History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 65

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

USA > Ohio > Lake County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 65
USA > Ohio > Geauga County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 65

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).

DAVID SHIPHERD

was born in Castleton, Rutland county, Vermont, March 11, 1802; his father was born in Westchester county, New York, on a tract of land known as the Nine Partners, having been purchased by a company of nine persons.

His father and mother were parents of five sons and one daughter, viz., Harry, Waight, Samuel, David, George, and Julia. David at an early day had a predi- lection for the medical profession.

A medical school having been started in Castleton it gave a rare opportunity for all young medical aspirants. David wished to avail himself of this chance, but he lacked the necessary means.

A good opportunity for shingle-making presented itself on the banks of the Screwdriver pond. David and Charles Styles formed themselves into a manufac- turing company, taking shelter under the roots of a huge pine. The first money for educational purposes was earned here. Young Styles is said to be the first white male child born in Cleveland.

David Shipherd came to Ohio in the year 1826-27 ; he taught school and continued the study of medicine. In the year 1828 he attended lectures on chemistry and pharmacy at the medical college at Cincinnati, under Prof. Elijah Slack. Here he was a classmate with Joseph Ray. Quite a strong friendship grew up between them. Ray at this time cared but little for anything but mathematics.

He went to Euclid, Ohio, in the year 1829-30, taught school, and studied with Dr. Farnsworth. It was shortly afterwards that he came to Bainbridge, and has continued to be a constant resident of the town since, with the exception of teaching one or two winters out of town.

He was married to the second daughter of Robert Smith by Rev. John Seward on the 7th of January, 1833.

Prior to this time he made it his home at Gamaliel Kent's. He commenced housekeeping December 4, 1834.

David and Sully were parents to seven children, five daughters and two sons, viz , Lorinda, Sarah C., Delia C., George C., Henry B., Eliza A., Mary E.

Lorinda married J. T. Wing, and subsequently Harry Bancroft, with whom she still lives at Chagrin Falls.

Sarah C. married Hiamsel Giles, and has resided in Waterville, Minnesota, for some years.

Delia C. married Clinton Stafford, of Auburn, Ohio, where they now reside. George C. married Myra Howard, of Aurora, Ohio, and still lives on the home- stead near Geauga Lake railroad station.

Henry B. married Carrie Campbell, of Orange township. They now reside in Arrow Rock, Suline county, Missouri.

Eliza A. married Robert Clark, of Orange. She now resides with her next older sister, Delia.

Mary E. was called to the churchyard while in her fifth year.

About the year 1846 his youngest son was taken with scarlet fever. The doctor was called at midnight, saying, " The child is worse !" The doctor quickly agreed that the child must die under the treatment he was then giving it. He then turned to the drawer, and took therefrom a pamphlet and ten or twelve vials containing homeopathic remedies, left him by Dr. Burritt, with the request to "try them."

At this critical time he ventured the change, at eight o'clock A.M .; the next day the case had greatly improved, and was finally cured by this practice.

In a day or two William Wilson called to have him treat his child, who was likewise afflicted. The doctor replies, " If I treat the case I shall confine myself to the little pill practice." His neighbor (H-) was somewhat put out, but finally consented. This case was likewise cured. Thus ended the old school practice with Dr. David Shipherd.

His life was constant study and care; he was always on the alert, was very cau- tious in the use of strong drugs and stimulants. In the latter part of his practice typhoid fever became one of his strongholds. The raising of Mrs. George Cox from her death-bed was one of his proudest feats.

His political ideas were more for men and principle rather than party. He was a Fremont man, when he ran for President. Since that time he has generally acted with the Democratic party. He was no seeker for office. The highest posi- tion of any trust held by him was that of county commissioner. It has been said of him that he never voted for the successful candidate for President.

His religion was quite liberal,-loved to understand the claims of all denomi- nations, and then draw his own conclusions. He was a great admirer of " Renan's Life of Jesus." Could accept no religion that must shake off science. He be- lieved the great battle-field, yet to come between religion and science, was that of miracles. His library is composed mostly of medical and scientific works, though it contains those of a religious character.

He died May 14, 1877, after an extreme suffering for two years and eight months. His complaint was similar to that of his father's, being of a urinarial, catarrhal nature.

GAMALIEL HUNTINGTON KENT,

the second son and fourth child of Gamaliel Kent and Deborah Huntington, was born in Suffield, Hartford county, Connecticut, in the year 1806. His education was obtained at the common district schools, supplemented by two terms' attendance at Warren under the tuition of Cyrus Bosworth. He was a diligent student, a great reader, and a man of close observation. He was a farmer who loved the occupation he had chosen. Three successive times did he carve a home for him- self out of the primeval forests.

