USA > Ohio > Medina County > History of Medina county and Ohio > Part 61
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chickens crow ; and of course she went directly from home. She first took the road running southeast from the center, and followed it about three miles, as near as we could judge from her description, then came back and took the road to Ferris' and followed that to the river, and then knew from our description of the crossing where she was, turned about and came home."
The above ineident took place within a few miles of the county seat of Medina County. As we look around us at the farms and pleas- ant homesteads, standing so thick that one may travel all day and never be out of sight of some farmhouse, it is rather difficult to real- ize all that is contained in the words, " lost in the woods," and that, too, only sixty or seventy years ago, when, for miles and miles, the forest was dark and almost impenetrable, ex- cept to wolves, bears, panthers and other raven- ous beasts, and the cabin of the settler was to be found at rare intervals. The young lady who figured as the heroine of this rather un- fortunate circumstance, resided for many years in Medina County, the wife of Uriah M. Chap- pell. They, at different times, lived in Wads- worth, Guilford and York.
Medina Township was one of the first created after the formation of Medina County, and was originally organized by order of the Commis- sioners of Portage County, before Medina Coun- ty got her machinery into good running order. The order issued by the Portage County Com- missioners to hold an election, was dated March 24, 1818. This election was for township offi- cers, and organization was effected by appoint- ing Isaac Barnes, Noah M. Bronson and Abra- ham Scott, Judges; and Samuel Y. Potter, Clerk of Election. The following township officers were duly elected: Joseph Northrop, Abraham Scott and Timothy Doan, Township Trustees ; Isaac Barnes, Township Clerk ; Rufus Ferris and Lathrop Seymour, Overseers of the Poor; Abijah Marsh and Benjamin Hull, Fence
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Viewers ; James Palmer, Lister ; Rufus Ferris, James Moore, Zenas Hamilton and William Painter, Supervisors ; Samuel Y. Potter and Ransom Clark, Constables, and James Moore, Treasurer. These first officers have long since paid the debt of nature, and not one is now liv- ing. As will be seen, settlers were so scarce in the township that there were not men enough to fill the few offices, but several had to take two offices apiecc. Thus was the township legally organized, and the first officers elected to administer its affairs according to law. Zenas Hamilton was the first Justice of the Peace for Medina Township. The following incident of his ideas of equity and justice is related in Northrop's history of the county : "Joseph Northrop had bought a pig from a Mr. Wood- ward, of Bath. As the money was not sent quite as soon as Woodward had expected, he sent his claim ($2) to Zenas Hamilton, with orders for him to sue on it. But Squire Hamilton, rather than send a summons, went two miles through the woods, informed Mr. Northrop of the fact, and told him that if he would say that the money should be in hand, three months from that time, he would do no more about it; and thus the matter ended." In those primi- tive days, when people, in the simplicity of their hearts, were thoroughly honest, civil offi- cers were frequently much more ready to save their neighbors trouble and expense than to pocket a paltry fee for a small lawsuit.
At the beginning of the settlement of Medina County, the people encountered many difficul- ties in obtaining bread. The nearest mills were twenty and thirty miles distant, and required from five to ten days to make a trip with ox teams, which were then the usual means of hauling and milling. The first mill in Medina Township was a saw-mill erected by Seymour & Doan, in 1817. The nearest grist-mills were at Middlebury and Stowe, which, in the best of weather and the best condition of roads, was a four days' journey with ox teams. The next
year they built a grist-mill adjoining their saw- mill, which had been erected where Weymouth now stands. This was the mill site mentioned by James Moore in his narrative pertaining to the early settlement of Medina. Moore & Stevens erected a saw-mill early in the year 1818, at Bagdad, near the center of the town- ship. It was soon afterward purchased by James Warner, who, with his son-in-law, Ste- phen N. Sargent, put up a grist-mill in 1820, just below the saw-mill. These early mills were a great benefit to the pioncers, and relieved them of the long, tedious journeys to mills at a distance. The township and town of Medina are now supplied with as fine mills as may be found in the State of Ohio, and the people of to-day, who have the best of mill facilities at their very doors, can, with difficulty, realize what their forefathers had to encounter here sixty or seventy years ago, in the one simple feature of procuring meal and flour.
