History of Medina county and Ohio, Part 48

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Baskin & Battey. Chicago. pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1014

USA > Ohio > Medina County > History of Medina county and Ohio > Part 48

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ger and Wadsworth, Amid all this activity in railroad matters, Medina did not neglect her advantages. Acting upon the advice of Mr. Bronson, and having secured the old road-bed some forty miles long, in his own right, Mr. Blake held the balance of power, and, while listening to all propositions, did not lose con- trol of this property until he had received a sufficient bond that a road would be built. For a time it seemed that the Lake Branch of the Baltimore, Pittsburgh & Continental Railroad, would secure the co-operation of Medina, and the old road-bed. On the 21st of April, 1871, a meeting of the Directors was held in Medina, and a permanent organization effected with Mr. Blake as a Director. A proposition was made to transfer this property to the road, pro- vided assurance could be given that the road would be built in a short time, and on the 19th of May it was announced that this company would build the road.

In the meanwhile, the stockholders of the Lake Shore & Tuscarawas Valley Railroad met and elected Directors, who effected a permanent organization on March 31, 1871, The officers of the organization had been active both iu learning the character of the country on the two routes noted above and the subscription likely to be received in support of a railroad on either line. On May 18, at a meeting of those interested in this road, Cleveland re- ported a subscription of $92,000; Wads- worth, $30,000; Doylestown, $20,000 ; Royal- ton, Hinckley, Granger aud Sharon, $75,000, By the other route, Massillon subscribed $25,- 000; Navarre, $17,000 ; Caual Dover, $16,000, aud New Philadelphia, $20,000. Medina, to be benefited by either route. promised $50,000. On the 2d of June, 1871, the Gazette came out with the following double-leaded editorial : " By this time, probably, our home readers have all heard the good news-that we are to have a railroad. It is now rendered certain, that, if stock to the amount of $100,000 is sub-

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scribed between Grafton and Seville, the road will be built at once. This is not a mere rumor, but is based on a contract in black and white, with parties who are abundantly able to fulfill it. We therefore feel warranted in saying, definitely and emphatically, that the road will be built at once.

" The company known as the Lake Branch of the Baltimore & Continental Railroad, who have been figuring for the old road-bed, failed to give Mr. Blake any guarantee of their ability to build the road, and the proposition made to them was therefore withdrawn. That company may be said to be numbered among the things that were. None of its corporators, besides Mr. Blake, acquired any interest whatever in the old road-bed, and are, therefore, not bene- fited directly or indirectly, as individuals or as an organization, in the new arrangement. The road-bed belonged solely to Mr. Blake, who held it for the purpose of securing the building of a railroad to Medina. That object will be accomplished as soon as the amount of stock above mentioned is raised.

The old road-bed is to be transferred to the Lake Shore & Tuscarawas Valley Company, who have entered into a contract to build the road from Grafton to Seville, provided the amount of $100,000 in stock is subscribed be- tween the two points, payable when the road is built, and the iron laid. Dr. Streator, of Cleve- land, the President of the company, makes the contract, having been authorized to do so by the Directors; and he guarantees that work shall be commenced on the road within ninety days, and the cars running to Medina and Seville this fall. If the road is not built, there will be nothing to pay, and the road-bed, at the end of two years, will revert back to Mr. Blake. If the road is built, we can afford to pay. This is how the matter stands : We give the road-bed as a donation, and take $100,000 wortlı of stock, of the company, which binds itself to build the road. If we do not raise the

stock we will not get the road. The road-bed alone is no sufficient inducement.

"The subscription books will be here this week and in a few days the effort will be made to raise the stock-an effort which must end only in success. In a fortnight's time, every dollar of stock ought to be subscribed, now or never."

