Joseph Howland and Daniel L. Coit Eliam Morgan and Daniel L. Coit Caleb Atwater Daniel Holbrook Joseph Williams William Law William Judd Elisha Hyde and Uriah Tracy James Johnston Samuel Mather, Jr. Ephraim Kirby, Elijah Boardman and Uria Holmes, Jr. Solomon Griswold Oliver Phelps and Gideon Granger, Jr. William Hart Henry Champion, 2d Asher Miller Robert C. Johnson Ephraim Root Nehemiah Hubbard, Jr. Solomon Cowles Oliver Phelps Ashael Hathaway John Caldwell and Pelig Sanford Timothy Burr Luther Loomis and Ebenezer King, Jr. William Lyman, John Stoddard and David King Moses Cleaveland Samuel P. Lord Roger Newbury, Enoch Perkins and Jonathan Brace Ephraim Starr Sylvanus Griswold Jabez Stocking and Joshua Stow Titus Street James Ball, Aaron Olmstead and John Wiles Pierrepont Edwards Total

$30,000 51,402 22,846 8,750 15,231 10,500 16,250 57,400 30,000 18,461 60,000 10,000 80,000 30,462 85,675 34,000 60,000 42,000 19,039 10,000 168,000 12,000 15,000 15,231 44.318 24,730 32,600 14,092 38,000 17,415 1,683 11,423 22,846 30,000 60,000 1,200,000

HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 57 "The early diaries show some little differences in names and amounts, the total always remaining the same, but the foregoing is from the Book of Drafts in the recorder's office at Warren. " These, then, were the men who formed themselves into the Connecticut Land Company. So careful were they as to the letter of the law, so exacting as to the carrying out of their obligations, and such personal standing had they that, whereas in tracing titles in most places in the United States one must go back to the grants made by the rulers of the old world, in northeastern Ohio it is sufficient to go back only to the Connecticut Land Company. ACREAGE OF THE RESERVE "In the beginning, that territory was supposed to contain four million acres, but it was found later that early maps and sketches had been defective ; that Lake Erie made a decided southern dip ; so that part of the land, proved water, with some air thrown in. Below is a table prepared by Judge Frederick Kinsman, who was very accurate in all statements, showing the quantity of land (acres) in the Connecticut Western Reserve by survey :

Land east of the Cuyahoga river Land west of the river (exclusive of surplus lands) Surplus land (so called) Islands Cunningham, or Kelley 's Islands Bass or Bay No. 1 Islands Bass or Bay No. 2 Islands Bass or Bay No. 3 Islands Bass or Bay No. 4 Islands Bass or Bay No. 5 Total in Connecticut Land Company's purchase Parson 's, or Salt Spring tract  Sufferers' or Fire lands  Total acres in the Western Reserve

2,002,970 827,291 5,286 2,749 1,322 709 709 403 32 2,841,471 25,450 500,000 3,366,921

"The $1,200,000 received in payment was placed by Connecticut in its school fund and has always there remained." JUDGE PARSONS, PIONEER LAND BUYER Several years before the Connecticut Land Company was formed, the first purchase had been made in the Salt Spring region, of the present 58 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY Trumbull County, by Gen. Samuel H. Parsons, a distinguished Revolutionary general from Connecticut ; in 1785, appointed by Congress as one of the Indian commissioners to arrange for land cessions, and in 1787 chosen one of the judges for the Northwest Territory, becoming chief justice in 1789. Having traveled through the country he was familiar with the land, and finally bought of the commissioners appointed by the Connecticut Legislature to sell land, a tract situated in the townships now known as Lordstown, Weathersfield, Jackson and Austintown. The deed to this twenty-five thousand acres is now on record in the Trumbull County courthouse, and all records and maps agree as to its boundaries. He chose this spot undoubtedly because the Indians and traders had cleared the land roundabout, because the springs found there contained brackish water from which he hoped later to manufacture salt, and because Pittsburgh was comparatively near at hand and stores could be gotten at Beaver and other points on the river. He, however, never occupied this purchase, as he was drowned in the Beaver River, probably at the falls, when returning east. Little or no money had been actually paid down for the land, but his heirs claimed it nevertheless. WASHINGTON COUNTY (1796) CLAIMED JURISDICTION When Justice Parsons entered this first piece of land in the Western Reserve, it was under the civil jurisdiction of the County of Washington. which had been organized by proclamation in 1788, and included all of the Reserve east of the Cuyahoga River. In 1796, the year of the arrival of the surveying party for the Connecticut Land Company, under the direction of Gen. Moses Cleveland, the County of Wayne was erected as a political division of the Northwest Territory and included over half of Ohio—all of the Western Reserve west of the Cuyahoga. Even then, although nominally under civil jurisdiction, the lands west of the Cuyahoga River, embracing, of course, the present County of Lorain, were not the clear property of the United States, as the Wyandots, Ottawas, Chippewas, Delawares and other tribes held primitive titles to them. As stated, the treaty of Fort Industry, in 1805, cleared these lands of such incumbrances. IN THE COUNTRY OF CANAHOGUE Thus the Cuyahoga River may be said to be the historic stream of Northeastern Ohio. The first definite mention of it is in a French map of 1755 and preserved by the Western Reserve Historical Society of HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 59 Cleveland. It names the country between the Cuyahoga and Sandusky rivers as Canahogue, and that east of the Cuyahoga, as Gwahoga. What we know as Lorain County was therefore included in Gwahoga. This is also the name given to the river which is made to empty into Canahogue Bay, and the country designated as Canahogue is indicated as "the seat of war, the mart of trade and the chief hunting grounds of the Six Nations of the Lakes." What we know as Lorain County was therefore included in the country of Canahogue more than a century and a half ago. WAYNE COUNTY (1796) The Wayne County of 1796 included besides the Western Reserve west of the Cuyahoga River, a portion of Indiana, all of Michigan, and the waters of Lakes Superior, Huron, St. Clair and Erie to the mouth of the Cuyahoga, which were under the jurisdiction of the United States. The seat of justice of Wayne County was Detroit. JEFFERSON COUNTY (1797) "In 1797," says Judge Boynton, "Jefferson county was established and the Western Reserve east of the Cuyahoga became a part of it by restricting the limits of Washington. LAWLESS BUT IN NAME "But Connecticut and the Land Company refused to recognize the jurisdiction of the United States prior to 1800. The act of inclusion of their western land within the counties of Washington, Wayne and Jefferson, they declared to be unwarranted, and the power of Congress to prescribe rules for the government of the same they denied, and from the opening settlement in 1796 until the transfer of jurisdiction to the General Government was complete, on the 30th of May, 1800, the new settlers were entirely without municipal laws. There was no regulation governing the transmission of, or succession to property, on the decease of the owner ; no regulations of any kind securing the protection of rights, or the redress of wrongs. "The want of laws for the government of the settlers was seriously felt, and as early as 1796 the company petitioned the Legislature of Connecticut to erect the Reserve into a county, with proper and suitable laws to regulate the internal policy of the territory for a limited period. This petition, however, was not granted, and for upwards of four years 60 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY the intercourse and conduct of the early settlers were regulated and restrained only by their New England sense of justice and right. TRUMBULL COUNTY (1800) RECOGNIZED "But On the 10th of July, 1800, after Connecticut had released her jurisdiction to the United States, the Western Reserve was erected into a county by the name of Trumbull, in honor of the government of Connecticut, by the civil authority of Ohio." PERIOD OF CIVIL COMPLICATION This period of civil complication and uncertainty, which logically and historically affected what is now Lorain County, but practically did not concern it as its territory was devoid of inhabitants, is thus described by Col. Charles Whittlesey in one of his many papers contributed to the history of the Western Reserve : "The state of Connecticut claimed jurisdiction over the Reserve, but made no movement toward the erection of counties. When she sold to the Land Company in 1795, both parties imagined that the deed of Connecticut conveyed powers of civil government to the company and that the grantees might organize a new state. As the United States objected to this mode of setting up states, the region was practically without any magistrates, courts or other organized civil authority, until that question was settled in 1800. "Immediately after the British had retired in 1796, Governor St. Clair erected the County of Wayne, with Detroit as the county seat. It included that part of the Reserve west of the Cuyahoga extending south to Wayne's treaty line, west to the waters of Lake Michigan and its tributaries, and north to the territorial line. Its boundaries are not very precise, but it clearly embraced about one-third of the present state of Ohio. The question of jurisdiction, when Wayne County was erected in 1796, remained open as it had under the County of Washington. In 1797 the County of Jefferson was established, embracing all of the Reserve east of the Cuyahoga. "When Trumbull County was erected in 1800, it embraced the entire Western Reserve, with magistrates and courts having full legal authority under the territorial government. Before this, although no deeds could be executed here, those executed elsewhere were, in some cases, recorded at Marietta, the county seat of Washington County. Some divines had ventured to solemnize marriages before 1800 by virtue of their ministerial office. During the first four years of the settlement of the Reserve there was no law, the force of which was acknowledged here ; but the law- HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 61 abiding spirit of New England among the early settlers was such that peace and order generally prevailed." All historians are agreed that had the first settlers in the Western Reserve, while this state of legal "lawlessness" prevailed, been otherwise than the staid, educated representatives of New England communities which, for generations, had lived under Anglo-American laws, the results might have been most perplexing and retarding to the development of this large portion of Northern Ohio. But although the drawing of lands east of the Cuyahoga River had been progressing during these uncertain years prior to 1800, those west of the river, including the present domain within the limits of Lorain County, did not take place until April 4, 1807, when that territory was under the civil administration of Geauga and Portage counties. All land and civil complications had been cleared away when the first Connecticut colony to be planted within Lorain County located in what is now Columbia Township, late in the year 1807. CHAPTER VII COUNTY SURVEYED AND ORGANIZED THE TREATY OF FORT INDUSTRY (1805) -WESTERN LANDS SURVEYED-SURPLUS LANDS OF LORAIN COUNTY-EQUALIZING LAND VALUES-FOUR TOWNSHIPS CONSIDERED MOST VALUABLE-THE LAND DRAWINGS-DRAWING THE TOWNSHIPS-TRUSTEES OF THE RESERVE-CIVIL JURISDICTION FROM 1807 TO 1811—ADJUSTMENT OF COUNTY BOUNDARIES-FIXING THE NORTHERN INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY—ELY'S INDUCEMENTS FOR COUNTY-SEAT LOCATION-LOCATED AT ELYRIA-FIRST COURTHOUSE AND JAIL-CIVIL ORGANIZATION-FIRST COMMISSIONERS' MEETING - FIRST OFFICIAL DOCUMENT - JUDICIAL MACHINERY IN MOTION-ORIGINAL ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWNSHIPS. The surveys of the lands of the Western Reserve east of the Cuyahoga River, made under the direction of Moses Cleveland and Seth Pease in 1796-97, do not interest us except in a general way, but those west of the historic stream which were laid out soon after the treaty of Fort Industry in 1805 embraced the territory within