HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 375 Calvin Dodge was the executor of the Christy estate, and when he filed his final report, in August, 1888, it showed the total value of the estate to be about $27,000. The manner of disposal was put up to the County Teachers' Institute, convened in Geneva, on Aug. 9, 1888, and that body voted to create the Christy Summer School of Pedagogy, which has proven a great advantage to teachers and prospective teachers in the past years. The buildings of New Lyme Institute were located in a picturesque and highly elevated spot, facing Lebanon Creek, and a semi-circle of stately maples, and the campus is one of rare beauty. When the first commencement exercises were held, the hearts of New Lyme citizens glowed with triumph and pride over the completion of what eventually proved to be a famous school. In the fall of 1882 Prof. Jacob E. Tuckerman, A. M., Ph. D., became president of the institution, and remained at its head for 15 years. Closely associated with Dr. Tuckerman, during these years, was the late M. L. Hubbard, principal of the commercial department and teacher of expression. These, combined with an excellent faculty, were responsible for the ultimate success of the school, and during their administration the attendance reached over 300 students yearly, many of whom are persons of renown today, of whom might be mentioned : The late Benjamin E. Chapin, who was a noted Lincoln impersonator and author of "The Son of Democracy", which has been presented in all of the large cities of the United States ; Judge Florence E. Allen, of Cleveland, granddaughter of Prof. Tuckerman, who has served as prosecuting attorney for Cuyahoga County, judge of the Common Pleas Court and judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio. During a recent visit abroad she was received by the English court, and when welcoming her they announced: "If the women of England had displayed the keen mental ability Judge Allen had shown, they would be very welcome to a seat in the English Court." Some years ago a strong endeavor was made by the trustees of New Lyme Institute to procure the State Normal, but politics and greater inducements prevailed in favor of Kent. Then an attempt was made to secure a state school of agriculture, but by a veto of the Governor, a similar disappointment resulted. An endowment campaign was next started in hope of establishing the Benjamin Chapin School of Expression, with the late Rev. C. L. Parker, of Cleveland, as financial agent. 376 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY By the will of Judge W. S. Deming, the trustees of New Lyme Institute came into possession of the land and six dwelling houses in "Newtown," and also a $25,000: endowment fund, which promised perpetuity to the institution, and it was hoped it could be maintained and continue to rank as one of the best preparatory schools of the county. The endowment was not sufficient, however, to warrant a continuance. When the bill passed the Legislature making it compulsory for each township to maintain a centralized school, or pay the expense of sending their students elsewhere, the trustees turned over the institute buildings and campus to the township for centralization purposes. Thus the famous old New Lyme Institute, the memory of which is dear to the hearts of many, passed out of existence. CHAPTER XXX. ORWELL TOWNSHIP. FIRST OFFICERS-MOSES CLEAVELAND ONE OF ORIGINAL OWNERS-LAND VALUE -PAINE FAMILY - FIRST SERMON - CHURCHES - FIRST SCHOOL-ROADS-EARLY INDUSTRIES-STAGE LINE TO CLEVELAND-BUILDINGS- AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY-INDIANS. Township No. 8, in the most southerly tier of the county, was organized under the name of Orwell in 1826, and the original officers were Joseph and Solomon Chandler and Alanson Spaulding, trustees, and Lyman Richards, clerk. This organization was effected nine years after the first white settler, A. R. Paine, had emigrated from Stillwater, N. Y., and established his future home in the southwestern part of the township. By the terms of division of the county when the Connecticut Land Company apportioned it among the stockholders, each township was to bring $12,903.23. In the drawing that determined the ownership of the respective township sites, in 1798, the following members came into ownership of Orwell: Moses Cleaveland, William and Joseph Williams, Jabes and Ashael Adams and Joseph Howland. This township was the first one drawn. The ownership soon passed to the hands of Daniel L. Coit and Christopher Leffingwell. The valuation of the land was placed at $5 an acre, which was considered a high price, as other adjoining townships offered just as good land at a lower price. That had the effect of holding back the settlement of that tract for several years. Mr. Leffingwell was the active owner in the platting of the property, which was apportioned into one-mile-square lots, and the name originally given to the township was Leffingwell, which maintained up to the time of the regular organization as Orwell. Whether it was the price of the land, the topographical status of the section, the nature of the soil, or some other particular objection, the fact stood that, though a road was early broken through Orwell from north to - 377 - 378 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY south, and hundreds of emigrants seeking home sites plodded their laborious way through the township for years before any one decided to settle there. At the time of the organization of the township of Orwell, history relates that there were but eight actual voters residing within its confines. The law stipulated that no township organization could be legally effected wherein there were less than 10 votes. The parties at interest would not let a little technicality like that prevent them from pursuing their purpose, so they are said to have "stuffed the ballot box" by running in two votes of men who were temporarily domiciled in the township while constructing a bridge over Grand River. The Paine family constituted a conspicuous figure in the original foundation of the township's population. They were not only the first corners, but Mrs. Paine gave birth to the first white child born in the township. Mr. Paine constructed the first house and the first barn within the boundaries of Orwell. Solomon Chandler was the second man to cast his lot in the township, and following him came William Watrous, Eli Andrews, John Babcock, Alonzo Spaulding, who built the first frame house ; Ezra Pratt, George A. Howard, Henry L. Rice, Christopher