History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 90

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 90

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Dentist-A. B. Curtiss.

Dress Making-Mrs. Charles Dow, Mrs. Alice Dow, Miss Hurley.

Druggists-F. S. Ileath & Co., H. F. Bannard. Dry Goods-I. A. Mather, O. B. Beebe & Co., Groves, Quilty & Co.

Furniture-S. Brown.

Grocers-A. Patterson, J. H. Byrne, P. L. Norton, Isaac Lewis & Son, L. D. Williams,

Jones Brothers, G. L'Hommedieu, J. L'Hom- medieu.

Harness and Saddles-Ezra Saxe, H. Avery. Job Printing-E. O. Knox, F. H. Duffy.

Livery Stables-C. H. & W. Moon, A. L. Gilbert, Jr., W. M. Post.

Lumber-Harvey Snyder.

Marble Works-Wiemer Brothers.

Meat Markets-S. D. Tifft, Andrew Porter, Briese & Martin.

Restaurant-G. Bitterman.

Merchant Tailor-Augustus Seidshlag.

Millinery-George A. Brock, Annie Don- nelly.

Photographer-Henry L. Shumway.

Physicians-T. F. Heath, G. C. Upson, W.

S. Hongh, A. H. Bill, H. W. Carter. Undertaker-S. Brown.

Wagon Makers-Clayton & Reid, Allen & Co.

Watches, Clocks and Jewelry-O. B. Carr, C. M. Hibbard.

House and Sign Painters-Alfred Letts, Sames Hogarth.

Insurance Agents-William Southmayd, W.

A. Hanford, Dr. T. F. Heath, A. H. Bill.

Village Express-W. M. Griswold.

Barbers-David Berkhimer, L. W. Boys, H. W. Johns, F. Ransom.

Blacksmiths-Joseph Jones, S. Loveland, H. McKay.

Crockery and Glass Ware-L. W. Loomis.

Stoves and Tinware-G. J. Parks, L. W. Loomis.

Coopers-Jacob Weidner, Andrew Schmidt, David Hawn.

Hardware-G. J. Parks.

Hotels-Perry House, Bouys House, Glen House.

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NORTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP.

CHAPTER XVIII .*

NORTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP - ITS EARLY HISTORY - PHYSICAL FEATURES-COMING OF THE WHITES-INCIDENTS-PIONEER INDUSTRIES-RELIGIOUS-EDU-

CATIONAL-STATISTICS, ETC.

N ORTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP comprises twenty-five square miles of territory, and was included in an immense grant by King Charles II of England, in A. D. 1665, to the State of Connecticut, of which a large portion now comprises the State of Ohio. All that portion of the grant not included in the State of Con- necticut was, in 1786, released to the United States, except that included in the following boundary : North by the parallel of 42º 2', east by the western line of Pennsylvania, south by forty-first degree of north latitude, and west by a line 82° 55', west longitude. This tract, the " Connecticut Western Reserve," was laid off into townships five miles square, and numbered from south to north, beginning on the forty-first de- gree north as a base, and the ranges to succeed each other by increasing numbers westward. the Pennsylvania line being taken as a starting point. Northampton, being fifty miles west from Pennsylvania and ten miles north from the forty-first parallel, took its place as Range 11 and Town 3. That portion of Northampton lying east of the Cuyahoga River was held and occupied by the Indian tribes till the treaty of Fort McIntosh, in 1785, when it was ceded by them to the United States, and in May, 1801, the State of Connecticut also ceded to the United States its jurisdiction over this territo- ry, and the President, John Adams, by patent, conveyed it back to the Governor for the use of the grantees of that State. Thus the title was passed from the Indians and through the sev- eral Governments, to secure its validity, and was then sold by the State of Connecticut to what was known as the Connecticut Land Com- pany, which secured to them about four mill- ion acres, at a cost of $1,200,000, averaging 30 cents per acre. This company then con- veyed its title to the lands to John Morgan, Jonathan Brace and John Caldwell, to hold in trust for the proprietors, and they lived to sell or dispose of all the land, and thus closed their

trust. Those wishing to purchase would pay over their money and take certificates, which were numbered and drawn by lottery, but the book of drafts, in which the account of these drawings was kept, is not received as legal evi- dence, yet it is upon this that all the titles to lands are based, as shown by the records of our Trumbull County. In this Book of Drafts is found Town 3, Range 11 (Northampton), as the seventeenth draft, and thus passed to the own- ership of W. Billings, Oliver P. Holden, Solo- mon Stodard, Jr., John Stodard, Daniel Wright, Joseph Pratt, Luther Loomis, David King, John Levitt, Jr., Ebenezer King, Jr., Timothy Phelps and Fidelio King.

