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CHAPTER XXVI.
PALMYRA TOWNSHIP.
THE VANGUARD-PIONEER DANIELS-CAPT. BALDWIN, TRUMAN GILBERT, ARTEMUS RUGGLES-THE GREAT TRAIL-A NOTED CHARACTER-PIONEER DENTISTRY-A FAMOUS TRAPPER-AN IRATE F. F. V.—"MOSES JABE" GILBERT, THE CONTRACTOR - NUMEROUS FIRST EVENTS - PREACHER AND CHURCHES-SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS-ORGANIZATION-PALMYRA CENTER-DIAMOND-COAL BANKS-BUSINESS, SOCIETIES AND STATISTICS.
PALMYRA is one of the townships that received its first settler in June, 1799, there being three others, Ravenna, Aurora and Atwater, with Deerfield following in July. It was known in the original surveys simply as Town 2, Range 6, and in the general drawing of the shares of the Connecticut Land Company fell to the lot of Elijah, Homer, and David E. Boardman, Elijah Wadsworth, Jonathan Giddings, Zephaniah Briggs, Stanley Griswold and Roderick Wolcott. The Boardmans were brothers, Elijah being the principal owner of the township. He was one of the surveying party that came to the township in 1707 with Anazi Atwater and Wareham Shepherd.
David Daniels, the leader in the vanguard of the little band of soldiers of civilization who settled and helped make habitable this line township of Pal-myra, Arrived on the scene of action June 4, 1799, and settling on Lot 21, one mile and a half south of the Center. This hardy pioneer was born in Gratton, Conn., and as a reward for his daring and determination in venturing into a country that had hardly felt the tread of a white man, and when everything was as wild as nature had originally formed it, was given 100 acres of land by the proprietors. Soon after he had made a small clearing and thrown together a rude cabin, he put out an acre and a half of wheat, which he cut the following season, and carried one bushel of the grain on his back to Poland, thirty miles distant, had it ground and brought it back. His wife was Lucinda Meigs, cousin of Gov., Meigs, of Ohio. Daniels died July 18, 1813, highly respected by all, and much honored as the first Justice of the Peace of the township. He had also been a gallant soldier of the Revo-lutionary Army. His widow survived him till 1849, having lived to the advanced age of eighty-three years. They had six children: Electa, Frederick, Horace, Orville, Harvey W. and Almira. The first two were born in Connecticut, the third in Mahoning County, and the last three in Palmyra.
Shortly after Daniels made his clearing, in the fall of the same year, Ethelbert Baker came in and settled about half a mile south of the Center, on the west side of the road, but after a few years sold out to John Tuttle, who came in 1805. The next spring, 1800, William Bacon came in and set-tled one mile and a quarter south of the Center. In 1802 Baker and Bacon brought out their families and at the same time came E. Cutler, who had married a daughter of Nehemiah Bacon, and located two miles south of the Center. In 1803 Baker cleared a piece of land on the southeast corner at the Center, which was the first improvement in that locality.
In 1804 James McKelvey came from Pennsylvania. Amass Preston and several others came during this year. Amass Preston was a great snake
496 - HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
hunter, and it seemed to be a hereditary ambition, as his mother, it is said, even after she got too old to see them, used to hunt the " varmints " down on all occasions. There was an immense den of yellow " rattlers" at the " Ledge," in the western part of the township, and much sport was had and a great deal of satisfaction afforded in getting rid of the dangerous reptiles.
In 1805 many immigrants from Connecticut arrived, among whom were several families who became prominent in after years, and whose descendants are to-day the leading people of the township. David Waller, Silas Waller, Asahel Waller and John Tuttle, Jr., came in. The Wailers began making improvements on the southeast corner at the Center, and put up a log-house there. The same year they cleared a piece of land half a mile north of the Center. David Waller brought a number of fruit trees from Deerfield on his back and set them out, which was the starting of the old orchard that afterward afforded such fine fruit. He afterward cleared and lived on one or two other places, but finally lost all his property by having too much confidence in depraved human nature. He could never refuse going upon the bond or note of friends, and so lost all by their ungratefulness or inability to pay. He died in 1840. Asahel Waller lived only seven years after he settled here, dying in the great epidemic that prevailed in 1812. This visitation was in the form of a very malignant fever, and was so virulent as to baffle the skill of the physicians in nearly every case. Silas Waller died in Poland.
