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 47
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 47
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A man by the name of Waldron afterwards carried the mail. He frequently stopped at Joseph French's, and on one occasion brought the family a piece of ven- ison. On being asked where he got it he replied that he " shot the deer with the mail bag." He came upon the animal while browsing in the top of a fallen tree, struek it in the head with the bag, which so frightened the deer that he caught it and cut its throat with his knife.
The first post office was established January 1, 1833, with Justin Sherman, postmaster, who kept the office in his house. He served for seven years and three months, when he was succeeded by Merritt Hyde, and the office was moved to his dwelling, west of the een- ter. Mr. Hyde held the position until June 1842, when Mr. Sherman was again appointed. He served for three years, keeping the office at his store near the center. Since Mr. Sherman's second term, Edward J. Bunce, Lester T. Farrand, Hiram K. Hosford, Wil- liam Pierce and H. J. Baldwin (the present incum- bent) have successively officiated as postmasters.
PHYSICIANS.
As already stated, Dr. Harmon M. Clark was the first physician that practiced in the township. He had been engaged in the practice of medicine before he came to this country, and was a surgeon or assist- ant surgeon in the U. S. navy in the war of 1812. When he emigrated west, he determined to abandon the profession and devote himself to agricultural pur- suits, but so great was the need of doctors in that early time, and none to be had except from distant places, that Dr. Clark was, out of consideration of humanitv, impelled again to engage in the practice of his profession. And when he once began, he was the busiest man in the place, finding but little time to attend to his farm, which did not so much matter, however, as his ability as a farmer was not of the highest order.
Of those who have been engaged in medical prac- tice in Wakeman, sinee Dr. Clark, the writer has the names of Drs. Wm. B. Latin, Burroughs, Moses
Trumbull, Jones, Bunce, C. A. Standart and Rose. The length of time, or the order in which they prac- ticed, we are unable to state.
Dr. E. E. Beeman, one of the two physicians now engaged in the practice of medicine in Wakeman, graduated, first, in 1860, at a medical school in Ciu- cinnati, and subsequently, in 1875, at the Western Reserve College (Medical department). Cleveland. His first practice was in that city, in connection with his father, and subsequently practiced in Wisconsin and Illinois. From 1864 to 1876 he was located at Birmingham, Erie county, whence, in September of the latter year, he removed to Wakeman.
Dr. H -- E- -- was graduated from the Ohio Electie College, Cincinnati, in 1848, having pre- viously attended a course of lectures at a medical col- lege in Cleveland. He began the practice of his pro- fession in Putman county, continuing two years, when he removed to Clarksfield. Huron county. He praetised in Clarksfield until his removal to 'Wake- man in July, 1822, with the exception of four years, during which he practiced in Crestline.
MERCANTILE.
The first store in Wakeman was kept by Justin Sherman near the center, on lot forty-five. He erected the building in 1839, and sold the first goods on the third day of July, 1841. His goods were purchased in New York City, and transported by way of Hudson river, Erie canal and Lake Erie to Huron, and thence to Wakeman by team. In 1845, he sold the stock to Rufus J. Bunce and his son, Edward, who carried on the business about two years, when they sold out, and the goods were taken out of the township. Edward J. Bunce and Lucius S. Hall subsequently revived the business, and continued near the center until the completion of the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad, (as it was then called) when they changed their location, and opened their store where the millinery store now is in the village of Wakeman. The same year, Messrs. Pierce & Co. put up the Wakeman Exchange, wooden block, which has since been enlarged, and is now known as the Bright block. In this building, a hotel was opened by Mr. Preston, and a store by Hosford and Andrews. The large brick block on the southwest corner of Main and Pleasant streets, was erected in the summer of 1821, by the firms of Harris. Pierce & Baldwin and Vanfleet Bros. They were previously located in the Bright building, and their change of location transferred the most of the busi- ness of the village to the south side of Main street. Mr. Harris, of the firm of Harris & Baldwin, has been engaged in mercantile trade in Wakeman for a period of nearly twenty years, and is the oldest mer- chant in the place.
The village now contains about seven or eight hundred inhabitants, with four churches, - schools, one printing office, three general stores, one drug and hardware store, two groceries, one boot and shoe store, three millinery and fancy goods stores, two
195
HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
furniture stores and undertaking shops, one bakery, one harness shop, one tailor shop, two shoe shops, four dressmaking establishments, one clock and watch repairer, two hotels, four blacksmith shops, two cooper shops, two barber shops, one livery, one wagon shop, two meat markets, two saw mills, one bending works and planing mill, one grist mill, two pump factories, and two physicians.