On the 7th of June, a meeting was called at the court house to present the subject of subscription to this new project. Hon. Hiram Bronson was chairman, and Mr. Blake the spokesman of the occasion. " A committee for soliciting subscription was appointed, and by the evening of June 28, the sum of $108,800 was subscribed for this object, Grafton and vicinity contributing $18,000, Seville and vicin- ity $31,000, and Medina and vicinity $59,800. In the latter part of August, 1871, Dr. Streator, President of the road, contracted with Selah Chamberlain, of Cleveland, to grade the road- way, lay the track, with switches, side-tracks, station buildings and water-tanks, and to sup- ply the road with $200,000 worth of cars and engines ; and, for thus building and equipping the ninety-one miles of road to Urichsville, was to receive $3,350.000, as follows : $1,000,000 in stock, 82.000,000 in bonds, and $350,000 in cash, an average cost of $34,413 per mile, the road to be finished by the Ist of July, 1873. Work was actively begun on the northern end of the road at Grafton, and on the 3d of No- vember, the track reached York, where the em- ployes of the road were regaled with a grand supper spread by the citizens of the delighted village, and on the 10th the whistle of the first locomotive was heard in Medina. At the county seat the preparations for the celebra- tion of the event were of a more formal charac- ter. This was set for the 15th of November, with the following programme : " 1. Signal gun on the arrival of the train (first passenger train bringing invited guests) within the limits of the corporation. Ringing of all the bells in town, and blowing of the steam whistles for

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ten minutes consecutively ; music by all the bands ; discharge of 100 guns by the ar- tillery. 2. Reception of guests from the train by the Mayor and Common Council ; reception address by the Mayor of the village, and other exercises at the speaker's stand. 3. Proces- sion will form under direction of the Marshal and march to the square, when it will be dis- missed. 4. Music by all the bands. 5. Two hours for dinner. 6. At the hour when the train is to depart, the officers of the day, committees and bands of music, will escort the railway offi- cials and invited guests to the train." The day appointed was a bleak November day, and the programme was somewhat varied from that prepared, but the occasion was a joyous one, and long to be remembered in the annals of Mediua County. As soon as the building of the road from Grafton southward was assured, the people of Elyria and Black River began to agitate the question of extending it through Elyria to the mouth of Black River. It was soon arranged and a new organization, com- posed of the same men, chartered the Elyria & Black River Railway Company. Elyria paid $50,000, and Black River a proportiouate amount, and the extensiou was made. The sub- sequent history of the road, so far as the stock- holders are concerned, has not been completely satisfactory, though quite in keeping with the general history of railroads. In July, 1874, the Uniou Trust Company, of New York, as trustee, brought suit against the Lake Shore & Tuscarawas Valley Railway Company and the Elyria & Black River Railway Company, on account of the failure to pay the July interest, and the court appointed a receiver. It ran on in this way until January 26, 1875, when it was sold, Selah Chamberlain bidding it in at $1,000,000. On the 1st of February, the name of the consolidated road was changed to the Cleveland, Tuscarawas Valley & Wheeling Railway, and a new company formed to oper- ate it. A short time afterward. Selah Cham-

berlain transferred his title to the new company for the nominal consideration of $1. Thus the Medina stock of over $100,000 was suddenly changed into a donation. The greater part of the stockholders accepted this result as inevita- ble, and, though believing that it was a measure dictated by a desire to relieve the company of the encumbrance of a large number of stock- holders rather than necessity, they accepted the benefit accruing from the road as a full equivalent for their money. In 1879, the road was extended from Urichsville to Wheeling by the way of Flushing. There was considerable competition to secure the location of the line by way of New Athens, but the former pre- vailed. This road has 17.81 miles of main line in the county, and 2.76 miles of sidings, making a total of 20.57 miles of track, and is appraised at $8,933 per mile for purposes of taxation.

The Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad is a project that has long been before the people of Medina, and though at last making some en- couragiug progress, fails to excite any enthusi- asm outside of the immediate localitics through which it passes. It was projected iu 1871, and proposed to start from the head of Wheeling Island, running thence through the counties of Belmont, Jefferson, Harrison, Carroll, Tusca- rawas, Stark, Wayne, Medina, Ashland, Huron, Ottawa, Sandusky to Toledo. Eastern capital- ists proposed to furnish $15,000 per mile, pro- vided the citizens along the proposed route would subscribe $10,000 per mile. Before the close of the year, the right of way was secured to within six miles of Wooster, with the excep- tion of about a dozen farms, and a subscription of upward of $1,000,000 along the line from Wheeling to Sandusky. The liue was run from Wheeling northward, and the work of con- strncting it begun in the same way. Upward of $60,000 was subscribed by the citizens of that part of the county to receive the greatest benefit from its coustruction, and the road was definitely settled so far north as Lodi. Little

