454 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY (RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) CHAPTER XXIII. HISTORY OF GROTON TOWNSHIP. This was originally known as the township of Wheatsborough. It was named after Mr. Wheat, who originally owned the greater portion of it, and the name was afterwards changed by request of some of the inhabitants, among whom was Nathan Strong, an old pioneer. The physical features of Groton are not unlike those of its neighbors, generally level, dotted here and there with oak groves, and settled with thrifty, industrious, farmers, many of whom are Germans. Half the township is prairie, the northern half is covered with scrubby timber. The soil is rich, black muck in the south, with a sprinkling of sand ; while the northern portion has. a limestone soil, with a substratum of limestone adapted to building purposes. A small stream runs through the township, rising in Lyme and flowing in a northeasterly direction to Oxford. The Indians gave it the name of Pipe Creek, which it still retains. Along its banks and at the bottom is found a soft clay used by the savages for making pipes. In former times a lime kiln was in operation here, but of late years it has been discontinued, and the stone is sent into a neighboring township to be burned, where several kilns are supplied by it. Wild animals formerly abounded here as elsewhere on the fire-lands, and those now living remember the time distinctly when wolves, deer, wildcats, foxes, wild turkeys, racoons and prairie-chickens were hunted and killed here. In an old record is a vivid word-picture of the method by which the natives used to attempt to catch wild turkeys. Mr. Rash relates: " To see about one hundred Indians surround the same number of wild turkeys, to see the turkeys fly without one of them being killed, and to hear the outlandish gutteral ejaculations of the exasperated red-skins, wishing the turkeys were in a place decidely remote from the happy hunting-grounds, was very funny to the spectators." GROTON TOWNSHIP - 455 The Indians of This township were mostly members of the Senecas, and in many respects differed from the. Wyandots and neighboring tribes. These were one of the nations included in the Iroquois Confederacy, and noted like them for the wisdom and genuine simplicity of character which has ever given them a place in History. The Seneca Red Jacket, the Cayuga Logan, and the Oneida Shenandoah are proof of the eloquence that distinguished them, while the fact that matrons were represented in their public councils, and exercised a veto influence in questions of peace and war, prove their advance and cultivation in all that make ,men and nations great. Groton township is number five in range twenty-four, and is bounded on the north by Margaretta, south by Lyme, in Huron county, east by Oxford, and west by the townships of York and Townsend, in Sandusky county. Its organization dates to June 2, 1834, when an election was held at the house of William McCord, and the following were elected for the first officers: Trustees, Nathaniel Chapman, Bishop Stebbins, Nathan Strong; clerk, Hiram Deyo ; treasurer, Stephen Crippen ; justice of peace, Stephen Crippen ; cqnstable, Joshua Lace ; fence viewers, George Cook, Orange Potter, Elaphall Toppen ; poor-masters, James Bemiss, James Morecraft. The first settlement in Groton township was made on Pipe Creek by Jonathan Sprague, Squire Richey, and others in 1809. In 1811 Captain Seth Harrington, for many years one of the most prominent men of his township, moved in from Conneaut, Ohio, with his family. He was originally from Rhode Island. He had a family of ten children. Among other early settlers were Hiram Blackman, George Furguson, Alexis Jackson, William James, Phineas Dunham, and others. Squire Richey felled the first tree and built the first log-house. These log-cabins were very primitive affairs, but much more comfortable than those that had been built on the fire-lands by the wandering squatters who preceded them. These had built bark huts, with four posts and a ridge-pole. Layers of bark were wound round the sides of the post, over-lapping, so as to shed rain, and the roof was laid on in the same way. The trials of the early settlers were very great. Not only were they in danger from Indians, but they suffered from scarcity of food and clothing. There was not a family in This region during the years 1809 and 1810 who did not endure these hardships in some form. Wild meat could be procured, it is true, but living entirely upon This developed feebleness and disease on every one except the savages. For many years after the war of 1812 clothing was made from the skins of wild animals, and caps of raccoon skin, with the fur outside, jackets and pantaloons of deer skin, and other garments to match were universally worn. There were no tanneries to dress leather, and when wet these articles became hard as a board, so that if thrown on the floor they rattled like tin kettles. A man drawing on these garments in mid-winter, felt about as comfortable as if wearing 456 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. pieces of stove-pipe. Besides all these inconveniences, the season became sickly, and for several years privation and distress followed the settlers. Touching stories are found in the ancient records of events in Ohio during those early days, and we read with astonishment, and wonder at the motive that induced those men to take their families to the new country where suffering and danger awaited them. One young man with his family settled in thick woods, cleared his small patch of ground, became sick and died. Soon after a hunter passing the clearing saw everything still and mistrusted there must be something wrong with the family. He opened the door, and was startled by the appearance of a woman sitting by the fire, pale and emaciated, holding in her arms a sickly babe. She burst into tears and at length said, "There is my little Edward," pointing to the bed, " I expect he is dying. And here is my babe, so sick I cannot lay it down, and I am so weak I can hardly sit in my chair. 