History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 101

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Ohio > Summit County > History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio > Part 101

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TALLMADGE TOWNSHIP.

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who came from Connecticut. In 1801, he emi- grated to the territory northwest of the Ohio River, crossing over the mountains with his team. He stopped in Canfield where he re- mained until his removal to this township. He came here to co-operate with Mr. Bacon in his broad and liberal plans, and in him Mr. Bacon found an able and zealous coadjutor. He bought Lot No. 5, in Tract 14, of the Brace Company upon which he lived until his death. He was spoken of as a Puritan of the most approved Puritan style.

Next in the catalogue of early settlers, we inay mention Deacon Nathaniel Chapman, Charles Chittenden, William Neal and George Kilbourn, all of whom were from Connecticut originally. Deacon Chapman, with his brother William, made a trip to the Western Reserve in 1800, on a tour of inspection. They stopped at Canfield, and, being pleased with the coun- try, he selected land and made what prepara- tions he could for settling on it, and then leav- ing his brother he returned to Connectient. The next year, with an ox team, he started with his family, taking the "south road," as it was called, through Pennsylvania, and over the mountains to Pittsburgh. When within ten miles of Canfield, his wagon sunk into the mud and his team was unable to move it. He was in a rather helpless and forlorn condition ; no help near, nor any means visible, by which he might extricate himself from his difficulties. In his trouble, he sat down on a log, the better to contemplate the situation, and while thus engaged, his brother William's dog came to him. He used often to say, that he never, in all his life, met so welcome a friend, for he knew that help was near. His brother soon appeared with a yoke of oxen and assisted him to Can- field with his family, which then consisted of his wife and five children, and his father, Titus Chapman. Mr. Bacon, when he heard of his arrival, visited Canfield, and unfolded to him his plans in Tallmadge. Mr. Chapman at once fell in with the views of Bacon, by whom he was induced to sell out at Canfield and remove to this township. He came here with his family in April, 1808, and settled upon Lot 3 in Tract 14. Being of the strictest Puritan prin- ciples, he heartily coincided with Mr. Bacon in the great work he had inaugurated. His daugh- ter Sally was the first bride in Tallmadge ; she was married to John Collins on the 7th of

January, 1809, and the ceremony was per- formed by Joseph Harris, of Randolph, a Jus- tice of the Peace. His father, Titus Chapman, died November 8, 1808, and was the first death of an adult person in the township, the first death being, as already noted, Boosinger's child. Mr. Chapman, Sr., was the first buried in the old Middlebury graveyard. Deacon Chapman was the first Justice of the Peace in the township after its organization. He was an exemplary man, and died November 12, 1834, at the age of sixty-six years. Charles Chittenden removed to Canfield with his family in 1801, where his wife and child died. He afterward married Elma Steele, and, in the early part of 1808, removed into this township. He settled on Lot No. 6, Traet No. 13, which he bought of the Brace Company, and built his cabin at a spring, on the place now owned by the Buckle family. Here the first white child in Tallmadge Township was born in June, 1808, to Mr. and Mrs. Chittenden. She after- ward married Isaac Newton, and removed to the far West. Mr. Chittenden was a strong Episcopalian, and not in accord with the Ba- conian ideas of Puritanism. He sold to Deacon Gillett about the year 1811. and moved over into Springfield Township, where he died in 1833. William Neal came to Ohio in the win- ter of 1806-07, and it is believed that he settled in this township in the spring of 1808. He bought land of the Brace Company, the north half of Lot No. 4, Tract 13, and lived the re- mainder of his life in Tallmadge and Coventry. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and died in December, 1842, aged seventy-eight years. George Kilbourn left Connecticut on the 1st day of September. 1801, with ox team, and crossed the mountains to Pittsburgh, and thence to Hudson Township in this county. where he arrived on the sixtieth day of his journey. He was a tanner and shoemaker by trade, and had been in business in Farmington, where he had been quite successful before coming West. In 1805, he removed to New- burg, where he worked at tanning and shoe- making. In the spring of 1808, he came to this township and settled on Lots 8 and 9, in Tract 10, and also bought at same time Lots 1 and 6 in Tract 11. He and his sons carried on the farm and tanning business on Camp Brook. This was the first tannery in the township. He built a frame barn in 1811, and a frame dwell-

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HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

ing in 1815. In 1817, he sold to Aaron Hine, and bought the farm of Capt. Heman Oviatt, in Hudson Township, where he died March 15, 1866, aged ninety-six years. His wife had died in 1859, aged eighty-seven years. They had traveled together over life's rugged road for sixty-eight years.

