USA > Ohio > Portage County > Portage heritage; a history of Portage County, Ohio; its towns and townships and the men and women who have developed them; its life, institutions and biographies, facts and lore > Part 10
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terest. Democrats kept up a good or- ganization. In the presidential elec- tion of 1860, Democrats of Portage County polled about two thirds as many votes as did Republicans for Lincoln and maintained that ratio on national issues pretty well throughout the war. In state elections, the county was strongly Republican.
The story of Portage County's mili- tary activities in the Civil War is told in another chapter. These started ear- ly. Hardly had Fort Sumpter been fired upon when a great Union meet- ing was called at Ravenna. There was much enthusiasm and it was found that many Democrats were also pres- ent. For one week, Union meetings were held daily and of course, raising of troops was the first and most im- portant thing. Lincoln had called for 100,000 volunteers with a three
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months enlistment. How foolish a three months army was, was soon demonstrated, but Portage County men rushed to the colors. As usual, when war comes, there was much con- fusion. There was no overall plan and each man had something to offer. An artillery company was raised, then a rifle company and soon a home guard company was in the plans. A message from Jas. A. Garfield, then in the state senate, helped to direct their ef- forts and he was present in person at a great county wide war effort mass meeting April 22, 1861, at Ravenna. Again there were delegations, bands, parades, etc. by volunteer groups. Al- so present were Generals King and Tyler. Garfield himself was soon in the army. On April 30, 1861, the artil- lery company volunteers left for Camp Dennison and later to Camp Taylor, to be known later as Cotter's Battery. "We are coming. Father Abraham", ran the song of the day. After this were "The Girl I Left Behind Me", "Old Dan Tucker", "John Brown's Body", and "Tenting Tonight." Al- most at once relief committees were organized. Supplies were sent to the home boys in camp and their families provided for where necessary. Frank- lin Mills people raised $5,000 for fam- ilies of the boys in the Franklin Mills Rifle Company.
FIRST DRAFT STARTS
The Portage County War Fund was raised and reached $10,225.
The Civil War saw the beginnings in this country of the draft system of recruiting men for military service. For those who lived through later wars, the operations of that draft system were strange in many respects. After continued calls for volunteers had failed to raise men, the draft was adopted, and in many places aroused violent opposition. Men between 18 and 45 were subject to the draft. What seems strange today was the fact that a drafted man could hire. a substitute to take his place. Many drafted family men took advantage of this. A price of $300.00 was set for substitutes, but on top of this many men paid bounties, or bonuses. Up to $200.00 for bounties in individual cases were paid. All this led to a- buses. Men sometimes hired them- selves as substitutes, went to camp, and there quickly deserted, to hire out as substitute somewhere else and repeat the process.
But perhaps, Portage County's high volunteer rate cut down the number of drafted men here. No odium was attached to hiring a substitute. Friends and neighbors of a man with a family sometimes raised the money
Early settlers charred the top of a stump and used the hollow as a mortar to grind corn. The pestle was a heavy, smooth stone suspended on the end of a line from a pole, like a well sweep. The operator pushed the balanced draw pole up and down to make the stone fall on the grain. Native stone was considered too soft to make millstones, so that buhr stone of flint like hardness was brought from France for this purpose. Some- times granite boulders were used. Early grist mills and saw mills usually had towns built around them.
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necessary to keep the man out of the army.
In the printed biography of a well known Mantua citizen, the statement was simply made, "He was drafted in the late war and hired a substitute", meaning that he had done his duty.
LOOKING FOR BOUNTIES
As was the case in later wars, Port- age County raised a great deal of money for war support and relief pur- poses. She raised a total "War Fund", through the years of $10,225.70. The "Relief Fund for Families of Volun- teers" paid out a total of $68,045.61. The "Soldiers Bounty Tax" totaled $88,157.41. The latter was to provide substitutes for men of family who merited exemption, and it was based on a bond issue voted for that pur- pose.
Advertisements like these began to appear in the newspapers:
Substitute Wanted-A liberal price will be paid for a good and acceptable substitute by, John Smith, 111 ....
.. St.
Who Wants A Substitute-A liberal bounty expected. Address, with price, A.B.C. .St.
Support of the Union in the Civil War was a County effort and it unit- ed the people of the county probably more than at any other time.
