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 89

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 89
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 89

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In 1815, about the close of the war, Francis Strong and John Baker, a brother-in-law of the Strongs, came in from New York with their families and set- tled on the ridge, the former locating on lot number twelve, section three, a little west of where the Ridge meeting house now stands, and Baker on the east half of lot number nine, same section, about a mile west of Strong. Mr. Strong died January, 1845, aged seventy-five, and Mrs. Strong April 10, 1854, aged seventy-eight. He was twice married, and was the father of nine children.

Asahel and Lyman purchased seventy aeres on the west part of their father's lot, number twelve, and resided there until 1827 or '28, when they sold to Jarvis Stebbins and bought a few aeres of Stephen Russell. Lyman Strong, subsequently, in connection with John K. Campbell, opened a store at Russell's Corners. He was afterwards for a year or two in the service of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati rail- road, but finally went to Cleveland and established marble works there, in which he has acquired a fine property. Asahel Strong, in 1841 or '42, sold to William Cowle, and, after brief residence in different places, also settled in Cleveland, where he afterwards died. Curtis was injured mentally by sickness when young, from which condition he never recovered. He died December 19, 1870. The daughters were Salina, who became the wife of Deacon Joseph S. Pierce, and died April 25, 1839; Susan, now Mrs. William Holton, of Lyme; Mary Ann, who married James D. Collins, and died December, 1840; and two others, Mrs. Webster and Mrs. Sowers, both deceased.

John Baker was born near Boston, Massachusetts, in the year 1765. He received an injury while assist- ing in the raising of a log house in York township, December 15, 1817, which resulted in his death the following day. He was a man of good natural ability, and of much excellence of character, and was one of the ten original members of the Presbyterian church of Lyme, organized in July, 1817. Mr. Baker was the father of Hiram Baker, who was born at Homer, Cortland county, New York, in the year 1798. Upon

the death of his father, Hiram found himself, at the early age of eighteen, charged with the management of the farm and the support of himself and mother, and plans which he had formed for obtaining an education had to be given up. Owing to hard times and varions misfortunes, he was soon obliged to sell the farm his father had bought, getting some advance upon cost for improvements. Another piece of land was purchased on Butternut ridge, and a house put up, into which Mr. Baker and his mother moved in midwinter, while it was still in an unfinished condition. The hardships of that winter can better be imagined than described.

Mechanics of all kinds, but more especially shoe- makers, being scarce, Mr. Baker exercised the inge- nnity which he posessed in no ordinary degree, in teaching himself the art of cobbling, making awls out of fork tines, whittling out his own pegs, and using other rude tools that were at hand. He soon became expert in making the stoga shoes worn in those rough days. He could make two pairs a day. Men would come a long distance, bringing their leather, and cheerfully give a hard day's work for the manufacture of a pair of shoes. In this way he cleared his farm, and got it under a good state of cultivation.

Shoemaking being profitable, he at length sold his farm and moved to Bellevne-then known as Ams- den's Corners,-purchased a lot, put up a shop, em- ployed a journeyman from whom he learned the art of cutting and making boots, and so went into the boot and shoe business quite extensively. By economy, thrift, and good management, he acquired a nice property, surrounding his later years with comfort and plenty. He died December 17, 1874, at the ripe age of seventy-six years and a few months.

In 1826, Mr. Baker married Mary Ann Forbes, of whom he had three children: Arabella, Henry, and Hiram F. The latter is editor and proprietor of the Local News. He is an enterprising publisher, and is meeting with deserved success. Mr. Baker's first wife dying in 1835, he afterwards married Catharine Hagaman, daughter of John Hagaman, of Palmyra, New York. Of this marriage two children were born-John H. and David A. The last named was killed during the war of the rebellion, near Peters- burgh, Virginia.

In 1816, Abner Strong joined the little colony of brothers on the ridge, from whom it took the name "Strong's ridge." He settled on the place afterwards ocenpied by Orrin Dole, and which is now occupied by his son Edwin. After the death of Mr. Strong, in 1859, his sons resided on the place, and of whom Mr. Dole, Sr., purchased it. Pelatiah, the oldest son of Abner Strong, lives near Bloomingville, Erie eounty, and is old and very infirm.

In the year 1816, Captain Mark Hopkins settled on lot number seven, where, subsequently,. A. J. Morse resided. The farm has since been divided, and is owned by several individuals.

