History of Trumbull and Mahoning counties with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Vol. II, Part 50

Author: Williams (H.Z.) & Bro., Cleveland, Ohio, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland : H. S. Williams
Number of Pages: 726

USA > Ohio > Mahoning County > History of Trumbull and Mahoning counties with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Vol. II > Part 50
USA > Ohio > Trumbull County > History of Trumbull and Mahoning counties with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Vol. II > Part 50

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Samuel and Freelove Hutchins' children were : Hiram, born March 24, 1804, who married Eliza Lane; Aurora Amoret, wife of Richard Treat; Mary Amney, wife of Augustus Fuller; John, married Rhoda Andrews and was Representative in Congress from 1859 to 1863; Serena, wife of Augustus M. Reed; Urial H., married Emily Bennett; Lucia, wife of L. Cotton, who died and she again married Norman Andrews; and Betsey, wife of Larman B. Lane, who went as missionary to Siam.

Hiram and Eliza (Lane) Hutchins first settled in Vienna and afterwards removed to Vernon.

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Their children who lived to maturity were : Sul- livan, Lovisa, John L., and Elmer.

Sullivan Hutchins was born in Vienna Feb- ruary 26, 1834, and married, first, Hannah Akins, of Vernon, April 6, 1859. She died April 7, 1875, and left one child, Hiram Howard, born August 10, 1874, died August 8, 1875. Mr. Hutchins was again married, to Martha Bush- nell, of Johnson, Ohio, May 10, 1876. They have Grace Adel, born June 18, 1877. Mr. Hutchins is the only descendant of Samuel Hutchins bearing the name residing in Trumbull county.

WILLIS REEDER.

Willis Reeder was born in Brookfield, Ohio, October 28, 1830, and was the son of Washing- ton and Caroline (Mattocks) Reeder, and grand- son of Benjamin Reeder, who came from Geneva, Cayuga county, New York, and settled on lot twenty-nine, in Hartford, July 9, 1817. When he was a boy of thirteen he found em- ployment on the Erie extension canal. In 1845 the family removed to Louisville, Kentucky, and soon he secured a situation on a flat-boat as cook ; subsequently he became a pilot on a coal boat, and continued on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers in that capacity until the outbreak of the Rebellion, when the business becoming unsafe it was discontinued and coal was transported by steamers. In 1862 he became a licensed steam- boat pilot running between Pittsburg and New Orleans, and during the last three years of the war of the Rebellion was engaged in the trans- portation service. After the close of the war he took command of a tow-boat until failing health caused him to retire from river life, and in 1871 he settled on lot forty-three, in Hartford, where he now resides. He married Maryett Bartholo- mew August 8, 1854, who was a descendant of Seth Bartholomew, one of the pioneers of Vienna township. Their children are Charlie Willis, Ruby Ann, and Frank Carlyle. Mr. Rceder has served two terms as trustee of the township, and three years as justice of the peace. He is a member of Jerusalem lodge No. 19, Free and Accepted Masons, also a member of Mahoning chapter No. 66, Royal Arch Masons. The first ancestor of this family in America, Joseph Reeder, came from London, England, and set-

tled on Long Island some time previous to 1700, and according to tradition in the family his wife was sister to William of Orange, who superseded James II. on the throne of England. Their sons were Joseph, Benjamin, and William. Joseph settled in New Jersey, and his son Jacob settled in Pennsylvania, and his eldest son, Ben- jamin, who was born May 15, 1769, with his family settled in Ohio. Thus families follow the " star of empire " westward.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

Peter Carlton was born in Liberty township, October 28, 1821. He is a grandson of Francis Carlton, a Revolutionary soldier, who emigrated from New Jersey in 1799, and was one of the first settlers of Warren, Ohio, and son of Peter Carl. ton, a soldier of the War of 1812, who was one of the boys present at Salt Springs when Captain George was killed by McMahon, July 20, 1800. Peter Carlton, Jr., married Miss Catherine Cauf- field, of Brookfield, in 1850, and removed to Hart- ford in 1857, and settled in the south part of the township, on lot twenty-nine, on the farm where he has since resided. Their children are Mary B., Lizzie A., Jennie D., John B., and Bertha. Mr. Carlton is a much respected citizen and a peaceable, industrious farmer. He was elected justice of the peace in 1866, and has been suc- cessively re-elected four times, holding the office fifteen years. Although he is an active worker in the Republican party he has had the support of all parties. He has considerable reputation as a juror, often having served as grand, common pleas, and United States juror. He was one of the corporators of the Harvard Academic insti- tute. He was the only man in the township who attended the inauguration of President Garfield in 1881. He now holds the office of notary public.

