History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 64

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

USA > Ohio > Lake County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 64
USA > Ohio > Geauga County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 64

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).

into trade at the centre, sold out, went to Cleveland, engaged in business, but was killed on the railroad near Buffalo. He married a Miss Bowler, a spirited woman, became neglectful, and she procured a divorce. With fair business capacity, his life was fruitless.

Dillingham Smith died in Bainbridge at twenty-seven. Sidney, the youngest, in Auburn. The third daughter became the wife of Leverett Gorham, and has always lived on the farm where she was born ; is now sixty-two. The remaining daughter became Mrs. John Streeter, and lives in Shalersville. George Smith, Sr., died in 1861 at ninety-three, a man highly esteemed. His wife, Susannah, died in 1856, aged eighty-two. Was that grave under the snows of Leroy ever visited and marked ?

We are to have plenty of the Smiths. In November, 1814, a brother of George reached Bainbridge. He came in the fall and settled on the farm of his son, John K. Smith, lot six, tract three, near the southeast corner. This made the fifth family who came and stayed in Bainbridge. Though he came with horses, he was six weeks on the road,-about the usual time. The family numbered eight,- father, mother, three sons, and three daughters. They remained with George till their own cabin was ready. In Bainbridge, we are told, four sons swelled the family to twelve, the old, orthodox number, when the poor, hard, and overworked mother performed her whole duty. One died in infancy. Albert, the third, died at twenty-five. The most of them married and lived in Bainbridge, some till their deaths. Thomas, the eldest, at fifty-three ; Robert, Jr., said to have been poisoned in California years ago; Mrs. Sally Shepherd, wife of Dr. David Shep- herd, died at seventy-three, December, 1877; Mrs. Rachel Wilbor lives in Illinois; T. K. Smith in Akron; Edwin is mostly on the move; Mrs. Giles is the only one (1878) living in Bainbridge.

Robert Smith, Sr., is further distinguished as having built the first framed house in Bainbridge, in 1824, and for many years the finest in town. 1816 saw the arrival in Bainbridge of Enos D. Kingsley and Mrs. Kingsley. They settled on lot two, tract three, in the southeast part, and added to the McConoughey neigh- borhood. These came from Becket, Massachusetts, with oxen and a horse, and reached the township in the spring. In December following a daughter was born to them, which Mrs. Howard says was the second female and fourth child of white blood born in Bainbridge. This event was followed nine days later by the death of the mother, the first death, she adds, in the township. We are told that the funeral and burial were in Aurora, five miles distant, to which the remains were borne on the shoulders of the Bainbridge men, followed by a saddened train, through the unbroken forest. A trail was made and marked for the slender pro- cession by men detailed for that purpose. The daughter whose birth caused that death was left with a Mrs. Witter, of Aurora, and the bereaved husband went back to Massachusetts. On his return after a few months he remained for a year or two at work on his farm, and then married a Miss Mann, of Mentor, and moved on to his farm. Of this union two sons and two daughters were born, and three of them still reside in Bainbridge. Sully, daughter of her borne through the woods, became Mrs. Fitch, also lives there. Kingsley lived till 1870, much esteemed, when he died at seventy-eight, much regretted. The second Mrs. Kingsley died in 1876, at eighty years of age.

In the spring of 1817, John Fowler, his wife, and two sons, Horatius and Lyman, came from Massachusetts, and settled in Bainbridge, on the farm now (1878) owned by William McCollum. In 1859 they sold and removed to New- burg, where John Fowler died in 1861, at eighty-five, and Lyman died in 1876, aged seventy-five. The Fowlers were men of much influence. Mrs. Jerusha Fowler is spoken of as a superior woman, who died long before her husband, John.

. In the winter of 1817-18, John H. Childs, his wife, and two children came from old Berkshire, Massachusetts, to Bainbridge. Four children were added to the family in Ohio, all of whom grew up, married, and settled in the township. But one, Albert, the second son, remains. Amanda-Mrs. Howard-lives in Bainbridge; M. J. lives in Russell. Childs, Sr., known as Deacon Childs, was a man noted for size, personal courage, and strength ; was the principal man in the organization of the Congregational church by Rev. John Leslie, the missionary, June 9, 1819, of which he became deacon. He died in March, 1875, aged eighty-four. His wife, Lydia, died August, 1868.

