USA > Ohio > Huron County > History of Huron County, Ohio, Its Progress and Development, Volume I > Part 25
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The first sawmill in the township was built by Judah Ransom, on Indian creek, in the spring of 1826. There were other saw mills erected later. The Chaffee mill, in the third section ; the Miles mill, at the center, and the Thomas mill at Olena.
LYME TOWNSHIP.
Lyme township was originally embraced in the present township of Groton, in Erie county, and was called "Wheatsborough," after Mr. Wheat, who owned a large tract of land in it. It was afterwards organized by itself, and called Lyme; many of its first settlers having emigrated from a town of that name in Connecticut.
The general aspect of the township is level prairie, interspersed with ridges, covered with groves of young oaks and hickories. In many places on the prairie cottonwood trees have sprung up. The west part of the township was formerly covered by a heavy growth of oak timber. The soil of the prairies is generally a mixture of black muck and sand, while gravel and clay abound on the timber part.
Quarries of lime stone have been opened in the west part of the township, which supplies stone for building and making lime. A common kind of stone is found in the center for building purposes.
Pipe and Pike creeks arise in the township, which run northward into Groton. Stull brook originates in Sherman and runs a northeasterly course through the township and enters Huron river at Ridgefield. A large creek which arises in Seneca county crosses the south part of this townshhip and enters the Huron river south of Monroeville.
Deer used to roam over the prairies, affording fine sport for the Indians and other hunters, to chase in the fall of the year after the prairies had been burned over, which was done every year. Wolves and bears sometinies troubled the sheep.
The history of the settlement of the west is of constantly recurring interest. The enterprise, intrepidity and self-denial of the pioneers who left the comforts and privileges of their eastern homes and came to the Firelands, then a far-off region, associated in the minds of civilized people with savage wild beasts and Indians, must always command our highest respect and admiration. They en- dured hardships and privations without number, not for their own advantages merely-for they well knew that old age would steal upon them long before they should enjoy the fruits of their toil-but for their children and their children's children, that to them they might leave a goodly heritage. The most of those truly, but unconsciously, heroic men and women, have long rested from their labors, but the good they accomplished remains, the blessings they secured and transmitted endure, and are now the precious legacy of a happy, prosperous and intelligent posterity.
Scattering settlements had been made in all the townships along the lake shore prior to the war of 1812; but the surrender of Detroit by General Hull, exposed that portion of country to the ravages of the enemy, that a general exodus of the settlers, southward, followed, and it remained almost entirely de- nuded of inhabitants until the signal victories, on both land and water, of the
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forces of the United States, rendered it safe for the former residents to return to their abandoned and, in many cases, ruined homes.
The early settlement of Lyme, like that of most of her sister townships, was never very rapid. Much of the land was owned by minor heirs, and entangled with unsettled estates ; more had been bought up by speculators and held by them at either so high a figure as to greatly retard immigration, or not offered for sale at all; and besides all this, government land adjoining, so soon as it came into market, could be had for less than half the price generally at which the Fire- lands' tracts were held.
The first settler was Conrad Hawks, who penetrated the thick woods of Lyme in the year 1808. His location was in the northeast corner of the town- ship on the farm afterwards so long occupied by John F. Adams.
The first building erected was the log dwelling of Conrad Hawks, built in 1808. The first frame house was erected by Colonel Nathan Strong, in the year 1817, on the Bemiss place. The first brick dwellings were those of John F. Adams and Horatio Long, built in 1827.
The first settlement at Hunt's Corners was made in the southeast part by several families named Sutton, and the locality has since been known as the "Sutton Settlement," or Hunt's Corners. Levi Sutton, a native of Virginia, bargained for the Moses Warren tract, consisting of eleven hundred and ten acres, for one thousand dollars, and came on and took possession in the fall of 18II.
In 1818, Asaph, Erastus and Israel Cook came with their father, who settled at Cook's corners near the eastern line of Lyme. They built a large treading mill and dry house for dressing and cleaning hemp without rotting. This busi- ness excited considerable interest and was expected to prove profitable to the owners and the community.