This township was first ineluded within the limits of Washington County, with its seat of justice at Marietta. It afterward belonged to Jefferson County, with its county seat at Steu- benville, next to Trumbull County, erected in the year 1800, with its Court of Quarter Ses- sions (similar to our Common Pleas), under the Territorial Governor, St. Clair, located in War- ren. It next passed, in 1808, under the juris- diction of Portage County, with county-seat at Ravenna, and finally became one of the sixteen townships of Summit County, in 1840, with its seat of justice at Akron.

The outline boundary of Northampton as other townships along the Cuyahoga River, was completed by a surveying party of thirteen men sent out from Connecticut in 1797, but its re- survey into quarter-section lots was made by a party under John Stodard some time after, and it is said that, in their journey to this place, they bought at Buffalo a 15-gallon keg of French brandy to be used in the work, which may ac- count for the irregular lines and erroneous metes and bounds in the survey. As the brandy be- came exhausted before the township was com- pleted, part of the men were sent back for a fresh supply, and while they were absent, those remaining put in their time laying out a village plat in the northeast corner of Lot 26, now

* Contributed by William Prior.

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HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

owned by James Harrington and Amos L. Rice. This was a " village on paper," nothing more. The lots of this township were numbered from north to south, commencing on the east side, and were intended to contain 160 acres each, but owing to causes before referred to, and per- haps some others, they frequently overrun from 5 to 40 acres, while others fell short. The south tier of lots were of full length, but only a few rods in width, and were called a " gore."

Of the aboriginal six nations occupying ter- ritory east of the Cuyahoga River, the fierce and warlike tribe of Tawas controlled Northamp- ton, except that part west of the river, which was occupied by the remnant of Mingoes, of whom the celebrated Logan had been chief, with their town near the west line of the town- ship, and a fort and earthwork for defense just over in Bath. Within a radius of half a mile are numerous mounds as large as fifty or sixty feet in circumference, and from five to ten feet high, which are overgrown with large trees. Another fortification opposite this, and on the east side of the river containing one-half an acre, is in the center of a cultivated field, and now nearly obliterated by the frequent turnings of the plowshare. Another is at a place where Hales and Furnace run from the west, with banks nearly a hundred feet high, approach so closely as to form a sliding ridge, so that but one person can be admitted at a time, thence diverging to several rods in width, terminating in banks too high for ascent. In this plat are holes arranged in a square, and about ten feet from each other, which seem to have been used for cisterns or store-rooms, and are nearly filled with dirt. To the south of this and near its narrowest point are the remains of a breast- work over eighty feet in length, with an inside moat. The engineering skill displayed in the location and construction of these fortifications for defense, is unquestionably of a high order for savages. In the forest near where Yellow Creek crosses under the canal, is an extensive Indian or pre-historie burying-ground, covered with full-grown trees, and from its numerous graves must have been the final resting-place of an immense population. Specimens of earth- ern dishes have been taken from their graves, but the early date of the ancient race that peo- pled these regions is lost and forgotten. We have evidences of existence, which proves they were numerous and the fortifications show their

warlike character. Their burial mounds hand down to coming generations an evidence that they wished to perpetuate a memory of names and deeds. But of that nothing now remains. " Their history is unwritten and they themselves forgotten and unknown."

It was to these fortifications in Northampton that, in the summer of 1780, Capt. Samuel Brady, commander of a company of rangers from Chartier Creek, Penn., pursued a band of warriors who had crossed over into that State, committing depredations, murder and plunder. Retreating back to their defenses, they here received the attack, when a fierce and bloody battle ensued. With forces largely outnum- bering his own, they defeated him and put his men to flight. Singling out Brady and leaving all the rest, he was hotly pursued till he arrived at the Cuyahoga River in Franklin, just north of where the bridge now stands, on the Ravenna road. Here, to hem him in, they closed round, and with loud shouts of triumph they thought their prisoner safe. Perpendicular rocks here form both banks of the river, with a chasm twenty-two feet across. With a bound impelled by the energy of despair and the certainty of death for failure, he cleared the abyss and gained the opposite bank, and, while his pursuers were hunting a place to cross, he ran to a little lake, called " Brady's Lake " to this day, and sunk his body under the surface of the water, where he remained, breathing through a hollow weed, until his enemies abandoned the search, when he made his escape.