Soon after the death of Mrs. Enos D. Kingsley, in 1816, probably the February following, Joseph Ely came from Massachusetts and moved into the vacant house. He settled on the farm now owned by Artemus Howard, Jr., lots sixteen and seventeen. I am not advised of the number of this family, but we are glad to know that in time they all settled in Bainbridge except Rev. L. W., who became a Methodist minister, for some unnamed indiscretion in his youth probably, and is located in Mentor, although but one, Mrs. Celestia Haskins, now resides there. Joseph Ely is spoken of as a man of strong mind but limited education, public spirited, and useful. He died March 24, 1870, aged eighty-one. His wife Ruby preceded him in 1854, at sixty-eight years of age.

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HISTORY OF GEAUGA AND LAKE COUNTIES, OHIO.

Justus Bissell, also from Massachusetts, came in 1808, and moved into Bain- bridge in 1818, and settled on land where Porter D. McConoughey had commenced an improvement. He built and kept the first tavern, and was the first postmaster in Bainbridge. The first Mrs. Bissell died in 1823. He married again in 1825, and the second died in 1855. He gave up business, and died at the house of a son-in-law, Benjamin Bidlake, of Munson, in 1875, aged ninety-two. Of his ten children, none remain in Bainbridge. One, Mrs. Dr. Baldwin, lives in Michigan ; one son is at Grand Rapids, Michigan ; some of the sons moved to Ashtabula county ; and the youngest daughter, Mrs. L. Johnson, lives in Chardon.

1818 saw the arrival of the McFarlands in Bainbridge. They were also from Massachusetts. They took up about one thousand acres of land in the central part. Daniel, the senior, divided this between his sons,-Jonathan, Abel, Shad- rach, Charles, and John Wesley. All built, and for many years lived on the north centre road. John on lots twenty-one and twenty-two, tract two; Shadrach on lot twenty, tract one; Jonathan on lot twenty-five, same tract ; and the others north of these. It is said the MeFarlands were four months on the road, with no place in view, but looking as they went. Of the five brothers, none are living, and of the sisters, but two survive, and these live in Illinois. The dead sleep in what is called the "McFarland graveyard." Industrious, sober, hard-working men, and generally widely esteemed, save, perhaps, Abel, who was weak and un- fortunate at the mildest. He was cut off by the father's will, and memorable trials were had over it in the courts, resulting adversely to Abel.

Philip Haskins, a son-in-law of Daniel McFarland, with his wife, came with them. He settled on lot eleven, tract one, now owned by O. P., his youngest son. A good man, and worthy, was Philip, and who died at the age of sixty-three, in 1846. His wife, Louisa, a strong, intelligent, and masterful woman, died at the age of seventy-three, in 1869. She was the mother of four sons. One made way with himself, and the others live in Bainbridge. The daughters also remain in the township.

In the fall of 1818, Joseph Nettleton walked from Monroe county, New York, to Bainbridge, which he reached in two or three weeks, staying at Canfield's log tavern in Chardon on his way. He took up land, built a cabin, killed thirty deer, and went back for his wife and family, whom he brought back. He was a famous and successful hunter in his day. Of his prowess and luck it is said that one day, while going to the widely-known pigeon-roost east of the Cuyahoga, in (then) Welshfield, he shot a deer, by which he sat for a moment's rest, when seeing an- other, he shot at it, when two started forward and fell, while a third made a spring the other way and fell also,-three at one shot; pure chance as to two of them. It is said of him that he killed the last deer, bear, and wolf of his native town, and the last deer killed in Bainbridge were by his hand. He was three times mar- ried, and had thirteen children, ten of whom survive. He is eighty-two years of age, but suffering from a stroke of paralysis (1878).