The first saw mill was built in the south part of the township on Frink run by Levi Sutton, in 1814 or 1815. Another saw mill was built about 1830, on a creek which drains the prairies in the west part of the township in Bellevue. It was afterwards used for a brewery.
A tannery was built about 1827, by Horatio Long, on a few acres of land purchased by him near the line of Abner Nims and Zadoc Strong. He carried on the business of tanning and shoemaking some ten or twelve years, when he discontinued the business and became a farmer.
John C. Kinney came to Lyme about 1828, and opened a blacksmith shop near the corner of lot twelve or thirteen.
Mary Ann Strong, daughter of Francis and Mary Curtis Strong, was the first child born in the township. The date of her birth was August 3, 1817. She became the wife of Isaac D. Collins in 1840, and died a short time afterwards. The pioneer nuptials were those of Burwell Fitch and Susan Hawks, celebrated in the winter of 1816 and 1817. They settled in Sherman township, where they resided until their death. The next marriage was that of Ira Bassett and Polly Hand. which took place in the spring of 1817.
The year 1834 will long be remembered as the one signalized by the first visit of that fearful scourge, the cholera, to this country. On the 20th of August, in that year, the wife of Mr. Sheffield was taken with that fearful disease, and
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died in a few hours. The old famiy Bible contains a record of her death in his own hand writing. On the 22d he was himself taken with the same disease, and died just after midnight on the 23d.
NORWALK TOWNSHIP.
Norwalk township was incorporated by act of legislature, February 11, 1828. The following are the two first sections of the act of incorporation :
Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That so much of the township of Norwalk, in the county of Huron, as lies within the following boundaries, to-wit: Commencing at the southeast corner of the town plat of Norwalk, in the center of the road leading to Medina, running along the south side of the back alley as far as it extends, from thence in the same direc- tion to the center of the road passing widow Tice's dwelling, a distance of two hundred and sixteen rods from the starting point ; thence along the center of said road forty rods : thence northeastwardly and parallel with the first line to the center of the road passing Ebenezer Lane's dwelling to Milan, a distance of two hundred and sixteen rods; thence along the center of said road forty rods to the place of beginning, be and the same is hereby created a town corporate, and shall henceforth be known and distinguished by the name of the town of Norwalk.
Sec. 2. That it shall be lawful for the white male inhabitants of said town, having the qualifications of electors of members of the general assembly, to meet at some convenient place in said town, on the first Monday of May next, and the first Monday of May annually thereafter, and then and there proceed, by a plur- ality of votes, to elect by ballot one mayor, one recorder and five trustees, who shall have the qualifications of electors; and the persons so elected shall hold their office for one year, and until their successors shall be chosen and qualified, and they shall constitute the town council.
FIRST CORPORATION ELECTION.
The following is taken from the first pages of the first book of record of the corporation of Norwalk, and comprises the poll-book and tally sheet of the first election held as an incorporated village :
Poll-book of the election held in the town of Norwalk, in the county of Huron, and state of Ohio, this fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight. Joseph C. Curtiss, Benjamin Carmon and Wm. Gallup, judges, and Geo. T. Buckingham, clerk, of this election, were severally sworn as the law directs previous to their entering on the duties of their respec- tive offices.
"Norwalk and Bronson were together as an election district from 1817 (the time of their first organization) to 1822. For a part of this time Fairfield was included in the same organization, making an election district five miles wide and fifteen miles long, the same being called Norwalk ; and while so together, all the elections were held in the part called Norwalk proper."
The first election in Norwalk township was held at the house of Hanson Reed in April, 1817. Norwalk and Bronson were at this time organized as an election district.
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Hanson Reed's house was situated on the east side of the road leading from near the water works to the Fairfield road, and about thirty rods from the lat- ter road.
Soon after Hull's surrender at Detroit in August of 1812, Thomas, son of Abijah Comstock, was born on section two of Norwalk. When he was only a few days old, his parents had to flee from their home to escape the Indians, which they did just in time, taking him and their other valuables with them, for the night after their departure their house was burned. This was the first white child born in Norwalk.
