History of Medina county and Ohio, Part 94

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 94

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After the old house went away, there was a lull in high-school interests, but a few embers were still alive, and the townspeople were per- suaded to build a house on a plau to serve in a three-fold capacity, so, with school tax, town- ship tax and private subseription, the present house was ereeted for township, high and com- mon school purposes. The character of the sehools throughout the township, however, is not as good as it was in the early days.

The Methodist Church in Sharon was organ- ized in 1832, with James Wilson, Pastor, in eharge. The persons that composed the first class in that church were Valentine Waltman (Class-leader), Aehsah Waltman, Keziah Walt- man, Charles, Irena and Almira MeFarlin, George, Susan and Polly Lowerman, Rebecca Smith, Harriet Skinner and Martha More. The church increased in uumbers, so that, in 1842, they were enabled to build their present house of worship. The building committee was com- posed of William Graves and Valentine Walt- man. Like the schools, this society has ebbed and flowed until the present year, when their number is double what it was at its first organ- ization.

A Presbyterian Church was started iu 1833, and served by occasional preachers of that school, until Rev. William Johnson was sent as a permanent Pastor, by an Eastern society in

Connecticut. He was paid $100 a year by the society, the rest of his salary being made up by his scattered parishioners. The church was continued uutil 1846, when it commenced to decline in numbers, by deaths, removals, and, perhaps, a type of theology better suited to the tastes of the people.

As early as 1830 or 1831, there were ele- ments at work among the people, that indicated that a more liberal association might be col- leeted. Those of such views, compared notes, and found enough strength to put up a build- ing for church and school purposes. This was the formation of the Universalist Society of Sharon. The building was erected in 1836. The first preacher was a Mr. Hull, of New En- gland extraction. He continued their speaker for three years, and was succeeded by ocea- sional preachers, until the arrival of Rev. Alvin Dinsmore, about the year 1840, who continued to sojourn ju Sharou for nearly twenty-five years, preaching and teaching. In 1869, this society sold a half-interest in their church building, to the Lutherans, who now occupy it alternately with them. There are two other churches in the township, one of which, Luther- an, is situated two miles southwest of the Cen- ter, and the other in the southeast part of the towuship. The latter belongs to the Uuited Brethren, and is kuown as Mount Zwingli Church. Both of these churches have ceme- teries attached.

The first mercantile establishment was started at the Center in 1833. It was situated on the southeast corner of the publie square. It was soon bought out by W. Woolley, and sold by him to Jehial Jaquith. Amos Ritter, from Pennsylvania, started a store on the present site of the Universalist Church, in 1836. He formed a partnership with Isaac and Israel Beach, but the firm soon broke up, and Ritter removed to Brunswick. The next store opencd was by the firm of Patchen & Bentley, which was of short continuance. Allen Howes then

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entered on a mercantile career, and was, per- haps, the most successful trader that ever oper- ated in town. He ran an ashery, operated by Jacob Fulmer, had an interest in the harness shop, dealt iu lumber and building, and did more than any other man in town, to enliven business generally. He was the subject of very serious domestic difficulties, brought about by the inconstancy of his first wife, who finally left him. He afterward married Miss Abby Warner, and removed to Chicago, to en- gage in trade. He has been succeeded in the mereantile line in Sharon, by a long line of merchants, among whom may be mentioned Farr, Chandler, Phinney, Chatfield, Rudesill, Barron and many others.

The first mechanical business started in Sharon was a tanuery, by James Hall, just south of the Center, iu 1831. He worked a year, and left, and was succeeded by John H. Rice, who started a taunery on the present site of Bowes' mill, in 1835. He did considerable business at tanning, and also, at one time, car- rying on the business of shoemaking, Col. Bar- ron working for him in that capacity. Mr. Rice removed to Wisconsin in 1857, in which State his son, Dr. Rice, had achieved distinc- tion as a doctor and politician.

In 1835, James Hazen had a blacksmith-shop at Troy Corners. His shop was built of hick- ory logs, and, although it had a door, the logs were so far apart that all of the smaller ani- mals were permitted to enter, children included. He was one of the best workmen of that time. Thomas Bender was the blacksmith at the Cen- ter in 1846. His insane wife for a long time was the terror of the older people, but a great fa- vorite with the children. They emigrated to Iowa.

