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 29
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 29
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Arnold was so impressed by the questions, manner and actions of Omick, that he hastened home and told Comstock that they must leave at once, or they would be murdered. His warning was acted upon, the oxen and wagon got ready, and the whole family sought safety in flight toward the Vermillion river. Soon after, their house was burned by the Indians, probably by the same band that destroyed Benjamin Newcomb's house.
While Norwalk was yet attached to, and part of, the Township of Huron, Mr. Comstock was elected a justice of the peace. And he was also elected and served as the first county treasurer, but this position proved unfortunate for him. He was of a generous disposition, and could not refuse to grant a favor asked by one who came to him in need, or in the character of a friend, and looked upon all men as honest and meaning just what they said. No sooner had the taxes been collected and returned to him than he was successfully beseiged by numerous appli- cants for temporary loans of money, cach and all assuring him of their certainty of returning it to him before he should be called upon to account for it. The usual result in such cases followed, and he found the time for settlement at hand, but no funds. In this dilemma he hastened back to Connecticut, mortgaged all his interest in the Norwalk lands to his brother Nathan S., in exchange for money sufficient to meet his deficit; returned to Huron county, and fully paid up all his liabilities as treasurer, and from that
* MIr. Arnold's recollection is, that it was Omick, but in this he is probably mistaken, for the incident related, is not likely to have occur- red before the commencement of the war of 1812. Congress passed the act declaring that war on June 18th, and it was proclaimed on the next day. In April, 1812, Omick and another Indian, Semo, murdered Michael Gibbs and a Mr. Buel near "Ogontz Place" (now Sandusky City), and were soon after arrested, when Semo blew his own brains out with a gun, and Omick was taken to Cleveland, tried, convicted, and on June 26, 1812, executed.
time to his death, remained a comparatively poor man, but always honorable and respected.
The mortgage was never paid, and the property eventually passed to Nathan, who, in 1828, sent his son Philo ont to look after it, and so faithful has been his stewardship that he has remained looking after it to this day.
He died February 1, 1857, at the house of Stephen Boalt, whose mother was a sister to Nathan and Abijalı.
BENJAMIN NEWCOMB.
Benjamin Newcon:b was born in Durham, Connecti- cut. He there married, and afterwards with his wife and two sons, Samuel S. and Benjamin C., removed to Kinsman, Trumbull county, Ohio. From there at some time previous to the war of 1812, he removed to Norwalk township, and located in the southwest corner of section four on the farm now owned and occupied by Miner Cole. He probably took the land under a contract from Comfort S. Mygatt, but never obtained a deed. His name appears on the tax dupli- cate of personal property for 1815, but not on the real estate duplicate.
1815 .-- In the summer of this year, he transferred whatever interest he had in the land to Joseph Pieree, who afterwards, in 1816, sold it to Levi Cole who obtained a deed from Mygatt.
1816 .- On July 4th, Mr. Newcomb was instantly killed by the kick of a horse.
While residing in Norwalk, he had occasion to go to Huron, and while there had an altercation with au intoxicated Indian who took offence at something Mr. Newcomb said or did. The Indian attacked him with an axe, but Mr. Newcomb took the axe away from him, and then knocked him down with his fist. The next day the Indian on horseback passed Mr. Newcomb near his house, and watching his oppor- tunity, hit him a severe blow with a club. Mr. New- comb sprang forward, seized the "red-skin" by one foot, dragged him from his pony, and gave him so severe a beating that he was thought to be dead, and was put in the fence corner, and the children covered him up with sticks and leaves, but the next morning he was gone.
Soon after Hull's surrender in August. 1812, John Laylin. then of Berlin township, while on his way to Greenfield to notify his uncle, Hanson Reed, of the danger from the Indians, called in the night, and gave the alarm to Newcomb that the Indians were . coming, and they must at once leave the country. Very hastily such things as were necessary for a long tedious tramp through an almost trackless wilderness, were packed up, and the family, consisting of father, mother, two boys and an infant,. Mary,* less than two years of age, started for the older settlements east. By day-break, they reached the "old State road, " and at a place since called Purdy's Corners, met other
* Mary Newcomb married Philo Comstock February 5, 1831, and died in September following: aged a little over twenty years.
