USA > Ohio > Portage County > History of Portage County, Ohio > Part 60
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But, take another look in the same direction you were, when Dr. De Wolf rode off, and you will see two men lifting something from a rude wagon. One of the men is a farmer and he has just sold a couple of ox hides to the other. The buyer is a sturdy looking young man of about twenty-three years, whose sleeves are rolled up, and who has on a leather apron, for he is a tanner. He will have a son after a while, however, who will carry his name ringing down the ages, for it. is Jesse R. Grant, who had just gone into business with John F. Wells, on the now Gretzinger lots. A few years ago the vats of this old tannery were taken up, and a walking stick made from a portion of them now awaits the illustrious General at the home of E. P. Brainerd, in Ravenna. Jared Mason, who came from Beaver County, Penn., in 1810, started this tannery and did a lucrative business for three years, dying in 1813. In 1815 John F. Wells married the widow, and thus came into possession of the tannery. Mr. Mason put up the building now standing in the rear of the Mechanics' Block, which was for a long time the residence of Hon. Seth Day, while it stood on Main Street.
Take another look around you and you will see a blacksmith shop some little distance to the east, and a few cabins dotted here and there. These are all the buildings in sight, with the exception of one or two other residences on Main Street. Keep this picture in your mind's eye, and notice who now are in sight. There comes Amzi Atwater, one of the County Commissioners, just crossing over to Greer's Tavern, and there comes Owen Brown, the father of John Brown, of Harper's Ferry renown. Owen Brown is, also, one of the County. Commissioners, and there is going to be a meeting here to-day. Here he comes on his old bay horse along the road from Franklin, making for the hitching rack in front of Zenas Kent's store, in the doorway of which stands Capt, Heman Oviatt,
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RAVENNA TOWNSHIP.
who had furnished young Kent the means to start in business. Near the Court House stand Sheriff Asa K. Burroughs, Darius Lyman, Prosecuting Attorney, William Wetmore, County Treasurer, and Ira Hudson, Clerk. A little further off is another group, consisting of Rial McArthur, William Coolman, William Fra- zer, Orvill Crane and Calvin Pease. These groups are discussing some public measure, and, while they talk, cross over to Greer's Tavern. Capt. Delaun Mills has just dismounted from his horse, and, cane in hand, is shaking hands with Gen. Campbell, while Lewis Ely, John Diver and Capt. John T. Baldwin, with Artemus Ruggles, are discussing politics, but as they all think the same way there is not much disputation. Passing along the road, some toward the Court House and some toward the hat shop and stores, may be seen Capt. Joseph Eggleston, Elias Harmon, Alpheus Streator, Col. Benjamin Higley, Daniel Dawley and Christian Cackler, who has been married only a year or two, Bela Hubbard, Oliver Dickin- son, and-but what is all that noise about among the boys down Main Street, near the eastern edge of the village ? Why, a cow belonging to Ira Hudson, the late Clerk, has mired just opposite the frog-pond in the lot attached to the residence of Mrs. Skinner, on the corner of Main and Walnut Streets. The cow stumbled off the corduroy road just about where Mr. Mertz's beautiful front yard now is, and the boys, who were stoning the frogs in the pond, raised the alarm. It took nearly all the men in the village to get the poor brute safely out.
Ravenna was really growing into importance, for, in 1825, they had two mails per week from Pittsburgh, and two from Cleveland, and one each week from New Lisbon, Medina, Burton and Warren. James Belden came from Wellsville and took charge of the old tavern opposite the Court House, the one " Papa " Carter ran so long and so well, and named it the " Clinton Tavern." This was in May, 1825, and Belden improved the house very much. In this same month occurred one of the most terrific hail storms on record. On May 18, during the afternoon, a rain and wind storm blew up from the southwest, which shortly turned into hail, and such stones fell as never had been seen here before. One of the stones that fell in the village measured nine inches in diameter, according to the Western Cour- ier, published here at the time. Many windows were broken, dwellings, barns and orchards destroyed, and not a fence was left standing in the path of the cyclone ; for cyclone it evidently was, but they had not got to calling these visitations by that high sounding title, as yet. William Mclaughlin gave notice, May 21, that he had leased the carding works of Stoddard & Wadsworth, and was prepared for business. He also stated that children sent to his establishment with wool, should be " allowed to take their turn, and be treated like anybody else." It evidently had been the habit of the men to crowd out the little ones. Gen. La Fayette, who was in this country at the time, had been invited to Ravenna, and was expected to honor the county with his presence at a Fourth of July celebration at the Portage Summit, but he could not come-had a previous engagment for Bunker Hill and Boston.
