History of the Fire lands, comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers, Part 10

Author: Williams, W. W. (William W.)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : Press of Leader Printing Company
Number of Pages: 726

USA > Ohio > Erie County > History of the Fire lands, comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers > Part 10
USA > Ohio > Huron County > History of the Fire lands, comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers > Part 10

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).

and vindictive, and instances occurred where the pleas- ant party of the carly day ended in a general row; but it is simple justice to the early settler to say that the evil effects of whisky drinking were much more rarely seen than might be imagined, considering that to drink freely was the custom of the times, and such a thing as total abstinence almost unheard of. The stimulus was rarely so potent as to lead them into other excesses than rough sports and games and rivalry in feats of strength and agility.

The roof was made by laying small logs or saplings, the tamarack being often used, which were placed lengthwise. These formed a support for the shingles or "shakes," as they were often called. These were much longer than the shingles of later years, and, when laid, about three feet was exposed to the weather. They were generally rived or split out of straight-grained, full-grown white-oak trees. Nails being then almost unknown, and those few forged by hand, their use was out of the question, and the shingles were secured by laying poles or logs to keep them in position. The chimney was often composed of " eats and clay." the cats in question not being the familiar household tabby, but small sticks split to a regular size. The base was formed of stone, often undressed bowlders, and on this superstructure the chimney was built, generally outside, and at the end of the cabin. the cats forming a frame work which was heavily daubed and plastered with clay. As for openings, the door usually was rived planks, unless the neighborhood was the happy possessor of a "thunder-gust " saw-mill. The hinges and latches were made of wood. Glass was a luxury rarely met with. Sometimes greased paper served as a substi- tute, and the windows were small, the usually open door being another medium for the admission of light. Often, for months, the ground served for a floor, but. after a time, boards or " puncheons " were split out for that purpose; they were hewed a little, conse- quently they were never very smooth, often quite shaky. Holes were bored in the logs and pegs driven in, on which to hang the various articles of wearing apparel and household use-a place to hang the rifle not being forgotten. These pegs served as a support for shelves and even for beds. But regular bedsteads, cheap and common enough looking these days, were soon introduced, many settlers bringing them with them from Connecticut, and, for the children, "trundle-beds" were in common use. The cabin generally consisted of but a single room. In the warmer months much of the work of cooking, wash- ing, etc., was performed outside, under the friendly shade of some convenient tree. At other times the one room served the purpose of kitchen, dining-room. parlor, closet and bed-room combined. The larger boys generally slept in the garret, access being had by a flight of rude stairs or a ladder; and in the winter season the snow often found its way between the loosely placed shingles, so that in going to bed they "made tracks" with alacrity. Rude benches, long

HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.

enough to seat two or three persons, made of planks split and shaved, served as chairs. In the plank, holes were bored and sticks inserted, to serve as legs or supports. Household utensils were as seanty as the furniture, a single pot or skillet often having to do duty many times over in preparing a meal. Tin- ware was scarce and dear, stoves of course unknown, and as for saving fuel, that was of but little moment, the huge fire-places admitting a stick as long and as heavy as a man would care to carry.

The fire on the hearth is one of the pleasant memo- ries of early days: on a winter's evening, with familiar faces grouped around, the scene is most inviting. Is the sacrifice of old comforts to modern plans always without loss? The bright light of the blazing logs often rendered candles or lamps unnecessary, and the fire being easily kept up and rarely suffered to die out fo. months together, the modern invention of matches, now indispensable, was more easily got along without. Clocks were the luxury of the few, but were a few years later introduced and sold at high prices by ped- dlers, the housewife noting the hours by the sunlight streaming through the open door or window and east- ing a shadow of the wall upon the floor.

The food of the settler was "'johnny-cake" and mush, or bread of coarsely-ground flour or meal. Milk was freely used, butter often dispensed with and rarely of the best quality, and cheese unknown. Pork and venison were always at hand; wild turkey, squirrel and other game easy to obtain. Sugar from the maple was frequently to be had, and tea and coffee were often replaced by decoctions of sassafras, spice-bush and parched corn. As for food, the variety and manner of cooking were quite tolerable to those settlers fortunate in having a good start and a little money, otherwise they often suffered for necessaries, and being put on short rations was not an uncommon experience.