Loveland, John Weed, Solomon Hunter, Thomas Stone, John Bronson and others who figured more or less in the early activities toward the settlement of Orwell, and in its later growth and progress. In 1820 the Rev. Giles H. Cowles preached the first regular sermon to an Orwell congregation, the meeting being held at the home of Alanson Spaulding. Two years later an organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church was effected, but it was not until 1845 that the church had sufficient funds to undertake the erection of a building of its own, and it took five years to complete it. In 1831 residents of Orwell and Colebrook combined in the formation of a church society, from which the Orwell contingent withdrew in 1837, forming a church of the Congregational denomination of their own. They built a church in 1841. The Baptist Church was organized in 1837, after having held regular denominational meetings for five years. With a class of a dozen pupils, Miss Lydia C. Walcott taught the first school in Orwell, in 1822. In 1851 Orwell Academy erected a large building, and became a very popular educational establishment. The first board HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 379 of officers consisted of Jason Waters, A. Bingham and C. A. Pratt, with Jacob Tuckerman as secretary, and Rufus Barnard treasurer. Prof. Tuckerman was also the principal and for many years was one of the leading educational men of this section of the state. His work in other leading schools of the county is mentioned elsewhere. As many as 150 students were included in the attendance on some years, and they came from far reaches. The road laid out from Austinburg straight southward, through to Trumbull County, intersected Orwell Township through the center, and was its first regular road. This was an authorized state road and was turnpiked through Orwell in 1819, giving residents a splendid outlet to the north or south, but it was hard traveling in any other direction, until the putting through of a road from the Pennsylvania state line to Cleveland, called the Cleveland and Pennsylvania state road. The Williams Brothers' History said, in describing the Orwell roads : "Previous to the opening of the Cleveland and Pennsylvania state road, there was no point at which Grand River could be crossed, except on the line of the devious old pioneer route leading from Judge Griswold's dwelling, in Windsor, to that of Judge Hayes, in Wayne. When it became known to the settlers of Windsor and Orwell that the state would establish a road leading through the centers of the southern tiers of townships, they resolved to put the road through the Grand River bottoms on each side of the stream in a passable condition. They agreed to celebrate the 4th day of July, 1830, by assembling in force on that day and beginning the proposed work. On the morning of that day, therefore, over 300 men, residents of Orwell and Windsor and some from neighboring townships, were on the ground with carts, ox-sleds, mud-boats, with all the teams that could be mustered, the men equipped with axes, hoes, shovels, handspikes and mattocks. The men were divided into companies, placed under the command of a captain, and the work began. The ladies had come also, and while the men pushed forward the work they spread a table and prepared a bountiful repast. All worked like the heroes they were, and when night came the embankment that stood before them as a result of their toils was a thing of keen delight to every heart." A stock company installed a cheese factory in Orwell in 1874 and in the town's progress it became an important point for travelers, for whose accommodation there were two hotels and numerous stores. 380 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY In 1850 Phillips & Bigelow established a stage line between Cleveland and Orwell, leaving the former place on Wednesday and the latter on Thursday morning of each week. The fare each way was $1.50. The run was called the Cleveland and Orwell Express, and the route took in several towns between the terminal points. A new town hall and Odd Fellows' Hall graced the village in the year 1880. Orwell was noted in '70s and '80s as a circus town, and many of its residents had the circus fever badly. The Orwell Agricultural Society was organized on May 31, 1856, with Col. George A. Howard president ; Dr. William M. Eames, secretary ; C. A. B. Pratt, treasurer, and the following vice-presidents : Lewis Waters, Rufus Barnard, Amander Bingham, L. A. Pratt, Anson Russell, N. A. Barnes and C. A. B. Pratt. In the following August the society leased property for fair-grounds, and for many years thereafter the Orwell Fair was an annual attraction to many hundreds of people. In the spring of 1870 a stock company built a cheese factory in Orwell which was a prosperous institution so long as there was material for its output. It, like many other like establishments in the county, eventually succumbed to the shortage of milk after the city buyers began invading the county. Orwell has always been one of the prosperous communities of the county, the milling industry being one of its chief establishments, commercially. The center of the village is about a mile from the station of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the settlement about which is known as East Orwell. The population of Orwell in the 1920 census was given as 800. Writing home to his own paper, the Jefferson Gazette, a few years ago, the Hon. E. L. Lampson, then reader in the House of Representatives, recited a little history that he had heard from Mrs. G. E. Hurlbert. They were strolling through the Zoo, in Washington, and came across a herd of deer. That reminded her of stories of early days in Orwell, and she remarked that her father's old powder-horn showed marks representing the death of 499 of those pretty creatures, by his gun, along the winding banks of Grand River. Her mother rode on horseback from Orwell to Warren, and carried a baby in her arms. Behind her was a bag filled with deer-skin mittens that she had made and was taking to the city to trade for household necessities. HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 381 Orwell is given the distinction of having been the first township that was drawn in the big Connecticut Land Company's lottery. It is related that at the time when A. R. Paine, the first settler, came to Orwell, in April, 1817, his nearest neighbor was three miles away, in Bloomfield, and the first one north was six miles away. His stock of provisions for the first winter of his sojourn was purchased in Painesville. He paid $15 a barrel for potatoes, 25 cents a pound for pork, $1 a bushel for potatoes and $1 a pound for tobacco. Good and Bad Indians.