HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 125 Tobacco and powder, 37 cents. James Scott, July 18, 1812. To leading horse from Pittsburg, $1.50. To three oz. indigo, 75 cents. To martingale hooks and buckle, $1.25. To 2 lbs. ten, 1812. Comfort Mygatt, July 18, 1812. To one sword, $13.00. To one watch key, $1.00. To powder and shot, $1.50. The foregoing are only a few of the entries made in account book No. 2 of Asael Adams, the mail carrier. During September, 1812, war was being waged with the British and Indians on the frontier, and most of our able-bodied men were away from home in the brigade under the command of General Simon Perkins in the defense of the Maumee valley. General Perkins sent word to Warren that his soldiers were without bullets and to send a supply of bullets immediately. The ladies of Warren promptly moulded the lead into bullets, and Asael Adams Jr., who had just returned from an all day's ride from Pittsburg carrying the mail, but who was capable and willing to undertake the journey, started at once, without waiting for sleep, to carry on horseback a bushel of leaden bullets through the dense forests to the aid of General Perkins' brigade. Asael Adams Jr. was born in Canterbury, Connecticut, in July, 1786, and came with his father, Asael Adams Sr., to Liberty township, Trumbull County, Ohio, in 1800, with his brother-in-law, Camden Cleaveland, a brother of Moses Cleaveland. Numerous decendants, and relatives of the persons named in the foregoing article now reside in Warren, Cleveland, and Youngstown. We mention a few only of the names, as follows: Mrs. Mary Perkins Lawton. Mrs. Thomas H. Brierly. Mrs. Wm. B. Kirkpatrick. Mrs. Sarah H. VanGorder. George VanGorder. Miss Olive Smith. Miss Eliza S. Smith. Norman W. Adams. Mathew B. Tayler., Miss Lucy Hoyt. Miss Annie Hoyt. Mrs. Polly W. Reid. Miss Harriet Stevens. Henry Q. Stiles. Lucy S. Cobb. Miss Elizabeth L. Iddings. Wm. T. Iddings. Frank Iddings. 126 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY As the population grew and new roads were opened up, new postoffices were established throughout the county. In 1828 Alexander Sutherland was postmaster at Newton. Erastus Lane, of Braceville, a letter carrier between Warren and Cleveland, brought the news of Hull's surrender. Just before the coming of the stage coach, in some places in the county, mail was carried by oxen. With the mail facilities of today, it is astonishing to see the list of advertised letters appearing in the early newspapers. Letters for the most prominent people in the county were ad-. vertised over and over again. It is still more astonishing that the reason for this was that each letter cost twenty-five cents, and the owner of the letters sometimes had not money with which to pay postage. Then, as now, there was dissatisfaction with postal service; then there was reason. Under the date of March 16th, the editor of the Western. Reserve Chronicle complains of the wretched condition of the mails, saying, "Papers mailed in Washington on the nth of March were not received here until the 13th." On January 2, 18n4, this same paper decided to establish a post route for distribution of the Chronicle in Vienna. Brookfield, Hartford, Vernon, Kinsman, Gustavus, Green, Mesopotamia, Farmington, and Bristol. Among the people who have served as postmasters in Warren are Simon Perkins, Mathew Birchard, John W. Collins, Comfort Patch, Henry Townsend, Jefferson Palm, David Tod, E. R. Wise, B. F. Hoffman, William Hapgood, Frank M. Ritezel, S. B. Palm, John W. Campbell, George Braden. The Warren postoffice became first class in 1908; the salary of the postmaster is $3,000, the assistant's $1,500. Rural free delivery is established out of Warren, Niles, Newton Falls, Cortland. Once the mail carrier brought the mail weekly to the capital of Trumbull County, and now, each day, the rural carriers deliver letters at the farmer's door. CHAPTER XV. INDIAN PATHS.-FIRST ROADS.-COACHES.-FERRIES.-LOTTERY.- CANALS.-RAILROADS. When the Western Reserve Land Company sent its surveyors to northern Ohio, there was not a roadway in that whole region. There were numbers of Indian paths which led from one Indian village to another, or from river to river, and one or two general paths from Pittsburg to Cuyahoga or Sandusky. A path on the lake shore had been used by traders, missionaries and soldiers, and along this route the first road in greater Trumbull County was built. When it entered the timber, trees were girdled thirty-three feet each side, and for this reason old letters and papers always refer to it as "the girdled road." The Indians used the creeks and streams when it was practical. but the most of their travel was done on foot. From a map drawn by Heckewelder in 1796 we find numerous Indian paths. The one running from Pittsburg to the Salt Spring district is the Same as given in all early letters and documents which mention roads and paths. This path lies at an angle of about forty-five degrees; north of Salt Springs it turns directly west, and assumes a northwestern direction until it reaches the Moravian village which in 1780 stood on the east side of the Cuyahoga, not far from the mouth. This Heckewelder map in many ways is inaccurate, but, since the Moravians were vitally interested in and devoted to the Indians, and knew so much of their lives and habits, we believe that these Indian paths are correctly depicted. So far as we know, the second road of any distance in old Trumbull County was laid out by Turhand Kirtland. It started in Poland, followed rather closely the Indian path to Salt Springs, thence into Warren, and north on what is now Mahoning avenue. In Champion it turned off to the west above the Poor Farm, led through Southington, Nelson, Parkman, Grand River. Over this road the Indians walked, the early settlers - 127 - 128 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY went on horseback, and the first stage coaches sometimes rattled and sometimes plowed the mud. It was at different times known as the plank road, the turnpike, the state road. Today part of it is covered with macadam, and automobiles fly over it in races between Pittsburg and Cleveland. Every mile of this road surveyed by Kirtland is not positively known. For instance, on Mahoning avenue it lay further to the west than it does now, and this deviation might have been true in many other places. Of course changes were necessary as land was sold, fenced and lines straightened. However, in all the early diaries, mention is made of going by road to Young's, then to Salt Springs, stopping at Quinby's in number 4, and very often at Mills', which was in Nelson. As the common highways in Trumbull County have become "good roads" because of the agitation of the bicycle rider and automobile owner, so did the old Indian paths, because of the settlers, because of the mail carrier, and because of the necessity of commerce, grow better and better, although even until very recently at certain seasons they were at times almost impassable. The ox-cart was after a time replaced by a stout wagon. In the beginning these wagons had boards laid across for seats, and canvas tops for covers, and people rode between Pittsburg