558 - HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

CHAPTER XXXII.

(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE)

STREETSBORO TOWNSHIP.

RAPID SETTLEMENT-SOME WELL-KNOWN NAMES-CLEVELAND & WELLSVILLE TURNPIKE - ORGANIZATION - NO PAUPERS WANTED ---'EARLY LIBERALITY AND ENTERPRISE-A FEW FIRST EVENTS-CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS-BUSINESS, OFFICERS, ETC.-STATISTICS.

STREETSBORO, Town 4, Range 9, was originally owned by Titus Street, of Connecticut, one of the members of the Connecticut Land Company, who held back his property for many years after most of the townships in Portage County, had been settled up and organized, in order to get a higher price for his land; in fact, it was not surveyed, except as to boundaries, till 1822, in which year Ralph Cowles laid off into lots of 100 acres the 15,279 acres comprised in-the township, and Lemuel Punderson was appointed agent for the sale of them; $6_per acre was the price fixed upon, but as it was considerably above the average price of wild land on the Reserve, very little was sold. Punderson died the following year, 1823, and shortly afterward Amzi Atwater, of Mantua, was appointed agent for Street, and the price lowered to from $2 to $5 an acre, in consequence of which many settlers came in from that time forward.

Early in the fall of 1822 Stephen Myers, Jr., came into the township and settled on the southwest corner of Lot 82, he having, in conjunction with George Walker, purchased sixty acres of that lot. He made a clearing, put out a small crop, and erected a cabin. The following summer he with his partner, Walker, erected a building for the purpose of distilling whisky, which business they conducted for about six years, when the still-house was converted into an ashery. In 1823 Samuel Walker, from Hudson, moved in and settled on a portion of Lot 82.

In 1824 and 1825 quite a number of persons came in, not only from Connecticut and Massachusetts, but several from other townships in the county. About the latter year, among those who are remembered by the oldest settlers were Solomon Carlton, Levi M. Cochran, Michael Stewart, Ephraim Wood, Riley Miller and Daniel M. Johnson. Wood built a house on the southeast corner of the Center, Lot 56, which he sold to Chauncy Case several years afterward. Benjamin Doolittle, from Connecticut, came in the fall of 1825, made a clearing and built a log-cabin on Lot 50, where he lived for many years, a prominent citizen and a good and useful man. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1827, at the organization.

The location of a turnpike from Cleveland to Wellsville being decided upon in this year, 1825, Street, who was a very enterprising, and when the occasion arose, a very liberal man, offered to donate land sufficient for the road if the managers would run said road through the township, which was agreed to, and he made the company a deed for 840 acres, which was an exceedingly wise business transaction, as this liberal policy soon brought his land into demand, for at the completion of the road settlers flocked in from all quarters to secure the iine farms offered at the low price asked.. The road was

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completed in 1827, but before that time the township was rapidly settling up. In 1826, or thereabouts, came George Powers from Connecticut, who took up his quarters in a cabin erected by the workmen while building the road. It stood just a little west of the Center, and gave place many years ago to better improvements. About this time came Chauncy Case, Jr., Alvin Loomis, Alpheus Streator, Gideon H. Mills, Heman Thomas, Alonzo Root and others.

In 1826 Col. John C. Singletary built a log-house on Lot 45, the northwest corner of the Center, into which Riley Cochran moved, and the following summer he boarded the hands while they were constructing the frame building into which Col. Singletary moved the following spring of 1828. He opened there the first tavern in the township, and his was the first frame house at the Center, and in which he lived till his death in 1851. In the spring of 1827 Frederick Nighman bought a portion of Lot 8Q and built a log-cabin upon it.

Streetsboro was the last township organized in the county, leaving Garrettsville out of the enumeration. It was, in 1800, made a portion of Hudson, now a township of Summit County, and so remained until 1806, when it became a portion of Aurora, under whose convoy it sailed till 1821, when ghrora cut loose from it, and Mantua took it under her wing and kept her safely there till 1827, when the township thought herself big enough to go alone, which she has done, and with credit to herself, too, standing for years No. 1 in the manufacture of cheese, and high in other products.