0, that I was back in my own country, where I could fall in the arms of my mother !" Tears rolled down the cheeks of the hunter as he walked away for help. Amusing stories are told by the pioneers, of the make-shifts so necessary at that time, and in the light and comfort of the present they are sometimes heard to say, " Ah! those happy days of primitive simplicity when all family pride was forgotten in general friendship and kindness of personal attachment" Could any amount of conventional elegance compensate for the hearty hospitality related in an old History when a visit was gotten up by the ladies to call on a neighbor who lived at a distance. The hostess at once began preparations for tea. She had but one fire-proof vessel, an old bake oven, and of course it would take some time. Some pork was fried in the kettle first to get lard, then cakes were made and fried in the lard, then short-cakes were made and baked in it, then it was used as a bucket to draw water, which was afterward heated in it and the tea made in it. It is needless to say that at these times it was not customary for the young ladies to go barefoot. The first frame house was built by Seth Harrington in 1817, and was occupied by himself and wife until his death, a few years since. The first child born in This township was a daughter of George Furguson, named Ann. She afterward moved to Michigan and married a man named Phillips. The first death in the little settlement was that of a man named Standish Wood. There were no undertakers on the fire-lands then, and sorrow lacked even the accompaniments that made it more bearable. Instead of elegant coffins and plumed hearse, the bereaved were obliged to see their loved ones buried in rudest simplicity, and This first funeral is mentioned as an instance of the extremity to which the early settlers were reduced. The coffin, in This instance, was made from the boards of a wagon box, and those that were not used at This time were kept for another occasion,. When the wagon box was at length used up, Seth Harrington and George Sprague made several coffins from oak trees, split into puncheons and dressed down to look like boards. GROTON TOWNSHIP - 457 Money was a minus quantity. Dollars and cents did not estimate the value of people and their surroundings as at present, and when small change was needed a silver dollar was cut into four or more pieces, and This was usually done in such a manner as to add twenty-five per cent to its real value. The post-office was at Cleveland, and all mails for the fire-lands were received here, until a route was established between Cleveland and Detroit, which was to pass through Groton and vicinity. John Paxton carried the mail in 1814. The first physician was Dr. W. Hastings, who commenced practicing in the early part of 181o. After the War of 1812 he moved to Knox county, Ohio, where he was elected member of the Legislature. He returned to Groton with his family in 1815. His wife died in 1848, And their descendants still reside in the country. They had eight children, all sons. Ephraim removed to Sandusky county in 1825, where his son, W. G. Hastings, was for many years engaged in business in Parkertown, but now resides in Sandusky city. Ephraim continued to reside in Groton. The rest of the family are scattered all over— some in California, and one when last heard from was in Australia! The doctor continued to practice until his death in 1864, at the ripe age of eighty-nine years. He practiced forty years in the family of Seth Harrington. The first magistrate was elected in 1816, and as Squire Richey, has lived in History in connection with a story told of a young couple he met (while riding over the prairie), who were going to his house to be married. He dismounted, and on the broad prairie, with heaven's blue above them, proceeded to unite them in the holy bonds of wedlock. The first school was taught by Elijah Fleming in 1818, and was supported by subscriptions that amounted to fourteen dollars a month, and the school was supported by the prominent families of the township, viz., the Paxtons, Magills, Harringtons and others. This school was a mere hint of what the future decades would do on educational lines, and the pretty brick school-houses. now found every few miles, show that the prophecy has been more than realized. There is nothing of which Ohio has juster cause for pride than her school buildings and educational laws. The farms of Groton are surpassed by none in other townships. Large, finely cultivated, well fenced, and stocked with good cattle, the owners have homes they are justly proud of. Among those whose names deserve a place in the History of Groton, are the early settlers Amos McClouth, Samuel Bemiss, Charles Rash and Worthington Nims. Amos McClouth came into the township in 1817, with three other families. They came from the beautiful Berkshire hills of Massachusetts, and must have found in the level landscape of Ohio, and the russet colors of her forests in autumn a great contrast to the gorgeous scenery they left behind. Mr. McClouth, however, remained in his new home, and out of a family of ten child- 458 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. ren only three were living in 1880. He himself died in 1870 at the age of seventy-six. He held several prominent positions in the county and was at one time clerk of Court of Common Pleas. Although there were Indians in the neighborhood of the new settlement, there was no cause of fear and no hostilities were known. Samuel Bemiss came from Buffalo, by water, on the steamer Superior, the only vessel on the lake, She having taken the place of Walk-on-the-Water, which had foundered a short time before. The interest in This ancient craft has just been revived by a picture of the steamboat just as she looked in those early days. A post-office was not established until 1854, previous to which time the inhabitants of Groton received their mail at Bloomingville. The postmaster was at that time a Methodist Episcopal minister, named Rev. Zar Patch. The office is now in the center of the township. Religious meetings were held in the dwellings of the settlers by Rev. Mr. Gurley and others. The pioneer church was Methodist and met in the northeast corner of the township, where they now have a church edifice. Another church is located on lot number thirty-five in section third. A grist mill was built by Eli and Edward Ford on Pipe Creek, and a distillery just above it on the same stream. There was also, at-one time, a cabinet-shop of large capacity that carried on a good business. Charles Rash found his way to the fire-lands even earlier than the preceding, having arrived in 1815 from Ontario county, N. Y. He made the journey on horseback, and was followed by his brother in the same way in 1819. The journey occupied nine days, and the brothers settled on the farm since owned by the brother, Libey Rash. Charles afterward became justice of the peace in 1820, and served in that capacity for eighteen years consecutively. He died in 1853 aged sixty-one. The homestead has under good cultivation one hundred and seventy acres of land. Worthington Nims came from Massachusetts in 1826, and selected his home, then went back to marry his wife, and come to reside here. He built a cosy frame house which has since become his carriage house, while a more pretentious building takes its place. There is no village in This township. The Seven-mile House is the only center. Sand Hill Church is union of all denominations.