ERIE R.R. COMES IN
But, despite turmoil and suffering
of war, other things were going on. The Cleveland and Mahoning Valley Railroad had been completed in 1856, giving the county its second road. At the same time, despite shortage of money and later shortage of labor, the Franklin and Warren Railroad, later the Atlantic & Great Western, was being built. This road was opened in March 1863, and almost immediately it took over the C & MV on lease. The railroad shops, planned for Kent in 1854, were not put in operation until 1861. The first A & GW freight car- ried from Ravenna was a carload of flour, and its first incoming freight was ten barrels of sugar. The story of the railroads is set forth in another chapter, but with these lines, Portage County people felt that they were well provided.
Counterfeiting and horse stealing were the most relatively important crimes. Women wore hoop skirts and little girls wore pantalettes, men's hats were usually black felt, and Step- hen Foster melodies were best known, while the "Battle Hymn of the Re- public" was being written. White picket fences were around every re- spectable home. There were water troughs for horses along the main roads as local authorities directed, or water could be found, but the stage coach was gone.
In earlier days church goers from distant farms, drove to church in wagons and buggies, each bearing a batch of hay for the horses as they rested during services, and usually easily accesible to the animals. Rev. William Foljambe, pastor of one of the Franklin Mills churches, owned a cow which had discovered this fact, She followed her owner to church on Sundays and while services were going on, helped herself to the hay in the wagons of the church goers. Her church going habit became strongly established.
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From rare photo of James A. Garfield at age of 16. He looked like this while working in Aurora hayfields and on the old canal.
For women's wear, bonnets, hoods and muffs were the accepted thing, to say nothing of shawls and robes.
There was a ready sale for buffalo robes for cold weather driving and felt boots for men began to make their appearance, being particularly used by farmers and other outdoor workers.
Business was going on pretty much as usual. Because of good railroads and abundance of nearby material, more factories were being started. For some reason, glass manufacturing was a favorite industry. In 1867, the Ra- venna Glass Co. was established, the first of several glass works in Ra- venna. In 1821, David Ladd had start- ed the Mantua Glass Co., but two
years later moved it to Franklin Mills, where apparently, it did not last long. But it was first of Kent's several glass works. The Day & Williams well known glass factory there was set up in 1864. For these Kent and Ravenna glass works skilled foreign workers were frequently brought in. The Rail- way Speed Recorder Co. founded in 1875, was for a long time one of Kent's busiest plants.
UNION SCHOOLS POPULAR
In 1859, an event of considerable importance, not only in Ravenna, but the entire region was the construction of the Union school building. This school was considered a most modern one at that time, a great step toward educational efficiency. Its construc- tion stimulated Kent people toward similar effort and in 1868, the well known Union School building was erected.
The end of the war brought new problems, new political alignments and new customs and organizations. First was the organization for veter- ans, local group which later develop- ed into the Grand Army of the Re- public. Posts sprang into existence in every sizeable town, though Port- age County posts were slow in getting started. A new custom was inaugurat- ed-that of Memorial Day, particular- ly for the war dead, but which came in to include all later. Portage Coun- ty's first Memorial Day observance came in 1867, when GAR posts were in existence. From that time on the "comrades" of the GAR posts were conspicuous in Memorial Day obser- vance for many years to come.
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In the Memorial Day observance or Decoration Day as it came to be known, the GAR always took the most important part in its public observance. The veterans were always in the parade until age prevented. Numbers of the "comrades" began to diminish, with the line shorter and shorter, until the remaining ones were put in the parade in carriages or motor cars. Portage County's last Civil
War veteran, John Grate of Atwater, died in 1954.
GAR GAINS STRENGTH
Politically, the veterans exercised great influence. Their vote was sought by all candidates. If the veterans were "for" someone or some issue, it usual- ly meant success. Grant, Hayes, Gar- field, Harrison, and Mckinley were elected to the presidency largely
First Election Day
The first election within Portage County other than a local basis, was held at Ra- venna June 8, 1808. It was to be at the home of Benjamin Tappan, Ravenna and 88 votes were cast.
Of these voters the following were from Ravenna :- Benj. Tappan, John Caris, Wm. Chard, Samuel Simcox, Robert Walker, David Jennings, John Boosinger, Daniel Haynes, Thos. Wright, John Creighton, John Wright, Sr., Jacob Eatinger, Jacob Stough, Arthur Anderson, Michael Simcox, John Wright, Jr., Abraham Toms, Abel Forsha, John Ward, Jotham Blakesly, Enoch Harrymon, John McWhorter, Wm. Price, Conrad Boosinger, Henry Sapp, Robert Campbell and David Moore.
