History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 78

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

USA > Ohio > Lake County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 78
USA > Ohio > Geauga County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 78

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

In 1818, Asahel Davis, a stalwart, dark-browed youth, walked from Canan- daigua, New York, to Munson woods, with his knapsack, and settled on the brow of beautiful Maple hill, near the southern line. He cleared some twelve acres, built a cabin, and in 1820 wedded Anna H., daughter of Asa and Betsey Hamblin, then at the age of seventeen,-the first marriage in the township. The young couple moved into the doorless, chimneyless house, and lived through the first winter in that condition, missing nothing. The old maple wood, the grandest in all the forest, protected them from the severity of the season. Faithful, true, industrious, pros- perity attended the couple. Near this first cabin, in 1836, they erected a stately dwelling for that day. Mr. Davis died in 1864, aged sixty-eight, and was buried in the Maple hill burying-ground. His widow, at the age of seventy-five, with mind unimpaired, and full of the memories of these early days, still occupies this dwelling. This honored couple were the parents of twelve children, seven of whom survive. Maria, the wife of Edwin Tuttle, lives in Munson ; Augustus and his sister Minerva, wife of Hercules Carroll, in Iowa; Newton, in Wisconsin ; Asahel H., physician, in Willoughby, Lake County ; Hartzell, in Kansas; Adaline, wife of Addison Benton, in Chardon. Two brothers of Asahel, Sylvester and Addi- son, moved into Munson in 1817, with their families, and settled on Maple hill, living in their wagons, as many did till their cabins were ready. They moved away years ago, and died leaving no descendants in Munson. Christopher Langdon came from Chardon, where he was an early settler, into Munson in 1818, and pur- chased three hundred acres of the Phelps tract. He at that time had five chil- dren. Lothrop now lives in Tuscarawas county, Ohio. Mary became the wife of H. Canfield, of Chardon, and died in Illinois in 1877. Sylvanus also died in Illinois. Caroline, who married a Mr. Stone, is a widow in Claridon. Francis lives in Illinois. Langdon, Sr., was a man of enterprise, and built a grist-mill, the first in Munson, the year of his settlement there. He also erected a saw-mill in 1820. He died in 1823.

In 1818 or 1819 Isaiah Hamblin and family came, built a cabin, cleared land, and in 1832 became a Mormon and cleared out. With him came Thomas Stod- der and family, who settled also. They came from Vermont. None of these remained in Munson.

In the year 1819 Asa Hamblin and wife, with whom came Mrs. Asahel Davis, and his brother Barnabas with their families, settled in Munson. They stopped in Conneaut, came on and stayed one night with Lemuel Rider, who piloted them through the woods to their place of appointment, rest, and toil on thirty-two, East Division. Asa moved away and died long ago. Barnabas worked through in Munson, and died at the age of eighty, a year since. In the autumn of the same year, Nathan Mann and his son Benjamin came from Vermont and purchased south of Fowler's mills. In the house they built there was preached the first sermon in Munson, by Mr. A. Porter, a year or two later.

Elijah Hovey, from Munson, Massachusetts, reached Munson the same year, 1819. He took up about two hundred acres on the north line, and more subse- · quently. He brought his wife, three sons, Oliver, Horace, and Hiram, all of whom settled in Munson. They had one daughter, the wife of Loren Parsons, who came with the Munns to Newbury in 1818, returned, was married, and moved to Munson in 1828. Hovey, Sr., was a man of wealth and peculiarities. He and his wife were at ripe middle age when they reached Ohio, and after a short sojourn returned to Massachusetts. Made two or three journeys; on the last Hovey died in New York. The wife returned, and died in Massachusetts. Hiram married Abigail Foster, who lives in Munson. He died. Oliver also married. He and his wife died; the daughter lives west. The four sons live in Munson. The daughter also.

Orrin Parsons, a son of the daughter, resides in Newbury. His father and mother, who resided in Munson, died many years ago.

