USA > Ohio > The Western Reserve of Ohio and some of its pioneers, places and women's clubs, Vol. I > Part 3
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In 1802 Squire Hudson, in connection with Deacon Stephen Thompson and Heman Oviatt, took measures to organize a church and connected themselves with Grand River Presbytery, with 13 communicants. They depended, for many years, on
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Rev. Badger, a missionary, of whom it is said he fought through the war, and saved his scrip. At its close his two hundred dol- lars would not buy him a coat.
He worked in the coal mines of Tallmadge and preached on Sundays. Rev. David Bacon also preached occasionally, but on no Sabbath did they omit worship.
Until 1817 the religious services were held in schoolhouses, then a Union church was built, free to all denominations to worship in. We here give David Hudson's letter to his wife on her visit to Connecticut :
Hudson, Portage Co., Ohio, September 17, 1814.
Dear Wife :-
Through divine goodness the remnant of our family whom we have at home are all well. I am led to conclude you have all safely passed the din of war and have by this time progressed considerably on your journey. I went down to Wolf Creek and found Theodore and wife well. Tell Captain Parme- lee that Theodore is doing exceedingly well. He has the best summer fallow that I have seen in this county, nearly fit for sowing, on the third day of September when we were there he had certainly twenty acres. He has a good field of corn and various kinds of crops in abundance. If he has his health con- tinued, he must gain property very fast with his habits of in- dustry and economy. I wish to know what Laura's prospects are as to school. Wherever she is, I trust you will see that her morals are attended to.
Yours ever, David Hudson, Jr.
Letter of Kezia Hudson Parmelee (my maternal grand- mother) to her brother, David, Jr .:
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Goshen, September 1, 1812.
Dear Brother :-
In your last letter you mentioned being out of health. We feel anxious about you. We live in a changing, dying world. It is a wonder of mercy that we have been continued so long, when much younger than we are falling around us. Oh, that we might live wholly devoted to him, yet God is gracious, remem- bering mercy in the midst of judgments by the revival of reli- gion in many places around us. In some places it is great, and more than usual solemnities attend meetings in most, if not all, our towns and congregations. We desire to bless God for his great goodness and to be humble under his chastisements. We feel as if you are more exposed at present to the horrors of war than we here, particularly from the savages of the wilderness. Hope you will be protected from their cruelty and from every evil.
Theodore has been gone five months and we have received but one letter; tell him that he is so much like his mother, that he cannot write. to his dearest friends. I intended to have writ- ten to him by Mr. Baldwin, but I think I shall not have time. Please give my best love to him and to William and to each of your children. Tell Mrs. Hudson I saw her mother at meeting on Fast Day; I saw her sister, Mrs. Collins, last Sabbath; be- lieve her brother and family are well.
I have forgot to inform Theodore that we have spun and wove his merino wool and are going to send it to the clothiers and don't know what directions to give about the color. There are thirty yards of it; thought of cutting off some for a great coat and have it light brown and the other dark blue or black. But don't know how he would choose.
Your affectionate sister,
Kezia Hudson Parmelee.
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In 1818 the Congregational church was built on the site of the Town Hall, costing $5,000. It was dedicated in March, 1820. In 1828, the Methodists organized a church. In 1840 the Episcopalians, and in 1858 the Roman Catholic church was organized.
The first school was taught by George Pease in 1801.
In 1827 Mrs. Nutting, wife of Professor Nutting, had a school for girls, and in 1860 Miss Emily Metcalf took charge of it. Caroline Earle, eldest daughter of Theodore Hudson Parme- lee, attended when from 16 years to 18. She said "They studied astronomy by chalk marks on the floor." She was married to William Earle at 19 years.
In 1803 the Erie Literary Institute was incorporated by the Ohio Legislature. Mr. Hudson's name headed the list of donors. It was located in Burton. In 1810 the building burned; in 1820 they began in a new building. The Presbyterians and Congregationalists organized a society to educate their minis- ters and it was proposed to add it to the one at Burton, calling it a Literary and Theological Institute.
