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 44
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 44
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Two of his twin daughters, Sarah and Hannah, aged about five years, were captured and carried off by the Indians, painted and adopted by a squaw, but soon after ransomed.
Hannah, born at Groton, Connecticut, March 4, 1773. was the Mrs. Hannah Jones who died at Kings-
ton, Pennsylvania, about 1860. Sarah, born at Gro- ton, Connecticut, March 4, 1723, was the Sarah Hoyt who died at Norwalk, Ohio, in 1858. She first married Peter Grubb, Jr .; after his death she married Mr. Agur Hoyt and removed to Danbury, Connecti- cut: from there they removed, in 1831, to Norwalk, Ohio. She was the stepmother of Agur B. Hoyt, now of Norwalk, and mother of William R. Hoyt, now of Toledo. Ohio.
Another daughter, Mary, was engaged to be mar- ried to James Divine, of Philadelphia. He was at Kingston to visit her, and was one of the victims of July 3, 1778. She never married.
William (fourth). then a lad, escaped the massacre, and, at maturity, married Freelove Hathaway, sister of sea captain Caleb Hathaway, of Philadelphia. Their children were William (fifth), Hallet (third), "James Divine " and Caleb Hathaway.
William (fifth) came to Norwalk, Ohio, in 1818, and, on May 2, 1820, married Salley Boalt, daughter of Captain John Boalt (the first marriage in Norwalk), and their children are: William (sixth). now living in Tiffin. Ohio: Matilda (Mrs. Wm. Bombarger). now of Boulder, Colorado; Mary, dead; Francis. now of Denver, Colorado; Ruth Ann (Mrs. Lafayette S. Lyt- tle,) of Toledo, Ohio; George, of Tiffin, Ohio; Susan (Mrs. Thomas Thresher,) of Granville, Ohio: Samuel C., now of Pueblo, Colorado; James Divine (2d), now of Greensburgh, Indiana: John (2d), now of Boulder, Colorado; Rose (Mrs. Albert Nusley, ) of Sandusky City, Ohio):
Hallet (3d) was born at Kingston, Pennsylvania, in 1196, and. upon his birth, a relative at Groton, Con- necticut, sent on to his parents the wampum belt given by the friendly Indian to Captain Hallet (1st) in 1225, with the request to name him Hallet. That belt is yet in almost perfect preservation in the pos- session of Carroll Gallup, of Norwalk, Ohio.
In 1812, Hallet (3d) joined Captain Thomas' com- pany of Pennsylvania volunteers and served in the artillery under Harrison. On being mustered out of service at the close of the war, he, in 1816, came to Bloomingsville, then in Huron county, and, in 1818, came to Norwalk. In 1819 he was appointed col- lector of the then Huron county. On April 9, 1820, he married Clarissa, daughter of Platt and Sally Benedict, and died in his eighty-second year on July 11, 1817, at Norwalk, Ohio.
His wife, Clarissa, died at Norwalk, Ohio, just six months afterwards. on January 11, 1878, in the eighty- second year of her age.
Their children were: Catharine, now living at Nor- walk; Maria, (Mrs. M. A. Dunton) now living at Nor- walk: Lydia, died in childhood; Carroll, now living at Norwalk; Sarah, (Mrs. Henry Brown) now living at Norwalk; Eliza, died in infancy; Caleb Hathaway, (second) now living at Norwalk; Lizzie Francis, now living at Norwalk.
James Divine, third son of William, (fourth) spent the greater part of his life as a mining engineer. in
181
HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
the then just developing coal regions of Pennsylvania, and died at Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, in March, 1856; aged about fifty-eight years; never married.
Caleb Hathaway, fourth son of William, (fourth) was born at Kingston, Pennsylvania, in 1802; came to Norwalk, Ohio, in 1825, and opened a cabinet shop on the lot so long occupied by the late John H. Foster. He died at Norwalk, September 20, 1827; not married.
Caleb Hathaway, (second) whose picture accom- panies this memoir, son of Hallett, (third) was born at Norwalk, Ohio, May 10, 1834.
In 1856, he graduated at Madison University, Hamilton, New York, from the "Literary and Scientific Course," and was the first student upon whom that institution conferred the "Degree of Bachelor of Philosophy."
