History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 94

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 94

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It will be seen that the Monroes became the owners of about all the business enterprises in the village in 1836. These men threw a vast (leal of energy and capital into their gigantic undertaking, and deserved a better financial fate than they were compelled to suffer. They soon found that they had miscalculated. But few artisans and no capitalists came to their relief. Instead of rising in value, the property depreciated from the price fixed by the Mon- roe purchase. The proprietors had encoun- tered large expense. They tore down the grist- mill and the saw-mill, and erected larger and better ones. The saw-mill was located on the north side of the river, and the grist-mill on the south side, the reverse of what had for- merly been. The latter mill was established further down the river, and a long race, coming from the dam, supplied it with water-power. After struggling some ten years with their un- dertaking, the Monroe Brothers, seeing that they had failed and had lost large sums of money, gradually went out of business. Their "promises to pay" were not fulfilled, and many others besides themselves lost quite heavily. The property, or the most of it, fell

into the hands of Oliver Brown, or, as some say, into the hands of William Cartright. At least. both men at different times owned the mills, and it may be that others also, at times. owned an interest in them previous to their be- ing purchased by the Cleveland Paper Com- pany. The saw-mill was owned by various parties, as was also the grist-mill. E. P. Willis sold goods in the village about the time of the Monroe purchase. Others have followed the mercantile pursuit at different times. A small hotel was built on the canal in early years. Phillip North, in about the year 1842, was en- gaged in manufacturing hoes-cutting the me- tallic portions from plates of iron or steel, and furnishing them with handles. Luther Loomis conducted an excellent store for many years. Charles Reed has a small store at present. In 1866, the grist-mill was purchased by the Cleveland Paper Company. It was fitted up with the apparatus necessary for the manufact- ure of paper ; but after a year or two was burned to the ground, whereupon the present commodious building was erected on the same site. Under the superintendeney of Mr. Hall, there has been manufactured an average of three tons of paper each day. About thirty employes are kept constantly at work, and the village, at present, is populated almost wholly by the families of these workmen. All the coarser varieties of paper are manufactured. Many other things might be said about Monroe Falls, but enough has been given to exhibit its general growth and decay.

It must be noted that other industries arose than those in the two villages in the township. Henry Wilcox owned and operated a saw mill on Mud Brook as early as 1820, JJosiah Starr having built it a year or two before. The ' Bryan Mill " was started quite early, and con- tinued many years. There was also an excel- lent saw-mill on Fish Creek at an early day. Many others have been conducted at different times. In about the year 1819, Mr. Thorndyke, son of a wealthy merchant of Boston, Mass., opened a general store on Lot 14. After a short time, the store was moved to Lot 12 ; but, at the expiration of two or three years, the enterprise was abandoned, and the building was used by the Methodists as a house of worship. After the first settlers had opened up the township, and greatly modified the hardships to be under- gone, improvements went on rapidly. Capital

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STOW TOWNSHIP.

sought investment, and, erelong, Stow could boast of a population as large and as enlightened in general knowledge as it can at present. A much larger portion of the land was covered with forest than now, and the roads and streams were in a very unsatisfactory condition. In the year 1837, there occurred one of those circling tornadoes, which occasionally strike the earth, spreading death and destruction in their course. It visited the township on the 20th of October, about 3 o'clock in the morning, strik- ing the earth first, in the western part, near the center road, and thence passing a trifle north of east, until it reached about the center of the township, when it either spent itself, or arose above the tops of the trees. The force of the wind must have been terrific, as large trees were snapped off like pipe-stems, and carried bodily several yards from the stump. Those who heard its approach, knew from the awful roar that was mingled with the crash of falling trees, that something unusual and dreadful was in the air. Its pathway had an average width of about forty rods, and, though its course lay through the heaviest timber, not a tree was left standing ; but all were heaped in tangled and promiscuous confusion. It was accompanied with almost incessant flashes of vivid lightning and volleys of the deepest thunder, and the rain came down in angry torrents. It struck Cochran Pond, and very likely carried up large quantities of water. The residence of Frederick Sandford was torn into a thousand fragments, and the frightened inmates carried aloft in the air. The two sons, Charles and Norman, aged respectively twenty-five and eighteen years, were both killed and terribly bruised. Mr. Sandford's jaw was broken, as was also his thigh, in two places. He was alive when found, but died in a few hours, without recovering the use of his mind. Mrs. Collins, the mother of Mrs. Sandford, was also killed, while the latter, with the exception of a few bruises, was unin- jured. Mary, the daughter, aged about sixteen, was found lying insensible on a gate that had been wrenched from its hinges, and carried ten or twelve rods from the house. When found, she held in her hand a dress, which she was probably endeavoring to put on in the few ter- rible moments before the cloud struck the house. She was comparatively uninjured, and, after a spell of sickness, caused by the drenching rain, and the nervous shock accompanying so dire a