William Hull emigrated from Hartland, Con- necticut, to Ohio in 1805, and first settled in Vernon, where the family resided till 1821, when they removed to Hartford, and in 1831 located at Burg Hill, on the farm now owned by his son Osman. He married Annie Hyde in Hartland, Connecticut, September 18, 1802. Their chil- dren were Harriet, wife of Elisha Beman, of Gustavus; Horace; Clarissa, wife of Alexander Morris; William, John, and Emeline, wife of

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Simeon C. Baker. Mr. and Mrs. Hull were members of the Congregational church, and dur- ing their life most worthy citizens. They lived to a good old age, he dying November 30, 1857, at the age of seventy-eight years, and she living till July 11, 1874, reaching the advanced age of ninety-five years and eight months. Osman Hull retains the old home, and is now an enter- prising and prosperous farmer, in early life, how- ever, having been a mechanic. He married Miss Lorinda Roper, of Braceville, April 22, 1841. They are both earnest Christian workers in the temperance cause. Their sons are Ran- som and Brunell. Mr. Hull is in politics a Re- publican.

Norman E. Austin was born in Goshen, Con- necticut, February 20, 1812. In the year 1815 his father, Russel Austin, removed to Geneseo, New York, where Norman's early life was spent. In 1836 Norman E. Austin came to this county and purchased of John Kinsman the farm near Orangeville, which still bears his name. He married Mary C. Hamilton December 24, 1839, and in 1846 came to Hartford to make a per- manent home. He brought with him a superior flock of fine-wool sheep, and in 1848 brought the Morgan horse Bulrush. During his life he was a prominent and successful farmer. He served as county commissioner, and at the time of his death was deacon of the Hartford Con- gregational church. His only child, Lizzie M., married Willard C. Hull, who now occupies the Austin farm. She died June 14, 1862; Norman E. Austin died April 10, 1870. His wife, Mary (Hamilton) Austin, continued to reside on the farm with her son-in-law till her death in the spring of 1881.

Arial Chapman was born in Hartford, Con- necticut, in 1800, and was of English descent. His early home was at Cooperstown, New York, but at fourteen years of age he went to Busti, Chautauqua county, in the same State. Here he learned the trade of a tanner, and also mar- ried Miss Mary Derendorf, who was born in Co- lumbia, Herkimer county, New York, and was of German descent. They came to Ohio in 1826, settling at Burg Hill in Hartford. Here Mr. Chapman carried on the tanning business for many years. In later life, however, he was engaged in agriculture, and resided at the same place till his death; and here Mrs.

Chapman continued to reside till 1881, when she died at the age of seventy-nine. They were highly esteemed in the vicinity, and will long be remembered. Their children were Dwight R., Margaret, Charlotte, and one adopted son, Albert Reed. Dwight R. was born June 13, 1827, and married Maria, only daughter of William Bond, December 19, 1849. They have one son, Fred- erick H. Chapman, and five daughters-Louisa, wife of James Morrow; Kate, Lizzie, Lucy, and Blanche. D. R. Chapman occupies the farm where the first clearing was made in the town- ship of Hartford, in 1799.

Charles Hull was a native of the State of New York, and with his younger brother, Richard Hull, came to Orangeville in 1834 and engaged in business as clothiers, which they followed for some length of time. Charles Hull was born September 17, 1805, and married Miss Jane Ann Chapin January 20, 1835. She was born Sep- tember 10, 1814. They were active members of the Baptist church in Orangeville during their lives, and much respected citizens of the town- ship of Hartford. Their children were Willard C., George, and Emogene. In the later years of Mr. Hull's life he was engaged in agricultural pursuits, and died on his farm in Hartford, a lit- tle south of the village of Orangeville, April 30, 1863. Mrs. Hull died in Orangeville, June 11, 1872.

Willian: Bond was a resident of Hartford over forty years, a worthy farmer, who left behind him a reputation for probity, uprightness, and honor. He was born in Sandersfield, Massachusetts, September 22, 1793. His father's family re- moved to Avon, New York, where he married Miss Lucy Cook, November 27, 1823. She was born in New Hartford, Connecticut, January 28, 1800. They had but one daughter, Maria, wife of D. R. Chapman. They removed to Hartford, Ohio, in 1833, settling on the farm east of Burg Hill, where they resided the remainder of their lives. She died January 18, 1873, and Mr. Bond died January 2, 1874.