A celebrated Tawa chieftain lived here, called by the Indians Stig-wan-ish, and, by the whites, Seneca. He was a fine athletic speci- men, tall, dignified, and of pleasing address ; could swing a robe over his shoulders as grace- fully as an oriental prince. In youth, he had been addicted to habits of intemperance, and, in a drunken tantrum, had attempted to kill his squaw, but, missing her, sunk his tomahawk into the head of his favorite papoose, which was lashed to her back. This sobered him, and he afterward drank only cider and wine very sparingly. Stigwanish was civil and friendly, had two beautiful squaws for wives, and lived in his wigwam until the whites built him a block-house on the river to protect him from his enemies. Indians remained here on friendly terms with the whites, except when

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crazed with " fire-water," until 1812, when on the breaking-out of war, they joined the Brit- ish. Only five of them ever after returned, and those formed a camp in the great bend of the river, where Capt. Mills, of Portage Coun- ty, with his Indian haters and hunters, at- tacked and fired upon them in the night, killing four of the five. The other one escaped, and was the " last of the Tawas " in Northampton.

Indian Wilson was notorious for drunken- ness, and when in that condition was ugly. Returning one day from Hudson, where he got " cockazy," as the Indians called it, he stopped in a house where he found a woman and two little children alone. Seizing them by the hair, he flourished his scalping-knife as if in- tending to take their scalps, and, after fright- ening them to his heart's content, left. Soon after, came in Williams, who was brought up at Indian Wheeling. He was without educa- tion, and the only things he had ever learned thoroughly were to love his gun and hate the Indian. This Williams called at that house soon after the Indian left, and, hearing the woman's story, he went out with his gun, and the Indian was not heard from for years, when Williams owned to having shot him as he was crossing the marsh stream on a log, from which he fell, and Williams then pushed him down into the soft muck far as he could reach with his gun. Another one of a similar ugly disposition lived in this township, who fre- quently boasted of his success in killing pale- faces. The ninety-nine notches cut in the handle of his tomahawk represented, he said, the number he had scalped and killed, but he would not feel satisfied till one more was add- ed. He, too, " came up missing," and Williams used to say significantly that some one else wou'd have to cut the hundredth notch for the Indian himself.

The eastern part of this township is gently rolling or level, while the western is very broken and hilly with deep ravines coursing their way down to the Cuyahoga River, which flows across the whole breadth of the township from south to north in a line nearly parallel with its western boundary. Intersected by the eastern line is Mud Brook Pond from which a stream, by the same name flows south, then southwest, across that corner of the township, and becomes a tributary to the river at Old Portage. The soil along the river valley is exceeding rich and

fertile, producing crops of corn equal to any other lands of Ohio, but some portions of the uplands are sterile. The most valuable timber is oak, of which the forests produced the great- est abundance and of excellent quality. The other varieties were beech, maple, hickory, ash and elm, with more limited quantities of black- walnut, butternut and whitewood.

Northampton at its settlement was a dense wilderness peopled only by Indians, and in- fested with wild animals. The first white man who settled here was Simeon Prior, with his wife and ten children. They were from West- field River, near Northampton, Mass., and landed at Cleveland, from an open boat, in July, 1802, the year Ohio was admitted as a State into the Union. Cleveland was then but a hamlet of log cabins. Mr. Prior then came to Hudson which had been settled two years earlier. He left the family here until the new home was hunted up in the woods. A log cabin was built on east part of Lot 25, in Northi- ampton, and in August the family moved in. Simeon Prior purchased 400 acres, of which one lot-No. 19-is still owned by his descend- ants and heirs. Lot 33, now owned by D. G. Myers, was also a part of this original pur- chase. Their nearest neighbors were at Hud- son, six miles distant, with no roads, no con- veniences, no comforts ; they were compelled to be self-reliant and dependent on their own resources. Meal made from corn pounded fine on a stump, was the material from which bread was made mixed with water, salted and baked on a split shingle before the open fire. Their meat was the flesh of deer, bears and turkeys killed in the woods; their clothing from flax, grown upon the farm, worked up into cloth, and all of which was done by different mem- bers of the family. Linen and tow-cloth were the domestic staple products, but for winter wear buckskin moccasins, pants and jackets were used until in after years when sheep could be protected from the wolves, and woolen cloth was manufactured by the family. After settlement had become more general, a large, two-story hewed-log house was built, which was used for a hotel for the accommonation of travelers. A blacksmith-shop was also built and furnished with tools and stock brought here with their household goods.

