History of Lorain County, Ohio, Part 42

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

USA > Ohio > Lorain County > History of Lorain County, Ohio > Part 42

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

During the pastorate of Rev. Dissette, in 1875, some eight or nine members of the church. includ- ing among the number some whose connection with it embraced a period of nearly tifty years, were ex- pelled for non-attendance upon church service. The expelled members, who absented themselves for the alleged reason of dissent from the doctrines enun- ciated by the pastor, with a like number who with- drew from the church, were organized by a Rev. Mr. Beli into a class under the name of Free Methodists. The organization was effected in February, 1826. Meetings were held at the school house and at the house of Ilenry Dickson, until the erection of a house of worship on Butternut ridge. in the summer of 18:6. Revs. Ilart and Bell officiated in the ded_ ieatory services. Rev. Scott Marshall is the present pastor of the church. Osborne Hale is the superin- tendent of the Sabbath school.

ST. PETER'S (CATHOLIC) CHURCH.

This church was formed in February, 1815. It. embraced a membership of some forty-five at its organization. A church building at the Center was erected in the fall and winter of the same year. The present membership is about sixty. The Sabbath school contains nearly fifty scholars. Rev. J. Ileid- egger, the priest in charge, has been connected with the church in that relation since its formation.

SCHOOLS.

The first house in which school was kept was built of logs, and stood on ground now occupied by the brick tavern at the center. The seats consisted of

.AA.

165

HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

slabs resting on pins, and hewed on the upper side. In one end of the building was a fire place with stone baek, but without jambs, and the logs would fre- quently catch fire. In the end opposite was the window, made by cutting out, for a distance of ten or twelve feet, a single løg of the structure, and placing glass in the opening. Along the window, and for a few l'eet at each end beyond it, was a rude desk at which the scholars practiced their writing lessons.

The first teacher was Lydia Terrell, who taught in the summer of 1814, but died before completing the term. The next school was kept by Betsy Shell- house. JJohn Reading was the first male teacher. Abigal Davis taught in the summer of 1817. She has lived, until recently, in Cleveland for many years, and is well advanced in life. Samuel Mills was the last teacher in the old school house, which was destroyed in the winter of 1817 by fire of un- known origin.

Another house, also of logs, was built immediately afterwards on the opposite side of the street, and a short distance further east. Wyllis Terrell, Sr., was an early school teacher in this structure, and he is thought by some to have taught in the old house.

The town was subsequently divided into two sehoo] distriets, and a house built in the west part of the town and one in the east part. The latter was the first frame school house in town, and. it is believed, the first in the county. It was erected in 1821. It was sitnated in what was then called the northeast distriet, on the farm then owned by Philander Terrell, now owned by Oliver H. Lewis. The nails used in the construction of this building were made in Talmadge, then in Portage county, and cost twenty- five cents per pound.

The first school taught in this house was kept by Peter Barton, in the winter of 1821-22. Merritt Osborne taught the following winter. His term ended with a school exhibition, a novel feature then. It was held in the barn of Asahel Morgan, old and young alike participating in the exercises.

The division of the township, with the location of the two school houses, as previously stated, was un- satisfactory to the people at the center of town, and they erected for themselves a house at the center. Subsequently they succeeded in obtaining a school district in this portion of town.

The present condition of the schools is shown by the report of the clerk of the board of education, for the year ending August 31, 1878, which gives the following statisties:

Number of school houses 10

Value. .

$8,800

Amount paid teachers

2,415

Number of scholars

410

A catholic school was established at the center in October, 1846, with about forty-five scholars. The number now enrolled is fifty-five. The school is hell in the town hall.

ORGANIZATION.

The township was organized the first Monday in April, 1813, at the Terrell tavern. There were fifteen voters, and they were all at the election, which resulted as follows: Wyllis Terrell, clerk; David Beebe, Sr., Ichabod Terrell and Joel Terrell, trustees; David Beebe, Jr., and John Reading, constables; Joel Terrel, justice of the peace.

The township officers elected at the spring election of 1878 are the following: Albert G. Terrell, clerk; Wm. D. Fuller, Randall Stetson and Lester C. Sexton, trustees; Chauncey Blakesley and James Healy, jus- tices of the peace.

POST OFFICE.