Hovey built the first framed house in the township, on the Munson and Chester road, half a mile west of the stone bridge. The house, extended and improved, still stands. It is claimed that quite all the male population of Munson were present at the " raising" of this edifice, and did many things of township interest among them; a vote was taken to change its name to that of Munson, in honor of the town of Mr. Hovey's Massachusetts residence. When the first "bent" was set up, Captain Roswell Eaton, master-carpenter, broke upon it a bottle of whisky, as on the christening of a newly-launched ship, and declared that the township was named Munson, which was received with cheers and whisky from the crowd below.

Caleb M. Peck, from New York, settled on tract three in 1819. He removed to the northeast corner, built on the State roud at the foot of Chardon hill, mar- ried the daughter of Hosea Stebbins, and became a man of local note.

Andrew Huzen, a native of Connecticut, who had lived in Vermont and Penn- sylvania, came to Munson in 1820 with his wife and seven children ; three of these only are living. Sidney, a bachelor, resides in Munson, Harriet in Indiana, and Lois in Chardon. Hazen settled on the present farm of Wm. Stephenson. He was in the battle of Plattsburg, and died in 1836, and his wife in 1854. Jonathan Haynes came from Vermont in 1820. Origen Miner tells of the first ball of Munson, a house-warming ut Cyrus Davis' new house, January 1, 1821. All the young men and maidens of Munson, Chardon, Newbury, and Chester were there. The day was the coldest ever known in Ohio, as Miner says, before or since, but it did not interfere with the festivity and gayety of the occasion.

Nathan Porter settled in Munson in 1821. His land adjoined Hovey's on the west. He was a Baptist preacher, became a "disciple," and was set apart to preach the word in 1824. He preached the first sermon in the Munn house, at the request of Samuel Hopson.

Thomas Hazen came with his wife from Vermont, on the Canada border, in 1822. He brought his wife, many sons, and one daughter; others were born to them here. He lost his life accidentally by being thrown from his wagon in 1854. An uncultured man, of giant frame, and much intellectual endowment; a natural manager, if not a leader of men. He had six or seven stalwart sons, to whom should be added a son-in-law, Chas. P. Knight, and several other strong men of that day, the Lusks, Parmer Lusk, of unpleasant odor, and others, who altogether made an important group of rather rude, but not bad men, but who helped to give to the township its early reputation for good-natured lawless- ness. Those were the days when Munson was " the State of Munson." Of the sons, S. P. was the oldest, and lives in Munson. Fayette was a man of thrift, became wealthy, went barefoot, and died. Ransalier was " Rant Hazen," and went away. There were the twins, Winfield and Winchester, considerable men, enterprising and active. The first went west; Winchester is in Munson, as is Livingston. Mrs. Knight lives in Chardon. Another daughter, Mrs. E. K. Miller, resides in Munson. Tom, Jr., " Jack," I have no account of. A grand- daughter is Mrs. D. J. Warner, of Fowler's Mills.

Jerry Wheeler, a soldier of the war of 1812, married a sister of Banabas Hamblin, and came to Munson in 1822.

Daniel Hagar, mentioned in the histories of Hambden and Chardon, came and bought the Langdon mills, in 1826. Drove a team from Dorset, Vermont, to Troy, New York, from there to Buffalo, over the Erie canal ; thence by steam- boat to Cleveland,-the new route to Ohio from the East. He owned a mill in Hambden, and one in Chardon, previous to his purchase in Munson. He repaired the flouring-mill, ran it two years, and, with the restlessness of his nature, moved away. A taciturn man, good mechanic and miller. The new mill in Munson was always known the country-side through as Hager's mill, till rebuilt by Judge Bosley, in 1840 or '41. John R. Justus settled in Chardon in 1817, went to Munson in 1829, and set up a tannery on the present farm of S. L. Brainard, -the only tannery ever in Munson. He was married in Chardon, to Abigail Towsley, in 1818. She died in 1858. He iu 1862. He was a soldier in 1812.

