History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 82

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

USA > Ohio > Lake County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 82
USA > Ohio > Geauga County > History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio > Part 82

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).

It is to be remembered that during this period the villages have advanced in numbers, so that the whole loss of farming population cannot be exactly ascer- tained. This matter belongs rather to the general historian of the county than to me. It is too important and interesting to be passed in silence.

The reader will find at the end of each township history its population for the three periods, and can institute his own comparison. He will also remember there has at no time been an epidemic or other sanitary cause for the depopulation.

STATISTICS FOR 1878.

Wheat

231 acres.

3,861 bushels.

Osts ...

640

23,765

Corn

430

14,245 "

Potatoes

119

11,030 =

Orchards

240

Meadows

1756

1,723 tons.

Butter

46,285 pounds.

Cheese

225,450

Maple-sugar

32,395

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RIVER VIEW FROM YARD.

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

RESIDENCE OF HOMER H. MINE, PAINESVILLE, TP., LAKE Co., OHIO.

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HISTORY OF THE TOWNSHIPS AND VILLAGES

LAKE COUNTY, OHIO.

PAINESVILLE TOWNSHIP.

As early as 1798, when all this portion of the State was still covered with the primeval forests,-when wild men and wild beasts held undisputed sway over this lovely region,-when the deer and the antelope still came to drink the limpid waters of Lake Erie, and the bear and wolf roamed through the tangled under- growth that skirted the shores of Grand river, Edward Paine passed through what is now Painesville, on his way home from Cleveland to Connecticut. He was the first white man that we have any record of whose footsteps had pene- trated these hitherto unbroken wilds. Mr. Paine was struck with the beauty of the country and the majesty of its forests, had faith in the mighty future of the State, and upon his arrival home began his preparations to return to this Eldorado of the western world. But before his arrangements were completed another man had stepped in and taken the honor of being the first actual settler; Hon. John Walworth, who was born in Connecticut, in the year 1765, was this man. When but a mere boy he left home, and shipping on board a merchantman, spent nearly five years on the sea, visiting the South American States. Returning home, he married Julianna Morgan, of Groton, Connecticut, and about the year 1792 came to the new country, east of Cayuga lake. Here he remained until the year 1799, when he made a tour through the wild and more unexplored regions of the far west. Returning from his tour of exploration he came up the Mississippi and Ohio, and visited Cleveland, then a mere hunting settlement of two or three log cabins. The fall of this year he spent several weeks in hunting through the forests of what is now Lake County. It is said that he spent most of the winter of 1799-1800 in Mentor township. Being pleased with the beauty of the locality, immediately on his return to New York he went to Connecticut, where he purchased over two thousand acres of land in the present township of Paines- ville, and on February 20, 1800, commenced the removal of his family and effects to the new purchase. They came on as far as Buffalo in sleighs. At that place they were detained for two or three days, and one or two others joined the party. Leaving Buffalo they drove in two sleighs on the ice of the lake, and were fairly embarked for their new home. That day they proceeded until abreast of Catta- raugus creek, at which point they were about ten miles from Erie. As night came on and the sun set, cold and red, beyond the level horizon, they turned their horses' heads and drove towards the shore. About fifty or sixty rods from the bank of the lake they halted, and unhitching their teams there made their first camp. The Barr MSS. describes the peculiarly grand and impressive scene that night as follows :

" Beneath the feet of these hardy emigrants lay the clear, thick ice of the lake, and as far as the eye could reach, its level surface stretched away in front of them. In the background rose the lofty trees of the unbroken wilderness, stately, solemn, and majestic. The bright red fire-light flashed up among their sombre branches and illuminated the bare trunks and sturdy limbs, laden with snow, and the dark green of the giant evergreens with fitful gleams. Around stood the sleighs, and the tired cattle busily eating their evening provender, while here and there in the fitful shadows passed to and fro the forms of these leaders in the march of west- ern civilization. As night came on, one by one they stretched themselves upon blankets spread over the fragrant boughs of the hemlock, and soon all, save the solitary watcher, were forgetful of the scenes around, despite the hoot of the owl and the howl of the wolf."

