History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 80

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

USA > Ohio > Lake County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 80
USA > Ohio > Geauga County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 80

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

The McNaughtons-John and Peter-came from New York, followed by D. M., some years later. Also Orrin S. Pease, H. B. Everitt, Selah Daniels, Alvin Crittenden, and his son, Henry, E. B. Perry, Jaines Porter, John B. Bruce, Edward Baily, and many more.

Thus have I followed my industrious informant, from the first settler, in 1815, for more than thirty-five years. My space precludes more than this outline of the arrivals of new settlers, which yields little of the peculiar flavor of life in the rude beginnings in the woods. The comments upon men are my own, save where credit is given.

Montville was infested with wolves down to 1850. The recesses of her swamps were the haunts of panthers, and herds of elk were found in her woods down to 1825. The formation of her surface, and lack of easy communication with markets, and the comparative lateness of her settlement, were hindrances. She had the usual variety of early settlers; but, on the whole, was fortunate in her many men and women of force and strength of character, intelligence, devo- tion to education, morality, and religion, with much enterprise and the qualities which stamp a community with the best features of advanced civilization.

ORGANIZATION.

By order of the commissioners of the county, as attested by the auditor, Eleazar Paine, dated March 4, 1822, Montville was detached from Hambden and erected into a township, with directions to hold her first election at the dwelling-house of Jehial Wilcox, on the first Monday of the ensuing April. At this poll Sher- man Dayton, Roswell Stevens, and Jas. Wintersteen acted as judges of election. Baldwin Morris and Peter Wintersteen were clerks. Dayton, Stevens, and Jas. Andrews were elected trustees; B. Morris, clerk ; Sherman Dayton, Sr., Roswell Stevens, and Jas. Andrews, overseers of poor; James Wintersteen and Joshua Stewart, fence-viewers,-an important office in those early days, long since abol- ished ; Sherman Dayton, appraiser and lister ; Jehiel Wilcox, appraiser ; James Carman, constable; and Jehiel Wilcox and Saml. M. Loudon, supervisors.

The first county road through Montville was run from Huntsburg to Madison, a little west of the centre, in August, 1815. The second from Montville centre to Hambden, in March, 1818. The third north and south in the western part, in November, 1822. The fourth, also north and south, through the centre; the same year the fifth, the north road, east and west, December, 1822; sixth, from the

centre to Hartsgrove, in 1823; seventh, from the west road to Hambden, in 1828. Many more township roads followed as they were required. No one of this day can estimate the importance of opening a new road. In 1850, a plank-road lead- ing from Painsville, Lake County, through Montville, to Bloomfield, Trumbull county, was constructed and used for many years. This was deemed an important work. It ran the current history of the plank-roads of that day,-never paid, was never repaired, went to decay, was abandoned, and the track became a public road.

SCHOOLS.

The first, a private school, was kept by R. Stevens, some time before 1826. In that year the township was divided into two districts. The first contained fifteen, and the second seven, freeholders. In 1828 a part of one was set to three, in Thompson ; and, in 1830, another was composed of No. 2. No. 4 was formed the same year, and further divisions followed, until the present No. 7 was reached. Log houses were used in one, two, three, and four. The first teacher in No. 1 was young Bridgeman Pomeroy, son of Deacon Pomeroy, of Huntsburg ; said to be an excellent teacher. During the time the house and all the scholars' books were burnt, and the school came to an end. A new frame house was built in 1835, and a school taught by J. V. Whitney, with a daily attendance of seventy- five scholars, coming from all the region about it, without reference to district or township lines. He taught the same school three winters in succession, receiving ten dollars per month for the first and eleven dollars for the second and third winters,-the usual price for a good male teacher, while females received from seventy-five cents to one dollar and fifty cents per week. A portion of this cost was then assessed on the scholars per capita.

It is impossible to follow the record of the public schools of Montville. Among the long list of teachers, the eye falls on the names of M. D. Leggett, Jacob Clock, Sylvester Clapp, and many not less conspicuous as teachers. Montville has been fortunate in the possession of men who stimulated a general and gene- rous spirit in the cause of education, and her schools have been in the hands of enlightened teachers.

CHURCHES.