. Sec biography of General H. E. Paine, page 77.

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CLARK D. CALKINS

STEPHEN CALKINS.

O. M.CALKINS

MRS. SARAH H. CALKINS.

LITH. BY L. H. EVENTS, PHILA, PA

RESIDENCE of O.M. CALKINS, MUNSON TE, GEAUGA CO, O

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HISTORY OF GEAUGA AND LAKE COUNTIES, OHIO.

Wm. R. Hine, originally of New York, was an early settler in Kirtland, from whence he removed to Munson, in 1834, settling on the farm owned by O. Lara- way, on the Chardon and Chester road, which was then not yet opened.

Of his eight children, three of whom were born previous to the arrival in this country, all are living but two, as follows : Mehetabel Eliza, deceased ; Irena, now Mrs. Stillman Hayden, of Chardon; Almira, wife of Samuel F. Baker, living in Pennsylvania ; Electa, unmarried, living with a brother ; Lavina, became the wife of Stephen Gallen, of Kansas ; Lorinda, married Abner Hatch, and resides in Michigan ; William, lives in Chardon ; and Lorin is deceased.

Mrs. Hines died December 7, 1877.

David Thwing arrived in Chardon from Wilberham, Massachusetts, in 1825, and settled where S. H. Samson now resides. He subsequently married, in Decem- ber, 1828, Sally Maria Thompson, and became the father of the following-named children : Rufus, deceased; Henry, residing on the farm occupied by his father, in Munson ; Marilla, married Calvin Baker, and is a resident of Michigan ; Mari- ette, now Mrs. Joseph Alexander, of Munson; Ruth, wife of John T. Gould, living in Michigan ; and Harriet, who married Simon Harker, of Kansas. The wife of Mr. Thwing died in 1869, and he married, November 11, 1871, Mrs. Louisa A. Parks.

Mr. Thwing removed from Chardon to Munson in the spring of 1854, and purchased the farm on which he now resides.

M. A. Dewey, from near Albany, New York, became a settler in Munson in June of the year 1832, his family then consisting of a wife and one child. Nine children were born subsequently, and nine are now living, viz., Fernando, in Michigan ; Charlotte, now Mrs. Andrew Lameraux, in Chester; Harriet, now Mrs. Job Durfee, in Newbury ; Ira, in Kirtland ; Marcus, in Hambden ; Pernett, in Perry ; Jennett, unmarried; Sally Ann, now Mrs. Arthur Bond, in Munson ; and Adelia, wife of Martin Presley, also in Munson. Charles is deceased. Mrs. Dewey died in November, 1861. A brother, Benjamin S., arrived in 1831. He was then a single man, but married in 1834, and settled on lot thirty-two, and still resides there. Has held the office of justice of the peace two terms.

Hiram and Milo Fowler, sons of Isaac Fowler, who settled in Burton in 1798, where Hiram was born in 1800 and Milo in 1802, settled in Munson in 1831. They came from Burton township, and settled on lot seventeen, tract two, Milo bringing with him his wife and two children. Hiram, although the elder, was unmarried. They immediately commenced the construction of a flouring-mill, which went into operation about a year afterwards. This is the old red mill, which is now owned by Charles S. Johnson, a sketch of which appears on another page of this volume. Milo died in about 1860; the father, Isaac, in 1811. Hiram still survives at the age of seventy-eight, and claims to be the oldest man living who was born on the Western Reserve.

Jonathan Haynes, Eri Hazen, Robert Stephenson, Jacob Hollis, and Joseph Post were also early settlers in Munson.

Of the later arrivals we may briefly note some others,-William Warner, Ver- mont, by land carriage, in 1831 ; built a house, and brought on his family by the new mode of travel. Of his seven children but one, De Witt, still lives in Munson, with whom he resides. His wife died in 1864. His brother, Benja- min S., came in 1831 ; has been a justice of the peace, and still resides in Munson. The Keeneys-Cyrus, father of William N. Keeney, the county clerk, -came to Munson in 1833 ; was a man of local note; lives now in Chester. His brother came in 1835.