Early the next morning they resumed their journey, and late in the afternoon of the following day they arrived at Presque Isle, now Erie, Pennsylvania. Here

Mr. Walworth left his family for a time, and returned to Buffalo for his goods. Returning to Erie he started with a hired man, two horses, and a yoke of cattle, and, following the lake shore, in a few days arrived safely at his new purchase. During the first fortnight after his arrival he lived in a tent, erected on the bank of Grand river. This was the first habitation used by white men in what is now the township of Painesville. Mr. Walworth soon returned on foot to Erie, and, early in the spring, brought out his family in a flat-boat, arriving at his new home April 8, 1800. The family consisted of a wife, three sons, and two daughters. The sons were John Periander, Horace, and Ashbel W. The last-named was after- wards collector at Cleveland, and died 1844. The daughters were Mrs. Dr. Long and Mrs. Dr. Strickland. Mr. Walworth removed to Cleveland in April, 1806, and died there on the 10th of September, 1812. He held numerous responsible offices, among which we find those of justice of the peace for Trumbull county, July 4, 1802 ; associate judge, April 14, 1803; postmaster at Painesville, No- vember 14, 1804; associate judge of Geauga County, January 23, 1806, etc. Mr. Walworth erected the first log house in Painesville.

In the year 1799, General Edward Paine, from Cayuga, New York, came to Painesville, and made purchase of one thousand acres of land, which is still desig- nated as the " Paine tract." He returned for his family, and in the latter part of April, 1800, arrived with them and began improvement, erecting his log cabin on the bank of Grand river, perhaps one mile north of Walworth's. His family were a wife and eight children. The biographical sketches relating to his family, to be found in another part of this work, will furnish the reader with much interesting matter not given above.

During the summer of 1800 there were two or three families, who made a short tarry in Painesville. The next actual settler was Anson Sessions, who arrived in October following the settlement of Messrs. Walworth and Paine. Mr. Sessions was born in the town of Windham, Connecticut, April 16, 1770. When about twenty years of age he removed to Cooperstown, New York. He joined the army under General Wayne, and was with him when the Indians, on the 21st of August, 1794, suffered such an overwhelming defeat that they never after- wards made serious head against the settlers in the northwest. After terminating his connection with the army, Mr. Sessions returned to Cooperstown, where he remained some three years, and then started on horseback for Ohio. Coming along the lake shore, he arrived in Painesville, as above stated. He, it is said, made the first actual sale of real estate in the township. This purchase consisted of one hundred and eighty acres of land; was purchased of Mr. Walworth, and for which he paid the sum of four dollars per acre. Immediately after he came in possession, he erected a log cabin on the hill near the river, just above the present Storrs, Harrison & Co.'s nursery ; being then unmarried, he induced Jesse Phelps and family, then residing in what is now Mentor township, to occupy his house, he and a hired man boarding with them. The most of the bottom land and portion of, the upland he soon cleared, and his next move was to set out a great number of fruit-trees. On December 16, 1804, Mr. Sessions was united in marriage to Aseneth A., daughter of Lemuel Fobes, who had removed from Norwich, Massachusetts, with his family the year previous. Mr. Sessions, in com- pany with Abraham Tappan, surveyed that portion of the Western Reserve lying west of the Cuyahoga river, comprising over eight hundred thousand acres. He died in August, 1827.

In November, 1800, two families came hither, and joined their fortunes with

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HISTORY OF GEAUGA AND LAKE COUNTIES, OHIO.

those of the new settlement. These were those of John Smith and Mr. Ellen- wood. Of their previous history we have no data; they landed on the beach at the mouth of Grand river in about the middle of the month above given. With the rigorous winter of a new country already commenced, without a home to shelter them, or provisions to carry them through, their prospects would have been dark indeed, had it not been for the kindness of those already accustomed to the life of a pioneer. They were brought to the house of Judge Walworth, where they remained until the settlers had assisted them to erect a log house for each. Ellen- wood settled near what was afterwards known as Richmond, just on the brow of the hill leading down to the flats; he only remained a few years. Smith's house was built on the hill leading to the " Arch bridge" east of Seth Marshall.

From this time until 1802 we find the following names of settlers in Paines- ville : Jesse Phelps, who lived just below where stands the flouring-mill of S. Bigler; Wilson, Bridges, Pollock, and Jackman. Eleazar Paine and Abraham Skinner purchased jointly a tract of land, consisting of two thousand three hundred acres, including Fairport, and extending north along Grand river to the present site of Painesville. Mr. Paine was originally of East Windsor, Hartford county, Con- necticut. His family consisted of a wife and six children, as follows: Hendrick E., now living at Monmouth, Illinois, age eighty-nine years ; Franklin, resides in Painesville, and although he has attained the ripe age of eighty-seven years, yet has been able to give us many interesting items of early history. The remainder of the family were Aurel, Charles C. Eleazar, and Mary, who are deceased.