From Mantua, there were Silas Tinker, Jotham Atwater, Samuel Moore, Amzi At- water, Elias Harmon and Daniel Windsor, Jr.
Rootstown-Frederick Caris, Sr., Frederick Caris, Jr., John Caris, Philip Willyard, Nathan Chapman, Samuel McCoy, Beman Chapman, Ephriam Chapman, Samuel Andrews, David Root, Gersham Bostwick and Henry O'Neil.
Deerfield-John Chapman, Horatio Day, Seth Day, James Laughlin, Henry Rogers, Nathan Muzzy, Stephen Mason, Joseph Murrill, Asa Betts and Alva Day.
Randolph-Alvin Ward, Ebenezer Goss, Joseph Harris, David Goss, Bela Hubbard and Aaron Weston.
Suffield ;- Reuben Tupper, Stephen Upson and Jonathan Foster.
Aurora ;- Samuel Baldwin, Oliver Forward, and Samuel H. Ferguson.
Hiram ;- Oliver Mills.
Nelson ;- Delaun Mills and Isaac Mills.
Shalersville ;- Joel Baker and Asa D. Keyes.
Atwater ;- George Wilber.
Others were from townships now in Summit County.
Hudson ;- David Hudson, Joel Gaylord, Samuel Busby, Moses Thompson, Heman Oviatt and Benjamin Whedon.
Stow ;- William Wetmore.
Tallmadge-Aaron Norton.
Northampton ;- James Robinson.
Present but not voting were John Campbell and Abel Sabin.
County officers were elected as follows:
Commissioners ;- Abel Sabin, Joel Gaylord and Alva Day. Treasurer, Elias Harmon. Clerk, Benj. Whedon. Recorder, Titus Wetmore. Sheriff, Alva Day. Coroner, Lewis Day.
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through the strength of veterans or- ganizations.
About this time, too, various fra- ternal organizations became active in establishing lodges throughout the county, and most of these are active today, together with many new ones.
Though cheese making had long been an important activity among farmers, this now took on a new as- pect. Previously, it had been pretty much a farm job, with cheese made on the premises, like butter, but an Aurora man saw the possibilties of co- operative manufacture, with the work done in a central place. Most of the factories were in the northern part of the county. Factories were numerous. Later factories were owned by indi- viduals and the farmer's milk bought outright. It became an industry, and it flourished. The county was a leader in Ohio. At one time there were 30 or 40 factories in the county. At the beginning of the present century, the demand for the fluid milk from the nearby cities wrought the decline of the cheese making industry. The southern part of the county had its cheese industry too, but on a smaller scale. It was in the manufacture of Swiss cheese, a process brought in the by the German descent farmers.
ANOTHER RAILROAD BUILT
In this period, coal mining became important in the county. Palmyra had four producing mines, Atwater three
or four, with others in scattered places. The Deerfield mines were de- veloped later. The opening of the Al- liance & Northern (now the NYC) in 1879, stimulated coal supply there.
Following the boom in Pennsylvan- ia oil production, the National Tran- sit Co. ran a pipe line through the county to Cleveland where the Rocke- fellers were founding an oil empire, with a pumping station in Mantua. Afterward, a large number of storage tanks were constructed there, and these have been a land mark ever since. Mantua then was becoming an important shipping center for pota- toes, which were being grown in quantity in that section.
Repercussions of the Pennsylvania oil boom were felt in this county. In Deerfield, the Portage Oil Co. was formed in 1865 with a half million dollar capital, to drill for oil. Many wells were drilled, but though some oil was found, it was never in paying quantity and the craze died away. Smaller companies and individuals had the same experience. In later years, from time to time, wells were drilled, but so far there has been no success in this field.
There were enough grist mills and saw mills to take care of local busi- ness and now tanneries had disap- peared. The portable engine brought a change in the system of lumbering. The mill now went to the log, in- stead of the other way. Men with
In 1814, Major Stephen Mason was sheriff. He used his spare time to teach a school in the court rooms. When he was absent on official business, the school was closed. He also trained the militia.
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money to invest were looking to new fields. In Aurora, in 1866, the Aurora Iron Co. was formed to manufacture wrought iron, but its operations were brief.