The second day-book used by Oviatt & Kent, of Ravenna, was opened March 2, 1818, with the following entries :
Almon Babcock, To 37 lbs. iron, at 14c. $5 18
Alanson Eddy, To 7 dollars of New Philadelphia money.
Sam'l D. Harris, To { quire of paper, at 31c .. 153
A. Baldwin, To # 1b. tea, at $2.00, 50c .; 1 pipe, 3c .; and 2 nut- megs, 25c.
Giles Sutliff, To 1 1b. sugar, 18§c., and 1 pipe, 3c. 2 25
Almou Babcock, To 12 lbs. sugar.
Joseph Torrey, To 1 cake of soap, 12}c., and 1 sheet of sand paper, 61 .. 18៛
William Veon, To } 1b. ginger. 124
Nathaniel Austin, To } 1b. coffee, 22c .; 1 pipe, 3c .; snuff, 6c ...
Joshua Woodard, To 6 yds. shirting, $3; 2 skeins of thread, 12}c .. Joshua Woodard, To 1 pair shoes, $2.25, delivered to E. Baldwin .. Almon Babcock, To 1 qt. brandy. 1 25
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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
Hezekiah Hine, To 1 almanac. 06
Joseph Torrey, To 1 pt. of oil. 18៛
William Coleman, To 4 lbs. 15 oz. hops .. 2 46
Jacob Stough, To } 1b. tobacco, 18gc., and spirits turpentine, 25c. By credit, deerskin, 99c.
Giles Woodruff, To 1 thimble. 06}
A barn was raised in Ravenna for Lyman Hotchkiss, June 8, 1825, in three hours, and notice the dimensions : It was eighty-five feet long by forty-two feet broad, with ten bents, one of which was eighty-five feet long, the height of the building being in proportion. The ridge-pole of the barn was a solid and whole piece of timber, eighty-five feet long, a size unprecedented in the annals of barn raising up to that time. It still stands, one mile east of Ravenna, a little back from the road.
Another and still greater undertaking was the erection on June 23, 1825, of a building for Cyrus Prentiss and William Coolman, but let the editor of the West- ern Courier tell it in his way : " We witnessed such a scene on Thursday last. The frame, timbers, etc., of a very large brick building, belonging to Messrs. Prentiss and Coolman, were raised. The building is three stories high, eighty-six feet long and thirty-two feet in width. The timbers were very heavy, and in the morning lay scattered on the ground, but under the direction of the master-builder, Mr. Hills, the different pieces were collected, put in proper place, and now assist in forming by far the largest building in this place.
In 1825 Perry & Prentiss had a fine store for the times, where they kept every- thing " from a needle to a hay-stack "; so had Zenas Kent and Isaac Swift fine stores. Joseph Carroll made and sold fashionable boots and shoes a few doors east of the Court House, and Alonzo Bristol made and sold fashionable hats for men, but alas ! there was not a milliner in the village, and the ladies had to wear sun-bonnets, or their mother's " calashes," brought from New England. A beet was raised this year by Hon. Seth Day that measured two feet and one inch in length, twenty-four inches in circumference, and weighed nine pounds and eight ounces. Timothy Holcomb raised a potato that weighed four pounds, twelve ounces ; and William Forbes produced, or rather one of his hens did, an egg that weighed four ounces. About this time Thompsonianism, a peculiar school of medicine, made its appearance here, and the death of one or two patients being attributed to this system, the so-called " sweat doctors " were visited by all sorts of anathemas from the people. Robert Owen, the Scotch vagarist, who wanted to found one of his theoretical Elysiums near Ravenna, made his appearance, and collected a numerous following ; but when the "Auxiliary Owen Community " asked the Legislature for a charter, that practical old body " sat down " upon the project by refusing to grant it, and Owen went to pas- tures new-New Harmony, Ind., and set out his stakes. According to the pub- lished abstract of taxables, there was but one pleasure carriage in the county. The great comet of 1825 was visible here in November.
