USA > Ohio > Mahoning County > History of Trumbull and Mahoning counties with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Vol. II > Part 70
USA > Ohio > Trumbull County > History of Trumbull and Mahoning counties with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Vol. II > Part 70
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Alex. Wright was born in Ireland December 25, 1805, and came to America in 1819 in com- pany with his mother. His father died before their coming to this country. Mr. Alex. Wright and mother came to Ohio and settled in Liberty township, Trumbull county, where he lived till he moved to Bloomfield township about 1853. His mother lived with her son John till her death in 1845."""There were six children in her family -Nancy, Margaret, Jane, Mary A., John, and Alex. All are deceased. Mr. Alex. Wright lo- cated in Bloomfield township, about one mile north of the center. Farming was his chief occupation. He was married March 20, 1850, to. Miss Eliza Gilmore, daughter of James Gil-
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more, of Portage county. She was born Oc- tober 6, 1826. Mr. Wright died January 12, 1878. Mr. Wright was a member of the Meth- odist church. Mrs. Wright is also a member. Politically Mr. Wright was a firm Democrat. He was highly esteemed by all.
L. Wellington Mears was born February 8, 1817, in Poultney, Vermont. His father, Joseph, was also a native of Vermont. The family is of English descent. Mr. L. W. Mears came to Ohio in 1832, in company with his mother, and located in Hubbard township, Trumbull county. He remained in Hubbard several years, then went to Sharon, Pennsylvania, where he was en- gaged in the mercantile business about eight years. He was married in 1841, March 24th, to Miss Amanda Flower, daughter of Horace Flower, of Bloomfield township. They have had five children, three of whom are living- Byron, Albert, William, Horace, and Ida; Albert and Horace are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Mears came to Ohio in 1848, and settled at first in Mesopotamia, and lived there about three years, then came to Bloomfield, where he has since re- sided. Mr. Mcars is at the present time traveling in the West for a hardware house of Chicago. Mrs. Mears is a member of the Congregational church. In political matters he is a Repub- lican.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES,
EPHRAIM BROWN.
It is impossible within the limits of a short sketch to give an adequate idea of the character, or to detail particular events in the life of Ephraim Brown. His father, whose name was also Ephraim, resided at Westmoreland, New Hampshire, and was much esteemed for his many excellent qualities. His mother was Han- nah Howe, a woman of deep religious feeling. The family consisted of ten children, of whom Ephraim, born October 27, 1775, was the oldest. Mr. Brown owned a small farm and by adding to its productions the fruits of occasional labor in some mechanical pursuit, his large family was comfortably supported until he lost all his prop- erty by going security for a friend, a loss from
which he never recovered. It thus happened that the eldest son, at an early age, became the main support of a large family. This misfortune of his father offered him a field for the exercise of that indomitable perseverance which was so conspicuous an element of his character. At this formative period of his life the engrossing labor which circumstances threw upon him was not allowed to interfere with his intellectual cult- ure. He read the best books obtainable, and sought the society of the best people in his neighborhood and wherever business called him. It is inferred from letters still in existence that he soon became a young man of some mark, for his advice was sought by elders, and his judg- ment received with much deference. Consider- able of his correspondence at this early period related to moral, religious, and political subjects. He shows in these letters habits of earnest and honest thought, always ready to listen to argu- ment, and when convinced of error always ready to renounce it. For example, when a young man he joined the Masonic fraternity, but years afterwards, when a young man sought his advice on the subject of joining he expressed the opin- ion that with advanced civilization the need of such societies was past.
Being a man of broad and tender sympathies Mr. Brown very early in life conceived a bitter hatred of the system of slavery, then fast growing into a political power, which sixty years it re- quired the whole energy of the nation to sup- press. In a letter written in 1807 to a Southern relative, who had located in the South and was endeavoring to persuade him to follow by argu- ing the superior facilities for making money in that section, Mr. Brown questioned the method by which wealth might be acquired so rapidly by "commerce in human flesh," and added, "I have been taught from my cradle to despise slavery, and will never forget to teach my chil- dren, if any I should have, the same lesson." The same letter contains sentiments thirty years afterwards given public utterance by William Lloyd Garrison and other distinguished aboli- tionists.