Among the early carpenters and joiners were John Burge (also botanical physician), Isaac Beach, Thomas King, Barton Green and Will- iam Chapman. Some of their wooden monu- ments are still standing, in the form of the old

academy building, now a wagon-shop ; the old hotel, so loug the residence of Mrs. Gibbs ; and a few other buildings throughout the township. All of the above are passed away. Mr. Green died in Cleveland, and King in Washington County, Wis.

Until 1833, the people in the south part of town received their mail at Wadsworth Post Office, and those north of the Center, at Gran- ger. In July of that year, a route was estab- lished between those points for a weekly mail. This was done on condition that the mail should be carried for what the Sharon Center office would bring in. C. McFarlin took the job for 45 cents per trip-a distance of eighteen miles. The office did not pay the first quarter, but did afterward. Luther Fitch, who enjoyed the two apparently coutradictory titles of Colouel and Deacon, was appointed the first Postmaster, in 1833.

Horace Gibbs was Sharon's first cabinet- maker. He made chairs, tables and coffins- the latter at "$1 a foot." He had a turning- lathe, ou a spring brook, near the residence of Valentine Waltman, where he got out his round stuff. He afterward located his shop at the Center. He was elected Justice of the Peace, which office he held for many years. He mar- ried a daughter of John McGregor; moved from Sharon to Medina, where he kept a grocery for a year or two, then moved to Michigan. He afterward went to Kansas, where he died in 1874.

A. B. Root came to Sharon and started a harness-shop in 1842. He has worked contin- uously at this business over sinee. For many years, Mr. Root devoted the evenings to teach- ing vocal music in the different parts of Sharon and neighboring townships. He was the pio- neer organist for the churches, and owned the first instrument of that kind ever brought to town. He has raised a family of eight chil- dren, no death having occurred in the family except that of Mrs. Root, in 1872. He came to Ohio from Malone, Franklin Co., N. Y.

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HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

The first hotel in Sharon was ereeted by Milo and Horace Gibbs, in 1835, and kept by them until 1845.

Oliver Ingham eame to Sharon in 1834, and put up a shop in which to build fanning-mills. He, together with his father, Judge Oliver Ing- ham, lived in a dwelling that now forms a part of the Sharon Hotel. Judge Ingham resided in Sharon until 1852, when he went to Mont- ville to pass the remainder of his days with his son, who had preceded him to that township. He died in 1869, aged eighty-five years. He represented his native district in Vermont, in her legislative halls, for a number of years. He was of the old-sehool politieians ; believed in the infallibility of the Demoeratie party, and heartily hated the Abolitionists.

There have been erected nine water, saw and grist mills in the township. The first was by J. A. Davis, on Lot 26. This was continued in operation twelve years. The next mill was built by Col. Fiteh, near the present residence of William Hopkins, in 1836. The Colonel soon tired of milling, owing to the trouble of keeping his dam in order, and sold out to My- ron C. Hills. The mill afterward passed sue- eessively into the possession of Joseph Brittain and William Hopkins. The third was built by Millard Wadsworth, on the south branch of Wolf Creek, but did not do mueh business, and soon left town. He had a log house on the present site of the cemetery. Edward Chand- ler built a mill on the creek, one mile south of the Center, in 1837. He refused to saw for the usual priee, viz., half the lumber, but only for eash, $2.50 to $3 per thousand. The fifth mill was ereeted on Lot No. 67. The sixth, on the falls, near the residence of Philip Young. Another mill was erected at Spruee Run, about 1850, and one on the East Branch of Wolf Creek, in 1833, by Thomas Smith. Jacob Wade built a grist-mill in 1832, on Spruce Run, two miles east of the center, with an 18-foot over- shot wheel. He soon sold out to David Andrews,

who ran it for many years. It is still in opera- tion, with steam water and power, as a grist and saw mill. The first steam-mill in town was ereeted in 1839, by Joseph and Andrew Brown, who afterward sold it to W. Woolley. The next steam-mill was built by Riehard Warner in 1852. Other steam-mills have been put up by D. Grill and the Bowes Brothers. The reason of so many mills having been erected in Sharon is from the fact of its exeellent early water- power, and its having contained within its bor- ders at least 10,000 aeres of sawing timber. Probably half of this timber was destroyed by fire simply to get rid of it. Some of the old settlers bewail the labor they onee underwent to burn up immense black walnut trees, which now would be worth more than the present valne of their farms. However mueh eredit they were entitled to for clearing up the land, the reflection eomes that they rather overdid the matter.

A distillery was started in September, 1830, on a small scale, in the east part of town, by Samuel Arnold. His grinding was done at Wellhouse's mill, in Copley, and in Wadsworth.