In two years the commissioners were appointed to select a new location, according to local contributions. Propositions were submitted to Cleveland, Hudson, Burton, Euclid, Aurora and Mantua. Hudson subscribed $7,150.00 and Mr. Hudson gave two thousand dollars besides 160 acres of land, so as to have the college buildings located in the best part of town. The Burton school was presided over by David L. Coe, a graduate of Williams College, but in 1834 it ceased to exist.
The cornerstone of Western Reserve College was laid June 26, 1826. The hymn for the occasion was written by Asaph Whittlesey of Tallmadge. The trophies in the stone were robbed that night and were never recovered.
MRS. WILLIAM EARLE, NEWTON FALLS
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Manual labor was required and the students were to work two hours a day for physical development. A wagon shop, a cooper shop and carpenter shop were provided, but did not take well with the students and was abandoned.
The Anti-Slavery question was voted to be suppressed. In 1834 Oberlin was established. Some of its students went to Oberlin. President Pierce was elected. He erected new build- ings, increased the library, and bought new apparatus; in 1844 added the Medical Department which was established in Cleve- land.
In 1816 Mrs. Anner Hudson, wife of Deacon David Hudson, died at the ege of 57 years. She was the mother of all his children. In 1817 he married Miss Mary Robinson, of Colbrook, Conn., who survived him twenty-one years. In March, 1856, Deacon David Hudson died at 73 years of age. He had seven sons and two daughters, all born in Goshen, Conn., except Anner, who married Harvey Baldwin, of Hudson, on her seventeenth birthday. She had two daughters, Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Julius Whiting, of Canton, Ohio.
Of the children of Deacon David Hudson, Ira died Sep- tember 21, 1817. William in Meigs County in 1863, from a gunshot wound received in the raid of the rebel, John Morgan, through Ohio. Milo died in Chester in 1838. Daniel lived but two years. Timothy died in India and Laura Oviatt was thrown from a carriage in going to the depot in Hudson and died in- stantly, in 1850. Samuel fell from a tree and was made an invalid for life.
Harvey Baldwin, his son-in-law, who was trustee of West- ern Reserve College for more than forty years, died in Hudson in 1881 at 81 years of age, and in full possession of his facul- ties. A ycar later, in 1882, the College was moved to Cleveland
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and called Adelbert, in memory of the son of its greatest donor, Amasa Stone, who raised his bequest from $400,000 to $600,000. President Cutler, the financial agent, was made President and came to Cleveland with the College. He said in his inaugural address: "Women will be admitted on the same conditions as men." Two of his daughters graduated, also two daughters of Mr. Hinsdale, superintendent of Cleveland Public Schools. The College trustees overruled this decision, wishing to follow Yale and Harvard. Those who were called to preside over the Col- lege refused on account of this decision. Rev. Hiram C. Haydn of the First Presbyterian church then consented to serve. He was instrumental in founding the Woman's College, having the same professors and teachers. After three years, Rev. Charles F. Thwing from Minneapolis, a graduate of Harvard, accepted the Presidency. He has tact, energy, courage and means. In a few years a College for Women was built on the opposite side of the campus, having the same courses of study and the same professors. A Chapel was built by Mrs. Samuel Mather, daugh- ter of Amasa Stone, a Library by H. R. Hatch and other build- ings have been donated. A course of Business Training has been established through the recommendation of Mayor Newton D. Baker. The endowment is growing rapidly. The city of Cleveland is reaping its reward, for its pupils have a College Club, a Collegiate Alumni, and various other societies which give it solidity and tone. In 1912 its students numbered 900.
HANNAH WELLS
HANNAH WELLS
Hannah Wells was the eldest of four daughters of Captain William Wells and Miss Davis of Falmouth, Mass., her twin sister always lived with her, and both lived to the age of 90 years.
She remembered the attack of the British in the autumn of 1775. Guns from the fort were heard at school, but they were not frightened, for "practice-firing" had been common. On her way home from school the firing was exceedingly rapid, yet she and her younger sister stopped to fill their dinner baskets with nuts which lay thick upon the ground, and then ran all the way home.
