USA > Ohio > Portage County > History of Portage County, Ohio > Part 58
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Early in 1803 Salmon Ward returned to New York and brought back with him his elder brother, Josiah Ward, wife and six children. They came in an open boat up the lake, and suffered greatly from cold and many privations. During the summer Jehial Savage and Timothy Culver came in from Atwater, where ther at first located. Savage was from Connecticut, and settled on the northwest cor- ner of Lot 57. He had a wife and five children. Culver soon after locating went to Canada and brought out his brother Daniel. In the fall of the same year our old friend, Salmon Ward, for the third time made the trip to New York, and brought back Aaron Weston, Levi Davis and two men named Carey and Smith, the latter two coming to trade with the Indians. They only remained through the following winter.
In the spring of 1804 Salmon Ward started for the fourth time to New York, but was never afterward heard from. It is supposed that he was either drowned in the lake, having no papers about him to show his identity, or was murdered. June 13, of the same year, Ebenezer Goss left Plymouth, Conn., and came by way of Pittsburgh to Mahoning County, arriving at Canfield July 29, having been forty- six days on the road. From there he went to Atwater, and in November came to. Randolph. He brought a wife and four children, and when he arrived had only $1 in money. In December Eliakim Merriman, from Wallingford, Conn., came in. He originally, in 1802, settled in Atwater, removing afterward to Suffield and thence to Randolph.
July 17, 1805, Oliver Dickinson came into the township with his family and purchased the improvements made by Timothy Culver. Mr. Dickinson came from East Granville, Mass., and was one of the most useful of the early set- tlers. . He was a blacksmith by trade and worked at first in the shop of Ebenezer Goss, who had set up business shortly after coming. There were now six families in the township, but a number of unmarried men were also here. During this year Isaac Merriman, from Connecticut, Archibald Coon, from Pennsylvania, and Abisha Chapman, son-in-law of Ebenezer Goss, came in. Coon, however, soon moved away, but he left his name in Coon Hill. Chapman, also, afterward moved away. October 23, John Goss, from Connecticut, arrived with his family, and about the same time Jeremiah Sabin and his son, Abel Sabin, from Poughkeepsie, N. Y., located in the township.
In 1806 Hiram Raymond and Thomas Miller, from Connecticut, William Thornton, from Pennsylvania, and Daniel Cross, from Vermont, came in. Ray- mond was a tailor, and many anecdotes are told of him and a fellow whom the settlers called " Bag " Jones, from the fact that he had stolen a bag. Miller became a Baptist preacher and Thornton went into the war of 1812, contracted disease and died from its effects. Also, came this year, Nathan Sears and his son, Elisha, and Rev. Henry Ely, all from Connecticut, and at the same time a queer character, Nathan Muzzy, from Worcester, Mass., of whom more will be found in the sketches on Shalersville and Rootstown.
In 1807 Deacon Stephen Butler and Caleb Wetmore moved in from Connecti- cut, but in a few years left and settled in Stowe Township. Nehemiah Bacon and his son-in-law, Ethelbert Baker, with their families came in from Palmyra. Dr.
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Rufus Belding, from Cattaraugus County, N. Y., arrived with his family in this year, and remained till his death in 1854. For nearly thirty years he was the only physician in the township and had a very lucrative practice. From this year till the war of 1812, many settlers came in, among whom may be mentioned Nathaniel Bancroft in 1810, and Sylvester Tinker and Deacon James Coe in 1811. The latter was a prominent and useful man in his church, and in the affairs of his township and county. After the war a sort of boom struck Randolph and the country rapidly filled up. Some of the best citizens of the county came in at that time, and their descendants are among the leading people in its affairs to-day.
The first death in the township was that of a man, name unknown, an assist- ant to the surveyors, Atwater and Shephard, who died in July, 1797. It is said that he imbibed rather too strongly of "tangle foot " whisky, and that, together with the heat, killed him. He died on the southern line of the township and was there buried. Mrs. Clarissa Ward, wife of Josiah Ward, was the second per- son, and the first inhabitant to die. This was in February, 1804, and there being no lumber in Randolph, suitable boards for a coffin had to be procured in Ravenna, from Robert Easton.