The first Methodist Episcopal was formed in 1819, by " Billy Brown" and Baldwin Morris,-a small beginning in the northeast part of the township. The accessions were not rapid, and were from new settlers for many years. At first the meetings were held in Morris' log house, where L. D. Prosser and John Crawford were the first preachers, and J. C. Williams first class-leader. A list of their successors embraces quite all the clergy of that church, from that day to the present, on the Reserve. The question of slavery came in to disturb the harmony of sentiment and unity of action of the church. Its course has been marked with interesting awakenings, and periods of depression have sometimes attended it. A commodious house of worship was in time erected, and all the members finally united in a common brotherhood.

Of the Congregationalists, Rev. William (Luther) Humphrey is said to have been the first who visited the woods of Montville, followed by Joseph Badger, from 1820 to 1822, and occasionally till 1829. A church was formed in 1829, which was attached to the Grand River presbytery,-a body which bore stern tes- timony against gathering sap on the Sabbath, however incontinently it might run. Missionaries, and finally a regular pastorate, were in charge. No building was ever erected, and the body finally perished through its own dissensions. The Dis- ciples, under the lead of Elder Orrin Gates, made a beginning in 1860, and baptized a number. Success attended them till the communion numbered seventy-five, and a church building was erected in 1866.

The first post-office was established in 1823, and the first postmaster was Roswell Stevens. A mail-route from Unionville to Parkman supplied it; the mail-carrier walked the whole distance. Stevens was succeeded by Andrew Tryon and Spencer Garrett. The route was changed in 1840 from Painesville to Mid- dlefield, and Henry Wells became postmaster, succeeded by Seth Whitney, Alvin Crittenden, George Garrett, and others. Henry Whitney fills the place at this time. Montville has now three daily mails.

Perhaps the severest trial of the first settlers was the absence of skillful phy- sicians, aggravated by quacks, who infest the borders of civilization. Montville had the usual experience.

Dr. Hiram Davidson, a regular graduate of medicine, seems to have been the first resident M.D. of the township. This occurred in 1837. He died there in 1864. Dr. L. A. Baldwin settled there in 1853. In 1873, Dr. West, a homeopathist, and later Dr. Webster, an eclectic, moved into Montville.

BURYING-PLACES.

The first regular cemetery was laid out in 1828. It had an important addition in 1864. It is located in the north of the village, at the centre, tastefully laid out, ornamented with evergreens and shrubs, and neatly kept.

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HISTORY OF GEAUGA AND LAKE COUNTIES, OHIO.

The first of merchants, as stated, was Josiah G. Moore, who fitted up a room and sold goods in his father's house in 1836. Andrew Tryon brought in another stock in 1838. Dewy's experiment in 1837 has been mentioned. Henry Wills, iu 1839, sold goods and ran a pot-ashery. He built the first store-building, in 1841. He was succeeded by George Wells, a cousin, who built another on the plank-road. Several others followed in this business, which George Garrett now carries on successfully. Viets E. Whitney deals in groceries. There is also a Grange store in the township, under the care of W. Baldwin.

MECHANICS.

The first blacksmith was John Quinn, a Manx man, who set up his useful forge at the centre in 1820. I find mention of several worthy men, who have made themselves useful as smiths in the history of Montville, where there are now three shops.

Gould Nickerson's claims that he built the first framed house and barn on his father's farm in 1826. In 1834, Nelson Brooks settled as a carpenter. Spencer Garrett carried on the cooper's trade from 1829 till within a few years, as has Stephen Kelsey for several, while Jonathan Whitney, from 1828 till the present time, has made and mended the shoes of the people of Montville. John Burr, Cornelius Hilt, and Martin Basquin are prominent shoe manufacturers and dealers at this writing (1878).

For thirty-five years J. V. Whitney has done the surveying for that part of the county. In 1865 he planted a nursery, extended the business, and in 1871 re- ceived his two sons into copartnership. The country has been both enriched and beautified in consequence.

MANUFACTURES.

The first were black salts. They could generally be sold for cash.

In 1865, L. J. Randall, of Chardon, set up a cheese-factory in the township. It has continued to the present, and is under the proprietorship of M. L. Latham.

For many years an extensive manufacture of sleighs has been carried on in Munson. Also, chairs have been largely made and disposed of.

In 1829, Elihu Moore built the first saw-mill, near the centre, and soon after another, in the northeast part, was put up. Gould Nickerson built one in 1834, as did H. Pratt another. In 1835, Stetson started yet another, and saw-mills flourished in times of freshets. McNaughton seems to have built the first grist- mill ; time not given. Clearing the forests ruined the mill-streams. In 1849, B. Austin built a steam saw-mill, which survives,-a wonder among stcam saw- mills. Frank Crosby has another.