NEWSPAPERS.
In 1823, the first newspaper, called the Riverside Echo, was published by Melvin Lewis. It was a
small, four-column folio, but was subsequently en- larged to a six-column. The paper was removed in 18:5 to North Amherst, Lorain county. September 18th, of the same year, the first number of the Wake- man Press was issued by G. H. Mains, with one hun- dred and seventy-five subscribers at one dollar per year. It was originally a five-column folio, with a ready-printed outside: but December 18th, it was en- larged to a six-column folio with a patent inside. April, 1826. it was commenced as a home paper. printed entirely at home.
HARTLAND.
ORIGINAL OWNERS.
FOR explanation of the following table the reader is referred to the history of Wakeman township.
HARTLAND, TOWN NUMBER THREE, IN THE TWENTY- FIRST RANGE.
CLASSIFICATION No. 1, SECTION 1.
Original Grantees.
Am't Loss.
Classified by.
Am't classed.
Jonathan Dong-
lass
1,446
14
Daniel Douglass
180
19 0
Lucy Starr
5
9
5
9
8
Jonathan Doug- lass
1,446
14
Guy Douglass
321
Robert Douglass
200
0
6
Richard Powers
188
16
6
Thomas Mumford, Eso
604
16
0
Nath'l Ledyard Joseph Darrow
9
12
Footing of Classification No. 1, £1,314
CLASSIFICATION No. 2, SECTION 2.
Original Grantees.
Am't Loss.
Classified by.
Am't classed.
John Way
590
3
11
John Way
590
3
11
Charles Bulkley
493
J4
11
493
14
11
Jeremiah Miller
2.535
18
10
105
13
3
Peter Darrow
10
0
0
Nicholas Darrow Daniel Starr
124
0
0
8
0
0
..
8
0
James Darrow .
2
3
7
9
3
5
6
0
5
6
0
Elizabeth Griffin Joseph Chamflin 72
0
0
5
0
0
Footing of Classification No. 2, £1,344
7
0
CLASSIFICATION No. 3, SECTION 3.
Original Grantees.
Am't Loss.
Classified by.
Am't classed.
Lydia Latham
92
4
6
Jonathan Starr
..
53
3
Joanna Short
256
14
0
162
3
James Lamphia
233
0
0
160
18
0
Clark Elliott
296
11
3
206
11
3
Starr & Tallman
150
0
0
Starr & Tallman
150
0
Richard Douglass
262
18
6
Richard Douglass
262
18
6
Joseph Champlin
72
11
Anna Hatch
6
5
83
13
John Potter
83
13
3
6
0
0
Henry Truman
6
0
0
Footing of Classification No. 3, €1.344
16
5
CLASSIFICATION No. 4, SECTION 4.
Original Grantees.
Am't Loss.
Classified by.
Am't classed.
Joshua Starr
11
1
Joshua Starr
1,250
11
1
Joanna Short
0
93
15
Footing of Classification No. 4, £1,344 7 0
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
The surface of the township is generally level, though less so in the south and east parts than else- where. The soil is a clay Joam, modified by gravel and sand along the streams and on the Hartland ridge, which runs a general north and south direction through the second section. There were formerly a number of swamps or marshes in the township. the largest of which were known as Canterbury Swamp, Cranberry Marsh, Grape Swamp and Bear Swamp. The first was over two miles in length, varying in width from fifty to one hundred and fifty rods, and lay south east of the eentre. Cranberry Marsh lay north of the centre, and contained about one hundred acres. These formerly unsightly places have been more or less reclaimed, and the soil, which is a deep black muck, is the best in the township.
The principal native varieties of timber were white wood, white, black and burr oak, white and black ash, black walnut, hickory, birch and maple.
The Vermillion river runs though the southeast quarter of the township, and adds a pleasing element to the landscape. Indian creek has its source in the southwest part and flows into the Vermillion near the east town line. Brandy creek, which is said to have derived its name from the peculiar color of the water, rises near the centre of the township, flows through the northeast part of the' township and across the northwest corner of Clarksfield, uniting with the Vermillion a short distance west of the center of Wakeman township.
NATIVE ANIMALS.
The animals of the forest, were the bear, deer, wolf, wild cat, grey fox and other species of less im- portance. Bears were not numerons and seldom seen. They seem to have collected more generally in the marshes of Ripley, where they were frequently killed. Deer were very plenty and venison was often so
8
d.
£
8.
d.
1,250 216
8
d.
3
8.
d.
