History of Lorain County, Ohio, Part 40

Author:
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia, Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 626

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In April of the next year, a company of men, some twelve or thirteen in number, on foot and with their knapsacks on their backs, set out from Waterbury for the western purchase. Their names were David Beebe and two sons, David and Loman, Joel Terrell, Oliver Terrell, Philander Terrell, Elihu Terrell, Lyman

Root, Sheldon Wooster, Mansfield Webb, Amos and Orrin Hotchkiss and Ira B. Morgan.

At Buffalo they bought an outfit consisting of axes, saws, planes, chains, and some other articles for their use in the Ridgeville woods. A man with a small sail boat was engaged to carry the fools to Cleveland, one of the men, Lyman Root, accompanying lo take charge of the valuable cargo on its arrival at. Cleve- land. The rest of the company resumed The journey the next morning and reached Cleveland only a day after the arrival of the vessel. From this place, then a little settlement of only a few cabins, they proceeded to Ridgeville, by way of Columbia, carrying in their knapsacks some of the Fighter implements and leaving the rest to be brought afterwards on pack-horses. They reached the end of their long journey on Tues- day, May toth. As they approached the Ridgeville line David Beebe, Jr., quietly passed ahead of his asso- ciates, and arriving first on the ground, cut down the first tree. The first improvement was made on lot fifteen, on land now owned by JJohn Lonsby. Here the men erected a rude log cabin, the roof of which consisted of bark. The structure was without even the luxury of a puncheon floor. In this the men kept bachelor's hall, while on their selected locations they prosecuted the work of clearing and preparing for the arrival of their families later in the season.

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT

in the town was made July 6, 1810. On that day Tillotson Terrell and his family, consisting of his wife and three children, from Waterbury, Connecti- cut, came upon the ground and took up their abode in the cabin with the men on fot fifteen. "They all lived here as one family until the following September. Mr. Terrell remained until October, when he moved into a house which, in the meantime, had been erected for him on the place now occupied by the residence of the widow of Harry Terrell. On the arrival, soon afterwards, of his father, Ichabod Terrell and his family, Mr. Terrell changed his location to the east bank of Center creek, and afterwards to a more per- manent one two miles farther east, on lot eight. The farm is now occupied by his son Lovinus. flere he spent the remainder of his life. He was born in Waterbury, Conn., May 1, 1285, He married, at the age of eighteen, Electa Wilmot, daughter of Elisha and Hannah Wilmot, and lived in Waterbury until his emigration to Ohio. The life of this pioneer came to an untimely end December 23, 1838. While in the woods hunting, about a mile from his house, he was

* Wyllis Terrell, Ichabod Terrell and Laurel Beebe will please accept thanks for information furnished the writer in the preparation of the history of this township.

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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OIIIO.

shot by one Sylvester Powers, who, seeing Mr. Terrell at some distance from him through intervening brush mistook him for a deer. He lived until the following morning, and although conscious from the first that he was mortally hurt, exhibited the greatest coolness and self possession in the midst of surrounding grief and excitement. and died without a murmur at his fate, or a word of reproach for the man who was the cause of it. His widow continued to carry on the farm until her younger children were settled in life, when she made her home with her youngest son, on the old homestead. She died November 23, 1861, aged seventy-six. There were eleven children, and all were living at the time of the father's death. Five are now (Jannary. 1879,) living. Eliza lives near Grand Rapids, Michigan. She married Rev. William Peters, a Methodist minister and resided in Ridgeville for some years. Esther is the wife of John II. Faxon, Esq., of Elyria, and Harriet the wife of Dr. George Underhill, of La Grange. Two sons, Marcus and Lovinus, are residents of this town. Uneinda was the first wife of Laurel Beebe, a well known resident of the town. She died in 1851.

LOST IN THE WOODS,

It was during the residence of the family in their first location on the Ridge that the following incident occurred. One morning while Mr. Terrell was at work preparing for the erection of his house on Center creek, Mrs. Terrell went to the stream at a point further east to get a pail of water. Instead of re- turning immediately as she had intended, she con- cluded to go over to her husband and see how his work was progressing and started, as she supposed, in the right direction. But she soon became hewil- dered and lost in the dense woods, and could neither find her husband nor her home, where she had left. little children. After wandering about in the woods nearly all day, over logs and through brush and swamp, she came by accident upon the "Indian trail" which led from Columbia through Ridgeville to the mouth of Black river. This, by chance, she followed in the right direction, and finally reached her home, though in a terribly worn and wretched condition. It will serve to indicate the newness of the country to know that the spring to which Mrs. Terrell went for the water was only about thirty rods from the house.