—Because of the exceptional good hunting that the forest in and about Orwell Township afforded, a few of the Indians remained in that vicinity for some time after the white man began his invasion of what they had always considered their exclusive territory. In hunting season many of those who had moved on would return and pitch their tepees for periods of weeks at a time. Eventually, however, the last of the Redmen took their departure, and their going was not mourned by their successors. The Williams History is credited with the following incident of the last days of the Indians in this vicinity : "There were but two families of Indians in Orwell at the time the white settlers arrived. One of these consisted of old Captain Phillips, his squaw and two sons, called Captain Henry and John. Capt. Phillips was inoffensive and very industrious. Of a far different character was the other Indian 'family', for, although he was the only member of his household, he insisted that he should be considered a 'whole family', and thus called himself. He was a ferocious, blood-thirsty fellow and led a vagabond life, fond of nothing else save to hunt and to imbibe freely of 'firewater'. He was a Canadian Indian and went by the name of 'Indian Joe'. Old Capt. Phillips was accustomed to say of him, 'Look out Jim, Jim bad, bery bad Indian'. This `Bery Bad Jim' had his place of encampment in the southeastern part of the township. In December, 1821, Sylvester Hill, a resident of Painesville, and a hunter of some note, followed the track of three bears for three days, until he discovered them treed in the top of a large, hollow whitewood tree, not very far from the vicinity of 'Indian Jim's' place of rendezvous. It seems that the Indian had also found the bears, and their place of lodgment being on his hunting ground, he claimed the animals as his property. Hill observed the prints in the snow near the bear tree of Jim's moccasins, and anxious to secure the booty, he hastened 382 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY to the cabin of Mr. Babcock, and procuring the assistance of John and David Babcock and Daniel Rood, returned. The tree was felled, two of the bears killed and carried away. The Indian, upon finding his bear-tree cut down and his bears gone, became furiously enraged. He knew Hill's tracks and following him to the settlement charged him with stealing his bears and demanded restitution. Hill declined to satisfy him, and the Indian left, threatening vengeance. It soon became known that the Indian was on the lookout for Hill, with the full purpose of taking his life. The latter returned to Painesville to avoid the threatened danger, where he remained a few weeks ; but his love for hunting became paramount to his fear of the Indian, and he returned to the forests of Orwell, hoping that Jim's ire had by this time abated. But such was not the case. Learning that Hill had returned he again sought opportunity to kill him. On the morning of Jan. 1, 1822, the savage, learning that Hill and a companion, John Babcock, had gone that day to hunt in the woods of Colebrook, started in pursuit, and coming to the house of Joel Blakeslee, with flashing eyes and horrible threats enquired for Hill. Mr. Blakeslee could give him no information. He left the house, pronouncing Hill's name with fearful imprecations, and, after carefully examining the ground about the house for evidence of his enemy's tracks, started for the forest in a northeasterly direction with his rifle, tomahawk and long knife, brandishing in the air as he went forward. This was the last that was ever seen of 'Indian Jim'. He went into that forest, but never came out of it. Along toward night Hill and Babcock emerged from the woods and, arriving at Blakeslee's residence, were asked if they had seen anything of 'Indian Jim'. Of course they had not seen him, and were profoundly ignorant of his whereabouts. It is said that John Babcock was the best marksman in the township of Orwell." CHAPTER XXXI. PIERPONT TOWNSHIP. PIERPONT EDWARDS-A GOOD FARMING SECTION-FIRST SETTLER-OTHER PIONEER SETTLERS-SCHOOL HOUSE ERECTED IN 1814-POST OFFICE-HOTEL -VILLAGE ORGANIZED-HIGHWAY LAID OUT-CHURCHES-REV. O. WRIGHT. Why a town should be named for a man whose chief interest is to get it off his hands is not quite apparent, but that was how "Pierpont" happened. When the Connecticut Land Company made that famed division of its Western Reserve possessions, in 1798, the fates that guided the drawing placed ownership of this particular parcel in one Pierpont Edwards, who proceeded to "unload" it as fast as anyone would take it off his hands. A splendid farming section, after it had been cleared, well watered by Ashtabula River and two of its tributaries that afforded drainage and power for the central and western part of the township, Pierpont started out with great promise for the future and early became quite populous, but it did not have the good luck to lay in the path of progress and, being passed by the railroads, its growth and importance were seriously affected, just when it was getting nicely under way. The first white comer of whom there is record was Edward Spear, who journeyed from Vermont to seek a home and fortune in the new country which was just being opened. His choice of a location rested in the southeastern section of the township, a couple of miles from the head of the east branch of Ashtabula Creek, where he erected the first white man's habitation in Pierpont. Spear did not remain long, and after he had taken his departure for other fields, the Indians burned the log house in which he had lived. There were no permanent settlers in the township until 1808, when four emigrants arrived in the fall and picked out locations for their clear- - 383 - 384 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY ings and future homes. These were Wareham Grant, Harvey Rockwell, Martin Vosburg and Ewins Wright. Grant and Vosburg chose sites near together, somewhat north of the center of the township, while Rockwell and Wright located in the southeastern part. Their families came on from the East the following year, after suitable habitations had been prepared for them. In 1811 came Benjamin Matthews and Amos Huntley, and following them the next comers were Asa Benjamin, Joseph Dewey, Samuel Brown, and among the other early settlers were Aaron Holmes, Asa Leonard, Shiram and Jephtha Turner, Amos Remington, Abijah