To this period in the history of Tallmadge it had been known and designated as Town 2, Range 10, and as yet had no other name. There is, however, some traditions, borne out by more or less evidence, that the settlers met at the house of Mr. Bacon in June, 1808, for the special purpose of selecting a name. Mr. Bacon expressed a desire to have it called for Col. Tallmadge, one of the original proprietors of the land, a proposition that was agreed to. It is not known whether all the settlers were present at this christening of the township ; the following, however, were holders of land at that time : Rev. David Bacon, Ephraim Clark, Jr., George Boosinger, Jonathan Spragne, Nathan- iel Chapman, George Kilbourn, Charles Chit- tenden, William Neal and Capt. Joseph Hart. The latter was the first settler in Middlebury, now the Sixth Ward of Akron. Justin E. Frink, a single man, and another single man named Bradley, were in the town at the time. At the close of the year 1808, in addition to those named above, the following had moved in, viz. : Aaron Norton. Dr. Amos C. Wright, Mo- ses Bradford from Ravenna, Thomas Dunlap, from Pennsylvania, and Eli Hill, from Vir- ginia. These were all men of families. except Hill. The following births had occurred in the township since the first settlement : Cornelia, daughter of Charles Chittenden ; Eliza, daugh- ter of Capt. Hart, and who was the first born in Middlebury ; Eliza, daughter of George Kil- bourn ; Amos, son of Dr. Wright, and the first male child born. not only in Tallmadge, but in the county ; and Alice, daughter of Mr. Bacon, making a total, perhaps, of seventy souls in the township.

Dr. Amos C. Wright was from Connecticut, and settled in Tallmadge in the latter part of the year 1808. He settled originally in Smith- field, now Vernon, in 1802, but the influence of Mr. Bacon brought him to this township, where he became an active participant in everything calculated to promote the interests of the com- munity. He died May 19, 1845, at the age of sixty-five years. In February, 1809, the first

additions for the year was made to the settle- ment, in the persons of Edmond Strong and John Wright, Jr., natives of Connecticut. They left Morgan, where they had previously lo- cated, in sleds drawn by oxen, and by this mode of travel brought their families to this township. They came by way of Cleveland, and were three days in coming from Gleason's Mills, in Bedford, in Cuyahoga County, to Tallmadge. Strong settled on Lot No. 3, Tract No. 6, and was the first settler north of the east and west center road. Wright settled on the south half of Lot No. 10, Tract 10, where he lived until his death, in 1845. Capt. John Wright, the father of the one just mentioned, emigrated to Ohio with his family in 1802, and came to Tallmadge in the spring of 1809. He was a Revolutionary soldier, and lived here until his death, which took place July 29, 1825, aged eighty-two years. This branch of the Wright family were famous singers and music teachers, and it may be very truthfully said that, from 1808 to the present time, the choir of the Congregational Church of Tallmadge has not been without some representative of the - Wright family. Alpha, another son of Capt. Wright, and who was but fourteen years of age when his father came to Ohio in 1802, settled with his father, in 1809, on Lot No. 8, in Tract 11, and continued a resident of the township until his death, in 1856. Jotham Blakslee set- tled on Lot 4, in Tract 15, in the early part of 1809. His nephew, also named Jotham Blaks- lee, and who married his daughter, came to the settlement with him. They had originally set- tled in Portage County, near Ravenna, in 1805, and the marriage of Jotham Blakslee, Jr., to his consin, was the second marriage ceremony per- formed in Portage County. During the sum- mer of 1809, he, in company with Gen. Elijah Wadsworth, of Canfield, Selah Payne and a Mr. Stewart, explored Tallinadge Township, and at night struck np camp on Coal Hill. The next morning, they followed the lot lines to the center. Here Gen. Wadsworth said to young Blakslee, " Boy, let us cut a brush-heap here at the center ; I shall not live long to tell of it, but you may." Three years later, Blaks- lee became a resident of the township, and so remained until his death, sixty-one years after- ward. He it was that helped Boosinger build his log cabin, the first in the township. He was a blacksmith, and made wrought nails, when

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TALLMADGE TOWNSHIP.

nails were a scarce article, not only in Tall- madge, but on the Reserve. He made the nails used in Dr. A. C. Wright's barn, the first framed barn in the township, and which was built in 1810. He was of strong anti-slavery principles and a devoted Christian. He died in 1870, at the age of eighty years. Conrad Boosinger, father to him who is recorded as the first settler in Tallmadge, settled near his son, in the spring af 1809. He was also a Revolu- tionary soldier. Both he and his wife died on the place of their settlement, which was on Lot 6, in Tract 14.