and Cleveland in these uncomfortable conveyances. A little later the coaches, rather small and uncomfortable, put on between points where travel was heaviest, were drawn by two horses. In pleasant weather they appeared on time, but in a greater part of the year they were irregular. An early advertisement in the old papers is to the effect that "four horses will be used on coaches to insure punctuality." A little later the big stage coach, with the swinging springs and upholstered interior, with place for the baggage on the back, came into use. These conveyances were very comfortable in pleasant weather, and many a pleasant hour has been passed among friends, and many good acquaintances made during stage-coach trips. When the weather was bad the circumstances were different. The men passengers (lady passengers were few) were often obliged not only to get out and walk but to assist in prying the wheels from out the half-frozen mud. All through old Trumbull County may be seen at this day old weatherbeaten buildings, sometimes deserted, which show by the wide porch, the tall pillars, that they were taverns where the stage coach stopped either for change of horses, for pas- HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 129 sengers, or for meals. The coming of the stage coach, announced by the blowing of a horn, was an event in many communities. The drivers were often men of strong and peculiar characters about many of whom strange and humorous tales are told. A mile before a town was reached they would begin the tooting of the horn, and men would leave their business, children their play- or study, and sometimes the women their homes, to gather around the coach when it drove to the tavern, that they might see who had arrived, who was to depart, and to learn the news from the outside world. In the beginning the coach lines were short, but grew in length as the territory settled. The route was often circuitous, to take in the villages of importance. People going from Pittsburg to Cleveland came to Warren, then Ravenna, etc. To go five miles or more out of the direct line was not noticed. It was passengers they were after, and they must be gotten from hamlet and town. Under the most favorable circumstances the coach between Warren and Ravenna could be run in three hours. There are, however, people living in Warren today who have left Ravenna at eight or nine o'clock in the morning and not reached Warren till after the darkness had settled down. As the coach lines became more numerous, people traveled by horseback or wagon from one line to another, or from their town to a line many miles distant, if they wanted to take an unusual trip. The following people petitioned the legislature in 1815 to incorporate a company to make a turnpike road from Warren to points along the fourth range of townships to Lake Erie : Benj. Lane, Seymour Austin, James Quigley, Isaac Heaton, John Hayes, Jeremiah Brooks, Mark Wescott, John Dennison, E. Quinby, Wm. Anderson, Geo. Parsons, Francis Freeman, Barber King, A. McKinney, Calvin Pease, Elihu Spenser, Hezekiah Knapp, E. B. Clark, Daniel Bell, Samuel Quinby, Linus Tracy, Mark Leavitt, Elihu Whitney, Leonard Case, Simon Perkins, Zalmon Fitch, Adamson Bentley, John Leavitt and Thomas Webb. This request was granted, and the action of this company is on record. Francis Freeman was the treasurer. Those having it in charge were exceedingly painstaking in their work, held meetings often, sometimes in Warren, sometimes at the home of Ephraim Brown in North Bloomfield, and sometimes farther up the line. This long, almost straight road from Lake Erie south Vol. I-9 130 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY through. Bloomfield, Bristol, Champion, Warren, was one of the best roads Old Trumbull County had. Later this was planked at least part of the way. Between Warren and Bloomfield (fifteen. miles) there was ten miles of plank road. Toll gates were established; one of them was just north of Warren, in the neighborhood of the present "Poor Farm"; another one was in Bristol. The writer remembers to have ridden by the gate in Champion when a child in the late sixties, but whether they were exacting toll at that time or not she can not remember. In 1818 the legislature was asked to allow a road to be made from Kinsman to Cleveland via Bloomfield. The first supervisor of highways in old Trumbull County was Thomas Packard, a brother of William Packard and an uncle of Ellen Packard Campbell, now living in Warren. It seems strange that William D. and J. W. Packard, who were among those responsible, because of their automobile factory, for the good roads of Trumbull County, should be the great-nephews of this first supervisor. In 1848, when Seabury Ford was nominated for governor at Columbus, some of the delegates going to that meeting had the hardest coaching trip of their lives. The two youngest members of that convention were Jacob B. Perkins of Warren and Ezra B. Taylor of Ravenna. They went part of the way by coach, part of the way by wagon. It was February. Many times they got out and walked, and, finally, when within eleven miles of Columbus, plastered with frozen mud and dirt, they abandoned the coach and walked in. The first stage coach running between Erie and Cleveland was in 1818. On September 27, 1827, an advertisement appeared in the Western Reserve Chronicle showing that the stages, which had been running from Warren to Youngstown, via Brookfield and Salem, to Erie, were then extended to Dunkirk. In 1828 the fare on the stage coach from Warren to Youngstown was 50 cents, and from Warren to Fairport was $1.75. "Now and Then," in the Chronicle, says that when Paltzgroff, Shoenberger, Fulk kept the hotel which then stood on the corner of Main and South streets, there were as many as eight coaches a day running from Ashtabula to Wellsville, and they stopped at this hotel for meals. If any reader does not sympathize with the movement to save the American forests, he has only to study the history of a HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 131 small portion of the United States to see how the cutting of the timber affects the size of rivers, consequently transportation, and prosperity generally. In 1806 the Legislature declared the Mahoning river navigable to Newton Falls. In 1829, navigable to Warren. "Flat boats were paddled from Pittsburg as far as Warren in all seasons easily, except at two or three shoals, where light lifting was needed." The early settlers had no roads, no bridges. When they came to the stream they waded or swam. After a time enterprising men, at the places where the road crossed the river, carried passengers on flat boats for money. In the auditor's office of Trumbull County we find the following: “At the general meeting of the board of commissioners in and for the County of Trumbull it was ordered that the sales for ferry license for the year 1811 shall be $4.00, and the pay allowed to receive for ferriage for each man and horse 12 1/2, cents, and 6 1/4 cents for each man or woman, 50 cents for loaded wagon and team, 37 1/2 cents for every other four-wheeled carriage, 18 cents for an empty cart and team or sled or sleigh and team, 5 