Mr Brown inherited from his mother deep religious feeling, which was strengthened by ana- lytic habits of thought and extensive reading. But he distinguished between real piety and the mere semblance of religion, and his whole life
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was characterized by a high moral tone. His denunciation of evil was always vigorous and sometimes alarming to the more conservative and temporizing souls about him. His love of free- dom and habits of thought prevented him from being closely associated with societies of any kind, though as an individual he was always in- dustrious and kind.
As early as 1803 Mr. Brown became engaged in mercantile pursuits in connection with Thomas K. Green, of Putney, Vermont, who had charge of the business at that place, and Mr. Brown managed the branch at Westmoreland, and con- tinned in business until his removal to Ohio in 1815. In the meantime he had represented his town in the Legislature several times. He was married on November 9, 1806, to Mary Buchan- an, eldest daughter of Gordon and Temperance (Huntington) Buchanan. She was born at Wind- ham, Connecticut, August 29, 1787; while yet a child her father and mother removed to Wal- pole, New Hampshire. She was a woman of talent, which she cultivated during her whole life. She taught school before her marriage; her attainments were therefore of a solid character.
In the year 1814 Mr. Brown formed a partner- ship with his uncle, Thomas Howe, and pur- chased of Peter C. Brooks, of Boston, township seven, range four, of the Western Reserve, since known as Bloomfield, to which place he removed his family in the summer of 1815. The journey was accomplished in six weeks and the family reached its future home July 16, some prepara- tions having been previously made for its com- fort and support. The two partners, Messrs. Brown & Howe, were in business temperament and character the antipodes of each other. The former was energetic, pushing, and fearless; the latter slow, hesitating and doubting. It is not strange that two such men should soon dissolve business relations. Mr. Howe after a short time retired from the partnership, and Mr. Brown as- sumed the burden of the debt, which in a few years, by the most scrupulous economy, unrest- ing industry, and fortunate thriftiness was fully discharged.
A few years after Mr. Brown's settlement in Bloomfield (in 1819) the Ashtabula & Trumbull Turnpike company was formed and chartered under the laws of Ohio. Mr. Brown took an ac- tive part in pushing this enterprise, which at that
time looked like an enormous_undertaking, to a successful completion. For many years he main- tained a ceaseless care for the interests of the company and the preservation of the road. The post-office at Bloomfield was secured through his influence. Within seven years after the first set- tlement of Bloomfield daily four-horse mail- coaches passed through the place on their route between the lake and the Ohio river. Land rap- idly advanced in value, and the more thrifty set- tlers were soon able to improve their homes.
Mr. Brown was several times a member of the General Assembly, and always gave his potent influence to measures looking toward material improvement and educational advancement. His love of freedom was active, and influenced his whole conduct. The effort of a prominent re- ligious sect in 1822 to dominate in politics, was condemned and resisted as strongly as the effort of the slave power to rule the_ country in after years. In his younger years he was a Jeffer- sonian Republican, and an avowed abolitionist always. He always offered_assistance and pro- tection to fugitive slaves, as is shown by instances elsewhere narrated.
The title of colonel was conferred upon Mr. Brown in New Hampshire, not, however, on ac- count of any military service. He was captain of a company of militia, and promoted Govern- or's aid with the rank of colonel.
It has been said of Mr. Brown that he never sought or desired fame, but in a certain sense he won what was better than fame-the perfect re- spect and confidence of all who were capable of appreciating such a character. An intimate friend at the time of his death said in a letter, "In his social relations he was distinguished for his kindness, benevolence, and hospitality ; in his business transactions for prudence, promptness, and integrity. Throughout a long and active life he eminently sustained the character of a patriot, philanthropist, and an honest man." He died of paralysis after a short illness, April 17, 1845, being in the seventieth year of his age.
Mrs. Brown was a woman of great excellence as wife, mother, neighbor, and friend. A life of well directed study gave her broad culture; a knowledge of the world widened her sympathies, and tenderness of feeling made her charitable. In her family she was gentle, loving, and inter- esting. In the social circle her influence was
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elevating and refining. Her death occurred January 26, 1862.
