History of Medina county and Ohio, Part 89

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 89

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Schools were organized at an early day. The first school was taught on the west line of the township, in 1817, in a small log building that had been intended for a dwelling, but into

which no family had yet moved. The first teacher was Sarah Tillotson. Mention of this school is made in the chapter on the history of Liverpool Township. The school was taught on the line, to accommodate families in both townships. The first schoolhouse was built during the fall of 1817, and located a quarter of a mile west of the Center. Col. John Freese was employed to teach the first school in this house, which he did to the satisfaction of the patrons. After that, school was held regularly there until 1824, when a large hewed-log building, intended for a church, schoolhouse and town hall, combined, was erected at the Center. Abram Freese taught several terms in the first schoolhouse. Often, in accordance with the terms of the contract between the teacher and the School Directors, the children were called upon to build the fires, and not infrequently the large boys were required to chop the wood while at school. Barring the teacher out, was a practice not to be avoided on holidays, and such occasions were relished with unbounded delight by the entire school; but they were not always agree- able to the unfortunate pedagogue. Miss Par- melia Freese also taught in the first school- house, and found so much difficulty in managing her large scholars that her father, Judge Abram Freese, often visited the school to impart his advice to the scholars and ren- der any needed assistance to the teacher. The large attendance at the early schools spoke well for the interest in education. The old combined church and schoolhouse was used for school purposes twelve or fifteen years, when a larger and better frame building was erected to take its place. The old house was used by Archibald Miles for a storeroom. This building is yet standing and is used for a sta- ble. Its age and former dignified use are not respected by the present generation; it makes a good stable, however. The present school-

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house was built about 1855. The building has two stories, the upper one being used for a town hall. The lower is divided into two apartments, and two teachers are employed during the winter months. In about 1830, two schoolhouses were erected, one a mile and a half north, and the other a mile and a half south, of the village. At that time, the town- ship comprised three or four school districts, but the precise date of their creation is un- known. Both houses were built of logs, with clapboard shingles and furniture, with broad fire-places, and with large stone chimneys on the outside of the building. After being used for some ten years, they were replaced by others, since which time two others have been built at each place. A short time after the erection of the northern house, another was built near the residence of Mr. Goodman. This house was constructed of logs, and was afterward replaced by several others, each being an improvement on the former, and more in harmony with the times. An inci- dent in the school at the Center is related by James Stearns, and should be carefully read by all bad and mischievous boys. The teacher's name was Barnes, and James' conduct had been reprehensible, and he no doubt needed a "trouncing." Accordingly, the teacher, with a frown on his face, called up the wayward boy, and, having tied a strong handkerchief around his neck, suspended him over the door. The boy began to gasp for breath, whereupon the larger scholars (having become alarmed lest the boy should strangle outright) interfered, and he was taken down, a wiser boy. Good order reigned in the school after that event, but the teacher was given to understand that a different mode of correction must be pur- sued or he would be discharged. This inci- dent should be a warning to all bad and troublesome scholars. A school was taught in 1832, by Newell Cole, in a dwelling near the

residence of Moses Sherman. Shortly after- ward, a round-log schoolhouse was built, which, after being used some five years, was replaced by a better one. The present house was erected in 1877. The school district in the northeast corner comprises portions of Brunswick and Hinckley Townships and Cuy- ahoga County. The first schoolhouse was a log structure, erected in 1828, and located at the township corner-stone. Hiram Brooks was the first teacher, receiving $13 per month for his services, and boarding at home. Miss Sarah Bennett taught during the following summer, and received her pay by subscription, each scholar paying 75 cents for the term of three months. In 1833, another log school building was erected back in Brunswick, some distance from the line, and, after being used some six years, it was replaced by a small frame structure. This was used about eight- een years, when the present one was erected at a cost of about $600.