6
Jonathan and Jared Starr
53
3
Joanna Short Euclid Elliott
10
0
Mehitable Leet Sarah Davis
124
0
0
200
0
Ichabod Powers, Jr. 188
16
138
I
3
Nicholas Darrow 9
12
11
9
5
1
8.
d
8 d.
9
8.
d.
d.
Charles Bulkley Richard Morgan
2
Daniel Harris
John Potter Daniel Truman
£
196
HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
abundant among the early settlers as to be almost a drug. Mr. E. W. Waldron and Daniel Robbins, while hunting on one occasion, performed the unusual feat of capturing two of them by running them down. There were several inches of snow on the ground with a crust, through which the sharp hoofs of the animals penetrated, making it difficult for them to run.
Wolves were numerous, and their nocturnal howls around the obscure cabins of the settlers, were as familiar as the whip-poor-will's song. They were also very troublesome, killing the settlers' sheep under the walls of his cabin, and rendering inclosures necessary to insure their safety.
The forests, also, abounded in wild turkeys, and Mr. Robbins informs the writer that he has killed four of them at a single shot from his rifle. They were often taken, in the spring of the year, by imitat- ing the note of the female and decoving the male within range of the gun.
SETTLEMENT.
The earliest settlements were made in the second section, on Hartland ridge. In the spring of 1817, William and Alva Munsell came in and began on lot number thirty-three, in what was called the Bulkley tract. They put up a cabin, chopped off a piece of ground, and planted it to eorn. They left the town- ship in the fall of the same year, and the piece of land which they occupied was afterwards known as the " old brier patch."
Daniel Bills and Jared Tolls arrived soon after the Munsells. Mr. Bills was originally from Connecti- cut. He married Hannah Waldron, daughter of Jo- seph Waldron, then of Ontario county, New York, afterwards of this township. His family did not ac- company him here, but came on from New York with Elijah Bills the following year. He located on lot number sixteen, where Mr. Thomas now resides. A few years after he exchanged farms with Daniel Minor, of Clarksfield, and moved to that township.
Jared Tolls was an early settler in one of the town- ships now embraced in Erie county. He settled on lot number seventeen, on the place now occupied by Mr. Delap. He died the next year and was buried on his farm. After his death the family removed to Macksville in Peru township. Mrs. Tolls was a sis- ter of Daniel Mack. The first birth and the first death in the township occurred in this family.
Allen and Sylvester Blackman came to Hartland at an early date from Florence. The former was the first settler on the place now occupied by B. F. McCormick. He sold the place to Joseph Waldron in 1821, and moved back to Florence. Sylvester Blackman settled where Elijah Bills afterwards re- sided.
Elijah Bills came from the State of New York with the family of Daniel Bills in the spring of 1818. IIe was then unmarried, but subsequently he married Mary Howard, daughter of Captain William Howard, and settled on lot eighteen, purchasing the place of
Sylvester Blackman. He died on this place October 30, 1867, aged sixty-seven years. Mr. Bills was a man of great size, foree of character and local promi- mence. He was so poor when he began in Hartland he could not pay for an ax, but before his death he owned a thousand acres of land. He acquired some knowledge of law and was a sort of pettifogger for a number of years. He was also justice of the peace of Hartland for many years.
He was the father of six children, four boys and two girls. Lion E. died May 20, 18:0, in his forty- eighth year; Harriet became the wife of B. F. Mc- Cormick. February 15, 1846, and, in the spring of the following year, they settled on the place where they now reside. The rest of the children are also residents of this township, viz: Stephen W., Mary Amanda (Mrs. N. M. Bedell), John E. and Charles W. The latter, with his mother, owns and occupies the old homestead.
Nathan Miner came from Connecticut in 1819. and stopped for a short time in the township of Eldridge (now Berlin), where he married a daughter of Samuel White, who afterward moved to this township. Mr. Miner settled where his son Oliver now lives, on lot twenty-seven, and resided there until his death. Mrs. Miner is also deceased. They had a family of nine children. Polly married David Ernsberger, moved to Wisconsin, and died there soon after; Betsey is the relict of Warren Hackett, and resides on Hartland ridge; David, Nelson and James live somewhere in the west; Oliver occupies the old homestead, as pre- vionsly mentioned; Olive (Mrs. Patchin) resides in Republic, Ohio; Samuel and Lucius are deceased.
