History of Lorain County, Ohio, Part 52

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

USA > Ohio > Lorain County > History of Lorain County, Ohio > Part 52

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).

Mr. Durkee and his excellent wife are in every sense a worthy couple. They have lived together nigh unto half a century, and we trust they will both live and enjoy good health and prosperity for many years after celebrating their golden wedding. Mr. Durkee is in politics a staunch republican; in religion, a free thinker.

WILLIAM H. PHILLIPS, ESQ.

AAmong the few surviving pioneers of Eaton town- ship, none ante-date the arrival of 'Squire Phillips. It is nearly fifty-three years since he settled in Eaton, and with the exception of a few years' absence, has continued to reside where he now lives during that period. William H. Phillips was born in Greene

county, New York, September, 17, 1809. He is the son of Henry and Abigail (Finch) Phillips, the for- mer of whom was born in Connecticut, on the 9th of June, 1786, the latter in the same State, October 12, 1784. The family is of Anglo-German descent, and combines the sturdiness of the former with the fru- gality of the latter, in their character. On the 26th of October, 1826, William II. Phillips removed to Ohio and settled in Eaton township, Lorain county, upon the place he now lives and has almost ever since occupied. He married Maria Slater, Novem- ber 10, 1839. She died January 16, 1868. They had six children, namely : William A., Letitia (deceased), Edgar A., who was shot July 9, 1864, near Martins- burg, Virginia, while serving his country as a soldier, Corda C., and Lena M. Phillips. Mr. Phillips is a republican, and has been honored with nearly every township office, notably those of assessor, which he held over twenty years, and justice of the peace for fifteen years at the completion of his present term. He honestly performs the duties of his office, and gives general satisfaction in the same.

JOIN ROACHI,

was born in Market Arborough, Leicestershire, Eng- land, April 20, 1811. He embarked at Liverpool, in March, 1857, and landed at Castle Garden, New York, in the following May. The ship he came over on had quite a tempestuous passage, but arrived at its desti- nation safely. While waiting to move west, the wharf on which was stowed the baggage of the emigrants

207

HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

gave way, and nearly all the personal effects were pre- cipitated into the ocean, and most of the same were lost. After a brief stay in New York, Mr. Roach proceeded up the Hudson river to Albany, and took the cars there for Amherst, where he remained until the following fall. In the mean while he lost his wife, Elizabeth Eames Roach, of Clipsom, England, to whom he was married in 1831. They had seven chil- dren, three sons and four daughters, namely: Mary. who married Samnel Maddock of Henry county. Ohio; Ann, who married Henry Townsend of Carlisle township; Joseph, who married Eliza Bonner, now living in Nebraska; William, who was killed in the army, by the accidental discharge of a comrade's re- volver in 1862; Betsey, who married Ilenry Montagne, and resides on the adjoining farm to her father; So-

phia, who married Peter Watts, Kingston, Indiana; Thomas, ummarried, and resides with his father.

In 1860, Mr. Roach settled on Plum Creek, in Car- lisle township, where he remained about one year. In 1861 he permanently located on the place where he now lives, which is a neatly kept and well enlti- valed farm of fifty acres, having upon it comfortable buildings, an illustration of which appears on another page of this work.

In politics Mr. Roach is a republican. He has held the offices of township trustee, and supervisor of the road district in which he resides. In religions belief he is a Baptist. He is an industrious and economical farmer; honest and fair in his dealings with others. and one of whom it can be truly said that he is an upright man, a good neighbor and citizen.

BLACK RIVER.

BY the survey of 1806, Black River (town number seven in the eighteenth range) was divided into three parts-gore number one, tract number two, and gore number three. It was not drawn as a township, but was used for equalizing purposes, gore one being annexed lo Olmsted, tract two to Amherst, and gore three to the township of Medina, and the original proprietors of those townships became the owners of the soil of Black River.

SURFACE, STREAMS, TIMBER.

The surface of the township is remarkably even, sloping gradually to the lake, with a deep, dark, gen- erally loamy clay soil of exceeding fertility. The water courses of the township are Black River, Beaver Creek and Martin's Run, all of which have their outlets in the lake. Black River divides a small part of the township in the northeast corner from the rest of its territory, and affords excellent advan tages for the utilization of water power. Beaver creek drains the western part of town, while Mar- · tin's run courses through the center.

On the lake shore the native kinds of timber were chiefly hickory, white oak, elm and basswood, while farther inland the principal variety was white oak.

SETTLEMENT.

