey Brown, a niece of Isaiah Davis, who had accompanied her uncle's family to Ohio.

This was the third marriage in the town. The ceremony was performed by Hendrick E. Paine.

He was for some time justice of the peace, and was postmaster during the latter years of the Jackson administration. In 1835 he removed to Chardon, where he was also postmaster, and for some years associate judge. He died in 1857. His cousin, Austin H. Avery, accompanied him to Parkman, and lived there till about 1827. In July, 1817, he was married to Adelissa Moses ; also by H. E. Paine.

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History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 60

Author: Williams Brothers Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Number of Pages: 443

Author: Williams Brothers
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 443