Whitton, Archibald Gould, Ezra Cole, Ezekiel Brayman, William Read, Eli Prince, Edson Beals, Asahel Cleveland, Reuben Benjamin and Zebinah Rawson. These and perhaps others built themselves homes and constituted quite a population within the confines of the township. The first religious organization was effected in 1810 and was of the Methodist denomination. A church of the Presbyterian faith was formed in 1823, and a Baptist Church in 1830. A Congregational Church came later. No regular church building was put up until 1840, when a Union meeting house was erected, the several denominations of the town contributing to the expense and all using it for their meetings. Later this building became the Pierpont Academy. About 1814 a school house was erected in the southeastern part of the township, Miss Lucy Huntley being the first teacher. In 1825 Pierpont post office was established, with Archibald Gould as postmaster, and the office being in his home. A hotel was built at the Center in 1837 by Benjamin and Joseph Williams. In the same year Payne & Trimmer opened a general store, and the section known as the Center began taking on the aspect of a village about that time. Subsequently there were established dry goods, grocery, hardware and drug stores, harness, millinery and blacksmith shops, a carriage manufacturing establishment, creamery, cheese-factory and other essentials to a thriving town of that period. Organization of the town of Pierpont was effected in 1818. Up to that time Pierpont and Richmond had been a part of Denmark. A meeting was held at the home of Amos Huntley, on July 4 of that year, for the purpose of electing officers and the town was thereupon detached from the Denmark scope. Reuben Benjamin, Sigon Turner and Harvey Rockwell were elected trustees ; Martin Vosburg, clerk and treasurer; William Reed and Ewins HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 385 Wright, overseers of the poor ; Orange Huntley, lister ; William Read, Jr., appraiser; Benjamin Matthews and Jesse Turner, fence viewers ; James Huntley, constable; Martin Vosburg, Asa Benjamin and Harvey Rockwell, supervisors of highways. Zebina Rawson was the first justice of the peace. The highway north and south through the center of all townships in range 1 was laid out through the center of Pierpont, having the effect of .drawing business to a centralized point, where an east-and-west road intersected. Relief Lodge No. 284, order of Masons, was organized in Pierpont in 1856. In the following year the lodge put up its own building. Former residents of Pierpont are loyal to the old town ,and show their love for it by assembling year after year in Russell's Grove, in one big reunion which has come to be widely known as the annual Pierpont picnic. They come by the thousands and the meeting is always made a gala occasion. That is about the only exciting event of the year, unless something extraordinary happens to disturb the tranquil existence of the village. About a year ago the Presbyterians engaged the Rev. 0. Wright for their new pastor and he very soon set the town agog with his extraordinary doings. He came to find that the church, the manse and the community house were all in sore need of repairs, but he said nothing to the officials of what he had noticed. Instead he donned overalls and, with necessary tools, set about the making repairs. His neighbors marveled at this strange procedure and thought it was "grand-stand play" by the new minister, but when he was seen trundling a wheelbarrow of dirt and they realized that he had actually started to dig a cellar under the church for the purpose of installing a furnace, they began to take notice and then to offer their help. The congregation began to grow and the work of repairs had plenty of willing hands to push it along. It developed that the new preacher was a community worker. In an effort to bring the churches, the schools, lodges, Grange and Farm Bureau together, he organized a chamber of commerce and launched out on a program for an active year. Next he launched a paper called the Community Visitor, which he sends to every home in the community. He uses moving pictures in connection with his church services, and since he started the waking-up process in the old town there has never been a dull moment. (23) CHAPTER XXXII. PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP. ELECTION HELD-ORIGINAL OWNERS-FIRST WHITE SETTLERS-PUBLIC HIGHWAY - TOPOGRAPHY - FIRST WHITE CHILD - FIRST FRAME BUILDING-CHURCHES-POST OFFICE ESTABLISHED-FIRST STOREKEEPER-FARMING AND DAIRYING-WOOLEN MILL. The following excerpt from an ancient poll-book will suffice to introduce the township of Plymouth, which, upon its subtraction from Ashtabula, became township No. 12, range 3 of Ashtabula County, its birth, as it were, taking place on the "Glorious Fourth": "At a meeting of the electors of Plymouth Township holden at the house occupied for school purposes, standing near the residence of Russell A. Smith, in said township, on the fourth day of July, 1838, Robert Seymour, Samuel Burnet and Josiah Allen were chosen judges and Levi P. Blakeslee and Wells Blakeslee clerks of said election, who, being duly sworn, according to law, proceeded to elect the following township officers : Samuel Burnet, Andrew Willey and William Stewart, trustees ; Levi P. Blakeslee, township clerk ; Bennett Seymour, treasurer; Elias C. Upson and William Foster, overseers of poor; John Mann, constable; Samuel Burnet, William Stewart, Joseph Mann, Bennett Seymour, Solomon A. Simons, Elias C. Upson and Merritt M. Mann, supervisors." On Nov. 9, following the township organization, another election was held at the home of Warner Mann for the purpose of naming a justice of the peace, and that official honor was handed to the host named. Later it appears there was a necessity for a second justice in the township and Daniel Hubbard was named for that office. The property embraced in Plymouth Township was handed over from the Connecticut Land Company to Nehemiah Hubbard, and Matthew Hubbard was his resident agent for the sale of such portions as might be desired by incoming settlers. - 386 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 387 The first white settlers were the families of William Thompson and Thomas McGahhe, who came in 1804 and chose a location on Lot No. 5 in the northern edge of the township and overlooking a beautiful vista of deep river valley. Following them Samuel White arrived and also settled on the northern border, along the river front which marks the north line of about two-thirds of