Gamaliel H. Kent was not a man who struggled for great wealth. Though a hard worker, he was a generous giver, and many times during his early life, though sorely pressed for means, he dispensed hospitality to all who came. Reared to habits of industry, in the fall of 1811 he assisted his father and eldest brother, Lyman Elihu (deceased September 14, 1827), to clear the ground and sow the first piece of wheat ever sown in Bainbridge, on the farm now owned by H. E. Kent. The following spring they built a log house, and soon after raised the first frame barn in the township, which yet stands intact save shingles, siding, and sills. While guarding the sheep from the attack of wolves, he heard the roar of cannon on Lake Erie, September 10, 1813. At this age he was full of military ardor, and in after-years, under the militia law of Ohio, he held two commissions, and with him training days were no sham. So, wielding the axe with a vigor seldom equaled, the forest fell, the land cleared, and made to bring forth the seed for the sower and bread for the eater, until May 27, 1824, he was married to Ann Eliza Granger, eldest daughter of Oliver Granger, of Zanes- ville, Ohio, and in January, 1825, moved into his new log house, a few yards from the beautiful spring (now used by Nichols' cheese-factory), on a farm of fifty acres. He built the barn, planted the large fruit-trees which yet stand, and left standing the young maples which now form the pleasant grove where so many public gatherings are now held.

Here, in a pioneer home, half his family were born: Ann Eliza, March 23, 1825; Hortensia L., March 8, 1827; Oliver Granger, March 31, 1829; Au- gusta D., March 27, 1832. Here he erected the family altar in 1828, uniting with his wife with the Disciples of Christ (a people then everywhere spoken against). He was for many years an elder; speaking acceptably from the stand,

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MRS.A.B. ARMSTRONG.

MRS . M.C.ARMSTRONG.

H. ARMSTRONG.

B. ARMSTRONG.

UTH. BY L. H. EVERTS PHILA,PA.

RESIDENCE or HIEL ARMSTRONG, CLARIDON TE, GEAUGA CO.,O.

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HISTORY OF GEAUGA AND LAKE COUNTIES, OHIO.

rejoicing with those who rejoice, and weeping with those who weep; he finished his course and kept the faith.

In the spring of 1833, he sold this farm and purchased one of two hundred acres in the west part of the town. April 12 he left and found a temporary home in the house of John Carver in the east part of Solon. He cleared an acre on his new farm, raised a log house, planted the first locust-tree in the town (from which all others have sprung), and, on the 5th of May, wife and children accompanied him across the Chagrin, and spent the first night in a house with a loose, rough floor, without doors, windows, or chimneys. Thus founding Locust Grove farm, which, under his guiding hand, became lovely. For a week the cooking was done out of doors, two crotched sticks were driven firmly in the ground, an iron woodpole, with hooks and chain, held pots and kettles, while the tin reflector did the baking. This same summer he cleared twenty-one acres, and sowed to wheat in the fall. The following year he built his barn. Thus he went on chopping, clearing, and improving up to 1847, when all he wished was under cultivation. Here were born four children : Gamaliel H., Jr., November 27, 1833; Amelia V., July 13, 1838; Eugene E., October 2, 1840; Clarence E., October 17, 1843. The latter died February 13, 1874.

He lived to see all his children married in the following order: Ann Eliza to Henry Root, of Bainbridge, September 29, 1847, now living in Mantua, Portage county ; Oliver G. to Lucy Baldwin, of Aurora, Portage county, September 30, 1858, now living in Cleveland, Ohio, where she died October 16, 1873; Horten- sia L., to Isaac Sturtevant, of Cleveland, June 5, 1862, where he died July,

1876; Gamaliel H., Jr., to Emily H. Bentley, youngest daughter of Rev. Adam- son Bentley, of Chagrin Falls, November 13, 1862, now living at the homestead in Bainbridge; Augusta D. to Major L. W. Joy, of Kansas, December 6, 1863, now living in Cleveland. Amelia V. to James G. Coleman, of Chagrin Falls, Jan- uary 21, 1869, now living at Chagrin Falls; Eugene E. to Lucinda E. Bayard, of Chagrin Falls, now living in Bainbridge; Clarence E. to Ella J. Robins, of War- ren, Ohio, December 25, 1870.