The first white child born in the town'ship was Sophronia, a daughter of Arad Upson, in the spring of 1803. The second birth was Amanda, a daughter of Tim- othy Culver, in the spring of 1806. The first white male child born in the town- ship was Elisaph R., son of Eliakim Merriman, April 23, 1807.
The first marriage was that of Bela Hubbard, the first settler, with Clarissa Ward. This happened in April, 1806. Mrs. Hubbard used to tell her husband that he had to marry her, or none, as no other girl in the township would have him, simply because there was no other girl there at the time. They were first married by a minister, but to make the knot sure, were remarried by a Justice. The second wedding took place June 16, 1806, and the parties thereto were Eli- akim Merriman and Hannah Bassett.
In the spring of 1804 Timothy Culver took out a license to keep tavern, and keeping tavern in those days meant selling whisky. The Indians were large consum- ers of the stuff. Ebenezer Goss started and carried on the first blacksmith shop in 1804: Eliakim Merriman opened a cooper shop in the latter part of 1804, and ran it for fifty years. A barrel that he made in 1815 was still in use a few years ago. In 1805 the first mill was constructed. It consisted of a hollowed stump and a pestle six feet long attached to a pole, nature's winnowing machine, the wind, being used to clean the flour of the chaff. Hiram Raymond was about the first tailor, and Thomas Miller the first shoc-maker, to settle in the township. Raymond invented the first washing machine that was used in Randolph. It was a pole suspended in a stream of water, creek or branch, upon the end of which pole the clothes were fastened and washed as the sailors at sea wash their clothing,
by the action of the water. Calvin Ward and Timothy Culver in the year 1808 erected. the first distillery. Whisky at this time was worth, or rather sold at, $1 per gallon, and it therefore was profitable to use the grain in that way instead of selling it at the low price it would bring. A grist-mill and saw-mill were also built this year, a great accommodation to the settlers, and they did a fine business. Josiah Ward was the proprietor, and the mills stood where Hines' mill was afterward built. Nathan Sears had commenced a mill on the same spot, but had to abandon it, as that portion of the township was not yet on sale. Josiah Ward also erected the first cider-mill in 1809. It was a very rude affair, being simply a trough in which was a block of wood with short poles or handspikes attached. The apples were placed in the trough, and the block pressed down upon the fruit. The cider brought more per gallon in Cleveland at that time than whisky. In 1811 Sylvester Tinker put up a tannery west of the Center. He also started a tavern at the same place, to which he added a stock of goods. These various businesses of Tinker, together with his general usefulness to the early settlers,
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made his death, which occurred in 1818, very much lamented. In 1817 Samuel and Hiram Webster erected a cloth-dressing establishment, on the creek west of the Center, but in a few years it was destroyed by fire.
In the summer of 1803 the first crop of wheat was raised by Bela Hubbard on the northwest corner of Lot 57. He obtained his seed-wheat at Little Beaver, Penn., and he went ten miles to borrow a plow which he brought home on his back. But he was well repaid, as four acres of this new land among the stumps turned him out 100 bushel. He lost a valuable horse by it, however, as the animal got access to one of the barrels in which the wheat was placed, and ate so much that he died. Milling at this time was not a very " numerous " business, and the set- tlers had to take their wheat to Chrisman's mill, on the Ohio, a trip occupying about seven days. A bachelor's club was formed about this time, the members of which were Hubbard, Harris, Weston. Davis and Calvin Ward. Sally Bacon kept house for them. There were now fifteen able-bodied men in the township, so they formed a military company with Bela Hubbard, Captain ; Ariel Bradley, Lieutenant ; and Aaron Weston, Ensign. In 1805 the first sheep were owned in the township. The wife of Josiah Ward bought nine with money she had brought from Connecticut. This year Hubbard and Harris raised about 1,500 bushels of corn, about a mile west of the Center. In 1806 three orchards were set out, one by Oliver Dickinson, one by Bela Hubbard, and one by Josiah Ward. Dr. Rufus Belding was the first physician ; he came with his family in 1807. In 1808 the first frame building was erected by Oliver Dickinson. A portion of the timbers are now in the barn of W. J. Dodge. In 1820 the first postoffice was established, with a weekly mail to and from, and Oliver Dickinson was appointed Postmaster.