They lived with their Grandfather Davis, who was a large farmer and ship owner. They found many people from the town at their home, and the house stripped of most of its fur- niture, which had been carried to the woods or sunk in the well. She remembered a large mirror, with the earth adhering to it, which was brought back afterward.
It was supposed the British would land and scour the coun- try, but they contented themselves with shelling the town. They then sailed away to Martha's Vineyard where they did great damage. With a spy-glass, from her mother's house, they could see the Red-coats when they landed at Martha's Vineyard. In Green's Hostory, page 110, he says: "Falmouth, containing up- wards of 400 dwellings, was totally destroyed by shells and hot shot thrown into it without intermission during a whole day from a ship of 18 guns commanded by Captain Mock." But Hannah tells us that the town was not damaged to this amount at that time.
She removed with her parents to Lenox when seven years of age.
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Captain Wells, with his vessel which carried sugar from the West Indies, was absent for a long time, after the breaking out of the war, which caused them great anxiety. She would relate the almost frantic joy when the news came that her father's vessel was in port.
They lived for a time in Lee, where her sister, Thankful, kept a school, and she told of a queer incident. Thankful had a bottle kept for flowers; as she came home she tossed some bees into it, and, let them out on entering the house. They at once stung some horses hitched to posts near by. The horses broke loose and overturned the wagons and caused great damage and consternation.
At 22 years of age Hannah Wells married Elijah Holcomb, and removed to North Canaan, Conn. In 1810 she was left a widow with seven children. Kellogg, the eldest, was drowned in a river nearby, and Harriet, the next child, had married Theodore Hudson Parmelee and was living in Norton, O. By his invitation she came west and had a home built for her near New Portage, now Barberton. She could weave the most beau- tiful linen for towels and table cloths, and was in great demand as nurse for the sick.
A few years later she married a local Methodist preacher, Lysander Hard, and moved to Wadsworth, near his married son's.
In the sickness of New Portage of 1829 that nearly swept the town out of existence, she went from house to house, giving aid where most needed. Then moving her son's family to her own home, she persuaded other people of Wadsworth to do the same, and so relieve the terrible suffering from want of care. One was Dr. Clark, whose son was Homer J. Clark, afterward President of Allegheny College and editor of the Northwestern Christian Advocate. His daughter, Anna Clark, was State President of the W. C. T. U. for many years.
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Her retentive memory enabled her to relate many interest- ing events of her family and many in regard to her Grandmother Davis. She occupied a large room which she never left and which the children were not permitted to enter; but they often went to the window and were greeted with a smile and a gift of apples, nuts, cakes or sweetmeats. Her delicate, beautiful face, set in a snowy white cap-she sat in a large arm-chair, which she could wheel around as she greeted them. Usually a cheerful fire was in the fireplace, above which there was quaint carvings in wood.
She remembered seeing the same sweet face in the casket, and the windows of the pleasant room closed. This early im- pression may have led her also to be very kind to children and young folks. "It was a delight to be in grandmother's room," said Eliza. "It was better than play, many a one went to her for counsel or sympathy who would not tell another, but in her presence felt no restraint. Her rebuke was gentle, but contempt for one who would not make confession or reparation was too withering for endurance. She was always cheerful and glad to assist people."
When called to see the sick she would silently pray God to direct her, and of the three things she thought of as good, one of them could be easily procured. She had a fund of anecdotes to relate and they led the mind away from pain. She lived to 99 and 9 months. She never had a headache or any serious sickness. When she had attacks she would recover by a long sleep, lasting sometimes thirty-six hours. She was buried in the cemetery of New Portage and her two grandsons, Pollus and Nathan Holcomb, erected a worthy monument to her mem- ory, which is still there, though many have been removed to the new cemetery at Barberton.
