History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 78

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 78

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The first mill in this part of the country was at Newburg, which was erected by W. W. Will- iams in 1800. The Hudson colonists brought considerable flour with them, and were forced occasionally to go to considerable distances to renew the supply before they secured a harvest,

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HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

Dr. Thompson going at one time to George- town on the Ohio River, a distance of eighty miles. The first harvest was derived from the nine acres which Mr. Hudson had sown in 1799. The yield was 183 bushels, one-fourth of which Lacey got for harvesting and threshing. The balance was apportioned among the proprietors as follows : "Birdseye Norton, one-half and one-half a quarter, 85.25 bushels ; Hudson, one- quarter, 34.10 bushels ; Oviatt, Parmele and Baldwin, one-eight, 17.5 bushels." The wheat was all used in the colony, however, and what was not lost was ground at the Newburg mill. "To go to mill " was a three days' task ; two consumed on the journey of twenty miles and return, and one in waiting for the grist. The first load of wheat was taken to mill by Samuel Bishop, in February, 1801, under a bargain of receiving one-half for his trouble. He was obliged to set out shortly after a rain, and arriving at Tinker's Creek he found the stream considerably swollen by the rainfall. He ven- tured to cross, however, but found the current too strong for him, and he got back to shore, losing his entire load of wheat, and barely sav- ing his oxen and sled. At another time Dr.

Thompson and William Leach undertook the task of going to the same mill in the spring of the year. They had three yoke of oxen and a cart. The river was high and the current strong, but they urged their team across. The lead cattle soon began to swim, then the second

yoke, and soon the third yoke and cart. For-

tunately the first yoke had by this time gained their footing and enabled the others to succes-

sively come to the shallower water. But the cart swinging down stream with the current, and

not being a seaworthy craft, lost its load of wheat, and barely carried the drivers through in safety. The Doctor was not thus brought to the end of his resources. He bought some wheat for which he gave his note, got it ground, and returned with his flour to find the stream lower and fordable. It was not possible for all to go to this expense for flour. Corn was sub-

stituted for wheat and smashed in wooden mortars, i. e., a stump with a hole burned in it with a long wooden pestle attached to a spring-

punching holes in a piece of old tin, then giv- called " blood mills," a tin grater made by pole. More of it was prepared on what was

ing it a curve and nailing it to a piece of board. The community was placed under such disad-

vantages but a short time. In preparing for the settlement, Mr. Hudson had not forgotten this important feature of frontier life, and in his first bills of articles, mill-stones were prom- inent items. But who put up the first mill in Hudson is as variously claimed as the killing of "Cock Robin." In 1801, Ezra Wyatt and Aaron Norton commenced building mills on Tinker's Creek, in the northeast part of this township. From evidence gathered from the account-books of Mr. Hudson, though not clear, it is made probable that Mr. Wyatt began this undertaking alone, encouraged and assisted by Mr. Hudson. An entry without date is as fol- lows : " Have been at the expense of furnishing all Wyatt's provisions and laborers, and all things necessary to build one-half of the mills, and to take my payment in boards one, two, three and four years hence, without interest. Also I have engaged to make him a free gift of 100 acres of land to encourage him to go on with the mills after the discovery of quicksand." Notwithstanding this liberal subsidy, Mr. Wyatt became tired of his undertaking, and Mr. Nor- ton took his place, the former going to Cleve- land. The saw-mill was completed for busi- ness that fall, and the grist-mill so that it would grind, but not bolt, in the spring of 1802, not far from the 18th of April. A distillery was started in connection with the mills soon after- ward, and the whole business run in the name of Hudson & Norton. It stood but a year or two, when the whole establishment was de- stroyed by fire in the latter part of 1803. Nor- ton, in 1806, built mills on Mud Brook in Northampton, and two years later built others in Middlebury. Deacon Thompson built a saw- mill immediately after the destruction of the Norton mill, on the site of the present Holmes mill. This stood until it rotted down, and was then replaced by Augustus Baldwin, and sub- sequently two others were built upon the same site. Joel Gaylord also erected a mill not far from the same time that Deacon Thompson put up his, which was replaced by George Leach, who at different times built two other mills on Breakneck Creek. The coming of Owen Brown in 1805, introduced another industry that was second only to the mills in its usefulness to the new settlement. He was a tanner by trade, and at once set about preparing to ply his trade here. He sank his vats a little west of the vil- lage, and made a good market for such skins