Abraham Skinner came to Painesville from East Hartford, Connecticut, made the joint purchase above referred to, returned to the East, and in March, 1805, reached Painesville with his family, consisting of a wife and five children. The journey was made by teams, and much of the distance on the ice. Mary, the eldest of this family, became the wife of Homer Hine, an attorney at Youngstown, Ohio, in which city she resided until 1872, her husband dying meanwhile. She returned at above date to Painesville, and is now an occupant of the beautiful home of her son, Augustus Hine, on Mentor avenue. Abram A., the next child, is dead; Pauline, the third, married Nathan Perry, and at present resides in Cleveland; R. Washington, deceased 1872; and Augustus, the youngest, lives near the old homestead. Mr. Skinner was connected with many of the early im- provements of Painesville; laid out the village of Fairport. The first court of Geauga County was held at his house, and he afterwards constructed a log court- house and jail. At "Skinner's Landing" there was once a number of warehouses. Nothing now remains, and but little of Fairport. He died in January, 1826, and Mrs. Skinner, in October, 1812.

In June, 1804, Joseph Pepoon, from Hebron, Tolland county, Connecticut, arrived in Painesville and made a location on the farm now owned by General Jack Casement, erecting his house a short distance north, and on the opposite side of the road from the present elegant residence of General Casement. The journey from the far-distant East was performed by the aid of a yoke of cattle and one span of horses. The family who came with him were a wife and five children. These were Silas, Nancy, Joseph, Benjamin, and Augustus. But two of this family are now living, viz., Benjamin, who resides in Painesville township, on lot six, tract two, and Augustus, who now resides in Kirtland. Mr. Pepoon, the elder, in 1806 or 1807, erected a saw-mill on or near the site of the present " Mud mill," something like a mile east of Grand river. He was a heavy purchaser of lands in Painesville, owning at first five hundred acres of land on the east side of the river. Judge Walworth being agent at the time, prior to the erection of the mill, he purchased one hundred acres, upon which to erect the same. He died June 15, 1812. The mother lived to see her sons and daughters grow to manhood and womanhood. She died January, 1840.

Samuel Huntington arrived in Painesville, and made settlement on the land still occupied by his heirs ; this was in April, 1807. From his memoir, published in the Painesville Telegraph, we glean the following: He was born at Norwich, Connecticut, in 1765. Graduating at Yale College in 1785, he in due time began the practice of the law in his native town ; was married about 1793. We find that he made a horseback journey to Ohio, arriving in Youngstown, July 25, 1800. He was admitted to practice in the courts of Ohio at Marietta, October 24 of same year. Late the same fall he returned to his home in Connecticut, and making the necessary preparations started in a covered wagon, with his wife and young family, for the West, and arrived at Youngstown early in the year 1801, where they remained a few months, and then removed to Cleveland. He re- mained there until the date first given, when he became a resident of Painesville. The children were Francis, Martha, Julian C., Colbert, and Robert Giles. Of this family but two are now living, viz., Colbert, who resides on Erie street, Paines- ville, and Julian C., who lives with a daughter at Ashtabula, Ohio. Mr. Hun- tington ascended all the steps of official position, being elected governor of the State of Ohio from 1806 to 1808, filling that position in an eminently worthy manner. He died in February, 1817.

In 1800 came George Calwell from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and purchased of the Connecticut Land Company three hundred acres of land at ten shillings an acre. His purchase embraces within its limits the present city of Painesville. The company's agent-Lemuel G. Storrs-urged him to take three hundred acres more, but the sandy nature of the soil and the wild appearance of the country at that time dissuaded him. He built his cabin on the spot where Taylor's harness- shop is located, and being a blacksmith by trade erected a shop on the lot ad- ·joining that on the west, on which the " City mills" are located. Some fifteen or twenty years afterwards he sold this farm, and purchased one on the South Ridge, a portion of which is now occupied by Harvey Woodworth. He subse- quently moved into Perry and purchased, and there died in 1846. In January of 1796 he married Mary Thomas, and became the father of twelve children, of whom the following named are living : Lydia, now Mrs. Henry Barker, resides in Michigan ; Mary became the wife of Salmon Cone, and lives on the South Ridge, in Painesville; George, who resides at Fairport, married Amanda L., daughter of Delano and Olive Dexter; she came to Painesville when sixteen years of age. Jonathan also lives near the lake shore in this township. He married Amanda Beam (deceased), and subsequently Jane Williamson.