the present limits of Lorain County. THE TREATY OF FORT INDUSTRY (1805) The Cuyahoga River and the portage between it and the Tuscarawas as between the United States and the Indians, constituted the western boundary of the United States upon the Reserve until July 4, 1805. On that day a treaty was made at Fort Industry with the chiefs and warriors of the Wyandot, Ottawa, Chippewa, Munsee, Delaware, Shawanese and Pottawattamie nations, by which the Indian title to all the lands of the Reserve lying west of the Cuyahoga was extinguished. By this treaty all the lands lying between the Cuyahoga and the meridian 120 miles west of Pennsylvania, were ceded by the Indians for $20,000 in goods and a perpetual annuity of $9,500, payable in goods at first cost. And although this annuity remains unpaid, because there is nobody to claim it, the title to the land on the Reserve west of the river was forever set at rest. - 62 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 63 WESTERN LANDS SURVEYED The surveys of these lands west of the Cuyahoga River are thus described by Judge Boynton: "The meridians and parallels were run in 1806, by A. Tappen, and his assistants. The base and western lines of the Reserve were run by Seth Pease for the Government. The ranges of townships were numbered progressively west, from the western boundary of Pennsylvania. The first tier of townships, running north and south, lying along the border of Pennsylvania., is range No. 1, the adjoining tier west, is range No. 2, and so on throughout the twenty-four ranges. The townships lying next north of the 41st parallel of latitude in each range, is township No. 1 of that range. The township next north is No. 2, and so on progressively to the lake. Ridgeville being in the sixteenth tier from the base line of the Reserve, is township No. 6, in range No. 16. Wellington is township No. 3, in range 18. Elyria, township No. 6, in range 17. It was supposed that there were 4,000,000 acres of land between Pennsylvania and the Fire Lands. If the supposition had proved true, the land would have cost thirty cents per acre. As it resulted, there were less than 3,000,000 acres. (3,366,000 acres—Editor.) The miscalculation arose from the mistaken assumption that the south shore of Lake Erie bore more nearly west than it does; and also from a mistake made in the length of the east and west line. " The distance, west from the Pennsylvania line, surveyed in 1796-7, was only fifty-six miles. That survey ended at the Tuscarawas River. To reach the western limit of the Reserve, a distance of sixty-four miles was to be made. Abraham Tappen and Anson Sessions entered into an agreement with the Land company, in 1805, to complete the survey of the lands between the Fire Lands and the Cuyahoga. This they did in 1806; and from the width of range 19, the range embracing the townships of Brownhelm, Henrietta, Camden, Brighton, Rochester and Troy, it is very evident that the distance from the east to the west line of the Reserve is less than 120 miles. This tier of townships is gore shaped, and is much less than five miles wide, circumstances leading the company to divide all south of Brownhelm into tracts, and use it for purposes of equalization. The west line of range 19, from north to south, as originally run, bears to the west, and between it and range 20, as indicated on the map, there is a strip of land, also gore shaped, that was left. in the first instance unsurveyed, the surveyors not knowing the exact whereabouts of the eastern line of the 'half million acres' belonging to the Sufferers. 64 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY SURPLUS LANDS OF LORAIN COUNTY "In 1806, Amos Spafford, of Cleveland, and Almon Ruggles, of Huron, were agreed on by the two companies to ascertain and locate the line between the Fire Lands and the lands of the Connecticut Company. They first surveyed off the 'half million acres' belonging to the Sufferers, and not agreeing with Seth Pease, who had run out the base and west lines, a dispute arose between the two companies, which was finally adjusted before the draft, by establishing the eastern line of the Fire Lands where it now is. This left a strip of land east of the Fire Lands, called Surplus lands, which was included in range 19, and is embraced in the western tier of townships of Lorain county. EQUALIZING LAND VALUES "The mode of dividing the land among the purchasers was a little peculiar, although evidently just. An equalizing committee accompanied the surveyors, to make such observations and take such notes of the character of the townships, as would enable them to grade them intelligently, and make a just estimate and equalization of their value. The amount of the purchase money was divided into four hundred shares. Certificates were issued to each owner, showing him to be entitled to such proportion of the entire land, as the amount he paid bore to the purchase price of the whole. Four townships of the greatest value were first selected from. that part of the Western Reserve to which the Indian title had been extinguished, and were divided into lots. Each township was divided into not less than 100 lots. The number of lots that the four townships were divided into, would at least equal the 400 shares, or a lot to a share, and each person, or company of persons, entitled to one or more shares of the Reserve—each share being one four hundredth part of the Reserve—was allowed to participate in the draft that was determined upon for the division of the joint property. The committee appointed to select the four most valuable townships for such division, was directed to proceed to select of the remaining townships, a sufficient number, and of the best quality and greatest value, to be used for equalizing purposes. After this selection was made they were to select the best remaining township, and this township was the one, to the value of which all others were brought, by the equalization process of annexation, and if there were several of equal value with the one so selected, no annexations were to be made to them. The equalizing townships were cut up into parcels of various size and value, and these parcels were annexed to townships inferior in value, to the standard HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 65 township, selected in the manner indicated, and annexations of land from the equalizing townships were made iu quantity and quality to the inferior townships, sufficient to make them all equal in value to the township so selected. FOUR TOWNSHIPS CONSIDERED MOST VALUABLE "The lands of Lorain county, that were taken for the purpose of equalizing townships of inferior value, were those of Rochester, Brighton, Camden, Black River, and that part of Henrietta that did not originally belong to Brownhelm. Tract 8, in range 19, being partly in Brighton, and partly in Camden, consisting of 3,700 acres, was annexed to La Grange, to equalize it. Tract No. 3; in LaFayette township, Medina county, consisting of 4,8101/2 acres, was annexed to Penfield. Tract 1, in gore 4, in range 11, consisting of 2,225 acres, was annexed to Eaton. Tract 2, in gore 4, range 11, consisting of 2,650 acres, was annexed to Columbia; 1,700 acres, in tract 4, in Rochester, were annexed to Huntington; 2,769 acres, in fraction No. 3, in range 11, Summit county, were annexed to Ridgeville ; 4,600 acres, in tract 9, in Camden, were annexed to Grafton ; 4,000 acres, Tract 7, in Brighton were annexed to Wellington ; 4,300 acres, in tract 3, gore 6, range 12, were annexed to Russia ; 1,500 acres, in tract 14, in Henrietta, were annexed to Sheffield ; 3,000 acres in tract 11, in Camden, were annexed to Pittsfield; tract 3, consisting of 4,050 acres, in Rochester, was annexed to Elyria; 4,000 acres, in tract 2, in Black River, were annexed to Amherst ;.Bass Islands, No. 1, 2, and Island No. 5, lying north of Erie county, consisting of 2,063 acres, were annexed to Avon; and Kelley's Island, consisting of 2,741 acres, was annexed to Carlisle. THE LAND DRAWINGS "After the townships were all made equal in value by the process of tacking and annexation, they were drawn by lot. There were ninety-three townships, or equalized parcels drawn east of the Cuyahoga, and forty-six on the west. The draft of the lands east of the Cuyahoga, took place prior to 1800, and of those west of that river on the 4th of April, 1807. In the draft of the land east of the river, it required an ownership of $12,903'.23 of the original purchase money, to entitle the owner to a township ; and in the draft of those west of the river, which included the lands of Lorain county, it required an ownership of $26,087 in the original purchase money, to entitle the owner to a township. The same mode and plan were followed in each draft. Vol. I-5 66 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY DRAWING THE TOWNSHIPS "The townships were numbered, and the numbers on separate pieces of paper, placed in a box. The names of the proprietors, who had subscribed and were the owners of a sufficient amount of the purchase money to entitle them to a township, were arranged in alphabetical order, and where it was necessary for several persons to combine, because not owning severally a sufficient amount of the purchase money, or number of shares, to entitle them to a township, the name of the person of the company that stood alphabetically first was used to represent them in the draft, and in case the small owners were unable from. disagreement among themselves, to unite, a committee was appointed to select and class the proprietors, and those selected were required to associate themselves together for the purpose of the draft. The township corresponding to the first number drawn from the box, belonged, with its annexations for purposes of equalization, to the person whom he represented; and the second drawn, belonged to the second person, and so on throughout the list. This was the mode adopted to sever the ownership in common, and to secure to each individual, or company of individuals, their interest in severalty, in what, before then, had been the common property of all. When a township, by the draft, became the property of several, resort was had to the courts after their organization here, to effect partition of the same. TRUSTEES OF THE RESERVE "Soon after the conveyance to the Land Company, to avoid complications arising from the death of its members and to facilitate the transmission of titles, the company conveyed the entire purchase, in trust, to John Morgan, John Cadwell and Jonathan Brace; and as titles were wanted, either before or after the division by draft, conveyances were made to the purchasers by these trustees." CIVIL JURISDICTION FROM 1807 TO 1811 Although settlers commenced to come in with the drafting of lands west of the Cuyahoga River, in 1807, fifteen years were to pass before Lorain County had a body corporate of its own. During that period of pioneer settlement the civil jurisdiction shifted from county to county. The early corners first. looked to old Trumbull County for their civil rights and legal protection ; more specifically, they were attached to the Township of Cleveland, one of the eight townships of that county. In HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 67 1805 the County of Geauga was created, and in 1807 that part of the Western Reserve lying west of the Cuyahoga. River and north of township 4, was attached to that county for civil, judicial and political purposes; the portion of the present county for which provision was thus made, included the territory north of the townships of Camden, Pittsfield, Lagrange and Grafton. That portion of the county remained thus attached until 1810, when the new county of Cuyahoga absorbed it; the southern part of the county was attached to Portage County until 1811. ADJUSTMENT OF COUNTY BOUNDARIES How the Lorain County of the future was gradually created after more than a decade of adjustments and rearrangements is a complicated story, and runs as follows : "On January 22, 1811, the boundary line of Huron was extended east, on the line now dividing Camden and Henrietta, Pittsfield and Russia, Carlisle and Lagrange, to the .southwest corner of Eaton ; and thence north on the line dividing Carlisle and Eaton, and Elyria and Ridgeville, to the northwest corner