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HUDSON TOWNSHIP.

as the settlers derived from the game. A few years afterward, Ire and his son John, known better to fame in later years through his aggres- sive opposition to the slave-power, started another northwest of the village near where Morris Johnson now lives. George Kilbourne essayed the same business abont a mile and a half sonth of the town on the Center road. It was not a very extensive affair ; vats were sunk and a well dug, and some sheds erected, but no great amount of business was done. The well and the signs of the vats still mark the spot. Some time afterward, Asahel Kilbourne started a tannery on the run which passes Sherman Thompson's house, choosing a site just across where the railroad now runs. This was a more vigorous institution, and continued for some years. The most successful business in this line, however, was probably done by William Dobbs. He came here from Canton, and, pur- chasing the Brown tannery, extended the trade, and carried it on until the development of the country grew beyond his reach, and the busi- ness passed into the category of lost arts in this community. Another branch of the manufact- uring business, which subserved an excellent purpose in those pioneer times was an ashery, established, and conducted by Hillis & James, early merchants in Hudson. Here the ashes of the settler's hearth and log-heaps were con- verted into " potash, pearl-ash and black salts," and made to serve him again in its new form.

The social customs of the time, and the only avenue of foreign trade, made the dlistilling of liquor an early and profitable business. Oviatt, who commenced trading with Indians as early as 1801, found whisky not only a legal tender for whatever he cared to bny, but a commodity in very lively demand by the natives. He built a distillery on the stream near Sherman Thompson's residenee, but probably not until the Hudson & Norton distillery had burned down. This he continued for some years, but the sale of it to the Indians was forbidden by the Government, and he finally abandoned it, though it had proved very profitable to him. George Darrow erected another about 1815, where the Eagle Cheese Factory now stands, and manufactured rye and corn whisky for years, selling it at his place of business to such as wanted it. There was an abundant demand for it for years after the Indians had generally removed. Whisky was found everywhere in

the early society, and none were "Puritanie" enough in their sentiments to object to its use. At the stores the customer found it "on tap," to use free of expense ; every social gathering was enlivened by its presence and use; and even preachers and people drew nearer each other in a social glass. The good judgment of people was not blinded to the evil which was growing up in the shadow of this social custom, and a move- ment to curtail its use was begun by those who had used it freely for years. It began to be re- fused at house-raisings, perhaps, as early as 1820 or 1825, to the no small opposition of a consid- erable portion of the community. At one of these temperance raisings, it is said, the two elements of society met, and the opposition re- fused to let the building go up. They held on to the frame-work, until, by the redoubled efforts of the temperance men, who were in a major- ity, they were lifted off the ground and the structure went up. In 1828 or 1830, the barn of Dr. Everett was raised without whisky and without opposition, the opposition staying away entirely. An incident is related of Rev. Randolph Stone which illustrates how strongly the habitual use of liquor had become fixed in the social intercourse of the time. Mr. Stone had taken a very pronounced position in favor of temperance, going to the extent of advising that all apple-trees should be destroyed to pre- vent the manufacture of cider. Soon after tak- ing this position, he took some students to board that had come to attend the Western Re- serve College, then just opened, and placed upon the table for their use, some " whisky and fennel," of which, however, he did not partake. This was probably from the force of habit and the desire to avoid the appearance of discourt- esy, but was very soon abandoned.

The early years of the township did not de- mand a hotel to dispense its hospitality. Each pioneer entertained strangers as often without pecuniary remuneration as with it. But as the town grew in proportion and the through lines of travel were established through the place, there was a demand for an inn. Heman Oviatt first provided such entertainment at his cabin, a mile south of the village, but, about 1813, he preferred to confine his attention to the more lucrative business of trade, and persuaded Mr. Hudson to open his house to the public in this way, and this was perhaps the first regular inn in the village. This was at the house where

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HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