ORDERS AND ASSOCIATIONS.

An Odd-Fellows' lodge was instituted in 1856. They built a hall over a store in 1865. It was burned in 1877, when they erected a building of their own. In March, 1873, a Grange was organized, and has now a membership of forty- five. Their agent keeps a grocery-store in the west part of the township.

There have been orders of Good Templars and Sons of Temperance in the township, though both have declined.

MILITIA.

Prior to the civil organization of Montville her militia did military duty at Bondstown (Hambden). James Wintersteen tells a story of those early campaigns. Once, on the return of what was left of the Montville contingent from a field-day, while defiling through a long bit of lonely wood, they found themselves pursued by a panther. A whisky-still was then in " blast," in Bondstown, and the pro- duct exchanged,-a gallon for a bushel of corn. The demoralized veterans all returned in safety. The township militia were organized into a company in 1827, and placed under the command of Captain J. C. Williams. In 1834 a uniformed " light infantry" company was organized, under Captain Seth Whit- ney. Of this company Sergeant Truman Allen was murdered by Luther Britton while on duty at an encampment of General E. A. Paine's brigade, at Burton, in the fall of 1845. This company was called on for volunteers in 1836, during the border troubles with Michigan, and again at the commencement of the Mexican war.

In the war of the Rebellion, of a population of seven hundred, ninety-three volunteered in the Union army. (See Military Record.) Montville was always in advance of the call, and though many of her sons were unjustly accredited to other townships, at the end of the war she was five ahead of the demand on her.

A mammoth or mastodon's remains were discovered in the swampy lands by Royal Dimock, in 1872, of the usual enormous proportions. I do not find that Montville ever had a whisky-distillery, a murder, or a suicide. I add one or two interesting incidents of bears and wolves, and linger a moment for the inevitable first-fruits incident to human life.

The first marriage in the township was that of Leonard Pomeroy to Permilla

Rice, a young lady living at Jehiel Wilcox's. This interesting event occurred in 1817.

The first birth in Montville was Statira Stewart, daughter of Joshua Stewart, living at the centre; this was also in 1817.

It is thought the first death was a son of Sherman Dayton's. The body was interred in a private cemetery on the farm now owned by Horace Webster, in Thompson.

STATISTICS FOR 1878.

Wheat

247 acres.

3,773 bushels.

Oats.

584

14,646

Corn.

421

14,594

Potatoes.

183

10,530

Orchards

269

2.085

Meadow

1679

12,454 tons.

Butter ..

23,735 pounds.

Maple-sugar

12,454

POPULATION.

In 1850, 702 ; in 1860, 769; in 1870, 705,-a gain of sixty-four from 1850 to 1860, and a falling off of sixty-nine from 1860 to 1870. 1860 was doubtless the maximum of Montville. The diminution of the agricultural population is doubtless still continuing on the Reserve, and presents matter for grave consider- ation, both economically and politically. See some observations on this head in the history of Russell, where the falling off is considerable, and still greater in Newbury, Munson, and some other townships.

A BIG BEAR STORY.

In the winter of about the year 1834, Daniel Rawdon, of Windsor, a cele- brated hunter and trapper, was hunting deer in the east part of Montville. There was snow upon the ground, and in the latter part of the day he came upon the track of an enormous bear. For some time hunters had occasionally come upon a bear's track of immense size, and the maker came to be known as the " big bear." No one had seen him. The tracks led nearly in the direction Rawdon was traveling. He concluded he would follow them awhile, not much expecting to overtake the brute. After some distance, the tracks entered a wind- fall, timber that had been blown down the summer previous, with the leaves on, which, with the damp snow on them, made a fine cover. Rawdon thought he would see if the bear had passed out of this, so he went round, perhaps five acres in extent. He saw no tracks going out.

