USA > Ohio > Huron County > History of Huron County, Ohio, Its Progress and Development, Volume I > Part 26
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The principal water course in the township is the Huron river, having its source a few miles south of the southern boundary of the township, thence north until it finds an outlet into Lake Erie, at Huron. It increases in size quite rapidly. It receives quite an accession to its waters before leaving the township, the first of which is called Rice's run, which puts in from the east and intersects the river during the first two miles of its travel; the second is a stream having its source in the extreme southwestern limits of the township, running north until it inter- sects with the river. It drains a large extent of the level land, or marsh lands, and is for this reason called Marsh river, and when its waters mingle with those of the river it is of considerable volume.
The southern boundary of this township forms the line between Huron and Richland counties. In the southwestern part of the township there is a large extent of marsh lands, but these have been drained and are largely under culti- vation.
At an early day there were to be seen the remains of an ancient fortification, situated in the western part, and within the boundaries of the town plat. Its
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embankments were in a circular form, plainly and distinctly marked, and trees of a large size were growing upon them.
There were no Indian villages or settlements within this township, but there were numerous bands going and coming continually from the neighboring Wyandot settlement, and on the eastern bank of the river there is said to have been an Indian burial ground.
The first settlement made in this township was sometime before the war with Great Britain, supposed to be about 1810 or 1811, by Caleb Palmer, a surveyor, whose calling brought him into this part of the country, although he then lived in Trumbull county. A small settlement was then made, and Palmer put up the first log cabin in the township in 1811, about one mile northeast of the present village of New Haven, on the road leading to Norwalk. Woodstock and New- comb also came at a very early date.
The settlement increased quite fast during the years 1814 and 1815. During these two years. Josiah Curtiss. Reuben Skinner, Jas. MacIntyre, David Powers, Samuel B. Carpenter, John Barney, Samuel Knapp. Martin M. Kellogg, the In- schos, Henry Barney, Royal N. Powers, Chism May. Calvin Hutchinson, George Beymer. Wm. Clark, Jacob Specker. Rouse Bly, Joseph Dana, John Alberson, George Shirel. Matthew Bevard, William York, Prince Haskell. Stephen Stil- well, and many others cast their fortunes with the settlement.
The first election in New Haven township was held on the 17th of August, 1815. John Barney was chairman: Josiah Curtiss and Stephen D. Palmer, judges ; Daniel Powers and James McIntyre. Jr., clerks. Following are the names of the officers at that time elected: Samuel B. Carpenter, clerk : Robert Inscho, John Barney, Martin M. Kellogg, trustees ; James McIntyre, Chisim May, overseers of the poor: Samuel Knapp. Reuben Skinner, fence viewers ; Stephen D. Palmer, Henry Barney, supervisors ; Calvin Hutchinson, Samuel Knapp, ap- praisers : Calvin Hutchinson, constable ; Caleb Palmer, treasurer.
The first white child born within the limits of New Haven township, was Ruth, daughter of Caleb and Hariet Palmer. She was born April 29, 1813. She married Jesse Youngs.
George Beymer was the first person who died in New Haven. He settled in the township in 1815, and died June 24, 1817, after a long illness, contracted while he was in Franklin county, Ohio. A large family was bereft of a father when he was removed, and because of this fact, and also as it was the first time that death had invaded the settlement, the occasion was one of the intensest sor- row. An old settler, speaking of the funeral, says that it was one of the most agonizing experiences that he can recall to mind, and one of the most solemn. The women who were present gave expression to their grief in the most heart- rendering manner, wailing and sobbing during the whole of the sad service. The sermon was preached by the Rev. James McIntyre.
The first couple married in the township, were James Skinner and Harriet Beymer. They were married in June, 1817, at Reuben Skinner's house, by Caleb Palmer.
The first Masonic funeral in New Haven was that of Dr. John B. Johnson. who died in 1824.
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The first school was taught by Sophia Barney, in 1815. Joseph Dana taught the first singing school, about 1820.
Caleb Palmer's was the first log house. The first framed building was a small barn built by Royal N. Powers. The first brick house was that of J. K. Partello.
