USA > Ohio > Lorain County > History of Lorain County, Ohio > Part 26
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108
HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.
would stop occasionally to kill a sheep on which to refresh himself. The party returned in triumph, bringing his skin, which was stuffed and preserved in the rooms of the Natural History Society until Feb- ruary 10, 1852, when the block containing the rooms was consumed by fire, and this, with all other speci- mens, perished. He was a gray wolf of the largest size, and evidently a veteran.
Many anecdotes could be related of the encounters of our pioneer settlers with wolves; some of them being followed by a pack in the evening were forced to take refuge in trees, where they remained till morning, when their pursners retreated. Mr. George Sexton and wife, living a mile and a half east of the village, hearing a disturbance among their sheep in the barnyard, got up and went out en dishabille, and with an axe dispatched the disturber of their repose among their sheep.
Deer were very numerous until about 1835. The writer once saw thirty in a flock on the farm of Mr. Asahel Parmely. They had entered the clearing probably to avoid the black flies which were very nu- merous in the woods at that time. Venison and pork, with an occasional wild turkey, furnished meat for the early settlers. There were no butchers' meat-shops in those days. When a pioneer got out of meat he took down his trusty ritle, and usnally soon brought in a deer. What he could not consume in his own family he distributed to his neighbors.
The last deerseen in the township was in the winter of 1841. A party of fifteen or twenty young clerks and mechanics went out one pleasant day in February, with hounds to hunt rabbits. On entering the woods west. of Gates' saw-mill they discovered fresh deer tracks. The dogs were put upon the tracks and soon gave tongue. The boys were directed to form a line across the woods. Before the line was fully formed one of the deer broke through and was killed by the writer. A second one passed by the end of the line and escaped, pursued by one of the dogs. The third and last one, a noble buck, approached the line at its east end. lle was but two or three rods in advance of the dog, and instead of running at full speed he was making leaps three or four feet from the ground. He turned on seeing the boys and ran about ten rods in front of them the whole length of the line. Each one had his shot, but no one was guilty of shedding one drop of his blood. This skirmish line was about as harmless as some at a later day, in the army, where immense quantities of ammunition were wasted without loss on either side. The two deer which escaped were killed the same day by other hunters, one in Amherst and the other at the stave landing on Black river.
Wild turkeys, which were very numerous at the first settlement of the country, have almost entirely disappeared. They were sold on the street at an early day for twenty-five cents each. The largest size weighed thirty pounds dressed.
MR. ELY'S JOURNEY.
In the fall of 1817, Mr. Ely started on horseback for his old home in Massachusetts, while Ebenezer Lane and Luther Lane started for the same destina- tion on foot. They walked as far as Albany where they took the stage for Springfield. During their absence Mr. George Douglas and Mr. Beebe remained and worked on the inside of Mr. Ely's house. Mr. Ely returned in the spring of 1818.
In the fall of 1818, Mr. Ely took the steamboat "Walk-in-the-Water " for the east. The steamer first went to Detroit, as she could not stop at Cleveland on her way down, there being no harbor. Ile left Cleve- land on the 17th of September, reaching Detroit on the 21st, and Buffalo on the 24th. The " Walk-in-the- Water" was the first steamboat on Lake Erie, and seems to have been a slow walker.
" Mr. Ely reached West Springfield on the first day of October, and on the 10th of the same month was married to Miss Celia, daughter of Col. Ezekiel P. Beklen, of Weathersfield, Conn. On the 18th, they started for Elyria, where they arrived October 30th. in company with Ebenezer Lane and his wife. Those who knew the first Mrs. Ely, speak of her in terms of warm enthusiasm. She was a beautiful and accomplished lady, kind and affectionate in her disposition, and generous to the poor and needy. She was especially loving to the little children of the pioneers. She always had a piece of cake and kind words for them when they called upon her, and her memory was cherished by all of them. One-a child at that time-who was the life companion of the writer, often spoke of her in glowing terms of praise."