In this year, 1805, also came Capt. John T. Baldwin from Warren, Litchfield Co., Conn., bringing his wife and three sons, Alva, John and Tibbals. They arrived July 7, and their wagon was the second that came through by the Old Palmyra Road," there being at the time not a single house between Canfield and Campbellsport. They camped at what is now the Square at the Center, along side of a post that had been erected to designate where the Center was. They then moved into a small log-house that had been built by Baker, where they lived two months, when they moved to the farm where his son, Squire Alva Baldwin, now lives. Two years afterward the Captain opened a tavern, and in 1825 moved to Toledo, where he died. He and David Waller brought the first load of salt from Cleveland, the trip occupying five days, but the salt was worth $20 per barrel, which paid them a handsome profit, having cost them about $12. The old gentleman was a kind and generous man, and had a fund of wit and humor that always made his tavern a great place of resort. Many stories are told of his playful jokes, one of which is how he shaved a vain young fellow who had no beard, with the back of a razor, having lathered him carefully, and the primitive "dude" never-knew any better. His son Alva still occupies the old homestead, and is as hearty and genial an old gentleman, apparently, as his father. He is now eighty-nine years of age, having been born in 1795. He was in the war of 1812-14, although only seventeen or eighteen years of age. His father, the Captain, served with Gen. Harrison in the position of Commissary, which gave him his title. There is a rose bush in the front yard of Squire Alva Baldwin's residence that was planted by his mother in 1805, and it still blooms. Capt. Baldwin was one of the first Commissioners of the county.. John Baldwin was for many years a steamboat Captain on the lakes. John McArthur, a brother of the wife of Capt. Baldwin, came in at the time the Baldwin did, and settled on a piece of land in the southwest portion of the township. He was a Justice of the Peace, and died in 1818.
In 1806 there arrived from Litchfield, Conn., Truman Gilbert, Sr. his wife, seven sons and one daughter: Charles, Truman, Jr., Lyman, Mar- vin, Dr. Ezra, Walter, Champion and Rebecca, the latter being now the
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PAGE - 498 - PICTURE OF HENRY BOSZOR
PAGE - 499 - PICTURE OF SARAH N. BOSZOR
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widow of Ebenezer Buckley, and is eighty-five years of age, remarkably well preserved in mind and health, and as genial, social, kind-hearted and even jolly, as, possibly, she was half a century ago. Her husband was in the war of 1812, and the old lady, some years ago, had a pension almost forced upon her. She retains a vivid recollection of the past, and can tell as good a snake story as any of her neighbors, for she lives not far from the "Ledge," and has seen many of the old-time yellow reptiles. Charles Gilbert, the eldest son, had a family of nine, and forty-five years elapsed before a single death occurred among them, a remarkable instance, and a fact tolerably discouraging to any undertaker to settle among such undying families. There is an apple tree on the place of Warner Gilbert that was planted in 1806. When Truman Gilbert was raising his house in 1806, and was being assisted by the neighbors, as usual, and some Indians, an eclipse of the sun occurred, which badly frightened the latter. They left the work, got out their bows and arrows and began firing their arrows up into the heavens in the direction of the slowly darkening sun, to scare off the evil spirit.
In this year, 1806, also came Noah Smith, from Connecticut, who brought with him a colored girl, but the following year the Legislature of the State passed a law making it a penal offence to bring a negro into the State, whereupon the vigilant Trustees of the township had the audacious Smith arrested, and after due trial, fined; but Smith appealed his case to the Common Pleas Court, which reversed the decision of the eminent Judges of the lower tribunal, the court holding that laws in general, and this law in particular, under the circumstances, were not retroacting.
The great Indian trail from Fort McIntosh on the Ohio to Sandusky passed through this township, and it was along this trail, just north of the Center, that the Indians and their pursuers went after the shooting of. Diver, in Deerfield. Brady, of "Leap" notoriety, also took this trail in his excursions against the savages. Nickahaw's cabin was on this trail, in this township, not far from Baldwin's and near a spring.