Samuel White and family came from Pennsylvania and settled in Ashtabula county prior to the war of 1812. He afterwards moved to the Fire-lands, loca- ting at Cold Creek, but had hardly got settled when the news of Hull's surrender of Detroit was received. The family fled to Mount Vernon, Knox county, and remained there about four years. They then went to Berlin, and afterwards to Florence, thence to Hart- land. He died while on a visit to Ashtabula county in the year 1840. Mrs. White died many years after in Hartland. There were eight children, three of whom married and settled in this township. They were Jane, who became the wife of Nathan Miner; James, who married Fanny Howard, January 1, 1829, and settled on the farm where they have since resided; and Betsey, who married Peter James and located where T. W. Head now lives. Only two of the child- ren are now living, viz: David in Ashtabula. and James in this township. One of the sons, Crawford, enlisted in the service of his country during the war with Mexico and died soon after his arrival in that country.
Joseph Waldron with his wife and two grand-child- ren, Elnathan J. and Betsey Waldron, moved in from Bristol, Ontario county, New York, June 2, 1821. He purchased of Allen Blaekman the place on which B. F. McCormick now resides-lot number twenty-two.
BENJAMIN F. McCORMICK.
Benjamin F. McCormick, the fourth child of Daniel McCormick and Mary C. Brundage, was born in Ovid, Seneca Co., N. Y., April 14, 1820. He came to Ohio in . the spring of 1842, and entered Oberlin College in the fall of the same year, and spent a portion of the following year in that institution, taking a partial course.
Feb. 15, 1846, he married Miss Harriet Bills, eldest daughter of Elijah Bills and Mary Howard, of Hartland. They settled on what is known as Hartland Ridge, the most beautiful and valuable portion of the township, where they still live, owning about three hundred and twenty acres of land and fine buildings.
Seven children were the fruit of this union, five of whom are living : William S., married Martha Birkett, of Mon- roe Co., Mich., and lives in Hartland, near his parents; Emma, graduated from Oberlin, and married the Rev. Jacob Winslow, a Congregational minister, and lives at De Witt, Saline Co., Neb .; Frank B., John E., and Fan- nie W. are unmarried, and live at home.
For many years the subject of our sketch held the office of township clerk, and has served as justice of the peace six or seven terms. We regard the foregoing as worthy of notice, in this connection, as an index of the confidence and respect of his neighbors more than anything else.
Politically, Mr. McCormick started as a Democrat, and cast his first ballot for James K. Polk, in 1844; a fact which, he says, has been a source of continued mortification and regret. He was next identified with the Free-Soil party until it was merged into the Republican party, with which he has been an energetic and active worker until quite recently. He now believes that the upas shade of
corruption has poisoned the party, dishonored its past record, and destroyed its future prospects by adding millions to the wealth of the rich by laying grievous burdens on the shoulders of the industrial classes ; and last, but not least, by utterly neglecting a large class of citizens but recently set free, and refusing them the protection to which they as citizens are justly entitled. Consequently, he has identified himself with the National party, and believes that, under the Constitution, Congress has the same right to issue paper money and make it a legal tender, as to coin gold and silver and fix the value thereof. He reads the current news and the doings of Congress critically, and expresses his views earnestly and methodically. He is firm in his convictions, because they are the result of investigation, and he ex- presses them with the earnestness of his nature.
Though never admitted to the Bar, his knowledge of law and his natural fitness for the practice have made Mr. McCormick the home lawyer of his township, drafting legal papers, and managing and trying cases in justices' courts for those who sought his skill.
We hazard nothing in saying that had he turned his attention to the legal profession, he would have been an ornament to the Bar of any county town.
In early life Mr. McCormick united with the Methodist Church, and his religious sympathies are still with that body, though not now a member of any church.
He reads and has the courage to think for himself on religious subjects as well as political, and, if we were to judge of his religious future, we would say that such a mind would not long be in sympathy with any formulated religion.
197
HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
He died on this place June 15, 1822. He was born near Boston, Mass., February , 1753, and removed to Bristol, New York, in 1801, whence he came to this township as already stated. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war; was present at the firing of the first gun at Lexington; participated in the battle of Bunker Hill, and was subsequently taken prisoner and kept on board of a British man-of-war for two years. He had three sons-Sylvester, Stephen and Joseph-all of whom served in the war of 1812. Syl- vester came to Hartland in 1819, and died in 1847. Joseph followed with his family in 1821 and occupied the log barn of Daniel Bills until he could build him a house in Townsend, where he settled, about a mile and a quarter southeast of the center. He died there in 1865, and his oldest son, Sanford G. Waldron, now occupies the place. Stephen, whose two children, Elnathan J. and Betsey Waldron, came to Hartland with their grand-parents as previously stated, died at an advanced age in the State of New York.