The framed house not being completed when Mr. Ely returned with his bride, they commenced house- keeping in the log house. An incident is related by Mr. Beebe. We quote in his own words:
"As soon as it was known in the settlements that Mr. Ely had brought home with him a blooming bride, the ladies felt it a duty as well as a pleasure to call on her. Accordingly, a short time after their arrival, Mrs. George Sexton, of Ridgeville, and a lady friend started on foot through the woods to call on the bride. On arriving, they were met at the door of his cabin, as it was called by Mr. Ely, who received them cordially and introduced them to his wife, who entertained them very pleasantly during the afternoon. They accepted an invitation to tea, and their companionship was so agreeable that the day was far spent before they started on their return home. They had not gone far from the settlement before they lost their way, and wandered on until late in the night, when they came to the conclusion that they were really lost in the wilderness, and would be compelled to submit to the necessity of staying where they were till morning. They therefore crawled up on a fallen, leaning tree, and held on by other trees to keep from falling, and waited for morning to come, as it did at last with all the chills and frosts of a November night. They soon found their way home, and were quite well satisfied as they had visited the bride, and had a good time after all."
Mr. Beebe and George Donglas built a honse for Ebenezer Lane (afterward Judge Lane), east of the river, on the farm afterward bought by Clement Northrop. Ebenezer Lane, on the 11th of October, 1818, married Frances Ann, daughter of Gov. Roger Griswold, of Lyme, Conn., and returned to Ohio in company with Mr. Ely and wife. His house being in readiness, he commenced housekeeping at once. lle remained on his farm less than a year. Having been appointed prosecuting attorney of Huron county, he removed to Norwalk, October 10, 1819. The jour ney from Elyria to Norwalk was made on horseback, Mrs. Lane riding one horse and her husband another, he carrying their infant child on a pillow in his arms and being two days on the road. fte rose to distine- tion in his profession, and was for many years a judge,
Photo. by C. F. Lee, Elyria, O.
Nahum Ball Gates was born in St. Alban's, Vt., Sept. 28, 1812. His father, John Gates, and his mother, Abigail Ball. emigrated from Northborough, Mass., to St. Alban's in 1800, and settled on a farm in that township. His father was of Puritan stock, and belonged to Revolutionary blood. The day he was sixteen years of age he enlisted in the army of the Revolution for three years, served until the close of the war, and was then discharged by Gen. Knox, in the vicinity of New York. His three eldest brothers, Samuel, Silas, and William, served in the same war during its con- tinuance.
The subject of this sketch was the youngest of twelve children. His early education was the best afforded in those days in the district schools of his native town, with one term at the St. Alban's Academy, to fit him for a " country ped- agogue," teaching district school for three winters in his native State.
The years of his minority were spent on his father's farm, attending and teaching school winters, and laboring on the farm the residue of the year. In this way he secured for himself an athletic frame and vigorous Vermont constitution. Being violently attacked on his father's farm, in the spring of 1834, with what was termed the " Western Fever," which prevailed at that time in Vermont to almost an alarming extent, he, on the 29th day of April, 1834, bade farewell to his native heath and started for Ohio, for the ostensible pur- pose of visiting his brother, Horatio N. Gates, who at that time was engaged in the mercantile business at Elyria, Ohio, under the firm-name of Gates & Greene.
After remaining in Elyria a few weeks, he went to Cleveland to learn more of the West and find something to do. Whilst standing in front of the Western Reserve Hotel, then in Ohio City, on the west side of Cuyahoga River, a man by the name of Swain came along, and inquired of young Gates if he knew of any one who would on the fol- lowing day go into the woods and score timber for him, as he was about to erect a dwelling-house. Young Gates vol- unteered his services, and a bargain was soon struck. The next day saw a good, honest day's work done.
His next venture was painting and glazing, in the employ of William Wheat. At this time the cholera broke out in its most malignant form in the cities of Cleveland and Ohio City. Young Gates did not flee to the country or shut him- self up in some secluded retreat, as so many did, but he made it his entire business for weeks to watch with the sick, to care for the dying, and to bury the dead. He spent day and night in performing these duties until the cholera sub- sided. At the urgent request of his brother, H. N. Gates, on the 1st day of September, 1834, he visited Elyria for rest and recreation, spending the winters of 1834 and 1835 in Elyria, clerking for Gates & Greene.
On the 17th day of May, 1835, he went to Black River and opened a general assortment store for Gates & Greene, where he resided with varying success and experience until the fall of 1838. Here his Vermont constitution under- went a fearful struggle; a nine months' siege of regular old-fashioned typhus fever and swamp ague could not conquer it; but, in his own words, " there was nothing left of him but his boots and spurs."