The year 1807 brought in quite a number of settlers to different parts of the township, but there was one man who was, possibly, more of an acquisition in a utilitarian sense, than any who had preceded him. This was Artemus Ruggles, a native of Connecticut, and a large-hearted, sturdy, honest, courageous and ready-witted man, whose services in a zlew country were just exactly what were needed and desired. He was a blacksmith by trade, and as the saying goes, could make almost anything out of iron, besides being handy in many other ways. He made all the traps for all this section of country, including two or three townships, and literally every "bull plow" that the settlers used for years. In addition to his many other useful qualities, he combined that bf dentistry in a primitive way. Mr. Alva Baldwin says it seemed to do Ruggles good to get an opportunity to extract a tooth. He would take hold of a fine large molar with his " turnikey," as he called it, give the instrument a "yank," and sit down and laugh at the suffering patient, holding up at the same time the captured tooth. He was a noted trapper, and he and his sons caught numbers of wolves, bears and small game. Being a strong, compact and active man, with the endurance of an Indian, very few could throw, or "out-do" him, and very few ventured to try it. He died in 1854.
This same year, 1807, came in David Gano, a Virginian, from Hampshire County, and settled two and a half miles north of the Center. He was in character somewhat like Ruggles, sturdy and honest and as hardy as he was brave. He was anything but a quarrelsome man, and his motto was, "Never give an insult nor take one." He was a great wolf killer and bear hunter,
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and held his native State in profound reverence. To such extent was he sensitive on this latter point that he whipped half a dozen men from "Jarsey " who had dared to speak lightly of the Old Dominion. He lived to a ripe old age, highly respected for his many good qualities.
The first improvements on the southwest corner of the Center were made by James Briggs, who came in 1807. In 1808 James Boles, from Beaver County, Penn., came in and made a settlement where he lived till 1813, when he moved to Trumbull County. His daughter Kate is said to have killed a bear in a fair and square fight with an ax, the wives of Ben and Gib McDaniels acting as umpires. In 1814 Dr. Ezra Chaffee settled in the township, and kept a tavern at the Center, where he lived till 1830, then moved to Paris. In 1811 came Jemima Palmer, and her two sons, Jesse and Samuel. One of the daughters of Samuel died of fright. As she and her father and others were going to church, some young cattle jumped suddenly out from the bushes, when the girl fell to the ground, dead. Zuhariac Fisher came also in this year from Pennsylvania. He was a large, muscular man, of great strength of character. He died in 1834, leaving a large family.
Jabez Gilbert, a man who was noted not only for his iron will and unflinching determination, but for his seemingly unlimited resources in accomplishing anything he undertook, came in 1811. He was a bridge builder as well as mail contractor and general teamster. He built nearly all the early bridges of the township, and hauled all the steam boilers and machinery for steamboats from Pittsburgh to Cleveland. No one else could be obtained who had the courage to undertake jobs of the character that Jabez considered only ordinary hauling. It must be remembered that in that early time roads were in terribly poor condition, where they existed at all, and to undertake to haul by ox-team one of those immense boilers was no child's play. He was also engaged to carry the mail once a week in a two-horse coach from Pittsburgh to Cleveland. The contract was afterward raised to twice a week in a four-horse coach, then to three times a week, and finally a daily line. He was known as "Moses jabe," from the fact that he swore "by Moses," and there being two other Jabes among the Gilberts. No obstacles could stop this old contractor from delivering his mail according to specifica-tions, and when streams were swollen he would take the mail on his back, with an ax in hand, and go through "or die in the attempt," as he would say. His contract was finally transferred to the hands of others and he left the township.
The first white child born in the township was others, a daughter to E. Cutler, born in 1802. The first marriage took place in 1805, and Benjamin McDaniels and Betsey Stevens joined their fortunes with the assistance of Squire Lewis Day, of Deerfield. In this year occurred the first two deaths. A son of John Tuttle, Sr., went down into a well to recover a cup that had fallen in, when he was overpowered by carbonic acid gas, and died before he could be brought to the surface. David Waller lost a child in August. E. Cutler was the first blacksmith, and opened shop in 1802 two miles south of the Center. The first frame house was built in 1807 by David Daniels; in the same year the first tavern was opened by Capt. Baldwin at the Center, and the first postoffice established, with David Waller as Postmaster. The first distillery was started in 1808 by John Tuttle, and William McKibbey, a brother of James, officiated as distiller, and here they turned out a fine brand of primitive "tangle-foot." The first tannery was established in 1810 by Parrott Hadley, a short distance south of the Center. The first physician, Dr. Ezra" Chaffee, came in 1810. The first stock of goods opened in the township was brought by Walker Canfield and David Waller, who occupied a building on the southeast corner of
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the Center, in 1813. Joseph Tuttle, in 1820, built the first house on the southwest corner, and in 1824 the first frame building was put up at the Center, by a man with the honored name of William Shakespeare. The first saw-mill was built in this same year by Parker Calvin, and a grist-mill was afterward added to it, in 1828, by Henry Kibler, who was then owner. An ashery was operated at an early day by Jabez and Ezra Gilbert near the Center, and another in the northwestern part of the township by Horace Hollister.