In 1818, Joel G. Giles came also from New York and settled in the south- western part of Bainbridge, on lot twenty-eight, tract three, which includes Giles pond.

With a sketch of the Henrys and Howards the chronicle of the arrival and settlement of the pioneers of Bainbridge will end.

THE HENRYS.

Simon Henry, his wife, and ten children, Orrin, William, John, Rhoda, Nelson, Ann, Mary, Calvin, Milo, and Newton, left Washington, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, September 18, and arrived November 1, 1817. Orrin and John had been on the year before, built, cleared, and planted, on lot four- teen, tract three, in the south-middle part, for which they exchanged land East. They came to be near neighbors of the Smiths, Robert and George, and John Fowler. Something of the condition of the country at that time may be gathered from the fact that from Hudson's Corners, in Chester, where they stayed the last night, to a resting-place in Bainbridge, ten miles, but one cabin then stood, the Russell House, in Russell, built, but not occupied. Orrin, who had remained in Bainbridge, met them in Chester with fresh teams. On the way they were also met by the Smiths and Fowler, who came to welcome and help them on. After all, with all the cheer and aid, on the last half-mile the wagon sunk in a black ash swamp, from which no tugging, straining, pulling, praying, or other ejacula- tion would remove it, and there for the night it stayed.

It is said the Henrys were the ninth family in town, and were there in advance of several already mentioned. They had three young men and three young women,-a large accession to the society of the woods. More land was purchased, and the older sons planted on them as they took wives or needed separate house- holds. In this way Orrin, William, John, and Calvin were settled. Nelson was to stay with the parents. He met with an accident, and then with a change of heart, with a call to preach, went on to Missouri, and died in 1853. After thirty years Orrin moved west, and died in Iowa. William and John lived and died on

their farms. Calvin, who became a colonel, was called to take Nelson's place. He married a daughter of John Jackson, a pioneer of Auburn, and twin sister of Mrs. W. A. Jenks, of Newbury, and died in 1858. The widow survives, as does her sister. Milo married, moved, and died in Illinois. Newton was a rover, and was mate of a whaler when he died. Rhoda became Mrs. Robert Root, and is now sole survivor of the family. Ann married Jasper Lacy, and died at Chagrin Falls in 1852. Mary married Elijah French, and died in Bainbridge .in 1877. The parents died, the mother, Rhoda, in 1843, and the father in 1854. There are now living forty grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren of this pair, who are well distributed over the West.

The Henrys were of a good average of intelligent, useful, and deserving people. Several of them were above that, and they and their descendants have worthily filled the lots and places which design or chance threw upon them.

THE HOWARDS.

William R. Howard was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, December, 1797, to make his way in the world with a New England boy's endowments. He early intended to seek a home on the Western Reserve, and shaped himself ac- cordingly. In January, 1818, he, in company with John Bowles, started on foot for Ohio. They made the journey, said to be six hundred and fifty miles, in four- teen days. In Bainbridge he stopped for a time with John Fowler, took up fifty acres of land at three dollars per acre, and looked about for employment as a means to pay with. The ensuing spring he worked for General Eggleston, making maple-sugar, and afterwards for others. Such success attended him that in Jan- uary, 1820, he started on his return to old Berkshire, where he left Martha Cod- ding, a true Yankee girl, who had his troth ere he left for the Ohio woods, where he made preparation for her. She was born the same day that he saw the light, and the two were worthy of each other.

He had set himself to walk the return journey in eleven days. A heavy snow- storm held him a half-day near his home, and he was eleven and a half days, a lesson to the trained pedestrians of this day. Here he settled the deceased father's estate, and the next year, in June, Martha and himself were married, and July 3 saw them with their scanty stock on the way West, with an ox- team. With them they took the mother, a younger brother, and three sisters. August 5, 1821, they arrived in Bainbridge. It is said he drove into the woods where he had built his cabin, and with his axe, went back upon the brow of a hill, where he intended to clear, and cut a number of large trees nearly through, 80 that a small force would compel them to fall, and standing nearly in a row. He then felled a large tree against those at one end, when, with a mighty crash one after the other yielded, and the whole fell with a resounding noise, heard all through the forest, and announced to his old friends that William R. Howard had commenced life in earnest in Bainbridge. They came trooping-they and their wives-through the woods to welcome him. He made there his farm, lived there his useful, honest life, he and Martha reared their children, and he died regretted, June 25, 1869, aged seventy. He was many times elected to responsible town- ship offices, served three terms as justice of the peace, was an intelligent, public- spirited man. He was also an attendant upon the Congregational church. His wife survives, honored and cared for.