In the latter part of October, 1810, the families of David Beebe, Sr., David Beebe, Jr., and Lyman Root, who arrived under the care of David Beebe, Jr., and Ichabod Terrell, his family and his aged father, Oliver Terrell, were added to the infant colony. There were in the party some twenty-two persons, the oldest eighty-two years and the youngest five weeks. Two wagons, three yoke of oxen and one horse, brought the emigrants and their effects.

At Cleveland, Ichabod Terrell bought a barrel each of flour and salt, paying therefor the snug sum of forty dollars. Instead of going around through Columbia, as their predecessors had done, they took

a more direct course, and from Rocky river to the place of destination, had to cut their own road. This part of the journey, only twelve miles in extent, con- sumed nearly four days. As the party approached the house of Tillotson Terrell, Mrs. David Beebe, Jr., who was a near neighbor of Mrs. Terrell in Water- bury, led the way so as to be the first to greet her friend. The two women were so moved by the meet- ing, that neither could utter a word for some time, during which they stood with hands clasped across the brush fence that surrounded the Terrell cabin. Mrs. Beebe was the first white woman Mrs. Terrell had seen for over three months.

When the party reached the settlement Lorin Smith who had driven one of the teams through, was told that each of the pioneers had done some special act to signalize the settlement of the cotony and that it was his work to do the first plowing. He complied with the suggestion, and thus he has the honor of turning the first furrow in Ridgeville. Mr. Smith afterwards settled in Delaware connty, where he died in March. 1828.

The Beebes located on lot. twenty-one. David Beebe, Sr., was born in Waterbury, Conn., April 23, 1142. He married Lydia Terrell, February 1, 1268. who was born in Waterbury, January 10, 1447. They had eleven children, as follows, named in the order of their birth: Alice, Ava. Electa, Lydia, Esther, Eunice, David, Molly, Chester, Augustus, Loman.

Mr. Beebe became blind some years previous to his death, which occurred in the year 1840, at the ad- vanced age of ninety-four. Mrs. Beebe died in 1833, aged eighty-eight.

FOUR DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE WOODS.

Early one morning in the fall of 1811, Mr. Beebe went into the woods in search of his horses, and the day being cloudy. he lost his way and wandered about. all day without the least knowledge of the direction in which he was going. Night overtaking him, he crept into a hollow tree and there passed a sleepless night. The next day he moved about unceasingly to discover some object by which he could deter- mine his whereabouts, but without success, and in looking for a lodging place, to his great amazement, he found the same hollow tree in which he spent the previous night. Convinced by this that he had been travelling in a circle, ho adopted the plan the follow- ing day of selecting three or more trees in range, and in this way was enabled to travel in a direct course. Another night, however, was spent in the woods, making his bed on mother earth under one of the trees which he had selected in line. In the forenoon of the fourth day he reached the lake shore in Avon, which he followed westward until reaching the house of John S. Reid at the month of Black river. Here he was given a little food. his famished condition not permitting the quantity his wasted physical condition craved, and was then sent by Mr. Reid in the care of a guide to the house of Asahel Porter, on the lake

Hany Times

John Terrell, with two brothers, Roger and Jesse, emigrated from England to America about the year 1630. Roger is mentioned in history, in 1639, as one of the New Haven colonists who settled Mil- ford, Conn. : he coming from Wethersfield, and probably from Water- town, Mass., to Wethersfield.

Jesse settled at Naugatuck. The first mention of John, at Milford, is on the church record, as follows: John Terrell and his wife, Abi- gail, baptized August, 1644; so that probably he came to Milford a few years later than his brother Roger. Subsequently he settled in New Vork, and owned two acres of land where the city hall now stands. John had a son John, who was born in 1655. This John had eight children, among whom was Josiah, born in 1695. Josiah married Mary Goodwin, Jan. 1. 1723. They had seven children, among whom was Oliver, born in 1730. Oliver had two children, Ichabod and Lu- cimla. Oliver came, with his children and their families, from Water- bury, Conn., to Ohio in 1810, when he was eighty years ohl. He was very spry and active, and rode on horseback the entire distance. He died in Columbia, this county, in 1816, aged eighty-six.