From the year 1836 until 1844 a copartnership existed between himself and brother, H. N. Gates, in the forward- ing and commission business, headquarters being at Black River.
In the fall of 1838, Mr. Gates was elected sheriff of Lorain County, removing to Elyria. It has since been his residence. During his residence in Black River he filled the various offices of constable, justice of the peace, and marshal of Charlestown village. On the 12th day of No- vember, 1838, he took the oath of office as sheriff, and entered upon its duties. The court of Common Pleas was then in session. This was the time of great excitement among the bogus or counterfeiting fraternity, who at that time seemed to have a strong foothold in many of the town- ships of Loraiu County. Times were hard. Nearly all the banks in the country had suspended specie payment ; the paper money then in circulation was of all grades and value. Many thought they would take a hand in currency tinkering, which was the order of the day. Therefore, many resorted
NAHUM BALL GATES.
to counterfeiting and the making of bogus coin. Men who had been arrested and placed in jail, charged with this offense, broke out and fled for their country's good. Mr. Israel Cash, who had turned State's evidence, was shot through the body, but not killed, by the son of an implicated counterfeiter. Lorain County was all excitement. Such was the condition of affairs when Mr. Gates entered upou the duties of his office. Thus they remained for over a year. Strict justice will ever give to Sheriff Gates, a de- termined judge and efficient prosecutor, the eredit of break- ing up this nefarious gang, whose wicked ramifications even reached into l'amilies hitherto called honest and respect- able. Ilis prompt action routed the whole gang, root and branch. Many, under the kind care of Sheriff Gates, visited Columbus, others fled their country, some reformed, and others died.
In 1840 a zealous Whig was Mr. Gates; active was the part he took in that ever memorable campaign. Zeal and ardeney actuated his every action. As marshal, on his famous black horse Bucephalus, did he lead the pro- cession from Elyria and adjoining townships that visited that imposing and grand convention, held on the banks of the Maumee River, June 11, 1840.
In 1840 he was re-elected sheriff of Lorain County. Serving to the end of his term, he completed his four years, the constitutional limit.
Ou the 12th day of May, 1841, Mr. Gates married Miss Sarah S. Monteith, eldest daughter of the Rev. John Mou- teith, who formerly had filled the position of professor of ancient languages at Hamilton College, New York. Com- ing to Elyria he took charge of the first select school taught in Elyria of any note. This school, so well known as the High School, is yet remembered with the fondest memory by many a one who can never forget the kindness and the many virtues of their teacher long years since.
From this marriage numbers the issue, viz. : John Quincy, who died in early years; Elizabeth Monteith, wife of Dr. Wheeler, of Cleveland ; Charlotte Augusta, wife of Rev. T. Y. Gardner, pastor of the Congregational Church, Hudson, Ohio; Mary Ely, who died in early years ; Charles Alexander, graduate of Western Reserve College; William Nahum, in business at Massillon, Ohio; Nellie, at home ; and Frederick Hayes, the baby, but a good-sized one, now a student at Western Reserve College.
In 1843, Mr. Gates purchased of Mr. Heman Ely a mill site on the west branch of Black River, and proceeded at once to build a saw-mill, sash, door, and blind factory, to which he gave his personal supervision and much hard labor for twenty-three years, when, in 1866, he sold out. In 1843 he built an ashery on the west branch of the Black River, and has kept the same in successful operation up to the present time. Mr. Gates thinks he may be classed as the oldest, long-continued, and successful ashery-man in the State. This ashery is still smoking. On the first day of September, 1869, purchasing of Davis M. Clark the soap factory on the west side of Black River, he has since been and now is engaged in the manufacture of his celebrated chemical erasive soap.
The Lorain County Agricultural Society was organized in 1845, and lived along at a poor, dying rate until 1852, when Mr. Gates was elected president of the same. Ile immediately set to work to stimulate its activities and infuse new life by inclosing grounds, building stables and pens, erecting sheds, revising and enlarging the premium lists ; and since that time he has served ten years as its president, always taking the laboring oar, and perhaps to no one more than him is said society more indebted for its progress, growth, and present prosperity. Of its thirty-three annual fairs he has been present at all of them, actively engaged in promoting its interests.