What is known as the "Woodward Settlement," in

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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.

the fourth section, was commeneed in the spring of 1817, by William and Gordon Woodward. Their father, Abishai Woodward, of New London, Connee- ticut, became the owner, by purchase, of the claims of the "Sufferers," of some some four thousand acres of land in sections one and four, of this township. The brothers, William and Gurdon, came from Whites- town, New York, to Huron in the fall of 1816, and remained through the winter with George and Jere- miah Sheffield, who removed thither from New Lon- don, Connecticut, a short time previous. The next spring they took possession of their land, erecting a cabin, and for two years kept bachelors' hall. At the expiration of this time, the brothers returned to New York State; were married, and removed to their estates. William's wife died soon after his arrival. He married, for his second wife, Susan Sparrow, and subsequently removed to Louisiana. A sketch of the life of Gurdon may elsewhere be found.

Amos Woodward and family came to Lyme in 1820. and took up his location a short distance east of his brother Gurdon, on lot four, which continued to be his home until his death. A sketch of his life is likewise elsewhere given.

Samuel Sparrow's family came with Amos Wood- ward's, in 1820, making a settlement on the Wood- ward tract. Mrs. Sparrow, who was the daughter of Dr. Roe, an eminent physician of Dublin, Ireland, died about two years after the family's arrival in Lyme. She was a woman of rare worth, and Mr. Sparrow is said to have been a man of much intelli- gence, but possessed of some eccentric qualities. Their children were William, Edward, Thomas, Susan and Anna. William graduated at Kenyon College, and was for many years a professor in that institution of learning, and rose to high eminence as an instructor. Susan became the wife of William Woodward, and Anna the wife of Mr. Mitchell. The Mitchells were for a time residents of Lyme. A son, Henry, is now a citizen of Norwalk, and a daughter, Mary, who has inherited the best qualities, both of mind and heart, of her illustrious ancestors, resides with her mother in Mount Vernon, Ohio.

At the time of their settlement in Lyme, William and Gurdon Woodward were joined by George and Jeremiah Sheffield, and all four enjoyed together their baccalaureate freedom for about two years, the latter being with them only a part of the time. The Sheffields were born and brought up in and about New London, Connecticut, amid the people who suf- fered most from the raids of British soldiery. George Sheffield, the elder of these two brothers, at the age of twenty-three, in the year 1809, came to Berlin, near the mouth of Huron river, where he had secured a piece of land. He returned the same fall, reaching home just in time to see his father die. In 1813 he married Betsey, daughter of Abishai Woodward, and sister of the late Gurdon Woodward, at New London, Connecticut. Having decided to move to Ohio, in 1816 he sent forward his goods on a wagon, drawn by

a yoke of oxen and a span of horses, driven by his brother Jeremiah and a man by the name of Buckley. Then himself, wife and one child. the present George W. Sheffield, now residing in Bellevue, Ohio, followed on in a two-wheeled carriage. The latter party, ar- riving at Dunkirk, found the journey so fatiguing that he loaded family, horse and chaise upon a vessel and landed, in due time, at the mouth of the Huron, safe and sound. Another child, Betsey, was born there, after which his wife, affected by the malaria of the new country, never fully recovered. She died that same fall.

In 1819 he was again married to Thursa Baker, sis- ter of the late Hiram Baker, and resided on his farm in the Woodward tract until 1832, when he removed to Norwalk. Various fortunes and misfortunes befell Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield, for the record of which we regret that we have not sufficient space. The saddest of these, however, was the burning of their home, about two years after their marriage, in which they not only lost nearly all their household stuff, but the little girl, Betsey, then about five years old, and a lad of fourteen, named Harris, whom they had taken to bring up, perished in the flames. This calamity left Mr. Sheffield almost completely broken up. The neighbors, however, turned in with generous hearts and vigorous hands to relieve their necessities. They helped him put up another house, which he occupied for several years. In 1832 he was chosen treasurer of Huron county.

The year 1834 will long be remembered as the one signalized by the first visit of that fearful scourge, the cholera, to this country. On the 20th of August, in that year, the wife of Mr. Sheffield was taken with that fearful disease, and died in a few hours. The old family Bible contains a record of her death in his own hand writing. On the 22d he was himself taken with the same disease, and died just after midnight on the 23d.

The children by his first wife were George W. and Betsey, the little girl who perished in the fire; by his second wife, James K., who died in early boyhood, Betsey, James F., Sarah and Edward.