Mrs. Joseph Darling (a daughter of "Priest" Edwards, of Ripley), taught the first Sunday school about the year 1830, upon what was later known as the Henry Trimner farm.
The first sawmill was built by William Clark, on lot sixty-five, section two, in the year 1816. It was afterwards owned by Moses S. Beach. It has long since passed away, but the old race can still be seen.
The first gristmill was built by Caleb Palmer, in 1816, or the year following, upon lot fifty-seven, section two.
The first Fourth of July celebration of which any information can be gleaned, was in 1822. It was held upon the square, where a green bower was erected over the speaker's stand and dinner tables.
Joseph Dana was for many years the teacher of an excellent school at the vil- lage. He was a man of fine scholarship and had a peculiar ability in, and fondness for, his profession. He labored, however, against many disadvantages. One of them was the absence of the conveniences for writing, which are now thought indispensable. The pupils had no paper, slates or blackboards, upon which to ex- ercise their chirographic abilities, and traced their "pothooks" and rude letters in sand strewn upon smooth boards.
A school house was built quite early in the history of the township, which was, for the time, an unusually good one. It was originally but one story high, but an- other was added by the Masonic fraternity.
Most of the Indians who were seen by the early settlers in New Haven, were of the Seneca tribe, one of the divisions of the formerly powerful nation known as the Iroquois Confederacy. The southwestern part of Huron county was pe- culiarly the hunting ground of this tribe. The Wyandots or Hurons were also seen, but not so frequently : and at times, some of the Delawares.
Before the settlement of the country some of these tribes inhabited the Fire- lands, and held them as their own. After the pale face came, they, no longer, re- garded the territory as their home, and seem only to have wandered through it, tar- rying a little while here and there, hunting, fishing and making maple sugar. They had some villages in the northern part of the Firelands, but none in the southern.
The Senecas passed through New Haven, on their way to the eastern hunting grounds, sometimes in bodies of several hundreds, but more often in small com- panies which occasionally camped for a few days or weeks near the bank of the Huron. Some rode upon ponies, and some traveled afoot. All were clothed in char- acteristic Indian style. The warriors wore the peculiarly fierce appearing feath- ered headdress, and were clothed in buckskin. The squaws were always neatly dressed, in short skirts, beaded moccasins, and gaily bedecked blankets. They brought baskets, deer hams and various trinkets to the settlers, which they were always anxious to barter for bread, flour or meal.
The first sermon delivered in the township was by James McIntyre, Jr., in the log school house. Mr. McIntyre was a Methodist preacher. He was the son
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of an early settler, who bore the same given name, and who came to the county in 1814. The son was without education save that which he obtained from the few books which fell into his possession. He was awkward, uncouth, illy clad and had a poor voice, but he was in carnest and argument was his forte. His style was dry, plain, but forcible in reason and was seemingly convincing. He was a preacher of the argumentative style and was fond of a debate with some preacher of a different religious faith. Early settlers describe him as a remark- ably tall, gaunt, ungainly figure, with thin, peaked face, small, deep set eyes, and sandy hair. He usually appeared at the place where a meeting was to be held, attired in a tow cloth shirt, often worn in the manner of a frock, tow cloth pantaloons, one tow cloth suspender, with a "buckeye" hat upon his head, and barefooted. He was the last man a stranger would have picked out in the little croup as the preacher. He would begin speaking in a cracked, squeaking voice and those who had never seen him or heard of him before, would imagine that they saw before them some poor, cracked and crazed fanatic. Wonder would soon change to admiration, as the pioneer preacher proceeded with the argument of his sermon. He was, although poorly educated, naturally smart, energetic and earnest. His converts were numerous, and the amount of good he accomplished, great.
New Haven was settled by a superior class of men. Many of them had en- joyed unusual educational advantages, and a number were much better endowed with material goods than the pioneers in a new country generally are. As the village was formed at an early day, there were many who came in without ex- periencing the pleasures or pains of pioneer life. This class did not, as a rule take up land. They were not. in the proper sense of the term, early settlers They located in the village and followed trades, and their number was so great that many are not even mentioned, while others are barely referred to.
The first lawyer who located in the township was Wm. Clark, Esq., who settled as early as 1815.