In regard to an early attempt at settlement, Judge Boynton says, in his " Early History of Lorain county :"

"The earliest attempted settlement was at the mouth of Black River. In 1787, a few Moravian ministers, missionaries among the Delawares and other tribes, with a band of christian Indians, undertook to make a

permanent settlement at that point. In the spring of that year they removed from ' Pilgrim's Rest,' on the Cuyahoga, to the place contem- plated as their new abode. Here they hoped to establish a center and plant the seeds of the christian civilization of the Indians. Their hopes, however, were not to be realized, They had remained but a few days upon the spot selected, when a message from the chief of the Dela- wares, commanding them to depart from Black river was received and at once obeyed. This was the first settlement in what is now the county; for although temporary and of but short duration, it was a settlement in fact coupled with an intent to remain."

In 1807, Nathan Perry came to the month of Black river and erected a house a short distance east of the river, in which he opened a store for trade with the Indians. He had in his employ Azariah Beebe and wife, who occupied his house. They were the first family that settled in the township. They remained only a few years, however, when they removed from the township, settling on Haron river, where they both died a few years after. Perry, after a few years, removed to Cleveland, where he engaged in merchan- dizing, continuing his trade with the Indians, and eventually amassed a large property. He was a son of JJudge Nathan Perry, of Rutland, Vermont, who was an early settler in Cleveland. He was a man of more than ordinary ability. His son llorace was for many years clerk of the court of common pleas of Cuyahoga county. Horatio, another son, settled first in Vermillion and afterwards in Elyria. Judge Perry's only daughter was the wife of Peter Weddell, of Cleveland, who built the Weddell house of that city.

Daniel Perry, a brother of the judge, was the next permanent settler in the township. lle, with his family, arrived in March, 1810, and located a quarter of a mile west of the river. He afterwards removed

208

HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

to his nephew's farm east of the river, still retaining the farm on which he first settled. Squire Perry, as he was familiarly called, with his large family, had an uphill life of it in Black River, and to better his condition, removed in an early day to Brownhehn, and settled near the center of the town. He lived to a good old age, and reared a large family of children, some of whom are now living in Brownhelm quite advanced in life.

This same year the families of Joseph Quigley, Jonathan Seeley, George and Andrew Kelso and Ralph Lyon were added. Quigley, at an carly date, removed to number six, range eighteen, Amherst. He lived to the great age of ninety-four or ninty-five years. Seeley located on lot twenty-one. Of his subsequent history, as well as that of some others mentioned, nothing is known. Ralph Lyon and family, then consisting of his wife and two children, came to Black River from Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in the fall of 1810. He located about two miles west of the river on the lake shore, on the farm now owned by Alanson Gillmore, lot twenty. After a short stay here, he removed to Beaver creek, purchasing the farm now occupied by HI. Kolb. This he afterwards sold, and he then moved to the month of Black river, where he died at the home of his son-in-law, Nathan Edson, in January, 1832. His wife died a few months afterward. Their family consisted of six children, all now dead. A son, John, was born in the spring of 1812, and was the first white child born in the territory comprised within the present limits of Black river. A daughter, Catharine, married the well- known Captain William JJones, of Lorain. She died in October, 1875.

The next family that settled in Black River was that of John S. Reid. Mr. Reid, who was a native of New Jersey, was residing in the vicinity of Cleveland at the time of his removal to this township. lle and his daughter Elizabeth came to the mouth of Black river in the spring of 1810. His first erection stood nearly opposite the present site of the large frame building, at the foot of Elyria street, now owned by Artemas Beebe, of Elyria, which was also built by Reid. His original cabin was a double block house, a stately structure for the time, and was used for many years by Mr. Reid as a dwelling, tavern, post- office and justice's office combined. In the spring of 1811 the rest of the family arrived. This family formed the center around which a little settlement at the mouth of the river gathered, and which soon came to be known by the name of " Black River."

Mr. Reid was a man of strong points of character, and naturally exercised considerable local influence. In 1819, when this township was embraced in the county of Huron, he was one of the commissioners of that county, and in 1824 was one of the first three commissioners of Lorain county. Ile was also post- master and justice of the peace for many years. He died in December, 1831, and Mrs. Reid in March, 1832. A son, Conrad, is still a resident of Black

River, having resided at the mouth of the river for sixty-seven conseentive years. Cornelius, an older son, was drowned on the lake, in November, 1818. His father engaged a Captain Brooks, with his vessel, to take a load of corn, in the car, to Detroit, and Cornelius was sent in charge of the cargo. Two other men were also aboard. When off lluron, a terrible gale capsized the vessel, and all on board were lost. The names of the other children were Sophia, Elizabeth and Ann. The first two became, respectively, the wives of Daniel T. Baldwin and Quartus Gillmore. Before we take leave of Mr. Reid, we will relate an anecdote which we have not before seen in print.