April 2, 1827, an election was held for officers. Levi M. Cochran, Chauncy Case, Jr., and Alvin Loomis were Judges of Election, and Ephraim Wood, Jr., and George Powers, Clerks. The following were selected: Trustees, Benjamin Doolittle, Daniel H. Johnson, Ephraim Wood, Jr.; Clerk, Alpheus Streator; Treasurer, Chauncy Case, Jr.; Overseers of the Poor, Alvin Loomis, Levi M. Cochran; Fence Viewers, Riley Miller, Alonzo Root; Constables, Gideon H. Mills, Heman Thomas.

Benjamin Doolittle was elected Justice of the Peace, and the first suit before him was George Powers vs. Alvin Loomis. Loomis hired Powers to do a piece of work on the turnpike, but Powers not finishing it in a manner satisfactory to Loomis, the latter refused to pay for it, when he was sued for the amount. The Justice found for the defendant and Powers appealing to the Court of Common Pleas was beaten there also. The expenses of the township in those early times did not exceed $20 annually.

The Overseers of the Poor, who more properly should have been termed the Rooters-out of the Poor, were very efficient officers, and were determined that Streetsboro should have no poor to oversee; so, accordingly, three days after the election of those officials, they issued an order to Constable Thomas to notify James Walker and family to leave the township, to which they paid no attention, but a second order being served some time afterward on Walker, accompanied by the information that if he did not wish himself and family to be put up for sale to the highest bidder, they quickly took themselves off. In 1829 Erastus Smith and family, and in 1830 Atlander Eddy and family, were ordered to vacate the sacred soil of Streetsboko. One old woman, Sally Fleming, would not leave, so they put her up on the block and sold her for $12 for two months. This was March 1, 1831. In 1832, January 11, Justus Welen, was ordered to leave; on the 12th, Micah Richardson and family, and on the 17th Julius Granger and his daughter Almira were notified. About the same time Mrs. Catharine Dexter and family, and William Beeman, received their walking papers. Where the poor people came from, and what their condition was, doth not now appear, but no drones were wanted in the Streetsboro hive.

562 - HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

It has already been stated that through the wise foresight and liberality of Titus Street, the road from Cleveland to Wellsville was constructed through Streetsboro, he contributing largely in land for that purpose. The road was the first extensive thoroughfare through this section, and was the route over which the famous old mail carrier and contractor, Jabez Gilbert, of Palmyra, familiarly known as "Moses Jabe," and "Old Mose," passed over, an account of whom and his exploits may, be found in the chapter on Palmyra. Street gave an acre of ground at each corner of the Center, exclusive of the roads for a public square, and a stone was placed in the center thereof, to desig-nate the exact center of the township. He also donated two acres a short distance south of the Center for a burial ground, and gave $60 to have it and the public square cleared off.

The first frame house in the township was built by David Johnson, at Johnson's Corners, in the spring of 1827. Street had offered to give $50 to the person who would put up the first frame house, and Johnson won the prize. The first house erected at the Center was by Levi M. Cochran, in the summer of 1825. It was a log-house, and stood on the southeast center lot. The first saw-mill was erected at Johnson's Corners, in the northwest corner of the township, by David Johnson. The first stage coach over the State road passed through in 1829, Jabez Gilbert driving.

In the fall of 1823 a child was born to Samuel Walker, which lived only a few hours, that being the first birth and first death in the township. The first death of an adult was the wife of Solomon Carlton, shortly after the burial ground was laid off, and she was the first interred there.

The first wedding was that of Frederick Nighman and Parmelia Van, November, 9, 1826. The ceremony was performed by Squire Mills, of Hudson.