of Ridgeville ; thence west to Black River, and down the same to the Lake. On the day that these lines were so altered and extended, the Legislature extended the south line of Cuyahoga county, from the southwest corner of Strongsville west to the southwest corner of Eaton ; thence north, between Eaton and Carlisle, to the northwest corner of Eaton and from that point west, between Elyria and Carlisle, to the east branch of Black river and down the same to the Lake. Here was a conflict in boundaries. "The Boundary of Huron county included all of Elyria extending east to Ridgeville and the boundary of Cuyahoga included within its limits that part of Elyria lying east of the east branch of the river. The river was the dividing line between the two counties, in the one act and the line between Elyria and Ridgeville was the dividing line in the other. This conflict was removed at the next session of the Legislature, by adopting the township line, instead of the river, as the boundary line between the two counties this point. This adjustment of the boundaries gave to Huron county the townships now known as Elyria, Carlisle, Russia, Henrietta, Brownhelm, Amherst and all of Black River and Sheffield lying west of the river ; and to Cuyahoga county, Eaton, Columbia, Ridgeville, Avon, and all of the townships of Black River and Sheffield lying east of the river. At that date, 1811, the territory now comprising the county of Lorain, belonged to the counties of Huron, Cuyahoga, and Portage. " The county of Huron, although established in 1809, and extended east of Black River in 1811, was annexed to Cuyhoga in 1810, for judicial 68 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY and other purposes, and remained so annexed, until January, 1815, when it was organized, and assumed control of its own affairs. "On the 19th day of February, 1812, Medina was formed, and comprised all of the territory between the eleventh range of townships and Huron county, and south of townships number five. It therefore included all of the present county of Lorain, south of Eaton, Carlisle, Russia and Henrietta. On the 14th day of January, 1818, that county was organized, and its local government put into operation. From the date of its formation to the date of its organization it was attached to the county of Portage, for judicial and civil purposes. On the 26th of December, 1822, Lorain county was established. It took from the county of Huron the territory embraced in the townships of Brownhelm, Henrietta, Amherst, Russia, Elyria and Carlisle, and those parts of the townships of Black River and Sheffield that lie on the west of Black River ; and from the county of Cuyahoga the townships of Troy (now Avon), Ridgeville, the west half of Olmstead (then called Lenox), Eaton, Columbia, and those parts of Black River and Sheffield lying east of the river ; and from the county of Medina, Camden, Brighton, Pittsfield, Lagrange, and Wellington. The county, as originally formed, embraced seventeen and one-half townships, which, until the county was organized, were to remain attached to the counties of Medina, Huron and. Cuyahoga, as formerly. It was, however, organized independently, and went into operation on the 21st day of January, 1824. In the organization of the county, it was provided that the first officers should he elected in April, 1824; and at that election, that part of Lenox that was brought into Lorain, should vote at Ridgeville, and that part of Brighton, lying in Medina before then, should vote in the adjoining township of Wellington. "On January 29, 1827, the boundary lines of the county were changed. The townships of Grafton, Penfield, Spencer and Homer, Huntington, Sullivan, Rochester and Troy—some of them organized and some not—were detached from Medina, and annexed to Lorain ; and the half of Lenox belonging to Lorain, was set off to Cuyahoga. to he a part of Middlebury, until otherwise provided. Upon the formation of the county of Summit, in 1840, the townships of Spencer and Homer were attached to Medina ; and upon the formation of Ashland county, in February, 1846, Sullivan and Troy were detached from Lorain, and made a part of that county. Prior to this, and on the 29th of January, 1827, an act was passed, fixing the northern boundary of the county. HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 69 FIXING THE NORTHERN INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY "The mode of forming and organizing the counties had been such as to leave unsettled the northern limit of the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga, Cuyahoga and Lorain. And in matters involving the exercise of criminal jurisdiction of offenses committed along the lake shore, the question was of too much practical importance to be left in doubt. The treaty between the United States and Great Britain fixed the line running through the middle of the lakes as the dividing line between the two countries. Connecticut had reserved the land between the 41st degree of north latitude and 42 degrees and 2 minutes. The course and shape of Lake Erie were such that the parallel of 42 degrees and 2 minutes would cross the middle line of the lake ; and adjoining Ashtabula, that degree of latitude would be south of, and, adjoining Lorain, north of the boundary line between Canada and the United States. It was therefore declared, by this act, that the northern boundary of these four counties should extend to the northern boundary of the United States. This carried the northern boundary of Lorain to the middle of Lake Erie, without regard to the northern limit of the Western Reserve." ELY'S INDUCEMENT FOR COUNTY-SEAT LOCATION On the 22d of February, 1822, several months before Lorain County was created and a year before the county seat was located at Elyria, Heman Ely had dedicated to the inhabitants of the township the public park lying between Broad and South streets, and placed the title in Edmund West as trustee, for their benefit. He also conveyed to West, in trust for the county, a plat of ground, eight rods by twelve, provided such tract should be used for county buildings. The courthouse now stands upon that site. Mr. Ely, at the same time, conveyed to the town the remainer of the back square. In 1828 a permanent county building was erected in the center of the tract donated by Judge Ely. It was a two-story red brick building, with four large pillars in front and surmounted by a cupola. The courtroom was on the second floor and the county offices on the first. The old courthouse remained in use from the time of its completion in 1828 until it was replaced by the massive stone structure now occupied, erected in 1880-81. It was in the old courthouse that Mr. Ely served for a number of years as associate judge, and obtained the title by which he was generally known, "Judge" Ely. He died in 1852, and up to the very last HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 71 took the deepest interest and the greatest pride in the improvement of the town of which he was one of the recognized founders. LOCATED AT ELYRIA The creative act of December, 1822, named the commissioners who were to locate the county seat. The committee thus formed were considered to be disinterested persons who would examine the merits of the rival claimants, having in view public convenience and welfare, both as to the present and future. The people of Black River, Sheffield and Elyria townships were all most anxious to secure the honor. In February, 1823, the commissioners made their appearance in Elyria and by Artemas Beebe were conveyed to Black River and Shefield to weigh the advantages of the localities in the lake region. Elyria was obviously the most central and readily accessible to the majority of residents of the county, and it. is also probable that Mr. Ely's promise to furnish the land and a temporary courthouse and jail, as well as to donate $2,000 toward the erection of a permanent courthouse had a bearing upon the selection made. FIRST COURTHOUSE AND JAIL On the 14th of February, 1823, the commissioners drove the stakes for the location of the first courthouse, on the corner of Main and Cheap-side streets. It was a little one-story frame building which Mr. Ely there erected and in which the first court commenced its sitting on the 24th of the following May. After the erection of the permanent courthouse the building was moved to a lot fronting Broad Street and was used as a schoolhouse and by the Presbyterian Church. The first county jail was erected on what is now the South Public Square. It was a two-story frame building, the inside of one end lined with square-hewn logs and reserved as the prison cell. The other end was used by the family of the jailor. CIVIL ORGANIZATION In the civil organization of the new county, the most pressing matter was the organization of the Court of Common Pleas and the board of county commissioners, with the installation of those officials who had most to do with the auditing of accounts and the apprehension of possible offenders against the peace of society. The latter high-sounding words apply to the auditor and the sheriff. 72 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY The April election of 1824, which was the first step in the civil organization, resulted in the choice of John S. Reid, Ashabel Osborne and Benjamin Bacon, as county commissioners, with Sherman Minott as auditor and Josiah Harris, as sheriff. FIRST COMMISSIONERS' MEETING The first meeting of the commissioners was held at Elyria on the 24th of May, 1824. All the members of the board were present, and their first official act was the appointment of Edmund West as county treasurer, who gave a bond of $3,000 for the faithful discharge of his duties. At the following June session, the first road established by the county was thus described in the official records : "Beginning in the highway a little easterly of the dwelling house of Walter Crocker in Black River Township, thence running in the most convenient route near the dwellings of Frederick and Daniel Onstine, thence across Beaver creek near the house of Mr. Rice, thence to intersect the North Ridge road so called, a little eastwardly of the dwelling house of Mr. Ormsby." In the fall of 1824 another election was held, at which 332 ballots were cast and which resulted in the re-election of the officials mentioned. In the first year of the county's existence as a civil body Edward Durand commenced his duties as surveyor, and John Pearson as collector of state and county taxes. HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 73 FIRST OFFICIAL DOCUMENT Ebenezer Whiton, the first recorder of Lorain County, performed at least one official act while it was still attached to old Huron County, civilly, politically and judicially. His first act was to record a deed from Benjamin Pritchard to Anna Merrills, conveying a parcel of land containing thirty and three-fourths acres, situated in township No. 6, range 18, in the County of Huron, and being a part of lot No. 31. This instrument was acknowledged May 10, 1823, before Isaac Mills, justice of the peace ; was witnessed by I. Mills and Mary Mills, and endorsed : "Received April 13, 1824, and recorded May 11, 1824, on page 1, Book A, Lorain County Record of Deeds." This may therefore be called Lorain County's first official document. JUDICIAL MACHINERY IN MOTION On the 24th of May, 1824, when the county commissioners held their first meeting, the Court of Common Pleas also commenced its first sitting in the courthouse provided by Judge Ely. Sheriff Josiah Harris opened court, the bench comprising George Tod, the president thereof, and his associates, Moses Eldred, Henry Brown and Frederick Hamlin. Woolsey Welles was appointed prosecuting attorney of the county, and he also acted as clerk of the court during the opening day of the session. On the second day Ebenezer Whiton, the recorder, was appointed permanent clerk, and served in that capacity until 1836. Thus was the judicial and civil machinery of Lorain County fairly put in motion. ORIGINAL ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWNSHIPS The twenty-one townships into which Lorain County is now divided were organized under their present names as follows ; it must be remembered, however, that the years by no means indicate the dates when they