calamity, she fully recovered, and is yet living within a few rods of where the old house stood. The cloud passed on ; wrenched asunder Mr. Graham's new house ; carried off the roof of the one occupied by Dr. Wells ; crushed in the gable of the Barnes residence, pinning several members of the family fast until they were re- leased, and finally ended its mad freaks by un- roofing the Butler residence. The east and west road was filled with fallen timber. It must be understood that the last-mentioned houses were only on the edge of the course taken by the gyrating cloud. Had it been otherwise, the historian would have more deaths to record. A plow, that had been left in a field in an up- right position, though not in the ground, was plunged in to the depth of eighteen inches, and a furrow in the form of a semi-circle, whose diameter was about six feet, was thrown up, and the earth scattered six or eight feet around, after which the plow was thrown out of the ground with landside, mold-board, share and other portions of the plow twisted and broken. Fowls and birds were plucked entirely destitute of feathers, and killed. The bed upon which Mary Sandford had been sleeping, was found lodged in the top of a tree, thirty feet from the ground. An ox-cart was blown thirty rods. Articles belonging to the house were picked up several miles away ; among these was a small purse of money. Quite a number of domestic animals were killed or mangled.

The first house in Stow Corners was built as early as 1806, by Ezra Wyatt, and was a small log building, located on the southwest corner of Lot 36. Within the next two years, three or four others were erected. Stephen Perkins built on the northwest corner of Lot 26, on a small tract of five acres which he owned there. Caleb Wetmore built soon afterward, as did also Titus Wetmore a few months later. The last named built a double log house for the pur- pose (as stated by one of his descendants) of furnishing a dancing-hall for the neighbor- hood. Samuel Baker lived near by, and was a blacksmith by trade. the first in the township. Several other residences were erected in the village, but no store was opened until abont the year 1820, when a man named Johnson placed a small stock of goods in the Wyatt log house, which, a number of years before, had been fitted up by Erastus Southmayd for a tavern. Lyman Beckley soon got possession

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HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

of the building, using it for a tavern. He was succeeded by Allen Nickerson, who, in about 1843, transferred the property to Gen. Gross The latter kept the most disreputable place ever in the township. It was a resort for the lewd and vicious, and was a disgrace to the neighborhood. The old building was discard- ed many years ago, and a new one erected. Dr. Sweeney owned and conducted the tavern for a number of years. It has since changed hands several times, and is at present owned by C. E. Kidney, who has a small stock of liquors, which he vends to convivial spirits. It is styled the Cliff House. Mr. Gross kept a few goods for sale, as did also a man named Edmunds. Enoch Brainard conducted a tan- nery for some four years, beginning in 1842. A few other industries have arisen in the vil- lage at different times.