In 1857, he commenced the study of law with Worcester and Pennewell, of Norwalk, and in April, 1858, graduated from the Cincinnati- Law School with the "Degree of Bachelor of Laws," and shortly after. wards opened an office at Norwalk.
In 1859, he removed to St. John's, Michigan, and on July 19th, was admitted to practice law in the courts of that State.
The next summer he removed from St. John's to Port Austin, Huron county, Michigan, arriving there on June 24, 1860.
In the fall of that year, he was elected the first prosecuting attorney of that county, to which posi- tion he was re-elected for four succeeding terms, hold- ing the office until January 1, 1871,-ten years.
He also held the offices of circuit court commis- sioner and injunction master during most of the same period, as well as that of township treasurer, and several other minor offices.
During the war of the rebellion, he acted as deputy United States Marshal for the western district of Huron county, Michigan; was himself "drafted" and
instead of being sent to the "front," was ordered back to duty as deputy marshal.
In 1866 he was elected a member of the Michigan legislature for two years, and while acting in that capacity introduced and obtained the passage of a joint resolution calling on Congress to provide for and construct a harbor of refuge at or near Point Au Barques, Lake Huron. He also had printed and circulated, at the different cities bordering the great chain of lakes, a petition to the same end. This was the first step ever taken to obtain such a harbor, and did not meet with immediate success; but it set the movement on foot that eventually culminated in the magnificent harbor of refuge now nearly completed at Sand Beach, Huron county, Michigan. Hundreds of vessels, thousands of sailors and millions of dollars worth of property now find safe shelter there from the terrible storms on lake Huron.
In 1867-8-9 he made repeated efforts to obtain an extention of the Western Union telegraph line from Lexington, seventy miles, to Port Austin, and with success.
June 20, 1860, he married Kate M., daughter of John V., and Mary S. Vredenburgh, then of Peru, Huron county, Ohio. She died May 25, 1863.
The issue of that marriage was one son, Richard Carroll, born September 2, 1861, at the Peru farm. November 3, 1869, married, as second wife, Helen A., daughter of William and Mary Glover, of Trenton, New Jersey, and niece of Hon. Joel Parker, of Free- hold, New Jersey, the only person who has twice held the position of governor of that State. She died April 8, 1872, at Port Austin, Michigan, aged twenty-nine years, and is buried at Norwalk, Ohio.
The issue of this second marriage was one daughter, Mabel Parker, born September 17, 1870, and one son, Herbert Alpheus, born April 5, 1872, both at Port Austin.
July 9, 1872, removed with his children back to Norwalk, Ohio, his present residence.
WAKEMAN.
ORIGINAL OWNERS.
IN the year 1792 the State of Connecticut granted five hundred thousand acres of land, on the west end of the Western Reserve, to those of her inhabitants whose property had been destroyed by fire by the enemy during the revolutionary war. The grantees organized under the name of "The Sufferers' Land Company," and on the 8th of November, 1808. the directors of the company met in the city of New Haven, Connecticut, and devised a plan for a division of the land among its members, which was made by lot.
The four classes drawn for the four sections of Wakeman are exhibited in the following table, the first column of which contains the names of the "sufferers" as the grantees were called. The fig- ures opposite the names show the amount of each individual's loss in pounds, shillings, and pence. The right hand column contains the names of those persons who became owners of the claims, either by purchase or by heirship, and the amounts set opposite their names show the amount paid for the claims in the different sections. The value of each section of the township being arbitrarily fixed at one thousand three hundred and forty-four pounds and seven shil- lings, each classifier was apportioned a quantity of land in the same ratio to the total amount as the amount of his claim bore to the total value. In the distribution of the lands, which, as previously stated, was made by lot, it sometimes happened that a claim- ant received land in each seetion of the township and in other townships.
WAKEMAN. TOWN NUMBER FOUR, IN THE TWENTIETHI
RANGE.
('LASSIFICATION NO I, SECTION 1
Original Grantees
.Im't Loss.
Classified by.
Am't Classed.