In respect to clothing, the contrast with the present time was more noticeable. Deerskin was largely used for men's clothing. It would wear a long time, but its adaptability was sadly lessened by the ease with which it would absorb water. A man getting a pair of deerskin trousers thoroughly wet would soon find them length- ened and dangling at his heels so as to seriously interfere with locomotion, and, after hanging them up to dry at night, would, on the following morning, find them almost as stiff as if made of cast iron.

The loom and spinning wheel were found in every household, and the women, besides making and knit- ting yarn, made cloth of flax and wool, often com- bining the different materials into a coarse fabric known as linsey-woolsey. The barks of trees fur- nished coloring matter, and the making of the gar- ments was completed without calling into requisition any greater skill than the household afforded. But these " home manufacturers" could not "compete" with the "pauper labor" of New England: and first came the ealicoes and brown muslins, dear at first, doubly so from cost of transportation, handling, and especially from the scarcity, but very soon so cheap no

one could afford to invest money to make them. Not long afterwards satinets and jeans were introduced for men's wear, and very soon the loom had no further place in the household, and the spinning wheel was soon afterward laid aside. More recently the sewing machine, books of patterns, and ready-made boots, hats and clothing have come into general use .- the latter commodity no longer content with becoming the ap- parel of men, but of women also.

The settler provided with shelter, the work of clear- ing, grubbing and burning away the forest and inclos- ing his fields must be commenced. This is to be his main vocation, especially in the winter season, for long years to come. Hle must rise early and work late, nor is the labor itself easy or inviting. As timber and wood have no marketable value, they are simply an incumbranee to be got rid of; occasionally, however, a fine tree is saved for rails or other use. The manner of clearing, too, is different from that of later years. A shorter, less laborious method must be adopted- the labor of felling the trees is often avoided by " gird- ling " or "deadening" them. The ascent of the sap being arrested by cutting notches entirely around the trunk, the tree dies, and the trunk becomes dry and is burned in much less time than if it was felled in the first instance and allowed to lie on the damp ground; and besides, after a time many of the trunks are blown over, and the labor of chopping them down avoided. Some trees, the beech and maple for instance, begin to topple and fall after the third year.

Grain and other erops were often raised in the girdling. After a time the number of fallen trunks interferes with cultivation, and selecting a dry time, they are set fire to. This burning is systematically done; a hundred fires are set, and the woods and skies are soon darkened by the smoke. To wateh and tend the fires, to cut down an occasional "stub" which is left standing, is the work of the settler, which is pro- longed far into the night, when the bright flames light up the surrounding forests, and make a scene of beauty upon which he loves to linger and look. In order to facilitate the burning of the larger logs, fires are set at different points so as to burn them in two. In some places this is called "niggering." When the work is sufficiently advanced, the settler invites his neighbors, who turn out with the same alacrity and willingness they would to a raising. With long hand- spikes, the burning logs are rolled together into great heaps. Working in the smoke, treading on hot ashes and embers, facing blazing fires, and at the same time exerting all the strength they possess, the task is no light or easy one; but the work is done with a will, and a hearty "now all together" that shows them in earnest. The task accomplished, the scene is often changed into merry-making; a hearty supper is prepared, and liquid refreshments are not wanting. . Though the wood or timber has no marketable value, the ashes are scraped up and placed in rude conical boxes. flaring at the top, and made of staves. Water is poured in at the top, and, leaching through. the lye thus formed

HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.

is carefully saved, and after boiling in huge iron pots forms "black salts." from which potash is made. It was sold in the form of black salts, which had the important quality of considerable value in so little weight or bulk that it could be transported to the distant eastern markets. The sale of this pro- duet was one of the few resources which the early settler had to obtain money. The soil of the field thus burned off was. it is unnecessary to say, of great fertility, and enormous crops were often raised. But plowing and caring for crops was hard work among the roots, stones and stumps: tools and implements were rudely fashioned and imperfect. It was the days of reaping hooks and hand rakes; and the grain, slowly gathered, was taken to the barn, and the work of pounding it out with flails remains to be done. Nor was the work of converting into flour less formid- able. At first, a pestle and mortar were used, worked by hand with a spring-pole, but the pioneers of the Fire-lands had but little experience of this kind. With a bag of grain upon his horse, the settler would go ten, twenty, yes, forty miles through the lonely woods to the nearest mill-a rude affair of small capacity- and return after an absence of three or four days con- sumed 'in the slow traveling of the times, and in waiting for his turn, and in a few weeks' time he would have to make another trip. No wonder then that the establishment of a mill in a settlement was hailed as a godsend.