A post office was established in Ridgeville in 1815. Moses Eldred was the first postmaster, who kept the office in his own house, lle held the office until 1828, his successors being as follows:

Edward Byington, until 1836; Levi W. Terrel, 1842: Alonzo Benham, until 1846; Joel Terrel until 1851; Joseph Humphrey, until 1854; David Beebe, now of Elyria, until 1860; Alonzo Benham, until 1864; Doctor Palmer, until 1866; John Brown, un- til 1864: Il. G. Linder, until 1868: George P. Bur- rell, until 1869; Bert Wilmot, until 1820: E. P. Smith, until 1844: Orson J. Terrell, is the present in- cumbent of the office, which is located at the center of the town.

There is also a post office at Shawville, the post- master being O. H. Ramsdell.

STORES.

The first store in the township was kept in his own house by Lyman Root. There are at the present writing four stores in the town, the name of the owners being as follows: Orson J. Terrell, Nicholas Diedrich, H. Ramsdall, M. Bruce.

MANUFACTURING INTERESTS.

In 1812, and prior to the partition of their lands, Joel, Oliver and lehabod Terrell, and David Beebe, Sr., gave to Joseph Cahoon sixty acres of land at the center of the town, the consideration of the convey- ance being that the grantee build a grist mill on the land so conveyed. The deed was executed December 3, 1812. This was the first real estate transfer in the township. In the spring of 1813 the mill was erected. It stood on the west bank of Center creek, a few feet north of the bridge that now crosses the stream. The mill was abont eighteen by twenty feet in size, con- structed of basswood logs, hewed on the inside, and was the best mill in the county in its day. It had but one run of stone, which was made out of a common "hard head." Wyllis Terrell, Sr., bought the mill a few months after its completion and operated it until 1826 or '27, when he sold to Orson Humphrey. The mill Jong since ceased to exist, and there is now none of the kind in the township.

166

HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

THE RIDGEVILLE CHAIR WORKS.

This enterprise has grown up to its present impor- tance from a small beginning. It was established by A. H. Movers, the present proprietor, in November, 1853, with a capital of seven dollars and fifty cents. Ile served his apprenticeship with his father, who was a chair maker, and had worked in Elyria, making chairs by the piece, the year previous to his location in Ridgeville. He rented a room, eighteen by twenty- four feet in size, in Joel Terrell's saw-mill at the center of the town, and with the capital previously stated, a few tools and a turning lathe which he bor- rowed, started in business for himself. He was alone for over a year. He made about one hundred chairs a month and those of the cheapest character. For these he found a market. mostly at Elyria. After running for three years he sold out to William Young for two hundred dollars, but bought back within two weeks, paying a bonus of twenty-five dollars. Some two years and a half afterwards, during which he en- gaged in other enterprises, be bought a small building near the Bushnell mill, and moved it to its present location, in the rear of his house. In this building, which he now uses for a barn, Mr. Movers prosecuted his business for about six months, using a horse power, when he commenced the erection of the first of the three large buildings now comprising his works. Inaddition to his factory proper, Mr. Movers has a saw mill twenty-eight by sixty feet, two stories high, the motive-power of which is a forty-horse power engine. The goods made by these works consist of every variety of wood chairs, all kinds of double cane-seated chairs, settees and the round-cornered cottage bedstead. Mr. Movers finds a market for his goods in Cleveland. In 1823 he employed nearly seventy-five hands. At the present time he has forty employees, five of whom are women.

These works furnished for the Sangerfest building in Cleveland, in June, 1876, six thousand chairs in nine days, all carried to the city in wagons. The cap- ital invested in business at the present time is upwards of thirty thousand dollars.

Since this enterprise was started by Mr. Mooers, nineteen similar establishments, within a radins of twenty miles, have had an existence and failed of success. He attributes a great part of his success to his striet temperance principles, to which he has ad- hered from childhood, never having tasted a drop of malt or spirituous liquor.

Just south of the saw mill is a building used by Mr. Movers, exclusively for the manufacture of an implement called the "Grithin Land Leveler," of which Mr. Seth Griffin of Elyria, is the patentec. It is a combined roller, harrow and scraper, and is used for leveling roads and tracks, and for the preparation of land for seeding. It was first patented in 1824, and its manufacture begun in 1877. About thirty machines are turned out yearly, and there is an in- creasing demand for it.

Recognizing the necessity of means for the greater security of the dead from the nefarious business of grave robbers, Mr. Movers applied his mechanical genius in this direction, and patented in the spring of 1878, a " Metallic Coffin Shield" which he is now manufacturing. It is made of wrought sheet iron, and is used in the place of the ordinary box in which the coffin is enclosed. Efforts in this direction are most commendable.

SAW MILLS.