The carly roads of Medina were merely trails through the forest, in which the underbrush was cut out to enable wagons to pass. One of the first of these was from Liverpool to Squire Ferris', and which passed Zenas Hamilton's. Another of the early roads branched off from the one above mentioned, at the Center, in a southeasterly direction, striking the "Smith road," near the corner of the township. The people had only ox teams, and these rough roads cut through the woods, after being passed over a few times, became impassable from mud, compelling them to continually open new ones. Some years later, a road was opened from Cleve- land to Wooster, and afterward extended to Columbus, known as the Columbus and Cleve- land stage road. This road passed through Medina, and was, in the early days of the coun- try, a great thoroughfare of travel, being a stage route between the north and south parts of the State. Medina has improved, however, in respect to its roads, as well as in many others. Good roads now pass through the
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HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.
township in every direction, with substantial bridges spanning all the little streams, so that locomotion is not retarded in any respect, bnt uninterrupted travel may be enjoyed with the outer world, without danger of sticking fast in the mud, or being drowned in some swollen stream.
The first birth, death and marriage, in a new settlemeut, are objects of considerable interest to the people. The first-born in a neighbor- hood grows up an individual of great impor- tance; the first wedding is an event that is long remembered, while the first funeral and the first grave in a lonely wilderness engenders sad and mournful reflections that shadow the commnuity for years. Of the first birth in Medina Township, there are conflicting state- ments. One authority says : "The first per- son born was Matthew, son of Zenas Hamilton, Jnne 9, 1815." This is donbtless correct, as Zenas Hamilton was the first actual settler in the township and located as early as the fall of 1814. It is told of this first born of Medina Township, that, when he arrived at maturity, he studied medicine and went West, where he had worked himself into a good practice as a physician, and, in crossing a river one day, to see a patient, was drowned. The first girl born is claimed to have been Eliza Sargent, now Mrs. Judge Humphreville, who was born in Angust, 1818. This first birth of a female is contested by Samantha Doan, now Mrs. Slade, whose post office address is Collamer, it being claimed that she was born in Jnne preceding the birth of Eliza Sargent, which took place, as given above, in August. The first death is said to have been a yonng danghter of Asahel Par- malee, from Vermont, while stopping in the settlement on their way to Sullivau. It oc- curred early in the spring of 1917. Another of the early deaths of the township, occurred at the raising of a log barn for Giles Barnes, Angust 12, 1819. Barnes lived on Lot 71, and, iu rais-
in taking up a rafter, was killed. He had got up on the house with the rafter, and was stand- ing on the end of the " butting-pole," when it rolled and he, losing his balance, fell, and the rafter struek him on the head, cansing instant death. His little son, Henry N. Pond, was three months old that day, and his mother, the wife of Mr. Poud, on hearing of his sudden death, faiuted away. The remains of the deceased were iuterred the next day, and the bereaved ones had the sincere sympathy of the entire community. The grave was on Lot 53, a little west of where F. A. Abbott lived. It is a sad coincidenee, that the child, Henry N. Pond, rc- ferred to above, was, somc thirty years later, then the head of a family of his own, killed by the fall of a dead tree, while at work in his field. Both father and sou were mnch-re- spected and worthy eitizens. Thns, as the sea- sons roll on, so do the shady and sunny sides of this life appear. The first couple married in the township were Giles Barnes and Eliza Northrop, on the 23d of March, 1818. It was a time of great rejoicing, and the whole neigh- borhood turned out en masse to celebrate. In- vitations had been sent out to all the dwellers in the township to attend. The ceremony was performed by Rev. R. Searle, an Episcopal clergyman, and the first preacher in the town- ship. The festivities were continued to a late hour ; but, as "the boys " had provided a good supply of torch bark, when the ceremonies and rejoicings were over, they went to their homes, lighted on their way by their bark torches. Some were said to have been a little " high " from the effects of the wine they had drank. This, however, was not considered in the least extraordinary (even for some clergymen at that day), under such circumstances as a frontier wedding. Whisky did not contain so much poison then as at the present day, hence was not so dangerous.
The canse of education in Medina Township ing a heavy barn, a man named Isaac J. Pond, ; is coeval with its settlement by white people.
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HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.