The early settlers had very indifferent farm- ing tools. The " bull plow " was made from a twisting beeeh or oak stiek for a mold-board, with strips of band-iron to keep it from wearing. The handle was straight, and terminated with an inserted pin or a eow's horn. A rough triangu- lar drag, furnished with nine one-and-a-half- ineh-square iron teeth, was used. Corn-plant- ing was done by striking the eorner of the hoe, or sometimes an old ax, in between the roots of the trees and dropping the seed into the in- cision. After the eorn was up, the cultivation consisted of haeking up the fire-weeds with a hoe.

The Cleveland road, running north and south through the township, a mile east of the Cen- ter, was eut through in 1829. This work was enlivened by quite a number of adventures with bears, a large one being killed with an ax,

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HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

by some of the Wadsworth company, on the present site of the residence of George A. Shook. The north-and-south center road was eut through, and partially cleared, from 1829 to 1832. The east-and-west center road was chopped through west of the Center in 1832, but was found to be impassable on aceount of swamps, and the old style of log-and-rail roads had to be resorted to. The bridges were made by using the largest logs for abutments, with stringers long enough to span the ehasm, cov- ered with poles or puncheons.

In 1834, Jehiel Squire, John Nesmith, Sr., Leavitt Weeks and William Eyles laid out the road running from the Center east. They eom- meneed to angle just east of the Center, on ac- count of natural obstructions on the center line, and formed a junction with the Copley west- eenter road one and a half miles west of Cop- ley Center. The survey was continued to that place, the distance being found to be five miles and thirty-nine rods. The other roads were laid out later, as the needs of the settlers re- quired.

The winter of 1832-33 was very severe, snow remaining on the ground until the last of March. Great numbers of wild hogs perished in the rocks. Some two hundred were counted in two places. These animals, about the year 1829, were the most dangerous enemy the early settler had to contend with, and many stories of personal encounter arc related. John Cler- mont, working for Amos Ritter, was treed near where Charles Wall now lives. He was sur- rounded by scores of these ferocious beasts, and had to remain on his perch nearly half a day. He had a gun, but the hogs were too numerous to destroy, or be driven away, by shooting. Mr. Andrews, the elder, while hunting near Spruee Run, was driven into a tree-top to save himself from wild hogs. The great hunter of Sharon was William Douglas. He came to the township in 1830, with the Joneses, from Sugar Creek, Stark Co., and the stories of his exploits in

hunting bears, deer and bees, have been favor- ite themes in the township ever since. Half the farms in this region have been scenes of his encounters with wild animals, or of thrilling adventures in climbing large trees for bees and honey. He was the acknowledged champion in all athletic games, especially jumping, even after he had become an old man. He reared a large family, and, in 1850, moved to Wood County. His last visit to Sharon was in the spring of 1880, when he related the following story : After he was seventy-five years old, he climbed a bee-tree in Wood County, and, at the height of sixty-five feet, stood on a limb to eut it off. He lost his balanee in this operation, and, to save himself from falling, had to jump for the top of a neighboring elm-tree, which he reached in safety. He used to wonder who would raise bread for the next " generation," as mankind were getting "wiser and weaker ;" but that was before the age of reaping machines.

Some remains of the Mound Builders are found on Lot 47. One, quite prominent, was evidently a receptacle for the dead, long prior to the Indians that were here when the conti- nent was discovered by white men.

On Lot 32, is a gorge in the rocks, through which Spruce Creek runs. The west side is sixty-five feet in height. About sixty feet below the gorge, on the right bank, is "Table Rock." This has been detached from the main rock, and is 40x60 feet in area, and thirty feet thick. It is reached by means of a rude bridge, and has always been a favorite resort for pic- nic and pleasure parties.

The township has afforded a great quantity of bog orc. It is in great abundance on Lots 75 and 76. Coal has been mined to a consid- erable extent in this township, although the main fields extend beyond the township lines, southeast, into Norton and Wadsworth. The nearest coal to Cleveland, geographically, is in Sharon.

There is an inexhaustible bed of mineral

HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

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paint in the south part of the township, on Lots 65 and 71. Its value as a paint was first dis- covered by William Blake, in 1844, sinee which time hundreds of tons have been shipped to the seaboard. Mr. Blake realized a large for- tunc in this article.

The only seeret societics ever organized in the township were the Sons of Temperanee, in 1847, and the Good Templars, in 1853.