Mrs. Harvey Baldwin now resides. Mrs. Bald- win, when a girl, often presided at the bar, and the fare dispensed in those days may be in- ferred from the fact that on one occasion the whole female force of the family was occupied the whole day in baking " corn pones" for the consumption of their guests. In 1816 or thereabouts, George Kilbourne offered " enter- tainment for man and beast" where Justin Kilbourne now lives ; some years afterward- about 1825-Augustus Baldwin opened a hotel in the house where Mrs. Buss at present resides, and another was kept by George Darrow at the present residence of William Darrow. The "Mansion House," the only survivor of this race of public benefactors, was built in 1830, for Samuel Edgerly. It was afterward put into a lottery by Mr. Hertzell and disposed of, but who the fortunate possessor of the ticket was is not revealed. A long line of hosts have en- tertained the public here, among whose names appear those of Edgerly, Hertzell, Shields, Wadham and Bouton, the present host. In the palmy days of the stage business, the Mansion House was a place of consequence, and at- tracted a large crowd of patrons of the stage and idle lookers-on, which of late years has been transferred to the railway station.

Business beginnings found their start with Heman Oviatt a mile south of the center of the township. llis trade was at first confined chiefly to the Indians, who, so long as they re- mained, were his most valuable customers. When he had accumulated skins enough to make two good-sized bales, he would load them on a horse across a pack-saddle, and take them to Pittsburgh, which was his nearest market. His return load was made up of shawls, blankets, powder, lead and whisky. The latter he soon made himself and avoided transportation, and gradually worked into the sale of commodities to the settlers. About 1806, he came to the " Center " and opened up his business, more especially for the patronage of the settlement oc- cupying the front room of the Grosvenor House in later years. He was a keen business man, requiring the last cent in a bargain, but just as ready to pay it when he agreed to do so. A story is told of him which illustrates the for- mer characteristic of his dealings. In the course of some dealing with a member of the settle- ment he had taken a note for $1.01, which was nothing unusual in those days of fractional

cents and petty dealings. A short time after- ward, the drawer of the note handed Oviatt $1 which he accepted with some hesitation, and, after some cogitation, said, " I suppose you want this indorsed on your note, don't you, John ? " He was always on the alert for a safe business venture, and, in the fall of 1815, he put in $1,000 into a partnership with Zenas Kent, the latter furnishing $500 more and set- ting up a store in Ravenna, which proved a " paying" business. He was a partner with Alison Kent in Canfield and with Roswell Kent in Middlebury. He retired from business about 1825, and is remembered as a close bargainer, strictly honest and successful in business. In 1812, the business circle of Hudson received a valuable accession in the Baldwin brothers. Pomeroy Baldwin, after the death of his father, came to Hudson in 1811, to look after the prop- erty the family owned here. He remained but a short time, and returned to his home in Goshen in company with Mr. Hudson. The

journey was made in a " pung" sleigh, with conveniently shaped roots as runners. In the following year, Augustus and Frederick came to Hudson, arriving on the 12th of June, bring- ing with them Dudley Humphrey, who had shipped a lot of boots and shoes as a specula- tion. The Baldwins proposed to open up a business in dry goods, and all the goods were shipped from Buffalo, whither they had brought them with two teams. Seventeen days were consumed in reaching Buffalo from Goshen. The distance from the former place to Cat- taraugus Creek, thirty-two miles, was accom- plished in a single day, which was con- sidered a remarkable event. Their store was built near the site of C. H. Buss' present store, and, in 1827, they put up that building. The character of the early trade may be imagined ; cotton cloth, three-quarters of a yard wide, sold for 50 cents ; 75 cents for the yard-wide cloth. At that rate, it took three days' work to buy a shirt. The Baldwins built Mechanics' Hall about 1830. This was a frame building, placed in the rear of where Buss' store now stands, and, in accordance with the original plan of the founders of the town, was occupied by the me- chanics of the place. Here was the shop of the shoe-maker, the tailor and cabinet-maker, " to their majesties," the popular sovereigns of Hud- son. This formal arrangement did not last long, and each workman was soon found where

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HUDSON TOWNSHIP.

inclination or favorable circumstances suggested to him. Before this, the tanners were shoe and harness makers as well, and it was the custom to "cat whip it " throughout the community, i. e., the workman went to each family with his kit of tools, and worked up the leather which each provident citizen provided for the family, shoes and such harness as he needed. Among the early blacksmiths were Treat (who after- ward went to Aurora), Ruggles, Perley Mansur, and Hinsdale who came here in 1814. The Baldwin brothers changed the members of the firm several times, one brother and another re- tiring until they were succeeded by J. H. Craw- ford & Co., who gave way to Hillis & James, whom Mr. Buss followed in occupying the store. Mr. Augustus Baldwin went to Franklin Mills in 1836, to engage in the banking business, and his brother Frederick to farming in Hudson.