In 1844 he engaged in the general merchandise business at No. 1 Cheapside, Elyria. Not liking the cares and per-
plexities of the business, he made an advantageous sale of his whole stock of goods in 1845 to Messrs. Castle & King, of Medina, Ohio, saying, as he elosed out his goods, " that he should never engage in the mercantile business again unless he got hard up." Mr. Gates was among the founders and active workers in the Elyria Union School. Ile has been a member of the Board of Education the most of the time for the last quarter of a century. 1860 saw him coroner of Lorain County, which office he filled for two years.
Ile was ever active and a hard worker in the various rail- road projects which have been connected with the history of Elyria for the last thirty years. In 1850 he was a di- rector in the Lorain Plank-Road Company, and for many years was superintendent of said road. The year 1860 found him an active worker for the Republican party, and an officer in the Wide-Awake Club. In 1862 he was appointed col- lector of internal revenue for the fourteenth distriet of Ohio, by Abraham Lincoln, where he remained until re- moved by Andrew Johnson, " my policy" being in the way. Elected as mayor of Elyria in 1843 for the first time, he has since that time filled that position for twelve years, and is now acting in that capacity.
In 1856, Caleb S. Goodwin, treasurer of Lorain County, dying, Mr. Gates was appointed to fill the vacancy, and served acceptably for one year.
Mr. Gates's life in Elyria has been one of constant ac- tion. For example : in the year 1856 he was treasurer of the county, mayor of Elyria, township trustee, member of the Board of Education of Elyria Union Schools, su- perintendent of the Lorain Plank-Road, foreman of ÆEtna ( Elyria) Fire Company, discharging the several duties apper- taining to each with acceptance, to say the least, besides attending to his own personal affairs, which were neither few nor small.
He was mainly instrumental in the formation of Elyria Lodge, No. 103, of the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows, and was one of its charter members. This lodge was in- stituted March 1, 1848, and from that day to this it has been an honored and respected institution. Mr. Gates is the oldest member of said lodge, and the only one left of its charter members, or of those present at its inauguration.
As a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Elyria, and society of said church, he may be termed a pronounced Presbyterian in all its meanings.
During the Rebellion no one was more efficient than Mr. Gates. His quota of years required no personal enlist- ment to fill any quota demanded from Lorain County, yet it may be truly asserted that no one not subject to draft (and few, if any, that were) did more than Mr. Gates, by word, act, and money, for the republic.
Of strong and prononneed opinions, his ear is ever open to reason's call. Commencing life with little or nothing, prosperity has not elevated him above the ery of the poor and needy. Generous and self-sacrificing, his purse is ever open to true charity, and his hand is always found helping the downtrodden and oppressed. Of him may it truly be said no one in Elyria has spent more hours in watching with the siek, in burying the dead, in visiting the widow and orphan, than Mr. Gates.
The writer knows of no citizen of Elyria who has spent more time for the public at large, with less pay, than Mr. Gates. No one can he recall who has, according to his means, so liberally contributed with voice, action, and money to Elyria's various improvements. Now at the ripe age of sixty-six years, with commanding presence, hale and hearty, as if yet he breathed the mountain air of his old Vermont home, surrounded with the comforts of life, with home graced by the dear wife ever young, cheered by the presence of manly and womanly children, and amused by the prattle of grandchildren, Colonel Gates lives honored and respected by all.
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109
HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.
and for a portion of the time chief justice of the supreme court of Ohio. He died in Sandusky on the 12th of June, 1866. He may with much propriety be ranked among the great men of Ohio. He graduated at Harvard College in 1811, and studied law with Judge Matthew Griswold, at Lyme, Conn. He did not confine himself to his profession alone, but during his whole life he eagerly pursned the different branches of natural science, and became eminent as a naturalist. The first deed executed by Mr. Ely was made to Ebenezer Lane, dated June 1, 1818. It conveyed lot sixty-four, east of the river, containing sixty-four acres; the second to Edmund West; the third to Ar- temas Beebe. Mr. Beebe and George Douglas had contracted for the land in the fall of 1817. It con- sisted of the ground where his old tavern stood. The building still remains on the same spot, in good con- dition. Early in 1817, Mr. Ely had contracted with Joshua Henshaw to survey the township and village. Ile was assisted by Clark Eldred and others. Mr. Eldred says they were in the habit of starting out on Monday morning, with their week's provisions and blankets on their backs. They stopped wherever night overtook them. They cooked their own pro- visions, and the water they drank was sometimes filled with wrigglers. Part of the surveys were made in 1816, but the township was not allotted until 1817. The town plat was first surveyed in blocks in 1820. It was not divided into lots until 1823.