Of these were born four children : Artemus, who married, and with his wife raised two children, and died Aug. 27, 1873; the widow in 1877. .

Philena became the wife of William Richards, and lives in Auburn, with two children.

William Howard married Lonida A. Osborn, of Bainbridge, owns the home- stead, filled all the important township offices, was elected auditor of the county in 1877, and resides in Chardon. He has two children.

Martha B. Howard died unmarried in 1872.

Andrew Phillips came to Bainbridge from North Adams, Massachusetts, in the year 1830. He was an enterprising young man of more than ordinary ability, and possessing a good education. He was much sought after as teacher of the district schools. He taught his first school in Mayfield township, Cuyahoga, Ohio, in 1831, and his services were in demand. He continued teaching in Bainbridge, Burton, Claridon, Newbury, etc., from the year 1831 to 1843. Mr. Phillips secured a fine farm of one hundred and thirteen acres. He died on May 15, 1877, in the sixty-seventh year of his age, leaving his family in comfortable circumstances.

H. H. Benjamin came to Bainbridge in the year 1832 from Herkimer county, New York, and bought twenty-five acres of land, to which he steadily added until, at the time of his death, he was the owner of some two hundred acres. Mr. Ben- jamin was a prominent man in the township, serving the people as justice of the peace some twelve years, which office he occupied when he died. His death occurred March 31, 1876. In politics he was a Republican, taking an active part in furnishing men and means during our late civil war.

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DR. DAVID SHEPHERD.

J.W. ME FARLAND, EsQ.

G.H. KENT.

A . E. KENT.

UITN BY LE.DVERTS. FRILA.PA.

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HISTORY OF GEAUGA AND LAKE COUNTIES, OHIO.

ORGANIZATION.

At the March meeting of the county commissioners, 1817, it was ordered that. township No. 6 of the ninth range, known as " Kentstown," and No. 6 of the eighth range, called Troy, be erected into a township by the name of Bainbridge, and hold their first election at the house of Ethan Brewer, just west of the centre of Auburn. .

On the assembling of the pioneers of the settlements of " Troy" and " Kents- town," they chose Enos Kingsley clerk of the election.

Ethan Brewer was elected justice of the peace, and a full complement of officers, trustees, township clerk, fence-viewers, overseers of the poor, and supervisors; but their names have not reached me, nor am I prepared to state at what time the townships were severed.

I am told by Mr. Howard, present auditor of the county, that the records of the townships, and first elections for many years, are lost. He has been unable to find them.

POPULATION.

In 1850 Bainbridge numbered 1014; in 1860 there were 796, two of whom were colored; in 1870 the whole number was 660, of which 36 were of foreign birth.

These figures show a remarkable diminution hardly to be accounted for by general causes. Two hundred and eighteen over all natural increase in a popula- tion of 1014 in ten years is very great; in excess of any other township of the county. From 1860 to 1870 it was 136, a little more than half the decrease of the former period ; 354 for twenty years is a larger percentage than the decrease of Newbury, and it is to be remembered that very great effort was made by the citizens of Geauga to secure an accurate census for 1870, threatened as they were with the loss of representation in the General Assembly of the State.

See some slight observations on this matter under this head in the history of Russell.

RELIGION AND CHURCHES.

From an carly day the leading settlers of Bainbridge were men of Christian profession, Presbyterian and Methodist. I find no mention of Baptists. Such men and women fix the character of a place for sobriety and good order, which it usually maintains, while there is nothing so hard as to remove from a neigh- borhood the unfortunate flavor given it by the early presence of a few rough and vicious settlers. They attract others of like fragrance, until a generation or two stamps it almost beyond redemption.