Many of the early settlers had been mem- bers of various churches before coming to the township, and, still wishing to continue the worship of God, they immediately began hold- ing meetings at private cabins and afterward at schoolhouses. Rev. Jacob Ward, a Meth- odist minister of considerable influence and power, organized a society in 1817, and the meetings were held in the old log schoolhouse. About the same time, the Episcopalian society was organized in Liverpool, and, inasmuch as both congregations were small, they adopted the practice of assembling alternately in Bruns- wick and Liverpool to worship God together. When held in the latter township, the meet- ings were conducted by Justus Warner, and, when in the former, by Rev. Jacob Ward. The first structure that could be called a church was the old block building, erected and used for a variety of purposes. Here the church people met to worship. In about 1826,

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HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

the Methodists built a small church west of the Center. This building was used until 1872, when the present large brick church was erected at a cost of about $8,000. The old church is now owned and used by a small society of Disciples. A Congregational soci- ety was instituted in the township in Febru- ary, 1819, by Revs. Simeon Woodruff and William Hanford, two missionaries then labor- ing in the Western Reserve to advance the interests of their church. The Congregation- alists also met in the old schoolhouse and private residences at first, and grew in strength and grace. Their present church at the Cen- ter is the finest religious structure in the county, and is said to have cost nearly $25,000. It is constructed of brick, and is a credit to the religious zeal of the citizens of Bruns- wick. A society of Free-Will Baptists was organized in the northeast corner as early as 1828. The first church was erected in Cuya- hoga County about 1830, and, after continuing

in use for many years, was replaced by the present building, located in Hinckley Town- ship. Hiram Brooks, a member of this church, often preached for the society, and on all occasions took an active interest in its welfare and prosperity. A little village sprang up at the corners in early years, and was named "Bennett's Corners," in honor of a promi- nent man who settled at the place and did much to improve the country. A short dis- tance south of the residence of Mr. Sherman is a small church that was erected a few years ago by the members of several denominations, and, according to the arrangement, church exercises are held at stated times by each. The church is known as a United Brethren Church, perhaps for the reason that more of that denomination than any other belong. Near the church lives an old man named Hiram B. Miller, who became widely known before the last war by his taking an active part in assisting runaway slaves to Canada.

CHAPTER XIX .*

WESTFIELD TOWNSHIP-SAVAGE AND CIVILIZED LIFE ON CAMPBELL'S CREEK-TWO FAMOUS TRIALS-OHIO FARMERS' INSURANCE COMPANY, ITS ORIGIN AND GROWTH.

T THE township of Westfield, the history of which is narrated here, retains but slight resemblance to the populous community in the Old Bay State, the name of which it bears. Nevertheless, though differing widely from its namesake, it remains, and ever will remain, a worthy testimonial of the affection for the Mas- sachusetts home of him who once owned the greater portion of its wide-reaching forests and its fertile fields. To-day, the township is the same in shape and size as when George Collier, of honored memory, first surveyed it and marked out its metes and bounds. It is

one of a long tier of townships that lie just within the limits, and form the southern bound- ary line of that historic tract the Western Reserve of Ohio-and its people partake of all those sturdy, sterling qualities and characteris- tics for which the inhabitants of the Reserve have been ever noted since it was set apart and settled by the whites. Westfield contains twen- ty-five square miles of tempting territory. Its four equal sides being each five miles long, and so surveyed as to form the figure of a perfect square. To the north of it lies La Fayette ; Guilford skirts its eastern border ; Harrisville adjoins it on the west, while its southern

*Contributed by R. J. Young.

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HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

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boundary separates it from one of Medina's immediate neighbors among counties-Wayne.

The present inhabitants of Westfield are almost wholly devoted to the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, and few traets of land in Ohio arc better suited to this purpose than the one which these thrifty farmers till. The config- uration of the land, and the character of the soil, unite to form a prospect and possession, of which it may with truth be said, that the one is as pleasing to the eye, as the other is pregnant with the ehoieest produets of the ground. The northern half of the township is pretty level, the gentle undulations of the laud being just sufficiently pronounced to relieve the expanse from the semblance of monotouy. In the southern half, however, the irregulari- ties of the surface are more strongly marked, some parts being slightly hilly ; but nowhere enough so to prevent successful cultivation. Portions of the land, particularly in the uorth- ern section, contain a considerable quantity of elay soil ; elsewhere, the ground is gravelly and sandy. There is a fine growth of timber still standing in the township, ineluding oak, hick- ory, black walnut, beeeh and ash trees. The quality of oak grown here is excellent. The leading erops are wheat, oats and corn, with fair proportious of rye and barley. Those best acquainted with the land say it excels as a wheat-producing tract. The territory of West- field is well watered, and everywhere through- out its eonfines the drainage is noticeably good. That placid and picturesque sheet of water, Chippewa Lake, lies partly within the town- ship, and the stream which forms its southern outlet, runs for a little distanee through the northeast quarter of the land herein deseribed. A prettily winding stream, called Campbell's Creek, begins its eourse in the northwestern corner of the township, flows south and east for a few miles, then eurves in a southwesterly direction, and finally finds an outlet in Killbuek River, just across the county line.