In 1830, A. A. Brewster came from Ravenna and opened a store in a building which has since been enlarged and used by Mr. Farwell as a blacksmith-shop. Soon afterward he moved into a building on the corner of Main and Au- rora streets, where the present brick building was erected. Mr. Brewster first began business here in partnership with Zenas Kent, of Ra- venna, the latter being represented solely by his capital. Mr. Kent came to Hudson in the spring of 1814, and settled on Darrow street. He came, it is said, with his wife, in a one- horse peddling wagon, bringing in some goods. He worked the first summer at the carpenter's trade, and in the winter taught school. In the following fall he went to Ravenna and opened up business with Oviatt, where he amassed con- siderable property, buying out his partner and conducting the business alone for years. In 1833, he reciprocated the interest of Oviatt, and induced Mr. Brewster to come to Hudson under a similar arrangement. The latter pur- chased Mr. Kent's interest, and, in 1855, ad- mitted D. D. Beebe as partner, who eventually succeeded to full control and still conducts the business. About the same time with the com- ing of Kent & Brewster came Hamlin & Dawes, which changed later to firm name of Hamlin & Ellsworth, and then to Ellsworth & Buss, and, finally, to John Buss alone. Mr. Buss came to Hudson in 1833, to attend college, but, his health failing, he went South. Returning, he entered the store of Kent & Brewster, and, about 1841, entered into business with Ellsworth in the

present old bakery building. While here the firm changed to Buss & Bond ; and, in 1845, Mr. Buss bought the store where his son, C. H. Buss, succeeded him in the business, which he still continues. The only attempt at banking in Hudson was by Mr. Brewster, who furnished facilities for collection and discount of commer- cial paper in connection with his dry goods business. He continued it only a few years.

Up to 1851, Hudson's only means of commu- nication with the outside world was such as the dirt roads afforded. and these for a large part of the year were nearly impassable for light ve- hieles, not to mention heavy-ladened wagons. Yet, in spite of these disadvantages incident to an inland town, the village gradually increased in size and importance, and the projected rail- road from Cleveland to Pittsburgh, which was agitated some time previous to 1851, did much to increase its prosperity. The first charter granted for this road expired by limitation, be- cause it was not used ; but, in 1846, it was re- newed. The people of Hudson took a great interest in this movement, and subscriptions were made to the extent of the people's ability, Judge Sylvester H. Thompson being one of the commissioners appointed on behalf of the State. In 1850, the road was finished to this place, and the people and the members of the Legislature received the first train in Hudson with great rejoicings in 1850. The business men and citi- zens of all classes became enthusiastic over the future prospects of the village, and an enter- prise was at once put on foot to construet another line of railroad, one that should connect New York with Omaha direct. The plan was to combine a number of separate lines through New York and Pennsylvania to the Ohio line. From this point, it was proposed to build the Clinton Air Line along the line surveyed years before for the Clinton Canal, to Hudson. The plan further proposed an "extension " west from this village to Toledo, and one to Omaha. During this movement, the " Akron Branch" of the Pittsburgh road was completed to Akron, and Hudson seemed right in the direct line of preferment. The Clinton Air Line was par- ticularly a Hudson enterprise, and some $200,- 000 were subscribed in stock, and some of the citizens prominent on the Board of Directors. The work was pushed with vigor, and some $18,000 expended on the road-bed in this town- ship.