the township. In the same year David Burnet located on lot No. 12, just south of Thompson and McGahhe. Following years brought Thomas Gordon, Samuel White, William Foster, Moses Hall, Zadock and Warner Mann, John and Ashur Blakeslee, Linus Hall, Titus Seymour, David Warren, Elias Upson and others up to about 1811. Plymouths' first public highway was the girdled road put through by the engineers of the Connecticut Land Company, from Kelloggsville through Sheffield, Plymouth, Saybrook and Austinburg, in this county, and on to Cleveland. The first official county highway was built in 1842, from the Jefferson-Ashtabula highway, at a point in the most northwesterly lot of the township, eastward to a junction with the road to Denmark. As settlers became more numerous and scattered the installation of new roads was made as circumstances warranted and eventually, while the township became well supplied with highways, there is probably no other in the county where the roads are so irregular and crooked. Plymouth's first "improved" road was the one leading to the Center from Ashtabula, via Runkle street in the latter city, which was paved in 1922. The topographical conditions in Plymouth are of a nature very much in variation to other townships of the county which, doubtless, had much to do with the irregularity of its highways. The northern boundary, skirting the Ashtabula River and Hubbard's Run, overlooks deep valleys. Farther south the land is rolling and southwest of the central part are the "Big Marsh" and the two little marshes which were, before being drained, waste expanses of swamp land. Hubbard's Run has its source in the western lots of the township and Ashtabula River courses a serpentine way through the eastern part, coming in from Sheffield and traversing back through that and Kingsville Townships before it again hits and becomes the northern dividing line. No other streams of importance traverse the township. In 1807 the first white child, a son, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Burnet. The first school house was built in 1810 and the initial term therein was under the tutorship of Warren Mann. The first frame build- 388 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY ing was erected by Moses Hall and the first frame school house graced the township in 1817, midway between the Center and the cemetery. A church of the Episcopalian faith was organized in 1836. This society erected a church at the Center in 1841, which. was the only church building in the town until the Methodists built in 1874. Services of different denominations and union meetings were held at different homes for many years and many residents attended meetings in the churches of Ashtabula and Jefferson. In 1846 a postoffice was established in the town with William W. Mann as postmaster. Mr. Mann was also the first storekeeper in the town, his store being opened in 1849. Some years later he moved to East Ashtabula, and after conducting a mercantile establishment there for a number of years he went to the west side and established himself at the corner of Center and Park streets, where he remained many years. Farming and dairying were always the chief occupations of the residents of Plymouth, but in the early days the town also boasted numerous industrial establishments, which were situated along the river, water affording the only available power. Among these factories might be mentioned saw-mills, woolen-mills and grist-mills. There were carding machines and cloth-dressing machines and other utilities. The woolen mill owned by Fitts & Gilbert was destroyed by fire on Christmas Day, 1849, just after $4,000 worth of new machinery had been installed and it had been made ready for business. CHAPTER XXXIII. RICHMOND TOWNSHIP. OWNERS-ORGANIZATION-FIRST HIGHWAY-EARLY VILLAGES-RICHMOND CENTER-FIRST SCHOOL--CHURCH ORGANIZATION-IMPORTANT STAGE STATION. Township No. 10 in the eastern tier, bordering the Pennsylvania State line, experienced many changes of affiliation before it was finally brought to its present status and came into its own under the name of Richmond, in 1828. In the beginning, so far as white ownership was concerned, the Connecticut Land Company parceled it out to various owners, John Kinsman, Justus and Horace Stocking, Samuel Woodruff and the heirs of Caleb Atwater participating. In the organization of the county in 1808 the territory embraced in the present Richmond Township was a part of Jefferson ; in 1813 it was included in that part taken from Jefferson and named Denmark ; in 1818 it was a part of territory which was detached from Denmark and became Pierpont, and on March 4, 1828, it was finally divorced from Pierpont. The organization meeting was held on April 8 at the home of John H. Montgomery, at the Center, and the following officials were elected : J. H. Montgomery, Levi Brown, and David Prindle, trustees ; Salmon Ashley, clerk ; Artemas Ward, treasurer ; Nicholas Knapp and Horace Caldwell, fence viewers ; Thomas Bright and Paul Rice, overseers of the poor ; Charles Jordan, constable ; Charles Jordan and Roswell Palmer, supervisors of roads and highways. On Aug. 24, 1828, Levi Brown was commissioned justice of the peace. The first highway from which Richmond benefited as a means of communication with the adjoining townships and the outer world was the north and south road from Conneaut to Warren. Others were made according to needs as the township progressed and when the Ashtabula & Jamestown branch of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad was put through it intersected the southwest corner of the township and, at its station, there arose a settlement which was designated as Leon. - 389 - 390 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY In the southeast corner of the township is also a hamlet called Padanaram and in the northwestern section another named Steamburg, and on the north-center line was North Richmond. In the earlier years each of the towns named and also Richmond Center boasted post offices, but the last one of these was discontinued a couple of years ago and all now receive mail by star or rural service. Richmond Center, as the principal settlement was called, was established in the central part of the township and most of the early settlers located thereabouts. The families of Peter Yateman, Benjamin Newcomb, Samuel and William Teed, Mr. Morehouse, who were the first to lay their future hopes in Richmond, arrived in 1805 and all settled on lot 46, which was the southwest corner of the Center, and thus became the nucleus of the future town which