Knowledge obtained of the early schools is exceedingly limited. Recollection, upon which the historian largely depends, is erratic and treacherous. Traditions are vague, improba- ble and unsatisfactory. No one in the past has taken the trouble to gather crumbs of information for the intellectual appetite of coming generations. It has been a matter of no pecuniary interest or advantage, and has been studiously omitted from the curriculum of pursuits. The plodding details of agricult- ure have been far more attractive, for therein was seen the glitter of gold. The historian casts his hook in the Stream of Time; it is swept backward ; a strange sensation is felt along the line ; a sudden effort is made, and a · few quivering minnows of information are thrown upon the shores of the Present. Mrs. (Walker) Lappin, of Boston, says that the first school in Stow was taught in the northeast corner, in the cabin of William Walker, as early as the winter of 1806-07. A young Vir- ginian, named Dennis Ryan, who had just come into the township, and who was decidedly averse to chopping all day in the woods for a pittance, made the effort, and succeeded in get- ting a sufficient number of scholars subscribed to insure him something more than a living. The term was three months in length, and the subscription per scholar was $1.50. The teacher boarded around, and probably cleared the greater share of his wages. About fifteen scholars were enrolled, quite a number of whom came from the southern part of Hudson

Township. Samuel Burnett had built a log cabin in the northern part in about the year 1805, but had vacated it some two years later, going no one knew whither. This building was appropriated for school purposes, and terms were taught there for several years, be- ginning in 1808. A man named Lowell taught here quite early. As near as can be learned, a schoolhouse was built in the vicinity of Stow Corners in about the year 1810, at which time the Burnett house mentioned above was aban- doned, and the children in the northern part sent to the former. It is possible that this building -the Wetmore Schoolhouse - was erected two or three years before 1810. It was located a short distance west of the present village site, and used until about 1816, when a frame building was erected, and located nearly south of where Josiah Wetmore's residence now stands. This house was used some twenty or twenty-five years, when the present one was constructed. The latter has been enlarged and remodeled until it resembles a newly-built schoolhouse. The first school building was erected at Monroe Falls in about the year 1816. Two other houses have succeeded it, each an improvement ou its predecessor. School was taught in the cabin of Mr. Rice, near the Center, by Emma Cannon, as early as 1810. In 1825, there were more schoolhouses in the township than the present number- eight. There were then at least nine, and very probably ten or eleven. The greater number were built of logs, and were rude, inconvenient, unattractive, cheerless affairs. Notwithstand- ing their gloomy, dismal surroundings, they were well attended, and were the basis of the splendid public school system of to-day. One important feature of the early schools should be noticed. Knowledge was not turned into scholars by a sort of pouring process. The teacher refused to afford any assistance save where the scholar, after patient and protracted study, could not succeed. The schoolhouse was not a playhouse ; it was a workhouse-a place where many a self-made man received his first insight of the hard labor that was before him. Erastus Southmayd was one of the early teachers at the Center. He taught many terms, and his reputation as a competent in- structor became widespread.

It is universally the case in the earlier his- tory of a township, that different religious de-

A Slotten

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COVENTRY TOWNSHIP.

nominations arose and prospered-some of them for short periods, and others until the present time. Owing to the fact that fine churches have been erected in Cuyahoga Falls aud Hudson, and are within a few miles of all parts (the farthest) of the township, a large portion of the citizens of Stow attend these, thus affording but little material upon which the historian of that township may work. For the first few years, the settlers went to Hudson to attend religious service. When Deacon But- ler came to the township in about the year 1806, he began forming a small class, which met regularly at his cabin. The meetings were conducted in pioneer fashion, and were full of enthusiasm. Local preachers from Hudson addressed the congregation occasionally, as did also itinerant preachers. Butler was a Presby- terian, and an entertaining speaker. The society used the schoolhouse. Among the early mem- bers were Stephen Butler, William Stow, John

Gaylord, Thomas Gaylord and their families, and others. They built a small frame church in about 1833, in which they continued to wor- ship with increasing numbers, until near 1843, when the Disciples got possession of the church, and the Presbyterians went to Cuyahoga Falls. This building was used until a few years ago, when the present structure was erected. The ahove is given on the authority of Josiah Wet- more. It is stated that a St. John's Church society was organized at Stow Corners in about the year 1818 ; that it grew and flourished, and was finally removed to Cuyahoga Falls, where it yet lives, well advanced in years, but with the vigor of youth in its limbs, if the figure may be indulged in. The church at the Cor- ners is the only one in the township ; but from this it should not be inferred that the citizens lack religious interest and zeal. They belong to churches in other townships.