acquired their present areas and forms : Columbia, 1809. Ridgeville, 1813. Black River, 1817. Brownhelm, 1818. Grafton, 1818. Elyria, 1819. Wellington, 1821. Eaton, 1822. Huntington, 1822. Carlisle, 1822. Brighton, 1823 Sheffield, 1824. Avon, 1824. Russia, 1825. Penfield, 1825. Lagrange, 1827. Henrietta, 1827. Amherst, 1830. Pittsfield, 1831. Camden, 1835. Rochester, 1835. CHAPTER VIII PIONEER SETTLEMENT INDIANS ADOPT FIRST WHITE SETTLER-DISGRACED BY GETTING LOST IN THE WOODS-STARTS FOR THE BLACK RIVER-REACHES THE LAKE-JOIN WYANDOTS ON THE SITE OF LORAIN-THE CAMP AT ELYRIAREPLENISHING THE COMMON LARDER-FUR-HUNTING EXPEDITIONS-RETURN TO CIVILIZATION-MORAVIAN COLONY ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE--WOULD RETURN TO RUINED MUSKINGUM VILLAGES-FOUND PILGERUH (PILGRIM'S REST) -ABANDON PLAN OF RETURN TO THE MUSKINGUM -ORDERED TO MOVE ON-THREE DAYS IN LORAIN COUNTY- FINAL RETURN TO THE MUSKING.UM-DAVID ZEISBERGER, WOULD-BE SETTLER -SETTLEMENTS FROM 1807 TO 1812-A WAR SCARE OF 1812 - EASTERN SHIPBUILDERS DRIVEN WEST-LORAIN 'S EARLY SHIP-BUILDING INDUSTRY- BLACK RIVER SETTLEMENT BECOMES CHARLESTON VILLAGE-HEARSE, FIRST PUBLIC UTILITY-PLOWING OUT A RIVER CHANNEL-EARLY HOTELS- CHARLESTON'S LEAN YEARS-SCENT OF THE COMING IRON HORSE-FIRST COLONY OF PERMANENT SETTLERS-COLUMBIA. TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED-PIONEER SETTLERS OF RIDGEVILLE -RIDGEVILLE TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED-EATON TOWNSHIP SETTLED-CIVIL ORGANIZATION-THE BEEBES AND PERRYS OF BLACK RIVER-OTHER PIONEERS-BLACK RIVER TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED-FOUNDING OF LORAIN CITY-EARLY SETTLERS OF AMHERST TOWNSHIP-JOSIAH HARRIS-AS A POLITICAL BODY-AMHERST AS A VILLAGE-TOWNSHIPS SETTLED DURING THE WAR-PIERREPONT EDWARDS DRAWS AVON TOWNSHIP-THE CAHOON FAMILY -AVON TOWNSHIP CREATED-PIONEER FAMILIES CROWD INTO SHEFFIELD- SHEFFIELD, FIRST TOWNSHIP AFTER COUNTY ORGANIZED-PITTSFIELD TOWNSHIP DRAWN-FIRST PERMANENT SETTLERS-TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED-VILLAGE OF ELYRIA FOUNDED-THE ELY HOME-THE FAMOUS BEEBE TAVERN-THE FIRST BEEBE HOME-THE BRIDAL TRIP-THE OLD-TIME FIREPLACE-LAST BEEBE HOUSE, PRIDE OF THE TOWN-ELYRIA TOWNSHIP PARTITIONED IN 1816-" RAISIN GS "-TOWNSHIP AND VILLAGE SURVEYED-POSTOFFICE ESTABLISHED-TOWNSHIP ERECTED-ELYRIA CITY OF TODAY-FATHER AND PIONEERS OF BROWNHELM TOWNSHIP - 74 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 75 CREATED AND ORGANIZED-SETTLEMENT OF RUSSIA TOWNSHIP-FOUNDING OF OBERLIN-RUSSIA TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED-FIRST YEAR OF PIONEERING IN GRAFTON-TOWNSHIP INCORPORATED-VII.LAGE OF GRAFTON-WELLINGTON 'S ORIGINAL OWNERS AND SETTLERS-ARRIVAL OF FIRST FAMILY-TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION-WELLINGTON VILLAGE -TOWNSHIP OF HUNTINGTON-THE LABORIES AND OTHER FAMILIES -WOODEN BOWL FACTORY-ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWNSHIP-PENFIELD TOWNSHIP RIGHTLY NAMED-COMING OF THE PENFIELDS - FAMILIES OF CALVIN SPENCER AND OTHERS-CARLISLE TOWNSHIP-PIONEER FAMILIES SETTLE-BRIGHTON TOWNSHIP-HENRIETT A TOWNSHIP-CAMDEN TOWNSHIP. Previous to the beginning of the nineteenth century only two temporary settlements had been made by white people within the present limits of Lorain County. The first was by James Smith, a youth who had been captured by the Indians while working on a military road in Western Pennsylvania, and the second, more than thirty years afterward, by a. colony of Moravian missionaries. Smith, in his later life, became prominent both in the British and American armies and represented Kentucky in the State Legislature for a number of years. He was carried by his three Indian captors, two of whom were Delawares, to Fort Du Quesne, in May, 1755 ; his white comrade was scalped, but, after running the gauntlet, Smith was adopted by the tribe and taken to a Delaware town on the banks of the Muskingum. This was in the spring of 1755, during the French and Indian war. INDIANS ADOPT FIRST WHITE SETTLER Smith has left an interesting account of his experiences covering the two years during which he visited what is now Lorain County. His adoption into the tribe is thus described : "The day after my arrival at the aforesaid town (on the Muskingum) a number of Indians gathered about me and one of them began to pull the hair out of my head. He had some ashes on bark into which he frequently dipped his fingers in order to take a firmer hold ; and so he went on, as if he had been plucking a turkey, until he had all the hair clean out of my head except a small spot three or four inches square on the crown. This they cut off with a pair of scissors, except three locks which they dressed up in their own mode. Two of these they wrapped around with a narrow beaded garter, made by themselves for the purpose, and the other they plaited at full length and stuck it full of silver broaches. After this they bored my nose and ears, and fixed me up with nose and ear jewels. Then they 76 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY ordered me to strip off my clothes and put on a breech clout, which I did. They then painted my face, hands and body in various colors. They put a large belt of wampum on my neck, and silver bands on my hands and right arm; and so an old chief led me out in the street and gave the alarm halloo several time repeated quick (Coo Wigh !) and on this all that were in town came running and stood around the old chief who held me by the hand in their midst. "As at that time I knew nothing of their mode of adoption, and had seen them put to death all they had taken, I made no doubt that they were about putting me to death in some cruel manner. The old chief, holding me by the hand, made a long speech, very loud, and when he had done he handed me to three young squaws, who led me by the hand down the bank into the river until the water was up to my middle. The squaws then made signs to me to plunge myself into the river, but I did not understand them. I thought the result of the council was that I was to be drowned, and that these young ladies were to be the executioners. They all three laid violent hold of me and, for some time, I resisted them with all my might, which occasioned loud laughter by the multitude that were on the bank. At length one of the squaws said, `No hurt you ;' on this I gave myself up to their ladyships, who were as good as their word; for, though they plunged me under the water and rubbed me, I could not say they hurt me. They then led me up to the council house, where the tribe were ready with new clothes for me. They gave me a new ruffled shirt which I put on; also a pair of leggings done off with ribbons and beads; also a pair of moccasins and a tinsel-laced cappo. They again painted my head and face with various colors. When I was seated the Indians came in dressed in their grandest manner. At length one of the chiefs made a speech as follows: `My son, you are now flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone. By the ceremony which was performed this day every drop of white blood is washed out of your veins.' After this ceremony I was introduced to my new kin and invited to attend a feast that night, which I did." DISGRACED BY GETTING LOST IN THE WOODS Smith wandered around with various hunting parties in Central and Southern Ohio, in the course of which he visited several of the famous salt licks in that part of the country. During one of these excursions, while following buffalo, he got lost in the woods where he spent the night. For that offense his gun was taken from him, and he was reduced to a bow and arrow for nearly two years, or until the termination of his captivity. HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 77 STARTS FOR THE BLACK RIVER "I remained in this town," continues Smith, "until some time in October, when my adopted brother, Tontileaugo, who had married a Wyandot squaw, took me with him to Lake Erie. On this route we had no horses with us, and when I started from the town all the pack I carried was a pouch containing my books, a little dried venison and my blanket. I had then no gun, but Tontileaugo, who was a. first-rate hunter, carried a rifle, and every day killed deer, raccoons or bears. We left the meat, except a little for present use, and carried the skins with us until we camped, when we dried them by the fire." REACHES THE LAKE The travelers struck the Canesadooharie (Black River) probably near its source, and followed it down for some distance, when they must have left it, as they reached the lake shore some six miles west of its mouth. As the wind was very high the evening they reached the lake, they were surprised to "hear the roaring of the water and see the high waves that dashed against the shore like the ocean." They camped on a run near the shore, and as the wind fell that night they pursued their journey in the morning toward the mouth of the river on the sand along the shore. They observed a number of large fish that had been left in the hollows by the receding waves, and numbers of gray and bald eagles were along the shore devouring them. JOIN WYANDOTS ON THE SITE OF LORAIN Some time in the afternoon they came to a large camp of Wyandots at the mouth of the Canesadooharie, where Tontileaugo's wife was. There they were hospitably received and entertained for some time. Smith says: "They gave us a kind of rough, brown potatoes, which grew spontaneously and were called by the Caughnewagas ohenata. These potatoes, peeled and dipped in raccoons' fat, tasted like our sweet potatoes." They killed while there some deer and many raccoons which were remarkably large and fat. They kept moving up the river until they came to the great falls. These were probably the east falls of Black River, now within the corporation of Elyria. At that locality they buried their canoe and erected a winter cabin; from the description, it was at Evergreen Point. 78 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY THE CAMP AT ELYRIA The narrative proceeds: "It was some time in December when we finished our winter cabin. Then another difficulty arose ; we had nothing to eat. While the hunters were all out exerting their utmost ability, the squaws and boys (in which class I was) were scattered in the bottom hunting red haws and hickory nuts. We did not succeed in getting many haws, but had tolerable success in scratching up hickory nuts from under a light snow. The hunters returned with only two small turkeys, which were but little among eight hunters and thirteen squaws, boys and children. But they were divided equally. The next day the hunters turned out again, and succeeded in killing one deer and three bears. One of the bears was remarkably large and fat. All hands turned out the next morning to bring in the meat. REPLENISHING THE COMMON LARDER "During the winter a war party of four went out to the borders of Pennsylvania to procure horses and scalps, leaving the same number in camp to provide meat for the women and children. They returned toward spring with two scalps and four horses. After the departure of the warriors we had hard times and, though not out of provisions, we were brought to short allowance. At length, Tontileaugo had fair success and brought into camp sufficient to last ten days. Tontileaugo then took me with him in order to encamp some distance from the winter camp. We steered south up the creek ten or twelve miles and went into camp." That locality is believed to be in Lagrange Township. The brothers by adoption went to bed hungry the first night, but on the following day killed a bear, and the day after a bear and three cubs. During the following three weeks, which they spent in this locality, they killed an abundance of game and then returned to the winter cabin. There was great joy in the camp, at their arrival, as provisions had run very low. FUR-HUNTING EXPEDITIONS In April, Smith and Tontileaugo dug up their canoe, made another one for the conveyance of their peltry, and left their winter cabin at the falls; the Indian proceeded toward the lake by water and his white brother on horseback. On reaching the mouth of the river, they proceeded west along the lake shore to Sun-yeu-deauk (Sandusky), another Wyandot town. Late in the fall Smith joined a hunting party HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 79 