400 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY as each family directed. Daily mail service was established through Saybrook in 1821. The South Ridge was the original route of travel, the North Ridge road not having been laid out till 1815. A schoolhouse served the town as a place for holding elections and other public meetings until 1871, when a town hall was erected near the "Corners". In the present period any town that lies along the lake shore, to insure its full quota of attractions, must have its township park. Saybrook was one of the first to establish a free recreation spot of this nature, and it has a spacious and attractive park on the bank of the lake, with bathhouses, pier, eating pavilion, ball ground, refreshment stand and other conveniences, and it is one of the popular outing spots along the lake. A short distance east of the township park is Red Brook, where a summer colony was started nearly a half century ago. About 40 years back a company was organized and purchased a section of lake frontage, platted it and sold lots, each lot owner becoming a shareholder in the company. There are today about 30 cottages, a dancing pavilion, tennis court, pier, electric lights, water service and all the comforts of home for those who spend their summers there. Most of the people own their own cottages and occupy them during the heated season, and therefore the colony is much like a big family party. This condition prevails all along the shore, and Saybrook's lake front is a scene of lively activity in the summer months. A short distance east of Red Brook is the Ashtabula Country Club's new home and golf links, the clubhouse to be opened this year for its first season. Several members of the club have purchased lake-front property and built some of the finest homes in this section thereon. Adjoining Red Brook on the west is Hallwood, one of the newest allotments to be opened, and cottages are rapidly being built therein. Next west is a considerable colony, Billow Beach, which started a few year ago with a couple of cottages and has assumed the proportions of a considerable settlement. A little farther west is East Geneva-on-the-Lake and a short distance west of the township park is Nineveh Beach, boasting several cottages. Thus it may be seen that Saybrook's lake front is a lively place in the summer seasons. The eastern part of Saybrook Township, adjacent to Ashtabula City and Harbor, embraces several thousand people in its population and in- HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 401 cludes Windermere, a new community section in the vicinity of the new car shops of the New York Central Railway, which are also in Saybrook, and which furnish livelihood for several hundred families. This shop plant is now but half of its contemplated size and is expected, in the near future, to be an immense establishment. There are also, in the eastern part, some of the largest greenhouse plants in the country, where are raised thousands of car loads of cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, and other vegetables, and also immense quantities of mushrooms, that supply the markets of New York, Chicago and other large cities. First Volunteer.—Among the claims that Saybrook makes is the proud one that one of her boys was the first man to enlist for service in the Civil War, which claim has been broadcasted and has never been questioned. One of the old-time residents of that township was Rodney Viets, one of the most radical abolitionists in this section (and that was saying a great deal). He was very active in connection with the transportation activities of the famous "Underground Railway", by which runaway slaves from the South were smuggled to the lake and across to Canada. Young Frank Viets, just attaining his majority at the time that the Civil War was about to break out, inherited much of his father's spirit, and was deeply interested in the cause of freedom. He often expressed a wish that he could be useful in some manner in the suppression of slavery, and when he learned that Captain Kenney was to organize a battery in Geneva, he decided that it was time for him to move. One evening he talked the matter over with his father and it was agreed that the young man should go and enlist. Accordingly, next morning, he went to Geneva, hunted up Henry Munger, who was a friend of the Viets family, and the two went together to the office of Captain Kenney, where young Viets was regularly enlisted as a United States soldier. He was back home in time for dinner, and upon arriving learned that President Lincoln had the night before issued the proclamation calling for 75,000 troops for three months' service. He joined the Geneva battery and was with them throughout their campaign. He was the lead rider of the three teams hauling the Geneva gun. After the return of the battery, when the new one was organized, Viets was one of the first to signify his desire to become a member. His service gained for him advancement, and Maj. Frank Viets is still living in a far Western state. (24) CHAPTER XXXVI. SHEFFIELD TOWNSHIP. SAMUEL MATHER, JR.-ORIGINAL OWNER-FIRST SETTLER-OTHER SETTLERS- ORGANIZED IN 1820-FIRST OFFICERS-RELIGIOUS SERVICES-FARMING AND DAIRY INDUSTRY. Township No. 12, of Range No. 2, of Ashtabula County, was christened Sheffield when it was disconnected from Kingsville, as a separate township, in the year 1820. Prior to that time that portion of Kingsville had been called East Matherstown, to distinguish it from Matherstown, a name by which Saybrook was at one time known. Samuel Mather, Jr., one of the stockholders in the Connecticut Land Company, had been the original owner of the Sheffield tract, and he had divided it between his three children, giving each an equal share. None of them, however, became actual residents of the township. Matthew Hubbard and Henry Parsons, of Ashtabula, were employed by the heirs to dispose of the land and it was parceled out to settlers. The earliest comers found that the Ashtabula River, which traversed the north-central portion of the township, from east to west, constituted the only break in the otherwise solid forest that covered the land. In 1811 one Moore came into the Sheffield section and built a log cabin, in which he lived for a time, and then moved on farther west. John Shaw was the next man on the scene, he coming in 1812. He was the first permanent settler, and his descendants are still to be found in and about this locality. Shaw was said to have been a deserter from the English army. His son, Truman, told of his father's experience, and how he came to this country. According to his account, the elder Shaw was a soldier in the British army in Canada at the opening of the War of 1812 between the British and Americans, but, chafing under the bondage to which British soldiers were subjected, and hearing of the "Free America", he decided to make a change. Accordingly, he and several - 402 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 403 others who shared his feelings embarked in a small boat from Long Point and crossed Lake Erie to the American shore. The winds and tides sent the boat up the lake, and when they reached this side they made landing at Ashtabula, in the night, and fared inland till they were far enough away from the lake to feel safe from any possibility of capture. In about the year 1815 several families came into Sheffield, among them being noted the Mendalls and Springsteads. One of Reuben Mendall's daughters was the bride in the first wedding ceremony performed in the township, a justice of the peace, Smith Webster, coming over from Kingsville to tie the knot, and the event was attended by no little difficulty in the preliminaries. To Chauncy Atwater was given the task of procuring the necessary license, which he did by walking to Jefferson. On the return with the precious document in his pocket he got off his course and spent the night in the forest. Next day, when he had again obtained his bearings and came to the river, he found that the rains of the night before had caused the) stream to swell to an extent that made it impossible to cross at the ford, and he had to take a roundabout course to the bridge at Kelloggsville, thus adding about 10 miles to his return journey. In the year 1817 additions were made to the colony by arrival of the families of Chauncey Atwater and some others, and following them came Phinneas Webster, Samuel P. Castle, Thomas Fargo, Zebediah Whipple, John R. Gage, Elam Osborn, John Usher and others. Most of these newcomers settled about the northern part of the township and in the vicinity of the river. At the organization of the township of Sheffield, in 1820, a very modest list of officers was named : One trustee, John Gage ; John Briggs, justice of the peace ; Chauncey Atwater, clerk, and Samuel Johnson, treasurer. Clarissa Cassell taught school in a log cabin prior to 1819, when the first building was put up expressly for school purposes. Ten years later the general utility building which came to be known as "The Red Schoolhouse" was erected, and it served the town for all public meetings and also for religious assemblages for a number of years. The Methodists were the pioneers in holding religious services and they were organized into a church in 1824. Elder Lane, an itinerant preacher of the Erie Conference, preached for this congregation once a month for some time. The Baptist Church was organized by and its pastoral requirements served by the Rev. Edmund Richmond, who gave the 404 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY land for the church house and assisted in its building. The organization was in 1835, and Rev. Richmond's pastorate continued until his death in 1861. The Free-Will Baptists organized in 1839, and built their church in 1853. The Rev. M. L. Rollin was its first pastor. The Rev. George Sleeper and Ambrose Shelley were chiefly instrumental in the organization of the United Brethren church in 1857. The splendid pasturage of Sheffield made it an ideal section for dairy farming, and the town soon took its place with other prosperous sections of the county in the cheese-making industry. The ample free water power was also conducive to milling industries, and the banks of the river boasted numerous saw and grist mills. The first mercantile establishment in the township was carried on by Salmon Chandler, who conducted a general store. In 1845 David Richmond was appointed the town's first postmaster. It is said that the income of the office for the first three months of its history was 83 cents. H. G. Hinds built a hotel at the Center, in 1861. CHAPTER XXXVII. TRUMBULL TOWNSHIP. ORGANIZED 1N 1825-FIRST OFFICERS-FIRST WHITE SETTLER-OTHER EARLY SETTLERS-SETTLEMENTS-FIRST EVENTS-IN THE CIVIL WAR-REMINISCENCES BY JOEL BLAKESLEE. In the records of the county commissioners may be found the following entry, made on March 7, 1825: "On the representation of Isaac H. Phelps and others, it was ordered that all that part of the township of Harpersfield, in the fifth range, between the north line of the township at Windsor and the south line of No.- 11 in said range, be erected into a new township by the name of Trumbull, and that the first meeting for the election of township officers shall be holden on the first Monday of April next at the house of Isaac H. Phelps." The organization meeting ordered in above quotation resulted in the naming of officers for the township as follows : Ezra Griffin, James Brown and Ezra Gregory, trustees ; Isaac H. Phelps, clerk; Ezra Griffin, treasurer ; 0. Brown and Daniel Woodruff, overseers of the poor ; D. Woodruff and O. Brown, fence viewers ; Ezra Gregory, lister and appraiser; Benjamin Moore, lister. At the following year's election the town took on added dignities by election of a justice of the peace and constable, the former being Isaac H. Phelps, and the latter Jehoikim Burget. Windsor being Township No. 8, and Harpersfield No. 11, the boundary given above includes what was later divided into Trumbull and Hartsgrove. This division was made in 1830 by the drawing of a line through the center, from east to west, and calling the north half thus made Trumbull, and the other half Hartsgrove. The first white man that undertook to settle in this territory, Trumbull, was Holly Tanner, whose experiences are the subject of another article. To him the owners of the tract deeded 200 acres of land, on con- - 405 - 406 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY dition that he move onto it, clear at least 20 acres and live upon it at least two years. Tanner met all the requirements of the agreement, excepting that of remaining a tenant for two years. After he and his wife had been there a year and a half, and no other families had come into the territory, they became discouraged and moved "back to civilization". The township continued in its state of uninterrupted tranquility after the departure of the Tanners, until 1818, before its silence was again broken by the arrival of Daniel Woodruff, who had come to stay, and following closely came Isaac H. Phelps, Obediah Brown and Leonard Blackmer. These families all settled in the eastern part of the township. Ezra Griffin, Nathaniel Brown, Ebenezer Andrews, Osborn M. Baker and others, with their families, followed within the next few years, and Trumbull began to assume a position of importance in the county. The township of Trumbull included three distinct settlements that were known, respectively, as Trumbull Center, in the center of the township ; East Trumbull, on Trumbull creek, in the southeastern part of the township, and Footville, also on Trumbull Creek, but in the southwestern portion. A postoffice was established at the Center, in 1823, in the home of Isaac Phelps, who was named postmaster; and in 1848 East Trumbull was given a postoffice, with O. H. Price as