FIRST CELEBRATION OF THE FOURTH OF JULY.
This occurred at Elyria in 1819, with all the "pomp and circumstance" which became the sons of New England patriots. The settlers in all the adjacent townships turned out en masse. Grafton especially was represented by nearly all its inhabitants. They came generally with ox-teams, and all entered into the spirit of the occasion. A blacksmith's anvil served in place of a cannon, and was kept warm during the day. The dinner was one of the interest- ing features, and was for those days quite sumptuous. The dessert consisted of several popular beverages, of which whisky formed the chief ingredient. Mr. El- bridge Gerry, then residing in Ridgeville, delivered the oration, which was patriotic and of course loudly applauded. Mr. David Gibbs, of Carlisle, led the martial music. He was not only a good drummer, but proficient on the fife and clarionet. Mr. Beebe says:
"In order to approximate as near as possible the old-fashioned man- ner, an old fowling-piece was strapped on the back of John Gould, who placed himself on all-fours, serving as gun-carriage, when a toast would he read, and the gunner, with a grand flourish of his hot poker, would discharge the old flint-lock amidst rounds of applause."
The exercises were closed with a grand ball in the evening, in which all participated. The fiddler was John Shafer, of Ridgeville. Several remained until morning. It is said whisky was freely used, as was then the custom, but no one became intoxicated.
A post office was established in Elyria on the 23d of May, 1818, and Heman Ely was appointed post
master, which office he held until the 1st of April, 1833. The revennes acerning to the government during the first four years ranged from two dollars and forty-one cents to eight dollars and twenty-eight cents.
Perhaps no more suitable place can be found to give a brief sketch of some of the lives of the first settlers of Elyria. The biography of some of them will be written by an abler pen. In reference to Mr. HEMAN ELY, it can be said that he was eminently just as a landed proprietor. He usually sokl his lands on four years' time, on a written contract or article of agreement, each party retaining a copy. IIe was very systematic and methodical in his busi- ness transactions, living up fully to his contracts, and he expected those with whom he dealt to fulfil their obligations; but he was never known to dispossess any of the early settlers of their lands who were industri- ous, temperate and frugal, and were doing the best they could to make themselves homes and to pay for their land. Those who were intemperate, lazy and shiftless, and others who took up land merely to strip it of its most valuable timber, without intending to pay for it, found no mercy at his hands.
It used to be said of him that he could tell, by looking on his map, whenever a tree was cut on any part of his domain, and that he wonkl at once mount his horse and ride directly to the spot. He was much on horse-back, and early settlers will remember the old bay horse that stood hitched in front of his office, ready saddled and bridled, every day when he was at home. He never sought official position, though he served for six years as associate judge of the county; and he was on several occasions a member of the State board of equalization, which met at Columbus to equalize the lands of the State for taxation. In business transactions, he was a man of few words, but when free from the cares of business he was genial and sociable, and loved to hear and tell a good story. So much for Mr. Ely, the founder of the township.
A sketch of the life of ARTEMAS BEEBE will be found elsewhere.
CAPTAIN FESTUS COOLEY commanded a company of Massachusetts troops in the war of 1812. He marched his company to Boston, but as Massachu- setts troops were not permitted by the governor to leave the State, it is not believed that the company of Capt. Cooley were guilty of shedding any British blood. He came to Elyria from Springfield on foot, arriving on the 29th day of May, 1817, and imme- diately took charge of both the saw and grist mills, that were erected in 1816. He put them in good order, and all things seemed to prosper in the way of making improvements in the wilderness. Mr. Beebe says "every man worked with a will; there were no drones in those days." In the spring of 1819, Capt. Cooley went east, and returned with his family in Angust of the same year. He moved into the old tavern stand, built by Mr. Beebe and George Douglas, which he occupied for about a year, until Mr. Beebe
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