and proceeded to the Cuyahoga River. At a distance of about thirty miles from its mouth, they formed a camp near a small lake and spent the winter in catching beaver. In the spring of 1757 they returned to Sandusky, and soon went by water to Detroit, where they disposed of their peltry to the French traders. RETURN TO CIVILIZATION In 1759 Smith accompanied his Indian relatives to Montreal, where he was finally exchanged, and returned to his Pennsylvania home in 1760, only to find his old sweetheart married, all supposing him dead. He afterward became a captain in the regular British army, and was chiefly engaged in protecting the border against Indian raids. During the Revolutionary war, he rose to the rank of colonel in the patriot army, and did good service against both the British and their Indian allies. In 1788 Colonel Smith migrated to Bourbon County, Kentucky, where he represented his district in the Assembly as late as the commencement of the nineteenth century. MORAVIAN COLONY ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE The second settlement—temporary though it was—within the present borders of Lorain County was made by a delegation of Moravian or Christian Indians, under the lead of the missionary, David Zeisberger, during a few days of April, 1787. For fifteen or sixteen years both the Indians and their faithful. white leaders of the cloth had been striving to find a chance to dwell anywhere in peace. Their persecutions by enemy tribes, such as the Chippewas, Delawares and Wyandots, with the connivance of both British and American soldiers, who seemed to disapprove of industry and thrift on the part of the Red Man, had culminated in the cold-blooded massacre at Gnadenhutten, on the Tuscarawas River, in 1782. Afterward they were invited to Detroit by the commander and traveled thither by way of Sandusky ; finally settled on the Huron River about thirty miles from Detroit and founded New Gnadenhutten. Then, in the following year came the peace with Great Britain, and within the following three years they had established a pretty, industrious and contented settlement. WOULD RETURN TO RUINED MUSKINGUM VILLAGES But the troubles of the missionaries and their Indian wards were by no means over. The Chippewas had given them the tract of land 80 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY upon which the village stood and in 1786 claimed it again, saying their hunting grounds had been injured by its establishment. The savages even threatened another massacre if they did not move on. While preparing for their departure they received intelligence that the Congress of the United States, after the conclusion of the war, had given express orders that the territory on the Muskingum formerly inhabited by the Christian Indians (in the present Tuscarawas County) should be reserved for them. But the Delawares and the Shawanese, especially, were still determined to oppose the United States and declared their intention to oppose the return of the Moravian Indians. Notwithstanding, the missionaries and their people left New Gnadenhutten in April, 1786, and, with the assistance of the governor of Fort Detroit, were, in a few days, embarked in two trading vessels belonging to the Northwest Fur Company for the mouth of the Cuyhoga River, the idea being that thence they could easily reach the headwaters of the Muskingum to the south and return to their restored lands from which they had been driven five years before. FOUND PILGERUH (PILGRIM'S REST) When within sight of their destination a violent storm drove the vessels back toward the west. After many delays the two divisions were reunited and reached the mouth of the Cuyahoga on the 7th of June. Want of provisions made them hasten their departure and, proceeding up the river, past the site of Cleveland, they came to an old deserted Ottawa town about ten miles south, where they resolved to spend the summer. Though the season was already far advanced, they cleared the ground for planting and even sowed some Indian corn. They called the place Pilgeruh, or Pilgrim's Rest. But the name proved to be sadly misapplied. ABANDON PLAN OF RETURN TO THE MUSKINGUM Bands of Chippewas, Ottawas and Delawares often visited the new mission, and those who had not been Christianized often strove to draw the Christian Indians back to their traditional beliefs ; and they not infrequently succeeded. That trouble, with persistent reports of threatened renewal of hostilities between the Americans and hostile Indian tribes, determined the missionaries to relinquish all idea of returning to their abandoned villages on the Muskingum and to seek some convenient spot between the Cuyahoga and Petquotting (at the mouth of the Huron River, in Erie County). HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 81 ORDERED TO MOVE ON It was at this point that the harried wanderers were, to encamp upon the soil of Lorain County, at the mouth of Black (Canesadooharie) River. In April, 1787, they abandoned Pilgeruh and, dividing into land and water parties, skirted the lake westward. In less than a week they arrived at their destination. The soil was fertile, producing wild potatoes in abundance, apple and plum trees grew here and there, and the lake near by produced all kinds of fish. Everything seemed propitious, but their joy was of only three days' duration, for at the end of that period of short probation a Delaware captain appeared and gave them positive orders to move on to Sandusky. THREE DAYS IN LORAIN COUNTY The details of this period which directly concerns the narrative are thus told by the missionary, John Heckewelder, whose labors covered so many years among the Ohio Indians : "Shortly after the commencement of the year 1787, accounts were received from various quarters that the Christian Indians would not be permitted to stay where they were at present, and that they would have to move nearer to the settlements of the savages. The government of the United States had also at this time advised the Christian Indians, through General Butler, agent of Indian affairs, not. to move to the Muskingum for the present, but to remain at Cuyahoga. The speech from Captain Pipe, already taken notice of, called on them to leave the Cuyahoga and settle at Petquotting. "Such was the state of things at that time ; and discouraging as it was, we durst not look upon the speeches sent to us with indifference ; especially what came from Captain Pipe. Whilst the Christian Indians had this subject under consideration the hostile tribes were holding a great council at Sandusky, at which it was finally resolved that a war with the United States should commence and that if the believing Indians would not decline going to the Muskingum they would force them to do so, and that their teachers should not be taken prisoners as heretofore. but killed on the spot. A glimpse of hope, however, yet remained and induced them to believe that a peace might yet take place. The Iroquois (Six Nations) it was said had sent a solemn embassy to all the western nations, but particularly to the Shawanese, advising them to be at peace. A report also circulated that the commandant at Detroit had persuaded nine or ten tribes of Indians to keep the peace, and that Vol. I-6 82 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY he even threatened such as should commit hostilities against the United States. "The Christian Indians, after mature deliberation on the speeches which had been sent them, resolved to seek for a spot. of ground between Cuyahoga and Petquotting, where they might live by themselves in peace and quiet without being interrupted by the savages, and having for that purpose examined the country along the lake, they found a place quite to their mind. "At this time the following private message from a friendly Delaware chief was brought out. and delivered to the missionary Zeisberger : `Grandfather! Having heard that you proposed going to live on the Muskingum, I would advise you not to go thither this spring! I cannot give you my reasons for so advising you (meaning that he durst not disclose). Neither can I say whether we shall have war or peace ; but so much I can say—that it is not time yet to go there. Do not think that I wish to oppose your preaching the word of God (the Gospel) to the Indians. I am glad you do this, but I advise you not to go to the Muskingum.' This good chief's friendly message was well understood. Respecting the missionaries as his friends, he warned them of the danger they would be in, in going there. " On the 19th of April the Christian Indians closed their stay at this place by offering up solemn prayer and praise in their chapel. They thanked the Lord for all blessings, both internal and external, which he had showered down on them at this place, and then set out in two parties, one by land and the other by water. The latter was, however, delayed a couple of .days on account of a dreadful storm arising just at the moment they were about to run out of the Cuyahoga river into the lake, the wind blowing violently from the opposite side on this shore. The waves beat with such force against the natural wall of stone or rocks that the whole earth seemed to tremble, and the travellers thanked God that they at the time were in the river in safety, and where they further had the good fortune to catch several hundred good large fish by torch light—a fish called in this country the maskenuntschi, or maskenunge, and much resembling the pike. "On the 24th of April the land travelers and, on the day following, these who were gone by water, arrived at the place they had fixed upon as their future residence; which was on a large creek that emptied itself into the lake from the south, and where a fine fertile spot was found much resembling an orchard, it being interspersed with crab apple and plum trees; wild potatoes (an article of food much valued by the Indians) were likewise found here in abundance. In short, there was nothing wanting to encourage them to form a regular settlement at this HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 83 place, the which they intended to do should they be permitted to remain here. This, however, was not the case, for on the 27th they were apprised by a Delaware captain, who was sent for the purpose, that they were not permitted to stay, but must proceed on to Sandusky, where a place ten miles distant from the nearest habitation of Indians was destined for them to live at, and where protection would be granted them ; that the orders he brought were positive and must be obeyed without further consideration. The captain was further charged with a separate message to Zeisberger to this effect: 'Hear my friend ! You, my grandfather! I know that you have formally been adopted by our chiefs as a member of the nation. No one shall hurt you, and you need not be afraid, or have any scruples, about coming to live at Sandusky' (delivering a string of wampum). "The answer given to the foregoing speech was, of course, in the affirmative yet not without representing to the captain. the malice, deceit and treachery imposed upon them for these six or seven years past. "While preparing to leave this favorite spot, Michael Young who, as before related, had gone to Bethlehem from Upper Canada in 1783, now returned to resume his missionary station and joining the company, they continued their journey as before, some travelling by land while others, with the baggage, went by water. Arriving at the Huron river, which emptied itself into Lake Erie about thirty miles to the eastward of Sandusky, they learned, from good authority, that the message sent them by the savage chief was not the truth, and that the place allotted for them to live at was lint two miles from the village of the savages, and that the real intention of them was to draw the Christian Indians back into heathenism. The latter, finding this to be their object, resolved not to go any further for the present, but to remain where they were in opposition to the orders of the chiefs, let the consequence be what it would. "After running their canoes a few miles up the river they, on the 11th of May, halted and all hands turning out, both men and women, they erected for themselves, on the same day, a sufficient number of small hark huts to lodge in, and on the next day sent a deputation to the chiefs giving their reason for what they had done, on which they were permitted to stay where they were for one year unmolested. The village was afterward built on the east side of a high bluff and their corn fields were on the opposite side. To this place, which they named New Salem, the heathen sometimes came to hear the preaching of the Gospel, some of whom also joined the congregation, becoming steady members of the church." 