The first death of which he has found any record, was that of Angeline Lewis. She was the daughter of Samuel B. and Amy Lewis; born at South Salem. Westchester county, New York, probably in the fall of 1814; was brought by her parents to Norwalk in the spring of 1815, and died September 1, 1817. She was probably the child stolen by two squaws, and rescued by her mother, of which an account is given in the history of Samuel B. Lewis.
In the spring or summer of 1815, Hanson Reed, then living in Greenfield, pur- chased of Samuel B. Lewis, the place upon which Mr. Lewis had erected a house the previous year.
He soon moved in with his family, and in 1816 or 1817, commenced building a sawmill on the creek which runs through the present L. B. Mesnard and S. J. Rogers farms, on the north side of the Fairfield road, and a few rods to the west of the stone bridge over that creek. In erecting this mill, he was assisted by his father-in-law, Mr. Abraham Powers. Soon after its completion, it was destroyed by fire. The two men then made a workshop of the house, and com- menced work on the machinery of another mill, and in about five weeks had it completed, running and doing a good business, but when the fall rains came on, a freshet swept away their dam. They were now without funds, all having been put into building and re-building, but were not discouraged; the dam was soon replaced. and then they began to plan for a gristmill attachment to the sawmill, and carried their plans into execution in a year or two afterwards.
In 1806 Nathan S. Comstock, in company with several others, started on an exploring expedition to "spy out the country" where their new possessions lay. They spent some time in looking over the country, but not being provided with suitable maps or guides, were not certain they found the particular land they were in search of.
1809 .- Early in the spring of this year, Nathan engaged the services of Darius Ferris and Elijah Hoyt to accompany him on a second expedition to Nor- walk with the intention of making a permanent settlement. They started with a span of horses and wagon and such tools as would be necessary in clearing and building. At Buffalo they found it impracticable to proceed further with their wagon, so a small boat was purchased, into which their goods were packed, with the addition of a barrel of whisky. Two of them manned the boat, and pro- ceeded up the lake, keeping near the shore, while the other took charge of the horses, and traveled overland, keeping near the lake. In this manner they reached the mouth of Huron river.
There were at that time quite a number of Indian settlements along that river, the largest of which was where the village of Milan now stands, and was
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called Pequatting. They were Moravians, in charge of a missionary named Frederick Drake, and had a mission house. Being very friendly, they offered the new comers the use of their mission house until a structure could be erected to shelter them. A site was selected for the new house in section two. near a spring, and in the immediate neighborhood of the fine brick residence erected a few years ago by Philo Comstock, Esq., in section three of Norwalk. After cutting the logs, the few white men then in the country, were invited to assist in putting up the house.
This was the first house erected by white men, in the township of Norwalk, of which any record can be traced, and was, most probably, the pioneer house. It was not covered by a mansard roof ; the windows were not set with crown- plate glass ; the front door was not of carved walnut, nor mahogany; the back door did not exist ; its floor was not covered with a brussels carpet ; there was no piano and no sewing machine within its walls ; upon the marble-topped center table (which was not there) lay no daily morning paper containing the latest telegraph news and the last time card of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad, nor even that of the Wheeling & Lake Erie railroad company. In fact, it was no palatial residence, but rough and strong, and made for service like the strong-willed, iron-handed men who built it. Its roof was made of "shakes:" its walls of rough logs ; its floor was the face of mother-earth, carpeted with the moss of the growth of ages ; the bedsteads were "bunks" with poles for springs, and their mattresses were sacks filled with leaves and mosses : its cooking range was a brass kettle hung on a pole supported by two crotched sticks driven into the floor, and its chimney was a hole left open in the roof. Rough, uncouth, homely, yet it was a home,-the first home of Norwalk.
The house having been erected, they next commenced a clearing of about ten acres which they completed, in a manner, and sowed to wheat that fall.
NEW LONDON TOWNSHIP.
New London township was settled prior to any township adjacent, and the first settlement was within what is now the village. The first settlers were Abner Green, wife and three daughters, in the month of February, 1815, and located on lot number ten, third section. Here Mr. Green erected the first log house-a small cabin-using basswood bark as covering or roofing. His furniture, or rather cook- ing apparatus, and farming tools and implements were few and very simple. His- tory tells us they were conveyed on his back in a box or "chest captured from Gen- cral Proctor." Green was born in the state of Vermont at a day sufficiently early for him to be a revolutionary soldier, though the date of his birth is unknown- probably, about 1758. He served also during the war of 1812 as sergeant.