Elizur Wright, a wealthy farmer of Connec- ticut, exchanged his improved farm there for 3,000 acres of land in Tallmadge Township, and, in 1809, came out to see his new posses- sions. Of Puritan descent, and strong in that faith, he easily became a disciple of Bacon, and adopted his views for the building-up of a church and religious society. He made arrange- ments to have some land cleared and a house built, and then returned to Connecticut to pre- pare for removing his family to Ohio. On the 22d of May, 1810, he left his old home in the Nutmeg State for his new one in Tallmadge. His goods were brought in two large wagons, each drawn by two yoke of oxen ; the family came in a carriage drawn by two horses, and their route was over the mountains by way of Pittsburgh, arriving at their destination on the 30th of June. A man of wealth, he was a valuable acquisition to the little community ; liberal in his support of the church, and all worthy, benevolent objects. Through his im- mediate influence, David Preston was induced to sell out in Connecticut, and move to Tall- madge. Mr. Preston came in the summer of 1810, and brought with him his wife; Drake Fellows and wife and two children ; John S. Preston and wife and two children. Mr. Preston settled on Lot 2, Tract 13. He was a soldier of the Revolution, and died July 11, 1827. Fellows bought the south half of Lot No. 1, in Tract No. 14. William Neal, with that true hospitality characteristic of pioneer life, opened his cabin to Fellows until the latter could build. For the benefit of some of our modern people, we will give the following true description of Mr. Neal's cabin at the time he took in Mr. Fellows and his family : " It was about 18x24 feet ; a bed in one corner ; a loom in another corner, in the others a table, some chairs, pots,

frying-pan, etc., while Mr. and Mrs. Fellows made their bed on the floor under the loom. This was the way the pioneers roughed it." It is believed that Elizur Wright built the second frame barn in Tallmadge in 1811. It stood west of the residence of Daniel A. Upson, a grandson of Mr. Wright, and was taken down (the barn) a few years ago. This barn was used as a place of worship before there were any churches or schoolhouses built in the town- ship, and, within its walls, the pioneers were assembled together for divine worship, when the news came of Hull's surrender at Detroit. The little band instantly dispersed, and, before nightfall, all the able-bodied men in the settle- ment were ready to march to the defense of Cleveland. A second dispatch, however, as- sured them that Cleveland was in no immediate danger. It was also in this barn that Rev. Simeon Woodruff preached his first sermon in Tallmadge, July 25, 1813. Mr. Wright was the senior deacon of the church for thirty years ; he died in December, 1845, aged eighty-three years. Samuel McCoy, a native of Ireland, came to the township in 1810, and bought Lot No. 4, in Tract 14 ; and, the same year, Deacon Salmon Sackett came to Tallmadge to look at the land, with a view of exchanging for some of it his farm in Connecticut. He was well pleased with the country, and, returning liome, made a trade with Col. Tallmadge for 648 acres of land, which he took in part payment for his farm. He moved on it in 1811, and arrived on the first Monday in July. In speak- ing of his first visit to Tallmadge, in after years, Deacon Sackett said : " On my arrival in Tall- madge, I was cordially received by the people after the good old New England fashion. They met for Sabbath worship in Capt. Wright's log house ; the inhabitants of the township were mostly there, men, women and children, and we had a good meeting. I found that a majority of the people were from my native county of Litchfield, and among them was Deacon Elizur Wright. It was so much like New England that I felt at home." Of his sons, and sons-in- law, with their families, the party that Deacon Sackett brought to the town numbered seven- teen persons, quite a valuable addition to the settlement. He settled on Lot 9, in Tract 11, and died in November, 1846, at the age of eighty-four years. In April, 1811, John Car- ruthers moved in from Pennsylvania. His

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HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

family consisted of his wife and four children, and they settled on 100 acres, which he pur- chased on the east side of Lot No. 1, in Tract 16. When he arrived, he stopped at the cabin of Thomas Dunlap, who received him in true pioneer style, for both were Pennsylvanians. Mr. Carruthers was of Scotch descent, and Pres- byterian to the core. The lives of Mr. and Mrs. Carruthers were spent in Tallmadge, where they were useful members of society. He died in 1853; she in 1836. Luther Chamberlain settled in Tallmadge in June, 1811, and lived to an advanced age. In 1811, Deacon Nathan Gillett and his son Ara, bought out Charles Chittenden, and settled on his place. Mr. Gil- lett was also a Revolutionary soldier. Hosea Wilcox came from Morgan, and bought out Peter Norton ; and, in 1812, Reuben Upson and family came in ; also, Jesse Neal, from New York, settled in the township the same year. The following incident is illustrative of the times of which we write : Hosea Wilcox, Ed- mond Strong and Adam Cowles, early in the spring of 1802, left Connecticut on foot for the Western Reserve. At Gennesee River, they overtook Rev. Joseph Badger with a four-horse team, moving with his family and goods. As both parties were bound to the same place, Mr. Badger proposed to them to put their knapsacks in his wagon and travel with him, which they did. Wilcox drove Mr. Badger's team, which is said to have been the first wagon that came through from Buffalo to the Western Reserve. Cowles and Strong went ahead with axes to remove any obstructions that might be in the way. The road had been ent through the year before by Gen. Payne, but had not been used. Strong and Wilcox were both pioneers of Tall- madge.