The first saw mill in this township was built by Major Wyllis Terrell, on Center creek, near his grist mill, in 1819. It continued in operation until 1830, when Major Beebe and Joseph flumphrey, out of sanitary considerations, bought the property and tore it away. It overflowed their lands with water much of the time, causing a great deal of sickness.

Capt. Bush erected a saw mill on West ereck at an . early day, but it never went into operation. A freshet carried away the dam, and the enterprise was aban- doned.

THE HERRICK MILL, at the Center, was built by loel Terrell, son of Major Terrell, in the year 1850. He established at the same place a button factory, which he operated in the day time, and the saw mill at night. It ceased to exist some tive or six years since. Successive owners of the saw mill were men by the name of Viets, George Burrell and Dr. Ilerrick, of Cleveland, the present owner.

THE ROBINSON MILL, located on lot fourteen, was built in 1850, by Messrs. Peek and Hesten. The former subsequently bought the latter's interest, and ran the mill until 1866, when the present proprietor, J. Robinson, came into possession of the property. It is a steam mill, and has facilities for sawing from two thousand five hundred to three thousand feet of lumber per day, but has been idle much of the time of late years.

THE MOOERS MILL. - This is by far the most im- portant mill of the kind in the township, and, indeed, in this section of the country. It was built and is used mainly as an adjunet to his chair works, but the mill also does a great deal of custom work. It was built in 1813. It is a two-story frame, thirty hy sixty feet, with a substantial brick boiler and engine- room with an iron roof, making it as nearly fireproof as possible. The engine is a forty-horse power. The capacity of the mill is five thousand feet of lumber per day. The upper story is used by Mr. Mooers for his turning works, and is replete with all the varied machinery necessary to that branch of his chair factory.

CIDER MILL.

The only cider mill in the township is owned and operated by W. H. Eldred, who, with his father, built it in 1856. The entire machinery, with the exception of the engine, is of Mr. Eldred's own manufacture. It possesses facilities for the manufacture of eighty barrels of cider per day. With a small force of hands

RESIDENCE OF C. L. SEXTON. RIDGEVILLE, LORAIN CO., OHIO.

167

HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

the average is abont thirty-five, barrels per day. Mr. Eldred does a general custom business, and also ships largely to Cleveland. In 1824, he added a feed mill with one run of stone, and run by steam, the engine being a twelve-horse power. Its capacity is abont twenty-five bushels per hour.

CHEESE FACTORIES,

THE EXCELSIOR FACTORY .- The original factory on this location, lot. twenty-four, was built in 1869 by Jackson & Roe. It was destroyed by fire in 1871. when the present factory was erected by Adams & Eldred. In 1873, Jackson & Eldred, the present proprietors took charge, and have continued its opera- tion up to the present time. This factory makes a specialty of the manufacture of what the proprietors call "Cheshire cheese," the entire produet being shipped direct to England. It consumed the milk of about four hundred and fifty cows the last season.

THE FULLER FACTORY was established in 1870, by a stock company. W. D. Fuller, the present owner, has operated it about three years. It formerly con- sumed the milk of about two hundred cows, It was supplied the last season by about one hundred and fifty.

THE BRIGGS CHEESE FACTORY, situated a short distance south of Briggs' Corners, was built in the spring of 1871 by a stock company. The present manager of the factory is C. I. Mead. The directors are llomer Terrell, John MeNelley and Edward Hill. The production for the season of 1848 was about sixty thousand pounds of cheese, consuming the milk of about two hundred cows.

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

Wheat,

925 acres

17,495 bushels

Oats,

1,431

.38,431

Corn,

1,251

.40,722

Potatoes, 192

25,328

Orchards, 267

3,449

Meadow, 1,964

2,333 tons.

Butter.

.49,660 pounds.

Cheese.

164,000

VOTE FOR PRESIDENT, 1876.

Hayes

194 | Tilden 157

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

C. LESTER SEXTON.

Soon after the marriage of George Sexton and Miss Mary Cahoon, at Vergennes, Vt., in the year 1810, they moved into Ohio, stopping at Judge Kingsbury's, Newburgh, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, where they re- mained until March 12, 1812; then, with family, Mr. G. Sexton moved into the west part of Ridgeville, Lo- rain county, Ohio, where he resided until his decease, November 7, 1829, aged forty-two years, leaving a widow and seven children, five of whom are since dead. Mrs. Mary Cahoon died September 17, 1849.

The two children living are Amos C. Sexton, who is a farmer in Orange, Cuyahoga county, Ohio; the other, C. Lester Sexton, of whom this sketch is writ- ten, following the same calling as his brother, resides in Ridgeville, Lorain county, Ohio. He was born at Newburgh, as above, on April 20, 1810.