Mr. Green cleared some two or three acres of ground in 1815, and raised the first crop of corn in the township, and the historian is informed he had a good crop. cultivated by the use of the ax and the hoe He was noted as an honest, indus- trious, patriotic, and religious person, often holding religious meetings, and the then boys say he did good preaching. He also erected a cabin and lived for a few years on lot number twenty-four, second section. Thence in 1823 he moved to the
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southern part of Ohio, and died about 1826, from, as is supposed, the effect of a wound received in the battle of Fort Malden, under General William H. Harrison.
The township of New London was organized in 1817, and the first election was held at the house of Mr. William Sweet, on the first Monday in April. William Sweet. Isaac P. Case and Solomon Hubbard were trustees; Sherman Smith was township clerk ; Hosea Townsend and B. Crampton were appraisers ; Philo T. Porter was constable, and H. Townsend acted as lister. The early records of the township were burned, with all the furniture in the house, at the time Sherman Smith and brother's house was burned, in 1818 or '19, and the want of any record con pels us to say we do not know who was elected in the spring of 1818. It is conceded there was no fall election in 1817. The first state election was held in 1818, and the poll book shows twenty votes, which at the ratio now given for boys, giris, and women (and many of the early pioneers had large families of boys and girls) would give the town somewhere from sixty to one hundred inhabitants.
The township very naturally took the name of New London from the fact that N. Douglass, N. Richards, and the Ledyards, were the principal, or largest original proprietors, or sufferers ; and they resided in New London, Connecticut. The name of the township has never been changed since its first settlement.
The settlement of this township was delayed by the war of 1812-15, and again from the disputes of title from 1820 to '25, which will be more fully noticed here- after, it being the cause of the greatest law suit ever affecting the settlers on the Firelands.
The surface of the township is generally level, though, in many portions in the vicinity of the water courses, it is quite rolling, and other portions may be classed as gently undulating. It was originally, with the exception of a small por- tion in the fourth section, known as the cranberry marsh, all densely covered by timber. The principal varieties of wood were black walnut ; elm of several varie- ties-rock, red and white ; maple-hard and soft ; beech ; oak-white, yellow and black ; basswood, whitewood, hickory, white and black ash, cherry, dogwood and willow. There has been no particular change in the forest, except the almost en- tire disappearance, by use. The soil is very productive-well adapted to grass, small grains, corn, vegetables and berries-clayey, or marl, with a slight prepon- derance of the clay, and. in the third section, sandy ; while rich, deep muck, is abun- dant in the fourth section. It is about equally well adapted to the dairy products. hay, grain or stock raising. Fruits of several kinds and varieties do well. In short. for fertility and productiveness, very few, if any town on the Firelands, can sur- pass this. At an early day in the settlement of the township, quite a large portion of the third and fourth sections were deemed as low land and swampy ; now, all or nearly all is drained and is tillable.
The streams running through the town are two. One running northwardly through the fourth and third sections, is formed by Skellenger's creek, Knowlton's creek and Carpenter's creek, uniting with the Vermillion river in the township of Clarksfield. as its east branch; and Rawson's creek, uniting with other small stream's and making East creek, a west branch of Black river. The various creeks and streams are fed by many springs, which render this section of the county quite well watered.
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The first road opened was the Read, a military road from the south side of the county to the lake on the west line of New London, in 1812. The second road was for the passage of the army of General Wm. H. Harrison's division, 1814, through the northeast corner of the township. The first road made by the pioneers was what is known as the Clarksfield road to Ruggles, commenced 1816
The first mail matter was obtained at Huron, Judge Jabez Wright, postmaster, Dr. Richard P. Christopher keeping the office for the Judge. The next was ob- tained at Norwalk. The first mail route was from Tiffin to New London-a man in southern Ohio taking the contract for carrying the mail, but mistaking New London for London in the central part of the state, he gave up his con- tract, and it was then carried by Squire Palmer, of Fitchville, from Fitchville to Tiffin and back, once a week; and by Tracy Case and Hosea Townsend from Fitchville to the office of I. P. Case, postmaster, for the revenue of the office. This was under J. Q. Adams' administration. Under Jackson's administration Peter Kinsley officiated as postmaster at "Kinsley Corners," or Merrifield's Set- tlement. The first route through the township was from Florence to Uniontown, or Ashland.