postmaster. George Rich was proprietor of the first store in the village, at the Center, which opened for business in 1847, the stock of goods being brought from Cleveland by wagon. The first schools were established at the Center in 1829, and at Footville in 1842. Daniel Woodruff and wife were parents of the first white child born in the township, a boy, who made his debut in 1819. The first death chronicled was also in that year, being Leonard Blackmer, who died from the effects of injuries sustained in his efforts to capture a big elk single-handed. East Trumbull boasted the first tavern, which was established by A. T. Codding, in 1839. Scott Jenks built and opened a hotel at the Center in 1858. Trumbull Creek, flowing through the southern section of the township, toward the Grand River, has played a prominent part in the commercial activities of Trumbull. Many mills, in the earlier years, when water power HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 407 was the predominating force for mills, were built along its banks. The township also had its share of prosperous cheese factories, located in different sections. The Rev. Giles W. Cowles, in 1819, preached the first sermon ever heard in the township, to a small party congregated at the home of Daniel Woodruff. From that time meetings were held at the homes of residents from time to time, and the Methodists organized in the early years of the town's history. The first church building erected was for that organization and was put up in 1855. The Disciple Church was organized in 1859, with a membership of eleven women and four men. This society increased rapidly and, in 1874, built a church home, and another society of the same denomination put up a church in East Trumbull in the same year. The Trumbull Grange was organized in 1873, and there was also a lodge of the I. 0. G. T. that flourished for some years. One of Trumbull's claims for credit was that it furnished more men and more financial support to the government during the war of the rebellion than any other township in the county of the same population and financial standing. The first road built through Trumbull was laid out in an irregular course from north to south, somewhat east of the center of the township. It was put in as a means of communication and travel from Harpersfield to Warren, before the white man's ax had been used, otherwise, in the township. The county road was put through the center of the township in 1816, and was adopted as a state road in 1820. Other early day highways that formed the principal routes of travel are found on the records to have been laid out from time to time as need demanded. The East road was broken through from Mechanicsville in 1820 in 1835 a road was ordered to begin at the north line of the township and run southward through the township, one mile west of the center road, and in 1837 another, beginning at the east-and-west road on the south side of Grand River, in Harpers-, field, between lots 108 and 109, and running southward to intersect a new road laid out in Trumbull. Other roads, through and intersecting, were built as the settlement increased. The town's latest glory was the brick paved road that was built in the summer of 1923, from Hartsgrove straight north, through the center of the fifth range of townships. Trumbull was always a distinctively farming and dairying section, but it had one manufacturing plant of some pretensions, for a number of 408 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY years. That was a shoe peg and clothes pin factory that was located at Footville, and employed about 25 hands up to the time of its destruction by fire on January 15, 1868. Joel Blakeslee, a local chronologer of the middle of the last century, contributed to the Ashtabula County Historical Society the following regarding the pioneer settler of Trumbull. It was written in 1853: "The following extracts are made from a communication from Mrs. Tanner and her son, who now live in Dover, Pa. It was written by the son and sent by Mr. Calvin Dodge, New Lyme merchant, who called at the Tanner home recently. The letter in part said : "I will try to tell you about the times some over 53 years ago. May 15, 1799, Holly Tanner and Hannah Tanner, who were my father and mother, and their two sons, David and Joseph, left Scipio, N. Y., for Ohio. With a number of families, they took a boat on Cayuga Lake, then Lake Ontario, hauled the boat around Niagara Falls on the Canadian side, and next onto Lake Erie ; then up Lake Erie, and on the sixteenth day of June they landed at Harper's Landing, Madison Dock. On the twenty-third day of July, the next month, 1799, my brother, James, was born in Harpers-field. He was the first white child they knew of being born in that region. I will now tell you the way they went to mill,, as I have often heard Father tell. A number went to the Marsh settlement, in Lake County, with the boat from Harper's Landing. They bought 60 or 70 bushels of grain, all that could be procured, for bread for all the families until the next harvest, and this was in November, 1799. After they returned, Johnathan Gregory and Father took the boat down the lake for grinding. Conneaut, I think, was the place. They got their grinding and, on their way home, just at night, a cold storm came up. They struck for shore for safety, and fortunately struck the mouth of a creek which had been barred up by sand, but the water had cut a narrow channel through which they ran the boat, struck a setting pole in the sand, tied the boat and then lay down to sleep. As they slept, Johnathan dreamed the boat was gone. He was weary and wakeful. He awoke. His dream made him feel uneasy. He got up and went to see whether his dream was false. The boat was gone. He went back and awoke Father, saying the boat was gone. 'Can you see it ?' said Father. 'I see something black on the lake ; what it is I can not tell.' Then Father went, stuck two stakes in the sand and took sight by them, saying, `It is the boat—it moves along.' Johnathan Gregory and Father must HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 409 have felt bad. They thought the boat and all was gone and they could not get it. It was then 80 or 90 yards off shore, and drifting farther away. This was late in the fall, a cold night, and in the boat all the breadstuff for all the families till the next harvest. As Father was a swimmer, and considering that drowning was not much worse than starving, should he not succeed, he stripped and plunged into the lake. He kicked and paddled till he reached the boat. Johnathan, in fearful anxiety on the shore, waited for Father's success until he had reached the boat and started it back, then he built a large, flaming fire, by which Father warmed himself, after Johnathan had helped him get the boat in. I have heard Father say he had a cold time of it, but he saved the boat, and incidentally the winter's breadstuff