The petition to set off Randolph as a township was considered by the Com- missioners December 3, 1810, and authority granted to organize the towns of Suffield and Randolph under the latter name in honor of the son of Mr. Storrs.
The following is the record of the first business of the new township :
Be it remembered that on the 12th day of January, A. D. 1811, the electors of Ran- dolph Township assembled agreeable to public notice for the purpose of electing township officers. John Goss was chosen Chairman of said meeting, and Rufus Belding and Reuben Upson, Judges; Jonathan Foster, Clerk; Abel Sabin, Clerk, pro tem.
The following are the names of the persons elected : Samuel Hale, Reuben Upson and Rufus Belding, Trustees ; Nehemiah Bacon and Raphael Hurlburt, Overseers of the Poor ; Joshua Hollister and Abel Sabin, Fence Viewers ; Thomas Hale, Appraiser, and Timothy Culver, Lister of Taxable Property ; Arad Upson, Constable ; Martin Kent, Ezekiel Tupper, Ebenezer Cutler, E. Merriman, A. Upson, Supervisors. Moses Adams, Thomas Hale, John Goss, E. Cutler, John Sabin, Bradford Waldo, E. Merriman, T. Culver, J. Hollister, Ephraim Sabin, A. Upson, Schoby Outcalt, David Ticknor were returned as jurors. At the same time Jonathan Foster was elected Justice, but did not receive his commission until October 10. Every person taking part in the election has been dead several years. The last one, Ephraim Sabin, died in 1870. Suffield was set off from Randolph in 1818.
The main business of the township was transacted at an early day at the set- tlement of Gen. Campbell, Campbellsport, Ravenna Village not yet being laid off, and Akron unknown for twenty years afterward. The road from Randolph Cen- ter to Campbellsport ran from the creek west of the Center to a point on the line between Rootstown and Edinburg, then northward. There was a horse-path to Canton and a trail to Atwater. There was not a bridge in the whole of what is now Portage County.
The " Hubbard squash " so noted not only in the West but eastern sections of the country, is said to have originated in the Hubbard family of this township. Bela Hubbard produced from some seeds obtained in the southern part of the State this most desirable variety of winter squash. In 1805 land was worth $2.50 per acre in the northern part of the township.
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RANDOLPH TOWNSHIP.
In 1818 an epidemic prevailed in the form of a fever, and the mortality was so great that the township obtained a very bad name-" the sickly township "- which retarded immigration many years.
When the war of 1812 broke out there were forty-four males in the township over twenty-one years of age. Four of Randolph's boys were in the service- David James, Samuel Redfield, William Thornton and Elisha Ward. Bela Hub- bard, who had removed to New York, was Captain of a company of men who were exempt from service by age, but they went in nevertheless. They were called " Silver Grays," and went out three times to protect the lake shore. Hubbard had six teams, also, in the service.
The township sent 180 soldiers to the defense of the Union, and thirty of that number died or were killed in the service.