Mable Osborne
605
0
Jesup Wakeman
336
1
9
John Davis
14
11
Ebenezer Jesup. Jr. 10
59
12
0
two rights
26
16
10
26
16
10
Isaac Ilays,
two rights
114
1
0
516
50
0
93/
ersley
154
9
616
131
17
534
Titus Hurlburt
1961
0
Isaac Bronsou
336
1
9
David Burr
348
9
139
11
N. Thompson Nich- olls
67
18
0
67
18
0
N. Thompson Nich-
16
0
81
16
0
John Whitehead
17
0
17
S
10
0
59
15
=
:21
15
0
Footing of Classification No. 1. £1,344 0
CLASSIFICATION NO. 2, SECTION 2
Original Grantees
Im't Loss.
Classified by.
Am't Classed.
Reuben Beers
510
4
Jesup Wakeman
160
11
Mabel Osborne
605
0
Natn'l Wilson
10
17
Ebenezer Jesup, Jr. 8
9
3
Sarah Briant
17
10
Jason Disbrow
16
Hezekiah IIull
10
John Hyde
Jolın Hyde, Jr
Joseph Hyde
35
Benjamin Maker
15
17
4
15
1
Rebecca Nash
6
5
9
0
->
0
Josiah Bulkley
10
0
0
..
10
0
Samuel Beers
46
8
5
..
15
1
Solomon Gray
1
3
6
.4
0
.4
52
18
1112
Seth Sturges
103
0
1
Jesup Wakeman
6
37
16
Moses Bulkley
50
0
4
..
.4
164
B
6
Footing of Classification No. 2, £1.344
CLASSIFICATION NO. 3, SECTION 3.
Original Grantees.
Am't Loss.
Classified by.
Am't Classed.
Stephen Thorp
515
1
Jesup Wakeman
40
1
John Smedley
763
10
1
Jesup Wakeman
12
11
12
11
Olive Bulkley
30
5
3
30
Abel Gould
113
6
9
14
0
Ebenezer Jesup, Jr. 137
8
0
Joseph Gould
=
1
1
1
1
C
Martha Jennings
6
12
6
15
0
Grace Spaldin
90
14
14
1
14
14
1
Richard Wain
Gideon Wills
90
S
..
29
8
Nathaniel Wilson
10
17
6
0
Isaac Bronson
125
210
14
116
Seth Sturges
403
0
1
Jesup Wakeman
336
1
9
Footing of Classification No. 3, €1,344
CLASSIFICATION NO. 4, SECTION 4.
Original Grantees.
Am't Loss.
Classified by.
Am't Classed.
Mabel Osborne
605
0
Jesup Wakeman
93
*
65
6
Stephen Thorp
515
1
S
=
John & Daniel Ev- ersly
151
9
616
Ebenezer Jesup, Jr. 22
313
9
Titus Hurlburt
1961
3
Isaac Bronson
63
19
316
Ebenezer Holt
15
5
1
:
256
17
Elizah Abel
619
14
4
Jesup Wakeman
..
14
15
9
Daniel Goreham
20
0
..
20
2
=1
Seth Sturges
403
0
1
Footing of Classification No. 4, 21,344
t-
0
NAME.
The township was named for Jesup Wakeman, one of the original proprietors of its soil.
NATURAL APPEARANCE.
The surface is generally undulating, the eastern portion being more rolling than the western. The
(152)
175
16
11
Thomas Bennit
3
3
17
10
0
16
10
0
11
3
6
3
Francis Forgue
151
16
..
3
15
0
John Davis
11
11
Jere'h Miller, Esq. 2535
18
10
Isaac Bronson
211
124
916
Stephen Suerney
85
5
34
11
6
David Burr
9
..
93
0
8
d.
8
8
12
0
Hezekiah Jennings
18
18
0
Sarah Redfield
24
15
..
57
12
10
Ebenezer Squire
..
5
0
0
Elizabeth Shapely
382
5
10
Jere'h Miller, Esq 2535
0
₩
8
d.
Joseph Squire
65
0
6
Nath'i Benedict
359
13
382
5
0
15
1
Elizabeth Shapely
13
111%
Nathan Godfrey
314
1:2
39
4
18
10
0
Isaac Hubbel
Josiah Thatcher.