HARRIET HOLCOMB
By E. A. Parmelee
Harriet Holcomb was a beautiful girl of 16, full of life and sparkle. Her complexion was of that clear type that denotes perfect health. She was a blonde with cheeks like roses in their first bloom, lips like rubies, and teeth like pearls. Her features were regular, her hair of dark brown and her eyes blue. Her every movement betrayed the fullness of life that flowed in her veins and rendered her restive under the restraint of school life. Her clear mind enabled her to master quickly lessons assigned and left her abundant time to seek some outlet of great vitality. This outlet was, in school parlance, mischief, though of an innocent sort, usually not vicious, for this was foreign to her nature, but fun, though innocent, sometimes interfered greatly with the perfect mastery of lessons on the part of those less quick than herself, and called forth frequent though mild re- proof. In return for these reproofs she took delight in teasing the master. One day she had been unusually full of pranks, when the school closed the teacher said, pleasantly, "Miss Hol- comb, you will remain after school," she thought, "Now my punishment is to come, I wonder what it will be? or will he dare to use the whip or ferrule on me, or will he only give me a thorough scolding. I suppose it will be a wonderfully serious talk, for I can hardly conceive of his scolding me. Well, I deserve something like punishment for I could see his annoy- ance plain enough, but I just couldn't help it, it was so delightful to watch his unheard of devices to induce me to sit as that little 'puss' beside me. I really couldn't do it. But it was too bad to
HARRIET HOLCOMB PARMELEE
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spoil her lesson, for I know she will study half the night to make it up and make sure of perfect lessons tomorrow. I won- der if this staid little seatmate had not half an eye to working herself into the good graces of the master. I really don't be- lieve she loves study as well as she appears to and yet I know it hurts her to fail, and I was a regular naughty girl to be sure. I will take my scolding or whatever comes meekly unless I can behave better in future. I wonder if I can. I really should not dare to promise and whatever else the master does I hope he will not ask that. Dear me, how slow he is; will he never begin his lecture or whatever is coming. I wonder if he puts everything in such complete order before he leaves the school. I know he writes copies after the school is out some- times. I hope he will not keep me sitting here while he does that. It would be worse than -. " Here she was interrupted by a request to get her school things. "I will walk home with you tonight," he said, very quietly.
"So he is going to report me to my mother, perhaps, and then I shall be obliged to promise him to behave myself or leave school, which shall it be?" Very demurely she walked by his side and he talked of all sorts of indifferent things, to which she replied in monosyllables as far as possible, all the time expecting the scolding to come, until they turned off the main road and took a by path but little traveled and then he slackened his pace and looked down earnestly into the troubled eyes, that looked up questioning just at this moment.
"I have asked to walk home with you tonight that I might have the opportunity for a little serious talk I have long wanted with you." She thought, "It is coming now, but I wish he would not talk so seriously but would scold outright." He seemed to hesitate a moment, then said, "You have become very dear to
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me these last few weeks; so dear that I cannot think of life without you, and I want to ask your mother's permission to try to win your love, provided you will first give me your own per- mission. Will you?" All color forsook her face and then rushed back so violently that the tears stood in her eyes as she lifted them timidly to his.
"I hope I have not been too sudden. I have thought of this so long that it seemed that you must have thought of this, too. May I think it is not all unexpected?" She wastrembling now as he drew her to a seat on a log by the wayside. Suddenly she dropped her face in her hands and wept uncontrol ably for some minutes while he tried to soothe her, affirming if what he said gave her pain he would never say another word but should close his school and go away never to return. At length she controlled her tears, looking up into his earnest face the absurdity of it all struck her and she laughed almost as uncontrollably as she had wept a few moments before.
"This is better than tears," he said, "I wish I might know that my proposal gave you pleasure."
"Oh, it is all so absurd," she said. "Why, I am only a child and a very naughty one at that. Why didn't you scold me as I deserved?" He said, "If you are only a child now, you are a very lovable one. I assure you, laughter becomes you far better than tears." She said, "It is all too ridiculous. Ask my mother and see if she don't tell you so." "Very well, I will ask her and I am glad you gave me the permission-" She said, "Oh, don't take it too serious. Please talk of something else; that flock of birds, for instance." So he talked of the birds and then turned to the Western Reserve where he had spent one year for this was in the winter of 1812-13 and in Canaan, Conn., of the time when the Puritans held full sway. He talked of
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the new settlements that were fast springing up, of the delight of founding new settlements and controlling their character, of the wide field of usefulness opened. He talked so enthusiastically of the work to be done, of his desire to do his part and impress upon the new community correct methods, plans and aspirations. till, ere she reached home there seemed opened before her a new life and a new purpose.