The time of the pioneer was taken up with his farming operations, or in performing a piece of work for a neighbor to obtain some needed article for the benefit of his family. In early days all able-bodied men, between eighteen and forty-five years of age, were subject to mili- tary duty. This was all the holiday the peo- could afford to enjoy, the 4th of July, perhaps, excepted. The laws of Ohio set apart the first Friday in September for " company training," and " regimental training " the last of the same month. Everybody attended these meetings, even those who had passed beyond the milita- ry age of forty-five, and all seemed to enjoy

them. A great source of enjoyment, especially to the young people, was the pioneer "quilting party." A lady would invite her friends to assist her in getting out a quilt. It must be done before night, as parlor, dining-room and kitchen were invariably comprised in one room. In the evening the quilt and its frame gave place to the tea-table, which in turn gave way to social enjoyment, as darkness usually brought in the young men of the neighborhood, when plays, forfeits, etc., were introduced for the en- tertainment of the young people. Sometimes, and in some particular places, a man would enter the room with a mysterious package un- der his arm in a green baize bag. The entrance of this important personage was the signal to " clean the deck for action," or in other words, to clear the room of chairs and tables for a dance, as the opening of the green baize bag always produced the fiddle, and to its enliven- ing music the youngsters would "trip the light fantastic toe," regardless of the rough puncheon floor. A puncheon floor in a log cabin of one room was no obstacle to those who liked to dance a jig or reel to the stirring tune of " Money in Both Pockets," or, "Polly Put the Kettle on," or, " Durang's Hornpipe," or, " The Girl I Left behind Me," or, " The White Cock- ade," etc. The pleasure and enjoyments of those days, if not so refined as now, were of quite as much interest to the young people. Ye aged pioneers, how was it in the years long ago, when, on horseback, you rode to the log cabin home of her, with whom, perhaps, you have since walked life's rugged journey, and found her dressed in a flannel, linsey-woolsey, or calico dress ; and when from the corner of the rail fence, or from a convenient stump, she sprang on the horse behind you and put her arms around you to keep her seat-well ! no bad feeling existed then. People, perhaps, were more honest than they are in this fast age. The family supplies of the pioneers were mostly produced by themselves. Meat, bread and a few vegetables were the main staples in the way of provisions. Whisky was very common after 1818, and in a few families previous to that date. The surplus grain was made into whisky and thus it was put into better and more con- venient shape to handle. Whisky was almost a legal tender. Previous to the opening of the Erie Canal, goods were hauled from Albany and Buffalo in Conestoga wagons, and from

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Philadelphia and Baltimore across the mount- ains. Of course, this put upon the goods so high a tariff that home manufactures were the main dependence for clothing. But little at- tention was then devoted to stock-raising, or to the improvement of stock. Horses and cattle were of inferior breed, and hogs even worse if possible. Long and gaunt, with snouts of suf- ficient length to root a foot deep without get- ting dirt in their eyes; regular racers and chuck full of fight. Sheep were native breeds, and course of wool, very unlike those we have now. The pioneer farmer worked to a great disadvantage ; his teams were oxen, and his plow was what was called the "bull plow," and was made principally of wood, by some farmer, more handy with tools than his neighbors. Crops were not raised and harvested without the severest manual labor.

Coal-mining in Tallmadge has been carried to some extent, but as this branch of industry has been more particularly mentioned in another chapter, we shall say but little on the subject. Coal was discovered at an early day, at or near the southeast corner of the township. There is a tradition that it also was discovered one mile west of the center, by means of a woodchuck, which, in digging its burrow, threw out pieces of coal. Col. Charles Whittlesey says : " Coal was first found at Coal Hill, in 1810. There was an entry made in a ravine north of the east- and-west road, which was owned by Asaph Whittlesey and Samuel Newton. The demand for coal in 1824 was considerable, and no other mine was opened then. About this time, Hen- ry Newberry, of Cuyahoga Falls, discovered coal at the northwest six corners." In later years, coal has been extensively mined in the township, and the deposits by some are sup- posed to be nearly exhausted. The first attempt at manufacturing in Tallmadge was in 1817. Asaph Whittlesey. in connection with Lair & Norton, built a forge and manufactured bar- iron. The location is still known as the " Old Forge." In 1827, Amos Avery opened a shop for the manufacture of wagons. William C. Oviatt had opened a blacksmith-shop the year before, and in 1836, he and Avery entered into partnership for the manufacture of carriages. This business, under various firms, has been continued to the present time. The manufact- ure of stoneware is carried on extensively, and sewer-pipe was made by Sperry & Richie