When this century began, the banks of Camp- bell Creek were the chosen abode of a large band of Indians belonging to the Wolf tribe, who, having the shores of the stream and the immediate vieinity as the center of their opera- tious, roamed betimes over the surrounding country, threading the dense and otherwise trackless forest with their mysterious trails. A favorite trip with them was a jaunt to Chip- pewa Lake, and it was usually one in which business and pleasure were combined ; " busi- ness " and " pleasure " of a different sort, it must be granted, but, nevertheless, as intimately joined as ever happens in the ease of modern travelers who now journey by rail from this same locality to the remotest cities on the sea- board. And who dare say, that, in their hunt- ing and trapping expeditions, these nomadie natives felt less anxiety and care than does the man of business now, who extends his trade to distant towns, or that, in their hours of sport and reereation, the wild and wanton fellows found less enjoyment than do our eivilized seekers after pleasure at watering-places and other so-called popular resorts ?

This meandering stream, around which so many historic reeolleetions eluster, was the di- viding line between the possessions of Henry Thorndyke and James Fowler, who were the first individual owners of the land that now lies within the limits of the township. Henry Thorndyke, of Portage County, Ohio, owned to the west of the ereek, about one-third of the present township area being included in his tract. James Fowler, of Westfield, Mass., owned the remaining two-thirds, lying east of the ereek. Sueh was the condition of affair up to the year 1817, when the first settlers eame in and made their purehases. Let it be remem- bered, and recorded now, that James Fowler was the man whose prominenee as landed pro- prietor, coupled with his residenee in the east- ern Westfield, gave name to the new township then formiug in the forest.

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HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

To eollate and give in detail the real facts connected with the first settlement and ineipient growth of Westfield, is a task beset with doubts and difficulties. No trustworthy record of the earliest times has heretofore been printed. The historian of to day is, therefore, dependent for his information on the personal recollections of the older settlers or the tradi- tions transmitted to their children. The present population of the township is largely composed of those who have come in during eompara- tively recent years, the number of families whose founders shared in the " first beginnings of things " here, being surprisingly small. Not one of the first band of immigrants-the set- tlers of 1817-is numbered among the people of the township now. Indeed, so long ago as 1868, as it is stated in a sketeh prepared by Mr. L. D. Ellis, all of those pioneer pilgrims had passed over to the silent majority, save three. The three then surviving were Hanmer Palmer, aged eighty-nine, living with his son, Sherwood H. Palmer, in the adjoining township of Harrisville ; Joseph S. Winston, aged eighty- eight, living with his children in Peru, La Salle Co., Ill .; and Mrs. Mary Nye, aged eighty-one, living with a daughter iu Wyoming, Jones Co., Iowa. Modern civilization made its first en- eroaehments upon the domain of the aborigines in the neighborhood of Campbell's Creek, in the year 1816, when James Chapman and War- ren Brainard entered to view the land, in order to inform themselves, and many waiting friends " down East" as well, about its adaptability to settlement and oeeupation by the whites. These two men eneamped for a night on the spot where, one-half century afterward, stood the residenee of D. L. Hart. In the early morning hours of the ensuing day, while Brain- ard busied himself in the unromantie but nee- essary work of getting their modest breakfast, Chapman made the forest ring with the rapid blows of his ax, as he felled the first tree ever eut down by Caucasian hands on the territory of

the future township. The resounding blows of Chapman's ax were but the bold and perempt- ory knoekings of a new civilization, impatient and eager for admission. A short season of inspection confirmed these two men in their be- lief that the land they viewed, particularly that portion of it west of Campbell's Creek, was in- deed a goodly heritage, and, when they turned their faces to the East again, it was with the purpose of recommending the region to all whom they should find seeking a place for settlement. On their return, they passed through Portage County, where a happy ehance threw them into the company of Eber Mallory and Hanmer Palmer, the pair of pioneers for whom fortune had reserved the honor of being the first actual settlers and permanent residents in the territory that soon afterward formed Westfield.