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or no work, however, was done, and the project languished until 1874, when it was vigorously taken up. Mr. Walter Shanley, the contractor for the entire line, sub-let fifty miles of the road, extending east from Lodi, ineluding some of the tunnel work. The road was eontracted at 850,000 per mile, to be paid $5,000 in cash, 822,500 in bonds and a like amount in stoek certifieates. Several miles were built in this eounty in that year, but the work soon ceased ; the projeet lay dormant for three years longer. In 1877, the matter was again revived, but the plan had changed under the exigeneies of the money market, and it was proposed to build a narrow-gauge road. Work was vigorously be- gun on the northern end, and the road eom- pleted so as to run ears from Norwalk to Port Huron. Just here, another hiatus oeeurred until the fall of 1880. The standard gauge has been resumed, and work is being pushed forward with apparent signs of a sueeessful issue. Its northern terminus is very much in doubt at this writing. Toledo, Port Huron and Sandusky be- ing competitors, with equal ehanees of sueeess. Medina County is interested to the extent of upward of $75,000 in subseriptions at present ; and, if completed, the road will have about six- teen miles of main line traek within the limits of the county.

The New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Rail- way touches the southeast corner of the county, eurving northward to Wadsworth Village, on its way to Akron, and barely touches the town- ships of Harrisville and Westfield, where they touch each other and the Wayne County line.

This road was originally built with a six-foot gauge, and called the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad, with Salamanca, in New York, and Dayton, in Ohio, as its termini. By arrange- ments with the Erie, and the Cineinnati, Ham- ilton & Dayton roads, an outlet was secured either way to New York City and Cineinnati. On the 6th day of January, 1880, this road was sold under the foreclosure of mortgages, and passed into the hands of the Ohio & Pennsyl- vania Company. No sooner had they taken possession than they began to plan for the nar- rowing of the gauge, and the general improve- ment of the road. All being ready, on the 22d day of June, 1880, the signal was given, and from end to end of the road, men labored with might and main. This work had been so skill- fully planned, every difficulty anticipated, and all preparations so aeeurately made, that the road was narrowed in less than half a day. Very few trains were delayed, and hardly a break oceurred in the great business of this road. The work of narrowing engines is yet going on, the average eost being $1,600. If a new boiler and fire-box are required, the expense runs up- ward of $3,000.

The road reached Wadsworth about 1863, and in the following year ran its first passenger trains. It gave great impetus to the growth of that town, stimulating its business, developing its eoal mines, and attracting a business popu- lation to its eenter. This road has 7-8 miles of main line in the county, 1-89 miles of braneh line, and 112 miles of sidings, making a total of 9.45 miles of track in the county.

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CHAPTER V.

WAR HISTORY-THE EARLY CONFLICTS-PART TAKEN IN THE MEXICAN WAR-OPENING SCENES OF THE REBELLION-SKETCHES OF THE DIFFERENT REGIMENTS-THE DRAFT - LADIES' AND MILITARY AID SOCIETIES -SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS'

ASSOCIATION.

W HEN the war of the Revolution ended, the Colonial treasury was bankrupt, and the Government found itself unable to pay the soldiers who had fought so bravely in its defense. The currency with which the expenses of the war were paid was so depreciated in value as to be worthless, and the Government was forced to resort to other means to liquidate its just debts. Its broad domain of wild and unsettled country stretched away toward the setting sun, rich in boundless fertility and natural resources, and promised an unfailing source of revenue to the empty treasury. Western land warrants were issued to the sol- diers, who were glad to receive them, and hun- dreds made immediate preparations to start for the West. Surveyors in the employ of the Government, were sent out to survey the wil- derness on the border, and the land was thrown into market for settlers. Finally, large tracts of country, in what is now Ohio, yet known as " United States Military Land," or " Virginia Military Land," were set apart by the Govern- ment for the benefit of Revolutionary soldiers. The State of Connecticut became the owner of 3,800,000 acres in the northeastern part, and thither her citizens flocked by hundreds. But the bloody Indian wars on the border stemmed the tide of immigration for a time, and made the outlook gloomy for settlers who possessed no home, save the one they had purchased in the West. Medina County was a portion of the Western land owned by Connecticut. The most and all that can be said of the connection of Medina County with the Revolution is, that

many of the earliest settlers who came from Connecticut and other States, had been engaged in that protracted struggle.