He then followed the track into the brush a short distance, when he stepped on to a log to see the trail. To his surprise, within thirty feet he saw the mon- ster, just at the moment the beast saw him. The bear had there made a fine nest, of leaves and small brush, just at the roots of two trees, blown over by the wind, which other trees crossed above, so situated that he could only escape in the direction of Rawdon. The bear started for the hunter. Just as he raised his body to leap over a log, a bullet from Rawdon's rifle went tearing through his liver, but did not stop him a moment. He came bounding on and into the forest. Rawdon left the road undisputed, but followed. He ran him into what is called the great huckleberry swamp, in the northwest part of Hartsgrove, and after a long time spent in creeping under the snow-laden brush, and making all the noise he could, he drove the animal out of the swamp, when he again started on his trail. In his hurry, as he swung over a large log, he came near lighting upon the brute, which had crouched behind it, and which came near clasping him in his huge paws. He stepped back a few feet and shot the bear again, wounding him, but this did not prevent his again making off. After following him again for about half a mile, he came up with and dispatched him. His weight was over six hundred pounds.

A WOLF STORY.

About 1834, Daniel Rawdon was setting traps for wolves in the east part of Montville, in the chilly month of November, in the latter part of the day, and expecting to return immediately, had no coat and only low shoes with no stock- ings. As usual, he carried his rifle. After setting his traps near the south creek, he walked a short distance towards home and seated himself on a log just west of a small swamp, and he thought, as had been his practice, he would imitate a wolf's howl. After doing it awhile he heard a rush in the brush of the swamp. Sup- posing it to be some frightened deer, he stood with his rifle prepared to shoot it, if it passed near him, when, to his astonishment, out came directly towards him five wolves, snapping and snarling at him, and as they passed within a few feet of him he shot one of them dead. Supposing he should see no more of them, he commenced taking off the scalp, as required to get the bounty. Before finishing, the other four returned, and came at him as before, when he grasped his reloaded gun and shot the second one, breaking its back. It set up a terrible howling, and its companions in sympathy followed in chorus, making the woods echo with

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STORE.

RESIDENCE .

RESIDENCE & STORE. OF'GEO.W. GARRETT. MONTVILLE, GEAUGA CO. O.

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HISTORY OF GEAUGA AND LAKE COUNTIES, OHIO.

their hideous music. He dispatched the wounded wolf, when the remainder aguin made off. While he was taking the scalp they came rushing back within a short distance as before.

By this time it had become quite dark, so that he could not shoot with any certainty, and thought he would return home at once. As he attempted to go in that direction, his enemies would pass in before him and snap and bark at him. He fired his rifle in the direction of them, screaming as loud as he could, and rushed at them, but could not drive them off. He soon saw he must have a hand-

to-hand fight with them in the dark, -.- and one was a very large, furious brute,-or he must try some other mode of escape. He climbed into the branches of a small tree that stood near where he was, and was compelled to remain, almost freezing, all night, while the vigilant beasts stood or jumped about as guard beneath him until dawn. He was so chilled by the cold that he shook the branches of the small tree by his shivering. He thought he would have his revenge in the morn- ing, but with daylight the wolves disappeared, and he was glad to escape from his perch and peril.

RUSSELL TOWNSHIP.

RUSSELL, the latest occupied and last organized township of the county, took its name, against the wishes of the people, from the first family who settled in it. To the people of Newbury, it used to be known as the " West woods."

Together with the eleven other southern townships, it was placed in the old Burton in 1806. In 1816 the townships numbers seven and eight in the ninth range were detached from Burton and erected into the township of Chester. In 1827, by another order of the county commissioners, number seven was set off from Chester, and became a township by the name of Russell.

In 1840-41, after the settlement of Chagrin Falls village, lying in both counties, Doctor Vincent, then representing Cuyahoga, and a resident of the new village, and Seabury Ford, Geauga, in the State Legislature, six lots out of tract three, the southwest corner of the township, were set off to help form a new township of Chagrin Falls, in the county of Cuyahoga. As a compensation, some nine hundred acres from the northeast part of Orange, east of the Chagrin, a broken, clayey region, was set to Russell. This was done without the previous knowledge of the people of Geauga, who were indignant, following as it did the dismember- ment of the county by the setting off of the county of Lake. They made vig- orous effort for a repeal of the act at the next session. Failing, they refused to have the slice of Orange, and so much of the law was rescinded.

Being number nine of the eighth range, it lies south of Chester and north of Bainbridge. Newbury adjoins her on the east, and Orange, in Cuyahoga county, on the west. When settled, the land was owned by Aristarchus and Henry Cham- pion, the heirs of Coit, the Kinsmans, Huntington, Mathews, and others.