Our sketch of the pioneers notes the date and organization of

THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH,

June 9, 1819. The following were the members of that church : George Smith, Justus Bissell, Jonathan Ely, Gideon Russell, Jonas H. Childs, Asahel North, Jemima Russell, Susannah Smith, Nancy Bissell, and Rebecca Wilbor. Its membership was always small. It received few or no accessions. They built a small church edifice and maintained worship and "ministration" of the word and sacraments with assiduity for many years. The older members died, the younger ones moved away, and as a distinctive body it disappeared years ago, and its building sold and converted to secular purposes.

The Methodist Episcopal church, organized as stated, has maintained a vigor- ous life from that day to the present. The class of 1822 was formed by Billings O. Plympton, under the leadership of Harvey Baldwin. The members were J. Ely and wife, Perry Haskins and wife, Jonathan McFarland and wife, Daniel McFarland and wife, Wesley McFarland, Porter D. McConoughey and wife, O. Henry and wife, John Henry and wife, Theodore Kent and wife, Joseph Witter and wife, Oliver Wheeler and wife, and others. Its first church edifice not meet- ing the wishes and convenience of its members, was sold to the township and converted into a town hall, and is now used by the newly-organized Universalist society as a place of worship, among other purposes. Several years ago the present fine and spacious structure was erected on the site of the old tavern, devoted among other better purposes to the sale of alcohol.

The church is now in vigorous life, with a membership of sixty-eight. Its Sunday-school is kept up with corresponding activity, and now numbers a pupil- age of about seventy.

The Universalists, within the last year, have organized a small society in Bain- bridge, have secured stated preaching, and organized a small Sunday-school. The association is made up of active, intelligent people, who show life and vigor in the conduct of its affairs. They use the town hall for worship and Sunday- school. Beyond these I find no mention of religious organizations.

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS.

The settlers early evinced a just appreciation of the importance of education, and made such provision for its interests as the slender means of pioneers would

permit. The people of the township have always maintained their schools quite abreast of the most advanced of their neighbors in Geauga or in either of the adjoining counties.

There are at present six school districts and four fractional districts,-that is, fractions of districts, of which the other parts are in Solon and Aurora, Bain- bridge, in each of which is a good school-house, and a school maintained six months in the year.

The enumeration of children between the ages of six and twenty-one years for 1877, shows ninety-one males and seventy-seven females, a total of one hundred and sixty-eight. It is seen that these so distributed as to secure an attend- ance in each of the ten schools must render them feeble as to numbers, while the public fund, however ample per capita, when divided among the numerous teachers, can hardly command the attainment and ability which the advance in education demands. This matter has long pressed itself on the attention of the thoughtful educators and parents of Geauga. Various schemes of organized as- sociation have been discussed ; as yet without results. Meantime, the numbers diminish, the schools thin out, and the children soon will fail of proper primary education.

INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS.

The cheese-factory in the northern part of the township was established some fifteen years since by Emory Standhope. It is now owned by John Pugsley, who purchased it in 1871 for three thousand dollars. During the season of 1878, they have three hundred and ninety cows. The average daily make of cheese is seven hundred and fifty pounds ; of butter, seventy-five pounds. This was the first factory in the township, and among the first in the county. Of other factories in Bainbridge, the next was built by Ned Richards about 1865, now owned by Nichols & Son ; another, in the southwest corner, owned by F. Brewster; another, the Howard factory, is two miles east of the centre, and is operated by a stock company ; and still another, about one mile west of the centre, is also operated by a stock company, and called the Pebble Rock factory.

BOX-FACTORY.

Messrs. Brewster & Reed, in the fall of 1871, put in operation the above mill, half a mile south of the centre. They make cheese-boxes, spring-beds, shingles, etc. Capital, two thousand dollars ; yearly business, five thousand dollars.

The mill northwest of the centre is owned by James Laroe.