George W., the eldest son, is a resident of Bellevue, where he leads a retired life, devoted to his interest- ing family and his church, the Protestant Episcopal, in which he is senior warden. He married Lucy, daughter of Gurdon Woodward, who died in Septem- ber, 1865. His children are: Mary, who married Henry Bramwell and lives in Lincoln, Illinois: George, who is a promising young lawyer, residing in Boston, Massachusetts: Rachel; Julia, who married Mr. Oliver, of Norwalk, Ohio; James, and Lucy.

Jeremiah Sheffield, after remaining here a short time, returned to Connecticut, where he subsequently married a daughter of Dr. Holmes, and with his fam- ily came to Lyme in 1826 and settled in the first sec- tion. After a short residence there he purchased the Tabor tract, in the south part of the fourth section of Groton. On this he lived until 1854, when he bought

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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.

a part of lot number seven in the second section of Lyme, erecting his honse a short distance west of Lemuel Moses', where he resided until his death in 1860.

In 1832 he was married, the second time, to Jeru- sha Jackson, of Bucyrus, Crawford county. She still survives, enjoying a hale and cheerful old age, being one of those active spirits who prefer to "wear out rather than rust out." She bore to Mr. Sheffield seven children,-Iris, John, Cornelia, William, Al- bert, Edwin and Jennie, of whom the second and the last two mentioned reside in Bellevue. Jennie is the wife of James Miller, attorney-at-law, and Edwin is the cashier of the Bellevue Bank, the duties of which office he has discharged with great credit to himself and with marked success for the bank, since the date of its organization; John is in the real estate business.

That part of the fourth section known as the Salton- stall tract, comprised four lots of ninety acres each, numbers seventeen, eighteen, nineteen and twenty. The first lot at the west end of the tract lying on the county line, was first settled by Eli Smith; the next by Oliver C. Polly and John Clemmons; the third by George Gamble, and the fourth by L. Young.

Gurdon Williams came into the township, and pur- chased as early as 1817, nearly a thousand acres across the south side of the fourth section. He subsequently brought in a stock of goods, and opened a store in a- log house near the south line, which he continued for several years, when he removed to Syracuse, New York. This Williams' tract was sold out in parcels to German settlers, among whom were Jacob and Adam Weikle, Peter Arth, Christian Lepley, Charles, Henry and Philip Bollenbacher, Henry Studt and Peter Heimbach.

Jacob Goodrich and family, in 1817, settled on lot number twenty-two in the third section, on the place now owned by Spencer W. Boise, where he lived for many years, and then moved to the west. John Seelye, a young man, came in with Mr. Goodrich, re- mained a few years, and then went to some State farther west.

John F. Adams and family came in the spring of 1818, from Pultney, Vermont, and had as fellow- travelers from Granville, New York, Asaph Cooke and family, who settled at what has since been called Cooke's corners. Mr. Adams located on the north- east corner lot of this township. His wife, Betsey, died in the fall of 1819, and he subsequently married Chloe Cooke, daughter of Asaph Cooke. She died in April, 1847, and Mr. Adams married for his third wife, Caroline Selover, in 1849. In 1866, he re- moved to Milan where he died.

In the fall of 1818, James Hamilton, from Gran- ville, New York, settled on the south line of Groton township near Mr. Adams'. His wife died in the fall of 1819, and a few years afterward he removed to Monroeville. He was the father of seven children- six sons and a daughter. They were an intelligent and enterprising family. One son was a merchant in

Buffalo, another in Milan, another in Monroeville, and two in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Two were farmers.

The first settlement at Hunt's Corners was made in the southeast part by several families named Sutton, and the locality has since been known as the "Sutton Settlement," or Hunt's Corners. Levi Sut- ton, a native of Virginia, bargained for the Moses Warren tract, consisting of eleven hundred and ten acres, for one thousand dollars, and came on and took possession in the fall of 1811. He made a small im- provement and then returned to his family, then living in Thorn, Perry county, Ohio. At the commence- ment of the war of 1812, he, with his brother, Moses, went into the army where, for two years, he was engaged in hauling supplies. In 1814, he moved to his purchase in Lyme, erected his house on lot num- ber five, where he resided until his death, October 5, 1852. Mrs. Sutton died in August, 1875. At the close of the war, Moses Sutton, with his four sons: Philip, Isaac, Levi and Moses, returned to Lyme, where they made a settlement, with the exception of Philip, who settled in Muscash. The Suttons failed to pay for all of the land which they first bargained for, and from an old map it appears that A. Latham, Joel Clark, Simon Raymond and Joel Barton suc- ceeded to the ownership of the eastern part of the tract, while Betsey Latham, Elon Phay, J. and W. G. Sargent, John Barton, Romeo Bassett and John Crull, took the western and the north part of the central portion of the tract, leaving the Suttons about three hundred acres in the southern and central portions of the original purchase.