Ichabod, the only son of Oliver, was born in 1763. lle married, in 1783, Rhoda Williams, one of the very few survivors of the Wyo- ming massacre. To them were born ten children, as follows,-Tillot- son, born May 1, 1785 : married Electa Willnot in 1804, and died Dec. 23, 1836; they had eleven children. Lydia, born Nov, 1, 1787; mar- ried James Emmons in 1807 ; they had thirteen children ; she died Oct. 25, 1871, agel eighty-four. Philander, born Dec. 10, 1789; mar- ried Lora Beebe in 181]; had fifteen children, and died in April, 1875, aged eighty-six. Oliver, born Sept. 2, 1791 : married, in Oc- tober, 1815, Anna Bunnel ; had three children ; he died Feb. 19, 1865, aged seventy-five. Lucinda, born Nov. 6, 1795 ; married Aaron Warner, June 29, 1813 ; had five children, and died Sept. 3, 1872, aged seventy- seven. Orpha, born May 2, 1798: married John Shaffer in 1817 ; had twelve children, and died in August, 1872, aged seventy-four. Ich- abod, born Oct. 1, 1800: married Sally Humphrey, Oct. S, 1823; they have six children, and live in Ridgeville, on the farin where they commenced their married life. Elibu F., born Jan. 3, 1802; married Electa Marsh in 1822 ; he had four children, and died April 9, 1843, aged forty-one. Horace, born Aug. 10, 1803; married Minerva Me- Neal, July 4, 1823 ; he has had thirteen children, and now lives in lowa. Ilarry was born at Waterbury, Conn., April 7, 1806; he mar- ried, March 2, 1826, Annis, daughter of Joseph and Betsey Ilum- phrey. She was born at Simsbury, Conn., Jan. 7, 1807.

Ichabod, the father of Harry, exchanged his lands in Waterbury, Conn., for an undivided third of the northeast quarter of the town- ship of Ridgeville. On this traet of land he settled with his family in October, 1810, then an unbroken wilderness. They came from Connectient with ox-teams, and were seven weeks on the way. They cut their road from Rocky River, a distance of twelve miles, camping out three nights between that and Ridgeville. Ichabod Terrell was a man of sterling traits of character, holding different offices of trust among his people. He lived to see a home built up for bis family amid this wilderness. He died July 23, 1825, aged sixty-one.

His wife survived him a number of years, and died in June, 1851, aged eighty-five. She was pre-eminently fitted to endure the priva- tions and hardships of frontier life : a woman of unflinching courage, and fearless among the Indians and wild beasts of the forest. She was a mother to cach pioneer family as they made their advent into the new settlement, and far and near she was known as " Aunt Rhoda."

Ilarry, their youngest son, and subject of this sketch, was but four years old when he was brought into this unbroken wilderness to battle with the stern realities of frontier life. lle very early learned to use the rifle with unerring aim, and many were the trophies of deer, bear, wolves, etc., of which he and his brothers were the vietors. HIe met with two very narrow escapes with his life from wild animals while hunting alone in the woods; but these incidents were quite common to all the early settlers.

Ilis early education was such as he could pick up in this pioneer settlement, where every one was battling to clear the soil of its dense forest. His arithmetic was learned by figuring with a coal on the puncheon Hoor, bis father being the instructor. Eager and quick to learn, he soon mastered reading, writing, etc., and was much in advance of the other pioneer children of his age, so that we find him at the age of nineteen teaching their school. fle was commissioned by Governor Allen Trimble as captain in the 9th Company, 21 Regi- ment, 2d Brigade, 9th Division, in the Ohio Militia, to rank as such from the 7th day of November, 1829. He held various offices of trust, both from his town and county. Elected justice of the peace in 1835, he held that office for many years for which he was so well qualified. Several instances are mentioned in which he adjourned court and went with the parties to their homes to effect a settlement and recon- ciliation. Among the German settlers he was known as "the man vot makes it all right."

lle was proverbially neat in his person and appearance, and correct and exact in everything he did. Always cheerful and social, in his later years nothing pleased him better than to have a houseful of young people " as visitors."

He died Sept. 4, 1864. His wife survives him, and still lives on the farm and in the same house where they commenced their mar- ried life fifty- three years ago, and where he had lived since he was four years old.

To them were born ten children,-Jay, born Feb. 7, 1827 ; Ann, born Jan. 22, 1829; Jane, born Dec. 10, 1832; Arys (Ist), born Feb. 21, 1834, and died July 25, 1836; Arys (2d), born April 25, 1836, and died Sept. 28, 1878; Joseph Il., born Oct. 15, 1838; Emeline ( Ist), born Dec. 28, 1841, and died Oct. 6, 1844; Orson J., born Dec. 13, 1844; Emeline (2d), born Oet. 25, 1847 ; Juline, born Aug. 9, 1850, and died Sept. 25, 1852.