In January, 1826, H. A. Brewster opened a store in a room opposite the Court House, Perry & Prentiss removed to their new brick building on the public square, and M. Oviatt took the room vacated by Perry & Prentiss. Mark Wood- ruff, in February, took charge of the tavern that Belden had been owning, and called it the "Ravenna Hotel." Jabez Gilbert, " Moze Jabe," put on a spick and span new stage coach with four horses, on his line from Beaver to Cleveland, via Ravenna, some time in April. Robert E. Campbell opened the first watch, clock and jewelry establishment in a room next door to Perry & Prentiss' store ; Lyman Stephenson opened a shoe shop, and William Forbes was carrying on the tanners and curriers' business. A reward of $200 was offered for the capture of two run- away slaves, Ned Branch and Bob Booth, who ran away from Washington, D. C. A few years later three stations of the " Underground Railroad" were located in Portage-one in Randolph, one in Ravenna and one in Hiram.
El. Brainerd
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RAVENNA TOWNSHIP.
The directory of Ravenna for 1841 gives the following names and occupations : Clerk of Court, William Coleman, Jr .; Sheriff, Laurin Dewey ; Auditor, George B. DePeyster ; Treasurer, Henry L. Tilden ; Recorder, John N. Skinner ; Notaries Pub- lic, John N. Skinner, Luther Day and E. Spalding ; attorneys, Jonathan Sloane, Darius Lyman, E. Spalding, William Turner, Daniel R. Tilden, Luther Day, Joseph Lyman, Alonzo A. Skinner and Francis W. Tappan ; merchants, Prentiss & Whittlesey, H. L. Day & Co , C. P. & F. W. Seymour, S. Mason & Co .; commis- sion merchants and forwarders, Babcock & McBride ; druggists, Isaac Swift, God- dard & Hatch ; leather manufacturers, Cyrus Prentiss and John Gillis ; tin and copper workers, Cyrus Prentiss and John Wygle ; cabinet-ware, G. Lane, O. H. Griffin, A. S. Collins ; carriage builders, J. A. Clarke & Co., William Bond, Jona- than Minard ; physicians, Job Clark, Lyman Collins, Joseph De Wolf and John D. Wellman ; stage office, Hiram Collins, agent ; tavern and livery stable, William Ward ; tailor, William B. Matthews ; Ohio Star, A. H. Lewis, editor, R. S. Elkins publisher ; Western Reserve Cabinet, Lyman W. Hall, editor.
The citizens resolved to petition the Commissioners to permit them to set up for themselves as an incorporated village, which was accomplished in 1853. 0. P. Brown was the first Mayor and S. R. Freeman the first Recorder. Six Coun- cilmen were elected March 5, 1853. The first ordinance passed was for the election of Marshal, Treasurer and Street Commissioners, and prescribing their duties and compensation. The Mayors of the city since that time are named as follows: Darius Lyman, 1854; Pluto B. Conant, 1855; A. B. Griffin, 1856; J. D. Horton, 1857; Sam D. Harris, Jr., 1858; Joshua T. Catlin, 1859 to 1862; S. D. Nor- ton, 1863 ; J. D. Horton, 1865; H. L. Day, 1867; Royal Taylor, 1869; John Meharg, 1869 to 1873; George F. Robinson, 1873 to 1882; E. P. Hatfield, 1882; George F. Robinson, 1883; N. H. Smith, 1884-85. The present officers are N. H. Smith, Mayor; A. E. Seaton, Clerk; A. P. Oviatt, Q. Cook, C. M. Stillson, Charles Merts, G. L. Horr and John P. Jones, Councilmen; W. T. Greundel, Treasurer; T. R. Mason, Marshal; S. B. Norton, J. W. Holcomb and N. H. Smith, Justices.