100
John & Daniel Ev
olls
Abigail Thompson
10
0
Abigail Wynkoop
d.
البيـ
d.
14
11
Nathaniel Burr
18
0
19
y
000
10
David Barlow
397
14
0 040890 3 0
35
===== + 9 1
5
Peter Whitney
18
216
18
1
Benj. Rumsey
15
1116
Bridget Ledyard
David Beers
164
11
20100 0
d.
8
d.
10
d.
Ann Caldwell
James Penfield
000 0 0
3
716
d.
03
Caleb Disbrow.
0
..
190
183
HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
Vermillion river enters the township from the south, near the center of the town line, and running a won- derfully crooked course, passes about a mile east of the center and leaves the township a short distance west of the section line. Brandy creek enters the south line of the township, in the southwest part, and forms a junction with the Vermillion a short distance northeast of the center of the town. La Chapelle creek rises in Townsend, enters this township south of the center road and leaves it a mile and a quarter east of the northwest corner. The stream is said to have derived its name from a Frenchman by the name of De La Chapelle, who discovered and explored it to its source, long before the country was settled.
The soil is generally a clay-loam with a mixture of sand and gravel in many places, and is adapted to a varied cultivation. The first settlers found this town- ship heavily timbered, the principal varieties being whitewood, white oak, beech, maple, black walnut, butternut, chestunt, hickory and basswood. On the river bottoms the sycamore, elm and sugar maple were chiefly found.
NATIVE ANIMALS.
The principal species of wild animals originally found in the forests of Wakeman, were the bear, deer, wolf, wild-cat and fox. Bears, though not numerous, were occasionally seen. Deer were very numerous, and were frequently captured. They were the settlers' main dependence for meat, while their skins were used as an article of clothing by the male inhabitants. Suits made wholly of buckskin were worn only when absolute necessity required, a single wetting and dry- ing making them very uncomfortable. It was more generally used for facing the exposed portion of the pantaloons. The neck was sewed on to the seat, and the balance of the hide on to the front of each leg above the knee.
Wolves were plenty, but they were a shy animal, and perhaps were not as often seen as bears. They were exceedingly vexations to the inhabitants, ren- dering night hideous with their almost incessant howl, and often attacking and killing sheep if not inclosed in pens. Large hunting parties were sometimes formed for the purpose, chiefly, of ridding the coun- try of them, but they were rarely caught in this manner.
The wild turkey was the most important of the bird species, and was found in great abundance.
INDIANS.
For about ten years after the arrival of the first settlers, a band of Indians, consisting of fifteen or twenty families, came regularly into the township twice a year-in the spring to make maple sugar and in the fall to hunt. They were from the region of Upper Sandusky, and were probably of the Wyandot and Seneca tribes. They made their trips in canoes of their own mannfacture, which were made usually out of black walnut or white wood. On their return
their canoes would be loaded with sugar or furs and venison.
In reply to an inquiry from Erastus French, who had a curiosity to know how they would get their boats over the dams across the river, the answer was, "Yankee cow." (They would get a settler with a yoke of oxen to draw their boats around the dams.) They had a sugar camp east of the Vermillion, on land afterwards owned by Mr. Bunce. Their hnts were made of elm bark, and their sap-troughs of the same. The last time they visited the plaee was in the spring of 1822. They left everything. evidently expecting to return, but they never came again. The troughs were carefully packed up inside the huts, the doors were tightly closed, and a stick placed against each one, signifying that no one was at home.
On one occasion three Indians came to the house of Erastus French, and presenting a certificate of their honesty from Judge Meeker, asked for a "Yankee hack." Mr. French was unable to understand what they meant, until one of the Indians jumped upon a log and gestieulated as if digging out a canoe, when he rightly inferred that an adz was wanted, but had none to give them. They would frequently call at the houses of the settlers for whisky, for which they would invariably offer something in exchange. When refused on the ground that they would get drunk ("cacoosie"), the plea would be "Injun no cacoosie now; cacoosie to-morrow." They would rarely get drunk away from their camp.