Among the citizens of the township of Hart- ford are a number of the descendants of John Fitch, the inventor. His wife died here in 1813. To him belongs the honor of having constructed the first steamboat. Twenty years before the great experiment of Fulton and Livingston, on the Hudson, a steamboat was constructed and

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put in operation in Philadelphia, under his sole direction, and was found to go at the rate of eight miles an hour. He was considered, in his day, as quite visionary, and being a poor man found it difficult to command the means to make his experiments. Had his means been equal to the accomplishment of his designs, there can be no doubt that he would now hold undisputed the honor of having given to the country this most noble and useful invention. He at last became discouraged and disheartened, and ended his days by suicide in 1798, and lies buried at Bardstown, Kentucky. This unhappy man, weary of the world and disappointed in all his expectations, still most honestly believed in the correctness of the darling dream of his life, and expressed a wish to be buried on the banks of the Ohio, where the sound of the steam engine would, in future years, send its echoes abroad. For years there was nothing to mark his grave. Some pains has been taken to identify it, and a rough, unhewn, unlettered stone placed upon it as a memorial. For genius and misfortune, neglected in life and unhonored in death, it is perhaps a more fitting monument than any storied urn which might be placed over his last resting-place. Let honor be given to whom honor is due. Justice to his memory demands that his name be recorded as the successful in- ventor of steamboats, he having demonstrated their practicability by his experiments beyond the power of denial.

James D. Burnett is a grandson of William Burnett, one of the pioneers of Hubbard town- ship, and son of Benjamin Burnett, who settled in Hartford, in 1844, on the farm one mile south of Orangeville, where he died. Benjamin Bur- nett was the father of eleven children, seven of whom lived to maturity, and are all, except one son, residents of Trumbull county. James D. Burnett was a soldier of the war of 1861, and was the first man in the township to enlist for the three years service, his name being enrolled May 27, 1861, in company F, Twenty-fourth regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, and honorably discharged June 18, 1864. He served in the Army of the Cumberland; was at Shiloh, Stone River, Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga, Mis- sionary Ridge, and many small engagements, being under fire thirty-four days while in the service. After the war (June 21, 1866,) he mar-

ried Eliza Jones, daughter of William C. Jones.

Giles M. Hayes is a prosperous, enterprising young farmer, residing on lot forty near the east line of the township of Hartford; here he located about 1875, and married Miss Emma Barnhart. He is a son of Almon Hayes and grandson of Elias Hayes, late of Harrison county, Ohio, and on his mother's side a descendant of Wilcox Akins, one of the pioneers of Vernon, who came from Norwalk, Connecticut, about 1810.

CHAPTER IV. KINSMAN.

LOCATION AND OWNERSHIP.

Kinsman-township number seven in the first range-is situated in the northeast corner of the county, adjoining the Ashtabula county line on the north and the Pennsylvania line on the east. On the south is the township of Vernon and on the west the township of Gustavus. The town- ship contains 16,664 acres, to which was annexed by the equalizing board 1,857 acres (lot number eight, tract two) in the eleventh range, being a part of the land on which the city of Akron is now located. The first township line run by the surveyors began at the south line of the reserve, five miles west from the Pennsylvania State line, and deflected so much from a parallel line as to be nearly five miles and a half from the State line at the lake shore, which accounts for the extra six hundred and sixty-four acres. The draft was made in 1798 and is known as draft number eighty-one of that series. The requisite amount to make a draft of a standard township was $12,903.23, and in this draft was assigned as follows: Uriah Tracy and Joseph Coit, $4,- 838.61 ; John Kinsman, $8,064.62. Major Joseph Perkins of Norwich, Connecticut, was a joint owner in this township and in other lands drawn in other drafts. In the division of the Kinsman and Perkins interest Mr. Kinsman took this township and Major Perkins the Akron and other lands. Mr. Kinsman also purchased the interests of Joseph Coit and Uriah Tracy, who was then a United States Senator from Connec- ticut.

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PHYSICAL FEATURES, STREAMS, SOIL, TIMBER.

The surface of the township is in general of a level character. The principal streams are the Pymatuning, Stratton, and Sugar creeks, the last two being branches of the first. The Pyma- tuning rises in Cherry valley, Ashtabula county, enters Kinsman near the northwest corner and flows a southeasterly course through the west half of the township. Stratton creek-named for the first settler on its banks-comes into the township near the northeast corner, takes a south- west course, and unites with the Pymatuning near the south line of the township. Sugar creek rises in Johnston township and flows into Kinsman near the southwest corner, uniting with the parent stream. This creek denves its name from the sugar maple groves found along its course. Much of the soil of Kinsman is of a superior quality, especially the bottom lands along the Pymatuning, where an alluvial soil is found, this stream frequently overflowing its banks and covering the adjacent land for a considerable distance on either side, and those in the vicinity of the junction of Sugar creek and the Pymatuning, which are exceedingly rich and productive. A considerable proportion of the soil of the township is a sandy loam.