Joseph Osyor moved from Canada to Berlin town- ship, and in 1820 to Hartland, and settled on lot number thirty. The farm is now occupied by Eno Holiday. Osyor sold and moved to Clarksfield a few years after, subsequently to the center of Townsend, and still later to Berlin, where he died. He had two children, a son and a daughter. The latter became the wife of Cyrus Wagoner.
Elnathan J. Waldron has resided in the township since 1821. He was born in New York, March 24, 1804. He married Emily Kilbourn, in this township, August 13, 1826. Mr. Waldron has written an in- teresting short history of Hartland for the Fire-lands Pioneer.
Josiah Kilbourn, with his family, removed to Ber- lin from Onondaga county, New York, in 1815. He resided there until March 1821, when he settled in this township, on lot number nine. He afterwards moved to Sullivan township, then Lorain county, and in 1838 or '39 returned to Berlin, where he died a year or two after. His first wife died during their residence in Hartland, and he subsequently married the widow Proctor, of Berlin. who survived him. He had a large number of children, the oldest of whom (Emily) is the wife of Elnathan J. Waldron.
Captain William Howard, a native of New Jersey, removed with his family from Delaware county, New York, to Milan in 1810. He settled where the vil- lage of Milan now is, then called Indian Village. He lived there two years, when, the Indians becoming troublesome, he moved with his family to Hudson, and, afterwards, to Portage county near the Mahon- ing river, where he remained nntil the close of the war. He then returned to the township of Milan, locating near the Berlin line. Two or three years afterward he went to Perkins township, where, owing to sickness in his family, he lost everything. IIe removed to Sherman township, remained about three years, and then came to Hartland, arriving in April, 1821. IIe made his location on lot number ten,
where Stephen Bills now resides. He died in Hart- land, December, 1859, aged ninety. His first wife died in 1832, and he afterwards married Mrs. Amanda Phelps, who died December, 1812, aged nearly eighty- nine. There were eleven children, all by the first marriage. Three of them died during the residence of the family in the Indian Village, and now sleep beneath the present village of Milan. Mary, widow of Elijah Bills, aged seventy-seven; Fanny, wife of James White, aged seventy-three; and Almon, twin brother of Alvah (deceased), reside iu this township; Arthur lives in Indiana, and William Sidney in Wake- man. The rest are deceased. Captain Howard was a sea captain for many years, hence the title, "Cap- tain."
In February, 1824, Daniel Miner moved in from Clarksfield, and fixed his residence at the corners where Daniel Bills previously resided, with whom he traded farms. Mr. Miner was a native of Homer, Courtland county, New York. He came to Ohio with his father in 1810, and settled near Rocky river, in Cuyahoga county. He came to Huron county when about sixteen years of age, and resided in Clarksfield until his removal to this township. HIe merried Lydia Bennett, of Thompson township, Seneca county, Ohio, January 2, 1823. After a resi- dence of many years in Hartland he removed to Nor- walk, where he afterwards lived, He died July 25, 1878, aged nearly seventy-five. Mrs. Miner died September 22, of the same year. They had but one child, a danghter, who became the wife of Charles R. Bostwick, of Norwalk.
Mr. Miner kept a tavern on Hartland Ridge for many years. He was the first township clerk and the first postmaster, holding the latter office over twenty- one years.
Jesse Taintor moved in from New York about the year 1824, and bought ont Jared Tolls on lot twenty- one. He continued to occupy this place until his death, in 1860. Mrs. Taintor died a few years since, aged about ninety. They had a family of five child- ren, the oldest of whom, Lucien, married Betsey Waldron, of previons mention, and settled on the ridge, where their son-in-law, Mr. Delap, now lives.
Eli Barnum and Allen Mead came to Hartland in 1824, and bought out Joseph Oysor. The two fami- lies occupied the same house, and they began farming on a sort of co-operative plan. They remained only a few years, sold to Tinker Smith, and Barnum re- moved to Norwalk township, and was subsequently connected with the infirmary in some official capacity. Mr. Mead, who was a Baptist preacher, went to Mans- field.
Libens Stoors came into the country about this time. He married Anna Harris, of Berlin, and settled on the ridge, where the log house now stands, a short distance north of E. Holidays'. The place is now owned by J. C. Ransom, He and his wife, and some of the children, are buried there. There are three children living, one of whom. Mrs. Samuel Lock-
198
HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.
wood, with her husband, ocenpies a portion of the old homestead.
A family by the name of Ledyard, and another by the name of Owen, settled on the Vermillion river, in the first section, about 1825. They remained bnt a short time in the township.
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