USA > Ohio > Lorain County > History of Lorain County, Ohio > Part 57
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In the summer of 1830, Rev. Hervey Lyon opened an academy in a small house built for the purpose, a little east of Mr. Pease's. This was kept up two years, and attended by small number of pupils, a few of whom commenced Latin and Greek in preparation for college. This was the first classical school in the county, and gave place to the Elyria high school, es- tablished in 1832, of which Mr. and Mrs. Monteith were the first teachers. This school enjoyed two years of great prosperity, until the school at Oberlin was opened in 1834, which at onee took the lead and has maintained it.
The report of the clerk of the board of education for the year ending August 31, 1878, gives the follow- ing statisties in regard to schools, viz:
Number of houses 9
Amount paid teachers $1,388
Number of scholars 247
RELIGIOUS.
The early settlers were in earnest in religions mat- ters, as well as in education. They were not all men- bers of the church, but they had all been trained in New England habits, and prominent men like Alva Curtis and Colonel Brown, who did not at first have
RESIDENCE OF W. H COOLEY
RESIDENCE OF CHESTER A. COOLEY, BROWNHELM TP., LORAIN CO., O.
RESIDENCE OF- CAPT SAMUEL FLINT, AMHERST TP., LORAIN CO., OHIO
CHESTER A. COOLEY.
MRS. C. A. COOLEY.
CHESTER A. COOLEY
was born in Stockbridge, Berkshire Co., Mass., Aug. 25, 1812, and was the seventh child in a family of eight children of Enos and Anna ( Ashley) Cooley, both of New England ancestry. During the fall of 1817, Enos Cooley and family started west with a span of horses and wagon, and arriving at Batavia, N. Y., stopped over until the month of February following. He was very poor in this world's goods, and had nothing with which to start except a good constitution and a desire to succeed for the benefit of his family. Young Chester had to work hard, fare poorly, and all the amusement he ever had in youth was fishing and 'cooning. They arrived at Brownhelm towards the last of the year 1818, and pur- chased one hundred aeres of land, upon which they erected a fine, hewed log house, the corners being squared by Mr. Cooley himself, he being a practical mechanic. This primitive residence stood about one mile south of the lake, and two miles north of the present residence of Chester A. Cooley. The superior quality of the log house, however, did not furnish food for the family, so that they traded one of their horses for a cow, which helped a little. The creature had to procure its own fod- der in the woods, and sometimes the family were minus the diurnal supply of the laeteal fluid owing to the non- appearance of the bovine. Its absence sometimes extended over four or five days. Mr. Cooley, père, went to Elyria and worked in Judge Ely's mills, while the children cleared the land. Clearing up the forest, however, was somewhat detrimental to their clothing, so that one of the boys shouldered his knapsack and proceeded on foot to Mas- sachusetts for a fresh supply of cloth, earning the same in a factory where he had previously worked. These and similar privations the pioreers had to bear, but little by little the country began to settle up, and many of the difficulties of their situation were removed. At the age of twenty-eight, and on the 4th of November, 1840, Chester married Catha- rine B., daughter of Grandison and Naney (Harris) Fairchild,
WM. II. COOLEY.
who settled in Brownhelm in the fall of 1818. By this union were born two sons,-James Francis, born Oct. 11, 1841 ; was married, in March, 1863, to Effie Darby, sister of William Sayles' first wife; died Aug. 12, 1863, of diphtheria. He was a remarkably good son and brother, cheerful, careful, and conscientious. He watched over his younger brother with tender solicitude, and was faithful in every duty both at home and at school. While attending Oberlin College, and boarding with his unele, Professor (now President ) Fairchild, his mother once inquired whether he was a good boy. The professor said, "You know you need not ask. I never saw such a boy ; he is always in the right place at the right time." He taught school, and was also engaged at Sabbath- school teaching. Although not a pro- fessor of religion he was a devout Christian, and his death, after a pain- ful illness of only four days, was a sore bereavement alike to his parents and to his recently married wife.