Like the other townships, it was divided into three tracts by east and west parallel lines. The first, or northern, was divided into three tiers of sections of about three hundred acres each, numbered from the west to east. These are sub- divided into lots of sixty or eighty acres. The central tract,-two,-with less than half the area of either of the others, was divided in three divisions, east, central, and the Williams tract, and subdivided into lots numbered each tract by itself. The third, south, or Champion tract, into four tiers of sections, numbered from the southeast corner north and back, and subdivided into lots of various sizes.

ROADS AND HIGHWAYS.

The old Chillicothe, from Painesville to the old Territorial and early State capi- tal of that name, passes through its centre north and south ; established in 1802, and run out by General Edward Paine as the principal commissioner. The road from Cleveland, east, passes through the centre; laid out ere an inhabitant had broken the silence of her forests. Parallel with these, Russell came to be trav- ersed by county and township roads, about a mile distant from these and from each other.

The principal stream is the eastern branch of the Chagrin, rising in Chester, Munson, and Newbury, which at an early day was called " West Silver creek," which traverses the township from the northeast to the southwest corner. On its way it receives the waters of the Silver creek, from the southwest corner of Newbury, which also has a tributary from the west part of Newbury and the east part of Russell. There is also another considerable creek, rising in Chester, and running through the northwesterly section, following the trend of the first mentioned, southwest, while the main river, into which they empty, runs uni- formly north, and all are rapid streams. The surface is quite the most undu- lating of any part of the county; hilly and broken, almost cliffy along the streams. There are numerous fine springs in the township, the waters of one or two of which form a stream which divides with Munson the honor of being the home of the speckled trout, not found, it is supposed, elsewhere in Ohio. The soil is not

a very high medium for the county. The narrow ravines on the streams are fertile; the clayey beech hills, under which is a sandstone formation of miles, ex- tent, are not remarkable for productiveness. The timber was the usual variety, with a too large predominance of that not best adapted for rails, sawing, or build- ing purposes.

PIGEONS.

As early as 1826 the eastern part of the township, covered with a beech forest, was the resort of the passenger pigeons for rearing their young. Millions of them formed their flimsy nests of a few twigs on the horizontal branches of the beeches, at the insertion of smaller limbs, well adapted for their slight, ill-formed structures, with sometimes two or three hundred on a single tree, rearing but one or two in a nest. These young, under the care of their parents, became overgrown ere they could fly, and were known as " squabs," and sought for by sportsmen and gourmands from the surrounding country. Even after they left the nest they were found unable to rise from the weight of their overladen crops.

SETTLEMENTS.

Russell was the last to be peopled, of all the townships, and the most of her early inhabitants removed to her borders from the surrounding country. This is said by her historians to have resulted from the high prices at which the pro- prietors held the land. It was also due to the generally low estimate which pre- vailed, set upon her soil and timber.

The first known white inhabitants of the township were a family of Russells, in 1818; two years after, with what was called Wooster, it was erected into the township of Chester. Newbury was organized the year before Russell's settle- ment. Huntsburg and Middlefield were formed into the township of Batavia before, Kentstown (Bainbridge) and Troy (Auburn) became the township of Bain- bridge in 1817. Parkman was set up for herself, and Thompson also came to be organized,-all in March, 1817, before this tardy occupation of Russell. William Russell came and took up two hundred and twenty-five acres of land a mile south of the centre, on the Chillicothe; built a house, and the father, Ebenezer R., and family, moved into it in 1818. The family, with the elder, were the wife, William, Alpheus, Jemima, and Sarah. I think this family were from Massa- chusetts, were Presbyterians, and the father and mother were elderly when they came. They early had a trail connecting with the Walker, Hewitt, and Bachelder settlement, in the southwest part of Newbury, and another connecting them with the west part of Newbury. Sarah became the second wife of John Bachelder, and has two sons living, one the Rev. John Bachelder, in Vermont. One of the younger ones became. a physician, and practiced for a time in Newbury. Some of them became members of the First Congregational church, formed in Newbury in 1832. (See Newbury.) Of those who thus settled and gave their name to the township it is believed none are now living. The old Russell home- stead and farm are now part of the farm of Benjamin Matthews, who lives on it. The next who came into the township was Simeon Norton, his wife Sally, and daughter Melinda. He built south of the Russells half a mile, and back from the Chillicothe road. The Nortons, Simeon and Sally, had born to them Orson, March 31, 1821, whom Mr. Samuel Robinson, the historian of Russell, says was the first of white blood born in the township. After this performance they moved into Bainbridge, where said Orson still lives.

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History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 80

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

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