They came from a section of the country where the education of the youth was considered one of the first and greatest duties of the time. The first sehool taught here is said to have been taught by Eliza Northrop, in the old log meeting-house built by the people in 1817. In the summer of the same year, she taught sehool, and among her pupils were Joseph, Ruth, Elizabeth and Mary Hamilton; George, Lueius, Carlos and Lester Barnes ; Banner and Harrison Seymour; Jared and Mary Doan ; Anna, Cynthia, Philemon, Chloe, Ruth and Madison Riee; Clement and Freeman Marsh ; Frank and Philander Calender, and Lois and Liusa Palmer-twenty-three all told. Proba- bly not one of the pupils of this pioneer sehool is now living. More than sixty years have passed sinee it was taught. In that period the sehool system has been mueh perfeeted, and school facilities inereased aeeording to the de- mands of the time. The following statisties from the last report of the Board of Education, show the present state of the schools of Me- dina Township :
Balance on hand September 1, 1879 $615 79 State tax. 270 00 Irreducible fund 17 30
Township tax for school and schoolhouse pur-
poses. 506 35
Total. $1,409 44
Whole amount paid teachers. $603 50 Paid for fuel, etc .. 165 10 Total expenditures. 768 60
Balance on hand September 1, 1880. $640 84
Children between the ages of six and twenty- one years : Males, 81 ; females 91; total, 172. There are in the township five comfortable sehoolhouses, valued at $3,000. The best and most competent teachers are employed, and good sehools are maintained for the usual term each year.
The religious history of Medina Township dates baek almost to the first settlement. The first preacher was the Rev. R. Searle, an Epis-
eopal minister. He was here as early as the spring of 1817. The first public religious serviee, of which we have a reliable aeeount, was held at the house of Zenas Hamilton, on the 11th of March in the above year. At this meeting, Rev. Mr. Searle preached the first ser- mon delivered in the new settlement. He had been the Reetor of St. Peter's Church, Plymonth, Conn. Serviees were also held the next day, when Rev. William Hanford preached ; he was a missionary from Connectieut. A short time after this, Rev. Searle organized St. Paul's par- ish of Medina. This was what is now St. Paul's Church of Medina Village, though organized originally in a distant part of the township. Some of the first members were Rufus Ferris, Miles Seymour, Benjamin Hull, Harvey Hiekox, David Warner, William Painter, George War- ner, M. B. Welton and Zenas Hamilton. The first ehureh edifice was ereeted in April, 1817. Says Mr. Northrop in his history of the county : "On the 10th day of April, 1817, the people assembled with teams and tools, at the place appointed, near the present residenee of Chaun- eey Blakslee, where Herbert Blakslee now lives, and about a mile northeast of the present town house, eleared away the underbrush, ent the timber, hauled it together, and put up a log meeting house ; eut the tree, made the shingles, covered it, etc. About noon, notiee came that Mr. Searle would be there and preach a sermon at 4 o'eloek in the afternoon that day. We did our best to be ready. We prepared seats by placing poles between the logs and stakes drove in the ground, and had it all ready in due time. Mr. Searle eame and fulfilled his appointment ; nearly all were present who could get there. The exereises were aceompanied with appropri- ate singing, and all passed off in very pleasant pioneer style." It was in this house the first sehool was taught as already notieed. It was a kind of union ehureh, and was occupied by all denominations who were represented at the time . in the community, though the Episeo-
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HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.
palians and Congregationalists were largely in the preponderance, and, as a general thing, it was used half of the time by each of these denominations. Some time after, a log church was built at the Center, and in it meetings were conducted, in the greatest harmony, until it was burned. A town house was then built, which was used also as an Episcopal Church, until it, too, was burned. A meeting house was then built by the Congregationalists at Bagdad, and meetings hold there and at the village, alternately, for several years.