The other son of Mr. and Mrs. Cooley, William H., was born Sept. 27, 1843 ; was married, July 8, 1865, to Sarah Butler. They have two daughters and one son, viz. : Caroline Madora, born Nov. 19, 1870 ; Cath- arine Eloise, born Feb. 2, 1874; Wm. Butler, born June 15, 1878,
Chester A. Cooley first purchased fifty acres of land, for which he went in debt. IFe paid for it by working for Judge Brown and others, and making staves from the timber on his land. In 1846 he sold out and bought one hundred acres where he now re- sides. He cast his first vote, in 1840, for General Harrison. He afterwards became an anti- slavery man, and is now a Democrat. He is an honest, con- seientious Christian, a first-class farmer, and a good citizen. William, his only son, is a merchant at Brownhelm, and also postmaster and town treasurer. He follows in his father's footsteps, and is generally esteemed a worthy member of society. He was for several years superintendent of the Sabbath-school, himself and wife being members of the Congregational Church.
HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.
a standing in the church, still maintained family prayer and aided in the Sabbath services. A meeting was held at Judge Brown's house by Deacon James, the Sabbath before July 4, 1817, and from that day to this public worship has been held on the Sabbath, unless for a single day the violence of a storm may have prevented the gathering. The first meetings were held at Judge Brown's, afterwards at Solomon Whittlesey's, and then at Mr. Barnum's, a little north of the stone quarry.
At this point the first meeting house was built in 1819, a neat and commodions structure for the new country, constructed of pealed logs, with a genuine shingle roof. and a stone chimney and fire place. The infirmity of this part of the arrangement was that the mantle was of wood, which often took fire on a winter day, and one of the young men, Frederic Brown, or Chauncey Peck, or Rodney Andrews, was obliged to bring water or snow to extinguish it, while the rest of the congregation were occupied with the calculation how long it would be before the chimney would come down upon them. The seats were like those of the log school house, slabs on pins. The men were ranged on one side the house and the women on the other, facing each other, with a broad aisle between, at one end of which stood the pulpit. As times improved and lumber became abundant, one man made a comfortable settee for his family; others followed his example, and in a few weeks the whole congregation were provided for. The only dedication of the house of which I ever heard, was by Deacon Beardsley, of Vermillion. Passing the building one day when it was nearly finished, he went in to see if the house would seem like the old log meeting house that he had known in Connecticut. The spirit of the Lord seemed to come upon him, and with a solemn prayer he consecrated the house, and received an assurance of great spiritual blessings to come soon upon the people. The promised blessing was not long de- layed. In the great revival that followed, almost all the young people were gathered into the church.
The church was organized June 10, 1819, at the house of Solomon Whittlesey, and consisted of sixteen members, seven men and nine women. Four of the sixteen are now living: Lovi Shepard and Grandison Fairchild, Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Fairchild; and three are present to-day. The ministers that officiated in its organization were Messrs. Treat and Seward, mis- sionaries of the Connecticut Missionary Society, and members of the Portage Presbytery. The church was congregational, under the care of Presbytery, after the " plan of union." Stephen James was the first deacon, and afterward Levi Shepard was elected: Grandison Fairchild was clerk. Rev. A. II. Betts, known through the country as Dr. Betts, from the fact that he had studied medicine, was the first min- ister. Lle began preaching to the church in the fall of 1820, and was ordained and installed April 5, 1821. He continued pastor until, at his own request, he was dismissed in 1833.
The practice of the congregation was lo meet for service at half past ten Sabbath mornings, to take a recess of an hour for rest, and for lunch, which they took with them to meeting; visiting the spring under the rocks for water, and returning for afternoon ser- viee. There were only two or three families that lived near enough to go home at noon. A sight of the old congregation would be refreshing to-day-the women in their Sunday's best, the men in their shirt sleeves, the boys and girls with bare feet. Mr. Peck, at the head of the high seat with his pitch pipe, Judge Brown next, and Dr. Betts in the pulpit. After the Sabbath school was introduced, this was held at noon. The first Sabbath school was opened June 1, 1828, Sabbath morning, in the yellow school house, with about a dozen children and two teachers-my father and Pamelia Curtis. It was afterwards transferred to the meeting house and held at noon. The chief feature of the school at that day was the learning and reciting of seripture, each scholar having the privilege of selecting his own passages and learning as many as possible. A single scholar would sometimes repeat more than a hundred at a lesson. One such in a class would nearly consume the hour. Before 1830, the Sabbath school was reorganized, under the super- intendence of Frederic Brown, who had been living at the east, and returned all alive with interest in the Sabbath school work. The plan of limited lessons was adopted, and the Sabbath school became a re- ligious power in the community of great efficiency.