16
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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
refugees from Huron. Together they kept on to Ver- million river, where a halt was made, and Mr. New- comb returned to reconnoiter, and reached his place, two or three days after leaving it, in time to see, from a safe cover, his house burned by the Indians, and he supposed they must have been led there by the one he had so severely punished some time before, as it was the only house burned so far away from the lake. After crossing the Vermillion river, they directed their course to the "portage" of Cuyahoga river. from there to Charlestown, and from there to Vernon, and from there Mr. Newcomb entered the army as a teamster. In preparing for flight, Mr. Newcomb hid his log-chains and some other property in a hole he dng in the ground, but upon his return after the war, could not find where he had made his deposit, and the articles have never been found.
Towards night of the next day after Newcomb and family had left their house, several persons from the township of Wheatshorongh, now Lyme, fleeing from the dreaded Indian incursion, reached the' deserted house, and determined to eamp there over night. They "hoppled" their horses by tieing their front feet so near together that they could not step more than about a foot at a time, and let them loose to feed; then commenced to prepare their supper, which they soon had ready, and were about commencing to eat when they were startled by the much dreaded and unearthly Indian war-whoop. Stricken with horror, they stood not upon the order of their going, but preci- pitately sought safety in the darkness of the unbroken forest; their horses, goods and tempting supper were left behind; even their guns were abandoned, so com- plete and bewildering was their surprise; life, or torture and death hung upon the action of moments; property, resistance, the means of protection were unthought of, in the dire necessity for immediate escape and shelter from the merciless foe who tortured for pleasure, and murdered for revenge.
They all escaped successfully, and hour after hour, all night long, hurried southward through the swamps, thickets, and over the fallen logs of the trackless wilderness; at day-break, they were near the south line of the county, some of them so nearly exhausted that they wanted to halt and rest, but others of the party insisted the Indians could follow their track like a pack of wolves, and so the weary, famishing flight, kept on during the long, long hours of the day, until the weaker ones were ready to fall out of line, abandon the escape, and submit to their fate. But there were warm hearts and strong hands in that party. A long light pole was secured, each person took firm hold of it, and thus, the strong supporting the weak, the weary march dragged on, and did not stop until Mansfield and safety were reached.
The day this party passed through the township of Ridgefield on their way to Newcomb's house, Renben Pixley, Sr., then living in Ridgefield township, heard in some way that there was no danger to be appre- hended from the Indians. and started after the party
to induce them to return. On his way he met Seth Brown who lived in the fourth section of Ridgefield. and consented to accompany Pixley in search of the refugees.
They arrived near Newcomb's place, just as the party were about to commence eating their supper, and thinking to have some sport, tried their ability to counterfeit the hideous war-whoop of the savages. The success of their powers of imitation was greater than they had anticipated, and although they made strenuous efforts to overtake the frightened people, and explain their little joke, were totally unable to do so. They remained at Newcomb's house that night, fared sumptuously, and in the morning re- turned with the abandoned property, and soon sent word on to Mansfield explaining their miserable prac- tical joke. This story was recently related to the writer by Miner Cole, Esq., of this township, who says he has heard it many times from the lips of Reuben Pixley, Sr., one of the practical jokers.
The Newcomb house, burned by the Indians in 1812, stood on the east side of the creek, close under the hill, and but a few rods from the town line between Norwalk and Bronson. There are now standing near its site a stately poplar and an old deserepit apple tree planted there by that early settler nearly seventy years ago.
A military road or trail then existed upon the town line, just south of his house, which Mr. New- comb had assisted in opening, and it was while at work on that road that he was attracted by the beauty of that particular location which afterwards he settled upon as related.
At the close of the war, he returned to his place, and erected another log house on the west side of the creek, on a gravel bluff overlooking the valley. From that bluff the gravel was taken that filters the water used by the citizens of Norwalk from the water works, and West Main street was graveled partly from the same source.