Among the early Congregational ministers of Medina Township were Rev. William Hanford, Rev. Simeon Woodruff, Rev. Lot B. Sullivan and Rev. Horace Smith. The first Congrega- tional Church was organized at the house of Isaac Barnes, on the 21st of February, 1819, by Rev. William Hanford, from Connecticut, who had been sent out by the church as a mis-
sionary. He was assisted in the organization by Rev. Simeon Woodruff, one of the first Pas- tors of the church. Among the original mem- bers of this organization were Joseph Northrop and Charity, his wife ; Isaac Barnes and Mar- tha, his wife ; N. B. Northrop ; Giles and John Barncs. Mr. Hanford preached for several years, both to this society and in Medina Vil- lage ; this society was finally moved to the vil- lage, where further notice will be made in con- nection with the Congregational Church. Rov. Lot B. Sullivan was also an early minister of this first Congregational Church, and served one year as Pastor, dividing his time, one-half to it and one-half to the church at Wellington. Rev. Horace Smith was with the churchcs of Medina and Granger Townships for about six months as a missionary sent out by Hamp- shire Missionary Society, Massachusetts. Rev. S. V. Barnes camc about 1827, and was instru- mental in getting up a great revival in the east part of the township, and afterward in the village and vicinity. He was the stated minis- ter in Medina and Weymouth for a number of
years. Says Mr. Northrop : "Religious, moral and temperance reform were gaining the as- cendancy ; schools were improving ; and every important enterprise was cherished, and urged onward to success. Thus we secmed to see the wilderness and solitary places literally bud- ding and blossoming as the rose, and, indeed, becoming vocal with the praises of the Most High God." The church history of the town- ship centers principally in the village, although the first societies were organized outside of it, and so the histories of these early religious so- cicties will be resumed in the chapter devoted to Medina Village. Another incident from Mr. Northrop's history of the county, and we will pass from this branch of the subject : " During the time of the rectorship of Mr. Searle, in con- nection with St. Paul's Church in Medina, a somewhat exciting difficulty occurred among some of the members, and, at the same time, the Episcopal Methodists at the village maui- fosted considerable engagedness in their prayer meetings, and in reply to some remarks of Squire Ferris upon the subject, Scth Roberts said that the devil had really come to Mediua, had got the Episcopalians all by the ears, and frightened the Methodists to their prayers ; and the
" Presbyterians look on and sing,
'Sweet is the work, my God and King.'"
When this township was first settled by the white people, there were still a few roving bands of Indians in this section of the State. They were friendly, however, although, when Zenas Hamilton made his settlement in Medina, the war of 1812 was raging, the Indians that occupied the country along the Rocky River were not hostile. For a few years after settle- ments were made in the towuship, the Indians remained in their old hunting-grounds, but werc, it is said, most inveterate beggars. Mr. Northrop says they were induced to leave from the following circumstances : "Mr. Hulett, of Brunswick, was at Nelson, Portage County,
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and, saying something about the Indians being a nuisance, Capt. D. Mills, the old pioneer hunter, well known to the Indians, told Mr. Hulett, that if he would tell them that Mills, Redding and some others that he named, were eoming out there, and would make way with every In- dian they could find, he thought they would leave. Mr. Hulett did so, and sure enough, they paeked their horses and left, and never re- turned."
Thus it has ever been, since the occupation of this country by the European, the rights of the Indiau have been utterly disregarded, his lands and hunting-grounds wrested from him by the pale-face Christian, and he driven back step by step, as the increase of his white foe demanded more room. And yet we curse the Indian as a barbarous savage, that ought to be exterminated from the face of the earth, wholly forgetting that to us are they indebted for mueh of their barbarity and fiendish cruelty. There is no doubt but that we would be as sav- age as they, were we placed under similar eir- eumstances. We do not set ourself up as the champiou of the "noble red man," nor the apologist of his cruelties, but merely to note an historical truth, that, where Indians were treated as human beings, they displayed a noble mag- nanimity, and returned gratitude for gratitude to a degree never excelled even by the Anglo- Saxon.
Wild beasts of every description were plenty when the country was new. Wolves particu- larly were plenty, and were a great source of annoyance to those who made an attempt to raise hogs or sheep. The following incident is related as an illustration of the depredations committed by these pests of the pioneer days : Gad Blakslee, an early settler of Medina Town- ship, had procured a fine flock of sheep, and the wolves killed eighteen at one time. It was found that they inhabited the "wind-fall," in the south part of the township. They got Ze- nas Hamilton to go and assist in making a
trap, in which, together with a large steel trap, they caught nine old wolves, besides a lot of young oues, and one more old one, the next year. This thoroughly cleaned them out in that locality, and the people were no more annoyed by them. Wolf hunts and bear and deer hunts were a common sport and pastime with the early settlers, aud they used to colleet in great numbers for the purpose of engaging in one of these periodieal hunts. As other chapters of this work detail some of these hunts, we will make no further mention of them here.