Col. Norman Curtis eame from Wadsworth, and settled in Sharon in 1833. He oeeupied a farm adjoining the Center on the south, and was one of the most influential and respected men of the township. He was Clerk of the township for many years, and a leader in all cdueational and moral movements. His son, Loyal Curtis, died while serving as Warden of the insane asylum at Columbus, and George Curtis, another son, a prominent druggist of Janesville, Wis., died a few years ago in the latter city. The Colonel left Sharon in 1858, for Roekford, Ill., where he still lives (1880), at the advanced age of eighty-eight years.

Mrs. Caroline Gibbs was a prominent person- age in the settlement of Sharon. She eame from Vermont in 1833, with her husband, Milo Gibbs. In consequence of some domestic trouble, he left her, and she earried on the bat- tlc of life alone ; she was a leader in all mat- ters of a political or publie nature, and did her full share in developing the township; she personally helped to clear off the publie square ; doffing the dress of the parlor and putting on garments suited to the work, she grappled with the logs and stumps of the new clearing ; she was a great reader and well versed in his- tory and polities ; she was a Demoerat in her proelivities ; she removed to Michigan in 1873, and died there in June, 1880, aged ninety-eight years. Her native State was Connectieut.

The north mile-and-a-quarter road was set- tled by English people who came from York- shire, England, in 1832 and 1833. Their names were William Woodward and son John, John and

Metealf Bell, William Waters, George Cotting- ham and Brunskell, and James Pratt. Coming from a mining country, they were unaceustomed to farming, but soon adapted themselves to the necessities of their surroundings. Hard work was the lot for thirty years, of all, cxeept two, who were killed by falling timber. They left fine farms and a goodly uumber of children.

Jacob and Adam Kuder eame from Lancas- ter County, Penn., in 1834, and bought farms on Lots 23 and 14. They were men celebrated for fair dealing, and did much in the settlement of the township.

Among the earliest settlers on the Cleveland road was a family of four brothers, Wilson, John, Joseph and - Lytle. They came from Huntington, Luzerne Co., Penn. Of the four, but one, Wilson Lytle, long survived. He eleared up a farm, and reared a family of sixteen ehil- dren, a large part of whom are yet residents of Sharon. He died in 1873.

James Reed eame to Medina County in 1819 ; settled in Sharon in 1831, on the farm more lately owned by the late R. W. Mills. He also reared a large family of children, some of whom are still resident here. Mr. Reed is yet living.

Capt. Barnabas Crane eame to Sharon in 1833. His children consisted of five sons and three daughters. He bought land on the North Center road that had been settled by the Smith brothers. Four of his sons took farms along that road. Their names were Barnabas, Jr., Joseph, George W. and William A. These men have been among the most influential eitizens of Sharon. None are now living except George W. Cranc. The fate of Joseph Crane and his wife, who were both drowned in Skaneateles Lake, N. Y., at the same time, marked the most tragieal and painful ineident in the history of the township. William A. Cranc removed to Minnesota, where he died. Capt. Crane died in 1856, aged eighty-three years.

Jehiel Squire, the oldest person now liv- ing in Sharon, was born in Litchfield, Conn.,

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HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

May 1, 1793. When a young man, he re- moved to New Jersey, remaining there fonr years. He eame to Ohio in 1820; moved into Wadsworth in 1827, where he taught sehool and worked at farming until he came to Sharon in 1832. He took an aetive part in the devel- opment of this township, assisting in the snr- veys, laying ont roads, building sehoolhonses and ehurehes, and was one of the originators of the Sharon Library and Academy. He moved to Akron in 1842, and returned in 1867.

Samuel Hayden, a trne pioneer, was from Litehfield, and his wife from Sharon, Conn. They came to Canfield, Ohio, in 1801, where they were married in 1802. During the war of 1812, they moved to Springfield, Summit Co., and baek again to Canfield. From there they eame to Wadsworth in 1816, being among the earliest settlers of that township. They eame to Sharon in 1830, and bonght 200 aeres of land one mile sonth of the Center, for $3.25 per aere.

He sold it four years afterward for $10 per aere, and purchased the land now owned by his son Hiram Hayden. His family consisted of his wife and seven ehildren, three of whom are yet living in Sharon.