On this farm Simeon Prior lived till his de- cease, in 1837, at the age of eighty-two. The

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family becoming of age, dispersed and settled in different places. The oldest daughter, Sarah, married Joseph Darrow, of Darrow street, a prominent surveyor at that time. William, the oldest son, went south to Chillicothe, the first State capital, where he purchased a farm, but soon sold it and returned to Northampton. He married Sarah Wharton, of Indian Wheeling, in Virginia, and lived in Northampton till his death in 1872, at the age of ninety. David bought a farm in Stow Township, where he lived for many years, but sold out and went to Missouri where he died. Gurden, the last sur- viving member of the family, sold his farm here, a part of the old original homestead, and moved to Iowa, where he now lives in comfort on the divide between the two great waters, the Missouri and Mississippi. The first marriage lisense issued in Portage County, was for one of the daughters, Polly, who married Eben Kennedy. Erastus and Pinkney also moved West and died in Iowa. Jerusha, Eliza, Judith and Elisha remained, lived and died in Summit County.

The next family moving into this township was that of David Parker, from Hartford, Conn. His residence was at the foot of the hill where the Smith road now comes down into the val- ley. He built the first saw-mill on the Yellow Creek, in Northampton, and, soon after its com- pletion, took malarial fever and died. His son, Richard E. Parker, now of Akron, was the first white male child born in Northampton, at the date of March 9, 1811.

In 1809, Samuel King moved in with his family, settling at Old Portage, where he pur- chased a farm and built a tavern and store, and embarked in many useful enterprises. He reared a family of eight children, some of whom filled places of honor, trust and responsibility. While the canal was building, Ambrose King, a son, held the office of Constable, and, with a warrant, went to arrest an Irish laborer for some offense, and found him in an unfinished lock-pit above Old Portage, in company with a gang of other workmen, who, when ascertaining King's business, refused to permit the arrest, surrounded him, threatening to take his life. Armed with picks, spades and cudgels, they cornered him in the lock. With only a horse- pistol for defense, he warned them to desist ; but, instead, they made a charge when he fired, the ball striking one of them on his rib, glanc-

ing off without inflicting a serious wound. Being very active, he sprang up the steep bank and ran for his life; was followed, overtaken, knocked down and beaten with clubs until sup- posed to be dead. His friends hearing of the affray sent a wagon for him, put him in it, and started for Akron, followed by the workmen, with threats and imprecations. Meeting a physician, they halted, while an examination was made, and King was pronounced yet alive. " Then," shouted an excited Irishman standing by, " we will kill him yet," striking a blow at his head with a long club, but the horses were frightened and started off, and the blow missed its mark. Then the furious laborer turned upon a German standing by, and, with a sweep- ing blow of his club, struck him on the head, from which he fell as though shot. He was left with the Irish and never seen again. It was supposed they buried him secretly at night in the canal bed, where he could not be found. This aroused indignation and vengeance to its highest pitch. Next day the military company was called out, armed with rifles and ammuni- tion ; a bottle of whisky was passed round, and a battle and bloodshed were imminent. Just then a rider came dashing up, his horse covered with dust and foam. He was a con- tractor, and had just heard of the difficulty, and asked for time to hold a consultation with his employes, hoping to induce a surrender without resistance. He rode down, found them intrenched for defense, and explained what folly it would be to resist; that every man would be shot down, if necessary, to make the arrest. They laid down their weapons, surren- dered and were marched to Middlebury for safe keeping, where the military stood guard till the trial and conviction of their leader. As King recovered, the penalty was not very severe, and peace was again restored.