Randolph was a station on the " Underground Railroad." In October, 1846, Gen. William Steadman, late U. S. Consul to Santiago de Cuba, made a visit to Gran- ville, Licking Co, Ohio. There he overtook John and Harriet, two colored fugi- tives, who, having bid defiance to their bonds, were cautiously threading their way to Canada. The General assisted them in getting to Randolph, a flag-station on the "Underground Railroad," Mead & Brainerd, who were carrying on steam flour- ing and saw-mills one and one-half miles southeast from the Center, in a secluded locality, employing these runaways, who were subsequently claimed to be the prop- erty of one Mitchell, in Western Virginia. The alleged owner, receiving informa- tion of their whereabouts, sought to recover his property. On a rainy Saturday evening early in May, 1847, two men with teams and heavy wagons drove up. to the Randolph Hotel and engaged lodgings. Soon after were seen ten Ohio River boatmen in sailor dress and two gentlemanly looking young men making their way east on the steam-mill road. The news of their approach was quickly con- veyed to Mead & Brainerd, who at once secreted the fugitives in the attic of Mead's house. to which the kidnappers soon arrived. With axes in hand Messrs. Mead and Brainerd kept the party at bay during a parley, until the citizens came in large numbers from all directions, surrounded the rescuing party and conducted them back to the hotel, where they were guarded till early morn, when they were escorted by the Randolph citizens to Deerfield, thence by two trusty spies across the Ohio River. The fugitives remained secreted, and a week later a long-to-be-remem- bered wedding took place, attended by scores of the best citizens of Randolph. After being made one these fugitives were taken to Painesville and subsequently landed. The two gentlemanly young men mentioned in the kidnapping party, proved to be the sons of the claimant. They returned home from their fruitless journey more than ever disgusted with Ohio abolitionists, and with exaggerated ideas of the vigilance and military skill of the citizens of the quiet town of Randolph.
The following history of the Congregational, Methodist and Baptist Churches is summarized from Walter S. Dickinson's reminiscences of early days in Randolph : " Before the arrival of Rev. Henry Ely no religious meetings had been held. In 1806 meetings were held at the house of Oliver Dickinson. In 1807 Rev. Ely removed to Stowe, and meetings of a religious nature were discontinued in this part of the town. The families of Nathan Sears, who were Methodists, and Oliver Dickinson, who were Congregationalists, were all that were connected with a church until the arrival of the Bacon's, E. Cutler and E. Baker in the southwest part of the township. Soon afterward there was considerable religious excite- ment in that neighborhood, and a Methodist class was formed. It was broken up by the removal of these families from town, and no record remains, so far as is known, of this organization. At the organization of the Congregational Church in Rootstown, Oliver Dickinson and wife joined by letter from the church in East Granville, Mass. Sylvester Tinker, although not a member of any church, was pained by the absence of the religious privileges of the East, and seeing the effect
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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
of such a condition of affairs, said to himself, 'I cannot bear it,' and appointed a religious meeting in the old log-schoolhouse which was near the Little Cuyahoga River. It was well attended. Mr. Tinker opened the meeting, led in the singing, led in prayer and read a sermon. The meeting was so successful that another was appointed. In 1811 there was a revival and a number of conversions, and finally a church was organized. At one time, when holding a meeting in the house of Oliver Dickinson, the room being crowded, the floor gave way, scaring a good many and injuring, slightly, but few. The Congregational Church was organized July 5, 1812. The meeting was held at the house of Oliver Dickinson in the forenoon and in the barn in the afternoon. Rev. John Seward officiated. The following persons were members of the church at the organization : Deacon James Coe, Oliver Dickinson and wife, Richard Rogers and wife, Mrs. Eunice Culver, Mrs. Alvira Dickinson, Sylvester Tinker, Walter Dickinson, Jesse Dick- inson, Miss Betsy Stow and Mrs. Statira Bancroft. In November Mrs. Louisa Dickinson, Mrs. Charity Bancroft and O. C. Dickinson united with the church, making a membership of fifteen at the close of the year. There were no more additions to the church until 1818, when Deacon Festus Spellman and wife, Mrs. Roxy Dickinson and William Jones united with it. The death of Mr. Tinker and Deacon Spellman was a severe blow to this weak church, which within eighteen days lost three of its members, two of them being its active workers. For a time Rev. Caleb Pitkin, of Charlestown, preached for the church once in four weeks. After the completion of the frame schoolhouse at the Center meetings were held in it. In 1814 a Methodist class was formed by Rev. Ira Eddy, of persons living in the southeast part of Rootstown and the north part of this township. They met on week days, when supplied by circuit preachers, at private dwelling-houses. Nathan Sears and wife, Samuel Redfield and wife, Grandison Ferris and wife and Mrs. Nancy Coe, wife of Deacon James Coe, were the members of the class that lived in this township.