In the early history of the township he held many of its offices, was among the foremost in every improvement of the day, and a leader of right against wrong. He was elected in 1850 to the State legislature, was defeated the next year by his part of the county because he did not sustain in the legislature a division of the county and the location of a county-seat at Chagrin Falls (within two and one- half miles of his own home), as it was against the wishes of a majority of his constituents, thus showing his deep conscientiousness. In politics he was a Whig up to 1848, when he united with the Free-Soil party, continued with that party until the formation of the Republican party, to which he gave his time, means, and best energies, during all the years of the Rebellion. He was combative in his nature, fond of debate, and had several discussions of a local interest with prominent men, such as Henry C. Wright, Rev. William Hayden, and Dr. Ship- herd. He was widely known and often counseled as a man of good judgment, avoiding all litigation, never in his long life having sued or been sued. He died as he had lived, honored and respected, May 28, 1871, having lived in Ohio sixty-five years and Bainbridge sixty years.

CLARIDON TOWNSHIP .*

CLARIDON is township eight of the seventh range of the Western Reserve. North and south, it lies between Hambden and Burton, and east and west be- tween Huntsburg and Munson. The north and south lines were run in 1797; the east by A. M. Redfield, and the west by R. M. Stoddard. Who ran the north and south lines is unknown to me. Three-fifths of the township, the east- ern part, were purchased of the Connecticut Land Company by Uriel Halmer, Smith & Wilcox, and J. H. Buel, associated as the Erie Land Company. This purchase was run into three tracts, by lines north and south, not quite a mile distant. These tracts were divided into three tiers, and each tier into five sections, each constituting fifteen sections, nearly a mile square. In 1812 these sections were subdivided into lots by Joshua Henshaw. The late Simon Perkins, of Warren, had the agency of these lands. Of the western part, Buel owned four hundred and fifty acres in the southwest corner; Smith & Wilcox the residue, between his and lands of the Erie Company, six or seven hundred acres. The rest of the township, five thousand five hundred acres, belonged to Holmes, and was known as the Holmes tract. This was surveyed by S. Hawley into twenty- two lots, of about two hundred and fifty acres each, in 1809.

Water was one of the great agencies in determining the form of the earth's surface, and water-courses, or their absence, often determine its formations, 88 presented to the eye.

A considerable branch of the Cuyahoga, usually called 'the west, rises in the south part of Hambden, traverses the whole of Claridon, southerly, through the west part ; receives two accessories ; one is Butternut creek, when it passes into Burton, where it unites with the eastern branch, forming the Cuyahoga river. That portion of the eastern branch which rises in Montville, with accessions from Huntsburg, bends westwardly into the eastern limits of Claridon, where it receives the waters of a small tributary, on its southward course to embrace its western sister. The western branch, on its way, enters a small natural and beautiful pond, or lake, as all bodies of fresh water are now called, of which it is the outlet. The first settlers, with the homely aptitude characteristic of the pio- neers, called it " Goose pond," from its being a favorite resort of that beautiful wild water-fowl. It was afterwards known as Claridon pond; and, with the taste- ful nomenclature of this later day, it may now be known as " Aquilla lake." It is a thing of beauty as the eye falls down the gentle slope, westward from the residence of Judge Taylor, to where it dimples under the summer sky, the gem of a vale rather than a valley. These streams give to portions of the township

valley-like features, tending southerly, of very considerable beauty ; while other portions, without being hilly, rise into gentle swells of pleasant height, offering many charming outlooks and several extensive views. As they open under the eye of a stranger, he may breathe to himself, " Fair Claridon."

In soil Claridon is not greatly distinguished from her surrounding sisters. Her valleys with their intervals are very fertile, though drainage along the upper course of the west branch has not wholly reclaimed all the land. Her forests pre- sent all the varieties of trees known to the natural history of northern Ohio, surprising the first-comers with their size, grandeur, and height.

WILD ANIMALS, INDIANS, ETC.

The recesses of these woods gave shelter and food to the herds of deer and elk, the gangs of wolves, the hermit bears, and innumerable varieties of small animals that inhabited the forests and infested the fields, and preyed upon the domestic animals and poultry of the pioneers. The first men of Claridon, like all the settlers of the Reserve, came from the peaceful pursuits of agriculture in the older States, and, as a general rule, were neither woodmen, hunters, nor partisans in Indian warfare. The most of them had to be educated to woodcraft and the hunter's skill. Fortunately, there was no occasion for apprehensions from the feeble bands of Indians still lingering in their old haunts. The settlers came with the mem- ories of no old Indian outrages to be avenged, brought no bitterness of border hatred against the Indians, and uniformly treated the few they found with kind- ness. None, perhaps, remained in the Claridon woods on the arrival of the settlers. The most civilized of men easily revert to savagery, and the peaceful pioneers, many with a natural aptitude, and all with the inherited instincts of soldiers and hunters, mastered the natural lore of the woods, and made available the resources of food and shelter which a master of woodcraft readily draws from such forests as they planted themselves in. In Claridon they had the usual experience. They killed deer, hunted and were hunted by wolves, which for years devoured their sheep. They met and sometimes avoided bears, which often ·bore off their pigs. They trapped the foxes, who preyed on their good house- wives' geese and hens; and even the barefooted boys and girls learned to dread the rattlesnakes found in all the woods, and which infested the marshy borders of the streams.