The parents of Mrs. Lester Sexton, viz: Ebenezer Porter and Miss Ennice Yale, were married at Lee, Berkshire county, Mass., in 1800. They left Lee, in 1822, with a family of eight children, for Ohio. Spending the winter in Dover, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, in the early spring th y removed to Ridgeville, where they built the first "log house" on Sugar Ridge. As a farmer, there he lived until death, which occurred on July 6, 1867, he having reached the advanced age of ninety-one years; his more aged father having died at his son's residence, in 1839, ninety-four years of age. Mrs. Eunice Sexton died November 19, 1847.

Mr. C. Lester Sexton and Frances C. Porter were married at Ridgeville, December 5, 1833. Soon after they removed to Ashland, Ashland county, Ohio. Re- turning to Ridgeville on the 9th of March, 1838. They commenced in the unbroken woods to make for them- selves and children a home. How pleasant that home and its surroundings have beeome, the artist shows in the view accompanying.

In Ridgeville they have since lived, with the excep- tion of three years in Elyria, where Mr. Sexton engaged in brick making.

Mr. Sexton was father of tive children. Lydia Louisa, their eldest child, was born in Ashland county, Ohio, November 26, 1834. Becoming the wife of llarlo C. Emmons, of Elyria, she was left a widow in March, 1869. In San Francisco, California, she was re-mar- ried to John Dunbar, and has since resided in l'eta- Inma, California. George P. Sexton and E. Porter Sexton were both born in Ridgeville; the one Novem- ber 5, 1838, the other April 15, 1841. At the com- mencement of the rebellion, both brothers enlisted in Company E, Forty-second Ohio Volunteer In- fantry. George died in hospital at Paintville, Ken- tucky, February 7, 1862; aged twenty-three. E. Porter serving his full enlistment, was honorably discharged, since which time he has generally been in Ridgeville.

Frances M. was born August 21, 1847, and became the wife, February 9, 1869, of W. Il. Bastard, of Columbia, Lorain county, Ohio, where they now live with their sons, Robert Lester and George Harry.

The remaining child, Elizabeth, was born in Ridge- ville April 21, 1850, and is still living with her parents,

Mr. Sexton has filled, and now holds the office of township trustee. Still vigorous, at a ripe age, loved and respected by his neighbors, he remains one of the makers of Ridgeville. To him belongs the credit of being one of the tirst, if not the first, of using tile drains, to any great extent, in Lorain county,-he at an early day, laying over two miles on his farm.

Many are the incidents he can relate of early life.

168

HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OIIIO.

Soon after the arrival at Elyria, of Judge Ely's first wife. Mr. Sexton's mother, and another lady, started on foot through the woods, to make a friendly call on the new-comer. The visit being made, the ladies commenced their journey home. Losing their way. and night coming on, they were forced to spend the night under a partially fallen tree. The next morn- ing brought them kind neighbors, who had passed the night in vain search for them. Such was "call- ing " in Lorain county pioneer life.

RICHARD BLAIN.

Wilson Blain was born April 24, 1789, and married to Hannah Van Natten, in May, 1810. They moved to Ridgeville, this county, in September, 1818, where he bought a farm on the Butternut ridge, and lived there until his death. He had four children. Rich- ard, the eldest son of Wilson, and subject of this sketch, was born October 13, 1812, and married Fanny

M. Fuller, November 20, 1836, who was born October 18, 1820; she was the daughter of Warren and Vesta Fuller. Warren Fuller was born May 8, 1790, and died .Inly 1, 1870. Vesta Filer was born Jannary ?, 1795, and died July 11. 1820.

To Richard Blain and his wife have been born four children: Warren W .. born November 6, 1834: James M., born December 30, 1839; Vesta H., born Febru- ary 11, 1841; and Harlan I., born March 14, 1843, and died April 5, 1856.

Warren W. married Elizabeth Watson, February 17, 1861. They have seven children: Martin W .. born December 15, 1865; Arreain F., born March 28. 1867; Elfa E., born November 30, 1869; Harlan W .. born January 14, 1821; Jane L., born May 23, 1872: Fanny B., born June 25, 1845; and Marcia C .. born March 25, 1877.

James M. married Lydia Percival, December 29. 1861; she died January 1, 1866, and he married. second, Emma Peets, December 25, 1866, who was born June 29, 1850. To them have been born: Gracie M .. born May 17, 1868; Lucien A., July 26, 1870; William W., born August 8, 1821; Jessie M., born October 8, 1842, and died Inly 22, 1843; Richard, January 30, 1875; and Baby, born July 12, and died February 18, 1826.