The first chopping in the township, for the purpose of improvement, was done in 1810.
The first wheat was sown by Caleb Palmer in 1810-before he became a settler -upon the ground where he afterward located his home.
The first orchard was put out upon the farm of Reuben Skinner, Mr. Skinner and his son tock a quantity of cranberries, which they picked upon the marsh or prairie, to Knox county, and exchanged them for one hundred of very small trees. The Skinners made their settlement in 1814.
NEW HAVEN VILLAGE.
The village of New Haven was laid out by David and Royal N. Powers, upon the 8th of April, 1815. The plat was constructed upon the plan of the town plat of New Haven, Connecticut, and the village was as tastefully and con- veniently laid out as any in the state of Ohio. This was the second town plat laid out upon the Firelands. The center of the plat. an open space, of diamond shape, was just north of the township center. Streets were laid out, north. east. south and west, from the angles of this open common, and these were inter-
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sected, at right angles, by other streets, all at an equal distance from the center of the plat. Alleys were laid out, sub-dividing the blocks. There were one hun- dred and eighteen lots, over sixty of which were sold and improved within the first few years of the existence of the village. In 1820, New Haven was re- garded as a rival, in matters of trade and manufacture, of Norwalk and Mans- field. This rivalry was maintained until the completion of the Sandusky, Mans- field and Newark railroad, when, from a combination of causes, it began to de- cline.
New Haven village was incorporated in 1838 or '39, but it is said that officers were not regularly or properly elected until several years later. Wm. V. B. Moore was mayor in 1839. No trace of any official mention can be discovered before that date. The first and second pages of the corporation record are gone, and the first date shown is 1843. Under this date, by reference to various entries, we find that the officers were at that time as follows: P. R. Hoy, mayor ; R. L. McEwen, recorder (or clerk) ; J. K. Partello, J. C. Towne, Wm. John, D. F. Web- ber, James Graham, trustees (members of council).
Almost one-fourth of the township, section number four, was originally a wet prairie or marsh. In an early day, cranberries, huckleberries, "sauger," wild ducks and pigeons were the principal products found on this marsh, but today it is reclaimed by an extensive system of drainage so that farmers have a rich re- ward for their labor, in grass, grain and corn. Celery is also extensively grown. All of this work has been accomplished within the past forty years. The marsh feeds a small stream known as Marsh run, tributary to Huron river. It is a fact not generally known that this marsh is the largest tract of this kind of land in the United States.
New Haven village was on the direct thoroughfare from the south to the lake, and the merchants had not only a good home trade, but received the liberal pat- ronage of the hundreds of teamsters who drove through with loads of produce from Mansfield and other points in the vicinity. Goods were, in those days, hauled by teams from Baltimore and Philadelphia to the lake ports north of New Haven, and the teamsters upon their back trip gave the preference to this vil- lage, over all others, as a place to purchase those articles they needed for personal use, and goods for people living along their line of travel south.
These teamsters were men of considerable character and ability. They trans- acted their affairs in as business-like a way as does the captain of a vessel, or the officer of a freight line, taking bills of lading, etc. They drove six-horse teams in front of their immense wagons, called "land schooners," and were thus able to transport heavy loads of produce and merchandise. Sometimes the roads for several miles would be filled with these turnouts, presenting the appearance of an immense procession or caravan. Many a time the diamond, or square com- mon, in the center of the plat, was so filled with these teams, and those of farm- ers in the vicinity, who came in to trade, that it was impossible, well-nigh, for a pedestrian to cross from one side to the other.
Early in the history of New Haven, when there were few banks in the country, when money was scarce, and the skins of animals, beeswax, and salts or ashes, were the principal articles of traffic, David Powers, Royal N. Powers and Martin M. Kellogg, established a banking house and issued notes, the lowest denomina-
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tion of which was valued at twenty-five cents. These notes were put into cir- culation, but after a short time they were not receivable at par, and finally they were taken in exchange for goods by Royal N. Powers, when he opened a store.