FIRST SETTLEMENT.

Differences of opinion exist in Claridon as to who was the actual first settler of the township,-a fact which, as it occurred within the century, might be supposed

. Mainly from J. C. Wells, in the Geauga Democrat.

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HISTORY OF GEAUGA AND LAKE COUNTIES, OHIO.

capable of verification. Mr. J. C. Wells, a careful collector of pioneer history, of which he is an interesting writer, says that the first settlers were Asa Cowles and others who moved in with him. They came in the summer of 1810 to pur- chase, and Cowles the next year settled in the west part of the township. His narrative was published in 1866 .* On the contrary, Mr. T. C. Wells, who pub- lished in 1868 his well-written account, t claims that Stephen Higby built a small primitive grist-mill on the upper west branch of the Cuyahoga in 1808, and set- tled there, of which he gives a graphic description. This statement is fully sustained by Lewis G. Maynard, in his sketch of Hambden. He says that Stephen Higby arrived in Hambden in 1808, and built a saw- and grist-mill just across the line, in the township of Claridon, t-a statement fully corroborated by Philo Pease, of Ciaridon, and the venerable Elijah Pomeroy, of Huntsburg, who speak by personal knowledge.

This is, I think, conclusive. T. C. Wells further says that, in 1809, Selah Bradley, of Burton, built a two-story framed building over the before scarcely sheltered mill, which was the work of McMullen, millwright; that Higby had a son named Obed born there in 1809, the first of pioneer birth in the township, where his father lived till 1811. Higby was succeeded by Isaac Pease, father of Philo, in the summer of 1811, and his daughter, Tabitha Pease, became the wife of Jesse Hale, of Hambden, the winter following, which he claims was the first wedding in Claridon, as it may have been.

I return to the account of J. C. Wells, who says that, in June, 1810, Cowles and Spencer left New Hartford, Connecticut, for the Western Reserve. They traveled with a three-horse team, loaded with merchandise, groceries, and tin- ware. They were followed by Stephen Douglass on foot, who overtook them in western New York, and accompanied them. They reached Austinburg in July ; found Holmes, who accompanied them to his tract, mentioned above. They went to John Ford's, in Burton, and were guided on to the Holmes tract by Amariah Beard, of Burton. Cowles selected lots Nos. 12, 14, 16, 17, and 20, making one thousand acres, which he purchased at two dollars and seventy-five cents and three dollars per acre. Spencer purchased lot No. 13 on Butternut creek for his son Hal- sey, of unhappy memory. No settlement was made on these lands that year. Mr. J. C. Wells verifies the disputed date of the fearful hurricane which devas- tated so widely the forests of northern Ohio, and on the statement of Mr. Beard fixes it as this year, 1810.

The Fourth of July, 1811, saw Asa Cowles, his wife, and their seven children, Laura, Ralph, Edmund, Hiram, Maria, Minerva, and Asa, Jr., Elijah Douglass, and his wife Betsey, a daughter of Mr. Cowles, and his sister Chloe, also a niece, Clarissa Spencer, starting for the then farthest west over the well-known weary way. They were accompanied by Horace Taylor and wife, a sister of Douglass, and their two children, Louisa and Horace A. Taylor became ill by the way, and lingered. The others reached Bond's, in the southwest part of Bondstown, the 3d of August,-a short trip. Thence they opened their way across the woods to a vacant house built for a school, in Burton, on Seth Hayes' land, where they lived until a cabin was built on their own land. This was on lot No. 16 ; Peter Hitch- cock was at the raising, and carried up a corner, and other men from Burton and Newbury also aided, as is said. The house was very large. Soon after the erec- tion of the house, Horace Taylor, sick and way-worn, reached its shelter. He located on what is now known as Taylor street. He became a deacon of the Con- gregational church, made the first brick in 1826, built the first brick house, and furnished part of the brick for the first court-house. He was a brother of Judge Taylor and the father of Corydon L., a lawyer, and still a resident of Claridon ; also of the Rev. Horace A. and Rev. Sherman D. Taylor, esteemed Congregational clergyman ; was a useful man in his generation, and died honored at the age of fifty-seven, in 1843.