Yesterday, May 2, 1879, the writer and his little daughter, in company with Miner Cole, visited the spot; the old house is gone; its site is marked by an indentation where the cellar used to be, and the old hearthstones yet remain in place. Standing upon that memento of the first steps of civilization, and looking forth in the bright sunlight of the balmy May afternoon, over the beautiful valley at his feet, upon which a flock of sheep and lambs were grazing, busy fancies brought to him echoes of the seream of the panther and howl of the wolf, followed by the inging sound of the woodman's axe, and the voices of children playing at the creek, then by sereams and shouts of terror-stricken fugitives, soon followed by the dim vision of a stealthy band of half-naked, painted savages, quickly made distinet in all their wild orgies by the lurid light of a burning home: then another sound broke in, gentle, sweet and pleading-"Papa, please buy me a little baa-baa-lamb?"
The contrast was too great; the fancies took to
A & Posh
Among the pioneers of the Fire-Lands, whose long residence and active labors have made them conspicuous, none occupy a more prominent position, and deservedly so, than Ashbel G. Post. Coming here at a time when the then infant settlement was devoid of all those improvements that now add to the convenience and comfort of the people; when the present county of Huron was almost without roads and bridges; when it required hard and persistent labor, toil, and care to make the soil produce enough for the bare necessities of life,-he has lived to witness all the various developments now existing, and in his life and character has assisted in this great work of progress.
Ashbel G. Post is the second child and only son of Ashbel Post, the latter of whom was born in Old Saybrook, Conn., in the year 1767, and died in Huron Co., Ohio, Aug. 14, 1823.
His mother was Betsey Phelps, who died May 26, 1796, in the nineteenth year of her age. Aslıbel G. Post was born in Greene Co., N. Y., May 20, 1796, and is consequently in the eighty-third year of his age. His father and uncle, Col. Ezra Post, were among the pioneers of Greene Co., N. Y. The latter had been in the Revolutionary war, and also held a colonel's commission in the army during the war of 1812, and was a member of the Legislature of the State of New York during the palmy days of De Witt Clinton.
Ashbel Post was a man of a somewhat changeable disposi- tion, but of great personal integrity. For seven years he was master of a sailing vessel out of Boston. He subsequently married again and settled on a small farm in Middlesex Co., Conn., and afterward was proprietor of a hotel in the village of Cromwell. In 1821 he came to Ohio, and located between six and seven hundred acres of land in Fitchville. 1Ie erected a log cabin, and proceeded to make the necessary improve- ments preparatory to moving his family, and had nearly com- pleted his arrangements to go East for them when, on the 14th of August, 1823, he died. 1Ie left behind him a reputation for industry and perseverance which, had he lived, would have resulted in much happiness and comfort for his family.
It was in July, 1823, that Ashbel G. Post first came West. He was then a young man, ardent in his desire to succeed, and willing to assume the arduous duties of the pioneer. After visiting his father and looking around some, with the inten- tion of coming out to settle, he returned East and soon received the melancholy intelligence of his father's death. In Novem- ber following he returned to the Fire-Lands, and obtaining his share of his father's estate he went to work, paid off the re- maining incumbrance, and from that time all through his active business life succeeded well. In 1836 he removed to Berlin township (now Erie County), where he purchased four hundred acres of land, of which he made the best farm in what now constitutes the two counties of Huron and Erie, and for several years he took the first premium for the most highly cultivated, the best improved, and the neatest farm, thus de- monstrating his ability as a good, practical farmer.
Mr. Post has been three times married. His first wife was Tamia Palmer, with whom he was united Nov. 15, 1824. She died April 1, 1836. They had five children, namely : Sanford G., now resides in Nevada; Fanny P , married and lives in Michigan ; Eleanor, married and resides in Vermil- ion ; Wesley (deceased) ; William H., now resides at home.
For his second wife, Mr. Post married Ellen S. Parmenter, who died March 28, 1855, leaving one daughter, Louisa P., who now resides in Wood Co., Ohio. They had also one son, James A., who died young. For his third partner in life, Mr. Post married Mrs. Fanny M. Platt, of Connecticut, Sept. 24, 1855. In 1829, Mr. Post was elected to the office of justice of the peace, and re-elected in 1832. He is a Democrat in politics, and in religion liberal.
In 1855, Mr. Post sold his six hundred acres in Erie County, and after traveling and visiting his Eastern home, in 1859, he settled in his present residence in Norwalk.
The main characteristics of his long and eminently useful life are his industrious habits, his indomitable energy, and his uncompromising personal integrity. These good qualities he will leave as a worthy example for future generations to fol- low, and as an imperishable legacy to his children.