Among the other pioneers and early settlers to whom Sharon is indebted for much of her prosperity and development as a township, may be mentioned the names of Chatfield, father and sons, Edward and M. A. Chandler, Peter and Riehard Amerman, S. W. Beeeh, Cyrus E. Freneh, David Dyer, E. B. Bentley, David Loutzenhizer, Jaeob Fnlmer, Daniel and Abiel Briggs, Charles and Isaae Wall, Joshna Hart- man, Samnel Carr, John Turner and sons, and many others. They eame into a wilderness to make for themselves homes, and by hard work and deprivations they sneeeeded. And what a glorious heritage they have left for sueeeeding generations ! Truly, " they bnilded better than they knew."

CHAPTER XXII .*

GRANGER TOWNSHIP-ITS CONFIGURATION-A LAND PURCHASE-HUNTING ADVENTURES-THE "BABES IN THE WOODS"-THE REMSON TRACT-CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS.

G Y RANGER is one of the first settled town- ships in Medina County. Its territory, for several years previons to the first permanent set- tlements that were made in this region, formed part of the "stamping" ground of adventurous hunters who roamed through Northern Ohio in the beginning of the century. Several squat- ters located in Granger Township prior to the year 1815, but they did not remain long, and their names have eseaped the memory of the people who eame into this country soon after.

Under the Land Company's survey, Granger was set apart as Township 3, Range 13. For several years, it was attached to Bath Town- ship, which now belongs to Summit County, *Contributed by Charles Neil.

until it became a distinet and separate eivil or- ganization in 1820. In natural beauty, Gran- ger surpasses any of its sister townships by the variety of its surface. At the spring seasons of the year, the seenie effeets of the hills and mountain knolls in the eastern part of the town- ship are exeeedingly attraetive and pleasant to the eye. Several of the knolls attain an eleva- tion of over a hundred feet. On one of the elevations, a half-mile east of Grangerburg, formerly stood an aneient fort. It is now al- most entirely obliterated, and only an indis- tinct remnant of the original fortification. It onee consisted of a eireular treneh, with em- bankment, and was perhaps ten rods aeross, the northern extremity being now cut off by

Hael Hall

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HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

a public road. A perpetual spring fed a small stream which flowed along the base of the wall. The origin of the fort is entirely shrouded in mystery, and there is nothing to indicate who were its builders and for what purpose it served. It was probably constructed by some aborigi- nal tribes, as its location and construction do not contain the military advantages that are sought after in modern warfare.

The conglomerate underlies nearly all of the township, as it lies in the easterly range of Medina County. There are several abrupt ledges in the central part of the township, and several quarries have been opened in these parts. Along the western line of the township, on the farm of Hoel Hatch, is a layer of sand rock, which comes near the surface, and is doubtless referable to the upper layers of Cuy- ahoga shale.

The surface of the township is divided by a stretch of marsh or swamp land, extending from east to northwest for about five miles, varying in width from fifty rods to three- quarters of a mile. Its composition is mostly what is known as "muck " and peat. The waters of several springs gather into these low lands. An artificial ditch extends for some length through the " swamp," and the surplus water is carried into the little stream known as Remson's Brook, which courses through the northwest corner of the township and empties into Rocky River, near Weymouth, in Medina Township. A complete, oval-shaped mound, measuring over three hundred feet in circum- ference and attaining a height of over fifteen feet, is found near the center of a meadow on the farm of Franklin Sylvester, one mile north of Grangerburg. The owner has put a solid stone wall in its sides, and inclosed the ele- vated surface with an iron fence, and set the mound apart as a family burial ground. A shaft of blue Quincy granite, twenty feet in height, stands in the center of this remarkable elevation of ground. The knoll was probably

thrown up by a tribe of Indians, for burial purposes, according to their custom, at some remote day. The geographical boundaries of Granger Township are marked on the east by Summit County, on the south by Sharon, on the west by Medina, and on the north by Hinck- ley Townships. Its area, like that of all the townships of Medina County, embraces twenty- five square miles.

William Coggswell and his uncle, Gibson Gates, were perhaps the first white men who trod upon the soil of Granger Township. The former has become famous in the pioneer his- tory of Medina County ; and, in these early years, he, being then quite a young man, was known as one of the most intrepid and suecess- ful hunters in all the regions about. The two hunters, who were then living in Bath, put up a little cabin on a spot known as Porter's Pinnacle, in the eastern part of Granger, in the winter of 1810, and, in their hunting excursions through the regions west, would stop here for days at a time. From the memoirs prepared by Mr. William Coggswell, who died in Granger on the 28th of February, 1872, we take the fol- lowing sketches relating to the early settle- ments. The first is a history of his aneestors :

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History of Medina county and Ohio, Part 94

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