was built around the intersection of two subsequent important highways. Among the early settlers were also Newcomb, Morse, Tead, Rice and Drigs families. Charles Jordon was the proud builder of the first frame house in the village, which was erected in 1828 and subsequently destroyed by fire. The first public school teacher was employed in 1811, she being Miss Laura Ford. The first school house built in the township was put up in 1826, in the Padanaram neighborhood. In the same year another school was built in what was known as the "Old Rockwell District", on property donated by John Kinsman for school purposes. Ewins Wright, of Pierpont, the neighboring township on the north, was instrumental in the organization of a Methodist Church Society in Richmond, in the year 1811. Shortly after that the Baptists also organized. Subsequently Wesleyan Methodists, Disciple, Close-Communion Baptists and United Brethren churches were organized in the township. The Methodists and Wesleyan Methodists both erected houses of worship in Padanaram, in 1849, and the Disciples built there at a later date ; at the Center there were built churches of the Methodists and Close-Communion Baptists ; at Leon one by the United Brethren, and at Steamburg, another Methodist. Situated upon the direct line of travel from the lake at Conneaut to the south, Richmond Center became one of the important stage stations and Mr. Newcomb built a double house of logs that was quite a pretentious structure, which was in early years converted into a tavern for the accommodation of travelers. In 1820 Hoges & Carpenter opened the first store HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 391 in the Leon settlement and a Mr. Barber established at this hamlet a general store, trading station and public house that became known throughout this section as "Barber's". This man built also one of the largest cheese factories in the county. The factory had two hundred presses and employed more than a dozen hands. They worked up three tons of curd daily. CHAPTER XXXIV. ROME TOWNSHIP. FINE FARMS-STREAMS-ELIJAH CROSBY-OTHER PIONEERS-FIRST RELIGIOUS MEETING - FIRST POSTMASTER - INDUSTRIAL LIFE - TOWNSHIP NAMEDACADEMY-RAILROAD. That section of Ashtabula County embraced in the township of Rome, in which are some of the finest farms in this part of the state, was sold by the Connecticut Land Company for 40 cents an acre, in the year 1798. It was then almost solid forest, through which flowed along the west border the Grand River and along the east border the Rock Creek, names given to the streams by the Indians many years before the foot of a white man ever touched that soil. The two streams afforded splendid water supply and excellent fishing, and, in the early years of the settlements, boats of a considerable size plied the Grand River the entire length of the county and beyond. The first work of the white man's ax was done by direction of Elijah Crosby, who purchased 550 acres in lots 13 and 14, a little northwest of the center of the township. Crosby and Daniel Hall rode horses from East Haddam, Conn., to look over the former's possession, in 1805, and he left Hall with instructions to clear two acres on the northeast corner of lot 13. Crosby returned to the East for his family and to arrange his affairs so that he could leave them permanently for a new home in the West. The following year he journeyed again to Ohio and left his family at Rock Creek while he erected a log house on the clearing that had been made on his property. In the meantime Abner Hall had bought a homestead in lot No. 12 next north of Crosby's and made a clearing and built a house, which was the first one in the township. These two separate clearings were adjoining, making them as one and when Crosby's home had been built it - 392 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 393 constituted quite a good start for a new settlement, and the Crosby family also formed a very respectable nucleus for a new town's population, including as it did the parents and ten children and two young men who had accompanied him from the East to help in the work of establishing the home and also to eventually make homes for themselves. Mrs. Crosby, some months after their settlement here, gave birth to the first male child born of white parents in the township, and that was good luck for the family, for the original owner of the township, Henry Champion, had agreed to give to the first boy baby born in the township a deed to fifty acres of land, which he promptly executed for the child Henry. Further impetus to the population was given this year by the arrival of a caravan from Connecticut which brought Mr. and Mrs. William Crowell and their eight children, Mr. and Mrs. John Crowell, Mr. and Mrs. David Walkley, Jonathan Walkley and Ephraim Sawyer. This entire company spent the winter —their arrival having been late in the fall—in the original log house erected by Abner Hall, which had been vacated by Mr. Hall. During the winter months Mr. Crowell constructed a home for his family, into which they took up their residence in the spring. The Walkleys also settled nearby and made homes for themselves. Joseph Hall, Sylvester Rogers and Henry Brown were the next to arrive and establish their future abiding places. Doubtless with design and looking into the future, nearly all these homes were built in alignment, and the pathway that was broken in making their neighborhood calls developed, in after years, into a driveway and eventually into the principal north-and-south thoroughfare through the county. Other early settlers in the township included Asa and Linds Tinker, four Linan brothers, Edward C. Dodge, Calvin Church, David Rood, Simon Maltbie, Richard Miller, Samuel Ackley, Samuel Crowde, Henry Hungerford, Sylvester Cone, Erastus Chester, Andrew Champion, James Baldwin, Hazard Morey, Edmond Richmond, Stukely Stone and Azariah Smith. In view of their numerous offspring it was quite natural that Elijah Crosby and William Crowell should be deeply interested in the future educational facilities of Rome, and it was fitting that they should be the ones to make a start in that direction, which they did in 1810, when they turned to and constructed a log school house. Upon the opening of school in the new house, each of the families named was represented by seven children. Prior to erection of this building, Miss Lucinda Crosby had taught a school class at the home of John Crowell. In 1821 the pupils 394 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY of the Rome school graduated into a new frame school