for the settlement." CHAPTER XXXVIII. WAYNE TOWNSHIP. ORGANIZED IN 1811-TOWNSHIP OFFICERS-THE HOME OF JOSHUA R. GIDDINGS -TITUS HAYS, FIRST SETTLER-EARLY CONDITIONS-FIRST WHITE CHILD - ESTABLISHMENT OF CHURCHES-SCHOOLS--CHEESE MAKING-MOUNDS. Prior to the year 1811, that section of Ashtabula County now included in Wayne, Williamsfield, Andover, Colebrook, Cherry Valley and New Lyme, constituted a part of Green Township, in Trumbull County. In that year this portion was set out and all included in the new township of Wayne. The records in the Trumbull County commissioner's office show that on April 11, 1811, this dissection took place, and at a called meeting, held at the home of Nathan Fobes, the following township officers were elected : George Wakeman, Joshua Giddings and Ezra Woodworth, trustees ; Nathaniel Coleman, clerk ; Thomas Ford, treasurer; Titus Hayes and Samuel Tuttle, overseers of the poor; Zopher Case and Joshua Fobes, fence viewers; David Fobes, Anson Jones and Albigance Woodworth, supervisors. Samuel Tuttle and Nathaniel Coleman were later named justices of the peace for the township. Thus was organized the town that gave to the country one of the greatest advocates of the freedom of all men, Joshua R. Giddings, whose late boy and young manhood years were spent in Wayne, where he obtained the meager education he acquired in the district school of that part of the township that was long known by the name of Lindenville. The territory of the township was reduced in 1813 by taking away New Lyme and Colebrook ; in 1819 by Andover and Cherry Valley, and in 1826 Williamsfield withdrew and organized independently, leaving the Wayne Township of today. The first white man who disturbed the quietude of nature in the wilds of Wayne was one Titus Hayes, a young man who happened that way while trying to connect with the surveying parties of the Connecticut - 410 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 411 Land Company that were working in the Western Reserve in 1798. The first real settlers, however, came in 1803. In 1799 Wayne Township was surveyed into lots, each of which contained 160 acres. In 1800 Oliver Phelps, one of the members of the Connecticut Land Company, purchased this township from the company, and in 1803 he sold 1,500 acres of it to Simon Fobes, of Somers, Connecticut, who proceeded to the early development of the section. In the summer of that year he took his son, Joshua, and wife, and another son, Elias, and started for the new landed possession in Ohio, his intention being to help them to locate and get established, after which he expected to return to the East. On the way they were joined by David Fobes, a cousin of the boys, whose ambition, or a spirit of adventure, had led him to undertake the hazardous trip and brave the dangers and discomforts of a life in unknown lands. They were 49 days en route and their journey ended at the home of Jesse Pelton, who had preceded them a short time and settled in the center of the township. When these people had become established in their new home they learned that the nearest white neighbors were five miles away. They had plenty of Redskin neighbors, however, and the latter were very good to the newcomers and helped them in many ways, especially favoring them with gifts of deer and bear meat, the white men being too busy with their clearing and building operations to spend time hunting. This section was quite sparsely settled at that time. The nearest neighbors on the west were in Windsor Township, 15 miles away ; on the north there were none nearer than Kingsville, about 25 miles, and on the east the nearest whites were in Meadville, Pa. Five or more miles to the south, in Gustavus or Kinsman, there were a few settlers with whom they occasionally came in contact. There were no roads in any direction until the year after the Fobes families arrived on the scene ; then they and the Morgan settlers cut a road through from the Fobes settlement to the town of Morgan (Rock Creek), a distance of about 15 miles. By this means the Wayne residents were able to effect a connection with other roads that gave them access to markets in distant towns. Something about Wayne appealed to the fancy of Titus Hayes, the young engineer who was the first to visit the place, in 1798, but who at that time made but a transitory call. In the winter of 1804-5 he, in company with Elisha Giddings, moved with their families from Canandaigua, N. Y., to Ohio, and stopped first in Hartford, Trumbull County, where they 412 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY remained until the following winter, for the purpose of raising breadstuffs to sustain them until they could effect a clearing and prepare for future crops in Wayne, where they intended to locate on forest land, and to which place they journeyed in the fall. There they settled on adjoining lots, a little northeast of the center of the township. Others whose names are chronicled as among the early settlers of Wayne included George Wakeman, Joshua Giddings (father of Joshua R.), Edward Inman, Henry Moses, Nathaniel Coleman, Nathan Fobes and others. In 1804 Mrs. David Fobes gave birth to the first white child born in the township. Sarah, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Fobes, was the bride in the first wedding ceremony performed in Wayne, that being in 1807, and the groom was Philemon Brockway. The first death was that of Mrs. Thankful Fobes, grandmother of Joshua. Her husband followed her to the beyond only three days later. So it was that the Fobes family, among the original settlers, were conspicuous in the early life of Wayne Township, and their descendants were many and may still be found in the interior localities of the county. According to the records made by the Rev. Joseph Badger, who was instrumental in the establishment of many churches in Ashtabula County, the first Sabbath sermon preached in Wayne was at the home of Joshua Fobes, on November 2, 1806. Ten years after that the Congregationalists organized the town's first regular church society. Credit is given to Linas H. Jones for the following account of the early religious activities of the township, published in the Williams History of 1878: "The first church organization in Wayne was Congregational, formed in 1816. Previous to this, for some years, regular religious services were held on the Sabbath at private houses, prominent among which were those of Joshua and Levi Fobes, at the center, and at the house of Benjamin Ward, on the Hayes road. These services were conducted by Simon Fobes, a soldier of the Revolutionary army, consisting of two services of a sermon read at each, with prayer and singing, in accordance with the usual form of those days, which practice continued until 1816. At this time an effort was made to establish more permanently the institutions of the gospel. The citizens of Wayne and Williamsfield united in building a place of