cents for every horse, mare, mule or head of neat cattle, and 1 1/2 cents for each head of sheep and hogs. "Wm. McCombs, Clerk." Today there are about twenty-five bridges spanning the Mahoning river in Trumbull County. This number does not include railroad bridges. All creeks and rivulets have small bridges and sluice ways. The early settlers soon learned that because of the nature of the soil and the heavy timber, roads might have impassable places even in the summer time, and that the easiest way to travel was by stream where it was possible. Therefore in 1807 they decided to take some action for improving waterways or constructing new ones. They determined to improve the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas rivers, thus forming a means of communication between Lake Erie and the Ohio. They were to dredge, clear and deepen the rivers, make a road so good between the two that loaded wagons could be driven over it. The estimated cost for this was $12,000, and the legislature sanctioned it, but did not provide for taxa- 132 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY tion, allowing instead the running of a lottery by which the funds could be raised. There did not seem to be any question about this being the proper thing to do, and the men who had charge of it were among the most influential citizens. They were Samuel Huntington, Amos Spafford, John Walworth, Lorenzo Carter, James Kingsbury, Turhand Kirtland, Timothy Doan, Bezaleel Wells, Jonathan Cass, Seth Adams, Zachias A. Beatty and John Shorb. H. K. Morse of Poland has one of these original tickets of this lottery. It reads : "Cuyahoga & Muskegon Navigation Lottery. THIS Ticket entitles the bearer to such prize as shall be drawn against its number (if called for within twelve months after the drawing is completed), subject to the deduction of 121/, per cent. No. 4472. (Signed) "J. Walworth, Agent for Board of Commissioners." There were 12,800 tickets, price $5 each. The first prize was for $5,000; two prizes of $2,500; five prizes of $1,000; ten prizes of $500; fifty prizes of $100; one hundred prizes of $50; three thousand four hundred prizes of $10. The Commissioners had great faith in this lottery, and tickets were expected to be sold in Massachusetts, New York, and in local Ohio towns. However, the public did not take much interest in this matter, and after putting off the drawing from time to time, the scheme was finally abandoned and the money returned to those who had paid it. As early as January, 1817, a resolution on the construction of the Lake Erie and Ohio Canal was introduced into the legislature. In 1819 the question was again up. In 1820 a survey was authorized, and in 1822 the legislature provided for the survey of four routes; one was to run from Sandusky Bay to the Ohio river; one from Maumee river to the Ohio river ; one from Cuyahoga, or Black river, by way of the Muskingum, to the Ohio, and one from the mouth of the Grand river, via the Mahoning, to the Ohio. The commissioners into whose hands this work was given, at the following session of the legislature, reported that any of these routes could be used, but asked for more time to consider which was the most practical. At the session of 1823-24 they chose the one for the Scioto Valley, the Licking and upper Muskingum. In the summer of 1824 two HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 133 routes were determined upon, one from the Maumee river to Cincinnati, and one starting at the mouth of the Scioto, to Coshocton, and then up to the lake by three different routes. In 1825 the canal commissioners were ordered to proceed on these two routes. When completed the western one was called the Miami Canal, and the eastern the Ohio. From Coshocton the Ohio canal followed the Tuscarawas, cut the old portage and followed the Cuyahoga to Cleveland. Great preparations were made for the opening of this canal. General LaFayette was in this country, and it was expected that the first shovel of earth would be lifted by him at the portage summit. This was the very spot over which the men of 1799 came, which the earlier settlers had attempted to make a good road for the carrying of baggage. Two counties received their names from this spot—Portage and Summit. Unfortunately, General LaFayette had promised to be in Boston on July 4, 1825, and the whole plan was changed. The first ground was broken July 4, 1825, at Licking summit. Gov. DeWitt Clinton, of New York, who had been so interested in all canal projects, raised the first shovelful of earth. and ex-Governor Morrow of Ohio the second. Hon. Thos. Ewing of Lancaster, Ohio, was the orator of the occasion. The canal was completed from Cleveland to Akron in 1827, and in 1830 boats were running from Cleveland to the Ohio river. The Mahoning Canal was a branch of the Ohio, running from Akron to Beaver. From that point the river was used to Pittsburg. The residents of Portage and Trumbull counties worked long and faithfully to secure this canal. Conventions were held in Warren and in Ravenna, and in 1826 a bill for the incorporation of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal was prepared. This was passed by the legislature in 1827, and was to be effective when the state of Pennsylvania would pass a like one. The date of Ohio's act was January 10 of Pennsylvania's, April. Notwithstanding this good start, nothing was done until 1833, when meetings were again held and the charter of 1827 was renewed and granted December 31, 1835. Pennsylvania had also renewed its old charter. The city of Philadelphia was allowed to have $780,000 of the stock, and in less than an hour from the time the books were opened this was all taken. The whole amount of stock was to be a million dollars, and the remainder, $220,000, in a few weeks was taken by people in Portage and Trumbull counties. The stockholders met May 31, 1835, at New Castle: The survey was begun in June of 1835, near 134 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY Ravenna. The whole length of the canal from its intersection with the Pennsylvania Canal below New Castle to its intersection with the Ohio Canal at Akron covered 82 miles. Ditches led from some of the smaller lakes in western Portage county to the canal. These were known as "feeders." It was hard work to finance this as the work went on, and the governor of Ohio had to come to the assistance of the company, but in 1840 it was opened for business clear through. For twelve years this was a success, and then the building of the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad, running through Ravenna (1851), interfered with it largely, and the construction of the Cleveland & Mahoning Road brought about its destruction. People would neither ride nor ship goods on a slow line when there was a faster one, and in 1.863 the state sold the stock which. it had in the Mahoning branch of the canal to the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad Company. A few boats ran occasionally after that to pick up a little business which was off these railroads, but eventually the canal was abandoned. It was completed as far as Warren in 1.839. The Western Reserve Chronicle of May 23, 1839, says : “On Thursday last, May 23rd, our citizens were greeted with the arrival of a boat from Beaver. The packet Ontario, Captain Bronson in charge, came into town in gallant style, amid the roar of the cannon and shouts and hearty cheers of our citizens. The boat was crowded with gentlemen from Pennsylvania and along the line, and accompanied by four excellent bands of music. On arriving at the foot of Main street they were greeted by the Warren band, and a procession formed which marched through the square to the front of Towne's Hotel, where a neat and appropriate address was made to the passengers by John Crowell, Esq., mayor of the town. * * * * The rest of the day was spent in hilarity, and on Friday the boat left for Beaver, carrying about forty citizens of Youngstown, who were highly delighted with the excursion. * * * Arrangements had been made by Messrs. Clark & Co. for running a daily line of packets from this place to Beaver. Three boats, the Ontario, Huron and Hudson, are fitted up in superior style to carry fifteen tons of freight and sixty passengers, and to leave Warren daily at noon and arrive at Beaver next morning." HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 135 The committee of arrangements for this celebration were A. M. Lloyd, Lieut. J. Ingersoll, C. C. Seely, James Hoyt and J. D. Tayler. So far as we know, no descendants of these people are now living here except James, the son of James Hoyt, who now resides in the Hoyt homestead on Tod avenue, and Annie and Abbie Hoyt, nieces of James, and Mrs. Mary VanGorder Kinsman, a niece of Mr. Ingersoll. At four o'clock in the afternoon a banquet was served, over which Gen. J. W. Seely presided, and the toasts were many and patriotic. One of them was "The Packet Ontario—the first boat that ever floated the waters of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal." F. J. Clark of Beaver offered the toast, "The Village of Warren—we admire it not more for its own beauty than for the liberality and enterprise of its citizens." The music which followed this toast was "In the Green Village," and was played by the Youngstown Band. When the canal was completed to Akron there was another gala-day for Warren. Governor Porter of Pennsylvania came with the party, and there was hardly standing room on the packet. The visitors landed, walked in the deep mud up to the court house, where Gen. Simon Perkins read an address of welcome and Governor Porter and others replied. The party returned to the canal boat and proceeded to Akron. General Seely, who had been so much interested in the canal from the beginning, was taken ill on the boat going to Akron, and died soon after arrival. General Seely was the great-grandfather of Mrs. John (Mary Van Gorder) Kinsman. Warren was a lively place during the construction of the canal. In the first place, everybody was filled with enthusiasm and courage, and then it was necessary to employ a large number of men for the work, and the boarding of these men brought quite a revenue to the little village. As soon as the canal was finished warehouses were built along its banks. The main one stood on the east side of Main street, exactly opposite the Warren Paint Company's factory. M. B. Tayler owned this business, in whole or part, and long after the canal was abandoned his name, in large letters of a brownish-red color, still remained on the end of the warehouse. Mr. Tayler's sons, George and M. B., and his daughters, Mrs. H. T. McCurdy, Mrs. B. J. Taylor and Mrs. Lucy T. Page, still reside in Warren. Mr. William Minyoung afterwards conducted the business in this same building, and was a successful mer- 136 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY chant, dealing in flour, feed, etc. His daughter, Mrs. Predmore, and his son, William, live in Trumbull County, the former in Warren. After the canal was abandoned there was always more or less water in the bed, which was south of town. The canal entered Warren about where the B. & 0. road runs now, on the west side. There was a lock in the neighborhood of the Van Gorderdarn, and here the canal crossed the river. Because the canal bed inclined in a southerly direction, and because the river was near, water seeped through the lock, and when the river was high, ran over. In this stagnant water, which in the recollection of the writer was covered with a thick, green scum, mosquitoes bred, and spread malaria, so that Warren was for a time a malarious town. The general belief is that these mosquitoes little by little traveled down from the Cuyahoga river, where they were a pest. The towns along the canal,' after its opening, were infested with them, and after the abandonment were free from both mosquitoes and malaria. This back water, running from the VanGorder mill eastward, was used by children for skating in winter and for fishing in summer. Many a nice string of sunfish has been snatched from this water in a few hours' time by little folks of that day. Before the completion of the canal the farmers in this part of the country made cheese. These were cared for in warehouses, and when cured were hauled to Pittsburg for market. Iron, nails, glass, cotton goods, and dry goods were exchanged in Pittsburg and brought back. Sometimes the Warren merchants, Henry and Charles Smith, particularly, when the river was high, would buy a raft or flat-boat and load it "with cheese, whiskey, dried apples and wooden clocks and go to Rochester, Pennsylvania," and then float down the Beaver and Ohio to Cincinnati, selling their products as they went. The Mahoning Canal was not only a great advantage to the county seat of Trumbull County,. but it was of great advantage to Niles and to Newton Falls, both of which were flourishing villages. It filled a temporary want, and it proved to the people of Trumbull County that if they had means for transporting their products they would become a very prosperous people. In one year, 1844, M. B. Tayler bought and shipped 1,309,620 pounds of cheese. In 1840 there was built in Warren a canal boat known as the Trumbull. It was made as large as could go through the HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 137 locks, and the Presbyterian church promised its Sunday school scholars a ride to Youngstown. Consequently, on Saturday morning, July 4th, the children gathered at M. B. Tayler's warehouse and were surprised to find the banks of the canal fairly lined with the residents of the town. When they were all aboard there were so many of them that the deck was black and there was little place to sit or rest. The man who was steering could not see the bank, and every little while would run into it. Much time was consumed in backing off until they got into slack water. They had a delightful time going down, went to Rayen's grove, where the pie, the cake, the ginger bread and lemonade were as free as air. The sun was getting low before they started for home. Surely somebody was short-sighted. They worked their way until they reached Girard, where the boat was stopped, candles and potatoes secured. The latter were to serve as sticks for the former. By the light of these tallow dips the noble ship proceeded. Whether it was imagination, too much