New Haven's prosperity began at an early day, increased rapidly and ceased suddenly. Fortune is fickle with communities as well as men. She smiled upon this one in its infancy ; withdrew her favor and put the past and present con- ditions of the village into a forcible and saddening contrast. The Sandusky and Newark railroad was built in the years 1843 and 1844. New Haven lay directly in the way of the proposed road, and its people were called upon to aid the enterprise to the extent of a few thousand dollars. The amount asked for would probably have been subscribed, had it not been for the counsel of Judge Ives. He regarded it as impossible to build the road by any other route than through the village, and advised against extending any financial assistance.
On account of not receiving the assistance asked for, the road was run a mile west of the village, and from that time the town of New Haven began its decline. The Sandusky, Norwalk & Mansfield electric line now traverses its principal street north and south, but the early day prosperity of the town will never be revived.
New Haven having in early times, a larger population than any of her sister townships, it followed naturally that the people led a more jolly, social life than in most other communities. Almost every Saturday afternoon was given up to amusement, and nearly the whole population was there gathered upon the square to indulge in various games, such as ball, pitching quoits, wrestling, running. jumping, etc. Many a royal frolic was had at the taverns, and many a jovial crowd assembled to engaged in some hilarious but harmless merry-making.
The weddings and parties were occasions of unbounded enjoyment. There was a lack of formality and of the artificial but plenty of honest, homely hospital- ity and good feeling. A number of men and women would often go in an ox cart to the house of a friend where they had been invited, and there meeting many other guests, would enjoy in a genuinely sociable way the whole of a long, but seemingly short evening. Sometimes the accommodations were apparently insufficient for the number of guests. There would, perhaps, be no table large enough to hold the substantial supper or dinner that had been provided, but it was an easy matter to take a door from its hinges and lay it upon a couple of barrels, and the ladies and gentlemen of the olden time probably enjoyed the var- ious good things, set forth upon this improvised table, as their descendants do the luxuries now more elegantly served. Some of the weddings were great "social events."
As early as 1810, a mail was carried from Mansfield to the mouth of the Huron by a man named Facer, who continued to carry it until May, 1813, when Andrew Brewster commenced to carry it, and continued to do so for two years. His father lived in Mansfield. There was then no settlement between Mansfield and Huron, it being one unbroken wilderness and the road a mere trail. He traveled what was the old state road, running through the center of Ripley and Fairfield. He said he would see only three or four white persons on the route, though In- dians were met very frequently. They made him no trouble, however, and were never so much a cause of fear as were the wolves. The country was full of these
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cisagreeable and dangerous animals, and it is said by old settlers that Brewbaker seldom dismounted from his horse, because afraid that he would be molested if he did so. He was accustomed to pour grain into a basin, shaped hollow, which he had chopped in a fallen tree, and sit in the saddle while his horse ate.
It was some time during Brewbaker's period of service that a postoffice was established in the township. The first was a box nailed upon a post, and thus literally a post office. Joseph Dana was the first postmaster. His duties were not arduous. People who expected mail matter were accustomed to go to the box, open it, examine the contents, and, if they found any letters addressed to themselves, to carry them home. Although Darling is generally spoken of as the first postmaster, there is no doubt but that Caleb Palmer was the first man regularly commissioned to fill that office.
A stage route was laid out through the township, north and south, in the year 1819. It was only a short time anterior to this date that the roads had become worthy of the name. They were at first mere trails, winding through the woods, but the spirit of improvement was abroad, and regular roads were laid out. the timber cut and travel made less tedious.
Royal N. Power was the first merchant or regular trader who brought goods into the township and kept them for sale.
Deer, coonskins and beeswax were the principal articles of traffic, and were the only things that would bring money in the early pioneer times. Coonskins were twenty-five cents each, deerskins a shilling a pound dry. Beeswax, twenty cents a pound.
Not long after McIntire commenced preaching the Methodist doctrine, Pres- byterian services were held at the house of John Barney, by a Mr. Mathews, of Ashland.
The first resident physician in New Haven was Samuel B. Carpenter, who commenced practice as early as 1814.