worship. Neither township was much settled, except in the contiguous halves of each, and both were under one township organization. A large house was built of logs, piled one above the other, and covered with HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 413 ‘shakes'—much like barrel staves, except being less in thickness—from three and a half to four feet in length. These were laid loose upon poles, or 'ribs', which ran across the building, for their support, and were held in their places by poles or weights. The crevices between the logs of the sides were 'chinked' with wood and mud, making them quite formidable against the blasts of winter. A floor of boards covered about one-half of the room, while the remaining portion was the bare earth, except logs, hewed upon the upper side, to support a floor, when the finances might justify the outlay. These logs were used as seats, and made a substantial and solid sitting. In winter a fire was built upon the ground, near the center, the smoke very tardily making its exit through the crevices in and around the roof, but often tarrying sufficiently to cause tears, without the aid of eloquence or pathos. After about two years a floor covered the whole area. A gallery was erected at one end of the building, which accommodated the choir, as aristocratic, but much less exclusive, than those of more modern times. In this humble building the citizens and their families assembled in mass, holding two services each Sabbath, conducted by deacons, notable among whom were Ezra Leonard, Norman Wilcox and Calvin Andrews. Occasionally a missionary would spend a Sabbath with them. The first minister employed by the church was the Rev. Alvin Coe, for a term of four Sabbaths ; afterwards, one by the name of Bowen, as a candidate for settlement ; but he did not prove acceptable. Early in the summer of 1819 we were visited by the Rev. Ephraim P. Woodruff, in the capacity of a missionary, of the Missionary Society of the State of Connecticut, who labored with us several weeks, when arrangements were made with him to settle with us as our minister, and labor as such one-half of his time, at a salary of $200 per year, which was to be increased $10 per year until it reached $250. He was installed as pastor in August, 1819, and returned to Connecticut for his family, which consisted of his wife and six children. He returned with his family in October, and settled in his log house, which had been provided for them in his absence, perfectly surrounded by forest, with no building nearer than half a mile, except our lonely looking forest church. One-half of Mr. Woodworth's time was spent as a missionary among the destitute churches in this part of the Western Reserve, making, usually, tours of two weeks each, and thus alternating in his home and mission labors. He was a laborious, persevering and efficient man, both as a pastor and as a citizen. Three services on 414 - HISTORY OF OUNTY COUNTY the Sabbath was the rule, two at the church, and at evening in some quarter of his parish, usually at some schoolhouse. He exhibited much zeal in the interests of education, and made a specialty of visiting each school twice in each session, giving notice of the intended visit on the Sabbath previous. To attend 'church was a general rule of almost the entire population, and the difference in attendance between deacon and preaching meetings was small. Our religious interests were harmonious and prosperous, until the winter of 1831, when our house of sacred memory was destroyed by fire. Our pastor was equal to the emergency, for he had a building of logs that he had used for "all work", which he at once appropriated to the needs of the church. A part of the upper story was taken out and the choir perched upon the remainder, their heads coming in frequent contact with the roof, while the mass were seated below. But this state of things could not long continue. A house, or houses, must be built. The people upon this side of the creek thought it time that interest called for a house nearer home, and that that interest centered upon the Hayes road. To this those upon the Center road demurred, uniting their interest with those upon the east side and Williamsfield, awaiting a more favorable opportunity for building at the Center. The Hayes road interests started forward, hewed and drew the timber to the spot, when, in a maze of doubt, the work was suspended. Those on the east side, with West Williamsfield, encouraged by this suspension, united their efforts and built a house on nearly the same spot on which stood the old log church. In this state of things, regular religious services were established at the schoolhouse on the Hayes road, north of the center line, and kept up from Sabbath to Sabbath, with preaching about one-half of the time. In October, 1832, a Congregational Church was organized, with 29 members, 20 of whom were from the former church, and all living east of the north-and-south center road. This state of things continued for about two years. In the meantime those on the center road, and west, remained members of the original church of Wayne and Williamsfield, but, uniting their efforts with others of the township, commenced the building of a house at the Center, which was undenominational, stimulated by a Center interest. In this state of things the project of a house on the Hayes road was abandoned, and an arrangement made to take the house at the Center. A Congregational Society was organized and incorporated HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 415 in the spring of 1835, and it assumed the financial responsibility in connection with financing the building and supplying preaching, together with incidental expenses. Those living upon the Center road withdrew from the mother church and united with the new one, known as the First Congregational Church of Wayne. This church was not finally finished until 1840, and in 1872 it was destroyed by fire. Another church was completed and dedicated in 1875. The Wayne and Williamsfield church was moved to West Williamsfield, about 1845, and located near the Wayne Township line, in a section quite thickly populated. Of the Wayne residents who continued their affiliation to this branch of the church, it was said by those of the other branch : "They live with bodies in Wayne, but souls in Williamsfield." In addition to the public schools that were opened early in the life of the township communities, there was the Wayne Academy, an institution established by a stock company, which erected a building in 1846, and carried on a creditable educational establishment for a number of years. Many of the young men and women of Wayne and adjacent territory acquired their "higher" education in this seat of learning. Hari Miner was appointed Wayne's first postmaster, the office being established in 1823. In 1820 Loomis & Brown erected and put into operation the first grist mill, the same