Mr. C. C. Canfield relates the following incident of his first sight of Indians: In that portion of the township formerly called the "windfall," there were, in the early settlement, great quantities of blackber- ries. In the summer of 1817, himself, his brother Royal, Lemuel and Bennett Pierce, all lads whose ages ranged from six to nine years, mounted Captain Pierce's old mare, the only horse in the township that year, and started for the blackberry patch. When they arrived at " the windfall." about a mile west of where the depot now stands, they suddenly discovered a party of Indians only a short distance away, mounted upon their ponies and coming directly toward them. The boys stood not upon the order of their going, but went at once. The old nag developed a rate of speed on that homeward trip of which she had never been suspected. Over logs, brush and mud holes she went, and fortunately arrived at Mr. Canfield's without a boy less. The Indians followed along up to the house, greatly amused at the boys' fright, and with many gesticulations described to the family the ap- pearance of the lads during their flight.
SETTLEMENT.
In 1816. Burton Canfield, Bennett French, Joel Crane, Waite Downs, and other gentlemen living in Southbury, Connectient, organized themselves into a company and purchased of Wakeman, Bronson and Jesup, section three and subsequently the northern tier of lots of section four, the purchase amounting to
184
HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
about four thousand eight hundred acres, the price per acre being two dollars.
This company entered into an agreement with the original proprietors, who recognized the benefit it would be to their adjacent lands to have the tract sold, speedily settled, to furnish one settler each year for each one hundred and sixty acres of the purchase until each quarter section should be thus occupied. As the entire tract contained thirty quarter sections, the company had thirty years in which to fill this pledge, and, long before the limit of time was reached, the agreement had been fulfilled.
In consequence largely of the above agreement, the character of the population that took possession of Wakeman was of the genuine Yankee sort; they were, almost without exception, from Connecticut. Most of them came from Southbury, New Haven county, some from Litchfield and Fairfield counties, and a few from other parts of the State.
The first family to take up its abode in the wilder- ness was that of Angustin Canfield. Mr. Canfield started from New Milford, Litchfield county, with his wife and four children, his brother Burton Can- field, Seymour Johnson and his hired man, for the Fire-lands on the 29th day of April, 1817. While journeying through the "four-mile woods" west of Buffalo, the emigrants experienced a break-down, one of the axletrees of the wagon breaking off at the wheel. The company fortunately possessed sufficient mechanical skill to repair the damage, cutting out a piece of timber from a tree and splicing it on to the remaining part of the axle, and thus completed the journey without further mishap.
Many anecdotes are related illustrative of the con- dition of the roads through Cattaraugus Swamp, or, more particularly, that portion of it known by early settlers as the "four mile woods." A traveler, seeing a hat floating on the mnd. procured a pole and tried to secure it, when a voice from below eried out, "Let me alone; I have a good horse under me, and I shall get through all right."
Mr. Canfield and his associates arrived in Wakeman on the 23d day of May, performing the long journey in about three weeks. He settled on lot number twenty-three in the third section, building his cabin near the location of the present residence of John G. Sherman. The house was fourteen feet square, built of rough logs, with a roof of elm bark and a floor of the same. Two large boxes, or trunks, plaeed to- gether constituted the only table in the house, and upon which the scanty meal was spread. The house being without a fire place, the cooking was done by a log fire outside. This primitive habitation was occu- pied about six weeks, when it was replaced by a more substantial log house, in which the family lived until 1822, when it was sold, with seventy acres on the south part of the lot, to Justin Sherman. Mr. Can- field taking up his residence on the north part of the same lot, where he spent the remainder of his life. He died September 16, 1848, aged nearly sixty-five,
Mrs. Canfield died in February, 1861, at the age of nearly seventy-two. They raised a family of five children. C. C. Canfield, the eldest, married Mary E. Ilanford, daughter of Jabez Ilanford, who settled in Wakeman in 1831. Mr. Canfield has resided in the township for a period of sixty-two consecutive years. Royal R. Canfield was a physician, and died in North Carolina. Sarah Ann (now Mrs. N. W. St. Johns) resides at Oberlin. Harriet (widow of Curtiss Burr), and Burton M. Canfield reside in this township.