cake, or whether there was a motion to the boat is not known, but what is known is that nine-tenths of the gallant passengers suffered tortures from anal de men Mr. Irwin Ladd, now in the eighties, then a boy, wearing his Sunday suit, was a passenger. He suffered less from sickness than many of his boy friends. One of these, Fitch Adams, was desperately sick, and Irwin held him in his arms, notwithstanding he realized that his Sunday suit, because of contact with Fitch, would never be the same again. So greatly did young Adams appreciate this kindness that he said nothing would ever be too good for Irwin, and nothing he could ever do would be too much trouble for him to do. He was as good as his word. It was between one and two o'clock a. m. of July 5th when the Trumbull was made fast at Tayler's warehouse. It had. been eight hours coming from Youngstown. Among some of the Warren residents who participated in this voyage were Whittlesey Adams, Sarah H. Van Gorder, James G. Brooks, all of whom are still living. It is seen that the canoe, the horse and saddle, the stage coach and the canal were not sufficient, nor efficient to take care of the travel and traffic of north-eastern Ohio. In 1827 plans were formulated for connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio river by railroad. The point of starting on the lake was not definitely fixed, but it was to be either in Lake or Ashtabula counties, and it was to touch the Ohio river somewhere in Colum- 138 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY biana county. One million dollars was to be used in its construction. A few men could see the advantage of this, but even after the result of having a canal was seen, there were conservatives, and the money was not raised. Eleven years later a company known as the Ashtabula, Warren & East Liverpool R. R. Co. was formed for the same purpose, but this time there was added $500,000 to their capitalization. The panic of 1836 and '37 put an end to this plan. In the meantime the usual thing happened, that is, there was a compromise—the Ohio Canal was built. However, the stage coaches continued to run and men believing in railroads continued to work. The first railroad built running through Trumbull County was the Cleveland & Mahoning. The conception of this enterprise was had at Warren. The charter was granted February 22, 1848, but the work was not commenced until 1853. Mr. Wirt W. Abell, a grandson of James Scott, still residing in Warren, was a member of the engineer corps which worked on this (Erie) railroad. He says the first engine for that road arrived in Warren from Cleveland on the Erie Canal, and was slid over on iron rails and set up on the track. Mr. W. S. Crawford, who had lived in Gustavus but then resided in Girard, was the first conductor, and acted in that capacity for twelve or fifteen years. Junius Dana at one time had a run on this road as conductor, but kept it only a little time. The first train run on this road was July 1, 1856, and on the 4th of July a special train was run from Warren to Cleveland. The east terminal of the road at that time was about where the Warren Electric & Specialty Company's building now stands. There were several coaches for the accommodation of ladies, and flatcars, with boards across, for men. Among the Trumbull County directors at that time were Junius Dana, Jacob and Henry B. Perkins, Charles Smith and Frederick Kinsman. To Mr. Jacob Perkins is due the success of this road, because at several times when financial disaster seemed imminent he encouraged his business associates and, at one time, stood personally responsible for a large amount of indebtedness. He died in 1859, but the people of the Mahoning Valley, even to this third generation, feel grateful to him for his courage displayed at that time. He did not foresee it, but this act of his added largely to his personal fortune. In 1860 the engines running on the Mahoning Road had names, and one of HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 139 these, the newest and best, was called "Jacob Perkins." The Cleveland & Mahoning road in the beginning was and is now a paying one, and after its consolidation, or, rather, its lease, its steady earnings were of great financial benefit to the lessor. In 1851 the Franklin & Warren Railroad Company was organized, the purpose of which was to construct a railroad from Franklin (now Kent), Portage county, through Warren, to Pennsylvania. There were a number of plans for the construction of railroads which would eventually join with this, but in the beginning only this short line was to be constructed. It was broad-gauged, but after several years of trial the width was made standard. All attempts at wide or narrow gauge railroads have been failures. So far as the writer knows, the only living original director of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad is E. B. Taylor of Warren. Lewis Iddings, H. B. Perkins and J. N. Tyler were a commitee to investigate where the road should go through Warren. This road, like all other early railroads, had its financial troubles, and was finally financed by an English company, foremost among whom was McHenry. The road was finally completed, and the English party came to New York City and made a trip over the route. The people of Trumbull County, although exceedingly self-respecting, always have been devoid of airs. When the English party arrived in Warren, at the small station standing on the east side of Mahoning avenue, where Mrs. Dietrich now lives, many citizens were at the depot. Possibly there was a regularly appointed committee to receive the guests. General Thomas J. McLain, who was a prominent citizen, a lawyer, a banker, a man of fine presence, extended a word of greeting on behalf of the townspeople. The Englishman replied and McHenry was loudly called for. He was so modest, unassuming or insignificant looking that he was not recognized, although he had been standing on the platform all the time. In those days the Illustrated London News was taken very largely by the people of the United States, many copies arriving regularly in Warren. In the course of time, a report of this railroad trip appeared and the citizens of Warren had a good deal of fun at the expense of General McLain, because in relating the stop at Warren, the reporter had said, among other things, "Here (Warren) the peasantry was all out in its holiday attire, and one large .peasant stepped forth and addressed us." After a time the Atlantic & Great Western Road, through -various changes and leases, became the New York, Pennsylvania 140 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY and Ohio Railroad Company, and finally, the Cleveland-Mahoning Company and the Franklin-Warren Railroad Company were leased by the Erie. The Ashtabula & New Lisbon Railroad referred to above, had only constructed thirty-five miles, when, in 1869, it was sold to private parties and operated until 1872, when it was leased to the Erie. It was the third railroad constructed in Trumbull County. A small line of road known as the Liberty & Vienna, which was built in 1868 and extended to Youngstown in 1870, became part of the Cleveland-Mahoning Valley Railroad