Vesta H. married Noah H. Peck, February 19, 1860. They have Edith F .. born Jannary 11, 1861; Ella C .. born January 13, 1864; Lydia C., born April 29, 1866; Eddie R., born December 16, 1868; and Lora C., born November 18, 1870.

Richard Blain united with the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1899, when he was seventeen years old. and remained a faithful, devoted member until the close of his life. In all these years, after he became of age, he was either class leader or steward, and usnally both. He was always at his post, and tilled his place with honor to himself, and great benefit and credit to the church. He was a man of decided and unblemished character, one who lived to do his neighbors good: and was truly devoted to his wife, his children and the church of his adoption.

OLD HOME.

PHOTOS BY PLATT, OBCALINO

MRS.C.L. FREEMANA

C. L. FREEMAN

RESIDENCE OF C. L. FREEMAN , RUSSIA, LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

RUSSIA.

OBERLIN.

PREFATORY NOTE.

The following sketch of Oberlin history is mainly a compilation, but it may be regarded as reliable, and is as complete as the scope of this work will adinit. The facts and documents pertaining to the early history, 1 have taken chiefly from the " History of Oberlin, " in manu- script, by President Fairchild; of which, availing myself of the generous offer of the author, I have made free use. Other facts and statistics have been taken from the college catalogues, from articles in the Oberlin Evangelist and in the Oberlin Review, and from other sources, for my indebtedness to which. this general acknowledgment innst suffice. For the estimates of Oberlin, and of a few of its leading men, the writer is alone responsible. H. M.

LIBRARY OBERLIN COLLEGE, December 30, 1878.

INTRODUCTION.

THE history of Oberlin may be said to be the history of an idea, first, as conceived in the minds of indi- viduals and matured into a plan, which may be called its origin; then as converted by them into fact, and made an outward reality, which constitutes its begin- ning; next, as receiving a sudden increase of mental and moral force, which gave it enlargement, and was its second beginning, from which it should proceed as from a new point of departure; and finally, as its natural and gradual development, in which is found, amid strivings and confiicts, its growth to maturity. In this fact, that Oberlin is built on and represents a progressive idea, or a fundamental principle, is found its distinctive and representative character; and this is the true explanation of the enthusiasm it awakened, the opposition it excited, the snecess it has achieved, and the work it has wrought.

The explanation and source of the idea must be songht in the character of the period. It was a period of revivals, and of the beginning of great and radical reforms. Before Oberlin had an existence, so much as in thought, extensive revivals had prevailed in various parts of the land, by which whole commu- nities and towns were regenerated, and thousands had their conscience quickoned, and their life renewed. Following, or accompanying, these revivals were cer- tain special reforms, which were a practical use of christian principles for the overthrow of great, indi- vidual, social, and national evils, as intemperance, slavery, and war. Of these, the anti-slavery reform, from the ardor with which it was esponsed and advo- cated by its friends, and the violence with which it was resisted by its enemies, gained especial promi- mence. Now, Oberlin was, from its beginning and in its very idea, the embodiment of this spirit of revival and reform-of revival as tirst, and of reform as pro- ceeding from it. It was this spirit of revival and reform that created it, that possessed and ruled it, and that gives life to its history.

The origin and character of the men who first con- posed Oberlin, likewise show its character. These were all, either immediately or mediately, from New England. They were genuine New England men, with the New England mind and heart. Moreover, they were of the best type of the puritan character. They were serious, earnest, self-contained, independ- ent in thought and spirit, God-fearing and sincerely pious, with purity of intention and singleness of aim, consecrated to the work of doing good, courageous and persevering, and overflowing with an enthusiasm generated and sustained by an ardent devotion to a lofty purpose. Oberlin is a true child of New Eng- land, a certain reproduction-not an imitation-of New England ideas, culture and life. It was New England transferred, for a specific purpose, to the woods of Ohio.

In form, also, Oberlin is peculiar. This name, Oberlin, stands neither for the town nor for the col- lege, separately and singly; it signifies both in their unity. Town and college are units of a composite idea. Both sprang into existence together, the town for the college, and the college for the world; and, therefore, both as one for the world. Oberlin was not founded in selfishness, but in benevolence; not for its own sake, but for the sake of humanity. It was not meant that the end of the college should be the education it should impart, but the good it might promote through that education; neither was it meant that the end of the town should be its own mere ex- istence and welfare, but also the good it should aid the college in promoting.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Lorain County, Ohio, Part 42

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

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