In the early settlement of the country, the "extract of corn " was a universal beverage, taken, of course, to " keep off fever." No well ordered public house, especially, could get along without it, and the liquid was always within easy access of the guests, who were expected to help themselves at will. On one occasion, Dr. -, of Conneaut, stopped over night with Reid. The next morning, when he came to settle his bill, he found among the items charged that of whiskey. The doctor assured his host that he had used no liquor, and demanded a consequent reduction in the amount of the bill. "It don't make any dif- ference," replied Reid, " whether yon used it or not. the whisky was before you, and it is your own fault if you didn't have it." The doctor paid the bill and departed. Some months afterwards he stopped with Reid again, who, on presenting his bill, was confronted with one for a like amount by the doctor, for medicine. " What do you mean?" said Reid, "I have had no medicine." "That doesn't matter," retorted the doctor. " it was in my medicine bag, and it was your own fault if you didn't." Reid thought the cases sufficiently parallel to give the doctor a free night's lodging.

William Martin, a native of Pennsylvania, with his family of wife and six children, joined the settlement in April, 1811, performing the journey with an ox team and wagon. Martin exchanged his farm of three hundred aeres in Pennsylvania, for nearly a thousand acres in Black River and Amherst, most of it in the latter township. Ile took up his residence on lot twenty-one, moving in a house erected the year previons by Jonathan Seeley. For some un- known cause, he never obtained a title to any of his western land, except that comprised in lot twenty- one, in this township.

Martin came to an untimely death. in October, 1830, by a singular accident. He had just come out of a well, which he with others was sinking on the farm of Nathan Edson, on the Oberlin road, when Edson took hold of him to engage in a friendly seuf- tle, the result of which was that Martin fell into the well, twenty feet deep, killing him almost instantly. Ifis widow died in 1842. There were eight children in this family, two born subsequent to the settlement in Black River. The only surviving member of the

Conrad Pesce

CONRAD REID was born, Sept. 30, 1802, in the town of Wilkesbarre, Susquehanna Co., Pa., and was the fourth child of John S. and Anna Reid. John S. Reid was a native of New Jersey. His father and mother spent their last days in Janesville, Ohio, some of his descendants still living in that vicinity. John S. and family emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, about the year 1806 or 1807, during the month of Febru- ary ; was a house carpenter by trade ; removed his family from Cleveland to Black River in the spring of 1811, where he spent the remainder of his days ; died Dec. 3, 1831. His wife died March 5, 1832. Our subject remained with his parents until twenty- one years of age, when he was united iu marriage to Abigail, daughter of Wm. Murdock, of Connecti-

cut. By this nnion were born twelve children,- eleven sons and one daughter,-three of whom are living. His first wife died April 10, 1861 ; married for his second partner Catharine Horn, a native of Hesse-Cassel, Germany, Dec. 25, 1862. During the carly part of Mr. Reid's life he followed sail- ing ; built many vessels which he sold, followed the business some fifteen or sixteen years, and thus de- rived the title of captain, by which he his familiarly known. After leaving Lake Erie he engaged in the hotel business at Black River, building a hotel in the year 1835, of which he is still proprietor. He also remained in the vessel business until a few years since. He acquired a fine property, and occupies a high social position in both town and county.

209

HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.

family is Mrs. Steator, who resides on the old home- stead, nearly eighty-one years of age. A son, Robert, died by accident, on a steamboat, at Perrysburg, Ohio, in 1832.

Next in order is Edmund Gillmore, who came to Black River from Chester, Hampshire county, Mass- achusetts, in 1811. He was accompanied by his son, Aretus, and a nephew, Ashbel Gillmore, and his family. He selected a location on lot. twenty-two, erected a house, and leaving Aretus in charge, re- turned to Massachusetts for the residne of his family, with whom he arrived in June of the following year.

Ashbel Gillmore not liking the level, wet lands of Black River, had been conveyed by his uncle to the hills of Geauga county, where he found in the town- ship of Chester, in that county, a location more to his taste.

Quartus Gillmore, another son of Edmund, with a consin, (brother of Ashbel, ) preceded the family. making the entire journey on foot, the latter joining his brother in Geauga county.