RESIDENCE OF A. G. POST , No. 77 WEST MAIN ST., NORWALK, O.
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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
flight, else the writer to this hour might have stood on that ancient hearth, listening to echoes from the remote past.
SAMUEL B. LEWIS
1814 .- Mr. Lewis was born in South Salem, West- chester county, New York, in 1790, and died at Norwalk, July 14, 1870, in the eighty-first year of his age.
In 1814, he purchased two hundred acres of land about one and a half miles south of the present loca- tion of the village of Norwalk, paying for it two dol- lars per acre, and in the spring of that year came on to make preparation for a permanent settlement. He made some clearing, and put in a small piece of wheat, then returning to New York.
1815 .- On the fifteenth of February, 1815, he started with his family, then consisting of his wife and a little daughter, named Angeline, (who died at Norwalk, September 1, 1817), for the new home in the West. The journey was made in a covered wagon drawn by a span of horses, and required forty-six days to complete. They arrived at Norwalk, April 2, 1815, or rather, they arrived at their new home on that day, for Norwalk was yet to be; only an " Indian trail" marked the crest of the "sand ridge " where Main street now is.
Soon after arriving with his family, he sold the land upon which he had commenced his improve- ments the year before, to Hanson Reed, for five dol- lars per acre, and purchased another tract of two hundred acres, in section one, for one dollar and fifty cents per acre.
During the summer and antumn of 1815, he built a house on his new purchase, and in that honse the election for State officers, of October, 1818, was held.
In an article written by Mr. Lewis, and published in the Fire-lands Pioneer, of June, 1858, and from which most of the foregoing facts of his history have been taken, he says:
"When I first came to Ohio, provisions of all kinds were scarce, and prices high. Wheat was sold at two dollars per bushel, also the first oats I sowed cost me two dollars per bushel; I bought them of Judge Meeker, on the lake shore, as I came into the country; and at another time I paid him five dollars for a common axe, and went twelve miles for it; how- ever, upon the cessation of the war of 1812, people having turned their attention more to clearing their lands, and to agriculture, when soon field was added to field, and farm to farm, and, rich in their virgin soil, they sent forth their luxuriant harvests until plenty filled the land. Then produce fell to an extremely low price; so low that the year previous to the opening of the New York and Erie canal, the most that I could get offered for a fine quality of wheat, was twelve and a half cents per bushel, and haul it a distance of six miles to market, which was then at Milan."
In those early days, wild turkeys were very plenty,
and did great damage to wheat and corn crops. Mr. Lewis relates that in 1827, they were so numerous as to endanger his wheat crop. He built a rail pen about eleven feet square, with rails laid near together on top. A trap-door was provided, and grain freely scattered around and within the pen. The turkeys came, entered the trap, and his first catch was nine fat birds, but one got away. Two or three days after- wards, twelve more fell victims to the trap, and this put an end to their depredations, for no others came around that season.
During the infancy of the settlement of Norwalk, Mr. Lewis' house was always open, free of charge, to the new comers, who sought his hospitality, and on one occasion, from the frequency of such calls upon him, his stock of breadstuffs ran very short. There were no mills in the country, and no flour market nearer than Mansfield, and no road practicable for a wagon to that place; so he went there on horseback, and constructing a rude rack to fit the back of his horse, loaded a barrel of flour on that, and in that manner transported it home.
On another occasion he was called back to the east, and performed the whole journey from Norwalk to Jersey City, on foot.
Mr. Lewis, with another pioneer, named William Marshall, a surveyor, traveled over and surveyed many of the lands in Huron county. These two went days and sometimes weeks together through the wilderness, camping out nights, while they were sur- veying farms, and running out public roads.
He held at different times the office of justice of the peace, township trustee, assessor, and lister.
The maiden name of his wife was Amy Ferris. She was born at Newtown, Fairfield county, C'on- necticut, and until her death, in October, 1856, bore her share of the privations of pioneer life chcerfully, and with courage.
In those early days, they were surrounded by the dense wilderness, the home of thousands of savage men, bears, wolves and panthers.