The first hamlet in Northampton Township was old Portage, on the Cuyahoga River, near the southern boundary. This was the head of navigation on this stream, and the northern terminus of the "carry" between the Cuya- hoga and Tuscarawas Rivers. It was a recog- nized landmark in the western boundary line of the United States in the treaty of Ft. McIn- tosh in 1798. This place became famous as a trading-post for both whites and Indians before and after the building of the Ohio and Erie Canal. Some time before the war of 1812, a

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Frenchman moved in these to carry on a traffic with the Indians. He used to sell them "fire-water " till they got drunk, then reduce with river water till they would drink them- selves sober. Then they would say, "Indian get too much Cuyahog-guh," and he would have to make it strong again. In weighing out powder and lead to them he used to put his hand on the scales, saying it weighed just a pound. This Frenchman used to indulge in some ugly traits by beating and flogging his wife, who was a half-breed Indian. The other squaws would interfere to save her from such punishment, but she would beg of them to let her alone, "for," she said, "it was so good making up again she really enjoyed the quarrel."

After the canal was built, it was for a time called Booth's Port, after Birdsey Booth, a surveyor, and some goods shipped here were so directed, but the old name has been retained. It was said to be not an unusual occurrence for a hundred or so of teams to be seen there at one time engaged in receiving and transporting overland the goods and merchandise shipped by canal for places as far east as Canfield and Warren, south for Canton and Massillon, and west as far as Medina.

Robert Thompson, in 1813, purchased Lot No. 24, now owned by William Viall, Esq. He raised a large family and after partly clearing up the farm, sold and moved on to the west half of Lot No. 23, where he lived till his death. Part of this place is yet owned and occupied by his son, Amos Thompson. Robert Thomp- son was a shoemaker by trade. and, in the early times, it was customary for the tailor, harness- maker and shoemaker to go round from house to house, boarding with the families, while making up a supply of such goods as needed. Mr. Thompson used to make himself, while on his mission, interesting to his customers by the odd and funny stories he knew so well how to relate, emphasizing the jokes by a sharp bat of his hammer on the sole of some unfinished shoe. Barclay Hogue was a harness-maker who used to go round in the same way, carrying his awls and clamps with him, and many a broad " back- band" hung in the stables for years as relics of that old and easy style. Jesse Ellis was an- other early settler, and, besides hunting and fishing, his chief occupation was burning lime. His wife was the daughter of a wealthy, proud

and aristocratic family in Canada, and their en- gagement being opposed by her parents, she eloped with Jesse, and married at the age of fourteen. They reared a family of twenty children, the first being born when the mother was fifteen and the last at sixty-five. She is still living, at the age of eighty-one, in Kent County, Mich., where her husband died in March, 1879, aged one hundred. Abel Vallen was one of the first to settle on the uplands west of the river, where he purchased a large tract in Lots 4, 5 and 6. John George Bot- zum located on the north half of Lot 76. He was a Prussian, from Luxembourg, and recol- lected distinctly hearing the cannonading at the battle of Waterloo.

Walter Waite purchased a large tract in Lot 71, where he built a house and set an or- chard, the trees of which are standing yet, and the fruit is enjoyed by his children's children. The settlers in the northern and eastern parts of the township were the families of Burrill Viall, William Hill, Benjamin Templeton (a singing-master), William McLoney, John Cow- ick, David Billman, H. Chase, the two Dieker- son families, Jacob Bonesteel, John Everett, George Richardson, Eli Benedict and John Sapp. Nearer the center were Thomas Owens, Adam Galloway, John Best, Samuel Hart, Reese Jones, Franklin Carr, C. Davidson. Dr. Rogers, the Coulters, Tibbets, Porters, Lehman Bear, Sweitzer Fike, Frank Penfield and Dean. The Job Harrington farm, Lot 26, was first settled on by Thomas Vanhyning, who built his house on the east side of State road, where it is crossed by the center road going east. The spring of water used was the one near where Alvin Kelso now lives. Lot 14 was settled by Thomas M. Turner, of New York, who left that city the day after the landing and reception of La Fayette, on his last visit to America. The impressions made by that grand pageant were not forgotten by Mr. Turner while he lived. The old home farm is now owned by his son, Thomas M. Turner. Daniel Turner settled on Lot 29, and built his house on the low ground between the hills, and planted an apple or- chard around it, of which many trees yet re- main. William Carter. a brick-mason. settled on a farm adjoining. He built the brick block in Franklin, now known as the Kent Alpaca Mills. Henry Billman and George T. Uher took farms along the road farther west, toward

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Portage. Nathaniel Hardy purchased a large farın on the Cuyahoga River, which is yet owned by his sons. Austin Black, who was the last of the early pioneers in Northampton, bought Lot 37, the east half of which he spent a life of toil in clearing up, and in the full pos- session of which he died in 1880. Many others, who came at a later date are not mentioned here.

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History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 90

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