The following incident which occurred in the sun- mer of 1812, when there were but three families in the township, will give some idea of the newness of the country at that time. While Mr. Canfield was assisting Captain Pieree in his logging, his family went over to spend the day. At night a thunder shower came up, and it being regarded hazardous for Mrs. Canfield and the children to undertake a journey of half a mile, they remained at Mr Pearce's over night. But there was a cow at home to be milked, and Mr. Canfield had to go. He started on horse- back, with his little son Calvert on behind. After going a short distance he lost his path, and being utterly unable to find it again, had no alternative but to make a night of it in the woods. The storm was of great violence, and there was no shelter to be had. He. therefore took the saddle from the horse, and placing it on the riven end of a tree that had been blown down by the storm, formed a cover for the boy, while he himself bore the pelting rain, and thus they spent the night. When daylight appeared he found that he had wandered only about thirty rods away from the path.
Burton Canfield, who came in with Augustin Can- field and family, as previously mentioned, returned to Connecticut a few weeks afterward; remained there five or six years, when, with his family of wife and son, he removed to this township.
The next man that penetrated the forests of Wake- man was Amial P. Pierce. He arrived with his family, consisting of wife and four children, and a hired man, about three weeks after the Canfields', making the journey from Connecticut with an ox team. He made his location on the adjoining lot, number twenty-two. He always resided on this location.
He was a man of large size and of great physical strength, excelling in this respect, any other of the pioneers with the exception of Mr. Bristol. He had borne the rank of captain in Connecticut, and the title was applied to him here for many years, and until that of "Squire," owing to his long service as justice of the peace, was substituted.
Mrs. Pierce is said to have been a woman of "strong emotions, firm Christian faith and deep religious experience." She was the only professing Christian in the first three families, and her example and influence was most salutary. It is said that she found it very hard to become reconciled to the new life upon which she had entered. The change from
185
HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
the comforts of a pleasant home in the midst of churches, schools and all the appliances of civiliza- tion, to a home in a rude log cabin, girt about with impenetrable forest, with hardly the necessaries, to say nothing of the comforts, of life, was a severe trial to her. Her neighbor, Mrs. Bristol, on one occasion during a visit, wishing to induce a more cheerful state of mind, hazarded the prediction that she "might some day see a big meeting-house with a bell in it!" Mrs. Pierce died many years ago, but she lived to see changes, physical and social, such as the most vivid imagination had never painted. She was the mother of seven children, as follows: Lemuel B., Bennett, Minott, Ann, David, Fanny and David. Minott Pierce, living in this township, and Mrs. Dr. Johnson, living at Oberlin, are the surviving mem- bers of the family.
About a month after Mr. Pierce, came Samnel Bris -. tol, with his wife and one son. They started on their western journey with two yoke of oxen and one horse ahead, on the 28th day of May, and arrived in Ver- million, Erie county, where friends of the family were then living, on the 4th of July following. The mother and child remained a few weeks in Vermillion, while Mr. Bristol came on to Wakeman and com- menced the work of preparing a home for them. He erected his cabin, north of his neighbors, on lot nuni- ber eleven. Two years afterwards he exchanged his farm for land on lot twenty-one in order to be on the road. Mr. Bristol was a man of untiring industry, by which, combined with economy and good manage- ment, he acquired a fine property. He spent the later years of his life in the home of his son, Nelson, in Florence, Erie county. During his residenoe there an event occurred which, not improbably, hastened his death. He and his son, Nelson, owned a large amount of property, both real and personal, the latter consisting mostly of United States coupon bonds, which were kept in an iron safe in the house. In the dnsk of the evening, June 26, 1866, a gang of bur- glars, five in number, entered a room in which the family were gathered, and on the pretense that they were government detectives in search of stolen bonds, demanded access to those in their possession, for the purpose of inspection. The members of the family were tied together with a cord taken from the bed, and after an hour of argument and threats the safe was opened by Mr. Nelson Bristol, and the thieves secured sixteen thousand five hundred dollars in bonds and money, two thousand four hundred dollars of which belonged to two other farmers in the neighbor- hood. The robbers were captured, tried and at first convicted, but were eventually cleared on proof of an alibi.
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