The children of Levi Sutton are as follows: Wil- liam, who married Catherine Phoenix, and now lives in Texas; Daniel, who died young; Elisha D., who married Effie Lane. She died, and he has re-married. He is still living. Philip married Caroline Clark, and lives in New Haven, this county. Alfred married Sally A. Clark, and now lives on the old homestead. Clarissa married Ebenezer Inscho, and lives in Wood county, Ohio. Sarah Ann married Thomas Clark, and lives in Groton township, Erie county. Jackson died young. Ira married Sylvia Campbell, and lives in Groton. Levi married Caroline Barnes, and lives in Venice, Seneca county. Cynthia Ann died young. Mr. Sutton built a saw mill on Frink run soon after lis settlement. This was the first saw mill in the township, or for some miles around. He passed his life in farming.

Hiel Hunt first came to Ohio in 1816, remained at Venice about two years, and assisted in building the first mills there. He then located at Monroeville, but two years afterward went to Knox county, where he followed the trade of millwright for a few years, when he came to the first section of Lyme, and settled at the corners which still bears his name. He is still living on his original location, ninety-eight years of age, an intelligent and respected old man.

West of the corners, there lived at an early day, the following named settlers and their families, to wit:

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HISTORY OF HURON AND ERIE COUNTIES, OHIO.

John Schock, on lots sixteen, seventeen, twenty-two and thirty-four; John Sawyer, on lot twenty-three; Mary Lee, on twenty-four; Stephen Bassett, on twenty-five; Levi Lee, on twenty-six; Roswell R. Beebe, on twenty-seven; George W. Mallett, on twenty- eight; Hector Lee, on twenty-nine and thirty; Dudley Avery, on thirty-five, and Thaddeus Brooks on thirty- six.

Daniel Miller came into this part of the township about the year 1819, but being unable to pay for his land, was soon succeeded by Romeo Bassett. Bassett, a few years after, opened a store, mortgaging his farm to pay for his goods. His enterprise proved a failure, which, not improbably, hastened his death, which occurred soon after.

In 1834, Joseph Wood came from England, and settled on a farm near the north and south section line. Mr. Wood's has been rather an eventful life, and we append a brief notice of it : He was born in Staffordshire, England, in the year 1809. His parents, Thomas and Hannah (Gould) Wood, were natives of that part of the country, and his ancestors, as far back as record or tradition extends, were farmers. He thus "came honestly by" that talent and aptitude for his calling, which have given him such marked success as a cultivator of the soil in his adopted country. His father died when he was but ten years old, leaving him, the only son, with his mother, to carry on the farm. After seven years of widowhood, she married again, and removed to another part of the country, where she died in 1875, at the ripe age of eighty-six.

On the 25th of October, 1830, he was married to Martha Hulme, at Alstonfield, in his native county, where her ancestors had lived for several generations, and where her father died after he had passed his ninety-third year. Soon after his marriage he began to think of joining the great tide of emigration to the new world. His wife consenting, they set sail in the month of October, 1833. This was before the time of steamships, and fifty eight days-weary days of watching and waiting amid the monotony of ship life-were spent in crossing the ocean. This was about four times as long as is now required to accom- plish the trip. They landed in New York in Jan- uary, 1834.

Not being under any necessity of making an imme- diate settlement, he determined to take "a good look" before deciding upon his location. With this object in view, he went from New York to Philadel- phia, to Baltimore and Fredericktown, in Maryland, "staging it " across the Allegheny mountains to Pitts- burgh; thence down the Ohio river to Cincinnati. Finding nothing which quite satisfied him, he took the stage to Huron county, where he had a friend living. Here he decided to settle, and brought his family, consisting of his wife and one child, in April, 1834. He purchased a farm of about three hundred acres, four miles southeast of Bellevue. This consti- tuted his home for nearly five years, when he sold a

part of it and took his family back on a visit to the dear old home in " Merrie England." They started from Cincinnati on Christmas Day, 1839, on board a sailing vessel, by way of New Orleans, arriving at Liverpool April 23, 1840.