Eggleston's mill was first put in operation in the township at a very early date as a saw- and grist-mill. . It now makes cheese-boxes, etc. James Fuller owner.

The following are merchants at the centre : A. G. Kent, who is also postmas- ter ; A. M. Treat, at same place; both deal in general merchandise. L. L. Bliss and C. E. Chase, blacksmiths. There is no hotel.

SOCIETIES.

The society of Sons of Temperance was organized in the winter of 1874. The officers for 1878 are P. S. Goodsell, W. P .; Mrs. E. Chase, W. A .; Alice Cowles, R. S .; C. Sissler, A. R. S .; William Collins, Treas. The membership is sixty. Meetings, Tuesday evening of each week at the town hall.

Bennett Grange, No. 976, was organized in 1874 with twenty-six charter mem- bers. The present membership is one hundred. The officers for 1878 are A. W. Henry, M. ; H. Scott, O .; Dolos Roat, Sec. ; and P. Osborn, Treas. Meet- ings, first and third Saturday evenings, at Edick's hall. The society is in a flourishing condition.

STATISTICS FOR 1878.

Wheat .

217 acres.

3,844 bushels.

Oats ..

475

16,861

Corn.

332 =

11,530

Meadow

2338

2,227 tons.

Potatoes

674

5,791 bushels.

Orchards

283

1,249

Butter ...

96,205 pounds.

Cheese

520,300

Maple-sugar

46,255

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ALEXANDER EDSON KENT

was born in Suffield, Connecticut, on April 20, 1802, and is the youngest of a family of five children of Gamaliel and Deborah Huntington Kent, who came to . Ohio in the fall of 1806, spending the first winter in Warren, Trumbull county, and the following spring came to Aurora, Portage county, where they settled and remained until 1811. The previous fall Mr. Kent came to Bainbridge, and pur- chased the property now occupied by the subject of this sketch. He cleared a

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few acres and sowed it to wheat,-the first sowed in the township. He was the first settler in the township, but prior to the arrival of his family two families had settled in the township. In the spring of 1811 he came on with his family, and began life in the wilderness in earnest. Mr. Kent took up an extensive tract of land, and upon this his children each had a farm. He lived to bring up his family, and died April 3, 1831. Mrs. Kent died July, 1843. The education of the subject of this sketch was derived from the common schools of Aurora and of this township. He has been a farmer through life, always attending strictly to his own affairs. In politics he was strongly anti-slavery, and became of course a Republican, with which party he still continues to act. In early times he became a soldier, and was commissioned as captain, from which position he was promoted to major, soon after which the State militia was disbanded. His military title is still applied to him, and will be, doubtless, while life remains. He was married on November 8, 1826, to Miss Lucy M., daughter of Benjamin S. and Rebecca Bull, of Lebanon, New York. From this marriage seven children were born. These were Lyman Edson, married Emily C. Eggleston ; she deceased, and he was again married to Ann S. Leonard, who survives her husband, who died May 16, 1862. Rebecca M. married Thomas W. Briggs ; she died August 7, 1860. Elizabeth B., unmarried, lives on the old homestead; her life has been passed in teaching. Delia E. married Henry C. Ely, of Madison ; she died September 24, 1862. Laura A. married Austin Z. Mason; died April 12, 1865. Lucy C., single, lives at home. Hampton H. married Jerusha Pettibone; lives in Austin, Minnesota. Mrs. Kent died September 14, 1841, and on October 20, 1842, Mr. Kent was again married to Hannah Morford, of Solon township. From this marriage four children were born,-Abiah A., who died June 23, 1853. Alexander G. married Addie Eggleston, and lives at the centre, occupied in the mercantile business. A. Cassandra married Lucas Hurd; lives in Bainbridge. Henry M. married Nellie Queen, of Auburn, in which township he resides. Mr. Kent is a member of the Disciple church, which he joined soon after his first marriage, and is at present bishop of that church, at Aurora. He is now the oldest pioneer resident of Bainbridge, and is living on the spot where his father settled in 1811.

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History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 64

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

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