The finger of a kindly destiny guided Palmer and Mallory to their future homes, pointing out to them a new pathway and an abiding-place quite different from their predetermined desti- nation. They had entered Ohio with the desire and purpose of settling near the center of the State. On their way through Portage County, they were persuaded to panse in their journey for a day or two. It was this delay that brought them face to face with Warren Brain- ard and James Chapman, whose account of the country around Campbell's Creek changed all their previous plans. After conferring together, Messrs. Chapman, Brainard, Mallory, Palmer and Wells, with Mr. Henry Thorndyke, who owned the soil, but never yet had scen it, all weut in company to the ereek's west bauk, and then and there selected their several lots of land. It is said that Brainard was the first to elose a bargain. Having made ehoiee of their partieu- lar possessions, the members of this interesting party with one aeeord went home. In the fol- lowing spring, the first actual oeeupaney and settlement of the land was made. It was on the 2d day of April, 1817, that Hanmer Palmer and Eber Mallory, returning with their families,

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HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

reached their respective plats of ground and be- came the pioneer inhabitants. At subsequent dates in this same year of 1817, the following persons came to dwell in the new land : Dr. Richard Morton, John J. Morton and wife, Benjamin P. Morton and wife, Timothy Nye and wife, Richard Marshall and wife, Joseph S. Winston and wife and Isaac Ford. Mr. Win- ston bought the land on which now stands the town of Friendsville, and from him the original settlement at that point was called Winston's Corners. The following persons joined the young colony in the year 1818 : Warren Brain- ard and wife, James Chapman and wife, George Collier and wife, A. Chapman and wife, N. Brainard and wife, James Ross and wife, J. M. Eastman and wife, Isaac Snell and wife, An- drew Lewis and wife, Elihu Hathaway and wife, Wiley Hamilton and wife, Moses Noble and wife and Horace Noble. In the year 1819, these were the additions to the scant popula- tion . Selah Beach and wife, Alvah Beach and wife, Sanford Beach and wife, Rufus Vaughn and wife, Joseph Kidder and wife, Joseph Kid- der, Jr., and wife, Benjamin Kidder, Francis Kidder, James Kidder and wife, Alvin Cook and wife, Thomas Cook and wife, B. Flannigan, Benjamin Farnum, Shubal Gridley and wife, Thomas Hayes, Daniel Refner, Benjamin John- son and wife, Amasa Gear and wife, Jonathan Pitcher and wife, Peter Crush and wife, Isaiah Briggs and Benjamin Briggs. Mr. Joseph Kidder is credited with making the first pur- chase in the Fowler tract, on the east side of Campbell's Creek, his land lying about a half- mile south of the center of the present town- ship. The year 1820 brought new emigrants, as follows : Calvin Phillips and wife, Jonathan Simmons and wife, Isaiah Simmons, Constant Cornell and wife, Deliverance Eastman and wife, John Ross and wife, Miles Norton and wife, John Hosford and wife, Abner Ray and wife, Timothy R. Latimer and Isaac Tyler.