The progress of the new settlement for the first few years, was necessarily slow. There were no markets for produce, and the settler did not exert himself to raise bountiful harvests, but merely sufficient for his moderate wants. A few bushels of corn and wheat sufficed, while the forest furnished him his meat. Besides his trusty rifle, the principal tools he had to work with were his ax, his drawing-knife and his shaving-horse. To these, in a settlement of any extent, were added an auger or two, a broad-ax, and an implement called a " frow," which was used for splitting out clapboards. The original members of this pioneer settle- ment have all gone to their last repose. They were the men of the "Golden Fleece "-the " Argonauts," whose lives were full of romance and adventure. Time has mellowed the asper- ities of their character and of their deeds, and enveloped them in a haze of purple and golden light. The generation of men who settled in the limits of Medina Township during the first fifteen or twenty years, have gone only recently, or liuger yet for a moment to look their last upon the green fields of time. Their children are the business men and women of to-day.
The little place, rejoicing in the high-sounding name of Bagdad, as a town, was never much of a success. It was designed originally for the town of the township, and, we are told, even as- pired to the honor of becoming the county seat. Failing in this, it rapidly dwindled into insig-
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HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.
nificance, and, like aneient Rome, the spider "wove her web in its palaces, the owl sung his watch-song in her towers." A mill or two, a small store, a carding-machine and fulling-mill constituted all the town the place ever pos- sessed. James Warner built a mill here-first a saw-mill, to which was afterward added a grist-mill. Deacon Northrop built a saw-mill a little lower down the stream, and a few years later sold it to Gad Blakslee. A store was kept for a time, but did not last long. A church was built here by the Congregational people, as already noticed ; and a carding-machine and fulling-mill was built, and run by water-power from the mill. The fulling-mill, we believe, is still in operation. This is the only trace left to tell where once stood the great eity of Bagdad. Sic transit gloria, etc.
Weymouth was one of the early points of settlement. It was here that Lathrop Sey- mour built a mill at an early day, as men- tioned elsewhere. Sometime after building this mill, he sold it to one Jairus Stiles, who operated it many years. After this mill went down, Seymour put up a sugar factory near the same spot. His son had been away at school, and learned enough chemistry to know that by a certain process potato stareh would yield a certain amount of sweet. Upon this information, Seymour erected a factory for the purpose of manufacturing sugar from potatoes, or from potato starch. It proved a failure. It was then changed into a mill, and in that capacity proved more valuable than as a sugar factory. There is a grist-mill on the old site, which was built about 1850-52, and which is now owned and operated by Norman Miller. It is a good mill, is in good running order, and doing a flourishing business.
The first store in Weymouth was kept by Doan & Adams, in an early day. J. P. Doan erected the building in which Erastus Brown now lives, for a storehouse. Adams was a brother-in-law to Doan, and came from Euclid,
and in partnership with him opened a store, a business they continued several years. The next store was kept by a man named Sale, in a building erected by Lathrop Seymour. Sale was a native of the Isle of Man, and, after mer- chandising here for several years, died of hem- orrhage. A post office was established at Wey- mouth very early, and Stephen N. Sargent commissioned as Postmaster. H. B. Seymour, however, attended the office, and was virtually the Postmaster. The present representative in this department of Unele Sam is Lewis R. Mann. He also keeps a store. Another store is operated by Amos R. Livingston. This is at present the mercantile business of Wey- mouth. There are two blacksmith-shops and a wagon-shop. A cheese factory was erected in May. 1870, by Sedgwick & Clark. Says the Gazette, referring to it: "The building was ereeted and apparatus finished at a cost of $3,000. Make up 4,300 pounds of milk daily into cheese, turning out ten and eleven cheeses each day. The milk is obtained from 200 cows. There is a continued flow of water through the factory, which is a neat and complete establish- ment." This comprises the business of the place. In early times, it was a noted point in the lumber business. But, with the disappear- ance of the timber, and railroads passing through other portions of the county, its days of prosperity have passed. Years ago, there was a great deal of teaming from Wooster to Cleveland, and the road passed through Wey- mouth. Flour was hauled from Wooster, and goods brought baek in exchange. So from Weymouth lumber was hauled to Cleveland and exchanged for goods, which were sold to the settlers. The name Weymouth was bestowed on the place by Judge Bronson. When they applied for a post office, it, of course, must have a name, and, by request, Judge Bronson called it for Weymouth in Massachusetts. Like Bag- dad, Weymouth came near being the county seat. But, for the fact that those owning the
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