It was the time of a great religion's movement in the land, in connection with which protracted meet- ings were first extensively introduced, commonly known as "four days' meetings." These meetings gathered not merely the communities where they were held, but people from neighboring towns attended in large numbers. They were not like the protracted meetings of the present day, occupying the evening with a single preaching service. preceeded by a prayer- meeting, leaving the people free during a large part of the day for their usual avocations. At these four days' meetings. the people gathered in the morning, taking a luncheon for themselves and for visitors from abroad. and the entire day was devoted to preaching, prayer and inquiry meetings. Evening meetings fol- lowed in the different neighborhoods.
Such a meeting was held at Brownhelm. in the summer of 1831, under a bower, in the forest, just north of the stone quarry. The old meeting house was not large enough. The weather was propitious, and the meeting was fruitful of results. The religious interest which had been accumulating for many months, in connection with the Sabbath school work, reached its culmination. Many were greatly quick- ened in their religious hfe. and many more were induced to enter upon such a life. It was a season to be remembered for a generation. Similar meetings were held at Elyria and at Vermillion earlier in the season, and the influence extended through the region. Mr. Shipherd, of Elyria, Mr. Bradstreet, of Vermil-
228
HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.
lion, Mr. Judson, of Milan, and several others, were recognized as leaders in the work. Probably no other such general movement has been known in the his- tory of northern Ohio.
The oldl log meeting house, about this time, became uncomfortable for winters and inadequate for sum- mers, and the people moved towards a better honse. It was soon found difficult to bring the interests of the lake shore and the ridge to harmonize upon a location. An old Stockbridge difficulty between the Plain and the North settlement, found an echo here in the woods, and, perhaps, predisposed to a repro- duction of the quarrel. After sundry meetings and conferences, the question was referred to a committee of discreet men from abroad, whose decision was to be final. This committee consisted of Deacon Crocker. of Dover, Deacon Clark, of Vermillion, and Deacon Fuller, of Berlin. They drove the stake in my father's peach orchard, and there the church was.
The first attempt at a building was essentially a failure. Mr. Culver was the architect, a man of nie- chanieal genius, but deficient in practical judgment: and the building, having no eross beams to support the roof, and relying solely on braced and trussed plates, commenced life with a broken back. After an inglorious career, it gave place to the present cheerful and graceful structure built by Alfred Betts. *
The church now-fall of 1848-has a membership of eighty-five. Allen D. Blakeslee is pastor: John Goodrich, clerk: O. 11. Perry, treasurer; J. C. Chapin, (. L. Perry and George Wells, deacons. The Sab- bath school, now under the superintendency of C. B. Bacon, has a membership of two hundred and ten scholars.
A Methodist Episcopal class was formed in West Brownhelm in about the year 1841, called the Brown- helm class. The records of the church have not been preserved, and we could obtain but little information concerning it. The erection of a church building was commenced not Jong after the organization of the class, but was not finished, for want of means, for several years after. It was dedicated by Elder Lyon, of Sandusky. There is no settled pastor, but regular preaching is had, the Rev. Mr. Smith, of Vermillion, officiating. No Sabbath school.
The Evangelical Association was organized by Rev. Lutz in the year 1847. The carlier meetings of the society were held in the school house in the southeast part of the town. A house of worship was erected on Middle ridge in 1865, at a cost of one thousand two hundred dollars. The church has now a membership of fifty. The pastor is Rev. Jacob Hunniker. A Sabbath school was organized subsequently, and now numbers nearly sixty scholars.
The German Reformed Church was organized in 1848. Services were held at first in the school house in district number one, and, subsequently, after the division of the district, the society purchased the school house and ocenpied it as a house of worship until 1870, when the building at the station was
erected. The cost of this church was one thousand six hundred dollars. The first pastor was Rev. Meis. Rev. G. H. Kuhlen, of Vermillion, now officiates. There is a Sunday school of thirty scholars, of which Christopher Leimbach in superintendent.