After the year 1820, the accessions to the

population of Westfield grew in frequency and extent, bands of several families often coming in together. It was not long ere the settlements extended into all parts of the township, and the work of clearing and tilling the land, build- ing habitations and opening highways, went on throughout the entire territory. The gradual in- crease in numbers above noted was, of course, wholly from immigration. But witliin the same period of time there were other accessions of a different and even more interesting sort. In the year 1817, very soon after their arrival in their forest home, there was born to John J. Morton and Jane Morton a daughter, whom they named Fanny. When this first white native of the township grew up to womanhood, she married Mr. Hiram Kellogg, whom she survived, and after whose death she removed to the home of her children in Michigan. The first white male child was born in the month of April, 1818. He was the son of Eber Mallory and Jemima Mallory, and was named by his parents Henry Thorndyke, in honor of the landed proprietor. Mr. Thorndyke repaid the compliment by giv- ing to his young namesake a present of a piece of land on the west bank of Campbell's Creek, in what afterward became Lot No. 15. Henry Thorndyke Mallory grew to man's estate and married a fair maiden of the township. He afterward removed to Illinois, where he died about the year 1867. Mr. Oliver Morton, brother of Fanny Morton, above mentioned, who is now one of the most prominent and in- fluential citizens of Westfield, barely escaped the distinction of being among the first births in the township. As a matter of fact, he was ushered into this world at Pittsburgh, Penn., where his parents had gone for a brief visit, in the year 1819 ; but his subsequent life spent in Westfield entitles him to all the honor that attaches to a native of the place. The earliest notable society event, as reporters nowadays would say, was the wedding of Mr. B. Flanni- gan and Miss Polly Cook, which occurred in

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IIISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

the year 1819, and in the "leafy month of June." "To those then living here," says a Westfield mau, "this marriage was an event of no small magnitude. Instead of being made the occasion of a 'belling,' as has been the practice in some communities, it was a scason of feasting and congratulations. Nor was costly apparel an indispensable accessory on such oc- casions. A good calico dress for the bride, and a suit of fulled cloth for the groom were consid- ered eminently suitable ingredients of tip-top outfits for the wedding costumes."

The township of Westfield was organized iu the year 1820. The first list of officers elected included Rufus Vaughn, Justice of the Peace ; Hanmer Palmer, Wiley Hamilton and Ansel Brainard, Jr., Trustees ; George Collier, Clerk ; James Ross, Constable. The territory, whose affairs these officers administered, and whose peace and prosperity were their chief objects of concern, was thus divided and laid out in lots by the original survey. On each side of a due east-and-west road, passing through the center of the township, lots were laid out one mile in length by one-half mile in width. Furthermore, upon the opposite sides of two other east-and- west roads equidistant from one parallel with the center road, tiers of lots were laid out, each lot being three-quarters of a mile long by half- a mile wide. By this division, sixty lots were formed, having a uniform frontage on the high- ways-six rows of lots in all, ten lots iu each row. The total area of the lots, it will be seen, just equals the twenty-five square miles within the township limits. The first and second elections for local officers were held at Hanmer Palmer's house. Then, for a period of six years, other private houses or buildings used for school purposes did duty as polling-places, un- til, in 1828, a town house was built at the town- ship center, and dedicated to all proper public uses. In the years that intervened between the first settlement and the date last given, when the business and political interests commenced

to crystallize around the geographical center, the good people of Westfield passed through many trials and privations. During all this time, the majority of the settlers who came in were poor. Some men simply owned an ax, while others rejoiced iu the possession of ouly two or three farm or household utensils. The land sold for about $3 per acre, and, iu many cases, the purchasers were unable to pay for the property for years after they assumed pos- sessiou. Those who first arrived found couuty roads that ran from Wooster to Medina, and from Lodi to Seville. Aside from these, there were few facilities for intercourse with the outer world. or even between the settlers themselves, who were scattered here and there in the depths of the forest. On account of their isolation, the different families, in the matter of providing the necessities of life, put to a practical test the doctrine of the sufficiency of man unto himself. In every household, domestic economy was practiced in its severest form. Money was a curiosity ; there was not enough in the township to warrant its use as a medium of exchange. Edibles and commodities were to be had in the towns, in trade for grain, which the farmer had raised in such parts of his woods as he had cleared, having girdled the large trees and cut out the small oues and the underbrush. The labors of the men were not a whit more severe or multifarious than were the different forms of work undertaken by the women. In those days. every wife deserved, and wore with pride. the title of " help-ineet " to her husband. Added to the ordinary labors incident to housekeeping, which she performed as a matter of course, she made the clothing for the members of her family, males as well as females. The manufacture of woolen and linen fabrics, and making them up iuto dresses, shirts, coats and pantaloons, were duties which received strict attention each suc- ceeding year, and as regularly and surely as old clothes wore out. Boots and shoes were luxu- ries. Even the young men and maidens of

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History of Medina county and Ohio, Part 89

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