In 1819 the Baptist Church was organized with twelve members. Deacon William Churchill and wife, Deacon Calvin Rawson and wife, Eben Smith and wife, Mrs. Josiah Ward and Philo Beach were the only members living in this township at the time of the organization. Whenever any one of the religious societies held a meeting at the schoolhouse it was attended by the members of the other religious denominations as well as by its own members. If no minister was there, some one read a sermon. In consequence of a revival in December, 1821, there was an addition to the Congregational Church of eleven members ; four by letter and seven by profession. One who then joined by profession (Alpheus Dickinson) is still a member. Soon after the revival a Sabbath-school was organ- ized by members of the Congregational and Baptist Churches. Deacon Churchill and O. C. Dickinson were active workers in its organization."
In 1832 the Congregationalists erected a church, and the year following the Methodists built their first house of worship.
The Disciples Church was organized in 1828 out of the Methodist, Baptist and Congregational societies, and in 1860 erected a house of worship. Their new church at Randolph Center was erected in 1884 and completed in the spring of 1885. This is a neat edifice among the neat homes of this pretty village.
The German Reformed Church was founded in the township at an early day, and in 1857 the members of this society erected a house of worship.
St. Joseph's Catholic Church of Randolph, founded in 1829 by the Germans, was regularly organized by Rev. Victor Housner in 1865, and a church building was erected the same year. Rev. Matthias Wertz was the first priest, in 1838, and took charge of the mission, its log church and parochial houses. Rev. B. A. Shorb succeeded. Bishop Henni was here as a priest from 1840 to 1844. John Nepo- muck was also here in 1841, then Rev. Father Hoffman in 1844. Dr. Joseph Sadoc, a Spaniard, came in 1850; he was afterward Archbishop of California.
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Rev. Jos. Cheney and Rev. McGlogan followed. Rev. Salasius Bruner came in August, 1844, then Father Howard pro tem., then Peter Anton Capedes. Rev. John Vanderbrock and Rev. John Witmer came in 1845. Jacob Ringley came in 1847. Rev. John Hackspill came in 1857 and remained until 1861, when Father Housner and Father Herbstrick came. Father Kahn came in 1869, and was suc- ceeded by Father Nicholas Kirch in March, 1875. The congregation numbers 900 souls, of whom 700 were communicants in 1884. This parish supports a large school of seventy children, and another school southeast of Randolph Center of twenty children. The value of property is $22,000.
In the summer of 1805 the members of the Bachelors' Club, some six or seven young men, built a schoolhouse, a small building of logs, with "puncheon floor, slab seats and greased paper windows," and engaged Miss Laura Ely as teacher. The house stood west of the bridge over the creek, on the north side of the road. As part pay for Miss Ely's services they made her a large rocking chair. This was the first school and schoolhouse in the township. In the winter of 1807- 08 a school was taught by Abel Sabin, from Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and in 1810 Dr. Belding and Samuel Redfield taught school during the winter season. In 1812-13 a frame schoolhouse was erected at the Center. The condition of the schools at present is given in the following statistical review :
Township Schools .- Revenue in 1884, $2,860 ; expenditures, $1,904 ; ten schoolhouses valued at $7,000 ; pay of teachers, $37 and $22 per month ; enroll- ment, 146 boys and 120 girls.
Randolph Special District .- Revenue in 1884, $2,677 ; expenditures, $2,266 ; one schoolhouse valued at $5,000 ; average pay of teachers, $24 and $55 ; enroll- ment, 54 boys and 70 girls.