There then were the Babcocks, David and Chester, and others who settled in 1828. A man by the name of Hewings opened the woods on the State road near the Newbury line before 1820, still remembered as the Hewings place, where Geo. Dowing lives.

Leonard Branard came in 1834, settled near the Hager mills, and married a daughter of Daniel Hager. The Dowings came early, as did many other worthy men.

Whatever of rawness, of lawlessness, which may ever have flavored the name of Munson, the last vestige of both passed away years ago, and her present pop- ulation rank well with the peoples of her sisters for intelligence, love of order, and general good conduct, and can, with good-natured complacency, hear references made to her older history. It was not her fortune to be early settled by the men of Burton, Claridon, or of some other favored parts of the county. She always had men and women of high character among her people, was one of the latest settled, and her citizens may well feel proud of the advance by which she has been brought to her present position. Of the later comers may be mentioned the Woodwards, the Elders, and Davis, were early settlers, as were Seth Brewster, Richmond, and many more.

Mr. Miner says that "Sand-hill," west of Fowler's, towards Chester,-formerly a sand rock, which crumbled to sand where the road crossed it,-was early a famous ubode of rattlesnakes, found all through the Ohio and all the western

woods; that at an early day the Chester people watched, on a warm spring morn- ing, and killed over thirty in one day. This by no means exterminated them : they infested the neighborhood to a comparatively late day. He relates that some women, in 1829, picking berries on the farm of Samuel Hopson, saw one of the reptiles run into a hollow log; that two men came to their aid, and killed nine large ones in and about the log. In these, Mr. Miner says, young enough were found to make the number over seventy. He saw the pile.

EARLY EVENTS.

The people of all the townships attach importance to the first occurrence of ordinary events within their limits. Some of these in Munson we have gleaned up. As will be remembered, Samuel Hopson built the first dwelling for civilized man in Munson, in 1816.

We have not learned who erected the first framed barn ; but Elijah Hovey built the first framed house and named the township, in 1820 or 1821.

The first birth was a daughter to Lemuel Rider, in 1817.

The first marriage was that of Asahel Davis and Anna Hovey, in 1820, by John Miner, Esq., of Chester.

Nathan Porter was the first resident preacher, and the first public worship was in the house of Nathan Munn, in 1821.

The first justice of the peace was Samuel Hopson, elected the same year.

The first road opened was said to lead from Burton to Chester, through the southwest section of the township. The date of that is not given me, and I am inclined to think the State road through the east part must have been the second.

A Mr. Fitch established the first store at what is since called Fowler's mills.

The first school was taught in a log cabin, south of the centre, in 1820, by David Hovey.

There are at present eight school districts in the township. District No. 1 was last taught by Miss Hattie H. Newell; No. 2, by Miss Mary Braund; No. 3, by Miss Emma Shuart; No. 4, by Miss Fina Shuart; No. 5, by Miss Mary Geary ; No. 6, by Miss Esther Laraway ; No. 7, by Mrs. Jennie Hollis; No. 8, by Miss Josephine Smith. The school-house of district No. 2 was built in the fall of 1874, and cost about nine hundred dollars. That of No. 4 was built in the fall of 1875, and cost about eleven hundred dollars. Those in the older dis- tricts are older, and cost on an average about four hundred dollars. The average wages paid are three dollars per week in summer, and seven dollars and fifty cents in winter. Average attendance, about seventeen.

The school directors are, district No. 1, W. W. Chapman; No. 2, Levi S. Babcock ; No. 3, B. F. Varney ; No. 4, Darius J. Warner; No. 5, William Dart; No. 6, Edwin Tuttle ; No. 7, George W. Downing; No. 8, William Shu- art. Children of school age, males, one hundred ; females, ninety-one; total, one hundred and ninety. one.