The first settlers found Kinsman covered with a heavy growth of timber with the exception of a tract of about one thousand acres in the center of the township, which was destitute of timber, and which the settlers called "the prairie." The principal varieties of timber were the oak, beech, maple, hickory, chestnut, elm, etc. In the south part of the township, in the west part of section twenty-three, was a grove of white pines of about twenty-five acres, presumably the largest grove of the kind on the Reserve.

INDIANS.

In regard to the Indians of Kinsman a writer* says :

There are many indications that Kinsman, at some early day, was a place of Indian resort, where their villages and wigwams were as permanently fixed as the nature of their wandering life would allow. The high ground back of Wayne Bidwell's house, the meadow in front of it, and the ground about the springs by the old ashery, showed marked indications of having once been the seat of an Indian vil- lage. The first plowing of the land revealed spots darkened with charcoal, showing the places of their camp-fires; many

flint arrow-heads and stone axes were found; traces of forti- fications on the high grounds, and the dancing circle seen on the flats, all conspire to establish this belief.

Although there were no permanently resident Indians in the vicinity of Kinsman after its first settlement, they fre- quently visited it in small straggling bands for the purpose of hunting, trapping, and trading at Mr. Kinsman's store. Furs, skins, and various articles of their manufacture, as baskets, wooden trays, ladles, curiously worked moccasins, sugar, and various trinkets were the commodities in which they dealt. They also brought in the native fruits-June-berries, strawberries, raspberries, whortleberries, cranberries, haws, plums, and crab apples, to exchange for milk, meal, flour, bread-always wanting equal measure, no matter what was brought or what was asked in return. Calico, blankets, powder and lead, flints, whiskey, tobacco, knives, and some little finery, as heads and the like, comprised their purchases at the store. Some of the Indians were sharp at a bargain. Many could talk broken English, and often showed them- selves good judges of the character of those with whom they dealt. They were jealous of their rights, and shy of those whites in whom they lacked confidence.

In the year 1800 a larger party of Indians made an encamp- ment on the bottom-lands in Kinsman than were seen in the township afterward. They broke into the cabin which Mr. Kinsman had erected in 1799 for his surveyors, and appro- priated camp-kettles and such articles as had been stored there for future use.

ANCIENT REMAINS.

Upon this subject the same writer says :

That part of the township commencing near the mouth of Stratton's creek, skirting along the east bank of the Pyma- tuning, and west bank of Stratton's creek, first regarded of so little value, was a beautiful alluvial bottom, on which the first settlers noticed the evident signs of an old Indian corn-field. Further up the land rises into an undulating surface of deep gravelly loam, which undoubtedly had been burned over by the Indians for a hunting ground. Freed from timber the elk and the deer, in the grazing season, would come out from the dense forest on either side, to feed on the open grass plat and plain, and thus could be approached, and presenting a fairer mark for the Indian. Bordering on the open prairie, on the farm now owned by Wayne Bidwell, Esq., upon the high ground in the fear of his house, were the remains of what was supposed to have been an old Indian fort. The lines of an embankment and ditch were clearly defined and were often noticed by the early settlers of the town. In the vicinity of this fort flint arrow-heads and stone axes were frequently found. So late as 1866 Mr. Plant, in plowing up an old field on his farm (a part of the prairie), struck a nest of arrow-heads, which were undoubtedly lost or buried there by the Indians. Until the War of 1812 the Indians made their yearly visits to this locality, where they spent weeks in hunt- ing, fishing, and trapping. Spots of earth, dark with inter- mingled charcoal, were found near the old fort, showing what was evidently an Indian camping ground. The head- waters of the Pymatuning were marked with a very perma- nent beaver-dam, which had been abandoned by its occu- pants before the settlement of the country by the whites.

SURVEY AND FIRST IMPROVEMENTS.

Mr. Kinsman first came to the Reserve in 1799, making the journey, in company with Simon Perkins, on horseback across the Alle-

*Rev. H. B. Eldred in Mahoning Valley Historical Col- lections.