Mr. Gillmore, senior, built the first frame barn in the county. He was a large owner of land, having, at one time, nearly a thousand acres, most of it in this and Amherst townships. Ile had a family of nine children, three of whom are yet living, -Tru- man, Alanson, and Edmund .- the first two in Black River, aged respectively eighty and seventy-four. Edmund resides in Minnesota.

Quartus, at the age of thirty-four, married Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, nee Elizabeth Reid, daughter of John S. Reid. She married, at the age of sixteen, William Smith, of Black River, who died four years after the marriage. After six years of widowhood, Mrs. Smith married Mr. Gillmore. Mr. and Mrs. Gillmore lived to a hale old age, and reared a large family of chil- dren, all of whom are tiving, and one of whom- Quincy A .- rose to fame and honors in the war of the rebellion. Major General Gillmore resides in New York City, and has charge of the military defences between that city and Florida. The other children are Elizabeth, now Mrs. William Prince, of Cleve- land; Sophia, wife of Daniel S. Leslie, residing in Northport, Michigan; Roxana, widow, in California Edmund, Alice (Mrs. James Connolly), Quartus and Cornelius, are all residents of Black River. Edmund, many years since, met with an accident by which he was made a cripple for life. While engaged in calk- ing the seow, Coniin Mary, in 1860, it became necessary for him, in the proseention of his work, to get under the center board, which partially settled upon him. He was quickly released from his perilous situation, but it was found that his lower limbs were paralyzed, and he has been unable ever since to use them. He is at present performing the double ser- vice of township clerk and justice of the peace.

No other additions were made to the settlement until after the close of the war, which almost com- pletely arrested emigration. Among the later arrivals was the family of Captain Angustus Jones. He was

originally from Middlesex county, Connecticut; was by trade a shipwright, and became a captain of a. vessel on the Atlantic. He came to Black River in company with a brother of his wife, Enoch Murdock, in the spring of 1818. He immediately commenced work for Captain James Day, who was then build- ing the General Huntington-Murdock returning to Connectient. In the fall of the same year, the family of Captain Jones, wife and five children, followed. They were brought by Elisha Murdock, another brother of Mrs. Jones, to Buffalo, where they took passage for Cleveland on the boat Friendship- Murdock, with his horse and wagon, continuing the land journey alone. Captain Jones met his family at Cleveland, and brought them to Black River. He and Murdock, who was a single man, made a joint pur- chase on lot twenty-one. Captain tones soon after sold his interest to Murdock, and purchased on lot one, where he made a permanent location and cleared up a farm. Hleafterwards engaged almost exclusively in vessel building, and the Jones family have acquired an extensive reputation in this line. Perhaps no other one family in the nation have built so many vessels as Captain Jones and his tive sons. lle died in 1842-Mrs. Jones previously. Their children, of whom there were seven-five sons and two daughters -- are all living but one. William, seventy-two years of age, younger in appearance by many years, -resides in Lorain, retired from active business, except to look after his vessel interests, which are by no means small. George W. lives in Cleveland, and is a captain on the lake. Frederick, in Buffalo, and J. M., in Detroit, are both engaged in ship building. Buel B., deceased, lived in Milwaukee. Maria lives in Kansas, and Antoinette in Cleveland.

Captain James Day, of whom mention has been made, was also a Connecticut man, and came to Black River in the fall of 1817. Samnel Gilbert, E. Craw- ford, Jesse Cutler, John Morrill, John Pollard and Amos Perry also came about this time, The first three located in the southeast part of the town, and several years after removed from the State. The others located on the lake shore.

Daniel T. Baldwin of Berkshire county, Massachn- setts, came to Ohio at an early date. He subsequently married a daughter (Sophia) of Jolin S. Reid, and settled in Black River, west of the river, on the farm known as the Brownell farm. Baldwin was a man of superior ability and of some prominence. He was elected to the State legislature in the fall of 1834, being chosen by a majority of thirty-four votes over his democratic opponent, E. W. Hubbard of La Grange. He was also associate judge for this county. LIe died in 184%.

Thomas'11. Cobb and other unmarried men whose names cannot be remembered, joined the settlement at an early date.

Captain Judah W. Ransom came in the year 1819. He was a sailor-farmer, spending his summers on the lake and his winters on the farm, east of the river,

210

HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OIIIO.

known as the E. Gregg farm. He made extensive improvements on this place, building a barn which, Mr. Root says, "took all the men within the circuit of ten miles to raise," the force even then being in- able to complete the work in one day. This barn is yet standing, though not on its original site.