Company at the time of the consolidation. In 1870 a company known as the Ashtabula, Youngstown and Pittsburg Railroad Company was chartered and entered into contract with the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad Company, to construct a line from the terminals of the Lawrence branch of the Pennsylvania road at Youngstown, to Ashtabula. A piece of road from Niles towards Ashtabula, and another part of the Liberty & Vienna Company from Youngstown to Niles, were purchased, a connecting link from Niles to Girard was constructed in 1873. This was the fifth railroad built in Trumbull County and was a part of the Pennsylvania System. In 1870 a company was organized for the construction of the first narrow-gauge line in this part of Ohio, if not in the state. The partially constructed Painesville and Hudson road was bought for $60,000, and in 1873 ears were running from Painesville to Chardon. Later arrangements were made with the contractors whereby the road was completed' to Niles, the 1st of January, 1874, and a little later reached Youngstown. The road went into the hands of a receiver in 1877 and after some delay became the property of a new company, under the name of the Painesville & Youngstown Railroad Company. About $1,300,000 in stocks and mortgages was the price paid. Just as the broad-gauge had not proved satisfactory, so was this narrow-gauge unsatisfactory. Time could not be taken to shift freight or passengers from one car to another. The gauge had to be uniform to avoid delay. Within a few years this road came in conjunction with the B. & 0. at DeForest and it was leased or bought by the B. & 0. It is the outlet from the Valley to the lake of the B. & 0. System. In its early days its nick name was the Peewee, but now it is known as the Lake division of the B. & 0. There are two or three railroads which run through Trum- HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 141 bull County, crossing townships here and there, but they were in no sense developed or financed by Trumbull County men or money. In 1881 the Pittsburg, Youngstown & Chicago Railroad Company was incorporated in Ohio, and a similar company incorporated in Pennsylvania. This road intended to run from Pittsburg, through Youngstown and Akron, to Chicago Junction. These companies in the same year were consolidated. In 1882, the Pittsburg, Cleveland & Toledo Railroad Company was incorporated, as was another company, which was to run a line from New Castle Junction to the Ohio state line. That same year these two companies were consolidated under the title of the Pittsburg, Cleveland & Toledo Railroad Company. The capitalization was $3,000,000. Chauncey H. Andrews was president, and W. J. Hitchcock and Lucian E. Cochran, all of Youngstown, were associated with him. This road became the Pittsburg & Western Railroad Company, and later the B. & 0. Company purchased the controlling stock of the Pittsburg & Western and it became a part of the B. & 0. System. CHAPTER XVI.—BENCH AND BAR. INTRODUCTION.—BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.—STORIES.-----LIST OF JUDGES. NOTE.—The first page of this chapter on Bench and Bar was written by Hon. F. E. Hutchins, assistant attorney general of the United States. He also wrote the sketch of Ezra B. Taylor, his life-long friend. The author of this volume wrote the rest of this chapter and is responsible for any errors contained therein, although Mr. Hutchins read it. When Connecticut sold to the Land Company, she parted, so far as she could, with all her rights, jurisdictional as well as to the soil, but whether a state could transfer its jurisdiction over half its territory to a party of private land speculators and confer upon them governmental jurisdiction, was a serious question. Certainly the purchasers never attempted to exercise any such governmental jurisdiction or to enact any laws. They made frequent applications to Connecticut to extend her jurisdiction and laws over the territory, and to the United States to accept jurisdiction, but all were refused. The purchasers and settlers repudiated the Ordinance of 1787 as extending to this territory because to accept it would be to admit a superior title in the United States, which would be fatal to that of Connecticut and therefore fatal to that of the Land Company, and the settlers. Subsequently, in 1800, acts of Congress and the Connecticut legislature confirmed the title of Connecticut to the soil on the Reserve on the one hand, and relieved the United States of all jurisdiction over it on the other. And then, for the first time in its history, the Western Reserve came within any civil jurisdiction, and its people were protected and governed by law. But from the time of this sale by Connecticut to the Connecticut Land Company, in 1795, to this acceptance of jurisdiction, in 1800, the Western Reserve was absolutely without law or government of any kind. There were no courts, no laws, no records, no magistrates or police, and no modes of enforcing or protect- - 142 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 143 ing land titles, contracts or personal rights. It was a veritable "no-man's land" so far as government and law was concerned. This was a poor place for lawyers, as it always is where people will behave themselves without them. It was not even a pure democracy, for there the people meet to enact laws and enforce rights. Here they did not and could not. Some seventy miles of unbroken wilderness of forest, lakes and swamps, separated the two settlements at Cleveland and Youngstown. And yet, so trained in civil government and obedience to law were the settlers that they felt no need of either. Lands were bought and sold, personal contracts were made, marriages solemnized, and personal rights respected as in the best governed societies, and all without government and without law. In the same year (1800) that the Reserve came within civil jurisdiction, the whole was organized into one county, with the county seat at Warren. The first judges of the Northwest territory appointed by the president of the United States were Samuel Holden Parsons, James Mitchell Varnum, and John Cleves Symmes. Of these three, Judge Symmes is the best remembered because of his claim of a hollow earth, and because of his connection with the famous Harrison family. He was born in New Jersey, but early emigrated to this country, where he became a valiant soldier. After army service he devoted himself to a theory, his own invention, which declared the earth to be hollow, open at the poles, and inhabitable within. His followers were more in number than it is possible for us today to believe, and he even asked Congress to make an appropriation to test out his theory. It does not seem possible that a man who could believe in so foolish a theory, could have been a college graduate, a delegate to the Provincial Congress, active in framing the constitution of his own state (New Jersey), delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, and judge of the Northwest Territory. Gen. Lew Wallace, in his life of President Benjamin Harrison, says : "The wooing and winning of Anna Symmes by William Henry Harrison is not without romantic