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gheny mountains by way of Pittsburg. He reached Youngstown in the latter part of the spring of the above year, where he met Mr. Young, at whose house he made his head- quarters a portion of the time while making preparations for settlement. At Youngstown he made arrangements for the survey of the town- ship, which was done under the direction of Alfred Wolcott. On arriving in this township Mr. Kinsman and his party established them- selves at the center, putting up a cabin near the southeast corner of what is now the square. The work of surveying was completed during the year 1799. Mr. Kinsman was a large owner of land in different sections of the Reserve, and not until 1801 did he decide as to the place of his location. In the spring of that year he left Connecticut for his future home in Kinsman township. He was accompanied hy Calvin Pease, Simon Perkins, George Tod, John S. Ed- wards, Ebenezer Reeve, Josiah Pelton, Turhand and Jared Kirtland, and others. Reeve was employed by Mr. Kinsman to begin improve- ments in the township, and, as an inducement for him to leave his Eastern home for this pur- pose, was to be paid $20 per month during his absence, and the sum of $40 in case he did not like the country and desired to return to his former home, a quite probable contingency. But it was also stipulated that if he liked the country he was to exchange his land in Connecticut for land in Kinsman. The sequel to this agreement will appear further on. The whole party came out on horseback, with the exception of the two Kirt- lands, who came with a team and wagon. That they were a merry set of men, and intelligent as well, may be inferred from the following, which we quote from the writer previously mentioned :

The company usually put up over night at the same place. "They soon organized into a society called " the Illuminati." All were titled, and in addressing each other the titles were frequently used. To illustrate the use to which the society was put, and show the wit and humor with which they be- guiled the tediousness of their journey, a single case will suffice. Mr. Kinsman was the only one of the company possessed of a hired man. l'ease set up a claim to the right of property in this man Recve. Kinsman resisted, and em- ployed counsel to defend his rights. Pease instituted pro- ceedings to recover the property. The ease was brought before one of the titled dignitaries of the " Illuminati " and called for hearing from night to night as they pursued their journey. Profound arguments on the case were made, and a lengthy and learned decision was at last given confirming the title to the property in Mr. Kinsman.

On their arrival in Youngstown the party sep- arated, a part going to Warren, Mr. Kinsman and Mr. Reeve to Kinsman, and Pelton to his purchase in Gustavus.

The first improvements in the township were soon commenced by Mr. Kinsman beginning the erection of a double log house in section twenty-three, east of the Vernon road. When the cabin had reached a height of six or seven feet it was abandoned and another erected be- tween the creek and the store of Kay & Bur- rill. In the fall of 1801 Kinsman and Reeve returned to Connecticut, leaving John Cum- mings, John and Isaac Mathews, in charge of the place and to prosecute the work of clearing during their absence.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

While the settlement of the township will date from the improvements made by Messis. Kins- man and Reeve, above mentioned, Martin Tidd and his son-in-law, James Hill, and David Ran- dall are regarded as the first permanent settlers, since they were the first to take up their abode with their families, which they did in the spring of 1802, Mr. Kinsman having made a contract with them to this effect the previous fall.

In April the three families left Youngstown together, with two teams and wagons. There was probably a good natured strife between the Tidd party, who occupied one wagon, and Ran- dall, as to who should first arrive upon the ground, but an accident happening to Randall, his wagon breaking down at Smithfield (now Vernon), he was detained there over night. Tidd and family, with Hill and wife, proceeded to Kinsman, and thus bore off the honors of be- ing the first permanent settlers. Tidd settled on the hill north of the Seth Perkins farm, getting one hundred acres in exchange for sixty acres in Kinsman. Randall located on the Seth Per- kins farm. Tidd and Randall were originally from the Wyoming valley, Pennsylvania. The former lived a short distance below the settle- ment of Wyoming at the time of the massacre, his house occupying a high bluff on the banks of the Susquehanna river. His house is said to have been used as a block house, and during the massacre afforded a place of safety for many of the inhabitants in the vicinity. Atter removing from Wyoming he went to Westmoreland county. In 1798 he came to Youngstown with his family

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and nephew, Captain Hillman, where he lived until his removal to Kinsman. Tidd possessed the true spirit of the pioneer, though he con- tinued to live in Kinsman until his death, yet he was restless during the progress of settlement and improvement of the country, and was only prevented from "moving on" by reason of his advanced age and out of deference to the wishes of his children, who did not inherit his pioneer spirit. He died at an advanced age.

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History of Trumbull and Mahoning counties with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Vol. II, Part 50

Author: Williams (H.Z.) & Bro., Cleveland, Ohio, pub Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland : H. S. Williams Number of Pages: 726

Author: Williams (H.Z.) & Bro., Cleveland, Ohio, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland : H. S. Williams
Number of Pages: 726