After a residence of a few years in Black River, Ransom removed with his family to Sandusky. His death occurred in 1840, when he and all the rest of the crew of the "Helen Man" were drowned.

Two Irishmen by the name of Ray settled on Bea- ver creek at an early date.

Thomas Brown, who has been a resident of Lorain county nearly half a century, came to the month of Black river from Detroit in 1829, and opened a tailor shop there. He married Ann Smith, daughter of William and Elizabeth Smith, (who was the daughter of John S. Reid) and continued his residence in Black River for twenty-two years. Mr. Brown subsequently engaged in the business of hotel keeping, and was the proprietor of the American Honse in Elyria for many years. ITe has now (1878) charge of the Park House in Oberlin. The father of Mrs. Brown, (William Smith), settled in Black River at an early date, and a son, Lester Smith, now resides there.

As to later settlers, Mr. W. HI. Root writes: "Up to the year 1830 little or no settlement was made in this township away from the lake road, and but few in the southeast corner of the town. The unsettled portion was a dense wilderness, covered principally with white oak timber, when the sturdy Germans be- gan its settlement in the year 1833. They did not all come in one month or one year, but their numbers increased rapidly, and wherever they went they made their mark, which mark is plain to be seen at the present time. 1 will name a few of these pioneers as I remember them and am able to write out their names: C. L. Faber, Baunhaets, Jacobs. Friends. Barks, Haulsaure, Hagerman, Hanns, Vetter, Har- wiek, and others."

ORGANIZATION.

At the organization of Dover, Cuyahoga county, in 1811, that township included the territory of Black River east of the river. In March following, that part of Black River west of the river was also annexed to Dover. The union thus continned until Vermil- lion was organized when the latter annexation was changed to that township; and in October, 1818, on the organization of the township of Troy, Black River east of the river, constituted a part of that township. In 1817 the commissioners of Iluron county, whose eastern boundary extended for a distance east of Black River, ordered, "that township, number six (Am: herst) and that part of number seven (Black River) in the eighteenth range, which lay in the county of Huron, with all the lands thereto attached in said Huron county, be set off from the township of Ver- million and organized into a separate township by the name of Black River. Thus Amherst, Black River

and Brownhehn were first organized as Black River." In June, 182t, the corner of the town cast of the river was annexed to Black River for judicial pur- poses.

The first election for township officers was held at the house of John S. Reid, April 17, 1817. John S. Reid was called to the chair, and Chilial Smith and Edmund Gillmore appointed judges of election. Township officers were eleeted as follows : Daniel Perry, clerk ; Adoniram Webb, Quartos Gillmore and Joseph Quigley, trustees ; Chilial Smith and Edmund Gillmore, overseers of the poor; George Kelso and Stephen Cable, fence viewers : Orrin Gillmore and James Webster, appraisers of property ; William Mar- tin, Ralph Lyons, Chilial Smith and Reuben Webb. supervisors of highways; John S. Reid, treasurer. At the election in Black River, for State and county officers, October 14, 1817, there were cast, according to the poll list in the handwriting of Daniel Perry, clerk. seventeen votes, as follows: John S. Reid, Daniel T. Baldwin, Jacob Shupe, Joseph Quigley. Quartos Gillmore, A. Webb, Reuben Webb, S. Cable, Daniel Perry, John Morrell, Chilial Smith, Fred On- stine, Daniel -- , Samuel Cable, Henry Onstine, James O'Neal, George Kelso.

The relation as formed in 1817, continued until October, 1818, when Brownhelm was detached and incorporated as an independent township. Russia was detached in June, 1825, leaving the territory now embraced in the township of Amherst and Black River forming one township. These two towns con- tinned as one until January 12, 1830, when by a special aet of the legislature, they were divided. " There was an aet in force that inhibited the incor- poration of any township, by the act of the county commissioners, with less than twenty-two square miles, unless it ineluded a town corporate ; and this inhibition prevented the organization of Black River. with its present limits, by the commissioners of the county. An application was therefore made to the legislature for a separate organization, and on the 12th of January, 1830, an aet was passed incorporating the inhabitants of fractional township number seven, range eighteen, in the Connecticut Western Reserve, by the name of Black River. The act directed, that on the first Monday of April, then next, an election for township officers should be held at the house of John S. Reid, Esq., in manner and form as provided by law."

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 52

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

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