The family consisted of nine children : Alex. ander, born in 1807, lives in Bloomfield; George W., born in 1810, engaged in business in Pitts- burg and died in Bloomfield in 1841 ; Mary, born in 1812, married to Joseph K. Wing and resides in Bloomfield; Charles, born in 1814, died in South Carolina in 1880; Elizabeth, born in 1816, resides in Bloomfield; James Monroe, born in 1818, died 1867 in Massillon; Marvin Hunting- ton, born in 1820, resides in Painesville, Ohio; Fayette, born in 1823, resides in Cleveland, Ohio; Anne Frances, born in 1826, resides in Bloomfield.
HENRY CROWELL.
Henry Crowell was born in Grafton, Vermont, in the year 1802. His father, Mayhew Crowell, emigrated from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, resid- ing in Grafton for a term of years and finally removed with his family to Bloomfield, Trum- bull county, Ohio. His maternal relative, Ma- hitable Crowell, was the sister of Major Howe, formerly of Bloomfield, and cousin of Ephraim Brown, Esq., of the same township.
The subject of this biographical sketch re- moved with his parents from his Vermont home to Bloomfield in the year 1815. The journey was accomplished by means of ox teams and was necessarily slow and tedious, six weeks be- ing consumed before they reached its termina- tion, a distance which can now be overcome in less than twenty-four hours. For miles in many places they had to cut their way through dense forests, where the settler's axe had never before swung, bridging streams and camping out nights.
This journey proved no pleasure excursion. Few in these days of good roads and easy loco- motion can appreciate the trials, privations, and suffering incident to pioneer life in those times when these little bands, severing the ties of old associations, poor in purse but strong in will, went forth in the early twilight of our Nation's history sowing the seeds of empire and breaking the way for future generations in the great West.
Arriving at Bloomfield, which at that time was a dense wilderness broken here and there only
by small clearings, few and far between, his father located a tract of land, a portion of which he ultimately sold to his son Henry, who, with characteristic industry, proceeded to clear and prepare it for cultivation, erecting a dwelling thereon. In the year 1832 he was united in marriage with Miss Almena Saunders, the result of which union was five sons and two daughters; five of these seven children are still living.
In the year 1865 he removed to Cleveland, Ohio. Here he afterwards resided until his death, which occurred September 20, 1881, in the eightieth year of his age, he being the last mem- ber of a family of twelve. His temperate, or- derly life, combined with habits of well regulated industry, prolonged his years far beyond the average span of existence.
He was a man of sterling integrity, most emi- nently just in all his dealings, never having a quarrel or case of litigation in the entire course of his life. 'So sweetly ordered were all his ways that in the beaten path of his daily walk and conversation he never made an enemy or lost a friend. Peaceful, quiet, and unostentatious ; firmly grounded in his religious convictions, be- neath a calm exterior flowed the tides of kindly thought and feeling with scarce a surface ripple, but strong, resistless, pure, and holy. He lived a noble example of the possibilities of a religious culture which rounds into symmetrical beauty the best types of an exalted Christian manhood.
CHAPTER XI. JOHNSTON TOWNSHIP.
The name of this township was doubtless derived from the original proprietor of the land, Captain James Johnston, of Salisbury, Connecti- cut, father of the late Edward Walter Johnston.
The township is in number six of the second range. It was surveyed by Nathan Moore and his assistant in the year 1802. It was then an unbroken wilderness uninhabited by any save the savage or wild beast of the forest. The first settler was a family by the name of Bradley, consisting of himself, Captain Bradley, his wife, Asenath, and their three sons, Thaddeus, Moore Bird, and Ariel. They bid adieu to their native
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town, Salisbury, Connecticut, on the 7th of June, 1803, and performed a journey of five or six weeks and six or seven hundred miles, reach- ing Canfield, this State, before they made a stop. Mr. James Bradley at that time was a man not far from fifty years of age, and his sons were young men just in the strength of early man- hood.
Mr. Bradley and family remained at Can- field a few days to visit friends of former ac- quaintanceship, after which they resumed their journey by marked trees and bridle paths, mak- ing their way from one clearing to another, which however, were few and far between. After a few days they came to the last opening, about five miles distant from the locality selected for a home in the new township. The whole region at that time for a space of ten miles square around this spot selected for spending the re- mainder of their days, was an unbroken wilder- ness, uninhabited. Their neighbors were a family by the name of Barnes between this and Vienna, one family in the southwest part of Bazetta, be- tween this and Warren, on what was known as the Quinby farm, a few families in Vienna, a few in Gustavus, and a few in Kinsman. They camped the first night in the township by a little stream, taking rest preparatory to the work of penetrating the unbroken forest still further on the morrow.