CHAPTER XX .*

COVENTRY TOWNSHIP-DESCRIPTION AND PHYSICAL FEATURES-WHITE SETTLEMENT-GROWTH AND IMPROVEMENT -PIONEER REMINISCENCES -CHURCHES AND CHURCH BUILDINGS-EDUCATIONAL, ETC.

". The ax rang sharply 'mid those forest shades Which, from creation toward the sky Had tower'd in unshorn beauty." -Mrs. Sigourney.

T is difficult to realize, as we walk the streets of our beautiful towns and cities, and note the squares of solid blocks, the immense ware- houses, the busy mills, the ceaseless hum of a hundred factories, where the bulk of a busy population " gains its bread by the sweat of its brow," that scarcely a century ago these beau- tiful hills and valleys were peopled by wander- ing savages, and formed a part of one vast wil- derness, which gave no sign or promise of the multitudes of a strange race by which it is now peopled, or of the mighty developments in science and art which should make their lives so different from that of their rude predecessors.

Here the bold immigrant pitched his lonely tent and staked all beside some stream or near some spring of pure and sparkling water, and be- neath those "forest shades " where erst the un-

tamed children of Nature had so long roamed unmolested, at one time in search of food, and again engaged in the wild pleasures which seemed the only occupation of their simple lives, and the only end of their existence. The sound of the woodman's ax rang out amid this mighty solitude, frightening the denizens of the forest from their peaceful slumbers, and start- ing reverberations whose last re-echo has changed into the screech of the iron horse, and into the varied hum of a thousand industries, which now occupy the millions of busy men and women, who have been born and reared under a civilization which had its first beginnings in the rude log-cabins of those sturdy pioneers.

A pleasanter task could scarcely be given than that which devolves upon the chronicler of our early history. Could he but reproduce the scenes of three-quarters of a century ago, with all their natural surroundings, that the reader in imag- ination might see the unhewn log hut with its crevices filled with clay ; the adobe chimney ; the broad fire-place, and the rough, unseemly

* Contributed by George I. Wright.

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HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

furniture ; that he might see the small clearing, so covered with stumps that one could easily have leaped from one to another, and in that way have passed across the entire breadth of the farm. Could he picture the rude shed, made of poles and covered with branches, which was the forerunner of the fine bank barn, in which our modern owner of the same farm stores the wealth of grain and produce gathered from the fields his forefathers conquered, or the winding path to the edge of the woods, where, beneath some spreading beech or maple, the spring bubbled forth and cut for itself a tiny path toward some larger stream, where, after their slaking thirst, in the hot midday, the settler and his boys would rest for a time from their toil, and talk of the trip to the mill or post office ten or fifteen miles away. Could he show the read- er " the slashing," where the men, the boys and the girls were busy, making and burning log- heaps and brush-piles getting another piece ready for wheat or corn, the paths that indicate the direction of their near neighbors, perhaps miles away. Could the historian, we repeat, picture all these scenes in their wild but natural beanty, he would bring before many a reader similar scenes, whose impress have been left in the mind by the oft-repeated stories of the gray- haired grandsire, recounted with many an ani- mated gesture, as he "lived o'er again those olden times."

But we must reluctantly recall the reader from these general recollections to the more prosy subject of our work. Coventry Town- ship is bounded on the north by Portage Town- ship and Akron City ; on the east by Spring- field Township ; on the south by Green and Franklin Township ; and on the west by the Tuscarawas River and Norton Township. A

small portion of its territory projects from the northern center into Portage, on the western margin of the corporation line of Akron City. Its southern boundary is the famous south line of the Western Reserve, or forty-first parallel of north latitude. This line was run during the spring and summer of 1797, by one Seth Pease and an assistant, one of an expedition sent out by the Connecticut Land Company, to sur- vey the land which they had purchased of the State of Connecticut. This company paid $1,200,000 for the tract included between lati- tude 41° and 42º 2' north, and extending west 120 miles from the Pennsylvania line. This

was surveyed into townships five miles square, as far as the Tuscarawas and Cuyahoga in 1797. In 1806 and 1807, the balance was sur- veyed, until which time the Indians owned all territory west of these rivers. This land was divided among the stock-holders in this way. The numbers of the townships were placed on slips of paper, and all but a few were put into a box from which each one drew. Those that were not drawn were called " equalizing town- ships," among which was Coventry. The ob- ject of thus reserving some was to give strips of this " equalizing land" to those who had drawn poor townships, and in that way make them equal to an average township.