On one occasion, when there was no one at home but Mrs. Lewis and her little daughter, there came on horseback to the house two Indian women, or squaws, who wanted flour, which was kept in the house up stairs. Mrs. Lewis went up, and was get- ting the flour, when the two squaws followed, and commenced impudently lifting the lids of boxes and barrels, to see what they contained. Mrs. Lewis shook her head at them, and they shook their heads at her. When the floor was put up, they all descended, and one of the squaws seized the little girl, then nearly two years old, and the two hastened to their horses, mounted and galloped away with the child before Mrs. Lewis fully realized what they were at. But the mother's heart quickly took the alarm, and desperation nerved her to an almost ønperhuman effort for the recovery of her little one. The route taken by the squaws would compel them, at the dis- tance of about one mile, to pass the house of another
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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
settler,* but before that was reached, the mother was so close after them, and screaming so lustily, that they dared not pass the settler's clearing, ahead of them, with the child, for fear of being captured, so the child was put down on the ground, the squaws scampered off with all the speed they could get out of their ponies, and the mother returned home with her child and a heart full of thankfulness.
DR. JOSEPH PIERCE.
1815 .- Dr. Joseph Pierce came to Norwalk in 1815, in company with Major David Underhill, Timothy Baker, Levi Cole and Horace Morse. That summer he purchased of Benjamin Newcomb all the interest held by the latter in lot number one of section four of Norwalk, being the Newcomb place, now Miner Cole's farm, and, in 1816, transferred his interest to Levi Cole, but continued, with his sister Rhoda, to make it his home with Mr. Cole for a number of years. He was the first practicing physician in Norwalk township. and the first postmaster, of which more particular mention is made under the head of "First Post Office." Dr. Pierce was from Herkimer county, New York. He remained here until about 1825, and then removed to New Haven and remained for some time, and then removed to Indiana.
LEVI COLE.
Levi Cole was born in Windom county, Connecti- cut, November 20, 1766, married November 25, 1290, and died February 11, 1820, at Norwalk, Ohio. His wife, Hannah Kinney, was born in Windom county, Connecticut, July 24, 1220, and died at Norwalk, Ohio, February 22, 1840. They had seven sons, as follows: Jeremy, born March 17, 1795; died July. 30, 1818; came to Ohio in 1815. Asher, born April 23, 1297; died November 4, 1830; came to Ohio in- 1816. James, born April 25, 1999; now living in Norwalk township; came to Ohio in 1816. Levi, born March 23, 1801; now living in Ridgefield town- ship; came to Ohio in 1816. Miner, born July 26, 1803; now living in Norwalk township; came to Ohio in 1816. Manly K., born February 11, 1807; now liv- ing in Bronson township; came to Ohio in 1816. Lyman, born March 10, 1810; died October 10, 1843; came to Ohio in 1816.
In 1814, Mr. Cole was living in Herkimer county, New York, and, that year, in company with Major David Underhill and Timothy Baker, came on to look at lands held by Mr. Underhill in Ridgefield township. He was pleased with the land and bargained for a piece this side of the present farm of Sidney Brown, and then returned home.
In 1815, he came ont again, accompanied by his son Jeremy, Horace Morse, Dr. Joseph Pierce and David Underhill, put up a house on the land, com- menced a clearing, and otherwise prepared for bring-
ing his family out the next year. In the Fall, leaving Jeremy to look after the place and continue the im- provements, he returned home again.
During this visit, and on the 16th day of July, 1815, he, Major Underhill and Dr. Joseph Pierce, brushed out a "trail," or road, from Abijah Com- stock's place to the "Sand Ridge," as it was then called (now Norwalk), and at night returned and stayed at Comstock's until the next day, and then started out and completed their work through to Underhill's place on the 17th. This was the first highway labor ever done on Main street. It was not done in pursuance of an ordinance. and no street com- missioner "bossed " the job; perhaps that will account for its rapid completion. They followed the old " In- dian trail," which came out on to the ridge some- where between Milan and Chatham streets.
In January of 1816, Mr. Cole and Major Under- hill started with their families and such goods and supplies as they might require in their new homes, with six teams and sleighs, three to each family. The party contained twenty persons, to-wit: Mr. and Mrs. Cole and six of their boys. Mr. and Mrs. Underhill and six children. Jasper Underhill (a nephew of the Major), Daniel Warren, Marks Rosbeck, Rhoda Pierce, sister to Joseph Pierce, and a person by the name of Wilcox.
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