The Clerks of the city from 1853 to 1885 are named in the following list: S. R. Freeman, 1853; H. L Miller, 1856; H. R. W. Hall, 1857; A. W. Beeman, 1863; J. P. Catlin, 1864; E. G. Russell, 1865 to 1877; D. B. Lawrence, 1878; and A. E. Seaton.
On January 12, 1885, the question of constructing water-works was submitted to the people. There were 473 votes for and 217 votes against. Bonds for $75,- 000 were ordered to be issued. The vote against construction by private enter- prise stood 232 for and 244 against. The large body of voters did not notice the latter question.
The reservoir from which the water supply is to be obtained is known as "Mother Ward's Wash Tub." Theodore Clark, writing of this pond, says: "This phenomenal reservoir, situated upon a natural elevated plateau, saucer-shaped, is invisibly supplied with water; however, supposed to be by some unknown subter- ranean hydrodynamic power. It has the same invisible, subterranean ontlet- eastward-supplying thousands of acres and hundreds of families with its never- failing underflow of soft water, in an area, eastward, of twelve miles, on this sand ridge. This is a reality, based upon a careful examination made by Charles U. Shepard, Professor of Mineralogy and Geology, of Yale College, and myself over thirty years ago."
The city has a well disciplined fire department, with a steamer, a hand engine and a hook and ladder company. An extensive telephone system networks the town and stretches away to all important points within forty or fifty miles. A fine Opera House, lately remodeled, affords a place of occasional amusement for play- goers, and a "stand" for peripatetic shows. Ravenna sent 275 soldiers to the defense of the Union and seventeen fell in the service.
Evergreen Cemetery Association of Ravenna was organized March 9, 1849,
28
532
HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
with the following members: Dr. Isaac Swift, Seth A. Gillett, Edward A. Atwater, William Frazer, Sam. Mason, Isaac Brayton, F. W. Seymour, H. L. Day, William Coolman, H. Y. Beebe, E. Spalding, J. L. Ranney, John Gillis, George Robinson, Luther Day, Ransom A. Gillett, Cyrus Prentiss, L. Day and John N. Skinner.
Church History .- In the very early days there were no regular religious serv- ices held in Ravenna, and the settlers had to depend upon the stray crumbs that fell from the table of the Lord for their spiritual sustenance. Occasionally some hardy old Methodist circuit rider, or some missionary of the Connecticut Society of Home Missions would come along, but their visits were very infre- quent, yet when they did come the occasion was one of great joy and satisfaction. The preacher was well taken care of, and if it was a Sabbath when he preached, the entire township would turn out to hear the word. Denomination, sect and particular belief were all dropped; immersion and sprinkling were not thought of, and the rigid Predestinarian and the absolute Free-Willer clasped hands around the Altar of the Lord, beneath the overarching branches of some grand old oak, or at. the humble cabin of the pioneer. Occasionally Rev. Shadrach Bostwick and old Father Shewell preached in the Court House, and afterward a minister from Beaver, Penn., would call every month or two. Rev. Caleb Pitkin, of Charlestown, Rev. Nathan B. Darrow and Rev. Mr. Seward, of Aurora, Rev. Hanford, of Hudson, and Rev. Woodruff, of Tallmadge, all paid visits to Ravenna and ministered to the hungry souls of the settlers. About 1816 Seth Day, Dr. Isaac Swift and Dan- iel Dawley began conducting religious services, adopting the Episcopalian form. Seth Day read the service, Dr. Swift led the singing, and Mr. Dawley led in the responses. Those young men had been reared in the Episcopal Church and were taught to respect the Sabbath in their Eastern homes when they were boys. This embryo Episcopal Church, therefore, can lay claim to being the first organization for religious services in Ravenna. Matters went on this way for several years, but one day, in 1822, an event happened that shaped in large measure the future of the township and village.