But little more can be said of the war of 1812. When war was declared, there were then living in the county about ten families. Mes- sengers arrived from the oldest settlements, apprising the pioneers of the war already be- gun, and warning them to flee to some neigh- boring fort for protection from impending dan- ger. One small settlement was in each of the townships, Harrisville and Liverpool. The set- tlers in the latter, upon the receipt of the news of danger, hastily packed what articles could be conveniently carried, and hastened north to Columbia, where, for the protection of about twenty families, a strong block-house was built. A small company was organized under the orders of Captain Hoadley, and, while the fort was garrisoucd with a detachment of these, the others were permitted to visit their homes to care for stock and other property. The rush to the fort occurred in August, 1812, and was caused by information that the British and their Indian allies were approaching the neigh- borhood, intending to massacre the inhabitants. A large party had been seen landing at Huron, which was supposed to be the forces of the encmy. It was soon afterward ascertained that the body of men was the prisoners that Gen. Hull had surrendered to the British at Detroit. It was thought best, however, to build the fort and garrison it, as has been stated. The set- tlers of Liverpool Township did not all return to their homes until the following year, when

David Dudley Dowd COL. 2ND REG 3RD BRIG. 9TH DIV.O.M.

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HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

all apprehension of danger had passed away. The settlers in Harrisville Township shared a similar experience. The few families repaired to Raudolph, in obedience to the warning. Here they remained under the protection of organized militia, until the following October, when they returned to their farms in Harris- ville Towuship. Immediately after the surren- der of Detroit, Gen. Wadsworth called out the militia on the Reserve to be in readiness to re- sist the advanees of the cnemy iu the vicinity of Cleveland ; and, in obedienee to the call, the able-bodied men then in Harrisville Township promptly responded, and remained in the cam- paign about a month. After these events, no danger was apprehended, and the war, as far as Medina County was concerned, was at an end. Many of the settlers who afterward came into the county served in the war of 1812, and a few of these are yet living in the county at ad- vanced ages, a record of the campaign in which they participated, appearing in the biographical department in counection with their family history.

After the war of 1812 and the Indian wars accompanying it, the people of Medina County were no more disturbed until the Mexicau War. The circumstances which led to this struggle resulted from the admissiou of Texas into the American Union. The " Lone Star State " had been a province of Mexico, but had " seceded," and for years its citizens had been carrying on a kind of guerrilla warfare with the mother country with varying results. But, in 1836, a battle was fought at San Jacinto, at which Santa Anna, then Dictator of Mexico, was captured, and his entire army either killed or made pris- oners. Santa Anna was held in strict confine- ment, and finally induced to sign a treaty ac- knowledging the independence of Texas. But, in violation of the treaty, the Republic of Mex- ico treated Texas and the Texans just as she had previously done. From this time forward, petitions were frequently presented to the United

States, asking admission into the Union. But Mexico endcavored to prevent the admission of Texas, by constantly declaring that her reception would be regarded as a sufficient cause for declaration of war, thinking, doubtless, that this would serve to intimidate the United States. In the Presidential campaign of 1844, the an- nexation of Texas was one of the leading issues before the people, and Mr. Polk, whose party favored the annexation, being elected, this was taken as an expression of the public mind. After this, Congress had no hesitancy in grant- ing the petition of Texas, and, on the 1st of March, 1845, formally received her into the sis- terhood of States. Mexico, at once, in her in- dignation broke off all diplomatic intercourse with the United States, recalled her Minister, and made immediate preparations for war. Con- gress passed an act authorizing the President to accept the services of 50,000 volunteers, and appropriating $10,000,000 for the prosecution of the war. The information that war had be- gun swept over the country like an epidemic, and from all parts of the Union volunteers by the thousands signified their readiness to enlist. The old State militia law was then in force, which required the enrollment of all able-bodied men between the ages of eighteen and forty- five, for military duty. No county action in reference to the war is remembered to have transpired, though Medina was not wholly silent. Her citizens were the descendants of soldiers who had fought with signal daring in the war of independence and in that of 1812, and the children had not forgotten the story of the bloody experience of their fathers in the hour of national peril.