Bountiful crops did not always reward the husband- man. The raccoon, the squirrel and the woodchuck were sometimes of the opinion that the growing corn was their private property. Traps must be set, and hunts organized to catch them and put a stop to their depredations, and high and stout fences must be built to keep out larger animals, hogs, cattle and deer.

The care of live stock was no small matter. Sheep had to be penned every night to keep them from the wolves, and every once in a while a bear would carry off a pig in broad daylight. Full grown cattle ranged the woods with but little fear from attack by wild ani- mals. They were generally provided with bells, so that they could be the more easily found at night. But the forest-covered country furnished but little pasturage. In cold weather the slender supply of hay and cornstalks was soon exhausted, and the cattle, gaunt as skeletons, were turned into the woods to browse among the underbrush and tree-tops of the clearings, and in the spring and summer were often poisoned by eating noxious herbs and shrubs. That terrible mysterious scourge, milk-sickness, sometimes made its appearance, and brought suffering and death into the settler's cabins. Malarious diseases were more prevalent than now. The damp woods and fresh-turned fields were full of fever poisons. Skilled physicians were few and.often many miles away. But the lot of the pioneer was not altogether lonely and cheerless. Companionship was not wanting : other settlers soon arrived, and they assisted one another in their toils with light hearts and merry rivalry. The raising of a

cabin, the opening of a road, the log-rolling and burn- ing, and the husking-bee. were the signal for all to gather together and turn the hardest tasks into sport, while the coon-hunt, the election and the training day were not forgotten. Nor was the rustic dance neg- lected. On the rude floors of the cabins. the pioneer youth and his sweet-heart, clad not in broadeloth or in silks, but in half tanned deer-skin or coarse homespun, ranged themselves, bright and expectant, for the lively notes of the violin. A few tallow candles lent a dim and glimmering light, but the bright cheeks of the maidens did not need the shade ; the color would bear the strongest light. The dance begins, and the cares of field and kitchen are soon forgotten. Soft eyes met loving glances, and the hours sped away as if on golden wings.

CHAPTER XII. CIVIL HISTORY.

TRUMBULL county was established by the territorial government, December 6, 1800. It mcluded the whole of the Western Reserve. Prior to that time. 80 much of the Reserve as lay east of the Cuyahoga, the Portage path and the Tuscarawas river, was included in Washington county, which was established July 26. 1788. Eight years later, August 15, 1796. that part of the Reserve lying west of said line was constituted a part of Wayne county.

Geauga county was erected by an act of the legisla- ture passed December 31. 1805, by which and subse- quent aets it is supposed that a part of the Fire-lands was included in its limits.

Portage county was formed from Trumbull county, February 10, 1807, and that portion of the Reserve lying west of the Cuyahoga river and south of town- ship number five was attached to Portage county for judicial purposes.

Huron county was created by the act of February 4. 1809, and included all of the Fire-lands, to be organized when the legislature should deem proper; but, for the time, to remain as it then was, attached to Portage and Geauga for judicial purposes. By the same aet, Almon Ruggles was appointed recorder of Huron county, and to continue such until the county organization should be perfected; and the recorders of Geauga and Trumbull counties were to deliver to him all books and records relating to the county of Huron.

Cuyahoga county was organized January 16, 1810. and Huron county attached to it for judicial purposes.

January 22, 1811, the limits of Huron county were enlarged, the east line being moved eastward so as to include a considerable part of what is now Lorain county, the boundary being changed so as to extend from the northeast corner of town four of the twenti- eth range to the southwest corner of town five of the sixteenth range, thence north to the northwest corner of town six in the sixteenth range, thence west to the

HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.

middle of Black river, and thenee, following that stream, to Lake Erie. The Ohio legislature, by a resolution adopted on the 29th of January, 1811, appointed Ephraim Quinby of Trumbull. Joseph Clark of Geauga, and Solomon Griswold of Ashtabula county, as commissioners to locate a county seat. They selected a site on the farm of David Abbott, in the township of Avery, and near the present village of Milan.

On January 31, 1811, an act was passed further or- ganizing Huron county, but the war with England prevented it from being carried out, until January 31, 1815. The first court of common pleas was held at the county seat, in Avery township, (now Milan,) George Tod, presiding judge, and Jabez Wright. Ste- phen Meeker and Joseph Strong, associates. Com- plaint having been made that the location of the county seat was unsuitable, the legislature was indueed, on the 26th day of January, 1818, to appoint Abra- ham Tappan, of Geanga, William Wetmore, of Port- age, and Elias Lee, of Cuyahoga county, as commis- sioners to view the present seat of justice of Huron county, and to investigate the claims of other localities, and if they should consider that the interests of the county require it, were authorized to remove it to such a place as in their judgment might be more suitable.