The book in which these assignments of ter- ritory was kept, was called the " Book of Drafts," and was the foundation of all titles to land on the Reserve. Coventry was the first township in Range 11, and was parceled out to several parties. Samuel Hinckley, who was proprietor of Hinckley Township, in Medina County, got the southeast quarter of Coven- try. Gen. Wadsworth and others got strips of this township as equalizing land. The survey, before noticed, closed on the bank of the Tus- carawas, fifty-six miles west of the Pennsyl- vania line, this being the western boundary of the United States at that time, and on a tree, possibly still standing, on the bank of the river, the surveyor, Pease, marked the result of his measurement-"56 M." This base line was re-run, in 1806, by Abram Tappan, who differed somewhat from the original survey, but not much considering the distance and surround- ings. South of this line, the land belonged to " Uncle Sam," and was surveyed by order of Congress, townships made six miles square, and was called " Congress Land " to distinguish it from the " Reserve." At the time of this survey, that part of Coventry which lies west of the Tuscarawas and the " Indian trail," be- longed to the Indians, and hence the township was fractional. This additional territory, how- ever, was added to it, when the survey was completed in 1806, just after it was ceded to the Government by the Indians in 1805. The Tuscarawas encroaches upon the territory of Norton, in the southwest corner of Coventry. But the river was retained here as the bound- ary, thus giving to Coventry more than the twenty-five square miles, and leaving Norton a fractional township.

523

COVENTRY TOWNSIIIP.

The general surface outline is quite diversi- fied, and, when we consider the whole area we find as great a variety as could well be shown on as limited an area. The Tusearawas enters near the middle of the southern half of the eastern boundary, passing in its beautifully winding course through the central part to the center of the western boundary, thence continuing in a southwesterly direction until it leaves the con- fines of Coventry, entering Franklin and contin- uing onward toward " The Father of Waters," to be lost in its bosom or earried onward to mingle with the waters of the great ocean. The Tus- carawas has many small tributaries, perhaps the most important of which is Brewster's Run, which enters from Springfield and traverses the eastern half of the township, entering the river above the outlet of "Long Lake." This lake is a natural basin of pure water containing ex- cellent fish, which formed a source of provision for the early settlers, as well as the savage red men who ranged the forest and fished in these beautiful lakes with his crude tackle, and per- haps had as good luck as some modern experts who frequent the place. Another lake of con- siderable note, not only on account of its situa- tion but for the uses to which it has been put by the enterprising advocates of "rapid tran- sit," is Summit Lake, situated in the extreme northern center and occupying a position on the "divide" which separates the lake system of drainage from that of the Mississippi Valley. Originally it was surrounded by an impenetra- ble tamarack swamp, without any outlet worthy the name, and its source of supply springs at the sides and bottom, with the waters from the surrounding hills. It was, in 1825 or there- abouts, used as the source of supply for the upper level of the Ohio Canal, which passes through it. There is a number of smaller lakes, among which is Manning's Pond. on the northern margin of Summit Lake, connected therewith by a stagnant stream through which the water flows either way according to the varying supply in the larger body. Another is Nesmith Lake situated about a fourth of a mile west of the geographical center of the township. The Indian trail, or portage path, touched at the eastern side, and the dusky warriors perchance were wont to rest and slake their thirst at this point on their expeditions to and from the North. A small body of water east of Long Lake and connected with it in

high water, is called "Mud Lake," perhaps, on account of the swampy and uncertain character of the shores. Its dark waters are said never to have been fathomed, and the stories of the bed-cords and clothes-lines that have been used in the fruitless search for the remote foundations thereof, are, at least. interesting to one who has ofttimes paddled the frail canoe over its placid surface while trying to catch the "speckled bass" or the "blue sunfish."

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History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 94

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