The people of Brownhelm, in the carly times, felt reasonable complacency in their social, literary and religious privileges, and in the good order and mor- ality which distinguished the place. Crime was rare, and rowdyism almost unknown. If a boisterous company. now and then, passed along the streets, it was assumed that they were from Black River, a township which then embraced Amherst. If my recollection is not at fault, there was only one drunk- ard in town, even before the commencement of the temperance movement. But the temperance move- ment eame none too soon. The habit of drinking at raisings and trainings, and of having liquors in the house for social occasions, and for private use, was universal; and the young were forming a taste for it. In 1827, some account reached us of the growing interest at the east on the subject, and on Thanks- giving day, Dr. Betts preached on temperance. The same evening, I think it was, several boys from the neighborhood were spending the evening at our house, the older people having gathered at a neighbor's house. The boys, after some conference on the sub- jeet, drew up a pledge, one or two of them having learned to write, and all signed it,-a pledge to ab- stain from the use of all distilled spirits. This was the first temperance organization in the township,- the tirst, in fact, in the county. This pledge was circulated, and led to the formation of a vigorous temperance society. From that time the use of spirits declined, until it was no longer furnished on public or social occasion, or kept for private use. Davis'dis- tillery went to ruin, and young men were saved who had been exposed to great danger.
Until about this time, a few Indians had lingered about the region, some times passing by in considera- ble parties from the neighborhood of Upper Sandusky. They were harmless after the war, and the only annoy- ance from them was their persistent begging for whiskey. They would stand an hour at the door. begging for " one little dram." One day a party stopped at our house, and passed the bottle among themselves, the bottle being carried by a white man, who belonged to the party. One young man, ] remember, more gentle and amiable than the rest, said, when the bottle was offered to him, "No, whiskey wrestle we down once,-never will again." Poor Jim! the only Indian with whom, when a child, I dared to be familiar,-whiskey wrestled him down once more, and his cabin burned down upon him.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.
From February, 1817, until October, 1818, the town was a part of Black River. At the latter date, on petition of the inhabitants to the commissioners of Huron county, number six, the nineteenth range,
Photo, by Lee, Elyria, O.
LEONARD BRADLEY.
Leonard Bradley was born in the town of El- lington, Tolland Co., Conn., Nov. 4, 1792. He immigrated to Brownhelm, Ohio, in the year 1817, located lands, and remained two years, after which he returned to Connecticut and married Roxanna, daughter of William Thrall, of Tolland County, and immediately returned to Ohio, where he was identified as a pioneer farmer. By this union were born four children, viz. : Captain Alva Bradley, now a resident of Cleveland, and a large vessel owner ; William Bradley, a resident of Brownhelm ; Betsey (deceased); and Julia. Mrs. Leonard Bradley died Feb. 25, 1858.
Mr. Bradley married for his second wife Emily, widow of William Nye, of Onondaga Co., N. Y., i
and daughter of John Thompson, who was of Scotch
birth and ancestry. Our subjeet was an ardent ad- vocate of Republicanism during his latter days, being formerly a member of the old Whig party ; served his township as trustee and other offices from time to time. When a young man he earried a lady (who wished to visit friends, not having seen any white ladies in several months) over the Vermillion River on an ox, he riding one and the lady the other ox, the oxen having to swim on account of the depth of the stream.
Mr. Bradley remained on the old homestead until the date of his death, which occurred May 3, 1875. His wife survives him, still remaining on the old homestead, surrounded by many friends and ten- derly cared for in her declining years by her chil- dren.
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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.
together with the surplus lands adjoining west, and all lands lying west of Beaver creek in number seven, in the eighteenth range,-Black River,-was organ- ized into a separate township, by the name of Brown- helm, a name selected by Colonel Brown, as pre- viously Inlly explained.
The first election for township officers was held at the house of George Bacon, in the spring of 1819. The vote was by ballot which resulted as follows: Anson Cooper, clerk; William Alverson, treasurer; Levi Shepard, Calvin Leonard, and Alvah Curtiss. trustees; Levi Shepard and Benjamin Bacon, justices of the peace.
That part of the present town of Black River lying west of Beaver creek was, in June, 1829, by order of the commissioners, detached from Brownhelm, and re-annexed to Black River. The township officers elected in 1878 are as follows: Henry B. Lindsley, clerk; J. M. Joslin, John H. Heyman, Gustavus Schroeder, trustees; Wm. Il. Cooley, treasurer; Ed- win Bacon and William Sales, justices of the peace.