General Eli Bond, one of the earliest settlers of Painesville, was the son of Captain Thomas Bond, of Brookfield, Massachusetts, and was born March 18, 1782. He remained there until the age of twenty-one, when he determined to " go west," and on horseback journeyed to Painesville. He, jointly with his father and brother, owned a large tract of land in what was then called Bonds- town (now Hambden), Geauga County, and in townships adjoining. He was empowered by the other proprietors to sell the lands, and after disposing of a por- tion of them returned to his native State, but not to remain long, however.

In 1805, he again came to Ohio, bringing with him a small stock of dry-goods, with which he opened the pioneer store of Painesville. There was in those days but little demand for goods of this class, the people making their own clothing of flax and wool of their own raising, except on wedding occasions when a few fancy goods were required. His trade, however, came from a large extent of territory, some thirty miles distant, and he consequently did a thriving business, so far as the. volume of trade is concerned, receiving little cash. General Bond became the owner of a large amount of real estate in and around Painesville, but lost a great deal of property by endorsing with others. In June, 1815, he was elected sheriff of Geauga County, holding the office four years. During the war of 1812 he was appointed a contractor for the northwest army, under General Har- rison. In 1815 he became quartermaster of the First Regiment, Fourth Brigade, Fourth Division of Ohio Militia, and the following year received the appoint- ment of colonel. In 1818, he was commissioned major-general, by Governor Trimble, and appointed to the command of the Ninth Division. This commis- sion he held until his death. In 1813, he married Sarah E., daughter of Deacon Ichabod Pomeroy, who came to Ohio from Massachusetts, in 1808.

The death of Mr. Bond occurred March 18, 1830, dying on his birthday, his family consisting at the time of his wife and six children. His widow, two sons, and a daughter only survive. The former resides in Chicago, with her son, T. N. Bond, and is in her eighty-eighth year. The latter, Mrs. Asa Childs, resides in Painesville. Merritt P. is the other son. General Bond erected on the old homestead of Captain Skinner the first framed house in (then) Geauga County, the nails used in the construction of which he carried in his saddle-bags from Utica, New York.

Zenas and Benjamin Blish came from Massachusetts to Ohio in 1804. Re- turned and brought their families. The year following, Benjamin settled on the farm adjoining that on which George Bliss now resides. Of his large family of nine children, only two are now living, viz., Mrs. Clara Dille, who lives in Cuya- hoga county, at the age of eighty-six, and Mrs. Nancy Perkins in Auburn, Geauga County, aged seventy-five.

Hezekiah King came to Ohio in February, 1807. He made the trip from Cheshire county, Massachusetts, by teams, located in Middlefield, Geauga County, where he resided until February, 1811, when he removed to Painesville, living for one year in a house then standing pearly across the street from the present residence of C. A. Avery. (This house was the second frame one erected in Painesville, now occupied by the widow Huntington.) He next purchased the log tavern, standing on what is now the Taylor property, east of L. L. Parmly's block. This was the pioneer tavern in Painesville, and was erected in about 1807. Mr. King was host of this house at least twenty-five years. He died in May, 1863. Mrs. King died December 23, 1852.

Benaiah Jones, from Hinsdale, Massachusetts, settled in Painesville in 1808, on the farm since divided and now owned by McMakin and L. Stirling. As the family were passing the house of General Paine, the number of young ladies- three daughters-accompanying Mr. Jones, not a frequent sight then, attracted the general's attention, and he remarked to his sons, "There, boys, are some

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ESIDENCE - W. L. PERKINS , PAINESVILLE , O.

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

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HISTORY OF GEAUGA AND LAKE COUNTIES, OHIO.

wives for you;" the sequel of which was that one daughter, Frances, afterwards became the wife of the general's son, Asahel. Of the children two are now living, viz., Mrs. Harcey Abels, in Perry, and Mrs. Jonathan Goldsmith, who resides about a mile and a half west of Painesville, and is nearly ninety-two years old. Mr. Goldsmith was the first architect in Painesville, and built, among others, the house of C. A. Avery, and those of Judge Hitchcock and Judge Paige.