COUNTY FAIR BOOMS
County and local fairs now began to be popular again. When the state legislature in 1846 passed a law auth- orizing the state to contribute money
for the support of fairs, it had meant a great deal here. Up to the time of the Civil War, fairs there did well. During the war, fairs were not pros- perous, but when peace came, there was a revival of interest. For many farmers and others, the county fair became the high spot of the year. As an observer said, "Some people mere- ly lived from one fair until the next." The institution was in the nature of a
John Brown To Zenas Kent
Though John Brown was erratic and stubborn and was not successful as a business man, he was intelligent and talked and wrote quite well. Brown, whose family had previ- ously lived in Hudson and in Franklin Mills, was ending a term as postmaster in the little town of Randolph, Pa., when he wrote a letter to Zenas Kent, with whom he had dealings. The letter left by the Kent family is blurred and faded and almost indecipher- able but close study reveals the following:
Randolph, Pa., April 29, 1835
Mr. Zenas Kent,
Dear Sir ;- Yours of the 14th was received by last mail. I was disappointed in the extreme not to obtain the money I expected, and I know of no possible way to get along without it. I had borrowed it for a few days to settle up a number of honorable debts which I could not leave unpaid and come away. It is utterly impossible to sell anything for ready cash or to collect debts. I expect father to come out for cattle about the first of May and I ask you without fail to send it by him. It is now too late to think of sending it by mail I was intending to turn everything I could into shingles as one way to realize cash in Ohio, before you wrote me about them. 25 dollars of the money I want is to enable me to carry that object into effect. I shall buy all I can and think you can have what you want for $ .per thousand at Boston or Akron, and perhaps Ra- venna. Had I been able to pay any cash I might have given you a definite answer as to the price now. I will try to write you about shingles before I leave here. As to having a carding machine in the ... I should feel disposed to have you accommodated in every way that you can but not materially interfere with other business, but I would in no means advise to depend .putting one in until we can see what room or place
will be .. absolutely (?) needed for the purpose. I am inclined to think that some way to manage with our. for a little. I do not wish to make any more about a store before .... and can see how I am to pay for it .. The time has now so near expired that I expect to leave here, that I must do all I can about shingles from you again.
Do not send money nor bills of small kind. (Blank spaces indecipherable) John Brown.
It is not known what the immediate reaction of Mr. Kent to this letter was, but a short time after that Brown was taken on as manager of a new tannery set up by the Kents in Franklin Mills.
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Keller Brothers Machine Shop in Southeast Randolph
great reunion as well as entertain- ment and general excitement. Portage was still an agricultural county and the fair was the epitome thereof.
The years following the Civil War, were a boom time for all in repairing the effects of the conflict, but in 1872- 73, a severe depression had its effect on Portage County, like others, though probably less in degree in ag- ricultural sections. Recovery came in due time with talk of more factories and railroads. Men wanted more of the comforts and graces of better liv- ing. The Portage County Horicultural Society encouraged home and proper- ty beautification and growing of fruits and flowers that had been lack- ing previously. Pioneer picnics were popular and regularly held and in this way, they remembered the past. Not only large scale general picnics,
but the family reunion flourished in this era. School and other group re- ceivers were also liked.
About this time, too, a new kind of people were found among the immi- grants that is, new to settled residents. Chinese had been on the Pacific coast since the days of the gold rush. Now they appeared in the East, usually in the big cities. Also, there came new nationalities of white people. A few Italians came in and following the old pattern, were first found working as laborers for railroads and other con- struction. Smaller numbers of Scandi- navians arrived, including the hardy Finns, who went from door to door through the rural sections, with saws and axes on their shoulders, looking for jobs of wood cutting at "fifty cents a cord." There was to be no marked Negro migration to the coun-
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ty until a later date, although Ra- venna had quite a colony at an early year.
MANY GO WEST
To the native Americans all immi- grants were "foreigners" and queer folks they could not understand at first until better acquaintance chang- ed their minds. In describing a rail- road accident, in which an engine blew up, the Portage Democrat of 1855 gave the names of all natives who were killed or injured, then add- ed, "An Irishman standing near by had two broken ribs."