The first justices of the peace in the township were Levi Shepard and Benjamin Bacon. The cases re- ferred to their adjudication were few and simple. Sometimes it was found more convenient and econom- ical to let an unusual rogne escape from the country, than to take him to the jail at Norwalk. It is related that a case of horse stealing once came before Squire Wells, of Vermillion. The culprit was a wandering preacher, but the evidence was strong against him. 'Squire Wells invited Squire Bacon to sit with him on the trial, to add weight to the court. The consta- bles took the liberty of advising the prisoner to seek safety by flight, il during the progress of the trial a fair opportunity should appear. He seized the oppor- tunity with great alacrity, and was followed with a shont, but not overtaken. The next day, 'Squire Bacon started for Cleveland, and spent the night at Dover. A preacher had come into town, and the people were gathering to hear him. Mr. Bacon went with the rest, and was surprised to see at the desk his horse-stealing acquaintance of the day before. He gave as his text " Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." . After the sermon, op- portunity was given to any who wished to offer a word of exhortation. Mr. Bacon improved the opportunity by relating the occurrence of the previous day. The poor preacher started suddenly on his travels again, and at last ; e ounts had not stopped.
The first physician in town was Dr. Weed, who died in the earliest years. Then Dr. Betts, as having some knowledge of medicine, visited the sick when no other physician could be had. Next, Dr. Forbes took up his residenec here for a short time, occupy- ing the place now belonging to Samuel Bacon's family. When we had no resident physician, Dr. Baker, of Florence, now of Norwalk, was chietly relied on, and sometimes Dr. Wolcott, of Elyria. Dr. Samuel
Strong commenced his praetice here, and continued a few years. Drs. Willard, Wigion, Page, and Chap- man have since practiced here.
In general, the early families brought their medi- cine bags into the new country, and administered to afflicted children glauber salts, calomel and jalap, rhubarb and senna, with entire confidence, not to speak of wormwood, thoroughwort, and other more odious herbs and compounds. Thus the children were taken through chicken-pox, measles, and whoop- ing cough, in comparative safety. The ague was sometimes " broken" with Peruvian bark, but the more popular treatment was to wear it out.
The disease most dreaded in the new country was the milk siekness, or, as it was generally called, the sick stomach, commonly supposed to originate in some poisonous herb eaten by the cattle, and to be communicated by the use of the milk. The disease was exceedingly distressing and malignant, and as 1 remember now, oftener fatal than otherwise. No part of the town was entirely exempt, but the disease was developed especially in certain localities. The Barnum place, near the old meeting house, was re- markably affieted with it; and three stones, side by side in the burying ground, mark the graves of three Mrs. Barnmins, all of whom, if I recollect right, died of the disease. One autumn, four members of their families died within a week. The place was at length deserted. and the precise locality has never since been ocenpied by a family. Those sickly seasons were sad periods in the early history of the place. The little community was sometimes gathered to a double fu- neral, as once at Judge Brown's, when Sidney Brown and Oliver Cooley died, and afterwards at Mr. Bar- num's. The latest calamity of the kind was in 1838, when the entire Campbell family, of five persons, died in the space of a month. But in spite of this scourge, the early settlers probably suffered less from sickness than is common in a new country, and the boon of health was gratefully included in the enumeration of blessings on thanksgiving day. The first burial in town was that of a daughter of Alva Curtis, Calista, who died at Mr. Onstine's, in Black River, before the family reached the Brownhelm line. She was buried first on Solomon Whittlesey's place, afterwards in the burying ground near Mr. Bacon's. The small brown stone that marks the grave was the only one in the ground for many years. The weeping willow has long since disappeared.
The first birth was in the Holcomb family, on the sonth ridge-a son, Henry Brown Holcomb. Next, Ley Cooper, and a month later, Enos Peck. George Cooper was born in Enclid fifty years ago to-day, and may very properly be considered the oldest Brown- helm boy.
The first wedding was probably that of Joseph Swift and Eliza Root, who were married on the South ridge, August 22, 1818. Soon after my father's arri- val, in 1818, one of the Onstine young men came to borrow five dollars, and satinet enough for a pair of
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HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO.
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