being located on the Pymatuning Creek, in the eastern part of the township. This creek traversed the entire length of the township from north to south, along the eastern portion, within a mile or so of the township line, and was the chief attraction for settlers. The southeastern portion of the township was quite thickly populated, another populous section being in the center of the township, being known as Lindenville. Gradually the intercourse between residents of these respective settlements caused the intervening section to be settled and in the course of years the population of the township was principally at and between those points. Hayes & Stevens opened the first store in Wayne in 1825. The western portion of the township was not favored with any watercourses worthy of mention. A small tributary of the Pymatuning coursed through the central section. There was, however, splendid pasturage and for many years Wayne occupied a place of prominence in the cheese-making industry of the county. It is noted that C. C. Wick had about four tons of cheese on exhibition at the Ohio State Fair in the year 1852. This 416 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY had to be transported many miles by team, both going and coming, and it meant that the man who had the ambition to go to that much trouble to advertise Ashtabula Couny to the state, was the right kind of a citizen. That the territory embraced in the township of Wayne was in a very early day a stronghold for the prehistoric race of which there is evidence of existence throughout the county is shown by the presence of a few remaining signs, even today, of what was once a commodious enclosure, doubtless a fortress for protection against enemies of those unknown men. In the southeastern part of the township, where "Brown's Mill" was built in 1821, there was at that time a circular embankment that enclosed two full acres, the mounded barricade being about four feet high, and within this was an inner circle, affording double protection to those ancients who had constructed the works. The circle skirted the Pymatung Creek on the banks of which the mill was built and to make room for which, and the mill-race, a portion of the fortress was leveled off. Indians who resided thereabouts claimed they had no history, nor tradition, that explain the mystery of the enclosure. The site of the old fort was even then overgrown with great forest trees that had grown since it was constructed. CHAPTER XXXIX. WILLIAMSFIELD TOWNSHIP. FIRST OFFICERS-JOSEPH WILLIAMS-SCHOOL IN 1809-SAWMILL BUILT IN 1814--RAILROAD FACILITIES-GIDDINGS' HOTEL-CAPT. STANHOPE. Until the year 1826 the township now Williamsfield, in the very southeastern corner of Ashtabula County, was a part of Wayne and included in the section of Trumbull County that was detached and added to Ashtabula County by a special act of the legislature in 1811. Incident to the assuming of its independent status officers of the new township were named as follows : Gilbert Palmer, Samuel Tuttle and Samuel Morse, trustees ; Jonathan Tuttle, clerk ; Charles Brooks, treasurer ; Levi Smith and Levi Leonard, overseers of the poor ; Reuben Phelps and William Jones, fence viewers ; Aranda P. Giddings and William Leffingwell, constables, and Anson Morse, Bartlet Leonard, Valentine Tourgee, Ebenezer Woodworth, Johnathan Tuttle and William North, supervisors of highways. Johnathan Tuttle was justice of the peace prior to the formation of this separate township, when Samuel Morse was named as justice. Joseph Williams, the man for whom the town was named, in 1799 purchased from the Connecticut Land Company a parcel constituting about three-fifths of the eastern half of the township. Samuel Parkman, John Allen and Joseph Brown, together with Williams, were the first owners of the land in the township, after the Connecticut Land Company. The township was surveyed into sections one mile square, excepting those along the eastern border which were a mile and one-eighth from east to west. These lots were sub-divided into twelfths. In the summer of 1804 Charles Case and his son Zopher emigrated from Connecticut and selected a site for their future home in the southeastern portion. Among other early settlers were John L. Cook, David Randall, Samuel Tuttle, Anson Jones, Aaron Rice, Thomas Ford, Ezra Woodworth, Cotton Fess, Silas Babcock and (25) - 417 - 418 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY Daniel Hutchinson. In 1809 Joshua Giddings moved from Wayne to Williamsfield, and in 1822 moved to Jefferson. Justus Peck, originally from Colebrook, Conn., moved from New Berlin, N. Y., to Williamsfield. Levi. Smith, who moved from the East in 1816, was the first man to settle east of the "Old Salt Road". He was of the old Methodist stock and always ardent in the cause of religion. He donated the land on which the first Methodist Church was built, and subscribed liberally to the cost of the building. The Williamsfield community first had the advantage of a school in 1809, a building being erected that spring for the purpose. Mrs. Babcock was the first teacher. The Rev. Johnathan Leslie preached the first sermon in the village in the year 1807, the meeting being held at the home of Thomas. Ford. Rev. Leslie and the Rev. Joseph Badger were then making a missionary tour through the eastern part of the county. Religious meetings were held occasionally from that time until 1816, when a church was erected. The history of this church is related in the department of this work devoted to Wayne, and need not be repeated here. The Methodist Church at the center was organized in 1825, and the society erected a house of worship in 1834. Thomas Carr and Joseph Davis, circuit riders, alternated in serving the organization, but the first sermon delivered in the new house was by Justice Woodworth. The Congregationalist Society built a church in 1848 at West Williamsfield, and the Disciples built in 1875 south of the Center. In 1814 Swan & Herrick erected the first saw-mill, in the southeastern lot of the township. This was run by water power. The first steam mill was put up in 1850 by Smith Brothers & Leffingwell. H. H. Vernon opened the first store in the township in 1822 at West Williamsfield. The first store at the Center was established in 1848 by A. B. Leonard. The town of Williamsfield is particularly blessed with railroad facilities in that it had two railroad stations, on different lines and convenient to the needs of the people on both sides of the town. West Williamsfield is the station on the Youngstown branch of the New York Central road and Simonds, near the eastern boundary, is on the Franklin branch. Both of these points are centers of considerable population and another settlement is in the center of the township. A post office was opened at West Williamsfield in 1812, with Elias Morse as postmaster. In 1850 another postoffice was opened at Williamsfield Center, with A. B. Leonard in charge. HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 419 A post office was installed at Simonds when the Franklin branch railroad was opened, in 1872, H. W. Simonds being postmaster. Williamsfield was one of the principal dairy and farming townships of the county and was noted as the home of much fancy stock in horseflesh and cattle. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Case were parents of the first white child born in the township, 1806 being the year of its arrival. J. W. Giddings opened a hotel in West Williamsfield in 1820, and in 1830 H. H. Vernon installed a hostelry in the same settlement. The first visitation of the "Grim Reaper" to the township was made to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Anson Jones in 1809, taking away a child of the household. John Inman was the first adult to pass on, he dying in 1813. He was buried on the bank of the Pymatuning. West Williamsfield was always the most populous section of the township and among its industries were a wagon manufactory owned by W. S. Mullen and a furniture factory owned by C. Russell. Williamsfield Township occupies an eminence of a considerable altitude and is well watered by numerous streams in all sections, none, however, of great magnitude. One of the attractive places of Williamsfield for many years was Capt. Stanhope's place "Burnside", a great stock and dairy farm. Here were to be seen rare specimens of stock, including Cuban cows, Hairless and woolless sheep, real imported Hamburg geese and other varieties of animals and fowl foreign to local breeds. Capt. Stanhope spent much time and money and did a great amount of traveling to acquire the different species, and he always took great interest in exhibiting his collection to his friends. CHAPTER XL. WINDSOR TOWNSHIP. ORGANIZED IN 1811-EARLY SETTLERS-FIRST MARRIAGE-FIRST DEATH-RE LIGIOUS INTEREST-REV. JOHN BADGER-PIONEER CONDITIONS-LODGE - CHEESE-MAKING -OTHER INDUSTRIES. Windsor Township holds down the southwesterly corner of Ashtabula County, as Conneaut does the northeastern corner. From the latter place to Windsor Corners, which is situated in the eastern part of the township, the distance is 42.5 miles. From Geneva, in the northwestern corner, to Williamsfield Center, the southeast corner, is 34 miles. Thus is indicated the irregularity of the north, or shore line of the county, as all other boundaries are straight. The territory covered by Windsor and Orwell townships was originally embraced in Middlefield Township, which was one of the group of four townships constituting the "Northern election district" so assigned in 1801, when the Western Reserve was divided into two election districts. Windsor was detached from Middlefield in 1811 and organized into a separate township, its territory including Orwell. The organization meeting was held at the home of Solomon Griswold and resulted in the election of Samuel Higley, Michael Thompson and Timothy Alderman, trustees ; Samuel and Johnathan Higley, appraisers ; Oliver Loomis, Garry Sackett and Thompson Higley, supervisors ; Garry Sackett and Andrew Loomis, overseers of the. poor ; S. D. Sackett and John Glad-ding, fence viewers ; Ebenezer K. Lampson, clerk, and Elijah Hill, Jr., treasurer. Johnathan Higley was justice of the peace at the time of the organization. Although the most remote section of the county, Windsor was settled earlier than many of the other townships. This was due to the fact that the persons to whom this territory was alotted in the Connecticut Land Company's drawing in 1798 at once took a personal interest in the settle- - 420 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 421 ment and development of their portion. These men were Simeon Griswold and William Eldridge, and Griswold very soon acquired the Eldridge interest and proceeded to business. Griswold's brother-in-law, George Phelps, came from Connecticut in 1799, going direct to the Windsor locality. He located his home on the bank of a creek in the southeastern part of the township and the stream has since been known as Phelps Creek. The cabin he erected for himself and family consisting of wife and two children was the first house built in the township. Solomon Griswold, a brother of Simeon, was the second settler, he arriving in 1800. He chose for his place of abode a lot in the northeastern portion of the township, and built a house thereon for his family. The Griswolds had six children, the oldest of whom was 17 years of age. Incidentally it might be mentioned that Mr. Griswold was associate judge of the first county court organized in Ashtabula County. The next corners into the township were the family of Charles Jewell, who arrived in 1802. The year 1804 brought Johnathan Higley, Joseph Alderman and his sons, Joseph, Jr., and Alexander. S. D. Sackett, Hezekiah Skinner, Oliver Loomis, Elijah Hill and Elijah Hill, Jr., and John White were the arrivals during the year 1805. In 1806 came John Glad-ding, Benjamin Cook and Benjamin Cook, Jr. Caleb Holcomb came in 1807, Russell Loomis and Giles Loomis in 1811, and the following year there was an influx of several families, including John and Cornelius Norris, Elijah and Gaal Grover, Samuel and Erastus Rawdon, Stephen and West Winslow, Johnathan Clapp, David Morgan, Moses and Francis Barnard and Gideon Morgan. Windsor, it may be seen, started out early and very auspicuously. Johnathan Higley and Miss Keziah Griswold furnished the first matrimonial sensation, their marriage being solemnized in 1806. The first death of a white person in the township was of an alien, Eli Porter, a resident of Austinburg, who had been in ill health and started for Mesopotamia to consult a doctor. When he had journeyed as far as the home of Solomon Griswold, in the winter of 1801, he could go no farther, and was taken care of there till he died. He was buried on the Griswold farm, his wife and other mourners from Austinburg coming by boat on Grand River to attend the funeral. In 1805 Jonathan Higley erected the first frame house in the township. The first brick building was erected in 1822 by Nathaniel Cook. Miss 422 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY Keziah Griswold taught the first school in the township, in 1804, in S. D. Sackett's blacksmith shop. The following year the inhabitants of the town got together and built a school house of logs a short distance south of the center. The home of Solomon Griswold was the place of the first death and in this home, in 1802, was held the first meeting in the interest of that which prepares for death. The Griswolds were ardent Episcopalians, but were not narrow-minded, and their home and influence were always at command in the interest of religion. The first sermon delivered in the township was by the Rev. Joseph Badger, whose activities had much to do with the starting of Ashtabula County people in the right direction morally. There were but three