First Congregational Church .- On a Saturday afternoon, early in May, 1822, a traveler on horseback rode into the village of Ravenna by the eastern road, and hitching his horse in front of one of the taverns, applied for accommodations till the following Monday. As a stranger in those days, traveling on horseback and alone, was not an every-day occurrence, the identity and business of this person soon became known. He proved to be Rev. Charles B. Storrs, a Congregational minister, sent out by the Connecticut Home Missionary Society to carry the glad tidings into the Western wilds. He was a polished gentleman, a man of culture and refinement and a zealous worker for the Lord-a knight errant in the cause of religion, in search of spiritual adventure and to give succor to the weak. Becoming known to the leading citizens of Ravenna, the young minister was called upon by Darius Lyman and Seth Day and invited to preach the following Sunday, which he did, the service being so highly appreciated and the hearts of the people so thoroughly enlisted in the preacher, that he was solicited to remain a few days, which resulted in the formation of a church of twelve members, and a call for Mr. Storrs to become its pastor.
A call was issued June 25, 1825, by Rev. Charles B. Storrs, of the Congrega- tional Church, for the citizens to meet in the Court House on the following Sabbath to take into consideration the establishment of a Sunday-school. All persons were urged to lend their aid to the cause, bring their children, and be prepared to act as teachers. A sufficient number went to the meeting and a school was formed, but it was a new thing-these schools on the Lord's Day-and the sturdy old descendants of the Puritan fathers did not entirely fancy the idea, so it languished along for about seventeen weeks, and, November 6, closed for the season. Mr. Homer C. Frazer, of Ravenna, is the only person now belonging to the Congregational school, who was a member of that little school of 1825.
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RAVENNA TOWNSHIP.
The first regular pastor of the church after Mr. Storrs was Rev. Alvan Nash, ordained and installed in September, 1829, at which time there was a membership of sixteen. The other pastors in order of service were Rev. Edward Atwater, Rev. Nutting, Rev. W. D. Saunders, Rev. J. P. Hart, Rev. E. B. Mason and Rev. A. M. Hills. The present church building was erected in 1837, and the present pastor is Rev. Clarendon A. Stone, who began his labors August 1, 1884. The Sabbath-school was organized in 1825 ; present Superintendent, H. B. Coe.
Free Congregational Church of Ravenna was organized under State law Novem-
ber 12, 1852. Lyman W. Hall, Fred W. Seymour and J. B. McIlwain were elected Trustees, and Homer C. Frazer, Clerk.
Methodist Episcopal Church .- In the year 1824 the first regular services of the Methodist Episcopal denomination began in Ravenna. Rev. Ira Eddy was engaged to preach every four weeks, he belonging to the Deerfield Circuit. This gentleman and other itinerants supplied the spiritnal wants of the few Methodists here at that time till July, 1830, when Rev. John Wesley Hill. who had preached in the brick schoolhouse on Prospect Street, formed a class, which was only temporary, but in October, of the same year, Rev( Cornelius Jones formed a permanent class of pro- bationers, who continued services and elass meetings until March 31, 1831, when the same minister organized the class into a church organization, in a little log schoolhouse about two miles north of the village. Eight persons composed this society, viz .: Dennis Sutliff, Edwin Bostwick, Darius Ely, Hannah and Sarah Sapp, Samuel Foljambe, Mrs. Eliza Foljambe and Mrs. Susan Brown. During the fol- lowing summer Cyrus Prentiss and wife, Ashbel Bostwick and wife, Mary Carter, Lucy Burnham and Phoebe Mason joined this class. At this time, 1831, Ravenna was included in the Ohio District, Deerfield Circuit, and Revs. Cornelius Jones and the famous John N. Maffitt were the circuit riders.
Rev. Ira P. Eddy was the Presiding Elder of the church at this time. Early in September the congregation got the privilege of using conjointly with the Con- gregational Society the brick schoolhouse in the village, but they had it all to themselves, for the Congregational brethren thereafter held their meetings in the dining-room of Maj. Shaler's tavern, on the present site of the Etna House. The Sunday-school of the church was organized at this time, also. The society con- tinued to occupy the schoolhouse till their first church edifice was erected, it being dedicated December 15, 1832, Rev. Wilder B. Mack officiating.