The proprietors of Norwalk were much interested in securing a report in favor of their infant village, and were not, it is to be presumed, backward in pre- senting its claims, which they did with so mueh sue- cess that the commissioners decided in their favor and removed the county seat thither.

The first meeting of the commissioners of Huron county was held at the county seat, in Avery, on August 1, 1815, at the house of David Abbott. The commissioners were Caleb Palmer, Charles Parker and Eli S. Barnum ; Ichabod Marshall was appointed clerk pro tem. Abijah Comstock was appointed eounty treasurer.

Among the townships set off were the following:

Vermillion, to comprise the whole of the twentieth range, together with all that traet of country belong- ing to Huron county, east of the twentieth range.

Greenfield, to comprise townships numbers two and three in the twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third and twenty-fourth ranges.

New Haven, to comprise townships number one, in the twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third and twenty-fourth ranges.

The commissioners decided at this meeting that the bounty for killing wolves in the county of Huron to be paid by said county shall be: For each wolf scalp more than six months old, two dollars; for each wolf scalp less than six months old, one dollar. They also ordered that the building at the county seat which hitherto had been occupied as a school house, should, for the future, be used for a court house and gaol until other arrangements could be made.

The second board of commissioners consisted of Nathan Cummins, for one year: Frederick Falley, for

two years; and Bildad Adams, for three years; the length of service being determined by lot, and ap- pointed Frederick Falley as their elerk. The meeting was held at the house of David Abbott, Esq., at the county seat, on the first Monday of December, 1815.

The following townships were ordered set off: Ridge- field, comprising the townships of Ridgefield, Lyme, the south half of Oxford, together with the township of Sherman; Bloomingville, comprising Perkins and fractions between that and Sandusky Bay and the north half of Oxford; Margaretta, comprising Patter- son, the fraction between that and Sandusky Bay, Danbury and the island in the bay and lake.

At this meeting committees were appointed to lay out ten different roads, and Lyman Farwell was ap- pointed collector of county taxes and levies for the year 1816, and Abijah Comstock was appointed treas- urer and gave bond for three thousand dollars, with David Abbott and John Hack as sureties. June 8, 1816, the treasurer's report was submitted : Total re- eeipts for the year, two thousand six hundred and fifty-three dollars and eleven cents; total expenditures, one thousand eight hundred and forty-three dollars and ninety-five cents; balance in the treasury, eight hun- dred and thirteen dollars and sixteen cents.

The order of notice for proposals to be received for building a court house and gaol is in the following words: "Notice is hereby given that proposals will be received for the building of a briek court house and a gaol by the commissioners of the county of Huron at the next court of common pleas to be holden in and for the county of Huron on the third Tuesday of October next of said court, at which time and place a plan of said buildings will be exhibited, and time made known for the completion of the same. Fied- erick Falley, Ebenezer Merry. Bildad Adams, commis- sioners. Attest: David Abbott, Clerk." The com- missioners ordered that the notice be inserted in a paper published at Columbus, and in the Trump of Fame, for three weeks previous to the time of receiv- ing proposals, and also that notice be given in four public places by advertisements.

February 8, 1817. the township of Danbury was set off from Margaretta (to include the islands), and Bronson and Norwalk were set off from Huron, under the name of Norwalk.

Township five in the twentieth range was set off from Vermillion, to be called Florence. Townships one, two, three, four and five. in twenty-first range, were set off. under the name of Eldridge, April 3, 1817.

The building of the court house and jail being put np at anetion. Ebenezer Merry was the lowest bid- der-seven hundred dollars for erceting the frame of the court house and jail and the underpinning for the same.

April 23, 1817. Merry contracted to furnish fifteen thousand feet of boards, for finishing the court house, at twelve dollars per thousand.

HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.

June 2, 1817 .- ABIJAH C'OMSTOCK, Treasurer,

To State tax. $1,585 84

To county tax.

258 99

To permits and licenses. 12]' ]]

£13 15

To old balance.

613 59

To order on auditor for three per cent. money ..

150 00

3,492 69

('R.