When she entered the school again she found the old life had passed away and a new one had begun. If this was to be her last term at school there was so much to be learned. Oh, so much. How could she have been so idle, so satisfied with learning lessons simply to recite them.
THEODORE HUDSON PARMELEE
Theodore Hudson Parmelee was of Puritan descent. £ The custom of bestowing a college education on one member of the family when there were several sons had descended from father to son for several generations. Theodore had two brothers older than himself and one younger but none of them took to books with any special liking. Theodore took to them naturally as ducks do to water. Every leisure moment was occupied with them, and his sisters found it a difficult matter to draw him off for a social evening, however much they desired it.
During the summer season many students enjoyed the hos- pitality of New England homes, whose doors were open and a cordial welcome was given to all comers. Then it was that Theodore was in demand, for, if any question came up for dis- cussion, Theodore could carry his part well if he only would, and if matters of fact were to be decided Theodore could always be trusted. His memory seemed to be fact-tight, but when his sisters thought they had secured him for an intellectual contest, it was extremely common for him to slip away, if the social part drifted into small talk. The library possessed far greater in- terest than any mere social pastime. It was natural then that Theodore should be the one chosen to do credit to the family in some professional calling. He had prepared for college and meantime had gone through his father's library and the town library also. History was his special delight, and twice reading made him master of all the books in that line. A problem con- fronted him at this point of his career more difficult to solve than any other that had preceded it. What should be his pro- fession? He knew that his parents wished him to choose the
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ministry and his aged grandmother, (nee Mary Stanley) a most devout and noble woman, would be seriously disappointed if he should choose some other. Theodore was her favorite grand- child and she looked to him to uphold and carry forward the sacred cause for which she daily prayed thy kingdom come and send, Father, more laborers into the harvest. They were heart- felt petitions, not forms, and surely this grandson was partic- ularly fitted for so glorious a calling.
But in Theodore's eyes it was far above him; he felt himself in no way fitted for it; he had a holy reverence for God's word and lofty ideas of the qualifications required for one who should undertake to expound it and act as God's messenger to men. His heart must be fully consecrated; his was not. He must be divinely called; he was not.
To be a physician was altogether distasteful to him and a lawyer was not thought an honest or honorable calling by his friends; if he should choose it no one would be satisfied, least of all his grandmother. In a few weeks he was to enter college. Should he go forward or turn back? If the latter, what excuse could he offer and how satisfy his beloved grandmother. At this juncture there were students in the house and he was in demand each evening, though he longed to be alone.
His eldest sister said to him, "You must come into the par- lor tonight, indeed you must. You need society to draw you out. Don't you know that wits are brightened by contact? Oh, you naughty boy, it is pure selfishness to keep all your stores of knowledge to yourself, when it is in your power to be helpful to others. Come tonight, I will not excuse you," she said, and accustomed to yield to her as to his mother he joined the circle.
His coming was greeted with applause for a vehement dis- cussion was on hand and each party hoped to find a helper in
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Theodore. How easily he took up the subject, how clearly he presented it, agreeing with neither party, but selecting the truth from each statement he compelled both parties to yield, which they did gracefully. Neighboring young people coming in, Theodore slipped away and sought his grandmother's room. She surely could help him. He had no right to decide without consulting her, but how should he begin, how could he tell her all his heart. It ought to be an easy matter but it was not, but what is that. A newcomer in the family room, hasty exclama- tions and glad greetings reached his ears and grandma said that is surely the voice of Brother David come back from the Western Reserve.
He had nearly completed this preparation, when his father took him aside and told him his purpose concerning his children.
"I intend to give my boys one thousand dollars and my daughters five hundred. If I send you to college, and then give you a professional education, it will take more than a thousand. I am willing to do it, but I wish you to know that I can do nothing more for you; when your profession is completed you must depend on yourself."
Just at this juncture his Uncle David Hudson returned to Goshen to seek new recruits for his settlement in the far West. He was full of enthusiasm over his success thus far and of hope for its future.
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