84 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY FINAL RETURN TO THE MUSKINGUM Strictly writing, the author should dismiss the Moravian colony when its members, under the faithful Zeisberger, left the mouth of the Black River for the mouth of the Huron, but it is excusable to add that after founding New Salem, near the site of the present Milan, Erie County, they were forced into Canada, about eighteen miles from Detroit, in 1791. They rested there a year, were then moved to land on the Thames, in English territory, and established the flourishing settlement of Fairfield, and, five years afterward, returned to their American lands on the Muskingum, where, under Zeisberger and Heckewelder, they founded Goshen on the site of their old town, Schoenbrunn. Fairfield, their Canadian village, was destroyed in 1813, during the War of 1812. DAVID ZEISBERGER, WOULD-BE SETTLER David Zeisberger, the missionary, who may be called the first white man to attempt a permanent settlement on what is the soil of Lorain County, died at Goshen (now a few miles southeast of New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas County), on November 17, 1808, in the .eighty-eighth year of his age. One of his brother missionaries writes of him thus : "Of this long life he had spent above sixty years as a missionary among the Indians, suffering numberless hardships and privations and enduring many dangers. He had acquired an extensive knowledge of the Delaware language and several other Indian tongues. But most of his translations, vocabularies and other books for the instruction of the Indians being only in manuscript were burned on the Muskingum (during the massacre of 1782), and the unsettled state of the mission for a long period after, his other multifarious avocations and his advancing age, did not allow him sufficient leisure or strength completely to make up his loss. His zeal for the conversion of the heathen never abated and no consideration could induce him to leave his beloved Indian flock. The younger missionaries revered him as a father, and before they entered upon their labors generally spent some time at Goshen to profit by his counsel and instruction. Within a few months of his death he became nearly blind, yet being perfectly resigned to the will of God, he did not lose his usual cheerfulness, and, though his body was worn almost to a skeleton, his judgment remained unimpaired." Heckwelder, in his "Narrative," says : "In the evening of his days. when his faculties began to fail him, his desire to depart and be with Christ increased. At the same time he awaited his dissolution with HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 85 uniform, calm and dignified resignation to the will of his Maker, and in the sure and certain hope of exchanging this world for a better. His last words were 'Lord Jesus, I pray thee come and take my spirit to thyself.' And again 'Thou hast never yet forsaken me in any trial; thou wilt not forsake me now.' A very respectable company attended his funeral. The solemn service was performed in the English, the Delaware and German languages, to suit the different auditors." As to his scholarly acquirements in the field to which he had so long devoted himself, Heckewelder adds: "He made himself complete master of two of the Indian languages, the Onondago and the Delaware, and acquired some knowledge of several others. Of the Onondago he composed two grammars, one written in English and the other in German. He likewise compiled a dictionary of the Delaware language, which in the manuscript contained several hundred pages. Nearly the whole of these manuscripts was lost at the burning of the settlement on the Muskingum. A spelling book in the same language has passed through two editions (written in 1820). A volume of sermons to Children and a hymn book containing upwards of five hundred hymns, chiefly translations from the English and German hymn books in use in the Brethren's church, have also been published in the Delaware (or Lenape) language. He left behind him, in manuscript, a grammar of the Delaware, written in German, and a translation into the same language of Lieherkuehn's 'Harmony of the Four Gospels.' The former of these works has since been translated into English for the American Philosophical Society by P. S. Du Pouceau, of Philadelphia, and the Female Auxiliary Missionary Society of Bethlehem has undertaken the publication of the 'Harmony.' " We learn further that Zeisberger was of low, sturdy stature and cheerful countenance—evidently a stalwart, earnest, enthusiastic, steadfast German, who commanded such universal respect and affection that we are proud to welcome him as the pioneer settler of Lorain County, and only regret that his stay could not have been longer and more satisfactory. SETTLEMENTS FROM 1807 TO 1812 In 1807, the year before the death of the beloved and venerable missionary, permanent settlement commenced at and near the mouth of the Black River, the localities which were the scenes of the Moravian attempts, and of Smith's visit before them. In that year (1807) there came from the East Azariah Beebe and his wife. They halted at the mouth of the Canesadooharie, as the Moravian colony had done twenty years before; they also saw that the country was fair to look upon any 86 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY so they built a log cabin on the site of the deserted village. Soon they were joined by Nathan Perry, the trader ; the Connecticut colony penetrated inland and settled in Columbia Township, a few months afterward, and from 1810 additions to the lake region were quite continuous until the commencement of hostilities with Great Britain. A WAR SCARE OF 1812 Lorain County was by no means exempt from war "scares" during those trying times to the region of the lower lakes and the scene of the greatest naval activities. Very early in the war period the word was passed through all the lake shore settlements of the county that a large party of hostile British had landed at Huron, a few miles west. Men, women and children fled their homes in terror, and as the inhabitants of Ridgeville reached Columbia in their flight they found that settlement nearly abandoned. This panic, however, was of short duration, for Levi Bronson; returning from Cleveland, brought the well-authenticated news that the persons landed at Huron were the prisoners that Hull surrendered, at Detroit, to the British. On the return of those who had sought safety in flight from Columbia, the elder Bronson, who had refused to join them, informed them that "the wicked flee when no man pursueth." PREPAREDNESS The inhabitants of Columbia, Ridgeville, Middlebury and Eaton. however, at once joined in the erection of a blockhouse, just south of the center of the Town of Columbia. This was the fortress to which to flee for safety in the hour of danger. Captain Hoadley had the honor of commanding this post. A company was organized to garrison it, but we are well informed that the enemy had not the temerity to come within reach of its guns. The Captain and his men were mustered into the service, and paid as soldiers of the United States army. Able-bodied men constituted the garrison, while the old men, women and children were left unprotected, at their homes, to cultivate the soil and receive the first assault of the unexpected foe. The roar of the cannon, off Put-in-Bay Island, on the 10th of September, 1813, was the first and the last heard of the enemy after these military preparations for defense were made. For some time after hostilities with Great Britain had ceased there were few signs of a revival of colonization to the lake shore region, but in 1817, after the war clouds had fairly lifted, Heenan Ely platted his HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 87 land at the mouth of Black River. Then there was another pause for decided developments, which came within the succeeding three years. " As yet," says the Lorain Times-Herald in its "Perry Centennial " edition of 1913, "the settlement on the Canesadooharie had not felt the pulse of industry. It was coming. EASTERN SHIPBUILDERS DRIVEN WEST "Over on the Connecticut river Augustus Jones and William Murdock had been shipbuilders before the war. A raid by the British, who ascended the Connecticut under the cover of darkness and burned their ship-yards, left the two men, among other fellow craftsmen, almost penniless. When the Government, in 1820, offered them land in the Western Reserve, they accepted the proffer and took grants near the mouth of Black river. LORAIN 'S EARLY SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY "So began Lorain's ship-building industry. From the start, made by the establishment of the yards of Jones and Murdock, this new activity flourished. Ship-carpenters, the community's first employed workingmen, came from the East. As the industry grew, other master builders established yards. Not only along the river, but on the lake shore. east and west of the harbor mouth, wooden sailing vessels were built and launched. The first merchant ship to sail Lake Superior was turned out of a yard here. There was no navigable passage then between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, and the vessel had to be taken from the water on the Northern Peninsula of Michigan, portaged overland and launched into White Fish Bay. "In addition to August Jones and William Murdock, other early shipbuilders mentioned in available records were F. Church, Captain A. Jones and his sons, William and B. B.; A. Gillmore, Edward Gill-more, Jr., and F. N. Jones. From F. N. Jones' yard, in 1837, was launched the first steamboat built at Lorain, the Bunker Hill. The completed hull was towed to Cleveland, where the machinery, which had been brought overland by ox-teams, was installed. "Some of the shipbuilders had become ship owners. Fleets of schooners, interspersed with an occasional 'square-rigger,' sailed in and out of Black river, carrying the community's commerce over its only means of transportation, the water. In 1836 vessel owners here joined themselves into the Black River Steamboat Association. Lorain's history as a lake port had begun. 88 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY BLACK RIVER SETTLEMENT BECOMES CHARLESTON VILLAGE "It was in the same year-1836—that the settlement, until then known as Black River, was incorporated as a village. Charleston, growing into importance as a shipping point, presented the paradox of having no means of commercial transportation except the water. To provide a connection with the county seat at Elyria a plank road, with a regulation toll gate, was built between the two villages. The present Broadway, from its lower end at the river front to about the Fifth-street intersection, lies on the line of the old planked highway. HEARSE, FIRST PUBLIC UTILITY "Charleston was busy but not comfortable as a living place. Despite the fact that old residents of today, recalling the days of the '40s and '50s, declare proudly that Charleston had no doctors because it needed none, they admit that the community was infested with malaria and typhoid in the hot summer months. Undrained marsh land along the river provided a breeding place for disease which the village, lacking public sanitation, was unable to combat. Ship-yard workers left the place in the summer for a more healthful climate. Those of us who remained in the summers dared not die, because there weren't men enough to bury us,' an old resident said to the writer. 