coloring. When Fort Washington was established at Cincinnati, Harrison was stationed there. Duty called the gallant captain to North Bend, and he became a guest at the Symmes residence. It was not long until he succumbed to the black eyes of Miss Anna. She was at the time twenty years of age, small, graceful, intelligent and by general agreement beauti- 144 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY ful. Ile was twenty-two years of age, with a reputation well established as a gallant soldier. The two were mutually pleased with each other, and an engagement followed, which could hardly fail to be satisfactory to the father. The Judge, in fact, consented to the marriage; but, hearing some slanderous reports of the captain, he afterwards withdrew his consent. The lovers were in nowise daunted. They resolved to proceed with their engagement. November 29, 1795, the day appointed for the wedding, arrived. Judge Symmes, thinking the affair off or declining to be present, rode to Cincinnati, leaving the coast clear. "In the presence of the young lady's step-mother and many guests the ceremony was performed by Dr. Stephen Wood, a justice of the peace. "Undoubtedly the father of the bride was a person of great importance at that time. He was a high dignitary of the United States government and proprietor of a tract of land ducal in proportions. The lady was beautiful, young, charming, of Eastern education and manners. The bridegroom on his side had fought his way to a captaincy, which was a much more influential argument in that day than this, especially in social circles. With these points in mind, it would not be strange if a reader, giving reign to his fancy, should picture the wedding as of exceeding splendor of circumstance. It was the very reverse. To arrive at the facts the time and the condition of the people of the region must be considered. The west was in its densest wilderness. There were no luxuries. To be comfortable was to be rich. There was no aristocracy. Store goods were scarce and at prices out of reach. Weeks of travel were required to get to and from the mills. For summer wear the settlers depended in great part upon the fibre of thistle, a certain species of which, growing spontaneously in the woods, fell down and rotted in the winter and was gathered in the spring and cleaned and woven by the women. Indeed, the probabilities are that the company assembled to witness the marriage of Captain Harrison and Miss Anna Symmes would astonish polite circles of today. They arrived on horseback, each man carrying a rifle, a powder-horn and a pouch lined with patching and bullets. Traveling by narrow paths cut through thickets of blackberry and alder bushes and undergrowth of every variety, each step taken might be into an ambush HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 145 of Indians. They moved in the mood and ready for instant combat. A wife, coming with her husband, rode behind him. They dismounted at the door, as it was winter; ten to one he wore buckskin for coat and breeches, and a coonskin cap, while she was gay with plaided linsey-woolsey of her own weaving, cutting and sewing. Her head was protected from the wind by a cotton handkerchief. Coarse shoes supplied the place of slippers. The wedding cake was of New England doughnuts. On the sideboard there were jugs of cider, very hard at that, and whiskey none the worse for its home brewing, and they were there to be drank. The dancing, with which the fete was most likely rounded off in the evening, was to a fiddle in the hand of a colored artist who knew the plantation jigs as a mocking bird knows his whistle. The pigeon-wing with which the best dancers celebrated the balance all was cut with feet yellow with moccasins. Such was in probability the general ensemble of the wedding. " The bride may have had an outfit of better material. So recently from the east, she may have had a veil, a silk frock and French slippers. The bridegroom, of course, wore his captain's uniform, glittering with bullet-buttons of burnished brass, and high boots becoming an aide in favor with his chief, the redoubtable Anthony Wayne, whom the Indians were accustomed to describe as 'the warrior who never slept.' Taken altogether, the wedding celebrated at Judge Symmes' house that November day, 1795, cannot be cited in proof of a charge of aristocratic pretension on the part of the high contracting parties. "Sometime afterwards Judge Symmes met his son-in-law. The occasion was a dinner party given by General Wilkinson to General Wayne. " 'Well sir,' the judge said, in bad humor, 'I understand you have married Anna.' " Yes, sir,' Harrison answered. " 'How do you expect to support her?' " 'By my sword and my own right arm,' was the reply. "The judge was pleased, became reconciled, and in true romantic form happily concluded the affair by giving the couple his blessing." Judges Parsons, Varnum and Symmes, or any two of them, constituted a court of common law jurisdiction. Their commis- Vol. I-10 146 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY sion extended during good behavior. The next lower court was the county court of common pleas and the general quarter sessions of the peace. The court of common pleas must consist of three judges, not more than seven, and their jurisdiction was concurrent in the respective counties with that of the supreme court. The general quarter sessions of the peace was obliged to hold three terms each year, was limited in criminal jurisdiction, and the number in each county was determined by the government. "Single judges of the common pleas and single justices of quarter sessions were also clothed with certain civil and criminal powers, to be exercised outside of court. The probate court of each county had the jurisdiction ordinarily granted to it." Judge Henry Clay White, in Bench and Bar of Ohio, says : " The expenses of the system were defrayed in part by the national government and in part by assessment upon counties, but principally by fees which were payable to every officer concerned in the administration of justice, from the judges of the general court downward." The quorum which is often noted in the early accounts of the history of Trumbull County consisted of five justices of the peace chosen from the county justices who were appointed by the territorial government. This quorum was required to meet three times a year (that is, every four months) and was called the "Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace." It is often called "The Primitive Court of the North-West Territory." Most of the diaries and books of the early surveyors and first settlers contain lively descriptions of the first court of quarter sessions for Trumbull County. It was held between two corn-cribs on Main street, near the spot where the Erie station now stands, in 1800. August 25th chanced to be a pleasant day, so there was no need of shelter. Some of the diaries call this spot the "Public Square" or "Common." As many men attending this session had to come on horseback, or on foot, court was not called until four o'clock in the afternoon. It lasted five days, and Calvin Pease, one of the most capable and brilliant men of that