Jay married, Nov. 16, 1848, Etna E., daughter of Hon. Elah and Elizabeth Park, of Avon. To them have been born seven children,- Clay, born Nov. 30, 1849; married Mary Metcalf, Sept. 30, 1874; Elah, born Sept. 29, 1851; Ilarry, born Sept. 22, 1856; Park, born Ang. 27, 1858; Alice (Ist), born Dee. 23, 1861, and died April 16, 1864 ; Alice (2d), born Feb. 25, 1866; Charles M., born Oct 15, 1870.

Jane married Charles S. Mills, May 1, 1852. They have had Grace, born April 27, 1854, and died Ang. 18, 1855 ; Allie, born Dec. 8, 1857, and died Dec. 1, 1861 ; Ada, born June 23, 1859; Jennie, born Sept. 19, 1863; aud Ilarry, born Nov. 1, 1869.

Arys (2dl) married F. B. Powell, May 15, 1866 : had three children,- Claud and Maud, born in 1871; Madge, born in 1875. Joseph Il. married Irene, daughter of T. A. Benbam, May 27, 1864.

Orson J. married Lucinda Faxon, Dec. 16, 1865; and second, Nar- cissa C. Smith, May 3, 1874. By his first wife, George was born, Jan. 5, 1867. By his second wife, Clara A., born July 7, 1875; Grace E., born Nov. 2, 1876, and died Aug. 17, 1878. Emeline mar- ried Erwin J. Herrick, Jan. 22, 1869.

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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

shore in Dover, where he was again refreshed with food and rest, and then conducted to his home. Every possible effort had been made to find the un- fortunate man-men from adjoining towns assisting his immediate friends and neighbors in the search. While in the woods he subsisted on a few hickory nuts which he had been carrying in his pocket.

David Beebe, Jr., or Major Beebe, as he was gener- ally called, built a distillery at an early date on Cen- ter ereck, opposite the Cahoon grist mill. operated it for a few years and then abandoned the business. Ile was a mason by trade and was much engaged in brick and stone laying in this region of country, especially in Elyria. Ilis death took place August 27, 1847, aged seventy-six. His wife, Belinda Beebe, survived him many years; her death occurred at the age of nearly eighty-seven. There were seven children, two of whom are living, viz: David, in Elyria, and Mrs. Bennelt Smith, in Buffalo.

Lyman Root removed lo Dover the next spring after his arrival in Ridgeville, but returned in 1815, and settled near East ercek, on what is known as the Mills farm. le manufactured the ashes of the settlers into black salts, and also kept a little store in an early day. He died in Ridgeville in 1836; his wife many years after, in Wood county, Ohio. They had eleven children, and seven of them are now living, though none in lown.

Ichabod Terrell moved into the house then occupied by his son Tillotson, who vacated when his house on Center creek, then in course of erection, was com- pleted. Mr. Terrell was born in Waterbury, Connee- tient, in 1763. Tle married Rhoda Williams, also of Waterbury, who was a survivor of the Wyoming mas- sacre. They had a family of ten children, of whom Tillotson was the oldest. The other children were Lydia, Philander, Oliver, Lucinda, Orpha, Ichabod, Franklin, Horace, and Harry. They all, with one exception, settled and resided in the town for longer or shorter periods.

Ichabod, now living in Ridgeville, has been a resi- dent of the place for nearly sixty-nine consecutive years. Ile is the sole survivor in town of those who arrived in 1810. lle is now seventy-eight, and his wife, who was Sally Ilumphrey, seventy-seven.

Ichabod, the pioneer, died in 1825. His wife died in Columbia, in 1851, in the eighty-sixth year of her age. She left, at her death, ninety-one grand-children and a large number of great grand-children surviving her.

Noah Terrell came from Waterbury, with his family. when Tillotson Terrell came. He stopped in Columbia, for a short time, and then removed to Ridgeville, ocenpying, for a while, the first cabin built in town. In 1811. he settled a short distance cast of where Laurel Beebe now lives. He afterwards moved to Columbia, and laler, to Dover, but, event- ually returned to this town, and died here. He had a turning lathe. with which he made wooden ware, such as trenchers, or plates, milk bowls, and many

other useful and, almost indispensable, articles for the inhabitants.

In the fall of 1810, Joel Terrell returned to Water- bury, and in July, of the next year, he and his wife, and their son Wyllis, and his family, of wife and five children, started for their home in the distant west. They joined the infant colony in September following. They creeted a house on the ground now occupied by the frame tavern at the Center, and the lwo families jointly ocenpied it, until the elder Terrell built a house where his grandson, Wyllis Terrell, now lives. He moved mlo his cabin January 13, 1812. It was a very primitive structure, when Mr. Terrell and wife began house- keeping in it. It was without a floor, and indeed, had not a board in it, except two planks used as a foundation for the bedstead, and through an opening in the roof, over the tire-place, the tops of three large oaks could be seen. This honse was occupied for thirteen years, and then a frame was built on the same spot, or nearly so.