'Our only cemetery for a time was on Bank street, now Sixth. We had no hearse. When someone died, we had to convey the body to the burying ground in a farm wagon. Then a cemetery was established at Amherst. The two villages went in together and bought a hearse. I guess that hearse was the community's first municipally-owned public utility.' "Until 1850 Charleston had no church. Services were held in the homes of the villagers, a circuit rider coming in from the outside to attend to the spiritual needs of the settlement. The first public meeting house was an all-denominational institution erected on the corner of Washington avenue and West Erie. Later, the meeting house was moved to the present site of the First Congregational Church, Fourth street and Washington avenue. "District school was held in a big barnlike wooden building on the site of the present No. 1 fire station. "Commerce had its difficulties, also. There were no protection piers to fend off from the harbor mouth the fury of the storms. A northeaster would send sand-laden seas across the lowlands on the east side of the river and the channel would choke up with silt. After unusually HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 89 severe storms the villagers could wade across the river at the lower end of the old plank road. PLOWING OUT A RIVER CHANNEL " ' The storms made it bad for vessels that were in the harbor,' the old residenter said. `Often there would be several schooners at the sawmill up at Globeville (Globeville was the name given to the territory of the present South Lorain). To get the boats out into the lake again, the men would take their teams and plows down upon the sandbar in the river, and plow out a channel which the current would enlarge sufficiently to allow the passage of the bottled-up vessels.' EARLY HOTELS "Without a railroad, Charleston had two big hotels and an immense hoarding house. On the site of the present Wagner building was the Reid House, built and owned by Conrad Reid. Where the abandoned S. L. Pierce shoe factory stands was the Lampman House, owned and operated by the late Manred Lampman. Across from the Lampman House was the Canard, a. boarding house that passed through several hands and finally burned one night, furnishing the village with the first big fire in its history. CHARLESTON'S LEAN YEARS "Charleston was sanguine. Its shipbuilding industry was expanding and bringing the village fame among Great Lakes communities. Then came a reaction that was to mean many cheerless, sterile years for the village on the banks of the old Canesadooharie. "The railroad was coming westward from the Hudson over the trail of the ox-teams. The Cleveland and Toledo railroad stretched an iron highway across Ohio. But Charleston was left out of the itinerary of the iron horse. The line passed through Elyria, and the interior trade that had been Charleston's fell into the willing lap of the county seat. The farmers who had been wont to haul their produce over the plank road to the wharves at Charleston, found it more convenient to haul it to the freight depot at Elyria. Charleston began to pine away. The Black River Steamboat Association became a thing of the past. The sons of the village went out to broader fields. Her old men—those who had rung their axes in the forest when Charleston had been a settlement—died, and their tombstones in the little old cemetery on Sixth street are broken 90 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY and grown over with moss. A few of the shipbuilders remained—but only a few—a few traders, a blacksmith or two, and the attendant artisans who wait on village necessities. SCENT OF THE COMING IRON HORSE "Years passed thus. Then in 1872 came the awakening that was to mark the beginning of the last epoch in the development of what is now incorporated Lorain." None in these days is so dense that he does not scent the coming railroad; in Lorain's case, it was the Baltimore & Ohio. With the ground cleared for the real building of the City of Lorain, the review passes to other foundation events in the county's history. FIRST COLONY OF PERMANENT SETTLERS With the Indian titles to the lands west of the Cuyahoga cleared by treaty, and any prior complications guaranteed by the Connecticut Land Company, the first colony of permanent settlers, with their families, commenced to arrive in what is now the northeastern borders of Lorain County, in the fall of 1807. In September of that year a company of thirty persons left Waterbury, Connecticut, for that part of the county. Its members were as follows: Calvin Hoadley, wife and five children ; Lemuel Hoadley, wife, three children, father and wife's mother ; Lathrop Seymour and wife ; John Williams, wife and five children ; a Mrs. Parker, with four children ; Silas Hoadley and Chauncey Warner ; and Bela Bronson, wife and child. The colony spent two months in reaching Buffalo, took boat for the mouth of the Cuyahoga, but were cast ashore in a storm near Erie, and many of them were compelled to make the remainder of the journey on foot. "The greater part of this company," says Boynton, "stopped at Cleveland and remained through the winter. But Bela Bronson, wife and child ; Levi Bronson, John Williams and Walter Strong, pushed across the Cuyahoga, cut. their way through the wilderness to Columbia, erected a log house and commenced pioneer life. They were eight days in cutting their way from Cleveland to Columbia. "In the winter of 1807-8, the families of John Williams and James Geer, arrived; and in the spring and summer of 1808, those who remained at Cleveland during the winter, arrived also. At the apportionment, by draft, in 1807, Levi Bronson, Harmon Bronson, Azor Bronson, Calvin Hoadley, and Jared Richards, had formed an association called the Waterbury Land Company. This company, Benjamin Doolittle, Jr., Samuel Doolittle, and William Law, drew that township, as HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 91 No. 5, Range 15, with 2,650 acres in Richfield and Boston, in Summit county, annexed to equalize it. COLUMBIA TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED "Columbia, at the time of its organization, which took place in 1809, was a part of Geauga county. The first election was held on the first Monday of April, of that year, at the house of Calvin Hoadley. There were nineteen voters at the election. Calvin Hoadley, Jared Pritchard and John Williams were elected trustees. Bela Bronson was elected clerk. Having no use for a treasurer, none was elected. Lathrop Seymour was elected constable and, to provide him employment, in May following, Nathaniel Doan was elected justice of the peace. All of Geauga county lying west of Columbia, was annexed to that township for judicial and other purposes. The jurisdiction of that functionary, covered, in territorial extent, nearly an empire. The plaintiff on the first action brought before him, lived on Grand River, and the defendant on the Vermillion. It was the case of Skinner v. Baker. The plaintiff had judgment, which was paid, not in legal tender, but in labor. The first school taught was in the summer of 1808, by Mrs. Bela Bronson, in the first log house erected." PIONEER SETTLERS OF RIDGEVILLE After Columbia, the next settlers in the county located in the Township of Ridgeville, nearer. Lake Erie. They were also Waterbury people, although the original drawer of the township was a Hartford lawyer named Ephraim Root. For a few years after its settlement it was called Rootstown, after Lyman Root, the original owner of the township and one of the colony of purchasers and settlers. In 1809-10 Oliver Terrell, Ichabod Terrell and David Beebe, residents of Waterbury, exchanged their lands in that place for about. one-fourth the Township of Ridgeland. In the spring of 1810 Mr. Beebe, with his sons David and Loman, Joel Terrell and Lyman Root, left Waterbury and, after a long journey, reached Ridgeville. On the 6th of July of that year Tillotson Terrell arrived, with his wife and three children. His was the first family that settled in the township. In the summer of that year David Beebe, Jr., returned to Waterbury and brought on the family of his father, and the wife and children of Lyman Root. At the same time, Ichabod Terrell, his wife Rhoda, and five children, his father and Asa Morgan, his teamster, exchanged their Connecticut homes and comforts for the untried experiences of frontier life. Oliver Terrell, father of Ichabod, 92 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY upwards of eighty years of age, made the entire trip on horseback. They reached Ridgeville in the fall, cutting a wagon road from Rocky River to the place of destination. They were two days and three nights en route from Rocky River. The company that came on in the spring had built a small cabin of logs of such size as so few could carry, the roof being of bark and the floor of earth. This cabin was built in the first clearing made. Here all had lived together and kept bachelor's hall. Upon the arrival of Tillotson Terrell and family, in the early part of July, he "moved in" and remained until the erection of a log house for himself and family. This was not long after his advent into the town. About the same time David Beebe, Sr., built a log house, a little west and nearly opposite the residence of the late Garry Root. These log cabins were an improvement on the one previously built, in one respect at least : each had a puncheon floor and an opening for a window. As window glass was an article not possessed, foolscap paper was employed in its stead ; and while it was a poor instrument to exclude the cold air from the rude dwelling, it was the best means possessed as a substitute for the admission of light. Joel Terrell, one of the first of the spring company, returned to Connecticut in 1810, and remained until 1811, when, with his family, he directed his steps again westward to his future home. The families of David Beebe, Sr., Lyman Root and Ichabod Terrell, that came on in the fall of 1810, consisted of twenty persons. They were seven weeks on the way. Two yokes of oxen to a wagon, with a horse as a leader, constituted the motive power that conveyed them hither. Rhoda Terrell, the wife of Ichabod, was a survivor of the Wyoming massacre ; and at her death left ninety-one grandchildren and a large number of great-grandchildren. The first schoolhouse was erected near the center of the town, on the spot where the Tuttle House afterward stood. It was consumed by fire in 1814. The first frame house was built by Maj. Willis Terrell. EARLY MILLS The first mill for grinding flour was the offspring of necessity. It was erected near where Tillotson Terrell built his log house. It was the mortar and pestle. A log about three feet in length, cut from a pepperage tree, set on its end and burned out round in the top, with a pestle attached to a spring pole ; these were the sum total of its parts and its mechanism. This was a familiar and friendly acquaintance of the neighboring inhabitants, and by them was kept in constant use, until time and means brought in better days. In 1812-13 Joseph Cahoon, of HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 93 Dover, built a grist mill on the small creek at the center. Captain Hoadley, of Columbia, possessed a hand grist mill; and in the winter of 1816-17 a mill was built at Elyria, thus removing the necessity for the further use of the mortar and pestle. RIDGEVILLE TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED The Township of Ridgeville was organized in 1813. At the spring election of that year there were fifteen voters; and they were all at the election. Judges of election were provided, and the polls were opened. David Beebe, Ichabod Terrell and Joel Terrell were elected trustees. Joel Terrell was elected justice of the peace ; David Beebe, Jr., constable, and Willis Terrell, township clerk. A postoffice was established in 1815, and Moses Eldred appointed postmaster. Up to this date the Cleveland postoffice was the nearest. Town No. 5, in the same range (Eaton), was included in the organization of Ridgeville. EATON TOWNSHIP SETTLED Eaton Township was settled, in the fall of 1810, by members of the colony who came from Waterbury, Connecticut, as associates of those Who located in what is now Ridgeville Township. Before its incorporation by name, it was designated on the maps as town 5, range 16, and was the property originally of Caleb Atwater, Turhand Kirtland, Holbrook and ten others. Tract 1, gore 4, range 11, was annexed to it, to bring it up to full value. It was originally called Holbrook, and retained that name until 1822, from the circumstance that Daniel Hol. brook was a large owner