Captain Bradley and his family settled on a lot a little west of the center, but he subsequently removed to a farm in the west part of the town- ship, where he lived about fourteen years, and died respected at the age of sixty-two. His widow lived fifteen years longer and died a venerable matron of four-score years, June 15, 1832. From the time she left the family of Mr. Barnes, in Fowler, and came into this township, it was a year and some months before she saw again the face of a white female.
Of the sons of Captain Bradley, Thaddeus, the eldest, spent much time from home aiding the family by such employment as he could find in Ravenna or the neighboring settlements in merchandising or teaching till he at length re- turned and settled in the west part of the town- ship, where he died in October, 1865, at the old homestead which was afterwards owned by James D. Bradley, his oldest son. About six hundred aeres of land was inherited by his three
children and a granddaughter. Moore Bird, the second son, after laboring a few years in clearing away the forest, turned his attention to the study of medicine. He was the first medical student under the instruction of Dr. Peter Allen, and after studying and reading with him for a time he practiced his profession in Mansfield and eventually settled in Pennsylvania, where he died, leaving a widow. Ariel, the youngest son, en- gaged in the more rugged employment of clear- ing the farm. He was the hero of the axe, who felled the first tree previously noted. But his strong constitution gave way under toil and disease and subsequently he too studied med- icine, with his brother, and practiced as a physi- cian. Late in life he married Miss Laura L. Barstow, who still lives, the widow of the first physician of the township.
The next arrivals were two young men, who were carpenters, without families. One was a mill-wright. They set themselves to work to look up a suitable location for a mill seat, and fixed upon a site in the northeastern part of the township. Those young men were Jared Hill and James Skinner. They came in July, 1804, and staid until winter, raised their saw-mill, then left until the next season. They went to Canfield, married, and soon after came back with their wives. When they moved in they came up through the first range, through Vernon, and cut a path a mile and a half to make an opening to get their teams through to their new abode in the wilderness. There they remained, and as the men were mechanics, their wives were some- times left alone from Monday morning until Saturday night, their nearest neighbors being a camp of Indians a half mile down the streamn from the mill.
In about a year and a half after their settle- ment Messrs. Hill & Skinner had their saw- mill in use to the very great accommodation of the settlement. They soon added a grist-mill which further accommodated the inhabitants. Before the erection of this mill their nearest place for grinding was at Orangeville, Pennsyl- vania. Of these families Miss Sallie Hill died July 1, 1822, aged forty years, and Jared Hill, Esq., died July 6, 1839, aged sixty-five years.
A few weeks after Hill and Skinner first came, in September, 1804, came a Mr. Jaqua with his family, which consisted of himself and wife and
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five children, two sons and three daughters. This family settled near the cross roads east of the center. In this family was the first marriage in the township. Solomon Brainard was married to Charity Jaqua. The exact date is not known, but it was in less than two years after the family came as it was before June, 1806. Mr. Jaqua was the first magistrate chosen in the township. His two sons died in a time of sickness which will be noted in the proper place. The family removed to Pennsylvania, where they lived the remainder of their days. Of the family of Solo- mon and Charity Brainard, the second son, John Brainard, after laboring for a time as a clothier and also as an engraver, occupied the chair of a professor in the homeopathic college in Cleveland.
In the spring of 1805 David Hine and a Mr. Hanchet, single men, came and put up a shanty where Mr. Henry K. Hulse afterwards lived, west of the center, but they did not remain.
Probably the next family which came in was that of Mr. Zebulon Walker. He came in the late part of the summer or in the fall of 1805. His family consisted of a wife and several chil- dren. He first settled near Mr. Jaqua, on the northeast corner of the cross-roads. He built a small house and made a little improvement, which he subsequently exchanged for a lot to- wards the north part of the township, to which he removed and afterwards left town. As near as can be ascertained the first white child born in the township was a child of Mr. Walker.
Most, or all of those mentioned in the above, were from Litchfield, Connecticut.