until they were burned out. Jolm A. Carruth- ers at one time did a large business in the man- nfacture of sorghum sirup. After carrying on the business for some time, he turned his atten- tion to the making of apple-butter. Barnes Brothers also do a large business in this line. The first tannery was opened on Camp Brook, south of the center, by George Kilbourn. in 1809. He was followed by Anson Ashley, who for several years carried on the business. John Carruthers also did some tanning in the south- east part of the town. The streams of water in Tallmadge were small, and of little force as a water-power, but were utilized to some ex- tent. A saw-mill was built on the Sperry Farm in 1828, but finally failed for lack of water. Another, built in the southeast corner of the township, on the farm of Seth Meacham, failed from the same canse. Two steam saw-mills have for years supplied lumber to the people ; one of them is still in operation. A tavern was opened by Aaron Hine in 1819, and was the first public-house in the township. This tav- ern was south of the center. He was followed in the business by William S. Granger, who kept a tavern on the south side of the public square. He was succeeded by William Kingsbury, Ephraim Shaler and others. A large house was built on the east side of the public square, and has since been opened as a public-house. There has nearly always been a tavern in oper- ation at the center since 1819, the date of the first one opened in the township.

When Tallmadge first became known to the whites, there was a well-defined Indian trail passing through the township in a southeasterly course from Cuyahoga Portage, and crossed the town line a short distance west of the center road. Another trail passed up the south side of the river, through the township, and half a mile from the northeast corner passed into Stow Township, crossed the corner into Franklin, thence near the river to the "Standing Stone," where was the Indian fording-place. One of the first roads in Tallmadge was the north-and-south center road. The petition for it was granted by the County Commissioners of Portage County, soon after its organization as a county in 1808. The signers to the petition for this road were Charles Clinttenden, Ephraim Clark, Jr., Jona- than Sprague, Nathaniel Chapman, Joseph Towsley, Theodore Bradley, William Neal, Jus- tin E. Frink and Joel Gaylord. Upon granting

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HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

the petition, George Kilbourn, Nathaniel Chap- man and David Bacon were appointed a com- mittee, and Joseph Darrow, Surveyer. About 1824, a State road was laid out from Canton to Cleveland through Tallmadge, on the north- and-south center road. Another State road from Wooster to Mantua, in Portage County, passed through Tallmadge on the northeast and southwest diagonal road, and was laid out about 1827. A second petition for a road, dated February 20, 1809, was for what is now the southeast diagonal road to the center, thence to the east line of Great Lot No. 1, and thence to the most convenient place to build a bridge over the Cuyahoga River, near the north line of the town. Another road was laid out from Hart & Norton's Mill, called the " mill road." It was laid out in 1809-10, and another from Middlebury to Cuyahoga Falls, passing the old Forge and Bettes' Corners. The first mail route was established in 1814, over the road from Cleveland to Canton, the mail passing twice a week. For some years it was carried on horseback ; then a hack or stage was put on, and passengers as well as the mail were car- ried between those points. Some years later, another route was established from Akron to Kent and Ravenna, and returning via Brim- field. Still later a mail route was established from Cuyahoga Falls to Tallmadge, the mail being carried on horseback. The mail for Tallmadge is now received daily by the Penn- sylvania, New York & Ohio Railroad. The At- lantic & Great Western-now the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railway-was surveyed through the township and in order to have it pass the center, the people of the township subscribed $43,000. This road has been of in- estimable value to us. The Valley Railroad touches a very small corner of Tallmadge. The railroad history, however, is more fully given in another chapter. The first store was opened in a building which stood in front of the resi- dence of I. P. Sperry, and it is supposed that the firm was Fenn & Howard. They con- tinued in business some time, and were followed by Christopher C. Sturdevant. He erected the building now used as a store. Wiswell & Groff opened a store in this building, but did not re- main long, and Eleazer C. Sackett was the next merchant. William A. Hanford clerked for Sackett, and eventually bought half of his in- terest ; then Homer S. Carter bought out Sack-

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History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 101

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848- Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1104