of its soil. It was first settled in the fall of 1810, by Asa Morgan, Silas Wilmot, Ira B. Morgan and Ebenezer Wilmot. These were all single men. They came from Waterbury, Connecticut, in the spring and summer, with those who took up their abode in Ridgeville. They built a log house, in the fall of that year, on the land long occupied by Silas Wilmot, and jointly occupied it, until, by change in their circumstances, such occupancy was no longer desirable. By agreement, this house became the property of Silas Wilmot. It was the first erection in the town. In 1812, Silas Wilmot married Chloe Hubbard, of Ashtabula County. They commenced married life in a log cabin on the Ridge. His was the first family that settled in the town. Soon after, Ira B. Morgan intermarried with Louisa Bronson, of Columbia, built a log house just east of Wilmot's, and there took up his abode. His family was the second that took up its residence in the town. Asa soon married and settled west of Wilmot's. 94 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY Not long after, the families of Levi Mills, Thuret F. Chapman, Seneca Andress, Meritt Osborn, A. M. Dowd, Dennis Palmer, Sylvester Morgan and others were added. The first school was taught by Julia Johnson, daughter of Phineas, then a resident of. No. 5, range 16. CIVIL ORGANIZATION The organization of the Township of Ridgeville included Eaton ; and the two towns were embraced in one civil organization, until December 3, 1822, at which time it was ordered by the commissioners of Cuyahoga County, on the petition of the inhabitants, that No. 6 (5), range 16, be set off into a township by the name of Eaton. At the spring election, in 1832, the required township officers were elected, the township detached from Ridgeville and organized for independent action. THE BEEBES AND PERRYS OF BLACK RIVER As an interesting historic event the attempt of the Moravian missionaries to establish a post at the mouth of the Black River in the present township by that name has been described in detail. It will be remembered that they remained a few days before leaving in the face of the threats of the Delaware chief, and their coining had no connection with the settlement which approached permanency ; that honor fell to the Beebes, Vermonters, in 1807, which, for Lorain County, may be called the "year of assurance." Nathan Perry, Jr., son of Nathan Perry, of Cleveland, both of Vermont, opened a store at Black River for trade with the Indians. He employed Azariah Beebe as his advance agent, who, with his wife, went ahead, opened the store and commenced housekeeping. Mr. Perry soon after followed and boarded with them. The store and residence were located east of the river. The Beebes remained there for several years and then dropped out of sight. No addition was made to the settlement until 1810, but in the spring of that year Daniel Perry, an uncle of. Nathan, Jr., settled with his family near the mouth of the Black River. He, also, was from Vermont. He remained at that locality but a few years, then moved to Sheffield and thence to Brownhelm, where he spent the remainder of a very useful life. Local historians generally give the Perrys. uncle and nephew, the credit of calling especial attention to the commercial advantages of the locality around the mouth of the Black, and of planting the seed of the community which finally developed into the large industrial City of Lorain. HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 95 OTHER PIONEERS During 1810, the year of Daniel Perry's arrival, came to Black River Township Jacob Shupe, Joseph Quigley, George Kelso, Andrew Kelso, Ralph Lyon and a Mr. Seeley, some of whom settled in what became Amherst. Township. In the following year the little colony was increased by the arrival of John S. Reid, Quartus Gilmore, Aretus Gilmore and William Martin. Mr. Reid was a man of great energy of character, and soon became prominent, as the leading citizen of the town. He was one of the first three commissioners upon the organization of the county, in 1824, and before then, and while Black River was a part of Huron County, in 1819, he was a commissioner of that county. He was one of the commissioners of Huron County that directed the joint organization of Elyria and Carlisle. He died in 1831, and his son Conrad spent his life in the township. Quartus and Aretus Gilmore were sons of Edmund, who moved to Black River with his family in 1812. He was the owner of a large tract of land in Black River and Amherst, and built, in that year, the first framed barn ever erected in the county. BLACK RIVER TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED On the 14th of November, 1811, the Township of Dover was organized by the commissioners of Cuyahoga County. It included within its defined limits the present townships of Dover, Avon, Sheffield, and that part of Black River east of the river ; and on the 12th of March, 1812, the territory now comprising the townships of Elyria, Amherst, all of Black River west of the river, and Brownhelm were attached to Dover for township purposes. They remained so attached until Vermillion was organized, when the towns now known as Amherst, Brownhelm and Black River, west. of the river, were annexed to that township. On the 27th of October, 1818, the Township of Troy was organized and included the present. towns of Avon and all of Sheffield and Black River lying east of the river. It will be remembered that Huron County was organized in 1815, and was extended east of Black River, and for a distance beyond it. At. the February session, in 1817, of the commissioners of Huron County, it was ordered that Township No. 6 (Amherst) and that part of No. 7 (Black River) in the Eighteenth Range which lay in the County of Huron, with all the lands thereto attached in said Huron County, be set off from the Township of Vermillion and organized into a separate township under the name of Black River. Thus Amherst. Black River and Brownhelm were first organized as Black River. 96 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY In June, 1824, the corner of the town lying east of the river was annexed to Black River Township for judicial purposes. The first election for officers of Black River Township was held in April, 1817. The names of all the officers elected are not known. There were two postoffices in the town. The Black River postoffice was located on the South River, now South Amherst, and the other was named "The Mouth of Black River Post Office." Eliphalet Redington was the first postmaster of the office on South River, and John S. Reid of the postoffice at the mouth of Black River. HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 97 FOUNDING OF LORAIN CITY It was not until 1817 that the settlement at the mouth of the Black River promised to blossom into a full-blown village. In that year Judge Heman Ely, also the founder of Elyria, established his colony in that portion of the great tract which he had purchased from the Connecticut Land Company. In his early manhood Judge Ely had spent some time in the Province of Lorraine, France, and the pleasant memories of his residence in that charming and romantic country induced him to suggest the name of the new' county which was created by the Legislature in 1822. The French spelling was, however, contracted and Anglicized. Afterward the boat-building and fishing settlement at the mouth of Black River took that name. The fine harbor at that locality, added to these industries, made it quite an important lake port, before the early '70s, when the railroads entered the land territory naturally tributary to it ; it was incorporated as a village ; the steel works and other large industries located; population increased rapidly ; it was incorporated as a city and established its position as the leading commercial and industrial center of the county and one of the most thriving municipalities on Lake Erie. Abundant proof of these general statements is afforded in the details packed into succeeding pages. EARLY SETTLERS OF AMHERST TOWNSHIP Jacob Shupe, already mentioned, is entitled to the post of honor as the pioneer settler of what is now Amherst Township. He came into Black River in 1810 and early in the following year moved over the line into Amherst and settled upon Beaver Creek. Within a. short time he erected both saw and grist mills, and several years afterward the first whiskey distillery in the township. He spent his money to the limit in various primitive improvements, and it was while making an extension to one of his mills on Beaver Creek, in 1832, that a timber fell on him and caused injuries which resulted in his death. His widow lived to be ninety years of age. In October, 1815, Chileab Smith settled with his family on Little Beaver Creek, in Amherst, four miles west of Elyria, where he lived until his death. He opened and kept the first tavern in that vicinity. During the same year Stephen Cable, before then a resident of Ridgeville, moved from the latter town and took up his residence near the Corners, formerly called Hulbert's Corners, six miles west of Elyria. In the year 1816 Reuben Webb settled on the farm lying at "Webb's Corners." In 1817 there were other additions to the town, among them Vol. I-7 98 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY the family of Thomas Waite, which remained but one year, and then removed into Russia. The family of Ezekial Crandall settled near Cable's. JOSIAH HARRIS In the year 1818 Josiah Harris settled at what is now North Amherst, where he spent a long and useful life. He came from Becker, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. He was elected justice of the peace in 1821, and held the office by re-election for thirty-six consecutive years. He was postmaster at North Amherst for a continuous period of forty years; was the first sheriff of the county ; was appointed associate judge in 1829, and served for the period of seven years. He was the object of HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 99 universal respect by the inhabitants of the town of his adoption. Through the beneficence of his counsel, parties. litigant often left his court with their cause amicably settled, with all irritation removed, and personal good feeling restored. Ebenezer Whiton became a resident the same or the previous year. Eliphalet Redington settled on the South Ridge, now South Amherst, in February, 1818. He was selected by the Legislature as one of the committee to locate the road leading from the eastern termination of the one running east from the foot of the rapids of the Miami of the Lake to Elyria. Elijah Sanderson settled near him in the same year. Prior to 1820 there were numerous additions to the town, among whom were Caleb Ormsby, Ezekial Barnes, Elias Peabody, Thompson Blair, Israel Cash, Roswell Crocker, Harry Redington, Jesse Smith, Adoniram Webb, Frederick Henry, Michael, David and George Onstine. As A POLITICAL BODY In the meantime, while this region near the lake shore was being settled, the present Township of Amherst was being brought into shape. This was not effected until 1830. Old Black River Township was organized in April, 1817, as a part of Huron County. Brownhelm Township was detached in 1818, and Russia in 1825, leaving the territory now embraced in the townships of Amherst and Black River as one township, under the name of Black River Township. On January 12, 1830, the Ohio Legislature passed a special act of division. This was made necessary in view of the act prohibiting the incorporation of any township with an area of less than twenty-two square miles; the territory to be divided made it impossible to abide by that law and the Legislature therefore passed a special measure on the date named. The inhabitants of fractional township No. 7, range 18, in the Connecticut Western Reserve, were incorporated as the Township of Black River, and township No. 6, in the same range, as Amherst. The first officers of Amherst Township were elected at the April election of 1830. AMHERST AS A VILLAGE For many years it was seen that the Corners, nearly in the center of the township, was the logical site for a village. Judge Josiah Harris had also a large tract of land around the Old Spring, in the same locality, a portion of which he laid out into lots in 1830 and started the