Mr. Terrell being a shoemaker, was a valuable ac- quisition to the little settlement. The settlers paid him, for the shoes he made them, in clearing and logging. Ile was a very successful bee hunter, and for years, now and then, a free was found in Ridge- ville forests, bearing the inscription of his name. Hle was a man of much energy of character, and was one of the most prominent men in the place. He was the first justice of the peace elected in the township. His death occurred in 1825. at the age of sixty-eight, and his wife, Eunice, in 1842, aged eighty-four.

They had but one child, Wyllis. He, Wyllis, soon opened his log house as a tavern. It was a favorite place of resort for the Indians, both before and after the war. Major Terrell always treated them kindly, occasionally yielding to their importunities for liquor, but always exacting from them the promise that they would not get drunk, a promise which, it is said, they always kept. Major Terrell bought the Cahoon grist. mill, soon after it was built, and the Indians often came to him for their corn and meal. He always yielded to their requests to be trusted for pay- ment, and this gained their further admiration. They frequently brought the family presents. They finally gave the tavern the name of

"THE INDIAN TAVERN."

and. on one occasion, some twenty of the men brought their sqnaws and pappooses to see the wonderful place. Some time afterwards, one of their number brought a pair of deers' horns, and fastened them up to the front side of the house. For a number of years. small bands of them would pass and repass the place, and would often stay over night in the house. In 1821, the old structure was torn down, and the fol- lowing year a frame was built, and in this Major Terrell kept tavern up to the date of his death, in 1830. His wife died in 1857. There were six ehil- dren in this family, four of whom are living, as fol-

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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

lows: Albert. Wyllis, and Levi, in Ridgeville, and Joel, in Cleveland.

During the year 1812, a few additions were made to the settlement. George Sexton, with his family of wife and one child, arrived in the spring of that year. He was originally from Bennington county, Vermont, but had resided for a short time in New- burgh, Cuyahoga county. He settled on Center ridge, on lot thirty-nine. The location is now occupied by the saw mill of John Cahoon. He remained there three years, and then sold to Samuel Cahoon, and moved farther west on the same road. Sexton married a daughter of Joseph Cahoon, and the two families emigrated from Vermont together, Cahoon settling in Dover, Cuyahoga county. Mr. Sexton died in Novem- ber, 1829, and his wife in the fall of 1859. Of their seven children, all but two are dead. Cyrus S. lives in Ridgeville, and Amos in Cuyahoga county.

Jonathan A. Sexton, a brother of George, arrived in town in 1812, and married bere and settled. lis wife was Betsey Shellhouse. He lived on lot thirty- nine for several years and then moved to Carlisle, and later to Wisconsin, where he died. Soon after, an- other brother. James Sexton, came into the township with his family, and settled on the lot on which his brother George last lived. He sold out in 1834, and eventually removed to Wisconsin and died there. His widow, who was a daughter of Martin Shellhouse, is now (January, 1879.) living in St. Joseph, Mo., at the age of eighty-seven.

INCIDENT.

One night, in 1817. Mr. Sexton was aroused by a fracas in the direction of his sheep pen, and, on going out to ascertain the canse, found, in the corner of the fence. his large dog and a wolf engaged in deadly contliet. Sexton procured a club and went to the assistance of the dog. In a few moments Mrs, Sexton arrived with the ax, with which her husband quickly despatched the wolf. The ground was covered with snow at the time, and both husband and wife were barefoot. Mrs. Sexton, herself, with only a broom for her weapon, once rescued a pig from the jaws of a bear.

HARDSHIPS OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.

There were now some ten families in the township. Their nearest neighbors were in Columbia, and be- tween them lay the unbroken forest. West of them the nearest settlement was at Florence, Erie county. twenty-two miles away. But their comparative isola- tion was not their greatest hardship. Food was some- times very scarce and hard to procure. After the land was once brought under cultivation it produced abundantly, but it was covered with an extremely heavy growth of timber, which rendered the work of clearing, slow and difficult. The price of many arti- «les of food which the people of to-day would regard as indispensable, was so high as to render them beyond the reach of the pioneers, and their food was consequently of the plainest character. A mush,

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History of Lorain County, Ohio, Part 40

Author: Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia, Williams brothers Number of Pages: 626

Author:
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia, Williams brothers
Number of Pages: 626