I think the next arrival must have been Captain Nathaniel Spencer, his wife Lydia, a sister of Elijah Douglass, and their children, Orrin, Ralza, Emily, who became the wife of Gomar Bradley, Erastus, the well-known Colonel Spencer, afterwards sheriff of Geauga, and Julia, now Mrs. Austin Canfield, of Chardon. They were of a stock found in Connecticut in 1645. They reached Claridon in time to find shelter in the new house of Asa Cowles before it was occupied by his family. These men and their families were the nucleus of the new colony, and, with those who shortly followed, fixed its character in enduring forms. Asa Cowles, a man of note, subsequently became a justice of the peace and judge of the court of common pleas. He died honored. His sons were men of worth. Ralph became surveyor, recorder, and auditor of the county. Captain Spencer was a man of much force of character, substance, and enterprise. He was a chair-maker, and commenced the business as soon as he got into his own commo- dious log house, on the Holmes tract. The business still continues near where

Geauga Democrat, November 7, 1866. # History of Hambden.

t On February 12, 1868.

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he first established it. Captain Spencer died in 1849, at the age of seventy- five.

Allen Humphrey, his wife, and her brother, Willis Bodwell, reached Claridon about the middle of November of the same year, and also found first shelter in the receptive house of Asa Cowles. He tabernacled on lot fifteen, east of the river, and set about the erection of a dwelling with such vigor that he took pos- session of it, floorless, doorless, windowless, and chimneyless, early in December.§

There must have been still other arrivals during this year, for J. C. Wells says that the settlement consisted of six families, four of which were newly married, and that altogether they numbered thirty-nine. A school was kept that winter by Miss Clarissa Spencer, in the Cowles' house. Of the children of that time and settlement fifteen are still living.

In the spring of 1812 the township, then called Canton, was visited by Aranda Kellogg, Halsey Spencer, and Truman Pitkin, all of whom afterwards became inhabitants of it.

1812 brought the war and its alarms, which hung like a threatening cloud over the new settlements. In August came the news of Hull's surrender, and a call for all the able-bodied men of the neighborhood, who joined with the Bonds- town soldiers, and marched, under Captain Norman Canfield, to Cleveland, leaving behind Mr. Cowles (too old) and Mr. Pitkin (too lame for service) to stay with the frightened women and children, who, in terror of the Indians, packed their movables for flight. The soldiers returned after ten days, except Allen Spencer and Harper, who enlisted for a term of service, from which the first returned the ensuing autumn. Harper was apprentice to Captain Spencer, and died while in the service. Then came the 10th of September, 1813, cloud- less, with sun and sky. The Claridon woods resounded with the boom of con- tinous thunder,-the cannon of Perry's battle.

Reuben Hall visited Claridon in 1812, purchased land, and settled on it two years later. Simeon Root came in 1814, and settled, where he lived and died, on lot four, on the Chardon road. Also a Mr. Thompson, who sold his land to Simon Gager. The same year (1814) Aarnda Kellogg returned, married Laura Cowles, and settled where he now lives. Truman Pitkin also came back, took land on the Holmes tract, afterwards sold it to his brothers, Steven and Amos, and moved away. Halsey Spencer came again the same year, improved his land, built a cabin, courted a bride in Burton, was accepted, and on the named day, with the gay spirits and high hopes of a bridegroom, he repaired to the house of his affianced-to be re- fused. Young, strong, brave, tender, he was smitten with madness, from which he never recovered. For years he wandered a furious maniac, and was confined in a log pen for years for the public security. He became harmless, lived long years, and died at the county infirmary in December, 1873, eighty-two years of age. What a life was his !

The Wellses arrived in Claridon, in 1814, from Hartford, Connecticut. The elder of the sons, then Timothy, Jr., made a horseback-journey to and over the Reserve in 1812. He finally selected lots Nos. 18, 19, and 22 of the Holmes tract. The family, consisting of Timothy, Sre, and his wife, three sons, Timothy, Jr .; his wife,-Harriet,-their five children,-Louise, Salome, Flavia, Gra- ham, and Timothy C. ; Ebenezer, his wife Dorothea, and their two children,- Goodwin and Mary E.,-and Chester, then unmarried,-fourteen in all. They made the journey in two stout wagons, and were thirty-nine days on the way to Claridon. Mr. Cowles' and Allen Humphreys' houses sheltered the new-comers till they erected dwellings. The land was apportioned among the three brothers : Timothy, the elder, took the north, Ebenezer the middle, and Chester the south- ern lot. The settlement thus made was the beginning of the so-well-known Wells street. Of these, the head of the family died in 1820; Ebenezer in 1832. The others live honored and respected on the old homesteads. There was staid Puritan vigor in these people.

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History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 65

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

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