One of the first preachers to expound the Word of God to the settlers in Palmyra was Rev. Shewell, a Methodist Episcopal circuit rider, who, although a man of no extraordinary culture, yet had those qualities that amply make up for any lack of scholastic attainments. He was a man of exemplary piety, honest and earnest in all his works, and who left an impress for good wherever he went. He was very zealous, sometimes terribly emphatic in his gesticulation, bringing his fist down upon the Bible at every word with a force that would make everything around rattle. It is said that on one occasion he told the people who were listening to him that if they did not repent they "could go to hell and be damned!" Several other early ministers preached occasionally, but it was not till October 10, 1813, that a church was organ-ized. At that date Rev. Nathan Darrow, a Presbyterian minister, formed into a congregation Noah and Hannah Smith, Jemima, Jesse and Samuel Palmer, In 1818 another church was organized by Rev. Andrew Clarke, a Baptist min-ister of Pennsylvania, and the members were William Brown and wife, Benjamin Ms:Daniels and wife, George Pownell and wife, and Abigail Tuttle.
The Welsh Regular Baptist Church at Palmyra was reorganized May 23, 1862, when W. W. Davis, Morgan Reese and James Davis were elected Trust-ees; Shadrach James was elected Clerk. The location of the church was known as Soar, but commonly called Stone Chapel.
The members of the Methodist Episcopal society met at Deerfield June 7, 18'79, when Daniel Collins, Hiram G. Spooner, T. W. Edwards, Otis Davis and Enoch Morgan were elected Trustees.
The first school is said to have been taught by Miss Betsey Diver, a daughter of Daniel Diver, and the first schoolhouse was located in the south part of the township. Another very early teacher was Sophia Hubbard. Another was John Barr, who taught the first school at the Center. Nathan Boice, or Boys, Mattie Ruggles and Lewis Ely were also teachers. The statistics of the schools of this township are given as follows:
Palmyra Township Schools.--Revenue in 1884, $3,767; expenditures, $2,916; '1 schoolhouses valued at $7,000; average pay of teachers, $32 and $26; enrollment, 132 boys and 151 girls.
Palmyra Special District.—Revenue in 1884, $1,454; expenditures, $851; 1 school-building valued at $3,000; average pay of teachers, $27 and $45; enrollment, 55 boys and 55 girls.
March 6, 1810, the County Commissioners issued an order setting off from Deerfield Township, Towns 2 and 3, with the name of Palmyra, and on April 2, 1810, the first election was held, resulting in the selection of the following officers, in part: Amos Thurber, William Bacon, David Calvin, Trustees; David Waller Clerk; David Daniels, Treasurer; Silas Waller, Appraiser; Jabez Gilbert, John McArthur, Overseers; Charles Gilbert, Constable; James McKelvey, Lister. Truman Gilbert, J. T. Baldwin, Fence Viewers; John Stevens, Zebulon Walker, Artemus Ruggles, Gibson MoDaniels, Supervisors. May 21, 1810, David Daniels and Joseph Fisher were elected Justices of the Peace.
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Palmyra Center.—General stores, Carson & Diver, W. W. Bigelow, W. B. Wilson. drug store, E. M. Evans; carriage and wagon-shop, Edgar Tuttle; undertaker, David C. Davis; saddle and harness, John Humes, Charles Brown; hotel, Bidlake House, Ira Bidlake & Son; shingle factory and tow-mill, D. C. Davis; steam saw-mill, W. E. Steveson; three blacksmith shops; three saloons; two shoe-shops; one milliner; one barber; physicians, Dr. W. G. Smith, Dr.