The first religious organization was in the log school house where Miss Sophia Case was teaching ; organized by Mr. James Haney, in 1816, a Methodist from Savannah ( then known as Haneytown). Mr. Haney had about thirty lis- teners. Probably this was the first class, and from which, as a nucleus, the Methodist church sprang.
The first birth occurred on the 29th day of February, 1816. Unto John Hendryx's wife was born a son.
The first adult death was that of Mrs. Francis Keyes, who died of consump- tion in May, 1819, and was buried on their own lot, near John King's orchard. Mrs. Polly Day, daughter of John Corry and wife of John Day, died in the autumn of 1820, and was buried on her father's farm, being the first buried in the village cemetery.
The first house erected was by Abner Green, on lot number ten, third section, February, 1815, and the first frame house by Hosea Townsend on lot number twenty-three, third section. The first frame barn was built by I. P. Case, and the first log store (a building twenty-four by thirty-six) in 1819, on his place. The first frame store was William C. Spaulding's, on lot number seven, third section. The first boy born in a frame house in the town was Ira Townsend.
The first corn was raised by Abner Green, and the first wheat carried to mill was by Hosea Townsend, to Uniontown, now Ashland. The first flour and meal was obtained at Florence.
The first manufacturer of boots and shoes was I. P. Case, in 1815. The first black salts or potash was made by Josiah Day and his father, Dr. Samuel Day. The first orchards from the seeds were planted by H. Townsend, William Sweet, John Corry, and Francis Keyes, in 1820 and '22. The first grist mill was put up by Captain William Blackman in 1826, and was a small concern-two sand-stones turned by hand. The first brick building was erected in the fall of 1865 and in the summer of 1866. Was used by Thomas Smith as a cellar. The Masonic hall was built the following year. The first brick store was built by C. W. Gregory in the village in 1866.
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VIEW FROM STACK ROOM, PUBLIC LIBRARY, NORWALK
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PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR. LAMAX AND TILDEN For. D.T.ONS R
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The first school house was in the third section, on lot number thirteen, in 1816, and Miss Sophia Case, daughter of I. P. Case, was the first teacher, and had fifteen scholars. The first school house in the fourth section, or in the vil- lage, was on lot two, a little north of B. B. Mead's residence, and Peter Kinsley taught the first school in 1818; he had about twenty pupils.
When the first white men settled in New London, the black bears and wolves were the most formidable; deer, raccoon, otter, sable and gray fox, wild turkeys, beaver, wild cat, hedgehog and fishers, or pekans, abounded to a limited extent. The deer and wild turkeys became far more abundant about 1822 evidently com- ing into the town from the cast; and the wolves appeared to follow the deer.
There were Indian camping grounds on farms in the second section, but no villages. The hunters of the Delaware and Wyandot nations frequented their old grounds for a few years after the white man came.
The first physician was Dr. Samuel Day in the second section in 1817 or 1818. He was a botanic, and did some practice by the use of indigenous plants and herbs. He died December 31, 1839.
NEW HAVEN TOWNSHIP.
New Haven township was so named after New Haven, Connecticut, from the fact that nearly all the early settlers were from that state, and one of the principal land owners, who inherited or purchased a large portion of the land in the township from the original grantees of soil, lived in New Haven, Con- necticut.
It is mostly a level township, but in some places rolling. The soil in the southwestern part is a black sandy loam; in the north and eastern part it is more of a clay soil, or clay mixed with sand. There is a stone quarry in the southern part from which large amounts of stone have been taken for building purposes, but was more suited for flagging or foundations than for block work. But it was an important addition and convenience to the settlers of the township, for it furnished building material for far and near.
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