The mercantile business was of great magnitude. The pioneers in business were Royal A. Powers, Hopkins, Hinman, and Williams, who had a large stock of goods, Ives and Askins, and there were others. Later T. W. Crowell and Sumner Webber. At one time there were five dry goods stores and it was not an unusual thing for the larger ones to take in five hundred dollars a day. New Haven was on the direct thoroughfare from the south to Lake Erie. The mer- chants had a good home trade and had liberal patronage from the hundreds of teamsters that drove through with their produce from Mansfield and other points. They drove six horse teams with their immense wagons called "Land Schooners." We of the younger generation in this day of rapid transit with steam and trolley cars, cannot conceive of the inconvenience of the going and coming of our fore- fathers.
NORWICH TOWNSHIP.
Norwich township was named in honor of its Connecticut namesake. At the original survey by Almon Ruggles the township contained sixteen thousand five hundred and twenty-nine acres, and the land was estimated to be worth to the original grantees about one dollar and fifty cents per acre. From the time the grant was made to the close of the War of 1812 many of the grantees had
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sold their claims, or at their decease, left them to their heirs, who in some in- stances sold them to speculators or permitted them to be sold for taxes. The first house in the township was a cabin built by the surveying party for their own convenience.
The first road opened to the township was that made by General Beall and his army in 1812, leading from Wooster to Fremont, through New Haven and Nor- wich. The trail came into the township at the southeast corner and ran through northwesterly and left the township on the north side about one and a half miles east of the northwest corner. Hopkins made a survey of the trail, and located the present road leading from where the B. & O. railroad crosses the Greenwich and Norwich center road.
On the 8th day of November, 1808, the township received its name and was divided into four sections, as were cach of the thirty townships comprising the Firelands. Norwich was drawn by nineteen persons.
As early as 1815, Daniel L. Coit had become by heirship and purchase the owner of the township of Norwich, excepting a portion of the first section. Later he sold sections two and three, comprising the north half of the township to Judge Canfield, of Connecticut, who soon after sold the same to James Wil- liams, Philip R. Hopkins and David W. Hinman.
In the spring of 1816 Messrs. Williams, Hopkins and Hinman surveyed the two sections into one hundred acre lots. These were in size one hundred and sixty rods east and west by one hundred rods north and south, making five tiers of eight lots cach in a section, and numbering from the southeast corner of the sections. Hopkins was the surveyor. These gentlemen also laid out a village. It was named Barbadoes, and was situated on the west end of lot thirty-eight in section second, and the adjoining portion of lot six in the third section. The survey was completed in June. The surveying party built a small log house, the first in the township. on lands now owned by Kinsman Bowen. The same year John Williamson put up the walls and roof of a hewed log house on the village plat, near where Durwin Boughton's house later stood. That was long known as the "village house," though no other was built on the plat. Williamson neither finished the house nor occupied it; in fact, nothing further of his history is known.
A small band of Seneca Indians, with Seneca John at their head, sometimes made their camp in the township. John could speak a little English. He was honest and trusty, but others of the tribe were drunken and thievish. Their dead were usually enclosed in a bark coffin and buried near their camp. There were a few conical mounds in the southeast part of the township when first settled. These were believed to have been burial places for the dead and have long since disappeared.
In the fall of the year 1816 Chauncey Woodruff and Wilder Lawrence, with their respective families, left Saratoga county, New York, for the wilderness of Ohio. After a tedious journey, they reached Trumbull county, where they rested until the severe months of winter had passed. Chauncey Woodruff and his son, George H., came on to Norwich and selected lots for future homes. The son remained at New Haven while his father returned for the family. On the 8th of February, 1817, Woodruff and Lawrence arrived in New Haven :
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and, on the 10th, started, with their families, for Norwich. Accompanied by a few friends, they journeyed on, and before night arrived at the "village house" before mentioned. This consisted of but the walls and roof; holes had been cut for a door and fire-place. Oak puncheons had been prepared for a floor, and lay near by under the snow, which was then about one foot deep. A few were soon fished out and placed in position and a fire started. Blankets were hung for a door, and supper prepared, over which the company made merry. In lay- ing in stores for the occasion, a jug of the "ardent" had been procured, and doubtless added much to the jollity of the evening within the cabin, while without the wolves made night hideous with their incessant howling.
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