The next year he returned to Cincinnati, and the spring of 1842 found him again in Huron county, located on a farm which he had purchased near Hunt's Corners, and which constituted his home for thirty years. During these years he visited the old country six times more, making in all fifteen times that he has crossed the " big pond " in safety. Dur- ing his last visit but one, ten years ago, he was in- vited to address a public meeting, called to consider the question of emigration, but not being a public speaker, he compromised with his friends by embody- ing his views on America in a well-written article, which was extensively published and eagerly read on both sides of the ocean.

In 1872, he sold his farm and came to Bellevue, putting up a very fine residence on West Main street, where he now enjoys a green old age in comfort, peace, and plenty.

In religion, Mr. Wood has always been a warm ad- herent to the Church of England, and to her lineal descendant, the Episcopal Church of this country. He was one of the founders, and has long been a warden, of Trinity Church, Lyme.

He has had eight children, only four of whom (Julia Ann, Thomas H., Louisa Mary and James Barnes) are now living. These are all happily mar- ried and settled, and all reside in this immediate vicinity, except the first named, who lives in Michigan.

On the county line, south of Bellevue, the earliest settlers were John Miller, Henry Bradbrook and Gideon J. Mallory. Miller located about half a mile south of Bellevue, just east of the former residence of Abishai Woodward. His old frame house, now unoc- cupied, is still standing. The location of Henry Bradbrook was a short distance farther south, on the same lot (number five). Mallory located just south of Bradbrook.

On the Monroe road, southeast of Bellevue, were originally John Moore, Henry Common and John Benn. Benn kept a tavern on the corners where the Monroeville road intersects the turnpike. Farther east, in the second section, near the northwest corner of R. L. McCurdy's land, was a pioneer dwelling, but who was the builder or the first occupant, the writer is unable to state. The family of Stephen Sawyer lived there at an early date. Still farther east, in the same direction, near where the Episcopal Church now stands, was the small log cabin of Ralph Bacon, a butcher, who lived there several years.

Ephraim B. Morey became a resident of Lyme in 1820 or '21, removing from Connecticut. He settled on lot number three, in section four, where he resided until his death in 1868. He had four sons: Daniel, Rouse, George and Giles, and one daughter, Emily, now Mrs. Eugene Smith. Daniel settled on the turn-

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pike a few miles south of Sandusky City, where he now lives; Rouse, where he now resides on the south part of lot number five; George, first on the north part of his father's farm, but now lives southeast of Norwalk, in Norwalk township; Giles is deceased.

Shadrach Husted and several sons settled north of Hunt's corners, on lot number one, about the year 1821. His death was caused by a fish bone lodging in his throat. His son Alonzo occupies the south part of the farm.

Dr. Stephens came about 1822, and purchased lot nine. He sold the east half to Francis Holton, about 1832 or 1833, soon after which he died. His son, Jacob, sold to Alvalı Nickerson, who occupied it until 1867, or '68, and then sold to Wm. Holton.

George Hanford came in 1824, and purchased the south part of lot thirteen, on Strong's ridge, on which he built and resided for about ten years, when he sold and removed to Sandusky county.

In the year 1823, Samuel Bemiss and his sons, Elijah and Rodney, with others, came from Onondaga county, New York, and at first took up their abode with the Rash brothers. They subsequently pur- chased and settled on east part of the Strong tract, where some of the family have since resided.

Richard L. McCurdy, son of one of the original owners, came from Lyme, Connecticut, to Ohio, in the spring of 1823. He first stopped in Bazetta, Trum- bull county, Ohio, where he remained a few months, and came to Lyme, locating on the farm now occu- pied by his widow. He became agent for his father, and sold much of the land in the McCurdy tract. June 19, 1826, he married Julia Ann Woodward, daughter of Amos Woodward. Soon after he built a portion of the house his widow now occupies, and in December, 1827, moved into it. Mr. McCurdy was extensively connected with the affairs of the township. At his own expense, he laid out the road, or the greater part of it, from Bellevue to Monroeville. They have had no children. Mr. McCurdy died August 28, 1869.

Westley Knight came about 1825. For some time he drove stage, and worked at different places. He bought a small lot of Stephen Russell, west of the meeting house, on which he built a small house. He sold out in a few years, to Winthrop Ballard, and bought on the section line about two miles north of the ridge. Some three years later he again sold to Dr. Boise.

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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 89

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