families in the township at this time. The following entry in Rev. Badger's diary relative to conditions in Windsor at this time, is interesting: "In the month of June I visited Mesopotamia and Windsor. Found seven families in the former and three in the latter. . . . In Windsor the late Judge Griswold had commenced breaking the forest. Their garden back of the small cabin covered with bark was cultivated by the two daughters, and was well stored with culinary roots, plants and vines, but to get bread was a herculean task. No flour could be had short of 50 or 60 miles, excepting in the spring, when keel-boats, with great exertion, were worked up the Mahoning to Warren with a few barrels of flour. But packing on horseback was the only mode of conveyance from Warren, the rider having frequently to sleep in the woods." This difficulty of obtaining the material for making the "staff of life" was the big problem of the settlers during the first few years of Windsor history. To meet this need numerous devices were tried, but the one that seemed to be most effective was the result of the ingenuity of Charles Jewell. The "mill" that he designed consisted of two buhr-stones about two feet in diameter, arranged like similar stones in regular flouring mills. One was stationary on the floor while the other, placed above it, did the work. Near the edge of the upper stone a gudgeon was inserted into a small hole made for the purpose and connected with a pole that extended through the floor above. The man turning out the grist worked the stone with one hand and fed in the grain with the other. It was a slow process but accomplished the desired end. This mill was placed on exhibition in the court house at Jefferson after regular mills erected nearby put it out HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY - 423 of use, but met untimely destruction, for the day after it was placed in the Ashtabula County Historical and Philosophical Society's cabinet, on Aug. 16, 1850, the building was destroyed by fire and the mill with it. The marked road traversed by George Phelps when he came into the township in 1799 from the south, and the one marked and traveled by Solomon Griswold when he entered from the north, became routes of travel for strangers coming in or passing through the township, and other roads were added as the population increased and spread over the township. In 1803 a regular mail route was established through the township, running north and south, and the town was honored with a post office, Judge Griswold being appointed postmaster and holding the position continuously for 28 years. The route was from Warren, in Trumbull County, via Mesopotamia, Windsor, Morgan (Rock Creek), Austinburg, Harpers-field, and thence westward, via Painesville, to Cleveland. The mail was carried by a man on foot until such time as roads suitable for horses to travel were made, then the carrier rode a horse. The carrier brought the mail once a week at first. In later years a post office was established at Windsor Mills. A Methodist Episcopal Church Society was early organized in Windsor in 1812 and erected a church in 182.7. That building gave way to a more pretentious structure in 1854, which was reconstructed in 1877. The first church building erected in Windsor was that of the Episcopalian faith, in 1816. This was given the sobriquet of "Solomon's Temple", which was intended as a compliment to Solomon Griswold, who was a generous contributor toward the cost of the house of worship. In 1.844 a church of the Wesleyan Methodists was formed at Windsor Mills, and another, nine or ten years later, in another section of the township. The Universalists organized in 1868 and in 1876 purchased the lower part of the Grangers' building for their church meetings. A lodge of the I. O. O. F. was instituted in 1857 and the organization put up their own building in 1876 at the "Corners". Windsor Grange was instituted in 1874. In this same year a division of the Sons of Temperance was organized in Windsor, with a good membership. Cheese factories, a cheese-box factory and a pearlash factory constituted the principal commercial Interests of the town for many years. Two cheese factories were turning out three tons of cheese a day in the early '50s. It was an interesting sight to see 125 to 150 tons of cheese in stock. 424 - HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY By this time the facilities for shipping were very good, plank road from Bloomfield to Painesville running through Windsor. A short drive south of Windsor Corners brings one to Windsor Mills, in the same township and, at this writing, showing little evidence of the bustle and activities of its earlier years. Along about the middle of the last century Achland Skinner chose a site on the banks of the Grand River in a picturesque spot for the location of mills for turning out flour. Here, it is said, the farmers for many miles around came to dispose of their grain because Mr. Skinner offered them the best market. He also had a store and later the small hamlet was endowed with a post office, of which Mr. Skinner was the postmaster for many years, being assisted in the office and store by his wife and their children as they grew up. A Mr. Hughes, who kept another store, was also postmaster for some time after the office was established, following the installation of the railroads that run within a few miles either side of the hamlet. There was a cheese-box factory that did a thriving business in its day, but what developed into the greatest industry of the town was the stone quarry, which was opened following the uncovering of high-grade building stone along the creek on the farm of D. J. Alderman. This stone was found to be solid for a depth of sixty feet and was pronounced of a better quality than the celebrated Berea stone. This quarry furnished the stone for all the culverts, bridges and other highway improvements requiring stone throughout the county for many years. Robert Stewart, a contractor residing in Kingsville, who did the greater part of the road work in the county, found this quarry so productive and its output of such high quality that he superintended the work of getting out stone for a number of years before his death. There were numerous interests represented in this industry. The Windsor Stone Company, composed of Pittsburgh and Youngstown men, built a narrow-gauge railroad from the source of stone production to Burton, on the Painesville & Youngstown Railroad. A. A. Warner opened a new quarry in 1876 and several other parties worked the vein at different times. The P. & Y. road was of narrow gauge and in later years, when it was changed to standard, the spur did not share in the change and the quarrying business has not since been carried on to any great extent. In the course of "stripping", or removing the surface dirt, to get at the stone along the stream, there was unearthed evidences of a mill dam