In August, 1832, the church received its first appointment from the Conference. Revs. Eddy, Hill and Horton being the preachers on the circuit, and Rev. W. B, Mack, Presiding Elder. In July, 1833, Ravenna was made a station, with Rev. John McLean pastor. In 1834 Rev. Aurora Callenan was sent as pastor, and in 1835 Rev. Hiram Gilmon took charge.
In August, 1836, Ravenna was raised from a station to the dignity of head center to a circuit, around which revolved Franklin, Brimfield, Cuyahoga Falls and Northampton. The circuit preachers were Revs. William Stevens, W. S. Warrello, and Isaac Winans, Presiding Elder. In 1837 Revs. William Stevens and E. J. Kinney were on this circuit, and in 1838 Revs. A. G. Sturges and E. J. L. Baker were the preachers. In 1839 Revs. E. J. Sturges and William F. Wilson were sent by the Conference, and in 1840 Revs. L. D. Mix and D. M. Stearns were the pastors in charge, and Rev. John Chandler was Presiding Elder. In July, ·1841, Ravenna was again made a station, and Rev. L. D. Mix was appointed pas- tor. A quarterly meeting, held in Ravenna October 31, 1841, was the initial point of a very remarkable revival, unprecedented in its results before or since. Rev. A. M. Brown, of Cleveland, was present, and during the service he and Rev. L. D. Mix became so warmed up by their feelings that they embraced each other within the altar. The act seemed to fire the audience, and a series of meetings followed, resulting in the conversion of a large number of persons, eighty of whom joined the church, William Coolman, George Robinson, Israel Foraker, John Wait and
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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
R. S. Elkins, and their wives, and Recellus Root, George Somerville, Isaac Hudson and Dr. Carter being among the number. Seventy-four of the probationers became members in full connection.
The first building, erected iu 1832, was used till 1856, when it gave place to the present edifice, which was dedicated with impressive ceremonies on Friday, Jan- nary 30, 1857, by Bishop Simpson. Thus from so small a beginning as that little class of 1830, has grown a large congregation of the leading citizens of Ravenna, with a church edifice that is a monument to their zeal and liberality. Rev. Fresh- water is the present pastor.
Church of Disciples .- In the year 1827 the religious movement in which Alexan- der Campbell and Thomas Campbell, his father, were the most prominent actors, found the Western Reserve its most fruitful field of labor, through the evangelistic work of Walter Scott. The whole Reserve was kindled to a blaze of religious interest never known before. Scott never visited Ravenna in person, save to preach one discourse in the summer of 1830, but he had sown the seeds of his faith in the mind of one of his opponents, Aylett Raines, a minister of the Restorationist Society, so deeply, that Raines came to Ravenna, had a discussion with Ebenezer Williams, the acknowledged champion of a sect opposed to the Disciples, con- vinced that doughty foe of the correctness of Scott's teachings in a four days' can- vass, at the end of which time they both, Raines and Williams, repaired to Sandy Lake and immersed each other. This was June 1, 1828. Ebenezer Williams immediately began preaching the new doctrine.
March 12, 1830, William Hayden converted seven persons in the Clements district in the northwest part of the township, and baptized them in the run flow- ing through the Clements farm. They were Thomas, Mary and Margaret Cle- ments, Mrs. Jonathan Stewart, Mrs. Sophia Hurlbut, Mrs. Mary Austin and Henry Sturdevant. Shortly afterward Marcus Bosworth came and baptized two others, Misses Eliza Clements and Almira Austin. On the second Sunday of May, 1830, William Hayden organized the little band, now numbering twenty-six, into a soci- ety, and the infant church was placed under the care of Abijah Sturdevant, who was elected First Elder. Regular meetings were held in the old log schoolhouse on the Clements place, and from that day to the present the members of that church have not failed to meet on the Sabbath, with but half a dozen exceptions, when they have adjourned to attend the yearly meeting or a funeral. First Congrega- tion of Disciples in Ravenna was reorganized January 26, 1860, with Charles Judd, E. B. Reeves, Henry J. White, William Price and D. W. Jennings, Trustees, E. B. Reeves was Clerk.
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