L. C. Rose, Dr. B. B. Davis; veterinary surgeon, Dr. William Davis.
Diamond. —General store, 0. B. Mason; hardware, Johnson & Shively; drug and grocery, Rose & Carson; shoe store, Ralph Stevens; lumber yard, 0. B. Mason; hotel, Harris House; Postmaster, 0. B. Mason; physician, Dr. William Jenkins; Palmyra Coal Company, W. B. Wilson, manager, one shaft open; Black Diamond Coal Company, proprietor, Samuel Kim-berly, one shaft open; Scott Coal Company, proprietor, Enoch Filer, one shaft open; Hutson Coal Company, proprietor, H. D. Hutson, one shaft open. Com-bined output of the four shafts about 550 tons per day. It ranks with the well-known Briar Hill coal and was first operated in 1865.
At the Center there is a Methodist Episcopal Church, Pastor, Rev. Joseph Gledhill; Congregational Church (Welsh), Rev. John J. Jenkins; Baptist Church (Welsh), Pastor, Rev. Edward Jenkins; Welsh Methodist Church, Pastor, Rev. David Evans. Also, a Disciples Church, one and a half miles northwest of the Center, Pastor, Rev. Lines Rogers. At the Center there is a fine graded school with good attendance, and seven other schools in the township.
A. F. & A. M.—Charity Lodge, A. F. & A. M., No. 530, was chartered in 1883. Acting W. M., Del Ray Thomas; S. W., Del Ray Thomas; J. W., Charles Merwin; Secretary, W. D. Edwards; Treasurer, D. D. Carson; membership, thirty.
K. of P.—Diamond Lodge, K. of P., No. 136, was organized January 26, 1882. P. C. C., David Joseph; C. C., Stephen Davis; V. C. C,, William Barkley; Prelate, Arthur Johns; M. A., Richard Davis; M. E., James Jones; M. F., B. J. Morris; K. R. S., J. C. Buckley; I. G., Richard Wells; 0. G., Davis; membership sixty-eight.
For over fifty years there has been held annually what is termed the Welsh Horse Fair, at which are exhibited on the first Monday in May fine horses of all kinds. It is as much for the purpose of affording an opportunity to buy-ers and sellers as for show. There are usually fifteen or twenty of the finest stallions on exhibition.
Palmyra Agricultural Fair is held for two days in the fall. The present officers are: President, Isaac Tattle; Vice-President, D. D. Carson; Secretary, S. A. Church; Treasurer, Jacob Scott.
A good deal of fine stock is raised in the township, and the land is highly productive, though hilly in some portions. The Welsh. who form a large proportion of the population, are generally a frugal and industrious class of citizens. Palmyra furnished thirty-seven soldiers for the Union in the late war, eleven of whom fell in the service. The Cleveland, Youngstown & Pittsburgh Railroad touches at Diamond.
The general statistics of this division of the county for 1884 are: Acres of wheat, 857, bushels 10,481; no rye; of oats 375 acres, 16,478 bushels; 3 bushels of barley; 180 acres of corn produced 1,857 bushels; 2,404 acres of meadow gave 2,942 tons of hay; 45 acres of clover yielded 67 tons of hay and 8 bushels of seed; 4 acres of flax gave 32 bushels of seedi 15 acres of potatoes produced 2,221 bushels; home-made butter, 24,118 pounds; 9,335 maple trees yielded 1,521 pounds of sugar and 2,498 gallons of syrup; 26 hives produced 440
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pounds of honey; dozens of eggs, 2,298; 301 acres of orchard produced 1,073 bushels of apples; pounds of wool, 25,476; milch cows, 333; stallion, 1; dogs, 106; killed, 17 sheep; died of disease, 5 hogs, 39 sheep, 7 cattle and 6 horses; acres cultivated, 1,913; pasture, 8,756; woodland, 2,782; total 13,451 acres. Population in 1850 was 1,093, including 642 youth; in 1870, 848, in 1880, 1,105; in 1884 (estimated), 1,300.
The number of bushels of coal mined in 1883 was 1,081,101, valued at $91,419. During the year ending May, 1880, there were only 471,200 bush-els mined by sixty-six men, valued at $37,780.