The first school was opened in June, 1826, by Clarinda Case, in the north-west corner of the township. She also cooked for her father and other men employed on the road. This schoolhouse was erected by David Johnson, the owner of a saw-mill at Johnson's Corners, and attending it were five of his children, and three of Case's children. Three and one-half years later a district school was opened in Singletary's original log-house, by Almira Taylor. The growth of educational interests since that time is shown by the following statistics: Revenue in 1884, $5,657; expenditures, $3,642; 9 schoolhouses valued at $3,800; pay of teachers, $34 and $31; enrollment, 103 boys, and 88 girls.

There is at the Center a Presbyterian Church with a good membership and a prosperous Sabbath-school. Rev. A. C. Barrows is pastor and Newton Sperry Superintendent of the Sunday- school.

The Methodist Episcopal Society have a neat building and a fair member-ship, with a goed Sunday-school. Rev. Mr. Jacobs is pastor and E. E. Olin Superintendent of the school.

A Baptist Church having a good membership and a thriving Sunday-school is also at the Center. Rev. A. M. Eley is pastor and J. T. Judd Superintendent of the school.

In addition to the burial-ground donated by Mr. Street, there is a very beautiful spot devoted to the dead—Evergreen Cemetery—which also is town-ship property. Evergreen Cemetery Association, of Streetsboro, was organized May 10, 1864. W. S. Hill was Chairman, and Albert Doolittle, Clerk; Enos Payne, John Thompson, Elin Olin, Osmund Thomas, Lewis Green and Albert Doolittle, Trustees.

Township Officers.—Trustees, Wallace Root, E. H. Wait, J. W. Ellsworth; Clerk, F. M. Wilcox; Treasurer, N. D. Peck; Assessor, Lynn Hawkins; Con-

SUFFIELD TOWNSHIP - 563

stables, Erving Niman, William Ferguson; Justices of the Peace, N. D. Peck, P. Y. Barnes.

At the Center there is a general store, by N. D. Peck, and a grocery by C. W. Stewart. N. D. Peek is Postmaster. The Central Telephone Company " have atoll-station here. A fine brass band furnishes excellent music occasionally. There are five cheese factories in operation in the township, and cheese making in the principal industry, averaging over 600,000 pounds of cheese annually. There is a singular industry carried on about one mile southwest of the Center, there being very few factories of the kind anywhere: Charles E. Peck is engaged in the manufacture of glass cutters' tools. N. S. Olin & Son conduct a large stock farm two miles southeast of the Center, known as the Cuyahoga Stock Farm, and have a fine.herd of short-horn cattle. The township furnished eighty-one soldiers for the defense of the Union, and eleven were either killed or died in the service and eight disabled.

The statistics of the township service, 1884 are: Acres of wheat, 738, bushels, 7,067; rye, 3 acres, 25 bushels; buckwheat, 5 acres, 20 bushels; oats, 555 acres, 22,178 bushels corn, 602 acres, 8,801 bushels (shelled); meadow, 2,329 acres, 8,143 tons of hay; 295 tons of clover, and 108 bushels of clover seed from 259 acres; 76 acres of potatoes yielded 7,189 bushels; home-made butter, 8,098 pounds; factory butter, 138,292 pounds; cheese, 397,992 pounds; maple sugar, 7,340 pounds, syrup, 1,894 gallons, from 7,923 treesi honey, 1,710 pounds, from 75 hives; eggs, 5,160 dozens; orchards, 183 acres, apples, 2,846 bushels; wool, 3,669 pounds; much cows, 1,594; dogs, 89; killed, 11 sheep; animals died of disease, 13 hogs, 25 sheep, 29 cattle, 2 horses; acres cultivated, 4,331; in pasture' 7,693; woodland, 1,881; waste, 564; total, 14,469 acres. Population in 1850 was 1,108, including 392 youth; in 1870, 706; in 1880, 702; in 1884 (estimated), 700.