Randolph Agricultural Society was reorganized September 21, 1871, with W. H. Bettes, H. D. Smalley, A. L. Breach, H. B. Fenton, Simon Perkins, Alvah Upson, W. Brockett, George Brockett, H. Morse, C. W. Barton, D. Dibble, Frank S. Myers, G. W. Bettes, Thomas Gorby and George Austin. The object was the encouragement of agriculture.
Randolph sustains a fair that would be a credit to the county. It is largely attended, and its exhibits are numerous and fine, very liberal premiums being offered for the best of everything raised on a farm, whilst its sporting events are looked forward to with much interest. The season of 1884 the twenty-second annual fair of the society was held, and the attendance was extremely large. The officers were : S. Perkins, President; A. Bancroft, Vice-President; Dr. G. O. Frazer Secretary ; W. Bettes, Treasurer ; J. C. Brainerd, Superintendent of Grounds ; C. Bettes, Superintendent of Buildings ; B. F. W. Price, Marshal ; J. Y. Johnson, Chief of Police.
The Randolph Mill Company's flouring and feed mills were founded about sixteen years ago. The present owners are Dr. Bettes, James Sabin and George Dodge. This is the same mill which was moved from Campbellsport, extended, new machinery added, and rendered of a capacity of fifty barrels per day and 16,000 bushels of chop-feed. The water-power is taken from Congress, seven miles distant. This, together with a thirty horse-power engine, insures a motive power at all times. Three turbine wheels, four run of buhrs, etc., form the machinery. This industry employs five men the year round. The Randolph cider-mills are carried on by Adelman O. Keller, just south of the Center. A saw-mill is operated by the same machinery. A planing-mill is owned by Bentley & Simmerson. Its location is near the saw-mill. A cheese factory east of the Center forms an important industry.
Randolph filled up rapidly after the war of 1812-14, the soil being very pro- ductive and finely adapted to wheat ; that on the west side of the Little Cuyahoga River, which flows into the township on the southern border and passes northwardly entirely across the county, being of a sandy nature, while that on the east of
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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
this stream is loamy and well adapted to grass ; on the west oak timber abounds, and on the east beech and maple.
The citizens of Randolph have always been noted for their progressive spirit, and have taken front rank in temperance, morality, education and religion. Origi- nally the population was almost exclusively from the New England States, but about 1850 a number of French and Germans came in, and they have so steadily increased that at the present time the population of the west half is largely for- eign, contrasting strongly with the eastern. Together, these two varieties make up the most populous spot in the county, with two exceptions.
The statistics of Randolph are as follows : Acres of wheat, 2,419, bushels, 41,466 ; of buckwheat, 3, bushels, 48; oats, 1,220, bushels, 49,069 ; barley, 7, bushels, 113; corn, 747, bushels, 19,082 ; meadow, 1,700, tons of hay, 2,529 ; clover, 638 ; tons of hay, 772 ; bushels of seed, 806 ; flax, 3 acres, bushels of seed, 3 ; potatoes, 191 acres, 21,647 bushels ; pounds of butter, 64,391 home- made, and 15,500 factory ; maple sugar, 1,347 pounds, and 4,563 gallons syrup from 19,471 trees ; 2,500 pounds honey from 102 hives ; 32,424 dozens of eggs ; 500 pounds of grapes and 20 gallons of wine from ¿ acre vineyard ; 21,014 bush- els of apples, 258 of peaches, 68 of pears and one of cherries from 552 acres of orchard; 13,041 pounds of wool; 731 milch cows; 1 stallion; 121 dogs ; died of disease, 21 hogs, 155 sheep, 25 cattle and 17 horses ; acres under cultivation, 10,407 ; in pasture, 2,645 ; woodland, 2,488 ; waste, 103; total, 15,643 acres. Population in 1850 was 1,736, including 845 youth ; in 1870, 1,564 ; in 1880, 1,684 ; in 1884 (estimated), 1,750.
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