early time, reference to whom occurs in several places in this history, writes as follows : "Court of general quarter sessions of the peace, begun and holden at Warren, within and for said County of Trum- HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 147 bull, on the fourth Monday of August, in the year of our Lord 1800, and of the independence of the United States the twenty-fifth. Present, John Young, Turhand Kirtland, Camden Cleveland, James Kingsbury, and Eliphalet Austin, esquires, justices of the quorum, and others, their associates, justices of the peace, holding said court. The following persons were returned, and appeared on the grand jury and were empaneled and sworn, namely : Simon Persons* (foreman), Benjamin Stowe, Samuel Menough, Hawley Tanner. Charles Day, Ebenezer King, William Cecil, John Hart Ad-gate, Henry Lane, Jonathan Church, Jeremiah Wilcox, John Partridge Bissell, Isaac Palmer, George Phelps, Samuel Quinby and Moses Parks. The court appointed George Tod, Esquire, to prosecute the pleas of United States for the present session, who took the oath of office. The court ordered that the private seal of the clerk shall be considered the seal of the county, and be affixed and recognized as such till a public seal shall be procured. The court appointed Amos Spa ford, Esq., David Hudson, Esq., Simon Perkins, Esq., John Miner, Esq., Aaron Wheeler, Esq., Esward [certainly Edward] Paine, Esq., and Benjamin Davis, Esq., a committee to divide the County of Trumbull into townships, to describe the limits and boundaries of each township, and to make report to the court thereof." Although Judge Parsons was, so far as we know, the first lawyer to take up land in New Connecticut and to discharge his duties as a judge, John S. Edwards was the first to really practice his profession. He was a graduate of Yale College, studied law in New Haven in Judge Reeve's celebrated law school in Litchfield, Conn. He was admitted to practice in 1799, being twenty-two years old. His father had obtained the township of Mesopotamia in the distribution of the land by the Connecticut Land Company, and young Edwards came into that unbroken district to prepare a settlement. His granddaughter, Louisa Edwards of Youngstown, still owns a farm in Mesopotamia. His son says : "What other persons preceded him or went with him, or how long he stayed, or what he accomplished, I am not informed, but I have understood he was especially glad when *NOTE.--Undoubtedly a misprint for Perkins.—ED. 148 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY he got a few trees cut down and let in the sun. I know of no incident but only of his first night in Warren, to which he refers in after time with amusement. The place was the floor of a cabin, crowded with emigrants, and somewhat promiscuous." He returned to Connecticut that fall, but came back in the spring and practiced law, which, of course, must have been such law as would pertain to drawing of papers necessary in the buying and selling of land, the making of land contracts, etc., since there were no courts. When the county seat was established, Governor St. Clair appointed him recorder of Trumbull County, and this office he held until the time of his death in 1813. He lived in Mesopotamia until he moved to Warren. The following is a quotation from his journal, dated February 4th, 1804: “We have been, as it were, for about six weeks shut out from the world, during a greater part of which time the snow has been from two to three feet deep and the creeks and rivers almost impassable. Our mails have been very irregular. I live as formerly, but, having a stiller house and my business better arranged, am able to pay more attention to my books and have, for the last sit months, spent all my leisure time at them, and shall continue so to do. Law business is generally very much increasing, and my share of it in particular. Though I live very much out of the way of business, I commenced for the coming court as many suits as either of my brethren. [Probably means Tappan and Tod.] I have not as yet moved to Warren, but still have it in contemplation. Our country is rapidly improving. The prospects of the settlement about me seem to brighten. Next spring we elect our militia officers from a brigadier general down. The public mind begins to be considerably awakened at its near approach, and there will be a vast deal of heart-burning. As I shall seek for no promotion in that line, and of course shall not receive any, I shall remain an idle spectator of the scene." On June 15, 1809, he says : " The business of my profession alone is sufficient to support me handsomely, independent of my recordership, and I have the satisfaction to believe that mine is the best of any of my brethren." On October 17, 1808, he writes : "The multiplicity of HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 149 my employment and the constant attention which I am under the necessity of giving to my business leaves me but little leisure. * * * * * In my profession am very successful, having much the largest share of the business within the circuit." January 22, 1810: "I have every success in my profession which I have a right to expect. I am able to do considerably more than support my family, and the style of my living is equal to that of any of the people about me. I am not in the way of receiving any of the honors of office and whether I could gain them if I wished I do not know, having never made the experiment." In this Mr. Edwards was mistaken. In 1812 he was elected a member of Congress to represent the sixth district. This was the first congressional election after the division of the state into districts. At that time the district was composed of the counties of Trumbull, Ashtabula, Geauga, Cuyahoga, Portage, Columbiana, Stark, Tuscarawas, Wayne, Knox and Richmond. He did not live to take his seat. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards were both strong and unusual characters, and were so closely identified with all the early life of Trumbull County that those interested in that side of this history will find much which is of interest in regard to them in the earlier chapters. A few months after Mr. Edwards arrived in New Connecticut Hon. Benjamin Tappan appeared. Enroute he had many vicissitudes and misfortunes, under which most men would have succumbed some boats belonging to his party were thrown upon the lake shore in a storm, his first load of goods put in camp was stolen while he was transporting a load to the present site of Ravenna, one of his oxen was killed by being bitten by insects, and he found himself in a new country without food or money. He was born in Massachusetts, had a good education, was admitted to the bar. In 1800 he returned to Connecticut and married Miss Nancy Wright, a member of a distinguished family and herself a strong character. He was attorney in many important cases of the early times, and was admitted to the Ohio bar at the same time that Huntington, Edwards and Tod were. He traveled back and forth from Ravenna to Warren, attending court, and was one of the lawyers in the McMahon case. In 1803 he was chosen to represent Trumbull district in the Ohio senate,