Orders redeemed

$2,195 42

For per centage

87 8]

Balance due the county on settlement.

$1.209 45

September 11, 1819. it was ordered that the name of Wheatsborough be changed to Lyme. February 16. 1820, the commissioners ordered that there should be no more Indians' accounts andited.

June, 1822, the wolf bounty was fixed at one dollar and fifty cents for each wolf over six months old, and seventy-five cents for those under that age.

August 12, 1818, it was ordered by the commissioners that notice be given that the commissioners will, on the first Monday of December following, receive pro- posals for a court house, forty by thirty feet, and a jail; and on the îth of December following, the eommis- sioners purchased a building of David Underhill & Co. for a court house, for the sum of eight hundred and forty-eight dollars.

March 2, 1819, the commissioners contracted with Platt Benedict to build a jail, twenty-four by forty-six feet, two stories high, for the sum of one thousand two hundred and seventy-five dollars.

The first term of court was held at the old county seat, in October, 1815, the first recorded eause being an action by John James against Anthony Doyle for assault and battery-Samuel Mott, attorney for plain- tiff, Elisha Whittlesey for defendant. The cause was discontinued before being brought to a trial.

The first letters of administration were issued to Nathan Wood, on the estate of Robert Harberson, deceased. late of Wheatsborough (Lyme) township. The inventory of the goods and chattels gives, among other items:

1 black cow $22 00

1 red cow 18 00

I pair steers 26 00

5 geese .. 3 00

1 large iron kettle. 6 00

1 set plow irons. 5 00

1 Iron wedge 1 00

] axe ...

2 00

1 scythe and snath.

1 25

In the year 1830 a tax or license was charged against lawyers and physicians from one dollar to three dollars each. Total amount, eighty-three dol- lars. The following is the list:

LAWYERS -Ebenezer Andrews, Milan: L. S. Beecher, Portland; Eleu- theros Cook, Ridgefield: Wm. H. Hunter, Portland; David Higgins, Nor- walk: Philip R. Hopkins, Milan; Francis Kenyon, Milan; Picket Lati- mer, Norwalk; Ebenezer Lane, Norwalk: Francis D. Parish, Portland; Thad B. Sturges, Norwalk: John Wheeler, Portland; James Williams. Norwalk.

PHYSICIANS,-Nieo. Anderson, Portland; A. H. Brown. New Haven: Geo. G. Baker, Florence: S. B. Carpenter. Oxford; H. M. Clark, Wake- man: Cyrus Cole, Ridgefield : Thos. Davis, Portland ; Lyman Fay, Milan: Dr. Frisbie, New Haven: I. T. Gilbert, New Haven: Amos B. Harris, Milan: Junia A. Jennings, New Haven: Wm. F. Kittredge. Norwalk: W'm. M. Ladd, Greenwich; Philip R. McCrea, Milan: Harvey Manley, Clarksfeld: Richard A. Morton, Greenwich; Wm. W. Nugent, Portland:

Lemuel Powers, New Haven; Hugh T. Prouty, Ridgefield: Moses C. San- ders, Pern: Samnel Stevens, Lyme: Charles Smith. Lyme: Daniel Til- den, Norwalk: Ensign Van Benschoter, Portland.

In 1840 the following lawyers were taxed. They were located at Norwalk, unless otherwise specified:

LAWYERS .- J. J. Ackerman, John Beardsley, C. L. Boalt. David Hig- gins, Jr., Jairus Kennan, C. L. Latimer. Noah Newton, J. R. Osboru, W. Pierce, Joseph M. Root, Ezra M. Stone, T. B. Sturges, C. B. Squires, James Williams. S. T. Worcester, John Whitbeck: J. W. Wilson, of Fitchville.

Herewith is given a list of the names on the tax duplicate for the year 1815. The book containing them is now on file at the county auditor's office in Norwalk, and consists of a single sheet of foolseap folded so as to make sixteen pages. It has no cover, and is yellow with age. The amount of tax levied to each person is given. but is here omitted-the total amount levied being one hundred and ninety-two dol- lars and forty cents; the largest amonnt charged to a single individual being six dollars and forty eents,-to David Abbott. The spelling is that of the record:

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History of the Fire lands, comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers, Part 10

Author: Williams, W. W. (William W.) Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : Press of Leader Printing Company Number of Pages: 726

Author: Williams, W. W. (William W.)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : Press of Leader Printing Company
Number of Pages: 726