house, which was also used for holding religious assemblages. In 1808 at the home of Elijah Crosby the Rev. Jonathan Leslie, of Geneva, conducted the first religious meeting. A Presbyterian Society was organized in 1819, with the Rev. Giles Cowles as pastor. This organization built a church home in 1836 and one of its later ministers was the Rev. Ingersoll, father of the late Robert G. Ingersol, the famous lawyer, orator and infidel. Young "Bob" spent some years of his boyhood in Rome and there are still living some who were his schoolmates and who tell amusing stories of the pranks of the preacher's son. The Congregational Society of Rome was incorporated in 1836. The Baptist Society built a church in 1835, the Episcopals in 1837 and the Methodists in 1877, the latter being located at Rome Station, in a building moved from the Center and rebuilt. Elijah Crosby was the first postmaster appointed in Rome, the office being located in his residence in 1815. The industrial life of Rome began in 1818, with the installation of a saw-mill built by E. C. Dodge on the bank of Rock Creek. Two years later John Reid constructed a grist-mill, and in 1830 Walkley & Hall added another saw-mill. In 1824 T. A. Miller opened the first store in the township. Sylvester Rogers, in response to the demand for accommodations by travelers, converted his home in the early '20s into a public tavern, which soon gained an enviable reputation as a good place at which to stop. In 1819 John Crowell built the first tavern and stage-house. Among other public houses of succeeding years was one conducted at Rome Station by James Kelsey, which he named the "United States Mail." Rome had its cheese factory and cheese-box manufactory, which were almost indispensable to towns of Ashtabula County. Rome Township was regularly named in 1828, up to which period it had continued as the last vestige of the original townshp of Richfield. The death knell of Richfield, which I' -I at one time embraced practically all of Ashtabula County, was rung in a petition filed with the county commissioners on June 2, 1828, notation of which appears on the records as follows : A petition of Christopher Champlin and others, inhabitants of the township of Richfield, praying that the name of said township be changed, was presented and read, whereupon it was resolved by the board, that said township, it being surveyed township No. 9, in fourth range of townships, and HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 395 heretofore, known by the name of Richfield, shall be hereafter known and designated by the name of Rome, and said name of Richfield be abolished." In pursuance of the organization of the newly named township, there was held, on the first Monday in April, 1829, an election which resulted in an organization with the following officers : Joseph D. Hall, William Watrous and Samuel Crowell, trustees ; Justin Williams, clerk-treasurer ; Charles Crowell and Justin Williams, constables ; Lynds Tinker, Reuben Sanders and Silas Washburn, supervisors of highways ; Sylvester Rogers and Asa Tinker, overseers of the poor ; Daniel and David Walkley, fence viewers. The first justice of the peace was Justin Williams. One of the educational advantages of Rome was an academy that was incorporated in the spring of 1836 by the Rome Academical Company, which conducted a more or less profitable school for some years in the village. When the railroad was put through Rome, in 1872-3, it had the effect of soon making a new center of activity about the station, somewhat removed from the village center, and with stores, mills and numerous residences the new settlement assumed the position of a rival to the original town. CHAPTER XXXV. SAYBROOK TOWNSHIP. ORGANIZED IN 1816-ELECTION-SALE OF LANDS-SAY BROOK STATION-GEORGE WEBSTER-FIRST SETTLER-OTHER PIONEERS-M. E. CHURCH ORGANIZED -FIRST MERCHANT-POSTOFFICE-PARKS AND RESORTS-FIRST VOLUNTEER. The township now Saybrook, which borders the shore of Lake Erie . between Ashtabula and Geneva, was regularly organized in 1816 under the name of Wrightsburg, though it had previously been designated as Mathertown. This section had been a part of Austinburg. In 1827 the name was changed to Saybrook. The original officers of the township were named at an election held at the home of Benjamin Sweet, on the first Monday in April, 1816, and were as follows: Joel Owen, Samuel Wright and Thomas Benham, trustees ; Benjamin Sweet and Eli Rood, overseers of the poor ; George Webster and Hubbard Tyler, fence viewers ; Zadoc Brown, lister; Levi Amsden, appraiser of property ; Angell Whipple, Abraham Amsden, Samuel Benham, Levi Beckwith, Jason Norton and Phineas Pierce, supervisors ; Thomas Stephens, constable ; Joel Owens, treasurer. Benjamin Sweet was appointed justice of the peace in 1819. The name Mathertown was taken from one of the original owners, Samuel Mather, who, together with William Hart, obtained the land from the Connecticut Land Company, of which they were members. Hart sold his share of the property to Josiah Wright, who in turn parceled it out to individual home seekers as they desired, and many of the latter suffered severe losses, which dampened their ardor for the new West, some of the disappointed ones returning to the eastern states while others tried their luck in other localities. This misfortune resulted from the death of Mr. Wright occurring before he had secured his title to the land, and as Hart held a mortgage he reclaimed the property and those who had invested had to stand a loss. - 396 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 397 Prior to 1816 Wrightsburg had been a part of Austinburg, of which township it had constituted more than one-half. The territory of Saybrook embraces that traversed by the North and South ridges, which are mentioned elsewhere. The North ridge runs across the center and the South ridge a mile south of and parallel with the North. These ridges afford splendid farming and many of the early corners located thereon, but the principal settlements consisted of Saybrook Corners, Saybrook Station, Munson Hill and that part of the township adjacent to the Ashtabula town line near the lake. Saybrook Corners is on the North Ridge a mile west of the Center road, which extends through the center of the township, southward from the Lake road, and continues straight through to Trumbull County. Saybrook Station is a few hundred rods north of the Corners, on the line of the New York Central tracks. In the early days of the railroad this was quite an active settlement, but as the railroad company's