The first post-office was established in 1833, on the State road above referred to, just north of Butternut creek, and kept by Jonathan Burnett, an early settler. This was long since discontinued. Another was subsequently established at Fowler's mills, after which it was called, and Milo Fowler was the first postmaster. He was succeeded by George Varney, Reuben Harper, S. F. Eldredge, M. Eg- gleston, E. Miller, L. F. Miller, D. J. Warner, and James E. Elder.

POLITICS.

A majority of the early settlers of Munson were Democrats, and the township, without shadow of wavering, remained steady till the disruption of parties in 1848, save in the presidential campaign of 1840, when a majority of one was re- turned for the Whigs. This was due to the efforts of Dr. Hiram Bell, then of North Newbury, who, while in attendance upon a protracted case in the township, was permitted to cast his vote there, and, while delivering his patient, seemingly delivered Munson from the domination of the Democracy. Reuben St. John, who must have been a resident there as early as 1835, with Uncle Tom Hazen and Elder Davis, a local Methodist preacher of some note, were ever after on the alert, and no obstetrical M.D. or other interloping Whig ever found parties so balanced afterwards that any amount of colonizing could change it, and Munson remained the one crowning flower of the Democratic chaplet. On the first visit of the famous Fred. Douglass to Ohio he made a speech in Munson, and about the same time it was visited by the scarcely less famous Abby Kelley and her afterwards husband, S. S. Foster, which must have been in 1845 or '46. The attendance of these agitators was secured by the Rev. Mr. Peepoon, a Presby- terian clergyman, for many years a resident of Munson, a zealous abolitionist of the Garrison school; and the seed then sown bore an abundant harvest in the later-coming evil and good days.

ORGANIZATION.

As we have seen, Munson with Canton (Claridon) composed the civil township of Burlington in 1817. Afterwards, by an order of the county commissioners

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HISTORY OF GEAUGA AND LAKE COUNTIES, OHIO.

in 1821, the township by its new name was authorized to hold its first election, which was held at the house of Thomas Stodder. Samuel Hopson was elected justice of the peace ; Christopher Langdon, clerk ; Lem. Rider and Asa Hamblin, two of the trustees; Henry Hewings and Nathan Moore, overseers of the poor; and C. A. Davis, constable. It is said that no records exist till 1837.

At the election of that year, Edward Moore, Hiram Fowler, and Alanson Briggs were elected trustees; Edwin Fowler, clerk ; Milo Fowler, treasurer; Hiram Hovey and Loren Parsons, overseers of the poor; William Austin, William J. Lusk, Henry Hewings, fence-viewers (three ?); Henry Barnes, D. B. Summers, constables ; Joseph A. Peepoon, Reuben St. John, and Nelson Ferry, examiners of common schools; and thirty-two supervisors. Sylvester Davis was justice of the peace at that time, and there seems to have been but one.

The present officers of the township are Alvord Church, Carlos Harper, and Carlos Hayden, trustees ; James Elder, clerk ; Charles S. Johnson, treasurer ; O. M. Calkins and Benjamin Bidlake, justices of the peace; D. J. Warner and Frank F. Morris, constables; Justin Woodward, assessor.

RELIGION AND CHURCHES.

It cannot be claimed that the religious element of the people of Munson has ever been unduly developed, nor has the religious sentiment ever been very active, as a brief reference to Christian effort made there will show.

Mention has been made of Elder Porter. As early as 1830, Rev. Joseph A. Peepoon, formerly of Painesville, became a resident of Munson, and in that year, by the aid of Hopson and others, he organized a small Presbyterian church. In 1831 or 1832 they erected a small building on the hill, west of the centre. It was since removed nearly opposite the present Disciples church, and ceased to be used for its former purpose, and it was recently sold by authority of the legis- lature for the public benefit, as is said.

Under the influence, and by the aid mainly of the Riders, of Chardon, El- ders Isaiah and Rufus, a small organization of the Baptist church was had in Munson, which, as is said, long since disappeared. Time and space need not be filled with the fossil remains of these extinct bodies.