Samuel Butler, of Fairport, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, September 4, 1794. He came to Fairport in the year 1816. His history is inseparably con- nected with that of the place. In earlier days he was a sort of trader, trafficking in wood, provisions, etc. He was also for a long time a keeper of the light-house there. In 1827 he was elected to represent Geauga County in the State legis- lature, and served one year. In the spring of 1861 he was appointed deputy collector of customs at Fairport, which office he still retains.

December 4, 1816, he married Mary P. Welsh, daughter of Isaac Welsh, who came into the county from Boston in 1815. He was one of the original propri- etors of the township of Troy, Geauga County. He owned three thousand acres in that township, and some two thousand in Cuyahoga county. A few years since Mr. Butler's mind was full of the memories of early historical events, but his memory is now much impaired. His wife died in 1859. Of his three children but one is living-Henry-who resides at Fairport.

Malcolm Crofoot arrived in Painesville in the year 1819, emigrating from Cayuga county, New York. He was the father of nine children, only four of whom came to Ohio. Two of these are now living, Gideon in Painesville, aged eighty-two, and Dudley in Le Roy, in his seventy-ninth year. He was married in 1824, to Edith, a daughter of Caleb Bates. She died in 1831. She was the mother of four children, one of whom, Joel, resides in Le Roy ; two, John and Edith, in Indiana, and Aurelia in Iowa. In 1834 he married Roxana Wood- ward, by whom he has had six children, five of whom are living, as follows: Hannah, Laura A., and Frauk, in Le Roy, and Albert and Isaac in Painesville.

William Palmer, from Massachusetts originally, came to Ohio from Connecticut at an early date, but when, we are unable to state.

Edwin Palmer, from Litchfield, Connecticut, came to the village of Painesville in 1825. His occupation was that of carpenter and joiner. He eventually moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, of which port he was at one time collector of customs, having charge of that entire region between Milwaukee and Chicago.

His brother, Jerome Palmer, settled in Painesville, in 1831. For further mention, see biographical sketch.

Milo Harris, L. L. Lathrop, David D. Aiken, were early settlers.

Zophar Warner settled in Painesville in 1818, coming from Dutchess county, New York, but originally from Connecticut. After remaining perhaps a year in Painesville, he removed to Le Roy, settling north of the centre. Here he was subsequently murdered by Benjamin Wright, whose execution was the first in the county. There are two sons now living, Zophar and Carlos, both in Willoughby.

John J. Corkens emigrated to New York from the Isle of Man in about the year 1825, and, after a residence of two or three years in New York city and on Long Island, removed to the Western Reserve, arriving in Painesville in 1828. He engaged at work for the Geauga Iron Company, where he remained for about two years, and then removed to Mentor, and settled on Mentor plains, on land now owned by his son-in-law, Seba French. He died here the first year of his settlement, and his widow many years subsequently, about 1860. Of his six children three are now living, as follows : John, near Painesville, with his son William H. Corkens, and is nearly seventy-two years of age. His wife died about sixteen years since. Mrs. D. Valleau lives in Mentor, and is upwards of sixty, and Mrs. Seba French, who also resides in Mentor, is fifty years of age.

Captain Oliver Andrews became a resident of this county in 1834, residing for the first three years in Montville, and then removing in the spring of 1837 to Painesville towuship. The captain was a resident of Fairport in its more pros- perous days, and was government inspector of the port for a number of years. He is now in the eighty-first year of his age, hale and hearty. He has a son, Captain J. H. Andrews, who is known as one of the best captains on the lakes, and who has been the hero of some extremely hardy and daring adventures, both by land and water. Mr. Andrews, senior, held the office of justice of the peace at one time, and was constable for a period of ten years.

Among the more recent arrivals was that of J. M. Benjamin, who came from Richford, Tioga county, New York, in 1852, settling in Painesville, where he has since resided. He has held the office of sheriff of Lake County, and also various township offices.

The first school in Painesville was taught by Abraham Tappan, in about the year 1805, in a small log cabin standing on the bank of the river near General Paine's. There were, perhaps, one dozen children in attendance. Another, and undoubtedly the next, school was taught " up town" the subsequent summer by

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History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio, Part 82

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

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