November 2, 1805, brought in quite an ad- dition to the settlement: Four families came from Warren, Connecticut. Daniel Hine, Jr .; Erastus Carter, Howard Fuller, and Benjamin Andrews. There were also some young men who came with them, among whom were Augus- tus Adams, Josiah Finney, and a Mr. Breman. This company were three days coming from Youngstown. Mr. Carter settled near where Mr. Dunbar's tavern afterwards stood, and the others in different parts of the township. They engaged immediately in putting up their cabins for shelter for their families for the coming winter. While in the midst of their work in rolling up their logs for Mr. Fuller's house, Mr. Hine had his leg broken below the knee, which
laid him up for most of the winter. When Mr. Hine first came he stored his goods in the shanty built by his brother and Mr. Hanchet, and it was there he was cared for until he re- covered from his injury.
Mr. Carter did not unload his goods until he had rolled up a house for himself. About one year after Mr. Carter came into the township he lost his infant child. It was buried in what is now the graveyard for the township, and was the first grave made in the ground, and this was probably the first death which occurred among the early settlers. Mr. Hine dug the grave.
In June, 1806, the next year, added another company to the settlement. Daniel Hine, Sr., David Webb, William McKey, and Morris Smith arrived with their families. This com- pany suffered from sickness on the road. Mrs. McKey was so unwell that she was obliged to stop at the house of Isaac Woodford, in Vienna, where they had serious sickness, the complaint being dysentery. Daniel Hine settled on the place afterwards owned by William Boor, but later, in a few years, left for Canfield, where he removed his family. David Webb settled on or near the place where his late widow, Sarah Webb, lived and died, afterwards occupied by Mr. Hale.
Mr. McKey settled where his son Henry Mc- Key afterwards lived. These families furnished a large accession to the number of young people in the township. Mr. Hine had two sons and three daughters. Mr. Webb had five sons and two daughters, and Mr. McKey had three chil- dren. Daniel Abell, subsequently Major Abell, another single man, came in June, 1806. Nathan Webb, the eldest son of David Webb, a clothier* by trade, soon turned his attention to secure a site for his business. He first attempted to build a little below the mill of Messrs. Hill & Skinner. After he had spent one season in building a dam the result of his labor was swept away by a freshet, and he subsequently secured the priv- ilege of the water-power at the mill of Hill & Skinner. He returned to Connecticut and mar- ried Miss Anna Gregory, from Milton, with whom he settled on the place which for many years he afterwards occupied. His wife was a professor of religion before she left Connecticut, and did much to advance the cause of Chris-
* A maker of cloth, as formerly used.
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tianity in the new settlement. Mr. David Webb was found dead in his bed on the morning of March the 22d, 1827. He was seventy-one years old. His widow, Sarah Webb, was also found dead in bed on the morning of October 6, 1852. She was ninety-two years old.
Mis. Laura Hine, wife of David Hine, Jr., died September 15, 1851, aged twenty-one years. She was honored in the memory of all who knew her.
Mr. Augustus Adams, who came in Novem- ber, 1805, settled on the lot afterwards occupied by Frederick Stevens. He married one of the daughters of David Hire, Sr.
Mr. Abell commenced the improvement where Ebenezer Jackson afterwards lived, but went back and was married to Miss Root, and when he returned he settled on he place afterwards owned by Mr. Bennett.
About the time that Mr. Abell commenced his improvement on the west street the son of Captain Bradley commenced the improvement which they subsequently occupied near Mr. Abell. The improvement first commenced by Mr. Abell was afterwards occupied by Mr. Spen- cer, and still further north on the place occupied by a Mr. Dickerson, Mr. Consider Faunce set- tled. He remained there till his death, which ooccurred April 1, 1819, at the age of sixty-nine. His widow lived to an advanced age, much es- teemed as a mother in Israel, and died at the house of her son, Joseph Barstow, March 19, 1848, aged ninety-eight years.
About this time also we find the family of Mr. Lilly settled at the center, on the place afterwards owned by Rev. O. S. Eells; also a son of his and a Mr. Hunt settled at the south part of the township on the center line, Mr. Hunt nearly opposite where Mr. E. Allen's barn stood and where the old mill was in use for a long time. Mr. Lilly was farther south.
In the fall of 1810 the widow Anna Jackson came in and settled first with her two sons, John and William, on the place, a long time after- wards owned by Mr. Amzi Webb; John was married and William was single at that time. They subsequently removed to the south part of the township, purchased the improvements made by Mr Hunt and Mr. Lilly, and after about five or six years their older brother, Ebe- nezer, came, and settled where his widow fifty
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