A church organization of the denomination of Christians was established, pros- pered, and for years maintained at North Munson, where they held their meetings in a rude building of slabs, once occupied by Leonard Brainard, on a bit of ground now owned by Joseph Haskell, near the saw-mill. Subsequently they met in a school-house ; afterwards they built a house of worship, which was dedicated about 1850. The building cost about two hundred dollars, raised by subscription, and all denominations were permitted to use it. This organization seemed to take no deep root, and had no vigorous, long-continued existence. It passed away, and its little building passed into the hands of the Methodist Episcopalians.

The zealous and vigorous branch of the Christian church, known as Episcopal Methodists, was the first to gain a footing in Munson. There is something in its penetrating spirit, the toughness of its fibre; a something of rough hardiness in its early missionaries, not squeamish of vulgar or rough surroundings, that would enable it to gain a footing with prehensile grasp in Munson and similar commu- nities. It was planted in 1828 or 1829 largely by Father Eddy, but like most Christian efforts its success was not great.

Some years previous to the dissolution of this body. in 1862, an organization of a society was commenced at North Munson, under the leadership of Rev. Mr. Beardsley, from the Chester circuit. Those of the original class were Mr. Nor- man Young, Phebe Brainard, Alfred Fling and wife, Henry and Mrs. Merrill, Mrs. Marcus Rush, Mrs. Charles Brainard, Cordelia Justus, John R. and Mrs. Justus, Mrs. C. P. Brainard, and two or three others. This branch was recently Bet from Chester to Chardon. Services are held every two weeks, Elder R. F. Keeler, of Chardon, preaching. They secured the building of the extinct Chris- tians, as stated, which they continue to occupy. At one time the membership was forty or fifty, but is now reduced to twelve. George Parsons leads the class. The following ministers have labored with them : Elder Gates, Father Chaffee, Elder Ellis. Elder Draper was the last regular ordained pastor. Grace and effort seem necessary to maintain a church in Munson.

The first event in the history of the Disciples church in Munson was a sermon by Dr. J. P. Robinson, one Sunday in January, 1839, after which Miss Jenett Hamilton was baptized. He visited them again in the spring, and added several, leaving a church of twenty-two members, with Alonzo Randall and Orrin Gates, as elders, and Milo Fowler and Halsey Abrams, deacons. In March, 1841, J. Hartzel, of Trumbull county, came to preach to them, and in a few days there were twenty-one conversions. The church continued to grow, and in 1842 had acquired sufficient strength to erect a church edifice. It was dedicated in No- vember of that year, Brother Hartzel conducting the services. The present membership is sixty-five. The officers of the church are the following : Thomas Carroll, James Miller, Robert Harper, overseers; Edmund Miller, Darius J. Warner,

Carlos Harper, deacons ; Darius J. Warner, clerk. There is a Sabbath-school of about sixty scholars. Thomas Carroll is superintendent.

MANUFACTURES.

The only flouring-mill in the township at the present time is the old red mill at Fowler's Mills, built by Hiram and Milo Fowler so many years ago, and now owned by Charles S. Johnson. It was erected in 1831, and operated by the Fowler brothers until Hiram sold his interest to Milo, who carried on the business alone for many years. Johnson bought of C. J. Coleman, and took possession in May, 1874. The property had become almost valueless when Johnson took hold of it, the nearest residents going to Fullertown, Russell, and Chardon to get their grinding done. Mr. Johnson, however, has thoroughly repaired it. He took out the old-fashioned centre-discharge turbine-wheel, and put in an " over- shot" wheel, thirteen feet in diameter and eleven feet in length, with two sets of buckets. He has also put a good wall under the building, and he built a new dam in 1877. In consequence of these improvements he now has a good mill, a good patronage, and a paying business. It has a water-power of sixteen-foot head. The mill has two run of stone.

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History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 78

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

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