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HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

This activity in railroad matters stimu- lated business circles in the little village into a perfect frenzy of speculation. Henry N. Day, who came to Hudson as a Professor in the col- lege, and who had some capital, went into business, and put up the Pentagon at a cost of $18,000, in 1849-50. It was occupied by Sawyer, Ingersoll & Co., Mr. Day constituting the " company." This firm launched into the

publishing business on the broadest scale. The town was known as an intellectual center, and a paper of considerable influence had been pub- lished here for years, and the firm proposed to build up a large publishing house. All branches of the business were undertaken, and proved successful so long as they confined their atten- tion to jobbing. Ambitious, however, to gain a reputation as publishers, they began to publish on their own account, and soon found their capital locked up in unprofitable books. The firm then changed hands, and D. Marshall & Co. took the business. The change brought no increase of capital to the concern, and it soon changed to the Hudson Book Company, which finally made an assignment. In the west part of the building, J. W. Smith & Co. opened a dry goods store about the same time, Prof. Day and Jeremiah Day, of New York City, forming the company. This firm, possessed by the same spirit of peculation, expanded their operations to the fullest extent, trusting to the realizations of the future to justify their risks. In the meanwhile, large accessions to the popu- lation of the village were attracted, and every house was crowded. Rents and property were high, and the demand was for more houses. At this juncture, a planing mill and lumber company was formed to cater to this demand for more buildings. Smith was the prime mover in this enterprise, and the business was planned on a large scale. A $10,000 stock of lumber was secured, houses were built for everybody on easy terms, and the village bid fair to become a city on the strength of railroad promises. All this business activity exacted a large expendi- ture of money, and far in excess of what the persons engaged in the operations possessed. But they had friends who were easily convinced that the future of Hudson was assured, and readily advanced large sums of money. In ad- dition to this outlay, the promoters of these projects were also deeply interested in the suc- cess of the Clinton Air Line Railroad, and were

subscribers to a large amount, as were most of the moneyed citizens.

All this activity and expenditure was crowd- ed into the space of some five or six years, and, before that time had elapsed, the suspicion began to be entertained that neither the pres- ent nor future of the village warranted this extravagant outlay of capital. Public faith in the final completion of the new railroad began to waver, the terrible strain upon the authors of this artificial business activity began to be observed, and the whole commercial fabric of the village, like a great wall tottering to its fall, seemed about to end in a crash. The end soon came, as it might have been foreseen, perhaps, from the beginning. There was one assignment after another, until not only was all of the overestimated business wiped out, but all business received such a shock as to re- quire several years to rally. The lumber com- pany suspended with $35,000 liabilities, and J. W. Smith, who was active in all these enter- prises, retired with $100,000 liabilities and $80,000 nominal assets. On the heels of all this came the realization of the worst fore- bodings of the Clinton Railroad, involving not only a loss of all subscriptions, but a liability for an equal amount in addition. Fortunately, by the misplacement of some records, the Hud- son subscribers escaped from the full penalty of their enterprise in this matter, or the whole business community would have been finan- cially annihilated. Belonging to this period, though in no way connected with the movers in other enterprises, were J. C. Snyder and I. C. Dowd, produce merchants, who, attracted by the business activity of the village, linked their fortunes with the place. The latter built a warehouse near the depot, and both did con- siderable business, but, in the end, they only served to swell the general disaster. Tall- madge & Jaynes' grist-mill, built on the Brandywine Creek, where the Cleveland & Pittsburgh road crosses the stream, was built in 1852 or 1853. Though suffering in the general depression, it did not cease altogether. It changed into the hands of a Mr. Wilson, and after an existence of some ten or twelve years was destroyed by fire.

Singularly enough, in this prostration of business are found the beginning of some of the largest enterprises of the present. After a tedious litigation, the planing-mill property fell

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into the hands of Osborne, Dunham & Co., who fitted it up and manufactured the Buckeye Land Roller, and, later, with Benjamin Wheel- ock, manufactured chairs. The business did not prove successful, and the property came into the hands of Mr. Wheelock alone, and, in the fall of 1873, Jacob Miner put in two run of stone, and fitted it up for milling purposes, taking a share in the whole property. Through Wheelock's business embarrassment, the prop- erty once more fell into the hands of the law and the Sheriff. It has finally become the property of A. R. Hurd. It has since been improved by the addition of two new run of stone and otherwise improved to the capacity of fifty barrels per day. It is rented by the Hudson Mill Company, and does a large cus- tom business, filling any spare time on a light jobbing trade which they have fallen into rather than built up.

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History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 78

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