But during the Seventies and Eigh- ties, there was a constant pull from older states for emigration to the west. Free land could be had in Kan- sas, Nebraska, Iowa, and other states, and the railroads offered land, too, right near their lines at a low rate. To stir up interest in this land, the rail- roads ran "Homeseekers Excursions" with very low fares, and in some cases, without charge, to stimulate land sales. They ran advertisements in local papers and many county resi- dents had the privilege of "travel" for
little or nothing, and of course, many bought land and "went West to stay." The homeseekers excursions contin- ued until well into this century. It has the old story of finding or hoping to find good land for little or no- thing.
It was still a period when folks drank sassafras tea in the spring to purify their blood, school pupils play- ed "Andy Over", "Gaol" (pronounced "gool"), "Duck on the Rock", "Fox and Geese", "Crack the Whip", and men working in the maple sugar camps carried the pails from wooden "shoulder yokes."
The long pole "well sweep", and wooden buckets were still being used, to be succeeded by the wooden pump, "hacks" waited for passengers at the railroad stations and election ballots were still gotten out by the candidates or parties.
Operating a livery stable was a solid business, a barn raising was a frequent and important event and young sports rode high wheel bicycles.
NEW BRIDGES APPEAR
People were wondering what
The Creeks of Portage
Portage County has a normal number of creeks in addition to the rivers, which are better known. There are two Silver Creeks-one in Hiram and one in Edinburg. Camp Creek is in Hiram and Nelson. A stream sometimes known as the Mahoning, or Eagle Creek, is in Nelson and Windham. There's a Tinker's Creek in Nelson and one in Streets- boro. Black Brook is in Mantua. The Breakneck runs through Rootstown, Randolph, Ravenna and Franklin townships. Hinkley Creek is in Charlestown. Barrel Run is in Edinburg, as is Dixon Creek. Kale Creek is found in Palmyra and Plum Creek in Brim- field. Willow Creek is in Deerfield and Deer Creek is in Atwater. Potters Creek will be found in Randolph and Suffield, while Congress Lake outlet comes up through Randolph. Hale's Creek is in Suffield and Sand Creek in Windham. Yellow Creek is also in Deer- field and the Little Cuyahoga touches Suffield. There are many small creeks throughout the county that are either nameless or have borne changing names in the past.
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would become of the canals, then very little used. The system was kept alive because many thought "the railroads were agin em." As late as 1908, the state made an effort to revive interest in canals, but without success.
The covered bridges which were to be seen everywhere, now began to dis- appear. New style timber, stone, and iron bridges were being erected.
In 1874, a number of Ravenna peo- ple applied for a charter to establish the American Health College and Re- ligion Medical Society in that town, the object being to teach the Vita- pathic System of Health. The school offered degree of V.D. to its students, but it never got started into full ac- tivity since a great deal of opposition to the school developed in the town.
In Ravenna, also, an activity there was giving the town a wide reputa- tion. That was the coach and hearse manufacturing business of Merts & Riddle at first N. D. Clark & Co. Be- cause of changes in social customs, hearses were in increasing demand. The plant later became The Riddle Coach & Hearse Co.
QUAKER OATS CO. FLOURISHES
The services of professional under- takers became more in demand. In rural sections particularly, where cof- fins were made for the individual, and funeral services arranged by the families, undertakers were able to use a "new embalming fluid" for preser- vation of bodies, to be used instead of ice.
Another Ravenna business that be- came widely known was the Quaker Oats Co., established in 1877, with a change of ownership in 1881. Years later the plant was taken by the Schumacher interests of Akron, but the trade name of the product, Quak- er Oats, was retained to become a household word. At that time there were no packaged cereals, but the Ra- venna plant employed 40 men and put out 200 barrels of oat meal daily.
These were the years in which the tariff was becoming more and more of a political issue. Home men wanted to operate factories. They wanted to pay good wages but many soon found they could not compete with "cheap" for- eign labor, and were being undersold by goods from abroad. Glass manu- facturing, especially, faced this bar.
News With Sleigh Bells
Newspaper rivalries were as keen a hundred years ago, and editors were often as alert and resourceful as now. W. R. Witter of Ravenna relates that in the spring of 1845 rival Cleveland papers were each ambitious to be first in printing the inaugural address of James K. Polk. To do this, they depended on Eastern papers which would be reprinted. Fairchild of the Herald came to Ravenna to meet the stage coach carrying the papers and got one, speeding away to Cleveland in a sleigh. Friends of the Plain Dealer raised a purse and hired a man to beat Fairchild, also using a sleigh. Nobody ever learned which messenger reached Cleveland first.
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