During the month of Juue, 1846, in response to the call for troops, twenty-three men (and very likely several others), then residents of Medina County, volunteered in the thrce regi- ments assigned as the quota of Ohio under the first call. Cincinnati was the place of rendez- vous, where the volunteers were to be exam-

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ined and mustered into the service of the Gov- ernment. The quota assigned Ohio was filled in a few weeks, and there were found left over nearly men enough to constitute another regi- ment. These were furnished transportation home at the expense of the Government. The organization of the three regiments was effected without delay, and the officers elected were as follows : First Regiment-A. M. Mitchell, of Cincinnati, Colonel ; John B. Weller, of Butler County, Lieutenant Colonel; T. L. Hamar, of Brown County, Major. Second Regiment-G. W. Morgan, of Knox County, Colonel ; William Irvin, of Fairfield, Lieutenant Colonel ; William Hall, of Athens, Major. Third Regiment-S. R. Curtis, of Wayne County, Colonel ; G. W. McCook, of Jefferson, Lieutenant Colonel, and J. S. Love, of Morgan, Major. There not being a sufficient number of volunteers from the county to form a company, those enlisted were obliged to unite with volunteers in adjoining counties. Twenty-one men from Medina Coun- ty went to Wooster, where a company of about ninety volunteers, including those from Medi- na, was ordered to assemble to complete its organization and elect its officers. This was done with the following result: Mr. Moore, Captain; Peter Burgett, First Lieutenant ; James McMillan, Second Lieutenant; R. D. Emmerson, Third Lieutenant, none of the com- missioned officers being from Medina County. There were ten companies in the Third Regi- ment, Company E being the one enlisted at Wooster, in which were the volunteers from Medina County. After much labor and search, the following partial list of the men from this county who served in the war with Mexico, has been obtained : Alexander Coretsca, Sam- uel Fritz, Uriah Fritz, Nathaniel Case, John Callihan, Charles Barrett, Elijah Beard, Amiah Chaffey (?), D. W. Rouse, C. B. Wood, Colum- bus Chapman, Terry Harris, Josiah Coy, W. S. Booth, Stephen M. Hyatt, Horace Potter, Lu- ther (?) Adkins, Ebenezer Manning, Robert W.

Patterson and O. P. Barney. Sometime about the 1st of June, 1846, notice was given that a meeting would be held at a given date in the village of Medina, for the purpose of receiving the names of those who desired to serve in the war with Mexico. The day and hour came ; a band of martial music paraded the streets to assemble the citizens, and, in the park, speeches were made by one or more of the prominent citizens. Volunteers were called for, but, out of the throng there assembled, only two men signified their intention and readiness to march in battle array to the bright land of the Montezumas. These two were Alexander Coretsca, of Polish descent, and Nathaniel Case. The two were loudly cheered as they enrolled their names in their country's service. Some one said to Coretsca: " Yes, you'll die down there in that hot climate," to which the latter replied, "It will be as well to die down there as any place." After a few days several others added their names to the roll. All the men mentioned above were in Company E, of the Third Regiment, except John Callihan, Ebenezer Manning and Stephen Hyatt, who were in the Second Regiment, and Horace Pot- ter, who was in Company F, of the Third Regi- ment. The brave boys realized that it was no holiday undertaking to go in the hot months of the year from the comparatively cold climate of the Northern States to the altogether differ- ent and peculiar climate of Mexico. Looking back over the years, the stupendous magnitude of the last war overshadows the almost insur- mountable difficulties which the volunteers in tlic Mexican campaign were compelled to en- counter. At this day, when a battle-scarred, gray- haired, Mexican war soldier attempts a descrip- tion of the bloody and beautiful field of Buena Vista, or the wild storming of the City of Mex- ico and the memorable heights surrounding it, he is at once silenced by a remark something like this : "Oh, that's nothing compared to Pittsburg Landing and Gettysburg and the

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Wilderness." The thrilling experiences of the Mexican campaign, and the names of the heroes who faithfully served there are forgotten in the interest taken in the last great war. But the names of the brave men should and must be preserved, and in memory of those who fell with their faees to the foe, or under the stroke of the deadly Southern diseases, a gleaming shaft of monumental marble should be erected by a grateful people.

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History of Medina county and Ohio, Part 48

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Baskin & Battey. Chicago. pub Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1014

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Baskin & Battey. Chicago. pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1014