succeeding schedules kept cutting off train stops at Saybrook Station and the business consequently left the hotel and stores thereabouts, the mercantile places gradually disappeared until now but a few residences remain in that immediate vicinity. The Corners still has its churches, high school, stores and other establishments that give life to the small town. Munson Hill is at the crest of the highest point in the township, the highway at that place being over 200 feet above the lake level. There was at one time quite a colony at this point, but now it is but a farm district. The township is well supplied with water courses, having a small brook running through the southwest corner : Indian Creek, which rises in the southeastern part and, after admitting several tributaries, passes out near the northwestern corner, and Red Brook, in the northeastern part. Then there are many springs throughout the township. While this township was near lake landings and was traversed more or less by emigrants of the earliest years, its attractions as a place for settlement did not appeal to any one for a whole decade after the white man had invaded this section. It was in 1810 that the first settler came to this township and located. His name was George Webster and he was accompanied by his mother, the father and husband being dead. Webster built a cabin in the southwestern part of the township, where he prepared to make a clearing. The coming of this little family into the new, unbroken country was no small undertaking for the mother, for she was 398 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY staking her all on George, who was at that time but fifteen years of age. But he was sturdy, ambitious and fearless, as had been demonstrated by his experiences on the trip out from the East. Joel Blakeslee paid the following tribute to Webster in an entry in his personal writings made in 1855, on early days of this section: "Mr. Webster arrived in the county in the year 1804. He was then but 15 years of age. The journey was accomplished with two teams, .one of horses and the other of oxen, attached to a stout wagon. They came by way of Cooperstown, Utica, Cayuga, Batavia and Buffalo. Arriving here, they at the last named place were told that there was no settlement west, until they reached Max, at Cattaraugus. They were to keep to the beach some eight miles and a marked road the rest of the way. Keeping to the beach as directed, they turned off into the woods, traveled all night and, not finding any sign of a habitation, encamped in the dense forest. The next morning they proceeded until about 10 o'clock, when they arrived at a log cabin. This proved to be the dwelling of a man named Cummings, who informed them that they had driven in directly an opposite direction from the point intended and advised them to return direct to the lake shore. This they accordingly did, hiring Cummings to accompany them as guide. At the end of the third day they reached the shore of the lake, but a few miles in advance of where they had left it. On arriving at Ashtabula Creek, they found that the water was high, and not knowing its depth, of course dared not attempt to ford. There was no house in sight. While considering what course to pursue, they discovered a woman paddling down the creek in a canoe. She proved to be Mrs. Beckwith, widow of George Beckwith, who perished in the snow. She assisted them in crossing the stream, leading the horses by the side of the canoe ; the cattle were obliged to swim. Bed-cords were attached together and attached to the wagon tongue, the other end carried across and the team hitched on, and the wagon floated across. Doubling the rope, as it struck the sand, they soon drew the wagon ashore. Attaching the teams, as they were about starting, the Hon. Matthew Hubbard rode up. The sight of a white person was a glad one to the family. The land upon which they settled in Saybrook was purchased of T. R. Hawley, he having received it of the proprietors in payment for services as surveyor. At the raising of their cabin, the settlers were present from Geneva, Harpersfield, Austinburg and Ashtabula." HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 399 Among the early corners to Saybrook were Reuben Smith, Joseph Hotchkiss, Zadock Brown, Stephen Herriman, Oliver Steward, Josiah, Jesse and Samuel Wright, Jesse Blackington, A. Whipple, Thomas Stevens, Theodore Blynn, Solomon Bates, Jarvis Harris, Charles Pratt, Amasa Tyler, Chandler Williams, Benjamin Sweet, Asa Gillett, Levi Beckwith, Captain Savage, Abel Edwards and others. Samuel Wright erected the first frame house, at a point on the South Ridge, in 1818. Wright and Blackington built a water-power saw mill on Indian Creek, at an early date, and Asa Gillette, Jr., a steam mill, somewhat later. In 1815 a schoolhouse was built on the South Ridge.   The Methodist Church was organized in 1816, and meetings were held at homes of members until 1835, when the society put up a church building, which was located on the North Ridge, near the "Corners". This was used for a school and other public assemblages and was sold and converted into a residence in 1849, when the Methodists erected a church for their own exclusive use. The Congregational Church was built about a year later.   Hubbard Tyler was the first man to launch in the mercantile business in the township, he having opened a general store in 1828. Saybrook's first public house was erected for and conducted by Benjamin Sweet, in 1813. A short time after that Nathan Williams opened a tavern. Such houses were very common along the ridge roads in the stage coach days, before the railroad came through this section.   The first birth of a white child in Saybrook brought a son to Mr. and Mrs. Zadock Brown. The first death of a white person was tragic in nature, a little daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Wright being burned to death.   Owing probably to its close proximity to Ashtabula and Geneva, Saybrook never received any impetus from manufacturing concerns. It had its cheese factory, and, of late years, Wright's basket factory has made itself felt in the commercial fruit trade. F. C. Gerald's wholesale meat headquarters in Saybrook have done an extensive business during the past 20 years or more.   A postoffice was established in the town in 1816, with A. Whipple as postmaster. Prior to that time the carrier who traversed that /route from east to west had distributed the mail as he went along, and there was no stated place where it might be left for those who lived off the route, except